SDSS J212531.92–010745.9 : the first definite PG 1159 close binary system

Aims. The archival spectrum of SDSS J212531.92−010745.9 shows not only the typical signature of a PG 1159 star, but also indicates the presence of a companion. Our aim was the proof of the binary nature of this object and the determination of its orbital period. Methods. We performed time-series photometry of SDSS J212531.92−010745.9. We observed the object during 10 nights, spread over one month, with the Tübingen 80 cm and the Göttingen 50 cm telescopes. We fitted the observed light curve with a sine and simulated the light curve of this system with the nightfall program. Furthermore, we compared the spectrum of SDSS J212531.92−010745.9 with NLTE models, the results of which also constrain the light curve solution. Results. An orbital period of 6.95616(33) h with an amplitude of 0.354(3) mag is derived from our observations. A pulsation period could not be detected. For the PG 1159 star we found, as preliminary results from comparison with our NLTE models, T eff ∼ 90 000 K, log g ∼ 7.60, and the abundance ratio C/He ∼ 0.05 by number fraction. For the companion we obtained with a mean radius of 0.4 ± 0.1 R, a mass of 0.4 ± 0.1 M, and a temperature of 8200 K on the irradiated side, good agreement between the observed light curve and the nightfall simulation, but we do not regard those values as final

The One-loop Open Superstring Massless Five-point Amplitude with the Non-Minimal Pure Spinor Formalism

We compute the massless five-point amplitude of open superstrings using the non-minimal pure spinor formalism and obtain a simple kinematic factor in pure spinor superspace, which can be viewed as the natural extension of the kinematic factor of the massless four-point amplitude. It encodes bosonic and fermionic external states in supersymmetric form and reduces to existing bosonic amplitudes when expanded in components, therefore proving their equivalence. We also show how to compute the kinematic structures involving fermionic states.Comment: 38 pages, harvmac TeX, v2: fix typo in (4.2) and add referenc

Multiple Magnon Modes and Consequences for the Bose-Einstein Condensed Phase in BaCuSi2O6

The compound BaCuSi2O6 is a quantum magnet with antiferromagnetic dimers of S = 1/2 moments on a quasi-2D square lattice. We have investigated its spin dynamics by inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals with an energy resolution considerably higher than in an earlier study. We observe multiple magnon modes, indicating clearly the presence of magnetically inequivalent dimer sites. This more complex spin Hamiltonian leads to a distinct form of magnon Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) phase with a spatially modulated condensate amplitude.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Suppression of the structural phase transition and lattice softening in slightly underdoped Ba(1-x)K(x)Fe2As2 with electronic phase separation

We present x-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and neutron diffraction measurements on the slightly underdoped iron pnictide superconductor Ba(1-x)K(x)Fe2As2, Tc = 32K. Below the magnetic transition temperature Tm = 70K, both techniques show an additional broadening of the nuclear Bragg peaks, suggesting a weak structural phase transition. However, macroscopically the system does not break its tetragonal symmetry down to 15 K. Instead, XRPD patterns at low temperature reveal an increase of the anisotropic microstrain proportionally in all directions. We associate this effect with the electronic phase separation, previously observed in the same material, and with the effect of lattice softening below the magnetic phase transition. We employ density functional theory to evaluate the distribution of atomic positions in the presence of dopant atoms both in the normal and magnetic states, and to quantify the lattice softening, showing that it can account for a major part of the observed increase of the microstrain.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Pure Spinor Superspace Identities for Massless Four-point Kinematic Factors

Using the pure spinor formalism we prove identities which relate the tree-level, one-loop and two-loop kinematic factors for massless four-point amplitudes. From these identities it follows that the complete supersymmetric one- and two-loop amplitudes are immediately known once the tree-level kinematic factor is evaluated. In particular, the two-loop equivalence with the RNS formalism (up to an overall coefficient) is obtained as a corollary.Comment: 10 pages, harvmac TeX. v2: Updated affiliation and Report-no

Fourier Analysis of Gapped Time Series: Improved Estimates of Solar and Stellar Oscillation Parameters

Quantitative helio- and asteroseismology require very precise measurements of the frequencies, amplitudes, and lifetimes of the global modes of stellar oscillation. It is common knowledge that the precision of these measurements depends on the total length (T), quality, and completeness of the observations. Except in a few simple cases, the effect of gaps in the data on measurement precision is poorly understood, in particular in Fourier space where the convolution of the observable with the observation window introduces correlations between different frequencies. Here we describe and implement a rather general method to retrieve maximum likelihood estimates of the oscillation parameters, taking into account the proper statistics of the observations. Our fitting method applies in complex Fourier space and exploits the phase information. We consider both solar-like stochastic oscillations and long-lived harmonic oscillations, plus random noise. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate the existence of cases for which our improved fitting method is less biased and has a greater precision than when the frequency correlations are ignored. This is especially true of low signal-to-noise solar-like oscillations. For example, we discuss a case where the precision on the mode frequency estimate is increased by a factor of five, for a duty cycle of 15%. In the case of long-lived sinusoidal oscillations, a proper treatment of the frequency correlations does not provide any significant improvement; nevertheless we confirm that the mode frequency can be measured from gapped data at a much better precision than the 1/T Rayleigh resolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physics Topical Issue "Helioseismology, Asteroseismology, and MHD Connections