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# Cluster diffusion at the gelation point

## I Introduction

Gelation is a phenomenon that continues to receive wide interest in the physics community Vernon et al. (2001); Broderix et al. (2002); Gado et al. (2002). It is a problem with relevance both from a fundamental physics point of view, but also from a more application oriented view due to the many uses of gels in industry. Despite a long-standing effort the underlying physics has still not received a complete explanation, in particular as far as the dynamical quantities are concerned.

In a solution of polyfunctional monomers irreversible chemical bonds may be formed via some external influence, e.g. irradiation with $`\gamma `$-rays Schosseler and Leibler (1984, 1985). As the density $`p`$ of bonds increases, the resulting macromolecules grow larger and larger, until at a critical density $`p_c`$ (the gelation point) there is a cluster spanning the entire system, and a gel has formed. There are a number of static/thermodynamic quantities characterizing this transition, e.g. cluster size distribution, largest cluster, correlation length and radius of gyration, that in many cases are believed to be well described by the $`3`$ dimensional ($`3D`$) percolation universality class Adam and Lairez (1996). Besides the appearance of a wide distribution of cluster sizes, the presence of the gel fundamentally changes many of the dynamic properties as well. For example it has been found that the viscosity $`\eta `$ diverges as $`(p_cp)^s`$ when $`pp_c`$, but there is still no general agreement on the value of the exponent $`s`$. However there are many other quantities that probe the unique dynamics at the gelation point, and here we consider, among other things, the diffusion of clusters of different sizes. Diffusion in general is well known to be sensitive to geometry and topology as well as to the interactions with the environment, and in the case of gelation we expect the motion of the individual macromolecules to be strongly affected by their interaction with other macromolecules with a wide distribution of sizes.

Here we consider a model for polycondensation: using molecular dynamics we simulate a solution of hexafunctional monomers interacting via the Lennard-Jones potential and allow the particles to form permanent chemical bonds if they get close enough together. After defining the model in Sec. II, we determine the static universality class by considering the behavior of several characteristic structural quantities aided by finite size scaling in Sec. III. Here we also measure the radius of gyration of the clusters as a function of cluster size at the gelation point allowing us to determine the fractal dimension. In Sec. IV we focus on the behavior of the self-diffusion constant of clusters at the gelation point, a quantity which has hitherto received little attention (see however Gould and Holl (1981)). Finally in Sec. V we give our conclusions.

## II  Model

Our system is composed of $`N=L^3`$ ($`L=10,15`$ and $`20`$) particles interacting pairwise through the shifted Lennard-Jones potential

$$U(𝐫)=\{\begin{array}{cc}U_{LJ}(r)U_{LJ}(2.5\sigma ),\hfill & r2.5\sigma \hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{otherwise,}\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
where $`U_{LJ}(r)=4ϵ((\sigma /r)^{12}(\sigma /r)^6)`$. All of our simulations are $`3D`$ constant energy simulations corresponding to an average temperature of $`k_BT/ϵ1`$ and density $`\mathrm{\Phi }=0.8\sigma ^3`$. These choices ensure that the system is in the liquid-phase region of the phase-diagram Smit (1992). We use periodic boundary conditions and a time step of magnitude $`dt=0.004\sqrt{m\sigma ^2/ϵ}`$. From a typical equilibrium state of this liquid we let the particles form permanent chemical bonds if they come closer than $`r_c=2^{1/6}\sigma 1.12`$ (coinciding with the minimum of $`U(r)`$), and the corresponding bond interaction is represented by a harmonic oscillator potential $`U_{\text{harm}}(r)=1/2kr^2`$: in our simulations we take $`k\sigma ^2/ϵ=120`$. Note that this way of adding bonds breaks energy conservation; indeed we actually pump energy into the system when adding bonds. With this bonding procedure cross linking is very fast — the average distance between the particles is comparable to $`r_c`$, so a large number of particles will be available for bonding at a given instant. Each particle can bond to a total of $`f=6`$ other particles, and the cross link density $`p`$ is then given in terms of the number of bonds $`n`$ as $`p=2n/fN`$. Any number of particles, if fulfilling the conditions above, can be cross linked per time step, but we halt the bond formation when $`p`$ reaches a predetermined value.

## III Static universality class

We begin by examining the geometric structure resulting from the cross linking procedure described above. First we need to know the location of the geometric percolation point $`p_c`$, and to this end we measure the fraction $`W(L,p)`$ of percolating (in one direction) systems of size $`N=L^3`$ at a given cross link density $`p`$. In this context a system is considered percolating when a cluster connects a particle in the central computational box with its image in an adjacent box, and the corresponding cluster is called a spanning cluster. In the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$, $`W(L,p)`$ becomes the Heaviside step function $`\theta (pp_c)`$. However at finite $`N`$ for any $`p>0`$ below $`p_c`$, some realizations will contain a spanning cluster, and thus $`W(L,p)>0`$. Similar reasoning allows us to conclude that $`W(L,p)<1`$ for $`p>p_c`$. If we make the plausible assumption that $`W(L,p)`$ converges monotonically to $`\theta (pp_c)`$ for fixed $`p`$, it follows that for $`L_1>L_2`$, $`W(L_1,p)<W(L_2,p)`$ if $`p<p_c`$, and likewise $`W(L_1,p)>W(L_2,p)`$ for any $`p>p_c`$. Therefore at and only at $`p_c`$ the curves of $`W(L,p)`$ coincide, i.e. $`W(L,p_c)=\text{const}`$. In Fig. 1 we plot $`W(L,p)`$ obtained from $`5000`$ realizations as a function of $`p`$ for $`L=10,15`$ and $`20`$, and we see that all the curves cross approximately at the same point: the value of $`p_c`$ determined this way is $`p_c=0.2565`$.

Finite size scaling theory predicts that $`W(L,p)`$ does not depend on $`L`$ and $`p`$ separately but only on the combination $`L/\xi `$ (and the sign of $`pp_c`$) where $`\xi =|pp_c|^\nu `$ is the correlation length and $`\nu `$ the correlation length exponent Stauffer (1985). Thus we may write

$$W(L,p)=f(L^{1/\nu }(pp_c)),$$
(2)
where $`f(x)`$ is a scaling function with the following limiting values:

$$\underset{x\mathrm{}}{lim}f(x)=1\text{and}\underset{x\mathrm{}}{lim}f(x)=0.$$
(3)
To test this hypothesis we replot the data for $`W(L,p)`$ from Fig. 1 in Fig. 2 as a function of $`L^{1/\nu }(pp_c)`$ with $`p_c=0.2565`$ as determined above and $`\nu =0.9`$.

The curves collapse quite convincingly onto the same master curve with the limiting values given in Eq. (3), and the results are thus consistent with finite scaling theory. Moreover, the value of $`\nu `$ is in very good agreement with the correlation length exponent $`0.88`$ of $`3D`$ percolation theory Stauffer (1985); Adam and Lairez (1996). Thus we believe that in spite of using an off-lattice dynamic bonding method from an equilibrium liquid state, this systems belongs to the universality class of $`3D`$ percolation. To further substantiate that claim, we have also considered the cluster size distribution at the critical point $`p=p_c`$ in Fig. 3. According to standard percolation theory the number $`n(s)`$ of clusters of size $`s`$ is a power law $`n(s)s^\tau `$ with an exponent $`\tau 2.18`$ Sahimi (1994).

Fitting the data from the largest system size to a power law we find the exponent $`\tau 2.19`$, which is within $`0.5\%`$ of the $`3D`$ percolation value quoted above.

For the universality class of $`3D`$ percolation there are in principle only two independent exponents, but to establish even more confidence in our conclusions and because we need part of the data later, we determine two more exponents.

The weight average molecular mass $`M_w`$ for $`p<p_c`$ defines the exponent $`\gamma `$ by the relation $`M_w(p_cp)^\gamma `$. Again, for finite systems, finite size scaling theory predicts the scaling form

$$M_w=L^{\gamma /\nu }g(L^{1/\nu }(p_cp)),$$
(4)
where $`g(x)`$ is a scaling function with the following asymptotic behavior:

$$g(x)\{\begin{array}{cc}x^\gamma \hfill & x\mathrm{}\hfill \\ \text{const.}\hfill & x0.\hfill \end{array}$$
(5)
Therefore we compute $`M_w`$ as a function of $`p`$ for different system sizes, and in Fig. 4 we plot the results in the form $`M_w/L^{\gamma /\nu }`$ versus $`L^{1/\nu }(p_cp)`$ with $`\gamma =1.74`$ being the expected $`3D`$ percolation value and $`\nu `$ and $`p_c`$ as determined previously. Again there is a very nice data collapse reinforcing our statement about the validity of $`3D`$ percolation exponents.

The last static exponent we wish to consider is the fractal dimension $`D`$ of the clusters at the gelation point. During the simulations we maintain a list of all particles belonging to a given cluster, and this enables us to calculate the radius of gyration of a given cluster. At a given instant $`R_g(s)`$ ($`s2`$) is found from Plischke and Bergersen (1994)

$$R_g^2(s)=\frac{1}{s(s1)}\underset{i,j=1}{\overset{s}{}}(𝐫_i𝐫_j)^2,$$
(6)
where the sum is over all particles in the cluster and $`𝐫_i`$ is the position of particle $`i`$ at that instant. To calculate its thermal average we average over time. However we have also averaged over $`100`$ samples to get better statistics for the individual cluster sizes. We find that the results are independent of the system size (up to a cut-off) and do not significantly depend on the value of $`p`$ close to $`p_c`$, and therefore we plot here only the results from the largest system, i.e. $`N=20^3`$. We focus on the properties of the system at the percolation point $`p=p_c`$ and the corresponding data are plotted in Fig. 5.

There is a clear power law behavior $`R_g^2(s)s^{2/D}`$, and from a least squares fit we deduce the value $`D=2.38`$. Here $`D`$ is the fractal dimension of the clusters (since $`sR_g^D`$) at the gelation point, and for this exponent $`3D`$ percolation theory predicts the value $`D2.5`$. Our value is about $`5\%`$ lower, but this small discrepancy may be due to lack of data for sufficiently large $`s`$. However it may also be due to the interaction of the polymers with one another and with the left over monomers.

Therefore regarding the static exponents we presented evidence that our model of the gelation transition, which uses a Lennard-Jones force-shifted intermolecular potential and a liquid state bond forming procedure, is consistent with the universality class of $`3D`$ percolation.

## IV Cluster diffusion

We now turn to the measurement of a dynamic cluster specific quantity, namely the diffusion coefficient $`D(s)`$ as a function of cluster size $`s`$ at the percolation threshold $`p=p_c`$. We measure the mean square fluctuations of the center of mass position $`R_s^{\text{CM}}(t)`$ for each cluster of size $`s`$, and for large times we find a linear behavior

$$(R_s^{\text{CM}}(t)R_s^{\text{CM}}(0))^26D(s)t,$$
(7)
allowing us to extract the diffusion constant $`D(s)`$ as a function of cluster mass $`s`$. Again the average $`\mathrm{}`$ is performed over both time (thermal average) and over realizations, and here we have found it sufficient to use $`80`$ samples.

To demonstrate the asymptotic normal diffusion we plot for the $`N=20^3`$ system in Fig. 6.a $`(R_s^{\text{CM}}(t)R_s^{\text{CM}}(0))^2/t`$ as a function of time steps for several cluster sizes $`s=1\mathrm{}29`$, and part (b) shows a magnification for the largest clusters $`s=26\mathrm{}29`$. As can be seen all the curves approach constant values for large times, and it is from these values that we calculate the diffusion constant using Eq. (7). We have checked that the results below do not change if we extend the length of the sampling time to much longer times ($`5000`$ timesteps).

For monodisperse polymers in a dilute solution, Rouse dynamics predicts the power law dependence $`D(s)s^1`$. Taking hydrodynamic interactions into account, Zimm dynamics predicts $`D(s)R_g^1s^{1/D}=s^{0.4}`$ Doi and Edwards (1986). For the present model we observe a very clear power law $`D(s)s^k`$ as can be seen in Fig. 7, where we have plotted $`D(s)`$ as a function of $`s`$. We consider again only the largest system size $`N=20^3`$ at $`p=p_c`$, and $`D(s)`$ is found from Eq. (7) based on the data from Fig. 6. The exponent of the power law is approximately $`k0.69`$, and is thus described neither by pure Rouse nor Zimm dynamics.

Instead the exponent is intermediate between the values for Rouse and Zimm dynamics.

Having measured the radius of gyration in Fig. 5, we can convert the result above into a dependence of $`D`$ on $`R_g`$: $`D(R_g)s^{0.69}R_g^{0.69D}=R_g^{1.64}`$, and the corresponding data are plotted in Fig. 8. Also shown is a power law fit to the data yielding an exponent value of $`1.63`$. Again we emphasize the clear deviation from a Stokes’ type law, $`D(R_g)R_g^1`$, as obtained from Zimm dynamics for polymers. Moreover our result is in sharp contrast to a corresponding result in a recent paper Gado et al. (2000) for a lattice model of gelation in which it was found that $`D(R_g)R_g^{2.4}`$ using bond fluctuation dynamics.

## V Conclusions

Using extensive molecular dynamics simulations of a system of Lennard-Jones particles we studied a specific model for the gelation transition. An important feature of our model is that particles are allowed to form permanent chemical bonds from the Lennard-Jones liquid state when they get close together. For this model we determined a number of exponents characterizing the geometry and polydispersity of the system, and this information allowed us to conclude that $`3D`$ percolation theory is the appropriate static universality class. We went on to discuss the radius of gyration of the clusters at the gel point resulting in the determination of their fractal dimension. Afterwards we focused on the self-diffusion constant of individual clusters as a function of their size. We found strong indications for a power law behavior with an exponent described neither by Rouse nor Zimm-dynamics. In future work we intend to study e.g. the shear viscosity of this model in order to measure the corresponding dynamic exponents. As mentioned in the introduction there is considerable disagreement as to the values of these exponents, and numerical results on models such as the present one, will allow us to discriminate between some of the proposed dynamic universality classes for gelation.

###### Acknowledgements.

The author wishes to thank M. Plischke and D. Vernon for helpful discussions. Financial support from the Danish National Research Council grant $`21`$-$`01`$-$`0335`$ and from NSERC of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.


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# Flux-quantum-modulated Kondo conductance in a multielectron quantum dot

## Abstract

We investigate a lateral semiconductor quantum dot with a large number of electrons in the limit of strong coupling to the leads. A Kondo effect is observed and can be tuned in a perpendicular magnetic field. This Kondo effect does not exhibit Zeeman splitting. It shows a modulation with the periodicity of one flux quantum per dot area at low temperatures. The modulation leads to a novel, strikingly regular stripe pattern for a wide range in magnetic field and number of electrons.

The Kondo effect Kondo (1964) in semiconductor quantum dots Kouwenhoven et al. (1997) has been the subject of numerous theoretical and experimental investigations in recent years. Originally, Kondo developed his theory to explain the increased resistivity in bulk metals due to magnetic impurities at low temperatures. Later, this theory was also applied to quantum dots Glazman and Raikh (1988); Ng and Lee (1988), leading to first successful experiments in semiconductor dots which allowed a controlled and detailed study of the Kondo phenomenon Kondo-Alle . These early experiments were interpreted in terms of the ordinary Anderson impurity model Anderson (1961), describing the interaction of a singly occupied, spin-degenerate level — realized within the quantum dot — with conduction band electrons. Deviations were attributed to nearby levels present in real dots Yeyati et al. (1999). Subsequently, the quantum dots have been tuned into more complex regimes, showing Kondo behavior beyond the simple spin-1/2 Anderson impurity model: For a quantum dot with many electrons the occurrence of Kondo physics depends on the exact form of the multi-electron spectrum including Hund’s rule Schmid et al. (2000). In a magnetic field, the ground state of such a system and thus the ability to show a Kondo effect is modified. Unpaired spin-configurations at the edge may lead to a Kondo effect Keller et al. (2001); Tejedor and Martín-Moreno (2001). Furthermore, multiple correlated electrons on the dot may couple in a $`S1`$ state which may also exhibit Kondo physics. This was demonstrated in magnetically tuned degeneracies between singlet and triplet states Sasaki et al. (2000) (also observed in carbon nanotubes Nygård et al. (2000)) and is now well understood Giuliano and Tagliacozzo (2000); Pustilnik-Alle ; Eto and Nazarov (2000). Another deviation from the Anderson model can be observed when several energy levels of the dot come into play. This happens when either the coupling of the dot to the leads is not small compared to the level spacing anymore Chudnovskiy and Ulloa (2001); Pustilnik and Glazman (2001b); Hofstetter and Schoeller (2002); van der Wiel et al.  or when the dot is tuned close to a Coulomb resonance T. A. Costi et al. (1994); Goldhaber-Gordon et al. (1998b). The system then enters the mixed valence regime.

In this work, we study Kondo physics in a rather large lateral quantum dot containing many electrons. While the energies involved in tunneling through dots resembling the Anderson impurity model can be depicted like in Fig. 1 (a), the situation in our dot is more like in Fig. 1 (b). Due to the larger size of our dot, the internal level spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is comparably small, whereas the coupling $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to the leads is strong so that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Delta }E`$. Kondo as well as mixed valence effects should play a role. In addition, the large number of electrons in our dot provides electronic ground states complex enough to allow a variety of Kondo effects like a singlet-triplet Kondo effect or even more complicated ones. These ground states are tuned in a magnetic field.

We fabricated our sample from a modulation doped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure which forms a two-dimensional electron gas 57 nm below the surface with an electron density of $`n=3.710^{15}`$ m-2 and a low temperature mobility of $`\mu =130`$ m2/Vs. After etching and contacting a standard Hall bar structure using optical lithography, we applied electron beam lithography to pattern six metallic gate electrodes (6 nm Cr, 25 nm Au) across the Hall bar (inset in Fig. 2). From the SEM image a geometric dot diameter of 380 nm is deduced. Taking into account the depletion length of our split gates, we obtain an electronic diameter of $`d_{el}250`$ nm resulting in a dot with $`N180`$ electrons. From our dot geometry we estimate a confinement-induced single particle level spacing of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E2\mathrm{}^2/m^{}r^2=150`$ $`\mu `$eV. Differential conductance measurements were carried out in a 3He-4He dilution refrigerator with a base temperature of 20 mK, using standard lock-in technique. From the saturation of peak widths in temperature dependent Coulomb blockade measurements we determine the minimal electronic temperature to be $`T_070`$ mK.

The quantum dot is defined by application of negative voltages to the gate electrodes: Slightly asymmetric tunnel barriers are created by applying -1.084 V to the left and -1.220 V to the right gate pair. The lower gate in the middle of the structure is kept constant at -1.084 V while the upper one is used as a plunger gate to control the electrostatic potential, increasing the number of electrons on the dot by 75 in varying $`V_g`$ from $`1.250`$ V to $`0.400`$ V. Due to its proximity to the tunnel barriers the plunger gate strongly influences the coupling of the dot to the leads. For voltages around $`V_g1.2`$ V our dot is in the Coulomb blockade regime with high barrier resistances $`R_Th/e^2`$. For $`B=0`$ T we find a charging energy of $`U600`$ $`\mu `$eV from Coulomb blockade diamonds and an intrinsic line width of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }100`$ $`\mu `$eV estimated from temperature dependent measurements of the Coulomb blockade peak width. Near $`V_g1.0`$ V a distinct Kondo resonance appears in several consecutive Coulomb blockade diamonds. In this regime, we estimate our line width as approximately $`\mathrm{\Gamma }250`$ $`\mu `$eV and the charging energy $`U500`$ $`\mu `$eV at $`B=0`$ T. From excitation spectroscopy measurements we extract a level spacing of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E100`$ $`\mu `$eV in rough agreement with the estimation presented above.

Figure 2 shows an overview of the linear conductance $`G`$ versus plunger gate voltage $`V_g`$ and perpendicular magnetic field $`B`$. For magnetic fields $`B1`$ T a diagonal stripe pattern is clearly visible. Similar patterns were observed for several samples. The striking regularity of this pattern vanishes only for low fields and strong coupling (upper left region in the Figure) where $`G(B,V_g)`$ becomes rather complicated. This can be attributed to the increased influence of disorder in this regime. Chaotic effects typical for open quantum dots might also play a role. We will discuss the origin of the regular pattern - a modulated Kondo effect - in Figures 4 and 5 below but will first focus on its periodicity.

The measured conductivity was Fourier transformed along the $`B`$ axis for several gate voltages $`V_g`$. Fig. 3(a) shows a typical result of the power spectrum obtained. A clear peak is observed at a frequency of $`f=9.3`$ T-1 corresponding to a periodicity of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B110`$ mT. Each such transformation exhibits such a peak, from which we find a periodicity varying from $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_1=130`$ mT at $`V_g=1.2`$ V to $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_2=75`$ mT at $`V_g=0.4`$ V. We have identified the periodicity with the addition of one flux quantum to the dot: $`N_\varphi =1`$ flux quanta $`\varphi _0`$ added per stripe period lead to dot diameters $`d=2\sqrt{N_\varphi \varphi _0/\pi \mathrm{\Delta }B}`$ ranging from 200 nm ($`V_g=1.2`$ V) to 265 nm ($`V_g=0.4`$ V) which is in good agreement with the value of $`d_{el}250`$ nm estimated above from the gate geometry. The smaller diameter for a more negative plunger gate voltage is expected due to an increased depletion. From the calculated diameters we expect a change in the number of electrons on the dot of $`\mathrm{\Delta }N=87`$ electrons which closely resembles $`\mathrm{\Delta }N=75`$ electrons as known from Coulomb blockade. The small difference could be easily attributed to the uncertainty in the charge density $`n`$ and its unknown exact form in the presence of charged top gates.

The addition of a flux quantum to a many electron system will change its orbital and spin wave functions for magnetic fields smaller than the extreme quantum limit McEuen et al. (1992); Ciorga et al. (2000). As an example, McEuen et al. McEuen et al. (1992) observed a redistribution of electrons between different Landau levels within their dot when a flux quantum was added. Thus we can link our stripe period to such redistributions of electrons. In traces of Coulomb peak positions $`V_g(B)`$ and amplitudes $`G(B)`$ we observe consistent behavior.

To clarify the origin of the stripe pattern, we will now focus on more detailed measurements in the fairly regular $`B1`$ T regime as marked in Fig. 2 by (I). The stripe pattern is made up of regions of enhanced conductance in the Coulomb blockade regions (Fig. 4(a)), which together with the Coulomb peaks form tiles of increased conductance. We have performed temperature and source-drain voltage dependent measurements at the marked gate voltage and magnetic field values to analyze this effect (Fig. 4(c)). In the high conductance regions, a zero bias peak is observed (circle in the figure). It vanishes with increasing temperature and disappears at a temperature of $`T1`$ K. This zero bias peak is a clear signature of an interaction effect. It can be attributed to the Kondo effect which is illustrated by the characteristic temperature dependence in Fig. 4(d). Due to the high and increasing background conductance it is difficult to determine an exact Kondo temperature $`T_K`$. After subtracting the exponential background (triangle), the temperature dependence can be fit by the empirical formula $`G(T)=G_0(T_K^2/(T^2+T_K^2))^s`$ with $`T_K^{}=T_K/\sqrt{2^{1/s}1}`$ Goldhaber-Gordon et al. (1998b), from which we extract $`T_K0.4`$ K and $`s1`$. Although the value of $`s`$ strongly depends on the other fit parameters, it clearly deviates from $`s=0.2`$ characteristic for a spin $`1/2`$ system in the Kondo regime. For the low conductance regions, the central Kondo peak is suppressed (Fig. 4(c)). Here the two small side peaks at $`\pm 170`$ $`\mu `$eV which are also visible in the high conductance trace become more prominent. We expect them to be related to a Kondo effect involving inelastic cotunneling through excited states as discussed in de Franceschi et al. (2001). This would be roughly consistent with the level spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }E150`$ $`\mu `$eV stated above and also explains the background conductance increasing exponentially with temperature in Fig. 4(d) (triangle). In linear conductance ($`V_{SD}=0`$ V), the central Kondo peak appears as a high conductance tile and the absence of a Kondo peak as a low conductance tile. Stripe and tile patterns can thus be explained with a magnetically modulated Kondo effect.

In the $`B1`$ T regime, in some places the situation is not as clear cut and deviations from the regular magneto-conductance pattern are found. In Fig. 4(b) corresponding to region (II) in Fig. 2, we observe a more honeycomb-like structure made up of narrow high-conductance lines between two adjacent Coulomb blockade peaks instead of a high-conductance tile.

Compared to the $`B1`$ T regime, for a higher magnetic field, e. g. at $`B2`$ T, the stripe pattern is much clearer and extremely regular (Fig. 5(a), corresponding to region (III) from Fig. 2). Different from the former, the latter regime extends over a wide range of gate voltage and magnetic field. It consists of alternating tiles of enhanced and suppressed conductance within the Coulomb blockade regions like in region (I) discussed above. The Kondo effect observed here and thus the pattern itself vanishes totally with increasing temperature (Fig. 5(b)), i. e. at temperatures above $`T0.5`$ K only regular Coulomb blockade resonances are observed. From measurements similar to the ones presented in Fig. 4(d) we extract a Kondo temperature of roughly $`T_K0.2`$ K. To investigate the nature of the Kondo physics found here, we examine the involved energy scales in $`V_{SD}`$ dependent conductance measurements along the horizontal dotted line in Fig. 5(a) at a fixed gate voltage (Fig. 5(c)). We observe a central Kondo peak in high conductance tiles which is abruptly split into two nearly symmetric peaks in the low conductance region. At the transition the ground state of the dot and thus the nature of the Kondo state changes. For the two different situations Fig. 5(d) shows two typical differential conductance measurements versus $`V_{SD}`$ along the vertical lines marked in Fig. 5(c). In the high conductance/single peak situation the ground state must be degenerate, i. e. the level splitting must be $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=0`$ including Zeeman energy. In the low conductance/split peak regime however, two states with $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=70`$ $`\mu `$eV (also including Zeeman energy) must be involved. This is illustrated in the insets in Fig. 5(d). The single peak situation is clearly inconsistent with the simple model of one electron with spin $`S=\pm 1/2`$ on a Zeeman split level from which a splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_Z=g_{GaAs}\mu _BB=55`$ $`\mu `$eV ($`|g_{GaAs}|=0.44`$) would be expected. Due to the low ratio $`k_BT_K/E_Z=0.3<1`$ we should be able to resolve such a splitting. The Kondo states we observe in our strong coupling case must be more complicated than a simple hybridization between leads and one electron on the dot. For example, a two-stage Kondo effect Pustilnik and Glazman (2001b); Hofstetter and Schoeller (2002); van der Wiel et al.  could be involved, although we have no signature of a suppression of the Kondo effect in the investigated temperature range.

Our result is different from the chessboard-like magneto-conductance pattern investigated previously by Keller et al. Keller et al. (2001) who observed an alternation between Zeeman split spin-$`1/2`$ Kondo peaks in their high conductance regions and no Kondo effect at all. We attribute this discrepancy to a steeper confinement potential in their reactive ion etched dot and to a lower Kondo temperature and coupling in comparison to our system.

In conclusion, we explored Kondo physics in a large quantum dot with strong coupling to the leads. We observed a flux quantum modulated Kondo effect over a wide parameter range in magnetic field and in the number of electrons in the dot. This Kondo effect needs an explanation which goes beyond the classical spin-$`1/2`$ Anderson model.

We thank F. Hohls and U. Zeitler for helpful discussions and help with the measurement setup. We acknowledge discussions with M. Pustilnik and A. Tagliacozzo and financial support by DIP, TMR, BMBF. A. D. W. acknowledges support from SFB491.


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# X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star 𝛾 Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo

## 1 Introduction

Since its discovery in 1867, $`\gamma `$ Cas has become the prototype of the “classical” Be stars. However, while the optical properties are representative of the class, its behavior in the X-ray regime is not just unusual but so far unique. Its mean Lx is a few times greater than any other Be or B-normal stars but at least a factor of 20 lower than in Be X-ray binaries. The X-ray light curve is especially interesting in that it is composed of numerous, short-lived bursts (with durations of 10s to 1 minute) superimposed on a background (“basal flux”) which varies in intensity by a factor of up to 3 over timescales ranging from hours to months. The X-ray spectrum is hard, being consistent with a thermal 10.5 keV thin plasma, and it shows Fe lines at 6.7 and 6.9 keV.

In the past the commonly accepted explanation for the X-ray emission involved mass accretion onto a putative degenerate companion, either a neutron star (White et al. 1982) or a white dwarf (Murakami et al. 1986). There are some problems with this interpretation (see Smith, Robinson & Corbet, \[1998; SRC98\] and Robinson & Smith \[2000, RS00\] for discussions of the binary hypothesis), and Smith (1995) published an alternative picture in which the anomalous X-rays were generated by energetic flares near the star’s surface. To test this hypothesis SRC98 organized a coordinated observing campaign in 1996 March involving the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the Hubble Space Telescope, where the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), with large aperture, was used to obtain high time resolution spectra covering 40 Å centered on the Si IV lines near 1400 Å. The object was to look for correlations between X-ray variations and changes in the UV continuum and the Si IV line profiles. Since any UV variations are likely to originate at or near the Be star, a strong correlation with the X-rays would provide evidence that the X-rays are also emitted from near the star.

The program proved to be highly successful and showed a pronounced anti-correlation between the intensity of the basal X-ray flux and the value of UV continuum near 1400 Å (see SRC98), an anti-correlation with the Si III and Si IV (low-excitation) ions line strengths, and a direct correlation with the high excitation Fe V line strengths (Cranmer, Smith & Robinson 2000).

The basal X-ray flux from the 1996 March observations was found to vary on a $``$10 hour timescale (Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamoa). UV observations obtained during International UV Explorer (IUE) campaigns in 1982 and early 1996, combined with the GHRS results, showed a UV-continuum modulation of 27 hours. This is in agreement with the expected rotation period of 22-30 hours given the star’s known Vsin i and estimated radius (see, e.g., Cramner, Smith & Robinson 2000). Thus, SRC98 suggested that the X-ray variations are attributable to a rotational modulation of active magnetic complexes on the stellar surface. To confirm this interpretation the RXTE was used on 1998 Nov 24-26 to search for a reoccurrence of the variation pattern over two rotation periods. A summary of part of this time history is given in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamob. Comparison of the two panels of this figure discloses that the light curve characteristics changed markedly between 1996 and 1998. The 1998 fluxes were substantially lower than those seen in 1996 March, while the timescale of variation had decreased to 3-4 hours. No clear signal for rotational modulation was discovered (see RS00). However, RS00 found that the X-ray fluxes did undergo a partial cessation every $``$7.5 hours. This behavior was intriguing since archival IUE data showed marked strengthening of the high-velocity Si IV and C IV wind features (DACs) with the same cyclicity. The rapid timescale for the basal flux variability also points to a rapid evolution of the activity centers, which would mask any rotational modulation.

The dramatic changes in these X-ray light curves were unexpected. The authors concluded that more observations were needed in order to quantify the timescale and form of these variations. It was also hoped that the nature of the variations could be better understood by comparing the X-ray results with other parameters of the star, such as the one-armed density enhancement in the Be disk, which is known to be responsible for the 5 - 7 year cyclic variations of the H$`\alpha `$ emission profile (Telting & Kaper 1994, Berio et al. 1999). Thus, an observing program using the Automated Photometric Telescope (APT) was initiated to monitor the optical variability of $`\gamma `$ Cas in the Johnson $`B`$ and $`V`$ bands. New RXTE observations were also carried out in 2000, consisting of 6 time sequences spaced at increasing intervals from 1 week to 5 months. It is these optical and X-ray data that will be examined in this paper.

In $`\mathrm{\S }`$2 we describe briefly the X-ray and optical observations and reduction procedures. The long-term variations are then described in $`\mathrm{\S }`$3. Here it is shown that both the X-rays and optical fluxes show cyclic fluctuations on a timescale of 55 - 93 days. The X-ray and optical variations also appear to be strongly correlated. The short-term variations are then discussed in $`\mathrm{\S }`$4. Here we examine the short-term changes in the X-ray flux and compare them with similar variations seen in the optical region. Many of the X-ray time sequences appear to have broad flux minima which are repeatable. These features are used as markers in attempting to determine the stellar rotation rate. The time sequences are also searched for the cyclic decreases in X-ray flux which were found in previous data sets. In $`\mathrm{\S }`$5 we discuss the consequences of the observations.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 X-ray Data

The X-ray data were obtained with the RXTE satellite using the Proportional Counter Array (PCA), which detects photons in the 2-30 keV range. A summary of the observations is presented in Table 1. A total of 6 time sequences were obtained, each approximately 27 hours in duration, which is near the expected rotation period of the star. Since a primary goal of the program was to determine the timescale of the long-term X-ray variations, the visits were spaced at progressively increasing time intervals, ranging from 1 week to 5 months.

The PCA data were reduced using standard procedures within the FTOOLS reduction package, as described on the RXTE project Cookbook website111heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/recipes/cook\_book.html. The PCA has been slowly aging over the years. In an effort to decelerate this process the project periodically rests detectors by turning them off. During our observations various combinations of the PCA proportional counter units (“PCUs”), typically three, were operating at any one time and this reduced the effective total count rate from our target correspondingly. More importantly, the energy dependence of the background models for each of the detectors had diverged. In fact, on 2000 May 13, a month before our fifth visit, the propane layer peeled away from the PCU0 unit. This event increased the soft background level for that unit. A revised background model based on new calibrations of this unit was not available at the time of our reductions. Therefore, we reduced the net fluxes of our observations for each PCU separately, and the color information from PCU0 was ignored in our last two data sets. After the initial reductions, the source count rate was adjusted to mimic that expected from a full 5-unit PCA, so that the values could be compared with fluxes obtained during the 1996 and 1998 observing programs.

### 2.2 Optical Observations

Our photometric observations of $`\gamma `$ Cas were obtained over four observing seasons between 1997 September and 2001 February with the T3 0.4 m Automatic Photometric Telescope (APT) at Fairborn Observatory in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona. This APT uses a temperature-stabilized EMI 9924B bi-alkali photomultiplier tube to acquire data through Johnson $`B`$ and $`V`$ filters. The APT is programmed to measure stars in the following sequence, termed a group observation: K, sky, C, V, C, V, C, V, C, sky, K, where $`K`$ is a check star, $`C`$ is the comparison star, and $`V`$ is the program star. We used HD 6210 = HR 297 ($`V`$ = 5.80, $`BV`$ = 0.58, F6 V) as the comparison star and HD 5395 = HR 265 ($`V`$ = 4.63, $`BV`$ = 0.96, G8 IIIb) as the check star for our observations of $`\gamma `$ Cas. Typically two or three group observations were acquired each clear night at intervals of two to three hours. In the fourth observing season (2000-1), up to several dozen group observations were obtained on four nights of more extensive monitoring. To keep coincidence count corrections small for these bright targets, a roughly 3.8 magnitude neutral density filter was used for all integrations during the second through the fourth observing seasons. Integration times were 10 seconds for the check star and $`\gamma `$ Cas and 20 seconds for the comparison star and sky measurements. During the first observing season (1997-98), a 4.8 magnitude neutral-density filter was used for $`\gamma `$ Cas and a 1.2 magnitude filter for everything else. This complicated the reduction of the observations to differential magnitudes for the first season and led to a small zero-point offset relative to subsequent seasons (see below).

Three variable minus comparison and two check minus comparison differential magnitudes in each photometric band were computed for each group observation then averaged to create group-mean differential magnitudes. The group means were corrected for differential extinction with nightly extinction coefficients, transformed to the Johnson system with yearly mean transformation coefficients, and treated as single observations thereafter. The external precision of the group means, based on standard deviations for pairs of constant stars, is typically $``$0.004 mag on good nights with this telescope. Group mean differential magnitudes with internal standard deviations greater than 0.01 mag were discarded to filter observations taken in non-photometric conditions. A total of 921 $`B`$ and 927 $`V`$ group mean differential magnitudes for $`\gamma `$ Cas were obtained over the four observing seasons222The individual Johnson BV photometric observations are available at http://schwab.tsuniv.edu/t3/gammacas/gammacas.html and will be eventually published in full.  Further details of telescope operations and data-reduction procedures can be found in Henry (1995a,b).

## 3 Long-Term Variations

### 3.1 X-rays

The representative X-ray intensity at a given epoch is assumed to be characterized by the mean value of the X-ray flux evaluated over the 27 hour rotation period of the star. This mean value was derived for each of the 6 time sequences in the present study as well as the two observations taken in 1996 and one taken in 1998. The results are presented in Table 1, which shows that the X-rays can vary by a factor of up to 3 in intensity.

A periodogram analysis was carried out on the 9 sample dates and solutions were found at 70.1 days and 84.4 days (see Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo). In both cases the light curve was nearly sinusoidal. While these plots support the view that the X-ray fluxes have a long-term periodicity, the number of samples is insufficient to make a compelling case that the X-ray variations are strictly periodic. In fact, in $`\mathrm{\S }`$3.3, we will introduce optical evidence that these X-ray variations are cyclic with a still unknown mean timescale.

### 3.2 Optical

The time histories of the $`B`$ and $`V`$ intensities for all 4 APT observing seasons are shown in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo, while a summary of the characteristics of these data are given in Table 2. In all cases these time histories show a pronounced sinusoidal variation. A periodogram analysis for each observing season shows a variable period, decreasing from 61 days for the 1997-1998 season to 54 days in the 1998-1999 season and then increasing thereafter, reaching 93 days for the 2000-2001 season (see Table 2).

In addition to the cyclic 55 - 93 day periodicities, there also appears to be significant changes in the average magnitude from one observing season to the next. Since the first season was obtained through different neutral density filters than the following observations, it is not possible to compare the optical fluxes of those data with later seasons. However, data for the last three seasons were obtained with identical instrumental configurations, so these long-term variations are probably real. Such variations are in fact typical of early-type “classical” Be stars (Pavlovski et al. 1997, Moujtahid et al., 2000). Although the reason(s) for the variation are unknown, they are generally thought to be associated with an evolution of the disk structure (Hirata 1983).

In Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo we examine the relation between the $`B`$ and $`V`$ fluxes during the four observing seasons. To facilitate the comparison we have averaged all observations taken during an individual night and converted the fluxes to percentage deviation from the average intensity measured during that observing season. The dashed line in each plot represents the case where the change in $`B`$ equals the change in $`V`$, so there would be no color change associated with the change in intensity. The solid lines represent a linear least squares fit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ against $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$. The slope of this fit is indicated on the plot. In all four observing seasons the slope is less than 1, indicating a greater fluctuation in $`V`$ than in $`B`$. This result is consistent with other observed color variations. For example, Horaguchi et al. (1994) show a strong positive correlation between the (B-V) color and the $`V`$ band intensity of $`\gamma `$ Cas, in which (B-V) increased by 15% during a 45% increase in the $`V`$ band flux between 1960 and 1989.

To see whether the small slopes presented in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo are statistically significant, and not caused by the large uncertainties in the measured values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$, we repeated the analysis using 2 and 3-day averages. The results were nearly identical to those found for the one-day averages. We also performed a statistical test in which we calculated the probability of obtaining the measured slopes from data in which the slope was actually equal to 1. To do this we used a random number generator to create a set of 100 $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ samples with values ranging from -1.5% to 1.5% and for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=\mathrm{\Delta }V`$. A second random number generator was used to add normally distributed uncertainties to the data. The distribution of uncertainties was centered on 0 and had a $`\sigma `$ of 0.3%. A least squares fit was then performed on the synthetic data set and the slope was tabulated. Repeating the process 20,000 times, we were able to empirically establish the probability of obtaining any given slope. The probability distribution was gaussian in shape and was centered at a slope of 0.9 with a FWHM of 0.1. The offset of the centroid slope from the expected value of 1.0 was caused by the large uncertainties in the values of the independent variable ($`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$). When these uncertainties were reduced in the simulation, the center of the probability distribution shifted to 1.0, as expected. From these simulations we find that the probability of measuring a slope of less than 0.8 is only 2.5%, while the probability of a slope less that 0.75 is only 0.07%. Thus, while the distribution obtained during the first season (Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamoa) is compatible with $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=\mathrm{\Delta }V`$, those obtained in other seasons are consistent with $`\mathrm{\Delta }B<\mathrm{\Delta }V`$.

To estimate the uncertainties in the slopes, we determined the rms deviation of the measured points from regression lines having slopes ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 and pivoting around the point $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=\mathrm{\Delta }V=0`$. The derived distribution was a rather flat parabola centered at the slope deduced from the least squares fit. The range of acceptable slopes was taken to be those values where the rms deviation was less than 1.5 times the minimum rms value. This range is indicated in Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo.

Future work by one of us (GWH) will test these results further by extending the photometric monitoring into the near-IR.

### 3.3 Comparing Optical and X-ray Variations

The sinusoidal shape and 75 day period found in the optical data during the 1999-2000 observing season is remarkably similar to the 70 day variations found for the X-ray fluxes (Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo). An obvious question, therefore, is whether the variations in the two wavelength regimes are correlated. Unfortunately, it is not possible to compare the two data sets directly, since only 5 of the 9 X-ray time sequences have simultaneous optical coverage and most of those were obtained during the end of the optical observing season, where the uncertainties in the optical magnitudes were large.

An alternative approach is to determine an empirical model for the optical variations during the last two observing seasons and then compare the X-ray fluxes with the prediction of this model. We know from the period analysis discussed in section $`\mathrm{\S }`$3.2 that the 1999/2000 season has a period of roughly 75 days, while the 2000/2001 period was about 93 days. The optical variations were therefore modeled as a sine wave with a period linearly increasing with time. We also assumed a phase and mean intensity which varied linearly with time, since the overall flux increased between the two seasons. Thus, the assumed light curve had the form:

mV = C1(t) + D sin( C2(t) + 2$`\pi `$ t/C3(t) )

where: Ci(t) = Ai \+ Bit ; (i=1,2,3)

Here Ai, Bi and D are all constants which were manually adjusted to fit the observations and t is the time (in days) from a reference date (HJD=2,451440). To increase the S/N during the fitting process the average $`B`$ magnitudes were scaled to match the $`V`$ magnitudes and the data were averaged into 3 day bins. The resulting fit is shown in Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo and is remarkably good considering the crudeness of the model. The parameters of the fit were:

C2(t) = phase = 0.85$`\pi `$ \- 0.0015$`\pi `$t
C3(t) = period = 65 + 0.027t days

Note that the period is 65 days at the start of the 1999/2000 season and increases to about 79 days at the end of the 2000/2001 season. This is somewhat shorter than was obtained when fitting the individual seasons with a sine curve. The difference is probably due to the relatively large change in phase during an observing season.

We next computed a numerical model for the X-ray light curve by using the values of period and phase which were found for the optical data and adjusting the average intensity (C1) and the amplitude (D) to fit the observed X-ray fluxes. The results, shown in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamob, exhibit a remarkably strong correlation between X-ray and optical fluxes. We note parenthetically that the year-to-year increase in the optical data is not reflected in the X-ray fluxes. This is consistent with the fact that such variations are also commonplace in Be stars without strong X-ray emission (Pavlovski et al., 1997).

## 4 Short-term Variations

### 4.1 General Properties of the X-Ray Flux

In Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo we show the X-ray variations for each of the 6 time sequences taken during the 2000 program. As discussed by SRC98 and RS00, the X-ray flux is composed of two components. The first consists of numerous short duration bursts, termed shots, with lifetimes of $``$10s to several minutes. These are superimposed on a background, or basal emission, which varies on timescales of 30 minutes to $``$ 10 hours. The basal emission can be thought of as the minimum flux at any given time. It was determined by two independent techniques (see RS00). Briefly, the first of these techniques relies upon determining the median flux during time periods (of several minutes duration) when no significant shot events occur and then linearly interpolating between these samples. The second technique attempts to remove the shot events from the time sequence and then takes the average residual flux as the basal component. Both techniques produce similar results, although the second generally leads to a greater variability since groups of shots often merge into apparently longer-term variations.

Our estimates of the basal fluxes are presented in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo. Comparing the different time sequences shows that the character and timescale of the variations can change substantially from one visit to the next. However, some trends can also be detected within the data. For example, visits 1, 2, 3 and 5 are all taken during relatively low-flux epochs, when the average count rate was 60 counts s-1 or less (see Table 1 and Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo). In all cases these time sequences show a wide range of basal fluxes and a rather long timescale for the variations, similar to the behavior seen during the 1996 March observations (SRC98). In every case there was at some point a long-duration flux minimum (marked by a vertical line in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo), which will be discussed in more detail below. During visit 2, when the mean flux was low, there were times when the fluxes dipped to below 15 cts s-1, and the instantaneous X-ray output approached the normal levels for a early-type Be star. On one occasion the hardness ratio (formed from fluxes summed over 7.6 - 12 keV to the integrated 2 - 4.1 keV flux) also dropped significantly over several minutes to a new stable value. In contrast, the time sequences obtained during visits 4 and 6 were obtained during flux maxima, when the average RXTE fluxes were nearly 100 counts s-1. The basal fluxes show much less variation for these epochs, and there is no indication of the broad flux minima.

Variations of the basal flux occur in all of the light curves and last from about 30 minutes to several hours. Details of several representative time sequences are shown in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo. The timescale for these variations are much too small for them to be caused by rotational modulation, and their presence emphasizes the extremely dynamic nature of the X-ray source region. Short-duration events appear to be caused by dramatic increases in the production rate of individual shots. The longer term events often contain periods of several minutes or longer during which the shots temporarily disappear. The enhanced flux levels during this time therefore reflects a rapid evolution of the basal source region itself.

An inspection of the hardness ratios shows to first order that the hardness typically does not vary, even when the integrated net fluxes change by large factors. There are exceptions to this, and there is a statistically significant tendency for the hardness ratios to increase slightly when the net fluxes increase for several hours. There is also a striking case during visit 4 where the hardnesses decreased from an abnormally high value to normal in 20 minutes. These results are in accord with our analysis of the 1996 and 1998 data sets (see SRC98, RS00).

### 4.2 Redetermining the Rotation Period

The broad flux minima seen in visits 1, 2, 3 and 5 are very similar to a feature seen during the 1996 March observations (see SRC98). The duration for this feature is about 7 hours and may therefore be caused by the rotational modulation of a structure on or near the surface of the star, reminiscent of a solar coronal hole. The shape of the time series for this feature appears to be stable for moderately long periods of time, as shown in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo. In this plot we compare 30 minute averages of the time sequences obtained during visits 1 and 3 and assume a 27 hour rotation period. The light curve for visit 3 has been shifted so that the flux minimum matches the minimum seen during visit 1. Comparisons between other time sequences which have the feature show a similar agreement. The stability of the feature suggests that it is formed in a relatively long-lived structure (the feature may simply be masked by enhanced activity from other longitudes on the star during the two visits where it was not apparent) and can therefore be used as a marker from which a rotational period could be deduced. Such markers were used by SRC98, who used the feature in the 1996 March RXTE data together with ASCA satellite data taken 11 days earlier to determine a rotation rate of 1.125 days (27 hours). This is very similar to the period of 1.12277 days derived from UV variations (RS00).

The relative times at the center of the flux minimum for each of the relevant time sequences are given in Table 1; these are referred to the first sequence in 2000 January, However, a simple period analysis shows that there is no unique rotation period which can account for all of these time intervals. This implies that the feature is either dissipating and reforming at new longitudes or that it is drifting in longitude ($`\varphi `$) at a rate which changes with time, so that the longitude at any given moment is given by:

$`\varphi `$(t) = $`\varphi `$(0) + Ctβ

If $`\beta `$ were equal to 1, so that the drift rate were a constant, then the markers would still be periodic except that the measured period would differ from a true rotation period. Using the measured time intervals from Table 1 we find that a suitable set of parameters is given by:

apparent rotation period at to = 25.18 hours
C = 0.241 degrees hour-1
$`\beta `$ = 1.2

We stress that these figures refer only to this set of X-ray data and should not necessarily to be preferred over those fits to earlier data, since we expect that the values of C and $`\beta `$ would vary with time.

### 4.3 A Search for Periodic Decreases in the X-ray Flux

In their analysis of the 54-hour X-ray time sequence obtained in 1998 Nov, RS00 discovered the presence of cyclic decreases (“lulls”) in the X-ray flux which occurred every $``$7.5 hours. These decreases were also found in the 1996 March observations. To check for a persistence of the X-ray lull pattern, we carried out the same analysis on the six data strings obtained in 2000. Surprisingly, with the possible exception of time sequence 5, no evidence for lulls with this period were found the data, as shown in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo. In Fig X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamoa the autocorrelation analysis of the 1998 Nov sequence is shown for reference. Light curves obtained during low flux epochs (visits 1 - 3) showed no indication of periodic lulls. However, some evidence of cyclicity was seen during the high-flux visits, but on a much shorter timescale, i.e., 3.5 hours for visit 4 (Fig X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamob) and 5.8 hours for visit 6 (Fig X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamod). The general indication is that the lull-cycles can develop, last for several months or more, and then disappear. Lull-cycles from these different “episodes” apparently do not have to take on a special value (like 7-hours) as had been tentatively concluded in RS00. We are as yet no closer to a fundamental understanding of this peculiar phenomenon.

### 4.4 Short-Term Variations in the Optical Flux

Most of the APT observations consisted of only 1 or 2 samples per night. However, on 4 nights during the 2000/2001 observing season more intensive observations were carried out, covering 4 hours when the source was near the zenith. The resulting light curves are shown in Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo. Despite the large scatter, it is apparent that there are real variations on the 1 - 3% level which have timescales of several hours (see especially Figure X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamoc). X-ray variations can also occur on these timescales (e.g. Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamob). Unfortunately, none of the extended optical data sets were taken precisely during an RXTE visit, so the short-term X-ray/optical association cannot be examined in detail.

### 4.5  H$`\alpha `$ Variability

During 1928 - 34 and from 1969 to the present the H$`\alpha `$ profile of $`\gamma `$ Cas has been dominated by cyclic variations of the V/R emission ratio (e.g., Doazan et al. 1983). These variations are now widely believed to be due to a dynamical instability in the disk which excites a one-armed density wave which precesses around the star on a timescale of 5 - 7 years. This feature has been imaged interferometrically in H$`\alpha `$ light and has been shown to rotate around the star on this timescale (Berio et al. 1999). During the year 2000 the V/R ratio decreased from a value of about 1.3 to 1.0 (Peters 2001). During this time the equivalent width of the line also decreased by about 3%, continuing a slow downward trend since its gradual ascent to maximum in 1994 (Pollmann 2001).

The original impetus of our 2000 RXTE program was to measure a timescale for X-ray changes in order to determine whether the epochal X-ray flux levels were related to the passage of the one-armed circumstellar feature. This might occur if, for example, the density of the arm affected an interaction between a putative stellar magnetic field and a magnetic field entrained or self-generated in the disk. We can now say (cf. Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo) that there is no evidence for a year-to-year trend in the X-ray flux which could be ascribed to a disk-arm precession cycle.

The discovery of the cyclic variability in the optical continuum leads to the question of whether this cycle is also present in the H$`\alpha `$ data. To help us address this question, K. Bjorkman and A. Miroshnichenko kindly put at our disposal a series of 88 H$`\alpha `$ line profile observations obtained at the Ritter Observatory during an 18 month period from late 1999 to early 2001. Measurement of these data show that there are no apparent cyclic variations in the H$`\alpha `$ equivalent widths (EW) on any timescale, including one near 70 days. The same holds for the shape of the normalized profile, which shows only a steady, long term decrease in the amplitude of the violet peak. However, we note that equivalent widths are defined with reference to the continuum flux. Therefore, the H$`\alpha `$ fluxes should actually have a variation which is similar to that of the optical continuum, provided cyclic EW variations were not lost in the noise. To test whether 3% EW variations were actually detectable in these data we added synthetic sine curves with a 3% amplitude and then analyzed them with a periodogram tool, PDM, in IRAF. The calculation was then repeated with the sine curve starting at different phases. For each of these trials we were able to detect the input signal at about the same, 2$`\sigma `$, level. This implies that an absence of a modulation in the H$`\alpha `$ fluxes, seen as a reflex in the equivalent width data, can be verified. This is a nontrivial point. Since the disk is certainly optically thick in H$`\alpha `$ and thin in the continuum, the two could conceivably show different responses.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 Examining the Binary Accretion Hypothesis

As mentioned in the introduction, it is commonly suggested that the X-rays from $`\gamma `$ Cas originate from mass infall onto a degenerate companion. For years this hypothesis could not be directly tested because no evidence for a companion existed. However, recently Harmanec et al. (2000) have reported, on the basis of periodic velocity variations in the H$`\alpha `$ and He I lines, that $`\gamma `$ Cas is likely to be a binary. Their solution for the velocity curve shows that it is in a moderately eccentric orbit with a period of 203.59 days and its companion has a mass $``$0.5-2 M. The component stars in such a system would be separated by about 0.8 AU.

Standard Bondi-Hoyle accretion theory suggests that the X-ray luminosity from an accreting degenerate companion will vary as $`\rho V_{rel}^3`$, where $`\rho `$ is the local density and $`V_{rel}`$ is the relative velocity between the star and the accreting gas. Since these properties vary with orbital phase, comparing the observed RXTE X-ray flux with expected variations based on the orbital ephemeris provides a clear test of the degenerate companion model. This comparison is done in Fig.X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo. Here the expected X-ray flux was calculated using the formalism for wind accretion onto a degenerate star described by Waters et al. (1989), in conjunction with the Harmanec et al. orbital ephemeris with e=0.26. In this calculation it is assumed that the density varies as r-2 and that the wind has reached its terminal velocity ($`1800`$ km s-1), so that $`V_{rel}`$ does not vary with orbital phase. Even stronger phase variations are expected if the companion is embedded in the stellar Keplarian disk, since the density there varies as r-n, with n=3.3 to 4.5 (Waters et al., 1991). In clear contrast to the results presented in Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo, Fig.X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo shows that the 1996 - 2000 RXTE observations have a random scatter when folded over the Harmanec binary period. We believe that this result argues strongly against the idea that the X-rays originate from the companion.

Recently, Mironishenko and Bjorkman (2002, private comm.) have used new data to confirm the Harmanec et al. orbital period, but suggest that the ellipticity may be small. If this turns out to be the case, then the X-ray variations predicted in Fig X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo would disappear. In this scenario, variable X-ray emission from a companion would require changes in the wind mass loss rate or velocity. While this is conceivable, it it is unclear how or where these wind changes would originate. If the companion were embedded in the disk, then the orbit is likely to have at least a small inclination to the plane of the disk (e.g. Waters et al., 1989). Since Be disks are thin, the star would then be subject to substantial phase-related density and relative velocity variations, with consequent phase related X-ray production, even for a circular orbit.

The current study provides two additional pieces of evidence against the companion as the source of the X-rays. The first involves the simple fact that the period of both the optical and X-ray variations changes with time, contrary to the behavior expected from a stellar companion. The second concerns the strong correlation between the X-ray and optical changes ($`\mathrm{\S }`$3.3). Even if we assumed that the Harmanec et al. (2000) analysis were erroneous and that the star had a companion with a 70 day period, an X-ray source at that distance would be unable to substantially affect the Be star’s optical flux through irradiation. In fact, known high-mass X-ray binary systems with periods near 70 days and X-ray fluxes which are 2 - 4 orders of magnitude larger than those seen in $`\gamma `$ Cas are not associated with any correlated optical variations (Liu, van Paradijs, & van den Heuvel 2000). The idea that the optical variations are caused by reprocessing of the X-rays photons is also contradicted by energy considerations, as shown in $`\mathrm{\S }`$5.2.

Another possibility is that the X-ray flux variations from a mass-accreting degenerate companion are driven by density changes associated with the optical variability (e.g, changes in the inner disk structure - see $`\mathrm{\S }`$5.2). In this case, the changing periods and close correlation of fluxes could conceivably be explained provided the companion were embedded within the disk and the disturbance propagates rapidly from the site of the optical emission near the Be star to the companion. Disturbances can propagate rapidly (at the Alfven velocity), but only along the magnetic field direction, which is primarily azimuthal within the disk (see $`\mathrm{\S }`$5.3). Radially directed disturbances will propagate near the local sound speed, $`c_s`$. For example, in the dynamo discussed in $`\mathrm{\S }`$5.3 the relevant velocity is $`\alpha c_s`$ (Vishniac 2002), where $`\alpha `$ is the effective viscosity and is probably less than one for Be stars (Okazaki 2001). Assuming a mean disk temperature of T=104 K, one finds $`c_s`$ 13 km s-1. Thus, for a system with a separation of 0.8 AU, there would be a phase lag of about 100 days between the optical and X-ray light curves.

### 5.2 The site of optical variations

The strong correlation between the X-ray and optical variations suggests a common origin. It is tempting to postulate that the optical variations arise from the reprocessing of the X-ray photons as they impinge the stellar photosphere. However, simple energetic considerations shows that this is not tenable. The bolometric luminosity of $`\gamma `$ Cas is about 1038 erg s-1 (e.g., Harmanec 2000), and the epochal average X-ray flux according to our RXTE data is in the range 0.4 - 1.1$`\times `$1033 erg s-1. Thus, a 3% variation of the bolometric flux corresponds to an energy input of more than 103 times the observed X-ray energy. Using a Kurucz theoretical LTE spectrum of a star with an effective temperature of 27,000 K and log g=4, we find that the flux contained in the $`B`$ band and longer wavelengths equals $``$4.3% of the bolometric flux. Thus, even if the 3% optical variations are restricted to the $`B`$ and $`V`$ bands, they still involve energies which are 100 times those observed in the X-rays.

If the optical variations are not produced directly by the X-rays, then it is likely that the two are driven by the same engine. One possibility is that the optical variations come from the surface of $`\gamma `$ Cas. In SRC98 we proposed a model in which the X-rays were produced by electron beams directed toward the star. These beams impulsively heat the stellar photosphere (at densities of $`10^{13}10^{14}`$ cm-3) to temperatures near 108 K and produce the shots. The heated material expands rapidly into the overlying magnetic canopy, where it radiates slowly and is responsible for the basal flux (see RS00 for more details). In previous studies we have assumed that all of the beam energy goes into the X-ray emitting plasma. However, it is possible that a significant amount may also heat the stellar photosphere to more moderate temperatures. In addition, the physical processes which result in the electron beams (e.g., Smith & Robinson 1999) may also produce high energy protons, conduction fronts and/or Alfven waves (e.g., Ulmschneider, Priest & Rosner 1991), all of which could heat the stellar atmosphere and account for the optical variations.

One problem with this general scenario is that a heating of the stellar atmosphere necessarily results in a decrease in the $`(BV)`$ color of the star. This is contrary to the observations presented in $`\mathrm{\S }`$3.2, which show an increase in $`(BV)`$ with increasing luminosity during the $``$70 day cycle. A heating also implies that the optical variations should be correlated with greater variations in the ultraviolet. To check this, we have compared the UV continuum fluxes extracted from 14 available high-dispersion large-aperture, LWP-camera observations from the IUE data archive at MAST.333Multi-Mission Archive at Space Telescope Science Institute, in contract to NASA. These fluxes show no credible periodic variations in the near UV to $`\pm 2`$%. A similar exercise for 164 large-aperture SWP-camera observations shows no reliable variations of the rotation averaged far-UV intensity with amplitude greater than about 0.5 percent. Thus, it appears unlikely that the optical flux modulations originate from the stellar surface.

An alternative possibility is that the optical variations arise within the circumstellar disk. This is a commonly invoked explanation for other long-term optical variations seen in Be stars (e.g. Hirata 1983). For example, Horaguchi et al. (1994) document a tight correlation between enhanced V band flux and increased $`(BV)`$ color of $`\gamma `$ Cas during the disk building phase which occurred between 1960 and 1990. The relationship between $`B`$ and $`V`$ reported by Horaguchi et al. is also similar to the results presented in $`\mathrm{\S }`$3.2, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ = 0.76 $`\pm 0.08`$ (Fig. X-ray and Optical Variations in the Classical Be Star $`\gamma `$ Cassiopeia: The Discovery of a Possible Magnetic Dynamo). To understand this behavior we note that the disk, which has a density-averaged temperature of about 10,000 K (Millar et al. 2000), exhibits a progressively increasing contribution to the observed flux with increasing wavelength. It contributes some 0.05% at 1900 Å (Stee 2001), a few percent near 4800 Å, about 20% near 6500 Å (Stee & Bittar, 2000, Horaguchi et al. 1994) and virtually 100% above 2 $`\mu `$m (Waters et al. 2000). Thus, variations in the disk brightness would naturally explain both the increase in $`(BV)`$ color with increasing optical flux and the lack of substantial UV variations. However, it should be pointed out that the observed flux variations are probably not simply the result of mechanical heating through, for example, resistive dissipation of disk turbulence. Assuming a Keplerian disk of mass $`10^9`$ M (Waters et al. 2000), one finds that the total orbital kinetic energy of the disk is only $`10^{38}`$ erg. Thus, the disk does not appear to have enough reserved energy to allow it to power changes in radiative flux, amounting to 1035-36 erg s-1, for more than several minutes. Instead, we assert that the observed energy most likely comes from the stellar radiation field, with the physical processes in the disk simply modulating the amount of energy which is absorbed and released by changing the optical thickness of the disk. This idea will be discussed in more detail in the $`\mathrm{\S }`$5.3.

In our picture the X-ray emission from $`\gamma `$ Cas comes from energy stored within unstable magnetic fields. Long-term changes in the X-ray emission should therefore reflect long-term changes in the magnetic fields. This suggests in turn that the X-ray emission is being driven by a magnetic dynamo. The close agreement between the X-ray and optical variations implies that this dynamo is also the controlling mechanism for the optical variations. A physical processes explaining how this might happen is discussed in the following section.

### 5.3 A Possible Dynamo

Smith and Robinson (1999) suggested that many of the observed X-ray and UV characteristics of $`\gamma `$ Cas could be explained by the dynamical interactions between putative magnetic fields on the star and its disk. While the short-term variations in the basal flux and burst rate ($`\mathrm{\S }`$4.1) can be attributed to an inhomogeneous magnetic structure, the long-term variations ($`\mathrm{\S }`$3) are most likely caused by cyclic changes in the magnetic field strength and/or area coverage on the star or within the disk. We believe that this implies the presence of a magnetic dynamo, as mentioned above, and can think of no other explanation that fits our observations. The site of this dynamo is uncertain. It may occur on the Be star itself. Such a dynamo would be completely different from that operating on late type stars such as the Sun, since a conventional $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$ dynamo requires convective motions, which are not present on $`\gamma `$ Cas. It is possible that Coriolis forces on this rapidly rotating star may substitute for the convection, as suggested by Airapetian (2000). However, the fact remains that $`\gamma `$ Cas is currently the only known Be star which shows this type of X-ray and optical variations, and there is nothing particularly unusual about the star itself other than its not atypical Be character.

The alternative is that the dynamo operates in the circumstellar disk, which is among the densest of all known Be stars (Poeckert & Marlborough 1978, Lamers & Waters 1987, Telting 2000). As described in Balbus and Hawley (1998), a disk dynamo is substantially different from a classical stellar dynamo. In a star, the convective turbulence that is responsible for amplification of an existing seed field (the so-called dynamo $`\alpha `$ effect, not to be confused with the Shakura-Sunyaev viscosity $`\alpha `$, both used in disk accretion studies) is a global stellar property. These motions contain much more energy than the magnetic fields and are therefore unaffected by the growth in the field strength. In a disk, however, the turbulence is produced by the interaction of a seed field (presumably coming from the star) and the Keplerian shear within the disk through the magneto-rotational instability of Balbus & Hawley (1991), which is expected to operate to some extent whenever a magnetic field is embedded in a Keplerian disk (Balbus & Hawley 1998). The result is an interacting system in which turbulence amplifies the magnetic field which, in turn, increases the level of turbulence. Numerical simulations have shown that such a mechanism can produce a self-sustaining dynamo in either cyclic or chaotic forms. The form of the dynamo depends on such physical characteristics as the strength and configuration of the background magnetic field, the density structure of the disk and the conditions at the edge of the disk (see, e.g. Torkelsson & Brandenburg 1994; Brandenburg et al. 1995; Hawley, Gammie & Balbus 1996). Of particular interest to our study are numerical simulations of Brandenburg et al. (1996), which predict a cyclic dynamo with a period of $``$30 times the Keplerian rotation period. If this simulation is applicable to $`\gamma `$ Cas, then the observed 70 day cycle implies that the dynamo is operating in the inner disk, at a radius of about 2.5 R (assuming M=17 M and R = 7 R). This is just slightly outside the Keplerian co-rotation radius, RK = 1.7 R and is near the location where the disk density seems to be highest (Berio et al, 1999).

We suggest that the observed optical variations in $`\gamma `$ Cas are caused by the turbulence generated by the disk dynamo and the effect of that turbulence on the density structure of the disk. To understand this process, we note that the primary source of energy within the disk, including that which powers the optical emissions, is the radiation field of the star. Since the disk is optically thin in the continuum (e.g., Bittar & Stee 2001), the amount of radiation which is absorbed and re-emitted is dependent on the local emission measure, $`n_e^2𝑑V`$. Thus, changes in the density will be reflected as variations in disk brightness. Since the disk is moderately stable over a timescale of years, we stipulate that in the absence of a dynamo there exists a dynamic equilibrium involving the wind, magnetic fields, turbulence, viscosity, etc. which will determine the density structure. As discussed extensively by Balbus & Hawley (1998), the introduction of magnetic turbulence into the disk will result in the outward transfer of angular momentum. This causes a net inward drift of material and a consequent increase in the density of the inner disk, which then increases in brightness. As the magnetic fields decrease later in the dynamo cycle, the turbulence will also decrease, so the disk will evolve back to its original density and brightness.

The energy source for dynamos operating in stellar accretion disks is ultimately the gravitational energy of the accreted material. In contrast, we propose that the dynamo within the decretion disk around $`\gamma `$ Cas operates just above the Keplerian co-rotation radius, RK and is supplied with energy by magnetic fields which connect the disk to the stellar surface. To see why this is necessary, consider that material inside RK must rotate faster than the stellar surface in order to maintain its distance from the star. In the absence of other processes, we expect that magnetic fields tied to the stellar surface will produce a drag on this material and cause it to spiral onto the star, resulting in an inner edge to the disk which is at or near RK. Above RK, these same fields will impart energy and angular momentum to the gas from the star’s rotational reservoir. This action prevents the matter within this region from being lost during the maximum of the dynamo cycle. In this context we note that Berio et al. (1999) find evidence for a density maximum at a radius of about 2.5R. Further, Smith & Robinson (1999) report on drifting spectral features near the Si IV resonance lines which can be interpreted as corotating clouds near 2.5R. This provides evidence for the existence of surface connected magnetic fields at these heights. More evidence comes from Waters et al.(2000), who found that the hydrogen Pfund, Humphreys, Hansen-Strong, lower level 8 and lower level 9 emission line series in the infrared spectrum of $`\gamma `$ Cas all increase in width with decreasing line strength, as expected in a disk where the rotational velocity decreases with height. The maximum width of the lines in these series is in the range $`500650`$ km s-1. From the stellar parameters we have adopted, and assuming an inclination of 46o of the rotational axis to our line of sight (Quirrenbach et al. 1997), we estimate that the Vsin i of a Keplerian disk at the surface of the star is only $``$480 km s-1. Thus, even acknowledging possible errors in our assumed parameters, the large line widths suggest that the inner part of the disk is being forced to corotate with the stellar surface, presumably through the action of interconnecting magnetic fields. If this is true, then adopting a Vsin i of 230-310 km s-1 for the star (e.g., Slettebak, 1982) implies that the forced corotation extends to a height of about 1.6-2.8 R, i.e. near or just above RK.

## 6 Conclusions

In this paper we have described the results of monitoring $`\gamma `$ Cas at both optical and X-ray wavelengths. The graduated spacings in the RXTE/PCA observations have succeeded in defining a timescale for long-term X-ray variations whose existence was merely indicated from previous random shorter-term monitorings. The sequence of rotation-averaged X-ray fluxes conflicts with both the period and amplitude of the modulation expected from conventional Bondi-Hoyle accretion onto the newly discovered binary companion. Since this is the same theory used to predict the X-ray flux level from $`\gamma `$ Cas in binary models (e.g., Kubo et al. 1998), this disagreement poses manifest problems for the binary accretion hypothesis.

The individual X-ray light curves also show “features” which indicate the presence of evolving active centers. Comparison of light curves shows that these structures evolve in time and probably migrate across the stellar surface. Thus, using the X-ray signatures as markers is not a reliable method for determining the star’s true rotation period. It is unclear whether this conclusion affects our earlier determination of the period, mainly from UV markers.

Probably the most surprising result of the study was the discovery of cyclic variations in both the X-rays and optical fluxes. A study of these variation shows that:

* the X-rays and optical fluxes appear to have a strong positive correlation,
* the cycle length changes with time, with observed values ranging from 55 to 93 days,
* the amplitude of the optical variations is greater in the $`V`$ than the $`B`$ band.

In previous papers of this series we have suggested that the X-rays from $`\gamma `$ Cas arise from plasma heated by magnetic instabilities and stresses. The results of the current work indirectly confirms this hypothesis by providing evidence against the binary star hypothesis, which appears to be the only other viable alternative capable of explaining observed X-ray fluxes and temperatures.

The short timescales of X-ray flares (often as short as a few seconds, SRC98) imply that this emission is formed in a relatively high density region, probably the upper photosphere. The location of the basal X-ray component is somewhat more uncertain, though there are indications that it is also produced near the star. However, the properties of the optical variability, particularly the increase in $`(BV)`$ color with increasing flux and the lack of correlated changes in the UV flux, suggest that these are generated within the Be disk and not from a change in photospheric flux. The optical fluctuations contain far too much energy to be caused by the reprocessing of X-rays. In view of this fact we suggest that the correlated X-ray and optical variations are both driven by a cyclical process, which we conjecture is due to a magnetic dynamo, and probably operates within the disk, Such a dynamo would provide a time-modulated mean magnetic field in the disk that drives X-ray activity and is also associated with the production of magnetic turbulence through the Balbus-Hawley instability. This turbulence influences the transport of angular momentum within the disk and will influence the density structure, and therefore the brightness, of the disk. Thus, the control of the X-ray and optical variations arises from two separate but related properties of the dynamo. The study of disk dynamos is still in its infancy. Most studies to date have been specific to accretion disks rather than the decretion disk of Be stars such as $`\gamma `$ Cas. However, at least some ab initio calculations, while specific to special conditions, do show that cyclic disk dynamos are possible and can vary on a timescale comparable to that reported here. Thus, the idea of a disk dynamo on $`\gamma `$ Cas should be pursued.

At this point it is worthwhile summarizing the “big picture” emerging from the series of papers starting with SRC98 concerning the production of anomalous X-rays in $`\gamma `$ Cas. In this picture a highly complex magnetic topology exists on the surface of the star. These fields evolve rapidly and may also migrate across the stellar surface. During times of low X-ray flux the fields appear to be concentrated into 2 or 3 complexes. However, when the X-rays are near maximum the fields are more evenly spread across the disk, and the X-ray flux shows a smaller rotational modulation. A key assumption in our picture is that the star’s magnetic field becomes entrained in the inner part of the ionized, circumstellar disk. This interaction has two consequences. First, the stellar magnetic field causes the production of turbulence within the disk through the Balbus-Hawley instability. This turbulence amplifies and modulates the stellar “seed” field through a disk dynamo. The turbulence also affects the density structure of the inner disk, causing the disk brightness to change. Second, the difference in angular rates of rotation between the star and disk results in the stressing and shearing of the magnetic lines of force. This causes the ejection of high velocity plasmoids (similar to solar “coronal mass ejections,” Smith & Robinson 1999) as well as the generation of high-energy particle beams, some of which are directed toward particular regions on the star. The impact of these beams on the surface results in explosive heating of the ambient plasma to a temperature near 108 K, resulting in the X-ray shots. The rapid expansion and entrapment of this plasma along overlying magnetic field lines results in the longer lived basal X-ray emission, which usually accounts for most of the X-ray flux we observe. Clouds of translucent material also form in these same magnetic complexes and are responsible for periodic absorptions in the UVC flux. The ionization state of particles in various parcels of the star’s radiative wind is also modulated as they “see” these X-ray generating centers (Cranmer, Smith, & Robinson 2000). Altogether, the disk serves as a conduit in which the star’s rotational energy is converted to a time-dependent magnetic field and turbulence. The field is dissipated, in part, by the ejection of plasmoids and particle beams. Note that the optical variations are initiated by the motions set up by the dynamo but are not strictly powered by it.

What are the implications of this picture for this and other stars observed over a period of time? We do not really know whether the production of X-rays through this complicated mechanism scales with the development of the disk or is initiated above some threshold. However, we can speculate that the X-rays of $`\gamma `$ Cas were not present ca. 1937 when the disk was very weak or non-existent. At the time the X-rays were first discovered in late 1975 (Jernigan 1976, Mason et al. 1976), the current disk phase of $`\gamma `$ Cas was already well underway and similar to its present state of development (Horaguchi et al. 1994). Ultimately, and on an unknown timescale, the current disk will dissipate, and so from our picture one anticipates that the X-ray emission will fade as well. Because the engine we outline is complicated and because some X-ray properties of $`\gamma `$ Cas itself are unpredictably (so far) time-dependent, it is unlikely that a $`\gamma `$ Cas analog would show identical characteristics to $`\gamma `$ Cas itself during the times we have observed it. For example, we would be mildly surprised if an analog should exhibit a 70-day modulation, and its X-ray light curve may or may not exhibit a clear rotational modulation at any given time. However, the production of hard X-rays and shots is expected to be a distinguishing characteristic. In this context, we suggest that the X-ray variable source HD 110432 (B0.5 IIIe) might be a suitable candidate for observation. Reporting on BeppoSAX/MECS observations, Torrejon & Orr (2001) have found that this source shows variable X-rays on timescales of 4 hours and (perhaps) a few minutes or less, a Lx = 7$`\times `$1032 erg s-1 (2-10 keV) and, importantly, a hard X-ray spectrum consistent with a temperature of 10.55 keV. From its strong He I $`\lambda `$4471 emission and energy distribution in the UV and optical, it is also clear that the star has a strongly developed disk compared to most other Be stars (Zorec, Ballereau, & Chauville 2000, Moujtahid & Zorec 2000). Moreover, it appears in the same region of the H-R Diagram as $`\gamma `$ Cas, is a rapid rotator (Codina et al. 1996), and may exhibit variability on a rotation timescale in the optical region (Barrera, Mennickent & Vogt 1991). In these ways the two stars appear to be nearly twins. A confirmation of even one more star which shows X-ray characteristics similar to the so-far unique case of $`\gamma `$ Cas would be critical to establishing the range of stellar and disk characteristics responsible for this rare X-ray phenomenology and to testing the plausibility of competing models.

It is our pleasure to thank Karen Bjorkman and Anatoly Miroshnichenko for putting their Ritter Observatory H$`\alpha `$ observations of $`\gamma `$ Cas at our disposal in advance of their formal publication. We also appreciate an H$`\alpha `$ spectrum obtained for us in 2000 by G. Peters. We gratefully acknowledge helpful suggestions by Petr Harmanec and informative theoretical discussions on the disk dynamo problem by S. Owocki, J. Stone, and E. Vishniac. We are also indebted to Philippe Stee for repeating a Bittar-Stee model to predict a disk contribution to integrated UV flux. GWH acknowledges support from NASA grants NCC5-511 and NGC5-96 as well as NSF grant HRD-9706268. RDR and MAS acknowledge support from NASA grant NAG5-11705.

TABLE 1

Summary of RXTE/PCA Observations

| Visit | Date | Date | Duration | Count Rate | Position of |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | (HJD - 2,450,000) | (2000) | (hours) | (counts s-1) | minimum (hr)a |
| 1 | 1562 | 18 Jan | 27.16 | 55 | 0 |
| 2 | 1569 | 25 Jan | 27.17 | 37 | 158.0 |
| 3 | 1587 | 12 Feb | 27.7 | 44 | 589.0 |
| 4 | 1621 | 17 March | 28.4 | 96 |  |
| 5 | 1721 | 25 June | 26.7 | 58 | 3808.9 |
| 6 | 1882 | 03 Dec | 26.4 | 95 |  |

a Time from the minimum measured in visit 1

TABLE 2

Summary of Optical Observationsa

| Photometric | Date Range | Nobs | Period | Ave | Peak-to-Peak |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Band | (HJD-2,450,000) |  | (days) | Mag | Amplitude |
|  |  |  |  |  | (mag) |
| $`B`$ | 0718 - 0856 | 177 | 60.8 $`\pm `$ 1.3 | 1.991 | 0.0142 $`\pm `$ 0.0012 |
| $`V`$ | 0718 - 0856 | 183 | 61.7 $`\pm `$.3 | 2.163 | 0.0156 $`\pm `$ 0.0012 |
| $`B`$ | 1086 - 1225 | 207 | 52.8 $`\pm `$ 0.8 | 2.078 | 0.0086 $`\pm `$ 0.0012 |
| $`V`$ | 1085 - 1225 | 211 | 55.0 $`\pm `$ 0.9 | 2.132 | 0.0089 $`\pm `$ 0.0014 |
| $`B`$ | 1447 - 1590 | 247 | 72.2 $`\pm `$ 1.6 | 2.093 | 0.0154 $`\pm `$ 0.0012 |
| $`V`$ | 1447 - 1590 | 243 | 77.1 $`\pm `$ 1.8 | 2.150 | 0.0174 $`\pm `$ 0.0011 |
| $`B`$ | 1805 - 1956 | 290 | 93.2 $`\pm `$ 3.0 | 2.094 | 0.0172 $`\pm `$ 0.0010 |
| $`V`$ | 1805 - 1956 | 290 | 93.6 $`\pm `$ 2.8 | 2.146 | 0.0200 $`\pm `$ 0.0009 |

a The individual Johnson BV photometric observations are available at
http://schwab.tsuniv.edu/t3/gammacas/gammacas.html