A quark nugget is a hypothetical dark-matter candidate composed of approximately equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. Most models of quark nuggets do not include effects of their intrinsic magnetic field. However, Tatsumi used a mathematically tractable approximation of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and found that the cores of magnetar pulsars may be quark nuggets in a ferromagnetic liquid state with surface magnetic field Bo = 1012±1 T. We have applied that result to quark-nugget dark matter. Previous work addressed the formation and aggregation of magnetized quark nuggets (MQNs) into a broad and magnetically stabilized mass distribution before they could decay and addressed their interaction with normal matter through their magnetopause, losing translational velocity while gaining rotational velocity and radiating electromagnetic energy. The two orders of magnitude uncertainty in Tatsumi’s estimate for Bo precludes the practical design of systematic experiments to detect MQNs through their predicted interaction with matter. In this paper, we examine episodic events consistent with a unique signature of MQNs. If they are indeed caused by MQNs, they constrain the most likely values of Bo to 1.65 × 1012 T +/− 21% and support the design of definitive tests of the MQN dark-matter hypothesis.
Many ternary and quaternary semiconductors have been made in nanocrystalline forms for a variety of applications, but we have little understanding of how well their ensemble properties reflect the properties of individual nanocrystals. We examine electronic structure heterogeneities in nanocrystals of (Ga1–x Zn x )(N1–x O x ), a semiconductor that splits water under visible illumination. We use valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (VEELS) in a scanning transmission electron microscope to map out electronic spectra of (Ga1–x Zn x )(N1–x O x ) nanocrystals with a spatial resolution of 8 nm. We examine three samples with varying degrees of intraparticle and interparticle compositional heterogeneity and ensemble optical spectra that range from a single band gap in the visible to two band gaps, one in the visible and one in the UV. The VEELS spectra resemble the ensemble absorption spectra for a sample with a homogeneous elemental distribution and a single band gap and, more interestingly, one with intraparticle compositional heterogeneity and two band gaps. We observe spatial variation in VEELS spectra only with significant interparticle compositional heterogeneity. Hence, we reveal the conditions under which the ensemble spectra reveal the optical properties of individual (Ga1–x Zn x )(N1–x O x ) particles. More broadly, we illustrate how VEELS can be used to probe electronic heterogeneities in compositionally complex nanoscale semiconductors.
A quark nugget is a hypothetical dark-matter candidate composed of approximately equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. Most models of quark nuggets do not include effects of their intrinsic magnetic field. However, Tatsumi used a mathematically tractable approximation of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and found that the cores of magnetar pulsars may be quark-nuggets in a ferromagnetic-liquid state with surface magnetic field Bo = $10^(12±1) T. We have applied that result to quark-nugget dark matter. Previous work addressed the formation and aggregation of magnetized quark nuggets (MQNs) into a broad and magnetically stabilized mass distribution before they could decay and addressed their interaction with normal matter through their magnetopause, losing translational velocity while gaining rotational velocity and radiating electromagnetic energy. The two orders of magnitude uncertainty in Tatsumi’s estimate for Bo precludes the practical design of systematic experiments to detect MQNs through their predicted interaction with matter. In this paper, we examine episodic events consistent with a unique signature of MQNs. If they are indeed caused by MQNs, they constrain the most likely values of Bo = 1.65 × 10^12 T +/- 21% and support the design of definitive tests of the MQN dark-matter hypothesis.
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