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# ROSAT/Chandra observations of a bright transient in M81

## 1 Introduction

M81 (NGC 3031) is a nearby Sab spiral galaxy just beyond the Local Group. It has a well defined central bulge; its two spiral arms are clearly marked by strings of bright young stars.

M81 was observed by Einstein in 1979 and by ROSAT over the period 1991–1998. The Einstein observations identified 10 point sources (including the nucleus) in the field (Fabbiano 1988). There are 46 HRI and 69 PSPC sources found in the deep images obtained by ROSAT (Immler & Wang 2001). The Chandra observation was carried out in 2000. A total of 97 sources were detected in the ACIS S3 image (Tennant et al. 2001), which has an area of $`8^{}.3\times 8^{}.3`$ centered at the nuclear region. More sources are in the other S-chip images further away from the nucleus (Swartz et al. in preparation).

While a portion of the sources in the M81 field are foreground stars and background AGNs, the majority are believed to belong to the galaxy or its dwarf satellites (Tennant et al. 2001; Immler & Wang 2001). These X-ray sources form an inhomogeneous group, consisting of objects from canonical sources such as supernova remnants and X-ray binaries to exotic systems such as the very-soft sources discussed in Swartz et al. (2001). Many sources are variable, and some are transients showing dramatic brightening for a brief duration ($`\stackrel{<}{}`$1 yr) (see Immler & Wang 2001; La Parola et al. 2001).

X-ray transients are also commonly found in our Galaxy. Among the brightest are candidate black-hole X-ray binaries, whose peak luminosities may reach $`10^{39}10^{40}`$ erg s-1 during the outbursts, and certain neutron-star X-ray binaries (including the Type I bursters), which may be as bright as or even brighter than $`2\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1, the Eddington limit of a 1.5-M compact accretor. These luminous X-ray binaries can be detected easily everywhere within the Galaxy when they are in active states. (For a review of the properties of galactic X-ray binaries, see articles in Lewin, van Paradijs & van den Heuvel 1995). Transient X-ray binaries are found in globular clusters as well as in the Galactic bulge and disk. No candidate black hole X-ray binaries have been identified in Galactic globular clusters. The bright globular cluster sources in our Galaxy tend to be Type I X-ray bursters (Verbunt & van den Heuvel 1995). The most luminous globular cluster X-ray source in the Galaxy has a luminosity $``$5$`\times 10^{37}`$ erg s-1 (Bloser et al. 2000).

Here, we report the analysis of the photometric and spectroscopic data of the peculiar transient source in the NW region of M81 observed by ROSAT and Chandra. The nature of the source and its implications are discussed.

## 2 Observations and Data Analysis

The M81 field was observed many times by ROSAT in the 1990s (Immler & Wang 2001) including 9 PSPC observations spanning 1991 March to 1994 April and 11 HRI observations (from 1992 Oct to 1998 April). We examined these data using a combination of FTOOLS and LEXTRCT, a locally supported software package. ROSAT PSPC images obtained in 1992 and in 1993 are shown in the left and right panels of Figure 1, respectively. The transient as well as SN 1993J are both seen in the 1993 data. In the 1992 data, there is only a very slight excess at the transient’s position that is significant at the 2.4 $`\sigma `$ level. To derive an accurate position, we adjusted the coordinates in each ROSAT image to align the nucleus to be at the radio position $`9^\mathrm{h}55^\mathrm{m}33.17^\mathrm{s}`$, +69 03 55.1 (Ma et al. 1998). This adjustment was typically $``$5 arcsec. No rotation was applied. With this offset, the locations of SN 1993J and the bright Einstein sources X-2, X-3 and X-6 are all consistent with their Chandra positions. The transient is listed as source P33 in Immler & Wang (2001) at ($`9^\mathrm{h}55^\mathrm{m}22.7^\mathrm{s}`$, +69 06 31). In our adjusted coordinates, its position is ($`9^\mathrm{h}55^\mathrm{m}21.96^\mathrm{s}`$, +69 06 38.0) with an uncertainty of 3.5 arcsec.

The M81 field was observed for 50 ks by Chandra on 2000 May 7 with the nucleus centered on the ACIS S3 chip. The Chandra image, data-analysis, and general properties of the sources found in the S3 image were presented in Tennant et al. (2001). The transient is less than 1 arcsec from a Chandra source at a position of ($`9^\mathrm{h}55^\mathrm{m}21.95^\mathrm{s}`$, +69 06 37.8). The source is off-axis in the Chandra data, appearing roughly elliptical in shape, with Gaussian widths $`\sigma =`$ 2 and 1 arcsec in the two dimensions on the sky.

The Chandra position is less than 1 arcsec from the object listed as ID 50777 by Perelmuter & Racine (1995) who report its brightness and colours are $`V=16.87`$, $`BV=0.97`$, and $`VR=0.56`$.

The region around object ID 50777 was observed with Hubble WFPC2 on 1998 April 17. The three images taken with the F450W filter, which roughly correspond to the V band, were combined using a median filter to remove cosmic ray tracks. The final image was visually inspected and in particular object ID 50777 was compared to object ID 50658; another bright star-like object with V=15.91 (Perelmuter & Racine, 1995). Object ID 50658 shows diffraction spikes and is saturated in the core with indication of some charge leakage during read out. Object ID 50777 does not show diffraction spikes, nor does it appear to be saturated in the core. The background around both objects is partially resolved into stars and no attempt was made to remove these very faint stellar images.

The Tiny Tim software package (Krist & Hook 1999) was used to compute model Point Spread Functions (PSFs) for the two locations. The radial profiles of the two sources as well as the profiles derived from the Tiny Tim model PSFs are shown in Figure 2. To normalize the data we subtracted the average level in the outer three annuli(from roughly 3.7 to 4.0 arcsec). To normalize the Tiny Tim models we multiplied by the total number of counts detected in the data. As can be seen the PSF of ID 50658 is saturated in the core with an excess at 0.25 arcsec where the charge is finally read out. At larger radii, the model PSF approximates the data fairly accurately. The model PSF poorly approximates the data for object ID 50777. The radial profile of ID 50777 is very smooth and does not show the central core nor the excess at 1-2 arcsec (mainly due to the diffraction spikes). Thus, ID 50777 appears extended in the Hubble data. Not shown in the figure is the PSF for object ID 50696 (Perelmuter & Racine 1995) which is also in the same Hubble field and was confirmed by Perelmuter, Brodie & Huchra (1995) as a globular cluster in M81. The radial profile of ID 50696 shows an extension very similar to that of object ID 50777.

We conclude that object ID 50777 is extended in the Hubble data and is very likely a bright globular cluster in M81. The half light radius in the Hubble data is 2.4 pixels. At the distance of M81 this corresponds to 4.4 pc. If we remove the estimated Hubble PSF then the half light radius would be about 3 pc which is a fairly typical size for globulars in our galaxy (e.g., Ashman & Zepf 1998).

## 3 Brightness Variation and Spectroscopic Properties

The 10-year X-ray light curve of the transient source is shown in Figure 3. The source was below the ROSAT HRI equivalent count rate of $`3\times 10^4`$ cts s-1 up to 1993 May in both the PSPC and HRI images. Its count rate, however, reached about $`1.5\times 10^2`$ cts s-1 during the flare (brightening) around 1993 September$``$November. It then faded within a 5-month period and was marginally detected ($`<2.5\sigma `$) in the subsequent ROSAT observations at the brightness level of $`(23)\times 10^4`$ cts s-1.

The equivalent ROSAT HRI count rate of the Chandra source is $`(2.6\pm 0.2)\times 10^4`$ cts s-1, consistent with the ‘quiescent’ brightness of the source P33 seen in the ROSAT observations.

We extracted the ROSAT PSPC spectra of the source during the brightening in 1993 and grouped them into spectral bins containing a minimum of 20 counts. The spectra are fitted using XSPEC (Arnaud, 1996) to simple functions. The best fitting parameter values as well as the 90 percent confidence single parameter uncertainties are shown in Table 1. In all cases, the absorption column density is consistent with the line-of-sight Galactic value ($`n_\mathrm{H}=4\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, Stark et al. 1992). The power-law and bremsstrahlung models provide equally acceptable fits. For the black-body model, the best fitting absorption column density is consistent with zero, and therefore, we fixed its value to the Galactic value. Based on the value of $`\chi ^2`$ we cannot rule out a black-body model although it does not fit as well. When we add the two ROSAT data sets, the black-body model is still the worst model, but it cannot be ruled out at the 3-$`\sigma `$ level.

Assuming that the source is within M81 and the distance to the galaxy is 3.6 Mpc (Freeman et al. 1994), the black-body model implies an unabsorbed luminosity $`6.7\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1 in the 0.2-2.4 keV band, and a negligible intrinsic absorption of the source in comparison with the line-of-sight Galactic absorption. If the flare spectrum is a power law then the luminosity in the ROSAT band is $``$$`8.5\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1. Clearly if the power law extends to higher energies, then the X-ray luminosity could be significantly above $`10^{39}`$ erg s-1.

The Chandra data show that the source had a power-law spectrum in ‘quiescence’. The best fit parameters are listed in Table 1. The inferred unabsorbed luminosity is $`1.7\times 10^{37}`$ erg s-1 in the 0.5-8 keV band and, in the ROSAT bandpass, it is roughly 60 times fainter than that of the flare luminosity in late 1993. There is a suggestion that the Chandra spectrum is steeper than the ROSAT spectra; however we note that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.6`$ is consistent with both data sets.

## 4 Nature of the Source

The fact that the flaring spectra obtained by ROSAT PSPC in late 1993 are equally well fit by a number of simple models implies that the exact nature of the source is still open to investigation. The low absorbing column does tend to rule out a high mass companion, since such systems typically have strong stellar winds and hence large intrinsic columns. Here we briefly discuss several possibilities. We begin by assuming a single source is responsible for all the observed X-ray emission and describe possible scenarios for objects outside (§ 4.1) or within (§ 4.2) M81. We then consider (§ 4.3) the possibility that two or more X-ray sources are present along the same line of sight.

### 4.1 Systems outside M81

If we assume the X-rays come from a star within our Galaxy and that object ID 50777 in Perelmuter & Racine (1995) is its counterpart, the colours suggest an early K spectral type. If the star is on the main sequence, the optical brightness implies a distance of 1.5 kpc. We first consider the possibility that the X-rays are due to coronal emission. For stellar coronae, the ratio of the X-ray flux to the optical flux is expected to be in the range $`10^3`$ to $`10^5`$ for F- to M-type stars (Topka, et al. 1982) whereas we find $`F_\mathrm{x}/F_{\mathrm{opt}}0.14`$. The hardness of the Chandra spectrum is also inconsistent with typical coronal emission. Therefore, coronal emission from a late-type main-sequence star is unlikely.

If a distance of 1.5 kpc is assumed, then the flare luminosity of the source would be $`10^{32}`$ erg s-1. Typical X-ray luminosities (above 0.5 keV) of magnetic cataclysmic variables (mCVs) — which are close binaries consisting of a magnetic white dwarf and a late K or M main-sequence star — are about $`10^{31}10^{32}`$ erg s-1 (see Cropper 1990 and references therein). MCVs are also known to show transitions between high and low states (Cropper 1990, Warner 1995). Thus we are unable to rule out a foreground mCV based on the X-ray observations alone. However, the optical source should not appear extended as it does in the Hubble image. The issue could be resolved if an optical image taken during the X-ray high state were available as mCVs show brightening in both the X-ray and optical bands during high states.

The extended emission could be accounted for if the object were a background AGN. AGNs are not known to show such large amplitude X-ray variabiltiy on timescales of a few months as seen. In principle tidal disruption of a star by the black hole at the center of a galaxy could produce a large amplitude ($`10^3`$ to $`10^4`$) flare but the expected timescale is of order a year or more (Ulmer 1999). Furthermore, if the object is behind M81, then the absorbing column would come from not only our own galaxy, but also the column through the entire disk of M81 as well as any intrinsic column. The low column measured from the X-ray data makes this possibility unlikely. An optical measurement of spectral redshift would provide conclusive evidence.

If the optical source is unrelated to the X-ray source, then the true optical counterpart would be a fainter and presumably more distant object. The most common X-ray source is an interacting binary. X-ray binaries in their active states have luminosities in the range $`10^{36}10^{38}`$ erg s-1 (e.g. White, Nagase & Parmar 1995). But, the ROSAT count rate during the flare in 1993 implies a luminosity of only $`5\times 10^{35}`$ erg s-1 in the 0.2$``$2.4 keV band even at a distance as great as 100 kpc, which would place it in the outer part of the Galactic halo. If the source is an X-ray binary within the Galaxy, unrelated to the observed optical source, it would be one of the fainter systems.

### 4.2 Systems within M81

If we assume that the optical object is in M81 and is related to the X-ray source, then it is far too bright to be an isolated X-ray binary in M81. It is also too bright to be an isolated supernova remnant which could potentially account for the optical extension, but not the X-ray variability.

The optical object may be a previously unidentified (and yet to be confirmed) globular cluster in M81 harbouring the X-ray source. Galaxies similar to M81 could contain of order 200 globular clusters (Perelmuter & Racine 1995). To date, only 25 globular clusters in M81 have been confirmed (Perelmuter, Brodie & Huchra 1995), and only 4 of these are within the viewing field of ACIS S3. The colours reported by Perelmuter & Racine (1995) for ID 50777 are within their expectations for M81 globular cluster candidates. As shown in section 2, object ID 50777 has a half light radius of about 0.2 arcsec which would be impossible to detect from the ground, although the outer halo could be. The V magnitude of 16.9 would imply an absolute magnitude of $`M_\mathrm{V}10.9`$ which would make it brighter than any Milky Way cluster and similar to the absolute magnitude of the brightest globular cluster in the Andromeda galaxy M31 (see the review by Ashman & Zepf 1998). Thus the brightness and small size of ID 50777 would account for it being missed in previous searches for globular clusters.

X-ray transients are known to occur in Milky Way globulars. Typical globular cluster sources in our galaxy have luminosities ranging up to $`5\times 10^{37}`$ erg s-1 and none are black hole candidates. The luminosity of the Chandra source is consistent with that of bright X-ray sources found in Galactic globular clusters (Verbunt & van den Heuvel 1995, Sidoli, et al. 2001). Both the spectra of the ROSAT observations in late 1993 and the Chandra observation are well fit by a power-law with a photon index about 1.6. This value is consistent with the power-law component seen in the spectra of X-ray binaries. The ROSAT count rates together with the distance to M81 imply the flare luminosity of the source above the Eddington luminosity of X-ray binaries containing an accreting neutron star. Di Stefano et al. (2001) report Chandra observations of M31 that show that the majority of the most luminous X-ray sources in M31 are in globular clusters and that the highest sustained luminosity observed exceeds $`2\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1. We also note that some peculiar Galactic neutron-star binaries (e.g. Cir X-1, which is believed to have a very eccentric orbit) have super-Eddington luminosities (up to three times the Eddington limit of a 1.5-M accretor) over a quite substantial portion of their orbital cycles (e.g., Shirey et al. 1996). Thus the possibility of an extremely bright neutron-star X-ray binary cannot be easily eliminated.

The high luminosity makes the source a candidate black-hole binary. From the Chandra observation we obtain a ‘quiescence’ luminosity of $`1.7\times 10^{37}`$ erg s-1. The ratio of the flare luminosity to the quiescence luminosity is therefore $``$60. This is significantly lower than those of the Galactic black-hole binaries GS 2000+251, Nova Mus 91, A0620-00, and V404 Cyg whose observed ratios ($`10^6`$ to $`10^7`$, Garcia et al. 2001) are in agreement with Advection-Dominated-Accretion-Flow (ADAF) model predictions (Narayan, Garcia & McClintock 1997).

### 4.3 Multiple X-ray sources in a M81 globular cluster

Although the X-ray temporal behaviour suggests an X-ray transient, the peak luminosity is difficult to explain with a neutron star. On the other hand the brightness of Chandra measurement is inconsistent with the currently popular ADAF model. This leads to the possibility that the strong source seen by ROSAT in 1993 and the fainter source observed by Chandra in 2000 are two different objects. If we assume that each detected X-ray source occupies an area of the detector out to the 90% radius of the Chandra PSF then the 97 X-ray sources reported in Tennant et al. (2001) would occupy $``$2% of all the pixels on the ACIS S3 detector. Thus the probability of a randomly-located source appearing within a detected ACIS source region is 2%. Of course, assuming X-ray sources are more likely to be found in dense stellar environments, such as the cores of globular clusters, then this probability should be considered a lower limit.

Thus, object ID 50777 may be a massive (i.e., luminous and compact) globular cluster in M81 containing the ROSAT flare source P33 and the fainter Chandra source. The Chandra source is presumably one or more persistent X-ray binaries while the brightness of the ROSAT source in 1993 suggests a black-hole binary in the core.

If systems displaying similar X-ray characteristics can be identified elsewhere, however, the multiple-source hypothesis becomes less viable and a single-source explanation is to be favored. We note that the Einstein source X-2 lies very close to a bright (V=17.29) point-like object listed as ID 50548 in Perelmuter & Racine (1995). During the Chandra observation, X-2 had faded dramatically relative to its Einstein-measured brightness. To our knowledge, however, X-2 has never exceeded an X-ray luminosity of $`2\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1. Optical followups of ID 50548 would also be of interest. The recently discovered transient source (Steinle, Dennerl & Englhauser 2000) in the direction of galaxy Cen A may also display characteristics similar to those reported here. If the source is in Cen A, then it would have had a peak X-ray luminosity of $`3\times 10^{39}`$ erg s-1 and it also appears to be associated with a weak Chandra source.

Roughly 10% of globular clusters are expected to contain accreting neutron stars detectable above the Chandra threshold and galaxies like M81 typically contain of order 200 globular clusters (Perelmuter & Racine 1995). However, there are only 25 confirmed globular clusters in M81 (Perelmuter, Brodie, & Huchra, 1995) and only 10 within the Chandra-observed field. None of these are coincident with X-ray sources detected by Chandra.

## 5 Summary

The transient X-ray source brightened to $``$$`7\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1, during ROSAT observations spanning 1993 Sep 29 to 1993 Nov 7 and was only 12–75 times fainter during the rest of the 10-year observing period including observations taken 5 months before and after the bright phase. Spectra obtained during both the high and low brightness states can be equally well fit by either power law models with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.6`$ and by thermal bremsstrahlung models with temperatures exceeding 4 keV. In all cases the data are consistent with only a Galactic interstellar absorption column. Blackbody models provide a substantially poorer fit. The bright optical counterpart to the transient source is extended with a half-light radius of $``$0.2 arcsec and with luminosity and colours consistent with a massive globular cluster in M81.

The only viable foreground object candidate for this source is a mCV. A Galactic mCV would have a flaring luminosity (at a distance $`1.5`$ kpc) and spectral shape similar to that observed. The optical extension and low state X-ray luminosity of order $`2\times 10^{30}`$ erg s-1 argue strongly against this hypothesis. A background AGN is unlikely based on the short X-ray “on-time” of the source and on the low column density derived from the spectral fits.

An X-ray binary at the distance of M81 is suggested by the shape of the observed power law spectra yet the luminosities observed make this scenario difficult to reconcile with canonical Galactic objects in this class: The high luminosity during the flare exceeds that of an accreting neutron star while the small ratio of flare luminosity to quiescent luminosity argues against a black-hole system. This can be resolved if the X-rays come from two objects, a black hole that produced the flare and a neutron star to account for the Chandra flux. Though a rare superposition may occur, the probability is greater if the sources are located within a single massive globular cluster in M81. If this is the case, then this is the first black hole candidate in a globular cluster. In any case, the peak X-ray luminosity exceeds that of any globular cluster X-ray source in the Galaxy and rivals that of the brightest M31 globular cluster X-ray source.

Further optical observations are encouraged in order to confirm the nature of the optical counterpart and to monitor changes in optical brightness if the source turns out to be a foreground object. An optical redshift measurement would strictly limit the AGN hypothesis. The companion star of a foreground mCV should show distinct emission lines unlike the absorption line spectrum typical of globular clusters.

###### Acknowledgements.

K. W. thanks Martin Weisskopf for funding his visits to MSFC. Support for this research was provided in part by NASA/Chandra grant GO0-1058X.


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# Parity Doublets from a Relativistic Quark Model

## Abstract

The $`N`$– and the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$–excitation spectrum exhibit parity doublets, i.e. states of the same spin but with opposite parity being almost degenerate in mass. It is shown that in a relativistic quark model with instantaneous interaction kernels, where confinement is implemented by a linearly rising potential and the major mass splittings are generated from an interaction based on instanton effects, this degeneracy occurs quite naturally: Once the parameters of the instanton induced interaction are fixed to reproduce the ground state octet-decuplet splittings, some states are selectively lowered to a position which is degenerate with states of opposite parity. Some observable consequences are briefly discussed.

A glance at the nucleon– and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$– excitation spectrum reveals a conspicuous degeneracy of some states with the same spin and opposite parity. Prominent examples are $`N\frac{5}{2}^+(1680)`$$`N\frac{5}{2}^{}(1675)`$, $`N\frac{9}{2}^+(2220)`$$`N\frac{9}{2}^{}(2250)`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{5}{2}^+(1820)`$$`\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{5}{2}^{}(1830)`$ . Although one might also regard $`\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{5}{2}^+(1905)`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{5}{2}^{}(1930)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{9}{2}^+(2300)`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{9}{2}^{}(2400)`$ as parity partners, the situation seems less clear: for the first because of the nearby $`\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{5}{2}^+(2000)`$-resonance and for the second because of the relatively large splitting. In the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$–spectrum no clear indications of parity doublets is found. In the literature these observations have been related to a phase transition from the Nambu–Goldstone mode of chiral symmetry to the Wigner–Weyl mode in the upper part of the baryon spectrum . In the present contribution we will show how this feature can be understood in the context of a (relativistic) constituent quark model on the basis of the quark dynamics, where the major spin-dependent mass splittings are induced by instanton effects (’t Hooft’s force).

Our relativistically covariant constituent quark model is based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation for three-quark bound states with instantaneous interaction kernels. The details of the model are described elsewhere. Quarks are assumed to possess an effective constituent mass and confinement is implemented by a linearly rising 3-body string potential with a Dirac structure, which is a combination of scalar and time-like vector structures chosen such that unwanted spin-orbit effects are minimized. The major spin-dependent mass splittings are generated by a flavor dependent 2-particle interaction, which is motivated by instanton effects. This force affects flavor-antisymmetric $`qq`$-pairs only, and consequently this interaction does not act on flavor symmetric states, such as the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-resonances, which are thus determined by the dynamics of the confinement potential alone. Accordingly, the constituent quark masses and the confinement parameters were determined by a fit to the spectrum in this sector.

The residual instanton induced interaction does act on particular flavor octet states. Once the strengths of this interaction have been adjusted to account for the ground state nucleon and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-mass we find that in fact one can describe the major spin-dependent mass splittings in the nucleon spectrum quite well, see Fig. 1 .

In particular one finds that in this manner the Roper resonance can be accounted for quite naturally. Moreover one finds a selective lowering of those substates of a major oscillator shell (which in spite of the linear confinement adopted here still provides an adequate classification of states with confinement alone) which contain so called scalar diquarks, i.e. quark pairs with trivial spin and angular momentum. This is found in particular for the highest spin states in a given oscillator shell $`N`$, see Fig. 2 .

For given $`N\mathrm{}\omega `$ the maximum total angular momentum for a state containing such a scalar diquark is $`J=(L_{\text{max}}=N)+\frac{1}{2}`$ . ’t Hooft’s force lowers this state enough to become almost degenerate with the unaffected spin-quartet state of the oscillator shell with $`N1`$, which has opposite parity but the same total angular momentum: $`J=(L_{\text{max}}=N1)+\frac{3}{2}`$. In this way patterns of approximate parity doublets for all lowest excitations in the sectors $`J=\frac{5}{2}`$ to $`J=\frac{13}{2}`$ are formed systematically. In the $`N\frac{5}{2}^\pm `$ and $`N\frac{9}{2}^\pm `$ sectors this scenario is nicely confirmed experimentally by the well-established parity doublets $`N\frac{5}{2}^+(1680)`$$`N\frac{5}{2}^{}(1675)`$ and $`N\frac{9}{2}^+(2220)`$$`N\frac{9}{2}^{}(2250)`$. In the $`N\frac{7}{2}`$ sector, however, the present experimental findings seem to deviate from such a parity doubling structure due to the rather highly determined resonance position of the $`N\frac{7}{2}^{}(2190)`$. Although this state is given a four-star rating an investigation of this sector with new experimental facilities such as the CLAS detector at CEBAF (JLab) or the Crystal Barrel detector at ELSA (Bonn) would be highly desirable. The same mechanism explains approximate parity doublet structures also for states with lower angular momentum as e.g. the $`N^{}`$ doublets in the second resonance region around $`1700`$ MeV with spins $`J^\pi =\frac{1}{2}^\pm `$, $`\frac{3}{2}^\pm `$, and $`\frac{5}{2}^\pm `$ (see fig. 1).

Observable consequences of this parity doubling scenario should manifest in a different shape of electromagnetic $`p\gamma ^{}N^{}`$ transition form factors of both members of a doublet due to their significantly different internal strutures. Fig. 3 shows as an example the magnetic multipole $`\gamma ^{}pN\frac{5}{2}^+(1680)`$ and $`\gamma ^{}pN\frac{5}{2}^{}(1675)`$ transition form factors:

That member of the doublet, which is affected by ’t Hooft’s force ($`N\frac{5}{2}^+`$), exhibits a rather strong scalar diquark correlation and thus its structure should be more compact compared to its unaffected doublet partner ($`N\frac{5}{2}^{}`$) whose structure is expected to be rather soft. Consequently, the transition form factor to the latter resonance decreases faster than that to its doublet partner with the scalar diquark contribution.

In the strange sector ’t Hooft’s force accounts in a similar way for the prominent doublets of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-spectrum. At the same time instanton-induced effects are found to be significantly weaker in the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$-spectrum, thus explaining the fact that no clear experimental indications of parity doublets are observed in this sector.

The contributions of K. Kretzschmar and H. R. Petry are gratefully acknowledged.


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# Quantum Tunneling and Relaxation in Mn₁₂𝑎𝑐 Studied by Magnetic Spectroscopy

## Abstract

The spin relaxation in the molecular magnet Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ is investigated by a novel type of high-frequency magnetic spectroscopy. By reversing the external magnetic field the intensities of the $`|\pm 10|\pm 9`$ transitions within the ground multiplet redistribute; below $`T2`$ K resonant quantum tunneling is directly observed as magnetic hole burning in the absorption spectra of a polycrystal. We quantitatively describe our observations by taking into account inhomogeneous line broadening, the time dependence of the level population during the relaxation process, and the resonance behavior of the relaxation rate due to quantum tunneling near the avoided level crossing.

In the last years molecular magnets comprising large clusters of coupled magnetic ions have attracted considerable interest as mesoscopic systems which exhibit new properties such as molecular magnetic bistability, macroscopic quantum tunneling of magnetization, quantum phase interference, etc. . Among them clusters with a high-spin ground state and large anisotropy, such as Mn12O12(CH3COO)16(H2O)4\]2CH3COOH$``$4H2O (abbreviated as Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$) are of a paramount interest.

Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ cluster can be considered as nanoparticle with an effective magnetic moment of 20$`\mu _B`$ ($`\mu _B`$ is the Bohr magneton), corresponding to a collective spin $`S=10`$ of the exchange coupled twelve Mn ions within the molecule. Due to the strong anisotropy, the magnetic moment freezes along one of the two easy directions at low temperatures. This is governed by a crystal field (CF) which splits the ground $`S=10`$ multiplet and provides a quasidoublet structure $`|\pm m`$ of the lowest energy levels. The energy barrier $`\mathrm{\Delta }E60`$ K between the two lowest lying states $`|\pm 10`$ determines the thermally activated relaxation of the magnetization in Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ . Below a blocking temperature of about 3 K resonant quantum tunneling was discovered in the form of peaks in the relaxation rate and steps in the hysteresis loops at regular intervals of magnetic field corresponding to a coincidence of the CF energy levels . Since the rate of the tunneling for a ground state is small in Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ the tunneling occurs via appropriate thermally excited CF states for temperatures above approximately 2 K resulting in a shortcut at the top of the barrier which accelerates the relaxation; at even lower temperatures pure quantum tunneling is dominant .

Various spectroscopic investigations have been applied to Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$, including electron-spin resonance (ESR)  and inelastic neutron scattering . In particular, a new type of high-frequency ESR method based on a quasi-optical spectroscopy  made it possible to directly observe the CF transitions in an equilibrium state and to study in details their characteristics, including the lineshapes . In this Letter we report on the high-frequency magnetic spectroscopy of non-equilibrium phenomena in Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ which allows to directly and independently determine the full set of magnetic characteristics.

Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ was pressed into a pellet with a thickness of 1.39 mm and a diameter of 10 mm. The high-frequency ESR experiments were performed by means of a quasi-optical coherent-source technique . The transmission spectra Tr($`\nu `$) of the pellet were measured with a linearly polarized radiation (its magnetic field denoted as $`𝐡`$), in the frequency range $`\nu =8`$ to 12 cm-1 at temperatures down to 1.8 K and in an external magnetic field $`𝐇`$ up to 8 T applied perpendicular to the radiation $`𝐤`$-vector (Voigt geometry). One frequency scan over the full range takes about 20 seconds.

Examples of the equilibrium Tr($`\nu `$) spectra are shown in Fig. 1a. The absorption line at $`\nu _0=10`$ cm-1 corresponds to the $`|\pm 10|\pm 9`$ CF transitions at $`𝐇`$=0. It shifts to higher frequency $`\nu _H(H)\nu _0+\gamma |H_z|`$ ($`\gamma =g\mu _B/h`$, $`H_z=H\mathrm{cos}\theta _H`$, $`\theta _H`$ is the angle between $`𝐇`$ and the easy $`C_4`$ z-axis, $`g2`$) and changes its shape with increasing $`𝐇`$, due to the inhomogeneous splitting of the degenerate $`|\pm 10`$ and $`|\pm 9`$ states in the polycrystalline Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$.

To study metastable states of Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ we have investigated the time dependence of the Tr($`\nu `$) spectra. Applying an external field $`H=+0.45`$ T shifts the absorption line to the position $`\nu _H>\nu _0`$ (Fig. 1b); we then reverse the field (in about a minute), which leads to the line shift to the position $`\nu _L\nu _0\gamma |H_z|<\nu _0`$. Starting from this point ($`t=0`$) the intensity of the $`\nu _L`$-mode decreases with time while that of the $`\nu _H`$-mode recovers correspondingly.

The energy levels of Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ are determined by the effective Hamiltonian

$$H_{\mathrm{eff}}=DS_z^2+BS_z^4+C(S_+^4+S_{}^4)/2g\mu _B𝐒𝐇$$
(1)
where $`𝐒`$ is the effective spin of the ground $`S=10`$ multiplet, and D, B and C are the CF parameters. At small fields the low energy levels are determined mainly by $`H_z`$: $`E_m=Dm^2+Bm^4g\mu _BH_zm`$, $`m=0,\pm 1\mathrm{}\pm 10`$ (inset of Fig.1b). At low enough temperatures for $`H_z>0`$ only the $`|+10`$ quantum state is populated and we observe only one magnetic dipole transition $`|+10`$$``$$`|+9`$. After reversing the field ($`H_z<0`$) the state $`|+10`$ becomes metastable and its population relaxes to the new ground state $`|10`$; the intensity of the transition $`|+10`$$``$$`|+9`$ (at $`\nu _L<\nu _0`$) decreases while that for the transition $`|10`$$``$$`|9`$ (at $`\nu _H>\nu _0`$) grows (Fig.1b). For our polycrystalline non-oriented sample a random orientation of the easy-axis results in the population of both $`|+10`$ and $`|10`$ CF states and in an inhomogeneous broadening of the corresponding transitions by the applied field.

New features in the relaxation phenomena appear at lower temperatures, $`T2`$ K, as shown in Fig. 2. The relaxation occurs “inhomogeneously”; i.e., it has a faster rate near a particular frequency $`\nu _{}^{(1)}=9.57`$ cm-1 where a peak in the Tr($`\nu `$) spectrum appears accompanied by a minimum developing at $`\nu _+^{(1)}=10.47`$ cm-1. This new phenomenon can be called magnetic hole burning in analogy to spectral hole burning in dielectrics . We ascribe this fast relaxation near the $`\nu _\pm ^{(1)}`$ to a resonant quantum tunneling in those crystallites whose orientation relative to $`𝐇`$ satisfy the level crossing condition $`h\nu _\pm ^{(1)}(m)=h\nu _0\pm g\mu _BH_z^{cros}=h\nu _0\pm [DB(m^2+(m1)^2)]`$.

For a quantitative description of the observed relaxation the effective magnetic permeability is calculated using (a) the non-equilibrium populations of the low CF states $`|\pm 10`$ and their evolution (relaxation) with time and (b) the inhomogeneous broadening of the CF transitions in the magnetic field due to the random orientation of the crystallites. Firstly, we analyze a behavior for a single crystallite. Considering only two $`|\pm 10`$$``$$`|\pm 9`$ CF transitions and introducing a non-equilibrium normalized populations $`\rho _m(t)`$ we generalize the ordinary equilibrium permeability  and obtain its transverse components:

$`\mu _{xx,yy}(\nu ,t)\mu _{}(\nu ,t)`$ $`=`$ $`1+\mathrm{\Delta }\mu ^+(\nu ,t)+\mathrm{\Delta }\mu ^{}(\nu ,t)`$ (2a)
$`\mu _{xy,yx}(\nu ,t)\pm \mu _a(\nu ,t)`$ $`=`$ $`\pm i[\mathrm{\Delta }\mu ^+(\nu ,t)\mathrm{\Delta }\mu ^{}(\nu ,t)]`$ (2b)
where

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mu ^\pm (\nu ,t)=\mathrm{\Delta }\mu _0\left[\frac{\nu _0}{\nu _\pm }(\rho _{\pm 10}\rho _{\pm 9})R^\pm (\nu )\right].$$
(3)
are the contributions of the $`|\pm 10`$$``$$`|\pm 9`$ CF transitions to the permeability with its static value at $`T=0`$, $`H=0`$ being $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mu _0`$; a Lorentzian lineshape $`R^\pm (\nu )`$ is assumed for simplicity; $`h\nu _\pm =E_{\pm 9}E_{\pm 10}=h\nu _0\pm g\mu _BH_z`$. The equilibrium state is given by $`\rho _m(t\mathrm{})=\rho _m^{\mathrm{}}=\mathrm{exp}\{\beta E_m\}/Z`$ with $`Z=\mathrm{exp}\{\beta E_m\}`$, $`\beta =1/k_BT`$, and $`\rho _m(t)=1`$.

In the thermally assisted regime, the relaxation of the populations $`\rho _m(t)`$ takes place via excited states and is determined by the complex master equation for the populations of all CF states . It can be reduced to the simple relaxation equation $`\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\rho }=(\mathrm{\Delta }\rho \mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^{\mathrm{}})/\tau `$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho =\rho _{+10}\rho _{10}`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^{\mathrm{}}=\rho _{+10}^{\mathrm{}}\rho _{10}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is the difference of the equilibrium population after the field is reversed. The solution $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho (t)=\mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^{\mathrm{}}[12\mathrm{exp}\{t/\tau \}]`$ for the initial condition $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho (0)=\mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^0=\mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^{\mathrm{}}`$ leads to the population differences

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm (t)\rho _{\pm 10}\rho _{\pm 9}=\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm ^{\mathrm{}}+\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm ^0\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm ^{\mathrm{}}\right)e^{t/\tau }`$ (4)
which enter Eq. (2); here $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm ^{\mathrm{}}=[\mathrm{exp}\{\beta E_{\pm 10}\}\mathrm{exp}\{\beta E_{\pm 9}\}]/Z`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm ^0=[1\mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^{\mathrm{}}(1+\mathrm{exp}\{\beta h\nu _{}\})](1\mathrm{exp}\{\beta h\nu _\pm \})/[2+\mathrm{exp}\{\beta h\nu _+\}+\mathrm{exp}\{\beta h\nu _{}\}]`$ , where all quantities refer to the reversed field. The derivation assumes thermal equilibrium between $`|\pm 10`$ and $`|\pm 9`$ states due to fast relaxation via phonons, implying $`\rho _{\pm 9}=\rho _{\pm 10}\mathrm{exp}\{\beta h\nu _\pm \}`$. For low temperatures ($`\beta h\nu _\pm >>1`$), $`\rho _{\pm 9}`$ is negligible and Eq. (4) simplifies to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _\pm (t)\rho _{\pm 10}(t)\rho _{\pm 10}^{\mathrm{}}+\left(\rho _{10}^0\rho _{\pm 10}^{\mathrm{}}\right)\mathrm{exp}\{t/\tau \}`$.

All previous consideration refers to a single crystal. For polycrystalline samples we have to take into account the inhomogeneous broadening of the lines due to different splittings of the doublets. By averaging the permeability \[Eq. (2)\] of the crystallites with respect to their orientations we obtain the effective permeability $`\widehat{\mu }^{\mathrm{eff}}(\nu ,t)`$ with the non-zero components $`\mu _{xx,yy}^{\mathrm{eff}}(\nu ,t)=\mu _{}(\nu ,t)(1+\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _H)/2`$, $`\mu _{xy,yx}^{\mathrm{eff}}(\nu ,t)=\pm i\mu _a(\nu ,t)\mathrm{cos}\theta _H`$, and $`\mu _{zz}^{\mathrm{eff}}(\nu ,t)=\mu _{}(\nu ,t)\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _H`$ for the $`𝐇`$ oriented along the $`z`$-axis. Using $`\widehat{\mu }^{\mathrm{eff}}(\nu ,t)`$ and the Fresnel formulas for the transmission coefficient  we fit the zero-field spectrum and obtain $`\nu _0=10.02`$ cm-1, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.18`$ cm-1, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mu _0=0.0107`$, in accordance with our previous results . These parameters also describe the spectra in the magnetic field in all details, including the dramatic changes of the lineshape (Fig. 1a).

The relaxation phenomena observed in our Tr($`\nu `$) spectra at various temperatures can be self-consistently described using the theory of the magnetization relaxation in Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$  based on phonon-assisted spin tunneling induced by forth order CF and transverse magnetic field. To determine the relaxation rate $`\tau (T,H,\mathrm{cos}\theta _H)`$ we have numerically diagonalized the master equation for the density matrix $`\dot{\rho }=W\rho `$ in the space of the ground $`S=10`$ multiplet, following the procedure suggested by Ref. . In calculations we used the CF parameters of Eq.(1) $`D=`$-0.389 cm-1, $`B=`$-7.65$`\times 10^4`$ cm-1, $`|C|=5.0\times 10^5\mathrm{cm}^1`$ from  and parameters of the spin-phonon interaction determined via the main CF term $`DS_z^2`$ .

In Fig. 3 the angular dependence of the relaxation time is plotted for two different temperatures and fields used in our experiments (Figs. 1b and 2). The relaxation goes fastest for $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _H=0`$ because the energy levels on the both sides of the barrier coincide; a situation, however, not observed in Voigt geometry. For fields exceeding the value of the first level crossing ($`0.44`$ T), additional resonance minima arise with a fine structure related to the slightly different resonance conditions for various exciting levels due to the fourth order CF contribution B. As an example, Fig. 1b shows the relaxation observed in the Tr($`\nu `$) spectra at $`H=0.45`$ T and $`T=2.6`$ K which are well described by our model. We note that a weak resonance near $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _H=0.97`$ due to avoided level crossing of the CF states $`m=4,3`$ (or $`m=3,4`$) does not exhibit in the spectra due to the averaging in the polycrystalline sample. The relaxation rate strongly increases with magnetic field because the effective barrier decreases with both (longitudinal and transverse) components ; there are also significant contributions from the tunneling processes which are enhanced because the tunneling splitting increases with the transverse field.

These resonance effects are best seen at low temperatures, when the thermal relaxation over a barrier is suppressed. Fig. 3 shows a set of resonances in the relaxation rate at $`T=`$1.96 K which correspond to pairs of states with an avoided level crossing. Using this $`\tau (\mathrm{cos}\theta _H)`$, the time evolution of the Tr($`\nu `$) spectra is calculated; as seen from Fig. 2 the agreement is excellent. The main contribution to the resonance relaxation comes from the thermally assisted tunneling via (5,-4), (6,-5) and in less degree (7,-6) states (or corresponding states with the opposite signs); they determine the frequency of the burned spectral hole. For these avoided level crossings the resonance lineshape is determined by a truncated Lorentzian  with the effective linewidth determined by the tunneling splitting (0.23, 0.015, and $`5.0\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}^1`$, respectively) which is much larger than the corresponding phonon linewidth (ranging from $`5\times 10^6`$ to $`3\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}^1`$). The linewidth ($`0.120.18`$ cm-1) of the zero-field-resonance absorption $`\nu _0`$ exceeds the corresponding phonon linewidths considerably. It is mainly determined by inhomogeneous broadening and thus serves as a measure of the disorder effects , which could originate from CF and g-factor distributions (D-strain and g-strain) and random magnetic dipolar fields as was shown by ESR .

The problem of shape of the tunneling resonance and the effect of inhomogeneous broadening on it are presently subject of considerable interest and discussions , many issues, however, remain open. One of them could be related to the obvious discrepancy between the observed inhomogeneous character of the zero-field modes broadening  and Lorentzian shape of the tunneling resonances observed at temperatures $`T2K`$  and described theoretically in the thermally assisted regime . One may expect that a large inhomogeneous broadening of the levels (i.e., larger than the tunneling splitting) reduces the tunneling amplitudes and smears of the resonances, resulting in suppression of the relaxation peaks and in change of their Lorentzian shape  . Suggesting that the main contribution to the line broadening comes from the CF dispersion and assuming its Gaussian distribution , we can evaluate the dispersion $`\delta D=0.004`$ cm-1of the main quadratic term $`D`$ in the Hamltonian (1) . This yields a smearing of the tunneling level differences $`\delta (E_mE_{m+1})=\delta D(2m1)`$, for instance, of $`0.0350.05\mathrm{cm}^1`$ for (5,-4), (6,-5), and (7,-6) states. From a comparison with the calculated tunneling splittings we can conclude that the inhomogeneous level broadening does not effect the main resonance (5,-4), smears the (6,-5), but suppresses the (7,-6) and higher order resonances. A numerical simulation including an additional averaging with respect to the CF distribution confirms this conclusion. Thus, if the tunneling splitting is sufficiently large for states contributing to the thermally assisted tunneling, the lineshape of the corresponding resonance remains Lorentzian.

In summary, we utilized a novel optical method of high frequency magnetic spectrosopy to study the relaxation phenomena in Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$ clusters, including the resonance quantum tunneling along with the CF transitions and their lineshapes and linewidths. At elevated temperatures only frequency-homogenous relaxation due to mainly thermal activation is observed, whereas for $`T2`$ K the thermal relaxation is significantly suppressed and resonant quantum tunneling dominates; in this range the effect of magnetic hole burning  is observed. We have developed a microscopic model which allows to quantitatively describe all observed effects, taking into account the orientational distribution of the relaxation time and to determine the most effective relaxation channels and to estimate the effect of CF inhomogeneity on the resonant tunneling.

We thank the Prof. N. Karl and the Materials Lab for synthesizing the Mn$`{}_{12}{}^{}ac`$. We acknowledge support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). This work was supported in part by RFBR (No. 02-02-16597).


text:
# Phenomenological Models of the Quark-Gluon Plasma Equation of State

## 1 Introduction

We have developed two simple models for the $`SU(N)`$ gluon plasma equation of state, both based on the use of the Polyakov loop $`P`$ as the natural order parameter of the deconfinement transition in pure gauge theories. In these models, the eigenvalues of the Polyakov loop are the essential degrees of freedom rather than the Polyakov loop trace alone, a possibility also recently explored by Pisarski .

Since $`P`$ is unitary, we can parametrize its diagonal form by $`N`$ phases $`\theta _j`$ which we refer to as eigenvalues. In our models, confinement is obtained from a set of spatially constant eigenvalues which make $`TrP=0`$. This is naturally obtained from a uniform distribution of eigenvalues around the unit circle, constrained by the unitary of $`P`$. In a pure gauge theory below the deconfinement temperature $`T_d`$, the eigenvalues are frozen in this uniform distribution. As $`T`$ moves upward from $`T_d`$, the eigenvalues of the Polyakov loop rotate towards $`\theta =0`$ or one of its $`Z(N)`$equivalents, and $`P`$ moves towards an element of the center. In the case of a first order transition, the eigenvalues jump at $`T_d`$. This motion of the eigenvalues is responsible for the approach to the blackbody limit over the range $`T_d5T_d`$.

As a consequence of asymptotic freedom, the perturbative expression for the free energy as a function of the Polyakov loop eigenvalues will be valid at sufficiently high temperatures. At one-loop order, the result has the form $`f_{pert}=T^4F_4(\theta _j)`$ where $`F_4`$ has a simple expression in terms of the fourth Bernoulli polynomial; $`f_{pert}`$ gives the blackbody behavior expected at high temperature. Note that $`f_{pert}`$ is not a function of $`TrP`$, instead depending directly on the eigenvalues. This distinction begins to matter with $`SU(4)`$, because for $`N4`$, the eigenvalues cannot be determined solely from $`TrP`$.

## 2 Models A and B

The first of our two models is obtained by adding, by hand, a mass $`M`$ to the gauge bosons, and working with the high temperature expansion of the resultant free energy to order $`M^2T^2`$. The result is

$$f_A\left(\theta \right)=T^4F_4(\theta _j)M^2T^2F_2(\theta _j)$$
(1)
where $`F_2`$ is given as sums of second Bernoulli polynomials . We stress that this derivation merely indicates the type of additional terms that might appear in the free energy. The Bernoulli polynomials appear naturally as class functions which are almost everywhere polynomials in the $`\theta `$’s, and are well-suited for the construction of a Landau theory in the eigenvalues.

Our second model is obtained by supposing that there is a natural scale $`R`$ in position space over which color neutrality is enforced. In other words, net color is allowed in volumes of less than $`R^3`$, but the net color on larger scales is zero. This leads to

$$f_B\left(\theta \right)=f_{pert}\left(\theta \right)\frac{1}{\beta R^3}\mathrm{ln}\left[J\left(\theta \right)\right]$$
(2)
where $`J\left(\theta \right)`$ is the Jacobian associated with Haar measure on $`SU(N)`$.

In both models, the $`T^4`$ term, which favors the deconfined phase, dominates for large $`T`$. The other term, which favors the confined phase, dominates for small T. The deconfinement phase transition results from a conflict between the two terms.

## 3 $`SU(N)`$ Thermodynamics for $`N=25`$

In the case of $`SU(2)`$ and $`SU(3)`$, model A is analytically tractable. The deconfining transition is second order for $`SU(2)`$ and first order for $`SU(3)`$, in accord with universality arguments . Numerical analysis for the cases of $`SU(4)`$ and $`SU(5)`$ show that the deconfinement transition is first order; recent lattice results for $`SU(4)`$ also indicate a first order transition. Identical results on the order of the transition are obtained numerically for model B.

In the case of $`SU(3)`$, both models show good agreement with lattice simulations upon comparing the pressure $`p`$, the energy density $`\epsilon `$, and the dimensionless interaction measure $`\mathrm{\Delta }=(\epsilon 3p)/T^4`$ as a function of the dimensionless variable $`T/T_d`$. The range of temperatures over which metastable behavior occurs can be easily determined, and confirms the weakly first order character of the transition.

It is enlightening to plot $`p`$, $`\epsilon `$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, each divided by $`N^21`$, versus $`T/T_d`$ for $`N=2`$, $`3`$, $`4`$, and $`5`$. Figures 1-3 show the results for model A; model B is similar. Both models appear to quickly approach a large-$`N`$ limit. Both models show power law behavior in $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for sufficiently large $`T`$, consistent with $`\mathrm{\Delta }1/T^2`$. This is the asymptotic behavior found analytically for $`SU(2)`$ in model A, and is compatible with the $`SU(3)`$ lattice data. In camparison, the Bag model, predicts a $`1/T^4`$ behavior for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, which is ruled out by lattice results.

## 4 Quarks

Quark effects can be included as the free energy of quarks propagating in a constant Polyakov loop background. We limit ourselves here to a discussion of very heavy quarks  and the leading order effect of light quarks, which do not depend on chiral symmetry effects . The expected effect of very heavy quarks is to lower the critical temperature . This line of first-order critical points in the $`Tm`$ plane terminates in a second-order end point at some finite value of $`m`$. For light quarks, we expect that the deconfinement transition is replaced by a smooth crossover with a rapid rise in all thermodynamic quantities. We have confirmed both sets of behaviors in the case of $`SU(3)`$.

## 5 Conclusions

We have developed two simple phenomenological equations of state for the quark-gluon plasma, which reproduce much of the thermodynamic behavior seen in lattice simulations. Both models correctly predict the order of the deconfining phase transitions for $`SU(2)`$ (second order) and $`SU(3)`$ (weakly first order), and predict first order transitions in $`SU(4)`$ and $`SU(5)`$ as well. Both models appear to have smooth large-$`N`$ limits. The numerical value of the parameters introduced are reasonable for both models in the case of $`SU(3)`$. The deconfinement temperature in a pure $`SU(3)`$ gauge theory is about $`270MeV`$, giving a value for $`M`$ of $`596MeV`$, a plausible value for a constituent gluon mass. In model B, we find that $`R`$is $`1`$fermi. It is clear that by allowing the parameters $`M`$ and $`R`$ to depend on the temperature, a better fit to lattice data can be obtained at the cost of introducing additional phenomenological parameters.

The success of these phenomenological models suggests a point of view on the nature of the deconfinement mechanism. In confining theories, the eigenvalue distributions of the Polyakov loop are peaked at low temperature around values evenly spaced about the unit circle in such a way that the expectation value of the Polyakov loop is zero. At the deconfining transition temperature, the peaks of the eigenvalue distributions move towards $`1`$, which is the asymptotic limit as $`T`$ goes to infinity. We believe that this picture of deconfinement coupled with a field-theory inspired model of chiral symmetry breaking has the potential to fully model the equation of state of the quark-gluon plasma .


text:
# Discovery of the X-ray burster SAX J1752.3–3138

## 1 Introduction: the BeppoSAX-WFC Galactic bulge monitoring program

One of the main scientific goals of the Wide Field Cameras (WFC, Jager et al. (1997)) on board the BeppoSAX satellite (Boella et al. (1997)) is the study of the timing and spectral behaviour of both transient and persistent sources in the Galactic bulge, X-ray binaries in particular, on time scales ranging from seconds to years. To this end, a monitoring program of systematic wide field observation of the Sgr A sky region is carried out since August 1996 (Heise (1998); Heise et al. (1999); Ubertini et al. (1999)). The program consists of a series of observations, each lasting 60 ks net time, almost weekly spaced throughout the two visibility periods (August-October and February-April) of the Galactic Centre region. Up to January 2001, an amount of 4.0 Ms of data has been accumulated this way. The WFC program on the Galactic bulge is significantly contributing in the study of transient X-ray binary systems, mainly X-ray bursters (see e.g. in ’t Zand et al. (2000) for a recent overview).

SAX J1752.3$``$3138 was discovered by the WFCs during the Summer–Fall 1999 monitoring campaign of the Galactic bulge. The source was observed during an X-ray burst (see Fig.1 and Fig. 2, top panel) and no persistent emission was found (Cocchi et al. 1999a ). No other X-ray bursts are detected in the whole WFC data archive. The net exposure time available for burst detection is 6.3 Ms up to January 2001, being the attitude constraints not so stringent as for steady emission detection. This makes the observed event the only source of information about SAX J1752.3$``$3138 available so far. Nevertheless, burst detection itself provides important details on a newly discovered source, being such events uniquely associated to weakly magnetised neutron stars (NS) in Low-Mass X-ray Binary systems (LMXBs). Besides the nature of the source, in several cases X-ray bursts allow to estimate useful parameters such as the source distance and luminosity, and the NS radius (see Lewin, van Paradijs & Taam 1993, hereafter LvPT (93), for a comprehensive review). A single detected burst in a fairly big amount of observing time is even more interesting, since its uniqueness puts important constraints on the characteristics of the accretion onto the neutron star. In the case of SAX J1752.3$``$3138 in particular, since no steady emission was observed, we explore the bursting behaviour of sources at very low persistent luminosities. The study of the lower luminosity boundary when NS start bursting is an important ingredient for our knowledge of thermonuclear bursts.

In the next section we report on the observation and the spectral/timing data analysis of the (so far) only burst of SAX J1752.3$``$3138. We then briefly discuss the results in Section 3, proposing SAX J1752.3$``$3138 either as a weak transient NS-LMXB or, more intriguingly, as a member of a possibly new class of low-luminosity, slowly accreting X-ray bursters. An estimate of the distance to the source will be also given.

## 2 SAX J1752.3$``$3138: Observation and Data Analysis

The BeppoSAX-WFCs are two identical coded aperture multi-wire proportional counters, each covering a $`40^{}\times 40^{}`$ field of view, the largest ever flown for an arcminute ($`1^{}3^{}`$, 99% confidence) location accuracy X-ray telescope. The cameras point at opposite directions and operate in the 2–28 keV bandpass. The time resolution of the imaging operative mode is 0.488 ms, and the energy resolution is 18% at 6 keV. The imaging capability and the good instrument sensitivity (5-10 mCrab in $`10^4`$ s) allow an accurate monitoring of complex sky regions, like the Galactic bulge.

Thanks to their scientific capabilities, the BeppoSAX-WFCs are well designed to systematically investigate transient phenomena lasting from seconds to minutes, like the X-ray bursts. The data of the two cameras is searched for bursts and flares by analysing the time profiles of the detectors with a time resolution down to 1 s. Reconstructed sky images are generated for any statistically significant event, in order to identify possible new bursters. The accuracy of the reconstructed position, which of course depends on the burst intensity, is typically better than $`5\mathrm{}`$. This analysis procedure demonstrated its effectiveness throughout the Galactic bulge WFC monitoring program, leading to the identification of more than $`2.2\times 10^3`$ X-ray bursts (or $`1.6\times 10^3`$ when excluding the Rapid Burster and the Bursting Pulsar) from 38 different sources (e.g. in ’t Zand et al. (2000)).

The X-ray burst from the new source SAX J1752.3$``$3138 was found during a post-facto analysis of a 50 ks observation of the Galactic centre region performed by the WFC unit 2 on September 2, 1999 (Cocchi et al. 1999a ). The bursting source is located $`3\mathrm{°}`$ SW of Sgr A, at $`\alpha =17^\mathrm{h}52^\mathrm{m}24^\mathrm{s}`$, $`\delta =31^{}37.7^{}`$ (J2000, error radius $`2.9^{}`$, 99% confidence). The burst peak intensity, corrected for dead time effects, was $`0.7`$ Crab. No steady emission was detected during the whole observation, with a $`3\sigma `$ upper limit of 6 mCrab in the 2–28 keV band. No other X-ray bursts were reported from the same sky position during the observation, even if other events could be missed due to the $`53\%`$ source covering efficiency associated to the low Earth orbit of BeppoSAX. Search for bursts and/or persistent emission from SAX J1752.3$``$3138 was performed on all the data available from the 1996-1999 BeppoSAX-WFC Galactic Bulge monitoring campaigns but, as mentioned above, we report no other significant detections. The typical WFC sensitivity (on-axis) to burst events is approximately 180 mCrab (2–28 keV), corresponding to a peak of $`7\times 10^{37}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ ($`30\%\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$) for a 10 kpc distance. This value is given for a $`6\sigma `$ detection of a burst with exponential decay and characteristic time of 10 s.

In Fig. 1 the time profiles of the burst, obtained in two energy bands, are shown. The time histories of the bursts are constructed by accumulating only the detector counts associated with the shadowgram of the analysed source, thus improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the profile. The background, which is the sum of (part of) the diffuse X-ray background, the particles background and the contamination of other sources in the field of view, has been subtracted. Source contamination is the dominating background component for crowded sky fields like the Galactic bulge. Nevertheless, the probability of source confusion during a short time-scale event (10–100 s) like an X-ray burst is negligible.

The burst spectrum of SAX J1752.3$``$3138 is consistent with absorbed blackbody radiation with average colour temperature of $`1.6`$ keV (see Table 1). Due to the rather poor statistics, the $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ parameter could not be satisfactorily constrained, so it was kept fixed according to the interpolated value for the source sky direction, $`5.64\times 10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (Dickey & Lockman (1990)). An absorbed power-law model does not fit the data adequately.

Time-resolved spectra were accumulated for the observed burst, in order to study the time evolution of the spectral parameters (Table 2). The spectra are all consistent with blackbody radiation, and spectral softening is observed during the burst decay, in agreement with the longer decay time associated to the low-energy time profile (see Fig. 1). Blackbody spectra allow to determine the relationship between the average radius of the emitting sphere $`R_{\mathrm{km}}`$ (in units of km) and the source distance $`d_{10\mathrm{kpc}}`$ (in units of 10 kpc). In Fig. 2 the time histories of the measured $`R_{\mathrm{km}}`$/$`d_{10\mathrm{kpc}}`$ ratios are shown, assuming isotropic emission and not correcting for gravitational redshift and conversion to true blackbody temperature from colour temperature (see LvPT (93) for details).

## 3 Discussion

### 3.1 The neutron star LMXB SAX J1752.3$``$3138

As anticipated, the spectral and timing properties of the burst detected from SAX J1752.3$``$3138 are clearly suggestive of a type I event (Hoffman, Marshall, & Lewin (1978)), typically associated to weakly magnetised neutron stars in low-mass binary systems (e.g. LvPT (93)). In fact the blackbody emission and the measured colour temperatures of $`1.6`$ keV are consistent with this hypothesis. Spectral softening is observed in the time resolved spectra of the bursts (Table 2), and the bursts time profiles can be fitted with exponential decays whose characteristic times are energy dependent, being shorter at higher energies (Fig. 1).

The time history of the blackbody radius as obtained from the time resolved spectral analysis of the burst (Fig. 2, lower panel) shows evidence for radius expansion during the very first seconds of the event. This is generally interpreted as adiabatic expansion of the neutron star photosphere during a high luminosity (Eddington-limited) type I burst. The WFC lightcurve of this event is not sensitive enough to show evident flat-top or double-peaked profile (e.g. LvPT (93)), due the prompt photospheric expansion (see later). An expansion by a factor $`3`$ with respect to the average decay radius is observed, while lower luminosity bursts show almost constant blackbody radius during the whole event. The observed expansion is consistent with the time profiles in Fig. 1, as the soft emission precedes by $`4`$ s the harder one. Relatively high luminosity and no hard emission (kT is $`1`$ keV) in the very first seconds of the burst imply high values of the blackbody radius. If we narrow the time bin, concentrating on the first 4 s of the burst, we obtain an even larger radius, $`33_6^{+10}`$ km for a 10 kpc distance. This points to a prompt expansion of the neutron star photospere after the ignition. The fast rise and the prompt photospheric expansion are suggestive of helium burning, while the duration of the burst (e-folding time of $`20`$ s), rather long for a pure helium flash, indicates that the burning environment was not hydrogen-free (LvPT (93); Bildsten (2000)).

Eddington-luminosity X-ray bursts can lead to an estimate of the source distance, if we assume isotropic emission and an Eddington bolometric luminosity of $`2.5\times 10^{38}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, which is appropriate for a $`1.4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ neutron star and helium-rich fuel. This value also includes a moderate (20%) gravitational redshift correction (van Paradijs & Mc Clintock (1994)). Taking into account the observed peak flux of the burst (Table 1), which extrapolates to an unabsorbed bolometric intensity of $`(2.48\pm 0.21)\times 10^8\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$, we obtain $`d=9.2\pm 0.4`$ kpc. The reported error is $`1\sigma `$, but the systematic uncertainties due the assumption of standard burst parameters are of course larger.
Assuming a Crab-like spectrum, we derive for the source persistent (bolometric) luminosity an upper limit of $`4.6\times 10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ when the burst was observed (Sep. 2, 1999). An average upper limit twice as low applies to the whole 1996–2000 data set. Taking into account the inferred distance of 9.2 kpc, the average blackbody radius during the decay of the burst was $`6.7`$ km. This value is within the range commonly observed (e.g. van Paradijs, (1978); also Cocchi et al. (2000) for recent results). For a canonical $`1.4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ neutron star with $`R=10`$ km, we derive an upper limit of $`4.0\times 10^{10}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ ($`8.3\times 10^3\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$) to the accretion rate.

### 3.2 A new class of low-luminosity bursters?

SAX J1752.3$``$3138 is not the only example of a WFC-discovered X-ray burster with no persistent emission observed. In ’t Zand et al., 1998, already reported on the discovery of two burst sources (SAX J1753.5$``$2349, SAX J1806.5$``$2215) with no measured steady emission. Also GRS 1741.9$``$2853 and 1RXS J171824.2$``$402934 did not show persistent emission at the time when bursts were discovered (Cocchi et al. 1999b  and Kaptein et al. (2000)), even though GRS 1741.9$``$2853 was once detected with a luminosity of $`2\times 10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in 1990 (Sunyaev (1990)). The upper limits on their luminosities not being very constraining (of the order of $`10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$), it is unclear if these sources are to be regarded as weak persistent emitters instead of transients. But, as X-ray bursts are rarely observed (in 4.5 y WFC monitoring, 3 from SAX J1806.5$``$2215 and GRS 1741.9$``$2853, only 1 from SAX J1752.3$``$3138, SAX J1753.5$``$2349 and 1RXS J171824.2$``$402934), the possibility that these sources are persistent emitters with luminosities around or just below $`10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ seems unlikely. In fact more regular bursting behaviour is to be expected in this case, as typically observed in the medium-luminosity (atoll) NS LMXB (LvPT (93)).
So these sources could be usually quiescent systems where occasional mass transfer to the neutron star occurs, thus causing type I bursts. If so, they should not be very different from other weak transients observed by the WFCs, where burst activity was observed several days after the outburst (e.g. XTE J1709$``$267, SAX J1712.6$``$3739, SAX J1750.8$``$2900, SAX J1810.6$``$2609, SAX J1808.4$``$3658, see e.g. in ’t Zand et al. (2000)). The rather large distance (in excess of 8 kpc for SAX J1752.3$``$3138 and GRS 1741.9$``$2853) and the incomplete time coverage by sensitive enough all-sky monitors could explain the missed detection of the (reasonably weak, a few $`10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$) outbursts triggering the occasional type I burst activity of these sources.
There is another intriguing possibility left: this small sample of burst-only objects could be part of a class of intrinsically weak persistent bursters ($`\mathrm{L}10^{35}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$), whose observation would be very useful to investigate the type I bursting behaviour at low accretion rates. The sporadic burst activity of such sources would be then related to their unusual accretion regime instead of their transient behaviour. Actually this could be the case for 1RXS J171824.2$``$402934, whose ROSAT observations suggest weak persitent (even though variable) activity, with bolometric luminosity, taking into account the inferred distance of $`7`$ kpc (Kaptein et al. (2000)), not exceeding $`2\times 10^{35}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Moreover, an X-ray burst at very low persistent luminosity ($`\mathrm{L}10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$) was observed by Gotthelf & Kulkarni (1997) in the globular cluster M28. But that burst was notably subluminous ($`L_{\mathrm{peak}}4\times 10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$), perhaps due to magnetic confinement of the burning fuel (Gotthelf & Kulkarni (1997)), while the bursts in the WFC sample reached peak luminosities of $`10^{38}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, commonly observed in NS-LMXBs. Further measurements with more sensitive instruments could unveil the nature (triansient or weakly persistent) of these burst-only sources.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the staff of the BeppoSAX Science Operation Centre and Science Data Centre for their help in carrying out and processing the WFC Galactic Centre observations. The BeppoSAX satellite is a joint Italian and Dutch program. M.C., A.B., L.N. and P.U. thank Agenzia Spaziale Nazionale (ASI) for grant support. M.C. also thanks M. Federici (IAS staff) for technical support.


text:
# Hirzebruch genera of manifolds equipped with a Hamiltonian circle action

In the paper we describe obstructions for the existence of symplectic and Hamiltonian symplectic circle actions on closed compact manifolds in terms of Hirzebruch genera and relations between differential and homotopic invariants of such manifolds. All manifolds considered are assumed to be closed and compact.

Theorem 1. The Todd genus of a manifold equipped with a symplectic circle action with isolated fixed points is either equal to zero and then the action is non-Hamiltonian, or equal to one and then the action is Hamiltonian. Any symplectic circle action on a manifold with the positive Todd genus is Hamiltonian.

Proof. A symplectic circle action is Hamiltonian if and only if there is such a connected component of the fixed point set that its weights of the $`S^1`$-representation in the normal bundle are positive. This connected component is unique and corresponds to the global minimum of the moment map (see details in ). Let us apply the fixed point formula for Hirzebruch genus $`\chi _y`$ corresponding to the power series $`\frac{x\left(1+ye^{x(1+y)}\right)}{1e^{x(1+y)}}`$. Let $`M_s`$ be connected components of the fixed point set, $`d_s`$ be the number of negative weights of the $`S^1`$-representation in the normal bundle of $`M_s`$, then(see )

$$\chi _y(M)=\underset{s}{}(y)^{d_s}\chi _y(M_s),$$
(1)
here the sum is taken over all connected components of the fixed point set. Since $`\chi _y(pt)=1`$, the constant term of $`\chi _y`$ of a manifold equipped with a Hamiltonian circle action with isolated fixed points is equal to one. Vice versa, if the constant term of $`\chi _y(M)`$ is not equal to zero, then any symplectic circle action on $`M`$ is Hamiltonian. The statement of the theorem follows from $`Td(M)=\chi _y(M)|_{y=0}`$.

The result of Theorem 1 is a particular case of the restrictions imposed on manifolds with a circle action by the Conner–Floyd equations. Let us fix a multiplicative genus $`h:\mathrm{\Omega }_{}^UQ`$. Let $`g_h(u)=u+\frac{h([CP(n)])}{n+1}u^{n+1}`$. For an almost complex manifold $`M^{2n}`$, equipped with a quasi-complex circle action with isolated fixed points, the sum over all the fixed points of the products $`_{k=1}^n\left(g_h^1(j_kg(u))\right)^1`$($`j_k`$, $`k=1,\mathrm{},n`$, are weights of the $`S^1`$-representation in a neighborhood of the fixed point considered) contains no negative powers of $`u`$ and its constant term is equal to $`h(M^{2n})`$ (see ).

Corollary 1. A semi-free symplectic circle action with isolated fixed points is Hamiltonian if and only if the fixed point set is non-empty.

Proof. Let us write the Conner-Floyd equations for the Todd genus in this case. Because $`Td([CP(m)])=1`$ for every $`m`$, we obtain $`g_{Td}(u)=u^{m+1}/(m+1)=ln(1u)`$, $`g_{Td}^1(jg_{Td}(u))=1(1u)^j`$. All the weights of the $`S^1`$-representation are equal to $`\pm 1`$. Summing up over all the fixed points we obtain that the function $`f(u)=_{k=1}^{2n}F_k\frac{(u1)^k}{u^n}`$, where $`F_k`$ is the number of fixed points with exactly $`k`$ negative weights, is a constant, say $`\lambda `$, which is equal to the Todd genus of the manifold. Solving the corresponding system of linear with respect to $`F_k`$ equations, we find that $`(F_0,F_1,\mathrm{},F_n)=\lambda (\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{0}\right),\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{1}\right),\mathrm{},\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{n}\right))`$. Applying Theorem 1 we deduce the statement of the corollary.

Corollary 2. A symplectic circle action on a $`4`$-dimensional manifold is Hamiltonian if and only if the fixed point set is non-empty.

Proof. Let us show that the existence of a fixed point implies the existence of a fixed point whose weights of the $`S^1`$-representation are of the same sign. Otherwise there is no connected component of codimension 2 (such component has only one weight). Thus, all fixed points are isolated and have exactly one negative and one positive weights. The contradiction follows from:

Lemma 1. Every quasi-complex circle action with isolated fixed points on $`M^{2n}`$ has fixed points with different parity of the number of negative weights.

Proof. Otherwise the coefficients of $`1/u^n`$ in the Conner-Floyd equations for the Todd genus of the manifold have the same sign.

Let us consider in detail the case of a Hamiltonian circle action. Denote the Poincare polynomial of $`M`$ by $`P_M(t)`$.

Theorem 2. If a symplectic manifold $`M`$ admits a Hamiltonian circle action with isolated fixed points, then $`\chi _y(M)=P_M(\sqrt{y})`$.

Proof. Critical points of the moment map coincide with the fixed points of the circle action. The index of every critical point is twice the number of negative weights of the $`S^1`$-representation. Thus, the statement of the theorem follows from (1).

Corollary 3. The signature and the Betti numbers of a manifold $`M^{4n}`$ equipped with a symplectic circle action with isolated fixed points are related through the formula: $`\sigma (M^{4n})=_{k=0}^nb_{4k}_{k=0}^{n1}b_{4k+2}`$.

Proof. The statement follows from Theorem 2 after substitution $`y=1`$.

Corollary 4. Homotopy equivalent manifolds equipped with Hamiltonian circle actions with isolated fixed points have the same $`\chi _y`$-genus.

Remark 1. Similar to  for a non-Hamiltonian symplectic circle action with isolated fixed points $`\chi _y(M^{2n})=_{k=0}^nb_{2k}(y)^k`$, here $`b_k`$ are Novikov numbers  corresponding to the generalized moment map. It is important to construct an example of such an action with a non-empty fixed point set.

University of Edinburgh

feldman@maths.ed.ac.uk


text:
# Coarsening and Slow-Dynamics in Granular Compaction

\[

## Abstract

We address the problem of the microscopic reorganization of a granular medium under a compaction process in the framework of Tetris-like models. We point out the existence of regions of spatial organization which we call domains, and study their time evolution. It turns out that after an initial transient, most of the activity of the system is concentrated on the boundaries between domains. One can then describe the compaction phenomenon as a coarsening process for the domains, and a progressive reduction of domain boundaries. We discuss the link between the coarsening process and the slow dynamics in the framework of a model of active walkers on active substrates.

PACS: 45.70.-n; 05.40.-a

\]

The phenomenon of granular compaction involves the increase of the density of a granular medium subject to shaking or tapping. Triggered by experimental results of the Chicago group, that suggested that compaction follows an inverse logarithmic law with the tapping number, several models have been proposed to explain the slow relaxation features of granular media . Though in all these different cases a very slow relaxation (eventually logarithmic) is reproduced, an explicit connection between the above models and a real granular medium is however still rather tenuous.

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the origin of the very slow relaxation studying explicitly the microscopic response of a granular medium subject to shaking. We address this problem within the framework of the recently introduced class of Tetris-like models  which are known to reproduce several features observed experimentally in granular materials such as slow dynamics, segregation, aging and hysteresis.

We find, quite surprisingly, that the system reorganizes under the shaking dynamics into several ordered regions (see  for other examples). We call these domains, and study their time evolution. After a short transient, most of the activity of the system is concentrated along the boundaries between domains (we note that this concerns only a small part of the entire system). Under shaking, the domain boundaries move throughout the system and free the vacancies they encounter leading to a progressive densification. Moreover, when two domain boundaries meet, they annihilate. One can thus describe the compaction phenomenon in this system, as a coarsening  (i.e. a domain growth) process. As the system compactifies, the domains coarsen and the boundary regions are reduced and thus the process becomes slower. We give a quantitative description of this phenomenon studying the behavior of the space-time correlation function that is expressed by $`C(r,t)f\left(r/\xi (t)\right)`$ where $`\xi (t)`$ is the correlation length, say the typical size of a domain. This coarsening of domains is related to the slow compaction process by measuring the persistence  exponent of the phenomenon, as well as by measuring the activity and the motion of the domain boundaries.

Let us briefly recall the definition of the Tetris model. Although this class of models allows for an infinity of particles types, shapes and sizes, here we use, without loss of generality for the main features, a system of elongated particles. These occupy the sites of a square lattice tilted by $`45^{}`$, with periodic boundary conditions in the horizontal direction (cylindrical geometry) and a rigid plane at its bottom. Particles cannot overlap and this condition produces strong constraints (frustration) on their relative positions. The system is initialized by inserting grains at the top of the system, one at the time, and letting them fall down, performing under the effect of gravity, an oriented random walk on the lattice, until they reach a stable position, i.e. a position from which they cannot fall further. The effect of vibrations is implemented by means of a two-steps Monte-Carlo algorithm mimicking a tapping procedure. The role of the tapping amplitude is played by a parameter $`0<x<1`$ that describes the strength of the bias in the particle movement, induced by the gravity (we refer to  for the details).

In the simplest version, the Tetris model consists of a single rod-like type of particle (rectangles of uniform size $`a\times b`$ with $`a=0.75`$ mesh units and $`b=0`$) with two possible orientations (along the principal axis of the lattice) chosen to be equally probable. A generic configuration can be described by assigning to each site of the lattice $`(x,y)`$ ($`0<x<L_x`$ is the horizontal coordinate and $`0<y<L_y`$ is the vertical one), a variable $`\sigma (x,y,t)`$ whose value is $`0`$ if the site is empty and $`\pm 1`$ if the site is occupied by a particle with one of the two possible orientations. At every density the system can be resolved into domains, i.e. regions in which the staggered magnetization keeps a definite sign and each domain presents an antiferromagnetic order with vacancies ($`+1`$ particles on odd (even) rows and $`1`$ particles on even (odd) rows). One can then observe the evolution of the compaction dynamics in terms of the evolution of the domains.

At the beginning, after pouring the grains into the container, i.e. in the so-called loose density state, the system presents a disordered structure with an alternation of the two types of domains, even though the domain boundaries do not as yet span the system from top to bottom. At this stage the number of domain boundaries depends on the aspect ratio (height by width) of the container: the smaller the aspect ratio (wider is the system) the larger the number of domains. The domain size is of the order of the height of the system, and is almost independent of the horizontal size of the system $`L_x`$, as long $`L_x>L_y`$.

The compaction can now be seen as a slow elimination of the voids frozen in the different domains. Since the system changes only at the domain boundaries, a void in the bulk of the domain can be freed only when it comes in contact with a domain boundary. The domain boundaries are then the only regions where the activity of the system is concentrated. Fig.1 shows an example of the time-evolution of the Tetris model resolved in antiferromagnetic domains . It is important to note how narrow systems ($`L_xL_y`$) may display a pathological behavior (blocking) if the system has an almost single-domain like packing.

Let us now describe the coarsening dynamics in a more quantitative way. We have monitored the evolution of the (longitudinal) correlation function defined as:

$$C(r,t)=\frac{1}{N_p}\underset{y=0}{\overset{L_y/2}{}}\underset{x=0}{\overset{L_x}{}}\sigma (x,y,t)\sigma (x+r,y,t)$$
(1)
where $`N_p`$ is the number of particles in the bottom half of the system. A pair of particles inside the same domain gives a positive contribution to $`C(r,t)`$ while a pair in different domains gives a negative contribution. With this definition, the correlation function is not sensitive to density changes and reflects only the evolution of the domain sizes.

We perform extensive simulations of wide systems (to avoid blocking) and we try a scaling collapse of several $`C(r,t)`$ curves at different times: i.e. we look for a characteristic length $`\xi (t)`$ such that $`C(r,t)=f(r/\xi (t))`$, the length $`\xi (t)`$ representing the average (horizontal) domain size. As in standard coarsening dynamics, $`\xi (t)`$ grows in time and when $`\xi (t)L_x`$ the growth stops (blocking for single domain systems).

However, the height, $`L_y`$, of the system is another characteristic scale, and depending on whether $`\xi `$ is smaller or larger than $`L_y`$, two different regimes can be observed. A quantitative analysis of $`\xi `$ versus time reveals that for $`\xi (t)<L_y`$, $`\xi (t)t^{0.25}`$, whereas for $`\xi (t)>L_y`$, we observe a faster growth : $`\xi (t)t^{0.5}`$ (See Fig.2).

These results can be interpreted according to the following scenario. One can imagine in general that the size $`S(t)`$ (area) of the domains grows as a power of time. The correlation length $`\xi (t)`$ is a measure of the lateral size of the domains. Now, as long as the domains grow in an isotropic way we can expect the area to scale as $`S(t)\xi (t)^2`$. In this regime the domain walls, though biased by gravity, do not yet span the system in the $`y`$ direction. Later on, when the domain walls span the system from top to bottom, the coarsening dynamics is dominated by the diffusion of these almost vertical walls, which eventually collide and annihilate each other. At this stage we expect the area scales as $`S(t)L_y\xi (t)`$. The crossover we observe is then compatible with a growth $`S(t)t^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ which gives $`\xi (t)t^{1/4}`$ in the early regime followed by the asymptotic behaviour $`\xi (t)t^{1/2}`$. The crossover between the first and the second regime is evident in the first two pictures of Fig.1.

How now do we relate this coarsening behaviour to the density relaxation? The motion of the domain walls occurs in a background of vacancies. We observe that regions swept through by the domain walls compactify by triggering particle rearrangements, while regions not yet swept through remain disordered. Thus within each domain there is a compactified region through which the domain wall has made several forays, and a disordered loose region through which the domain wall has not yet swept through. The compaction process is related to the growth of the dense ordered regions rather than to the characteristic length of the domains. The fast dynamics of the domain walls is thus not in contrast with the slow dynamics of the bulk density.

In order to support this picture we have measured the fraction of persistent sites (or persistence probability) $`R(t)`$ , i.e. the fraction of sites that never changed their status up to time $`t`$. If the triggering process mentioned above was perfectly efficient, i.e. every time a domain wall passes through a vacancy one triggers a process increasing the density locally, one would expect that $`1\rho (t)`$ is described by $`R(t)`$. Otherwise the behaviour of $`1\rho (t)`$ is slower than $`R(t)`$. In analogy with recent studies  in standard coarsening models, a very slow algebraic decrease of such quantities is observed as a function of time; we obtain in particular that $`R(t)`$ (see Fig.3) scales as $`t^\theta `$ with $`\theta 0.15`$. The behaviour of $`(1\rho (t))`$ vs. $`t`$ is shown in the inset of Fig.4. We observe that it is consistent with an algebraic decay $`1\rho (t)t^{0.10}`$ with an exponent smaller than the persistence exponent $`\theta `$ which is compatible with our discussion above.

Additional information on the system can be obtained by monitoring the following quantities. (1) $`A(t)`$: activity in the system measured as the cumulative number of successful moves; (2) $`M(t)`$ is intended to measure the mobility of the domain walls. It is obtained by the cumulative sum of the absolute value of the derivative of the staggered magnetization in thin vertical stripes, averaged over all the stripes. From Fig.4, which reports the results for both quantities, one deduces two main things: the activity of the system is concentrated on the domain walls (since $`A(t)`$ and $`M(t)`$ have the same functional form up to a constant) and both $`A(t)`$ and $`M(t)`$ scale as $`(1\rho (t))^\beta `$.

In order to get a better insight into the above mentioned phenomenology it would be very interesting to have a quantitative understanding of the link between the coarsening process and the very slow global density relaxation. Under the hypothesis that the system is translationally invariant in the direction of gravity, the medium is described as a one dimensional ($`y`$-averaged) density profile, $`\rho (x,t)`$, in which particles (the domain wall) move. To comply with our previous description, we assume that the density $`\rho `$ is only susceptible to increase at the positions occupied by the walkers, and remains quenched elsewhere. Moreover, in order to follow more closely what happens in the Tetris model we consider a situation where the motion of the walkers is coupled to the environment, i.e. the local density via a potential field depending only on the density. The problem can be cast in terms of two coupled equations: one describing the over-damped motion of the walkers and another describing the evolution of the local density as:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dX}{dt}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{V[\rho (x,t)]}{\rho (x,t)}}|_{x=X(t)}{\displaystyle \frac{\rho (x,t)}{x}}|_{x=X(t)}+\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho (x,t)}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`f(\rho (x,t))\delta (xX(t))`$ (3)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)`$ is an uncorrelated Langevin force with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)=0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)\mathrm{\Gamma }(t^{})=q\delta (tt^{})`$. The potential $`V`$ attracts the walker to regions where activity has been intense, and repels it from unvisited regions.

A detailed treatment of the above defined equations is presented elsewhere . Here we summarize the main features. The function $`f`$ should be such that $`\rho `$ approaches unity for long times, and hence $`f(\rho )0`$ as $`\rho 1`$. An example of such an $`f`$ is $`f(\rho )=(1\rho )^a`$, where $`a`$ is a positive exponent. The potential $`V`$ should provide a drift toward high density regions. A simple suitable form is $`V(\rho )=\rho ^\gamma `$. In fact it is possible to show that the latter functional form is inessential, provided $`V(\rho )`$ behaves linearly in $`\rho `$ as $`\rho 1`$. In this way $`\frac{V[\rho (x,t)]}{\rho (x,t)}`$ becomes a constant, i.e. unimportant, as $`\rho `$ tends to $`1`$. With these definitions eqs.(3) can be recast in the form

$$\frac{dX}{dt}=F^{1b}F+\mathrm{\Gamma }(t),\frac{dF}{dt}=\delta (xX(t))$$
(4)
where $`b=1/(a1)`$ and we have introduced the function $`F=[1/(a1)](1\rho )^{1a}`$ which, according to Eq. 4, represents the cumulative activity on the site $`x`$ (in general $`dF/d\rho =f(\rho )`$). In this way the choice of the function $`f`$ is consistent with the results obtained for $`A(t)`$ and $`M(t)`$ in the Tetris model. The main idea behind this kind of modeling is that the high density regions (i.e. the potential wells) tend to trap the walkers, that, in their turn are able to change the environment, i.e. the local density, though their efficiency decreases with the increase of the density. From the combination of these two effects a drastic slowing down is expected. The way the walkers escape from the potential wells is to progressively carve their way out by pushing the potential barrier and so enlarging the compactified region.

Different aspects come into play in the compaction process. One of them is related to the fact that initially a large number of walkers is to be introduced. Since our modeling only concerns the regime where a one dimensional description is adapted, the typical distance between walkers is proportional to $`L_y`$. However, when two walkers meet, they annihilate, and thus the subsequent increase the density becomes less and less effective. The quantification of this effect has been done in a previous section, through the pair correlation function of the domains. By itself, this single aspect is not sufficient to account for the slow densification observed numerically. The second aspect concerns the densification due to a single walker. Starting from a low density for the medium, we observe that the density does not remains uniform. Starting from any site, at low temperature, the domain walls first drill a potential well where they lie. However, as the density approaches unity, the densification becomes less and less efficient. The only option for the walkers is to expand in lateral size through a progressive translation of the well boundaries. Specific solutions of this regime can be obtained as solitary waves . In this second regime, the densification rate is controlled by the velocity of the latters. Finally, the wells tend to coalesce and the mean density decays as $`1\rho t^{1/(a1)}`$. Though the variety of the different phenomena involved in the density evolution, (number of walkers, width and depth of potential wells, late stages crossover phenomena) renders difficult the identification of the $`F`$ function in Eq.3, we retain that the main features observed in the Tetris model are captured by this walkers modeling.

It is also important to stress that the equivalence observed between the activity and the motion of the domain boundaries, implies that the same treatment could also be carried out for particles with random shapes. Here the existence of domains is no longer evident but the activity still remains confined and it is not spread out uniformly over the system. Finally it is worth to remark as our analysis could be easily exported in experimental setup like the one proposed in . Acknowledgments We thank H.J.Herrmann for useful discussions. This work has been partially supported from the European Network-Fractals under contract No. FMRXCT980183 and by INFM Center for Statistical Mechanics and Complexity (SMC) and PAIS Project (AB). SK would like to thank EPSRC, UK for a research fellowship.