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Lei Hao

Publications and source records attributed to Lei Hao.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Searching for two-dimensional Weyl superconductors in heterostructures

Two-dimensional Weyl superconductor is the most elusive member of a group of materials with Weyl fermions as low-energy excitations. Here, we propose to realize this state in a heterostructure consisting of thin films of half-metal and spin-singlet superconductor. In particular, for the $d$-wave case, a very robust two-dimensional Weyl superconductor (dWSC) is realized independent of the orientation of the spontaneous magnetization of the half-metal. The quasiparticle spectra of the dWSC show interesting evolution with the direction of the magnetization, featured by a series of Lifshitz transitions in the zero-energy contour of the quasiparticle spectrum. For a general magnetization orientation of the half-metal, the state is a combination of a superconducting component and a normal fluid component and is different from all known forms of pairings. In addition, we find a transition between type-I and type-II Weyl nodes. This is also the first example of a type-II Weyl node in the presence of superconducting correlation. The symmetries and topological properties of the system are analyzed. We also study the phases in the heterostructure with the half-metal replaced by a ferromagnetic metal with a partially spin-polarized Fermi surface.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

SDSS IV MaNGA: Discovery of an $H_α$ blob associated with a dry galaxy pair -- ejected gas or a `dark' galaxy candidate?

We report the discovery of a mysterious giant $H_α$ blob that is $\sim 8$ kpc away from the main MaNGA target 1-24145, one component of a dry galaxy merger, identified in the first-year SDSS-IV MaNGA data. The size of the $H_α$ blob is $\sim$ 3-4 kpc in radius, and the $H_α$ distribution is centrally concentrated. However, there is no optical continuum counterpart in deep broadband images reaching $\sim$26.9 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in surface brightness. We estimate that the masses of ionized and cold gases are $3.3 \times 10^{5}$ $\rm M_{\odot}$ and $< 1.3 \times 10^{9}$ $\rm M_{\odot}$, respectively. The emission-line ratios indicate that the $H_α$ blob is photoionized by a combination of massive young stars and AGN. Furthermore, the ionization line ratio decreases from MaNGA 1-24145 to the $H_α$ blob, suggesting that the primary ionizing source may come from MaNGA 1-24145, likely a low-activity AGN. Possible explanations of this $H_α$ blob include AGN outflow, the gas remnant being tidally or ram-pressure stripped from MaNGA 1-24145, or an extremely low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy. However, the stripping scenario is less favoured according to galaxy merger simulations and the morphology of the $H_α$ blob. With the current data, we can not distinguish whether this $H_α$ blob is ejected gas due to a past AGN outburst, or a special category of `ultra-diffuse galaxy' (UDG) interacting with MaNGA 1-24145 that further induces the gas inflow to fuel the AGN in MaNGA 1-24145.

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Silicate Dust in Active Galactic Nuclei

The unification theory of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) hypothesizes that all AGNs are surrounded by an anisotropic dust torus and are essentially the same objects but viewed from different angles. However, little is known about the dust which plays a central role in the unification theory. There are suggestions that the AGN dust extinction law appreciably differs from that of the Galaxy. Also, the silicate emission features observed in type 1 AGNs appear anomalous (i.e., their peak wavelengths and widths differ considerably from that of the Galaxy). In this work, we explore the dust properties of 147 AGNs of various types at redshifts z<0.5, with special attention paid to 93 AGNs which exhibit the 9.7 and 18 $μ$m silicate emission features. We model their silicate emission spectra obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find that 60/93 of the observed spectra can be well explained with "astronomical silicate", while the remaining sources favor amorphous olivine or pyroxene. Most notably, all sources require the dust to be $μ$m-sized (with a typical size of ~1.5$\pm$0.1 $μ$m), much larger than sub-$μ$m-sized Galactic interstellar grains, implying a flat or "gray" extinction law for AGNs. We also find that, while the 9.7 $μ$m emission feature arises predominantly from warm silicate dust of temperature T~270 K, the ~5--8 $μ$m continuum emission is mostly from carbon dust of T~640 K. Finally, the correlations between the dust properties (e.g., mass, temperature) and the AGN properties (e.g., luminosity, black hole mass) have also been investigated.

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The growth of the central region by acquisition of counter-rotating gas in star-forming galaxies

Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (< 1 kpc) to form new stars.

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SDSS-IV MaNGA: Properties of galaxies with kinematically decoupled stellar and gaseous components

We study the properties of 66 galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas and stars from MaNGA survey. The fraction of kinematically misaligned galaxies varies with galaxy physical parameters, i.e. M*, SFR and sSFR. According to their sSFR, we further classify these 66 galaxies into three categories, 10 star-forming, 26 "Green Valley" and 30 quiescent ones. The properties of different types of kinematically misaligned galaxies are different in that the star-forming ones have positive gradient in D4000 and higher gas-phase metallicity, while the green valley/quiescent ones have negative D4000 gradients and lower gas-phase metallicity on average. There is evidence that all types of the kinematically misaligned galaxies tend to live in more isolated environment. Based on all these observational results, we propose a scenario for the formation of star forming galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas and stars - the progenitor accretes misaligned gas from a gas-rich dwarf or cosmic web, the cancellation of angular momentum from gas-gas collisions between the pre-existing gas and the accreted gas largely accelerates gas inflow, leading to fast centrally-concentrated star-formation. The higher metallicity is due to enrichment from this star formation. For the kinematically misaligned green valley and quiescent galaxies, they might be formed through gas-poor progenitors accreting kinematically misaligned gas from satellites which are smaller in mass.

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Topological Phase Transitions and a Two-Dimensional Weyl Superconductor in a Half-Metal/Superconductor Heterostructure

We find a series of topological phase transitions in a half-metal/superconductor heterostructure, by tuning the direction of the magnetization of the half-metal film. These include transitions between a topological superconducting phase with a bulk gap and another phase without a bulk gap but has a ubiquitous local gap. At the same time, the edge states change from counter-propagating Majorana edge modes to unidirectional Majorana edge modes. In addition, we find transitions between the second phase and a nodal phase which turns out to be a two-dimensional Weyl superconductor with Fermi line edge states. We identify the topological invariants relevant to each phase and the symmetry that protects the Weyl superconductivity phase.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

A New Diagnostic Diagram of Ionization Source for High Redshift Emission Line Galaxies

We propose a new diagram, the Kinematic-Excitation diagram (KEx diagram), which uses the [OIII]/Hβ line ratio and the [OIII]5007 emission line width (σ_{[OIII]}) to diagnose the ionization source and physical properties of the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and the star-forming galaxies (SFGs). The KEx diagram is a suitable tool to classify emission-line galaxies (ELGs) at intermediate redshift because it uses only the [OIII]5007 and Hβ emission lines. We use the SDSS DR7 main galaxy sample and the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagnostic to calibrate the diagram at low redshift. We find that the diagram can be divided into 3 regions: one occupied mainly by the pure AGNs (KEx-AGN region), one dominated by composite galaxies (KEx-composite region), and one contains mostly SFGs (KEx-SFG region). AGNs are separated from SFGs in this diagram mainly because they preferentially reside in luminous and massive galaxies and have high [OIII]/Hβ. The separation of AGN from star-forming galaxies is even cleaner thanks to the additional 0.15/0.12 dex offset in [OIII] line width at fixed luminosity/stellar mass. We apply the KEx diagram to 7,866 galaxies at 0.3 < z < 1 in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, and compare it to an independent X-ray classification scheme using Chandra observation. X-ray AGNs are mostly located in the KEx-AGN region while X-ray SFGs are mostly located in the KEx-SFG region. Almost all of Type1 AGNs lie in the KEx-AGN region. These confirm the reliability of this classification diagram for emission line galaxies at intermediate redshift. At z~2, the demarcation line between star-forming galaxies and AGNs should shift 0.3 dex higher in σ_{[OIII]} to account for evolution.

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The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: latest science cases and simulations

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) first light instrument IRIS (Infrared Imaging Spectrograph) will complete its preliminary design phase in 2016. The IRIS instrument design includes a near-infrared (0.85 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph (IFS) and imager that are able to conduct simultaneous diffraction-limited observations behind the advanced adaptive optics system NFIRAOS. The IRIS science cases have continued to be developed and new science studies have been investigated to aid in technical performance and design requirements. In this development phase, the IRIS science team has paid particular attention to the selection of filters, gratings, sensitivities of the entire system, and science cases that will benefit from the parallel mode of the IFS and imaging camera. We present new science cases for IRIS using the latest end-to-end data simulator on the following topics: Solar System bodies, the Galactic center, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies. We then briefly discuss the necessity of an advanced data management system and data reduction pipeline.

astro-ph.IM↗

Ferromagnetism and superconductivity with possible $p+ip$ pairing symmetry in partially hydrogenated graphene

By means of first-principles calculations, we predict two new types of partially hydrogenated graphene systems: C$_{6}$H$_{1}$ and C$_{6}$H$_{5}$, which are shown to be ferromagnetic (FM) semimetal and FM narrow-gap semiconductor, respectively. When properly doped, the Fermi surface of the two systems consists of an electron pocket or six hole patches in the first Brillouin zone with completely spin-polarized charge carries. If superconductivity exists in these systems, the stable pairing symmetries are shown to be $p+ip$ for electron doped case, and anisotropic $p+ip$ for hole doped case. The predicted systems may provide fascinating platforms for studying the novel properties of ferromagnetism and triplet-pairing superconductivity as well as two-dimensional spintronics.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Strong Optical and UV Intermediate-Width Emission Lines in the Quasar SDSS J232444.80-094600.3: Dust-Free and Intermediate-Density Gas at the Skin of Dusty Torus ?

Emission lines from the broad emission line region (BELR) and the narrow emission line region (NELR) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are extensively studied. However, between these two regions emission lines are rarely detected. We present a detailed analysis of a quasar SDSS J232444.80-094600.3 (SDSS J2324$-$0946), which is remarkable for its strong intermediate-width emission lines (IELs) with FWHM $\approx$ 1800 \kmps. The IEL component is presented in different emission lines, including the permitted lines \lya\ $λ$1216, \civ\ $λ$1549, semiforbidden line \ciii\ $λ$1909, and forbidden lines \oiii\ $λλ$4959, 5007. With the aid of photo-ionization models, we found that the IELs are produced by gas with a hydrogen density of $n_{\rm H} \sim 10^{6.2}-10^{6.3}~\rm cm^{-3}$, a distance to the central ionizing source of $R \sim 35-50$ pc, a covering factor of CF $\sim$ 6\%, and a dust-to-gas ratio of $\leq 4\%$ times of SMC. We suggest that the strong IELs of this quasar are produced by nearly dust-free and intermediate-density gas located at the skin of the dusty torus. Such strong IELs, served as a useful diagnose, can provide an avenue to study the properties of gas between the BELR and the NELR.

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A Tale of Three Galaxies: A "Clumpy" View of the Spectroscopically Anomalous Galaxies IRAS F10398+1455, IRAS F21013-0739 and SDSS J0808+3948

We investigate the dust properties in three spectroscopically anomalous galaxies (IRAS F10398+1455, IRAS F21013-0739 and SDSS J0808+3948). Their Spitzer/IRS spectra are characterized by a steep ~5-8 micron emission continuum, strong emission bands from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, and prominent 10 micron silicate emission. The steep ~5-8 micron continuum and strong PAH emission features suggest the presence of starbursts, while the silicate emission is indicative of significant heating from AGNs. The simultaneous detection of these two observational properties has rarely been reported on galactic scale. We employ the PAHFIT software to estimate their starlight contributions, and the CLUMPY model for the components contributed by the AGN tori. We find that the CLUMPY model is generally successful in explaining the overall dust infrared emission, although it appears to emit too flat at the ~5-8 micron continuum to be consistent with that observed in IRAS F10398+1455 and IRAS F21013-0739. The flat ~5-8 micron continuum calculated from the CLUMPY model could arise from the adopted specific silicate opacity of Ossenkopf et al. (1992) which exceeds that of the Draine & Lee (1984) "astronomical silicate" by a factor up to 2 in the ~5-8 micron wavelength range. Future models with a variety of dust species incorporated in the CLUMPY radiation transfer regime are needed for a thorough understanding of the dust properties of these spectroscopically anomalous galaxies.

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The VIRUS-P Exploration of Nearby Galaxies (VENGA): Radial Gas Inflow and Shock Excitation in NGC 1042

NGC 1042 is a late type bulgeless disk galaxy which hosts a low luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) coincident with a massive nuclear star cluster. In this paper, we present the integral-field-spectroscopy (IFS) studies of this galaxy, based on the data obtained with the Mitchell spectrograph on the 2.7 meter Harlan J. Smith telescope. In the central $100\textrm{-}300\ \mathrm{pc}$ region of NGC 1042, we find a circumnuclear ring structure of gas with enhanced ionization, which we suggest is mainly induced by shocks. Combining with the harmonic decomposition analysis of the velocity field of the ionized gas, we propose that the shocked gas is the result of gas inflow driven by the inner spiral arms. The inflow velocity is $\sim 32\pm10\ \mathrm{km}\ \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ and the estimated mass inflow rate is $\sim 1.1\pm0.3 \times 10^{-3}\ \mathrm{M}_{\odot}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. The mass inflow rate is about one hundred times the blackhole's mass accretion rate ($\sim 1.4 \times 10^{-5}\ \mathrm{M}_{\odot}\ \mathrm{ yr}^{-1}$), and slightly larger than the star formation rate in the nuclear star cluster ($7.94 \times 10^{-4}\ \mathrm{M}_{\odot}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$), implying that the inflow material is enough to feed both the AGN activity and the star formation in the nuclear star cluster. Our study highlights that secular evolution can be important in late-type unbarred galaxies like NGC 1042.

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Broad Balmer Absorption Line Variability: Evidence of Gas Transverse Motion in the QSO SDSS J125942.80+121312.6

We report on the discovery of broad Balmer absorption lines variability in the QSO SDSS J125942.80+121312.6, based on the optical and near-infrared spectra taken from the SDSS-I, SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), and TripleSpec observations over a timescale of 5.8 years in the QSO's rest-frame. The blueshifted absorption profile of H$β$ shows a variation of more than 5$σ$ at a high velocity portion ($>3000\ \mathrm{km\ s}^{-1}$) of the trough. We perform a detailed analysis for the physical conditions of the absorber using Balmer lines as well as metastable He I and optical Fe II absorptions ($λ4233$ from b$^4$P$_{5/2}$ level and $λ5169$ from a$^6$S$_{5/2}$) at the same velocity. These Fe II lines are identified in the QSO spectra for the first time. According to the photoionization simulations, we estimate a gas density of $n(\mathrm{H})\approx 10^{9.1}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-3}$ and a column density of $N_{\mathrm{col}}(\mathrm{H})\approx 10^{23}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ for the BOSS data, but the model fails to predict the variations of ionic column densities between the SDSS and BOSS observations if changes in ionizing flux are assumed. We thus propose transverse motion of the absorbing gas being the cause of the observed broad Balmer absorption line variability. In fact, we find that the changes in covering factors of the absorber can well-reproduce all of the observed variations. The absorber is estimated $\sim 0.94$ pc away from the central engine, which is where the outflow likely experiences deceleration due to the collision with the surrounding medium. This scheme is consistent with the argument that LoBAL QSOs may represent the transition from obscured star-forming galaxies to classic QSOs.

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Quantum anomalies in superconducting Weyl metals

We theoretically study the quantum anomalies in the superconducting Weyl metals based on the topological field theory. It is demonstrated that the Fermi arc and the surface Andreev bound state, characteristic of the superconducting Weyl metals, are the manifestations of two underlying phenomenon, namely the chiral anomaly and the parity-like anomaly, respectively. The first anomaly is inherited from the Berry curvature around the original Weyl points, while the second is the result of the superconductivity. We show that, all the fascinating topological behavior of the superconducting Weyl metals, either intranode FFLO or the internode BCS pairing state, can be satisfactorily described and predicted by our topological field theory.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Keck/ESI Long-slit Spectroscopy of SBS 1421+511: A Recoiling Quasar Nucleus in An Active Galaxy Pair?

We present Keck/ESI long-slit spectroscopy of SBS 1421+511, a system consisting of a quasar at z = 0.276 and an extended source 3" northern to the quasar. The quasar shows a blue-skewed profile of Balmer broad emission lines, which can be well modeled as emissions from a circular disk with a blueshift velocity of ~1400 km/s. The blueshift is better interpreted as resulting from a recoiling active black hole than from a super-massive black hole binary, since the line profile almost kept steady over one decade in the quasar rest-frame. Alternative interpretations are possible as well, such as emissions from a bipolar outflow or a circular disk with spiral emissivity perturbations. The extended source shows Seyfert-like narrow line ratios and a [OIII] luminosity of >1.4\times10^8L_\odot, with almost the same redshift as the quasar and a projected distance of 12.5 kpc at the redshift. SBS 1421+511 is thus likely to be an interacting galaxy pair with dual AGN. Alternatively, the quasar companion only appears to be active but not necessarily so: the gas before/in/behind the companion galaxy is illuminated by the quasar as an extended emission line region is detected at a similar distance in the opposite direction southern to the quasar, which may be generated either by tidal interactions between the galaxy pair or large-scale outflows from the quasar.

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Detection of the Intermediate-width Emission Line Region in Quasar OI 287 with the Broad Emission Line Region Obscured by the Dusty Torus

The existence of intermediate-width emission line regions (IELRs) in active galactic nuclei has been discussed for over two decades. A consensus, however, is yet to be arrived at due to the lack of convincing evidence for their detection. We present a detailed analysis of the broadband spectrophotometry of the partially obscured quasar OI 287. The ultraviolet intermediate-width emission lines (IELs) are very prominent, in high contrast to the corresponding broad emission lines (BELs) which are heavily suppressed by dust reddening. Assuming that the IELR is virialized, we estimated its distance to the central black hole of $\sim 2.9$ pc, similar to the dust sublimation radius of $\sim 1.3$ pc. Photo-ionization calculations suggest that the IELR has a hydrogen density of $\sim 10^{8.8}-10^{9.4} ~ \rm cm^{-3}$, within the range of values quoted for the dusty torus near the sublimation radius. Both its inferred location and physical conditions suggest that the IELR originates from the inner surface of the dusty torus. In the spectrum of this quasar, we identified only one narrow absorption-line system associated with the dusty material. With the aid of photo-ionization model calculations, we found that the obscuring material might originate from an outer region of the dusty torus. We speculate that the dusty torus, which is exposed to the central ionizing source, may produce IELs through photo-ionization processes, while also obscure BELs as a natural "coronagraph". Such a "coronagraph" could be found in a large number of partially obscured quasars and be a useful tool to study IELRs.

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Spectral Properties of Galaxies in Void Regions

We present a study of spectral properties of galaxies in underdense large-scale structures, voids. Our void galaxy sample (75,939 galaxies) is selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) with $\rm z < 0.107$. We find that there are no significant differences in the luminosities, stellar masses, stellar populations, and specific star formation rates between void galaxies of specific spectral types and their wall counterparts. However, the fraction of star-forming galaxies in voids is significantly higher ($\ge 9\%$) than that in walls. Void galaxies, when considering all spectral types, are slightly fainter, less massive, have younger stellar populations and of higher specific star formation rates than wall galaxies. These minor differences are totally caused by the higher fraction of star-forming galaxies in voids. We confirm that AGNs exist in voids, already found by \cite{co08}, with similar abundance as in walls. Type I AGNs contribute $\sim$ 1\%-2\% of void galaxies, similar to their fraction in walls. The intrinsic [O III] luminosities , spanning over $10^6\ L_{\sun} \sim 10^9\ L_{\sun}$, and Eddington ratios are similar comparing our void AGNs versus wall AGNs. Small scale statistics show that all spectral types of void galaxies are less clustered than their counterparts in walls. Major merger may not be the dominant trigger of black hole accretion in the luminosity range we probe. Our study implies that the growth of black holes relies weakly on large scale structures.

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A Tale of Three Galaxies: Deciphering the Infrared Emission of the Spectroscopically Anomalous Galaxies IRAS F10398+1455, IRAS F21013-0739 and SDSS J0808+3948

The \textit{Spitzer}/Infrared Spectrograph spectra of three spectroscopically anomalous galaxies (IRAS~F10398+1455, IRAS~F21013-0739 and SDSS~J0808+3948) are modeled in terms of a mixture of warm and cold silicate dust, and warm and cold carbon dust. Their unique infrared (IR) emission spectra are characterized by a steep $\simali$5--8$\mum$ emission continuum, strong emission bands from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, and prominent silicate emission. The steep $\simali$5--8$\mum$ emission continuum and strong PAH emission features suggest the dominance of starbursts, while the silicate emission is indicative of significant heating from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). With warm and cold silicate dust of various compositions ("astronomical silicate," amorphous olivine, or amorphous pyroxene) combined with warm and cold carbon dust (amorphous carbon, or graphite), we are able to closely reproduce the observed IR emission of these %spectroscopically anomalous galaxies. We find that the dust temperature is the primary cause in regulating the steep $\sim$5--8$\mum$ continuum and silicate emission, insensitive to the exact silicate or carbon dust mineralogy and grain size $a$ as long as $a\simlt1\mum$. More specifically, the temperature of the $\simali$5--8$\mum$ continuum emitter (which is essentially carbon dust) of these galaxies is $\sim$250--400$\K$, much lower than that of typical quasars which is $\sim$640$\K$. Moreover, it appears that larger dust grains are preferred in quasars. The lower dust temperature and smaller grain sizes inferred for these three galaxies compared with that of quasars could be due to the fact that they may harbor a young/weak AGN which is not maturely developed yet.

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