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# Cosmological Parameter Estimation from CMB Experiments 1footnote 11footnote 1To appear in “Cosmology and Particle Physics”, Proc. of the CAPP 2000 Conference, Verbier, Switzerland, July 2000, eds. J. García-Bellido, R. Durrer and M. Shaposhnikov (AIP, 2001)

## Introduction

The study of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies has long been recognized as one of the most powerful tools to answer the basic questions about the nature of the universe: what is its geometry, its matter and energy content, what are the initial conditions which seeded the formation of structure, etc. It is a firm theoretical conclusion that the angular distribution of the CMB anisotropies must encode a vast amount of information on the cosmological parameters. The majority of this information is thought to be concentrated at angular scales smaller than about 1 degree on the sky, corresponding to regions of the universe that were in casual contact when the background photons decoupled from the matter (at redshifts of about 1000). On this scales, physical processes in the early universe were able to leave an imprint on the CMB.

The pioneering observations by the COBE satellite in the early 90’s, which led to the first unambiguous detection of the CMB anisotropies balbi:smoot92 , were followed by a large number of ground based and balloon-borne observations which attempted to collect information on the fine-structure pattern of the anisotropy, where most of the dependence on cosmological parameters is encoded. Recently, the BOOMERanG balbi:debe00  and MAXIMA balbi:hanany00  balloon-borne experiments produced the first high-resolution maps of the CMB anisotropy pattern, and moved us closer to the goal of a long-awaited high precision measurement of the CMB angular power spectrum. These results have been used by several authors balbi:balbi00  balbi:lange00  balbi:tegmark00  balbi:jaffe00  to obtain high-precision constraints on the set of cosmological parameters which defines the inflationary adiabatic class of models.

In this review I will attempt to give an idea of how the cosmological parameters affect the CMB observables, and of the process which leads from the observation of the CMB anisotropy to the extraction of such parameters. The current constraints on inflationary models from the CMB will also be discussed.

## The CMB anisotropy dependence on cosmological parameters

It is generally believed that the observed large scale structure of the Universe formed by gravitational amplification of small density perturbations generated in the early universe. In such gravitational instability scenarios, the presence of anisotropies in the temperature distribution of the CMB is unavoidable: density fluctuations must leave an imprint in the CMB at the time of photon-matter decoupling, at redshifts of about 1000.

The anisotropy as a function of the direction of observations can be expanded in spherical harmonics:

$$\frac{\delta T}{T}(\widehat{\gamma })=\underset{\mathrm{}m}{}a_\mathrm{}mY_\mathrm{}m(\theta ,\varphi ).$$
(1)
The coefficients $`C_{\mathrm{}}|a_\mathrm{}m|^2`$ define the angular power spectrum of the CMB anisotropy. The $`C_{\mathrm{}}`$’s do not depend on the azimuthal index $`m`$ as a consequence of the isotropy of space. For Gaussian initial conditions, the angular power spectrum $`C_{\mathrm{}}`$ carries all the information on the angular temperature anisotropy of the CMB. Each $`\mathrm{}`$ probes an angular scale $`\theta `$ on the sky given approximately by $`\mathrm{}\pi /\theta `$. Only $`\mathrm{}`$’s corresponding to angular scales which were in casual contact at decoupling may have been affected by physical processes prior to decoupling. For this reason the dependence on physical parameters is mostly found at high $`\mathrm{}`$’s (small angular scales), while low $`\mathrm{}`$’s probe the primordial shape of the power spectrum222Neglecting secondary processes which may alter the spectrum after decoupling..

Within the inflationary adiabatic family, a given cosmological model is specified by the value of a number of parameters. These include the fractional density of matter in the universe, which is the sum of contributions from baryons and cold dark matter, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m\mathrm{\Omega }_b+\mathrm{\Omega }_{cdm}`$; the fractional density of vacuum energy, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$; the total energy density, $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }_m+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, which defines the curvature of the universe through $`\mathrm{\Omega }_k1\mathrm{\Omega }`$; the Hubble constant, parameterized by its value $`h`$ in units of 100 km s-1 Mpc-1; and the amplitude $`A`$ and spectral index $`n`$ of the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations, modeled as $`Ak^n`$ (but see balbi:schwarz00  for an alternative view). The $`C_{\mathrm{}}`$’s corresponding to a set of parameters can be computed exactly using high-accuracy numerical codes balbi:cmbfast . A simplified analytical treatment was used by some authors (see e.g. balbi:hu  for an excellent review on the subject) in order to give a better intuition of how different physical processes leave an imprint on the CMB angular power spectrum.

Before decoupling, the photons and baryons are tightly coupled by different scattering processes. The cold dark matter is non-interacting and contributes only to the gravitational potential. The dynamics of the photon-baryon fluid is described by an equation reminiscent of the classical Jeans equation governing the perturbation in a self-gravitating gas, which for a given wave-number $`k`$ is:

$$\ddot{\delta }+\frac{\dot{a}}{a}\frac{R}{1+R}\dot{\delta }+k^2c_s^2\delta =F$$
(2)
where $`a`$ is the scale factor describing the expansion of the universe, $`R3\rho _B/4\rho _\gamma `$ is the baryons to photons density ratio and $`c_s=c/[3(1+R)]^{1/2}`$ is the sound velocity. For adiabatic initial conditions (i.e. conserving the entropy of the radiation per baryon) the intrinsic temperature fluctuation of the photons, $`\delta T/T`$ is related to the matter density perturbation simply by $`\delta T/T=\delta /3`$. The dots represent derivatives with respect to the conformal time $`\eta 𝑑t/a`$. The term $`F`$ describes the gravitational effects and can be held approximately constant near decoupling. So, the evolution of the perturbations prior to decoupling is essentially governed by a forced harmonic oscillator equation. The expansion of the universe introduces a viscosity term through $`\dot{a}/a`$ that may be neglected for the sake of simplicity.

The physical interpretation of this equation is very simple. The baryons tend to collapse due to self gravitation. The restoring force is provided by the radiation pressure $`k^2c^2/3`$. This sets up acoustic oscillations (the sound velocity $`c_s`$ quantifies the resistance of the fluid to compression). The higher $`R`$, the larger the amplitude of the oscillations. The driving force term due to gravitation, constant in our approximation, simply displaces the zero point of the oscillations. Increasing $`R`$ (i.e. the baryon content of the universe) enhances this displacement, and gives more amplitude to compressions over rarefactions, because of the increased inertia of the fluid. If we freeze the oscillations at the time of decoupling $`\eta _{dec}`$, each mode will be in a different stage of oscillation. The total power will have the largest contributions from modes having $`kc_s\eta _{dec}=kr_s^{dec}=m\pi `$, where $`r_s^{dec}c_s\eta _{dec}`$ defines the physical scale of the sound horizon at decoupling. This results in a harmonic series of peaks in the angular power spectrum, whose position is related to $`\theta _s`$, the characteristic angular scale subtended by the sound horizon at decoupling, by $`\mathrm{}\pi /\theta _s`$. Odd peaks are due to compression of the fluid, even peaks to rarefaction: so the odd peaks will be generally higher than the even peaks because of $`R`$. Increasing the baryon content will enhance this effect.

To calculate the dependence of the peaks position on cosmological parameters we have to specify the angular diameter distance relation which maps a given physical scale at decoupling into an angle $`\theta `$. As we saw, the relevant physical scale is the sound horizon at decoupling $`r_s^{dec}=c_s\eta _{dec}`$. The angular scale of the sound horizon at decoupling, $`\theta _s`$, is approximately given by:

$$\theta _s^1\frac{\mathrm{sinh}I}{2c_sa_{dec}^{1/2}}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{\mathrm{\Omega }_k}\right)^{1/2};I=_{a_{dec}}^1\frac{c\mathrm{\Omega }_k^{1/2}da}{[\mathrm{\Omega }_ma+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }a^4+\mathrm{\Omega }_ka^2]^{1/2}},$$
(3)
for an open universe, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_k>0`$;

$$\theta _s^1\frac{\mathrm{sin}I}{2c_sa_{dec}^{1/2}}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{\mathrm{\Omega }_k}\right)^{1/2};I=_{a_{dec}}^1\frac{c(\mathrm{\Omega }_k)^{1/2}da}{[\mathrm{\Omega }_ma+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }a^4+\mathrm{\Omega }_ka^2]^{1/2}},$$
(4)
for a closed universe, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_k<0`$, and:

$$\theta _s^1\frac{I}{2c_sa_{dec}^{1/2}}\left(\mathrm{\Omega }_m\right)^{1/2};I=_{a_{dec}}^1\frac{cda}{[\mathrm{\Omega }_ma+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }a^4]^{1/2}}.$$
(5)
for a flat universe, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_k=0`$. 333These approximate expressions were derived neglecting the time variation of the sound velocity and the contribution of relativistic species. Both effects, which may be substantial for models with low matter content, were taken into account when calculating the curves shown in Fig. 2.

This very simplified discussion gives an intuitive idea of how the main CMB observables, namely the position and height of peaks in the $`C_{\mathrm{}}`$’s, are affected by cosmological parameters in inflationary adiabatic models. For a given primordial power spectrum, the anisotropy pattern is defined by the baryon content and dark matter content, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{cdm}h^2`$, which basically affect the amplitude of fluctuations at different physical scales and fix the relative heights of the peaks. This structure is mapped into different angular scales depending on a combination of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_k`$, which affect the position of the peaks. These effects are illustrated in Figure 1. This also shows that the parameters actually enter in the power spectrum in a combined way, leading in some cases to almost exact degeneracies: a dramatic example of this behavior is shown in Figure 2. The problem of parameter degeneracies has been explored in great detail in balbi:eb99 .

## Cosmological Parameter Estimation from CMB Measurements

As we saw in the previous Section, a given cosmological model is specified by a set of cosmological parameters:

$$𝐩=\{p_1,p_2,\mathrm{},p_n\}$$
(6)
entering in the calculation of the theoretical power spectrum, $`\overline{C_{\mathrm{}}}`$. A CMB experiment measures the temperature fluctuation of the CMB in different directions on the sky. These data are used to build a minimum variance map of the CMB. From the map, maximum likelihood estimates of the power spectrum are extracted as a set of average bandpower measurements over an interval $`b`$ in $`\mathrm{}`$:

$$𝒞_b\underset{\mathrm{}b}{}S_{\mathrm{}}C_{\mathrm{}}.$$
(7)
where the shape function $`S_{\mathrm{}}`$ is usually assumed to be $`S_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)`$.

The best estimate of the cosmological parameters from a set of measured bandpowers can be derived in a Bayesian sense by maximizing the likelihood function:

$$(𝐩)𝒫(𝒞_b|𝐩)𝒫(𝐩|\mathrm{prior})$$
(8)
We should note that the likelihood is not a Gaussian function of the $`𝒞_b`$’s. One way to estimate how the likelihood depends on the $`𝒞_b`$’s is to use the ansatz described in balbi:bjk00  where an additional quantity $`x_b`$ related to the noise of the experiment is needed in order to fully characterize the likelihood. This has been shown to work well when compared to a brute force exact calculation of the likelihood.

In a Bayesian framework, getting the a posteriori likelihood of one (or more) parameters out of the full likelihood, involves an integration (marginalization) of the likelihood over the unwanted (nuisance) parameters. The full likelihood has to be weighted by the a priori likelihoods of the nuisance parameters:

$$(p_i,\mathrm{},p_j)=𝑑p_l\mathrm{}𝑑p_m(p_i,\mathrm{},p_j|p_l,\mathrm{},p_m)(p_l)\mathrm{}(p_m)$$
(9)
This complicates the analysis considerably, making the problem strongly non-local. The overall shape of the likelihood influences the result on subsets of parameters, and we then need to characterize the likelihood over the entire parameter space even if we are just interested in a subset of parameters. The problem is exacerbated by the presence of correlations in the parameter space. In addition, we need a knowledge (or a reasonable guess) of the a priori likelihood of the nuisance parameters. This can be chosen to be uniform (in the absence of previous knowledge) or can be derived from other observations. We also stress the fact that the extent of the parameter space effectively acts as a top-hat prior, cutting out a priori some values of the parameters. In general one should carefully explore how changing the priors on some parameters affects the results for the others. This is particularly important when the results for some parameters conflict with those coming from other observations. The issues related to the use of different priors have been thoroughly explored in the analysis of the latest CMB datasets (see, e.g. balbi:balbi00  balbi:lange00  and balbi:jaffe00 ).

## Current Constraints

Over the past decade, many experiments have gathered data on CMB anisotropy, which, taken collectively, gave an indication of the shape of the angular power spectrum. Such data were used by a number of authors to set constraints on the parameters of the inflationary adiabatic model (see, e.g. balbi:tegmark , and references therein). The quality of CMB data has considerably improved after the recent BOOMERanG444http://oberon.roma1.infn.it/boomerang balbi:debe00  and MAXIMA555http://cfpa.berkeley.edu/maxima balbi:hanany00  balloon-borne missions. BOOMERanG estimated the power spectrum in 12 bins, over the range $`26\mathrm{}625`$, from a map of a 1800 square degrees patch of the southern sky; MAXIMA estimated the spectrum in 10 bins, over the range $`36\mathrm{}785`$, from a map of a 124 square degrees patch of the northern sky. The two measurements are in remarkable agreement and show unambiguously the presence of a sharp peak in the region $`180\mathrm{}220`$ (see Figure 1). This is, in itself, a strong evidence in favor of inflationary adiabatic models; alternative theories either predict a broader peak at higher $`\mathrm{}`$ or a broad shelf at $`\mathrm{}<200`$ (see e.g. balbi:knox ).

The BOOMERanG and MAXIMA datasets (in combination with COBE) were used independently to set constraints on a seven-dimensional space of cosmological parameters balbi:balbi00  balbi:lange00 ; a joint analysis was also carried on balbi:jaffe00 . Using no prior information (except the constraint that the universe is older than 10 Gyr and that the Hubble constant is $`0.45h0.90`$) the analyses performed in balbi:balbi00  balbi:lange00  and balbi:jaffe00  found the results reported in Table 1. These CMB data alone are already giving a consistent picture, which is in agreement with the basic predictions of inflation: the universe is nearly flat, and the primordial fluctuations have a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum. Moreover, there is indication of a substantial contribution from non-baryonic matter. It may also be observed that the best estimate of the baryon density from CMB shows some tension with the value from big bang nucleosynthesis balbi:bbn  $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.019\pm 0.002`$. Some implications of this discrepancy have been explored in balbi:esposito .

As we saw in the first Section, models with different values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ may result in the same angular scale of sound horizon at decoupling. As a consequence, it is hard for CMB data alone to separately determine $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. This is clear from Figure 2 where we plot lines in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ plane corresponding to the same angular scale of sound horizon at decoupling. To break this degeneracy, prior information from different datasets can be used. The results obtained by balbi:balbi00  balbi:lange00  and balbi:jaffe00  when combining the CMB data with constraints in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ plane coming from observations of high-redshift type Ia supernovae balbi:perlm  balbi:riess  are shown in Table 2. These results make a very strong case for the existence of a substantial contribution from some form of unknown negative-pressure component (named “dark energy” in the recent literature). Attempts to investigate the nature of this component using the CMB, while assuming strong priors on the other parameters, have been made in balbi:quint .

Finally, it is remarkable that, as shown in balbi:jaffe00 , when completely independent priors from large scale structure observations are used instead of those from supernovae, totally consistent results are obtained.

The CMB is already proving very powerful in improving our knowledge of cosmological parameters. Increasingly accurate measurements of the power spectrum will come in the next few years by satellite missions such as MAP666http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov and Planck777http://astro.estec.esa.nl/Planck/, which will further strengthen our understanding of the nature of the universe.

## Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the MAXIMA and BOOMERanG collaborations. I am also grateful to Saurabh Jha and the High-Z Supernova Search Team for providing the likelihood function from supenovae measurements, and to Giancarlo de Gasperis, Pedro Ferreira, Paolo Natoli and Nicola Vittorio for useful discussions.


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# Tuning Fermi-surface properties through quantum confinement in metallic meta-lattices: New metals from old atoms

## Abstract

We describe a new class of nanoscale structured metals wherein the effects of quantum confinement are combined with dispersive metallic electronic states to induce modifications to the fundamental low-energy microscopic properties of a three-dimensional metal: the density of states, the distribution of Fermi velocities, and the collective electronic response.

Quantum confinement in zero, one and two dimensional semiconductor and metallic nanostructures has enabled an enormous range of condensed matter physics and materials science over the past two decades. The basic electronic property of a semiconductor, the bandgap, can be tuned continuously via quantum confinement in nanoparticles. In contrast, the fundamental defining property of a metallic Fermi liquid, the Fermi surface, is lost in a quantum dot, since confinement creates nondispersive electronic states. Although dispersive low-energy states can be recovered in low dimensional metals such as nanowires and two-dimensional electron gases, the degrees of freedom in the confined and nonconfined directions typically decouple, so that the direct effects of quantum confinement are restricted to the confined dimension(s) and often have relatively minor effects on the single-particle dispersion along the non-confined direction. Here we propose a new class of materials that combine quantum confinement with a continuum of three-dimensional delocalized, dispersive electronic states through the infiltration of metal atoms into a three-dimensional colloidal lattice (see Fig. 5). The resulting system has a hierarchy of periodicities: the underlying atomic structure resides within the larger-scale periodic colloid; hence the term “meta-lattice.” This meta-lattice exploits finite size effects to tune the fundamental low energy (i.e., near Fermi energy) properties of the metallic state.

Colloidal crystals on the scale of optical wavelengths have been used as scaffolds for the infiltration of dielectrics into the ordered pore structure to create photonic materials. Here we consider a new regime by extending these colloids to the 1 — 10 nanometer scale and studying infiltration with metals. Electrochemical deposition, pressure-induced filling, and iterative chemical reduction of metallic salts are all being exploited to infiltrate colloidal systems with metal atoms. Such systems are just starting to be produced at nanometer length scales: for example, Pt has recently been infiltrated into colloidal crystals composed of 30 nm silica spheres with prospects for extension to smaller sizes. As yet, no theoretical treatment exists for the electronic properties of these ordered nanoscale infiltrant metals. We demonstrate here that these three-dimensional metallic meta-lattices induce several new physical effects such as: (1) Fermi velocity shadowing, wherein the ordered interconnecting necks within the structure induce pronounced modifications into the distribution of Fermi velocities; (2) Bifurcation of the electronic states into two intimately interspersed yet distinct ladders of strongly and weakly dispersive states, a separation which affects the optical response, transport, and the density of states at the Fermi level; (3) The potential for a rich interaction of the large-scale (i.e. colloidal) structural order parameter with other order parameters of the metallic component (e.g. characteristic superconducting length-scales, etc.).

Each of the effects discussed above applies across a wide class of metals. For the purposes of an initial case study, we focus on an archetypal example: a face-centered-cubic (fcc) lattice of insulating colloidal spheres, a typical closed packed structure, which is infiltrated with aluminum (see Fig. 5). Although aluminum is not the easiest metal to infiltrate experimentally, its simple electronic structure and theoretical tractability make it a useful “canonical metal” that can clearly elucidate the generic features of the new physics. We assume that the aluminum atoms also crystalize in the fcc structure inside of the interstitial regions of the lattice, similar to the structures of Al clusters. For computational convenience, we have chosen the colloidal and Al lattices to be in alignment; (but note that our main results arise from the large-scale geometry of three-dimensional confinement, not the detailed atomic-level structure of metal). In this initial investigation we do not explicitly treat surface reconstructions, which are in any case much less extensive in metallic systems than in e.g. covalently-bonded semiconductors. We describe disorder through both a phenomenological broadening and also a random variation in the on-site energies. Later we discuss the differential sensitivity of various phenomena to disorder.

We compute the electronic structure with an empirical $`s,p,d`$-orbital tight-binding method whose parameters are obtained by fitting to the bulk band structures of Würde et al.. We construct the systems of study by removing, from the bulk, Al atoms that fall within the colloidal particles. The resulting aluminum structure then comprises octahedral and tetrahedral Al islands interconnected by thin metallic necks. The volume ratio of aluminum, $`x(V_{Al}/V_{tot})`$ is roughly $`1\frac{16\pi }{3}(R/L)^3`$, with $`R`$ the radius of colloidal spheres and $`L`$ the lattice constant of meta-lattice cubic unit cell. In the physically relevant limit of touching colloidal spheres, $`x0.26`$ with $`R=L/2\sqrt{2}`$. For computational reasons, we restrict the study to systems up to the $`12\times 12\times 12`$ meta-lattice, although many of the effects discussed will persist up to larger sizes.

Remarkably, instead of narrowing uniformly across all bands, the electronic structure forms sets of very weakly dispersive states which are interconnected by more strongly dispersive bands. Fig. 5 shows the electronic structure around the Fermi energy for an $`L=3.6`$ nm colloidal lattice containing a $`9\times 9\times 9`$ Al meta-lattice at $`x=0.27`$. The weakly dispersive states occupying regions around e.g. $`0.050.00`$ and $`0.080.1`$ eV are interconnected by bands of substantially more dispersive states. This classification is also seen in real space: the weakly dispersive states predominately occupy the interiors of the tetrahedral and octahedral islands, whereas the dispersive states occupy the surfaces and interconnecting necks. The weakly dispersive states evolve smoothly into the localized states of an isolated quantum dot as the lattice connectivity is reduced through e.g. expanding the colloidal spheres (theoretically) until they interpenetrate and cut off the necks. Since the islands contain many more atoms than the necks, most electrons propagating in an island will reflect from the necks and thereby acquire only weak dispersion. The weakly dispersive states (which are likely to localize under disorder) then form a set of broadened levels with a granularity which is affected by the size of the islands and the point symmetry of the meta-lattice. In contrast, the more strongly dispersive states form a new class of confined electronic wavefunctions which do not have an analogue in quantum dots.

This granularity in the weakly dispersive manifold produces strong modulations in the density of states at the Fermi level, even under the influence of a moderate ($`0.2`$ eV) phenomenological disorder-induced broadening. The main plot in Fig. 5 illustrates this effect by showing the evolution of the density of states as colloidal spheres of variable size but fixed spacing are introduced into the meta-lattice. (Note that the intermediate values of $`x`$ are not experimentally accessible, since the spheres are not touching; instead they provide a well-defined means to understand the effects of variable quantum confinement at a fixed colloidal lattice constant). The calculation covers 89 k-points in the irreducible first Brillouin zone with a Lorentzian broadening of 0.2 eV (full width at half maximum) to describe disorder and thermal smearing. The familiar nearly free electron-like density of states of bulk aluminum (bottom curve) is only slightly changed by the introduction of periodic voids in the Al lattice at a volume density of $`1x=0.52`$. However, when the colloidal spheres touch at $`x=0.27`$, the density of states changes significantly and displays peaks (arising from the weakly dispersive states) around $`E_F`$. Statistically, the Fermi energy tends to fall near such a peak because such states represent the majority of available states (i.e. the necks compose only a small fraction of the total atoms) and a random filling of the bandstructure will tend to locate the Fermi level in a peak (we neglect the effects of structural relaxation here). The inset shows the variation in the Fermi-level density of states as the volume filling fraction is decreased from the bulk lattice ($`x=1.0`$) to the case of touching colloidal spheres ($`x=0.27`$). As expected, the density of states shows a general trend towards higher values at smaller volume fraction. The effect, even under significant ($``$ 0.2 eV) disorder broadening, can be dramatic: at $`x=0.27`$ the density of states at the Fermi level is more than twice the bulk value. The specific width of disorder broadening will depend on the detailed characteristics of any given sample; regardless, it is surprising and encouraging that the granularity can survive a broadening which is many times the level spacing expected for quantum dots of similar size.

The bifurcation of the bulk electronic structure into the weakly and strongly dispersive states of the meta-lattice also has pronounced consequences for the collective electronic response. The plasma frequency, $`\omega _p`$, can be calculated from the sum rule for the optical conductivity $`\sigma (\omega )`$:

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}\sigma (\omega )𝑑\omega =\omega _p^2/8,$$
(1)
where $`\omega _p^2=4\pi ne^2/m^{}`$ with $`n`$ the charge carrier density in a naive kinetic model. For the bulk lattice, we obtain $`w_p=16.3`$ eV, in good agreement with experiment. The infiltrated Al meta-lattice has a much reduced plasma frequency: 7.2 and 6.6 eV for $`6\times 6\times 6`$ and $`9\times 9\times 9`$ meta-lattices, respectively. The ratio of effective charge carriers, $`n_{\mathrm{meta}\mathrm{lat}}/n_{\mathrm{bulk}}=\omega _{p,\mathrm{meta}\mathrm{lat}}^2/\omega _{p,\mathrm{bulk}}^2=0.19`$ and $`0.16`$ respectively, cannot be ascribed solely to the reduced volume fractions of $`x=0.35`$ and 0.27. Instead, the large reduction demonstrates that roughly half of the charge carriers in the infiltrated metal do not participate significantly in this aspect of the collective optical response due to a strongly enhanced effective mass. Since the two classes of electronic states are intimately interspersed in energy, they are unlikely to decouple into distinct plasmons, as would be the case for e.g. $`\sigma `$ and $`\pi `$ plasmons in carbon.

The strongly anisotropic lattice connectivity within the infiltrated colloid also causes qualitative changes to the pattern of Fermi velocities around the Fermi surface of the metal infiltrant. Fig. 5(a) shows the Fermi velocities for bulk Al projected onto a unit sphere. We have weighted each Fermi velocity vector with its magnitude and then smeared slightly to obtain a continuous distribution. The Fermi velocity of bulk Al is largest (dark region) along the body-diagonal direction. In contrast, as shown in Fig. 5(b), the Fermi velocities in the infiltrated $`9\times 9\times 9`$ Al meta-lattice concentrate along (1,0,0) directions. The remarkable inversion, i.e. shadowing, in the distribution of Fermi velocities between the bulk and colloidal lattices arises because the electron transport in the infiltrated metal is greatly hindered by the large unpenetrable colloidal spheres which suppress the Fermi velocity strongly along the body-diagonal directions. The non-dispersive states are effectively filtered out from electron transport and the dispersive states dominate the Fermi velocity distribution. Since the dispersive states predominately occupy the surface and necks, the symmetry of the Fermi velocity distribution is primarily determined by the overall connectivity of the metal surface, although its details are sensitive to the atomic-scale structure of the surface. We expect these qualitative features to hold regardless of lattice alignments or the lattice structure of metal infiltrant so long as the size of the colloidal lattice is smaller than relevant length-scales in the metal (e.g. the mean free path).

Interesting phenomena also appear in the optical conductivity, even within a simplified isotropic phenomenological model of the scattering (see Fig. 5). For simplicity, we choose a uniform scattering rate $`1/\tau =0.1`$ eV; this choice isolates the effects of the modified Fermi-level states from those due to possible confinement/surface-induced modulations in scattering processes. (A more complete treatment of scattering might reveal new structure in the frequency dependent conductivity as e.g. $`v_F/\omega `$ approaches the colloidal lattice constant). For the bulk lattice, the intraband Drude peak dominates, while the first two interband transitions (the first one is buried under the Drude peak) give additional structure which is also in good agreement with experiment. Despite the large number of states, the weakly dispersive states contribute only weakly to the optical conductivity due to their small Fermi velocity. Transitions between the dispersive states dominate the optical conductivity.

These new phenomena in the bulk-confined ordered metallic state have variable sensitivity to disorder, including atomic-scale displacements, variations in colloidal particle size, and grain boundaries within the metal or colloidal template. The detailed structure of particular bands as presented here is the feature most sensitive to disorder, as fluctuations on the order of the (folded) bandwidth are likely inescapable in the real systems. However, the coarsened separation of electronic states into weakly and strongly dispersive states persists over the entire multi-eV bulk (i.e. unfolded) bandwidth and the density of state modulations can survive a broadening greatly in excess of the band spacing. As this classification relates to the differential occupation of island and neck sites, it is more robust than the details of any single specific band. Similarly, the shadowing of the Fermi velocity distribution arises directly from the anisotropic meta-lattice connectivity, which is also relatively robust under atomic-scale disorder. Finite grain size will smear the Fermi surface, but the Fermi velocity symmetry and weakly/strongly dispersive character of the states exists over the entire Brillouin zone. Note that, as a function of colloidal lattice period, different properties approach the bulk limit at different sizes: the long-range spatial coherence over a single band state is destroyed by very weak disorder in larger-scale systems, whereas the density of states fluctuations can survive to significantly larger sizes (or similarly, larger disorder smearings), and the shadowing in the angular distribution of the electronic dispersion can also persist to larger colloidal-lattice periodicities.

Particularly intriguing properties emerge as the lattice constant of the infiltrant (and the associated structural order parameter) approaches other characteristic length-scales in the metal. For example, at larger colloidal sizes (several hundred Angstroms and higher) where many of the atomic-scale electronic modulations described above will begin to wash out, the collodial lattice structural order parameter will begin to interact richly with e.g. characteristic superconducting length-scales such as the penetration depth, with potentially fascinating consequences for the magnetic response of meta-lattice type I or type II superconductors. In addition, across a range of length-scales the electron screening and transport response will be sensitive to the physical and chemical configuration of the surface and interstitial spaces. Since the original colloidal lattice can be etched away, this newly liberated interstitial space within the metallic meta-lattice is available for surface functionalization or second infiltration, both of which could be reversible in certain cases (i.e. for a fluid infiltrant). For example, a backfilling infiltration with a dielectric medium into an open metallic meta-lattice would modulate the electron-electron interaction, particularly across the void regions. The single-particle bandstructure results given here provide a base of understanding towards further study of this fascinating class of materials.

We thank P. Eklund and T. Mallouk for help discussions. We gratefully acknowledge the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the National Science Foundation through grant DMR-9876232, and the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center for computational support.


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# 3-manifolds which are spacelike slices of flat spacetimes

## 1. Introduction

This paper has as its starting point the work of Witten on $`(2+1)`$-dimensional gravity from the late 1980’s , , . In the first of these papers he asks for a description of the “space of all classical solutions” to Einstein’s equations in $`(2+1)`$-dimensions. In a remarkable paper shortly thereafter , Geoffrey Mess interprets and completely solves this problem for flat and anti-de Sitter spacetimes, giving a geometric parameterization roughly in terms of the “degeneration” of spacelike slices. The de Sitter case was handled in  and , where a new phenomenon appears: an infinite family of solutions with identical holonomy representations (Witten remarks on the possible physical significance of this in \[32, §6\]). This paper represents a first step in extending these results to the case of constant curvature $`(3+1)`$-dimensional spacetimes.

Throughout this paper, $`M`$ will denote a closed, connected $`3`$-manifold. Our current understanding of $`3`$-manifold topology owes a great deal to Thurston’s introduction of geometric techniques in the 1970’s. In particular, his Geometrization Conjecture ,  says that given a closed $`3`$-manifold, there is a canonical process by which it can be cut open so that the resulting pieces are geometric: this means they can be given Riemannian metrics which are locally isometric to one of eight simply connected Riemannian homogeneous spaces. As some of these “model spaces” will arise in the statement of the main theorem and in the course of its proof, it is worth setting up some notation for them. There are, of course, the three constant curvature model spaces: Euclidean space $`𝔼^3`$, hyperbolic space $`^3`$, and the $`3`$-sphere $`𝕊^3`$; two product spaces $`^2\times `$ and $`𝕊^2\times `$; and three $`3`$-dimensional Lie groups $`Nil`$, $`Solv`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{SL_2}`$ equipped with natural left-invariant metrics. If $`X`$ is one of these eight spaces, we say a $`3`$-manifold is modelled on $`X`$ if it admits a metric locally isometric to $`X`$. When a manifold $`M`$ is modelled on $`^3`$, we often say simply that $`M`$ is hyperbolic. If we exclude $`^3`$ and $`Solv`$, then $`M`$ is modelled on one of the six remaining spaces if and only if $`M`$ is a Seifert fiber space \[25, Thm. 5.3\].

We say $`M`$ is a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime if there is a $`(3+1)`$-dimensional Lorentzian manifold $`N`$ locally isometric to Minkowski space $`_1^4`$ and an embedding $`f:MN`$ such that $`f(M)`$ is spacelike and has trivial normal bundle. One immediate consequence of our main theorem is that a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime is geometric, and in fact can only be modelled on three of the eight model spaces:

###### Theorem 1.1.

$`M`$ is a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime if and only if $`M`$ is modelled on $`^3`$, $`𝔼^3`$, or $`^2\times `$.

The manifolds modelled on $`𝔼^3`$ and $`^2\times `$ are understood completely. There are exactly ten closed $`3`$-manifolds modelled on $`𝔼^3`$ \[33, §3.5\] all of which are finitely covered by the $`3`$-torus $`T^3=𝕊^1\times 𝕊^1\times 𝕊^1`$. Though there are infinitely many $`3`$-manifolds modelled on $`^2\times `$, each is finitely covered by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\times 𝕊^1`$ where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a closed surface of negative Euler characteristic (see Lemma 2.5 below). Thus we have as a corollary:

###### Corollary 1.2.

If $`M`$ is a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime and is not hyperbolic, then a finite cover of $`M`$ is homeomorphic to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\times 𝕊^1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a closed, orientable surface, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }𝕊^2`$.

The class of hyperbolic $`3`$-manifolds is much richer than the others by the work of Thurston which shows that “most” $`3`$-manifolds are hyperbolic. In fact, the Geometrization Conjecture predicts that any closed, irreducible $`3`$-manifold with infinite fundamental group not containing a $``$ subgroup is hyperbolic.

Mess observes \[18, p. 55\] that the $`(2+1)`$-dimensional case generalizes in part to the $`(3+1)`$-dimensional case; in particular he claims the following result which will follow immediately from our proof of Theorem 1.1:

###### Corollary 1.3.

Let $`M`$ be a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime. If the linear holonomy representation $`L:\pi _1(M)O(3,1)`$ is irreducible, then $`M`$ is hyperbolic.

Also noteworthy is the work of H. Waelbroeck  which is closely related to this paper and . Flat spacetimes homeomorphic to $`M\times `$ are studied in terms of solutions of the so-called $`BF`$ theory. Our main result shows however that many of the solutions found in  (e.g. for the $`Nil`$, $`Solv`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{SL_2}`$ cases) do not correspond to actual flat spacetimes with spacelike slices.

For comparison with Theorem 1.1, we recall the corresponding statement from the de Sitter case (particular examples illustrating this case have appeared in the physics literature; see , , ). A manifold is conformally flat if it admits a (locally) conformally flat Riemannian metric; for $`3`$-manifolds this is equivalent  to the existence of a flat conformal or Möbius structure.

###### Theorem 1.4.

 $`M`$ is a spacelike slice of a de Sitter spacetime if and only if $`M`$ is conformally flat.

Together these results show that there are many more possibilities for slices of de Sitter spacetimes than for flat spacetimes: for example, all manifolds modelled on the constant curvature or product model spaces are conformally flat. Also notable is the fact that the connected sum of conformally flat manifolds is conformally flat  and even some manifolds modelled on $`\stackrel{~}{SL_2}`$ are conformally flat , providing large classes of examples not present in the flat case. Unfortunately, no classification of conformally flat $`3`$-manifolds is known in general, even assuming the Geometrization Conjecture. The best results in this direction are due to M. Kapovich; see for instance .

It should be emphasized that the statement of the main theorem is purely topological – it says nothing about how a given $`M`$ arises as a spacelike slice, its induced Riemannian metric, or about the moduli space of spacetimes having a given $`M`$ as a Cauchy surface. In the de Sitter case, these questions were worked out completely in : the moduli space of de Sitter domains of dependence $`M\times `$ is identified with an appropriate deformation space of conformally flat metrics on $`M`$, thus reducing the question to a widely studied problem in Riemannian geometry. The classification theorems in  and  basically come from a convexity result for the causal horizon of a spacelike slice, followed by a careful analysis of the geometric structure of the causal horizon. Our goal in writing this paper, in contrast, was to derive as much as possible purely from results in $`3`$-manifold topology, hopefully returning to a study of the causal horizon in a sequel.

An added bit of information which falls out in the course of the proof of Theorem 1.1 is the determination of all possible holonomy homomorphisms $`\pi _1(M)ISO(3,1)`$. Of course this falls well short of describing the moduli space of flat spacetimes, as it is not a priori true that constant curvature spacetimes $`M\times `$ are parameterized by their holonomy homomorphisms (indeed this is false in the de Sitter case as mentioned above). Furthermore, one needs to beware of certain holonomy homomorphisms which are inadmissible because they only arise from spacetimes homeomorphic to $`M\times `$ where the slices $`M\times \{t\}`$ are not spacelike.

The author wishes to thank Lars Andersson, Bill Goldman, Geoff Mess and Steve Harris for useful conversations related to this work.

## 2. Basic results

Let $`X`$ be a Riemannian or Lorentzian homogeneous space, and let $`G`$ be its isometry group. If $`V`$ is a smooth manifold of the same dimension as $`X`$, then we can define a $`(G,X)`$-structure on $`V`$ to be a maximal atlas of coordinate charts $`\{\varphi _\alpha :U_\alpha X\}`$ on $`V`$ such that the transition functions are given by the action of elements of $`G`$. From this data, a standard argument constructs a $`(G,X)`$-structure on the universal cover $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$, a developing map $`𝒟:\stackrel{~}{V}X`$, and a holonomy homomorphism $`\varphi :\pi _1(V)G`$ satisfying the following equivariance condition

$$𝒟(\gamma x)=\varphi (\gamma )𝒟(x)$$

for all $`\gamma \pi _1(V)`$ and $`x\stackrel{~}{V}`$ (see  for a nice discussion of these notions). One can show that the existence of a $`(G,X)`$-structure is equivalent to the existence of a Riemannian or Lorentzian metric everywhere locally isometric to the model space $`X`$; in particular, one could rephrase our discussion of the Geometrization Conjecture in this language.

Let $`MN`$ be a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime. Since $`M`$ has trivial normal bundle, we might as well assume $`N`$ is homeomorphic to $`M\times (0,1)`$. The ideas just introduced provide us with a developing map $`𝒟:\stackrel{~}{N}_1^4`$ and a holonomy homomorphism $`\varphi :\pi _1(N)ISO(3,1)`$ satisfying the equivariance condition above. Here $`ISO(3,1)`$ denotes the full isometry group of $`_1^4`$ which we will describe in detail momentarily. We compose these functions with the inclusions $`\stackrel{~}{M}\stackrel{~}{N}`$ and $`i_{}:\pi _1(M)\stackrel{}{}\pi _1(N)`$ respectively to obtain a spacelike immersion $`𝒟:\stackrel{~}{M}_1^4`$ and a holonomy group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\varphi (i_{}\pi _1(M))ISO(3,1)`$.

Our first result is that this immersion is actually an embedding and that $`\stackrel{~}{M}^3`$. The proof given here is special to Minkowski space (the analogous result is false for de Sitter space). Similar theorems are obtained for general classes of spacetimes by Harris in , .

###### Lemma 2.1.

The image of $`𝒟:\stackrel{~}{M}_1^4`$ is a graph over $`𝔼^3=\{𝐯_1^4v_4=0\}`$. Any two points of $`𝒟(\stackrel{~}{M})`$ are spacelike separated.

###### Proof.

The obvious projection $`_1^4𝔼^3`$ restricts to a distance-increasing local diffeomorphism $`P:𝒟(\stackrel{~}{M})𝔼^3`$ since $`𝒟(\stackrel{~}{M})`$ is everywhere spacelike. As $`M`$ is closed, the induced Riemannian metric is complete, and thus $`P`$ must be proper. This makes $`P`$ a covering map, hence a global diffeomorphism. Finally $`𝒟(\stackrel{~}{M})`$ is a graph because $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ is connected.

If $`𝐩`$ and $`𝐪`$ are two points of the image which are null or timelike separated, consider the path between them given by the intersection of $`𝒟(\stackrel{~}{M})`$ and an indefinite two-dimensional plane containing $`𝐩`$ and $`𝐪`$. The “secant line” joining $`𝐩`$ and $`𝐪`$ in this plane has slope greater than $`1`$, so the mean value theorem implies that some tangent vector to this path is null or timelike, a contradiction. ∎

In all that follows we will identify $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ with its image in $`_1^4`$.

Every isometry of $`_1^4`$ can be written uniquely as $`𝐱A𝐱+𝐛`$, where the linear part $`A`$ lies in $`O(3,1)`$ and $`𝐛_1^4`$. If we let $`L:ISO(3,1)O(3,1)`$ be the homomorphism projecting to the linear part, we have the following short exact sequence

$$1_1^4ISO(3,1)\stackrel{L}{}O(3,1)1.$$

Given a subgroup $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of $`ISO(3,1)`$, define $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })=\mathrm{ker}L|_\mathrm{\Gamma }`$; we call $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ the translational subgroup of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. There is a corresponding short exact sequence for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$

$$1T(\mathrm{\Gamma })\mathrm{\Gamma }\stackrel{L}{}L(\mathrm{\Gamma })1$$

which is central to our study of possible holonomy groups.

###### Lemma 2.2.

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }ISO(3,1)`$ be the holonomy group of a spacelike slice. Then:

1. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a discrete, torsion-free subgroup of $`ISO(3,1)`$.
2. $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ consists of spacelike vectors and is isomorphic to $`^k`$, for $`k=0,1,2,`$ or $`3`$.
3. $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ leaves invariant the spacelike subspace spanned by $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$.

###### Proof.

The first part is straightforward by Lemma 2.1 – since $`\stackrel{~}{M}^3`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has finite cohomological dimension and is therefore torsion-free. Discreteness follows because $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ acts properly discontinuously on $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$. Because all pairs of points in $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ are spacelike-separated, it is clear that $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ consists only of spacelike vectors. It is isomorphic to $`^k`$ since it is a discrete subgroup of $`_1^4`$ and $`k`$ cannot be $`4`$ or else $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ would have to contain a non-spacelike vector. For the last part, if $`\gamma _1\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is given by $`𝐱A𝐱+𝐛`$ and $`\gamma _2T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is translation by $`𝐭`$, then $`\gamma _1\gamma _2\gamma _1^1`$ is easily computed to be the element $`𝐱𝐱+A𝐭`$ of $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. ∎

###### Lemma 2.3.

If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a discrete subgroup of $`ISO(3,1)`$ with $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ indiscrete, then $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is virtually solvable.

###### Proof.

A theorem of Auslander (see \[22, Thm. 8.24\]) says that $`\overline{L(\mathrm{\Gamma })}^0`$ is always solvable and is non-trivial since $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is indiscrete. The closed, connected, solvable, non-trivial Lie subgroups of $`SO(3,1)^0`$ are easy to write down as in ; in particular, the set of points $`F`$ on the sphere at infinity $`^3`$ fixed by $`\overline{L(\mathrm{\Gamma })}^0`$ must consist of one or two points. The stabilizer in $`SO(3,1)^0`$ of a point at infinity is isomorphic to the group $`Sim^+(^2)`$ of orientation-preserving similarities of $`^2`$, which is a solvable group. Since $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ normalizes $`\overline{L(\mathrm{\Gamma })}^0`$, it leaves $`F`$ invariant and therefore has a subgroup of index at most two fixing $`F`$ pointwise, and therefore conjugate into $`Sim^+(^2)`$. The lemma follows. ∎

The remaining lemmas are well-known results from $`3`$-manifold topology. We record the ones which will be used repeatedly in §3.

###### Lemma 2.4.

(see ) Suppose $`\stackrel{~}{M}^3`$ and $`^3\pi _1(M)`$. Then $`M`$ is finitely covered by the $`3`$-torus $`T^3`$.

###### Proof.

While a much more general result is proved in , we give a simpler proof sufficient for our needs. Consider the cover $`\widehat{M}`$ of $`M`$ corresponding to the $`^3`$ subgroup. Since $`\stackrel{~}{M}^3`$, $`\widehat{M}`$ is a $`K(^3,1)`$ hence is homotopy equivalent to $`T^3`$. This implies that $`H_3(\widehat{M})H_3(T^3)`$, thus $`\widehat{M}`$ is closed and the covering $`\widehat{M}M`$ is finite. Finally, appealing to , we have $`\widehat{M}T^3`$. ∎

The next result explains the topological structure of manifolds modelled on $`𝔼^3`$ and $`^2\times `$. It connects Theorem 1.1 and Corollary 1.2 and will also be used in §3.

###### Lemma 2.5.

(see ) $`M`$ is modelled on $`𝔼^3`$ if and only if it is finitely covered by the $`3`$-torus, and $`M`$ is modelled on $`^2\times `$ if and only if it is finitely covered by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\times 𝕊^1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a closed, orientable surface of genus at least two.

## 3. Proof of main theorem

Before embarking on the proof of Theorem 1.1 we note that its main content is the “only if” part, which excludes many kinds of $`3`$-manifolds from being spacelike slices of flat spacetimes. In particular, manifolds modelled on five of Thurston’s eight geometries cannot be spacelike slices; it is useful in traversing the proof to keep some of these exclusions in mind. For instance, it follows immediately from Lemma 2.1 that manifolds modelled on $`𝕊^3`$ or $`𝕊^2\times `$ do not arise. An important element of the proof of the main theorem is to show that the Euler number of a Seifert fiber space which is a spacelike slice must be zero, excluding manifolds modelled on $`Nil`$ or $`\stackrel{~}{SL_2}`$. $`Solv`$ and $`Nil`$ are interesting since it is possible to find flat spacetimes homeomorphic to $`M\times `$ where $`M`$ is modelled on $`Solv`$ or $`Nil`$, but the main theorem says that the slices $`M\times \{t\}`$ can never be spacelike.

###### Proof.

(of Theorem 1.1) The “if” half is easy as each of the spaces $`^3`$, $`𝔼^3`$, and $`^2\times `$ embeds in $`_1^4`$ (though there can be geometrically distinct embeddings as we will see for $`𝔼^3`$). We have

* $`^3=\{𝐯_1^4𝐯,𝐯=1,v_4>0\}`$
* $`𝔼^3=\{𝐯_1^4v_4=0\}`$
* $`^2\times =\{𝐯_1^4v_2^2+v_3^2v_4^2=1,v_4>0\}`$.

If $`M`$ is modelled on a model space $`X`$, then it can be realized as $`MX/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a discrete, cocompact subgroup of the isometry group $`Isom(X)`$. It is easy to see that if $`X`$ is one of the three examples above embedded in $`_1^4`$, then there is a corresponding embedding of its isometry group in $`ISO(3,1)`$, and that any discrete subgroup of $`Isom(X)`$ acts discontinuously on a regular neighborhood of $`X`$ in $`_1^4`$. The quotient of a small regular neighborhood is therefore a flat spacetime containing $`MX/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ as a spacelike slice, as desired.

For the “only if” half, let $`M`$ be a spacelike slice of a flat spacetime with holonomy group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }ISO(3,1)`$. The proof is broken down into four cases, depending on the rank of the translational subgroup $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ (Lemma 2.2). Note that the cases get easier as we go along, because the presence of a large normal abelian subgroup of $`\pi _1(M)`$ typically puts strong topological constraints on $`M`$.

###### Case 0.

Suppose $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })=0`$. This means that $`L`$ injects $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ into $`O(3,1)`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. Our assumption that spacelike slices have trivial normal bundles means that $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ actually lies in the orthochronous subgroup $`O_{}(3,1)`$ which coincides with the full isometry group of $`^3`$. Now $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is either discrete or indiscrete. If it is discrete, then it is also cocompact for cohomological reasons. Since $`M`$ is aspherical, it is homotopy equivalent to the closed hyperbolic $`3`$-manifold $`^3/L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ and a result of Gabai-Meyerhoff-Thurston  implies that $`M`$ is itself hyperbolic. In fact, it will turn out that this is the only possibility for the holonomy when $`M`$ is hyperbolic. Thus in all remaining cases we will be proving that $`M`$ is modelled on $`𝔼^3`$ or $`^2\times `$. In light of Lemma 2.5, it suffices to show that $`M`$ has a finite cover homeomorphic to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\times 𝕊^1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a closed, orientable surface, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }𝕊^2`$. We will exploit this fact in all that follows by freely passing to finite covers of $`M`$ without changing notation. Also note that $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is reducible in all remaining cases, yielding Corollary 1.3.

If $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is indiscrete, Lemma 2.3 shows that $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is virtually solvable. By the main result of , we may pass to a finite cover and assume $`M`$ is a torus bundle over $`𝕊^1`$ with monodromy $`\theta :\pi _1(T^2)\pi _1(T^2)`$ represented by a matrix in $`SL(2,)`$, by abuse of notation also denoted $`\theta `$. Clearly $`\theta `$ has finite order if and only if $`M`$ is finitely covered by a $`3`$-torus, we will assume $`\theta `$ has infinite order. Let $`t\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ denote an element inducing the monodromy, i.e. $`txt^1=\theta (x)`$ for all $`x\pi _1(T^2)`$. The image of the fiber subgroup $`\pi _1(T^2)`$ of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ under $`L`$ must consist either of elements leaving invariant a geodesic in $`^3`$ (generated by loxodromics or irrational elliptics) or of parabolics with a common fixed point at infinity. In the first case, since $`t`$ normalizes $`\pi _1(T^2)`$, $`L(t)`$ must leave the geodesic invariant (indeed it must fix it pointwise since $`L(t)`$ has infinite order). But this implies that $`t`$ commutes with $`\pi _1(T^2)`$ which means $`\theta `$ is the identity and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }L(\mathrm{\Gamma })^3`$. This contradicts the hypothesis that $`\theta `$ has infinite order, or alternatively shows directly that $`MT^3`$ in this case by the proof of Lemma 2.4.

In the second case, identify $`^3\{\mathrm{}\}`$ and conjugate so that the parabolics fix $`\mathrm{}`$. If $`\theta `$ has a $`1`$-eigenvalue, let $`g`$ denote an element of $`\pi _1(T^2)`$ such that $`\theta (g)=g`$ and write $`L(g)`$ as $`zz+z_0`$ for some $`z_00`$. Since $`t`$ normalizes $`\pi _1(T^2)`$, $`L(t)`$ must also fix $`\mathrm{}`$; write it as $`zaz+b`$ for some $`a,b`$. But then with this notation, the relation $`[L(t),L(g)]=1`$ becomes $`az_0=z_0`$. Thus $`a=1`$, $`L(t)`$ is parabolic, $`t`$ commutes with $`\pi _1(T^2)`$, and we are done as above. The final possibility is that $`\theta `$ is of infinite order and has no $`1`$-eigenvalue, in which case it has two real eigenvalues of absolute value not equal to one. In this case, there is, up to conjugacy, only one possibility for $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$, and we use this in the Appendix to show that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ cannot be discrete, contradicting Lemma 2.2 (1).

This completes Case $`0`$.

###### Case 1.

Suppose $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. We may assume $`M`$ is orientable by passing to a double cover. Though we can get away with less, we might as well use the Seifert Fiber Space Theorem of Mess , Gabai , and Casson-Jungreis  which states that a closed, orientable, irreducible $`3`$-manifold whose fundamental group contains a normal $``$ is a Seifert fiber space. The proof of this result amounts to showing that the quotient group $`\pi _1(M)/`$ (namely $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ in our setup) is the fundamental group of a closed $`2`$-orbifold $`B`$, which by passing to a finite cover, we can assume is a closed, orientable surface of genus $`g1`$. It follows that $`M`$ is modelled on $`𝔼^3`$, $`^2\times `$, $`Nil`$, or $`\stackrel{~}{SL_2}`$. Excluding the final two possibilities amounts to showing that the Euler number $`e`$ of $`M`$ is zero.

Our original proof that $`e=0`$ amounted to finding the place where the Euler number appears in the Hochschild-Serre sequence for $`H^1(\mathrm{\Gamma },_1^4)`$; we have chosen to give a more geometric argument here. The group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has a presentation of the form \[21, p. 91\]

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=a_1,b_1,\mathrm{},a_g,b_g,h[a_i,h]=[b_i,h]=1,h^e=[a_1,b_1]\mathrm{}[a_g,b_g];$$

the notation is meant to be obvious: $`h`$ generates the normal subgroup $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ and the other generators project to $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$, the fundamental group of the base $`B`$. Write $`𝐱𝐱+𝐯`$ for the translation $`h`$, and $`𝐱L(a_i)𝐱+t(a_i)`$, $`𝐱L(b_i)𝐱+t(b_i)`$ for the other generators. If we let $`W=(_1^4)^{L(\mathrm{\Gamma })}`$ be the subspace left invariant by $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$, then the commutation relations imply that $`L(a_i)𝐯=𝐯`$ and $`L(b_i)𝐯=𝐯`$, and so $`𝐯W`$. Now focus on the final relation: the left-hand side is the translation $`𝐱𝐱+e𝐯`$ while the right-hand side’s translational part is a combination of the $`t(a_i)`$ and $`t(b_i)`$:

$$e𝐯=\underset{i=1}{\overset{g}{}}L(c_{i1})(IL(a_ib_ia_i^1))t(a_i)+L(c_{i1}a_i)(IL(b_ia_i^1b_i^1))t(b_i)$$

where $`c_j=[a_1,b_1]\mathrm{}[a_j,b_j]`$. The linear map being applied to $`t(a_i)`$ (resp. $`t(b_i)`$) in the expression above is called the Fox derivative $`\frac{R}{a_i}`$ (resp. $`\frac{R}{b_i}`$) of the usual surface group relator $`R`$ (see , ). These partial derivatives can be combined neatly into a single Fox differential $`dR:(_1^4)^{2g}_1^4`$, in which case

$$e𝐯=dR(t(a_1),t(b_1),\mathrm{},t(a_g),t(b_g)).$$

In \[10, §3.7\], Goldman has a nice argument showing that the image of $`dR`$ is exactly $`W^{}`$. Thus $`𝐯W`$ and $`e𝐯W^{}`$, so

$$0=𝐯,e𝐯=e𝐯,𝐯.$$

Since $`𝐯`$ is spacelike (this is essential – see ), $`𝐯,𝐯0`$, and so $`e=0`$.

This completes Case $`1`$.

###### Case 2.

Suppose $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })^2`$. A theorem in Hempel \[15, Thm. 11.1\] shows that $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ has two ends and therefore has a finite index subgroup isomorphic to $``$. As usual, we will pass to a finite cover without changing notation and assume $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. Stallings’ theorem  implies that $`M`$ fibers overs the circle with torus fibers. Let $`AO(3,1)`$ be a generator of $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. It leaves invariant the spacelike $`𝔼^2`$ spanned by $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })_1^4`$, and in fact, acts by linear isometries. Since $`A`$ normalizes the lattice $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$, the action of $`A`$ on $`𝔼^2`$ must have finite order. It follows that $`M`$ is finitely covered by the $`3`$-torus, and we conclude that $`M`$ is modelled on $`𝔼^3`$.

This completes Case $`2`$.

###### Case 3.

Suppose $`T(\mathrm{\Gamma })^3`$. Lemma 2.4 implies that $`M`$ is finitely covered by the $`3`$-torus and is therefore modelled on $`𝔼^3`$.

This completes the proof of the main theorem. ∎

## Appendix A

This appendix contains the proof of a result used in Case 0 of the proof of the main theorem. It is relegated to an appendix because it relies on a technical cohomology calculation which would have interrupted the flow of the exposition to an unacceptable degree.

The goal is to dispose of a particular class of solvable groups $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ which are fundamental groups of torus bundles over $`𝕊^1`$ with “hyperbolic” monodromy. We will retain all of the notations used in proof of the main theorem. In particular, the monodromy of the fibration $`\theta :\pi _1(T^2)\pi _1(T^2)`$ is represented by a matrix $`ASL(2,)`$ which has two real eigenvalues, say $`\lambda >1`$ and $`1/\lambda <1`$. Let $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$ be the standard generators of $`\pi _1(T^2)`$ and write the corresponding parabolics $`L(x_j)`$ as $`zz+w_j`$, $`j=1,2`$. As in §3, we write $`L(t)`$ as $`zaz+b`$ for some $`a,b`$. The relation $`txt^1=\theta (x)`$ applied to the two generators collates into the following matrix equation:

$$A\left(\begin{array}{c}w_1\\ w_2\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}aw_1\\ aw_2\end{array}\right).$$

In other words, $`a`$ must be an eigenvalue of $`\theta `$ (say, $`a=\lambda `$), and the $`w_j`$ are the components of the corresponding eigenvector (in particular, they are real and irrationally related). For simplicity, we choose $`w_1=1`$.

###### Lemma A.1.

With $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ given as above, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ must be indiscrete.

###### Proof.

In fact, we will show that the subgroup $`\pi _1(T^2)\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ must be indiscrete. The idea of the proof is to view $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ as obtained from the indiscrete group $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ by adding translations, and to show that there is no way of doing so which makes $`\pi _1(T^2)`$ discrete. Such a choice of translations is a cocycle in $`H^1(\mathrm{\Gamma },_1^4)`$; that is, a function $`c:\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^4`$ satisfying the cocycle relation

$$c(gh)=c(g)+L(g)c(h)$$

for all $`g,h\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The coboundaries (change of basepoint) are cocycles of the form

$$c(g)=(1L(g))v$$

for some fixed $`v_1^4`$. There is, of course, a restriction map to the fiber subgroup

$$H^1(\mathrm{\Gamma },_1^4)H^1(\pi _1(T^2),_1^4)^t,$$

where the notation is meant to indicate that restricted classes are invariant under the action of $`t`$:

(1)
$$[tc]=[c]\text{ where }(tc)(x):=L(t)c(\theta ^1(x)).$$

The lemma will follow from the fact that the group $`H^1(\pi _1(T^2),_1^4)^t`$ vanishes. The cocycle relation applied to $`x_1x_2=x_2x_1`$ means that for any cocycle $`cH^1(\pi _1(T^2),_1^4)`$ we must have

(2)
$$(1L(x_2))c(x_1)=(1L(x_1))c(x_2).$$

Equation (1) (really two equations for $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$) and Equation (2) are linear in $`c(x_1)`$ and $`c(x_2)`$ and can be solved explicitly by choosing a basis for $`_1^4`$ and elements of $`O(3,1)`$ representing the generators of $`L(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. For instance, following , we can choose the first two basis elements to be null vectors fixed by $`L(t)`$ (the second fixed by $`L(x_j)`$) and the last two basis elements to be spacelike (the final one also fixed by $`L(x_j)`$). This yields:

$$L(x_1)=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 0& 0\\ \frac{1}{2}& 1& 1& 0\\ 1& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),L(x_2)=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 0& 0\\ \frac{w_2^2}{2}& 1& w_2& 0\\ w_2& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),L(t)=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\lambda & 0& 0& 0\\ 0& \lambda ^1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$

Some linear algebra shows that there is a one-dimensional solution set to Equations (1) and (2); namely by taking $`c(x_1)=(0,1,0,0)`$ and $`c(x_2)=(0,w_2,0,0)`$. This solution is a coboundary however, since $`c(x_j)=(1L(x_j))v`$ for $`v=(0,0,1,0)`$ as a simple calculation shows. Thus $`H^1(\pi _1(T^2),_1^4)^t=0`$, proving the lemma. ∎


text:
# Hyperon effects on the properties of 𝛽-stable neutron star matter

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Neutron stars offer an interesting interplay between nuclear processes and astrophysical observables. Conditions of matter inside such objects are very different from those one can find on Earth, so a good knowledge of the Equation of State (EOS) at such high densities is required to understand the properties of neutron stars. At densities near to the nuclear saturation density ($`\rho _00.16`$ fm-3), matter is mainly composed of neutrons, protons and electrons in $`\beta `$-equilibrium . When the density increases new degrees of freedom may appear such as pion o kaon condenstates, quark matter or hyperons. The presence of the latter on neutron star matter is the topic of the present work.

Hyperonic degrees of freedom have been considered by several authors, mainly within the framework of relativistic mean field models  or parametrized effective interactions . Recently Schulze et al.  have performed many-body calculations with realistic hyperon-nucleon interactions in order to study the onset point of hyperons in neutron star matter and the effect of nucleonic three-body forces. Nevertheless, they have not considered the role of the hyperon-hyperon interaction, which, however, is essential as soon as the first hyperon appears in matter, because it modifies the single-particle energies of all the species and, as a consequence, the chemical potentials and the equilibrium conditions.

We present results for a microscopic many-body calculation of the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (BHF) type for $`\beta `$-stable neutron star matter with nucleonic and hyperonic degrees of freedom including not only the nucleon-nucleon and hyperon-nucleon interactions but also the hyperon-hyperon ones. Special attention will be paid to the role of this interaction.

The paper is organized as follows. In the next section we will describe very briefly the formalism we have employed. Results for the composition and the EOS of $`\beta `$-stable neutron star matter and for the structure of the star will be presented in section 3. A short summary and some conclusions will be given in section 4.

## 2 FORMALISM

Our many-body scheme starts with the most recent parametrization of the bare baryon-baryon potential for the complete baryon octet as defined by Stoks and Rijken in Ref. . This potential describes all the strangeness sectors from $`S=0`$ to $`S=4`$ and is based on SU(3) extensions of the Nijmegen nucleon-nucleon and hyperon-nucleon potentials. We introduce effects from the medium by constructing the so-called $`G`$ matrix and solving the equations for the single-particle energies of the various baryons self-consistently. The $`G`$ matrix is formally given by the solution of the Bethe-Goldstone integral equation

$$G(\omega )=V+V\frac{Q}{\omega H_0+i\eta }G(\omega ).$$
(1)
At lowest order in the BHF theory the single-particle potential $`U_{B_i}`$ of a baryon $`B_i`$ is given by

$`U_{B_i}=\mathrm{R}e{\displaystyle \underset{B_jF_j}{}}B_iB_j\left|G(\omega =E_{B_i}+E_{B_j})\right|B_iB_j,`$ (2)
and the total non-relativistic energy density, relative to the nucleon mass, reads

$$ϵ=ϵ_l+ϵ_b=ϵ_l+2\underset{B_i}{}_0^{k_F^{(B_i)}}\frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}\left(M_{B_i}+\frac{\mathrm{}^2k^2}{2M_{B_i}}+\frac{1}{2}U_{B_i}(k)M_N\right),$$
(3)
where $`ϵ_l`$ stands for the contribution of the leptons, considered here as a free gas. The chemical potentials are

$$\mu _B=E_B(k_F^{(B)})=M_B+T_B(k_F^{(B)})+U_B^N(k_F^{(B)})+U_B^Y(k_F^{(B)}),$$
(4)
where the superscript in the potential denote the interaction of baryon $`B`$ with nucleons ($`N`$) or hyperons ($`Y`$).

In order to reproduce the saturation properties of nuclear matter, we have replaced the pure nucleonic part of the EOS by the variational calculation of Akmal et al.  which employs the Argonne $`V_{18}`$ interaction with three-body forces and relativistic boost corrections. More details can be found in Refs.  and .

## 3 RESULTS

Fig. 2 shows the composition of $`\beta `$-stable neutron star matter up to density $`\rho =1.2`$ fm-3. Solid lines correspond to a calculation in which all the interactions ($`NN`$, $`YN`$, $`YY`$) are included, dashed lines show the result when $`YY`$ interaction is switched off. $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ appears in both cases at the same density because it is the first hyperon to appear and therefore the $`YY`$ interaction plays no role for densities below this point. There is a reduction of its fraction when $`YY`$ is switched off because of the absence of the strongly attractive $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ interaction. In turn, a moderate increase on the lepton fraction is observed in order to keep charge neutrality. On the other hand less $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ implies less $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}n`$ pairs, whose interaction is very attractive in this model. This means that the neutron chemical potential becomes less attractive and, as a consequence, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ appears at a smaller density and has a larger relative fraction.

Fig. 2 shows the EOS for four different cases: pure nucleonic matter, matter with nucleons and free hyperons, matter with nucleons and hyperons interacting only with nucleons, and matter with nucleons and hyperons interacting both with nucleons and hyperons. The appearance of hyperons leads to a considerable softening of the EOS, which is due essentialy to a reduction of the kinetic energy. The $`YN`$ interaction has two effects. For densities up to $`0.72`$ fm-3, it is attractive and makes the EOS even softer. But for larger densities it is repulsive and the EOS becomes slightly stiffer. The $`YY`$ interaction is always attractive producing a softening of the EOS over the whole range of densities explored.

Finally, we have solved the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations, with and without rotational corrections, for three of the EOS discussed in the previous paragraph. For $`\beta `$-stable pure nucleonic matter the EOS is rather stiff and yields a maximum mass of $`1.89M_{}`$ without rotational corrections and $`2.11M_{}`$ when rotational corrections are included, where $`M_{}`$ is the solar mass. A second set of results refers to the case where we allow for the presence of hyperons and consider the hyperon-nucleon interaction but explicitly exclude the hyperon-hyperon one. Without rotational correction we obtain a maximum mass $`1.47M_{}`$, whereas the rotational correction increases the mass to $`1.60M_{}`$. This large reduction is mainly a consequence of the strong softening of the EOS due to the appearance of hyperons. The last EOS includes also the hyperon-hyperon interaction. The inclusion of the hyperon-hyperon interaction leads to a further softening of the EOS and this leads to an additional reduction of the total mass. In this case whe obtain a maximum mass of $`1.34M_{}`$ when rotational corrections are not included and $`1.44M_{}`$ when rotation is taken into account. If other hyperons were to appear at higher densities, this would most likely lead to a further sosftening of the EOS, and thereby smaller neutron star masses.

Although we have only considered the formation of hyperons in neutron stars, transitions to other degrees of freedom such as quark matter, kaon condensation, and pion condensation may or may not take place in neutron star matter. We would, however, like to emphasize that the hyperon formation mechanism is perhaps the most robust one and is likely to occur in the interior of a neutron star, unless the hyperon self-energies are strongly repulsive due to a possible repulsive hyperon-nucleon and hyperon-hyperon interactions, a repulsion which would contradict present data on hypernuclei . The EOS with hyperons yields, however, maximum neutron star masses which are barely compatible with the observations of around $`1.4M_{}`$. This means that our EOS with hyperons needs to be stiffer, a fact which may in turn imply more complicated many-body terms not included in our calculations, such as three-body forces between nucleons and hyperons  and/or relativistic effects, are needed.

## 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

With the most recent parametrization of the bare baryon-baryon potential for the complete octet of baryons, we have performed a microscopic calculation of the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock type of the structure of $`\beta `$-stable neutron star matter including nucleonic and hyperonic degrees of freedom. The potential model employed allows only for the presence of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hyperons up to densities of about seven times nuclear matter saturation density. The presence of hyperons leads to a considerable softening of the EOS, entailing a corresponding reduction of the maximum mass of the neutron star. The inclusion of the hyperon-hyperon interaction leads to a further softening of the EOS, since this interaction is attractive over the whole density range explored. This is mainly due to the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ interaction which is strongly enough to develop a bound state . We note, however, that the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ attraction produced by this model is only mild, not being able to reproduce the experimental $`2\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ separation energy of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }}45`$ MeV. Whether this additional softening is realistic or not will depend on the details of the hyperon-hyperon interaction that is, unfortunatelly, not well constrained at present. New data in the $`S=2`$ sector, either from double-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hypernuclei or from $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$-atoms, are very much awaited for.


text:
# Evidence for compact structuring in the corona of active stars

## 1. Introduction

Active late-type stars have a coronal X-ray luminosity of up to $`\mathrm{10\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ times higher than the Sun; it is thus natural to ask whether the structuring of such a corona can be simply understood as a simple extension of the solar case or not. Under structuring here we mean the size, location and type of the coronal structures responsible for the bulk of the observed emission measure at X-ray wavelengths (i.e. plasma at MK temperatures). For the Sun, high-resolution X-ray images of the corona have allowed a detailed study of its spatial structuring, showing a corona structured in magnetic loops confined to intermediate latitudes, with ample coronal holes specially at the solar poles. The typical maximum height of the corona above the photosphere is well below the solar radius. Can this corona be scaled to one $`\mathrm{10\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ times more luminous, and if so, how?

Stars are unresolved objects and therefore only indirect evidence can be obtained about the spatial size, location and structuring of their corona. Three basic types of observations can be used to derive structural information about the corona, namely 1) the analysis of flare decay, 2) the modulation of light due either to mutual eclipses in a binary system or to self-eclipse due to stellar rotation in a single star, and 3) the determination of plasma densities from high-resolution spectra.

Here we briefly review the above approaches, showing that in many cases the results have been interpreted, in the past, as giving evidence for a large, rather diffuse corona. We then proceed to discuss recent developments in the methodology as well as in the observations, and discuss how these new development convincingly point toward a picture of a rather compact corona, located on (or near) the poles of active stars.

## 2. Methodology

### 2.1. Flare decay analysis

The analysis of the decay of flares can offer insights in the size and characteristics of the flaring structures, and indeed it has often been used in this way. Perhaps the most widely used approach for the analysis of the decay of flaring loops has been the so-called quasi-static approach (van den Oord & Mewe 1989), which assumes that the heated loops decay through a sequence of quasi-static states; while the theoretical framework of the method includes sustained heating as a free parameter, in practice its application has never given any indication for the presence of heating during the decay phase. As a consequence, when applied to the study of long-lasting intense flares the approach always results in long, low-density loops, which minimize both conductive and radiative losses, allowing the plasma to cool slowly and thus justifying the observed long decay times.

Another approach used at times has been the so-called two-ribbon approach of Kopp & Poletto (1984), which however requires a priori assumptions on the spatial structure and thus is of limited applicability in the stellar case.

More recently, an approach based on hydrodynamic modeling of the decaying loops has been developed by Reale et al. (1997); this approach uses the slope of the decay in the temperature-density plane as an explicit diagnostic for the presence of sustained heating, and has been tested on the Sun, showing that many apparently “impulsive” solar flares are actually dominated by sustained heating in the decay phase. As a consequence, this approach results in the majority of cases in smaller loops than the quasi-static approach.

One important point is that only intense (i.e. pathological in solar terms) stellar flares yield sufficient statistics to allow a detailed study, so that analogies with the solar case should be treated with some caution, and deductions made on the Sun may or may not be a good proxy for the stellar case. A significant number of intense events has been observed by e.g. *Einstein*, EXOSAT, ROSAT, ASCA and SAX. Up to until ca. 1998 they have almost always been modeled with the quasi-static approach, with the resulting model invariably pointing to the presence of long loops. An example of some literature results regarding the quasi-static analysis of large stellar flares is shown in Table 1.

The purported very long loops populating the coronae of active stars have led to a picture of an extended corona, which in some cases have been pictured as extending between the components of binary systems (e.g. the picture of Uchida & Sakurai 1983), which has at times been dubbed “the standard model”.

### 2.2. Eclipse mapping

A spatially inhomogeneous corona will, when subject to the eclipse from a companion, or to self-eclipse from the photosphere of the parent star, produce a modulated light curve, which in principle could be used to deduce its structure. The derivation of spatial information from the observed light curve of either single or binary stars is a process ripe with uncertainty, which makes a number of assumption (e.g. that all observed variations are eclipse-induced, and not due to the temporal variability of the emission) which are very fragile in the presence of observational noise. The difficulties and significant limitations of the approach have been discussed in detail by e.g. Schmitt (1998). Nevertheless, a number of such analyses have appeared in the past in the literature, notably on AR Lac (e.g. White et al. 1990; Siarkowski et al. 1996); these have produced evidence for large emitting regions, with the inter-binary region filled with plasma. However, as the same authors also point out, other solutions are equally possible (including a quite compact corona) if different a priori constraints are assumed.

More in general, the observed lack of strong eclipses (e.g. on Algol) has been interpreted as also pointing to the presence of very large structures (loops), sufficiently larger than the parent star that only a small fraction can be occulted at each given time, and thus in agreement with the very large loops derived by flare decay analysis through the quasi-static method. This view has contributed to a general picture of active stellar coronae as quite extended objects.

The interpretation of light curves from active eclipsing binaries is complicated by the difficulty of disentangling the contribution to the light curve from each component. Binary systems with an X-ray active star and a X-ray dark companions are indeed much better targets for this type of studies, as the X-ray dark star acts as a pure occulting disk. Examples of this type of stars are the Algol-type systems. A pioneering study of such a system has been performed by Schmitt & Kürster (1993): the clear observation of a sharp X-ray eclipse on $`\alpha `$ CrB (a G5V$`+`$A0V system, $`0.9+3.0R_{}`$, $`L_\mathrm{X}100L_\mathrm{X}`$) clearly indicates that the coronal structures on the G5V star are compact, significantly smaller than the star itself, with no evidence for extended structures.

## 3. New observations of large stellar flares

An observational breakthrough in the study of the structuring of coronae in active stars was achieved in 1997 with a long observation of Algol (a B8V$`+`$K3IV with a quiescent X-ray luminosity of $`L_\mathrm{X}5000L_\mathrm{X}`$) performed with the SAX observatory. The observation was dominated by a long-lasting (ca. 2 d), intense flare, which underwent a total eclipse when the B-type star passed in front of the K-type star. This allowed Schmitt & Favata (1999), for the first time, to determine the size and location of an individual coronal structure (the flaring “loop”) in a deterministic way (without the ambiguities present in active binaries). The results were surprising, in that the flaring structure is rather compact (with a maximum height $`H<0.6R_{}`$) and located on the south pole of the K-type star. Both the size and location of the flaring structure are very different from the “classic” picture: there is no evidence for extended structures nor for (near-) equatorial structures. In addition, to allow for such a long-lasting event to take place in a compact structure, the plasma must be heated throughout the decay (else the natural decay time would be much faster than the observed one).

The excellent temporal coverage and statistics of this event have also allowed Favata & Schmitt (1999) to perform a detailed “comparative test” of different flare-decay methods, for the first time having a “ground thruth” against which the reliability of the method could be assessed. The result is that the quasi-static method, when applied to this event, overestimates the loop size by almost an order of magnitude and fails to detect the presence of sustained heating. The hydrodynamic method, on the other hand, properly diagnoses that the loop must be heated during the decay, and thus predicts a smaller loop size, closer to the ground truth (although still somewhat too large).

### 3.1. A critical reassessment of the Algol corona

Armed with the knowledge that the quasi-static method is likely to consistently overestimate the size of the flaring structures, and that the hydrodynamic method supplies a much better estimate, a systematic re-analysis of all known large flares on Algol was performed by Favata et al. (2000b). A summary of the results is shown in Table 2. The key result of this work shows that in all cases strong sustained heating is present, and that the flares are always relatively low-lying, with no evidence for very long, extended loops. This is in contrast with the results originally obtained with the quasi-static method, which claimed long loops and in all case freely decaying flares with no evidence for sustained heating.

### 3.2. Other examples: flare stars

A similar type of analysis, with a consistent analysis of all known flaring events, was performed by Favata et. al (2000a) on the “prototypical” flare star AD Leo. The significant number of events studied, across different instruments and detectors, allows to deduce some general conclusions: the characteristic size of the flaring structures is small, well below the stellar radius, and vigorous sustained heating is in essentially all cases present. The characteristic loop size is, for AD Leo, even smaller than for Algol, with a characteristic size of $`L0.3R_{}`$.

Also, an exceptional flare (whose total energy was, at peak, as large as the stellar photospheric luminosity) was detected with ASCA on the flare star EV Lac (see Fig. 2). Notwithstanding the exceptional intensity of the event, the hydrodynamic analysis (Favata et al. 2000d) of the event shows that, similarly to the Algol SAX flare, the flaring plasma is confined to a region $`L0.5R_{}`$, and that the decay light curve is also dominated by the time evolution of the sustained heating.

### 3.3. Other examples: active binaries

Similar conclusions have been reached (Favata et al. 2001) on active binaries through the analysis of some well-known events previously studied in the literature. For example, for the flare observed by ROSAT on AR Lac (Ottmann & Schmitt 1994) a quasi-static analysis yields a size larger than the K star in the system; this is reduced to $`L0.5R_{}`$ when analyzed with the hydrodynamic method. Similarly, the long and intense event observed by ROSAT on CF Tuc (Kürster & Schmitt 1996) for which the quasi-static analysis yields a size for the flaring region of $`L3R_{}`$ is reduced to $`LR_{}`$ by the hydrodynamic analysis. Once more, the decay of these large flaring events is dominated by the presence of vigorous sustained heating.

### 3.4. Other examples: pre-main sequence stars

A re-analysis of large flaring events on pre-main sequence (PMS) stars (Favata et al. 2000c) also shows that sustained heating during the decay phase is a common feature and that the size of the flaring regions obtained with the hydrodynamic analysis is significantly smaller than the one obtained previously with the quasi-static approach. In general, the “larger than the star” loops found by the quasi-static analysis are reduced to “smaller than the star” structures. This applies to different categories of PMS stars; for the ASCA flares on the proto-star (YSO) YLW 15 the analysis of Tsuboi et al. (2000) found a large loop ($`L3R_{}`$), which is reduced to $`LR_{}`$ by the hydrostatic analysis. Similarly, for the flare observed on the classical T Tau star (CTTS) LkH$`\alpha `$ 92 by Preibisch et al. (1993) the size shrinks from $`1`$ to $`0.5R_{}`$, while for the ASCA flare on the weak-line T Tau (WTTS) star V773 Tau (Tsuboi et al. 1998) the size shrinks from $`1.2`$ to $`0.3R_{}`$. Finally, an analysis with the hydrodynamic method of the ROSAT flare on the WTTS HD 283572 reported by Stelzer et al. (2000) yields a size for the flaring structure of $`0.4R_{}`$. Also, an analysis with the same approach of the “twin” large flares observed by SAX on the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) star AB Dor (Maggio et al. 2000) consistently results in structures well below the stellar size. In general, the consistent small size found for the flaring structures on PMS stars casts a doubt on the reality of the magnetic structures extending from the star to the accretion disk which have been invoked (e.g. Montmerle et al. 2000) to explain the events on YSO’s and CTTS’s. The general characteristics of these events are indistinguishable from the ones taking place on single main sequence stars (e.g. on AB Dor), thus pointing toward similar coronal structures being present in both cases.

## 4. Discussion

### 4.1. Size of flaring structures

The wealth of new observations (and re-analysis of existing observations) discussed above shows consistently that application of the hydrodynamic method (whose superiority was clearly shown on the Algol SAX flare) results in much smaller structures than the ones obtained with the quasi-static analysis (whose failure at detecting sustained heating was, again, shown on the Algol SAX flare) of the same events. In general, all flaring structures are smaller than the size of the star, with sustained heating being a common feature. The size of the flaring coronal structures derived with hydrodynamic modeling are in general, by solar standards, large, but not “exceptional”. The presence of strong sustained heating makes it likely that even the hydrodynamic method actually over-estimates the size of the coronal structures, so that, if anything, the actual size is likely to be even smaller. These conclusions apply to active stars spanning a wide range of mass, sizes and evolutionary stages.

### 4.2. Time-profile of the sustained heating

One consequence of the presence of sustained heating during the decay of flares is that the observed light curve is dominated by the time-profile of the heating process and does not reflect the actual structure of the flaring structure. Thus, (repeated) features in the decay light curve should provide hints to the flare heating mechanism. One feature which appears to be consistently present in intense flares (when the temporal resolution and the $`S/N`$ are sufficient) is the presence of a “knee” in the decay light curve: the initial (exponential) decay is fast, and it slows down significantly in the second part of the event. This is apparent, e.g. in the two events shown in Fig. 2. Similar features are visible in intense solar events.

### 4.3. Location of the flaring plasma

The (circumstantial) evidence about the location of the flaring plasma available prior to the Algol SAX flare has in general been interpreted as pointing toward structures located at low stellar latitudes. The two key lines of evidence used for this argument have been the results of the light-curve deconvolution and the long duration of large flaring events.

Light curve deconvolution of active binaries (e.g. Siarkowski et al. 1996) results mostly in coronal structures located at low latitudes (near-equatorial structures); however, as discussed for the size of the coronal structure, the results are quite sensitive to the a priori constraints assumed, so that it is unclear whether solutions with (predominantly) high-latitude structures would be equally possible.

Intense stellar flares often have a duration comparable to (or even longer than) the stellar rotational period (or the orbital period in the case of binary systems). The lack of observed self (or mutual) eclipses of these long events, coupled with the inference (from quasi-static analyses) that the flaring structures where very large, had led to the deduction that they where likely located close to the system’s equator. The large size was used to justify the observed lack of eclipses. The observed eclipse of the Algol SAX flare, together with the evidence for predominantly compact flaring structures discussed above, shows that these deductions are unlikely to be correct. The Algol flare results from a polar structure, and a polar location is also compatible (and indeed necessary) to explain many other flare observations. The flares observed with SAX on AB Dor by Maggio et al. (2000) last for a time comparable to the stellar rotational period, and yet the flaring structures are small and are not self-eclipsed. This can only be explained if the flaring structures are located on the (exposed) stellar pole, so that they are never eclipsed, even if small in size. A similar argument can be used to explain other similar events: the very long-lasting flare observed by ROSAT on the flare star EV Lac (Schmitt 1994) lasts for more than one stellar rotation, yet it is not self-eclipsed. Given that even much more intense flares (e.g. the ASCA event studied by Favata et al. 2000d) on the same star can be easily explained as confined in small structures, once more only a polar location can explain the observed lack of self-eclipses. Similarly, the ASCA flares observed on the YSO YLW 15 last for a time comparable with a rotational period, yet they appear to be confined in small regions and not self-eclipsed. Again, a polar location appears to be the only one possible. One observation of YLW 15 (Tsuboi et al. 2000) three flares have been seen with a recurrence time comparable to the stellar rotation period. This has been interpreted as due to rotational modulation of the magnetic field stress; no rotational modulation of the light curve (as due to self-eclipse) is however visible. Such interpretation is thus not per se in contradiction with a polar location of the flaring plasma.

A (predominantly) polar location can also naturally explain the modest amounts of modulation observed in active binaries, and is compatible with the predominantly photospheric polar large spots deduced by Doppler imaging. Some theoretical models indeed predict that, for rapid rotators, the poles are the preferential location for the emergence of magnetic flux.

Interestingly, recent radio VLBI observations of Algol by Mutel et al. (1998) show that the (radio) flaring corona is also coming from two polar lobes with characteristic sizes smaller than the size of the K star in Algol, while the quiescent emission comes from a somewhat more extended region, comparable in size to the star, although also located on the polar regions. As shown by Favata et al. (2000b), a similar structure for the X-ray active corona can also explain the known characteristics of the X-ray emission. However, the polarization of the radio emission shows that the large scale field is likely bipolar, so that the solar-like “loop” picture may be inappropriate for the Algol corona (as well as for other high-activity ones), and that different type of magnetic structures may be necessary to confine the plasma.

## 5. Conclusions

The large body of observational evidence presented here (and accumulated mostly in the last two years) shows that the active (flaring) component of the corona of active stars is confined in structures which are significantly smaller than the star itself, and which are likely located at high stellar latitude. This is in contrast with the picture of very long, near-equatorial coronal structures (even with interconnecting loops in the case of active binaries, e.g. Uchida & Sakurai 1983) which has in the past been proposed to describe active coronae. Independent evidence for material at significant distance from the stars, and in the inter-binary region comes from Doppler mapping done e.g. with IUE observations (Pagano et al. 2000, on AR Lac), using chromospheric lines. Such evidence is not in contrast with the picture presented here, given than the two concern material at very different temperatures, and thus likely not co-located: the flaring coronal plasma discussed here is mostly at temperatures of several MK to several tens of MK, while the chromospheric material whose presence is deduced through Doppler analysis (using e.g. Mg ii lines) is at temperatures $`T10^5K`$. Similar considerations apply to the evidence for large structures orbiting the young star AB Dor obtained by Collier Cameron et al. (1990): also in this case, the material detected is at much cooler temperatures than the coronal material responsible for the X-ray (flaring) emission, and thus unlikely to be spatially coincident with it.

The polar location of the flaring plasma is in stark contrast with the solar case, where active regions are confined to low and intermediate latitudes. This (together with the evidence from the radio observations of a largely dipolar field) points to a magnetic field structure, in the case of active stars, significantly different from the solar one, and thus also possibly to a different dynamo. Therefore, for the very active stars, the solar analogy may have to be considered with some caution, and the coronal structures responsible for the bulk of the (flaring) X-ray emission may indeed look different than in the Sun.

The paradigm of a compact (and polarly located) corona in active stars is also supported by the EUVE observations of contact (W UMa-type) binaries, for which high density are deduced from spectroscopy (and thus small volumes) for the emitting plasma, and the lack of strong orbital modulation (as well as the period difference with respect to the orbital motion, Brickhouse & Dupree 1998 on 44 Boo) also point to a polar compact corona. The upcoming flow of grating spectral observations of active stars from Chandra and XMM-Newton will likely put to test the picture presented here: spectroscopic observations of the decay of an intense flare, once achieved, would allow to independently measure the density and compare it with the one deduced from the hydrodynamic method used here. The “holy grail” for the field of coronal structuring would however be a grating observation of an event similar to the SAX Algol one.

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