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# Circulating electrons, superconductivity, and the Darwin-Breit interaction

## I Introduction

Arguments and results will be presented that hopefully convince the open-minded reader that superconductivity is caused by the Darwin-Breit (magnetic) interaction between semiclassical electrons. The starting point is a careful study of the model problem of electrons on a circle. This simple model is chosen since it allows accurate treatment of the notoriously difficult problem of relativistic and magnetic effects in many-electron systems. Since classical ideas are closer to our intuition the classical picture is taken as far as possible before quantum mechanics is reluctantly adopted. The semiclassical point of view is an extremely powerful one Brack and Bhaduri (1997); Gutzwiller (1990) and the reader will find further examples of this below.

Relativistic quantities, to a first approximation, have a magnitude $`(v/c)^2`$ times those of non-relativistic quantities. While this always is small in everyday life, in the atomic world this parameter is $`10^4`$, which is fairly small, but rarely negligible. A striking example of this is the energy gap in superconductors which typically is order of magnitude $`10^4`$ of the Fermi energy. Any study of this phenomenon that does not take relativistic effects into account must consequently remain inconclusive

The Darwin-Breit interaction Darwin (1920); Breit (1929, 1932) is the first order relativistic correction,

$$V_1=\underset{i<j}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{e^2}{c^2}\frac{𝒗_i𝒗_j+(𝒗_i𝒆_{ij})(𝒗_j𝒆_{ij})}{2r_{ij}},$$
(1)
to the Coulomb potential. Sucher Sucher (1998) in a recent review (What is the force between two electrons?) gives a thorough discussion of its origin in QED. While well known as an important perturbation in accurate atomic calculations Strange (1998); Cook (1988) it has until recently (Essén Essén (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999)) usually been taken for granted, without proof or justification, that it is negligible in larger systems. Welker Welker (1938) suggested in 1939 that magnetic attraction of parallel currents might cause superconductivity, but after that the idea seems to have been forgotten. Other types of magnetic interaction have been suggested though Mathur et al. (1998). Some efforts to include the Darwin-Breit interaction in density functional approaches to solids are reviewed in Strange Strange (1998). Capelle and Gross Capelle and Gross (1995) have also made efforts towards a relativistic theory of superconductivity.

In section II we introduce the analytical mechanics of particles on a circle and apply it to mesoscopic rings. This serves to introduce the mathematical model and also throws some light of the theory behind the persistent currents found in these. We later find that, though these rings are not superconducting, electron pairing might be relevant to understand their physics.

Section III closes in upon the main subject of superconductivity. The London moment formula connecting the angular velocity of a superconducting body and the magnetic field it produces is introduced and motivated. The formula, together with classical electromagnetism can be used to calculate the number of superconducting electrons present. This number is found to be determined entirely by fundamental constants and the size of the body.

Finally in section IV the importance of the Darwin-Breit interaction is investigated. We show how it can lead to electron pairing and calculate the relevant temperatures at which these form. We also investigate when the interaction might become dominating and find that exactly the combination of number, size, and fundamental constants that followed from the London moment is the condition for this. When the condition is fulfilled the particles no longer move individually, or in pairs, but collectively. The behavior of this condition as a function of spatial dimension is investigated. Interestingly it is found that the one-dimensionality of the ring enhances pair-formation but suppresses collective behavior (superconductivity). After that the conclusions are summarized.

## II Rings, persistent currents, and flux periodicity

In solid state physics cold mesoscopic metal rings have attracted a lot of attention. In particular since theoretical predictions Büttiker et al. (1983); Bloch (1970) that an external magnetic flux through the ring causes a persistent current round it, have been experimentally verified Webb et al. (1985); Levy et al. (1990); Chandrasekhar et al. (1991). The agreement between theory and experiment is, however, still far from perfect Johnson and Kirczenow (1998), for reviews see Imry and Peshkin (1997); Imry (1997). One normally assumes that it is correct to treat the conduction electrons semiclassically, one speaks about ballistic electrons Brack and Bhaduri (1997); Imry (1997), and we will do so here. Superconductivity is not treated in this section, but we assume that the rings are perfect conductors (have zero resistance).

### II.1 Charged particles on a circle

We now set up the model problem of charged particles constrained to move on a circle. Assuming that the circle has radius $`R`$, positions and velocities are given by

$$𝒓_i(\phi _i)=R𝒆_\rho (\phi _i),\text{and}\text{ }𝒗_i(\phi _i,\dot{\phi }_i)=R\dot{\phi }_i𝒆_\phi (\phi _i),$$
(2)
where $`𝒆_\rho (\phi )=\mathrm{cos}\phi 𝒆_x+\mathrm{sin}\phi 𝒆_y`$ and $`\dot{𝒆}_\rho =\dot{\phi }𝒆_\phi `$, as usual. We take the zeroth order Lagrangian to be

$$L_0=T_0V_0=\frac{1}{2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}m_iR^2\dot{\phi }_i^2V_0(\phi _1,\mathrm{},\phi _N).$$
(3)
Since we will have metallic conduction electrons in mind the potential $`V_0`$ does not necessarily represent the Coulomb interactions, but rather interactions with the lattice plus, possibly, Debye screened two particle interactions. The generalized (angular) momenta are $`J_i=L_0/\dot{\phi }_i=mR^2\dot{\phi }_i`$ so the Hamiltonian is

$$H_0=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{J_i^2}{2m_iR^2}+V_0.$$
(4)
If there is a magnetic flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }=𝑩d𝒔=𝑨d𝒓=2\pi RA_\phi `$ through the ring the Hamiltonian changes to

$$H_0=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{1}{2m_i}\left(\frac{J_i}{R}\frac{e_i}{c}A_\phi \right)^2+V_0=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{1}{2m_iR^2}\left(J_i\frac{e_i}{2\pi c}\mathrm{\Phi }\right)^2+V_0,$$
(5)
since $`A_\phi =\mathrm{\Phi }/(2\pi R)`$.

We find the equations of motion

$`\dot{J}_i={\displaystyle \frac{H_0}{\phi _i}}={\displaystyle \frac{V_0}{\phi _i}},`$ (6)
$`\dot{\phi }_i={\displaystyle \frac{H_0}{J_i}}={\displaystyle \frac{J_i}{m_iR^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{e_i\mathrm{\Phi }}{m_iR^22\pi c}}.`$ (7)
The current round the ring is by definition

$$I=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}e_i\frac{\dot{\phi }_i}{2\pi }=\frac{1}{2\pi }\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\left(\frac{e_iJ_i}{m_iR^2}\frac{e_i^2\mathrm{\Phi }}{m_iR^22\pi c}\right)I_0+I_\mathrm{\Phi }.$$
(8)
One notes that the relation

$$I=c\frac{H_0}{\mathrm{\Phi }}$$
(9)
holds.

For non-interacting particles on the ring we have

$$V_0=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}U_0(\phi _i).$$
(10)
Then $`H_0=_iH_i(J_i,\phi _i)`$ where $`H_i`$ are constants of the motion, $`H_i=E_i`$, whether there is a flux or not. There are then the adiabatic invariants Landau and Lifshitz (1976)

$$I_{\phi _i}\frac{1}{2\pi }J_i(\phi _i;E_i,\mathrm{\Phi })d\phi _i=\overline{J_i},$$
(11)
the averages, $`\overline{J_i}`$, of the $`J_i`$ round the ring. If the flux is turned on slowly they will retain their zero flux values. The zero flux average current

$$\overline{I_0}=\frac{1}{2\pi R^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{e_i\overline{J_i}}{m_i}$$
(12)
is thus also an adiabatic invariant, and remains constant. This means that slowly turning on a flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ through the ring results in the extra diamagnetic circulating current

$$I_\mathrm{\Phi }=\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{4\pi ^2R^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{e_i^2}{m_ic}$$
(13)
independently of any pre-existing current. Below we will find that the above result can be found using Larmor’s theorem and thus, in fact, is independent of electron interactions provided other conditions are fulfilled.

### II.2 Two types of current

We find that there are two different types of current possible in these rings. The ‘ballistic’ current $`I_0`$, which should be, at most Geller (1996), order of magnitude a few $`ev_\text{F}/(2\pi R)`$, where $`v_\text{F}`$ is the Fermi velocity, and the Larmor current $`I_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ induced by the flux. Assuming that only electrons contribute (13) becomes

$$I_\mathrm{\Phi }=\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{4\pi ^2R^2}N\frac{e^2}{mc}.$$
(14)
Putting

$$\mathrm{\Phi }=n_\varphi \frac{hc}{|e|}n_\varphi \mathrm{\Phi }_0,$$
(15)
where $`n_\varphi `$ is dimensionless and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0=hc/|e|`$ is the flux quantum, we get the expression $`I_\mathrm{\Phi }\pi R^2=Nn_\varphi \mu _\mathrm{B}`$. Here $`\mu _\mathrm{B}=|e|\mathrm{}/(2m)`$ is the Bohr magneton. Gaussian units are used in most formulas; to get equation (14) in SI-units we simply delete $`c`$. If the flux is $`\mathrm{\Phi }=B\pi R^2`$ we can then rewrite it in the form

$$I_\mathrm{\Phi }=NB2.242\mathrm{nA}/\mathrm{T}.$$
(16)
To get a number out of this formula we must estimate the number $`N`$ of semiclassical electrons and know the magnetic field in teslas. The speed corresponding to the Larmor current is, in atomic units, $`v_\mathrm{\Phi }=n_\varphi /Rv_\text{F}=1.92/r_s`$, where $`r_s`$ is the radius parameter. On the other hand all semiclassical electrons contribute to $`I_\mathrm{\Phi }`$, whereas the number contributing to $`I_0`$ necessarily is small.

Levy et al. Levy et al. (1990) found an average current of $`I_{\mathrm{av}}=310^3ev_\text{F}/\mathrm{}=0.36`$nA in their Cu-rings, of circumference $`\mathrm{}=2.2\mu `$m. If this is interpreted as a Larmor-current we can calculate $`N`$. At the magnetic field $`B_0=1.310^2`$T corresponding to the flux quantum $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ this gives the reasonable result $`N100`$ for the number of semiclassical electrons in the system. Chandrasekhar et al. Chandrasekhar et al. (1991), on the other hand, found currents $`I=`$(0.3 – 2.0) $`ev_\text{F}/(2\pi R)`$ in a single gold ring. These can thus only be interpreted as due to ballistic currents. They might be due to electron pairs, which may form even in the normal state, as we will see below.

### II.3 Larmor’s theorem

Consider a system of particles, all of the same charge to mass ratio $`e/m`$. Assume that they move in a common external potential, $`U_e(\rho ,z)`$, that is axially symmetric, i.e. independent of $`\phi `$, under the influence of arbitrary interparticle interactions. Now place this system in a weak magnetic field, $`B_z`$, along the $`z`$-axis. One can then apply Larmor’s theorem Strange (1998); Essén (1989) to show that the response of the system to this field is a rotation with angular velocity

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_z=\frac{e}{2mc}B_z$$
(17)
given by the Larmor frequency.

This means that there will be a circulating Larmor current

$$I_L=Ne\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_z}{2\pi }=\frac{B_z}{4\pi }N\frac{e^2}{mc}$$
(18)
where $`Ne`$ is the total amount of charge on the particles ($`N`$ is not necessarily the number of particles). If we insert $`B_z=\mathrm{\Phi }/(\pi R^2)`$ we recover essentially equation (14). This is why we called $`I_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ the Larmor current. Note that we derived (14) under the assumption of arbitrary charge to mass ratios $`e_i/m_i`$ but no interparticle interaction. Here we need identical charge to mass ratios $`e/m`$ and an axially symmetric external field but can have arbitrary interactions between the particles. The general results (14) and (16) for semiclassical electrons (or electron pairs or groups) in cold metal rings thus seem fairly reliable.

It is noteworthy that the result of equation (13) is not necessarily due to any magnetic field affecting the particles. The flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ could very well go through a smaller surface completely inside the ring material. This means that the current in (13) is a classical Aharonov-Bohm effect Aharonov and Bohm (1959). That is, an effect due to the vector potential at zero magnetic field. By contrast the Larmor result (18) is derived assuming that the magnetic field penetrates the ring.

### II.4 Quantizing the electron on the circle and flux periodicity

The above results are purely classical. When we quantize them we will find that physical properties must be periodic in (half?) the flux quantum, as will now be shown show. Our previous classical results for currents must be thought of as averages over these quantum periods (beats). Flux quantization was originally suggested by London London (1961), for a thorough discussion see Thouless Thouless (1998).

The classical Hamiltonian of an electron moving freely on a circle of radius $`R`$ threaded by a flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is, according to equation (5),

$$H=\frac{1}{2mR^2}\left(J+\frac{|e|}{2\pi c}\mathrm{\Phi }\right)^2.$$
(19)
We quantize this by letting $`J\widehat{J}=\mathrm{i}\mathrm{}/\phi `$ and thus get the Schrödinger equation

$$\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2mR^2}\left(\mathrm{i}\frac{}{\phi }+n_\varphi \right)^2\psi (\phi )=E\psi (\phi ),$$
(20)
where we have used equation (15). Putting

$$\psi (\phi )=\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{i}n_\varphi \phi )\psi ^{}(\phi )$$
(21)
we get

$$\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2mR^2}\frac{^2}{\phi ^2}\psi ^{}=E\psi ^{}$$
(22)
for the gauge transformed wave function. It is now frequently argued Byers and Yang (1961); Bloch (1970) that the wave function must be single valued and that therefore

$$\psi (\phi +2\pi )=\psi (\phi ).$$
(23)
Via (21) this leads to the physical condition

$$\psi ^{}(\phi +2\pi )=\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{i}n_\varphi 2\pi )\psi ^{}(\phi )$$
(24)
on the solutions of (22), where the flux has been transformed away. This boundary condition is unchanged if $`n_\varphi `$ changes by unity. This implies that physical quantities must be periodic in the flux with period $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$.

The above argument is not necessarily reliable, however. The correct wave function for an electron is a spinor (in the non-relativistic case a two component spinor). A spinor is well known to change sign when rotated by $`2\pi `$. The question is then: will the spinor rotate as the electron travels round the circle? A free electron is known to have conserved helicity, the projection of the spin on the momentum. As the ring radius is large compared to atomic dimensions the electron momentum turns slowly and it seems reasonable that the helicity will remain conserved (as an adiabatic invariant). This, of course, means that the spinor must rotate with the momentum. The conclusion of all this is that the correct condition on the spinor wave function, for a single electron, should be

$$\psi (\phi +4\pi )=\psi (\phi ),$$
(25)
and thus that

$$\psi ^{}(\phi +4\pi )=\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{i}n_\varphi 4\pi )\psi ^{}(\phi ).$$
(26)
This condition is unchanged whenever $`n_\varphi `$ changes by one half. I.e. physical quantities must be periodic in the flux with period $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$. Note that the same result is obtained if $`|e|`$ in equation (19) is changed to $`2|e|`$. The $`n_\varphi `$ in (20) changes to $`2n_\varphi `$ and equation (24) becomes identical to (26).

In conclusion the observation of the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$ periodicity does not necessarily imply electron pairs. It might be due to single electrons going round the ring with conserved helicity. Both the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ and the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$ periodicities have been experimentally observed Deaver and Fairbank (1961); Doll and Näbauer (1961); Gough et al. (1987); Webb et al. (1985); Levy et al. (1990); Chandrasekhar et al. (1991).

## III Rotating superconductors and the number of superconducting electrons

There is another surprising result concerning circulating electrons that is easily explained by Larmor’s theorem (17). London London (1961) showed (see also Brady (1982); Cabrera and Peskin (1989); Liu (1998)), using his phenomenological theory of superconductivity, that a superconducting sphere that rotates with angular velocity $`𝛀`$ will have an induced magnetic field (Gaussian units)

$$𝑩=\frac{2mc}{|e|}𝛀$$
(27)
in its interior. Here $`m`$ and $`e`$ are the mass and charge of the electron. This prediction has been experimentally verified with considerable accuracy and is equally true for high temperature and heavy fermion superconductors Tate et al. (1989); Sanzari et al. (1996). With minor modifications it is also valid for other axially symmetric shapes of the body, for example cylinders or rings.

### III.1 Understanding the London moment

The London field, or ‘moment’, (27) can be thought of as follows. Assume that the superconducting body can be viewed as a system of interacting particles with the electronic charge to mass ratio confined by an axially symmetric external potential. When the body rotates we can transform the equations of motion to a co-rotating system, in which it is at rest, but in this system the particles will be affected by a Coriolis force $`m2𝛀\times 𝒗`$. Larmor’s theorem teaches us that such a Coriolis force is equivalent to an external magnetic field. Magnetic fields are, however, not allowed inside superconductors according to the Meissner effect. To get rid of the Coriolis forces the rotation induces surface supercurrents that produce a suitable compensating magnetic field $`𝑩`$. The Lorentz force of this field is $`(|e|/c)𝒗\times 𝑩`$. Provided the relation between $`𝑩`$ and $`𝛀`$ is given by (27) the two forces cancel. The equations of motion in the rotating system are then the same, in the interior, as if the system did not rotate. The disturbance from the rotation on the dynamics is minimized.

The above explanation may sound compelling, but the most direct way of understanding formula (27) is, in fact, much simpler. The superconducting electrons, which are always found just inside the surface London (1961), are not dragged by the positive ion lattice so when it starts to rotate the superconducting electrons ignore this and remain in whatever motion they prefer. This, however, means that there will be an uncompensated motion of positive charge density on the surface of the body. This surface charge density, $`\sigma `$, will, of course, be the same as the density of superconducting electrons, but of opposite sign, and will produce the magnetic field. Using this we can calculate the number, $`N`$, of superconducting electrons.

### III.2 The number of superconducting electrons

It is well known that a rotating uniform surface charge density will produce a uniform interior magnetic field in a sphere. If this rotating surface charge density is $`\sigma `$, then the total charge $`Q`$ is given by

$$Q=N|e|=4\pi R^2\sigma ,$$
(28)
and the resulting magnetic field in the interior is

$$𝑩=\frac{2}{3}\frac{Q}{cR}𝛀=\frac{8\pi }{3}\frac{\sigma R}{c}𝛀,$$
(29)
where $`R`$ is the radius of the sphere (relevant formulas for the calculation can be found in Essén Essén (1989)). Putting $`Q=N|e|`$ and comparing this equation with (27) one finds that the number $`N`$ must be given by $`N=3Rmc^2/e^2=3R/r_\mathrm{e}`$. We thus find that the relationship

$$\frac{Nr_\mathrm{e}}{R}=3,$$
(30)
where $`r_\mathrm{e}`$ is the classical electron radius, and $`N`$ the number of electrons contributing to the supercurrent, characterizes the superconductivity on a sphere of radius $`R`$.

The corresponding calculation for a cylinder, long enough for edge effects to be negligible, is elementary and gives a similar value for $`Nr_\mathrm{e}/\mathrm{}`$, where $`\mathrm{}`$ is the length of the cylinder. We will return to the crucial significance of the dimensionless combination $`Nr_\mathrm{e}/R`$ below. It is noteworthy that the number $`N`$ depends only on the geometry (size) and fundamental constants ($`r_\mathrm{e}`$). How can this be if superconductivity is caused by some effective interaction with the lattice?

## IV Pairing and collective effects due to the Darwin-Breit interaction

We now continue the study of the semiclassical (ballistic) electrons in the ring using the model of charged particles constrained to move on a circle. Now we further assume that the electrons are free particles to zeroth order and investigate how this is affected by the first order Darwin-Breit term. The relativistic mass-velocity correction is probably not of much interest here.

### IV.1 The Darwin-Breit term on the ring

For the positions and velocities of equation (2) the Darwin-Breit term (1) becomes

$$V_1=\frac{e^2}{Rc^2}\underset{i<j}{\overset{N}{}}R^2\dot{\phi }_i\dot{\phi }_j\frac{1}{4}\frac{1+3\mathrm{cos}(\phi _i\phi _j)}{\sqrt{2[1\mathrm{cos}(\phi _i\phi _j)]}}\frac{e^2R}{c^2}\underset{i<j}{\overset{N}{}}\dot{\phi }_i\dot{\phi }_jV_\phi (\phi _i\phi _j),$$
(31)
and the first order Lagrangian $`L=T_0V_1`$, with $`T_0`$ given in equation (3), is

$$L=\frac{1}{2}mR^2\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\dot{\phi }_i^2+\frac{e^2R}{c^2}\underset{i<j}{}\dot{\phi }_i\dot{\phi }_jV_\phi (\phi _i\phi _j).$$
(32)
The nature of the function $`V_\phi `$ is indicated in equation (42) below. If we introduce (note that the electron has charge $`e=|e|`$)

$$A_i=\frac{e}{c}\underset{j(i)}{\overset{N}{}}\dot{\phi }_jV_\phi (\phi _i\phi _j)$$
(33)
we can write this

$$L=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\left(\frac{1}{2}mR^2\dot{\phi }_i^2+\frac{e}{2c}R\dot{\phi }_iA_i\right).$$
(34)
It is easy to show that for real electrons distributed round a (one-dimensional) ring of real atoms the Darwin-Breit term will always be a small perturbation Geller (1996). Individual terms in the interaction may still be large if some pair of interparticle distances is very small. This would correspond to pair formation and is treated in the next subsection. In the real world of two and three dimensions the Darwin-Breit term as a whole can become large. This means that individually moving particles is no longer a good first approximation. This is shown in the following subsection.

### IV.2 The one-dimensional hydrogen atom

The Darwin-Breit term represents an interaction which is attractive for parallel currents. For small relative velocities of the electrons it seems possible that it could lead to bound states (for the relative motion of the particles). Let us investigate this. Most conduction electrons in the metal ring will be inside the (one-dimensional) Fermi surface and they will occur in pairs of opposite momentum with no net current. Assume that only two electrons have unpaired momenta and move in the same direction around the ring approximately with the Fermi velocity. The Lagrangian of these two is then

$$L=\frac{mR^2}{2}(\dot{\phi }_1^2+\dot{\phi }_2^2)+\frac{e^2R}{c^2}\dot{\phi }_1\dot{\phi }_2V_\phi (\phi _1\phi _2).$$
(35)
We now make the coordinate transformation

$$\phi _\text{C}=\frac{1}{2}(\phi _1+\phi _2),\phi =\phi _1\phi _2$$
(36)
to center of mass angle $`\phi _\text{C}`$ and relative angle $`\phi `$. The inverse transformation is

$$\phi _1=\phi _\text{C}+\frac{1}{2}\phi ,\phi _2=\phi _\text{C}\frac{1}{2}\phi ,$$
(37)
and the Lagrangian becomes

$$L=\frac{mR^2}{2}\left(2\dot{\phi }_\text{C}^2+\frac{1}{2}\dot{\phi }^2\right)+\frac{e^2R}{c^2}\left(\dot{\phi }_\text{C}^2\frac{1}{4}\dot{\phi }^2\right)V_\phi (\phi ).$$
(38)
We define $`J_\text{C}L/\dot{\phi }_\text{C}`$ and $`JL/\dot{\phi }`$ and get the (exact) Hamiltonian

$$H=J_\text{C}\dot{\phi }_\text{C}+J\dot{\phi }L=\frac{1}{4}\frac{J_\text{C}^2}{mR^2\left(1+\frac{e^2V_\phi (\phi )}{mc^2R}\right)}+\frac{J^2}{mR^2\left(1\frac{e^2V_\phi (\phi )}{mc^2R}\right)}.$$
(39)
Clearly $`\dot{J}_\text{C}=H/\dot{\phi }_\text{C}=0`$ so the center of mass (angular) momentum $`J_\text{C}`$ is conserved. We put

$$|J_\text{C}|2J_\text{F}=\text{const.}$$
(40)
and expand to first order in the parameter $`\frac{e^2/R}{mc^2}=r_\mathrm{e}/R`$. Throwing away a constant we end up with the following Hamiltonian for the relative motion of the electrons

$$H=\frac{J^2}{mR^2}\frac{J_\text{F}^2J^2}{mR^2}\frac{e^2}{mc^2}\frac{V_\phi (\phi )}{R}.$$
(41)
Consistency with our original assumptions requires that $`J^2J_\text{F}^2`$ and thus we neglect the $`J^2`$ in the second term. Series expansion of $`V_\phi `$ gives

$$V_\phi (\phi )=\frac{1}{4}\frac{1+3\mathrm{cos}\phi }{\sqrt{2(1\mathrm{cos}\phi )}}=\frac{1}{|\phi |}\frac{1}{3}|\phi |+\frac{97}{5760}|\phi |^3+\mathrm{},$$
(42)
for the angular potential energy, so near $`\phi =0`$ this is essentially a (one-dimensional) Coulomb potential. We keep the first term and introduce

$$pJ/R,\mu m/2,rR\phi ,Z_\text{F}\frac{J_\text{F}^2/(mR^2)}{mc^2}=\frac{_\text{F}}{mc^2},$$
(43)
where $`_\text{F}`$ is the Fermi energy. The Hamiltonian for the relative motion then becomes the well known Hamiltonian,

$$H=\frac{p^2}{2\mu }\frac{Z_\text{F}e^2}{|r|},$$
(44)
for a (one dimensional) one electron atom with reduced mass $`\mu `$ and nuclear charge $`Z_\text{F}`$.

The analysis above for two electrons on a circle can be done in an almost identical way in three dimensions Essén (1995, 1996, 1999) and shows that the Breit interaction can bind two electrons in their relative motion while their center of mass moves through the metal at the Fermi speed. The ground state energy in that case corresponds to a temperature of $`0.1`$ mK. In the present one-dimensional case all parameters are the same except the dimensionality of the space. The one-dimensional hydrogen atom is treated in the literature Haines and Roberts (1969); Rau (1985) and the ground state energy is known to go logarithmically to minus infinity when the dimension approaches one. To get a finite result we must therefore take account of the thickness, $`a`$, of our ring and change the potential to

$$V_1(r)=\frac{Z_\text{F}e^2}{|r|+a}.$$
(45)
In the three dimensional case the Bohr radius of the Hamiltonian (44) is $`a_m=2/Z_\text{F}1.5210^4r_s^2/a_0`$, where $`a_0`$ is the ordinary Bohr radius and $`r_s`$ the radius parameter. The three-dimensional ground state energy is $`E_{3d}=1/a_m^2=Z_\text{F}^2/4`$. The corresponding result for the one-dimensional potential (45) is Haines and Roberts (1969); Rau (1985)

$$E_{1d}=\frac{1}{a_m^2}[2\mathrm{ln}(a_m/a)]^2.$$
(46)
The condition for this is that $`aa_m`$. For the gold ring of Chandrasekhar et al. Chandrasekhar et al. (1991) with $`a80`$nm one finds that $`a_m/a10^2`$ using standard values for the Fermi energy of Au. One gets similar values for the Cu rings of Levy et al. Levy et al. (1990). The $`1d`$-condition is thus clearly satisfied in both experiments. We thus get that the ground state energy of the Darwin-Breit bound electron pairs corresponds to a temperature of roughly 1 – 2 mK. This is a bit below the temperatures (7 mK) at which the persistent current gold ring experiments in Chandrasekhar et al. (1991) were performed, but the order of magnitude agreement is noteworthy. In the $`10^7`$ Cu-rings experiment of Levy et al. Levy et al. (1990) the temperature range 7 – 400 mK was used. Physicists working with the theory of these phenomena can certainly not ignore the Darwin-Breit interaction and the possibility of pairing.

### IV.3 When does the Darwin-Breit term become large?

In the previous subsection we saw that the Darwin-Breit interaction, though small, can have important qualitative effect and lead to pairing of electrons. This effect is enhanced by one-dimensionality because of the logarithmic divergence of the $`1/r`$-interaction in one dimension. Let us now investigate the possibility of collective effects due to this term.

We return to the Lagrangian (32) and try to get the Hamiltonian without approximation. The generalized momentum is

$$J_i\frac{L}{\dot{\phi }_i}=mR^2\dot{\phi }_i+\frac{e^2R}{c^2}\underset{j(i)}{\overset{N}{}}\dot{\phi }_jV_\phi (\phi _i\phi _j).$$
(47)
In order to get an exact Hamiltonian we must solve for the $`\dot{\phi }_i`$ in terms of the $`J_i`$. If we introduce the abbreviation $`V_{ij}V_\phi (\phi _i\phi _j)`$ we can write the $`N`$ equations (47)

$$J_i=mR^2\left(\dot{\phi }_i+\frac{r_\mathrm{e}}{R}\underset{j(i)}{\overset{N}{}}V_{ij}\dot{\phi }_j\right),i=1,\mathrm{},N,$$
(48)
($`r_\mathrm{e}`$=classical electron radius). As long as the sum here is negligible we have $`J_imR^2\dot{\phi }_i`$ and easily find an approximate Hamiltonian. For few particles, small $`N`$, the sum will, in practice, never exceed the small number $`Nr_\mathrm{e}/R`$ by much, since in quantum mechanics the uncertainty principle prevents the $`V_{ij}`$ from becoming to large. If, however, $`N`$ is very large, the sum can still be small if the velocities $`\dot{\phi }_j`$ have random signs.

We see that the condition for breakdown of the approximation $`J_imR^2\dot{\phi }_i`$, and thus for important collective effects of the Darwin-Breit term, is that $`Nr_\mathrm{e}/R`$ no longer is small. A three dimensional estimate in Essén (1997) shows that, in fact, magnetic energy is minimized when

$$\frac{Nr_\mathrm{e}}{R}1$$
(49)
where $`N`$ is the number of correlated velocities. If we put $`\epsilon _er_\mathrm{e}/R`$ we can write equation (48) in the matrix form

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}J_1\\ J_2\\ \mathrm{}\\ J_N\end{array}\right)=mR^2\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& \epsilon _eV_{12}& \mathrm{}& \epsilon _eV_{1N}\\ \epsilon _eV_{21}& 1& \mathrm{}& \epsilon _eV_{2N}\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& & \mathrm{}\\ \epsilon _eV_{N1}& \epsilon _eV_{N2}& \mathrm{}& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\dot{\phi }_1\\ \dot{\phi }_2\\ \mathrm{}\\ \dot{\phi }_N\end{array}\right).$$
(50)
This shows that collective Darwin-Breit behavior is due to ”off-diagonal long range order”, a concept invented by C. N. Yang Yang (1962). Here the concept reappears in a classical context and arises in the Legendre transformation from the Lagrangian, with a Darwin-Breit interaction, to the Hamiltonian.

In a real one-dimensional ring of atoms with electrons this cannot happen, as will be shown below. The algebra, however, is, barring notational and other irrelevant details, the same in two and three dimensions Essén (1996, 1997). We have already seen, in equation (30), that this parameter, $`Nr_\mathrm{e}/R`$, can be unity in three dimensions when the system is superconducting. Everything thus falls nicely into place. The Darwin-Breit term can lead to pairing of electrons at sufficiently low temperatures. Provided one has long range correlation of velocities it can also lead to a large collective effect, which, in fact, seems to be superconductivity.

The condition (49) will imply different physics for different spatial dimension $`d`$. The number $`N`$ of ballistic, or semiclassical, or superconducting, or velocity-momentum correlated, electrons will be limited by the fact that there will be at most one contributed per atom, usually much less. Assume, for definiteness, the maximum number. For a sample of spatial dimension $`d`$ and side length $`R`$ this gives, very roughly,

$$N_{\mathrm{max}}(d)=R^d/a_0^d,$$
(51)
where $`a_0`$ is the Bohr-radius. If we put this in equation (49) we get $`\frac{R^dr_\mathrm{e}}{a_0^dR}1`$ which implies that

$$R^{d1}a_0^d/r_\mathrm{e}.$$
(52)
This gives the following (minimum) sizes $`R`$ of superconducting structures in spatial dimension $`d`$

$$d1+R\mathrm{},$$
(53)
$$d=2Ra_0^2/r_\mathrm{e}19000a_01\mu \mathrm{m},$$
(54)
$$d=3Ra_0\sqrt{a_0/r_\mathrm{e}}140a_010\mathrm{nm}.$$
(55)
As stated above, we see that $`d=1`$ does not permit long range correlation. We saw that this does not mean that electron pairs do not form. It only means that no long range collective phenomenon (phase transition?) will be possible. Two dimensions differ from three in that structures (samples) must be at least two orders of magnitude larger in (linear) size.

## V Conclusions

The experienced theoretical physicist, should, just by looking at formula (1), see that there is trouble with the thermodynamics ahead, since the interaction is long range ($`1/r`$) and there is no natural screening mechanism similar to that which limits the range of the Coulomb interaction. This trouble is here identified with superconductivity. The main new point here, compared to the previous investigations by the author, is the discovery that the parameter $`Nr_\mathrm{e}/R`$, of equation (49), which has appeared again and again in my study of the Darwin Hamiltonian (the exact Hamiltonian corresponding to the Lagrangian with the Darwin-Breit term), also miraculously appears in an estimate of the number of superconducting electrons, equation (30). This gives a direct connection to the heart of superconductivity that was missing before. The painful but only conclusion must be that the Darwin-Breit interaction is the interaction between electrons that causes superconductivity.


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# Nuclear multifragmentation, percolation and the Fisher Droplet Model: common features of reducibility and thermal scaling

## Abstract

It is shown that the Fisher Droplet Model (FDM), percolation and nuclear multifragmentation share the common features of reducibility (stochasticity in multiplicity distributions) and thermal scaling (one-fragment production probabilities are Boltzmann factors). Barriers obtained, for cluster production on percolation lattices, from the Boltzmann factors show a power-law dependence on cluster size with an exponent of $`0.42\pm 0.02`$. The EOS Au multifragmentation data yield barriers with a power-law exponent of $`0.68\pm 0.03`$. Values of the surface energy coefficient of a low density nuclear system are also extracted.

Since the earliest observations of nuclear multifragmentation (the break up of excited nuclei), the Fisher Droplet Model (FDM)  and percolation models  have been employed in attempts to understand this phenomenon. The FDM enjoyed early success in predicting power-law distributions in fragment masses at the critical point in a liquid-vapor diagram . Percolation models also predicted a power-law distribution in fragment sizes near the critical point , . Both models still enjoy great popularity and have been employed in the analysis of Au multifragmentation data obtained by the EOS Collaboration ,,,,.

Other analyses of multifragmentation data have shown two empirical properties of the fragment multiplicities which have been named reducibility and thermal scaling ,,,. Reducibility refers to the observation that for each energy bin, $`E`$, the fragment multiplicities, $`N`$, are distributed according to a binomial or Poissonian law. As such, their multiplicity distributions, $`P_N`$, can be reduced to a one-fragment production probability $`p`$, according to the binomial or Poissonian law:

$`P_N^M`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{M!}{M!(MN)!}}p^N(1p)^{MN};`$ (1)
$`P_N`$ $`=`$ $`e^N{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N!}}N^N,`$ (2)
where $`M`$ is the total number of trials in the binomial distribution. The experimental observation that $`P_N`$ could be constructed in terms of $`p`$ was considered evidence for stochastic fragment production, i.e. fragments are produced independently of each other. Experimental fragment multiplicity distributions were observed to change from binomial to Poissonian under a redefinition of fragment from $`3Z20`$ to individual charges, $`Z`$ .

Thermal scaling refers to the feature that $`p`$ behaves with temperature $`T`$ as a Boltzmann factor: $`p\mathrm{exp}(B/T)`$. Thus a plot of $`\mathrm{ln}p`$ vs. $`1/T`$, an Arrhenius plot, should be linear if $`p`$ is a Boltzmann factor. The slope $`B`$ is the one-fragment production barrier. Analyses of multifragmentation distributions along these lines have demonstrated the presence of these features  and have led to the extraction of barriers . Controversy has surrounded this type of analysis regarding both the physical existence of these features and their significance, mostly within the framework of dynamical vs. statistical origins of multifragmentation .

In this work several important points will be made: The FDM inherently contains reducibility and thermal scaling. Since percolation reduces to the FDM, it exhibits reducibility and thermal scaling. Thus percolation provides a simple mathematical model that fully manifests these two features. Arrhenius plots for percolation can be used to extract barriers. The barriers have a power-law dependence on cluster size. Analysis of the EOS Au multifragmentation data verifies reducibility and thermal scaling. The extracted barriers also obey a power-law dependence on fragment mass.

The FDM and its forerunners ,  are based on the equilibrium description of physical clusters or droplets. The mean number of droplets of size $`A`$ was written as:

$$N_A\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu }{T}\right],$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mu =\mu \mu _l`$ and $`\mu `$ and $`\mu _l`$ are the actual and liquid chemical potentials respectively. For $`\mu <\mu _l`$ (gas), $`N_A`$ falls to zero with increasing $`A`$. For $`\mu >\mu _l`$ (liquid), $`N_A`$ increases with $`A`$. To better describe the distribution for intermediate values of $`A`$, Eq. (3) was modified to include the surface of the droplets:

$$N_A\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu }{T}\frac{c(T)A^{2/3}}{T}\right],$$
(4)
where $`c(T)`$ is the surface free-energy density. For $`\mu <\mu _l`$, $`N_A`$ falls to zero with increasing $`A`$. For $`\mu >\mu _l`$, the terms in the exponential compete, leading to an early decrease in $`N_A`$ with $`A`$, followed by an increase.

To account for the properties near criticality, Fisher introduced an explicit expression for the surface free energy and a topological factor resulting in an expression for the normalized droplet distribution:

$$n_A=\frac{N_A}{A_0}=q_0A^\tau \mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu }{T}\frac{c_0ϵA^\sigma }{T}\right],$$
(5)
where: $`A_0`$ is the size of the system; $`q_0`$ is a normalization constant depending only on the value of $`\tau `$ ; $`\tau `$, the topological critical exponent, depends on the dimensionality of the system with origins that lie in considerations of a three dimensional random walk of a surface closing on itself, for three dimensions $`2\tau 3`$; $`c_0ϵA^\sigma `$ is the surface free energy of a droplet of size $`A`$; $`c_0`$ is the surface energy coefficient; $`\sigma `$ is the critical exponent related to the ratio of the dimensionality of the surface to that of the volume; and $`ϵ=(T_cT)/T_c`$ is the control parameter, a measure of the distance from the critical point, $`T_c`$.

From this outline it is apparent that the FDM exhibits the features of reducibility and thermal scaling. The distribution in droplet size is Poissonian by construction: in the FDM each component of droplet size $`A`$ is an ideal gas without the canonical constraint of overall constituent number conservation. The resulting grand canonical distribution is Poissonian. Thus, $`\sigma _A^2=N_A`$, i.e. Poissonian reducibility.

Thermal scaling is obvious in the FDM when Eq. (5) is written as follows:

$$\mathrm{ln}n_A=\mathrm{ln}q_0\tau \mathrm{ln}A+\frac{A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu }{T}+\frac{c_0A^\sigma }{T_c}\frac{c_0A^\sigma }{T}.$$
(6)
It is clear that linearity with $`1/T`$ (thermal scaling in an Arrhenius plot) extends to and beyond the critical point, and the slope of the Arrhenius plot gives the $`T=0`$ surface energy coefficient of the droplet.

Percolation models are characterized by a constant energy per bond. The bond-breaking probability, $`p_{break}`$, is amenable to a straightforward statistical mechanics treatment. Such a treatment reveals that in the limit of $`T\mathrm{}`$, $`p_{break}1/2`$, indicating that the range of $`p_{break}`$ covered by Eq. (5) is half the usual range discussed in percolation theory; $`0p_{break}1`$. Such a literal thermodynamical treatment therefore excludes the critical point, $`p_c`$, of many types of percolation systems from thermodynamic consideration.

However, percolation phenomena, with a geometrical phase transition, share with thermal critical phenomena the important features of scaling, universality and renormalization group as well as other deep connections . For example, the scaling behavior observed in percolation clusters can be described by the FDM when $`p_{break}`$ replaces $`T`$ in Eq. (5) and the control parameter becomes $`ϵ=(p_cp_{break})/p_c`$ .

To demonstrate the scaling of percolation clusters a plot is made of the scaled cluster distribution, $`n_A^{scaled}=n_A/q_0A^\tau `$, as a function of the scaled control parameter, $`ϵ^{scaled}=A^\sigma ϵ/p_{break}`$. See the left panel of Fig. 1. Data over a wide range in $`A`$ and $`ϵ`$ are seen to collapse. Cluster distributions used in this analysis were generated on a simple cubic lattice of side six .

Fitting $`n_A^{scaled}`$ as a function of $`ϵ^{scaled}`$ for $`ϵ0`$ and leaving $`c_0`$ and $`\mathrm{exp}\left[A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu /p_{break}\right]`$ as free parameters in Eq. (5) gives $`c_0=2.34\pm 0.03`$ and $`\mathrm{exp}\left[A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu /p_{break}\right]=0.95\pm 0.01`$, i.e. the bulk factor is unity. At the critical point, $`ϵ=0`$, the collapsed distribution takes the value of one indicating that the cluster distribution follows a power law. Away from the critical point, the cluster distribution predominantly follows the surface term in Eq. (5). The FDM does not describe the behavior of clusters for $`ϵ0`$. Other forms for the FDM’s surface factor have been suggested to describe cluster behavior on both sides of the critical point , .

Also shown in Fig. 1 is a plot of the EOS Au multifragmentation data , , , , . Here the substitution of $`\sqrt{e^{}}=\sqrt{E^{}/A_0}`$ for $`T`$ has been made resulting in a control parameter of $`ϵ=(\sqrt{e_c^{}}\sqrt{e^{}})/\sqrt{e_c^{}}`$, which for a degenerate Fermi gas reduces to $`(T_cT)/T_c`$. The excitation energy normalized to the mass of the fragmenting remnant, $`e^{}`$ in MeV/nucleon, excludes collective effects . The location of the critical point, $`e_c^{}`$, and values of the critical exponents, $`\sigma `$ and $`\tau `$, were determined previously , , , , . Fitting $`n_A^{scaled}`$ as a function of $`ϵ^{scaled}`$ for $`ϵ0`$ and leaving $`c_0`$ and $`\mathrm{exp}\left[A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu /\sqrt{e^{}}\right]`$ as free parameters in Eq. (5) gives $`c_0=6.4\pm 0.6`$ MeV (via $`E^{}=aT^2`$ with $`a=A_0/13`$) and $`\mathrm{exp}\left[A\mathrm{\Delta }\mu /\sqrt{e^{}}\right]=0.8\pm 0.1`$, i.e. the bulk term is consistent with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mu 0`$. The surface energy coefficient $`c_0`$ is of a somewhat different nature than the semiempirical mass formula parameter ($`a_s17`$ MeV for $`T=0`$, $`\rho =\rho _0`$) or estimates for low density nuclear systems ($`a_s6`$ MeV for $`T3`$ MeV, $`\rho \rho _0/3`$) . The coefficient $`c_0`$ is temperature independent; the temperature dependence is given as $`c_0ϵ`$.

Since the FDM has been shown to contain the features of reducibility and thermal scaling and since the scaling inherent in the FDM describes percolation, it should be possible to observe reducibility and thermal scaling in percolation cluster distributions.

To address the question of reducibility in percolation, cluster multiplicity distributions for bins in $`p_{break}`$ are considered. The ratio of the variance to the mean, $`\sigma _A^2/N_A`$, of the multiplicity distribution for each cluster of size $`A`$ is an indicator of the nature of the distribution. In Fig. 2, such a ratio is shown as a function of $`p_{break}`$. The observed ratio is near one (Poissonian limit) over the range of $`p_{break}`$. Within experimental errors, similar behavior is observed for the Au multifragmentation data.

Examples of multiplicity distributions with Poissonian curves calculated from percolation $`N_A`$ are shown in the left panel of Fig. 3. Poissonian distributions reproduce percolation cluster distributions over two or three orders of magnitude for all $`A`$ values; Poissonian reducibility is present in percolation.

Fig. 3 also shows the multiplicity distributions for Au multifragmentation compared to the calculated Poissonian curves. The agreement between the measured and computed distributions confirms the presence of reducibility in the Au multifragmentation data.

To verify thermal scaling in percolation, the average yield of clusters of size $`A`$ and its dependence on $`p_{break}`$ are considered. The presence of thermal scaling should manifest itself through a Boltzmann factor. Again, the substitution $`p_{break}`$ for $`T`$ is made in accordance with standard percolation theory and $`\mathrm{ln}n_A`$ is plotted as a function of $`1/p_{break}`$ (Arrhenius plot). See Fig. 4. In most cases the Arrhenius plots for individual clusters of size $`A`$ are linear over two orders of magnitude. Thus, thermal scaling is verified for percolation. The observations that reducibility and thermal scaling are already present in such a simple model suggest that they are deeply rooted fundamental features of multifragmentation processes rather than being epiphenomena of complex systems.

The Boltzmann factor indicates that the slope of an Arrhenius plot represents the barrier $`B`$ associated with the production of a cluster. For an interpretation of $`B`$ in percolation, the Boltzmann factor is equated with Eq. (5) yielding a power law relating $`B`$ to the size of a cluster: $`B=c_0A^\sigma `$ when $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mu 0`$. Fitting the extracted barriers $`B`$ (slopes in Fig. 4) as a function of $`A`$ gives an exponent equal to $`0.42\pm 0.02`$ in agreement with the accepted value of $`\sigma =0.45`$ for $`3`$D percolation. See Fig. 5. The constant of proportionality of the power law gives another measure of the surface energy coefficient $`c_0=2.42\pm 0.03`$.

When the Arrhenius analysis is performed on the Au multifragmentation data, the results are qualitatively similar, but quantitatively distinct. Arrhenius fits of $`\mathrm{ln}n_A`$, now plotted against $`1/\sqrt{e^{}}`$, are linear over an order of magnitude or more. See Fig. 4. The barriers extracted here can be converted into units of MeV via the energy-temperature relation for a degenerate Fermi gas. Following the same analysis as for percolation, a fit was made of $`B`$ vs. $`A`$ (see Fig. 5) which yielded $`\sigma =0.68\pm 0.03`$, in agreement with previously determined EOS Au multifragmentation values , ,  and $`c_0=6.8\pm 0.5`$ MeV.

In summary, the above effort illustrates:

* the presence of reducibility and thermal scaling in the FDM, percolation and the EOS Au multifragmentation data (the latter two shown empirically);
* the relationship between the FDM and percolation via a scaling analysis that also yields an estimate of the surface energy coefficient;
* that the barriers obtained from percolation follow a power-law dependence on cluster size with an exponent that agrees with the accepted $`3`$D percolation value and gives another (consistent) estimate of the surface energy coefficient;
* the collapse of the EOS Au fragment distributions in accordance with the FDM yielding an estimate of the surface energy coefficient of a low density nuclear system;
* that the barriers obtained from EOS Au multifragmentation data follow a power-law dependence on fragment mass with an exponent near the expected value ($`2/3`$) and close to the 3D Ising universality class value ($`0.64`$) and gives another (consistent) estimate of the surface energy coefficient.

This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy and by the National Science Foundation.


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# High Resolution Spectroscopy of the X-ray Photoionized Wind in Cygnus X-3 with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer

## 1 Introduction

In a previous paper (Liedahl & Paerels 1996, ’LP96’) we presented an interpretation of the discrete spectrum of Cyg X-3 as observed with the Solid State Imaging Spectrometers on ASCA (cf. Kitamoto et al. 1994; Kawashima & Kitamoto 1996). We found clear spectroscopic evidence that the discrete emission is excited by recombination in a tenuous X-ray photoionized medium, presumably the stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet companion star (van Kerkwijk et al. 1992). Specifically, the ASCA spectrum revealed a narrow radiative recombination continuum (RRC) from H-like S, unblended with any other transitions. On closer inspection, RRC features due to H-like Mg and Si were also found to be present in the data, although severely blended with emission lines. These narrow continua are an unambiguous indicator of excitation by recombination in X-ray photoionized gas, and their relative narrowness is a direct consequence of the fact that a highly ionized photoionized plasma is generally much cooler than a collisionally ionized plasma of comparable mean ionization (LP96, Liedahl 1999 and references therein).

With the high spectral resolution of the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer, we now have the capability to fully resolve the discrete spectrum. Apart from offering a unique way to determine the structure of the wind of a massive star, study of the spectrum may yield other significant benefits. Cyg X-3 shows a bright, purely photoionization driven spectrum, and, as such, may provide a template for the study of the spectra of more complex accretion-driven sources, such as AGN. The analysis will also allow us to verify explicitly the predictions for the structure of X-ray photoionized nebulae derived from widely applied X-ray photoionization codes.

## 2 Data Reduction

A description of the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) may be found in Markert et al. (1994). Cyg X-3 was observed on October 20, 1999, for a total of 14.6 ksec exposure time, starting at 01:11:38 UT. The observation covered approximate binary phases $`0.31`$ to $`+0.53`$, which means that about half of the exposure in our observation occurs in the broad minimum in the lightcurve at orbital phase zero. Aspect-corrected data from the standard CXC pipeline (processing date October 30, 1999) was post-processed using dedicated procedures written at Columbia. We used (ASCA-)grade 0,2,3,4 events, a spatial filter 30 ACIS pixels wide was applied to both the High Energy Grating (HEG) and Medium Energy Grating (MEG) spectra, and the resulting events were plotted in a dispersion–CCD pulse height diagram, in which the spectral orders are neatly separated.

A second filter was applied in this dispersion–pulse height diagram. The filter consisted of a narrow mask centered on each of the spectral orders separately. The mask size and shape were optimized interactively. The residual background in the extracted spectra is of order 0.5 counts/spectral bin of 0.005 Å or less. The current state of the calibration does not provide us with the effective area associated with our joint spatial/pulse height filters to better than 25% accuracy, hence we have chosen not to flux-calibrate the spectrum at this time. An additional correction to the flux in the chosen aperture due to the (energy dependent) scattering of photons by interstellar dust has not yet been determined either.

In the resulting order-separated count spectra, we located the zero order and we determined its centroid position to find the zero of the wavelength scale. We then converted pixel number to wavelength based on the geometry of the HETGS. In this procedure, we used ACIS/S chip positions that were determined after launch from an analysis of the dispersion angles in the HETGS spectrum of Capella (Huenemoerder et al. 2000). This preliminary wavelength scale appears to be accurate to approximately 2 mÅ. The spectral resolution was determined from a study of narrow, unblended emission lines in the spectrum of Capella. It is approximately constant accross the entire HETGS band, and amounts to approximately 0.012 Å (0.023 Å) FWHM for the HEG (MEG) (Dewey 2000). The resolution in the Cyg X-3 spectrum can be checked self-consistently by analyzing the width of the zero order image. Unfortunately, the zero order image is affected by pileup. However, enough events arrive during the 41 ms CCD frame transfer, forming a streak in the image, that we can construct an unbiased 1D zero-order distribution from them. The width of this distribution is consistent with the widths of narrow lines in the spectrum of Capella, which indicates that the resolution in the Cyg X-3 spectrum is not affected by systematic effects (e.g., incorrect aspect solution, defocusing).

## 3 X-ray Photoionization in Cyg X-3

Figure 1 shows the HEG and MEG first order spectra; the higher order spectra are unfortunately very weak, and we will not discuss them here. We show the spectra as a function of wavelength, because this is the most natural unit for a diffractive spectrometer: the instruments have approximately constant wavelength resolution. The spectra have been smoothed with a 3-pixel boxcar average to bring out coherent features We have indicated the positions of expected strong H– and He-like discrete features. A cursory examination of the spectrum strikingly confirms the photoionization-driven origin of the discrete emission.

We detect the spectra of the H-like species of all abundant elements from Mg through Fe. In Si and S, we detect well-resolved narrow radiative recombination continua. This is illustrated in Figure 2, which shows the 3.0–7.0 Å band on an enlarged scale. The Si XIV and S XVI continua are readily apparent. The width of these features is a direct measure of the electron temperature in the recombining plasma, and a simple eyeball fit to the shapes indicates $`kT_e`$ 50 eV, which is roughly in agreement with the result of model calculations for optically thin X-ray photoionized nebulae (Kallman & McCray 1982). A more detailed, fully quantitative analysis of the spectrum will be required to see whether we can also detect the expected temperature gradient in the source (more highly ionized zones are also expected to be hotter). In the Si XIV and S XVI spectra we estimate the ratio between the total photon flux in the RRC to that in Ly$`\alpha `$ to be about 0.8 and 0.7, respectively; here, we assume $`kT_e=`$ 50 eV, and we have made an approximate correction for the differences in effective area at the various features. These measured ratios are in reasonable agreement with the expected ratio of $`0.73(kT_e/20\mathrm{eV})^{+0.17}`$ (LP96), which indicates that the H-like spectra are consistent with pure recombination in optically thin gas.

The positions of the lowest members of the Fe XXVI Balmer series are indicated in Figure 1 (the fine structure splitting of these transitions is appreciable in H-like Fe, as is evident from the plot). The relative brightness of the Balmer spectrum is yet another indication of recombination excitation. There is evidence for line emission at the position of H$`\beta `$, and possibly at H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$; the spectrum is unfortunately too heavily absorbed to permit a detection of H$`\alpha `$ ($`\lambda \lambda 9.52,9.74`$ Å). Unfortunately, the long-wavelength member of the H$`\beta `$ ’doublet’ ($`\lambda 7.17`$ Å) almost precisely coincides with the expected position of Al XIII Ly$`\alpha `$, which precludes a simple and neat direct detection of Al (the first detection of an odd-$`Z`$ triple-$`\alpha `$ element in non-solar X-ray astronomy). Any limit on the Al/Si abundance ratio thus becomes dependent on an understanding of the intensity of the Fe XXVI spectrum.

As for the He-like species, we detect the $`n=21`$ complexes, consisting of the forbidden (’$`f`$’), intercombination (’$`i`$’), and resonance (’$`r`$’) transitions, in Si XIII, S XV, Ar XVII, Ca XIX, and Fe XXV (as well as the corresponding RRC in Si, S, and possibly Ar). The line complexes appear resolved into blended resonance plus intercombination lines, and the forbidden line (see Figures 1 and 2), up to Ar XVII.

In an optically thin, low density, purely photoionization-driven plasma, one expects the intensity ratio $`f/(r+i)1`$ for the mid-$`Z`$ elements, very different from the pattern in the more familiar collisional equilibrium case, where the resonance transition is relatively much brighter (e.g., Gabriel & Jordan 1969; Pradhan 1982; Liedahl 1999). We use the ratio $`f/(r+i)`$ rather than the conventional $`G(i+f)/r`$ and $`Rf/i`$, because the intercombination and resonance lines are unfortunately blended by significant Doppler broadening in the source (see Section 4). Theoretically, in a photoionized plasma $`f/(r+i)`$ is approximately equal to 1.3, 1.0, 0.83, for Si XIII, S XV, and Ar XVII, respectively, and depends only weakly on electron temperature (LP96, Liedahl 2000). The measured ratios $`f/(r+i)`$, derived by fitting three Gaussians with common wavelength offset and broadening at the expected positions of $`f,i`$, and $`r`$, are approximately 1.1, 0.8, and 1.1 with the HEG, for Si, S, and Ar, respectively; the corresponding ratios for the MEG are 1.3, 1.0, and 0.8. Since most of the lines contain at least 100 photons, the statistical error on the ratios is generally less than 15%. These measurements include a model for the Si XIII RRC in the S XV triplet (assuming $`kT_e=50`$ eV), and Mg XII Ly$`\gamma `$ emission in the Si XIII triplet.

The He-like line ratios are probably affected by systematic features in the efficiency of the spectrometer. The S XV triplet is superimposed on the Si XIII RRC, the Si XIII triplet straddles the Si K edge in the CCD efficiency, and the Ar XVII triplet straddles the Au MIV and Ir MI edges. Corrections for these effects will have to be carefully evaluated. Nevertheless, the raw ratios $`f/(r+i)`$ for the Si and Ar triplets are already of the right magnitude for pure recombination. Our provisional conclusion is that the He-like spectra are, very roughly, consistent with pure recombination in optically thin gas.

Just as in a collisional plasma, the relative strengths of the forbidden and intercombination lines are sensitive to density (Liedahl 1999; Porquet & Dubau 2000), due to collisional transfer between the upper levels of $`f`$ and $`i`$ at high density. As mentioned above, there are some systematic uncertainties in the measured line ratios, and we defer a discussion of possible constraints on the density in the wind to a future paper.

The detection of fluorescent Fe emission is a surprise, because virtually no fluorescence was seen at the time of the ASCA observation (Kitamoto et al. 1994). The apparent centroid wavelength of the fluorescent line is $`1.939`$ Å (photon energy 6394 eV), with a formal error of less than $`10^3`$ Å (3 eV). The width of the line is $`0.022`$ Å FWHM, with a formal uncertainty of less than 5%. This is wider than would be expected from the velocity broadening to be discussed in the next section, and may be an indication that a range of ionization stages contributes to the fluorescent emission. If we assume the same velocity broadening for the Fe K$`\alpha `$ feature as for the high-ionization lines (which may not necessarily be correct if the low– and high–ionization lines originate in different parts of the stellar wind), we find that Fe K$`\alpha `$ has an intrinsic width (expressed as the FWHM of a Gaussian distribution) of 0.018 Å (corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Delta }E60`$ eV). The fine structure split between K$`\alpha _1`$ and K$`\alpha _2`$ contributes slightly to this width ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 0.004`$ Å), but the measured width covers the full range of K$`\alpha `$ wavelengths for charge states between fully neutral and Ne-like (Decaux et al. 1995).

## 4 Bulk Velocity Fields

We find that all emission features are significantly broadened and redshifted. The lines and radiative recombination continua are resolved by both the HEG and the MEG. The line widths for H-like Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe Ly$`\alpha `$ were measured by fitting a simple Gaussian profile. Other than the negligibly small fine structure split ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 0.005`$ Å), these lines are clean and unblended. The resulting widths do not seem to exhibit a strong dependence on phase. Assuming that the spectrometer profile is well represented by a Gaussian of width 0.012 Å (0.023 Å) FWHM for the HEG (MEG), we find that the broadening of the lines is roughly consistent with a Gaussian velocity distribution, of width $`\mathrm{\Delta }v1500`$ km s-1 FWHM. The scatter is too large to permit a meaningful test for any dependence of the velocity broadening on ionization parameter. Note that no such broadening was seen in the spectrum of Capella.

We also measured the radial velocities for the Ly$`\alpha `$ lines, assuming the dispersion relation obtained from an analysis of the spectrum of Capella. Wavelengths were calculated from the level energies given by Johnson & Soff (1985); these should be accurate to a few parts in $`10^6`$. There is a clear systematic redshift to all the emission lines and RRCs, in both the positive and negative spectral orders and in both grating spectra. This is shown in Figure 3, where we have segregated dim and bright state data, but have averaged positive and negative spectral orders, and HEG and MEG spectral data. Also shown are the best fitting uniform velocity offsets. These fits were forced to yield zero wavelength shift at zero wavelength. The average redshift for the dim state is $`800`$ km s-1, and for the bright state is $`750`$ km s-1. We thus find a net redshift much smaller than the observed velocity spread, and essentially no dependence of the centroid velocity on the binary phase. We should point out that our preliminary analysis, based on fitting simple Gaussians, is admittedly crude, and may have biased the true nature of the velocity field somewhat. We also note, with caution, that Doppler shifts due to a single, uniform velocity do not appear to be a very good description of the data: the longest wavelength lines appear to be offset at a significantly larger than average radial velocity. A detailed analysis, taking into account the actual lineshape, will be required to confirm or refute the possibility that these offsets represent the expected systematic correlation of average wind velocity and ionization parameter.

## 5 Discussion

The HETGS spectrum of Cyg X-3 has revealed a rich discrete spectrum, the properties of which are consistent with pure recombination excitation in cool, optically thin, low density X-ray photoionized gas in equilibrium. We fully resolve the narrow RRCs for the first time, and estimate an average electron temperature in the photoionized region of $`kT_e50`$ eV, consistent with global photoionization calculations.

We detect a net redshift in the emission lines of $`v750800`$ km s-1, essentially independent of binary phase, and a distribution in velocity with a FWHM of $`1500`$ km s-1. If the wind were photoionized throughout, we would expect to see roughly equal amounts of blue– and redshifted material, so evidently we are viewing an ionized region that is not symmetric with respect to the source of the wind, as expected if only the part of the wind in the vicinity of the X-ray continuum source is ionized. However, in the simplest wind models, one would then expect to see a strong dependence of the centroid velocity on binary phase, alternating between red– and blueshifts, and this is decidedly not the case in our data. The implications of this finding for the flow pattern and distribution of material in the wind will be explored in a future paper.

Finally, the Fe K$`\alpha `$ fluorescent feature, which probes a more neutral phase of the wind, has never been seen before in Cyg X-3. Unfortunately, the exact range of ionization can not be separated uniquely from systematic Doppler shifts through a measurement of the wavelengths of the K$`\alpha `$ spectra, because the feature, while clearly broadened, is not separated into its component ionization stages. Still, the width of the feature (the net effect of the velocity field and the existence of a range of charge states) and its intensity will impose strong constraints on the global properties of the wind.

Acknowledgements.
We wish to express our gratitude to Dan Dewey and Marten van Kerkwijk, for discussions and a careful reading of the manuscript, and to the referee, Randall Smith, for a thorough review. JC acknowledges support from NASA under a GRSP fellowship. MS’s contribution was supported by NASA under Long Term Space Astrophysics grant no. NAG 5-3541. FP was supported under NASA Contract no. NAS 5-31429. DL acknowledges support from NASA under Long Term Space Astrophysics Grant no. S-92654-F. Work at LLNL was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy, Contract mo. W-7405-Eng-48.

Figure Captions:

Fig.1—The 1–10 Å spectrum of Cyg X-3 as observed with the HEG (upper panel), and the MEG (lower panel), binned in 0.005 Å bins. The positive and negative first orders have been added, and the spectra have been smoothed with a 3 pixel boxcar filter. Labels indicate the positions of various discrete spectral features. ’He$`\alpha `$’ is the inelegant label for the resonance, intercombination, and forbidden lines in the He-like ions, plotted at the average wavelength for the complex. High-ionization features of interest that were not detected have been labeled in brackets. Horizontal bars indicate the nominal positions of the gaps between the ACIS chips; the dithering of the spacecraft will broaden the gaps and soften their edges.

Fig.2—The 3.0–7.0 Å region of the spectrum enlarged; we show the raw count rates, binned by two 0.005 Å bins. The most important transitions have been labeled; dashed lines mark the expected positions of Si and S recombination edges. These markers have been redshifted by 800 km s-1. The horizontal bar near 4.5 Å in the HEG spectrum marks the nominal position of the gap between chips S2 and S3 in ACIS. The solid line in the MEG spectrum is a crude empirical fit to the continuum, with Si XIII, Si XIV, and S XVI narrow radiative recombination continua added. The electron temperature was set to 50 eV, and the continua were convolved with a 1500 km s-1 FWHM velocity field, to match the broadening observed in the emission lines.

Fig.3–Measured wavelength shift for selected Ly$`\alpha `$ features. Filled symbols refer to the ’dim’ state data, open symbols to the ’bright’ state data. The velocities as measured with the HEG and the MEG have been averaged; velocities in positive and negative spectral orders were averaged. Error bars indicate the size of the rms variation between these various measurements. In cases where only one or two velocities were measurable due to low signal-to-noise, we instead indicate the estimated statistical error on these measurements. The solid lines are the weighted least squares Doppler velocities for both the dim and the bright states.


text:
# Detection of X-ray pulsations from the Be/X-ray transient A 0535+26 during a disc loss phase of the primary

## 1 Introduction

Be/X-ray binaries are X-ray sources composed of a Be star and a neutron star. Most of these systems are transient X-ray pulsars displaying strong outbursts in which their X-ray luminosity increases by a factor $`100`$ (see Negueruela 1998). In addition, those systems in which the neutron star does not rotate fast enough for centrifugal inhibition of accretion to be effective (see Stella et al. 1986) display persistent X-ray luminosity at a level $`10^{35}`$ erg s-1. The high-energy radiation is believed to arise due to accretion of material associated with the Be star by the compact object. It has long been known that accretion from the fast polar wind that is detected in the UV resonance lines of the Be primaries cannot provide the observed luminosities, even for detections at the weakest level (see Waters et al. 1988 and references therein; see also the calculations made for X Persei by Telting et al. 1998). Therefore it is believed that the material accreted comes from the dense equatorial disc that surrounds the Be star. Waters et al. (1989) modelled the radial outflow as a relatively slow ($`100`$ km s-1) dense wind. However most modern models for Be stars consider much slower outflows, due to strong evidence for rotationally dominated motion (quasi-Keplerian discs). This is due not only to the line shapes (see Hanuschik et al. 1996), which set an upper limit on the bulk motion at $`v3\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Hanuschik 2000), but also to the success of the Global One-Armed Oscillation model (which can only work in quasi-Keplerian discs) at explaining V/R variability in Be stars (Hummel & Hanuschik 1997; Okazaki 1997ab). The viscous decretion disc model (Okazaki 1997b; Porter 1999; Negueruela & Okazaki 2000) considers material in quasi-Keplerian orbit with an initially very subsonic outflow velocity that is gradually accelerated by gas pressure and becomes supersonic at distances $`100R_{}`$, i.e., much further than the orbits of neutron stars in Be/X-ray transients.

The transient A 0535+26 is one of the best studied Be/X-ray binaries (Clark et al. 1998 and references therein). It contains a slowly rotating ($`P_\mathrm{s}=103\mathrm{s}`$) neutron star in a relatively wide ($`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=110.3\mathrm{d}`$) and eccentric ($`e=0.47`$) orbit around the B0IIIe star V725 Tau (see Finger et al. 1996; Steele et al. 1998). After its last giant outburst in February 1994 (Clark et al. 1998; Negueruela et al. 1998), the strength of the emission lines in the optical spectrum of V725 Tau has declined steadily. The last normal (periodic) outburst took place in September 1994 and the source has since not been detected by the BATSE experiment on board CGRO.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 Optical spectroscopy

V725 Tau, the optical counterpart to A 0535+26, was observed on November 7th 1998, using the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain. The telescope was equipped with the Utrecht Echelle Spectrograph using the 31.6 lines/mm echelle centred at H$`\alpha `$ and the SITe1 CCD camera. This configuration gives a resolution $`R40000`$ over the range $`4600\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10200}`$ Å. The data have been reduced using the Starlink packages ccdpack (Draper 1998), echomop (Mills et al. 1997) and dipso (Howarth et al. 1997). A detailed analysis of the whole spectrum is left for a forthcoming paper. In Figure 1, we show the shape of H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$ and He i $`\lambda `$6678Å. When in emission, these three lines sample most of the radial extent of the circumstellar envelope. However, it is apparent that the lines seen in Fig. 1 correspond to photospheric absorption from the underlying star. The emission contribution from circumstellar material, if any, is certainly very small. The asymmetry in the shape of H$`\alpha `$ and He i $`\lambda `$6678Å suggests that some fast-moving material is present close to the stellar surface (see Hanuschik et al. 1993; Rivinius et al. 1998 for the discussion of low-level activity in disc-less Be stars), but the circumstellar disc is basically absent. H$`\beta `$, which, when in emission, is typically produced at distances of a few $`R_{}`$, looks completely photospheric. In Be stars H$`\alpha `$ probes a region extending to $`10R_{}`$, as measured from line-peak separation (Hummel & Vrancken 1995) and direct imaging (Quirrenbach et al. 1997). Again, circumstellar material seems to be almost absent from this region. There is weak emission emission in-filling at the line centre – transient emission components have been seen in this star during the disc-less state (Haigh et al. 2000), a behaviour typical of disc-less Be stars (Rivinius et al. 1998 and references therein).

### 2.2 X-ray observations

Observations of the source were taken using the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on board RossiXTE on 1998 August 21 and 1998 November 12 for a total on-source time of 4170 s and 2250 s, respectively.

In both observations there is an excess of $`4`$ counts/s/(5 PCU) in the 2.5 –15 keV range of the Standard2 data compared to the faint source background model. Fits to power-law models with interstellar absorption result in flux estimates of $`6\times 10^{12}`$ and $`9\times 10^{12}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ (2 – 10 keV) for the two observations respectively. These can only be considered as upper limits on the flux, due to the uncertain contribution of diffuse Galactic Disc emission to the count rates (Valinia & Marshall 1998).

#### 2.2.1 Timing analysis

The issue of whether the source of high energy radiation was active or not during the low activity optical phase can be solved by searching for the previously reported X-ray pulsations at $``$103.5-s spin period (e.g., Finger et al. 1996). In order to improve the signal-to-noise, we accumulated events from the top anode layer of the detectors. We also used the latest version of the faint background model.

For the power spectral analysis we selected a stretch of continuous data and divided it into intervals of 309 s. A power spectrum was obtained for each interval and the results averaged together. Given that the pulse frequency ($`\nu 0.0097`$ Hz) lies on a region dominated by red noise, we have to correct for such noise if the statistical significance of the pulsations are to be established. First, we fitted the Poisson level by restricting ourselves to the frequency range 0.2 – 0.4 Hz, that is far away from the region where the red noise component may contribute appreciably. The strongest peak in the power spectrum corresponds to $`103.5\mathrm{s}`$.

We also searched for periodicities in the light curves by folding the data over a period range and determining the $`\chi ^2`$ of the folded light-curve (epoch-folding technique). In this case we used 20 phase bins (19 degrees of freedom) and a range of 100 periods, around the expected period. This method has the advantage that the result is not affected by the presence of gaps in the data, hence a longer baseline can be considered than with Fourier analysis. Times in the background subtracted light-curve were converted into times at the solar-system barycentre. The result for the 1998 November observation is shown in Fig 2. We found that the peak at $`103.5\mathrm{s}`$ is significant at $`>5\sigma `$, confirming that the source was active during the observations.

It is worth mentioning that the detection levels shown in Fig. 2 were obtained without a priori knowledge of the frequency of pulsations. In other words, we searched for pulsations in the frequency/period range shown in the figure. If we take into account the fact that we are interested in the pulse period at $`103.5\mathrm{s}`$, the peak becomes still more significant.

The analysis of the 1998 August observation provides a much less significant detection. A peak at the expected frequency ($`\nu 0.0097`$ Hz) is seen in the power spectrum. However, epoch-folding analysis gave a significance of $`3\sigma `$ only when we considered one single period, that is, the number of trials is one. A search for pulsations in a period range did not yield any maximum above the 3-$`\sigma `$ detection level although a peak at the 103-s period is present (see Fig. 3)

#### 2.2.2 Pulse shape

The pulse shape (see Figure 4) is nearly sinusoidal, as expected from the absence of second or higher harmonics in the power density spectra. The amplitude of the modulation is $`2`$ count s-1 in the 3 – 20 keV energy range, which implies a pulse fraction of $`53`$%. Given the unknown contribution from Galactic Disc diffuse emission, this represents only a lower limit to the pulsed fraction in the signal from the source.

We have divided the November 1998 observation into two sections, corresponding to the peak of the pulse (phase bins 0.6 to 1.0) and the interpulse minimum (phase bin 0.1–0.5). An absorbed power-law fit in the energy range 2.7 – 10 keV to the two spectra gave $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.9\pm 0.4`$, $`N_\mathrm{H}=9\pm 4`$, $`\chi _\mathrm{r}^2=0.8`$ (18 dof) for pulse maximum and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.3\pm 0.5`$, $`N_\mathrm{H}=10\pm 5`$, $`\chi _\mathrm{r}^2=0.9`$ (18 dof) for pulse minimum. The two values are consistent with each other within the error margins. The lack of spectral changes with phase requires any significant component of the detected flux due to diffuse emission to have a spectrum similar to that of the pulsar.

#### 2.2.3 Spectral fit

Formally the X-ray spectra are equally well represented by an absorbed power-law, blackbody and bremsstrahlung models. Table 1 shows the spectral fit results. All these models gave fits of comparable quality, which means that we are unable to distinguish meaningfully between the different spectral models of Table 1, even though the blackbody fit is unlikely to have any physical meaning, because of very small emitting area and the fact that it does not require any absorption (introducing $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ does not improve the fit) – see Rutledge et al. (1999) for a discussion of the physical inadequacy of this model for neutron stars. The value of the hydrogen column density ($`N_\mathrm{H}`$), which is consistent for the power-law and bremsstrahlung fits, is too high to be purely interstellar. The interstellar reddening to the source must be smaller than the measured $`E(BV)0.7`$ (Steele et al. 1998), which is the sum of interstellar and circumstellar contribution from the disc surrounding the Be star. According to the relation by Bohlin et al. (1978), $`E(BV)=0.7`$ implies $`N_\mathrm{H}=4.1\times 10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ and therefore there must be a substantial contribution of local material to the absorption.

From the spectral fits, we estimate the 3 – 20 keV X-ray flux to be $`3.5\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`4.5\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for the August 1998 and November 1998 observations respectively, assuming a distance of 2 kpc (Steele et al. 1998). Although the values of the spectral parameters are consistent with each other within the error margins, they all show the same trend, namely, a harder spectral state during the 1998 August observations (lower photon index and higher blackbody and bremsstrahlung temperatures).

## 3 Results

Our November 1998 X-ray observations represent a clear detection of A 0535+26 at a time when the optical counterpart showed no evidence for the presence of circumstellar material. Moreover, Haigh et al. (2000) present spectroscopy showing that the disc was already absent as early as late August 1998, when our first observation was taken. The observed luminosities in the 2 – 10 keV range ($`2\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1L_\mathrm{x}4.5\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$) are definitely smaller than the quiescence luminosity observed in other occasions when the equatorial disc surrounding the Be star was present. For example, Motch et al. (1991) observed the source on several occasions at a level $`L_\mathrm{x}1.5\times 10^{35}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the 1 – 20 keV range (correcting their value to the adopted distance of 2 kpc) using EXOSAT.

The EXOSAT observation, as well as several other quiescence detections of Be/X-ray binaries with $`P_\mathrm{s}100\mathrm{s}`$, have always been interpreted in terms of accretion on to the surface of the neutron star from the equatorial outflow from the Be star. However, on this occasion we have observed the source when the disc of the Be star had been absent for several months and at an X-ray luminosity two orders of magnitude lower. Therefore we cannot consider as an a priori assumption that the emission mechanism at operation is the same.

In order to explain the difference in the luminosity by two orders of magnitude, we can invoke accretion from a far less dense outflow or assume that some other emission mechanism is at work. We first consider the possibility that the observed luminosity is due to accretion on to the surface of the neutron star. Assuming an efficiency $`\eta =1`$ in the conversion of gravitational energy into X-ray luminosity, $`L_\mathrm{x}=4\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ translates into an accretion rate $`\dot{M}=2.1\times 10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1=3.3\times 10^{13}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1`$.

Following Stella et al. (1986), we define the corotation radius as that at which the pulsar corotation velocity equals Keplerian velocity. The corotation radius is given by

$$r_\mathrm{c}=\left(\frac{GM_\mathrm{x}P_\mathrm{s}^2}{4\pi ^2}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}$$
(1)
where $`G`$ is the gravitational constant, $`M_\mathrm{x}`$ is the mass of the neutron star (assumed to be $`1.44M_{\mathrm{}}`$) and $`P_\mathrm{s}`$ is the spin period. For A 0535+26, $`r_\mathrm{c}=3.7\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}`$.

The magnetospheric radius at which the magnetic field begins to dominate the dynamics of the inflow depends on the accretion rate and can be expressed as

$$r_\mathrm{m}=K\left(GM_\mathrm{x}\right)^{1/7}\mu ^{4/7}\dot{M}^{2/7}$$
(2)
where $`\mu `$ is the neutron star magnetic moment and $`\dot{M}`$ is the accretion rate. $`K`$ is a constant that in the case of A 0535+26 has been determined to be $`K1.0`$ when an accretion disc is present (Finger et al. 1996) and from theoretical calculations is expected to have a similar value for wind accretion. Following Finger et al. (1996), we will assume a magnetic dipolar field $`9.5\times 10^{12}\mathrm{G}`$, resulting in $`\mu =4.75\times 10^{30}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{cm}^3`$.

For the accretion rate $`\dot{M}=2.1\times 10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$ derived above, the magnetospheric radius would be $`r_\mathrm{m}=9.3\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}`$. Therefore $`r_\mathrm{m}>r_\mathrm{c}`$ and the neutron star must be in the centrifugal inhibition regime. In order to estimate the solidity of this result, we point out that if the 110 keV cyclotron line detected in the spectrum of A 0535+26 (Kendziorra et al. 1994; Grove et al. 1995) is the second harmonic instead of the first, as has been suggested, the magnetic field (and magnetic moment) would be smaller by a factor 2. However, this would require a higher value for $`K`$ in order to fit the observations of a QPO in this system (Finger et al. 1996), leaving the value of $`r_\mathrm{m}`$ unaffected. An efficiency in the conversion of gravitational energy into radiation as low as $`\eta =0.5`$ will translate into a reduction in $`r_\mathrm{m}`$ by only a factor $`0.8`$. Therefore we conclude that the neutron star is certain to be in the inhibited regime.

According to Corbet (1996), when the source is in the inhibition regime, a luminosity comparable to that observed could be produced by release of gravitational energy at the magnetospheric radius (for short, accretion onto the magnetosphere. However, even assuming that the magnetosphere is at the corotation radius and an efficiency $`\eta =1`$ (i.e., best case), in order to produce $`L_\mathrm{x}=4\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, the accretion rate needed is $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{m}=8.2\times 10^{16}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$. With such an accretion rate, the magnetosphere would be driven in well within the corotation radius, and produce a luminosity of $`L_\mathrm{x}1.5\times 10^{37}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ by accretion on to the surface of the neutron star. Therefore we conclude that the observed luminosity is not due to accretion on to the magnetosphere.

Therefore we are left with the following possibilities for the origin of the X-ray emission:

* Accretion on to the neutron star through some sort of leakage through the magnetospheric barrier. This could adopt two forms. Either directly from the Be star outflow and only through a fairly limited region near the spin axis or mediated by an accretion torus, supported by the centrifugal barrier, with a small amount of material managing to penetrate the magnetosphere.
* Thermal emission from the heated core of the neutron star. Brown et al. (1998) and Rutledge et al. (1999) have studied thermal emission from X-ray transients in quiescence. They predict a thermal luminosity in quiescence

$$L_\mathrm{x}=6\times 10^{32}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1\times \frac{\dot{M}}{10^{11}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1}$$
(3)
where $`\dot{M}`$ here represents the long term average mass accretion rate. From the number of observed Type II outbursts in A 0535+26, we assume one giant outburst every 5 – 10 years, which translates into a long-term average of $`\dot{M}=48\times 10^{11}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. This would imply quiescence thermal emission in the range $`L_\mathrm{x}=25\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, which is consistent with our observations.

## 4 Discussion

It is very difficult to estimate the fraction of the signal that actually comes from the source, though the pulsed component is evidently a lower limit to it. The diffuse emission from the Galactic disc is not well described at high Galactic longitudes (for A 0535+26, $`l=181.5\mathrm{°}`$), but if the assumption by Valinia & Marshall (1998) that its latitude distribution should be similar to that in the Galactic Ridge can be held, then it should not be very strong at the position of A 0535+26 ($`b=2.6\mathrm{°}`$). In any case, the total (source + diffuse) flux detected is lower than the average diffuse emission from the Galactic Ridge, which is $`2.4\times 10^{11}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the 2 – 10 keV band (Valinia & Marshall 1998).

Given that the fitted spectra are much softer than the model fits to Galactic Ridge diffuse emission by Valinia & Marshall (1998), which have photon indexes $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.8`$, and the similitude between the pulse-peak and pulse-minimum spectra, it seems likely that most of the detected signal comes actually from the source. The high value of $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ obtained in all the non-thermal fits argues for the presence of large amounts of material in the vicinity of the neutron star. This could be caused by the pile-up of incoming material outside the magnetosphere. The observed spectrum is much softer than the spectra of Be/X-ray binaries at low luminosity during quiescence states (Motch et al. 1991 quote a photon index of 1.7 for their observations of A 0535+26) and could favour the thermal emission interpretation.

Brown et al. (1998) proposed that thermal reactions deep within the crust of an accreting neutron star would maintain the neutron star core at temperatures of $`10^8\mathrm{K}`$, similar to that in a young radio pulsar. During the quiescent state of transient accretors, the conduction of thermal energy from the core should result in a detectable thermal spectrum from the neutron star atmosphere. In a high magnetic field pulsar, this thermal emission should be pulsed due to both the anisotropic surface temperature distribution caused by the dependence of the thermal conductivity on the magnetic field (Shibanov & Yakovlev 1996), and the anisotropic radiation pattern from the neutron star atmosphere resulting from the magnetic field (Zavlin et al. 1995).

Our blackbody fit to the A0535+26 spectrum resulted in an emission radius much smaller than the neutron star. Rutledge at al. (1999) show that fits to Hydrogen atmosphere spectral models result in larger emission areas and lower effective temperature than blackbody fits. The spectra may therefore be consistent with thermal emission from the pulsar. However, if this interpretation is correct, most of the emitted luminosity should be below the energy band that we observe. In that case, the bolometric luminosity may well exceed that predicted from our estimates of the long-term average accretion rates.

Our detection of A 0535+26 can also be used to set limits on the outflow from the Be companion. The condition for centrifugal inhibition is $`r_\mathrm{m}r_\mathrm{c}`$. Therefore the minimum accretion rate at which there is no inhibition corresponds to that at which $`r_\mathrm{m}=r_\mathrm{c}`$. Using the values above, we obtain an accretion rate onto the magnetosphere $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{m}=5.3\times 10^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1=8\times 10^{12}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. If the observed luminosity is due to accretion on to the surface of the neutron star, the rate of mass flow into the vicinity of the neutron star is then constrained to be in the range $`3\times 10^{13}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1\dot{M}8\times 10^{12}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ (of course, if it is due to thermal emission, only the upper limit holds). The lower limit represents a small fraction of the mass lost from the Be star (which should be $`10^{11}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1`$), but the upper limit is close to the mass-loss values derived in the decretion disc model (Okazaki 1997b; Porter 1999). This value is also close to the accretion rate needed to sustain the quiescence luminosity observed by Motch et al. (1991), which is $`\dot{M}10^{11}M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. Such an accretion rate would represent a substantial fraction of the stellar mass-loss, though still only a small fraction of the disc mass (estimated to be $`10^9\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{10}M_{\mathrm{}}`$). As has been calculated above, most of the long-term accretion rate is due to the giant outbursts, where a substantial fraction of the Be disc mass must be accreted.

From all the above, it is clear that the amount of material reaching the vicinity of the neutron star during the disc-less phase of the companion is smaller than during previous quiescence states. This cannot be due to an orbital effect because Motch et al. (1991) observed the source at different orbital times and also because our two observations took place close to periastron (orbital phases $`\varphi 0`$ for the August observation and $`\varphi 0.8`$ for the November observation, according to the ephemeris of Finger et al. 1996).

Existing evidence seems to argue against the existence of a persistent accretion disc surrounding the neutron star in A 0535+26. The statistical analysis of Clark et al. (1999) showed that there is no significant contribution from an accretion disc to the optical/infrared luminosity of A 0535+26. This does not rule out the presence of an accretion disc (which could, for example, be too small to radiate a significant flux in comparison to the Be circumstellar disc). It is believed that A 0535+26 does indeed form an accretion disc around the neutron during Type II outbursts, since very fast spin-up and quasi-periodic oscillations have been observed (Finger et al. 1996). However, the lack of spin-up during Type I outbursts led Motch et al. (1991) to conclude that no persistent accretion disc was present. In contrast, the Be/X-ray binary 2S 1845$``$024 shows large spin-up during every Type I outburst (Finger et al. 1999). If no accretion disc is present, the reduced amount of material reaching the neutron star must be directly due to a change in the parameters of the outflow from the Be star. Within the framework of modern models for Be star discs, considering very subsonic outflow velocities, such a change can only be due to a lower outflow density. Unfortunately, since the details of the magnetic inhibition process are poorly understood, we can only constrain the mass rate reaching the neutron star to be below that corresponding to the transition at which inhibition occurs, which is very close to the rate deduced from previous quiescence observations in which the source was not in the inhibition regime.

## 5 Conclusions

A 0535+26 was active at a time when the optical counterpart V725 Tau showed no evidence for a circumstellar disc. The luminosity was two orders of magnitude lower than in previous quiescence detections and accretion was centrifugally inhibited. Given that the observed luminosity cannot be due to accretion onto the magnetosphere, we are observing either some material leaking through the magnetosphere or thermal emission from the heated core of the neutron star. In any case, this detection represents a state of an accreting X-ray pulsar that had not been observed before.

Further observations of Be/X-ray binaries in a similar state (when their companions have lost their discs and very little material can reach the vicinity of the neutron star) are needed. Observations with Chandra or XMM, which combine much higher sensitivities with more adequate energy ranges, could determine whether the observed spectrum is compatible with thermal emission models.

## Acknowledgements

We thank Jean Swank and the RossiXTE team for granting a Target of Opportunity observation and carrying it out on very short notice. Simon Clark is thanked for his help in preparing the proposal. The WHT is operated on the island of La Palma by the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. The observations were taken as part of the ING service observing programme. This research has made use of data obtained through the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center Online Service, provided by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

IN is supported by an ESA external fellowship. P. Reig acknowledges partial support via the European Union Training and Mobility of Researchers Network Grant ERBFMRX/CT98/0195.