The physical properties of Fermi-4LAC low-synchrotron-peaked BL Lac objects

Previous studies on the fitting of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) often apply the external-Compton process to interpret the high-energy peak of low-synchrotron-peaked (LSP) BL Lac objects (LBLs), despite the lack of strong broad emission lines observed for LBLs. In this work, we collect quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength data of 15 LBLs from the Fermi fourth LAT AGN catalog (4LAC). We propose an analytical method to assess the necessity of external photon fields in the framework of one-zone scenario. Following derived analytical results, we fit the SEDs of these LBLs with the conventional one-zone leptonic model and study their jet physical properties. Our main results can be summarized as follows. (1)We find that most LBLs cannot be fitted by the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model. This indicates that external photons play a crucial role in the high-energy emission of LBLs, therefore we suggest that LBLs are masquerading BL Lacs. (2) We suggest that the $\gamma$-ray emitting regions of LBLs are located outside the broad-line region and within the dusty torus. (3) By extending the analytical method to all types of LSPs in Fermi-4LAC (using historical data), we find that the high-energy peaks of some flat spectrum radio quasars and blazar candidates of unknown types can be attributed to the SSC emission, implying that the importance of external photons could be minor. We suggest that the variability timescale may help distinguish the origin of the high-energy peak.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (14 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables

Energy scan/dependence of kinetic freeze-out scenarios of multi-strange and other identified particles in central nucleus-nucleus collisions

The transverse momentum (mass) spectra of the multi-strange and non-multi-strange (i.e. other identified) particles in central gold-gold (Au-Au), lead-lead (Pb-Pb), argon-muriate (Ar-KCl) and nickel-nickel (Ni-Ni) collisions over a wide energy range have been studied in this work. The experimental data measured by various collaborations have been analyzed. The blast-wave fit with Tsallis statistics is used to extract the kinetic freeze-out temperature and transverse flow velocity from the experimental data of transverse momentum (mass) spectra. The extracted parameters increase with the increase of collision energy and appear with the trend of saturation at the Beam Energy Scan (BES) energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This saturation implies that the onset energy of phase transition of partial deconfinement is 7.7 GeV and that of whole deconfinement is 39 GeV. Furthermore, the energy scan/dependence of kinetic freeze-out scenarios are observed for the multi-strange and other identified particles, though the multiple freeze-out scenarios are also observed for various particles.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. The European Physical Journal A, accepte

Effects of magnesium-modified biochar on soil organic carbon mineralization in citrus orchard

In order to investigate the carbon sequestration potential of biochar on soil, citrus orchard soils with a forest age of 5 years was taken as the research object, citrus peel biochar (OBC) and magnesium-modified citrus peel biochar (OBC-mg) were selected as additive materials, and organic carbon mineralization experiments were carried out in citrus orchard soil. OBC and OBC-Mg were applied to citrus orchard soils at four application rates (0, 1, 2, and 4%), and incubated at a constant temperature for 100 days. Compared with CK, the cumulative mineralization of soil organic carbon decreased by 5.11% with 1% OBC and 2.14% with 1% OBC-Mg. The application of OBC and OBC-Mg significantly increased the content of soil organic carbon fraction, while the content of soil organic carbon fraction was higher in OBC-Mg treated soil than in OBC treated soil. Meanwhile, the cumulative mineralization of soil organic carbon was significantly and positively correlated with the activities of soil catalase, urease and sucrase. The enzyme activities increased with the cumulative mineralization of organic carbon, and the enzyme activities of the OBC-Mg treated soil were significantly higher than those of the OBC treated soil. The results indicated that the OBC-Mg treatment inhibited the organic carbon mineralization in citrus orchard soils and was more favorable to the increase of soil organic carbon fraction. The Mg-modified approach improved the carbon sequestration potential of biochar for citrus orchard soils and provided favorable support for the theory of soil carbon sink in orchards

Molecular Cloning and Response to Water Temperature and Nutrient Manipulation of Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) Genes in Golden Pompano Trachinotus ovatus (Linnaeus 1758) Larvae

In this study, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF I) and IGF II in golden pompano larvae were cloned and analyzed. In the first trial, IGF expression during ontogeny of larvae in the first 18-days of their life was explored, and then the response of IGFs to water temperature (23, 26, and 29oC) on 12 day post hatching (DPH) and 18 DPH were compared. On 28 DPH, the response of IGFs to the manipulation of nutrients was evaluated. The expression of IGF I increased with the increase of fish age, and was not significantly affected by water temperature. The expression of IGF II was affected by water temperature on 12 DPH and 18 DPH. The expression of IGF II at 23oC was significantly higher than at 26oC and 29oC. The expression of IGFs in fish larvae on 28 DPH was not concomitant with nutrient manipulation. This study detected the gene expression of IGFs at the early stage of golden pompano larvae. The time dependent expression of IGF genes in fish larvae is important to understand the ontogenetic development and growth of fish larvae in early life

A Novel Inward Gradient Self-Lubrication Layer with Soft Alloys and Its Lubricating Mechanism

A novel ceramic composite inward gradient distribution layer has been developed. The layer is a lubricating layer in which soft-metal lubricants are compounded into the ceramic matrix by high frequency induction infiltrating method. The design of the layer and its lubricating mechanism are investigated in the paper. The results show that the property of the layer greatly depends on the wetting angle of the soft-metal lubricants on the matrix and the proportion of Ag, Cu, Sn, and Pb as well as the infiltrating parameters. Based on a lot of experiments, a novel inward gradient layer with Pb28Sn19Ag6Cu has been developed. The layer has an excellent lubricating property (friction coefficient about 0.2~0.3 at 600°C). The research reveals the lubricating mechanism, observing the phenomenon that the soft-metal in the matrix diffuses out of the frictional surface, and measures the lubricating film thickness as about 20 μm on the worn surface

Formation of Lower Mass-gap Black Hole--Neutron Star Binary Mergers through Super-Eddington Stable Mass Transfer

Super-Eddington accretion of neutron stars (NSs) has been suggested both observationally and theoretically. In this paper, we propose that NSs in close-orbit binary systems with companions of helium (He) stars, most of which systems form after the common-envelope phase, could experience super-Eddington stable Case BB/BC mass transfer (MT), and can sometimes occur accretion-induced collapses (AICs) to form lower mass-gap black holes (mgBHs). Our detailed binary evolution simulations reveal that AIC events tend to happen if the primaries NS have an initial mass $\gtrsim1.7\,M_\odot$ with an accretion rate of $\gtrsim300$ times the Eddington limit. These mgBHs would have a mass nearly equal to or slightly higher than the NS maximum mass. The remnant mgBH--NS binaries after the core collapses of He stars are potential progenitors of gravitational-wave (GW) source. Multimessenger observation between GW and kilonova signals from a population of high-mass binary NS and mgBH--NS mergers formed through super-Eddington stable MT are helpful in constraining the maximum mass and equation of state of NSs. S230529ay, a mgBH--NS merger candidate recently detected in the fourth observing run of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration, could possibly originate from this formation scenario.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS on September 29th, 10 pages, 5 figures, comments are welcom

Elasticity-Controlled Jamming Criticality in Soft Composite Solids

Soft composite solids are made of dispersed inclusions within soft matrices. They are ubiquitous in nature and form the basis of many biological tissues. In the field of materials science, synthetic soft composites are promising candidates for constructing various engineering devices due to their highly programmable features. However, when the volume fraction of inclusions increases, predicting the mechanical properties of these materials poses a significant challenge for the classical theories in composite mechanics. The difficulty arises from the inherently disordered, multi-scale interactions between the inclusions and matrix. To address this challenge, we conducted systematic investigations on the mechanics of densely-filled soft elastomers containing stiff microspheres. We experimentally demonstrated how the strain-stiffening response of the soft composites is governed by the critical scalings in the vicinity of a continuous phase transition, which depend on both the elasticity of the elastomer matrix and the particles. The critical points signify a shear-jamming transition of the included particles in the absence of matrix elasticity. The proposed criticality framework quantitatively predicts diverse mechanical responses observed in experiments across a wide range of material parameters. The findings uncover a novel design paradigm of composite mechanics that relies on engineering the jamming-criticality of the embedded inclusions