Search

SRGe J194401.8+284452 is the brightest point-like X-ray object within the position uncertainty ellipse of an unidentified $\gamma$-ray source 4FGL J1943.9+2841. We performed multi-wavelength spectral and photometric studies to determine its nature and possible association with the $\gamma$-ray source. We firmly established its optical counterpart with the Gaia based distance of about 415 pc. Our data show that the object is a cataclysmic variable with an orbital period of about 1.5 hours. SRGe J194401.8+284452 exhibits fast spontaneous transitions between the high and low luminosity states simultaneously in the optical and X-rays, remaining relatively stable between the transitions on scales of several months/years. This can be caused by an order of magnitude changes in the accretion rate. The brightness of the source is about 17 mag and 20 mag in the optical range and $5\times 10^{-12}$ and $5\times 10^{-13}$ erg/cm$^2$/s in the $0.3- 10$ keV range in the high and low states, respectively. We constrained the mass of the white dwarf ($0.3 - 0.9$ $M_\odot$) and its temperature in the low state (14750 $\pm$ 1250 K), the mass of the donor star ($\leq$ 0.08 $\pm$ 0.01 $M_ \odot$). In the low state, we detected regular optical pulsations with an amplitude of 0.2 mag and a period of 8 min. They are likely associated with the spin of the white dwarf, rather than with its non-radial pulsations. In the high state, the object demonstrates only stochastic optical brightness variations on time scales of $1 - 15$~minutes with amplitudes of $0.2 - 0.6$~mag. We conclude, that SRGe J194401.8+284452 can be classified as an intermediate polar, and its association with the $\gamma$-ray source is very unlikely.

In this paper we propose two theoretical models of a metallic N\'{e}el ordered antiferromagnet with charge-density wave order which shows the anomalous Hall effect. In our models a combination of the N\'{e}el order and the charge-density wave order results in spin splitting of the conducting fermions. In addition, spin-orbit coupling is required to drive the anomalous Hall effect. In the first model we analyzed the effects of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and of the intrinsic $d-$wave spin-orbit coupling in the second model.

Context. Two millisecond pulsars, PSR J1513$-$2550 and PSR J2017$-$1614, with spin periods of about 2.1 and 2.3 ms were recently discovered in the radio and $\gamma$-rays and classified as black widow pulsars in tight binary stellar systems with orbital periods of about 4.3 and 2.3 h. Aims. Our goals are to reveal fundamental parameters of both systems and their binary components using multi-wavelength observations. Methods. We carried out the first time-series multi-band optical photometry of the objects with the 2.1-metre telescope of the Observatorio Astron\'omico Nacional San Pedro M\'artir, the 6.5-metre \magel-1 telescope, and the 10.4-metre Gran Telescopio Canarias. To derive the parameters of both systems, we fitted the obtained light curves with a model assuming heating of the companion by the pulsar. We also analysed archival X-ray data obtained with the XMM-Newton observatory. Results. For the first time, we firmly identified J1513$-$2550 in the optical and both pulsars in X-rays. The optical light curves of both systems have a single peak per orbital period with peak-to-peak amplitude of $\gtrsim2$ magnitudes. The J2017$-$1614 light curves are symmetric, while J1513$-$2550 demonstrates strong asymmetry whose nature remains unclear. Conclusions. We constrained the orbital inclinations, pulsar masses, companion temperatures and masses, as well as the distances to both systems. We also conclude that J2017$-$1614 may contain a massive neutron star of 2.4$\pm$0.6 M$_{\odot}$. The X-ray spectra of both sources can be fitted by power laws with parameters typical for black widow systems., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

Recent experiments on Cooper pair splitters using superconductor-quantum dot hybrids have embarked on creating entanglement in the solid-state, by engineering the sub-gap processes in the superconducting region. Using the thermoelectric Cooper pair splitter setup [Nat. Comm., 12, 21, (2021)] as a prototype, we develop a detailed analysis of the observed transport signal to bring out vital insights into the regimes of operation and establish the non-local nature of the correlations arising from the crossed Andreev processes. As a striking consequence, contact induced level broadening of the quantum dot's discrete energy spectrum and its hybridization with the superconducting segment, results in a parity reversal of the thermoelectric current along with shifted resonances of the crossed Andreev processes. We conclusively establish the presence of non-local correlations by making a clear nexus with quantum discord. Our detailed analysis thereby provides insights into the gate voltage control of the entanglement generation in superconducting-hybrid Cooper pair splitters., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Comments welcome

We report on a study of the interplay between the supercurrent and spin-polarization in a two-dimensional superconducting system in the presence of a d-wave symmetric antiferromagnetic exchange interaction (altermagnetism). It is demonstrated that the supercurrent exhibits a transverse contribution in the presence of both constant and momentum-dependent exchange interactions. We also discuss the analog of the Edelstein effect for such magnetic material, showing that the induced spin polarization is quadratic in the supercurrent and d-wave symmetric., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

We propose a scenario for superconductivity at strong electron-electron attractive interaction, in the situation when the increase of interaction strength promotes the nucleation of the local Cooper pairs and forms a state with a spatially phase incoherent Cooper pair order parameter. We show that this state can be characterized by a pseudogap which is determined by the electron scattering by phase fluctuations. At low temperatures, however, long-range correlations between the regions with different phases become important and establish global phase coherence hence superconductivity in the system. We develop a mean-field theory to describe a phase transition between the preformed Cooper pair and superconducting states. The superconducting transition temperature and the upper critical magnetic field are shown to be enhanced in the strong coupling case. The mean-field approach is justified by the small value of the Ginzburg-Levanyuk parameter. This scenario of superconductivity applies not only to conductors with parabolic bands but also to the flat-band systems in which flat and dispersive bands coexist and responsible for the Cooper pairs formation as well as their phase-synchronization., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures

An unidentified $\gamma$-ray source 4FGL J1838.2+3223 has been proposed as a pulsar candidate. We present optical time-series multi-band photometry of its likely optical companion obtained with the 2.1-m telescope of Observatorio Astron\'omico Nacional San Pedro M\'artir, Mexico. The observations and the data from the Zwicky Transient Facility revealed the source brightness variability with a period of $\approx$4.02 h likely associated with the orbital motion of the binary system. The folded light curves have a single sine-like peak per period with an amplitude of about three magnitude accompanied by fast sporadic flares up to one magnitude level. We reproduce them modelling the companion heating by the pulsar. As a result, the companion side facing the pulsar is strongly heated up to 11300$\pm$400 K, while the temperature of its back side is only 2300$\pm$700 K. It has a mass of 0.10$\pm$0.05 ${\rm M}_\odot$ and underfills its Roche lobe with a filling factor of $0.60^{+0.10}_{-0.06}$. This implies that 4FGL J1838.2+3223 likely belongs to the `spider' pulsar family. The estimated distance of $\approx$3.1 kpc is compatible with Gaia results. We detect a flare from the source in X-rays and ultraviolet using Swift archival data and another one in X-rays with the eROSITA all-sky survey. Both flares have X-ray luminosity of $\sim$10$^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$ which is two orders of magnitude higher than the upper limit in quiescence obtained from eROSITA assuming spectral shape typical for spider pulsars. If the spider interpretation is correct, these flares are among the strongest flares observed from non-accreting spider pulsars., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

PSR J1641+8049 is a 2 ms black widow pulsar with the 2.2 h orbital period detected in the radio and $\gamma$-rays. We performed new phase-resolved multi-band photometry of PSR J1641+8049 using the OSIRIS instrument at the Gran Telescopio Canarias. The obtained data were analysed together with the new radio-timing observations from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), the X-ray data from the Spectrum-RG/eROSITA all-sky survey, and all available optical photometric observations. An updated timing solution based on CHIME data is presented, which accounts for secular and periodic modulations in pulse dispersion. The system parameters obtained through the light curve analysis, including the distance to the source 4.6-4.8 kpc and the orbital inclination 56-59 deg, are found to be consistent with previous studies. However, the optical flux of the source at the maximum brightness phase faded by a factor of $\sim$2 as compared to previous observations. Nevertheless, the face of the J1641+8049 companion remains one of the most heated (8000-9500 K) by a pulsar among the known black widow pulsars. We also report a new estimation on the pulsar proper motion of $\approx$2 mas yr$^{-1}$, which yields a spin down luminosity of $\approx$4.87$\times 10^{34}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ and a corresponding heating efficiency of the companion by the pulsar of 0.3-0.7. The pulsar was not detected in X-rays implying its X-ray-luminosity was <3 $\times$ 10$^{31}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at the date of observations., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

In this paper we theoretically predict a distinct class of anomalous Hall effects occurring in metallic collinear antiferromagnets. The effect is quadratic and $d-$wave symmetric in external magnetic field. In addition, the electric current, transverse to the current voltage drop and the magnetic field in the predicted effect are all in the same plane. Studied theoretical model consists of two-dimensional fermions interacting with the N\'{e}el order through momentum dependent exchange interaction having a $d-$wave symmetry. We also find unusual linear magnetoconductivity in this model. \end{abstract}, Comment: published version, 8 pages, 3 figures

We present the results of optical spectroscopy of stellar companions to three binary millisecond pulsars, PSRs J0621$+$2514, J2317$+$1439 and J2302$+$4442, obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias. The spectrum of the J0621$+$2514 companion shows a blue continuum and prominent Balmer absorption lines. The latter are also resolved in the spectrum of the J2317$+$1439 companion, showing that both are DA-type white dwarfs. No spectral features are detected for the J2302$+$4442 companion, however, its broadband magnitudes and the spectral shape of the continuum emission imply that this is also a DA-type white dwarf. Based on the spectral analyses, we conclude that the companions of J0621$+$2514 and J2317$+$1439 are relatively hot, with effective temperatures $T_{\rm eff}$$=$8600$\pm$200 and 9600$\pm$2000~K, respectively, while the J2302$+$4442 companion is significantly cooler, $T_{\rm eff}$$<$6000~K. We also estimated the distance to J0621$+$2514 of 1.1$\pm$0.3 kpc and argue that its companion and the companion of J2317$+$1439 are He-core white dwarfs providing constraints on their cooling ages of $\lesssim$2 Gyr., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Paper accepted to MNRAS

The Fermi catalogue contains about 2000 unassociated $\gamma$-ray sources. Some of them were recently identified as pulsars, including so called redbacks and black widows, which are millisecond pulsars in tight binary systems with non- and partially-degenerate low-mass stellar companions irradiated by the pulsar wind. We study a likely optical and X-ray counterpart of the Fermi source 4FGL J2054.2+6904 proposed earlier as a pulsar candidate. We use archival optical data as well as Swift/XRT and SRG/eROSITA X-ray data to clarify its nature. Using Zwicky Transient Facility data in $g$ and $r$ bands spanning over 4.7 years, we find a period of $\approx$7.5 h. The folded light curve has a smooth sinusoidal shape with the peak-to-peak amplitude of $\approx$0.4 mag. The spectral fit to the optical spectral energy distribution of the counterpart candidate gives the star radius of 0.5$\pm$0.1$R_\odot$ and temperature of 5500$\pm$300 K implying a G2--G9-type star. Its X-ray spectrum is well fitted by an absorbed power law with the photon index of 1.0$\pm$0.3 and unabsorbed flux of $\approx 2\times10^{-13}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. All the properties of 4FGL J2054.2$+$6904 and its presumed counterpart suggest that it is a member of the redback family., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 6 pages, 6 figures

In this paper we suggest a possible explanation of the giant temperature peak in the amplitude of the de Haas-van Alphen oscillations observed at very low temperatures in insulating SmB$_6$ system. Our theoretical model consists of two fermions with particle-like dispersion but with different masses, one much heavier than the other, which hybridize with each other to open up a gap at their degeneracy point. As a result of the hybridization a heavy-fermion hybrid appears at the Fermi level. Our results strongly suggest that it is exactly this heavy-fermion hybrid which results in the giant temperature peak. In addition we propose a scenario when this hybrid has edge states., Comment: published version

We present a theory of superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene and analyze the superconducting phase diagram in presence of the magnetic field. Namely, we consider a model of a granular array hosting localized states, which are hybridized via the delocalized fermions in the inter-grain regions. We study a strong coupling situation when the interactions lead to an incoherent state with preformed Cooper pairs inside the grains. The Andreev scattering among different grains manifests itself through the global phase-coherent superconducting state at lower temperatures. We demonstrate that a new phase transition between the preformed Cooper pairing state and the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell state might be induced by the spin pair-breaking effect of in-plane magnetic field. The upper critical magnetic field is shown to be enhanced in the strong coupling case., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We theoretically study a model of excitonic insulators which show de Haas-van Alphen oscillations as well as periodic dependence of the magnetization on inverse temperature. The insulating behavior is due to the Coulomb interaction driven hybridization of fermions at the crossing point of their energy bands. We study this hybridization self-consistently and recover known results by A. Allocca and N. Cooper, SciPost Phys. {\bf 12}, 123 (2022). In addition to known results, we show that the hybridization gap decreases with the magnetic field which corresponds to the diamagnetism. Furthermore, we show that the amplitude of the de Haas-van Alphen is oscillating with inverse temperature with a period defined by a combination of the hybridization gap and magnetic field. We analytically obtain the position and the height of the first and dominant peak of these oscillations., Comment: Results for the free energy are brought into agreement with the ones in A. Allocca and N. Cooper, SciPost Phys. 12, 123 (2022) paper

We propose a theoretical model of a ferroelectric metal where spontaneous electric polarization coexists with the conducting electrons. In our model we adopt a scenario when conducting electrons interact with two soft transverse optical phonons, generalize it to the case when there is a spontaneous ferroelectric polarization in the system, and show that a linear coupling to the phonons emerges as a result. We find that this coupling results in anisotropic electric transport which has a transverse to the current voltage drop. Importantly, the obtained transverse component of the resistivity has distinct linear dependence with temperature. Moreover, we show that the coupling enhances superconducting transition temperature of the ferroelectric metal. We argue that our results help to explain recent experiments on ferroelectric strontium titanate, as well as provide new experimental signatures to look for., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

XMM-Newton observations of the middle-aged radio-quiet $\gamma$-ray pulsar J0554+3107 allowed us, for the first time, firmly identify it in X-rays by detection of pulsations with the pulsar period. In the 0.2-2 keV band, the pulse profile shows two peaks separated by about a half of the rotation phase with the pulsed fraction of $25 \pm 6$ per cent. The profile and spectrum in this band can be mainly described by thermal emission from the neutron star with the hydrogen atmosphere, dipole magnetic field of $\sim 10^{13}$ G and non-uniform surface temperature. Non-thermal emission from the pulsar magnetosphere is marginally detected at higher photon energies. The spectral fit with the atmosphere+power law model implies that J0554+3107 is a rather heavy and cool neutron star with the mass of 1.6-2.1 $M_\odot$, the radius of $\approx 13$ km and the redshifted effective temperature of $\approx 50$ eV. The spectrum shows an absorption line of unknown nature at $\approx 350$ eV. Given the extinction-distance relation, the pulsar is located at $\approx 2$ kpc and has the redshifted bolometric thermal luminosity of $\approx 2 \times 10^{32}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We discuss cooling scenarios for J0554+3107 considering plausible equations of state of super-dense matter inside the star, different compositions of the heat-blanketing envelope and various ages., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We study conditions for the emergence of the preformed Cooper pairs in materials hosting flat bands. As a particular example, we consider a semimetal, with a pair of three-band crossing points at which a flat band intersects with a Dirac cone, and focus on the s-wave intervalley pairing channel. The nearly dispersionless nature of the flat band at strong attraction between electrons promotes local Cooper pair formation so that the system may be modeled as an array of superconducting grains. Due to dispersive bands, Andreev scattering between the grains gives rise to the global phase-coherent superconductivity at low temperatures. We develop a mean-field theory to calculate transition temperature between the preformed Cooper pair state and the phase-coherent state for different interaction strengths in the Cooper channel. The transition temperature between semimetal and preformed Cooper pair phases is proportional to the interaction constant, the dependence of the transition temperature to the phase-coherent state on the interaction constant is weaker., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; supplemental materials (12 pages)

Nonlinear phenomena in superconducting resonator circuits are of great significance in the field of quantum technology. We observe thermal self-oscillations in a monolayer graphene flake coupled to Molybdenum-Rhenium superconducting resonator. The graphene flake forms a SINIS junction coupled to the resonator with strong temperature dependent resistance. In certain conditions of pump power and frequency, this nonlinearity leads to thermal self-oscillations appearing as sidebands in cavity transmission measurements with strong temperature dependence and gate tunability. The experimental observations fit well with theoretical model based on thermal instability. The modelling of the oscillation sidebands provides a method to evaluate electron phonon coupling in disordered graphene sample at low energies., Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures

The 840 kyr old pulsar PSR J1957+5033, detected so far only in $\gamma$- and X-rays, is a nearby and rather cool neutron star with a temperature of 0.2--0.3 MK, a distance of $\la$1 kpc, and a small colour reddening excess $E(B-V) \approx 0.03$. These properties make it an ideal candidate to detect in the optical to get additional constraints on its parameters. We thus performed the first deep optical observations of the pulsar with the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias in the $g'$ band and found its possible counterpart with $g'=27.63\pm 0.26$. The counterpart candidate position is consistent with the X-ray coordinates of the pulsar within the 0.5 arcsec accuracy. Assuming that this is the real counterpart, we analysed the pulsar X-ray spectrum together with the derived optical flux density. As a result, we found that the thermal emission from the bulk surface of the cooling neutron star can significantly contribute to its optical flux. Our multi-wavelength spectral analysis favours the pulsar nature of the detected optical source, since it provides physically adequate parameters of the pulsar emission. We show that the optical data can provide new constraints on the pulsar temperature and distance., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, published in MNRAS

We report charge and heat transport studies in copper-intercalated topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$ hybrid devices. Measured conductivity shows impact of quantum corrections, electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions. Our shot noise measurements reveal that heat flux displays a crossover between $T^2$ and $T^4$ with the increase of temperature. The results can be explained by a model of inelastic electron scattering on disorder, increasing the role of transverse acoustic phonons in the electron-phonon coupling process., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

In this work, we investigate collective modes in a nodal line semimetal with two nodal-lines that have opposite spin polarization in the presence of spin population imbalance. We find the components of polarization operator taking into account the electron-electron exchange interaction and obtain the dispersion relations of collective modes for the bulk and surface states. There exist four modes in the bulk, among which one is gapless and other three are gapped. The gapless surface mode is sensitive to the boundary conditions., Comment: Physical Review B (To Appear)

Carefully designed micro and nanocarriers can provide significant advantages over conventional macroscopic counterparts in biomedical applications. The set of requirements including a high loading capacity, triggered release mechanisms, biocompatibility, and biodegradability should be considered for the successful delivery realization. Porous calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is one of the most promising platforms, which can encompass all the beforehand mentioned requirements. Here, we study both the particles formation and biological applicability of CaCO3. In particular, anisotropic differently shaped CaCO3 particles were synthesized using green sustainable approach based on co-precipitation of calcium chloride and sodium carbonate/bicarbonate at different ratios in the presence of organic additives. The impact of salts concentrations, reaction time, as well as organic additives was systematically researched to achieve controllable and reliable design of CaCO3 particles. It has been demonstrated that the crystallinity (vaterite or calcite phase) of particles depends on the initial salts concentrations. The loading capacity of prepared CaCO3 particles is determined by their surface properties such as specific surface area, pore size and zeta-potential. Differently shaped CaCO3 particles (spheroids, ellipsoids, toroids) were used to evaluate their uptake efficiency on the example of C6 glioma cells. The results show that the ellipsoidal particles possess a higher probability for internalization by cancer cells. All tested particles were also found to have a good biocompatibility. The capability to design physicochemical properties of CaCO3 particles has a significant impact on drug delivery applications, since the particles geometry substantially affects cell behavior (internalization, toxicity) and allows outperforming standard spherical counterparts.

We theoretically describe a mechanism of low-field linear magnetoconductivity in helical magnetic metals. Two ingredients for the mechanism in three-dimensional metals are identified to be the spin-orbit coupling and momentum-dependent ferromagnetic exchange interaction. We propose and study a number of minimal theoretical models which have linear magnetoconductivity, and discuss their implications for recent experiments., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure

Programming languages with algebraic effects often track the computations' effects using type-and-effect systems. In this paper, we propose to view an algebraic effect theory of a computation as a variable context; consequently, we propose to track algebraic effects of a computation with \emph{contextual modal types}. We develop ECMTT, a novel calculus which tracks algebraic effects by a contextualized variant of the modal $\Box$ (necessity) operator, that it inherits from Contextual Modal Type Theory (CMTT). Whereas type-and-effect systems add effect annotations on top of a prior programming language, the effect annotations in ECMTT are inherent to the language, as they are managed by programming constructs corresponding to the logical introduction and elimination forms for the $\Box$ modality. Thus, the type-and-effect system of ECMTT is actually just a type system. Our design obtains the properties of local soundness and completeness, and determines the operational semantics solely by $\beta$-reduction, as customary in other logic-based calculi. In this view, effect handlers arise naturally as a witness that one context (i.e., algebraic theory) can be reached from another, generalizing explicit substitutions from CMTT. To the best of our knowledge, ECMTT is the first system to relate algebraic effects to modal types. We also see it as a step towards providing a correspondence in the style of Curry and Howard that may transfer a number of results from the fields of modal logic and modal type theory to that of algebraic effects., Comment: 37 pages, 6 figures

We analyze new XMM-Newton and archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged $\gamma$-ray radio-quiet pulsar J1957+5033. We detect, for the first time, X-ray pulsations with the pulsar spin period of the point-like source coinciding by position with the pulsar. This confirms the pulsar nature of the source. In the 0.15--0.5 keV band, there is a single pulse per period and the pulsed fraction is $\approx18\pm6$ per cent. In this band, the pulsar spectrum is dominated by a thermal emission component that likely comes from the entire surface of the neutron star, while at higher energies ($\gtrsim0.7$ keV) it is described by a power law with the photon index $\Gamma \approx 1.6$. We construct new hydrogen atmosphere models for neutron stars with dipole magnetic fields and non-uniform surface temperature distributions with relatively low effective temperatures. We use them in the spectral analysis and derive the pulsar average effective temperature of $\approx(2-3)\times10^5$ K. This makes J1957+5033 the coldest among all known thermally emitting neutron stars with ages below 1 Myr. Using the interstellar extinction--distance relation, we constrain the distance to the pulsar in the range of 0.1--1 kpc. We compare the obtained X-ray thermal luminosity with those for other neutron stars and various neutron star cooling models and set some constraints on latter. We observe a faint trail-like feature, elongated $\sim 8$ arcmin from J1957+5033. Its spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index $\Gamma=1.9\pm0.5$ suggesting that it is likely a pulsar wind nebula powered by J1957+5033., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, published in MNRAS

We report detection of PSR B0656$+$14 with the Gran Telescopio Canarias in narrow optical $F657$, $F754$, $F802$, and $F902$ and near-infrared $JHK_s$ bands. The pulsar detection in the $K_s$ band extends its spectrum to 2.2 $\mu$m and confirms its flux increase towards the infrared. We also present a thorough analysis of the optical spectrum obtained by us with the VLT. For a consistency check, we revised the pulsar near-infrared and narrow-band photometry obtained with the \textit{HST}. We find no narrow spectral lines in the optical spectrum. We compile available near-infrared-optical-UV and archival 0.3-20keV X-ray data and perform a self-consistent analysis of the rotation phase-integrated spectrum of the pulsar using unified spectral models. The spectrum is best fitted by the four-component model including two blackbodies, describing the thermal emission from the neutron star surface and its hot polar cap, the broken power-law, originating from the pulsar magnetosphere, and an absorption line near $\sim$0.5 keV detected previously. The fit provides better constraints on the model parameters than using only a single spectral domain. The derived surface temperature is $T_{NS}^{\infty}=7.9(3)\times10^5$K. The intrinsic radius (7.8-9.9 km) of the emitting region is smaller than a typical neutron star radius (13km) and suggests a nonuniform temperature distribution over the star surface. In contrast, the derived radius of the hot polar cap is about twice as large as the `canonical' one. The spectrum of the nonthermal emission steepens from the optical to X-rays and has a break near 0.1 keV. The X-ray data suggest the presence of another absorption line near 0.3keV., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We consider the effect of strong electron-electron attraction on superconductivity in the dilute system of the negative U-centers. They couple to the conducting electronic states and mediate attraction between electrons. We predict the formation of the local Cooper pairs provided attraction exceeds a certain threshold value. The global coherent superconducting state appears only due to the Andreev scattering between the centers at low temperatures. The dependence of the superconducting transition temperature and the second critical magnetic field on attraction strength is calculated., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We study pumping of magnons to the Dirac points of magnon's Brillouin zone of a ferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice. In particular, we consider second-order Suhl process, when due to interaction between magnons, a pair of magnons is created due to absorption of two electromagnetic wave quanta. We introduce a bosonic analog of the Cooper ladder for the magnon pair, which is shown to enhance the pairing of magnons at the Dirac points. As a result of pairing of the Dirac magnons, the system becomes unstable towards formation of a magnetic state with zero or reduced magnetization - the Dirac magnon paired state. In this case the resonant frequency of the pump equals to that of energy of the Dirac points. Our estimates suggest that the Dirac magnon paired state can be found in the CrBr$_{3}$ or CrCl$_{3}$ ferromagnet below in vicinity of the Curie temperature., Comment: 21 pages; changed title

We find an intervalley wave collective mode in two- and three-dimensional Dirac semimetals in the presence of a valley population imbalance. The dispersion relation of this mode is gapless, proportional to the square of the wave vector at small frequencies, and inversely proportional to the electron-electron exchange interaction energy. The valley wave serves as an energy gain source for the external field, that generates the intervalley transitions. The spin wave analog is discussed for the case of a semimetal with nonequilibrium spin orientation., Comment: 4+ pages, 2 figures

We study the low-temperature electrical and thermal conductivity of CoSi and Co$_{1-x}$M$_x$Si alloys (M = Fe, Ni; $x \leq$ 0.06). Measurements show that the low-temperature electrical conductivity of Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Si alloys decreases at $x > $ 0.01 by an order of magnitude compared with that of pure CoSi. It was expected that both the lattice and electronic contributions to thermal conductivity would decrease in the alloys. However, our experimental results revealed that at temperatures below 20K the thermal conductivity of Fe- and Ni-containing alloys is several times larger than that of pure CoSi. We discuss possible mechanisms of the thermal conductivity enhancement. The most probable one is related to the dominant scattering of phonons by charge carriers. We propose a simple theoretical model that takes into account the complex semimetallic electronic structure of CoSi with nonequivalent valleys, and show that it explains well the increase of the lattice thermal conductivity with increasing disorder and the linear temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity in the Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Si alloys below 20K., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

We present a study of radiation propagation through disordered amplifying honeycomb photonic lattice, where elastic scattering provides feedback for light generation. To explore the interplay of different scattering mechanisms and the amplification background, we consider the Dirac Hamiltonian with a random potential and derive diffusion equation for the average intensity of light. The transmission coefficient and interference correction to the diffusion coefficient are enhanced near the lasing threshold. The transition between weak anti-localization and weak localization behaviours might be controlled by the parameters associated with the amplification and inter-valley scattering rates., Comment: 7 pages, comments are welcome

Ages and thermal luminosities of neutron stars, inferred from observations, can be interpreted with the aid of the neutron star cooling theory to gain information on the properties of superdense matter in neutron-star interiors. We present a survey of estimated ages, surface temperatures and thermal luminosities of middle-aged neutron stars with relatively weak or moderately strong magnetic fields, which can be useful for these purposes. The catalogue includes results selected from the literature, supplemented with new results of spectral analysis of a few cooling neutron stars. The data are compared with the theory. We show that overall agreement of theoretical cooling curves with observations improves substantially for models where neutron superfluidity in stellar core is weak., Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted by MNRAS. In v.2, acknowledgements are supplemented

We present observations of the pulsar-wind nebula (PWN) region ofSNR 0540-69.3. The observations were made with the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) in Bands 4 and 6. We also add radio observations from the Australia Compact Array (ATCA) at 3 cm. For 1.449 - 233.50 GHz we obtain a synchrotron spectrum $F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-\alpha_{\nu}}$, with the spectral index $\alpha_{\nu} = 0.17\pm{0.02}$. To conclude how this joins the synchrotron spectrum at higher frequencies we include hitherto unpublished AKARI mid-infrared data, and evaluate published data in the ultraviolet (UV), optical and infrared (IR). In particular, some broad-band filter data in the optical must be discarded from our analysis due to contamination by spectral line emission. For the UV/IR part of the synchrotron spectrum, we arrive at $\alpha_{\nu} = 0.87^{+0.08}_{-0.10}$. There is room for $2.5\times10^{-3}$ solar masses of dust with temperature $\sim 55$ K if there are dual breaks in the synchrotron spectrum, one around $\sim 9\times10^{10}$ Hz, and another at $\sim 2\times10^{13}$ Hz. The spectral index then changes at $\sim 9\times10^{10}$ Hz from $\alpha_{\nu} = 0.14\pm0.07$ in the radio, to $\alpha_{\nu} = 0.35^{-0.07}_{+0.05}$ in the millimetre to far-IR range. The ACA Band 6 data marginally resolves the PWN. In particular, the strong emission 1.5" south-west of the pulsar, seen at other wavelengths, and resolved in the 3-cm data with its 0.8" spatial resolution, is also strong in the millimeter range. The ACA data clearly reveal the supernova remnant shell 20-35 arcsec west of the pulsar, and for the shell we derive $\alpha_{\nu} = 0.64\pm{0.05}$ for the range $8.6-145$~GHz., Comment: MNRAS, accepted

We consider light propagation through a ballistic amplifying photonic honeycomb lattice below the lasing threshold. Two sublattices of the system are formed by the wave-guides with different complex dielectric permittivities, which results in the non-Hermitian Dirac equation for electromagnetic field. We reveal that there exists a critical length of the amplifying region for which the photonic lattice exhibits an amplifier to generator transition. The transmission and reflection probabilities at the normal angle of incidence are strongly enhanced at a critical length of the system. We also comment on the sensitivity of amplification to the direction of incident light and the thickness of the amplifying region., Comment: To appear in Physical Review A

We analyse archival optical data on the binary companion to the millisecond pulsar \j1045\ obtained with the Very Large Telescope. A possible optical counterpart candidate %source position coincides with the pulsar coordinates is found at the pulsar position. Its magnitudes are $V>26.4$, $R=25.7(2)$ and $I=25.4(2)$. The data are compared with white dwarf evolutionary models. Depending on still poorly known distance to the pulsar, two alternative interpretations are possible. For the radio timing parallax distance, the candidate can be a very cool and old white dwarf with the hydrogen atmosphere and the temperature of $< 3000$ K and the age of $> 5$ Gyr. The dispersion measure distance suggests a younger ($\sim$ 2 Gyr) and hotter ($\sim$ 6000 K) white dwarf, whose atmosphere composition remains unknown.