V1647 Ori (IRAS 05436-0007) in Outburst: the First Three Months

We report on photometric (BVRIJHK) and low dispersion spectroscopic observations of V1647 Ori, the star that drives McNeil's Nebula, between 10 February and 7 May 2004. The star is photometrically variable atop a general decline in brightness of about 0.3-0.4 magnitudes during these 87 days. The spectra are featureless, aside from H-alpha and the Ca II infrared triplet in emission, and a Na I D absorption feature. The Ca II triplet line ratios are typical of young stellar objects. The H-alpha equivalent width may be modulated on a period of about 60 days. The post-outburst extinction appears to be less than 7 mag. The data are suggestive of an FU Orionis-like event, but further monitoring will be needed to definitively characterize the outburst.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Effects of anharmonic strain on phase stability of epitaxial films and superlattices: applications to noble metals

Epitaxial strain energies of epitaxial films and bulk superlattices are studied via first-principles total energy calculations using the local-density approximation. Anharmonic effects due to large lattice mismatch, beyond the reach of the harmonic elasticity theory, are found to be very important in Cu/Au (lattice mismatch 12%), Cu/Ag (12%) and Ni/Au (15%). We find that is the elastically soft direction for biaxial expansion of Cu and Ni, but it is for large biaxial compression of Cu, Ag, and Au. The stability of superlattices is discussed in terms of the coherency strain and interfacial energies. We find that in phase-separating systems such as Cu-Ag the superlattice formation energies decrease with superlattice period, and the interfacial energy is positive. Superlattices are formed easiest on (001) and hardest on (111) substrates. For ordering systems, such as Cu-Au and Ag-Au, the formation energy of superlattices increases with period, and interfacial energies are negative. These superlattices are formed easiest on (001) or (110) and hardest on (111) substrates. For Ni-Au we find a hybrid behavior: superlattices along and like in phase-separating systems, while for they behave like in ordering systems. Finally, recent experimental results on epitaxial stabilization of disordered Ni-Au and Cu-Ag alloys, immiscible in the bulk form, are explained in terms of destabilization of the phase separated state due to lattice mismatch between the substrate and constituents.Comment: RevTeX galley format, 16 pages, includes 9 EPS figures, to appear in Physical Review

Doping studies of Ga0.5In0.5P organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy

Journal ArticlePresents doping studies of gallium[sub0.5] indium[sub0.5] phosphorus organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy. Distribution coefficient of indium; Description of growth conditions; Case of poor growth morphology for gallium[sub0.5] indium[sub0.5] phosphorus

Characterization of unicompositional GaInP2 ordering heterostructures grown by variation of V/III ratio

Journal ArticlePhotoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopies are employed to investigate single heterostructures based on two GaInP2 layers that have the same composition but different degrees of order on the cation sublattice. Four sample configurations are studied: two complementary single heterostructures, a more ordered layer grown on a less ordered layer and vice versa, and two single layers nominally equivalent to the constituent layers of the heterostructures. The degree of order of the two layers was controlled via the V/III ratio used during organometallic vapor phase epitaxial growth. From our measurements, the difference between the band gaps of the two layers is 20-30 meV. The PLE spectra show clearly that the emission comes from both layers of the heterostructures and that the PL is excited by direct absorption of the exciting light into each layer as well as the injection of carriers from the less ordered (higher band gap) layer into the more ordered (lower band gap) layer. The data clearly show that the heterostructures contain two layers, each very similar to the corresponding single layer sample

Control of ordering in Ga0.5In0.5P using growth temperature

Journal ArticleThe kinetic processes leading to ordering in Gas,, In o.4P8 have been studied by observing the effects of substrate misorientation (O-9), growth rate (0.1-0.5), and substrate temperature (570- 670 "C) during growth. The ordered structure and degree of ordering are determined using transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Low growth rates were used for samples with misorientations of O"-9" toward the [110] lattice direction to elucidate the ordering mechanism; however, due to the long times required to grow layers thick enough for PL characterization (-1 pm), at a temperature of 670 "C the samples became less ordered with increasing misorientation angle, This was attributed to a disordering annealing process occurring during growth which leads to disorder. In order to reduce the rate of this annealing process, the growth temperature was reduced from 670 to 570 "C. At this temperature, a growth rate of 0.5 pm/h produces material with an increasing degree of order as the angle of substrate misorientation is increased from 0" to 9". This shows that the kinetics of the ordering process are assisted by an increasing density of [110] steps on the surface

Phases in Strongly Coupled Electronic Bilayer Liquids

The strongly correlated liquid state of a bilayer of charged particles has been studied via the HNC calculation of the two-body functions. We report the first time emergence of a series of structural phases, identified through the behavior of the two-body functions.Comment: 5 pages, RevTEX 3.0, 4 ps figures; Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

The Stony Brook / SMARTS Atlas of mostly Southern Novae

We introduce the Stony Brook / SMARTS Atlas of (mostly) Southern Novae. This atlas contains both spectra and photometry obtained since 2003. The data archived in this atlas will facilitate systematic studies of the nova phenomenon and correlative studies with other comprehensive data sets. It will also enable detailed investigations of individual objects. In making the data public we hope to engender more interest on the part of the community in the physics of novae. The atlas is on-line at \url{http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/SMARTS/NovaAtlas/} .Comment: 11 figures; 5 table

Target Selection for the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2 Survey

APOGEE-2 is a high-resolution, near-infrared spectroscopic survey observing roughly 300,000 stars across the entire sky. It is the successor to APOGEE and is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV). APOGEE-2 is expanding upon APOGEE's goals of addressing critical questions of stellar astrophysics, stellar populations, and Galactic chemodynamical evolution using (1) an enhanced set of target types and (2) a second spectrograph at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. APOGEE-2 is targeting red giant branch (RGB) and red clump (RC) stars, RR Lyrae, low-mass dwarf stars, young stellar objects, and numerous other Milky Way and Local Group sources across the entire sky from both hemispheres. In this paper, we describe the APOGEE-2 observational design, target selection catalogs and algorithms, and the targeting-related documentation included in the SDSS data releases.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to A