C-axis Penetration Depth and Inter-layer Conductivity in the Thallium Based Cuprate Superconductors

The c-axis Josephson plasmon in optimally doped single-layer and bi-layer high Tc cuprates Tl2201 and Tl2212 have been investigated using infrared spectroscopy. We observed the plasma frequencies for these two compounds at 27.8 and 25.6 cm-1 respectively, which we interpret as a Josephson resonance across the TlO blocking layers. No maximum in the temperature dependence of the c-axis conductivity was observed below Tc, indicating that even in the superconducting state a coherent quasi-particle contribution to the c-axis conductivity is absent or very weak, in contrast to the behaviour of the ab-plane conductivity.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Improved Distances to Type Ia Supernovae with Multicolor Light Curve Shapes: MLCS2k2

We present an updated version of the Multicolor Light Curve Shape method to measure distances to type Ia supernovae (SN Ia), incorporating new procedures for K-correction and extinction corrections. We also develop a simple model to disentangle intrinsic color variations and reddening by dust, and expand the method to incorporate U-band light curves and to more easily accommodate prior constraints on any of the model parameters. We apply this method to 133 nearby SN Ia, including 95 objects in the Hubble flow (cz >= 2500 km/s), which give an intrinsic dispersion of less than 7% in distance. The Hubble flow sample, which is of critical importance to all cosmological uses of SN Ia, is the largest ever presented with homogeneous distances. We find the Hubble flow supernovae with Hd >= 7400 km/s yield an expansion rate that is 6.5 +/- 1.8% lower than the rate determined from supernovae within that distance, and this can have a large effect on measurements of the dark energy equation of state with SN Ia. Peculiar velocities of SN Ia host galaxies in the rest frame of the Local Group are consistent with the dipole measured in the Cosmic Microwave Background. Direct fits of SN Ia that are significantly reddened by dust in their host galaxies suggest their mean extinction law may be described by R_V ~= 2.7, but optical colors alone provide weak constraints on R_V.Comment: 66 pages, 22 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Electronic data available at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~saurabh/mlcs2k2

Luminescent properties of Bi-doped polycrystalline KAlCl4

We observed an intensive near-infrared luminescence in Bi-doped KAlCl4 polycrystalline material. Luminescence dependence on the excitation wavelength and temperature of the sample was studied. Our experimental results allow asserting that the luminescence peaked near 1 um belongs solely to Bi+ ion which isomorphically substitutes potassium in the crystal. It was also demonstrated that Bi+ luminescence features strongly depend on the local ion surroundings

Correlation between the Josephson coupling energy and the condensation energy in bilayer cuprate superconductors

We review some previous studies concerning the intra-bilayer Josephson plasmons and present new ellipsometric data of the c-axis infrared response of almost optimally doped Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8}. The c-axis conductivity of this compound exhibits the same kind of anomalies as that of underdoped YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-delta}. We analyze these anomalies in detail and show that they can be explained within a model involving the intra-bilayer Josephson effect and variations of the electric field inside the unit cell. The Josephson coupling energies of different bilayer compounds obtained from the optical data are compared with the condensation energies and it is shown that there is a reasonable agreement between the values of the two quantities. We argue that the Josephson coupling energy, as determined by the frequency of the intra-bilayer Josephson plasmon, represents a reasonable estimate of the change of the effective c-axis kinetic energy upon entering the superconducting state. It is further explained that this is not the case for the estimate based on the use of the simplest ``tight-binding'' sum rule. We discuss possible interpretations of the remarkable agreement between the Josephson coupling energies and the condensation energies. The most plausible interpretation is that the interlayer tunneling of the Cooper pairs provides the dominant contribution to the condensation energy of the bilayer compounds; in other words that the condensation energy of these compounds can be accounted for by the interlayer tunneling theory. We suggest an extension of this theory, which may also explain the high values of T_{c} in the single layer compounds Tl_{2}Ba_{2}CuO_{6} and HgBa_{2}CuO_{4}, and we make several experimentally verifiable predictions.Comment: 16 pages (including Tables) and 7 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review

Multiband model of high Tc superconductors

We propose an extension to other high T_{c } compounds of a model introduced earlier for YBCO. In the ''self-doped'' compounds we assume that the doping part (namely the BiO, HgO, TlO planes in BSCCO, HBCCO, TBCCO respectively) is metallic, which leads to a multiband model. This assumption is supported by band structure calculations. Taking a repulsive pairing interaction between these doping bands and the CuO_{2} bands leads to opposite signs for the order parameter on these bands and to nodes whenever the Fermi surfaces of these bands cross. We show that in BSCCO the low temperature dependence of the penetration depth is reasonably accounted for. In this case the nodes are not located near the 45^{o} direction, which makes the experimental determination of the node locations an important test for our model. The situation in HBCCO and TBCCO is rather analogous to BSCCO. We consider the indications given by NMR and find that they rather favor a metallic character for the doping bands. Finally we discuss the cases of NCCO and LSCO which are not ''self-doped'' and where our model does not give nodes.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, 1 figure

Kinematic Peculiarities of Gould Belt Stars

We analyzed the space velocities of Gould Belt stars younger than 125 Myr located at heliocentric distances <650 pc. We determined the rotation and expansion parameters of the Gould Belt by assuming the existence of a single kinematic center whose direction was found to be the following: $l_\circ=128^\circ$ and $R_\circ=150$ pc. The linear velocities reach their maximum at a distance of $\approx300$ pc from the center and are -6 km s$^{-1}$ for the rotation (whose direction coincides with the Galactic rotation) and +4 km s$^{-1}$ for the expansion. The stellar rotation model used here is shown to give a more faithful description of the observed velocity field than the linear model based on the Oort constants $A_G$ and $B_G$. We present evidence that the young clusters $\beta$ Pic, Tuc/HorA, and TWA belong to the Gould Belt structure.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

The Hubble Constant: A Summary of the HST Program for the Luminosity Calibration of Type Ia Supernovae by Means of Cepheids

This is the fifth and final summary paper of our 15 year program using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the Hubble constant using Type Ia supernovae, calibrated with Cepheid variables in nearby galaxies that hosted them. Several developments not contemplated at the start of the program in 1990 have made it necessary to put the summary on H_0 on a broader basis than originally thought, making four preparatory papers necessary. The new Cepheid distances of the subset of 10 galaxies, which were hosts of normal SNeIa, give weighted mean luminosities in B, V, and I at maximum light of -19.49, -19.46, and -19.22, respectively. These calibrate the adopted SNeIa Hubble diagram from Paper III to give a global value of H_0 = 62.3 +/- 1.3 (random) +/- 5.0 (systematic). Local values of H_0 between 4.4 and 30 Mpc from Cepheids, SNeIa, 21cm-line widths, and the tip of the red-giant branch (TRGB) all agree within 5% of our global value. This agreement of H_0 on all scales from 4 - 200 Mpc finds its most obvious explanation in the smoothing effect of vacuum energy on the otherwise lumpy gravitational field due to the non-uniform distribution of the local galaxies. The physical methods of time delay of gravitational lenses and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect are consistent (but with large errors) with our global value. The present result is also not in contradiction with existing analyses of CMB data, because they either lead to wide error margins of H_0 or depend on the choice of unwarrented priors that couple the value of H_0 with a number of otherwise free parameters in the CMB acoustic waves. Our value of H_0 is 14% smaller than the value of H_0 found by Freedman et al. (2001) because our independent Cepheid distances to the six SNeIa-calibrating galaxies used in that analysis average 0.35mag larger than those used earlier.Comment: 52 pages, 9 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

Condensation Energy and Spectral Functions in High Temperature Superconductors

If high temperature cuprate superconductivity is due to electronic correlations, then the energy difference between the normal and superconducting states can be expressed in terms of the occupied part of the single particle spectral function. The latter can, in principle, be determined from angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) data. As a consequence, the energy gain driving the development of the superconducting state is intimately related to the dramatic changes in the photoemission lineshape when going below Tc. These points are illustrated in the context of the "mode" model used to fit ARPES data in the normal and superconducting states, where the question of kinetic energy versus potential energy driven superconductivity is explored in detail. We use our findings to comment on the relation of ARPES data to the condensation energy, and to various other experimental data. In particular, our results suggest that the nature of the superconducting transition is strongly related to how anomalous (non Fermi liquid like) the normal state spectral function is, and as such, is dependent upon the doping level.Comment: 10 pages, revtex, 4 encapsulated postscript figure