135 research outputs found
The Fermi edge singularity of spin polarized electrons
We study the absorption spectrum of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in
a magnetic field. We find that that at low temperatures, when the 2DEG is spin
polarized, the absorption spectra, which correspond to the creation of spin up
or spin down electron, differ in magnitude, linewidth and filling factor
dependence. We show that these differences can be explained as resulting from
creation of a Mahan exciton in one case, and of a power law Fermi edge
singularity in the other.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, published in Phys. Rev. Let
Extended mid-infrared emission from VV 114: probing the birth of a ULIRG
We present our 5-16 micron spectro-imaging observations of VV114, an infrared
luminous early-stage merger, taken with the ISOCAM camera on-board ISO. We find
that only 40% of the mid-infrared (MIR) flux is associated with a compact
nuclear region, while the rest of the emission originates from a rather diffuse
component extended over several kpc. This is in stark contrast with the very
compact MIR starbursts usually seen in luminous infrared galaxies. A secondary
peak of MIR emission is associated with an extra-nuclear star forming region
which displays the largest Halpha equivalent width in the whole system.
Comparing our data with the distribution of the molecular gas and cold dust, as
well as with radio observations, it becomes evident that the conversion of
molecular gas into stars can be triggered over large areas at the very first
stages of an interaction. The presence of a very strong continuum at 5 microns
in one of the sources indicates that an enshrouded active galactic nucleus may
contribute to 40% of its MIR flux. We finally note that the relative variations
in the UV to radio spectral properties between the merging galaxies provide
evidence that the extinction-corrected star formation rate of similar objects
at high z, such as those detected in optical deep surveys, can not be
accurately derived from their rest-frame UV properties.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Mid-infrared observations of the ultraluminous galaxies IRAS14348-1447, IRAS19254-7245, and IRAS23128-5919
We present a study of the three ultraluminous infrared galaxies
IRAS14348-1447, IRAS19254-7245, and IRAS23128-5919, based on mid-infrared (MIR)
spectro-imaging (5-18microns) observations performed with ISOCAM. We find that
the MIR emission from each system, which consists of a pair of interacting late
type galaxies, is principally confined to the nuclear regions with diameters of
1-2kpc and can account for more than 95% of their IRAS 12micron flux. In each
interacting system, the galaxy hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN)
dominates the total spectrum and shows stronger dust continuum (12-16microns)
relative to the Unidentified Infrared Band (UIB) emission (6-9microns),
suggestive of its enhanced radiation field. The MIR dominant galaxy also
exhibits elevated 15micron/Halpha and 15micron/K ratios which trace the high
extinction due to the large quantities of molecular gas and dust present in its
central regions. Using only diagnostics based on our mid-infrared spectra, we
can establish that the Seyfert galaxy IRAS19254-7245 exhibits MIR spectral
features of an AGN while the MIR spectrum of the Seyfert (or LINER) member of
IRAS23128-5919 is characteristic of dust emission principally heated by star
forming regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 13 pages, 9
figure
Optical absorption to probe the quantum Hall ferromagnet at filling factor
Optical absorption measurements are used to probe the spin polarization in
the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect regimes. The system is fully
spin polarized only at filling factor and at very low
temperatures( mK). A small change in filling factor
() leads to a significant depolarization. This
suggests that the itinerant quantum Hall ferromagnet at is surprisingly
fragile against increasing temperature, or against small changes in filling
factor.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Absorption in the fractional quantum Hall regime: trion dichroism and spin polarization
We present measurements of optical interband absorption in the fractional
quantum Hall regime in a GaAs quantum well in the range 0 < nu < 1. We
investigate the mechanism of singlet trion absorption, and show that its
circular dichroism can be used as a probe of the spin polarization of the
ground state of the two-dimensional electron system (2DES). We find that at nu
= 1/3 the 2DES is fully spin-polarized. Increasing the filling factor results
in a gradual depolarization, with a sharp minimum in the dichroism near nu =
2/3. We find that in the range 0.5 < nu < 0.85 the 2DES remains partially
polarized for the broad range of magnetic fields from 2.75 to 11 Tesla. This is
consistent with the presence of a mixture of polarized and depolarized regions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (Fig 4 is in color
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