Search

Two-dimensional crystals stack together through weak van der Waals (vdW) forces, offering unlimited possibilities to play with layer number, order and twist angle in vdW heterostructures (HSs). The realisation of high-performance optoelectronic devices, however, requires the achievement of specific band alignments, $k$-space matching between conduction band minima and valence band maxima, as well as efficient charge transfer between the constituent layers. Fine tuning mechanisms to design ideal HSs are lacking. Here, we show that layer-selective strain engineering can be exploited as an extra degree of freedom in vdW HSs to tailor their band alignment and optical properties. To that end, strain is selectively applied to MS$_2$ (M=Mo,W) monolayers in InSe/MS$_2$ HSs. This triggers a giant PL enhancement of the highly tuneable but weakly emitting InSe by one to three orders of magnitude. Resonant PL excitation measurements, supported by first-principle calculations, provide evidence of a strain-activated direct charge transfer from the MS$_2$ MLs toward InSe. This significant emission enhancement achieved for InSe widens its range of applications for optoelectronics.

Electrochemical reduction is a promising way to make use of CO$_2$ as feedstock for generating renewable fuel and valuable chemicals. Several metals can be used in the electrocatalyst to generate CO and formic acid but hydrogen formation is an unwanted side reaction that can even be dominant. The lack of selectivity is in general a significant problem, but silver-based electrocatalysts have been shown to be highly selective for CO with over over 90% faradaic efficiency when the applied voltage is below -1 V vs. RHE. Hydrogen formation is then insignificant and little formate is formed even though it is thermodynamically favored. We present calculations of the activation free energy for the various elementary steps as a function of applied voltage at the three low index facets, Ag(111), Ag(100) and Ag(110), as well as experimental measurements on polycrystalline electrodes, to identify the reason for this high selectivity. The formation of formic acid is suppressed because of the low coverage of adsorbed hydrogen and kinetic hindrance to the formation of the HCOO* intermediate, while *COOH, a key intermediate in CO formation, is thermodynamically unstable until the applied voltage reaches -1 V vs. RHE, at which point the kinetics for its formation are more favorable than for hydrogen. The calculated results are consistent with experimental measurements carried out for acidic conditions and provide an atomic scale insight into the high CO selectivity of silver-based electrocatalysts.

An accurate and timely estimate of the reproduction ratio R of an infectious disease epidemic is crucial to make projections on its evolution and set up the appropriate public health response. Estimates of R routinely come from statistical inference on timelines of cases or their proxies like symptomatic cases, hospitalizatons, deaths. Here, however, we prove that these estimates of R may not be accurate if the population is made up of spatially distinct communities, as the interplay between space and mobility may hide the true epidemic evolution from surveillance data. This means that surveillance may underestimate R over long periods, to the point of mistaking a growing epidemic for a subsiding one, misinforming public health response. To overcome this, we propose a correction to be applied to surveillance data that removes this bias and ensures an accurate estimate of R across all epidemic phases. We use COVID-19 as case study; our results, however, apply to any epidemic where mobility is a driver of circulation, including major challenges of the next decades: respiratory infections (influenza, SARS-CoV-2, emerging pathogens), vector-borne diseases (arboviruses). Our findings will help set up public health response to these threats, by improving epidemic monitoring and surveillance., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, plus Supplementary Information

In this work, we report on the exciton radiative lifetimes of graphitic carbon nitride monolayers in the triazine- (gC$_3$N$_4$-t) and heptazine-based (gC$_3$N$_4$-h) forms, as obtained by means of ground- plus excited-state ab initio calculations. By analysing the exciton fine structure, we highlight the presence of dark states and show that the photo-generated electron-hole pairs in gC$_3$N$_4$-h are remarkably long-lived, with an effective radiative lifetime of 260 ns. This fosters the employment of gC$_3$N$_4$-h in photocatalysis and makes it attractive for the emerging field of exciton devices. Although very long intrinsic radiative lifetimes are an important prerequisite for several applications, pristine carbon nitride nanosheets show very low quantum photo-conversion efficiency, mainly due to the lack of an efficient e-h separation mechanism. We then focus on a vertical heterostructure made of gC$_3$N$_4$-t and gC$_3$N$_4$-h layers which shows a type-II band alignment and looks promising for achieving net charge separation.

Monolayer black and blue phosphorenes possess electronic and optical properties that result in unique features when the two materials are stacked. We devise a low-strain van-der-Waals double layer and investigate its properties with ab initio many-body perturbation theory techniques. A type-II band alignment and optical absorption in the visible range are found. The study demonstrates that spatially indirect excitons with full charge separation can be obtained between two layers with the same elemental composition but different crystalline structure, proving the system interesting for further studies where dipolar excitons are important and for future opto-electronic applications.

We discuss how seesaw neutrino models can be graphically represented in lepton flavour space. We examine various popular models and show how this representation helps understanding their properties and connection with experimental data showing in particular how certain texture zero models are ruled out. We also introduce a new matrix, the bridging matrix, that brings from the light to the heavy neutrino mass flavour basis, showing how this is related to the orthogonal matrix and how different quantities are easily expressed through it. We then show how one can randomly generate orthogonal and leptonic mixing matrices uniformly covering all flavour space in an unbiased way (Haar-distributed matrices). Using the isomorphism between the group of complex rotations and the Lorentz group, we also introduce the conceptof Lorentz boost in flavour space for a seesaw model and how this has an insightful physical interpretation. Finally, as a significant application, we consider $N_2$-leptogenesis. Using current experimental values of low energy neutrino parameters, we show that the probability that at least one flavoured decay parameter of the lightest right-handed neutrino is smaller than unity is about $49\%$ (to be compared with the tiny probability that the total decay parameter is smaller than unity, $P(K_{\rm I}< 1)\sim 0.1 \%$, confirming the crucial role played by flavour effects). On the other hand when $m_1 \gtrsim 0.1\,{\rm eV}$ this probability reduces to less than $5\%$, showing how also $N_2$-leptogenesis disfavours degenerate light neutrinos., Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures; v3 matching JHEP version

Current understanding of the critical outbreak condition on temporal networks relies on approximations (time scale separation, discretization) that may bias the results. We propose a theoretical framework to compute the epidemic threshold in continuous time through the infection propagator approach. We introduce the {\em weak commutation} condition allowing the interpretation of annealed networks, activity-driven networks, and time scale separation into one formalism. Our work provides a coherent connection between discrete and continuous time representations applicable to realistic scenarios., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

Recent encouraging experimental results on neutrino mixing parameters prompt further investigation on $SO(10)$-inspired leptogenesis and on the associated strong thermal solution that has correctly predicted a non-vanishing reactor mixing angle, it further predicts $\sin\delta \lesssim 0$, now supported by recent results at $\sim 95\%$ C.L., normally ordered neutrino masses and atmospheric mixing angle in the first octant, best fit results in latest global analyses. Extending a recent analytical procedure, we account for the mismatch between the Yukawa basis and the weak basis, that in $SO(10)$-inspired models is described by a CKM-like unitary transformation $V_L$, obtaining a full analytical solution that provides useful insight and reproduces accurately all numerical results, paving the way for future inclusion of different sources of theoretical uncertainties and for a statistical analysis of the constraints. We show how muon-dominated solutions appear for large values of the lightest neutrino mass in the range $(0.01$--$1)\,{\rm eV}$ but also how they necessarily require a mild fine tuning in the seesaw relation. For the dominant (and untuned) tauon-dominated solutions we show how, turning on $V_L \simeq V_{CKM}$, some of the constraints on the low energy neutrino parameters get significantly relaxed. In particular we show how the upper bound on the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle in the strong thermal solution gets relaxed from $\theta_{23} \lesssim 41^{\circ}$ to $\theta_{23} \lesssim 44^{\circ}$, an important effect in the light of the most recent NO$\nu$A, T2K and IceCube results., Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures; v2: matches JHEP version; v3: simple typo corrected: right-hand sides of Eqs. (47) and (48) were swapped in the paper (not in the code)

We study the supersymmetric extension of $SO(10)$-inspired thermal leptogenesis showing the constraints on neutrino parameters and on the reheat temperature $T_{\rm RH}$ that derive from the condition of successful leptogenesis from next-to-lightest right handed (RH) neutrinos ($N_2$) decays and the more stringent ones when independence of the initial conditions (strong thermal leptogenesis) is superimposed. In the latter case, the increase of the lightest right-handed neutrino ($N_1$) decay parameters helps the wash-out of a pre-existing asymmetry and constraints relax compared to the non-supersymmetric case. We find significant changes especially in the case of large $\tan\beta$ values $(\gtrsim 15)$. In particular, for normal ordering, the atmospheric mixing angle can now be also maximal. The lightest (ordinary) neutrino mass is still constrained within the range $10 \lesssim m_1/{\rm meV} \lesssim 30$ (corresponding to $75\lesssim \sum_i m_i/{\rm meV} \lesssim 120$). Inverted ordering is still disfavoured, but an allowed region satisfying strong thermal leptogenesis opens up at large $\tan\beta$ values. We also study in detail the lower bound on $T_{\rm RH}$ finding $T_{\rm RH}\gtrsim 1 \times 10^{10}\,{\rm GeV}$ independently of the initial $N_2$ abundance. Finally, we propose a new $N_2$-dominated scenario where the $N_1$ mass is lower than the sphaleron freeze-out temperature. In this case there is no $N_1$ wash-out and we find $T_{\rm RH} \gtrsim 1\times 10^{9}\,{\rm GeV}$. These results indicate that $SO(10)$-inspired thermal leptogenesis can be made compatible with the upper bound from the gravitino problem, an important result in light of the role often played by supersymmetry in the quest of a realistic model of fermion masses., Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures; v3: matches JCAP version

We present FaRe, a package for Mathematica that implements the decomposition of a generic tensor Feynman integral, with arbitrary loop number, into scalar integrals in higher dimension. In order for FaRe to work, the package FeynCalc is needed, so that the tensor structure of the different contributions is preserved and the obtained scalar integrals are grouped accordingly. FaRe can prove particularly useful when it is preferable to handle Feynman integrals with free Lorentz indices and tensor reduction of high-order integrals is needed. This can then be achieved with several powerful existing tools., Comment: Matches version to appear on the International Journal of Modern Physics C

Encouraged by the recent results from neutrino oscillation experiments, we perform an analytical study of $SO(10)$-inspired models and leptogenesis with hierarchical right-handed (RH) neutrino spectrum. Under the approximation of negligible misalignment between the neutrino Yukawa basis and the charged lepton basis, we find an analytical expression for the final asymmetry directly in terms of the low energy neutrino parameters that fully reproduces previous numerical results. This expression also shows that is possible to identify an effective leptogenesis phase for these models. When we also impose the wash-out of a large pre-existing asymmetry $N^{\rm p,i}_{B-L}$, the strong thermal (ST) condition, we derive analytically all those constraints on the low energy neutrino parameters that characterise the {\rm ST}-$SO(10)$-inspired leptogenesis solution, confirming previous numerical results. In particular we show why, though neutrino masses have to be necessarily normally ordered, the solution implies an analytical lower bound on the effective neutrino-less double beta decay neutrino mass, $m_{ee} \gtrsim 8\,{\rm meV}$, for $N^{\rm p,i}_{B-L}=10^{-3}$, testable with next generation experiments. This, in combination with an upper bound on the atmospheric mixing angle, necessarily in the first octant, forces the lightest neutrino mass within a narrow range $m_1 \simeq (10$-$30)\,{\rm meV}$ (corresponding to $\sum_i \, m_i \simeq (75$-$125)\,{\rm meV}$). We also show why the solution could correctly predict a non-vanishing reactor neutrino mixing angle and requires the Dirac phase to be in the fourth quadrant, implying $\sin\delta $ (and $J_{CP}$) negative as hinted by current global analyses. Many of the analytical results presented (expressions for the orthogonal matrix, RH neutrino mixing matrix, masses and phases) can have applications beyond leptogenesis., Comment: 46 pages, 10 figures; v2: Ref.'s added, typos corrected; v3: added fig. 10, matches version to appear in NPB

We briefly review the main aspects of leptogenesis, describing both the unflavoured and the flavoured versions of the $N_2$-dominated scenario. A study of the success rates of both classes of models has been carried out. We comment on these results and discuss corrective effects to this simplest scenario. Focusing on the flavoured case, we consider the conditions required by strong thermal leptogenesis, where the final asymmetry is fully independent of the initial conditions. Barring strong cancellations in the seesaw formula and in the flavoured decay parameters, we show that strong thermal leptogenesis favours a lightest neutrino mass $m_1\gtrsim10\,\mbox{meV}$ for normal ordering (NO) and $m_1\gtrsim 3\,\mbox{meV}$ for inverted ordering (IO). Finally, we briefly comment on the power of absolute neutrino mass scale experiments to either support or severely corner strong thermal leptogenesis., Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the NuPhys2013 Conference: Prospects in Neutrino Physics, 19-20 December 2013, IOP, London

We show that successful strong thermal leptogenesis, where the final asymmetry is independent of the initial conditions and in particular a large pre-existing asymmetry is efficiently washed-out, favours values of the lightest neutrino mass $m_1 \gtrsim 10\,{\rm meV}$ for normal ordering (NO) and $m_1 \gtrsim 3\,{\rm meV}$ for inverted ordering (IO) for models with orthogonal matrix entries respecting $|\Omega_{ij}^2| \lesssim 2$. . We show analytically why lower values of $m_1$ require a high level of fine tuning in the seesaw formula and/or in the flavoured decay parameters (in the electronic for NO, in the muonic for IO). We also show how this constraint exists thanks to the measured values of the neutrino mixing angles and can be tighten by a future determination of the Dirac phase. Our analysis also allows to place more stringent constraint for a specific model or class of models, such as $SO(10)$-inspired models, and shows that some models cannot realise strong thermal leptogenesis for any value of $m_1$. A scatter plot analysis fully supports the analytical results. We also briefly discuss the interplay with absolute neutrino mass scale experiments concluding that they will be able in the coming years to either corner strong thermal leptogenesis or find positive signals pointing to a non-vanishing $m_1$. Since the constraint is much stronger for NO than for IO, it is very important that new data from planned neutrino oscillation experiments will be able to solve the ambiguity., Comment: 22 pages; 7 figures; v2: matches JCAP version