A massive star origin for an unusual helium-rich supernova in an elliptical galaxy

The unusual helium-rich (type Ib) supernova SN 2005E is distinguished from any supernova hitherto observed by its faint and rapidly fading light curve, prominent calcium lines in late-phase spectra and lack of any mark of recent star formation near the supernova location. These properties are claimed to be explained by a helium detonation in a thin surface layer of an accreting white dwarf (Perets et al. 2010). Here we report on observations of SN 2005cz appeared in an elliptical galaxy, whose observed properties resemble those of SN 2005E in that it is helium-rich and unusually faint, fades rapidly, shows much weaker oxygen emission lines than those of calcium in the well-evolved spectrum. We argue that these properties are best explained by a core-collapse supernova at the low-mass end ($8-12 M_{\odot}$) of the range of massive stars that explode (Smartt 2009). Such a low mass progenitor had lost its hydrogen-rich envelope through binary interaction, having very thin oxygen-rich and silicon-rich layers above the collapsing core, thus ejecting a very small amount of radioactive $^{56}$Ni and oxygen. Although the host galaxy NGC 4589 is an elliptical, some studies have revealed evidence of recent star-formation activity (Zhang et al. 2008), consistent with the core-collapse scenario.Comment: Accepted by Nature (24 March 2010), 32 pages including Supplementary Informatio

Renormalization group approach to vibrational energy transfer in protein

Renormalization group method is applied to the study of vibrational energy transfer in protein molecule. An effective Lagrangian and associated equations of motion to describe the resonant energy transfer are analyzed in terms of the first-order perturbative renormalization group theory that has been developed as a unified tool for global asymptotic analysis. After the elimination of singular terms associated with the Fermi resonance, amplitude equations to describe the slow dynamics of vibrational energy transfer are derived, which recover the result obtained by a technique developed in nonlinear optics [S.J. Lade, Y.S. Kivshar, Phys. Lett. A 372 (2008) 1077].Comment: 11 page

Comment on "Effects of Thickness on the Spin Susceptibility of the Two Dimensional Electron Gas"

A comment on a recent paper (PRL {\bf 94}, 226405 (2005)) by S. De Palo, M. Botti, S. Moroni, and Gaetano Senatore

NMR Evidence for Antiferromagnetic Transition in the Single-Component Molecular Conductor, [Au(tmdt)_{2}] at 110 K

We present the results of a ^{1}H NMR study of the single-component molecular conductor, [Au(tmdt)_{2}]. A steep increase in the NMR line width and a peak formation of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate, 1/T_{1}, were observed at around 110 K. This behavior provides clear and microscopic evidences for a magnetic phase transition at considerably high temperature among organic conductors. The observed variation in 1/T_{1} with respect to temperature indicates the highly correlated nature of the metallic phase.Comment: 5pages, 6figures to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Physical Origin of the Boson Peak Deduced from a Two-Order-Parameter Model of Liquid

We propose that the boson peak originates from the (quasi-) localized vibrational modes associated with long-lived locally favored structures, which are intrinsic to a liquid state and are randomly distributed in a sea of normal-liquid structures. This tells us that the number density of locally favored structures is an important physical factor determining the intensity of the boson peak. In our two-order-parameter model of the liquid-glass transition, the locally favored structures act as impurities disturbing crystallization and thus lead to vitrification. This naturally explains the dependence of the intensity of the boson peak on temperature, pressure, and fragility, and also the close correlation between the boson peak and the first sharp diffraction peak (or prepeak).Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, An error in the reference (Ref. 7) was correcte

A Viscoelastic model of phase separation

We show here a general model of phase separation in isotropic condensed matter, namely, a viscoelastic model. We propose that the bulk mechanical relaxation modulus that has so far been ignored in previous theories plays an important role in viscoelastic phase separation in addition to the shear relaxation modulus. In polymer solutions, for example, attractive interactions between polymers under a poor-solvent condition likely cause the transient gellike behavior, which makes both bulk and shear modes active. Although such attractive interactions between molecules of the same component exist universally in the two-phase region of a mixture, the stress arising from attractive interactions is asymmetrically divided between the components only in dynamically asymmetric mixtures such as polymer solutions and colloidal suspensions. Thus, the interaction network between the slower components, which can store the elastic energy against its deformation through bulk and shear moduli, is formed. It is the bulk relaxation modulus associated with this interaction network that is primarily responsible for the appearance of the sponge structure peculiar to viscoelastic phase separation and the phase inversion. We demonstrate that a viscoelastic model of phase separation including this new effect is a general model that can describe all types of isotropic phase separation including solid and fluid models as its special cases without any exception, if there is no coupling with additional order parameter. The physical origin of volume shrinking behavior during viscoelastic phase separation and the universality of the resulting spongelike structure are also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, RevTex, To appear in Phys. Rev

Frustrated Spin System in theta-(BEDT-TTF)_2RbZn(SCN)_4

The origin of the spin gap behavior in the low-temperature dimerized phase of theta-(BEDT-TTF)_2RbZn(SCN)_4 has been theoretically studied based on the Hartree-Fock approximation for the on-site Coulomb interaction at absolute zero. Calculations show that, in the parameter region considered to be relevant to this compound, antiferromagnetic ordering is stabilized between dimers consisting of pairs of molecules coupled with the largest transfer integral. Based on this result an effective localized spin 1/2 model is constructed which indicates the existence of the frustration among spins. This frustration may result in the formation of spin gap.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 67 (1998) no.