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# Giant cluster arcs as a constraint on the scattering cross-section of dark matter

## 1 Introduction

Several recent observations indicate a potential problem with the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) scenario of structure formation in that they seem to contradict the numerically simulated density structure of CDM haloes. A first difficulty is posed by published rotation curves of dwarf galaxies, which often rise linearly from the centre to radii greater than $`1`$kpc. Such a rise implies a constant-density core for the host dark-matter halo \[Moore 1994, Flores & Primack 1994\], and is in conflict with the central density cusps of the haloes found in $`N`$-body simulations, which are usually fitted by a double power-law profile with central logarithmic slope $`11.5`$ (Navarro, Frenk & White 1997, hereafter NFW; Moore et al. 1999b). A second problem is related to the large number of low-mass subclumps found orbiting within simulated galaxy-size haloes; with a naive scaling to the observed properties of dwarf galaxies within the Local Group, the abundance of these subclumps appears too high by a factor of 10 to 50 \[Moore et al. 1999a, Klypin et al. 1999\].

A possible way to modify the CDM scenario to be compatible with these observations has recently been suggested by Spergel & Steinhardt \[Spergel & Steinhardt 2000\]. They propose a model where the dark matter is self-interacting but dissipationless. They argue that if the dark matter particles have a sufficiently large cross-section for elastic scattering, the strength of the central density concentration and the abundance of orbiting subclumps can both be reduced. Collisions between dark matter particles would destroy the central cusps and lead to a gradual evaporation of small subclumps.

Self-interacting dark matter would also affect the structure of galaxy clusters, making them more nearly spherical and reducing the number of subclumps. These effects have been confirmed by several recent studies in which the halo properties in cosmological simulations of collisionless cold dark matter and self-interacting dark matter have been compared. For instance, Yoshida et al. \[Yoshida et al. 2000b\] and Davé et al. \[Davé et al. 2001\] found that intermediate scattering cross sections for dark matter particles produce haloes which are less centrally concentrated than in a collisionless model and have smoother and more spherical cores. Similar results have also been obtained by Burkert \[Burkert 2000\], Firmani et al. (2000,2001) and Kochanek & White \[Kochanek & White 2000\], although they find different time scales for the onset of core collapse, which transforms intermediate flat cores into cores with density profiles $`r^2`$.

It is natural to ask how self-interacting dark matter would affect the strong gravitational lensing properties of galaxy clusters. Strong lensing is a very powerful tool to probe the distribution of dark matter in cluster cores. From the location of multiple images of background sources lensed by a cluster one can obtain a detailed map of the mass distribution in the lens \[Tyson, Kochanski & dell’Antonio 1998\]. The morphology of long arcs observed in the cluster fields yields important information on the core density \[Bartelmann et al. 1998\]. Finally, the location of radial arcs can put strong constraints on the size and compactness of the lens cores (e.g. Narayan & Bartelmann 1997).

The goal of this paper is to evaluate whether self-interacting dark-matter models are compatible with the observed ability of galaxy clusters to produce strong lensing events. Some recent work has already addressed this issue. Miralda-Escudé \[Miralda-Escudé 2000\] argued that the shallow cores produced by self-interacting dark matter could not agree with current observations of lensing by clusters. Wyithe, Turner & Spergel \[Wyithe et al. 2000\] studied simplified analytic models of self-interacting dark matter haloes and found large collision cross-sections to be incompatible with multiple imaging by clusters. In this paper, we address the issue by using ray-tracing through high resolution simulations to compute lensing cross sections for arcs of various types. We study a set of simulations designed to isolate the effect of collisions between dark matter particles on the structure of an individual cluster.

The plan of our paper is as follows. In Section 2 we describe the cluster models used in the simulations and present the numerical method adopted to compute the lensing properties. We present and discuss the results of our analysis in Section 3. Finally, our conclusions are drawn in Section 4.

## 2 Numerical simulations

### 2.1 Cluster models

The cluster models used in this study are those described in Yoshida et al. (2000a,b). They consist of a set of five different resimulations of the same cluster-sized halo, which is the second most massive object in the GIF-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM simulation of Kauffmann et al. \[Kauffmann et al. 1999\]. All simulations were performed with the GADGET code (Springel, Yoshida & White 2000), in a flat model universe, with a matter density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}=0.3`$ and a cosmological constant of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$. The Hubble constant is assumed to be $`H_0=70\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. The CDM power spectrum was normalised so that the rms matter density fluctuations in spheres of radius $`r=8h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ is $`\sigma _8=0.9`$ ($`h`$ is the value of $`H_0`$ in units of 100 km s-1 Mpc-1).

The first cluster of the series (hereafter called the S1 model) is just a resimulation at higher resolution of the original GIF-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cluster, and was produced assuming standard collisionless dark matter. Three other simulations (hereafter called W-models) were carried out introducing elastic scattering between CDM particles. This was accomplished by the Monte-Carlo method proposed by Burkert \[Burkert 2000\], slightly modified by considering the pairwise velocity difference in evaluating the scattering probability instead of the one-point velocity dispersion. The three simulations differ in the value of the scattering cross section per unit mass $`\sigma _{}`$: $`0.1\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$, $`1.0\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$ and $`10.0\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$ were chosen. Hereafter, we will refer to these models as S1Wa, S1Wb and S1Wc, respectively, following the notation of Yoshida et al. \[Yoshida et al. 2000b\]. Finally, Yoshida et al. \[Yoshida et al. 2000a\] also considered the extreme case in which dark matter particles are as strongly interacting as in the “fluid” limit (see also Moore et al. 2000). In this last simulation, the time evolution, starting from the same initial conditions as in the collisionless original simulation, was followed solving the fluid equations with the SPH technique. In the following, this model will be referred to as S1F.

The resolution achieved in these simulations is quite high. Most of them employ $`0.5\times 10^6`$ particles in the central, high-resolution region, where the particle mass is $`m_\mathrm{p}=0.68\times 10^{10}h^1M_{}`$. The gravitational softening length is set to $`20h^1\mathrm{kpc}`$. All haloes have a similar final virial mass of $`7.4\times 10^{14}h^1M_{}`$.

For our lensing analysis, we picked the simulation snapshots at redshift $`z=0.278`$ because this is close to the most efficient redshift for strong gravitational lensing (e.g. Bartelmann et al. 1998).

The two-dimensional density profiles of the five cluster models at this redshift are shown in Fig. 1. The general trends in the profiles follow our expectations. As the scattering cross section of the dark matter particles increases, the cluster density profile in the inner region of the halo flattens. Note that the central density for the model S1Wb is smaller by more than one order of magnitude than that of the model S1.

The halo shape also depends on $`\sigma _{}`$. The principal axis ratios of the five models, determined from the inertial tensors of the matter at densities exceeding 100 times the critical value, are listed in the third column of Table 1. The values clearly show that the haloes are more spherically symmetric when the frequency of collisions between the dark matter particles increases. In the fourth column of Table 1, we also report the core radius $`r_\mathrm{c}`$ of the three haloes with self-interacting dark matter, which we define as the distance from the cluster centre where the surface density drops below half its central value. For models S1Wb and S1Wc we typically find core radii larger than $`200h^1\mathrm{kpc}`$.

### 2.2 Lensing properties of the clusters

Our method to study the lensing properties of galaxy clusters has been described in detail in Meneghetti et al. \[Meneghetti et al. 2000\]. Compared to that paper, only few parameters are changed here; therefore, we only give a brief description here and refer the reader to the original paper for further details. For a general introduction to the theory of gravitational lensing, see, e.g. Schneider, Ehlers & Falco \[Schneider, Ehlers & Falco 1992\], Narayan & Bartelmann \[Narayan & Bartelmann 1997\] and references therein.

Starting from a cluster simulation, we construct cluster lenses as follows. We centre the cluster in a cube of $`3h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ side length and obtain the three-dimensional density field $`\rho `$ by interpolating the mass density within a regular grid of $`256^3`$ cells, using the Triangular Shape Cloud method (TSC; see Hockney & Eastwood 1988). We then produce three different surface-density fields $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ per cluster by projecting $`\rho `$ along each of the three coordinate axes. This yields three lens planes per cluster, which we consider independent cluster models for the present purpose. As long as the TSC smoothing kernel is sampled by sufficiently many particles, smoothing and projecting can be interchanged, so that smoothing the three-dimensional density prior to projecting it is equivalent to projecting first and then smoothing the two-dimensional density. We checked and confirmed that changing the grid resolution up by a factor of two yields surface-mass densities with indistinguishable lensing properties.

The surface density fields are then scaled by the critical surface mass density for lensing, which depends on the cosmological parameters and on the lens and source redshifts. We recall that the redshift for the lensing cluster is $`z_\mathrm{L}=0.278`$, and we put all sources to $`z_\mathrm{S}=2`$. This choice is motivated by the fact that galaxy clusters at redshifts between $`0.2`$ and $`0.4`$ are most efficient strong gravitational lenses for sources at redshifts $`z1`$. Although real sources are distributed in redshift, putting all of them at a single redshift is admissible because the critical surface density changes very little with source redshift if the lens redshift is substantially smaller, as is the case here.

Scaling with the critical surface density yields three two-dimensional convergence fields $`\kappa `$ for each cluster. We then propagate a bundle of $`2048\times 2048`$ light rays through the central quarter of each of these fields. Their deflection angles, directly obtained from the convergence, are used to compute the shear $`\gamma `$ and the elements of the Jacobian matrix $`A`$, which describes the local properties of the lens mapping. It is symmetric and can thus be diagonalised. Its two eigenvalues are

$$\lambda _\mathrm{t}=1\kappa \gamma \text{and}\lambda _\mathrm{r}=1\kappa +\gamma .$$
(1)
Radial and tangential critical lines are located where the conditions

$$\lambda _\mathrm{t}=0\text{and}\lambda _\mathrm{r}=0$$
(2)
are satisfied, respectively. The corresponding caustics in the source plane, close to which sources are imaged as large arcs, are obtained applying the lens equation to the critical curves. All lens properties are computed on grids with an angular resolution of $`0.19^{\prime \prime }`$ on the lens plane, so that lensed images are properly resolved.

The sources are initially distributed on a regular grid in the source plane. Their spatial density is iteratively increased near caustic curves. Placing a larger number of sources where the lens strength is highest increases the probability of producing long arcs and thus the numerical efficiency of the method. In the following statistical analysis, it is then necessary to compensate for this artificial increase by assigning to each image a statistical weight proportional to the inverse of the resolution of the grid on which its source was placed.

Sources are assumed to be elliptical, with axis ratios randomly drawn from the interval $`[0.5,1]`$, and area equal to that of a circle of $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ diameter. We checked that changing the average source size does not affect our final results.

For the classification of images we follow the technique introduced by Bartelmann & Weiss \[Bartelmann & Weiss 1994\], which was also used in Meneghetti et al. \[Meneghetti et al. 2000\].

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Distributions of image properties

In this section, we present and compare the statistical properties of the images of background sources lensed by the models of our cluster sample. For each image, we compute the length $`l`$ (defined as the maximum length of the circular segment passing through the image), the width $`w`$ (found by fitting the image with several geometrical figures; for further details, see Meneghetti et al. 2000), and the length-to-width ratio $`l/w`$. For the following analysis, we combine the results of two sets of lensing simulations, in which we used the same lenses but changed the distribution of the background sources by drawing different orientations and axial ratios. With this procedure we confirm the robustness of the results and improve the statistics. Searching for large arcs, we can neglect the images of unlensed or even weakly lensed sources. Therefore, we can exclude those images from the analysis whose area is smaller than two times the area of their unlensed sources, which also avoids uncertainties in the automatic arc classification and parameter estimation. The number of images in the final analysed samples ranges between 11,252 for model S1Wc and 24,695 for model S1F.

We plot the distributions of arc properties in Fig. 2. The histograms show the number of arcs observed in the field of the five cluster models as a function of their length (top panels), width (middle panels) and length-to-width ratio (bottom panels). Each column refers to a different model. From left to right: the pure collisionless case S1, the three models S1Wa, S1Wb and S1Wc (with cross section of $`0.1`$, $`1.0`$, and $`10.0\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$, respectively), and the “fluid” limit model S1F. To facilitate the comparison, we show in Fig. 3 the 0, 1, 10, 50, 90, 99, and 100 percentiles of the distributions plotted in Fig. 2.

Regarding arc lengths, we find that model S1 produces a higher number of long arcs than the collisional W-models. Moreover, as shown in the top left panel of Fig. 3, the highest percentiles (i.e. the largest arc lengths in the sample), change significantly going from S1 and S1Wa to S1Wb and S1Wc. This is easily understood in terms of the different density profiles of the models in the inner regions of the cluster. S1 has a steeper profile, and so it reaches a higher central surface density than models S1Wa, S1Wb and S1Wc. The tangential critical curve is located where $`\lambda _\mathrm{t}=0`$, i.e. where $`\kappa =1\gamma `$, and $`\kappa `$ is just proportional to the lens surface density. Therefore, the curve shrinks as the surface density profile flattens. Consequently, the probability of producing long arcs is highest for model S1, which has the longest tangential critical curve.

Models S1Wb and S1Wc do not produce arcs longer that $`3^{\prime \prime }`$, hence these models are unable to strongly distort background images. Their central surface density is $`55\%`$ and $`50\%`$ of the critical value, respectively, and the shear is reduced by the reduction of subhaloes and the increased axial symmetry caused by dark-matter interaction. Consequently, the combination of convergence and shear never succeeds to produce critical lines, regardless of the projection considered. At the opposite end, the fluid limit case S1F yields a number of long arcs larger than S1 because the extremely high density in the centre of this cluster pushes the tangential critical curve outward and extends it.

The distribution of image widths is also sensitive to the size of the interaction cross section. The zero-percentile (giving the width of the thinnest arcs in the sample) moves to higher widths as $`\sigma _{}`$ increases, indicating that S1 produces thinner arcs than the W-models. As demonstrated by Kovner \[Kovner 1989\] and Hammer \[Hammer 1991\], the radial extension of a tangential arc is magnified by a factor of order $`\mu _\mathrm{r}[2(1\kappa )]^1`$ relative to its original size. Therefore, if $`\kappa 0.5`$ at the tangential critical line, tangential arcs are demagnified in width. This condition can be achieved only if the central density of the lens is particularly high with a steep surface-density profile, as is the case for model S1F, or if the lens has an aspherical mass distribution or pronounced substructures \[Bartelmann & Weiss 1994, Bartelmann et al. 1995\]. In fact, these lens features both contribute to pushing the critical curves outward, where $`\kappa `$ is lower. As the steepness of the density profile and the predominance of substructures both decrease going from model S1 to the W-models, the observed increase of the zero-percentile shown in the second panel of Fig. 3 is consistent with our expectations. The lack of substructures in model S1F is compensated by the very dense core, providing this cluster with the capability of producing very thin arcs.

From the middle panels in Fig. 2 and the middle panel of Fig. 3 (100-percentile), it can also be seen that the number of thick arcs decreases as the interaction cross section $`\sigma _{}`$ grows. The width distribution for S1Wb and S1Wc reflects the fact that these two models produce only weak distortions on the images of the background sources, that is, both image lengths and widths are only slightly changed with respect to their intrinsic values. On the other hand, the higher central surface density of the S1, S1Wa and S1F models makes them critical for strong lensing.

Finally, and consistently with the previous discussion on arc lengths and widths, the distributions of the image length-to-width ratios show that, when the dark matter particles interact more frequently and the density profile becomes shallower, the number of arcs with large length-to-width ratio decreases. That is not the case for model S1F, where the density profile is even steeper than in model S1, causing the creation of many very long and thin arcs.

### 3.2 Lensing cross sections for long and thin arcs

We now compute absolute lensing cross section of the clusters for long and thin arcs. Arc cross sections for a property $`Q`$ are defined as the area in the source plane within which a source has to lie in order to be imaged as an arc with property $`Q`$. We consider here the cross sections for arcs with length-to width ratio larger than three different thresholds, namely:

$`Q_1`$ $`:`$ $`(l/w)>5`$
$`Q_2`$ $`:`$ $`(l/w)>7`$
$`Q_3`$ $`:`$ $`(l/w)>10`$
In particular, the images which satisfy condition $`Q_3`$ are commonly called giant arcs \[Wu & Hammer 1993\]. We are particularly interested in arcs with large length-to-width ratio because they have been observed in many galaxy clusters, and their statistics has been used in previous studies in an attempt to constrain cosmological parameters (Bartelmann et al. 1998 and references therein).

Each cluster model provides six estimates of its strong-lensing cross sections, two for each projection since we performed simulations with two source distributions. We average all measurements in order to obtain the mean cross sections for each cluster model. The lensing cross sections of the five models are listed in Tab. 2. Models S1Wb and S1Wc have vanishing cross sections even for arcs satisfying condition $`Q_1`$, given that, as shown in Fig. 3, they do not produce arcs with length-to-width ratio larger than $`3.5`$.

We find that model S1 has cross sections larger than model S1Wa. In particular, the cross sections $`\sigma _{Q_2}`$ and $`\sigma _{Q_3}`$ of the first model are more than one order of magnitude larger than those of the second. This feature suggests that a galaxy cluster consisting even of very weakly interacting dark matter should produce at least ten times fewer giant arcs than one made of collisionless particles. Compared to the other models, S1F has very large cross sections, in agreement with the results shown earlier.

As a consequence of the lower curvature in the effective lensing potential, arcs produced by flatter profiles tend to be more strongly magnified. However, the corresponding change in the magnification bias is expected to have a very small effect on the previous results for two reasons. First, such arcs would then be very thick, while the observed ones are generally thin and sometimes unresolved in the radial direction even when observed from space. Second, the magnification bias depends on the colour selection, because the number-count slope does, and unless only very blue or very red objects are selected, the bias is negligible for arcs.

A comparison of the cross sections listed in Tab. 2 for the collisionless simulation (S1) shows that the cluster almost exactly reproduces the average cross section found in the cluster sample used by Bartelmann et al. (1998) for a lens redshift of $`0.28`$. In addition, we checked whether different realisations of the same cluster had comparable large-arc cross sections. To do so, we took the cluster mass distributions at different output redshifts ($`z=0.20`$, $`0.13`$ and $`0.06`$) and computed their lensing properties when placed at a redshift of $`0.28`$. For the given cosmological parameters, the linear growth factor changes by less than $`20\%`$ between redshifts $`0.28`$ and $`0.06`$, so that the effect of cluster growth is unimportant. We find only a modest growth in the large-arc cross sections when using the cluster mass distributions at redshifts $`0.20`$ and $`0.13`$. Between redshift $`0.13`$ and $`0.06`$, however, the cluster undergoes a merger event with a clump of $`10^{13}h^1M_{}`$ and subsequent relaxation, which increases its central density and therefore also the large-arc cross section. The effect of the merger on the lensing cross section is larger for the collisional than for the collisionless model. The infalling clump increases surface mass density and shear. Since the surface density profile of the collisional cluster is flatter than that of the collisionless cluster, this increase in lensing efficiency affects a larger region in the cluster centre. While the ratio between the large-arc cross sections between the S1 and S1Wa models is roughly an order of magnitude during quiescent periods, it is reduced to approximately five during the merger event. For similar reasons, it is important to mention that the presence of a dominant central galaxy could affect our different models in different ways, being more effective on top of the flatter models. As a consequence, the differences between collisional and collisionless cases could be reduced. A detailed study of this effect is in progress.

Nonetheless, we can conclude (1) that the chosen cluster is typical for clusters in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmology, and (2) that the large-arc cross section for the mildly collisional model S1Wa falls substantially below that of the collisionless model S1 for different realisations of the same cluster.

### 3.3 Radial arcs

In this subsection, we analyse the capability of our models to produce radial arcs. Such arcs have been observed in several galaxy clusters. For instance, two radial arcs exist in the core of MS 0440 \[Gioia et al. 1998\]. From X-ray observations, the mass of this cluster within $`350h^1\mathrm{kpc}`$ was estimated to be $`0.65\times 10^{14}h^1M_{}`$, which is similar to that of the cluster we analyse here.

The appearance of radial arcs and their position within the lensing cluster depend on both the slope of the projected mass profile and on the central density of the lens. The surface density must surpass a critical value in order for the radial critical curve to appear where the eigenvalue $`\lambda _\mathrm{r}=1\kappa +\gamma `$ of the Jacobian matrix is zero. Moreover, the steeper the density profile is, the closer to the centre the radial arcs tend to move \[Williams, Navarro & Bartelmann 1999\]. The observed location of radial arcs close to the cluster mass centres suggests that the core radii of the host clusters must be quite small \[Mellier, Fort & Kneib 1993, Smail et al. 1996, Hammer et al. 1997, Gioia et al. 1998\]. Due to the different slopes of the density profiles of the cluster models, we thus expect to find quite large differences in their capacity to form radial arcs (see e.g. Molikawa & Hattori 2000).

The radial magnification $`\mu _\mathrm{r}`$ at each point of the lens plane is given by the inverse of the radial eigenvalue of the Jacobian lensing matrix, $`\mu _\mathrm{r}=1/\lambda _\mathrm{r}`$. From the convergence and the shear, computed as explained in Sect. 2.2, we obtain $`\mu _\mathrm{r}`$ at each of the $`2048^2`$ grid points of the lens plane. We show in Fig. 4 how these radial magnifications are distributed for the five cluster models. Each histogram combines contributions from all three projections of each cluster. As can be noted, values of $`\mu _\mathrm{r}`$ exceeding $`10^3`$ are reached only by models S1 and S1F, while models S1Wa, S1Wb and S1Wc can only produce weak radial distortions.

Using the tangential and radial eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix, we can also identify the radial arcs from the complete sample of distorted images, and this enables us to compute the lensing cross sections for radial arcs. For their automatic detection, we assumed that radial arcs must lie on the radial critical curve or very close to it. Therefore, we searched those images containing at least one pixel for which the radial eigenvalue is $`0.15`$ and the tangential eigenvalue is $`0.6`$. These values were chosen in order to avoid misclassifications of radial arcs.

The cross sections for radial arcs, $`\sigma _\mathrm{R}`$, averaged over the six simulations performed for each cluster, are listed in the fifth column of Table 2. We found that only models S1 and S1F are able to produce radial arcs, while the W-models are not. The results for model S1Wa are particularly interesting because this cluster seems to have a sufficiently high surface density to produce giant arcs, but not enough to radially distort the background galaxies.

### 3.4 Rescaling the clusters

Our results show that models S1Wb and S1Wc cannot produce long and thin arcs at all. Although the mass of these clusters is already fairly large, we have checked whether an even more massive cluster with density profile similar to that of S1Wb could efficiently form this kind of arcs. To this end, we rescaled the cluster mass by a variable factor $`f>1`$.

The virial radius $`R_{\mathrm{vir}}`$ of a halo scales as $`R_{\mathrm{vir}}M^{1/3}`$, where $`M`$ is the virial mass of the halo. To obtain a halo of mass $`f\times M`$ which is dynamically stable, we also need to rescale distances by a factor $`f^{1/3}`$. This means that, while the three-dimensional density $`\rho `$ remains fixed, the halo surface density is enhanced by a factor $`f^{1/3}`$. For this reason we expect that, increasing its mass, cluster S1Wb will eventually become able to produce strong lensing effects.

We therefore perform a new set of lensing simulations, choosing mass scaling factors $`f`$ equal to 3, 5, 7, and 10. We plot in Fig. 5 the cross sections of these rescaled clusters, as a function of the rescaling factor $`f`$. In this plot, upper, middle and lower panels refer to the lensing cross section for length-to-width ratios larger than 5, 7, and 10, respectively. The dashed and dotted horizontal lines correspond to the equivalent cross sections for models S1 and S1Wa.

We can infer from this figure that a cluster with the same density profile as our model S1Wb must have a mass of at least $`5.5`$ ($`4.5`$) times larger than the mass of our present cluster, in order to achieve the same strong lensing efficiency of model S1 (S1Wa).

In the same spirit, we also rescale the mass of cluster S1Wa, to determine when it starts producing radial arcs. We multiply the cluster mass by a factor of two and found that only one out of three projections of the rescaled cluster was efficient in forming radial arcs. However, the cross section of the rescaled cluster, $`\sigma _\mathrm{R}=2.68\times 10^5`$, is still one order of magnitude lower than that of model S1. Finally let us comment that our method to rescale the clusters is approximate. In fact, rescaling the mass should in principle affect the collision rate. Yoshida et al. (2000b) estimated the number of collisions between dark matter particles per Hubble time as $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}=\rho \sigma _{}V`$, where $`\rho `$ is the three-dimensional density and $`V`$ is the particle velocity. Since $`VM^{1/2}`$, the number of collisions would increase by a factor $`f^{1/2}`$ when the cluster mass is rescaled by a factor $`f`$. Since our rescaling technique keeps $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}`$ constant while the cluster mass is increased by a factor $`f`$, the result practically corresponds to an effective $`\sigma _{}`$ reduced by a factor $`f^{1/2}`$. This means that we are even over-estimating the lensing efficiency of the $`f`$-scaled clusters and our previous conclusions can be considered conservative.

## 4 Summary and Conclusions

Self-interacting dark matter was suggested as a solution to the problems (1) that dwarf galaxies are observed to have flat cores, while they should have density cusps according to $`N`$-body simulations, and (2) that simulations tend to produce more substructure in galaxies than there seems to be. In essence, the dark-matter self-interaction flattens density cusps, increases radial symmetry, and damps substructure; all of which are ‘desired’ effects.

However, it was shown before that asymmetries, steep density profiles, and existence of substructures are essential for the ability of galaxy clusters to produce pronounced strong-lensing features like large arcs. This is due to several reasons. First, lenses need to exceed the critical surface mass density in order to form critical curves, which are mandatory for large arcs. Second, asymmetries in lenses increase the gravitational tidal field, or shear, which helps to make them critical for multiple imaging. Asymmetric clusters can be critical at lower surface mass densities than symmetric clusters. Third, observed arcs are generally thin, i.e. little magnified or even demagnified in the radial direction. For this to be the case, the surface mass density needs to be lower than about half the critical surface density at the location of the arcs. Together with the requirement that the surface density be supercritical in lens centres, this implies that density profiles have to be steep.

In other words, the introduction of self-interaction between dark-matter particles is expected to have a pronounced, potentially ‘undesirable’ impact on the ability of clusters to produce large arcs: it is exactly the desired effect of the self-interaction, namely to make clusters flatter, rounder, and smoother, that on the other hand threatens to destroy their strong-lensing capabilities. In this paper, we have investigated this effect on the second-most massive cluster in a cosmological $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM simulation, and produced the following results:

* The introduction of self-interaction even with a small cross section of $`\sigma _{}=0.1\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$ reduces the cluster cross section for the production of large arcs by about an order of magnitude compared to the collisionless case.
* Upon further increase of the interaction cross section, the cluster becomes entirely uncritical and cannot produce arcs any more, despite the otherwise favourable conditions in terms of cluster mass and redshift.
* The cross section for radial arcs vanishes even for the smallest interaction cross section considered.
* The cluster with an interaction cross section of $`\sigma _{}=1.0\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$ would require about five times more mass to reach the cross section for large tangential arcs of the cluster with $`\sigma _{}=0.1\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$, and about $`68`$ times more mass to restore the cross section of the collisionless cluster. Due to the steepness of the cluster mass function, the spatial number density of such clusters at the redshift considered is more than six orders of magnitude smaller than that of the original cluster.
* The strong-lensing cross section of the cluster model investigated here is almost identical to the average cross section found in a sample of clusters simulated earlier in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmology (Bartelmann et al. 1998). Also, the cross sections obtained do not change significantly when the cluster model is taken at different output times and placed at the original lens redshift of $`z=0.28`$.

At a length-to-width ratio of $`l/w10`$, the abundance of observed arcs brighter than $`R=22.5`$ is $`0.20.3`$ per cluster with X-ray luminosity $`2\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Extrapolated to the whole sky, there should be $`15002300`$ such arcs. Numerically simulated clusters in a (cluster-normalised) $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model fall short by about an order of magnitude of producing this number of arcs (Bartelmann et al. 1998). It may be possible that massive central cluster galaxies can increase the arc optical depth of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM clusters sufficiently to reconcile it with observations (Williams et al. 1999). However, a further reduction of the strong-lensing cross section by an order of magnitude due to even mild dark-matter interaction seems problematic in view of the observed arc abundance.

Although the inability to produce radial arcs of the clusters with interacting dark matter is a potentially important piece of information, it is currently impossible to draw any firm conclusions from comparisons with data. Radial arcs have so far been reported in five galaxy clusters (MS 2137, Fort et al. 1992; A 370, Smail et al. 1996; MS 0440, Gioia et al. 1998; AC 114, Natarajan et al. 1998; A 383, Smith et al. 2000), all of which are located near bright galaxies in the cluster centre. It is currently unclear what exactly the influence of the galaxies on the occurrence of the radial arc is, and how the presence of luminous galaxies near cluster centres prevents the detection of more radial arcs. A statistical comparison of predicted and observed radial-arc numbers therefore appears premature. In principle, the ratio of the clustercentric distances of radial and tangential arcs could be used to constrain the cluster density profile, but in practice at least redshift estimates of the arc sources would have to be available.

Of course, our simulations are insufficient for statistically sound statements on the total arc cross section of a given cluster population. However, given the massive impact of dark-matter interaction even with the smallest cross section considered, we conclude that the dark-matter self-interaction hypothesis may be in severe conflict with the abundance of large arcs unless the interaction cross section is very small.

## Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by Italian MURST, CNR, CNAA and ASI, and by the TMR european network “The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies” under contract ERBFMRX-CT96-086. MM, LM and GT thank the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, and MB the Dipartimento di Astronomia di Università di Padova, for their hospitality during the visits when this work was completed. We are grateful to the anonymous referee for comments which allowed us to improve the presentation of the results.


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# Blazar jets: the spectra

## 1. Introduction

We believe that the radiation we see from blazars comes from the transformation of bulk kinetic into random energy of particles, which then produce beamed emission. How to produce the large velocities of the plasma in the jet and which is the dissipation mechanism are still a matter of debate, but there is no doubt that nature succeds in producing collimated outflows with bulk Lorentz factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ 5–20 for blazars, and even higher for gamma–ray bursts. Only in recent years we began to estimate the power of jets, through the radiation they emit (e.g. Celotti & Fabian, 1993) and especially through the energy required to be transported to the lobes (Rawling & Saunders, 1991). It has been found that the observed jet radiation must be a small fraction of the total energetics, even of the last decade witnessed a factor 10 increase in the power observed to be emitted by blazars as a class, thanks to the high energy $`\gamma `$–ray observations of EGRET, onboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite.

The EGRET observations, and the detection of a few sources (Mkn 421, Mkn 501, 2344+514 and PKS 2155–304) in the TeV band by ground based Cherenkov telescopes, renewed the interest about blazars, allowing the discovery that their Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) is characterized by two broad peaks, whose location is a function of the observed bolometric luminosity (Fossati et al. 1998, Ghisellini et al. 1998). These peaks have been interpreted as due to synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation, respectively. Blazars form a well defined sequence, with low powerful objects having both peaks at a similar level of luminosity, and located at higher frequencies than in more powerful objects, in which the inverse Compton peak dominates the emission. In Fig. 1 we show three examples of SED of blazars with different power, to illustrate the overall behavior and what can be the contribution of X–ray observations in these three classes of objects. Recent observations of high redshift ($`z>4`$) blazars (Celotti, these proceedings), and of low power BL Lacs (Costamante et al. these proceedings) have extended the blazar sequence at both ends, confirming the original trend.

At the high luminosity end of the sequence we find interesting lower limits on the bulk kinetic power that the jet can carry, requiring it to be larger than the power dissipated in radiation, derived dividing the apparent luminosity (assuming isotropy and no beaming) by the square of the bulk Lorentz factor. Results indicate that jet of FSRQ (flat spectrum radio quasars) must have a large kinetic power (Celotti, these proceedings). As an example, PKS 0836+710 has an apparent luminosity of $`10^{49}`$ erg s-1, which requires a jet power of at least $`10^{47}/\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^2`$ erg s-1 (Tavecchio et al., 2000a). Note that in these sources most of the jet power must not be dissipated through radiation, but must feed the extended radio structures.

At the low luminosity end of the blazar sequence we find objects whose synchrotron spectrum peaks in the X–ray band, indicating very large energies of the emitting electrons. Here we can learn about the acceleration mechanism, and find good candidates to be detected in the TeV band (Costamante et al, these proceedings).

Here I will focus on two main topics, namely how the internal shock scenario can explain the main characteristics of blazars, and how the large (and very large) scale X–ray jets recently observed by $`Chandra`$ can be interpreted.

## 2. Internal shocks

The key idea of the internal shock scenario is to assume a central engine working intermittently, i.e. producing discrete blobs or shells of plasma moving at slightly different velocities. In this case there will always be a later faster shell catching up a slower earlier one. If the initial separation of the two shells is $`R_0`$ and the Lorent factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ differ by a factor 2, the collision will take place at $`RR_0\mathrm{\Gamma }^2`$.

This idea is not new: Rees (1978) proposed it to explain some features of the M87 jet, by it was almost forgotten in the AGNs field, even if it became the leading scenario to explain the $`\gamma `$–ray radiation of gamma–ray bursts.

### 2.1. Points in favor

#### “Low” efficiency

Consider two shells with bulk Lorentz factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ and mass $`m_1`$ and $`m_2`$. Conservation of energy and momentum implies that a fraction $`\eta `$ of the total bulk kinetic energy must be dissipated:

$$\eta =\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_f\frac{m_1+m_2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1m_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2m_2}$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_f=(1\beta _f^2)^{1/2}`$ is the bulk Lorentz factor after the interaction and is given through (see e.g. Lazzati, Ghisellini & Celotti 1999)

$$\beta _f=\frac{\beta _1\mathrm{\Gamma }_1m_1+\beta _2\mathrm{\Gamma }_2m_2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1m_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2m_2}$$
(2)
The above relations imply, for shells of equal masses and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2=2\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=20`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_f=14.15`$ and $`\eta =5.7\%`$. The fraction $`\eta `$ is not entirely available to produce radiation, since part of it is in the form of hot protons and magnetic field. This is the efficiency for a single collision. Merged shells (that have already collided) can however collide again with other shells (or merged shells), increasing the total fraction of kinetic energy transformed into radiation to 5–10%. The rest is transported to the outer radio structures of the jet. The small efficiency in producing radiation is a major problem in the field of gamma–ray bursts, but is indeed a positive feature for blazars, since we need to transport most of the power to the outer radio lobes.

#### Right location

One of the most important implications of the EGRET observations of blazars is the realization that most of the luminosity of these sources must be emitted in a well localized region of the jet (Ghisellini & Madau 1996). This region cannot be too close to the jet apex, to avoid absorption of $`\gamma `$–rays by X–ray radiation produced by the jet itself or by the accretion disk and its corona. On the other hand the rapid $`\gamma `$–ray variability suggests that the $`\gamma `$–ray emitting zone is not too far from the jet apex. Hundreds of Schwarzschild radii are indicated. In powerful blazars, this distance is conveniently close to the distance of the Broad Line Region (BLR), which can produce seed photons for the formation of the $`\gamma `$–ray flux.

On the other hand, the entire jet must emit some radiation, particularly at radio frequencies, where synchrotron self–absorption limits the emission in the inner part of the jet. In the internal shock scenario the emission at large scales is due to collisions between shells that have already collided once (or more times). The efficiency in this case is lower, since the bulk Lorentz factors have already averaged out somewhat.

#### Variability

Internal shocks are a very simple way to produce variability. In this scenario there is a typical variability timescale (at least for the first collisions) connected to the initial separation between two colliding shells and their width. If the initial separation of two consecutive shells is $`R_0`$, they will collide at the distance $`R=R_0\mathrm{\Gamma }^2`$, but the corresponding time will be observed Doppler contracted by the factor $`(1\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta )1/\mathrm{\Gamma }^2`$ and will be of the same order of the initial separation $`R_0/c`$. The duration of each flare is linked to the duration of the collision, which will be of the order of the shock crossing time. Inhomogeneities within the shells and small scale instabilities, if present, can produce variability on shorter timescales.

#### Correlated variability

High frequency emission is mainly produced by shells colliding for the first time at $`R10^{17}`$ cm from the jet apex. Lower frequency (radio and far IR) flux is produced further out in the jet, when merged shells collide with other merged shells. Therefore there should be some correlations between the light curves at different frequencies, especially between the $`\gamma `$–ray and optical fluxes and the mm–radio flux.

### 2.2. Internal shocks: a powerful blazar

We (Spada et al. 2000) simulated the case of a powerful blazar jet, of average bulk kinetic power of $`10^{48}`$ erg s-1, carried by shells or blobs injected in the jet, on average, every few hours, with a bulk Lorentz factor chosen at random in the range \[10–30\]. The shell width is initially of the same order of the initial shell–shell separation. Material in the shell (both protons and electrons) are assumed to be initially cold, and consequently the shell is assumed to have a constant width until the first collision takes place. After that, the shell width is assumed to expand with the sound velocity. The first collisions happen at a few$`\times 10^{16}`$ cm, well within the Broad Line Region (BLR), assumed to be located at $`5\times 10^{17}`$ cm and to reprocess 10% of the disk luminosity, assumed to be equal to $`10^{46}`$ erg s-1.

For simplicity, a fixed and constant fraction of the energy dissipated during each collision is assumed to go into the electron and to the magnetic field components. The emitting relativistic particles are assumed to have a broken power–law energy distribution throughout the entire emitting zone. This energy distribution is derived by assuming to inject in the source electrons with a single power law distribution with minimum electron energy $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ whose value is found by energetic considerations. Limits in computing time do not allow us to consider details of spectral changes on a timescale faster than the light crossing time of a single shell (few hours when $`R10^{17}`$ cm and a month on the parsec scale).

Particles emit by synchrotron, synchrotron self–Compton (SSC), and Compton scattering off the external radiation (EC) produced by the BLR.

We simulate the evolution of the total spectrum summing the locally produced spectra of those regions of the jet which are simultaneously active in the frame of the observer. In Fig. 2 we show some spectra, each corresponding to one particular shell–shell collisions at a different distance, as sketched in the bottom panel. The entire time dependent evolution can be seen in the form of a movie at the URL: http://www.merate.mi.astro.it/$``$lazzati/3C279/index.html.

As can be seen, the predicted spectra are extremely variable (more so at the higher frequencies). First collisions are the most efficient in converting bulk energy into radiation, since in this case the “$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$–contrast”: (i.e. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2/\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$) is the largest. These collisions, taking place inside the BLR, make the inverse Compton process the most important cooling agent. The corresponding spectrum therefore peaks in the $`\gamma `$–ray band. Collisions taking place outside the BLR (preferentially between shells that have already collided once) have a smaller $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$–contrast, and see relatively less seed photons. This makes the synchrotron component to dominate (dashed and dotted lines in Fig. 2).

In Fig. 2 we also show the observational data of 3C 279 during three observational campaigns. While the agreement is gratifying, we stress that we have not yet tried to obtain “a best fit” for this source. We have rather used fiducial numbers for the initial time separation of the shells, their initial width and the overall average bulk kinetic energy of the jet.

We have performed a cross–correlation analysis of the light curves at different frequencies. As expected, there is no lag between the $`\gamma `$–ray and the X–ray and the optical fluxes, which are mainly produced in the same (inner) zones of the jet. Instead, there is a well defined delay of $``$40 days between the $`\gamma `$–ray and the far infrared (1 mm) fluxes. This is easily explained by the fact that the mm radiation is preferentially produced at some pc from the center, yielding a time delay of

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }R}{c\mathrm{\Gamma }^2}38.5\mathrm{\Delta }R_{19}\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^2\mathrm{days},$$
(3)
One of the main assumptions of our simulations has been to calculate the value of the magnetic field considering only the energy dissipated in each collisions, and neglecting any seed magnetic field which, surviving from previous collisions, can be amplified by shock compression. As a consequence, the magnetic field $`B`$ scales with distance $`R`$ (from the jet apex) as $`BR^{1.5}`$, resulting in very small magnetic field values on the outer zones. In turn this implies long cooling times and small variability in the radio band.

While we hope to “cure” this in future work, we would like to stress that there are other possibilities for enhanced dissipation at large distances. The relativistic plasma could in fact be shocked by “obstacles” in the jet, or it can interact with the (steady) walls of the jet. This case resembles what in the gamma–ray burst field is called “external shock scenario”, in which the collisions are much more efficient in converting bulk into random energy than internal shocks (i.e. the shell decelerates much more). In this case it is natural to expect some velocity structure across the jet, with a fast “spine” along the axis and slower “layers” along the borders. Indeed, Chiaberge et al. (2000) found evidences for this structure, for explaining the spectra of radiogalaxies.

## 3. Chandra jets

We have shown (Celotti, Ghisellini & Chiaberge 2000) that if some dissipation takes place in the jet at distances greater than 1–100 kpc, then the Inverse Compton scattering process with external radiation is favored with respect to the synchrotron self Compton process, leading to an X–ray flux larger than what expected by a pure SSC model. This study was motivated by the recent detection by Chandra of large scale X–ray jets both in radio–galaxies and in quasars, especially in PKS 0637–752 (Chartas et al. 2000; Schwartz et al. 2000). This source is particularly interesting because radio VSOP observations detected superluminal motion in the (pc scale) jet (Lovell 2000), which implies $`\mathrm{\Gamma }>17.5`$ and a viewing angle $`\theta <6.4`$ degrees. This in turn implies a de–projected X–ray jet length of almost a Mpc. We have proposed that, at these scales, the jet is still relativistic $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=10`$–15) and then its randomly accelerated particles can efficiently interact with the cosmic microwave background (CMB), producing beamed X–ray rays through the inverse Compton process.

It may seem unusual to invoke relativistic bulk motion at these extremely large scales. But:

i) If the jet decelerates, it has to dissipate, and a sizable fraction of the initial energy must be radiated, contrary to the requirement that most of the jet power survives up to the radio structures. More so if the jet becomes only mildy relativistic, through, e.g. entrainment.

ii) Suppose that the 100 kpc jet is only mildly relativistic. The produced radiation is then only marginally beamed, enhancing the requirements on the total energetics with respect to a relativistic jet (Ghisellini & Celotti, 2000, in prep.).

Celotti, Ghisellini & Chiaberge (2000) were able to fit both the core and the large scale jet emission of PKS 0637–752 (see Fig. 4), with a bulk Lorentz factor of 17 for the core and 14 for the jet, conserving the bulk kinetic power of the jet between the two emission sites, and with nearly equipartition between magnetic and electron energy densities in the large scale jet emission site (see Tavecchio et al. 2000b for another solution).

In the frame comoving with the jet, the energy density of the cosmic background radiation is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^2(1+z)^4`$. Therefore distant blazars with fast large scale jets should be even brighter than PKS 0637–752 in X–rays with respect to their synchrotron radio–optical components, making the efforts of Chandra to detect them easier.

As mentioned, besides fast “spines” we can have slowly moving “layers”, and also these components can emit more inverse Compton radiation with respect to a pure SSC model, because the layers can be illuminated by the beamed radiation produced by the core, if the core and the large scale jets are aligned. Fig. 4 (top panel) shows one example, with the comparison with a pure SSC spectrum. Being slow, and possibly only mildly relativistic, the layers produce radiation which is much more isotropic than the spine: at small viewing angles (blazar case) this component is outshined by the spine component, but it can become visible as the viewing angle increases (i.e. in radio–galaxies).

## 4. Discussion

Internal shocks can dissipate the right amount of jet power at the right location, originating in a natural way the violent variability observed in blazars. This scenario has the virtue to be at the same time simple and quantitative, offering a coherent view of almost all the radiative jet, from milliparsecs to kiloparsecs. In the $`\gamma `$–ray band we expect the most pronounced variability, in agreement with observations, and we are now working to find how the $`\gamma `$–ray duty cycle (i.e. the fraction of the time spent in high $`\gamma `$–ray states) scales with the initial separation of the shells and their initial bulk Lorentz factor to compare it with data coming from the foreseen $`\gamma `$–ray satellites AGILE and GLAST.

We hope that this scenario will also explain the observed “blazar sequence”, linking the overall blazar spectrum with the jet power (i.e. the bulk motion power). We also hope, with longer simulations, to be able to see if there is a relation between the strongest $`\gamma `$–ray flares and the birth of radio superluminal blobs at the pc scale.

The emission predicted by the internal shock scenario (as it is now) beyond the kpc scale likely underestimates the X–ray flux (both soft and hard). At these distances the energy densities in magnetic field and locally produced synchrotron radiation are very small, and seed photons of the cosmic microwave background on one hand and of the core of the jet on the other hand are important contributors to the inverse scattering process for fast spines and slow layers, respectively.

## References

Celotti A. & Fabian A.C., 1993, MNRAS, 264, 228

Celotti A., Ghisellini G. & Chiaberge M., 2000, MNRAS subm. (astro–ph/0008021)

Chartas G., et al. 2000, ApJ, in press (astro-ph/0005227)

Chiaberge M., Celotti A., Capetti S. & Ghisellini G. 2000, A&A, 358, 104

Costamante L. et al. 2000, in prep.

Fabian A.C., Celotti A., Iwasawa K. & Ghisellini G., 2000, MNRAS subm.

Fossati G., Celotti A., Comastri A., Maraschi L. & Ghisellini G. 1998, MNRAS, 299, 433

Ghisellini G. & Madau P., 1996, MNRAS, 280, 67

Ghisellini G., Celotti A., Fossati G., Maraschi L. & Comastri A. 1998, MNRAS, 301, 451

Ghisellini G. 2000, in Stellar Endpoints, AGN and the Diffuse Background, Bologna, Sept. 1999, in press

Lazzati D., Ghisellini G. & Celotti A., 1999, MNRAS, 309, L13

Maraschi L. et al., 1994, ApJ, 435, L91

Rawlings S.G. & Saunders R.D.E., 1991, Nature, 349, 138

Rees, M.J., 1978, MNRAS, 184, P61

Schwartz D.A., et al. 2000, in press (astro-ph/0005255)

Spada M., Ghisellini G., Lazzati D. & Celotti A. 2000, MNRAS subm.

Tagliaferri G. et al., 2000, A&A. 354, 431

Tavecchio F. et al., 2000a, ApJ, in press

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Wehrle A.E. et al., 1998, ApJ, 497, 178


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# Radioactive 7Be targets for measurements of the cross section of the 7Be(p,𝛾)8B reaction

## 1 Introduction

The interpretation of the most recent solar neutrinos experiments requires a good knowledge of the cross section of the reaction 7Be(p,$`\gamma `$)8B at very small energy (Ecm=18 keV). We have recently measured this cross section for Ecm=0.35-1.4 MeV and for Ecm=0.112-0.190 MeV. We report here on the description of the preparation of the radioactive targets of 7Be used in these experiments.

## 2 7Be build up

7Be was produced via the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction at the 4 MV Van de Graaff accelerator in Bordeaux. The enriched (99%) metallic 7Li target was 7 mg/cm2 thick and was deposited on a water-cooled backing. The irradiation was carried on for about 30 days, with an average beam intensity of about 30$`\mu `$A at a proton energy of 3.2 MeV. At the end of the irradiation, the 7Li target was kept under vacuum until chemical processing begins.

## 3 Chemical procedure.

### 3.1 Materials.

The contamination by macro-amounts of alkali earth elements (such as Ca, Ba), homologue of Be and difficult to separate, was avoided by use of vessels in TeflonR or in quartz, perfectly cleaned by boiling with ultra-pure nitric acid and water.

All the concentrated acids and water, already of high purity, were distilled, just before use, in TeflonR apparatus. Diluted acids were prepared in quartz vials. The three used columns were made with TeflonR tubes (2.4 mm inner diameter) and TeflonR connectors. The different acids were flowed through these columns with a peristaltic pump by means of tubings in TeflonR and/or Tygon.

The first column was filled with the di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid (HDEliP) sorbed on TeflonR powder (Voltalef, particle diameter less than 50$`\mu `$m). After washing with boiled distilled water (to eliminate air bubbles and excess of HDEHP), this column was cleaned from mono, di and trivalent elements by washing with 10 ml of 6M HN03. The minimum of water was used to wash till neutrality, and finally the column was conditioned with 2 ml of 5. 10-3 HNO3.

The second column was filled with the cation exchange resin AG 50 X 8, 200 - 400 mesh previously treated to eliminate Fe impurities. Nevertheless, the column was successively washed with 6M HN03, water and 0.1 M HN03. The third one is a small column filled with about 50 mg of macro-porous anion exchange resin, AGMP1, which gives very few products of degradation with concentrated acid. This column was previously washed with water and 8M HCl.

The different steps of the chemical separation were monitored by measurements of all fractions by detecting the 478 keV $`\gamma `$-ray of 7Be by $`\gamma `$-spectroscopy chain.

## 4 Target dissolution.

The target, lithium deposit on its copper backing, conserved under vacuum till the beginning of the chemistry, is rapidly placed in the dissolution cell. This system, practically closed, was developed to avoid contamination. It is composed, at the bottom, of a TeflonR ring, of inner diameter adjusted to the size of the lithium deposit, which prevent leakage and contact with copper and glass of the alcohol-solvent. The upper part is a glass tube, closed up by a TeflonR flask with a small hole (diameter= 3mm) to introduce and pick up the solvent. This ensemble is pressed between two copper flasks.

The dissolution starts immediately with the introduction of a small volume (1 ml) of pure methanol. The thickness of the TeflonR ring is enough to prevent escape of small droplets generated by bubbling. When this bubbling diminishes, the alcohol is picked up and replaced by a new fresh portion. This cycle is repeated till complete dissolution of the lithium, taking care of a possible attack of the copper support by the lithium hydroxide. All the alcoholic fractions are collected in a quartz beaker, in presence of 0.5ml of distilled nitric acid, to prevent hydrolysis of beryllium in presence of LiOH. After evaporation by infra-red heating of the alcohol, all traces of its, which can wash out HDEHP from the column, are eliminated by three successive evaporations to dryness of concentrated HN03. Finally the residue is dissolved in 35 ml of 5.10-3M HNO3, to have a low lithium concentration.

## 5 Chemical separations.

The first step is the elimination of the bulk of lithium, based on the difference of extrabilities of Li and Be by HDEHP from 5.10-3 M HN03 solution. The percolation of the previous nitric solution, at a low flow rate of 1 ml per 5 minutes, fixes the 7Be on the column when Li passes through. The effluent is collected by 5 ml fractions, the low activity of each fraction being controlled. After percolation of the initial solution, the beaker is decontaminated three times with 2 ml of 5. 10-3 M HN03 and finally the HDEHP column is washed by two times 5 ml of pure 5.10-3 M HN03. Better than the slow elution with 4M HN03, due certainly to Be hydrolysis, the elution with 1 M hydrofluorhydric acid permits to recover more than 90% of the 7Be activity in the first milliliter, 95% in two milliliters and 98% in four milliliters, important to minimize the introduction of impurities in the 7Be fraction. The second purification on a cationic exchanger resin is necessary to eliminate traces of HDEHP washed out with HF. So the different HF fractions are successively evaporated in a TeflonR cones. To eliminate HF traces, three times 0.5 ml of concentrated HN03 are evaporated to dryness.

The 7Be is then dissolved in the cones by five successive additions of 0.4 ml of 0.4 M HN03 and directly picked from the cones to the 7Be desorption which is realized by 3 ml of 2M HN03 collected directly in a new TeflonR cone.

The evaporation to dryness, the pick-up of the 7Be by 3 times 0. 1 ml of 8M HCl and the flow of this solution through the small AGMP1 column ensure complete elimination of iron impurities observed in the previous tries despite all precautions.

The yield of all these separation processes is greater than 90%

## 6  7Be target.

The preparation of an uniform thin deposit of a high yield of 7Be on a thick platinum disk($`\mathit{\varphi }`$ = 20mm, e = 0.2 mm) was developed by molecular plating of 7Be nitrate which was dissolved in 2-methyl- 1 propanol, 99.5% HPLC grade (Sigma-Aldrich Company).

So, after addition of 0.4 $`𝝁`$g of 9Be carrier (from beryllium atomic absorption standard solution, Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc.), the 8M HCl solution of 7Be is evaporated to dryness in a new Teflon cone. The chloride is converted into nitrate by two successive evaporations of 0.2ml of distilled nitric acid. Finally the Be is picked up by three times 6 micro-liters of 10-1M HN03 mixed with 1.2 ml of 2-methyl-1 propanol.

This solution is transfered into the electrolytic cell, presented in fig. 1. A TeflonR ring defines the volume of the cell and the diameter of the deposit ($`\mathit{\varphi }`$ = 8 mm). The two parallel platinum electrodes are strongly pressed on this ring, to prevent leakage, by two metallic pieces protected by AfcodurR insulators. After 45 minutes of electrolysis, with a 740V applied voltage and a 5 mA current, more than 95% of the 7Be activity is deposited. After settling of the solution, the platinum disk is recovered and flamed to red color, to obtain beryllium oxide. The total yield of the operation, starting from the beginning is about 85%.

Two 7Be targets were prepared in this manner: the first one had an activity of 26.9 mCi and the second one of 131.7 mCi.In both cases the deposit surface was about 0.5 cm2.

Figure 1 Sketch of the device for the electrolysis


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# Exciton-phonon droplets with Bose-Einstein condensate: transport and optical properties

## 1 Introduction

Nowadays, there is a lot of experimental evidence that excitons in semiconducting crystals and heterostructures can form a strongly correlated state. In some cases, it can be assigned to the excitonic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) a1 . As a rule, the excitons are prepared in the ground state with $`\mathrm{}𝐤0`$ (or they are in a quasi-equilibrium state with some $`T^{}(t)`$ cooling down toward the ground state). The conclusion about the presence of Bose-Einstein correlations among them is based on unusual properties of the direct PL signal from the excitonic cloud a1 .

This article is motivated by experimental data on the transport properties of excitons in 3D crystals, such as Cu20 a2 , and 2D sheets in BiI3 a3 . It is important to “cook” the following initial conditions: a relatively dense cloud of excitons with the density of $`n_\mathrm{x}>n_c(T)`$ (e.g., $`n_c(T=2\mathrm{K})8.7\times 10^{16}`$ cm-3) to be in a moving state with $`\mathrm{}𝐤_\mathrm{x}0`$. In the case of Cu2O crystals, these conditions can be achieved because there is approximately the same number of long wavelength acoustic phonons being formed in the same place as the excitons, $`N_{\mathrm{ph}}N_\mathrm{x}`$ and $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{ph}}15`$ meV. Due to the exciton-phonon interaction and quasi-1D geometry of the initial conditions, the acoustic phonons and excitons can form a packet with $`\mathrm{}𝐤_{\mathrm{ph}}0`$ and $`\mathrm{}𝐤_\mathrm{x}0`$, so that

$$\mathrm{}𝐤_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{}𝐤_{\mathrm{ph}}Ox$$
(1)
and $`\epsilon _\mathrm{x}=m_\mathrm{x}v^2/2<m_\mathrm{x}c_\mathrm{s}^2/210^3E_\mathrm{x}`$. Here, $`c_\mathrm{s}=4.5\times 10^5`$ cm/s is the (longitudinal) speed of sound, and $`E_\mathrm{x}0.15`$ eV is the exciton Rydberg, and $`m_\mathrm{x}1.5m_\mathrm{e}`$ is the exciton mass.

We assume that a Bose-correlated exciton-phonon core can be formed inside the exciton-phonon packet under these conditions. Then, such a packet can move ballistically through the whole crystal at $`T<T_c`$, and the coherency of the Bose-core can be revealed by the packet-packet interaction or by stimulated scattering into the packet with the condensate. If $`T>T_c`$ or $`n_\mathrm{x}<n_c(T)`$, the exciton-phonon packet exhibits the standard diffusive behavior a2 . Thus, the 3D droplets that supposed to contain the excitonic Bose-Einstein condensate are found in a spatially inhomogeneous state with the well-defined characteristic width $`L_{\mathrm{ch}}`$ in the direction of motion. Note that this width $`L_{\mathrm{ch}}=c_\mathrm{s}\tau _{\mathrm{ch}}`$ can be different from the Bose correlation length of the Bose-core, $`L_0=c_\mathrm{s}\tau _0`$. For example, the estimate $`L_010^1L_{\mathrm{ch}}`$, or

$$\tau _05060\mathrm{ns}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^1\tau _{\mathrm{ch}}0.20.4\mu \mathrm{s},$$
(2)
can be extracted from the experiments on two packet interaction at $`T<T_c`$ a2 . The registered ballistic velocities of such excitonic packets turn out to be always less, but relatively close to the longitudinal sound speed of the crystal, $`v<c_\mathrm{s}`$. Note that the paraexcitons in pure Cu2O crystals have an extremely large lifetime, $`\tau 13\mu `$s, and a moving exciton with $`\mathrm{}k_xm_\mathrm{x}c_\mathrm{s}`$ cannot be converted into a photon directly. Then, one can exclude the photons from simple models describing the transport of a single packet of excitons in a periodic medium. Moreover, we neglect the ortho-para exciton conversion inside the formed packet of the moving paraexcitons, (i.e., $`N_{\mathrm{x},\mathrm{para}}>N_c`$, $`N_{\mathrm{x},\mathrm{ortho}}0`$) in Cu2O crystals KM .

To understand the physics of anomalous excitonic transport, we assume that the macroscopic wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0\varphi _\mathrm{o}e^{i\phi _\mathrm{c}}`$ can be associated with the coherent part of the excitonic packet at $`T<T_c`$. Here, $`\phi _\mathrm{c}`$ is the coherent phase of the condensate. Indeed, the experimental results a2 ,a3  suggest the following decomposition of the density of excitons in the packet,

$$n(𝐱,t)=n_{\mathrm{coh}}(𝐱,t)+\mathrm{\Delta }n(𝐱,t),$$
(3)
where $`n_{\mathrm{coh}}(𝐱,t)n_{\mathrm{core}}(xvt)`$ is the ballistic (superfluid) part of the packet,

$$n_{\mathrm{core}}(xvt)|\mathrm{\Psi }_0|^2(xvt),$$
(4)
and $`\mathrm{\Delta }n(𝐱,t)`$ is the noncondensed part of it. The following decomposition can be written for the out-of-condensate part:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }n(𝐱,t)=\delta \widehat{\psi }^{}\delta \widehat{\psi }(𝐱,t)\delta n_{\mathrm{cloud}}(𝐱,t)+\delta n_{\mathrm{tail}}(𝐱,t).$$

The challenging problem is how to describe the spatially inhomogeneous state of the droplet with the excitonic BEC inside in terms of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐱,t)`$ and $`\delta \widehat{\psi }(𝐱,t)`$, where $`\delta \widehat{\psi }`$ is the “fluctuating” part of the exciton Bose-field. For example, within the quasistationary approximation, one has to calculate $`n_{\mathrm{core}}(x/L_0)`$ and

$$\mathrm{\Delta }n(x)\delta n_{\mathrm{o},\mathrm{cloud}}(x/L_{\mathrm{ch}})+\delta n_{\mathrm{tail}}$$
(5)
and understand how the different characteristic lengthes and coherence properties appear in the theory with the Bose-condensate. Note that if the excitonic packet moves in a crystal (or another semiconductor structure), it interacts with thermal phonons, noncondensed excitons, impurities and other imperfections of the lattice, etc.. Then, the coherent core of the packet can be found in a quasi-stable state, and the fluctuations of $`\varphi _\mathrm{o}(xvt)`$ and, especially, $`\phi _\mathrm{c}(x,t)`$ can be of a great importance for possible experimental verifications of their existence.

## 2 Exciton-Phonon Condensate

To obtain the necessary density of excitons $`n_\mathrm{x}`$ in the excitonic cloud and, thus, meet the BEC conditions, the crystals are irradiated by laser pulses with $`\mathrm{}\omega _LE_{\mathrm{gap}}`$, and the temperature of the crystal is $`T15`$ K. If the cross-section area $`S`$ of an excitation spot on the surface of the crystal can be made large enough, such as $`SS_{\mathrm{surf}}`$, the hot droplet of paraexcitons can acquire an average momentum during its thermolization process ($`T^{}(t)T`$). Indeed, the phonon wind, or the flow of nonequilibrium phonons, blows unidirectionally from the surface into the bulk a4  and transfers the nonzero momentum to the excitonic cloud,

$$𝐏_\mathrm{x}N_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{}𝐤_00\mathrm{and}𝐏_\mathrm{x}S_{\mathrm{surf}},$$

see Fig. 1. As a result, the packet of moving excitons and nonequilibrium phonons of the phonon wind ($`N_{\mathrm{ph}}N_\mathrm{x}`$) is actually the system that undergoes the transition toward developing the Bose-Einstein correlations at $`T^{}<T_c`$.

Let us assume that the condensate has been already formed inside the moving excitonic droplet, and the following representation of the exciton Bose-field holds: $`\widehat{\psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }_0+\delta \widehat{\psi }`$. For the displacement field of the crystal $`\widehat{𝐮}`$, we introduce a nontrivial coherent part too, i.e., $`\widehat{𝐮}=𝐮_0+\delta \widehat{𝐮}`$, $`𝐮_00`$. The important property of the exciton-phonon condensate is a kind of the self-consistency condition, roughly,

$$𝐮_0(xvt)|\mathrm{\Psi }_0(xvt)|^2.$$
(6)
In these terms, the moving packet contains both the macroscopically occupied exciton-phonon condensate, or the Bose-core $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐱,t)𝐮_0(𝐱,t)`$, and out-of-condensate excitons and phonons. The macroscopic wave function of excitons $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0(x,t)`$ is normalized as follows:

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_0|^2(x,t)𝑑𝐱=S\varphi _\mathrm{o}^2(x/L_0)𝑑x=N_\mathrm{o}1,$$
(7)
where $`N_\mathrm{o}`$ is the macroscopic number of condensed excitons, and, generally, $`N_\mathrm{o}(T)<N_\mathrm{x}`$. Within the quasistationary approximation, we have $`N_\mathrm{o}(T)=\mathrm{const}`$ and $`\delta N(T)=\mathrm{const}`$ that implies (quasi)stability of the moving packet with the Bose-core during the finite observation time.

To model the ballistic motion of a single packet, we use the following ansatz for the Bose-core of the packet:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_0(x,t)=\mathrm{e}^{i(\stackrel{~}{E}_g+m_\mathrm{x}v^2/2|\mu |)t}\mathrm{e}^{i(\phi _\mathrm{c}+k_0x)}\varphi _\mathrm{o}(xvt),$$
(8)
$$u_{0j}(x,t)=u_\mathrm{o}(xvt)\delta _{1j},$$
(9)
where $`\stackrel{~}{E}_g=E_{\mathrm{gap}}E_\mathrm{x}`$, $`\phi _\mathrm{c}=\mathrm{const}`$ is the macroscopic phase, $`\mathrm{}k_0=m_\mathrm{x}v`$, and $`\mu =\mu (N_\mathrm{o})<0`$ is the effective chemical potential of the condensate. At $`TT_c`$, one can disregard the interaction between the Bose-core and the out-of-condensate cloud and write down the following equations on the envelope functions $`\varphi _\mathrm{o}(x/L_0)`$ and $`u_\mathrm{o}(x/L_0)`$ a5 :

$$|\mu |\varphi _\mathrm{o}(x)=(\mathrm{}^2/2m_\mathrm{x})_x^2\varphi _\mathrm{o}(x)|\stackrel{~}{\nu }_0|\varphi _\mathrm{o}^3(x)+\stackrel{~}{\nu }_1\varphi _\mathrm{o}^5(x),$$

$$_xu_\mathrm{o}(x)\mathrm{const}_0\varphi _\mathrm{o}^2(x)+\mathrm{const}_1\varphi _\mathrm{o}^4(x).$$
(10)
At $`T0`$, $`T<T_c`$, we choose the quasistationary approximation to write out the decomposition of the exciton and phonon fields of the moving droplet,

$$\widehat{\psi }_0(𝐱,t)=\mathrm{exp}(i\phi _c(x,t))\left\{\varphi _\mathrm{o}(xvt)+\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}(xvt,𝐱_{},t)\right\},$$

$$\widehat{u}_{0,j}(𝐱,t)=u_\mathrm{o}(xvt)\delta _{1,j}+\delta \widehat{u}_{\mathrm{o},j}(xvt,𝐱_{},t).$$
(11)
Then, the following correlation functions have to be included into an analog of Eq. (10): the ‘anomalous’ ones, such as $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{m}}(x)=\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}`$, the exciton-phonon correlators, such as $`\stackrel{~}{q}_j=_j\delta \widehat{u}_{\mathrm{o},j}\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}(x,𝐱_{},t)`$, and the out-of-condensate density of the excitons and phonons,

$$\delta n_\mathrm{o}(x)=\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}^{}\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}(x,𝐱_{},t)\mathrm{and}Q_{xx}(x)=(_x\delta \widehat{u}_{\mathrm{o},x})^2.$$

It is possible to generalize Eq. (10) to the case of $`T0`$. Here, we write it in the following (tractable) form:

$$(|\mu |+\delta \mu )\varphi _\mathrm{o}(x)=(\mathrm{}^2/2m^{})_x^2\varphi _\mathrm{o}(x)+(\stackrel{~}{\nu }_0+\delta \nu _0)\varphi _\mathrm{o}^3(x)$$

$$+(\stackrel{~}{\nu }_1+\delta \nu _1)\varphi _\mathrm{o}^5(x),$$
(12)
$$_xu_\mathrm{o}(x)\mathrm{const}_0^{}\varphi _\mathrm{o}^2(x)+\mathrm{const}_1^{}\varphi _\mathrm{o}^4(x)|\mathrm{const}_{\mathrm{tail}}|.$$

To a first approximation, we disregard all the dissipation terms and assume $`T^{}T`$. Then, the corrections to the effective chemical potential $`|\mu |`$, the x-x and x-ph interaction vertices, $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }_j`$ and $`\mathrm{const}_j`$, depend on the temperature $`T`$ through the above mentioned correlation functions. This means Eq. (12) has to be solved together with the equations on the out-of-condensate excitons and phonons, $`\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}`$, $`\delta \widehat{\psi }_\mathrm{o}^{}`$, and $`\delta \widehat{u}_{\mathrm{o},j}`$. Note that at $`T0`$, $`T<T_c`$ the effective interaction vertices in Eq. (12) are strongly renormalized in comparison with the “bare” ones staying in the Hamiltonian of the exciton-phonon system. For example, the localized solution for $`\varphi _\mathrm{o}(x/L_0)`$ (a kind of the “bright” soliton of the cubic-quintic NLS equation) exists due to the effect of such a strong renormalization, $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }_0+\delta \nu _0<0`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }_1+\delta \nu _1>0`$.

Note that the dependence of $`n_\mathrm{o}(x/L_\mathrm{o})`$ on $`N_\mathrm{o}`$ is highly nonlinear. As a rough estimate, we can write $`n_\mathrm{o}N_\mathrm{o}^2`$ ($`T0`$). This suggests that the estimates presented in ST\_PRL  have to be revisited. Some qualitative results obtained for the coherent exciton-phonon packets are presented on Fig. 2.

Finally, we speculate on the possibility to convert the coherent exciton field into the coherent photon one by colliding two moving exciton-phonon packets. Such an experiment could reveal how rigid is the macroscopic phase of the Bose-core (if any). If one can prescribe a macroscopic phase $`\phi _c`$ to each Bose-core of the moving packets, the face-to-face collision of them could result in the many-photon production. For example, the “jets” of phonons originated from the condensate interaction (the core-to-core collision) seem to be highly directional in space and with a low noise level, see Fig. 3.


text:
# The Importance of Nonlinear H2 Photoexcitation in Strongly Irradiated PDRs

## 1 Introduction

In existing theoretical models of stationary photoexcitation fronts (PDRs) $`[`$see Draine & Bertoldi (1996) for a comprehensive list of references$`]`$, a one-dimensional geometry is usually considered, with light from an OB-type illuminating star assumed incident upon the PDR from one direction. In all published PDR models, only linear H2 photoexcitation processes have been considered. The consensus among astrophysicists is that these models adequately describe the main photonic events that occur in H2-containing clouds separated by at least 10 pc from OB-type illuminating stars. In the present Letter, we draw attention to the fact that, in very strongly irradiated PDRs (for example, those with cloud-to-star distances $``$0.1 pc), nonlinear photoexcitation of H2 can evidently become the dominant photonic process determining the structure of the PDR.

## 2 Resonantly Enhanced, VUV Starlight-Driven, Two-Photon Transitions between H2 X-State Quantum Levels

An estimate of the resonantly-enhanced, VUV starlight-driven, two-photon transition rate between two H2 X-state quantum levels can be obtained with use of the formula shown in Fig. 1. In SI units, this formula $`[`$c.f. eq. (5.6b) of Hanna et al. (1979)$`]`$ gives the cross-section for Stokes-wave gain in resonant stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in a three-level system. However, it equally well gives the cross-section for induced nonlinear absorption at $`\omega _P`$ when an intense radiation field is present at $`\omega _S`$ \- a process often referred to as inverse Raman scattering (IRS). It has long been recognized (Jone & Stoicheff 1964; MacQuillan & Stoicheff 1966) that both processes are fundamentally the same. In this equation, the classical electron radius $`r_e`$ $``$ 2.82 x 10-15 m. The quantity $`I_P`$ is the pump intensity in W/m2. The subscripts $`g,i,`$ and $`f`$ designate the ground level, intermediate level, and final level, respectively, of the three-level system. The quantity $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the Raman linewidth (in units of angular frequency), which, for the astrophysical environment assumed in our PDR model, would be entirely determined by a convolution of the vibrational decay rates of the two Xn′′ quantum levels involved. In light of recent calculations of quadrupole transition probabilities for all X-state radiative decays (Wolniewicz et al. 1998), one can realistically assume a value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 10-6 $`\mathrm{sec}^1`$ for all two-photon transitions between X-state quantum levels. The quantities $`f_{fi}`$ and $`f_{gi}`$ are the oscillator strengths of the Stokes-wave and primary frequency transitions. For all H2 Lyman (B$``$X) and Werner (C$``$X) transitions, these $`f`$\- values can be simply determined from the tables in Abgrall et al. (1993 a,b). The quantities such as $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{if}`$ are the energy separations of the levels involved, expressed as angular frequencies, e.g. $`(h/2\pi )\mathrm{\Omega }_{if}`$ = $`E_i`$ \- $`E_f`$. Note that the Stokes-wave frequency $`\omega _S`$ essentially cancels $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{if}`$ in the present case. The equation in Fig. 1 gives the cross-section in units of m2.

To estimate the rates of both nonlinear and linear H2 photoexcitation in the PDR, one needs to know the VUV flux from the star incident upon the cloud surface. Here, for definiteness, we assume the illuminating star to be a B0 III star, with temperature T=31,500K and radius R = 16$`\mathrm{}_{}`$. We take the cloud-to-star distance to be 0.1 pc, and assume that there is no intervening dust cloud between the star and H2-containing cloud. From the Planck formula for emittance of photons from a blackbody per cm2 per sec per unit frequency range (Allen 1976), one finds that at 1,000 Å the incident flux on the PDR is $`\varphi _{1000}`$ = 2.55 x 108 photons per cm2 per sec per cm-1. Habing (1968) estimated the intensity of interstellar starlight at $`\lambda `$=1,000 Å to be $`\lambda u_\lambda `$ = 4 x 10-14 erg cm-3. At the surface of the PDR we are here considering, therefore, $`\varphi _{1000}`$ is about 4.25 x 105 Habing fields.

As is the case in almost all published PDR models, it is here assumed that ionizing radiation (i.e. $`\lambda `$ $``$ 912 Å) from the star creates a thin H II region on the surface of the PDR cloud nearest the star. Within this H II region, a large fraction ($``$2/3) of the incident ionizing photons are converted to Ly-$`\alpha `$ photons via H+\+ e- recombinations followed by cascading transitions through H-atom excited states. Half of the Ly-$`\alpha `$ photons enter the neutral region, with their frequencies having become distributed in a $``$20-cm-1-wide spectral band via the frequency redistribution that results from elastic scattering by hot H atoms in the H II region. One can easily estimate the total flux of ionizing photons incident upon the PDR from tables of the Planck function(Allen 1976). One finds this to be $`\varphi _{ion}`$ $``$ 6.2 x 1012 photons cm-2 $`\mathrm{sec}^1`$. There are thus about $`\varphi _{Ly\alpha }`$ $``$ 2.1 x 1012 Ly-$`\alpha `$ photons entering the neutral PDR region per cm2 per second. Thus, the Ly-$`\alpha `$ flux (per unit wavenumber) entering the neutral PDR region is seen to exceed that at 1,000 Å by roughly a factor 400. In $`\mathrm{\S }`$3, we will briefly hint at an important effect this Ly-$`\alpha `$ radiation should have on the nonlinear excitation of H2 in strongly irradiated PDRs.

To estimate the total rate at which an H2 molecule in the PDR would undergo linear photoexcitation, one can use Table 2 of Draine & Bertoldi (1996). These authors have calculated and summed individual contributions to the total unshielded H2 linear photoexcitation rate from all X$``$B and X$``$C transitions. For a flux $`\varphi _{1000}`$ = 4.25 x 105 Habing fields, the total linear photoexcitation rate for a molecule in (X0, J′′=1) would be about 1.2 x 10-4 $`\mathrm{sec}^1`$. In the PDR model of Draine & Bertoldi (1996), a Doppler width $``$1.7 cm-1 is assumed.

With use of the equation shown in Fig. 1, we now evaluate the driven (simultaneous, not sequential) two-photon transition rate from X0, J′′=1 to X1, J′′=1 involving C0($`\mathrm{\Pi }_u^{}`$), J=1 as resonant intermediate state. A rough - but conservative - approximation one can make in integrating the expression for $`\sigma _{IRS}`$ over the applied VUV pumping continuum is to assign to the quantity ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{ig}`$ \- $`\omega _P`$) appearing in the denominator of the equation in Fig. 1 a constant value corresponding to an offset of one wavenumber, and then integrate over a spectral interval two wavenumbers wide on either side of the resonance. From the value of $`\varphi _{1000}`$ earlier estimated, the value of $`I_P`$ for a four-wavenumbers-wide spectral interval is found to be 0.00002 W/m2. With substitution of appropriate values for the other quantitities appearing in the equation of Fig. 1 (e.g. $`f_{gi}`$ = 0.03, $`f_{fi}`$ = 0.07), one finds the cross-section for induced absorption to be $`\sigma _{IRS}`$ $``$ 8.4 x 10-14 cm2. Multiplying this value by $`\varphi _{1000}`$ x 4 shows the transition rate of the IRS process to be $``$8.6 x 10-5 $`\mathrm{sec}^1`$. The rate of nonlinear photoexcitation of an H2 molecule in (X0, J′′=1) via this particular two-photon transition is thus about 0.7 times the earlier estimated total rate of linear photoexcitation of an H2 molecule in the same (X0, J′′=1) quantum level.

However, driven two-photon transitions from (X0, J′′=1) to (X1, J′′=1) can also occur via the paired transitions Cn-0Q1, Cn-1Q1 (n = 1-5) and also Cn-0R1, Cn-1R1 (n = 0-5). This makes the total two-photon transition rate out of (X0, J′′=1) exceed the total linear rate by $``$7 times. (The wavelengths of both C6-0Q1 and C6-0R1 are shorter than 912 Å, the Lyman limit. No $`\lambda `$ $``$ 912 Å starlight can penetrate beyond the HII region of the PDR.) One can also go from (X0, J′′=1) to (X1, J′′=3) via transitions Cn-0R1, Cn-1P3. With the inclusion of these paths, the two-photon transition rate out of (X0, J′′=1) would be roughly 10 times the total linear rate of photoexcitation. One next must consider analagous two-photon transitions from (X0, J′′=1) that terminate on (X2, J′′=1), (X2, J′′=3), …(X8, J′′=1), (X8, J′′=3), etc.. With inclusion of these, the two-photon excitation rate from (X0, J′′=1) would exceed the total linear excitation rate by $``$70 times. Finally, two-photon excitation from (X0, J′′=1) can also occur via B-state resonant intermediate levels. Additional inclusion of such pathways, makes the total rate of two-photon excitation out of (X0, J′′=1) exceed the total linear photoexcitation rate out of the same quantum level by at least a factor 100. Roughly the same nonlinear-to-linear photoexcitation rate ratio would obtain for H2 molecules in any of the $``$300 X-state quantum levels. The estimated total nonlinear photoexcitation rate out of any such level is thus $``$1.2 x 10-2 $`\mathrm{sec}^1`$.

## 3 Consequences of VUV Starlight-Driven Two-Photon Transitions Occurring in Heavily Irradiated PDRs

From the transition rates calculated above, it is apparent that, through a few myriads of interconnecting two-photon transitions, the H2 populations in each of the $``$300 X-state quantum levels would be maintained approximately equal. Note that no H2 photodissociation can result from two-photon transitions occurring from the highest bound X-state levels to unbound X-state continuum levels. The two-photon transition rate depends inversely upon the Raman linewidth, and the latter represents a convolution of the lifetimes of the quantum levels connected by the two-photon process. When one steps from the highest bound X-state levels to unbound levels of the X-state continuum, the lifetime drops by roughly eighteen orders of magnitude! On the basis of this same disparity in lifetimes, one perhaps should question the validity of the assumption usually made in linear PDR models that roughly one out of ten H2 photoexcitations from X-state quantum levels result in photodissociation via fluorescent VUV transitions terminating on unbound levels of the X-state. This would be true if linear photoexcitation of H2 in PDRs did involve real excitation of B- and C-state quantum levels. However, in collisionless media, it is known (Loudon (1983)) that linear photoexcitation occurs entirely via spontaneous resonant Raman scattering, and, at exact resonance, the cross-section for the latter varies again as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^1`$ (Shen 1974).

If one knows the total H2 density in the neutral region of the PDR, one can approximately estimate the maximum thickness $`d`$ of the nonlinearly excited region as follows. Assume an H2 density of 10$`^4`$cm-3. In the nonlinearly excited region, these molecules will be evenly distributed amongst all the $``$300 X-state quantum levels, with the spontaneous infrared radiation emission rate from each level being $``$10-6 $`\mathrm{sec}^1`$. Assume the average IR emitted photon to have an energy of 5,000 cm-1. Equating the VUV power from the star incident upon the PDR in the entire spectral range of the Lyman and Werner bands that lies longward of 912 Å to the IR power radiated in a column of thickness $`d`$:

$$(20,000)(2.55\text{x}10^8)(100,000)(10^4)(10^6)(5,000)d,$$

one finds d$``$0.003 pc. Figure 1 of Lemaire et al. (1996) is a striking colored image (colors corresponding to emission intensity) of H2 1-0 S(1) vibrational emission at 2.121 $`\mu `$m in NGC 7023, taken at very high spatial resolution. It shows H2 vibrational emission originating from a $``$0.02-pc-thick, roughly planar, cloud located $``$0.07 pc to the NW of the illuminating star HD 200775. (From Earth, one views this cloud largely through one of its ‘edges’.) There is very much higher H2 emission coming from three $``$0.004-pc-thick embedded filaments located near the surface of the cloud facing the star. In view of the calculations that have been presented above, we suggest that these bright filaments in NGC 7023 might represent PDR regions that are nonlinearly excited.

It was noted above that Ly-$`\alpha `$ radiation generated in the H II region enters the PDR neutral region at an intensity level roughly 400 times greater than the continuum level at 1,000 Å, but only over an estimated $``$20-cm-1-wide bandwidth. There are a dozen or so allowed transitions originating from X-state quantum levels whose frequencies fall within such a Ly-$`\alpha `$ spectral distribution. A slight contribution towards the equalization of H2 populations in the various X-state quantum levels arises from these resonances. However, there is a different - rather profound - effect that this Ly-$`\alpha `$ radiation can induce, when it is applied to an equally populated manifold of X-state quantum levels. It can induce broadband stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) to occur on the three or four strongest of the above mentioned resonant transitions, generating broadband IR Stokes-wave light on strong transitions to EF-states. An SRS process would occur as part of a 2n-wave parametric oscillation (SRS-PO) process, with additional IR and VUV light being generated on strong transitions ultimately returning molecules to the X-state levels from which the SRS-PO processes originated. As shown elsewhere (Sorokin & Glownia 2001), the so-called ‘unidentified infrared (emission) bands (UIBs)’ can be successfully assigned to IR emissions coherently generated in such SRS-PO processes.

One of the authors (PPS) acknowledges receiving strong encouragement from Dr. Anita J. Schell-Sorokin to publish the central idea upon which this article is based.