Non-trivial Surface-band Dispersion on Bi(111)

We performed angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of the Bi(111) surface to demonstrate that this surface support edge states of non-trivial topology. Along the $\bar{\Gamma}\bar{M}$-direction of the surface Brillouin zone, a surface-state band disperses from the projected bulk valence bands at $\bar{\Gamma}$ to the conduction bands at $\bar{M}$ continuously, indicating the non-trivial topological order of three-dimensional Bi bands. We ascribe this finding to the absence of band inversion at the $L$ point of the bulk Bi Brillouin zone. According to our analysis, a modification of tight-binding parameters can account for the non-trivial band structure of Bi without any other significant change on other physical properties.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. This manuscript has been accepted in New Journal of Physic

Origin of the different electronic structure of Rh- and Ru-doped Sr2IrO4

One way to induce insulator to metal transitions in the spin-orbit Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 is to substitute iridium with transition metals (Ru, Rh). However, this creates intriguing inhomogeneous metallic states, which cannot be described by a simple doping effect. We detail the electronic structure of the Ru-doped case with angle-resolved photoemission and show that, contrary to Rh, it cannot be connected to the undoped case by a rigid shift. We further identify bands below $E_F$ coexisting with the metallic ones that we assign to non-bonding Ir sites. We rationalize the differences between Rh and Ru by a different hybridization with oxygen, which mediates the coupling to Ir and sensitively affects the effective doping. We argue that the spin-orbit coupling does not control neither the charge transfer nor the transition threshold

Symmetry of the Fermi surface and evolution of the electronic structure across the paramagnetic-helimagnetic transition in MnSi/Si(111)

MnSi has been extensively studied for five decades, nonetheless detailed information on the Fermi surface (FS) symmetry is still lacking. This missed information prevented from a comprehensive understanding the nature of the magnetic interaction in this material. Here, by performing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on high-quality MnSi films epitaxially grown on Si(111), we unveil the FS symmetry and the evolution of the electronic structure across the paramagnetic-helimagnetic transition at T$_C$ $\sim$ 40 K, along with the appearance of sharp quasiparticle emission below T$_C$. The shape of the resulting FS is found to fulfill robust nesting effects. These effects can be at the origin of strong magnetic fluctuations not accounted for by state-of-art quasiparticle self-consistent GW approximation. From this perspective, the unforeseen quasiparticle damping detected in the paramagnetic phase and relaxing only below T$_C$, along with the persistence of the d-bands splitting well above T$_C$, at odds with a simple Stoner model for itinerant magnetism, open the search for exotic magnetic interactions favored by FS nesting and affecting the quasiparticles lifetime

Iterative reconstruction of a global metabolic model of Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 using high-throughput growth phenotype and gene essentiality data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome-scale metabolic models are powerful tools to study global properties of metabolic networks. They provide a way to integrate various types of biological information in a single framework, providing a structured representation of available knowledge on the metabolism of the respective species.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We reconstructed a constraint-based metabolic model of <it>Acinetobacter baylyi </it>ADP1, a soil bacterium of interest for environmental and biotechnological applications with large-spectrum biodegradation capabilities. Following initial reconstruction from genome annotation and the literature, we iteratively refined the model by comparing its predictions with the results of large-scale experiments: (1) high-throughput growth phenotypes of the wild-type strain on 190 distinct environments, (2) genome-wide gene essentialities from a knockout mutant library, and (3) large-scale growth phenotypes of all mutant strains on 8 minimal media. Out of 1412 predictions, 1262 were initially consistent with our experimental observations. Inconsistencies were systematically examined, leading in 65 cases to model corrections. The predictions of the final version of the model, which included three rounds of refinements, are consistent with the experimental results for (1) 91% of the wild-type growth phenotypes, (2) 94% of the gene essentiality results, and (3) 94% of the mutant growth phenotypes. To facilitate the exploitation of the metabolic model, we provide a web interface allowing online predictions and visualization of results on metabolic maps.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The iterative reconstruction procedure led to significant model improvements, showing that genome-wide mutant phenotypes on several media can significantly facilitate the transition from genome annotation to a high-quality model.</p

First direct observation of a nearly ideal graphene band structure

Angle-resolved photoemission and X-ray diffraction experiments show that multilayer epitaxial graphene grown on the SiC(000-1) surface is a new form of carbon that is composed of effectively isolated graphene sheets. The unique rotational stacking of these films cause adjacent graphene layers to electronically decouple leading to a set of nearly independent linearly dispersing bands (Dirac cones) at the graphene K-point. Each cone corresponds to an individual macro-scale graphene sheet in a multilayer stack where AB-stacked sheets can be considered as low density faults.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the CFRS and LDSS Redshift Surveys---III. Field elliptical galaxies at 0.2 < z < 1.0

Surface photometry has been performed on a sample of 46 field elliptical galaxies. These galaxies are described well by a deVaucouleurs R^{1/4} profile. The sample was selected from the combined Canada-France and LDSS redshift surveys and spans the range 0.20 < z < 1.00. The relationship between galaxy half-light radius and luminosity evolves such that a galaxy of a given size is more luminous by Delta M_B=-0.97 \pm 0.14 mag at z=0.92 and the mean rest-frame color shifts blueward by Delta (U-V) =-0.68 \pm 0.11 at z=0.92 relative to the local cluster relations. Approximately 1/3 of these elliptical galaxies exhibit [OII] 3727 emission lines with equivalent widths > 15 angstroms indicating ongoing star formation. Estimated star-formation rates imply that \le 5% of the stellar mass in the elliptical galaxy population has been formed since z=1. We see no evidence for a decline in the space density of early-type galaxies with look-back time. The statistics and a comparison with local luminosity functions are both consistent with the view that the population of massive early-type galaxies was largely in place by z~1. This implies that merging is not required since that time to produce the present-day space density of elliptical galaxies.Comment: 21 pages plus 8 figures plus 5 tables. Accepted by Astrophysical Journa