12,720 research outputs found
Exceptionally large room-temperature ferroelectric polarization in the novel PbNiO3 multiferroic oxide
We present a study based on several advanced First-Principles methods, of the
recently synthesized PbNiO3 [J. Am. Chem. Soc 133, 16920 (2011)], a
rhombohedral antiferromagnetic insulator which crystallizes in the highly
distorted R3c crystal structure. We find this compound electrically polarized,
with a very large electric polarization of about 100 (\muC/cm)^2, thus even
exceeding the polarization of well-known BiFeO3. PbNiO3 is a proper
ferroelectric, with polarization driven by large Pb-O polar displacements along
the [111] direction. Contrarily to naive expectations, a definite ionic charge
of 4+ for Pb ion can not be assigned, and in fact the large Pb 6s-O 2p
hybridization drives the ferroelectric distortion through a lone-pair mechanism
similar to that of other Pb- and Bi-based multiferroic
First-principles study of native point defects in Bi2Se3
Using first-principles method within the framework of the density functional
theory, we study the influence of native point defect on the structural and
electronic properties of BiSe. Se vacancy in BiSe is a double
donor, and Bi vacancy is a triple acceptor. Se antisite (Se) is always
an active donor in the system because its donor level ((+1/0))
enters into the conduction band. Interestingly, Bi antisite(Bi) in
BiSe is an amphoteric dopant, acting as a donor when
0.119eV (the material is typical p-type) and as an acceptor when
0.251eV (the material is typical n-type). The formation energies
under different growth environments (such as Bi-rich or Se-rich) indicate that
under Se-rich condition, Se is the most stable native defect independent
of electron chemical potential . Under Bi-rich condition, Se vacancy
is the most stable native defect except for under the growth window as
0.262eV (the material is typical n-type) and
-0.459eV(Bi-rich), under such growth windows one
negative charged Bi is the most stable one.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Universal Boundary Entropies in Conformal Field Theory: A Quantum Monte Carlo Study
Recently, entropy corrections on nonorientable manifolds such as the Klein
bottle are proposed as a universal characterization of critical systems with an
emergent conformal field theory (CFT). We show that entropy correction on the
Klein bottle can be interpreted as a boundary effect via transforming the Klein
bottle into an orientable manifold with nonlocal boundary interactions. The
interpretation reveals the conceptual connection of the Klein bottle entropy
with the celebrated Affleck-Ludwig entropy in boundary CFT. We propose a
generic scheme to extract these universal boundary entropies from quantum Monte
Carlo calculation of partition function ratios in lattice models. Our numerical
results on the Affleck-Ludwig entropy and Klein bottle entropy for the
-state quantum Potts chains with show excellent agreement with the
CFT predictions. For the quantum Potts chain with , the Klein bottle
entropy slightly deviates from the CFT prediction, which is possibly due to
marginally irrelevant terms in the low-energy effective theory.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Published versio
Observation of an in-plane magnetic-field-driven phase transition in a quantum Hall system with SU(4) symmetry
In condensed matter physics, the study of electronic states with SU(N)
symmetry has attracted considerable and growing attention in recent years, as
systems with such a symmetry can often have a spontaneous symmetry-breaking
effect giving rise to a novel ground state. For example, pseudospin quantum
Hall ferromagnet of broken SU(2) symmetry has been realized by bringing two
Landau levels close to degeneracy in a bilayer quantum Hall system. In the past
several years, the exploration of collective states in other multi-component
quantum Hall systems has emerged. Here we show the conventional pseudospin
quantum Hall ferromagnetic states with broken SU(2) symmetry collapsed rapidly
into an unexpected state with broken SU(4) symmetry, by in-plane magnetic field
in a two-subband GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron system at filling factor
around . Within a narrow tilting range angle of 0.5 degrees, the
activation energy increases as much as 12 K. While the origin of this puzzling
observation remains to be exploited, we discuss the possibility of a
long-sought pairing state of electrons with a four-fold degeneracy.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Photometric properties and luminosity function of nearby massive early-type galaxies
We perform photometric analyses for a bright early-type galaxy (ETG) sample
with 2949 galaxies ( mag) in the redshift range of 0.05 to
0.15, drawn from the SDSS DR7 with morphological classification from Galaxy Zoo
1. We measure the Petrosian and isophotal magnitudes, as well as the
corresponding half-light radius for each galaxy. We find that for brightest
galaxies ( mag), our Petrosian magnitudes, and isophotal
magnitudes to 25 and 1\% of the sky brightness are on
average 0.16 mag, 0.20 mag, and 0.26 mag brighter than the SDSS Petrosian
values, respectively. In the first case the underestimations are caused by
overestimations in the sky background by the SDSS PHOTO algorithm, while the
latter two are also due to deeper photometry. Similarly, the typical half-light
radii () measured by the SDSS algorithm are smaller than our
measurements. As a result, the bright-end of the -band luminosity function
is found to decline more slowly than previous works. Our measured luminosity
densities at the bright end are more than one order of magnitude higher than
those of Blanton et al. (2003), and the stellar mass densities at and are a few tenths
and a factor of few higher than those of Bernardi et al. (2010). These results
may significantly alleviate the tension in the assembly of massive galaxies
between observations and predictions of the hierarchical structure formation
model.Comment: 43 pages, 14 figures, version accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Understanding the white-light flare on 2012 March 9 : Evidence of a two-step magnetic reconnection
We attempt to understand the white-light flare (WLF) that was observed on
2012 March 9 with a newly constructed multi-wavelength solar telescope called
the Optical and Near-infrared Solar Eruption Tracer (ONSET). We analyzed WLF
observations in radio, H-alpha, white-light, ultraviolet, and X-ray bands. We
also studied the magnetic configuration of the flare via the nonlinear
force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation and the vector magnetic field observed
by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics
Observatory (SDO). Continuum emission enhancement clearly appeared at the 3600
angstrom and 4250 angstrom bands, with peak contrasts of 25% and 12%,
respectively. The continuum emission enhancement closely coincided with the
impulsive increase in the hard X-ray emission and a microwave type III burst at
03:40 UT. We find that the WLF appeared at one end of either the sheared or
twisted field lines or both. There was also a long-lasting phase in the H-alpha
and soft X-ray bands after the white-light emission peak. In particular, a
second, yet stronger, peak appeared at 03:56 UT in the microwave band. This
event shows clear evidence that the white-light emission was caused by
energetic particles bombarding the lower solar atmosphere. A two-step magnetic
reconnection scenario is proposed to explain the entire process of flare
evolution, i.e., the first-step magnetic reconnection between the field lines
that are highly sheared or twisted or both, and the second-step one in the
current sheet, which is stretched by the erupting flux rope. The WLF is
supposed to be triggered in the first-step magnetic reconnection at a
relatively low altitude.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, published in A&A Lette
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