text:
# Mapping the star formation history of Mrk~86∗

## 1 Introduction

The high star formation rate (SFR hereafter) and low neutral gas content deduced for dwarf star-forming galaxies imply consumption time-scales of about 109 yr (Fanelli et al. fanelli (1988); Thuan & Martin thuan81 (1981)), much shorter than the age of the Universe. Searle et al. (searle73 (1973)) suggested that either these objects are truly young systems or they have an intermittent star formation history with short intense star-forming episodes followed by long quiescent phases. Although this question remained unanswered during decades (Thuan thuan83 (1983); Campbell & Terlevich campbell (1984); Loose & Thuan loose85 (1985)), nowadays, most of the studies on dwarf star-forming systems, including Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies (BCD hereafter), have revealed the existence of an evolved underlying population (Kunth et al. kunth88 (1988); Hoffman et al. hoffman (1990); Papaderos et al. 1996b ; Doublier doublier98 (1998); Norton & Salzer norton (1997)).

Therefore, the understanding of the mechanism, or mechanisms, governing this star formation regulation is the stepping stone of the dwarf star-forming galaxies evolution. Moreover, this mechanism constitutes the missing link between the different dwarf star-forming galaxies (Silk et al. silk87 (1987); Burkert burkert (1989); Drinkwater & Hardy drinkwater (1991); Papaderos et al. 1996b ).

There are two different approaches to address these questions. On the one hand, statistical analysis of a sample of these objects will allow the study of the relationships between fundamental parameters and properties of the star-forming dwarf galaxies (Marlowe et al. marlowe95 (1995); Papaderos et al. 1996a , 1996b ). On the other hand, the detailed analysis of individual low-redshift objects with multiple regions of star formation is fundamental to reconstruct their star formation histories. In particular, we can obtain a better understanding of possible effects of merging or some internal process as self-propagation that could originate the spreading of star formation, and the effects of these star-forming events on the future star formation.

Among dwarf galaxies, Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies conform the subpopulation where the star-forming events are most violent. Blue Compact Dwarfs are low-luminosity (MB $``$$``$18m)111For $`H_0`$=75 km s-1 Mpc-1 (Thuan & Martin thuan81 (1981)). galaxies with compact sizes whose spectra are similar to those of low metallicity H ii regions (Searle & Sargent searle72 (1972); Kunth & Sargent kunth86 (1986); Thuan & Martin thuan81 (1981)). Their spectra are characterized by emission lines over a blue continuum which implies the existence of a large fraction of OB stars and an intense star-forming activity.

The Blue Compact Galaxy Mrk~86=NGC~2537 (Shapley & Ames shapley32 (1932); Markarian markarian69 (1969)), also known as Arp 6 (Arp arp66 (1966)), constitutes an excellent laboratory to test the BCD star formation history since its star-forming regions populate all the galaxy. This object is the propotype of the iE galaxies, the most important BCD galaxies subclass, that conform 70 per cent of the BCD galaxies (Thuan & Martin thuan81 (1981); Thuan thuan91 (1991)).

In Gil de Paz et al. (2000a ; Paper I hereafter) we presented observational data for the underlying population and star-forming regions of Mrk~86. We provided sizes, $`BVRJHK`$ magnitudes, colors and emission-line fluxes for most of these regions. The evolutionary synthesis models used in this paper were also extensively described.

Now, we describe the procedure employed to compare the colors measured and those predicted by the evolutionary synthesis models in Sect. 2. The properties of the underlying stellar population, central starburst and recent star-forming regions are studied in Sect. 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3, respectively. Electron densities, temperatures and metal abundances for the brightest star-forming regions in the galaxy are given in Sect. 3.4. Finally, in Sect. 4, we provide a global interpretation of the short- and mid-term star formation history of the galaxy. The main conclusions from this study are summarized in Sect. 5.

## 2 Data-models comparison method

### 2.1 Determination of the underlying population properties

The optical-near-infrared colors measured for the underlying stellar component (see Sect. 5 and 6.1 in Paper I) have been compared with those predicted by the Bruzual & Charlot (priv. comm.) evolutionary synthesis models. We have obtained the best-fitting model for each point in the color profiles (see Fig. 6 of Paper I) using a maximum likelihood estimator. This maximum likelihood estimator is defined as,

$$(t,b,Z)=\underset{n=1}{\overset{5}{}}\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi }\mathrm{\Delta }C_n}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{(c_nC_n)^2}{2\mathrm{\Delta }C_n^2}\right)$$
(1)
where $`C_n`$ (with $`n`$=1-5) are the $`BV`$, $`VR`$, $`RJ`$, $`JH`$ and $`RK`$ colors measured, and $`c_n`$ are those predicted by the evolutionary synthesis models. The colors measured were corrected for Galactic extinction using an extinction in the $`B`$-band of 0.15m (Burstein & Heiles burstein (1982)).

We have studied different star formation histories for the formation of this component. In particular, we have considered instantaneous and 1, 3 and 7 Gyr duration bursts and continuous star formation models. This comparison has been restricted to models with metallicity lower than the solar value. We are confident with this assumption since the gas metallicities derived in Sect. 3.4 for the galaxy star-forming regions are lower than one tenth solar.

### 2.2 Determination of the star-forming regions properties

A more elaborated comparison method has been used in the case of the galaxy star-forming regions. This comparison method is fully described in Gil de Paz et al. (2000b ). Briefly, it combines Monte Carlo simulations and a maximum likelihood estimator with Cluster and Principal Component Analysis.

The maximum likelihood estimator employed is very similar to that described in Sect. 2.1, but replacing the $`RJ`$ and $`RK`$ colors by the $`VJ`$ and $`JK`$ colors. In addition, since these regions have intense H$`\alpha `$ emission, we have included a new term, defined as $`m_R`$+2.5$`\times `$log($`F_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }`$). This term is equivalent to the H$`\alpha `$ equivalent width (EW hereafter) term, 2.5$`\times `$log EW(H$`\alpha `$), used in Gil de Paz et al. (2000b ). The $`m_R`$ magnitudes are those measured within the apertures given in Paper I.

In order to properly derive this new term, we have computed the fraction of H$`\alpha `$ flux, i.e. the fraction of Lyman photons, due to the stellar continuum measured within the apertures. Two different approaches can be followed. First, we could measure the H$`\alpha `$ fluxes using these apertures. However, since the H$`\alpha `$ emission is usually more extended than the continuum emisson, this procedure would sistematically underestimate the H$`\alpha `$ flux (see, e.g. #8, #13, #18, #50, #70 and #80 regions). Therefore, we have used an alternative method. We measured the total H$`\alpha `$ using the cobra program (see Paper I). Then, we assumed that the fraction of photons emitted within the apertures relative to the total emission is equivalent for the Lyman and $`R`$-band continuum. Thus, considering that the apertures were obtained at e-, e2\- or e3-folding radii and assuming gaussian ligth profiles, this light fraction can be computed for each region. The values obtained for this fraction, $`f`$, are given in Table 3.

Then, multiplying these flux ratios by the total H$`\alpha `$ fluxes given in Table 4 of Paper I, we derive the H$`\alpha `$ luminosities due to the continuum emission measured within the apertures.

The H$`\alpha `$ fluxes were corrected for extinction using the $`E(BV)_{\mathrm{gas}}`$ color excesses provided by the H$`\beta `$-H$`\alpha `$, H$`\gamma `$-H$`\beta `$ Balmer decrements. In addition, the broad-band magnitudes and colors were corrected for extinction assuming that the extinction affecting the stellar continuum and the gas extinction are related via $`E(BV)_{\mathrm{continuum}}`$=0.44$`\times `$$`E(BV)_{\mathrm{gas}}`$ (Calzetti et al. calzetti (1996)). In those regions where Balmer line ratios were not measurable we assumed an average extinction of $`E(BV)_{\mathrm{gas}}`$=0.34m. This value was obtained as the mean of the color excesses given in Table 5 of Paper I for those regions with accessible Balmer line ratios.

Thus, each star-forming region has a point associated in the $`BV`$, $`VR`$, $`VJ`$, $`JH`$, $`JK`$, $`m_R`$$`+`$2.5$`\times `$log($`F_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }`$) six-dimensional space. However, the corresponding uncertainties transform these points into probability distributions. Using a Monte Carlo method with 103 points and assuming gaussian errors we reconstructed these probability distributions. Then, we compared each of these 103 points with our models using the maximuum likelihood estimator described above. Since these models are parametrized in age, $`t`$; burst strength, $`b`$; and metallicity, $`Z`$, of the burst stellar population, this method effectively provides the ($`t`$,$`b`$,$`Z`$) probability distribution for each input region (see Table 3).

Finally, we studied the clustering pattern present in these distributions using a hierarchical clustering method (see Murtagh & Heck murtagh (1987)). This method allows to isolate different solutions in the ($`t`$,$`b`$,$`Z`$) space. We grouped the 103 ($`t`$,$`b`$,$`Z`$) points in three clusters of solutions. Then, we performed a Principal Component Analysis (see Morrison morrison (1976)) for each individual solution (see Gil de Paz et al. 2000b  for a more complete description of this procedure).

For the central starburst component we used a similar procedure. However, since no H$`\alpha `$ emission was detected for this component, the $`m_R`$$`+`$2.5$`\times `$log($`F_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }`$) term was not included in the maximum likelihood estimator. In addition, we introduced the continuum color excess $`E(BV)`$ as a free parameter. Color excesses in the range 0.0-1.0m were studied, where 0.05m is the Galactic color excess. For each of the 103 Monte Carlo particles the full range was explored, obtaining the best-fitting color excess and ($`t`$,$`b`$,$`Z`$) array.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Underlying population

In this section we describe the results obtained after comparing the colors measured and those predicted by the evolutionary synthesis models.

We compared the model predictions with the optical-near-infrared colors measured without correcting for internal extinction ($`A_{B,\mathrm{internal}}`$=0.0m) and using an extinction correction factor of 0.20m in the $`B`$-band. The latter value corresponds approximately to two times the extinction of a Galactic-type disk with an inclination of 40 relative to the plane of the sky (see Gil de Paz et al. GZG (1999), GZG hereafter; see also Gil de Paz gilphd (2000)). Therefore, the results obtained applying these extinction correction factors can be taken as upper and lower limits for the age and mass-to-light ratio of this population, respectively.

The same metallicity, 2/5 Z, was obtained at any galactocentric distance in the interval 0.9-1.6 kpc. Since these results, basically age and mass-to-light ratio, were obtained using only aperture colors, they are not affected by the distance uncertainty described in Sect. 2.1 of Paper I.

The ages derived range between 5.0 Gyr at galactocentric distances of about 0.9 kpc and 9.5 Gyr at distances larger than 1.3 kpc (for an instantaneous burst and $`A_{B,\mathrm{internal}}`$=0.0m). The corresponding interval in $`K`$-band mass-to-light ratio was 0.62-0.87 M/LK,☉ (see Table 1). The change in the age and mass-to-light ratio of the stellar population at distances shorter than 1.3 kpc is due to contamination from the plateau component (see the $`B`$-band profile decomposition given in Papaderos et al. 1996a ). Since the spatial extent of this component coincides with the H$`\alpha `$ emitting zone (see Fig. 7 in Paper I), this contamination is probably related with a progressively higher contribution of the recent star-forming regions to the total emission.

The outer region of the galaxy color profiles seems to indicate that no significant age gradients are present. However, a small positive metallicity or extinction gradient could compensate the existence of a negative age gradient, or vice versa, reproducing the observed color profiles.

The results shown in Table 1 also suggest that, although the age of the underlying stellar population ($`d`$$`>`$1.3 kpc) could range between 5 and 13 Gyr depending on the star formation history considered, the mass-to-light ratio in the $`K`$-band is very well constrained for a given extinction correction. Thus, the $`K`$-band mass-to-light ratio for $`A_{B,\mathrm{internal}}`$=0.0m is approximately 0.87 $`M_{\mathrm{}}/L_{K,\mathrm{}}`$ and 0.65 $`M_{\mathrm{}}/L_{K,\mathrm{}}`$ for $`A_{B,\mathrm{internal}}`$=0.20m.

The small differences ($`<`$30 per cent) obtained in the maximuum likelihood estimator after comparing our data with models with burst duration shorter than 7 Gyr prevent us to infer the star formation history and internal extinction of the underlying stellar population. Therefore, we are not able to determine if this stellar population has effectively formed in a instantaneous burst or during long (several Gyr) periods of time as it has been observed in I~Zw~18 (Aloisi et al. aloisi99 (1999)). Only continuous star formation models (or with a duration for the burst longer than 7 Gyr) can be rule out since their very low maximuum likelihood estimators and too old ages derived.

The evolutionary synthesis models developed for the analysis of the star-forming regions properties only depend on the observed colors and mass-to-light ratio of the underlying stellar population. Therefore, the conclusions given in Sect. 3.3 for the study of these regions are not affected by our ignorance on the past star formation history of the galaxy.

In order to build these models (see Paper I and Sect. 3.3) we adopted a mass-to-light ratio for the underlying stellar population of 0.87 M/LK,☉ in the $`K`$-band, which corresponds to a null internal extinction value. However, if the internal extinction was relatively higher, e.g. $`A_{B,\mathrm{internal}}`$=0.20m, the mass-to-light ratio could be a 25 per cent lower yielding slightly different properties for the most recent star-forming regions (see Sect. 3.3).

### 3.2 Central starburst

After applying the comparison procedure described in Sect. 2.2, we obtained the three clusters of solutions in the age, burst strength, metallicity and color excess four-dimensional space. Two of these three solutions show probabilites lower than 1 per cent. In Fig. 1 we show the distribution of the total number of solutions obtained within the remaining solution cluster which has a probability of 98 per cent.

The age obtained for the starburst component is about 30 Myr, and the burst strength is 20 per cent. Fig. 1c shows that the continuum color excess is very well constrained between 0.06 and 0.08m. The starburst age derived agrees with the absence of H$`\alpha `$ emission for this component. The expected H$`\alpha `$ equivalent width in emission at ages older than 30 Myr and 20 per cent burst strength is lower than 2 Å for any stellar metallicity222The comparison of the integrated colors with pure burst models results in a intermediate age ($``$1 Gyr), like that used in GZG. However, the use of the predictions of evolutionary synthesis models for composite stellar populations yields younger ages. Since the contribution of the central starburst component to the total mass distribution given in GZG is negligible, the conclusions derived in that paper are not affected by this new, more reliable, age determination..

In order to confirm these results, we will compare the H$`\delta `$ equivalent width and D4000, Mg2, Fe5270 and Fe5406 spectroscopic indexes measured with the values predicted by the evolutionary synthesis models. Unfortunately, we only dispose of spectroscopic index predictions for the case of pure burst models. Therefore, we will derive the spectroscopic indexes of this component using the predictions from pure burst models and the burst strength given above. In this way, a molecular index like Mg2 (see Gorgas et al. gorgas93 (1993)), can be written for a composite stellar population as

$`\mathrm{Mg2}=\mathrm{Mg2}_\mathrm{s}2.5\mathrm{log}{\displaystyle \frac{1+\frac{1b}{b}\frac{MLR_\mathrm{s}}{MLR_\mathrm{u}}10^{0.4(\mathrm{Mg2}_\mathrm{u}\mathrm{Mg2}_\mathrm{s})}}{1+\frac{1b}{b}\frac{MLR_\mathrm{s}}{MLR_\mathrm{u}}}}`$ (2)
where, Mg2u and Mg2s are the spectroscopic indexes for the underlying stellar population and the young starburst, $`MLR_\mathrm{u}`$ and $`MLR_\mathrm{s}`$ are the mass-to-ligth ratios at the continuum and $`b`$ is the burst strength in mass. The mass-to-ligth ratios $`MLR_\mathrm{u}`$ and $`MLR_\mathrm{s}`$ are, respectively, 3.436 and 0.084 M/LB,☉ in the $`B`$-band (Bruzual & Charlot priv. comm. for Z=2/5 Z), using $`M_{B,\mathrm{}}`$=5.51 (Worthey worthey (1994)). In the case of an atomic index (Fe5270 and Fe5406) or the equivalent width of H$`\delta `$, it can be derived using

$$\mathrm{EW}(\mathrm{H}\delta )=\frac{(1b)MLR_\mathrm{s}\mathrm{EW}(\mathrm{H}\delta )_\mathrm{u}+bMLR_\mathrm{u}\mathrm{EW}(\mathrm{H}\delta )_\mathrm{s}}{(1b)MLR_\mathrm{s}+bMLR_\mathrm{u}}$$
(3)
where EW(H$`\delta `$)u and EW(H$`\delta `$)s are the H$`\delta `$ equivalent widths (or Fe5270 and Fe5406 indexes) of the underlying and young stellar populations.

Finally, we define the D4000 index (Bruzual bruzual (1983); Gorgas et al. gorgas (1999)) as

$$\mathrm{D}_{4000}=\frac{_{4250(1+z)}^{4050(1+z)}\lambda ^2f_\lambda 𝑑\lambda }{_{3750(1+z)}^{3950(1+z)}\lambda ^2f_\lambda 𝑑\lambda }$$
(4)
Then, assuming

$$\frac{_{4250(1+z)}^{4050(1+z)}\lambda ^2f_{\lambda ,\mathrm{u}}𝑑\lambda }{_{4250(1+z)}^{4050(1+z)}\lambda ^2f_{\lambda ,\mathrm{s}}𝑑\lambda }=\frac{1b}{b}\frac{MLR_\mathrm{s}}{MLR_\mathrm{u}}$$
(5)
where $`f_{\lambda ,\mathrm{u}}`$ and $`f_{\lambda ,\mathrm{s}}`$ are the fluxes per unit wavelength of the underlying and starburst populations ($`f_\lambda `$=$`f_{\lambda ,\mathrm{u}}`$$`+`$$`f_{\lambda ,\mathrm{s}}`$), we obtain the following expression for the D4000 index,

$$\mathrm{D}_{4000}=\frac{(1b)MLR_\mathrm{s}+bMLR_\mathrm{u}}{(1b)MLR_\mathrm{s}(\frac{1}{\mathrm{D}_{4000,\mathrm{u}}})+bMLR_\mathrm{u}(\frac{1}{\mathrm{D}_{4000,\mathrm{s}}})}$$
(6)
The continuum mass-to-ligth ratios used were those predicted for the $`B`$-band in the Mg2, EW(H$`\delta `$) and D4000 cases and for the $`V`$-band in the case of the iron indexes ($`MLR_{\mathrm{u},V}`$=2.80 M/LV,☉ and $`MLR_{\mathrm{s},V}`$=0.0147 M/LV,☉ for Z=2/5 Z). The latter mass-to-light ratios were obtained using $`M_{V,\mathrm{}}`$=4.84 (Worthey worthey (1994)).

Then, using these expressions and the index values for the underlying and starburst populations –from the predictions of the SSP Bruzual & Charlot (priv. comm.) models–, we obtained the results shown in Table 2. The indexes measured (column 5 in Table 2) were corrected in order to take into account the different spectral resolution between our spectra and those where the Lick indexes were originally defined (see Gorgas et al. gorgas93 (1993) and references therein) and also the fact that our spectra are flux-calibrated.

Thus, the Mg2 index in the Lick system should be 0.02 magnitudes higher than that measured on flux-calibrated spectra (J. Gorgas, priv. comm.). On the other hand, small differences in the spectral resolution relative to the Lick library spectra yield significant changes in the atomic index values. The Lick library spectra show resolutions ($`\sigma _{\mathrm{instrumental}}`$) of about 200 km s-1 for the Fe5270 and Fe5406 indexes (J. Gorgas, priv. comm.), being $`\sigma _{\mathrm{instrumental}}`$ for our spectra 116 km s-1. The corrected indexes are shown in column 6 of Table 2.

Despite of the results shown in this table are compatible with those obtained from the optical-near-infrared colors analysis, the burst strength derived seems to be slightly lower. This difference is probably due to the difference in size between the region covered by the slit #4b and the aperture used to measure the starburst colors.

Therefore, we can conclude that our data, both colors and spectroscopic indexes, well agree with a scenario constituted by a 30 Myr old burst superimposed on a several Gyr old stellar population.

Using the mass-to-light ratio predicted for the composite stellar population, the burst strength and the absolute magnitude measured within the aperture we obtained the stellar mass for the starburst. This mass was corrected using the $`f`$ ratio between the knot continuum emission in the aperture and its total continuum emission. The total mass derived for this component was 9$`\times `$106 M with an $`f`$ factor of 0.619 (61.9 per cent). As we commented in Sect. 3.1 for the underlying population, the age, burst strenght and color excess deduced for the starburst component are not affected by the uncertainty in the distance to Mrk~86. However, due to this distance uncertainty, its stellar mass is not known with a precision better than 40 per cent (for a 20 per cent distance uncertainty; M. E. Sharina, priv. comm.).

### 3.3 Star-forming regions

Using the maximization procedure described in Sect. 2.2 we derived ages, burst strengths and stellar masses for those regions showing H$`\alpha `$ emission (see Table 4 in Paper I). The $`BV`$, $`VR`$, $`VJ`$, $`JH`$ and $`JK`$ colors and H$`\alpha `$ fluxes were compared with evolutionary synthesis models. In this study, models 1) with metallicity in the range 1/50 Z$`<`$Z$`<`$2 Z and 2) lower than solar, and 3) with 15 per cent and 4) a null fraction of escaping Lyman photons were explored.

In Table 3 we show the mean age, burst strength, metallicity and stellar mass and their corresponding standard deviation values for all the star-forming regions studied. All those clusters of solutions with probability higher than 20 per cent are shown. This probability has been computed by dividing the number of Monte Carlo particles within a given cluster relative the total number of particles (103). Using the mean value for the highest probability solution cluster of each star-forming region we obtained the frequency histograms shown in Fig. 2.

The results shown in Table 3 indicate that 50 per cent of the regions under study only show a cluster of solutions with probability higher than 20 per cent. In the remaining regions the mean differences obtained between the several solution clusters are 2.2 Myr, 0.15 dex and 0.14 dex in age, burst strength and mass, respectively, for models with a 15 per cent fraction of escaping photons and any metallicity. These differences are even lower by using other sets of models –1.8 Myr, 0.10 dex and 0.10 dex, respectively, for the subsolar metallicity models–. In any case, these differences are significantly lower than the dispersion observed in Fig. 2.

From Fig. 2 we also deduce that there is no large differences in the properties derived assuming 15 per cent or a null fraction of Lyman photons escaping from the nebula. If we compare the results obtained using subsolar metallicity models and those obtained for the whole range in metallicity, it seems that a higher number of regions older than 10 Myr and with burst strength lower than 1 per cent is obtained in the former case. Since the metallicity of the ionized gas (see Sect. 3.4) is clearly lower than solar, we are more confident with the results obtained using subsolar metallicity models. The Principal Component Analysis performed on the highest probability solution clusters indicate that the direction in the ($`t`$,$`b`$,$`Z`$) space that better reproduces the data variance is ($`u_t`$,$`u_b`$,$`u_Z`$)=($`+`$0.707,$`+`$0.707,0.000). This fact suggests the existence of a small degeneracy between age and burst strenght.

In the lower panels of Fig. 2 we show the stellar mass distribution. The stellar masses (see also Table 3) have been computed using the $`K`$-band absolute magnitudes measured within the apertures and the mean mass-to-light ratio of the highest-probability solution cluster. These stellar masses were corrected for the aperture effect by dividing them by the factors $`f`$ given in Table 3 (see Sect. 2.2).

Finally, the age, burst strength and mass values obtained for these regions are represented in Fig. 3 using different sized symbols. In Fig. 3a the size of the symbols used is related with the age of the burst, larger symbols represent younger regions. In Fig. 3b the symbol size is proportional to the burst strength, and finally, in Fig. 3c its size is proportional to the burst stellar mass. Figs. 2 and 3a show that the age of the star-forming regions is well constrained between 5-13 Myr. There is no significant age gradients across the different structures observed in the H$`\alpha `$ image (see Sect. 4).

It should be noticed that the age and burst strength values derived are not affected by the Mrk~86 distance uncertainty, since only aperture colors and equivalent widths have been used in this work.

Since we have adopted in our models a fixed mass-to-ligth ratio and colors for the underlying stellar population, the contamination from intermediate aged populations could yield sistematically higher age, burst strength and stellar mass values in some regions. This could be the case of the #45, #49 and #59 regions, contaminated from the central starburst continuum emission. On the other hand, the ignorance on the actual mass-to-light ratio of the underlying population, as we pointed out in Sect. 3.1, may introduce slight uncertainties in the stellar masses derived. However, although the absolute values for these masses would be quite uncertain, the relative differences should be similar.

### 3.4 Gas diagnostic for the star-forming regions

In Table 5 of Paper I we gave the emission-line fluxes measured in 4.30$`\times `$2.65 arcsec2 regions centred in the maximum of the emission knot section covered by the slit.

The gas electron densities have been obtained from the \[S ii\]$`\lambda `$6716Å/\[S ii\]$`\lambda `$6731Å line ratio following Osterbrook (osterbrock (1989)). When the latter line ratio was not measurable we adopted an standard density of $`n_\mathrm{e}`$=100 cm-3. In the cases where the (\[O iii\]$`\lambda `$4959Å$`+`$\[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007Å)/\[O iii\]$`\lambda `$4363Å line ratio was measurable, we determined the electron temperatures applying the algorithms given by Gallego (gallego95 (1995)). The corresponding oxygen, nitrogen and helium abundances were also computed using the algorithms given by Gallego (gallego95 (1995)). Since the He ii$`\lambda `$4686Å emission-line fluxes were not measurable we could not determine the He iii abundance. In addition, since the \[S iii\]$`\lambda \lambda `$9069,9532Å emission lines were not accessible, we assumed a ionization correction factor of 1 and, consequently, $`y`$=$`y^+`$. A summary of the electron densities, temperatures and chemical abundances deduced is given in Table 4.

Finally, we have compared the line ratios measured with the predictions of a grid of model nebulae taken from Martin (martin97 (1997)) and originally calculated with cloudy. The nitrogen-to-oxygen and carbon-to-oxygen abundance ratios used were those employed by Martin (martin97 (1997)). The oxygen abundance was 0.2 (O/H).

In Fig. 4 the extinction corrected \[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007Å/H$`\beta `$, \[S ii\]$`\lambda \lambda `$6717,6731Å/H$`\alpha `$, \[O ii\]$`\lambda `$3727Å/\[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007Å and \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$6583Å/H$`\alpha `$ line ratios jointly with the models predictions have been plotted. We have drawn models with effective temperatures in the range 40000-50000 K and ionization parameters between log U=$``$1.91 and log U=$``$4.60. Solid-lines represent the change in the line ratios for different ionization parameter values between log U=$``$1.91 and $``$4.60 at increments of 4.7 in U. Thicker lines mean higher temperatures. The dashed-lines represent the change in the line ratios as a function of the effective temperature for a fixed ionization parameter. In all these diagrams the ionization parameter of the models increases from right to left. In Fig. 4a we also show the change in the line ratios measured along the major axis of the expanding bubble Mrk~86-B (GZG) from North to South (dotted-line).

As it was pointed out by Martin (martin97 (1997)), the bulk of the discrepancy of these line ratios with the prediction of photoionization models suggests the existence of an aditional excitation mechanism. This discrepancy will be higher using lower metallicity models. The contribution of this additional mechanism (or mechanisms) is more significant, relative to that produced by photoionization, in the case of the #45, #54 and #70 star-forming regions. In the latter case, the anomalous line-ratios measured are probably related with enhanced shocked gas emission in the Mrk~86-B bubble fronts (see GZG). The contamination from the Mrk~86-B north lobe could be also responsible for the line ratios measured in the #54 region.

### 3.5 Comments on several individual regions

#9, #10, #12, #22, #55, #57, #79, #84 and #85: All these regions show photometric H$`\alpha `$ emission, but very faint or undetectable $`R`$-band continuum emission. There are two feasible explanations for this very faint continuum emission.

First, these regions could be high gas density clumps photoionized by distant stellar clusters. Then, they should be placed in regions with intense diffuse H$`\alpha `$ emission. This could be the case of the #9, #10, #12, #22, #55 and #57 regions.

On the other hand, at the early evolutionary stages of a starburst the emission-line equivalent widths can be as high as 1000Å. Thus, star-forming regions with low burst strength will be only detectable by their H$`\alpha `$ or \[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007Å emission. This could be the case of the #79, #84 and #85 regions.

#26 & #27: These regions conform a massive association (see GZG) with very complex structure. The best-fitting model for the #26 region yields an age of about $``$10 Myr with a high burst strength value. On the other hand, the #27 region is a younger burst (5 Myr) with low burst strength and complex H$`\alpha `$ emission structure (see Fig. 5). The peculiar velocity profile obtained by GZG suggests that this association could belong to an independent stellar system merged with Mrk~86. In Fig. 5 we show the continuum and H$`\alpha `$ structure of this association. From this figure is not clear if the H$`\alpha `$ emission arises from photoionization of the #26, #27 or both stellar clusters. The H$`\alpha `$ fluxes of the #26 and #27 regions given in Table 5 of Paper I are those measured for the north-east and south-west structures shown in Fig. 5 (right panel), respectively.

#42, #70 & #18: These regions correspond to the starburst precursors of the Mrk~86-A, Mrk~86-B and Mrk~86-C expanding bubbles, respectively (see Martin martin (1998), GZG). From Fig. 3 we observe that these regions have extreme properties. In particular, the #70 region shows the highest burst strength (excepting #45 region and the central starburst) and the #18 region is the youngest of the regions analyzed in Sect. 3.3.

## 4 Global interpretation of the Mrk~86 star formation history

Summarizing, we have derived the properties of three well defined stellar populations;

1. Underlying population: Exponential surface profile, red colors, no significant color gradients. The ages derived range between 5 and 13 Gyr.
2. Central starburst: 20 per cent burst strength, 30 Myr old and total stellar mass of about 9$`\times `$106 M.
3. Star-forming regions: Low burst strengths ($``$2 per cent), ages between 5-13 Myr and low gas metallicities. No significant age or metallicity gradients are observed.

### 4.1 What has been ocurring during the last 30 Myr?

Most of the H ii regions in Mrk~86 are located in an bar oriented in north-south direction and placed 20″ west of the galactic center (see Fig. 3 and Fig. 2 of Paper I) and in an arc going from south-east (#58 & #64 regions) to north (#13 & #16 regions) of the central starburst. There is no significant age gradients across these structures, suggesting the existence of a large-scale triggering mechanism that activated the star formation simultaneously in most of these regions about 10 Myr ago.

We propose that the large-scale triggering mechanism for the recent star formation was produced by the growth of a superbubble originated at the galaxy central starburst by the energy deposition of stellar winds and supernova explosions. In some cases, local triggering mechanisms are also present. This could be the case of the complexes formed by the #26-#27, #26-#18, #58-#64 and #16-#13 regions. These complexes are constituted by an evolved burst (age$``$10 Myr) –the former–, and a very recent star-forming event, about 5 Myr old –the latter– (see Stewart et al. stewart (2000))

Hereafter, we will mainly focus on the large-scale triggering mechanism described above. Following the models of Silich & Tenorio-Tagle (silich (1998), STT hereafter; see also De Young & Heckman young94 (1994)), these collective supernova remnants grow at first elongated in the direction perpendicular to the galaxy disk. Due to this, the remnant blows out into the galaxy halo, leading to the formation of a secondary shell of swept out gas. About 20 Myr after the first supernova explosions (for the STT A100 model) the superbubble surrounds the inner densest part of the disk. Then, the leading shock, going through outer less dense regions, merges with its symmetrical counterpart. During this merging process a large fraction of swept out mass is strangled shaping a dense toroid. This region does not participate in the general outward motion, being strongly compressed towards the galaxy plane. As a result of this compression the activation of the star formation in the gas toroid could be produced if the mean surface density will be higher than 5-10 M pc-2 (Skillman et al. skillman (1987); Kennicutt kenni89 (1989); see also Taylor et al. taylor94 (1994) for a sample of H ii galaxies).

The predictions described above correspond to the A100 model of STT. This model assumes a 1010 M massive galaxy with 10 per cent gas content, ISM central density of $`n_0`$=20.2 cm-3, burst energy of $`E_{\mathrm{burst}}`$=1056 erg and gas metallicity, Z=0.3 Z. For this model, adopting a toroid width of 500 pc and a strangled mass of 2$`\times `$108 M, the surface density of the gas at the toroid will be about 64 M pc-2. This value is intermediate between the gas surface densities measured in normal disks and in the infrared-seleted starbursts studied by Kennicutt (kenni98 (1998)). The galactocentric distance and epoch predicted for the formation of the toroid in the A100 STT model are 1.5 kpc and 25-30 Myr, respectively.

In the case of Mrk~86 the epoch for the formation of this toroid should be about 20 Myr (the age difference between the starburst and currently star-forming regions) at a radius of 0.8 kpc. Although these values well agree with the properties deduced for the A100 STT model, the high dependence of the evolution of the superbubble on the ISM density profile and the distance uncertainty for Mrk~86 prevent us to carry out a more quantitative analysis. However, this scenario provides a reliable and attractive explanation for the evolution of the star formation activity in Mrk~86.

Finally, it should be noticed that the time since the formation of the toroid ($``$10 Myr) is significantly lower than the galaxy rotation period ($``$90 Myr), avoiding the disruption of this toroid by differential rotation. The galaxy rotation period was obtained using a projected angular velocity of 44 km s-1 kpc-1 and assuming an inclination of the rotation axis relative to the plane of the sky of 50 (GZG; see also Gil de Paz gilphd (2000)).

The scenario described above is similar to that observed in other nearby dwarf star-forming galaxies. Thus, in the LMC the two arcs of stellar clusters place on the LMC4 superbubble rim round a population of 30 Myr old supergiants and Cepheid variables (Efremov & Elmegreen efremov (1998)). A similar study for the DEM192 superbubble also in the LMC was carried out by Oey & Smedley (oey (1998)).

### 4.2 What did happen 30 Myr ago?

Although we can accept that most of the recent star-forming activity in Mrk~86 was originated by a superbubble produced at the central starburst, we need to solve the question about the nature of the triggering mechanism of the star formation in the galaxy central starburst.

Under the evolutionary scenario described above, the observational properties of Mrk~86 about 30 Myr ago would be very similar to those of the nucleated Blue Compact Dwarfs (nE BCDs). It should show a very bright central starburst superimposed on an extended underlying component (see Papaderos et al. 1996a  and references therein). This fact suggests the existence of an evolutionary connection between the different kinds of Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies. Therefore, the question about the star formation triggering in the central starburst of Mrk~86 is equivalent to the problem of the activation of the star formation in the BCD galaxy population as a whole.

Taylor et al. (taylor93 (1993)) hypothesized that the close passage of a companion galaxy has triggered the present burst of star formation (the central starburst in the Mrk~86 case) in many (if not all) of the BCD galaxies. These kind of distant encounters are well acepted to lead the lost of angular momentum in the gas component, resulting in the fall of large amounts of gas to the galaxy central regions (Barnes & Hernquist barnes92 (1992); Taylor et al. taylor94 (1994); Mihos & Hernquist mihos96 (1996)). This radial inflow will be very efficient in Mrk~86, because of the low dark matter content expected for this object (GZG; see Taylor taylor97 (1997)).

The first candidate for such a tidal interaction is NGC~2537A ($`\alpha `$(2000)=08h13m40.9s $`\delta `$(2000)=$`+`$45°59′41″). However, the study of Heyd & Wiyckoff (heyd (1992)) and the 21cm line intensity map (see Fig. 6) show that this object is clearly a background galaxy. Then, the next candicate for the central starburst triggering is UGC~4278 ($`\alpha `$(2000)=08h13m58.8s $`\delta `$(2000)=$`+`$45°44′36″), a nearly edge-on spiral galaxy placed at a projected distance of about 33 kpc relative to Mrk~86 (see Fig. 6). Its heliocentric velocity is 553 km s-1 (Goad & Roberts goad (1981); see also Schneider & Salpeter schneider (1992)), and its radial velocity relative to the CMB is 715 km s-1.

The offset of this galaxy relative to the Tully-Fisher template obtained by Giovanelli et al. (giovanelli97 (1997)) is 0.66m in the $`I`$-band (R. Giovanelli, priv. comm.). Therefore, its peculiar radial velocity will be $``$253 km s-1, being the radial velocity corrected for peculiar motions 968 km s-1. Then, the distance to UGC~4278 could range between 13 and 19 Mpc, respectively for $`h`$=0.75 and 0.5. The large difference between this value and that derived by Sharina et al. (sharina99 (1999); see also Sect. 2.1 of Paper I) for Mrk~86 suggests that UGC~4278 is also a background galaxy.

Therefore, another triggering mechanism should be argued to explain the activation of the star formation in the Mrk~86 central starburst. This triggering mechanism could be related with the presence of previous massive star forming events. Our study has not revealed the existence of such an intermediate aged stellar population, probably excepting the #26 and #27 regions. As we indicated in Sect. 3.5 (see also GZG), the association constituted by the #26 and #27 regions shows a very steep velocity gradient that could be produced by the velocity field of an independent low mass system merged or in process of merging with Mrk~86. In that case, this merging process could be responsible for radial inflow of gas that led to the star formation activation in the central regions of Mrk~86. However, the large-scale distribution of neutral hydrogen in this galaxy (see Fig. 6; E. Wilcots, priv. comm.) indicates that, if this merging process took place, it should occur long time ago, probably several orbital periods ago.

## 5 Summary and conclusions

The main conclusions derived from this work are summarized hereafter.

* The Blue Compact Dwarf galaxy Mrk~86 is constituted by three well defined stellar populations. An evolved (5-13 Gyr old) stellar component characterized by an exponential light profile, no significant color gradients and low metallicity. A massive ($``$9$`\times `$106 M) central starburst, about 30 Myr old, with very low dust content and high burst strength ($``$20 per cent). And, finally, a young stellar population distributed in, at least, 46 star-forming regions. These star-forming regions are characterized by very low metallicities, burst strengths and stellar masses.
* The distribution of the star-forming regions properties suggest that their star formation triggering is related with a large-scale mechanism. Following the models of Silich & Tenorio-Tagle (silich (1998)), we propose that the growth of a superbubble produced by the energy deposition at the galaxy central starburst led to the formation of a dense toroid of ISM mass. Then, the high gas surface densities reached produced the activation of the current star-forming activity.
* Finally, we studied the possible triggering mechanisms for the activation of the star formation in the galaxy central starburst. Since both candidates for a distant encounter, NGC~2537A and UGC~4278, seem to be background galaxies, the merging with a low mass companion seems the most feasible explanation for this central starburst activation.

## Acknowledgments

Based on observations with the JKT, INT and WHT operated on the island of La Palma by the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias. Based also on observations collected at the German-Spanish Astronomical Center, Calar Alto, Spain, operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Heidelberg, jointly with the spanish ’Comisión Nacional de Astronomía’. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

We are grateful to Carme Jordi and D. Galadí for obtaining the $`V`$-band image. We would like to thank C. Sánchez Contreras and L.F. Miranda for obtaining the high resolution spectra. We also thank A. Alonso-Herrero for her help in the acquisition and reduction of the near-infrared images. We also acknowledge the referee Dr. Tosi for several helpful comments. We thank to C.E. García Dabó, J. Cenarro, M.E. Sharina, S.A. Silich and J. Gorgas for stimulating conversations. Finally, we are very grateful to R. Giovanelli for his kind help on analyzing the properties of UGC~4278. This research has been supported in part by the grants PB93-456 and PB96-0610 from the Spanish ’Programa Sectorial de Promoción del Conocimiento’. A. Gil de Paz acknowledges the receipt of a ’Formación del Profesorado Universitario’ fellowship from the spanish ’Ministerio de Educación y Cultura’.


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# What can biology bestow to quantum mechanics?

## 1 Quantum Mechanics and Evolution

The most important discovering in natural sciences are in some or other way connected to quantum mechanics. There is also a bias that biological phenomena will be explained by quantum theory in future, since quantum theory already contains all basic principles of particle interactions and these principle had success in molecular dynamics, the basis of life. Nevertheless, it seems there is one concept in biology that could be hardly found in quantum physics. This is the concept of Evolution.

Evolution is often identified with self-organization. At least they have much in common. The self-organization is observed in both living systems, and non-living ones, e.g. in Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. It is noteworthy, that the approximation of the dissipative system simply means that the system is open, having income and outcome energy flux, and some of its degrees of freedom (d.o.f. ) are not considered explicitly, instead only the energy flux going out of the system (say, in the form of radiation) via that d.o.f. is taken into account.

Very often the biological studies are regarded as opposite to the physical ones in the sense that they are qualitative rather than quantitative. At the same time the biology yields a number of concepts and basic facts those are not displayed explicitly in inanimate phenomena. We suggest the following three facts to be of principle importance:

1. The properties of a living system are more than just a collection of its component properties. In other words, it is impossible to predict the whole set of properties of a complex biological system even having known all properties of its components and interactions.
2. The properties and functions of the components of a system depend on the state of the whole system. In other words, the same components being included in different systems may have different properties.
3. There is an Evolution — a process of creating new entities, forms and functions on the base of the existing components.

Thus, at least one thing is common for biology and quantum physics: in both the relation “the part - the whole” is extremely important. And in both this relation is not trivial.

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(x)=\underset{i}{}\psi _i(x_i)$$

only for the systems of noninteracting particles.

The other thing is not so important. The properties (2,3) are implicitly based on the concept of scale: an entity to become a part of another entity should be in some metric (not necessary Euclidean) smaller than it. If the metric is Euclidean, or at least Archimedian, the evolution of the Universe can be said to go from small scales to large scales, in accordance to the Big Bang scenario. In this sense, the elementary particles and atoms do have (or had had) their evolution: at early times of the Universe the nucleons had been built of quarks, the nuclei from nucleons and so long. The same is true for not so far geological history: the minerals and crystals evolved from atoms and molecules.

We do not have an ultimate answer for the question, why the evolution had taken the way it has been going through. However, if the whole is more than the sum of parts and the properties of the parts depend on the state of the whole, there are some implications for quantum mechanics.

To describe a state (in common sense of quantum mechanics) of an object $`A_1`$ (interacting with objects $`A_2,\mathrm{},A_N`$) which is a part of an object $`B_1`$ we have to write the wave function in the form

$$\{\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1},\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1A_1}\},$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1}`$ is the wave function of the whole (labeled by $`B_1`$), and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1A_1}`$ is the wave function of a component $`A_1`$ belonging to the entity $`B_1`$. For instance, $`A_1,A_2,A_3`$ may be quarks, and $`B_1`$ may be proton.

The objects $`A_1,\mathrm{},A_N`$ are inside $`B_1`$ and hence it is impossible to commute $`[\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1},\mathrm{\Psi }_{b_1A_1}]`$ or to multiply them $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1},\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1A_1}`$. The functions $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1}(x)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{B_1A_1}(x)`$, taken in coordinate representation, live in different functional spaces. To label the hierarchical object (i.e. to set a coordinates on it) one needs a hierarchical tree, like those used in biology to trace the evolution.

What we generally observe, is that each hierarchical level has its own symmetry group. This is $`SU_3`$ for quark level or isospin group for nuclei. So, each hierarchy level should be described by triplet

$$I,G_I,X^{G_I},$$

where $`I`$ is merely a label for the scale, $`G_I`$ is the symmetry group at this scale, $`X^{G_I}`$ is a topology on $`G_I`$, or coordinates on the $`I`$-th level. The wave function of an object $`B^{I_1}`$ of the level $`I_1`$ consisting of $`N`$ objects $`\{A_i^{I_2}\}_{i=1,N}`$ can be written as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_B=\{\psi _B^{I_1}(x^{G_{I_1}}),\{\psi _{BA_1}^{I_2}(x_1^{G_{I_2}}),\mathrm{},\psi _{BA_N}^{I_2}(x_N^{G_{I_2}})\},\mathrm{}\}.$$
(2)
The Euclidean space is a particular case of the translation group

$$G_I:xx+b.$$

In both, physics and biology, the symmetry breaking plays an important role. It is known, that the amount of information written in DNA, if calculated as one nucleotide – one bit, is far from being sufficient to describe the formation of adult organism. Therefore, the information is likely to be written more effectively than just a technical plan of the organism. What is encoded, is probably a chain of bifurcation points to be undergone in growth process. What is observed is a hierarchy of symmetry breaking, which can be described as a change of topology. If the quantum mechanics is valid on the macroscopic, i.e. on the organism level, we can say that the higher level of the hierarchy emerge as a result of

a) self-organization ;

b) auto-evolution ;

c) $`\{\mathrm{};\psi _{A_1}\psi _{A_2}\}\{\psi _B;\{\psi _{BA_1},\psi _{BA_2}\}\}`$.

By empty-set $`\mathrm{}`$ at the left hand side of the latter equation we denote the non-existing common “container” for two components $`\psi _{A_1}`$ and $`\psi _{A_2}`$; $`\psi _B`$ is a new entity formed by $`\psi _{A_1}`$ and $`\psi _{A_2}`$. By no means we are saying that the object $`\psi _B`$ exists before its components, we just say that the wave function $`\psi _B`$ should exist as a possibility for its potential components to join each other. In this sense the possibility emerge first.

The hierarchy of biological system joints the hierarchy of non-living matter by means of genom – the sequence of macromolecules which prescribes the evolution of all living systems, from cell to organism.

The hierarchy levels of living and non-living matter    Living matter Non-living matter     ecosystem   population   organism   organ   cell   organell   genome   molecule   atom   nucleus   nuclon

The place on an entity on the hierarchy tree and its distance from the position of the organism it belongs to determines the dynamical repertoire of the entity. The evolutional distance between maximal and minimal parts of the organism determines its ability of self-recovering.

If one end of Hydra oligactis (a simplest animal living in water) is cut off, the remaining cells react to the absence of this part by rearranging themselves, giving growth to new cells and form a complete animal. This process involves at least three levels:

Organism $``$ Cell $``$ Cell component.

The above described process of self-repairing can be described by following diagram

$`\{\psi _A;\{\psi _{AC_1},\mathrm{},\psi _{AC_N}\}\}+\mathrm{\Gamma }\{\psi _A;\{\psi _{AC_1},\mathrm{},\psi _{AC_K}\}\}+\{\psi _{C_{K+1}},\mathrm{},\psi _{C_N}\}`$ (3)
$`\{\psi _A;\{\psi _{AC_1c_1},\psi _{AC_1c_2}\mathrm{},\psi _{AC_Kc_L}\}\}`$ (4)
$`\{\psi _A;\{\psi _{AC_1},\mathrm{},\psi _{AC_N}\}\}`$ (5)
On the first stage (3) affected by destructive action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, the part of the system, a block of $`(NK)`$ cells is cutted of. The remainder

$$\{\psi _A;\{\psi _{AC_1},\mathrm{},\psi _{AC_K}\}\}$$
(6)
does not form a complete organism any longer; the product of representations $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{K}{}}}T(G_{C_i})`$ does not contain $`T(G_A)`$. So, the wave function of the remainder (6) breaks down to the third level hierarchy wave function

$$\{\psi _A;\{\psi _{AC_1c_1},\psi _{AC_1c_2}\mathrm{},\psi _{AC_Kc_L}\}\},$$

which provides a possibility of building a representation tensor product, which contains $`T(G_A)`$. On this third level the wave functions are being rearanged according to this tensor product and the missed second level blocks rebuild.

The process (35) clearly has its physical counterpart in the recombination taking place after photoionization in gaseous media.

$`A+\gamma `$ $``$ $`A^++e_{(1)}`$ (7)
$`A^++e_{(2)}`$ $``$ $`A`$ (8)
The stage (7) is the ionization of the atom $`A`$, the stage (8) is the recombination by capturing an electron $`e_{(2)}`$ from the environment. On the first stage the symmetry group $`G`$ of the atom $`A`$ breaks down to that of the ion $`A^+`$ and electron $`e_{(1)}`$

$$G_AG_{A^+}(SU_2U_1)_e,$$

at the second stage the symmetry is restored.

The observations at all levels of the evolutional hierarchy, from simple organnels to complex ecosystems show that only neighboring levels can interact. The quantum nature of the interactions in this hierarchy could be used to understand, why a cutted skin recovers, but the arm cutted of is not being recovered. If the lost part of the organism has $`M1`$ hierarchical levels a $`M`$-level cascade process should run in the remainder to rebuild the lost part. A process of this type will require (a) a significant flux of energy, and at the same time a tremendous flux of negative entropy, required to restore the symmetry of the wave function of the whole organism by rearange the wave functions of its components. This combination is hardly possible.

Another fact, that can be considered as an argument for quantum nature of the evolution is the memory of the cell . A clone of eucaryotic cells growing, some of the cells becomes differentiated from each other and acquire different functions. Physically, the differentiation goes on in response to the action of neighboring cells and external factors. However, it is remarkable that most eucaryotic cells usually persist in their specialized states after the influences the differentiation was caused by are eliminated. This can be thought of as the cells being in $`\psi _{AC}`$ state rather than in $`\psi _C`$.

## 2 Pauli principle

Let us recall the Pauli principle. Two electrons of the same atom can not be in the same quantum state. Or more generally: Two fermions of the same system can not be in the same quantum state. The latter is a direct consequence of the fact that the wave function of a fermion system should be antisymmetric with respect to particle transposition; if two of the particles are identical,i.e. are in the same quantum state, the wave function should be both symmetric and antisymmetric, and hence is exactly zero.

If we suggest the interactions of neighboring levels is important only, we can say that, two fermions belonging to the same system of the next hierarchical level can not be in the same state. Therefore, it is impossible for two electrons in atom to have the same quantum numbers ($`n,l,m`$), but is it possible for two electrons of the same molecule to be in the same state? It seems evident that two electrons of different macroscopic objects can be in the same state. But is it really possible for two electrons of the same molecule?

So, the real question is: what should we really mean by “the hierarchy level next to atom”? There is no common sense answer to this question, but if the generalization of Pauli principle formulated above, is valid, and the only question is what is the next hierarchical level, the matter can be experimentally investigated, at least in principle. To some extent, the idea of possible experiment of this type have been already suggested by D. Home and R. Chattopadhyaya . The setup of their experiment is aimed for living systems, so it is discussed in the next section.

## 3 Wave functions of living and non-living systems

The presence of hierarchical structure of interactions considered above in this paper necessary, but not sufficient condition for a system to be alive. For instance, we can imagine a two level hierarchical system (see Fig. 2 below) with coupling constants of the lower level dependent on the state of higher level and vice versa.

The toy-model Hamiltonians (9) accounts for the interaction of two blocks with coordinates $`x_i,i=1,2`$, comprised of two spins $`(s_1^i,s_i^2)`$. The blocks are interacting with the potential that has position-dependent and spin-dependent parts $`W=U+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The effective mass of each block depends on the spin-spin interaction of its components, with their interaction constant depending on the velocity of block as a whole.

$$\begin{array}{ccc}H\hfill & =& \frac{m_1\dot{x_1^2}}{2}+\frac{m_2\dot{x_2^2}}{2}+U(|x_1x_2|)+\mathrm{\Lambda }(S_1S_2)\hfill \\ & & \\ m_1\hfill & =& m_0+\lambda (\dot{x_1^2})s_1^1s_2^1\hfill \\ m_2\hfill & =& m_0+\lambda (\dot{x_2^2})s_1^2s_2^2\hfill \\ S_1\hfill & =& s_1^1+s_2^1\hfill \\ S_2\hfill & =& s_1^2+s_2^2\hfill \end{array}$$
(9)
The living and non-living systems are different in the complexity, in the Kolmogorov sense, of their evolution operators. The Hamiltonian for a non-living system can be constructed using the representations of the symmetry groups of its components and their interactions. This description is shorter than a time seria of the matrix elements $`E_{mn}(t)`$ taken at each moment of time. For a living system the shortest description of the evolution operator may be the time seria $`E_{mn}(t)`$ itself, or its subseria.

Let us formulate the difference in the language of group theory:

1. We can assert, that for nonliving systems the knowledge of irreducible representations of the component wave function and a symmetry group which accounts for their interaction completely determines the wave function of the whole. For example, the wave function of nuclon can be obtained since we know it consists of quarks ($`SU(2)`$ representation with respect to rotations, $`SU_F(3)`$ internal symmetry - flavor interaction).
2. In contrast, we assert that the wave function of a living system is constrained, but not completely determined by the representations of symmetry group of its components. This means, that even if we know the wave functions of all components of a living system we can not predict the behavior of the system without a separate knowledge of the next level wave function, i. e. the wave function of the whole. If it is so, a living system should be described by a wave function of the type (2), with $`\mathrm{\Psi }_B`$ being the wave function of the whole, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{BA_i}`$ being the wave functions of the components.

Now, let us turn to the possibility of experimental testimony of these two alternatives. If long biological macromolecules, the DNA, can be used as a device for quantum measurement , it indirectly means that if a photon absorbed by a DNA molecule, the wave function of the whole molecule flops from one quantum state into another. But the DNA molecule itself consists of smaller molecules. So, there are two alternatives: either the absorption of a photon changes the wave function of the DNA only by changing the wave function of one of its components, or it changes the wave function of the whole DNA. If the latter is the case, then due to the interaction between the whole and its parts, the absorption of the photon at one edge of DNA can can be immediately detected at the opposite edge, at least in principle.

To conclude with, we should mention that possible distinction between living and non-living systems, itemized above in this paper, makes a new point in the Schrödinger cat problem

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}|catdead+\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}|catalive=\mathrm{?}$$

In hierarchical formalism, the wave function of a dead cat is constructed from the direct products of the irreducible representations of its parts. The wave function of the alive cat comprise the wave function of the whole cat as well. So these two wave function live in different functional spaces.

\***

The author is thankful to Profs. F.Gareev, T.Gannon and Dr. O.Mornev for critical reading of the manuscript and useful comments. The author also appreciate the financial support and the stimulating interest from the Department of Mathematics, University of Alberta, where this research was partially performed.

## Appendix

### The structure of the Hilbert space of hierarchical states

The Hilbert space $``$ of hierarchical states (2) may be endowed with a natural structure of vector space:

$$\psi _1,\psi _2,a,b\mathrm{C}\psi =a\psi _1+b\psi _2,$$

where $`\psi _1,\psi _2`$ are hierarchical wave functions defined by (2). By definition

$$a\mathrm{\Psi }_B=\{a\psi _B^{I_1}(x^{G_{I_1}}),\{a\psi _{BA_1}^{I_2}(x_1^{G_{I_2}}),\mathrm{},a\psi _{BA_N}^{I_2}(x_N^{G_{I_2}})\},\mathrm{}\}.$$
(10)
The addition operation (“+”) is defined componentwise:

$$\begin{array}{c}\{\mathrm{\Phi }^1,\{\mathrm{\Phi }_1^2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Phi }_N^2\},\mathrm{}\}+\{\mathrm{\Psi }^1,\{\mathrm{\Psi }_1^2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Psi }_N^2\},\mathrm{}\}\hfill \\ =\{\mathrm{\Phi }^1+\mathrm{\Psi }^1,\{\mathrm{\Phi }_1^2+\mathrm{\Psi }_1^2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Phi }_N^2+\mathrm{\Psi }_N^2\},\mathrm{}\},\hfill \end{array}$$
(11)
where the group indices of Eq.2 are substituted by numbers for simplicity.

Nevertheless, it may seem attractive to extend the structure $`\stackrel{~}{}`$ by incorporating some unphysical states. Let $`\{e_{i_1}^1\}`$ be the basis for the first level of hierarchy ($`I_1`$), let $`\{e_{j_1}^2\mathrm{}e_{j_N}^2\}`$ be the basis for the second level ($`I_2`$) etc. Then we can define $`\stackrel{~}{}`$ as linear span

$$\{\underset{i_1}{}a_{i_1}^1e_{i_1}^1,\{\underset{j_1}{}a_{j_1}^2e_{j_1}^2,\mathrm{},\underset{j_N}{}a_{j_N}^2e_{j_N}^2\},\mathrm{}\},$$
(12)
where $`a_j^k\mathrm{C}`$ are arbitrary complex numbers.

Evidently, not all linear combinations of the form (12) are physical states. To illustrate this, let us consider a system B (first hierarchic level) constiduted of two subsystems B1 and B2 (second hierarchic level). Let us ascribe the spin $`1/2`$ to B1 and B2 and write down the possible spin states of the whole system. The states

$$(1,(1/2,1/2))(1,(1/2,1/2))(0,(1/2,1/2))(0,(1/2,1/2))$$

are physically possible. In contrast, the state

$$(1,(1/2,1/2))$$

is physically impossible, but its structure does not contradict the definition (12).

To be more formal, we can use the language of group theory. Let $`T^2`$ be the irreducible representation of $`G_{I_2}`$ used to construct the basic set $`\{e_{j_1}^2\mathrm{}e_{j_N}^2\}`$. Let the product of representations used to construct the second hierarchy level basis be decomposed into direct sum of irreducible blocks

$$\underset{1}{T}^2\mathrm{}\underset{𝑁}{T}^2=\underset{𝑘}{}D_k.$$
(13)
Then only those basic vectors $`e_i^1`$ can be considered as physical (for the first hierarchy level, $`I_1`$), which transform according to one of the irreducible representations present in the r.h.s of (13) (built for the second hierarchy level, $`I_2`$). Exactly as it takes place in the angular momentum theory.


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# Note on the Curvature and Index of Almost Unitary Contraction Operator AMS Subject Classification: 47A53 (Primary); 47A20 (Secondary). Keywords: operator, curvature, index

(November 29, 2000)

## Abstract

In the recent preprint  S. Parrott proves the equality between the Arveson‘s curvature and the Fredholm index of a ”pure” contraction with finite defect numbers. In the present note one derives a similar formula in the ”non-pure” case.

The notions of $`d`$-contraction $`T=(T_1,T_2,\mathrm{},T_d)`$ and its curvature was introduced by W. Arveson in a series of papers (see , , and ). In the case of a single contraction ($`d=1`$) the curvature is thoroughly investigated in the paper of Parrott . Namely, let $`T`$ be a contraction operator on a Hilbert space $`H`$, and suppose that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_T:=\sqrt{ITT^{}}`$ has finite rank. Parrott shows that the curvature $`K(T)`$ of $`T`$ can be defined on three equivalent ways:

$`K(T)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{|z|=1}}𝑑z\underset{r1}{lim}(1r^2)\mathrm{tr}(\mathrm{\Delta }_T(IrzT^{})^1(Ir\overline{z}T)^1\mathrm{\Delta }_T)`$
$`=`$ $`\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{tr}(IT^nT_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n})}{n}}`$
$`=`$ $`\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\mathrm{tr}(T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n}T^n(ITT^{})).`$
In the papers cited above Arveson introduces the notion of ”pure” $`d`$ \- contraction. In the case of a single contraction $`T`$ this reduces to the condition that $`T`$ belongs to the class $`C_{,0}`$ , i.e for any $`hH`$ we have $`T^nh0`$ as $`n\mathrm{}`$. For a single pure contraction Parrott proves that

$$K(T)=\text{index }T$$

We prove a similar formula in the general ”non-pure” case. Note that in the ”pure” case (as it is noted in the Parrott’s paper) the assumption of the finiteness of the rank of the operator $`ITT^{}`$ implies that the rank of $`IT^{}T`$ is also finite (and not exceeding the rank of $`ITT^{}`$). In the ”non-pure” case we need to postulate this; more generally, recall that an operator $`T`$ in Hilbert space is called almost unitary if both $`IT^{}T`$ and $`ITT^{}`$ are trace-class operators.

###### Theorem 1

Let $`T`$ be almost unitary contraction. Then

$$\text{index}\text{ }T=K(T^{})K(T)$$

Proof. Denote $`a_n(T):=\mathrm{tr}(T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n}T^n(ITT^{}))`$. Then

$$a_n(T)=\mathrm{tr}(T^n(ITT^{})T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n})=\mathrm{tr}\left(T^nT_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n}T^{n+1}T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n+1}\right)$$

On the other side,

$$a_n(T)=\mathrm{tr}\left(T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n}T^nT_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n+1}T^{n+1}+[T^{},T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n}T^{n+1}]\right)=a_n(T^{})+b_n(T)$$

where $`b_n(T):=\mathrm{tr}[T^{},T_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{n}T^{n+1}]`$.

Since $`K(T)=lim_n\mathrm{}a_n(T)`$ , $`K(T^{})=lim_n\mathrm{}a_n(T^{})`$ , the proof will be completed if one can show that $`b_n(T)=\text{index }T`$ for $`n0`$.

For this, note first that since $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ commute modulo trace class operators, the trace of the commutator above does not depend on the order of factors in the second term, and therefore $`b_n(T)=\mathrm{tr}[T^{},T(T^{}T)^n].`$ It is easy to see that $`b_0(T)=[T^{},T]=\text{index }T`$.111 This well-known fact can be proven in the following way: denote by $`S`$ the unique operator determined by the conditions $`\mathrm{ker}S=(\mathrm{range}T)^{},\mathrm{range}S=(\mathrm{ker}T)^{}`$ , and $`TSx=x`$ for any $`x\mathrm{range}T`$. Then $`\text{index }T=dim\mathrm{ker}Tdim\text{coker }T=\mathrm{tr}(IST)\mathrm{tr}(ITS)=\mathrm{tr}[T,S]`$. On the other hand, $`ST^{}`$ is trace-class operator (both $`S`$ and $`T^{}`$ are inverse to $`T`$ modulo trace-class operators) and therefore $`\mathrm{tr}[T,S]=\mathrm{tr}[T,T^{}]`$. On the other hand, since $`IT^{}T`$ is trace-class, then for any $`n0`$ one has

$$b_n(T)b_{n+1}(T)=\mathrm{tr}[T^{},T(T^{}T)^n\left(IT^{}T\right)]=0,$$

which completes the proof.

Remark 1. If $`T`$ is pure, then $`K(T^{})=0`$, and one recovers the result from  cited above.

Remark 2. An alternative way to compute $`b_n(T)`$ is to use the Helton - Howe formula for traces of commutators. In our case this gives no profits, but one may expect that this approach could be useful in the multidimensional case.

The author thanks Stephen Parrott for his useful remarks.


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# 1. Introduction

## 1. Introduction

Since the first references on fractional-order derivatives in the 17-th century, the theory of fractional-order derivatives and integrals was highly developed by many mathematicians. In the last five decades, many authors made a great effort to apply this knowledge in practice. But only in the last decade can we find some significant works concerned with the description, analysis, and synthesis of fractional-order regulated systems.

Real objects are generally fractional-order, however, for many of them the fractionality is very low. But the control systems used so far were all considered as integer-order systems, regardless of the reality. Because of the higher complexity and the absence of adequate mathematical tools, fractional-order dynamical systems were only treated marginally in the theory and practice of control systems, e.g. . In these works the first generalizations of analysis methods for fractional-order control systems were made ($`s`$-plane, frequency response, etc.).

At that time our research in this field began. On the basis of fundamental works  we made at first an analysis of the fractional dimension of the controlled systems and properties of fractional regulators . Until then we did not make difference between the terms fractal and fractional regulator. Very significant theoretical works appeared in 1993 and later . This and the following results in this field were summarized in book . The fundamentals for practical utilization of numerical methods , based on the relation for approximation of the fractional derivatives , and analytical methods  for fractional-order systems simulation were made. But the proposed iterative numerical methods did not converge to the correct solution. The first explicit noniterative numerical methods for simulation of fractional-order systems were presented in works . In works  the first comparison was made of these noniterative numerical methods and corresponded analytical methods derived for fractional-order control system from analytical solutions published in . An example of experimental design of a fractional-order $`PD^\delta `$ controller, with comparison of dynamic properties in fractional- and integer-order system with a fractional- and integer-order controller, designed for an integer-order system as the best approximation to given fractional-order system, was presented in works  too. It followed from these results, that an application of integer-order regulator to fractional-order system is inadequate and with a change of system or regulator parameters can lead to system instability. This example was taken to many other works  etc. After experimental method of the fractional-order system parameters identification , two exact methods  were derived. A great effort was devoted to elaboration of methods of fractional-order controllers synthesis. From purely experimental methods  we continued with methods based on minimization of regulated square  etc., and methods based on stability and damping measure  etc. In these works the fundamentals of fractional-order $`PI^\lambda D^\delta `$ controllers synthesis are developed and now first works appear with application of these methods to the control of chaotic fractional-order systems . The development of the methods described in works  required the elaboration of methods of fractional-order system analysis in the frequency domain  etc. The following Bode analysis was utilized for the fractional-order controllers synthesis and such regulated control systems stability analysis.

This contribution is a continuation of the previous works and deals with the mathematical description and analysis of fractional-order regulated systems in the state space. We present results of simulations of a fractional-order system with the aim to investigate the stability of such system.

## 2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space

For the definition of the control system we consider a simple unity feed-back control system illustrated in Fig.1, where $`G_s(s)`$ denotes the transfer function of the controlled system and $`G_r(s)`$ is the controller transfer function, both integer- or fractional-order.

The differential equation of the above closed regulation system for the transfer function of the controlled system $`G_s(s)=1/(a_2s^\alpha +a_1s^\beta +a_0)`$ and the controller $`G_r(s)=K+T_ds^\delta `$ has the form

$$a_2y^{(\alpha )}(t)+a_1y^{(\beta )}(t)+T_dy^{(\delta )}(t)+(a_0+K)y(t)=Kw(t)+T_dw^{(\delta )}(t)$$
(1)
where $`\alpha ,\beta ,\delta `$, are generally real numbers and $`a_0,a_1,a_2,K,T_d`$ are arbitrary constants.

In works  was presented a state space model that expresses the fractional-order derivatives

$`𝐱^{(\alpha )}(t)=𝐀𝐱(t)+𝐁u(t),`$
$`y(t)=𝐂𝐱(t),t0.`$ (2)
This description is convenient for simple models of systems  with only one fractional-order derivation.

In this contribution we propose state space model of the linear time invariant one dimensional system which expresses the first derivatives in the state space equations (2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space) and which has the classical state space interpretation for the fractional-order system too. On the right side of these equations we can then transfer more than one fractional-order derivatives of the state space variables ($`𝐱^{(fr)}(t)`$). A disadvantage of this expression is that we cannot describe the state space equations in vector and matrix relations as in previous description (2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space).

$`𝐱^{}(t)=𝐟(𝐱^{(fr)}(t),u(t)),`$
$`y(t)=𝐠(𝐱^{(fr)}(t),u(t)),t0.`$ (3)
We verified the above methods on an example from . Assume the system described by differential equation (1) with coefficients $`a_2=0.8,a_1=0.5,a_0=1,\alpha =2.2,\beta =0.9,K=20.5,T_d=3.7343`$ and $`\delta =1.15`$. After its modification and with state space variables $`x(t)=x_1(t),x^{}(t)=x_2(t),x^{\prime \prime }(t)=x_2^{^{}}(t)`$ we can derive the following state space model equivalent to model (1)

$`x_1^{}(t)=x_2(t),`$
$`x_2^{}(t)={\displaystyle \frac{a_0+K}{a_2}}x_1^{(2\alpha )}(t){\displaystyle \frac{T_d}{a_2}}x_1^{(1+\delta \alpha )}(t){\displaystyle \frac{a_1}{a_2}}x_1^{(1+\beta \alpha )}(t){\displaystyle \frac{1}{a_2}}w_1^{(2\alpha )}(t),`$ (4)
$`y(t)=Kx_1(t)+T_dx_2^{(\delta 1)}(t),t0.`$
We can made other alternative state space models for the same system. The order of the integer-order system in the state space model was equivalent to the number of the state variables. In fractional-order sys- tems it does not hold. We propose to consider the order of the fractional-order systems according to the order of the highest derivative (integer- or fractional-order) in the resulting differential equation, e.g. (1).

Under condition $`𝐱^{}(t)=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ we can obtain from state space model (2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space) the two equations of statics of this system, which are not algebraic equations as in integer-order linear systems,but differential equations,from which we can compute the coordinates of the equilibrium point, to which the state trajectories (2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space) tend.

After discretisation of the first derivative by first differentiation in (2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space) we obtained the simple Euler methods for solving the state space model. For the fractional-order derivatives in (2. Example of the fractional-order control system in state space) we can take the relation from e.g. . In Fig.2 and Fig.3 is a comparison of the unit - step response of the classical numerical solution  and the numerical solution of the state space model. The obtained state trajectories represent stable focal point for the above mentioned coefficients of the system (with stability measure $`S_t=1.5`$ and damping measure $`T_l=0.37`$, e.g. ) and unstable focal point for only one changed coefficient $`T_d=0.7343`$ of the same system.

This work was partially supported by grant VEGA 1/7098/20 from the Slovak Agency for Science.


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# Mechanical quality factor of a sapphire fiber at cryogenic temperatures

## 1 Introduction

A cryogenic interferometric gravitational wave detector (Large scale Cryogenic interferometric Gravitational wave Telescope: LCGT) is planned in Japan. The most outstanding characteristic of LCGT is the use of cryogenic techniques to reduce thermal noise. LCGT has fiber suspended pendulum-like mirrors similar to other detectors, such as LIGO, VIRGO, GEO and TAMA. These suspended mirrors behave as test masses for the detection of gravitational waves. The gravitational waves are detected by measuring the difference of displacement between mirrors.

Thermal noise is the thermally excited vibration of the mirrors. Major components of the vibration are the pendulum motion (pendulum thermal noise) and the elastic vibration of the mirror itself (mirror thermal noise). Typically, the pendulum thermal noise is the dominant noise source of the detector in a frequency range from approximately 10 Hz to 100 Hz and the mirror thermal noise is dominant from 100 Hz to 500 Hz.

The amplitude of the thermal vibration obeys the equation,

$$x(\omega )^2T\varphi (\omega ),$$
(1)
where T is the temperature and $`\varphi (\omega )`$ the dissipation angle. Mechanical quality factor (Q-factor) is defined as the inverse of $`\varphi (\omega )`$ at the resonant frequency $`\omega _0`$, i. e. $`Q=\frac{1}{\varphi (\omega _0)}`$. Phenomenologically, $`\varphi (\omega )`$ is constant in the frequency range of interest when the dominant source of dissipation is internal friction of the suspension fibers or the mirror substrate. This is known as structure damping. For measurement analysis, we applied the structure damping model and focused attention on the Q-factor.

According to Eq.1, the reduction of the thermal noise is accomplished both by lowering the temperature and by improving the Q-factors of both the pendulum and mirror acoustic modes. Our strategy to reduce the thermal noise includes cooling the whole mirror suspension system to cryogenic temperature (below 30 K at the mirror), along with the use of low acoustic loss material for the mirror and suspension fiber. We have chosen sapphire for both the mirror and fiber, since it has shown to have a high Q-factor and high thermal conductivity at cryogenic temperatures. We have already presented results of the cryogenic mirror suspension system with a sapphire test mass which was cooled down to cryogenic temperatures and exhibited a Q-factor of $`10^8`$. These results suggests that the cryogenic mirror suspension system could possibly reduce the mirror thermal noise.

To enhance the sensitivity of the detector, we must also reduce the pendulum thermal noise which is estimated by the Q-factor of the pendulum motion ($`Q_{pend}`$) with temperature. Since $`Q_{pend}`$ depends on the dissipation in the suspension fibers, we must construct them of low loss materials. Since direct measurement of $`Q_{pend}`$ is not an easy task, we measured the frequency dependence of Q-factor of the sapphire fiber itself ($`Q_{fiber}`$). $`Q_{pend}`$ can be obtained by applying the result of the dissipation dilution theorem to $`Q_{fiber}`$.

The measurement was undertaken at cryogenic temperatures (6 K and 78 K) with one end of the fiber fixed in a clamp and the other end free. We chose the lowest frequency vibration bending mode of the clamped sapphire fiber, since the deformation of this mode is similar to that of the pendulum motion. Applying the structure damping model, the dissipation in the sapphire fiber due to bending vibration reflects that due to pendulum motion, even though the resonant frequencies are different (the resonance of the pendulum is 1 Hz, whereas that of the fiber is 200 Hz to 500 Hz).

Room temperature measurement of $`Q_{fiber}`$ of the sapphire fiber represents $`5\times 10^3`$ at 200 Hz. This Q-factor measurement was limited by the thermoelastic effect. Since the thermoelastic effect of the sapphire fiber is negligibly small in cryogenic temperature, $`Q_{fiber}`$ is expected to be higher for this measurement. To our knowledge, this paper represents the first cryogenic measurement of sapphire fiber Q-factor.

In this letter, we show that the measured $`Q_{fiber}`$ of the sapphire fiber at 6 K was as high as that exhibited at room temperature by a fused silica fiber considered to be the highest Q-factor fiber at room temperature.

## 2 Experiment and Results

Figure 1 shows the experimental setup. We used a Saphikon Inc. sapphire fiber, 250 $`\mu `$m in diameter, the same as used in previous experiments. The whole assembly was housed in a vacuum chamber at $`10^4`$Pa. The vacuum chamber was immersed in liquid helium in a top-loading cryostat. The whole assembly was cooled by heat conduction through three copper rods from the top flange of the vacuum chamber.

To measure $`Q_{fiber}`$, the ring-down method was used. A PZT vibrator excited the bending motion of the sapphire fiber. Damping time of the oscillation was measured by a shadow sensor consisting of an infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) and an InGaAs photo diode. The IR LED was set on the back side of a clamp. The oscillating sapphire fiber cast a shadow on the surface of the photo diode with the size of the shadow changing with the vibration amplitude. Figure 2 shows the amplitude decay in a typical measurement.

We used a pair of the sapphire blocks of 5 mm in thickness for clamping the sapphire fiber. When the sapphire fiber was clamped with soft metal plates, grooves were formed on the plates and the groove could cause excess loss. The clamp had two slots. One slot was used for clamping the sapphire fiber and the other slot was for setting a PZT vibrator as a continuous exciter. The sapphire fiber was mounted between the sapphire blocks and fastened by a M4 aluminum screw with a torque of 50 N$``$cm.

To obtain the $`Q_{fiber}`$ of other frequency modes, we cut the free end of the clamped sapphire fiber without loosening the clamp and re-measured $`Q_{fiber}`$. Thus, the clamping condition remained unchanged for the whole measurement. We found two resonances whose frequencies were separated by about 3% for each length of the fiber. This frequency split may be due to come from an imperfection circular cross section of the sapphire fiber. In this paper, we distinguish these resonances by their resonant frequencies and refer to them as ”Higher resonance” and ”Lower resonance”.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the frequency dependence of the $`Q_{fiber}`$ at 78 K and 6 K, respectively. The length of the sapphire fiber, the measured resonant frequencies and $`Q_{fiber}`$ are summarized in Table 1 and 2. When the sapphire fibers are applied to LCGT as mirror suspension fibers, temperature at clamping points of the sapphire fibers is designed to be lower than 10 K. Thus, the 6 K results of $`Q_{fiber}`$ have more importance to LCGT.

The result of $`Q_{fiber}`$ at 6 K shows a frequency dependence. Estimated $`Q^1`$ due to the thermoelastic effect of the sapphire fiber at 200 Hz was $`5\times 10^{16}`$, much smaller than the measured value. Although the major dissipation mechanisms have not yet been identified in our measurement, a combination of the sapphire fiber and the clamp using the sapphire blocks has achieved a high $`Q_{fiber}`$ of more than $`10^6`$, comparable with $`Q_{fiber}`$ of fused silica fiber.

For estimating the thermal vibration of the pendulum, we took $`Q_{fiber}`$ of $`7.7\times 10^6`$ which is an averaged value of the results at 6 K at the lowest frequency (192 Hz and 199 Hz). Assuming the structure damping model, the value of $`Q_{fiber}`$ at 199 Hz can be extrapolated to the frequency region below 100 Hz where the pendulum thermal noise is a dominant noise source of the detector. $`Q_{pend}`$ of the cryogenic mirror suspension is obtained through the dissipation dilution theorem. A brief review of the dissipation dilution theorem can be found in an Appendix to this letter.

## 3 Discussion

Three experiments for the cryogenic mirror suspension system have been done including this measurement and all results of the experiments are promising for realizing a practical cryogenic interferometer. Figure 5 shows the present concept of the final stage of a cryogenic mirror suspension for LCGT and a comparison between the estimated thermal noise curves and the requirements of LCGT. The target requirement sensitivity of LCGT is ten times better than LIGO or VIRGO. Figure 5 shows that the estimated thermal noise of the LCGT suspension is much lower than the requirement.

The LCGT suspension consists of a sapphire mirror (300 mm in diameter, 180 mm in thickness and mass of 50 kg) that is three times larger one used in Reference , and two loops of sapphire fibers (1 mm in diameter and 250 mm in length of pendulum). Q-factor of the mirror for this estimation used the value of ”longitudinal mode (68 kHz)” in Reference  at 30 K, (i. e. $`7.2\times 10^7`$). In the estimation of the thermal vibration of the mirror, we considered contributions not only from the longitudinal mode but also other elastic modes of the mirror. The resonant frequency of the pendulum was assumed to be 1 Hz and $`Q_{pend}`$ of $`2.9\times 10^8`$ was obtained as shown in the Appendix.

We assumed that the temperature of the mirror was 30 K and at the clamping points of the fibers were 10 K. The temperature of the mirror was limited by temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of the sapphire fiber which allows a worst-case at 30 K. The temperature of the mirror was determined by a balance of absorption of laser power in the mirror and the heat conduction of the sapphire fiber. Since the thermal conductivity of sapphire decreases above 30 K, the heat flux through the fibers does not increase, even if the temperature of the mirror becomes higher than 30 K. Thus, 30 K is an upper limit of the temperature of the ”cryogenic” mirror.

## 4 Conclusion

We measured the $`Q_{fiber}`$ of the sapphire fiber in cryogenic temperatures. The highest value of $`1.1\times 10^7`$ was obtained at 199 Hz. The measurement showed frequency dependence, however, all measurements of $`Q_{fiber}`$ at 6 K achieved over $`10^6`$ which was as high as $`Q_{fiber}`$ of fused silica fiber. Since temperature at the clamping points of the suspension fiber in the cryogenic mirror suspension system is considered to be below 10 K, the pendulum thermal noise of this suspension system is improved from that of a conventional room temperature suspension system.

The cryogenic mirror suspension system may be the lowest thermal noise system for interferometric gravitational wave detectors. These results are encouraging for realizing the LCGT project.

This study was supported by the Joint Research and Development Program of KEK and by a grant-in-aid prepared from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture.

Appendix

## Appendix A Dissipation dilution theorem

To obtain $`Q_{pend}`$ for the estimation mentioned in Part 3, the dissipation dilution theorem was applied to $`Q_{fiber}`$ of the suspension system. Energy dissipation $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ due to the pendulum motion occurs in the suspension fiber. In this case, $`Q_{pend}`$ can be written as

$$Q_{pend}=\frac{E_{el}+E_{gr}}{\mathrm{\Delta }E}$$
(2)
where $`E_{el}`$ is elastic energy stored in the fiber and $`E_{gr}`$ is energy due to the gravity force. Generally, $`E_{el}E_{gr}`$ and $`E_{gr}`$ is loss-less energy, so $`Q_{fiber}`$ can be represented by

$$Q_{fiber}=\frac{E_{el}}{\mathrm{\Delta }E}.$$
(3)
From both Eq. (2) and Eq. (3), $`Q_{pend}`$ can be calculated from $`Q_{fiber}`$ as follows.

$$Q_{pend}Q_{fiber}\times \frac{E_{gr}}{E_{el}},$$
(4)
$$\eta =\frac{E_{gr}}{E_{el}}=\frac{mg/l}{n\sqrt{TYI}/2l^2},$$
(5)
where $`m`$ is mass of the mirror, $`g`$ is acceleration of the gravity, $`l`$ is length of the fiber, $`n`$ is number of the fiber, $`T`$ is tension applying to the fiber, $`Y`$ is Young’s modulus of the fiber and $`I`$ is area moment of the inertia of the fiber, respectively. The area moment of the inertia is given by diameter of the fiber $`\mathrm{"}d\mathrm{"}`$ as $`I=\frac{\pi d^4}{64}`$. These parameters are summarized in Table 3.

Under these conditions, the dissipation dilution ratio $`\eta ^1`$ becomes $`2.7\times 10^2`$. Thus $`Q_{pend}`$ of $`2.9\times 10^8`$ was estimated for the LCGT suspension.


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# Pseudo–Slice Knots

## 1 Introduction.

Let $`K`$ be a knot in $`S^3`$. If $`F`$ is a Seifert surface for $`K`$ there is a Seifert form, $`V_K`$, defined on $`H_1(F,𝐙)`$. The knot $`K`$ is called algebraically slice if $`V_K`$ vanishes on some half–dimensional summand of $`H_1(F,𝐙)`$; such a summand is called a metabolizer for $`V_K`$. If $`K`$ is slice, that is, if it bounds a smooth embedded disk in $`B^4`$, then it is algebraically slice. Casson and Gordon \[CG1, CG2\] proved that the converse does not hold by constructing explicit examples of algebraically slice knots that are not slice. (This was in contrast to the result proved by Levine \[Le1, Le2\] that in higher dimensions the analagous condition of algebraic sliceness does imply that a knot is slice.)

If a basis for the metabolizer in $`H_1(F,𝐙)`$ is represented by a stongly slice link, one for which the components bound disjoint disks in $`B^4`$, then it is easily shown that $`K`$ is slice. The question has been asked whether it is sufficient to show that a basis of the metabolizer is represented by slice knots to assure that $`K`$ will be slice. Here we provide a genus two counterexample to show this is not the case. Litherland has previously given such an example in \[Lt1\], but that paper never appeared, and the result depended on the development of a lengthy algorithm for computing Casson–Gordon invariants; that algorithm itself has not appeared in print.

The example here points to a much deeper question regarding classical concordance. At an empirical level, knotting in the curves representing elements in the metabolizer of the Seifert form present secondary obstructions to slicing a classical knot. This was first made formal in Gilmer’s work \[Gi\] where certain signatures of these knots were related to Casson-Gordon invariants. In the case we are considering these signatures all vanish, and hence a more subtle approach is needed. It is expected that in addition to the signatures of the individual components of the metabolizing basis there should be abelian invariants of the entire link that provide second order slicing obstructions. The example produced here points to the existance of such obstructions, but the precise formulation is not evident and remains an open question.

The results of this paper depend only on the original definition of Casson–Gordon invariants of \[CG1\], the connected sum formula of Gilmer \[Gi\], and a simple method for computing Casson–Gordon invariants of satellite knots, first described in \[Lt2\] and reformulated in \[GL1\] as needed here.

See \[Ro\] and \[BZ\] for basic results in knot theory. We will work in the smooth category, but all results extend to the topological, locally flat, category by \[FQ\].

The example presented here was developed in response to a question of Effie Kalfagianni addressed to the author. We also wish to thank Pat Gilmer for conversations regarding this work.

## 2 Casson–Gordon Invariants.

Let $`K`$ be a knot in $`S^3`$ with 2–fold branched cover $`M_K`$. For a character $`\chi :H_1(M_K,𝐙)𝐙_p`$, Casson and Gordon \[CG1\] define an invariant, denoted $`\sigma _1\tau (K,\chi )𝐐`$. To simplify notation we have:

###### Definition 2.1.

$`\sigma (K,\chi )=\sigma _1\tau (K,\chi )`$.

There is a linking form lk:$`H_1(M_K,𝐙)\times H_1(M_K,𝐙)𝐐/𝐙`$. The main result of \[CG1\] is the following.

###### Theorem 2.2.

If $`K`$ is slice there is a subgroup $`HH_1(M_K,𝐙)`$ with $`|H|^2=|H_1(M_K,𝐙)|`$ and such that for any character $`\chi `$ with values in $`𝐙_p`$ for prime $`p`$ that vanishes on $`H`$, $`\sigma (K,\chi )=0`$. Furthermore $`H`$ can be assumed to be a metabolizer (self–annihilating) for the linking form on $`M`$.

One simple result concerning the Casson–Gordon invariant is that $`\sigma (K,\chi )=\sigma (K,\chi )`$. A much deeper result is the additivity result proved by Gilmer \[Gi\], as we now describe. If $`K=J_1\mathrm{\#}J_2`$, then $`H_1(M_K,𝐙)=H_1(M_{J_1},𝐙)H_1(M_{J_2},𝐙)`$ and any character $`\chi `$ on $`H_1(M_K,𝐙)`$ can be written as $`\chi =\chi _1\chi _2`$ with $`\chi _i`$ a character on $`H_1(M_{J_i},𝐙)`$.

###### Theorem 2.3.

$`\sigma (K,\chi )=\sigma (J_1,\chi _1)+\sigma (J_2,\chi _2)`$.

For satellite knots there is an algorithm that simplifies the computation of its Casson–Gordon invariants. Details appear in \[GL1, Lt2\]; here is a summary. Suppose that $`L`$ is an unknotted circle in $`S^3`$ in the complement of $`K`$ that is null homologous in $`S^3K`$. If a neighborood of $`L`$ is removed from $`S^3`$ and replaced with the complement of a knotted circle $`J`$ in $`S^3`$ (with the boundaries identified so that the longitude of $`L`$ is identified with the meridian of $`J`$ and the meridian of $`L`$ is identified with the longitude of $`J`$) then the resulting manifold is diffeomorphic to $`S^3`$, but the curve $`K`$ now represents a perhaps different knot, say $`K^{}`$, in $`S^3`$. (Traditionally $`K^{}`$ has been called a satellite of $`J`$ with embellishment $`K`$; in effect the portion of $`K`$ that passes through $`L`$ is tied into the knot $`J`$.)

The curve $`L`$ lifts to a pair of curves, $`\stackrel{~}{L^{}}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{L^{\prime \prime }}`$ in $`M_K`$. Thus, $`M_K^{}`$ is constructed from $`M_K`$ by removing neighborhoods of $`\stackrel{~}{L^{}}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{L^{\prime \prime }}`$ and replacing both with copies of the complement of $`J`$. This construction leaves the homology unchanged and there is a natural correspondence between the homology, and cohomology, groups of $`M_K`$ and $`M_K^{}`$. In particular we can identify a characters $`\chi `$ on $`H_1(M_K^{},𝐙)`$ with characters on $`H_1(M_K,𝐙)`$. In this situation we have the following:

###### Theorem 2.4.

$`\sigma (K^{},\chi )=\sigma (K,\chi )+2\sigma _{\chi (\stackrel{~}{L^{}})/p}(J)`$.

Here $`\sigma _{k/p}(J)`$ denotes the classical Tristram-Levine signature \[T\] of the knot $`J`$, given as the signature of the hermetianized Seifert form $`(1\omega )V_J+(1\overline{\omega })V_J^t`$, $`\omega =e^{k2\pi i/p}`$.

A similar result holds if $`L`$ is replaced with a nullhomologous unlink in the complement of $`K`$, with the single signature in Theorem 2.4 replaced with a sum of signatures.

## 3 A Pseudo-Slicable Genus Two Knot.

In this section we construct an example of a genus two knot, $`K^{}`$, that is algebraically slice and for which a generating set for a metabolizer of a Seifert form can be represented by slice knots, and yet the knot itself is not slice.

Figure 1.

The example is illustrated in Figure 1. In the figure, a knot $`K`$ is drawn along with five curves in the complement of its Seifert surface, $`L_i,i=1,\mathrm{}5`$. The bands are twisted in such a way that the Seifert form for this knot is given by

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 2& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 2& 0\end{array}\right).$$

The knot $`K^{}`$ is constructed by removing neighborhoods of the $`L_i`$ and replacing them with knot complements. In our case all of these will be the complement of the same knot, $`J`$, with the exception of $`L_5`$ which is replaced with the complement of $`J`$.

Let $`\{x_1,y_1,x_2,y_2\}`$ denote the standard symplectic basis for the first homology of the Seifert surface for $`K^{}`$ (as drawn above) and at the same time denote obvious simple curves on the Seifert surface representing these classes. (So, each curve passes over exactly one band, with $`x_1`$ going around the leftmost band.)

Notice that, as knots, $`x_1`$ and $`y_2`$ are each the knot $`J`$, while $`y_1`$ and $`x_2`$ are each represented by the slice knot $`J\mathrm{\#}J`$. In particular, $`y_1`$ and $`x_2`$ form a basis for a metabolizer for the Seifert form with both elements represented by slice knots. That this knot provides the desired examples follows from the following theorem.

###### Theorem 3.1.

There exists a number $`C>0`$ such that if $`\sigma _{1/3}(J)>C/2`$, then $`K^{}`$ is not slice.

To prove this result, we begin with a diagram of the 2-fold branched cover of $`S^3`$ branched over $`K^{}`$ as drawn in Figure 2 using the algorithm of \[AK\]. In this figure the lifts of the $`L_i`$ are drawn, and are to be replaced with the appropriate knot complement (of either $`J`$ or $`J`$) to complete the construction.

Figure 2.

The homology of the cover is $`(𝐙_3)^4`$ generated by meridians to the four surgery circles. Denote by $`\chi _{(a,b,c,d)}`$ the $`𝐙_3`$ valued character taking values $`a,b,c`$, and $`d`$ on the four meridians, listed as drawn from left to right, respectively. By choosing the orientations of the $`\stackrel{~}{L}`$ properly, we can assume that:

* $`\chi _{(1,0,0,0)}`$ takes value 1 on $`\stackrel{~}{L_1}`$ and value 0 on all other $`\stackrel{~}{L_i}`$.
* $`\chi _{(0,1,0,0)}`$ takes value 1 on $`\stackrel{~}{L_2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{L_5}`$ and value 0 on all other $`\stackrel{~}{L_i}`$.
* $`\chi _{(0,0,1,0)}`$ takes value 1 on $`\stackrel{~}{L_3}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{L_5}`$ and value 0 on all other $`\stackrel{~}{L_i}`$.
* $`\chi _{(0,0,0,1)}`$ takes value 1 on $`\stackrel{~}{L_4}`$ and value 0 on all other $`\stackrel{~}{L_i}`$.

The same values are taken on the translates of the $`\stackrel{~}{L_i}`$, denoted by $`\stackrel{~}{L_i^{}}`$ in the figure.

From this calculation we have the following formula:

$$\sigma (K^{},\chi _{(a,b,c,d)})=\sigma (K,\chi _{(a,b,c,d)})+2(\overline{a}+\overline{b}+\overline{c}+\overline{d}\overline{b+c})\sigma _{1/3}(J)$$

where $`\overline{x}=1`$ if $`x=\pm 1𝐙_3`$ and $`\overline{x}=0`$ if $`x=0`$.

Since the set of values of $`\{\sigma (K,\chi _{(a,b,c,d)})\}_{(a,b,c,d)(𝐙_3)^4}`$ represents a fixed finite set of rational numbers, it is bounded above in absolute value by some number $`C`$. It is clear that if we can prove that for every possible metabolizer the value of $`\overline{a}+\overline{b}+\overline{c}+\overline{d}\overline{b+c}`$ is positive for some character vanishing on the metabolizer, then if $`\sigma _{1/3}(J)>C/2`$ the corresponding Casson–Gordon invariant is nonzero.

It is easily seen that for all $`b`$ and $`c`$, $`\overline{b}+\overline{c}\overline{b+c}0`$. Hence, $`\overline{a}+\overline{b}+\overline{c}+\overline{d}\overline{b+c}`$ will be positive unless both $`a`$ and $`d`$ are 0. But if this were the case for all characters vanishing on the metabolizer, then this set of characters would necessarily be spanned by the characters $`\chi _{(0,1,0,0)}`$ and $`\chi _{(0,0,1,0)}`$. But then the set of characters would also contain $`\chi _{(0,1,1,0)}`$, and for this character $`\overline{a}+\overline{b}+\overline{c}+\overline{d}\overline{b+c}=1`$.

We have now seen that for every metabolizer there is some character vanishing on that metabolizer for which $`\overline{a}+\overline{b}+\overline{c}+\overline{d}\overline{b+c}>0`$. Since $`\sigma (K,\chi _{(a,b,c,d)})C`$ and $`\sigma _{1/3}(J)>C/2`$, it certainly follows that for this character $`\sigma (K^{},\chi _{(a,b,c,d)})>0`$ and the proof is complete.