112 research outputs found
Quasiperiodic ordering in thick Sn layer on -Al-Pd-Mn: A possible quasicrystalline clathrate
Realization of an elemental solid-state quasicrystal has remained a distant
dream so far in spite of extensive work in this direction for almost two
decades. Here, we report the discovery of quasiperiodic ordering in a thick
layer of elemental Sn grown on icosahedral ()-Al-Pd-Mn. The STM images and
the LEED patterns of the Sn layer show specific structural signatures that
portray quasiperiodicity but are distinct from the substrate. Photoemission
spectroscopy reveals the existence of the pseudogap around the Fermi energy up
to the maximal Sn thickness. The structure of the Sn layer is modeled as a
novel form of quasicrystalline clathrate on the basis of the following:
Firstly, from ab-initio theory, the energy of bulk Sn clathrate quasicrystal is
lower than the high temperature metallic -Sn phase, but higher than the
low temperature -Sn phase. A comparative study of the free slab
energetics shows that surface energy favors clathrate over -Sn up to
about 4 nm layer thickness, and matches -Sn for narrow window of slab
thickness of 2-3 nm. Secondly, the bulk clathrate exhibits gap opening near
Fermi energy, while the free slab form exhibits a pronouced pseudogap, which
explains the pseudogap observed in photoemission. Thirdly, the STM images
exhibit good agreement with clathrate model. We establish the adlayer-substrate
compatibility based on very similar (within 1%) the cage-cage separation in the
Sn clathrate and the pseudo-Mackay cluster-cluster separation on the
-Al-Pd-Mn surface. Furthermore, the nucleation centers of the Sn adlayer on
the substrate are identified and these are shown to be a valid part of the Sn
clathrate structure. Thus, based on both experiment and theory, we propose that
4 nm thick Sn adlayer deposited on 5-fold surface of -Al-Pd-Mn substrate is
in fact a metastable realization of elemental, clathrate family quasicrystal.Comment: 10 figures in the Manuscript and the 8 figures in the Supplementary
materia
Transition-metal interactions in aluminum-rich intermetallics
The extension of the first-principles generalized pseudopotential theory
(GPT) to transition-metal (TM) aluminides produces pair and many-body
interactions that allow efficient calculations of total energies. In
aluminum-rich systems treated at the pair-potential level, one practical
limitation is a transition-metal over-binding that creates an unrealistic TM-TM
attraction at short separations in the absence of balancing many-body
contributions. Even with this limitation, the GPT pair potentials have been
used effectively in total-energy calculations for Al-TM systems with TM atoms
at separations greater than 4 AA. An additional potential term may be added for
systems with shorter TM atom separations, formally folding repulsive
contributions of the three- and higher-body interactions into the pair
potentials, resulting in structure-dependent TM-TM potentials. Towards this
end, we have performed numerical ab-initio total-energy calculations using VASP
(Vienna Ab Initio Simulation Package) for an Al-Co-Ni compound in a particular
quasicrystalline approximant structure. The results allow us to fit a
short-ranged, many-body correction of the form a(r_0/r)^{b} to the GPT pair
potentials for Co-Co, Co-Ni, and Ni-Ni interactions.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Radial Velocity Studies of Close Binary Stars. XV
Radial-velocity measurements and sine-curve fits to the orbital radial
velocity variations are presented for the last eight close binary systems
analyzed the same way as in the previous papers of this series: QX And, DY Cet,
MR Del, HI Dra, DD Mon, V868 Mon, ER Ori, and Y Sex. For another seven systems
(TT Cet, AA Cet, CW Lyn, V563 Lyr, CW Sge, LV Vir and MW Vir) phase coverage is
insufficient to provide reliable orbits but radial velocities of individual
components were measured. Observations of a few complicated systems observed
throughout the DDO close-binary program are also presented; among them an
especially interesting is the multiple system V857 Her which - in addition to
the contact binary - very probably contains one or more sub-dwarf components of
much earlier spectral type. All suspected binaries which were found to be most
probably pulsating stars are briefly discussed in terms of mean radial
velocities and projected rotation velocities (v sin i) as well as spectral type
estimates. In two of them, CU CVn and V752 Mon, the broadening functions show a
clear presence of non-radial pulsations. The previously missing spectral types
for the DDO I paper are given here in addition to such estimates for most of
the program stars of this paper.Comment: submitted to A
Close binary stars in the solar-age Galactic open cluster M67
We present multi-colour time-series CCD photometry of the solar-age galactic
open cluster M67 (NGC 2682). About 3600 frames spread over 28 nights were
obtained with the 1.5 m Russian-Turkish and 1.2 m Mercator telescopes.
High-precision observations of the close binary stars AH Cnc, EV Cnc, ES Cnc,
the Scuti type systems EX Cnc and EW Cnc, and some long-period
variables belonging to M67 are presented. Three full multi-colour light curves
of the overcontact binary AH Cnc were obtained during three observing seasons.
Likewise we gathered three light curves of EV Cnc, an EB-type binary, and two
light curves of ES Cnc, a blue straggler binary. Parts of the light change of
long-term variables S1024, S1040, S1045, S1063, S1242, and S1264 are obtained.
Period variation analysis of AH Cnc, EV Cnc, and ES Cnc were done using all
times of mid-eclipse available in the literature and those obtained in this
study. In addition, we analyzed multi-colour light curves of the close binaries
and also determined new frequencies for the Scuti systems. The
physical parameters of the close binary stars were determined with simultaneous
solutions of multi-colour light and radial velocity curves. Finally we
determined the distance of M67 as 857(33) pc via binary star parameters, which
is consistent with an independent method from earlier studies.Comment: 12 pages, 9 Figures, 13 Table
Observation of the first gravitational microlensing event in a sparse stellar field : the Tago event
We report the observation of the first gravitational microlensing event in a
sparse stellar field, involving the brightest (V=11.4 mag) andclosest (~ 1 kpc)
source star to date. This event was discovered by an amateurastronomer, A.
Tago, on 2006 October 31 as a transient brightening, by ~4.5 mag during a ~15
day period, of a normal A-type star (GSC 3656-1328) in the Cassiopeia
constellation. Analysis of both spectroscopic observations and the light curve
indicates that this event was caused by gravitational microlensing rather than
an intrinsically variable star. Discovery of this single event over a 30 year
period is roughly consistent with the expected microlensing rate for the whole
sky down to V = 12 mag stars. However, the probability for finding events with
such a high magnification (~ 50) is much smaller, by a factor ~1/50, which
implies that the true event rate may be higher than expected. This discovery
indicates the potential of all sky variability surveys, employing frequent
sampling by telescopes with small apertures and wide fields of view, for
finding such rare transient events, and using the observations to explore
galactic disk structure and search for exo-planets.Comment: 13 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures, accepted by Ap
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