Publications

We study 34 Type Ic supernovae that have broad spectral features (SNe Ic-BL). This is the only SN type found in association with long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We obtained our photometric data with the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and its continuation, the intermediate PTF (iPTF). This is the first large, homogeneous sample of SNe Ic-BL from an untargeted survey. Furthermore, given the high observational cadence of iPTF, most of these SNe Ic-BL were discovered soon after explosion. We present K-corrected Bgriz light curves of these SNe, obtained through photometry on template-subtracted images. We analyzed the shape of the r-band light curves, finding a correlation between the decline parameter Δm15 and the rise parameter Δm−10. We studied the SN colors and, based on g − r, we estimated the host-galaxy extinction for each event. Peak r-band absolute magnitudes have an average of −18.6 ± 0.5 mag. We fit each r-band light curve with that of SN 1998bw (scaled and stretched) to derive the explosion epochs. We computed the bolometric light curves using bolometric corrections, r-band data, and g − r colors. Expansion velocities from Fe <ns0:sc>II</ns0:sc> were obtained by fitting spectral templates of SNe Ic. Bolometric light curves and velocities at peak were fitted using the semianalytic Arnett model to estimate ejecta mass Mej, explosion energy EK and 56Ni mass M(56Ni) for each SN. We find average values of Mej = 4 ± 3 M⊙, EK = (7 ± 6)×1051 erg, and M(56Ni)=0.31 ± 0.16 M⊙. The parameter distributions were compared to those presented in the literature and are overall in agreement with them. We also estimated the degree of 56Ni mixing using scaling relations derived from hydrodynamical models and we find that all the SNe are strongly mixed. The derived explosion parameters imply that at least 21% of the progenitors of SNe Ic-BL are compatible with massive (> 28 M⊙), possibly single stars, whereas at least 64% might come from less massive stars in close binary systems.

A series of in situ toughened, Al, B and C containing, silicon carbide ceramics (ABC-SiC) has been examined with Al contents varying from 3 to 7 wt.%. With increasing Al additions, the grain morphology in the as-processed microstructures varied from elongated to bimodal to equiaxed, with a change in the nature of the grain-boundary film from amorphous to partially crystalline to fully crystalline. Fracture toughness and cyclic fatigue tests on these microstructures revealed that although the 7 wt.% Al containing material (7ABC) was extremely brittle, the 3 and particularly 5 wt.% Al materials (3ABC and 5ABC, respectively) displayed excellent crack-growth resistance at both ambient (25 °C) and elevated (1300 °C) temperatures. Indeed, no evidence of creep damage, in the form of grain-boundary cavitation, was seen at temperatures at 1300 °C or below. The enhanced toughness of the higher Al-containing materials was associated with extensive crack bridging from both interlocking grains (in 3ABC) and uncracked ligaments (in 5ABC); in contrast, the 7ABC SiC showed no such bridging, concomitant with a marked reduction in the volume fraction of elongated grains. Mechanistically, cyclic fatigue-crack growth in 3ABC and 5ABC SiC involved the progressive degradation of such bridging ligaments in the crack wake, with the difference in the degree of elastic vs. frictional bridging affecting the slope, i.e. Paris law exponent, of the crack-growth curve.

Controlling the spatial arrangement of molecular catalysts on electrodes is critical to developing an optimal electrocatalyst. Mo-S clusters have shown great promise in catalyzing hydrogen evolution for the generation of carbon-free fuel from water. Here we report a synthetic approach to organize these molecular clusters into ordered dimers, cages, and chains through the use of organic linkers, as solved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. We find that the linkage through the coordination bond between thiolate and Mo₃S₇ leads to (1) a 40-fold enhancement in turnover frequency compared with the unlinked cluster and (2) the periodic arrangement of clusters on the electrode with control over their distance, orientation, and density, thus enabling hydrogen evolution at high catalyst loading. The materials developed here require an overpotential of only 89 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^-2, outperforming other Mo-S catalysts (both molecular and solid-state).

Quantitatively correlating the amorphous structure in metallic glasses (MGs) with their physical properties has been a long-sought goal. Here we introduce ‘flexibility volume’ as a universal indicator, to bridge the structural state the MG is in with its properties, on both atomic and macroscopic levels. The flexibility volume combines static atomic volume with dynamics information via atomic vibrations that probe local configurational space and interaction between neighbouring atoms. We demonstrate that flexibility volume is a physically appropriate parameter that can quantitatively predict the shear modulus, which is at the heart of many key properties of MGs. Moreover, the new parameter correlates strongly with atomic packing topology, and also with the activation energy for thermally activated relaxation and the propensity for stress-driven shear transformations. These correlations are expected to be robust across a very wide range of MG compositions, processing conditions and length scales.