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# Untitled Document

5 cm OH MASERS AS DIAGNOSTICS OF PHYSICAL CONDITIONS

IN STAR-FORMING REGIONS.

KONSTANTINOS G. PAVLAKIS1,2,3 & NIKOLAOS D. KYLAFIS2,3

1University of Leeds, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT

2University of Crete, Physics Department, 714 09 Heraklion, Crete, Greece

3Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, P.O. Box 1527, 711 10 Heraklion, Crete, Greece

pavlakis@ast.leeds.ac.uk, kylafis@physics.uch.gr

Received:   ; accepted:

ABSTRACT

We demonstrate that the observed characteristics of the 5 cm OH masers in star-forming regions can be explained with the same model and the same parameters as the 18 cm and the 6 cm OH masers. In our already published study of the 18 cm and the 6 cm OH masers in star-forming regions we had examined the pumping of the 5 cm masers, but did not report the results we had found because of some missing collision rate coefficients, which in principle could be important. The recently published observations on the 5 cm masers of OH encourage us to report our old calculations along with some new ones that we have performed. These calculations, in agreement with the observations, reveal the main lines at 5 cm as strong masers, the 6049 MHz satellite line as a weak maser, and the 6017 MHz satellite line as never inverted for reasonable values of the parameters.

Subject headings: ISM: molecules — masers — molecular processes — radiative transfer — stars: formation

1. INTRODUCTION

The OH molecules in star-forming regions are rich in maser emission. They exhibit: a) Four maser lines (at 18 cm) in the ground state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=3/2`$ (e.g., Gaume & Mutel 1987; Cohen, Baart, & Jonas 1988; for reviews see Reid & Moran 1981; Cohen 1989; Elitzur 1992). b) Three maser lines (at 5 cm) in the first excited state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=5/2`$ (Knowles, Caswell, & Goss 1976; Guilloteau et al. 1984; Smits 1994; Caswell & Vaile 1995; Baudry et al. 1997; Desmurs et al. 1998; Desmurs & Baudry 1998). c) Three maser lines (at 6 cm) in the next level $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, $`J=1/2`$ (Gardner & Martin Pintado 1983; Gardner & Whiteoak 1983; Palmer, Gardner, & Whiteoak 1984; Gardner, Whiteoak, & Palmer 1987; Baudry et al. 1988; Baudry & Diamond 1991; Cohen, Masheder, & Walker 1991). d) One maser line (at 2 cm) in the level $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=7/2`$ (Turner, Palmer, & Zuckerman 1970; Baudry et al. 1981; Baudry & Diamond 1998).

In our recently reported calculations (Pavlakis & Kylafis 1996a, hereafter Paper I; Pavlakis & Kylafis 1996b, hereafter Paper II) we explained theoretically the observed characteristics of the 18 cm and the 6 cm maser lines of OH. Naturally, we had computed also the maser emission of the 5 cm lines of OH, but we decided to “not show or discuss the maser lines in the excited state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=5/2`$ because this state is directly connected with the state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, $`J=7/2`$, which is not included in our calculations. We urge quantum chemists to compute collision rate coefficients for as many transitions as possible” (Paper I).

Soon after our calculations were published, Baudry et al. (1997) reported an extensive study of the 5 cm maser lines of OH in star-forming regions. To our surprise, our already performed calculations explain the observed characteristics. This probably means that, for temperatures between 100 and 200 K that are thought appropriate for OH maser regions, the missing collision rate coefficients are not important for the 5 cm masers. Thus, we are encouraged to publish our results. Of course, when the missing collision rate coefficients are computed, it will be reassuring to show that they are indeed not important for the 5 cm masers.

In §2 we discuss briefly the model that we used, in §3 we present the results of the calculations, in §4 we compare our calculations with the observations and in §5 we present our conclusions.

2. MODEL

Our model is the same as that in Papers I and II. Not only this, but the values of the parameters are exactly the same. Thus, no parameters are adjusted for any qualitative or quantitative explanation of the observations.

The maser regions are modeled as cylinders of length $`l=5\times 10^{15}`$ cm and diameter $`d=10^{15}`$ cm. The characteristic bulk velocity in the maser region is denoted by $`V`$ and the assumed velocity field there is given by $`\stackrel{}{𝐯}=V/(d/2)\rho \widehat{\rho }+(V/l)z\widehat{𝐳}`$, where ($`\rho ,z`$) are the cylindrical coordinates, and $`\widehat{\rho }`$ and $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ are the corresponding unit vectors.

The fractional abundances of OH and ortho-H2 with respect to density of H2 molecules in the maser region are denoted by $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$ and $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$, respectively, while the density of H2 molecules and the kinetic temperature there are denoted by $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$, respectively. Finally, the brightness temperature of the maser lines is denoted by $`T_{br}`$, the dilution factor of the far infrared radiation field by $`W`$ (see eq.  of Paper II), the dust optical depth parameter by $`p`$ (see eq.  of Paper II), and the dust temperature by $`T_d`$.

In addition to the exploration of the parameters used in Papers I and II, we also explore here the effects of the fractional abundance of OH.

In the figures of this paper the key is as follows: The brightness temperature of the 6049 MHz transition is shown as a solid line, that of the 6035 MHz transition by a dotted line, that of the 6017 MHz by a dashed line and that of the 6031 MHz by a dot-dashed line.

3. CALCULATIONS AND PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

3.1. Collisions Only

For kinetic temperatures $`100<T_{\mathrm{H}_2}<200`$ K, which are thought to be prevailing in H II/OH maser regions, there are several locally (i.e., thermally) overlapping lines of OH. Nevertheless, it is interesting to look at calculations, which take into account collisions only, in order to see what their effects are on the pumping of OH molecules (see also Paper I). Interestingly, we have found that for temperatures $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}<150`$ K, which are highly likely for H II/OH regions, the effects of locally overlapping lines are insignificant on the pumping of the 5 cm maser lines and their inclusion changes the results of our calculations by less than a factor of two. Thus, if there are no large velocity gradients in the maser regions and the external FIR field is weak, collisions alone determine the 5 cm maser emission of OH at $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}<150`$ K.

We have found that collisions alone are unable to invert the main lines at 5 cm. For $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$ and $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$ only the 6049 MHz satellite line is masing for hydrogen densities $`2\times 10^5<n_{\mathrm{H}_2}<7\times 10^6`$ cm-3. The peak of the brightness temperature occurs at $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}10^6`$ cm-3 and it is $`T_{br}10^9`$ K above $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}=100`$ K (see Figure 1 below and the discussion in the next subsection).

As $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$decreases, the brightness temperature of the 6049 MHz line decreases faster than exponential. For $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0.5`$ the peak of the brightness temperature is $`T_{br}=6\times 10^6`$ K and it is at the limits of dedectability. For values of $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$below 0.2 the inversion disappears and no 5 cm line shows inversion.

3.2. Collisions and Local Line Overlap

The effects of collisions and local line overlap cannot be separated. It is simply a good fortune that for temperatures up to about 150 K the effects of collisions dominate those of local line overlap.

Assuming that large velocity gradients and a significant FIR radiation field are absent in the maser regions (see below for their effects), we have computed the 5 cm OH maser emission as a function of $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ taking into account both collisions and local line overlap. For $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=150`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}=10^5`$ and $`V=0.6`$ km s-1 (for which we do not have any non-locally overlapping lines), we show in Figure 1 the brightness temperature $`T_{br}`$of the 6049 MHz line (the only inverted OH line at 5 cm) as a function of $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$. This is a quite strong maser line with a peak brightness temperature $`T_{br}=6\times 10^8`$ K. As the temperature $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$increases further, more and more pairs of lines overlap locally and their degree of overlap also increases. For temperatures up to 170 K, local overlap causes only quantitative (not qualitative) changes in the results. The peak brightness temperature decreases with increasing kinetic temperature and the range of densities over which inversion occurs also decreases. For $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=170`$ K, the peak $`T_{br}`$ of the 6049 MHz maser line falls to $`10^7`$ K and inversion occurs for $`10^5<n_{\mathrm{H}_2}<10^6`$ cm-3.

Above $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=170`$ K, the effects of local line overlap introduce qualitative changes. The 6049 MHz line continues to weaken, while the 6035 MHz line now appears. As the temperature approaches 200 K, there are fifteen pairs and one triple of locally overlapping lines. Figure 2 shows $`T_{br}`$as a function of $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=200`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}=10^5`$ and $`V=0.6`$ km s-1. At this relatively high temperature, the peak $`T_{br}`$of the 6049 MHz maser line is only $`10^6`$ K, while for the 6035 MHz main line, $`T_{br}`$$`10^9`$ K at $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}10^7`$ cm-3.

When $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$, no OH 5 cm maser line appears for kinetic temperatures lower than 170 K. For $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=200`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$ and $`V=0.6`$ km s-1 the results are shown in Figure 3. The peak $`T_{br}`$of the 6035 MHz line is one order of magnitude stronger than that for $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$, but the 6049 MHz line is absent. Thus, as with the 1720 MHz maser line (see Paper I), the 6049 MHz maser line could be a diagnostic (but see below) of the abundance of ortho-H2 in maser regions.

The fractional abundance of OH in star-forming regions is probably not constant independent of density. To explore this possibility we have computed models with $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^6`$ (the results are not shown in a Figure). No qualitative changes occur in comparison with the results for $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$ (see Figures 2 and 3). The 6035 MHz line is of the same intensity as in Figures 2 and 3, but it is inverted at densities a factor of three higher. The 6049 MHz line is reduced in intensity to the point of being unobservable ($`T_{br}<10^3`$ K). For this line also the inversion occurs at densities a factor of three higher than those in Figure 2.

3.3. Collisions, Local and Non-local Line Overlap

In addition to collisions and local line overlap, we now take into account the effects of non-local line overlap (for details see Paper II). In order to avoid showing a multitude of models, we take the representative value of 150 K for $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$. For $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$ and $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$, we start with a characteristic velocity $`V=1`$ km s-1, for which the effects of non-local line overlap are already important. Figure 4 shows the brightness temperature of the masing lines as a function of $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$. Comparing Figure 4 with Figure 1 we see the dramatic effects that non-local line overlap has on the maser transitions. For relatively high hydrogen densities, two 5 cm lines are inverted. The 6035 MHz main line with high brightness temperature and the 6017 MHz satellite line.

Increasing the characteristic velocity to $`V=2`$ km s-1, but keeping the rest of the parameters the same, results in a significant reduction of the 6049 MHz line (Figure 5). For $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`10^8`$ cm-3, the 6031 MHz main line and the 6017 MHz satellite one are inverted with high brightness temperatures. At even higher densities the 6035 MHz main line is inverted, the 6017 MHz line remains strongly inverted, while the 6031 MHz one is suppressed. A further increase of the velocity to $`V=3`$ km s-1 results in the complete disappearance of the 6049 MHz line (Figure 6).

As in the previous subsection, a significant reduction of the abundance of ortho-H2 results in the disappearance of the 6049 MHz line as a maser line. This is true for $`V=1`$, 2 or 3 km s-1. As a characteristic example we show the case of $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$ and $`V=2`$ km s-1 (Figure 7). Below $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`3\times 10^7`$ cm-3 no maser line appears.

Finally, a reduction of $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$ by an order of magnitude has the general result of significantly reducing the brightness temperature of the 6049 MHz line ($`T_{br}<10^4`$ K), as it was also seen in the previous subsection. Furthermore, our calculations have shown that $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^6`$ results in destroying the inversion of all 5 cm maser lines at relatively high densities ($`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`>4\times 10^7`$ cm-3).

3.4. Effects of a FIR Radiation Field

From the calculations presented so far, it is evident that the 5 cm main lines of OH are never inverted together for densities thought prevailing in star-forming regions (i.e., $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`<\mathrm{few}\times 10^7`$ cm-3), when a far infrared (FIR) radiation field is absent. In this subsection we will demonstrate that a FIR radiation field is necessary to reproduce the observed features of the 5 cm lines and their correlations with the ground state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=3/2`$ and the excited state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, $`J=1/2`$ OH masers.

For $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=150`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}=10^5`$, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$=1, $`V`$=1 km s-1 and dilution factor $`W=0.01`$ (see Paper II), the main lines at 5 cm are inverted at low densities ($`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`<\mathrm{few}\times 10^7`$ cm-3) when $`T_d>T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$. When $`T_d<T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ (see Figures 8a and 8b) the results are similar i.e., differences less than a factor of 2 in the $`T_{br}`$ to those of Figure 4, where there was no external FIR radiation field. However, when $`T_d>T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ (see Figures 8c and 8d), the main line at 6035 and 6031 MHz make their appearance as masers.

Increasing the strength of the FIR radiation field by taking $`W=0.1`$ has dramatic effects on the 5 cm lines of OH. Figures 9a - 9d show $`T_{br}`$ of the maser lines as a function of $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=150`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}=10^5`$, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$=1, $`V`$=1 km s-1 and dilution factor W=0.1. Both 5 cm main lines are masing with the 6035 MHz line stronger than the 6031 MHz one in the range of densities where both lines are inverted. The satellite line at 6049 MHz is also masing but the other satellite line at 6017 MHz is never inverted for $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`<\mathrm{few}\times 10^7`$ cm-3.

Remarkably, the abundance of ortho-H2 causes no changes as to which 5 cm lines of OH are masers. Figures 10a - 10d are made with $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$ and the rest of the parameters the same as in Figures 9a - 9d, respectively.

What has dramatic effects on the pumping of the 5 cm lines is the characteristic velocity. For $`V=2`$ km s-1 and $`V=3`$ km s-1 with the rest of the parameters the same as in Figures 9a - 9d, the results are shown in Figures 11a - 11d and 12a - 12d, respectively. As it is clear from these Figures, an increase of $`V`$ (i.e., increase of nonlocal overlap) causes suppression of the 5 cm main lines. The 6035 MHz line is not inverted at all. The 6031 MHz either is not inverted (compare Figs. 9a and 12a) or it is much weaker (compare Figs. 9d and 12d) depending on the strength of the FIR field. The reader should notice the competition between the FIR field, which inverts the main lines (as we go from a to d in Figs. 9, 11, and 12 the FIR field increases) and the nonlocal overlap, which suppresses the inversion (as we go from Fig. 9 to Fig. 11 and then to Fig. 12 the nonlocal overlap increases).

For completeness, we take one of our cases that agrees qualitatively well with the observational data, namely the case presented in Figure 9c, and explore the effects of the abundance of OH. For $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^4`$ and $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^6`$ the results are shown in Figures 13 and 14, respectively. The abundance of OH introduces only quantitative changes. An enhanced abundance of OH increases the brightness temperature of the 6049 MHz maser line, while a reduced abundance has the opposite effect. The main lines at 6035 and 6031 MHz remain essentially unaffected.

Since the effects of the abundance of OH on the ground state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=3/2`$ and the excited state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, $`J=1/2`$ were not investigated in Paper II, we show in Figure 15 the case of $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^6`$ and all the other parameters the same as in Figure 6c of Paper II.

4. COMPARISON WITH OBSERVATIONS

Since the original discovery of emission from the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=5/2`$ (Yen et al. 1969), many surveys were made for detection of 5 cm maser emission toward a variety of sources (Knowles et al. 1976; Guilloteau et al. 1984; Smits 1994). Caswell and Vaile (1995) surveyed for 6035 MHz masers in 208 OH sources with peak 1665MHz flux density greater than 0.8 Jy. Only 35 masers at 6035 MHz were detected, “ a result that agrees well with our calculations ”. Since these observations were made with a single dish, and the authors have not proven that any of the 1665-6035 MHz “pairs” come from the same region, these observations must be interpreted solely as a tendency of the 1665 MHz line to be inverted more easily than the 6035 MHz one. Our results qualitatively agree with this. The 1665 MHz line (see Paper II) is inverted in a much broader range of densities, velocity fields and strengths of a FIR field than the 6035MHz line.

Let’s for the rest of this section restrict to our results in the presence of a FIR field, $`V<1.5`$ km s-1 and $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}<10^7`$ cm-3. The 6035 MHz line is weaker than the 1665 MHz one and is inverted in a range of densities which is a subset of the range of densities over which the 1665 MHz line is inverted. As the FIR field gets stronger, this subregion becomes broader and the 6035 MHz line tends to be inverted in the same range of densities as the 1665 MHz line. By taking also into account our result that the stronger the FIR radiation field is the stronger the 1665 and 6035 MHz masers are, and assuming that both lines come from the same region, our models are in qualitative agreement with the observational result of Caswell and Vaile (1995) that the greater the peak of 1665 MHz maser intensity, the greater the detection rate of 6035 MHz masers.

An extensive search for all four maser lines in 5 cm has been made by Baudry et al. (1997) toward 265 strong FIR sources and the general observed characteristics of these 5 cm masers can be explained by our calculations. Their observations show (see also Desmurs et al. 1998) that the main-line masers at 6035 MHz, in the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$, $`J=5/2`$ state of OH, are generally stronger and more common than those at 6031 MHz in H II/OH regions. Nevertheless the 6031 MHz line is frequently observed to be masing. Strong 5 cm satellite line masers are not observed in the $`J=5/2`$ state of OH. The 6017 MHz line is often found in absorption while the other satellite line at 6049 MHz is observed in weak emission which could correspond to low gain masers. Our theoretical calculations are in good qualitative agreement with these observations. The 6017 MHz line is never inverted in our calculations and the 6049 MHz line is weak in a wide range of parameters thought to be prevailing in star-forming regions.

Our calculations show that a combination of a FIR radiation field, collisions and line overlap is necessary to reproduce the general features of 6 GHz H II/OH masers. Nevertheless, simultaneous or nearly simultaneous VLBI observations at 1.6 GHz, 4.7 GHz and 6 GHz are necessary to restrict the range of parameters for the inversion of these masers and a search of the correlation between 5 cm maser and FIR radiation field strength would be important to prove or not the importance of FIR radiation for the inversion of these masers.

5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

We have performed a detailed, systematic study of OH maser pumping in order to attempt to invert the problem and from the OH maser observations to infer the physical conditions in H II/OH regions. This was partially accomplished in Papers I and II. With the present study of the 5 cm masers of OH the predictions of our model are:

1) When strong 5 cm maser main lines are seen, a FIR radiation field must be strong there, i.e., high value of $`W`$ or $`p`$ or $`T_d`$ or a combination of them.

2) Inversion of both main lines at 5 cm requires relatively small velocity gradients. For $`V<1`$ km s-1 and a FIR radiation field present, these lines are always seen. If these lines are seen together in the same spatial region, the 1665 MHz OH ground state main line maser will also be observed in the same region, while there is a high probability the other ground state main line maser at 1667 MHz to be observed too (see Paper II).

3) When the 6031 MHz maser line is observed in a region where there is no detection of 6035 MHz maser, the 1665 MHz ground state line is inverted in the same spatial region. This situation has a great probability to be indicative of relatively large velocity gradients ($`V>1`$ km s-1).

4) When the 6049 MHz maser line is seen as a strong line (say, as strong as the 5 cm main lines are typically seen), then $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`>10^5`$.

5) We predict that maser spots showing very strong 18 cm main lines should exhibit 5 cm maser main lines also. This may have already been seen (Caswell & Vaile 1995), but VLBI observations are needed to confirm or reject our prediction.

6) We also predict that 18 cm maser main lines with $`V>2`$ km s-1 will not be accompanied by 5 cm maser main lines.

This research has been supported in part by a grant from the General Secretariat of Research and Technology of Greece and a Training and Mobility of Researchers Fellowship of the European Union under contract No ERBFMBICT972277.

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FIGURE CAPTIONS

FIG. 1.— Brightness temperature $`T_{br}`$as a function of density $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=150`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$ and $`V=0.6`$ km s-1. The values of the other parameters are given in §2.

FIG. 2.— Same as in Figure 1, but $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=200`$ K.

FIG. 3.— Same as in Figure 2, but $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$.

FIG. 4.— Brightness temperature $`T_{br}`$as a function of density $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=150`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$ and $`V=1`$ km s-1. The values of the other parameters are given in §2.

FIG. 5.— Same as in Figure 4, but for $`V=2`$ km s-1.

FIG. 6.— Same as in Figure 4, but for $`V=3`$ km s-1.

FIG. 7.— Same as in Figure 5, but for $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$.

FIG. 8a.— Brightness temperature $`T_{br}`$as a function of density $`n_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=150`$ K, $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=1`$, $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^5`$, $`V=1`$ km s-1, $`T_d=100`$ K, $`p=1`$ and $`W=0.01`$. The values of the other parameters are given in §2.

FIG. 8b.— Same as in Figure 8a, but for $`p=2`$.

FIG. 8c.— Same as in Figure 8a, but for $`T_d=200`$ K.

FIG. 8d.— Same as in Figure 8b, but for $`T_d=200`$ K.

FIG. 9a.— Same as in Figure 8a, but for $`W=0.1`$.

FIG. 9b.— Same as in Figure 8b, but for $`W=0.1`$.

FIG. 9c.— Same as in Figure 8c, but for $`W=0.1`$.

FIG. 9d.— Same as in Figure 8d, but for $`W=0.1`$.

FIG. 10a.— Same as in Figure 9a, but for $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$.

FIG. 10b.— Same as in Figure 9b, but for $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$.

FIG. 10c.— Same as in Figure 9c, but for $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$.

FIG. 10d.— Same as in Figure 9d, but for $`f_{\mathrm{ortho}\mathrm{H}_2}`$$`=0`$.

FIG. 11a.— Same as in Figure 9a, but for $`V=2`$ km s-1.

FIG. 11b.— Same as in Figure 9b, but for $`V=2`$ km s-1.

FIG. 11c.— Same as in Figure 9c, but for $`V=2`$ km s-1.

FIG. 11d.— Same as in Figure 9d, but for $`V=2`$ km s-1.

FIG. 12a.— Same as in Figure 9a, but for $`V=3`$ km s-1.

FIG. 12b.— Same as in Figure 9b, but for $`V=3`$ km s-1.

FIG. 12c.— Same as in Figure 9c, but for $`V=3`$ km s-1.

FIG. 12d.— Same as in Figure 9d, but for $`V=3`$ km s-1.

FIG. 13.— Same as Figure 9c, but for $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^4`$.

FIG. 14.— Same as Figure 9c, but for $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^6`$.

FIG. 15.— Same as Figure 6c of Paper II, but for $`f_{\mathrm{OH}}`$$`=10^6`$.


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# Time inhomogeneous Fokker-Planck equation for wave distributions in the abelian sandpile model

## Abstract

The time and size distribution of the waves of topplings in the Abelian sandpile model are expressed as the first arrival at the origin distribution for a scale invariant, time inhomogeneous Fokker-Planck equation. Assuming a linear conjecture for the the time inhomogeneity exponent as function of loop erased random walk (LERW) critical exponent, suggested by numerical results, this approach allows one to estimate the lower critical dimension of the model and the exact value of the critical exponent for LERW in three dimension. The avalanche size distribution in two dimensions is found to be the difference between two closed power laws.

05.10.Gg,04.40.-a

The abelian sandpile model (ASM) was introduced by Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld  as a minimal description for natural phenomena characterized by intermittent time evolution through events called avalanches which have scale invariant properties. The model is defined on a hypercubic lattice whose sites can accommodate a variable, positive number of grains. With a uniform distribution a site is chosen and its number of grains is increased by one. If its total number of grains exceeds a given critical threshold $`z_{max}`$, the nearest neighbor sites increase their number of grains by one and the initial site loses the corresponding number of grains. Then the newly updated sites are checked for stability until there are no more unstable states. This event is an avalanche and the analytical properties of its distribution is still an open question . Analytical approaches rely on the algebraic properties of the toppling rules and the decomposition of avalanches into simpler events called waves which are related to spanning trees on a lattice. A wave of topplings is simply obtained by restraining the initial site, from where an avalanche was initiated, to topple again only after all the other unstable sites have relaxed. Recently it was shown that the wave distribution satisfies the finite size scaling ansatz, with critical exponents deduced from the equivalence between waves and spanning trees .

In this Letter we present numerical evidence that the critical exponents of the wave size and time distribution, which were deduced from geometrical considerations in , can be related to the parameters of a scale invariant Fokker-Planck equation (FPE) in any dimension. In this way we make a connection between the geometrical properties of the waves and an evolution equation. As further confirmation of the validity of a FPE description for the abelian sandpile model, we show that the scaling behavior of the average number of unstable sites as function of time is predicted by the FPE. Using the expressions for the critical exponents deduced in  together with those inferred form the FPE approach we are able to find the lower critical dimension of the abelian sandpile model and, as an extra benefit, the exact value for the loop erased random walk (LERW) critical exponent $`\nu `$ in three dimensions. In two dimensions, the case in which the distribution of the last wave is known , we can compute the asymptotic behavior of the avalanche distribution with the result that it has the form of a difference between two close power laws. This has been previously proposed as an explanation for the failure of the finite size scaling approach .

The abelian sandpile model is, from its definition, a Markovian process whose states are specified by the lattice configuration. Once the initial point has been chosen randomly the dynamics of relaxation is deterministic, with the evolution determined by the initial configuration and the toppling rule.

We consider a coarse grain description of the sandpile evolution. Instead of a complete description, involving the number of grains at each site of the lattice, we use as variable the total number of unstable sites which exist at a given time, after an avalanche has started, irrespective of the configuration in which the sandpile is. This description is stochastic since the transition between two states with a given number of unstable sites depends on the configuration of the sandpile which is now taken randomly. Let us consider for this process the evolution equation describing the transition between states with different numbers of unstable sites: $`P(t+1,n)=_n^{}W(t;n,n^{})P(t,n^{})`$; where $`W(n,n^{};t)`$ is obtained by averaging over all the transitions between the configurations with the same number of unstable sites $`n,n^{}`$ at a given time $`t`$. The transition probability $`W(t;n,n^{})`$ may depend on time since the configuration of the unstable sites also depends on time; i.e. at the first step of a wave the unstable sites are some of the nearest neighbors of the initial site, eventually moving away. In this formulation the wave is equivalent to a particle performing a discrete random walk on the positive semi-axis with the transition probabilities depending on the particle position. An wave event is a first arrival at the origin problem, for the wave stops when all the sites, except the initial one, are stable. This random walk is close to a diffusion process since the number of unstable sites varies with bounded steps, $`x(t+1)<2Dx(t)`$, where $`x(t)`$ is the number of unstable sites and $`D`$ is the lattice dimension. From this analogy we expect that the distribution of first arrival at the origin, that is the wave duration, has a power law distribution as it has for the first return distribution of the simple diffusion process.

If we take the lattice size to infinity and the time unit to zero in an appropriate way the discrete Markov chain can be cast into a diffusion equation via the Kramer-Moyal expansion . Here we shall not propose an explicit way to construct the FPE for the ASM, instead we use the fact that in the stationary state the sandpile is at criticality and we shall investigate the general FPE which yields critical behavior and has diffusion and drift coefficients behaving similarly to the sandpile model. Generically the FPE has the form $`_tp=_x[v(x,t)p]+(1/2)_{xx}^2[D_2(x,t)p]`$, where $`p(x,t)`$ is the probability density of the number of unstable sites, $`x`$ is the number of unstable sites, $`t`$ is the time since the wave has started. The drift coefficient $`v(x,t)`$ and the diffusion coefficient $`D_2(x,t)`$ are obtained by taking the continuum limit of the local first order moment $`_j(x_ix_j)W(i,j;t)`$ and of the local second order moment $`_j(x_ix_j)^2W(i,j;t)`$ . Numerically we have found that the discrete diffusion coefficient $`D_2(x,t)`$ depends linearly on the number of unstable sites $`x`$. The slope depends on the dimension of the lattice but does not depend on the lattice size and the geometric condition (bulk or boundary wave)( see Fig. 1). Also we have found that the discrete drift coefficient $`v(x)`$ tends to a constant as the size of lattice grows, Fig. (1). The finite size effects affect the drift coefficient for the bulk waves at any value of the number of unstable sites, since the transition to states with larger number of unstable sites is smaller when the wave takes place near the boundary, while the statistics collects all the waves.

The simplest Fokker-Planck equation satisfying the scale invariance assumption and the numerical behavior of the discrete coefficients $`D_2(x,t)`$ and $`v(x,t)`$ is

$$_tp(x,t)=_x[vt^\alpha p(x,t)]+_{xx}^2[D_2xt^\alpha p(x,t)]$$
(1)
where $`v,D_2,\alpha `$ are constants. The initial condition for the above equation is $`p(x,t=t_0)=\delta (xx_0)`$. Since we are interested in the time and size distribution for waves, which are first arrival events, we set an absorbing boundary condition at the origin $`p(x=0,t)=0`$, for the wave stops when the number of unstable sites, except for the initial one, is zero. The above differential equation is invariant under a scale transformation $`xbx,tb^{1/(1\alpha )}t`$. We observe that we can eliminate the parameter $`D_2`$ by variable change $`xD_2x`$ and we change to $`vv/D_2`$.

Using a standard approach  one can find the asymptotic behavior of the first arrival at the origin for Eq. (1): $`P_t(t)t^{\tau _t},t1`$ with

$`\tau _t`$ $`=`$ $`1+(1\alpha )|1v|.`$ (2)
The second critical exponent we are interested in is the size distribution of waves. The size of the wave is the sum of the number of unstable sites until the wave stops; in the continuous formulation we have $`s(t)=_{t_0}^t𝑑t^{}x(t^{})+x(t_0)`$.

We make the observation that the variable $`s`$ is a monotonic function of time as $`\dot{s}=x(t)>0`$. The relation between the two variables can be found using the average relation $`\dot{s}(t)=x(t)`$. Multiplying Eq. (1) by $`x`$ and integrating over $`x`$ we obtain that $`x(t)t^{1\alpha },t1`$, where the average was normalized to the probability of surviving $`𝑑xp(x,t)`$ until the moment $`t`$. Now we can use the variable $`s`$ in the time distribution of waves. We have $`t^{\tau _t}dts^{\frac{1}{2\alpha }}ds^{\frac{1}{2\alpha }}=s^{\tau _a}ds`$ for large $`t`$ and $`s`$, where

$$\tau _a=1+\frac{(1\alpha )}{2\alpha }|1v|.$$
(3)
This result can be checked easily by Monte Carlo simulation of a random walk constructed to be the discrete version of Eq. (1) or equivalent ones.

In Table I we show the values of the critical exponents $`\tau _a,\tau _t`$ taken from , using Eqs. (2,3) we have computed the values of the parameters $`v`$ and $`\alpha `$. We observe that $`\alpha `$ has the same value for bulk and boundary waves and the time inhomogeneity disappears at the critical dimension, $`\alpha =0`$ for $`D=4`$. Thus the exponent $`\alpha `$ can be interpreted as a measure of the correlation among the unstable sites bellow critical dimension.

Also, for $`D=2`$ we note that $`\alpha `$ has the same numerical value as the critical exponent characterizing the decay of the autocorrelation function of waves found in . One more hint that the exponent $`\alpha `$ is related to the correlation on the lattice is that it depends linearly on the erased random critical exponent $`\nu `$ which has the values $`\nu =4/5(D=2),\nu =0.616(D=3),\nu =1/2(D4)`$ . Indeed one can see easily that the relation

$$\alpha =\frac{4}{3}\left(\nu \frac{1}{2}\right)$$
(4)
holds exactly in $`D=2`$ and $`D=4`$ and has an error of $`0.003`$ for $`D=3`$, case in which the critical exponent $`\nu `$ is only known from numerical simulation .

In the following we shall use Eq. (4), which holds for both bulk and boundary waves, as a conjecture for further exploration of the Table I. The fact that $`\alpha `$ has the same value for both bulk and boundary waves can be checked numerically using the first two moments $`m_n(t)=x^np(x,t)`$ of the solution of Eq. (1). Integrating Eq. (1) over $`x`$ and using the absorbing boundary conditions at the origin, we obtain $`m_1(t)/m_0(t)t^{1\alpha }`$ which is independent of $`v`$. Numerical estimation of the above ratio in $`D=2,3,4`$, presented in Fig. (2), shows an excellent agreement with the predicted values (the error is less than $`0.01`$).

In  it was shown that for waves the critical exponents for size and time distribution are given by

$$\begin{array}{c}\tau _a=2\frac{1+\sigma }{d_f}\hfill \\ \tau _t=1+(d_f(1+\sigma ))\nu \hfill \end{array}$$
(5)
where $`d_f`$ is the fractal dimension of the wave, which has the values of the Euclidean dimension for $`D=2,3,4`$ and value $`4`$ for higher dimension; $`\sigma =1,0`$ for bulk and boundary wave respectively.

Using the above proposed conjecture, Eq. (4), and Eqs. (2,3,5), from $`(2\alpha )(\tau _a1)=\tau _t1`$ we obtain

$$d_f=\frac{8}{3}\frac{1}{\nu }\frac{4}{3}.$$
(6)
This relation shows that that the minimum critical dimension of the abelian sandpile model is $`4/3`$ since the maximum value of $`\nu `$ is $`1`$. This result is in agreement with the observation that in $`D=1`$ the scaling in the abelian sandpile model breaks down .

An additional benefit of the above relation is that it gives the value of the critical exponent for the loop erased random walk in three dimension. Indeed if we put $`d_f=3`$, and keep in mind that $`d_f=D`$ for $`D<4`$, we get $`\nu _{D=3}=8/13=0.615384\mathrm{}`$ in perfect agreement with the numerical value found in . In fact, assuming the conjecture Eq. (4) and identifying $`D=d_f`$, Eq. (6) yields a relation between the LERW critical exponent and space dimensionality.

Ktitarev et al  argue that all critical exponents of the abelian sandpile are determined by the critical exponent $`\nu `$. In order to complete this program we need the relation between the drift coefficient $`v`$ and $`\nu `$ and a relation between the the drift coefficients $`v`$ for the bulk and boundary waves. Using the Eq. (5) for $`\tau _t`$ together with Eqs. (2,3) we obtain

$$\frac{|1v_{\text{bulk}}|}{|1v_{\text{boundary}}|}=\frac{d_f2}{d_f1}.$$
(7)
We need one more relation to connect the coefficients $`\alpha `$ and $`v`$ (bulk or boundary) with $`\nu `$. This can be obtained by using for example Eqs. (3,4,5) from which we extract

$$v_{\text{bulk}}=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{6\nu 3}{4\nu +5}\hfill & \text{if}\nu 4/5\hfill \\ \frac{14\nu +13}{4\nu +5}\hfill & \text{if}\nu >4/5\hfill \end{array}.$$
(8)
We make the observation that the Eqs. (4,7,8) hold exactly in $`D=3`$ if we use the deduced value $`\nu =8/13`$, see Table I. At this point, we can conclude that we have found a self-consistent description of the critical properties for the time and size distribution of waves in ASM. The exponent $`\alpha `$ captures the lattice correlation and the drift $`v`$ controls the boundary condition of the wave, both of them being a function of the erased loop random walk critical exponent $`\nu `$ through the Eqs. (4,7,8).

Now we are in the position to compute the asymptotic behavior for the avalanches in $`D=2`$ using the FPE. In this description an avalanche is the sum of a random number of waves. The waves are statistically independent being recurrent events . This assumption might appear to be in contradiction with analysis of  but in fact in this approach the correlation is included already in the time inhomogeneity. When a wave of size $`s`$ touches the origin it has the the probability $`p_d(s)`$ to die, thus also concluding the avalanche, or a new wave can start with the probability $`(1p_d(s))`$. We choose the probability for the wave to die as $`p_d(s)=s^{3/8}\mathrm{ln}s`$, so as to recover asymptotically the probability for the last wave: $`p_w(s)p_d(s)=p_{lw}(s)s^{\frac{11}{8}}`$ . The avalanche distribution can then be written as $`p_a(s)=p_w(s)p_d(s)+_0^s𝑑s^{}p_w(s^{})(1p_d(s^{}))p_w(ss^{})p_d(ss^{})+\mathrm{}`$. We can sum the previous series after a Laplace transform in $`s`$ and we have

$$p_a(\lambda )=\frac{p_{lw}(\lambda )}{1((1p_d)p_w)_\lambda }.$$
(9)
Applying again the Tauberian theorem  we find that asymptotically the avalanche size distribution behaves like

$$p_a(s)C_1(s\mathrm{ln}s)^1+C_2s^{\frac{11}{8}}.$$
(10)
This kind of behavior has been proposed previously in the literature . The fact that $`1<11/8<2`$ makes it difficult to obtain the ’pure’ dominant behavior. From a numerical fit we obtain that $`C_2/C_10.25`$, therefore $`C_1(s\mathrm{ln}s)^1C_2s^{\frac{11}{8}}`$ for $`s10^6`$. Thus, the FPE approach predicts that the avalanche distribution in the bulk must have the same asymptotic behavior as the waves for very large values of $`s`$, provided that the statistics excludes the avalanches which are affected by the boundary.

In conclusion, we have used numerical hints to propose a FPE for the time and size distributions of the waves in the ASM. In this approach a wave is a first return event and the asymptotic properties of its distributions (time and size) are described by the first return probabilities of a time inhomogeneous FPE; the time inhomogeneity appears below the critical dimension $`D=4`$. Furthermore, this approach yields an analytical expression for the asymptotic behavior of the avalanche distribution in $`D=2`$ which goes beyond the finite size scaling hypothesis and in agreement with recent results .

Using the relation for the critical exponents $`\tau _a`$, $`\tau _t`$ deduced in  together with the the relations found through FPE approach and the conjecture (4) we the propose explicit dependence of the critical exponents $`\tau _a`$, $`\tau _t`$ of the critical exponent of LERW $`\nu `$ (via $`\alpha `$ and $`v`$). A bonus of this approach is that it yields the value of the lower critical dimension, $`4/3`$, for the ASM and the exact value of $`\nu =8/13`$ in $`D=3`$ for LERW.

The author thanks H. B. Geyer, F. Scholtz, L. Boonaazier and A. van Biljon for useful discussions and H. B. Geyer for a critical reading of the manuscript.


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# Phenomenological aspects of kaon photoproduction on the nucleon

## 1 INTRODUCTION

A wealth of new high-statistics data on elementary kaon photo- and electroproduction has recently become available in three isospin channels. Along with some new progress in the theoretical side this has made the field of kaon electromagnetic production to be of considerable interest. New models, span from chiral perturbation theory to the relatively simple isobar approach, have been proposed in the recent years as the SAPHIR collaboration made their precise data publicly available. Because the error-bars are sufficiently small, an interesting structure can be resolved in $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ total cross section. This leads to a critical question, as to whether the structure comes from less known resonances or other reaction channels start to open at the corresponding energy.

In this paper we discuss some phenomenological aspects, which can be investigated by means of the isobar model. The model has been constructed by including three states that have been found to have significant decay widths into $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ channels, the $`S_{11}`$(1650), $`P_{11}`$(1710), and $`P_{13}(1720)`$ resonances, to fit all elementary data by adjusting some free parameters, which are known as coupling constants.

## 2 THE MODEL AND SOME PHENOMENOLOGICAL ASPECTS

### 2.1 Hadronic Form Factors

Previous analyses of kaon photoproduction have never included a form factor at the hadronic vertex. However, since most of the present isobaric models diverge at higher energies, the need for such hadronic form factors has been known for a long time. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that models which give a good description of the $`(\gamma ,K^+)`$ data can give unrealistically large predictions for the $`(\gamma ,K^0)`$ channels . It is well known that incorporating a hadronic form factor helps alleviate this divergence and, simultaneously, leads to a problem with gauge invariance, since not every diagram in the Born terms retains gauge invariance by itself.111Since the resonance terms are individually gauge invariant, the discussion will be limited to the Born terms. The question of gauge invariance is actually one of the central issues in dynamical descriptions of how photons interact with hadronic systems. While there is usually no problem at the tree-level with bare, point-like particles, the problem becomes very complicated once the electromagnetic interaction is consistently incorporated within the full complexity of a strongly-interacting hadronic system.

In the previous work  we have studied the influence of hadronic form factors on kaon production, by multiplying the whole amplitude with an overall, monopole, form factor $`F(t)`$, i.e.

$`M_{\mathrm{fi}}`$ $`=`$ $`[M_\mathrm{B}(s,t,u)+M_\mathrm{R}(s,t,u)]F(t),`$ (1)
where the subscripts B and R refer to the Born and resonance terms, to simulate the average effect of the fact that nucleons are not point-like. In spite of the success to suppress the divergence and to avoid the problem of gauge invariance, this ad hoc fashion does not have any microscopic foundation.

In order to restore gauge invariance properly, one needs to construct additional current contributions beyond the usual Feynman diagrams to cancel the gauge-violating terms. One of the most widely used methods is due to Ohta . For kaon photoproduction off the nucleon, Ohta’s prescription amounts to dropping all strong-interaction form factors for all gauge-violating electric current contributions in Born terms. Symbolically, this may be written as

$`M_\mathrm{B}(s,t,u)`$ $`=`$ $`M_\mathrm{B}^{\mathrm{mag}.}[s,t,u,F(s),F(t),F(u)]+M_\mathrm{B}^{\mathrm{elec}.}(s,t,u).`$ (2)
The recipe, however, does not completely solve the problem of divergence, since the electric terms do not have suppression and, therefore, could violently increase as a function of the coupling constants. As shown in Ref. , even at the coupling constants values accepted by the SU(3) symmetry, Ohta’s recipe already yields very large $`\chi ^2`$.

On the other hand, Haberzettl  has put forward a comprehensive treatment of gauge invariance in meson photoproduction. This includes a prescription for restoring gauge invariance in situations when one cannot handle the full complexity of the problem and therefore must resort to some approximations. In our language, this method can be translated as

$`M_\mathrm{B}(s,t,u)`$ $`=`$ $`M_\mathrm{B}^{\mathrm{mag}.}[s,t,u,F(s),F(t),F(u)]+M_\mathrm{B}^{\mathrm{elec}.}(s,t,u)\widehat{F}(s,t,u),`$ (3)
with $`\widehat{F}(s,t,u)=a_1F(s)+a_2F(t)+a_3F(u)`$ and $`a_1+a_2+a_3=1`$. Clearly, Haberzettl’s method removes the Ohta’s problem by an additional form factor in the electric terms.

By fitting to the kaon photoproduction data we found that the method proposed by Haberzettl to be superior rather than the Ohta’s, since the former can provide a reasonable description of the data using values for the leading couplings constants close to the SU(3) prediction. Such couplings cannot be accommodated in Ohta’s method due to the absence of a hadronic form factor in the electric current contribution.

### 2.2 The anomalous magnetic moment of the nucleon

One of the important ground state properties of the nucleon is the anomalous magnetic moment, which exists as a direct consequence of its internal structure. More than 30 years ago Gerasimov, and independently Drell and Hearn, proposed that this ground state property is related to the nucleon’s resonance spectra by a sum rule which was then called the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn (GDH) sum rule . In the limit of photon point, the sum rule may be written as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _N^2}{4}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_N^2}{8\pi ^2\alpha }}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\nu }{\nu }}[\sigma _{1/2}(\nu )\sigma _{3/2}(\nu )],`$ (4)
where $`\sigma _{3/2}`$ and $`\sigma _{1/2}`$ denote the cross sections for possible combinations of the nucleon and photon spins. Experiment with polarized beam and target has been performed at MAMI with photon energy up to 850 MeV and data are being analyzed . Using higher photon energies, experiments have been planned at ELSA and JLab.

For practical purpose, instead of Eq. (4) we use

$`\kappa _N^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_N^2}{\pi ^2\alpha }}{\displaystyle _{\nu _{\mathrm{thr}}}^{\nu _{\mathrm{max}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\nu }{\nu }}\sigma _{TT^{}},`$ (5)
where $`\sigma _{TT^{}}`$ denotes the cross section with polarized real photon and target. In terms of polarization observables this cross section corresponds to the double polarization $`E`$ . Since there are no data available for $`\sigma _{TT^{}}`$, previous work  approximated Eq. (5) with

$`\kappa _N^2`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_N^2}{\pi ^2\alpha }}{\displaystyle _{\nu _{\mathrm{thr}}}^{\nu _{\mathrm{max}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\nu }{\nu }}\sigma _T,`$ (6)
to estimate the upper bound of contributions, where $`\sigma _T`$ represents the total cross section.

To calculate Eqs. (5) and (6) we use our elementary operator with $`\nu _{\mathrm{max}}=2.2`$ GeV. The result is shown in Table 1. Our calculation yields values of $`\kappa _p^2(K)=0.063`$ and $`\kappa _n^2(K)=0.031`$, or $`|\kappa _p(K)|/\kappa _p0.14`$ and $`\kappa _n(K)/\kappa _n0.094`$. This shows that the kaon-hyperon final states contributions to the proton’s and neutron’s magnetic moment are very small. An interesting feature is that our calculation yields a negative contribution for the $`\kappa _p^2(K)`$ and a positive contribution for the $`\kappa _n^2(K)`$, which is obviously consistent with the result of Karliner’s work .

### 2.3 Investigation of missing resonances

A brief inspection to the particle data book reveals that less than 40% of the predicted nucleon resonances are observed in $`\pi N\pi N`$ scattering experiments. Quark model studies have suggested that those ”missing” resonances may couple strongly to other channels, such as the $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ channels . Interestingly, the new SAPHIR total cross section data  for the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ channel, shown in Fig. 1, indicate for the first time a structure around $`W=1900`$ MeV. Using the current isobar model we investigate this structure. As shown in Fig. 1, our previous model cannot reproduce the total cross section. Although a structure in total cross section data does not immediately imply a new resonance, the energy region around 1900 MeV represents a challenge not only because of possible broad, overlapping resonances, but also because there are additional production thresholds nearby, such as photoproduction of $`\eta ^{}`$, $`K^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ final states, which can all lead to structure in the $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ cross section through final-state interaction. Here, we limit ourselves only to the possibility that this structure is in fact due to one of the missing or poorly known resonances.

The constituent quark model of Capstick and Roberts  predicts many new states around 1900 MeV. However, only a few of them have been calculated to have a significant $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ decay width . These are the $`S_{11}`$(1945), $`P_{11}`$(1975), $`P_{13}`$(1950), and $`D_{13}`$(1960) states. We have performed fits for each of these possible states, allowing the fit to determine the mass, width and coupling constants of the resonance. We found that all four states can reproduce the structure at $`W`$ around 1900 MeV, while reducing the $`\chi ^2`$, but only for the $`D_{13}`$(1960) state we found a remarkable agreement, up to the sign, between the quark model prediction and our extracted result . The result is shown in Fig. 1, where without this resonance the model shows only one peak near threshold, while inclusion of the new resonance leads to a second peak at $`W`$ slightly below 1900 MeV, in accordance with the new SAPHIR data. The difference between the two calculations is much smaller for the differential cross sections. The largest effects are found in the photon asymmetry. Therefore, we would suggest that measuring this observable is well suited to shed more light on the contribution of this state in kaon photoproduction.

## 3 EXTENSION TO HIGHER ENERGIES

Extending the model to the higher energy regime requires a non-trivial task, since the Born terms increase rapidly as a function of energy. As shown in Fig. 2, even the hadronic form factors are unable to suppress the cross sections for the energy region above 2 GeV as demanded by the data. Especially in the case of $`K^0\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ production, where the predicted cross section starts to monotonically increase at this point. However, in order to explore the higher-lying nucleon resonances or to account for higher energies contributions to the GDH integral, an isobar model which also properly work at higher photon energies would be demanded.

In Ref.  it has been shown that the contributions from the $`t`$-channel resonances are responsible for the divergence of the cross section, thus indicating that the Regge propagator should be used instead of the usual Feynman propagator. While a proper reggeization of the model is considerably complicated and the study is still underway, we investigate here only the qualitative effects of using Regge propagators in the model.

Following Ref. , we multiply the Feynman propagators $`1/(tm_K^{}^2)`$ of the $`K^{}(892)`$ and $`K_1(1270)`$ resonances in the operator with a factor of $`P_{\mathrm{Regge}}(tm_K^{}^2)`$, where $`P_{\mathrm{Regge}}`$ indicates the Regge propagator given in Ref. . For the $`K^{}`$ intermediate state it has the form

$`P_{\mathrm{Regge}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{s^{\alpha _K^{}(t)1}}{\mathrm{sin}[\pi \alpha _K^{}(t)]}}e^{i\pi \alpha _K^{}(t)}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \alpha _K^{}^{}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }[\pi \alpha _K^{}(t)]}},`$ (7)
where $`\alpha (t)=\alpha _0+\alpha ^{}t`$ denotes the corresponding trajectory. Equation (7) clearly reduces to the Feynman propagator in the limit of $`tm_K^{}^2`$, thus approximating the low energy behavior of the amplitude.

The model is then refitted to kaon photoproduction data and the result is shown in Fig. 2, where we compare the isobar model with and without reggeization. Obviously, Regge propagators strongly suppress the cross section at high energies and, therefore, yield a better explanation of data at this energy regime. For the $`K^0\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ process, the use of Regge propagators seems to give more flexibility in reproducing the cross section data. This cannot be achieved without reggeization, since the high energy behavior of both $`t`$-channel resonances is less controllable by the hadronic form factors. However, since the data for the $`K^0\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ channel shown in Fig. 2 are still preliminary , we have to wait before any further conclusion can be drawn. In future we will include the high energy data in the fit and investigate the model in the transition between medium and high energy regions.