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Zwicky Transient Facility and Globular Clusters: The Period-Luminosity and Period-Wesenheit Relations for Type II Cepheids
No full textWe present the first gri-band period–luminosity (PL) and period–Wesenheit (PW) relations for 37 Type II Cepheids (TIICs) located in 18 globular clusters based on photometric data from the Zwicky Transient Facility. We also updated BVIJHK-band absolute magnitudes for 58 TIICs in 24 globular clusters using the latest homogeneous distances to the globular clusters. The slopes of g/r/i- and B/V/I-band PL relations are found to be statistically consistent when using the same sample of distance and reddening. We employed the calibration of ri-band PL/PW relations in globular clusters to estimate a distance to M31 based on a sample of ∼270 TIICs from the PAndromeda project. The distance modulus to M31, obtained using calibrated ri-band PW relation, agrees well with the recent determination based on classical Cepheids. However, distance moduli derived using the calibrated r- and i-band PL relations are systematically smaller by ∼0.2 mag, suggesting there are possible additional systematic errors on the PL relations. Finally, we also derive the period–color (PC) relations and for the first time the period–Q-index (PQ) relations, where the Q-index is reddening free, for our sample of TIICs. The PC relations based on (r − i) and near-infrared colors and the PQ relations are found to be relatively independent of the pulsation periods
Zwicky Transient Facility and Globular Clusters: Calibration of the gr-band Absolute Magnitudes for the Yellow Post-asymptotic-giant-branch Stars
No full textWe present the first absolute calibration for the yellow post-asymptotic-giant-branch (PAGB) stars in the g and r band based on time-series observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility. These absolute magnitudes were calibrated using four yellow PAGB stars (one nonvarying star and three Type II Cepheids) located in the globular clusters. We provide two calibrations of the gr-band absolute magnitudes for the yellow PAGB stars, by using an arithmetic mean and a linear regression. We demonstrate that the linear regression provides a better fit to the g-band absolute magnitudes for the yellow PAGB stars. These calibrated gr-band absolute magnitudes have a potential to be used as Population II distance indicators in the era of time-domain synoptic sky surveys
A reduced speed-of-light formulation of the magnetohydrodynamic-particle-in-cell method
No full textA reduced speed-of-light (RSOL) approximation is a useful technique for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)-particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. With an RSOL, some 'in-code' speed-of-light c~ is set to much lower values than the true c, allowing simulations to take larger time-steps (which are restricted by the Courant condition given the large CR speeds). However, due to the absence of a well-formulated RSOL implementation from the literature, with naive substitution of the true c with a RSOL, the CR properties in MHD-PIC simulations (e.g. CR energy or momentum density, gyro radius) vary artificially with respect to each other and with respect to the converged (c~ → c) solutions, with different choices of a RSOL. Here, we derive a new formulation of the MHD-PIC equations with an RSOL and show that (1) it guarantees all steady-state properties of the CR distribution function, and background plasma/MHD quantities are independent of the RSOL c~ even for c~ ≪ c; (2) it ensures that the simulation can simultaneously represent the real physical values of CR number, mass, momentum, and energy density; (3) it retains the correct physical meaning of various terms like the electric field; and (4) it ensures the numerical time-step for CRs can always be safely increased by a factor ∼ c/c~. This new RSOL formulation should enable greater self-consistency and reduced CPU cost in simulations of CR–MHD interactions
Dual Fluorescence of Octatetraene Hints at a Novel Type of Singlet-to-Singlet Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Process
No full textA novel type of singlet-to-singlet thermally activated delayed fluorescence (STS-TADF) from the optically bright 1⁺Bᵤ⁺ and dark 2¹A_(g)⁻ states of octatetraene is proposed based on state-of-the-art ab initio simulations. The new phenomenon bears similarity with TADF, the key difference being that in the normal TADF the emissive state is repopulated from a nearby triplet, whereas in STS-TADF it occurs from a nearby dark singlet state (2¹A_(g)⁻). The nonadiabatic populations of the bright and dark singlet excited states are dynamically redistributed through a conical intersection mediated by an ultrafast skeleton C–C stretching vibration, establishing a steady state for a sufficiently long time to undergo radiative decay. The steady state manifests itself in the experimentally observed dual fluorescence. It is expected that the STS-TADF can be observed in other π-conjugated chromophores as well
Hydrogen Adsorption and Isotope Mixing on Copper-Functionalized Activated Carbons
No full textHigh-specific surface area (SSA) carbons were functionalized with copper nanoclusters and evaluated as potential hydrogen storage materials. The adsorption and desorption behaviors of the copper-functionalized material and pristine high-SSA carbon are compared between 77 and 400 K using adsorption isotherms up to 10 MPa and by temperature-programmed desorption of isotopic hydrogen. The high-SSA activated carbon with copper nanoclusters exhibited two desorption behaviors. (1) A desorption peak at 120 K, which was associated with physisorption on carbon, and (2) a desorption peak at 310 K, which was associated with a chemisorption process involving copper. The desorption from copper was strongly dependent on the hydrogen pressure used for loading, and dissociation of the hydrogen could be avoided by loading at low temperature and pressure. An enhancement of hydrogen uptake in the low-coverage (Henry’s law) regime at ambient temperatures with copper nanoclusters was observed, demonstrating an increased adsorption enthalpy with the copper-modified material. Binding site energies of 6 and 20 kJ/mol for H2 physisorption and H chemisorption, respectively, were obtained from fits to isotherms
pterodactyls: A Tool to Uniformly Search and Vet for Young Transiting Planets in TESS Primary Mission Photometry
No full textKepler’s short-period exoplanet population has revealed evolutionary features such as the Radius Valley and the Hot Neptune desert that are likely sculpted by atmospheric loss over time. These findings suggest that the primordial planet population is different from the Gyr-old Kepler population, and motivates exoplanet searches around young stars. Here, we present pterodactyls, a data reduction pipeline specifically built to address the challenges in discovering exoplanets around young stars and to work with TESS Primary Mission 30-minute cadence photometry, since most young stars were not preselected TESS two-minute cadence targets. pterodactyls builds on publicly available and tested tools in order to extract, detrend, search, and vet transiting young planet candidates. We search five clusters with known transiting planets: the Tucana–Horologium Association, IC 2602, Upper Centaurus Lupus, Ursa Major, and Pisces–Eridani. We show that pterodactyls recovers seven out of the eight confirmed planets and one out of the two planet candidates, most of which were initially detected in two-minute cadence data. For these clusters, we conduct injection-recovery tests to characterize our detection efficiency, and compute an intrinsic planet occurrence rate of 49% ± 20% for sub-Neptunes and Neptunes (1.8–6 R⊕) within 12.5 days, which is higher than Kepler’s Gyr-old occurrence rates of 6.8% ± 0.3%. This potentially implies that these planets have shrunk with time due to atmospheric mass loss. However, a proper assessment of the occurrence of transiting young planets will require a larger sample unbiased to planets already detected. As such, pterodactyls will be used in future work to search and vet for planet candidates in nearby clusters and moving groups
Determining the hydronium pKα at platinum surfaces and the effect on pH-dependent hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics
No full textElectrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical for green hydrogen generation and exhibits distinct pH-dependent kinetics that have been elusive to understand. A molecular-level understanding of the electrochemical interfaces is essential for developing more efficient electrochemical processes. Here we exploit an exclusively surface-specific electrical transport spectroscopy (ETS) approach to probe the Pt-surface water protonation status and experimentally determine the surface hydronium pKa = 4.3. Quantum mechanics (QM) and reactive dynamics using a reactive force field (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics (RMD) calculations confirm the enrichment of hydroniums (H3O+*) near Pt surface and predict a surface hydronium pKa of 2.5 to 4.4, corroborating the experimental results. Importantly, the observed Pt-surface hydronium pKa correlates well with the pH-dependent HER kinetics, with the protonated surface state at lower pH favoring fast Tafel kinetics with a Tafel slope of 30 mV per decade and the deprotonated surface state at higher pH following Volmer-step limited kinetics with a much higher Tafel slope of 120 mV per decade, offering a robust and precise interpretation of the pH-dependent HER kinetics. These insights may help design improved electrocatalysts for renewable energy conversion
Lessons from the pandemic: Responding to emerging zoonotic viral diseases — a Keystone Symposia report
No full textThe COVID‐19 pandemic caught the world largely unprepared, including scientific and policy communities. On April 10–13, 2022, researchers across academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations met at the Keystone symposium "Lessons from the Pandemic: Responding to Emerging Zoonotic Viral Diseases" to discuss the successes and challenges of the COVID‐19 pandemic and what lessons can be applied moving forward. Speakers focused on experiences not only from the COVID‐19 pandemic but also from outbreaks of other pathogens, including the Ebola virus, Lassa virus, and Nipah virus. A general consensus was that investments made during the COVID‐19 pandemic in infrastructure, collaborations, laboratory and manufacturing capacity, diagnostics, clinical trial networks, and regulatory enhancements — notably, in low‐to‐middle income countries — must be maintained and strengthened to enable quick, concerted responses to future threats, especially to zoonotic pathogens
Narrowband Searches for Continuous and Long-duration Transient Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars in the LIGO-Virgo Third Observing Run
No full textIsolated neutron stars that are asymmetric with respect to their spin axis are possible sources of detectable continuous gravitational waves. This paper presents a fully coherent search for such signals from eighteen pulsars in data from LIGO and Virgo’s third observing run (O3). For known pulsars, efficient and sensitive matched-filter searches can be carried out if one assumes the gravitational radiation is phase-locked to the electromagnetic emission. In the search presented here, we relax this assumption and allow both the frequency and the time derivative of the frequency of the gravitational waves to vary in a small range around those inferred from electromagnetic observations. We find no evidence for continuous gravitational waves, and set upper limits on the strain amplitude for each target. These limits are more constraining for seven of the targets than the spin-down limit defined by ascribing all rotational energy loss to gravitational radiation. In an additional search, we look in O3 data for long-duration (hours–months) transient gravitational waves in the aftermath of pulsar glitches for six targets with a total of nine glitches. We report two marginal outliers from this search, but find no clear evidence for such emission either. The resulting duration-dependent strain upper limits do not surpass indirect energy constraints for any of these targets
Monitoring-induced entanglement entropy and sampling complexity
No full textThe dynamics of open quantum systems is generally described by a master equation, which describes the loss of information into the environment. By using a simple model of uncoupled emitters, we illustrate how the recovery of this information depends on the monitoring scheme applied to register the decay clicks. The dissipative dynamics, in this case, is described by pure-state stochastic trajectories, and we examine different unravelings of the same master equation. More precisely, we demonstrate how registering the sequence of clicks from spontaneously emitted photons through a linear optical interferometer induces entanglement in the trajectory states. Since this model consists of an array of single-photon emitters, we show a direct equivalence with Fock-state boson sampling and link the hardness of sampling the outcomes of the quantum jumps with the scaling of trajectory entanglement