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Light-Induced Currents at Domain Walls in Multiferroic BiFeO3.
Multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) films with spontaneously formed periodic stripe domains can generate above-gap open circuit voltages under visible light illumination; nevertheless the underlying mechanism behind this intriguing optoelectronic response has not been understood to date. Here, we make contact-free measurements of light-induced currents in epitaxial BFO films via detecting terahertz radiation emanated by these currents, enabling a direct probe of the intrinsic charge separation mechanisms along with quantitative measurements of the current amplitudes and their directions. In the periodic stripe samples, we find that the net photocurrent is dominated by the charge separation across the domain walls, whereas in the monodomain samples the photovoltaic response arises from a bulk shift current associated with the non-centrosymmetry of the crystal. The peak current amplitude driven by the charge separation at the domain walls is found to be 2 orders of magnitude higher than the bulk shift current response, indicating the prominent role of domain walls acting as nanoscale junctions to efficiently separate photogenerated charges in the stripe domain BFO films. These findings show that domain-wall-engineered BFO thin films offer exciting prospects for ferroelectric-based optoelectronics, as well as bias-free strong terahertz emitters
Infrared and Ultraviolet Star Formation in Brightest Cluster Galaxies in the ACCEPT Sample
We present IR and UV photometry for a sample of brightest cluster galaxies
(BCGs). The BCGs are from a heterogeneous but uniformly characterized sample,
the Archive of Chandra Cluster Entropy Profile Tables (ACCEPT), of X-ray galaxy
clusters from the Chandra X-ray telescope archive with published gas
temperature, density, and entropy profiles. We use archival GALEX, Spitzer, and
2MASS observations to assemble spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and colors
for BCGs. We find that while the SEDs of some BCGs follow the expectation of
red, dust-free old stellar populations, many exhibit signatures of recent star
formation in the form of excess UV or mid-IR emission, or both. We establish a
mean near-UV to 2MASS K color of 6.59 \pm 0.34 for quiescent BCGs. We use this
mean color to quantify the UV excess associated with star formation in the
active BCGs. We use fits to a template of an evolved stellar population and
library of starburst models and mid-IR star formation relations to estimate the
obscured star formation rates. Many of the BCGs in X-ray clusters with low
central gas entropy exhibit enhanced UV (38%) and mid-IR emission (43%), above
that expected from an old stellar population. These excesses are consistent
with on-going star formation activity in the BCG, star formation that appears
to be enabled by the presence of high density, X-ray emitting gas in the the
core of the cluster of galaxies. This hot, X-ray emitting gas may provide the
enhanced ambient pressure and some of the fuel to trigger the star formation.
This result is consistent with previous works that showed that BCGs in clusters
with low central gas entropy host H{\alpha} emission-line nebulae and radio
sources, while clusters with high central gas entropy exhibit none of these
features. UV and mid-IR measurements combined provide a complete picture of
unobscured and obscured star formation occurring in these systems.Comment: 81 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for ApJ
Pahs, Ionized Gas, and Molecular Hydrogen in Brightest Cluster Galaxies of Cool Core Clusters of Galaxies
We present measurements of 5-25 {\mu}m emission features of brightest cluster
galaxies (BCGs) with strong optical emission lines in a sample of 9 cool-core
clusters of galaxies observed with the Infrared Spectrograph on board the
Spitzer Space Telescope. These systems provide a view of dusty molecular gas
and star formation, surrounded by dense, X-ray emitting intracluster gas. Past
work has shown that BCGs in cool-core clusters may host powerful radio sources,
luminous optical emission line systems, and excess UV, while BCGs in other
clusters never show this activity. In this sample, we detect polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), extremely luminous, rotationally-excited
molecular hydrogen line emission, forbidden line emission from ionized gas ([Ne
II] and [Ne III]), and infrared continuum emission from warm dust and cool
stars. We show here that these BCGs exhibit more luminous forbidden neon and H2
rotational line emission than star-forming galaxies with similar total infrared
luminosities, as well as somewhat higher ratios of 70 {\mu}m / 24 {\mu}m
luminosities. Our analysis suggests that while star formation processes
dominate the heating of the dust and PAHs, a heating process consistent with
suprathermal electron heating from the hot gas, distinct from star formation,
is heating the molecular gas and contributing to the heating of the ionized gas
in the galaxies. The survival of PAHs and dust suggests that dusty gas is
somehow shielded from significant interaction with the X-ray gas.Comment: 27 preprint pages, 18 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journa
Elimination of HIV-1-infected cells by broadly neutralizing antibodies.
International audienceThe Fc region of HIV-1 Env-specific broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) is required for suppressing viraemia, through mechanisms which remain poorly understood. Here, we identify bNAbs that exert antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in cell culture and kill HIV-1-infected lymphocytes through natural killer (NK) engagement. These antibodies target the CD4-binding site, the glycans/V3 and V1/V2 loops on gp120, or the gp41 moiety. The landscape of Env epitope exposure at the surface and the sensitivity of infected cells to ADCC vary considerably between viral strains. Efficient ADCC requires sustained cell surface binding of bNAbs to Env, and combining bNAbs allows a potent killing activity. Furthermore, reactivated infected cells from HIV-positive individuals expose heterogeneous Env epitope patterns, with levels that are often but not always sufficient to trigger killing by bNAbs. Our study delineates the parameters controlling ADCC activity of bNAbs, and supports the use of the most potent antibodies to clear the viral reservoir
Extratropical storm inundation testbed: Intermodel comparisons in Scituate, Massachusetts: EXTRATROPICAL STORM INUNDATION TESTBED
The Integrated Ocean Observing System Super-regional Coastal Modeling Testbed had one objective to evaluate the capabilities of three unstructured-grid fully current-wave coupled ocean models (ADCIRC/SWAN, FVCOM/SWAVE, SELFE/WWM) to simulate extratropical storm-induced inundation in the US northeast coastal region. Scituate Harbor (MA) was chosen as the extratropical storm testbed site, and model simulations were made for the 24-27 May 2005 and 17-20 April 2007 (Patriot's Day Storm) nor'easters. For the same unstructured mesh, meteorological forcing, and initial/boundary conditions, intermodel comparisons were made for tidal elevation, surface waves, sea surface elevation, coastal inundation, currents, and volume transport. All three models showed similar accuracy in tidal simulation and consistency in dynamic responses to storm winds in experiments conducted without and with wave-current interaction. The three models also showed that wave-current interaction could (1) change the current direction from the along-shelf direction to the onshore direction over the northern shelf, enlarging the onshore water transport and (2) intensify an anticyclonic eddy in the harbor entrance and a cyclonic eddy in the harbor interior, which could increase the water transport toward the northern peninsula and the southern end and thus enhance flooding in those areas. The testbed intermodel comparisons suggest that major differences in the performance of the three models were caused primarily by (1) the inclusion of wave-current interaction, due to the different discrete algorithms used to solve the three wave models and compute water-current interaction, (2) the criterions used for the wet-dry point treatment of the flooding/drying process simulation, and (3) bottom friction parameterizations
Extratropical storm inundation testbed : intermodel comparisons in Scituate, Massachusetts
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 118 (2013): 5054–5073, doi:10.1002/jgrc.20397.The Integrated Ocean Observing System Super-regional Coastal Modeling Testbed had one objective to evaluate the capabilities of three unstructured-grid fully current-wave coupled ocean models (ADCIRC/SWAN, FVCOM/SWAVE, SELFE/WWM) to simulate extratropical storm-induced inundation in the US northeast coastal region. Scituate Harbor (MA) was chosen as the extratropical storm testbed site, and model simulations were made for the 24–27 May 2005 and 17–20 April 2007 (“Patriot's Day Storm”) nor'easters. For the same unstructured mesh, meteorological forcing, and initial/boundary conditions, intermodel comparisons were made for tidal elevation, surface waves, sea surface elevation, coastal inundation, currents, and volume transport. All three models showed similar accuracy in tidal simulation and consistency in dynamic responses to storm winds in experiments conducted without and with wave-current interaction. The three models also showed that wave-current interaction could (1) change the current direction from the along-shelf direction to the onshore direction over the northern shelf, enlarging the onshore water transport and (2) intensify an anticyclonic eddy in the harbor entrance and a cyclonic eddy in the harbor interior, which could increase the water transport toward the northern peninsula and the southern end and thus enhance flooding in those areas. The testbed intermodel comparisons suggest that major differences in the performance of the three models were caused primarily by (1) the inclusion of wave-current interaction, due to the different discrete algorithms used to solve the three wave models and compute water-current interaction, (2) the criterions used for the wet-dry point treatment of the flooding/drying process simulation, and (3) bottom friction parameterizations.This project was supported by NOAA
via the U.S.IOOS Office (award: NA10NOS0120063 and
NA11NOS0120141) and was managed by the Southeastern Universities
Research Association. The Scituate FVCOM setup was supported by the
NOAA-funded IOOS NERACOOS program for NECOFS and the MIT
Sea Grant College Program through grant 2012-R/RC-127.2014-04-0
CLASH-X: A Comparison of Lensing and X-ray Techniques for Measuring the Mass Profiles of Galaxy Clusters
We present profiles of temperature (Tx), gas mass, and hydrostatic mass
estimated from new and archival X-ray observations of CLASH clusters. We
compare measurements derived from XMM and Chandra observations with one another
and compare both to gravitational lensing mass profiles derived with CLASH HST
and ground-based lensing data. Radial profiles of Chandra and XMM electron
density and enclosed gas mass are nearly identical, indicating that differences
in hydrostatic masses inferred from X-ray observations arise from differences
in Tx measurements. Encouragingly, cluster Txs are consistent with one another
at ~100-200 kpc radii but XMM Tx systematically decline relative to Chandra Tx
at larger radii. The angular dependence of the discrepancy suggests additional
investigation on systematics such as the XMM point spread function correction,
vignetting and off-axis responses. We present the CLASH-X mass-profile
comparisons in the form of cosmology-independent and redshift-independent
circular-velocity profiles. Ratios of Chandra HSE mass profiles to CLASH
lensing profiles show no obvious radial dependence in the 0.3-0.8 Mpc range.
However, the mean mass biases inferred from the WL and SaWLens data are
different. e.g., the weighted-mean value at 0.5 Mpc is = 0.12 for the WL
comparison and = -0.11 for the SaWLens comparison. The ratios of XMM HSE
mass profiles to CLASH lensing profiles show a pronounced radial dependence in
the 0.3-1.0 Mpc range, with a weighted mean mass bias of value rising to
~0.3 at ~1 Mpc for the WL comparison and of 0.25 for SaWLens comparison.
The enclosed gas mass profiles from both Chandra and XMM rise to a value 1/8
times the total-mass profiles inferred from lensing at 0.5 Mpc and remain
constant outside of that radius, suggesting that [8xMgas] profiles may be an
excellent proxy for total-mass profiles at >0.5 Mpc in massive galaxy clusters.Comment: Accepted to ApJ; 24 pages; scheduled to appear in the Oct 10, 2014
issue. This version corrects the typographical error in the superscripts for
Equation (2) to include the square of (r/r_core). The correct version of this
equation was used in the analysi
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