Nova Eruptions with Infrared Interferometric Observations

Infrared interferometric observations have a great deal of potential to unravel the nature of the nova eruptions. We suggest that techniques, already in place, to derive the ejection details at optical wavelengths be used with infrared interferometric observations to derive parameters such as the ejected mass in a nova eruption. This is achievable based on modelling the initial phase of the eruption when the infrared light is dominated by the free-free thermal process.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Physics of Evolved Stars 2015 - A conference dedicated to the memory of Olivier Chesneau

Inducing energy gaps in graphene monolayer and bilayer

In this paper we propose a mechanism for the induction of energy gaps in the spectrum of graphene and its bilayer, when both these materials are covered with water and ammonia molecules. The energy gaps obtained are within the range 20-30 meV, values compatible to those found in experimental studies of graphene bilayer. We further show that the binding energies are large enough for the adsorption of the molecules to be maintained even at room temperature