Electronic Contribution Research Articles

A direct detection view of the neutrino NSI landscape

In this article, we study the potential of direct detection experiments to explore the parameter space of general non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) via solar neutrino scattering. Due to their sensitivity to neutrino-electron and neutrino-nucleus scattering, direct detection provides a complementary view of the NSI landscape to that of spallation sources and neutrino oscillation experiments. In particular, the large admixture of tau neutrinos in the solar flux makes direct detection experiments well-suited to probe the full flavour space of NSI. To study this, we develop a re-parametrisation of the NSI framework that explicitly includes a variable electron contribution and allows for a clear visualisation of the complementarity of the different experimental sources. Using this new parametrisation, we explore how previous bounds from spallation source and neutrino oscillation experiments are impacted. For the first time, we compute limits on NSI from the first results of the XENONnT and LUX-ZEPLIN experiments, and we obtain projections for future xenon-based experiments. These computations have been performed with our newly developed software package, SNuDD. Our results demonstrate the importance of using a more general NSI parametrisation and indicate that next generation direct detection experiments will become powerful probes of neutrino NSI.

T-Square Dependence of the Electronic Thermal Resistivity of Metallic Strontium Titanate.

The temperature dependence of the phase space for electron-electron (e-e) collisions leads to a T-square contribution to electrical resistivity of metals. Umklapp scattering is identified as the origin of momentum loss due to e-e scattering in dense metals. However, in dilute metals like lightly doped strontium titanate, the origin of T-square electrical resistivity in the absence of umklapp events is yet to be pinned down. Here, by separating electron and phonon contributions to heat transport, we extract the electronic thermal resistivity in niobium-doped strontium titanate and show that it also displays a T-square temperature dependence. Its amplitude correlates with the T-square electrical resistivity. The Wiedemann-Franz law strictly holds in the zero-temperature limit, but not at finite temperature, because the two T-square prefactors are different by a factor of ≈3, like in other Fermi liquids. Recalling the case of ^{3}He, we argue that T-square thermal resistivity does not require umklapp events. The approximate recovery of the Wiedemann-Franz law in the presence of disorder would account for a T-square electrical resistivity without umklapp.

Chaotic and integrable magnetic fields in one-dimensional hybrid Vlasov–Maxwell equilibria

The construction of kinetic equilibrium states is important for studying stability and wave propagation in collisionless plasmas. Thus, many studies over the past decades have been focused on calculating Vlasov–Maxwell equilibria using analytical and numerical methods. However, the problem of kinetic equilibrium of hybrid models is less studied, and self-consistent treatments often adopt restrictive assumptions ruling out cases with irregular and chaotic behaviour, although such behaviour is observed in spacecraft observations of space plasmas. In this paper, we develop a one-dimensional (1-D), quasineutral, hybrid Vlasov–Maxwell equilibrium model with kinetic ions and massless fluid electrons and derive associated solutions. The model allows for an electrostatic potential that is expressed in terms of the vector potential components through the quasineutrality condition. The equilibrium states are calculated upon solving an inhomogeneous Beltrami equation that determines the magnetic field, where the inhomogeneous term is the current density of the kinetic ions and the homogeneous term represents the electron current density. We show that the corresponding 1-D system is Hamiltonian, with position playing the role of time, and its trajectories have a regular, periodic behaviour for ion distribution functions that are symmetric in the two conserved particle canonical momenta. For asymmetric distribution functions, the system is nonintegrable, resulting in irregular and chaotic behaviour of the fields. The electron current density can modify the magnetic field phase space structure, inducing orbit trapping and the organization of orbits into large islands of stability. Thus, the electron contribution can be responsible for the emergence of localized electric field structures that induce ion trapping. We also provide a paradigm for the analytical construction of hybrid equilibria using a rotating two-dimensional harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, enabling the calculation of analytic magnetic fields and the construction of the corresponding distribution functions in terms of Hermite polynomials.

Tuning the electronic and thermoelectric properties of selenium monolayers through atomic impurities: A DFT study

The structural, electronic, and thermoelectric properties of selenium monolayer with impurity adsorption and substitutional atoms have been studied using density functional theory (DFT) combined with semiclassical Boltzmann theory. The adsorption energy of the impurity adatoms in their stable position ranged from −1.46 eV for Te to −4 .44 eV for Pt. Regarding the atomic substitution, Pt impurities exhibited the highest stability in the intermediate position, with a formation energy of −150.5 meV, followed by Sn with a formation energy of −90.40 meV. We further investigated the impact of atomic impurities on the electronic properties of the material and found that the bandgap energy was significantly reduced, resulting in a semiconductor-to-metal transition. These results highlight the effectiveness of defect engineering for electronic band tuning. Furthermore, we discovered that a selenium monolayer with substitution of an Sn or Te atom in the intermediate layer exhibits a maximum value of the dimensionless figure of merit (including electronic and phononic contributions) of 0.51 and 0.52, respectively, while the clean selenium monolayer has a maximum value of ZT=0.43. These finding suggest that selenium monolayer with Sn defects could be a promising thermoelectric materials that offer an alternative for recovering waste heat and transforming it into electricity.

How Cr doping influences on the properties of ZnO nanoparticles obtained by aqueous synthesis: Exploring at low Cr concentrations

A detailed physico-chemical study of Cr3+-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) obtained via aqueous synthesis was carried out. The NPs acquire greenish tonality as the Cr concentration increased. High efficiency of Cr incorporation into the ZnO lattice was found up to approximately 1 at% Cr. The ZnO:Cr NPs show wurtzite hexagonal phase with a lattice compressed for low Cr concentration and tensed for higher concentrations. Structural, chemical and optical analyses indicate that for low Cr concentration Cr occupies the Zn vacancy sites, owing to the reduction in acceptor compensation by passivating the Zn vacancies and the contribution of the unpaired electron of Cr3+, which induces an increase of electron concentration, changes in the conductivity, transport of carriers, optical properties and ferromagnetic properties, among others. At higher Cr concentrations, the passivation of Zn vacancies by Cr atoms reduces the acceptor contribution, and substantial substitution of Zn atoms by Cr atoms in the ZnO lattice strengthens the retention of O atoms in the Cr-O bonds. This results in a reduction in O vacancy concentration, donor contribution, strain, electron concentration, and luminescence intensity.

Significant enhancement of comprehensive properties of SnBi solder through the addition of Cu@Ag core-shell particles

As a critical low-temperature lead-free solder, SnBi eutectic solder was known for its abundant lamellar structures of Bi-rich phase, which often resulted in problems such as brittleness, low electrical conductivity, and low thermal conductivity. In this study, a method was introduced to enhance the comprehensive properties of SnBi solder by adding Cu@Ag core-shell particles. Our results revealed that the modified SnBi solder exhibited significant refinement in both grain size and intragranular eutectic structures, resulting in a shift from the original brittle fracture mode to a mixed brittle and tough mode and a consequent increase in tensile strength by 21%. Moreover, the modified solder demonstrated a significant 59% increase in electrical conductivity by forming interconnected highspeed channels for electron migration. In addition, the addition of Cu@Ag core-shell particles to SnBi solder resulted in remarkable contributions of both electrons and phonons to thermal conductivity, with its value of 41.33 W m−1 K−1. Our research addressed partial property deficiencies of SnBi solder, which could be valuable in expanding its application in low temperature electronic packaging.

Structural and electronic trends of optical cycling centers in polyatomic molecules revealed by microwave spectroscopy of MgCCH, CaCCH, and SrCCH

The unique optical cycling efficiency of alkaline earth metal-ligand molecules has enabled significant advances in polyatomic laser cooling and trapping. Rotational spectroscopy is an ideal tool for probing the molecular properties that underpin optical cycling, thereby elucidating the design principles for expanding the chemical diversity and scope of these platforms for quantum science. We present a comprehensive study of the structure and electronic properties in alkaline earth metal acetylides with high-resolution microwave spectra of 17 isotopologues of MgCCH, CaCCH, and SrCCH in their 2Σ+ ground electronic states. The precise semiexperimental equilibrium geometry of each species has been derived by correcting the measured rotational constants for electronic and zero-point vibrational contributions calculated with high-level quantum chemistry methods. The well-resolved hyperfine structure associated with the 1,2H, 13C, and metal nuclear spins provides further information on the distribution and hybridization of the metal-centered, optically active unpaired electron. Together, these measurements allow us to correlate trends in chemical bonding and structure with the electronic properties that promote efficient optical cycling essential to next-generation experiments in precision measurement and quantum control of complex polyatomic molecules.

Role of electron temperature at extremely low density in negative positive ion plasma

It is pointed out that the role of electrons in the dynamics of pair ion and negative positive ion plasmas cannot be neglected even at extremely low density of electrons, i.e., ne0n+0≪mem+ (where nj0 is the background density of jth species and mj is the mass of the particles of the j-species while j = e, +, −) because electron thermal velocity is almost always larger than thermal velocities of ions, i.e., vT± ≪ vTe. An analysis of electrostatic waves in unmagnetized negative positive ion electron (NPIE) and pair ion electron (PIE) plasmas is presented for the case ωpe ≪ ωp+ (where ωpj=(4πnj0e2mj)1/2 is the plasma oscillation frequency corresponding to j-species). The electron dynamics contribute to electrostatic perturbations at ion plasma oscillation time scale at longer wavelengths for λDe2k2<1 where λDe=(Te4πne0)1/2 is the electron Debye length. On the other hand, the electron plasma wave turns into thermal wave when the conditions ωpe ≪ ωp± and 1≪λDe2k2 hold simultaneously and ion acoustic wave approaches the sum of ion plasma oscillation frequencies of positive and negative ions. The only electrostatic normal mode of such a plasma is the ion plasma wave corresponding to longer wavelengths, which also includes the contribution of electrons. The electron thermal wave is separated from plasma oscillations and electron time scale disappears with respect to electrostatic perturbations. Similar situation also occurs in plasmas having negatively charged dust particles. To elaborate these points, the analytical results are applied to the two experiments with NPIE and PIE plasmas.

Improvements in reliability and radio frequency performance of junctionless tunnelling field effect transistor using p+ pocket and metal strip

AbstractIn this article, a new p+ pocket stacked gate oxide junctionless tunnelling field effect transistor (junction less tunnelling field effect transistor (JLTFET)) which has metal strip in gate oxide layer is proposed for analogue/RF circuit applications. Due to the insertion of a p+ pocket in source/channel junction and the use of metal strip in oxide layer, the following properties of the proposed JLTFET are resulted. First, the tunnelling barrier width is reduced in the source/channel junction thereby, electrons easily tunnel from the source to the channel. Second, the hole concentration (empty state) in the channel is increased, leading to higher electron contribution in the tunnelling process. These improvements are useful in achieving high drain current and steep subthreshold swing. As a result, the maximum ON current of 4.4 × 10−5 A/μm and average subthreshold swing of 40 mV/decade are obtained from simulation results. Moreover, as compared to conventional JLTFET, the proposed JLTFET provides improvements in reliability and analogue/radio frequency (RF) performance.

Thermopower in 3D Dirac Semimetal Na3Bi

We study the electronic contribution to the thermopower of 3D Dirac semimetal using a semiclassical Boltzmann approach. We investigate the effect of various relaxation processes including disorder and interactions on the thermoelectric properties. We find that the thermopower have an interesting dependence on the chemical potential that is characteristic of the linear electronic dispersion, and that the electron-electron interactions modify the Lorenz number. We observed the dependence of thermopower on electron temperature and conclude that thermopower has higher values for electron-electron scattering as compared to charged impurity and short range disorder scattering mechanisms.

N, P codoped carbon nanosheets derived from rice husk for supercapacitors with high energy density

Supercapacitors (SCs) have been widely used owing to their merits of long cycle life, excellent physiochemical stability and zero-carbon emission. However, the low energy density of SCs restricts their further applications. Herein, the N, P doped carbon nanosheets (NPCNs) were prepared by using silicon-removed carbon as carbon resource derived from rice husk. The as-prepared NPCN not only possesses a large surface area of 1701.6 m2 g−1 and a high ratio of mesopore volume to total pore volume (62.11 %) for adsorption and transfer of electrolyte ions, but also has a suitable nitrogen and phosphorus content for electron conduction and contribution of additional active sites to generate pseudo-capacitance through redox. Therefore, the excellent electrochemical properties have been obtained for NPCN-based SCs in the alkaline electrolyte, e.g. satisfactory capacitance of 396.1 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, outstanding rate properties of 319.2 F g−1 at 40 A g−1, long cyclability with capacitance decay of 0.95 % after 30,000 cycles. Additionally, the energy density of the NPCN-based SCs with neutral electrolyte and ionic liquid electrolyte increased 2.67-fold and 11-fold to 33.25 and 137.24 Wh kg−1, respectively. This study opens up a feasible route by crafting heteroatoms and using high voltage window electrolyte to obtain the high energy density for SCs.

Time-resolved study of pump-induced refractive index changes in Tb[formula omitted]-doped phosphate glasses: Discrimination of electronic and thermal contributions

Time-resolved Z-scan measurements were performed in Tb3+-doped Zinc Phosphate (PZABP) glasses. The electronic and thermal contributions to the Z-scan signal were unequivocally discriminated. The electronic component was shown to increase linearly with the Tb3+ concentration in the glasses and explained by the polarizability difference (Δαp) between excited and ground states of the Tb3+ ions. Open aperture Z-scan measurements indicate the presence of excited state absorption due to a spin-forbidden transition from the metastable (5D4) 4f level of Tb3+ to the 4f75d1 state. The Δαp value obtained in the PZABP glass matrix is two orders of magnitude smaller than the observed in aluminosilicate glasses, indicating that Δαp of Tb3+-doped materials is very sensitive to the host crystal field, as compared to other rare-earth ions such as Nd3+ and Yb3+. These results are justified by the host dependence of energy position of the 4f75d1 levels of Tb3+.

Transport properties of B and N sites vacancy defects graphene/h-BN heterostructures: First-principles study

First-principles calculations based on spin-polarized DFT-D2 approach have been carried out to study the transport properties of graphene/h-BN (G/h-BN) heterostructure (HS), 1 N vacancy defect in G/h-BN (G/h-BN_1 N), nearest neighbour of 1 N & 1B vacancy defects in G/h-BN (G/h-BN_nBN), and alternate zone of 1 N & 1B vacancy defects in G/h-BN (G/h-BN_aBN) materials. Transport properties like electrical conductivity (σ), electronic contribution of thermal conductivity (K), Seebeck coefficient (S) and thermoelectric power factor (P) are estimated through Boltzmann transport equations (BTE) within constant relaxation time approximation (RTA). Quantum ESPRESSO and BoltzTrap packages are used as a computational tool in the calculations. The considered materials are found to be stable van der Waals (vdWs) HS. The σ and K of graphene, h-BN, G/h-BN, G/h-BN_1 N, G/h-BN_nBN and G/h-BN_aBN are found to be increasing monotonically with temperature. The defected materials have slightly less value of σ than that of G/h-BN due to the effect of their effective mass and carrier concentration. At room temperature, K of G/h-BN, G/h-BN_nBN and G/h-BN_aBN retains similar value, while K of G/h-BN_1 N has increased slightly because the increase in Fermi velocity of electrons near Fermi level due to the reduction in effective mass thereby increasing the mean free path. We have analyzed the temperature dependent (constant value of energy) and energy dependent (constant value of temperature) S and P of above-mentioned materials, and found that S and P of defected HS are higher than that of non-defected HS materials due to combine dependence of n, T and m* on the value of S. The estimated S and P values of considered materials are consistent with reported value. Hence, they have budding employment in the thermoelectric devices.

Photoenhanced Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Accelerated Dominantly by the Hot Electrons from Intraband Transition rather than Interband Transition.

Plasmonic materials enabling sunlight as an energy input to catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) have become the research focus of artificial photosynthesis. Upon visible photoexcitation, there are both intraband transition and interband transition hot carriers generated, and which of them dominates the catalytic reaction remains elusive. Here, the contributions of hot electrons from intraband and interband transitions to the photoelectrocatalytic HER on plasmonic Au triangle nanoprisms (AuTNPs) have been studied. Compared with the dark reaction, the exchange current density increases by 9-fold and 3-fold under intraband and interband excitation, respectively, which is attributed to the higher energy level of intraband transition hot electrons. By calculation of the reaction activation energy with and without illumination, the contributions of the hot electrons from the two photoexcitation modes to the photoenhanced electroreduction reaction (PEER) are quantitatively analyzed, proposing the general standard to measure the effect of different hot electrons in different reactions.

Magnetic and transport properties in metallic and disordered Ru2VAl and Ru2VGa

In this work, we report an elaborate study on the structural, magnetic and thermoelectric properties of two Ru-based Heusler alloys, viz., Ru2VAl and Ru2VGa, having valence electron count 24. While Ru2VGa exhibits a nonmagnetic ground state, in Ru2VAl a short range ferromagnetic interaction is developed below 10 K due to the structural antisite defects and disorder, that also manifests its signature in the specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements at low temperatures. Both the Seebeck coefficient (S) and Hall measurements suggest the dominance of hole-type carrier for electronic transport in Ru2VAl whereas Ru2VGa is found to be a n-type material. The linear nature and small absolute values of S, as well as non-zero values of electronic contribution to specific heat γS (γSRu2VAl = 4.9 mJ/mol-K2 and γSRu2VGa = 5.5 mJ/mol-K2) point towards a metallic ground state for both these alloys. Both the compounds exhibit lower thermal conductivity at room temperature in comparison to Fe-based Heusler alloys due to the presence of heavier element Ru.

Intrinsic thermal conductivity of ZrC from low to ultrahigh temperatures: A critical revisit

Current phonon transport theory based on ground-state calculations has been successful in predicting thermal conductivity at room and medium temperatures but may misrepresent behavior at high temperatures. In this work, we predict the thermal conductivity ($\ensuremath{\kappa}$) of ZrC including electronic and phonon contributions from 300 to 3500 K, by including high-order phonon scattering; lattice expansion; temperature-dependent (TD) second-, third-, and fourth-order force constants (2FC, 3FC, and 4FC); and interband phonon conduction by using first principles. For the phonon transport, we find that four-phonon scattering (4ph) significantly reduces the phonon thermal conductivity (${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{\mathrm{ph}}$), by as much as $\ensuremath{\sim}75%$ at 3500 K. After including 4ph scattering and all other factors, ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{\mathrm{ph}}$ shows a $\ensuremath{\sim}{T}^{\ensuremath{-}1.5}$ rather than $\ensuremath{\sim}{T}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ dependence. TD 2FC decreases three-phonon scattering rates but increases 4ph rates by decreasing and increasing the scattering phase spaces, respectively. For 4ph phase space, the TD 2FC flattens phonon bands, and allows more redistribution-4ph processes $(1+2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3+4)$ to happen. The combination effect of TD 2FC and TD 4FC reduces 4ph rates of acoustic modes but increases those of optical modes. The TD 3FC and 4FC decrease the phonon scattering cross section and increase the ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{\mathrm{ph}}$ significantly (by 52% at 3500 K). The contribution from interband (Wigner) phonon conduction is small, even at ultrahigh temperatures. For electronic thermal transport, we find that it is sensitive to and can be changed by 20% by the TD lattice constants. The Lorenz number varies from 1.6 to $3.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ at different temperatures. The theoretical prediction in the literature overpredicts ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{\mathrm{ph}}$ (e.g., $\ensuremath{\sim}28%$) and underpredicts the ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{\mathrm{el}}$ (e.g., $\ensuremath{\sim}38%$), resulting in an overall underprediction of $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ ($\ensuremath{\sim}26%$ at 1500 K). The impacts of grain size and defects are found to be strong, leading to the lower observed thermal conductivity in experiments.

Absence of Weak Localization Effects in Strontium Ferromolybdate

Sr2FeMoO6-δ (SFMO) double perovskite is a promising candidate for room-temperature spintronic applications, since it possesses a half-metallic character (with theoretically 100% spin polarization), a high Curie temperature of about 415 K and a low-field magnetoresistance (LFMR). The magnetic, resistive and catalytic properties of the double perovskite SFMO are excellent for spintronic (non-volatile memory), sensing, fuel cell and microwave absorber applications. However, due to different synthesis conditions of ceramics and thin films, different mechanisms of electrical conductivity and magnetoresistance prevail. In this work, we consider the occurrence of a weak localization effect in SFMO commonly obtained in disordered metallic or semiconducting systems at very low temperatures due to quantum interference of backscattered electrons. We calculate the quantum corrections to conductivity and the contribution of electron scattering to the resistivity of SFMO. We attribute the temperature dependence of SFMO ceramic resistivity in the absence of a magnetic field to the fluctuation-induced tunneling model. We also attribute the decreasing resistivity in the temperature range from 409 K to 590 K to adiabatic small polaron hopping and not to localization effects. Neither fluctuation-induced tunneling nor adiabatic small polaron hopping favors quantum interference. Additionally, we demonstrate that the resistivity upturn behavior of SFMO cannot be explained by weak localization. Here, the fitted model parameters have no physically meaningful values, i.e., the fitted weak localization coefficient (B′) was three orders of magnitude lower than the theoretical coefficient, while the fitted exponent (n) of the electron–electron interaction term (CnTn) could not be assigned to a specific electron-scattering mechanism. Consequently, to the best of our knowledge, there is still no convincing evidence for the presence of weak localization in SFMO.

Test Bench for Highly Segmented GRIT Double-Sided Silicon Strip Detectors: A Detector Quality Control Protocol

This work deals with the characteristics of highly segmented double-sided silicon detectors. These are fundamental parts in many new state-of-the-art particle detection systems, and therefore they must perform optimally. We propose a test bench that can handle 256 electronic channels with off-the-shelf equipment, as well as a detector quality control protocol to ensure that the detectors meet the requirements. Detectors with a large number of strips bring new technological challenges and issues that need to be carefully monitored and understood. One of the standard 500 μm thick detectors of the GRIT array was investigated, undergoing studies that revealed its IV curve, charge collection efficiency, and energy resolution. From the data obtained, we calculated, among other things, the depletion voltage (110 V), the resistivity of the bulk material (9 kΩ·cm), and the electronic noise contribution (8 keV). We present, for the first time, a methodology called “the energy triangle’’ to visualize the effect of charge sharing between two adjacent strips and to study the hit distribution with the interstrip-to-strip hit ratio (ISR).

Polymorphs of Titanium Dioxide: An Assessment of the Variants of Projector Augmented Wave Potential of Titanium on Their Geometric and Dielectric Properties.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the important functional materials owing to its diverse applications in many fields of chemistry, physics, nanoscience, and technology. Hundreds of studies on its physicochemical properties, including its various phases, have been reported experimentally and theoretically, but the controversial nature of relative dielectric permittivity of TiO2 is yet to be understood. Toward this end, this study was undertaken to rationalize the effects of three commonly used projector augmented wave (PAW) potentials on the lattice geometries, phonon vibrations, and dielectric constants of rutile (R-)TiO2 and four of its other phases (anatase, brookite, pyrite, and fluorite). Density functional theory calculations within the PBE and PBEsol levels, as well as their reinforced versions PBE+U and PBEsol+U (U = 3.0 eV), were performed. It was found that PBEsol in combination with the standard PAW potential centered on Ti is adequate to reproduce the experimental lattice parameters, optical phonon modes, and the ionic and electronic contributions of the relative dielectric permittivity of R-TiO2 and four other phases. The origin of failure of the two soft potentials, namely, Ti_pv and Ti_sv, in predicting the correct nature of low-frequency optical phonon modes and ion-clamped dielectric constant of R-TiO2 is discussed. It is shown that the hybrid functionals (HSEsol and HSE06) slightly improve the accuracy of the above characteristics at the cost of a significant increase in computation time. Finally, we have highlighted the influence of external hydrostatic pressure on the R-TiO2 lattice, leading to the manifestation of ferroelectric modes that play a role in the determination of large and strongly pressure-dependent dielectric constant.

Which Physical Phenomena Determine the Ionization Potential of Liquid Water?

Understanding and predicting the properties of molecular liquids from the corresponding properties of the individual molecules is notoriously difficult because there is cooperative behavior among the molecules in the liquid. This is particularly relevant for water, where even the most fundamental molecular properties, such as the dipole moment, are radically different in the liquid compared to the gas phase. In this work, we focus on the ionization potential (IP) of liquid water by dissecting its individual contributions from the individual molecules making up the liquid. This is achieved by using periodic subsystem DFT, a state-of-the-art electronic structure method based on density embedding. We identify and evaluate four important electronic contributions to the IP of water: (1) mean-field, evaluated at the Hartree-Fock level; (2) electronic correlation, incorporated via DFT and wave function-based methods; (3) interaction with and (4) polarization of the environment, both evaluated ab initio with density embedding. Furthermore, we analyze their impact on the IP relative to the structural fluctuation of liquid water, revealing unexpected, hidden correlations, confirming that the broadening of the photoelectron spectra is mostly caused by intermolecular interactions confined in the first solvation shell.