3,041 research outputs found
Strategy for reliable strain measurement in InAs/GaAs materials from high-resolution Z-contrast STEM images
Geometric phase analysis (GPA), a fast and simple Fourier space method for strain analysis, can give useful information on accumulated strain and defect propagation in multiple layers of semiconductors, including quantum dot materials. In this work, GPA has been applied to high resolution Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images. Strain maps determined from different g vectors of these images are compared to each other, in order to analyze and assess the GPA technique in terms of accuracy. The SmartAlign tool has been used to improve the STEM image quality getting more reliable results. Strain maps from template matching as a real space approach are compared with strain maps from GPA, and it is discussed that a real space analysis is a better approach than GPA for aberration corrected STEM images
SDSS J075101.42+291419.1: A Super-Eddington Accreting Quasar with Extreme X-ray Variability
We report the discovery of extreme X-ray variability in a type 1 quasar: SDSS
J. It has a black hole mass of
measured from reverberation mapping (RM), and the black hole is accreting with
a super-Eddington accretion rate. Its XMM-Newton observation in 2015 May
reveals a flux drop by a factor of with respect to the Swift
observation in 2013 May when it showed a typical level of X-ray emission
relative to its UV/optical emission. The lack of correlated UV variability
results in a steep X-ray-to-optical power-law slope () of
-1.97 in the low X-ray flux state, corresponding to an X-ray weakness factor of
36.2 at rest-frame 2 keV relative to its UV/optical luminosity. The mild
UV/optical continuum and emission-line variability also suggest that the
accretion rate did not change significantly. A single power-law model modified
by Galactic absorption describes well the keV spectra of the X-ray
observations in general. The spectral fitting reveals steep spectral shapes
with . We search for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with such
extreme X-ray variability in the literature and find that most of them are
narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasars with high accretion rates. The
fraction of extremely X-ray variable objects among super-Eddington accreting
AGNs is estimated to be . We discuss two possible scenarios,
disk reflection and partial covering absorption, to explain the extreme X-ray
variability of SDSS J. We propose a possible origin for the
partial covering absorber, which is the thick inner accretion disk and its
associated outflow in AGNs with high accretion rates.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A Systematic Analysis of Fe II Emission in Quasars: Evidence for Inflow to the Central Black Hole
Broad Fe II emission is a prominent feature of the optical and ultraviolet
spectra of quasars. We report on a systematical investigation of optical Fe II
emission in a large sample of 4037 z < 0.8 quasars selected from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey. We have developed and tested a detailed line-fitting
technique, taking into account the complex continuum and narrow and broad
emission-line spectrum. Our primary goal is to quantify the velocity broadening
and velocity shift of the Fe II spectrum in order to constrain the location of
the Fe II-emitting region and its relation to the broad-line region. We find
that the majority of quasars show Fe II emission that is redshifted, typically
by ~ 400 km/s but up to 2000 km/s, with respect to the systemic velocity of the
narrow-line region or of the conventional broad-line region as traced by the
Hbeta line. Moreover, the line width of Fe II is significantly narrower than
that of the broad component of Hbeta. We show that the magnitude of the Fe II
redshift correlates inversely with the Eddington ratio, and that there is a
tendency for sources with redshifted Fe II emission to show red asymmetry in
the Hbeta line. These characteristics strongly suggest that Fe II originates
from a location different from, and most likely exterior to, the region that
produces most of Hbeta. The Fe II-emitting zone traces a portion of the
broad-line region of intermediate velocities whose dynamics may be dominated by
infall.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Effect of gauge boson mass on the phase structure of QED
Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking (DCSB) in QED with finite gauge
boson mass is
studied in the framework of the rainbow approximation of Dyson-Schwinger
equations.
By adopting a simple gauge boson propagator ansatz at finite temperature, we
first numerically solve the
Dyson-Schwinger equation for the fermion self-energy to
determine the chiral phase diagram of QED with finite gauge boson mass
at finite chemical potential and finite temperature, then we study the
effect of the finite gauge mass on the phase diagram of QED. It is found
that the gauge boson mass suppresses the occurrence of
DCSB. The area of the region in the chiral phase diagram corresponding to
DCSB phase decreases as
the gauge boson mass increases. In
particular, chiral symmetry gets restored when is above a
certain critical value. In this paper, we use DCSB to describe the
antiferromagnetic order and use the gauge boson mass to describe the
superconducting order. Our results give qualitatively a physical
picture on the competition and coexistence between antiferromagnetic
order and superconducting orders in high temperature cuprate superconductors.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
A Unified Particle System Framework for Multi-Phase, Multi-Material Visual Simulations
We introduce a unified particle framework which integrates the phase-field method with multi-material simulation to allow modeling of both liquids and solids, as well as phase transitions between them. A simple elasto-plastic model is used to capture the behavior of various kinds of solids, including deformable bodies, granular materials, and cohesive soils. States of matter or phases, particularly liquids and solids, are modeled using the non-conservative Allen-Cahn equation. In contrast, materials---made of different substances---are advected by the conservative Cahn-Hilliard equation. The distributions of phases and materials are represented by a phase variable and a concentration variable, respectively, allowing us to represent commonly observed fluid-solid interactions. Our multi-phase, multi-material system is governed by a unified Helmholtz free energy density. This framework provides the first method in computer graphics capable of modeling a continuous interface between phases. It is versatile and can be readily used in many scenarios that are challenging to simulate. Examples are provided to demonstrate the capabilities and effectiveness of this approach
Captures of Red Giant Stars by Black Holes in Elliptical Galaxies: Feedback to the Hot Gas
The highly disturbed hot gas in elliptical galaxies, as revealed in many {\em
Chandra} X-ray images, implies a source of energy in the galactic nucleus. In
some elliptical galaxies faint X-ray ``ghost'' cavities appear without
corresponding radio lobes. It has been suggested that ghost cavities are caused
by short-lived activity with a timescale of years, but this is
difficult to understand within the popular paradigm of active galactic nuclei.
We suggest an episode model for ghost cavities, invoking captures of red giant
stars by the black hole located at the center of the elliptical galaxies at a
typical rate of yr per galaxy. The accretion of tidally
disrupted red giant stars onto the black hole powers activity in a timescale of
a few years. The total energy channeled into the jet/outflow during the cooling
time of the hot gas is erg, which is the typical work required
to form the observed cavities. In this scenario, the faint cavities are
produced by the feedback following accretion of the debris of the captured red
giant stars onto the black holes. We apply the present model to several
elliptical galaxies and find that it can explain the formation of the ghost
cavities. This model can be tested in the future by comparisons between radio
and X-ray observations.Comment: 4 pages in emulateapj5.sty. to Appear in ApJ Letter
Contact Discontinuities in Models of Contact Binaries Undergoing Thermal Relaxation Oscillations
In this paper we pursue the suggestion by Shu, Lubow & Anderson (1979) and
Wang (1995) that contact discontinuity (DSC) may exist in the secondary in the
expansion TRO (thermal relaxation oscillation) state. It is demonstrated that
there is a mass exchange instability in some range of mass ratio for the two
components. We show that the assumption of {\it constant} volume of the
secondary should be relaxed in DSC model. For {\it all} mass ratio the
secondary alway satisfies the condition that no mass flow returns to the
primary through the inner Lagrangian point. The secondary will expand in order
to equilibrate the interaction between the common convective envelope and the
secondary. The contact discontinuity in contact binary undergoing thermal
relaxation does not violate the second law of thermodynamics. The maintaining
condition of contact discontinuity is derived in the time-dependent model. It
is desired to improve the TRO model with the advanced contact discontinuity
layer in future detailed calculations.Comment: 5 pages in emulateapj, 1 figur
Deterministic and Stochastic Spin Diffusion in Classical Heisenberg Magnets
This computer simulation study provides further evidence that spin diffusion in the oneâdimensional classical Heisenberg model at T=â is anomalous: ăS j ( t )â
S j ă âŒt âα 1 withα1 âł1/2. However, the exponential instability of the numerically integrated phaseâspace trajectories transforms the deterministic transport of spin fluctuations into a computationally generated stochastic process in which the global conservation laws are still satisfied to high precision. This may cause a crossover in ăS j ( t )â
S j ă from anomalous spin diffusion (α1 âł 1/2) to normal spin diffusion (α1 = 1/2) at some characteristic time lag that depends on the precision of the numerical integration
Insights into the Ecological Roles and Evolution of Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase-Containing Hot Spring Archaea
Several recent studies have shown the presence of genes for the key enzyme associated with archaeal methane/alkane metabolism, methyl-coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), in metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) divergent to existing archaeal lineages. Here, we study the mcr-containing archaeal MAGs from several hot springs, which reveal further expansion in the diversity of archaeal organisms performing methane/alkane metabolism. Significantly, an MAG basal to organisms from the phylum Thaumarchaeota that contains mcr genes, but not those for ammonia oxidation or aerobic metabolism, is identified. Together, our phylogenetic analyses and ancestral state reconstructions suggest a mostly vertical evolution of mcrABG genes among methanogens and methanotrophs, along with frequent horizontal gene transfer of mcr genes between alkanotrophs. Analysis of all mcr-containing archaeal MAGs/genomes suggests a hydrothermal origin for these microorganisms based on optimal growth temperature predictions. These results also suggest methane/alkane oxidation or methanogenesis at high temperature likely existed in a common archaeal ancestor
The Unified Model of Active Galactic Nuclei: II. Evolutionary Connection
(Abbreviated) We assemble a sample composed of 243 nearby Seyfert galaxies
with redshifts to test the unification scheme. The sample contains
94 BLS1s, 44 NLS1s, 36 X-ray absorbed HBLR S2s, 42 X-ray absorbed non-HBLR S2s
and 27 X-ray unabsorbed Seyfert 2s (unabsorbed non-HBLR S2s and HBLR S2s). We
find that: 1) NLS1s have less massive black hole masses than BLS1s; 2) HBLRS2s
have the same mass distribution of the black holes with BLS1s; 3) the absorbed
non-HBLR S2s have less massive black holes than HBLR S2s; 4) unabsorbed
non-HBLR S2s have the most massive black holes. We thus have a queue of black
hole masses from small to large: narrow to broad line Seyfert galaxies,
providing new evidence for the evolutionary sequence of Seyfert galaxies. We
find that the opening angles of the torus in NLS1s and absorbed non-HBLR S2s
are significantly smaller than that in BLS1s and HBLR S2s. The growth of the
black holes and increases of the opening angles of the tori determine the
various appearances of Seyfert galaxies. We also find that the unabsorbed
Seyfert 2 galaxies could be caused by low gas-to-dust ratios in the present
sample. This indicates that the star formation histories could be different in
the unabsorbed from in absorbed Seyfert 2 galaxies, showing evidence for
suppressed star formation by black hole activities. We outline a new
unification scheme based on the orientation hypothesis: Seyfert galaxies can be
unified by including growth of black holes, Eddington ratios, changing opening
angles of tori and gas-to-dust ratios in the tori. Seyfert galaxies are tending
to finally evolve to unabsorbed non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies, in which the black
holes are accreting with low accretion rates and both the broad line region and
dusty torus disappear.Comment: ApJ, vol 661 (2007), in pres
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