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We report the discovery of a Neptune-like planet (LP 714-47 b, P = 4.05204 d, m_b = 30.8 +/- 1.5 M_earth , R_b = 4.7 +/- 0.3 R_earth ) located in the 'hot Neptune desert'. Confirmation of the TESS Object of Interest (TOI 442.01) was achieved with radial-velocity follow-up using CARMENES, ESPRESSO, HIRES, iSHELL, and PFS, as well as from photometric data using TESS, Spitzer, and ground-based photometry from MuSCAT2, TRAPPIST- South, MONET-South, the George Mason University telescope, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network, the El Sauce telescope, the TUBITAK National Observatory, the University of Louisville Manner Telescope, and WASP-South. We also present high-spatial resolution adaptive optics imaging with the Gemini Near-Infrared Imager. The low uncertainties in the mass and radius determination place LP 714-47 b among physically well-characterised planets, allowing for a meaningful comparison with planet structure models. The host star LP 714-47 is a slowly rotating early M dwarf (T_eff = 3950 +/- 51 K) with a mass of 0.59 +/- 0.02 M_sun and a radius of 0.58 +/- 0.02 R_sun. From long-term photometric monitoring and spectroscopic activity indicators, we determine a stellar rotation period of about 33 d. The stellar activity is also manifested as correlated noise in the radial-velocity data. In the power spectrum of the radial-velocity data, we detect a second signal with a period of 16 days in addition to the four-day signal of the planet. This could be shown to be a harmonic of the stellar rotation period or the signal of a second planet. It may be possible to tell the difference once more TESS data and radial-velocity data are obtained., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 24 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables

Luminescence in Eu$^{2+}$ activated materials corresponds to a transition from an excited state where the lowest Eu 5$d$ level is filled with one electron (often called the (Eu$^{2+}$)$^*$ state) to the ground state with half-filled 4$f$ shell with seven electrons of the same spin. We have performed theoretical calculations based on Density Functional Theory to determine the ground state band structure of Eu-doped materials as well as study the (Eu$^{2+}$)$^*$ excited state. Calculations were performed on Eu doped materials, experimentally known to be either scintillators or non-scintillators, in order to relate theoretically calculable parameters to experimentally observed properties. Applying criteria previously developed for Ce-doped systems (A.Canning, A. Chaudhry, R. Boutchko and N. Gr\o{}nbech-Jensen, Phys. Rev. B Vol.83, 125115 (2011)) to new Eu-doped materials we developed a list of candidate materials for new bright Eu activated scintillators. Ba$_2$CsBr$_5$:Eu is an example of a new bright scintillator from our candidate list that has been synthesized in microcrystalline powder form. As discussed in our previous paper on Ce-doped materials this approach was designed as a systematic high-throughput method to aid in the discovery of new bright scintillator materials by prioritization and down-selection on the large number of potential new materials., Comment: 10 pages, two figures

The formalism of electronic density-functional-theory, with Hubbard-U corrections (DFT+U), is employed in a computational study of the energetics of U_{1-x} Ce_x O_2 mixtures. The computational approach makes use of a procedure which facilitates convergence of the calculations to multiple self-consistent DFT+U solutions for a given cation arrangement, corresponding to different charge states for the U and Ce ions in several prototypical cation arrangements. Results indicate a significant dependence of the structural and energetic properties on the nature of both charge and cation ordering. With the effective Hubbard-U parameters that reproduce well the measured oxidation-reduction energies for urania and ceria, we find that charge transfer between U(IV) and Ce(IV) ions, leading to the formation of U(V) and Ce(III), gives rise to an increase in the mixing energy in the range of 4-14 kJ/mol of formula unit, depending on the nature of the cation ordering. The results suggest that although charge transfer between uranium and cerium ions is disfavored energetically, it is likely to be entropically stabilized at the high temperatures relevant to the processing and service of urania-based solid solutions., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

Lanthanum and yttrium compounds with composition RE2M2O7 (RE=Y, La; M = Ti, Zr, Hf) have high density and high Z and can be doped with Ce onto the La and Y sites. This makes these compounds good candidates for Ce activated scintillator gamma-ray detectors particularly for the hafnate systems which have a very high density. There is disagreement in the literature concerning La2Hf2O7:Ce as it has been reported to show both bright as well as no Ce activated luminescence by different experimental groups. We have performed first-principles electronic structure calculations of these compounds doped with Ce using the pseudopotential method based on the generalized gradient approximation in density functional theory. The positions of the Ce 4f states relative to the valence band maximum and the position of the Ce 5d states relative to the conduction band minimum (CBM) of the host material are determined. We find, unlike Ce activated La and Y compounds where the CBM is typically of La 5d or Y 4d character, that, in these systems the CBM is predominately of d character on the Ti, Zr, Hf atoms. For all these compounds we also find that the Ce 5d state lies above the CBM which would prevent any luminescence from the Ce site., Comment: Eight pages, seven figures

Luminescence in Ce doped materials corresponds to a transition from an excited state where the lowest Ce 5d level is filled to the ground state where a single 4f level is filled. We have performed theoretical calculations based on Density Functional Theory to calculate the ground state band structure of Ce-doped materials as well as the Ce3+ excited state. The excited state calculations used a constrained occupancy approach by setting the occupation of the Ce 4f states to zero and allowing the first excited state above them to be filled. These calculations were performed on a set of Ce doped materials that are known from experiment to be scintillators or non-scintillators to relate theoretically calculable parameters to measured scintillator performance. From these studies we developed a set of criteria based on calculated parameters that are necessary characteristics for bright Ce activated scintillators. Applying these criteria to about a hundred new materials we developed a list of candidate materials for new bright Ce activated scintillators. After synthesis in powder form one of these new materials (Ba2YCl7:Ce) was found to be a bright scintillator. This approach, involving first-principles calculations of modest computing requirements was designed as a systematic, high-throughput method to aid in the discovery of new bright scintillator materials by prioritization and down-selection on the large number of potential new materials., Comment: 14 pages, eight figures

We report on a direct quantitative comparison between Thom's general catastrophe theory for systems presenting discontinuous behavior and experimental reality. It is demonstrated that the model provides a striking quantitative description of the measured experimental features of the complex nonlinear system generating the most appealing class of sensors and devices nowadays used in experiments, namely the Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). The parameter space of the SQUID system that we investigate displays all the features associated with a butterfly catastrophe, namely a catastrophe expected for a system having four control parameters and one state variable., Comment: 13 figures in A4 pdf format including three figures. Article submitted for publication

We investigate, by experiments and numerical simulations, thermal activation processes of Josephson tunnel junctions in the presence of microwave radiation. When the applied signal resonates with the Josephson plasma frequency oscillations, the switching current may become multi-valued temperature ranges both below and above the the classical to quantum crossover temperature. Switching current distributions are obtained both experimentally and numerically at temperatures both near and far above the quantum crossover temperature. Plots of the switching currents traced as a function of the applied signal frequency show very good agreement with a simple anharmonic theory for Josephson resonance frequency as a function of bias current. Throughout, experimental results and direct numerical simulations of the corresponding thermally driven classical Josephson junction model show very good agreement., Comment: 10 pages -- to be published in proceedings from "Macroscopic Quantum Coherence and Computing", June 7-10, 2004, Naples, Italy

We investigate, by experiments and numerical simulations, thermal activation processes of Josephson tunnel junctions in the presence of microwave radiation. When the applied signal resonates with the Josephson plasma frequency oscillations, the switching current may become multi-valued in a temperature range far exceeding the classical to quantum crossover temperature. Plots of the switching currents traced as a function of the applied signal frequency show very good agreement with the functional forms expected from Josephson plasma frequency dependencies on the bias current. Throughout, numerical simulations of the corresponding thermally driven classical Josephson junction model show very good agreement with the experimental data., Comment: 10 pages and 4 figures

We examine metastable and transient effects both above and below the first-order decoupling line in a 3D simulation of magnetically interacting pancake vortices. We observe pronounced transient and history effects as well as supercooling and superheating between the 3D coupled, ordered and 2D decoupled, disordered phases. In the disordered supercooled state as a function of DC driving, reordering occurs through the formation of growing moving channels of the ordered phase. No channels form in the superheated region; instead the ordered state is homogeneously destroyed. When a sequence of current pulses is applied we observe memory effects. We find a ramp rate dependence of the V(I) curves on both sides of the decoupling transition. The critical current that we obtain depends on how the system is prepared., Comment: 10 pages, 15 postscript figures, version to appear in PRB

We examine vortex pinning and dynamics in thin-film superconductors interacting with square and rectangular pinning arrays for varied vortex densities including densities significantly larger than the pinning density. For both square and rectangular pinning arrays, the critical depinning force shows maxima at only certain integer matching fields where the vortices can form highly ordered arrays. For rectangular arrays the depinning force and commensurability effects are anisotropic with a much lower depinning threshold for vortex motion in the easy flow directions. We find evidence for a crossover in pinning behavior in rectangular pinning arrays as the field is increased. We also show analytically, and confirm with simulations, that for $B = 2B_{\phi}$ the strongest pinning can be achieved for rectangular pinning arrangements rather than square for one direction of driving force. Under an applied driving force we find a remarkable variety of distinct complex flow phases in both square and rectangular arrays. These flow phases include stable sinusoidal and intricate pinched patterns where vortices from different channels do not mix. As a function of the driving force certain flow states become unstable and transitions between different phases are observed which coincide with changes in the net vortex velocities. In the rectangular arrays the types of flow depend on the direction of drive. We also show that two general types of plastic flow occur: stable flows, where vortices always flow along the same paths, and unstable or chaotic flows., Comment: 16 pages, (17 postscript figures)

Using numerical simulations of magnetically interacting vortices in disordered layered superconductors we obtain the static vortex phase diagram as a function of magnetic field and temperature. For increasing field or temperature, we find a transition from ordered straight vortices to disordered decoupled vortices. This transition is associated with a peak effect in the critical current. For samples with increasing disorder strength the field at which the decoupling occurs decreases. Long range, nonlinear interactions in the c-axis are required to observe the effect., Comment: 4 pages, 4 postscript figures

We examine metastable and transient effects both above and below the first-order disorder driven decoupling line in a 3D simulation of magnetically interacting pancake vortices. We observe pronounced transient and history effects as well as supercooling and superheating between the ordered and disordered phases. In the disordered supercooled state as a function of DC driving, reordering occurs through the formation of growing moving channels of the ordered phase. We find that hysteresis in V(I) is strongly dependent on the proximity to the decoupling transition line., Comment: 4 pages, 5 postscript figures

We study a 3D model of driven vortices in weakly coupled layered superconductors with strong pinning. Above the critical force $F_c$, we find a plastic flow regime in which pancakes in different layers are uncoupled, corresponding to a pancake gas. At a higher $F$, there is an ``smectic flow'' regime with short-range interlayer order, corresponding to an entangled line liquid. Later, the transverse displacements freeze and vortices become correlated along the c-axis, resulting in a transverse solid. Finally, at a force $F_s$ the longitudinal displacements freeze and we find a coherent solid of rigid lines., Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures

We use three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of magnetically interacting pancake vortices to study vortex matter in disordered, highly anisotropic materials such as BSCCO. We observe a sharp 2D-3D transition from vortex lines to decoupled pancakes as a function of relative interlayer coupling strength, with an accompanying large increase in the critical current remniscent of a second peak effect. We find that decoupled pancakes, when driven, simultaneously recouple and order into a crystalline-like state at high drives. We construct a dynamic phase diagram and show that the dynamic recoupling transition is associated with a double peak in dV/dI., Comment: 4 pages, 4 postscript figures

We use three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of magnetically interacting pancake vortices to study the dynamic phases of vortex lattices in highly anisotropic materials such as BSCCO. Our model treats the magnetic interactions of the pancakes exactly, with long-range logarithmic interactions both within and between planes. The pancake vortices decouple at low drives and show two-dimensional plastic flow. The vortex lattice both recouples and reorders as the driving current is increased, eventually forming a recoupled crystalline-like state at high drives. We construct a phase diagram as a function of interlayer coupling and show the relationship between the recoupling transition and the single-layer reordering transitions., Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, requires epscrc2.sty

Statistical mechanics of the discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation is studied by means of analytical and numerical techniques. The lower bound of the Hamiltonian permits the construction of standard Gibbsian equilibrium measures for positive temperatures. Beyond the line of $T=\infty$, we identify a phase transition, through a discontinuity in the partition function. The phase transition is demonstrated to manifest itself in the creation of breather-like localized excitations. Interrelation between the statistical mechanics and the nonlinear dynamics of the system is explored numerically in both regimes., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We simulate dopant profiles for phosphorus implantation into silicon using a new model for electronic stopping power. In this model, the electronic stopping power is factorized into a globally averaged effective charge Z1*, and a local charge density dependent electronic stopping power for a proton. There is only a single adjustable parameter in the model, namely the one electron radius rs0 which controls Z1*. By fine tuning this parameter, we obtain excellent agreement between simulated dopant profiles and the SIMS data over a wide range of energies for the channeling case. Our work provides a further example of implant species, in addition to boron and arsenic, to verify the validity of the electronic stopping power model and to illustrate its generality for studies of physical processes involving electronic stopping., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. See http://bifrost.lanl.gov/~reed/

We study the effects of finite temperature on the dynamics of non-planar vortices in the classical, two-dimensional anisotropic Heisenberg model with XY- or easy-plane symmetry. To this end, we analyze a generalized Landau-Lifshitz equation including additive white noise and Gilbert damping. Using a collective variable theory with no adjustable parameters we derive an equation of motion for the vortices with stochastic forces which are shown to represent white noise with an effective diffusion constant linearly dependent on temperature. We solve these stochastic equations of motion by means of a Green's function formalism and obtain the mean vortex trajectory and its variance. We find a non-standard time dependence for the variance of the components perpendicular to the driving force. We compare the analytical results with Langevin dynamics simulations and find a good agreement up to temperatures of the order of 25% of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature. Finally, we discuss the reasons why our approach is not appropriate for higher temperatures as well as the discreteness effects observed in the numerical simulations., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal B (uses EPJ LaTeX)