Shift current is a steady-state photocurrent generated in non-centrosymmetric single crystals and has been considered to be one of the major origins of the bulk photovoltaic effect. The mechanism of ...this effect is the transfer of photogenerated charges by the shift of the wave functions, and its amplitude is closely related to the polarization of the electronic origin. Here, we report the photovoltaic effect in an organic molecular crystal tetrathiafulvalene-p-chloranil with a large ferroelectric polarization mostly induced by the intermolecular charge transfer. We observe a fairly large zero-bias photocurrent with visible-light irradiation and switching of the current direction by the reversal of the polarization. Furthermore, we reveal that the travel distance of photocarriers exceeds 200 μm. These results unveil distinct features of the shift current and the potential application of ferroelectric organic molecular compounds for novel optoelectric devices.The bulk photovoltaics refers to an effect whereby electrons move directionally in non-centrosymmetric crystals upon light radiation. Here, Nakamura et al. observe this effect in a ferroelectric organic charge-transfer complex, which shows large diffusion distance of photogenerated electrons over 200 µm.
Abstract
We use very long baseline interferometry to measure the proper motions of three black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs). Using these results together with data from the literature and Gaia DR2 to ...collate the best available constraints on proper motion, parallax, distance, and systemic radial velocity of 16 BHXBs, we determined their three-dimensional Galactocentric orbits. We extended this analysis to estimate the probability distribution for the potential kick velocity (PKV) a BHXB system could have received on formation. Constraining the kicks imparted to BHXBs provides insight into the birth mechanism of black holes (BHs). Kicks also have a significant effect on BH–BH merger rates, merger sites, and binary evolution, and can be responsible for spin–orbit misalignment in BH binary systems. 75 per cent of our systems have potential kicks $\gt 70\, \rm {km\,s^{-1}}$. This suggests that strong kicks and hence spin–orbit misalignment might be common among BHXBs, in agreement with the observed quasi-periodic X-ray variability in their power density spectra. We used a Bayesian hierarchical methodology to analyse the PKV distribution of the BHXB population, and suggest that a unimodal Gaussian model with a mean of 107 $\pm \,\,16\, \rm {km\,s^{-1}}$ is a statistically favourable fit. Such relatively high PKVs would also reduce the number of BHs likely to be retained in globular clusters. We found no significant correlation between the BH mass and PKV, suggesting a lack of correlation between BH mass and the BH birth mechanism. Our python code allows the estimation of the PKV for any system with sufficient observational constraints.
Mapping supernovae to their progenitors is fundamental to understanding the collapse of massive stars. We investigate the red supergiant problem, which concerns why red supergiants with masses ∼16–30 ...M⊙ have not been identified as progenitors of Type IIP supernovae, and the supernova rate problem, which concerns why the observed cosmic supernova rate is smaller than the observed cosmic star formation rate. We find key physics to solving these in the compactness parameter, which characterizes the density structure of the progenitor. If massive stars with compactness above ξ2.5 ∼ 0.2 fail to produce canonical supernovae, (i) stars in the mass range 16–30 M⊙ populate an island of stars that have high ξ2.5 and do not produce canonical supernovae, and (ii) the fraction of such stars is consistent with the missing fraction of supernovae relative to star formation. We support this scenario with a series of two- and three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics core-collapse simulations. Using more than 300 progenitors covering initial masses 10.8–75 M⊙ and three initial metallicities, we show that high compactness is conducive to failed explosions. We then argue that a critical compactness of ∼0.2 as the divide between successful and failed explosions is consistent with state-of-the-art three-dimensional core-collapse simulations. Our study implies that numerical simulations of core collapse need not produce robust explosions in a significant fraction of compact massive star initial conditions.
The electric-field-induced phase transition from antipolar to polar structures is at the heart of antiferroelectricity. We demonstrate direct evidence of antiferroelectricity by applying a strong ...electric field to two antipolar crystals of squaric acid (SQA) and 5,5'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridinium chloranilate. The field-induced polarization of SQA is quite large and reasonably explained by the theoretically calculated polarization on the hydrogen-bonded sheet sublattice. The pseudo-tetragonal lattice of SQA permits unique switching topologies that produce two different ferroelectric phases of low and high polarizations. By tilting the applied field direction, the electrical switching mechanism can be attributed to a 90° rotation of the sheet polarization. From the viewpoint of applications, the strong polarization, high switching field, and quite slim hysteresis observed in the polarization
electric field curve for SQA are advantageous for excellent-efficiency energy storage devices.
ABSTRACT
We present the first targeted measurement of the power spectrum of anisotropies of the radio synchrotron background, at 140 MHz, where it is the overwhelmingly dominant photon background. ...This measurement is important for understanding the background level of radio sky brightness, which is dominated by steep-spectrum synchrotron radiation at frequencies below ν ∼ 0.5 GHz and has been measured to be significantly higher than that produced by known classes of extragalactic sources and most models of Galactic halo emission. We determine the anisotropy power spectrum on scales ranging from 2° to 0.2 arcmin with Low-Frequency Array observations of two 18-deg2 fields – one centred on the Northern hemisphere’s coldest patch of radio sky where the Galactic contribution is smallest and the other offset from that location by 15°. We find that the anisotropy power is higher than that attributable to the distribution of point sources above 100 $\mu$Jy in flux. This level of radio anisotropy power indicates that if it results from point sources, those sources are likely at low fluxes and incredibly numerous, and likely clustered in a specific manner.
There are numerous wooden historical artifacts in Kyoto and other parts of Japan, including Buddhist statues or Shinto deities. The identification of wood species in these historical artifact is ...desirable for both repair and maintenance purposes. The most common method of identifying wood species involves examining samples taken from the artifacts. However, intentional sampling from old cultural artifacts is prohibited in Japan. As a result, we attempted to determine the wood species of old statues non-destructively using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). In this article, we developed the softwood and hardwood separation model using NIRS to compare the prediction accuracy for few algorithms. The model was created based on wood samples stored in the xylarium of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (TWTw). We then applied this model to old Buddhist statues in order to classify them as either softwood or hardwood. These Buddhist statues were housed in Nazenji temple and are believed to have been carved during the Heian period (8th–12th century). For the near-infrared (NIR) measurements, we collected diffuse reflectance spectra from TWTw sample and Buddhist statues using same spectrometer. Initially, we used the soft independent modeling of class analogy method (SIMCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS_DA), and support vector machine to analyze the NIR spectra obtained from the TWTw wood samples. Subsequently, we applied the NIR spectra obtained from several Buddhist statues in Nazenji temple to the aforementioned separation model and determined whether spectra data were classified as the softwood or hardwood. Finally, wood specimens detached naturally from the Buddhist statues over time were observed under microscopic analysis to identify the wood species. As comparing the prediction accuracy of few algorithms, SIMCA had a poor result, but PLS_DA had a good result. PLS_DA had better discrimination because it performed calculations to improve regression from both explanatory variables and objective variables.
Croconic acid crystals show proton displacive-type ferroelectricity with a large spontaneous polarization reaching 20 μC/cm^{2}, which originates from the strong coupling of proton and π-electron ...degrees of freedom. Such a coupling makes us expect a large polarization change by photoirradiations. Optical-pump second-harmonic-generation-probe experiments reveal that a photoexcited croconic-acid crystal loses the ferroelectricity substantially with a maximum quantum efficiency of more than 30 molecules per one absorbed photon. Based on density functional calculations, we theoretically discuss possible pathways toward the formation of a one-dimensional domain with polarization inversion and its recovery process to the ground state by referring to the dynamics of experimentally obtained polarization changes.
Recent measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory suggest that the composition of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) becomes dominated by heavy nuclei at high energies. However, until now there ...has been no astrophysical motivation for considering a source highly enriched in heavy elements. Here we demonstrate that the outflows from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may indeed be composed primarily of nuclei with masses A∼ 40-200, which are synthesized as hot material expands away from the central engine. In particular, if the jet is magnetically dominated (rather than a thermally driven fireball) its low entropy enables heavy elements to form efficiently. Adopting the millisecond protomagnetar model for the GRB central engine, we show that heavy nuclei both are synthesized in protomagnetar winds and can in principle be accelerated to energies ≳1020 eV in the shocks or regions of magnetic reconnection that are responsible for powering the GRB. Similar results may apply to accretion-powered GRB models if the jet originates from a magnetized disc wind. Depending on the precise distribution of nuclei synthesized, we predict that the average primary mass may continue to increase beyond Fe group elements at the highest energies, possibly reaching the A≈ 90 (zirconium), A≈ 130 (tellurium) or even A≈ 195 (platinum) peaks. Future measurements of the UHECR composition at energies ≳1020 eV can thus confirm or constrain our model and, potentially, probe the nature of GRB outflows. The longer attenuation length of ultra-heavy nuclei through the extragalactic background light greatly expands the volume of accessible sources and alleviates the energetic constraints on GRBs as the source of UHECRs.
ABSTRACT
We present the largest low frequency (120 MHz) arcminute resolution image of the radio synchrotron background (RSB) to date, and its corresponding angular power spectrum of anisotropies ...(APS) with angular scales ranging from 3° to 0.3 arcmin. We show that the RSB around the north celestial pole has a significant excess anisotropy power at all scales over a model of unclustered point sources based on source counts of known source classes. This anisotropy excess, which does not seem attributable to the diffuse Galactic emission, could be linked to the surface brightness excess of the RSB. To better understand the information contained within the measured APS, we model the RSB varying the brightness distribution, size, and angular clustering of potential sources. We show that the observed APS could be produced by a population of faint clustered point sources only if the clustering is extreme and the size of the Gaussian clusters is ≲1 arcmin. We also show that the observed APS could be produced by a population of faint diffuse sources with sizes ≲1 arcmin, and this is supported by features present in our image. Both of these cases would also cause an associated surface brightness excess. These classes of sources are in a parameter space not well probed by even the deepest radio surveys to date.
ABSTRACT
Gamma-ray observations have revealed strong variability in blazar luminosities in the gamma-ray band over time-scales as short as minutes. We show, for the first time, that the correlation ...of the spectrum with intensity is consistent with the behaviour of the luminosity variation of blazar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) along a blazar sequence for low synchrotron peak blazars. We show that the observational signatures of variability with flux are consistent with wakefield acceleration of electrons initiated by instabilities in the blazar accretion disc. This mechanism reproduces the observed time variations as short as 100 s. The wakefield mechanism also predicts a reduction of the electron spectral index with increased gamma-ray luminosity, which could be detected in higher energy observations well above the inverse Compton peak.
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