Observation of the structure and dynamics of water in aqueous alkaline chloride solutions under gigapascal pressure by neutron scattering

Jing, Z.*; Yamaguchi, Toshio*; Hattori, Takanori; Yamada, Takeshi*; Tamatsukuri, Hiromu; Matsuura, Masato*; Zhou, Y.*

Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (Internet), 17(29), p.8419 - 8428, 2026/07

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6c01411

We conducted high-pressure neutron diffraction and quasielastic neutron scattering on a series of aqueous alkaline chloride solutions and clarified that the pressure- and ion-induced modifications to the water structure and diffusion originate from distinct physical mechanisms. Applying gigapascal pressure transforms the tetrahedral hydrogen-bonded network structure of water into a dense random packing, due to the collapse of the second and third coordination shells and an increase in the number of interstitial water molecules, regardless of the ion species. On the contrary, dissolved ions disturb the second shell but preserve the inherent tetrahedral network structure of water at ambient pressure. The anomalous trend of water diffusion from Li to Cs under the ambient conditions disappears under the gigapascal pressure, and all the ions show a behavior of structure-making ions.

Progress in lattice simulations for two Higgs doublet models

Catumba, G.*; Hiraguchi, Atsuki; Hou, G. W.-S.*; Jansen, K.*; Kao, Y.-J.*; David Lin, C.-J.*; Ramos, A.*; Sarkar, M.*

Proceedings of Science (Internet), 466, p.145_1 - 145_10, 2025/12

https://doi.org/10.22323/1.466.0145

The custodial Two-Higgs-Doublet-Model with SU(2) gauge fields is studied on the lattice. This model has the same global symmetry structure as the Standard Model but the additional Higgs field enlarges the scalar spectrum and opens the possibility for the occurrence of spontaneous symmetry breaking of the global symmetries. Both the spectrum and the running of the gauge coupling of the custodial 2HDM are studied on a line of constant Standard Model physics with cutoff ranging from 300 to 600 GeV. The lower bounds of the realizable masses for the additional BSM scalar states are found to be well bellow the W boson mass. In fact, for the choice of quartic couplings in this work the estimated lower mass for one of the BSM states is found to be about 0.2 and independent of the cutoff.

Lattice investigation of custodial two-Higgs-doublet model at weak quartic couplings

Catumba, G.*; Hiraguchi, Atsuki; Hou, W.-S.*; Jansen, K.*; Kao, Y.-J.*; David Lin, C.-J.*; Ramos, A.*; Sarkar, M.*

Journal of High Energy Physics (Internet), 2025(10), p.214_1 - 214_34, 2025/10

https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2025)214

The SU(2)-gauged custodial two-Higgs-doublet model, which shares the same global-symmetry properties with the standard model, is studied non-perturbatively on the lattice. The additional Higgs doublet enlarges the scalar spectrum and opens the possibility for spontaneous breaking of the global symmetry. In this work we start by showing the occurrence of spontaneous breaking of the custodial symmetry in a region of the parameter space of the model. Following this, both the spectrum and the running of the gauge coupling are examined at weak quartic couplings in the presence of the custodial symmetry. The calculations are performed with energy cutoffs ranging from 300 to 600 GeV on a line of constant standard model physics, obtained by tuning bare couplings to fix the ratio between the masses of the Higgs and the W bosons, as well as the value of the renormalized gauge coupling at the scale of the W boson mass. The realizable masses for the additional scalar states are explored. For the choice of bare quartic couplings in this work, the estimated lower bound of these masses is found to be well below the W boson mass, and independent of the cutoff. We also study the finite temperature electroweak transition along this line of constant standard model physics, revealing properties of a smooth crossover behavior.

Stress and plastic strain partitioning behaviors and those contributions to martensitic transformation of retained austenite in medium manganese and transformation-induced plasticity-aided bainitic ferrite steels

Hojo, Tomohiko*; Koyama, Motomichi*; Kumai, Bakuya*; Zhou, Y.*; Shibayama, Yuki; Shiro, Ayumi*; Shobu, Takahisa; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Ajita, Saya*; Akiyama, Eiji*

ISIJ International, 65(2), p.284 - 296, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2024-268

Lattice investigation of the general Two Higgs Doublet Model with gauge fields

Catumba, G.*; Hiraguchi, Atsuki; W.-S. Hou, G.*; Jansen, K.*; Kao, Y.-J.*; David Lin, C.-J.*; Ramos, A.*; Sarkar, M.*

Proceedings of Science (Internet), 453, p.87_1 - 87_9, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.22323/1.453.0087

We study the most general Two Higgs Doublet Model with gauge fields on the lattice. The phase space is probed through the computation of gauge-invariant global observables serving as proxies for order parameters. In each phase, the spectrum of the theory is analysed for different combinations of bare couplings and different symmetry breaking patterns. The scale setting and determination of the running gauge coupling are performed through the Wilson flow computation of the action density.

Brightening triplet excitons enable high-performance white-light emission in organic small molecules via integrating n-- transitions

Yang, Q.*; Yang, X.*; Wang, Y.*; Fei, Y.*; Li, F.*; Zheng, H.*; Li, K.*; Han, Y.*; Hattori, Takanori; Zhu, P.*; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 15, p.7778_1 - 7778_9, 2024/09

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52196-7

Luminescent materials that simultaneously embody bright singlet and triplet excitons hold great potential in optoelectronics, signage, and information encryption. However, achieving high-performance white-light emission is severely hampered by their inherent unbalanced contribution of fluorescence and phosphorescence. Herein, we address this challenge by pressure treatment engineering via hydrogen bonding cooperativity effect to realize the mixture of n-- transitions, where the triplet state emission was boosted from 7% to 40% in isophthalic acid (IPA). A superior white-light emission based on hybrid fluorescence and phosphorescence was harvested in pressure-treated IPA, and the photoluminescence quantum yield was increased to 75% from the initial 19% (blue-light emission). In-situ high-pressure IR spectra, X ray diffraction, and neutron diffraction reveal continuous strengthening of the hydrogen bonds with the increase of pressure. Furthermore, this enhanced hydrogen bond is retained down to the ambient conditions after pressure treatment, awarding the targeted IPA efficient intersystem crossing for balanced singlet/triplet excitons population and resulting in efficient white-light emission. This work not only proposes a route for brightening triplet states in organic small molecule, but also regulates the ratio of singlet and triplet excitons to construct high-performance white-light emission.

Gradient residual stress and fatigue life prediction of induction hardened carbon steel S38C axles; Experiment and simulation

Qin, T. Y.*; Hu, F. F.*; Xu, P. G.; Zhang, H.*; Zhou, L.*; Ao, N.*; Su, Y. H.; Shobu, Takahisa; Wu, S. C.*

International Journal of Fatigue, 185, p.108336_1 - 108336_13, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2024.108336

Spectral evidence for Dirac spinons in a kagome lattice antiferromagnet

Zeng, Z.*; Zhou, C.*; Zhou, H.*; Han, L.*; Chi, R.*; Li, K.*; Kofu, Maiko; Nakajima, Kenji; Wei, Y.*; Zhang, W.*; et al.

Nature Physics, 20(7), p.1097 - 1102, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02495-z

Probing deformation behavior of a refractory high-entropy alloy using neutron diffraction

Zhou, Y.*; Song, W.*; Zhang, F.*; Wu, Y.*; Lei, Z.*; Jiao, M.*; Zhang, X.*; Dong, J.*; Zhang, Y.*; Yang, M.*; et al.

Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 971, p.172635_1 - 172635_7, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2023.172635

Pressure-modulated magnetism and negative thermal expansion in the HoFe intermetallic compound

Cao, Y.*; Zhou, H.*; Khmelevskyi, S.*; Lin, K.*; Avdeev, M.*; Wang, C.-W.*; Wang, B.*; Hu, F.*; Kato, Kenichi*; Hattori, Takanori; et al.

Chemistry of Materials, 35(8), p.3249 - 3255, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c00158

Hydrostatic and chemical pressure are efficient stimuli to alter the crystal structure and are commonly used for tuning electronic and magnetic properties in materials science. However, chemical pressure is difficult to quantify and a clear correspondence between these two types of pressure is still lacking. Here, we study intermetallic candidates for a permanent magnet with a negative thermal expansion (NTE). Based on in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction, negative chemical pressure is revealed in HoFe on Al doping and quantitatively evaluated by using temperature and pressure dependence of unit cell volume. A combination of magnetization and neutron diffraction measurements also allowed one to compare the effect of chemical pressure on magnetic ordering with that of hydrostatic pressure. Intriguingly, pressure can be used to control suppression and enhancement of NTE. Electronic structure calculations indicate that pressure affected the top of the majority band with respect to the Fermi level, which has implications for the magnetic stability, which in turn plays a critical role in modulating magnetism and NTE. This work presents a good example of understanding the effect of pressure and utilizing it to control properties of functional materials.