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# RCNP-Th01010 SU(3) lattice QCD study for octet and decuplet baryon spectraTalk presented by N.N. at Symposium on Hadrons and Nuclei, 20-22 Feb. 2001, Seoul, Korea.

## 1 Introduction

The lattice QCD simulation has become a powerful method to investigate hadron properties directly based on QCD. The hadron spectroscopy in the quenched approximation, i.e. without the dynamical quark effect, has been almost established, and reproduces experimental values of the low-lying hadron masses within 10 % deviation . Detailed investigation with dynamical quarks will give us an insight on the dynamical quark effect on hadron properties . With these situations, we now have a stage to proceed into more extensive and systematic studies of hadron structure in lattice QCD, and compare the lattice results with the model analysis or the phenomenological approaches such as the potential models . The latter point of view would give us clearer physical picture of extracted information from lattice simulations, and may be useful to extract the physical quantities beyond the lattice QCD applicability. Furthermore, comparing hadron properties in the lattice QCD with the potential model analysis using the potential derived from lattice QCD, one can verify the applicability of these approaches in a self-consistent manner. This is our motivation of lattice calculation of the static three quark potential, which is responsible to the baryon properties .

Compared with the ground state hadrons, excited state hadrons are far from established. The purpose of our present study is to perform detailed investigation of excited states as well as the ground state hadrons. Among them, in this paper, we focus on two important subjects:

Origin of Octet-Decuplet baryon mass splitting.

There have been proposed several models to explain the low-lying hadron spectrum. As one of celebrated models, the nonrelativistic quark model explains the $`N`$-$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ mass splitting with one-gluon-exchange (OGE) interaction and results in

$$M_\mathrm{\Delta }M_N\underset{i<j}{}\frac{1}{M_iM_j},$$
(1)
where $`M_i`$ is the constituent quark mass. This implies mass difference between octet and decuplet baryons decreases with increasing quark mass. In lattice QCD simulation, it is possible to change the current quark mass through the hopping parameter $`\kappa `$. Then we compare the obtained mass splitting with the form (1), although the relation between current and constituent quark masses is not so clear.

Structure of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ and other negative parity baryons.

The detailed lattice study of the negative-parity baryons has been started rather recently . Among the negative-parity baryons, we pay much attention to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ with $`J^P=1/2^{}`$, since its structure in terms of the constituent quark picture is not well understood. There are interesting two possibilities proposed for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$, an $`SU(3)_f`$ singlet state $`(qqq)`$ and a $`N\overline{K}`$ bound state as ($`qqq`$-$`q\overline{q}`$). In this paper, we investigate the flavor-singlet baryon spectrum with spin $`1/2`$ and negative parity in lattice QCD, and compare it with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$. The second possibility as the $`N\overline{K}`$ bound state is now in progress at the quenched level, where quark-antiquark pair creation (strictly speaking, dynamical quark loop effect) is absent and then the quark-level constitution in hadrons is definitely clear in the simulation.

In lattice QCD simulations, not only the quark mass, we can also change the number of dynamical quark flavor. This enables us to extract the quark loop effect on the hadron properties. However, the flavor-number dependence does not seem significant for the low-lying hadron spectrum. Then, we start with calculations at the quenched level (with no dynamical flavor). Before proceeding to the numerical calculation, however, we should describe a technical problem and equipment to circumvent it.

The difficulty of extracting the excited state masses lies in the rapid growth of the statistical fluctuations in the correlation functions. In the practical simulation for the correlation function, it is hard to identify the reliable range of its Euclidean temporal distance where the relevant information is kept without suffering from the large statistical noise. To overcome this problem, we adopt the anisotropic lattice, on which the temporal lattice spacing $`a_\tau `$ is finer than the spatial one, $`a_\sigma `$ . Detailed information in the temporal direction makes these analyses as the mass measurements extensively easy. This approach is especially efficient for the heavy particle correlators, such as excited states and glueballs, for which the noises grow rapidly against the signals. On the other hand, introduction of anisotropy requires us additional effort in the numerical simulations. Due to the quantum effect, the renormalized anisotropy $`\xi a_\sigma /a_\tau `$ differs from the bare one in general, and at the first stage of the simulation one need to tune the bare anisotropy so that the quark field retains the same renormalized anisotropy as the gluon field.

This paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we briefly summarize the anisotropic lattice, especially the quark action. Then, we describe the numerical simulation and discuss on the obtained result. The last section gives our summary and outlook.

## 2 Anisotropic lattice

The anisotropic lattice has become an extensively useful tool in the lattice QCD simulations. In addition to aforementioned advantage, fine temporal resolution is particularly significant to extract the information of hadron correlators at finite temperature. Another advantage is that it can treat the relatively heavy quark without introducing the effective theoretical approaches. This feature is particularly suited for the study of charmonium and charmed hadrons. Although this is not a subject of this paper, this is one of reasons we adopt the anisotropic lattice. In this work, we treat the hadron correlators, and hence we focus here on the quark action on the anisotropic lattice.

As the quark action on the anisotropic lattice, we adopt the $`O(a)`$ improved Wilson action . The construction of the action is along the program of Fermilab formulation . Their treatment incorporates the full quark-mass dependence in the construction of lattice quark action, so that the quark mass region with $`m_qa^1`$ is also available without large $`O(ma)`$ uncertainty. The Fermilab approach is naturally generalized to the anisotropic lattice. There is some arbitrariness in choosing the parameterization of action, and we use the form proposed in . In , the advantages of this form are discussed in detail. The quark action is written in the following form:

$$S_F=\underset{x,y}{}\overline{\psi }(x)K(x,y)\psi (y),$$
(2)
$`K(x,y)=\delta _{x,y}`$ $``$ $`\kappa _\tau \left\{(1\gamma _4)U_4(x)\delta _{x+\widehat{4},y}(1+\gamma _4)U_4^{}(x\widehat{4})\delta _{x\widehat{4},y}\right\}`$
$``$ $`\kappa _\sigma {\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\left\{(r\gamma _i)U_i(x)\delta _{x+\widehat{i},y}(r+\gamma _i)U_i^{}(x\widehat{i})\delta _{x\widehat{i},y}\right\}`$
$``$ $`\kappa _\sigma c_E{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\sigma _{i4}F_{i4}\delta _{x,y}r\kappa _\sigma c_B{\displaystyle \underset{ij}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\sigma _{ij}F_{ij}\delta _{x,y}.`$
The gluon field is represented with the link variable $`U_\mu \mathrm{exp}(iga_\mu A_\mu )`$, and $`\psi `$ denotes the anticommuting quark field. The spatial and the temporal hopping parameters, $`\kappa _\sigma `$ and $`\kappa _\tau `$, respectively, are related to the bare quark mass $`m_0`$ and the bare anisotropy parameter $`\gamma _F`$ as

$$\kappa _\sigma =1/2(m_0+\gamma _F+3r),\kappa _\tau =\gamma _F\kappa _\sigma ,$$
(4)
where $`m_0`$ is measured in the spatial lattice unit. The value of the Wilson parameter $`r`$ is set as $`r=1/\xi `$. The coefficients $`c_E`$ and $`c_B`$ in the clover terms are introduced to eliminate the $`O(a)`$ error induced by the Wilson term, and coincide with unity at the tree level.

We apply the mean-field improvement which reduces large contributions from the tadpole diagrams to the renormalization. This is achieved by replacing the link variable as $`UU/u_0`$, with the mean-field value of the link variable, $`u_0`$. On the anisotropic lattice, two mean-field values $`u_\sigma `$ and $`u_\tau `$ are defined for the spatial and the temporal link variables, respectively. We employ the definition of the mean-field value through the average of $`U`$ in the Landau gauge. With $`u_\sigma `$ and $`u_\tau `$, the mean-field improved values of the clover coefficients at the tree level are expressed as $`c_E=1/u_\tau ^2u_\sigma `$ and $`c_B=1/u_\sigma ^3`$. The anisotropy parameter is related to the improved anisotropy $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_F`$ as $`\gamma _F=\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_Fu_\sigma /u_\tau `$. It is convenient to define $`\kappa `$, as

$$\frac{1}{\kappa }=\frac{1}{\kappa _\sigma u_\sigma }2(\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_F+3r4)(=2(m_0+4)).$$
(5)
For the light quark systems, the extrapolation to the chiral limit is performed in $`1/\kappa `$.

In practical simulations, the anisotropy parameter $`\gamma _F`$ should be tuned so that the fermionic anisotropy $`\xi _F`$ defined with fermionic observable coincides with the gauge field anisotropy. This is called as “calibration”. Several procedures have been used for the calibration. In this paper, we set the value of $`\gamma _F`$ using the dispersion relation of the pseudoscalar and the vector mesons. We assume that the meson field is described with the lattice Klein-Gordon equation,

$$S=\frac{1}{2\xi _F}\underset{x}{}\varphi ^{}(x)\left[\xi _F^2D_4^2\stackrel{}{D}^2+m_0^2\right]\varphi (x),$$
(6)
with $`D_\mu `$ the lattice covariant derivative. The free meson field satisfies the dispersion relation,

$$\mathrm{cosh}E(\stackrel{}{p})\mathrm{cosh}E(0)=\stackrel{}{p}^2/2\xi _F^2.$$
(7)
This relation is used to define the fermionic anisotropy $`\xi _F`$ .

## 3 Numerical Results

### Lattice Setup

The SU(3) lattice QCD simulations are performed on an anisotropic lattice of the size $`12^3\times 96`$ with anisotropy $`\xi =4`$, at the quenched level. As the gauge field action, we adopt the anisotropic Wilson action with the parameters $`(\beta ,\gamma _G)=(5.75,3.072)`$, determined by Klassen so as to give the renormalized anisotropy $`\xi =4`$ within 1 % uncertainty . At these parameters, the lattice cutoff defined by setting the string tension $`\sqrt{\sigma }`$ to be 427 MeV is found to be $`a_\sigma ^1(\sqrt{\sigma })1.0`$ GeV. The gauge configuration is fixed to the Coulomb gauge, which is convenient to smear the quark propagators by extending the quark source spatially on a time slice.

The mean-field values are determined on the lattice of half size in the temporal direction, $`12^3\times 48`$, at the same $`(\beta ,\gamma _G)`$. We fix these gauge configurations to the Landau gauge and determine the mean-field values $`u_\sigma `$ and $`u_\tau `$ self-consistently as described in . They result in $`u_\sigma =0.7620(2)`$ and $`u_\sigma =0.9871`$ (error is less than the last digit).

### Calibration

The quark field calibration is performed along the course described in the last section. The pseudoscalar and the vector meson correlators are calculated with momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}=0`$, $`2\pi /16`$ and $`22\pi /16`$. We use the meson operators listed in Table 2 and a standard procedure to extract the meson energy.

Figure 1 shows the result of the calibration. The left three values of $`\kappa `$ correspond to the quark masses around the strange quark mass. We use these three values of $`\kappa `$ for the following analysis of hadron spectroscopy. As is clearly observed in Fig. 1, in the light quark region ($`m_qm_s`$), one can set the bare anisotropy $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_F=4`$. In Table 1, we list the values of $`\kappa `$, the pseudoscalar and the vector meson masses for the degenerate quark case. The chiral extrapolation is carried out linearly in $`1/\kappa `$, and results in the critical hopping parameter as $`\kappa _c=0.12637(2)`$.

### Baryon spectrum

As listed in Table 2, we use the standard baryon operators which have the same quantum numbers as the corresponding baryons and survive in the nonrelativistic limit. At large $`t`$ (and large $`N_tt`$), the baryon correlators are represented as

$`G_B(t){\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{}{x}}{}}B(\stackrel{}{x},t)\overline{B}(\stackrel{}{x},0)`$ $`=`$ $`(1+\gamma _4)\left[c_{B^+}e^{tm_{B^+}}+bc_B^{}e^{(N_tt)m_B^{}}\right]`$ (8)
$`+(1\gamma _4)\left[bc_{B^+}e^{(N_tt)m_{B^+}}+c_B^{}e^{tm_B^{}}\right],`$
where $`b=+1`$ and $`1`$ for the periodic and antiperiodic temporal boundary conditions for the quark fields. Thus, combining the parity-projected correlators under two boundary conditions, one can single out the positive and negative parity baryon states with corresponding masses $`m_{B^+}`$ and $`m_B^{}`$, respectively.

In our calculation, $`u,d`$ current quark masses are taken to be the same value as $`m_u=m_d`$ or $`\kappa _u=\kappa _d`$, and the strange current quark mass $`m_s`$ or $`\kappa _s`$ is taken to be an independent value. Then, the baryon masses are expressed as the function of $`m_u`$ and $`m_s`$ like $`M_B(m_u,m_s)`$, and therefore the baryon masses $`M_B(m_u,m_s)`$ are to be depicted on the $`(m_u,m_s)`$ plane. However, the lattice QCD result for the baryon masses $`M_B`$ seem to be well described as a function of the averaged current quark mass over the three quarks, $`m_q=(m_1+m_2+m_3)/3`$, like $`M_B(m_q)`$ in each channel. Therefore, we will use the simplified figures as the function of $`m_q`$, although the actual lattice QCD calculations are performed with different quark masses on $`m_u(=m_d)`$ and $`m_s`$.

Let us start with the ground-state baryons shown in Figure 2, where the horizontal axis denotes the averaged current quark mass over the three quarks in the physical unit. We use the naive relation between the current quark mass and the hopping parameter as

$$m_q=\frac{1}{3}(m_1+m_2+m_3),m_i=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{\kappa _i}\frac{1}{\kappa _c}\right).$$
(9)
The baryon masses are linearly extrapolated to the chiral limit, $`m_q=0`$. In the analysis of the baryon spectrum, we use the lattice scale determined by setting the averaged mass over the octet and the decuplet baryons at the chiral limit to the averaged mass of $`N`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. It results in $`a_\sigma ^1=0.9`$ GeV. The strange quark mass is determined so that the octet and the decuplet baryons in Fig. 2 globally reproduce the experimentally measured masses. Thus, for the strange quark, we adopt $`\kappa _s=0.1229(1)`$, which roughly corresponds to $`m_s0.16`$ GeV as the current quark mass. This value seems consistent with the standard strange current-quark mass. Hereafter, we will fix $`\kappa _s=0.1229(1)`$ for the strange quark. Figure 2 shows that the lattice result reproduces that the measured baryon spectrum within 5 % deviation.

### Octet-Decuplet mass splitting

Let us consider the difference of octet and decuplet baryon masses. This mass splitting monotonously decreases as the current quark mass increases. This tendency is consistent with the one-gluon-exchange explanation in the nonrelativistic quark model, assuming the constituent quark mass $`M_q`$ increases with the current quark mass $`m_q`$, as $`M_qM_0+m_q`$.

### Negative parity baryons

Figure 3 shows the mass spectra of the flavor octet and singlet baryons with positive and negative parities as the function of the averaged current quark mass $`m_q`$. In each channel, the baryon mass spectrum shows clear linear behavior on the averaged current quark mass $`m_q`$ in the whole measured mass region. Then, we extrapolate the masses to the physical situation $`m_u=m_d0,m_s=0.16\mathrm{GeV}`$, i.e., $`m_qm_s/3`$. One striking feature is that the singlet and octet negative parity baryons are almost degenerate. On the other hand, the lowest mass of the flavor-singlet positive-parity baryon is much larger than those in other channels. Extrapolating to the physical situation $`m_u=m_d0,m_s=0.16\mathrm{GeV}`$ ($`m_qm_s/3`$), we obtain 1.6 GeV for the lowest mass of the flavor-singlet negative-parity baryon, which is described as a three quark state in the quenched lattice. Then, the experimentally observed negative-parity baryon $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ is much lighter than the lowest mass of the flavor-singlet negative-parity baryon obtained in lattice QCD at the quenched level. Since the $`q`$-$`\overline{q}`$ pair creation is absent in the quenched QCD, this result implies that the simple three valence quark picture would not valid for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$. One possible explanation is, as frequently suggested, that the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ is a mixture of a three quark state and an $`N\overline{K}`$ bound state. To clarify this subject, we are going to measure the $`N\overline{K}`$ state on the quenched lattice, where genuine bound state properties is apparent owing to the absence of the $`q`$-$`\overline{q}`$ pair creation.

## 4 Summary and outlook

In this paper, we report present status of our investigation of hadron properties using lattice QCD simulations. At this stage, systematic investigation of baryon spectrum is in progress at the quenched level. The result on the anisotropic lattice with $`a_\sigma ^10.9`$ GeV and anisotropy $`\xi =4`$ is as follows: (a) The octet-decuplet baryon mass splitting decreases with increasing current quark mass. This tendency is consistent with the one-gluon-exchange explanation in the constituent quark model. (b) The negative-parity baryons in octet and singlet channels are measured in good statistical precision. However, the experimentally observed negative-parity baryon $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ seems much lighter than the lattice QCD result for the lowest mass of the SU(3) flavor-singlet negative-parity baryon. This may suggest the possibility of that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ is a mixture of the $`N\overline{K}`$ bound state and the three quark state. This would be clarified by successive lattice calculations for $`qqq`$-$`q\overline{q}`$ system in the quenched approximation.

Our present results have been carried out on rather course lattice. Hence, we need to perform the simulations on finer lattices to remove lattice artifacts. Then, the anisotropic lattice will be a powerful device to study detailed properties of hadrons including excited states, exotics and glueballs. The simulation with dynamical quarks are also to be performed.

Another course of our program is a comparison with the potential model analysis using the static quark potential extracted from lattice QCD. This will give us important information on the quark wave function and novel insight on the quark structure of hadrons.

We are grateful to Profs. Il-Tong Cheon and Su Houng Lee for their warm hospitality at Yonsei University. The lattice QCD simulations have been performed on NEC SX4 at Osaka University, and Hitachi SR8000 at KEK.


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# Algorithmic proofs of two theorems of Stafford

## 1 Introduction

Let $`k`$ is a field of characteristic $`0`$, and $`A_n=A_n(k)=kx_1,\mathrm{},x_n,_1,\mathrm{},_n`$ be the $`n`$-th Weyl algebra, which is an associative $`k`$-algebra generated by $`x`$’s and $``$’s with the relations $`_ix_i=x_i_i+1`$ for all $`i`$. This algebra may be thought of as the algebra of linear differential operators with polynomial coefficients.

There are several things that are nice about the Weyl algebra. First of all the dimension theory can be developed for it; this is done, for example, in Chapter 1 of Björk . It is shown that the Gelfand-Kirillov dimension of $`A_n`$ equals $`2n`$, moreover, if $`M`$ is a nontrivial $`A_n`$-module, then $`ndimM2n`$. The modules of dimension $`n`$ (minimal possible dimension) constitute the Bernstein class.

One of the distinctive properties of the modules in Bernstein class, which are also called *holonomic* modules, is their finite length. Below we shall show that this property implies that every holonomic module can be generated by one element.

Another striking fact, which is very simple to state, but quite hard to prove, is that for every left ideal of $`A_n`$ there exist 2 elements that generate it.

Both statements were proved by Stafford in , also these results appear in . Unfortunately, the arguments given by Stafford can’t be converted to algorithms straightforwardly. There are several obstacles to this, many of which one can overcome with the theory of Gröbner bases for Weyl algebras. However, the main difficulty is that both proofs contain an operation of taking an irreducible submodule of an $`A_n`$-module. To our best knowledge, there doesn’t exist an algorithm for this; moreover, even if such algorithm is invented one should expect it to be quite involved.

We were able to modify the original proofs in such a way that computations are possible and implemented the corresponding algorithms in the computer algebra system *Macaulay 2* .

We have to mention that in their recent paper  Hillebrand and Schmale construct another effective modification of Stafford’s proof which leads to an algorithm. We shall discuss the differences of their and our approaches in the last section.

## 2 Notation Table

For the convenience of the reader we provide the notation lookup table. All of the symbols listed below show up sooner or later in the paper along with more detailed definitions.

$`k`$ is $`\text{a (commutative) field of characteristic }0,`$
$`A_r`$ $`=`$ $`A_r(k)=kx_1,\mathrm{},x_r,_1,\mathrm{},_r,`$
$`A`$ is $`\text{a simple ring of infinite length as a left module over itself},`$
$`D`$ is $`\text{a skew field of characteristic }0,`$
$`K`$ is $`\text{a commutative subfield of }D,`$
$`S`$ $`=`$ $`D(x),`$
$`S^{(m)}`$ $`=`$ $`S\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+S\epsilon _m\text{, a free }S\text{-module of rank }m,`$
$`\delta _1,\mathrm{},\delta _m`$ is $`\text{a finite set of }K\text{-linearly independent elements in }Kx,,`$
$`\sigma (\alpha ,f)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}}\alpha \delta _if\epsilon _iS^{(m)},(\alpha S,fKx,),`$
$`P(\alpha ,f)`$ $`=`$ $`S\sigma (\alpha ,f),\text{ ideal of }S^{(m)},`$
$`𝒟_r`$ is $`\text{the quotient ring of }A_r,`$
$`_r`$ $`=`$ $`𝒟_r(x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n)_{r+1},\mathrm{},_n,`$
$`𝒮_r`$ $`=`$ $`𝒟_r(x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n)_{r+1}.`$
With exception of some minor changes we tried to stick to the notation in .

## 3 Preliminaries

Several useful properties of Weyl algebras are discussed in this section. Also, we introduce a few rings that will come handy later on.

### 3.1 $`A_n`$ is simple

To see that $`A_n`$ is simple, i.e. has no nontrivial two-sided ideals, we notice that, for $`f=_ix^{\alpha _i}^{\beta _i}A_n\{0\}`$ in the standard form, $`df/dx_r=_rff_r`$ for $`r=1,\mathrm{},n`$, where $`f/x_r`$ is the formal derivative of the above expression of $`f`$ with respect to $`x_r`$. Similarly, $`df/d_r=fx_rx_rf`$ for the formal derivative with respect to $`_r`$. Note that these formal derivatives as well as all the multiple derivatives of $`f`$ belong to the two-sided ideal $`A_nfA_n`$.

Now assume $`x^\alpha ^\beta `$ is the leading term of $`f`$ with respect to some total degree monomial ordering. We are going to perform $`|\alpha |+|\beta |`$ differentiations: for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$ differentiate $`f`$ $`\alpha _i`$ times with respect to $`x_i`$ and $`\beta _i`$ times with respect to $`_i`$. Under such operation the leading term becomes equal to $`_{i=1}^n\alpha _i!\beta _i!`$ and all the other terms vanish. Since the derivatives of $`f`$ don’t leave $`A_nfA_n`$, we showed that there is a simple algorithm to find such $`s_i,r_iA_n`$ that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}s_ifr_i=1.$$

Hence, $`A_nfA_n=A_n`$, so $`A_n`$ is simple.

### 3.2 $`A_n`$ is an Ore domain

###### Proposition 1

$`A_n`$ is an Ore domain, i.e. $`A_nfA_ng0`$ and $`fA_ngA_n0`$ for every $`f,gA_n\{0\}`$.

Proof. See the proof of Proposition 8.4 in Björk .

Let us point out that using Gröbner bases methods (see next subsection) we can find a left(right) common multiple of $`f,gA_n\{0\}`$, in other words we can find a nontrivial solution to the equations $`af=bg`$ and $`fa=gb`$ where $`a`$ and $`b`$ are unknowns.

### 3.3 Gröbner bases in $`A_n`$

As we mentioned before, the notion of Gröbner basis of a (left) ideal can be defined for Weyl algebras in the same way as it is defined in the case of polynomials. Moreover, Buchberger algorithm for computing Gröbner bases works, leading to algorithms for computing intersections of ideals, kernels of maps, syzygy modules, etc. A good reference on Gröbner bases for algebras of solvable type is .

### 3.4 More rings

There is a quotient ring $`D`$ associated to every Ore domain $`A`$. Ring $`D`$ is a skew field that can be constructed both as the ring of left fractions $`a^1b`$ and as the ring of right fractions $`cd^1`$, where $`a,b,c,dA`$. There is a detailed treatment of this issue in .

Let $`D`$ be a skew field, we will be interested in the ring $`S=D(x)`$, which is a ring of differential operators with coefficients in $`D(x)`$. It is easy to see that $`S`$ is simple.

Since the Weyl algebra $`A_r`$ is an Ore domain, we can form its quotient ring, which we denote by $`𝒟_r`$. The $`S`$ we are going to play with is $`𝒮_r=𝒟_r(x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n)(x_{r+1})_{r+1}`$. Let us state without proof a proposition which shall help us to compute Gröbner bases in $`𝒮_r`$.

###### Proposition 2

Let $`F=\{f_1,\mathrm{},f_k\}A_n`$ is a generating set of left ideal $`I`$ of $`𝒮_r`$. Compute a Gröbner basis $`G=\{g_1,\mathrm{},g_m\}`$ of $`A_nF`$ with respect to any monomial ordering eliminating $`_{r+1}`$. Then $`G`$ is contained in $`𝒮_rA_n`$ and is a Gröbner basis of $`I`$.

## 4 Holonomic modules are cyclic

In this section we consider a simple ring $`A`$ such that $`A`$ has finite length as a left module over itself. Note that $`A_n`$ is such a ring.

###### Theorem 3

Every left $`A`$-module $`M`$ of finite length is cyclic. In particular every holonomic $`A_n`$ module is cyclic.

Suppose we know how to compute a cyclic generator for every module $`M^{}`$ of length less than $`l`$. For length $`0`$ such generator would be $`0`$.

Consider a module $`M`$ of length $`l`$. Take $`0\alpha M`$. If $`M=A\alpha `$ then we are done. If not then since $`l(M/A\alpha )<l`$ by induction we can find $`\beta `$ such that its image in $`M/A\alpha `$ is a cyclic generator. Now $`M=A\{\alpha ,\beta \}`$ and what we need to prove is

###### Lemma 4

Let $`M`$ be a left $`A`$-module of finite length and $`\alpha ,\beta M`$. Then there exists $`\gamma M`$ such that $`A\gamma =A\alpha +A\beta `$.

Proof. Define two functions $`l_1`$ and $`l_2`$ for pair $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$.

$`l_1(\alpha ,\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`\text{length}(A\beta )`$
$`l_2(\alpha ,\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`\text{length}\left(\left(A\alpha +A\beta \right)/A\alpha \right).`$
Let also introduce an order $`<`$ on the set of pairs $`(\alpha ,\beta )M\times M`$:

$`(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{})<(\alpha ,\beta )`$ $``$ $`(l_1(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{}),l_2(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{}))<_{lex}(l_1(\alpha ,\beta ),l_2(\alpha ,\beta ))`$
$``$ $`l_1(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{})<l_1(\alpha ,\beta )`$
$`\text{OR }\left(l_1(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{})=l_1(\alpha ,\beta )\text{ AND }l_2(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{})<l_2(\alpha ,\beta )\right)`$
Suppose for any pair $`(\alpha ^{},\beta ^{})<(\alpha ,\beta )`$, we can find $`\gamma ^{}M`$ such that $`A\gamma ^{}=A\{\alpha ^{},\beta ^{}\}`$.

Let the ideals $`L(\alpha )`$ and $`L(\beta )`$ in $`A`$ be the annihilators of $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ respectively. Since $`\text{length}(A)=\mathrm{}`$, we know that $`L(\alpha )0`$; pick any element $`0fL(\alpha )`$. Since $`A`$ is simple we can find $`s_i,r_iA`$, $`I=1,\mathrm{},M`$ such that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}s_ifr_i=1.$$
(1)
Consider two cases:

1. There is some $`r=r_i`$ such that $`L(\beta )+L(\alpha )r=A.`$
2. The opposite is true.

Case 1. We can write $`1=E_\alpha r+E_\beta `$ for some $`E_\alpha ,E_\beta A`$ such that $`E_\alpha \alpha =0`$ and $`E_\beta \beta =0`$. Let $`\gamma =\alpha +r\beta `$.

Now we can get $`\beta `$ from $`\gamma `$:

$$\beta =\left(E_\alpha r+E_\beta \right)\beta =E_\alpha r\beta =E_\alpha \alpha +E_\alpha r\beta =E_\alpha \gamma \text{.}$$

Hence $`\beta A\gamma `$ and since $`\alpha =\gamma r\beta `$ the module $`M=A\alpha +A\beta `$ is indeed generated by $`\gamma `$.

Case 2. From (1) it follows that $`L(\beta )+Afr_i=A`$, hence, $`A(fr_i\beta )=A\beta `$, so there is $`r=r_i`$ such that

$$A(fr\beta )A\alpha .$$
(2)
Since we are not in case 1, $`L(\beta )+AfrL(\beta )+L(\alpha )rA`$. Take this modulo $`L(\beta )`$ to get

$$A(fr\beta )\left(L(\beta )+Afr\right)/L(\beta )A/L(\beta )A\beta ,$$
(3)
so $`A(fr\beta )`$ is proper in $`A\beta `$.

The last statement implies $`l_1(\alpha ,fr\beta )<l_1(\alpha ,\beta )`$, hence, $`(\alpha ,fr\beta )<(\alpha ,\beta )`$, so by induction hypothesis we can find $`\gamma ^{}M`$ such that $`A\gamma ^{}=A(fr\beta )+A\alpha `$.

Now (2) guarantees that $`l_2(\gamma ^{},\beta )<l_2(\alpha ,\beta )`$, and by induction we can find $`\gamma `$ for which

$$A\gamma =A\gamma ^{}+A\beta =A(fr\beta )+A\alpha +A\beta =A\alpha +A\beta .$$

###### Remark 5

There is an algorithm that finds a cyclic generator for a holonomic left module over a Weyl algebra, since every step in the proof of the Lemma 4 is computable. The most non-trivial and time consuming operation is producing the annihilators $`L(\alpha +r\beta )`$ and $`L(fr\beta )`$ in the proof of Lemma 4 provided $`L(\alpha )`$ and $`L(\beta )`$. This is done using Gröbner bases technique.

We have programmed the algorithm corresponding to the proof of Theorem 3 using Macaulay 2.

Example. Let us view the ring of polynomials $`k[x]`$ as an $`A_1`$-module under the natural action of differential operators. It has an irreducible module, because starting with a nonzero polynomial $`f`$ we can obtain a nonzero constant by differentiating it $`\mathrm{deg}(f)`$ times. The module $`M=k[x]^3`$ is the direct sum of 3 copies of $`k[x]`$, is holonomic ($`\text{length}(M)=3`$) and is generated by vectors $`(1,0,0),(0,1,0),(0,0,1)`$. Our algorithm produces a cyclic generator $`\gamma =(x^2,x,1)`$ and its $`A_1`$-annihilator $`L(\gamma )=A_1^3`$.

## 5 Ideals are 2-generated

In this section we give an effective proof of

###### Theorem 6

Every left ideal of the Weyl algebra $`A_n`$ can be generated by two elements.

Proof for $`A_1`$. In this case the theorem follows from the fact that module $`A_1/J`$ is holonomic for any nonzero ideal $`J`$ of $`A_1`$.

Indeed, let $`I`$ be a left ideal of $`A_1`$. Pick $`fI`$ and set $`J=A_1f`$. Then $`I/J`$ is a submodule of the holonomic module $`A_1/J`$, hence, is holonomic. By Theorem 3 there is $`\overline{g}I/J`$ such that $`A_1\overline{g}=I/J`$. Find a lifting $`gA_1`$ such that $`\overline{g}=gmodJ`$. Elements $`f`$ and $`g`$ generate $`I`$.

However, the theorem for $`n>1`$ makes a much tougher challenge.

### 5.1 Lemmas for $`S`$

Let us explore some properties of $`S=D(x)`$, the ring of linear differential operators with coefficients in rational expressions in $`x`$ over a skew field $`D`$.

Let $`K`$ be a commutative subfield of $`D`$, let $`\delta _1,\mathrm{},\delta _m`$ be a finite set of $`K`$-linearly independent elements in $`Kx,S`$, and let $`S^{(m)}=S\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+S\epsilon _m`$ be a free $`S`$-module of rank $`m`$.

Also define $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)S^{(m)}`$ to be the following sum $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)=_{i=1}^m\alpha \delta _if\epsilon _i,`$ and $`P(\alpha ,f)=S\sigma (\alpha ,f)`$ the submodule of $`S^{(m)}`$ generated by $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)`$. Note that $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)`$ is $`S`$-linear in $`\alpha `$ and respects addition in $`f`$.

###### Lemma 7

Let $`0\alpha S`$ and let $`M`$ be an $`S`$-submodule of $`S^{(m)}`$ generated by $`\{\sigma (\alpha ,f)|fKx,\}`$. Then $`M=S^{(m)}`$.

Proof. Without loss of generality let us assume that $`\alpha Dx,`$: if not we can always find such $`pD[x]`$ that $`p\alpha Dx,`$.

Fix a monomial ordering that respects the total degree in $`x`$ and $``$. For vector $`v=v_i\epsilon _i(Dx,)^{(m)}`$ denote by $`\text{lm}(v)`$ the largest of the the leading monomials of the components $`v_i`$ of $`v`$ in this ordering.

Now start with vector $`v=v^{(0)}=\sigma (\alpha ,1)`$; its components $`v_i=\alpha \delta _i`$ are $`D`$-linearly independent. Note that computing expressions $`\pi (v)=vv`$ and $`\chi (v)=vxxv`$ has an effect of differentiating each component of $`v`$ formally with respect to $`x`$ and $``$ respectively. These operations lower the total degree of $`v`$ by $`1`$ if the differentiation is done with respect to a variable that is present in $`\text{lm}(v)`$. Also, it is not hard to see that they keep us in module $`M`$; for example, for $`v_0`$ we have $`\pi (v_0)=v_0v_0=\sigma (\alpha ,1)\sigma (\alpha ,)`$.

Run the following algorithm: initialize $`v:=v_0`$, while $`\text{lm}(v)`$ contains an $`x`$ set $`v:=\pi (v)`$, then while $`\text{lm}(v)`$ contains a $``$ we set $`v:=\chi (v)`$. Since each step lowers the total degree of $`v`$ by $`1`$, this procedure terminates producing vector $`wM`$ of total degree $`0`$.

Hence, $`w=w_{i_1}\epsilon _{i_1}+\mathrm{}+w_{i_t}\epsilon _{i_t}`$ where $`0w_{i_j}D`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},t`$. Via multiplying on the left by the inverse of $`w_{i_1}`$ we can get the relation

$$\epsilon _{i_1}=a_2\epsilon _{i_2}+\mathrm{}+a_t\epsilon _{i_t}$$
(4)
with $`a_jD`$ for $`j=2,\mathrm{},t`$.

Now take $`v^{(0)}`$ and reduce it using (4). We get vector $`v^{(1)}`$ whose $`i_1`$-th component is $`0`$ and the remaining components are $`D`$-linearly independent, since the components of $`v^{(0)}`$ are.

Repeat the above algorithm for $`v=v^{(1)}`$ and so on. At the end we get a vector which is a scalar multiple of $`\epsilon _i`$ for some $`i`$, hence $`e_iM`$. Using relations (4) we see that all basis vectors $`\epsilon _j`$, for $`j=1,\mathrm{},m`$, are in $`M`$.

###### Remark 8

From the proof it follows that given a submodule $`M`$ of $`S^{(m)}`$ and $`\alpha S`$ one can find $`fKx,`$ such that $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)M`$ algorithmically.

The next lemma is central in the proof of the result. Note that every step of the proof of the lemma can be carried out algorithmically.

###### Lemma 9

Let $`M`$ be an $`S`$-submodule of $`S^{(m)}=S\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+S\epsilon _m`$ such that $`\text{length}(S^{(m)}/M)<\mathrm{}`$. We can find $`fKx,`$ such that $`S^{(m)}=M+P(\alpha ,f)`$.

Proof. Let $`l=\text{length}(S^{(m)}/M)`$. Assume the assertion is proved for all $`M^{}`$ such that $`\text{length}(S^{(m)}/M^{})<l`$. Remark 8 says that we can find an $`fKx,`$ such that $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)`$ doesn’t belong to $`M`$.

For $`tS`$, $`gKx,`$ let us define two $`S`$-modules

$`N_1`$ $`=`$ $`M+P_1\text{, where }P_1=P(\alpha ,g),`$
$`N_2`$ $`=`$ $`M+P_2\text{, where }P_2=P(t\alpha ,g).`$
Claim. There is a module $`M^{}`$ such that $`MM^{}M+P(\alpha ,f)`$, $`tS`$, and $`gKx,`$ for which

$`t\sigma (\alpha ,f)M,`$
$`M^{}+P(t\alpha ,g)=S^{(m)},`$
$`N_1=N_2.`$
To prove this we employ (second) induction on $`\text{length}(M^{}/M)`$. We start with $`M^{}=M+P(\alpha ,f)`$. We can find $`0tS`$ such that $`t\alpha \delta _if\epsilon _iM`$; it follows from $`S`$ being Ore. By the first induction hypothesis, for $`M^{}`$ and $`t\alpha `$ there exists $`gKx,`$ such that $`M^{}+P(t\alpha ,g)=S^{(m)}`$. Notice that $`N_1N_2`$ and $`M^{}+P_i=S^{(m)}`$ for $`i=1,2`$. Also for $`i=1,2`$ we have

$$S^{(m)}/N_i=(M^{}+P_i)/(M+P_i)=M^{}/(M+M^{}P_i).$$

If $`\text{length}(S^{(m)}/N_1)=\text{length}(S^{(m)}/N_2)`$ then $`N_1=N_2`$ and we are done. We are done as well if $`N_1=S^{(m)}`$. If both conditions above fail, by looking at the right hand side of 5.1 we determine that $`M^{\prime \prime }=M+M^{}P_1`$ both contains $`M`$ and is contained in $`M^{}`$ properly, plus $`\text{length}(M^{\prime \prime }/M)<\text{length}(M^{}/M)`$. Set $`M^{}:=M^{\prime \prime }`$ and repeat the above procedure.

To finish the proof of the lemma we take $`M^{},t,g`$ as in the claim and assert that $`N^{}=M+P(\alpha ,f+g)`$ equals $`S^{(m)}`$. Indeed, $`\sigma (t\alpha ,f+g)=t\sigma (\alpha ,f)+\sigma (t\alpha ,g)=\sigma (t\alpha ,g)`$ modulo $`M`$, so $`N_2N^{}`$. But $`N_1=N_2`$, thus $`\sigma (\alpha ,g)N^{}`$, hence, $`\sigma (\alpha ,f)=\sigma (\alpha ,f+g)\sigma (\alpha ,g)N^{}`$. Now we see that $`M^{}N^{}`$ and $`P_2N^{}`$. Since $`M^{}+P_2=S^{(m)}`$, we proved $`N^{}=S^{(m)}`$.

### 5.2 Lemmas for $`_r`$

At this stage we shall specify the components in the definition of $`S=D(x)`$. We set $`D=𝒟_r(x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n)`$, $`x=x_{r+1}`$ and $`=_{r+1}`$, so that new $`S`$ is equal to $`𝒮_r=𝒟_r(x_{r+1},x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n)_{r+1}`$ which is a subring of $`_r`$. Also the commutative subfield $`K`$ of $`D`$ that showed up before is replaced by the $`k`$, the coefficient field from the definition of $`A_n=A_n(k)`$.

###### Proposition 10

Let $`\delta _1,\mathrm{},\delta _m`$ be a finite set of $`K`$-linearly independent elements in $`Kx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$ and let $`0\rho A_{r+1}[x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n]`$. Let $`S^{(m+1)}=S\epsilon _0+S\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+S\epsilon _m`$ be a free $`S`$-module of rank $`m+1`$ And let $`S^{(m+1)}\rho S^{(m+1)}`$ be its $`S`$-submodule generated by $`\{\rho \epsilon _0,\rho \epsilon _1,\mathrm{},\rho \epsilon _2\}`$. Then there exists some $`fK`$ such that

$$S^{(m+1)}=S^{(m+1)}\rho +S(\epsilon _0+\delta _1f\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mf\epsilon _m).$$

Proof. Follows from Lemma 9

###### Lemma 11

Let $`qA_r[x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ and let $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_t`$ be a finite set in $`A_n`$.

Then there exists some $`0\rho A_r[x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ such that $`\rho a_jA_nq`$ for all $`j`$.

Proof. See the proof of Lemma 8.5 in Björk .

Let us point out that once we know the statement of the lemma is true, we can compute the required $`\rho `$ by finding a Gröbner basis of the module of syzygies of the columns of the matrix

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccccc}a_1& q& 0& \mathrm{}& 0\\ a_2& 0& q& \mathrm{}& 0\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\\ a_t& 0& 0& \mathrm{}& q\end{array}\right)$$

with respect to a monomial order that eliminates $`_{r+1},\mathrm{},_n`$ and such that $`\epsilon _1>\epsilon _2>\mathrm{}>\epsilon _{t+1}`$ where $`\epsilon _1,\epsilon _2,\mathrm{},\epsilon _{t+1}`$ is the basis ($`\epsilon _i`$ corresponds to the $`i`$-th column) of the free module $`A_n^{t+1}`$ containing our submodule of syzygies. Such Gröbner basis is guaranteed (by Lemma 11) to contain some syzygy producing the relation $`\rho \epsilon _1+b_2\epsilon _2+\mathrm{}+b_{t+1}\epsilon _{t+1}=0`$ where $`\rho A_r[x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n]`$, $`b_iA_n`$ for $`i=2,\mathrm{},n`$. It is not hard to see that this is the $`\rho `$ we need.

###### Lemma 12

Let $`0qA_{r+1}[x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ and let $`u,vA_n`$ with $`v0`$. Then there is some $`fA_n`$ such that $`_r=_rq+_r(u+vf)`$.

Proof. Consider the following subring of $`A_n`$ obtained by ”removing” $`x_{r+1}`$ and $`_{r+1}`$:

$$A_{\widehat{r+1}}=kx_1,\mathrm{}x_r,x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n,_1,\mathrm{},_r,_r+2,\mathrm{},_n.$$

Now $`A_n=A_{\widehat{r+1}}_kkx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$, so we can write $`v=\delta _1g_1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mg_m`$ where $`\delta _1,\mathrm{},\delta _m`$ are elements of $`kx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$ linearly independent over $`k`$ and $`g_1,\mathrm{},g_mA_{\widehat{r+1}}`$. The ring $`A_{\widehat{r+1}}`$ is simple, since it is a Weyl algebra, thus we can find such $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_lA_{\widehat{r+1}}`$ that

$$A_{\widehat{r+1}}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}\underset{j=0}{\overset{l}{}}A_{\widehat{r+1}}g_ih_j.$$

Since $`A_{\widehat{r+1}}`$ is a subring of $`_r`$ it means that $`_r=_rg_ih_j`$.

Sublemma. For any $`b_1,\mathrm{},b_mA_{\widehat{r+1}}`$ there exists some $`fkx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$ such that

$$_rq+_ru+_rb_1+\mathrm{}+_rb_m=_rq+_r(u+\delta _1fb_1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mfb_m).$$

Proof. It follows from Lemma 11 that there is $`0\rho A_r[x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ such that $`\rho b_1,\mathrm{},\rho b_mA_nq`$ as well as $`\rho uA_nq`$. With the help from Proposition 10 we get $`fkx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$ such that $`S^{(m+1)}=S^{(m+1)}\rho +S(\epsilon _0+\delta _1f\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mf\epsilon _m)`$ and since $`S`$ is a subring of $`_r`$ we have

$$_r^{(m+1)}=_r^{(m+1)}\rho +_r(\epsilon _0+\delta _1f\epsilon _1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mf\epsilon _m).$$
(5)
Now map $`\epsilon _0u`$ and $`\epsilon _ib_i`$ for all $`i`$; this map from $`_r^m`$ to $`_r`$ has its image equal to $`_rq+_ru+_rb_1+\mathrm{}+_rb_m`$ and maps the right hand side of (5) to a subset of $`_rq+_r(u+\delta _1fb_1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mfb_m)`$, because $`\rho u,\rho b_1,\mathrm{},\rho b_mA_nq`$. Moreover these two expressions are equal, since it is easy to see that the latter is contained in the former as well.

Proof of lemma continued. We apply our Sublemma to $`b_i=g_ih_1`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},m`$) to get $`f_1kx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$ such that

$$_rq+_ru+\underset{j=1}{\overset{m}{}}_rg_ih_1=_rq+_r(u+\underset{j=1}{\overset{m}{}}\delta _if_1g_ih_1).$$

Since $`v=\delta _1g_1+\mathrm{}+\delta _mg_m`$ and since $`f_1`$ commutes with all $`g_i`$, the last equation transforms into

$$_rq+_ru+_rg_ih_1=_rq+_r(u+vf_1h_1).$$

Now reapply the Sublemma with $`u`$ replaced by $`u+vf_1h_1`$ and $`b_i=g_ih_2`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},m`$). As in the first step we get

$`_rq+_ru+{\displaystyle _rg_ih_1}+{\displaystyle _rg_ih_2}`$
$`=_rq+_r(u+vf_1h_1)+{\displaystyle _rg_ih_2}`$
$`=_rq+_r(u+vf_1h_1+f_2h_2)`$
for some $`f_2kx_{r+1},_{r+1}`$. After $`l`$ many steps we arrive at

$$_r=_rq+_ru+\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{l}{}}_rg_ih_j=_rq+_r(u+v\underset{j=1}{\overset{l}{}}f_ih_i),$$

which proves the lemma with $`f=f_1h_1+\mathrm{}+f_lh_l`$.

The following lemma follows from the previous one.

###### Lemma 13

Let $`0rn1`$ and let $`0qA_{r+1}[x_{r+2},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ and let $`u,vA_n`$ with $`v0`$. Then there is some $`fA_n`$,$`q^{}A_r[x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ such that $`q^{}A_nq+A_n(u+vf)`$.

Proof. It is easy to see that this lemma is equivalent to the previous one.

### 5.3 Final chords

###### Proposition 14 (r)

Let $`0rn`$, there is some $`q_rA_r[x_{r+1},\mathrm{},x_n]`$ and $`d_r,e_rA_n`$ such that $`q_rcA_n(a+d_rc)+A_n(b+e_rc)`$.

Proof. The statement is true for $`r=n`$, since $`A_n`$ is Ore and $`A_nc(A_na+A_nb)`$.

Fix $`r`$. Assume that the statement is true for $`r+1,\mathrm{},n`$, then there exist $`q_{r+1},d_{r+1},e_{r+1}`$ such that $`q_{r+1}cA_na^{}+A_nb^{}`$, where $`a^{}=a+d_{r+1}c`$ and $`b^{}=b+e_{r+1}c`$. Hence we can write $`q_{r+1}c=h_1a^{}+h_2b^{}`$, where we can take $`h_1h_20`$ since $`A_na^{}A_nb^{}0`$. Also since $`h_1A_nh_2A_n0`$ we can also find $`g_1,g_2`$ satisfying $`h_1g_1+h_2g_2=0`$, and since $`A_nq_{r+1}cA_nb^{}0`$ there are $`s,t`$ such that $`sq_{r+1}c=tb^{}`$ . Using Lemma 13 to $`q=q_{r+1}`$ with $`u=0`$ and $`v=tg_2`$, we get $`q_r=q^{}`$ and $`f`$ such that $`q_r=p_1q_{r+1}+p_2tg_2f`$ for some $`p_1,p_2`$. Summarizing, there exist such $`h_1,h_2,g_1,g_2,s,t,p_1,p_2A_n\{0\}`$ that

$`q_r=p_1q_{r+1}+p_2tg_2f`$
$`q_{r+1}c=h_1a^{}+h_2b^{}`$
$`h_1g_1+h_2g_2=0`$
$`sq_{r+1}c=tb^{}`$
Using these 4 equations, make the following calculation: (In each section the underlined terms sum up to $`0`$.)

$`q_rc`$ $`=`$ $`p_1q_{r+1}c+p_2tg_2fc`$
$`=`$ $`p_1q_{r+1}c\underset{¯}{p_2sq_{r+1}c}`$
$`+`$ $`p_2tg_2fc+\underset{¯}{p_2tb^{}}`$
$`=`$ $`(p_1p_2s)q_{r+1}c+p_2t(b^{}+g_2fc)`$
$`=`$ $`(p_1p_2s)(h_1a^{}+h_2b^{})+p_2t(b^{}+g_2fc)`$
$`=`$ $`(p_1p_2s)h_1a^{}+\underset{¯}{(p_1p_2s)h_1g_1fc}`$
$`+`$ $`(p_1p_2s)h_2b^{}+\underset{¯}{(p_1p_2s)h_2g_2fc}+p_2t(b^{}+g_2fc)`$
$`=`$ $`(p_1p_2s)h_1(a^{}+g_1fc)+((p_1p_2s)h_2+p_2t)(b^{}+g_2fc).`$
Thus, with $`d_r=d_{r+1}+g_1fc`$ and $`e_r=e_{r+1}+g_2fc`$ the conclusion of the proposition holds.

The proposition above (for $`r=0`$) shows that by “elimination” of variables $`_i`$ one at a time we can get such $`d,eA_n`$ that $`q_0cA_n(a+dc)+A_n(b+ec)`$ where $`q_0k[x_1,\mathrm{},x_n]`$. This proves a 50% version of Theorem 6:

###### Theorem 15

Every ideal of $`k(x_1,\mathrm{},x_n)_1,\mathrm{},_n`$ can be generated by two elements.

To go other 50% of the way one has to do a similar kind of “elimination” of $`x_i`$-s. This amounts to making copies of all lemmas that we stated for a slightly different set of rings. The trickiest part is considering ring $`𝒮_{r}^{}{}_{}{}^{}=k(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)x_{r+1},_{r+1}`$ instead of $`𝒮_r`$. In other words instead of a ring of type $`D(x)`$ where $`D`$ is a skew field, we have to consider the first Weyl algebra $`A_1(𝒦)`$ where $`𝒦`$ is a (commutative) field. Fortunately, analogues of Lemmas 7 and 9 for the latter ring can be effectively proved along the same lines.

Examples. (1) Consider $`A_3`$. For $`a=_1`$,$`b=_2`$,$`c=_3`$ one can show that $`A_3\{a,b,c\}=A_3\{a,b+x_1c\}`$. Indeed, the following calculation displays it:

$$c=(x_1_3_2)a+_1(b+x_1c).$$

(2) Another example is produced by our algorithm implemented in Macaulay 2. Let $`a=_1+x_3`$, $`b=_2^2+x_2+x_3^2`$, $`c=_3+x_1`$. Then the ideal $`A_3\{a,b,c\}`$ is generated by $`_1+x_3`$ and $`_2^2+(x_1^2x_3+x_1)_3+x_1^3x_3+x_1^2+x_3^2+x_2`$.

(3) In case of $`A_1`$ we can construct a more efficient algorithm based on the proof of Theorem 6 given for this special case. Here is a Macaulay 2 script computing 2 generators for the annihilating ideal $`IA_1()`$ of the set of polynomials $`\{ax^4+bx^6+cx^8+dx^{10}|a,b,c,d\}[x]`$.

> ```
> i1 : load "D-modules.m2"; load "stafford.m2";
>
> i3 : R = QQ[x,D, WeylAlgebra=>{x=>D}];
>
> i4 : L = {4,6,8,10};
>
> i5 : I = ideal gens gb intersect apply(L, i->PolyAnn x^i);
>
>              4 4      3 3       2 2                   11
> o5 = ideal (x D  - 22x D  + 207x D  - 975x*D + 1920, D  , ...
>
> o5 : Ideal of R
>
> i6 : time J = ideal stafford I
>      -- used 73.08 seconds
>
>              4 4      3 3       2 2
> o6 = ideal (x D  - 22x D  + 207x D  - 975x*D + 1920,
>
>              3 15    2 15      2 14       14        13
>             x D   + x D   + 15x D   + 9x*D   + 58x*D
>
>                        13      12    11
>                   + 15D   + 50D   + D  )
>
> o6 : Ideal of R
>
> i7 : I == J
>
> o7 = true
>
> ```

## 6 Conclusion

The implementations of the algorithms constructed along the lines of the proofs of Theorems 3 and 6 in Macaulay 2 work only on rather small examples for quite obvious reason: the expression swell in Gröbner bases computations.

Let us comment on the differences of algorithm of Hillebrand and Schmale  and ours. Their algorithm takes care of (weaker) Theorem 15. As a step it includes enumerating a certain infinite subset of polynomials in one variable and testing them to satisfy a certain property, where the testing procedure involves Gröbner bases computations. Although we believe that their argument could be extended to build an algorithm for 100% of Stafford’s theorem, it looks as the “test set” for the remaining 50% will be significantly more complicated. Hence, our constructive approach at every step of the algorithm seems to be more practical. Having programmed Hillebrand and Schmale’s algorithm as well, we have to point out, that it faces the same type of expression swell as our program, hence the comparison of performance is just a theoretical question at this point.

Finally, let us mention that the algorithm for finding a cyclic generator of a holonomic module is already included in the *D-modules package for Macaulay 2* ; eventually, the algorithms for finding two generators of a $`A_n`$-ideal will be added to the package as well.


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# RXTE/OSSE Fits to the Hard State Spectrum of Cygnus X-1

## 1 Introduction

Cygnus X-1 is a binary star system consisting of an O9.7 Iab supergiant (Gies & Bolton 1986) and a compact object of at least 6 solar masses (Dolan 1992). The compact object accretes matter from a focused wind off the supergiant star (Gies & Bolton 1986) and is one of the brightest persistent sources of X-rays in the sky. Cyg X-1 is the first system to show strong evidence of containing a black hole and remains one of the strongest candidates for being a black hole.

Phenomenologically, the spectrum of Cygnus X-1 above $``$ 3 keV is well described as an exponentially cutoff power law with a photon spectral index of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0.60.7`$ and a cutoff energy of around 150 keV. Additionally the spectrum shows a broad excess around 30-50 keV due to Compton reflection, an iron K edge above 7 keV and an iron K$`\alpha `$ flourescence emission line (see e.g., Ebisawa 1996). The hard power law has generally been described as arising from thermal Comptonization of soft photons in a hot, photon starved corona (Sunyaev & Trümper 1979; Gierlinski et al. 1997; Poutanen, Krolik, & Ryde 1997; Dove et al. 1998).

A previous attempt to model the X/$`\gamma `$ spectrum of Cygnus X-1 relied on data from Ginga and OSSE (Gierlinski et al., 1997). They showed that a thermal Comptonization model with $`kT100`$ keV, $`\tau 1`$ plasma could fit the data, but argued that patterns found in the residual plot suggest a two component model with a hot moderate optical depth ($`\tau 12,kT100`$ keV) plasma and an additional Wien-like component with $`kT50`$ keV and $`\tau 6`$. An attempt to model the broadband X-ray spectrum from 3 to 200 keV showed that the data could be fit about equally well by a variety of models - thermal Comptonization with a coronal temperature of 40 keV and an optical depth of 3.6, a different Comptonization model with a temperature of 87 keV and an optical depth of 1.6, or a cutoff power law with an index of 1.45 and a cutoff energy of 160 keV, plus an additional blackbody component, but several of the relatively good (i.e. $`\chi ^2/\nu <2`$) fits suggested a covering fraction for Compton reflection consistent with zero (Dove et al., 1998). What the past analyses lack and these analyses provide is full broadband coverage from 3 to 1000 keV. The combination of Ginga and OSSE leaves a gap from roughly 30 to 50 keV where the reflection component most affects the broadband spectrum while the use of RXTE alone fails to reach the energies where the spectrum cuts off most steeply at $``$ 400 keV. Here we present the results of joint RXTE/OSSE fits to the spectrum of Cygnus X-1 taken in December of 1998. These data present the first gap-free energy spectra of Cygnus X-1 from 3 to 1000 keV.

## 2 OBSERVATIONS

We examine data from three OSSE viewing periods where there was simultaneous RXTE data. The color changes measured in the PCA and in the ASM over the one week periods are very small (less than a few percent; see Figure 1a for the PCA colors), suggesting that the spectrum remains stable over these time periods. Also, the ASM summed band intensities (1.3-12.0 keV) show a correlation timescale of about 20 days (see Figure 1b; the 1996 data have been excluded so the measure will not be biased by the state transition that occured then). The OSSE fluxes in the highest energy bands are weak and only detectors 3 and 4 from OSSE were turned on. Hence the full OSSE viewing periods, rather than just the strictly simultaneous data, are used as the average spectra for the analysis. The data are extracted using the standard reduction procedure from the CGRO science center.

The RXTE data are analyzed using the standard RXTE GOF criteria for spectral extraction. Data from only the top layers are used, and all five PCUs are added together. The HEXTE data are also extracted using the standard reduction criteria. The data used from each instrument is presented in Table 1.

## 3 ANALYSIS

The data are then fit with the EQPAIR model using XSPEC 11.0 (Arnaud 1996). The model allows for thermal and non-thermal comptonization of soft photons, pair production, Compton reflection, and bremsstrahlung emission. The physics of the model are described in detail in Coppi (1998). It has previously been used to fit spectra from Cyg X-1 (Gierlinski et al. 1997; Frontera et al. 2001), GX 339-4 (Nowak, Wilms & Dove 2002) and GRS 1915+105 (Maccarone, Coppi & Taam 1999; Maccarone 2001; Zdziarski et al. 2001). One percent systematic errors are added to all channels. Many of the parameters are frozen. The inclination angle is assumed to be 55 degrees, in agreement with the most recent measurements (Sowers et al, 1998). The compactness, $`\mathrm{}_{bb}`$ ($`\mathrm{}_{bb}=L_{bb}\sigma _T/m_ec^3R_{cor}`$, where $`L_{bb}`$ is the luminosity of the seed blackbody photon distribution, $`\sigma _T`$ is the Thomson cross-section, $`m_e`$ is the electron mass, and $`R_{cor}`$ is the radius of the emission region) of the seed photon distribution is assumed to be unity. The elemental abundances are assumed to be solar. The reflector’s temperature is assumed to be 100 eV. The overall normalizations of the HEXTE and OSSE components are allowed to float, but are extremely well constrained since even small deviations (i.e. $``$ 1%) from the best fit normalizations will produce extremely statisically significant discontinuities in the spectra. The PCA data are fit from 3 to 20 keV, the HEXTE from 17 to 190 keV and the OSSE from 100 to 1000 keV. Additional model components of neutral hydrogen column absorption and a gaussian component to fit the iron emission line are also included. Since RXTE is not sensitive to the energies where absorption by the interstellar medium is most important, the neutral hydrogen column is fixed to $`5\times 10^{21}`$ in accordance with ASCA and BeppoSax results (Gierlinski et al. 1999; Frontera et al. 2001 ). The iron line is restricted to fall between 6.1 and 7.0 keV in energy and to be less than 1.2 keV in width. The parameters that are allowed to vary freely are the temperature of the seed blackbody photon distribution ($`kT_{bb}`$), the thermal electron compactness ($`\mathrm{}_{th}`$), the reflection fraction, $`R`$ and the ionization parameter $`\xi `$, as well as an overall normalization. Additionally, the HEXTE and OSSE data sets are allowed to have their normalizations float freely since the dead time correction for the HEXTE is uncertain (especially with the standard RXTE GOF distribution response matrices which we have used) as are the cross-calibrations between RXTE and OSSE. Additionally, since the data from the two satellites are not strictly simultaneous there may be some physical difference in the luminosities apart from calibration issues. Typically, the HEXTE and the OSSE are both normalized to about 70% of the PCA. We also note that these observations are typical for Cygnus X-1 as the power spectrum shows breaks at $``$ 0.1 Hz and $``$ 5 Hz, which are approximately the median values for the break frequencies (Pottschmidt et al., 2001). Since the spectral indices tend to change much less than the variability timescales (see e.g. Belloni & Hasinger 1990), and the two are well correlated, this represents strong evidence that the observations are typical.

### 3.1 Pure thermal Comptonization model fits

The results of the fitting are presented in Table 2. A typical spectral fit is plotted in Figure 2. The residuals to this fit are shown in Figure 3. Most of the parameters vary little from observation to observation, in accord with the result that the colors in the PCA bands vary little over this time span. The parameters that change the most are the iron line equivalent width, the ionization parameter for the reflection, and the and the iron line’s physical width. Since these parameters are all most sensitive to the region between 6 and 8 keV (the ionization level parameter depending primarily on the energy of the iron absorption edge), where there are not sufficient independent energy bins to fit the required number of parameters, one cannot be confident that the the differences are real. Furthermore, the best fit equivalent widths of the iron lines are of order 100 eV for these observations. Previous measurements of the iron line for Cygnus X-1 in the hard state from ASCA show $``$ 20 eV equivalent width (Ebisawa et al. 1996). RXTE fits to the Crab spectrum can suggest the presence of an iron line with an equivalent width of about 80 eV, so features this weak should not be trusted regardless of the formal statistical significance of the result. Errors in the iron line measurements can lead to significant errors in the edge position. That the line energies are found to be below 6.4 keV at a strong signficance level (in disagreement with results from ASCA) also indicates that the narrow feature is more likely related to errors in the response matrix than to a real physical feature.

Other than the line parameters, a clear picture for the spectrum emerges where the disk temperature is fit to be between 150 and 250 eV, the ratio of thermal compactness to seed photon compactness is about 9, and the optical depth is about 1.3. Thus previous results that the corona of Cygnus X-1 in the hard state can be well fit as a photon-starved thermal plasma of moderate optical depth are verified. We have done several simulations and found that changes in the blackbody temperature can be measured due to changes in the curvature of the “power law” component of the spectrum at energies well in excess of the blackbody peak. For these observations, the blackbody temperatures vary very little; this model would be sensitive to variations about twice as large. Since slightly different models for the blackbody seed photon distribution can change the observed temperature and because of uncertainties in the RXTE response matrix and the lack of an RXTE response below 2 keV where the blackbody peaks, absolute measurements of the seed photon temperature should be treated with skepticism. Relative changes, however, can be reliably measured.

### 3.2 Hybrid Thermal/Non-thermal Comptonization model fits

Additional fits are made with the inclusion of a non-thermal component to the spectrum. That is to say, the electron distribution then consists of a Maxwellian distribution (the “thermal” Comptonization component) and a power law component (the “non-thermal” Comptonization component, which is restricted to have electron Lorentz factors from 1.3 to 1000 and has a compactness $`\mathrm{}_{nth}`$ and an electron spectral index of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ such that $`\frac{dN}{dE}E^\mathrm{\Gamma }`$). The value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is required to be greater than 1, the hardest electron spectrum that can be produced by standard acceleration processes. The best fit parameters are shown in Table 3. These fits are marginally better than those without the non-thermal component, with improvements in likelihood of factors of about 5 for VP 705 and VP 706 (which are best fit by a nearly purely non-thermal Comptonization model), and no improvement in VP 707. Since it is unlikely that a major qualitative change (i.e. whether the corona is dominated by thermal or non-thermal electrons) has occurred while the spectra look almost identical, we also attempt to fit a model to the data with a purely non-thermal electron for VP 707. We find that the data are consistent with this model as well ($`\chi ^2/\nu =1.04`$), with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{inj}`$=3.3, $`\mathrm{}_{nth}`$=8.5, and the other paraemters consistent with their values for both the pure thermal and the hybrid model cases.

The difficulty of distinguishing a thermal plasma from a hybrid one has been discussed previously. It has been noted that a hybrid plasma and a purely thermal plasma will produce nearly identical spectra given the same optical depth and the same mean energy shift per scattering (Zdziarski, Coppi, & Lamb 1990; Ghisellini, Haardt, & Fabian 1993). Still theoretical models do predict differences between the two plasmas above $``$ 400 keV (see Figure 4), since the purely thermal Comptonization models will show a nearly exponential decay, while the hybrid models will show a power law decay. Distinguishing between these two best fits would require sensitivity at the $`4\times 10^6`$ photons/cm2/sec level, which is beyond the capability of the existing OSSE observations. A 10-$`\sigma `$ detection of this feature should be feasible with INTEGRAL in $`10^6`$ seconds, and with ASTRO-E2 in about $`10^5`$ seconds. Measurements from COMPTEL also seem to suggest the presence of an extended tail to the spectrum (McConnell et al., 2000), but these observations are not taken simultaneously with X-ray detections and also require long integrations over which variability of the coronal temperature could be important.

### 3.3 The Overall Compactness and the Size of the Emission Region

We also investigate the range of overall compactnesses allowed by the data to determine whether constraints can be placed on the radius of the emission region and on the fraction of the coronal optical depth that is $`e^{}/e^+`$ pairs. We re-fit the model for VP 707 with a purely thermal electron distribution, while varying $`\mathrm{}_{bb}`$. We find at the 90% confidence level that the total compactness of the system cannot exceed $``$ 300. This constraint requires that $`R_{cor}>3\times 10^6`$ cm, which is not a strong constraint since this value is $`1R_{SCH}`$ for a 10 $`M_{}`$ black hole. We also find that the total compactness cannot drop below $``$ .06 or the bremsstrahlung cooling rate will dominate the Compton cooling rate, yielding a bremsstrahlung emission spectrum which has too sharp a cutoff at high energies. This constraint requires that $`R_{cor}<1.5\times 10^{10}`$ cm. This provides a spectral confirmation that the $``$ few second hard time lags seen in variability analyses cannot be produced by light travel times in a large corona as had been suggested previously (see e.g. Kazanas, Hua, & Titarchuk 1997) and refuted on the basis of variability measurements (Maccarone, Coppi, & Poutanen 2000).

We conduct the same analysis to find the minimum and maximum compactness for the purely non-thermal spectral fit to VP 707. The best fit is for $`\mathrm{}_{bb}=1.5\pm _{0.3}^{2.5}`$. The tighter bound in the lower direction is because there is some intrinsic curvature to the spectrum and some $`\gamma \gamma `$ pair production is needed to reproduce this. The tighter bound in the upward direction is because the annihilation peak at 511 keV is much sharper for non-thermal Comptonization than for thermal Comptonization (i.e. in the thermal Comptonization case, the annihilation line is reddened and broadened significantly by Compton scattering off the thermal electrons - see Coppi 1998). These constraints require a corona with a size scale between $`2\times 10^8`$ and $`7\times 10^8`$ cm. This result is not very sensitive to letting $`\gamma _{min}`$ float freely, so if a purely non-thermal electron distribution can be proven to exist, fairly strong constrints can be placed on the size of the emission region. A hybrid model (rather than purely non-thermal) produces similarly tight constraints as the purely non-thermal model ($`\mathrm{}_{bb}=2.2\pm _{.5}^{1.5}`$).

### 3.4 The reflection fraction

The relatively low reflection fractions in Cyg X-1 and other X-ray binaries have been explained as coming from a geometric effect where there is a “hole” inside the inner edge of the accretion disk from which no reflection comes (Gilfanov et al., 1999), a beaming effect due to a mildly relativistic outflow from the disk (Beloborodov 1999), smearing of the reflected component as it passes back through the corona (Petrucci et al., 2001) or an underestimate of the reflection fraction due to a highly ionized disk (Young et al. 2001). We test the last of these mechanisms on VP 707 by allowing freezing the ionization parameter at a value of $`10^5`$. We find that even for this large ionization parameter, the reflection fraction remains $``$ 0.35. Furthermore, the spectral fits are substantially poorer ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2150`$) than the best fits, which are obtained with low ionization parameters. We also ignore the PCA data from 5.0 to 9.5 keV and re-fit the model to ensure that the iron line and edge have no impact on the best fit parameters and find that none of the parameters change. The reason for the discrepancy between this work and that of Young et al. (2000) is likely that the reflection fraction in the ASCA/Ginga data sets they fit depends largely on the location and strengths of the iron edges since ASCA has no sensitivity above 10 keV and Ginga has none above 30 keV, while in our fits, the reflection fraction depends largely on the curvature of the spectrum in the 30-50 keV range, since there are many more bins in this region than the 6-9 keV region where the iron line and edge are found. We have also fit the data after removing the OSSE data and have found essentially the same fit as for the PCA and HEXTE data alone.

### 3.5 Robustness of the fits to changes in the frozen parameters

We investigate the robustness of the spectral fits to changes of several parameters that have been left frozen. We find that changing the seed photon distribution to a diskPN model, which gives the sum of several blackbodies as from a pseudo-Newtonian disk (Gierlinski et al., 1999), rather than a pure blackbody yields a slightly higher optical depth ($`\tau 1.4`$) and a higher thermal compactness ($`\mathrm{}_{th}12`$) without making any qualitative changes to the spectrum or the overall goodness of fit. We find that for the nonthermal model, $`\gamma _{min}`$ can be increased to $`3`$ without affecting the quality of the fit. For such high values of $`\gamma _{min}`$, the electron injection distribution approaches a $`\delta `$-function, so these fits are probably unphysical, and it is unlikely that the non-thermal electron distribution is cut off much below 200 keV.

## 4 Conclusions

We find that the 3-1000 keV spectrum of Cygnus X-1 in the hard state can be well fit by a purely thermal Comptonization model, but that a substantial (and perhaps dominant) non-thermal component cannot be ruled out. For a thermal model, we find typical temperatures of the corona to be $``$ 90 keV, with optical depths of $``$ 1.3, and that for two of the observations, the data can be modelled slightly better with a purely nonthermal electron distribution. We find no evidence for the existence of an additional optically thick component in the spectrum. We find that the data are insufficient to differentiate between a pair-domianted corona and an electron/ion dominated corona. We find that the reflection fractions are low (i.e. $`R/2\pi <1`$) because there is relatively little spectral curvature in the 30-50 keV range and not due to a ionization effects in the disk. Future observations with instruments such as INTEGRAL and ASTRO-E2 should prove capable of breaking the degeneracy between the thermal and non-thermal electron distributions by measuring the emission at several MeV more accurately than current data sets which have provided simultaneous X-ray measurements.

## 5 Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Jörn Wilms and Mike Nowak for scripts that facilitated finding the errors in the spectral fits.