Photometry of the eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS J152419.33+220920.0

Aims. We present new photometry of the faint and poorly studied cataclysmic variable SDSS J152419.33+220920.0, analyze its light curve and provide an accurate ephemeris for this system. Methods. Time-resolved CCD differential photometry was carried out using the 1.5m and 0.84m telescopes at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional at San Pedro Martir. Results. From time-resolved photometry of the system obtained during six nights (covering more than twenty primary eclipse cycles in more than three years), we show that this binary presents a strong primary and a weak secondary modulation. Our light curve analysis shows that only two fundamental frequencies are present, corresponding to the orbital period and a modulation with twice this frequency. We determine the accurate ephemeris of the system to be HJD(eclipse)= 2454967.6750(1) + 0.06531866661(1) E. A double-hump orbital period modulation, a standing feature in several bounce-back systems at quiescence, is present at several epochs. However, we found no other evidence to support the hypothesis that this system belongs to the post-minimum orbital-period systems

A Radial Velocity Study of the Intermediate Polar EX Hydrae

A study on the intermediate polar EX Hya is presented, based on simultaneous photometry and high dispersion spectroscopic observations, during four consecutive nights. The strong photometric modulation related to with the 67-min spin period of the primary star is clearly present, as well as the narrow eclipses associated to the orbital modulation. Since our eclipse timings have been obtained almost 91,000 cycles since the last reported observations, we present new linear ephemeris, although we cannot rule out a sinusoidal variation suggested by previous authors. The system mainly shows double-peaked H$\alpha$, H$\beta$ and HeI $\lambda$5876 \AA emission lines. From the profile of the H$\alpha$ line, we find two components; one with a steep rise and velocities not larger than $\sim$1000 km s$^{-1}$ and another broader component extending up to $\sim$2000 km s$^{-1}$, which we interpret as coming mainly from the inner disc. A strong and variable hotspot is found and a stream-like structure is seen at times. We show that the best solution correspond to $K_1 = 58 \pm 5$ km s$^{-1}$ from H$\alpha$, from the two emission components, which are both in phase with the orbital modulation. We remark on a peculiar effect in the radial velocity curve around phase zero, which could be interpreted as a Rositter-MacLaughlin-like effect, which has been taken into account before deriving $K_1$. This value is compatible with the values found in high-resolution both in the ultraviolet and X-ray. We find: $M_{1} = 0.78 \pm 0.03$ M$_{\odot}$, $M_{2} = 0.10 \pm 0.02$ M$_{\odot}$ and $a = 0.67 \pm 0.01$ R$_{\odot}$. Doppler Tomography has been applied, to construct six Doppler tomograms for single orbital cycles spanning the four days of observations to support our conclusions. Our results indicate that EX Hya has a well formed disc and that the magnetosphere should extend only to about $3.75\,R_{\rm{WD}}$.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Structure of Exotic Nuclei

The progress in the modeling of exotic nuclei with an extreme neutron-to-proton ratio is discussed. Two topics are emphasized: (i) the quest for the universal microscopic nuclear energy density functional and (ii) the progress in the continuum shell model.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, presented by W. Nazarewicz at the International Symposium on "A New Era of Nuclear Structure Physics", Kurokawa Village (Niigata Pref.), Japan, Nov. 19-22, 200

Crystal Structures of Polymerized Fullerides AC60, A=K, Rb, Cs and Alkali-mediated Interactions

Starting from a model of rigid interacting C60 polymer chains on an orthorhombic lattice, we study the mutual orientation of the chains and the stability of the crystalline structures Pmnn and I2/m. We take into account i) van der Waals interactions and electric quadrupole interactions between C60 monomers on different chains as well as ii) interactions of the monomers with the surrounding alkali atoms. The direct interactions i) always lead to an antiferrorotational structure Pmnn with alternate orientation of the C60 chains in planes (001). The interactions ii) with the alkalis consist of two parts: translation-rotation (TR) coupling where the orientations of the chains interact with displacements of the alkalis, and quadrupolar electronic polarizability (ep) coupling, where the electric quadrupoles on the C60 monomers interact with induced quadrupoles due to excited electronic d states of the alkalis. Both interactions ii) lead to an effective orientation-orientation interaction between the C60 chains and always favor the ferrorotational structure I2/m where C60 chains have a same orientation. The structures Pmnn for KC60 and I2/m for Rb- and CsC60 are the result of a competition between the direct interaction i) and the alkali-mediated interactions ii). In Rb- and CsC60 the latter are found to be dominant, the preponderant role being played by the quadrupolar electronic polarizability of the alkali ions.Comment: J.Chem.Phys., in press, 14 pages, 3 figures, 8 table

New insights in particle dynamics from group cohomology

The dynamics of a particle moving in background electromagnetic and gravitational fields is revisited from a Lie group cohomological perspective. Physical constants characterising the particle appear as central extension parameters of a group which is obtained from a centrally extended kinematical group (Poincare or Galilei) by making local some subgroup. The corresponding dynamics is generated by a vector field inside the kernel of a presymplectic form which is derived from the canonical left-invariant one-form on the extended group. A non-relativistic limit is derived from the geodesic motion via an Inonu-Wigner contraction. A deeper analysis of the cohomological structure reveals the possibility of a new force associated with a non-trivial mixing of gravity and electromagnetism leading to in principle testable predictions.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, no figures. To appear in J. Phys. A (Letter to the editor

Locomotion in Parkinson's disease: neuronal coupling of upper and lower limbs

Quadrupedal limb coordination during human walking was recently shown to be upregulated during obstacle stepping. An anticipatory activity of coupled cervico-thoraco-lumbar interneuronal circuits is followed by an appropriate executory activation of leg and arm muscles during task performance. This mechanism was studied in subjects with Parkinson's disease and age-matched controls walking on a treadmill with a randomly approaching obstacle. Spinal reflex (SR) responses, evoked by tibial nerve stimulation during mid-stance, were present in all arm and leg muscles investigated. They were larger before execution of obstacle avoidance compared with normal steps in both subject groups. The performance of obstacle stepping was slightly worse in Parkinson's disease than in control subjects. The anticipatory SR in the arm muscles prior to normal and obstacle steps was larger in Parkinson's disease compared with age-matched subjects, but smaller in the tibialis anterior. The arm and leg muscle activation was stronger during obstacle compared with normal swing but did not differ between Parkinson's disease and age-matched subjects. These observations indicate that quadrupedal limb coordination is basically preserved in Parkinson's disease subjects. Our data are consistent with the proposal that in Parkinson's disease subjects the enhanced anticipatory spinal neuronal activity (reflected in the SR) in the arm muscles is required to achieve an appropriate muscle activation for the automatic control of body equilibrium during the performance of the task. In the tibialis anterior the SR is attenuated presumably because of a stronger voluntary (i.e. cortical) control of leg movement

Huyghens, Bohr, Riemann and Galois: Phase-Locking

Several mathematical views of phase-locking are developed. The classical Huyghens approach is generalized to include all harmonic and subharmonic resonances and is found to be connected to 1/f noise and prime number theory. Two types of quantum phase-locking operators are defined, one acting on the rational numbers, the other on the elements of a Galois field. In both cases we analyse in detail the phase properties and find them related respectively to the Riemann zeta function and to incomplete Gauss sums.Comment: 18 pages paper written in relation to the ICSSUR'05 conference held in Besancon, France to be published at a special issue of IJMP

X-ray microanalysis in STEM of short-term physico-chemical reactions at bioactive glass particles / biological fluids interface. Determination of O/Si atomic ratios

Short-term physico-chemical reactions at the interface between bioactive glass particles and biological fluids are studied and we focus our attention on the measurements of O/Si atomic ratio. The studied bioactive glass is in the SiO2-Na2O-CaO-P2O5-K2O-Al2O3-MgO system. The elemental analysis is performed at the submicrometer scale by STEM associated with EDXS and EELS. We previously developed an EDXS quantification method based on the ratio method and taking into account local absorption corrections. In this way, we use EELS data to determine, by an iterative process, the local mass thickness which is an essential parameter to correct absorption in EDXS spectra. After different delays of immersion of bioactive glass particles in a simulated biological solution, results show the formation of different surface layers at the bioactive glass periphery. Before one day of immersion, we observe the presence of an already shown (Si,O,Al) rich layer at the periphery. In this paper, we demonstrate that a thin electron dense (Si,O) layer is formed on top of the (Si,O,Al) layer. In this (Si,O) layer, depleted in aluminium, we point out an increase of oxygen weight concentration which can be interpreted by the presence of Si(OH)4 groups, that permit the formation of a (Ca,P) layer. Aluminium plays a role in the glass solubility and may inhibit apatite nucleation. After the beginning of the (Ca,P) layer formation, the size of the electron dense (Si,O) layer decreases and tends to disappear. After two days of immersion, the (Ca,P) layer grows in thickness and leads to apatite precipitatio

Comparative Measurements of Inverse Spin Hall and Magnetoresistance in YIG|Pt and YIG|Ta

We report on a comparative study of spin Hall related effects and magnetoresistance in YIG|Pt and YIG|Ta bilayers. These combined measurements allow to estimate the characteristic transport parameters of both Pt and Ta layers juxtaposed to YIG: the spin mixing conductance $G_{\uparrow \downarrow}$ at the YIG$|$normal metal interface, the spin Hall angle $\Theta_{SH}$, and the spin diffusion length $\lambda_{sd}$ in the normal metal. The inverse spin Hall voltages generated in Pt and Ta by the pure spin current pumped from YIG excited at resonance confirm the opposite signs of spin Hall angles in these two materials. Moreover, from the dependence of the inverse spin Hall voltage on the Ta thickness, we extract the spin diffusion length in Ta, found to be $\lambda_{sd}^\text{Ta}=1.8\pm0.7$ nm. Both the YIG|Pt and YIG|Ta systems display a similar variation of resistance upon magnetic field orientation, which can be explained in the recently developed framework of spin Hall magnetoresistance.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Detection of the microwave spin pumping using the inverse spin Hall effect

We report electrical detection of the dynamical part of the spin pumping current emitted during ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) using the inverse Spin Hall Effect (ISHE). The experiment is performed on a YIG$|$Pt bilayer. The choice of YIG, a magnetic insulator, ensures that no charge current flows between the two layers and only pure spin current produced by the magnetization dynamics are transferred into the adjacent strong spin-orbit Pt layer via spin pumping. To avoid measuring the parasitic eddy currents induced at the frequency of the microwave source, a resonance at half the frequency is induced using parametric excitation in the parallel geometry. Triggering this nonlinear effect allows to directly detect on a spectrum analyzer the microwave component of the ISHE voltage. Signals as large as 30 $\mu$V are measured for precession angles of a couple of degrees. This direct detection provides a novel efficient means to study magnetization dynamics on a very wide frequency range with great sensitivity