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# N-BODY SIMULATIONS OF COMPACT YOUNG CLUSTERS NEAR THE GALACTIC CENTER

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The Arches (G0.121+0.017) and Quintuplet (AFGL 2004) clusters are two extraordinary star clusters near the Galactic center. They are very young ($`<5`$ Myr), compact ($`\mathrm{}<1`$ pc), and only 20–30 parsecs away from the Galactic center (GC) in projection, while they appear to be as massive as the smallest Galactic globular clusters ($`10^4\mathrm{M}_{}`$; Figer et al. 1999). These compact young clusters (CYCs) have several interesting dynamical characteristics that distinguish them from globular clusters: 1) CYCs have very short dynamical and half-mass relaxation timescales ($`t_{dyn}10^{56}`$ yr and $`t_{rh}10^{67}`$ yr, respectively); 2) CYCs are situated in strong tidal fields (the tidal radius of a $`10^4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ cluster located 30 pc from the Galactic center is $`1`$ pc); and 3) mass segregation may occur on a timescale shorter than the lifetimes of the most massive stars, such that those massive stars play an important role in the dynamical evolution of the cluster (for more details on timescales and the effects of tidal fields, see Kim, Morris, & Lee, 1999; hereafter KML).

The fact that we currently observe only two such young clusters near the GC (in addition to the central cluster right at the GC) raises a natural question about the lifetimes of CYCs. Using anisotropic Fokker-Planck (F-P) models, KML surveyed lifetimes of CYCs for various initial mass functions (IMFs), cluster masses ($`M`$), and Galactocentric radii ($`R_g`$), and found that clusters with $`M\mathrm{}<2\times 10^4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`R_g\mathrm{}<100`$ pc evaporate in $`\mathrm{}<10`$ Myr.111Portegies Zwart et al. (1999) have studied with N-body models the evolution of R136, a compact, young star cluster in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This cluster resembles the CYCs near the GC in many ways, except for the tidal forces, which are speculated to be much weaker than those for the CYCs near the GC. We note that Portegies Zwart et al. (2000) are independently working on N-body simulations targeted for the CYCs near the GC at the moment of the submission of the present paper. These unparalleled, short evaporation times ($`t_{ev}`$; defined here as the time by which $`M`$, the cluster mass inside the tidal radius, becomes 5 % of its initial value) of CYCs are first due to short $`t_{dyn}`$ and $`t_{rh}`$, and strong tidal forces, but the mass loss accompanying the evolution of massive stars is also responsible for shortening $`t_{ev}`$ of clusters that last longer than $`3`$ Myr.

F-P models are statistical models involving distribution functions. It is the statistical stability and fast computing time of the F-P models that the survey-type study by KML required. Takahashi & Portegies Zwart (1998) found good agreement between anisotropic F-P models and N-body simulations for globular clusters by adopting an “apocenter criterion” and an appropriate coefficient for the speed of star removal beyond the tidal radius (KML adopted these as well). However, some extreme conditions of CYCs may be inconsistent with the assumptions inherent to F-P models. As discussed in KML, the conditions required by F-P models, $`t_{dyn}t_{rh}`$ and $`t_{dyn}t_{se}`$ ($`t_{se}`$ is the stellar evolution timescale) may be violated, especially in the core at certain epochs. Moreover, the active participation of a large mass range of stars in the dynamics, which is another peculiarity of CYCs, is difficult to realize in F-P models that embody a mass spectrum with a restricted number (usually 10-20) of discrete mass components. A greater number of components would better express the mass spectrum, but then the computation time would become accordingly longer. On the other hand, too small a number of components would not properly realize the whole mass spectrum. By fixing the number of stars in the most massive components, KML tried to carefully account for a relatively small number of the most massive stars. Yet, the results from such a treatment are to be confirmed by more realistic models, N-body simulations.

CYCs, estimated to have $`10^{34}`$ stars, are one of a few classes of systems for which real-number N-body simulations are feasible on current workstations. Among many virtues of N-body simulations, the natural realization of the mass spectrum and the tidal fields is particularly beneficial to the study of CYCs. These benefits allow N-body simulations to treat mass segregation and evaporation of stars exactly, thus providing better density profiles and mass spectra as a function of radius. These are photometric observables, and are partially available from the HST/NICMOS observations of the Arches and Quintuplet (Figer et al. 1999; the partial availability is owed to crowding at the cluster center and to the detection limit at the faint end of the luminosity function). The Arches and Quintuplet are estimated to be only $`2`$ and $`4`$ Myr old, respectively (Figer et al. 1999), but their currently observed structures must already have deviated from the initial ones due to their rapid dynamical evolution. With both real-number N-body simulations and HST observations of the two clusters in hand, one has a rare chance of deriving not only the current characteristics of these systems, but their initial conditions as well.

In the present study, we perform a series of N-body simulations 1) to compare the lifetimes of CYCs with those from F-P models obtained by KML, 2) to find the initial cluster conditions that best match the current observations of CYCs, and 3) to test the effects of initial mass segregation and different initial density profiles on the dynamical evolution of the CYCs.

## 2 SIMULATION MODELS

For N-body simulations in the present study, we use the most recent version of Aarseth’s N-body codes, Nbody6 (Aarseth 1999 and references therein). We modified the Nbody6 codes to implement the full, non-truncated tidal forces, and we adopted the prescription for stellar evolution used in KML for consistency (see KML for details on the stellar evolution). The upper stellar mass limit, $`m_u`$, is $`150\mathrm{M}_{}`$, and the lower mass limit, $`m_l`$, is $`0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ or $`1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. We set the cluster to initially fill the tidal radius, and remove stars outside 5 times the tidal radius.

For initial conditions of the cluster and the Galactic tidal field, we also follow prescriptions of KML: We adopt single-mass King models (with a King parameter $`W_0=4`$) and single power-law mass functions; The Galactic mass $`M_g`$ inside a Galactocentric radius $`R_g`$ is given by

$$M_g=2\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}\left(\frac{R_g}{30\mathrm{pc}}\right)^{1.2}$$
(1)
(from Genzel & Townes, 1987). Then the tidal radius of the cluster, $`R_t`$, becomes

$`R_t`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{2M_g}}\right)^{1/3}R_g`$ (2)
$``$ $`5.3\times 10^3\mathrm{pc}\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{\mathrm{M}_{}}}\right)^{1/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{R_g}{\mathrm{pc}}}\right)^{0.6}.`$
The equations of motions are integrated in the rotating frame, and tidal forces are calculated from the Galactic potential corresponding to equation (1).

## 3 N-BODY VS. FOKKER-PLANCK

In order to compare $`t_{ev}`$ of N-body and F-P calculations, we performed N-body simulations of several representative models in KML that have number of stars, $`N`$, smaller than $`15,000`$. This criterion excludes $`m_l=0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ models with the exponent of the power-law IMF, $`\alpha `$ (defined as in $`dNm^\alpha dm`$), larger than or equal to 2.

The lifetimes of 9 N-body simulations performed in the present study are shown in Table 1 along with those from F-P calculations of KML.222The lifetimes from N-body simulations are subject to the statistical fluctuation which may be significant for models with $`N`$ smaller than a few thousands. We find that our models have fluctuations from one run to the next mostly smaller than 10 %. Such relatively small fluctuations are due to our definition of $`t_{ev}`$ (see § 1), which avoids the late phase of the evolution that suffers most from statistical fluctuations. This set of 9 models represent different $`M`$ (models 1 & 5), different $`\alpha `$ (models 1, 8, 13, & 23), different $`m_l`$ (models 3 & 8; models 13 & 15), and different $`R_g`$ (models 13, 43, & 44). We find that N-body calculations always give longer $`t_{ev}`$ than F-P calculations, and that the fractional difference of $`t_{ev}`$ between two calculations, $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}t_{ev}`$ ($``$ \[Nbody-FP\]/Nbody), does not show any particular correlation with $`N`$. The biggest $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}t_{ev}`$, 59 %, is for model 43, for which the IMF is quite flat ($`\alpha =1.75`$) and the cluster evaporates before significant stellar evolution starts. This implies that $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}t_{ev}`$ is larger for smaller $`\alpha `$ (compare to model 5, which has as short $`t_{ev}`$ as model 43 but $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}t_{ev}`$ of only 8 %), but that the stellar evolution has the effect of diminishing $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}t_{ev}`$ (cf. model 44, which also has $`\alpha =1.75`$ but $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}t_{ev}`$ of only 16 %). We performed the N-body and F-P calculations for model 13 without stellar evolution, and find that the new $`t_{ev}`$’s are 4.5 and 2.5 Myr, respectively (model 13 is our baseline model because we later find that it best matches the observations; see § 4). This indicates that the speed of the pure (i.e., no stellar evolution) dynamical evolution of F-P models by KML is considerably overestimated.

We attribute shorter $`t_{ev}`$’s of F-P calculations to the underestimated choice of $`N_u`$ (the number of stars in the most massive bin; the same as $`N_{15}`$ when the number of mass bins, $`N_{\mathrm{bin}}`$, is 15 as in KML) by KML. The mass bins of F-P models by KML were chosen to make $`N_u`$ constant, so that the significance of the most massive bins of models with different IMFs would be the same. The larger $`N_u`$, the smaller the characteristic mass of the most massive bin, thus the smaller the effective mass range (the lower and upper mass limits are not a function of $`N_u`$). Since a larger effective mass range gives faster mass segregation and thus faster ejection of lighter stars, a smaller $`N_u`$ results in smaller $`t_{ev}`$. For $`N_{\mathrm{bin}}`$ cannot be infinitely large for a practical reason, F-P models have difficulties with dealing with a very large mass range, and F-P results may depend on the way of binning the mass with a limited number of components (bins). The choice of $`N_u=50`$ in KML was arbitrary, and one may tune the F-P $`t_{ev}`$ values to N-body $`t_{ev}`$ values by controlling this parameter. We find that a new F-P calculation for model 13 with no stellar evolution and $`N_u=250300`$ gives a $`t_{ev}`$ value that matches the N-body results without stellar evolution, 4.5 Myr. In conclusion, the choice of $`N_u=50`$ in KML was too small, thus KML underestimated $`t_{ev}`$, but such underestimation was not significant for most cases because the amount of mass loss from stellar evolution after $`2`$ Myr accelerates the evaporation of clusters.

Figure 1 compares the volume density profiles of N-body and F-P calculations for model 13 at 1 and 2 Myr. For this F-P calculations, $`N_u=250`$ and $`N_{\mathrm{bin}}=10`$ (instead of 15 as in KML) were used. For $`N_u=250`$, $`N_{\mathrm{bin}}`$ larger than 10 would give negative $`\beta `$ values (see KML for definition of $`\beta `$; a negative $`\beta `$ gives smaller numbers of stars for lighter mass bins). At $`t=1`$ Myr, the two density profiles differ only near and outside $`R_t`$ (the small deviation at the core is probably due to small number statistics), but the F-P calculation significantly underestimates the density outside $`R_t`$. At $`t=2`$ Myr, the deviation starts at smaller radii, and the power-law slope of the F-P density profile is steeper than the N-body slope by 0.3 to 0.4 inside $`R_t`$. Such a difference makes the cluster mass inside the tidal radius of the F-P calculation always somewhat smaller than that of the N-body calculation. Figure 2 compares the evolution of cluster mass inside the tidal radius, $`M`$, of N-body and F-P calculations for model 13. Stellar evolution was not included in these calculations in order to see the effect of tidal fields only, and $`N_u=250`$ and $`N_{\mathrm{bin}}=10`$ were used for the F-P calculation. The figure shows that the mass loss rate from the cluster differs especially during the early phase of evolution. We also find that the $`\alpha `$ value of the F-P calculation decreases faster with time, having 0.1 to 0.3 smaller (shallower mass function) values, than those of the N-body simulation at most times. N-body models are more realistic than F-P models, whose observables are here found to have non-negligible discrepancies from N-body models; therefore for comparison with the observed structures of the CYCs, N-body simulations should be preferred over F-P models.

## 4 INITIAL CONDITIONS OF THE ARCHES

### 4.1 Comparison with Observations

In spite of the very young ages of the CYCs, the observed properties of CYCs should differ from their initial status because of the cluster’s rapid dynamical evolution. Thus one should compare numerical simulations of cluster evolution with observations to infer the initial conditions of the cluster. As discussed in § 3, N-body simulations provide the most accurate information on the dependence of the stellar distribution on stellar mass. In this section, we use our N-body simulations to find initial conditions of the Arches cluster from comparisons with HST/NICMOS photometric observations by Figer et al. (1999). The Quintuplet cluster has a largely dispersed distribution (probably because it is in the final disruption phase), so dynamical information from its image is very limited.

Dynamical information from the photometric image of a cluster can be found from the surface density profiles and the mass distribution functions as a function of radius. When the photometry is complete down to the faintest stars, the overall stellar mass function, total cluster mass, and degree of mass segregation are obtained from the above two observables. However, the HST observations of the Arches were limited by crowding in the core and by the background confusion in the outer regions. Using the mass-K magnitude relation of Meynet et al. (1994) and adopting an extinction at K band of 3.1, Figer et al. (1999) estimate that their HST Arches photometry is complete down to $`m20\mathrm{M}_{}`$ for $`r>3\mathrm{}`$, or 0.12 pc, and to $`m8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ for $`r>5.\mathrm{}25`$, or 0.2 pc (the distance to the GC is assumed to be 8 kpc in the present study), and that the background confusion limit lies between 3 and $`5\mathrm{M}_{}`$. For this reason, we only use stars having $`m>20\mathrm{M}_{}`$ ($`\mathrm{F205W}<15`$ mag, where F205W is the undereddened, apparent Vega magnitude of the NICMOS F205W filter) for the surface number density profile, and $`m>8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ ($`\mathrm{F205W}<17`$ mag) for estimating the mass spectrum. The number of stars heavier than $`8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ outside its crowding limit, 0.2 pc, is 232, which is not enough to give reliable information on the mass spectrum as a function of radius. Therefore we adopt the simplest way of measuring the mass function and the mass segregation: we count the number of stars in two mass bins ($`8m/\mathrm{M}_{}<20`$ and $`20m/\mathrm{M}_{}`$), each in two radius bins ($`0.2r/\mathrm{pc}<0.4`$ and $`0.4r/\mathrm{pc}<0.8`$). In principle, one can find the initial conditions (or several sets of initial conditions) of a cluster by comparing these number counts and the density profiles of numerical simulations and observations.

We start with IMFs that give the observed number of massive stars, which, for the Arches cluster, is expected to be very close to its initial value (the estimated age of the Arches, $`2`$ Myr, is before significant stellar evolution). The observations require the IMF to have $`N`$($`>30\mathrm{M}_{}`$) of 150 ($`30\mathrm{M}_{}`$ stars are complete down to $`r0.06`$ pc). The surface number density profiles for $`M20\mathrm{M}_{}`$ ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$) at 1 or 2 Myr, and the number count evolutions of N-body simulations of models 13, 21, and 22 are plotted in Figures 3 and 4 along with observations (the count numbers from observations are given in Table 2). These three models have $`N`$($`>30\mathrm{M}_{}`$) values of about 150 but different $`\alpha `$ values (see Table 3). $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$ plots in Figure 3 show that all three models agree well with the observation, which implies that our choice of the bulge mean density at the location of the cluster is appropriate because the mean bulge density determines the tidal radius of the cluster (this does not necessarily prove that our choices of the bulge mass profile, eq. , and $`R_g`$ for these models, 30 pc, are correct since the bulge mean density is a combination of two parameters; see below). The $`R_t`$ values of our N-body models shown in Figure 3 are 1.0–1.2 pc. Figure 4 shows that the observed number counts best agree with model 13 ($`\alpha =1.75`$) at time $`t=1`$–2 Myr. Model 21 ($`\alpha =1.5`$) gives slightly smaller counts than observations, but considering the uncertainty in the mass-magnitude relation, we cannot exclude the possibility that model 21 is applicable. On the other hand, model 22 ($`\alpha =2`$) significantly over-predicts the number of stars in lighter mass bins, except at $`t\mathrm{}>3`$ Myr, by which time the cluster would be in a disruption phase. We conclude that the best $`\alpha `$ value suggested by these comparisons to observations is 1.75.

This finding may be, in fact, limited to the high mass regime only, where the comparison is actually made. However, for the above best-fit mass function, the stars with $`m8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ already consitute more than 70 % of the total mass, thus the above $`\alpha `$ value may be considered representative.

The projected distance from the GC to the Arches is $`20`$ pc, but the true distance is unknown. Furthermore, the bulge mass distribution at a few tens of parsecs from the GC is uncertain. While the infrared light distribution observed by Becklin & Neugebauer (1968) implies a density profile $`R_g^{1.8}`$ (eq.  exhibits this profile), the radial velocity observations in radio frequencies for the same region suggest a shallower density drop ($`R_g^{1.5}`$) between 30 and 100 pc, leading to a steeper enclosed-mass increase:

$$M_g8\times 10^7\mathrm{M}_{}\left(\frac{R_g}{30\mathrm{pc}}\right)^{1.5}$$
(3)
(Lindqvist, Habing, & Winnberg 1992). The tidal environment of the cluster is mostly determined by the mean density, $`M_g/R_g^3`$. We performed the best-fit model found above ($`\alpha =1.75`$; model 13) with different tidal environments: models located at $`R_g=20`$ pc (model 19) and 50 pc (model 14) with our standard bulge mass distribution, equation (1). The latter is equivalent to the case of $`R_g=30`$ pc with a bulge mass distribution of equation (3). We find that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$ of models 13, 14, and 19 can be all nicely fit to the observed $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$ at $`t=1`$–2 Myr, and that the number counts of models 14 and 19 showed worse agreement to observations than model 13, but the agreement was still at the acceptable level. We conclude that our comparisons do not rule out the possibility of $`R_g=20`$ pc and 50 pc, but favor the $`R_g=30`$ pc case.

Model 15 has the same initial conditions as our best-fit model, model 13, except $`m_l=0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ instead of $`1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. We find that $`t_{ev}`$ of model 15 is only $`10\%`$ longer than that of model 13 (see Table 3). This confirms the finding by KML that $`t_{ev}`$ does not sensitively depend on $`m_l`$ when $`\alpha \mathrm{}<2`$. This phenomenon is caused by two factors: 1) for a model with $`\alpha =1.75`$ and $`m_u=150\mathrm{M}_{}`$, the mass between $`0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ constitutes only $`15\%`$ of the total mass, and 2) the lightest stars are rapidly ejected from the cluster during the early phases due to the large $`m_u/m_l`$ ratio. However, the number counts of model 15 agree well with observations only after $`t=2.4`$ Myr, by which time the Arches cluster would be in the disruption phase and would have a structure as dispersed as the Quintuplet. Thus the observations more support our model with $`m_l=1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ than $`0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$.

One of the most commonly used IMFs for the Galactic disk, the Scalo mass function (Scalo 1986), has $`\alpha =2.7`$ for $`m1\mathrm{M}_{}`$, implying that the best-fit $`\alpha `$ value obtained here for the Arches cluster is considerably flatter than that for the disk. This fact, together with $`m_l=1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ being favored over $`m_l=0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$, appears to support the arguments by Morris (1993) that the non-standard star formation environment near the GC may lead to an IMF skewed toward relatively massive stars and having an elevated lower mass cutoff.

### 4.2 Primordial Binaries

So far, we have not considered primordial binaries. Camera 2 of the HST/NICMOS instrument (used by Figer et al. 1999) has an angular resolution of about 1 pixel size of the detector ($`0.075\mathrm{}`$), which is $`600`$ AU at the distance of the GC. Thus binary systems with a semi-major axis smaller than few hundred AU are not resolved, and the presence of a significant number of primordial binaries in the cluster may affect our number count analysis above by decreasing number counts and/or by moving a primary star to a more massive mass bin (the number of dynamical binaries, i.e., binaries formed through close encounters, at a given moment is only a few, if any, for the whole cluster lifetime). To see the effects of primordial binaries on the number counts, we performed two simulations of model 13 with primordial binary fractions, $`f_{bin}`$, of 25 % and 50 %. The fraction is defined as

$$f_{bin}\frac{N_{bin}}{N_{bin}+N_{sing}},$$
(4)
where $`N_{bin}`$ and $`N_{sing}`$ are the numbers of binary systems and single stars, respectively. Thus the percentages of stars in binary systems for $`f_{bin}=25`$ % and 50 % are 40 % and 67 %, respectively. These relatively ‘moderate’ $`f_{bin}`$ values, compared to $`>50`$ % used in N-body simulations for open clusters (Kroupa, Petr, & McCaughrean 1999, for example) may be justified by an argument by Durisen & Sterzik (1994) that binary formation from fragmentation of collapsing and rotating clouds or from a gravitational instability of massive protostellar disks is more likely in low-temperature clouds (the central molecular zone in the inner few hundred pc of the Galactic bulge has significantly elevated temperatures, $`70`$ K). The initial companion-mass-ratio distribution is obtained by random pairing of stars, and the initial eccentricity distribution is assumed to be thermally relaxed. For the initial period distribution, we adopt equation (8) of Kroupa (1995a), which approximates the distribution of binary systems in the Galactic disk. This initial distribution is evolved prior to the start of the N-body integration to account for the “pre-main-sequence eigenevolution” (the evolution in orbital parameters due to internal processes such as tidal circularization during the pre-main-sequence; see Kroupa 1995a for details).

We find that the $`t_{ev}`$ values of $`f_{bin}=25`$ % and 50 % models are slightly (10–20 %) longer than that of $`f_{bin}=0`$ % model. This insensitivity of $`t_{ev}`$ on $`f_{bin}`$ was noted by McMillan & Hut (1994), and Kroupa (1995b). Kroupa et al. (1999) find that their model with $`f_{bin}=100`$ % evolves slightly more slowly than that with $`f_{bin}=60`$ % and interpret it due to cooling by disruption of wide binaries. The slightly longer $`t_{ev}`$’s of our models with primordial binaries may be interpreted in the same way, but the reduced number of effective point sources due to binarity may be another possible explanation (the rate of relaxation is proportional to $`Nm^2`$, where $`m`$ is the stellar mass; when companions are picked out of a pool with a large mass range, the binarity does not significantly increase the $`m`$ of an ‘effective point mass’, while it considerably decreases $`N`$ of the effective point masses).

The number counts with a consideration of the angular resolution of the camera for $`f_{bin}=25`$ % and 50 % models are compared to those of the $`f_{bin}=0`$ % model in Figure 5. Here, the mass of a binary system with a semi-major axis smaller than the angular resolution is obtained from the total luminosity of the binary system, and the mass-luminosity relation adopted in Figer et al. (1999) is used for this calculation. While the number counts of the $`f_{bin}=25`$ % model are only slightly smaller than the $`f_{bin}=0`$ % model, those of the $`f_{bin}=50`$ % model are 10–40 % smaller. However, these relatively smaller number counts of models with primordial binaries still agree with observed number counts at an acceptable level. Furthermore, the difference of number counts between the $`f_{bin}=0`$ % and 50 % models is larger for the more massive bin, implying that the initial $`\alpha `$ should be smaller than that of the model tried here (1.75) in order for the $`f_{bin}=50`$ % model to better match the observations. In conclusion, the presence of primordial binaries will not significantly change our findings above on the best-fit initial conditions of the Arches cluster, and our results indicate that the $`\alpha `$ value found above for the case with no primordial binaries, 1.75, is an upper limit.

## 5 INITIAL CLUSTER STRUCTURE

### 5.1 Initial Mass Segregation

The prior sections of the present study and KML assumed, for simplicity, the same initial density profiles for all stellar masses, i.e., no initial mass segregation. This assumption is, however, not based on any observational or theoretical evidence. Interactions between stars during the star formation process determine the degree of initial mass segregation, which is therefore an important piece of information for the theory of cluster formation. However, different models lead to totally different predictions for initial segregation. The model by Podsiadlowski & Price (1992), in which favorable stellar masses are determined by the ratio of the timescales for protostellar collisions and of gas infall onto the protostars, predicts more massive stars at larger radii. On the other hand, segregation of more massive stars in the core is predicted in some models such as the one by Murray & Lin (1996), where encounters between cloudlets increase the protostellar masses, and the one by Bonnell et al. (1997), where the deeper potential in the core causes stars there to accrete more circumstellar material. Here we attempt both cases, one with heavy stars initially more prevalent at the core, the other with heavy stars more in the envelope.

The initial density and velocity profiles of model 13 are modified to include the initial mass segregation: model 31 initially has a King profile with $`W_0=2`$ for the lightest stars and $`W_0=6`$ for the heaviest stars (more heavy stars in the envelope) while model 32 has the opposite $`W_0`$ values (more heavy stars at the core). The intermediate-mass stars have interpolated $`W_0`$ values depending on the logarithm of their masses. We find that models 13, 31, & 32 show very similar $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$ profiles at 2 Myr. In spite of different initial conditions, the number counts of these three models also exhibit similar evolution after $`t=1`$ Myr (see Fig. 6). It appears that the relaxation processes are rapid enough to erase the memory of the initial mass segregation in less than 1 Myr. Thus unless the initial segregation is more severe than models tested here, the best-fit initial conditions found in § 4 are robust against the initial segregation.

### 5.2 King vs. Plummer Models

KML showed that the global evolution (such as $`M`$ & $`R_t`$) of clusters initially having King profiles of $`W_0=1`$–7 does not depend on $`W_0`$ values. This is because King profiles with different $`W_0`$ values mainly differ at the core while the global evolution of the cluster is mostly determined by the properties in the cluster envelope. Here we make two N-body simulations initially having Plummer models to see the effects of initial conditions different from King models. Plummer models have a density profile of

$$\rho (R^2+R_c^2)^{5/2},$$
(5)
which has no density drop analogous to tidal cutoff in King models ($`R_c`$ is the core radius). Thus the density profiles of Plummer models have shallower decrease than King models near $`R_t`$, and have to be artificially cut at $`R_t`$. The only parameter that determines the profile is the ratio of $`R_t`$ to $`R_c`$, $`c_p`$. Here we perform two simulations analogous to model 13 with $`c_p=3`$ and $`c_p=6`$. The Plummer model with $`c_p=6`$ has core density and half-mass radius comparable to those of the King model with $`W_0=4`$. We find that the Plummer models give $`t_{ev}`$ values only slightly longer than that of the corresponding King model (by less than 20 %), and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$ and the number counts of the Plummer models are very similar to those of the King model. Therefore, the findings in § 4 may also apply to models with Plummer initial conditions with $`c_p=3`$–6.

## 6 SUMMARY

Using Aarseth’s Nbody6 codes, we have studied the dynamical evolution of CYCs near the GC. First, we confirm the results of KML that clusters with a mass $`\mathrm{}<2\times 10^4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ evaporate in $`10`$ Myr, but find that the F-P calculations by KML underestimated the lifetimes of CYCs by 5 to 30 % in most cases. This discrepancy is due to the adoption by KML of values of $`N_u`$ which are too small, and we find that $`N_u`$ of 250–300 would be appropriate although such a large number would bring the effctive mass of the largest mass bin down to a value at which we would lose some of the effects associated with the presence of the most massive stars. Without stellar evolution, the above $`t_{ev}`$ discrepancy would be more considerable, i.e. the mass loss from stellar evolution starting slightly after $`t=2`$ Myr significantly accelerates the evaporation of the clusters. The volume density profiles from F-P calculations are steeper than those from N-body simulations, and especially, the F-P densities outside $`R_t`$ are significantly underestimated.

By comparing the surface number density profiles and number counts in 2 mass bins at 2 radius bins between N-body simulations and HST/NICMOS photometry of the Arches cluster, we find the following best-fit initial conditions: $`M=2\times 10^4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`\alpha =1.75`$. The relation between $`M`$ and $`\alpha `$ is constrained by the observed number of stars heavier than $`30\mathrm{M}_{}`$, 150. Larger or smaller $`\alpha `$ values than 1.75 give less satisfactory number count fits to observations. The presence of primordial binaries favors slightly smaller $`\alpha `$ values than 1.75. The fit of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{20}`$ to observations indicates $`R_t1`$ pc, but $`R_g`$ is not well constrained. The mean density of the bulge inside the Arches cluster is suggested to be 5–$`30\times 10^2\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{pc}^3`$. Also, we confirm the finding of KML that for clusters with $`\alpha \mathrm{}<2`$, $`t_{ev}`$ of a cluster with $`m_l=0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ is very close to that of a cluster with $`m_l=1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. However, the number count plots seem to more support $`m_l=1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. These findings are in agreement with the arguments by Morris (1993) that the non-standard star formation environment near the GC may lead to an IMF skewed toward relatively massive stars and having an elevated lower mass cutoff.

The global evolution and $`t_{ev}`$ of CYCs are nearly independent of the initial mass segregation and the choice of initial density profile. Clusters with initial mass segregation and reverse segregation (more heavy stars in the outer region) show very similar evolution except in the very early phase ($`<0.5`$ Myr). Plummer initial models with $`c_p=3`$ and 6 exhibit indistinguishable evolution from a King initial model. Therefore, our findings regarding the initial conditions of the Arches cluster appear to be insensitive to the initial mass distribution.

As discussed in KML, the effect of the gas left over from cluster formation may be important to the early dynamical evolution of CYCs because the remnant gas is thought to be blown away from the cluster in the early phases by strong stellar winds or supernova explosions, and such abrupt disappearance may significantly change the potential of the cluster in a short amount of time. Consequently, the role of the remnant gas in early cluster evolution will be the subject of a future study using N-body simulations.

S.S.K. is deeply grateful to Sverre Aarseth for generously providing us with his Nbody6 codes and for his kind help with the codes. S.S.K. also appreciates Pavel Kroupa, Kap Soo Oh, Simon Portegies Zwart, and Koji Takahashi for helpful discussions. We thank the referee for valuable suggestions and comments. This work was partially supported by a NASA grant to UCLA, and H.M.L. acknowledges the support from the KOSEF through grant 1999-2-113-001-5.


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# The processes 𝛾𝛾→{𝛾𝛾,𝛾𝑍,𝑍𝑍}.

## Abstract

The Standard Model contributions to the processes $`\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma `$, $`\gamma Z`$ and $`ZZ`$ at sufficiently high energies, are found to be helicity conserving and almost purely imaginary. This is due to the $`W`$-loop contribution, which is much bigger than the fermionic ones at such energies. Thus the structure of these amplitudes acquires an impressive simplicity at high energies. Nothing like this appears in other process like e.g.  the the production of a pair of neutral Higgs bosons.

hep-ph/0008xxx
THES-TP 2000/10

The number of helicity amplitudes that can in principle contribute to the processes $`\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma `$, $`\gamma Z`$, $`ZZ`$ is quite large, due to the spin=1 nature of the four particles involved. In the Standard Model (SM) these processes receive no tree level contributions, thus getting their lowest order amplitudes from 1-loop diagrams involving either quarks and charged leptons, or $`W`$-bosons. At energies below e.g. $`250\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$, and for sufficiently large scattering angles so that the perturbative 1-loop calculation to be reliable, the various possible helicity amplitudes for these processes are more or less on the same footing. The situation considerably simplifies though at high energies; i.e. at $`\sqrt{s}250\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ for $`(\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma ,\gamma Z)`$, and at $`\sqrt{s}300\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ for $`ZZ`$ production. At such energies the $`W`$-loop contribution completely dominates the fermionic one; and only the two helicity conserving amplitudes $`F_{++++}`$ and $`F_{++}`$ remain important111Together of course with those related to it by CP transformations and Bose statistics.. Moreover, these predominant amplitudes are almost purely imaginary. This can be seen for $`\gamma \gamma `$, $`\gamma Z`$ and $`ZZ`$ production from Figs.1, 2 and Fig.3 respectively , , , . Please note that the amplitudes not listed in these figures are at most comparable to the smallest among the listed ones.

The physical reason for the dominant amplitudes becoming almost purely imaginary at very high energies is not particularly clear. For some reason, it turns out that the Sudakov-like $`log^2`$ terms always cancel at high energies, and only the single-log imaginary terms remain, and these for the helicity conserving amplitudes only. We have also looked at the SM contribution to the $`\gamma \gamma h^0h^0`$, where $`h^0`$ is the SM Higgs particle, as well to $`\gamma \gamma A^0A^0`$ ($`A^0`$ being the CP odd Higgs particle in SUSY models), and no particular dominance for the imaginary parts of any amplitudes was observed .

Concerning in particular the results in Fig.3 for $`ZZ`$ production, we should remark that they only apply for the light Higgs case. In that figure $`m_h100\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ is used, which should, be responsible for the tiny $`F_{++00}`$ amplitude. For Higgs masses at the TeV scale, the importance of $`F_{++00}`$ amplitude should obviously increase.

Thus, at high energies and for a small mass of the lightest Higgs, the processes ($`\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma `$, $`\gamma Z`$, $`ZZ`$) acquire a striking simplicity, at high energies. The corresponding un-polarized cross sections, integrated in the range $`30^0\vartheta ^{}150^0`$ are shown by the solid lines in Figs.4, 5, 6. Notice that in deriving these results $`\alpha =1/128`$ has been used. If $`\alpha =1/137`$ is thought more appropriate, then the results for the cross sections should be multiplied by $`0.76`$. In any case, such cross sections for unpolarized as well as for polarized beams222See , , . should be measurable if a $`\gamma \gamma `$ Collider ($`LC_{\gamma \gamma }`$) is ever built with the anticipated Luminosity , .

The aforementioned effect should be useful in searching for New Physics (NP) in an $`LC_{\gamma \gamma }`$. Please notice, that in order to get appreciable interference between the NP effect to ($`\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma ,\gamma Z,ZZ`$) and the predominantly imaginary and helicity conserving SM amplitudes, we always need to be above the threshold for their direct production. Thus in , ,  we have explored the possibility to use the above processes in order to get additional independent information that should help identifying the nature of possible SUSY candidates, that may also be directly produced. In this respect, it should be remarked that the virtual effects induced by the various SUSY particles depend on different sets of parameters than those affecting their decay. We have found that the experimental study of $`\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma ,\mathrm{`}\gamma Z,ZZ`$ may be particularly useful for chargino-type candidates, provided their mass is $`200GeV`$. This can also be guessed from Figs.4, 5, 6 in which the chargino effect is always the biggest among those induced by possible SUSY candidates.

Another use, particularly of the process $`\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma `$, which has repeatedly appeared in the recent literature, is in order to look for effects due to strings of gravitons exchanged between the photon pairs, in case extra large dimensions might exist. Unfortunately, since this NP contribution is mainly real, there is no appreciable NP-SM interference, and the NP effect is mainly sensitive to the square of the NP amplitude. In spite of this, the quoted sensitivity appears appreciable


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# Observation of dipole-mode vector solitons

## Abstract

We report on the first experimental observation of a novel type of optical vector soliton, a dipole-mode soliton, recently predicted theoretically. We show that these vector solitons can be generated in a photorefractive medium employing two different processes: a phase imprinting, and a symmetry-breaking instability of a vortex-mode vector soliton. The experimental results display remarkable agreement with the theory, and confirm the robust nature of these radially asymmetric two-component solitary waves.

Optical spatial solitons in (2+1) dimensions are particle-like solitary waves propagating in a nonlinear bulk medium . The exhaustive research of the past decade has shown that these “light particles” can possess topological phase properties analogous to a charge. Moreover, several light beams can combine to produce a vector soliton with a complex internal structure. This process can be thought of as the formation of a “solitonic molecule” from the constitutuents of different charge.

Recently, the existence of the most robust “solitonic molecule”, the dipole-mode vector soliton, has been predicted . This novel optical vector soliton originates from trapping of a dipole-mode beam by a waveguide created by a fundamental soliton in the co-propagating, incoherently coupled, beam. While many other topologically complex structures may be created, it is only the dipole mode that is expected to generate a family of dynamically robust vector solitons . The closest counter-example is the vortex-mode vector soliton  which has a node-less shape in one component and a ring-like vortex in the other component. This radially symmetric, vector soliton undergoes a nontrivial symmetry-breaking instability , which transforms it into a more stable object - radially asymmetric dipole-mode vector soliton, even in an isotropic nonlinear medium.

While the existence and robustness of the dipole-mode vector solitons have been established theoretically for a general model of an isotropic medium with saturable nonlinearity , the main question still stands: Is the stability of these asymmetric solitons, as opposed to the radially symmetric vortex-mode solitons, a fundamental phenomenon that can be demonstrated experimentally?

In this Letter we answer this question positively. We observe dipole-mode solitons in strontium barium niobate (SBN) photorefractive crystals experimentally, by employing two different techniques. First, we use a specially fabricated phase mask to create a dipole-like structure in one of the co-propagating, mutually incoherent, beams. Second, we observe the symmetry breaking of the vortex-mode soliton and the formation of a dipole-mode soliton, as predicted by the theory.

Theoretical results. We consider two incoherently interacting optical beams propagating in a bulk, isotropic, saturable medium. The model describes (2+1)-dimensional screening solitons in photorefractive (PR) materials in the isotropic approximation . It represents a great simplification with respect to a more realistic treatment taking into account the inherent anisotropy of the nonlocal nonlinear response of a PR crystal . However, we will show that it does provide correct qualitative predictions of the phenomena observed experimentally. Moreover, due to the generality of the model, one can expect to observe similar phenomena in other nonlinear isotropic or weakly anisotropic systems.

The normalized equations for the slowly varying beam envelopes, $`E_1`$ and $`E_2`$, can be written as follows :

$$i\frac{E_{1,2}}{z}+\mathrm{\Delta }_{}E_{1,2}\frac{E_{1,2}}{1+|E_1|^2+|E_2|^2}=0,$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}`$ is the transverse Laplacian, and $`z`$ is the propagation direction. Stationary, (2+1)-dimensional solutions of these equations can be found in the form $`E_1=\sqrt{\beta _1}u(x,y)\mathrm{exp}(i\beta _1z)`$, $`E_2=\sqrt{\beta _1}w(x,y)\mathrm{exp}(i\beta _2z)`$, where $`\beta _1`$ and $`\beta _2`$ are two independent propagation constants. Measuring the coordinates $`x`$ and $`y`$ in the units of $`\sqrt{\beta _1}`$, and introducing the soliton parameter $`\lambda =(1\beta _2)/(1\beta _1)`$, we derive the stationary equations for the normalized envelopes $`u`$ and $`w`$:

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}uu+F(I)u=0,`$ (2)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}w\lambda w+F(I)w=0,`$ (3)
where $`F(I)=I(1+sI)^1`$, $`I=u^2+w^2`$, and $`s=1\beta _1`$ is the saturation parameter. The limit $`s0`$ corresponds to the Kerr medium .

As has been recently shown in , when one of the beams components, say $`w`$, is weak, a soliton formed by the $`u`$-component induces a change in the refractive index of the PR material that traps and guides the weaker $`w`$-component. If the waveguide is induced by a fundamental, bell-shaped soliton, its nonlinear guided modes form a set analogous to the Hermite-Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian linear modes supported by a radially symmetric waveguide . At higher intensities of the trapped beam, the two beams form a vector soliton that is self-trapped by a composite refractive index change induced by both beams. Apart from the bell-shaped vector solitons generated by the ground-state mode of the soliton-induced waveguide, one can anticipate various types of higher-order (2+1)-dimensional vector solitons. For example, a radially-symmetric vortex-mode vector soliton  is generated by a node-less beam guiding the component with a nonzero topological charge and the doughnut structure of a Laguerre-Gaussian ($`\mathrm{LG}_0^1`$) mode. A radially asymmetric dipole-mode vector soliton , has one node-less component, while the other component has a structure of a Hermite-Gaussian ($`\mathrm{HG}_{01}`$) mode.

The existence domain for the radially asymmetric dipole-mode vector solitons of our model (2) was determined in Ref. . A typical example of such a soliton is shown in Fig. 1(a), along with a phase distribution in a dipole-mode constituent. For any given $`s`$, the solutions are characterized by a certain cut-off value $`\lambda `$, when the dipole-mode component vanishes. Near the cut-off, the vector soliton can be approximately described by the linear waveguiding theory. With increasing $`\lambda `$, the $`w`$ component grows and deforms the effective waveguide generated by the $`u`$-mode, so that the $`u`$-component elongates and becomes radially asymmetric. The linear and dynamical stability analysis of these solitons has revealed their astounding dynamical stability, with respect to both small- and large-amplitude perturbations . Overall, the analysis performed in  suggested that the dipole-mode vortex solitons would lend themselves to experimental observation more easily than their unstable vortex-mode counterparts.

The family of radially symmetric vortex-mode solutions of Eqs. (2), in the form: $`u=u(r)`$, $`w=w(r)\mathrm{exp}(im\varphi )`$, where $`r=\sqrt{(x^2+y^2)}`$, has been numerically found in . The $`u`$ component of this solution has no topological charge and the $`w`$ component carries a single-charged vortex ($`m=\pm 1`$). In Fig. 1(b), we present a typical solution of this family, along with the helical phase distribution needed to generate a vortex in the $`w`$-component. The dynamical and linear stability analysis of these solutions conducted in  has proved that all such vortex-mode vector solitons are linearly unstable. The instability growth rate is positive for any vanishingly small amplitude of the $`w`$ component, and it increases rapidly with the vortex intensity.

Remarkably, an unstable vortex-mode soliton displays a symmetry-breaking instability. It always decays into a radially asymmetric dipole-mode soliton with nonzero angular momentum which can survive for very large propagation distances . The break-up of the vortex-mode vector soliton in a saturable medium is a nontrivial effect which, as we show below, can be used to observe dipole-mode vector solitons in PR crystals.

Experimental techniques. Formation of dipole mode vector solitons has been investigated using an experimental setup shown schematically in Fig. 2. An extraordinary polarized laser beam ($`\lambda =532nm`$) was split into two parts. First beam was then transmitted through the phase mask (or glass slide) in order to imprint the required phase structure. In this way, we could obtain either an optical vortex with intensity vanishing in the center of the beam \[see Fig. 1(b)\] or a dipole-like structure with a phase jump of $`\pi `$ across the beam along its transverse direction \[see Fig. 1(a)\] that is perpendicular to the optical axis of the crystal \[the axis $`(c)`$ in Fig. 2\]. The second beam was transmitted through the system of spherical or/and cylindrical lenses in order to form either a circular or elliptically shaped spot of desired size. The beams were later combined using the beam splitter BS2 and focused into the input face of the photorefractive crystal. We used two samples of the ferroelectric SBN crystal doped with Cerium (0.002% by weight). Their dimensions $`(a\times b\times c)`$ are $`(10\times 6\times 5)`$ $`mm`$ or $`(15\times 8\times 5)`$ $`mm`$. It is well known that photorefractive crystals biased with strong DC electric field exhibit strong positive or negative nonlinearity depending on the polarity of the field . In our case, the SBN crystal was biased with the DC field of $`1.52.5`$ $`kV`$ applied along an optical axis \[the axis ($`c`$) in Fig. 2\]. The resulting photorefractive nonlinearity was of a self-focusing, saturable character.

To control the degree of saturation, we illuminated the crystal with a wide beam derived from a white light source. We estimated the initial (i.e. at the input face of the crystal) degree of saturation to be of the order of unity in all our experiments. Since both the components forming a vector soliton have to be mutually incoherent, one of the constituent beams was reflected from a vibrating mirror mounted on a piezoelectric transducer (M2, PZT). Driving this transducer with an AC signal of $`1`$ $`kHz`$ imposed a frequency shift onto the beam. This made both beams effectively incoherent inside the photorefractive crystal as the slow photorefractive response does not follow fast changes of the relative phase between the beams. In all our experiments the initial power of the beams did not exceed a few microwatts.

Experiment vs theory. First, we generate the dipole-mode soliton by applying a phase mask to one of the input beams to create a dipole-like structure as in Fig. 1(a). If the dipole-mode bearing beam is launched simultaneously with a Gaussian beam shown in Fig. 3(b) (top row), and the two beams are made mutually incoherent, a robust dipole-mode vector soliton is generated \[Fig. 3(b), bottom row\]. However, when a dipole-mode-bearing beam is launched in the absence of a Gaussian beam, two out-of-phase lobes of the dipole beam form two coherently interacting fundamental solitons that strongly repel each other \[Fig. 4(b)\].

Our numerical simulations of the original equations (1) provide excellent agreement with the experiment, as is seen in Figs. 3(a) and 4(a). The propagation distance of $`z=35`$ used in these simulations corresponds to $`9`$ $`mm`$ propagation distance in the PR crystal, which is a priori smaller than the crystal length in most experimental runs.

Next, we examine experimentally a non-trivial break-up of the vortex mode in the presence of the Gaussian beam. Without the Gaussian beam, a scalar vortex exhibits filamentation due to the modulational instability . An intermediate stage of a complex vortex filamentation is shown in Fig. 5(a). The corresponding results of an experimental propagation of a single-charge vortex is shown in Figs. 6(a,b). The filamentation picture is different in the experimental situation owing to the and the inherent anisotropy of the nonlocal nonlinear response of a PR crystal. When the vortex component $`w`$ is launched simultaneously with the uncharged component $`u`$, the scenario of the instability development changes dramatically. The vortex-mode instability leads to the formation of a dipole-mode vector soliton, as we demonstrate numerically \[see Fig. 5(b)\] and experimentally \[see Figs. 6(c,d)\]. Importantly, the phase distribution across the profile of the resulting dipole-mode beam calculated numerically and measured in the interference experiment \[see Figs. 7 and 8\], confirms that the observed localized two-component structure is indeed the dipole-mode vector soliton predicted theoretically.

In conclusion, we have generated experimentally a novel type of vector optical soliton in a bulk medium. This soliton has a radially asymmetric structure and originates from trapping of a dipole mode by the soliton-induced waveguide, being much more robust than the corresponding vortex-mode vector soliton. Our experimental results are verified by a systematic comparison with the theory.

C. Weilnau’s stay in Australia is supported by the Deutscher Akademisher Austauschdienst (DAAD). This work was supported by the Performance and Planning Fund of the Australian National University.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Recently there have been a lot of interests in the NCOS (noncommutative open string) theory . The theory is realized as the world volume theory of D-branes with constant electric field which are taken to the critical value. To extract the worldvolume degrees of freedom only, we need to take some special limit  on the background under which all the closed string modes in bulk are decoupled. In contrast to other well-known cases, the higher massive modes of open strings are not decoupled in the limit and thus the theory is not just Yang-Mills theory, but the full open string theory defined on the noncommutative spacetime due to the electric field on the branes. In this way it becomes a consistent theory involving open strings only. In  whole class of the NCOS theories, OM (open membrane) theory and OD$`p`$ (open D$`p`$-brane) theories are defined. See also the independent work on OM theory in  and the independent work on OD1 and OD2 theories in  with the name (1,1) OBLST and (2,0) OBLST, respectively. All these theories are in the same moduli space if they are defined on torus.

One of the most obvious thing to do toward the understanding of the theory is the study of the duality of the theory, inherited from the ‘mother’ M/string theory. In the case of (3+1) dimensions the NCOS theory with $`F_{01}0`$ naturally arises  as the S-dual of the NCYM (noncommutative Yang-Mills) theory with $`B_{23}0`$ considered in . (2+1)-dimensional NCOS is S-dual to (2+1)-dimensional U(1) Yang-Mills theory on a M2-brane at low energy . (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory is S-dual  to $`(n,1)`$-string theory from which many insightful observations made in . See also . For the related issues and more recent developments in NCOS theories, see .

In this paper we study the NCOS theory on torus. In particular we show that there are U dualities between the class of matrix theory  defined on torus and the class of the NCOS theory on torus. On one hand it is described by the large $`N`$ limit of $`U(N)`$ SYM (super Yang-Mills) theory or their completions, in the sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux due to the winding fundamental strings.111As is well-known, matrix theory on $`T^p`$ is described by $`U(N)`$ SYM (super Yang-Mills) theory on $`T^p`$ for $`p3`$. On higher-dimensional torus, it is true only as the low energy effective description. For complete descriptions, we need extra ingredients . On the other hand it is described by the NCOS theory of $`M`$ D$`p`$-branes with background $`N`$ electric flux in the limit of critical value. This is deeply related to the duality between the theory of $`N`$ D$`p`$-branes with $`M`$ fundamental strings and the theory of $`M`$ D$`p`$-branes with $`N`$ fundamental strings. This, so-called, N-duality was first discussed in  in the context of four dimensional SYM.

However, we would like to stress that we show the same U-duality maps the scaling limit of the backgrounds in one theory to the scaling limit of the backgrounds in the other. On one hand the decoupling limit gives that all the closed string and massive open string modes are decoupled and thus the theory reduces to ordinary Yang-Mills type theory. On the other hand the scaling limit of the background, which are connected by U-duality from the former, results in the decoupling of bulk closed string modes, and gives the theory of open strings only in the background of non-commutative space-time, thus gives NCOS theory. This tells that the dual theory of $`U(N)`$ SYM with $`M`$ unit flux of electric field is not $`U(M)`$ SYM with $`N`$ electric flux, but rather the full NCOS theory on $`M`$ D-branes with $`N`$ unit flux of electric field.

In the case of $`T^1`$ and $`T^2`$ compactifications, the duality maps strong coupling regime of one theory to the weak coupling regime in the other and vice versa . In the case of $`T^3`$ compactification, the Yang-Mills coupling in matrix theory is independent of the open string coupling in the NCOS theory. For higher dimensional torus compactifications, the weak coupling regime of one theory maps to the weak coupling regime of the other. From these dualities, we can easily see that the Higgsing process in matrix theory corresponds to extracting fundamental string in the NCOS theory. This is easily confirmed by computing binding energy which should be identical in both cases.

We also consider some bound states which have finite energy. Once again, under the U-duality, bound states in one theory map to the bound states in the other with the same finite energy, which support the U-duality between those theories. In the case of matrix theory on $`T^4`$ and $`T^5`$ compactifications, these bound states play essential roles for the complete description of the theory.

In section 2 we shortly review the appropriate scaling limit for each class of theories. In section 3 we explain the U-duality which connects the NCOS theory and the matrix theory for each $`T^p`$ compactifications. In section 4 we draw some conclusions.

## 2 Decoupling limit and $`T^p`$ compactifications

In this section we review the scaling limit taken to get the NCOS theory and the matrix theory, under which all the bulk degrees of freedom are decoupled. We also discuss the torus compactifications of those theories.

### 2.1  NCOS theory

Consider a D$`p`$-brane with a near critical electric field in the 0,1 direction. The electric field on the brane is given by

$$2\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{01}F_{01}=1\frac{ϵ}{2},$$
(1)
where critical electric field corresponds to $`ϵ=0`$:

$$ϵ^{01}F_{01}^{crit}=\frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}.$$
(2)
In the presence of background electric field, or equivalently $`B_{01}`$ field on the D-brane worldvolume, the metric seen by bulk closed string modes are different from the effective metric seen by the open strings on the D-brane worldvolume. The background metric for closed string is chosen to be  222$`\mu ,\nu =0,1`$ denote the electric directions on the brane and $`i,j=2,3,\mathrm{},p`$ denote the remaining directions of the brane. $`M,N=p+1,\mathrm{},9`$ denote the directions transverse to the brane.

$$g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu },g_{ij}=ϵ\delta _{ij},g_{MN}=ϵ\delta _{MN}.$$
(3)
The effective string tension of the open string stretched in the $`x^1`$ direction is

$$\frac{1}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}}\frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}\left(12\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{01}F_{01}\right)=\frac{ϵ}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}.$$
(4)
Therefore, while $`\alpha ^{}M_s^2`$ sets the scale of closed string modes, $`\alpha _e^{}M_e^2`$ can be considered as the scale of open string modes stretched in the electric direction. The effective open string metric, noncommutativity parameter and string coupling $`G_o^2`$ corresponding to (3) can be determined as

$$G_{\mu \nu }=ϵ\eta _{\mu \nu },G_{ij}=ϵ\delta _{ij},\mathrm{\Theta }^{\mu \nu }=2\pi \alpha _e^{}ϵ^{\mu \nu },G_o^2=g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}.$$
(5)
The NCOS limit , under which the bulk closed string modes are decoupled, is given by $`ϵ0`$ while taking $`\alpha _e^{}`$, $`G_o`$ fixed. Therefore, under this limit, the scaling is summarized as

$`g_{\mu \nu }𝒪(1),g_{ij}ϵ,g_{MN}ϵ,g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},\alpha ^{}ϵ.`$ (6)
Note that if we have compactification along the circle in the non-electric direction of D-brane worldvolume, then the scaling (6) implies the proper radius of the circle behaves as $`R_iϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}0`$. Because of the scaling behavior (6), the scaling of closed string metric, string coupling and string tension after the T-duality is the same as before the T-duality and thus again given by (6). Therefore ($`p+1`$)-dimensional NCOS theory on $`S^1`$ in the non-electric direction on the worldvolume is T-dual to a $`p`$-dimensional NCOS theory on dual torus in the transverse direction.

### 2.2 Matrix theory on $`T^p`$

Consider the system with $`N`$ D0-branes. We want to take the scaling limit  under which the low energy description is solely given by the degrees of freedom on $`N`$ D0-branes. To decouple the bulk closed string modes we take the scaling limit $`\alpha ^{}0`$ while keeping the energy of stretched open strings between D0-branes with transverse distance $`r`$,

$$E=\frac{r}{\alpha ^{}},$$

fixed. We also keep Yang-Mills coupling constant $`g_{YM}^2=\frac{g_s}{2\pi (\alpha ^{})^{\frac{3}{2}}}`$ fixed. These requirements fix the scaling of string coupling and the closed string metric in terms of the scaling of $`\alpha ^{}`$. Let

$$\alpha ^{}ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}$$
(7)
in the scaling limit $`ϵ0`$. Then we have

$`g_sϵ^{\frac{3}{4}},g_{MN}ϵ,M_pϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},Rϵ,`$ (8)
where $`M_p=\frac{M_s}{g_s^{\frac{1}{3}}}`$ and $`R=\frac{g_s}{M_s}`$ denote eleven-dimensional Planck scale and eleventh circle radius, respectively. In the $`ϵ0`$ limit, we arrive at the theory in which all the bulk closed string modes as well as the massive modes of open strings333Note that, in this setup, the scale of open string modes is the same as the scale of closed string modes, $`M_s`$. It is also true in the sector with electric flux. attached between D0-branes are decoupled. Therefore the remaining relevant degrees of freedom are massless modes of open strings on the worldvolume of D0-branes and the system is described by (0+1) dimensional SYM quantum mechanics. One may take the discrete light-cone  to lift to eleven-dimensions and then by taking the large $`N`$ limit, we would get the matrix model originally proposed in .

One can get similar scaling limit for the system with $`N`$ D$`p`$-branes ($`p3`$) which keeps SYM degrees of freedom only. It is given by

$`\alpha ^{}ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},g_sϵ^{\frac{3p}{4}},g_{MN}ϵ,`$ (9)
while the metric components in the longitudinal direction are kept fixed in the limit. Therefore, for $`p3`$, the system is described by SYM theory with Yang-Mills coupling constant,

$$g_{YM}^2=(2\pi )^{p2}g_s(\alpha ^{})^{\frac{p3}{2}}.$$
(10)
For $`p4`$, the SYM theory is not renormalizable and typically new degrees of freedom enter . In this paper we call all these worldvolume theories of D$`p`$-branes, M2-brane, M5-brane and NS5-branes in the scaling limit (9)444The scaling limit for NS5-brane is the S-dual version of (9). as matrix theory.

Now consider the theory defined on $`p`$-torus starting from (0+1)-dimensional matrix theory set-up . In this case the proper torus radii $`R_iϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ from (8) are vanishingly small, thus it is natural to perform T-duality along the $`p`$-torus. After T-duality, $`N`$ D0-branes turn into $`N`$ D$`p`$-branes wrapped in the dual torus with radii

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_i=\frac{\alpha ^{}}{R_i}𝒪(1).$$

The scaling behavior of string coupling and string tension becomes

$`g_s^{}=g_s{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{p}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}{R_i}}ϵ^{\frac{3p}{4}},\alpha ^{}ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},g_{MN}ϵ,`$ (11)
which is the same as (9).

## 3 U-duality of the NCOS theory on $`T^p`$

In this section we describe the U-duality transformations of the NCOS theories on $`T^p`$. The basic set-up is $`N`$ D0-branes with $`M`$ KK momentum along compactified $`x^1`$ in the scaling limit (8). As explained in the previous section, after T-duality, it becomes (1+1)-dimensional SYM theory. In matrix theory all BPS states in M theory are realized as bound states in SYM or its completions. The physics of M theory in the background of those bound states would be described by the local fluctuations on the corresponding bound states in matrix theory. In the case at hand, the KK momentum turns into fundamental string wrapping $`S^1`$. Therefore it becomes the bound state of $`(N,M)`$ strings which is described by (1+1)-dimensional SYM theory in the sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux. If we have further torus compactifications, we simply take T-duality on those tori, following the prescriptions given in the last section, and get the matrix theory on $`T^p`$ with $`M`$ units of electric flux.

Another way to describe this is to take $`x^1`$ \- $`x^{11}`$ flip. This turns out to correspond to the NCOS theory. For $`T^p`$ with $`p=1,2`$, this reduces to the known results , namely, the S-duality between NCOS theory and SYM. For $`T^p`$ with $`p3`$, we encounter new dual relations.

### 3.1 (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory

We begin with $`N`$ sector of matrix theory on $`S^1`$ with background $`M`$ KK momentum along the circle, in the scaling limit (8). The T-duality along the circle, turns the system into the theory of ($`N`$,$`M`$)-strings which is (1+1)-dimensional $`U(N)`$ SYM theory with $`M`$ units flux of electric field. The scaling of the background goes as

$$g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu },g_{MN}=ϵ\delta _{MN},g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},\alpha ^{}ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}.$$
(12)
The allowed values of the electric field on the D-string are quantized, and the quantum number can be interpreted as the number of fundamental strings immersed in D-strings. The $`M`$ unit of electric flux in $`N`$ D-strings can be expressed as

$`N{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{01}F_{01}}{\sqrt{1(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2F^2}}}=g_sM.`$ (13)
Note that, if we take the scaling in matrix theory, (12), the effective string tension of open strings stretched in $`x^1`$ direction is the same as the string tension of closed strings in bulk, $`(2\pi \alpha ^{})^1`$, as $`2\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{01}F_{01}0`$, independent of finite $`N`$ and $`M`$. Therefore we can conclude that, in the scaling limit (12), it is described by (1+1)-dimensional ordinary $`U(N)`$ SYM in the sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux.

Now we take different path, in which we consider $`x^1`$ as eleventh circle. This amounts to the $`x^1`$ \- $`x^{11}`$ flip. After relabeling the coordinates, the scaling (8) maps to

$`M_pϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},Rϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},R_1ϵ,R_Mϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}.`$ (14)
Now after compactification on this new $`x^{11}`$ circle, the scaling of parameters in ten-dimensional IIA string theory becomes

$`g_s𝒪(1),\alpha ^{}ϵ.`$ (15)
After T-duality along $`x^1`$, whose radius is vanishingly small, the scaling goes as

$`R_1𝒪(1),R_Mϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},\alpha ^{}ϵ,`$ (16)
which is nothing but the scaling behavior of (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory (6). Indeed, under these chain of dualities, $`N`$ D0-branes with $`M`$ KK momentum become $`M`$ D-strings with background $`N`$ units of electric flux, which is given by

$$2\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{01}F_{01}=1\frac{ϵ}{2}=\frac{g_s\frac{N}{M}}{\sqrt{1+(g_s\frac{N}{M})^2}}.$$
(17)
Therefore $`ϵ`$, which represents the deviation of electric flux from critical value, is given by

$`ϵ=\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{Ng_s}}\right)^2,`$ (18)
from which we find

$$G_o^2=\frac{M}{N}.$$
(19)
Therefore on the one end of the chain of dualities, we have the (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory of $`M`$ D-strings with $`N`$ units of near critical electric flux and on the other end we have $`U(N)`$ SYM in a sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux background, as summarized in table 1.

| Theory | $`g_s`$ | $`\alpha ^{}`$ | $`x^1`$ radius | D-string | E-flux |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NCOS | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | M | N |
| SYM | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | N | M |

Table 1. 1+1 dimensional theories

The Higgsing energy is identical in both theories , as a simple consequence of U-duality. In the SYM theory, the bound state energy of $`N`$ D-string with $`M`$ units of electric flux wrapping $`x^1`$-circle is given by

$$H_{(M,N)}=\sqrt{\left(\frac{Nr_1}{g_s\alpha ^{}}\right)^2+\left(\frac{Mr_1}{\alpha ^{}}\right)^2},$$
(20)
in which the first term in the square root divergies much faster than the second one, under the scaling limit (12). The energy of the ground state in $`U(N)`$ SYM with $`M`$ units of electric flux above the $`U(N)`$ SYM ground state with no flux is given by

$$E_{(M,N)}=H_{(M,N)}H_{(0,N)}=2\pi r_1\frac{g_{YM}^2}{2}\frac{M^2}{N},$$
(21)
which is finite under the scaling limit (12). Here the gauge coupling of $`U(N)`$ SYM theory is given by

$$g_{YM}^2=\frac{g_s}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}=\frac{1}{2\pi G_o^4\alpha _e^{}},$$
(22)
from the table 1. Therefore, using (19) the ground state energy is given by

$$E_{(M,N)}=2\pi r_1\frac{N}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}},$$
(23)
and thus the energy needed to extract D-string is

$$E=2\pi r_1\frac{1}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}},$$
(24)
which is the same energy needed to separate an open string with the effective tension $`(4\pi \alpha _e^{})^1`$ in (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory on $`S^1`$ with the radius $`r_1`$ .

One may understand this identification in the following way. Consider the bound state energy of $`M`$ D-string with $`N`$ units of electric flux wrapping $`x^1`$-circle, which is again given by (20) with interchanged $`N`$ and $`M`$. Now we would like to impose the scaling limit (16) of NCOS theory. Then the second term in the square root divergies much faster than the first term. The ground state energy above the ground state energy of $`N`$ fundamental strings only is given by

$$E_{(N,M)}=H_{(N,M)}H_{(N,0)}=2\pi r_1N_1\frac{M^2}{4\pi N^2g_s^2\alpha ^{}}=2\pi r_1\frac{N}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}}.$$
(25)
Therefore we may consider the effective tension of the open string in the NCOS theory as $`(4\pi \alpha _e^{})^1`$ which agrees with (4). Of course, this is a simple consequence of U-duality555The diverging energy, which is subtracted, is also identical in both theories as, again, a consequence of U-duality.. As will be shown in the following subsections this holds true in the higher-dimensional torus compactifications.

We also note that this dual relation holds even after taking the decompactification limit $`r_1\mathrm{}`$. This can be confirmed by noting that one can also get the same conclusion by simply taking S-duality  starting from (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory.

### 3.2 (2+1)-dimensional NCOS theory

The dual relation between NCOS theory on $`M`$ D-branes with $`N`$ electric flux and $`U(N)`$ SYM with $`M`$ electric flux holds in higher dimensional $`T^p`$ compactifications. On $`T^2`$ compactifications, we find the dual theory of NCOS theory on $`M`$ D2-branes with $`N`$ electric flux is $`U(N)`$ SYM theory in the sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux. This is achieved by taking another T-duality starting from the configurations in the previous subsection. It is easily seen by examining the corresponding scaling limit they require. In the matrix theory side, they are given by (11) for $`p=2`$, while in the NCOS theory side, after taking T-duality the scaling is given by

$`R_1𝒪(1),R_iϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},R_Mϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},M_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},`$ (26)
which is the same scaling as (6). The relation between these two theories are summarized in table 2, in which $`g_o^2G_o^1(r_2M_e)^{\frac{3}{2}}`$.

| Theory | $`g_s`$ | $`\alpha ^{}`$ | $`x^1`$ radius | $`x^2`$ radius | $`x^{11}`$ radius | $`M_p^3`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NCOS | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_2`$ | $`G_o^2\alpha _e^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ | $`ϵ^1\frac{M_e^3}{G_o^2}`$ |
| SYM | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{4}}g_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{G_o}{g_o}\right)^{\frac{4}{3}}\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | $`G_o^2\alpha _e^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_2`$ | $`ϵ^1\frac{M_e^3}{G_o^2}`$ |

Table 2. 2+1 dimensional theories

One can see that these two theories are S-dual each other. The strong coupling regime of NCOS theory, $`G_o^2\mathrm{}`$, maps to the weak coupling limit of SYM theory with gauge coupling,

$$g_{YM}^2=\frac{g_s}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}=G_o^2\frac{r_2^2}{(\alpha _e^{})^{\frac{3}{2}}}.$$
(27)
Viewing as T-dual version of (1+1)-dimensional NCOS theory, the (2+1)-dimensional NCOS theory has open string coupling

$$G_o^2=\frac{M}{N}(r_2M_e).$$
(28)
In the $`U(N)`$ SYM theory with $`M`$ units of electric flux, the ground state energy above the $`U(N)`$ SYM ground state without electric flux is given by

$`E`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\left({\displaystyle \frac{Nr_1l_2}{2\pi g_s(\alpha ^{})^{\frac{3}{2}}}}\right)^2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{Mr_1}{\alpha ^{}}}\right)^2}{\displaystyle \frac{Nr_1l_2}{2\pi g_s(\alpha ^{})^{\frac{3}{2}}}}`$ (29)
$`=`$ $`2\pi r_1{\displaystyle \frac{g_{YM}^2}{2l_2}}{\displaystyle \frac{M^2}{N}},`$
where $`l_2=2\pi G_o^2\alpha _e^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ is the proper size of the $`x^2`$-circle in SYM theory. Therefore using (27) and (28) the ground state energy is given by

$$E=2\pi r_1\frac{N}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}}$$
(30)
Therefore the energy cost needed for taking single D2-brane to infinity is $`2\pi r_1\frac{1}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}}`$, the same energy cost to liberate a fundamental string in (2+1)-dimensional NCOS theory. Again this is a consequence of U-duality.

The above dual relation can be derived by directly interchanging $`x^2`$ and $`x^{11}`$ coordinates in the (2+1)-dimensional NCOS theory on the torus, as can be readily seen in the table 2.

### 3.3 (3+1)-dimensional NCOS theory

In this section we discuss the case of $`p=3`$. Here we have new dual theories of (3+1)-dimensional NCOS theory. If $`x^3`$ is also a compact coordinate, we can start from the above (2+1)-dimensional theories, and take T-duality. In this way we find the dual theory of NCOS theory on $`M`$ D3-branes wrapping on $`T^3`$ with $`N`$ units of electric flux are $`U(N)`$ SYM theory on $`T^3`$ in a sector with $`M`$ units of electric flux. The (3+1)-dimensional NCOS theory has open string coupling

$$G_o^2=\frac{M}{N}\frac{r_2r_3}{\alpha _e^{}},$$
(31)
which is given by T-dualizing (2+1)-dimensional NCOS theory on the torus. The coupling constant of this SYM theory is given by

$$g_{YM}^2=2\pi \frac{r_2r_3}{\alpha _e^{}},$$
(32)
where $`r_2`$, $`r_3`$ are defined in the table 3. The coupling is independent of the original open string coupling constant $`G_o`$! It is not strong-weak coupling duality as in the previous examples and thus one may be able to compare the behavior of one weakly coupled theory to another weakly coupled theory.

Since we are on IIB side, the theory has S-duality. By applying  S-duality on the NCOS theory of $`M`$ D3-branes with $`N`$ units of electric flux, one obtains NCYM theory of $`M`$ D3-branes with $`N`$ units of magnetic flux . The magnetic field is given by

$`F_{23}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\theta }}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{g}}{g_s}}{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ^{01}F_{01}}{\sqrt{1(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2F_{01}^2}}}`$ (33)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi G_o^2\alpha _e^{}}}.`$
Thus the dimensionless parameter $`\mathrm{\Theta }=\frac{1}{2\pi r_2r_3}\theta `$ defined in  has rational value $`\mathrm{\Theta }=\frac{M}{N}`$ after using (31). In this case it was shown in  that there is a T-duality which maps NCYM theory to ordinary SYM theory.

By applying S-duality on the ordinary $`U(N)`$ SYM theory in the sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux, one gets ordinary $`U(N)`$ SYM theory in the sector of $`M`$ units of magnetic flux with gauge coupling

$$(g_{YM}^{})^2=\frac{4\pi ^2}{g_{YM}^2}.$$
(34)
In fact this $`U(N)`$ SYM theory with $`M`$ units of magnetic flux is the one mentioned above as a T-dual theory to the NCYM theory.

All these are summarized in the table 3 where $`g_o^2\frac{g_{YM}^2}{2\pi }=\frac{r_2r_3}{\alpha _e^{}}`$.

| Theory | $`g_s`$ | $`\alpha ^{}`$ | $`x^1`$ radius | $`x^i`$ radius | $`g_{MN}`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NCOS | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_i`$ | $`ϵ\delta _{MN}`$ |
| NCYM | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_i`$ | $`ϵ\delta _{MN}`$ |
| SYM with |  |  |  |  |  |
| E-flux | $`g_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{G_o}{g_o}\right)^2\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | $`\left(\frac{G_o}{g_o}\right)^2r_i`$ | $`ϵ\delta _{MN}`$ |
| SYM with |  |  |  |  |  |
| M-flux | $`g_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`r_1`$ | $`\left(\frac{G_o}{g_o}\right)^2r_i`$ | $`ϵ\delta _{MN}`$ |

Table 3. 3+1 dimensional theories

Here again, the Higgsing energy in SYM theory corresponds to the energy required to extract a string in NCOS theory. Since the case with electric flux was presented in the previous sections for lower dimensional D-branes, here we present only the case with magnetic flux. In the $`U(N)`$ SYM theory with $`M`$ units of magnetic flux, the ground state energy above the $`U(N)`$ SYM ground state without magnetic flux is given by

$`E`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\left({\displaystyle \frac{Nr_1l_2l_3}{g_s(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2}}\right)^2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{Mr_1}{g_s\alpha ^{}}}\right)^2}{\displaystyle \frac{Nr_1l_2l_3}{g_s(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2}}`$ (35)
$`=`$ $`2\pi r_1{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi ^2}{(g_{YM}^{})^2l_2l_3}}{\displaystyle \frac{M^2}{N}},`$
where $`l_i=2\pi \frac{G_o}{g_o}^2r_i`$ is the proper size of the $`x^i`$-circle in SYM theory. Therefore using (31), (32) and (34), the ground state energy is given by

$$E=2\pi r_1\frac{N}{4\pi \alpha _e^{}},$$
(36)
And therefore the Higgsing energy in $`U(N)`$ SYM with $`M`$ units of magnetic flux coincides with the energy cost to send a wrapping string along $`x^1`$-direction to infinity.

### 3.4 OM theory

Next we consider the $`T^4`$ compactification. In the matrix theory side, after taking T-duality along the torus, the string coupling divergies, as can be seen from (11) with $`p=4`$. Therefore we are considering the strong coupling limit of IIA string theory, which is an eleven dimensional M theory. D4-branes become M5-branes wrapping the eleventh dimension whose radius is now finite and is given by

$`R_{11}=g_s\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}𝒪(1).`$ (37)
The low energy (4+1)-dimensional SYM theory on D4-brane worldvolume is not renormalizable and breaks down at energies of order $`E\frac{1}{g_{YM}^2}`$, where new degrees of freedom should be taken into account. Since the SYM coupling is given by $`g_{YM}^2=(2\pi )^2R_{11},`$ the new degrees of freedom are the KK momentum in eleventh direction, i.e. D0 particles in ten dimensional point of view.

The eleven dimensional Planck scale becomes

$`M_P={\displaystyle \frac{M_s}{(g_s)^{1/3}}}ϵ^{1/6}\mathrm{}.`$ (38)
Therefore the bulk degrees of freedom are decoupled and it becomes the theory of $`N`$ M5 branes in eleven dimensions, i.e. (0,2) theory , with $`M`$ unit flux of background worldvolume three form field strength.

In the dual NCOS theory, after taking T-duality along $`T^4`$, the string coupling diverges, $`g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}`$, so we may lift to the eleven dimensions again. Here the radius of eleventh direction is fixed under the limit and in fact is the same as the eleventh radius in the matrix theory above. The eleven dimensional Planck scale becomes $`M_Pϵ^{1/3}\mathrm{}.`$ Therefore (4+1)-dimensional NCOS theory can be considered as the compactification of (5+1)-dimensional OM theory with finite radius. Indeed it gives the right scaling for the OM theory with a background worldvolume three form field strength

$$H_{012}=\frac{2\pi F_{01}}{R_{11}}=ϵ^12M_{\mathrm{eff}}^3\left(1\frac{ϵ}{2}\right),$$
(39)
where $`R_{11}=G_o^2(\alpha _e^{})^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ is the radius of the eleventh coordinate. $`\frac{M_{\mathrm{eff}}^3}{4\pi ^2}\frac{M_e^3}{8\pi ^2G_o^2}`$ is the effective tension of a open membrane stretched in the $`x^1`$ and $`x^{11}`$ directions . This can be confirmed in the same way as the case of effective string tension in section 3.1. One can consider the bound state energy of D4-branes with electric flux in the NCOS scaling limit (6) and then reexpress in the eleven dimensional variables. The relation between the (4+1)-dimensional NCOS theory on $`M`$ D4-branes and matrix theory with $`M`$ units of electric flux are summarized in table 4 with $`g_o^2G_o(r_2r_3r_4M_e^3)^{\frac{1}{2}}`$.

| Theory | $`g_s`$ | $`\alpha ^{}`$ | $`x^i`$ radius | $`x^{11}`$ radius | $`M_p^3`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NCOS | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_i`$ | $`G_o^2\alpha _e^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ | $`ϵ^1\frac{M_e^3}{G_o^2}`$ |
| matrix theory |  |  |  |  |  |
| with E-flux | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{4}}g_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{G_o}{g_o}\right)^4\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`\left(\frac{G_o}{g_o}\right)^4r_i`$ | $`G_o^2\alpha _e^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{g_o}{G_o}\right)^4\frac{M_e^3}{G_o^2}`$ |

Table 4. 4+1 dimensional theories

The NCOS theory on torus has other degrees of freedom with finite energy. These are D-branes wrapping on the non-electric directions. In the (4+1)-dimensional NCOS theory, D0-branes and D2-branes wrapping on 2-torus can have finite energy. Especially D0-branes have the energy

$$E=\frac{1}{R_{11}}=\frac{M_e}{G_o^2}$$

thus in the strong coupling regime, $`G_o>1`$, D0-brane excitation has lower energy than the string stretched in the $`x^1`$ direction. Under U-duality we are considering, the D0-brane in NCOS theory maps to D0-brane in matrix theory on $`T^4`$. This identification can be easily established as both theories have the same $`X^{11}`$ radius and thus D0-branes have the same excitation energies in both theories.

### 3.5 Near critical NS5-brane theory

Finally we consider the compactification on $`T^5`$. In the matrix theory side, after taking T-duality along $`T^5`$, (11) tells us that it becomes the strong coupling limit of D5-branes in type IIB theory. Therefore we perform the S-duality and then it becomes the theory of $`N`$ NS5-branes in type IIB theory with $`M`$ unit flux background. Note that the unit flux of electric field on the worldvolume of D5-branes can be traded for the unit $`B_{01}`$ NS 2-form field by the gauge transformation, which turns into the unit $`C_{01}`$ RR gauge field under S-duality. The theory has vanishingly small string coupling, $`g_sϵ^{\frac{1}{2}},`$ and finite closed string tension in the limit $`ϵ0`$. The original gauge coupling (10) turns, under S-duality, into $`g_{YM}^2=(2\pi )^3\alpha ^{}.`$ The low energy effective gauge theory on the NS5-branes is not renormalizable and breaks down at energies of order $`E\frac{1}{g_{YM}}\frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}`$ where new degrees of freedom enter. They are strings with tension $`(2\pi \alpha ^{})^1`$ and thus can be interpreted as the fundamental strings on NS5-branes. Since $`g_s0`$, the bulk degrees of freedom are decoupled and those strings remain on the NS5-branes. This theory is known as LST (little string theory) . By taking T-duality, one can get LST on type IIA NS5-branes.

In the NCOS side, after performing T-duality along $`T^5`$, the theory becomes (5+1)-dimensional NCOS theory on D5-brane, where the open fundamental string stretched in the electric direction remains light degrees of freedom. In this case the theory is in type IIB side and thus we can take S-duality. The resultant theory is the decoupled theory on the worldvolume of the NS5-brane with a near critical background $`C_{01}`$ RR gauge field. In this case the light degrees of freedom are open D-strings due to a near critical two form RR potential and the theory is called OD1 theory  or (1,1) OBLST . These are S-dual version of fundamental strings with a near critical two form NS-NS potential, or electric field on the original D5-brane. When the OD1 theory is defined on the torus, as in the present case, we can take T-duality and the theory becomes OD$`p`$ theory on the NS5-brane worldvolume, whose light degrees of freedom are open D$`p`$-branes stretched in the direction of RR $`C_{p+1}`$ fields. Note that for even $`p`$ the theory is the worldvolume theory of type IIA NS5-brane and for odd $`p`$ it is the worldvolume theory of type IIB NS5-brane, just like in the matrix theory. In table 5, the relations between these theories are summarized. Here we show the case of OD1 theory only. Other OD$`p`$ theories for $`p1`$ can be easily given by taking appropriate T-duality.

| Theory | $`g_s`$ | $`\alpha ^{}`$ | $`x^i`$ radius |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NCOS theory | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_i`$ |
| OD1 theory | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2\alpha _e^{}`$ | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}r_i`$ |
| LST |  |  |  |
| with E-flux | $`ϵ^{\frac{1}{2}}G_o^2`$ | $`G_o^4\frac{\alpha _e^3}{r_2r_3r_4r_5}`$ | $`G_o^2\frac{\alpha _e^2}{r_2r_3r_4r_5}r_i`$ |

Table 5. 5+1 dimensional theories

The (5+1)-dimensional NCOS theory and OD1 theory on the torus also has additional degrees of freedom with finite energy. These are related to the little strings in LST under U-duality. In the NCOS theory they are D-strings wrapped in one toroidal direction. In the OD1 theory they are fundamental strings wrapped in the same direction 666After T-duality the theory becomes the OD$`p`$ theory on the dual torus and these finite energy excitations correspond to KK momentum in the T-dualized direction.. By U-dual chain, all these map to the little string wrapped in the same direction in LST. For example, one can easily see from the table 5 that the energy of fundamental strings wrapped in the $`x^5`$-coordinate in OD1 theory is given by

$$E=\frac{r_5}{G_o^2\alpha _e^{}},$$

which is the same as the energy for the little string in LST and D-string in NCOS theory, wrapped in the same direction. One can also easily confirm that, along the same line of arguments shown in the lower dimensional toroidal compactifications, all these theories on torus have the same Higgsing energy due to U-duality. The corresponding process in NCOS theory is the separation of open fundamental string wrapped in the $`x^1`$ direction to the infinity. In OD$`p`$ theory with $`C_{0\mathrm{}p}0`$ it corresponds to the separation of D$`p`$-brane wrapped in the $`x^1,\mathrm{}x^p`$ directions to the infinity. Note that in this case U-duality maps weakly coupled regime of OD1 theory to weakly coupled regime of LST.

## 4 Discussions

Now there are two (or more) different ways to study the worldvolume theory on $`N`$ D$`p`$-branes with $`M`$ units of electric flux and their analogues in M5-branes and NS5-branes. One is to take the scaling limit (11), under which all the bulk degrees of freedom and massive modes of open strings attached to the branes are decoupled and the theory reduces to $`U(N)`$ SYM theory or its generalization for $`p4`$ in the sector of $`M`$ units of electric flux. Another way to study the system is to take the scaling limit (6), under which the bulk closed string modes are again decoupled, while the massive modes of open strings stretched in the electric direction can not be neglected and thus the theory becomes full open string theory defined on noncommutative spacetime. What has been shown in this paper is that these are connected by U-duality inherited from M theory, with the exchange of the number of branes and the number of units of electric flux, i.e. they lie in the same moduli space. We can identify the bound states with finite energy in the NCOS theory with the states in the matrix theory. Some of these states correspond to the elementary excitations in matrix theory on $`T^4`$ and $`T^5`$ compactifications. These dual relations nicely explain that NCOS theories reduces to matrix theory at low energies .

From the dual relations between NCOS theory and DLCQ M theory, one would get lots of useful information and insights on those theories. In particular, it is quite striking that we can study the large $`N`$ limit of matrix theory on torus, in the sector of $`M`$ unit of electric flux, using the NCOS theory.

This U-duality would have deep implications in the dual gravity descriptions of those theories. We will return this issue in the near future.

## Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by grant No. 2000-1-11200-001-3 from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation.