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# Properties of QSO-Intrinsic Narrow Ultraviolet Absorption

## 1. Introduction

In the past four years, the study of truly intrinsic narrow absorption has exploded both as a result of new insights about how to identify these systems and because of the advent high resolution spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes. Before summarizing the work and attempting to understand it in a coherent scenario, I start with a few conventions regarding nomenclature. A narrow absorption line nominally is one in which resonant UV doublets are well separated (Hamann & Ferland 1999). This implies widths less than about 500 km s-1 in order to resolve the C iv$`\lambda \lambda 1548,1550`$ doublet. I use the term NALs to refer to narrow absorption lines (in general) and NALQSO to refer to any QSO that has truly intrinsic narrow absorption (by analogy with the term BALQSO). I also use the term “associated” absorption lines as signifying that the absorption lies within 5000 km s-1 of the QSO emission redshift. (Note that an associated absorption line need not be intrinsic to the QSO.) Furthermore, a strong system is one whose C iv rest-frame equivalent width is larger than 1–2 Å. First, I will consider how we can identify intrinsic systems – that is, how we separate them from intervening gas. I will then discuss separately what we know from studies at high redshift and at low redshift. Finally, I will unify observed properties in the context of the accretion-disk/wind scenario.

## 2. Identifying Intrinsic NALs

There are two basic methods which one uses to infer the properties of intrinsic narrow absorbers. One can identify large populations of absorbers in a sample and consider if their is a relationship with the host QSO. Identifying populations of intrinsic absorbers typically involves a demonstration that there is an excess of absorbing systems over what is expected in a given redshift or velocity path. As a consequence, it is now known which systems are actually intrinsic.

Alternatively, one can identify a specific absorber as intrinsic and decipher the physical conditions of the gas. Identifying specific intrinsic absorbers requires either multiple epochs of observation to look for time variability and/or high resolution spectroscopy to show that the absorbing gas only partly occults the QSO central engine.

Thus far, only fifteen QSOs have been shown conclusively to have intrinsic NALs through time variability and/or partial coverage. Of these, nine are radio-quiet, five are radio-loud, and only one is at low redshift. Six have been shown to be time variable (TV) while ten have been shown to exhibit the signature of partial coverage (PC). These are listed in Table 1 along with the citation to the work that showed the intrinsic origin.

## 3. Intrinsic NALs at High Redshift

At high redshift, since the rest-frame ultraviolet transitions are shifted into the optical, we can take advantage of optical spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes to identify specific absorbing systems as intrinsic. Unfortunately, since the QSOs are at higher redshift, it is generally more difficult to obtain detailed multiwavelength information about the QSOs themselves.

Strong systems seem to prefer optically-faint (OF), radio-loud QSOs with steep radio spectra (Foltz et al. 1986; Anderson et al. 1987; Møller & Jakobsen 1987; Foltz et al. 1988). In addition, the equivalent width of strong systems seems to correlate with orientation, with stronger systems existing in more radio-lobe dominated (that is, edge-on) QSOs (Barthel, Tytler, & Vestergaard 1997; Baker et al., these proceedings). A recent study of QSO absorption systems down to a 0.15 Å limiting equivalent width also found that intrinsic systems can appear at very large “ejection” velocities (Richards et al. 1999, Richards 2001). This happens more so in radio-quiet QSOs than radio-loud QSOs and more so in flat-spectrum, radio-loud (FSRL) QSOs than steep-spectrum, radio-loud (SSRL) QSOs.

## 4. Intrinsic NALs at Low Redshift

At low redshift, we have the advantage of knowing very well the QSO properties. However, it is harder to identify intrinsic systems since we must rely on smaller space-based telescopes (HST and FUSE). High-resolution spectra can be obtained for only the brightest targets.

The first remarkable property of low-redshift NALQSOs is that none host strong systems (Ganguly et al. 2001a). As a result, the correlations with QSO properties seen at high redshift, which were driven by strong absorption, are largely absent. \[Strong systems seem to exist in compact, steep-spectrum (CSS) radio-loud QSOs down to $`z_{\mathrm{em}}0.7`$ (Baker et al., these proceedings).\] The equivalent widths of weak systems do not correlate with any single QSOs property but their velocity distribution seems to peak at the same velocity as the broad emission lines. This seems to indicate a relationship between the line-of-sight velocity of the absorbers and the velocity of maximum emissivity of the broad line region. A multivariate analysis of associated absorption indicates a combination of QSO properties that seem to prohibit the detection of associated NAL gas. Associated NALs are absent in FSRL QSOs that have mediocre C iv emission FWHM ($`\stackrel{<}{}6000`$ km s-1), but are present in a finite fraction of FSRL QSOs with large C iv FWHM.

## 5. Putting It All Together

These properties are summarized in Table 2, which is broken up according to both redshift and absorption strength. If we postulate that a unified model exists, there are three basic conclusions to draw from the table. First, there has been evolution such that strong systems are largely absent at low redshift. Second, the properties of weak absorbers at both, high and low redshift complement each other so that no evolution in their population is required. That is, the properties at both high and low redshift can be considered together as governing an unevolving population of absorbers. Similarly, the properties of high redshift strong systems and low redshift weak systems do not contradict each other and can be considered simultaneously.

We can understand these properties in the context of the disk-wind scenario. A cartoon of this scenario, from Ganguly et al. (2001a), is shown in Fig. 1. The scenario, a modification of the Murray et al. (1995) model originally employed to explain broad absorption lines, is that of a radiatively driven, outflowing wind in which clumps of gas hug the wind at “large” distances from the black hole. Hydrodynamic simulations by Proga, Stone, & Kallman (2000) show that such clumps do arise from Kelvin-Helmholtz shearing instabilities.

This scenario has, essentially three fundamental parameters: the black hole mass, the mass fueling rate, and the inclination with respect to the observer. The black hole mass and mass fueling rate can also be translated into a wind opening angle and wind density. A given black hole mass implies a maximum mass accretion rate (that is, the Eddington rate). For a larger mass fueling rate, this implies a larger wind density. Moreover, the luminosity of the QSO will be larger and thus the acceleration of the wind will be even more dominated by its radial component. This will result in a smaller wind opening angle.

If we hypothesize that the wind in radio-loud QSOs is less dense than in radio-quiet QSOs, then strong NALs can be thought of as the analogues of BAL, where the wind itself is the source of absorption. Reversing the above reasoning, a sparser wind implies a less luminous QSO, explaining the preference for “optically faint” QSOs. The projected velocity dispersion of the wind along sightlines is small (i.e. narrow). Likewise, the optical depth of the wind is largest when the QSO is viewed at higher inclination angle (similar to BALQSOs).

The evolution of strong systems can be viewed as a change in the mass outflow rate (or wind density). This change can result either from a decrease in the mass fueling rate or an increase in the mass accretion rate. Either case seems natural since (1) there is only a finite amount of gas to fuel the engine and (2) over the duty cycle of the QSOs life, the accretion process will increase the black hole mass, and therefore the maximum allowed accretion rate.

The absence of weak associated systems in FSRL QSOs w/ average CIV FWHM can be seen as mostly an inclination effect. If the population of weak absorbers is due the clumps produced by the shear, then NALs will only be detected when the line of sight intercept these clumps. The flat-spectrum radio-loud QSOs in the Ganguly et al. (2001) sample were also strongly radio core dominated. So, there is little doubt that the QSOs are viewed at small inclination angles (i.e. face-on geometries). In addition, the width of the C iv emission line implies that the velocity dispersion of the wind along the line of sight is not large. Thus, the wind opening angle is “small.” In this case, neither photons from the compact continuum, nor photons from the broad emission line region intercept the weak NAL clouds.

### Acknowledgments.

This work was funded by NASA through grants NAG 5-6399, HST-GO-08681.01-A, and through an archival award from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI AR-08763.01-A), which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Travel expenses to the meeting were provided by the Zaccheus Daniel Foundation. R.G. acknowledges Ray Weymann for a thoughtful meeting summary, and a stimulating discussion after the meeting.

## References

Aldcroft, T., Bechtold, J., & Foltz, C. 1997, in ASP Conference Ser. 128, Mass Ejection from Active Galactic Nuclei, ed. N. Arav, I. Shlosman, & R. Weymann (San Francisco: ASP), 25

Anderson, S. F., Weymann, R. J., Foltz, C. B., & Chaffee, F. H. 1987, AJ, 94, 278

Barlow, T. A., & Sargent, W. L. W. 1997, AJ, 113, 136

Barlow, T. A., Hamann, F., & Sargent, W. L. W., 1997, in ASP Conference Ser. 128, Mass Ejection from Active Galactic Nuclei, ed. N. Arav, I. Shlosman, & R. Weymann (San Francisco: ASP), 13

Barthel, P. D., Tytler, D. R., & Vestergaard, M. 1997, in ASP Conference Ser. 128, Mass Ejection from Active Galactic Nuclei, ed. N. Arav, I. Shlosman, & R. Weymann (San Francisco: ASP), 48

Foltz, C. B., Weymann, R. J., Peterson, B. P., Sun, L., Malkan, M. A., & Chaffee, F. H. 1986, ApJ, 307, 504

Foltz, C. B., Chaffee, Jr., F. H., Weymann, R. J., & Anderson, S. F. 1988, in QSO Absorption Lines, J. C. Blades, D. A. Turnshek, & C. A. Norman, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 53

Ganguly, R., Eracleous, M., Charlton, J. C., & Churchill, C. W. 1999, AJ, 117, 2594

Ganguly, R., Bond, N. A., Charlton, J. C., Eracleous, M., Brandt, W. N., & Churchill, C. W. 2001a, ApJ, 549, 133

Ganguly, R., Charlton, J. C., Eracleous, M. 2001b, ApJ, submitted

Hamann, F., Barlow, T. A., Junkkarinen, V., & Burbidge, E. M. 1997, ApJ, 478, 80

Hamann, F., Barlow, T. A., & Junkkarinen, V. 1997b, ApJ, 478, 87

Hamann, F., Barlow, T. A., Cohen, R. D., Junkkarinen, V., & Burbidge, E. M., 1997c, in ASP Conference Ser. 128, Mass Ejection from Active Galactic Nuclei, ed. N. Arav, I. Shlosman, & R. Weymann (San Francisco: ASP), 19

Hamann, F., & Ferland, G. 1999, ARA&A, 37, 487

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# I Introduction

## I Introduction

Andersson  and Friedman and Morsink  discovered that all $`r`$-modes, which are quasi-toroidal modes mainly restored by Coriolis force, in all rotating stars become unstable due to the gravitational radiation reaction if other dissipative processes are not considered. This instability is clearly understood by the so called CFS mechanism . As shown by Lindblom, Owen, and Morsink  first, this instability still strongly affects on stability of typical neutron star models even if viscous dissipation of neutron star matter, which tends to stabilize the CFS instability, is taken into account. Since then a lot of studies on oscillation modes restored by Coriolis force in rotating stars have been done to prove their possible importance in astrophysics (for recent review, see, e.g., Refs ).

Influence of the $`r`$-mode on stability of rotating neutron stars is one of the most important and interesting phenomenon in astrophysics. In oscillations of neutron stars, relativistic effect must be important because such stars are sufficiently compact. But most studies have been done within the framework of Newtonian gravity so far, although our understandings of $`r`$-modes have been improved by those investigations. As for $`r`$-modes studied within the framework of general relativity, Kojima  derived master equations for $`r`$-mode oscillation in the lowest order slow rotation approximation, and then he found possible existence of a continuous part of spectrum in his equations. Beyer and Kokkotas  generally verified the existence of a continuous part of spectrum in Kojima’s equation. Kojima’s formalism was developed to include higher order rotational effects by Kojima and Hosonuma . Lockitch, Andersson, and Friedman  obtained the discrete $`r`$-mode solutions in uniform density stars as well as a continuous part of spectrum by solving Kojima’s equation. Recently Yoshida  and Ruoff and Kokkotas  discussed that such discrete $`r`$-mode solutions are not simply allowed to appear in compressible stellar models. Their results showed that for typical neutron star models, Kojima’s equations do not have such a discrete $`r`$-mode solution.

These recent developments of understanding of relativistic $`r`$-modes have shown that basic properties of $`r`$-mode oscillations in relativistic stars are significantly different from those in Newtonian stars. As for non-isentropic stars, most previous studies have shown the existence of a continuous part of spectrum. This is a great contrast with Newtonian case. For Newtonian cases, there are discrete mode solutions and no continuous parts of spectrum for $`r`$-modes in all uniformly rotating stars as long as their rotation velocity is small enough. It is not however likely to occur such drastic change in the behavior of the solutions due to the inclusion of even a little relativistic effect. Therefore, most authors have considered that a continuous part of spectrum does not appear if some effects that were omitted in previous studies are taken into account. One of such effects is a dissipation effect due to gravitational radiation reaction. In most studies on $`r`$-modes, a slow motion approximation has been employed in their analysis because of slow rotation approximation. A slow motion approximation changes a wave type equation into a Laplace type equation. Thus, Kojima’s equations do not have solutions with wave character, and then the frequency is real number if asymptotically flat spacetime is assumed. In other words, influence of gravitational radiation on relativistic $`r`$-modes has not been taken into account so far. In this case, Kojima’s equation becomes that of singular eigenvalue problem for some frequency range, and hence has a continuous part of spectrum. As suggested by Lockitch et al.  (see also, Ref. ), however, Kojima’s equation may become that of regular eigenvalue problem if frequency has non-zero imaginary part. Therefore, It is hoped that the existence of a continuous part of spectrum might be avoided if the effect of the emission of the gravitational radiation is considered.

In this paper, accordingly, we will attempt to include the lowest order effect of gravitational radiation reaction into Kojima’s formalism. Because Kojima’s equation is not wave type equation, as mentioned before, we can not obtain information about gravitational wave from the equation at all. In order to include the gravitational radiation reaction effect into Kojima’s equation, we will employ a near-zone boundary condition instead of usually used boundary condition for asymptotically flat spacetime. This boundary condition was introduced by Thorne  to include the effect of gravitational radiation reaction on polar pulsations in a Newtonian star. We start, in §2, with the description of our method of solution. A near-zone boundary condition is introduced there in order to take account of the gravitational radiation reaction. In §3, we show the properties of the $`r`$-mode solutions obtained by imposing the boundary condition. §4 is devoted for discussions and conclusions. Throughout this paper we will use units in which $`c=G=1`$, where $`c`$ and $`G`$ denote the velocity of light and the gravitational constant, respectively.

## II Method of solutions

We consider slowly rotating relativistic stars with a uniform angular velocity $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, where we take account of the first order rotational effect in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. The geometry around the equilibrium stars can be described by the following line element (see, e.g. Ref. ):

$`ds^2=e^{2\nu (r)}dt^2+e^{2\lambda (r)}dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2+r^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^22\omega (r)r^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta dtd\phi .`$ (1)
Throughout this paper, the polytropic equation of state is assumed:

$$p=K\rho ^{1+\frac{1}{N}},$$
(2)
where $`p`$ and $`\rho `$ denote the pressure, mass-energy density, respectively. Here $`N`$ and $`K`$ are constants.

We consider oscillation modes in rotating relativistic stars such that the eigenfunctions are stationary and are composed of only one axial parity component in the limit $`\mathrm{\Omega }0`$. Subclass of those modes should be a relativistic counterpart of $`r`$-modes, which are able to oscillate in all slowly rotating Newtonian fluid stars. According to Lockitch et al. , such modes are allowed to exist only if the star has non-isentropic structures. Therefore, we assume stars to be non-isentropic, although the effects due to deviation from isentropic structure on oscillation modes do not appear in the first order in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. According to the formalism by Lockitch et al.  (see, also, Ref. ), let us write down the pulsation equation for relativistic $`r`$-modes with accuracy up to the first order in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. The metric perturbation $`\delta g_{\alpha \beta }`$ and the Eulerian changes of the fluid velocity $`\delta u^\alpha `$ that do not vanish in the limit $`\mathrm{\Omega }0`$ are given as

$$(\delta g_{t\theta },\delta g_{t\phi })=ih_{0,l}(r)(\frac{_\phi Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )}{\mathrm{sin}\theta },\mathrm{sin}\theta _\theta Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi ))e^{i\sigma t},$$
(3)
$$(\delta u^\theta ,\delta u^\phi )=\frac{iU_l(r)}{r^2}(\frac{_\phi Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )}{\mathrm{sin}\theta },\frac{_\theta Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )}{\mathrm{sin}\theta })e^{i\sigma t},$$
(4)
where $`Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )`$ are the usual spherical harmonic functions, and $`\sigma `$ denotes oscillation frequency measured in the inertial frame at the spatial infinity. All other perturbed quantities become higher order in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Note that this form of eigenfunctions is the same as that for zero-frequency modes in a spherical non-isentropic star, because $`r`$-modes become zero-frequency ones in the limit $`\mathrm{\Omega }0`$ . The metric perturbation $`h_{0,l}`$ obeys a second order ordinary differential equation,

$`D_{lm}(r;\overline{\sigma })\left[e^{\nu \lambda }{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dr}}\left(e^{\nu \lambda }{\displaystyle \frac{dh_{0,l}}{dr}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{l(l+1)}{r^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2+2e^{2\lambda }}{r^2}}+8\pi (p+\rho )\right)h_{0,l}\right]+16\pi (p+\rho )h_{0,l}=0,`$ (5)
where

$$D_{lm}(r;\overline{\sigma })1\frac{2m\overline{\omega }}{l(l+1)\overline{\sigma }},$$
(6)
Here, we have introduced the effective rotation angular velocity of fluid,

$$\overline{\omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }\omega ,$$
(7)
and the corotating oscillation frequency,

$$\overline{\sigma }=\sigma +m\mathrm{\Omega }.$$
(8)
The velocity perturbation of fluids $`U_l`$ is determined from the function $`h_{0,l}`$ through the following algebraic relation,

$$\left[1\frac{2m\overline{\omega }}{l(l+1)\overline{\sigma }}\right]U_l+h_{0,l}=0.$$
(9)
Equations (5) and (9) are our basic equations, which were derived by Kojima  first. Note that the equations (5) and (9) lose their meaning in the $`l=0`$ case, because there are no axial modes with $`l=0`$.

Because equations (5) are second order ordinary differential equations, two boundary conditions are required to determine solutions uniquely. From regularity of physical quantities at $`r=0`$ the function $`h_{0,l}`$ must vanish at the center of a star. This condition is explicitly given as

$`r{\displaystyle \frac{dh_{0,l}}{dr}}(l+1)h_{0,l}=0\mathrm{as}r0.`$ (10)
Outside the star equations (5) have general solutions as follows:

$`h_{0,l}(r)=A{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_kr^{lk}+B{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}b_kr^{l+1+k},`$ (11)
where $`A`$ and $`B`$ are arbitrary constants. Here $`a_k`$ and $`b_k`$ are constants determined from recurrence relations although explicit expressions are omitted here. Note that $`a_k`$ and $`b_k`$ do not depend on frequency $`\overline{\sigma }`$. In most previous studies the condition $`B=0`$ have been chosen as a boundary condition at the spatial infinity because spacetime must be regular everywhere. In this paper we call this condition “proper boundary condition”. This condition means the spacetime is asymptotically flat. Therefore, solutions satisfying the condition $`B=0`$ can not describe any gravitational radiation emission from a star at all. In order to include effect of gravitational radiation emission in the solutions, we must not require to demand the zero for $`B`$. This was first shown and used in the study for post-Newtonian approximation by Thorne .

Next, let us consider the boundary conditions for quasi-normal mode solutions, according to similar consideration to that by Thorne  (see, also, Ref. ). In the derivation of our basic equations slow motion approximation is necessarily used as well as slow rotation one because the frequency of oscillation restored by Coriolis force is the same order of the stellar rotation frequency. This slow motion approximation must nicely work near the star as long as low frequency oscillations are considered. Therefore, higher order time derivative of perturbed quantities are neglected in governing equations (5). If an oscillating star emits gravitational radiation, however, some of such omitted terms must become important in the radiation zone because a term such as $`\sigma r`$ becomes dominant among all terms in the governing equations. Besides, rotational effects due to the stellar rotation fall off faster than $`1/r^2`$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$. Thus, such slow motion approximation is not good far from the star, if gravitational wave are radiated from the stars. Regge-Wheeler equations with correction terms due to the stellar rotation, in fact, govern the axial perturbations sufficiently far from the star even when low frequency oscillations like $`r`$-modes are induced. Since $`\sigma r1`$ in radiation zone, Regge-Wheeler equations can be approximately written as

$`r^2{\displaystyle \frac{d^2X_l(r)}{dr^2}}+\sigma ^2r^2X_l(r)l(l+1)X_l(r)+O\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{r}}\right)=0,`$ (12)
where $`X_l(r)`$ are Regge-Wheeler’s functions. Here $`M`$ denotes the gravitational mass of the star. The metric functions $`h_{0,l}`$ are determined from the functions $`X_l`$ by the equation:

$`h_{0,l}={\displaystyle \frac{d(rX_l(r))}{dr}}+O\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{r}}\right),`$ (13)
(see, e.g. Refs ). Here we have considered the limiting case when $`M/r1`$ for simplicity. The general solutions to equations (12) can be given analytically:

$`X_l(\sigma r)=\sigma r(Cj_l(\sigma r)+Dn_l(\sigma r)),`$ (14)
where $`j_l`$ and $`n_l`$ are spherical Bessel functions and $`C`$ and $`D`$ are arbitrary constants. The asymptotic forms in the radiation zone, that is, when $`\sigma r1`$, are given as

$`X_l(\sigma r)C\mathrm{cos}\left[\sigma r{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(l+1)\pi \right]+D\mathrm{sin}\left[\sigma r{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(l+1)\pi \right].`$ (15)
Now we are interested in quasi-normal modes of a star. Thus, the no incoming radiation conditions are required for metric perturbations. From equation (15) it is found that this condition becomes the relation $`D=iC`$. For this choice of constants the asymptotic solutions reduce to the form as:

$`X_l(\sigma r)e^{i\sigma t}C\mathrm{exp}\left[i\sigma (tr)+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}(l+1)\pi \right],\mathrm{as}\sigma r\mathrm{}.`$ (16)
Since the frequencies of the oscillations restored by the Coriolis force are proportional to the rotational frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`\sigma ^2R^2\mathrm{\Omega }^2R^2=ϵ^2M/R`$, where $`ϵ`$ denotes a small parameter for stellar rotation defined as $`ϵ=\mathrm{\Omega }/(M/R^3)^{1/2}`$. Here, $`R`$ is the radius of the star. Thus, the surface of the star is approximately in the near zone, that is, $`\sigma r1`$, if the stellar rotation is sufficiently slow or the stellar gravity is sufficiently weak. In this approximation, solutions (14) can be written as

$`X_l(\sigma r)iC{\displaystyle \frac{(2l1)!!}{(\sigma r)^l}}\left[1+i{\displaystyle \frac{(\sigma r)^{2l+1}}{(2l1)!!(2l+1)!!}}\right],`$ (17)
where the constraint $`D=iC`$ for the no incoming radiation has been used. The approximate solutions above may be valid near the stellar surface because $`M/r<1`$ is well satisfied at the stellar surface and outside the star for typical neutron star models. In the near zone, thus, the expressions for metric perturbations $`h_{0,l}`$ outside the star can be given by equations (13) and (17) as follows:

$`h_{0,l}C^{}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^l}}\left[1+i{\displaystyle \frac{(l+2)(\sigma r)^{2l+1}}{(l1)(2l+1)[(2l1)!!]^2}}\right],`$ (18)
where $`C^{}`$ is an arbitrary constant. As the outer boundary condition we require this solution to connect smoothly to interior solution obtained by solving equation (5) at the stellar surface. Thus, the boundary condition is explicitly given as

$`\left[1+i{\displaystyle \frac{(l+2)(\sigma R)^{2l+1}}{(l1)(2l+1)[(2l1)!!]^2}}\right]r{\displaystyle \frac{dh_{0,l}}{dr}}(Rx)`$ (19)
$`+\left[li{\displaystyle \frac{(l+1)(l+2)(\sigma R)^{2l+1}}{(l1)(2l+1)[(2l1)!!]^2}}\right]h_{0,l}(Rx)=0,\mathrm{as}x0,`$ (20)
where we need actual values of rotation frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ to obtain eigensolutions. In this paper we assume the value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ as $`\mathrm{\Omega }=(\pi \overline{\rho })^{1/2}`$, where $`\overline{\rho }`$ is the average density defined by $`\overline{\rho }=M/(4\pi R^3/3)`$. This $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is an approximate value for maximum rotation frequency to be possible to settle down uniformly rotating stars in hydrostatic equilibrium. In this paper, we call the condition (20) “near zone boundary condition”. This method is a crude version of matched asymptotic expansions. If we consider a non-rotating limit, that is, $`\sigma =0`$ limit, the boundary condition (20) becomes approximation of proper boundary conditions in which only the lowest order terms in $`M/R`$ are included. As shown by Lindblom et al. , the boundary condition similar to that by using asymptotic solution (18) can give a good approximate value of eigenfrequency even for $`f`$-mode oscillation although $`f`$-mode is not a low frequency oscillation mode.

## III Numerical results

As shown in the previous studies , we should distinguish two cases in treating equation (5) when the proper boundary condition is imposed. One case is regular eigenvalue problem and the other singular one. For regular eigenvalue problem equation (5) may have discrete mode frequency in a range,

$$\frac{2m\overline{\omega }(R)}{l(l+1)}<\overline{\sigma }\frac{2m\overline{\omega }(\mathrm{})}{l(l+1)}=\frac{2m\mathrm{\Omega }}{l(l+1)}.$$
(21)
On the other hand, equation (5) becomes singular eigenvalue problem if $`\overline{\sigma }`$ is in a region,

$$\frac{2m\overline{\omega }(0)}{l(l+1)}\overline{\sigma }\frac{2m\overline{\omega }(R)}{l(l+1)}.$$
(22)
Notice that the range (22) is a continuous part of spectrum of equation (5). As pointed out by Lockitch et al.  (see also, Ref. ) equation (5) becomes that of regular eigenvalue problem when the corresponding frequency has non-zero imaginary part. Thus frequency ranges above may not have clear mathematical meanings when frequency has non-zero imaginary part. According to frequency ranges above, however, we will divide eigensolutions into three classes: The first and the second class solutions are characterized by their real part of frequency satisfying inequality (21) and (22), respectively. The third class composes of a compensative set of the first and the second class.

First of all, we concentrate our attention to $`r`$-mode solutions with frequency whose real part is in a range (21). We compute frequencies of mode solutions for several polytropic stellar models. In the present study, only the fundamental $`r`$-modes, whose eigenfunction $`U_m`$ has no node in radial direction except at stellar center, are obtained. This is similar to that in studies for the proper boundary condition case . In Figures 1 and 2, real and imaginary parts of scaled eigenfrequencies $`\kappa \overline{\sigma }/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ of $`r`$-modes are, respectively, given as functions of $`M/R`$. Eigenfrequencies for stars with four different polytropic indices, $`N=0`$, $`0.5`$, $`0.75`$, and $`1`$, are shown in panels in both figures, respectively. Only frequency curves for the modes with $`l=m=2`$ are depicted along a relativistic factor $`M/R`$ because they are considered to be the most important modes for $`r`$-mode instability.

Real parts of frequency illustrated in Figure 1 are in good agreement with Figure 1 of Ref. , in which frequency are obtained by imposing the proper boundary condition for asymptotically flat spacetime. The relative differences are less than $`0.1\%`$. This shows that our approximation works nicely and higher order effect of $`M/r`$ on the outer boundary condition is not so important for the determination of real parts of frequency. We also find that frequency curves in Figure 1 are terminated at some value of $`M/R`$ beyond which equilibrium states can still exist. Here, the maximum values of $`M/R`$ for polytropic equilibrium stars having $`N=0`$, $`0.5`$, $`0.75`$, and $`1.0`$ are given by $`4/9`$, $`0.385`$, $`0.349`$, and $`0.312`$, respectively. It is also found that length of frequency curves tend to be short as a polytrope index $`N`$ increases. This feature is similar to that for the case where the proper boundary condition is used. And those terminal points of frequency curves appear at almost the same values of relativistic factors as those for the proper boundary condition case (see Ref. ). Beyond the value of the relativistic factors corresponding to those terminal points, we can obtain a lot of eigensolutions with a singular eigenfunction but not with a regular one. Furthermore, the real part of the corresponding frequency belongs to a range (22) but not a range (21).

From Figure 2, we can see that $`r`$-modes obtained in this study are all unstable. It is also found that curves for imaginary parts of $`\kappa `$ have one relative minimum near the terminal point of frequency curves. Those minimum values are given as $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa (M/R=0.425))=2.9\times 10^3`$, $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa (M/R=0.344))=6.4\times 10^4`$, $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa (M/R=0.258))=1.3\times 10^4`$, and $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa (M/R=0.095))=2.2\times 10^6`$, for stars having $`N=0`$, $`0.5`$, $`0.75`$, and $`1.0`$, respectively. Values of $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa )`$ also approach zero as relativistic factor $`M/R`$ is getting closer to a value corresponding to that for the terminal point of frequency curves. Those behaviors of $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa )`$ can be understood from the distribution of eigenfunctions $`U_l(r)`$ because $`\mathrm{Im}(\kappa )`$ is approximately proportional to the square of the current multipole moment. In Figure 3 and 4 distributions of the eigenfunction $`U_m`$ are shown for $`N=0.5`$ polytropic models having $`M/R=0.1`$ and $`M/R=0.37`$, respectively. As seen from these figures the motion of perturbed fluid elements is strongly confined near the stellar surface when the mode frequency is getting closer to that of the terminal frequency, which satisfies $`\overline{\sigma }2m\overline{\omega }(R)/(l(l+1))`$. We can easily understand this behavior from equation (9). Consequently the values of current multipole moments of such modes may become small when the value of relativistic factor increases. On the other hand, the efficiency of the gravitational radiation emission becomes good as increase of the value of the relativistic factor. Due to both effects above a relative minimum of imaginary part of frequency may appear. We should notice that in $`N=0`$ case, a value of Im$`(\kappa )`$ do not approach zero even when $`M/R4/9`$, as we can see from Figure 2. The reason is that the eigenfunctions $`U_m`$ does not have so strong peak at the stellar surface even when $`M/R4/9`$ because a relation $`\overline{\sigma }2m\overline{\omega }(R)/(l(l+1))`$ is not satisfied in this case.

Next let us estimate the instability timescale for the gravitational radiation driven instability of $`r`$-mode solutions with frequency in a range (21). Here a typical neutron star model whose mass and radius are respectively $`1.4M_{}`$ and $`12.57`$ km is considered for $`N=0`$, $`0.5`$, and $`0.75`$ polytropic models. When the star rotates with the angular frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }=(3/4\times GM/R^3)^{1/2}=8377s^1`$, growing timescales $`\tau _j`$ of the $`r`$-mode instability are given as $`\tau _j=1.29s`$, $`2.04s`$, and $`2.97s`$ for $`N=0`$, $`0.5`$, and $`0.75`$ models, respectively. Note that for $`N=1`$ case the growing timescale cannot be estimated because we can not find discrete $`r`$-mode solution for that model. These timescale are similar to those obtained from Newtonian estimate. (see, e.g. Ref. )

When we concentrate our attention to solutions whose frequency has real part in a frequency range (22), we obtain a large number of solutions whose eigenfunction has singular behavior in its real part at a radius determined by a solution of $`D_{lm}(r;\mathrm{Re}(\overline{\sigma }))=0`$. Besides, those solutions have severe truncation error due to a finite difference method. Similar behavior of solutions appears in oscillations of differentially rotating disks. (see, for example, Ref. ) As discussed by Schutz and Verdaguer , this is considered a sign of the existence of continuous parts of spectrum, although the existence has to be proved by other mathematical techniques because exact continuous spectrum is never obtained from a simple numerical analysis. In the present case, we are sure that the appearance of a continuous spectrum is plausible because the imaginary parts of frequency are too small to change drastically the character of the solutions derived from the proper boundary condition. Thus, our numerical results suggest the existence of a continuous part of spectrum in Kojima’s equation even when their frequency becomes complex number. As for regular solutions with frequency in a range (22), we cannot obtain such a solution at all. Finally we consider the third class of solutions, whose real part of frequency is neither in a range (21) nor (22). In this region of real part of frequency, we cannot obtain any solutions at all.

## IV Discussion and Conclusion

In this paper, we have investigated the properties of $`r`$-mode instability in slowly rotating relativistic polytropes. Inside the star slow rotation and the low frequency formalism that was mainly developed by Kojima  and Lockitch et al.  is employed to study axial oscillations restored by Coriolis force. At the stellar surface, in order to take account of gravitational radiation reaction effect, we use a near-zone boundary condition, which was devised by Thorne  and recently developed for relativistic pulsations by Lindblom et al. , instead of the usually imposed boundary condition for asymptotically flat spacetime. Due to the boundary condition, complex frequencies whose imaginary part represents secular instability are obtained for $`r`$-mode oscillations in some polytropic models. It is found that such discrete $`r`$-mode solutions can be obtained only for some restricted polytropic models. Basic properties of mode solutions of equation (5) that obtained in this study is similar to those with the boundary condition for asymptotically flat spacetime although its frequency becomes complex because of the near-zone boundary condition.

As suggested by Lockitch et al.  (see, also Refs ), when an eigenfrequency becomes complex number, which expresses the damping of the oscillation due to the energy dissipation such as the gravitational radiation emission, there is a possibility that the existence of the continuous part of spectrum in the eigenfrequency of equation (5) is avoided. In this study, we consider the complex frequency corresponding to the quasi-normal mode as mode solutions of equation (5) by imposing the lowest order near-zone boundary condition. Our numerical results suggest the existence of a continuous part of spectrum in Kojima’s equation even when the frequency is allowed to be a complex number. However, we still think that the existence of a continuous part of spectrum in axial oscillations restored by Coriolis force is not plausible because such property does not appear in Newtonian $`r`$-modes. The existence of a continuous part of spectrum in this study might be artifact due to the approximation because our treatment is the lowest order approximation. In other words, inclusion of full effect of gravitational radiation emission might avoid the existence of a continuous part of spectrum. Another possibility to prevent the appearance of continuous spectrum might be to avoid a singular reduction in the order of the equation. As Kojima and Hosonuma  showed, basic equations for $`r`$-mode oscillations become a fourth order ordinary differential equation for metric perturbation $`h_{0,l}`$ when rotational effect up to the third order of $`\mathrm{\Omega }/(M/R^3)^{1/2}`$ is consistently considered. In this equation, extra two degrees of freedom of solutions may be used to avoid singular behavior of eigenfunction. Due to these extra boundary conditions, all eigenfrequency may become discrete. Verification of those possibilities remains future studies.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors would like to thank Prof. B. F. Schutz for his hospitality at the Albert Einstein Institute, where a part of this work was done. S.Y. is grateful to Prof. Y. Kojima and Mr. M. Hosonuma for useful discussion. He also would like to thank Dr. U. Lee and Mr. Y. Itoh for valuable comments. S.Y. acknowledges a support by a Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.


text:
# Untitled Document

Four-dimensional Matter

A.M. Gevorkian , R. A. Gevorkian\*

Institute of Physical Research, 378410, Ashtarak-2, Republic of Armenia

\*Institute of Radiophisics and Electronics, 378410, Ashtarak-2, Republic of Armenia

Abstract

Four-dimensional mass is determined in four-dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space as a physical invariant of that space. That invariant is discussed as an invariant of electromagnetic type. Finally, equations of Maxwell type are obtained for mass fields.

In Okun’s publication ”What is mass?”  the formula

$$m^2=\frac{U^2}{c^4}\frac{P^2}{c^2}$$
(1)
and comments on it looked very interesting to us for two reasons:

1) as a four-dimensional matter (in  it is defined as ”simple mass”).

The analysis of non-stationar phenomena and processes lead V.A. Ambartsumian to the idea of a possible new state of matter. In works ,  and  the proto-star matter is discussed as a possible presentation of this state.

There are also a few works by R. Muradyan ( and ) on unusual manifestations (quantum) of macroscopic star systems (two-dimensional hadron).

Publication  notes that during fragmentation four-dimensional mass is not additive. The process of fragmentation continues to the point of occurrence of elementary particles (electron, proton) with emission of energy. Later the usual three-dimensional matter is constructed from those particles, which is the process of three-dimensionalization. The simplest form of this matter is the hydrogen atom. The further cooling of the environment by means of condensation, leads to the formation of usual star matter and its systems, and these systems may be unstable. In that case the famous disagreement between Ambartsumian and his opponents regarding the concept of formation of star systems becomes unimportant. We would like to remind that the first member of expression (1) is a square of a scalar, and the second member is a scalar - a module of square of a three-dimensional vector.

For compensation of the deficit of the mean cosmic density of matter some scientists proposed assumptions such as the ”spontaneous birth of matter” (Hoyle), ”existence of galaxies of neutrino matter” (Novikov), or existence of dark matter due to objects like the ”black holes”. Ambartsumian expressed opinions regarding this in ,  and during seminars where one of the authors was present, that the law of energy conservation in its present form is incomplete. With respect to that we assume that the invariant (1) is a scalar of anti-symmetric tensor, which is created on the basis of three-dimensional (polar and axial) vectors.

2) as Lorentz invariant of square form with anti-symmetric tensor of four-dimensional matter .

$$M_{ik}=\left|\begin{array}{cccc}0& U_x& U_y& U_z\\ U_x& 0& P_z& P_y\\ U_y& P_z& 0& P_x\\ U_z& P_y& P_x& 0\end{array}\right|$$
(2)
Elements of this tensor can be considered as components of electric mass (polar three-dimensional vector) and magnetic mass (axial three-dimensional vector) fields.

With the help of this tensor we can construct invariant values with respect to Lorentz modifications. These invariants have the following form:

$$M_{ik}M^{ik}=I_{1,}\text{ }e^{iklm}M_{ik}M_{lm}=I_2\text{ }or\text{ }P^2U^2=I_{1,}\text{ }UP=I_2.$$
(3)
$`I_1`$ corresponds to expression (1) and is discussed as Lagrangian of the physical system and satisfies Lagrange equation which transforms into a system of equations of Maxwell type. The four-dimensional form of these equations is:

$$\frac{}{x^i}M^{ik}=j^k,\text{ }\epsilon ^{iklm}\frac{}{x^k}M_{lm}=0$$
(4)
and in three-dimensional form it is

$$divP=0\text{ }rotU=\frac{1}{c}\frac{P}{t}$$

$$divU=\rho \text{ }rotP=\frac{1}{c}\frac{U}{t}+\frac{1}{c}j$$
(5)
where $`\rho `$ is the source (charge) of electric-mass static field which has the measurement of gr/cm and represents mass per unit length. And finally the wave equation in four-dimensional form is $`\mathrm{}A=0`$ , where $`A`$ is the vector-potential of the electromagnetic-mass field, and $`\mathrm{}=\frac{^2}{x_ix_k}`$.

The source of field can be a mass string, as well as a mass ring. The movement of mass along a string or a ring (any locked configuration) induces magnetic-mass field of particular topology (toric, flat, etc).

It might be very interesting to place this in electric or magnetic environments, for instance inside an electric charge. A similar thing exists in the work of Ciama  in which he gives up the advantage of general covariance in favor of the vector theory of gravitation. The parameters of such an object can be considered when a quantum (calibration) theory is created similar to quantum electrodynamics or theory of electro-weak interactions. It is not excluded that these ideas may be virtual and may not have anything in common with real physics.

Literature

1. L. B. Okun ”What is mass?” Physics - Uspekhi, 43(12) 2000.

2. Ambartsumyan V. A. Reports of the Academy of Science of Arm. SSR., 16, 97, 1953.

3. Ambartsumyan V. A. ”Phenomena of Continuous Emission and Sources of Star Energy”, Notices of the Byurakan Observatory, 13, 1954.

4. Ambartsumyan V. A. ”Stars of T-Taurus and UV-Whale Type and the Phenomenon of continuous emission”, Theses for the Symposium on Non-stationar Stars. Theses for the 9th Congress of the International Astronomic Society, 1955, 5, M., 1955.

5. Muradyan R., Astrophysics, 11, 237, 1975.

6. Muradyan R., Astrophysics, 13, 63, 1975.

7. Landau L. D., Lifshits E. M., ”Field Theory”, 1988.

8. Ciama D. W Roy Astron. Soc Monthly Notices 113, 34, 1953.


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# Critical Point of a Weakly Interacting Two-Dimensional Bose Gas

## Abstract

We study the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition in a weakly interacting 2D quantum Bose gas using the concept of universality and numerical simulations of the classical $`|\psi |^4`$-model on a lattice. The critical density and chemical potential are given by relations $`n_c=(mT/2\pi \mathrm{}^2)\mathrm{ln}(\xi \mathrm{}^2/mU)`$ and $`\mu _c=(mTU/\pi \mathrm{}^2)\mathrm{ln}(\xi _\mu \mathrm{}^2/mU)`$, where $`T`$ is the temperature, $`m`$ is the mass, and $`U`$ is the effective interaction. The dimensionless constant $`\xi =380\pm 3`$ is very large and thus any quantitative analysis of the experimental data crucially depends on its value. For $`\xi _\mu `$ our result is $`\xi _\mu =13.2\pm 0.4`$. We also report the study of the quasi-condensate correlations at the critical point.

An accurate microscopic expression for the critical temperature of the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition  has been a weak point of the theory of weakly interacting two-dimensional Bose gas. The theory of Ref.  (see also  and analysis below), suggests that the critical density of the BKT transition in the weakly interacting system reads (we set $`\mathrm{}=1`$)

$$n_c=\frac{mT}{2\pi }\mathrm{ln}\frac{\xi }{mU}.$$
(1)
However, the value of $`\xi `$ cannot be obtained within standard analytical treatments since $`\xi `$ is related to the system behavior in the fluctuation region where the perturbative expansion in powers of $`U`$ does not work. With unknown $`\xi `$, one finds Eq. (1) rather inaccurate unless $`mU`$ is exponentially small. Moreover, as we will find in this Letter, the value of $`\xi `$ is very large: $`\xi 380`$. This means that for all experimentally available up to date (quasi-)2D weakly interacting Bose gases  the quantitative analysis of the data for the critical ratio $`n_c/T_c`$ requires a precise value of $`\xi `$. In the system of spin-polarized atomic hydrogen on helium film , the value of $`mU`$ is of order unity ; in the recently created quasi-2D system of sodium atoms , $`mU`$ is of order $`10^2`$, according to the formula of Ref. .

To quantitatively describe the BKT transition in a weakly interacting Bose gas, it is sufficient to solve a classical-field $`|\psi |^4`$-model with the effective long-wave Hamiltonian

$$H[\psi ]=\left\{\frac{1}{2m}|\psi |^2+\frac{U}{2}|\psi |^4\mu ^{}|\psi |^2\right\}𝑑𝐫,$$
(2)
where $`\mu ^{}`$ is the chemical potential, and $`\psi `$ is the classical complex field.

In this Letter, we first discuss the origin of the relation (1) in the limit of small $`U`$, and how quantum and classical models relate to each other. Then we present our numeric results (for the critical density, critical chemical potential, and quasi-condensate correlations at the BKT point) obtained by simulating the critical behavior of the 2D $`|\psi |^4`$-model on a lattice using recently developed Worm algorithm  for classical statistical models. In particular, we show that the quasi-condensate correlations are very strong at $`T_c`$, in agreement with the experimental observation in the spin-polarized atomic hydrogen  and quantum Monte Carlo simulations .

A simple dimensional analysis of the Hamiltonian (2) allows to write a generic formula for the critical point in a weakly interacting 2D $`|\psi |^4`$-model. The routine itself is completely analogous to that in the 3D case (see, e.g., ), but final results naturally reflect the specifics of the 2D case.

We begin with introducing the mode-coupling momentum, $`k_c`$, that characterizes the onset of strong non-linear coupling between the long-wave harmonics of $`\psi (𝐫)`$ (harmonics with $`kk_c`$ are almost free). This momentum is just the inverse of the healing length, or vortex core radius, $`r_c`$. We denote by $`\stackrel{~}{n}`$ the contribution to the total density due to strongly coupled harmonics, and introduce the renormalized chemical potential

$$\stackrel{~}{\mu }=\mu ^{}2U_{k>k_c}n_k^{(\mathrm{ideal})}d^2k/(2\pi )^2$$
(3)
by subtracting the mean field contribution of non-interacting high-momentum harmonics. Here $`n_k=|\psi _𝐤|^2`$, and $`\mathrm{}`$ stands for the statistical averaging.

An estimate for $`\stackrel{~}{n}`$ follows from the Nelson-Kosterlitz formula

$$n_s=\frac{2mT}{\pi },$$
(4)
since it is intuitively expected that $`\stackrel{~}{n}n_s`$. An independent estimate of the parameters of the fluctuation region is obtained by considering when all three terms in Eq. (2) are of the same order:

$$k_c^2/m|\stackrel{~}{\mu }|\stackrel{~}{n}U,$$
(5)
and relating $`\stackrel{~}{n}_{k<k_c}n_kk_c^2n_{k_c}`$ to the renormalized chemical potential by using $`T/|\stackrel{~}{\mu }|`$ in place of the occupation number $`n_{k_c}`$. By definition, $`k_c`$ separates strongly coupled and free harmonics, and thus $`n_{k_c}T/[k_c^2/2m\stackrel{~}{\mu }]T/|\stackrel{~}{\mu }|`$. The final order-of-magnitude estimates read (at $`T=T_c`$)

$`\stackrel{~}{n}`$ $``$ $`mT,`$ (6)
$`k_c`$ $``$ $`m(UT)^{1/2},`$ (7)
$`\stackrel{~}{\mu }`$ $``$ $`UmT.`$ (8)
We are now in a position to derive Eq. (1) for the critical density. In 2D the main contribution to the integral

$$n=n_kd^2k/(2\pi )^2,$$
(9)
comes from large momenta between $`k_c`$ and some ultra-violet scale $`k_{}`$. The value and physical meaning of $`k_{}`$ depend on the model. For classical lattice models $`k_{}`$ is given by the inverse lattice spacing; in the continuous quantum system $`k_{}\sqrt{mT}`$ is the thermal momentum. At $`k_ckk_{}`$ we have $`n_k2mT/k^2`$, and thus can write

$$n_c=\frac{mT}{2\pi }\mathrm{ln}(Ck_{}^2/k_c^2),$$
(10)
where $`C`$ is some constant. Critical density, Eq. (1), for the quantum Bose gas is obtained by substituting $`Ck_{}^2/k_c^2\xi mT/m^2UT=\xi /mU`$.

The dependence on the ultraviolet cutoff is associated with the properties of ideal systems only, while the long-wave behavior of all weakly-interacting $`|\psi |^4`$-theories is universal. This fact allows one to relate results for different models by adding and subtracting non-interacting contributions, i.e., up to higher order corrections in $`U`$ the difference between models $`𝒜`$ and $``$ is given by $`(n_c^{(𝒜)}n_c^{()})=[n_k^{(\mathrm{ideal}𝒜)}n_k^{(\mathrm{ideal})}]d^2k/(2\pi )^2`$. In what follows, the reference system $`𝒜`$ will be the classical lattice model with lattice spacing $`a`$, and our results are analyzed using

$$n_c^{(\mathrm{lat})}=\frac{mT}{2\pi }\mathrm{ln}\frac{A}{m^2a^2UT}.$$
(11)
The actual system of interest is the quantum Bose gas, so we add and subtract the corresponding ideal-system contributions to get

$$\mathrm{ln}\frac{A}{\xi ma^2T}=\frac{1}{2\pi mT}\left(_{BZ}\frac{Td^2k}{E(𝐤)}\frac{d^2k}{e^{k^2/2mT}1}\right),$$
(12)
where $`BZ`$ means that the first integral is over the Brillouin zone, and $`E(𝐤)`$ is the dispersion law for the ideal lattice model such that $`E(𝐤0)k^2/2m`$. \[The divergences of the two integrals in Eq. (12) at $`k0`$ compensate each other.\]

Our simulations were done for the simple square lattice Hamiltonian

$$H=\underset{𝐤BZ}{}[E(𝐤)\mu ]|\psi _k|^2+\frac{U}{2}\underset{i}{}|\psi _i|^4,$$
(13)
where $`\psi _k`$ is the Fourier transform of the complex lattice field $`\psi _i`$, and

$$E(𝐤)=(1/ma^2)[2\mathrm{cos}(k_xa)\mathrm{cos}(k_ya)]$$
(14)
is the tight-binding dispersion law. With this dispersion relation the r.h.s. in (12) can be evaluated analytically and we obtain the “conversion” formula

$$\xi =A/16.$$
(15)
Since final results for dimensionless constants do not depend on $`m`$, $`T`$, and $`a`$, in numerical simulations we set $`a=1`$, $`T=1`$, and $`m=1/2`$ for convenience.

The above consideration for the critical density can be readily generalized to the critical chemical potential, with the result

$$\mu _c=\frac{mTU}{\pi }\mathrm{ln}\frac{\xi _\mu }{mU}.$$
(16)
First, we notice that Eq. (16) immediately follows form Eqs. (8) and Eq. (3) because the mean-field term is proportional to $`(mUT/\pi )\mathrm{ln}(mU)`$ (we actually deal with exactly the same integral). Since the renormalized value $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }`$ is universal, to account for the difference between the classical and quantum models one has to add and subtract mean-field contributions dominated by the ideal behavior. Thus, if the classical model is analyzed using $`\mu _c=(mTU/\pi )\mathrm{ln}[A_\mu /m^2a^2UT]`$, one has to apply $`\xi _\mu =A_\mu /16`$ to get the quantum result, Eq. (16).

We now turn to our numerical procedure. To simulate the grand-canonical Gibbs distribution corresponding to the Hamiltonian (13), we employ the Worm algorithm (see Ref.  for the description) that has demonstrated its efficiency for the analogous problem in 3D . The formal criterion of the critical point for the finite-size system is based on the exact (Nelson–Kosterlitz) relation (4): We say that the system of linear size $`L`$ is at the critical point, if its superfluid density, $`n_s(L)`$, satisfies $`n_s(L)=2mT/\pi `$. \[The superfluid density has a direct estimator in the Worm algorithm via the statistics of winding numbers , and its autocorrelation time does not suffer from critical slowing down.\]

The finite size scaling of $`n_c(L)`$ is well known from the Kosterlitz-Thouless renormalization group theory

$$n_c(L)=n_c\frac{A^{}mT}{\mathrm{ln}^2\left[A^{\prime \prime }Lm(UT)^{1/2}\right]},$$
(17)
where $`A^{}`$ and $`A^{\prime \prime }`$ are dimensionless constants. A similar relation applies also to the critical chemical potential. Equation (17) was used for the finite-size scaling analysis. We found that instead of extrapolating data for each value of $`U`$ to the $`L\mathrm{}`$ limit independently, a much more efficient procedure is to perform a joint finite-$`L`$ and finite-$`U`$ analysis. To this end we heuristically introduce parameters accounting for non-universal finite-$`U`$ corrections by adding linear in $`U`$ terms to each of the three of the dimensionless constants: $`AA+BU`$, $`A^{}A^{}+B^{}U`$, and $`A^{\prime \prime }A^{\prime \prime }+B^{\prime \prime }U`$. We thus have six fitting parameters to describe all our data points . The data for $`n_c(U,L)`$ and $`\mu _c(U,L)`$ are presented in Fig. 1. The fitting procedure yields $`A=(6.07\pm 0.05)10^3`$, $`A_\mu =(211\pm 6)`$, which, according to Eq. (15), means that

$$\xi =380\pm 3,\xi _\mu =13.2\pm 0.4.$$
(18)
The fit is extremely good—20 points for the critical density at $`U2.5`$ and $`Lm(UT)^{1/2}>15`$, each calculated with relative accuracy of order $`10^4`$, are described with the confidence level of $`62`$ %.

Experiments on helium films often report that the ratio $`n_s(T_c)/n_s(0)=n_s(T_c)/n_c=2mT_c/\pi n_c`$ is close to $`0.75`$ . Our simulation predicts that this ratio is given by

$$n_s(T_c)/n_c=\frac{4}{5.94\mathrm{ln}(mU)},$$
(19)
and $`mU1.8`$ is required to describe helium films, provided the small-$`U`$ approximation may be pushed that far . We are not aware of the published data on the critical chemical potential. \[For helium and hydrogen films on substrates one has to shift $`\mu _c`$ by the value of the absorption energy (for the delocalized atom, in the case of helium film), $`\mu _c\mu _c=E_0+(mTU/\pi )\mathrm{ln}(\xi _\mu /mU)`$. In thermal equilibrium this quantity can be readily measured through the chemical potential of the bulk vapor.\]

In the absence of long-range order parameter, 2D systems below $`T_c`$ are characterized by the local correlation properties of the quasicondensate density, identical to those of a system with genuine condensate . These properties reflect the specific structure of the $`\psi `$-field:

$`\psi (𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _0(𝐫)+\psi _1(𝐫),`$ (20)
$`\psi _0(𝐫)`$ $``$ $`\sqrt{n_0}e^{i\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)},`$ (21)
where the quasicondensate density $`n_0`$ may be considered as a constant, and $`\psi _1`$ is the Gaussian field independent of $`\psi _0`$. Both experiment  and model Monte Carlo simulations  indicate that in 2D systems with $`mU1`$ the quasicondensate correlations appear well above $`T_c`$ and are pronounced at $`T_c`$. Below we show that this is a generic feature of weakly interacting $`|\psi |^4`$-models.

It is convenient to characterize the quasi-condensate properties by the correlator

$$Q=2|\psi |^2^2|\psi |^4.$$
(22)
The Gaussian component of the field obeys the Wick’s theorem and does not contribute to Eq. (22). If, for a moment, by $`\psi _1`$ we understand short-wave harmonics of $`\psi `$, we conclude that only long-wave and strongly non-linear harmonics with the momenta $`kk_c`$ contribute to the correlator $`Q`$, i.e. $`Q\stackrel{~}{n}^2`$. Thus, we expect that all weakly interacting $`|\psi |^4`$-models satisfy

$$Q=C_{}m^2T^2(T=T_c)$$
(23)
in the limit of small $`U`$, where $`C_{}`$ is a universal constant. By definition, $`n_0=\sqrt{Q}`$.

The finite-size and small-$`U`$ analysis of the data for $`Q(U,L)`$ was done in complete analogy with previously discussed cases of $`n_c(U,L)`$ and $`\mu _c(U,L)`$ (see Ref. ). We found that

$$C_{}=1.30\pm 0.02$$
(24)
The ratio between $`n_0(T=T_c)`$ and $`n_c`$ describes how pronounced are the quasicondensate correlations in the Bose gas at the BKT point:

$$\frac{n_0^{(T=T_c)}}{n_c}=\frac{2\pi \sqrt{C_{}}}{\mathrm{ln}(\xi /mU)}=\frac{7.16}{5.94+\mathrm{ln}(1/mU)}.$$
(25)
We see, that it is of order unity unless $`mU`$ is exponentially small. Another interesting ratio is

$$\frac{n_0}{n_s}=\frac{\pi \sqrt{C_{}}}{2}1.79(T=T_c),$$
(26)
which is interaction independent and shows that the superfluid density is substantially smaller than the quasicondensate density at $`T_c`$.

Finally, we would like to derive an accurate estimate for the mode-coupling radius $`r_c`$. In an ideal system $`Q0`$. Hence, $`Q(L)`$ should decrease with decreasing $`L`$, and for system sizes $`Lr_c`$ it has to drop significantly from its thermodynamic value. We rather formally define $`r_c`$ from $`Q(L=r_c)Q(L\mathrm{})/2`$, and from Fig. 2 obtain

$$r_c2/m(UT)^{1/2}.$$
(27)
We conclude by noting that Nelson-Kosterlitz formula (4) and Eqs. (1), (16), and (23) constitute a complete set of equations which allow to fully determine system parameters from measurements with independent cross-checks. We are not aware of another study were dimensionless constants $`\xi `$, $`\xi _\mu `$, and $`C_{}`$ were determined with high precision.

We thank J. Machta and R. Hallock for valuable discussions. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DMR-0071767. BVS acknowledges a support from Russian Foundation for Basic Research under Grant 01-02-16508.


text:
# Behavioral-Independent Features of Complex Heartbeat Dynamics

## Abstract

We test whether the complexity of cardiac interbeat interval time series is simply a consequence of the wide range of scales characterizing human behavior, especially physical activity, by analyzing data taken from healthy adult subjects under three conditions with controls: (i) a “constant routine” protocol where physical activity and postural changes are kept to a minimum, (ii) sympathetic blockade, and (iii) parasympathetic blockade. We find that when fluctuations in physical activity and other behavioral modifiers are minimized, a remarkable level of complexity of heartbeat dynamics remains, while for neuroautonomic blockade the multifractal complexity decreases.

Healthy free-running physiologic systems have complex self-regulating mechanisms which process inputs with a broad range of characteristics , and may generate signals that have scale-invariant dynamics . Many physiologic time series are extremely “patchy” and nonstationary, fluctuating in an irregular and complex manner. This observation suggests that some physiologic signals are sufficiently inhomogeneous that a single fractal exponent may not be sufficient to characterize them.

Time series of healthy human interbeat intervals belong to a special class of complex signals that display multifractal properties . Multifractal signals—such as those generated by binomial multiplicative processes or turbulent fluctuations— can be decomposed into many subsets characterized by different local Hurst  exponents $`h`$, which quantify the local singular behavior and thus relate to the local fractal properties of the time series . The statistical properties of the different subsets characterized by the different exponent values of $`h`$ are quantified by the function $`D(h)`$. Here $`D(h_o)`$ is the fractal dimension of the subset of the original time series characterized by the local Hurst exponent $`h_o`$ . For heart rate time series from healthy individuals, the function $`D(h)`$ is “broad” (implying multifractality), but “narrow” (implying monofractality) for subjects with heart failure , a life-threatening condition.

An intriguing question, with implications for basic signalling and feedback mechanisms, is what gives rise to multifractality in healthy human heartbeat dynamics? Two distinct possibilities can be considered. The first is that the observed multifractality is primarily a consequence of the response of neuroautonomic control mechanisms to activity-related fractal stimuli . If this were the case, then in the absence of such correlated inputs the heartbeat dynamics would not generate such a heterogeneous multifractal output. The second is that the neuroautonomic control mechanisms —in the presence of even weak external noise— endogenously generate multifractal dynamics. Here, we present evidence from three new experiments which supports the latter possibility.

The procedure to calculate the values of $`h`$ and their corresponding fractal dimensions has been described elsewhere . We calculate the experimental $`\tau (q)`$, which is related to $`D(h)`$ through a Legendre transform ,

$$D(h)=q\frac{d\tau (q)}{dq}\tau (q).$$
(1)
We first analyze datasets from six healthy, non-smoking male subjects  (ages: 21–30 yr). We obtained two datasets per subject, the first under constant routine conditions, and the second under usual daily activity conditions . Figure 1a displays the average multifractal spectra $`\tau (q)`$ for the six subjects under both regimens. The nonlinearity of $`\tau (q)`$ does not appear altered by constant routine conditions. Indeed, our analysis indicates that major reductions in external stimulation and physical activity do not reduce the multifractal properties of healthy cardiac dynamics, supporting the hypothesis that the multifractality in healthy heartbeat dynamics is endogenous to the neuroautonomic regulation of the heart rate .

To test the possibility that the multifractality in healthy heartbeat dynamics is related to neuroautonomic control, we analyze data from six subjects  (4 male, 2 female, ages: 21–34 yr) who were administered a beta-blocking drug  which reduces sympathetic control. We analyzed eight datasets from the six subjects from the the second and/or third day of beta-blocker administration . As a control, we also analyzed eight datasets for the same subjects but for the second and/or third day of placebo administration . Figure 2a shows the multifractal spectra for the two groups. The curve for the group corresponding to the administration of the the beta-blocker drug is more linear than that for the control group. This result is consistent with decreased multifractality due to the suppression of sympathetic control (Fig. 2b).

As a further test, we also analyze the multifractal properties of the heartbeat dynamics of healthy individuals who were administered atropine  which suppresses parasympathetic control of the heartbeat. We analyze six datasets from six different healthy males  (ages: 21–26 yr). As a control, we utilize datasets from subjects in the beta-blockade experiment after administration of the placebo. Figure 3a shows the multifractal spectra for the two groups. The curve for the group under parasympathetic blockade is nearly linear —indicating a marked loss of multifractality— even more apparent than with sympathetic blockade (Fig. 3b). These results are consistent with the possibility that multifractality in healthy heartbeat dynamics may arise, at least in part, from the interplay between the two branches of the neuroautonomic system.

The major finding of this study is the strong evidence supporting the idea that (multi)fractality in heartbeat dynamics is related to intrinsic properties of the control mechanisms, and is not simply due to changes in external stimulation, degree of physical activity or other apparent behavioral modifiers—such as postural changes, food intake and sleep-phase transitions (See Table I). Understanding how the interaction of neuroautonomic, and possibly other, control mechanisms generates the complex multiscale dynamics of the heartbeat will be a major challenge to future efforts to model “real-world” signalling mechanisms .

Our results are also of note for a number of other reasons. First, as shown in Figs. 1-3, the singularity spectrum $`D(h)`$ during sympathetic blockade has a narrower range of allowed values of $`h`$ than the singularity spectra for the control groups. However, the position of the peak in $`D(h)`$ during sympathetic blockade is not substantially modified from its position for the same subjects when given a placebo. This suggests that sympathetic blockade may not have a major effect on the linear correlations in the dynamics, that is, it does not change the average Hurst exponent substantially .

Second, we find that during parasympathetic blockade there is a marked loss of multifractality (see Fig. 3b), much as occurs for patients with severe heart failure . Indeed, as with heart failure, the peak of the singularity spectra is located to the right of the healthy control group, indicating weaker anticorrelations . This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that both the monofractality and “weaker” anti-correlations for heart failure dynamics may be related, at least in part, to impaired parasympathetic control in congestive heart failure patients, in agreement with recent studies .

Third, our finding of the impact of neuroautonomic control on the multifractal properties of heart rate variability during waking hours raises the question of how transitions during sleep might affect these properties. The present study using a constant routine protocol was not designed to elucidate this intriguing possibility. Recent reports of differences in heartbeat scaling exponents—related to two-point correlations—between daytime and nighttime hours  and also during different sleep stages  support the need for future investigation of multifractal properties in different physiologic states.

Finally, we note that for many of the systems which generate multifractal signals there are no mathematical equations describing the dynamics, and even for those for which such equations exist, their analytical solution is not feasible. Thus, the understanding and modeling of the intrinsic control mechanisms for heart rate may offer new opportunities to explore multifractal dynamics in the natural sciences .

We thank Y. Ashkenazy, L. Glass, J. M. Hausdorff, S. Havlin, S. Mossa, C.-K. Peng, V. Schulte-Frohlinde, and Z. Struzik for helpful discussions and suggestions. This work was supported by grants from NIH/NCRR (P41 RR13622) , the Fetzer Institute, the Mathers Charitable Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control (H75/CCU119124), the Japan Space Foundation, and a Monbusho Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.

Email: amaral@buphy.bu.edu;
WWW: http://polymer.bu.edu/$``$amaral/Heart.html.


text:
# Compact Symmetric Objects as Radio Flux Density Calibrators

## 1 Introduction

For calibration of interferometric observations, it is generally desirable to employ unresolved calibrator sources. These sources have the advantage of appearing the same to all antenna pairs (visibilities), regardless of baseline length or orientation. Ideally, one would also prefer the flux density of the calibrators to be constant in time in order to facilitate removal of systematic atmospheric or instrumental variations. Calibrators that are unpolarized have added benefits in solving for the instrumental polarization terms.

Unfortunately (from the perspective of calibration) most compact (size $`<`$ 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$1) extragalactic radio sources are highly variable. These sources, which have flat radio spectra, have flux densities that vary by $``$10% on timescales of weeks to months and can easily vary by $``$100% on timescales of months to years (Aller, Hughes, & Aller, 1990). Quirrenbach et al. (1992) found low-amplitude (1–2%) intra-day variability in all flat-spectrum sources, and larger variations (up to 20%) in $``$25% of these sources. VLBI imaging of a large flux-limited sample (Taylor et al., 1996b) reveals that 95% of compact, flat-spectrum sources have asymmetric, core-jet morphologies. The core is generally the dominant component and has a typical size of less than 0.1 mas (under a parsec for typical redshifts). The variability can thus be explained by the short light-crossing time of the emitting volume, and/or refractive interstellar scintillation in the Galactic ISM. The jet components exhibit superluminal motions and are probably moving at relativistic speeds (Vermeulen & Cohen, 1994). Flares in the jet components have also been observed with similar amplitudes and timescales as core flares (Zhou et al., 2000).

There is, however, a small fraction (5%; Peck & Taylor, 2000) of compact sources whose pc-scale structure is dominated by steep-spectrum extended emission on both sides of the core. These sources are known as Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs). Recent measurements of kinematic ages of $``$1000 years (Owsianik & Conway, 1998; Owsianik, Conway, & Polatidis, 1998; Taylor et al., 2000) support the theory that CSOs are small by virtue of their youth and not because they are frustrated by a dense environment. This was the favored interpretation by Phillips & Mutel (1980, 1982) who first drew attention to a group of compact double sources with steep or GHz-peaked spectra and slow motions compared to the majority of core-jet sources. At about the same time, Rudnick & Jones (1982) reported that GHz-peaked spectrum (GPS) sources generally have low variability and low polarization. Although there is some overlap between sources classified as CSOs and those classified as GPS sources, we emphasize that there is no clear correspondence between the two types of sources. In fact, a recent survey of 47 GPS sources found that only 3 could be clearly classified as CSOs (Snellen, Schilizzi, & van Langevelde, 2000). The term GPS is purely a spectral classification while CSO is a physical one, requiring considerably greater observational effort (usually VLBI observations at multiple frequencies) in order to identify the location of the core component and extended jet and/or lobe emission on both sides of the core. Objects with vastly different powers, orientations, and evolutionary stages can be classified as GPS sources, while the CSOs are a much more homogeneous group. The lack of correspondence between GPS and CSO sources is especially important to keep in mind if one is choosing a sample of CSOs as flux density calibrators.

The CSOs have qualities which should make them excellent flux calibrator sources. One is the relative unimportance of the presumably variable core component. For 6 bright CSOs, Taylor, Readhead, & Pearson (1996a) found the core to comprise from $`<`$0.4% to 6% of the integrated flux density at 15 GHz. Another quality is that the jets and lobes of CSOs are thought to be relatively free of Doppler boosting effects (Wilkinson et al., 1994). Thus, flux variations due to flares in the jet components should not be magnified. The physical properties of CSOs have been summarized by Readhead et al. (1996), who pointed out that the few CSOs known at that time exhibited both weak radio variability ($`<`$ 10%) and low polarization ($`<`$ 0.5%). In addition, de Bruyn (1991) reported that the CSO OQ 208 (classification based on the VLBI images by Stanghellini et al., 1997) varied by less than 2% yr-1 over a period of 10 years at 5 GHz. Peck & Taylor (2000) presented 8.4 GHz VLBI observations showing that the polarization was less than 1% in 21 CSOs and CSO candidates. Yet another fortunate property of CSOs for calibration purposes is that they generally exhibit no emission on scales greater than 1 kpc. An exception to this rule is the CSO 0108+388 which has some faint extended emission (Baum et al., 1990). Another exceptional source is the CSO J1148+5924 (NGC 3894) which also has faint kpc-scale emission and has been seen to be slowly variable on timescales of years (Taylor, Wrobel, & Vermeulen, 1998). J1148+5924 is relatively nearby at a redshift of 0.01085 (van Gorkom et al., 1989), and has a luminosity more than two orders of magnitude less than all other members of the CSO class.

In §2 we present observations of seven CSOs used as calibrators in an intensive VLA monitoring campaign. The calibration procedure is described in §3. In §4 and §5 we consider primary and secondary systematic errors which allows us to provide, in §6, a prescription for obtaining high-precision monitoring. Lastly, in §7 we consider how variability studies can be used to constrain physical models for CSOs.

## 2 Observations

The sample observed for this paper consisted of seven CSOs chosen from the samples of Peck & Taylor (2000) and Taylor et al. (1996b). These particular sources were observed as part of a gravitational lens monitoring campaign and were chosen because they were bright and were located in the RA range defined by the lens systems. The sources and their coordinates are listed in Table 1. The observations were made with the VLA111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. at 8.5 GHz during its A, BnA, and B configurations, yielding typical angular resolutions of 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$2 in the A configuration to 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$7 in the B configuration. The monitoring program consisted of 88 observations of the sample between 1999 June 21 and 2000 February 14, giving an average spacing of 2.7 d between epochs. The typical observing block was one or two hours in length, and the typical integration time on each of the CSOs was 45 or 60 sec. For each epoch, some fraction of the CSO sample was observed at a large hour angle, since the CSOs are widely spaced on the sky and the observing blocks were short. In fact, it was not always possible to observe the entire sample of CSOs in an observing block. However, the incomplete sampling should not significantly affect the conclusions of this paper. All of the CSOs were observed at least 68 times, giving quite adequate determinations of their light curves.

In addition to the CSOs and the lens systems, two phase calibrators were observed as part of the monitoring program (Table 2). The typical integration times on the phase calibrators were between 2 and 3 min. These two sources will also be discussed in this paper because they provide a useful contrast to the CSO sample. The lenses will be discussed in a series of future papers. All of the sources discussed in this paper can be found in the list of VLA calibrators maintained by NRAO222http://info.aoc.nrao.edu/$$gtaylor/calib.html.

## 3 Calibration and Data Reduction

The data were calibrated in the AIPS software package developed by NRAO. The standard flux density calibrator 3C 286 was not observed for all epochs, so the overall flux density calibration was instead tied to the source 3C 343 (1634+628). This source has a steep two-point radio spectral index between 1.4 and 8.5 GHz ($`\alpha 1.0;S_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$) and its flux density has been shown to be stable in past monitoring campaigns (Fassnacht et al., 1999). Although the emission from 3C 343 is dominated by the compact central component, there is some low surface-brightness extended emission from the source. Because of the extended emission, 3C 343 is not an ideal flux calibrator. First, the total flux density measured for the source will change with the VLA configuration, since the more compact configurations are more sensitive to the low surface-brightness emission. To correct for this effect, we scaled the 3C 343 flux densities by factors of 0.997 and 0.983 for the BnA and B configurations, respectively. Secondly, the changing $`(u,v)`$ coverage for each monitoring epoch may cause small variations in the measured flux density since different $`(u,v)`$ coverages are sensitive to different source structures. However, these small variations, as well as those caused by the changing observing conditions and any intrinsic variability in 3C 343, can easily be corrected for, as shown in §4.

Because the CSOs in our sample are compact and bright ($`S_{8.5}>200`$ mJy; Table 3), they can be used to determine antenna gain solutions without the need for an external calibrator. For two of the sources, J1035+5628 and J1400+6210, the emission from the source is slightly resolved. Thus, for these two CSOs, the gain solutions were calculated only for baseline lengths that were less than 400 k$`\lambda `$. For all of the other CSOs, all baselines were used. For each CSO, two iterations of the AIPS task CALIB were run. In the first, only the gain phases were solved for, with a solution interval of 10 sec. The phase solutions were applied to the data and then the second iteration of CALIB was performed. In this iteration, both amplitude and phase solutions were obtained, with a solution interval of 30 sec. The phase calibrators were processed in the same manner.

After the data were calibrated, we measured the CSO flux densities using two separate methods. The first method was to use the GETJY task within AIPS, which computes the flux density based on the gain solutions calculated in CALIB. The second method was to export the files from AIPS and to fit models to the $`(u,v)`$ data using the difmap package (Shepherd, 1997). The difmap processing is more flexible in dealing with source structure than the GETJY task. However, since the emission from CSOs is dominated by an unresolved or barely resolved component, the two methods should not greatly differ in the results that they produce. This is, in fact what we see. We compared the GETJY and difmap flux densities for all the CSOs and found that the mean difference in flux density is 0.07%$`\pm `$0.18%. The results presented in this paper are for the difmap flux densities. However, we have also analyzed the data obtained from the GETJY step and find no significant difference in the results.

## 4 Correction for Primary Systematic Errors

To compare the variability of the CSOs in our sample, we normalized the light curves of each CSO by the mean flux density, $`<S_i>`$, recorded for that CSO over the course of the monitoring program. The values of $`N_i`$, the number of observations obtained on source $`i`$, and $`<S_i>`$ are recorded in Table 3. We then defined the normalized light curves, $`S_{i,j}^N`$, as as

$$S_{i,j}^N=\frac{S_{i,j}}{<S_i>},i=1035,1148,1244,1400,1545,1823,1945$$

where $`S_{i,j}`$ is the flux density of source $`i`$ on day $`j`$. The normalized light curves of the seven CSOs are shown in Figure 1. The $`S^N`$ curves show considerable scatter about the mean value of 1.0, up to nearly 10% for some days, and the RMS scatter about the mean for the entire sample is 1.3%. This is a little better than the canonical absolute accuracy of 2% quoted for standard VLA observations. However, a significant portion of the scatter is due to systematic rather than random errors. Although it may not be immediately obvious from the plot, the CSO light curves track each other in the sense that on certain days all of the measured flux densities will be above the mean and on other days all will be below the mean. This behavior results from small errors in the absolute flux density calibration derived from 3C 343, which are due to a combination of errors in the AIPS calibration process (see §3) and the possible small intrinsic variability of the calibrator. The same effect is seen, perhaps more clearly, in the steep-spectrum source light curves shown in Fassnacht et al. (1999), for which the absolute flux density calibration was derived from 3C 286. We have to remove the calibration errors in order to evaluate properly the variability of the CSO sample.

Fortunately, the data themselves contain the information necessary to correct for the systematic errors in the flux density calibration. We assume that any intrinsic variability in our sample of CSOs is not correlated from source to source. Thus, any correlated variations in the light curves, such as the large variations seen on days 1481 and 1523.5 in Figure 1, must be due to systematic errors in the absolute flux density calibration. To correct for the flux calibration errors, we construct a light curve, $`M^{(1)}`$, that represents our estimate of the effect of those errors. This curve is simply the median of the normalized CSO flux densities recorded for each epoch, i.e.,

$$M_j^{(1)}=\mathrm{median}(S_{i,j}^N).$$

The resulting $`M^{(1)}`$ curve is represented by the dark line in Figure 1. We then divide the CSO light curves by the median curve to perform the correction. The median-corrected light curves,

$$S_{i,j}^M=\frac{S^Ni,j}{M_j^{(1)}},$$

are shown in Figure 2. The variability in the corrected light curves is now due to small, uncorrelated variations about their mean values. The RMS offsets from the mean are given in the “$`M^{(1)}`$ RMS” column of Table 3. The total RMS of the sample as a whole is 0.99%.

## 5 Secondary Systematic Errors

Table 3 shows that the sources J1823+7938 and J1945+7055 have nearly double the RMS scatter of the other CSOs in the sample. This can also be seen in the plot in Figure 2 where the J1823+7938 (+) and J1945+7055 (\*) points are clearly visible above the sample scatter, especially in the B-configuration data. On the face of it, these variations are small and would not be a cause for worry. However, upon closer examination of the light curves, it becomes apparent that there is an additional systematic error affecting the light curves of these two sources. The presence of the additional error is also clearly evident when we calculate the linear correlation coefficient (e.g., Bevington, 1969) between all the possible pairs of the CSO light curves. We show the effect of this error in Figure 3, in which only the light curves of J1823+7938 and J1945+7055, i.e., $`S_{1823}^M`$ and $`S_{1945}^M`$, are plotted. Not only do the light curves show a larger scatter than the other CSO curves, but the deviations from the mean appear to be correlated. The light curves track each other very closely, especially in the large variations seen in the B-configuration data. We have not been able to determine the cause of this secondary systematic error. For example, the flux densities measured for these two sources are not correlated with either the elevation of the CSO at the time of observation, or the difference in elevation between the flux calibrator (3C 343) and the CSO. We do note that these CSOs are the two most northern in the sample, both with $`\delta >70^{}`$, but we do not know of any property of the VLA that would only affect far northern sources. We have considered the possibility that this error could be due to a systematic problem with the pointing model, but we have found no other evidence in the long history of VLA pointing runs to support this conclusion. Because we cannot determine the source of this systematic effect, we do not correct for it. As a result, the RMS variations listed in Table 3 for these two sources should be regarded as upper limits to their true intrinsic level of variability. For the remainder of our discussion of the CSO sample we will discard J1823+7938 and J1945+7055.

Although it is unlikely that systematic errors with the pointing models can account for the correlated behavior of the light curves for J1823+7938 and J1945+7055, it may be that small pointing errors are introducing some of the scatter observed in the CSO light curves. It is possible to calculate corrections to the VLA antenna pointing models through specialized observations of strong compact sources prior to observing the sources of interest. However, these corrections need to be re-calculated each time the antennas make a significant move. Due to the wide spacing of our CSO sample on the sky and the short observing blocks, we did not have sufficient time to make the additional observations necessary to calculate these corrections. Future programs to study CSO variability should strongly consider allocating time in their programs specifically for determining the pointing solution corrections. It should be possible to use observations of the CSOs themselves to determine the corrections.

## 6 Final Light Curves and a Prescription for High-Precision Radio Monitoring

To create the final CSO light curves, we discarded the data from J1823+7938 and J1945+7055 and then used the light curves of the remaining five CSOs to create a new correction curve, $`M^{(2)}`$. Because the sources contributing the bulk of the outlier points had been discarded, we created the $`M^{(2)}`$ curve from the mean of the normalized light curves rather than their median, i.e.,

$$M_j^{(2)}=\frac{_i(S_{i,j}^N)}{N_j},i=1035,1148,1244,1400,1545$$

where $`N_j`$ is the number of CSOs that were observed on day $`j`$. The final corrected light curves,

$$S_{i,j}^{\mathrm{final}}=\frac{S_{i,j}^N}{M_j^{(2)}}$$

are shown in Figure 4.

It is now possible to estimate the intrinsic variability of the CSOs from the final light curves. In principle, the RMS scatter of the $`S^{\mathrm{final}}`$ curves gives an estimate of the variability of the sources. However, it is important to realize that the division of the input $`S^N`$ curves by the $`M^{(2)}`$ light curve is an operation on two correlated quantities. That is, each point in the $`S^N`$ curves gets scaled by a quantity that includes a contribution from itself. As a result, the division by the $`M^{(2)}`$ curve has the effect, on average, of depressing the measured RMS of the $`S^{\mathrm{final}}`$ curves below their true intrinsic scatter. We have estimated the correction for this effect, in a statistical sense, by using the measured RMS scatter in the $`S^{\mathrm{final}}`$ curves. The measured and corrected RMS scatters for each source are given in the “$`M^{(2)}`$ RMS” and “Intrinsic RMS” columns of Table 3, respectively. The maximum correction is only $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ RMS=$`+`$0.15% and, thus, our conclusion that the CSOs have extremely stable flux densities does not change. Whether we use the “$`M^{(2)}`$” or “Intrinsic” values for the RMS variability of the CSOs, we find that the mean RMS scatter for the five CSOs is $``$0.7%. This is the same value obtained by considering the combined sample of CSOs to be one distribution and calculating its RMS scatter about the mean. Finally, we note that the estimated intrinsic variabilities that we have derived above may still include unknown systematic errors and thus should be regarded as upper limits.

The CSO light curves can be contrasted with those of the phase calibrators, both of which are core-jet sources on the parsec scale (Fey & Charlot, 1997), shown in Figure 5. The core-jet light curves have been processed in the same manner as the CSO light curves, including the correction with the $`M^{(2)}`$ curve. Not only do the core-jet calibrator curves have a higher RMS scatter than do the CSO light curves (Table 4), but the nature of the core-jet light curves is qualitatively different from those of the CSOs. Instead of random scatter about the mean value, the core-jet sources show systematic changes in flux density during the course of the observations, indicating true variability at the level of nearly 10%. They also exhibit variability from 2–5% from epoch to epoch.

Given the nature of the CSO light curves, which show only small and random variations about a mean value, we conclude that the CSO sources should make excellent flux density calibrators for radio monitoring campaigns. If high-precision relative calibration is desired, we recommend that at least four CSOs be observed in each epoch, if possible. With this observing strategy, it should be possible to account correctly for systematic errors in the overall flux density calibration. In addition, having at least four CSO calibrators enables the rejection of any one of the calibrators if something adversely affects its measured flux density, for either the entire monitoring campaign or a single epoch. We emphasize, again, that CSOs should not be equated with GPS sources, especially for the purpose of flux density calibration.

## 7 Physical Constraints on CSOs from Variability

The average variability for five CSOs is 0.7%, excluding the two high-declination sources J1823+7938 and J1945+7055. This average value doubtless includes some, as yet poorly understood, residual systematic errors. Until such a time as we can demonstrate reproducible flux density measurement with less scatter, this value should be considered an upper limit on the true variability of CSOs. Even so we can use this limit to estimate the fraction of the luminosity coming from a compact core, and eventually to constrain the evolution of CSOs.

The total variability of core-jet sources is typically $``$3% (Quirrenbach et al., 1992, also see Figure 5). Taking an average core fraction of 0.6 from VLBI observations (Taylor et al., 1996b), we can estimate the real variability of the core components to be $``$5%. If the core components in CSOs behave similarly then we could use the observed variability of 0.7% to estimate that the core fraction in CSOs to be $``$0.14. In fact a more typical estimate from VLBI images is 0.03 (Taylor et al., 1996a). Both the CSO variability and the typical core fraction are derived from small samples with only one source in common (J1400+6210). However, assuming that they are still indicative of the average properties we can conclude that the core components in CSOs are a factor 5 less variable than cores in core-jet sources. This could indicate that the less-beamed cores are physically larger in CSOs and therefore much less affected by refractive interstellar scattering in the ISM.

Readhead et al. (1996) derive empirical relationships for the evolution of of powerful radio galaxies from the CSO phase into classical double radio galaxies like Cygnus A. They find evidence for a modest decrease in luminosity, $`L`$, as the radio source grows in size, $`r`$, according to $`Lr^q`$ where $`q=0.35`$. Current estimates of the hot spot advance speed in CSOs is 0.1c (Owsianik & Conway, 1998; Taylor et al., 2000). In 1 year a typical CSO, of size $``$100 ly, will grow by 0.2 ly, or 0.2%. The predicted change in luminosity is $``$0.07% yr-1. Our current measurements range from $``$2.6 to 1.3% yr-1, with an average value of $``$0.42% yr-1 and an RMS of 1.7% yr-1. To provide an adequate test of the empirical relations proposed by Readhead et al. (1996) will require an order of magnitude improvement in the measured variations. Observations of the sort reported here, spread out over $``$200 days are unlikely to achieve this with currently available instruments. With fiber optic transmission, a new correlator, and additional antennas in the southwest, the Expanded VLA (EVLA) should have both increased stability and the capability of using a subarray comprised of antennas in the southwest US to monitor gravitational lenses and CSOs with high resolution for the $``$3 years needed to achieve the desired accuracy.

## 8 Summary

We monitored a sample of seven CSOs with the VLA over the course of eight months. The flux densities of all of the sources were very stable, with only small measured variations about their mean value. We find that five of the CSOs have RMS variations of less than 1%. For these sources the average measured RMS is 0.7% and the RMS variability of the sample as a whole is also 0.7%. For the remaining two CSOs we estimate upper limits on the RMS variability of 1.5% or less. We conclude that CSOs, in general, are flux stable on time scales between 1 week and 10 months. Given this stability, they are excellent flux density calibrators for monitoring experiments. For a high precision experiment, we recommend that at least four of these CSOs be included in the observations.

For useful discussions, we thank Neal Miller, Stefano Casertano, Tim Pearson, Alison Peck, Lori Lubin, Steve Myers, Frazer Owen, Rick Perley, Adam Riess, and Ken Sowinski. We are grateful to Leon Koopmans, David Rusin, and Emily Xanthopoulos for help in choosing the CSO sample and in planning the observations. We thank the anonymous referee for suggestions that improved the paper. Meri Stanley, Jason Wurnig, and Ken Hartley did their usual excellent job in checking over the observing schedules and catching mistakes. We thank the NRAO staff for keeping the VLA running smoothly.