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# Absolute dimensions of the unevolved B-type eclipsing binary GG OrionisSome of the observations reported here were obtained with the Multiple Mirror Telescope, a joint facility of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona.

## 1 Introduction

The discovery of GG Orionis (HD 290842, Tycho 4767 857 1, $`V=10.411.1`$, B9.5 V, $`\alpha =05^h43^m10\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}2`$, $`\delta =00\mathrm{°}41\mathrm{}15\mathrm{}`$, epoch and equinox J2000) as a variable star is due to Hoffmeister (1934), who observed the object photographically at the Sonneberg Observatory. The correct period of 6.631 days was first given by Kordylewski (1951) based on visual and photographic times of minimum. This author obtained a mean visual light curve, and established that the orbit is eccentric from the displacement of the secondary minimum.

Aside from the occasional measurement of the times of eclipse by a number of authors, GG Ori has remained until recently a rather neglected system. Double lines in the spectrum were detected by Lacy (1984), who described them as being narrow and of nearly equal strength, but no detailed spectroscopic study has been made to date. The first photoelectric light curves were published by Zakirov (1997), who presented light elements for this well detached binary solved by the method of Lavrov (1993).

Based on the fact that the orbit is eccentric, it is expected that the system may present a measurable apsidal motion. This effect is of great interest in the study of detached eclipsing binaries because it provides information on the internal structure of stars that may be compared with predictions from theory. From its spectral type and other known properties, GG Ori was listed by Giménez (1985) as a good candidate for the study of the contribution of General Relativity to the secular displacement of the line of apsides, given that the relativistic effect is expected to be dominant in this particular case.

GG Ori is located in the Orion OB1 association (see, e.g., Blaauw 1964; Warren & Hesser 1977), a complex region of star formation that has been the subject of numerous studies to determine the properties of the population of young stars and surrounding gas. The binary is located not far from the Belt of Orion, and therefore there is reason to expect that the system might also be quite young, adding to its interest.

In this paper we present new high-quality photoelectric light curves in two passbands, which we analyze together with other published photometry. We also report the results of our intensive spectroscopic monitoring of GG Ori that, combined with the light curves, enable us to derive highly precise absolute dimensions for both components of the system. The stars turn out to be nearly identical in all their properties.

Our current knowledge of the internal structure and evolution of stars is such that observed stellar properties determined with errors of even 5% are of little value to constrain the models in any significant way, since the differences between competing calculations or the effects of slight changes in the input physics or atomic constants are below this level (see Andersen 1991, 1998). The masses we obtain here have errors smaller than 1%, and the radii are determined to better than 2%. We use these determinations for a comparison with the predictions of recent stellar evolution models, which suggest a very young age for the system. An analysis of all available eclipse timings along with our radial velocities leads to a small but apparently significant apsidal motion detection. We discuss the importance of the relativistic effect mentioned above compared to classical effects from rotational and tidal distortions. In addition, we examine the predictions from tidal theory regarding spin-orbit synchronization and the circularization of the orbit.

## 2 Spectroscopic observations and reductions

GG Ori was observed spectroscopically at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Observations at KPNO were made with the 2.1m and coudé-feed spectrometer from 1983 December to 1999 March. A total of 15 spectrograms were obtained with a variety of CCD detectors. A spectral resolution of 0.02 nm or 2 pixels was used before May 1998, and 0.03 nm or 3 pixels after that date. The spectral coverage was about 10 nm in the first 12 spectrograms, and 32 nm in the last 3 spectrograms. The central wavelength of those observations was 450 nm.

Projected rotational velocities ($`v\mathrm{sin}i`$) were determined by comparing line widths of the binary components’ unblended features with artificially-broadened features in the spectra of comparison stars with known values of $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$. These comparison stars were chosen to be of nearly the same spectral type as GG Ori, and were observed with the same instrumental configuration as the binary. The reference stars used were $`o`$ Peg (HR 8641, A1 IV, $`v\mathrm{sin}i=10\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$; Fekel 1998, private communication), 68 Tau (HR 1389, A2 IV-V, $`v\mathrm{sin}i=18\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$; Hoffleit 1982), and HR 8404 (21 Peg, B9.5 V, $`v\mathrm{sin}i=4\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$; Fekel 1999). From these comparisons in 10 of the spectrograms, values of $`24\pm 2\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`23\pm 2\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ were determined for the primary and secondary in GG Ori, respectively, based mainly on the Mg II 448.1 nm line. The uncertainties given account for the scatter of the line width measurements as well as the agreement between the results using different standard stars. The component of GG Ori we call here the “primary” (also star “A”) is the one eclipsed at phase 0.0 in the light curve (see §4). Formally it is also the more massive one, but only marginally so, as we describe later.

Radial velocities of the components were measured by cross-correlation with the FXCOR task in IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation., using standard stars (same as above) with known radial velocities as templates. Radial velocities for the low-amplitude spectroscopic binary star $`o`$ Peg were taken from the orbit of Fekel (1999). The radial velocity of HR 8404 was taken as $`+0.2\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ based on 12 velocities by Fekel (1999), and for 68 Tau we adopted the value $`+39.0\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, from the same source. Our measurements for GG Ori from the 11 spectra with relatively unblended lines are given in Table 1.

In addition to the radial and rotational velocities, we determined the line strength ratio from 17 line pairs in spectra of good signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. This may be used as a proxy for the light ratio between the stars. We obtained $`\mathrm{EW}_A/\mathrm{EW}_B=1.01\pm 0.02`$, corresponding to the blue region of the spectrum. Because the two components are virtually identical, no correction for the difference in temperature is needed, and the ratio of the equivalent widths, $`\mathrm{EW}_A/\mathrm{EW}_B`$, can be assumed to be identical to the light ratio.

Our observations of GG Ori at the CfA were collected mostly with the echelle spectrograph on the 1.5m Tillinghast reflector at the F. L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins (Arizona), where the system was monitored from 1996 March to 2000 March. Occasionally we observed with an identical spectrograph on the Multiple Mirror Telescope (also atop Mt. Hopkins, Arizona). A total of 42 spectra were recorded with a photon-counting Reticon detector covering a single echelle order centered at 518.7 nm. The resolution is 0.015 nm ($`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 35,000`$), and the spectra span about 4.5 nm. The S/N ratios range from about 25 to 40 per resolution element. The zero point of the velocity system was monitored by means of nightly exposures of the dusk and dawn sky, in the manner described by Latham (1992). The accuracy of the CfA velocity system, which is within about 0.1 km s-1 of the reference frame defined by minor planets in the solar system, is documented in the previous citation and also by Stefanik et al. (1999).

Radial velocities were determined using the CfA implementation of TODCOR (Zucker & Mazeh 1994), a two-dimensional cross-correlation algorithm that uses two templates, one for each component of the binary. The templates were selected from a large library of synthetic spectra based on the latest model atmospheres by R. L. Kurucz, computed for us specifically for the wavelength of our observations (Morse & Kurucz 1998, private communication). The instrumental profile is explicitly included by applying a Gaussian convolution with a FWHM of 8.5 km s-1, corresponding to our spectral resolution. These synthetic spectra have been calculated over a wide range of effective temperatures, projected rotational velocities, metallicities, and surface gravities. Initially we used templates with a temperature of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=10000`$ K for both stars, surface gravity of $`\mathrm{log}g=4.5`$ (cgs), and solar metallicity. The projected rotational velocities of the components were determined by running extensive grids of correlations against templates covering a range of values of $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$, seeking the best match to the observed spectra as determined by the correlation coefficient averaged over all exposures. We obtained $`v\mathrm{sin}i=16\pm 1`$ km s-1 for both components, which is significantly different than our determination based on KPNO spectra. We discuss this further in §5 and §6. For the final templates we adopted a temperature of 9950 K for both stars and $`\mathrm{log}g=4.3`$, based on the results from the light curve solutions and spectroscopic orbits presented below.

Systematic errors in the radial velocities resulting from line blending are always a concern, particularly when the goal is to achieve the highest possible precision and accuracy in the mass determinations. Although the use of a two-dimensional correlation technique such as TODCOR in principle minimizes those errors (see Latham et al. 1996), experience has shown us that this must be checked on a case-by-case basis, particularly in view of the narrow spectral window of the CfA observations (e.g., Torres et al. 1997; 2000). For this we generated artificial composite spectra by adding together synthetic spectra for the two components with Doppler shifts appropriate for each actual time of observation, computed from a preliminary orbital solution. We adopted also a light ratio close to that for the real stars (see below). We then processed these simulated spectra with TODCOR in the same manner as the real spectra, and compared the input and output velocities. The differences derived in this way vary systematically with phase (or radial velocity), as expected, and were applied to the real velocities as corrections, even though in the case of GG Ori they are quite small ($`0.5`$ km s-1) and hardly affect the results. The final radial velocities from the CfA spectra with the corrections included are given in Table 2.

The light ratio was derived from these observations using TODCOR as described by Zucker & Mazeh (1994). Because of the relatively small number of lines in the 4.5 nm spectral window observed at CfA, significant errors can be introduced in the light ratio when features of each component shift in and out of this region by up to 0.2 nm due to orbital motion. To estimate and correct for this effect we followed a procedure analogous to that described above for the velocities, and found the magnitude of the systematic error to be about 3.5%. After correcting for this we obtain $`L_A/L_B=1.05\pm 0.03`$ at a mean wavelength of 518.7 nm, which is sufficiently close to the visual band that we will assume it is the light ratio in $`V`$, given that the stars are virtually identical.

Preliminary double-lined orbital solutions based on our radial velocities were computed separately for the KPNO and CfA measurements, and are compared in Table 3. Initially we adopted the eclipse ephemeris given in the General Catalog of Variable Stars (GCVS) (Kholopov 1985): Min I (HJD) $`=2,433,596.496+6.63147E`$. However, the residuals from the orbit for the CfA data showed a systematic pattern and the scatter was significantly larger than expected from previous experience with similar spectroscopic material. This suggested that the ephemeris is not accurate enough to be propagated forward by $`50`$ yr (2600 cycles) to the epoch of our velocity measurements. Therefore, a new linear ephemeris computed from times of minimum collected from the literature was derived (see next section) and used here. The possibility of a systematic difference between the center-of-mass velocities of the primary and secondary components was explored by solving for an offset simultaneously with the orbital elements. This was done independently for the two data sets. No shift was expected because the stars are so similar. The results in the sense $``$primary minus secondary$``$ were $`+1.42\pm 0.97\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for KPNO and $`0.74\pm 0.53\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for CfA. Since these are indeed not significantly different from zero, the velocities for the two components can be considered for all practical purposes to be on the same reference frame.

As seen in Table 3, there are slight differences in some of the elements of these two orbital solutions, in particular in the velocity amplitude of the secondary component ($`K_B`$), but we do not consider them to be significant in view of the small number of KPNO observations (only 11). Therefore, for the final solution discussed below we have merged the two data sets.

## 3 Apsidal motion analysis and final spectroscopic solution

As indicated earlier, the noticeable eccentricity of the orbit of GG Ori suggests the possibility of apsidal motion, even though none has been reported for this system. In extreme examples this can affect the spectroscopic solutions quite significantly, as in the case of V477 Cyg (Popper 1968). Before computing the final orbital fit, we therefore searched the literature for eclipse timings, both to improve the ephemeris and to investigate the apsidal motion.

Table 4 lists all times of minimum available to us, of which there are 25 primary minima and 32 secondary minima covering about 65 yr (1930-1995). The majority were determined by visual or photographic means, and only the 6 recent photoelectric timings and one visual timing have published uncertainties. For the rest we determined the errors iteratively, based on the mean residuals for each type of observation from preliminary fits: $`\sigma _{\mathrm{pg}}=0.038`$ days for the photographic minima, and $`\sigma _\mathrm{v}=0.028`$ days for the visual minima. One visual estimate was found to give a large residual (0.14 days, $`5\sigma `$), and was excluded. It is indicated in parentheses in Table 4.

A linear ephemeris fit to these data gives Min I (HJD) $`=2,449,717.66253(21)+6.6314948(16)E`$, with a phase difference between the primary and secondary minima of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }=0.42252\pm 0.00024`$. This is the ephemeris we used above in our preliminary orbital solutions, and the period is very similar to that reported by Zakirov (1997) based on a smaller number of observations. Although no unusual trends were seen in the timing residuals, we investigated the possibility of apsidal motion by computing the apparent periods separately for the primary and the secondary. We obtained $`P_I=6.6314971\pm 0.0000021`$ days and $`P_{II}=6.6314890\pm 0.0000030`$ days, which are different at the 2.2$`\sigma `$ level. Next we submitted these same data to an apsidal motion analysis using the method by Lacy (1992b). For this we assumed a fixed eccentricity equal to the average of the values derived in columns (2) and (3) of Table 3, and a fixed inclination angle of $`89\mathrm{°}`$ from preliminary light curve solutions. The result is only marginally significant ($`\dot{\omega }=0.00050\pm 0.00027`$ deg cycle-1), largely due to the weak constraint provided by the early photographic and visual times of minimum, which have relatively low weight. Changes in those weights have little effect.

Our radial velocities extend the time base provided by the times of minimum by another 5 yr, and contain valuable information on the longitude of periastron that can also be used. In addition, they provide a much stronger constraint on the eccentricity, which must otherwise be fixed when using only eclipse timings. The optimal solution, therefore, is to combine both kinds of measurements into a single least squares fit, solving simultaneously for the spectroscopic orbital elements and the apsidal motion. In this way the information on the period contained in the times of minimum is implicitly taken into account for the spectroscopic elements, rather than having to adopt a fixed ephemeris as we have done in §2. At the same time, the effect of the possible rotation of the line of apsides on the spectroscopic elements is also accounted for. In addition, we have allowed for an arbitrary shift between the KPNO and CfA velocity systems in view of the difference in the way the two zero points were established. The offset turns out to be negligible: $``$CfA$``$KPNO$``$ $`=0.06\pm 0.39\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

The results of this simultaneous fit are given in column (4) of Table 3. The relative weights of the primary and secondary velocities in each data set, as well as the weights of the times of minimum, have been iterated until reaching convergence for a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of unity. Tests show once again that the weights assigned to the visual and photographic timings, or to the velocities, have little effect on the results. The velocity residuals from this solution are listed separately in Table 1 and Table 2, and the timing residuals are given in Table 4. The final spectroscopic orbital solution is represented graphically in Fig. 1, along with the observations.

The apsidal motion resulting from the final fit is $`\dot{\omega }=0.00061\pm 0.00025`$ deg cycle-1, which is significant at the $`2.5\sigma `$ level, and differs from our preliminary estimate above by less than half of its uncertainty. Also listed in Table 4 are the sidereal and anomalistic periods ($`P_s`$ and $`P_a`$), as well as the apsidal motion period $`U=10700\pm 4500`$ yr. Periastron passage occurs at a photometric phase of 0.06. A plot of the $`OC`$ deviations of the times of minimum from the linear terms of the apsidal motion is given in Fig. 2 along with the predicted deviations. The top panel draws attention to the fact that the observations cover less than 1% of a full cycle, while the bottom panel expands the region around the observations, with the coverage provided by the radial velocity measurements being indicated in the upper right.

## 4 Photometric observations and light curve solutions

Differential light curves were obtained by CHSL at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) with the 24-inch Lowell telescope in the Johnson $`B`$ and $`V`$ bands during 1993-1995. Absolute indices were also measured separately based on measurements that were carefully tied to the standard $`UBV`$ system through observations of secondary standards from Landolt (1973), typically 30-40 standards per night. The absolute photometry was made at Mount Laguna Observatory near San Diego (California) in the fall season of 1989, and at CTIO in 1988-1990 and 1993-1995. The procedures that were used are described in detail by Lacy (1992a). The $`UBV`$ indices on the standard system are shown in Table 5, and the 257 differential $`BV`$ observations are given in Table 6 and Table 7. The differential magnitudes are in the sense $``$variable$``$comparison$``$ and are referred to BD $`1\mathrm{°}`$1013 (HD 38165, B9 V). The comparison stars (see Table 5) were found to be constant at a level of about 0.008 mag for the standard deviation of the differences between comparison stars. The precision of the CTIO differential observations, based on previous results, is estimated to be about 0.006 mag in both $`B`$ and $`V`$ at the magnitudes of the program stars.

In addition to the absolute photometric indices mentioned above, which we have computed separately for the two observing intervals, $`uvby`$ indices are available from Hilditch & Hill (1975). The results from the three different sources are somewhat inconsistent. The $`V`$ magnitude is slightly brighter by about 2.5% in the 1988-1990 results compared to the 1993-1995 results and the value of Hilditch & Hill (1975), which is $`V=10.380\pm 0.015`$. The $`\mathrm{B V}`$ color index during 1993-1995 is considerably bluer than the value measured in 1988-1990. These discrepancies cannot be explained by differences in sky conditions (which were always photometric), nor by differences in aperture size, centering errors, or seasonal variations. Furthermore, the scatter from the light curve fits described later in this section is significantly larger than expected based on our previous results with the equipment used at CTIO at these magnitude levels. The standard deviation of the residuals from the fitted photometric orbit of FS Mon (Lacy et al. 2000), for example, was 0.006 and 0.005 mag in $`B`$ and $`V`$, respectively, whereas the corresponding figures for GG Ori (see below for details) are 0.014 and 0.009 mag. Both binaries were observed during the same runs. Intrinsic variability of one or both of the components of GG Ori is therefore suspected.

Differential light curves in the Johnson $`U`$, $`B`$, $`V`$, and $`R`$ bands have also been obtained in Uzbekistan by the group led by M. Zakirov. They used 0.6m telescopes at the Maidanak Observatory, in the southern part of Uzbekistan. Their differential magnitudes in the sense $``$variable$``$comparison$``$ relative to the star BD $`1\mathrm{°}`$1013 have been described by Zakirov (1997). The transformation of these measurements to the standard system is somewhat less secure than for our own observations, but there are marginal indications that the $`\mathrm{B V}`$ index of GG Ori became bluer by a few hundredths of a magnitude in the interval 1993-1994, toward the end of their observations. Though far from being conclusive evidence of intrinsic variability, we note that this is in the same direction as the trend suggested in Table 5. We have re-analyzed the differential observations by Zakirov with the same methods we use for our own measurements.

The light curve fitting was done with the NDE model as implemented in the code EBOP (Etzel 1981; Popper & Etzel 1981), and the ephemeris adopted is that of §3. The main adjustable parameters are the ratio of the central surface brightness of the secondary star ($`J_B`$) in units of that of the primary, the relative radius of the primary ($`r_A`$) in units of the separation, the ratio of the radii ($`kr_B/r_A`$), the inclination of the orbit ($`i`$), and the geometric factors $`e\mathrm{cos}\omega `$ and $`e\mathrm{sin}\omega `$ which account for the orbital eccentricity. As usual, we have allowed also for a photometric scale factor and a phase shift in all solutions. Auxiliary quantities needed in the analysis include the gravity-brightening coefficients, for which we adopt the values 1.00, 0.85, 0.70, and 0.59 in $`U`$, $`B`$, $`V`$, and $`R`$, respectively, from Martynov (1973). For the reflection coefficients we adopted the value 1.0, as appropriate for stars with radiative envelopes. Limb-darkening coefficients ($`u`$) were included as one of the variables to be fitted, although in one case (noted below) it was fixed to an appropriate value from the tables of Wade and Rucinski (1985). The mass ratio ($`qM_B/M_A=0.9982`$) was adopted from the spectroscopic analysis in §3.

Preliminary solutions revealed a few outliers with residuals greater than $`5\sigma `$ (one of the CTIO measurements in $`B`$, two in $`V`$, and one of Zakirov’s measurements in each of his four bands), which were given zero weight in subsequent iterations.

The fitting procedure converged in the general solutions of the CTIO light curves with all variables adjusted simultaneously (see columns 2 and 3 in Table 8). As is often the case in the analysis of partially eclipsing binary stars with nearly equal components, the fitted values of the parameter $`k`$, the ratio of radii, are rather uncertain, but near unity. Attempts at general solutions of the Zakirov light curves failed to converge. In cases such as this light ratios estimated from spectrograms are very important for constraining the photometric solutions. For GG Ori we have at our disposal two spectroscopic determinations of the light ratio, one approximately in the $`B`$ band (from KPNO) and the other close to the $`V`$ band (from CfA). A grid of EBOP solutions was run on the CTIO light curves for fixed values of $`k`$ between 0.94 and 1.10, in steps of 0.01. Within this range of about 15%, the rms residuals from the fits were found to change very little as a function of $`k`$ ($`0.00005`$ mag in $`B`$ and $`0.00006`$ mag in $`V`$), supporting our concerns about the indeterminacy of $`k`$ from the light curves alone. The sum of the relative radii changes by less than 0.7% over the entire range of $`k`$ values. The light ratios in $`B`$ and $`V`$ were computed from each of these solutions, and then by interpolation we determined the $`k`$ values that correspond to our measured spectroscopic light ratios: $`k=0.996\pm 0.011`$ from the KPNO spectra, and $`k=0.972\pm 0.015`$ from the CfA spectra (see Fig. 3). The value we adopt is the weighted average, $`k=0.988\pm 0.009`$. For comparison, the average ratio of the radii derived from the CTIO light curve solutions without the constraint from spectroscopy is $`k=1.03\pm 0.04`$ (see Table 8), which is different by $`1\sigma `$.

With the ratio of the star sizes fixed to the weighted average given above, we repeated the light curve fits separately for the CTIO and Zakirov (1997) photometry, and the adopted solutions are given in Table 8 and Table 9. Attempts to include third light as a parameter showed that, within uncertainties of about 1%, it was not significantly different from zero.

The CTIO observations in $`B`$ and $`V`$ and the best fit models are shown in Fig. 4, and the data by Zakirov (1997) in $`\mathrm{UBVR}`$ along with the corresponding fitted light curves are shown in Fig. 5. Table 10 gives the weighted averages of the light elements in each band obtained from the two data sets. In addition to $`r_A`$ and $`k`$, we list also the sum of the relative radii, $`r=r_A+r_B`$, and the radius of the secondary, $`r_B`$. The errors for these quantities were derived as described in the Appendix. There is good agreement between the photometric determinations of $`e\mathrm{cos}\omega `$ and $`e\mathrm{sin}\omega `$ and the corresponding spectroscopic values, which are $`0.1200\pm 0.0017`$ and $`+0.1865\pm 0.0020`$, respectively.

The results in Table 10 show that the components of GG Ori are nearly indistinguishable in size and of virtually the same luminosity, which is consistent with the fact that they are also very similar in mass (§3). The departure from the spherical shape is insignificant. Both eclipses are partial, with approximately 91% of the light of the primary blocked at phase 0.0 (which is a transit), and 90% of the light of the secondary eclipsed at the other minimum. The earlier study by Zakirov (1997) reported the primary eclipse to be total (larger secondary star blocking the primary), although the ratio of the radii was much closer to 1.0.

The uncertainties assigned to the adjusted quantities in Table 10 are generally the internal errors produced by EBOP. As is well known, the formal uncertainties in least-squares solutions in which one or more quantities have been held fixed are typically too small because correlations between the elements are artificially eliminated (as we have done by fixing $`k`$, for example). The quantities $`k`$, $`r_A`$, and $`i`$ are the most important for determining the absolute dimensions of the components. The error in $`k`$ is based on the uncertainty in the spectroscopic light ratios, and therefore does not suffer from this shortcoming. For $`r_A`$ and $`i`$ we have increased the formal uncertainties to account for all contributions to the error.

The rms deviations given in Table 8 for the CTIO observations are somewhat larger than expected, based on previous experience, and suggest that one or both components of GG Ori may be intrinsically variable. We have searched for patterns in the residuals by computing the power spectra in the $`B`$ and $`V`$ bands, but no significant periodicities were found.

## 5 Absolute dimensions

The combination of the spectroscopic results in Table 3 and the light curve results in Table 10 leads to the absolute masses and radii for GG Ori, shown in Table 11. The masses are determined with a precision of 0.7%, and the radii are good to about 1.4%.

The fact that the surface brightness ratio $`J_B`$ is near unity over a wide range of wavelengths indicates that the effective temperatures of the stars are essentially the same. From $`J_B`$ in the $`V`$ band the difference in visual surface brightness is $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_V^{}=0.0002\pm 0.0004`$ (Popper 1980), which translates into a completely negligible color difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\mathrm{B V})=0.0005\pm 0.0009`$, and a formal temperature difference of only 8 K.

The discrepancies in the absolute photometry at different epochs pointed out earlier in §4 complicate the derivation of the effective temperature of the components. Because the light variations may be real, we have chosen to adopted the straight average of the largest and smallest $`UBV`$ indices for GG Ori in Table 5: $`V=10.372\pm 0.013`$, $`\mathrm{B V}=0.511\pm 0.021`$, $`\mathrm{U B}=0.324\pm 0.004`$. The errors for the first two of these quantities are simply half of the difference between the 1988-1990 and 1993-1995 measurements. The reddening was derived using the reddening-free index $`Q=(\mathrm{U B})0.72(\mathrm{B V})`$ (Johnson & Morgan 1953) and the calibration by Deutschman, Davis & Schild (1976). We obtained $`(\mathrm{B V})_0=0.036\pm 0.006`$, $`(\mathrm{U B})_0=0.070\pm 0.020`$, $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.547\pm 0.022`$, and $`A_V=1.696\pm 0.068`$ (using $`A_V=3.1E(\mathrm{B V})`$). The formal errors do not account for uncertainties in the calibrations themselves, which are difficult to quantify. These color indices correspond to the combined light, but since the components are virtually identical they are also the indices of the individual stars.

An independent measure of the reddening may be obtained from the $`uvby`$ photometry by Hilditch & Hill (1975): $`by=0.408\pm 0.015`$, $`c_1=1.002\pm 0.030`$, $`m_1=+0.016\pm 0.020`$. The calibration by Crawford (1978) for B-type stars leads to $`(by)_0=0.030`$ and $`E(by)=0.438`$, from which $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.592`$. This is slightly larger than the reddening derived from the $`UBV`$ photometry. However, GG Ori is near the end of the range of validity of the $`uvby`$ calibrations, where they become rather uncertain. Also, we note that the $`(by)_0`$ index corresponds to a spectral type of B8.5 according to Table 1 by Popper (1980). But the fact that we see no sign of the He I 447.1 nm line in our KPNO spectra of the object strongly suggests that the spectral type cannot be earlier than B9.5. We have therefore chosen to rely only on the Johnson photometry above.

The de-reddened $`\mathrm{B V}`$ index corresponds to a temperature of $`9950\pm 200`$ K, and a spectral type of B9.5 (Popper 1980). Further properties of the stars are listed in Table 11, including the mean density ($`\overline{\rho }`$), the absolute visual magnitudes, and the distance. The latter two are based on the visual surface brightness parameter $`F_V^{}=3.974\pm 0.003`$ derived from the intrinsic color $`(\mathrm{B V})_0`$ and the tabulation by Popper (1980), and are thus independent of bolometric corrections.

The distance modulus of GG Ori, $`mM=8.20\pm 0.10`$ ($`d=438\pm 20`$ pc), is similar to other determinations for various subregions of the Orion OB1 complex (Warren & Hesser 1977; Brown, de Geus, & de Zeeuw 1994; Brown, Walter & Blaauw 1999; de Zeeuw et al. 1999), and lends support to its association.

Also listed in Table 11 are the projected rotational velocities expected if the axial rotations were synchronized with the mean orbital motion of the binary and with the orbital motion at periastron (pseudo-synchronization). The two independent measurements of $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ in §2 based on our KPNO and CfA spectra disagree, with the KPNO results being closer to the pseudo-synchronous values, while the CfA determinations suggest synchronization with the mean orbital motion. We discuss this further in §6 in the context of tidal evolution theory.

No metallicity determination is available for GG Ori. A rough estimate can be obtained from our CfA spectra following a procedure analogous to that used to derive $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$, and the result is \[m/H\] $`=0.15\pm 0.20`$, consistent with the solar abundance.

## 6 Discussion

In this section we compare the properties of GG Ori as listed in Table 11 with predictions from models. The three aspects of theory we focus on are stellar evolution, internal structure, and tidal evolution. For each of these we require calculations of the basic properties of the components, which we have taken from evolutionary tracks computed specifically for the exact masses we determined for the stars. The evolutionary code we used is that by Claret (1995). Further details on the input physics are described by Claret & Giménez (1992). Convection in these models is treated with the standard mixing-length prescription, with a fixed mixing-length parameter of 1.52$`H_p`$ that gives the best fit between a solar model and the observed properties of the Sun. A moderate amount of core overshooting is assumed ($`\alpha _{\mathrm{ov}}=0.20H_p`$), although in the case of GG Ori this effect is insignificant due to the unevolved nature of the system.

### 6.1 Stellar evolution

Consistent with the young environment surrounding the object (the Orion OB1 association), we find that GG Ori is indeed very close to the Zero Age Main Sequence (ZAMS). This is illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows a greatly enlarged section of the evolutionary tracks as they approach the main sequence. The full extent of the main sequence band is shown in the inset. The binary is so close to the ZAMS that, given the uncertainties, it is difficult to determine whether the stars are already burning hydrogen in their cores, or whether they are still in the final stage of contraction towards the main sequence. The error bars shown reflect the uncertainties in the effective temperatures of the components and their surface gravities. The error in the placement of the tracks due to the uncertainty in the measured masses is indicated in the lower left corner.

The models plotted in Fig. 6 correspond to the case where the system is already on the main sequence (MS). Tracks for two different chemical compositions ($`Z`$, $`Y`$) are shown, giving metallicities very close to solar (\[m/H\] $`=+0.03`$, $`dY/dZ=1.65`$, solid lines; and \[m/H\] $`=+0.05`$, $`dY/dZ=1.95`$, dashed lines) consistent with the indication in §5. The enrichment laws ($`dY/dZ`$) implied by the best fit values of the helium abundance ($`Y`$) are within the range found in other determinations (see, e.g., Peimbert 1993; Renzini 1994; Pagel & Portinari 1998; Izotov & Thuan 1998), and are also similar to the values favored by other eclipsing binaries (Ribas et al. 2000), using the same set of evolutionary models.

Our attempts to find evolutionary tracks that fit the location of GG Ori assuming it is nearing the end of the pre-main sequence (PMS) phase also gave acceptable results (see Fig. 7), considering the error bars, although the agreement is formally not as good as the main-sequence case. The PMS tracks shown in the figure are for \[m/H\] $`=+0.07`$ and $`dY/dZ=2.09`$.

The evolutionary ages derived for the components are quite different in the two scenarios (see Table 12). In the main sequence case the average age for the two stars is 82 Myr (for $`Z=0.020`$, $`Y=0.2729`$) or 65 Myr (for $`Z=0.021`$, $`Y=0.2810`$), and the difference in age between the components is similar to the formal uncertainty, which is derived from the error in $`\mathrm{log}g`$. On the other hand, if GG Ori is on the PMS the models give an average age of only 7.7 Myr. Few cases are known of eclipsing binaries with well-determined absolute dimensions in which at least one component is a bona-fide PMS star: EK Cep (Popper 1987; Claret, Giménez, & Martín 1995), TY CrA (Casey et al. 1998), and possibly RS Cha (Clausen & Nördstrom 1980; Pols et al. 1997; Mamajek, Lawson, & Feigelson 2000). Such systems are particularly valuable to test models of PMS evolution, where theory remains essentially unchallenged by observations so far. The stars in GG Ori are so similar and so close to the ZAMS, however, that the constraint on PMS evolution is not very strong. Unevolved systems such as this are much more useful for testing opacity and metallicity effects in the models when coupled with an accurate spectroscopic determination of the metal abundance, which unfortunately is not yet available for GG Ori. Whether or not the system has already settled on the main sequence, it is undoubtedly young. In this connection we note, incidentally, that light variations such as those hinted at in §4 are not entirely unexpected.

It is a remarkable coincidence that among the eclipsing systems with the best known absolute dimensions, no fewer than *six* have at least one component with virtually the same mass as the stars in GG Ori, to within 1%. These systems are V451 Oph, YZ Cas, $`\beta `$ Aur, WX Cep, SZ Cen (Andersen 1991), and V364 Lac (Torres et al. 1999). Thus, a total of eight stars (including GG Ori) can in principle be compared with *a single evolutionary track*, and they span the entire main sequence band from the ZAMS (GG Ori) to the shell hydrogen burning phase (SZ Cen, age $``$800 Myr). In Fig. 8 we show this comparison against one of the models used above for GG Ori ($`Z=0.020`$, $`Y=0.2729`$), for a composition close to solar. The agreement with theory is very good, indicating that all these systems are well represented by a single metallicity.

### 6.2 Internal structure and General Relativity

Our detection of the apsidal motion of the binary in §3 provides the opportunity to test models of the internal structure of stars. In addition, the relatively short orbital period and large masses of the components along with the fact that the orbit is eccentric led Giménez (1985) to propose GG Ori as a good candidate for the study of the general-relativistic (GR) contribution to the apsidal motion. At the current level of the uncertainties in the measurement of apsidal motion in binaries, the theoretical GR contribution is separable from the classical (Newtonian) terms due to the gravitational quadrupole moment induced by rotation and tides. The total apsidal motion can then be expressed as $`\dot{\omega }_{tot}=\dot{\omega }_N+\dot{\omega }_{GR}`$. The two effects cannot be measured separately, though, so we have chosen here to compare the total theoretical value with the measured quantity.

In the case of GG Ori, the GR term is predicted to be about 2.5 times larger than the classical term, contributing $``$70% to $`\dot{\omega }_{\mathrm{tot}}`$. Following Giménez (1985), we obtain $`\dot{\omega }_{GR}=0.000454\pm 0.000002`$ deg cycle-1.

To compute $`\dot{\omega }_N`$ we have used the internal structure constants from theory (including the higher order terms $`k_3`$ and $`k_4`$), which are calculated at each point along the evolutionary track of each component. The contribution of the rotational distortions to the Newtonian apsidal motion rate $`\dot{\omega }_N`$ depends on the ratio between rotational angular velocity and the Keplerian angular velocity. This ratio is often derived under the assumption that the stars are already synchronized at periastron. For a system as young as GG Ori this may not necessarily be the case, and in fact the observational evidence we have is conflicting (§5; see also §6.3). We have therefore relied on our own measurements of the projected rotational velocities, $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$, even though our two independent determinations from KPNO and CfA spectra are somewhat different (§2). The KPNO values ($`v_A\mathrm{sin}i=24\pm 2\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, $`v_B\mathrm{sin}i=23\pm 2\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) lead to $`\dot{\omega }_N=0.000209\pm 0.000012`$ deg cycle-1, while the CfA measurements ($`v\mathrm{sin}i=16\pm 1\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for both components) give $`\dot{\omega }_N=0.000183\pm 0.000009`$ deg cycle-1.

When adding this to the GR term, we obtain $`\dot{\omega }_{tot}=0.000663\pm 0.000012`$ deg cycle-1 (KPNO) and $`\dot{\omega }_{tot}=0.000637\pm 0.000010`$ deg cycle-1 (CfA), in which the errors account for all contributions from measured quantities. These predictions are to be compared with the observed value, $`\dot{\omega }_{obs}=0.00061\pm 0.00025`$ deg cycle-1 (§3). There is good agreement with theory, although the uncertainty in the observed value is large enough that the constraint on the models is very weak. Further measurements of times of minimum are required to improve $`\dot{\omega }_{obs}`$.

### 6.3 Tidal evolution

Tidal forces within a binary tend to synchronize the rotation of each component with the orbital motion, and to make the orbit circular. The two main mechanisms proposed to describe these effects (Tassoul & Tassoul 1997, and references therein; Zahn 1992, and references therein) make somewhat different predictions for the timescales of these processes. In this section we compare our observations with both, although the hydrodynamical mechanism by Tassoul has often been found to be too efficient (see, e.g., Claret, Giménez, & Cunha 1995). Synchronization times and circularization times have been computed as described in the latter reference and also by Claret & Cunha (1997), by integrating the differential equations describing the evolution of the rotation and eccentricity. All time-dependent properties of the stars were interpolated directly from the evolutionary tracks for each component.

In performing these calculations for young stars such as GG Ori a number of complications arise regarding the pre-main sequence phase where the radii of the stars are much larger than on the main sequence. One of them is that in principle the orbital period (or semimajor axis) is also changing during this phase. For example, if the period of GG Ori is assumed to be fixed at the current value of 6.6 days, we find that the size of the orbit is too small to accommodate the very large radii predicted for the stars during the early stages of contraction along the Hayashi tracks. Thus the equations for the orbital evolution (period and eccentricity) and rotational evolution are coupled and must be integrated simultaneously (see, e.g., Duquennoy, Mayor, & Mermilliod 1992).

Zahn & Bouchet (1989) have done this for late type stars (0.5 $`M_{\mathrm{}}M1.25M_{\mathrm{}}`$) and concluded that all binaries with periods up to 7 or 8 days arrive on the main sequence with their orbits already circularized, and that further evolution of the eccentricity on the main sequence is negligible. However, eccentric systems on the main sequence with periods shorter than this *are* actually observed (see, e.g., Mathieu et al. 1992). For earlier-type binaries such as GG Ori the efficiency of the tidal mechanisms may be different, and a detailed investigation of the evolution in the PMS phase is beyond the scope of this paper.

Tidal theory is still largely in development, and many aspects of it remain somewhat controversial. Nevertheless, useful comparisons with the observations are still possible under certain simplifying assumptions, and have indeed been made in a number of cases. Verbunt & Phinney (1995), Claret, Giménez, & Cunha (1995), Claret & Cunha (1997), and others, have compared the predictions of the main mechanisms mentioned above with the properties of detached eclipsing systems with well-determined absolute dimensions. Their calculations were done in detail (i.e., by *integrating* the corresponding differential equations rather than simply using the *timescales* for syncronization and circularization), but avoided the PMS problem by excluding it altogether (Verbunt & Phinney 1995) or by including only the final stages of contraction, and assumed also that the orbital period does not change significantly, which may be a valid approximation when the stars are already close to the ZAMS.

We have followed a similar prescription here and considered only the final loop in the evolutionary tracks preceding the ZAMS (see Fig. 8). We start our integrations at the onset of the nuclear reaction $`{}_{}{}^{12}\mathrm{C}(p,\gamma ){}_{}{}^{13}\mathrm{N}(\beta +\nu ){}_{}{}^{13}\mathrm{C}(p,\gamma ){}_{}{}^{14}\mathrm{N}`$. At this stage this is not the only source of energy, since contraction is still taking place. The synchronization and circularization times ($`t_{sync}`$, $`t_{circ}`$) are not strongly dependent on the chemical composition in the range we have considered above. Using the formalism by Tassoul we obtain $`\mathrm{log}t_{sync}=6.875`$ for both components of GG Ori. The predictions from the mechanism by Zahn, on the other hand, give $`\mathrm{log}t_{sync}^A=8.888`$ and $`\mathrm{log}t_{sync}^B=8.890`$, which are significantly longer. The circularization times are nearly identical in both theories: $`t_{circ}=8.888`$ (Tassoul) and $`t_{circ}=8.889`$ (Zahn). These values are to be compared with the mean age of the system counted from the starting point of the integrations, which differs by 5.4 Myr from the true ages given in §6.1. The modified age is then $`\mathrm{log}t=7.884`$ ($`Z=0.020`$, $`Y=0.2729`$) or $`\mathrm{log}t=7.775`$ ($`Z=0.021`$, $`Y=0.2810`$), assuming GG Ori is already burning hydrogen on the main sequence.

We illustrate this in a slightly different way in Fig. 9, where we focus on $`\mathrm{log}g`$ as a sensitive measure of stellar evolution. The value of the surface gravity at which synchronization or circularization is achieved ($`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{crit}}`$) is shown as a function of orbital period for the two main tidal theories. Stars evolve upwards in this diagram. The measured values of $`\mathrm{log}g`$ for the primary and secondary of GG Ori are represented by crosses, with the error bars being of the same size as the symbols. According to the theory by Zahn the stars should not yet have reached synchronous rotation, which agrees with the measured $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ values from our CfA spectra. Also, the orbit should not yet be circular, as is indeed observed. The theory by Tassoul also predicts that the orbit should still be eccentric, but indicates that the stars should already be rotating synchronously with the orbital motion, which appears to be more consistent with the $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ values from our KPNO spectra. Although as mentioned above the mechanism by Tassoul is often found to be too efficient, a more accurate measurement of the projected rotational velocities in GG Ori could shed more light on this issue.

## 7 Conclusions

New photometric and spectroscopic observations of the eccentric binary GG Ori combined with a reanalysis of data from the literature have allowed us to derive definitive orbital parameters and physical properties of the components. Our determinations have formal errors smaller than 1% in the masses and smaller than 2% in the radii. GG Ori thus joins the elite of stars with the best established absolute dimensions. The system is very young, and in fact it is so close to the ZAMS that within the observational errors the comparison with current stellar evolution models is unable to tell us whether it has already settled on the main sequence (age $`65`$–82 Myr, depending on the metallicity), or whether it is still at the end of the contraction phase (age $`=7.7`$ Myr). We find good agreement with both scenarios for a chemical composition close to solar.

The tentative detection of apsidal motion in GG Ori with a period of $`U=10700`$ yr has allowed us to make an initial test of interior structure models. This system is particularly interesting in that the contribution from General Relativity should be substantial ($``$70% of the total apsidal motion). Although the agreement with theory is good, further observations to improve the error in $`\dot{\omega }`$ are necessary for a more stringent test.

Current mechanisms that describe the tidal evolution of binary properties disagree as to whether the rotation of the components of GG Ori should be synchronized with the orbital motion. Unfortunately our own measurements of $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ have not settled the issue. Although this area of theory is perhaps the weakest of the comparisons we have discussed, the models do explain the significant eccentricity of the orbit system at the relatively short period of 6.6 days.

We thank P. Berlind, M. Calkins, D. W. Latham, A. Milone, and R. P. Stefanik, who obtained many of the spectroscopic observations used here, and R. Davis, who maintains the CfA database of radial velocities. We are also grateful to Daryl Willmarth at KPNO for assistance with the spectroscopic observations there. Paul Etzel provided helpful comments on aspects of the light curve solutions. We thank the referee for useful suggestions. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France, and of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services.

## 8 Appendix

The determination of the error in the relative radius of the secondary component, $`r_B`$, in eclipsing binaries has often been a source of confusion among users of EBOP. Results are occasionally published in which that uncertainty is derived by propagating errors in the expression $`r_B=kr_A`$, where $`k`$ (defined as $`r_B/r_A`$), the primary radius $`r_A`$, and their associated uncertainties are usually adopted directly from the output of the program. Aside from the fact that the formal errors in the latter two quantities are typically underestimated (see §4), this procedure is incorrect, as already pointed out clearly in the documentation for EBOP (Etzel 1980). The reason is that $`k`$ and $`r_A`$ are, as a rule, strongly (negatively) correlated, and simply adding their uncertainties by quadratures does not account for this correlation. It is still possible to make correct use of the expression above if the correlation is explicitly taken into account by adding the corresponding term from the off-diagonal elements of the covariance matrix in the least squares solution. However, this information is not readily available in the standard output from EBOP. Alternative procedures for estimating $`\sigma _{r_B}`$ are discussed in the documentation for the code (see also Popper & Etzel 1981). For example, when $`k`$ is fixed in the least squares solution one may use as an approximation the expression

$$\sigma _{r_B}=k\sigma _{r_A},$$
(1)
although this explicitly ignores the error in $`k`$, which in our case is well known independently of EBOP.

The reason for the strong correlation between $`k`$ and $`r_A`$ is that the *sum* of the radii, $`rr_A+r_B`$, which is directly related to the form of the light curve, is usually very well determined, and therefore if $`k`$ is increased the primary radius $`r_A`$ must decrease to maintain the sum. This suggests that a more sensible way to approach the problem might be to consider the expressions

$$r_A=\left(\frac{1}{1+k}\right)r,r_B=\left(\frac{k}{1+k}\right)r,$$
(2)
in which the independent variables are $`r`$ and $`k`$, which are *not* strongly correlated in general. For GG Ori we have shown this to be the case in §4. Propagation of errors in these equations may therefore be expected to give more reasonable estimates of $`\sigma _{r_A}`$ and $`\sigma _{r_B}`$:

$$\sigma _{r_A}=\frac{1}{1+k}\left[\left(\frac{r}{1+k}\right)^2\sigma _k^2+\sigma _r^2\right]^{1/2},\sigma _{r_B}=\frac{1}{1+k}\left[\left(\frac{r}{1+k}\right)^2\sigma _k^2+k^2\sigma _r^2\right]^{1/2}.$$
(3)
Note that $`\sigma _{r_B}`$ will be smaller or larger than $`\sigma _{r_A}`$ depending only on the value of $`k`$, as in eq.(1). In fact, setting $`\sigma _k=0`$ and combining the expressions above leads back to (1).

Practical application of these equations requires an estimate of $`\sigma _r`$. Although $`r`$ is not one of the adjustable variables in EBOP, it is not difficult to obtain an estimate of its error by experimenting with the light curve solutions and assessing the sensitivity of $`r`$ to the various input quantities, as we have in fact done with $`r_A`$. However, to ensure consistency with the error in $`r_A`$, we have chosen to use the first of the equations in (3) to solve for $`\sigma _r`$, since $`\sigma _{r_A}`$ is already known and so is $`\sigma _k`$. Once we determined the value of $`\sigma _r`$ needed to reproduce $`\sigma _{r_A}`$, we used it in the expression for $`\sigma _{r_B}`$.


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# Scaling and fluctuations in galaxy distribution: two tests to probe large scale structure

## References

Peebles, P.J.E. Large Scale Structure of the Universe, Princ. Univ. Press (1980)

Pietronero L., (1987) Physica A, 144, 257

Sylos Labini F., Montuori M., Pietronero L., (1998) Phys.Rep.,293 ,66

Sylos Labini F. & Gabrielli A. (2000) astro-ph/0003215 Preprint


text:
# Prime Type III Factors.

## 1. Introduction.

A von Neumann algebra $`M`$ is called *prime*, if it cannot be written as a tensor product of two diffuse von Neumann algebras. Using Voiculescu’s free entropy theory , Ge  and later Stefan  gave examples of prime factors of type II1 (and hence of type II). We give an example of a separable prime factor of type III: we show that for each $`0<\lambda <1`$, the type IIIλ free Araki-Woods factor $`T_\lambda `$ introduced in  is prime. The main idea of the proof is to interpret the decomposition $`T_\lambda =AB`$ as a condition on its core. We then use Stefan’s result  showing that $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ cannot be written as the closure of the linear span of $`NC_1C_2`$ where $`N`$ is a II1 factor, which is not prime, and $`C_i`$ are abelian von Neumann algebras.

We also prove existence of separable type III factors that do not have Cartan subalgebras by showing that $`T_\lambda `$, $`0<\lambda <1`$ has no Cartan subalgebras. The key ingredient is Voiculescu’s result on the absence of Cartan subalgebras in $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ .

###### Acknowledgement.

This work was carried out while visiting Centre Émile Borel, Institut Henri Poicaré, Paris, France, to which I am grateful for the friendly and encouraging atmosphere. I would like to especially thank the organizers of the Free Probability and Operator Spaces program at IHP, Professors P. Biane, G. Pisier and D. Voiculescu, for a very stimulating semester. I would also like to thank M. Stefan for many useful conversations.

## 2. $`T_\lambda `$ is prime.

Recall first the following theorem, due to Connes (see , Sections 4.2 and 4.3):

###### Theorem 2.1.

Let $`M`$ be a separable type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$ factor with $`0<\lambda <1`$. Then there exists a faithful normal state $`\varphi `$ on $`M`$, with the following properties:

1. The centralizer $`M^\varphi =\{mM:\varphi (mn)=\varphi (nm)nM\}`$ is a factor of type $`\mathrm{II}_1`$;
2. The modular group $`\sigma _t^\varphi `$ of $`\varphi `$ is periodic, of period exactly $`2\pi /\mathrm{log}\lambda `$;
3. $`M`$ is generated as a von Neumann algebra by $`M^\varphi `$ and an isometry $`V`$, satisfying:

1. $`V^{}V=1`$, $`V^k(V^{})^kM^\varphi `$ for all $`k`$;
    2. $`\sigma _t^\varphi (V)=\lambda ^{it}(V)`$; in particular, $`\varphi (V^k(V^{})^k)=\lambda ^k\varphi ((V^{})^kV^k)=\lambda ^k\varphi (1)=\lambda ^k`$;
    3. $`V`$ normalizes $`M^\varphi `$: $`VmV^{}`$ and $`V^{}mV`$ are both in $`M^\varphi `$ if $`mM^\varphi `$.

The weight $`\varphi \mathrm{Tr}(B(\mathrm{}^2))`$ is unique up to scalar multiples and up to conjugation by (inner) automorphisms of $`MMB(\mathrm{}^2)`$. Moreover, property (2) implies (1) and (3) and property (1) implies (2) and (3). In particular, if $`\varphi _1`$ and $`\varphi _2`$ satisfy either (1) or (2), the centralizers $`M^{\varphi _1}`$ and $`M^{\varphi _2}`$ are stably isomorphic: $`M^{\varphi _1}B(\mathrm{}^2)M^{\varphi _2}B(\mathrm{}^2)`$.

The existence of such a state can be easily seen by writing $`M`$ as the crossed product of a type II factor $`C`$ by a trace-scaling action of $``$: set $`\widehat{\varphi }`$ to be the crossed-product weight (where $`C`$ is taken with its semifinite trace). Next, compress to a finite projection $`pC`$ and set $`\varphi =\widehat{\varphi }(pp)`$. The isometry $`V`$ is precisely the compression of the unitary $`U`$, implementing the trace-scaling action of $``$.

Recall that a von Neumann algebra $`M`$ is called *full*, if its group of inner automorphisms is closed in the $`u`$-topology inside its group of all automorphisms (see ).

###### Lemma 2.2.

Let $`M`$ be a full type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$ factor. Assume that $`M=A_1A_2`$, where $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ are von Neumann algebras. Then $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ are full both factors, and exactly one of the following must hold true:

1. $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ are both of type $`\mathrm{III}_{\lambda _1}`$ and $`\mathrm{III}_{\lambda _2}`$, respectively, and $`\lambda _1,\lambda _2`$ satisfy: (i) $`0<\lambda _i<1`$, $`i=1,2`$, (ii) $`\lambda _1^{}\lambda _2^{}=\lambda ^{}`$ ;
2. For some $`ij`$, $`A_i`$ is of type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$ and $`A_j`$ is of type $`\mathrm{II}`$;
3. For some $`ij`$, $`A_i`$ is of type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$ and $`A_j`$ is of type $`\mathrm{I}`$.

In particular, if we require that $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ must both be diffuse, only (1) and (2) can occur. Moreover, if (2) occurs, we may assume that one of the algebras $`A_1`$, $`A_2`$ is of type $`\mathrm{II}_1`$.

###### Proof.

If one of $`A_1`$, $`A_2`$ fails to be a factor, then their tensor product would fail to be a factor, hence both $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ must be factors. Similarly, if at least one of $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ fails to be full, their tensor product would fail to be full.

If, say, $`A_1`$ is of type I or type II, then $`A_2`$ must be type III, since otherwise $`A_1A_2`$ would be of type II or type I. Hence if at least one of $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ is not type III, the situation described in (2) or (3) must occur.

If $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ are both type III, so that $`A`$ is type III$`_{\lambda _1}`$ and $`A_2`$ is type III$`_{\lambda _2}`$, we must prove that $`\lambda ^{}=\lambda _1^{}\lambda _2^{}`$. Neither $`\lambda _1`$ nor $`\lambda _2`$ can be zero, because then at least one of $`A_1`$, $`A_2`$ would then fail to be full, and hence $`A_1A_2`$ would fail to be full.

Denote by $`T(M)`$ the $`T`$ invariant of Connes (see , Section 1.3). Since

$$\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{log}\lambda }=T(A_1A_2)=T(A_1)T(A_2)$$

\[1, Theorem 1.3.4(c)\] and $`T(A_j)=\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{log}\lambda _j}`$, we obtain (1). ∎

###### Proposition 2.3.

Let $`M`$ be a type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$ factor, and assume that $`M=A_1A_2`$, where $`A_1`$ is a type $`\mathrm{III}_{\lambda _1}`$ factor, $`A`$ is a type $`\mathrm{III}_{\lambda _2}`$ factor, and $`\lambda ^{}=\lambda _1^{}\lambda _2^{}`$. Let $`\varphi _i`$ be a normal faithful state on $`A_i`$ as in Theorem 2.1, and let $`\varphi =\varphi _1\varphi _2`$ be a normal faithful state on $`M`$.

Then the centralizer $`M^\varphi `$ of $`\varphi `$ in $`M`$ is a factor, which can be written as a closure of the linear span of $`NC_1C_2`$, where $`N`$ is a tensor product of two type $`\mathrm{II}_1`$ factors, and $`C_i`$ are abelian von Neumann algebras. In particular, $`M^\varphi `$ is not isomorphic to $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$.

###### Proof.

Since the modular group of $`\varphi _1\varphi _2`$ is $`\sigma _t^{\varphi _1}\sigma _t^{\varphi _2}`$, it follows that $`\sigma _t^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}`$ has period exactly $`2\pi /\mathrm{log}\lambda `$. Hence the centralizer of $`\varphi _1\varphi _2`$ is a factor.

Choose a decreasing sequence of projections $`p_k^{(1)}A_1^{\varphi _1}`$ and $`p_k^{(2)}A_2^{\varphi _2}`$, with $`\varphi _i(p_k^{(i)})=\lambda _i^k`$, and isometries $`V_iA_i`$, so that $`V_i^{}V_i=1`$, $`V_i^k(V_i^{})^k=p_k^{(i)}`$, so that $`V_i`$ normalizes $`A_i^{\varphi _i}`$, and $`A_i=W^{}(A_i^{\varphi _i},V_i)`$. Then $`A_1A_2`$ is densely spanned by elements of the form

$$W=V_1^{m_1}V_2^{n_1}a_1^{(1)}a_1^{(2)}V_1^{m_2}V_2^{n_2}\mathrm{}V_1^{m_k}V_2^{n_k},a_j^{(i)}A_i^{\varphi _i},m_i,n_i,$$

with the convention that $`V_i^n=(V_i^{})^n`$ if $`n0`$.

Using the fact that $`V_i^{}aV_i,V_iaV_i^{}A_i^{\varphi _i}`$ whenever $`aA_i^{\varphi _i}`$, we can rewrite $`W`$ as

$$W=(V_1^{})^m(V_2^{})^na^{(1)}a^{(2)}V_1^lV_2^k,a^{(i)}A_i^{\varphi _i},m,n,k,l0.$$

Let now $`p_k=p_k^{(1)}=V_1^k(V_1^{})^kA_1^{\varphi _1}`$ be as above. One can choose a diffuse commutative von Neumann algebra $`𝒜`$, containing $`p_k`$, $`k0`$, and so that $`𝒜A_1^{\varphi _1}`$ and $`V_1𝒜V_1^{},V_1^{}𝒜V_1𝒜`$. Choose a projection $`𝒜q_0p_1`$, so that $`q_0p_2`$ and $`\varphi _1(q)=N\varphi _1(1p_1)=N(1\lambda _1)`$ for some integer $`N`$. Choose projections $`𝒜q_1,\mathrm{},q_n1p_1`$, so that $`_{i=1}^Nq_i=1p_1`$ and $`\varphi _1(q_i)=\varphi _1(q_0)=\frac{1}{N}\varphi _1(1p_1)`$. Choose matrix units $`\{e_{ij}\}_{0i,jN}A_1^{\varphi _1}`$, so that $`e_{ii}=q_i`$, $`0iN`$. Let $`C`$ be the von Neumann algebra generated by $`\{V_1^ke_{ij}(V_1^{})^k:1i,jN,k0\}`$. By our choice of $`e_{ij}`$, $`C`$ is hyperfinite (notice that $`V_1^ke_{ii}(V_1^{})^k𝒜`$, and $`C`$ is in fact the crossed product of $`𝒜L^{\mathrm{}}(X)`$ by a singly-generated equivalence relation). Let $`R_1=W^{}(C,V)A_1`$. Then $`R_1`$ is also hypefinite; in fact, it is the crossed product of $`C`$ by the endomorphism $`xV_1xV_1^{}`$. Notice that $`R_1`$ contains $`V_1`$. Furthermore, for all $`k0`$, there is a $`d0`$ and partial isometries $`r_1,\mathrm{},r_dR_1A_1^{\varphi _1}`$, so that $`1V_1^k(V_1^{})^k=_{i=1}^dr_iV_1^k(V_1^{})^kr_i^{}`$.

Construct in a similar way the algebra $`R_2A_2`$, in such a way that $`V_2R_2`$ and for all $`k0`$, there is a $`d0`$ and partial isometries $`r_1,\mathrm{},r_dR_2A_2^{\varphi _2}`$, so that $`1V_2^k(V_2^{})^k=_{i=1}^dr_iV_2^k(V_2^{})^kr_i^{}`$.

Notice that $`R_1R_2A_1A_2`$ is globally fixed by the modular group of $`\varphi _1\varphi _2`$. In particular, this means that $`(R_1R_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2|_{R_1R_2}}=(R_1R_2)(A_1A_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}`$.

Assume now that $`W(A_1A_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}`$. Then $`\sigma _t^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}(W)=W`$. Hence $`\lambda _1^{ml}\lambda _2^{nk}=1`$. It follows that $`W`$ can be written in one of the following forms, using the fact that $`V_i^{}A_i^{\varphi _i}V_iA_i^{\varphi _i}`$: either

$$W=(V_1^{})^m1a^{(1)}a^{(2)}1V_2^k$$

or

$$W=1(V_2^{})^na^{(1)}a^{(2)}V_1^l1,$$

where $`a^{(1)}A_1^{\varphi _1}`$, $`a^{(2)}A_2^{\varphi _2}`$ and $`\lambda _1^m=\lambda _2^k`$, $`\lambda _2^n=\lambda _1^l`$. In the first case, choose $`r_1,\mathrm{},r_dR_1A_1^{\varphi _1}`$ for which $`1V_1^m(V_1^{})^m=_{i=1}^dr_iV_1^m(V_1^{})^mr_i^{}`$. Then, writing

$`1`$ $`=`$ $`V_1^m(V_1^{})^m+(1V_1^m(V_1^{})^m)`$
$`=`$ $`V_1^m(V_1^{})^m+{\displaystyle r_iV_1^m(V_1^{})^mr_i^{}}`$
we obtain

$`W`$ $`=`$ $`(V_1^{})^m1a^{(1)}a^{(2)}1V_2^k`$
$`=`$ $`(V_1^{})^m1a^{(1)}a^{(2)}V_1^m1(V_1^{})^mV_2^k+`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}}(V_1^{})^m1a^{(1)}r_ia^{(2)}V_1^m1(V_1^{})^mr_i^{}V_2^k`$
$``$ $`\text{span}\{(A_1^{\varphi _1}A_2^{\varphi _2})(R_1R_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}\}.`$
Reversing the roles of $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$, we get that in general, $`\text{span}\{(A_1^{\varphi _1}A_2^{\varphi _2})(R_1R_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}\}`$ is dense in $`(A_1A_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}`$.

Since each $`R_i`$ is hyperfinite, the algebra $`R_1R_2`$ is also hyperfinite; hence $`(R_1R_2)^{\varphi _1\varphi _2}`$ is hyperfinite. It follows that the centralizer $`\varphi _1\varphi _2`$ of $`M=A_1A_2`$ can be written as the closure of the span of $`NR`$, where $`N`$ is a tensor product of two type II1 factors, and $`R`$ is a hyperfinite algebra. Since every hyperfinite algebra can be written as a linear span of the product $`C_1C_2`$, where $`C_i`$ are abelian von Neumann algebras, it follows that the centralizer $`M^\varphi `$ is the closure of the span of $`NC_1C_2`$, with $`N`$ a tensor product of two type II1 factors, and $`C_1`$, $`C_2`$ abelian von Neumann algebras. Hence by Stefan’s result , we get that $`M^\varphi `$ cannot be isomorphic to $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$. ∎

###### Theorem 2.4.

Let $`T_\lambda `$ be the free Araki-Woods factor constructed in . Then $`T_\lambda \cong ̸A_1A_2`$, where $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ are any diffuse von Neumann algebras.

###### Proof.

Since $`T_\lambda `$ is a full IIIλ factor, we have by Lemma 2.2, that the only possible tensor product decompositions with $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ diffuse are ones where either exactly one of $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ is type II1 and the other is of type IIIλ, or each $`A_i`$ is of type III$`_{\lambda _i}`$, with $`\lambda _1^{}\lambda _2^{}=\lambda ^{}`$.

Denote by $`\psi `$ the free quasi-free state on $`T_\lambda `$. It is known (see \[5, Corollary 6.8\]) that $`T_\lambda ^\psi `$ is a factor, isomorphic to $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$. Let $`\varphi `$ be an arbitrary normal faithful state on $`T_\lambda `$, such that $`T_\lambda ^\varphi `$ is a factor. Then (see Theorem 2.1), $`T_\lambda ^\varphi B(\mathrm{}^2)T_\lambda ^\psi B(\mathrm{}^2)L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})B(\mathrm{}^2)`$. Since $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ has $``$ as its fundamental group (see ), it follows that whenever $`\varphi `$ is a state on $`T_\lambda `$, and $`T_\lambda ^\varphi `$ is a factor, then $`T_\lambda ^\varphi L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$.

Assume now that one of $`A_1`$, $`A_2`$ is of type II1; for definiteness, assume that it is $`A_1`$. Choose on $`A_2`$ a normal faithful state $`\varphi _2`$ for which $`A^{\varphi _2}`$ is a factor, and let $`\tau `$ be the unique trace on $`A_1`$. Let $`\varphi =\tau \varphi _2`$ on $`T_\lambda `$. Then $`T_\lambda ^\varphi A_1A_2^{\varphi _2}`$, and hence cannot be isomorphic to $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ by a results of Stephan  and Ge , which is a contradiction.

Assume now that $`A_i`$ is type III$`_{\lambda _i}`$, with $`0<\lambda _i<1`$. Then by Proposition 2.3, there is a state $`\varphi `$ on $`T_\lambda `$, for which $`T_\lambda ^\varphi `$ is a factor, but is not isomorphic to $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$, which is a contradiction. ∎

## 3. $`T_\lambda `$ has no Cartan subalgebras.

Recall that a von Neumann algebra $`M`$ is said to contain a *Cartan subalgebra $`A`$,* if:

1. $`AM`$ is a MASA (maximal abelian subalgebra)
2. There exists a faithful normal conditional expectation $`E:MA`$
3. $`M=W^{}(𝒩(A))`$, where $`𝒩(A)=\{uM:uAu^{}=A,u^{}u=uu^{}=1\}`$ is the normalizer of $`A`$.

For type II1 factors $`M`$, condition (2) is automatically implied by (1).

###### Proposition 3.1.

Let $`M`$ be a factor of type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$, $`0<\lambda <1`$. Then there exists a normal faithful state $`\psi `$ on $`M`$, so that $`\sigma _{2\pi /\mathrm{log}\lambda }^\psi =\mathrm{id}`$, and that the centralizer $`M^\psi `$ is a $`\mathrm{II}_1`$ factor containing a Cartan subalgebra.

###### Proof.

Let $`AM`$ be a Cartan subalgebra. Let $`E:MA`$ be a normal faithful conditional expectation. Let $`\varphi `$ be a normal faithful state on $`AL^{\mathrm{}}[0,1]`$, and denote by $`\theta `$ the state $`\varphi E`$ on $`M`$. Then $`\theta `$ is a normal faithful state. Furthermore, $`M^\theta A`$, because $`E`$ is $`\theta `$-preserving and hence $`\sigma ^\theta |_A=\sigma ^{\theta |_A}=\text{id}`$. Since $`M`$ is type $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$, it follows that $`\sigma _{t_0}^\theta `$ is inner if $`t_0=2\pi /\mathrm{log}\lambda `$. Let $`uM`$ be a unitary for which $`\sigma _{t_0}^\theta (m)=umu^{}`$, $`mM`$. Then $`uxu^{}=x`$ for all $`xA`$, since $`\sigma ^\theta |_A=\text{id}`$. It follows that $`uA^{}M=A^{}`$, since $`A`$ is a MASA. Choose $`dA`$ positive so that $`d^{it_0}=u`$. Note that $`d`$ is in the centralizer of $`\theta `$ (which contains $`A`$). Set $`\psi (m)=\theta (d^1m)`$ for all $`mM`$. Then the modular group of $`\psi `$ at time $`t_0`$ is given by $`\text{Ad}_u^{}\sigma _{t_0}^\theta =\text{id}`$. It follows that $`\psi `$ is a normal faithful state on $`M`$, so that $`\sigma _{t_0}^\psi =\text{id}`$. It furthermore follows from 2.1 that the centralizer of $`M^\psi `$ is a factor of type $`\mathrm{II}_1`$. By the choice of $`\psi `$, its modular group fixes $`A`$ pointwise, hence $`AM^\psi `$.

We claim that $`A`$ is a Cartan subalgebra in $`N=M^\psi `$. First, $`A^{}NA^{}M=A`$, hence $`A`$ is a MASA. Since $`A`$ is a Cartan subalgebra in $`M`$, $`M`$ is densely linearly spanned by elements of the form $`fu`$, where $`u𝒩(A)`$ is a unitary and $`fA`$. The map

$$E(m)=\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }\sigma _t^\psi (m)𝑑t$$

is a normal faithful conditional expectation from $`M`$ onto $`N`$. If $`u𝒩(A)`$ is a unitary, so that $`ufu^{}=\alpha (f)`$ for all $`fA`$ and $`\alpha \text{Aut}(A)`$, then $`uf=\alpha (f)u`$. Hence

$$E(u)f=E(uf)=E(\alpha (f)u)=\alpha (f)E(u).$$

It follows that $`N`$ is densely linearly spanned by elements of the form $`E(fu)=fE(u)`$ for $`fA`$ and $`u𝒩(A)`$. Let $`w(u)`$ be the polar part of $`E(u)`$, and let $`p(u)=E(u)^{}E(u)`$ be the positive part of $`E(u)`$, so that $`E(u)=w(u)p(u)`$ is the polar decomposition of $`E(u)`$. Since

$$E(u)^{}E(u)\alpha ^1(f)=E(u)^{}fE(u)=\alpha ^1(f)E(u)^{}E(u),$$

it follows that $`p(u)`$ commutes with $`A`$ and hence is in $`A`$. Moreover, we then have that

$$w(u)fw(u)^{}=\alpha (f),$$

so that $`w(u)𝒩(A)N`$ . Thus $`N`$ is densely linearly spanned by elements of the form $`fu`$ for $`fA`$ and $`u𝒩(A)N`$, hence $`A`$ is a Cartan subalgebra of $`N`$. ∎

###### Corollary 3.2.

For each $`0<\lambda <1`$ the $`\mathrm{III}_\lambda `$ free Araki-Woods factor $`T_\lambda `$ does not have a Cartan subalgebra.

###### Proof.

If $`T_\lambda `$ were to contain a Cartan subalgebra, it would follow that for a certain state $`\psi `$ on $`T_\lambda `$, the centralizer of $`\psi `$ is a factor containing a Cartan subalgebra. Let $`\varphi `$ be the free quasi-free state on $`T_\lambda `$. Then by 2.1, one has

$$(T_\lambda )^\varphi B(\mathrm{}^2)(T_\lambda )^\psi B(\mathrm{}^2).$$

Since $`(T_\lambda )^\varphi L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ (see \[5, Corollary 6.8\]), and because the fundamental group of $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ is all of $`_+`$ (see ) we conclude that $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ contains a Cartan subalgebra. But this is in contradiction to a result of Voiculescu that $`L(𝔽_{\mathrm{}})`$ has no Cartan subalgebras (see ). ∎


text:
# Asymmetries in the Production of Λ_𝑐⁺ and Λ_𝑐⁻ Baryons in 500 GeV/c 𝜋⁻ Nucleon Interactions

## Abstract

We present a measurement of asymmetries in the production of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ baryons in 500 GeV/$`c`$ $`\pi ^{}`$–nucleon interactions from the E791 experiment at Fermilab. The asymmetries were measured as functions of Feynman $`x`$ ($`x_F`$) and transverse momentum squared ($`p_T^2`$) using a sample of $`\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}819}\pm 62`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$’s observed in the decay channel $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+pK^{}\pi ^+`$. We observe more $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$ than $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ baryons, with an asymmetry of $`(12.7\pm 3.4\pm 1.3)\%`$ independent of $`x_F`$ and $`p_T^2`$ in our kinematical range ($`0.1x_F0.6`$ and $`0.0p_T^28.0(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$). This $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ asymmetry measurement is the first with data in both the positive and negative $`x_F`$ regions.

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Several studies  have reported an enhancement in the production rate of charm particles having a valence quark or diquark in common with the incident particles, relative to charge-conjugate particles which have fewer or no common valence quarks. This effect, known as the leading-particle effect, cannot be accounted for by next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD (pQCD) calculations followed by Peterson fragmentation of the produced $`c`$ and $`\overline{c}`$ quarks. Thus, the effect is attributed to additional hadronization effects or non-pQCD contributions to charm production.

In this work we report on the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ production asymmetry measured using a sample containing $`\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}819}\pm 62`$ fully-reconstructed $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+pK^{}\pi ^+`$ and charge conjugate (c.c.) decays from the Fermilab E791 experiment. The data are from 500 GeV/$`c`$ $`\pi ^{}`$-nucleon interactions. This measurement represents a significant increase in statistics from previously published results, and it also explores for the first time the production asymmetry at negative values of $`x_F`$. This feature of our measurement allows us to look both for diquark effects which should be present in the negative $`x_F`$ region (since the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$ has two valence quarks in common with the target particles whereas the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ has none) and for leading particle effects in the positive $`x_F`$ region (in which both the particle and antiparticle share a single valence quark with the incident pions). The production asymmetries are measured as functions of $`x_F`$ and $`p_T^2`$ in the kinematic ranges $`0.1x_F0.6`$ and $`0p_T^28(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$.

Varied predictions about what asymmetries should be observed in the E791 data are made by three models which address leading particle effects: the string fragmentation (SF) model , the intrinsic charm (IC) model , and the two-component recombination (2CR) model .

In the string fragmentation model implemented in the Lund Pythia/Jetset package , the $`c`$ and $`\overline{c}`$ quarks produced by leading order QCD diagrams are connected by color strings to valence quarks or diquarks in the beam or target particles. Hadronization proceeds through fragmentation of the ends of the color string and recombination with valence quarks from the initial particles. The model predicts a negative asymmetry (more $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ than $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$) for $`x_F>0`$, a positive asymmetry for $`x_F<0`$, and a flat dependence on $`p_T^2`$.

For the intrinsic charm model, fluctuation of one or the other of the incident particles to a Fock state containing $`c\overline{c}`$ quarks ($`|uudc\overline{c}`$ or $`|uddc\overline{c}`$ for nucleons and $`|\overline{u}dc\overline{c}`$ for $`\pi ^{}`$) favors production of particles with valence quarks in common with the Fock state via a coalescence (recombination) mechanism. Hence, this model predicts no asymmetry in the $`x_F>0`$ region and a positive asymmetry for $`x_F<0`$, increasing as one moves toward more negative $`x_F`$.

In the two-component recombination model, hadronization takes place through fragmentation of perturbatively produced $`c`$ and $`\overline{c}`$ quarks, and the recombination of valence and $`c`$ ($`\overline{c}`$) quarks produced in the initial collision. In the $`x_F<0`$ region, this model predicts a positive asymmetry growing strongly as $`x_F`$ becomes more negative, due to target-diquark effects. Again, there is no asymmetry in the pion fragmentation region ($`x_F>0`$) since both $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ are singly-leading particles.

The main difference between the IC and 2CR models is that the former predicts very little asymmetry in the E791 negative $`x_F`$ range because the IC distribution peaks at about $`0.6`$ of the initial particle momentum. Because of diquark effects, the 2CR model can account for larger asymmetries in this region.

Neither the IC nor the 2CR model has been used to make a prediction regarding the variation of asymmetry with respect to $`p_T^2`$. Whatever asymmetries do exist, however, are expected to decrease as $`p_T^2`$ increases, since the density of beam and target valence quarks available for recombination decreases with increasing $`p_T^2`$.

Experiment E791 recorded data from 500 $`\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c}`$ $`\pi ^{}`$ interactions in five thin foils (one platinum and four diamond) with center-to-center separations of about 15 mm. Each foil was approximately 0.4% of a pion interaction length thick (0.5 mm for the platinum foil and 1.6 mm for the carbon foils). The E791 spectrometer  in the Tagged Photon Laboratory was a large-acceptance, two-magnet spectrometer with eight planes of multiwire proportional chambers (MWPC) and six planes of silicon microstrip detectors (SMD) placed upstream of the target for beam tracking. Downstream of the target were 17 planes of SMD’s for track and vertex reconstruction, 35 drift chamber planes, two MWPC’s, two multicell threshold Čerenkov counters, electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters, and a muon detector. The experiment recorded $`2\times 10^{10}`$ interactions using an open transverse-energy trigger and a fast data acquisition system .

A sample of candidate $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+pK^{}\pi ^+`$ and c.c. decays was selected using similar criteria to those reported in Ref. . Since the mean decay length for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$’s was several mm, in most cases they decayed in air gaps between the target foils and before entering the silicon vertex detectors. We selected all combinations of three tracks which had Čerenkov counter identification probabilities consistent with the $`pK\pi `$ hypothesis and which had a $`pK\pi `$ invariant mass between $`2.15`$ and $`2.45`$ GeV/$`c^2`$. We then required that the distance between the reconstructed candidate $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ decay vertex and the production vertex be at least five times the rms uncertainty in that distance. To further reduce background, we required the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ to decay a distance greater than $`5\sigma _L`$ from the nearest material, where $`\sigma _L`$ is the uncertainty on the vertex $`z`$ position. The vertex position is also required to lie between one and four $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ lifetimes from the primary (interaction) vertex. The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ momentum vector, reconstructed from its decay products, was required to pass within $`50\mu m`$ of the production vertex, and the reconstructed production and decay vertices were each required to have an acceptable $`\chi ^2`$. We also required that no more than one of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$-candidate decay tracks be consistent with coming from the primary interaction point. The sum of the $`p_T^2`$ of the secondary tracks with respect to the flight path of the reconstructed $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ was required to be greater than $`0.35(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$ if $`0.1x_F0.3`$, and greater than $`0.32(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$ if $`0.3<x_F0.6`$.

Events were kept if the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ candidate had $`0.1x_F0.6`$ and $`p_T^28(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$. The $`pK\pi `$ invariant-mass plots for the final $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ samples are shown in Figs. 1(a) and (b) respectively for $`x_F<0`$, and in Figs. 1(c) and (d) for $`x_F>0`$. Fits to a Gaussian signal and a quadratic background yield $`\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}025}\pm 45\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+pK^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`794\pm 42\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}\overline{p}K^+\pi ^{}`$ in the entire $`x_F`$ and $`p_T^2`$ range.

For each bin of $`x_F`$ or $`p_T^2`$ we define an asymmetry parameter $`A`$ as

$$A\frac{N\overline{N}/r}{N+\overline{N}/r};r=\frac{\overline{ϵ}}{ϵ}$$
(1)
where $`N`$ ($`\overline{N}`$) is the number of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+`$ ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$) produced in the bin and the efficiency $`ϵ`$ ($`\overline{ϵ}`$) is the product of the geometrical acceptance and reconstruction efficiency for the bin.

Values for $`N`$ ($`\overline{N}`$) were obtained from fits to $`pK\pi `$ invariant-mass distributions for events within specific $`x_F`$ and $`p_T^2`$ ranges. In each case, well defined $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ signals were evident. Efficiencies ($`ϵ`$, $`\overline{ϵ}`$) were calculated using a sample of $`7\times 10^6`$ Monte Carlo (MC) events produced with the Pythia/Jetset event generator . These events were projected through a detailed simulation of the E791 detector and then reconstructed with the algorithms used for the data. The final reconstructed MC sample was approximately ten times the size of our data sample. In the simulation of the detector, special care was taken to accurately simulate the reduced chamber efficiency seen in the experiment in a small region of the tracking chambers nearest the beam. The behavior of the apparatus and details of the reconstruction code changed during the data taking and data processing periods, respectively. To account for these effects, we generated the final MC sample in subsets mirroring these behaviors and combined the samples using their known fractional contributions to the data set. Good agreement between MC and data samples in a variety of kinematic variables and resolutions was achieved. The efficiency ratios obtained are shown in Fig. 2.

Acceptance-corrected asymmetries in the range $`0.1x_F0.6`$ integrated over all $`p_T^28(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$, and in the $`p_T^28(\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c})^2`$ range integrated from $`0.1`$ to $`0.6`$ $`x_F`$, are shown in Fig. 3 and listed in Table 1. The statistical errors given include those due to the number of observed events and the number of MC events accepted. Typically, only for the highest $`x_F`$ and $`p_T^2`$ bins is the error dominated by the MC uncertainty. Also shown in Fig. 3 are predictions from the default Pythia/Jetset . The asymmetries predicted by Pythia are negative for $`x_F>0`$ and in all the $`p_T^2`$ range studied, while our data exhibit a positive asymmetry throughout the kinematical region studied. However, the data do not exclude a rise in the small negative $`x_F`$ region.

Sources of systematic uncertainties were checked. Among them we checked the effect of changing the parametrization of the signal and background shape, the effect of varying our principal selection criteria and the effect of a $`2.5\%`$ $`K^{}`$ contamination in the beam.

The most significant effect comes from the parametrization of the background shape and the variation of our principal selection criteria. The effect of the $`K^{}`$ contamination in the beam, which might produce a negative asymmetry in the $`x_F>0`$ region, was found to be negligible.

We also checked for contamination due to $`D^\pm `$ and $`D_s^\pm `$ decaying into $`K\pi \pi `$ and $`KK\pi `$ modes. We found that, by restricting our sample to have lifetimes between one and four $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ lifetimes, we reduced any possible contamination to negligible levels.

The SELEX collaboration has measured an asymmetry in the $`x_F>0.2`$ region using different incident beam particles. Their preliminary results for the $`\pi ^{}`$ beam indicate an asymmetry of $`A=(25\pm 15)\%`$ . The ACCMOR Collaboration  has also measured the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^{}`$ asymmetry over the $`0x_F0.8`$ region in 230 GeV/$`c`$ $`\pi ^{}`$–Cu interactions and found $`A=(0.5\pm 7.9)\%`$, indicating no asymmetry, although with large uncertainty. Our measurement, when averaged over the $`0x_F0.6`$ region, is $`A=(12.3\pm 3.7\pm 1.6)\%`$. No inconsistencies are observed in these results. The asymmetries measured by the three experiments and predictions of theoretical models are shown in Table 2.

In the forward $`x_F`$ region, leading particle effects are expected to cancel since, in this region, both particle and anti-particle share one valence quark with incident pions. The observed constant asymmetry could be due to different energy thresholds for particle and antiparticle in associated production of charmed mesons and baryons. A similar effect was observed in the hyperon production asymmetries measured in this experiment . Our data cannot exclude a rise in asymmetry in the $`x_F<0`$ region. The default Pythia/Jetset model, which predicts a negative asymmetry over the range $`x_F>0`$, does not provide a good description of our data. The data show a trend similar to predictions of the two component models .

We have presented data on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ production asymmetries in both the forward ($`x_F>0`$) and backward ($`x_F<0`$) regions. The range of $`x_F`$ covered, $`0.1x_F0.6`$ allows the first simultaneous study of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ production asymmetry in both the negative and positive $`x_F`$ regions. Our results show a uniform, positive asymmetry of $`(12.7\pm 3.4\pm 1.3)\%`$ after acceptance corrections over the entire kinematical range studied .

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the staffs of Fermilab and of all the participating institutions. This research was supported by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CONACyT (Mexico), the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Fermilab is operated by the Universities Research Associates, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.