Binding between endohedral Na atoms in Si clathrate I; a first principles study

We investigate the binding nature of the endohedral sodium atoms with the ensity functional theory methods, presuming that the clathrate I consists of a sheaf of one-dimensional connections of Na@Si$_{24}$ cages interleaved in three perpendicular directions. Each sodium atom loses 30% of the 3s$^1$ charge to the frame, forming an ionic bond with the cage atoms; the rest of the electron contributes to the covalent bond between the nearest Na atoms. The presumption is proved to be valid; the configuration of the two Na atoms in the nearest Si$_{24}$ cages is more stable by 0.189 eV than that in the Si$_{20}$ and Si$_{24}$ cages. The energy of the beads of the two distorted Na atoms is more stable by 0.104 eV than that of the two infinitely separated Na atoms. The covalent bond explains both the preferential occupancies in the Si$_{24}$ cages and the low anisotropic displacement parameters of the endohedral atoms in the Si$_{24}$ cages in the [100] directions of the clathrate I.Comment: First page: Affiliation added to PDF and PS versio

Actin: its cumbersome pilgrimage through cellular compartments

In this article, we follow the history of one of the most abundant, most intensely studied proteins of the eukaryotic cells: actin. We report on hallmarks of its discovery, its structural and functional characterization and localization over time, and point to present days’ knowledge on its position as a member of a large family. We focus on the rather puzzling number of diverse functions as proposed for actin as a dual compartment protein. Finally, we venture on some speculations as to its origin

ExoClock Project III: 450 new exoplanet ephemerides from ground and space observations

The ExoClock project has been created with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by continuously monitoring and updating the ephemerides of Ariel candidates over an extended period, in order to produce a consistent catalogue of reliable and precise ephemerides. This work presents a homogenous catalogue of updated ephemerides for 450 planets, generated by the integration of $\sim$18000 data points from multiple sources. These sources include observations from ground-based telescopes (ExoClock network and ETD), mid-time values from the literature and light-curves from space telescopes (Kepler/K2 and TESS). With all the above, we manage to collect observations for half of the post-discovery years (median), with data that have a median uncertainty less than one minute. In comparison with literature, the ephemerides generated by the project are more precise and less biased. More than 40\% of the initial literature ephemerides had to be updated to reach the goals of the project, as they were either of low precision or drifting. Moreover, the integrated approach of the project enables both the monitoring of the majority of the Ariel candidates (95\%), and also the identification of missing data. The dedicated ExoClock network effectively supports this task by contributing additional observations when a gap in the data is identified. These results highlight the need for continuous monitoring to increase the observing coverage of the candidate planets. Finally, the extended observing coverage of planets allows us to detect trends (TTVs - Transit Timing Variations) for a sample of 19 planets. All products, data, and codes used in this work are open and accessible to the wider scientific community.Comment: Recommended for publication to ApJS (reviewer's comments implemented). Main body: 13 pages, total: 77 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables. Data available at http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/P298

ExoClock Project. III. 450 New Exoplanet Ephemerides from Ground and Space Observations

The ExoClock project has been created to increase the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by continuously monitoring and updating the ephemerides of Ariel candidates, in order to produce a consistent catalog of reliable and precise ephemerides. This work presents a homogenous catalog of updated ephemerides for 450 planets, generated by the integration of ∼18,000 data points from multiple sources. These sources include observations from ground-based telescopes (the ExoClock network and the Exoplanet Transit Database), midtime values from the literature, and light curves from space telescopes (Kepler, K2, and TESS). With all the above, we manage to collect observations for half of the postdiscovery years (median), with data that have a median uncertainty less than 1 minute. In comparison with the literature, the ephemerides generated by the project are more precise and less biased. More than 40% of the initial literature ephemerides had to be updated to reach the goals of the project, as they were either of low precision or drifting. Moreover, the integrated approach of the project enables both the monitoring of the majority of the Ariel candidates (95%), and also the identification of missing data. These results highlight the need for continuous monitoring to increase the observing coverage of the candidate planets. Finally, the extended observing coverage of planets allows us to detect trends (transit-timing variations) for a sample of 19 planets. All the products, data, and codes used in this work are open and accessible to the wider scientific community

study of the site ordering in the

Site ordering of the β-\chem{Sn} phase of \chem{GaSb} is studied in the framework of the density functional formalism. Different order configurations are compared in order to elucidate the local structure of the β-\chem{Sn} phase of \chem{GaSb}. This theoretical work confirms the latest EXAFS results where a local chemical disorder was observed

A comparative theoretical study of the Peierls distortion in type-II alkaline-doped clathrates

We show that a Peierls distortion may occur in expanded metals. When the sodium is expanded it undergoes a symmetry breaking and diatomic molecules are formed. This phenomenon is a result of an electronic instability mechanism. As shown by recent EXAFS experiments, sodium atoms included in chlathrate cages do not stay at the center of the cages. We describe this distortion by two very different methods: an ab initio study based on the local density approximation of the density-functional theory and a tight-binding description. This study is also extended to the other alkaline-doped silicon clathrates. This dimerization process is related to hydrogen dimer existence

Bromine metallization studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

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