The gap amplification at a "shape resonance" in a superlattice of quantum stripes: a mechanism for high Tc

The amplification of the superconducting critical temperature Tc from the low temperature range in homogeneous 2D planes (Tc<23 K) to the high temperature range (23 K<Tc<150 K) in an artificial heterostructure of quantum stripes is calculated. The high Tc is obtained by tuning the chemical potential near the bottom of the nth subband at a "shape resonance", in a range, whithin the energy cutoff for the pairing interaction. The resonance for the gap at the nth "shape resonance" is studied for a free electron gas in the BCS approximation as a function of the stripe width L, and of the number of electrons {\rho} per unit surface. An amplification factor for coupling 0.1<{\lambda}<0.3 is obtained at the third shape resonance raising the critical temperature in the high Tc range.Comment: 9 pages 6 figure

Hot Spots on the Fermi Surface of Bi2212: Stripes versus Superstructure

In a recent paper Saini et al. have reported evidence for a pseudogap around (pi,0) at room temperature in the optimally doped superconductor Bi2212. This result is in contradiction with previous ARPES measurements. Furthermore they observed at certain points on the Fermi surface hot spots of high spectral intensity which they relate to the existence of stripes in the CuO planes. They also claim to have identified a new electronic band along Gamma-M1 whose one dimensional character provides further evidence for stripes. We demonstrate in this Comment that all the measured features can be simply understood by correctly considering the superstructure (umklapp) and shadow bands which occur in Bi2212.Comment: 1 page, revtex, 1 encapsulated postscript figure (color

Constraints on the Growth and Spin of the Supermassive Black Hole in M32 From High Cadence Visible Light Observations

We present 1-second cadence observations of M32 (NGC221) with the CHIMERA instrument at the Hale 200-inch telescope of the Palomar Observatory. Using field stars as a baseline for relative photometry, we are able to construct a light curve of the nucleus in the g-prime and r-prime band with 1sigma=36 milli-mag photometric stability. We derive a temporal power spectrum for the nucleus and find no evidence for a time-variable signal above the noise as would be expected if the nuclear black hole were accreting gas. Thus, we are unable to constrain the spin of the black hole although future work will use this powerful instrument to target more actively accreting black holes. Given the black hole mass of (2.5+/-0.5)*10^6 Msun inferred from stellar kinematics, the absence of a contribution from a nuclear time-variable signal places an upper limit on the accretion rate which is 4.6*10^{-8} of the Eddington rate, a factor of two more stringent than past upper limits from HST. The low mass of the black hole despite the high stellar density suggests that the gas liberated by stellar interactions was primarily at early cosmic times when the low-mass black hole had a small Eddington luminosity. This is at least partly driven by a top-heavy stellar initial mass function at early cosmic times which is an efficient producer of stellar mass black holes. The implication is that supermassive black holes likely arise from seeds formed through the coalescence of 3-100 Msun mass black holes that then accrete gas produced through stellar interaction processes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, comments welcom

Effect of Ru susbstitution on atomic displacements in the layered SmFe_{1-x}Ru_xAsO_{0.85}F_{0.15} superconductor

The effect of Ru substitution on the local structure of layered SmFe$_{1-x}$Ru$_x$AsO$_{0.85}$F$_{0.15}$ superconductor has been studied by As $K$- and Sm $L_3$ - edges x-ray-absorption spectroscopy. The extended x-ray-absorption fine-structure measurements reveal distinct Fe-As and Ru-As bondlengths in the Ru substituted samples with the latter being $\sim$0.03 \AA\ longer. Local disorder induced by the Ru substitution is mainly confined to the FeAs layer while the SmO spacer layer sustains a relative order, consistent with the x-ray-absorption near-edge structure spectra. The results suggest that, in addition to the order/disorder in the active active iron-arsenide layer, its coupling to the rare-earth\textminus oxygen spacer layer needs to be considered for describing the electronic properties of these layered superconductors

Coexistence of localized and itinerant electrons in BaFe2X3 (X = S and Se) revealed by photoemission spectroscopy

We report a photoemission study at room temperature on BaFe2X3 (X = S and Se) and CsFe2Se3 in which two-leg ladders are formed by the Fe sites. The Fe 2p core-level peaks of BaFe2X3 are broad and exhibit two components, indicating that itinerant and localized Fe 3d sites coexist similar to KxFe2-ySe2. The Fe 2p core-level peak of CsFe2Se3 is rather sharp and is accompanied by a charge-transfer satellite. The insulating ground state of CsFe2Se3 can be viewed as a Fe2+ Mott insulator in spite of the formal valence of +2.5. The itinerant versus localized behaviors can be associated with the stability of chalcogen p holes in the two-leg ladder structure.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Accepted in publication for Physical Review

Temperature dependence of iron local magnetic moment in phase-separated superconducting chalcogenide

We have studied local magnetic moment and electronic phase separation in superconducting K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ by x-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy. Detailed temperature dependent measurements at the Fe K-edge have revealed coexisting electronic phases and their correlation with the transport properties. By cooling down, the local magnetic moment of Fe shows a sharp drop across the superconducting transition temperature (T$_c$) and the coexisting phases exchange spectral weights with the low spin state gaining intensity at the expense of the higher spin state. After annealing the sample across the iron-vacancy order temperature, the system does not recover the initial state and the spectral weight anomaly at T$_c$ as well as superconductivity disappear. The results clearly underline that the coexistence of the low spin and high spin phases and the transitions between them provide unusual magnetic fluctuations and have a fundamental role in the superconducting mechanism of electronically inhomogeneous K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ system.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Local structure of REFeAsO (RE=La, Pr, Nd, Sm) oxypnictides studied by Fe K-edge EXAFS

Local structure of REOFeAs (RE=La, Pr, Nd, Sm) system has been studied as a function of chemical pressure varied due to different rare-earth size. Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements in the fluorescence mode has permitted to compare systematically the inter-atomic distances and their mean square relative displacements (MSRD). We find that the Fe-As bond length and the corresponding MSRD hardly show any change, suggesting the strongly covalent nature of this bond, while the Fe-Fe and Fe-RE bond lengths decrease with decreasing rare earth size. The results provide important information on the atomic correlations that could have direct implication on the superconductivity and magnetism of REOFeAs system, with the chemical pressure being a key ingredient

Soft x-rays absorption and high-resolution powder x-ray diffraction study of superconducting CaxLa(1-x)Ba(1.75-x)La(0.25+x)Cu3Oy system

We have studied the electronic structure of unoccupied states measured by O K-edge and Cu L-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), combined with crystal structure studied by high resolution powder x-ray diffraction (HRPXRD), of charge-compensated layered superconducting CaxLa(1-x)Ba(1.75-x)La(0.25+x)Cu3Oy (0<x<0.4, 6.4<y<7.3) cuprate. A detailed analysis shows that, apart from hole doping, chemical pressure on the electronically active CuO2 plane due to the lattice mismatch with the spacer layers greatly influences the superconducting properties of this system. The results suggest chemical pressure to be the most plausible parameter to control the maximum critical temperatures (Tcmax) in different cuprate families at optimum hole density.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solid