Fabrication of high quality plan-view TEM specimens using the focused ion beam

We describe a technique using a focused ion beam instrument to fabricate high quality plan-view specimens for transmission electron microscopy studies. The technique is simple, site-specific and is capable of fabricating multiple large, >100 μm2 electron transparent windows within epitaxially-grown thin films. A film of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 is used to demonstrate the technique and its structural and functional properties are surveyed by high resolution imaging, electron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and Lorentz electron microscopy. The window is demonstrated to have good thickness uniformity and a low defect density that does not impair the film’s Curie temperature. The technique will enable the study of in–plane structural and functional properties of a variety of epitaxial thin film systems

Magnetoluminescence

Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Blazars, Gamma Ray Bursts and Magnetars all contain regions where the electromagnetic energy density greatly exceeds the plasma energy density. These sources exhibit dramatic flaring activity where the electromagnetic energy distributed over large volumes, appears to be converted efficiently into high energy particles and gamma-rays. We call this general process magnetoluminescence. Global requirements on the underlying, extreme particle acceleration processes are described and the likely importance of relativistic beaming in enhancing the observed radiation from a flare is emphasized. Recent research on fluid descriptions of unstable electromagnetic configurations are summarized and progress on the associated kinetic simulations that are needed to account for the acceleration and radiation is discussed. Future observational, simulation and experimental opportunities are briefly summarized.Comment: To appear in "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release" of the Space Science Reviews serie

Theory and numerical evaluation of oddoids and evenoids: Oscillatory cuspoid integrals with odd and even polynomial phase functions

The properties of oscillating cuspoid integrals whose phase functions are odd and even polynomials are investigated. These integrals are called oddoids and evenoids, respectively (and collectively, oddenoids). We have studied in detail oddenoids whose phase functions contain up to three real parameters. For each oddenoid, we have obtained its Maclaurin series representation and investigated its relation to Airy-Hardy integrals and Bessel functions of fractional orders. We have used techniques from singularity theory to characterise the caustic (or bifurcation set) associated with each oddenoid, including the occurrence of complex whiskers. Plots and short tables of numerical values for the oddenoids are presented. The numerical calculations used the software package CUSPINT [N.P. Kirk, J.N.L. Connor, C.A. Hobbs, An adaptive contour code for the numerical evaluation of the oscillatory cuspoid canonical integrals and their derivatives, Comput. Phys. Commun. 132 (2000) 142-165]. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments

Magnetic reconnection is a basic plasma process of dramatic rearrangement of magnetic topology, often leading to a violent release of magnetic energy. It is important in magnetic fusion and in space and solar physics --- areas that have so far provided the context for most of reconnection research. Importantly, these environments consist just of electrons and ions and the dissipated energy always stays with the plasma. In contrast, in this paper I introduce a new direction of research, motivated by several important problems in high-energy astrophysics --- reconnection in high energy density (HED) radiative plasmas, where radiation pressure and radiative cooling become dominant factors in the pressure and energy balance. I identify the key processes distinguishing HED reconnection: special-relativistic effects; radiative effects (radiative cooling, radiation pressure, and Compton resistivity); and, at the most extreme end, QED effects, including pair creation. I then discuss the main astrophysical applications --- situations with magnetar-strength fields (exceeding the quantum critical field of about 4 x 10^13 G): giant SGR flares and magnetically-powered central engines and jets of GRBs. Here, magnetic energy density is so high that its dissipation heats the plasma to MeV temperatures. Electron-positron pairs are then copiously produced, making the reconnection layer highly collisional and dressing it in a thick pair coat that traps radiation. The pressure is dominated by radiation and pairs. Yet, radiation diffusion across the layer may be faster than the global Alfv\'en transit time; then, radiative cooling governs the thermodynamics and reconnection becomes a radiative transfer problem, greatly affected by the ultra-strong magnetic field. This overall picture is very different from our traditional picture of reconnection and thus represents a new frontier in reconnection research.Comment: Accepted to Space Science Reviews (special issue on magnetic reconnection). Article is based on an invited review talk at the Yosemite-2010 Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection (Yosemite NP, CA, USA; February 8-12, 2010). 30 pages, no figure

Unveiling hidden physics at the LHC

The field of particle physics is at the crossroads. The discovery of a Higgs-like boson completed the Standard Model (SM), but the lacking observation of convincing resonances Beyond the SM (BSM) offers no guidance for the future of particle physics. On the other hand, the motivation for New Physics has not diminished and is, in fact, reinforced by several striking anomalous results in many experiments. Here we summarise the status of the most significant anomalies, including the most recent results for the flavour anomalies, the multi-lepton anomalies at the LHC, the Higgs-like excess at around 96 GeV, and anomalies in neutrino physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and cosmic rays. While the LHC promises up to 4 ab of integrated luminosity and far-reaching physics programmes to unveil BSM physics, we consider the possibility that the latter could be tested with present data, but that systemic shortcomings of the experiments and their search strategies may preclude their discovery for several reasons, including: final states consisting in soft particles only, associated production processes, QCD-like final states, close-by SM resonances, and SUSY scenarios where no missing energy is produced. New search strategies could help to unveil the hidden BSM signatures, devised by making use of the CERN open data as a new testing ground. We discuss the CERN open data with its policies, challenges, and potential usefulness for the community. We showcase the example of the CMS collaboration, which is the only collaboration regularly releasing some of its data. We find it important to stress that individuals using public data for their own research does not imply competition with experimental efforts, but rather provides unique opportunities to give guidance for further BSM searches by the collaborations. Wide access to open data is paramount to fully exploit the LHCs potential.Acknowledgements We thank S. Kraml for useful comments. SK is supported by the Austrian Science Fund Elise-Richter grant project number V592-N27. ND acknowledges the support of Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India via the Ramanujan Fellowship SB/S2/RJN-070/2018. BB is supported by the ERC research grant NEO-NAT no. 669668. ZB is supported in part by the MIUR grant PRIN 2017X7X85K and in part by the SRNSF grant DI- 18-335. TH is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant No. DE-FG02-95ER40896. KC is supported in part by Taiwan Ministry of Sciences and Technology with grant number MoST- 110-2112-M-007-017-MY3. JT is supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement PHY-2019786 (The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions, http://iaifi.org/), and by the U.S. DOE Office of High Energy Physics under grant number DE-SC0012567. A.C. and C.A.M. acknowledge financial support by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Project No. PP00P2_176884. M.H. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Project No. PCEFP2_181117. MB is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under grant 396021762 – TRR 257. B.C. is supported by the Italian Ministry of Research (MIUR) under the Grant No. PRIN 20172LNEEZ. A.P. is supported by the SpanishGovernment and ERDF funds from the EU Commission [grant FPA2017-84445-P] and by the Generalitat Valenciana [grant Prometeo/2017/053]. BM and XR are grateful for support from the South African Department of Science and Innovation through the SA-CERN programme and the National Research Foundation for various forms of support. MK was supported by MIUR (Italy) under a contract PRIN 2015P5SBHT and by INFN Sezione di Roma La Sapienza and partially supported by the ERC- 2010 DaMESyFla Grant Agreement Number: 267985. Contribution by MB is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY-1913923. DM acknowledges support by MIUR grant PRIN 2017L5W2PT and the INFN grant SESAMO. The work of BD is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-SC0017987. GB acknowledges the support of the National Research Foundation of South Africa via Thuthuka grant no. 117969

Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths

We review observations of several classes of neutron-star-powered outflows: pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) inside shell supernova remnants (SNRs), PWNe interacting directly with interstellar medium (ISM), and magnetar-powered outflows. We describe radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray observations of PWNe, focusing first on integrated spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) and global spectral properties. High-resolution X-ray imaging of PWNe shows a bewildering array of morphologies, with jets, trails, and other structures. Several of the 23 so far identified magnetars show evidence for continuous or sporadic emission of material, sometimes associated with giant flares, and a few possible "magnetar-wind nebulae" have been recently identified.Comment: 61 pages, 44 figures (reduced in quality for size reasons). Published in Space Science Reviews, "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release