Possible Excitonic Phase of Graphite in the Quantum Limit State

The in-plane resistivity, Hall resistivity and magnetization of graphite were investigated in pulsed magnetic fields applied along the \textit{c}-axis. The Hall resistivity approaches zero at around 53 T where the in-plane and out-of-plane resistivities steeply decrease. The differential magnetization also shows an anomaly at around this field with a similar amplitude compared to that of de Haas-van Alphen oscillations at lower fields. This transition field appears insensitive to disorder, but reduces with doping holes. These results suggest the realization of the quantum limit states above 53 T. As a plausible explanation for the observed gapped out-of-plane conduction above 53 T, the emergence of the excitonic BCS-like state in graphite is proposed.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

A cooling rate constraint on microtextural development of plagioclase and scapolite: an example from the Lutzow-Holm Complex, East Antarctica

Exsolution lamellae in albite-rich plagioclase and antiphase domains in scapolite from the Lutzow-Holm Complex of East Antarctica were found under a transmission electron microscope.These micro-textures were found in the first cooling period of the three period cooling model proposed from the geochronological data. Based on these micro-textures,the cooling rate of the complex was estimated to be in a range from several to thousands K/my. These rates are concordant with those estimated from the ages of the complex

Eruption style and crystal size distributions: Crystallization of groundmass nanolites in the 2011 Shinmoedake eruption

Crystallization of groundmass minerals may record the physicochemical conditions of magmatic processes upon eruption and is thus a topic of interdisciplinary research in the disciplines of mineralogy, petrology, and volcanology. Recent studies have reported that the groundmass crystals of some volcanic rocks exhibit a break in their crystal size distribution (CSD) slopes that range from a few micrometers to hundreds of nanometers. The crystals consisting of the finer parts of the break were defined as nanolites. In this study, we report the presence of nanometer-scale crystals down to 1 nm in the pyroclasts of the 2011 eruption of Shinmoedake, the Kirishima volcano group, based on field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We discovered a gap (hiatus) from ~100 to ~30 nm in the size distribution of pyroxene in a dense juvenile fragment of a vulcanian explosion. The pyroxene crystals ~20–30 nm on a diameter were ferroaugite (C2/c), while those a few hundred nanometers in width had a composite structure consisting of the domains of orthopyroxene (Pbca), augite (C2/c), and sub-calcic augite (C2/c). In high-angle annular dark-field scanning TEM images of the same sample, bright spots ~1–2 nm in diameter were recognized with a gap in size from ~10–20 nm titanomagnetite (Fd, 3m). They are presumed to have Fe-rich compositions, although their phases were too small to be determined. In addition, we found that crystals smaller than a few tens of nanometers for pyroxene and 100 nm for plagioclase did not exist or their number densities were too low for accurate determination. This indicates that there are practical minimum sizes of the crystals. These observations show that nucleation of the nanoscale crystals almost paused (froze) in the late stage of groundmass crystallization, possibly due to a decrease in undercooling, increase in interfacial free energy, and decrease in diffusivity in a dehydrated melt, whereas crystal growth was mostly continuous. In this paper, we introduce the novel term “ultrananolite, ” to refer to crystals smaller than 30 nm in diameter, and redefine “nanolite” simply as those 30 nm to 1 μm in width, complementing the size interval of crystals in volcanic groundmass smaller than microlites (1–30 μm). In the transient nucleation process, the presence of subcritical size clusters is required. The observed ultrananolite-sized particles might partly include subcritical clusters. The difference in the slope of CSDs, presence of gaps in size distribution, and minimum crystal size among the eruption styles of the 2011 Shinmoedake eruption may be interpreted by considering the difference in magma residence time and fragmentation pressure in the shallow conduit, and possibly the rewelding process in the crater