Influence of antisymmetric exchange interaction on quantum tunneling of magnetization in a dimeric molecular magnet Mn6

We present magnetization measurements on the single molecule magnet Mn6, revealing various tunnel transitions inconsistent with a giant-spin description. We propose a dimeric model of the molecule with two coupled spins S=6, which involves crystal-field anisotropy, symmetric Heisenberg exchange interaction, and antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange interaction. We show that this simplified model of the molecule explains the experimentally observed tunnel transitions and that the antisymmetric exchange interaction between the spins gives rise to tunneling processes between spin states belonging to different spin multiplets.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Magnetization dynamics in the single-molecule magnet Fe8 under pulsed microwave irradiation

We present measurements on the single molecule magnet Fe8 in the presence of pulsed microwave radiation at 118 GHz. The spin dynamics is studied via time resolved magnetization experiments using a Hall probe magnetometer. We investigate the relaxation behavior of magnetization after the microwave pulse. The analysis of the experimental data is performed in terms of different contributions to the magnetization after-pulse relaxation. We find that the phonon bottleneck with a characteristic relaxation time of 10 to 100 ms strongly affects the magnetization dynamics. In addition, the spatial effect of spin diffusion is evidenced by using samples of different sizes and different ways of the sample's irradiation with microwaves.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

Asteroseismic classification of stellar populations among 13000 red giants observed by Kepler

Of the more than 150000 targets followed by the Kepler Mission, about 10% were selected as red giants. Due to their high scientific value, in particular for Galaxy population studies and stellar structure and evolution, their Kepler light curves were made public in late 2011. More than 13000 (over 85%) of these stars show intrinsic flux variability caused by solar-like oscillations making them ideal for large scale asteroseismic investigations. We automatically extracted individual frequencies and measured the period spacings of the dipole modes in nearly every red giant. These measurements naturally classify the stars into various populations, such as the red giant branch, the low-mass (M/Msol 1.8) secondary clump. The period spacings also reveal that a large fraction of the stars show rotationally induced frequency splittings. This sample of stars will undoubtedly provide an extremely valuable source for studying the stellar population in the direction of the Kepler field, in particular when combined with complementary spectroscopic surveys.Comment: 6 page, 5 figures, accepted by ApJ

Modelling a high-mass red giant observed by CoRoT

The G6 giant HR\,2582 (HD\,50890) was observed by CoRoT for approximately 55 days. Mode frequencies are extracted from the observed Fourier spectrum of the light curve. Numerical stellar models are then computed to determine the characteristics of the star (mass, age, etc...) from the comparison with observational constraints. We provide evidence for the presence of solar-like oscillations at low frequency, between 10 and 20\,$\mu$Hz, with a regular spacing of $(1.7\pm0.1)\mu$Hz between consecutive radial orders. Only radial modes are clearly visible. From the models compatible with the observational constraints used here, We find that HR\,2582 (HD\,50890) is a massive star with a mass in the range (3--\,5\,$M_{\odot}$), clearly above the red clump. It oscillates with rather low radial order ($n$ = 5\,--\,12) modes. Its evolutionary stage cannot be determined with precision: the star could be on the ascending red giant branch (hydrogen shell burning) with an age of approximately 155 Myr or in a later phase (helium burning). In order to obtain a reasonable helium amount, the metallicity of the star must be quite subsolar. Our best models are obtained with a mixing length significantly smaller than that obtained for the Sun with the same physical description (except overshoot). The amount of core overshoot during the main-sequence phase is found to be mild, of the order of 0.1\,$H_{\rm p}$.Comment: Accepted in A&

Galactic Archaeology with CoRoT and APOGEE: Creating mock observations from a chemodynamical model

In a companion paper, we have presented the combined asteroseismic-spectroscopic dataset obtained from CoRoT lightcurves and APOGEE infra-red spectra for 678 solar-like oscillating red giants in two fields of the Galactic disc (CoRoGEE). We have measured chemical abundance patterns, distances, and ages of these field stars which are spread over a large radial range of the Milky Way's disc. Here we show how to simulate this dataset using a chemodynamical Galaxy model. We also demonstrate how the observation procedure influences the accuracy of our estimated ages.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. To appear in Astronomische Nachrichten, special issue "Reconstruction the Milky Way's History: Spectroscopic surveys, Asteroseismology and Chemo-dynamical models", Guest Editors C. Chiappini, J. Montalb\'an, and M. Steffe

Solar-like oscillations in red giants observed with Kepler: comparison of global oscillation parameters from different methods

The large number of stars for which uninterrupted high-precision photometric timeseries data are being collected with \textit{Kepler} and CoRoT initiated the development of automated methods to analyse the stochastically excited oscillations in main-sequence, subgiant and red-giant stars. Aims: We investigate the differences in results for global oscillation parameters of G and K red-giant stars due to different methods and definitions. We also investigate uncertainties originating from the stochastic nature of the oscillations. Methods: For this investigation we use Kepler data obtained during the first four months of operation. These data have been analysed by different groups using already published methods and the results are compared. We also performed simulations to investigate the uncertainty on the resulting parameters due to different realizations of the stochastic signal. Results: We obtain results for the frequency of maximum oscillation power (nu_max) and the mean large separation () from different methods for over one thousand red-giant stars. The results for these parameters agree within a few percent and seem therefore robust to the different analysis methods and definitions used here. The uncertainties for nu_max and due to differences in realization noise are not negligible and should be taken into account when using these results for stellar modelling.Comment: 11 pages, 9 Figures and 7 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

E´ chelle diagrams and period spacings of g modes in: Doradus stars from four years of Kepler observations

We use photometry from the Kepler Mission to study oscillations in Doradus stars. Some stars show remarkably clear sequences of g modes and we use period ´echelle diagrams to measure period spacings and identifyrotationally split multiplets with ` = 1 and ` = 2.We find small deviations from regular period spacings that arise from the gradient in the chemical composition just outside the convective core. We also find stars for which the period spacing shows a strong linear trend as a function of period, consistent with relatively rapid rotation. Overall, th

Stellar granulation as seen in disk-integrated intensity. II. Theoretical scaling relations compared with observations

A large set of stars observed by CoRoT and Kepler shows clear evidence for the presence of a stellar background, which is interpreted to arise from surface convection, i.e., granulation. These observations show that the characteristic time-scale (tau_eff) and the root-mean-square (rms) brightness fluctuations (sigma) associated with the granulation scale as a function of the peak frequency (nu_max) of the solar-like oscillations. We aim at providing a theoretical background to the observed scaling relations based on a model developed in the companion paper. We computed for each 3D model the theoretical power density spectrum (PDS) associated with the granulation as seen in disk-integrated intensity on the basis of the theoretical model. For each PDS we derived tau_eff and sigma and compared these theoretical values with the theoretical scaling relations derived from the theoretical model and the Kepler measurements. We derive theoretical scaling relations for tau_eff and sigma, which show the same dependence on nu_max as the observed scaling relations. In addition, we show that these quantities also scale as a function of the turbulent Mach number (Ma) estimated at the photosphere. The theoretical scaling relations for tau_eff and sigma match the observations well on a global scale. Our modelling provides additional theoretical support for the observed variations of sigma and tau_eff with nu_m max. It also highlights the important role of Ma in controlling the properties of the stellar granulation. However, the observations made with Kepler on a wide variety of stars cannot confirm the dependence of our scaling relations on Ma. Measurements of the granulation background and detections of solar-like oscillations in a statistically sufficient number of cool dwarf stars will be required for confirming the dependence of the theoretical scaling relations with Ma.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures,accepted for publication in A&