Field-Induced Quasiparticle Excitation in Ca(Al0.5_{0.5}Si0.5_{0.5})2_2: Evidence for unconventional Superconductivity

The temperature ($T$) and magnetic field ($H$) dependence of the magnetic penetration depth, $\lambda(T,H)$, in Ca(Al$_{0.5}$Si$_{0.5}$)$_2$ exhibits significant deviation from that expected for conventional BCS superconductors. In particular, it is inferred from a field dependence of $\lambda(H)$ ($\propto H$) at 2.0 K that the quasiparticle excitation is strongly enhanced by the Doppler shift. This suggests that the superconducting order parameter in Ca(Al$_{0.5}$Si$_{0.5}$)$_2$ is characterized by a small energy scale $\Delta_S/k_B\le 2$ K originating either from anisotropy or multi-gap structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Trends in Molecular Emission from Different Extragalactic Stellar Initial Mass Functions

Banerji et al. (2009) suggested that top-heavy stellar Initial Mass Functions (IMFs) in galaxies may arise when the interstellar physical conditions inhibit low-mass star formation, and they determined the physical conditions under which this suppression may or may not occur. In this work, we explore the sensitivity of the chemistry of interstellar gas under a wide range of conditions. We use these results to predict the relative velocity-integrated antenna temperatures of the CO rotational spectrum for several models of high redshift active galaxies which may produce both top-heavy and unbiased IMFs. We find that while active galaxies with solar metallicity (and top-heavy IMFs) produce higher antenna temperatures than those with sub-solar metallicity (and unbiased IMFs) the actual rotational distribution is similar. The high-J to peak CO ratio however may be used to roughly infer the metallicity of a galaxy provided we know whether it is active or quiescent. The metallicity strongly influences the shape of the IMF. High order CO transitions are also found to provide a good diagnostic for high far-UV intensity and low metallicity counterparts of Milky Way type systems both of which show some evidence for having top-heavy IMFs. We also compute the relative abundances of molecules known to be effective tracers of high density gas in these galaxy models. We find that the molecules CO and CS may be used to distinguish between solar and sub-solar metallicity in active galaxies at high redshift whereas HCN, HNC and CN are found to be relatively insensitive to the IMF shape at the large visual magnitudes typically associated with extragalactic sources.Comment: 26 Pages, 8 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

B12Hn and B12Fn: planar vs icosahedral structures

Using density functional theory and quantum Monte Carlo calculations, we show that B12Hn and B12Fn (n = 0 to 4) quasi-planar structures are energetically more favorable than the corresponding icosahedral clusters. Moreover, we show that the fully planar B12F6 cluster is more stable than the three-dimensional counterpart. These results open up the possibility of designing larger boron-based nanostructures starting from quasi-planar or fully planar building blocks

Staggered magnetism in LiV2_2O4_4 at low temperatures probed by the muon Knight shift

We report on the muon Knight shift measurement in single crystals of LiV2O4. Contrary to what is anticipated for the heavy-fermion state based on the Kondo mechanism, the presence of inhomogeneous local magnetic moments is demonstrated by the broad distribution of the Knight shift at temperatures well below the presumed "Kondo temperature" ($T^*\simeq 30$ K). Moreover, a significant fraction ($\simeq10$ %) of the specimen gives rise to a second component which is virtually non-magnetic. These observations strongly suggest that the anomalous properties of LiV2O4 originates from frustration of local magnetic moments.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, sbmitted to J. Phys.: Cond. Mat

Time-Reversal Symmetry-Breaking Superconductivity in Heavy Fermion PrOs4Sb12 detected by Muon Spin Relaxation

We report on muon spin relaxation measurements of the 4f^2-based heavy-fermion superconductor filled-skutterudite PrOs4Sb12. The results reveal the spontaneous appearance of static internal magnetic fields below the superconducting transition temperature, providing unambiguous evidence for the breaking of time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state. A discussion is made on which of the spin or orbital component of Cooper pairs carries a nonzero momentum.Comment: 5 pages with 3 figure

Magnetic Phase Diagram of the Hole-doped Ca2−x_{2-x}Nax_{x}CuO2_{2}Cl2_{2} Cuprate Superconductor

We report on the magnetic phase diagram of a hole-doped cuprate Ca$_{2-x}$Na$_{x}$CuO$_{2}$Cl$_{2}$, which is free from buckling of CuO$_2$ planes, determined by muon spin rotation and relaxation. It is characterized by a quasi-static spin glass-like phase over a range of sodium concentration ($0.05\leq x\leq 0.12$), which is held between long range antiferromagnetic (AF) phase ($x\leq 0.02$) and superconducting phase where the system is non-magnetic for $x\geq 0.15$. The obtained phase diagram qualitatively agrees well with that commonly found for hole-doped high-\tc cuprates, strongly suggesting that the incomplete suppression of the AF order for $x>0.02$ is an essential feature of the hole-doped cuprates.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Observation of the first gravitational microlensing event in a sparse stellar field : the Tago event

We report the observation of the first gravitational microlensing event in a sparse stellar field, involving the brightest (V=11.4 mag) andclosest (~ 1 kpc) source star to date. This event was discovered by an amateurastronomer, A. Tago, on 2006 October 31 as a transient brightening, by ~4.5 mag during a ~15 day period, of a normal A-type star (GSC 3656-1328) in the Cassiopeia constellation. Analysis of both spectroscopic observations and the light curve indicates that this event was caused by gravitational microlensing rather than an intrinsically variable star. Discovery of this single event over a 30 year period is roughly consistent with the expected microlensing rate for the whole sky down to V = 12 mag stars. However, the probability for finding events with such a high magnification (~ 50) is much smaller, by a factor ~1/50, which implies that the true event rate may be higher than expected. This discovery indicates the potential of all sky variability surveys, employing frequent sampling by telescopes with small apertures and wide fields of view, for finding such rare transient events, and using the observations to explore galactic disk structure and search for exo-planets.Comment: 13 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures, accepted by Ap