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# Darboux’s Theorem and Quantisation

## 1 Introduction

Quantisation may be understood as a prescription to construct a quantum theory from a given classical theory. As such, it is far from being unique. Beyond canonical quantisation and Feynman’s path–integral, a number of different, often complementary approaches to quantisation are known, each one of them exploiting different aspects of the underlying classical theory. For example, geometric quantisation relies on the geometry of classical phase space. Berezin’s quantisation can be applied to classical systems whose phase space is a homogeneous Kähler manifold .

The deep link existing between classical and quantum mechanics has been known for long. Perhaps its simplest manifestation is that of coherent states . More recent is the notion that not all quantum theories arise from quantising a classical system. Furthermore, a given quantum model may possess more than just one classical limit. These ideas find strong evidence in string duality and M–theory .

It therefore seems natural to try an approach to quantum mechanics that is not based, at least primarily, on the the metric quantisation of a given classical dynamics. In such an approach one would not take a classical theory as a starting point. Rather, quantum mechanics itself would be more fundamental, in that its classical limit or limits (possibly more than one) would follow from a parent quantum theory.

## 2 Berezin’s metric quantisation

Below we briefly review the construction of the Hilbert space of states from the metric on complex homogeneous Kähler manifolds .

Let $`z^j`$, $`\overline{z}^k`$, $`j,k=1,\mathrm{},n`$, be local coordinates on a complex homogenous Kähler manifold $``$, and let $`K_{}(z^j,\overline{z}^k)`$ be a Kähler potential for the metric $`\mathrm{d}s^2=g_{j\overline{k}}\mathrm{d}z^j\mathrm{d}\overline{z}^k`$. The Kähler form $`\omega =g_{j\overline{k}}\mathrm{d}z^j\mathrm{d}\overline{z}^k`$ gives rise to an integration measure $`\mathrm{d}\mu (z,\overline{z})`$,

$$\mathrm{d}\mu (z,\overline{z})=\omega ^n=\mathrm{det}(g_{j\overline{k}})\underset{l=1}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{\mathrm{d}z^l\mathrm{d}\overline{z}^l}{2\pi \mathrm{i}}.$$
(1)
The Hilbert space of states is the space $`_{\mathrm{}}()`$ of analytic functions on $``$ with finite norm, the scalar product being

$$\psi _1|\psi _2=c(\mathrm{})_{}d\mu (z,\overline{z})\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{}^1K_{}(z,\overline{z}))\overline{\psi }_1(z)\psi _2(z),$$
(2)
and $`c(\mathrm{})`$ a normalisation factor. Let $`G`$ denote the Lie group of motions of $``$, and assume $`K_{}(z,\overline{z})`$ is invariant under $`G`$. Setting $`\mathrm{}=k^1`$, the family of Hilbert spaces $`_{\mathrm{}}()`$ provides a discrete series of projectively unitary representations of $`G`$. The homogeneity of $``$ is used to prove that the correspondence principle is satisfied in the limit $`k\mathrm{}`$. Furthermore, let $`G^{}G`$ be a maximal isotropy subgroup of the vacuum state $`|0`$. Then coherent states $`|\zeta `$ are parametrised by points $`\zeta `$ in the coset space $`G/G^{}`$.

## 3 Quantum mechanics from Darboux’s theorem

Darboux’s theorem locally trivialises any symplectic manifold: every point of a $`2n`$–dimensional symplectic manifold possesses a local coordinate neighbourhood with coordinates $`(p_l,q^l)`$, $`l=1,2,\mathrm{},n`$, in which the symplectic 2–form $`\omega `$ is expressed as $`\omega =\mathrm{d}p_l\mathrm{d}q^l`$.

Let us now make the statement that

Given any quantum system, there always exists a coordinate transformation that transforms the system into the semiclassical regime, i.e., into a system that can be studied by means of a perturbation series in powers of $`\mathrm{}`$ around a certain local vacuum.

As with Darboux’s theorem and the Hamilton–Jacobi method , one can see the use of coordinate transformations in order to trivialise a given system. In our context, however, trivialisation does not mean cancellation of the interaction term, as in the Hamilton–Jacobi technique. Rather, it refers to the choice of a vacuum around which to perform a perturbative expansion in powers of $`\mathrm{}`$. As we will see presently, this is equivalent to eliminating the metric, thus rendering quantum mechanics metrically trivial. In this sense, Darboux’s theorem for symplectic manifolds falls just short (by Planck’s constant $`\mathrm{}`$) of being a quantisation, as it otherwise provides the right starting point in the passage from classical to quantum mechanics. (In the strict sense of geometric quantisation , only those symplectic manifolds that satisfy the integrality conditions can be quantised). Related geometric approaches to quantum mechanics have been presented in refs. . More recently, ref.  has brought to light the relevance for quantisation of infinite–dimensional, complex projective space. Darboux’s theorem has also been used in a very interesting approach to the quantisation of constrained dynamics in ref. ; this latter approach is an effective alternative to Dirac’s brackets.111I wish to thank R. Jackiw for drawing my attention to this point. The classical equivalence between Dirac’s method and that of Faddeev–Jackiw is established in ref. .

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 The choice of a vacuum

The statement above instructs us to choose a local vacuum. Under the choice of a vacuum we understand a specific set of coordinates around which to perform an expansion in powers of $`\mathrm{}`$. This choice of a vacuum is local in nature, in that it is linked to a specific choice of coordinates. It breaks the group of allowed coordinate transformations to a (possibly discrete) subgroup, leaving behind a (possibly discrete) duality symmetry of the quantum theory. Call $`q`$ the local coordinate corresponding to the vacuum in question, and $`Q`$ its quantum operator. The corresponding local momentum $`P`$ satisfies the usual Heisenberg algebra with $`Q`$. This fact reflects, at the quantum level, the property that the Darboux coordinates $`p`$, $`q`$ render the symplectic form $`\omega `$ canonical, $`\omega =\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}q`$. However, as our starting point we have no classical phase space at all, and no Poisson brackets to quantise into commutators. This may be regarded as a manifestly non–perturbative formulation of quantum mechanics.

### 4.2 Quantum numbers vs. a topological quantum mechanics

Berezin’s quantisation relied heavily on the metric properties of classical phase space. The semiclassical limit could be defined as the regime of large quantum numbers. The very existence of quantum numbers was a consequence of the metric structure. If quantum mechanics is not to be formulated as a quantisation of a given classical mechanics, then we had better do away with global quantum numbers, i.e., with the metric. Metric–free theories usually go by the name of topological theories. Hence our quantum mechanics will be a topological quantum mechanics, i.e. free of global quantum numbers. Locally, of course, quantum numbers do appear, but only after the choice of a local vacuum.

### 4.3 Classical vs. quantum

After the choice of a local vacuum to expand around, the local quantum numbers one obtains describe excitations around the local vacuum chosen. Hence what appears to be a semiclassical excitation to a local observer need not appear so to another observer. In fact may well turn out to be a highly quantum phenomenon, when described from the viewpoint of a different local vacuum. This point has been illustrated in ref. , where coherent states that are local but cannot be extended globally have been analysed. The model of ref.  provides an explicit example of the general procedure presented above.

The logic could be summarised as follows: 1) the fact that this quantum mechanics is topological implies the absence of a metric; 2) the absence of a metric implies the absence of global quantum numbers; 3) the absence of global quantum numbers implies the impossibility of globally defining a semiclassical regime. The latter exists only locally.

## 5 Summary

In this paper we have analysed some general properties that quantum mechanics must satisfy, if it is not to be formulated as a metric quantisation of a given classical mechanics. We have formulated a statement, close in spirit to Darboux’s theorem of symplectic geometry, that provides a starting point for a formulation of quantum mechanics that is explicitly metric–free. Our formalism may be understood as a certain limit of Berezin’s quantisation. The latter relies on the metric properties of classical phase space $``$, whenever $``$ is a homogeneous Kähler manifold. In Berezin’s method, quantum numbers arise naturally from the metric on $``$. The semiclassical regime is then identified with the regime of large quantum numbers. Our method may be regarded as the topological limit of Berezin’s quantisation, topological meaning that the metric dependence has been removed. As a consequence of this topological nature our quantum mechanics exhibits the added feature that quantum numbers are not originally present. They appear only after a vacuum has been chosen and, contrary to Berezin’s quantisation, they are local in nature, instead of global.

It has been proved in ref.  that endowing classical phase space with a Riemannian metric is sufficient for describing quantum mechanics. In this letter we have argued that, while certainly sufficient, the above condition is not necessary in passing from classical to quantum mechanics.

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by a PPARC fellowship under grant no. PPA/G/O/2000/00469.


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# A new 21-cm absorber identified with an 𝐿∼𝐿^⋆ galaxy.

## 1 Introduction

Absorption lines seen in the spectra of distant quasars serve as excellent probes of intervening systems along the QSO line of sight. Of these, the highest HI column density systems, the so-called damped Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorbers (DLAs), are of particular interest as they form the major repository of neutral gas at high redshifts. By studying the evolution of these DLAs, one can observationally determine the evolution of neutral gas in the universe.

The connection between the evolution of the neutral gas content and the average star formation rate in galaxies, however, remains unclear. The HI mass in DLAs at $`z3`$ has been found to be comparable to the stellar mass in galaxies at $`z=0`$, consistent with the idea that the gas in the absorbers has been converted into stars in the intervening period (Storrie-Lombardi et al. (1996)). As such, this makes DLAs logical candidates for the precursors of modern-day spiral galaxies (Wolfe (1988)). However, the deduced gas mass in DLAs also depends on the assumed cosmological parameters; in fact, both Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe (2000) and Peroux et al. (2001) point out that, in the currently favoured $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7,\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3`$, $`H_0=65`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 cosmology, the estimated gas mass in DLAs at high redshift is, in fact, less than the mass in stars at $`z=0`$ (albeit only at the 1 $`\sigma `$ level). Interestingly, a recent Hubble Space Telescope survey for DLAs in a sample of MgII absorbers indicates that the neutral gas content in DLAs at low redshift is comparable to that at high $`z`$, and is, in fact, quite consistent with a scenario in which the HI has not been converted into stars (Rao & Turnshek (2000)). The latter is, of course, a “biased” survey, since the absorbers were pre-selected on the basis of their MgII absorption; the effects of this bias are unclear. Regardless of the connection between the evolution of the neutral gas density and star formation, it remains true that the study of DLAs is currently the only observational means by which one can trace the evolution of cold neutral gas in the universe.

Besides the above, the typical size and structure of damped systems has also been an issue of much controversy. Proposed models for DLAs range from large, rapidly rotating proto-disks (e.g. Prochaska & Wolfe (1997)) to small, merging sub-galactic systems (e.g. Haehnelt et al. (1998)). Locally, however, 21-cm emission studies indicate that spiral galaxies are the predominant contributors to the HI mass (Rao & Briggs (1993)); one would thus expect at least the low redshift DLAs to be primarily spiral disks. However, one of the puzzling outcomes of optical imaging of low-$`z`$ DLAs is that such systems appear to be associated with a wide variety of galaxy types, with only a few systems originating in luminous spirals (Le Brun et al. (1997); Turnshek et al. (2000, 2001); Cohen (2001); Bowen et al. (2001)). Further, spectroscopic studies indicate that DLAs show very weak (if any) evolution in their metallicity with redshift and also do not show the expected $`\alpha `$/Fe enrichment pattern expected for spiral galaxies (Pettini et al. (1999); Centurión et al. (2000)). Of course, these results could well stem from selection biases in present samples of DLAs arising from, for example, issues like dust obscuration. Such issues can be addressed by detailed imaging and spectroscopic observations of individual DLAs; such studies are, however, only possible at fairly low redshifts.

Unfortunately, there are very few damped systems known at low redshifts as their identification requires UV spectra from space-based telescopes. However, all extra-galactic 21-cm absorbers for which the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line has also been observed have HI column densities $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}>2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, i.e. are classically damped. A detection of 21-cm absorption towards a radio-loud quasar can thus be used as a criterion for the identification of a damped system; this can then be followed up by optical/UV studies to identify the absorber.

In this letter, we describe a search for 21-cm absorption at $`z=0.436`$ towards the radio-loud quasar PKS 1243-072, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The quasar emission redshift is $`z_{em}=1.286`$ (Wilkes et al. (1983)). Multiple strong low ionization absorption lines (MgII $`\lambda 2798`$, FeII $`\lambda 2600,\lambda 2587,\lambda 2383`$) have been detected at $`z_{abs}=0.436`$ towards the QSO (Wright et al. (1979)). The $`z=0.436`$ absorber was part of the MgII-selected sample searched for 21-cm absorption by Lane (2000), with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and was classified as a candidate 21-cm absorber on the basis of these observations. Our fresh GMRT observations have resulted in the confirmed detection of 21-cm absorption in this system. As discussed above, this implies that the absorber fits the classical definition of a DLA. We have also carried out R and I band imaging studies of the system, as well as optical spectroscopy, resulting in the identification of the absorber with an $`LL^{}`$ galaxy.

## 2 The GMRT observations

PKS 1243-072 was observed with the GMRT on the 1st and 2nd of January, 2001, using the standard 30 station FX correlator as the backend. A total bandwidth of 0.5 MHz was used for the observations, sub-divided into 128 channels; this yielded a velocity resolution of $`1.2`$ km s-1 on each run. Only 18 and 14 antennas were available on the 1st and the 2nd respectively, due to various debugging and maintenance activity. The varying baseline coverage is, however, unimportant since PKS 1243-072 is unresolved by the longest baselines of the GMRT. Phase and bandpass calibration was carried out using the strong nearby source PKS 1127-145, while the absolute flux scale was determined using the standard calibrator 3C147. The total on-source time was 100 minutes in each run.

The data were converted from the telescope format to FITS and analysed in AIPS using standard procedures. Data from the two different days were analysed separately. Continuum emission was subtracted by fitting a linear polynomial to the U-V visibilities, using the AIPS task UVLIN. The continuum-subtracted data were then mapped in all channels and spectra extracted at the quasar location from the resulting three-dimensional data cube. The spectra of the two epochs were corrected to the heliocentric frame outside AIPS and then averaged together. Finally, the flux of PKS 1243-072 was measured to be 480 mJy at both epochs. Our experience with the GMRT indicates that the flux calibration is reliable to $`15`$%, in this observing mode.

The final GMRT spectrum of the $`z0.437`$ system is shown in Fig. 1. The RMS noise on the spectrum is 5 mJy, per 1.2 km s-1 channel. The absorption can be seen to be spread over $``$ 20 km s-1, with a peak optical depth of $`\tau =0.094`$. This occurs at a heliocentric frequency of 988.659 MHz, corresponding to a redshift of $`z=0.436699\pm 0.000003`$.

## 3 Optical imaging and spectroscopy

We first imaged the quasar field in the R- and I-bands to identify candidates responsible for the absorption lines seen at 21-cm (this paper) and optical (Wright et al. (1979)). As discussed below, the optical imaging revealed the presence of a bright galaxy close to the line of sight to the QSO. Subsequent long slit spectroscopy of the neighbour showed that this system is indeed at $`z=0.437`$ and hence likely to be the 21-cm absorber.

### 3.1 Optical imaging

The quasar field was imaged using the EFOSC2 instrument on the ESO 3.6m telescope at La Silla during the night of 29th January, 2001. The Bessel R-band image was obtained on CCD #40 in the unbinned mode (0.157 arcsec/pix, 2060 $`\times `$ 2060 pixels $``$ 5.4 $`\times `$ 5.4 arcmin field). We obtained a total of ten dithered images of 450s each. The calibration observations included twilight sky flats and observations of the standard field RU152 (Landolt (1992)). We used the science frames to construct and subtract the fringe pattern from the frames. The atmospheric extinction and the CCD colour term were calculated using observations of standard fields taken at several airmasses and in other bands. We expect the photometry to be accurate to about 5% and use a conservative error of 0.1 mag. The images were reduced, calibrated, registered and co-added in a standard manner using IRAF. The final image obtained had a zero-point of R=32.601 with an RMS of 10.5 counts/pix.

Figure 2 shows a greyscale plot of a 45 $`\times `$ 45 arcsec section of the field around the quasar. The quasar (Q) and a rather bright neighbour (A), separated by 2.2 arcsec, are visible, close to (and south of) the centre of the field. The quasar magnitude was measured to be $`R=19.55`$ while that of its neighbour was found to be $`R=21.27`$.

We also obtained an image of the field using the Magellan 6.5m telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory. The Harris I-band image was obtained on a direct CCD camera in the unbinned mode (0.069 arcsec/pix, 2048 $`\times `$ 2048 pixels $``$ 2.36 $`\times `$ 2.36 arcmin field). We obtained 4 exposures of 600s each; the images were reduced in the same manner as before. However, it may be noted that, due to technical problems, we could not obtain a sky/dome flat and had to use the dark-sky flat to flat-field the image. The fringes on the images were hence divided out rather than subtracted which resulted in an additional error of a few per cent in the photometry across the frames. However, the total photometric error is again about 0.1 mag.

We measured magnitudes of $`I=19.41`$ for the quasar and $`I=21.27`$ for the neighbour.

### 3.2 Optical spectroscopy

The optical long-slit spectrum was obtained using the EFOSC2 instrument on the ESO 3.6m telescope during the night of 19th March, 2001. Grism #11 (300 l/mm, 3300 – 7520Å) was used with CCD #40 (binned 2$`\times `$2 pixel size 0.314 arcsec) to obtain a spectrum with a resolution of 4.1 Å/pixel. The standard calibration included He-Ar arc lamp exposures for wavelength calibration and dome flat exposures to eliminate the pixel-to-pixel gain variation. A 2” slit was oriented so as to include both the quasar and the candidate absorber (see Fig. 2). The observations were split into 3 runs of 1800s each, to eliminate cosmic rays. The data were reduced in a standard manner using the IRAF package.

The spectrum of the candidate absorber is shown in Fig. 3. It should be noted that the night was not photometric and no effort has been made to correct the spectrum for the CCD spectral response using a standard star observation. However, we used a previous determination of the CCD spectral response to calibrate the spectra with the limited aim of estimating spectral line ratios. Thus, while the absolute calibration may be significantly wrong, the line ratios should be good to $`15\%`$. We obtained a mean redshift of $`z=0.4370\pm 0.0001`$ using the 5 emission lines identified in the spectrum. The close correspondence between this emission line redshift and the redshifts of the absorption lines seen in the quasar spectra imply that object A is indeed likely to be the galaxy responsible for the absorption line system.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 HI Column Density

The 21 cm optical depth, $`\tau _{21}`$, of an optically thin, homogeneous cloud is related to the column density of the absorbing gas $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}`$ and the spin temperature $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ by the expression (e.g. Rohlfs (1986))

$$N_{\mathrm{HI}}=\frac{1.823\times 10^{18}T_\mathrm{s}}{f}\tau _{21}dV,$$
(1)
where $`f`$ is the covering factor of the absorber. In the above equation, $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}`$ is in cm-2, $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ in K and $`\mathrm{d}V`$ in km s-1. For a multi-phase absorber the spin temperature derived using the above expression is the column density weighted harmonic mean of the spin temperatures of the individual phases.

In the case of PKS 1243-072, VLBA maps at 2.3 and 8.4 GHz (see the Radio Reference Frame Image Database of the United States Naval Observatory) show that the entire flux is contained within $``$ 20 milliarcseconds. The extremely small size of the background source makes it highly likely that the covering factor $`f`$ is close to unity. This implies an HI column density $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}=3\times 10^{20}(T_\mathrm{s}/200\mathrm{K})`$ cm-2; given that all known DLAs have $`T_\mathrm{s}150`$ K (Chengalur & Kanekar (2000)), it is quite likely that the absorber, it is quite likely that the absorber has $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}>2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2(i.e. fits the classical definition of a DLA) even if it has a low spin temperature. Of course, a spin temperature $`1000`$ K, more typical of DLAs (Chengalur & Kanekar (2000)), would imply a much higher column density, $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}10^{21}`$ cm-2. However, the high luminosity of the absorber makes it likely that its spin temperature is low; this is discussed in more detail in the next section. Observations of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will provide a direct estimate of the column density and thus, of the spin temperature.

### 4.2 The nature of the Absorber

The rather strong optical emission lines seen in the absorber are rather unusual. Further, the absorber is only slightly more extended than the quasar image (QFWHM = 0.96 arcsec and AFWHM = 1.08 arcsec for the QSO and object A on the R-band image, and 0.71 and 0.86 arcsec respectively, on the I-band image). In fact, object A appears more point-like than most of the other galaxies in the field.

The emission lines could be either due to star-burst activity or due to the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is possible to distinguish between these two scenarios on the basis of the ratios of the strengths of certain emission lines. Dessauges-Zavadsky et al. (2001; hereafter DZ01) present template spectra of different emission line galaxies and also discuss their own and earlier classification schemes (Rola et al. (1997); Tresse et al. (1996)). A visual inspection of the template spectra clearly shows that the object A is either a Seyfert II system or a starburst galaxy. Next, the spectrum of object A has the following line ratios

$$[OIII]\lambda 5007/H\beta 6.2$$

$$[OII]\lambda 3727/H\beta 3$$

$$[OIII]\lambda 4959/H\beta 2.2$$

which can be used as diagnostics for the purpose of classification (Rola et al. (1997); Tresse et al. (1996)). A comparison of these values with Fig. 7 of DZ01 shows that object A falls in between the range of ratios obtained in typical HII galaxies and Seyfert II type systems. DZ01 also presented a new diagnostic, based on a comparison between the quantity $`R_{23}([OII]\lambda 3727+[OIII]\lambda 4959+[OIII]\lambda 5007)/H_\beta `$ and the ratio $`[OI]\lambda 6300/H\alpha `$. We unfortunately do not have a measurement of either $`[OI]\lambda 6300`$ or $`H\alpha `$ in object A; however, we do estimate $`\mathrm{log}[R_{23}]=1.06`$ for this system. DZ01 noted that 87 % of all Seyfert II galaxies had $`\mathrm{log}[R_{23}]>1.1`$ and, an inspection of Fig. 8 in DZ01 shows that all Seyfert II systems lie above $`\mathrm{log}[R_{23}]=1.05`$. Again, object A lies close to the border separating Seyfert II and starburst galaxies. We note that all the above diagnostics tend to place object A marginally amongst the starburst systems. Given the lack of a measured $`[OI]/H\alpha `$ ratio and the problem with spectrophotmetric calibration mentioned earlier, we are unable to conclusively distinguish between the two possibilities. We plan to carry out observations of the $`[OI]\lambda 6300`$ and $`H\alpha `$ lines from this system, which should be useful in resolving the issue.

The 2.2 arcsec separation between the quasar and the absorber corresponds to a linear separation of 9.8 kpc between their lines of sight at the redshift of the absorber (assuming a flat FRW Universe, with $`H_0=75`$ km s-1 Mpc-1). Although we cannot rule out the possibility that the absorbing galaxy is not object A, but some fainter companion galaxy, the small projected separation between object A and the QSO makes it likely that the absorption arises in object A itself. We note that there is a faint object 1” north of A and 2” east of the quasar, barely visible in Fig. 2. This system is about 2 magnitudes fainter than object A and considerably more diffuse. It is unclear whether this object is in the vicinity of the QSO or a companion to object A or, indeed, an interloper not associated with either system.

Our optical photometry shows that object A has $`LL^{}`$. This is consistent with the results of Rao & Briggs (1993) who used a survey of the HI content of $`z=0`$ optically bright galaxies, to conclude that the cross section for DLA absorption peaks at this luminosity. Note, however, that Rosenberg & Schneider (2001) argue that a substantial contribution to the DLA cross-section is provided by optically faint galaxies, based on a blind 21-cm survey at $`z=0`$. The latter is also consistent with optical searches for the counterparts of low redshift DLAs, which have shown that the absorbers arise in galaxies with a wide range of luminosities.

Chengalur & Kanekar (2000) found that low spin temperatures ($`T_\mathrm{s}300`$ K) were obtained in the few cases where the absorber was identified to be a spiral galaxy; such temperatures are typical of the Milky Way and local spirals (see also Kanekar & Chengalur (2001)). However, the majority of DLAs were found to have far higher spin temperatures, $`T_\mathrm{s}1000`$ K. Higher $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ values are to be expected in smaller systems like dwarf galaxies, whose low metallicities and pressures are not conducive to the formation of the cold phase of HI (Wolfire et al. (1995)); such systems hence have a higher fraction of warm gas as compared to normal spirals, and therefore, a high spin temperature. On the other hand, bright galaxies tend to have high masses, and hence both higher metallicities and central pressures, contributing to the formation of the cold phase of neutral hydrogen. The high luminosity of object A thus indicates that it is likely to have a low spin temperature ($`300`$ K) and hence, a relatively low column density $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}5\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. It would be interesting to test this conjecture by means of HST observations in the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line, as well as to directly determine the metallicity of the absorber through high resolution absorption studies. In a subsequent paper, we plan to compare the metallicity as computed from such a high resolution absorption spectrum to the metallicity measured from the emission lines.

###### Acknowledgements.

The radio observations presented in this paper would not have been possible without the many years of dedicated effort put in by the GMRT staff to build the telescope. The GMRT is run by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The optical observations were carried out using European Southern Observatory facilities at La Silla Observatory, Chile. This research has made use of the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) Radio Reference Frame Image Database (RRFID). This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Note added in proof: 21cm absorption from 1243-072 has recently been independently detected by Lane et al. (2001) using the WSRT.


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# Section 1 Standard big bang nucleosynthesis

## Section 1 Standard big bang nucleosynthesis

The standard hot big bang model of nucleosynthesis (SBBN) is one of the key quantitative tests of big bang cosmology, along with the Hubble expansion and the cosmic microwave background radiation. In the SBBN, four light isotopes, D, 3He, 4He and 7Li, were produced by nuclear reactions a few minutes after the birth of the Universe. Given the number of relativistic neutrino species and the neutron lifetime, the abundances of these light elements depend on one cosmological parameter only, the baryon-to-photon ratio $`\eta `$, which in turn is directly related to the density of ordinary baryonic matter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$. The ratio of any two primordial abundances, for example that of D to H gives $`\eta `$, and accurate measurements of the other three light elements, for example 4He/H, tests SBBN.

Of all light elements, the abundance of deuterium (D) is the most sensitive to the baryonic density. The primordial D abundance can be measured directly in low-metallicity absorption line systems in the spectra of high-redshift quasars. The quasar is used as a background light source, and the nearly primordial gas doing the absorbing is in the outer regions of intervening galaxies or in the intergalactic medium (the so-called Lyman $`\alpha `$ clouds). Tytler and his group (see Tytler et al. 2000 for a review) have vigorously pursued this type of measurements. They have now obtained D/H measurements in the line of sight towards 4 quasars. Combining all measurements, they found all their data are consistent with a single primordial value of the D/H ratio: (D/H)p = 3.0$`\pm `$0.4$`\times `$10-5 (O’Meara et al. 2001). This latest value is about 10% lower than their previous value (D/H)p = 3.39$`\pm `$0.25$`\times `$10-5 (Burles & Tytler 1998).

The primordial abundance of 3He is also quite sensitive to the baryon density, though less than the D abundance. It has not been yet measured, mainly because low-mass stars make a lot of 3He, increasing its value in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way well above the primordial value. Furthermore, the amount of 3He destroyed in stars is unknown. Bania, Rood & Balser (2000) have measured an average 3He/H = 1.5$`\pm `$0.6$`\times `$10-5 in Galactic H ii regions. This value represents the average in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way, but there exists no good way to extrapolate the 3He abundance to the primordial value.

Old halo stars that formed from nearly pristine gas with very low iron abundances during the gravitational collapse of the Milky Way show approximately constant 7Li/H (the so called “Spite plateau”, Spite & Spite 1982), implying that their 7Li is nearly primordial. Creation or depletion of 7Li may make the 7Li abundances of halo stars deviate from the primordial value. Creation of 7Li in the interstellar medium by cosmic ray spallation prior to the formation of the Milky Way has to be less than 10–20%, so as not to produce more Be than is observed (Ryan, Norris & Beers 1999). There is still considerable debate concerning the possible depletion of 7Li at the surface of stars. Depletion mechanisms that have been proposed include mixing due to rotation or gravity waves, mass loss in stellar winds and gravitational settling. Depending on the exact depletion mechanism, the primordial lithium abundance varies from (7Li/H)p = (1.73$`\pm `$0.21)$`\times `$10-10 (Bonifacio & Molaro 1997) to (2.24$`\pm `$0.57)$`\times `$10-10 (Vauclair & Charbonnel 1998), to (3.9$`\pm `$0.85)$`\times `$10-10 (Pinsonneault et al. 1999).

Because of the relatively large uncertainties in the determination of the primordial abundances of 3He and 7Li, the primordial abundance of 4He plays a key role for deriving $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ independently of D measurements, and is crucial for checking the consistency of SBBN. We discuss next how the primordial 4He mass fraction $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ is determined, and the uncertainties which enter in such a determination.

## Section 2 The primordial 4He abundance as derived from blue compact dwarf galaxies

Because of the relative insensitivity of 4He production to the baryonic density of matter, $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ needs to be determined to a precision of about one percent to provide useful cosmological constraints. This precision can in principle be achieved by obtaining high signal-to-noise ratio spectra of a class of star-forming dwarf galaxies called Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxies. These are low-luminosity ($`M_B`$ $``$ –18) systems undergoing an intense burst of star formation in a very compact region (less than 1 kpc) which dominates the light of the galaxy and which shows blue colors and a H ii region-like emission-line optical spectrum (Thuan & Izotov 1998a). BCDs are ideal laboratories in which to measure the primordial 4He abundance because, with an oxygen abundance O/H ranging between 1/50 and 1/3 that of the Sun, BCDs are among the most metal-deficient gas-rich galaxies known. Their gas has not been processed through many generations of stars, and thus best approximates the pristine primordial gas. Izotov & Thuan (1999) have argued that BCDs with O/H less than $``$ 1/20 that of the Sun may be genuine young galaxies, with ages less than several 100 Myr. Thus $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ can be derived accurately in very metal-deficient BCDs with only a small correction for Helium made in stars. Moreover, the theory of nebular emission is well understood enough to allow to convert He emission-line strengths into abundances with the desired accuracy.

$`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ is generally determined by linear extrapolation of the correlations $`Y`$–O/H and $`Y`$–N/H to O/H = N/H = 0 as first proposed by Peimbert & Torres-Peimbert (1974), where $`Y`$, N/H and O/H are respectively the 4He mass fraction, the Oxygen and Nitrogen abundances relative to Hydrogen of a sample of dwarf irregular and BCD galaxies. Based on a relatively large sample of $``$ 45 BCDs, we (Izotov, Thuan & Lipovetsky 1994, 1997, hereafter ITL94, ITL 97; Izotov & Thuan 1998, hereafter IT98) have obtained $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$= 0.2443$`\pm `$0.0015 with d$`Y`$/d$`Z`$ = 2.4$`\pm `$1.0 (see Thuan & Izotov 1998b, 2000 for reviews). This result is quite robust as it is in excellent agreement with the average $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$= 0.2452$`\pm `$0.0015 (Izotov et al. 1999) determined in the two most metal-deficient BCDs known, I Zw 18 ($`Z_{}`$/50) and SBS 0335–052 ($`Z_{}`$/41), where the correction for He production is smallest. The quoted statistical error (1$`\sigma `$) is $`<`$ 1% because of the high quality of the spectra and the large size of the sample.

Our derived value of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ is significantly higher than those of 0.228$`\pm `$0.005 by Pagel et al. (1992), of 0.234$`\pm `$0.002 obtained by Olive, Steigman & Skillman (1997), of 0.2345$`\pm `$0.0026 by Peimbert, Peimbert & Ruiz (2000) and of 0.2384$`\pm `$0.0025 by Peimbert, Peimbert & Luridiana (2001). These values are lower than ours by several times the quoted statistical error and lead to very different cosmological consequences. This implies that systematic effects in the determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ play an important role and need to be considered carefully to achieve the desired accuracy. We discuss the most important systematic effects below, specifically in the two most metal-deficient BCDs known, I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052. Because different systematic effects are at play in these two objects, they allow to illustrate the relative importance of each nicely.

## Section 3 Systematic effects

### 3.1 Reddening

One possible systematic effect may be due to the adopted interstellar extinction curve. We use the Galactic extinction curve by Whitford (1958). There is evidence that the extinction curve does change when metallicity decreases, being steeper at short wavelengths (e.g. Rocca-Volmerange et al. 1981), but the changes are mainly in the ultraviolet and are small in the optical range. Relying mainly on the three Balmer line ratios H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$/H$`\beta `$ and H$`\delta `$/H$`\beta `$, we have adopted an iterative procedure to derive simultaneously both the extinction and the absorption equivalent width for the hydrogen lines assumed to be the same for all lines (ITL94). Since the derived extinction correction is applied to the He i lines, any uncertainty in it will propagate in the derivation of the final He abundance. A stringent observational check for the adequacy of the extinction curve is the good agreement between the corrected intensities of the Balmer hydrogen emission lines and the theoretical values for hydrogen recombination line intensities. Using Monte-Carlo simulations of the hydrogen Balmer ratios, Olive & Skillman (2001) estimate the uncertainties in the reddening corrections to be about 1–2 % for the blue He lines and 3–4 % for the red ones. However, the uncertainties for the red lines can be substantially less if the corrected H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$ ratio matches the theoretical ratio.

### 3.2 Underlying stellar absorption in He i lines

Underlying stellar absorption in He i lines caused by hot stars can decrease the intensities of nebular He i lines. Model calculations of synthetic absorption line strengths in star forming regions by Olofsson (1995) show that the equivalent widths of He i absorption lines decrease as the starburst ages. Furthermore, the dependence of He i equivalent widths on metallicity is small, and the equivalent width of the He i 4471 absorption line can be as high as 0.35Å. Unfortunately, similar calculations for other important lines used in the determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ such as He i 5876, 6678 and 7065 are not yet available. The effect of underlying He i stellar absorption is most important for the emission lines with the smallest equivalent widths. Therefore, the He i 5876 emission line which has the largest equivalent width is the least affected by such absorption, while the He i 4471 emission line is the most affected because of its low equivalent width, the effect of underlying absorption being 5–10 times larger for it than for the 5876 line.

Figure 1 shows the spectra of the 2 brightest centers of star formation in I Zw 18, the NW and SE components, with the He i lines marked. It is clear that the NW component suffers far more stellar absorption than the SE one: all marked He i lines of the SE component are in emission while the two He i 4026 and 4921 lines are in absorption and the He i 4471 line is hardly detected in the NW component, its intensity being decreased by a factor of $``$ 2 (Izotov et al. 1999). However, the strong He i absorption in the NW component of I Zw 18 constitutes the exception rather than the rule. It is relatively less important in other very metal-deficient BCDs, such as SBS 0335–052, because the equivalent widths of their He i emission lines are considerably larger than those of the NW component of I Zw 18. This can be seen in Figure 2 which compares the spatial distributions of the He i nebular emission line equivalent widths ($`EW`$) in I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052. While the maximum $`EW`$s of the He I emission lines in the SE component of I Zw 18 are close to those in the central brightest part of SBS 0335–052, the He i line $`EW`$s in the NW component of I Zw 18 are several times smaller. The largest ratio of minimum values of equivalent widths in I Zw 18 as compared to in SBS 0335–052 is $``$ 14 for the 4471 line. The effect of underlying stellar absorption is smaller for the other He i lines because of their higher equivalent widths. Thus for the 6678 line, Izotov et al. (1999) estimate it to be $``$ 5% in the NW component of I Zw 18, but to be less than 1% in its SE component and in SBS 0335–052. As for the 5876 line, it is less than 0.4% in SBS 0335–052 (it is contaminated by the Galactic Na i 5890 line in I Zw 18, so is unusable). It was mainly because the importance of underlying He i stellar absorption was insufficiently recognized in the NW component of I Zw 18 that led to the low $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ values of Pagel et al. (1992) and Olive et al. (1997).

In our work thus far, we have not corrected self-consistently for underlying He i self-absorption. We have simply not used regions where underlying absorption is important (such as the NW component in I Zw 18), or not averaged in lines that give a $`Y`$ clearly deviant from the $`Y`$s from other lines. Thus, in the case of SBS 0335–052, Figure 3a shows that the $`Y`$ obtained from He i 4471 line is systematically below the values from the He i 5876 and 6678 lines. It is affected by underlying absorption and is not included. In the future, we plan to solve for He i absorption (assumed to be the same for all He i lines) self-consistently, as we did for the H i lines (see below).

### 3.3 He i and H i emissivities

Line ratios corrected for reddening and absorption are converted to He/H abundance ratios by using theoretical emissivities calculated from recombination and radiative cascade theory. We use the H i emissivities of Brocklehurst (1971) which are in excellent agreement with the more recent ones by Hummer & Storey (1987) for the range of temperatures and densities in metal-deficient BCDs, and the He i emissivities of Smits (1996). Benjamin, Skillman & Smits (1999) have estimated that uncertainties in the theoretical He i emissivities can be as large as 1.5%, $``$ 3 times worse than the accuracy expected from comparing Brocklehurst (1972) and Smits (1996) emissivities.

### 3.4 Electron density determination

To determine element abundances, we adopt a two-zone photoionized H II region model (ITL94,ITL97,IT98): a high-ionization zone with temperature $`T_e`$(O iii), where the O iii, Ne iii and Ar iv lines originate, and a low-ionization zone with temperature $`T_e`$(O ii), where the O ii, N ii, S ii and Fe iii lines originate. As for the Ar iii and S iii lines they originate in the intermediate zone between the high and low-ionization regions. The \[S ii\] $`\lambda `$6717/$`\lambda `$6731 line ratio is used to determine the electron density $`N_e`$(S ii) according to five-level atom calculations.

Previous authors have set $`N_e`$(He ii) = $`N_e`$(S ii). However, this is not appropriate as $`N_e`$(S ii) measures the density in the low-ionization zone, while He ii is produced in the high-ionization zone. Furthermore, the \[S ii\] ratio is fairly insensitive for densities below 100 cm-3. Thus it is much better to determine $`N_e`$(He ii) directly from the He i lines themselves, in a self-consistent manner, which we have done. Because the electron density enters linearily in the calculation of the correction for collisional enhancement of the He i emission lines (see below), its different estimate by us and previous authors is also responsible for the difference between our $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ and theirs.

### 3.5 The collisional excitation of hydrogen lines

It is also generally assumed that case B recombination theory holds, i.e that the line photons (usually resonance lines of abundant ions) are scattered so many times that their downward radiative transitions can effectively be neglected. In other words, the H ii regions are considered to be optically thick in the Lyman transitions but optically thin in the other transitions of both hydrogen and helium atoms. (The opposite assumption, case A, where all emitted photons escape without absorption and there is no radiative transfer problem, does not apply to nebulae with large enough amounts of gas and optical depths to be seen). However, there are known physical effects that make the helium lines deviate from case B. One such effect is the collisional excitation of the Balmer hydrogen lines by thermal electrons.

This process and its effect on the determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ was first discussed by Davidson and Kinman (1985). Low-metallicity H ii regions have high enough electron temperatures so that the observed fluxes of lines like H$`\alpha `$ may be overestimated by this effect, leading to an underestimate of $`Y_p`$. Davidson & Kinman (1985) estimated crudely this effect to be $``$ 2% for I Zw 18. Sasselov & Goldwirth (1995) examined this effect with detailed radiative transfer calculations and also found it to cause an increase of $``$ 2% in the $`Y`$ of I Zw 18 and up to 3% for other metal-deficient BCDs. Stasińska & Izotov (2001) used a grid of photoionization models to show that the effect of collisional excitation on the H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$ ratio can be as high as 8%, resulting in an upward correction in $`Y`$ of up to 5% in objects like SBS 0335–052. Thus this effect can be one of the most important sources of systematics in the determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$.

### 3.6 The collisional and fluorescent enhancements of He i lines

In the high range of electron temperatures found in metal-deficient BCDs (10000–20000 K), collisional excitation from the metastable level 2 3S level of He i can be important in populating the higher levels and making the He i line intensities deviate from pure recombination values. Another effect that also leads to deviation from pure recombination values is self-absorption in some optically thick emission lines which populates the upper levels of He i, a mechanism called fluorescence. The emission lines most sensitive to fluorescence in the optical range are the He i 3889 and 7065 lines. The He i 7065 also plays an important role because it is particularly density sensitive. In contrast to collisional excitation, which increases the line intensities of all He i lines, the fluorescent mechanism decreases the intensity of the He i 3889 line as its optical depth increases, while increasing the intensities of the He i 4471, 5876, 6678, and 7065 lines.

How do these two effects play out in I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052? They are less important in I Zw 18 than in SBS 0335–052 because the physical conditions in the two BCDs are quite different. While in I Zw 18 the electron number density is small ($`N_e`$(S ii) $``$ 100 cm-3) and collisional enhancement has a minor effect on the derived helium abundance, the electron number density in SBS 0335–052 is considerably higher ($`N_e`$(S ii) $``$ 500 cm-3 in the central part of the H ii region). Additionally, the linear size of the H ii region in SBS 0335–052 is $``$ 5 times larger than in I Zw 18, making it optically thick for some He i transitions. Therefore, both collisional and fluorescent enhancements of He i emission lines play a significant role in this galaxy (Izotov et al. 1999). Figure 4 shows that the spatial distribution of He i emission line intensities in SBS 0335–052 is very different from that in I Zw 18. The increase of He i 5876 and He i 7065 emission line strengths by $``$ 20% and $``$ 75% respectively in the central part of SBS 0335–052 within a radius $``$ 2′′ is caused by collisional and fluorescent enhancement. The increase of the He i $`\lambda `$6678 emission line intensity is only $``$ 4%. The combined effect of collisional enhancement and underlying stellar absorption results in a small depression in the He i 4471 intensity in the central region. As for I Zw 18, the main effect is underlying He i stellar absorption causing the dip in the He i emission line intensities at the location of the NW component.

To correct the He i line intensities for collisional enhancement, we use the correction factors calculated by Kingdon & Ferland (1995) based on collisional rates by Sawey & Berrington (1993). To correct the He i line intensities for fluorescent enhancement, we have fitted the Robbins (1968) correction factors with polynomials as given in IT98. Since the collisional enhancement factor of the He i lines depend exponentially on the electron temperature and linearly on the electron density $`N_e`$ (He ii), we correct for these two effects and determine $`N_e`$ (He ii) at the same time, in a self-consistent way so that the He i 5876/4471, 6678/4471, and 7065/4471 line ratios have their recombination values, after correction for both collisional and fluorescent enhancement.

### 3.7 The non-coincidence of the H+ and He+ Strömgren spheres

Depending on the hardness of the ionizing radiation, the radius of the He+ sphere can be smaller or larger than the radius of the H+ sphere. When the ionizing radiation is soft, the first case prevails, it is necessary to consider the presence of unseen neutral helium in the H+ zone and a correction needs to be made, resulting in a higher He abundance. On the other hand, if the ionizing radiation is hard, the second case holds, there is neutral hydrogen in the He+ zone, which results in a downward correction of the He abundance. The correction in $`Y`$ can be as high as several percent, either upward or downward (e.g. Steigman, Viegas & Gruenwald 1997, Peimbert, Peimbert & Ruiz 2000, Sauer & Jedamzik 2001). The hardness of the radiation is usually characterized by the “radiation softness parameter” $`\eta `$ defined by Vílchez & Pagel (1988) as $`\eta =\frac{\mathrm{O}^+}{\mathrm{S}^+}\frac{\mathrm{S}^{++}}{\mathrm{O}^{++}}`$, and the ionization parameter $`U`$. For both I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052, the ionizing radiation is hard, and the correction to $`Y`$ is downward. Using the extensive grid of correction factors as functions of $`\eta `$ and $`U`$, calculated by Sauer & Jedamzik (2001) using photoionized H ii region models, we found the downward correction to be less than 1% for both BCDs.

### 3.8 Temperature structure

To convert the He i line intensities into abundances, we have set the electron temperature $`T_e`$(He ii) to be equal to $`T_e`$(O iii) as obtained from the \[O iii\] 4363 / (4959+5007) ratio. However as emphasized by Peimbert, Peimbert & Ruiz (2000), detailed modeling of BCDs like I Zw 18 (Stasińska & Schaerer 1999) and examination of photoionization models (Stasińska 1990) suggest that $`T_e`$(He ii) is smaller than $`T_e`$(O iii) by at least 5% in this type of object (deviations from a constant temperature are sometime called “temperature fluctuations”). Peimbert, Peimbert & Luridiana (2001) found that this leads to a downward correction of Y of about 3%. However, examination of the correction factors for temperature effects derived by Sauer & Jedamzik (2001) using photoionization models give downward corrections of Y that are considerably smaller for I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052, less than 1%.

## Section 4 Cosmological implications

In summary, the important systematic effects that may affect our determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ from spectra of the two most metal-deficient BCDs known, I Zw 18 (the SE component) and SBS 0335–052, and that have not been taken into account by our self-consistent procedure are: 1) the collisional excitation of Hydrogen lines that can increase $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ by up to 5%; 2) the non-coincidence of the H+ and He+ zones that may decrease $`Y_p`$ by $``$ 1%; 3) the temperature fluctuations that may decrease it by $``$ 1 – 3%; and 4) underlying stellar He i absorption that may increase it by $``$ 1%. Thus, combining all those systematic effects, our $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ value may be underestimated by as much as $``$ 2 – 4%.

Taken at face value, our $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ = 0.2452$`\pm `$0.0015 implies a baryon-to-photon number ratio $`\eta `$ = (4.7$`{}_{0.8}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+1.0}`$)$`\times `$10-10. This translates to a baryon mass fraction $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$$`h_{100}^2`$ = 0.017$`\pm `$0.005 (2$`\sigma `$) where $`h_{100}`$ is the Hubble constant in units of 100 km s-1Mpc-1. This value is consistent with the one of 0.020$`\pm `$0.002 (2$`\sigma `$) derived from the primordial deuterium abundance measured in high-redshift hydrogen clouds backlit by distant quasars (O’Meara et al. 2001), vindicating SBBN. It is also consistent with the baryon mass fraction $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$$`h_{100}^2`$ = 0.022$`\pm `$0.003 (1$`\sigma `$) inferred from measurements of the angular power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB, Netterfield et al. 2001). Note that correcting upward $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ by 2–4% would bring it into even better agreement with the deuterium and CMB measurements.

## Section 5 Future work

It is clear from the previous discussion that, to decrease or eliminate the main systematic effects in the determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$, it is best to determine all the four following quantities – the electron density $`N_e`$ (He ii) and temperature $`T_e`$ (He ii) of the He ii zone, the optical depth $`\tau `$ (3889) in the He i 3889 line, and the equivalent width for underlying He i absorption – in a totally self-consistent manner. ITL94, ITL97 and IT98 have used the five He i 3889, 4471, 5876, 6678 and 7065 lines to solve self-consistently for $`N_e`$ (He ii) and $`\tau `$ (3889). We plan to add the He i 4026, 4438 and 4922 lines, giving a total of 8 lines, to solve self-consistently for all four quantities. The last three lines are particularly sensitive to underlying He i stellar absorption. However their intensities are less than 1/10 that of the 5876 line, and very high signal-to-noise ratio spectra are needed to determine their intensities precisely. Such a spectrum obtained with the Keck telescope and where all 8 He i lines are marked is shown in Figure 4 for the BCD SBS 0335–052.

Future work to improve on the determination of $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ will consist of: 1) obtaining deep spectra for the most metal-deficient BCDs known, to determine $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ using a self-consistent method based on 8 lines; 2) detailed modeling of BCDs such as done for I Zw 18 by Stasińska & Schaerer (1999). It was found that a simple photoionization model is insufficient to account for the high \[O iii\] 4363/5007 ratio in I Zw 18 and that an additional heating mechanism such as shock heating is necessary. Such a modeling will also help to quantify potential temperature fluctuations; and 3) searching for more extremely metal-deficient BCDs such as I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052, to increase the number of objects where we can determine $`Y_\mathrm{p}`$ without a large correction for He production by stars.

We thank Dr. Johannes Geiss for a careful reading of the manuscript. This work has been supported by National Science Foundation grant AST-9616863.


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# Untitled Document

MSUMB 95-02, April 1995

QUANTUM PROPERTIES OF THE DUAL

MATRICES IN $`GL_q(1|1)`$

Salih Celik

Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Mimar Sinan University, 80690 Besiktas, Istanbul, TURKEY.

Sultan A. Celik

Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Yildiz Technical University, Sisli, Istanbul, TURKEY.

Abstract

In this paper, we give the quantum analogue of the dual matrices for the quantum supergroup $`GL_q(1|1)`$ and discuss these properties of the quantum dual supermatrices.

1. INTRODUCTION

An explicit quantum deformation of the supergroup $`GL(1|1)`$ with two even and two odd generators was given by Corrigan et al in . The properties of the 2x2-supermatrices in $`GL_q(1|1)`$ was investigated by Schwenk et al in . In this work, we consider the dual supermatrices in $`GL(1|1)`$ and discuss the properties of quantum dual supermatrices.

Let us begin with some remarks. We know that the supergroup $`GL(1|1)`$ can be deformed by assuming that the linear transformations in $`GL(1|1)`$ are invariant under the action of the quantum superplane and its dual . Consider a quantum superplane and its dual,

$$V=\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ \xi \end{array}\right)\text{and}\widehat{V}=\left(\begin{array}{c}\eta \\ y\end{array}\right)$$
$`(1.1)`$
satisfying

$$x\xi q\xi x=0,\xi ^2=0,$$
$`(1.2a)`$
$$\eta ^2=0,y\eta q\eta y=0$$
$`(1.2b)`$
where latin and greek letters denote even and odd elements respectively. Taking

$$M=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& \beta \\ \gamma & d\end{array}\right)$$
$`(1.3)`$
as a supermatrix in $`GL(1|1)`$, we demand that the relations (1.2) are preserved under the action of $`M`$ on the quantum superplane $`V`$ and its dual $`\widehat{V}`$

$$MV=V^{}\text{and}M\widehat{V}=\widehat{V}^{}.$$
$`(1.4)`$
We assume that even generators commute with everything and odd generators anticommute among themselves. Then we obtain the following $`q`$-commutation relations  (also see )

$$a\beta =q\beta a,d\beta =q\beta d,$$

$$a\gamma =q\gamma a,d\gamma =q\gamma d,$$
$`(1.5)`$
$$\beta \gamma +\gamma \beta =0,\beta ^2=0=\gamma ^2,$$

$$adda=(qq^1)\gamma \beta .$$

These relations will be used in sec. 4. Note that if $`MGL_q(1|1)`$ then $`M^nGL_{q^n}(1|1)`$. This is proved in .

2. QUANTUM DUAL SUPERMATRICES IN $`GL_q(1|1)`$

In this section we give the $`q`$-commutation relations which the matrix elements of a dual supermatrix satisfy. Let $`\widehat{M}`$ be a dual supermatrix in $`GL_q(1|1)`$, namely,

$$\widehat{M}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha & b\\ c& \delta \end{array}\right)$$
$`(2.1)`$
with its generators (anti)commuting with the coordinates of $`V`$ and $`\widehat{V}`$. Then, the transformations

$$V\widehat{M}V=\widehat{V}^{}\text{and}\widehat{V}\widehat{M}\widehat{V}=V^{}$$
$`(2.2)`$
impose the following bilinear product relations among the generators of $`\widehat{M}`$:

$$\alpha b=q^1b\alpha ,\alpha c=q^1c\alpha ,$$

$$\delta b=q^1b\delta ,\delta c=q^1c\delta ,$$
$`(2.3)`$
$$\alpha \delta +\delta \alpha =0,\alpha ^2=0=\delta ^2,$$

$$bccb=(qq^1)\delta \alpha $$

and $`q^210`$. From these relations one obtains

$$\alpha b^1=qb^1\alpha ,\alpha c^1=qc^1\alpha ,$$

$$\delta b^1=qb^1\delta ,\delta c^1=qc^1\delta ,$$
$`(2.4)`$
$$bc^1c^1b=(qq^1)\alpha c^1\delta c^1$$

provided $`b`$ and $`c`$ are invertible.

3. THE INVERSE OF $`\widehat{M}`$

To obtain the inverse of $`\widehat{M}`$, we introduce $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$ in the form

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_1=bcq\delta \alpha \text{and}\mathrm{\Delta }_2=cbq\alpha \delta .$$
$`(3.1)`$
just as in . Then one can write

$$\widehat{M}_L^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}q\mathrm{\Delta }_1^1\delta & \mathrm{\Delta }_1^1b\\ \\ \mathrm{\Delta }_2^1c& q\mathrm{\Delta }_2^1\alpha \end{array}\right)$$
$`(3.2)`$
as the left inverse of $`\widehat{M}`$. After some calculations one obtains

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_1b=b\mathrm{\Delta }_1,\mathrm{\Delta }_2c=c\mathrm{\Delta }_2,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_k\alpha =q^2\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }_k,\mathrm{\Delta }_k\delta =q^2\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_k,k=1,2$$
$`(3.3)`$
and also

$$b^2\mathrm{\Delta }_1^1=bc^1\alpha c^1\delta c^1,$$

$$c^2\mathrm{\Delta }_2^1=cb^1\delta b^1\alpha b^1.$$
$`(3.4)`$
Note that it is easy to verify that $`b^2\mathrm{\Delta }_1^1`$ and $`c^2\mathrm{\Delta }_2^1`$ commute with everything. Therefore the matrix $`\widehat{M}_L^1`$ in (3.2) may be written as

$$\widehat{M}_L^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}c^1\delta c^1& b^1\\ \\ c^1& b^1\alpha b^1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}c^2\mathrm{\Delta }_2^1& 0\\ \\ 0& b^2\mathrm{\Delta }_1^1\end{array}\right)$$
$`(3.5)`$
which shows that $`\widehat{M}_L^1=\widehat{M}^1`$ after some calculations along the lines of , sec. 3. Thus one can define the quantum dual superdeterminant as follows:

$$s\widehat{D}_q(\widehat{M})=b^2\mathrm{\Delta }_1^1=bc^1\alpha c^1\delta c^1.$$
$`(3.6)`$
Note that the inverse of a dual supermatrix $`\widehat{M}`$ can be also obtained from the decomposition

$$\widehat{M}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha & b\alpha c^1\delta \\ \\ c& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& c^1\delta \\ \\ 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
$`(3.7)`$
Finally we note that the product of two dual supermatrices is not a dual supermatrix, i.e., the matrix elements of a product $`M=\widehat{M}\widehat{M}^{}`$ do not satisfy (2.6) but they satisfy (1.5) if $`\widehat{M}`$ and $`\widehat{M}^{}`$ are two dual supermatrices and $`(b,c)`$ ($`(\alpha ,\delta )`$) pairwise commute (anti-commute) with $`(b^{},c^{})`$ ($`(\alpha ^{},\delta ^{})`$). This interesting property will show as the way to the contents of the next section.

4. PROPERTIES OF $`\widehat{M}^n`$

From sec. 3 we know that the matrix elements of a product matrix $`\widehat{M}\widehat{M}^{}`$ obey the relations (1.5). Therefore we must consider the matrix elements of $`\widehat{M}`$ with respect to even and odd values of $`n`$. Let the $`(2n1)`$-th power of $`\widehat{M}`$ be

$$\widehat{M}^{2n1}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A_{2n1}& B_{2n1}\\ \\ C_{2n1}& D_{2n1}\end{array}\right),n1.$$
$`(4.1)`$
After some algebra, one obtains

$$A_{2n1}=\{[n]_q\alpha +q[n1]_q\delta \}(bc)^{n1},$$

$$B_{2n1}=\{bc+q[n1]_{q^2}\alpha \delta \}(bc)^{n2}b,$$
$`(4.2)`$
$$C_{2n1}=\{cb+q[n1]_{q^2}\delta \alpha \}(cb)^{n2}c,$$

$$D_{2n1}=\{[n]_q\delta +q[n1]_q\alpha \}(cb)^{n1},$$

where

$$[n]_q=\frac{1q^{2n}}{1q^2}.$$
$`(4.3)`$
Now it is easy to show that the following relations are satisfied.

$$A_{2n1}B_{2n1}=q^{(2n1)}B_{2n1}A_{2n1}$$

$$A_{2n1}C_{2n1}=q^{(2n1)}C_{2n1}A_{2n1}$$

$$D_{2n1}B_{2n1}=q^{(2n1)}B_{2n1}D_{2n1}$$

$$D_{2n1}C_{2n1}=q^{(2n1)}C_{2n1}D_{2n1},$$
$`(4.4)`$
$$A_{2n1}D_{2n1}+D_{2n1}A_{2n1}=0,$$

$$A_{2n1}^2=0=D_{2n1}^2,$$

$$B_{2n1}C_{2n1}C_{2n1}B_{2n1}=(q^{2n1}q^{(2n1)})A_{2n1}D_{2n1}.$$

Then $`\widehat{M}^{2n1}`$ is a dual supermatrix with deformation parameter $`q^{2n1}`$.

Similarly, if we write for the matrix $`\widehat{M}^{2n}`$, the (2n)-th power of $`\widehat{M}`$ as

$$\widehat{M}^{2n}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A_{2n}& B_{2n}\\ \\ C_{2n}& D_{2n}\end{array}\right),n1$$
$`(4.5)`$
where (after some calculations)

$$A_{2n}=\{bc+q\frac{1q^2}{1+q^2}[n]_q[n1]_q\alpha \delta \}(bc)^{n1},$$

$$B_{2n}=[n]_q\{\alpha +q\delta \}b(cb)^{n1},$$
$`(4.6)`$
$$C_{2n}=[n]_q\{\delta +q\alpha \}c(bc)^{n1},$$

$$D_{2n}=\{bc+q\frac{1q^2}{1+q^2}[n]_q[n1]_q\delta \alpha \}(cb)^{n1},$$

then the elements of $`\widehat{M}^{2n}`$ obey the following relations

$$A_{2n}B_{2n}=q^{2n}B_{2n}A_{2n}$$

$$A_{2n}C_{2n}=q^{2n}C_{2n}A_{2n}$$

$$D_{2n}B_{2n}=q^{2n}B_{2n}D_{2n}$$

$$D_{2n}C_{2n}=q^{2n}C_{2n}D_{2n},$$
$`(4.7)`$
$$B_{2n}C_{2n}+C_{2n}B_{2n}=0,$$

$$B_{2n}^2=0=C_{2n}^2,$$

$$A_{2n}D_{2n}D_{2n}A_{2n}=(q^{2n}q^{2n})C_{2n}B_{2n}.$$

Thus the matrix $`\widehat{M}^{2n}`$ is a supermatrix in the form (1.3).

Equations (4.4) and (4.7) can be proved using the relation (2.3).

5. CONCLUSIONS

We have given the $`q`$-commutation relations which the matrix elements of a dual supermatrix in $`GL_q(1|1)`$ satisfy and obtained the (dual) quantum super-inverse and (dual) quantum superdeterminant of a dual quantum supermatrix. Finally we have shown that it must consider the matrix elements of a dual supermatrix with respect to even and odd values of $`n`$. And so we discussed the properties of the $`n`$-th power of a dual supermatrix.

Acknowledgment. We wish to thank Prof. Dr. M. Arik for reading the manuscript and for many useful suggestions and clarifications.

REFERENCES

\] Corrigan, E., Fairlie, B., Fletcher, P. and Sasaki, R., J. Math. Phys. 31, 776, 1990.

\] Schwenk, J., Schmidke, B. and Vokos, S., Z. Phys. C 46, 643, 1990.

\] Manin, Yu I., Commun. Math. Phys. 123, 163, 1989.

\] Celik, S., Celik, S. A., On the quantum supergroup $`SU_{p,q}(1|1)`$ and quantum oscillators, Preprint MSUMB - 95/1, 1995.


text:
# Solar Magnetic Field Studies Using the 12-Micron Emission Lines. IV. Observations of a Delta-Region Solar Flare

## 1 Introduction

Solar flares are believed to be powered by the release of magnetic energy, but the details of the process are not understood. Flare-related changes in magnetic configurations of active regions have long been sought, without clear success. However, recent observations using ground-based (Cameron and Sammis, 1999; Harvey, 2001) and space-borne magnetographs (Kosovichev and Zharkova, 1999, 2001) are beginning to show clear signatures of magnetic energy release, temporally coincident with large flares. It has long been known that small to moderate flares can occur where newly-emergent flux becomes abutted against its opposite polarity (Martin et al., 1984) and is cancelled, presumably by reconnection. Flux-cancellation represents one obvious type of flare-related magnetic change, but it is also believed that flux cancellation can trigger the release of magnetic energy stored over larger volumes (Priest, 1984). The derivation of the magnetic energy from observations requires accurate measurement of the magnetic field strength, and conventional magnetographs can give large errors in field strength. Because Zeeman splitting for visible-region lines is less than the intrinsic line width, it can be difficult to discriminate between a strong field having a small filling factor, and a much weaker field with unit filling factor, and these two cases can represent vastly different magnetic energies.

In recent years, infrared (IR) lines have been increasingly used (Meunier et al., 1998), because they can exhibit resolved Zeeman splitting, giving the field strength independent of filling factor for fields stronger than some limit (typically $`400`$ Gauss at 12 µm). We have been developing instrumentation to make vector field maps (Stokes $`IQUV`$) of solar active regions using the far-IR line of MgI at 12.32 µm. One of our vector field maps was fortuitously made just prior to the occurrence of an M2 flare initiated by flux cancellation. Our data have insufficient temporal resolution to demonstrate a decrease in magnetic energy at the precise time of the flare. Nevertheless, we exploit the great Zeeman-sensitivity of these data to demonstrate that the flare began where the horizontal gradient in field strength was exceptionally large ($`5`$ G/km), and that the magnetic energy in the immediate vicinity of the flux-cancellation site was more than ample compared to the flare’s X-ray luminosity.

## 2 Observations

We observed the largest sunspot in NOAA region 9433 on 23-25 April 2001, at the McMath-Pierce telescope of the National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak. We used our cryogenic grating spectrometer, ‘Celeste’ mounted on top of the main spectrograph tank to take advantage of its ability to track the image rotation. Celeste achieves nearly diffraction-limited spectral and spatial resolution, and background-limited sensitivity. It uses a large echelle grating ($`18\times 33`$ cm2) to achieve a resolution of 0.04 cm-1 on the 12.32 µm line, corresponding to a magnetic resolution of $`400`$ Gauss. (We define magnetic resolution as the minimum field strength difference which becomes visible as distinct Zeeman splittings in a single spectrum. See Deming et al. (1991) for a discussion.) As shown in Figure 1, the beam from the telescope is collimated, passed through the polarimeter optics, and is focused into Celeste. In the spectrometer, the beam passes through a filter wheel, and forms an image at a $`2`$ arc-sec $`\times 2.3`$ arc-minute slit. The beam is then collimated by internal Cassegrain optics, diffracted at the grating, and refocused at the detector array. The array is a $`128\times 128`$ blocked-impurity-band device, with 75 µm pixels, giving 1 arc-sec per pixel scale, double-sampling the $`2`$ arc-sec telescope diffraction image. The spectrometer is housed in a liquid-Helium dewar.

We record full vector magnetograms. The mapping process consists of stepping the solar image using a limb-guider, and cycling through the Stokes parameters sequentially at each spatial position. The process is performed at a steady cadence under computer control. In the polarimeter optics the beam transits a 1/4-wave plate, a 1/2-wave plate, and a chopping linear polarizer. By selecting combinations of rotation angles for the two waveplates, followed by the chopping polarizer, we measure $`I`$, $`Q`$, $`U`$, and $`V`$. We use a double-differencing technique to subtract unpolarized light, and to cancel any imbalance between the two polarizer positions. Beginning with the waveplate settings for $`Q`$, the two positions of the chopping polarizer give spectra of $`I_u+Q`$ and $`I_uQ`$. The next waveplate setting gives $`I_uQ`$ and $`I_u+Q`$ (reverses the sign) for the two polarizer positions. The sum of these yields $`I_u`$ and the differences yield $`Q`$. This cycle is repeated for $`U`$ and $`V`$. Stokes $`I`$ is calculated from $`I^2=Q^2+U^2+V^2`$. Thus all four Stokes parameters, and also the unpolarized spectrum $`I_u`$ are derived from the measurements. This method of observing the 12.32 µm line Stokes parameters is an adaptation and extension of the method pioneered by Hewagama et al. (1993).

Figure 2 shows a SOHO Michaelson Doppler Imager (MDI) magnetogram and continuum image of the observed spot, as well as an H-alpha image from the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). The immediate vicinity of the observed (positive polarity) spot consisted of smaller pores of negative polarity. We inspected a sequence of MDI magnetograms from $`10`$ hours before to several hours after our observations. This showed that newly-emergent positive polarity flux was diverging from the point marked with ‘+’ on Figure 2. Positive flux was also flowing radially outward from the main spot, so flux emergent from the ‘+’ point was forced into close coincidence with the small negative polarity spots in the two regions outlined with boxes on the upper right panel of Figure 2. Opposite polarity umbrae existing within a single sunspot are conventionally termed a ‘delta configuration.’ Although the opposite polarity regions observed here are not mature umbrae, they do have field strengths attaining umbral values ($`2000`$ Gauss). We therefore refer to these two locations where opposite polarities are in contact as ‘delta regions’.

During our 24 April IQUV mapping sequence an M2-class X-ray flare occurred in the region. Relevant timing data for the flare and our mapping sequence are given in Table 1. H-alpha sequences recorded at BBSO, and the H-alpha video recorded on the Razdow telescope at NSO Kitt Peak, show a general brightening in the delta regions surrounding the spot (see Figure 2, lower right panel), which increased gradually in the hours before the flare. The flare began with a sudden additional H-alpha brightening in delta region 2, which spread rapidly to region 1. Clouds interfered toward the end of our mapping sequence, but fortunately this happened after the flare onset, and after the most significant portions of the 12 µm magnetogram were complete.

Figure 3 shows an example of transverse ($`(Q^2+U^2)^{1/2}`$, upper panel) and longitudinal field (Stokes-V) images made during our mapping sequence. These are detector-plane images made at the slit position marked on Figure 2. One dimension is spatial, and cuts through the main spot, extending into delta region number 1. The other dimension is frequency in wavenumbers, and shows the familiar Zeeman patterns for circular and linear polarization as image brightness variations. Because of the large splitting in this line, the magnitude of the linear polarization is comparable to the circular polarization.

## 3 Results

The data shown here are among the first 12 µm polarization maps ever observed for a solar active region. Given the large Zeeman sensitivity, and greater height of formation for this line, new features are to be expected.

Prior to showing the 12 µm magnetic maps, we point out some interesting aspects of the sample Stokes profiles illustrated on Figure 3. Between $`30`$ and $`70`$ arc-sec, the slit crosses the penumbra of the main spot. The Stokes-V profiles show large apparent Doppler shifts, which reverse as the slit passes the center of the spot. Since this sunspot was close to disk center (N18E06), the direction of these flows is primarily upward and downward on opposite sides of the spot. This flow pattern is not uniquely related to the flare, because it was also observed on April 23 and 25. The apparent magnitude of the flow is supersonic, $`20`$ km/sec. Although we have observed several sunspots, this is the first instance of such large apparent Doppler shifts. Note that the transverse field does not exhibit these shifts. Although our method does not measure linear polarization strictly simultaneously with circular, the same properties (Doppler shifts in V, and not in Q and U) are seen over extended regions of this sunspot on all days. We tentatively interpret this effect as resulting from the ‘fluted’ nature of the sunspot penumbra (Title et al., 1993), wherein field lines of drastically different inclination can co-exist at the same general location. Evidently we are seeing high-velocity flows along the field lines which are nearly vertical, while simultaneously seeing linear polarization from field lines which are nearly horizontal. In comparison to most lines used for magnetograms, the 12 µm line is formed significantly higher (near $`400`$ km, Chang et al. (1991); Carlsson et al. (1992)) which may exaggerate effects due to sunspot activity and fluting.

Near $`85`$ arc-sec the slit crosses delta region 1 (compare Figure 2). The field in this region is nearly all in Stokes-V; the transverse component is negligible. Again, since this active region was close to disk center, the fields in the delta region are nearly vertical, i.e. directed radially outward from sun center. The field strength, as seen by the splitting in Stokes-V, is at least as large as the strongest penumbral field in the main spot (the 12 µm line disappears in sunspot umbrae, so we cannot compare directly with the main spot umbral field). In delta region 2 (not illustrated) some linear polarization signal does appear, but the fields are still primarily vertical, and their field strengths are even greater.

Since the delta region fields are represented primarily in Stokes-V, we use Stokes-V to illustrate our magnetic map of this region. In each spectrum, we determined the zero-crossing wavelength of the V-profiles (using spline interpolation), and we ‘folded’ the profiles about their zero-crossing point. Since our Stokes-V profiles are not systematically asymmetric, the folding increases the signal-to-noise level without losing physical information. Because the Zeeman sensitivity of this line is so large, we can show magnetograms at a given field strength. For example, only weak fields contribute near the center frequency of the line, because the large Zeeman splitting from strong fields displaces their Stokes-V components away from line center. So the third dimension of our magnetic map is field strength. Figure 4 shows our magnetogram ‘sliced’ at 350, 700, 1400, 2100, 2800, and 3900 Gauss. Near 80 arc-sec on the horizontal scale the data were affected by clouds, but we verified that the important delta region 2 near 70 arc-sec was unaffected.

## 4 Discussion

The 350 Gauss panel of Figure 4 shows a noticeably more ‘diffuse’ appearance than the panels at higher field strengths. This shows that weak fields are present in active regions. They are broadly distributed, in contrast to strong fields - which concentrate at specific locations. A large fraction of the weak field component is due to the sunspot ‘canopy’, which can be seen as the extended region of positive polarity most obvious in Stokes-V on the side of the sunspot toward disk center (compare Figure 2). We have previously described a prominent sunspot canopy observed in the 12.32 µm line (Jennings et al., 2001).

The sunspot penumbral field shows a ring-like morphology, which of course reflects the fact that the single field strength in each panel is found at only a particular radius from the spot center. With increasing field strength, the width and radius of the ring decrease. At the largest field strength (3900 Gauss), the polarity of the sunspot field seems to reverse. We have observed this effect in several sunspots, and it is certainly not an observational artifact. However, it does not represent an actual polarity reversal. Recall that this emission line is flanked by a broad, shallow, absorption trough (Chang and Schoenfeld, 1991). At large distances from line center, the sunspot Stokes-V profile is dominated by the relatively low-amplitude V signal from the absorption trough, which accounts for the apparent polarity reversal. In principle, this effect conveys information on the height gradient of field strength, since the absorption is formed deeper than the emission. However, a quantitative interpretation is beyond the scope of this paper.

The MDI whole-disk magnetogram at 17:36 UT registers peak field strengths of $`250`$ and $`500`$ Gauss for the positive polarity fields in delta regions 1 and 2 respectively. In contrast, the 12 µm data show that these regions are not even prominent in positive polarity until the field strength exceeds $`700`$ Gauss, with significant intensity being recorded even at $`2800`$ Gauss. Evidently the fields are not resolved at the MDI whole disk resolution of $`2`$ arc-sec. Although our spatial resolution was also $`2`$ arc-sec, the very large Zeeman splitting in the 12 µm line permits us to measure true field strengths without spatially resolving the fields. In both delta regions 1 and 2 the average strength of the positive polarity fields is $`2000`$ Gauss, but in delta region 2 (where the flare was triggered), the distribution of field strengths extends to greater values than in region 1. This is noticeable in the 3900 gauss panel, where a trace of delta region 2 can still be discerned. Moreover, these fields are in quite close proximity to the small negative polarity pores, producing exceptionally large field strength gradients. Figure 5 shows the Stokes-V profile at the point in delta region 2 where opposite polarities are in contact (marked by the circle on the 2100 Gauss panel). Within the $`2`$ arc-sec spatial resolution element, two distinct Zeeman splittings are seen: a 2700 Gauss splitting at positive polarity, and 1000 Gauss at negative polarity. These splittings are marked on Figure 5. We contemplated alternative interpretations of this complex Stokes-V profile, which might lessen the necessity for strong opposite-polarity fields in close spatial coincidence. However, alternate interpretations are difficult to reconcile with the Stokes-V profiles in immediately adjacent regions, which support the picture of strong fields in both polarities.

This large field strength difference in such close proximity requires a horizontal field gradient of $`5`$ G/km. To our knowledge, this is the largest horizontal gradient ever observed on the Sun, and suggests reconnection at this site, at or near the temperature-minimum height. In their study of upper-photospheric reconnection, Litvinenko and Martin (1999) remark that ‘the local field cannot be…measured directly.’ The high magnetic resolution afforded by the 12 µm line indeed makes such a measurement possible, and the height of line formation is well matched to the temperature-minimum region where the electrical resistivity is maximum. We therefore point out the significant diagnostic potential of the 12 µm line in studies of photospheric reconnection.

Other investigators find high field strength gradients at flaring sites, but less than we infer here. Kosovichev and Zharkova (2001) found a gradient of $`1.3`$ G/km for the X5.7 ‘Bastille Day’ flare; our results for a significantly weaker flare suggest that conventional magnetographs (even space-borne ones such as SOHO/MDI) underestimate the field strength gradients. If so, they probably also underestimate the magnitude of magnetic energy release inferred from observed changes in the fields.

Our results have significant implications for the magnetic energy available locally (i.e., in the flux-cancellation region of the mid- to upper photosphere) to power this flare. The total magnetic energy is proportional to the volume integral of $`\frac{B^2}{8\pi }`$ (Chandrasekhar, 1961). We estimate this quantity directly from the Stokes-V profiles:

$$E_{tot}=\frac{\delta H}{8\pi }ϵB^2f_BdA$$
(1)
where the volume integral is approximated as a discrete sum over field strengths within a spatial resolution area $`dA`$, times a layer thickness $`\delta H`$. $`ϵ`$ is the fraction of the atmosphere which is magnetic, i.e. a filling factor. We constrain $`ϵ>0.15`$ by comparing the MDI and 12 µm field strengths. The factor $`f_B`$ expresses the fraction of the magnetic atmosphere which exhibits field strength $`B`$. The essential advantage of a strongly-split infrared line is that we can infer $`f_B`$ as proportional to the amplitude of the Stokes-V profile at each splitting (i.e., field strength) value. (In so doing we assume that the line formation mechanism for the 12.32 µm transition is independent of field strength.) Moreover, because the 12 µm line is formed in the temperature minimum region, $`400`$ km above the photosphere (Chang et al., 1991; Carlsson et al., 1992), we know that $`\delta H>400`$ km. On this basis we find that the total ‘local’ magnetic energy of region 1 was $`>3\times 10^{22}`$ Joules, and of region 2, $`>4.5\times 10^{22}`$ Joules. Using the single-value MDI field strengths with unit filling factor gives $`3.5\times 10^{20}`$ and $`6\times 10^{21}`$ Joules for regions 1 and 2 respectively. By comparison, the X-ray luminosity of the flare was $`3\times 10^{21}`$ Joules. As is well known, only a fraction of the total magnetic energy is available to a flare (Low and Lou, 1990), and the flare’s total luminosity will of course be greater than the energy measured in the GOES X-ray bands (Table 1). Hence the MDI energies are uncomfortably small, but the 12 µm field strengths indicate an ample local resevoir of magnetic energy. A conventional view is that cancelling magnetic flux simply triggers the release of magnetic energy stored in much larger volumes. While this may actually happen for many of the largest flares, our results imply that sufficient energy was available to power this M2 flare ‘locally’, without invoking the release of magnetic energy from much larger volumes.

We thank the referee, Dr. William Livingston, for comments which improved this paper. This work was facilitated by the open data access policy of the SOHO/MDI instrument, and an H-alpha image from Big Bear Solar Observatory. BBSO is operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology, through funding by the NSF and NASA. We are grateful to Jack Harvey for communicating the content of his AGU talk, and for helping with access to some GONG+ magnetograms. Celeste was manufactured by IR Systems, and its electronics were manufactured by Wallace Instruments. The detector array was produced by Boeing Research and Technology Center.


text:
# REFERENCES

Comment on “Negative Heat Capacity for a Cluster of 147 Sodium Atoms” by Schmidt et al.

In a recent letter , Schmidt et al. analyze a region where the specific heat of a $`Na_{147}^+`$ cluster becomes negative. In Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) statistical mechanics the specific heat can never be negative in the canonical ensemble. However, as the authors are well aware, no such property is valid in general for the microcanonical ensemble. This is indeed the case of a variety of physical situations ranging from self-gravitating systems to melting atomic clusters and fragmenting nuclei (see  and references therein). An important feature that all such systems have in common is thermodynamic nonextensivity, reflected, as also mentioned in , in the fact that the energy associated with $`N`$ particles is not proportional to $`N`$. Nonextensivity occurs everytime the range of the interactions is not negligible compared to the (linear) size of the system. Two important physical examples are:

short-range interactions in small systems

long-range interactions in systems of any size .
Now, if the system is isolated, nonextensive, in an equilibrium-like state, and exhibits, for some energy range, a negative specific heat, then not one but at least two possibilities must be considered:

1) the system is in its thermodynamically stable state and then the BG microcanonical ensemble is to be used, as preconised in  and done in .

2) the system is in some kind of dynamic metastable state, and then some other thermostatistical approach might well be necessary. One such alternative description is nonextensive statistical mechanics , which has proved to be useful in a variety of complex situations (e.g., fully developed turbulence , electron-positron annihilation producing hadronic jets , motion of Hydra viridissima ).

The metaequilibrium state to which we make reference as a second possibility has indeed been observed in magnetic-like Hamiltonians such as arrays of long-range coupled planar rotators (the so called HMF  and its generalization, the $`\alpha XY`$ model ), among others, including fluid-like systems . To illustrate this point, we report in fig. 1 a numerical simulation typical of the relaxation process in the HMF model. As a function of time, two plateaux are observed for the average kinetic energy per particle and the BG formalism is violated for the first plateau (panel a), where we find a region of negative specific heat (panel c). More precisely, the velocity distribution is well described by the standard Maxwellian in the late plateau (panel b), whereas for the early plateau it appears to be described by the type of distribution emerging within nonextensive statistical mechanics . Similar results and anomalies have been recently described in other models, including first order phase transitions .

The relevance of long range interactions in sodium clusters and similar atomic liquids is well known . Consequently metastable states could very well occur in relatively small clusters such as those studied in , as in various colloidal glasses  and other clusterized systems . For example, in colloidal glasses it is common belief that the structural arrest at the glass transition is due to the increasingly size of strongly cooperating sets of atoms . Under these circumstances, and without further experimental evidence, application of BG equilibrium statistical mechanics in  might have no support. Since the analysis of the authors only applies to one among at least two physically important possibilities, the theoretical interpretation they draw from their experiments  is not necessarily true.

Useful remarks from J. Pacheco, K.A. Dawson and A. Lawlor are gratefully acknowledged. Partial support from FCT (Portuguese agency), CNPq, PRONEX and FAPERJ (Brazilian agencies) is also acknowledged.

C. Tsallis1,2, B.J.C. Cabral1, A. Rapisarda3 and V. Latora3

1Centro de Fisica da Materia Condensada, Universidade de Lisboa,Av. Prof. Gama Pinto 2, P-1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal

2Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rua Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil

3Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universitá di Catania, and INFN, Sezione di Catania, Corso Italia 57, I-95129 Catania, Italy

Email: tsallis@cbpf.br, ben@adonis.cii.fc.ul.pt, andrea.rapisarda@ct.infn.it, vito.latora@ct.infn.it

PACS numbers: 05.70.Fh, 36.40.Ei