301 research outputs found

    The dynamical fate of self-gravitating disc fragments after tidal downsizing

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    DF and KR acknowledge support from STFC grant ST/J001422/1. DF also acknowledges support from the ECOGAL ERC Advanced Grant Programme. RJP acknowledges support from the Royal Astronomical Society in the form of a research fellowship.The gravitational instability model of planet/brown dwarf formation proposes that protostellar discs can fragment into objectswith masses above a few Jupiter masses at large semimajor axis. Tidal downsizing may reduce both the object mass and semimajor axis. However, most studies of tidal downsizing end when the protostellar disc disperses, while the system is embedded in its parent star-forming region. To compare disc fragment descendants with exoplanet and brown dwarf observations, the subsequent dynamical evolution must be explored. We carry out N-body integrations of fragment-fragment scattering in multi-object star systems, and star systems embedded in substructured clusters. In both cases, we use initial conditions generated by population synthesis models of tidal downsizing. The scattering simulations produce a wide range of eccentricities. The ejection rate is around 25 per cent. The ejecta mass distribution is similar to that for all objects, with a velocity dispersion consistent with those produced by full hydrodynamic simulations. The semimajor axis distribution after scattering extends to parsec scales. In the cluster simulations, 13 per cent of the objects are ejected from their planetary system, and around 10 per cent experience significant orbit modification. A small number of objects are recaptured on high-eccentricity, high-inclination orbits. The velocity distribution of ejecta is similar to that produced by fragment-fragment scattering. If fragment-fragment scattering and cluster stripping act together, then disc fragmentation should be efficient at producing free-floating substellar objects, and hence characterizing the free-floating planet population will provide strong constraints on the frequency of disc fragmentation.Peer reviewe

    Commentary on "Graphite and its hidden superconductivity"

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    A Commentary on the paper by P. Esquinazi [Pap. Phys. 5, 050007 (2013)]. The author of the paper offers a Reply.Received: 10 October 2013,, Accepted: 4 November 2013; Edited by: S. A. Grigera; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4279/PIP.05000

    Use of a wine yeast deletion collection reveals genes that influence fermentation performance under low-nitrogen conditions

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    A deficiency of nitrogenous nutrients in grape juice can cause stuck and sluggish alcoholic fermentation, which has long been a problem in winemaking. Nitrogen requirements vary between wine yeast strains, and the ability of yeast to assimilate nitrogen depends on the nature and concentration of nitrogen present in the medium. In this study, a wine yeast gene deletion collection (1844 deletants in the haploid AWRI1631 background) was screened to identify genes whose deletion resulted in a reduction in the time taken to utilise all sugars when grown in a chemically defined grape juice medium supplemented with limited nitrogen (75 mg L -1 as a free amino acid mixture). Through micro-scale and laboratory-scale fermentations, 15 deletants were identified that completed fermentation in a shorter time than the wildtype (c.a. 15%-59% time reduction). This group of genes was annotated to biological processes including protein modification, transport, metabolism and ubiquitination (UBC13, MMS2, UBP7, UBI4, BRO1, TPK2, EAR1, MRP17, MFA2 and MVB12), signalling (MFA2) and amino acid metabolism (AAT2). Deletion of MFA2, encoding mating factor-a, resulted in a 55% decrease in fermentation duration. Mfa2Δ was chosen for further investigation to understand how this gene deletion conferred fermentation efficiency in limited nitrogen conditions. </p

    ?sR studies of superconductivity in eutectically grown mixed ruthenates

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    The low-temperature magnetic behavior of the double-layered ruthenate Sr 3Ru 2O 7, as grown from a eutectic Sr 2RuO 4-Sr 3Ru 2O 7 system, was investigated via zero- and transverse-field muon-spin rotation. The gradual increase of the muon relaxation rate observed below 2.5 K, even in the absence of applied magnetic fields, indicates the occurrence of a spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry. The onset of the latter at a temperature above 1.5 K, the T c of the single phase Sr 2RuO 4, provides evidence about an unconventional superconducting state in the eutectic phase, which most likely takes place at the interface between the Sr 2RuO 4 and Sr 3Ru 2O 7 domains, or even inside the Sr 3Ru 2O 7 phase. We show that the superconducting state manifests a two-component behavior in the transverse-field response with change-over at about T=2.5 K and T=1.5 K. The comparison with zero-field μSR data in the Ru-Sr 2RuO 4 eutectic system rules out the possibility of spurious effects due to embedded Ru islands

    μsR studies of superconductivity in eutectically grown mixed ruthenates

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    The low-temperature magnetic behavior of the double-layered ruthenate Sr 3Ru 2O 7, as grown from a eutectic Sr 2RuO 4-Sr 3Ru 2O 7 system, was investigated via zero- and transverse-field muon-spin rotation. The gradual increase of the muon relaxation rate observed below 2.5 K, even in the absence of applied magnetic fields, indicates the occurrence of a spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry. The onset of the latter at a temperature above 1.5 K, the T c of the single phase Sr 2RuO 4, provides evidence about an unconventional superconducting state in the eutectic phase, which most likely takes place at the interface between the Sr 2RuO 4 and Sr 3Ru 2O 7 domains, or even inside the Sr 3Ru 2O 7 phase. We show that the superconducting state manifests a two-component behavior in the transverse-field response with change-over at about T=2.5 K and T=1.5 K. The comparison with zero-field μSR data in the Ru-Sr 2RuO 4 eutectic system rules out the possibility of spurious effects due to embedded Ru islands. © 2012 American Physical Society

    Magnetic-field-controlled spin fluctuations and quantum critically in Sr3Ru2O7

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    When the transition temperature of a continuous phase transition is tuned to absolute zero, new ordered phases and physical behaviour emerge in the vicinity of the resulting quantum critical point. Sr3Ru2O7 can be tuned through quantum criticality with magnetic field at low temperature. Near its critical field Bc it displays the hallmark T-linear resistivity and a T log(1/T) electronic heat capacity behaviour of strange metals. However, these behaviours have not been related to any critical fluctuations. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to reveal the presence of collective spin fluctuations whose relaxation time and strength show a nearly singular variation with magnetic field as Bc is approached. The large increase in the electronic heat capacity and entropy near Bc can be understood quantitatively in terms of the scattering of conduction electrons by these spin-fluctuations. On entering the spin density wave (SDW) phase present near Bc, the fluctuations become stronger suggesting that the SDW order is stabilised through an "order-by-disorder" mechanism

    Reply to the Commentary on "Graphite and its hidden superconductivity"

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    A Reply to the Commentary by E. M. Forgan [Pap. Phys. 5, 050008 (20013)].Received: 30 October 2013, Accepted: 4 November 2013; Edited by: S. A. Grigera; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4279/10.4279/PIP.050009Cite as: P. Esquinazi, Papers in Physics 5, 050009 (2013
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