The impact of Mn nonstoichiometry on the oxygen mass transport properties of La0.8Sr0.2MnyO3±δ thin films

Oxygen mass transport in perovskite oxides is relevant for a variety of energy and information technologies. In oxide thin films, cation nonstoichiometry is often found but its impact on the oxygen transport properties is not well understood. Here, we used oxygen isotope exchange depth profile technique coupled with secondary ion mass spectrometry to study oxygen mass transport and the defect compensation mechanism of Mn-deficient La0.8Sr0.2Mn (y) O-3 +/-delta epitaxial thin films. Oxygen diffusivity and surface exchange coefficients were observed to be consistent with literature measurements and to be independent on the degree of Mn deficiency in the layers. Defect chemistry modeling, together with a collection of different experimental techniques, suggests that the Mn-deficiency is mainly compensated by the formation of La-x(Mn) antisite defects. The results highlight the importance of antisite defects in perovskite thin films for mitigating cationic nonstoichiometry effects on oxygen mass transport properties

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

The impact of Mn nonstoichiometry on the oxygen mass transport properties of La0.8Sr0.2Mn y O3±δ thin films

Oxygen mass transport in perovskite oxides is relevant for a variety of energy and information technologies. In oxide thin films, cation nonstoichiometry is often found but its impact on the oxygen transport properties is not well understood. Here, we used oxygen isotope exchange depth profile technique coupled with secondary ion mass spectrometry to study oxygen mass transport and the defect compensation mechanism of Mn-deficient LaSrMn O epitaxial thin films. Oxygen diffusivity and surface exchange coefficients were observed to be consistent with literature measurements and to be independent on the degree of Mn deficiency in the layers. Defect chemistry modeling, together with a collection of different experimental techniques, suggests that the Mn-deficiency is mainly compensated by the formation of La Mn × antisite defects. The results highlight the importance of antisite defects in perovskite thin films for mitigating cationic nonstoichiometry effects on oxygen mass transport properties.This research was supported by the funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 101017709 (EPISTORE) and the 'Generalitat de Catalunya' (2017 SGR 1421, NANOEN). LY acknowledges support from the MINECO (Spain) through the IJC2018-037698-I grant. MICIIN projects PID2019-106165GB-C21 and RED2018-102609-T are also acknowledged. PN acknowledges the support from the AGAUR through the 2021 FI_B 00157 Grant. RADS acknowledges funding from German Research Foundation (DFG) from project DE 2854/12-1 and from the collaborative research center SFB917 'Nanoswitches'. J S acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Project: PID2019-108573GB-C21)

Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The measurement of the deuteron and anti-deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dx and via their time-of- flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and approaching those observed in Pb–Pb collisions at high multiplicities. The mean transverse particle momenta are extracted from the deuteron spectra and the values are similar to those obtained for p and particles. Thus, deuteron spectra do not follow mass ordering. This behaviour is in contrast to the trend observed for non-composite particles in p–Pb collisions. In addition, the production of the rare 3He and 3He nuclei has been studied. The spectrum corresponding to all non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions is obtained in the rapidity window −1 < y < 0 and the pT-integrated yield dN/dy is extracted. It is found that the yields of protons, deuterons, and 3He, normalised by the spin degeneracy factor, follow an exponential decrease with mass number

Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays at midrapidity in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The differential invariant yield as a function of transverse momentum (pT) of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured at midrapidity in central (0–10%), semi-central (30–50%) and peripheral (60–80%) lead–lead (Pb–Pb) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV in the pT intervals 0.5–26 GeV/c (0–10% and 30–50%) and 0.5–10 GeV/c (60–80%). The production cross section in proton–proton (pp) collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV was measured as well in 0.5 < pT < 10 GeV/c and it lies close to the upper band of perturbative QCD calculation uncertainties up to pT = 5 GeV/c and close to the mean value for larger pT. The modification of the electron yield with respect to what is expected for an incoherent superposition of nucleon–nucleon collisions is evaluated by measuring the nuclear modification factor RAA. The measurement of the RAA in different centrality classes allows in-medium energy loss of charm and beauty quarks to be investigated. The RAA shows a suppression with respect to unity at intermediate pT, which increases while moving towards more central collisions. Moreover, the measured RAA is sensitive to the modification of the parton distribution functions (PDF) in nuclei, like nuclear shadowing, which causes a suppression of the heavy-quark production at low pT in heavy-ion collisions at LHC

HΛ3 and H‾Λ‾3 lifetime measurement in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV via two-body decay

An improved value for the lifetime of the (anti-)hypertriton has been obtained using the data sample of Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV collected by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The (anti-)hypertriton has been reconstructed via its charged two-body mesonic decay channel and the lifetime has been determined from an exponential fit to the dN/d(ct) spectrum. The measured value, τ = 242+34 −38 (stat.) ± 17 (syst.) ps, is compatible with representative theoretical predictions, thus contributing to the solution of the longstanding hypertriton lifetime puzzle

Pseudorapidity densities of charged particles with transverse momentum thresholds in pp collisions at √ s = 5.02 and 13 TeV

The pseudorapidity density of charged particles with minimum transverse momentum (pT) thresholds of 0.15, 0.5, 1, and 2 GeV/c is measured in pp collisions at the center of mass energies of √s=5.02 and 13 TeV with the ALICE detector. The study is carried out for inelastic collisions with at least one primary charged particle having a pseudorapidity (η) within 0.8pT larger than the corresponding threshold. In addition, measurements without pT-thresholds are performed for inelastic and nonsingle-diffractive events as well as for inelastic events with at least one charged particle having |η|2GeV/c), highlighting the importance of such measurements for tuning event generators. The new measurements agree within uncertainties with results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments obtained at √s=13TeV.

Multiplicity dependence of inclusive J/ψ production at midrapidity in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV

Measurements of the inclusive J/ψ yield as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density dNch/dη in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with ALICE at the LHC are reported. The J/ψ meson yield is measured at midrapidity (|y| < 0.9) in the dielectron channel, for events selected based on the charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity (|η| < 1) and at forward rapidity (−3.7 < η < −1.7 and 2.8 < η < 5.1); both observables are normalized to their corresponding averages in minimum bias events. The increase of the normalized J/ψ yield with normalized dNch/dη is significantly stronger than linear and dependent on the transverse momentum. The data are compared to theoretical predictions, which describe the observed trends well, albeit not always quantitatively

Study of the Λ–Λ interaction with femtoscopy correlations in pp and p–Pb collisions at the LHC

This work presents new constraints on the existence and the binding energy of a possible – bound state, the H-dibaryon, derived from – femtoscopic measurements by the ALICE collaboration. The results are obtained from a new measurement using the femtoscopy technique in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV and p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV, combined with previously published results from pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV. The – scattering parameter space, spanned by the inverse scattering length f −1 0 and the effective range d0, is constrained by comparing the measured – correlation function with calculations obtained within the Lednický model. The data are compatible with hypernuclei results and lattice computations, both predicting a shallow attractive interaction, and permit to test different theoretical approaches describing the – interaction. The region in the (f −1 0 ,d0) plane which would accommodate a – bound state is substantially restricted compared to previous studies. The binding energy of the possible – bound state is estimated within an effective-range expansion approach and is found to be B = 3.2+1.6 −2.4(stat)+1.8 −1.0(syst) MeV