Sub-arcsecond Morphology of Planetary Nebulae

Planetary nebulae (PNe) can be roughly categorized into several broad morphological classes. The high quality images of PNe acquired in recent years, however, have revealed a wealth of fine structures that preclude simplistic models for their formation. Here we present narrow-band, sub-arcsecond images of a sample of relatively large PNe that illustrate the complexity and variety of small-scale structures. This is especially true for bipolar PNe, for which the images reveal multi-polar ejections and, in some cases, suggest turbulent gas motions. Our images also reveal the presence or signs of jet-like outflows in several objects in which this kind of component has not been previously reported.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in PAS

On-off intermittency and amplitude-phase synchronization in Keplerian shear flows

We study the development of coherent structures in local simulations of the magnetorotational instability in accretion discs in regimes of on-off intermittency. In a previous paper [Chian et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 254102 (2010)], we have shown that the laminar and bursty states due to the on-off spatiotemporal intermittency in a one-dimensional model of nonlinear waves correspond, respectively, to nonattracting coherent structures with higher and lower degrees of amplitude-phase synchronization. In this paper we extend these results to a three-dimensional model of magnetized Keplerian shear flows. Keeping the kinetic Reynolds number and the magnetic Prandtl number fixed, we investigate two different intermittent regimes by varying the plasma beta parameter. The first regime is characterized by turbulent patterns interrupted by the recurrent emergence of a large-scale coherent structure known as two-channel flow, where the state of the system can be described by a single Fourier mode. The second regime is dominated by the turbulence with sporadic emergence of coherent structures with shapes that are reminiscent of a perturbed channel flow. By computing the Fourier power and phase spectral entropies in three-dimensions, we show that the large-scale coherent structures are characterized by a high degree of amplitude-phase synchronization.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Emergent SU(3) symmetry in random spin-1 chains

We show that generic SU(2)-invariant random spin-1 chains have phases with an emergent SU(3) symmetry. We map out the full zero-temperature phase diagram and identify two different phases: (i) a conventional random singlet phase (RSP) of strongly bound spin pairs (SU(3) "mesons") and (ii) an unconventional RSP of bound SU(3) "baryons", which are formed, in the great majority, by spin trios located at random positions. The emergent SU(3) symmetry dictates that susceptibilities and correlation functions of both dipolar and quadrupolar spin operators have the same asymptotic behavior.Comment: 5 pages plus 3-page Supplemental Material, 5 figures; published versio

Emergent SU(N) symmetry in disordered SO(N) spin chains

Strongly disordered spin chains invariant under the SO(N) group are shown to display random-singlet phases with emergent SU(N) symmetry without fine tuning. The phases with emergent SU(N) symmetry are of two kinds: one has a ground state formed of randomly distributed singlets of strongly bound pairs of SO(N) spins (a `mesonic' phase), while the other has a ground state composed of singlets made out of strongly bound integer multiples of N SO(N) spins (a `baryonic' phase). The established mechanism is general and we put forward the cases of $\mathrm{N}=2,3,4$ and $6$ as prime candidates for experimental realizations in material compounds and cold-atoms systems. We display universal temperature scaling and critical exponents for susceptibilities distinguishing these phases and characterizing the enlarging of the microscopic symmetries at low energies.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to the Topical Issue "Recent Advances in the Theory of Disordered Systems", edited by Ferenc Igl\'oi and Heiko Riege

Highly-symmetric random one-dimensional spin models

The interplay of disorder and interactions is a challenging topic of condensed matter physics, where correlations are crucial and exotic phases develop. In one spatial dimension, a particularly successful method to analyze such problems is the strong-disorder renormalization group (SDRG). This method, which is asymptotically exact in the limit of large disorder, has been successfully employed in the study of several phases of random magnetic chains. Here we develop an SDRG scheme capable to provide in-depth information on a large class of strongly disordered one-dimensional magnetic chains with a global invariance under a generic continuous group. Our methodology can be applied to any Lie-algebra valued spin Hamiltonian, in any representation. As examples, we focus on the physically relevant cases of SO(N) and Sp(N) magnetism, showing the existence of different randomness-dominated phases. These phases display emergent SU(N) symmetry at low energies and fall in two distinct classes, with meson-like or baryon-like characteristics. Our methodology is here explained in detail and helps to shed light on a general mechanism for symmetry emergence in disordered systems.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figure

Inter- and intra-layer excitons in MoS2_2/WS2_2 and MoSe2_2/WSe2_2 heterobilayers

Accurately described excitonic properties of transition metal dichalcogenide heterobilayers (HBLs) are crucial to comprehend the optical response and the charge carrier dynamics of them. Excitons in multilayer systems posses inter or intralayer character whose spectral positions depend on their binding energy and the band alignment of the constituent single-layers. In this study, we report the electronic structure and the absorption spectra of MoS$_2$/WS$_2$ and MoSe$_2$/WSe$_2$ HBLs from first-principles calculations. We explore the spectral positions, binding energies and the origins of inter and intralayer excitons and compare our results with experimental observations. The absorption spectra of the systems are obtained by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation on top of a G$_0$W$_0$ calculation which corrects the independent particle eigenvalues obtained from density functional theory calculations. Our calculations reveal that the lowest energy exciton in both HBLs possesses interlayer character which is decisive regarding their possible device applications. Due to the spatially separated nature of the charge carriers, the binding energy of inter-layer excitons might be expected to be considerably smaller than that of intra-layer ones. However, according to our calculations the binding energy of lowest energy interlayer excitons is only $\sim$ 20\% lower due to the weaker screening of the Coulomb interaction between layers of the HBLs. Therefore, it can be deduced that the spectral positions of the interlayer excitons with respect to intralayer ones are mostly determined by the band offset of the constituent single-layers. By comparing oscillator strengths and thermal occupation factors, we show that in luminescence at low temperature, the interlayer exciton peak becomes dominant, while in absorption it is almost invisible.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure