692 research outputs found
Magnetism in Nb(1-y)Fe(2+y) - composition and magnetic field dependence
We present a systematic study of transport and thermodynamic properties of
the Laves phase system NbFe. Our measurements confirm that
Fe-rich samples, as well as those rich in Nb (for ), show
bulk ferromagnetism at low temperature. For stoichiometric NbFe, on the
other hand, magnetization, magnetic susceptibility and magnetoresistance
results point towards spin-density wave (SDW) order, possibly helical, with a
small ordering wavevector \AA. Our results suggest that on
approaching the stoichiometric composition from the iron-rich side,
ferromagnetism changes into long-wavelength SDW order. In this scenario,
changes continuously from 0 to small, finite values at a Lifshitz point in the
phase diagram, which is located near . Further reducing the Fe content
suppresses the SDW transition temperature, which extrapolates to zero at
. Around this Fe content magnetic fluctuations dominate the
temperature dependence of the resistivity and of the heat capacity which
deviate from their conventional Fermi liquid forms, inferring the presence of a
quantum critical point. Because the critical point is located between the SDW
phase associated with stoichiometric NbFe and the ferromagnetic order which
reemerges for very Nb-rich NbFe, the observed temperature dependences could
be attributed both to proximity to SDW order or to ferromagnetism.Comment: 13 pages, 20 figure
Unwilling or Unable to Cheat? Evidence from a Randomized Tax Audit Experiment in Denmark
This paper analyzes a randomized tax enforcement experiment in Denmark. In the base year, a stratified and representative sample of over 40,000 individual income tax filers was selected for the experiment. Half of the tax filers were randomly selected to be thoroughly audited, while the rest were deliberately not audited. The following year, "threat-of-audit" letters were randomly assigned and sent to tax filers in both groups. Using comprehensive administrative tax data, we present four main findings. First, we find that the tax evasion rate is very small (0.3%) for income subject to third-party reporting, but substantial (37%) for self-reported income. Since 95% of all income is third-party reported, the overall evasion rate is very modest. Second, using bunching evidence around large and salient kink points of the nonlinear income tax schedule, we find that marginal tax rates have a positive impact on tax evasion, but that this effect is small in comparison to avoidance responses. Third, we find that prior audits substantially increase self-reported income, implying that individuals update their beliefs about detection probability based on experiencing an audit. Fourth, threat-of-audit letters also have a significant effect on self-reported income, and the size of this effect depends positively on the audit probability expressed in the letter. All these empirical results can be explained by extending the standard model of (rational) tax evasion to allow for the key distinction between self-reported and third-party reported incomes.
Contact binaries with additional components. III. The adaptive optics detections
We present results of the CFHT adaptive optics search for companions of a
homogeneous group of contact binary stars, as a contribution to our attempts to
prove a hypothesis that these binaries require a third star to become so close
as observed. In addition to companions directly discovered at separations of
>=1", we introduced a new method of AO image analysis utilizing distortions of
the AO diffraction ring pattern at separations of 0.07"-1". Very close
companions, with separations in the latter range were discovered in systems HV
Aqr, OO Aql, CK Boo, XY Leo, BE Scl, and RZ Tau. More distant companions were
detected in V402 Aur, AO Cam, V2082 Cyg. Our results provide a contribution to
the mounting evidence that the presence of close companions is a very common
phenomenon for very close binaries with orbital periods <1 day.Comment: Full Figs.4 and 5 are in
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~rucinski/Triples3
Improving thermoelectric performance of TiNiSn by mixing MnNiSb in the half-Heusler structure
The thermoelectric properties of n type semiconductor, TiNiSn is optimized by
partial substitution with metallic, MnNiSb in the half Heusler structure.
Herein, we study the transport properties and intrinsic phase separation in the
system. The Ti1-xMnxNiSn1-xSbx alloys were prepared by arc-melting and were
annealed at temperatures obtained from differential thermal analysis and
differential scanning calorimetry results. The phases were characterized using
powder X-ray diffraction patterns, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and
differential scanning calorimetry. After annealing the majority phase was
TiNiSn with some Ni rich sites and the minority phases was majorly Ti6Sn5, Sn,
and MnSn2. Ni rich sites were caused by Frenkel defects, this led to a
metal-like behavior of the semiconducting specimens at low temperature. For x
up to 0.05 the samples showed an activated conduction, whereas for x>0.05 they
showed metallic character. The figure of merit for x=0.05 was increased by 61%
(ZT=0.45) in comparison to the pure TiNiSn.Comment: 7 pages and 5 figures. Submitted to Physical Chemistry Chemical
Physics - RSC Publishing on 6th of October, 201
Spectroscopic and Photometric Study of the Contact Binary BO CVn
We present the results of the study of the contact binary system BO CVn. We
have obtained physical parameters of the components based on combined analysis
of new, multi-color light curves and spectroscopic mass ratio. This is the
first time the latter has been determined for this object. We derived the
contact configuration for the system with a very high filling factor of about
88 percent. We were able to reproduce the observed light curve, namely the flat
bottom of the secondary minimum, only if a third light has been added into the
list of free parameters. The resulting third light contribution is significant,
about 20-24 percent, while the absolute parameters of components are: M1=1.16,
M2=0.39, R1=1.62 and R2=1.00 (in solar units). The O-C diagram shows an upward
parabola which, under the conservative mass transfer assumption, would
correspond to a mass transfer rate of dM/dt = 6.3 \times 10-8M\odot/yr, matter
being transferred from the less massive component to the more massive one. No
cyclic, short-period variations have been found in the O-C diagram (but
longer-term variations remain a possibility)Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication by New
Astronom
Radial Velocity Studies of Southern Close Binary Stars.I
Radial-velocity measurements and sine-curve fits to the orbital velocity
variations are presented for nine contact binaries, V1464 Aql, V759 Cen, DE
Oct, MW Pav, BQ Phe, EL Aqr, SX Crv, VZ Lib, GR Vir; for the first five among
these, our observations are the first available radial velocity data. Among
three remaining radial velocity variables, CE Hyi is a known visual binary,
while CL Cet and V1084 Sco are suspected to be multiple systems where the
contact binary is spectrally dominated by its companion (which itself is a
binary in V1084 Sco). Five additional variables, V872 Ara, BD Cap, HIP 69300,
BX Ind, V388 Pav, are of unknown type, but most are pulsating stars; we give
their mean radial velocities and Vsini.Comment: to appear in AJ October 2006; 3 figure
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From Colossal to Zero: Controlling the Anomalous Hall Effect in Magnetic Heusler Compounds via Berry Curvature Design
Since the discovery of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE), the anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) has been thought to be zero when there is no net magnetization. However, the recently found relation between the intrinsic AHE and the Berry curvature predicts other possibilities, such as a large AHC in noncolinear antiferromagnets with no net magnetization but net Berry curvature. Vice versa, the AHE in principle could be tuned to zero, irrespective of a finite magnetization. Here, we experimentally investigate this possibility and demonstrate that the symmetry elements of Heusler magnets can be changed such that the Berry curvature and all the associated properties are switched while leaving the magnetization unaffected. This enables us to tune the AHC from 0 Ω-1 cm-1 up to 1600 Ω-1 cm-1 with an exceptionally high anomalous Hall angle up to 12%, while keeping the magnetization the same. Our study shows that the AHC can be controlled by selectively changing the Berry curvature distribution, independent of the magnetization
Radial Velocity Studies of Close Binary Stars. XI
Radial-velocity measurements and sine-curve fits to the orbital radial
velocity variations are presented for ten close binary systems: DU Boo, ET Boo,
TX Cnc, V1073 Cyg, HL Dra, AK Her, VW LMi, V566 Oph, TV UMi and AG Vir. By this
contribution, the DDO program has reached the point of 100 published radial
velocity orbits. The radial velocities have been determined using an improved
fitting technique which uses rotational profiles to approximate individual
peaks in broadening functions.
Three systems, ET Boo, VW LMi and TV UMi, were found to be quadruple while AG
Vir appears to be a spectroscopic triple. ET Boo, a member of a close visual
binary with years, was previously known to be a multiple
system, but we show that the second component is actually a close,
non-eclipsing binary. The new observations enabled us to determine the
spectroscopic orbits of the companion, non-eclipsing pairs in ET Boo and VW
LMi. The particularly interesting case is VW LMi, where the period of the
mutual revolution of the two spectroscopic binaries is only 355 days.
While most of the studied eclipsing pairs are contact binaries, ET Boo is
composed of two double-lined detached binaries and HL Dra is single-lined
detached or semi-detached system. Five systems of this group were observed
spectroscopically before: TX Cnc, V1073 Cyg, AK Her (as a single-lined binary),
V566 Oph, AG Vir, but our new data are of much higher quality than the previous
studies.Comment: Accepted by AJ, August 2006, 10 figures, 3 table
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