X-ray spectra and valence states of cations in nanostructured half-doped $$\hbox {La}_{0.5}\hbox {Ca}_{0.5}\hbox {MnO}_{3}$$ manganite

Soft X-ray absorption (XAS) and emission (XES) spectroscopies were applied to determine valence states of manganese ions in nanostructured powder of half-doped \(\hbox {La}_{0.5}\hbox {Ca}_{0.5}\hbox {MnO}_{3}\) manganite obtained by milling in a ball mill. XAS spectra were measured both in surface-sensitivity total electron-yield and in bulk-sensitivity total fluorescence-yield modes. O K\(_{\upalpha }\) XES and O 1s XAS spectra characterized the occupied and unoccupied partial O 2p densities of states are compared with band-structure calculations made using the TB-LMTO-ASA codes. Experimental Mn 2p, Ca 2p, and La 3\(d\) XAS spectra are compared with results of crystal field atomic multiplet calculations. For the nanostructured system of \(\hbox {La}_{0.5}\hbox {Ca}_{0.5}\hbox {MnO}_{3}\), concentrations of Mn\(^{4+}\) ions are found to be increased with increasing the time of milling.     

Rapid communication: $$K_{S}^{0}$$ Production from beryllium target using 120 $$\hbox {GeV}/\hbox {c}$$GeV/c protons beam interactions at the MIPP experiment

We have measured the cross-section for the \(K_{S}^{0}\) production from beryllium target using 120 \(\hbox {GeV}/\hbox {c}\) protons beam interactions at the main injector particle production (MIPP) experiment at Fermilab. The data were collected with target having a thickness of 0.94% of the nuclear interaction length. The \(K_{S}^{0}\) inclusive differential cross-section in bins of momenta is presented covering momentum range from \(0.4\,\hbox {GeV}/\hbox {c}\) to \(30\,\hbox {GeV}/\hbox {c}\). The measured inclusive \(K_{S}^{0}\) production cross-section amounts to \(39.54\pm 1.46\delta _{\mathrm {stat}}\pm 6.97\delta _{\mathrm {syst}}\) mb and the value is compared with the prediction of FLUKA hadron production model.     

Ab-initio calculations of structural,phonon and thermal properties of $$\hbox {Al}_x \hbox {Ga}_{1-x} \hbox {As}$$ alloy

We provide the energy spectrum of an electron in a degenerately doped semiconductor of parabolic band. Knowing the energy spectrum, the density-of-states (DOS) functions are obtained, considering the Gaussian distribution of the potential energy of the impurity states, showing a band tail in them e.g., energy spectrum and density-of-states. Therefore, Fermi integrals (FIs) of DOS functions, having band tail, are developed by the exact theoretical calculations of the same. It is noticed that with heavy dopings in semiconductors, the total FI demonstrates complex functions, containing both real and imaginary terms of different FI functions. Their moduli possess an oscillatory function of \(\eta \) (reduced \(\hbox {Fermi energy} = E_{\mathrm{f}}/k_{\mathrm{B}}T\), \(k_{\mathrm{B}}\) is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature) and \(\eta _{e}\) (impurity screening potential), having a series solutions of confluent hypergeometric functions, \(\Phi (a, b; z)\), superimposed with natural cosine functions of angle \(\theta \). The variation of \(\theta \) with respect to \(\eta \) indicated a resonance at \(\eta =1.5\). The oscillatory behaviour of FIs show the existence of ‘band-gaps’, both in the real as well as in the forbidden bands as new band gaps in the semiconductor.     

$$\varvec{B^0\rightarrow K^{*0}\mu ^+\mu ^-}$$ decay in the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model

In the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model, we perform a complete one-loop computation of the short-distance Wilson coefficients \(C_{7,9,10}^{(\prime )}\), which are the most relevant ones for \(b\rightarrow s\ell ^+\ell ^-\) transitions. It is found that, when the model parameter \(\left| \varsigma _{u}\right| \) is much smaller than \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| \), the charged scalar contributes mainly to chirality-flipped \(C_{9,10}^\prime \), with the corresponding effects being proportional to \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| ^2\). Numerically, the charged-scalar effects fit into two categories: (A) \(C_{7,9,10}^\mathrm {H^\pm }\) are sizable, but \(C_{9,10}^{\prime \mathrm {H^\pm }}\simeq 0\), corresponding to the (large \(\left| \varsigma _{u}\right| \), small \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| \)) region; (B) \(C_7^\mathrm {H^\pm }\) and \(C_{9,10}^{\prime \mathrm {H^\pm }}\) are sizable, but \(C_{9,10}^\mathrm {H^\pm }\simeq 0\), corresponding to the (small \(\left| \varsigma _{u}\right| \), large \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| \)) region. Taking into account phenomenological constraints from the inclusive radiative decay \(B\rightarrow X_{s}{\gamma }\), as well as the latest model-independent global analysis of \(b\rightarrow s\ell ^+\ell ^-\) data, we obtain the much restricted parameter space of the model. We then study the impact of the allowed model parameters on the angular observables \(P_2\) and \(P_5'\) of \(B^0\rightarrow K^{*0}\mu ^+\mu ^-\) decay, and we find that \(P_5'\) could be increased significantly to be consistent with the experimental data in case B.     

Study of the weak annihilation contributions in charmless $$\varvec{B_s\rightarrow VV}$$ decays

In this paper, in order to probe the spectator-scattering and weak annihilation contributions in charmless \(B_s\rightarrow VV\) (where V stands for a light vector meson) decays, we perform the \(\chi ^2\)-analyses for the endpoint parameters within the QCD factorization framework, under the constraints from the measured \(\bar{B}_{s}\rightarrow \) \(\rho ^0\phi \), \(\phi K^{*0}\), \(\phi \phi \) and \(K^{*0}\bar{K}^{*0}\) decays. The fitted results indicate that the endpoint parameters in the factorizable and nonfactorizable annihilation topologies are non-universal, which is also favored by the charmless \(B\rightarrow PP\) and PV (where P stands for a light pseudo-scalar meson) decays observed in previous work. Moreover, the abnormal polarization fractions \(f_{L,\bot }(\bar{B}_{s}\rightarrow K^{*0}\bar{K}^{*0})=(20.1\pm 7.0)\%,(58.4\pm 8.5)\%\) measured by the LHCb collaboration can be reconciled through the weak annihilation corrections. However, the branching ratio of \(\bar{B}_{s}\rightarrow \phi K^{*0}\) decay exhibits a tension between the data and theoretical result, which dominates the contributions to \(\chi _\mathrm{min}^2\) in the fits. Using the fitted endpoint parameters, we update the theoretical results for the charmless \(B_s\rightarrow VV\) decays, which will be further tested by the LHCb and Belle-II experiments in the near future.     

Static elliptic minimal surfaces in $$\hbox {AdS}_4$$

The Ryu–Takayanagi conjecture connects the entanglement entropy in the boundary CFT to the area of open co-dimension two minimal surfaces in the bulk. Especially in \(\hbox {AdS}_4\), the latter are two-dimensional surfaces, and, thus, solutions of a Euclidean non-linear sigma model on a symmetric target space that can be reduced to an integrable system via Pohlmeyer reduction. In this work, we construct static minimal surfaces in \(\hbox {AdS}_4\) that correspond to elliptic solutions of the reduced system, namely the cosh-Gordon equation, via the inversion of Pohlmeyer reduction. The constructed minimal surfaces comprise a two-parameter family of surfaces that include helicoids and catenoids in H\(^3\) as special limits. Minimal surfaces that correspond to identical boundary conditions are discovered within the constructed family of surfaces and the relevant geometric phase transitions are studied.     

New feature of low $$p_{T}$$ charm quark hadronization in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=7$$s=7 TeV

Treating the light-flavor constituent quarks and antiquarks whose momentum information is extracted from the data of soft light-flavor hadrons in pp collisions at \(\sqrt{s}=7\) TeV as the underlying source of chromatically neutralizing the charm quarks of low transverse momenta (\(p_{T}\)), we show that the experimental data of \(p_{T}\) spectra of single-charm hadrons \(D^{0,+}\), \(D^{*+}\) \(D_{s}^{+}\), \(\varLambda _{c}^{+}\) and \(\varXi _{c}^{0}\) at mid-rapidity in the low \(p_{T}\) range (\(2\lesssim p_{T}\lesssim 7\) GeV/c) in pp collisions at \(\sqrt{s}=7\) TeV can be well understood by the equal-velocity combination of perturbatively created charm quarks and those light-flavor constituent quarks and antiquarks. This suggests a possible new scenario of low \(p_{T}\) charm quark hadronization, in contrast to the traditional fragmentation mechanism, in pp collisions at LHC energies. This is also another support for the exhibition of the soft constituent quark degrees of freedom for the small parton system created in pp collisions at LHC energies.     

Synthesis and evaluation of bile acid amides of $$\alpha $$-cyanostilbenes as anticancer agents

A series of amino-substituted \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbene derivatives and their bile acid (cholic and deoxycholic acid) amides were designed and synthesized. A comparative study on the anticancer and antibacterial activity evaluation on the synthesized analogs was carried against the human osteosarcoma (HOS) cancer cell line, and two gram ?ve (E. coli and S. typhi) and two gram \(+\)ve (B. subtilis and S. aureus) bacterial strains. All the cholic acid \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbene amides showed an \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) in the range 2–13 \(\upmu \hbox {M}\) against human osteosarcoma cells (HOS) with the most active analog (6g) possessing an \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) of \(2\,\upmu \hbox {M}\). One of the amino-substituted \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbene, 4e, was found to possess an \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) of \(3\,\upmu \hbox {M}\). An increase in the number of cells at the sub-\(\hbox {G}_{1}\) phase of the cell was observed in the in vitro cell cycle analysis of two most active compounds in the series (4e, 6g) suggesting a clear indication toward induction of apoptotic cascade. With respect to antibacterial screening, amino-substituted \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbenes were found to be more active than their corresponding bile acid amides. The synthesized compounds were also subjected to in silico study to predict their physiochemical properties and drug-likeness score.     

Excited state mass spectra of doubly heavy $$\Xi $$ baryons

In this paper, the mass spectra are obtained for doubly heavy \(\Xi \) baryons, namely, \(\Xi _{cc}^{+}\), \(\Xi _{cc}^{++}\), \(\Xi _{bb}^{-}\), \(\Xi _{bb}^{0}\), \(\Xi _{bc}^{0}\) and \(\Xi _{bc}^{+}\). These baryons consist of two heavy quarks (cc, bb, and bc) with a light (d or u) quark. The ground, radial, and orbital states are calculated in the framework of the hypercentral constituent quark model with Coulomb plus linear potential. Our results are also compared with other predictions, thus, the average possible range of excited states masses of these \(\Xi \) baryons can be determined. The study of the Regge trajectories is performed in (n, \(M^{2}\)) and (J, \(M^{2}\)) planes and their slopes and intercepts are also determined. Lastly, the ground state magnetic moments of these doubly heavy baryons are also calculated.     

Fabrication and photoresponse of n-$$\hbox {WS}_{2}/$$p-V$$_{0.25}$$0.25W$$_{0.75}$$0.75Se$$_{2}$$2 van der Waals heterojunction

Excitation functions for \(\alpha \)-induced reactions on natural vanadium were measured in the energy range up to 20 MeV. The stacked-foil activation technique was used. The experimental results were compared with the theoretical calculations using EMPIRE-3.1, EMPIRE-3.2.2 and TENDL 2015, and with earlier experimental results. Thick target yields were calculated for the production of \(^{54}\hbox {Mn}\) and for the associated impurity \(^{52}\hbox {Mn}\).     

Generalizing the $$\mathfrak {bms}_{3}$$ and 2D-conformal algebras by expanding the Virasoro algebra

By means of the Lie algebra expansion method, the centrally extended conformal algebra in two dimensions and the \(\mathfrak {bms}_{3}\) algebra are obtained from the Virasoro algebra. We extend this result to construct new families of expanded Virasoro algebras that turn out to be infinite-dimensional lifts of the so-called \(\mathfrak {B}_{k}\), \(\mathfrak {C}_{k}\) and \(\mathfrak {D}_{k}\) algebras recently introduced in the literature in the context of (super)gravity. We also show how some of these new infinite-dimensional symmetries can be obtained from expanded Ka?–Moody algebras using modified Sugawara constructions. Applications in the context of three-dimensional gravity are briefly discussed.     

Sextonions,Zorn matrices,and $$\mathbf {e}_{\mathbf{7} \frac{\mathbf{1}}{\mathbf{2}}}$$

By exploiting suitably constrained Zorn matrices, we present a new construction of the algebra of sextonions (over the algebraically closed field \(\mathbb {C}\)). This allows for an explicit construction, in terms of Jordan pairs, of the non-semisimple Lie algebra \(\mathbf {e}_{\mathbf{7} \frac{\mathbf{1}}{\mathbf{2}}}\), intermediate between \(\mathbf {e_7}\) and \(\mathbf {e_8}\), as well as of all Lie algebras occurring in the sextonionic row and column of the extended Freudenthal Magic Square.     

Anatomy of $B^{0}_{s,d} \to J/\psi f_{0}(980)$

The \(B^{0}_{s}\to J/\psi f_{0}(980)\) decay offers an interesting experimental alternative to the well-known \(B^{0}_{s}\to J/\psi \phi\) channel for the search of CP-violating New-Physics contributions to \(B^{0}_{s}\)–\(\bar{B}^{0}_{s}\) mixing. As the hadronic structure of the f ₀(980) has not yet been settled, we take a critical look at the implications for the relevant observables and address recent experimental data. It turns out that the effective lifetime of \(B^{0}_{s}\to J/\psi f_{0}(980)\) and its mixing-induced CP asymmetry S are quite robust with respect to hadronic effects and thereby allow us to search for a large CP-violating \(B^{0}_{s}\)–\(\bar{B}^{0}_{s}\) mixing phase ? _s , which is tiny in the Standard Model. However, should small CP violation, i.e. in the range ?0.1?S?0, be found in \(B^{0}_{s}\to J/\psi f_{0}(980)\), it will be crucial to constrain hadronic corrections in order to distinguish possible New-Physics effects from the Standard Model. We point out that \(B^{0}_{d}\to J/\psi f_{0}(980)\), which has not yet been measured, is a key channel in this respect and discuss the physics potential of this decay.     

Photodetachment cross-section of $$\hbox {H}^{-}\,\hbox {ion}$$ in a three-dimensional cubical microcavity

The photodetachment of negative ions inside a two-dimensional microcavity has been studied by many researchers. As to the photodetachment of negative ions in the three-dimensional microcavity, the research is relatively little. In this paper, we study the photodetachment cross-section of \(\hbox {H}^{-}\) ion inside a three-dimensional cubical microcavity for the first time. We have observed the classical dynamics of the photodetached electron inside the cubical microcavity and found out its closed orbits. Then we calculate the photodetachment cross-section of this system. It is shown that owing to the interference effects of the electron wave travelling along various closed orbits, oscillatory structures appear in the photodetachment cross-section. And the oscillatory structures depend on the laser polarization sensitively. Compared to the photodetachment of \(\hbox {H}^{-}\) ion inside a square microcavity, in photodetachment of \(\hbox {H}^{-}\) ion in cubical cavity the number of the closed orbits is increased and the oscillatory structure in the photodetachment cross-section becomes much more complex. Through our study, researchers can gain a deep understanding on the correspondence of the classical dynamics and the quantum mechanics. Our study may guide future experimental research in the field of the photodetachment electron dynamics inside a three-dimensional microcavity.     

Star product on complex sphere $$\mathbb {S}^{2n}$$

We construct a \(U_q\bigl (\mathfrak {s}\mathfrak {o}(2n+1)\bigr )\)-equivariant local star product on the complex sphere \(\mathbb {S}^{2n}\) as a non-Levi conjugacy class \(SO(2n+1)/SO(2n)\).     

Fully constrained Majorana neutrino mass matrices using $$\varvec{\varSigma (72\times 3)}$$

In 2002, two neutrino mixing ansatze having trimaximally mixed middle (\(\nu _2\)) columns, namely tri-chi-maximal mixing (\(\text {T}\chi \text {M}\)) and tri-phi-maximal mixing (\(\text {T}\phi \text {M}\)), were proposed. In 2012, it was shown that \(\text {T}\chi \text {M}\) with \(\chi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16}\) as well as \(\text {T}\phi \text {M}\) with \(\phi = \pm \,\frac{\pi }{16}\) leads to the solution, \(\sin ^2 \theta _{13} = \frac{2}{3} \sin ^2 \frac{\pi }{16}\), consistent with the latest measurements of the reactor mixing angle, \(\theta _{13}\). To obtain \(\text {T}\chi \text {M}_{(\chi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16})}\) and \(\text {T}\phi \text {M}_{(\phi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16})}\), the type I see-saw framework with fully constrained Majorana neutrino mass matrices was utilised. These mass matrices also resulted in the neutrino mass ratios, \(m_1:m_2:m_3=\frac{\left( 2+\sqrt{2}\right) }{1+\sqrt{2(2+\sqrt{2})}}:1:\frac{\left( 2+\sqrt{2}\right) }{-1+\sqrt{2(2+\sqrt{2})}}\). In this paper we construct a flavour model based on the discrete group \(\varSigma (72\times 3)\) and obtain the aforementioned results. A Majorana neutrino mass matrix (a symmetric \(3\times 3\) matrix with six complex degrees of freedom) is conveniently mapped into a flavon field transforming as the complex six-dimensional representation of \(\varSigma (72\times 3)\). Specific vacuum alignments of the flavons are used to arrive at the desired mass matrices.     

XUV pulse effect on signal modulations of harmonic spectra from H$$_{2}^{+}$$ and T$$_{2}^{+}$$

The effects of signal modulations on the molecular high-order harmonic generations in \(\hbox {H}_{2}^{+ }\) and \(\hbox {T}_{2}^{+}\) have been theoretically investigated. It is found that with the introduction of the XUV pulse, due to the absorption of the extra XUV photons in the recombination process, multiplateaus on the harmonic spectra, separated by the XUV photon energy can be found. Moreover, this multiplateau structure is insensitive to the wavelength of the XUV pulse. In shorter pulse duration, the intensities of the multiplateaus from \(\hbox {H}_{2}^{+}\) are higher than those from \(\hbox {T}_{2}^{+}\); while in longer pulse duration, the opposite results can be found. Finally, by changing the delay time of the XUV pulse, the signal modulations (including the amplitude and the frequency modulations) of the multiplateaus can be controlled.     

Photoreflectance spectroscopy of the chalcopyrite semiconductor <Emphasis Type="Bold">AgInS</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> for ordinary and extraordinary rays

Photoreflectance spectra have been measured on the chalcopyrite semiconductor silver indium disulfide (\(\hbox {AgInS}_{2}\)) for light polarization \({\varvec{E}}\) perpendicular (\({\varvec{E}} \bot {c}\)) and parallel to the c-axis (\({\varvec{E}} \vert \vert {c}\)) at temperature between 10 and 300 K. The measured photoreflectance spectra revealed distinct structures at 1.8–2.1 eV. The lowest bandgap energies \(E_{0A}\), \(E_{0B}\), and \(E_{0C}\) of \(\hbox {AgInS}_{2}\) show unusual temperature dependence at low temperatures (\(\le\)140 K). The \(E_{0\alpha }\) (\(\alpha =A, B, C\)) is found to increase with increasing temperature from 10 to \(\sim\)140 K and decreases with a further increase in temperature. This result has been successfully explained by taking into account the effects of thermal expansion and electron–phonon interaction. The spin–orbit and crystal-field splitting parameters of \(\hbox {AgInS}_{2}\) are determined to be \(\Delta _{{\mathrm{so}}}=38\) meV and \(\Delta _{{\mathrm{cr}}}=-168\) meV at T = 10 K, respectively, and are discussed from an aspect of the electronic energy band structure consequences. The temperature dependence of spin–orbit and crystal-field splitting parameters of \(\hbox {AgInS}_{2}\) was also presented.     

Scattering of kinks of the sinh-deformed $$\varphi ^4$$ model

We consider the scattering of kinks of the sinh-deformed \(\varphi ^4\) model, which is obtained from the well-known \(\varphi ^4\) model by means of the deformation procedure. Depending on the initial velocity \(v_\mathrm {in}\) of the colliding kinks, different collision scenarios are realized. There is a critical value \(v_\mathrm {cr}\) of the initial velocity, which separates the regime of reflection (at \(v_\mathrm {in}>v_\mathrm {cr}\)) and that of a complicated interaction (at \(v_\mathrm {in}<v_\mathrm {cr}\)) with kinks’ capture and escape windows. Besides that, at \(v_\mathrm {in}\) below \(v_\mathrm {cr}\) we observe the formation of a bound state of two oscillons, as well as their escape at some values of \(v_\mathrm {in}\).