Cine-forum: “La felicidad en el séptimo arte"

Comunicación presentada en el Curso "La felicidad humana", dentro de los Cursos de verano UBU 201

Anisotropic Electronic Structure of the Kondo Semiconductor CeFe2Al10 Studied by Optical Conductivity

We report temperature-dependent polarized optical conductivity [$\sigma(\omega)$] spectra of CeFe$_2$Al$_{10}$, which is a reference material for CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ with an anomalous magnetic transition at 28 K. The $\sigma(\omega)$ spectrum along the b-axis differs greatly from that in the $ac$-plane, indicating that this material has an anisotropic electronic structure. At low temperatures, in all axes, a shoulder structure due to the optical transition across the hybridization gap between the conduction band and the localized $4f$ states, namely $c$-$f$ hybridization, appears at 55 meV. However, the gap opening temperature and the temperature of appearance of the quasiparticle Drude weight are strongly anisotropic indicating the anisotropic Kondo temperature. The strong anisotropic nature in both electronic structure and Kondo temperature is considered to be relevant the anomalous magnetic phase transition in CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Room temperature ferromagnetic behavior in the hollandite-type titanium oxide

A hollandite-type K(x)Ti(8)O(16) polycrystalline sample has been prepared and studied by magnetization, resistivity and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Room temperature ferromagnetic behavior is observed in the magnetic hysteresis measurement. The sample shows a semiconductive temperature dependence in the resistivity measurement. Analysis of the Ti 2p(3/2) core-level XPS spectrum indicates that the titanium ions have a mixed valence of Ti(4+) and Ti(3+). In addition, the valence band spectrum reveals that the 3d electrons tend to localize on Ti(3+) ions in the hollandite-type TiO(2) lattice. Also, analysis of the valence band spectrum shows that the prepared sample is a wide-gap oxide with a band gap of 3.6 eV. These results indicate that the present hollandite-type K(x)Ti(8)O(16) sample can be classified as a TiO(2)-based wide-gap semiconductor with Curie temperature above room temperature. Room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) decreases in the sample prepared under a strong reducing gas atmosphere, accompanied with the decrease in the resistivity. The results imply that the localized 3d electrons are responsible for the RTFM of the K(x)Ti(8)O(16) sample

Electronic structures of Cr1−δ_{1-\delta}X (X=S, Te) studied by Cr 2p soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Cr 2p core excited XAS and XMCD spectra of ferromagnetic Cr$_{1-\delta}$Te with several concentrations of $\delta$=0.11-0.33 and ferrimagnetic Cr$_{5}$S$_{6}$ have been measured. The observed XMCD lineshapes are found to very weakly depend on $\delta$ for Cr$_{1-\delta}$Te. The experimental results are analyzed by means of a configuration-interaction cluster model calculation with consideration of hybridization and electron correlation effects. The obtained values of the spin magnetic moment by the cluster model analyses are in agreement with the results of the band structure calculation.The calculated result shows that the doped holes created by the Cr deficiency exist mainly in the Te 5porbital of Cr$_{1-\delta}$Te, whereas the holes are likely to be in Cr 3d state for Cr$_{5}$S$_{6}$.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Synchronization in Scale Free networks: The role of finite size effects

Synchronization problems in complex networks are very often studied by researchers due to its many applications to various fields such as neurobiology, e-commerce and completion of tasks. In particular, Scale Free networks with degree distribution $P(k)\sim k^{-\lambda}$, are widely used in research since they are ubiquitous in nature and other real systems. In this paper we focus on the surface relaxation growth model in Scale Free networks with $2.5< \lambda <3$, and study the scaling behavior of the fluctuations, in the steady state, with the system size $N$. We find a novel behavior of the fluctuations characterized by a crossover between two regimes at a value of $N=N^*$ that depends on $\lambda$: a logarithmic regime, found in previous research, and a constant regime. We propose a function that describes this crossover, which is in very good agreement with the simulations. We also find that, for a system size above $N^{*}$, the fluctuations decrease with $\lambda$, which means that the synchronization of the system improves as $\lambda$ increases. We explain this crossover analyzing the role of the network's heterogeneity produced by the system size $N$ and the exponent of the degree distribution.Comment: 9 pages and 5 figures. Accepted in Europhysics Letter

VVV Survey Observations of a Microlensing Stellar Mass Black Hole Candidate in the Field of the Globular Cluster NGC 6553

We report the discovery of a large timescale candidate microlensing event of a bulge stellar source based on near-infrared observations with the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV). The new microlensing event is projected only 3.5 arcmin away from the center of the globular cluster NGC 6553. The source appears to be a bulge giant star with magnitude Ks = 13.52, based on the position in the color-magnitude diagram. The foreground lens may be located in the globular cluster, which has well-known parameters such as distance and proper motions. If the lens is a cluster member, we can directly estimate its mass simply following Paczynski et al. (1996) which is a modified version of the more general case due to Refsdal. In that case, the lens would be a massive stellar remnant, with M = 1.5-3.5 Msun. If the blending fraction of the microlensing event appears to be small, and this lens would represent a good isolated black hole (BH) candidate, that would be the oldest BH known. Alternative explanations (with a larger blending fraction) also point to a massive stellar remnant if the lens is located in the Galactic disk and does not belong to the globular cluster.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ

Itinerant ferromagnetism in half-metallic CoS_2

We have investigated electronic and magnetic properties of the pyrite-type CoS_2 using the linearized muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) band method. We have obtained the ferromagnetic ground state with nearly half-metallic nature. The half-metallic stability is studied by using the fixed spin moment method. The non-negligible orbital magnetic moment of Co 3d electrons is obtained as $\mu_L = 0.06 \mu_B$ in the local spin density approximation (LSDA). The calculated ratio of the orbital to spin angular momenta / = 0.15 is consistent with experiment. The effect of the Coulomb correlation between Co 3d electrons is also explored with the LSDA + U method. The Coulomb correlation at Co sites is not so large, $U \lesssim 1$ eV, and so CoS_2 is possibly categorized as an itinerant ferromagnet. It is found that the observed electronic and magnetic behaviors of CoS_2 can be described better by the LSDA than by the LSDA + U.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figure