Search

Blazars display variable emission across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, with timescales that can range from a few minutes to several years. Our recent work has shown that a sample of five blazars exhibit hints of periodicity with a global significance $\gtrsim2\,\sigma$ at $\gamma$-ray energies, in the range of 0.1~GeV$<$E$<$800~GeV. In this work, we study their multiwavelength (MWL) emission, covering the X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and radio bands. We show that three of these blazars present similar periodic patterns in the optical and radio bands. Additionally, fluxes in the different bands of the five blazars are correlated, suggesting a co-spatial origin. Moreover, we detect a long-term ($\approx$10 year) rising trend in the light curves of PG~1553+113, and we use it to infer possible constraints on the binary black hole hypothesis., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 7 tables

It is well known that blazars can show variability on a wide range of time scales. This behavior can include periodicity in their $\gamma$-ray emission, whose clear detection remains an ongoing challenge, partly due to the inherent stochasticity of the processes involved and also the lack of adequately-well sampled light curves. We report on a systematic search for periodicity in a sample of 24 blazars, using twelve well-established methods applied to Fermi-LAT data. The sample comprises the most promising candidates selected from a previous study, extending the light curves from nine to twelve years and broadening the energy range analyzed from $>$1 GeV to $>$0.1 GeV. These improvements allow us to build a sample of blazars that display a period detected with global significance $\gtrsim3\,\sigma$. Specifically, these sources are PKS 0454$-$234, S5 0716+714, OJ 014, PG 1553+113, and PKS 2155$-$304. Periodic $\gamma$-ray emission may be an indication of modulation of the jet power, particle composition, or geometry but most likely originates in the accretion disk, possibly indicating the presence of a supermassive black hole binary system., Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables

The TESLA Technical Design Report Part I: Executive summary, Comment: 82 pages, 30 figures. Some figures have reduced quality. Full quality figures can be obtained from http://tesla.desy.de/tdr

The critical fluctuations in SrTiO$_3$ near its $105 K$ structural phase transition were studied with triple axis diffractometry using high energy ($\ge 100 keV$) synchrotron radiation in different SrTiO$_3$ crystals with different oxygen vacancy concentrations. Due to the presence of oxygen vacancies the critical behaviour is changed compared to defect-free systems. In our experiments a smearing out of the squared order parameter and a crossover of the critical exponents $\nu$ and $\gamma$ above the phase transition temperature is observed, with the crossover temperature strongly depending on the concentration of the defects. To understand the experimental findings, e.g. the unusual values for the critical exponents found near the critical temperature, the Ginzburg-Landau-Wilson functional for structural phase transitions in disordered systems was analyzed using renormalization group theory and the replica trick. Considering the effects of defects which locally increase the transition temperature leads to a qualitative understanding of the observed behaviour. The crossover behaviour of the critical exponents can be modeled and a quantitative analysis of the observed experimental data is presented., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev. B

The depth dependence of the crystallographic parameters mosaicity, lattice parameter variation and integrated reflectivity and of the critical scattering above the 105 K structural phase transition of SrTiO$_3$ have been studied in five different single crystals by means of high resolution triple-crystal diffractometry using 100-120 keV synchrotron radiation. Depth-dependent impedance measurements indicate that the presence of oxygen vacancies is not responsible for the two-length scale phenomenon. It is found that the sharp component occurs only in surface near regions of highly perfect single crystals and is coupled to an exponential inrease of the crystallographic quantities. The second length scale is absent at a surface where the strain fields are able to relax by a macroscopic bending of the lattice planes. The sharp component is also strongly suppressed in crystals of relatively large mosaicity. The combination of long range strain fields in highly perfect samples and the vicinity of the surface seem to be necessary conditions for the observation of the sharp component. The critical exponents for the second length scale are in satisfying agreement with scaling laws if the intensity of the critical scattering is assumed to be proportional to the square of the Lorentzian susceptibility and not, as usual in the current convention, to a Lorentzian-squared susceptibility. The critical exponents of the broad component are independent of the appearance of the sharp component., Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev. B

We report on the phase diagram for charge-stripe order in La(1.6-x)Nd(0.4)Sr(x)CuO(4), determined by neutron and x-ray scattering studies and resistivity measurements. From an analysis of the in-plane resistivity motivated by recent nuclear-quadrupole-resonance studies, we conclude that the transition temperature for local charge ordering decreases monotonically with x, and hence that local antiferromagnetic order is uniquely correlated with the anomalous depression of superconductivity at x = 1/8. This result is consistent with theories in which superconductivity depends on the existence of charge-stripe correlations., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; introduction revised, Fig. 3 removed, last figure replaced

High energy x-ray diffraction is used to investigate the bulk oxygen ordering properties of YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x}. Superstructures of Cu-O chains aligned along the b axis and ordered with periodicity ma, along the a axis have been observed. For $x < 0.62$ the only observed superstructure is ortho-II with m=2. At room temperature we find ortho-III (m=3) for $0.72\le x\le 0.82$, ortho-V (m=5) in a mixed state with ortho-II at x=0.62, and ortho-VIII (m=8) at x=0.67. Ortho-II is a 3D ordered structural phase, the remaining ones are essentially 2D. None of the superstructures develops long range ordering. Studies of the ortho-II ordering properties in samples prepared with x=0.5 but by different methods show that finite size domains with internal thermodynamic equilibrium are formed. The crystal perfection as well as the thermal annealing history determine the domain size. The temperature dependence of the observed superstructure ordering is investigated explicitly and a structural phase diagram is presented., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures

Superstructure reflections due to the ordering of holes into stripes in La_(1.45)Nd_(0.4)Sr_(0.15)CuO_4 have been studied with high energy x-ray diffraction. These reflections have been observed clearly for the first time in a sample which is superconducting at low temperatures (T_c = 10 K). The stripe peaks vanish above 62(5) K whereas the magnetic signal of the stripe ordering which has been seen with neutrons before is already suppressed at 45 K. Our results confirm that the ordering of spins and holes is driven by the charges as it is found in the case of La_(1.6-x)Nd_(0.4)Sr_(x)CuO_(4) at the doping level of x = 0.12., Comment: 8 pages