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# New infrared star clusters and candidates in the Galaxy detected with 2MASS

## 1 Introduction

The digital Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) infrared atlas (Skrutskie et al. skru (1997) – web interface http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/) can provide a wealth of new objects for future studies with large telescopes, a role similar to that played in the optical by the Palomar and ESO/SERC Schmidt plate Atlases in past decades. Regarding Galactic IR star clusters two basic classes can be identified in the 2MASS survey: (i) resolved embedded clusters in nearby complexes such as those in Perseus, Orion and MonR2 which were studied by means of star counts (Carpenter carp1 (2000)), and (ii) partly resolved clusters or candidates located in more distant parts of the Galaxy, such as towards the Centre (Dutra & Bica 2000a , hereafter Paper I).

As the IR search for new objects progresses, it is worth recalling how the development of overall optical catalogues of similar objects occurred. For comparison purposes, no survey or search of optical star clusters and nebulae has ever been complete. The samples currently available in overall optical catalogues arise from many contributions, and in the following we mention some examples. The open cluster catalogues as compiled by Alter et al. (alt (1970)) and Lyngå (lyng (1987)) had major contributions from short communications including small lists of newly found objects. Despite a systematic search for faint clusters on the Palomar plates like that generating the Berkeley clusters (Setteducati & Weaver set (1962)), or the individual lists which generated the ESO catalogue (Lauberts lau (1982) and references therein), until quite recently new star clusters and candidates both on the Palomar and ESO/SERC Schmidt plates could still be found (e.g. the 6 new objects in Saurer et al. sau (1994)). All catalogues of open stellar clusters are biased in one way or the other, and their statistical value is uncertain. Concerning optical nebulae, the northern/equatorial Sh2 catalogue (Sharpless sha (1959)) had important complementary contributions, e.g. the BFS objects (Blitz et al. bfs (1982)). In the Magellanic Clouds the same process has taken place over decades (e.g. Bica & Dutra bic3 (2000), Bica et al. bic2 (1999) and references therein).

In the present study we make use of the 2MASS survey in the J (1.25$`\mu `$m), H (1.65$`\mu `$m) and Ks (2.17$`\mu `$m) bands to search for new IR star clusters in the Galaxy, in particular towards the Cygnus X region. In Sect. 2 we discuss the search criteria and present the results. In Sect. 3 we discuss the angular distribution of the sample and preliminary implications of the cluster detections, as well as of some newly found dark and bright nebulae. Finally, the concluding remarks are given in Sect. 4.

## 2 Search for IR star clusters and candidates in the 2MASS Atlas

The search was carried out in selected 2MASS areas with evidence of star formation, while that of Paper I was systematic in a specific area. The selection follows procedures for cross-identifications and new detections of extended objects as outlined in Bica & Schmidt (bic (1995)) and Bica et al. (bic2 (1999)).

The JHKs images were obtained by means of the 2MASS Survey Visualization & Image Server facility in the web interface http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/. The Ks band allows one to probe deeper in more absorbed regions, and the J and H bands were used mostly as control images for the presence of bright stars, and as comparisons to estimate how reddened the objects could be, and what to expect in optical bands. We also checked for possible optical counterparts using 1st (DSS) and 2nd (XDSS) generation digitized sky survey extractions. In the generated sky charts we were also guided by the presence of IRAS sources in general (Beichman et al. bei (1988)) and/or ultracompact H II regions (Kurtz et al. kur (1994)). We also checked the objects for possible relationship to dark nebulae (Lynds lyn (1962)). For some objects the absorption is patchy even in the $`K_s`$ band, so that one cannot rule out the possibility of an enhancement of field stars – a small dust window.

The present work was not exhaustive and it is not intended to be complete in any sense in the currently available 2MASS second incremental release Atlas areas. Nevertheless, some preliminary detection rates can be inferred in view of future searches. We focused our attention mainly on the Cygnus X area, but we also continued the exploration of central directions in the Galaxy, as well as some other samplings along the disk.

### 2.1 Targets in Cygnus X

In the Cygnus X area we concentrated efforts on the large angular size continuum sources (Downes & Rinehart dori (1966), Wendker wen (1970)), thus avoiding many small discrete sources related to the thermal emission fine structure (Wendker et al. wen3 (1991)). Indeed, optical H II regions often show embedded clusters which are small with respect to the overall emission extent and detailed structure of the complex. Out of the 21 DR sources 11 are now known to harbour a star cluster or stellar aggregate (Sect. 3.1). Wendker’s (wen (1970)) continuum sources basically include those in Downes & Rinehart (dori (1966)), and several of the additional clusters and aggregates in the area (Table 1, Sect. 3.1) are related to them. Excluding those related to DR sources, the cluster and aggregate detection rate is $``$1:4 for the remaining Wendker (wen (1970)) sources, which in turn suggests that most of the remaining radio continuum sources are related to the details of the continuum distribution, like thermal shells from individual massive stars, ridges and some non-thermal sources. Alternatively, some non-detections might be due to high Ks absorptions for deeply embedded clusters in dense molecular cores as seen in isolated relatively high Galactic latitute complexes (Dutra & Bica 2000b  and references therein).

### 2.2 Targets in central parts of the Galaxy

Towards the central parts of the Galaxy we based our search mostly on the radio continuum catalogue by Kuchar & Clark (kuc (1997)), and the radio recombination line catalogues by Caswell & Haynes (cas (1987)) and Lockman (loc (1989)). For such directions a preliminary estimate suggests that stellar enhancements in the Ks band are detectable for 1:5 radio HII regions. This might be explained by important intervening dust contributions for such directions (Dutra & Bica 2000b ), combined to the internal absorption arising from the cluster dust complex itself. Star crowding is an additional difficulty as compared to the Cygnus X region.

### 2.3 Targets along the Disk

Towards the anticentre and southern Milky Way the search was mostly aimed at a few specific entries from optical nebula catalogues (Sharpless et al. sha (1959), Rodgers et al. rcw (1960), Blitz et al. bfs (1982)). Some of these H II regions or complexes have known optical open clusters, e.g. Tr 14, Tr 16 and their neighbours in the $`\eta `$ Carinae Complex (Feinstein fei (1982), Vázquez et al. vaz (1996) and references therein), or the IR massive central star cluster in the RCW 38 Complex as recently shown in detail by means of VLT/ISAAC imaging (Moorwood et al. moor (1998)). In the present study one additional cluster was detected in each of these optical complexes (Sect. 3.3). Perhaps the best example of detection possibilities in optical H II regions is the Sh2-254/258 Complex. Five prominent discrete H II regions led to 4 IR clusters, only one was previously reported (Sect. 3.3).

### 2.4 Results

A total of 42 newly detected IR star clusters, stellar groups and candidates are given in Table 1. By columns: (1) a running number identification, (2) and (3) Galactic coordinates, (4) and (5) J2000.0 equatorial positions, (6) and (7) major and minor angular dimensions, and (8) remarks such as degree of resolution, classification, duplicity, and related nebulae and other sources. We distinguish star clusters from less populous and/or less dense possible physical systems, which are referred to as stellar groups. Angular diameters of the objects in Table 1 are typically 1–2, thus suitable for deep images in large telescopes.

We illustrate in Fig. 1 the object 13 from Table 1, which is the IR resolved star cluster in the HII region DR 22 in Cygnus X. This cluster is surrounded by a related sparse group of stars (object 14). Recently an IR stellar group or aggregate was discussed in the HII/photodissociation region DR 18 in Cygnus X (Comerón & Torra com (1999)). A newly found IR nebula ($`\alpha `$(2000) = 20h 39m 25.9s,$`\delta `$(2000) = 41 20 02′′) is also present in Fig. 1. In this nebula no candidate cluster was detected, since in the 2MASS J image a single bright star is centred in the nebula. A similar IR nebula was studied by Comerón & Torra (com (1999)) in DR 18. The candidate clusters in Table 1 are predominantly unresolved objects and/or much embedded in nebulae in the IR bands. Fig. 2 illustrates the case of Object 40, which is related to the radio H II region G353.4-0.4.

## 3 Discussion

### 3.1 Cygnus X

The Galactic longitude distribution in Table 1 indicates many new objects around l$``$ 80 which corresponds to the Local Arm plunge into Cygnus. We have extensively surveyed this region with 2MASS which corresponds to the HII region/molecular complexes collectively known as Cygnus X (Downes & Rinehart dori (1966)). The direction of Cygnus X is very complex. By increasing the angular resolution the number of discrete radio continuum sources increased from about 20 in Downes & Rinehart’s study to nearly 800 in Wendker (wen2 (1984)). Recombination lines (e.g. Piepenbrink & Wendker pie (1988)) show that most sources are related to the Local Arm, but owing to the tangent orientation, kinematical distances basically cannot be inferred for d $`<`$ 3 kpc. The association Cyg OB2 is projected near the centre of Cygnus X and a fundamental question is whether a coherent local physical phenomenon relates all these structures or whether they are simply line-of-sight projections (Wendker et al. wen3 (1991), Odenwald & Schwartz ode (1993), and references therein). Cyg OB2 itself is an unusually rich and compact association (Knödlseder kno (2000)). The depth structure of Cygnus X is not yet known in detail, but available estimates as reviewed by Odenwald & Schwartz (ode (1993)) point to significant effects (0.7 $`<`$ d $`<`$ 2.5 kpc or more).

The angular distribution of Table 1 objects in the Cygnus X area (Fig. 3) is more elongated in longitude than in latitude (3:1). Assuming an average distance of 1.6 kpc, the objects are distributed along a region of $``$ 250 $`\times `$ 85 pc. This size is comparable to those of the largest OB associations, but the total number of 25 IR star clusters and stellar groups is remarkable. The new objects are 19, while previously known in the area were 6: (i) W 75S (or DR 21) IR cluster (Hodapp hod (1994)), (ii) W 75N IR cluster (Moore et al. moo (1988), Hodapp hod (1994)); (iii) Sh2-106 IR cluster (Hodapp & Rayner hod2 (1991)), (iv) IRAS 20188+3928 IR Cluster (Hodapp hod (1994)), (v) BD +404124 stellar aggregate (Hillenbrand et al. hil (1995)), (vi) DR 18 stellar aggregate (Comerón & Torra com (1999)).

Embedded clusters can occur in pairs or triplets (e.g. NGC 1333NE and NGC 1333SW IR clusters – Lada et al. lad (1996), and the subclusterings A, B and C of IRAS 20050+2720 – Chen et al. che (1997)). Combining new and previous IR clusters and stellar groups in Cygnus X there occur 3 pairs: (i) IR cluster 17 and IR stellar group 18, (ii) W 75S IR cluster and IR stellar group 19, and (iii) W 75N IR cluster and IR cluster 20. Of 19 single and 3 double embedded IR clusters and stellar groups we derive a binary frequency of 14% for Cygnus X. This frequency probably reflects star formation and subsequent early dynamical evolution from multiple molecular cores, in a potential dominated by dust and gas.

Despite telescope aperture and seeing limitations with respect to the properties of Cygnus X clusters, the 2MASS Point Source Catalogue (http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/applications/CatScan/) can provide a preliminary diagnosis on depth effects. We extracted all stars in equal areas for the cluster and offset field, and produced Ks $`\times `$ (J-Ks) CMDs. According to the 2MASS extractions the photometric errors are approximately $`ϵ`$Ks = 0.03 and $`ϵ`$(J-Ks) = 0.05 at Ks = 12.45 (typical 10th brightest star level). Close to the detection level at Ks = 15.0 the errors increase to $`ϵ`$Ks = 0.18 and $`ϵ`$(J-Ks) = 0.26. The apertures were circular with diameter equal to the major axis (Table 1). We illustrate in Fig. 4 the CMDs of the clusters in DR22 and DR17, together with their respective fields. A significant contrast occurs between the CMDs of cluster and field areas. The colour distribution in a cluster CMDs is wide (W(J-Ks) $``$ 1.6 mag), as a result of differential reddening and photometric errors. For 7 objects in the Cygnus X area the CMD constrast allowed parameter estimates, for which designations and related nebula are indicated in Table 2 (columns 1 and 2, respectively). The remaining objects are affected by nebulosity, crowding and/or the possibility of too faint member stars.

We measured the colour of the upper Main Sequence (column 3 of Table 2) and the magnitude of the 10th brightest star in the cluster (J-Ks) strip (column 4 of Table 2). This minimizes field contamination and stellar evolution effects for massive stars. The objects are assumed to be very young embedded clusters, but the results will not change much for relatively evolved clusters up to 6-7 Myr, as long as the 10th brightest star belongs to the MS. Indeed, far infrared and radio observations (Odenwald et al. ode2 (1986)) suggested ages younger than 0.1 Myr in DR 6 and DR 7, which are predicted to be powered by late O and early B stars, and DR 22 by an O6 ZAMS star. As (J, Ks) template we built a 2MASS CMD of NGC 6910, which is itself projected on the eastern side of Cygnus X. It has an age of 6.5 Myr, a reddening value E(B-V) = 1.02, an absolute distance modulus (m-M)o = 11.2 and a distance from the Sun d = 1.74 kpc (Delgado & Alfaro del (2000)).

We use the extinction curve by Cardelli et al. (car (1989)) with total-to-selective absorption RV = 3.1, the K and Ks filter transmissions (Persson et al. per (1998)) and AK = 0.618 E(J-K) (Mathis mat (1990)) to derive the relations AK/AV = 0.112, A$`_{K_s}`$/AV = 0.118 and A$`_{K_s}`$=0.670 E(J-Ks). The reddening and distance estimates for each cluster were obtained by comparison of the upper Main Sequence colour and 10th brightest star Ks magnitude in the CMDs of the cluster and the template. Column 5 and 6 of Table 2 list the upper Main Sequence colour difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$(J-Ks) with respect to the template (in the sense NGC 6910 - Object), and the resulting reddening, respectively. The resulting absolute distance modulus and distance are given in columns 7 and 8, respectively. The 10th brightest star in the template cluster NGC 6910 corresponds to an absolute magnitude M$`_{K_s}`$ = 0.07. Deeply embedded regions tend to have RV values higher than the standard one (e.g. Comerón & Torra (com (1999)) and references therein). Nevertheless the use of infrared bands minimizes reddening uncertainties. The upper Main Sequence colour half width W(J-Ks)/2 = 0.8 (Fig. 4) converts to absorption error $`ϵ`$(A$`_{K_s}`$) = $`\pm `$0.54 which in turn gives a distance error $``$ $`\pm `$0.4 kpc at d $``$ 1.5 kpc.

The Cygnus X clusters in Table 2 are in the range 1.0 $`<`$ d(kpc) $`<`$ 1.8, with an average distance d $``$ 1.36 $`\pm `$0.29 kpc. The values suggest a depth of 800 pc. The resulting linear ratios along major and minor axes (along the sky at the derived average distance), and depth are 3:1:11. The objects are at a comparable distance or foreground to NGC 6910, and Cyg OB2 also estimated to be located at d $``$ 1.7 kpc (Massey & Thompson mas (1991)). The derived distance range for Cygnus X suggests a more compact distribution than previous estimates, but still larger than the largest OB associations. At least part of it could be consistent with star formation arising from a local coherent physical event, probably related to Cyg OB2 and NGC 6910. Deep photometry for the present clusters (Table 2) and the additional ones in the Cygnus X direction (Table 1), coupled to high quality spectroscopy for the knowledge of spectral types, may shed further light on the depth issue and history of star formation in the area.

### 3.2 Galactic Centre

Table 1 contains 7 new IR clusters or candidates towards the central areas of the Galaxy. The angular distribution of the previous literature and present objects is shown in Fig. 5. Most of them are outside the 5 radius region which converts to $``$ 600 pc at the distance of the Galactic centre. Two new objects are located within 600 pc, totaling now 60 cluster candidates. The asymmetry of the distribution with respect to the Galactic Nucleus in Fig. 1 is probably an artifact since the region 356 $`<`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ () $`<`$ 359 has not yet been systematically surveyed. Added to the candidates are the well-known central clusters: Arches (Nagata et al. nag2 (1993), nag3 (1995)), Quintuplet (Nagata et al. nag (1990), Glass et al. gla (1990)) and the Young Nuclear Cluster of He I stars (Krabbe et al. kra (1991)). Recently, the latter object was suggested to be the remains of a dissolved young cluster (Gerhard ort (2001)).

During the present study and Paper I we serendipitously came across with prominent dark clouds which are opaque in the $`K_s`$ band. The clouds are listed in Table 3. Clouds 1, 2 and 5 have larger angular dimensions and are possibly related to intervening H II regions. The dust clouds 3 and 4 are compact with small angular dimensions and are thus candidates to nuclear molecular clouds. Nevertheless, they cannot be ruled out as nearby foreground globules based solely on the images. At any rate, from the dense dust clouds seen in the $`K_s`$ band projected onto the bulk of the central bulge/disk stellar population, one can infer that a new generation of massive clusters may form in the central disk.

Recently, Portegies Zwart et al. (por (2001)) carried out numerical simulations of the dynamical evolution of massive star clusters within $``$200 pc of the Galactic Centre. They concluded that the tidal dissolution time is $``$70 Myr, but close to the Galactic centre their projected densities drop below the background density within $``$ 20 Myr. They estimated that the region within 200 pc could easily harbour as many as 50 massive clusters. Within a circular region with r $`<`$ 1.6, or 200 pc assuming a Galactic Center distance d = 8 kpc (Reid rei (1993)), there are 31 clusters or candidates in Fig. 5, thus consistent with the model expectations by Portegies Zwart et al. (por (2001)), taking into account observational and theoretical uncertainties.

In the following we discuss in more detail the objects probably related to an edge-on central disk. The region within $`|\mathrm{}|`$ = 1.6 and $`|b|`$ = 0.5 (Fig. 5) is now relatively well surveyed considering the 3 well-known central clusters, Paper I and the present study samples. It converts to an edge-on cylinder of radius r $``$ 200 pc and distance from the plane $`|z|`$ = 63 pc, where 17 clusters or candidates are projected. From these objects, candidates 1, 17 and 31 (Paper I) are apparently not related to any H II region and might be clusters in the density contrast/tidal survival age ranges $``$7-20 Myr or $``$ 7-70 Myr. Candidate 58 is possibly related to Sh2-17, and candidates 4, 5 and 6 to Sh2-20. Consequently they are suspected to be intervening objects, and were excluded. The age of the Quintuplet Cluster is $``$ 4 Myr (Figer et al. fig (1999)), and similar ages can be inferred from the properties of massive stars in the Arches cluster (Lang et al. lan (2001)) and the Young Nuclear cluster (Gerhard ort (2001), Krabbe et al. kra (1991)). The candidates 26 and 52 are possibly related to the radio H II region Complexes Sgr D and Sgr E (Liszt lis (1992)), respectively. Candidates 53, 54 and 55 are possibly related to the radio source G359.54+0.18, candidate 56 to G359.7-0.4, and the present object 42 (Table 1) to G359.3-0.3. Assuming an H II region duration of $``$5 Myr these 10 possible massive clusters imply a formation rate of 2 clusters Myr-1 in the central disk of radius 200 pc.

If the dark clouds 3 and 4 in Table 3 are able to form a massive cluster in the coming Myr, they would provide the same rate of cluster formation in the central disk as that derived from the ionising clusters above.

### 3.3 Objects throughout the disk

Several new IR clusters are reported in Table 1 for the anticentre region. In particular 3 new IR clusters are related respectively to the H II regions Sh2-254, Sh2-256 and Sh2-258. These H II regions form a complex together with Sh2-255 and Sh2-257, which are lobes of the bipolar H II region IC 2162. The most prominent IR cluster in the complex Sh2-254/258 was reported by Hodapp (1994) and it is located between the two lobes. The complex now contains 4 clusters and a designation IC 2162 IR cluster or Sh2-255/257 IR cluster is more suitable.

In Table 1 two additional pairs occur: (i) the IR cluster 33 and the stellar group 34, (ii) the IR cluster 24 and Sh2-233SE IR cluster (Hodapp hod (1994)). Two IR clusters are related to optical reflection nebulae: vdBH-RN26 and vdBH-RN43 (van den Bergh & Herbst van (1975)). The former appears to be related to the $`\eta `$ Carinae Complex, and the second to the RCW 38 Complex. They are located in the outskirts of the complexes, and if physically related to them, they would imply formation of less massive star clusters, still embedded in their dust, which have not formed a massive ionising star.

## 4 Concluding remarks

A new sample of 42 IR star clusters, stellar groups and candidates was found on the 2MASS Atlas, together with 1 bright nebula and 5 dark nebulae. Most of the objects are in the Cygnus X area, where a census of embedded clusters and stellar groups appears to be significant now, with 25 entries. A binary frequency among physical stellar groups of 14% was obtained in Cygnus X. Distances were estimated for 7 Cygnus X clusters, providing a depth of $``$ 800 pc. Such range suggests line-of-sight projections, but it is not excluded that part of that is coherently connected to the Cyg OB2 formation event and subsequent interaction with the surrounding medium.

We found 7 new IR clusters and candidates towards the central parts of the Galaxy. The census of IR clusters and candidates towards these central parts is $``$60 within 600 pc, and 31 within 200 pc. These numbers are within expectations for the number of central massive star clusters in terms of formation rate and tidal survival in the central parts of the Galaxy (Portegies Zwart et al. por (2001)). Opaque dark clouds in the 2MASS KS images of the central parts of the Galaxy led to molecular cloud candidates, perhaps able to form the next generation of massive nuclear star clusters.

Efforts like the present one to identify and determine accurate positions for new embedded star clusters are crucial for observational purposes, since radio HII regions can be so much reddened that in many cases they remain undetectable even in the K band. Positive detections by means of 2MASS can spare observing time in large telescopes, and can shed more light on the population of young embedded clusters in molecular complexes, and clusters in general which are embedded in the Galactic plane.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the referee Dr. Fernando Comerón for interesting remarks. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. We employed catalogues from CDS/Simbad (Strasbourg) and Digitized Sky Survey images from the Space Telescope Science Institute (U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166) obtained using the extraction tool from CADC (Canada). We acknowledge support from the Brazilian institution CNPq.


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# A fresh look at 3D microwave ionization curves of hydrogen Rydberg atoms

## Abstract

Analytical arguments and numerical simulations suggest that the shapes of 3D microwave ionization curves measured by Koch and collaborators (see P. M. Koch and K. A. H. van Leeuwen, Phys. Rep. 255, 289 (1995)) depend only weakly on the angular momentum of the atoms in the initial microcanonical ensemble, but strongly on the principal quantum number and the magnetic quantum number. Based on this insight, coupled with the computational power of a high-end 60-node Beowulf PC cluster, we present the first 3D quantum calculations of microwave ionization curves in the experimentally relevant parameter regime.

When Bayfield and Koch first reported their microwave ionization experiments  the results were puzzling and appeared to be in complete contradiction with Einstein’s theory of the photoelectric effect: the experiments showed sharp ionization thresholds as a function of the field strength, not the frequency, as one might have expected. After initial confusion and unsuccessful attempts to explain the results within the framework of multiphoton theory , classical molecular dynamics calculations  and classical chaos theory  emerged as the first theories capable of providing physical insight into the most pertinent features of the ionization mechanism. Thus, about a decade after the seminal experiments by Bayfield and Koch the reason for the surprising behavior of the hydrogen atom in a strong microwave field was finally discovered: chaos. By now it is firmly established that the hydrogen atom in a strong microwave field is a classically chaotic system . Since nowadays quantum systems chaotic in their classical limit are called “quantum chaotic” , the Bayfield and Koch experiments were the first quantum chaos experiments.

After an initial flurry of activity in the field of microwave ionization of hydrogen Rydberg atoms in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, progress slowed down considerably. This is mainly due to the fact that neither the original Bayfield and Koch experiment , nor the successor experiments by Koch and collaborators at Stony Brook  are fully quantum number resolved experiments. Only the principal quantum number of the Rydberg atoms is known before the atoms are irradiated by the microwave field . This renders these experiments effectively three-dimensional (3D), which poses formidable problems for classical and quantum theory alike. Based on new insight into the ionization mechanism of 3D hydrogen atoms and aided by a 60-node Beowulf cluster computer built by the authors at Wesleyan University , it has only recently become possible to approach the 3D microwave ionization problem of hydrogen Rydberg atoms in the experimentally relevant parameter regime . In this paper we report the results of the first three-way comparison between experiment, 3D classical and 3D quantum theory for microwave ionization curves of $`n_0=37`$ hydrogen Rydberg atoms.

The experiments are done in the following way : protons are generated in a plasma ion source and accelerated to an energy of about 14 keV. In a charge exchange cell they pick up an electron which is subsequently excited into a high $`n_0`$ Rydberg state ($`n_0=24,\mathrm{},90`$). Following this preparation stage the atoms fly towards a microwave cavity. On their way to the cavity the atoms experience stray electric and magnetic fields. No controlled, state-defining electric or magnetic fields are switched on. The stray fields are not strong enough to change the principal quantum number of the atoms, but strong enough to produce a statistical mixture of the substates of the hydrogenic atomic shell defined by the principal quantum number $`n_0`$. This statistical mixture was demonstrated to be consistent with a micro-canonical ensemble , i.e. all angular momentum quantum numbers ($`l_0`$) and magnetic quantum numbers ($`m_0`$) occur with equal probability in the initial ensemble.

Thus prepared the atoms fly into a cylindrical microwave cavity where they experience a total of about 500 cycles of a $`9.92`$GHz microwave field linearly polarized along the beam axis and operated in the TM020 mode. The linear polarization is an important boon for classical and quantum calculations. It means that $`m`$ is a good quantum number. Angular momentum, however, is strongly mixed by the microwave field. This can be understood intuitively on the basis of the structure of the angular momentum coupling matrix $`lm|z|l^{}m`$ $``$ $`\delta _{l^{},l+1}+\delta _{l^{},l1}`$. It is a tridiagonal matrix coupling nearest neighbors strongly with the same weights. Its eigenvectors are broad states, supporting the strong coupling argument. Thus we expect strong $`l`$ mixing after only a few microwave cycles and consequently a microwave ionization probability that is independent of $`l_0`$ to a very good approximation. We confirmed this analytical argument with detailed numerical classical and quantum calculations. Both the analytical arguments and the numerical simulations lead us to the conclusion that the measured microwave ionization threshold fields depend only weakly on $`l_0`$, but strongly on $`n_0`$ and the magnetic quantum number $`m_0`$. This is the central physical insight that forms the basis of the computations reported in this paper.

In atomic units and to a good approximation the Hamiltonian describing the experiments by Koch et al.  is given by

$$\widehat{H}=\frac{\widehat{p}^2}{2}\frac{1}{\widehat{r}}+ϵ\widehat{z}f(t)\mathrm{sin}(\omega t),$$
$`(1)`$
where $`\widehat{p}`$ is the electron momentum, $`\widehat{r}`$ is the distance of the electron from the proton, $`ϵ`$ is the microwave field strength, $`z`$ is the electron coordinate with respect to the proton in beam direction, $`\omega `$ is the microwave frequency and

$$f(t^{})=\left[1+\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{t^{}92.22}{13.35}\right)\right]^1\left[1+\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{t^{}409.72}{15.86}\right)\right]^1$$
$`(2)`$
is an envelope function that realistically models the switch-on and switch-off stages of the atom upon entering and leaving the microwave cavity . The variable $`t^{}`$ is time measured in number of field cycles.

We perform quantum calculations in a discrete basis of normalizable Stark states. We choose the extremal Stark state to represent the $`l`$ manifold for a given $`n_0`$. The hydrogen wave function is expanded into a set of extremal Stark states and the coupled linear equations resulting from the time-dependent Schrödinger equation are propagated forward in time using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta integrator method.

Modeling the experimental situation, ionization is implemented via an absorbing boundary condition located at $`n=n_c=91`$. This is the experimental cut-off $`n`$ beyond which the experimental detection apparatus counts atoms as being “ionized” . For $`n_0=37`$, converged calculations with respect to basis size (see below) are obtained by using a basis of $`n=30\mathrm{}100`$. In order to avoid reflections from our basis end at $`n=100`$ we set the high $`n`$ part of the wave function to $`0`$ after each microwave cycle. Although the cut-off $`n`$ inside of the microwave cavity is considerably higher than $`n_c=91`$, we checked explicitly with computations including up to 150 states that this procedure is permissible, since the chance of a highly excited state feeding back into low-$`n`$ states is very small. This is consistent with the results of early classical calculations . The ionization probability is then calculated according to $`P_I=1P_b`$, where $`P_b`$ is the probability to remain in the bounded states with $`n=30\mathrm{}90`$.

The ionization probability data taken by Koch et al.  are reported as a function of the electric field amplitude at the center of the microwave cavity. Over the radius of the beam the amplitude of the TM020 mode in the microwave cavity drops approximately 7% . This is called radial droop. We account for the radial droop by integrating the atom density of the beam times the local microwave field over the cross section of the beam. Since we calculate the ionization probability in steps of $`1`$V/cm, the integration reduces to a weighted sum.

Figure 1 shows the experimental ionization curve together with radial droop corrected quantum mechanical ionization curves for eight different values of $`m_0`$ for $`n_0=37`$. We see that the ionization threshold fields increase with increasing $`m_0`$. This is expected since the Stark splitting of levels decreases with increasing $`m`$. Figure 1 shows that the ionization threshold depends strongly on $`m_0`$.

Taking the strong $`m_0`$ dependence into account is essential for accurately reproducing the experimental ionization curve. Since $`m`$ is a conserved quantum number and the experiment uses an ensemble of atoms with equi-distribution in $`m`$, our approach is to find the ionization probability for fixed $`m_0`$ and then average over all $`m_0`$. Assuming $`l_0`$-independence leaves us with 37 different calculations corresponding to $`|m_0|=0,\mathrm{},36`$. Each $`|m_0|`$ corresponds to $`2(37|m_0|)`$ different $`l_0`$ quantum numbers. Since the $`|m_0|`$-dependence of the ionization signal is rather smooth, we performed calculations for $`|m_0|=0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35`$ only. Each $`|m_0|0,35`$ represents two ranges of $`m`$-values, $`\{|m_0|2,\mathrm{},|m_0|+2\}`$ and $`\{|m_0|2,\mathrm{},|m_0|+2\}`$, $`|m_0|=0`$ represents $`m=2,\mathrm{},2`$ and $`|m_0|=35`$ represents $`m=\pm 33,\pm 34,\pm 35,\pm 36`$. The corresponding weights for the eight $`m_0`$ values computed are then given by $`(37010|m_0|)/1369`$ for $`|m_0|0`$ and $`179/1369`$ for $`|m_0|=0`$. Although performed in parallel on our 60-node Beowulf cluster consisting of high-end PIII and Athlon processors the quantum computations reported in this paper still took several months of CPU time to complete. This is mainly due to the fact that we accurately included the experimental envelope function (2) and integrated over the full number of field cycles (about 500 per electric field value) used in the experiments.

In addition to the quantum mechanical calculations we performed classical molecular dynamics calculations for the $`n_0=37`$ case. We used the procedures and methods described in  and represented the microcanonical distribution with 25 classical trajectories per microwave field value.

Figure 2 shows the experimental ionization curve (broken line) together with the results of our 3D classical (dots) and 3D quantum (dashed line) calculations. As far as the main rise of the ionization signal is concerned both the classical and the quantum calculations agree very well with the experimental results. In particular, all three methods find the onset of the main rise of the ionization signal to occur very close to $`345`$V/cm. The classical curve does not capture the pre-threshold ionization structure in the experimental data. But this is a known  and therefore expected result. While the quantum mechanical computations are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results as far as the main rise of the ionization signal is concerned, the quantum computations overestimate the ionization signal in the pre-threshold region. We checked explicitly that while $`l_0`$-independence holds to a very good approximation in the field region of the main rise of the ionization signal, it does not hold at all in the pre-threshold region. This explains the discrepancy of the two ionization signals and (i) calls for quantum calculations with explicit $`l_0`$-dependence in the pre-threshold region and (ii) points to the fact that the ionization mechanism in the pre-threshold region is very different from the mechanism active in the region of the main rise of the ionization signal. Realistic quantum computations including explicit $`l_0`$-dependence, however, are currently beyond our computational means.

Discussing our results we note that the choice of basis end is not critical. We chose it small enough to make the problem tractable, but large enough to achieve convergence. This is illustrated in Figure 3, which shows the ionization probability for $`m=0`$ in bases of $`n=30\mathrm{}100`$ (full line) and $`n=30\mathrm{}150`$ (broken line). Both bases yield comparable results.

We do not include any continuum states in our quantum calculations. All ionization occurs via excitation of high $`n`$ states through the absorbing boundary condition at $`n=n_c`$. In reality, of course, all bounded states are also directly coupled to the continuum by the microwave field and at first glance neglecting these couplings seems like a bad approximation. This is certainly true in a situation where the main ionization channels are via direct low-order multiphoton transitions to the continuum. This is not the case here where chaotic diffusion and stochastic ionization  are the dominant processes. In this case ionization mainly proceeds through high-lying Rydberg states adequately modeled by our absorbing boundary at $`n=n_c`$. A further argument is the following. In retrospect, assuming that the experimental results are accurate, this picture should be true to a good approximation. Otherwise our ionization curves would lie well below the experimental curves, the difference being “true ionization” via direct transitions to the continuum, not captured by our model. We acknowledge, however, that determining the branching ratio between these two ionization channels is an important but challenging task.

The $`n_0=37`$ experiments at $`9.92`$GHz fall into the low-frequency or adiabatic regime (Regime-II in ). This regime is characterized by structure of quantum mechanical origin, here manifesting itself as a prominent pre-threshold bump. For $`n_070`$ (approximately) these features disappear and all the experiments are in impressive agreement with classical 3D calculations (Regime-III in ). As such, the intermediate $`n_0`$ are the most interesting to explore in the model presented here. Still, the $`l_0`$-independence argument holds for all $`n_0`$. Therefore we expect to be able to model the experimental data for all initial principal quantum numbers.

In this paper we discussed a new model for reproducing measured microwave ionization curves of hydrogen Rydberg atoms. We presented the first 3D quantum mechanical calculations capable of reproducing experimental ionization curves in the experimentally relevant parameter regime. In the case of $`n_0=37`$ we are able to accurately reproduce the ionization threshold and the shape of the ionization curve following the onset of the main rise of the ionization signal. In addition we qualitatively capture the pre-threshold ionization structure.

We expect that our model works for all of the $`9.92`$GHz microwave ionization data so far reported in the literature . Preliminary calculations show that equally satisfying results are obtained for principal quantum numbers different from $`n_0=37`$.

We suggest that experiments be carried out with initial selection of the magnetic quantum number. We predict ionization curves from such experiments to closely follow the curves shown in Figure 1. This would lend credibility to the model presented here and allow further studies of the details of the ionization mechanism.

An open question is whether narrow “spikes” present in the computed ionization signals  are real. Indeed, much of our enthusiasm for performing realistic 3D quantum calculations draws from the desire to settle this question. The question of the spikes may, of course, also be attacked experimentally. In current microwave ionization experiments, however, these narrow features are washed out by the radial droop in the cavity field and by the presence of many $`m`$ quantum numbers in the initial state. Therefore experiments addressing the spikes should include $`m`$ selection and work with a narrow beam in order to reduce the radial droop of the microwave field. According to our calculations  a radial droop of less than $`1`$V/cm may be necessary.

The authors would like to thank Peter Koch for generously providing them with the digitized data of the experimental ionization curves. G.N.R and V.F.H gratefully acknowledge financial support by an NSF REU grant. Th.C. was supported by a graduate stipend by the Danish Research Council. This work was supported by the NSF under Grants No. 9900730 and 9984075.

Figure Captions

Fig. 1: Ionization probability of microwave-driven hydrogen Rydberg atoms initially prepared in $`n_0=37`$ as a function of microwave field strength. Broken line: experimental result. Full lines: quantum mechanical extremal Stark state calculations for $`m_0=0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35`$ with radial droop correction. The curves occur in sequence from the left-most ($`m_0=0`$) to the right-most ($`m_0=35`$).

Fig. 2: Ionization probability of microwave-driven hydrogen Rydberg atoms initially prepared in $`n_0=37`$ as a function of microwave field strength. Full line: experimental result; broken line: extremal Stark state calculation; dots: classical calculation. Both classical and quantum calculations are $`m`$ averaged and corrected for radial droop of the microwave field in the microwave cavity.

Fig. 3: Ionization probability of microwave-driven hydrogen Rydberg atoms initially prepared in $`n_0=37`$ and $`m_0=10`$ as a function of microwave field strength. Full line: basis $`n=30\mathrm{}100`$ (same as Figure 1). Broken line: basis $`n=30\mathrm{}150`$.


text:
# Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of Seyfert 2 Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

Emission from warm, recombining gas has been shown to be a key feature of the soft X-ray emission from Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sako et al. 2000, Ogle et al. 2000, Sambruna et al. 2001). In Fig. 1, we show the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) spectrum of the brightest Seyfert 2 galaxy, NGC 1068 (Kinkhabwala et al. 2001a). The presence of multiple radiative recombination continua (RRC) provide definitive evidence for a dominant recombining gas component with temperature $`T3`$–5 eV. Recombination alone, however, is insufficient to explain all of the observed X-ray emission from these objects.

## 2. Model of Radiatively-Driven Gas Cone

We propose a model for the X-ray emission from Seyfert 2 galaxies consisting of a (bi-)cone of gas irradiated by a nuclear power-law continuum. (The nucleus – located at the tip of the cone – is obscured along our particular line of sight.) We specify a single ionic column density, $`N_{ion}`$, and gaussian velocity distribution, $`\sigma _v`$, both along the cone. $`\sigma _v`$ is chosen to be consistent with observations of broadened line absorption in soft X-ray observations of Seyfert 1 galaxies, where values from $``$200 km/s (Kaastra et al. 2000) to $`600`$ km/s (Sako et al. 2001) have been found. We note that $`\sigma _v`$ may be due to a superposition of multiple velocity components. A broadening of the observed lines due to a separate gaussian velocity distribution along our particular line of sight (probably unrelated to the velocity distribution along the cone) is also taken.

The upper right panel in Fig. 2 shows the expected spectrum of the helium-like O VII ion. The panels on the left show the “Seyfert 1” view down the axis of the cone in absorption, and the panels on the right show the “Seyfert 2” view in reemission for column densities in O VII from $`10^{16}`$ to $`10^{19}`$ cm<sup>-2</sup>. All photons absorbed out of the power-law continuum in the left panel are reprocessed and reemitted in the right panel. Further details of our model can be found in Kinkhabwala et al. (2001a) and Behar et al. (2001).

## 3. Model Fits to Seyfert 2 Galaxy Spectra

Our model works remarkably well for explaining the bulk (and possibly all) of the X-ray emission from NGC 1068. Fig. 3 shows our fit to lines associated with transitions in O VII for the RGS spectrum shown in Fig. 1. Similarly, in Fig. 4, we show fits to the previously published Chandra HETG spectra of two other Seyfert 2 galaxies. We find that the claimed observation of hot collisionally-driven gas in NGC 4151 of Ogle et al. (2000) was premature, and we verify the earlier conclusions for Markarian 3 of Sako et al. (2000), who claimed that photoionization and photoexcitation in addition to a scattered power-law continuum were sufficient to explain its observed X-ray spectrum.

We estimate an upper limit of $``$10% of the soft X-ray emission may be due to hot, collisionally-driven gas in NGC 1068. Preliminary analysis of Chandra HETG spectra of four other Seyfert 2 galaxies (Markarian 3, NGC 4151, Circinus, NGC 4507) suggests that their remarkably similar spectra are also dominated by reprocessed AGN emission, with a similar upper limit to a hot collisional gas component. This places interesting limits on the amount of star formation in their circumnuclear environments (Kinkhabwala et al. 2001a,b).

## References

Behar, E., et al. 2001, in preparation

Kaastra, J. S., et al. 2000, A&A, 354, L83

Kinkhabwala, A., et al. 2001a, in preparation

Kinkhabwala, A., et al. 2001b, in preparation

Ogle, P. M., et al. 2000, ApJ, 545(2), L81

Sako, M., et al. 2000, ApJ, 543(2), L115

Sako, M., et al. 2001, A&A, 365, L168

Sambruna, R. M., et al. 2001, ApJ, 546(1), L13


text:
# 𝜋⁰ Photo- and Electroproduction at Threshold within a Dynamical Model

## Abstract

We show that, within a meson-exchange dynamical model describing most of the existing pion electromagnetic production data up to the second resonance region, one is also able to obtain a good agreement with the $`\pi ^0`$ photo- and electroproduction data near threshold. The potentials used in the model are derived from an effective chiral Lagrangian. The only sizable discrepancy between our results and the data is in the $`P`$wave amplitude $`P_3=2M_{1+}+M_1`$ where our prediction underestimate the data by about 20%. In the case of $`\pi ^0`$ production, the effects of final state interaction in the threshold region are nearly saturated by single charge exchange rescattering. This indicates that in ChPT it might be sufficient to carry out the calculation just up to one-loop diagrams for threshold neutral pion production.

Chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) provides us with a systematic scheme to describe the low energy interactions of Goldstone bosons among themselves and with other hadrons, because it is based on a low energy effective field theory respecting the symmetries of QCD, in particular chiral symmetry. There is generally good agreement between the ChPT predictions and experiments . One case which has been very intensively studied is $`\pi ^0`$ electromagnetic production of neutral pions near threshold where very precise measurements  have been performed and the ChPT calculation to one loop $`O(p^3)`$ ($`O(p^4)`$ in the case of photoproduction) has been carried out in the heavy baryon formulation . Nice agreement between theory and experiment was reached not only for the $`S`$wave multipoles $`E_{0+}`$ and $`L_{0+}`$ but for the $`P`$wave amplitudes  as well.

As in ChPT, meson-exchange models also start from an effective chiral Lagrangian. However, they differ from ChPT in the approach to calculate the scattering amplitudes. In ChPT, crossing symmetry is maintained in the perturbative field-theoretic calculation, and the agreement with low energy theorems and the data is to be expected as long as the series is well convergent. In meson-exchange models, the effective Lagrangian is used to construct a potential for use in the scattering equation. The solutions of the scattering equation will include rescattering effects to all orders and thereby unitarity is ensured, while crossing symmetry is violated. Such models  have been able to provide a good description of $`\pi N`$ scattering lengths and phase shifts in $`S,P,`$ and $`D`$ waves up to 600 MeV pion laboratory kinetic energy.

Meson-exchange models have been constructed for pion electromagnetic production as well  and good agreement with the data has also been achieved up to 1300 MeV total $`\pi N`$ c.m. energy. However, the predictive power of the meson-exchange model for electromagnetic pion production near threshold has not been fully explored even though the importance of final state interaction (FSI) for threshold $`\pi ^0`$ photoproduction had been demonstrated in several dynamical model studies  prior to one-loop calculations of ChPT .

In this paper we will use the dynamical model (DM) recently developed in Ref.  where the dominant FSI effects in the nonresonant contributions at threshold are evaluated using the $`\pi N`$ meson-exchange model developed in Ref. . Contributions which are related to the excitation of resonances are considered phenomenologically using standard Breit-Wigner forms. In our previous work  such an approach gives an excellent description of pion photo- and electroproduction in the first resonance region. Here we apply this model to these reactions in the threshold region and compare our predictions with the recent experimental data  for the $`S`$ and $`P`$wave multipoles and cross sections, and with the result of ChPT.

In the dynamical model for pion photo- and electroproduction , the t-matrix is given as

$`t_{\gamma \pi }(E)=v_{\gamma \pi }+v_{\gamma \pi }g_0(E)t_{\pi N}(E),`$ (1)
where $`v_{\gamma \pi }`$ is the $`\gamma \pi `$ transition potential, $`g_0`$ and $`t_{\pi N}`$ are the $`\pi N`$ free propagator and $`t`$matrix, respectively, and $`E`$ is the total energy in the c.m. frame. In the present study, the matrix elements $`t_{\pi N}`$ are obtained in a meson-exchange $`\pi N`$ model  constructed in the Bethe-Salpeter formalism and solved within Cooper-Jennings reduction scheme . Both $`v_{\pi N}`$ and $`v_{\gamma \pi }`$ are derived from an effective Lagrangian containing Born terms as well as $`\rho `$ and $`\omega `$exchange in the $`t`$channel . For pion electroproduction we restore gauge invariance by the substitution,

$`J_\mu J_\mu k_\mu {\displaystyle \frac{kJ}{k^2}},`$ (2)
where $`J_\mu `$ is the electromagnetic current corresponding to the background contribution of $`v_{\gamma \pi }`$.

For the physical multipoles in channel $`\alpha =\{l,j\}`$, Eq. (1) gives

$`t_\alpha (q_E,k)=\mathrm{exp}(i\delta _\alpha )\mathrm{cos}\delta _\alpha \left[v_\alpha (q_E,k)+P{\displaystyle _0^{}}𝑑q^{}{\displaystyle \frac{R_\alpha (q_E,q^{})v_\alpha (q^{},k)}{E(q_E)E(q^{})}}\right],`$ (3)
where $`\delta _\alpha `$ and $`R_\alpha `$ are the $`\pi N`$ phase shift and reaction matrix, in channel $`\alpha `$, respectively, $`q_E`$ is the pion on-shell momentum and $`k=𝐤`$ the photon momentum. In order to ensure the convergence of the principal value integral, we introduce a dipole-like off-shell form factor characterizing the finite range aspect of the potential, $`f(q,q_E)=(\mathrm{\Lambda }^2+q_E^2)^2/(\mathrm{\Lambda }^2+q^2)^2.`$ The value for the cut-off parameter, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=440`$ MeV, was obtained in our previous work from an analysis of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ resonance multipole $`M_{1+}^{(3/2)}`$ over a wide energy range.

For $`\pi ^0`$ photoproduction, we first calculate the multipole $`E_{0+}`$ near threshold by solving the coupled channels equation within a basis with physical pion and nucleon masses. The coupled channels equation leads to the following expression for the pion photoproduction t-matrix in the $`\pi ^0p`$ channel:

$`t_{\gamma \pi ^0}(E)`$ $`=`$ $`v_{\gamma \pi ^0}(E)+v_{\gamma \pi ^0}(E)g_{\pi ^0p}(E)t_{\pi ^0p\pi ^0p}(E)`$ (4)
$`+`$ $`v_{\gamma \pi ^+}(E)g_{\pi ^+n}(E)t_{\pi ^+n\pi ^0p}(E),`$ (5)
where $`t_{\pi ^0p\pi ^0p}`$ and $`t_{\pi ^+n\pi ^0p}`$ are the $`\pi N`$ t-matrices in the elastic and charge exchange channels, respectively. They are obtained by solving the coupled channels equation for $`\pi N`$ scattering using the meson-exchange model . Results for $`ReE_{0+}`$ obtained from Eq. (5) are given in Fig. 1, where the FSI contributions from the elastic and charge exchange channels (second and third term in Eq. (5)), are shown by the short-dashed and dash-dotted curves, respectively, while the dotted curve corresponds to the LET results, without the inclusion of FSI. Our results clearly indicate that practically all of the final state interaction effects originate from the $`\pi ^+n`$ channel. Note that the main contribution stems from the principal value integral of Eq. (5).

In the coupled channels approach considered above, the $`t_{\pi N}`$ matrix contains the effect of $`\pi N`$ rescattering to all orders. However, we have indeed found that only the first order rescattering contribution, i.e. the one-loop diagram, is important. This result is obtained by replacing the $`\pi N`$ scattering t-matrix in Eq. (5) with the corresponding potential $`v_{\pi N}`$. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the thus obtained results given by the long-dashed curve, differ from the full calculation (solid curve) by 5% only. This indicates that the one-loop calculation in ChPT could be a reliable approximation for $`\pi ^0`$ production in the threshold region.

If the FSI effects are evaluated with the assumption of isospin symmetry (IS), i.e., with averaged masses in the free pion-nucleon propagator, the energy dependence in $`ReE_{0+}`$ in the threshold region is very smooth. Below $`\pi ^+`$ threshold the strong energy dependence (cusp effect)  only appears because of the pion mass difference and, as we have seen above, is related to the coupling with the $`\pi ^+n`$ channel. In most calculations, the effects from the pion mass difference below the $`\pi ^+`$ production channel are taken into account by using the K-matrix approach ,

$`ReE_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^0}=ReE_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^0}(IS)a_{\pi N}\omega _cReE_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^+}(IS)\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{\omega _c^2}}},`$ (6)
where $`\omega `$ and $`\omega _c`$ are the $`\pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+`$ c.m. energies corresponding to $`E=E_p+E_\gamma `$ and $`m_n+m_{\pi ^+}`$, respectively, and $`a_{\pi N}=0.124/m_{\pi ^+}`$ is the pion charge exchange threshold amplitude. $`E_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^{0,+}}(IS)`$ is the $`\pi ^{0,+}`$ photoproduction amplitude obtained with the assumption of isospin symmetry (IS), i.e., without the pion mass difference in Eq. (3). Such an approximation is often used in the data analysis in order to parametrize the $`E_{0+}`$ multipole below $`\pi ^+n`$ threshold in the form of $`E_{0+}(E)=a+b\sqrt{1(\omega /\omega _c)^2}`$. In Fig. 2 the results obtained from such an approximation scheme are represented by the solid curve and compared to the exact coupled channels (dashed curve) and ChPT calculations (dash-dotted curve) . We see that above $`\pi ^+`$ threshold the difference between the results obtained with physical and isospin bases is very small. This is consistent with the finding of Ref.. At lower energies the difference becomes visible only very close to $`\pi ^0p`$ threshold where the two approaches differ by about 10%. In general we can conclude that the simple expression of Eq. (6) is a good approximation for the pion-mass difference effect, and in the following calculations we will use this option to analyze the experimental data. Note that the correct threshold dependence of the imaginary part can be obtained from the Fermi-Watson theorem if in the threshold region the $`\pi N`$ phase shift is taken as a linear function of the $`\pi ^+`$ momentum, i.e., vanishing as $`q_{\pi ^+}0`$.

In Fig. 3, we compare the predictions of our model for the differential cross section with recent photoproduction data from Mainz . The dotted and solid curves are obtained without and with FSI effects, respectively. It is seen that both off-shell pion rescattering and cusp effects substantially improve the agreement with the data. This indicates that our model gives reliable predictions also for the threshold behaviour of the $`P`$-waves without any additional arbitrary parameters. As an example, numerical values for $`E_{0^+}`$ (in units of $`10^3/m_{\pi ^+}^3`$) and $`P`$-wave multipoles (in units of $`10^3q/m_{\pi ^+}^3`$) at $`\pi ^0`$ threshold are given in Table I. For the $`P`$-wave multipoles we give values for the following linear combinations: $`P_1=3E_{1+}+M_{1+}M_1,P_2=3E_{1+}M_{1+}+M_1`$ and $`P_3=2M_{1+}+M_1`$.

The contributions of Born terms, vector meson exchange, FSI and resonances ($`S_{11}(1535),\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ and $`P_{11}(1440)`$) are listed in Table I to show their relative importance. One observes that $`\rho `$ and mostly $`\omega `$exchange give important contributions to the $`P`$-wave amplitudes, especially to $`P_3`$, where Born terms contribute only 2%. Half of $`P_3`$ comes from the vector meson exchanges and the rest from FSI and resonance contributions. Due to the large contribution from these three mechanisms, $`P_3`$ becomes comparable to $`P_1`$ and $`P_2`$. Very close to threshold, our model predicts $`P_3/P_20.9`$, and a small but negative value for the photon asymmetry $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(\theta _\pi =90^{})P_3^2P_2^2`$ at fixed pion c.m. angle $`\theta _\pi =90^{}`$. As shown by the solid curve in Fig. 4, our prediction for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(\theta _\pi =90^{})`$ first tends to more negative values before bending over and becoming positive at large photon energies. It was found in Ref.  that in the threshold region this observable is very sensitive to the $`M_1`$ multipole which strongly depends on the details of the low energy behavior of Roper resonance, vector meson and FSI contributions. Therefore, a slight modification of one or all of these mechanisms can drastically change the photon asymmetry. As an illustration, our prediction for the energy dependence and angular distribution of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(\theta _\pi )`$ obtained with a 15% reduction of the $`M_1`$ multipole, is shown by dashed curves in Fig. 4. This small modification of the low energy tail of the Roper resonance leads to positive photon asymmetries at all energies!

In Table I, the ChPT predictions and the experimental values extracted from recent TAPS polarization measurements  are listed for comparison. Our predictions are in good overall agreement with the ChPT predictions  and the TAPS results. However, there is a $`15\%20\%`$ difference in $`P_3`$ which leads to an underestimation of our result for the photon asymmetry, as shown in Fig. 4. Note that, in contrast to our model, $`P_3`$ is essentially determined by a low energy constant in ChPT.

Pion electroproduction provides us with information on the $`Q^2=k^2`$ dependence of the transverse $`E_{0+}`$ and longitudinal $`L_{0+}`$ multipoles in the threshold region. The ”cusp” effects in the $`L_{0+}`$ multipole is taken into account in a similar way as in the case of $`E_{0+}`$,

$`ReL_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^0}=ReL_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^0}(IS)a_{\pi N}\omega _cReL_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^+}(IS)\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{\omega _c^2}}},`$ (7)
where all the multipoles are functions of total c.m. energy $`E`$ and virtual photon four-momentum squared $`Q^2`$. It is known that at threshold, the $`Q^2`$ dependence is given mainly by the Born plus vector meson contributions in $`v_{\gamma \pi }^B`$, as described in Ref. .

The validity of the approximation made in Eq. (7) is confirmed in Fig. 5 where the results of K-matrix approximation (solid lines) and full calculation (dash-dotted lines) agree with each other within a few percent. In Fig. 5 we also show our results for the cusp and FSI effects in the $`E_{0+}`$ and $`L_{0+}`$ multipoles for $`\pi ^0`$ electroproduction at $`Q^2=0.1`$ (GeV/c)2, along with the results of the multipole analysis from NIKHEF and Mainz. Note that results of both groups were obtained using the $`P`$-wave predictions given by ChPT. However, there exist substantial differences between the $`P`$wave predictions of ChPT and our model at finite $`Q^2`$, as presented in Table II. To understand the consequence of these differences, we have made a new analysis of the Mainz data for the differential cross sections, using our DM prediction for the $`P`$-wave multipoles instead. The $`S`$-wave multipoles extracted this way are also shown in Fig. 5 by solid circles and listed in Table III. We see that the results of such a new analysis gives a $`E_{0+}`$ multipole closer to the NIKHEF data and in better agreement with our dynamical model prediction. However, the results of our new analysis for the longitudinal $`L_{0+}`$ multipole stay practically unchanged from the values found in the previous analyses. Note that the dynamical model prediction for $`L_{0+}`$ again agrees much better with the NIKHEF data.

In Figs. 6 and 7, our model predictions (dashed curves) are compared with the Mainz experimental data for the unpolarized cross sections $`d\sigma /d\mathrm{\Omega }=d\sigma _T/d\mathrm{\Omega }+ϵd\sigma _L/d\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and for the longitudinal-transverse cross section $`d\sigma _{TL}/d\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Overall, the agreement is good. The solid curves are the results of our best fit at fixed energies (local fit) obtained by varying only the $`E_{0+}`$ and $`L_{0+}`$ multipoles. We have found that the differences between the solid and dashed curves in Figs. 6 and 7 are mostly due to the difference in the $`L_{0+}`$ multipole (see also Fig. 5).

Finally we discuss a new version (hereafter called MAID)  of the unitary isobar model developed at Mainz (hereafter called MAID98) , which is currently being intensively used for the analysis of pion photo- and electroproduction data. In this model the FSI effects are taken into account using the K-matrix approximation, namely without the inclusion of off-shell pion rescattering contributions (principal value integral) in Eq. (3). As a result, the $`S`$-, $`P`$-, $`D`$\- and $`F`$-waves of the background contributions are defined in MAID as

$`t_\alpha ^B(MAID)=\mathrm{exp}(i\delta _\alpha )\mathrm{cos}\delta _\alpha v_\alpha ^B(q_E,k).`$ (8)
However, as we have found above, dynamical model calculations show that pion off-shell rescattering is very important at low pion energies. The prediction of MAID for $`\pi ^0`$ photoproduction at threshold, represented by the dotted curves in Figs. 1 and 2, lies substantially below the data. It turns out that it is possible to improve MAID, in the case of $`\pi ^0`$ production at low energies, by introducing a phenomenological term and including the cusp effect of Eq. (6). In this extended version of MAID, we write the $`E_{0+}(\pi ^0p)`$ multipole as

$`ReE_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^0}=ReE_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^0}(MAID98)+E_{cusp}(W,Q^2)+`$ $`E_{corr}(W,Q^2),`$ (9)
where

$`E_{cusp}=a_{\pi N}\omega _cReE_{0+}^{\gamma \pi ^+}(MAID98)\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{\omega _c^2}}}.`$ (10)
The phenomenological term $`E_{corr}`$ which emulates the pion off-shell rescattering corrections (or pion-loop contribution in ChPT) can be parameterized in the form

$`E_{corr}(W,Q^2)={\displaystyle \frac{A}{(1+B^2q_\pi ^2)^2}}F_D(Q^2),`$ (11)
where $`F_D`$ is the standard nucleon dipole form factor. The parameters $`A`$ and $`B`$ are obtained by fitting to the low energy $`\pi ^0`$ photoproduction data: $`A=2.01\times 10^3/m_{\pi ^+}`$ and $`B=0.71fm`$.

In summary, we have shown that within a meson-exchange dynamical model , one is able to describe photo- and electroproduction in the threshold region in good agreement with the data. The model has been demonstrated  to give a good description of most of the existing pion electromagnetic production data up to the second resonance region. The success of such a model at intermediate energies is perhaps not surprising since unitarity plays an important role there. However, it is not a priori clear that our model should also work well near threshold, even though we do start from an effective chiral Lagrangian. In principle, crossing symmetry is violated and the well-defined power counting scheme in ChPT is lost by rescatterings. As a matter of fact, previous similar attempts have failed . It is easy to understand the difference between our present calculation and the results of Ref.  by the fact that the off-shell behavior of the $`\pi N`$ models used  are quite different from each other. The difference between our results and those of Ref.  probably arises, in large part, from different off-shell prescriptions used for the transition potential $`v_{\gamma \pi }`$, because the meson-exchange $`\pi N`$ model used in Ref.  is very similar to the one used in this study. On the other hand, meson-exchange models  have also been shown to give a good description of low energy $`\pi N`$ data, in addition to an excellent agreement with the data at higher energies. It is therefore assuring that similar success can also be achieved for the pion electromagnetic production.

The largest discrepancy between our results and the data is in the $`P_3`$ amplitude where our prediction underestimates the data by about 20%. As a consequence, our prediction for the photon asymmetry has the opposite sign as observed in the experiment . However, we have found that in the threshold region, the photon asymmetry is very sensitive to many ingredients of the theory, e.g., vector mesons, FSI and Roper resonance contributions, a fact that deserves further studies.

Finally, we found that the effects of final state interaction in the threshold region and in the case of $`\pi ^0`$ production, are nearly saturated by the single rescattering term. Therefore, the existing one-loop calculations in ChPT could be a good approximation to threshold neutral pion production.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank Drs. R. Beck, M. Distler, H. Merkel, and A. Schmidt for helpful discussions. S.S.K. and L.T. are grateful to the Physics Department of the NTU for the hospitality extended to them during their visits. This work is supported in part by the National Science Council/ROC under grant NSC 89-2112-M002-078, by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 443) and by a joint project NSC/DFG TAI-113/10/0.


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# Supernovae, Hypernovae and Color Superconductivity

## 1 Introduction and Review of CSC

Recent results have demonstrated rigorously that the ground state of quark matter at sufficiently high density exhibits Color Superconductivity (CSC), resulting from the Cooper pairing of quark quasiparticles near the Fermi surface . At asymptotic density, the nature of the order parameter, the binding energy density and the critical temperature are all precisely calculable. Less is known about intermediate densities of several times nuclear density, however there are strong indications of a Cooper pairing instability, and estimates of the resulting gap are of order $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ 40-120 MeV at a quark chemical potential $`\mu `$ of $``$ 400 MeV. Direct links between CSC and the astrophysics of compact objects have been suggested in .

In this letter we discuss the possible implications of CSC for the collapse and explosion of massive stars ($`M>8M_{}`$). We argue that it is quite likely that at the moment of maximum compression of the collapsing Fe core, the densest part of the star crosses the critical density into the phase where CSC is energetically favored. The release of latent energy has the potential to generate an explosive shockwave which powers the resulting supernova (SN). Current simulations of supernovae are generally unable to reproduce the explosive behavior observed in nature: the shockwave generated by the mechanical bounce of the nuclear core stalls before reaching the surface, unless an appeal is made to additional phenomena such as neutrino reheating combined with non-spherical phenomena such as rotation or convection . We also note that the energy liberated in a CSC phase transition is potentially sufficient to power hypernovae (HN) , which have been linked to gamma ray burst events .

First, let us summarize some results on CSC from the recent literature. Precise results are only valid at asymptotic densities where the effective QCD coupling is small, however they should still be useful guide when dealing with intermediate densities. In any case, our qualitative results will be insensitive to factors of 2 in these formulas:

$``$ Gap size: $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ 40 - 120 MeV

$``$ Critical temperature: $`T_c.57\mathrm{\Delta }`$

$``$ At asymptotic density the binding energy density is $`E_{CSC}=\frac{5.8}{4\pi ^2}\mathrm{\Delta }^2\mu ^2`$. Recent studies  of the interface between the nuclear and CSC phase using specific models seem consistent with this result. Simple dimensional analysis (given the absence of any small parameter) also suggests a value in this range. Note that we are interested here in the latent energy associated with the first order transition to the CSC phase (or any other transition that occurs as the baryon density is increased beyond several times nuclear density). The baryon density changes on astrophysical timescales, or very slowly on the timescale of QCD dynamics, and the vacuum state at zero temperature (or at $`T<<T_c`$) is found by minimizing the energy in the sector of the Hilbert space with fixed baryon number. Studies such as , which involve the free energy $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ at finite chemical potential (but not fixed density) are appropriate for determining pressure equilibrium between nuclear and CSC matter in circumstances in which baryon number can flow across a boundary (e.g. in a neutron star), but do not address a possible SN transition.

$``$ Phase diagram: the normal nuclear phase is separated from the CSC phase (most likely the 2SC two flavor condensate phase, although possibly the CFL phase ) by a first order boundary.

## 2 Astrophysics of Core Collapse

Now let us review the standard scenario of Fe core collapse which is believed to lead to type II supernovae . Nuclear burning during the $`10^7`$ year lifetime of the star leads to a shell structure, with the inner core eventually consisting of Fe ash. Because iron cannot participate in further exothermic nuclear reactions, there is an eventual cooling and collapse of the Fe core, whose mass is likely to be $`(12)M_{}`$ (or, roughly the Chandresekhar mass). The collapse of this core is only halted by neutron degeneracy, which leads to a stiffening of the equation of state. The resulting bounce produces a shockwave, whose energy of $`10^{51}`$ ergs is a small fraction of the total available gravitational binding energy released by the collapse:

$$E_b310^{53}\mathrm{ergs}\left(\frac{M_{core}}{M_{}}\right)^2\left(\frac{R}{10\mathrm{k}\mathrm{m}}\right)^1.$$
(1)
Most of this energy escapes in the form of neutrinos during the supernova, as was observed in the case of SN1987a.

The pressure in the collapsed core at the instant of the bounce is most likely greater than the corresponding pressure in any remnant neutron star. In order to cause a bounce, the kinetic energy of the infalling material (which is a sizeable fraction of a solar mass) must be momentarily stored as compressional potential energy in the (sub)nuclear matter. This additional mechanical squeezing at the bounce suggests that if the critical density for CSC is ever reached in a neutron star, it will be reached at this instant.

Simulations of the core bounce result in densities of at least several times nuclear density ($`51010^{14}\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{cm}^3`$), and temperatures of roughly 10-20 MeV . This temperature is likely less than $`T_c`$ for CSC, possibly much less111It is conceptually easier to think about the case where $`T`$ is much less than $`T_c`$, since in this case the Free energy ($`F=UTS`$) liberated by the transition is predominantly energy, with only a small component related to entropy. The relevant dynamics is governed by energetics rather than Free energetics., and hence the core of the star traverses the phase diagram horizontally in the density-temperature plane, crossing the critical density boundary into the CSC phase. It is important to note that the core region at bounce is probably cooler than post-bounce, since degenerate neutrinos tend to heat the proto-neutron star as they diffuse out . Studies quoting larger SN temperatures such as $`T30`$ MeV generally refer to this later stage .

Once the core crosses into the CSC part of the phase diagram, the transition proceeds rapidly, on hadronic timescales. Because the transition is first order, it proceeds by nucleation of bubbles of the CSC phase in the normal nuclear background. The rate of bubble nucleation will be of order $`(\mathrm{fm})^4`$ ($`\mathrm{fm}=10^{13}`$cm.), due to strong coupling. (In a system governed by a dimensional scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the nucleation rate is given by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Lambda }^4e^S`$, where $`S`$ is the action of the Euclidean bounce solution interpolating between the false (normal nuclear) vacuum and a bubble of critical size. At strong coupling, $`S`$ is of order one, so there is no large exponential suppression of the nucleation rate. The scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is of the order of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ or $`\mu =400`$ MeV.)

Causality requires that the mechanical bounce of the core happen over timescales larger than the light crossing time of the core, or at least $`10^4s`$. Hence, the phase transition occurs instantaneously on astrophysical timescales. A nucleated bubble of CSC phase expands relativistically – liberated latent heat is converted into its kinetic energy – until it collides with other bubbles. Because the system is strongly coupled, these collisions lead to the rapid production of all of the low energy excitations in the CSC phase, including (pseudo)Goldstone bosons and other hadrons. The resulting release of energy resembles an explosion of hadronic matter.

To estimate the total CSC energy released in the bounce, we use the result that the ratio of CSC binding energy density to quark energy density is of order $`\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{\mu }\right)^2`$. For $`\mu 400`$ MeV, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ 40-120 MeV, this ratio is between .01 and .08, or probably a few percent.

$$E\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{\mu }\right)^2M_{core}.$$
(2)
In other words, the total energy release could be a few percent of a solar mass, or $`10^{52}`$ ergs! This is significantly larger than the energy usually attributed to the core shockwave, and possibly of the order of the gravitational collapse energy $`E_b`$. The implications for SN simulations are obviously quite intriguing.

In  it was suggested that strange matter formation might overcome the energetic difficulties in producing type-II supernova explosions. While there are strong arguments that the CSC transition should be first order, and reasonable order of magnitude estimates of the latent heat , it is not clear to us why there would be supercooling in a strange matter transition. The conversion of up quarks to strange quarks must proceed by the weak interactions, but the rate is still much faster than any astrophysical timescale. Thus, the population of strange quarks is likely to track its chemical equilibrium value as the pressure of the core increases. There may be an important effect on the nuclear equation of state from strangeness (e.g. a softening of the pressure-density relationship), but we do not see why there should be explosive behavior.

Our results are also relevant to hypernovae , which are observed to have ejecta kinetic energies 10-100 times larger (of order $`10^{5253}`$ ergs) than those of ordinary type II supernovae. Accounting for this extra kinetic is extremely challenging in standard scenarios. However, for exceptionally massive stars with $`M<35M_{}`$ (for $`M>35M_{}`$ the hydrogen envelope is lost during H-shell burning, and the core size actually decreases ) there is a large core mass which leads to a larger release of CSC binding energy. In fact, the released energy might depend nonlinearly and sensitively on the star’s mass at the upper range. For example, the fraction of $`M_{core}`$ which achieves critical density might be a sensitive function of the mass of the star.

Another alternative is that hypernovae are the result of neutron star mergers rather than the explosion of an individual star. This possibility has been examined in relation to hypernovae as the engines of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) . It seems quite plausible that in the merger of two cold neutron stars a significant fraction of the stars’ mass undergoes the CSC transition (i.e. crosses the critical pressure boundary for the first time; in this case the temperature is probably negligible relative to the CSC scale $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$). This provides a substantial new source of energy beyond gravitational binding, and may solve the “energy crisis” problem for this model of GRBs .

Finally, we note that the trajectory of the SN core in the temperature-density phase diagram might be rather complicated. The parameters suggest a density transition (at $`T<T_c`$), but subsequent reheating of the core due to the explosion, or to neutrino diffusion  might raise the temperature above $`T_c`$, and lead to additional transitions across the temperature boundary . When $`TT_c`$, the Free energies ($`F=UTS`$) of the normal and CSC phases are comparable, due to the larger entropy of the normal phase. The evolution of bubbles in this regime is governed by relative Free energies rather than energetics alone, and the transition is presumably less explosive than the pressure transition at $`T<<T_c`$.

## 3 Discussion

Our understanding of QCD at high density has evolved dramatically over the past two years, leading to remarkable progress in understanding the QCD phase diagram and the color superconducting state of quark matter. We have argued here that the well-established picture of core collapse in massive stellar evolution suggests quite strongly that CSC may play an important role in type II supernovae, and possibly hypernovae (GRBs).

Our assumptions concerning key parameters are conservative, and taken from distinct (and heretofore independent) regimes of inquiry: stellar astrophysics and dense quark matter. Yet, they point to the interesting possibility that supernova explosions are powered by CSC binding energy. It is well established that the shockwave energy from core collapse is insufficient to produce an explosion, and recent results incorporating Boltzman transport of neutrinos show that neutrino reheating is also insufficient unless non-spherical phenomena such as rotation or convection are taken into account . We are optimistic that future progress in simulations will tell us much about whether and how latent energy from color superconductivity plays a role in stellar explosions.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank I. Bombaci, C.-H. Lee, R. Ouyed, and M. Rho for helpful discussions. The work of S.H. was supported in part under DOE contract DE-FG06-85ER40224 and by the NSF through the Korean-USA Cooperative Science Program, 9982164. The work of D.K.H. was supported by the KOSEF through the Korean-USA Cooperative Science Program, 2000-111-04-2. The work of F.S. has been partially supported by the EU Commission under contract HPRN-CT-2000-00130.


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# Thermodynamic Formalism of the Harmonic Measure of Diffusion Limited Aggregates: Phase Transition and Converged 𝑓(𝛼)

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work has been supported in part by the Petroleum Research Fund, The European Commission under the TMR program and the Naftali and Anna Backenroth-Bronicki Fund for Research in Chaos and Complexity. A. L. supported by a fellowship of the Minerva Foundation, Munich, Germany.