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# Two-body correlations in Bose condensates

## Introduction.

Few-body correlations often express the distinguishing characteristic features of an $`N`$-body system . Two-body correlations are not only the simplest but in most cases also the most important. Higher order correlations have a tendency to either strongly confine spatially or correlate into clusters of particles effectively reducing the correlations to lower order. Exceptions are the three-body correlations decisive for the stability of Borromean systems known for dripline nuclei .

Non-correlated mean-field computations of nuclei with the free two-body nucleon-nucleon interaction produce disastrously wrong results. Two-body correlations compensating for the short range hard core repulsion are absolutely necessary . For atoms the effective interaction is also strongly repulsive at shorter distances. Furthermore for an atomic Bose condensate a short-range two-body attraction produces diatomic recombination and thereby the atoms decay out of the condensate . For both nuclei and molecules correlations are decisive. For nuclei various methods have been designed to deal with this problem, i.e. Jastrow theory, Bruckner theory, effective interactions in model spaces .

For Bose condensates the Gross-Pitaevskii (non-correlated) mean-field equation has been the starting point since the first observation of the condensate in 1995 . The wave function does not include any correlations and the assumed repulsive $`\delta `$-interaction has the immediate consequence that the short range behavior cannot be described even qualitatively correct. Repulsive zero range potentials are not physically meaningful  although sometimes useful in selected Hilbert spaces. Attractive $`\delta `$-interactions in three dimensions lead to divergencies demanding renormalization  or a change of boundary conditions . When two-body bound states appear even dimer condensates may be possible .

To include correlations we must necessarily go beyond the mean-field Hartree-Fock-Boguliubov approximation. Then finite range potentials with realistic features can as well be used as the starting point in the theoretical formulation. The other crucial ingredient is the degrees of freedom or, equivalently, the Hilbert space. An interesting formulation was recently introduced in terms of generalized hyperspherical coordinates and an adiabatic expansion with the hyperradius as the adiabatic coordinate . Still only a zero-range interaction was used with the lowest hyperspherical angular wave function. These are very crude approximations, since the expansion in the hyperspherical basis necessarily must be extremely slowly converging for large(r) hyperradii.

The purpose of this letter is to go a step further and establish the optimum equation to determine two-body correlations. We shall derive a practical and realistic equation applicable to a system of $`N`$ identical bosons. We shall allow general two-body interactions and in particular both attractive and repulsive finite range potentials. The resulting equation may be considered as an alternative to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, but allowing two-body correlations.

## Theory.

The system of $`N`$ identical interacting bosons of mass $`m`$ may be described by the coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r}_j`$ or CM ($`\stackrel{}{R}`$) and the $`k=1,2,\mathrm{},N1`$ Jacobi coordinates

$`\stackrel{}{\eta }_k`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{Nk}{Nk+1}}}\left(\stackrel{}{r}_{Nk+1}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Nk}}{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{Nk}{}}}\stackrel{}{r}_j\right).`$ (1)
The hyperspherical coordinates are given by the hyperradius $`\rho `$ and the hyperangles $`\alpha _k[0,\pi /2]`$

$`\rho _l^2={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{l}{}}}\eta _k^2,\rho ^2{\displaystyle \underset{i<j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{r_{ij}^2}{N}},\eta _k=\rho _k\mathrm{sin}\alpha _k,`$ (2)
where $`r_{ij}=|\stackrel{}{r}_i\stackrel{}{r}_j|\sqrt{2}\rho \mathrm{sin}\alpha _{ij}`$, and we distinguish between one and two indices on $`\alpha `$. The remaining $`2(N1)`$ angles are the directions of the $`N1`$ $`\stackrel{}{\eta }_k`$-vectors. All the angles together, including the $`\alpha `$’s, are denoted $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

Removing the center of mass motion the intrinsic hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}`$ for a trap of angular frequency $`\omega `$ becomes

$`\widehat{H}=\widehat{T}+{\displaystyle \underset{i<j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m\omega ^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}r_{ij}^2+V_{ij}),`$ (3)
where $`V_{ij}=V(r_{ij})`$ is the two-body interaction and the internal kinetic energy $`\widehat{T}`$ is of the form

$`\widehat{T}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho ^{3N4}}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\rho }}\rho ^{3N4}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho ^2}}\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2\right],`$ (4)
$`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{\alpha ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{3N9(3N5)\mathrm{cos}2\alpha }{\mathrm{sin}2\alpha }}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\alpha }}+D,`$ (5)
where $`D`$ only contains derivatives with respect to angles different from $`\alpha \alpha _{12}`$. The hamiltonian is then

$`\widehat{H}`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{H}_\rho +{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m\rho ^2}}\widehat{h}_\mathrm{\Omega },\widehat{h}_\mathrm{\Omega }=\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2+{\displaystyle \underset{i<j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}v_{ij},`$ (6)
$`\widehat{H}_\rho `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m\omega ^2\rho ^2{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho ^{3N4}}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\rho }}\rho ^{3N4}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\rho }},`$ (7)
where $`v_{ij}=V_{ij}2m\rho ^2/\mathrm{}^2`$ is a dimensionless potential.

The total wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$, obeying $`\widehat{H}\mathrm{\Psi }=E\mathrm{\Psi }`$, is for each $`\rho `$ expanded as

$`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ $`=\rho ^{(3N4)/2}{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}f_n(\rho )\mathrm{\Phi }_n(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega }),`$ (8)
where $`f_n(\rho )`$ are the expansion coefficients on the solutions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_n(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega })`$ to the angular eigenvalue equation

$`(\widehat{h}_\mathrm{\Omega }\lambda _n)\mathrm{\Phi }_n(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega })=0.`$ (9)
The coupled set of radial equations are then

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{d\rho ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _n(\rho )}{\rho ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2m(U(\rho )E)}{\mathrm{}^2}}\right)f_n=`$ (10)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{n^{}}{}}\left(2Q_{nn^{}}^{(1)}(\rho ){\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\rho }}+Q_{nn^{}}^{(2)}(\rho )\right)f_n^{},`$ (11)
$`Q_{nn^{}}^{(i)}(\rho ){\displaystyle 𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }[\mathrm{\Phi }_n(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega })]^{}\frac{^i}{\rho ^i}\mathrm{\Phi }_n^{}(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega })}`$ (12)
with $`U(\rho )`$ from the external trap and centrifugal barrier

$`U(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m\omega ^2\rho ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{8m\rho ^2}}(3N4)(3N6).`$ (13)
Then $`\mathrm{\Phi }_n`$ is decomposed in Faddeev components $`\varphi _{ij}`$ as

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_n(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i<j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\varphi _{ij}^{(n)}(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega }).`$ (14)
We assume that each two-particle amplitude $`\varphi _{ij}`$ can be described by $`s`$-waves and therefore only depends on $`\rho `$ and the distance $`r_{ij}`$ . This does not exclude higher partial waves in the total wave function, e.g. expressing the “$`12`$$`s`$-wave component in relative “$`34`$”-coordinates requires non-zero angular momenta. The boson symmetry implies that $`\varphi _{ij}^{(n)}(\rho ,\mathrm{\Omega })=\varphi ^{(n)}(\rho ,\alpha _{ij})=\varphi (\alpha _{ij})`$ are identical functions of the different coordinates $`\alpha _{ij}`$.

The angular eigenvalue $`\lambda `$ in eq.(9) is given by

$`\lambda ={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Phi }|\widehat{h}_\mathrm{\Omega }|\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }|\mathrm{\Phi }}}={\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _{12}|\widehat{h}_\mathrm{\Omega }|\varphi _{kl}}{\varphi _{12}|\varphi _{kl}}}.`$ (15)
We now vary $`\varphi _{12}^{}`$ for each $`\rho `$ and find the condition for extremum of $`\lambda `$. From eqs.(6) and (15) we then obtain the integro-differential equation

$`{\displaystyle 𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }\underset{k<l}{}\left[(\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2\lambda )\varphi _{kl}+v_{kl}\underset{m<n}{}\varphi _{mn}\right]}=0,`$ (16)
The integrals in eq.(16) involve at most six particle coordinates. By appropriate choices  of Jacobi systems these can be expressed in terms of the five vectors $`\stackrel{}{\eta }_{N1},\mathrm{},\stackrel{}{\eta }_{N5}`$. One variable ($`\alpha \alpha _{12}`$) is the argument of the variational function $`\varphi _{12}`$ and not an integration variable. Furthermore 7 variables only enter in the phase space and can be integrated analytically leaving at most five-dimensional integrals. With $`v(\alpha )v_{12}(\sqrt{2}\rho \mathrm{sin}\alpha )`$ we rewrite eq.(16)

$`\left(\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2+v(\alpha )\lambda \right)\varphi (\alpha )+{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau G(\tau ,\alpha )}=0,`$ (17)
where $`\tau `$ denotes the remaining 5 variables and $`G`$ is a definite homogeneous linear combination of $`\varphi (\alpha _{ik}(\tau ,\alpha ))`$.

The integrals in eq.(17) reduce to at most two dimensions when the two-body interaction-range $`b`$ is much less than the characteristic length $`\rho `$ of the system. To illustrate we use a gaussian potential $`V(r_{ij})=V_0\mathrm{exp}(r_{ij}^2/b^2)`$, but the results depend mainly on $`a_p\sqrt{\pi }mb^3V_0/4\mathrm{}^2`$, i.e. the Born-approximation of the scattering length $`a_s`$. When $`mb^2V_0\mathrm{}^2`$ we have $`a_pa_s`$. For $`b\rho `$ we get, almost independent of the potential,

$`{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau G(\tau ,\alpha )}\stackrel{~}{v}(\alpha )\left(1+2g(\alpha )\right)\varphi (\alpha )`$ (18)
$`+\widehat{R}(\alpha )+\stackrel{~}{v}(\alpha )\left(1+g(\alpha )\right)\varphi (\alpha =0),`$ (19)
$`\stackrel{~}{v}(\alpha )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{3(N2)}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{3(N3)}{2})}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_p}{\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{(N2)(N3)}{\mathrm{cos}^3\alpha }},`$ (20)
$`g(\alpha )={\displaystyle \frac{32}{3\sqrt{3}}}\mathrm{\Theta }(\mathrm{tan}\alpha <\sqrt{3}){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}^{3N11}\beta }{N3}}.`$ (21)
Here $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the gamma function, $`\mathrm{sin}\beta =\mathrm{tan}\alpha /\sqrt{3}`$, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the truth function, and $`\widehat{R}`$, a functional of $`v`$ and $`\varphi `$ and a function of $`\alpha `$, arises from rotations of interaction and wave function from one set of Jacobi coordinates to another.

The $`\delta `$-interaction with a constant wave function, labeled $`K=0`$, leads to the eigenvalue

$`\lambda _{K=0}=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{3(N1)}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{3(N2)}{2})}}N(N1){\displaystyle \frac{a_p}{\rho }},`$ (22)
which for large $`N`$ coincides with the term $`\stackrel{~}{v}(\alpha =0)`$ in eq.(19). The interaction dependent part of the strength is collected in the parameter $`a_p`$.

The limit of $`\lambda _{K=0}`$ is not, even for large $`N`$, obtained by solving eqs.(17) and (19), since the highest power of $`N`$ is found in one of the rotated terms in $`\widehat{R}`$ proportional to $`N^2\stackrel{~}{v}(\alpha )`$. In the zero-range approximation the two non-local terms in eq.(19) proportional to $`\varphi (0)`$ are very sensitive to the initial two-body potential $`v(\alpha )`$ which is very large and of very short range already for moderate values of $`\rho `$. These terms are therefore crucial for the developement of correlations.

## Quantitative behavior.

We now solve numerically eq.(17) using eq.(19) with the realistic parameter set in  for the condensate of $`{}_{}{}^{87}Rb`$-atoms. For numerical illustration we choose $`N=10,20,30`$.

The lowest angular eigenvalues for $`N=20`$ are shown in Fig. 1 in the relevant range of hyperradii selected by the external trap. The minimum of $`U(\rho )`$ is located near $`\rho b_t\sqrt{3N/2}`$ where $`b_t=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/(m\omega )}`$ is the trap length. Inclusion of the interaction terms, expressed in eq.(11) by $`\lambda `$ through the effective radial potential $`U(\rho )+\mathrm{}^2\lambda /2m\rho ^2`$, push the minimum outwards. For the repulsive interaction the angular eigenvalues decrease with $`\rho `$ due to an increasing average two-body distance.

We first only include the local terms ($`\varphi (\alpha )`$) in eq.(19). The angular energy in Fig. 1 is then larger than the $`\lambda _{K=0}`$ value, because these terms are repulsive. Including also the $`\widehat{R}`$-terms in eq.(19) leads to rather similar results, where however, the correlations are exploited giving a lower energy. Finally, inclusion of all terms reduces the angular energy to only $`19\%`$ of the $`\lambda _{K=0}`$ value.

The corresponding angular wave functions in Fig. 2 are all zero at $`\alpha =0`$ due to the vanishing volume element. The almost discontinous behavior at this point of the full and rotated angular wave function is caused by the very short range of the initial repulsive two-body potential $`v(\alpha )`$. The $`K=0`$ wave function has no nodes and the local terms maintain this structure but marginally shifted to larger $`\alpha `$-values by the repulsive potential. The rotated terms introduce one node indicating the substantial restructuring due to correlations. The higher kinetic energy is more than compensated by the correlations build up to avoid the repulsion at short distance. The full solution maintains qualitatively this behavior, but now the probability is shifted to larger $`\alpha `$ or equivalently to larger distances between each pair of particles.

The terms proportional to $`\varphi (0)`$ decreases the angular energy drastically. This is consistent with the node in the wave function which lowers the angular energy because then large $`|\varphi (0)|`$ results in smaller $`\lambda `$. More oscillations allow constructive interference which in turn substantially lowers the potential energy. The result is the increasing deviation of $`\lambda `$ from $`\lambda _{K=0}`$ for decreasing $`\rho `$, see Fig. 1.

The $`N`$ and $`\rho `$ dependences of the angular wave functions are shown in Fig. 3. The $`\sqrt{N}`$ scaling follow the $`N`$ dependence of the potential minimum of $`U(\rho )`$, see Fig. 1. The strong variation for small $`\alpha `$ for $`N=30`$ disappears with increasing $`\rho `$. The same tendency, but less pronounced, is found for $`N=10`$. The size of the angular wave functions for $`\alpha 0`$ decreases with increasing $`\rho `$. In the relevant parameter interval defined by the trap the $`\rho `$-dependence of the angular wave function is weak except at small $`\alpha `$ corresponding to distances inside the two-body potential. The corresponding angular eigenvalue $`\lambda `$ relative to $`\lambda _{K=0}`$ is essentially independent of $`\rho `$, i.e. 0.33, 0.19 and 0.16 for $`N=10,20`$ and $`30`$, respectively. This confirms numerically our conjecture that the $`K=0`$ behavior obtained in  with a $`\delta `$-interaction is not approached with increasing $`N`$ at large distances.

The total energies obtained by solving the radial equation in eq.(11) reflect the relative sizes of the angular eigenvalues in Fig. 1. The radial wave functions $`f_n(\rho )`$ resemble the $`K=0`$ solutions. However, it is essential to understand that even if the effective radial potential only deviates insignificantly from the $`K=0`$ potential the corresponding angular wave functions may differ enormously, i.e. none versus many oscillations. Thus effects of correlations may easily be strong without showing up in the total energy and perhaps also not even significantly in the interaction energy.

The Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field solution does not remove the (small) spurious contribution from the center of mass motion. Still we compare directly and find that our total energy only is slightly smaller than this total mean-field energy. However, our interaction energy, excluding the external trap energy, is about $`3`$, $`5`$, and $`7`$ times smaller for $`N=10`$, $`20`$, and $`30`$, respectively. This reflects the huge difference in structure between the mean-field and correlated solutions.

The distance between two particles is $`r_{ij}=\sqrt{2}\rho \mathrm{sin}\alpha _{ij}`$ and therefore, the mean square “radius” $`\varphi (\alpha )|\mathrm{sin}^2\alpha |\varphi (\alpha )`$ obtained with normalized $`\varphi `$, quantifies this distance for each $`\rho `$. For the $`\rho `$-independent $`K=0`$ wave function we find $`1/(N1)`$ analytically whereas our full wave function with the correlations for $`N=20`$ gives the much larger distance of about $`2.4/(N1)`$ roughly independent of $`N`$ and $`\rho `$, see Figs. 1 and 2. The full mean square radius is now obtained by multipliplying $`\mathrm{sin}^2\alpha `$ with $`2\rho ^23(N1)b_t^2`$ found as the minimum of $`U`$ in Fig. 1 or as the harmonic oscillator expectation value. Thus by increasing $`N`$ the decreasing two-particle average distance for fixed $`\rho `$ is precisely compensated by the increasing position of the minimum of the potential.

The result is $`r_{ij}^2/b_t^2=`$ 3 for $`K=0`$ and 6.83, 7.30 and 7.31 for the full wave function for $`N=10,20,30`$, respectively. These values can be compared to the Gross-Pitaevskii results through the harmonic oscillator relation $`(N1)r_{ij}^2=2N(r_i^2R^2)`$, where $`NR^2=3b_t^2/2`$ is the center of mass expectation value for the mean square radius. With the mean-field result numerically computed we obtain $`r_{ij}^2/b_t^23.1`$ almost independent of $`N`$, i.e. almost equal to the $`K=0`$ result but much smaller than for the correlated solution. Thus the $`K=0`$ assumption do not even approximately describe two-body correlations. In the mean-field approximation these correlations are by definition completely absent and the average distance between pairs of particles is therefore very small. The accurate detailed behavior can only be obtained by explicit inclusion of correlations.

## Perspectives.

In conclusion, we have variationally derived a linear one-dimensional integro-differential equation describing $`N`$ identical bosons in a trap. The equation involves five-dimensional integrals, a tremendous simplification from the original $`N`$-body problem. We assume the Faddeev angular decomposition of the wave function and use the hyperradius as the adiabatic coordinate. A further reduction to at most two-dimensional integrals is achieved for short range interactions for the non-local parts of the equation. The interaction may be attractive and of finite range with bound states and with both signs of the scattering length. This opens the possibility of realistic computation of the diatomic recombination rate which in the present terminology is a process originating from the first excited adiabatic state (condensate) ending in the lowest adiabatic (diatomic bound) state. This process is essential for the stability of atomic Bose condensates. Our equation is an alternative to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, but apparently both features of mean-field and few-body correlations are now included in a unified approach. Other interesting perspectives are extensions to three-body correlations, to one and two space dimensions, to non-identical bosons, to fermion systems and to systems of mixed symmetry.


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# Baryogenesis with four-fermion operators in low-scale models

## 1 Introduction

The lower limit on the lifetime of the proton is a severe problem for models in which the fundamental scale of quantum gravity is low compared to the supersymmetric GUT scale $`10^{16}`$GeV . A baryon number U$`(1)`$ symmetry cannot be gauged in field theory, so like other accidental symmetries it is expected to be violated by effects at the string scale or by quantum wormholes and virtual black holes . Such $`B`$ violation appears at low energies as nonrenormalizable operators, for example

$$\frac{\lambda _{ifgh}}{M_{}^2}q_iq_fq_gl_h$$
(1)
where $`M_{}`$ is the fundamental scale, $`i`$, $`f`$, $`g`$, $`h`$ are family labels and the $`\lambda `$ are expected to be $`𝒪(1)`$ in the absence of suppression mechanisms. Then for $`M_{}`$ in the $`𝒪(10100)`$TeV range, for which collider signals of the fundamental degrees of freedom or of large extra dimensions may be observable, $`\tau _p`$ comes out to be under a second. Various solutions have been proposed  all of which have implications for the production of an excess of baryons over antibaryons in the early Universe, for which $`B`$ violation is a precondition.

The overproduction of gravitational Kaluza-Klein modes in such models, in which some compactified extra dimensions are orders of magnitude larger than the fundamental length, gives a severe upper bound on the temperatures that can be attained in the early Universe. Even for the maximum number (6) of large extra dimensions and the relatively large value $`M_{}=100`$TeV, a reheating temperature of a few GeV is the maximum if overclosure of the Universe, disruption of the successful predictions of nucleosynthesis, and an observationally unacceptable level of background gamma-rays from K-K mode decay are to be avoided . Astrophysical production and decay of such modes also leads to an independent lower bound on the fundamental scale , which is also constrained by the non-observation of direct and loop effects in current experiments .

Any attempt at explaining proton longevity and baryogenesis should operate within these constraints. Exact (anomaly-free) discrete or horizontal symmetries can be imposed to forbid $`B`$-violating operators mediating proton decay  while allowing others, through which baryogenesis occurs: this approach requires an “X-boson”, with couplings which appear unnaturally small (in contrast to the standard GUT scenario) 111Or a charged scalar with $`B`$-violating couplings which has a time-dependent v.e.v., in an Affleck-Dine-like model .. Baryon number can be gauged if the anomaly is cancelled by a string theory mechanism, or $`B`$ violation may be forbidden to all orders in perturbation theory by string selection rules, in some “intersecting brane” models . Note however that in a more general class of intersecting brane models , such selection rules do not prevent the four-fermion operators from appearing, as discussed above, in which case the fundamental scale cannot be low.

If baryon number is perturbatively exact, nonperturbative processes  are the only option to create net baryon number. It is difficult to see how this proposal can be reconciled with cosmological constraints, since any such processes would operate at or above the electroweak scale and be enormously suppressed at low temperature 222It is unclear whether electroweak baryogenesis with low $`T_{\mathrm{rh}}`$ \[12, first reference\] actually satisfies the bounds, since a hot plasma at temperature $`TT_{\mathrm{rh}}`$ is needed..

We describe a scenario based on a geometrical mechanism for suppressing 4d $`B`$-violating operators, namely localization of fermions in extra dimensions . The simplest implementation is for the SU$`(2)\times \mathrm{U}(1)`$ gauge fields to propagate in an extra dimension (cf. ), in which the quark and lepton wavefunctions are peaked about points separated by a distance $`L30M_{}^1`$: see Fig. 1. Then any strong $`B`$-violating operators in the effective 5d theory can only produce proton decay proportional to the overlap of the wavefunctions, which is exponentially small. Alternatively, proton decay by exchange of massive modes is suppressed by the Yukawa propagator over the distance $`L`$333Assuming that no light fermionic modes with $`B`$-violating interactions propagate over the bulk.. Nonperturbative quantum effects which may lead to proton decay, for example virtual black holes , are also exponentially suppressed due to the integration over the fifth dimension.444$`B`$ violation by electroweak sphalerons , being an effect energetically suppressed at low temperatures, is not affected by the fermion localization.

Since the distance $`L`$ may vary over cosmological time, $`B`$ violation in the $`D=4`$ field theory may have been unsuppressed ($`\lambda 1`$) at some epoch. Then, if some Standard Model degrees of freedom have number densities out of equilibrium, nonzero $`n_b`$ may be created by the inelastic scattering or decay of fermions. A similar scenario was proposed in , but the authors concentrated on an “X-boson” model with somewhat arbitrary scalar mass and couplings. We find that it may be unnecessary to introduce new particles with $`B`$-violating couplings, if the cosmological evolution of number densities and of the extra-dimensional geometry satisfy certain conditions. These appear somewhat special, in that a generic cosmology is unlikely to allow our proposal; however, they motivate further study of cosmology in low-scale models, since there is no standard picture and few general bounds exist on the behaviour before nucleosynthesis.

## 2 The model

The localization of fermions by scalar field profiles has been described in detail in \[5, and references therein\]: in essence, 5d fermions are coupled to a scalar field profile resulting in a position-dependent effective mass $`m_5(y)`$, where $`y`$ is the coordinate in the fifth dimension. Then the fermion wavefunctions $`\psi _{L,R}(y)`$ peak about the zeros of $`m_5(y)`$, with the 4d chirality of the localized state determined by the direction of crossing zero. Localized chiral fermions can also result from orbifold projection  and coupling to a scalar field odd under the orbifold action. Different localized positions can be produced by coupling to different scalar fields, or by allowing constant 5d fermion masses and factors of order 1 in the scalar coupling term. In the approximation that the scalar field profile is linear near the fermion position $`y_f`$ a Gaussian is obtained

$$\psi (y)\mu ^{1/2}e^{\mu ^2(yy_f)^2},$$
(2)
where $`\mu `$ is a parameter of mass dimension 1 which describes the size of the scalar v.e.v.: $`\mathrm{\Phi }\mu ^2y`$ near $`y=y_f`$. Far away from $`y_f`$, if the scalar approaches a constant value $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ the wavefunction varies as $`\psi e^{k\mathrm{\Psi }_0|yy_f|}`$, with $`k1`$. Then given a 5d operator $`\lambda ^{(5)}M_{}^3(QQ)(QL)`$, where $`()`$ denotes the Lorentz- and SU$`(2)`$-invariant sum, the resulting 4d interaction is

$$\delta S=d^4x\frac{\lambda }{M_{}^2}(qq)(ql)$$
(3)
$$\mathrm{where}\lambda \lambda ^{(5)}𝑑y\frac{\mu ^2}{M^{}}e^{3\mu ^2y^2\mu ^2(yL)^2}\lambda ^{(5)}\frac{\mu }{M^{}}e^{3\mu ^2L^2/4}$$
(4)
in the approximation of a linear $`\mathrm{\Phi }(y)`$. For a constant scalar v.e.v. the suppression goes as $`\lambda e^{k\mathrm{\Phi }_0L}`$ with $`k1`$.

The presentday value of $`L`$ required for a sufficiently stable proton is estimated by comparing with dimension-6 operators induced at the SUSY-GUT scale: we require

$$\lambda ^2M_{}^4M_{\mathrm{GUT}}^4(2\times 10^{16}\mathrm{GeV})^4$$
(5)
thus $`\lambda e^{50}`$ for $`M_{}10100`$TeV. Then assuming $`\mu `$, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ to be of the order of $`M_{}`$, up to small numerical factors we obtain $`LM_{}10`$ for a linear scalar v.e.v. and $`LM_{}50`$ for a constant v.e.v.. This order of magnitude is marginally compatible with perturbativity of the bulk SU$`(2)`$ gauge dynamics, since the $`D=5`$ gauge coupling satisfies $`4\pi R_5g_{(5)}^2=\alpha _W^131`$ and 5d loop corrections at the fundamental scale are expected to be of order $`M_{}g_{(5)}^2/4\pi =\alpha _WM_{}R_5`$.

An independent bound on $`M_{}`$ comes from experimental limits on neutron-antineutron oscillation, which is mediated by a dimension-9 operator of form $`uddudd`$. This operator is not suppressed by fermion localization, thus the coupling strength, of order $`M_{}^5`$, is bounded such that $`M_{}10^5`$GeV .

## 3 Creating $`n_b`$

The processes satisfying the Sakharov conditions of $`B`$, $`C`$ and $`CP`$ violation and out-of-equilibrium are fermion scattering and decay via the dimension-6 operators (1). $`CP`$ violation enters by the loop correction with $`W`$ exchange, in which CKM matrix elements appear (Fig. 2).

The asymmetry in cross-section between a process and its $`CP`$ conjugate is proportional to the rephasing invariant combinations of couplings

$$\eta _{i,f,g,h}\alpha _W\underset{nm}{}\mathrm{Im}(\lambda _{nmfh}\lambda _{igfh}^{}V_{im}V_{ng}^{})$$
(6)
which are not necessarily correlated with the Jarlskog parameter of the SM, and may be of order $`10^210^1`$.

Then our procedure is as follows: to place an upper bound on the baryon fraction $`n_b/s`$ we assume that the $`\lambda `$ are unsuppressed at the time of baryogenesis and that we have some fermion number densities $`n_{f_i}`$ well in excess of the thermal equilibrium density: technically, we assume kinetic equilibrium (distribution of energy) within each species but no chemical equilibrium between species. The upper limit on number densities is taken as the equilibrium density at $`T=30`$GeV to avoid the possibility of restoring electroweak symmetry. Then the evolution of $`n_b`$ and the entropy density $`s`$ can be found, given a reasonable time-dependence of $`L(t)`$, the 4d scale factor $`a(t)`$, temperature $`T(t)`$ and the extra-dimensional radii $`R_i(t)`$, $`i=5`$, … as inputs. The effect of scattering and decay reactions on the entropy density can be calculated directly using the Boltzmann equation , also taking into account out-of-equilibrium reactions which change number densities but do not change baryon number, for example weak decay and inelastic scattering, or annihilation of quarks into gluons. We find a surprisingly simple result, independent of the details of the cosmology: the baryon fraction is bounded above as

$$\frac{n_b}{s}<2\eta \left(\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{BV}}(t)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{tot}}(t)}\right)_{\mathrm{max}}$$
(7)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{BV}}(t)`$ is the rate of $`B`$-violating reactions, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{tot}}(t)`$ is the total rate of reactions changing the number densities $`n_{f_i}`$ and the maximum is taken at a time when baryogenesis is occurring. The upper bound can be approached if sources of entropy apart from reactions of the $`f_i`$ during baryogenesis are small and the $`B`$-violating couplings turn off (i.e. $`L`$ becomes large) soon after baryogenesis. Since $`B`$-violating cross-sections are always suppressed as $`\alpha _WM_{}^4`$, compared to weak interactions suppressed as $`\alpha _W^2M_W^4`$ or strong scattering cross-sections varying as $`\mathrm{max}(m_Q^4,T^4)^1\alpha _\mathrm{S}^2`$, the bound is quite restrictive and rules out most possibilities for the $`B`$-violating reaction.

The remaining possibilities involve baryogenesis through scattering reactions of fermions $`f_1`$, $`f_2`$, where the competing $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=0`$ reactions are weak decay, annihilation and inelastic scattering. A more stringent entropy bound than (7) can be derived by considering $`B`$-conserving scattering of $`f_1`$ with $`f_2`$, from which we find

$$\frac{n_b}{s}\frac{\eta }{\alpha _W|V_{\mathrm{CKM}}|^2}\left(\frac{M_W}{M_{}}\right)^2410^{14}(\alpha _W|V_{\mathrm{CKM}}|^2)^1$$
(8)
if the inelastic weak scattering is kinematically allowed, where $`V_{\mathrm{CKM}}`$ is the relevant matrix element for this reaction. As noted above, the weak coupling may change if the radius of the 5th dimension varies, but even assuming $`\alpha _W`$ stays small one requires $`|V_{\mathrm{CKM}}|^2`$ to be order $`10^3`$ or smaller even for marginal viability. Then the $`f_i`$ must be such that the weak scattering is kinematically suppressed at temperatures above the QCD phase transition (we do not consider reactions below this temperature, since they are complicated by quark confinement).

There are two candidates for the reacting fermion species, $`us`$ (with $`u`$ out of equilibrium during baryogenesis) and $`q\nu _\tau `$ where $`q=c`$, $`s`$, $`d`$, $`u`$ (with either species out of equilibrium). For the first case, the entropy due to self-annihilation reactions can be estimated, with cosmology parameterised as $`a(t)t^n`$, $`Ta^\nu `$, with the result that $`n_b/s`$ is some orders of magnitude below what is required, for any reasonable value of $`n`$ and $`\nu `$ . However, considering the self-annihilation reaction of $`\nu _\tau `$ one finds that if the effective temperature of the $`\nu _\tau `$ population is small enough (below approximately $`0.4`$GeV) then the annihilation cross-section can be arbitrarily small, vanishing (at tree level) in the limit of zero temperature and neutrino mass. Thus the rate of entropy creation through $`B`$-conserving reactions may be small enough to allow baryon creation to compete in this case.

## 4 Further discussion

Our assumptions about the mechanism of baryogenesis, in particular the restriction to the Standard Model degrees of freedom, lead to some definite conclusions ruling out many possibilities, regardless of the unknown details of cosmology. The amount of $`CP`$ violation, a major problem for baryogenesis in the Standard Model without $`B`$-violating operators and for supersymmetric electroweak baryogenesis if experimental bounds on soft breaking terms are to be respected, is not an important constraint for us, even if all $`B`$-violating couplings are real. The main problems for our proposal come from the fact that the species reacting to create baryon number almost always have strong $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=0`$ reactions that compete overwhelmingly with operators suppressed by the fundamental scale.

We have still to address the questions of how the out-of-equilibrium number density of the particular species involved is to be obtained, and whether the late evolution of the “quark-lepton radion” $`L(t)`$ can be consistent with cosmological and other bounds on scalars associated with the geometry of extra dimensions (recall that $`L`$ should be order 1 at the time of baryogenesis). It should also be remembered that the estimates of entropy density that we presented are lower bounds, and any other significant sources might alter our conclusions (in a negative direction).

These issues should eventually be addressed within a low-scale cosmology which includes inflation, reheating, an effective potential driving the time-dependence of $`L(t)`$, and a suitable evolution of the extra-dimensional scale factors. As noted above, there is no “standard model” for cosmology in low-scale theories, primarily because of the necessity to avoid overproducing light gravitational modes. However, extra-dimensional theories have possibilities which might give grounds for hope, for example if the radii $`R_{610}`$ were smaller at the time of baryogenesis, the 4d Planck mass would be smaller and the out-of-equilibrium condition might be easier to satisfy. Also, the early stages of reheating are in general expected to produce a nonequilibrium distribution, with thermalization occurring later. The work described here shows only that if an appropriate cosmology can be constructed, baryogenesis through interaction of the SM degrees of freedom only is not a priori ruled out.

### 4.1 Experimental signals

Even in the absence of a complete model, one can ask whether the scenario we have described implies testable predictions. Certainly, since we use localized fermions, one would expect distinctive collider signatures  in addition to those produced by Kaluza-Klein modes of gravity and gauge fields . If baryon number is maximally violated in the underlying theory then we expect the unsuppressed $`n\overline{n}`$ oscillations to be detectable, at a rate close to the current experimental limit. However, this “signature” is rather indirect since it does not occur through the same operators as baryogenesis; it would, though, confirm in a dramatic fashion the existence of perturbative $`B`$ violation. Given a low fundamental scale, the energy density during inflation must also be low, which will have definite consequences for cosmology .

### Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dan Chung for a stimulating and rewarding collaboration. Research supported in part by DOE Grant DE-FG02-95ER40899 Task G.


text:
# Radial Color Gradients in K+A Galaxies in Distant Clusters of Galaxies

## 1 Introduction

Butcher & Oemler (1978, 1984) were the first to establish a rapid decline in the star formation rate in rich clusters of galaxies since z $``$ 0.5, when they discovered a significant increase of the blue galaxy fraction with increasing redshift, from about 3% in nearby clusters, to 25% in clusters at z $``$ 0.5. In addition, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images have shown that the fraction of spirals, as well as interacting or merging galaxies, increases with redshift, and that the increase in the spiral population towards higher redshift corresponds to a decrease in the S0 population (Dressler et al. 1997; Fasano et al. 2000). Given that both gas removal, leading to globally truncated star formation (Gunn & Gott 1972), and starburst-provoking (through various tidal perturbation scenarios, e.g., Moore et al. 1996; Bekki 1999) mechanisms are almost certainly operating in the rich cluster environment, it is a non-trivial matter to disentangle which mechanism primarily dominates galaxy evolution in various cluster environments. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that, except for immediately (e.g., $`<`$0.5 Gyr) after a burst of star formation, which produces extremely blue colors and strong Balmer absorption lines, a fading starburst and a fading, truncated disk are basically impossible to distinguish from global colors and spectroscopy (e.g., Newberry, Boroson, & Kirshner 1990). Consequently, there has been considerable disagreement over the interpretation of the strong Balmer line galaxies in z $``$ 0.5 clusters, originally discovered by Dressler & Gunn (1983), as to whether they represent post-starburst galaxies (Dressler & Gunn 1983; Couch & Sharples 1987; Barger et al. 1996; Dressler et al. 1999; Poggianti et al. 1999), or galaxies with globally truncated star formation (e.g., Balogh et al. 1999). These issues are more extensively summarized in Rose et al. (2001), and here we simply restate two key, related questions which need to be answered: (1) What form does the rapid cluster galaxy evolution take: is it predominantly driven by gas removal (Balogh et al. 1999) or a final burst of star formation (e.g., Dressler et al. 1999; Poggianti et al. 1999), and (2) What is the mechanism for the evolution: ram-pressure stripping (Gunn & Gott 1972; Abadi, Moore, & Bower 1999) or tidal perturbations (e.g., Moore et al. 1996; Bekki 1999)?

As is discussed in Rose et al. (2001), ram pressure stripping of gas in galaxies is expected to lead to a roughly uniform truncation of star formation across the disk, while tidal mechanisms produce centralized bursts of star formation (Mihos & Hernquist 1996). Consequently, observing the spatial distribution of the last star formation in galaxies can provide key evidence regarding the method through which the star formation has been extinguished. In Rose et al. (2001) recent star formation was investigated in a number of early-type galaxies in nearby clusters, and it was concluded that this star formation is centralized. The evidence for centralized star formation is based on the spatial distribution of emission lines in the cases where star formation is still ongoing, and on the radial color profiles in the cases where star formation has been recently terminated. Consequently, it is of interest to assess the situation in clusters at higher redshift, where the ongoing star formation activity is at a substantially higher level. Recently, van Dokkum et al. (1998; hereafter VD98) completed an extensive study of the z $``$ 0.33 cluster CL1358+62, and have published radial color profiles for several galaxies, including a few in which a blue nuclear region is evident. Based on these results, we have used the archival HST imaging data for CL1358+62, in conjunction with spectroscopic information published in Fisher et al. (1998; hereafter F98), to assess whether the cluster galaxies which show evidence of recently terminated star formation also have centrally concentrated blue colors.

In section 2, the spectroscopic and imaging data are summarized, as well as the definitions of two galaxy samples, a “normal” sample and a “K+A” sample, the latter consisting of galaxies with spectroscopic evidence of recently concluded star formation. In addition, the analysis techniques for obtaining radial color profiles are discussed. In section 3, a statistical comparison of the radial color profiles for the two galaxy samples is given, to test whether the K+A sample on average shows bluer central colors than the control sample. In section 4, we discuss our results within the context of the question of whether tidal perturbations or ram pressure stripping have had a greater effect on the evolution of galaxies in clusters. Throughout the paper we assume that H=70 km s-1 Mpc-1 and qo = 0.15.

## 2 Data Samples

The imaging used for this paper was collected from the Hubble Space Telescope Archive, and was combined with spectroscopic data obtained from the literature, for the purpose of observing the spatial distribution of recent star formation within cluster galaxies. The HST Archive has been searched for galaxy clusters of moderate (e.g., $`z0.30.5`$) redshift that have been imaged in at least two passbands, using the WFPC2 instrument. Our search resulted in a sample of four clusters: Abell 2390 at z $``$ 0.23, CL1358+62 at z $``$ 0.33, CL0303+17 at z $``$ 0.42, and CL0016+16 at z $``$ 0.55. The literature on each cluster was then researched for spectroscopic information. The specific information we require is Balmer line strengths and \[OII\]$`\lambda `$3727 emission line strengths, which are indicative of the levels of recent (e.g., within the past few Gyr) and current (e.g., ongoing) star formation.

In this paper, only CL1358+62 is discussed, as the other three clusters were discarded for various reasons. First, they all had very limited sky coverage when compared to CL1358+62. The images of Abell 2390 did not include any of the galaxies that had been classified spectroscopically as having recently concluded star formation; in addition, only one exposure was taken at each pointing, making removal of cosmic rays difficult. Both of the remaining clusters were not included in the final analysis, due to the fact that they had small samples of galaxies with low signal-to-noise data, which did not make them suitable for statistical analyses. CL1358+62, on the other hand, was imaged in a mosaic over a large area, and had more than one exposure at each pointing, greatly facilitating cosmic ray removal.

CL1358+62 is a rich, moderate-redshift cluster, which is also X-ray luminous (Lx $``$ 7x1044 ergs/s at 0.2 – 4.5 keV) (Fabricant, McClintock, & Bautz 1991). The presence of a pervasive hot intracluster medium along with the high velocity dispersion of the galaxies ($`\sigma `$=1037 km s-1; F98) ensures that ram pressure stripping of the interstellar medium in galaxies should play an important role in the evolution of galaxies passing near the cluster center. F98 have carried out spectroscopy in CL1358+62, including line strengths for the Balmer absorption lines H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$, and H$`\delta `$, and also the emission line \[OII\] at 3727Å.

We have divided many of the member galaxies in CL1358+62 into two samples, based on their spectroscopic features as given in F98. One is a control sample, consisting of galaxies with normal spectra for old stellar populations, e.g., no emission and weak Balmer absorption lines. The second sample consists of galaxies with low emission and strong Balmer absorption. Originally known as E+A galaxies (Dressler & Gunn 1983), they are now commonly referred to as “K+A” or “k+a/a+k” (Franx 1993; Dressler et al. 1999; Poggianti et al. 1999), hence we adopt the K+A terminology. Specifically, for the K+A sample, the average of the three Balmer lines ($`<`$H$`>`$) is required to have an equivalent width of at least 3Å, and the emission strength is limited to less than 5Å. The normal sample is defined to have a limit of 1.5Å in $`<`$H$`>`$, and the \[OII\] line was restricted to lie between –5Å and 5Å. F98 define normal and post-starburst galaxies slightly differently. Our definitions make the limits more stringent for the normal red absorption-line galaxy population, and slightly increase the number of galaxies classified as K+A. Our characterization of K+A galaxies using $`<`$H$`>`$ (following F98) differs from the characterization of Dressler et al. (1999), who used solely H$`\delta `$ to define their k+a/a+k galaxies. Despite the difference in these criteria, we have found that the H$`\delta `$ cut-off of our K+A sample is virtually identical to the 3Å equivalent width H$`\delta `$ cut-off for k+a galaxies used by Dressler et al. (1999) (only three of our 24 K+A galaxies have H$`\delta `$ $`<`$ 3Å).

Our final samples include 24 K+A galaxies, and 46 normal galaxies. We have defined the samples so that there is a gap between them, to account for leakage through the large error bars. Given the rather large error bars in Balmer line and \[OII\] equivalent widths, there may be some leakage of galaxies from one sample into another, which would tend to weaken any intrinsic differences that we observe between the two samples. Fig. 1 illustrates where the two samples fall on an \[OII\] emission vs. $`<`$H$`>`$ absorption plot, and shows typical error bars for the galaxies in the two samples as given in F98. There are some galaxies that fit within our limits but were excluded from the two final samples either because they were very close to the edge of a frame or a nearby neighbor or they could not be located on the images.

We did not use any morphological criteria when originally defining our samples. However, VD98 have listed morphological types for the galaxies in the cluster, and the vast majority included in our samples (nearly 75% in the K+A group, and approximately 90% in the normal group) are type E, E/S0, or, more commonly, S0. The rest they have assigned “?” morphologies, and one is classified as an irregular. Three unique cases having peculiar morphologies will be discussed in more detail in section 3.

### 2.1 Data Reductions

Surface photometry of the galaxies in the normal and K+A samples has been carried out using the WFPC2 images from the HST Archive, which are fully described in VD98. VD98 imaged the cluster at 12 different positions in two filters (F606W at 5957Å and F814W at 7940Å), creating a mosaic with a total area covering 49 arcmin2. Three 1200s exposures were taken at each position, for each filter. Image analysis has been carried out using the IRAF package. The first step is to combine the images at each position to remove cosmic rays, using the ‘imcombine’ routine. Cosmic rays near a galaxy can also be removed via the ‘imedit’ task. A general sky-subtraction is accomplished by statistically computing the average sky value in an area void of galaxies, and subtracting that value from the entire image. VD98 have described large-scale diagonal bands in the background of some of the images, produced by light scattered off the Optical Telescope Assembly. We avoided attempting surface photometry for any galaxies which are located in an area whose background varies too greatly because of this effect.

We have located each of the galaxies in the two samples, using the x and y offset coordinates from the cluster center as given in Table 1 of F98.111We were able to identify the galaxies in the VD98 images only if we used for the cluster center RA=13h58m21$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$0 and Dec=62$`\mathrm{°}`$45$`\mathrm{}`$37$`\mathrm{}`$, B1950, instead of the central coordinates given in F98. To construct the radial color profiles for each galaxy, the ‘ellipse’ routine in IRAF has been used. The ‘ellipse’ task fits azimuthally–averaged elliptical isophotes to a galaxy as a function of its semi–major axis. The ‘ellipse’ routine is run for each galaxy in both the F606W and F814W images. Combining the F606W and F814W magnitude profiles results in a radial color profile of the galaxy. A linear least squares fit is made to the F606W–F814W color (which can be transformed to V–I color, and which, at z $``$ 0.33, corresponds to a rest frame color between B–V and B–R) versus the logarithm of the semi–major axis.222Hereafter the logarithmic color gradient d(F606W–F814W)/dlogR is referred to as the color index CI. The zero-point of the scale is arbitrary, and error bars are included in the profiles, which includes both statistical errors (calculated for the magnitudes by ‘ellipse’ from the scatter in the intensity profile of the fit) and sky subtraction errors (we estimate a 1% error in the sky background), which become important at large radii.

The differing point spread function for the F606W and F814W images proves to be a problem for the inner $``$1.5 pixels. While we degraded the F814W frame to match the F606W frame, the color profile is not reliable within that radius, hence we only consider each profile outside of $``$1.5 pixels. For CL1358+62, excluding 1.5 pixels corresponds to losing the inner 0.66 kpc of each galaxy. Since K+A galaxies in nearby clusters are observed to have recent star formation typically extending through the central 2 kpc in radius (Caldwell et al. 1996; Caldwell, Rose, & Dendy 1999; Rose et al. 2001), we might expect a similar radius for such activity in the z $``$ 0.3 galaxies. Thus the inner cut-off, while producing a significant loss in the lever arm for measuring color gradients in the central regions, still allows for the detection of centralized star formation over the spatial scales expected from nearby examples. In addition, to keep a consistent comparison standard for the entire sample, the fit for each galaxy was restricted to a radius of 0.7$`\mathrm{}`$ ($``$7 pixels), which corresponds to roughly 3.1 kpc for CL1358+62. This limit was chosen because it is large enough to encompass a centralized burst of the kind seen in nearby K+A galaxies, but small enough so as not to include a significant amount of area in which the sky subtraction becomes overly important.

## 3 Results

Examples of color gradients for both the normal and K+A samples are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. As a check on our methods, we have qualitatively compared our results for 4 of the 6 galaxies (#109, 211, 420, & 562) whose radial color gradients are plotted in Fig. 12 of VD98, and find good agreement. The results of the least squares linear fit to the radial color gradient for the normal sample are given in Table 1, where the logarithmic color gradient in F606W–F814W is listed for each galaxy in column 9, along with the galaxy ID (col. 1), x–y coordinates in arcseconds from cluster center (cols. 2 and 3), apparent V magnitude and morphological classification, (cols. 4 and 5), and \[OII\]$`\lambda `$3727 line strength and average Balmer absorption strength $`<`$H$`>`$ (cols. 6 and 7). The data in cols. 1–7 are taken from VD98 and F98; the rest-frame absolute B magnitudes are given in column 8. Table 2 shows similar information for the K+A sample.

As stated earlier, most galaxies in the two samples have normal morphologies for early-type galaxies. With the exception of one galaxy classified as irregular (#290), and two assigned an S0 morphology (#200 & #507) (VD98), the galaxy morphologies are sufficiently regular that their radial profiles can be readily fit with the ‘ellipse’ routine. These three special cases (all in the K+A sample) have morphological peculiarities which would preclude a reliable fit with elliptical isophotes. Fig. 4 shows the radial color profile of galaxy #200, which is not well fit by a simple linear color gradient with radius. An image of this galaxy is shown in Fig. 5, and reveals serious morphological peculiarities. Galaxy #200 is evidently a nearly edge-on disk galaxy, which may cause a problem with the ellipse-fitting technique. In addition, when viewed at high contrast (see Fig. 5), strong deviations from a normal disk galaxy radial luminosity profile are evident. A second special case in our K+A sample, #507, has an extreme red nucleus and morphological irregularities. Despite the red nucleus, #507 does have relatively strong Balmer line strengths (and is classified in F98 as an E+A galaxy), but it is morphologically disturbed, in that it has a single asymmetric spiral feature, which produces problems for the ellipse-fitting technique. Similar morphological disturbances in cluster galaxies with strong Balmer lines have been found by Dressler et al. (1999). The radial color profile and image of #507 are shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Due to the morphological peculiarities of these two galaxies (as well as the irregular galaxy), the final statistical tests have been repeated first including, then excluding them, to ensure they are not contaminating the results.

To compare the color gradients of the K+A and normal samples, we have constructed histograms of the two samples, shown in Fig. 8. The histograms show the entire samples of galaxies, including the peculiar cases discussed specifically above. Our normal sample has an average slope of d(F606W–F814W)/dlogR $``$ –0.07 (where R is the semi-major axis in arcsec). For reference, Peletier et al. (1990) found that typical early-type galaxies have color gradients of d(B-R)/dlogR $``$ –0.1. This lends confidence to our results, since at the redshift of CL1358+62, the F606W band is close to the rest wavelength B band, and the F814W band is between rest wavelength V and R. The histogram for the K+A sample, excluding the specific cases discussed above, peaks at a more positive slope than the normal sample, at very nearly zero. Fig. 9 illustrates the scatter plot of Balmer line strength versus the color gradient. The K+A galaxies with Balmer line strengths between 3 and 4Å (that were not included in the E+A category of F98) lie in the middle of the gradient distribution, yet still displaced from the normal group. While the overall shift between K+A and normal galaxies is evident, no monotonic trend of Balmer line strength with color gradient is apparent, although above 6Å in equivalent width, all slopes are positive.

We applied a Kolmogorov–Smirnoff (K–S) two-sample test to find the probability that the two samples are drawn from the same parent distribution. The three galaxies with problematic morphologies were excluded from the statistical test. The result of the test of the distribution of color gradients within the two samples (compiled based on spectroscopic criteria) is that there is only a 2.5% probability that the samples are drawn from the same parent sample. To further test the result, we ran the K–S test, first including each of the previously excluded galaxies (#290, 200, & 507), and then including all three. The confidence levels ranged between 1.8–0.6%.

A potential complication can arise if the two samples have different distributions in apparent magnitude, and if there is a correlation between apparent magnitude and the radial color gradient. Using the apparent magnitudes listed in VD98 (transformed from the $`\mathrm{𝐻𝑆𝑇}`$ filters to the V band), we see that there is a difference in the mean apparent V magnitudes of the two samples, a fact that is illustrated in Fig. 10. In addition, we do find evidence for a trend in the apparent V magnitude with the radial color gradient. This trend is illustrated in Fig. 11, where the logarithmic color gradient is plotted versus apparent V magnitude for the normal galaxy data. To account for this systematic effect, a linear least squares fit was made to the data, and the gradients of both the normal galaxies and K+A galaxies were corrected to the same reference magnitude of V=21.1. These corrected color gradients, using the best fit slope of Fig. 11, are listed in column 10 of Tables 1 and 2. The linear fit, however, is quite uncertain, and the $`\pm `$1$`\sigma `$ slopes are also plotted on Fig. 11.

After correcting the observed radial color gradients in each galaxy to a single reference apparent magnitude, we ran the K–S test again on the K+A and normal galaxy samples, to evaluate whether the two samples still appear to be statistically different in their color gradient distributions. We find that the result of the K–S test, shown in Table 3, depends strongly on whether the maximum, best fit, or minimum slope from Fig. 11 is used. In col. 2 we used our raw color gradient data, and in cols. 3–5 we show the results after the correction for apparent magnitude, using the minimum, best fit, and maximum slopes shown in Fig. 11, respectively. Clearly, the magnitude of the correction is crucial to deciding whether the two samples are fundamentally different in their color gradient properties.

Since the observed trend between the color gradients and apparent V magnitude in CL1358+62 is quite uncertain, and since the amount of correction for apparent magnitude has an important effect on the interpretation of the results, we have investigated other studies of radial color gradients in galaxies. In particular, we have assessed the literature on nearby early-type galaxies, where the higher spatial resolution offers more reliable results. Absolute magnitude versus color gradient plots were constructed from the studies of Peletier et al. (1990), Vader et al. (1988), Jansen et al. (2000), and Balcells & Peletier (1994). Fig. 12 illustrates the data from Peletier et al. (1990) and Vader et al. (1988), where we have excluded the faint galaxies with $`M_B>18`$.333The faintest galaxies in the Vader et al. (1988) sample, all Virgo cluster galaxies with $`M_B>18`$, were found to have reverse color gradients. Recently, Concannon, Rose, & Caldwell (2000) have shown that these Virgo galaxies show a large variety of Balmer absorption line strengths, indicative of a large variation in age. All of the galaxies studied in CL1358+62 are brighter than $`M_B=18`$, which can be seen in Fig. 11, where the vertical dashed lines show the locations of rest wavelength B = –21 and B = –19. Hence we excluded the faint galaxies from Vader et al. (1988) from Fig. 12. There is no observable trend in color gradient with absolute magnitude.

In summary, we have observed galaxy samples in the cluster CL1358+62, at z $``$ 0.33. For those galaxies with strong Balmer absorption lines, and little emission, the radial color profiles have less of a red slope towards the center than typical E/S0 galaxies, in that bluer colors are more likely to appear in the central regions. There is some uncertainty as to whether this effect can be due to a systematic trend of color gradient with apparent magnitude. However, given the uncertainty in the observed trend in CL1358+62, along with the fact that no such trend is observable among nearby galaxies, we conclude that the observed difference in the color gradients between normal and K+A galaxies in CL1358+62 is likely due to a real intrinsic difference in the two samples.

## 4 Discussion

There have been a number of studies investigating the issue of how star formation typically ends in cluster galaxies, e.g., whether through sudden truncation of normal star formation, or through a starburst. We briefly summarize these previous studies here, then place our new result within that context.

On the one hand, evidence exists that for many galaxies in rich clusters, rapid truncation of normal star formation is the principal evolutionary mechanism. For example, Balogh et al. (1997, 1998) concluded from a study of the equivalent widths of the \[OII\]$`\lambda `$3727 emission line in cluster and field galaxies, that star formation is suppressed in the cluster relative to the field, indicating that galaxies lose their gas through truncation of star formation, not through a starburst. In addition, there is abundant evidence that spiral galaxies in nearby clusters are on average globally depleted in HI when compared to their field counterparts (Solanes et al. 2001, and references therein) and that the sizes of the HI disks have been reduced (Cayatte et al. 1994). Ram pressure stripping is clearly the most plausible explanation for these observations. Furthermore, several studies have provided direct evidence for spirals in the process of losing gas due to ram pressure stripping, in that displaced HI envelopes and/or bow shock morphologies in truncated H$`\alpha `$ disks are observed (Gavazzi et al. 1995; Kenney & Koopmann 1999; Bravo-Alfaro et al. 2000).

On the other hand, numerical simulations by Abadi, Moore, & Bower (1999) indicate that ram pressure stripping cannot be solely responsible for the observed rapid evolution of the star formation rate in cluster galaxies. In addition, while this mechanism does lead to stripping preferentially in the outer parts of a galaxy disk (which may explain the group of Virgo spirals found by Cayatte et al. 1994 to have centrally concentrated HI disks), even under the most favorable case of perpendicular infall the gas disk is not stripped down to within only $``$2 kpc of the nucleus (as indicated by the radial extent of observed blue nuclear regions in K+A galaxies). Furthermore, imaging of clusters out to z = 0.83 has revealed an enhanced level of tidally-interacting systems (Thompson 1988; Lavery & Henry 1988; Lavery, Pierce, & McClure 1992; Dressler et al. 1994; Couch et al. 1998; van Dokkum et al. 1999). Dressler et al. (1999) and Poggianti et al. (1999) have also seen evidence of tidal interactions in disk galaxies, and conclude that a burst of star formation is more likely in these cluster galaxies than a truncation of normal star formation. As well, studies of nearby clusters reveal examples of galaxies which have experienced centralized star formation episodes (Moss & Whittle 1993, 2000; Caldwell et al. 1996; Caldwell, Rose, & Dendy, 1999; Rose et al. 2001). In particular, most of the z $``$ 0.05 K+A galaxies studied to date show strong color gradients indicating blue central regions. Norton et al. (2001) have concluded, based on long-slit spectra of a sample of field E+A galaxies identified by Zabludoff et al. (1996), that the young stellar populations of these galaxies are more centrally concentrated than the old stellar populations. Furthermore, Zabludoff et al. (1996) found that many of their field E+A galaxies have peculiar or interacting morphologies, which they argue is due to galaxy-galaxy interactions. Also, Moss & Whittle (1993, 2000) find that early-type tidally-distorted spirals are often found with compact nuclear H$`\alpha `$ emission, thus providing a direct link between tidal perturbation and centralized star formation. Consequently, centralized star formation, probably induced by tidal disturbances, appears to play an important role in cluster evolution as well.

In our study we have found evidence for systematically different radial color gradients between galaxies in CL1358+62 classified (on spectroscopic grounds) as K+A and those classified as having normal older populations. The difference is in the sense that bluer nuclei (relative to the surrounding area outside the central $``$2 kpc) prevail in the case of the K+A galaxies. We found this difference in spite of the fact that there could be some leakage between the two samples, due to the large error bars in the spectroscopic measurements, which would tend to blur the difference we find. The difference could be due to an apparent trend in the relationship between magnitude and color gradient, which greatly affects the statistical strength of our results. However, the absence of such an observed trend in nearby galaxies indicates that there is likely a real systematic difference between the two samples.

Our result is certainly compatible with a centralized episode of star formation that naturally occurs in various tidal interaction scenarios, ranging from equal-mass merger models (Mihos & Hernquist 1996) to galaxy “harrassment” (Moore et al. 1998) and tidal interaction between a galaxy and the strongly varying mean cluster tidal field (Bekki 1999). Because nearly all of the K+A galaxies are classified as S0’s, and thus probably still maintain a major disk structure, it is unlikely that equal mass mergers can be responsible, since they tend to destroy disks (Dressler et al. 1999; Poggianti et al. 1999). Thus one of the alternate tidal scenarios must predominate. The bluer nuclei of the K+A galaxies does not appear compatible with a sudden global quenching of star formation, since that mechanism would be expected to leave behind a red bulge surrounded by a gradually fading and reddening disk, e.g., at all times producing a logarithmic radial color gradient that is negative, such as is seen in early-type S0’s, e.g., NGC3115 (Silva et al. 1989). The only way to reconcile the sudden quenching scenario with our observed radial color profiles is to have the disk eaten away from the outside in, over a considerable period of time. In summary, while the high X-ray luminosity of CL1358+62 indicates that ram pressure stripping must play an important role in the evolution of its member galaxies, tidal interaction may be playing a key role as well.

This research has been partially supported by STScI Archival Grant #HST-AR-08734.01-A to the University of North Carolina and to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.