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The Zirconium (Z = 40) isotopic chain has attracted interest for more than four decades. The abrupt lowering of the energy of the first $2^+$ state and the increase in the transition strength B(E2; $2_1^\rightarrow 0_1^+$ going from $^{98}$Zr to $^{100}$Zr has been the first example of "quantum phase transition" in nuclear shapes, which has few equivalents in the nuclear chart. Although a multitude of experiments have been performed to measure nuclear properties related to nuclear shapes and collectivity in the region, none of the measured lifetimes were obtained using the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift method in the $\gamma\gamma$-coincidence mode where a gate on the direct feeding transition of the state of interest allows a strict control of systematical errors. This work reports the results of lifetime measurements for the first yrast excited states in $^{98-104}$Zr carried out to extract reduced transition probabilities. The new lifetime values in $\gamma\gamma$-coincidence and $\gamma$-single mode are compared with the results of former experiments. Recent predictions of the Interacting Boson Model with Configuration Mixing, the Symmetry Conserving Configuration Mixing model based on the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach and the Monte Carlo Shell Model are presented and compared with the experimental data.

We are developing a single-ion optical clock based on a surface-electrode (SE) trap that we will operate with $^{171}$Yb$^+$ ions on the electric quadrupole transition at 435.5 nm. We present heating rate measurements performed with a prototype SE trap. We also introduce a new, micro-fabricated SE trapping chip using silicon on insulator technology. Electric tests were performed under ultra-high vacuum using a testing chip, including breakdown voltages measurements and flashover detection. We present suitable trapping parameters for this chip, as well as a road-map for improving its design., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

The recent development of Physics-Augmented Neural Networks (PANN) opens new opportunities for modeling material behaviors. These approaches have demonstrated their efficiency when trained on synthetic cases. This study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of training PANN using real experimental data for modeling hyperelastic behavior. The approach involved two uni-axial experiments equipped with digital image correlation and force sensors. The tests achieved axial deformations exceeding 200% and presented non-linear responses. Twenty loading steps extracted from one experiment were used to train the PANN. The model architecture was optimized based on results from a validation dataset, utilizing equilibrium gap loss computed on six loading steps. Finally, 544 loading steps from the first experiment and 80 steps from a second independent experiment were used for testing purposes. The PANN model effectively captured the hyperelastic behavior across and beyond the training loads, showing superior performance compared to the standard Neo-Hookean model when assessed using various evaluation metrics. Training PANN with experimental mechanical data shows promising results, outperforming traditional modeling approaches., Comment: Experimental Mechanics, 2024

Uranus and Neptune have atmospheres dominated by molecular hydrogen and helium. In the upper troposphere, methane is the third main molecule and condenses, yielding a vertical gradient in CH4. This condensable species being heavier than H2 and He, the resulting change in mean molecular weight due to condensation comes as a factor countering dry and moist convection. As observations also show latitudinal variations in methane abundance, one can expect different vertical gradients from one latitude to another. In this paper, we investigate the impact of this methane vertical gradient on the atmospheric regimes, especially on the formation and inhibition of moist convective storms in the troposphere of ice giants. We develop a 3D cloud-resolving model to simulate convective processes. Using our simulations, we conclude that typical velocities of dry convection in the deep atmosphere are rather low (of the order of 1 m/s) but sufficient to sustain upward methane transport, and that moist convection at methane condensation level is strongly inhibited. Previous studies derived an analytical criterion on the methane vapor amount above which moist convection should be inhibited. We first validate this analytical criterion numerically. We then show that the critical methane abundance governs the inhibition and formation of moist convective storms, and we conclude that the intensity and intermittency of these storms should depend on the methane abundance and saturation. In ice giants, dry convection is weak, and moist convection is strongly inhibited. However, when enough methane is transported upwards, through dry convection and turbulent diffusion, sporadic moist convective storms can form. These storms should be more frequent on Neptune than on Uranus, because of Neptune's internal heat flow. Our results can explain the observed sporadicity of clouds in ice giants.

Particle-particle and particle-gas processes significantly impact planetary precursors such as dust aggregates and planetesimals. We investigate gas permeability ($\kappa$) in 12 granular samples, mimicking planetesimal dust regoliths. Using parabolic flights, this study assesses how gravitational compression -- and lack thereof -- influences gas permeation, impacting the equilibrium state of low-gravity objects. Transitioning between micro- and hyper-gravity induces granular sedimentation dynamics, revealing collective dust-grain aerodynamics. Our experiments measure $\kappa$ across Knudsen number (Kn) ranges, reflecting transitional flow. Using mass and momentum conservation, we derive $\kappa$ and calculate pressure gradients within the granular matrix. Key findings: 1. As confinement pressure increases with gravitational load and mass flow, $\kappa$ and average pore space decrease. This implies that a planetesimal's unique dust-compaction history limits sub-surface volatile outflows. 2. The derived pressure gradient enables tensile strength determination for asteroid regolith simulants with cohesion. This offers a unique approach to studying dust-layer properties when suspended in confinement pressures comparable to the equilibrium state on planetesimals surfaces, which will be valuable for modelling their collisional evolution. 3. We observe a dynamical flow symmetry breaking when granular material moves against the pressure gradient. This occurs even at low Reynolds numbers, suggesting that Stokes numbers for drifting dust aggregates near the Stokes-Epstein transition require a drag force modification based on permeability.

We present a complete numerical model of the afterglow of a laterally structured relativistic ejecta from the radio to very high energies (VHE). This includes a self-consistent calculation of the synchrotron radiation, with its maximum frequency, and of synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scattering that takes the Klein-Nishina regime into account. Attenuation due to pair production is also included. This model is computationally efficient and allows multi-wavelength data fitting. As a validation test, the radiative model was used to fit the broad-band spectrum of GRB 190114C at 90 s up to the TeV range. The full model was then used to fit the afterglow of GW 170817 and predict its VHE emission. We find that the SSC flux at the peak was much dimmer than the upper limit from H.E.S.S. observations. However, we show that either a smaller viewing angle or a higher external density would make similar off-axis events detectable in the future at VHE, even above 100 Mpc with the sensitivity of the Cherenkov telescope array. High external densities are expected in the case of fast mergers, but the existence of a formation channel for these binary neutron stars is still uncertain. We highlight that VHE afterglow detections would help to efficiently probe systems like this., Comment: 27 pages. Published in A&A

The imbalance of normal stress around a particle induces its transverse migration in pressure-driven viscoelastic flow, offering possibilities for particle manipulation in microfluidic devices. Theoretical predictions align with experimental evidence of particles migrating towards the center-line of the flow. However, these arguments have been challenged by both experimental and numerical investigations, revealing the potential for a reversal in the direction of migration for viscoelastic shear-thinning fluids. Yet, a significant property of viscoelastic liquids that remains largely unexplored is the ratio of solvent viscosity to the sum of solvent and polymer viscosities, denoted as $\beta$. We computed the lift coefficients of a freely flowing cylinder in a bi-dimensional Poiseuille flow with Oldroyd-B constitutive equations. A transition from a negative (center-line migration) to a positive (wall migration) lift coefficient was demonstrated with increasing $\beta$ values. Analogous to inertial lift, the changes in the sign of the lift coefficient were strongly correlated with abrupt (albeit small) variations in the rotation velocity of the particle. We established a scaling law for the lift coefficient that is proportional, as expected, to the Weissenberg number, but also to the difference in rotation velocity between the viscoelastic and Newtonian cases. If the particle rotates more rapidly than in the Newtonian case, it migrates towards the wall; conversely, if the particle rotates more slowly than in the Newtonian case, it migrates towards the center-line of the channel. Finally, experiments in microfluidic slits confirmed migration towards the wall for viscoelastic fluids with high viscosity ratio.

Recent models of solar system formation suggest that a dynamical instability among the giant planets happened within the first 100 Myr after disk dispersal, perhaps before the Moon-forming impact. As a direct consequence, a bombardment of volatile-rich impactors may have taken place on Earth before internal and atmospheric reservoirs were decoupled. However, such a timing has been interpreted to potentially be at odds with the disparate inventories of Xe isotopes in Earth's mantle compared to its atmosphere. This study aims to assess the dynamical effects of an Early Instability on the delivery of carbonaceous asteroids and comets to Earth, and address the implications for the Earth's volatile budget. We perform 20 high-resolution dynamical simulations of solar system formation from the time of gas disk dispersal, each starting with 1600 carbonaceous asteroids and 10000 comets, taking into account the dynamical perturbations from an early giant planet instability. Before the Moon-forming impact, the cumulative collision rate of comets with Earth is about 4 orders of magnitude lower than that of carbonaceous asteroids. After the Moon-forming impact, this ratio either decreases or increases, often by orders of magnitude, depending on the dynamics of individual simulations. An increase in the relative contribution of comets happens in 30\% of our simulations. In these cases, the delivery of noble gases from each source is comparable, given that the abundance of 132Xe is 3 orders of magnitude greater in comets than in carbonaceous chondrites. The increase in cometary flux relative to carbonaceous asteroids at late times may thus offer an explanation for the Xe signature dichotomy between the Earth's mantle and atmosphere.

To meet the challenges of high-resolution molecular spectroscopy, increasingly sophisticated spectroscopic techniques were developed. For a long time FTIR and laser-based spectroscopies were used for these studies. The recent development of dual-comb spectroscopy at high-resolution makes this technique a powerful tool for gas phase studies. We report on the use and characterization of the IRis-F1, a tabletop mid-infrared dual-comb spectrometer, in the newly developed step-sweep mode. The resolution of the wavenumber axis is increased by step-wise tuning (interleaving) and accurate measurement of the laser center wavelength and repetition frequency. Doppler limited measurements of N2O and CH4 reveal a wavenumber accuracy of 1E-4 cm-1 on the covered range of > 50 cm-1. Measured half-widths of absorption lines show no systematic broadening, indicating a negligible instrument response function. Finally, measurements of nitrogen pressure broadening coefficients in the v4 band of methane show that quantum cascade laser dual-comb spectroscopy in step-sweep mode is well adapted for measurements of precision spectroscopic data, in particular line shape parameters.

Models of accretion discs surrounding active galactic nuclei (AGNs) find vast applications in high-energy astrophysics. The broad strategy is to parametrize some of the key disc properties such as gas density and temperature as a function of the radial coordinate from a given set of assumptions on the underlying physics. Two of the most popular approaches in this context were presented by Sirko & Goodman (2003) and Thompson et al. (2005). We present a critical reanalysis of these widely used models, detailing their assumptions and clarifying some steps in their derivation that were previously left unsaid. Our findings are implemented in the pAGN module for the Python programming language, which is the first public implementation of these accretion-disc models. We further apply pAGN to the evolution of stellar-mass black holes embedded in AGN discs, addressing the potential occurrence of migration traps., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, code available at https://github.com/DariaGangardt/pAGN

The effect of pressure on Raman scattering (RS) in the bulk HfS$_2$ is investigated under hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic conditions. The RS lineshape does not change significantly in the hydrostatic regime, showing a systematic blueshift of the spectral features. In a non-hydrostatic environment, seven peaks emerge in the spectrum ($P$=7 GPa) dominating the lineshape up to $P$=10.5 GPa. The change in the RS lineshape manifests a pressure-induced phase transition in HfS$_2$. The simultaneous observation of both low-pressure (LP) and high-pressure (HP) related RS peaks suggests the corresponding coexistence of two different phases over a large pressure range. We found that the HP-related phase is metastable, persisting during the decompression cycle down to $P$=1.2 GPa with the LP-related features finally recovering at even lower pressures. The angle-resolved polarized RS (ARPRS) performed under $P$=7.4 GPa revealed a strong in-plane anisotropy of both the LP-related A$_{1g}$ mode and the HP peaks. The anisotropy is related to the possible distortion of the structure induced by the non-hydrostatic component of the pressure. We describe the obtained results by the influence of the non-hydrostatic pressure on the observed phase transition. We interpret our results in terms of a distorted $Pnma$ phase as a possible HP induced structure of HfS$_2$.

With the growing demand of mineral consumption, the management of the mining waste is crucial. Cemented paste backfill (CPB) is one of the techniques developed by the mining industry to fill the voids generated by the excavation of underground spaces. The CPB process is the subject of various studies aimed at optimizing its implementation in the field. In this article, we focus on the modelling of the backfill phase where it has been shown in [Vigneaux et al., Cem. Concr. Res. 164 (2023) 107038] that a viscoplastic lubrication model can be used to describe CPB experiments. The aim here is to propose an accelerated method for performing the parameters' estimation of the properties of the paste (typically its rheological properties), with an inverse problem procedure based on observed height profiles of the paste. The inversion procedure is based on a metamodel built from an initial partial differential equation model, thanks to a Polynomial Chaos Expansion coupled with a Principal Component Analysis., Comment: Rheologica Acta, 2024