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# Imaginary vectors in the dual canonical basis of 𝑈_𝑞(𝔫)

## 1 Introduction

Let $`𝔤`$ be a simple complex Lie algebra, $`U_q(𝔤)`$ the corresponding quantized enveloping algebra, $`𝔫`$ a maximal nilpotent subalgebra of $`𝔤`$, and $`U_q(𝔫)`$ the corresponding subalgebra of $`U_q(𝔤)`$. Let $`𝐁`$ be the canonical basis of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ \[L1, K1\], and let $`𝐁^{}`$ be the basis dual to $`𝐁`$ for the natural scalar product on $`U_q(𝔫)`$. In this note, we discuss the multiplicative structure of $`𝐁^{}`$. We write $`q^{}𝐁^{}=\{q^mb|m,b𝐁^{}\}`$. For $`u,v`$ in $`U_q(𝔫)`$ we also use the short-hand notation $`uv`$ to mean that there exists $`m`$ such that $`u=q^mv`$.

###### Definition 1

We say that $`b𝐁^{}`$ is real if $`b^2q^{}𝐁^{}`$. Otherwise, we say that $`b`$ is imaginary.

In \[BZ\] it was conjectured that, given $`b_1,b_2𝐁^{}`$, the product $`b_1b_2`$ is in $`q^{}𝐁^{}`$ if and only if $`b_1`$ and $`b_2`$ $`q`$-commute with each other, i.e. $`b_2b_1b_1b_2`$. In particular, taking $`b_1=b_2`$, this conjecture would imply that all vectors of $`𝐁^{}`$ are real. In Section 2 below, we give examples of imaginary vectors in $`U_q(𝔫)`$ for $`𝔤`$ of type $`A_5`$, $`B_3`$, $`C_3`$, $`D_4`$ and $`G_2`$. Using the natural embeddings $`U_q(A_5)U_q(A_n)(n6)`$, $`U_q(B_3)U_q(B_n)(n4)`$, $`U_q(C_3)U_q(C_n)(n4)`$, $`U_q(D_4)U_q(D_n)(n5)`$, $`U_q(D_4)U_q(E_n)(n=6,7,8)`$, $`U_q(B_3)U_q(F_4)`$, it follows that there exist imaginary vectors for all types except $`A_1,A_2,A_3,A_4,B_2`$.

For types $`A_3,B_2`$ the basis $`𝐁^{}`$ is explicitely described in \[BZ\] and \[RZ, Z1, C1\] respectively, and it consists in all $`q`$-commuting products of elements of a certain finite subset $`𝒫`$ of $`𝐁^{}`$. The elements of $`𝒫`$ may be regarded as the “prime vectors” of $`𝐁^{}`$. A similar description also exists in type $`A_4`$ \[Z2\]. From these descriptions one sees that all vectors of $`𝐁^{}`$ are real if $`𝔤`$ is of type $`A_n(n4)`$ or $`B_2`$.

In Section 3, we propose a conjecture regarding the multiplication by a real element of $`𝐁^{}`$. This conjecture would imply that the Berenstein-Zelevinsky conjecture is true when one of the two factors is real. It would also yield an analogue of the Kashiwara crystal graph operator $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$ for any real vector of $`𝐁^{}`$.

Our original motivation for investigating the multiplicative properties of $`𝐁^{}`$ came from some questions in the theory of finite dimensional representations of quantum affine algebras. Let $`\widehat{𝔤}`$ be an affine Lie algebra and $`U_q(\widehat{𝔤})`$ its quantum enveloping algebra. Let $`V,W`$ be finite dimensional irreducible representations of $`U_q(\widehat{𝔤})`$. It is known that if $`VW`$ is irreducible then it is isomorphic to $`WV`$. Using our example of imaginary vector in type $`A_n`$, we are able to show that the converse is not true for $`\widehat{𝔤}=\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N`$, namely, we can exhibit an explicit irreducible representation $`V`$ such that $`VV`$ is not irreducible (see Section 4).

The name “imaginary vector” has been inspired by the recent seminal work of Fomin and Zelevinsky on cluster algebras \[FZ, Z3\]. According to Zelevinsky \[Z2\], the general picture should be as follows. Let $`G`$ be the simply connected complex simple Lie group with Lie algebra $`𝔤`$ and $`N`$ its maximal unipotent subgroup with Lie algebra $`𝔫`$. The specialization $`[N]`$ of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ at $`q=1`$ (using the $`[q,q^1]`$-lattice $`^{}`$ spanned by $`𝐁^{}`$) is expected to be a cluster algebra, and to have finite cluster type only for $`𝔤`$ of type $`A_n(n4)`$ or $`B_2`$. In this “finite case” the prime elements of $`𝐁^{}`$ not belonging to the $`q`$-center are naturally labelled by the positive roots and the negatives of the simple roots of a certain complex simple Lie algebra $`𝔠`$. In the “infinite case”, it is expected that the imaginary prime vectors will correspond to imaginary roots of some infinite-dimensional Kac-Moody algebras.

## 2 Examples of imaginary vectors

### 2.1

Let $`e_i(i=1,\mathrm{},r)`$ be the Chevalley generators of $`U_q(𝔫)`$. Let $`w_0`$ denote the longest element of the Weyl group $`W`$ of $`𝔤`$. To a reduced decomposition $`w_0=s_{i_1}\mathrm{}s_{i_n}`$ is associated a convex ordering $`\beta _1<\mathrm{}<\beta _n`$ of the positive roots of $`𝔤`$ and a PBW-type basis of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ \[L1\]:

$$E(𝐦)=E(\beta _1)^{(m_1)}\mathrm{}E(\beta _n)^{(m_n)},(𝐦=(m_1,\mathrm{},m_n)^n).$$

Let $`\{E^{}(𝐦)\}`$ be the dual PBW-basis, and let $`𝐛(𝐦)`$ denote the unique element of $`𝐁^{}`$ such that $`𝐛(𝐦)E^{}(𝐦)qL^{}`$, where $`L^{}`$ is the $`[q]`$-lattice spanned by $`𝐁^{}`$.

We shall use repeatedly the following known fact (see \[Re\]). For any $`𝐦,𝐩^n`$, the $`𝐁^{}`$\- expansion of $`𝐛(𝐦)𝐛(𝐩)`$ contains the vector $`𝐛(𝐦+𝐩)`$ with coefficient a power of $`q`$. Hence, if $`𝐛(𝐦)𝐛(𝐩)q^{}𝐁^{}`$ then $`𝐛(𝐦)𝐛(𝐩)𝐛(𝐦+𝐩)`$.

For $`k^{}`$ and $`b=𝐛(𝐦)𝐁^{}`$ we set $`k𝐦=(km_1,\mathrm{},km_n)`$ and $`b^{[k]}=𝐛(k𝐦)`$. Thus $`b`$ is real if and only if $`b^2b^{[2]}`$.

### 2.2

The following examples of imaginary vectors have been calculated with maple, using the algorithms described in \[Le\] for calculating the elements of $`𝐁^{}`$ and their products. In \[Le\], the basis $`𝐁^{}`$ is studied in the realization of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ in terms of quantum shuffles, following Rosso \[Ro1, Ro2\] and Green \[G\]. We will now explain very briefly the main features of this approach, refering the interested reader to \[Le\] for a detailed exposition.

In the quantum shuffle realization a vector $`vU_q(𝔫)`$ is represented by a $`(q)`$-linear combination of words $`w_{i_1}\mathrm{}w_{i_k}`$ over the alphabet $`\{w_1,\mathrm{},w_r\}`$. In particular, $`e_i`$ is identified with the letter $`w_i`$. In the sequel we shall write $`w[i_1,\mathrm{},i_k]`$ rather than $`w_{i_1}\mathrm{}w_{i_k}`$. The multiplication of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ translates into the bilinear operation $``$ defined on words by

$$w[i_1,\mathrm{},i_m]w[i_{m+1},\mathrm{},i_{m+n}]=\underset{\sigma }{}q^{e(\sigma )}w[i_{\sigma (1)},\mathrm{},i_{\sigma (m+n)}]$$
(1)
where the sum runs over the $`\sigma 𝔖_{m+n}`$ such that $`\sigma (1)<\mathrm{}<\sigma (m)`$ and $`\sigma (n+1)<\mathrm{}<\sigma (m+n)`$, and

$$e(\sigma )=\underset{km<l;\sigma (k)<\sigma (l)}{}(\alpha _{i_{\sigma (k)}},\alpha _{i_{\sigma (l)}}).$$

Here, $`\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _r`$ are the simple roots of $`𝔤`$ and $`(,)`$ denotes the bilinear form on the root lattice such that the entries of the Cartan matrix of $`𝔤`$ are given by

$$a_{ij}=\frac{2(\alpha _i,\alpha _j)}{(\alpha _i,\alpha _i)}=\frac{(\alpha _i,\alpha _j)}{d_i},(1i,jr)$$

where $`d_i=(\alpha _i,\alpha _i)/2\{1,2,3\}`$. When $`q=1`$, Equation (1) is nothing else than the classical shuffle product \[Lo, Reu\].

Following Rosso \[Ro3\] and Lalonde and Ram \[LR\], it is shown in \[Le\] that to each total ordering of the set of simple roots corresponds a certain (dual) PBW basis, whose root vectors can be readily calculated using (1) by taking some iterated $`q`$-bracketings. (In the calculations below we take the natural order $`\alpha _1<\mathrm{}<\alpha _r`$, which determines our choice of PBW basis.) Then, the characterization of $`𝐁^{}`$ given in \[Le\] (Proposition 41) yields an easy algorithm for calculating it. Moreover, in this setting, the products of elements of $`𝐁^{}`$ and the calculation of their $`𝐁^{}`$-expansion are rather simple to compute, thanks to the elementary formula (1) and to the fact that the words $`w[i_1,\mathrm{},i_k]`$ are linearly independent.

We will indicate below the main steps of the calculation of an imaginary vector of type $`G_2`$ in the quantum shuffle realization. In that case, the expressions of the vectors are so small that the computation could be done by hand. For the other types, the calculations are very similar but much bigger, so we shall omit them and give only the result.

### 2.3

type $`G_2`$: The numbering of the simple roots $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2`$ is shown by the following Dynkin diagram:

Thus, we have $`(\alpha _1,\alpha _1)=2,(\alpha _2,\alpha _2)=6`$. We choose the reduced decomposition

$$w_0=s_1s_2s_1s_2s_1s_2,$$

which gives the following ordering of the positive roots:

$$\alpha _1<3\alpha _1+\alpha _2<2\alpha _1+\alpha _2<3\alpha _1+2\alpha _2<\alpha _1+\alpha _2<\alpha _2.$$

Let $`b=𝐛(1,0,0,0,1,0)`$. In the quantum shuffle realization, we have

$$b=w[1,2,1],$$

hence, using Equation (1) we obtain

$$b^2=2(1+q^2)w[1,2,1,1,2,1]+(q^4+2q^2+1+q^2+2q^4+q^6)w[1,1,2,2,1,1]$$

$$+(q+2q^1+q^3)w[1,2,1,2,1,1]+(q+2q^1+q^3)w[1,1,2,1,2,1].$$

On the other hand, using the algorithm mentioned above for calculating $`𝐁^{}`$, we get

$$b^{[2]}=(q+q^1)w[1,2,1,1,2,1]+(q^5+2q^3+q+q^1+2q^3+q^5)w[1,1,2,2,1,1]$$

$$+(q^2+2+q^2)w[1,2,1,2,1,1]+(q^2+2+q^2)w[1,1,2,1,2,1].$$

Therefore, $`b^2\cong ̸b^{[2]}`$. More precisely, putting

$$z=(q+q^1)w[1,2,1,1,2,1]=𝐛(1,0,1,0,1,0),$$

we obtain

$$b^2=q^1(b^{[2]}+z),$$

hence $`b`$ is imaginary.

### 2.4

type $`B_3`$: The numbering of the simple roots is given by the following Dynkin diagram:

Thus, we have

$$(\alpha _1,\alpha _1)=2,(\alpha _2,\alpha _2)=(\alpha _3,\alpha _3)=4.$$

We choose the reduced decomposition $`w_0=s_1s_2s_3s_1s_2s_1s_3s_2s_3`$, which gives the following ordering of the positive roots:

$$\alpha _1<2\alpha _1+\alpha _2<2\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+\alpha _2<2\alpha _1+2\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _2<\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _3.$$

Let $`b=𝐛(0,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,0)`$, $`z=𝐛(0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0)`$. We have

$$b^2=q^2(b^{[2]}+z),$$

hence $`b`$ is imaginary.

### 2.5

type $`C_3`$: The numbering of the simple roots is given by the following Dynkin diagram:

Thus, we have

$$(\alpha _1,\alpha _1)=4,(\alpha _2,\alpha _2)=(\alpha _3,\alpha _3)=2.$$

We choose the reduced decomposition $`w_0=s_1s_2s_1s_3s_2s_1s_3s_2s_3`$, which gives the following ordering of the positive roots:

$$\alpha _1<\alpha _1+\alpha _2<\alpha _1+2\alpha _2<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+2\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+2\alpha _2+2\alpha _3<\alpha _2<\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _3.$$

Let $`b=𝐛(0,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,0)`$, $`z=𝐛(0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0)`$. We have

$$b^2=q^1(b^{[2]}+z),$$

hence $`b`$ is imaginary.

### 2.6

type $`D_4`$: The numbering of the simple roots is given by the following Dynkin diagram:

We choose the reduced decomposition $`w_0=s_1s_3s_2s_4s_3s_1s_4s_3s_2s_4s_3s_4,`$ which gives the following ordering of the positive roots:

$$\alpha _1<\alpha _1+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3+\alpha _4$$

$$<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+2\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _2<\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _2+\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _3<\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _4.$$

Let $`b=𝐛(0,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1,0),z=𝐛(0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0).`$ We have

$$b^2=q^1(b^{[2]}+z),$$

hence $`b`$ is imaginary.

### 2.7

type $`A_5`$: The simple roots are denoted $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\alpha _3,\alpha _4,\alpha _5`$, and numbered in the natural way. We choose the reduced decomposition

$$w_0=s_1s_2s_3s_4s_5s_1s_2s_3s_4s_1s_2s_3s_1s_2s_1,$$

which gives the following ordering of the positive roots:

$$\alpha _1<\alpha _1+\alpha _2<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3+\alpha _4+\alpha _5<\alpha _2<\alpha _2+\alpha _3<$$

$$\alpha _2+\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _2+\alpha _3+\alpha _4+\alpha _5<\alpha _3<\alpha _3+\alpha _4<\alpha _3+\alpha _4+\alpha _5<\alpha _4<\alpha _4+\alpha _5<\alpha _5$$

Let

$`b`$ $`=`$ $`𝐛(0,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,1,0,0,0,1,0),`$
$`z`$ $`=`$ $`𝐛(0,1,0,1,0,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,0,1,0).`$
We have

$$b^2=q^2(b^{[2]}+z),$$

hence $`b`$ is imaginary.

###### Remark 1

Let $`𝐁`$ be the canonical basis for $`𝔤`$ of type $`A_5`$, and let $`c`$ and $`t`$ be the elements of $`𝐁`$ such that $`(c,b^{[2]})=(t,z)=1`$. In \[KS\], Kashiwara and Saito prove that $`t`$ is a counterexample to a problem of Lusztig \[L2\], namely they show that the singular support $`SS(L_t)`$ of the irreducible perverse sheave $`L_t`$ corresponding to $`t`$ is not irreducible. More precisely, they show that

$$SS(L_t)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_t\mathrm{\Lambda }_c,$$

where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_t`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ are the irreducible components of the nilpotent variety associated to $`t`$ and $`c`$. It would be interesting to understand the connection between Lusztig’s problem and the conjecture of Berenstein and Zelevinsky.

###### Remark 2

In all the previous examples the vector $`z𝐁^{}`$ occuring in the expansion of the imaginary vector $`b`$ is in fact an element of the $`q`$-center of $`U_q(𝔫)`$, that is, $`ze_ie_iz`$ for every $`i\{1,\mathrm{},r\}`$ (see \[C1\] for a description of the $`q`$-center). This needs not to be true in general, since for example a $`q`$-central element in $`U_q(𝔫)`$ of type $`A_5`$ will no longer be $`q`$-central when we embed $`U_q(𝔫)`$ in $`U_q(𝔫^{})`$ of type $`A_6`$.

## 3 Real vectors and generalized crystal operators

### 3.1

Let $`b_1,b_2`$ be elements of $`𝐁^{}`$. Suppose that $`b_1`$ is real and $`b_1b_2q^{}𝐁^{}`$.

###### Conjecture 1

The expansion of $`b_1b_2`$ on $`𝐁^{}`$ is of the form

$$b_1b_2=q^mb^{}+q^sb^{\prime \prime }+\underset{cb^{},b^{\prime \prime }}{}\gamma _{b_1b_2}^c(q)c,$$

where $`b^{}b^{\prime \prime }`$, $`m,s`$, $`m<s`$, $`\gamma _{b_1b_2}^c(q)[q,q^1]`$, and for all $`c𝐁^{}`$ such that $`\gamma _{b_1b_2}^c(q)0`$

$$\gamma _{b_1b_2}^c(q)q^{m+1}[q]q^{s1}[q^1].$$

It is known that the $`𝐁^{}`$-expansion of $`b_2b_1`$ can be obtained from that of $`b_1b_2`$ by changing $`q`$ into $`q^1`$ (and rescaling by an appropriate power of $`q`$) \[Re\]. If $`b_1b_2q^{}𝐁^{}`$ and Conjecture 1 is true, we see that $`b_2b_1`$ cannot be proportional to $`b_1b_2`$ since the term with the highest power of $`q`$ in $`b_1b_2`$ is $`b^{\prime \prime }`$, while that in $`b_2b_1`$ is $`b^{}b^{\prime \prime }`$. Hence Conjecture 1 would imply that the Berenstein-Zelevinsky conjecture holds true when one of the two vectors is real. It is proved in \[LNT\] that if $`𝔤`$ is of type $`A_n`$, the quantum flag minors are real elements of $`𝐁^{}`$. Hence our conjecture agrees with the recent result of Caldero \[C2\] showing that if a quantum flag minor $`q`$-commutes with an arbitrary element of $`𝐁^{}`$, then their product belongs to $`q^{}𝐁^{}`$.

### 3.2

Using results of Kashiwara (\[K2\], 5.3.1), it is easy to check Conjecture 1 in the case where $`b_1=e_i`$ is a Chevalley generator of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ (note that $`e_i`$ is always a real element of $`𝐁^{}`$). In that case, $`b^{}=\stackrel{~}{e}_i(b_2)`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$ is the Kashiwara operator associated with the simple root vector $`e_i`$. (Here we are abusing notation by denoting in the same way a vector of $`𝐁^{}`$ and the corresponding element of the crystal basis at $`q=0`$.) Similarly $`b^{\prime \prime }=\stackrel{~}{e}_i^\tau (b_2)`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i^\tau =\tau \stackrel{~}{e}_i\tau `$ and $`\tau `$ is the involution of $`𝐁^{}`$ induced by the anti-automorphism of $`U_q(𝔫)`$ which fixes the $`e_i`$’s.

Assuming Conjecture 1, let us write $`b^{}=b_1b_2`$ and $`b^{\prime \prime }=b_2b_1`$. (If $`b_1b_2c𝐁^{}`$, we put $`b_1b_2=b_2b_1=c`$.) For a fixed real $`b_1`$, we may regard the maps $`bb_1b`$ and $`bbb_1`$ as generalized left and right Kashiwara operators associated to $`b_1`$. (Note that for every positive root $`\beta `$, the vector $`E^{}(\beta )`$ of the dual PBW-basis is a real vector in $`𝐁^{}`$. Thus, in particular, we obtain conjectural analogues of Kashiwara operators for all positive roots).

###### Conjecture 2

The maps $`bb_1b`$ and $`bbb_1`$ are injective.

Conjecture 2 implies that we can partition the set $`𝐁^{}`$ into infinite $`b_1`$-strings:

$$bb_1bb_1(b_1b)\mathrm{}$$

with $`b`$ running over $`𝐁^{}(b_1𝐁^{})`$. This is illustrated in Figure 1 for $`b_1=𝐛(0,0,1,0,0,0)`$ in type $`G_2`$. We also have a similar string decomposition corresponding to the right operation $`bbb_1`$.

### 3.3

These two conjectures are based on extensive computer calculations.

In particular, Conjecture 1 has been checked systematically in type $`G_2`$ for all vectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ of principal degree $`7`$ which are not both imaginary. Note that among the $`116`$ vectors of $`𝐁^{}`$ of degree $`7`$, there are $`10`$ imaginary vectors:

$`𝐛(1,0,0,0,1,j),(0j4),`$
$`𝐛(2,0,0,0,2,j),(0j1),`$
$`𝐛(j,1,0,0,0,1),(0j2).`$
Only $`3`$ of them are prime, namely $`𝐛(1,0,0,0,1,0)`$, $`𝐛(2,0,0,0,2,0)`$ and $`𝐛(0,1,0,0,0,1)`$.

## 4 Applications to affine Hecke algebras and quantum affine algebras

One important motivation for studying the multiplicative properties of $`𝐁^{}`$ comes from the representation theory of affine Hecke algebras and quantum affine algebras \[LNT\].

### 4.1

Let $`H_m(t)`$ be the affine Hecke algebra of type $`GL_m`$ over $``$, where $`t^{}`$ is of infinite multiplicative order. It has invertible generators $`T_1,\mathrm{},T_{m1},y_1,\mathrm{},y_m`$ subject to the relations

$`T_iT_{i+1}T_i=T_{i+1}T_iT_{i+1},(1im2),`$
$`T_iT_j=T_jT_i,(|ij|>1),`$
$`(T_it)(T_i+1)=0,(1im1),`$
$`y_iy_j=y_jy_i,(1i,jm),`$
$`y_jT_i=T_iy_j,(ji,i+1),`$
$`T_iy_iT_i=ty_{i+1},(1im1).`$
Let $`𝒞_m`$ denote the category of finite-dimensional $`H_m(t)`$-modules, and $`𝒞_{m,r}`$ the sub-category consisting of those modules for which all eigenvalues of the pairwise commutative generators $`y_1,\mathrm{},y_m`$ belong to $`\{t,t^2,\mathrm{},t^r\}`$. Let $`_r`$ be the direct sum of the complexified Grothendieck groups of the $`𝒞_{m,r}(m)`$, endowed with the multiplication given by the induction functors $`𝒞_{m,r}\times 𝒞_{n,r}𝒞_{m+n,r}`$. The algebra $`_r`$ is graded by deciding that the classes of the $`H_m(t)`$-modules have degree $`m`$.

Let $`N`$ be the group of upper triangular unipotent $`(r+1)\times (r+1)`$-matrices, $`𝔫`$ the Lie algebra of $`N`$, and $`U_q(𝔫)`$ the corresponding quantum enveloping algebra. (This is the positive part of a quantum enveloping algebra of type $`A_r`$.) Let $`^{}`$ be the $`[q,q^1]`$-lattice spanned by the dual canonical basis $`𝐁^{}`$ of $`U_q(𝔫)`$. It is well-known that the specialization $`_{[q,q^1]}^{}`$, where $``$ is regarded as a $`[q,q^1]`$-module via $`q1`$, is isomorphic to the algebra $`[N]`$ of regular functions on the group $`N`$. Let $`^{}[N]`$ denote the specialization at $`q=1`$ of $`𝐁^{}`$ obtained in this way.

It was essentially shown by Zelevinsky \[Z4\] that $`_r`$ and $`[N]`$ are isomorphic as graded algebras. Moreover, by a dual version of Ariki’s theorem \[A, LNT\], the basis of $`_r`$ given by the classes of the simple modules is mapped to $`^{}`$ under this isomorphism. Therefore, for $`𝔤`$ of type $`A_r`$, the multiplication of two elements of respective principal degree $`m`$ and $`n`$ of $`𝐁^{}`$ encodes the induction product of two simple objects of the categories $`𝒞_{m,r}`$ and $`𝒞_{n,r}`$.

### 4.2

Consider the example of 2.7 for type $`A_5`$. The vector $`b`$ has principal degree $`8`$. Therefore, under the above isomorphism it corresponds to a simple object $`M`$ of the category $`𝒞_{8,5}`$. The fact that $`b`$ is imaginary translates into the fact that the induction square of $`M`$ is not simple. In the Zelevinsky parametrization of simple modules by multi-segments, the $`H_8(t)`$-module $`M`$ is labelled by the multi-segment

$$[1,2],[2,3,4],[3],[4,5].$$

It has dimension $`252`$. Its induction square $`MM`$ is a $`H_{16}(t)`$-module with two composition factors: the $`\mathrm{2\hspace{0.17em}522\hspace{0.17em}520}`$-dimensional simple module $`M^{}`$ labelled by

$$[1,2],[2,3],[3,4],[4,5],[1,2,3,4],[2,3,4,5]$$

and the $`\mathrm{814\hspace{0.17em}773\hspace{0.17em}960}`$-dimensional simple module $`M^{\prime \prime }`$ labelled by

$$[1,2],[1,2],[2,3,4],[2,3,4],[3],[3],[4,5],[4,5].$$

### 4.3

Let $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$ be the quantized affine algebra of type $`A_{N1}^{(1)}`$ with parameter $`q`$ a square root of $`t`$ (see for example \[CP\] for the defining relations of $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$). The quantum affine Schur-Weyl duality between $`H_m(t)`$ and $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$ \[CP, Ch, GRV\] gives a functor $`_{m,N}`$ from the category $`𝒞_m`$ to the category of level $`0`$ finite-dimensional representations of $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$. If $`Nm`$, $`_{m,N}`$ maps the non-zero simple modules of $`\widehat{H}_m(t)`$ to non-zero simple modules of $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$. Moreover, for $`M_1`$ in $`𝒞_{m_1}`$ and $`M_2`$ in $`𝒞_{m_2}`$ one has

$$_{m_1+m_2,N}(M_1M_2)=_{m_1,N}(M_1)_{m_2,N}(M_2).$$

Let $`N16`$. The image of the $`H_8(t)`$-module $`M`$ under $`_{8,N}`$ is a finite-dimensional irreducible representation $`V`$ of $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$ such that $`VV`$ is not irreducible. The Drinfeld polynomials parametrizing $`V`$ in the classification of Chari and Pressley are

$`P_1(u)`$ $`=`$ $`uq^6,`$
$`P_2(u)`$ $`=`$ $`(uq^3)(uq^9),`$
$`P_3(u)`$ $`=`$ $`uq^6,`$
$`P_k(u)`$ $`=`$ $`1,(k4).`$
The composition factors of $`VV`$ are the images $`V^{}`$ and $`V^{\prime \prime }`$ of $`M^{}`$ and $`M^{\prime \prime }`$ under $`_{16,N}`$. The Drinfeld polynomials of $`V^{}`$ are

$`P_2(u)`$ $`=`$ $`(uq^3)(uq^5)(uq^7)(uq^9),`$
$`P_4(u)`$ $`=`$ $`(uq^5)(uq^7),`$
$`P_k(u)`$ $`=`$ $`1,(k2,4).`$
and those of $`V^{\prime \prime }`$ are

$`P_1(u)`$ $`=`$ $`(uq^6)^2,`$
$`P_2(u)`$ $`=`$ $`(uq^3)^2(uq^9)^2,`$
$`P_3(u)`$ $`=`$ $`(uq^6)^2,`$
$`P_k(u)`$ $`=`$ $`1,(k4).`$
In fact, since the highest non trivial Drinfeld polynomial of $`V^{\prime \prime }`$ is $`P_4(u)`$, we see that $`VV`$ is not simple for any $`N5`$. For $`N=5`$, we have

$$dimV=\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}995},dimV^{}=\mathrm{7\hspace{0.17em}350},dimV^{\prime \prime }=\mathrm{3\hspace{0.17em}972\hspace{0.17em}675}.$$

### 4.4

The meaning of Conjecture 1 in this setting should be as follows.

###### Conjecture 3

Let $`V`$ and $`W`$ be finite-dimensional irreducible representations of $`U_q(\widehat{𝔰𝔩}_N)`$. Suppose that $`VV`$ is irreducible. Then $`VW`$ has simple socle $`S`$ and simple head $`H`$. Moreover if $`VW`$ is not simple $`S`$ and $`H`$ are not isomorphic.

Acknowledgements

I thank M. Kashiwara and A. Zelevinsky for fruitful discussions. In particular, I am grateful to A. Zelevinsky who convinced me, after I found an example of imaginary vector in type $`G_2`$, that imaginary vectors should also exist for other types.

This note was written during my visit to M.S.R.I. Berkeley to participate in the program “Infinite dimensional algebras and mathematical physics”, organized by E. Frenkel, V. Kac, I. Penkov, V. Serganova and G. Zuckerman. I thank the organizers for inviting me.

| B. Leclerc : | Département de Mathématiques, Université de Caen, Campus II, |
| --- | --- |
|  | Bld Maréchal Juin, BP 5186, 14032 Caen cedex, France |
|  | email : leclerc@math.unicaen.fr |


format: text

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# New physical principles of contact thermoelectric cooling

## I Introduction

It is well known 1  that the Peltier effect is the basis for solid thermoelectric cooling. The main point of it arises from the fact that the heat extraction or absorption occurs at the contact between two different conducting media if the d.c. electric current flows through this contact. Boundary conditions in an electric current contact have been discussed in a previous work. 2  Here we are interested in the heat flow. The absorption or extraction of heat (cooling or heating) depends on the current direction. The traditional approach to determine the quantity of this heat (Peltier heat) is based on the generalized thermal conductivity law, 3

$$𝐪=\kappa T+(\stackrel{~}{\mu }+\mathrm{\Pi })𝐣$$
(1)
where $`𝐪`$ is the heat flux density, $`\kappa `$ is the thermal conductivity, $`T`$ is the temperature, $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }=\phi +\mu /e_0`$ is the electrochemical potential of the charge carriers, $`\phi `$ is the electric potential, $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential of the carriers, $`e_0`$ is the charge of the carriers, $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is the Peltier coefficient, $`𝐣`$ is the electric current density.

Let us suppose that the temperature gradient is absent in the electric circuit, and that the electric current flows through the contact of two media (Fig. 1). We assume also that the lateral sides of the circuit are adiabatically insulated, and that the circuit has a unit section.

Let us choose the small volume bounded by the planes $`x=\pm \delta `$ near the contact $`x=0`$, and calculate the Peltier heat $`Q_\mathrm{\Pi }`$ at this volume under the presence of the electric current (see Fig.1). In the linear approximation to the electric current (we neglect the Joule heating) this heat per unit time is equal to

$$Q_\mathrm{\Pi }=_V𝐪_\mathrm{\Pi }𝑑v=\underset{S}{}𝐪_\mathrm{\Pi }𝑑𝐬.$$
(2)
We integrate over the surface limiting the chosen volume in Fig.1. $`𝐪_\mathrm{\Pi }=\mathrm{\Pi }𝐣`$ is the Peltier heat density, $`d𝐬=ds𝐧`$, $`ds`$ is the surface element, $`𝐧`$ is the external normal. For the simple chosen geometry it is straightforward to verify that in the limit $`\delta 0`$,

$$Q_\mathrm{\Pi }=(\mathrm{\Pi }_1\mathrm{\Pi }_2)J,$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{1,2}`$ are the Peltier coefficients of the first and the second materials, and $`J`$ is the electric current. The quantity $`Q_\mathrm{\Pi }`$ determines the Peltier heat at the contact between the two media. Under fixed current direction $`Q_\mathrm{\Pi }>0`$ if $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1>\mathrm{\Pi }_2`$ and the contact is heated. On the contrary, if $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1<\mathrm{\Pi }_2`$, $`Q_\mathrm{\Pi }<0`$ and the contact is cooled. Actually the thermoelectric cooling modules are fabricated from two semiconductor brunches with electron (n) and hole (p) type conductivities.1  Figure 2 illustrates the sketch of this module. Two semiconductors are coupled electrically in series and thermally in parallel. For non-degenerate electrons (n) and holes (p),4

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{n,p}=\frac{1}{e}\left[(q_{n,p}+\frac{5}{2})T\mu _{n,p}\right].$$
(4)
Here $`T`$ is the temperature in energy units, $`\mu _{n,p}`$ are the chemical potentials of electrons and holes which are measured from the bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band, respectively ($`\mu _p=ϵ_g\mu _n`$, where $`ϵ_g`$ is the band gap), $`e`$ is the hole charge, $`q_{n,p}`$ are the exponents in the momentum relaxation times,5

$$\tau _{n,p}(ϵ)=\tau _{n,p}^0\left(\frac{ϵ}{T}\right)^{q_{n,p}},$$
(5)
where $`ϵ`$ is the energy of the carriers. The constant quantities $`\tau _{n,p}^0`$ and $`q_{n,p}`$ for different relaxation mechanisms can be found elsewhere.5 .

For degenerate electron and hole gases,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{n,p}=\frac{\pi ^2}{3e}\left(q_{n,p}+\frac{3}{2}\right)\frac{T^2}{\mu _{n,p}}.$$
(6)
To understand the physical meaning of equations (4) and (6), it is convenient to rewrite these expressions as follows:

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{n,p}=\frac{1}{e}\left[ϵ_{n,p}\mu _{n,p}\right],$$
(7)
where $`ϵ_{n,p}`$ is the mean kinetic energy of the carriers in the flux,

$$ϵ_{n,p}=\frac{_0^{\mathrm{}}\tau _{n,p}(ϵ)ϵ^{5/2}\frac{df_0^{n,p}(ϵ)}{dϵ}𝑑ϵ}{_0^{\mathrm{}}\tau _{n,p}(ϵ)ϵ^{3/2}\frac{df_0^{n,p}(ϵ)}{dϵ}𝑑ϵ}.$$
(8)
where $`f_0^{n,p}(ϵ)`$ are the Fermi-Dirac distribution functions. Notice that, similar to the chemical potentials, the mean energies $`ϵ_{n,p}`$ are measured from the bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band respectively. Often the chemical potentials $`\mu _{n,p}`$ are interpreted as the potential energies of electrons and holes.4

For non-degenerate statistics ($`|\mu |T,\mu <0`$),

$$ϵ=\left(q+\frac{5}{2}\right)T,$$
(9)
while for the degenerate case ($`|\mu |T,\mu >0`$),

$$ϵ=\mu +\frac{\pi ^2T^2}{3\mu }\left(q+\frac{3}{2}\right).$$
(10)
To demonstrate the physical meaning of the Peltier effect, a metal-n-type semiconductor contact is usually used (see Fig.3). It is easy to see that the surplus of the electron energy in the semiconductor, in comparison with the metal, is $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ=ϵ\mu _n=(q+5/2)T\mu _n`$, and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1\mathrm{\Pi }_2=\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ/e`$.

The obtained result is clear for this type of contact. At the same time these contacts are not really used in applications. The consideration of other contacts do not have the same obvious understanding, and a priori the following questions arise:

* What does the potential energy for the degenerate gas of the charge carriers mean?
* What is the physical meaning of the energy change in a metal-p-semiconductor contact and in a p-n junction?
* Why does the approach stated above ignore the work of the built-in electric field within the contact?
* It is easy to show that the value $`ϵ\mu `$ in any type of contacts is different on the left and on the right from the contact plane. Therefore, the description of the contact refrigeration based on the consideration of the separate electron transitions is not valid. One needs to take into account the statistics of these transitions. How to reflect this fact in the preceding scheme?

## II Mechanisms of contact thermoelectric cooling

In the usual scheme of n-n or p-p junctions the contact heating or cooling is explained by the electron (hole) transitions between $`ϵ`$ \- levels (see Fig.4). The latter are counted from the common Fermi level. In p-n junctions it is necessary to take into account the electron-hole generation and recombination. These are the processes that determine contact cooling and heating. In most works devoted to discuss this problem, the recombination rate is assumed to be infinite.

Here we present some new assumptions. Let us consider first the n-n contact between non-degenerate semiconductors (Fig.5). If the momentum scattering in both semiconductors is the same, then \[see Eq.(7)\],

$`\mathrm{\Pi }_1\mathrm{\Pi }_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(\mu _1\mu _2)}{e}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(\chi _1^0\chi _1\chi _2^0+\chi _2)}{e}}=\phi _c+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_c}{e}},`$
where $`\phi _c=(\chi _2\chi _1)/e`$ is the contact voltage, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_c=\chi _1^0\chi _2^0`$ is the work of a valence force. This means that the contact cooling or heating is connected with the work of the built-in electric field $`W_c`$ and the work of the valence forces $`W_\nu `$. The total work is $`W=Q_\mathrm{\Pi }=W_c+W_\nu `$, where $`W_c=J\phi _c`$ and $`W_\nu =J\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_c/e`$. Here the valence force is caused by the abrupt change of the conduction band. A similar reasoning is valid for the p-p junction.

If we have the $`n^+n`$ or $`p^+p`$ junction, the Peltier effect does not depend on the contact properties, and it is determined only by the parameters of the non-degenerate semiconductor (see Fig.3),

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1\mathrm{\Pi }_2=\frac{\mu _n}{e}.$$
(12)
In the case of a contact between two degenerate n- or p-type semiconductors (or two metals) the Peltier effect depends on the contact properties again (see Figs.6 and Eq.(10)), and the work of the built-in electric field jointly with the work of the valence forces occurs. Now

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1\mathrm{\Pi }_2=\frac{\pi ^2}{3e}\left(q+\frac{3}{2}\right)\frac{T^2}{\mu _1\mu _2}(\mu _1\mu _2).$$
(13)
Comparing (10) and (12) we see that the Peltier heat in the contact between degenerate materials is essentially less than that in the contact between the non-degenerate semiconductors.

Let us note also that the work of the built-in electric field and the valence forces give rise to the qualitatively different temperature of the contacts in the case of non-degenerate and degenerate brunches of the circuit. In the former

$$W_c\frac{3}{2}(T(E)T_0).$$
(14)
where $`T(E)`$ is the non-equilibrium temperature, $`E`$ is the built-in electric field, $`T_0`$ is the room temperature. In the latter,

$$W_c\frac{\pi ^2}{4}\frac{T^2(E)T_0^2}{\mu }.$$
(15)
Let us examine the p-n junction (Fig.7). It is easy to see from Fig.7 that

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1\mathrm{\Pi }_2=\frac{\mu _n+\mu _p}{e}.$$
(16)
The generation or recombination at the contact causes the Peltier heating or cooling in this case. In addition, Eq.(15) corresponds to the infinitely strong recombination rate. At the same time there are a lot of situations when this rate is weak enough. What has happened with the Peltier effect in this case? The situation is similar to the electric current or thermoelectric current in the bipolar semiconductors. 6 ; 7  The Fermi quasilevels must appear causing the redistribution of carriers concentrations, electric fields and conductivity. As a result the nature of the Peltier effect can drastically change. It follows from Fig.8 that under the chosen current direction the cooling exchanges to the heating if the recombination is absent. We do not present here the detailed calculations, and give only the main equations for this problem.

## III Main equations

The general approach to the problem of the contact cooling or heating accounting for the generation and recombination processes requires the solution of the following set of equations:

$`𝐣_n=eR_n,𝐣_p=eR_p,`$ (17)
$`\phi (x)=4\pi e(\delta n\delta p).`$
Here $`𝐣_{𝐧,𝐩}`$ are the electron and hole electric current densities; $`\delta n`$, $`\delta p`$ are the concentrations of non-equilibrium electrons and holes, and $`R_{n,p}`$ are the electron and hole recombination rates.
A rigorous theory of recombination suggests that $`R_n`$ is identically equal to $`R_p`$ and therefore for all recombinatiion mechanisms in a linear approximation we have 2 ; 8

$$R_n=R_p=R=\frac{\delta n}{\tau _n}+\frac{\delta p}{\tau _p}.$$
(18)
The values of $`\tau _{n,p}`$ are material parameters having the dimension of time, but they are not electron and hole lifetimes. However, when the condition of quasi-neutrality holds 9  ($`r_da^2`$, where $`r_d`$ is the Debye radius and $`a`$ is the width of the p-n junction), as it is often the case, the non-equilibrium electron and hole concentrations are equal ($`\delta n=\delta p`$). In this case one can define a lifetime common to electrons and holes as

$$\frac{1}{\tau }=\frac{1}{\tau _n}+\frac{1}{\tau _p}.$$
(19)
From a previous work,8  it follows that $`\tau _n/\tau _p=n_0/p_0`$; therefore, the lifetime of non-equilibrium carriers can be expressed as

$$\tau =\tau _n\frac{p_o}{n_0+p_0}.$$
(20)
As it is well known, 9  using Poisson equation in a quasi-neutrality approximation becomes unnecessary, and the electric potential at the boundary of two semiconductors displays jump-like changes. The boundary conditions to Eqs.(16)-(18) can be found elsewhere. 2  The surface recombination rates present in these boundary conditions are 8 ; 10

$$R_s=S_n\delta n+S_p\delta p,$$
(21)
where $`S_n`$ and $`S_p`$ are the parameters characterizing the contact properties. If the quasi-neutrality conditions ($`\delta n=\delta p`$) are satisfied, a surface recombination rate common to electrons and holes can be introduced:

$$S=S_n+S_p.$$
(22)
Therefore one can write

$$R_s=S\delta n.$$
(23)
## IV Further discussion and conclusions

In this section we will present qualitative arguments regarding the two limiting cases of very strong and very weak recombination rates. The criteria for these rates have been discussed in 6 . According to those results, the surface and the bulk recombination rates are strong if $`SS_0`$, or $`\tau _n\tau _0`$ respectively, where $`S_0=(n_0+p_0)\sigma _p^2T_0/(\sigma _n+\sigma _p)e^2an_0p_0`$, $`n_0`$ and $`p_0`$ are the equilibrium concentration of electrons and holes, $`\sigma _n`$ and $`\sigma _p`$ and are the electron and hole conductivity; $`\tau _0=e^2an_0T_0(\sigma _n+\sigma _p)/(\sigma _n\sigma _p)`$. The inequalities $`SS_0`$ and $`\tau _n\tau _0`$ determine the weak surface and bulk recombination. If the strong recombination occurs, then the physical process in the p-n junction is as in Fig.7, and Eq. (12) is right. In the opposite case (weak recombination), electrons from the n-region will pass to the p-region and occupy the states with mean energy $`ϵ_n`$ (cf. Fig.8). By analogy holes will pass to the n-region and will occupy the states with the mean energy $`ϵ_p`$. In the latter case, under the appropriate current direction, the contact is heated and the cooling is absent.

In conclusion, we wish to emphasize that the contact refrigeration is a promising field for applications in different spheres of human activity. In particular, a proper description of the physical processes involved is very important in the today’s problem of acheaving high values of the figure of merit $`Z`$ for thermoelectric materials. 11  All the efforts devoted to this problem up to now 12  have been based on the expression $`Z=(\alpha _n+\alpha _p)^2/(\sqrt{\kappa _n\rho _n}+\sqrt{\kappa _p\rho _p})^2`$ 1 or in the simpler expression $`Z=\alpha ^2\sigma /\kappa `$. Here $`\alpha _{n,p}`$, $`\kappa _{n,p}`$ and $`\rho _{n,p}`$ are, respectively, electron and hole thermoelectric power, thermal conductivity and electric resistance. $`\alpha `$ and $`\sigma `$ are the thermoelectric power and the electric conductivity of an effective medium.

We want to underline that in thermoelectricity this expression is good for the circuit consisting of the metal and semiconductor of n-type and for another materials if the surface and the bulk recombination is very strong. At the same time this formula must be revised in the case of the contacts metal-p-semiconductor and in p-n junctions, where the recombination processes are essential even in the linear approximation. 6 ; 7  Especially important is to take into account the recombination processes in p-n junctions in thin-film thermoelectric cooling modules (Fig.2).

This work was partially supported by CONACyT, México. J.G. aknowledges support from DINAIN, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia.


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# Low resolution spectroscopy of ISOGAL sources: Search for early-type stars with infrared excess This is paper no. 9 in a refereed journal based on data from the ISOGAL project Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla Chile (63.L-0319)

## 1 Introduction

Infrared dust emission is one of the best tools for tracing circumstellar matter in various phases of stellar evolution: cocoons and disks in star formation, mass-loss (and circumstellar disks) in various classes of evolved stars, Vega-type disks, etc.

Surveys with the ISO satellite, especially with the ISOCAM instrument (Cesarsky et al. Cesarsky96 (1996)), have opened new possibilities with a sensitivity typically two orders of magnitude better than IRAS and an angular resolution ten times better. The ISOGAL 7 and 15$`\mu `$m survey (Omont et al. Omont2002 (2001)) has observed $``$16 deg2 distributed in the most obscured regions of the central Galaxy. The total number of stars detected ($`10^5`$) is comparable to the number of stars detected by IRAS in the entire Galaxy. ISOGAL and DENIS (or 2MASS) near-infrared data constitute a powerful combination for identifying the nature of ISOGAL sources even in regions of high extinction (Av up to 20-30). The various colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams from the photometry in the five ISOGAL-DENIS bands provide a wealth of information on the extinction, distance, intrinsic colours and absolute magnitudes. Most sources are M giants at several kpc, with a few foreground K-giants, as observed by Ojha et al. (Ojha2000 (2000)). Among these M-type sources, a large proportion of those detected at 15 $`\mu `$m are AGB-LPVs with a variety of mass-loss rates which are well assessed by the 15 $`\mu `$m excesses (Omont et al. 1999, Glass et al. 1999, Alard et al. 2001).

It is expected that this large sample of infrared sources contains a number of non-AGB stars with circumstellar material like Herbig Ae/Be stars, various types of post-AGB stars, and other peculiar objects. Although the various colours and magnitudes offer broad diagnostics, spectroscopic information is desirable to better characterise them and to identify their exact nature. We have thus begun a systematic spectroscopic study of peculiar ISOGAL sources, with the main goal to identify accretion and post-accretion disks, post-AGB stars and Vega-type stars. Selection criteria are designed to select hotter nearby stars with mid-IR excess while avoiding AGB stars. We report here the results of a preliminary study of low-resolution spectroscopy of a sample of 29 candidate objects.

## 2 Observations

Medium resolution spectra of 29 ISOGAL sources were obtained with the Danish 1.54 m telescope at ESO, La Silla (Chile), equipped with the DFOSC instrument. The observations were carried out between 23–30 June 1999. 60% of the time was lost due to bad weather.

The spectra were recorded on a Loral/Lesser 2052 x 2052 pixel CCD chip, and cover a wavelength range from 3500 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ to 8200 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ with a resolution of 3 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$/pixel. The objects were observed through a 2″ slit. Before each spectrum an R-band image in the was taken. During the night a 10 sec exposure with a Ne-Ar lamp was made for calibration of the wavelength scale. At the beginning and at the end of each night one flux standard was observed (Feige 110 and Wolf 485a) through a 5″ slit. The observations were performed under photometric conditions.

### 2.1 The sample

Due to the limiting sensitivity of the instrument, only sources with $`\mathrm{I}14`$ were chosen. Such a condition excludes more than 90% of ISOGAL sources, since they suffer high extinction, as well as most AGB stars in the inner disk/bulge and most young stars with circumstellar and interstellar reddening. Therefore, with very few exceptions, the selected sources are expected to be foreground, relatively nearby ($`12\mathrm{kpc}`$), objects. We have chosen mainly sources with large values of $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}[15]`$ and $`[7][15]`$ with respect to J–K and I–J. This implies the presence of circumstellar dust in a shell or disk.

Our objects were selected from a prelimary version of the ISOGAL catalog but in the analysis reported here, we use the final ISOGAL catalog (Omont et al. Omont2002 (2001), Schuller et al. Schuller2002 (2001)). The DENIS observations form part of a dedicated survey of the Galactic Bulge (Simon et al., in preparation). The 2MASS data, when available, were taken from the second incremental data release (Skrutskie Skrutskie98 (1998)).

Table 1 summarises the ISOGAL sources observed, including their DENIS, 2MASS and ISOGAL magnitudes as well as the projected distance in arcsecond between the apparently associated DENIS and ISOGAL sources.

## 3 Data reduction

All reduction procedures were carried out with the MIDAS software package. After removal of cosmic ray events, subtraction of the bias level and the dark current, all CCD frames were divided by a normalized flat field. Two sky frames were taken, left and right of the object and the mean sky was subtracted from the object. For the wavelength calibration, 12 Ne-Ar lines were used which led to a rms error for each spectrum of about 0.2 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$. The spectra were rebinned to a linear scale, with a resolution of 3 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$/pixel. The two photometric standards Wolf 485a and Feige 110 (Stone Stone77 (1977), Massey & Strobel Massey88 (1988)) were used for flux calibration. All spectra were calibrated with the averaged instrumental response from the two standards and were corrected for atmospheric extinction. Typical errors in the absolute fluxes are $``$ 10%.

## 4 Analysis

### 4.1 Spectral classification

Figure 1 shows a sample of the resulting spectra (Fλ in erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1), normalized to unity by the flux at 5500 Å. The most prominent spectral features are indicated. A wide variety of spectral types is present. We classified the optical spectra of our sources by comparing them with the spectra of standard stars drawn from the low-resolution spectral atlases of Jacoby et al. (Jacoby84 (1984)), Torres-Dodgen & Weaver (Torres93 (1993)), Pickles (Pickles98 (1998)), Walborn (Walborn80 (1980)) and Yamashita et al. (Yamashita77 (1977)). The spectral types are given in Table 1. Some of our program stars show significant reddening and, therefore, the blue part of the spectrum shortward of 5000Å does not have a high signal-to-noise ratio. When the reddening is high, we have used the red part of the spectrum of our program stars for classification. The spectral atlases of Turnshek et al. (Turnshek85 (1985)), Walborn (Walborn80 (1980)) and Torres-Dodgen & Weaver (Torres93 (1993)) were useful in the red spectral region for both hot and cool stars. The uncertainty in our assigned spectral types is estimated to be two subtypes, while (due to the low resolution of our spectra) the uncertainty in the luminosity should be one subclass.

### 4.2 Interstellar reddening

We derived a rough effective temperature for each object using the corresponding Kurucz models. The total (interstellar+circumstellar) reddening has been obtained adopting the value which gave the best fit between the observed spectrum and the reddened model spectrum (Fig. 4). This method depends strongly on the adopted fundamental parameters ($`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, log g, log Z) of the Kurucz models and on the slope of the observed spectrum.

Thus we estimate the uncertainty of E(B-V) for spectral types B-F of the order of $``$ 0.3 while, for later spectral types(KM), we have larger errors ($``$ 0.5) as the Kurucz models do not reproduce cool stellar spectra well. The corresponding E(B-V) values are given in Table 1.

### 4.3 Rejection of dubious cases

Our aim was to characterize the objects and to search for clear cases of mid-infrared excess in stars with spectral types no later than K. We will thus focus the subsequent analysis on such cases, while we report non-confirmed, the most ambiguous cases, and M-stars in Appendix A, and in figures available electronically at CDS. Such rejected sources are relatively numerous ($``$50%) because of the preliminary nature of our selection criteria and of the quality of data available at the time of the observations. The major cause of rejection (see Appendix A) is evidence of multiple sources in the field with a large probability of false association of a foreground visible star with a distant AGB star, invisible at optical wavelengths. For each individual source, the DENIS/2MASS images in I, J, H and $`K_S`$ and the ISOCAM images in 7 and 15 $`\mu `$m were examined by eye in order to check the cross-identification of the ISOGAL source with the near-IR counterpart. For about 50% of the sources, a second object was found close by, or even multiple components (see the description of the individual objects). When the projected distance to the second source is less than 3.5″(the search radius for ISOGAL-DENIS associations) we have carefully considered the possible association of the ISOGAL source with the second DENIS source (though we took the optical spectrum of the primary candidate). In addition, we used the $`(\mathrm{I}\mathrm{J})_0/(\mathrm{J}\mathrm{K})_0`$ diagram (see Fig. 3b) to decide if those objects follow the expected temperature sequence in the colour-colour diagram indicated by the straight lines in Fig. 3b.

The objects with a second nearby source ($`<3.5\mathrm{}`$) for which the position in the colour-colour diagram (see Fig. 3b) does not agree with the temperature sequence, were rejected from further discussion (see Appendix).

In addition, we have also rejected the five identified M-stars, and star #23 where the present higher quality ISOGAL fluxes do not confirm the existence of a mid-infrared excess.

### 4.4 Notes on individual objects

#1: In the colour-magnitude diagrams (see Figs. 2 and 3), this (F8-G0III) star, with narrow Balmer lines, shows a very strong near-IR excess and a moderate mid-IR excess. The SED of this object (see Fig. 4) shows evidence for the presence of hot circumstellar dust with a temperature $``$1500K. Because our spectra are obtained with a slit spectrograph and the amount of light going through the slit depends on the slit width and “seeing”, it is hard to estimate the exact optical flux in units of ergs/cm2/sec. However, we find that the ratio of integrated IR flux to integrated optical is about 50 which indicates that the central star of object #1 is significantly obscured. This high flux ratio between the IR and optical flux is similar to that of post-AGB stars with dusty disks such as the Red Rectangle or Hen 401 (Parthasarathy et al. Parthasarathy2001 (2001)). We find a small reddening of E(B-V) $``$ 0.2 indicating that we see only the scattered starlight in the Optical. High-resolution imaging in the IR may reveal the dusty disk and bipolar geometry. The large near-IR excess of this object is similar to that of some of the A and F post-AGB stars with dusty disks and invisible binary companions (van Winckel et al. Winckel95 (1995)). Radial velocity monitoring, near-IR spectroscopy and photometric monitoring may enable us to probe further the evolutionary status of this star.

#14: The object shows strong $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ in emission while $`\mathrm{H}_\beta `$ is weak, apparently filled in by emission. A weak MgII absorption line at 4481 Å and diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) at 5783 Å and 6288 Å are visible. The colours (I–J)0 and (J–K)0 are consistent (Fig. 3b) with the spectral type. The moderate mid-IR excess could indicate a Vega-type star or a Herbig Be star. A second star is present $``$5$`\mathrm{}`$ away in DENIS and 2MASS with H=11.5 and $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}=10.2`$. However, its association with the ISOGAL source appears less probable because of its substantial projected distance. The possible extension of the 7 and 15 $`\mu `$m source could, nevertheless, indicate a superposition of two objects.

#15: This spectrum shows a weak MgII line at 4481 Å and diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) at 5783 Å and 6288 Å. There is a significant excess at 15 $`\mu `$m which could indicate a Vega-type star. However, the position of the 15 $`\mu `$m source at the edge of an extended emission region compromises the quality of its photometry.

#16: The spectrum (B7) is similar to #15, with DIBs at 5783 Å and 6288 Å. The $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ line is broad and partially filled in. The bump between 5000-6500 Å and the extended 15 $`\mu `$m emission might indicate an object with extended red emission (see text).

#17: In DENIS there is a second source with $`\mathrm{I}=13.9`$, $`\mathrm{J}=12.8`$ and $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}=11.3`$ at a large projected distance of 11″. However its near-IR magnitudes do not favour its association with the 7–15 $`\mu `$m source. The (I–J)0 and (J–K)0 colours of the main source are consistent. Therefore, we favour a K-giant with a mid-IR excess.

#18: In DENIS there is a second source at a large projected distance of $``$ 10$`\mathrm{}`$ with $`\mathrm{I}=11.65`$, $`\mathrm{J}=10.05`$ and $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}=9.27`$. As for source #17, we favour a K-giant with mid-IR excess.

#22: This object corresponds to a multiple system in DENIS/2MASS with projected distance of $``$ 2″. We have not isolated the primary candidate because we suspect that the association of the visible/near-IR source and the ISOGAL source could be spurious. However, the (I–J)0 and (J–K)0 colours follow the temperature sequence so we favour a G-star with mid-IR excess.

#26: Below 5000 Å the spectrum has poor S/N. HeI absorption lines at 5876 Å and 6678 Å may be present. It seems to be a heavily reddened early-type star. The 7 $`\mu `$m image shows a nearly stellar object with a jet-like structure, while at 15 $`\mu `$m it shows extended emission. While there is practically no excess at 7 $`\mu `$m, the excess at 15 $`\mu `$m is strong. This star is associated with IRAS 17485-2627 with high 60 $`\mu `$m and 100 $`\mu `$m fluxes ($`<`$3.19, =13.03, =51.97, =213.30), in a star-forming region (Codella et al. Codella95 (1995)). Although in J, H and K a second object has been extracted ($`\mathrm{J}=15.7`$, $`\mathrm{H}=13.4`$ and $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}=12.0`$) at $``$5″, it does not seem to be associated with the ISOGAL source. Consequently, we favour a young stellar object, with a relatively distant remnant accretion disk or cocoon, that produces the far-infrared excess.

#27: The spectrum (B3-4) is similar to that of #14, with $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ in emission and DIBs at 5783 Å and 6288 Å . There is no doubt about the association and the mid-IR excess seems reasonably well-established. The bump between 5000-6000 Å could be associated with extended red emission (see Section 5.3 )

#28: The spectrum shows a strong reddening (E(B-V) $``$ 2.5) with many emission lines: \[OI\] line at 5580 Å, $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ ($`\mathrm{H}_\beta `$ is not present due to reddening), P Cygni profile at 6286 Å with an emission peak at 6300 Å, \[OI\] emission line at 6360 Å. There is a weak emission line on the violet edge of the atmospheric feature at 6800 Å. The object seems to be a reddened early-type emission-line star. DIBs are present at 5783 Å and 6288 Å. There is no doubt about the association of optical and IR objects. The mid-IR excess is strong. However, there is some inconsistency between the 7 and 15 $`\mu `$m magnitudes as the - colour is -0.3. The object lies in a region of extended emission at 7 and 15 $`\mu `$m and is within 3 arcmin of the open cluster, NGC 6531.

## 5 Results and Discussion

### 5.1 Cross-identification between optical spectra and ISOGAL sources

As mentioned in Sect. 4.3, we investigated the reliability of the cross-identifications between the objects for which we tool optical spectra and the actual ISOGAL sources, in order to eliminate spurious associations. Therefore, for each individual source, we examined by eye the DENIS/2MASS images in the four filters (I, J, H and $`K_S`$) as well as our ISOCAM images at 7 and 15 $`\mu `$m. In particular, we checked if there were second, or multiple, sources close by which might be more plausible cross-identifications than our primary target stars.

For about 50% of the sources, we did indeed find other nearby star images. Generally, these second components appear only in the J, H or K bands, and are invisible in I. We reject all such sources from further discussion although we list them in Appendix A (see the last column of Table 1). Information about the cross-identifications is given in the decription of the individual objects (Sect. 4.4 and Appendix A). In the discussion below we will take into account only those sources where there is no doubt as to the association of the optical spectrum with the ISOGAL counterpart.

### 5.2 Colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams

The infrared colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams are complementary to visible spectroscopy for analysing the nature of the sources. Four of the most interesting diagrams are displayed in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. Dereddened diagrams were produced with the estimated values of E(B-V) (see Table 1), except for the /– diagram, which is somewhat insensitive to reddening.

The /– diagram shows that a few of the sources of Table 1 are among the brightest ISOGAL sources with a 15 $`\mu `$m flux up to 4 Jy, but that most of the other sources of this table are weak 15 $`\mu `$m ISOGAL sources. In order to ensure a reasonable level of reliability, completeness and photometric accuracy, the ISOGAL data are limited to sources brighter than 8.5 mag (8 mJy) at 15 $`\mu `$m and 9.75 mag (11 mJy) at 7 $`\mu `$m. We refer the reader to Omont et al. (1999) and Omont et al. (2002) for a detailed description of the ISOGAL catalog and its detection limits. However, the main interest of this diagram is to confirm that the sources discussed in section 4.4 (sources indicated by “M” in Table 1 except #16 and #28), have a significant excess at 15 $`\mu `$m with respect to 7 $`\mu `$m. The 15 $`\mu `$m excess is exceptionally large in #26, and is confirmed in the (I–J)0/(K0–15) diagram. The latter suggests that (I–J)0 is an efficient discrimator between early spectral types and K/M types, except in the case of the peculiar F8-G0 giant #1.

From the location in the $`(\mathrm{I}\mathrm{J})_0/(\mathrm{K}_0[15])`$ diagram of the early-type stars with infrared excess, one can determine selection criteria to seek the best candidates from the original DENIS-ISOGAL diagram, $`(\mathrm{I}\mathrm{J})/(\mathrm{K}[15])`$. This colour-colour plane is a natural one to look for non-AGB stars with circumstellar dust because of the SED difference between AGB stars and hotter objects with a circumstellar shell. Such objects are found in the domain shown in Fig. 2b. It has been designed with the dual objectives of not missing nearby early-type stars with a real mid-IR excess while limiting serious contamination by distant AGB stars.

For near-infared colours, Fig. 3b displays the $`(\mathrm{I}\mathrm{J})_0/(\mathrm{J}\mathrm{K})_0`$ diagram. The majority of the sources follow a sequence which is well delineated by the stellar library (temperature range between 2500 K to 35000 K) of Pickles (Pickles98 (1998)); such DENIS colours were calculated using the DENIS filter profiles and the mean atmospheric transmission at La Silla. The few objects on the right of this sequence could be either cold pre-planetary nebulae with K excess (as defined by displaying known examples in Fig. 3b), or the result of a spurious association of a red JK source with a faint blue I star. Coupled with visual inspection of the DENIS images, this diagram indicates whether the photometry is affected by a nearby source.

### 5.3 A and B spectral types

Although our sample suffers from small number statistics, the proportions of stars with various spectral types from B to K seem to be rather comparable to those of local Hipparcos stars with 25 $`\mu `$m IRAS excesses (Knauer et al. Knauer2001 (2001)). The majority of the stars retained have a mid-infrared excess associated with A or B spectral type. They probably belong to one of the important classes well studied by IRAS:

\- Young stars of intermediate mass with circumstellar dust. The most prominent are Herbig Ae-Be stars (nebulous emission-line stars: see e.g. Waters & Waelkens Waters98 (1998)). However, other young A-B stars with similar infrared properties are also known without emission lines (see e.g. the analysis of IRAS sources in the molecular cloud L1641 by Strom et al. Strom89 (1989)).

\- B\[e\] with circumstellar emission lines (e. g. Hummel et al. Hummel2001 (2001)).

\- Vega or $`\beta `$ Pic-like circumstellar debris disks. Although such disks are better detected at longer wavelength, the sensitivity of ISOGAL is such that stars similar to $`\beta `$ Pic should be detectable out to $``$1 kpc.

\- Post-AGB stars with infrared excess should be readily detected throughout the whole Galaxy. However, they are rare and mostly distant, so that our selection criteria will miss them in regions of high extinction.

Emission lines are found in 4 objects (H$`\alpha `$ emission is spectacular in #10, but the association of the spectrum with the mid-infrared excess is dubious). The most probable explanation of such spectra would be Herbig Ae-Be stars.

It is also likely that #26 is a young star, since it is located in the direction of a star-forming region with high extinction. The case of #15 is not clear and it remains an interesting candidate for a $`\beta `$ Pic-type object at $``$1 kpc. High-resolution spectra are essential to pursue the exact nature of such stars.

### 5.4 A-B stars with a red excess

Two of the B stars are found to show a bump between 5000 and 6000 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ which could be due to extended red emission (ERE). The most well-known object with ERE is the post-AGB star with the reflection nebula known as “The Red Rectangle” (HD44179) (Schmidt et al. 1980). The red excess is clearly seen in the spectra of #27 and #16, and perhaps in #14. ERE occurs in a wide variety of objects (Witt & Boroson Witt90 (1990), Gordon et al. Gordon98 (1998)), including reflection nebulae such as NGC 2023 and NGC 7023, while Darbon et al. (Darbon2000 (2000)) found evidence of ERE in compact HII regions.

The ERE in the spectrum of the Red Rectangle appears to be due to several unidentified systems of emission bands (Schmidt et al. Schmidt80 (2001)), although $`\mathrm{CH}^+`$ has been identified in the blue (Balm & Jura Balm93 (1993)). The ERE models of Seahra & Duley (Seahra99 (1999)) predict a spectrum with three peaks at 0.5, 0.7 and 1 $`\mu `$m which are due to carbonaceous components of interstellar matter, while Gordon et al. (Gordon2000 (2000)) explain the ERE band by silicon nanoparticles. Witt et al. (Witt98 (1998)) found that silicon nanoparticles provide the best match to the spectrum and to the photoluminescence efficiency required by the ERE.

The presence of ERE in some of our B and A-type objects with $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ emission suggests that they may be also illuminate reflection nebulae. High-resolution imaging in the $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ line and high-resolution spectroscopy may enable us to further understand the evolutionary stage, chemical composition, and ERE of these stars.

Two objects with ERE in our limited sample may be significant. However, to estimate the frequency of occurrence of ERE among dusty A and B-stars requires a systematic spectral survey of a large number of ISOGAL-DENIS sources, which is beyond the scope of the present paper.

### 5.5 FGK spectral types

We also found that a few of our ISOGAL sources show the type of mid-IR excess associated with F,G and K-giants. Some of these could be post-asymptotic giant branch stars (Oudmaijer et al. Oudmaijer92 (1992), Pottasch & Parthasarathy Pottasch88 (1988)), as suggested for FG-type Hipparcos stars (Knauer et al. Knauer2001 (2001)). In addition to five cases with dubious associations, we have two good candidates for such objects: #22 and the remarkable case of the F8-G0 giant #1 (see Sect. 4.4).

Zuckerman et al. (Zuckerman95 (1995)) and Plets et al. (Plets97 (1997)) found from an analysis of the IRAS point source catalogue that about one percent of G and K-giants have warm circumstellar dust. The presence of substantial dust near these stars is not easily explained and various mechanisms have been proposed: binarity; evaporation of circumstellar debris; or mass-loss on the first-ascent giant branch which could be related to the overabundance of lithium observed in a fraction of these late-type giants (de la Reza et al. Reza96 (1996),Reza97 (1997), Jasniewicz et al. Jasniewicz99 (1999), Fekel & Watson Fekel98 (1998)). First-ascent giants are not expected to have significant mass-loss and circumstellar dust shells. It is, therefore, vital to study these objects with high spectral resolution in order to understand their chemical composition and the origins of their circumstellar shells.

## 6 Conclusions

We have obtained low-resolution spectra and IR data of 29 ISOGAL sources. After careful inspection of the DENIS/2MASS images and of the cross-identification between ISOGAL and DENIS, about 50% of the objects have been rejected due to the influence of nearby components. Six of the stars retained have A or B spectral type, probably mostly young stars. Two of these show an extended red emission (ERE) indicating that they may be similar to the Red Rectangle or to reflection nebulae. The spectral energy distribution of object #1 suggests that it is probably a post-AGB stage in a binary system where the dust is trapped in a disc.

The $`(\mathrm{I}\mathrm{J})_0/(\mathrm{K}_0[15])`$ and (J–K)/(K–) diagrams provide the most suitable tools to distinguish between early-type and late-type spectral types. The region of the $`(\mathrm{I}\mathrm{J})/\mathrm{K}[15]`$ diagram delineated in Fig. 2b is appropriate for a systematic search for nearby early-type objects with infrared excess.

## Appendix A Rejected Sources

#2: This source is a very bright ISOGAL source. In $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}`$ there is a second component 4$`\mathrm{}`$ away with $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}9.0`$, but this object is invisible in I and J. This second object is more likely to be associated with the ISOGAL source, while the IJK DENIS source corresponds to the observed visible spectrum.

#3: This object shows a strong feature at 6230 Åwhere TiO and perhaps CaOH are present. There is a second DENIS source (J = 14.8 and $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}`$ = 12.1), $``$ 1″away, so that the association of the ISOGAL source with the observed visible spectrum is uncertain.

#4: The S/N of this spectrum is low but the FeI 5250 Å feature is strong. At 7 and 15$`\mu `$m the object is embedded in extended emission. The quality of DENIS images in J and K is poor but, in DENIS I, there is no sign of a double component. However, the (J–K) and (I–J) colours do not correspond to the temperature sequence, so that the association of the I source, its observed visible spectrum (K4), and the J–K–ISOGAL source is uncertain.

#5: The spectrum (G4) is very similar to that of #1, with a strong IR excess. A double source in DENIS (projected distances of 3.2$`\mathrm{}`$ (primary candidate) and $``$ 2″), and inconsistent (I–J)/(J–K) colours make the association between the I source, its observed visible spectrum , and the ISOGAL source very questionable.

#6: The spectrum (G4) is similar to that of #1. At 7 $`\mu `$m the source has been rejected from the new ISOGAL catalog. The ISOGAL association flag makes the cross-identification between the DENIS and the weak 15 $`\mu `$m ISOGAL source questionable.

#7: The S/N of this spectrum is very weak below 5000 Å, due to strong reddening ($`\mathrm{E}(\mathrm{B}\mathrm{V})1.0`$). A second component in DENIS (projected distance of 2″) with $`\mathrm{J}12.6`$, $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}12.6`$ and no detection in I makes any association with our ISOGAL source dubious.

#8: This weak ISOGAL object shows a double source in DENIS. The second component (projected distance of $``$ 2″) is not extracted by DENIS or 2MASS.

#9: Below 6500 Å the spectrum has no detectable flux, suggesting strong reddening ($`\mathrm{E}(\mathrm{B}\mathrm{V})2.6`$). The object has a strong near- and mid-IR excesses and is an AGB star with high mass-loss.

#10: The spectrum shows very strong Hα emission and emission lines at 4580 Å and 5070 Å. The stellar continuum is weak below 5200 Å; $`\mathrm{H}_\beta `$ is not visible perhaps due to the heavy reddening ($`\mathrm{E}(\mathrm{B}\mathrm{V})2.5`$). There is a significant near-IR, and a large mid-IR, excess. It could be an Ae-Be Herbi-type star. However, in the DENIS I image, a second very faint component ($`2\mathrm{}`$ away) is seen but was not extracted by DENIS.

#11: This is a heavily reddened M giant (E(B-V) $``$ 2.0) with little near- or mid-IR excess. A double component (projected distance of $`3\mathrm{}`$) appears with $`\mathrm{J}13.5`$, $`\mathrm{H}11.9`$ and $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}11.5`$.

#12: The spectrum (K5) is similar to #3. The TiO band at 6230 Å is relatively strong. A second component at $``$ 5″) is visible in DENIS (not extracted by DENIS/2MASS). The mid-IR excess is relatively weak and needs confirmation.

#13: The late-F visible spectrum is similar to #7. However, there is a strong mid-IR excess and a significant near-IR excess. Such colours are known for some post-AGB stars. However, a companion is visible in the DENIS image (projected distance of $`2\mathrm{}`$), which has been not extracted by DENIS and 2MASS. The inconsistent (J–K)0 and (I–J)0 colours may, therefore, be due to a line-of-sight coincidence between an F-star and an AGB star.

#19: The absorption spectrum shows a weak MgII line at 4481 Å and DIBs at 5783 Å and 6288 Å. The strong near-IR and mid-IR excesses might indicate a Vega-type star, or even a post-AGB star. However, in DENIS a second red source is located $``$3$`\mathrm{}`$ away with $`\mathrm{K}_\mathrm{S}=11.6`$ and no I or J detection. The anomalous (I–J)0 and (J–K)0 colours could be contaminated by the second component. In addition, there is no confirmed 15 $`\mu `$m detection, and the photometry at 7 $`\mu `$m could be affected by extended emission present in this region.

#20: This object is a multiple system in DENIS/2MASS (projected distance of $`2\mathrm{}`$) whose other components are not extracted by DENIS/2MASS. The (I–J) and (J–K) colours indicate that the photometry might be affected by a second component. At 7 and 15 $`\mu `$m, the region is very crowded.

#21: The spectrum shows an M star with a stellar continuum below 5000 Å .

#23: The continuum below 5000 Å is weak due to strong reddening ($`\mathrm{E}(\mathrm{B}\mathrm{V})1.5`$). The very faint point source at 7 $`\mu `$m and the lack of confirmation of a 15$`\mu `$m conuterpart in the present ISOGAL catalog do not confirm the presence of a mid-IR excess.

#24 This object is an M-giant with almost no detectable IR excess.

#25: This is a double source in DENIS/2MASS (projected distance of $`2\mathrm{}`$) which has not been extracted. The (I–J) and (J–K) colours suggest a spurious identification between the ISOGAL and the DENIS sources.

#29: This is a late M-giant with strong near- and mid-IR excesses. It is associated with a known Mira Variable star (V1547 Sgr), with a period of $``$ 360 days.

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank M.Gerbaldi and I. S.Glass for reading the manuscript and for the fruitful discussions.

MP thanks the IAP for their hospitality during visits financed by the Indo-French IFCPAR collaboration project 1910-1.

MS is supported by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF), Austria, under the project number J1971-PHY.

MC thanks NASA for its supporting this work through the ISO block grant to UC-Berkeley under contract 961501 through JPL.

The DENIS project is supported in France by the Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers, the Education Ministry and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, in Germany by the State of Baden-Würtemberg, in Spain by the DGICYT, in Italy by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, in Austria by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung und Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung.

This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.


text:
# Radio and X-Ray Detectability of Buoyant Radio Plasma Bubbles in Clusters of Galaxies

## 1 Introduction

An early key result from the Chandra X-ray observatory was the discovery of numerous X-ray cavities in clusters of galaxies, preceded by pioneering detections by the ROSAT satellite. For example, cavities were found in the Perseus cluster (Böhringer et al. 1993), the Cygnus-A cluster (Carilli et al. 1994; Fabian et al. 2000), the Hydra-A cluster (McNamara et al. 2000), Abell 2597 (McNamara et al. 2001), Abell 4059 (Huang & Sarazin 1998; Heinz et al. 2002), Abell 2199 (Fabian 2001), Abell 2052 (Blanton et al. 2001), close to M84 in the Virgo Cluster (Finoguenov & Jones 2001), in the RBS797 cluster (Schindler et al. 2001), and in the MKW3s cluster (Mazzotta et al. 2001). In most of these cases, the cavities are clearly coincident with the lobes of a radio galaxy at the cluster center. However, some clusters exhibit also cavities without detectable radio emission, namely in Perseus, Abell 2597, and Abell 4059. The latter class of cavities are also believed to be filled with radio plasma, but during the buoyant rise of the very light radio plasma in the cluster atmosphere (Gull & Northover 1973; Churazov et al. 2000, 2001; Brüggen & Kaiser 2001; Churazov et al. 2002) adiabatic expansion and synchrotron/inverse Compton radiation losses should have diminished the observable radio emitting electron population, leaving behind a so called ghost cavity or radio ghost (Enßlin 1999). The detectability of an X-ray cavity should also decrease with increasing distance from the cluster center due to the decreasing ratio of the missing X-ray emission from the volume occupied by the bubble to the fore- and background X-ray emission.

## 2 Rising buoyant bubbles

While the early phase of radio galaxy evolution is characterized by supersonic expansion into the surrounding medium, the radio lobes quickly settle into pressure equilibrium with the ICM after the AGN has shut off. Our description sets in at this moment $`t_1`$, where the bubble is located at a cluster radius $`r_1`$ with volume $`V_{\mathrm{b},1}`$ and pressure $`P_1=P_{\mathrm{ICM}}(r_1)`$. The bubble will then quickly approach a terminal velocity $`v_\mathrm{b}(r)`$, governed by the balance of buoyancy and drag forces. During its rise, the bubble volume changes according to the adiabatic law $`V_\mathrm{b}(r)=V_{\mathrm{b},1}(P(r)/P_1)^{1/\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}`$, where the adiabatic index $`\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}`$ is close to $`4/3`$, which we will take as our fiducial value for numerical examples. The magnetic field strength should evolve according to $`B(t)=B_1(V_\mathrm{b}(t)/V_{\mathrm{b},1})^{2/3}=B_1(P(t)/P_1)^{2/(3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})}`$, if the expansion of the bubble is isotropic. For simplicity, we only consider spherical bubbles with radius $`r_\mathrm{b}`$, which gives sufficiently accurate estimates for most applications. If the bubble becomes highly deformed or even disintegrates, more sophisticated models than ours will have to be used. We further assume, that entrainment of environmental gas into the bubble is dynamically insignificant on the considered time-scales, implying that the bubble is X-ray dark. Numerical simulations (e.g., Reynolds et al. 2001) support the latter.

It is often convenient to express physical quantities like the bubble volume and the magnetic field strength in terms of the values they would have if the bubble were adiabatically moved to the cluster center. We denote these by the subscript $`0`$ (e.g., $`V_{\mathrm{b},0}=V_\mathrm{b}(r=0)=V_{\mathrm{b},1}(P_0/P_1)^{1/\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}`$). As our working example, we will investigate a cluster described by an isothermal $`\beta `$-profile with a density profile of $`\rho (r)=\rho _0(1+(r/r_\mathrm{c})^2)^{3\beta /2}`$, pressure $`P(r)=P_0(1+(r/r_\mathrm{c})^2)^{3\beta /2}`$, and constant sound speed $`c_\mathrm{s}\delta `$.

We define the origin of the cluster coordinate system at the cluster center, with the $`x`$ and $`y`$ axis defining the image plane and the $`z`$-axis the line of sight to the observer, and the coordinate system oriented so that the bubble center is located in the $`x`$-$`z`$ plane at $`r=(r\mathrm{cos}\theta ,0,r\mathrm{sin}\theta )`$. Its projected distance from the cluster center is $`R=\mu r`$, where $`\mu =\mathrm{cos}\theta `$. The angle $`\theta `$ should be roughly conserved along the bubble’s trajectory in a spherical cluster atmosphere.

The buoyancy speed of the bubble can be estimated from the balance of buoyancy and drag forces. The buoyancy force

$$F_{\mathrm{buoyancy}}=\frac{4}{3}\pi r_\mathrm{b}^3g\rho =\frac{4}{3}\pi r_\mathrm{b}^3\frac{dP}{dr}$$
(1)
depends on the gravitational acceleration $`g`$, which can be expressed via the pressure gradient in a cluster with hydrostatical equilibrium. The hydrodynamical drag of subsonic motion is well approximated by

$$F_{\mathrm{drag}}=C_\mathrm{d}\pi r_\mathrm{b}^2\rho v^2,$$
(2)
with $`C_\mathrm{d}0.5`$. Using $`r_\mathrm{b}=r_{\mathrm{b},0}(P/P_0)^{1/(3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})}`$, the bubble velocity is given by

$$v_\mathrm{b}(r)=\left(\frac{4r_\mathrm{b}}{3C_\mathrm{d}\rho }\frac{dP}{dr}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{r_\mathrm{c}}{\tau }\left(\frac{r}{r_\mathrm{c}}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(1+\frac{r^2}{r_\mathrm{c}^2}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\beta }{4\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}},$$
(3)
where

$$\tau =\sqrt{\frac{C_\mathrm{d}\gamma _{\mathrm{ICM}}r_\mathrm{c}}{\beta r_{\mathrm{b},0}}}\frac{r_\mathrm{c}}{2c_\mathrm{s}}\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{r_\mathrm{c}}{r_{\mathrm{b},0}}}\frac{r_\mathrm{c}}{c_\mathrm{s}}$$
(4)
is the characteristic buoyancy timescale across one core radius. The typical rise velocity is a fraction ($`\sqrt{r_\mathrm{b}/r_\mathrm{c}}`$) of the sound speed $`c_\mathrm{s}`$. The time the bubble needs to travel from $`r_1`$ to $`r_2`$ is then

$$t(r_1,r_2)=\frac{\tau }{2}\left[\mathrm{B}_{\frac{x^2}{1+x^2}}(\frac{1}{4},\frac{\beta }{4\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}\frac{3}{4})\right]_{r_1/r_\mathrm{c}}^{r_2/r_\mathrm{c}},$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{B}_x(a,b)_0^x𝑑yy^a(1y)^b`$ denotes the incomplete beta function, and $`[f(x)]_{x_1}^{x_2}f(x_2)f(x_1)`$.

If the initial bubble is large compared to the cluster core Eq. 3 can give supersonic rise velocities. In such a case Eq. 2 is no longer valid. Instead, strongly increased dissipation will limit the rise velocity to the subsonic regime. In such a case one will adopt $`v_\mathrm{b}=\alpha _\mathrm{b}c_\mathrm{s}`$, with $`\alpha _\mathrm{b}0.5`$.

## 3 X-ray deficit evolution

The X-ray emissivity at cluster radius $`r`$ and for a given density and pressure profile is $`ϵ_\nu =\mathrm{\Lambda }_\nu (T(r))n(r)^2`$, where $`n`$ is the electron number density and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\nu (T)`$ is the plasma cooling function.

In the following we will assume that the gas surrounding the bubble has essentially settled back into hydrostatic equilibrium in the dark matter potential, which is unperturbed by the radio galaxy activity.

In general, the surface brightness integral must be solved numerically, but in the case of a $`\beta `$-model atmosphere, it can be expressed in closed form. For an undisturbed line of sight (i.e., not intersecting a bubble) the observed surface brightness (neglecting cosmological corrections) is given by

$$I_{\mathrm{X},\mathrm{cl}}(x,y)=I_0\left(1+\frac{x^2+y^2}{r_\mathrm{c}^2}\right)^{3\beta +\frac{1}{2}}+I_{\mathrm{bg}},$$
(6)
where $`I_0=\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{T}n_0^2r_\mathrm{c}(4\pi )^1\mathrm{B}(3\beta \frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2})`$ is the central, and $`I_{\mathrm{bg}}`$ the background photon flux. $`\mathrm{B}(a,b)`$ is the beta function $`B_{x=1}(a,b)`$.

For a line of sight intersecting the surface of a bubble, the intersection points are located at $`(x,y,z_\pm )`$, with

$$z_\pm =r\sqrt{1\mu ^2}\pm \sqrt{r_\mathrm{b}^2y^2(xr\mu )^2}.$$
(7)
The surface brightness in the region occupied by the bubble is given by

$`I_{\mathrm{X},\mathrm{b}}(x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`I_{\mathrm{X},\mathrm{cl}}(x,y)I_0\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{x^2+y^2}{r_\mathrm{c}^2}}\right)^{3\beta +\frac{1}{2}}`$
$`\times \left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sgn}(z)}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{B}_{\varpi (z)}(\frac{1}{2},3\beta \frac{1}{2})}{\mathrm{B}(3\beta \frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2})}}\right]_z_{}^{z_+}`$
where we defined $`\varpi (z)z^2/(r_\mathrm{c}^2+x^2+y^2+z^2)`$.

Another important diagnostic is the number of missing counts $`\mathrm{\Delta }N_\mathrm{X}`$ from the cavities, i.e., the photons emitted from a spherical region of radius $`r_\mathrm{b}`$ at distance $`r`$ from the center in an unperturbed cluster atmosphere during the exposure interval $`t_{\mathrm{obs}}`$. For a detector with effective area $`A_\nu `$ and a source distance of $`D`$ we define

$$\lambda _\mathrm{T}=𝑑\nu \frac{A_\nu \mathrm{\Lambda }_\nu (T)t_{\mathrm{obs}}}{4\pi D^2h\nu }.$$
(9)
Then,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }N_\mathrm{X}=\frac{\pi \lambda _\mathrm{T}n_0^2r_\mathrm{c}^3}{6\beta 2}\left[\mathrm{B}_{\frac{1}{v}}(3\beta \frac{3}{2},\frac{1}{2})+\frac{v^{23\beta }r_\mathrm{c}}{(3\beta 2)r}\right]_v_{}^{v_+}$$
(10)
where $`v_\pm =1+[(r_\mathrm{b}\pm r)/r_\mathrm{c}]^2`$.

In order to design searches for cavities in promising cluster candidates, it is useful to estimate the expected signal to noise ratio ($`𝒮/𝒩`$) of a potential observation. The signal is the expected number of missing photons from the volume occupied by the bubble, $`𝒮=\mathrm{\Delta }N_\mathrm{X}`$. The background, on top of which the missing photons have to be detected, is the expected number of photons $`N_{\mathrm{exp}}`$ from the area on the sky subtended by the cavity, assuming there were no cavity. This assumes that the instrument point spread function is not more extended than the cavity. The noise is then given by the fluctuation in this photon number, which is $`𝒩\sqrt{N_{\mathrm{exp}}}`$.

The signal-to-noise ratio of a small bubble (so that the cluster density does not vary significantly across its diameter, $`r_\mathrm{b}\mathrm{Max}[r_\mathrm{c},r]`$), in an isothermal $`\beta `$-model is well approximated by

$$\frac{𝒮}{𝒩}=\frac{4r_{\mathrm{b},0}^2n_0(1+r^2/r_\mathrm{c}^2)^{3\beta +\frac{\beta }{\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}}}{3[(1+\mu ^2r^2/r_\mathrm{c}^2)^{3\beta +\frac{1}{2}}+\delta ]^{\frac{1}{2}}}\left[\frac{\pi \lambda _\mathrm{T}}{r_\mathrm{c}\mathrm{B}(3\beta \frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2})}\right]^{\frac{1}{2}},$$
(11)
where $`\delta `$ is the ratio of the uniform background to central cluster photon flux. In most applications $`\delta 1`$. We write

$$\left(\frac{𝒮}{𝒩}\right)_0=\frac{𝒮}{𝒩}(r=0)=\frac{4n_0r_{\mathrm{b},0}^2}{3\sqrt{1+\delta }}\left(\frac{\pi \lambda _T}{r_\mathrm{c}\mathrm{B}(3\beta \frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2})}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}$$
(12)
for the signal to noise ratio of a cavity moved to the cluster center. We write $`(𝒮/𝒩)_{\mathrm{min}}`$ for the minimum signal to noise required for a firm bubble detection. We define $`X=(𝒮/𝒩)_{\mathrm{min}}/(𝒮/𝒩)_0`$, which is $`<1`$ for all detectable bubbles. The subvolume of the cluster within which a bubble of the chosen size can be detected is shown in Fig. 1. The dependence of the total integrated cluster volume $`V_{\mathrm{det}}`$, at which such a bubble can be detected, is displayed in Fig. 2 as a function of $`X`$ and $`\delta `$. For $`\delta =0`$ the volume integral can be estimated analytically, and yields

$$V_{\mathrm{det}}=\frac{4}{3}\pi (X^\xi Y)^{\frac{3}{2}}r_\mathrm{c}^3+2\pi \eta X^\psi B_Y(\frac{3}{2},\frac{3}{2}\eta )r_\mathrm{c}^3,$$
(13)
where $`Y=1X^\xi `$, $`\xi =1/(3\beta \beta /\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$, $`\psi =6/(6\beta +14\beta /\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$, and $`\eta =(6\beta 1)/(6\beta +14\beta /\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$.

If the question of interest is the detectability of cavities of a given fixed size at all cluster radii one can use the incompressible limit $`\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}\mathrm{}`$ of Eqs. 11 and 13. This case is also displayed in Figs. 1 and 2.

## 4 Radio spectrum evolution

Synchrotron, inverse Compton, and adiabatic losses cool an electron with initial dimensionless momentum $`p_1=\text{momentum}/(\mathrm{m}_\mathrm{e}\mathrm{c})`$ down to $`p(p_1,t)=p_1/(p_1q(t)+(V_\mathrm{b}(t)/V_{\mathrm{b},1})^{\frac{1}{3}})`$, where

$$q=\frac{1}{p_{\mathrm{max}}}=a_0_{r_1}^{r_2}𝑑r\frac{u_B(r)+u_\mathrm{C}}{v_\mathrm{b}(r)}\left(\frac{P(r)}{P(r_2)}\right)^{\frac{1}{3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}}$$
(14)
is the inverse maximal momentum. Here, $`a_0=\frac{4}{3}\sigma _\mathrm{T}/(m_\mathrm{e}c)`$. The magnetic and photon (mostly CMB) energy densities are denoted by $`u_B=B^2/(8\pi )=u_{B,0}(P/P_0)^{4/(3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})}`$ and $`u_C`$ respectively. We have re-written the time integral in Enßlin & Gopal-Krishna (2001) as an integral over the trajectory of the bubble from $`r_1`$ to $`r_2`$. For our isothermal cluster this integral evaluates to

$`q`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{a_0\tau }{2}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{r_2^2}{r_\mathrm{c}^2}}\right)^{\frac{\beta }{2\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}}`$ (15)
$`\times \left[u_{B,0}\mathrm{B}_{\frac{x^2}{1+x^2}}(\kappa ,\zeta _B)+u_\mathrm{C}\mathrm{B}_{\frac{x^2}{1+x^2}}(\kappa ,\zeta _\mathrm{C})\right]_{r_1/r_\mathrm{c}}^{r_2/r_\mathrm{c}}`$
with $`\zeta _B=(11\beta 3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})/(4\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$, $`\zeta _\mathrm{C}=(3\beta 3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})/(4\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$, $`\kappa =1/4`$, and $`\tau `$ given by Eq. 4.

If a bubble is rising with a constant velocity $`v_\mathrm{b}`$ (e.g. because it approaches the sound velocity) the following parameters give the correct $`q`$ value: $`\zeta _B=(5\beta \gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})/(2\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$, $`\zeta _\mathrm{C}=(\beta \gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})/(2\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}})`$, $`\kappa =1/2`$, and $`\tau =r_\mathrm{c}/v_\mathrm{b}`$.

An initially relativistic power-law electron spectrum $`f(p,t_1)dp=f_0p^sdp`$ for $`p_{\mathrm{min}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}}<p<p_{\mathrm{max}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}}`$ becomes

$$f(p,t)=f_0(P(t)/P_1)^{\frac{s1}{3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}}p^s\left(1pq(t)\right)^{s2}$$
(16)
for $`p_{\mathrm{min}}(t)=p(p_{\mathrm{min}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}},t)<p<p_{\mathrm{max}}(t)=p(p_{\mathrm{max}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}},t)`$. The synchrotron luminosity of these electrons is

$$L_\nu (t)=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑pP_\nu (p,B)f(p,t),$$
(17)
where $`P_\nu (p,B)`$ is the synchrotron kernel. In the following we use the monochromatic approximation, which means that the total synchrotron radiation losses of an electron ($`\dot{E}_\mathrm{e}(p)=a_0u_Bp^2`$) are emitted at a single characteristic frequency $`\nu (p,B)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}Bp^2`$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}=3e/(2\pi m_\mathrm{e}c)`$. In this approximation, the synchrotron spectrum extends up to $`\nu _{\mathrm{max}}=\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}B_2p_{\mathrm{max}}^2(t)\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}B_2q^2(t)`$ and can be written analytically as

$$L_\nu =L_{\nu ,1}\left(\frac{P_2}{P_1}\right)^{\frac{2s}{3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}}\left(1\sqrt{\frac{\nu }{\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}B_1}}\left(\frac{P_1}{P_2}\right)^{\frac{1}{3\gamma _{\mathrm{rp}}}}q\right)^{s2},$$
(18)
where

$$L_{\nu ,1}=\frac{\sigma _\mathrm{T}cBf_0}{12\pi \mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}}\left(\frac{\nu }{\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mathrm{s}B_1}\right)^{\frac{s1}{2}}$$
(19)
was the original luminosity at $`r_1`$. Eq. 18 (or the more accurate Eq. 17), and Eq. 15 (or Eq. 14) can be used to calculate the optical thin part of the radio spectrum of the source.

## 5 Conclusion

As an aid and stimulus for future observations we provided simple analytic formulae of X-ray and radio properties of rising buoyant bubbles of radio plasma in galaxy clusters. The detectability of a bubble decreases with its cluster radius. The X-ray contrast of a bubble moving in the plane of the sky decreases slowly until the X-ray background dominates, then it drops rapidly. The contrast of a bubble moving along the line of sight declines quickly outside the cluster core. Similarly, the radio luminosity of the bubble at a given frequency declines rapidly with increasing cluster radius and suddenly vanishes when cooling has removed the emitting electrons. After that point, only a weak flux of synchrotron-self Comptonized emission remains (Enßlin & Sunyaev 2001). Fig. 3 illustrates these dependencies for an example with parameters similar to Perseus A.

###### Acknowledgements.

We acknowledge useful comments by Eugene Churazov, Federica Govoni, Daniel E. Harris, Gopal-Krishna, Brian R. McNamara, and the referee Paul E. J. Nulsen.