395 research outputs found
The Role of Covalent Functionalization in the Thermal Stability and Decomposition of Hybrid Layered Hydroxides
The room temperature synthesis of two Co-based hybrid layered hydroxides containing the same organic ligand (suberate [Sub]), one connected through purely electrostatic interactions (CoAl layered double hydroxide [LDH]), and the other covalently functionalized (α-CoII simonkolleite phase) has been carried out. The magnetic properties exhibit an acute difference in the magnetization temperatures (from â10âK for the CoAl-LDH to â55âK for the α-CoII). Moreover, the role of the covalent functionalization in the thermal stability and the decomposition has been investigated by a forefront characterization tool consisting of thermogravimetric analysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (TG-GC-MS). The LDH exhibits a higher thermal stability of â50âÂșC with broad mass loss steps, whereas the water molecules interact stronger with the α-CoII(Sub) hybrid, suggesting a higher confinement in the interlayer space. Interestingly, at higher temperatures (>400âÂșC), the α-CoII(Sub) gives rise to the selective formation of cycloheptanone, in contrast to the LDH phase leading to different carbonyl containing compounds. These findings offer new fundamental insights into the thermal behavior of hybrid materials based on layered hydroxides, highlighting the important role of covalent functionalization in its properties
The distance to the LMC cluster NGC 1866 and the surrounding field
We use the Main Sequence stars in the LMC cluster NGC 1866 and of Red Clump
stars in the local field to obtain two independent estimates of the LMC
distance. We apply an empirical Main Sequence-fitting technique based on a
large sample of subdwarfs with accurate {\sl Hipparcos} parallaxes in order to
estimate the cluster distance modulus, and the multicolor Red Clump method to
derive distance and reddening of the LMC field. We find that the Main
Sequence-fitting and the Red Clump distance moduli are in significant
disagreement; NGC 1866 distance is equal to 0.08 (consistent with a previous estimate using the same data
and theoretical Main Sequence isochrones), while the field stars provide 0.07. This difference reflects the more general
dichotomy in the LMC distance estimates found in the literature. Various
possible causes for this disagreement are explored, with particular attention
paid to the still uncertain metallicity of the cluster and the star formation
history of the field stars.Comment: 5 pages, incl. 1 figure, uses emulateapj.sty, ApJ accepte
A programming and a modelling perspective on the evaluation of Java card implementations
Java Card Technology has provided a huge step forward in programming smart cards: from assembler to using a high level Object Oriented language. However, the authors have found some differences between the current Java Card version (2.1) and main stream Java that may restrict the benefits of using Java achievable in smartcard programming. In particular, efforts towards evaluating Java Card implementations at a high level of assurance may be hampered by the presence of these differences as well as by the complexity of the Java Card VM and API. The goal of the present paper is to detail the differences from a programming and a modelling point of view
Dust and Stellar Populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud
We present an analysis of line-of-sight extinction measurements obtained
using data from the Magellanic Clouds Photometric Survey, which provides
4-filter photometry for millions of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We
find that visual extinctions are typically larger by several tenths of a
magnitude for stars with effective temperatures > 12000 K, than for stars with
effective temperatures between 5500 K and 6500 K. Several repercussions of this
population-dependent extinction are discussed. In particular, LMC distance
measurements that utilize old stellar populations (such as red clump stars),
but use extinctions derived from OB stars, may be biased low.
Population-dependent extinction affects the interpretation of color-magnitude
diagrams and results in an effective absorption law that is steeper than that
intrinsic to the dust for unresolved stellar systems. We further explore the
relation between the stellar populations and dust by comparing our extinction
map to the 100mu image of the region and identifying potential heating sources
of the dust. We conclude that 100mu flux should be used with caution as a star
formation tracer, particularly for studies of star formation within galaxies.
Finally, we reproduce the observed extinction variation between the hot and
cold stellar populations with a simple model of the distribution of the stars
and dust where the scaleheight of the cooler stars is >> than that of the dust
(which is twice that of the OB stars). (Abridged Abstract)Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ (scheduled for Dec. 1999). 31 pgs
(including Figures
The Missing Link in the Magnetism of Hybrid Cobalt Layered Hydroxides: The Odd-Even Effect of the Organic Spacer
A dramatic change in the magnetic behaviour, which solely depends on the parity of the organic linker molecules, has been found in a family of layered Co-II hydroxides covalently functionalized with dicarboxylic molecules. These layered hybrid materials have been synthesized at room temperature using a one-pot procedure through the epoxide route. While hybrids connected by odd alkyl chains exhibit coercive fields (H-c) below ca. 3500 Oe and show spontaneous magnetization at temperatures (T-M) below 20 K, hybrids functionalized with even alkyl chains behave as hard magnets with H(c)5500 Oe and display a T-M higher than 55 K. This intriguing behaviour was studied by density functional theory with the incorporation of a Hubbard term (DFT+U) calculations, unveiling the structural subtleties underlying this observation. Indeed, the different molecular orientation exhibited by the even/odd alkyl chains, and the orientation of the covalently linked carboxylic groups modify the intensity of the magnetic coupling of both octahedral and tetrahedral in-plane sublattices, thus strongly affecting the magnetic properties of the hybrid. These findings offer an outstanding level of tuning in the molecular design of hybrid magnetic materials based on layered hydroxides
RuddlesdenâPopper hybrid lead bromide perovskite nanosheets of phase pure n=2: Stabilized colloids stored in the solid state
Ruddlesden-Popper lead halide perovskite (RP-LHP) nano-nanostructures can be regarded as self-assembled quantum wells or superlattices of 3D perovskites with an intrinsic quantum well thickness of a single or a few (n=2-4) lead halide layers; the quantum wells are separated by organic layers. They can be scaled down to a single quantum well dimension. Here, the preparation of highly (photo)chemical and colloidal stable hybrid LHP nanosheets (NSs) of ca. 7.4 ”m lateral size and 2.5 nm quantum well height (thereby presenting a deep blue emission at ca. 440 nm), is reported for the first time. The NSs are close-lying and they even interconnect when deposited on a substrate. Their synthesis is based on the use of the p-toluenesulfonic acid/dodecylamine (pTS/DDA) ligand pair and their (photo)chemical stability and photoluminescence is enhanced by adding EuBr2 nanodots (EuNDs). Strikingly, they can be preserved as a solid and stored for at least one year. The blue emissive colloid can be recovered from the solid as needed by simply dispersing the powder in toluene and then using it to prepare solid films, making them very promising candidates for manufacturing devices. © 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
The Unusual Infrared Object HDF-N J123656.3+621322
We describe an object in the Hubble Deep Field North with very unusual
near-infrared properties. It is readily visible in Hubble Space Telescope
NICMOS images at 1.6um and from the ground at 2.2um, but is undetected (with
signal-to-noise <~ 2) in very deep WFPC2 and NICMOS data from 0.3 to 1.1um. The
f_nu flux density drops by a factor >~ 8.3 (97.7% confidence) from 1.6 to
1.1um. The object is compact but may be slightly resolved in the NICMOS 1.6um
image. In a low-resolution, near-infrared spectrogram, we find a possible
emission line at 1.643um, but a reobservation at higher spectral resolution
failed to confirm the line, leaving its reality in doubt. We consider various
hypotheses for the nature of this object. Its colors are unlike those of known
galactic stars, except perhaps the most extreme carbon stars or Mira variables
with thick circumstellar dust shells. It does not appear to be possible to
explain its spectral energy distribution as that of a normal galaxy at any
redshift without additional opacity from either dust or intergalactic neutral
hydrogen. The colors can be matched by those of a dusty galaxy at z >~ 2, by a
maximally old elliptical galaxy at z >~ 3 (perhaps with some additional
reddening), or by an object at z >~ 10 whose optical and 1.1um light have been
suppressed by the intergalactic medium. Under the latter hypothesis, if the
luminosity results from stars and not an AGN, the object would resemble a
classical, unobscured protogalaxy, with a star formation rate >~ 100 M_sun/yr.
Such UV-bright objects are evidently rare at 2 < z < 12.5, however, with a
space density several hundred times lower than that of present-day L* galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 27 pages,
LaTeX, with 7 figures (8 files); citations & references updated + minor
format change
Ultraviolet Imaging Polarimetry of the Large Magellanic Cloud. II. Models
Motivated by new sounding-rocket wide-field polarimetric images of the Large
Magellanic Cloud, we have used a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiation
transfer code to investigate the escape of near-ultraviolet photons from young
stellar associations embedded within a disk of dusty material (i.e. a galaxy).
As photons propagate through the disk, they may be scattered or absorbed by
dust. Scattered photons are polarized and tracked until they escape to be
observed; absorbed photons heat the dust, which radiates isotropically in the
far-infrared, where the galaxy is optically thin. The code produces four output
images: near- UV and far-IR flux, and near-UV images in the linear Stokes
parameters Q and U. From these images we construct simulated UV polarization
maps of the LMC. We use these maps to place constraints on the star + dust
geometry of the LMC and the optical properties of its dust grains. By tuning
the model input parameters to produce maps that match the observed polarization
maps, we derive information about the inclination of the LMC disk to the plane
of the sky, and about the scattering phase function g. We compute a grid of
models with i = 28 deg., 36 deg., and 45 deg., and g = 0.64, 0.70, 0.77, 0.83,
and 0.90. The model which best reproduces the observed polarization maps has i
= 36 +2/-5 degrees and g ~0.7. Because of the low signal-to-noise in the data,
we cannot place firm constraints on the value of g. The highly inclined models
do not match the observed centro-symmetric polarization patterns around bright
OB associations, or the distribution of polarization values. Our models
approximately reproduce the observed ultraviolet photopolarimetry of the
western side of the LMC; however, the output images depend on many input
parameters and are nonunique.Comment: Accepted to AJ. 20 pages, 7 figure
Lightcurves of Type Ia Supernovae from Near the Time of Explosion
We present a set of 11 type Ia supernova (SN Ia) lightcurves with dense,
pre-maximum sampling. These supernovae (SNe), in galaxies behind the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC), were discovered by the SuperMACHO survey. The SNe span
a redshift range of z = 0.11 - 0.35. Our lightcurves contain some of the
earliest pre-maximum observations of SNe Ia to date. We also give a functional
model that describes the SN Ia lightcurve shape (in our VR-band). Our function
uses the "expanding fireball" model of Goldhaber et al. (1998) to describe the
rising lightcurve immediately after explosion but constrains it to smoothly
join the remainder of the lightcurve. We fit this model to a composite observed
VR-band lightcurve of three SNe between redshifts of 0.135 to 0.165. These SNe
have not been K-corrected or adjusted to account for reddening. In this
redshift range, the observed VR-band most closely matches the rest frame
V-band. Using the best fit to our functional description of the lightcurve, we
find the time between explosion and observed VR-band maximum to be
17.6+-1.3(stat)+-0.07(sys) rest-frame days for a SN Ia with a VR-band Delta
m_{-10} of 0.52mag. For the redshifts sampled, the observed VR-band
time-of-maximum brightness should be the same as the rest-frame V-band maximum
to within 1.1 rest-frame days.Comment: 35 pages, 18 figures, 15 tables; Higher quality PDF available at
http://ctiokw.ctio.noao.edu/~sm/sm/SNrise/index.html; AJ accepte
Distances, ages, and epoch of formation of globular clusters
We review the results on distances and absolute ages of galactic globular
clusters (GCs) obtained after the release of the Hipparcos catalogue. Several
methods for the Population II local distance scale are discussed, exploiting
NEW RESULTS for RR Lyraes in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We find that the
so-called Short and Long Distance Scales may be reconciled whether a consistent
reddening scale is adopted for Cepheids and RR Lyrae variables in the LMC.
Distances and ages for the 9 clusters discussed in Paper I are re-derived using
an enlarged sample of local subdwarfs, which includes about 90% of the
metal-poor dwarfs with accurate parallaxes (Delta p/p < 0.12) in the whole
Hipparcos catalogue. On average, our revised distance moduli are decreased by
0.04 mag with respect to Paper I. The corresponding age of the GCs is
t=11.5+-2.6 Gyr (95% confidence range). The relation between Mv(ZAHB) and
metallicity for the nine programme clusters turns out to be
Mv(ZAHB)=(0.18+-0.09)([Fe/H]+1.5)+(0.53+-0.12).Thanks to Hipparcos the major
contribution to the total error budget associated with the subdwarf fitting
technique has been moved from parallaxes to photometric calibrations, reddening
and metallicity scale. This total uncertainty still amounts to about +-0.12
mag. Comparing the corresponding (true) LMC distance modulus 18.64+-0.12 mag
with other existing determinations, we conclude that at present the best
estimate for the distance of the LMC is: 18.54+-0.03+-0.06, suggesting that
distances from the subdwarf fitting method are 1 sigma too long. Consequently,
our best estimate for the age of the GCs is revised to: Age = 12.9+-2.9 Gyr
(95% confidence range). The best relation between Mv(ZAHB) and [Fe/H] is:
Mv(ZAHB) =(0.18+-0.09)([Fe/H]+1.5)+(0.63+-0.07).Comment: 76 pages, 6 encapsulated figures and 6 tables. Latex, uses
aasms4.sty. Revised and improved version, with new data on field RR Lyraes in
LMC. Accepted in the Astrophysical Journa
- âŠ