1,977 research outputs found
Sharp lines in the absorption edge of EuTe and PbEuTe in high magnetic fields
The optical absorption spectra in the region of the \fd transition energies
of epitaxial layers of of EuTe and \PbEuTe, grown by molecular beam epitaxy,
were studied using circularly polarized light, in the Faraday configuration.
Under \sigmam polarization a sharp symmetric absorption line (full width at
half-maximum 0.041 eV) emerges at the low energy side of the band-edge
absorption, for magnetic fields intensities greater than 6 T. The absorption
line shows a huge red shift (35 meV/T) with increasing magnetic fields. The
peak position of the absorption line as a function of magnetic field is
dominated by the {\em d-f} exchange interaction of the excited electron and the
\Euion spins in the lattice. The {\em d-f} exchange interaction energy was
estimated to be eV. In \PbEuTe the same absorption line
is detected, but it is broader, due to alloy disorder, indicating that the
excitation is localized within a finite radius. From a comparison of the
absorption spectra in EuTe and \PbEuTe the characteristic radius of the
excitation is estimated to be \AA.Comment: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (2004, at press
Purification and analytical characterization of an anti- CD4 monoclonal antibody for human therapy
A purification process for the monclonal anti-CD4 antibody MAX.16H5 was developed on an analytical scale using (NH&SO,
precipitation, anion-exchange chromatography on MonoQ or Q-Sepharose, hydrophobic interaction chromatography on phenyl-
Sepharose and gel filtration chromatography on Superdex 200. The purification schedule was scaled up and gram amounts of
MAX.16H5 were produced on corresponding BioPilot columns. Studies of the identity, purity and possible contamination by a
broad range of methods showed that the product was highly purified and free from contaminants such as mouse DNA, viruses,
pyrogens and irritants. Overall, the analytical data confirm that the monoclonal antibody MAX.16H5 prepared by this protocol is
suitable for human therapy
Are the INTEGRAL Intermediate Polars Different?
One of the biggest surprises of the INTEGRAL mission was the detection of large
numbers of magnetic cataclysmic variables – in particular the intermediate polar (IP) subclass.
Not only have many previously known systems been detected, but many new ones have also been
found and subsequently classified from optical follow-up observations, increasing the sample of IPs
by ! 15%. We have recently been using a particle hydrodynamic code to investigate the accretion
flows of IPs and determine the equilibrium spin-rates and accretion flow patterns across a wide range
of orbital periods, mass ratios and magnetic field strengths. We use the results of these accretion
flow simulations to examine whether the INTEGRAL IPs differ from the overall population and
conclude that they do not. Most IPs are likely to be INTEGRAL sources, given sufficient exposure.
Currently however, none of the 'EX Hya-like' IPs, with large spin-to-orbital period ratios and short
orbital periods, are detected by INTEGRAL. If this continues to be the case once the whole sky
has a comparable INTEGRAL exposure, it may indicate that the ring-like mode of accretion which
we demonstrate occurs in these systems is responsible for their different appearance
Spitzer Space Telescope Observations of Circumbinary Dust Disks around Polars
We present Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC photometry of the magnetic cataclysmic variables EF Eri, MR Ser, VV Pup, V834 Cen, GG Leo and V347 Pav. When we combine our results with the 2MASS data, we find that at least five of the polars have flux densities in the mid-IR in excess of the emission expected from the stellar components alone. We are unable to model this mid-IR excess with cyclotron emission, but we can recreate the observed spectral energy distributions with the inclusion of a simple circumbinary dust disk model. Importantly, we find that the masses of our modelled disks are approximately 12 orders of magnitude lower than required to significantly affect CV evolution. The accretion disk-less polars are ideal places to search for these disks, since the luminous accretion disk in most CVs would drown out the faint IR signature of the cooler, dimmer circumbinary disks
Hole crystallization in semiconductors
When electrons in a solid are excited to a higher energy band they leave
behind a vacancy (hole) in the original band which behaves like a positively
charged particle. Here we predict that holes can spontaneously order into a
regular lattice in semiconductors with sufficiently flat valence bands. The
critical hole to electron effective mass ratio required for this phase
transition is found to be of the order of 80.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge
Near-infrared follow-up to the May 2008 activation of SGR 1627-41
On 28 May 2008, the Swift satellite detected the first reactivation of SGR
1627-41 since its discovery in 1998.
Following this event we began an observing campaign in near infrared
wavelengths to search for a possible counterpart inside the error circle of
this SGR, which is expected to show flaring activity simultaneous to the high
energy flares or at least some variability as compared to the quiescent state.
For the follow-up we used the 0.6m REM robotic telescope at La Silla
Observatory, which allowed a fast response within 24 hours and, through
director discretionary time, the 8.2m Very Large Telescope at Paranal
Observatory. There, we observed with NACO to produce high angular resolution
imaging with the aid of adaptive optics.
These observations represent the fastest near infrared observations after an
activation of this SGR and the deepest and highest spatial resolution
observations of the Chandra error circle.
5 sources are detected in the immediate vicinity of the most precise X-ray
localisation of this source. For 4 of them we do not detect variability,
although the X-ray counterpart experimented a significant decay during our
observation period. The 5th source is only detected in one epoch, where we have
the best image quality, so no variability constrains can be imposed and remains
as the only plausible counterpart. We can impose a limit of Ks > 21.6
magnitudes to any other counterpart candidate one week after the onset of the
activity. Our adaptive optics imaging, with a resolution of 0.2" provides a
reference frame for subsequent studies of future periods of activity.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Zitterbewegung of Klein-Gordon particles and its simulation by classical systems
The Klein-Gordon equation is used to calculate the Zitterbewegung (ZB,
trembling motion) of spin-zero particles in absence of fields and in the
presence of an external magnetic field. Both Hamiltonian and wave formalisms
are employed to describe ZB and their results are compared. It is demonstrated
that, if one uses wave packets to represent particles, the ZB motion has a
decaying behavior. It is also shown that the trembling motion is caused by an
interference of two sub-packets composed of positive and negative energy states
which propagate with different velocities. In the presence of a magnetic field
the quantization of energy spectrum results in many interband frequencies
contributing to ZB oscillations and the motion follows a collapse-revival
pattern. In the limit of non-relativistic velocities the interband ZB
components vanish and the motion is reduced to cyclotron oscillations. The
exact dynamics of a charged Klein-Gordon particle in the presence of a magnetic
field is described on an operator level. The trembling motion of a KG particle
in absence of fields is simulated using a classical model proposed by Morse and
Feshbach -- it is shown that a variance of a Gaussian wave packet exhibits ZB
oscillations.Comment: 16 pages and 7 figure
Euclid Space Mission: building the sky survey
The Euclid space mission proposes to survey 15000 square degrees of the
extragalactic sky during 6 years, with a step-and-stare technique. The
scheduling of observation sequences is driven by the primary scientific
objectives, spacecraft constraints, calibration requirements and physical
properties of the sky. We present the current reference implementation of the
Euclid survey and on-going work on survey optimization.Comment: to appear in Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 306, "Statistical
Challenges in 21st Century Cosmology", A.F. Heavens, J.-L. Starck & A.
Krone-Martins, ed
Dynamics and transport properties of heavy fermions: theory
The paramagnetic phase of heavy fermion systems is investigated, using a
non-perturbative local moment approach to the asymmetric periodic Anderson
model within the framework of dynamical mean field theory. The natural focus is
on the strong coupling Kondo-lattice regime wherein single-particle spectra,
scattering rates, dc transport and optics are found to exhibit w/w_L,T/w_L
scaling in terms of a single underlying low-energy coherence scale w_L.
Dynamics/transport on all relevant (w,T)-scales are encompassed, from the
low-energy behaviour characteristic of the lattice coherent Fermi liquid,
through incoherent effective single-impurity physics likewise found to arise in
the universal scaling regime, to non-universal high-energy scales; and which
description in turn enables viable quantitative comparison to experiment.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure
- …