text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The classical isoperimetric inequality asserts that for a simple closed curve $`\gamma `$ of length $`L`$ in $`^2`$, the area $`A`$ that it encloses satisfies

$$A\frac{1}{4\pi }L^2,$$

with equality only in the case of a circle. This inequality generalizes to all higher dimensions, where we we allow either immersed surfaces, which can be restricted to be disks, or embedded surfaces of arbitrary genus, as follows. For a closed $`C^2`$-curve $`\gamma `$ of length $`L`$ embedded in $`^d`$ there exists an immersed disk of area $`A`$ as having $`\gamma `$ as boundary, as well as an embedded orientable surface of area $`A`$ having $`\gamma `$ as boundary, such that in either case

$$A\frac{1}{4\pi }L^2.$$

The first of these results traces back to work of Beckenbach and Rado , while the second result goes back to an argument of Blaschke , according to Osserman \[12, p. 1202\]. For general results see Burago and Zalgaller \[5, Chapter 3\].

In this paper we formulate discrete analogues of the isoperimetric inequality, in the framework of piecewise linear (PL) manifolds. In the discrete analogue, the boundary curve is a polygon $`P`$ in $`^d`$, and the surface is a PL triangulated surface having the polygon as boundary. The discrete measure of “length” of the polygon is the number of line segments $`n`$ in its boundary, and the discrete measure of the “area” of a triangulated surface is the number of triangles $`t`$ that it contains. This type of combinatorial minimal area problem is associated to affine geometry because these discrete measures of “length” and “area” are both affine invariant. That is, these problems are appropriately formulated on $`d`$-dimensional affine space $`𝔸^d`$, rather than on $`^d`$ with its (extra) Euclidean structure; however in what follows we will denote the ambient space by $`^d`$.

The discrete analogue has a simple answer in $`^2`$, for one has the well known equality

$$t=n2,$$

in which $`t`$ is the number of triangles in any triangulation of the (convex or nonconvex) polygon that adds no extra vertices, see \[17, Theorem 23.2.1\]. Such triangulations minimize the number of triangles over all triangulations, in which extra vertices may be added. This bound is linear in the boundary length $`n`$, rather than quadratic as in the classical isoperimetric inequality.

What happens in higher dimensions? We consider two versions of the problem, corresponding to the two versions of the classical isoperimetric problem given above: the first is where the PL surface is an embedded oriented surface with no restriction on its genus, and the second is where the surface is an immersed oriented PL surface, usually taken to be a topological disk, with the extra restriction that the interior of the surface cannot cut through its boundary. More precisely, in the second case we consider complementary immersed surfaces, by which we mean immersed surfaces (of any genus) whose interior does not intersect its boundary, and whose boundary is embedded 111This condition rules out a surface whose boundary is a multiple covering of the given boundary curve.. Complementary immersed surfaces allow extra freedom over embedded surfaces, but in dimension $`d=3`$ they still detect knottedness; a polygon $`P`$ in $`^3`$ has a complementary immersed surface that is a topological disk if and only if $`P`$ is unknotted. Note that if we were to allow general immersed surfaces rather than restricting to complementary immersed surfaces, then the two-dimensional construction above works in all higher dimensions, to produce an immersed disk having $`n2`$ triangles (whose interior in general will intersect its boundary.) Thus in the case of general immersed surfaces the discrete isoperimetric problem has a trivial answer. With the extra restrictions above imposed on the surfaces the answer becomes non-trivial.

In dimensions $`d3`$ we show that there are qualitative affine isoperimetric bounds, in which the exponent of the length function depends on the dimension $`d`$. More precisely, in the affine case the right side of the bound is proportional to $`O(L^2)`$ in dimension $`3`$ and $`O(L)`$ in dimensions $`d5`$. In dimension $`4`$ we obtain an $`O(L)`$ upper bound for complementary immersed PL disks. The remaining case of embedded PL surfaces in dimension $`4`$ we leave incompletely resolved, obtaining only an upper bound of $`O(L^2)`$.

A variant of the construction of Seifert  leads to the following upper bound for oriented embedded surfaces.

###### Theorem 1.1

For each closed polygonal curve $`P`$ with $`n`$ line segments embedded in $`^3`$, there exists an embedded oriented triangulated PL surface having a PL subdivision of $`P`$ as boundary that has at most $`7n^2`$ triangles.

In this result, the polygonal curve $`P`$ is the geometric boundary of the surface, but extra vertices may have to be added to $`P`$ to get the boundary of the surface as a PL manifold.

Theorem 1.1 shows that for embedded surfaces of unspecified genus the upper bound is polynomial in $`n`$. This result contrasts with bounds for the size of an embedded oriented triangulated PL surface of minimal genus spanning the curve $`P`$. Hass, Snoeyink and Thurston  show in the unknotted case (minimal genus = $`0`$) that $`(C_1)^n`$ triangles are sometimes required, for a fixed constant $`C_1>1,`$ as $`n\mathrm{}.`$ Complementing this result, Hass, Lagarias and Thurston  show that in the unknotted case there always exists an embedded minimal genus PL surface (an embedded disk) spanning the curve $`P`$, that contains at most $`(C_2)^{n^2}`$ triangles, for a fixed constant $`C_2>1`$.

In §3 we show that the upper bound of $`O(n^2)`$ in Theorem 1.1 is the correct order of magnitude. We present two constructions based on different principles, giving $`\mathrm{\Omega }(n^2)`$ lower bounds.

The first method involves the genus $`g(K)`$ of the knot $`K`$. The genus of a knot is the minimal genus of any orientable embedded surface that has the knot as its boundary. The lower bound is

$$t4g(K)+1,$$

and it applies to embedded orientable PL surfaces having $`K`$ as boundary. This lower bound depends only on the (ambient isotopy) type of the knot $`K`$, so one gets the best result by minimizing the number of edges in a polygon representing the knot, which is called the stick number of the knot. Using the $`(n,n1)`$ torus knot, we obtain the following result.

###### Theorem 1.2

There exists an infinite sequence of values of $`n\mathrm{}`$ with closed polygonal curves $`P_n`$ having $`n`$ line segments embedded in $`^3`$, for which any embedded triangulated PL surface, that is oriented and that has a PL subdivision of $`P_n`$ as boundary, requires at least $`\frac{n^2}{2}3n+5`$ triangles.

The second method uses an invariant of a knot diagram $`K`$, the writhe $`w(K)`$. The lower bound is

$$t|w(K)|,$$
(1.1)
and it applies to complementary immersed surfaces. The writhe is not an ambient isotopy invariant, but is an invariant of a stronger equivalence relation, called regular isotopy, on knot diagrams. Regular isotopy is equivalence under Reidemeister moves of types II and III only, with type I moves forbidden.

We apply this bound to show that there is an infinite family of polygonal curves $`P_n`$ in $`^3`$ having a quadratic lower bound for the number of triangles in a complementary immersed surface, of unrestricted genus.

###### Theorem 1.3

There exists an infinite sequence of closed polygonal curves $`P_n`$ in $`^3`$ having $`n`$ line segments, with values of $`n\mathrm{}`$, for which any complementary immersed triangulated PL surface that has a PL subdivision of $`P_n`$ as boundary, requires at least $`\frac{n^2}{36}`$ triangles.

The writhe bound (1.1) implies that a polygonal knot that has a large writhe in one direction must have a large number of crossings in any projection direction (Theorem 3.3).

An interesting question concerns what is the best possible isoperimetric constant in Theorem 1.1, as $`n\mathrm{}`$. There is a separate isoperimetric constant $`\gamma _n`$ for each $`n3,`$ given by

$$\gamma _n=\underset{P_n}{\mathrm{max}}\left(\underset{\mathrm{\Sigma }\text{spans}P_n}{\mathrm{min}}\frac{1}{n^2}t(\mathrm{\Sigma })\right),$$

in which $`P_n`$ runs over all polygons with $`n`$ edges embedded in $`^3`$. We define the asymptotic isoperimetric constant $`\gamma `$ to be

$$\gamma :=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\gamma _n.$$

Combining Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 implies that the asymptotic isoperimetric constant must lie somewhere between 1/2 and 7.

In §4 we consider the combinatorial isoperimetric problem for embeddings of a curve in dimensions $`d4`$. We obtain two $`O(n)`$ upper bounds. In these dimensions we construct PL surfaces spanning the polygon which are locally flat, as defined at the beginning of §4. The local flatness condition is a restriction on how the surface is situated in $`^d`$. It is known that local flatness always holds for an embedded PL surface in codimension $`3`$ or more (see \[14, Corollary 7.2\]), hence requiring local flatness puts a constraint only in dimension $`d=4`$.

We first treat dimension $`d=4`$, and construct a complementary immersed surface that is locally flat and has $`O(n)`$ triangles.

###### Theorem 1.4

Let $`P`$ be a closed polygonal curve embedded in $`^4`$ consisting of $`n`$ line segments. Then there exists a complementary immersed triangulated PL disk, which is locally flat, has $`P`$ as its PL boundary, and contains $`3n`$ triangles.

Second, in dimensions $`d5`$, by coning the polygon $`P`$ to a suitable point we obtain an embedded PL disk with $`n`$ triangles, which is automatically locally flat.

###### Theorem 1.5

Let $`P`$ be a closed polygonal curve embedded in $`^d`$, with $`d5`$, consisting of $`n`$ line segments. Then there exists an embedded triangulated PL disk which is locally flat, has $`P`$ as its PL boundary, and contains $`n`$ triangles.

These results establish that the complexity of the spanning surface is $`O(n^2)`$ in dimension $`3`$, and is $`O(n)`$ in all other dimensions, except possibly in dimension $`4`$ for embedded surfaces. The increased complexity in dimension $`3`$ might be expected, in that dimension $`3`$ is the only dimension in which knotting is possible for curves. As far as we know, the remaining unresolved case of embedded surfaces in $`^4`$ might conceivably have superlinear complexity; if so, this would represent a new phenomenon peculiar to the discrete case. For this case we establish only an $`O(n^2)`$ upper bound, as explained at the end of §5, while an $`\mathrm{\Omega }(n)`$ lower bound is immediate.

A further direction for PL isoperimetric problems would be to establish isoperimetric bounds for higher-dimensional submanifolds. Consider a $`k`$-dimensional triangulated closed PL-manifold $`M`$ embedded in $`^d`$, where $`k2`$, and ask: what is the minimal number of $`(k+1)`$-simplices in an embedded triangulated PL $`(k+1)`$-dimensional manifold having a PL-subdivision of $`M`$ as its boundary?

Earlier work on the complexity of embedded surfaces bounding unknotted curves in $`^3`$ under various restrictions includes Almgren and Thurston . Connections between combinatorial complexity of such surfaces and the computational complexity of problems in knot theory appear in , .

## 2 Upper Bound

We establish Theorem 1.1 by using a version of the construction of Seifert  of an orientable surface having a given knot as boundary. A general description of Seifert surfaces and their construction appears in Rolfsen \[13, Chapter 5\].

Proof of Theorem 1.1: Given a closed polygon $`P`$ in $`^3`$ having $`n`$ line segments, we first choose an orientation for it. We obtain a knot diagram by orthogonally projecting it onto a plane. Fix once and for all a projection direction in “general position”, so that the projections of any two line segments in $`P`$ intersect in at most one point, and if the two segments in $`P`$ are disjoint then this point must correspond to interior points of the two segments. Without loss of generality we may rotate the polygon so that the projection direction is in the $`z`$-direction and the projected plane is $`z=0`$, and we may translate it in the $`z`$-direction so that it lies in the half-space $`z1.`$ The projected image of the polygon in the plane has $`n`$ vertices and $`c`$ crossing points, where

$$cn(n3)/2,$$

since an edge cannot intersect its two adjacent edges or itself. We make the projection into a planar graph by marking vertices at each crossing point, which we call crossing vertices. This graph is a directed graph, with directed edges obtained by projection of the orientation assigned to the polygonal knot $`P`$, and is regarded as sitting in the plane $`z=0`$. Each vertex of this planar graph has either two or four edges incident on it, so the faces of the graph can be two-colored; call the colors white and black. The graph has a single unbounded face, which we consider colored white; it also at least one bounded region colored black. We denote this directed colored graph $`𝒢`$; it has $`n+c`$ vertices, which we call initial vertices in what follows.

We now add new vertices to this graph as follows: At each edge containing a crossing vertex we insert new vertices very close to each of its crossing vertex endpoints; call these interior vertices. The resulting graph has $`n+c`$ initial vertices and $`4c`$ interior vertices. Each crossing vertex has four edges incident to it.

Near each crossing vertex we now add edges connecting pairs of interior vertices on adjacent edges in cyclic order around the crossing point. There are four such edges which form a small quadrilateral enclosing the crossing vertex. We choose the interior points close enough to the crossing vertex so that the interior of each edge in the boundary of this quadrilateral does not intersect any other edge of the graph, and so lies entirely inside one of the colored polygons of the original graph. We assign that color to the edge. These four edges form two white edges and two black edges; we discard the black edges and add the two white edges only, to form an augmented planar graph.

The example of the trefoil knot is pictured in Figure 1; part (b) shows the added vertices of the augmented planar graph, and the white edges are indicated by dotted lines in (b).

The added white-colored edges create two white-colored triangular regions adjacent to each crossing vertex, which together form a “bow-tie” shaped region. If one now deletes all crossing vertices and the four edges incident to them (which have as other endpoint an interior vertex), and adds in the white-colored edges only, then one obtains a new planar graph $`𝒢^{}`$, that has $`n+4c`$ vertices. This new graph may be disconnected, and consists of a union of simple closed polygons. Its regions are two-colorable, with the coloring obtained from that of $`𝒢`$ by changing the color of the bow-tie shaped regions from white to black. For the trefoil knot this is pictured in Figure 1 (c).

The graph $`𝒢^{}`$ is a union of simple closed curves which we call circuits, some of which may be nested inside others. To each circuit we assign an integer level that measures its nesting. An innermost circuit is one that contains no other circuit: we assign these innermost circuits level 0. We now inductively define a level for each other circuit, to be one more than the maximal level of any circuit they contain. The maximal level that may occur is $`n`$.

We now construct a triangulated embedded spanning surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ for $`\gamma `$ as follows.

(1) For each circuit of level $`k`$ we make a copy of this circuit in the plane $`z=k,`$ i.e. we translate it from the plane $`z=0`$ by the vector $`(0,0,k)`$. It forms a simple closed polygon that will form part of the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. If it has $`m`$ sides, then we may triangulate it using $`m2`$ triangles lying in the plane $`z=k`$.

(2) We next add vertical faces connecting the circuit $`S`$ to the points of $`\gamma `$ lying above it. To do this we first augment $`\gamma `$ by adding new vertices on $`\gamma `$ corresponding to the boundaries of the white edges constructed in $`𝒢^{}`$. Above each endpoint of a white edge there is a unique point on $`\gamma `$, which we add as a new vertex. We also add new edges (not on $`\gamma `$) connecting these points. Call the resulting augmented one-dimensional simplicial complex $`\gamma ^{}`$. To each edge of the circuit there is a unique edge of $`\gamma ^{}`$ that projects vertically onto it. We take the convex hull of these two edges, that forms a trapezoid with two vertical edges, plus the two edges we started with. These trapezoids will form part of the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. Each of them may be triangulated by adding a diagonal to the trapezoid.

(3) Above each bow-tie shaped region of $`𝒢^{}`$ containing a crossing vertex and two white edges, there lie four edges of $`\gamma ^{}`$, two edges of which project to the white edges on the plane $`z=0`$, and the other two of which are part of edges of $`\gamma `$ whose projections on the plane $`z=0`$ are disjoint except at the crossing vertex. Let the vertices of the two edges of $`\gamma ^{}`$ lying above the white edges be labelled $`[𝐱_1,𝐱_2]`$ and $`[𝐲_1,𝐲_2]`$ respectively, with the black edges (not part of $`\gamma ^{}`$) being $`[𝐱_1,𝐲_2]`$ and $`[𝐱_2,𝐲_1]`$, and with the line segments $`[𝐱_1,𝐲_1]`$ and $`(𝐱_2,𝐲_2)`$ being part of the original curve $`\gamma `$. We then form the two triangles $`[𝐱_1,𝐱_2,𝐲_1]`$ and $`[𝐱_2,𝐲_1,𝐲_2]`$, that share a common black edge $`[𝐱_2,𝐲_1]`$, and add them to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }.`$

We claim that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ forms a triangulated surface embedded in $`^3`$, which is orientable and has a subdivision of $`\gamma `$ as its boundary.

To see that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is embedded in $`^3`$, note that the triangulated pieces (1)-(3) of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ are embedded, and when projected to the $`z`$-axis have disjoint interiors. Thus these pieces can only overlap along their boundary edges.

We recall Seifert’s argument to show $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is orientable; the contribution of (1) and (2) corresponding to each circuit is a bowl-shaped surface that is topologically a disk, with the crossing points located near the lip of the bowl. At each crossing point the bowl is attached to another bowl by a rectangular strip with a half-twist in it, twisting through an angle of $`\pi `$. Since it is constructed from disks attached along boundary intervals, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is topologically a $`2`$-manifold with boundary. In addition, the construction connects a bowl at level $`j`$ only to bowls at level $`j\pm 1`$. A compatible orientation then takes as one side the upper (inside) surface of bowls at level $`2j`$ and the lower (outside) surface of bowls at level $`2j+1`$, plus corresponding sides of the strips connecting them. So $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is orientable.

We now give an upper bound for the number of triangles in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. The totality of triangles produced in step (1) above is at most the number of edges in all the circuits; this is at most the number of edges in $`P`$ after adding internal vertices, and is at most $`n+4c`$. In step (2) each trapezoid is associated to one of the at most $`n+4c`$ edges of the circuits, and has two triangles; thus these contribute at most $`2n+8c`$ triangles. In step (3) there are two triangles added for each crossing vertex, which totals $`2c`$. Thus the total is at most $`3n+14c`$, which is at most $`7n^218n`$ triangles, which yields the bound of the theorem. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 3 Lower Bound Constructions

We present two different constructions giving quadratic lower bounds for triangulated surfaces.

###### Lemma 3.1

Let $`P`$ be a closed polygonal curve embedded in $`^3`$ whose associated knot type $`K`$ has genus $`g(K)`$. If $`t`$ is the number of triangles in a triangulated oriented PL surface $`S`$ which is embedded in $`^3`$ and has a subdivision of $`\gamma `$ as boundary, then

$$t4g(K)+1.$$
(3.1)
Proof: Without loss of generality we may assume $`S`$ is connected, by discarding any components having empty boundary; this only decreases $`t`$. If $`V,E`$ and $`F`$ denote the number of vertices, edge and faces in the triangulated orientable surface $`S`$ , then its Euler characteristic is

$$\chi (S)=VE+F.$$

By definition of knot genus this surface is of genus $`gg(K)`$. Recall that the genus of a surface with boundary $`S`$ is the smallest genus of a connected surface $`S^{}`$ without boundary in which it can be embedded; In this case $`S^{}`$ is obtained by gluing in a disk attached to the (topological) boundary $`P`$. This adds one face, and no new edges or vertices, hence we obtain

$$\chi (S)=1+\chi (S^{})=12g12g(K).$$

We have $`Ft`$, and since all faces in the surface are triangles, we obtain

$$3t=2Em,$$

where $`m`$ is the number of edges on the boundary of the surface. Counting the number of edges on the boundary gives

$$Vm.$$

From these bounds follows

$$\chi (S)12g(K)=VE+Fm(\frac{3}{2}t+\frac{m}{2})+t,$$

which simplifies to

$$\frac{t}{2}2g(K)1+\frac{m}{2}2g(K)+\frac{1}{2},$$

since $`m3`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Remark. Define the unoriented genus $`g^{}(K)`$ of a knot $`K`$ to be the minimal value possible of $`1\frac{1}{2}\chi (S)`$ taken over all embedded connected surfaces $`S`$, orientable or not, having $`K`$ as boundary. Then $`g^{}(K)`$ is an integer or half-integer, and the same reasoning as above shows that

$$t4g^{}(K)+1$$

for the number of triangles in any triangulated PL surface bounding a polygon $`\gamma `$ of knot type $`K`$.

Proof of Theorem 1.2:
We consider the $`(m,m1)`$ torus knot $`K_{m,m1}`$. This has a polygonal representation using $`n=2m`$ line segments, given in Adams et al \[1, Lemma 8.1\]. They also show that a polygonal realization of this knot requires at least $`2m`$ segments \[1, Theorem 8.2\].

In 1934 Seifert \[15, Satz 4\] showed that the $`(p,q)`$-torus knot $`K_{p,q}`$ has genus

$$g(K_{p,q})=\frac{(p1)(q1)}{2}.$$

Thus we have $`g(K_{m,m1})={\displaystyle \frac{m^23m+2}{2}}.`$

We apply Lemma 3.1 to $`K_{m,m1}`$ and obtain $`t2m^26m+5\frac{1}{2}n^23n+5,`$ as asserted.$`\mathrm{}`$

We next obtain a lower bound in terms of the writhe (or Tait number) of a knot diagram associated to $`P`$ by planar projection. The writhe of a knot diagram $`K`$ obtained by projecting a knot $`\gamma `$ perpendicular to a given direction, say the $`z`$-direction, is obtained by assigning an orientation (direction) to the knot diagram, and then assigning a sign of $`\pm 1`$ to each crossing, with $`+1`$ assigned if the two directed paths of the knot diagram at the crossing have the undercrossing oriented by the right hand rule relative to the overcrossing, and $`1`$ if not. The writhe $`w(K)`$ of the oriented diagram is the sum of these signs over all crossings. The quantity $`w(K)`$ is independent of the orientation, but depends on the direction of projection.

###### Lemma 3.2

Let $`P`$ be a closed polygonal curve embedded in $`^3`$ that has an orthogonal planar projection $`K`$ that has writhe $`w(K)`$. If $`t`$ is the number of triangles in a complementary immersed PL surface in $`^3`$ which is triangulated and has a subdivision of $`P`$ as boundary, then

$$t|w(K)|+1.$$
(3.2)
Proof: The quantity $`|w(K)|`$ reflects the amount of twisting between two different longitudes of the knot, the $`z`$-pushoff and the preferred longitude. The preferred longitude is a longitude on the knot defined by an embedded two-sided surface bounding the knot $`P`$. The preferred longitude is defined intrinsically as the two primitive homology classes $`\pm [\tau ]`$ of a peripheral torus of the knot that are annihilated on injecting into $`H^1(^3P,)`$ (a peripheral torus is the boundary of an embedded regular neighborhood of the knot). The $`z`$-pushoff is the curve on the peripheral torus directly above $`K`$ in the $`z`$ direction.

Any triangulated complementary immersed surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ having a subdivision of $`P`$ as boundary necessarily defines a curve on the peripheral torus in the class $`\pm [\tau ]`$. The total twisting about $`K`$ of the boundary of a smooth surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ having $`P`$ as boundary, relative to the $`z`$-direction, is given by $`\pi w(K)`$. In the case of a PL surface this total twisting can be computed by adding successive jumps in a normal vector to $`P`$ pointing along the surface as one travels along the (subdivided) curve $`P`$. Since triangles are flat, twisting occurs only at the boundaries of two adjacent triangles, and can be no more than $`\pi `$ at such a point. Furthermore, while it is possible that a triangle meets $`P`$ at as many as three points, the total twisting contributed by any triangle at all points where it meets $`P`$ is at most $`\pi `$, the sum of its interior angles. It follows that there must be more than $`|w(K)|`$ triangles in the surface that meet the polygon $`P`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Proof of Theorem 1.3:
There exists a family of polygonal curves $`P_m`$ for $`m1`$ having $`n=6m+3`$ segments and with writhe $`w(P_m)=m(m+1)`$. The knot diagram for the polygon $`P_3`$ is pictured in Figure 2 below. The construction for general $`m`$ consists of adding more parallel strands to the pattern.

The theorem now follows by applying the bound of Lemma 3.2, namely $`t{\displaystyle \frac{n^2}{36}}+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}.`$ $`\mathrm{}`$

Combining Lemma 3.2 with the construction of a surface in Theorem 1.1 yields a result in knot theory. It says that if a polygon $`P`$ embedded in $`^3`$ has a large writhe in some projection direction, relative to its number of edges $`n`$, then in all projection directions it has a large number of crossings.

###### Theorem 3.3

Let $`P`$ be a polygonal knot embedded in $`^3`$. If $`w(K)`$ is the writhe of one projection of $`P`$, then the number of crossings $`c`$ of any projection $`K^{}`$ of $`P`$ satisfies

$$c\frac{1}{16}(|w(K)|3n).$$

Proof: By Lemma 3.2 one has $`t|w(K)|+1`$, However if a polygon $`K`$ has $`c`$ crossings, then by the proof of Theorem 1.1 one can construct an oriented, embedded, PL triangulated surface having $`P`$ as boundary with $`t3n+14c`$ triangles. Combining these estimates gives the lemma. $`\mathrm{}`$

As an example, the polygons $`P_m`$ in $`^3`$ given in the proof of Theorem 1.3 (see Figure 2) must have crossing number $`c(m^217m9)/16`$ in any projection.

### Remark.

The polygonal curves $`P_m`$ used in the proof of Theorem 1.3 are knotted. (In fact they are torus knots.) We do not know how large $`|w(P)|`$ can be for an unknotted polygon with $`n`$ edges. One can easily construct representatives of the unknot having writhe $`|w(P)|>cn`$, for a positive constant $`c`$ and $`n\mathrm{}`$, but we do not know whether it is possible to get representations $`P`$ of the unknot having $`n`$ crossings and writhe $`|w(P)|>cn^2`$ with $`n\mathrm{}.`$

## 4 Higher Dimensions

In this section we consider polygons $`P`$ embedded in $`^d`$, for dimensions $`d4`$, and construct locally flat PL surfaces having $`P`$ as boundary. Recall that a surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is locally flat if at each point $`𝐱`$ of the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ there is a neighborhood in $`^d`$ homeomorphic to $`D\times I^{d2}`$ in $`^d`$, where $`D`$ is a topological $`2`$-disk in the surface (or is a half $`2`$-disk with boundary for a boundary point $`𝐱`$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$) and $`I=[1,1]`$ and $`D\times 0^{d2}`$ is part of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, see \[13, p. 36\], \[14, p. 50\]. For immersed surfaces we interpret local flatness to apply to each sheet of the surface separately.

### Proof of Theorem 1.4:

We are given a closed polygon $`P`$ with $`n`$ edges embedded in $`^4`$, and vertices $`𝐯_1,\mathrm{},𝐯_n`$. We can always pick a point $`z^4`$ such that coning the polygon $`P`$ to the point $`z`$ will produce a complementary immersed surface. However this surface need not be locally flat at the cone point. To circumvent this problem, we replace the cone point with a convex planar polygon $`Q`$ having $`n`$ vertices and produce a triangulated immersed (polygonal) annulus connecting $`P`$ to $`Q`$. Combining this with a triangulation of $`Q`$ to its centroid will yield the desired locally flat immersed surface.

Given a convex planar polygon $`Q`$ with vertices $`𝐰_1,\mathrm{},𝐰_n`$ we form the (immersed) triangulated annulus $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ between $`P`$ and $`Q`$ with triangles $`[𝐯_j,𝐯_{j+1},𝐰_{j+1}]`$ and $`[𝐯_j,𝐰_j,𝐰_{j+1}]`$, for $`1jn`$, using the convention that $`𝐯_{n+1}:=𝐯_1`$ and $`𝐰_{n+1}:=𝐰_1`$. Then we triangulate $`Q`$ to its centroid vertex $`𝐯_0`$, obtaining a triangulated disk $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$. For “general position” $`Q`$ (described below) this construction produces an immersed surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ consisting of $`n`$ triangles from triangulating $`Q`$ and $`2n`$ triangles in the annular part, for $`3n`$ triangles in all. In general the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ is immersed rather than embedded, because the triangles in it may intersect each other.

We show that $`Q`$ can be chosen so that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a complementary immersed surface. The main problem is to ensure that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ intersects $`P`$ only in its boundary $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$. We wish $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ to contain no line segment in any of its triangles which intersects $`P`$ in two or more points. We define a “bad set” to avoid. Take the polygon $`P`$, extend its line segments to straight lines $`l_j`$ in $`^4`$, and call a point “bad” if it is on a line connecting any two points on the extended polygon. The “bad” set $`B`$ consists of a union of $`n(n+1)/2`$ sets $`B_{ij}`$, in which $`B_{ij}`$ is the union of all lines connecting a point of line $`l_i`$ to a point of line $`l_j`$, with $`1i<jn`$. Each $`B_{ij}`$ is either a hyperplane (codimension $`1`$) in $`^4`$ or is a plane (codimension $`2`$ flat) in $`^4`$. If a plane $`F`$ (codimension $`2`$ flat) is picked in “general position” in $`^4`$ it will intersect $`B`$ in at most $`n(n1)/2`$ lines and points. In particular, such an $`F`$ contains a (two-dimensional) open set $`U`$ not intersecting $`B`$ and disjoint from the convex hull of $`P`$. We choose $`Q`$ to lie in this open set. Now $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ is the convex hull of $`Q`$, which lies in $`U`$, so does not intersect $`P`$. We claim that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ intersects $`P`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$. Indeed any point $`𝐱`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ not on $`P`$ lies on a line connecting a point of $`P`$ to a point of $`Q`$, and this line contains at most one point of $`P`$ because the point in $`Q`$ is not in the “bad set” $`B`$. Since we already know of one point on $`P`$ on this line, which is not $`𝐱`$, the claim follows. We conclude that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a complementary immersed surface.

We next show that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a locally flat (immersed) surface. We need only verify this at the vertices of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. At the vertices $`𝐯`$ of $`P`$ three triangles meet, so locally the configuration is three-dimensional, and local flatness holds in the three-dimensional subspace around $`𝐰`$ determined by the edges, (as it does for any embedded polyhedral surface in $`^3`$) and this extends to local flatness in $`^4`$ by taking a product in the remaining direction. At a vertex $`𝐰`$ of $`Q`$ five triangles meet. However two of these triangles lie in the plane $`F`$ of the polygon $`Q`$, hence for determining local flatness we may disregard the edge into the interior of the polygon, and treat the vertex as having four incident triangles. Suppose the remaining $`4`$ edge directions leaving $`𝐰`$ span a four dimensional space. Take an invertible linear transformation $`L`$ that maps these vectors to $`𝐱_1=(1,1,0,0),𝐱_2=(1,1,0,0),𝐱_3=(1,1,ϵ,0),`$ and $`𝐱_4=(1,1,0,ϵ),`$ in cyclic order. Because each angle in the convex polygon is less than $`\pi `$, we conclude that the interiors of all four triangles project onto the positive linear combinations of consecutive vectors, e.g. the first triangle maps into the region $`\lambda _1𝐱_1+\lambda _2𝐱_2`$ with $`\lambda _1,\lambda _20`$. Now projection on the first two coordinates in this new coordinate system extends to a local homeomorphism $`U_1\times I^2`$ in a neighborhood of the vertex, and pulling back by $`L^1`$ gives the required local flat structure in a neighborhood of the vertex. If instead the four edge directions span a three-dimensional space, then the argument used for a vertex of $`P`$ applies. Thus $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is locally flat at each vertex of $`Q`$. Finally the centroid vertex added to the polygon $`Q`$ is obviously locally flat, and we conclude that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is locally flat.

Finally we note that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a topological disk, since it is two-sided and is an annulus glued onto a disk. $`\mathrm{}`$

### Proof of Theorem 1.5:

Given the polygon $`P`$ in $`^d`$, for $`d5`$ we cone it to a suitably chosen point $`z^d,`$ chosen so that the coning is an embedding. It suffices to choose a “general position” point, because two planes (codimension $`d2`$ flats) in $`^d`$ gnerically have empty intersections. The resulting surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ has $`n`$ triangles, and is a topological disk.

By a standard result, see Rourke and Sanderson \[14, Corollary 5.7, Corollary 7.2\], this embedded surface is locally flat. $`\mathrm{}`$

We conclude with some remarks on bounds for the number of triangles needed for embedded surfaces in $`^4`$ having a given polygon $`P`$ as boundary. First, we show that one can always find such a triangulated surface using at most $`24n^2`$ triangles, as follows. Take a projection of the polygon $`P`$ into a hyperplane $`H`$, resulting in a polygon $`P^{}`$ in $`H`$, picking a projection direction such that the vertical surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ connecting $`P`$ to $`P^{}`$ is embedded. Theorem 1.1 gives a surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ lying entirely in $`H`$ which has a subdivision of $`P^{}`$ of $`P^{}`$ as boundary and uses at most $`7n^2`$ triangles, in which the polygon $`P^{}`$ has at most $`7n^2`$ vertices. We obtain a triangulated vertical surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ connecting $`P`$ to $`P^{}`$ using at most $`14n^2`$ triangles, and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ is the required surface. It can be checked that this surface is locally flat.

Second, the immersed surface constructed in Theorem 1.4 can be converted to an embedded surface of higher genus by cut-and paste, but we show that such a surface will contain $`\mathrm{\Omega }(n^2)`$ triangles in some cases. Recall that the $`4`$-ball genus of a knot embedded in a hyperplane in $`^4`$ is the smallest genus of any spanning surface of it that lies strictly in a half-space of $`^4`$ on one side of this hyperplane. If we start with a polygon $`P`$ in $`^4`$ that lies in a hyperplane, the construction of Theorem 1.4 will (in general) produce an immersed surface lying in a half-space on one side of the hyperplane, and a cut-and-paste construction will preserve this property. (Note that cut-and-paste in $`4`$-dimensions to replace two triangles intersecting in an interior point with a nonintersecting set may result in eight triangles.) As noted earlier, the $`(2n,2n1)`$ torus knot has a polygonal representation $`P_n`$ in a hyperplane using $`4n`$ line segments (Adams et al \[1, Lemma 8.1\]) while a result of Shibuya  implies that its 4-ball genus is at least $`2n(2n1)/8`$. Applying Lemma 3.1, we conclude that the number of triangles needed in an embedded orientable PL surface of this type spanning $`P_n`$ must grow quadratically in $`n`$. This can be taken as (weak) evidence in support of the possibility that for embedded surfaces in $`^4`$ the best combinatorial isoperimetric bound may be $`O(n^2)`$.

| email: | hass@math.ucdavis.edu |
| --- | --- |
|  | jcl@research.att.com |


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# Low power BL Lacertae objects and the blazar sequence

## 1 Introduction

Blazars appear to come in different flavors, according to e.g. their strong or weak (or even absent) broad emission lines, their optical polarization and the position of the peak of the synchrotron component in their spectral energy distribution (SED), namely at low (mm–IR) or high (UV and soft X–ray) frequencies (e.g. Padovani & Urry 2001). The latter criterion has been indeed (proposed and) favored in the last few years as possibly associated with more ‘physical’ and fundamental properties of the sources (Giommi & Padovani 1994; Fossati et al. 1998, hereafter F98; Ghisellini et al. 1998, hereafter G98). In particular, within this scenario, F98 and G98 proposed that the different sub–classes of blazars form a spectral and physical sequence in the position and intensity of the peaks, controlled primarily by one parameter, which they identified with the bolometric observed luminosity. The sequence in the SED has been described by F98 phenomenologically (on the assumption that the bolometric luminosity scales linearly with the radio one), while G98 modeled the SED of individual blazars adopting a homogeneous synchrotron plus inverse Compton model.

In this way G98 deduced values of the physical quantities behind the sequence, i.e. translated the spectral trend (power vs SED) into a trend between physical parameters, which could be consistently interpreted as governed by the importance of radiative cooling. In fact they found an inverse correlation between the energy of the particles emitting at the peaks of the SED, $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}m_\mathrm{e}c^2`$, and the energy density $`U`$ (magnetic and radiation fields) as seen in the frame comoving with the emitting plasma. More specifically the correlation appeared to be well approximated by $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^{0.6}`$, directly implying that the radiative cooling rate at $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}^2U`$) is almost constant for all sources, suggesting a key role of the radiative cooling process in shaping the SED.

Given the potential relevance of such result in the attempt to understand the dissipation and particle acceleration mechanisms, we decided to further explore the presence of such a trend over a larger range of the parameter space. In fact, in order to efficiently constrain the model parameters (in particular from the high emission component) the modeling procedure in G98 was applied only to those sources detected in the $`\gamma `$-ray band by EGRET (the high energy instrument onboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory), for which both the $`\gamma `$–ray spectral shape and the cosmological distance were determined.

As the majority of the EGRET detected blazars comprises sources of large power, Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQ) and Low energy peak BL Lacs (LBLs, in the definition of Giommi & Padovani 1995), such initial selection of the sources was biased against low power BL Lacs, under–represented in G98, and thus against sources with high energy peaks at very high frequencies (above the EGRET range).

In reality a few of those sources have been detected by Cherenkov telescopes in the TeV band and the modeling of their broad band energy distribution confirmed the phenomenological trend between the SED and the source power (F98). Furthermore a number of low power BL Lacs have been recently observed by $`Beppo`$SAX and detected in the X–ray band up to $``$ 100 keV. Therefore there is now a reasonable number of comparatively weak sources with sufficient data to constrain the shape of their SED and thus explore the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$$`U`$ correlation at high $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ (low $`U`$).

Such an extension becomes even more relevant since a change in the correlation is indeed expected. In fact we already stress here that it is possible to immediately predict a deviation from the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^{0.6}`$ behavior. Consider for illustration the case of the most extreme sources, e.g. Mkn 501 in the flaring state and 1ES 1426+428 (Pian et al. 1998; Costamante et al. 2001). They are both TeV detected sources (Catanese & Weekes 1999 and references therein; Horan 2000, Djannati–Atai, priv. comm.) and also showed a synchrotron component peaking above $``$ 100 keV. The peak at TeV energies implies that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ exceeds $`10^5`$$`10^6`$: according to the correlation found by G98 this would correspond to magnetic fields weaker than $``$ 0.05 G. However this implies a synchrotron peak frequency two–three orders of magnitude smaller than observed. We therefore expect a change in the correlation at the high $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ end of the parameter space, and so plausibly we expect to find an additional key ingredient, besides radiative cooling, regulating the blazar SED.

In this paper we thus explore such issue by extending the sample of blazars, including several extreme high energy peakers, as presented in Section 2. We then consider at first the modeling of the SED of such objects with the synchrotron inverse Compton model used by G98 and examine the results in relation to the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$$`U`$ correlation in Section 3. The parameters inferred from the modeling imply that in the extreme sources it is necessary to consider the effect of the duration of the relativistic particle injection as this can be comparable or shorter than the relevant cooling timescale (see also Sikora et al. 2001, Sikora & Madejski 2001). Therefore in Section 4 we re–analyze the whole sample of blazars with a finite injection time model, discuss the findings and propose a physical interpretation for the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$$`U`$ relation. Summary and conclusions are reported in Section 5.

## 2 The extreme BL Lac objects

We consider “extreme BL Lac objects” the sources with a synchrotron peak at energies exceeding 0.1 keV. The frequency of the peak, $`\nu _{\mathrm{peak}}`$, can be thus directly determined by broad band X–ray detectors, such as those onboard the BeppoSAX satellite.

Candidate extreme BL Lacs were selected by Costamante et al. (2001) on the basis of their SEDs and their broad band (radio/optical/X–rays) spectral indices, which constitute good indicators of the location of the synchrotron peak, as objects of different characteristics tend to gather in different regions of the spectral index parameter spaces (Stocke et al. 1991; Padovani & Giommi 1995; F98). For five out of the seven objects observed by BeppoSAX (Costamante et al. 2001) $`\nu _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ turned out to be indeed in the X–ray range and for one of them, 1426+428, $`\nu _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ was bound to be at frequencies larger than 100 keV, as occurred in Mkn 501 during the flaring state of 1997 (Pian et al. 1998) and in 1ES 2344+514 (Giommi, Padovani & Perlman 2000). These three, so far unique, sources have all been detected at TeV energies. In addition to these, here we also reconsider Mkn 501 and 1ES 2344+514, together with Mkn 421, for modeling their SED observed during flaring states (the SED in G98 corresponded only to the more “quiescent” states) and include in the sample PKS 2005–489 and 1ES 1101–232, since BeppoSAX observations of these sources revealed a high peak synchrotron frequency (Wolter et al. 2000; Tagliaferri et al. 2001).

In order to extend the range covered by the $`\gamma `$$`U`$ relation we also considered, at the other end of the blazar sequence, three very powerful FSRQ recently found at high redshift (Fabian et al. 2001a,b; Moran & Helfand 1997 and references therein). In fact, although they do not have a complete information on their high energy peak (not being detected by EGRET), their hard X–ray spectra constrain the emission model rather tightly.

In Table 1 we list the sources included in this paper (and not already present in the sample of G98) and the references to the data used in constructing the SEDs shown in Fig. 1a,b,c.

## 3 Steady–state synchrotron inverse Compton model

The SED of the considered sources have been modeled as in G98. We briefly remind the main assumptions of this model: in a spherical source of radius $`R`$, embedded in a tangled and homogeneous magnetic field $`B`$, a distribution of relativistic electrons is continuously injected at the rate $`Q(\gamma )\gamma ^s`$ \[cm-3 s-1\] between $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$, with a corresponding injected power $`L_{\mathrm{inj}}^{}`$ as measured in the comoving frame. Note that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ is the minimum Lorentz factor of the injected electrons, and should not be confused with the minimum Lorentz factor of the emitting particle distribution, which is here assumed to extend down to $`\gamma 1`$. The emitting particle distribution and corresponding spectrum are derived by solving the steady–state continuity equation, assuming synchrotron and inverse Compton radiative losses and possible pair production through photon–photon collisions. The seed photons for the inverse Compton process are both synchrotron and external photons, the latter ones assumed to be distributed as a (diluted) blackbody with peak frequency $`\nu _o10^{16}`$ Hz (as observed in the comoving frame). Externally produced radiation has been considered for the three high redshift quasars, while for all the extreme BL Lacs studied here the spectrum can be fitted with a pure synchrotron self–Compton (SSC) model, and we can therefore consistently neglect the presence of externally produced radiation.

For sources with $`\gamma `$–ray information we have enough data to completely constrain the SSC model. For the remaining objects we have to assume from the variability timescale $`t_{var}`$ the parameters $`R`$ and the bulk Lorentz factor $`\delta `$. We decided to adopt the same values of $`\delta `$ (=15) and $`R`$ ($`=5\times 10^{15}`$ cm) for all sources with no $`\gamma `$–ray data. Such values are in agreement with what we inferred for Mkn 501 and 1ES 1426+428 and with values reported by other authors in the literature (e.g. Mastichiadis & Kirk 1997; Tavecchio, Maraschi & Ghisellini 1998; Kataoka et al. 1999; Kino, Takahara & Kusunose, 2001). In the following we examine the dependence of the results on the assumption on $`\delta `$ 111The Lorentz factor of the bulk motion of the plasma is taken to be equal to the Doppler factor (i.e. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\delta `$), i.e. corresponding to a viewing angle $`\theta 1/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.. For the three high redshift quasars we have fixed the value of $`\delta `$ (=15, as for the other BL Lacs) and assumed a somewhat larger size of the emitting region ($`R=2\times 10^{16}`$ cm).

Note that the applied model is aimed at reproducing the spectrum originating in a limited part of the jet, thought to be responsible for most of the emission. This region is necessarily compact, since it must satisfy the constraints from the fast variability shown by blazars especially at high frequencies. Therefore the radio emission from such compact regions is strongly self–absorbed: the model cannot thus account for the observed radio flux.

In Table 2 we list all the input parameters222No statistical significance of the modeling is considered here. As discussed in G98 we are interested in reproducing the average spectrum of a statistically significant number of objects. used for the “fits” shown in Fig. 1a,b,c as solid lines, and we also report the value of the derived parameter $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$.

In Fig. 2 we plot $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ as a function of the (comoving) energy density $`U=U_\mathrm{r}+U_B`$ (radiative plus magnetic) for these sources and those of G98. As in G98, the plotted radiation energy density $`U_\mathrm{r}`$ is not the total one, but only that part available for scattering in the Thomson regime for electrons of Lorentz factor $`\gamma \mathrm{peak}`$. Fig. 2 clearly shows that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ and $`U`$ are still significantly correlated also for the more extreme objects, but, as expected, with a different functional dependence of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ vs $`U`$: for values of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ greater than $`1000`$ (corresponding to $`U<1`$ erg cm-3), the new branch is approximately described by $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$. In Table 4 we give the statistical results of a linear correlation between $`\mathrm{log}\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}U`$.

Let us consider the robustness of such finding with respect to our assumption on the Doppler factors. As mentioned above for Mkn 501 and 1ES 1426+428 the model parameters are completely determined by the spectral and variability information, while for the other sources we had to assume a value for the beaming factor $`\delta `$ (=15). Using for all of the new sources a lower (higher) value of $`\delta `$ would translate only into a shift of the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$ branch towards higher (lower) $`U`$, not affecting its slope and thus its presence.333e.g. $`\delta =10`$ corresponds to a change of $`U`$ by a factor $`3`$ Clearly, a spread in the values of $`\delta `$ would result in a scatter of the points around the correlation. Even in the fine tuned assumption of a systematic increase of $`\delta `$ – say between 10 and 20 – along the branch towards high $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$, the slope would not change enough to recover the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^{0.6}`$ correlation. We conclude that the presence of the new steeper trend is robust.

On the other hand, we stress that the three powerful objects have been included in the sample in order to better test the presence of the flatter $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^{0.6}`$ branch. Indeed as shown for example in the case of 1428+4217, the extension of the hard X-ray spectrum clearly constrains a minimum value of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$.

### 3.1 Interpretation

The existence of such good correlations between $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ and $`U`$ intriguingly suggests that these are the result of robust physical process(es). While, as already mentioned, the high $`U`$ branch corresponds to a constant (with respect to all other parameters) cooling rate at $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$, the new steeper branch $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$ is equivalent to an approximately constant radiative cooling time $`t_{\mathrm{cool}}(\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}})`$. This appears to indicate that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ might be determined by the cooling timescale approaching another relevant timescale of the system. Plausibly the most characteristic one would be the light crossing time associated to the dimension of the system. And indeed we find also quantitative indication from the parameters of the model that $`t_{\mathrm{cool}}(\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}})R/c`$. Processes which can operate on such a timescale include adiabatic losses and/or particle escape (for expansion and escape velocities of order $`c`$, see Kino, Takahara & Kusunose, 2001) or a particle injection (e.g. in a relativistic shock) lasting for $`R/c`$.

However the similarity of these two timescales also puts in evidence the inconsistency of the assumed model. More precisely if the typical cooling timescale for the particle radiating the bulk of the emission is of the order of the light crossing time, the assumption of steady state for deriving the particle distribution cannot be satisfied.

In such a situation therefore we have to consider a different scenario. In this respect two observational facts should be taken into account for the modeling of the emission. The variability characterizing blazars in general, and low power BL Lacs in particular, indicates that the deposition of energy is not continuous, but rather suggests a finite time of injection for each typical flare. Furthermore the symmetry of the raise and decay of flux in the light curves during flaring episodes, together with the absence of a plateau at constant flux, also indicates that the injection timescale should not exceed $`R/c`$ (Chiaberge & Ghisellini 1999). For these reasons we also explore here the situation where the injection lasts for a finite timescale, of order of the light crossing time.

A physical scenario where flares naturally occur and the injection timescale can be of order of the dynamical one is that of internal shocks (e.g. Piran 1999; Ghisellini 1999a; Spada et al. 2001), in which the dissipation takes place during the collision of two shells of fluid moving at different speeds. Let us then adopt such scenario.

## 4 Finite injection time model

As in the steady state model just considered, the magnetic field is assumed to be homogeneous and tangled throughout the region. Note however that in the internal shock scenario the geometry of the emitting volume is a cylinder with thickness $`\mathrm{\Delta }R^{}R/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (in the comoving frame) and radius $`R`$ corresponding to the cross section of the jet. In the following we thus adopt such geometry and again assume $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\delta `$.

In the hypothesis of a finite injection time $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$, which we assume lasts for $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}=\mathrm{\Delta }R^{}/c`$, clearly the continuity equation governing the particle distribution has no steady state solution (see also Sikora et al. 2001). However since we are studying variable (flaring) sources, a reasonably good representation of the observed spectrum can be obtained by considering the particle distribution at the time $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$, i.e. at the end of the injection, where in fact the emitted luminosity is maximized.

Beside the geometrical difference, clearly the main (and possibly crucial as far as the interpretation is concerned) difference between the steady–state and the finite injection hypothesis is related to the shape of the emitting particle distribution. In fact in the latter scenario $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ does not have to be associated with the minimum energy of the injected particles (as was the case so far in our modeling). If the injection lasts for a finite timescale, only the higher energy particles have the time to cool and therefore the particle distribution can be described as a broken power–law with a steep part above $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ and the original injection slope below. In other words $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ results to be defined by the condition $`t_{\mathrm{cool}}(\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}})=t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$, while the minimum energy $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ can be much smaller than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$.

More precisely, let us define $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ as the energy of those electrons that can cool in the injection time $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$, i.e. $`t_{\mathrm{cool}}(\gamma _\mathrm{c})=t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$. At energies greater than $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$, particles radiatively cool, and the distribution reaches a steady state in a time smaller than $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$. The particle distribution $`N(\gamma )`$ will be then described according to the following prescriptions:

* If $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}>\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$, then no particles cool in the injection time and we assume that $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^s`$ above $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$, and $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^1`$ below.
* If $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}<\gamma _\mathrm{c}<\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$, we assume that $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^{(s+1)}`$ above $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$, $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^s`$ between $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ and $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^1`$ below $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$.
* If $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}<\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ then $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^{(s+1)}`$ above $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$; $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^2`$ between $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^1`$ below $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$.
* If electron of all energies radiatively cool in the time $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$, then $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^{(s+1)}`$ above $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^2`$ below.

We note here that even if the shape of $`N(\gamma )`$ is not formally derived by solving the continuity equation, it does correspond to the shape expected from injecting a broken power–law with a break at $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$, and slopes $`\gamma ^1`$ and $`\gamma ^s`$ below and above.

With these prescriptions we then modeled all SEDs. In Table 3 we list the input parameters used (plus the derived value of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$) for the spectra shown in Fig. 1a,b,c as dashed lines. It is apparent that the accuracy of the representation of the SED is comparable with that obtained in the stationary assumption, and does not allow to discriminate between the two models.

In Fig. 3 we show $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ as a function of the comoving energy density $`U`$ according to the application of this model to $`all`$ sources, the sources analyzed in this paper plus those considered in G98 for consistency. As expected, for powerful blazars (large $`U`$, small $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$) we do not find significant differences with respect to the results of the previous model (compare the branches at high $`U`$ of Fig. 2 and Fig. 3), since for these sources $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$, and therefore $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ in both scenarios. However, for small values of $`U`$, $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ coincides with $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}>\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and this automatically ensures that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$, except when $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ results to be so large to exceed $`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ (in this case, of course, $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}=\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$). In the finite injection model, in fact, the relation $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}U^1`$ is built–in, and translates into a $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$ when $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}>\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$. What we have verified is that this model fits the SEDs of all blazars, including the powerful ones. For the latter (i.e. large $`U`$ and small $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$) we find the same correlation as found using the steady state model. We conclude that also this more consistent scenario confirms the existence of the two branches. These connect, as before, for values of $`U`$ a few erg cm-3 and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}300`$. This is a consequence of $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ becoming smaller than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ caused by the increased radiative cooling in powerful blazars.

## 5 Summary and conclusions

By studying blazars of very high and very small observed power we have confirmed that different flavors of blazars form a spectral and power sequence, where the peak frequency position and the relative intensity of the low and high energy spectral components decrease with increasing source power.

This phenomenological behavior is plausibly the manifestation of a physical trend. By (necessarily) adopting an emission model for the production of the radiation, it is then possible to infer the physical parameters and look for the process(es) responsible for it.

In particular we considered the emission via synchrotron and inverse Compton scattering by a homogeneous region containing a tangled magnetic field and relativistic electrons. Already in a previous study (G98) this resulted in the finding of a clear relationship between the energy of the particles emitting at the peaks of the spectrum $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}m_ec^2`$ and the total energy density. Here we extended the range of parameters by including sources with more extreme values of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$. The physical conditions found for low power BL Lacs imply a radiative cooling timescale long compared with the source light crossing time, and led us to consider the effects of a finite time $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$ for the injection of the relativistic particles.

The modeling of the blazar SED including a finite injection timescale (e.g. plausibly resembling what expected in the internal shock scenario) confirms the existence of a new branch of the correlation at high $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$, with $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$. As the injection of particles above an energy $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}m_\mathrm{e}c^2`$ lasts for $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$ we obtain two behaviors: in the fast cooling regime $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and we re–obtain the result of G98, while in the slow cooling regime $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ corresponds to particles whose cooling time equals the injection time. In this case $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ is always greater than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and we obtain $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}U^1`$.

While these results and their interpretation do not reveal the acceleration mechanism itself, they are suggestive of the fact that two processes maybe at work: a phase of (pre–)heating determining $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$, and a phase of rapid acceleration leading to a non–thermal distribution. If so the typical energy produced by the pre–heating (in the range $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ 30–103) would correspond to the balancing between heating and cooling rates, which would give the $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}U^{0.5}`$ dependence. The second phase, reminiscent of acceleration at shocks, would have to be a fast (“instantaneous”) acceleration of particles according to a power–law distribution. The energetic particles would then cool (as in post–shock plasma) and after a time $`t_{\mathrm{inj}}`$ the particles above $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ would have cooled according to $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}U^1`$. Although this interpretation might sound rather speculative, we stress that the occurrence of these two phases is indeed needed in the context of particle acceleration by shocks.

We also note that, in the framework of the adopted finite time injection model, we cannot reproduce the SED of blazars by imposing that a single mechanism is at work, namely by fixing $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ to a constant value for all blazars and letting only $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$ to assume the value appropriate for the particular cooling conditions. In this case, in fact, we would be forced to assume $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$a few for all blazars (to properly fit the powerful ones) with a particle distribution $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^s`$ between $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`\gamma _\mathrm{c}`$. As a result, we would overestimate the flux of our extreme BL Lacs at frequencies below the synchrotron peak, which instead require $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}>10^3`$.

An important point to be considered in interpreting the above findings is that they refer to an average state of the source within the proposed blazar sequence. However, individual flares have been observed to behave also differently: a specific source can vary by a significant factor in the direction opposite to the sequence trend, i.e. both $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ and the observed luminosity can increase at the same time (e.g. Mkn 501 during its 1997 active state). The correlation between $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ and the comoving energy density still holds even in these cases (see the “tracks” shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 for the TeV BL Lacs modeled in different states), but it is important to notice that in the case of the flaring state of Mkn 501 the particle distribution is found to be quite flat (i.e. $`N(\gamma )\gamma ^{(s+1)}`$ with $`s<2`$), at variance with the typical values generally found (i.e. $`s>2`$, see Table 3). This implies values of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ close to $`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ irrespective of the amount of radiative cooling. Physically, this suggests that when the source undergoes major flares, the shock acceleration mechanism becomes energetically dominant with respect to the pre–heating process, leading to flat particle distributions and thus to flat spectra in the entire synchrotron frequency range.

Let us conclude by asking whether there is any physical limit to the value of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$. BL Lac objects even more extreme than Mkn 501 could exist, with their synchrotron peak frequency reaching the MeV band. The found trends suggest that the most extreme values of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{peak}}`$ are possible only in sources intrinsically weak in the radio and optical band which could have thus escaped so far from being recognized as BL Lac objects in existing samples (see e.g. Ghisellini 1999b). As in the radio and optical band the SED would presumably be dominated by the emission from the host galaxy, these putative sources might resemble low power radio galaxies (such as those of the B2 sample). Their BL Lac–ness should appear evident in the TeV band and at hard X–ray energies, although care should be taken not to confuse their emission with the similarly hard X–ray spectra produced by e.g. low radiative efficiency accretion model (where the radiation is via free free or thermal Comptonization).

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Marek Sikora for useful discussions. AC thanks the Italian MIUR for financial support. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

An important purpose of the biannual Symposium on “Meson-Nucleon Physics and the Structure of the Nucleon” (MENU) is to review the status of the light baryonic states. MENU provides a public forum for discussing the occurrence of regularities in the hadrons, and for evaluating the success of various hadron models, particularly of the light baryons which are made up of $`u`$, $`d`$, and $`s`$ quarks.

## 2 Patterns in the Widths of Baryons

The width, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, of all light baryon resonances as listed in the Review of Particle Physics  is shown in Fig. 1.

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ increases with the mass of the resonance and the magnitude depends on the strangeness number of the family (which is directly related to the number of $`u`$ and $`d`$ quarks.) The value of the average $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for each family is given on the abscissa of Fig. 1. The relation between the widths is the following:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(N^{})=\mathrm{\Gamma }(\mathrm{\Delta }^{})\frac{9}{4}\mathrm{\Gamma }(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{})=\frac{9}{4}\mathrm{\Gamma }(\mathrm{\Sigma }^{})9\mathrm{\Gamma }(\mathrm{\Xi }^{}).$$
(1)
Riska  has noted that these ratios correspond to $`[\mathrm{\#}(u+d)]^2`$, where $`\mathrm{\#}(u+d)`$ is the number of up and down quarks. Note that the $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ states are sufficiently narrow that they may be fruitfully explored in production experiments such as $`\gamma p\mathrm{\Xi }^{}K^+K^+`$; this provides a practical way for discovering many of the missing $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ resonances.

## 3 Patterns in Baryon Masses, Spins and Parities

Shown in Fig. 2 is a parity-pairing plot, which displays by rectangular boxes the real part of the pole of every known $`N^{}`$ state in eight vertical bands, one for each spin: 1/2, 3/2, $`\mathrm{}`$ 15/2.

Every band has two columns; the left for the negative parity states and the right for the positive ones. The star ranking of each state is indicated by the shading: four stars (darkest shade) are awarded to well-established states and one star (lightest shade) to the iffy ones.

There are clearly 3 mass regions in Fig. 2: 4 states have $`m<1600`$ MeV, where $`m`$ is the pole value of the state. None of these has a parity partner; we shall call them *bachelor* states. There are 16 states with 1600 $`<m<`$ 2200 MeV which form 8 parity doublets, and make two clusters. The 2 remaining states at $`m>`$ 2500 MeV are single states; however, the searches for other states have been far from exhaustive. A similar pattern of parity doublet states is found in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ family. For the case of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ states there are not sufficient data for drawing a firm conclusion about the similar occurance of parity doublets.

The situation for the mesons is fundamentally different. Fig. 3 shows the parity pairing plot for the strange meson family.

There is no evidence for parity doubling. The isosinglet and isotriplet meson families support this.

We conclude that parity doubling is a feature of the baryons which is *not seen* in the mesons. Possible reasons for this could be a diquark substructure  or some hitherto overlooked symmetry in the wave function.

## 4 The Flavor Symmetry of QCD

The Lagrangian of QCD, $`_{QCD}`$, is given by the following compact expression :

$$_{QCD}=\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu \nu }^{(a)}F^{(a)\mu \nu }+i\underset{q}{}\overline{\psi }_q^i\gamma ^\mu (D_\mu )_{ij}\psi _q^j\underset{q}{}m_q\overline{\psi }_q^i\psi _{qi}$$
(2)
with

$`F_{\mu \nu }^{(a)}`$ $`=`$ $`_\mu A_\nu ^a_\nu A_\mu ^a+g_sf_{abc}A_\mu ^bA_\nu ^c,`$
$`(D_\mu )_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{ij}_\mu ig_s{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _{i,j}^a}{2}}A_\mu ^a.`$
$`\psi `$ is the quark field, $`A`$ is the gluon field and $`m_q`$ is the mass of quark $`q`$. Eq. 2 may be arranged as follows:

$$_{QCD}=_0+_m.$$
(3)
$`_0`$ consists of the first two terms of Eq. 2 and $`_m`$ is the third term. $`_0`$ depends only on the fields; it is the same for all 6 quarks and 8 gluons. This is the famous flavor symmetry of QCD, which is a manifestation of the universality of the strong interaction; it is broken by the mass term,

$$_m=\underset{q}{}\overline{\psi }_qm_q\psi _q.$$

The success of the SU(3) symmetry for systems of $`u`$, $`d`$ and $`s`$ quarks is indicative of $`_0>>_m`$. $`_m`$ produces a change of about 15% in the mass of the hyperons.

Flavor symmetry explains the stunning similarity between the features of threshold $`\pi ^{}p\eta n`$ production and $`K^{}p\eta n`$ as well as the amazing analogy between the Dalitz plots of $`\pi ^{}p\pi ^0\pi ^0n`$ and $`K^{}p\pi ^0\pi ^0\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and the dissimilarity with $`K^{}p\pi ^0\pi ^0\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ .

## 5 Baryon Mass Calculations

The experimental masses  of the ground states of the four light baryon-octet families, the $`N`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$, are displayed in Fig. 4 by thick horizontal lines.

Shown also are the masses of the ground states of the four decuplet families, the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$(1232), $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$(1385), $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$(1530) and $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$(1672). We shall compare these mass spectra with three very different model calculations which are representative of the large variety of calculations in this field.

1. Lattice-gauge, L-G, results obtained by the CP-PACS group  for a quenched QCD calculations are indicated in Fig. 4 by the stars. The L-G calculations used as input the masses of the $`\pi ^0,\rho `$ and $`\varphi `$ mesons, they also set $`m_u=m_d`$. The agreement of this L-G calculation with the experimental masses is at the several percent level. For example, $`m_p`$(L-G) = 878 $`\pm `$ 25 MeV, while $`m_p`$(exp) = 938 MeV. One should not be carried away by the level of agreement for the 8 baryon ground states of this and other calculations; this could give an undeserved sense of accomplishment. Note that the masses of the four decuplet states (which have a symmetric flavor state function) simply differ by the $`sd`$ quark mass difference. Well before the birth of QCD, the resulting equal mass spacings were known as the Gell-Mann decuplet mass splitting relation. L-G and all quark models display this decuplet relation to the level of 1 MeV, however, experimentally it only holds to the level of 17 MeV. A similar relation applies to the octet ground-state masses, they obey the Gell-Mann-Okubo mass relation. This is different from the decuplet relation because the octets have mixed flavor symmetry. Thus, instead of 8 separate mass values there are actually only 4 independent numbers: the mass of the proton and the $`p\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, and the $`p\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ mass differences.
2. The results of the relativized quark model calculations by Capstick and Isgur  are shown in Fig. 4 by black dots. The agreement with experiment is slightly better than the L-G model.
3. The algebraic model calculations by Bijker et al. , are shown by the open squares in Fig. 4. Again, the agreement with experiment is excellent which in part originates in the use of a larger input data set.

The above calculations are less satisfactory when it comes to obtaining the mases of the baryonic excited states. The limitations inherent in using a quenched QCD calculations of the present L-G models makes them not useful in their current form for the calculation of the excited states. We hope that this will change in the not too distant future.

Among the available quark model calculations we chose the Capstick-Roberts  work which comes from the same school as . Shown in Fig. 5 are the masses of all listed  $`N^{}`$ states.

We use different shades of gray to indicate the number of stars given to each resonance. The predictions by Capstick and Roberts are shown by horizontal lines with a triangle in the middle. Qualitatively, the spectrum of the experimental masses below 2000 MeV is reproduced by most quark models. A close inspection reveals several nagging discrepancies:

1. The lowest established excited $`N^{}`$ state is the Roper resonance, which has positive parity and spin $`\frac{1}{2}`$, like the nucleon which is the ground state. In the quark model of  the lowest two states have negative parity and spin $`\frac{1}{2}`$ and $`\frac{3}{2}`$. This ordering is difficult to rectify except by a major modification such as the direct participation of Goldstone bosons in the quark-quark interaction .
2. The calculated masses of the positive parity states are all too high by some 80 MeV compared to the data, while all negative parity resonances are calculated to be too low by some 40 MeV. It is interesting that a similar quark model calculation  of the mesons agrees very well with the data.
3. Less than a quarter of the predicted states above 2000 MeV have been observed experimentally. The reason which is usually advanced for not seeing the “missing resonances” is their small coupling to the $`\pi N`$ channel used for the identification by the $`\pi N`$ partial wave analyses. A small coupling is indeed a feature of several quark models which use an independent channel calculation of the $`\pi N`$ branching ratio. In reality there is a non-negligible coupling between various channels such as the $`\pi N`$ and $`\eta N`$ channel. In these cases the $`\pi N`$ final state is enhanced because it has the larger phase space.

Experimentally it will be hard to identify the plethora of missing $`N^{}`$ states with a mass $`>`$ 2000 MeV. According to Fig. 1 we expect these states to have a width $`>`$ 300 MeV. In the region 2000–2300 MeV the quark model predicts 30 states, all overlapping and broad. We propose that the mystery of the missing baryonic resonances be settled by a detailed investigation of the excited $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ because all $`N^{}`$ states are related by flavor symmetry, discussed in section 4, to $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ states that have the same spin and parity and a $``$450 MeV larger mass. However, they have a narrow width of $``$ 40 MeV. The $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ states are readily accesible in production experiments such as $`K^{}pK^+\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ and $`\gamma pK^+K^+\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$.

## 6 Where are the Hybrid Baryons?

There is no argument known which is based on QCD or on our understanding of confinement for limiting the baryons to 3 quark states, $`|B=|qqq`$. We expect also $`|B=|qqqg`$, $`|B=|qqqgg`$, etc. The latter two are called the hybrid baryons. They do not follow the simple SU(3)-flavor symmetry relations between the different light-quark baryon families. Thus, we do not expect that an $`N^{}`$ hybrid will have a flavor partner in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ family and vice versa. Shown in Fig. 6 by boxes are the various known $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ states using gray shading to indicate their star rating.

We also show by the horizontal lines with crosses the SU(3) flavor prediction based on the experimentally observed $`N^{}`$ states and a simple expression to adjust for the flavor breaking due to the $`sd`$ quark mass difference . From this figure we can conclude that:

1. The Roper resonance, the $`N(1440)\frac{1}{2}^+,`$ which has long been regarded as a hybrid candidate is not a hybrid because of the existence of the SU(3) flavor partner the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1600)\frac{1}{2}^+`$.
2. There are no unaccounted-for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ states, hence, there are no $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hybrid candidates.

## 7 Nomenclature

To identify a specific baryonic resonance many authors use an outdated nomenclature which can be rather misleading. In this outdated system the proton is labelled a P11 state implying one unit of angular momentum of the constituents. This label dates back to the meson period in the history of nuclear physics when the nucleon was considered to have a Dirac core surrounded by a P-wave pion cloud. The latter ingredient was needed to account for the observed magnetic dipole moments of the nucleons, $`\mu _p=+2.79\mu _B`$ and $`\mu _n=1.93\mu _B.`$

In the quark era, with the success of QCD, it is hard to support the notion that the proton, which is the ground state of the $`N^{}`$ family and has a life time (into certain channels) in excess of 1032 years, is a P-state. We can rectify the situation by dropping the misleading nomenclature of $`L_{2I2J}`$ and replace it by a simple system that uses measured parameters only. The first part is a capital or greek letter for the unique identification of the six light baryon families, the $`N,\mathrm{\Delta },\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Xi },`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. This is followed by the mass in brackets and by the spin and parity. Thus, the proton’s new symbol is $`N(938)\frac{1}{2}^+,`$ the Roper is $`N(1440)\frac{1}{2}^+,`$ the D13 is $`N(1520)\frac{3}{2}^{},`$ and the S11 is $`N(1535)\frac{1}{2}^{}`$. Similar conventions are used for the other families, e.g. the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ground state is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1116)\frac{1}{2}^+,`$ the lambda-Roper is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1600)\frac{1}{2}^+,`$ etc.

## 8 The Star System

A practical system for quality assessment based on awarding a number of stars — as done by a well known restaurant guide — has been in use in baryon spectroscopy for many years. Every baryon resonance listed in the Review of Particle Physics  is awarded 1 to 4 stars. The meaning of the number of stars is the following.

* Existence is certain, and properties are at least fairly well established.
* Existence ranges from very likely to certain, but further confirmation is desirable and/or quantum numbers, branching fractions, etc. are not well determined.
* Evidence of existence is only fair.
* Evidence of existence is poor.

This system works well for the $`N`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ families where all states have been investigated in several full, energy dependent and independent, $`\pi N`$ partial wave analyses (PWA). The 3 and 4 star $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ states are in good shape as they come mainly from $`\overline{K}N`$ PWAs. However, there are several unsavory 1 and 2 star $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ candidates, which represent some questionable bumps in a few production experiments into inelastic channels. A major problem occurs in the case of the heavy baryons where all states have been discovered in production experiments. None of the new heavy baryons have an experimental determination of their spin and parity; instead, they are assigned a value based on the predictions of some popular quark models. We have seen in Sect. 5 how even the most extensive and widely used quark model does a poor job in the mass ordering of the lowest excited states. Furthermore, the actual mass calculation especially of the positive parity states is inaccurate by up to 80 MeV. Yet, the heavy baryon states have been given 3 and a few even 4 stars. The spin and parity are the vital characteristics of any resonance and a state does not warrant 3 or 4 stars when their is no experimental data on its spin and parity. We should fine tune the definition of 3 stars with this in mind.

Mark Manley  is floating the idea that we should establish a new class of 5 star states which is reserved for the “golden” resonances about whose existence and basic quantum numbers and properties there is no question. This idea has merits and deserves careful consideration by our community. In the meantime all physicists should be aware that the spin and parity of all heavy baryons are assigned based on the quark model without experimental verification.

## 9 Summary and Conclusions

A large body of detailed information on the properties of the light baryons  has been accumulated. However, our knowledge is still very incomplete; it is insufficient to allow drawing reliable conclusions about the occurance of significant regularities such as parity doublets and clusters. Investigating the occurance of regularities is needed to make progress on the problem of quark confinement in QCD. There is currently no evidence for the existence of hybrids but we cannot exclude them either. The lack of any clear manifestations of the gluon degree of freedom in any baryonic system is unsettling. It points to hitherto unexpected aspects of QCD in the non-perturbative regime.

New data on the properties of the many expected, but undiscovered $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{},\mathrm{\Sigma }^{},\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ states are urgently needed so we can establish the dependence of the $`sd`$ quark mass difference on the energy and spin/parity of the confined 3 quark system. A convenient way to handle this is by investigating the validity of the Gell-Mann decuplet and the Gell-Mann-Okubo octet mass relations for high mass states with large spin and for the positive as well as negative parity states. This is needed for progress in the area of the “Origin of Mass”, one of the areas of importance in our field. A coordinated effort is needed on the existence of $`N^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ resonances with $`m>`$ 2000 MeV. Required for this are sophisticated detectors and secondary beams of $`\pi ^\pm ,K^\pm ,\overline{p},\stackrel{}{n},`$ and $`\stackrel{}{\gamma }`$ up to 5 GeV. It is the responsibility of this community to raise the awareness of our colleagues to the importance of the physics we are engaged in and to the experimental tools, especially the secondary beams, required to get our jobs done.


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# He I 1.083 𝜇m emission and absorption in DG Tau: line excitation in jet, hot wind, and accretion flow1footnote 11footnote 1Based on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

## 1 Introduction

Understanding the mechanisms of mass accretion and the driving of jets/winds is one of the most important key issues of star formation theories. Disk accretion rates estimated through UV excess measurements and/or permitted line luminosities are correlated with outflow signatures such as forbidden line luminosities (e.g., Hartigan, Edwards, & Ghandour 1995), suggesting a physical link between the two phenomena: i.e., jets/winds remove excess angular momentum from accreting material, thereby preventing young stellar objects from spinning up to breakup velocity. Several theories have been proposed to attempt to explain this physical link (e.g., Shu et al. 2000; Königl & Pudritz 2000; Goodson, Böhm & Winglee 1999), however, consensus has not yet been achieved.

Low-mass pre-main sequence stars (T Tauri stars) exhibit a rich variety of emission lines at optical-to-IR wavelengths, probing the activities of jets, winds, and accretion flow close to the stars. Permitted atomic emission lines have often been considered to arise from magnetospheric accretion columns and/or accretion shocks. Indeed, these line luminosities show correlation with the accretion luminosity (e.g., Muzerolle, Hartmann, & Carvet 1998a), and idealized magnetospheric accretion models have been successful in reproducing at least some of the observed permitted line profiles (Hartmann, Hewett, & Carvet 1994; Muzerolle, Calvet, & Hartmann 1998b, 2001). On the other hand, H$`\alpha `$ and He I profiles in some T Tauri stars exhibit blue-shifted wings, and Beristain, Edwards, & Kwan (2001) argue that a hot wind can also contribute to their emission. Spectro-astrometric observations by Takami et al. (2001) have revealed that a bipolar outflow at AU scales is responsible for the H$`\alpha `$ emission in the T Tauri star RU Lupi. Forbidden lines in T Tauri stars arise from outflowing gas at scales of more than 1 AU, and often exhibit two blueshifted components at high and low velocities (e.g., Hirth, Mundt, & Solf 1997). Different densities and temperatures for these two components is suggestive of their distinct origins, e.g., a fast jet and a slow disk wind (see Eislöffel et al. 2000).

We present results of long-slit spectroscopy and spectro-astrometry for He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m and \[Fe II\] 1.257 $`\mu `$m emission in DG Tau. The former is one of the brightest among He I lines at optical-to-IR wavelenths, and its diagnostic potential lies in the high-excitation energy (20 eV), which restricts its formation to a region either of high temperature or close proximity to a source of ionizing radiation (cf. Beristain et al. 2001). DG Tau is one of the most active young stellar objects known. Analysis of the bright, hot continuum excess gives a mass accretion rate of 5$`\times `$10-7 M yr-1 (Gullbring et al. 2000), one of the largest among T Tauri stars in the Taurus-Auriga cloud (Muzerolle et al. 1998a). Beristain et al. (2001) show a blue-shifted wing to the He I 5876 Å emission at velocities up to 600 km s-1, indicating the presence of a hot wind close to the star. Recent high resolution observations have revealed knotty, bubble-like, and bow-shape structures in the associated jet within a few arcsecond of the object (e.g., Kepner et al. 1993; Dougados et al. 2000; Bacciotti et al. 2000). In this Letter, we show that the He I 1.083 $`\mathrm{\mu m}`$ feature in DG Tau consists of the following three components: a blueshifted emission component from a jet, a blueshifted absorption component from a hot wind, and a bright emission component at zero-velocity presumably from magnetospheric accretion columns.

## 2 Observations

Observations were carried out on 2000 December 13 at the SUBARU 8.2-m telescope using the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph IRCS (Tokunaga et al. 1998; Kobayashi et al. 2000). The echelle grating mode with a 0.3-arcsec wide slit provides a spectral resolution of 104. The pixel scale of 0.075 arcsec provides good sampling of the seeing profile (FWHM$``$1 arcsec during our observations), thereby allowing accurate spectro-astrometric measurements (Bailey 1998a,b). The spectra were obtained at four slit position angles (0, 90, 180, and 270). The DG Tau jet lies at a position angle of $`225^{}`$ (Lavalley et al. 1997; Eislöffel & Mundt 1998), thus the selected slit angles minimize contamination from the extended jet and allows us to study the emission line regions closest to the star. In addition to the target, an A-type bright standard was observed at similar airmasses to correct for telluric absorption. The flat fields were made by combining many exposures of the spectrograph illuminated by a halogen lamp.

The data were reduced using the KAPPA and FIGARO packages provided by Starlink. The position-velocity diagrams were obtained via standard reduction processes: dark-subtraction, flat-fielding, removal of bad pixels, correcting for curvature in the echelle spectra, wavelength calibration, correcting for telluric absorption, and night-sky subtraction. Wavelength calibrations were made using atmospheric absorption features on the stellar continuum via comparison with modelled spectra provided by ATRAN (Lord 1992). The systemic motion of the object was calibrated based on previous observations of Li I 6707 Å photospheric absorption (VHel=+16.5 km s-1— Bacciotti et al. 2000).

In addition to the position-velocity diagrams, spectro-astrometric “position spectra” were obtained to study the spatial structure of emission line regions down to milliarcsecond scales (Bailey 1998a,b; Takami et al. 2001). These spectra were determined after dark-subtraction and flat-fielding by fitting the seeing profile at each wavelength with a Gaussian function. About 6$`\times `$104 photons at each wavelength provide a typical accuracy of 6 milliarcsec at the continuum level. Any instrumental effects in the position spectra were eliminated with high accuracy by subtracting those with opposite position angles ($`0180^{}`$ or $`90270^{}`$). Each position spectrum has an arbitrary zero point, which is adjusted to correspond to the continuum position. To determine the true-position of the line emission, contamination by the continuum was removed using the line-to-continuum ratio at each wavelength (see Takami et al. 2001 for detail).

## 3 Results

Fig. 1 shows the position-velocity diagrams for He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m and \[Fe II\] 1.257 $`\mu `$m emission along north-south (N-S) and east-west (E-W) slit positions. The figure exhibits two components in both the He I and \[Fe II\] emission. The He I emission consists of a bright component centered on the systemic velocity, and a high velocity component (HVC) at a velocity of roughly $`200`$ km s-1. The former component does not show any spatial displacement from the star, whose position is indicated by the dot-dashed line in the figure. On the other hand, the HVC extends towards the south and west peaking 0”.4 south of the star. The position of the HVC coincides with structure in the jet located $``$0”.6 southwest from the star, previously identified by Bacciotti et al. (2000).

The position-velocity diagrams of the \[Fe II\] emission exhibit two blueshifted velocity components as observed in optical forbidden lines of many T Tauri stars (e.g., Hirth et al. 1997). These components in our results exhibit velocities of $``$200 to $``$250 km s-1 and $``$100 to $``$150 km s-1, and their centroidal positions are displaced from the star in the direction of the jet by $``$0”.4 arcsec and $``$0”.2 arcsec, respectively, in both the N-S and E-W diagrams. The position and the velocity of the HVC in the \[Fe II\] emission coincide with those of the He I emission described above.

Fig. 2 shows intensity profiles in the regions (a)(b)(c) given in Fig. 1: each 0”, 0”.4, and 0”.8 arcsecs from the star in the north-south diagrams, respectively. The He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m profile in region (a) exhibits a triangular component at zero velocity with a FWZI of $``$500 km s-1, corresponding to the bright component in Fig. 1. The HVC clearly appears in profiles (b) and (c), exhibiting a peak at $``$205 km s-1. In addition to these emission components, profile (a) shows blueshifted absorption between $``$250 and $``$500 km s-1. The intensity profiles in \[Fe II\] emission in Fig. 2 exhibit blueshifted peaks at $``$230 to $``$240 and $``$105 km s-1, respectively. These \[Fe II\] profiles are similar to those of optical emission lines observed by Hamann (1994), especially of \[Fe II\] 8617 Å, 7452 Å, and 7388 Å lines.

Fig. 2 also shows position spectra obtained via spectro-astrometric reduction. Displacement is not detected in the brightest emission component of the He I emission within the measured positional accuracy of $``$10 milliarcsec, corresponding to $``$1.4 AU at the observed star-forming region (Wichmann et al. 1998). This is consistent with the argument that permitted atomic emission lines in T Tauri stars form within $``$10 R of the stellar surface (e.g., Najita et al. 2000). The position spectra in the low-velocity component (LVC) of the \[Fe II\] emission show a constant displacement of $``$0”.2 within the error bars. A constant displacement is also observed in the optical forbidden lines of RU Lupi (Takami et al. 2001), and contrasts with that expected in an accelerating flow in which the displacement should increase with the velocity. Such constancy in the position spectra could be explained if the line broadening is due to rotation around the flow axis (Hirth, Mundt, & Solf 1994), although the error bars in Fig. 2 cannot rule out the contribution of accelerating motion. The measured position angles in the emission features are $`215\pm 6^{}`$, $`213\pm 14^{}`$, and $`219\pm 17^{}`$ for the He I HVC, \[Fe II\] HVC, and \[Fe II\] LVC, respectively, coincident with the position angle of the extended jet (Lavalley et al. 1997; Eislöffel and Mundt 1998).

## 4 Discussion

It is surprising that the He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m emission is detected within the HVC of the forbidden line region. The HVC of forbidden line regions in T Tauri stars have been considered to arise from a jet close to the source (Eislöffel et al. 2000), and mainly observed in \[O I\] 6300 Å, \[S II\] 6716/6731 Å, and \[N II\] 6583 Å, whose excitation energies are typically 2 eV from the ground. On the other hand, the He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m emission has an excitation energy of 20 eV, about $``$10 times larger. This line has been observed in some high-velocity Harbig-Haro objects (e.g., Brugel, Böhm, & Mannery 1981) and in H II regions (e.g., Takami et al. 2002), however, it is not easily thermally excited, requiring conditions with temperatures of $``$104 K and electron densities of $`<`$106 cm-3.

The heating mechanism in the jet close to the source has been debated over many years. Proposed heating mechanisms include: shocks caused by variations in the velocity of the jet (e.g., Hartigan et al. 1995), ambipolar diffusion (Safier 1993; Garcia 2001), and turbulent dissipation in a viscous mixing-layer (e.g., Binette et al. 1999). Recent high-resolution imaging and emission line diagnostics have prefered shock heating (Bacciotti et al. 2000; Lavalley-Fouquet, Cabrit, & Dougados 2000), and our results support this conclusion for the following reasons. One of the outer working surfaces of the DG Tau jet exhibit \[O III\] 4959 Å and 5007 Å emission (Cohen & Fuller 1985), indicating that O+ ions are ionized beyond their ionization potential of 35 eV: thus, shock velocities in the DG Tau jet should be sufficient to excite the He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m emission, the excitation energy of which is 20 eV. On the other hand, the models of ambipolar diffusion and turbulent dissipation predict temperatures of up to $``$$`3\times 10^4`$ K (Safier 1993; Garcia et al. 2001; Binette et al. 1999) which, together with the inferred electron densities ($``$105 cm-3 — Lavalley-Fouquet et al. 2000), is not likely to explain the presence of such a highly excited line.

The velocities of the He I blueshifted $`absorption`$ roughly coincide with the blueshifted wing $`emission`$ of He I 5576 Å, which extends up to 600 km s-1 (Beristain et al. 2001). This difference is attributed to their different optical thickness. The lower energy level of the He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m transition is “metastable”, and its large population causes an absorption feature via resonance scattering in the outer region of a non-spherical wind. On the other hand, the lower level of the He I 5576 Å transition must be much less populated, allowing the emission from the inner wind to pass through the outer region without absorption. Our results do not show the presence of off-stellar He I emission associated with the blueshifted absorption, as observed in a massive star $`\theta ^1`$C Ori (Oudmaijer et al. 1997). This fact suggest that the He I wind in DG Tau has a spatial scale well below our spatial resolution. Interestingly, the H$`\alpha `$ profiles observed by Beristain et al. (2001) exhibit a blueshifted absorption at much lower velocities, peaking at roughly $``$50 km s-1. Such different velocities between the He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m and H$`\alpha `$ absorption may be a result of acceleration in the wind.

The bright He I emission component at zero velocity appears both in He I 1.083 $`\mu `$m and 5876 Å, in contrast with the wind at $`250`$ to $`500`$ km s-1. Such different line excitation between the two components suggest distinct origins. A possible explanation is that the bright component arises in magnetospheric accretion columns, as often argued for permitted lines. Indeed, the profiles of this component are similar to those of Pa$`\beta `$ (Folha & Emerson 2001), whose luminosity show a tight correlation with the accretion luminosity (Muzerolle et al. 1998a).

The authors thank the anonymous referee for useful comments, and T. Onaka for use of ATRAN on his workstation. The authors also acknowledge the data analysis facilities provided by the Starlink Project which is run by CCLRC on behalf of PPARC. MT thanks PPARC for support through a PDRA.