94 research outputs found
Thermodynamic perspective on the field-induced behavior of -RuCl
Measurements of the magnetic Gr\"uneisen parameter () and specific
heat on the Kitaev material candidate -RuCl are used to access
in-plane field- and temperature-dependence of the entropy up to 12 T and down
to 1 K. No signatures corresponding to phase transitions are detected beyond
the boundary of the magnetically ordered region, but only a shoulder-like
anomaly in , involving an entropy increment as small as . These observations put into question the presence of a thermodynamic
phase transition between the purported quantum spin liquid and the
field-polarized state of -RuCl. We show theoretically that at low
temperatures is sensitive to crossings in the lowest excitations
within gapped phases, and identify the measured shoulder-like anomaly as being
of such origin. Exact diagonalization calculations demonstrate that the
shoulder-like anomaly can be reproduced in extended Kitaev models that gain
proximity to an additional phase at finite field without entering it. We
discuss manifestations of this proximity in other measurements.Comment: published version (incl. Supplemental Material
Stellar SEDs from 0.3-2.5 Microns: Tracing the Stellar Locus and Searching for Color Outliers in SDSS and 2MASS
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) are
rich resources for studying stellar astrophysics and the structure and
formation history of the Galaxy. As new surveys and instruments adopt similar
filter sets, it is increasingly important to understand the properties of the
ugrizJHKs stellar locus, both to inform studies of `normal' main sequence stars
as well as for robust searches for point sources with unusual colors. Using a
sample of ~600,000 point sources detected by SDSS and 2MASS, we tabulate the
position and width of the ugrizJHKs stellar locus as a function of g-i color,
and provide accurate polynomial fits. We map the Morgan-Keenan spectral type
sequence to the median stellar locus by using synthetic photometry of spectral
standards and by analyzing 3000 SDSS stellar spectra with a custom spectral
typing pipeline. We develop an algorithm to calculate a point source's minimum
separation from the stellar locus in a seven-dimensional color space, and use
it to robustly identify objects with unusual colors, as well as spurious
SDSS/2MASS matches. Analysis of a final catalog of 2117 color outliers
identifies 370 white-dwarf/M dwarf (WDMD) pairs, 93 QSOs, and 90 M giant/carbon
star candidates, and demonstrates that WDMD pairs and QSOs can be distinguished
on the basis of their J-Ks and r-z colors. We also identify a group of objects
with correlated offsets in the u-g vs. g-r and g-r vs. r-i color-color spaces,
but subsequent follow-up is required to reveal the nature of these objects.
Future applications of this algorithm to a matched SDSS-UKIDSS catalog may well
identify additional classes of objects with unusual colors by probing new areas
of color-magnitude space.Comment: 23 pages in emulateapj format, 17 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for
publication in the Astronomical Journal. To access a high-resolution version
of this paper, as well as machine readable tables and an archive of 'The
Hammer' spectral typing suite, see http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~kcovey v2 --
fixed typos in Table 7 (mainly affecting lines for M8-M10 III stars
Recommended from our members
Stellar SEDs from 0.3 to 2.5 ÎŒm: Tracing the Stellar Locus and Searching for Color Outliers in the SDSS and 2MASS
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) are rich resources for studying stellar astrophysics and the structure and formation history of the Galaxy. As new surveys and instruments adopt similar filter sets, it is increasingly important to understand the properties of the ugrizJHK_s stellar locus, both to inform studies of "normal" main-sequence stars and enable robust searches for point sources with unusual colors. Using a sample of ~600,000 point sources detected by SDSS and 2MASS, we tabulate the position and width of the ugrizJHK_s stellar locus as a function of g - i color, and provide accurate polynomial fits. We map the Morgan-Keenan spectral type sequence to the median stellar locus by using synthetic photometry of spectral standards and by analyzing 3000 SDSS stellar spectra with a custom spectral typing pipeline, described in the Appendix to this paper. We develop an algorithm to calculate a point source's minimum separation from the stellar locus in a seven-dimensional color space, and use it to robustly identify objects with unusual colors, as well as spurious SDSS/2MASS matches. Analysis of a final catalog of 2117 color outliers identifies 370 white-dwarf/M dwarf (WDMD) pairs, 93 QSOs, and 90 M giant/carbon star candidates, and demonstrates that WDMD pairs and QSOs can be distinguished on the basis of their J - K_s and r - z colors. We also identify a group of objects with correlated offsets in the u - g versus g - r and g - r versus r - i color-color spaces, but subsequent follow-up is required to reveal the nature of these objects. Future applications of this algorithm to a matched SDSS-UKIDSS catalog may well identify additional classes of objects with unusual colors by probing new areas of color-magnitude space
Debris Disks: Probing Planet Formation
Debris disks are the dust disks found around ~20% of nearby main sequence
stars in far-IR surveys. They can be considered as descendants of
protoplanetary disks or components of planetary systems, providing valuable
information on circumstellar disk evolution and the outcome of planet
formation. The debris disk population can be explained by the steady
collisional erosion of planetesimal belts; population models constrain where
(10-100au) and in what quantity (>1Mearth) planetesimals (>10km in size)
typically form in protoplanetary disks. Gas is now seen long into the debris
disk phase. Some of this is secondary implying planetesimals have a Solar
System comet-like composition, but some systems may retain primordial gas.
Ongoing planet formation processes are invoked for some debris disks, such as
the continued growth of dwarf planets in an unstirred disk, or the growth of
terrestrial planets through giant impacts. Planets imprint structure on debris
disks in many ways; images of gaps, clumps, warps, eccentricities and other
disk asymmetries, are readily explained by planets at >>5au. Hot dust in the
region planets are commonly found (<5au) is seen for a growing number of stars.
This dust usually originates in an outer belt (e.g., from exocomets), although
an asteroid belt or recent collision is sometimes inferred.Comment: Invited review, accepted for publication in the 'Handbook of
Exoplanets', eds. H.J. Deeg and J.A. Belmonte, Springer (2018
Cuticular Compounds Bring New Insight in the Post-Glacial Recolonization of a Pyrenean Area: Deutonura deficiens Deharveng, 1979 Complex, a Case Study
Background: In most Arthropod groups, the study of systematics and evolution rely mostly on neutral characters, in this context cuticular compounds, as non-neutral characters, represent an underexplored but potentially informative type of characters at the infraspecific level as they have been routinely proven to be involved in sexual attraction. Methods and Findings: The collembolan species complex Deutonura deficiens was chosen as a model in order to test the utility of these characters for delineating four infraspecific entities of this group. Specimens were collected for three subspecies (D. d. deficiens, D. d. meridionalis, D. d. sylvatica) and two morphotypes (D. d. sylvatica morphoype A and B) of the complex; an additional species D. monticola was added. Cuticular compounds were extracted and separated by gas chromatography for each individual. Our results demonstrate that cuticular compounds succeeded in separating the different elements of this complex. Those data allowed also the reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships among them. Conclusions: The discriminating power of cuticular compounds is directly related to their involvement in sexual attraction and mate recognition. These findings allowed a discussion on the potential involvement of intrinsic and paleoclimatic factors in the origin and the diversification of this complex in the Pyrenean zone. This character type brings the first advanc
LSST Science Book, Version 2.0
A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint
magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science
opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)
will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field
of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over
20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with
fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a
total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic
parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book
discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a
broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and
outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies,
the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local
Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the
properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then
turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to
z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and
baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to
constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at
http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo
Deciphering the Chemical Basis of Nestmate Recognition
Social insects maintain colony cohesion by recognizing and, if necessary, discriminating against conspecifics that are not part of the colony. This recognition ability is encoded by a complex mixture of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), although it is largely unclear how social insects interpret such a multifaceted signal. CHC profiles often contain several series of homologous hydrocarbons, possessing the same methyl branch position but differing in chain length (e.g., 15-methyl-pentatriacontane, 15-methyl-heptatriacontane, 15-methyl-nonatriacontane). Recent studies have revealed that within species these homologs can occur in correlated concentrations. In such cases, single compounds may convey the same information as the homologs. In this study, we used behavioral bioassays to explore how social insects perceive and interpret different hydrocarbons. We tested the aggressive response of Argentine ants, Linepithema humile, toward nest-mate CHC profiles that were augmented with one of eight synthetic hydrocarbons that differed in branch position, chain length, or both. We found that Argentine ants showed similar levels of aggression toward nest-mate CHC profiles augmented with compounds that had the same branch position but differed in chain length. Conversely, Argentine ants displayed different levels of aggression toward nest-mate CHC profiles augmented with compounds that had different branch positions but the same chain length. While this was true in almost all cases, one CHC we tested elicited a greater aggressive response than its homologs. Interestingly, this was the only compound that did not occur naturally in correlated concentrations with its homologs in CHC profiles. Combined, these data suggest that CHCs of a homologous series elicit the same aggressive response because they convey the same information, rather than Argentine ants being unable to discriminate between different homologs. This study contributes to our understanding of the chemical basis of nestmate recognition by showing that, similar to spoken language, the chemical language of social insects contains âsynonyms,â chemicals that differ in structure, but not meaning
Friends and Foes from an Ant Brain's Point of View â Neuronal Correlates of Colony Odors in a Social Insect
Background: Successful cooperation depends on reliable identification of friends and foes. Social insects discriminate colony members (nestmates/friends) from foreign workers (non-nestmates/foes) by colony-specific, multi-component colony odors. Traditionally, complex processing in the brain has been regarded as crucial for colony recognition. Odor information is represented as spatial patterns of activity and processed in the primary olfactory neuropile, the antennal lobe (AL) of insects, which is analogous to the vertebrate olfactory bulb. Correlative evidence indicates that the spatial activity patterns reflect odor-quality, i.e., how an odor is perceived. For colony odors, alternatively, a sensory filter in the peripheral nervous system was suggested, causing specific anosmia to nestmate colony odors. Here, we investigate neuronal correlates of colony odors in the brain of a social insect to directly test whether they are anosmic to nestmate colony odors and whether spatial activity patterns in the AL can predict how odor qualities like ââfriendââ and ââfoeââ are attributed to colony odors. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using ant dummies that mimic natural conditions, we presented colony odors and investigated their neuronal representation in the ant Camponotus floridanus. Nestmate and non-nestmate colony odors elicited neuronal activity: In the periphery, we recorded sensory responses of olfactory receptor neurons (electroantennography), and in the brain, we measured colony odor specific spatial activity patterns in the AL (calcium imaging). Surprisingly, upon repeated stimulation with the same colony odor, spatial activity patterns were variable, and as variable as activity patterns elicited by different colony odors. Conclusions: Ants are not anosmic to nestmate colony odors. However, spatial activity patterns in the AL alone do not provide sufficient information for colony odor discrimination and this finding challenges the current notion of how odor quality is coded. Our result illustrates the enormous challenge for the nervous system to classify multi-component odors and indicates that other neuronal parameters, e.g., precise timing of neuronal activity, are likely necessary for attribution of odor quality to multi-component odors
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