We present the local HII region metallicity near the site of the recently discovered multiply lensed supernova (SN; SN Refsdal) at redshift 1.49. SN Refsdal is located at the outer spiral arm ($sim$7 kpc) of the lensed host galaxy, which we have prev
iously reported to exhibit a steep negative galactocentric metallicity gradient. Based on our updated near-infrared integral field spectroscopic data, the gas-phase metallicity averaged in an intrinsic radius of $sim$ 550 pc surrounding an HII region $sim$ 200 pc away from the SN site is 12 + log(O/H)$_{rm PP04N2}$ $le$ 8.67. The metallicity averaged over nine HII regions at similar galactocentric distances ($sim$5-7 kpc) as SN Refsdal is constrained to be 12 + log(O/H)$_{rm PP04N2}$ $le$ 8.11. Given the fortuitous discovery of SN Refsdal in an advantageously lensed face-on spiral, this is the first observational constraint on the local metallicity environment of an SN site at redshift $z>1$.
We measured the pressure dependence of in-plane resistivity $rho_{ab}$ in the recently-discovered iron-based superconductor Ca$_{10}$(Ir$_{4}$As$_{8}$)(Fe$_{2-x}$Ir$_{x}$As$_{2}$)$_{5}$, which shows a unique structural phase transition in the absence
of magnetic ordering, with a superconducting transition temperature $T_{rm c}$ = 16 K and structural phase transition temperature $T_{rm s}$ $simeq$ 100 K at ambient pressure. $T_{rm c}$ and $T_{rm s}$ are suppressed on applying pressure and disappear at approximately 0.5 GPa, suggesting a relationship between superconductivity and structure. Ca$_{10}$(Ir$_{4}$As$_{8}$)(Fe$_{2-x}$Ir$_{x}$As$_{2}$)$_{5}$ is a rather rare example in which the superconductivity appears only in a low-temperature ordered phase. The fact that the change in the crystal structure is directly linked with superconductivity suggests that the crystal structure as well as magnetism are important factors governing superconductivity in iron pnictides.
