OpenAccess

A ubiquitous feature of accreting black hole systems is their hard X-ray emission which is thought to be produced through Comptonization of soft photons by electrons and positrons in the vicinity of the black hole, in a region with optical depth of order unity. The origin and composition of this Comptonizing region, known as the corona, is a matter open for debate. [...]

The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) iscurrently preparing to replace its present Inner Detector (ID) withthe upgraded, all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk) for itsHigh-Luminosity upgrade (HL-LHC). The ITk will consist of acentral pixel tracker and the outer strip tracker, consisting ofabout 19,000 strip detector modules. [...]

We propose a novel, data-driven method for determining total charm cross sections in proton–proton collisions by extrapolating measured fiducial cross sections without assuming any particular fragmentation model. The recently observed charm fragmentation non-universality at the LHC experimentally establishes strongly increased baryon production fractions and correspondingly decreased meson production fractions compared to electron–positron collisions, with a very significant $p_T$ dependence. [...]

We report a systematic study of the relationship between structure and photochromic activity in yttrium oxyhydride (YHO) thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering under different ratios of ionization gas (Ar) and reactant gas (H$_2$) flows. The best photochromic performance was observed for intermediate ratios Ar/H$_2$ ≈ 9-12. [...]

Understanding the thermo-mechanical compatibility of composite electrodes is essential for the longterm reliability of solid-oxide electrochemical devices. In this study, we demonstrate a combined in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and simultaneous dilatometry approach as a rapid and predictive method to quantify both phase-resolved and bulk thermal expansion while tracking microstructural evolution at operational temperatures. [...]

“Beak larva” is a collective term for four fossil specimens from Kachin amber, which are holometabolan larvae with a forward-projecting beak. This arrangement is very unusual, and so far it has been unclear whether these specimens are larvae of beetles or of lacewings [...]

High entropy alloys (HEAs) are unique and novel materials with remarkable properties that render themcompetitive for developing key engineering applications within modern engineering sectors. In the present study,a AlCoCrFeNi HEA was gas tungsten arc welded to 316 L stainless steel, with the aim of assessing the compatibilityin terms of microstructure and mechanical performance. [...]

The transformation of retained austenite under mechanical load has a significant impact on the mechanicalproperties of high-strength low-alloy steels and weld metals. Here, we have studied the stability of retainedaustenite in a microalloyed, multipass high-strength all-weld metal using in situ high-energy X-ray diffractionphase quantification during tensile loading. [...]

This study investigated the microstructure, tensile strength, wettability, and steam oxidation resistance of as-castIN713C fabricated by vacuum lost-wax casting. A comprehensive array of techniques, including thermodynamicsimulations, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, optical and electron microscopy, tensiletesting, sessile drop testing, and a high-temperature oxidation experiment, was employed to characterize the ascastmicrostructure. [...]

In this work, we present a comprehensive study of Al doped VN thin films with x = 0, 35, 60, 71, 84, 100 % in V$_{1−x}$Al$_x$N. These samples were deposited using a reactive magnetron sputtering process at room temperature (300 K), keeping the partial nitrogen gas flow fixed at 25 % [...]