Single crystal growth and physical properties of SrFe2_{2}(As1−x_{1-x}Px_{x})2_{2}

We report a crystal growth and physical properties of SrFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$. The single crystals for various $x$s were grown by a self flux method. For $x = 0.35$, $T_c$ reaches the maximum value of 30\,K and the electrical resistivity $\rho$($T$) shows $T$-linear dependence. As $x$ increases, $T_{c}$ decreases and $\rho$($T$) changes to $T^2$-behavior, indicating a standard Fermi liquid. These results suggest that a magnetic quantum critical point exists around $x=0.35$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Supplemental issue of the Journal of Physical Society of Japan (JPSJ

Reciprocatory magnetic reconnection in a coronal bright point

Coronal bright points (CBPs) are small-scale and long-duration brightenings in the lower solar corona. They are often explained in terms of magnetic reconnection. We aim to study the sub-structures of a CBP and clarify the relationship among the brightenings of different patches inside the CBP. The event was observed by the X-ray Telescope (XRT) aboard the Hinode spacecraft on 2009 August 22$-$23. The CBP showed repetitive brightenings (or CBP flashes). During each of the two successive CBP flashes, i.e., weak and strong flashes which are separated by $\sim$2 hr, the XRT images revealed that the CBP was composed of two chambers, i.e., patches A and B. During the weak flash, patch A brightened first, and patch B brightened $\sim$2 min later. During the transition, the right leg of a large-scale coronal loop drifted from the right side of the CBP to the left side. During the strong flash, patch B brightened first, and patch A brightened $\sim$2 min later. During the transition, the right leg of the large-scale coronal loop drifted from the left side of the CBP to the right side. In each flash, the rapid change of the connectivity of the large-scale coronal loop is strongly suggestive of the interchange reconnection. For the first time we found reciprocatory reconnection in the CBP, i.e., reconnected loops in the outflow region of the first reconnection process serve as the inflow of the second reconnection process.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

A blind deconvolution approach to recover effective connectivity brain networks from resting state fMRI data

A great improvement to the insight on brain function that we can get from fMRI data can come from effective connectivity analysis, in which the flow of information between even remote brain regions is inferred by the parameters of a predictive dynamical model. As opposed to biologically inspired models, some techniques as Granger causality (GC) are purely data-driven and rely on statistical prediction and temporal precedence. While powerful and widely applicable, this approach could suffer from two main limitations when applied to BOLD fMRI data: confounding effect of hemodynamic response function (HRF) and conditioning to a large number of variables in presence of short time series. For task-related fMRI, neural population dynamics can be captured by modeling signal dynamics with explicit exogenous inputs; for resting-state fMRI on the other hand, the absence of explicit inputs makes this task more difficult, unless relying on some specific prior physiological hypothesis. In order to overcome these issues and to allow a more general approach, here we present a simple and novel blind-deconvolution technique for BOLD-fMRI signal. Coming to the second limitation, a fully multivariate conditioning with short and noisy data leads to computational problems due to overfitting. Furthermore, conceptual issues arise in presence of redundancy. We thus apply partial conditioning to a limited subset of variables in the framework of information theory, as recently proposed. Mixing these two improvements we compare the differences between BOLD and deconvolved BOLD level effective networks and draw some conclusions

Superconducting gap symmetry of Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on the optimally-doped Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ compound and determined the accurate momentum dependence of the superconducting (SC) gap in four Fermi-surface sheets including a newly discovered outer electron pocket at the M point. The SC gap on this pocket is nearly isotropic and its magnitude is comparable ($\Delta$ $\sim$ 11 meV) to that of the inner electron and hole pockets ($\sim$12 meV), although it is substantially larger than that of the outer hole pocket ($\sim$6 meV). The Fermi-surface dependence of the SC gap value is basically consistent with $\Delta$($k$) = $\Delta$$_0$cos$k_x$cos$k_y$ formula expected for the extended s-wave symmetry. The observed finite deviation from the simple formula suggests the importance of multi-orbital effects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Charge and spin Hall effect in graphene with magnetic impurities

We point out the existence of finite charge and spin Hall conductivities of graphene in the presence of a spin orbit interaction (SOI) and localized magnetic impurities. The SOI in graphene results in different transverse forces on the two spin channels yielding the spin Hall current. The magnetic scatterers act as spin-dependent barriers, and in combination with the SOI effect lead to a charge imbalance at the boundaries. As indicated here, the charge and spin Hall effects should be observable in graphene by changing the chemical potential close to the gap.Comment: 7 page

Extended phase diagram of the Lorenz model

The parameter dependence of the various attractive solutions of the three variable nonlinear Lorenz model equations for thermal convection in Rayleigh-B\'enard flow is studied. Its bifurcation structure has commonly been investigated as a function of r, the normalized Rayleigh number, at fixed Prandtl number \sigma. The present work extends the analysis to the entire (r,\sigma) parameter plane. An onion like periodic pattern is found which is due to the alternating stability of symmetric and non-symmetric periodic orbits. This periodic pattern is explained by considering non-trivial limits of large r and \sigma. In addition to the limit which was previously analyzed by Sparrow, we identify two more distinct asymptotic regimes in which either \sigma/r or \sigma^2/r is constant. In both limits the dynamics is approximately described by Airy functions whence the periodicity in parameter space can be calculated analytically. Furthermore, some observations about sequences of bifurcations and coexistence of attractors, periodic as well as chaotic, are reported.Comment: 36 pages, 20 figure

Chiral phase transition of (2+1)-flavor QCD

We present here results on the determination of the critical temperature in the chiral limit for (2+1)-flavor QCD. We propose two novel estimators of the chiral critical temperature where quark mass dependence is strongly suppressed compared to the conventional estimator using pseudo-critical temperatures. We have used the HISQ/tree action for the numerical simulation with lattices with three different temporal extent $N_{\tau}=$6, 8, 12 and varied the aspect ratio over the range $4 \leq N_{\sigma}/N_{\tau} \leq 8$. To approach the chiral limit, the light quark mass has been decreased keeping the strange quark mass fixed at its physical value. Our simulations correspond to the range of pion masses, 55 MeV $\leq m_{\pi} \leq$ 160 MeV.Comment: Prepared for the proceedings of Quark Matter 201