We present new analyses of ALMA 12 m and Atacama Compact Array (ACA) observations at 233 GHz (1.3 mm) of the Proxima Centauri system with sensitivities of 9.5 and 47 mu Jy beam(-1), respectively, taken from 2017 January 21 through April 25. These analyses reveal that the star underwent a significant flaring event during one of the ACA observations on 2017 March 24. The complete event lasted for approximately 1. minute and reached a peak flux density of 100 +/- 4 mJy, nearly a factor of 1000 times brighter than the star's quiescent emission. At the flare peak, the continuum emission is characterized by a steeply falling spectral index with frequency F-nu proportional to nu(alpha) with alpha = -1.77 +/- 0.45, and a lower limit on the fractional linear polarization of vertical bar Q/I vertical bar = 0.19 +/- 0.02. Because the ACA observations do not show any quiescent excess emission, we conclude that there is no need to invoke the presence of a dust belt at 1-4 au. We also posit that the slight excess flux density of 101 +/- 9 mu Jy observed in the 12 m observations, compared to the photospheric flux density of 74 +/- 4 mu Jy extrapolated from infrared wavelengths, may be due to coronal heating from continual smaller flares, as is seen for AU Mic, another nearby well-studied M dwarf flare star. If this is true, then the need for warm dust at similar to 0.4 au is also removed.

The chemical reaction products of molecular hydrogen (H-2) with selenium (Se) are studied by synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy at high pressures. We find that a common H2Se is synthesized at 0.3 GPa using laser heating. Upon compression at 300 K, a crystal of the theoretically predicted Cccm H3Se has been grown at 4.6 GPa. At room temperature, H3Se shows a reversible phase decomposition after laser irradiation above 8.6 GPa, but remains stable up to 21 GPa. However, at 170 K Cccm H3Se persists up to 39.5 GPa based on XRD measurements, while low-temperature Raman spectra weaken and broaden above 23.1 GPa. At these conditions, the sample is visually nontransparent and shiny suggesting that metallization occurred.

Success in developing remote-sensing methods is largely based on adequate modeling of target-particle shapes. In various terrestrial and cosmic applications, submicrometer- and micrometer-sized dust particles appear to have a highly irregular morphology. Light scattering by such irregularly shaped particles can be computed only with a numerical technique that, in practice, is a time-consuming approach, demanding significant computational resources. In this Letter, we discuss an efficient way to accelerate light-scattering computations through interpolation of the numerical results obtained at different levels of material absorption. We find a nonlinear dependence of reflectance, degree of linear polarization, and linear and circular polarization ratios on the imaginary part of refractive index Im(m). Over the range of Delta Im(m) = 0.05, the dependence can be satisfactorily described with a cubic polynomial function, whose determination requires exact computations at four different values of Im(m). The light-scattering characteristics at other intermediate values of Im(m) can be inferred with great accuracy via interpolation. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America

Hydrogen-rich hydrides attract great attention due to recent theoretical (1) and then experimental discovery of record high-temperature superconductivity in H3S [T-c = 203 K at 155 GPa (2)]. Here we search for stable uranium hydrides at pressures up to 500 GPa using ab initio evolutionary crystal structure prediction. Chemistry of the U-H system turned out to be extremely rich, with 14 new compounds, including hydrogen-rich UH5, UH6, U2H13, UH7, UH8, U2H17, and UH9. Their crystal structures are based on either common face-centered cubic or hexagonal close-packed uranium sublattice and unusual H-8 cubic clusters. Our high-pressure experiments at 1 to 103 GPa confirm the predicted UH7, UH8, and three different phases of UH5, raising confidence about predictions of the other phases. Many of the newly predicted phases are expected to be high-temperature superconductors. The highest-Tc superconductor is UH7, predicted to be thermodynamically stable at pressures above 22 GPa (with T-c = 44 to 54 K), and this phase remains dynamically stable upon decompression to zero pressure (where it has T-c = 57 to 66 K).

The presence of large amounts of dust in the habitable zones of nearby stars is a significant obstacle for future exo-Earth imaging missions. We executed the HOSTS (Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Systems) survey to determine the typical amount of such exozodiacal dust around a sample of nearby main sequence stars. The majority of the data have been analyzed and we present here an update of our ongoing work. Nulling interferometry in N band was used to suppress the bright stellar light and to detect faint, extended circumstellar dust emission. We present an overview of the latest results from our ongoing work. We find seven new N band excesses in addition to the high confidence confirmation of three that were previously known. We find the first detections around Sun-like stars and around stars without previously known circumstellar dust. Our overall detection rate is 23%. The inferred occurrence rate is comparable for early type and Sun-like stars, but decreases from 71(-20)(+11) % for stars with previously detected mid- to far-infrared excess to 11(-4)(+9) % for stars without such excess, confirming earlier results at high confidence. For completed observations on individual stars, our sensitivity is five to ten times better than previous results. Assuming a lognormal luminosity function of the dust, we find upper limits on the median dust level around all stars without previously known mid to far infrared excess of 11.5 zodis at 95% confidence level. The corresponding upper limit for Sun-like stars is 16 zodis. An LBTI vetted target list of Sun-like stars for exo-Earth imaging would have a corresponding limit of 7.5 zodis. We provide important new insights into the occurrence rate and typical levels of habitable zone dust around main sequence stars. Exploiting the full range of capabilities of the LBTI provides a critical opportunity for the detailed characterization of a sample of exozodiacal dust disks to understand the origin, distribution, and properties of the dust.

Capture of highly volatile radioactive iodine is a promising application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), thanks to their high porosity with flexible chemical architecture. Specifically, strong charge-transfer binding of iodine to the framework enables efficient and selective iodine uptake as well as its long-term storage. As such, precise knowledge of the electronic structure of iodine is essential for a detailed modeling of the iodine sorption process, which will allow for rational design of iodophilic MOFs in the future. Here we probe the electronic structure of iodine in MOFs at variable iodine...framework interaction by Raman and optical absorption spectroscopy at high pressure (P). The electronic structure of iodine in the straight channels of SBMOF-1 (Ca-sdb, sdb = 4,4 ' sulfonyldibenzoate) is modified irreversibly at P > 3.4 GPa by charge transfer, marking a polymerization of iodine molecules into a 1D polyiodide chain. In contrast, iodine in the sinusoidal channels of SBMOF-3 (Cd-sdb) retains its molecular (I-2 ) character up to at least 8.4 GPa. Such divergent high-pressure behavior of iodine in the MOFs with similar port size and chemistry illustrates adaptations of the electronic structure of iodine to channel topology and strength of the iodine...framework interaction, which can be used to tailor iodine-immobilizing MOFs.

The Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Systems survey searches for dust near the habitable zones (HZs) around nearby, bright main-sequence stars. We use nulling interferometry in the N band to suppress the bright stellar light and to probe for low levels of HZ dust around the 30 stars observed so far. Our overall detection rate is 18%, including four new detections, among which are the first three around Sun-like stars and the first two around stars without any previously known circumstellar dust. The inferred occurrence rates are comparable for early-type and Sun-like stars, but decrease from 60(-21)(+16)% for stars with previously detected cold dust to 8(-3)(+10)% for stars without such excess, confirming earlier results at higher sensitivity. For completed observations on individual stars, our sensitivity is five to ten times better than previous results. Assuming a lognormal excess luminosity function, we put upper limits on the median HZ dust level of 13 zodis (95% confidence) for a sample of stars without cold dust and of 26 zodis when focusing on Sun-like stars without cold dust. However, our data suggest that a more complex luminosity function may be more appropriate. For stars without detectable Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) excess, our upper limits are almost reduced by a factor of two, demonstrating the strength of LBTI target vetting for future exo-Earth imaging missions. Our statistics are limited so far, and extending the survey is critical to informing the design of future exo-Earth imaging surveys.

Half-Heusler compounds have recently been identified as promising thermoelectric materials, but their relatively high thermal conductivities impede the further improvement of thermoelectric performance. The knowledge of phonon vibrational properties provides a fundamental understanding of the thermal transport behavior of solids and thus could serve as a guidance on further suppressing the thermal conductivity. Herein, a highly efficient p-type half-Heusler thermoelectric alloy FeNb0.8Ti0.2Sb is taken as an example to explore its phonon vibrational properties. Phonon spectrum with the frequencies down to 10 cm(-1) and its evolution with pressure for the studied material are provided by Raman scattering. It is found that two vibrational modes with the frequency > 200 cm(-1) display a common mode frequency increase with increasing pressure. Based on the bulk modulus from synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and phonon frequency shifts, the mode Gruneisen parameters are obtained. Our results establish characteristic phonon vibrational properties of this high-performance half-Heusler thermoelectric alloy. Published by AIP Publishing.

MagAO-X is an entirely new extreme adaptive optics system for the Magellan Clay 6.5 m telescope, funded by the NSF MRI program starting in Sep 2016. The key science goal of MagAO-X is high-contrast imaging of accreting protoplanets at H alpha. With 2040 actuators operating at up to 3630 Hz, MagAO-X will deliver high Strehls (> 70%), high resolution (19 mas), and high contrast (< 1 x 10(-4)) at H alpha (656 nm). We present an overview of the MagAO-X system, review the system design, and discuss the current project status.

Layered molybdenum dichalchogenides differ from the classic example of bilayer graphene with their unique electronic properties: the application of pressure can continuously tune electronic structure since the band gap is controlled by delicate interlayer interaction. Here, we have performed measurements of Raman scattering, synchrotron x-ray diffraction, electrical conductivity, and Hall coefficient combined with density functional theory calculations to synthetically study the pressure effect on 2H-MoTe2. Both the experiments and calculations consistently demonstrate that MoTe2 undergoes a semiconductor-to-metallic (S-M) transition above 10 GPa. Unlike MoS2, the S-M transition is driven by the gradual tunability of electric structure and band gap without structural transition. The applied pressure also effectively enhances conductivity and carrier concentration while reducing the mobility, which makes MoTe2 more suitable for applications than most other transition-metal dichalchogenides and allows it to be applied in strain-modulated optoelectronic devices.