A Possible Alignment Between the Orbits of Planetary Systems and their Visual Binary Companions

Astronomers do not have a complete picture of the effects of wide-binary companions (semimajor axes greater than 100 au) on the formation and evolution of exoplanets. We investigate these effects using new data from Gaia Early Data Release 3 and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission to characterize wide-binary systems with transiting exoplanets. We identify a sample of 67 systems of transiting exoplanet candidates (with well-determined, edge-on orbital inclinations) that reside in wide visual binary systems. We derive limits on orbital parameters for the wide-binary systems and measure the minimum difference in orbital inclination between the binary and planet orbits. We determine that there is statistically significant difference in the inclination distribution of wide-binary systems with transiting planets compared to a control sample, with the probability that the two distributions are the same being 0.0037. This implies that there is an overabundance of planets in binary systems whose orbits are aligned with those of the binary. The overabundance of aligned systems appears to primarily have semimajor axes less than 700 au. We investigate some effects that could cause the alignment and conclude that a torque caused by a misaligned binary companion on the protoplanetary disk is the most promising explanation

Replika- und Transmissions-Elektronenmikroskopie bei der Untersuchung von Entmischung und Kristallisation in Gläsern

Eine von G. R. Booker und R. Stickler zur Dünnätzung von Ge und Si entwickelte Methode wird zum Dünnen von Gläsern angewendet. Dadurch werden elektronenmikroskopische Transmissions- und Beugungsuntersuchungen insbesondere bei Entmischungs- und Kristallisationserscheinungen möglich. Transmissionsaufnahmen von Na-Ti-Silikatgläsern werden mit entsprechenden Replika-Aufnahmen verglichen. Die Vorteile des Verfahrens gegenüber anderen Verfahren werden erwähnt

Influence of molybdenum oxide interface solvent sensitivity on charge trapping in bilayer cyanine solar cells

Bilayer organic solar cells based on trimethine cyanine donor and C60 acceptor materials have been fabricated by coating the trimethine dye from solution on molybdenum oxide (MoO3) anode buffer layer. The choice of deposition solvent drastically influences device performance, with 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propanol (TFP) reducing the fill factor and power conversion efficiency of the device by 36 and 21%, respectively, as compared to chlorobenzene. In the case of TFP, extraction of photogenerated charge carriers by linearly increasing voltage (photo-CELIV) and capacitance-voltage analysis revealed the formation of a hole trapping zone at the molybdenum oxide interface which is also responsible for the S-shape current-voltage curve under white light irradiation. The transient charge extraction signal originating from trapped holes at the MoO3 interface could be clearly distinguished from the one relating to hole mobility in cyanine films using photo-CELIV measurements with varying delay times