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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The presence of anomalous structure in the differential cross sections was always indicative of some important physical feature typical of the particles and their interactions. Such are the dip-bump structure and ”fine structure” in the differential cross sections related to small and large values of the impact parameter. The first phenomenon is connected with absorption at small impact parameters, while the second one to the mesonic (or quark-antiquark) ”cloud” (or ”tail”) of the colliding particles. In addition to this, localized fluctuations have been observed  in the differential cross-section at fixed $`\sqrt{s}`$. The oscillating structure of the diffraction peak in the differential $`\overline{p}p`$ and $`pp`$elastic cross sections has been observed for the first time in  in the ISR data  and later  in UA4/2  experiment by normalizing the differential cross-section to the smoothly varying background in the impact parameter representation. In  an attempt was made to relate the observed structure near $`|t|=0.1`$ $`GeV^2`$ with the variation of the opacity in $`b`$space, probably reflecting the density oscillation in matter. The possible existence of oscillations with even smaller periods was discussed by several authors . As pointed out in , the Coulomb interference region is essential for the clarification of the presence of these oscillations in $`\overline{p}p`$ and $`pp`$elastic scattering cross sections. The anomalous behaviour observed in the experimental data may be a manifestation of the presence of coherent states in the hadronic matter. In ref.  this anomalous behaviour was described by a phenomenological formula and interpreted as an unusual phenomenon giving rise to new physics in hadron diffraction.

The smallness of the relevant periods of oscillations indicates the presence of the long-range forces. Recently in  it was suggested that the long-range forces at $`t0`$ give a significant contribution to the scattering amplitude and may be responsible for the structure observed in $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}`$ at small $`t10^3`$ $`GeV^2`$. It has been conjectured in  that the oscillations of the differential cross-section observed in  at $`\sqrt{s}=541`$ $`GeV`$ are periodic in $`\sqrt{t}`$ with the period of $`210^2`$ $`GeV`$ which is compatible with the Auberson-Kinoshita-Martin type of oscillations .

In ref.  we proposed an entirely different method of identifying oscillations in the $`\overline{p}p`$ and $`pp`$elastic scattering. Our method was based on the use of overlapping bins of local slopes and we indicated some characteristic oscillation periods. It is quite obvious that, in order to determine the nature and periods of oscillations, one has first of all to increase the reliability of initial information contained in experimental data by suppressing the influence of statistical fluctuations. This problem can be settled by means of the well known method of maximum entropy , used in many branches of physics. For example, recently it has been applied  to the electron density profile reconstruction from multichannel microwave interferometer data at the W7-AS fusion experiment.

## 2 The method of maximum entropy

Consider the mathematical essence of the maximum entropy method. The task is formulated as follows. Provided there are $`N`$ measured data points $`y_k`$ with errors $`\epsilon _k`$ and no theory available, the question arises of how to choose the most plausible function $`Y_k`$ among all possible functions describing this data set. The philosophy is to choose the solution which contains the least amount of information in order to avoid false features. Mathematically this means that one has to choose such a function $`Y_k`$ that the functional $`F`$ is minimized:

$$F=\chi ^2+\lambda R.$$
(1)
Here $`\chi ^2`$ is the least squares term which provides the consistency of the function $`Y`$ with the data set $`y`$, $`R`$ is a regularization functional which helps to choose the correct function containing the least amount of information, and $`\lambda `$ is the weighting factor between the least squares term and the regularization functional. The value of $`\lambda `$ has to be chosen such that the data is neither under- nor overestimated, i.e., $`\chi ^2`$ should be equal to the number of data points $`N`$. The $`\chi ^2`$ is calculated by means of the standard formula

$$\chi ^2=\underset{k=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{\left(Y_ky_k\right)^2}{\epsilon _k^2}.$$
(2)
It is very important to use realistic error values with methods based on regularization functional, in order to get realistic results. In the maximum entropy method the regularization functional is the configurational entropy of the distribution:

$$R=\underset{k=1}{\overset{N}{}}p_k\mathrm{log}\frac{p_k}{m_k},$$
(3)
where

$$p_k=\frac{Y_k}{_{k=1}^NY_k},$$
(4)
$`m_k`$ \- is the $`k`$-th value of the discretised a priori distribution. The basic principle of the maximum entropy method is that out of all probability distributions which satisfy given constraints, i.e., fits to the data, one should choose the distribution which is closest to the given a priori probability distribution $`m_k`$, and, if this is not specified, one should choose the distribution that is closest to the uniform distribution. Here should be pointed out that unknowns $`Y_k`$ are assumed to be independent of each other which means that the distribution does not have to be continuous.

## 3 Application of the maximum entropy method to the differential cross-section

The question of the role of statistical errors in measured differential cross-section $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}(s,t)`$ for $`\overline{p}p`$ and $`pp`$scattering at fixed $`s`$ within a broad $`t`$-interval is of substantial importance, because these errors for each data point may be of the same order of magnitude as the ”fine” anomalies of $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}`$ observed in experiments . The second problem is related to ambiguous use of different models and theoretical predictions  in fitting the experimental ”curves”. From the standpoint of the ”observed” oscillations, several methods are now being extensively used. One of the methods is based on theoretical description of smooth $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}`$ and subsequent extraction of oscillations (anomalies) by subtracting the slowly varying ”background” from the experimental differential cross sections. In our new approach we first process the experimental $`\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)^{exper}`$ values according to the ”maximum entropy criterion” to obtain

$$Y_k=\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{entr}.$$
(5)
For this purpose we minimize the functional (1), where:

$$y_k=\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{exper}$$
(6)
and $`\epsilon _k`$ are experimental errors of $`y_k=\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{exper}`$. We use the parametrization of $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}`$ from  which well describes background to calculate the $`m_k`$ values needed in (3)

$$m_k=\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{theor}=\frac{1}{16\pi }\left|F_N+F_C\right|^2,$$
(7)
$$F_N=\sigma _{tot}\left(i+\rho \right)\mathrm{exp}\left[bt_k+\gamma \left(1\sqrt{1t_k/t_0}\right)\right].$$
(8)
Here $`\sigma _{tot}`$, $`\rho `$, $`b`$, $`t_0`$ and $`\gamma `$ are fitted parameters and $`F_C`$ is the standard Coulomb amplitude which can be calculated from . We investigate the experimental differential $`\overline{p}p`$ and $`pp`$scattering cross sections at different energies covering a broad interval of $`\sqrt{s}`$ from $`19.4`$ $`GeV`$  up to $`541`$ $`GeV`$ . To minimize the functional (1), we used the least-square method described in . The realistic result was obtained when $`\chi ^2/ndf1`$ was achieved. Before using the a priori choice of $`m_k`$ in accordance with (7), we set $`m_k=1`$, assuming that nothing is known about $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}`$. In this case the use of the maximum entropy method just reproduces the experimental behaviour of $`\frac{d\sigma }{dt}`$ with slight changes of the slope. The results of the calculations with the a priori distribution described above are shown in Figures 1-3 for the ratios

$$R_k^{entr}\left(t\right)=\frac{\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{entr}}{\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{theor}},$$
(9)
$$R_k^{exper}\left(t\right)=\frac{\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{exper}}{\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)_k^{theor}}.$$
(10)
and the relevant errors. Note that in all cases considered (at $`19.4`$, $`53`$, and $`541`$ $`GeV`$) $`\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)^{entr}`$ exhibit those non-regularities which are present in $`\left(\frac{d\sigma }{dt}\right)^{exper}`$ albeit with smaller amplitudes. At $`53`$ $`GeV`$ in spite of the decrease of the amplitude of oscillations, the structure is still visible, especially the local fluctuation at $`t0.1`$ $`\left(GeV/c\right)^2`$ discussed in . In contrast to the first two cases, the data on the differential cross-section at $`541`$ $`GeV`$ were taken from the region of interference of the Coulomb and nuclear amplitudes used to determine the ratio of the real part of the scattering amplitude to the imaginary part of the scattering amplitude $`\rho (s,t)`$. The maximum entropy method considerably reduces the amplitude of oscillations in $`\rho (s,t)`$. By means of Fourier analysis we find some characteristic periods which generally confirm the calculation of . However, the value of $`\rho (s,t)`$ calculated on the basis of data processed by using the maximum entropy method leads to such a drastic decrease of the oscillation amplitude in $`\rho (s,t)`$ (see Figure 4), that this gives one almost no chance to obtain the value of $`\rho \left(s,t=0\right)`$ which noticeably differs from the experimental value of $`0.135`$ (compare Figure 3 in  and Figure 4 of the present paper).

Finally we made a numerical experiment by artificially reducing three times the experimental errors of the data of . In this case the amplitude of oscillations increased almost by an order of magnitude (Figure 1) which stresses the importance of efforts towards decreasing experimental errors in real measurements.

## 4 Concluding remarks

We conclude that in all cases analysed the existing data reveal oscillations satisfying quite realistic reliability criteria. Further studies for the small-period structure in $`t`$ at RHIC  and LHC (see TOTEM project ) are highly desirable. To this end good statistics, including measurements within the entire diffraction cone with a large number points $`(100)`$ and small errors are necessary.

The authors are grateful to L. L. Jenkovszky for his constant interest in this work. Fruitful discussions with A. V. Snegursky are gratefully acknowledged.


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# The Effect of Gas Loss on the Formation of Bound Stellar Clusters

## 1 Introduction

During the formation of star clusters gas expulsion, caused by feedback of young massive stars, terminates the star formation epoch and can unbind the stellar system. Many mechanisms leading to gas loss exist, like ionizing radiation, stellar winds or supernova explosions. It is still uncertain which of those play the major role.

The gas expulsion reduces the binding energy of the cluster. Hills  showed, using analytic approximations, that a system of stars and gas loosing more than half of its mass in less than a crossing time will disrupt. Thus, to obtain bound stellar clusters, a star formation efficiency (SFE) $`ϵ=M_s/M_c>0.5`$ is needed, where $`M_s`$ and $`M_c`$ are the mass of the stellar component and of the initial gas cloud prior to star formation, respectively. As the typical SFEs are less than 10%, the formation of gravitationally bound old open clusters and globular clusters is an interesting and yet unsolved problem.

Numerical simulations investigating the stability of young star clusters after gas expulsion have been done by Lada, Margulis & Dearborn . They showed that open star clusters, initially in virial equilibrium with the surrounding residual gas and containing up to 100 stars, can remain bound even if the SFE is as low as 30%. In their simulations they treated the residual gas as a variable external potential added to that of the stars. Goodwin  extended these simulations to globular clusters (GC), increasing the number of particles, allowing for different gas expulsion mechanisms and including loss of stars due to the galactic tidal field. Recently, Adams  presented a semi–analytic model for the formation of bound star clusters even for global SFEs much smaller than 50%.

We present a new set of numerical simulations of the early evolution of young GCs, covering a broad range of SFEs and gas expulsion timescales. Because the typical collision dominated relaxation timescale of GCs is much larger than the dynamical timescale, we restrict ourselves to collisionless N–body calculations for the stellar component. We present two sets of simulations: As a first assumption, in Sect. 2 we treat the residual gas as an external potential. We investigate the dynamics of the cluster during and after gas expulsion and derive constraints for the SFE required to form a bound cluster. Using a combined N–body and hydrodynamic code, in Sect. 3 we investigate the gas removal more self–consistently. Conclusions follow in Sect. 4.

## 2 Gas Expulsion in Pure N–body
Simulations

Our simulations start after the cluster has formed, but before the residual gas has been expelled. The stars are represented by collisionless, equal mass N–body particles. The effect of the ejection of the residual gas on the stellar system is treated as a time variable external potential, similar to the approach of Lada et al. .

In the following, all quantities are given in dimensionless code units (gravitational constant $`G=1`$). Thus, taking typical globular cluster properties $`\widehat{M}=10^5\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`\widehat{R}=10\mathrm{pc}`$ as mass and length units, respectively, we obtain a time unit $`\widehat{t}=(G\widehat{\rho })^{1/2}=\mathrm{1.5\hspace{0.17em}10}^6\mathrm{yr}`$ (equal to the dynamical or crossing timescale) with the density unit $`\widehat{\rho }=\widehat{M}/\widehat{R}^3`$.

The N–body calculations are done using a hierarchical tree method .

### 2.1 Initial Configuration and the Gas Expulsion
Phase

To obtain a stable initial configuration, in a first step the stars are distributed according to a King  distribution function with total mass equal to that of the initial gas cloud. The potential is tabulated and is used for modelling the external gas potential during the simulation. Therefore, stars and gas have equal density distributions. Finally, the mass of the stars and the gas are scaled according to the SFE. Now the stars are in virial equilibrium within the sum of their own potential and the potential of the gaseous component. The parameters of the different models are given in Table 1. For each model, the SFE is varied between $`0.15`$ and $`0.80`$.

To test whether the initial system is in virial equilibrium, several calculations without gas expulsion are performed. The density distributions are well conserved.

We simulate the gas expulsion starting at time $`t=t_0`$ by multiplying the external potential by a time dependent factor

$$\xi =\{\begin{array}{ccc}1\hfill & & t<t_0\hfill \\ 1(tt_0)/t_{\mathrm{exp}}\hfill & \mathrm{if}& t_0<t<t_0+t_{\mathrm{exp}}\hfill \\ 0\hfill & & t>t_0+t_{\mathrm{exp}}\hfill \end{array},$$
(1)
where $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}`$ is the time that is needed to drive the gas out of the system (gas expulsion time).

We can estimate the order of the gas expulsion time: The isothermal sound speed of a molecular cloud gas with temperature $`T=10\mathrm{K}`$ and molecular weight $`\mu =2.36`$ is $`a=\sqrt{R_{\mathrm{gas}}T/\mu }=0.19\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, where $`R_{\mathrm{gas}}`$ is the gas constant. If we consider a disruptive process that starts at the centre of a cloud as given by model N1 and travels outwards with sound speed, it will need approximately a time of $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=R_ta^1\mathrm{6.6\hspace{0.17em}10}^6\mathrm{yr}`$ (or $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}4`$, given the dimensionless code units above) to reach the edge of the cloud. Fast processes (e.g. supernova explosions) may remove the gas on shorter timescales. The gas expulsion time will therefore presumably be of the order of a dynamical time which is equal to the unit of time. In the simulations we use $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=0,2,4`$ and $`10`$, which are equal to $`0,7,14`$ and $`36`$ crossing times at half-mass radius of model N1 and N3 and $`0,12,24`$ and $`59`$ crossing times of model N2.

### 2.2 Dynamics of the Cluster During and After
Gas Expulsion

The typical evolution of the N–body part of a cluster with $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=2`$ ($`7`$ crossing timescales) is displayed in Fig. 1. Starting at $`t=20`$ the external potential is slowly reduced to zero as described in the previous section. The cluster expands. A certain amount of stars gets unbound and starts leaving the system. The bound ones relax after the gas has been completely removed, forming a broader configuration. A particle is believed to be unbound if its total energy (kinetic energy plus potential energy) is positive. This criterion is different from Goodwin , who marked all stars outside a given tidal radius as unbound.

Fig. 2 shows the evolution of the Lagrangian radii containing 10% and 50% of the current bound mass of the system and the virial ratio $`\eta =2E_{\mathrm{kin}}/E_{\mathrm{pot}}`$ of the bound particles. The constant mass radii and virial ratios before gas expulsion show that initially the system is indeed in virial equilibrium. When the superimposed gas potential decreases ($`t>20`$), the mass radii increase rapidly and relax for $`t>t_{\mathrm{exp}}`$. This behaviour is also reflected in the virial ratio. The system achieves a more extended equilibrium state.

The radial expansion factor of the cluster can be estimated as follows: In the adiabatic case (expulsion timescale is much longer than the crossing time) $`RM`$ is constant and therefore  the ratio of final to initial radius is

$$\frac{R_f}{R_i}=\frac{M_c}{M_s}=\frac{1}{ϵ}\mathrm{with}0<ϵ1.$$
(2)
On the other hand, if the expulsion time is short compared to the crossing time, we can apply conservation of kinetic energy per particle during the ejection of the gas. Hills  and Mathieu  obtained

$$\frac{R_f}{R_i}=\frac{ϵ}{2ϵ1}\mathrm{with}\frac{1}{2}<ϵ1.$$
(3)
If $`ϵ0.5`$ the final system is unbound.

Fig. 3 shows the ratio of the final to the initial half–mass radii of the bound particles at the end of the simulations, compared to the theoretical predictions of Eq. 2 and 3. If stars are lost and the bound mass of the cluster is not conserved, Eq. 2 and 3 are not strictly valid any more and discrepancies to the analytic approximations occur.

As expected, the simulations with long gas expulsion timescales fit well the solid curve, representing the adiabatic case. The faster the gas expulsion, the larger is the ratio of the final to the initial radius compared to the theoretical result.

The models with fast gas expulsion follow the dashed curve well for high SFEs. For low SFEs, the ratio of final to initial radii is smaller than the analytical prediction, which emphasizes that the divergence for $`ϵ=0.5`$ does not occur in numeric simulations: The final radius is decreased by excluding the unbound particles which are located preferentially at high radii. Additional, the outgoing particles reduce the total energy of the remaining system and leave behind a tighter bound core.

### 2.3 Constraints on the Star Formation Efficiency

After the gas expulsion the system of the remaining bodies relaxes again (Fig. 2).

Fig. 4 shows the ratio of the number of finally bound stars to the initial number of stars for various SFEs and gas expulsion timescales. The upper panel provides a resolution study of the runs N1 and N3 with 1000 and 4000 particles, respectively. Within the uncertainties they are indistinguishable. Large dots show results from Lada et al.  obtained from simulations with 50 (!) stars. As can be seen, the number of particles used does not influence the results.

The lower panel compares the initially more concentrated King model (N2) to the less concentrated one (N1). We find that the curves of model N2 with $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}>0`$ are shifted to lower star formation efficiencies or higher ratios of bound stars, respectively. This is due to the lower half–mass crossing time of the more concentrated cluster N2 (Table 1), confirming that only the ratio of the expulsion timescale to the crossing time is important. Thus, more concentrated clusters have a larger chance to survive. In the case of instantaneous gas expulsion ($`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=0`$) the models N1 and N2 yield the same curve.

The ratio of bound to unbound stars gives a threshold for the SFE $`ϵ`$ necessary to form bound clusters. In case of instantaneous gas expulsion (see Fig. 4) the curves are centered around $`ϵ=0.45`$, which is somewhat less than the theoretical limit $`ϵ=0.5`$ for bound clusters given by Hills .

Adams  recently gave analytic approximations for the dependency of the number of bound stars on the SFE in the case of instantaneous gas expulsion. For a SFE $`ϵ=0.5`$ about 73% of the stars are kept, in good agreement to our results from Fig. 4 ($`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=0`$). However, our results show a stronger dependence of mass loss on the SFE $`ϵ`$. Contrary to Adams , star clusters with a SFE lower than $`ϵ=0.4`$ are dissolved in our simulations. This discrepancy can be understood from the fact that Adams uses density distributions of gas and stars with very different concentrations. Thus, even if the global SFE is small, the local SFE in the region of star formation could be as high as 90%, leading to a bound system.

The number of finally bound stars increases with the gas expulsion time. In order for more than 50% of all the stars to remain bound the SFE must be equal to 45%, 30%, 25% and 20% for gas expulsion times $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=`$0, 2, 4 and 10, respectively. The Galactic average SFE in giant molecular clouds is of the order of a few percent . Koo  has observed SFEs up to 15% in the star forming–region W51B, maybe due to shock–interaction with a spiral density wave. Given these SFEs, unrealistic high gas expulsion timescales are required to obtain bound clusters. Only few clouds show SFEs up to 30% or 40% (Lada 1992) and may stay bound.

## 3 Combined N–body and
Hydrodynamical Simulations

In Sect. 2, the effect of gas removal is treated as a time variable external potential. To describe the physics more properly, we extend our simulations using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH, see Monaghan 1992 for a review). We are using an SPH–code with variable smoothing length, individual particle timesteps (Bate, Bonnell & Price 1995) and collisionless N–body particles, which was made available by Matthew Bate.

The conversion from code units to physical units is the same as in Sect. 2.1. Additionally, we describe the internal energy of the gas with a dimensionless temperature that scales with $`\widehat{T}=G\widehat{M}\mu \widehat{R}^1R_{\mathrm{gas}}^1\gamma ^1`$, where $`\mu `$ is the mean molecular weight, $`R_{\mathrm{gas}}`$ is the gas constant and $`\gamma `$ the constant adiabatic exponent. For an ideal gas with $`\gamma =3/2`$ and $`\mu =1.0`$, we have $`\widehat{T}=\mathrm{3.5\hspace{0.17em}10}^3\mathrm{K}`$.

### 3.1 Initial Configuration and Models for Gas
Expulsion

Murray & Lin  proposed as initial conditions pressure–confined protocluster clouds. As a reasonable initial configuration we therefore adopt a pressure–confined, isothermal Bonnor–Ebert (BE) sphere , see Table 2.

To get a combined system of gas and stars, we add N–body particles with an equal density distribution, scaling the masses of the stars and the gas according to the SFE $`ϵ`$. The velocity dispersion of the particles is chosen according to the temperature of the gas.

Isothermal spheres extend to infinity. In order to get a finite configuration, the gas density is set to zero at an arbitrary radius. To stabilize the gas sphere an external pressure is applied. This is not possible for particle systems. Therefore the velocity dispersion of the N–body particles is decreased and the system is allowed to relax until a stable configuration is obtained.

Fig. 5 shows the evolution of one typical setup prior to gas removal. About 2% of the N–body particles are lost, but after some oscillations the main part achieves an equilibrium state. This configuration is then used as initial model for following investigations.

The different models used are shown in Table 2.

As the processes of gas expulsion are not well understood, we choose two simplified scenarios: In our first model we heat up the whole gas cloud. As a result, the gas starts to expand and is removed. Such a situation might be caused by stellar winds or ionizing radiation. In our second scenario we heat up a small inner core, creating an outward propagating shock front disrupting the gas cloud. Such shock fronts may be generated by combined supernova explosions and winds from central high–mass stars. The formation of supershells and their ability to disrupt the cloud are discussed in various papers with regard to chemical self–enrichment of GCs . Goodwin, Pearce & Thomas  investigate single supernovae in gas clouds. In our simulations the heating of the cloud, determining the gas expulsion timescale, must be sufficient to expel all the gas.

### 3.2 Evolution of the Cluster During and After
Gas Expulsion

Fig. 6 shows the time evolution of a system with gas ejection in a supershell. Once the internal pressure of the expanding gas is smaller than the adopted external pressure, the outward propagating shell becomes unstable and develops substructures. At that stage, less than two crossing times after the gas removal started, the gas density in the cluster region is so low that its gravitational effect on the stellar component is negligible. We therefore remove the gas and follow the evolution of the stars alone. The globally heated cloud models show a very similar evolution and are treated in the same manner.

Fig. 7 corresponds to Fig. 4 in the pure N–body case. For comparison, the dashed curves reproduce the results of the pure N–body simulations.

For instantaneous gas expulsion (all the gas particles are removed at once), corresponding to the case $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=0`$ in Sect. 2, the simulations using the BE sphere as initial configuration are in very good agreement with the simulations using a King density distribution. The slightly higher crossing times of the BE sphere (see Table 2) may cause the small differences for small SFEs: the simulation was not run long enough for all particles to get unbound. We therefore conclude that the density distribution has no influence on the number of bound particles after gas expulsion, at least if $`t_{\mathrm{exp}}=0`$.

The crosses in Fig. 7, lower panel, show system S1 where the temperature of the whole cloud was increased by a factor of 10 with respect to the equilibrium model. The number of bound stars increases slightly compared to the case with instantaneous gas expulsion. The diamonds in the upper panel show the results for a cloud centrally heated to $`T=152`$ (system S2). Compared to the first model S1, no significant differences are visible. Again, the number of bound stars increases slightly. However, the gas expulsion process in both cases is much faster than the timescales adopted in Sect. 2. Therefore, also in more realistic cases, high SFEs are needed to sustain a bound star cluster.

One way out may be a collapse of the star cluster before the gas is completely expelled, leading to a higher “effective SFE”. Lada et al.  and Verschueren  proposed a low or zero initial velocity dispersion to explain the collaps. Saiyadpour, Deiss & Kegel  considered the effect of dynamical friction on the stellar cluster.

We implement the first approach by setting the initial velocity dispersion of the stars to zero and adopting gas expulsion by heating the whole gas cloud. The cluster virializes within a small radius and only few stars that gain velocities higher than the escape velocity of the cluster are ejected. For a wide SFE range the percentage of bound stars at the end of the simulations is nearly constant and higher than $`80\%`$ (Fig. 7, upper panel, triangles). Even our run with the lowest SFE $`ϵ=0.02`$ leads to a remaining bound system. We conclude that this scenario can easily explain the formation of bound clusters. However, if the gas expulsion is delayed one dynamical time scale or longer, the stars virialize in a smaller volume. We then basically get back to the case of an initially virialized system with a higher local SFE than in the beginning. The system may break up again and the number of bound stars will be less than in the scenario with low velocity dispersion, but higher than in the initially virialized case.

## 4 Conclusions & Outlook

N–body and combined N–body & SPH calculations to investigate the influence of the residual gas expulsion on the stellar part in star forming regions are presented.

We show that in the case of instantaneous gas expulsion, clusters with SFEs greater than $`ϵ=0.45`$ can keep more than 50% of the initial stars. Clusters with SFEs less than $`ϵ=0.40`$ are dissolved. Different concentrations of the initial models show no effect at all on the number of bound stars if the gas is expelled instantaneous.

We confirm that gas expulsion timescales which are several times longer than the crossing time of the GC can decrease the SFE needed to sustain bound clusters considerably.

However, our simulations including the proper dynamics of the residual gas show that in order to destroy the whole cloud by global heating or by supershells the gas expulsion must take place on a short timescale, requiring a high SFE. Only few star forming regions show such high SFEs.

We demonstrate that models with stars having an initial zero velocity dispersion lead to a compaction of the cluster and can explain bound systems even in low SFE regions: For SFEs as low as $`ϵ=0.15`$ more than 80% of the stars stay bound. Bound systems are obtained even with SFEs lower than 10%. For future investigations it is essential to know the velocity dispersion of newly born stars in clusters.

Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Matthew Bate for making available his combined N–body & SPH code. Also thanks to Pavel Kroupa for his very useful comments.


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# A Review Essay: “Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age”, by Patricia Rife

## Abstract

The recently published book, “Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age”, by Patricia Rife (Boston: Birkhäuser, 1999) is reviewed in an essay for the lay audience. Meitner was a leading nuclear physicist at the time that the nucleus was the most exciting frontier of science. To establish her career, she had to overcome daunting prejudices against women in science and academia. Being of Jewish origin in Germany in the 1930’s, she narrowly escaped certain disaster. Meitner was a crucial participant in the discovery of nuclear fission, yet did not share in the Nobel Prize that her collaborator, Otto Hahn, received in 1945. How these events came about, how they were intertwined with contemporary history and how they fit into the evolution of Meitner’s social conscience and her abhorrence of war are some of the fascinating subjects discussed in the book and reviewed in this essay.

Science has contributed immeasurably to the history and character of the twentieth century. Advances in the fundamental understanding of nature raced along at a mindboggling pace. The speedy applications of those advances have led to everything from palm size computers and wireless telephones to microwave ovens and nuclear weapons. Consequently, one of the important extra-scientific questions for any scientist has become “To what extent are you responsible for the applications of your work?” And concomitantly, to what extent should the scientist use his or her expertise and reputation to influence the social uses of their science. We need only think about the many innovations in military technology during the two World Wars to realize how important these questions are. Even the most narrowly focused practitioner of “pure research” can be faced with these questions. Consider Albert Einstein, a pacifist, whose extraordinary insights into the nature of space and time ultimately made possible the building of the A-bomb, the most destructive single weapon ever used in war. He became an outspoken critic of American nuclear policy after the war, and was labeled a “fellow traveler” by some of the cold warriors.

Lise Meitner, a contemporary of Einstein’s, was a remarkable nuclear physicist whose discovery of nuclear fission paved the way for the Manhattan project, although she was unaware of the project itself. She did not share in the credit for that discovery, in any case, having been passed up by the Nobel Prize committee, while her collaborator, Otto Hahn, did receive the prize in 1945. How these circumstances came about, and how they fit into the evolution of her social conscience and her abhorrence of war are some of the fascinating subjects discussed in the biography by Patricia Rife, “Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age”,  here under review.

Lise Meitner’s name was hardly known in recent times, until an earlier biography by Ruth Lewin Sime  appeared in 1996 that reminded readers – interested scientists, primarily – of her importance. Yet, in the aftermath of World War II, Meitner toured the US and was acclaimed “the Mother of the A-bomb” in the popular press (a dubious honor that she shunned). As that war and its memories have faded from public consciousness, so have the names in a long list of scientists and engineers whose work contributed to weapons research in general and the development of the nuclear fission bomb in particular. Certainly, everyone recognizes Albert Einstein, whose role in the dawn of the nuclear age was crucial, although he too had nothing to do with the work of bomb project. He is now Time Magazine’s “Person of the Century” and a logo for consumer products. Ironically, even among the cognoscenti, contemporary scientists for whom Einstein’s work is part of their life’s breath, Meitner’s essential role in nuclear research is hardly known. Nor are the details of her extraordinary life. Her devotion to scientific discovery was realized amidst an interminable struggle against misogyny, anti-Semitism, economic hardship and indifference. Patricia Rife’s biography, which was begun 11 years earlier, further contributes to the understanding of the struggle and achievements of Lise Meitner.

Some of the important milestones discussed by Rife are summarized herein. Lise Meitner was born in 1878 of a middle class Jewish family in Vienna. Early on it was clear that she had special ability in science and mathematics, although it was very difficult for a young woman to obtain a suitable education. She persisted, struggled against an unsympathetic system and managed to be the first woman ever admitted to the physics department at the University of Vienna. Her subsequent career was exceptional. From her twenties through her sixties she pursued the most vexing and interesting puzzles in nuclear and quantum physics. And she unraveled many of those puzzles in her research.

The times and places in which Meitner lived and worked coincided with some of the century’s most important and terrifying events. She was among the first women in Austria and then Germany to be allowed participation in higher education, both as a student, a researcher and finally as a professor. At the time she completed her Ph.D. in Vienna, many of the new discoveries in microscopic physics were being made and discussed. The nature of the quantum world was beginning to be explored, and it was becoming clear that the laws of physics were in need of radical change in order to account for the new phenomena. In 1907, already involved in studies of radioactive material, Lise decided to move to Berlin where Max Planck was leading a group of young physicists and chemists in the first forays into the quantum world. Within a few years some of the leading proponents of the new physics would be there - Einstein, von Baeyer, Franck, Hertz, Stern, von Laue. Lise soon began to collaborate with a young chemist whose interests were similar to hers, Otto Hahn, in a partnership that would last through most of her career. But for many years she was an unpaid participant in the research at the newly constituted Kaiser Wihelm Institute for Chemistry, women not being allowed any official status.

Science is not advanced in a vacuum of course, and Rife fills in the historical context throughout. Although Meitner was incredibly focused on her nuclear studies, she was forced to be aware of the powerful misogyny that dogged her most pointedly in the early part of her career, but continued in many forms throughout her life. The turmoil of war - World War I - and its sweep of scientific talent into weapon making or soldiering amidst injuries and death were a sobering experience. She eventually volunteered, seemingly reluctantly, to aid the Austrian war effort as a nurse on the frontlines. She was asked to use her expertise in x-ray properties to aid the diagnosis of severe battlefield injuries and to train others in the fledgling medical technology. She worked to exhaustion.

These war experiences did not turn her into an overt pacifist, however (in a letter to Hahn she complained about Einstein’s pacifism being out of touch with the reality of the war engulfing Europe), but left her deeply skeptical about political motives for committing lives to furthering grandiose nationalistic goals. She was very unhappy about her peers’ participation in research on poison gas, which was led by the distinguished chemist Fritz Haber. Otto Hahn even took part in one of the raids that used gas on the Allies’ troops, for which Meitner chastised him. In the midst of all this turmoil she longed for the peaceful pursuit of her research, and returned to Berlin hoping for the insanity to “pass over”. It eventually did, but was replaced by the post-war deprivations that made everyday life a struggle. Rife emphasizes the point that Lise developed an expectation that in time political and economic chaos would run their course. The best thing to do in the meantime was to focus on her work. One of the people she admired most in Berlin, Max Planck, who was also a friend and mentor, advocated the attitude of the scientific internationalists, that science transcends politics and nations. It should be pursued for its own sake. Lise, following that philosophy, maintained the work of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry Radiological Studies group as the war came to an end and she continued on as the director of the Physics Section. Her achievements multiplied and her reputation grew among the increasing number of scientists devoted to nuclear research.

Meitner finally had been given an appointment, the first for a woman, in the University of Berlin physics department (a separate and more internationally prestigious institution than the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute) in 1914, but not with a salary commensurate with her status. For many years she had been getting by with help from her family and a stipend for being Planck’s assistant, while working at the Institute. Finally in 1916, at the age of 38, she was given a salary nearly equal to Hahn’s, having been his equal in responsibilities for several years already. As the post-war years were succeeded by the Weimar Republic period, her research progressed unhampered by the forces of political change. But those forces became overwhelming with the collapse of the liberal Weimar government.

The work on nuclear fission, for which Lise Meitner will be remembered most, has a complicated history that is enmeshed with the horrendous policies of Nazi Germany. Clearly presenting the history of the discovery and the ensuing establishment of priority, within the tumultuous events of the times, is a major achievement of the Rife biography. This slice of modern history sharply illustrates how inescapable were the tentacles of fascism, even among the most distinguished scientists. And the permanent dislocation of one individual’s hitherto exemplary and productive life is a microcosm of the disruptions of the time. What is fascinating from the perspective of the history of science, is how inextricably connected are the demands of politics and the military with the directions taken by scientific research. Once fission was identified by Meitner and colleagues, an international race was underway to exploit its military potential. To summarize the intertwined issues that Rife disentangles is difficult, but essential for appreciating the complexity of the task Rife has undertaken.

To set the stage, in 1933 Meitner’s professorship at the university was revoked by the Nazi directorship, to her great shock. Nevertheless, she managed to remain at her beloved Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry for five more years during the continuing rise of the fascists and the imposition of their anti-Jewish laws. At the same time as the revocation, Planck, Heisenberg and von Laue nominated Meitner and Hahn for the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work in radiochemistry. These nominations were repeated over many years. It was hoped that as a side benefit, a Nobel Prize would ease the plight of the non-Aryan Meitner and legitimize her remaining in her research position at the Institute, but to no avail for her. Relying naively on her experience during World War I, Lise tried to “hold center”, continuing with her work, while political chaos and the deplorable attitudes of many new colleagues (already by 1933 half of the institute staff were Nazi party members) began to engulf her and her colleagues. In protest to the dismissal of Jews from the university, Hahn resigned his university position (but not his institute position, which was more significant as the university lapsed into fascist polemics). However, Planck withdrew from the fray after an initial protest to Hitler over the dismissal of Fritz Haber from the directorship of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry. Other scientists in Lise’s circle advised avoiding direct confrontation with the Nazis. Rife emphasizes that Otto Hahn’s choice of “compromise rather than righteous indignation”(p.124 in ) was symptomatic of many educated German’s unwillingness to confront the Nazi hierarchy.

Rife next carefully reconstructs the chronology of the nuclear research. While getting the facts straight, Rife is quite terse with the important scientific developments. A more readable and conventional account of the science, without the detailed chronology of Meitner’s contribution, can be found in the excellent book, “The Making of the Atomic Bomb”, by Rhodes . The essentials follow.

In 1934, in the midst of the very threatening political environment throughout Europe, Enrico Fermi and his research group in Rome initiated a new line of nuclear investigations in which neutrons were used to bombard a variety of different nuclei and the byproducts of the interactions were studied. The transmutation of the elements was underway. Lise and Otto Hahn resumed their collaboration after a hiatus of 12 years in order to combine their skills in pursuing this new and promising approach. Their “Berlin Group”, which added Fritz Strassmann, was immediately a major contributor to the burgeoning research area, competing with Fermi’s group and the “Paris Group” of Irene Curie and colleagues, along with several newly constituted US teams. The early results of the Berlin group suggested to Meitner that “transuranic elements”, artificially created nuclei heavier than the naturally occurring heaviest element uranium, were sometimes produced when neutrons hit heavy nuclei. By observing the beta radiation from the radioactive nuclear byproducts, Meitner was able to identify many of those nuclei. Hahn and Strassmann, both chemists, did the chemical analyses of the same byproducts. But there were some puzzling discrepancies with the results of the Curie experiments. Thinking that they were observing transuranic nuclei, Meitner couldn’t accept that the French were finding a lighter element, lanthanum, among the nuclei. Furthermore, issues of priority developed with Curie’s group concerning the transuranics. These were very exciting times for science. A new area of exploration, the physics of the nucleus, was yielding new discoveries at a rapid rate and attracting considerable attention. Competition was keen; major discoveries were imminent. There are few periods in the history of modern physics and chemistry that were as heated. Hahn and Meitner planned a series of experiments to probe further into the byproducts that result when uranium is the bombarded nucleus. But these experiments were slowed and interrupted by the events of 1938, as Rife describes.

The Anschluss, the German takeover of Austria in March 1938, put all Austrians under the German laws and Lise Meitner was classified as a Jew. Rife doesn’t note that Meitner had actually converted to Protestantism in her 20’s (Sime discussed this in her book ), although this was irrelevant for the “racial” distinctions that the Nazis made. It was clear to Meitner and her friends, inside and outside of Germany, that she had to leave as soon as possible; “holding center” was no longer viable. Hahn’s efforts to allow her to maintain her position at the Institute were half-hearted and ineffectual. She was quite angry with him for not speaking out more forcefully on her behalf.

The subsequent fits and starts arranging Meitner’s escape constitute an adventure story that Rife tells well. In brief, Lise managed, with no proper exit visa, but with extraordinary help from the Dutch physicists Coster and Fokker, to get to the Netherlands, where she remained a short time before going to Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen and then Stockholm, Sweden. Sweden offered her a modest position in a newly constituted institute for nuclear research. Unfortunately the head, Nobel Laureate Manne Siegbahn, was never very interested in Meitner’s work and allowed her only quite inadequate facilities. The Sime book  is quite damning of Siegbahn’s possible motivation for so ignoring Lise’s research needs, while Rife puts more emphasis on his preoccupation with building big machines. In any case, Meitner’s research in Sweden was hampered by inadequate equipment and lack of assistants. She was quite frustrated and probably quite depressed, missing her beloved physics research, the Berlin institute, colleagues, friends and even her native German language.

So from July through September 1938 Meitner could do no research, but Hahn and Strassmann continued the project in Berlin to determine the byproducts from the bombardment of uranium by neutrons. Hahn frequently wrote to Meitner about their progress and asked for her advice and interpretation. On Dec. 16 Hahn and Strassmann, by careful measurements, had convinced themselves that one of the byproducts was definitely barium, an element of slightly more than half the mass of the uranium. Hahn wrote Lise asking her to interpret this puzzling result, realizing that this could not be the signature of one of the transuranics. Reluctant to give up the transuranic idea, Lise first tried to find some loophole in the results. While letters were being exchanged, Hahn wrote the article about the work without consulting Strassmann and without Meitner’s name as a co-author. In the meantime Lise spent the Christmas holiday period in western Sweden with friends and her nephew, the young, recently emigrated physicist Otto Frisch. The two, aunt and nephew, pondered the meaning of the barium results and, during a walk in the forest, had a breakthrough in understanding. Frisch recalled later that, in classic fashion, Lise sat down by a tree and started doing rough calculations on a scrap of paper. They had realized that the barium was appearing as a result of the uranium actually splitting into smaller nuclei after being struck by a neutron. And the amount of energy released was just what Einstein’s famous formula, E = mc2, predicted. Fission was discovered!

It is difficult to imagine the emotional turmoil Meitner experienced in that short time from the urgent arrangements being made for her escape from Germany in April 1938 to the quiet Christmas holiday in western Sweden. She had been engaged in some of the most exciting research of her career, while trying to keep the terrifying external situation for non-Aryans away from consciousness. Then in March she was forced to confront the fact that her life was in grave danger. The time for legally obtaining an exit visa had passed. The escape plans were fraught with dangerous uncertainty. She survived the fearful anxiety of crossing the border to safety, only to encounter further uncertainty about her livelihood in foreign lands. What distinguishes these emotional upheavals from so many other refugees’ experiences is the wrenching removal from her life’s work, work that was on a threshold of momentous discovery. She then had to endure reading Hahn’s letters about the continuation of that research, while she was unable to do any work herself - she was experimentally mute. But then, when she and Frisch explained the experimental results in terms of fission, a term they invented, she was at the height of scientific creativity again. And at the age of 60, this creative insight was quite remarkable. Nevertheless, Lise was again in the doldrums after the holiday when she returned to the isolation of the primitive lab she had been assembling in Stockholm. Surely she had to have been depressed, as Rife surmises. A superhuman fortitude sustained her through the war years; she managed to do some interesting research in spite of the obstacles.

After Lise wrote Hahn about the physical meaning of the experimental results, she and Frisch composed an article whose submission and publication were quite slow. Long before the article appeared in print a remarkable set of circumstances, involving Niels Bohr, brought the news of fission to the US and a race to study the fission process was underway. Meitner was out of the loop from then until the end of World War II. Her experiments conducted in that period were no longer at the cutting edge. The real developments of nuclear fission became part of the secret rush to build a nuclear bomb by the US, Germany and later, the Soviet Union.

There are many questions raised by this history of fission’s discovery. Why was Meitner not included as a co-author on Hahn and Strassmann’s paper? Rife doesn’t consider this point, but the fact that Meitner had been an active partner in this particular research until her escape in July reasonably should have led to her inclusion on the paper. Sime’s book  speculated that it might have been dangerous for Hahn to include this recently escaped non-Aryan as a co-author. Most of the scientists involved in this line of research knew that Meitner had been an equal partner in the work anyway. Unfortunately, though, after the war Hahn continued to downplay Meitner’s role in the research as Rife shows. During the war “He refused to take a stand on the politics in and out of his institute: the Third Reich was blinding Hahn and he began to discount Meitner’s insights and contributions he had frantically sought out months earlier. We witness here appeasement, professional cowardice, and worse.” (p.213). Perhaps Hahn’s initial lapse is understandable given that the groundbreaking paper may have been rejected by the editor or some other authorities for political reasons, although Hahn knew the editor personally. More likely, he would have had to stand up to the Nazi directorship of the Institute and the official scientific establishment, thereby jeopardizing his position. And when he finally received recognition for the paper and the acclaim from his German colleagues that followed, he was not about to share credit with Meitner. There is no question that his behavior was scurrilous. He must have constructed a torturous self-justification to assuage his guilt for deserting his decades long collaborator and friend. He never adequately acknowledged her essential role in the discovery, even long after he was awarded the Nobel Prize and was a leading figure in post-war German science.

Another important element of the discovery of nuclear fission, for historians of science, is how Meitner and Hahn were able to accept the error in their previous thinking about their transmutation research. Rife notes that both shared an initial unwillingness to abandon their interpretation of their previous neutron bombardment work. Here was an archetypal struggle at the beginning of a paradigm shift  or creative leap. Hahn remained unsure of his experimental results for a while, but once Meitner, with Frisch, realized they had seen fission in the data, everything fell into place.

The war years were difficult for Meitner for many reasons. The news of horrendous destruction and turmoil was depressing. She helped friends fleeing Nazi persecution. She kept in touch with family and was able to communicate with some of her Berlin colleagues, but must have felt quite helpless in the sweep of events. Her nephew Frisch had managed to get a position in Birmingham, England and was continuing to experiment with fission. In collaboration with another German-Jewish mmigrant, Rudolph Peierls, he figured out how the fission of a rare isotope of uranium (U235) could be used to initiate a “chain reaction” and create a “super bomb” of enormous power. The secret Frisch-Peierls memorandum  became the impetus for the start of the Manhattan Project. Unbeknownst to Lise, her nephew, Peierls and other physicists working in Britain (including Klaus Fuchs) were sent off to Los Alamos, New Mexico to contribute to the making of the bomb. Had she been given the opportunity to participate in that war work, there is little doubt that Meitner would have declined, as her previous history suggests. In a separate discussion, Rife makes the interesting point that the scale of scientific research would never be the same after the “big science” projects became the rule with the infusion of large government budgets into scientifically innovative weapons development. Siegbahn’s institute in Stockholm had become an example of big science that left Meitner out in the cold (although not directed toward weapons work).

When the war in Europe ended, Meitner was horrified to learn about the deaths and deprivations of the millions of victims of the Nazi concentration camps. She could not forgive her German colleagues for their lack of active opposition to the regime. Rife quotes a remarkable letter to Hahn (that he never received) in which Meitner excoriates her old friend and research partner: “All of you lost your standards of justice and fairness. … All of you also worked for Nazi Germany, and never even attempted passive resistance. Of course, to save your troubled conscience, you occasionally helped an oppressed person; still, you let millions of innocent people be murdered, and there was never a sound of protest.”(p.249). Later she singles out Heisenberg, “They should force a man like Heisenberg, and millions of others with him, to see these camps and the tortured people.”(p.250). Heisenberg had come to Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen in 1941 and had delivered a lecture full of propaganda for the regime that had infuriated Meitner. If there remain any doubts about Heisenberg’s lack of scruples about his leading Nazi nuclear bomb research, Lise would not have shared them.

Bohr’s efforts to assure the establishment of Lise’s priority for the interpretation of fission were not significant enough to prevent the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry from being awarded (in 1945, after the War) to Otto Hahn exclusively for the discovery of nuclear fission. “Lise Meitner keenly felt the injustice of the situation, as did many of her colleagues”, Rife recounts (p.258). In his Nobel address to the Royal Academy of Sciences, with Lise present, Hahn gives credit to Meitner and Frisch for interpreting his and Strassmann’s results. Nevertheless, Hahn did not, in turn, nominate her for the prize once he was on the nominating committee. He gave her part of the monetary award, though, which she then sent on to an Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists chaired by Einstein in Princeton.

At war’s end Lise received unexpected attention from the press. She was sought out after the atomic bombing of Japan. Called the “mother of the A-bomb”, she quite forcefully tried to make it clear that she was completely removed from any weapon research. Rife quotes a friend of hers who recalls that when Lise first heard about Hiroshima, there were “tears \- shock - and then silence”(p.252). With the attention came some welcome invitations for her to visit the US. She was asked to give lectures at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and was a guest of honor at the Women’s National Press Club. She traveled to many universities giving lectures and being honored. She spoke more and more about the importance of encouraging women to enter higher education and scientific research. She also found herself among a growing number of scientists who were profoundly worried about the nuclear Pandora’s box that had been opened.

Just days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Lise Meitner took part in a radio interview conducted by Eleanor Roosevelt in which she said: “Women have a great responsibility and they are obliged to try, so far as they can, to prevent another war. I hope that the construction of the atom bomb not only will help to finish this awful war, but that we will be able to also use this great energy that has been released for peaceful work.”(p.253). Here she is expressing the attitudes that defined the early post-war anti-nuclear movement among the atomic scientists. It has to be said that history shows, however, that it is doubtful that the atom bomb helped to finish the war or made it less awful . And the hope that atomic energy should be harnessed for peaceful work has been quixotic, due to the enduring safety problems of nuclear reactors. Nonetheless, her words were quite courageous at that time. The plea to women is certainly heartfelt, given her own history. Lise felt that even she had abdicated her moral responsibility by staying in Germany as long as she had, in spite of the personal danger, because her work gave legitimacy to the regime. She urged women and scientists to be more aware of the moral consequences of events around them.

Meitner spent the post-war years traveling, giving lectures, advocating arms control and the equal participation of women in science. She wanted to share the lessons that she learned in a lifetime of struggle against the ravages of war and the prejudices toward women and Jews. She lived an active and dedicated life to the age of 89.

Although Rife gives us a thorough accounting of the facts of Meitner’s life, and indicates the concerns she had for family and friends throughout, there is a missing personal connection. For most of Lise’s years she lived alone, but enjoyed the company of friends. Did she consciously decide to have no intimate romantic relationships? Did the battle to be accepted in a man’s world preclude forming such attachments? Or have the biographers missed something? Did physics and her recreations \- listening to music and walking - fill her time? We can only infer that she was depressed at particular times when circumstances were quite difficult. What is the core of her personality? Lise was modest and very shy in public, yet unstoppably competitive and tenacious in her work. She published papers at a high rate, even by today’s standards (when the competition for jobs and advancement is unpleasantly keen). Was this her strategy to overcome the prejudices against women in science? Eventually, with all of her achievements, she was accepted by the mostly male community of nuclear scientists. Though she was never given the same level of recognition and reward as her collaborator Hahn, Lise Meitner’s single-minded dedication to physics while faced with a myriad of obstacles is proof of an extraordinary person. And with such extraordinary people we want to know how they came to be. We are ultimately left to theorize for ourselves, but Rife has given us much of the data we need in a well written, thorough, readable and engrossing work. The book is clearly a paean to a great woman scientist.


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# Competition of charge, orbital, and ferromagnetic correlations in layered manganites

## Abstract

The competition of charge, orbital, and ferromagnetic interactions in layered manganites is investigated by magneto-Raman scattering spectroscopy. We find that the colossal magnetoresistance effect in the layered compounds results from the interplay of the orbital and ferromagnetic double-exchange correlations. Inelastic scattering by charge-order fluctuations dominates the quasiparticle dynamics in the ferromagnetic-metal state. The scattering is suppressed at low frequencies, consistent with the opening of a charge-density wave pseudogap.

Quantum criticality, driven by competing electronic ground states, can lead to dramatic tunability of the physical properties of strongly-correlated condensed-matter systems . A current case of great interest is the role of collective excitations in the phenomenon of “colossal” magnetoresistance (CMR) in manganites. These excitations represent the various interactions involving the electrons in the Mn d orbitals . Charge ordering (CO), where the Mn3+/Mn4+ ions form an ordered sublattice, occurs because the large on-site Coulomb repulsion forbids the double-occupancy of the eg orbitals. Orbital ordering (OO) of the Mn3+ eg electron orbitals results from a cooperative Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion induced by electron-phonon interactions. Antiferromagnetism is associated with the superexchange coupling of the t2g electron spins. The ferromagnetic-metal (FM) ground state is attributed to Mn3+—O—Mn4+ double-exchange, a consequence of strong Hund’s coupling in which parallel spin alignment favors electron hopping between neighboring Mn atoms. The CMR effect is observed in ferromagnetic metals as a large decrease in their electrical resistance near the Curie temperature ($`T_C`$) upon application of a magnetic field ($`H`$) . There is a growing realization that the interplay of these collective excitations is responsible for the sensitivity of this phenomenon to external perturbations .

A preponderance of evidence points to the coexistence of the different electronic phases in the pseudocubic manganites. Thermopower measurements have shown that the entropy for $`TT_C`$ is smaller than that of an uncorrelated insulator . This agrees with a recent x-ray diffuse scattering study  that finds the JT polarons in the paramagnetic state are correlated. The observation of Mn3+/Mn4+ striped phases  suggests that the correlation is related to charge and orbital ordering. Charge-order insulator compounds exhibit a transition to the FM phase above an $`H`$ that is small compared to the charge ordering transition temperature ($`T_{co}`$) i.e., $`g\mu _BHk_BT_{co}`$ , indicating a small free energy separates these two ground states. This could lead to charge ordering persisting with the ferromagnetic double-exchange correlations below $`T_C`$. Evidence for such coexistence was reported in earlier infrared studies  which estimate the itinerant carrier effective mass as $`m^{}/m_e13`$  or $`80`$ . These are anomalously much larger than $`m^{}2.5m_e`$, the value from specific heat . Within the charge ordering scenario, the difference can be reconciled by a charge-density wave opening a partial gap at the Fermi level (EF) below $`T_C`$, suppressing both the Drude spectral weight and the density of states at EF. Consequently, the optical mass increases while the specific heat mass decreases. However, a recent work  has shown that the Drude weights were significantly underestimated in the bulk optical studies . Measurements on thin films of optimally doped compounds yielded $`m^{}/m_e34`$, comparable to the specific heat mass . This result rules out the presence of strong charge-order correlations in the FM state of the pseudocubic compounds .

In this work, we investigate the competition of the collective ground state excitations in the layered manganites. The effects of competing ground states should be more pronounced in these two-dimensional (2D) systems since the propensity towards a quantum critical point is exacerbated in lower dimensions . Indeed, the CMR effect is enhanced in the quasi-2D manganites . We demonstrate that the CMR phenomenon in these compounds results from the interplay of orbital and ferromagnetic double-exchange correlations. In contrast with the pseudocubic materials, we find evidence in the layered manganites for an unusual quasiparticle dynamics in the FM state arising from strong inelastic scattering by charge-order fluctuations.

Our investigation was carried out on single-crystals of the double-layer manganites $`R_{22x}`$Sr1+2xMn2O7 with the cations $`R=`$ La or Nd and for doping $`x=0.4`$ or $`0.5`$. These crystals consist of MnO2 bilayers separated by insulating ($`R`$,Sr)2O2 sheets, a quasi-2D structure responsible for their anisotropic transport and magnetic properties . LaSr2Mn2O7 is an antiferromagnetic insulator which undergoes charge and orbital ordering below $`T_{co}210`$ K . Electron diffraction  provides evidence for real-space checkerboard pattern of Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions and coherent JT displacement of the O atoms within the MnO2 planes. In NdSr2Mn2O7, this ordered state is suppressed because the substitution of La by the larger Nd cation results in a chemical pressure that relaxes the in-plane JT distortions . La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 exhibits CMR behavior near $`T_C120`$ K  associated with the paramagnetic-insulator to ferromagnetic-metal transition. Raman spectroscopy was conducted over the temperatures $`T=`$ 5 K to 350 K and magnetic-fields $`H=`$ 0 T to 7.5 T in a back-scattering geometry using a triple-grating spectrometer with a liquid-nitrogen cooled CCD detector and the 514.5 nm Ar+ laser-line as excitation. Charge and orbital correlations are probed via the optical phonons activated by the lowered symmetry due to the ordering within the MnO2 layers. Polarized Raman scattering was used to identify the phonon symmetries. For the double-layer manganites, the following scattering geometries extract the dominant $`A_{1g}`$ and $`B_{1g}`$ modes of the $`D_{4h}`$ point-group: $`zzA_{1g}`$, $`x^{}x^{}A_{1g}+B_{2g}`$, $`x^{}y^{}`$ $`B_{1g}+A_{2g}`$ where the notation êiês refers to the polarization of the incident and scattered light and $`z`$ is parallel to the $`c`$-axis while $`x^{}`$ and $`y^{}`$ are along the Mn—O bonds in the MnO2 plane. Quasiparticle dynamics is inferred from electronic Raman scattering.

In the uniform state ($`T>T_{co}`$), shown in Fig. 1A for $`T=296`$ K, LaSr2Mn2O7 reveals only the phonons of its tetragonal crystal structure. This structure has $`I4/mmm`$ ($`D_{4h}^{17}`$) symmetry for which we expect $`4A_{1g}+B_{1g}+5E_g`$ Raman-active normal modes. As predicted, there are four peaks at 180 cm-1, 250 cm-1, 460 cm-1 and 570 cm-1 in the $`x^{}x^{}`$ and $`zz`$ spectra corresponding to the $`A_{1g}`$ modes and one at 325 cm-1 in the $`x^{}y^{}`$ for the only allowed $`B_{1g}`$ mode. To determine the dominant atomic vibration in these modes, we invoke the four-fold and two-fold rotational symmetry of the $`A_{1g}`$ and $`B_{1g}`$ modes, respectively. The four-fold axially symmetric c-axis vibrations of the (La,Sr), Mn, and apical Oc atoms along the tetragonal axis are respectively assigned to the three $`A_{1g}`$ phonons at 180 cm-1, 250 cm-1, and 570 cm-1. The in-plane Oab atoms have two Raman-active vibrations along the c-axis, a four-fold symmetric in-phase motion attributed to the remaining $`A_{1g}`$ mode at 460 cm-1 and a two-fold symmetric out-of-phase motion comprising the $`B_{1g}`$ phonon at 325 cm-1.

In the charge-ordered state ($`T<T_{co}`$), new peaks marked by the arrows in Fig. 1B for $`T=5`$ K emerge in the $`x^{}x^{}`$ and $`x^{}y^{}`$ spectra but not in $`zz`$. Fig. 1C highlights the absence of these features in NdSr2Mn2O7 in which the ordering is quenched by the La to Nd cation substitution. From these results, we conclude that the new modes are activated by the lowered symmetry within the MnO2 layers in LaSr2Mn2O7.

In Fig. 1B, the peak at 250 cm-1 in $`x^{}y^{}`$ (dashed arrow) is a CO activated Mn phonon. Above $`T_{co}`$, the uniform Mn charge distribution in the Mn3.5+—Oab—Mn3.5+ bonds precludes observing this mode. Below $`T_{co}`$, the ordered Mn sublattice breaks this symmetry. In this case, the Mn atom vibration modulates the Mn3+—Oab—Mn4+ bond polarizability leading to the observed Raman-activity. The anomalous $`B_{1g}`$ character of this new Mn mode reflects the two-fold symmetric checkerboard Mn3+/Mn4+ pattern in the CO state.

The remaining new modes (solid arrows) in Fig. 1B are the phononic signatures of orbital ordering. The concomitant cooperative JT distortion of such ordering induces the peaks at 520 cm-1 and 636 cm-1 in $`x^{}x^{}`$ and at 522 cm-1 and 694 cm-1 in $`x^{}y^{}`$. Recently, Yamamoto etal.  assigned these modes to breathing and JT vibrations of the Oab atoms. The evidence for $`e_g`$ orbital ordering is presented in Fig. 2. It is suggested by the appearance of weak overtones at twice the frequency of the JT phonons in the OO ground state of pseudocubic LaMnO3, double-layer LaSr2Mn2O7 and single-layer La1/2Sr3/2MnO4. Multiphonon scattering due to anharmonicities is ruled out since the two-phonon peaks do not correlate with the strongest phonons observed in these compounds (for instance, the 2$`\omega _o`$ peak is absent in the $`zz`$ spectrum of LaSr2Mn2O7 in Fig. 1B and it does not correspond to the strong peak at 495 cm-1 in LaMnO3 in Fig. 2). Fig. 2 inset depicts a resonance Raman mechanism adapted from the recent work of Allen and Perebeinos  on LaMnO3. The lower parabola represents the OO ground state configuration while the upper parabola is the lowest lying excited state of a self-trap exciton ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_{JT}`$) that results from an orbital flip followed by lattice relaxation via a JT distortion (QJT) of the Oab atoms. The self-localized nature of these electronic states leads to Franck-Condon vibrational sidebands. An electron excited by an incident photon with $`\mathrm{}\omega =2\mathrm{\Delta }_{JT}`$ can relax to the various ground state vibrational levels accounting for the multiphonon features in our Raman spectra. The relative intensity, $`I(2\omega _o)/I(\omega _o)`$, of the Franck-Condon peaks is smaller in La1/2Sr3/2MnO4 and LaSr2Mn2O7 ( $`1/8`$ ) than in LaMnO3 ( $`1/2`$ ). This is explained by noting that in LaMnO3, with only Mn3+ ions, the large on-site Coulomb repulsion suppresses hopping making the electron-phonon interaction effective in self-trapping the eg electron . This condition is alleviated in the half-filled layered manganites due to the presence of Mn4+ sites resulting in the reduced $`2\omega _o`$ peak.

In previous works, the magnetic field-induced melting of the charge-order ground state was inferred only indirectly from the observation of an antiferromagnetic-insulator to ferromagnetic-metal transition in transport and magnetization studies . Direct structural evidence for this effect is given in Fig. 1B showing the suppression of the CO and OO features in LaSr2Mn2O7 when $`H=7`$ T is applied. Further insight into the origin of the suppression is gained from our findings in the CMR compound La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7.

The phononic signatures of the charge-ordered state are also observed in La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7. In the $`xx`$ ($`A_{1g}+B_{1g}`$) spectra in Fig. 3, the CO induced Mn peak is at 240 cm-1 while the OO activated Oab phonons are at 514 cm-1 and 623 cm-1. These peaks are progressively quenched either by lowering $`T`$ below $`T_C`$ (Fig. 3A) or by raising $`H`$ (Figs. 3 B and C), proof that the melting of the charge-order ground state is driven by the ferromagnetic alignment of the Mn spins. The dynamics of the competition of charge, orbital, and ferromagnetic correlations in La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 is illustrated in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4A, charge ordering sets in near $`T270`$ K and grows on lowering $`T`$ peaking below $`T_C`$ at $`T100`$ K for $`H=0`$ T. In contrast, Fig. 4B shows that orbital coherence exists in the entire paramagnetic-insulating state attaining a maximum just above $`T_C`$ at $`T130`$ K. With $`H=7.5`$ T, both charge and orbital correlations drop precipituously near $`T_C`$. The $`T`$ and $`H`$ behaviors of the orbital correlations are similar to that of the short-range polaron correlations manifested in the diffuse x-ray and neutron scattering in La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 . The correspondence between these behaviors and the paramagnetic-insulator to ferromagnetic-metal transition in La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 is evidence that competing orbital and ferromagnetic double-exchange interactions around $`T_C`$ is responsible for the CMR phenomenon in manganites. On the other hand, the presence of the Mn peak below $`T_C`$ seen in Fig. 4A indicates that charge correlations persist against the ferromagnetic instability. An additional support for this conjecture is our observation in Fig. 3 of an electronic Raman continuum below $`T_C`$.

Electronic Raman scattering can arise from charge-density fluctuations. This is expressed in terms of an electronic polarizability, $`\chi (\omega ,T)`$, which is obtained from the Raman scattering intensity $`I(\omega ,T)`$ using the relation $`I(\omega ,T)Im\chi (\omega ,T)/[1\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{}\omega /k_BT)]`$. Fig. 3 shows typical $`Im\chi (\omega ,T)`$ derived from our measured spectra. Just below $`T_C`$, $`Im\chi (\omega ,T)`$ is seen as a nearly flat background continuum. For $`TT_C`$ (Fig. 3A) or upon raising $`H`$ at $`TT_C`$ (Fig. 3B and C), $`Im\chi (\omega ,T)`$ is suppressed below $`\omega 300`$ cm-1. While the pseudocubic manganites manifest a similar featureless $`Im\chi (\omega ,T)`$ in the FM state, the low-frequency suppression is not observed . This difference is attributed to an effect of the lower dimensionality in the layered compounds. It signals a strong inelastic scattering by persistent CO fluctuations that develop into a collective charge-density wave excitation below $`T_C`$. This picture is also suggested by other studies. Optical conductivity  betrays a small Drude contribution implying an optical mass that is much larger than that derived by a specific heat study . These are indicative of a charge-density wave pseudogap opening at EF, in accord with the severe depression of the quasiparticle states at EF revealed by an angle-resolved photoemission study  and suggested by the re-entrant insulating state below $`T50`$ K invariably seen in transport measurements . It is interesting to note that the latter temperature is comparable to the onset frequency where $`Im\chi (\omega ,T)`$ is suppressed.

In conclusion, competing collective groundstate excitations is a ubiquituous phenomenon in the manganites whose understanding is crucial in unraveling the wide tunability of their physical properties. Our observation of an unusual quasiparticle dynamics below $`T_C`$ in La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 is reminiscent of the unconventional behavior of the normal state of high-temperature superconducting cuprates , suggesting that the FM ground state in the layered manganites is another example of a non-Fermi liquid.

We acknowledge A.J. Millis for elucidating the importance of charge ordering in the CMR manganites and P.B. Allen for pointing out the Franck-Condon model of the orbital excitations. We thank Dr. R.V. Datla of NIST-Optical Technology for his support of this work. JFM acknowledges the U.S. DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences - Materials Sciences Division, under Contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38.


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# Untitled Document

METHOD OF LASER-RADIATION GUIDING IN PLASMA Arsen G. Khachatryan

Yerevan Physics Institute, Alikhanian Brothers Street 2,  Yerevan 375036, Armenia

> The diffraction broadening of the intense laser radiation restricts its efficient use in many applications. Proposed in the present work is a method for laser radiation guiding in a density channel formed in plasma by a relativistic electron beam. The conditions and parameters of the relativistic beam ensuring the guiding by means of the proposed method have been examined.

PACS number(s): 52.40.Mj, 52.40.Nk

The progress in the technology of high-intensity lasers opens new opportunities for use of lasers in many branches of science and industry. Last years the chirped-pulse amplification technique  permitted the production of subpicosecond laser pulses of multiterrawatt power with peak intensity up to 10$`{}_{}{}^{19}W/cm^2`$ . With intensities as such we practically have to do with a new interaction range of laser radiation with matter, where the role played by the nonlinear effects is often essential. At present the interactions of high-power laser radiation with plasma are actively investigated in connection with different applications: the excitation of strong plasma wake waves for acceleration of charged particles with acceleration rates to tens of $`GeV/m`$ ; generation, due to nonlinear interaction with plasma, of radiation at harmonics of carrier laser frequency ; the “photon acceleration” ; X-ray sources  etc. Note also such application ranges of laser radiation as the Compton scattering, laser cooling of charged particle beams, the inertial fusion.

The diffraction broadening of laser radiation is one of the principal phenomena (and frequently the primary phenomenon) inhibiting the effective use of the energy of laser in many applications. In vacuum, the laser spot size $`r_s`$ grows with the longitudinal coordinate according to the formula $`r_s=r_0(1+z^2/Z_R^2)^{1/2}`$ , where $`Z_R=\pi r_0^2/\lambda `$ is the Rayleigh length, $`r_0`$ is the minimum spot size at the focal point and $`\lambda `$ is the laser wavelength. Owing to that, the intensity of radiation quickly decreases as the laser beam propagates. For high-intensity laser pulses the value of $`Z_R`$ is usually of the order of several millimeters. For instance, in the Laser Wakefield Accelerator (LWFA) scheme the increment in the energy of electrons accelerated by the longitudinal field of wake wave, excited by a short laser pulse in plasma, is limited by the value $`e\pi Z_RE_z`$ , where $`E_z`$ is the amplitude of accelerating electric field of the plasma wave, $`e`$ is the charge of electron. Thus, without optical guiding the diffraction limits the laser-matter interaction distance to a few Rayleigh length.

In a medium, in particular, in plasma, if the index of refraction is maximum at the axis of laser beam and decreases in the radial direction to its periphery, one can eliminate or slow down the process of diffraction broadening of laser radiation (see review in Ref.  and numerous references therein). For the laser radiation with power $`P>P_c=2c(e/r_e)^2[\omega /\omega _{pe}(r=0)]^217[\omega /\omega _{pe}(r=0)]^2GW`$, where $`r_e=e^2/m_ec^2`$ is the classical electron radius, $`\omega `$ is the frequency of laser radiation, $`\omega _{pe}`$ is the plasma frequency, there takes place a relativistic self-focusing. However, for short pulses with the length $`l\pi c/\omega _{pe}`$, the relativistic self-focusing proves inefficient for prevention of diffraction broadening . In the experiments the plasma channel is usually formed in the gas or plasma by a laser pulse that, in its turn, is also subject to diffraction. E.g., the parabolic plasma density profile $`n_p=n_0+\mathrm{\Delta }nr^2/r_0^2`$ may provide the guiding of low-intensity \[$`a_0^2=(eE_0/m_ec\omega )^21`$, where $`E_0`$ is the amplitude of laser radiation\] Gaussian laser beam if $`\mathrm{\Delta }n\mathrm{\Delta }n_c=1/\pi r_er_0^2=1.13\times 10^{20}/r_0^2[\mu m]`$ $`cm^3`$ . The guiding of laser radiation in the preformed plasma density channel at distances from several millimeters to 1-3 $`cm`$ has been demonstrated by different groups of researchers. In the present work for formation of a plasma channel we propose to use a long relativistic electron beam (REB). REB may traverse, without any essential changes in parameters, the distances in plasma that are much longer than the Rayleigh length of high-intensity laser pulses. The main advantage of the proposed method consists, hence, in the fact that REB can form a plasma channel with lengths much exceeding those obtained in the experiments under survey. So, the method in question could provide longer-term interaction of high-intensity laser radiation with plasma, as well as with relativistic electrons.

Consider the propagation of a cylindrical electron beam with velocity $`𝐯_0=𝐞_zv_0`$ in cold homogeneous plasma. From the Poisson equation, the equation of motion and the continuity equation for plasma electrons (the plasma ions are taken to be immobile due to their large mass) we have:

$$\frac{^2\delta n_e}{t^2}+\omega _{pe}^2(\delta n_e+n_b)=0,$$
(1)
where $`\delta n_e=n_en_0`$, $`n_e`$ is the density of plasma electrons, $`n_0`$ is their equilibrium density, $`n_b`$ is the density of electrons in the beam, $`\omega _{pe}=(4\pi n_0e^2/m_e)^{1/2}`$ is the plasma frequency. In case of long beam with the length much exceeding the plasma wavelength $`\lambda _p=2\pi v_0/\omega _{pe}`$, and density $`n_b=n_b(r)`$, one can omit the first term in Eq. (1). Then one has

$$n_e(r)=n_0n_b(r).$$
(2)
The plasma electrons are blown out of the beam and a density profile (2) is established. Though Eq. (1) was obtained for the linear case when $`n_bn_0`$, the expression (2) holds true also for $`n_bn_0`$. So, for a function $`n_b(r)`$ decreasing as $`r`$ we have a plasma electron density channel. At the same time, the summary density of electrons is constant, $`n_e+n_b=n_0=const`$, and is equal to the density of ions, and, therefore, the force acting on the ions of plasma is zero. In this paper we shall show that in spite of the summary density of electrons during the traversal of long electron beam through plasma is constant, the guiding of laser radiation in this case is possible. The problem of the formation of plasma channel and the stability of electron beam will be discussed below.

For consideration of the problem of laser radiation guiding in the plasma density channel with density (2), first examine the dispersion properties of electromagnetic (EM) waves in the channel. From the Maxwell equations one can has for the electric field strength of EM wave

$$rotrot𝐄=(𝐄)\mathrm{\Delta }𝐄=c^2(^2𝐄/t^2+4\pi 𝐣/t),$$
(3)
where $`𝐣=e(n_e𝐯_e+n_b𝐯_b)`$ is the density of current, $`𝐯_e`$, $`𝐯_b`$ are the velocities of plasma electrons and beam respectively. For a linearly polarized wave, $`𝐄=𝐞_xE_x=𝐞_xE_0\mathrm{exp}[i(\omega tkz)]`$, $`𝐁=𝐞_y(ck/\omega )E_x`$, where $`𝐁`$ is the vector of magnetic induction, we obtain from (3)

$$(k^2c^2\omega ^2)E_x=4\pi e[n_e(r)v_{ex}/t+n_b(r)v_{bx}/t].$$
(4)
On obtaining the expression (4) we assumed that the response of plasma channel to the propagation of the laser radiation is linear, hence the change of $`n_e`$ and $`n_b`$ under action of EM wave is negligible (that is, nonlinear terms $`v_{ex}n_e/t`$ and $`v_{bx}n_b/t`$ are threw away). This takes place when $`a_0^2=(eE_0/m_ec\omega )^21`$ . To be exact, in our case Eq. (4) is valid if the change in the density of plasma electrons under the action of EM wave, that is proportional to $`a_0^2`$, is much less than the change of density under the action of electron beam, i. e. , $`a_0^2n_b/n_0`$. The derivatives of velocities $`v_{ex}`$ and $`v_{bx}`$ in the right hand side of Eq. (4) will be obtained from the equations of motion:

$$\frac{v_{ex}}{t}=\frac{e}{m_e}E_x,$$
(5.1)
$$(\frac{}{t}+v_{bz}\frac{}{z})(v_{bx}\gamma _b)=\frac{e}{m_e}(E_x+\frac{v_{bz}}{c}B_y),$$
(5.2)
where $`\gamma _b=(1𝐯_b^2/c^2)^{1/2}`$ is a relativistic factor. In case of relativistic electron beam, when $`\gamma _0=(1v_0^2/c^2)^{1/2}1`$, we can put $`v_{bx}v_{bz}v_0c`$. Taking into account that $`\gamma _0^2v_{bx}^2/c^2=(eE_x/m_ec\omega )^2=a^21`$, we obtain from (5.2) $`v_{bx}/t=(e/m_e\gamma _0)E_x`$. Substituting this expression and Eq. (5.1) into Eq. (4) and taking into account (2) we obtain the following dispersion relation

$$\omega ^2=k^2c^2+\omega _{pe}^2[1\alpha (1\gamma _0^1)]k^2c^2+\omega _{pe}^2(1\alpha ),$$
(6)
where $`\alpha =n_b(r)/n_0`$. In the absence of beam ($`\alpha =0`$) one has from (6) an ordinary dispersion relation for transverse waves in cold homogeneous plasma. The expression (6) is valid also for the case of a circularly polarized wave, because one can write that as a superposition of two linearly polarized waves. So, although the summary density of electrons $`n_b+n_e=const,`$ EM wave does not ”feel” the relativistic electron beam owing to the fact that the relativistic mass of beam electrons is much larger than the mass of plasma electrons, just as the ions make negligible contribution to the dispersion relation thanks to their large mass. For this reason, instead of REB one can use a beam of relativistic or nonrelativistic negatively charged ions. It is noteworthy also that instead of a continuous beam one can use a long succession of bunches, the separation between which is much less than the plasma wavelength. EM wave can propagate both along and opposite REB. The latter is important for such applications as Compton scattering or a plasma-based free electron laser .

From Eq. (6) we have for the index of refraction $`N=ck/\omega `$ of EM wave (laser radiation)

$$N^2=1[1\alpha (r)]\omega _{pe}^2/\omega ^2.$$
(7)
The guiding of laser radiation is possible when the condition $`dN/dr=(\omega _{pe}^2/2N\omega ^2)d\alpha /dr<0`$ is observed. Consider now a parabolic profile of the electron beam density, $`\alpha =\alpha _0(1r^2/r_b^2)`$, $`r<r_b`$, and the Gaussian profile of the laser radiation, $`a=(a_0r_0/r_s)\mathrm{exp}(r^2/r_s^2)`$. Then $`n_e(r)=n_e(0)+n_b(0)r^2/r_b^2`$, where $`n_e(0)=n_0n_b(0)`$. In this case the plasma electron density channel produced by REB provides the laser radiation guiding when (see Chapter VI in Ref. )

$$n_b(0)>\mathrm{\Delta }n_c(r_br_0)^2/r_s^4.$$
(8)
For instance, when $`r_b=r_s=2r_0`$ and $`r_0=500\mu m`$,we have $`n_b(0)>1.13\times 10^{14}cm^3`$, and the Rayleigh length is $`Z_R7.85cm`$ for the wavelength of laser radiation $`\lambda =10\mu m`$.

The linear case ($`\delta n_en_0`$) considered above was when $`a_0^2\alpha _01`$. At the violation of this condition the mathematical description of the problem is complicated, but the guiding again is possible. Moreover, one can weaken the condition of guidance. In case when $`a_0^2\alpha _0`$, one can weaken the condition of guidance (8) for the long laser beam ($`l\lambda _p`$), first, because of the fact that the plasma electrons are blown out of the channel by the laser radiation owing to which the effect of guiding is amplified, and, second, due to the effect of relativistic self-focusing. When $`a_0^21`$, the condition of laser radiation guiding in this case takes on the form (see Ref. ):

$$\frac{P}{P_c}+\frac{a_0^2}{2}\frac{r_0^2}{r_s^2}+\frac{n_b(0)}{\mathrm{\Delta }n_c}\frac{r_s^4}{(r_br_0)^2}>1.$$

The large gradient of plasma density in the channel may be formed by a dense REB when $`n_bn_0`$. In this case there is formed a range close to the beam axis, where all plasma electrons are driven out. For a thin beam ( with the radius $`r_b\lambda _p`$) such a range is formed when $`n_b>n_0`$, and for a broad beam ($`r_b\lambda _p`$) - when $`n_b>n_0/2`$, the diameter of range increasing with the beam density .

Now consider the problems of plasma channel formation and the plasma stability. To avoid the excitation of plasma wave by the leading edge of electron beam, the density of REB at the entry into plasma should grow rather slowly, to wit as $`t_b\omega _{pe}^1`$ where $`t_b`$ is the rise time of beam density. However, for applications connected with the acceleration of charged particles the excitation of plasma wave by the electron beam may prove desirable. During the flight of REB through plasma it is subject to different forms of instability. The condition of neglect of an instability may be written in the form $`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }t1`$, where $`\delta `$ is an increment of the instability and $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ is the time of flight of electron beam through plasma; for relativistic beam $`\mathrm{\Delta }tl/c`$, where $`l`$ is the length of plasma column. The most quickly developing instability is the beam-plasma instability as a result of which a plasma wave with wave number $`k\omega _{pe}/v_0`$ is excited. The development of beam-plasma instability leads eventually to a breakage of beam into bunches flying with the period of plasma wave. The increment of beam-plasma instability for waves propagating along the direction of electron beam flight (i.e., along $`z`$ axis) is (see, e.g., Ref. )

$$\delta =(3^{1/2}/2^{4/3})\omega _{pe}(n_b/n_0)^{1/3}/\gamma _0.$$
(9)
It follows from (9) that the increment of beam-plasma instability decreases with increasing energy of beam electrons, i.e., for sufficiently large $`\gamma _0`$ one can neglect the instability. According to (9), one can neglect the instability for

$$\gamma _01.3\times 10^6n_0^{1/2}[cm^3](n_b/n_0)^{1/3}l[cm].$$

For $`n_0=10^{14}cm^3`$, $`n_b/n_0=0.1`$ and $`l=50cm`$, one has $`\gamma _0300`$. The development of beam-plasma instability may be desirable for a number of applications, e.g., for generation of picosecond and femtosecond electron bunches. In this case the wake wave excited by a short laser pulse in the plasma channel produced by the electron beam would enable one to control the beam instability.

Consider the problem of guiding from an energetic point of view. The energy density of REB and laser beam are respectively $`W_{REB}=m_ec^2\gamma _0n_b`$ and $`W_{Las}=E_0^2/8\pi =(m_ec\omega /e)^2a_0^2/8\pi `$, and for their ratio one has

$$\kappa \frac{W_{REB}}{W_{Las}}=\frac{2\gamma _0(n_b/n_0)}{a_0^2}\left(\frac{\lambda }{\lambda _p}\right)^2.$$
(10)
The wavelength $`\lambda `$ of modern high-intensity lasers is in order of several micrometer (the value of $`\lambda 1\mu m`$ is typical for a solid state laser and $`\lambda 10\mu m`$ for the CO$`_\text{2}`$ laser). In the case $`n_0=10^{14}cm^3`$, $`n_b/n_0=0.1`$, $`\gamma _0=300`$, $`\lambda =1\mu m`$, and $`a_0^2=0.05`$ (that corresponds to the circularly polarized laser beam intensity $`I1.4\times 10^{17}W/cm^2`$) from expression (10) follows $`\kappa 1.08\times 10^4`$. When $`n_0=10^{16}cm^3`$, $`n_b/n_0=0.1`$, $`\gamma _0=100`$, $`\lambda =10\mu m`$, and $`a_0^2=0.1`$ ($`I2.8\times 10^{15}W/cm^2`$) one has $`\kappa 0.18`$. Thus, REB allows to guide laser radiation with the energy density much exceeding that of REB. The total energy of REB $`\epsilon _{REB}\pi r_b^2l_{REB}W_{REB}`$, for practically interesting parameters of the problem, can be more or less than the total energy of laser beam $`\epsilon _{REB}\pi r_0^2l_{Las}W_{Las}`$; here $`l_{REB}`$ and $`l_{Las}`$ are respectively the length of REB and laser beam.

It was shown above that the relativistic electron beam can form a channel in plasma, in which the laser radiation guiding is possible. The proposed guiding method is based on the capacity of relativistic electron beam to traverse, without essential change in parameters, the distances in plasma much larger than the diffraction length of high-intensity laser radiation. The plasma electrons are blown out of the range occupied by REB, as a result of which a plasma channel is formed in plasma, the density in which increases in radial direction. It was shown that owing to large relativistic factor of REB, its contribution to the dispersion properties of channel is negligible. The method under consideration permits an essential increase in the interaction time of laser radiation with plasma and electron beam and, hence, in the efficiency of using the radiation energy.

The author gratefully acknowledges helpful discussions with Dr. B. Hafizi, Dr. R. Hubbard, and Dr. P. Sprangle (Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC).

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