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# Gamma Ray Bursts and the Collapsar Model: a comment on astro-ph/0203391 and astro-ph/0203467

## 1 Introduction

Gamma-ray burst (GRB) research is one of the most active fields in contemporary astronomy, and overlaps a multitude of subjects in astrophysics, including compact object and black hole physics, star formation and cosmology, particle acceleration and cosmic ray physics, and stellar evolution and supernovae. Fundamental progress has been made in recent years to establish the distance scale to long-duration GRBs and the radiation mechanisms that operate in relativistic blast waves. Less certainty holds with regard to the central engine, though it is generally accepted that GRB events involve the rapid release of an enormous amount of energy within a small volume.

The establishment of the correct model for the central engine has acquired considerable urgency following the discovery of X-ray afterglows with the Beppo-SAX mission. The correct model will provide the solution to a 30-year old astronomical mystery, and will make sense of the wealth of multifrequency data now being collected on different GRBs.

The scenario that presently receives the most consideration among GRB researchers, especially GRB observers, is the collapsar model. This model involves the collapse of the central core of a massive, evolved star to a newly-formed black hole. The black hole accretes matter at rates on the order of Solar masses per second to drive collimated, baryon-dilute outflows that penetrate the outer layers of the star to form a relativistic jet of plasma that, upon sweeping up material from the surrounding medium in an external shock, forms the afterglow emission.

Michael J. Harris wrote an article entitled “Gamma-Ray Line Transients” in 1997 , where he surveyed the early history of gamma-ray line searches, including annihilation line features. Prior to the launch of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the various non-imaging balloon and space-borne spectrometers, each with their own backgrounds and systematics, provided low-significance evidence for annihilation line transients. Given the compelling explanation of variable features in terms of black-hole antimatter factories, a theoretical synthesis was established that explained and motivated the detection of subsequent features, none of which was confirmed by CGRO. Harris attributed this effect to “the tendency to integrate imperfect information into logical patterns.” He cautioned scientists against this tendency, and to maintain “(relative) objectivity, skepticism and especially our use of mathematical reasoning at every step in an argument.”

This article came to mind after reading two papers recently posted on astro-ph. The first, entitled “Detection of a Supernova Signature Associated with GRB 011121,” by J. S. Bloom and 22 coauthors , and the second, entitled “GRB 011121: A Massive Star Progenitor,” by P. A. Price and 31 coauthors , present and interpret HST observations of the afterglow of GRB 011121. Although I can find nothing technically wrong with the observational procedures, the authors of these papers seem to feel that they are obliged to explain their observations within the context of the collapsar scenario. Once observers are in thrall to a particular model, their objectivity is compromised. The point of this communication is to provide a cautionary note to observers to maintain a neutral position if their results are to be trusted. Science is not well served if results are forced into the service of models: the data should test the models, not the other way around.

Following a brief discussion of GRB source models in §2, taken from my recent review  and provided as background for the general reader, I provide a commentary (§3) on statements made in these two articles. Let the reader judge if the arguments made in these papers are scientifically sound. A summary is given in §4.

## 2 Models for the GRB Central Engine

In a recent review of GRB physics , I summarized and compared two models for the central engines of GRBs, namely the collapsar model and the supranova model. Both are compatible with evidence connecting GRBs to star-forming regions  and, consequently, to a massive star origin. This argues against a third model involving coalescing compact objects, which should occur in both spiral and elliptical galaxies. The absence of counterparts far from the disks of galaxy hosts also conflicts with this model, insofar as old stellar systems can travel great distances before coalescence. In particular, they should leave dusty regions where young and massive stars are born.

A collapsar is a “failed” supernova in the sense that a core-collapse event fails to form a neutron star and instead produces a black hole. In Woosley’s original paper , the progenitor star was suggested to be a rotating Wolf-Rayet star that produces, upon collapse, an accretion disk of several tenths of Solar masses. Hydrodynamical simulations of collapsars have specifically treated, for example, the evolution of a 35 $`M_{}`$ main-sequence star whose 14 $`M_{}`$ helium core collapses to form a 2-3 $`M_{}`$ black hole . Provided that the core has a large amount of angular momentum, a delayed accretion event can be formed by the infalling matter. In order to produce a long-duration GRB with complex pulse structure under such circumstances, accretion is argued to proceed over a period of time comparable to the prompt phase of a GRB. The collapsar model must contend with the difficulty of ejecting baryon-clean material through an overlying shell of material. This is accomplished through an active central engine that persists for at least as long as the prompt phase of the GRB. Formation of relativistic jets of baryonic-clean material with bulk Lorentz factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_010^2`$-$`10^3`$ represents a major difficulty in these models .

A central motivation of the supranova model of Vietri and Stella  is to identify a site that is originally free of baryon contamination. This occurs through a two-step collapse to a black hole, where a “supramassive” neutron star (i.e., with mass exceeding several Solar masses) is formed in the first-step through a supernova explosion. The neutron star is initially stabilized against collapse by rotation. The loss of angular momentum support through magnetic dipole and gravitational radiation leads to collapse to a black hole after some months to years. A two-step collapse process means that the neutron star is surrounded by a supernova shell of enriched material which can explain rebrightening events, as seen in GRB 970508 . Alternately, the neutron star could be driven to collapse by accreting matter in a binary system . The period of activity of a highly magnetized neutron star preceding its collapse to a black hole can produce a pulsar wind bubble consisting of a quasi-uniform low density, highly magnetized pair-enriched medium , in accord with afterglow model fits . The earlier supernova could yield $`1`$ $`M_{}`$ of Fe in the surrounding vicinity. The discoveries of variable Fe absorption in GRB 990705 during the prompt emission phase  and X-ray emission features in the afterglow spectra of GRB 991216  provide some support for this model.

## 3 The Synthesis Effect

The scientific process rests upon well-established methodological procedures to determine whether a given model is falsifiable. In astronomy, where reproducibility of an event may not be possible, a model should have a certain flexibility in terms of adjustable parameters to fit the data. Although the reasonableness of the fitted range of the adjustable parameters introduces a subjective element into the assessment of a model, the quantitative evaluation of $`\chi ^2`$ per degree of freedom, and the quality of the improvement of the fit when introducing additional parameters is a well-established tool for observers and data analysts.

Consider first the paper by Bloom et al. . In the Introduction section of this paper, circumstantial arguments for a massive star origin of long-duration GRBs are made. Only the collapsar model is mentioned – although the supranova model is also associated with a massive star origin, it is nowhere discussed in this section, leaving the reader to suppose that only the collapsar model is compatible with these observations. Both the collapsar and supranova models will have associated supernovae emissions, so detection of a SN component is not sufficient to decide between the two models. There are differences, however, between the observational signatures of the collapsar and supranova models. In the collapsar model, as the authors point out, an enriched circumburster medium due to stellar winds and mass loss is expected, which will show up in the afterglow spectra due to the $`1/r^2`$ dependence of the presupernova wind. The authors lament: “Unfortunately broadband modeling of afterglows have not yielded firm signatures for such circumburst medium.” Unfortunately? Why should it be unfortunate that observations have not confirmed a theoretical prejudice? On the contrary, this is a tantalizing bit of information about the environments in which GRB sources are located.

The authors then describe bumps in afterglow spectra and various models to fit them. One possible model is a dust echo, which seems entirely reasonable given that one-third to one-half of GRBs are dark bursts, that is, without optical afterglows. These dark bursts may be caused by dust extinction. Rather than fit dust models to test this option, which should have been entirely possible given the range of personnel on the paper, the authors invoke a new method: an appeal to “simplicity”! In the authors’ formulation, “the simplicity of the supernova model–requiring only a (physically motivated) adjustment in brightness–is a compelling argument to accept our hypothesis.”

One might be willing to accept the validity of the supernova hypothesis for the late time bump in the GRB light curves if the fits to the data were acceptable. But a cursory examination of Figures 1 and 2 of the Bloom et al. paper show that the $`\chi ^2`$ must be so great as to rule out the supernova hypothesis. No $`\chi ^2`$ are in any case calculated, and the supernova hypothesis seems to defy falsifiability: the authors invoke a renormalization of the luminosity. In the paper by Price et al., a new method is settled on to explain discrepancies between the supernova hypothesis and observations: “The absence of SN components in other GRBs can be explained by appealing to the well known diversity in luminosity of Type 1b/c SNe” (no reference is given). In other words, any discrepancy between the model and observations can be attributed to the wide range of light curves of Type Ib/c SNe, so they are not required to fit the data! Elsewhere in the paper by Bloom et al., it is asserted that ”The consistency between the measurements and the SN \[hypothesis\] is reasonable, but some differences are observed, as expected.” I do not find the consistency reasonable, and I am not sure why differences are expected, given the constant energy reservoir result . Nor do the authors. Rather than contrast the collapsar and supranova models in light of this result, the proffered explanation is that “the constancy of the $`\gamma `$-ray energy release is even more mysterious.”

Further evidence of the synthesis effect at work is found in the abstract and last section of the paper by Bloom et al., where they purport to “exclude the (related) supranova model.” This is accomplished by a misrepresentation of the model, namely that the supernova must take place “months to years before the GRB event.” Leaving aside the fact that the duration between the first and second collapse events can range over arbitrary time scales, the authors do not even calculate the range of allowed time delays between the hypothetical supernova and GRB 011121. If they had, it might have occurred to them that different time delays might explain the “absence of SN components in other GRBs” remarked upon by Price et al. (and which may also be due to different slopes of the optical afterglows).

In the Price et al. paper , a new type of reasoning takes hold. Again they lament that “Unfortunately, until now there has been no clear evidence for a wind-fed circumburst medium…” But not to worry – “We undertake afterglow modeling of this important event and to our delight have found a good case for a wind-fed circumburst medium.” I would be delighted too, if the authors had made a scientifically sound case. First, they use an analytic model to fit the data. The analytic models, which lack light-travel time effects (among other things) found in numerical models , have been shown to be inaccurate in the radio regime by factors exceeding an order of magnitude . The inaccuracy is especially great near the endpoints and spectral breaks, precisely where the data must be properly fit for the authors to make their case that the explosion takes place in a wind-fed medium. Even granted the uncertainty in the analytic fits, the wind model is favored only at the $`2\sigma `$ level, in other words, the result is valid only at the 90% confidence level. Perhaps the glass is full at the 90% confidence level; it might just as well be empty at the 10% level.

In any case, this result does not square with the fact that many more GRBs that have been modeled and found to be consistent with jetted emission in a uniform surrounding medium. As Price et al. argue, “there could be two different classes of progenitors within the class of long-duration GRBs (Chevalier and Li 2000 ).” Perhaps GRB 011121 is a collapsar, but then what about the more numerous second class?

## 4 Summary

The collapsar model has enjoyed a degree of acceptance that could lead one to conclude that the correct model for the GRB engine has been found. An effect of this situation is that observers either might discount their observations if they deviate from the model, or they might force the observations into the prevailing theoretical mold. I have argued that this “synthesis effect” is already at work in the two papers discussed here. Without endorsing one model over another (the author’s views can be found in ), I would like to suggest to the GRB observers that they either offer a more balanced appraisal of models, or report their data free of theoretical biases.

The work of CD is supported by the Office of Naval Research. REFERENCES
 Harris, M. J., 1997, in Proceedings of the Fourth Compton Symposium, ed. C. D. Dermer, M. S. Strickman, and J. D. Kurfess (AIP: New York), p. 418  Bloom, J. S., et al., 2002, Astrophysical Journal Letters, submitted (astro-ph/0203391, v. 1)  Price, P. A. et al., 2002, Astrophysical Journal Letters, submitted (astro-ph/0203467, v. 1)  Dermer, C. D., 2002, in Proc. 27th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Hamburg, Germany (7-15 August 2001)(astro-ph/0202254)  Djorgovski, S. G., et al. 2001, in Gamma Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era, ed. E. Costa, F. Frontera, and J. Hjorth (Springer: Berlin), 218  Sokolov, V. V. et al. 2001, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 372, 438  Woosley, S.E. 1993, Astrophysical Journal, 405, 273  MacFadyen, A. I. and Woosley, S. E., 1999, Astrophysical Journal, 524, 262  Tan, J. C., Matzner, C. D., and McKee, C. F., 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 551, 946  Vietri, M., and Stella, L., 1998, Astrophysical Journal, 507, L45  Vietri, M., Perola, C., Piro, L., and Stella, L., 1999, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 308, L29  Vietri, M. and Stella, L., 1999, Astrophysical Journal, 527, L43  Königl, A., and Granot, J., 2001, Astrophysical Journal, submitted (astro-ph/0112087)  Panaitescu, A., and Kumar, P., 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 554, 667  Chevalier, R., and Li, Z.-Y., 2000, Astrophysical Journal, 536, 196  Amati, L., et al., 2000, Science, 290, 953  Piro, L., et al., 2000, Science, 290, 955  Frail, D. A., et al., 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 562, L55  Dermer, C. D., Böttcher, M., and Chiang, J., 2000, Astrophysical Journal, 537, 255


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# Recurrent Nova IM Normae

## 1 Introduction

IM Nor was originally discovered as a possible nova in 1920 by I. E. Woods from Harvard plates (cf. Elliot & Liller (1972); Duerbeck (1987)). The object was first detected on a plate taken on 1920 July 7 as a 9 mag star. Upon noting the possible identification with a UHURU X-ray source 2U 1536$``$52111 The proposed identification with 2U 1536$``$52 = 4U 1538$``$52 was already questioned by Wyckoff & Wehinger (1979). This X-ray source was later identified with an X-ray binary, QV Nor (see Kato (2002)). , Elliot & Liller (1972) surveyed Harvard plates and constructed a light curve. Although the light curve was rather fragmentary, Elliot & Liller (1972) suggested a similarity with the light curves of slow novae, especially DQ Her and the recurrent nova T Pyx. No spectroscopic observation was made during the 1920 eruption.

The quiescent identification of IM Nor was confusing. At the position of the nova, Elliot & Liller (1972) remarked the presence of two stars near mag 21. Wyckoff & Wehinger (1979) spectroscopically studied these stars and revealed that these stars are late-type stars without emission lines. Wyckoff & Wehinger (1979) concluded that the star is a late-type companion of the nova, or that these stars are not physically associated with the nova. Wyckoff & Wehinger (1979) set an lower limit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$=11.7 as the outburst amplitude. From this information and his original studies, Duerbeck (1987) reported the remeasured position of the nova, and different candidates for the quiescent counterpart, whose exact identification remained uncertain (see Fig. 1).

The situation dramatically changed upon the discovery of the second historical outburst by W. Liller (Liller (2002)). Subsequent observations confirmed the nova nature of the object (Duerbeck et al. (2002); Retter et al. (2002)). This discovery qualifies IM Nor as the ninth recurrent nova in the Galaxy.

## 2 Astrometry and Identification of the Prenova

Upon discovery of the outburst, we derived accurate astrometry from a CCD image taken on 2002 January 15.104 UT with a 30-cm Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector at the Bronberg Observatory near Pretoria, South Africa. The astrometric reduction was done using 66 GSC-ACT stars (mean residual $`0^{\prime \prime }.3`$). Table 1 gives a summary of astrometry of this nova in the available literature.

Upon examination of the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) images, we have identified a star of $`R`$=17.0 mag and $`B`$=18.0 mag. The star is different from the proposed candidates by Elliot & Liller (1972) (see also Wyckoff & Wehinger (1979) for a finding chart) or by Duerbeck (1987). More detailed examination of the available preoutburst photographs has revealed the presence of noticeable variability (Yamaoka (2002)), which also strengthens the prenova identification. Estimated magnitude of the prenova are given in Table 2. The correct identification, as well as past suggested identifications, is shown in Fig. 1. This observation makes the observed amplitude of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ $``$10.0 mag. A representative comparison of images is shown in Fig. 2 demonstrating the presence of significant quiescent variation.222 Even though the photometric bands are different between these observations, we can safely conclude that there was indeed a fading on 1987 April 25 from the following reasons. A $`V`$-band observation should naturally be brighter than $`B`$-band observation, considering the unavoidable interstellar reddening and the consistently observed positive $`BR`$ color index. The object is clearly visible in $`R`$ band image (Fig. 1) at the nearly same brightness as two western stars and also is in $`B_\mathrm{j}`$ image (Fig 2a) brighter than these two. It is quite natural for the prenova. The star, however, almost disappeared on the $`V`$ image (Fig. 2b). Such a change can not be explained by a color effect, but must have been caused by its intrinsic variability.

## 3 Discussion

### 3.1 Classification among Recurrent Novae

From the relatively blue quiescent color, the object is unlikely a symbiotic-type recurrent nova having a giant secondary (T CrB, RS Oph, V745 Sco, V3890 Sgr: for recent reviews of recurrent novae, see Anupama (1992); Sekiguchi (1995); Anupama & Mikolajewska (1999); Hachisu & Kato (2001b)). The object more resembles recurrent novae with main-sequence or slightly evolved secondaries: U Sco (Barlow et al. (1981); Sekiguchi et al. (1988); Schaefer (1990); Schaefer & Ringwald (1995); Hachisu et al. (2000a); Thoroughgood et al. (2001)); V394 CrA (Duerbeck (1988); Sekiguchi et al. (1989); Schaefer (1990); Hachisu & Kato (2000)); T Pyx (Barrera & Vogt (1989); Schaefer (1990); Schaefer et al. (1992); Knigge et al. (2000)); CI Aql (Kiss et al. (2001); Matsumoto et al. (2001); Hachisu & Kato (2001a)); Nova LMC 1999 No. 2 (Sekiguchi et al. (1990); Shore et al. (1991)).

Among these objects, U Sco (Barlow et al. (1981); Sekiguchi et al. (1988); Kiyota (1999)), V394 CrA (Duerbeck (1988); Sekiguchi et al. (1989) and Nova LMC 1990 No. 2 (Sekiguchi et al. (1990)) show extremely rapid decline, and are unlike IM Nor. As already suggested by Elliot & Liller (1972), the slow decline of IM Nor resembles that of T Pyx. However, the light curve of the 2002 outburst (Fig. 3) drawn from observations reported to VSNET Collaboration333 http://www.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/  more suggests a moderately fast nova with a t3 of $``$50 d. The moderately structured light curve, in contrast to those of fast recurrent novae (the best studied example being U Sco, see Hachisu et al. (2000a)), also makes a resemblance to a recently recognized recurrent nova, CI Aql (Kiss et al. (2001); Matsumoto et al. (2001)). From spectroscopy, IM Nor is reported to show long persistence of FeII lines (Retter et al. (2002)), suggesting that more material has been ejected than in a typical recurrent-nova outburst. The spectroscopic signature of massive ejecta makes a close resemblance to CI Aql which showed a classical nova-like spectrum just after the maximum (Uemura & Kato (2000)) and the appearance of nebular lines at later stages (Matsumoto et al., in preparation). From these findings, we propose that IM Nor and CI Aql comprise a new subclass of recurrent novae with massive ejecta and long recurrence times.

### 3.2 IM Nor in Quiescence

Quiescent IM Nor has several unique properties. As shown in Section 2, the total outburst amplitude of IM Nor is $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ $``$10.0 mag, indicating that the quiescent counterpart is fainter than usual recurrent novae (see e.g. Hachisu et al. (2000b); the large outburst amplitude of U Sco is difficult to reconcile without a special mechanism). Furthermore, IM Nor is unique among non-symbiotic recurrent novae in that it apparently shows significant variation in quiescence (Section 2; no high/low state transitions have been reported in T Pyx, CI Aql and U Sco). Such low quiescent brightness and the presence of variations could be interpreted as an effect of a high inclination, i.e. the observed variation in quiescence may reflect eclipse-type or orbital variations. In such a case, one may expect to see orbital modulations or eclipses in near future (cf. U Sco: Hachisu et al. (2000a); CI Aql: Matsumoto et al. (2001)). We encourage time-resolved photometry during the present outburst to test the presence of possible eclipses, since eclipse observations during an outburst, if observed, can severely constrain system parameters and the outburst mechanism (Hachisu et al. (2000a); Hachisu & Kato (2001a)). The low quiescent brightness may also be a result of a circumbinary disk, as proposed in U Sco (Hachisu et al. (2000b)). Further observations of IM Nor in future would provide a constraint to this interpretation.

Alternately, if no eclipses are observed in IM Nor, the presence of significant variation in quiescence makes the first indication of high/low states in (non-symbiotic type) recurrent novae. Since high/low state transitions are more commonly seen in supersoft X-ray source (RX J0527.8$``$6954: Greiner & Hazen (1996); Greiner et al. (1996); CAL 83: Alcock et al. (1997); Kahabka (1998); QR And: Beuermann et al. (1995); Greiner & Wenzel (1995); V Sge: Greiner & Teeseling (1998)), which are supposed to be a close analog of recurrent novae (Kahabka et al. (1999); Greiner (2000); Hachisu et al. (1999)), further observations and modeling of quiescent IM Nor is expected to provide a missing link between recurrent novae and supersoft X-ray sources.

The authors are grateful to the observers (Andrew Pearce, Jaime Garcia, Raquel Yumi Shida, Bruce Tregaskis, Alexandre Amorim), who reported visual observations of IM Nor to VSNET. This work is partly supported by a grant-in aid (13640239) from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This research has made use of the Digitized Sky Survey producted by STScI, the ESO Skycat tool, and the VizieR catalogue access tool. The CCD operation of the Bronberg Observatory is partly sponsored by the Center for Backyard Astrophysics.


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# Variable circular polarisation associated with relativistic ejections from GRS 1915+105

## 1 Introduction

Determining the physical composition and magnetic field structure of relativistic ejecta from black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their local cousins, black holes and neutron stars in X-ray binaries (XRBs), is a fundamental question for the physics and energetics of accretion in the environment of such extreme objects. By measuring such quantities we can probe the probable magnetohydrodynamic formation of jets and the flow of mass at a handful of Schwarzschild radii.

Estimating the relative fractions of p+:e- ‘normal’ baryonic matter and e+:e- ‘antimatter’ pairs is not a straightforward exercise. However, in recent years there has been a revival of interest in the possibility of probing the composition and power of such relativistic jets by means of observing the circularly polarised (CP) component of their radio emission (Wardle & Homan 2002; Falcke et al. 2002; Macquart 2002). The CP component may arise directly from the synchrotron process if the matter is baryonic (e.g. Legg & Westfold 1968), from linear polarisation (LP) $``$ CP ‘repolarisation’ (e.g. Pacholczyk 1973; Jones & O’Dell 1977; Kennett & Melrose 1998) in a baryonic or pair plasma, or via some other poorly-understood mechanism. Recent circular polarisation (CP) observations of AGN (e.g. Wardle et al. 1998; Macquart et al. 2000; Rayner, Norris & Sault 2000; Homan, Attridge & Wardle 2001) have been used in an attempt to probe directly the composition and distribution of the particles in the jets from these supermassive black holes.

Closer to home, circular polarisation has been detected from the (probable) low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN) Sgr A\* at the galactic centre (Bower, Falcke & Backer 1999; Sault & Marquart 1999) and the related nearby radio core in M81 (Brunthaler et al. 2001). In 2000 May we discovered circularly polarised radio emission from the famous galactic jet source SS 433 (Fender et al. 2000). This X-ray binary was clearly detected at four frequencies between 1–9 GHz with a CP spectrum decreasing with increasing frequency. However, our lack of ability to resolve the variable extended structure of SS 433 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) did not enable us to determine accurately the fractional CP spectrum and hence get a clear grip on the physical process which might be responsible. Furthermore, SS 433 seems to be unique amongst relativistic jet sources as it appears to have a fixed jet velocity of $`0.26c`$ and displays optical / infrared / X-ray emission lines which seem to clearly indicate a large baryonic fraction (e.g. Margon 1984; Kotani et al. 1994).

### 1.1 The ‘microquasar’ GRS 1915+105

The X-ray binary GRS 1915+105 was the first galactic system to display apparent superluminal motions within our galaxy (Mirabel & Rodriguez 1994), implying large bulk velocities maybe comparable to those in AGN. The system has been directly resolved, on multiple occasions, into highly relativistic jets which display different patterns of behaviour closely linked to the X-ray state of the source (Fender et al. 1999; Dhawan, Mirabel & Rodriguez 2000; Klein-Wolt et al. 2002). Whilst displaying a highly complex pattern of X-ray behaviour (e.g. Belloni et al. 2000), the source does at times exhibit recognisable patterns. For example, it seems that the system regularly, perhaps always, follows extended hard X-ray periods (‘plateaux’) with major ejections (Fender et al. 1999; Klein-Wolt et al. 2002). These plateaux are themselves associated with powerful compact jets (Dhawan et al. 2000b; ) which have spectral similarities with self-absorbed jets from other black hole candidate (BHC) systems in similar hard X-ray states (Fender 2001). Furthermore, the observation of apparent superluminal motions from several other XRB BHCs (e.g. Mirabel & Rodriguez 1999) and the fairly typical ‘radio loudness’ (Fender & Kuulkers 2001) imply that the jets of GRS 1915+105 may be far more typical of those from XRBs than the relatively slow, cool, jets of SS 433.

In this paper we report the discovery of a strong and variable circularly polarised component in the radio emission from GRS 1915+105 which we can directly associate with relativistic ejection events.

## 2 Observations

In Fig 1 we show radio and soft X-ray monitoring of GRS 1915+105, over a 150-day period. The radio monitoring data were obtained with the Ryle Telescope (RT), at a frequency of 15 GHz; for a more detailed description of this monitoring program see Pooley & Fender (1997). The X-ray data are from the RossiXTE All-Sky Monitor (ASM) and measure the total flux in the 2-12 keV band. The RossiXTE ASM is described in Levine et al. (1996) and the public data can be obtained at xte.mit.edu.

Indicated in the top panels of Fig 1 are the times of our two ATCA and multiple MERLIN observations of GRS 1915+105.

### 2.1 ATCA

The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA; Frater, Brooks & Whiteoak 1992) has a number of design features which enable very accurate circular polarization measurements. The low antenna cross-polarization and high polarization stability enable accurate calibration of polarization leakage terms, and the linearly-polarized feed design largely isolates Stokes V from contamination by Stokes I.

ATCA observed GRS 1915+105 twice, for six hours each, on 2001 January 17 and 2001 March 23. During the January observations, simultaneous observations at 1384 MHz and 2496 MHz were interleaved with observations at 4800 MHz and 8640 MHz; for the March observations, only 4800 MHz and 8640 MHz were observed. For both epochs the array was in a ‘6 km’ configuration, for which the lack of short baselines served to reduce confusion from other galactic sources. The observation and calibration procedures were similar to those described in Fender et al. (2000).

As discussed in Fender et al. (2000), calibration of circular polarization data requires the ”strongly-polarized” calibration equations (Sault, Killeen & Kesteven, 1991), using a point-source with a few percent linear polarization. This is needed to calibrate the leakage of linear polarization into circular. For the 4800 MHz and 8640MHz observations, the VLA calibrator 1923+210 was used as a polarization calibrator for both epochs. Calibrator confusion and low linear polarization, however, precluded the use of any of the observed calibrators as polarization calibrators for the January 1384 MHz and 2496 MHz observations. As a result, we were forced to use calibration solutions derived using the ”weakly-polarized” equations with the ATCA primary calibrator, 1934-638.

The use of the ”weakly-polarized” equations will cause a time-varying leakage of linear polarization into circular. In tests, peak leakages of 5% of the linear polarization into circular have been observed. For the 1384 MHz observations, the low linear polarization of GRS 1915+105 implies the effect of such leakage is negligible. Even for the 2496 MHz observations, where the linear polarization rises rapidly during the observation, in the worst-case the leakage would be only half the Stokes V error due to thermal noise. The full polarisation ATCA data for both epochs are presented in Fig 2.

### 2.2 MERLIN

The Multi Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) consists of six individual antennae with a typical diameter of 25m and a maximum baseline of 217 km (Thomasson 1986). The observations presented here were undertaken in continuum mode at a frequency of 4994 MHz with a total bandwidth of 16 MHz. As MERLIN measures all four correlation products as a matter of course when in this mode, full polarimetric information can be derived from all images. Ongoing work is seeking to establish the reliability of Stokes V measurements with MERLIN; these will not be reported here.

GRS 1915+105 was observed eleven times with MERLIN following the flare observed on 2001, March 22/23. The first five epochs, corresponding to daily observations between 2001 March 24 and March 27 and again on March 29, are presented in this paper (Fig 3); further details and analysis of the full set of MERLIN observations will be published in McCormick et al. (in prep). In each case a flux calibrator, 3C286, a point source, OQ208, and a phase calibrator, 1919+086 , were included in the observing schedule. The flux calibrator and point source calibrator were observed at the beginning and end of the run whilst the rest of the observation was devoted to a cycle of 1.5 minutes on the phase calibrator and 5 minutes on GRS 1915+105.

Initial data editing and calibration were performed using the standard MERLIN d-programs and the data were then transferred to the NRAO Astronomical Image Processing System (AIPS). Within AIPS the data were processed via the MERLIN pipeline, which calibrates and images the phase reference source and then applies these solutions to the target source. This process also derives instrumental polarisation corrections and calibrates the linear polarisation position angle, using 3C286 as the calibrator and assuming a position angle of 33°for its E vector. The position angles measured by MERLIN and ATCA are consistent with the same value, independently confirming the position angle calibration of each array.

Further self calibration was then carried out within AIPS and GRS 1915+105 imaged in total intensity and stokes Q and U. These maps were then combined using the AIPS task PCNTR to produce the final maps with total intensity contours and vectors denoting the direction and strength of linear polarisation.

Note that we can be confident both from previous studies (e.g. Mirabel & Rodriguez 1994; Fender et al. 1999) and these data (McCormick et al. in prep) that the component(s) to the south east (labelled in Fig 3 as ‘SE1’) is ‘approaching’, and component(s) to the north west are ‘receding’ (although in fact both sides of the jet have Doppler factors $`\delta <1`$).

## 3 Variable circular polarisation

In both sets of ATCA observations, GRS 1915+105 is unambiguously detected as a source of circularly polarised radio emission (Stokes V).

### 3.1 2001 January 17

In 2001 January (Fig 2, left panels), significant CP is measured at all four ATCA frequencies, from 1–9 GHz. The total flux density is clearly declining, indicating the decay phase of a major flare, but there is also significant variability superposed on the relatively smooth decline, preferentially at higher frequencies. This is almost certainly indicative of repeated activity in the core, corresponding to fresh ejection events. The spectral indices support this interpretation; between 1.4–2.9 GHz the spectrum is significantly flatter than expected for optically thin synchrotron emission; between 4.8–8.6 GHz it is displaying the rapidly varying behaviour associated with ‘core’ ejection events (Fender et al. 2002).

Inspection of the total flux and spectral index light curves indicates there were at least four separate ejection events contributing to the light curve at this epoch. Fig 1 also indicates that this outburst was more prolonged than that in 2001 March (see below).

The CP flux is clearly rising to lower frequencies, but the exact fractional spectrum is difficult to determine as the multiple components contributing to the observed emission are unresolved with ATCA. Table 1 lists the mean total, linearly polarised and circularly polarised flux densities, and Fig 4 plots these both as total and fractional spectra. We also note that there are measurements when the Stokes V flux is not significantly non-zero, and even a few points where it appears to have changed sign. However, (i) the mean Stokes V fluxes are significant, and negative (at both epochs), (ii) the apparent Stokes V sign change has a significance $`<2\sigma `$ and so we do not consider it convincing.

### 3.2 2001 March 23

In 2001 March, GRS 1915+105 was again observed to flare in our 15 GHz monitoring program, reaching $`160`$ mJy at MJD 51990.43. This time we triggered both ATCA and MERLIN – in fact the first epoch of MERLIN observations started at almost exactly the same time as the ATCA run concluded (Figs 3,5). As a result, we were able to definitively associate the outburst with relativistic ejections from the system (Fig 3).

The full polarisation ATCA data are presented in Fig 2 (right panels), and it is clear that there is less variability in the light curve than in 2001 January, with the smooth decay in radio flux at both frequencies only interrupted by the temporary increase around MJD 51991.82. Assuming the emission observed is associated with the radio event on which we triggered, our ATCA observations commence $`1.4`$ days after ejection (assuming a Doppler factor of $`0.3`$ – Fender et al. 1999 – this corresponds to only $`10`$ hr of evolution in the rest frame of the ejecta). The 4.8–8.6 GHz spectral index clearly demonstrates that the majority of the emission is coming from optically thin regions. The mean total intensity, linearly polarised and circularly polarised flux densities are presented in Table 1 and Fig 4.

## 4 A linear polarisation ‘rotator’ event

In the lower two panels of Fig 2 the linearly polarised flux densities and electric vector position angles are indicated. It is quite evident from the lower panel that over the $`6`$ hr of the observation in January 2001, both 4800 and 8640 MHz electric vectors rotate smoothly through $`50`$ degrees. Note that while there is evidence for changing absorption on the scales over which the ejecta from GRS 1915+105 can be tracked (Dhawan, Goss & Rodriguez 2000), variable Faraday rotation cannot be responsible for this effect since the separation between the vectors at the two frequencies remains constant (if Faraday rotation, which varies as $`\lambda ^2`$, a rotation of $`50`$ degrees at 8.6 GHz should have a corresponding rotation of $`100`$ degrees at 4.8 GHz).

The smooth rotation in the electric vector position angle seems to be a little at odds with both the MERLIN observations of Fender et al. (1999) in which the electric vector was varying seemingly erratically from day-to-day, and the observations presented here (both ATCA and MERLIN) for 2001 March, in which the vector remains approximately constant. Such smooth rotation indicates either a genuinely rotating jet or, perhaps more likely, a smooth change in the (projected) position angle of the magnetic field in the emitting region – such as a global curved structure in the jet.

Similar behaviour, ‘polarisation rotator events’ – see Saikia & Salter (1988) and references therein - has also been observed in AGN. While initially interpreted as physical rotation of the magnetic field structure (which could directly link a jet to e.g. removal of angular momentum from an accretion flow) the more favoured interpretation is the formation of a shock inclined at some angle to the line of sight. The lack of the repeat of this phenomenon in 2001 March would seem to indicate it does not reflect physical rotation of the jet, which we would assume either always happens or never happens. However, more recently Gomez et al. (2001) have interpreted the steady rotation of the linear polarisation vector of a superluminal component in the jet of the AGN 3C120 as indicating an underlying twisted (helical) magnetic field structure.

## 5 Discussion

The origin of a circularly polarised component in the radio emission from AGN and X-ray binaries remains uncertain. However, in both classes of object the bulk of the radio emission can be confidently assumed to arise from similar physical processes, namely synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons in a magnetised plasma flowing away from the central black hole (or neutron star) in collimated jets. Since we have every reason to believe that the Stokes I, and probably Q and U, fluxes from these objects arise via the same processes, we can hope that by studying the origin of Stokes V in X-ray binaries we may shed light on its origin in AGN, and vice versa.

### 5.1 Association of CP with young ejections

What can we learn from these observations of GRS 1915+105 ? From analysis of the combined ATCA and MERLIN data sets for 2001 March, we are confident that the measured circularly polarised radio emission is associated with the relativistic ejection SE1. Our reasoning is as follows:

1. The decreasing Stokes I flux measured at both epochs (most obviously 2001 March) arises from ejected components whose radio flux decays steadily, probably due to adiabatic expansion losses, with time. This can be inferred both from past experience and directly from the MERLIN observations which directly image the fading ejecta as they propagate away from the core. In Fig 5 we show the ATCA light curves, plus the total flux light curve from MERLIN and the fluxes of the two components (core and ejection SE1). The core stays at roughly the same flux level over all of the first five epochs of MERLIN imaging, whereas the flux of SE1 continues to fade – from this we can infer that the bright and decreasing flux observed by ATCA is dominated by emission from ejected component SE1.
2. There is a significant correlation between the Stokes I and (-)Stokes V fluxes, especially at 8640 MHz. In table 2 we list the Spearman rank correlation coefficients between the Stokes I and V fluxes at 4800 and 8640 MHz, for both the 2001 January and March data sets; these are plotted in Fig 6. For all epochs, and the combined data sets, there is a significant rank correlation between Stokes I and V at 8640 MHz; at 4800 MHz the correlation is marginal. Since the Stokes I, as argued above, is associated with SE1, we can therefore be confident that the Stokes V flux also arises primarily in SE1. Note that we cannot rule out a Stokes V flux of amplitude $`|V|0.2`$ mJy associated with the core, based on Fig 6.
3. Furthermore, the MERLIN imaging clearly shows that the linearly polarised radio emission also arises in component SE1. Therefore we are able to accurately measure the fractional linear and circular polarisation (ie. all Stokes parameters) for the synchrotron emission from a single optically thin component

### 5.2 Comparison with AGN, Sgr A\* and M81\*

Rayner et al. (2000) and Homan et al. (2001) have established that most AGN have ratios of linear to (absolute) circular polarisation $`10`$, whereas the low-luminosity radio cores Sgr A\* and M81\* have ratios $`1`$ (Bower et al. 1999; Sault & Macquart 1999; Brunthaler et al. 2001). It is interesting that for the two XRBs for which we have so far measured CP, we find both situations, depending on the frequency observed. In both SS 433 (Fender et al. 2000) and GRS 1915+105, LP $`<`$ CP at the lowest frequency (1.4 GHz), and LP $``$ CP at higher ($`2.5`$ GHz) frequencies. In GRS 1915+105, it is clear from Figs 2,4 that there is significant opacity (foreground or internal) at the lower frequencies, and so we consider it most likely that the reduction in LP is due to Faraday depolarisation. While in SS 433 there is less obvious indication of opacity at the lowest frequencies, it would seem likely that the same mechanism is operating there to reduce the observed LP. Furthermore, M81\* (Brunthaler et al. 2001) and a number of AGN (Rayner 2000) also seem to show flat/inverted fractional CP spectra, as we seem to have measured from GRS 1915+105 in 2001 January. However, we should also note that in Sgr A\* there is no optically thin power law component, unlike the two X-ray binaries discussed here, which will further reduce the expected LP (Bower et al. 1999).

In addition, the majority of AGN are found to maintain the same sign of Stokes V on timescales from months to decades (Komesaroff et al. 1984; Rayner et al. 2000; Homan et al. 2001). Bower et al. (2002) have more recently shown that Sgr A\* has maintained the same sign (and level) of CP over 20 years. In comparison, for X-ray binaries there are two observations of SS 433 separated by 10 days (Fender et al. 2000), and two observations of GRS 1915+105 separated by 65 days presented here; in both cases the sign remains the same. Of course the X-ray binary sample is extremely small, but should expand rapidly in the near future, with several events per year bright enough to mean CP at the $`<0.1`$% level (Fender & Kuulkers 2001). It is interesting to note that if accretion timescales scale linearly with mass from X-ray binaries to AGN (e.g. Sams, Eckart & Sunyaev 1996) then timescales of tens of days for SS 433 and GRS 1915+105 would correspond to timescales of thousands of years for Sgr A\* and millions of years for some AGN – ie. we may have already probed longer in ‘accretion time’ than in all the studies of AGN to date !

### 5.3 Origins of the CP component

The CP spectrum detected from GRS 1915+105 is rather similar to that observed from SS 433 (Fender et al. 2000), being observed over a broad range (1–9 GHz) and with a decreasing Stokes V (although not necessarily V/I) spectrum. The broadband nature of the CP spectrum suggests that coherent emission mechanisms are unlikely. Furthermore, we do not consider the birefringent scintillation mechanism of Macquart & Melrose (2000) very likely either, since the CP component seems to be associated with a physical event in the source, yet because of the high velocities of the ejecta it is likely to be a large distance from the source during the periods in which we measured CP.

This leads us (once again) to consider one of two mechanisms most viable, an intrinsic CP component to the synchrotron emission or LP$``$CP conversion (‘repolarisation’). Do we have any evidence in favour of either of these ? The intrinsic synchrotron mechanism should, naively, produce a well-defined $`\nu ^{0.5}`$ V/I spectrum in a homogenous, optically thin, source. Our observations in 2001 March match these criteria quite closely (supported by direct imaging of a single ejection event with MERLIN), but unfortunately we only have a two-point CP spectrum at this epoch. In addition, the relatively low signal-to-noise ratio of the CP detections only allows us to constrain the (-V)/I spectral index to be $`\alpha _{\mathrm{V}/\mathrm{I}}=0.3\pm 0.3`$. In 2001 January the situation is rather more complex, the mean flux and polarisation spectra certainly containing the contributions of multiple components with different optical depths. The data may suggest that the CP arises preferentially in ‘core’ components with the highest densities and optical depths, similar to the situation in AGN. This interpretation may favour instead the LP$``$CP ‘repolarisation’ mechanism, which will operate most efficiently at higher optical depths, but currently the data are not sufficiently constraining.

However, both mechanisms require a significant population of low-energy electrons. In principle, a strong probe of this requirement could be obtained by measuring the low-frequency extent of radio emission during outbursts of GRS 1915+105 and other systems. Prompt observations at MHz frequencies could probe the electron distributions at Lorentz factors of 30 and lower (based on calculations in Fender et al. 1999) although, depending on the energy and magnetic field density in the ejecta, this emission may be self-absorbed. The consequences for the energetics of ejection events would be significant, especially in the case of a neutral baryonic plasma with one proton associated with each electron.

## 6 Conclusions

Following two high-frequency radio flares detected in our 15 GHz monitoring program, we have triggered sensitive observations with ATCA in order to measure the CP component from the jet source GRS 1915+105. On both epochs, 65 days apart, we have measured a varying CP component, with the same sign. At the first epoch we obtained a four-frequency spectrum, but lack of spatial information and clear variability, in particular at higher frequencies (presumably indicating generation of new components) precluded a confident determination of the CP spectrum.

At the second epoch, we have less CP coverage (only two frequencies instead of four) but the ATCA observations are complemented by high-spatial-resolution MERLIN imaging. From these MERLIN images we can be confident that the ATCA flux was dominated by the approaching component of a discrete ejection event, which was moving at a relativistic velocity. The fractional linear polarisation of this ejection is $`3`$% at both frequencies, and the fractional circular polarisation is $`0.3`$% at both frequencies. Furthermore, the Stokes I spectrum clearly indicates that the source was optically thin and probably decaying in flux due to adiabatic expansion losses (ie. there is no evidence of the spectral steepening which would occur as a result of radiative losses). These are therefore excellent data against which to test detailed models of synchrotron emission and plasma composition.

The data are consistent with production of the circularly polarised component in the earliest phases of new relativistic ejection events, as seen in AGN. The observations are not consistent with coherent emission mechanisms or the birefringent scintillation mechanism of Macquart & Melrose (2000), but are more likely to arise either directly from the synchrotron mechanism or by conversion of linear to circular polarisation in the emitting plasma. Both of these mechanisms imply a low-energy tail to the electron distribution which would have a significant impact on our estimates of the energy associated with such relativistic ejections. Our data may favour the LP$``$CP conversion mechanism, but are not of sufficiently high quality to be conclusive. Note that Macquart (2002) reports the detection of circularly polarised radio emission from another X-ray binary jet source, GRO J1655-40, so this may well turn out to be a common feature and important diagnostic of the jets from X-ray binaries.

Finally, smoothly rotating 4800 and 8640 MHz electric vectors and correlated LP flux densities in Jan 2001 indicate a changing projection of the magnetic field, possibly indicating genuine rotation of the jet/field structure or the progressive formation of a shock in the outflow.

## Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the referee, Heino Falcke, for useful comments. The Australia Telescope is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. MERLIN is operated as a National Facility by the Jodrell Bank Observatory of the University of Manchester, on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). RXTE ASM results were provided by the ASM/RXTE teams at MIT and at the RXTE SOF and GOF at NASA’s GSFC. We thank the staff at MRAO for maintenance and operation of the Ryle Telescope, which is supported by the PPARC.


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# Superconducting gap in the presence of bilayer splitting in underdoped (Pb,Bi)2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ.

New address: \]Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

## Abstract

The clearly resolved bilayer splitting in ARPES spectra of the underdoped Pb-Bi2212 compound rises the question of how the bonding and antibonding sheets of the Fermi surface are gapped in the superconducting state. Here we compare the superconducting gaps for both split components and show that within the experimental uncertainties they are identical. By tuning the relative intensity of the bonding and antibonding bands using different excitation conditions we determine the precise k-dependence of the leading edge gap. Significant deviations from the simple cos($`k_x`$)-cos($`k_y`$) gap function for the studied doping level are detected.

One of the crucial steps in the evolution of our understanding of superconductors has been the discovery of the energy gap between the ground state and the quasiparticle excitations of the system. Photoemission is one of those experimental techiques which provided direct evidence for the existence of such a gap in the high-temperature superconducting cuprates Imer ; Manzke ; Olson . Subsequent ARPES investigations Dessau ; Wells ; Shen  clearly demonstrated the anisotropic character of the gap which now is considered as a hallmark of the high temperature superconductors. Detailed studies of the symmetry properties of the gap suggested a purely d-wave character Tsuei  in case of the optimally Ding  and overdoped Mesot  samples, as well as noticeable deviations from the simplest d-wave scenario upon underdoping Mesot .

More recently, ARPES has made another step forward - technical improvements of the method allowed to resolve additional features in the momentum and energy distributions of the photoelectrons which were not resolved before. Among the new achievments is the recent observation of the bilayer splitting (BS) in over- and underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ and (Pb,Bi)2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ bilayer compounds Feng1 ; Chuang1 ; Kord1 . The presence of the BS implies that some of the conclusions based on the earlier ARPES data should be revised. As a result of such a revisit it was already established that, for example, the famous broadening of the ARPES features in momentum Kord1  and energy Feng2  could be at least partially accounted for by the bilayer splitting. Very recent investigations, in which differentiation between bonding and antibonding components is essential, imply that the more active part of the Brillouin zone in a sense of a coupling to other degrees of freedom is the antinodal region of the Fermi surface rather than the ($`\pi `$,0)-point itself Kord2 ; Gromko . At the same time detection of the BS not only provides answers but also results in further new questions. One of such natural and straightforward questions in the light of these findings is ’how does the superconducting gap behave on both Fermi surface sheets?’ Could it be that the superconductivity in Bi2212 is a sheet-dependent one as, for instance, is the case in 2H-NbSe2 Science  or MgB2 Giubileo ? Does the strong correlation between the so-called range parameter (related to the hopping integral t’) and Tcmax, found recently Andersen  for nearly all hole-doped one-layer and bonding subband of multilayer HTSC cuprates, really mean that the bonding component plays a more important role in superconductivity than the other?

In this Communication we make a start at answering these questions by measuring the superconducting gap in modulation-free Pb-Bi2212 single crystals. Exploiting the relative variation of the photoionisation matrix elements for the bilayer split components, we are able to independently determine the leading edge gaps (LEG) corresponding to the different sheets of the Fermi surface in the superconducting state. Our results suggest that both gaps are comparable as follows from the analysis of the ”map of gaps” around the ($`\pi `$,0)-point and other points in the Brillouin zone. Choosing the excitation conditions in a way which results in the suppression of the photocurrent corresponding to the antibonding component we determine the precise k-dependence of the LEG for its bonding counterpart for which emission then is favorable. The observed anisotropy of the leading edge gap for the studied doping level deviates from the conventional behavior described by the simple cos($`k_x`$)-cos($`k_y`$) function.

The ARPES experiments were carried out using angle-multiplexing electron energy analyzers (SCIENTA SES-200 and SES-100). Spectra were recorded either using $`h\nu =`$21.218 eV photons from a He source, as described elsewhere Kord1 ; BorisPRB , or using radiation from the U125/1-PGM beamline Follath  at the BESSY synchrotron radiation facility. The total energy resolution ranged from 10 meV (FWHM) at $`h\nu =`$ 21 eV to 20 meV at $`h\nu =`$ 50 eV using the linearly polarized light as determined for each excitation energy from the Fermi edge of polycrystalline gold. The angular resolution was kept below 0.2 both along and perpendicular to the analyzer entrance slit. Data shown in Fig.4 were taken with 0.2 x 0.3 angular resolution. All data were collected on two similar underdoped, modulation-free single crystals of Pb-Bi2212 ($`T_c`$=77K). To achieve underdoping the as-grown samples were annealed in Ar atmosphere at 450C during 24 hours with subsequent fast cooling.

We start by presenting in Fig. 1 what motivated us to initiate the present study. The explicitely seen bilayer splitting in the energy distribution map (EDM) recorded along the azimuthal path (see dashed line in the inset to Fig. 2) apparently signals the possibility of existence of the two gaps related to the bonding and antibonding Fermi surfaces. In the lower panels of Fig. 1 we show three energy distribution curves (EDC’s), which correspond to cuts located at the numbered white dotted lines on the EDM. Spectra 1 and 3 are taken at what would be kF vectors if the system was ungapped and, despite being very close to one another in k-space, they have completely different lineshapes from which a superconducting gap value can be derived. EDC number 2 is from just in between the gapped sheets of the FS and therefore is not suitable for the determination of the superconducting gap. The upper right panel of Fig. 1 compares EDC’s 2 and 3 in detail to illustrate how erroneous the determination of the superconducting gap could be if the precise k-location is uncertain. In this case the peaks of the EDC’s are separated by $``$10meV and the leading edges by $``$6meV. Depending on which method is used for the determination of the gap value (see below), the error could amount to as much as 50$`\%`$ of the gap value reported before for this k-space region. It is also easy to predict an error which is the result of the non-resolved BS due to an insufficient angular resolution. Summing up EDC’s from the larger k-area would inevitably result in an overestimation of the gap values since both peak and leading edge positions of ”irrelevant” EDC’s are always at higher binding energies.

The necessity, then, to determine the superconducting gaps of both Fermi surface sheets is obvious. The only question remaining is ’how best to do this?’ The problem here is that the situation depicted in Fig. 1 is rather unique - it is in fact quite unusual to see bonding and antibonding bands equally well resolved. To achieve such a clarity, EDM shown in Fig. 1 was recorded along the specific path in k-space: both Fermi surfaces are cut at approximately right angles at points which are sufficiently away from the node (where BS vanishes) and antinodes where antibonding saddle point is close to the Fermi level and, due to the underdoping, superconducting gaps are large hampering the visual resolution of the BS. In most cases excitation conditions which define the distribution of the photocurrent via matrix elements are such that the bilayer splitting is hardly visible Chuang2 ; Kord1 . This is most likely the reason why the BS remained elusive for so long. Every change of a given excitation energy and geometry of the experiment leads to a particular, as a rule very strong, k-dependence of the matrix elements which is, generally speaking, not the same for the bilayer split bands. It has been shown recently that the key factor defining relative bonding/antibonding intensity is the energy of the exciting photons Chuang2 ; Feng2 ; Kord2 . We exploit these observations here and search for suitable excitation conditions by varying the energy of the tunable synchrotron radiation. The most convenient region of the k-space for such an exercise (given modulation-free crystals) is the vicinity of the ($`\pi `$,0)-point containing the antinodal points of the normal state Fermi surface: here both the gap and the bilayer splitting are expected to be largest.

In Fig. 2 we present azimuthal momentum distribution curves (MDC) for the path indicated in the inset by the double-headed arrow. The MDC signal represents an integration over 1 degree of polar angle and the first 20 meV in binding energy. As expected, variations in the lineshapes are dramatic. If using linearly polarized radiation of h$`\nu `$=21eV or h$`\nu `$=38eV emissions from the bonding and antibonding bands are comparable, for h$`\nu `$=25eV and h$`\nu `$=50eV the dominance of antibonding component is obvious. At first sight, it may appear surprising that the MDC’s taken with h$`\nu `$=21eV and h$`\nu `$=21.2eV are so different. The two important differences here are polarization and energy. Firstly, for the former, linearly polarized light was used (E$``$k), whereas the latter involved majority unpolarized radiation from a helium resonance source. Secondly, both theoretical and experimental studies have shown that there is a sharp local minimum in the matrix elements near $``$20 eV Lindroos ; Kord2 ; Durr ; Lee , and thus in this region, even a small change in energy could be enough to provoke such a large variation of the photoemission signal.

At this stage we have to decide which energy would be the most suitable for the determination of the superconducting gaps related to both Fermi surfaces. This choice, in turn, depends on how we plan to extract the gap from the spectra. There are two widely-known approaches. The first involves fitting an EDC with a model spectral function multiplied by the Fermi function and convoluted with the energy and angular resolution functions DingPRL95 . The advantage of this method is that if the fit is successful, one gains access to the absolute value of a gap. The shortcomings of this method include increased error bars due to the fitting procedure itself and, more importantly, a lack of knowledge as regards the precise form of the spectral function, thus making this approach model dependent. The second possibility is the so-called leading edge gap method, in which the lowest binding energy where the kF-EDC looses half of its maximal intensity is determined. This approach is attractive in its precision (nowadays better than 1 meV) and simplicity and is by far the most widely applied in the HTSC ARPES literature. The drawback is that the LEG is only a good qualitative measure of the gap and does not yield its absolute value. Now both of these gap methods face a severe challenge when two separate, gapped features are in close proximity. In this context, the EDC fitting procedure would benefit from having both features of equal intensity (as, for instance, is the case when using linearly polarized 21eV photons, see Fig. 2), whereas the LEG determination would work better when the intensity from the antibonding component dominates, as then the weak bonding component will not influence the position of the antibonding leading edge unduly (see also Fig. 1). As the aim of this paper is a comparative study of the relative sizes and symmetries of the superconducting gaps of the two Fermi surface sheets, the LEG approach is the method of choice and thus the 25 eV data are the most appropriate to address this question.

Having chosen the excitation energy and the gap determination method we are left with the known problem of which particular EDC has to be used to define the LEG (see Fig. 1). Here we apply a mapping procedure allowing to cover a relatively large k-space region and introduce thereby a new method of presenting information derived from ARPES spectra - ”the map of gaps” - which is the momentum (or angular) distribution of the binding energies of the leading edges.

In Fig. 3 we show such a map which is a grey scale image of leading edge binding energy. Four traces of the gapped Fermi surfaces are easily seen, despite the blurring of the bonding components as can be expected from the relative intensities seen in the 25 eV panel of Fig. 2. As a next step, we have determined the lines formed by joining the ”minimum gap loci” DingPRL97 , which are then shown superimposed upon the map of gaps. The LEG values along these minimum gap loci are plotted in the right panel of Fig. 3. Thus, as a first major result, these curves unambiguously demonstrate that the superconducting energy gaps on both Fermi surface sheets are identical, indicating no severe sheet dependence of superconductivity in this case.

Now, being certain that the gaps are identical, we can take a further step in trying to obtain information about their symmetry. To increase the accuracy of the measurements one can reduce now the influence of one of the bands assuming that both gaps have also the same k-dependence in the other part of the BZ, i.e. monotonically decrease when approaching the nodal direction. Looking again at Fig. 2 one sees that possible candidates are the photon energies of 21.2 and 50 eV at which emission from the antibonding or bonding bands, respectively, is significantly suppressed. As mentioned before, every experiment using linearly polarized radiation implies particular symmetry conditions which uniquely define the photocurrent distribution. In cuprates, due to the symmetry of the states forming the near-$`E_F`$ electronic structure, it is known that favorable conditions for the emission along the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\pi ,\pi )`$ direction are such that the vector of polarization should be perpendicular to this direction whereas for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\pi ,0)`$ direction it has to be parallel Dessau\_Thesis ; Durr . In our experimental geometry, when using the linearly polarized excitation the polarization vector is always parallel to the studied direction in the reciprocal space and therefore cannot be equally effective for all states at the Fermi level. This implies that to be sure not to loose the spectral weight due to symmetry reasons, which is especially important when determining LEG, it is necessary to probe every k-point with two mutually perpendicular orientations of the polarization vector which is technically quite difficult. For this reason we present here data taken with 21.2 eV radiation from the helium lamp which is mostly unpolarized.

Precise determination of k-dependence of the superconducting gap and thus its symmetry requires precise navigation in k-space in order to accurately locate a position on the (former) Fermi surface position . For this purpose we show in Figure 4a a map of intensity integrated within 50 meV energy interval which facilitates identification of the k-vectors. We note here that not only this map but also an additional Fermi surface map taken at room temperature covering much larger area in k-space were needed to assure accurate definition of the angle $`\phi `$ position . Fig. 4b shows the greyscale ”map of gaps”. Visual inspection of the map of gaps already clearly points to the anisotropic character of the gap.

One can now use two approaches to construct the LEG($`\phi `$) function. One method would be to define the path in the k-space using, for example, maxima of MDC’s taken perpendicular to the FS and then plot the value of the LEG along this path as a function of $`\phi `$. We show here the results of an alternative method which is based on the ”minimum gap locus”, but point out that both LEG($`\phi `$) curves qualitatively agree. Adopting this second procedure, we simply replot the same dataset (Fig. 4b) in other coordinates: LEG value versus Fermi surface angle ( Fig. 4c). This gives the red symbols shown in Fig. 4c. The curve joining the low-gap extremity of these data points represents the true k-dependence of the superconducting LEG, and is shown as a dotted line in Fig. 4c. In this way, these extremal LEG values correspond to the points on the ”minimum gap locus” dotted line in Fig. 4b).

As is clear from the comparison shown in Fig. 4c, that the obtained k-dependence of the LEG for these UD77K crystals is quite different from that expected in the case of a simple d-wave gap function cos($`k_x`$)-cos($`k_y`$). The most striking difference is that the gap behaves much flatter around the node resulting in a ”U”-like shape rather than ”V”-shape for LEG($`\phi `$) function. Keeping in mind that LEG is only qualitative measure of a real gap it is crucial to understand to which extend LEG($`\phi `$) reproduces the main features of a real gap function. According to our numerical simulations Kord\_gap  measured binding energy of the nodal kF-EDC leading edge (-7 meV) corresponds to the gapless spectral function thus implying the consistency of the presented data with the d-wave symmetry of the superconducting gap. It is also shown Kord\_gap  that due to the temperature effects the LEG method tracks the real gap with an uncertainty of order of 2 meV (for the experimental conditions in question) when the corresponding absolute values of the real gap are of the same order. This last remark lives finite the probabilty that a nodal cusp can be present in the real gap function (although much more obtuse than is required by the modulus of the simplest d-wave function).

Observed partial suppression of the superconducting gap with respect to the simplest d-wave expectations in underdoped sample is in qualitative agreement with previous ARPES results Mesot  where authors extracted gap values by modeling the spectra taken at a few k-points using a simple BCS spectral function without considering BS. Our high resolution data provide much more presice experimental information for a further quantitative analysis and support the results reported in Ref. Mesot,  in a way that as it is clear now, using the 22 eV photons (as in Ref. Mesot, ) one is sensitive mostly to the bonding component Kord2  and determination of the superconducting gap is not influenced by the presence of the BS. Our simulations Kord\_gap  show that the relation between the LEG and the real gap function is nontrivial and model-dependent and therefore we do not make an attempt here to extract quantitative information following authors of Ref. Mesot,  but share their opinion that the observed behavior could be explained invoking higher harmonics harmonics  of the gap and is probably connected with increased range of the pairing interaction in underdoped compounds due to reduced screening (see also Chernyshev ; Ghosh ). In this context we mention related theoretical work Haas  where momentum-dependent scattering from the impurities may also lead to extended gapless regions in the gap function centered around the nodes of the pure d-wave superconductor.

As another possible scenario we mention finally that a preliminary analysis of ARPES spectra from the same samples taken above Tc suggests that the k-dependence of the pseudogap is similar to that of the superconducting gap presented here. However, at this stage, it is too early to draw conclusions from this as to what extent the normal state and superconducting state gaps may share the same microscopic origin.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated that in underdoped, modulation-free Pb-Bi2212 each of the bilayer split Fermi surface sheets supports a gap in the superconducting state. We compared the gap values in the antinodal region where both are expected to be maximal and found that the gap values on both sheets are identical within the experimental error bars. By varying the experimental excitation conditions we could tune the relative intensity from the bonding/antibonding states and thus, via suppression of the emission from the antibonding band, we were able to precisely define the symmetry of the leading edge superconducting gap for the bonding Fermi surface sheet. Significant deviations from the simplest cos($`k_x`$)-cos($`k_y`$) d-wave behavior were observed, with a strong flattening out of the gap function around the Brillouin zone diagonal.

We acknowledge stimulating discussions with H. Eschrig, S. Shulga, S.-L. Drechsler and M. Eschrig and technical support from R. Hübel. We are grateful to the DFG (Graduiertenkolleg ”Struktur- und Korrelationseffekte in Festkörpern” der TU-Dresden) and to the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique for support.


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# Two-dimensional maps at the edge of chaos: Numerical results for the Henon map

## Acknowledgments

Financial support of Turkish Academy of Sciences from the TUBA/GEBIP Program is acknowledged. I also thank Dr. Aziz-Alaoui for his invaluable help on the calculation of the Lyapunov exponents.

Figure Captions

Figure 1 \- Time evolution of the sensitivity function in a log-log plot for various values of $`b`$ parameter.

Figure 2 \- The behaviour of $`f(\alpha )`$ curve (a) for the logistic map, (b) for the Henon map.

Figure 3 \- Time evolution of the Tsallis entropy for $`b=0.1`$ for three different values of $`q`$. Inset: The nonlinearity coefficient $`R`$ versus $`q`$. The interval characterizing the intermediate region is . The dotted lines is guide to the eye.


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# Untitled Document

Un nouveau regard sur le monde physique

Constantin Piron

Département de Physique Théorique

Université de Genève

CH-1211 Genève 4

  $`^{}`$Colloque de physique fait à Genève le 16 décembre 1996

Abstract. Dans ce colloque je discute la notion d’espace selon Descartes et Leibniz et j’y oppose le point de vue de Samuel Clarke et Isaac Newton comme solution pour comprendre la réalité du monde physique

Au début de ce siècle la philosophie des sciences a été secouée par deux révolutions, les quanta et la relativité. Je ne vais pas vous décrire ici ces révolutions, vous les connaissez1. Mais paradoxalement pour la grande majoritée des physiciens l’image qu’ils se font du monde réel est restée pratiquement la même, celle d’il y a deux siècles, celle des philosophes Descartes et Leibniz. C’est pourquoi je vais tout d’abord vous résumer très brièvement le point de vue de ces deux philosophes, tel que je l’imagine à la lecture de leurs textes. En fait, de Descartes, il ne faut retenir que son désir de rigueur mathématique et sa conception mécaniste de l’Univers, il faut oublier ses innombrables tourbillons et surtout sa définition de l’essence des corps comme pure extension sans vide d’aucune sorte. Leibniz était moins dogmatique pour lui l’espace n’est rien en soi ou tout au plus un tissu de relations entre des objets coexistant. Comme Max Jammer nous le rappelle dans son livre “Concepts of Space”2ce point de vue a déja été défendu au 11$`^{\text{ième}}`$ siècle par le philosophe musulman Al-Ghazale. Selon Aristote disait-il, le lieu présuppose l’existence de corps, tout comme le temps, qui est le nombre du mouvement. Or le dogme coranique affirme la création divine des corps, le temps et l’espace n’ont aucun sens ”avant” et ne sont donc que pures relations entre les objets créés. Bien avant Galilée, Nicholas de Cusa en 1440 avait déja soustenu dans son traité “De docta ignorantia”3. que tous les points de vue que nous prenons pour étudier l’univers sont équivalents car il n’y a pas, disait-il, de centre du monde et donc ni lieu ni temps absolu. Mais après la découverte par Newton des lois du mouvement et des lois de la gravitation la situation s’est compliquée singulièrement. Il est vrai que la fameuse expérience du seau faite par Newton (son observation de la concavité de la surface de l’eau en rotation), n’a jamais été considérée comme une preuve irréfutable d’un mouvement absolu et en particulier d’un mouvement absolu de rotation. Sur ce point, Leibniz est tout aussi affirmatif, dans sa dernière lettre à Huygens4il écrit : “Je tiens donc que toutes les hypotheses sont equivalentes et lorsque j’assigne certains mouuements à certains corps, je n’en ay ny puis avoir d’autre raison que la simplicité de l’Hypothese croyant qu’on peut tenir la plus simple (tout consideré) pour la véritable”. Nos modernes, Einstein en tête, ont adopté complètement cette thèse et ainsi il sont acculés à devoir évoquer avec Mach l’effet lointain des étoiles fixes pour pouvoir expliquer l’expérience du seau de Newton.

D’autre part il faut rappeler que la loi de gravitation de Newton, son action à distance, n’a jamais été acceptee (même par Newton), comme une loi de nature fondamentale mais comme une loi devant pouvoir s’expliquer mécaniquement. Dans l’Encyclopœdia Britannica5, à l’article “Atoms”, Maxwell écrit que la meilleure explication connue est celle proposée par George-Louis Le Sage dans son traité “Physique mécanique” publié à Genève en 18186. Venant de l’extérieur du monde et venant de toutes les directions, un flot de très nombreux et très petits corpuscules pousse tous les corps les uns contre les autres. La loi de force qui en résulte se trouve ‘au miracle’ être celle proposée par Newton. Cette théorie, dite des corpuscules ultramondains, est revenue à la mode vers 1870, a été alors abondamment discutée par les physiciens, même par des tout grands comme Sir William Thomson (le futur Lord Kelvin) et Henri Poincaré. Cette théorie, fut finalement abandonnée à cause de toutes les difficultés qu’elle entraînait7. Mais elle ressemble curieusement à la théorie du graviton, l’hypothétique particule associée à la gravitation, qui est encore aujourd’hui la théorie à la mode.

Dans un autre domaine, mais toujours dans la même ligne philosophique l’éther luminifer a été inventé pour combler le rien du vide et pouvoir ainsi porter les ondes lumineuses de Maxwell. Après les travaux d’Einstein les physiciens ont appris à se passer de l’ existence d’un éther mais ils en ont gardé l’existence d’un champ, une notion due à Faraday. Néanmoins, ils sont encore et toujours accrochés à la même vision philosophique mécaniste, des petites particules en mouvement s’entrechoquant dans un “rien”. C’est ainsi que dans presque tous les livres sur l’électromagnétisme on peut lire, encore aujourd’hui, l’argument suivant : Dans le vide il n’y a que le champ, le champ $`\stackrel{}{D}`$ produit par une charge ne peut donc pas être différent du champ $`\stackrel{}{E}`$ qui agit sur l’autre charge. Cette identification brutale de $`\stackrel{}{E}`$ et $`\stackrel{}{D}`$ et en conséquence de $`\stackrel{}{H}`$ et $`\stackrel{}{B}`$ conduit à bien des paradoxes. Par exemple la densité volumique de quantité de mouvement du champ devient alors indiscernable de la densité de surface de son flux d’énergie.

Si abandonnant les vues de Descartes et Leibniz on adopte celles de Newton et Clarke et si on accepte l’existence en soi du vide et l’existence en soi du temps, toutes ces difficultés disparaissent d’elles-mêmes. Aussi laissez-moi vous présenter cette autre philosophie du monde physique.

Comme Samuel Clarke l’affirme dans sa 4$`^{\text{ième}}`$ réponse à Leibniz8 : “L’espace vide n’est pas un attribut sans sujet mais un espace sans corps”. En termes modernes, l’espace vide n’est pas rien mais un espace sans quark ni lepton. Dans le Scholium du chapitre Definitions au tout début des Principia, Isaac Newton9est tout aussi clair, après avoir mis en garde le lecteur sur les erreurs de l’homme commun et avoir soigneusement distingué entre absolu et relatif, vrai et apparent, mathématique et sens commun, il écrit :

I Le temps absolu vrai et mathématique de lui-même et de par sa nature propre, coule uniformément sans relation à rien d’extérieur,

II L’espace absolu \[vrai et mathématique\] de part sa nature propre, sans relation à rien d’extérieur reste toujours similaire et immuable,

A mon sens ce Scholium doit être replacé dans son contexte Platonicien. Quand Newton écrit “absolu, vrai et mathématique”, il pense ce que nous exprimons aujourd’hui par “physique et réel” et c’est ce qu’il appelle le temps relatif et l’espace relatif qui pris ensemble est l’ être mathématique. Car $`𝐑^4`$ est en effet la collection de tous les quadruples de nombres (les coordonnées) construits à partir du choix d’un repère au repos donné. Comme l’affirme Einstein dans sa relativité générale ce choix est très arbitraire, cela peut-être le choix d’un repère en chute libre choisi pour des raisons de commodité (par exemple la Terre ou le centre du système solaire)10. Mais c’est là aller trop loin. En fait Einstein a tort, car la lente et partiellement aléatoire décroissance de la vitesse de rotation de la terre, mise en évidence seulement après les années 60, a détruit irrévocablement l’ argumentation de Mach en fournissant enfin une preuve objective à la thèse de Galilée contre celle de Ptolémée. Malgré la forme de la dynamique c’est bien la Terre elle-même qui tourne, car les étoiles lointaines ne peuvent raisonnablement pas s’être toutes donner le mot pour ralentir chacune en son temps de manière à créer l’illusion. La célèbre thèse de Minkowski qui explique la relativité par la géomètrie d’un Univers absolu est également en conflit avec l’expérience, car l’étude précise du mouvement global des satellites a montré qu’il n’y avait aucune dispersion dans la coordonnée temps de ces objets, ceux-ci restent confinés dans un espace $`𝐑^3`$ le sous-espace décrit par les trois premières composantes du $`𝐑^4`$ considéré11. Ce fait d’expérience ne peut s’expliquer que si l’univers $`𝐑^4`$ est non pas défini une fois pour toutes, mais chaque fois reconstruit sur la base du repère au repos choisi. Il est en effet toujours possible dans deux $`𝐑^4`$ liés par une transformation de Lorentz de définir dans chacun d’eux les deux familles de sous-espaces qui vont représenter au cours du temps notre espace physique12.

Si donc l’existence du vide, si clairement imposée par l’expérience, est néanmoins niée par beaucoup, c’est qu’il existe un fort préjugé contre ce concept parmi les philosophes et les physiciens contemporains. C’est Newton lui-même qui a créé la confusion en comparant l’espace à Dieu. Il a été si loin dans son idée qu’il a été conduit à écrire13 : “\[L’espace étendu\] est un effet, une émanation de l’être existant primordial, car quand une chose quelconque est là, l’espace est là”. En résumé, d’après Newton, l’espace existe car Dieu existe. C’est pourquoi les philosophes du siècle des lumières en ont immédiatement conclu que l’espace ne peut pas exister car Dieu n’existe pas14. Mais laissons là cette dispute philosophico-théologique stérile et considérons une toute autre objection. Comment quelque chose qui serait juste “rien”, une absence de tout, pourrait avoir des propriétés tangibles? Car si ici, dans le vide, nous plaçons un instrument nous n’avons plus le vide. Ce raisonnement semble montrer l’impossibilité logique d’appréhender le vide en lui-même et c’est là apparemment une très sérieuse objection.

Après la découverte des quanta et de la mécanique quantique, les physiciens ont été forcés de discuter plus en pronfondeur ce que signifie vraiment faire une mesure et tester une théorie. Après bien des discussions et grâce aux nombreuses expériences réalisées, un point de vue réellement nouveau s’est dégagé. Ainsi Diederik Aerts, dans sa thèse, a pu donné un sens précis au concept de propriété physique15. Il définit tout d’abord la notion de projet expérimental. C’est un projet précis, aussi précis que Bohr le désirait, d’une expérience qu’on aurait parfaitement la possibilité de mettre à exécution et dont un des résultats possibles a priori, le résultat dit positif, a été choisi à l’avance. Aerts affirme alors que le système en lui même possède une propriété actuelle, un élément de réalité aurait dit Einstein, si dans l’éventualité de l’exécution de ce projet, le résultat positif est par avance certain d’être obtenu. Ce concept résout la difficulté en permettant de parler objectivement des propriétés du vide. Ainsi par exemple, affirmer qu’ici, dans cette région, le vide est Euclidien, c’est affirmer une propriété actuelle du vide, car si on construisait ici un triangle formé de trois solides règles rectilignes, très certainement, la somme des trois angles ainsi obtenus serait égale à 180$`^{}`$. C’est le vide lui-même en l’absence des trois règles qui possède cette propriété. Ceci me rappelle une conversation que j’ai eu à Copenhague avec Apostel durant une conférence. Il me disait dans l’énoncé de votre définition c’est le mot “si” qui est important et qui joue le rôle clef, vous dites en effet : Si vous exécutez cette expérience vous obtiendrez ce résultat. Les raisonnements des physiciens, ceux qui conduisent à des paradoxes, sont le plus souvent de faux raisonnements. Pour raisonner correctement en physique il ne suffit pas d’appliquer naïvement la logique à deux valeurs mais il faut aussi tenir compte du fait qu’il y a une troisième possibilité, ne pas faire l’expérience, et qu’ainsi le résultat cherché est par nature hypothétique.

Ayant ainsi accepté l’existence objective du vide en soi nous pouvons en définir les propriétés et même les propriétés de nature non purement géométriques. En fait ce que nous avons appelé un champ n’est rien d’autre qu’une propriété du vide en soi. Par exemple, ici, le champ électrique $`\stackrel{}{E}`$ est un élément de réalité, car si on plaçait ici une charge électrique elle serait certainement accélérée de manière précise, en intensité et en direction. Comme nous l’avons déja dit, ce champ est le champ en l’absence de la charge. Si on réalisait cette expérience le champ $`\stackrel{}{E}`$ serait détruit, en fait il ne serait même plus défini. C’est là la manière correcte d’interpréter les équations proposées par Maxwell. Ainsi une charge électrique, par son champ $`\stackrel{}{D}`$, va agir sur le vide qui va réagir et produire le champ $`\stackrel{}{E}`$. La difficulté mentionnée n’existe pas les deux champs ne sont pas du tout de même nature.

Mais tout ceci n’est pas suffisant pour pouvoir comprendre le monde physique, le physicien doit encore changer sa conception sur la nature en soi des particules. Cela est inévitable après la découverte des phénomènes quantiques. L’électron n’est pas ce que la conception de Démocrite pourrait suggérer : un atome de substance électrique, un point idéal chargé. S’il est vrai que l’électron est bien une entité, un objet sans partie néanmoins il interagit non localement en se manifestant comme un tout. De ce point de vue c’est plus une monade au sens de Leibniz qu’un atome au sens de Démocrite. Ainsi l’atome d’hydrogène au repos dans l’état fondamental doit être conçu comme une boule ronde avec le proton et l’électron, tous les deux également au repos et tous deux non localisés tout autour du centre, le proton plus à l’intérieur et l’électron plus à l’extérieur16. Ce modèle est très éloigné de l’image planétaire et nécessairement plate qu’en a donné Bohr dans sa thèse. Dans ses discussions a propos de l’expérience des deux fentes de Young Heisenberg pose à Bohr la bonne question : nous voulons savoir, dit-il, si la particule passe par une des fentes, par l’autre ou par les deux ? C’est bien là la bonne question et après bien des expériences nous en connaissons maintenant la réponse, la particule ne passe, ni par une fente, ni par l’autre mais par les deux à la fois17. Néanmoins le préjugé hérité du siècle dernier est encore si fort que dans un journal sérieux comme “Courrier CERN” on pouvait lire récemment : “Mais les électrons sont des particules et de ce point de vue un électron doit traverser une fente ou l’autre, mais pas les deux18.

Cette nouvelle conception du monde physique où une particule, comme l’électron, se manifeste au cours du temps par des propriétés particulières du vide lui-même19est la bonne manière d’interpréter les phénomènes physiques. De cette façon on peut comprendre, non seulement l’électromagnétisme mais aussi la mécanique quantique. Dans un article récent écrit en l’honneur de Hepp et Hunziker j’ai montré comment en étudiant les équations d’un champ du vide, le champ spinoriel, on pouvait démontrer les “règles” de la mécanique quantique à partir de lois de conservations, des lois du même type que celles qu’on dérive des équations de Maxwell pour l’ électromagnétisme. Ainsi les règles quantiques ne doivent pas nécessairement être imposées de force de l’extérieur, elles dérivent naturellement des propriétés du champ du vide lui-même.

REFERENCES

1. C. Piron; “Quanta and relativity: two failed revolutions” in Einstein meets Magritte sous presse.

2. M. Jammer 1969; “Concepts of Space” Second Edition. p.50. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

3. Nicholas of Cusa 1440; “De docta ignorantia” Trans. G. Heron, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1954.

4. M. Jammer op. cit. p.123.

5. J. C. Maxwell 1890; “Atom” Encyclopœdia Britannica Ninth Edition. Henry G. Allen, New York..

6. G.-L. Le Sage 1818; “Traité de mécanique physique” Prévost, Genève..

7. S. Aronson 1964; “The gravitational theory of Georges-Louis Le Sage” Natural Philosopher 3 51-74.

8. S. Clarke 1866 in; “Oeuvres philosophiques de Leibniz” t.II, §9, p.643. Libraire Philosophique de Ladrange, Paris.

9. Isaac Newton; “Principia Mathematica” dans Opera quæexstant omnia Vol. II, p.6. Friedrich Frommann Verlag (Günther Holzboog),Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, 1964 .

10. A. Einstein and L. Infeld; “The Evolution of Physics” p. 224. University Press, Cambridge, 1947 .

11. C. Piron 1990; “Time, relativity and quantum theory” in A. O. Barut (ed.) New Frontiers in Quantum Electrodynamics and Quantum Optics Plenum, New York.

12. A. O. Barut, D. J. Moore and C. Piron 1994; “Spacetime models from the electromagnetic field” Helv. Phys. Acta 67 p.392-404.

13. Cité par J. E. McGuire; “Space, infinity, and indivisibility: Newton on the creation of matter” in Z. Bechler (ed.) Contemporary Newtonian Research D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1982, p.160.

14. Pour plus de détails voir Voltaire; “Eléments de la philosophie de Newton mise à la portée de tout le monde” Chapter 2 “De l’espace et de la durée comme propriétés de Dieu”. Etienne Ledet, Amsterdam, 1738.

15. D. Aerts 1981; “The One and the Many” Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

16. C. Piron 1998; “Mécanique quantique bases et applications” Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes (Lausanne). §5.7.1.

17. Ibid §1.5.23.

18. G. Fraser réd.1996; “Mécanique quantique. Le réel rejoint le virtuel” Courrier Cern  36:2 p.27.

19. C. Piron 1996; “Quantum theory without quantification” Helv. Phys. Acta 69 694-701.


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# Comment on “On two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence” [Phys. Plasmas, 8, 3282 (2001)]

## Abstract

Biskamp and Schwarz \[Phys. Plasmas, 8, 3282 (2001)\] have reported that the energy spectrum of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is proportional to $`k^{3/2}`$, which is a prediction of Iroshnikov-Kraichnan phenomenology. In this comment we report some earlier results which conclusively show that for two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, Kolmogorov-like phenomenology (spectral index 5/3) is better model than Iroshnikov-Kraichnan phenomenology; these results are based on energy flux analysis.

In a recent paper, Biskamp and Schwarz  (now on referred to as Ref. 1) discuss energy spectrum and structure functions for two-dimensional (2D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Based on numerical calculation of energy spectrum, they claim that the spectrum of 2D MHD turbulence agrees with Iroshnikov-Kraichnan’s (IK) $`k^{3/2}`$ law with some modifications. The purpose of the present comment is to show that the above claim is inconclusive. We bring to notice here an alternative point of view based on energy cascade rates which supports Kolmogorov’s energy spectrum $`K^{5/3}`$ for 2D as well as 3D MHD turbulence; this result is reported in Verma et al.  and Dar .

MHD turbulence phenomenologies are discussed in Verma et al.  (referred to as Ref. 2). For zero velocity-magnetic correlation $`(𝐮𝐛)`$, IK phenomenology predicts

$$E^u(k)=E^b(k)=A(\mathrm{\Pi }V_A)^{1/2}k^{3/2}$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is the total energy flux, $`V_A`$ is the Alfvén velocity, and $`A`$ is a universal constant. Dobrowolny et al.  have generalized IK’s arguments for nonzero $`𝐮𝐛`$ and showed that the energy cascade rates $`\mathrm{\Pi }^\pm `$ of $`𝐳^\pm =𝐮\pm 𝐛`$ are equal irrespective of $`E^+`$ and $`E^{}`$ ratio, i.e.,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }^+=\mathrm{\Pi }^{}\frac{1}{B_0}E^+(k)E^{}(k)k^3$$
(2)
Marsch  proposed Kolmogorov-like phenomenology in which

$$E^\pm (k)=K^\pm \frac{\left(\mathrm{\Pi }^\pm \right)^{4/3}}{\left(\mathrm{\Pi }^{}\right)^{2/3}}k^{5/3}$$
(3)
This is a also a limiting case of a generalized phenomenology of Matthaeus and Zhou . Clearly,

$$\frac{E^{}(k)}{E^+(k)}=\frac{K^{}}{K^+}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Pi }^{}}{\mathrm{\Pi }^+}\right)^2$$
(4)
Biskamp and Welter , Verma et al. , Dar , and Biskamp and Schwarz  have numerically computed the spectral exponents for 2D MHD turbulence. Biskamp and Welter  support IK’s $`k^{3/2}`$ energy spectra, but Verma et al.  and Dar  find numerical uncertainties too significant to be able to distinguish between the exponents 3/2 and 5/3 (see Fig. 1 of Ref. 2). Biskamp and Schwarz  do not provide the error bars for the spectral indices (see Fig. 7 of Ref. 1). Since 5/3 and 3/2 are so close, the claims of Biskamp and Schwarz in favor of 3/2 may not be conclusive. As stated by them, the intermittency exponents do not clarify the matter any further. On the other hand, based on energy flux studies, Verma et al.  and Dar  could show quite conclusively that Kolmogorov-like phenomenology models 2D MHD turbulence better than IK phenomenology.

Verma et al.  and Dar  numerically computed the energy fluxes $`\mathrm{\Pi }^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }^{}`$ for various $`E^{}/E^+`$ ratios. The cascade rates of majority species (larger of $`E^{}`$ and $`E^+`$) was always found to be greater that those of minority species. To illustrate we have plotted $`\mathrm{\Pi }^\pm `$ for $`E^{}/E^+0.2`$ in Fig. 1 (taken from Dar ). The same results are observed in Verma et al. , however, the error bars in Dar  is relatively smaller ($`5\%`$) because of better averaging. Clearly $`\mathrm{\Pi }^+>\mathrm{\Pi }^{}`$. Incongruence of the above result with the IK predictions \[Eq. (2)\] clearly indicated that IK phenomenology is not valid for 2D MHD turbulence. For $`E^{}/E^+`$ in the range of 0.2 to 1, Verma et al.  and Dar  find that

$$\frac{E^{}}{E^+}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Pi }^{}}{\mathrm{\Pi }^+}\right)^2$$
(5)
This result is in agreement with the predictions of Kolmogorov-like phenomenology for MHD turbulence with $`K^+=K^{}`$ \[Eq. (4)\]. Intermittency corrections to energy fluxes are typically small. Hence, we do not expect the large difference in energy fluxes to result from intermittency. This way Verma et al.  and Dar  showed that for 2D MHD turbulence, Kolmogorov-like phenomenology is better model than IK phenomenology. Recent advances on theoretical fronts also tend to indicate that Eq. (4) may even be valid for smaller $`E^{}/E^+`$ with $`K^+K^{}`$.

Current theoretical and numerical papers  argue that Kolmogorov’s energy spectrum in MHD is due to local Alfvén effects. The Alfvén waves are scattered by the “local mean magnetic field”, rather than the global mean magnetic field. Hence, the effective time-scale will be comparable to the nonlocal time scale resulting in Kolmogorov’s energy spectrum for MHD turbulence. The above argument is expected to hold in both 2D and 3D.

To conclude, Verma et al.  and Dar’s  results based on energy fluxes support Kolmogorov’s spectrum for 2D MHD turbulence. We believe Biskamp and Schwarz’s claim favoring $`k^{3/2}`$ energy spectrum is incorrect.

Note added after the receipt of the Reply: The authors thank Prof. Biskamp for pointing out Grappin et al.’s paper . However, for high normalized cross helicity ($`0.9`$), Verma et al.  and Dar  find the exponents $`m^\pm `$ of $`E^\pm k^{m^\pm }`$ in the range of 1.5-1.7, but the ratio $`\mathrm{\Pi }^+/\mathrm{\Pi }^{}1`$ (5 to 10) . Hence numerical results of Verma et al.  and Dar  are not in agreement with Grappin et al.’s  predictions that $`\mathrm{\Pi }^+/\mathrm{\Pi }^{}m^+/m^{}`$.