arXiv subjects

K. Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to K. Zhang.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Inflight performance of the GECAM Gamma-ray and Charge particle Detectors

The GECAM mission consists of two identical microsatellites (GECAM-A and GECAM-B). Each satellite is equipped with 25 gamma-ray detectors (GRD) and 8 charged particle detectors (CPD). The main scientific objective of the GECAM mission is to detect gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) associated with the gravitational wave events produced by the merging of binary compact stars. After the launch on Dec. 10, 2020 , we carried out a series of on orbit tests. This paper introduces the test results of the GECAM-B satellite. According to the in-flight performance, the energy band for gamma-ray detection of GECAM-B is from about 7 keV to 3.5 MeV. GECAM-B can achieve prompt localization of GRBs. For the first time, GECAM-B realized a quasi-real-time transmission of trigger information using Beidou-3 RDSS. Keywords GECAM, gamma-ray burst, gravitational wave, GRD, CPD

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

GECAM detection of a bright type-I X-ray burst from 4U 0614+09: confirmation its spin frequency at 413 Hz

One month after launching Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM), a bright thermonuclear X-ray burst from 4U~0614+09, was observed on January 24, 2021. We report the time-resolved spectroscopy of the burst and a burst oscillation detection at 413 Hz with a fractional amplitude 3.4\% (rms). This coincides with the burst oscillation previously discovered with \textit{Swift}/BAT \citep{Strohmayer2008}, and therefore confirms the spin frequency of this source. This burst is the brightest one in the normal bursts (except the superburst) ever detected from 4U~0614+09, which leads to an upper limit of distance estimation as 3.1 kpc. The folded light curve during the burst oscillation shows a multi-peak structure, which is the first case observed during a single burst oscillation in nonpulsating sources. The multi-peak profile could be due to additional harmonics of the burst oscillation, which is corresponding to several brighter/fainter spots at the stellar surface.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Search for oscillations of fundamental constants using molecular spectroscopy

A possible implication of an ultralight dark matter (UDM) field interacting wibeginth the Standard Model (SM) degrees of freedom is oscillations of fundamental constants. Here, we establish direct experimental bounds on the coupling of an oscillating UDM field to the up, down, and strange quarks and to the gluons, for oscillation frequencies between 10 Hz and 10^8 Hz. We employ spectroscopic experiments that take advantage of the dependence of molecular transition frequencies on the nuclear masses. Our results apply to previously unexplored frequency bands, and improve on existing bounds at frequencies > 5 MHz. We identify a sector of UDM - SM coupling space where the bounds from Equivalence Principle tests may be challenged by next-generation experiments of the present kind.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Structure of germanene/Al(111): a two-layers surface alloy

Unlike silicene, for which the demonstration of its existence has been done through numerous independent studies, the possibility of growing epitaxial germanene remains highly controversial. It has been recently shown by scanning tunneling microscopy that the (3 x 3) surface reconstruction formed upon Ge deposition on Al(111) presents a honeycomb structure, and it was assigned to a pure germanene monolayer. Using quantitative measurements by surface X-ray diffraction compared to density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that this Ge/Al(111) (3 x 3) reconstruction corresponds, in fact, to a mixed Ge--Al honeycomb layer on top of an alloyed interfacial layer. The model of a germanene monolayer on top of the Al(111) surface can be completely excluded.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Overall Spectral Properties of Prompt Emissions with Diverse Segments in Swift/BAT Short Gamma-ray Bursts

Owing to lack of multiple components of prompt $γ$-ray emissions in short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs), how these distinct components are correlated still keeps unclear. In this paper, we investigate the spectral and temporal properties of precursors, main peaks and extended emissions in 26 sGRBs including GRB 170817A. It is found that peak energies ($E_p$) in each pulse are uncorrelated with the pulse duration ($t_{dur}$). Meanwhile, we find that there is no obvious correlation between peak energy and energy fluence. Interestingly, there is no obvious spectral evolution from earlier precursors to later extended emissions in view of the correlations of $t_{dur}$ with either the $E_p$ or the low energy spectrum index, $α$. A power-law correlation between the average flux ($F_{p}$) and the energy fluence ($S_γ$), $log F_p=(0.62\pm0.07) log S_γ+ (0.27\pm0.07)$, is found to exist in the individual segments instead of mean peaks previously. Furthermore, we also find that the main peaks are on average brighter than the precursors or the extend emissions about one order of magnitude. On the basis of all the above analyses, one can conclude that three emissive components would share the same radiation mechanisms but they might be dominated by diverse physical processes.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Resolving the structure of the striped Ge layer on Ag(111): Ag$_2$Ge surface alloy with alternate fcc and hcp domains

Two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb lattices beyond graphene, such as germanene, promise new physical properties such as quantum spin Hall effect. While there have been many claims of growth of germanene, the lack of precise structural characterization of the epitaxial layers synthesized hinders further research. The striped layer formed by Ge deposition on Ag(111) has been recently ascribed as a stretched germanene layer. Using surface X-ray diffraction and density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that it corresponds in fact to a Ag$_2$Ge surface alloy with an atomic density 6.45% higher than the Ag(111) atomic density. The overall structure is formed by stripes associated with a face-centered cubic top-layer alignment, alternating with stripes associated with an hexagonal-close-packed top-layer alignment, in great analogy with the ($22\times\sqrt3$) Au(111) reconstruction.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

SN2017jgh - A high-cadence complete shock cooling lightcurve of a SN IIb with the Kepler telescope

SN 2017jgh is a type IIb supernova discovered by Pan-STARRS during the C16/C17 campaigns of the Kepler/K2 mission. Here we present the Kepler/K2 and ground based observations of SN 2017jgh, which captured the shock cooling of the progenitor shock breakout with an unprecedented cadence. This event presents a unique opportunity to investigate the progenitors of stripped envelope supernovae. By fitting analytical models to the SN 2017jgh lightcurve, we find that the progenitor of SN 2017jgh was likely a yellow supergiant with an envelope radius of $\sim50-290~R_{\odot}$, and an envelope mass of $\sim0-1.7~M_{\odot}$. SN 2017jgh likely had a shock velocity of $\sim7500-10300$ km s$^{-1}$. Additionally, we use the lightcurve of SN 2017jgh to investigate how early observations of the rise contribute to constraints on progenitor models. Fitting just the ground based observations, we find an envelope radius of $\sim50-330~R_{\odot}$, an envelope mass of $\sim0.3-1.7~M_{\odot}$ and a shock velocity of $\sim9,000-15,000$ km s$^{-1}$. Without the rise, the explosion time can not be well constrained which leads to a systematic offset in the velocity parameter and larger uncertainties in the mass and radius. Therefore, it is likely that progenitor property estimates through these models may have larger systematic uncertainties than previously calculated.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Testing the 10 spectrograph units for DESI: approach and results

The recently commissioned Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 sqdeg will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope delivers light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. A consortium of Aix-Marseille University (AMU) and CNRS laboratories (LAM, OHP and CPPM) together with LPNHE (CNRS, IN2P3, Sorbonne Université and Université de Paris) and the WINLIGHT Systems company based in Pertuis (France), were in charge of integrating and validating the performance requirements of the ten full spectrographs, equipped with their cryostats, shutters and other mechanisms. We present a summary of our activity which allowed an efficient validation of the systems in a short-time schedule. We detail the main results. We emphasize the benefits of our approach and also its limitations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Remote Mesoscopic Signatures of Induced Magnetic Texture in Graphene

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations are a ubiquitous signature of phase-coherent transport in small conductors, exhibiting universal character independent of system details. In this work, however, we demonstrate a pronounced breakdown of this universality, due to the interplay of local and remote phenomena in transport. Our experiments are performed in a graphene-based interaction-detection geometry, in which an artificial magnetic texture is induced in the graphene layer by covering a portion of it with a micromagnet. When probing conduction at some distance from this region, the strong influence of remote factors is manifested through the appearance of giant conductance fluctuations, with amplitude much larger than $e^2/h$. This violation of one of the fundamental tenets of mesoscopic physics dramatically demonstrates how local considerations can be overwhelmed by remote signatures in phase-coherent conductors

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Arbitrary cylindrical vector beam generation enabled by polarization-selective Gouy phase shifter

Cylindrical vector beams (CVBs), which possesses polarization distribution of rotational symmetry on the transverse plane, can be developed in many optical technologies. Conventional methods to generate CVBs contain redundant interferometers or need to switch among diverse elements, thus being inconvenient in applications containing multiple CVBs. Here we provide a passive polarization-selective device to substitute interferometers and simplify generation setup. It is accomplished by reversing topological charges of orbital angular momentum based on polarization-selective Gouy phase. In the process, tunable input light is the only condition to generate CVB with arbitrary topological charges. To cover both azimuthal and radial parameters of CVBs, we express the mapping between scalar Laguerre-Gaussian light on basic Poincaré sphere and CVB on high-order Poincaré sphere. The proposed device simplifies the generation of CVBs enormously, and thus has potentials in integrated devices for both quantum and classic optical experiments.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Observing Carbon & Oxygen Carriers in Protoplanetary Disks at Mid-infrared Wavelengths

Infrared observations probe the warm gas in the inner regions of planet-forming disks around young sun-like, T Tauri stars. In these systems, H$_2$O, OH, CO, CO$_2$, C$_2$H$_2$, and HCN have been widely observed. However, the potentially abundant carbon carrier CH$_4$ remains largely unconstrained. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to characterize mid-infrared fluxes of CH$_4$ along with several other carriers of carbon and oxygen. In anticipation of the JWST mission, we model the physical and chemical structure of a T Tauri disk to predict the abundances and mid-infrared fluxes of observable molecules. A range of compositional scenarios are explored involving the destruction of refractory carbon materials and alterations to the total elemental (volatile and refractory) C/O ratio. Photon-driven chemistry in the inner disk surface layers largely destroys the initial carbon and oxygen carriers. This causes models with the same physical structure and C/O ratio to have similar steady state surface compositions, regardless of the initial chemical abundances. Initial disk compositions are better preserved in the shielded inner disk midplane. The degree of similarity between the surface and midplane compositions in the inner disk will depend on the characteristics of vertical mixing at these radii. Our modeled fluxes of observable molecules respond sensitively to changes in the disk gas temperature, inner radius, and the total elemental C/O ratio. As a result, mid-infrared observations of disks will be useful probes of these fundamental disk parameters, including the C/O ratio, which can be compared to values determined for planetary atmospheres.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2020

Revealing the relation between black-hole growth and host-galaxy compactness among star-forming galaxies

Recent studies show that a universal relation between black-hole (BH) growth and stellar mass ($M_\bigstar$) or star formation rate (SFR) is an oversimplification of BH-galaxy co-evolution, and that morphological and structural properties of host galaxies must also be considered. Particularly, a possible connection between BH growth and host-galaxy compactness was identified among star-forming (SF) galaxies. Utilizing $\approx 6300$ massive galaxies with $I_{\rm 814W}~<~24$ at $z$ $<$ 1.2 in the COSMOS field, we perform systematic partial-correlation analyses to investigate how sample-averaged BH accretion rate ($\rm \overline{BHAR}$) depends on host-galaxy compactness among SF galaxies, when controlling for morphology and $M_\bigstar$ (or SFR). The projected central surface-mass density within 1 kpc, $Σ_{1}$, is utilized to represent host-galaxy compactness in our study. We find that the $\rm \overline{BHAR}$-$Σ_{1}$ relation is stronger than either the $\rm \overline{BHAR}$-$M_\bigstar$ or $\rm \overline{BHAR}$-SFR relation among SF galaxies, and this $\rm \overline{BHAR}$-$Σ_{1}$ relation applies to both bulge-dominated galaxies and galaxies that are not dominated by bulges. This $\rm \overline{BHAR}$-$Σ_{1}$ relation among SF galaxies suggests a link between BH growth and the central gas density of host galaxies on the kpc scale, which may further imply a common origin of the gas in the vicinity of the BH and in the central $\sim$ kpc of the galaxy. This $\rm \overline{BHAR}$-$Σ_{1}$ relation can also be interpreted as the relation between BH growth and the central velocity dispersion of host galaxies at a given gas content, indicating the role of the host-galaxy potential well in regulating accretion onto the BH.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

One dimensional nexus objects, network of Kibble-Lazarides-Shafi string walls, and their spin dynamic response in polar distorted B-phase of $^3$He

The Kibble-Lazarides-Shafi (KLS) domain wall problem in the axion solution of CP violation in QCD has condensed-matter based analogy in the nafen-distorted superfluid $^3$He. Recent experiment in rotating superfluid $^3$He produced the network of KLS string walls in human controllable system. In this system, KLS string wall appears in two-step symmetry break transition from normal phase to polar-distorted B phase and turn out to be the descendants of HQVs of polar phase. Here we show the KLS string wall smoothly connects to spin solitons when the spin orbital coupling is taken into account. This means HQVs are 1D nexus which connects the spin solitons and the KLS domain walls. This is because the subgroup $G=π_{1}(S_{S}^{1},\tilde{R}_{2})$ of relative homotopy group describing the spin solitons is isomorphic to the group describing the half spin vortices -- the spin textures KLS string wall. In the nafen-distorted $^3$He system, 1D nexus objects and the spin solitons with topological invariant $2/4$ form two different types of network, which are named as pseudo-random lattices of inseparable and separable spin solitons. These two types lattices correspond to two different representations of $G$. We discuss the condition under which pseudo-random lattices model works. The equilibrium configuration and surface densities of free energies are calculated by numeric minimization. Based on the equilibrium spin textures of different pseudo-random lattices, we calculated their transverse NMR spectrum, the resulted frequency shifts and $\sqrtΩ$-scaling of ratio intensity exactly coincide with the experimental measurements. We also discussed the mirror symmetry in the presence of KLS domain wall and the influence of the explicitly break of this discrete symmetry. Our discussions and considerations can be applied to the composite defects in other condensed matter and cosmological system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

How are gamma-ray burst radio afterglows populated?

We systematically analyze three GRB samples named as radio-loud, radio-quiet and radio-none afterglows, respectively. It is shown that dichotomy of the radio-loud afterglows is not necessary. Interestingly, we find that the intrinsic durations ($T_{int}$), isotropic energies of prompt gamma-rays ($E_{γ, iso}$) and redshifts ($z$) of their host galaxies are log-normally distributed for both the radio-loud and radio-quiet samples except those GRBs without any radio detections. Based on the distinct distributions of $T_{int}$, $E_{γ, iso}$, the circum-burst medium density ($n$) and the isotropic equivalent energy of radio afterglows ($L_{ν,p}$), we confirm that the GRB radio afterglows are really better to be divided into the dim and the bright types. However, it is noticeable that the distributions of flux densities ($F_{host}$) from host galaxies of both classes of radio afterglows are intrinsically quite similar. Meanwhile, we point out that the radio-none sample is also obviously different from the above two samples with radio afterglows observed, according to the cumulative frequency distributions of the $T_{int}$ and the $E_{γ, iso}$, together with correlations between $T_{int}$ and $z$. In addition, a positive correlation between $E_{γ, iso}$ and $L_{ν,p}$ is found in the radio-loud samples especially for the supernova-associated GRBs. Besides, we also find this positive correlation in the radio-quiet sample. A negative correlation between $T_{int}$ and $z$ is confirmed to hold for the radio-quiet sample too. The dividing line between short and long GRBs in the rest frame is at $T_{int}\simeq$1 s. Consequently, we propose that the radio-loud, the radio-quiet and the radio-none GRBs could be originated from different progenitors.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

On Spectral Peak Energy of Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts

Owing to narrow energy band of \textit{Swift}/BAT, several urgent issues are required to pay more attentions but unsolved so far. We systematically study the properties of a refined sample of 283 \textit{Swift}/BAT gamma-ray bursts with well-measured spectral peak energy ($E_{\text p}$) at a high confidence level larger than 3$σ$. It is interestingly found that duration ($T_{90}$) distribution of \textit{Swift} bursts still exhibits an evident bimodality with a more reliable boundary of $T_{90}\simeq$1.06 s instead of 2 s for previously contaminated samples including bursts without well-peaked spectra, which is very close to $\sim$1.27 s and $\sim$0.8 s suggested by some authors for Fermi/GBM and \textit{Swift}/BAT catalogs, respectively. The \textit{Swift}/BAT short and long bursts have comparable mean $E_{\text p}$ values of $87^{+112}_{-49}$ and $85^{+101}_{-46}$ keV in each, similar to what found for both types of BATSE bursts, which manifests the traditional short-hard/long-soft scheme may not be tenable for the certain energy window of a detector. In statistics, we also investigate the consistency of distinct methods for the $E_{\text p}$ estimates and find that Bayesian approach and BAND function can always give consistent evaluations. In contrast, the frequently-used cut-off power-law model matches two other methods for lower $E_{\text p}$ and will overestimate the $E_{\text p}$ more than 70\% as $E_{\text p}>$100 keV. Peak energies of X-ray flashes, X-ray rich bursts and classical gamma-ray bursts could have an evolutionary consequence from thermal-dominated to non-thermal-dominated radiation mechanisms. Finally, we find that the $E_{\text p}$ and the observed fluence ($S_γ$) in the observer frame are correlated as $E_p\simeq [S_γ/(10^{-5} erg\ cm^{-2})]^{0.28}\times 117.5^{+44.7}_{-32.4}$ keV proposed to be an useful indicator of GRB peak energies.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Structural, physical and photocatalytic properties of mixed-valence double-perovskite Ba$_{2}$Pr(Bi,Sb)O$_{6}$ semiconductor synthesized by citrate pyrolysis technique

We demonstrated crystal structures, magnetic, optical, and photocatalytic properties of the B-site substituted double perovskite Ba$_{2}$Pr(Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x}$)O$_{6}$ ($x$=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0) synthesized by the citrate pyrolysis method. The single-phase polycrystalline samples with the light Sb substitution crystallized in a monoclinic structure ($I2/m$). Magnetization measurements on all the samples showed that the effective magnetic moments are located around 3 $μ_{B}$ , indicating the valence mixing states between Pr$^{3+}$ and Pr$^{4+}$.The magnitudes of band gap energy for the two end member samples were estimated from the optical measurements to be $E_{g}$ =1.06 eV at $x$=0 and 2.71 eV at $x$=1.0. The Ba$_{2}$Pr(Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x}$)O$_{6}$ ($x$=0, and 0.1) powders obtained by the present technique exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activities when compared to the same compounds prepared by the conventional solid state method. Our findings suggest that the higher photocatalytic activities strongly depend on powder preparation method as well as the band gaps and charge separation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

String monopoles, string walls, vortex-skyrmions and nexus objects in polar distorted B-phase of $^3$He

The composite cosmological objects -- Kibble-Lazarides-Shafi (KLS) walls bounded by strings and cosmic strings terminated by Nambu monopoles -- could be produced during the phase transitions in the early Universe. Recent experiments in superfluid $^3$He reproduced the formation of the KLS domain walls, which opened the new arena for the detailed study of those objects in human controlled system with different characteristic lengths. These composite defects are formed by two successive symmetry breaking phase transitions. In the first transition the strings are formed, then in the second transition the string becomes the termination line of the KLS wall. In the same manner, in the first transition monopoles are formed, and then in the second transition these monopoles become the termination points of strings. Here we show that in the vicinity of the second transition the composite defects can be described by relative homotopy groups. This is because there are two well separated length scales involved, which give rise to two different classes of the degenerate vacuum states, $R_1$ and $R_2$, and the composite objects correspond to the nontrivial elements of the group $π_n(R_1,R_2)$. We discuss this on example of the so-called polar distorted B phase, which is formed in the two-step phase transition in liquid $^3$He distorted by aerogel. In this system the string monopoles terminate spin vortices with even winding number, while KLS string walls terminate on half quantum vortices. In the presence of magnetic field, vortex-skyrmions are formed, and the string monopole transforms to the nexus. We also discuss the integer-valued topological invariants of those objects. Our consideration can be applied to the composite defects in other condensed matter and cosmological systems.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Properties of Short GRB Pulses in the Fourth BATSE Catalog: Implications for Structure and Evolution of the Jetted Outflows

Considering the shortage of comparative studies on pulse temporal characteristics between single-peaked short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) and double-peaked sGRBs, we examine the pulse properties of a sample of 100 BATSE sGRBs using the BATSE Time-Tagged Event (TTE) data with a 5-ms resolution. 243 individual pulses of the single-peaked, double-peaked and triple-peaked sGRBs are fitted to get their statistical properties such as the pulse asymmetry, amplitude, peak time, and pulse width, etc. For the double-peaked sGRBs, according to the overlapping ratio between two adjacent peaks, we first define two kinds of double-peaked sGRBs as M-loose and M-tight types and find that most of the first pulses are similar to the single-peaked ones. We study the dependence of the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) on the photon energy among different energy bands. Interestingly, it is found that a power-law relation with an index of -0.4 does exist between the FWHM and the photon energy for the single- and double-peaked sGRBs. More interestingly, we notice that the power-law relation with a positive index also exist for several special short bursts. In view of the three typical timescales of pulses, namely the angular spreading timescale, the dynamic timescale, and the cooling timescale, we propose that the diverse power-law indexes together with the profile evolution of GRB pulse can be used as an effective probe to diagnose the structure and evolution of the relativistically jetted outflows.

astro-ph.HE↗