107,177 research outputs found
Planetary companions orbiting M giants HD 208527 and HD 220074
Aims. The purpose of the present study is to research the origin of planetary
companions by using a precise radial velocity (RV) survey.
Methods. The high-resolution spectroscopy of the fiber-fed Bohyunsan
Observatory Echelle Spectrograph (BOES) at Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy
Observatory (BOAO) is used from September 2008 to June 2012.
Results. We report the detection of two exoplanets in orbit around HD 208527
and HD 220074 exhibiting periodic variations in RV of 875.5 +/- 5.8 and 672.1
+/- 3.7 days. The RV variations are not apparently related to the surface
inhomogeneities and a Keplerian motion of the planetary companion is the most
likely explanation. Assuming possible stellar masses of 1.6 +/- 0.4 and 1.2 +/-
0.3 M_Sun, we obtain the minimum masses for the exoplanets of 9.9 +/- 1.7 and
11.1 +/- 1.8 M_Jup around HD 208527 and HD 220074 with an orbital semi-major
axis of 2.1 +/- 0.2 and 1.6 +/- 0.1 AU and an eccentricity of 0.08 and 0.14,
respectively. We also find that the previously known spectral classification of
HD 208527 and HD 220074 was in error: Our new estimation of stellar parameters
suggest that both HD 208527 and HD 220074 are M giants. Therefore, HD 208527
and HD 220074 are so far the first candidate M giants to harbor a planetary
companion.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publisation in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Superlattice-induced ferroelectricity in charge-ordered LaSrFeO
Charge-order-driven ferroelectrics are an emerging class of functional
materials, distinct from conventional ferroelectrics, where electron-dominated
switching can occur at high frequency. Despite their promise, only a few
systems exhibiting this behavior have been experimentally realized thus far,
motivating the need for new materials. Here, we use density functional theory
to study the effect of artificial structuring on mixed-valence solid-solution
LaSrFeO (LSFO), a system well-studied experimentally. Our
calculations show that A-site cation (111)-layered LSFO exhibits a
ferroelectric charge-ordered phase in which inversion symmetry is broken by
changing the registry of the charge order with respect to the superlattice
layering. The phase is energetically degenerate with a ground-state
centrosymmetric phase, and the computed switching polarization is 39
C/cm, a significant value arising from electron transfer between Fe
ions. Our calculations reveal that artificial structuring of LSFO and other
mixed valence oxides with robust charge ordering in the solid solution phase
can lead to charge-order-induced ferroelectricity
Cluster mean-field approximations with the coherent-anomaly-method analysis for the driven pair contact process with diffusion
The cluster mean-field approximations are performed, up to 13 cluster sizes,
to study the critical behavior of the driven pair contact process with
diffusion (DPCPD) and its precedent, the PCPD in one dimension. Critical points
are estimated by extrapolating our data to the infinite cluster size limit,
which are in good accordance with recent simulation results. Within the cluster
mean-field approximation scheme, the PCPD and the DPCPD share the same
mean-field critical behavior. The application of the coherent anomaly method,
however, shows that the two models develop different coherent anomalies, which
lead to different true critical scaling. The values of the critical exponents
for the particle density, the pair density, the correlation length, and the
relaxation time are fairly well estimated for the DPCPD. These results support
and complement our recent simulation results for the DPCPD
In Defense of the Epistemic Imperative
Sample (2015) argues that scientists ought not to believe that their theories are true because they cannot fulfill the epistemic obligation to take the diachronic perspective on their theories. I reply that Sample’s argument imposes an inordinately heavy epistemic obligation on scientists, and that it spells doom not only for scientific theories but also for observational beliefs and philosophical ideas that Samples endorses. I also delineate what I take to be a reasonable epistemic obligation for scientists. In sum, philosophers ought to impose on scientists only an epistemic standard that they are willing to impose on themselves
- …