1,014 research outputs found
Marked influence of the nature of chemical bond on CP-violating signature in molecular ions and
Heavy polar molecules offer a great sensitivity to the electron Electric
Dipole Moment(EDM). To guide emerging searches for EDMs with molecular ions, we
estimate the EDM-induced energy corrections for hydrogen halide ions
and in their respective ground states. We find that the energy corrections due to EDM for the two
ions differ by an unexpectedly large factor of fifteen. We demonstrate that a
major part of this enhancement is due to a dissimilarity in the nature of the
chemical bond for the two ions: the bond that is nearly of ionic character in
exhibits predominantly covalent nature in .
We conclude that because of this enhancement the HI ion may be a
potentially competitive candidate for the EDM search.Comment: This manuscript has been accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letters. The paper is now being prepared for publicatio
Anomaluos RR Lyrae (V-I)_0 colors in Baade's Window
We compare (V-I)_0-(V-K)_0 color-color and (V-I)_0-log P period-color
diagrams for Baade's Window and local RRab Lyrae stars. We find that for a
fixed log P the Baade's Window RR Lyrae stars are ~0.17 magnitudes redder in
(V-I)_0 than the local RR Lyrae stars. We also show that there is no such
effect observed in (V-K)_0. We argue that an extinction misestimate towards
Baade's Window is not a plausible explanation of the discrepancy. Unlike
Baade's Window RR Lyrae stars, the local ones follow a black-body color-color
relation and are well approximated by theoretical models. We test two
parameters, metallicity and surface gravity, and find that their effects are
too small to explain the (V-I)_0 discrepancy between the two groups of stars.
We do not provide any explanation for the anomalous (V-I)_0 behavior of the
Baade's Window RR Lyrae stars. We note that a similar effect for clump giant
stars has been recently reported by Paczynski and we caution that RR Lyrae
stars and clump giants, often used as standard candles, can be subject to the
same type of systematics.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Ap
Scale‐dependent effects of host patch traits on species composition in a stickleback parasite metacommunity
A core goal of ecology is to understand the abiotic and biotic variables that regulate species distributions and community composition. A major obstacle is that the rules governing species distributions can change with spatial scale. Here, we illustrate this point using data from a spatially nested metacommunity of parasites infecting a metapopulation of threespine stickleback fish from 34 lakes on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Like most parasite metacommunities, the composition of stickleback parasites differs among host individuals within each host population, and differs between host populations. The distribution of each parasite taxon depends, to varying degrees, on individual host traits (e.g., mass, diet) and on host‐population characteristics (e.g., lake size, mean host mass, mean diet). However, in most cases in this data set, a given parasite was regulated by different factors at the host‐individual and host‐population scales, leading to scale‐dependent patterns of parasite‐species co‐occurrence
Prospects for an electron electric dipole moment search in metastable ThO and ThF
The observation of an electron electric dipole moment (eEDM) would have major
ramifications for the standard model of physics. Polar molecules offer a
near-ideal laboratory for such searches due to the large effective electric
field (), on order of tens of GV/cm that can be easily
oriented in the lab frame. We present an improved method for simply and
accurately determining , in a heavy polar molecule, allowing
for a quick determination of candidates for an eEDM experiment. We apply this
method to ThO and ThF, both of which possess metastable
electronic states. The values of in ThO and ThF
are estimated to be 104 GV/cm and 90 GV/cm respectively, and are therefore two
of the best known candidates for the eEDM search.Comment: Two column format submitted to PR
Using Molecules to Measure Nuclear Spin-Dependent Parity Violation
Nuclear spin-dependent parity violation arises from weak interactions between
electrons and nucleons, and from nuclear anapole moments. We outline a method
to measure such effects, using a Stark-interference technique to determine the
mixing between opposite-parity rotational/hyperfine levels of ground-state
molecules. The technique is applicable to nuclei over a wide range of atomic
number, in diatomic species that are theoretically tractable for
interpretation. This should provide data on anapole moments of many nuclei, and
on previously unmeasured neutral weak couplings
Host Patch Traits Have Scale‐Dependent Effects On Diversity In A Stickleback Parasite Metacommunity
Many metacommunities are distributed across habitat patches that are themselves aggregated into groups. Perhaps the clearest example of this nested metacommunity structure comes from multi‐species parasite assemblages, which occupy individual hosts that are aggregated into host populations. At both spatial scales, we expect parasite community diversity in a given patch (either individual host or population) to depend on patch characteristics that affect colonization rates and species sorting. But, are these patch effects consistent across spatial scales? Or, do different processes govern the distribution of parasite community diversity among individual hosts, versus among host patches? To answer these questions, we document the distribution of parasite richness among host individuals and among populations in a metapopulation of threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus. We find some host traits (host size, gape width) are associated with increased parasite richness at both spatial scales. Other patch characteristics affect parasite richness only among individuals (sex), or among populations (lake size, lake area, elevation and population mean heterozygosity). These results demonstrate that some rules governing parasite richness in this metacommunity are shared across scales, while others are scale‐specific
Search for the electric dipole moment of the electron with thorium monoxide
The electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) is a signature of
CP-violating physics beyond the Standard Model. We describe an ongoing
experiment to measure or set improved limits to the eEDM, using a cold beam of
thorium monoxide (ThO) molecules. The metastable state in ThO
has important advantages for such an experiment. We argue that the statistical
uncertainty of an eEDM measurement could be improved by as much as 3 orders of
magnitude compared to the current experimental limit, in a first-generation
apparatus using a cold ThO beam. We describe our measurements of the state
lifetime and the production of ThO molecules in a beam, which provide crucial
data for the eEDM sensitivity estimate. ThO also has ideal properties for the
rejection of a number of known systematic errors; these properties and their
implications are described.Comment: v2: Equation (11) correcte
Thermodynamic re-assessment of the Zn–P binary system
Thermodynamic phase diagrams are the cornerstones to develop synthesis of new materials. Zinc phosphide has evolved into a prospective semicontuctor for next generation solar cells, thanks to its abundance and functional properties. Here we derive an optimized Zn-P binary diagram, and compare it to two previously available assessments. We solve some of the artefacts and clarify the methodology to obtain the Gibbs free energy, reaching an accurate description of the phases. This work is important for the synthesis of zinc-phosphide in the form of thin film and nanostructures
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