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# Vertex-Unfoldings of Simplicial Manifolds

## 1 Introduction

It is a long-standing open problem to determine whether every convex polyhedron can be cut along its edges and unfolded flat in one piece without overlap, that is, into a simple polygon. This type of unfolding has been termed an *edge-unfolding*; the unfolding consists of the facets of the polyhedron joined along edges. In contrast, unfolding via arbitrary cuts easily leads to nonoverlap. O’Rourke \[O’R00\] gives a history of the edge-unfolding problem and its applications to manufacturing. Recently it was established that not every nonconvex polyhedron can be edge-unfolded, even if the polyhedron is *simplicial*, that is, all of its faces are triangles \[BDEK99, BDE+01\].

In this paper we loosen the meaning of “in one piece” to permit a non-overlapping connected region that (in general) does not form a simple polygon, because its interior is disconnected. We call such an unfolding a *vertex-unfolding*: facets of the polyhedron are connected in the unfolding at common vertices, but not necessarily along edges. With this easier goal we obtain a positive result:

###### Theorem 1

Every connected triangulated $`2`$-manifold (possibly with boundary) has a vertex-unfolding, which can be computed in linear time.

This result includes simplicial polyhedra of any genus, manifolds with any number of boundary components, and even manifolds like the Klein bottle that cannot be topologically embedded in $`3`$-space. Our proof relies crucially on the restriction that every face is a triangle. The problem remains open for nonsimplicial polyhedra with simply connected or even convex faces; see Section 5.

We extend this result in the natural way to higher dimensions in Section 4.

## 2 Algorithm Overview

Let $``$ be a triangulated $`2`$-manifold, possibly with boundary. Following polyhedral terminology, we refer to the triangles of $``$ as *facets*. The *(vertex-facet) incidence graph* of $``$ is the bipartite graph whose nodes are the facets and vertices of $``$, with an arc $`(v,f)`$ whenever $`v`$ is a vertex of facet $`f`$. A *facet path* is a trail $`(v_0,f_1,v_1,f_2,v_2,\mathrm{},f_k,v_k)`$ in the incidence graph of $``$ that includes each facet node exactly once, but may repeat vertex nodes. In any facet path, $`v_{i1}`$ and $`v_i`$ are distinct vertices of facet $`f_i`$ for all $`i`$. Because each facet node appears only once, no arc is repeated. A *facet cycle* is a facet path that is also a circuit, that is, where $`v_0=v_k`$.

Our algorithm relies on this simple observation:

###### Lemma 2

If $``$ has a facet path, then $``$ has a vertex-unfolding in which each triangle of the path occupies an otherwise empty vertical strip of the plane.

* Let $`p`$ be a facet path of $``$. Suppose inductively that a facet path $`p`$ has been laid out in strips up to facet $`f_{i1}`$, with all triangles left of vertex $`v_i`$, the rightmost vertex of $`f_{i1}`$. Let $`(v_i,f_i,v_{i+1})`$ be the next few nodes in $`p`$; recall that $`v_iv_{i+1}`$. Rotate facet $`f_i`$ about vertex $`v_i`$ so that $`v_i`$ is leftmost and $`v_{i+1}`$ rightmost, and the third vertex of $`f_i`$ lies horizontally between. Such rotations exist because $`f_i`$ is a triangle. Place $`f_i`$ in a vertical strip with $`v_i`$ and $`v_{i+1}`$ on its left and right boundaries. Repeating this process for all facets in $`p`$ produces a non-overlapping vertex-unfolding. $`\mathrm{}`$

Thus to prove Theorem 1 it suffices to prove that every connected triangulated $`2`$-manifold has a facet path. In addition, the existence of facet paths has two applications:

1. The vertex-unfolding resulting from Lemma 2 can be viewed as a *hinged dissection* \[Fre97\] of the surface. Thus we demonstrate a hinged dissection for any triangulated $`2`$-manifold.
2. A facet path also yields an “ideal rendering” of any triangulated surface on a computer graphics system with a $`1`$-vertex cache: each triangle shares one vertex with the previous triangle in the graphics pipeline. This result is in some sense best possible: an ideal rendering for a 2-vertex cache in which every adjacent pair of triangles shares two vertices is not always achievable, because there are triangulations whose dual graphs have no Hamiltonian path \[AHMS96\].

It might be more pleasing to obtain a vertex-unfolding based on a *noncrossing facet path*, one that does not include a pattern $`(\mathrm{},A,v,C,\mathrm{},B,v,D,\mathrm{})`$ with the facets incident to the vertex $`v`$ appearing in the cyclic order $`A,B,C,D`$. Because a facet path has either no or at most two odd nodes (its endpoints), and because any such planar graph has a noncrossing Eulerian trail, we can convert any facet path into a noncrossing facet path. Specifically, we can replace each crossing pair of vertex-to-vertex connections with one of the two alternate pair of connections, whichever alternate pair keeps the vertex-unfolding connected. See Figure 1.

Figure 2 shows a vertex-unfolding of the triangulated surface of a cube, obtained from a facet path by our algorithm. Figure 3 shows several more complex examples, generated from random convex polyhedra using an earlier, less general version \[DEE+01\] of the algorithm we present in the next section. In our examples, we permit the triangles to touch along segments at the strip boundaries, but this could easily be avoided if desired so that each strip boundary contains just the one vertex shared between the adjacent triangles.

## 3 Facet Paths in 2-Manifolds

In this section, we prove that every triangulated $`2`$-manifold has a facet path, which, by Lemma 2, yields Theorem 1.

A *$`d`$-manifold* is a topological space such that every point has a neighborhood homeomorphic to the neighborhood of some point in a closed halfspace in $`^d`$. Interior points of a $`2`$-manifold have neighborhoods homeomorphic to a disk, and boundary points have neighborhoods homeomorphic to a half-disk. (Thus, the vertex-unfoldings in Figures 2 and 3 are not manifolds.) A $`2`$-manifold constructed from (topological) triangles is called a *triangulated $`2`$-manifold*.

The *weak dual* of a triangulated $`2`$-manifold $``$ is a graph $`^{}`$ with a node for every triangle and an arc between any pair of triangles that share a common edge. Let $`T^{}`$ be an arbitrary spanning tree of this dual graph. If we glue the triangles of $``$ together according to the edges in $`T^{}`$, we obtain a *topological unfolding* $`T`$, a simplicial complex with the topology of a triangulated polygon with no interior vertices. (If we are lucky, we can obtain a *geometric* unfolding of $``$ by embedding $`T`$ in the plane, but as mentioned earlier, this is not always possible.) Any facet path or facet cycle of $`T`$ can be mapped to a facet path or facet cycle of $``$; recall that a facet path may repeat vertex nodes.

A *scaffold* is a subgraph of the incidence graph in which every facet appears and has degree $`2`$ and at most two vertices have odd degree; if every vertex has even degree, we call it an *even* scaffold. (See Figure 4(d) below for an example of a scaffold.) The edges of any facet path form a scaffold, and any Euler walk through a connected scaffold gives us a facet path. Thus, our goal is to find a connected scaffold for $`T`$.

First we establish a slightly weaker result:

###### Lemma 3

Every triangulated polygon with no interior vertices has a (possibly disconnected) scaffold.

* Let $`T`$ be a triangulated polygon with no interior vertices. We prove the lemma by induction on the number of triangles, with two base cases. If $`T`$ is empty, we are done. If $`T`$ is a single triangle, then a path between any two vertices is a scaffold. Henceforth, assume that $`T`$ has at least two triangles.

An *ear* in $`T`$ is a triangle that is adjacent to at most one other triangle. We call a triangle in $`T`$ a *hat* if it is adjacent to at least one ear and at most one non-ear. If we remove all the ears from $`T`$, we obtain a new triangulated polygon $`T^{}`$. See Figure 4(a). If $`T^{}`$ is nonempty, then it has at least one ear, and every ear in $`T^{}`$ is a hat in $`T`$. On the other hand, if $`T^{}`$ is empty, then $`T`$ consists of exactly two triangles, which are both ears and hats. In either case, $`T`$ contains at least one hat.

To perform the induction, we choose a hat in $`T`$, find a cycle in the facet-vertex of that hat and (at most two of) its adjacent ears, and recursively construct a scaffold for the remaining triangulation. We have two inductive cases.

Suppose $`T`$ has a hat $`H=qrs`$ with at least two ears $`E=pqr`$ and $`F=rst`$ (a ‘Mickey Mouse hat’). See Figure 4(b). We construct a cycle $`(r,E,q,H,s,F,r)`$ through the facet-vertex of these three triangles, and recursively construct a scaffold for the smaller triangulation $`T\{H,E,F\}`$.

Otherwise, let $`H=qrs`$ be a hat with just one adjacent ear $`E=pqr`$ (a ‘dunce cap’). See Figure 4(c). We construct a cycle $`(q,H,r,E,q)`$ through the facet-vertex of those two triangles, and recursively construct a scaffold for the smaller triangulation $`T\{H,E\}`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Following the proof gives us an easy linear-time algorithm, consisting of a simple depth-first traversal of the input triangulation’s dual tree. Figure 4(d) shows a scaffold computed by our algorithm. The scaffold we construct may be disconnected, but we show how to make it connected using a series of local operations.

Let $`S`$ be a scaffold with more than one component. If $`S`$ is not actually an even scaffold, its two odd vertices must be in the same component; every other component has an Euler circuit and so must be $`2`$-connected. Choose a pair of triangles $`A=pqr`$ and $`B=qrs`$ that lie in different components of $`S`$. Without loss of generality, suppose $`S`$ contains the edges $`(p,A)`$, $`(q,A)`$, $`(r,B)`$, and $`(s,B)`$. At most one of the edges $`(q,A)`$ and $`(r,B)`$ is a bridge (its removal would disconnect the graph). If we remove edges $`(q,A)`$ and $`(r,B)`$ and add edges $`(r,A)`$ and $`(q,B)`$, we obtain another scaffold $`S^{}`$ with one fewer component than $`S`$. See Figure 5. Repeating this process for each adjacent pair of components gives us a connected scaffold.

###### Theorem 4

Every connected triangulated $`2`$-manifold (possibly with boundary) has a facet path.

### 3.1 Checkered Triangulations and Facet Cycles

We can strengthen this result slightly, by showing that most properly triangulated $`2`$-manifolds actually have a facet *cycle*. This permits the strip layout of Lemma 2 to start on the left with any given triangle of the manifold.

We call a polygon triangulation *checkered* if there is a $`2`$-coloring of the triangles so that every white triangle has three (necessarily black) neighbors. See Figure 6(a).

###### Lemma 5

A polygon triangulation with no interior vertices has a facet cycle if and only if it is not checkered.

* Let $`T`$ be a triangulated polygon with no interior vertices. First we prove by induction that no checkered triangulation has a facet cycle. The base case is a single (black) triangle, which clearly has no facet cycle. In any other checkered triangulation $`T`$, we can always find a Mickey Mouse hat: two black ears adjacent to a common (white) triangle. If $`T`$ has a facet cycle, it must contain a subcycle of six edges inside the Mickey Mouse hat and another subcycle through the rest of the triangulation. But the rest of the triangulation is checkered, so by the induction hypothesis, it has no facet cycle. See Figure 6(b).

Now suppose $`T`$ is a non-checkered triangulation; in particular, $`T`$ has at least two triangles. To prove the lemma, it suffices to show that $`T`$ has an even scaffold. Assume without loss of generality that $`T`$ has *no* Mickey Mouse hats; otherwise, we can remove them as described above. (This might actually eliminate every triangle in $`T`$, but then we’ve computed an even scaffold!) We cannot be left with a single triangle because $`T`$ is not checkered. Thus, $`T`$ has at least two ‘dunce caps’: hats with only one adjacent ear. If we follow the algorithm in Lemma 3, removing Mickey Mouse hats whenever possible, the triangulation always contains at least one dunce cap, until either the algorithm removes every triangle or there are exactly three triangles left. Thus, the triangulation never consists of a single triangle, which implies that the algorithm constructs an even scaffold. $`\mathrm{}`$

We say that a triangulated $`2`$-manifold is *simplicial* if it is a simplicial complex, or equivalently, if its dual graph is simple (has no multi-edges or loops). Every manifold constructed from geometric triangles is simplicial. (A non-simplicial manifold is shown below in Figure 7.)

###### Lemma 6

Every connected simplicial $`2`$-manifold (possibly with boundary) has a non-checkered topological unfolding, except a checkered polygon triangulation.

* Let $``$ be a simplicial $`2`$-manifold that either is multiply connected or has interior vertices. Assume without loss of generality that $``$ has a checkered topological unfolding $`T`$, because otherwise we have nothing to prove. This immediately implies that $``$ is not $`2`$-colorable.

Color the triangles of $`T`$ black and white, so that adjacent triangles have opposite colors and every boundary edge of $`T`$ lies on a black triangle. Because the dual $`1`$-skeleton of $``$ is a simple graph, we can cut $`T`$ into two simple polygons along some edge, and then reglue those pieces along some other pair of edges, to obtain another combinatorial unfolding $`T^{}`$ of $``$. Because $``$ is not $`2`$-colorable, we must reverse the colors of one of those pieces to obtain a proper $`2`$-coloring of $`T^{}`$. Because each piece has at least three edges, each piece has at least one edge that is on the boundary of both $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$. It follows that $`T^{}`$ has boundary edges adjacent to both black and white triangles, so $`T^{}`$ is not checkered. $`\mathrm{}`$

Combining the previous two lemmas, we conclude the following:

###### Theorem 7

Every connected simplicial $`2`$-manifold (possibly with boundary) has a facet cycle, except a checkered polygon triangulation.

This theorem requires that we start with a simplicial complex. There are triangulated but non-simplicial $`2`$-manifolds that have no facet cycle, like the triangulation of the sphere shown in Figure 7. However, even improperly triangulated $`2`$-manifolds have facet paths.

## 4 Higher Dimensions

In this final section, we generalize our results to higher dimensions. Lemma 2 generalizes in the obvious way, yielding a vertex-unfolding into parallel “slabs” from any facet path. We will show that any simplicial polyhedron has a facet cycle, and thus a vertex-unfolding. Like the results in the previous section, the proofs are almost purely topological, and thus actually apply to arbitrary triangulated manifolds, possibly with boundary, independent of any embedding.

First let us establish some general terminology. A *simplicial $`d`$-manifold* is a simplicial complex111In fact, our results apply to *pseudo-manifold $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-complexes*—sets of $`d`$-simplices whose facets (our ridges) are glued together in pairs \[Hat01\]. A pseudo-manifold $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-complex is not necessarily a manifold, even with boundary, but it becomes a manifold if all faces of dimension $`d2`$ or less are deleted. homeomorphic to a $`d`$-dimensional manifold, possibly with boundary. For example, any simplicial convex $`d`$-polytope is a simplicial manifold homeomorphic to the sphere $`𝕊^{d1}`$. Following standard polytope nomenclature, we call the full $`d`$-dimensional simplices *facets* and the codimension-$`1`$ simplices (i.e., the simplices of dimension $`d1`$) *ridges*.

The *dual $`1`$-skeleton* $`^{}`$ of a simplicial manifold $``$ is a simple graph, with a node for each facet and an arc between any two facets that share a ridge. We call a simplicial manifold $``$ *unfolded* if its dual $`1`$-skeleton $`^{}`$ is a tree, or equivalently, if it is conencted and its codimension-$`2`$ simplices all lie on the boundary. Every unfolded simplicial manifold is homeomorphic to a ball. An unfolded $`3`$-manifold has the topology of a triangulated polyhedron in $`\mathrm{I}\mathrm{R}^3`$ with no diagonals or interior points.

An *unfolding* of a connected simplicial manifold $``$ is a pair $`(U,f)`$, where $`U`$ is an unfolded simplicial manifold, and $`f:U`$ is a simplicial map that is onto and whose restriction to the interior of $`U`$ is one-to one. The function $`f`$ is called the *folding map*, and the set of points in $``$ with more than one preimage in $`U`$ is called the *cut set* of the unfolding. We will refer to $`U`$ as an unfolding of $``$ when the folding map is clear from context. We easily observe that any spanning tree of $`^{}`$ corresponds to a unique unfolding of $``$. It is an open problem, for every $`d3`$, whether every $`d`$-polytope has an unfolding that embeds geometrically in $`\mathrm{I}\mathrm{R}^{d1}`$ without overlap.

The *(vertex-facet) incidence graph* of a simplicial manifold has a node for every vertex and every facet, and an arc $`(v,f)`$ whenever $`v`$ is a vertex of facet $`f`$. A *facet cycle* is a circuit in the incidence graph that passes through every facet exactly once. More generally, an *even scaffold* is a subgraph of the incidence graph in which every facet has degree $`2`$ and every vertex has even degree. Any Euler tour of a connected even scaffold is a facet cycle.

###### Lemma 8

For all $`d3`$, every unfolded simplicial $`d`$-manifold has an even scaffold, except a single $`d`$-simplex.

* Let $`U`$ be an unfolded simplicial $`d`$-manifold with $`d3`$ and with more than one facet. An *ear* of $`U`$ is a facet that is adjacent to only one other facet. A *hat* is a facet that is adjacent to at least one ear and at most one non-ear. Just as in the two-dimensional case, every unfolded simplicial $`d`$-manifold with more than one facet has at least two ears and at least one hat (and with only $`d1`$ exceptions, at least two hats).

We prove the lemma by induction. If $`U`$ is non-empty, we identify a small collection of simplices in $`U`$, find a cycle in the incidence graph of those simplices, and recursively construct an even scaffold for the remaining complex, which is still an unfolded manifold. It is fairly easy to construct an even scaffold for any subcomplex consisting of a hat and its ears, and to decompose any unfolded complex into a sequence of such complexes by removing a hat (and its ears) and recursing \[Gei58\]. To keep things simple, however, we will consider only the four following cases.

1. If $`U`$ is empty, there is nothing to do.
    2. Suppose $`U`$ consists of exactly three simplices: a hat $`H`$ and two ears $`E`$ and $`F`$. $`E`$ and $`F`$ share at least one vertex $`p`$; $`E`$ and $`H`$ share at least one vertex $`qp`$; and $`H`$ and $`F`$ share at least one vertex $`rp,q`$. (In fact, we have $`d2`$ choices for each of these three vertices.) Then $`(p,E,q,H,r,F,p)`$ is a cycle in the incidence graph of $`U`$.
    3. Suppose some hat $`H`$ is adjacent to just one ear $`E`$. $`H`$ and $`E`$ share an edge $`pq`$. (In fact, they share an entire ridge.) We recursively construct an even scaffold for the subcomplex $`U\{H,E\}`$, and add the cycle $`(p,H,q,E,p)`$.
    4. Finally, suppose some hat $`H`$ is adjacent to more than one ear and $`U`$ has more than three facets. Let $`E`$ and $`F`$ be any two ears adjacent to $`H`$. $`E`$ and $`F`$ share an edge $`pq`$. (In fact, they share an entire face of dimension $`d2>0`$; this is the only step of the proof that requires $`d3`$.) We recursively construct an even scaffold for the subcomplex $`U\{E,F\}`$ and add the cycle $`(p,E,q,F,p)`$.

The only unfolded complex that does not fall into one of these four cases is a single simplex. $`\mathrm{}`$

Once we have an even scaffold, we can make it connected using local flip operations as in the two-dimensional case; in fact the proof is slightly simpler because every component of an even scaffold is $`2`$-connected. Let $`A`$ and $`B`$ be adjacent simplices that lie in different components of the even scaffold, and suppose the scaffold contains edges $`(p,A)`$, $`(q,A)`$, $`(r,B)`$, and $`(s,B)`$. The ridge $`AB`$ contains all but one vertex of $`A`$ and all but one vertex of $`B`$, so without loss of generality, $`q`$ and $`r`$ are both in $`AB`$. If we replace edges $`(q,A)`$ and $`(r,B)`$ with edges $`(q,B)`$ and $`(r,A)`$, we obtain a new even scaffold. Any node in the old component of $`A`$ is still connected to $`p`$, then $`A`$, then $`q`$, and then to any node in the old component of $`B`$. Thus, the new even scaffold has one fewer component. Repeating this process for each adjacent pair of components, we obtain a connected even scaffold.

Putting the pieces together yields the following:

###### Theorem 9

For any $`d3`$, every connected simplicial $`d`$-manifold (possibly with boundary) has a facet cycle, except a single $`d`$-simplex.

As we only need a path for the slab construction, we immediately obtain:

###### Corollary 10

Every connected simplicial manifold (possibly with boundary) has a vertex-unfolding, which can be computed in linear time.

## 5 Discussion

The obvious question left open by our work is whether the restriction to simplicial facets is necessary. Does every three-dimensional polyhedron with simply-connected facets have a non-overlapping vertex-unfolding? What if we require the facets to be convex?

Our strip construction fails for polyhedra with non-triangular convex facets, because such polyhedra may not have facet paths. For example, the truncated cube has no facet path: no pair of its eight triangles can be adjacent in a path, but its six octagons are not enough to separate the triangles.

If facets are permitted to have holes, then there are polyhedra that cannot be vertex-unfolded at all, for example, the box-on-top-of-a-box construction of Biedl et al. (Figure 7 of \[BDD+98\]).

A related reverse problem is, given a collection of polygons glued together at vertices, can they be glued along their edges to form a polyhedron? In other words, do they form a vertex-unfolding of some polyhedron? What about convex polyhedra? What is the complexity of these decision problems?

#### Acknowledgments

We thank Anna Lubiw for a clarifying discussion, and Allison Baird, Dessislava Michaylova, and Amanda Toop for assisting with the implementation.


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# Teleportation implementation of non-deterministic quantum logic operations by using linear optical elements

## Abstract

We present a feasible scheme to implement the non-deterministic quantum logic operation of Knill, Laflamme and Milburn (Nature, 409, 46-52(2001)) by a teleportation technique. An entangled photon channel is generated by emitting two single photons into an asymmetric beam splitter. In order to generate the classical channel signal two photon detectors are needed.

The development of quantum algorithms shows impressively, that a quantum computer can provide an enormous speed up compared to classical computers shor  gro . This principle theoretical result motivated an intensive research in the field of quantum information processing. The idea to develop quantum logic gates was emerged from reversible Boolean gates deut . The mathematical concept of quantum theory was converted into a concept of quantum gates which are combined to form quantum circuits di . Apart from system specific investigations on quantum computer prototypes the interest in principle problems of using entanglement still remains. Fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics daa , quantum information processing and communication, cryptography ds , quantum teleportation db  and quantum dense coding km  can be very well investigated with quantum optical systems. The realization of a quantum computer is particularly appealing because of the robust nature of quantum states of light against the decoherence. Recently the implementation of a probabilistic quantum logic gate was proposed, which is based on linear optical elements klm . This concept uses additional single-photon sources and single-photon detectors. A non-deterministic gate, which is known as the nonlinear sign-gate (NLS), was proposed in that paper. This gate transforms the quantum states, which are labeled by the photon occupation number, according to

$`\alpha |0+\beta |1+\gamma |2\alpha |0+\beta |1\gamma |2.`$ (1)
The probability of this outcome is rated to $`1/4`$. Although the scheme in Ref klm  contains only linear optical elements, the optical network is complex and would present major stability and mode matching problems in their construction. Several less complicated schemes with linear optical elements were presented ra ru  to implement the NLS-gate with a slightly lower probability of this outcome.
If the information is stored in the polarization of photons a probabilistic quantum logic gate (CNOT-gate and controlled-phase gate) can also be implemented bbo . But this scheme requires entangled photon states as a resource. Pittman et al. pi  proposed an alternative scheme, which uses polarizing beam splitters (PBS) and the quantum erasure technique. This scheme makes a high rate of efficiency possible. The authors describe the implementation of several quantum logic operations of an elementary nature, including a quantum parity check and a quantum encoder. They show how these elements can be combined in order to implement a CNOT-gate. This scheme also requires entangled photon states as a resource. An experimental demonstration of several quantum logic devices can be found in pi1 .
In this paper we present a scheme to implement the non-deterministic NLS-gate. We adapted this scheme from a teleportation scheme db . To use teleportation schemes for universal quantum computation was first suggested by Gottesman and Chuang chu .
The experimental setup, which we suggest to use, is depicted in Fig.1. The input quantum state is in the form

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{in}=\alpha |0_1+\beta |1_1+\gamma |2_1.`$ (2)
An ancilla quantum state in the form $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{ancilla}=|1_2|1_3`$ is required. The beam splitter $`BS_1`$ transforms this ancilla quantum state into

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{ancilla}^{}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}2\theta }{\sqrt{2}}}(|2_2^{}|0_3^{}|0_2^{}|2_3^{})+\mathrm{cos}2\theta |1_2^{}|1_3^{}.`$ (3)
The reflectance and the transmittance of the beam splitter $`BS1`$ are denoted by $`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ and $`\mathrm{cos}\theta `$. These quantities will be determined later. The field state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1\mathrm{\Psi }_{ancilla}^{}`$ will directly be used for the NLS-gate implementation. The input modes of Alice’s symmetric beam splitter $`BS2`$ are the mode $`1`$ and the mode $`2^{}`$. Thus, the quantum state transforms to

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{out}`$ $`=`$ $`|2_{1^{\prime \prime }}|0_{2^{\prime \prime }}\left[(\mathrm{sin}2\theta )\alpha |0_3^{}+2(\mathrm{cos}2\theta )\beta |1_3^{}(\mathrm{sin}2\theta )\gamma |2_3^{}\right]/2\sqrt{2}`$ (4)
$`+|0_{1^{\prime \prime }}|2_{2^{\prime \prime }}\left[(\mathrm{sin}2\theta )\alpha |0_3^{}2(\mathrm{cos}2\theta )\beta |1_3^{}(\mathrm{sin}2\theta )\gamma |2_3^{}\right]/2\sqrt{2}`$
$`+\mathrm{\Psi }_{other}.`$
The other terms $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{other}`$ of this quantum state don’t contribute to the two events, which we consider in the following. Alice makes a photon number measurement on the mode $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ and the mode $`2^{\prime \prime }`$ with the detectors $`D_1`$ and $`D_2`$. If $`D_1`$ detects two photons and $`D_2`$ does not detect any photon, the state is projected into

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{out}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}}}(\mathrm{sin}2\theta \alpha |0+2\mathrm{cos}2\theta \beta |1\mathrm{sin}2\theta \gamma |2).`$ (5)
If we choose the reflectance $`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ of the beam splitter in order to fulfill $`\mathrm{sin}2\theta =2/\sqrt{5}`$, the output quantum state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{out}=\alpha |0+\beta |1\gamma |2`$ is generated from the input quantum state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{in}`$. This is the transformation property (1) of the NLS-gate. The probability of this outcome will be $`10\%`$. If $`D_2`$ detects two photons and $`D_1`$ does not detect any photon, the quantum state is projected to the form

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{out}=\alpha |0\beta |1\gamma |2.`$ (6)
The other terms $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{other}`$ of the quantum state (4) don’t contribute to this event. In order to implement the NLS-gate transformation property (1) Bob needs to apply a $`\pi `$-phase shifter that changes the signs of the state $`|1`$ woo . The probability of this outcome will be $`10\%`$. Hence, the total success probability of the gate is the probability of either of these two outcomes, i.e., $`20\%`$.

A scheme is presented to implement the non-deterministic NLS-gate with 20 percent of probability of success. Only linear optical devices in a comparatively simple experimental setup are needed. Currently available triggered single photon sources operate by means of fluorescence from a single molecule cbb  or a single quantum dot cs  pm . These techniques exhibit a very good performance. However, in order to generate entangled photon states a synchronized arrival of many photons at the beam splitter input ports is needed.
The main difficulty of our scheme in respect to an experimental demonstration consists in the requirement on the sensitivity of the detectors. These detectors should be capable of distinguishing between no photon, one photon or two photons. Recently, experimental techniques for single photon detection made tremendous progress. A photon detector based on visible light photon counter can distinguish between a single photon incidence and two photon incidence. A high quantum efficiency with a good time resolution and a low bit-error rate was reported yyy . To filfill the requirements of the presented scheme will be experimentally challenging.
Furthermore, this scheme can be employed by means of a symmetric beam splitter $`BS_1`$ to implement quantum teleportation of superpositions of vacuum and two-photon states.

Figure Captions

Figure . The schematic is shown to implement the non-deterministic quantum logic operation using teleportation protocol. The entangled channel is generated via a pair of photon incident on Beam splitter $`BS_1`$. The wave $`3^{}`$ is sent to the Bob, while wave $`2^{}`$ is sent to Alice who combines with the wave 1 to be implement. Alice makes a measurement upon the wave $`2^{}`$ and wave 1 and information the result to Bob via a classical communication channel(represent by a dot line). Based on the result of Alice measurement, Bob can perform a suitable unitary transformation with a $`\pi `$ phase shift.


text:
# Light Quark Masses with 𝑁_𝑓=2 Wilson FermionsTalk presented by N. Eicker.

## 1 Introduction

The precise determination of light quark masses, $`\overline{m}`$, from full QCD simulations is of considerable interest since the lattice provides the only known access to their absolute scale.

We have pointed out some time ago  that vacuum polarization effects have sizeable impact on extracting $`\overline{m}`$ from the empirical $`m_\pi /m_\rho `$ ratio. This became manifest in a substantial ambiguity in the determination of $`\overline{m}`$ from the vector Ward identities. Indeed, there is a freedom of chiral extrapolation ($`\chi `$E) on the lattice: at $`\beta =5.6.`$ e.g., the extrapolation along the line of equal valence and sea quark hopping parameters, $`\kappa ^{val}=\kappa ^{sea}`$ (direct extrapolation), yields a value for $`\overline{m}=m_{u/d}`$ which is roughly a factor of two below the result from a semi-quenched, two-step extrapolation procedure. In the latter one first determines the values of $`\kappa _l^{val}=\kappa _l^{val}(\kappa ^{sea})`$ for each ensemble with fixed value of $`\kappa ^{sea}`$ (similar to quenched simulations). For each $`\kappa _l^{val}(\kappa ^{sea})`$ $`\overline{m}_{val}^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(\kappa ^{sea})`$ is computed and, subsequently, this function is extrapolated to the physical point $`\kappa ^{sea}=\kappa _l^{sea}`$, at this given value of $`\beta `$.

Furthermore it has been shown by CP-PACS that the ambiguity seen at finite $`a`$ goes away after CE . CP-PACS has used an improved action that allowed them to go to rather coarse lattices, providing them with a long lever arm for the various CE. In the present context, their lever arm turned out to be of little value, however, since the extrapolation with a linear CE led them to a very poor $`\chi ^2`$ with such an ansatz, invalidating the small error on their value of $`\overline{m}`$.

Given this situation we are motivated to resume the question with the standard Wilson fermionic action and attempt a scaling analysis, by complementing previous SESAM/T$`\chi `$L data with another set of vacuum configurations at $`\beta =5.5`$, as specified in table 1.

## 2 The light quark mass $`\overline{m}`$

The determination of light quark masses can be sketched by the following steps:
(a) Fix $`\kappa _c`$ from the $`\chi `$E of $`am_{PS}^20`$;
(b) Get $`\kappa _l`$ from $`\frac{m_{PS}}{m_V}\frac{m_\pi }{m_\rho }`$ using the $`\chi `$E of $`am_V`$;
(c) Determine $`a^1`$ via $`r_00.5\text{ fm}`$;
(d) Compute the quark mass in the lattice-scheme:

$$\overline{m}^{lat}(a)=a^1\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{\kappa _l}\frac{1}{\kappa _c}\right);$$
(1)
(e) Convert into $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$-scheme using

$$\overline{m}^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(\mu =1/a)=Z_m\overline{m}^{lat}(a);$$
(2)
(f) Rescale the quark mass to $`\mu =2\text{ GeV}`$;
(g) Extrapolate $`a0`$.

$`Z_M`$ within this work was determined using a tadpole improved perturbative procedure .

In the case of the above-quoted semi-quenched $`\chi `$E procedure the results for $`\overline{m}^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(2\text{ GeV})`$ have to be extrapolated to the physical mass of the sea quarks before sending $`a0`$.

In order to achieve appropriate statistical errors throughout this analysis one has to take into account the correlation between the observables. These correlations occur especially within the semi-quenched analysis, since all observables inside a $`\chi `$E are determined on the same set of configurations. Therefore all errors are determined using the jackknife procedure within all steps (a) to (g) sketched above.

Fig. 2 shows the results for $`\overline{m}`$ in the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$-scheme for $`\beta =5.6`$ versus $`\kappa ^{sea}`$. Obviously the semi-quenched values for $`\kappa =0.1575`$ on the small lattice and for $`\kappa =0.158`$ on the larger lattice deviate from the general behavior of the data. A more detailed investigation shows that this is due to finite-size effects. Hence these two points are neglected in the extrapolation to the physical sea quark mass. Furthermore we reconfirm the above mentioned discrepancy between the results for the semi-quenched and the direct extrapolations.

Fig. 1 displays the corresponding results for $`\beta =5.5`$. Here the value for $`\kappa =0.160`$ clearly shows finite-size effects and is hence discarded.

Fig. 3 presents the CE $`a0`$, with $`a`$ as obtained from $`r_0`$ at $`\kappa _l`$. The continuum value for the light quark mass is determined using a constrained fit to the semi-quenched and direct values at two lattice constants each. The fit is also shown in the figure.

As a final result for the light quark mass we get

$$\overline{m}^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(2\text{ GeV})=4.5(1.7)\text{ MeV}.$$
(3)
Within the bigger errors of our analysis, this number is in good agreement with the result quoted by CP-PACS .

## 3 The strange quark mass $`m_s`$

In contrast to the light quark mass there is no reasonable way to carry out a direct $`\chi `$E for the mass of the strange quark. This is due to the fact that directly extrapolated results would describe mesons with strange valence quarks within a sea of strange sea quarks. Indeed, nature is given by a sea of light sea quarks and therefore only the semi-quenched $`\chi `$E makes sense.

On the other hand there are several ways to determine $`\kappa _s`$, the hopping-parameter corresponding to the mass of the strange quark. In this analysis we investigated three different inputs: $`\frac{m_\varphi }{m_\rho }`$, $`\frac{m_K}{m_\pi }`$ and $`\frac{m_K^{}}{m_\rho }`$.

From a semi-quenched analysis of $`m_s`$, one obtains the results displayed in Fig. 4. The data clearly show deviations for the different definitions of the quark mass which are expected to disappear in the continuum. Hence again a constrained fit was done for the CE.

The result of this fit for the mass of the strange quark is

$$m_s^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(2\text{ GeV})=92(83)\text{ MeV}.$$
(4)
Obviously the strange quark mass needs all the more a larger range of $`a`$-values for a safe CE.

## 4 Conclusions

We conclude that (i) statistical errors of 5 to 10 % can be achieved before CE, (ii) with additional simulations at smaller $`\beta `$, a reliable $`\overline{m}`$-determination with 10 % accuracy is within reach.

## Acknowledgments

We thank G. Bali for computing the $`r_0`$ data, with support of the EC under contract HPRN-CT-2000-00145 Hadrons/Lattice QCD. N.E. thanks DESY for partly supporting his PhD project. B.O. was supported by the DFG Graduiertenkolleg “Feldtheoretische Methoden in der Elementarteilchentheorie und Statistischen Physik”.


text:
# Regularization tools for binary interactions

## 1. Introduction

The presence of binaries in star cluster simulations poses many technical questions which must be overcome in order to obtain satisfactory results. In the following, we review the main algorithms for studying a variety of interactions, ranging from physical collisions to stable hierarchies. It is somewhat paradoxical that the degree of difficulty in dealing with these two situations is such that the former is by far the easiest. Given a significant binary fraction, it is necessary to treat close encounters of three or more strongly interacting particles. This is achieved by three-body and chain regularization. In addition, stable configurations of three or more members form by various processes. These hierarchical structures range from triples to sextuplets. Upon ascertaining stability, such systems are described by two-body regularization. Here the inner binary may be subject to induced eccentricity increase due to the inclination effect, which can also be considered. With all these tools, it is now possible to study the long-term evolution of conventional star clusters, taking account of all relevant astrophysical processes. However, the modelling of black-hole binaries reveal some inefficiencies during the advanced stages of evolution. A new method is presented for dealing with this challenging problem.

## 2. Primordial Binaries

Realistic star cluster simulations usually include a significant population of primordial binaries. We concentrate on hard binaries and choose a flat distribution of semi-major axes (Kroupa 1998). These binaries are integrated by the classical Kustaanheimo-Stiefel (1965, hereafter KS) regularization method. After trying several alternatives, the Stumpff Hermite formulation appears to be superior (Mikkola & Aarseth 1998) and yields high accuracy at small perturbations. The main idea here is that correction terms are included for the neglected higher orders. In addition, the so-called slow-down procedure which exploits the adiabatic invariance (Mikkola & Aarseth 1996) allows one KS orbit to represent several physical periods by scaling the perturbing force and physical time accordingly. At even smaller perturbations, the two-body orbit is assumed to be conserved over one or more periods, depending on the nearest neighbours. This approximation leads to a considerable speeding-up of the integration since the binary can now be treated as a single particle.

Use of regularized two-body descriptions facilitates implementation of astrophysical processes connected with finite-size effects (Aarseth 1996). Among these are tidal capture and circularization (Mardling & Aarseth 2001), Roche-lobe overflow, common-envelope evolution, magnetic or relativistic braking and physical collisions (Tout et al. 1997). In addition, slow expansion due to stellar mass loss or disruption following a neutron star velocity kick is also treated. An energy-conserving scheme is achieved by including a variety of correction procedures. Further details about the different processes have been reviewed elsewhere (Aarseth 1999a).

KS regularization has been implemented in several direct summation codes. Here we mention $`NBODY4`$ for use on the special-purpose HARP-2 or GRAPE-6 computers and $`NBODY6`$ which is suitable for laptops and workstations (Aarseth 1999b). The former is based on full $`N`$ force summation, whereas the latter employs the Ahmad-Cohen (1973) neighbour scheme for increased efficiency. Both these recent versions use Hermite integration for the single particles (Makino 1991). With the special-purpose machines, the force on a binary centre of mass is also obtained by direct summation, followed by differential correction on the host due to the perturbers. Typical models of open clusters studied on HARP-2 consist of $`N_s=8000`$ single stars and $`N_b=2000`$ hard binaries, with total life-times exceeding 5 Gyr (cf. Hurley et al. 2001). Figure 1 shows the population of bound single stars and binaries as a function of time in a standard open cluster model. Near half-life at $`t=1690`$ (or $`2.2`$ Gyr), $`N_s=4035`$ and $`N_b=957`$; hence the binary population is not preferentially depleted.

## 3. Hierarchical Systems

Observations of the solar neighbourhood reveal a significant fraction of triples as well as systems of higher order. Likewise, analysis of star cluster models also show that such configurations are not rare (Aarseth & Mardling 2001). The main channel for formation of triples is by binary-binary collisions and may be represented symbolically by

$$B+B[B,S]+S.$$
(1)
This important process was already identified during scattering experiments where one single star is ejected (Mikkola 1983).

Depending on the orbital characteristics, an isolated triple may be stable and the life-time may still be considerable in the presence of perturbers. We test stability by a semi-analytical criterion for the outer pericentre given by (Mardling & Aarseth 1999)

$$R_p^{\mathrm{crit}}=C\left[(1+q_{\mathrm{out}})\frac{(1+e_{\mathrm{out}})}{(1e_{\mathrm{out}})^{1/2}}\right]^{2/5}a_{\mathrm{in}},$$
(2)
Here $`C2.8`$ is a constant, $`q_{\mathrm{out}}`$ and $`e_{\mathrm{out}}`$ is the outer mass ratio and eccentricity, respectively, and $`a_{\mathrm{in}}`$ the inner semi-major axis. Consequently, a triple system is said to be stable, provided $`a_{\mathrm{out}}(1e_{\mathrm{out}})>R_p^{\mathrm{crit}}`$. This criterion has been checked extensively and appears to be quite robust. It has been generalized to the case of an outer binary and an inclination correction factor has also been included to represent the enhanced stability of retrograde orbits. The formation mechanism of quadruple systems is still under investigation but appears to be connected with multiple encounters. Here the early stage is characterized by a relatively soft binding energy, whereas many triples are already hard at the outset.

Once accepted as stable, a hierarchy is described by two-body motion and studied by KS regularization until the criterion is violated or the external perturbation dictates termination. In spite of the small formation rate, the population of hierarchical systems becomes significant after the early epoch, with typically a dozen members (Aarseth & Mardling 2001). Temporary high-order systems of the type $`[[B,S],S],[[B,S],B],[[B,B],B]`$ occur and it is not uncommon even for quadruples to escape. Figure 2 illustrates the number of stable hierarchies as a function of time in the model used for Fig. 1.

An attempt has been made to model the Kozai (1962) cycles of the inner binary for favourable values of the inclination (Mardling & Aarseth 2001). Thus provided the maximum eccentricity reaches a sufficiently high value, tidal dissipation may be activated and initiate circularization with consequent orbital shrinking. We include the effect of stellar rotation (Hut 1981) which tends to advance the onset of Roche-lobe mass transfer by the synchronization process. The averaging treatment integrates the eccentricity and angular momentum vectors together with contributions from the outer body in the quadrupole approximation (Heggie 1996, Aarseth & Mardling 2001). Here we also include apsidal motion and relativistic precession if relevant. The new two-body elements are converted to relative coordinates and velocities, followed by a transformation to KS variables for the inner binary which remains dynamically inert. In spite of various de-tuning effects, some examples of tidal circularization are in fact seen. Note that in order for this to occur, the eccentricity needs to reach quite high values; i.e. $`e_{\mathrm{max}}>0.999`$.

## 4. Strong Interactions

The presence of hard binaries invariably leads to close encounters involving large energy changes. Compact subsystems with 3-5 members are treated by chain regularization which also includes a slow-down procedure for super-hard binaries (Mikkola & Aarseth 1993, 1996). In addition, unperturbed three-body regularization (Aarseth & Zare 1974) is available during an ongoing chain interaction. Although there are only $`10^3`$ strong interactions during a typical cluster life-time, many such events are associated with energetic ejections of single stars as well as binaries. Thus escape velocities $`100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ may be seen in cluster models with rms velocity $`2\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

Close binary-binary encounters often lead to the formation of triples, many of which are stable. In the alternative case of ejection, the remaining binary tends to acquire high eccentricity with possible collision. According to the results, the latter outcome occurs more frequently than hyperbolic two-body collisions, whereas tidal capture is seen on rarer occasions. The initiation of normal or chaotic tidal interactions is also connected with multiple encounters involving one or two binaries. Again all the astrophysical processes are treated using well-defined quantities. In the case of a physical collision, this requires careful iteration of the numerical solution which employs the Bulirsch-Stoer (1966) integrator. Here the osculating semi-major axis is obtained after evaluating the non-singular interactions, combined with the total subsystem energy.

Implementation of chain regularization in $`NBODY4`$ and $`NBODY6`$ requires considerable software development for decision-making. Here we need to combine the integration of regularized solutions based on non-linear time-steps with the Hermite scheme for commensurate steps. After nearly ten years experience, these procedures are now working quite well and are able to deal with most configurations. It is particularly important to identify stable hierarchies in order to enable a more efficient description. Since external perturbations are included, a long-lived system may cross the stability boundary slowly; hence frequent checks are needed.

The few-body regularization methods described above are also ideally suited to the study of small systems ($`N10`$) as well as for classical scattering experiments. In particular, more simulations are needed to explore the parameter space for binary-binary scattering. However, depending on the termination conditions, it may be necessary to combine this approach with the variation of elements method or assume unperturbed two-body motion for weakly bound ejections (Mikkola 1983).

## 5. Super-Massive Binary Method

The regularization schemes discussed above work quite well for most stellar systems. However, the case of very large mass ratios requires special consideration in order to avoid the loss of efficiency and accuracy. The problem of black-hole binaries in galactic nuclei is topical and has received much attention. Direct integration on GRAPE-4 with $`N=16,384`$ and a component mass ratio of 256 yielded some interesting results (Makino & Ebisuzaki 1996). Here the dominant interaction was calculated as point-masses, using full double precision on the host computer. The direct approach leads to difficulties for small pericentre distances and in any case this investigation did not describe extreme evolution. Attempts to use KS regularization have only been partially successful (Quinlan & Hernquist 1997, Milosavljević & Merritt 2001). One difficulty here is trapping of bound stellar orbits with respect to one of the massive binary components without resulting in coalescence. On general grounds, extension to chain regularization is also unlikely to be satisfactory because the total subsystem energy which appears explicitly in the equations of motion is dominated by the binary components. In view of the small period and large binding energy of such a binary, some other kind of regularization method is therefore desirable.

In the following we describe a time-transformed leapfrog scheme which offers some practical advantages in dealing with large mass ratios (Mikkola & Aarseth 2001). Consider first the standard leapfrog equations

$`𝐫_{{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}}`$ $`=`$ $`𝐫_0+{\displaystyle \frac{h}{2}}𝐯_0`$
$`𝐯_1`$ $`=`$ $`𝐯_0+h𝐅(𝐫_{{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}})`$
$`𝐫_1`$ $`=`$ $`𝐫_{{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}}+{\displaystyle \frac{h}{2}}𝐯_1,`$ (3)
where $`h`$ is the time-step and $`𝐅`$ denotes the acceleration at $`t=\frac{1}{2}h`$. We adopt a time transformation $`ds=\mathrm{\Omega }(𝐫)dt`$, with $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ an arbitrary function and introduce a new auxiliary quantity $`W=\mathrm{\Omega }`$. The new idea here is to evaluate $`W`$ by

$$\dot{W}=𝐯\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{𝐫}.$$
(4)
This allows us to solve two sets of equations; namely (i) $`𝐫^{}=𝐯/W,t^{}=1/W`$, and (ii) $`𝐯^{}=𝐅/\mathrm{\Omega },W^{}=\dot{W}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Consequently, we write

$`𝐫`$ $`=`$ $`𝐫_0+s𝐯/W`$
$`t`$ $`=`$ $`t_0+s/W,`$ (5)
and

$`𝐯`$ $`=`$ $`𝐯_0+{\displaystyle \frac{s𝐅}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}`$
$`W`$ $`=`$ $`W_0+s{\displaystyle \frac{𝐯+𝐯_0}{2\mathrm{\Omega }}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{𝐫}}.`$ (6)
Here the solution may be combined into a form of leapfrog, taking $`s=\frac{1}{2}h`$ in (5); then $`s=h`$ in (6) and finally again $`s=\frac{1}{2}h`$ in (5).

The numerical solution is obtained by the Bulirsch-Stoer (1966) rational function extrapolation method. Thus, using the above leapfrog algorithm, several integrations are performed with gradually decreasing substeps $`h`$ and the results are extrapolated to zero steplength. This formulation has been generalized to include external perturbations of conservative type. An iterative procedure is necessary for treating the velocity-dependent relativistic corrections and the post-Newtonian approximation (PPN2.5) has been implemented. In either case, the energy of the subsystem is no longer constant but its change can be determined by straightforward integration.

Simple tests indicate that the time-transformed leapfrog (TTL) method is very promising. Thus significantly higher accuracy with about half the number of function evaluations was achieved when including the time transformation. This test employed the so-called Pythagorean three-body problem but it is desirable to examine other initial conditions. Moreover, reliable solutions for coalescence by gravitational radiation have been obtained involving one or both of the massive binary components. Since the Bulirsch-Stoer integrator is rather expensive when including many interactions, the new method is intended for treating a compact subsystem containing a massive binary and significant perturbers. Finally, we note that integration of the time transforming function $`W`$ ensures a more well-behaved solution than direct evaluation.

## 6. NBODY7: A New Simulation Code

The TTL method has already been combined with the star cluster code $`NBODY6`$. In view of the many different procedures, it will be known as $`NBODY7`$. Consequently, all the standard regularization methods are still included for increased flexibility. The special treatment of a super-massive binary may begin with an existing small semi-major axis as provided by another calculation, possibly proceeded by a stage of KS regularization (cf. Milosavljević & Merritt 2001).

In the following, we consider the more general case of two single massive members located at arbitrary positions with typical velocities. Depending on the mass ratio and particle number, the two massive bodies tend to lose kinetic energy by dynamical friction and spiral to the centre on the mass segregation time-scale (Hemsendorf, Sigurdsson & Spurzem 2001). At some stage, the components will form a binary and continue to shrink by ejecting other particles from the core until the conditions are suitable for KS regularization. Hence selection for treatment by the TTL method is postponed until the semi-major axis, $`a_{\mathrm{bh}}`$, reaches the characteristic size for a hard binary. The reason for the delay is that the Bulirsch-Stoer integrator only requires a few steps during each Kepler period and this would cause prediction problems for neighbouring particles which tend to have somewhat smaller time-steps by the Hermite method.

The presence of a central subsystem requires special decision-making in order to maintain an appropriate membership. This entails perturber selection as well as increasing the subsystem membership in a similar way as in KS and chain procedures. Likewise, ejected subsystem particles must be removed and re-initialized as field particles. However, use of a fixed boundary is too simplistic since some particles may have their apocentre just outside the critical value, with nearly constant semi-major axis. Typically, field particles inside $`50a_{\mathrm{bh}}`$ are selected as perturbers, with each one having a small effect because of the mass ratio. Moreover, particles inside $`20a_{\mathrm{bh}}`$ are chosen as members of the subsystem itself. In order to prevent numerical problems, a softened potential may be adopted for interactions between the latter, whereas all terms involving the binary components are treated in the point-mass limit.

In the case of an ultra-hard binary containing black-hole components, the PPN2.5 post-Newtonian approximation is included for the two-body interaction. The full expression is given by (Soffel 1989)

$$𝐅=𝐅_0+c^2𝐅_2+c^4𝐅_4+c^5𝐅_5,$$
(7)
where $`𝐅_0`$ denotes the Newtonian force per unit mass and $`c`$ is the speed of light. Depending on circumstances, the other terms which are fairly time-consuming may be omitted. Alternatively, the relativistic radiation ($`𝐅_5`$) may be included without contributions from the precession terms. There are two additional cases when the relativistic terms are considered. First, this is done if the osculating pericentre of the black-hole binary falls below a suitably small value related to the Schwarzschild radius. We note that the question of possible high eccentricity for realistic systems is still unresolved because of scaling uncertainties.

In the second critical case, the full GR treatment is activated if one of the subsystem members has a small impact parameter with respect to either component. Accordingly, a temporary switch from the dominant members is made to the new configuration, $`m_i,m_k`$, which would permit coalescence if relevant. Here we have adopted a provisional collision condition given by

$$r_{\mathrm{coll}}=6G(m_i+m_k)/c^2.$$
(8)
Numerical tests have been performed with artificially small values of $`c`$, demonstrating the correctness of the coalescence procedure.

A modest test calculation has been performed on a workstation in order to illustrate some features of the method. Initial conditions were chosen from a Plummer model containing $`N=5000`$ equal-mass particles, with the two first being assigned intermediate masses $`N^{1/2}\overline{m}`$ as a good compromise. Figure 3 shows the evolution of the dominant binary during 2000 $`N`$-body time units. A similar second example was also studied for comparison, again without any artificial scaling. In the first example, the KS solution was initialized at $`a_{\mathrm{bh}}=1.0\times 10^3`$, followed by the TTL treatment from $`a_{\mathrm{bh}}=3.8\times 10^4`$ until $`1.8\times 10^5`$. The slow rate of shrinkage seen during the later stages is partly due to the depleted central density.

The behaviour of the eccentricity is displayed in Fig. 4. Two epochs of extremely high eccentricity can be seen. These maxima are associated with Kozai (1962) cycles (without GR) due to field particles in stable orbits with inclination near $`90^{}`$. Depending on the density, such configurations will eventually be modified by external perturbations. Other trapped particles experience slingshot interactions and are ejected with large velocities. The corresponding recoil effect can be seen in Fig. 5 which illustrates the time evolution of the square space velocity. In particular, there are several spikes in addition to a number of relatively large values. Here the effective mass ratio is 140, with an initial mean square velocity of 0.5. Consequently, the resulting binary recoil leads to significant core wandering which has been noted before. As for possible loss-cone replenishments, we note that the central restoring force may also be weak in larger systems, thereby enabling significant excursions to take place.

## 7. Conclusions

The preceding sections have reviewed several regularization techniques which have proved themselves in star cluster simulations (cf. Hurley et al. 2001). Although some sophisticated decision-making is required for efficient use, such formulations improve the numerical accuracy and also enable many astrophysical processes to be studied by well-behaved variables. In the second part, we described a new method for treating a super-massive binary and its significant perturbers, with the addition of post-Newtonian terms where relevant. This formulation can be used to study compact subsystems in galactic nuclei. So far, the TTL scheme has been implemented in a star cluster code for workstations. Given the existing procedures, very little effort is required to combine it with the current $`NBODY4`$ code. This timely development should allow much more realistic simulations on the powerful GRAPE-6 special-purpose computer.

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# X-ray properties of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 during a variability class transition

## 1 Introduction

The Galactic X-ray source GRS 1915$`+`$105, discovered in 1992, was identified with a superluminal radio source at a distance of 12.5 $`\pm `$ 1.5 kpc (Mirabel & Rodriguez 1994). Its radio characteristics like jets and superluminal motion are similar to those found in quasars and hence this source is called a microquasar. The source is very bright in X-rays and shows strong variability over a wide range of time scales. The X-ray emission is characterized by quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) at centroid frequencies in the range of 0.001 $``$ 67 Hz (Morgan, Remillard, & Greiner 1997). Based on extensive X-ray studies, Muno, Morgan, & Remillard (1999) classified the behavior of the source into two distinct states, a spectrally hard-state with the presence of narrow QPOs, dominated by a power-law component and a soft-state with the absence of QPOs, dominated by thermal emission.

Belloni et al. (2000) have made an extensive study of the X-ray emission of the source and classified all the publicly available RXTE/PCA observations from 1996 January to 1997 December into 12 different classes on the basis of structure of the X-ray light curve and the nature of the color-color diagram. They found that the source variability is restricted into three basic states, a low-hard state with invisible inner accretion disk (C), a high-soft state with visible inner accretion disk (B) and a low-soft state with spectrum similar to the high-soft state but with much less intensity (A). However, in GRS 1915$`+`$105 the observed fast and slow transitions from one state to other are not clearly understood.

The different variability classes of Belloni et al. (2000) range from steady emission for long durations like class $`\varphi `$ (state A), class $`\chi `$ (state C) to large amplitude variations (from state C to state B with a hint of state A) in classes $`\lambda `$, $`\kappa `$, $`\rho `$. In the high state (state B), the source sometimes shows short periodic flickering with different amplitudes (classes $`\gamma `$, $`\mu `$ and $`\delta `$). During the classes $`\theta `$, $`\beta `$ and $`\nu `$ the amplitude variation is accompanied by soft X-ray dips (state A) with duration of a few tens of seconds to hundreds of seconds. It has been suggested that these soft dips in X-ray light curves are also associated with radio flares (Naik et al. 2001). The class $`\chi `$ is further divided into four sub-classes $`\chi 1`$, $`\chi 2`$, $`\chi 3`$ and $`\chi 4`$, depending on the count rate and hardness ratio in different energy ranges. During the class $`\rho `$, the X-ray light curve consists of regular and characteristic pattern known as bursts (Taam, Chen, & Swank 1997; Yadav et al. 1999) which is reflected as a loop-like behaviour (Vilhu & Nevalainen 1998) in the color-color diagram. Similar type of oscillations are observed in the X-ray light curve for a duration of a few hundreds of seconds followed by a long quiet period of about 1000 s as seen in the class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$. The observations with these characteristics are as classified into class $`\alpha `$. Among the twelve different classes of X-ray observations, it is seen that the source is radio-loud in X-ray classes $`\theta `$, $`\beta `$, $`\chi 1`$ and $`\chi 3`$ (Naik & Rao 2000).

We present the results of the observation of GRS 1915$`+`$105 with the PPCs onboard the IXAE when the source made a class transition from a regular oscillatory behaviour of class $`\rho `$ to a steady state of class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$. We have also analyzed the available RXTE archival data contemporaneous to the PPC observation. In the following sections we present results of these studies.

## 2 Instrument and Observations

The X-ray observations of the microquasar GRS 1915$`+`$105 were made using the PPCs of the IXAE on board the Indian satellite IRS-P3. The IXAE includes three co-aligned, identical, multi-wire, multi-layer proportional counters with an effective collecting area of 1200 cm2 and a field of view of 2.3 $`\times `$ 2.3. All the PPCs operate in the energy range of 2$``$18 keV with an average detection efficiency of about 60% in 3$``$7 keV energy range. For a detailed description of the PPCs refer to Agrawal (1998) and Rao et al. (1998). Background observations were made before and after the source observation by pointing the PPCs to a source-free region in the sky, close to the target source. The source GRS 1915$`+`$105 was observed from 2000 June 18 to 22 with 1 s time integration mode and from June 23 to 27 in 0.1 s integration mode for a total useful period of 29460 s. The log of the PPC observations is given in Table 1.

Regular pointed observations of the microquasar GRS 1915$`+`$105 during 1996 $``$ 2001 period with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite provide a good coverage for a detailed study of the timing and spectral properties of the source and establish the associated radio properties with X-ray emission during different spectral states. There have been over 550 observations of GRS 1915$`+`$105 with the PCA and HEXTE of the RXTE. The list of observations used in the present work is given in Table 2.

## 3 Analysis and Results

### 3.1 Data from IXAE Observations

The X-ray data in the energy band 2$``$18 keV and 2$``$6 keV were corrected for pointing offset using the aspect information. The background count rates obtained by pointing the detectors to a source-free region, were subtracted from the source count rate. Dead time correction has been neglected as it is less than 1% even at a count rate of about 500 counts s-1 per PPC. From calibration of the PPCs using Crab Nebula, it is found that the spectral data from PPC$``$3 is more reliable. Hence the hardness ratio (ratio of the count rates in 6$``$18 keV and 2$``$6 keV bands) has been obtained using data only from PPC$``$3.

We have generated the X-ray light curves of the source in 2$``$18 keV range for 500 s using the data from PPC$``$1 and PPC$``$3 for each orbit of observation. The light curves for a few orbits are shown in Figure 1. The light curves show that low intensity quiescent phase lasting for a few tens of seconds, is followed by the bursts, which have exponential increase in X-ray flux with rise time of $``$ 8$``$10 s, high peak flux level for $``$ 10 s and a sharp linear decay in $``$ 2$``$3 s. The average burst recurrence time (the time taken by a cycle of quiescent interval followed by a burst) for all the orbits of the PPC observations and the burst strength (the ratio between the peak count rate of the burst and the quiescent count rate at 2$``$18 keV for PPC$``$1 and PPC$``$3) are given in Table 1. An increase in the burst recurrence time by a factor of about 2 from the beginning to the end of the observations is clearly detectable from the table. The X-ray light curves in 2$``$18 keV and 2$``$6 keV bands along with the hardness ratio obtained from PPC$``$3 data for four different PPC observations are shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that the spectrum becomes hard as the burst progresses and it is hardest at the end of the decay of the burst. Presence of secondary (and tertiary) peaks during the decay phase of the bursts in the X-ray light curves is also discernible. From the light curves and hardness ratio for the third orbit of PPC observations on June 27 shown in the fourth panel of Figure 2, it can be seen that the regular bursts disappeared in both the energy bands and the transition from class $`\rho `$ to class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$ occurred within about 1.5 hours, the orbital period of IRS-P3 satellite.

The burst strength has been calculated from a typical burst from each PPC observation. The peak count rate was determined as the average count rate over a time span of 4 seconds during the peak of the bursts and the quiescent count rate as the average count rate over 20 seconds just after the decay of a burst. The variation of the burst recurrence time with the burst strength is shown in Figure 3. An anti correlation is found between the count rate ratio (burst strength) and the average burst recurrence time with a correlation coefficient of -0.54 (30 degrees of freedom). This indicates that the bursts were stronger during the early phase of observations when the burst recurrence time was small and the burst strength decreased with the increase in burst recurrence time.

### 3.2 Data from RXTE Observations

To corroborate the IXAE results we have also analyzed 31 RXTE/PCA observations of GRS 1915$`+`$105 made between 2000 May 4 and 2000 July 5 which are listed in Table 2. Other details like the average count rate during quiescent phase and burst phase, burst recurrence time, the observed low frequency QPOs ($``$ 2$``$8 Hz), hardness ratios and rms variability are also given in the table. The hardness ratio HR1 is described as the ratio of the count rates in the energy range 5$``$13 keV to that in 2$``$5 keV whereas the ratio of the count rates in the energy bands of 13$``$60 keV and 2$``$13 keV is described as HR2. The source was in a low-hard state ($`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$) on and before 2000 May 11 and changed to the oscillatory nature of class $`\rho `$ and remained for $``$ 40 days (from 2000 May 17 to 2000 June 27, as observed with RXTE/PCA). It returned back to the low-hard state which was detected on 2000 July 5. The burst recurrence time for each of the RXTE observation of class $`\rho `$ was calculated using the PCA X-ray light curves. A plot of the average burst recurrence time versus the observation date (MJD) for the combined IXAE and RXTE/PCA observations is shown in Figure 4. It can be seen that the burst recurrence time, obtained from the RXTE was about 75 s in the beginning and it gradually decreased to $``$ 40 s. Towards the end of the observations, regular monitoring by PPCs revealed a gradual increase in the burst recurrence time to $``$ 120 s which is followed by the disappearance of the bursts from the light curve. This indicates the switching of the source from oscillatory behaviour of class $`\rho `$ to a radio-quiet steady emission of class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$.

We have used the 8 ms time resolution PCA data in 2$``$13 keV band to generate the power density spectra (PDS) for all the RXTE/PCA observations listed in Table 2. During the low-hard X-ray states (on 2000 May 4 and 2000 July 5, class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$), QPOs are detected at frequencies 2.8$``$3.9 Hz whereas during the rest of the PCA observations (class $`\rho `$) QPOs are observed at higher frequencies (6$``$8 Hz). A plot of the QPO frequency and the source flux in 2$``$60 keV band for 2 PCUs during the observations of class $`\rho `$, is shown in Figure 5. A strong correlation is found between the QPO frequency and the average X-ray flux with a correlation coefficient of 0.85 (for 25 degrees of freedom).

Various X-ray characteristics of GRS 1915$`+`$105 such as nature of the light curve, gradual change in the burst recurrence time, hardness ratios HR1 and HR2, presence of QPOs and spectral properties in class $`\rho `$ are found to be similar to those in the oscillatory phase of class $`\alpha `$ (Belloni et al. 2000). These properties are described in the next section.

## 4 Comparison between classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$

### 4.1 Timing Analysis

To compare the X-ray timing properties of GRS 1915$`+`$105 in the X-ray classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$, we have selected one RXTE/PCA observation of each class (Obs. IDs 20402-01-03-00 and 20402-01-28-00 respectively) when all the 5 PCUs were on. Figure 6 shows the X-ray light curve for the above two RXTE/PCA observations for 1 s time bin obtained from the standard-1 data. The upper panel shows the presence of regular bursts with recurrence time of $``$ 60 s in the X-ray light curve of class $`\rho `$ whereas bursts with increasing recurrence time and decreasing peak intensity followed by a low-hard state lasting for $``$ 1000 s (class $`\alpha `$) are shown in the bottom panel of Figure 6. At the end of the long stretched ($``$ 1000 s) low-hard state,the bursts again reappear with a very high peak X-ray flux (similar to the peak flux of class $`\rho `$) which decreases gradually with increasing burst duration. We have shown, in Figure 7, the X-ray light curve for 1 s time bin in 2$``$60 keV energy range along with the hardness ratios (HR1 and HR2) for classes $`\rho `$ (left panels) and $`\alpha `$ (right panels). It is seen that all the properties (structure of the light curves and the hardness ratios) are identical during the burst/quiescent phase of the two X-ray classes. The presence of QPOs in the PDS during the burst/quiescent phase of the classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ has been shown by Muno et al. (1999) (Fig. 1 (d) and 1(j)). From those figures, it can be seen that the QPO frequency during the particular observation of class $`\rho `$ lies between 5$``$7 Hz. During the class $`\alpha `$, the QPO frequency changes from $``$ 8 Hz at the beginning of the burst phase, to $``$ 5 Hz during the change of state to the low-hard state. As the QPO frequency varies directly with the intensity, the change in QPO frequency during the burst phase of class $`\alpha `$ is due to a decrease in the X-ray intensity with the increase of recurrence time. In both the classes, the source is radio-quiet with similar flux densities at 2.25 GHz and 8.3 GHz (Naik and Rao 2000).

From the IXAE and RXTE observations of the source during 2000 May$``$June (when the source was in the X-ray class $`\rho `$), it is noticed that there is a gradual change in the various properties of the source like burst recurrence time, intensity, QPO frequency etc. and the source makes a gradual transition to the low-hard state of the class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$. These characteristics are very similar to those observed in the observations of class $`\alpha `$ but at a much shorter time scale. Hence, we argue that the nature of the source over time scale of a few tens of days during the class $`\rho `$ is identical to that over a time scale of $``$ 1000 s during the class $`\alpha `$.

### 4.2 Spectral Analysis

To compare the results with earlier observations of the classes $`\rho `$, $`\alpha `$ and $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$, we have selected RXTE pointed observations of each class when all 5 PCUs were on. The observations made on 1996 November 19 (20402-01-03-00) and 1997 May 18 (20402-01-28-00) are used for classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ respectively whereas the observation of 1996 November 28 (20402-01-04-00) is used for the class $`\chi 2`$. Details of these observations are given in Table 2. To study the spectral behaviour of the source during different phases, we have selected data at suitable time ranges for the burst/quiescent phases of the source in classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$. For the class $`\rho `$, we have selected data for the burst phase when the source count rate was $``$ 15000 counts s-1 and for the quiescent phase when the source count rate was $``$ 10000 counts s-1. For the class $`\alpha `$, the burst phase corresponds to the source count rate $``$ 12000 and the quiescent phase to a count rate in the range of 7500 to 9500 (for 5 PCUs). To compare the spectrum of the source during the long stretch ($``$ 1000 s) of low-hard state in class $`\alpha `$ with that of class $`\chi 2`$, we have selected the data when the source count rate was $``$ 6000. To get a complete spectrum in the broad energy band (3$``$150 keV), we have combined the data obtained from RXTE/PCA and HEXTE. Energy spectra in 129 channel were generated from the Standard 2 mode PCA data. Standard procedures were applied for the data selection, background estimation and response matrix generation (Rao et al. 2000). Systematic error of 2% have been added to the PCA spectral data. For HEXTE, standard 2 as well as the archive mode data from the HEXTE Cluster 0, which has better spectral response, have been used.

We have fitted the spectrum for the burst and the quiescent phases of both the classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ using the standard black hole model (Muno et al. 1999) consisting of “disk-blackbody and power-law” and “disk-blackbody and a thermal-Compton spectrum” with a fixed value of absorption by intervening cold material parameterized as equivalent Hydrogen column density NH at 6 $`\times `$ 1022 cm-2. Simultaneous spectral fits to the PCA (in the energy range of 3$``$25 keV) and HEXTE (in the energy range of 15$``$150 keV) spectra were performed for different phases of classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$, keeping the relative normalization as a free parameter. The same procedure was followed for the fitting of the spectrum during the long stretched low-hard state of class $`\alpha `$ and the observation of class $`\chi 2`$. The fitted parameters for the above two models are given in Table 3. From the table, it is observed that for the “disk-blackbody and power-law” model, there is no significant difference in the spectral parameters for the two different classes. For the “disk-blackbody and thermal-Compton spectrum” model, it is seen that the disk temperatures, and the optical depth of the Compton cloud $`\tau `$ are identical for the classes $`\alpha `$ and $`\rho `$ during the different states. Comparing these two models, it is found that the model with disk-blackbody and thermal-Compton spectrum fits better than the model with disk-blackbody and power-law.

The resultant deconvolved energy spectra for the “disk blackbody and thermal-Compton” model are shown in Figure 8 for different phases of the classes $`\alpha `$ and $`\rho `$ and the long stretched low-hard states of classes $`\alpha `$ and $`\chi 2`$. From the figure and Table 3, it is clear that the source spectrum is identical during the burst and quiescent phases of the two X-ray classes $`\alpha `$ and $`\rho `$.

### 4.3  ASM Light Curve

We have examined the X-ray light curves of 562 publicly available RXTE/PCA observations till 2000 October 11. We found that 70 observations are of class $`\rho `$ and 30 observations are of class $`\alpha `$. Naik and Rao (2000) have described the similarities in the radio properties of the source during both the $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ classes. To examine the pattern of change of state of the source between the X-ray classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$, we show in Figure 9 the one day averaged ASM light curve of GRS 1915$`+`$105 with the identified $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ classes marked with filled circles and filled triangles respectively. From the figure, it is noticed that the change of state of the source occurs from the radio-quiet low-hard state ($`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$) to high-state through the classes $`\alpha `$ and $`\rho `$. It is also observed that these two classes appear together during the switching of state from low-hard state to high state which strengthen the argument that the classes $`\alpha `$ and $`\rho `$ have strong similarity. During the switching of the source from a low-hard state ($`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$) to the high-state, it goes through the class $`\alpha `$ followed by class $`\rho `$ which is very clear during the transition from a long stretch of low hard state of class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$ to high state during MJD 50490 $``$ 50600. Direct switching to the class $`\rho `$ from the low-hard state is not observed.

Based on the observed X-ray and radio properties, we find that the X-ray classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ are identical except for the presence of a long stretch of low-hard state in class $`\alpha `$ similar to the radio-quiet low-hard states of class $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$. In other-words, we can say that the X-ray class $`\alpha `$ is the same as the combined class of $`\rho `$ and $`\chi 2`$/$`\chi 4`$.

## 5 Discussion

The Galactic microquasar GRS 1915$`+`$105 shows extended low-hard states on several occasions. These low-hard states are characterized by a low frequency QPO at $``$ 3 Hz. The source switches from an extended low-hard state into a high-soft state in a wide range of time scales. Rao et al. (2000) have observed a slow transition from a low-hard state to a high-soft state (in about 3 months) in 1997 March$``$August. They have also reported a state transition in a very fast timescale (a few seconds) when the source was exhibiting irregular bursts in the X-ray light curves. However, the observed state transition of the source over a wide range of time interval is not yet clearly understood. On 2000 June 27, the source made a transition from a regular oscillatory behaviour (class $`\rho `$, in which the light curve contains regular bursts with recurrence time in the range 40$``$120 s) to a steady emission (low-hard state) within 1.5 hour. The characteristic properties of slow rise and fast decay of these regular bursts of class $`\rho `$ are unique. Taam et al. (1997) have attempted to describe these bursts in the framework of thermal/viscous instabilities in the accretion disk. Vilhu and Nevalainen (1998) tried to explain the properties of these regular bursts by using a two phase self-consistent thermal radiative model. Paul et al. (1998) interpreted the observed slow rise and fast decay of the regular bursts as the evidence for the disappearance of matter into the event horizon of the black hole. Chakrabarti et al. (2000) interpreted the observed features in GRS 1915$`+`$105 in the light of advective disk paradigm which includes self-consistent formulation of shocks and out-flows from post-shock region and described the oscillatory behaviour during the X-ray classes $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$ as the combination of the high count rate “On-state” and the low-count rate “Off-state”. Using this model, we have tried to explain the observed correlation between the QPO frequency and the X-ray intensity during the observations of class $`\rho `$.

Chakrabarti & Manickam (2000) derived a relation between the QPO frequency in 1$``$10 Hz range and duration of the quiescent phases (class $`\rho `$ and $`\alpha `$). As the 1$``$10 Hz QPO could be due to the oscillation of shocks located at tens to hundreds of Schwarzschild radius, they tried to explain the switching of burst phase to quiescent phase and vice versa and the duration of the quiescent phase by assuming an outflow from the post-shock region. Assuming the flow to be isothermal until Rc (the location of the sonic point), a shock compressed gas with R (the shock compression ratio) $`>`$ 1, must produce outflows which pass through the sonic points. Hence matter is subsonic until the sonic point. As the Compton cooling becomes catastrophic when the Thomson scattering opacity (kes) becomes 0.4, the duration of the off state (i.e. the duration between the end of a burst and the beginning of the next burst which we described as the quiescent phase) is given by toff $`=`$ (4$`\pi `$R$`{}_{c}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$)/(3 $`\dot{M}_{out}`$ kes). Using the relation between inflow and outflow rates (Chakrabarti 1998), $`\alpha `$ = 3/2 (for a low angular momentum freely falling matter), and v0 = 1, the duration of the off state is given by

$$t_{off}=461.5(\frac{0.1}{\mathrm{\Theta }_{\dot{M}}})(\frac{M}{10M_{}})^{1/3}\nu ^{4/3}s$$
(1)
where

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_{\dot{M}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }_{out}}{\mathrm{\Theta }_{in}}\frac{\dot{M}}{\dot{M}_{Edd}}$$
(2)
$`\mathrm{\Theta }_{in}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_{out}`$ are the solid angles of the inflow and the outflow respectively. Keeping the numerical coefficient constant in the above equation by putting the value of $`\alpha `$ = 1 and v0 = 0.066, which is very reasonable for a black hole accretion, one obtains

$$t_{off}=461.5(\frac{0.1}{\mathrm{\Theta }_{\dot{M}}})(\frac{M}{10M_{}})^1(\frac{v_0}{0.066})^2\nu ^2s$$
(3)
This relation has been found to be valid for all the observations. According to this relation, the greater is the value of the duration of the off state toff, less is the frequency of the QPOs. If one compares the presence of QPOs and the duration of the off state (quiescent phase) in the Figure 1(d) of Muno et al. (1999), it can be seen that, during class $`\rho `$ the QPOs are at similar frequencies. Also in their Figure 1(j), during the on and off states of class $`\alpha `$, the QPO frequencies change according to the above relation.

In class $`\rho `$, the relation between QPO frequency and toff should be valid for a given day and the proportionality constant varies for each day. We find that toff$`\nu `$2 is correlated with the quiescent count rate with a correlation coefficient of 0.94. This can be explained by the fact that for a given day $`\mathrm{\Theta }_{\dot{M}}`$ can change (see eqn. 1) and it should be related to the quiescent count rate.

Although different states of the microquasar GRS 1915$`+`$105 are explained by various models, none of the models explain the transition from one state to other. It would be interesting to study the changes in the emission processes in the accretion disk and the factors which trigger the change of state as well as the transition from one class to another in the source.

## Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the contributions of the scientific and technical staff of TIFR, ISAC and ISTRAC for the successful fabrication, launch and operation of the IXAE. We thank Dr. S. Seetha and Dr. K. Kasturirangan for their contribution to the IXAE. It is a pleasure to acknowledge constant support of Shri K. Thyagarajan, Project Director IRS$``$P3 satellite, Shri R. N. Tyagi, Project Director IRS$``$P4 satellite, Shri J. D. Rao and his team at ISTRAC, Dr P. S. Goel, Director ISAC and the Director of the ISTRAC. SN thanks M. Choudhury for his comments and discussions on the manuscript. This research has made use of data obtained through the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center Online Service, provided by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Finally we thank an anonymous referee for his comments and suggestions which resulted in very significant improvement of this paper.


text:
# The Large-Scale Environment of Dynamical Young Clusters of Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

In the popular hierarchical clustering scenario, clusters are supposed to form by merging and accretion of galaxies along filamentary protostructures. This structure formation scenario is seen to work in cosmological N-body CDM simulations, while observational studies have provided indications that our Universe follows such a scenario (cf. West 1994; West, Jones & Forman 1995)

If we can unambiguously identify the dynamical status of clusters (eg. presence of significant substructures, X-ray temperature gradients, compression of X-ray emitting gas along the merging direction, cf. Sarazin 2000; Schindler 1999) then we can search for indications of cluster formation along the lines of the hierarchical scenario.

Mohr et al. (1995), Rizza et al. (1998) and Kolokotronis et al. (2001) have investigated the frequency of cluster substructure using in a complementary fashion optical and X–ray data. The advantage of using X–ray data is that the X–ray emission is proportional to the square of the gas density (rather than just density in the optical) and therefore it is centrally concentrated, a fact which minimises projection effects. The advantage of using optical data is the shear size of the available cluster catalogues and thus the statistical significance of the emanating results. Kolokotronis et al. (2001) calibrated various substructure measures using APM and ROSAT data of 22 Abell clusters and found that in most cases using X–ray or optical data one can identify substructure unambiguously. Only in $`20\%`$ of the clusters they studied did they find projection effects in the optical that altered the X-ray definition of substructure. Their conclusion was that solely optical cluster imaging data can be used in order to identify the clusters that have significant substructure.

An interesting observable, that was thought initially to provide strong constraints on theories of galaxy formation, is the tendency of clusters to be aligned with their nearest neighbour as well as with other clusters that reside in the same supercluster (cf. Binggeli 1982; Plionis 1994). Analytical (Bond 1986) and numerical (cf. Splinter et al. 1997; Onuora & Thomas 2000) work have shown that such alignments, expected naturally to occur in ”top-down” scenarios, are also found in hierarchical clustering models of structure formation like the CDM.

## 2. Substructure & Alignment Measures

Evrard et al. (1993) and Mohr et al. (1995) have suggested as an indicator of cluster substructure the shift of the center-of-mass position as a function of density threshold above which it is estimated. The centroid-shift ($`sc`$) is defined as the distance between the cluster center-of-mass, which is a function of density threshold, and the highest cluster density-peak. The significance, $`\sigma `$, of such centroid variations to the presence of background contamination and random density fluctuations, are estimated using Monte Carlo cluster simulations in which, by construction, there is no substructure (see details in Plionis 2001). According to Kolokotronis et al. (2001), a large and significant value of $`sc`$ is a clear indication of substructure in the optical APM cluster data.

Furthermore, in order to investigate the alignment between cluster orientations, we use the relative position angle between cluster pairs, $`\varphi _{i,j}`$. In an isotropic distribution we will have $`\varphi _{i,j}45^{}`$. A significant deviation from this would be an indication of an anisotropic distribution which can be quantified by $`\delta =\varphi _{i,j}/N45`$ (Struble & Peebles 1995). In an isotropic distribution we have $`\delta 0`$, while the standard deviation is given by $`\sigma =90/\sqrt{12N}`$. A significantly negative value of $`\delta `$ would indicate alignment and a positive misalignment.

## 3. Results: Alignments vs Substructure:

We have correlated the alignment signal with the substructure significance indication, $`\sigma `$, in order to see whether there is any relation between the large-scale environment, in which the cluster distribution is embedded, and the internal cluster dynamics. In the left panel of figure 1 we present the alignment signal, $`\delta `$, between cluster nearest-neighbours (filled dots) and between all pairs (open dots) with pair separations $`<20`$ $`h^1`$ Mpc. Evidently, there is a strong correlation between the strength of the alignment signal and the substructure significance level.

## 4. Results: Local Density vs Substructure

Where do clusters with significant substructure reside? To answer this question we measure the spatial 2-point cluster correlation function for different substructure significance levels. In the right panel of figure 1 we plot the correlation length, $`r_0`$, as a function of cluster substructure significance level, which is clearly an increasing function of $`\sigma `$. The conclusion of this analysis is that clusters showing evidence of dynamical activity reside in high-density environments. Our results are in agreement with a similar environmental dependence found in the REFLEX and BCS X-ray cluster sample (Schüecker et al., this volume) and for cooling flow clusters with high mass accretion rates (Loken, Melott & Miller 1999).

As an individual example we present in figure 3 the distribution on the sky of a dense supercluster, found with a percolation radius of 5 $`h^1`$ Mpc. Embedded in the plot are the galaxy density distributions of the clusters that constitute the supercluster. It is interesting that the position angles of the clusters (between 16 and 48) are aligned also with the orientation of the filamentary supercluster, which has a position angle of $`30^{}`$.

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