University of California Research Initiatives

Massive wildfires and extreme fire behavior are becoming more frequent across the western United Statescreating a need to better understand how megafire behavior will evolve in our warming world. Here, the fire spread model Prometheus is used to simulate the initial explosive growth of the 2020 August Complex, which occurred in northern California (CA) mixed conifer forests. High temperatures, low relative humidity, and daytime southerly winds were all highly correlated with extreme rates of modeled spread. Fine fuels reached very dry levels, which accelerated simulation growth and heightened fire heat release (HR). Model sensitivity tests indicate that fire growth and HR are most sensitive to aridity and fuel moisture content. Despite the impressive early observed growth of the fire, shifting the simulation ignition to a very dry September 2020 heatwave predicted a >50% increase in growth and HR, as well as increased nighttime fire activity. Detailed model analyses of how extreme fire behavior develops can help fire personnel prepare for problematic ignitions.

Co3Sn2S2 is a magnetic Weyl semimetal, in which ferromagnetic ordering at 177K is predicted to stabilize Weyl points. We perform temperature and spatial dependent angle--resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements through the Curie temperature (Tc), which show large band shifts and renormalization concomitant with the onset of magnetism. We argue that Co3Sn2S2 evolves from a Mott ferromagnet below Tc to a correlated metallic state above Tc. To understand the magnetism, we derive a tight-binding model of Co-3dx2−y2 orbitals on the kagome lattice. At the filling obtained by first-principles calculations, this model reproduces the ferromagnetic ground state, and results in the reduction of Coulomb interactions due to cluster effects. Using a disordered local moment simulation, we show how this reduced Hubbard-U leads to a collapse of the bands across the magnetic transition, resulting in a correlated state which carries associated characteristic photoemission signatures that are distinct from those of a simple lifting of exchange splitting. The behavior of topology across Tc is discussed in the context of this description of the magnetism.