arXiv subjects

N. Khan

Publications and source records attributed to N. Khan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

DESI DR2 Reference Mocks: Clustering results from UCHUU ELGs and QSOs

High-redshift galaxy clustering provides a powerful probe of the growth of structure, testing models of dark matter, dark energy, and galaxy formation during the epoch when the Universe was rapidly evolving. Emission line galaxies (ELGs) and quasars (QSOs) are used as tracers of dark matter by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to probe this redshift regime. We present results from ELG and QSO mock catalogs created from the Uchuu N-body simulation and tuned to DESI Data Release 2 (DR2) clustering. Employing a modified subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) technique, we populate Uchuu halos and subhalos with QSOs between 0.8 < z < 2.1. For ELGs, we modify this method to select satellite galaxies with low velocities relative to their associated central halos, and populate a separate set of Uchuu halos and subhalos with ELGs between 0.8 < z < 1.6. In this paper, we reproduce the redshift evolution of number density and clustering statistics across the fitted range of scales. We also measure the large-scale clustering bias of both the data and mock samples. These results improve simulated lightcone construction from cosmological models and enhance our understanding of the galaxy-halo connection.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Needle in a Poissonian haystack -- An X-ray astronomer's guide to QPE fishing

After six years of studies following the discovery of GSN069, a link is starting to appear between the elusive Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs) and other types of nuclear transients, among which are Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs). As such, observing strategies are adapting, with a current trend focusing on late-time X-ray follow-ups of (optical) TDEs. While these campaigns are so far proving quite successful, the inherent confirmation bias they introduce in our sample could lead the community to hasty, and perhaps erroneous, conclusions. It is thus important to still pursue the search for nuclear transients in other, more agnostic directions. In this work, we focus on the observational aspects of our field, and lay out two different methods that can be deployed in order to reveal new QPE sources. These complementary methods enable the detection of long-term ($\sim$years) and short term ($\sim$minutes) transient events, that would have otherwise been missed by the standard detection pipelines. Both of these methods can be used either for data mining in the 25 years worth of XMM-Newton archive, or to trigger real-time follow-ups upon a more recent discovery.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Readout electronics for low occupancy High-Pressure Gas TPCs

HPgTPCs have benefits such as low energy threshold, magnetisability, and 4$\pi$ acceptance, making them ideal for neutrino experiments such as DUNE. We present the design of an FPGA-based solution optimised for ND-GAr, which is part of the Phase-II more capable near detector for DUNE. These electronics reduce the cost significantly compared to using collider readout electronics which are typically designed for much higher occupancy and therefore, for example, need much larger numbers of FPGAs and power per channel. We demonstrate the performance of our electronics with the TOAD at Fermilab in the US at a range of pressures and gas mixtures up to 4.5barA, reading out ~10000 channels from a multi-wire proportional chamber. The operation took place between April and July of 2024. We measure the noise characteristics of the system to be sufficiently low and we identify sources of noise that can be further mitigated in the next iteration. We also note that the cooling scheme used in the test requires improvement before full-scale deployment. Despite these necessary improvements, we show that the system can fulfil the needs of a HPgTPC for a fraction of the price of collider readout electronics.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Capping effects on spin and charge excitations in parent and superconducting Nd1-xSrxNiO2

Superconductivity in infinite layer nickelates Nd1-xSrxNiO2 has so far been achieved only in thin films raising questions on the role of substrates and interfaces. Given the challenges associated with their synthesis it is imperative to identify their intrinsic properties. We use Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) to investigate the influence of the SrTiO3 capping layer on the excitations of Nd1-xSrxNiO2 (x = 0 and 0.2). Spin excitations are observed in parent and 20% doped Nd1-xSrxNiO2 regardless of capping, proving that magnetism is intrinsic to infinite-layer nickelates and appears in a significant fraction of their phase diagram. In parent and superconducting Nd1-xSrxNiO2, the spin excitations are slightly hardened in capped samples compared to the non-capped ones. Additionally, a weaker Ni - Nd charge transfer peak at ~ 0.6 eV suggests that the hybridization between Ni 3d and Nd 5d orbitals is reduced in capped samples. From our data, capping induces only minimal differences in Nd1-xSrxNiO2 and we phenomenologically discuss these differences based on the reconstruction of the SrTiO3 - NdNiO2 interface and other mechanisms such as crystalline disorder.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Interplay of topology and antiferromagnetic order in two-dimensional van der Waals crystals of (NixFe1-x)2P2S6

Mermin-Wagner theorem forbid spontaneous symmetry breaking of spins in one/two-dimensional systems at finite temperature and rules out the stabilization of this ordered state. However, it does not apply to all types of phase transitions in low dimensions such as topologically ordered phase rigorously shown by Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) and experimentally realized in very limited systems such as superfluids, superconducting thin films. Quasi 2D van der Waals magnets provide an ideal platform to investigate the fundamentals of low-dimensional magnetism. We explored the 2D honeycomb antiferromagnetic single crystals of (NixFe1-x)2P2S6 with varying spins ( ) using in depth temperature dependent Raman measurements supported by first-principles calculations of the phonon frequencies. As a function of doping, a tunable transition from paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic ordering is shown via phonons reflected in the strong renormalization of the self-energy parameters of the Raman active phonon modes. An anomalously broad magnetic continuum attributed to two-magnon excitations is observed and its coupling with the phonons is revealed in the observation a Fano line asymmetry. Interestingly, the two-magnon continuum is observed only for the finite doping understood invoking underlying nature of insulator these materials belongs to, i.e. exchange interaction between transition metals via surrounding ligands (sulphur) and the resonance involving phonon modes associated with the (P2S6) cage. Quite surprisingly, we also observed renormalization of the phonon modes much below the long-range magnetic ordered temperature attributed to the topological ordered state, namely the BKT phase, which is also found to change as a function of doping. The extracted critical exponent of the order-parameter evince the signature of topologically active state driven by vortex-antivortex excitations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Comment on newly found Charge Density Waves in infinite layer Nickelates

Recent works[1-3] reported evidence for charge density waves (CDWs) in infinite layer nickelates (112 structure) based on resonant diffraction at the Ni $L_3$ edge measured at fixed scattering angle. We have found that a measurement with fixed momentum transfer, rather than scattering angle, does not show a resonance effect. We have also observed that a nearby structural Bragg peak from the substrate appears due to third harmonic content of the incident beam, and spreads intensity down to the region of the attributed CDW order. This was further confirmed by testing a bare substrate. We suggest procedures to confirm an effective resonant enhancement of a diffraction peak.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

First operation of an ALICE OROC operated in high pressure Ar-CO$_{2}$ and Ar-CH$_{4}$

New neutrino-nucleus interaction cross-section measurements are required to improve nuclear models sufficiently for future long-baseline neutrino experiments to meet their sensitivity goals. A time projection chamber (TPC) filled with a high-pressure gas is a promising detector to characterise the neutrino sources planned for such experiments. A gas-filled TPC is ideal for measuring low-energy particles as they travel much further in gas than solid or liquid neutrino detectors. Using a high-pressure gas increases the target density, resulting in more neutrino interactions. This paper will examine the suitability of multiwire proportional chambers (MWPCs) taken from the ALICE TPC to be used as the readout chambers of a high-pressure gas TPC. These chambers were previously operated at atmospheric pressure. We tested one such MWPC at up to almost 5 bar absolute (barA) with the UK high-pressure test stand at Royal Holloway, University of London. This paper reports the successful operation of an ALICE TPC outer readout chamber (OROC) at pressures up to 4.8 bar absolute with Ar-CH$_{4}$ mixtures with a CH$_{4}$ content between 2.8% and 5.0%, and so far up to 4 bar absolute with Ar-CO$_{2}$ (90-10). We measured the charge gain of this OROC using signals induced by an $^{55}$Fe source. The largest gain achieved at 4.8 bar was $64\pm2)\cdot10^{3}$ at stable conditions with an anode wire voltage of 2990 V in Ar-CH$_{4}$ (95.9-4.1). In Ar-CO$_{2}$ a gain of $(4.2\pm0.1)\cdot10^{3}$ was observed at an anode voltage of 2975 V at 4 barA gas pressure. Based on all our gain measurements, we extrapolate that, at the 10 barA pressure necessary to fit 1 tonne of gas into the ALICE TPC volume, a gain of 5000 in Ar-CO$_{2}$ (90-10) (10000 in Ar-CH$_{4}$ with $\sim\!$ 4% CH$_{4}$ content) may be achieved with an OROC anode voltage of 4.2 V ($\sim\!$ 3.1 kV).

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Antiferromagnetic resonance in the cubic iridium hexahalides (NH$_4$)$_2$IrCl$_6$ and K$_2$IrCl$_6$

We report on high-field electron spin resonance studies of two iridium hexahalide compounds, (NH$_4$)$_2$IrCl$_6$ and K$_2$IrCl$_6$. In the paramagnetic state, our measurements reveal isotropic $g$-factors $g = 1.79$(1) for the Ir$^{4+}$ ions, in agreement with their cubic symmetries. Most importantly, in the magnetically ordered state, we observe two magnon modes with zero-field gaps of 11.3 and 14.2 K for (NH$_4$)$_2$IrCl$_6$ and K$_2$IrCl$_6$, respectively. Based on that and using linear spin-wave theory, we estimate the nearest-neighbor exchange couplings and anisotropic Kitaev interactions, $J_1/k_B=10.3$ K, $K/k_B=0.7$ K for (NH$_4$)$_2$IrCl$_6$, and $J_1/k_B=13.8$ K, $K/k_B=0.9$ K for K$_2$IrCl$_6$, revealing the nearest-neighbor Heisenberg coupling as the leading interaction term, with only a weak Kitaev anisotropy.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Structure, phonons, and orbital degrees of freedom in Fe$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$

We report on the structural and spectroscopic characterization of the multiferroic Fe$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$. Synchrotron x-ray and neutron diffraction, as well as thermal expansion measurements reveal a lattice anomaly at $T_{\mathrm{N}}\simeq 60\,$K but do not show any symmetry lowering in the magnetically ordered state. The lattice parameter $c$ exhibits a non-monotonic behavior with a pronounced minimum around $200\,$K, which is also reflected in an anomalous behavior of some of the observed infrared-active optical excitations and parallels the onset of short-range magnetic order. The infrared reflectivity spectra measured between 5 and 300$\,$K in the frequency range of $100-8000\,$cm$^{-1}$ reveal most of the expected phonon modes in comparison with the eigenfrequencies obtained by density-functional calculations. The $A_1$ phonons show an overall hardening upon cooling, whereas a non-monotonic behavior is observed for some of the $E_1$ modes. These modes also show a strongly increased phonon lifetime below $T_\mathrm{N}$, which we associate with the quenched direction of the orbital moment in the magnetically ordered state. A similar increase is observed in the lifetime of the higher-lying $d$-$d$ excitations of the tetrahedral Fe$^{2+}$ site, which become clearly visible below $T_\mathrm{N}$ only.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Initial operation of the recoil mass spectrometer EMMA at the ISAC-II facility of TRIUMF

The Electromagnetic Mass Analyser (EMMA) is a new vacuum-mode recoil mass spectrometer currently undergoing the final stages of commissioning at the ISAC-II facility of TRIUMF. EMMA employs a symmetric configuration of electrostatic and magnetic deflectors to separate the products of nuclear reactions from the beam, focus them in both energy and angle, and disperse them in a focal plane according to their mass/charge (m/q) ratios. The spectrometer was designed to accommodate the gamma-ray detector array TIGRESS around the target position in order to provide spectroscopic information from electromagnetic transitions. EMMA is intended to be used in the measurement of fusion evaporation, radiative capture, and transfer reactions for the study of nuclear structure and astrophysics. Its complement of focal plane detectors facilitates the identification of recoiling nuclei and subsequent recoil decay spectroscopy. Here we describe the facility and report on commissioning efforts.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Giant magnetocaloric effect in exchange-frustrated GdCrTiO5 antiferromagnet

We report the effect of exchange frustration on the magnetocaloric properties of GdCrTiO$_5$ compound. Due to the highly exchange-frustrated nature of magnetic interaction, in GdCrTiO$_5$, the long-range antiferromagnetic ordering occurs at much lower temperature $T_N$=0.9 K and the magnetic cooling power enhances dramatically relative to that observed in several geometrically frustrated systems. Below 5 K, isothermal magnetic entropy change (-$ΔS_{\rm m}$) is found to be 36 J kg$^{-1}$ K$^{-1}$, for a field change ($ΔH$) of 7 T. Further, -$ΔS_{\rm m}$ does not decrease from its maximum value with decreasing in $T$ down to very low temperatures and is reversible in nature. The adiabatic temperature change, $ΔT_{\rm ad}$, is 15 K for $ΔH$=7 T. These magnetocaloric parameters are significantly larger than that reported for several potential magnetic refrigerants, even for small and moderate field changes. The present study not only suggests that GdCrTiO$_5$ could be considered as a potential magnetic refrigerant at cryogenic temperatures but also promotes further studies on the role of exchange frustration on magnetocaloric effect. In contrast, only the role of geometrical frustration on magnetocaloric effect has been previously reported theoretically and experimentally investigated on very few systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Collapse of ferromagnetism with Ti doping in Sm$_{0.55}$Sr$_{0.45}$MnO$_3$: A combined experimental and theoretical study

We have investigated the effect of Ti doping on the transport properties coupled with the magnetic ones in Sm$_{0.55}$Sr$_{0.45}$Mn$_{1-η}$Ti$_η$O$_3$ ($0 \leq η\leq 0.04$). The parent compound, Sm$_{0.55}$Sr$_{0.45}$MnO$_3$, exhibits a first-order paramagnetic-insulator to ferromagnetic-metal transition just below $T_{\rm c}$ = 128 K. With substitution of Ti at Mn sites ($B$-site), $T_{\rm c}$ decreases approximately linearly at the rate of 22 K$\%^{-1}$ while the width of thermal hysteresis in magnetization and resistivity increases almost in an exponential fashion. The most spectacular effect has been observed for the composition $η$=0.03, where a magnetic field of only 1 T yields a huge magnetoresistance, $1.2 \times 10^7$ $\%$ at $T_c\approx$ 63 K. With increasing magnetic field, the transition shifts towards higher temperature, and the first-order nature of the transition gets weakened and eventually becomes crossover above a critical field ($H_{cr}$) which increases with Ti doping. For Ti doping above 0.03, the system remains insulting without any ferromagnetic ordering down to 2 K. The Monte-Carlo calculations based on a two-band double exchange model show that the decrease of $T_{\rm c}$ with Ti doping is associated with the increase of the lattice distortions around the doped Ti ions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Unconventional transport properties of an itinerant ferromagnet: EuTi$_{1-x}$Nb$_{x}$O$_3$ ($x$=0.10$-$0.20)

We report the temperature and magnetic field dependence of resistivity ($ρ$) for single-crystalline EuTi$_{1-x}$Nb$_{x}$O$_3$ ($x$=0.10$-$0.20), an itinerant ferromagnetic system with very low Curie temperature ($T_C$). The detailed analysis reveals that the charge conduction in EuTi$_{1-x}$Nb$_{x}$O$_3$ is extremely sensitive to Nb concentration and dominated by several scattering mechanisms. Well below the $T_C$, where the spontaneous magnetization follows the Bloch's $T^{3/2}$ law, $ρ$ exhibits $T^2$ dependence with a large coefficient $\sim$10$^{-8}$ $Ω$ cm K$^{-2}$ due to the electron-magnon scattering. Remarkably, all the studied samples exhibit a unique resistivity minimum at $T$$=$$T_{\rm min}$ below which $ρ$ shows logarithmic increment with $T$ (for $T_{\rm C}$$<$$T$$<$$T_{\rm min}$) due to the Kondo scattering of Nb 4$d^1$ itinerant electrons by the localized 4$f$ moments of Eu$^{2+}$ ions which suppresses strongly with applied magnetic field. In the paramagnetic state, $T^{2}$ and $T^{3/2}$ dependence of the resistivity have been observed, suggesting an unusual crossover from a Fermi-liquid to a non-Fermi-liquid behavior with increasing $T$. The observed temperature and magnetic field dependence of resistivity has been analysed using different theoretical models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Continuously Varying Critical Exponents Beyond Weak Universality

Renormalization group theory does not restrict the from of continuous variation of critical exponents which occurs in presence of a marginal operator. However, the continuous variation of critical exponents, observed in different contexts, usually follows a weak universality scenario where some of the exponents (e.g., $β, γ, ν$) vary keeping others (e.g., $δ, η$) fixed. Here we report a ferromagnetic phase transition in (Sm$_{1-y}$Nd$_{y}$)$_{0.52}$Sr$_{0.48}$MnO$_3$ $(0.5\le y\le1)$ single crystal where all critical exponents vary with $y.$ Such variation clearly violates both universality and weak universality hypothesis. We propose a new scaling theory that explains the present experimental results, reduces to the weak universality as a special case, and provides a generic route leading to continuous variation of critical exponents and multicriticality.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Tuning the scattering mechanism in three-dimensional Dirac semimetal Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$

To probe the charge scattering mechanism in Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$ single crystal, we have analyzed the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the Seebeck coefficient ($S$). The large saturation value of $S$ at high field clearly demonstrates the linear energy dispersion of three-dimensional Dirac fermion. A wide tunability of the charge scattering mechanism has been realized by varying the strength of the magnetic field and carrier density via In doping. With the increase in magnetic field, the scattering time crosses over from being nearly energy independent to a regime of linear dependence. On the other hand, the scattering time enters into the inverse energy-dependent regime and the Fermi surface strongly modifies with 2\% In doping at Cd site. With further increase in In content from 2 to 4\%, we did not observe any Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation up to 9 T field, but the magnetoresistance is found to be quite large as in the case of undoped sample.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Participant and spectator scaling of spectator fragments in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 19.6 and 22.4 GeV

Spectator fragments resulting from relativistic heavy ion collisions, consisting of single protons and neutrons along with groups of stable nuclear fragments up to Nitrogen (Z=7), are measured in PHOBOS. These fragments are observed in Au+Au (sqrt(sNN)=19.6 GeV) and Cu+Cu (22.4 GeV) collisions at high pseudorapidity ($η$). The dominant multiply-charged fragment is the tightly bound Helium ($α$), with Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron all clearly seen as a function of collision centrality and pseudorapidity. We observe that in Cu+Cu collisions, it becomes much more favorable for the $α$ fragments to be released than Lithium. The yields of fragments approximately scale with the number of spectator nucleons, independent of the colliding ion. The shapes of the pseudorapidity distributions of fragments indicate that the average deflection of the fragments away from the beam direction increases for more central collisions. A detailed comparison of the shapes for $α$ and Lithium fragments indicates that the centrality dependence of the deflections favors a scaling with the number of participants in the collision.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2015

Giant magnetothermal conductivity and magnetostriction effect in charge ordered Nd$_{0.8}$Na$_{0.2}$MnO$_{3}$ compound

We present results on resistivity ($ρ$), magnetization ($M$), thermal conductivity ($κ$), magnetostriction ($\frac{ΔL}{L(0)}$) and specific heat ($C_{p}$) of charge-orbital ordered antiferromagnetic Nd$_{0.8}$Na$_{0.2}$MnO$_{3}$ compound. Magnetic field-induced antiferromagnetic/charge-orbital ordered insulating to ferromagnetic metallic transition leads to giant magnetothermal conductivity and magnetostriction effect. The low-temperature irreversibility behavior in $ρ$, $M$, $κ$ and $\frac{ΔL}{L(0)}$ due to field cycling together with striking similarity among the field and temperature dependence of these parameters manifest the presence of strong and complex spin-charge-lattice coupling in this compound. The giant magnetothermal conductivity is attributed mainly to the suppression of phonon scattering due to the destabilization of spin fluctuations and static/dynamic Jahn-Teller distortion by the application of magnetic field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Magnetic field induced drastic violation of Wiedemann-Franz law in Dirac semimetal Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$

The journey through the nontrivial band topology beyond the conventional band structure has resulted in the recent discovery of three-dimensional Dirac semimetal phase in Na$_{3}$Bi and Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$. The bulk state of which is semi-metallic obeying linear energy dispersion, while the surface state is topology protected Fermi arc. Due to the unique band topology, they show different exotic electronic properties of both fundamental and technological interest. From electrical and thermal transport measurements, we have demonstrated a remarkable violation of Wiedemann-Franz law (WFL) under application of magmatic field in Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$ and the violation becomes more and more drastic with increasing magnetic field strength. Whereas the validity of WFL is the key feature of Landau Fermi-liquid theory in metal, the notion of quasiparticles is the building block to this theory. This implies that the fundamental concept of Landau quasiparticle no longer holds in Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$ in presence of magnetic field. The continuous break down of Landau quasiparticle framework with field introduces a concept of field induced quantum critical point (QCP) as in the case of heavy fermion compounds YbRh$_{2}$Si$_{2}$, Sr$_{3}$Ru$_{2}$O$_{7}$, etc.

cond-mat.str-el↗