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# On the Size-Dependence of the Inclination Distribution of the Main Kuiper Belt

## 1 Introduction

The discovery of the Kuiper belt in 1992 (Jewitt & Luu 1993) issued in a new era for the study of the outer solar system. The Kuiper belt is important not only because it is a rich, new region of the solar system to be explored, but because it contains important fossil clues about the formation of the outer solar system in particular, and about planet formation in general.

Since its discovery, the Kuiper belt has supplied us with surprise after surprise. For example, before it was discovered, theorists believed that the Kuiper belt would consist of objects on low-inclination, nearly-circular orbits beyond the orbit of Neptune (Levison & Duncan 1993; Holman & Wisdom 1993). This belief seemed to be confirmed with the discovery of the first two Kuiper Belt Objects (hereafter KBOs), 1992 QB1 and 1993 FW. However, the next four objects discovered revealed a real surprise. At the time of discovery their heliocentric distances were close enough to Neptune’s orbit that their orbits should be unstable, unless protected by some dynamical mechanism. Indeed, many believed that they might have been Neptunian Trojans. However, these were the first discoveries of an unexpected population of objects on highly eccentric (up to 0.3) orbits in the 2:3 mean motion resonance with Neptune (co-orbiting with Pluto).

Currently, objects in the trans-Neptunian region are divided into two main groups (see Malhotra et al. 2000 for a review). The Kuiper belt consists of objects that are primarily on long-lived orbits, while the scattered disk consists of objects that have suffered a close encounter with Neptune (Duncan & Levison 1997; Luu et al. 1997). The Kuiper belt itself is typically subdivided into two populations. Inside of roughly $`42\mathrm{AU}`$, objects tend to be locked into mean motion resonances with Neptune. Most known objects in this class are in Neptune’s 2:3 mean motion resonance. However, a fraction also reside in the 3:5 and the 3:4 resonances. The orbits of all these objects are probably a result of resonance capture during the slow outward migration of Neptune during the late stages of planet formation (Malhotra 1995).

Beyond $`42\mathrm{AU}`$, although several objects are believed to be in the 1:2 mean motion resonance (Marsden 2000a), most objects are not on resonant orbits. These non-resonant objects are members of what has come to be called the main Kuiper belt. Models of planetary migration (e.g. Malhotra 1995; Holman 1995; Hahn & Malhotra 1999) predict that unlike the KBOs in mean motion resonances, main KBOs should be on relatively low-inclination, nearly-circular orbits. However, recent observations have shown that this is not the case. Numerous objects in this region have very large inclinations111Eccentricities are not a good measure of how excited the Kuiper belt is since most large eccentricity orbits are removed through close encounters with Neptune, truncating the eccentricity distribution. Inclinations do not suffer from this problem (Duncan, et al. 1995)., certainly up to about $`32^{}`$, and most likely even higher (Marsden 2000a).

Several papers have been published which attempt, among other things, to explain the high inclinations seen in the main Kuiper belt. The mechanisms invoked to date involve the scattering of KBOs by large objects temporarily evolving through the region. It takes a massive object to excite KBOs to high inclination; much more massive than the KBOs themselves222A simple calculation based on an object’s escape velocity shows that it must be larger than roughly twice the radius of Pluto to scatter a Kuiper belt object to an inclination of 30.. Petit et al. (1999) suggest that the dynamically excited Kuiper belt is caused by the passage of Earth-mass objects through that region of the solar system. Thommes et al. (1999) suggest that the large inclinations are due to the passage of Uranus and/or Neptune through the Kuiper belt while on eccentric orbits, after these planets were ejected from the region between Jupiter and Saturn. Ida et al. (2000) suggest that the Kuiper belt was excited by a passing star.

In this paper we present an analysis of the currently available orbital data of main belt KBOs which shows a new and surprising trend — an unexpected and intriguing correlation between inclination and absolute magnitude. In particular intrinsically bright objects tend to be found on larger inclinations than do intrinsically faint objects. In §2 we present the data and discuss the statistical significance of this trend. In §3 we investigate whether this trend is a result of observational selection effects. Our preliminary interpretation of this trend is presented in §4. We summarize our findings in §5.

## 2 Observations

The KBO orbital elements we employ here were taken from the Minor Planet Center’s web site (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/lists/TNOs.html for October 20, 2000; Marsden 2000a). Before we describe our results, however, we first caution the reader about the use of such data. Although the orbital elements in this dataset are given to several significant figures, many of them are uncertain, and significant changes for individual objects routinely occur as more data is collected. This is particularly severe for objects that have been observed for only one season (B. Marsden, pers. comm.). Thus, we restrict our analysis to objects that have been observed over multiple oppositions. There are 124 such objects in our dataset; roughly a third of the total.

In general, the inclination, $`i`$, is the best determined of the 6 orbital elements because it is uniquely determined by the motion of KBO perpendicular to the ecliptic. For an object in the ecliptic and at opposition (where most KBOs have been discovered), observations taken over even just a short period of time allow for a determination of its instantaneous heliocentric distance, but do not allow for a unique determination of the semi-major axis, $`a`$, or eccentricity, $`e`$. However, since the instantaneous heliocentric distance is well determined (being directly calculated from the observed rate of motion), we do have a good estimate of the object’s absolute magnitude ($`H`$). 333In planetary science, an absolute magnitude is defined as the magnitude that an object would have if it were $`1\mathrm{AU}`$ from both the Sun and the Earth and seen at zero phase angle, i.e. at opposition. Such a geometry can never happen in nature, but this definition is numerically convenient.

It also should be noted that the MPC dataset suffers from a host of observational selection effects, including those that affect inclination. Surveys for KBOs tend to search near the ecliptic and thus there is a strong selection against objects with large inclinations. Analysis of this and other observational biases is complicated by the fact that these objects were discovered by many different observing teams using different equipment and different search methods. Thus, the observational biases and limiting magnitudes vary from object to object. This complication makes it difficult to statistically analyze the KBO orbital dataset for trends. We return to this issue in §3.

Since many objects in mean motion resonances have had their inclinations affected by these resonances, we restrict ourselves to objects in the main Kuiper belt. We define members of the main Kuiper belt as those objects with $`a>42.5\mathrm{AU}`$ (outside Neptune’s 3:5 mean motion resonance) and $`e<0.2`$ (to avoid objects in Neptune’s 1:2 mean motion resonance and the scattered disk; Duncan & Levison 1997)444The results presented below are not significantly sensitive to our choice of these limits. For example, if we included objects with $`a>41.5\mathrm{AU}`$ (starting inside of Neptune’s 3:5 mean motion resonance) and $`e<0.25`$, we include 10 more objects in our sample, but neither our qualitative arguments nor our qualitative measures of statistical significance change noticeably.. There are 80 objects that meet these criteria.

Figure 5 shows the inclinations of these objects as a function of their absolute magnitude. The inclinations in this figure are accurate to better than $`\pm 0.5^{}`$, while the absolute magnitudes are accurate to about $`\pm 0.5`$ magnitudes (B. Marsden, pers. comm.). Notice that this figure indicates a distinct difference in the character of the inclinations for objects that have $`H<6.5`$ compared to those with $`H>6.5`$. In order to further illustrate this point, we provide Figure 5, which shows the cumulative inclination distribution for the two populations. We refer to the absolute magnitude boundary between these groups as $`H_{break}`$.

The natural conclusion from Figures 5 and 5 is that the inclination distribution of the intrinsically faint ($`H>6.5`$) objects appears to be significantly lower than the intrinsically bright objects. Indeed, the median inclination of the faint objects is $`2.2^{}`$, but the median inclination of the bright objects is $`12^{}`$. Of course, assuming that there is no systematic variation of KBOs albedos, the intrinsically bright objects represent the largest KBOs 555If $`p=0.04`$ then $`H=6.5`$ implies an object with a radius of $`170`$km.. Thus, Figures 5 and 5 suggest that the largest of the objects in the main Kuiper belt are more dynamically excited than smaller objects. This result is surprising because the mechanisms thus far suggested for exciting the Kuiper belt (see §1) have predicted such a behavior (however see Thommes et al. 2000). Because in each of these scenarios the perturber that excites the Kuiper belt is much larger than the KBOs, the response of a KBO to the perturber should be virtually independent of its size.

Before we discuss our interpretation of our new result, we first wish to demonstrate that this finding is statistically significant. After all, there are only 8 objects in our sample with $`H<6.5`$, so in principle, small number statistics could be responsible for this result. In order to address this issue we employ the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) statistical test (Press et al. 1992), which calculates the probability that two distributions are derived from the same parent distribution, where a zero probability means the distributions are dissimilar, and unit probability means they are the same. We find that the K-S probability of the two inclination distributions seen in Figure 5 is 0.03. Thus, it is unlikely that the two distributions are the same666The data in Figure 5 consists of multiple opposition objects only. If we repeat this analysis using all 211 main Kuiper belt objects with both single and multiple opposition orbits, we find a K-S probability of $`0.001`$. Recall that the inclination and absolute magnitude of the single opposition objects are fairly well known. The uncertainty is whether they are members of the main Kuiper belt. Also, if we broaden our definition of the main Kuiper belt to objects with $`a>41.5\mathrm{AU}`$ and $`e<0.25`$, we find a K-S probability of $`0.04`$., and we can rule out that the two populations are the same at the 97% confidence level.

We must also be careful so as to not fortuitously choose a value of the transition absolute magnitude, $`H_{break}`$ (set to 6.5 above), which happens to give a low value of the K-S probability. So, in Figure 5 we present the K-S probability as a function of $`H_{break}`$. This figure shows that the K-S probability is small for all values of $`H_{break}<6.5`$, but becomes large for values fainter than this. This result can be understood by considering Figure 5. If $`H_{break}<6.5`$, we have only dynamically hot objects in the bright population, and since one is only adding a few dynamically hot objects to the faint group, the inclination distribution of the two groups remain roughly unchanged. If $`H_{break}>6.5`$, one starts adding dynamically cold faint objects to the bright group. Since the cold population far outnumbers the hot bright population, cold objects start to dominate the bright group as $`H_{break}`$ becomes larger than $`6.5`$. So, the two distributions look similar.

In short, Figure 5 shows that our choice of $`H_{break}=6.5`$ is not just fortuitous and does not lead us to a false conclusion about the statistical significance of our finding. Thus, we conclude that objects with intrinsic brightnesses greater than $`H_{break}=6.5`$ actually do have an inclination distribution that is statistically different from that of fainter objects.

Could dynamical friction or physical collisions significantly modify an inclination distribution where the large objects have higher inclinations? The response timescale (Binney & Tremaine 1987) of large KBOs to dynamical friction in a dynamically cold, ancient Kuiper belt of $`50M_{}`$ (see Stern 1996) is $`10^9`$ years. However, after dynamical excitation to eccentricities and inclinations characteristic of the present-day Kuiper belt, this timescale increases to $`\text{ }\text{ }>\text{ }10^{12}`$ years. The lower mass of the Kuiper Belt which exists today increases this timescale to $`\text{ }\text{ }>\text{ }10^{14}`$ years. A second potential way of modifying inclinations is through physical collisions. However, the time required for a 100-km class KBO to impact a significant fraction of its own mass in a $`50M_{}`$ Kuiper belt is also of order $`10^9`$ years. Since we estimate that both the dynamical and collisional relaxation timescales are of order 100 times longer than the time required for an excited, massive KB to erode due to collisions (Stern & Colwell 1997), one must conclude that the dynamical configuration of the ancient objects in the present-day, main Kuiper belt is a well-preserved, fossil remnant of the excitation event(s) itself.

## 3 Regarding Potential Observational Biases

In this section we investigate whether the differences seen in the inclination distributions of the bright and faint main Kuiper belt objects could be the result of observational biases. As we described above, this is a difficult issue because these objects were discovered with a variety of instrumentation and under a variety of observing conditions. In particular, the surveys that discovered the faint objects tend to have limited sky coverage, so they would not have found the bright objects, which are rare. On the other hand, the surveys that covered the most sky have fairly bright limiting magnitudes, so they would not have discovered the faint objects. Our task is made still more difficult because many surveys remain unpublished, and the details of how these discoveries were made are unknown.

Here we investigate the only two possible observational selection effects that we could think of that could erroneously lead us to the results of the last section. First, as we described above, the faint objects tend to be discovered by different surveys than the bright objects. The probability of discovering an object of a particular inclination is a strong function of the ecliptic latitude of the discovery images. Images taken at high ecliptic latitude cannot discover low inclination objects. On the other hand, images taken at low ecliptic latitude are biased against discovering high inclination objects.

The results shown in Figures 5 and 5 could be a result of differences in the ecliptic latitude of the discovery images. For example, if the surveys that covered a large area of the sky tend to stray further from the ecliptic, we might see the type of distributions seen in Figures 5 and 5. Figure 5 shows the ecliptic latitude of the objects in our sample at the time of their discovery as a function of their absolute magnitude. This data shows that the bright objects tend to be found at the same ecliptic latitudes as the faint objects. Indeed, we performed a K-S test similar to that above using ecliptic latitude instead of inclination and found the K-S probability is larger than 0.5 for all values of $`H_{break}`$. Thus, the findings discussed in §2 cannot be explained away by discovery selection effects.

Selection effects on the recovery of objects could also in principle erroneously lead to the results obtained in §2. It is well known that the brightest KBOs attract more followup observations then the faint ones. This is because the faint objects require large telescopes on which it is difficult to obtain observing time. As such the fainter objects tend to be preferentially lost. Of the objects in the main belt discovered before the year 2000 (so there was opportunity for them to have been observed during a second opposition), all the objects with $`H<5.5`$ have been recovered, while only 36% of the objects with $`H>7.5`$ have been observed again. If, for the faint objects, there is a selection against recovering high inclination objects, then the findings of §2 could be in error. To check this possibility, Figure 5 shows the fraction of main belt KBOs fainter than 6.5 that have been recovered as a function of their inclination. We only include those objects that have discovered before the year 2000. The error-bars represent the error in the mean; they increase in size with inclination because there are fewer high inclination objects. Note that the recovery fraction for these objects is independent of inclination. Thus, the finding that objects with $`H<6.5`$ tend to have larger inclinations than objects with $`H>6.5`$ is also not a result of recovery statistics.

## 4 Interpretation

Perhaps the most natural interpretation for the data in Figure 5 is that we are seeing the superposition of two distinct populations. The first population contains dynamically hot objects with inclinations up to $`35^{}`$ and absolute magnitudes as bright as 4.5. (Of course in the future, members of this hot population that are larger and/or have higher inclinations than those currently known, may well be discovered.) The other population is a dynamically cold one with $`i\text{ }\text{ }<\text{ }5^{}`$ and $`H\text{ }\text{ }>\text{ }6.5`$ (radii $`\text{ }\text{ }<\text{ }170`$ for albedo of 4%).

There are two lines of supporting evidence in our dataset for two distinct populations. First, so far in this discussion we have restricted ourselves to the analysis of inclinations only. However, in a dynamically isotropic system, the root-mean-square (RMS) of the eccentricities should be approximately twice the RMS of the sine of the inclinations (Lissauer & Stewart 1993). So, if our ‘dynamically cold’ population is real, the eccentricities should also be small. Indeed, eccentricities should be so small that the eccentricity distribution of this population should not be truncated by Neptune. The RMS of the sine of the inclination of objects fainter than $`H=6.5`$ and with $`i5^{}`$ is $`0.039`$, which predicts that the RMS eccentricity should be $`0.078`$. It is observed to be $`0.076`$ which is in good agreement. The RMS eccentricity of the remaining main belt objects is $`0.11`$, which is significantly larger. Thus, our dynamically cold population appears to be real.

Our interpretation is also supported by Figure 5, which is the same as Figure 5, but with the $`H>6.5`$ curve scaled so that the two curves cross at $`i=5^{}`$. Note that the two distributions are the same for $`i>5^{}`$, arguing that they are members of the same population. So, we can conclude from this that the intrinsically faint objects with $`i>5^{}`$ are part of the same population as the intrinsically bright objects. If this interpretation is correct, then approximately 40% of the objects in our sample are part of the dynamically excited population.

As we were preparing this manuscript, two papers became available that also argue for two populations in the main Kuiper belt. Brown (2000) performed detailed modeling of the one-dimensional inclination distribution of the main Kuiper belt. Although his results are somewhat model dependent, owing to an assumed functional form for the intrinsic inclination distribution of $`\mathrm{sin}(i)\mathrm{exp}(i^2/2\sigma ^2)`$, he concludes that the main Kuiper belt is most likely composed of the superposition of two distinct populations — one dynamically hot and the other dynamically cold. The dynamically cold population is best fit by $`\sigma =2.2^{}`$, which is consistent with our estimate that the maximum inclination of this population is roughly $`5^{}`$.

More convincing and relevant, however, are the recent results of Tegler & Romanishin (2000), who have studied the colors of KBOs. It has been previously shown that the Kuiper belt and scattered disk most likely contain two distinct color populations — one that is comprised of objects that are gray in color and one in which the objects are red (Tegler & Romanishin 1998). Tegler & Romanishin (2000) found that in the main Kuiper belt, all objects on low-inclination, nearly-circular orbits are red in color, while the rest of the KBOs are a mixture of both red and gray colors (also see Marsden 2000b). The black and red dots in Figure 5 represent those objects for which Tegler & Romanishin measured a gray and red color, respectively. Tegler & Romanishin’s result seems to indicate that at least the surfaces of the dynamically cold main Kuiper belt objects are chemically distinct as a group from the rest of the KBOs.

Based on the various lines of evidence we conclude that the main Kuiper belt is a superposition of two distinct populations and that these populations consist of objects with different sizes, different dynamics, and different surface properties. We speculate that a natural explanation for this result is as follows777In the following scenario we are assuming that the differences in $`H`$ are due to differences in size. It is possible, but less likely, that it could be due to albedo differences..

Initially the protoplanetary disk in the Uranus-Neptune region and beyond was dynamically cold with size distribution and color that varied with heliocentric distance. In particular, significant numbers of large objects ($`H<6.5`$) had only formed in the inner regions of the disk while few, if any, objects this large formed in the outer regions. Then a dynamically violent event cleared the inner region of the disk, dynamically scattering the inner-disk objects outward. Most of these objects were either ejected from the solar system, placed in the Oort cloud, or became members of the scattered disk. However, a few of these objects would have been deposited in the main Kuiper belt, becoming the dynamically hot population described above.

This scenario has several implications. First, it suggests that objects in the scattered disk, the dynamically hot main Kuiper belt, and perhaps in Neptune’s mean motion resonances should have similar size-distributions and physical characteristics because they were all populated with the objects initially in the inner disk. In addition, since current models of the Kuiper belt show that the cold population is likely to be dynamically stable (Duncan et al. 1995), this population should not be contributing significantly to the Centaurs. Hence, the Centaurs should also have a size-distribution and physical properties similar to the dynamically hot main Kuiper belt and its cohorts. This appears to be born out by observations. Tegler & Romanishin (2000) find that the scattered disk, the dynamically hot main Kuiper belt, the plutinos, and the Centaurs roughly have the same mixture of red and gray objects. In addition, all these regions contain objects with $`H<6.5`$.

Our scenario also suggests that the dynamically cold population is a dynamically primordial population; member objects most likely formed near where they are observed and have not been significantly perturbed over the age of the solar system.888By member objects, we specifically exclude recently created collisional shards (see e.g., Farinella et al. 2000). It also suggests that because the intrinsically brightest objects in this population have $`H6.5`$ and other brighter (larger) objects have been found in the main Kuiper belt, that the largest object to grow in this region has $`H=6.5`$ or a radius of $`170`$ km (4% albedo). This result may supply important constraints on the accretional history of this region, possibly including coonstraints on the solid surface density of material in the region and the date of the event(s) that dynamically excited the Kuiper belt.

## 5 Summary

We have shown that the inclination distribution of objects in the main Kuiper belt most likely varies as a function of absolute magnitude. In particular, objects intrinsically brighter than $`H=6.5`$ appear to have systematically higher inclinations than intrinsically fainter objects. There is only $`3\%`$ chance that these two distributions are the same. We have shown that this result is unlikely to be caused by biases in discovery or recovery observing procedures. Therefore, although it is possible that this conclusion is a result of small number statistics, we believe that it is real. Future discoveries and followups will clearly resolve this issue. The clear implication of our result is that a main belt object’s inclination is dependent on its size.

The differences between intrinsically bright objects and the intrinsically faint objects is best seen in Figure 5. Perhaps the most natural interpretation for the data in this figure is that we are seeing the superposition of two distinct populations. The first contains a dynamically hot population (inclinations up to $`35^{}`$) consisting of both large and small objects (absolute magnitudes as small as 4.5 or radii up to $`330`$km for albedos of 4%). Indeed, even larger objects and/or objects with higher inclinations are likely to still be found. The other population is a dynamically cold one ($`i\text{ }\text{ }<\text{ }5^{}`$) preferentially containing smaller objects ($`H\text{ }\text{ }>\text{ }6.5`$ or radii $`\text{ }\text{ }<\text{ }170`$km for albedos of 4%).

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank L. Dones, B. Gladman, and P. Tamblyn for useful discussions. We are also grateful to W. Bottke, R. Canup, M. Duncan and an anonymous referee for comments on an early version of this manuscript. We also thank NASA’s PGG and Origins programs for support.


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# CFNUL 2/2000 Searching Scalar Resonances with Ultra-high Energy Neutrinos

## 1 Introduction

It was suggested long ago by Glashow  that one could look for the effects of the $`W`$-boson in the spectrum of hadronic cascades produced via a resonant scattering of cosmic antineutrinos with electrons in the atmosphere. This suggestion was made before the discovery of the $`W`$-boson in laboratory experiments. We will revive Glashow’s idea by applying it to another resonant process, the electron-neutrino scattering via an isotriplet scalar exchange. Isotriplet scalars are predicted by many models  and they may play role in the so-called seesaw mechanism of neutrino masses . There is no evidence of their existence from laboratory experiments so far. On the other hand the data still allows their couplings to leptons to be large, in contrast with the couplings of the ordinary Higgs scalars . We shall study whether the plans to build large neutrino telescopes and to use air shower arrays to detect horizontal neutrino-induced air showers would open a possibility to see signals of these particles in the cosmic ray spectra. We evaluate the event rates of the resonant isotriplet mediated electron-neutrino scattering for plausible isotriplet scalar masses in various detectors and compare them with the corresponding background rates.

We do not specify the model but assume simply that at the energies relevant for our studies there exists, in addition to the Standard Model particles, an isotriplet of scalar fields $`(\mathrm{\Delta }^0,\mathrm{\Delta }^{},\mathrm{\Delta }^{})`$ carrying $`SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y`$ quantum numbers $`(I_3,Y)=(3,2)`$. The couplings of the triplet $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ to leptons are governed by the Lagrangian

$$_\mathrm{\Delta }^{\mathrm{Yukawa}}=ih_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}^{}}\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{}L^TC\sigma _2\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{}^{}L+h.c.,$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{}L=(\nu _\mathrm{}L,\mathrm{}_L)`$ and $`\mathrm{}=e,\mu ,\tau `$. This interaction breaks the lepton number by two units. One should note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ does not couple to quarks, which has important consequences in respect to its possible astrophysical manifestations.

The interactions (1) allow for the $`e^{}\nu _e`$ annihilation in s-channel, whose astrophysical signal we will consider in the following. The present phenomenological constraints on the couplings $`h_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}^{}}`$ are the following (see e.g. ):

$`h_{e\mu }h_{ee}`$ $`<`$ $`3.2\times 10^{11}\mathrm{GeV}^2M_{\mathrm{\Delta }^{++}}^2`$ (2a)
$`h_{ee}^2`$ $`<`$$``$ $`9.7\times 10^6\mathrm{GeV}^2M_{\mathrm{\Delta }^{++}}^2`$ (2b)
$`h_{\mu \mu }^2`$ $`<`$$``$ $`2.510^5\mathrm{GeV}^2M_{\mathrm{\Delta }^{++}}^2`$ (2c)
$`h_{ee}h_{\mu \mu }`$ $`<`$$``$ $`5.810^5\mathrm{GeV}^2M_{\mathrm{\Delta }^{++}}^2`$ (2d)
$`h_{e\mu }h_{\mu \mu }`$ $`<`$$``$ $`210^{10}\mathrm{GeV}^2M_{\mathrm{\Delta }^{++}}^2,`$ (2e)
where $`M_{\mathrm{\Delta }^{++}}`$ is in GeV. There exist no strict constraints on the corresponding couplings with $`\tau `$-leptons and neutrinos. It is conceivable to assume that the masses of the all members of the triplet $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ are more or less equal, and hence these limits can be taken to be valid also for the couplings of the singly charged triplet Higgs boson. In the following we will consider two scalar mass values, 150 GeV and 300 GeV. In the former case the maximum values of the Yukawa couplings for the first two generations are $`h_{ee}=0.47`$ and $`h_{\mu \mu }=0.75`$. In the latter case the couplings can have any value up to the vacuum stability limit of $`h_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}^{}}=𝒪(1)`$.

We will consider the process

$$\nu _ee^{}\mathrm{\Delta }^{}\mathrm{}^{}\nu _{\mathrm{}},(\mathrm{}=e,\mu ,\tau ).$$
(3)
The total cross section of the process in the laboratory frame is given by

$$\sigma =\frac{h_{ee}^2h_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}}^2}{4\pi }\times \frac{m_eE_\nu }{[m_\mathrm{\Delta }^{}^22m_eE_\nu ]^2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Delta }^{}^2m_\mathrm{\Delta }^{}^2},$$
(4)
where $`E_\nu `$ is the energy of the cosmic neutrino and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ is the total width of the isotriplet scalar. One should emphasize that the cross section depends quadratically on $`h_{ee}`$ and $`h_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}}`$. In our numerical calculations we assume for these coupling the largest values allowed by the present laboratory data. If their values in reality are less than these maximum values, the event rates presented below should be rescaled accordingly.

Fig. 1 represents the cross section of the process (3) for $`m_\mathrm{\Delta }=300`$ GeV and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Delta }=34.5`$ GeV (right peak) as a function of the cosmic neutrino energy, in comparison with the cross section of the Glashow process (left peak). In the same figure we also give the cross section for the deep inelastic $`\nu _{\mathrm{}}`$-nucleon and $`\overline{\nu }_{\mathrm{}}`$-nucleon scattering processes, which will build the main background in some detectors. Notice that for all processes only one neutrino (or antineutrino) flavour is produced; we assume that one can distinguish between different flavours. For neutrino energies between $`10^7\mathrm{GeV}E_\nu 10^{12}\mathrm{GeV}`$ this cross section is given by

$$\sigma _{\nu N+\overline{\nu }N}(E_\nu )15.64\times 10^{36}(E_\nu /10^9\mathrm{eV})^{0.363}\mathrm{cm}^2.$$
(5)
Note that the nucleon to electron ratio is around 2 for most materials, which will additionally increase this background.

Pion photoproduction processes in the sources ($`p\gamma \pi ^+n;\pi ^+\mu ^+\nu _\mu ;\mu ^+e^+\nu _e\overline{\nu }_\mu `$) suggest that no $`\nu _\tau `$ are produced in the sources, and $`\nu _\mu `$ are produced twice as many as $`\nu _e`$. The SuperKamiokande atmospheric neutrino data indicates that the muon neutrino has a large mixing with some other neutrino, presumably the tau neutrino . The combined solar neutrino data favours large mixing angle solutions (LMA, LOW) for the electron neutrino mixing with an active neutrino . This would lead the flavour composition of the extragalactic neutrino flux to be even in all flavours , $`N_\tau :N_\mu :N_e=1:1:1`$. Note, however, that the discussion of the solar, atmospheric and laboratory neutrino data is not settled yet, both three and four neutrino solutions still being possible . Nevertheless, assuming the most plausible neutrino mixing scenario, all three charged leptons are produced in equal amounts in the deep inelastic scattering background processes described above.

Let us now move to the possible detection of the process (3). Currently two major detector designs for observing high energy neutrinos are discussed, namely atmospheric detectors and ice or water detectors. These detectors have in common that they detect fluorescent light emitted by energetic charged particles. Obviously, in our case the charged particle to be observed is the high energy lepton $`\mathrm{}^{}`$ produced in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ decay. In case $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ decays into $`\nu _e`$ and $`e^{}`$, a short electromagnetic cascade will be produced, whose energy should be measurable. If the energy resolution of the detector is good enough, the $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$-resonance should be distinguishable from the Glashow resonance. Therefore electrons are good candidates for detection. Unfortunately electrons and positrons are produced also in deep inelastic scattering processes that will form a serious background. A final state muon at these energies propagates a much longer distance than is the size of any imaginable detector, and furthermore the energy resolution for muons is much worse than for electrons. Thus they are not good candidates for the detection of the process (3).

In contrast, the tau lepton produced by $`10^8`$ GeV neutrino will decay typically within 2-3 km from its production point producing a hadronic shower. The signal is different from the so-called “double bang event” produced by $`\nu _\tau `$-nucleon inelastic scattering , since there is no particle shower at the $`\tau `$ production vertex, i.e. the first “bang” is missing in our case. If the $`\tau `$ production occurs outside the detector, but the decay inside it, the process will be indistinguishable from the $`\nu _\tau `$-nucleon deep inelastic scattering background. Another possible source for background is the Glashow resonance itself. It can produce high numbers of $`\tau `$ (as well as $`\mu `$ and electron) events, but this is dominant at lower energies where $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ production is negligible according to the limits (2). Thus, with a fair energy resolution, the Glashow resonance should be distinguishable from the $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$-resonance.

If one can detect the $`\tau `$ production vertex without a hadronic shower (”bangless” vertex) and $`\tau `$ decay after the decay length of the order of some kilometers, one may measure the lepton energy and hence also estimate the neutrino energy. In that case the most serious background for the processes $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}\tau \nu _\tau `$ are muon neutrino events and cosmic ray muons, with a catastrophic energy loss of the muon after around the same flight distance like $`\tau `$. The energy loss may be e.g. due to hitting a nucleus in the atmosphere, mimicking the $`\tau `$ decay. The difference in the signature of muon catastrophic energy loss should be simulated for different detectors, but it is beyond the scope of this letter. Nevertheless, one should be able to statistically distinguish the big sample of decaying $`\tau `$-leptons, having definite energy and distance from the production vertex, compared to the randomly distributed muon events.

In the following event rate calculations we use as our reference the active galactic nuclei (AGN) models described in . The background calculations are performed in . None of these AGN models have been tested with actual data. Nevertheless, we emphasize the potential importance of observing the high energy neutrino flux and looking at possible resonance effects, which are independent of neutrino sources or the astrophysical models describing neutrino production.

We are interested here in close to horizontally incoming particles. The event rate of the horizontal air showers in a neutrino detector with an area $`A`$ is

$$Rate=A\times t\times 𝑑E_\nu \frac{dN}{dE_\nu }\times \sigma (E_\nu )\rho _e(h)𝑑h,$$
(6)
where $`t`$ denotes the time and $`\rho _e(h)`$ is the electron density, calculated from the American Standard Atmosphere , depending on the height $`h`$ from the surface of the Earth. The yearly event rate per steradian is shown in table 1. We have done our estimates for each different AGN model with two different energy resolutions of the detector with a surface area of $`10^6`$ km2. The first column corresponds to the energy resolution of 25 % (or $`2.5\times 10^7`$ GeV) and the second column that of 5 % (or $`5\times 10^6`$ GeV). We consider the first energy resolution plausible, while the second one is probably optimistic . The event rates have been calculated in each case for two situations. On the first line it is assumed that all three neutrinos have the coupling strenght of $`h_{ee}=h_{\mu \mu }=h_{\tau \tau }=1`$, corresponding to the decay width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu _ee^{}\nu _{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{}^{})=34.5`$ GeV, while on the second line it is assumed that $`h_{ee}=1`$ and $`h_{\mu \mu }h_{\tau \tau }0`$, corresponding to the width 11.5 GeV. The increase of events in the case of low energy resolution and large width is perhaps hard to detect. In the case when only the electron neutrino has a large coupling with $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ one has better chances to see the increase. The best channel for detecting the effect may be $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}\tau \nu _\tau `$. If one can distinguish the production vertex of $`\tau `$ to be without hadronic shower (without the first bang), there will be plenty of events per year to be seen.

Water and ice detectors are build in deep water  or in antarctic permanent ice  and most probably have a final size of just 1 km3. Thus, assuming $`m_\mathrm{\Delta }>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}200}`$ GeV, the events with $`\tau `$-leptons in the final state are no longer fully contained in the detector. Consequently the observed $`\tau `$’s decaying inside the detector will no longer be distinguishable from $`\nu _\tau `$-nucleon deep inelastic scatterings. Signatures of the muons or $`\tau `$-leptons that are produced inside the detector but that leave it are probably as well inseparable from each other. Events with electrons in the final state might give a signal with long detection times. The event rates per year under these conditions are shown in table 2.111 Note that $`\rho _{e(ice)}=3\times 10^{29}m^3`$ and that the detector can work almost 100% a year. Moreover we assume that a total steradian of $`2\pi `$ can be covered.

Water and ice based neutrino telescopes are effective if $`\tau `$ decays inside the detector. Observing fully contained events, we allow a maximum path of 500 m and additional 250 m for the observation of the $`\tau `$-decay. In this case the resonant production of $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ is supposed to happen while the ultra-high energy neutrino propagates the first 250 m path inside the detector. The mass range $`m_\mathrm{\Delta }<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}150}`$ GeV can be tested this way in cubic kilometer detectors. Event rates for this case are presented in table 3 for $`h_{ee}=0.47`$, $`h_{\mu \mu }=0.75`$ and $`h_{\tau \tau }=1`$, which are the largest values allowed by the present bounds (2). Non-observation of $`\tau `$ events with these rates would set new constraints on the couplings.

In conclusion, we have investigated the prospects of observing the possible resonant scattering of high-energy cosmic neutrinos on electrons in the atmosphere via an isotriplet scalar exchange. It turn out that it may be, even with large lepton-scalar couplings, hard to distinguish events with muons or electrons in the final state. On the other hand, events with $`\tau `$-leptons in the final state have an almost backgroundless signature provided it can be checked for each event that there is no hadronic shower in the production vertex of the $`\tau `$. In large atmospheric arrays, of the size of the OWL , one can expect to see of the order of a thousand such events per year.

Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Robert Stokstad and Enrique Zas for helpful discussions. J.M. wishes to thank the Centro de Física Nuclear de Universidade de Lisboa for hospitality. P.K. wishes to thank the Lawrence-Berkeley National Laboratory for hospitality during the final stages of this work and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation and the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters for grants. L.B. and P.K. are supported by JNICT under contracts No. BPD.16372 and No. BPD.20182. This work has been supported by the Academy of Finland under the project no. 40677.


text:
# High Frequency Conductivity in the Quantum Hall Regime

## Abstract

We have measured the complex conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ of a two-dimensional electron system in the quantum Hall regime up to frequencies of 6 GHz at electron temperatures below 100 mK. Using both its imaginary and real part we show that $`\sigma _{xx}`$ can be scaled to a single function for different frequencies and for all investigated transitions between plateaus in the quantum Hall effect. Additionally, the conductivity in the variable-range hopping regime is used for a direct evaluation of the localization length $`\xi `$. Even for large filing factor distances $`\delta \nu `$ from the critical point we find $`\xi \delta \nu ^\gamma `$ with a scaling exponent $`\gamma =2.3`$.

It is widely accepted that the understanding of the integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) is closely related to a disorder driven localization-delocalization transition occurring in two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) in high magnetic fields review . Many experimental and theoretical works approve the interpretation of the transition between adjacent QHE plateaus as a quantum critical phase transition. It is governed by a diverging localization length $`\xi |EE_c|^\gamma `$ which scales with the distance of the energy $`E`$ from the critical energy $`E_c`$ in the center of a Landau band. The exponent $`\gamma 2.3`$ is believed to be a universal quantity independent of disorder. For finite systems with effective size $`L_{\text{eff}}`$ theory predicts that the conductivities $`\sigma _{\alpha \beta }`$ follow scaling functions $`\sigma _{\alpha \beta }=f_{\alpha \beta }\left(L_{\text{eff}}/\xi (E)\right)`$ resulting in a finite width $`\mathrm{\Delta }EL_{\text{eff}}^{1/\gamma }`$ of the transition region. The effective system size $`L_{\text{eff}}`$ is determined by the physical sample size, the electron temperature $`T`$ or the frequency $`f`$.

The most common test of scaling uses an analysis of the temperature or frequency dependence of the conductivity peak width in the QHE plateau transition. However, lacking an exact expression for $`L_{\text{eff}}(T,f)`$, this method does not allow to access the scaling behavior of the localization length directly.

An alternative approach to scaling was proposed by Polyakov and Shklovskii polyakov93 . Using the fact that the conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ in the QHE plateaus at low temperatures is dominated by variable-range hopping (VRH) vrh1 , they analyzed the temperature, current, and frequency dependence of $`\sigma _{xx}`$ in order to gain direct access to the localization length $`\xi `$. The temperature dependence of $`\sigma _{xx}`$ in the VRH regime was also investigated experimentally vrh2 . However, due to an unknown theoretical prefactor, $`\xi `$ could only be estimated from these experiments.

In contrast, the frequency driven variable-range hopping conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}(f)`$ (in the limit $`\sigma _{xx}(f)\sigma _{xx}(0)`$) is given by polyakov93

$$\text{Re}\sigma _{xx}(\omega )=\frac{2\pi }{3}ϵϵ_0\xi \omega ,$$
(1)
linearly depending on both frequency $`f=\omega /2\pi `$ and localization length $`\xi `$ with no unknown prefactors.

Here we report on measurements of the complex conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ up to frequencies $`f=6`$ GHz at low temperatures down to below 100 mK. We will show that $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ can be scaled with a single-parameter function to $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$, independent of temperature, frequency, and filling factor. Secondly we will use Eq. (1) to directly measure the localization length $`\xi `$ deep into the variable-range hopping regime for several QHE plateau transitions. Its filling factor dependence follows a scaling behavior $`\xi |\nu \nu _c|^\gamma `$ with $`\gamma =2.3`$ up to large distances $`|\nu \nu _c|0.3`$ from the critical point $`\nu _c`$. In the center of the QHE plateaus $`\xi `$ is found to be limited by the magnetic length, the natural length scale of the quantum Hall state.

The two-dimensional electron system used in our experiments was realized in an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure grown by molecular beam epitaxy and lies 75 nm underneath the surface. Its electron mobility and density are $`\mu =35`$ m2/Vs and $`n=3.310^{15}`$ m-2. The sample was patterned into Corbino geometry with contacts fabricated by standard Ni/Au/Ge alloy annealing. This geometry allows a direct two-point measurement of the longitudinal conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ at high frequencies. For an ideal Corbino geometry $`\sigma _{xx}`$ is given by $`2\pi \sigma _{xx}=G\mathrm{ln}\left(r_2/r_1\right)`$. $`G=I/U`$ is the two-point conductance with current $`I`$ and voltage $`U`$ measured at the same contacts. The sample dimensions of our Corbino ring are $`r_2=820\mu `$m for the outer and $`r_1=800\mu `$m for the inner radius.

The conductance measurement at high frequencies is realized by a reflection measurement setup: The sample acts as load of a high frequency coaxial line with a characteristic impedance of $`Z_0=50\mathrm{\Omega }`$. A load impedance $`Z=1/G`$ deviating from $`Z_0`$ leads to reflection of an incident wave at the load with a complex reflection coefficient $`_S=(ZZ_0)/(Z+Z_0)`$. The total reflection coefficient $``$ of the loaded line is made up of the sample reflection $`_S`$ and of properties of the line itself such as phase shifts, losses and reflections at interconnections. A careful calibration of these frequency dependent contributions of the line allows the extraction of $`_S(f)`$ and therefore of the complex sample conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}(f)`$ from the direct accessible quantity $`(f)`$. The sample dimensions were chosen as compromise between sensitivity, which is largest for a sample impedance $`Z`$ close to $`Z_0=50\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and the avoidance of size effects for too small ring widths koch91 .

Sample and coaxial line where fitted into a dilution refrigerator with base temperature $`T_S<50`$ mK using a multi step thermal sinking of the line. The sample is situated in the center of a super-conducting solenoid capable of producing magnetic fields up to $`B=15`$T. The reflection $``$ of the coaxial line terminated with the sample is measured with a network analyzer with a frequency range $`f=100`$ kHz to 6 GHz using power levels $`P75`$ dBm which were checked not to influence the measured conductivity. The analyzer was used in continuous wave mode with fixed frequency while stepping the magnetic field.

Figure 1 shows the real part $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ of the measured conductivity as function of the filling factor $`\nu =n/\left(eB/h\right)`$. It shows well pronounced Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations with zero conductivity at integer filling factors and maxima near half integer $`\nu `$. Every peak corresponds to the transition between adjacent quantum Hall states with a critical point $`\nu _c`$ at maximum conductivity. The transition $`\nu =12`$ within the lowest Landau level deviates from the other transitions by form and amplitude of the peak and shows a shoulder possibly originating from the presence of an impurity band kuchar00 .

The other transitions are very symmetric and can be fitted by Gaussians. This fit is used to derive the position of the critical filling factors $`\nu _c`$ and the critical conductivities $`\sigma _c`$. For $`f>2`$ GHz and $`\nu >2`$ its value $`\sigma _c0.17e^2/h`$ is the same for all transitions and independent of frequency as expected by scaling theory, but deviates from the proposed universal value $`0.5e^2/h`$ sigma . A possible explanation for this discrepancy was given by Ruzin et al. ruzin96  who proposed fluctuations in the carrier density as cause of non-universal critical conductivity values.

Previous experiments by Engel et al. engel93  and Balaban et al. balaban98  were restricted to a measurement of the real part of $`\sigma _{xx}`$ whereas our technique gives access to both the real and imaginary part. This allows an additional test of universal frequency scaling. As an example we show the real and the imaginary part of the complex conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ for $`f=3`$ GHz in Fig. 2a. $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ and $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ display a similar symmetry around the critical points, which are marked by the maxima of the conductivity. In the QHE plateau centers between two critical points $`\sigma _{xx}`$ tends to zero (except for $`\nu =5`$ where spin splitting is no longer fully resolved). Approaching the critical points both $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ and $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ start to rise to positive value. While to our knowledge there is no published theoretical prediction of the imaginary part of the hopping conductivity of interacting electrons in high magnetic fields this behavior agrees qualitatively with the theory of Efros efros85  for low magnetic fields. He calculated $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})\mathrm{ln}\left(\omega _{\text{ph}}/\omega \right)\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ with $`\omega _{\text{ph}}`$ the characteristic phonon frequency, which gives a linear dependence between $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ and $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ at fixed frequency.

When moving closer towards the critical point $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ starts dropping back to a a value near zero whereas $`\sigma _{xx}`$ continues increasing up to $`\sigma _{xx}^{max}=0.17e^2/h`$ for the sample investigated. This agrees with the expectation for a quasi metallic behavior of a 2DES at the critical point. The crossover between the variable-range hopping regime and the metallic regime occurs at a conductivity  $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})0.4\sigma _{xx}^{\text{max}}`$ , independent of frequency ($`f1`$ GHz) and temperature.

The extra information gained from the imaginary part allows a new test of the applicability of scaling theory. The theory predicts a complex conductivity following a scaling function $`\sigma _{xx}(f,\delta \nu )=g_{xx}(L_f/\xi (\delta \nu ))`$ pruisken88 , where $`\delta \nu =\nu \nu _c`$ is the deviation to the nearest critical point and $`L_ff^z`$ is the frequency dependent dynamic length. Since $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ depends monotonically on $`\delta \nu `$ we can invert $`\text{Re}\sigma _{xx}(y)`$ and replace the argument $`y=L_f/\xi (\delta \nu )`$ in $`\text{Im}\sigma _{xx}(y)`$ with some function $`g^1(\text{Re}\sigma _{xx})`$. Doing this we expect an explicit, transition and frequency independent function $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})=\stackrel{~}{g}\left(\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})\right)`$. In Fig. 2b, where $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs. $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ at $`f=3`$ GHz is shown for different transitions, such a universal scaling is indeed observed. We find a similar agreement for all frequencies $`f1`$ GHz. As an example the comparison of the filling factor range $`\nu =26`$ is shown for frequencies of $`f=3`$ GHz and $`f=5.4`$ GHz in the inset of Fig. 2b. Although the transition width $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ for the two frequencies differs by a factor of $`1.5`$ the shape in this kind of plotting of $`\text{Im}(\sigma _{xx})`$ versus $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ agrees. This insensitivity on filling factor and frequency confirms the scaling behavior of the sample.

Let us now turn to the second central topic of this Letter, namely a direct experimental access to the localization length $`\xi `$. To test for conventional scaling behavior we have investigated the temperature and voltage dependence of the plateau transition width $`\delta \nu `$. Both follow power-laws $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu T^\kappa `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu V^a`$ with exponents $`\kappa 0.43`$ and $`a0.22`$ as found in most previous experiments review . The frequency dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ is also found to be in agreement with scaling, however with a scaling exponent $`c=1/z\gamma 0.50.6`$ which is larger than the value proposed by Engel et al. ($`c=0.43`$) engel93 . A more detailed analysis of the plateau transition width can be found in Ref. hohls00a, .

Though the conventional analysis of the width $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ of the plateau transition is a powerful tool for the test of scaling, it is only an indirect approach to the localization length. Using Eq. (1) our high frequency measurements allow a direct evaluation of this length, provided that $`\sigma _{xx}(f)\sigma _{xx}(0)`$ for a fixed filling factor. Examples for linear fits of our data to Eq. (1) are shown in Fig. 3a. Using Eq. (1) with $`ϵ12`$ for GaAs the localization length $`\xi `$ can be directly extracted from the slope of these linear fits. The resulting dependence of $`\xi `$ on $`\nu `$ is plotted in Fig. 3b.

In the same graph the filling factor dependence of the magnetic length $`l_m=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/eB}`$ is drawn. Though the error bars are rather large compared to this length the plot shows qualitatively, that the magnetic length, which is the shortest possible length scale of the electron system in a high magnetic field, sets the order of magnitude for the localization length in the middle of the quantum Hall plateaus. The plateaus for $`\nu 5`$ show a larger localization length because the energy gaps are no longer fully resolved at low magnetic fields.

With this direct measurement of the localization length it is possible to test the scope of the power law $`\xi |\nu \nu _c|^\gamma `$ when approaching the QHE plateau. This is shown in Fig. 4 for both sides of the $`\nu =3`$ plateau. Data and power law with $`\gamma =2.3`$ agree well over the complete range. Because of the rather large distance from the critical point this is, on a first glimpse, rather astonishing. However, numerical calculations of Huckestein et al. huckestein90  also show a power law $`\xi |EE_c|^\gamma `$ down to a localization length of a few magnetic lengths $`l_m`$.

In conclusion we measured the frequency dependence of the longitudinal conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ for frequencies up to 6 GHz. We were able to access both the real part and the imaginary part of $`\sigma _{xx}`$ which allowed us to perform a new test of scaling behavior. Using the theory of Polyakov and Shklovskii on variable-range hopping in the QHE we were able to deduce the localization length. Its filling factor dependence is consistent with universal scaling behavior far into the QHE plateau.

We thank F. Evers, B. Huckestein, B. Kramer, F. Kuchar, J. Melcher, D. G. Polyakov and L. Schweitzer for useful discussions. The sample was grown by K. Pierz at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig.


text:
# Slow-light pulses in moving media

\[

## Abstract

Slow light in moving media reaches a paradoxical regime when the flow speed of the medium approaches the group velocity of light. Pulses can penetrate a seemingly superluminal barrier and are reflected when the flow slows down.

today

\]

Imagine a wave packet propagating in a moving medium. Suppose first that the medium travels as a whole with uniform velocity. In this case we can construct a co-moving frame of coordinates where the medium is frozen. The observed speed of the pulse is the velocity of the wave packet in the co-moving frame transformed back to the laboratory frame. This mental exercise gives Einstein’s addition theorem of velocities, which, in the case when both wave and medium propagate much slower than $`c`$, is reduced to the Galilean rule that the velocities of wave and medium simply add up.

Now imagine a non-uniformly moving medium, for example a gas flow through a nozzle. The addition theorem of velocities is still valid locally in each infinitesimal piece of the medium. Consequently, a wave packet moving against the current will never enter a region where the flow is faster than the wave velocity in the medium. So, if we send in a pulse of slow light  to move against the flow we would expect the pulse to freeze or to run backwards  when the speed of the medium exceeds the group velocity $`v_g`$. Yet exactly the opposite happens. The pulse will thrive beyond the anticipated superluminal barrier and will even become faster. On the other hand, the pulse will bounce back when, paradoxically, the flow slows down. This effect is sensitive to minute changes in flow speed and can be applied in precision measurements of flows with the present state of the art in slowing down light .

Let us examine the propagation of slow-light pulses in moving media. We assume that both the flow speed and the material parameters of the medium do not change significantly within the range of an optical wavelength. In this case we can describe light by the dispersion relation  between the wave vector $`𝐤^{}`$ and the frequency $`\omega ^{}`$,

$$k^2\frac{\omega ^2}{c^2}\chi (\omega ^{})\frac{\omega ^2}{c^2}=0,$$
(1)
in the locally co-moving frames of the medium indicated with primes. Slow light is supported by an extremely dispersive medium where the susceptibility $`\chi `$ reacts strongly and proportionally to the detuning between $`\omega ^{}`$ and a resonance frequency $`\omega _0`$ of the medium atoms,

$$\chi (\omega ^{})=\frac{2c}{v_g}\frac{\omega ^{}\omega _0}{\omega _0}.$$
(2)
The group velocity $`v_g`$ has been demonstrated  to be as low as a few meters per second. The specific mechanism to slow down light to such an impressive degree is not relevant for the analysis presented here. Slow light can be generated using Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency  or exploiting light-atom amplification in Bose-Einstein condensates . Typically , the steep linear slope (2) of the susceptibility is only valid within a narrow frequency window

$$|\omega ^{}\omega _0|<ϵ\frac{v_g}{c}\omega _0,$$
(3)
with $`ϵ`$ being in the order of $`10^3`$. The moving medium creates a local Doppler shift of the frequency,

$$\omega ^{}=\omega 𝐮𝐤,𝐤^{}=𝐤,$$
(4)
in the realistic case of non-relativistic flow velocities $`𝐮`$.

Consider a pulse of slow light with a narrow range of frequencies $`\omega `$ near the carrier $`\omega _0`$. The Doppler detuning (4) due to the moving medium is only significant in the susceptibility. Consequently, we can approximate the dispersion relation (1) as

$$k^2k_0^2\frac{2k_0}{v_g}(\omega 𝐮𝐤\omega _0)=0.$$
(5)
with

$$k_0=\frac{\omega _0}{c}.$$
(6)
The group velocity $`𝐯`$ of the pulse is the derivative of the frequency $`\omega `$ with respect to the wave vector $`𝐤`$, in analogy to the velocity of a particle with Hamiltonian $`\mathrm{}\omega `$ and momentum $`\mathrm{}𝐤`$. We obtain immediately from the dispersion relation (5)

$$𝐯=\frac{\omega }{𝐤}=v_g\frac{𝐤}{k_0}+𝐮.$$
(7)
This formula is the addition theorem of velocities for slow light in moving media. Note that the group velocity $`v_g`$ at resonance frequency $`\omega _0`$ and the flow speed $`𝐮`$ do not simply add up. The effective group velocity in the co-moving frame is weighted and directed by the wave vector $`𝐤`$. This has profound consequences in non-uniformly moving media.

Consider, for simplicity, a one-dimensional model corresponding, for example, to a gas flow through a tube of varying width. According to the dispersion relation (5) the wave vector in 1D reduces to

$$k_\pm =k_0\left(\pm \sqrt{1+2\frac{c}{v_g}\delta +\frac{u^2}{v_g^2}}\frac{u}{v_g}\right)$$
(8)
with the detuning

$$\delta =\frac{\omega \omega _0}{\omega _0}.$$
(9)
The $`\pm `$ sign indicates propagation with $`(+)`$ or against $`()`$ the positive current $`u`$. Consequently, the group velocities are

$$v_\pm =\pm v_g\sqrt{1+2\frac{c}{v_g}\delta +\frac{u^2}{v_g^2}}.$$
(10)
In the case when the medium is moving uniformly with velocity $`u_0`$ we can construct a global co-moving frame where the pulse propagates with group velocity $`\pm v_g`$ at the carrier frequency $`\omega _0`$. When transforming back to the laboratory frame we must take into account the Doppler shift

$$\delta =\pm \frac{u_0}{c},$$
(11)
and obtain from formula (10) the Galilean addition theorem of velocities,

$$v_0=\pm v_g+u_0.$$
(12)
The situation is completely different when a slow light pulse propagates in a non-uniformly moving medium. Once launched, the pulse cannot change its frequency spectrum (unless the flow is not stationary). Consequently, the pulse cannot adapt to the flow by continuous Galilei transformations.

Imagine an asymptotically uniform flow with positive speed $`u_0`$ and a pulse propagating against the current with group velocity $`v_g+u_0`$. When the flow speed changes from the initial $`u_0`$ to a varying $`u`$, the pulse will reach a turning point at a zero of the group velocity (10), i.e. at

$$u=v_g\sqrt{2\frac{c}{v_g}\delta 1}=v_g\sqrt{2\frac{u_0}{v_g}1},$$
(13)
provided that $`u_0`$ exceeds $`v_g/2`$ or, equivalently, that the detuning $`\delta `$ reaches $`v_g/(2c)`$. Note, however, that we have not yet examined the validity range (3) of the dispersion relation (5). In terms of the effective group velocity (10) we obtain from Eqs. (4) and (7) the range

$$\left|\delta \frac{u}{v_g}\frac{(vu)}{c}\right|<ϵ\frac{v_g}{c},$$
(14)
which gives at the turning point (13)

$$|u_0v_g|<ϵv_g.$$
(15)
Consequently, the initial value of the flow speed should lie in the vicinity of $`v_g`$. In this case the velocity (13) at the turning point is below $`u_0`$. Pulses propagating against the current bounce back when the medium reduces speed. This effect establishes a qualitative change of the behavior of pulses, triggered by minute variations of the flow velocity, and hence even the narrow spectral width of slow light  gives a comfortable margin for the phenomenon to occur. Figure 1 shows a graphical method for analyzing slow light in moving media.

Our effect can serve to sense tiny variations in flow speed, as a form of slow-light sonar, because the phase of the reflected light depends on the turning point (13) for a given detuning. In order to scan a whole range of flow velocities, one should simply modify the group velocity in Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency by adjusting the intensity of the coupling beam .

So far, we have analyzed the geometrical optics of slow-light pulses, the dispersion relation and the group velocity, which determines the principal effects. Wave optics will tell us the finer details. In analogy to the correspondence between classical mechanics and wave mechanics, we regard the frequency $`\omega `$ and the wave vector $`𝐤`$ as differential operators,

$$\omega =i_t,𝐤=i,$$
(16)
and derive from the dispersion relation (5) the wave equation for the optical field $`\phi `$,

$$\left[\left(𝐤+k_0\frac{𝐮}{v_g}\right)^2k_0^2\left(1+2\frac{c}{v_g}\frac{\omega \omega _0}{\omega _0}+\frac{u^2}{v_g^2}\right)\right]\phi =0.$$
(17)
We see that the flow $`𝐮`$ acts as an effective vector potential , similar to the behaviour of waves in non-dispersive media . The flow also generates an attractive $`u^2/v_g^2`$ potential  that happens to be proportional to the Bernoulli pressure of the fluid. When both medium and light move in only one dimension, say in the $`z`$ direction, we can safely eliminate the vector potential by the gauge transformation

$$\phi =\psi \mathrm{exp}\left(ik_0\frac{u}{v_g}𝑑z\right).$$
(18)
We arrive at the Schrödinger equation

$$\left(\mathrm{}\omega \frac{\mathrm{}^2k^2}{2m}U\right)\psi =0$$
(19)
with the effective mass $`m`$ and the potential $`U`$,

$$m=\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _0}{v_gc},U=\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _0}{2}\left(2\frac{v_g}{c}\frac{u^2}{v_gc}\right).$$
(20)
In this way we can benefit from the accumulated experience with one-dimensional Schrödinger waves in scalar potentials. For instance, we can apply Heller’s method  to analyze moving wave packets or use the efficient routines available for numerical simulations. Figure 2 illustrates the two typical regimes of slow-light wave packets, pulse acceleration and reflection.

Figure 3 shows that even a uniform flow can reflect slow-light pulses when the group velocity $`v_g`$ is spatially varying, a regime easily achieved in Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency  by modifying the intensity of the coupling beam. At the turning point the velocity (10) of the wave packet vanishes, which gives, for a uniform flow $`u_0`$,

$$v_g=c\delta +\sqrt{c^2\delta ^2u_0^2}.$$
(21)
For $`\delta =u_0/c`$ the pulse is permanently frozen when the motion of the medium exactly compensates the group velocity. A slightly different detuning, $`\delta <u_0/c`$, will send the pulse back as soon as $`v_g`$ reaches the critical value (21).

Finally we remark that similar effects will also occur in a hot gas with a broad thermal spread of velocities, provided that the two beams involved in Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency, the coupling and the probe beam, are co-propagating . Given a detuning $`\delta _c`$ of the coupling beam, only the atoms which are traveling with the right velocity, $`u_0=c\delta _c`$, reach the narrow EIT resonance. Consequently, slow light in hot gases is extremely sensitive to minute changes in the fraction of atoms moving at the critical speed $`u_0`$.

To summarize, slow light in moving media shows a surprisingly paradoxical behavior when the flow approaches the group velocity of light. Pulses can not only penetrate a superluminal barrier but are also reflected when the flow slows down. Apart from illustrating puzzles with the addition theorem of velocities in moving media, our findings may lead to the slow-light analog of a flow sonar and they add an intriguing aspect to the fascinating field of slow-light optics .

We are grateful to John Allen and Malcolm Dunn for fruitful discussions. J.F. acknowledges the support of the Czech Ministry of Education, grant LN00A015, and U.L. and R.P. thank ICRA/RIO and FAPERJ of Brazil.


text:
# Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.

## 1 Introduction

SW Sex systems are a sub-class of nova-like cataclysmic variables (CVs) with peculiar spectroscopic behavior (Thorstensen et al., 1991). They exhibit strong single-peaked Balmer, He I and He II emission lines which, with the exception of He II, remain largely unobscured during primary eclipse (suggesting emission in vertical structures). The radial velocity curves of Balmer and He I lines show significant phase lags relative to photometric minimum, and display absorption components which show maximum depth at phase opposite primary eclipse (Szkody & Piché 1990).

Currently, none of the proposed models have succesfully explained all the SW Sex peculiarities. The first model was proposed by Honeycutt, Schlegel & Kaitchuck (1986), who suggested the presence of an accretion disk wind. Williams (1989) invoked magnetic accretion, with single-peaked lines arising in accretion columns above the orbital plane, while Hellier & Robinson (1994) introduced a gas stream which overflows the disk. Casares et al. (1996) proposed an scenario in which matter is accreted on to the magnetic poles of a synchronously rotating white dwarf. More recently, Horne (1999) introduced the idea of a disk-anchored magnetic propeller. The latest model was proposed by Groot (1999), who invoked the presence of a strong shock that occurs along the accretion stream trajectory, but inside the disk.

LS Peg (S193) is a non-eclipsing SW Sex system with an orbital period of $`P_{orb}`$ 4.19 h (Rodríguez-Gil, Martínez-Pais & Casares 1998; Martínez-Pais, Rodríguez-Gil & Casares 1999; Taylor, Thorstensen & Patterson 1999). Stockman et al. (1992) did not detect a significant level of circular polarization in the 5000–6000 Å band after averaging only two 8 minute exposures. The reported polarization level was $`0.01\pm 0.05`$ %.

## 2 Observations and data reduction

The spectropolarimetric observations of LS Peg were performed on the night of 1998 August 7 with the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma and the ISIS triple spectrograph, using the R600B grating and the $`2048\times 4096`$ pixel2 EEV10 CCD chip. A 1″ slit gave a spectral resolution of 1.44 Å and the wavelength coverage was $`\lambda \lambda `$3720–5070. A quarterwave plate and a Savart calcite plate were placed in the optical path, above and below the slit, respectively. The circular polarization spectra were obtained as described by Tinbergen & Rutten (1992). The Stokes parameter $`V`$ is contained in the intensity ratio of both spectra (ordinary and extraordinary), but it contains the response of the spectrograph. On the other hand, the ratio between the o- and e-spectrum in a given exposure is independent of the sky transparency. In order to eliminate any instrumental effects, we took a second exposure with the quarterwave plate rotated by 90 degrees. The spectrograph response remains unchanged whilst the contrast between the o- and e-ray is inverted relative to the first exposure. By comparing both exposures, the instrumental response is taken out. Each pair of exposures contains the level of polarization, $`p_V=V/I`$, where the Stokes parameter $`I`$ represents the total intensity.

A total of 38 spectra were obtained, covering approximately one orbital period of the system. We used an exposure time of 250 seconds and spectra of a Cu-Ar comparison arc lamp were taken regularly throughout the night in order to achieve an optimal wavelength calibration. All the frames were de-biased, flat-fielded and sky-subtracted in the standard way. Finally, the spectra were optimally extracted (Horne, 1986). These reduction processes were performed using IRAF222IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories routines. For wavelength calibration and most of subsequent analyses we used the MOLLY package. A third-order polynomial was fitted to the arc data, the $`rms`$ being always less than 0.1 Å. The spectra were then re-binned into an uniform velocity scale. We also observed a zero polarization standard star to calibrate the results.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Periodic flaring in the wings of Hβ

Balmer lines in LS Peg show broad, asymmetric wings (see Martínez-Pais et al. 1999; Taylor et al. 1999), caused by a high-velocity emission component (an S-wave) that crosses the line core from red to blue at $`\phi 0`$. At this point we have to note that we considered the red-to-blue crossing of the He II radial velocity curve to be the instant of zero phase. This has been proved in eclipsing SW Sex stars (see e.g. Shafter, Hessman, & Zhang 1988; Still, Dhillon, & Jones 1995; Smith, Dhillon & Marsh 2000). In figure Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi111Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. we present the trailed spectra of Hβ, constructed from the normalized spectra. If we closely inspect the wings of Hβ, especially in the blue, we can easily detect the presence of flares. This seems to indicate that the high-velocity components can be modulated with a short period. We measured the equivalent width (EW) of the blue wing of Hβ in all the normalized individual spectra, considering that the wing extends from –4000 km s-1 to –800 km s-1 with respect to the line rest wavelength. With the aim of finding periodicities, we computed a periodogram of the resulting EW curve, which we show in the upper panel of figure Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi111Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.. Two main peaks are clearly seen: one centred at the orbital frequency ($`\nu _{orb}=5.72`$ d-1) and another one at $`\nu _{EW}=43.0\pm 3.0`$ d-1, which corresponds to a period of $`P_{EW}=33.5\pm 2.2`$ minutes. We must note that the error in $`\nu _{EW}`$ is half the FWHM of the corresponding peak, as derived from a gaussian fit, so it is overestimated. In the lower panel of figure Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi111Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. we show the EW data in phase with $`P_{EW}`$ after phase folding the data into 20 phase bins. The modulation with this period is evident.

### 3.2 Evidence of variable circular polarization

We obtained the polarization spectra from the non-normalized spectra, as described in § 1. As the total database comprises 38 individual spectra, we have 19 spectra of circular polarization with a time resolution of about 10 minutes. First, we derived the average circular polarization level in the range $`\lambda \lambda `$3900–5070 (approximately the Johnson $`B`$-band) for each of the 19 polarization spectra, including both the continuum and the lines. To find periodicities we constructed the power spectrum of these data, which we present in figure Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi111Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.. There is a prominent peak centred at $`\nu _p=48.7\pm 3.1`$ d-1, which corresponds to a period of $`P_p=29.6\pm 1.8`$ minutes. After folding the polarization data on this period, we find a clear modulation of amplitude (peak-to-peak) $`0.3\%`$ (see figure Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi111Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.). To find whether the observed polarization comes from the lines or from the continuum, we repeated this analysis in selected regions of the continuum, finding exactly the same periodicity and amplitude. These results indicate that the observed circular polarization comes from the continuum.

The folded curve in figure Evidence of magnetic accretion in an SW Sex star: discovery of variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi111Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by PPARC in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. exhibits significant dispersion, that can be a consequence of short-scale source variability, so one can question the statistical significance of the result. We performed a sinusoidal fit to the folded curve, obtaining a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 0.05 %. The amplitude is 0.15 %, that is, 3$`\sigma `$, so we can say that the result is statistically significant. Furthermore, achieving a polarization accuracy below 0.1 % with the ISIS spectrograph is possible. For instance, Dhillon & Rutten (1995) measured a $`0.11\pm 0.02\%`$ linear polarization level in the SW Sex star V1315 Aql. They calibrated the results observing a zero-polarization star, finding no evidence for instrumental polarization at a level greater than 0.01 %.

## 4 Discussion

We have detected a clear EW modulation in the blue wing of Hβ, with a frequency of $`\nu _{EW}=43.0\pm 3.0`$ d-1. Similar flaring behavior has been observed in Hα, Hβ, and He II $`\lambda `$4686 in the spectra of the SW Sex-type old nova BT Mon (Smith, Dhillon & Marsh, 1998), with a period of $``$ 32 minutes, and more recently in the SW Sex star DW UMa (Smith et al., 2000), where a 30-minute period is found. This flaring is typical of intermediate polar CVs (IPs, e.g. FO Aqr, Marsh & Duck 1996; see also Hellier 1999).

We have also discovered variable circular polarization in LS Pegasi. It is the first time that circular polarization is detected in an SW Sex system. Since the measured polarization comes from the continuum, we tentatively attribute its origin to cyclotron emission (see § 4.2 for discussion). We associate the period $`P_p`$ to the spin period of the white dwarf. This result seems to suggest an “IP-like” structure in LS Peg. Of the known IPs, only three show circular polarization: BG CMi (Penning, Schmidt, & Liebert, 1986), PQ Gem (Piirola, Hakala, & Coyne 1993; Rosen, Mittaz, & Hakala 1993; Potter et al. 1997) and RX J1712.6-2414 (Buckley et al., 1995). The reason why we only observe circular polarization in these IPs is that they harbor the most magnetic white dwarves ($`B_1`$ 2–8 MG, Wickramasinghe, Wu, & Ferrario 1991). The frequency of the EW modulation ($`\nu _{EW}`$) is slightly smaller than the assumed spin frequency ($`\nu _p`$). The difference between them is $`\nu _p\nu _{EW}=5.7`$ d-1 which coincides with the orbital frequency. Hence, we identify $`P_{EW}`$ with the beat period (i.e. synodic) between the white dwarf spin period and the orbital period.

### 4.1 Accretion scenario

Groot (1999) reports the observation of a bright spot in SW Sex itself (when the system was in low state) located well inside the outer disk radius, between 0.4–0.6 $`R_{L_1}`$, where $`R_{L_1}`$ is the distance from the inner Lagrangian point ($`L_1`$) to the white dwarf. He suggested that this hot region is the consequence of a strong shock between the gas stream and the disk, but he also pointed out that the mechanism producing the shock is not clear. From the results we present for LS Peg, we propose that this inner bright spot could be produced by the shock of the disk-overflown gas stream against the white dwarf’s magnetosphere. The shock should occur close to the corotation radius (i.e. the distance from the primary at which the Keplerian and white dwarf angular velocities match, $`r_{co}`$) and above the disk plane. Current theories of accretion disk-magnetic field interaction require the magnetospheric radius to be nearly equal to the corotation radius (see e.g. Ghosh & Lamb 1978).

Let’s assume that the shock takes place close to $`r_{co}`$. Then, $`r_{shock}r_{co}=fR_{L_1}`$, where $`f1`$. The distance (expressed in units of the orbital separation, $`a`$) between the white dwarf and the $`L_1`$ point is given by $`R_{L_1}/a=0.46(1+q)^{1/3}`$ (Warner, 1976), while the corotation radius is:

$$r_{co}=\left[\frac{GM_1P_1^2}{4\pi ^2}\right]^{\frac{1}{3}},$$
(1)
where $`M_1`$ is the mass of the primary and $`P_1`$ its spin period. From Kepler’s Third Law and assuming $`r_{shock}r_{co}`$, we obtain:

$$P_10.31f^{3/2}P_{orb}$$
(2)
For LS Peg, $`P_{orb}=0.174774`$ d and $`P_1=29.6`$ min (from the circular polarization modulation), so $`f0.52`$. This result is in good agreement with the derived bright spot location in SW Sex, suggesting that the magnetic shock mechanism could be also present in this system. Furthermore, we have detected variable $`B`$-band circular polarization in SW Sex itself (P. Rodríguez-Gil et al., in preparation) with a period of about 28 minutes. Entering this value together with the orbital period in (2), we get $`f0.60`$, which is consistent with Groot’s results.

### 4.2 The magnetic field

The magnetospheric radius in IPs, $`r_0`$, is usually given by $`r_00.52r_\mu `$ (Ghosh & Lamb, 1979), where $`r_\mu `$ is the Alfvén radius. Then,

$$r_00.52r_\mu =4.1\mu ^{4/7}M_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{1/7}\dot{M}^{2/7},$$
(3)
where $`\mu `$ is the magnetic moment of the primary, $`M_1`$ its mass, and $`\dot{M}`$ the mass transfer rate. As we mentioned above, the magnetospheric radius should be comparable to the corotation radius, so let’s assume that $`r_0r_{co}`$. From (1) and (3), we obtain:

$$\mu 6.49\times 10^7M_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{5/6}\dot{M}^{1/2}P_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{7/6}.$$
(4)
Entering $`P_11800`$ s, and $`M_1=0.75\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (a plausible mass value for SW Sex systems), we finally get:

$$\mu 1.8\times 10^{25}\dot{M}^{1/2}.$$
(5)
To derive the magnetic field of the white dwarf in LS Peg, we must know its radius ($`R_1`$), since $`B_1=\mu /R_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{3}`$. We can give an estimate of $`R_1`$ using the mass-radius relation for white dwarfs with carbon cores of Hamada & Salpeter (1961), obtaining $`R_17.2\times 10^8`$ cm for a $`M_1=0.75\mathrm{M}_{}`$ white dwarf. On the other hand, we must enter a value for the mass accretion rate, $`\dot{M}`$. From the results of Echevarría (1994), we can consider that $`\dot{M}10^{16}10^{17}`$ g s-1 in SW Sex systems. Hence, the magnetic field intensity of the white dwarf in LS Peg should be

$$B_1515\mathrm{MG}.$$

This range of values is consistent with what is found in the IPs which show circular polarization. Nevertheless, we have to stress the fact that we see modulated circular polarization in the $`B`$-band. In PQ Gem ($`B_19`$–21 MG, Potter et al. 1997), little circular polarization is detected in that band. As cyclotron models predict, PQ Gem shows a level of circular polarization increasing redwards from the $`V`$-band, so it is not completely clear that the circular polarization we observe in LS Peg is related to continuum cyclotron emission. On the other hand, we can not completely rule out this possibility due to the fact that the polarization level in LS Peg is very low. It would be crucial to perform longer wavelength circular polarimetry to determine whether the circular polarization we see is of cyclotron emission origin.

We finally propose that magnetic accretion plays a fundamental role in the behavior of SW Sex stars, and that they are IP systems with mass accretion rates probably larger than in the rest of IPs in quiescence.

We thank Tom Marsh for allowing us to use his MOLLY package.


text:
# ON THE DIMENSION OF DISCRETE VALUATIONS OF 𝑘((𝑋₁,…,𝑋_𝑛))

## 1 TERMINOLOGY AND PRELIMINARIES

Let $`k`$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0, $`R_n=k[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_n]]`$, $`M_n=(X_1,\mathrm{},X_n)`$ the maximal ideal and $`K_n=k((X_1,\mathrm{},X_n))`$ the quotient field. Let $`v`$ be a rank-one discrete valuation of $`K_n|k`$, $`R_v`$ its valuation ring, $`𝔪_v`$ its maximal ideal and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$ its residual field of $`v`$. The center of $`v`$ in $`R_n`$ is $`𝔪_vR_n`$. Throughout this paper “discrete valuation of $`K_n|k`$” will mean “rank-one discrete valuation of $`K_n|k`$ whose center in $`R_n`$ be the maximal ideal $`M_n`$”. The dimension of $`v`$ is the transcendence degree of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$ over $`k`$. We shall suppose that the group of $`v`$ is $``$.

Let $`\widehat{K}_n`$ be the completion of $`K_n`$ with respect to $`v`$ (see ), $`\widehat{v}`$ the extension of $`v`$ to $`\widehat{K}_n`$, $`R_{\widehat{v}}`$, $`𝔪_{\widehat{v}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\widehat{v}}`$ the ring, maximal ideal and the residual field of $`\widehat{v}`$, respectively.

## 2 THE DIMENSION OF $`v`$

Fix a number $`m`$ between 1 and $`n1`$. We are featuring a constructive method in order to obtain examples of valuations with dimension $`m`$.

Let us consider the following homomorphism:

$$\begin{array}{cccc}\phi :& \hfill k[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_n]]& & \overline{k(u)}[[t]]\hfill \\ & \hfill X_1& & t\hfill \\ & \hfill X_2& & ut\hfill \\ & \hfill X_i& & _{j1}u^{1/p_i^j}t^j\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`\overline{k(u)}`$ stands for the algebraic closure of $`k(u)`$ and $`2<p_3<\mathrm{}<p_n`$ are prime numbers.

###### Lemma 1

The homomorphism $`\phi `$ is one to one.

Proof: Let us take the fields $`K_2=k(u)`$ and

$$K_i=k(u,\{u^{1/p_3^j},j1\},\mathrm{},\{u^{1/p_i^j},j1\})$$

for all $`i3`$.

Let us suppose that $`\phi `$ is not one to one, then $`\mathrm{ker}(\phi )\{0\}`$. So let $`f`$ be a non-zero element of $`M=(X_1,\mathrm{},X_n)`$ such that $`f\mathrm{ker}(\phi )`$. Let $`m`$ be the higher index such that $`fk[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_m]]`$.

If $`\underset{¯}{m=1\text{ or }2}`$, trivially we have a contradiction.

If $`\underset{¯}{m=3}`$, let us take

$$\overline{f}=f(\phi (X_1),\phi (X_2),X_3)K_2[[t,X_3]],$$

and consider the homomorphism

$$\begin{array}{cccc}\psi :& \hfill K_2[[t,X_3]]& & \overline{k(u)}[[t]]\hfill \\ & \hfill t& & t\hfill \\ & \hfill X_3& & _{j1}u^{1/p_3^j}t^j.\hfill \end{array}$$

We know that $`\overline{f}\mathrm{ker}(\psi )`$ and this kernel is a prime ideal because $`\psi `$ is an homomorphism between integral domains. We can write $`\overline{f}=t^rg`$, with $`r0`$ and $`t`$ doesn’t divide to $`g`$. This forces $`g`$ to have some non-trivial terms in $`X_3`$. Let $`s>0`$ be the minimum such that $`\alpha X_3^s`$ is one of these terms. By the Weierstrass preparation theorem we have $`g=Ug^{}`$, where $`U(t,X_3)`$ is a unit and

$$g^{}=X_3^s+a_1(t)X_3^{s1}+\mathrm{}+a_s(t).$$

Since $`U`$ is a unit, $`g^{}\mathrm{ker}(\psi )`$ and

$$\psi (g^{})=g^{}(t,\underset{j1}{}u^{1/p_3^j}t^j)=0.$$

This leads to a contradiction because the roots of $`g^{}`$ are in $`K_2[[t^{1/q}]]`$, with $`q`$, by the Puiseux theorem.

If $`m>3`$ let us take

$$\overline{f}=f(\phi (X_1),\mathrm{},\phi (X_{m1}),X_m)K_{m1}[[t,X_m]]$$

and consider the homomorphism

$$\begin{array}{cccc}\psi :& \hfill K_{m1}[[t,X_m]]& & \overline{k(u)}[[t]]\hfill \\ & \hfill t& & t\hfill \\ & \hfill X_m& & _{j1}u^{1/p_m^j}t^j.\hfill \end{array}$$

As in the previous case we can write $`\overline{f}=t^rh`$, where $`h\mathrm{ker}(\psi )`$. So we have $`h=Uh^{}`$, where $`U(t,X_m)`$ is a unit and

$$h^{}=X_m^r+b_1(t)X_m^{r1}+\mathrm{}+b_r(t)\mathrm{ker}(\psi ),$$

so

$$h^{}(t,\underset{j1}{}u^{1/p_m^j}t^j)=0.$$

But this is again a contradiction by the Puiseux theorem: since $`\mathrm{ker}(\psi )`$ is a prime ideal, we can suppose that $`h^{}`$ is an irreducible element of the ring $`K_{m1}[[t]][X_m]`$. In this situation the Puiseux theorem says that to obtain the coefficients of a root of $`h^{}=0`$, like a Puiseux series in $`t`$ with coefficients in $`k(u)`$, we have to resolve a finite number of algebraic equations of degree greater than 1 in $`K_{m1}`$. Inside $`K_{m1}`$ we can not obtain $`u^{1/p_m}`$ and, with a finite number of algebraic equations, we can obtain a finite number of powers of $`u^{1/p_m^j}`$ but not all. So this proves the lemma.

We shall extend to the quotient fields this injective homomorphism for giving an example of a rank-one discrete valuation of $`k((X_1,\mathrm{},X_n))`$ of dimension 1.

###### Lemma 2

There exists a rank-one discrete valuation of $`k((X_1,\mathrm{},X_n))`$ of dimension 1.

Proof: We know that the homomorphism

$$\phi :k[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_n]]\overline{k(u)}[[t]]$$

previously defined is one to one. So we can take the valuation $`v=\nu \phi `$, where $`\nu `$ is the usual order function over $`\overline{K(u)}((t))`$ in $`t`$ and $`\phi `$ is the natural extension to the quotient fields. Let $`\alpha `$ be the residue $`X_2/X_1+𝔪_v\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$. Hence, to obtain the lemma we have to prove that $`\alpha k`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$ is an algebraic extension of $`k(\alpha )`$.

Let us suppose that $`\alpha k`$. Then there must exist $`ak`$ such that $`X_2/X_1+𝔪_v=a+𝔪_v`$, so

$$\frac{X_2aX_1}{X_1}𝔪_v.$$

This means that $`v(X_2aX_1)>1`$. On the other side we have

$$\phi (X_2aX_1)=(ua)t,$$

so $`v(X_2aX_1)=1`$ and we have a contradiction. Hence $`\alpha k`$.

Let us prove that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$ is an algebraic extension of $`k(\alpha )`$. We can consider each element of $`k[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_n]]`$ like a sum of forms with respect to the usual degree. If $`f_r`$ is a form of degree $`r`$, then $`\phi (f_r)=t^rP`$, with $`P`$ a polynomial in $`u`$ and a finite number of elements $`u^{1/p_i}`$.

Let us take $`f,gk[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_n]]`$ such that $`g0`$ and $`v(f/g)=0`$. Then $`\phi (f/g)=h_0+th_1`$, where $`h_0`$ is a rational fraction in $`u`$ and a finite number of elements $`u^{1/p_i}`$. So $`h_0`$ is algebraic over $`k(u)`$. Let us consider

$$P(u,Z)=c_0(u)Z^m+c_1(u)Z^{m1}+\mathrm{}+c_{m1}(u)Z+c_m(u)k[u][Z]$$

a polynomial satisfied by $`h_0`$, where $`c_i(u)k[u]`$ for all $`i`$ and $`c_00`$. Let $`\beta `$ be the element

$$\beta =P(\frac{X_2}{X_1},\frac{f}{g})=c_0\left(\frac{X_2}{X_1}\right)\left(\frac{f}{g}\right)^m+\mathrm{}+c_m\left(\frac{X_2}{X_1}\right).$$

Then we have

$$\phi (\beta )=c_0(u)(h_0+th_1)^m+\mathrm{}+c_m(u),$$

so $`v(\beta )=\nu \phi (\beta )>0`$ and $`\beta 𝔪_v`$. Subsequently,

$$0+𝔪_v=\beta +𝔪_v=P(\alpha ,\frac{f}{g}+𝔪_v).$$

This proves that $`f/g+𝔪_v`$ is an algebraic element over $`k(\alpha )`$ and, a fortiori, the lemma.

###### Lemma 3

The dimension of a rank-one discrete valuation of $`k((X_1,\mathrm{},X_n))`$ is between 1 and $`n1`$.

Proof: We know, after , that the dimension of a rank-one discrete valuation of $`k((X_1,\mathrm{},X_n))`$ is minor or equal than $`n1`$. So we have to prove that there exists a transcendental residue in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$.

Let us suppose that $`v(X_i)=n_i`$ for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$. Then the value of $`X_2^{n_1}/X_1^{n_2}`$ is zero, so $`0(X_2^{n_1}/X_1^{n_2})+𝔪_v\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$. If this residue lies in $`k`$ then there exists $`a_{21}k`$ such that

$$\frac{X_2^{n_1}}{X_1^{n_2}}+𝔪_v=a_{21}+𝔪_v.$$

This implies

$$\frac{X_2^{n_1}}{X_1^{n_2}}a_{21}=\frac{X_2^{n_1}a_{21}X_1^{n_2}}{X_1^{n_2}}𝔪_v,$$

and then

$$v\left(\frac{X_2^{n_1}a_{21}X_1^{n_2}}{X_1^{n_2}}\right)>0.$$

So we have $`v(X_2^{n_1}a_{21}X_1^{n_2})=m_1>n_1n_2`$. Then

$$v\left(\frac{(X_2^{n_1}a_{21}X_1^{n_2})^{n_1}}{X_1^{m_1}}\right)=0.$$

If the residue of this element lies too in $`k`$, then there must exist $`a_{22}k`$ such that $`v((X_2^{n_1}a_{21}X_1^{n_2})^{n_1}a_{22}X_1^{m_1})=m_2>n_1m_1`$. We can repeat this operation.

The previous procedure is finite: if it didn’t stop we would construct the power series

$$X_2^{n_1}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}b_{2i}X_1^i$$

such that the sequence of partial sums has increasing values. Since $`\widehat{K_n}`$ is a complete field, then this series amounts to zero in contradiction with $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ being formally independent. So the procedure must stop and there exists a transcendental element over $`k`$ in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$.

###### Theorem 4

Let $`m`$ be a fixed number between 1 and $`n1`$, then there exists a rank-one discrete valuation of $`k((X_1,\mathrm{},X_n))`$ of dimension $`m`$.

Proof: Let us consider the one to one (the proof of injectivity parallels that of lemma 1) homomorphism

$$\begin{array}{cccc}\phi & \hfill k[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_n]]& & \overline{k(u)}[[t_1,\mathrm{},t_m]]\hfill \\ & \hfill X_1& & t_1\hfill \\ & \hfill X_2& & ut_1\hfill \\ & \hfill X_i& & \{\begin{array}{c}t_i\text{ if }im+1\hfill \\ _{j1}u^{1/p_i^j}t_1^j\text{ if }i>m+1.\hfill \end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$

We can take the valuation $`v:=\nu \phi `$, with $`\nu `$ the usual order function in $`\overline{k(u)}[[t_1,\mathrm{},t_m]]`$ and $`\phi `$ the natural extension to the quotient fields. We know (lemma 2) that the residue $`X_2/X_1+𝔪_v`$ is transcendental over $`k`$. Trivially the residue $`X_i/X_1+𝔪_v`$ for all $`i=3,\mathrm{},m+1`$ are transcendental over $`k(X_2/X_1+𝔪_v,\mathrm{},X_{i1}+𝔪_v)`$ because $`t_i`$ are formally independent variables. Any element $`f/g+𝔪_v\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$ is algebraic over $`k(X_2/X_1+𝔪_v,\mathrm{},X_{m+1}+𝔪_v)`$ parallels that of lemma 2. So the dimension of $`v`$ is $`m`$.