608 research outputs found
Electrical transport properties of nanostructured ferromagnetic perovskite oxides La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO_3 and La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO_3 at low temperatures (5 K > T >0.3 K) and high magnetic field
We report a comprehensive study of the electrical and magneto-transport
properties of nanocrystals of La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO_3 (LCMO) (with size down to 15
nm) and La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO_3 (LSCO) (with size down to 35 nm) in the temperature
range 0.3 K to 5 K and magnetic fields upto 14 T. The transport,
magnetotransport and non-linear conduction (I-V curves) were analysed using the
concept of Spin Polarized Tunnelling in the presence of Coulomb blockade. The
activation energy of transport, \Delta, was used to estimate the tunnelling
distances and the inverse decay length of the tunnelling wave function (\chi)
and the height of the tunnelling barrier (\Phi_B). The magnetotransport data
were used to find out the magnetic field dependences of these tunnelling
parameters. The data taken over a large magnetic field range allowed us to
separate out the MR contributions at low temperatures arising from tunnelling
into two distinct contributions. In LCMO, at low magnetic field, the transport
and the MR are dominated by the spin polarization, while at higher magnetic
field the MR arises from the lowering of the tunnel barrier by the magnetic
field leading to an MR that does not saturate even at 14 T. In contrast, in
LSCO, which does not have substantial spin polarization, the first contribution
at low field is absent, while the second contribution related to the barrier
height persists. The idea of inter-grain tunnelling has been validated by
direct measurements of the non-linear I-V data in this temperature range and
the I-V data was found to be strongly dependent on magnetic field. We made the
important observation that a gap like feature (with magnitude ~ E_C, the
Coulomb charging energy) shows up in the conductance g(V) at low bias for the
systems with smallest nanocrystal size at lowest temperatures (T < 0.7 K). The
gap closes as the magnetic field and the temperature are increased.Comment: 13 figure
HST/ACS observations of shell galaxies: inner shells, shell colours and dust
AIM:Learn more about the origin of shells and dust in early type galaxies.
METHOD: V-I colours of shells and underlying galaxies are derived, using HST
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) data. A galaxy model is made locally in
wedges and subtracted to determine shell profiles and colours. We applied
Voronoi binning to our data to get smoothed colour maps of the galaxies.
Comparison with N-body simulations from the literature gives more insight to
the origin of the shell features. Shell positions and dust characteristics are
inferred from model galaxy subtracted images. RESULT: The ACS images reveal
shells well within the effective radius in some galaxies (at 1.7 kpc in the
case of NGC 5982). In some cases, strong nuclear dust patches prevent detection
of inner shells. Most shells have colours which are similar to the underlying
galaxy. Some inner shells are redder than the galaxy. All six shell galaxies
show out of dynamical equilibrium dust features, like lanes or patches, in
their central regions. Our detection rate for dust in the shell ellipticals is
greater than that found from HST archive data for a sample of normal early-type
galaxies, at the 95% confidence level. CONCLUSIONS: The merger model describes
better the shell distributions and morphologies than the interaction model. Red
shell colours are most likely due to the presence of dust and/or older stellar
populations. The high prevalence and out of dynamical equilibrium morphologies
of the central dust features point towards external influences being
responsible for visible dust features in early type shell galaxies. Inner
shells are able to manifest themselves in relatively old shell systems.Comment: accepted by A&A; 36 Figures, 25 pages. A version with full resolution
Figures can be found here: http://www.astro.rug.nl/~sikkema/shells.p
Nanosized Sodium-Doped Lanthanum Manganites: Role of the Synthetic Route on their Physical Properties
In this paper we present the results of the synthesis and characterisation of
nanocrystalline La1-xNaxMnO3+delta samples. Two synthetic routes were employed:
polyacrylamide-based sol-gel and propellant synthesis. Pure, single phase
materials were obtained with grain size around 35 nm for the sol-gel samples
and around 55 nm for the propellant ones, which moreover present a more broaden
grain size distribution. For both series a superparamagnetic behaviour was
evidenced by means of magnetisation and EPR measurements with peculiar features
ascribable to the different grain sizes and morphology. Preliminary
magnetoresistivity measurements show enhanced low-field (< 1 T)
magnetoresistance values which suggest an interesting applicative use of these
manganites.Comment: 31 Pages 10 Figures to appear in Chem. Mate
Magnetic fields in cluster cores: Faraday rotation in A400 and A2634
We present Faraday rotation data for radio sources in the centers of the
Abell clusters A400 and A2634. These clusters contain large (> 100 kpc), tailed
radio sources, each attached to the central cD galaxy. These clusters do not
have strong cooling cores. Our data extend previous work on rotation measure in
cluster centers to larger scales and non-cooling clusters. The rotation
measure, and thus the magnetic field, is ordered on scales 10-20 kpc in both
clusters. The geometry of the rotation measure appears to be determined by the
distribution of the X-ray emitting gas, rather than by the radio tails
themselves. We combine our data with previously published X-ray and radio data
in order to analyze the magnetic fields in all 12 clusters whose central radio
sources have been imaged in rotation measure. We find that the fields are
dynamically significant in most clusters. We argue that the Faraday data
measure fields in the intracluster medium, rather than in a skin of the radio
source. Finally, we consider the nature and maintenance of the magnetic fields
in these clusters, and conclude that either the cluster-wide field exists at
similar levels, or that a weaker cluster-wide field is amplified by effects in
the core.Comment: Accepted for ApJ. 43 pages including 10 embedded figures. Higher
resolution versions of the figures available at
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~jeilek/pubs/Eilekpub.htm
Barred Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
We use ACS data from the HST Treasury survey of the Coma cluster (z~0.02) to
study the properties of barred galaxies in the Coma core, the densest
environment in the nearby Universe. This study provides a complementary data
point for studies of barred galaxies as a function of redshift and environment.
From ~470 cluster members brighter than M_I = -11 mag, we select a sample of
46 disk galaxies (S0--Im) based on visual classification. The sample is
dominated by S0s for which we find an optical bar fraction of 47+/-11% through
ellipse fitting and visual inspection. Among the bars in the core of the Coma
cluster, we do not find any very large (a_bar > 2 kpc) bars. Comparison to
other studies reveals that while the optical bar fraction for S0s shows only a
modest variation across low-to-intermediate density environments (field to
intermediate-density clusters), it can be higher by up to a factor of ~2 in the
very high-density environment of the rich Coma cluster core.Comment: Proceedings of the Bash symposium, to appear in the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific Conference Series, eds. L. Stanford, L. Hao, Y. Mao,
J. Gree
The galaxy major merger fraction to z ~ 1
Aims. The importance of disc-disc major mergers in galaxy evolution remains uncertain. We study the major merger fraction in a SPITZER/IRAC-selected catalogue in the GOODS-S field up to z ~ 1 for luminosity- and mass-limited samples. Methods. We select disc-disc merger remnants on the basis of morphological asymmetries/distortions, and address three main sources of systematic errors: (i) we explicitly apply morphological K-corrections; (ii) we measure asymmetries in galaxies artificially redshifted to z_d = 1.0 to deal with loss of morphological information with redshift; and (iii) we take into account the observational errors in z and A, which tend to overestimate the merger fraction, though use of maximum likelihood techniques. Results. We obtain morphological merger fractions (f_m^mph) below 0.06 up to z ~ 1. Parameterizing the merger fraction evolution with redshift as f_m^mph (z) = f_m^mph (0)(1 + z)^m, we find that m = 1.8 ± 0.5 for M(B)≤ -20 galaxies, while m = 5.4 ± 0.4 for M_* ≥ 10^10 M_⨀ galaxies. When we translate our merger fractions to merger rates (R_m^mph), their evolution, parameterized as R_m^mph (z) = R_m^mph (0)(1+ z)^n, is quite similar in both cases: n = 3.3 ± 0.8 for M(B) ≤ -20 galaxies, and n = 3.5 ± 0.4 for M_* ≥10^10 M_⨀ galaxies. Conclusions. Our results imply that only similar to 8% of today's M(star) ≥ 10^10 M_⨀ galaxies have undergone a disc-disc major merger since z ~ 1. In addition, ~ 21% of M_* ≥ 10(10) M_⨀ galaxies at z ~ 1 have undergone one of these mergers since z similar to 1.5. This suggests that disc-disc major mergers are not the dominant process in the evolution of M_* ≥ 10(10) M_⨀ galaxies since z 1, with only 0.2 disc-disc major mergers per galaxy, but may be an important process at z > 1, with ~ 1 merger per galaxy at 1 < z < 3
Critical magnetic behavior in [Ag8/Co0.5]x64, [Ag8/Co1]x32 and [Ag16/Co1]x32 epitaxial multilayers
We investigate the low temperature magnetic behavior of three epitaxial Co/Ag multilayers, grown onto MgO (001) substrates, with a nominal content per period of either half a monolayer or one monolayer of Co, and either 8 or 16 Ag monolayers. The samples were studied by X-ray reflectivity and diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, magnetometry and ac susceptometry. The results indicated a well defined stacking sequence in the growth direction, the number of periods and of Ag monolayers per period being coincident with the nominal values for each sample. The Co layers were found to be discontinuous and corresponded to a quasi-monodisperse in-plane distribution of Co nanoparticles embedded in a Ag(001) matrix. The zero-field cooled and field cooled temperature variations of the low field magnetization indicated the presence of irreversibilities at temperatures below 20 K. The ac field frequency (f) and temperature (T) dependencies of the real part of the susceptibility (¿') corresponded to a Vogel-Fulcher behavior in the three samples, and indicated a frequency shift parameter (G) of the order of 4 x 10-2. For each sample, the experimental data corresponding to the variations of the imaginary part of the ac susceptibility (¿¿) with f and T were found to collapse into a single curve according to the dynamic scaling law. Taken together, these results allow us to conclude that the three multilayers experience a phase transition of the paramagnetic to superspin glass type, driven by the dipolar interactions between the Co nanoparticles. Regarding the influence of the multilayer features, we found a clear dependence of the order parameter of the transition on the nominal number of Co monolayers per period
Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling and Dissipation of Domain Wall in Ferromagnetic Metals
The depinning of a domain wall in ferromagentic metal via macroscopic quantum
tunneling is studied based on the Hubbard model. The dynamics of the
magnetization verctor is shown to be governed by an effective action of
Heisenberg model with a term non-local in time that describes the dissipation
due to the conduction electron. Due to the existence of the Fermi surface there
exists Ohmic dissipation even at zero temperature, which is crucially different
from the case of the insulator. Taking into account the effect of pinning and
the external magnetic field the action is rewritten in terms of a collective
coordinate, the position of the wall, . The tunneling rate for is
calculated by use of the instanton method. It is found that the reduction of
the tunneling rate due to the dissipation is very large for a thin domain wall
with thickness of a few times the lattice spacing, but is negligible for a
thick domain wall. Dissipation due to eddy current is shown to be negligible
for a wall of mesoscopic size.Comment: of pages 26, to appear in "Quantum Tunneling of Magnetization, ed. B.
Barbara and L. Gunther (Kluwer Academic Pub.), Figures available by FAX
(81-48-462-4649
Estimating black hole masses of blazars
Estimating black hole masses of blazars is still a big challenge. Because of
the contamination of jets, using the previously suggested size -- continuum
luminosity relation can overestimate the broad line region (BLR) size and black
hole mass for radio-loud AGNs, including blazars. We propose a new relation
between the BLR size and emission line luminosity and present
evidences for using it to get more accurate black hole masses of radio-loud
AGNs. For extremely radio-loud AGNs such as blazars with weak/absent emission
lines, we suggest to use the fundamental plane relation of their elliptical
host galaxies to estimate the central velocity dispersions and black hole
masses, if their velocity dispersions are not known but the host galaxies can
be mapped. The black hole masses of some well-known blazars, such as OJ 287, AO
0235+164 and 3C 66B, are obtained using these two methods and the M -
relation. The implications of their black hole masses on other related studies
are also discussed.Comment: 7 pages, invited talk presented in the workshop on Multiwavelength
Variability of Blazars (Guangzhou, China, Sept. 22-24, 2010). To be published
in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronom
Hickson 62.I. Kinematics of NGC4778
Detailed studies of the photometric and kinematical properties of compact
groups of galaxies are crucial to understand the physics of galaxy interactions
and to shed light on some aspects of galaxy formation and evolution. In this
paper we present a kinematical and photometrical study of a member, NGC4778, of
the nearest (z=0.0137) compact group: Hickson 62.
Aims: The aim of this work was to investigate the existence of kinematical
anomalies in the brightest group member, NGC4778 in order to constrain the
dynamical status and the formation history of the group.
Methods: We used long-slit spectra obtained with FORS1 at VLT, to measure
line-of-sight velocity distributions by means of the Fourier Correlation
Quotient method, and to derive the galaxy rotation curve and velocity
dispersion profile.
Results: Our analysis reveals that Hickson 62a, also known as NGC4778, is an
S0 galaxy with kinematical and morphological peculiarities, both in its central
regions (r < 5'') and in the outer halo. In the central regions, the rotation
curve shows the existence of a kinematically decoupled stellar component,
offset with respect to the photometric center. In the outer halo we find an
asymmetric rotation curve and a velocity dispersion profile showing a rise on
the SW side, in direction of the galaxy NGC4776.
Conclusions: The nuclear counterrotation, the distorted kinematics in the
outer halo and the X-ray properties of the group suggest that NGC4778 may be
the product of a recent minor merger, more reliable with a small late-type
galaxy.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for pubblication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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