Local Coordination Environments and Vibrational Dynamics of Protons in Hexagonal and Cubic Sc-Doped BaTiO3 Proton-Conducting Oxides

The proton local coordination environments and vibrational dynamics associated with the two order of magnitude change in proton conductivity in hydrated forms of hexagonal and cubic structured BaTi1-xScxO3Hx (0.16 < x < 0.7) were investigated using optical spectroscopy, neutron spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations. Whereas the cubic structure compositions display a single proton site, we show that protons occupy three distinct sites in compositions exhibiting the hexagonal structure. The principal site is characterized by interoctahedral hydrogen bonds, while two additional low occupancy sites are similar to those in the cubic structure, with classic intraoctahedral geometry. Furthermore, the proton hydrogen bond strength increases with decreasing scandium doping level. We infer from this that the stronger, more energetic hydrogen bonds in the hexagonal structure, resulting from proton sites with lower symmetry (lower multiplicity), are predominantly responsible for the significant reduction in macroscopic conductivity between cubic and hexagonal BaTi1-xScxO3Hx materials, rather than simply the absolute number of protons. Our findings are highly relevant to the field, clarifying the advantages of high-symmetry structures with high-multiplicity proton sites to favorable properties in ceramic proton-conducting oxides

Efficient recycling of nutrients in modern and past hypersaline environments

The biogeochemistry of hypersaline environments is strongly influenced by changes in biological processes and physicochemical parameters. Although massive evaporation events have occurred repeatedly throughout Earth history, their biogeochemical cycles and global impact remain poorly understood. Here, we provide the first nitrogen isotopic data for nutrients and chloropigments from modern shallow hypersaline environments (solar salterns, Trapani, Italy) and apply the obtained insights to δ15N signatures of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) in the late Miocene. Concentrations and δ15N of chlorophyll a, bacteriochlorophyll a, nitrate, and ammonium in benthic microbial mats indicate that inhibition of nitrification suppresses denitrification and anammox, resulting in efficient ammonium recycling within the mats and high primary productivity. We also suggest that the release of 15N-depleted NH3(gas) with increasing salinity enriches ammonium 15N in surface brine (≈34.0‰). Such elevated δ15N is also recorded in geoporphyrins isolated from sediments of the MSC peak (≈20‰), reflecting ammonium supply sufficient for sustaining phototrophic primary production. We propose that efficient nutrient supply combined with frequent bottom-water anoxia and capping of organic-rich sediments by evaporites of the Mediterranean MSC could have contributed to atmospheric CO2 reduction during the late Miocene.This study was partly supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Research Fellowship (16J07844) to YI, Grants-in-Aid (16H02236) and the JAMSTEC President Fund to NO

Examining the independent and joint effects of genomic and exposomic liabilities for schizophrenia across the psychosis spectrum

Psychosis spectrum disorder has a complex pathoetiology characterised by interacting environmental and genetic vulnerabilities. The present study aims to investigate the role of gene-environment interaction using aggregate scores of genetic (polygenic risk score for schizophrenia (PRS-SCZ)) and environment liability for schizophrenia (exposome score for schizophrenia (ES-SCZ)) across the psychosis continuum

Quasi-free (p,2p) reactions in inverse kinematics for studying the fission yield dependence on temperature

Despite the recent experimental and theoretical progress in the investigation of the nuclear fission process, a complete description still represents a challenge in nuclear physics because it is a very complex dynamical process, whose description involves the coupling between intrinsic and collective degrees of freedom, as well as different quantum-mechanical phenomena. To improve on the existing data on nuclear fission,we produce fission reactions of heavy nuclei in inverse kinematics by using quasi-free (p,2p) scattering, which induce fission through particle-hole excitations that can range from few to ten\u27s of MeV. The measurement of the four-momenta of the two outgoing protons allows to reconstruct the excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus and therefore to study the evolution of the fission yields with temperature. The realization of this kind of experiment requires a complex experimental setup, providing full isotopic identification of both fission fragments and an accurate measurement of the momenta of the two outgoing protons. This was realized recently at the GSI/FAIR facility and here some preliminary results are presented

Correlated long-range mixed-harmonic fluctuations measured in pp, p+Pb and low-multiplicity Pb+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

For abstract see published article

The DUNE Far Detector Interim Design Report, Volume 3: Dual-Phase Module

The DUNE IDR describes the proposed physics program and technical designs of the DUNE far detector modules in preparation for the full TDR to be published in 2019. It is intended as an intermediate milestone on the path to a full TDR, justifying the technical choices that flow down from the high-level physics goals through requirements at all levels of the Project. These design choices will enable the DUNE experiment to make the ground-breaking discoveries that will help to answer fundamental physics questions. Volume 3 describes the dual-phase module's subsystems, the technical coordination required for its design, construction, installation, and integration, and its organizational structure

Performance of top-quark and W -boson tagging with ATLAS in Run 2 of the LHC

The performance of identification algorithms (“taggers”) for hadronically decaying top quarks and W bosons in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. A set of techniques based on jet shape observables are studied to determine a set of optimal cut-based taggers for use in physics analyses. The studies are extended to assess the utility of combinations of substructure observables as a multivariate tagger using boosted decision trees or deep neural networks in comparison with taggers based on two-variable combinations. In addition, for highly boosted top-quark tagging, a deep neural network based on jet constituent inputs as well as a re-optimisation of the shower deconstruction technique is presented. The performance of these taggers is studied in data collected during 2015 and 2016 corresponding to 36.1 fb −1 for the tt ¯ and γ+jet and 36.7 fb −1 −1 for the dijet event topologies

Measurements of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in the dilepton final state at s √ =8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the top-antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-pT leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3  fb−1 from pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy s√=8  TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the tt¯ system are performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: AℓℓC based on the selected leptons and Att¯C based on the reconstructed tt¯ final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be AℓℓC=0.008±0.006 and Att¯C=0.021±0.016, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of AℓℓC=0.0064±0.0003 and Att¯C=0.0111±0.0004

In situ calibration of large-radius jet energy and mass in 13 TeV proton–proton collisions with the ATLAS detector

The response of the ATLAS detector to largeradius jets is measured in situ using 36.2 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV proton–proton collisions provided by the LHC and recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2015 and 2016. The jet energy scale is measured in events where the jet recoils against a reference object, which can be either a calibrated photon, a reconstructed Z boson, or a system of well-measured small-radius jets. The jet energy resolution and a calibration of forward jets are derived using dijet balance measurements. The jet mass response is measured with two methods: using mass peaks formed by W bosons and top quarks with large transverse momenta and by comparing the jet mass measured using the energy deposited in the calorimeter with that using the momenta of charged-particle tracks. The transversemomentum and mass responses in simulations are found to be about 2–3% higher than in data. This difference is adjusted for with a correction factor. The results of the different methods are combined to yield a calibration over a large range of transverse momenta (pT). The precision of the relative jet energy scale is 1–2% for 200 GeV < pT < 2 TeV, while that of the mass scale is 2–10%. The ratio of the energy resolutions in data and simulation is measured to a precision of 10–15% over the same pT range

Evidence for electroweak production of W±W±jj in pp collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents the first study of W±W±jj, same-electric-charge diboson production in association with two jets, using 20.3  fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s√=8  TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two reconstructed same-charge leptons (e±e±, e±μ±, and μ±μ±) and two or more jets are analyzed. Production cross sections are measured in two fiducial regions, with different sensitivities to the electroweak and strong production mechanisms. First evidence for W±W±jj production and electroweak-only W±W±jj production is observed with a significance of 4.5 and 3.6 standard deviations, respectively. The measured production cross sections are in agreement with standard model predictions. Limits at 95% confidence level are set on anomalous quartic gauge couplings