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# COMPTEL Observations of the Gamma-Ray Blazar PKS 1622-297

## 1 Introduction

The EGRET experiment aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) has detected roughly 90 blazar-type Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at $`\gamma `$-ray energies above 100 MeV (Hartman et al., 1999). Ten of these were also detected by COMPTEL measuring at lower-energy $`\gamma `$-rays in the 0.75 - 30 MeV band, e.g. CTA 102 and 3C 454.3 (Blom et al., 1995a), PKS 0528+134 (Collmar et al., 1997a), PKS 0208-512 (Blom et al., 1995b), 3C 273 and 3C 279 (Hermsen et al., 1993; Williams et al., 1995; Collmar et al., 2000). They are often detected during $`\gamma `$-ray flaring periods reported by EGRET at energies above 100 MeV. Another such example is the blazar PKS 1622-297 discussed in this paper. It was detected by the CGRO experiments OSSE, COMPTEL and EGRET at $`\gamma `$-ray energies during a 5-week flaring period between June 6 and July 10, 1995 (Kurfess et al., 1995; Collmar et al., 1997b; Mattox et al., 1997).

The quasar PKS 1622-297 has a redshift of z = 0.815 (Wright & Otrupcek, 1990) and is located at (l,b) = (348.82,13.32). It is a known radio source with a flat radio spectrum (flat-spectrum radio quasar) (Kühr et al., 1981; Steppe et al., 1993), showing polarization of 4.6$`\%`$ at 5 GHz (Impey & Tapia, 1990). In the optical band PKS 1622-297 is a weak source with typical visual magnitudes around 20 to 21 mag (e.g. Torres & Wroblewski, 1984; Saikia et al., 1987). X-rays of PKS 1622-297 were detected by ROSAT with a flux of (3.2$`\pm `$0.8)$`\times `$10-13 erg cm-1 s-1 in the 0.1-2.4 keV energy band (Mattox et al., 1997).

In June and July 1995 the quasar was observed to be flaring at $`\gamma `$-ray energies above 100 MeV by EGRET. The COMPTEL experiment also detected the source at MeV $`\gamma `$-ray energies in this period. Preliminary COMPTEL results, reported by Collmar et al. (1997b), provide a source detection at a significance level of $``$ 5 $`\sigma `$ and a hint for flux variability in the energy range 10-30 MeV. After the $`\gamma `$-ray outburst was recognized a target-of-opportunity (ToO) observation for CGRO was declared (June 30 - July 10, 1995) which caused the OSSE experiment (0.05 - $``$10 MeV) to participate in observing PKS 1622-297. The quasar was detected by OSSE at $``$ 6 $`\sigma `$. The simultaneous EGRET and OSSE spectra are consistent with a simple power-law shape with photon index 1.87 (Mattox et al., 1997). On top of this $`\gamma `$-ray outburst, EGRET observed a huge $`\gamma `$-ray flare with intraday variability, which occurred around June 24, 1995 and lasted for $`>`$ 1 day (Mattox et al., 1997). Its peak flux of (17$`\pm `$3)$`\times `$10-6 ph cm-2 s-1 is among the brightest ones ever observed from any blazar by EGRET.

During the CGRO mission (April 1991 to June 2000), COMPTEL has conducted many observations of PKS 1622-297. We used the first 6 years of data to study the MeV behaviour of PKS 1622-297 (i.e., the data before the second reboost of CGRO in 1997 which changed the background environment for COMPTEL). We describe the COMPTEL observations in Sect. 3. In Sect. 4 we report the main COMPTEL results on detections, light curves and energy spectra, and compare them to the results in neighboring energy bands, in particular to the EGRET ones. We discuss our findings in the framework of current $`\gamma `$-ray emission scenarios for blazars in Sect. 5, and finally summarize in Sect. 6.

## 2 Instrument and data analysis

The imaging Compton Telescope COMPTEL is sensitive to $`\gamma `$-rays in the energy range 0.75-30 MeV with an energy-dependent energy resolution between 5$`\%`$ and 10$`\%`$ and an angular resolution of 1 \- 2. It consists of two layers of detectors (upper and lower) which are separated by 1.58 m. An incident $`\gamma `$ photon is first Compton scattered in one of the upper detectors and then – ideally – completely absorbed in one of the lower detectors. Two orthogonal coordinates ($`\chi `$, $`\psi `$), describing the direction of the scattered $`\gamma `$-ray, can be obtained from the interaction locations in the two detector layers. The Compton scatter angle, $`\overline{\phi }`$, can be calculated from the measured energy deposits in the two detectors. Therefore the direction of the incident photon is located on a projected circle on the sky. The scatter direction ($`\chi `$, $`\psi `$) and the Compton scatter angle ($`\overline{\phi }`$) constitute a three-dimensional data space in which the spatial response of the instrument is cone-shaped. For more details about the COMPTEL instrument see Schönfelder et al. (1993).

There are two standard imaging methods, maximum-likelihood and maximum entropy, for the COMPTEL data analysis in this three-dimensional data space. Flux estimates and statistical significances can be obtained by applying the maximum-likelihood method. The quantity -2ln$`\lambda `$, where $`\lambda `$ is the likelihood ratio of two hypotheses (background, background + source) provides the detection significance for a $`\gamma `$-ray source (de Boer et al., 1992). This -2ln$`\lambda `$ quantity has a $`\chi _3^2`$ distribution (3 degrees of freedom) for a unknown point source (search modus) and a $`\chi _1^2`$ distribution for a known source (check at a given position). In order to estimate the COMPTEL background the standard filter technique (Bloemen et al., 1994) was applied. Because PKS 1622-297 is located towards the inner Galaxy, models of the diffuse galactic emission (bremsstrahlung, inverse-Compton radiation) were included in the analysis. An isotropic component describing the extragalactic diffuse emission was included as well. For flux estimates we assumed point spread functions with an E-2 power law shape for the source input spectrum. We note that the derived fluxes are weakly dependent on this particular choice.

## 3 Observations

From the beginning of the CGRO mission in April 1991 up to the second reboost of CGRO in April 1997, which changed the background environment at lower ($`<`$4.3 MeV) COMPTEL energies significantly, PKS 1622-297 was many times within the COMPTEL field-of-view (fov). This time period covered 230 CGRO viewing periods (VP) typically lasting 1 to 2 weeks each, and 6 so-called CGRO Phases each covering a time period of roughly 1 year. For our analysis we selected 28 pointings (see Table 1) for which the angle between the COMPTEL pointing direction and the source direction was less than 30. As listed in Table 1, CGRO viewing period (VP) 229.5 is added to VP 229.0 because the pointing was the same. In summary, between April 1991 and February 1997 PKS 1622-297 was 215 days within 30 of the COMPTEL pointing direction, resulting in a total effective exposure (100% COMPTEL pointed directly to the source) of 59.2 days.

## 4 Results

### 4.1 Source detections

EGRET reported a strong detection of 25$`\sigma `$ with a large $`\gamma `$-ray flux during the $`\gamma `$-ray outburst period in 1995 (Mattox et al., 1997). Outside this period only marginal evidence for the source, i.e. a low flux level, is found by EGRET (Fig. 1). According to the measured EGRET flux, we define two $`\gamma `$-ray states for PKS 1622-297: a ’$`\gamma `$-ray flaring’ state covering the 4 VPs 421.0 to 423.5, and a ’$`\gamma `$-ray quiescent’ state which covers the remaining 24 pointings. In the rest of the paper, we will refer to the relevant observational periods/times as the ’$`\gamma `$-ray flaring’ and ’$`\gamma `$-ray quiescent’ periods.

COMPTEL imaging analysis revealed evidence for PKS 1622-297 during the 5-week flaring period in 1995. In the sum of these data the quasar is detected in the uppermost COMPTEL band (10 - 30 MeV) with a significance of 5.9 $`\sigma `$, assuming $`\chi _1^2`$-statistics for a known source (Fig. 2). Below 10 MeV the detection of the source is only marginal ($``$ 1.5 $`\sigma `$ in the 3-10 MeV band) or non-detections occur (below 3 MeV). Evidence for the source in the 10-30 MeV band is found in each of the 4 individual VPs, typically at the a 2$`\sigma `$-significance level. Outside this $`\gamma `$-ray flaring period in 1995 PKS 1622-297 is detected marginally by COMPTEL only in Phase 5+6 in the 10-30 MeV band (Fig. 1). The relevant flux results are given in Table 2.

### 4.2 Time variability

During the first 6 years of the CGRO mission, PKS 1622-297 was strongly variable at $`\gamma `$-ray energies above 100 MeV with the major outburst in 1995. Due to the poorer statistics, the detection of time variability cannot easily be claimed by COMPTEL. Nevertheless, the COMPTEL detections and non-detections in the 10-30 MeV band still follow the EGRET trend on long (Fig. 1) as well as on short time scales (Fig. 3). On long terms (years) the maximum flux is reached during CGRO Phase 4 (October 1994 to October 1995), which comprises the $`\gamma `$-ray outburst period in 1995. On shorter time scales (weeks), during the $`\gamma `$-ray flare state, evidence for PKS 1622-297 is found in each VP by EGRET as well as by COMPTEL. Both flare-state light curves do not show strong flux variability (Fig. 3).

On even shorter time scales (days), however, Mattox et al. (1997) report a short huge flare on top of the $`\gamma `$-ray high state light curve, which occurred within VP 423.0 (flux maximizing at TJD 9892.77) and lasted for $`>`$ 1 day (Fig. 4). We searched the COMPTEL data for a possible MeV counterpart by subdividing VP 423 into 3 parts according to the EGRET light curve: a pre-flare (TJD 9888.8 - 9892.7), on-flare (TJD 9892.7 - 9895.6), and post-flare part (TJD 9895.6 - 9898.6). The on-flare part covers the time period of TJD 9892.7-9893.7, during which the short huge flare peaked in flux reaching a value of $``$ (17$`\pm `$3)$`\times `$10-6 ph cm-2 s-1 at energies $`>`$ 100 MeV (Mattox et al., 1997). The 10-30 MeV light curve is shown in Fig. 4. It is obvious that the MeV emission is stronger in the flare and post-flare period than during other parts. The combination of on-flare and post-flare periods provides a $``$ 5 $`\sigma `$ detection of the source and clearly shows enhanced MeV emission around the time of the major EGRET flare (Fig. 4). Fitting three data points, pre-flare, combination of on-flare and post-flare, and the flux for VP 423.5 by assuming a constant flux, results in a $`\chi _{min}^2`$-value of 9.4, which, with 2 degrees of freedom, corresponds to a probability of $``$ 9$`\times `$10-3 for a constant flux or roughly 2.6 $`\sigma `$ for a variable flux. We note that the highest COMPTEL flux is found immediately after the flare in the EGRET band (Fig. 4). This suggests a time delay of a few days between the two bands in the sense that the higher energies $`\gamma `$-rays come first.

### 4.3 Energy spectra

We generated two separate MeV spectra of PKS 1622-297: a ’$`\gamma `$-ray flaring’ spectrum by combining the COMPTEL data of the 4 relevant VPs and a ’$`\gamma `$-ray quiescent’ spectrum by combining the rest of the observations (24 VPs). A fit to the flaring spectrum results in a photon index $`\alpha `$ of 0.65$`{}_{2.49}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.53}`$ (Table 3). Due to the marginal detections at energies below 10 MeV the spectral index cannot be constrained well. However, a ’hard’ ($`\alpha _{ph}`$$`<`$2, $``$$`E^\alpha `$) MeV shape is obvious (Fig. 5). This shows that during the $`\gamma `$-ray outburst period the MeV band is still on the rising part of the IC emission. No meaningful conclusions can be derived for the spectrum of the quiescent state, because only upper limits were obtained. A comparison of both spectra shows that during the flaring state the 10-30 MeV flux was at least 4 times larger than during the rest.

The EGRET spectrum (30 MeV to 10 GeV) of the $`\gamma `$-ray flaring state is consistent with a power-law shape and a photon index of 2.15$`\pm `$0.07 (Table 3, Fig. 5). If combined with the simultaneous COMPTEL spectrum a spectral break becomes evident.

Fitting a simple power-law model,

$$I(E)=I_0(E/E_0)^\alpha \mathrm{photon}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{MeV}^1$$
(1)
where the parameter $`\alpha `$ is the photon index, and I0 the differential flux at the normalization energy E0, results in an unacceptable reduced $`\chi ^2`$-value of 4.26 (Table 3). To improve on that we applied a broken power-law model of the form

$$I(E)=\{\begin{array}{cc}I_0(E/E_0)^{\alpha _2}\hfill & \text{if }E>E_b\hfill \\ I_0(E_b/E_0)^{\alpha _2}(E/E_b)^{(\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \alpha _2)}\hfill & \text{if }E<E_b\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
where $`\alpha _2`$ is the high-energy spectral index, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha `$ the break in the spectral photon index towards lower energies ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha `$ = $`\alpha _2`$ \- $`\alpha _1`$), and Eb the break energy. With a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 2.1 this model significantly improves the fit, proving quantitatively the spectral turnover. By fixing the parameters I0 and $`\alpha _2`$ to the values obtained by fitting a power-law model to the EGRET data only, we derive information on the spectral break. Best-fit values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha `$ = 1.18 and Eb = 16.2$`{}_{9.9}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+3.3}`$ MeV are derived. The 1 $`\sigma `$ errors are obtained by adding 2.3 to the minimum $`\chi ^2`$-value as is appropriate for 2 parameters of interest (Lampton et al., 1976). However, due to the insignificance of the COMPTEL data at energies below 10 MeV the low-energy slope ($`\alpha _1`$) could not be constrained.

The EGRET spectra of the 4 flare-state VPs have been analyzed individually assuming power-law shapes. Within uncertainties the 4 derived photon indices are identical (Table 4). We then have combined the EGRET and COMPTEL spectra of these 4 VPs to check for possible spectral variability during the $`\gamma `$-ray outburst over a broader energy band (Fig. 6). The COMPTEL 10-30 MeV flux follows for each VP generally the extrapolation of the EGRET spectrum except from VP 423, where the flux is slightly above the EGRET extrapolation. The non or marginal detections at energies below 10 MeV indicate a hard MeV spectrum and – together with the EGRET spectral shape – a spectral break at MeV energies for VP 421, even taking into account the errors on the spectral index (Fig. 6).

After the $`\gamma `$-ray activity of PKS 1622-297 had been recognized by EGRET, a target-of-opportunity (ToO) observation for CGRO was declared and carried out in VP 423.5 with participation of OSSE. This provided a measurement of the spectrum down to 0.05 MeV. Mattox et al. (1997) reported that the OSSE and EGRET data can each be represented by similar power-law shapes with photon indices of 2.0$`\pm `$0.2 and 2.2$`\pm `$0.1, respectively (Fig. 7). However, fitting a simple power-law shape to the combined OSSE/EGRET data, they obtained a photon index of 1.87$`\pm `$0.02. We have added the simultaneous COMPTEL data to this spectrum. Fitting the combined simultaneous OSSE/COMPTEL/EGRET spectrum with a simple power-law shape results in a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 1.31 and photon spectral index of 1.84$`\pm `$0.02 (Table 3). If one fits a broken power law model using the formula described in Eq. (2) an improved reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 0.67 (Table 3) is derived. However, the break parameters cannot be constrained significantly. The measurements are too uncertain to constrain the spectral shape.

### 4.4 Multiwavelength observations

During the CGRO ToO $`\gamma `$-ray observation, measurements at lower energies were conducted as well. IUE observed the source on July 1, 5, 6, 8 and found time variability of its flux (Bonnell et al., 1995). Optical observations indicated that the quasar was very active in June and July. A R-band light curve for the 1995 flaring period is given in Fig. 8. The source is 3 - 5 magnitudes brighter than previously observed (e.g. Torres & Wroblewski, 1984; Saikia et al., 1987) and shows flux variability larger than a factor of 2 within 1 day (TJD 9902-9903). Due to the sparse sampling in the optical, flux correlations between optical and $`\gamma `$-ray energies cannot be identified.

The Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope conducted 4 observations at the frequency of 10.45 GHz and 1 observation at 32 GHz between June 22 and July 20, 1995. No significant flux increase compared to previous measurements was found at the two frequencies (Reich et al., 1998). Using these (quasi) simultaneous multiwavelength observations, we generated the multiwavelength spectrum of PKS 1622-297 during its $`\gamma `$-ray high state (Fig. 9). The spectrum shows that the $`\gamma `$-rays are dominating the bolometric luminosity by far, and that the luminosity peak is at MeV energies. This is similar to other such $`\gamma `$-ray loud flat-spectrum radio quasars like PKS 0528+134 (e.g. Collmar et al., 1997a) and 3C 279 (e.g. Hartman et al., 2001; Collmar et al., 2001).

## 5 Discussion

During the first 6 years of the CGRO mission, the radio-loud quasar PKS 1622-297 was observed several times by the CGRO instruments EGRET and COMPTEL. $`\gamma `$-ray emission at energies above 100 MeV was detected by the EGRET experiment in June and July 1995, and also simultaneously by COMPTEL at lower $`\gamma `$-ray energies; in particular in the 10-30 MeV band. An energy flux (10 MeV - 10 GeV) of 2.67$`\times `$10-9 erg cm-2 s-1 is obtained from the combined COMPTEL/EGRET spectrum during that period. For a Friedmann universe with q0=1/2 and H0=75 km s-1 Mpc-1, we derive an isotropic luminosity of 4.47$`\times `$1048 erg s-1. The corresponding minimum mass of the putative central black hole for Eddington-limited accretion is about 3.55$`\times `$1010 M in the Thompson regime, and about 3.4$`\times `$108 M when the Klein-Nishina cross section for Compton scattering of the high energy $`\gamma `$-ray photons is taken into account. The limit on the Schwarzschild radius is then given as Rs $`>`$ 1.1$`\times `$1014 cm, which is a factor of $``$ 2 lower than obtained by Mattox et al. (1997).

Many COMPTEL results suggest that the MeV band is a spectral transition region for the $`\gamma `$-ray emission of blazars (e.g. Hermsen et al., 1993; Bloemen et al., 1995; Collmar et al., 1997a) . This becomes obvious by multifrequency observations of these sources which show that their luminosities often peak at MeV energies, and – if no MeV observations are available – by the fact that the soft $`\gamma `$-ray spectra measured by EGRET have to match the hard X-ray spectra. EGRET revealed that blazars are always variable at $`\gamma `$-ray energies (e.g. Mukherjee et al., 1997) . The observational facts of short-term variability ($``$ days) and simultaneously large luminosities imply a very compact emission region. In order to avoid the problem of $`\gamma `$-$`\gamma `$ absorption in such regions of extreme photon densities, emission of the $`\gamma `$-rays from a relativistic jet is generally assumed (e.g. Blandford & Rees, 1978).

The current scenario for modeling such blazars involves plasma blobs or shocked regions filled with charged particles confined within a relativistic jet. The $`\gamma `$-ray photons are generated by inverse-Compton (IC) scattering of low-energy photons off a population of relativistic electrons and positrons. The primary accelerated particles are still unknown: they can be either leptons of a pair-plasma (e.g. Maraschi et al., 1992; Dermer & Schlickeiser, 1993) or protons (e.g. Mannheim & Biermann, 1992). For the leptonic models, the soft target photons can be either self-generated synchrotron photons in the so-called synchrotron self-Comptonization (SSC) process (e.g. Maraschi et al., 1992; Bloom & Marscher, 1996) or these photons can originate external to the jet – i.e. from an accretion disk – in the so-called external Comptonization (EC) process. The EC models can be subdivided according to the origin of the soft photons, into whether the soft photons travel directly from the accretion disk into the jet (e.g. Dermer et al., 1992; Dermer & Schlickeiser, 1993), or whether the soft accretion disk photons are first scattered by the broad-line region, and hence have an isotropic distribution (e.g. Sikora et al., 1994). Because all mentioned processes are physically valid, it is reasonable to consider that they all contribute, however with different weights (e.g. Böttcher & Dermer, 1998). For example, Böttcher & Collmar (1998) have first applied such a modeling to explain the spectral variability of the $`\gamma `$-ray blazar PKS 0528+134. They argued that the SSC component dominates during $`\gamma `$-ray low states while the EC emission dominates in the flaring periods. Recently, it was applied to model the multifrequency emission of the blazar 3C 279 by Hartman et al. (2001).

PKS 1622-297 fits into the above mentioned scenario. During the 5-week flaring state, it showed a variable flux at EGRET energies. On top of that EGRET detected a short huge flare, showing a rapid flux increase by a factor of 4 in less than 7 hours and a corresponding isotropic $`\gamma `$-ray luminosity of 2.9$`\times `$1049 erg s-1 (Mattox et al., 1997). Both facts strongly argue for Doppler boosted emission. Mattox et al. (1997), assuming a co-spatial production of X-rays and $`\gamma `$-rays, derived an optical depth for $`\gamma `$-$`\gamma `$ absorption of $`\tau _{\gamma \gamma }`$ = 330 at 1 GeV. Subsequently, the Doppler factor for the bulk motion in the jet then has to be larger than 8.1. COMPTEL finds enhanced MeV emission during that period, however with the trend of a time delay (see Sect. 4.2). The MeV photons may come later than the higher energy photons due to cooling effects in the relativistic plasma. The relativistic electrons can loose their energy via synchrotron or inverse Compton radiation with a loss rate of $`\dot{\gamma }`$ $``$ $`\gamma ^2`$, where $`\gamma `$ is the Lorentz factor of a given electron. The characteristic electron life time is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau `$ $``$ $`\gamma /\gamma ^2`$ $``$ $`\gamma ^1`$ and, in terms of energy E (E $``$ $`\gamma ^2`$) for the produced $`\gamma `$-ray photon, is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau `$ $``$ E-1/2 (e.g. Kazanas et al., 1998). This illustrates that the life time of relativistic electrons decreases through a cooling process of producing higher energies $`\gamma `$-ray photons, while the electron population could stay longer by producing lower energies $`\gamma `$-ray photons. Therefore, a time delay of the low-energy $`\gamma `$-ray photons seems possible from such a simple scenario of energy-dependent cooling times for a relativistic electron jet. Numerical calculations show, however, that the case of time lags between different energy bands is more complicated. Dermer et al. (1999) studied the behavior of blazar flares on their time-dependent lags by assuming that a nonthermal plasma is injected over a finite time interval in the comoving frame and cools by synchrotron and SSC radiation. They argued that the SSC radiation will dominate the cooling process if the total energy injected in the nonthermal electrons is very high. Their numerical results show little time lags between the MeV and GeV light curves in the case of a SSC-dominated cooling process. Sikora et al. (2001) assumed that the EC process dominates the high energy $`\gamma `$-ray emission during a flare, and consequently took additionally the EC process as cooling mechanism into account. They considered the $`\gamma `$-ray flare event in two parts: 1) radiative flares caused by a radiative cooling process like EC emission, and 2) adiabatic X-ray and soft $`\gamma `$-ray flares generated via adiabatic energy losses of a low-energy electron/positron population in the jet. Since adiabatic flares decay much slower than the radiative ones, the MeV light curve should lag the GeV one. Time lags of several days should occur between the two energy bands according to their numerical simulations. Our study on the pre-flare, on-flare and post-flare parts of VP 423 provides, for the first time some evidence – though with marginal statistical significance – for a possible time delay of a few days between the MeV and $`>`$100 MeV photons. The delay time is consistent with the expected cooling times in Sikora et al. (2001).

We observe a ’hard’ MeV spectrum of PKS 1622-297 during the flare state, which indicates that the COMPTEL band is still on the rising part of the IC emission. The combined COMPTEL/EGRET spectrum reveals a spectral break indicating that for the flaring state the IC emission peaks on average around 16 MeV. The spectral break is larger than 0.5 in index which cannot be explained by single-component emission models like SSC and one-component, time-integrated EC models. If compared to the $`\gamma `$-ray quiescent state, a flux increase could be proven only for the high-energy part of the COMPTEL band. This might indicate that the $`\gamma `$-ray flare is mainly a high-energy $`\gamma `$-ray phenomenon. This $`\gamma `$-ray behaviour resembles the one of PKS 0528+134 (Collmar et al., 1997a), which during $`\gamma `$-ray flaring episodes showed a spectral break at MeV energies and a power-law shape during $`\gamma `$-ray quiescent states. This was interpreted as evidence for an additional spectral component showing up during $`\gamma `$-ray flaring periods. Subsequently the $`\gamma `$-ray spectrum of PKS 0528+134 was modeled by a multi-component scenario consisting of a broad SSC and a narrow EC components (Böttcher & Collmar, 1998; Mukherjee et al., 1999). Very recently such a multi-component model was successfully applied to multi-epoch multi-frequency data of the $`\gamma `$-ray blazar 3C 279 (Hartman et al., 2001), which is a similar source as PKS 1622-297. Due to the similarity of the $`\gamma `$-ray behaviour of PKS 1622-297 in the flaring state, we shall interpret our measurements also in such a multi-component scenario: a combination of SSC and EC processes. The measured $`\gamma `$-ray spectrum from 50 keV to 10 GeV for VP 423.5, the only one in which OSSE contributed, provides tentative support for such a multi-component scenario. The extrapolation of the best-fit OSSE slope significantly underestimates the MeV fluxes, indicating such an additional component at MeV energies. A spectral upturn somewhere between $``$ 0.5 and 10 MeV is suggested by Fig. 7. This agrees well with the model fits on PKS 0528+134 and 3C 279, which provide a transition from an SSC dominated spectral part to an EC dominated one at roughly 0.5 MeV (Mukherjee et al., 1999; Hartman et al., 2001). However, this indication is not statistically forcing, because the OSSE slope ($`\alpha `$: 2.0$`\pm `$0.2, Mattox et al., 1997) is consistent within error bars with the power-law fit to all data ($`\alpha `$: 1.84$`\pm `$0.02; Fig. 7; Tab. 3).

The SSC and the EC emission processes have different dependencies on the Doppler factor D = ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$(1-$`\beta `$cos$`\theta `$))-1 of the jet, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = (1-$`\beta `$)-1/2 is the bulk Lorentz factor of the relativistic jet plasma, $`\beta `$ the bulk velocity in units of the speed of light, $`\theta `$ the angle between the direction of motion of jet and the line of sight. According to Dermer et al. (1997), the EC component has a stronger dependence ($`F_{EC}(ϵ)D^{3+s}`$) on the Doppler factor than the SSC component ($`F_{SSC}(ϵ)D^{(5+s)/2}`$) and dominates at higher (e.g. MeV) energies (e.g. Böttcher & Collmar, 1998). The parameter $`s`$ is the spectral index of the initial particle distribution function. For example, if we take $`s`$ $``$ 3 as is generally assumed by Böttcher & Collmar (1998) in their modeling of the $`\gamma `$-ray emission of PKS 0528+134, then the dependence of the two components on Doppler factor differs by a factor of D2. By taking D $`>`$ 8.1 as was estimated by Mattox et al. (1997) for the short huge flare, the difference could be $`>`$ 66. Therefore large flux changes can be more efficiently promoted by an EC component, which - in the assumed SSC and EC multi-component scenario - makes the huge $`\gamma `$-ray flare at energies $`>`$ 10 MeV during VP 423 likely to be an EC emission event. This interpretation is supported by the fact, that COMPTEL detects the flare only above 10 MeV, which indicates a sharply rising MeV spectrum.

## 6 Summary

A complete study of PKS 1622-297 using 6 years of COMPTEL data is reported in this paper. PKS 1622-297 is detected by COMPTEL in its 10-30 MeV band as an MeV emitter at a significance level of 5.9 $`\sigma `$ during a 5-week $`\gamma `$-ray flaring period in 1995. No evidence for the source is found in the rest of the observations. Comparing the average flux of the flaring state to the one of the quiescent state provides a flux increase by a factor of at least 4 at the upper COMPTEL energies. During the $`\gamma `$-ray high state, the 5-week average MeV spectrum shows a hard shape and a spectral break is indicated by comparing the MeV spectrum to the EGRET one at energies above 30 MeV. The spectral break in the simultaneous COMPTEL/EGRET spectra suggests that the peak of the IC emission is around 16 MeV. In this respect PKS 1622-297 is similar to PKS 0528+134 and the same emission scenario might be at work. A model with two components, SSC and EC, can in principle explain the observed $`\gamma `$-ray behaviour.

On top of the 5-week $`\gamma `$-ray activity, EGRET observed a huge short ($`>`$1 day) flare. COMPTEL also detects this event in its uppermost (10-30 MeV) band. The 10-30 MeV light curve shows that the MeV emission is still high, when the EGRET flux above 100 MeV has already ceased, suggesting a time delay between the 2 bands, which however is at a marginal significance level. Modelling $`\gamma `$-ray flare events by assuming that the EC process dominates can provide time lags of several days (Sikora et al., 2001) in agreement with the indications found in our analysis of PKS 1622-297.

###### Acknowledgements.

This research was supported by the German government through DLR grant 50 QV 9096 8, by NASA under contract NAS5-26645, and by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO. The authors would like to thank the anonymous referee for his/her helpful comments.


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# Dimensional enhancement of kinetic energies

## I Introduction

The intensity of light radiated from independent dipoles is the number, $`N`$, of dipoles times the intensity of a single one. However, when the dipoles are located within a wavelength of the radiation the total intensity is $`N^2`$ times the intensity of a single dipole . This superradiance effect is due to constructive interference between the individual dipoles. In the present article, we propose an enhancement effect of a similar strength for the kinetic energy of matter waves confined to a region whose radial extension in hyperspace is essentially independent of the number of particles.

According to simple thermodynamics, kinetic energy is an extensive variable, that is, in general the average kinetic energy of an ensemble of $`N`$ particles is linear in $`N`$ . A similar dependence holds for the kinetic energy of an ordinary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of $`N`$ particles. However, we now show that for a special quantum state of $`N`$ non-relativistic particles the kinetic energy increases as $`N^2`$. This quantum state is completely symmetric under exchange of the coordinates of the particles, but there is no interaction between the particles.

For the enhancement effect to occur, all particles need to have the same mass, but they do not necessarily have to be identical particles, Nevertheless, the state could also correspond to $`N`$ identical particles. In this case, it would be the state of $`N`$ bosons which are strongly entangled.

Dimensional enhancement of kinetic energies is due to the wave nature of the atoms. It results from the form of the Laplacian in $`D`$ dimensions, giving rise to the quantum centrifugal potential. We illustrate this phenomenon using $`N`$ non-relativistic particles of identical mass, $`M`$, in three space dimensions. Here, we concentrate on the motional degrees of freedom, but do not take into account the internal structure of the particles. Hence, we deal with a $`D=3N`$ dimensional configuration space, and the wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_D)`$ depends on $`D`$ coordinates.

The proposed effect is most conspicuous for $`s`$-states, that is, when the wave function depends on the hyperradius, $`r=(x_1^2+x_2^2+\mathrm{}+x_D^2)^{1/2}`$, only. In this case, the wave function is completely symmetric under exchange of coordinates of the particles, corresponding to a bosonic state. We shall only consider $`s`$-states in the present work.

Our paper is organized as follows: In Sec. II, we lay the ground work for the calculation of the kinetic energy of an ensemble of particles, by introducing the concept of the radial wave function in hyperspace. We illustrate it by using two examples related to a BEC in an isotropic harmonic trap. In Sec. III, we then turn to the discussion of the operator of kinetic energy and cast it into a form which brings out the quantum centrifugal potential. The latter is proportional to the square of the number of dimensions. It is this potential that may cause the kinetic energy to be quadratic in the number of particles, as discussed in Section IV.

In Sec. V, we evaluate the kinetic energy of three different radial wave functions. The two motivated by BEC, and denoted by $`u_0`$ and $`u_1`$, show a linear dependence on the number of particles. However, for the third radial wave function $`u_2`$, which is independent of dimensions, we find a kinetic energy that depends on the square of the number of particles. We dedicate Section VI to a discussion of the origin of this enhancement effect.

In Sec. VII, we then turn to a discussion of the quantum dynamics, starting from the wave functions $`u_0`$, $`u_1`$, and $`u_2`$. We evaluate the time dependence of the average radial momentum following from these initial conditions. We note that the momentum corresponding to the BEC wave functions increases with a steepness that is proportional to the square root of the number of particles. In contrast, for the wave function $`u_2`$ we obtain the remarkable result, that the steepness depends quadratically on the number of particles. We conclude in Section VIII with a brief summary.

## II Wave functions

For an $`s`$-state, the motion of the $`N`$ particles is described by the normalized wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }(r)`$ or, equivalently, by the radial wave function $`u(r)`$ defined by the relation

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(r)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{S_D}}\frac{u(r)}{r^{\frac{D1}{2}}},$$
(1)
where $`S_D`$ denotes the total solid angle in $`D`$ dimensions,

$$S_D=\frac{2\pi ^{D/2}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(D/2)},$$
(2)
and $`u(r)`$ is normalized such that

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}|u(r)|^2𝑑r=1.$$
(3)
We shall look look at three particular wave functions of the above type. The first one may be constructed from a normalized Gaussian wave function,

$$\phi (x)=\left(\frac{\kappa ^2}{\pi }\right)^{\frac{1}{4}}e^{\frac{1}{2}\kappa ^2x^2},$$
(4)
in one dimension, by forming the product function

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_0(r)=\phi (x_1)\phi (x_2)\mathrm{}\phi (x_D)=\left(\frac{\kappa ^2}{\pi }\right)^{\frac{D}{4}}e^{\frac{1}{2}\kappa ^2r^2},$$
(5)
with $`r`$ being the hyperradius. This wave function describes the state of a BEC of $`N=D/3`$ non-interacting particles in an isotropic magnetic trap at zero temperature . The value of $`\kappa `$ is determined by the harmonic potential of the trap.

Our second $`N`$-particle wave function, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1(r)`$, may be constructed by retaining the wave function $`\phi (x)`$ for $`D1`$ space directions, while taking a wave function of the form $`x^2\phi (x)`$ for the last direction. Symmetrization by forming the coherent sum $`_{i=1}^Dx_i^2\mathrm{exp}(\frac{1}{2}\kappa ^2r^2)`$, and subsequent normalization gives in fact

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_1(r)=\frac{2\kappa ^{(D+4)/2}}{\pi ^{D/4}\sqrt{D(D+2)}}r^2e^{\frac{1}{2}\kappa ^2r^2}.$$
(6)
The radial wave functions associated with $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0(r)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1(r)`$ are

$`u_0(r)`$ $`=`$ $`𝒩_0r^{(D1)/2}e^{\frac{1}{2}\kappa ^2r^2},`$ (8)
$`u_1(r)`$ $`=`$ $`𝒩_1r^{(D+3)/2}e^{\frac{1}{2}\kappa ^2r^2},`$ (9)
with the normalization factors $`𝒩_0`$ and $`𝒩_1`$ being

$$𝒩_0=\left[\frac{2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{D}{2}\right)}\right]^{\frac{1}{2}}\kappa ^{\frac{D}{2}},𝒩_1=\left[\frac{2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{D}{2}+2\right)}\right]^{\frac{1}{2}}\kappa ^{\frac{D}{2}+2}.$$
(10)
We defer the presentation of the third $`N`$-particle wave function to Sec. V B.

## III Operator of kinetic energy

We now consider the kinetic energies corresponding to the two above wave functions. The kinetic-energy operator,

$$\widehat{T}=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\mathrm{\Delta }^{(D)},$$
(11)
is determined by the Laplacian

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^{(D)}=\frac{^2}{r^2}+\frac{D1}{r}\frac{}{r}+\frac{\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2}{r^2},$$
(12)
in $`D`$ dimensions. The operator $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2`$, which involves derivatives with respect to the $`D1`$ angles of hyperspace, is proportional to the angular momentum operator in configuration space .

As discussed in Ref. , we may also write

$$\widehat{T}=\frac{\widehat{p}_r^2}{2M}+V_Q(r)\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\frac{\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2}{r^2}.$$
(13)
Here, we have introduced the radial momentum

$$\widehat{p}_r=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{𝒓}{r}\widehat{𝒑}+\widehat{𝒑}\frac{𝒓}{r}\right)=\frac{\mathrm{}}{i}\frac{1}{r^{\frac{D1}{2}}}\frac{}{r}r^{\frac{D1}{2}},$$
(14)
and the quantum fictitious potential

$$V_Q(r)=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\frac{(D1)(D3)}{4r^2}.$$
(15)
We emphasize that the quantum fictitious potential also emerges directly from acting with the $`D`$-dimensional Laplacian of Eq. (12) on the wave-function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(r)`$ of Eq. (1). This yields, in fact,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^{(D)}\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{1}{\sqrt{S_D}}\frac{1}{r^{\frac{D1}{2}}}\left[\frac{^2}{r^2}+\frac{(D1)(D3)}{4r^2}\right]u(r).$$
(16)
Since $`V_Q`$ is proportional to the square of Planck’s constant, it is a quantum potential with no classical analogue. Moreover, $`V_Q`$ depends inversely on the square of the hyperradius. This feature reminds us of the classical centrifugal potential, which gives rise to the non-inertial centrifugal force. Indeed, for $`D4`$ the potential $`V_Q`$ given by Eq. (15) is positive and thus corresponds to a repulsive force. This property suggests the name quantum centrifugal potential. In accordance with this, some authors  absorb it into the last term of Eq. (13). This, however, conceals the fact that it is a genuine part of the radial kinetic energy.

We note that for $`D=2`$, the potential $`V_Q`$ is negative corresponding to an attractive force. This centripetal force is unique to two dimensions and counterintuitive to the classical notion of the centrifugal force always being repulsive. To capture this contradiction, we have coined the phrase quantum anti-centrifugal potential for the potential $`V_Q`$ in the case of $`D=2`$. In Refs.  and  we have focused on consequences of this attractive potential. However, in the present work we concentrate on the repulsive case corresponding to $`D4`$.

We recognize that one and three dimensions are also special: the potential $`V_Q`$ vanishes.

## IV Average kinetic energy

The average kinetic energy

$$\widehat{T}=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rr^{D1}𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }_D\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\mathrm{\Delta }^{(D)}\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(17)
of the particles described by $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ involves the Laplacian, Eq. (12), and integrations over the hyperradius $`r`$ and the solid angle $`\mathrm{\Omega }_D`$ in the $`D`$-dimensional hyperspace. With $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }(r)`$, as in the present work, the angular part of the Laplacian, that is, the operator $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2/r^2`$ does not contribute to the integral. Hence, the kinetic energy may be said to be purely radial in hyperspace, and therefore also in the state spaces of the individual particles.

When we introduce the radial wave function $`u(r)`$, the average kinetic energy defined by Eq. (17) takes the form

$$\widehat{T}T=T_r+T_V.$$
(18)
Here the contribution

$$T_r=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ru^{}(r)\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\right]u(r)$$
(19)
is the average value of the operator $`\widehat{p}_r^2/2M`$. We shall refer to it as the para-radial kinetic energy.

Furthermore, the contribution

$$T_V=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rV_Q(r)|u(r)|^2$$
(20)
results from $`V_Q`$.

## V Examples

The dimension $`D`$ of configuration space enters $`V_Q`$ quadratically. Hence, the total kinetic energy resulting from $`T_V`$ could in principle be quadratic in $`D`$. We recall that in the case of $`N`$ particles in three space dimensions, we deal with a $`D=3N`$ dimensional configuration space. Consequently, for $`N1`$, the strength $`S(D1)(D3)=(3N1)(3N3)9N^2`$ of the quantum non-inertial potential, is quadratic in the number of particles. According to Eq. (20), the same thing may hold for the contribution $`T_V`$ to the kinetic energy.

### A Thermodynamic case

However, this feature strongly depends on the form and, in particular, on the $`D`$-dependence of the radial wave function $`u`$. For example, the wave functions $`u_0`$ and $`u_1`$ given by Eqs. (8) and (9), respectively, yield the radial kinetic energies

$$T_r^{(0)}=\left[1+\frac{1}{2(D2)}\right]ϵ,T_r^{(1)}=\left[1+\frac{1}{2(D+2)}\right]ϵ,$$
(21)
and the quantum fictitious potential energies

$`T_V^{(0)}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{D}{2}}1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{D2}}\right)ϵ,`$ (23)
$`T_V^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{D}{2}}3+{\displaystyle \frac{15}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{D+2}}\right)ϵ.`$ (24)
Here, we have introduced the kinetic energy $`ϵ(\mathrm{}\kappa )^2/(2M)`$.

Hence, the total kinetic energies

$$T^{(0)}=\frac{D}{2}ϵ,T^{(1)}=\left(\frac{D}{2}2+\frac{8}{D+2}\right)ϵ$$
(25)
are linear in $`D`$. In addition, the expression for $`T^{(1)}`$ involves correction terms independent of and inversely proportional to $`D`$.

In the limit of a large number of particles, that is $`D=3N1`$, we recover the thermodynamic result

$$T\frac{1}{2}Dϵ=\frac{3}{2}Nϵ$$
(26)
for both states.

It is interesting to note that the linear dependence on $`D`$ shown in Eq. (25) is due to the contribution $`T_V`$, Eqs. (23) and (24), which emerges from the quantum centrifugal potential. The contribution from the para-radial kinetic energy is, according to Eq. (21), only weakly dependent on $`D`$.

### B Enhancement case

We now introduce the new wave function

$$u_2(r)=𝒩_2\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{\beta }{r}+\kappa r\right)\right],$$
(27)
with the normalization constant

$$𝒩_2=(\beta \kappa )^{\frac{1}{4}}\left(\frac{\kappa }{2K_1(2\sqrt{\beta \kappa })}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}.$$
(28)
Here,

$$K_n(\zeta )=\frac{1}{2}_0^{\mathrm{}}r^n\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{\zeta }{2}\left(r+\frac{1}{r}\right)\right]\frac{dr}{r}$$
(29)
denotes the modified Bessel function  of order $`n`$.

In contrast to $`u_0(r)`$ and $`u_1(r)`$, Eqs. (8) and (9), the wave function $`u_2(r)`$ is independent of the dimension $`D`$, that is, independent of the number of particles . As a consequence, the cancellation of one power of $`D`$ in the contribution $`T_V`$ to the kinetic energy which appears for $`u_0`$ and $`u_1`$, cannot take place for $`u_2`$. Indeed, when we substitute the wave function $`u_2`$ into the definitions Eqs. (19) and (20) of the energies $`T_r`$ and $`T_V`$, and perform the integrations, we arrive at

$$T_r^{(2)}=\frac{1}{2\sqrt{\beta \kappa }}\frac{K_2(2\sqrt{\beta \kappa })}{K_1(2\sqrt{\beta \kappa })}ϵ$$
(30)
and

$$T_V^{(2)}=\frac{(D1)(D3)}{4\beta \kappa }ϵ.$$
(31)
The para-radial contribution $`T_r^{(2)}`$ is independent of $`D`$. In contrast, $`T_V^{(2)}`$ involves $`D`$, and hence the number $`N`$ of particles quadratically. This enhancement results from the quantum centrifugal potential and reflects the constraint, that as we squeeze more particles into the state we do not alter the radial wave function $`u_2`$. Indeed, $`u_2`$ is independent of $`D`$, and thus independent of $`N`$. Forcing additional particles into this state leads to a strong increase in energy.

This situation is, to some extent, analogous to the problem of confining charged particles to a given domain of space. Due to their Coulomb interaction,

$$V_C(r)=\frac{q_1q_2}{r},$$
(32)
two charges $`q_1`$ and $`q_2`$ of the same polarity repel each other. This repulsion is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to their separation.

In the case of neutral particles, the quantum centrifugal potential of Eq. (15) is proportional to the product $`(D1)(D3)`$ of the dimensions. Hence, the dimension of configuration space plays the role of the charge. However, the analogy between $`V_Q`$ and $`V_C`$ breaks down in the dependence on the separation. Indeed, the hyperradius $`r`$ enters the denominator in a square, whereas in the Coulomb potential the separation enters only linearly.

## VI Origin of enhancement

This discussion suggests that we can interpret the energy $`T_V^{(2)}`$ associated with the quantum non-inertial potential as localization energy. The localization energy is defined as the energy necessary to localize a quantum particle, with the original energy $`T_r^{(2)}`$, in a domain of hyperspace whose radial extension is essentially independent of $`D`$. This energy obviously depends on the dimension of the space in which we want to localize the particle, because the volume of the unit sphere in $`D`$ dimensions decreases strongly for large $`D`$. Indeed, the expression (2) for $`S_D`$, together with an integration over $`r`$, easily gives the following expression for the volume

$$V_D=\frac{2\pi ^{(D/2)}}{D\mathrm{\Gamma }(D/2)}$$
(33)
of the unit sphere. For $`D>5`$ this is a decreasing function of $`D`$.

It is interesting that in two dimensions $`T_V^{(2)}`$ becomes negative. Hence, we do not need to perform work in order to localize the particle in this case, but rather gain energy.

It is instructive to compare this quadratic dependence of the kinetic energy on the number of particles to the same scaling property of the total energy of $`N`$ fermions in a harmonic trap  of frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Indeed, when we assume that the fermions occupy the first $`N`$ states of the trap the total energy reads

$$E=\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }\underset{j=0}{\overset{N1}{}}\left(j+\frac{1}{2}\right)=\frac{\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }}{2}[N\left(N1\right)+N]=\frac{N^2\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }}{2}.$$
(34)
This simple calculation shows that the $`N^2`$-dependence arises from the fact that the particles are trapped in an external classical potential with a linear energy spectrum. In the case of the $`N`$ particles described by the wave function of Eq. (27), there is no classical potential present. Here, the $`N^2`$-effect results from the quantum centrifugal potential, and from the fact that the strength $`S`$ of this potential depends quadratically on the number of dimensions of configuration space.

Nevertheless, there exists a potential $`V_2=V_2(r)`$ for which the wave function $`u_2`$, Eq. (27), is an energy eigenstate. Indeed, when we differentiate $`u_2`$ twice with respect to $`r`$ we find that $`u_2`$ satisfies the time independent Schrödinger equation

$$\frac{d^2u(r)}{dr^2}+\frac{2M}{\mathrm{}^2}\left[EV_2(r)\right]u(r)=0$$
(35)
with energy $`E=0`$ and the potential

$$V_2(r)=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\left[\frac{1}{4}\frac{\beta ^2}{r^4}\frac{\beta \kappa }{2r^2}\frac{\beta }{r^3}+\left(\frac{\kappa }{2}\right)^2\right].$$
(36)
Since $`u_2`$ is independent of $`D`$, also the potential $`V_2`$ has to be independent of $`D`$.

We recall from Eq. (19) that $`d^2u(r)/dr^2`$ determines the para-radial kinetic energy rather than the total kinetic energy. To get the Schrödinger equation for the wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }_2(r)`$, as related to $`u_2(r)`$ through Eq. (1), we draw on the expressions (13) and (16), and get:

$$\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\mathrm{\Delta }^{(D)}\mathrm{\Psi }_2(r)+\left[V_2(r)V_Q(r)\right]\mathrm{\Psi }_2(r)=E\mathrm{\Psi }_2(r).$$
(37)
The confining potential in hyperspace is accordingly $`V_2(r)V_Q(r)`$.

## VII Quantum dynamics

So far, we have focused on quantum kinematics. Now we turn to a discussion of the dynamics resulting from the three radial wave function $`u_0(r)`$, $`u_1`$, and $`u_2`$, considered as initial wave functions when we switch off the confining potentials at time $`t=0`$, and hence allow for free-particle motion of the systems. Here we concentrate on the case of many particles, that is $`D=3N3`$.

The dynamics of this ensemble of free particles is governed by the Schrödinger equation

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}\mathrm{\Psi }(r,t)=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\mathrm{\Delta }^{(D)}\mathrm{\Psi }(r,t).$$
(38)
By exploiting the relation (16) for $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ we obtain the following expression for the time evolution of the radial wave function:

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}u(r,t)=\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\frac{^2}{r^2}+V_Q(r)\right]u(r,t).$$
(39)
For short times, we may obtain a first approximation to $`u(r,t)`$ by replacing Eq. (39) with the equation

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}u(r,t)=\left[W(r)+V_Q(r)\right]u(r,0),$$
(40)
where

$$W(r)=\frac{1}{u(r,0)}\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\frac{^2}{r^2}\right]u(r,0).$$
(41)
This quantity is similar to Bohm’s quantum potential . Integration gives

$$u(r,t)\mathrm{exp}\left\{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}[W(r)+V_Q(r)]t\right\}u(r,0).$$
(42)
The formula (42) allows us to derive an analytical expression for the short-time behavior of the average radial momentum

$$p_r(t)=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rr^{D1}𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }_D\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(r,t)\widehat{p}_r\mathrm{\Psi }(r,t).$$
(43)
By means of the definition Eq. (14) of the radial momentum $`\widehat{p}_r`$ and the ansatz Eq. (1) for the radial wave function, this expression reduces to

$$p_r(t)=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ru^{}(r,t)\left(\frac{\mathrm{}}{i}\frac{}{r}\right)u(r,t).$$
(44)
When we substitute the approximate solution Eq. (42) into this formula, we observe that $`W(r)`$ does not contribute to the integral because $`u(r,0)`$ is real valued. Hence, we arrive at

$$p_r(t)_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rF_Q(r)|u(r,0)|^2t,$$
(45)
where

$$F_Q(r)=\frac{dV_Q}{dr}=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2M}\frac{(D1)(D3)}{2r^3}.$$
(46)
This quantity, determined by the derivative of the potential $`V_Q`$, is the quantum centrifugal force. The fact that the expression for $`p_r(t)`$ is independent of $`W(r)`$ implies that we obtain the correct result for the short-time behavior of $`p_r(t)`$ by neglecting the para-radial kinetic energy operator compared to the potential $`V_Q`$ in Eq. (39). The result of doing so is known as the Raman–Nath approximation . We also note that the integral preceding $`t`$ in Eq. (45) is nothing but $`dp_r(t)/dt`$ evaluated at $`t=0`$. The expression (45) may therefore also be obtained by differentiating both sides of Eq. (44) with respect to $`t`$, while applying Ehrenfest’s theorem .

To sum up, we have found that the initial average radial momentum increases linearly in time. The slope of the increase is determined by the average centrifugal force of the initial state.

Let us now consider the specific wave functions $`u_0`$, $`u_1`$. and $`u_2`$. We start our discussion with the wave functions $`u_0`$ and $`u_1`$ of Eqs. (8) and (9), respectively. Substitution into the expression (45) for the average radial momentum yields

$`p_r^{(0)}(t)`$ $``$ $`(D1){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D1}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D}{2})}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵt}{\mathrm{}}}\right)\mathrm{}\kappa ,`$ (47)
$`p_r^{(1)}(t)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(D1)(D3){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D+1}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D+4}{2})}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵt}{\mathrm{}}}\right)\mathrm{}\kappa .`$ (48)
With the help of the asymptotic formula

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(az+b)\sqrt{2\pi }e^{az}(az)^{az+b1/2},$$
(49)
we can evaluate the ratios

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D1}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D}{2})}\left(\frac{2}{D}\right)^{1/2},\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D+1}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{D+4}{2})}\left(\frac{2}{D}\right)^{3/2}$$
(50)
in the limit $`D3`$. For both wave functions, this yields

$$p_r(t)\sqrt{2D}\left(\frac{ϵt}{\mathrm{}}\right)\mathrm{}\kappa .$$
(51)
Hence, in the case of the initial wave function $`u_0`$ and $`u_1`$, the slope of the momentum increase is governed by the square root of the number of dimensions .

Next, we turn to the wave function $`u_2`$, Eq. (27). In this case, the average radial momentum Eq. (44) takes the form

$$p_r(t)\frac{(D1)(D3)}{2(\beta \kappa )^{3/2}}\frac{K_2(2\sqrt{\beta \kappa })}{K_1(2\sqrt{\beta \kappa })}\left(\frac{ϵt}{\mathrm{}}\right)\mathrm{}\kappa .$$
(52)
Thus, the momentum corresponding to the wave function $`u_2`$ increases as $`D^2`$, and hence depends quadratically on the number of particles.

The explosion of the particles may be compared with the phenomenon of a Coulomb explosion . Atoms passing through a foil get stripped of some their electrons and become positively charged ions. Due to their Coulomb interaction, they repel each other and fly apart. In our case of neutral particles, it is the quantum centrifugal potential $`V_Q`$, Eq. (15), which causes the explosion.

## VIII Summary

We conclude by summarizing our main results. We have analyzed the kinetic energy and the dynamics of $`N`$ non-interacting particles in free space. We have found a quantum state for which the average kinetic energy increases quadratically with the number of particles. Moreover, this kinetic energy stored in the state gets transferred into outgoing radial momentum in the time evaluation pursuant to the preparation of the wave function. In case of $`u_2`$ the explosion is more violent than for $`u_0`$ and $`u_1`$, since the increase of momentum is proportional to $`N^2`$ rather than $`N^{1/2}`$ . Both effects—the dimensional enhancement of kinetic energies and the $`N^2`$-explosion—are consequences of the quantum centrifugal potential.

## Acknowledgments

We thank G. Alber, E. Arimondo, I. Bialynicki-Birula, F. Bopp, J. Botero, A. Delgado, M. Mussinger, K. Vogel and W. Wonneberger for many fruitful discussions. J. P. D. gratefully acknowledges the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung.


text:
# Measuring High Energy Neutrino-Nucleon Cross Sections With Future Neutrino Telescopes

## Abstract

Next generation kilometer-scale neutrino telescopes, such as ICECUBE, can test standard model predictions for neutrino-nucleon cross sections at energies well beyond the reach of collider experiments. At energies near a PeV and higher, the Earth becomes opaque to neutrinos. At these energies, the ratio of upgoing and downgoing events can be used to measure the total neutrino-nucleon cross section given the presence of an adequate high energy neutrino flux.

The ability to measure neutrino-nucleon cross sections beyond the energies accessible at colliders will be a valuable tool, capable of addressing multiple open questions in particle physics. First, the high energy cross section provides information on small-x parton distribution functions neu . Second, physics beyond the standard model can be constrained including scenarios with low scale quantum gravity ED .

Present and next generation high energy neutrino telescopes consist of strings of photo-multiplier tubes distributed throughout a Cerenkov medium such as water or ice. Neutrinos are detected from the hadronic or electromagnetic showers generated in the interactions which take place within the detector volume or from charged lepton tracks generated within the lepton’s range of the detector in charged current interactions. The calculations in this paper take into accout only shower events. For a review of high energy neutrino astronomy see icecube ; amanda .

The interaction length for a particle traveling through a number density of targets, $`n`$ is

$`l=(\sigma n)^1.`$ (1)
This length is equal to the diameter of the Earth for a cross section of

$`\sigma =(2R_{\mathrm{Earth}}n)^12\times 10^7\mathrm{mb},`$ (2)
which is predicted (but not yet measured) to occur near $`E_\nu 100`$ TeV for neutrino-nucleon interactions. The fraction of neutrinos which are absorbed by the Earth is a function of cross section. This can be expressed independently of the flux, as the ratio of downgoing events to upgoing events, at a given energy or in a given energy range. Figure 1 shows this relationship. The simulation used for this calculation considered a detector located at a depth of 1.2 to 2.4 km beneath the Earth’s surface. The Earth was taken to have a core of radius 2500 km and density $`11,000\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3`$ and a 2 km later of ice/water along the surface.

Figure 1 shows that below $`10^7`$ mb, the ratio of downgoing to upgoing events changes between 1 and 1.2 fairly slowly and may be difficult to observe. Conversely, above $`10^4`$ mb, the ratio grows rapidly and well above the number of events that we may expect to observe, making a measurement difficult due to poor statistics. For this reason, this technique is most well suited for energies within this range of cross sections. Above these energies, ground-level fluorescence cosmic ray detectors, such as EUSO and OWL, may be able to make accurate measurements kusenko .

To predict how effectively we will be able to measure high energy neutrino cross sections, knowledge of the flux of neutrinos at the relevant energies is needed. A variety of such fluxes have been discussed in the literature. These include, but are not limited to, neutrinos from compact objects such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) grb  and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) agn , cosmogenic neutrinos generated by cosmic rays scattering off of the photon background cosmogenic  and top-down scenarios where neutrinos are generated in mechanisms such as the decay of supermassive particles, topological defects or primordial black holes td . In my calculations, I considered four cases. First, the Waxman-Bahcall flux for transparent sources of cosmic rays. This is a conservative choice because a more opaque source will yield higher neutrino fluxes. This flux is given by $`E_\nu ^2dN_\nu /dE_\nu =10^8\mathrm{GeV}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{sr}^1`$ for each of $`\nu _e,\nu _\mu `$ and $`\overline{\nu _\mu }`$ wb . Secondly, I used the present flux limit for AMANDA-B10 of $`E_\nu ^2dN_\nu /dE_\nu =9\times 10^7\mathrm{GeV}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{sr}^1`$ for each of $`\nu _\mu `$ and $`\overline{\nu _\mu }`$ amanda . Finally, I used a fluxes of $`E_\nu dN_\nu /dE_\nu =6.3\times 10^{12}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{sr}^1`$ and $`E_\nu dN_\nu /dE_\nu =5.7\times 10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{sr}^1`$ for each of $`\nu _\mu `$ and $`\overline{\nu _\mu }`$ for comparison. The last two fluxes are normalized to the same number of events between 1 PeV and 1 EeV as for the Waxman-Bahcall flux and the AMANDA-B10 limit, respectively.

The distributions of upgoing and downgoing events are each fit by Poisson statistics. The ratio of these rates is, therefore, described by a binomial distribution. Using the astrophysics convention of 84.13% confidence upper and lower limits containing a 68.27% confidence interval, error bars can be fit for any pair of values for the number of upgoing and downgoing events gehrels . Figures 2 through 5 show the ability of a cubic kilometer neutrino telescope to constrain the total neutrino-nucleon cross section after 1 and 10 years of integrated observation for each of the neutrino fluxes described above. The energy has been divided into bins, each a factor of 10 wide. The quantity being measured is in the total cross section averaged among events in a given bin.

Below $`1`$ PeV, even for the conservative Waxman-Bahcall flux, the cross section can be measured to a factor of 3 or better with only 1 year of observation. After ten years, the accessible energy range increases to 10 PeV or higher (see figure 2). For the optimal flux of the AMANDA-B10 limit, cross sections can be measured accurately over 100 PeV and to within one order of magnitude up to 10 EeV (see figure 3). Figures 4 and 5 show that for a less sharply falling flux, normalized to the same number of events between 1 PeV and 1 EeV, cross sections for PeV-EeV energies are well-measurable, while cross sections at TeV energies are more challenging. Even for the most energetic colliders planned, these measurements will be impossible. For a discussion on the ability of colliders to study such effects, see Ref. collider .

The systematic uncertainties involved in high energy neutrino astronomy can, presumably, be understood and limited by calibration with the atmospheric neutrino spectrum. The remaining systematic errors will result from a detector’s finite angular and energy resolution. ICECUBE is expected to achieve angular resolution below 1 degree. Also, energy resolution for shower events is expected to be at the level of 30% or better. This is significantly more precise than the energy resolution for lepton track events.

In conclusion, next generation neutrino telescopes may be capable of constraining the total neutrino-nucleon cross section by comparing the number of upgoing events to the number of downgoing events. This method is independent of the shape of the neutrino flux. Optimal energies for this measurement are in the range of 100 TeV-100 PeV where the Earth becomes opaque to neutrinos and large enough neutrino fluxes may exist for observation. This energy range is complimentary to lower energy collider experiments and higher energy cosmic ray air shower experiments.

###### Acknowledgements.

I would like to thank Alexander Kusenko, Jaime Alvarez-Muniz and Francis Halzen for valuable comments. This work was supported in part by a DOE grant No. DE-FG02-95ER40896 and in part by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.


text:
# Stationary phase slip state in quasi-one-dimensional rings.

## Abstract

The nonuniform superconducting state in a ring in which the order parameter vanishing at one point is studied. This state is characterized by a jump of the phase by $`\pi `$ at the point where the order parameter becomes zero. In uniform rings such a state is a saddle-point state and consequently unstable. However, for non-uniform rings with e.g. variations of geometrical or physical parameters or with attached wires this state can be stabilized and may be realized experimentally.

phase slip, mesoscopic superconductivity

In recent years Berger ; Horane ; Berger1  the existence of a single-connected state in a ring was proposed theoretically. Such a state implies that the relation between the phase $`\varphi `$ of the order parameter $`\psi =fe^{\mathrm{i}\varphi }`$, the current density $`j`$ and the magnetic flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ through the ring (which follows from the single valuedness of $`\psi `$ \- see for example Ref. Tinkham )

$$\frac{j}{f^2}𝑑s=2\pi n\mathrm{\Phi },$$
(1)
is no longer valid (the flux is expressed in $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2\pi `$, the current density in $`j_0=c\mathrm{\Phi }_0/4\pi ^2\lambda ^2\xi `$, $`\lambda `$ is the London penetration length, $`\xi `$ the coherence length and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is the quantum of magnetic flux). The reason is that the order parameter in such a single-connected state is zero at one point. Moreover, it was claimed that under certain conditions, i.e. radius of the ring less than $`\xi `$ and the flux through the ring is about $`(n+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ this state may become metastable in some range of magnetic fields Horane .

In this paper we revisited this problem and we will show that a state where the order parameter vanishes in one point is still double-connected and that Eq. (1) is valid for such a state. We propose to call such a state a one-dimensional vortex state (ODV state), because like for an ordinary two-dimensional Abrikosov vortex, there is a jump in the phase of the order parameter of $`\pi `$ at the point where $`\psi =0`$. In contrast to a two-dimensional Abrikosov vortex the 1D vortex is an unstable structure in an uniform ring. However, if some inhomogeneities are present in the ring (defects, nonuniform thickness or nonuniform width of the ring, attached superconducting wires) the ODV structure can be stabilized and may consequently be realized experimentally.

Consider a uniform ring with thickness $`d\lambda `$ and width $`w\xi `$. In addition, let the radius of the ring $`R`$ be much larger than $`w`$. Under these conditions we can neglect the screening effects and the problem is reduced to a one-dimensional one. The distribution of the current density $`j`$ and the order parameter $`\psi `$ of the system at a temperature not far from the critical temperature $`T_c`$ is described by the 1D Ginzburg-Landau equation (plus the condition $`\mathrm{div}𝐣=0`$)

$$\frac{d^2f}{ds^2}+f(1f^2p^2)=0,$$
(2a)
$$\frac{dj}{ds}=\frac{d}{ds}f^2p=0,$$
(2b)
where the gauge-invariant momentum $`p=\varphi A`$ is scaled in units of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/(2\pi \xi )`$, the length of the ring is $`L=2\pi R`$ and the circular coordinate $`s`$ is in units of the coherence length $`\xi `$. In these units, the magnetic field is scaled in units of the second critical field, $`H_{c2}`$, and the magnetic flux in $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2\pi `$.

The coupled Eqs. (2a) and (2b) have to be solved with the boundary condition $`\psi (L/2)=\psi (L/2)`$. We use the method proposed in Langer  (see also Zhang ). These equations have the first integral

$$\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{df}{ds}\right)^2+\frac{f^2}{2}\frac{f^4}{4}+\frac{j^2}{2f^2}=E.$$
(3)
From a formal point of view, Eq. (3) is nothing else then the condition of ”energy”, $`(E)`$, conservation for some ”particle” with ”coordinate” $`f`$ and ”momentum” $`j`$. The role of ”time” is played Langer  by the circular coordinate $`s`$ . In Fig. 1 we show the dependence of the ”potential energy” of this system

$$U(f)=\frac{f^2}{2}\frac{f^4}{4}+\frac{j^2}{2f^2},$$
(4)
for different values of $`j`$. Possible solutions of Eqs. (2a,b) are in the region where confined ”trajectories” of our virtual particle exist. This is possible for currents $`0<jj_c`$ ($`j_c=\sqrt{4/27}j_0`$ is the depairing current density ).

Using Eq. (3) we immediately can write the solution of Eqs. (2a,b) for the ring

$`\sqrt{2}s={\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{\sqrt{(tt_0)(t_1t_0)(t_2t_0)}}}=`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{t_2t_0}}}F(\mathrm{sin}^1\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{tt_0}{t_1t_0}}},\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{t_1t_0}{t_2t_0}}}),`$ (5)
where $`t(s)=f^2(s)`$, $`F(\theta ,m)`$ is the elliptic integral of the first kind and $`t_0t_1t_2`$ are the solutions of the cubic equation

$$t^32t^2+4Et2j^2=0.$$
(6)
Using the boundary condition for $`f`$ we may conclude, that for a given current there exist a maximum of three solutions. There are two uniform solutions (in the points of the minimum $`E=E_{min}`$ and the maximum $`E=E_{max}`$ of the ”potential energy”(4)) and one nonuniform solution with energy $`E_{min}<E<E_{max}`$ which is defined by the equation

$$L=\sqrt{\frac{8}{t_2t_0}}K\left(\sqrt{\frac{t_1t_0}{t_2t_0}}\right),$$
(7)
where $`K(m)`$ is the complete elliptic integral of the first kind. Numerical analysis of Eq. (7) for $`0<j<j_c`$ shows that there is a minimal value for the ring length $`L_{min}`$ for which there exists a solution for this equation. When $`jj_c`$, $`L_{min}\mathrm{}`$ and in the opposite limit $`j0`$ one can show that $`L_{min}\pi `$. The latter corresponds to a ring radius $`R=1/2`$ (or $`\xi /2`$ in dimensional units). For a radius $`R>1/2`$ metastable states may exist and superconductivity is present for any value of the magnetic flux (at least in our one-dimensional model) Horane ; Buzdin .

In principle, Eqs. (5-7) define the nonuniform solution of Eqs. (2a,b) for a ring. Unfortunately, even using the explicit Kordano expressions for the roots of Eq. (6) the results are rather complicated for arbitrary values of the current $`j`$. However a tractable analytical solution is possible if we consider the case of low currents $`j1`$ for which the roots of Eq. (6) are simplified to

$$t_0j^2/2E,$$
(8a)
$$t_11\sqrt{14E},$$
(8b)
$$t_21+\sqrt{14E}.$$
(8c)
After inserting these results into Eq. (7) we obtain the ”energy”. For $`L\pi `$ the ”energy” $`E1/4`$ is practically independent of $`L`$ (e.g. for $`L=8`$ the difference $`1/4E(L=8)`$ is less than 0.002). Also in the limit $`L\pi 1`$ we found that the ”energy” $`E`$ is independent of $`j`$

$$E(L)\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{L\pi }{\pi /8}\right)^2.$$
(9)
In the limit $`j1`$ we can also find comm1  the dependence of $`t(s)`$ near the minimum point of $`t(s)`$

$`t(s)=2j^2+s^2/2,`$ $`L\pi ,s1`$ (10a)
$`t(s)=j^2/2E+2Es^2,`$ $`L\pi 1,s1`$ (10b)
Using Eqs. (10a,b) it is easy to show, that in the limit $`j0`$ the gauge-invariant momentum is given by

$$p(s)=j/t(s)=\frac{j}{|j|}(\pi +2\pi m)\delta (s),$$
(11)
where $`\delta (s)`$ is the Dirac function and $`m`$ is a integer. As a result the integral

$`\underset{j0}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{j}{f^2}𝑑s}=\underset{j0}{lim}{\displaystyle p(s)𝑑s}=`$
$`=\varphi (+ϵ)\varphi (ϵ)=\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =\pm (\pi +2\pi m),`$ (12)
for arbitrary ring size comm2 . Combining Eq. (12) with Eq. (1) it is easy to show that if $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(k+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ ($`k`$ is an integer) a solution of Eq. (2a) can be found which vanishes at one point.

In previous Berger ; Horane ; Berger1  studies of this state Eq. (11) was not taken into account (only the absolute value of the order parameter was found). Furthermore, in Ref. Horane  it was claimed that for small rings there is a magnetic field region in which such a state exist and is metastable. But we find that in this region this state even does not exist (except in one point) because Eq. (1) is not fulfilled!

The distribution of the order parameter as obtained in the present paper may also be applied to a ring in which some part of the ring consists of a normal metal. Then at the boundary between the normal metal and the superconductor the condition $`\psi 0`$ is fulfilled (if the normal part is longer than $`\xi `$) and the distribution of the density $`|\psi (s)|^2`$ coincides with the one obtained in Ref. Horane  (but the phase $`\varphi (s)`$ will be different for our previous ring geometry). Besides we cannot call such a state single-connected as in Ref. Berger ; Horane ; Berger1  because the relation (1) is valid even for this case. Therefore, it is better to call this state a one-dimensional vortex state because like the two-dimensional Abrikosov vortex there is a point where $`|\psi |=0`$ and the phase of the order parameter exhibits a jump equal to $`k\pi `$ (as the Abrikosov vortex with orbital momentum $`2\pi k`$). A numerical calculation shows that, as in the case for an ordinary Abrikosov vortex in superconductors where such a state is stable, the phase jump is always equal to $`\pi `$, i.e. $`k=1`$.

Our numerical analysis of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations showed that this state is completely unstable for a uniform ring. However for rings with nonuniform width(thickness) or attached wires a nonuniform distribution of the order parameter becomes possible Berger ; Berger1 ; Fink1 ; Fink2  and for small rings with $`L\pi `$ this state is realized in practice (besides for the case of a ring, a ODV state can also exist in the Wheatstone bridge - see Refs. Fink3 ; Ammann ). In Fig. 2 the distribution of the absolute value and the phase of the order parameter is shown for different values of the magnetic field for a nonuniform ring comm3 . We used the following model where the width of the ring was varied as

$$w(s)=1+w_0\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{2\pi s}{L}\right),$$
(13)
The parameters used are: $`w_0=0.1`$ and $`L=3.25`$. It is seen that with increasing magnetic flux the magnitude of the order parameter $`f`$ decreases in the thinner part of the ring (at $`s/L=3/4`$) and becomes zero when $`\mathrm{\Phi }/\mathrm{\Phi }_0=1/2`$. In Ref. Berger1  it was found that the ODV state is only possible at $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(n+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$. The reason is now clear - only at this values of the magnetic flux the phase difference near the point where the order parameter is zero will be compensated by the term $`2\pi n\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and the current density will be equal to zero. It is interesting to note that the current density is also zero for $`\mathrm{\Phi }=n\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ even in the case of a nonuniform ring, but for values of the flux where the ODV state does not exist. At these values of the magnetic flux the order parameter is uniform along the ring and the term $`2\pi n`$ is completely compensated by the term $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ in Eq. (1).

Above we showed that the ODV state can be realized by varying the geometrical parameters of the ring. But there are two alternative approaches to realize the ODV state in the ring experimentally. First, it is possible to include an other phase in the ring. This leads to the appearance of a weak link in the sample and if the radius of the ring is less than some critical value (about $`\xi `$) it also leads to the existence of the ODV state in the ring at $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(n+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$. We modelled this situation by introducing an additional term $`\rho (s)f`$ in Eq. (2a), and, as an example, we took $`\rho (s)=\alpha \delta (s)`$ and $`\alpha =1`$ (it should be noted that qualitatively the results do not depend on the specific value of $`\alpha `$). We will not present the numerical results of the modified Ginzburg-Landau equations but we found that they are qualitatively similar to the behavior of $`f`$ and $`\varphi `$ shown in Fig. 2. When approaching the flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(n+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ the order parameter reaches zero in the defect point and a jump in the phase equal to $`\pi `$ occurs. Secondly, such a ODV state should also appear in small rings with attached wire(s). As was shown in Refs. Fink1 ; Fink2  an attached wire leads to a nonuniform distribution of the order parameter in the ring. In Fig. 3 the dependence of the current $`j`$ in such a ring on the flux through the ring is shown (see also Ref. Fink2 ). As for nonuniform rings, where the parameters are chosen such that the ODV state may exist, there is no hysteresis in such a system Berger1 .

Small inhomogeneities in rings gives us the unique possibility to study states close to the ODV state because there is no sharp transition from the state with finite order parameter to a state with vanishing order parameter at one point (see Fig. 2). The latter is, in some sense, a ’frozen’ slip phase state. A small variation of the flux through the ring near $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$ leads to a change of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ by $`2\pi `$ (from $`\pi `$ to $`+\pi `$ with a concomitant change of the current from $`0`$ to $`+0`$ \- see Fig. 2(b)). As a result an additional phase circulation $`\varphi ds`$=$`2\pi `$ appears in the system, not because the magnetic flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is changed, but because the term $`j/f^2𝑑s`$ changes from $`\pi `$ to $`+\pi `$ (see Eq. (1)). When such a jump occurs $`\varphi `$ does not change in the ring, except near the point where $`f=0`$, and as a result the current density in the system changes continuously. In the usual case transitions of the vorticity from a state with phase circulation $`2\pi n`$ to a state with phase circulation $`2\pi (n+1)`$ leads to a jump in the current everywhere in the ring because $`\varphi ds`$ changes by $`2\pi `$ and the order parameter and the current density are finite everywhere in the system.

To supplement the above study we made also a numerical study of a nonuniform ring of finite width and thickness by implementing our previous finite difference solution of the coupled nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equations Baelus1 . As an example we took the following parameters: outer radius of the ring $`R_o=2\xi `$, radius of the hole $`R_i=1.5\xi `$, displacement of the hole from the center $`a=0.4\xi `$, ring thickness $`d=0.001\xi `$ and Ginzburg-Landau parameter $`\kappa =2`$.

In Fig. 4 the dependence of the Gibbs free energy $`F`$ and the magnetization $`M=F/H`$ of this system on the magnetic field are shown. As in the case of our one-dimensional ring these dependencies are reversible and there are magnetic fields at which the magnetization is equal to zero (in the points of local maximum and minimum of the free energy). We found that the distribution of the order parameter and the phase in the ring (see inset of Fig. 5) is similar to analogical distributions for the above one-dimensional ring (Fig. 2) at low magnetic fields. But different with the one-dimensional system the phase circulation increase of $`2\pi `$ (between the points (2) and (3) in Fig. 5) does not occur at the magnetic field value where the free energy has a local maximum (and zero magnetization). With decreasing width of the ring this point shifts towards the local maximum in the free energy.

It is interesting to note that for the system corresponding to Fig. 4 the vortex enters through the thinnest part of the ring in the case of the first three maxima in the free energy while for the highest magnetic field maxima (i.e. $`H/H_{c2}4.6`$) the vortex enters through the thickest part of the ring (see Fig. 6). Because the width of thicker part of the ring ($`=0.9\xi `$) is considerable larger than the thinner part ($`=0.1\xi `$) and is of order $`\xi `$ the ODV for $`H/H_{c2}4.6`$ becomes the usual two-dimensional vortex. As a result the order parameter is equal to zero only in one point along the radial coordinate and the circulation of the phase of the order parameter now is also a function of this coordinate (see Fig. 6). When the vortex enters/exits the ring at low magnetic fields there is also a slow dependence of the order parameter on the radial coordinate along the thinnest part of the ring. Therefore, we can conclude that in a ring with finite width the one-dimensional vortex is transformed into the usual two-dimensional vortex.

The process of the appearance of a stable vortex in a ring with finite width is similar to the creation of a phase slip in wires of finite width in the presence of a transport current. In the latter case the distribution of the gauge-invariant momentum is not exactly uniform over the wire width. The maximum value of $`p`$ is obtained at the edges and as a result the order parameter vanishes first in these points. When a phase slip is created the distribution of the order parameter is not uniform over the width. With decreasing wire width this nonuniformity decreases but it will be uniform, strictly speaking, only in the limit $`w0`$. With increasing wire width the phase slip transforms to the ordinary process of vortex/antivortex pair nucleating at the edges, penetrating deep into the superconductor and annihilating. In nonuniform rings the distribution of $`p`$ over the width is nonuniform and in contrast to wires with transport current it is nonsymmetric with respect to the ring width. Suppression of the order parameter first occurs only on the external side (when increasing the magnetic field) or on the internal side (when decreasing the magnetic field). As in the case of an one-dimensional ring we may call this state a stable (”frozen”) phase slip state if the width of the ring, where the vortex penetrates, is less than $`\xi `$.

The ODV state of a nonuniform ring is very similar to the saddle-point state as found in Ref. Baelus1  in case of an uniform ring of finite width and in Ref. Schweigert  for the case of a disk. Note that for an uniform ring with zero width the nonuniform solution Eq. (6) corresponds to a saddle-point point of $`F(\psi )`$. In Fig. 7 the gradual decrease of the hysteresis with increasing displacement $`a`$ of the hole from the center of the ring is shown. It is seen that with increasing $`a`$ the region where metastable states exist decreases and ultimately vanishes for some critical displacement $`a_c`$. The saddle point states (only shown for $`a=0`$, by the thin full curve) approaches the stable phase slip state when $`a=a_c`$.

In Ref. Baelus2  also nonuniform superconducting rings of finite width were investigated (but with larger ring radius). It was found that for low magnetic fields $`F(H)`$ is irreversible but for high magnetic fields the dependence $`F(H)`$ was reversible. In high fields the transition from a state with vorticity one to another state occured through the same scenario as discussed above. A similar state was also considered in Ref. Berger3  in the framework of the linearized Ginzburg-Landau equations for a nonuniform ring of finite width. They found that in such a system the vortex may be stable in some magnetic field region. In low magnetic field this vortex enter through the thinner part of the ring and at high magnetic fields through the thicker part. Our calculations generalizes this result to lower temperatures (i.e. where the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equations have to be used) and with inclusion of the non-zero demagnetization factor of the ring. We found the dependence of the Gibbs free energy (and magnetization) of this sample on the applied magnetic field. Our results also allowed to compare the results of the one-dimensional model with the full two-dimensional one.

The ODV (or stable phase slip) state may be observed by magnetic experiments. Magnetic susceptibility is proportional Zhang  to $`dj/d\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and the ODV state exhibits some characteristic peculiarities as was shown in the inset of Fig. 3. Magnetization $`M`$ is proportional to the current $`j`$ and hence $`M(H)`$ is reversible, for samples where the ODV state exists (see Fig. 3 and inset of Fig. 5). Furthermore $`M=0`$ at $`\mathrm{\Phi }(n+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$. Alternatively, because at $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(n+1/2)\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ there is a point in the ring where the order parameter is equal to zero, this state may be found by transport measurements. For example in Ref. Liu  the dependence of the resistance of a hollow cylinder with radius of order $`\xi `$ was studied at temperature $`T<T_c`$ far from $`T_c`$. At $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$ the resistance $`(R)`$ exhibited a maximum but the value of $`R`$ was a factor three less than the normal state resistance $`R_n`$. If the cylinder has a nonuniform thickness the ODV state can be realized as a stable state when $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$ and it will lead to a resistive (but superconducting) state even for very small currents and naturally the resistance of such a state will be less than $`R_n`$ as was found by Liu et al Liu .

In conclusion, we studied the nonuniform state in a superconducting ring in which the order parameter vanishes at one point. It was shown that this state is characterized by a jump in the phase of the order parameter by $`\pi `$ near the point $`\psi =0`$. It allows, in correspondence with the ordinary two-dimensional Abrikosov vortex, to call such a state a one-dimensional vortex. This state is unstable in an uniform ring. In case of a nonuniform ring (with variations of the geometrical ($`d`$, $`w`$) or physical parameters ($`\xi `$, $`\lambda `$) along the ring) or for a ring with an attached wire, this state may be realized in practise. For rings with non-zero width the ODV state transforms into the usual two-dimensional vortex. We also showed that this state is the remnant of the saddle point state connecting two superconducting states with different vorticity as found in a uniform ring. The latter state becomes stable in a nonuniform ring.

The work was supported by the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl), the ”Onderzoeksraad van de Universiteit Antwerpen,” the ”Interuniversity Poles of Attraction Program - Belgian State, Prime Minister’s Office - Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs,” and the European ESF-Vortex Matter. One of us (D.Y.V.) is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship of FWO-Vl and partially by a RFBR grant N01-02-16593. Discussions with Prof. A. Geim and comments from Prof. J. Berger are gratefully acknowledged.