Governing Juana: Madness and Manipulation of Power in Three Spanish American Plays on Juana la Loca

This article examines the representation of Juana of Castile in three twentieth-century Spanish American plays — Zavalía’s El corazón extraviado — (Argentina, 1957), Sabido’s Falsa crónica de Juana la Loca (Mexico, 1985), and Rueda’s Retablo de la pasión y muerte de Juana la Loca (Dominican Republic, 1996) — that portray the queen sympathetically as the victim of elaborate plots to usurp her authority. While the plays expose her madness as a pretext used by her father King Fernando and her son Emperor Carlos V to confine her for nearly half a century in the palace of Tordesillas, they do not deny the basic premises of the official history of “Juana la loca.” Thus, the captive queen is represented on stage as not only unable to govern Spain, but also as unable to control herself, leading others to “govern Juana.” (KL and AMS, Article in English

Molecular gas at supernova local environments unveiled by EDGE

CO observations allow estimations of the gas content of molecular clouds, which trace the reservoir of cold gas fuelling star formation, as well as to determine extinction via H$_2$ column density, N(H$_2$). Here, we studied millimetric and optical properties at 26 supernovae (SNe) locations of different types in a sample of 23 nearby galaxies by combining molecular $^{12}$C$^{16}$O (J = 1 $\rightarrow$ 0) resolved maps from the EDGE survey and optical Integral Field Spectroscopy from the CALIFA survey. We found an even clearer separation between type II and type Ibc SNe in terms of molecular gas than what we found in the optical using H$\alpha$ emission as a proxy for current SF rate, which reinforces the fact that SNe Ibc are more associated with SF-environments. While A$_V$ at SN locations is similar for SNe II and SNe Ibc, and higher compared to SNe Ia, N(H$_2$) is significantly higher for SNe Ibc than for SNe II and SNe Ia. When compared to alternative extinction estimations directly from SN photometry and spectroscopy, we find that our SNe Ibc have also redder color excess but showed standard Na I D absorption pseudo-equivalent widths ($\sim$1 \AA). In some cases we find no extinction when estimated from the environment, but high amounts of extinction when measured from SN observations, which suggests that circumstellar material or dust sublimation may be playing a role. This work serves as a benchmark for future studies combining last generation millimeter and optical IFS instruments to reveal the local environmental properties of extragalactic SNe.Comment: MNRAS accepted, 17 pages, 8 Figures, 4 Table

The dependence of oxygen and nitrogen abundances on stellar mass from the CALIFA survey

We analysed the optical spectra of HII regions extracted from a sample of 350 galaxies of the CALIFA survey. We calculated total O/H abundances and, for the first time, N/O ratios using the semi-empirical routine HII-CHI-mistry, which, according to P\'erez-Montero (2014), is consistent with the direct method and reduces the uncertainty in the O/H derivation using [NII] lines owing to the dispersion in the O/H-N/O relation. Then we performed linear fittings to the abundances as a function of the de-projected galactocentric distances. The analysis of the radial distribution both for O/H and N/O in the non-interacting galaxies reveals that both average slopes are negative, but a non-negligible fraction of objects have a flat or even a positive gradient (at least 10\% for O/H and 4\% for N/O). The slopes normalised to the effective radius appear to have a slight dependence on the total stellar mass and the morphological type, as late low-mass objects tend to have flatter slopes. No clear relation is found, however, to explain the presence of inverted gradients in this sample, and there is no dependence between the average slopes and the presence of a bar. The relation between the resulting O/H and N/O linear fittings at the effective radius is much tighter (correlation coefficient $\rho_s$ = 0.80) than between O/H and N/O slopes ($\rho_s$ = 0.39) or for O/H and N/O in the individual \hii\ regions ($\rho_s$ = 0.37). These O/H and N/O values at the effective radius also correlate very tightly (less than 0.03 dex of dispersion) with total luminosity and stellar mass. The relation with other integrated properties, such as star formation rate, colour, or morphology, can be understood only in light of the found relation with mass.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 pages, 19 figure

Insights on the stellar mass-metallicity relation from the CALIFA survey

We use spatially and temporally resolved maps of stellar population properties of 300 galaxies from the CALIFA integral field survey to investigate how the stellar metallicity (Z*) relates to the total stellar mass (M*) and the local mass surface density ($\mu$*) in both spheroidal and disk dominated galaxies. The galaxies are shown to follow a clear stellar mass-metallicity relation (MZR) over the whole 10$^9$ to 10$^{12}$ M$_{\odot}$ range. This relation is steeper than the one derived from nebular abundances, which is similar to the flatter stellar MZR derived when we consider only young stars. We also find a strong relation between the local values of $\mu$* and Z* (the $\mu$ZR), betraying the influence of local factors in determining Z*. This shows that both local ($\mu$*-driven) and global (M*-driven) processes are important in determining the metallicity in galaxies. We find that the overall balance between local and global effects varies with the location within a galaxy. In disks, $\mu$* regulates Z*, producing a strong $\mu$ZR whose amplitude is modulated by M*. In spheroids it is M* who dominates the physics of star formation and chemical enrichment, with $\mu$* playing a minor, secondary role. These findings agree with our previous analysis of the star formation histories of CALIFA galaxies, which showed that mean stellar ages are mainly governed by surface density in galaxy disks and by total mass in spheroids.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The importance of back contact modification in Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cells: The role of a thin MoO2 layer

Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1-x)4 (CZTSSe) photovoltaic absorbers could be the earth-abundant and low toxicity replacement for the already commercialized CuIn1-xGaxSe2 (CIGS) thin film technology. In order to make this possible, specific research efforts applied to the bulk, front and back interfaces must be performed with the aim of improving CZTSSe performance. In this paper the importance of back contact modification to obtain high efficiency Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) solar cells and to increase a paramount and limiting parameter such as VOC is highlighted. Several Mo configurations (monolayer, bi-layer and tri-layer) with different electrical and morphological properties are investigated in CZTSe solar cells. An optimum tri-layer configuration in order to minimize overselenization of the back contact during thermal annealing while keeping reasonable electrical features is defined. Additionally, a thin intermediate MoO2 layer that results in a very effective barrier against selenization and innovative way to efficiently assist in the CZTSe absorber sintering is introduced. The use of this layer enhances grain growth and subsequently the efficiency of solar cells increases via major VOC and FF improvement. An efficiency increase from 7.2% to 9.5% is obtained using a Mo tri-layer with a 20 nm intermediate MoO2 layerThis research was supported by the Framework 7 program under the project KESTCELLS (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN-316488), by MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España) under the SUNBEAM project (ENE2013-49136-C4-1-R), and by European Regional Development Founds (ERDF, FEDER Programa Competitivitat de Catalunya 2007–2013). Authors from IREC and the University of Barcelona belong to the M-2E (Electronic Materials for Energy) Consolidated Research Group and the XaRMAE Network of Excellence on Materials for Energy of the “Generalitat de Catalunya”. M.E-R. thanks the MINECO for the FPI-MINECO (BES-2011-045774), Y.S. for the PTA fellowship (PTA2012-7852-A), SG for the FPI fellowship (BES-2014-068533), M.P. for the MINECO postdoctoral fellow (FPDI-2013-18968), E.S. and R.C. for the “Ramon y Cajal” fellowship (RYC-2011-09212) and (RYC-2011-08521) respectively, and H.X. thanks the “China Scholarship Council” fellowship (CSC Nº 201206340113

Central star formation and metallicity in CALIFA interacting galaxies

We use optical integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) data from 103 nearby galaxies at different stages of the merging event, from close pairs to merger remnants provided by the CALIFA survey, to study the impact of the interaction in the specific star formation and oxygen abundance on different galactic scales. To disentangle the effect of the interaction and merger from internal processes, we compared our results with a control sample of 80 non-interacting galaxies. We confirm the moderate enhancement (2-3 times) of specific star formation for interacting galaxies in central regions as reported by previous studies; however, the specific star formation is comparable when observed in extended regions. We find that control and interacting star-forming galaxies have similar oxygen abundances in their central regions, when normalized to their stellar masses. Oxygen abundances of these interacting galaxies seem to decrease compared to the control objects at the large aperture sizes measured in effective radius. Although the enhancement in central star formation and lower metallicities for interacting galaxies have been attributed to tidally induced inflows, our results suggest that other processes such as stellar feedback can contribute to the metal enrichment in interacting galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Spiral-like star-forming patterns in CALIFA early-type galaxies

Based on a combined analysis of SDSS imaging and CALIFA integral field spectroscopy data, we report on the detection of faint (24 < {\mu}$_r$ mag/arcsec$^2$ < 26) star-forming spiral-arm-like features in the periphery of three nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs). These features are of considerable interest because they document the still ongoing inside-out growth of some local ETGs and may add valuable observational insight into the origin and evolution of spiral structure in triaxial stellar systems. A characteristic property of the nebular component in the studied ETGs, classified i+, is a two-radial-zone structure, with the inner zone that displays faint (EW(H\alpha)$\simeq$1{\AA}) low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) properties, and the outer one (3{\AA}<EW(H\alpha)<~20{\AA}) HII-region characteristics. This spatial segregation of nebular emission in two physically distinct concentric zones calls for an examination of aperture effects in studies of type i+ ETGs with single-fiber spectroscopic data.Comment: Accepted to A&A, 5 pages, 1 figur

Spectroscopic aperture biases in inside-out evolving early-type galaxies from CALIFA

Integral field spectroscopy studies based on CALIFA data have recently revealed the presence of ongoing low-level star formation (SF) in the periphery of ~10% of local early-type galaxies (ETGs), witnessing a still ongoing inside-out galaxy growth process. A distinctive property of the nebular component in these ETGs, classified i+, is a two-radial-zone structure, with the inner zone displaying LINER emission with a H\alpha equivalent width EW~1{\AA}, and the outer one (3{\AA}<EW<~20{\AA}) showing HII-region characteristics. Using CALIFA IFS data, we empirically demonstrate that the confinement of nebular emission to the galaxy periphery leads to a strong aperture (or, redshift) bias in spectroscopic single-fiber studies of type i+ ETGs: At low redshift (<~0.45), SDSS spectroscopy is restricted to the inner (SF-devoid LINER) zone, thereby leading to their erroneous classification as "retired" galaxies (systems lacking SF and whose faint emission is powered by pAGB stars). Only at higher z's the SDSS aperture can encompass the outer SF zone, permitting their unbiased classification as "composite SF/LINER". We also demonstrate that the principal effect of a decreasing aperture on the classification of i+ ETGs via standard BPT emission-line ratios consists in a monotonic up-right shift precisely along the upper-right wing of the "seagull" distribution. Motivated by these insights, we also investigate theoretically these biases in aperture-limited studies of inside-out growing galaxies as a function of z. To this end, we devise a simple model, which involves an outwardly propagating SF process, that reproduces the radial extent and two-zone EW distribution of i+ ETGs. By simulating on this model the spectroscopic SDSS aperture, we find that SDSS studies at z<~1 are progressively restricted to the inner LINER-zone, and miss an increasingly large portion of the H\alpha-emitting periphery.Comment: Accepted to A&A, 6 pages, 4 figure