text:
# The difference between Si and Ge(001) surfaces in the initial stages of growth

## Abstract

The initial stages of growth of Ge and Si on the Ge(001) surface are studied and compared to growth on the Si(001) surface. Metastable rows of diluted ad-dimers exist on both surfaces as intermediate stages of epitaxial growth. Unexpectedly, for Ge(001) these rows are found exclusively in the $`310`$ directions, whereas on Si(001) the preferred direction is $`110`$. This qualitative difference between Si and Ge surfaces reflects the subtle difference in the chemistry of these two elements, which has direct consequences for epitaxial growth on these surfaces.

The Si(001) surface is probably the most widely studied semiconductor substrate for understanding the processes which govern epitaxial growth, both experimentally and theoretically. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has revealed a surprising richness of adsorbed structures even in the initial stages of homoepitaxial growth. In recent years growth of Si/Ge alloys and multilayers has received increased attention as such materials find new applications in semiconductor devices. For example, the controlled growth of these materials allows for band gap engineering in which, depending upon the composition, the band gap can be varied between that of Ge and Si. Growth on the Ge(001) surface has received much less attention than that on Si(001) which is surprising since in heterostructures both these surfaces play an equally important role. Probably this lack of attention reflects the general perception that one can derive the properties of the Ge surface from those of the Si surface because the chemistry of Si and Ge is very similar. Indeed Si and Ge(001) surfaces do have the same basic reconstruction and some of the structures formed by adsorbed species are very similar. As we will show in this paper, however, growth on Ge(001) does *not* necessarily follow the same pathway as on Si(001), despite the similarity in chemical bonding. In particular, the so-called “dilute” rows of ad-dimers, which form crucial intermediate structures in the growth process, have a different structure and dynamical behavior. This is caused by the difference in reactivity of the Ge and Si surfaces and it results in a much more ordered growth on the Ge surface.

Similar to Si(001), the basic reconstruction of the Ge(001) surface consists of surface atoms forming dimers which are arranged in rows. At room temperature, adsorbed single Si or Ge atoms are very mobile on the surface and the smallest structures observed are ad-dimers, i.e. bonded pairs of adatoms. Such ad-dimers play a prominent role in the low temperature growth of Ge and Si, and much work has been devoted recently to studying their energetics and their mobility Zandvliet97 ; Zandvliet00 . The basic (metastable) structures of ad-dimers are shown schematically in Fig. 1. Most of these dimer structures prove to be accessible kinetically and they can be observed in STM. From a population analysis one can, in principle, establish their relative energies. However, because of the kinetic barriers involved in the various diffusion processes, it can in practice be very difficult to achieve equilibrium on a surface.

It is also feasible to obtain such energy differences from first principles density functional calculations, simultaneously optimizing both the electronic structure and the geometry Brocks96 ; Calcnote . The calculated total energy differences for Ge/Si ad-dimers on Ge/Si(001) surfaces are given in Table 1. In detail the results depend somewhat upon the computational parameters used Brocks96 ; Calcnote ; Yamasaki96 ; Smith96 ; Khare99 , but the overall trend is unambiguous. If one compares the numbers in Table 1, one observes that the energy ordering is roughly the same in all cases. The $`B`$-type structure on-top of a substrate dimer row is lowest in energy. The “on-top” $`A`$ and “in-between” $`C`$ structures are somewhat higher in energy, the on-top position being slightly more favorable. The “in-between” $`D`$ structure is substantially higher in energy, as are the adatom pairs $`M_1M_1`$ and $`M_1M_2`$. One would conclude that chemical bonding is the same for corresponding structures on the Ge(001) and Si(001) surfaces.

From the similarity of the energy landscapes sampled by diffusing species on these surfaces one would draw a similar conclusion. Diffusion barriers are quite hard to obtain from calculations, since one has to guess complete diffusion paths. Diffusion barriers are more easily obtained from STM experiments by timing the intervals between hopping events and extracting jump rates. For Ge ad-dimers on Ge(001), jump rates at room temperature have been measured for ad-dimers Galea00 . These can be translated into a diffusion barrier of $`0.83`$ eV for diffusion of ad-dimers parallel to the substrate dimer rows (i.e. in the $`1\overline{1}0`$ direction, cf. Fig. 1) and $`0.95`$ eV for diffusion across the rows (in the $`110`$ direction). The corresponding published numbers for diffusion of Si ad-dimers on the Si(001) surface are (in eV): $`0.94\pm 0.09`$ Swarzentruber96  or $`1.09\pm 0.05`$ Borovsky97  (parallel); $`1.36\pm 0.06`$ Borovsky97  (across). The diffusion barriers on Ge(001) are lower, and the anisotropy of the diffusion is smaller. The former can be related to the lower cohesive energy of Ge as compared to Si, the latter can be explained by a subtle difference in surface structures. Whereas the bulk lattice constant of Ge is 4% larger than that of Si, the bond length of the surface dimers is 9% larger. It is then reasonable that the energy landscape for a diffusing ad-dimer on the Ge(001) surface is flatter, since the ad-dimer can more easily bridge the troughs between the substrate dimer rows. That the smaller anisotropy for diffusion can be attributed to the Ge(001) substrate rather than to the ad-dimer is confirmed by the diffusion barriers of a Si ad-dimer on the Ge(001) surface, which are $`0.83\pm 0.05`$, and $`1.0`$ eV for diffusion along and across the substrate dimer rows Zoethout98 . Skipping the quantitative differences, one notices that the relative order of the diffusion barriers in different directions is the same on both surfaces. This indicates a similar energy landscape for the diffusing species, at least with respect to the critical points of that landscape.

The theoretical and experimental evidence presented so far supports the suggestion that Ge(001) behaves similarly to Si(001); ad-dimers have similar structures and energies and their diffusion processes are similar. Since ad-dimers form the nuclei for growth on the surface, it is not unreasonable to suggest that growth on the Ge(001) and Si(001) surfaces proceeds via the same pathway. However, a distinct *difference* emerges in the next step. From STM studies of growth on the Si(001) surface, chain-like structures of ad-dimers in the $`110`$ direction have been identified that are perpendicular to the substrate dimer rows Bedrossian95 ; Vanwingerden97 ; Qin97 . These are shown schematically in Fig. 2. They are observed both for Si on Si(001) as well as for Ge on Si(001) and are termed “dilute dimer rows”. These are generally believed to play an important role as intermediate structures in the growth process Qin97 .

On Ge(001) such dilute dimer rows are *not* observed at all, neither after deposition of Si nor of Ge. Instead the structures which are most frequently observed after low temperature deposition are rows of ad-dimers which are oriented in the $`\left[310\right]`$ direction. Because of symmetry, ad-dimer rows in the $`\left[130\right]`$ direction have the same energy, and “zigzag” rows which consist of $`\left[310\right]`$ segments alternating with $`\left[130\right]`$ segments occur very often, cf. Figs. 2 and 3. In the following we will use the phrase “$`310`$ row” to label all such structures. $`310`$ rows are also observed on Si(001), but gentle annealing of the surface seems to reduce their number in favor of the number of the dilute rows in the $`110`$ direction. This would suggest that on Si(001) the $`110`$ row is thermodynamically more stable, whereas the $`310`$ row is easily accessible kinetically Vanwingerden97 ; Qin97 . On Ge(001) gentle annealing to 400 K renders the segments of a $`310`$ row mobile, but a conversion into a $`110`$ row is never observed Galea00 .

As discussed above it is very difficult to achieve thermal equilibrium on a semiconductor surface. Moreover, annealing can only be done in a very gentle way, since increasing the temperature too much would destroy the absorbed “dilute” structures in favor of epitaxial islands. The stability of dilute dimer rows can be checked by first principles calculations. Table 2 gives the relative energies of dilute dimer rows of Si and Ge on Si(001) and Ge(001) substrates. Listed are the energy differences $`E_{310}E_{110}`$ per adsorbed dimer between the $`310`$ and $`110`$ ad-dimer rows in the geometries shown in Fig. 2. The results are obtained for infinite rows which are compatible with the $`p(4\times 4)`$ symmetry of the surface supercell used in the calculations Calcnote . The energy of a straight $`310`$ row would probably be somewhat lower than that of the zigzag row consisting of alternating $`\left[310\right]`$ and $`\left[130\right]`$ segments shown in Fig. 2, and one would expect the energy of the latter to be an upper bound for “$`310`$”-like rows. Even so, one can draw an unambiguous conclusion. On the Si(001) surface, $`110`$ dilute ad-dimer rows are lowest in energy by 0.2-0.3 eV/ad-dimer, whereas on Ge(001) the oblique or zigzag $`310`$ rows are lowest in energy by 0.1-0.3 eV/ad-dimer. This conclusion holds both for Si and Ge ad-dimer rows, so the most stable structure seems to be dictated by the *surface* rather than by the *adsorbed species*.

In the following we will rationalize these results. The Si(001) and Ge(001) surface structures with lowest energy both have $`c(4\times 2)`$ periodicity corresponding to the arrangement of buckled surface dimers shown schematically in Fig. 2. Adsorption of an ad-dimer row introduces a “domain wall” between two $`c(4\times 2)`$ domains, which can be observed in Fig. 2 by noting that the substrate dimer rows beneath the adsorbed row are forced to be symmetric (non-buckled) Qin98 . This causes strain in the substrate. A $`310`$ ad-dimer row introduces only one symmetric row in the substrate, whereas a $`110`$ ad-dimer row introduces two such symmetric substrate rows. From the induced distortion of the surface geometry one would conclude that $`310`$ ad-dimer rows are more favorable than $`110`$ ad-dimer rows, since the former introduce fewer symmetric dimers and thus less strain in the substrate. On a clean surface, symmetric dimers are also found to be higher in energy than buckled dimers Ramstad95 . Moreover, the energy difference between symmetric and buckled surface dimers is larger on the Ge(001) surface than on the Si(001) surface Krueger95 . Assuming this also holds for surface dimers underneath an adsorbed row, one would expect $`310`$ ad-dimer rows on the Ge(001) surface to be relatively more stable.

We have not yet considered the chemical bonding between substrate and adsorbed dimers. A row of ad-dimers in the $`310`$ structure leaves dangling bonds on the substrate. These are indicated in Fig. 2; simple electron counting would assign one electron per dangling bond. Being (partially) filled states with a high energy, such dangling bonds show up very prominently in a filled state STM image, cf. Fig. 3. In fact, they completely mask the adsorbed dimers in the filled state image. In contrast, a row of ad-dimers in the $`110`$ structure leaves no such dangling bonds. On the basis of simple chemical reasoning one would expect the $`110`$ ad-dimer rows to be more stable than the $`310`$ ad-dimer rows, since the former leads to a smaller number of dangling bonds. Considering the two factors mentioned in this and the previous paragraph, the stability of the $`110`$ versus $`310`$ ad-dimer row structures results from a competition between the penalty for forming dangling bonds on the substrate, which favors the former structure, and the penalty for forming symmetric substrate dimers, which favors the latter structure.

The Si(001) surface shows a strong tendency to minimize the number of dangling bonds on the substrate Brocks93 . On a clean surface the surface dimers are bonded by $`\pi `$-bonds, as well as by $`\sigma `$-bonds. Adsorbed Si/Ge adatoms or single and “dilute” ad-dimers break these $`\pi `$-bonds but leave the $`\sigma `$-bonds intact. If only one atom of a substrate dimer is involved in the bonding to an adsorbed atom, the other atom of that dimer is left with a dangling bond, which is the remnant of the broken $`\pi `$-bond. One expects such a dangling bond to be higher in energy than a $`\pi `$-state and thus be more reactive. This is illustrated by the energy difference between the $`M_1M_2`$ and the $`M_1M_1`$ structures, Table 1, which can roughly be interpreted as the penalty for creating two dangling bonds on the substrate, Fig. 1. This creation energy is 0.26-0.31 eV per pair of dangling bonds on a Si(001) surface, as compared to only 0.17 eV on a Ge(001) surface. Apparently $`\pi `$-bonding is stronger on Si(001) than on Ge(001) Pibond .

An adsorbed $`110`$ row of ad-dimers only leaves dangling bonds on the surface at the end of a row, whereas a $`310`$ row gives rise to two dangling surface bonds per adsorbed dimer. Chemical bonding thus favors adsorption in the $`110`$ direction. On the basis of chemical bonding alone one would estimate the energy difference between the $`310`$ and $`110`$ rows on Si(001) to be $`E(M_1M_2)E(M_1M_1)0.3`$ eV/ad-dimer in favor of the latter. The calculated energy differences of Table 2 for adsorbed rows on Si(001) are smaller, but not by much. This indicates that the strain induced by the $`110`$ row is (at most) $`0.1`$ eV/ad-dimer higher than that induced by the $`310`$ row. A similar strain difference on the Ge(001) surface would already to a large part counteract the small energy difference between $`310`$ and $`110`$ adsorbed rows of $`<0.2`$ eV/ad-dimer calculated on the basis of chemical bonding. In fact, from the calculated energy differences of Table 2 for adsorbed rows on Ge(001) one would conclude that the strain induced by the $`110`$ row is $`0.3`$ eV/ad-dimer higher than that induced by the $`310`$ row. Note that this number compares very well with energy difference between symmetric and buckled dimers on the clean Ge(001) surface Krueger95 . Energetically the strain difference on the Ge(001) surface tips the balance in favor of $`310`$ adsorbed rows as compared to $`110`$ rows.

We speculate that the difference in intermediate structures, $`110`$ vs. $`310`$, found on the Si(001) and Ge(001) surfaces has a substantial influence on the epitaxial growth on these surfaces. The effective binding energy between ad-dimers in a $`110`$ row on the surface can be estimated by $`E_{\mathrm{bond}}=\frac{1}{2}(E_{110}2E_{dim}+E_{\mathrm{surf}}),`$ from the total energies $`E_{110}`$ of the adsorbed row, $`E_{dim}`$ of the adsorbed isolated dimer and $`E_{\mathrm{surf}}`$ of the clean surface, respectively. This estimate gives quite a high binding energy of $`E_{\mathrm{bond}}0.4`$ eV for Si and Ge $`110`$ ad-dimer rows on Si(001) while other rows have a binding energy of $`E_{\mathrm{bond}}0.2`$ eV.

Several mechanisms have been proposed by which a $`110`$ (dilute) ad-dimer row is transformed into an epitaxial structure. The density of dimers in an epitaxial row is twice as high as in a dilute row, so the transformation has to involve the incorporation of additional adatoms or dimers and/or the collapse of part of a dilute row into an epitaxial one Brocks96 ; Vanwingerden97 . In any case the dilute $`110`$ row acts as a growth nucleus and the epitaxial structure is also formed in the $`110`$ direction. The transformation by insertion of adatoms/dimers can take place simultaneously at several positions in the dilute row. If these insertions take place in an uncorrelated way, this can easily lead to so-called “missing dimer” defects Bowler95 , i.e. epitaxial rows in which one or more dimers are missing. Such defects are quite common on the Si(001) surface and are extremely difficult to get rid off, even after careful annealing.

Ge ad-dimers in a $`310`$ row on Ge(001) are much less strongly bound (the calculated effective binding energy is $`E_{\mathrm{bond}}`$ $`0.1`$ eV) and one expects such rows to break up easily. Moreover, even in a $`310`$ row the Ge ad-dimers are quite mobile Galea00 . Therefore we propose that the $`310`$ row imposes less restriction on epitaxial growth on Ge(001) than does the $`110`$ row on Si(001) and that it does not promote the formation of missing dimer defects. The result is that epitaxial growth on the Ge(001) surface can occur almost defect-free and that the Ge(001) surface contains far fewer defects than the Si(001) surface.


format: text

text:
# Current and Future Developments in Deep, Wide–field VLBI Continuum Surveys

## 1. Introduction

In the last few years, great strides have been made towards understanding the nature of the faint sub-mJy and microJy radio source population. Most of these studies have employed connected arrays, such as the VLA e.g. Richards et al. 1998, Richards 2000; MERLIN e.g. Muxlow et al. 1999; ATCA e.g. Norris et al. 2001 and the WSRT e.g. Garrett et al. 2001). These observations typically integrate for many days on relatively small patches of sky, targeting well known “deep field” regions, rich in complimentary observations at sub-mm, mid-IR, near-IR, optical and x-ray wavelengths. Such radio observations reach r.m.s. noise levels $``$ few microJy/beam, encountering source densities of $`1`$ per square arcmin at 1.4 GHz.

Until recently the idea that VLBI observations could detect even one solitary, compact radio source in these narrow, radio-quiet, deep field regions would have been tantamount to a declaration of professional suicide. However, such observations are now possible due to: (i) increasing individual telescope sensitivity coupled with sustained, high data rate recording systems, (ii) the simultaneous employment of both phase-referencing and wide-field imaging techniques, and (iii) the availability of more capable correlators, matched by equally impressive desktop data analysis facilities.

In this paper I will review the current status of deep, wide-field, VLBI continuum imaging - focusing on the technique and the science it enables. I will also look forward to future developments (e.g. $`e`$EVN) – these promise to completely transform our current capabilities, in a way that will open-up entirely new areas of VLBI research. But first I begin with a summary of the properties of the faint, sub-mJy and microJy radio sky.

## 2. Faint Radio Sources

Fig. 1 presents a deep 1.4 GHz WSRT image (Garrett et al. 2000a) of the Hubble Deep Field (HDF – Williams et al. 1996). One of the simplest but most striking observations is the close correspondence between faint WSRT 1.4 GHz detections and ISO $`15\mu `$m detections. In particular, the vast majority of these distant sources that are common to both the WSRT and ISO appear to follow the well-known FIR-radio correlation (Garrett 2002). This FIR-radio correlation was first observed with respect to “normal” star-forming galaxies in the local Universe (e.g. Condon 1992). Its extension to these much more luminous and more distant systems in the HDF (the WSRT/ISO sample has a median redshift of 0.7) is convincing evidence that the majority of the faint radio source population are identified as star forming galaxies with Star Formation Rates (SFR) often well in excess of 100 M/yr. This observation (see Fig. 2) is backed up (Richards et al. 1998, Muxlow et al. 1999) by the measured angular size of the radio sources, their radio morphology/steep radio spectra, and their optical morphology (the latter often showing evidence for galaxy interactions).

A picture is thus developing of a radio sky that literally “lights up” at microJy flux density levels, with the bulk of the radio emission being directly related to massive star-formation i.e. supernovae events and the global acceleration of cosmic ray electrons via propagating shocks that are associated with these events. Note, however, that these conclusions are dominated by the faintest (and most numerous) microJy radio sources, in particular the AGN fraction is observed to increase rapidly at higher (sub-mJy) flux density limits. In addition, there is a significant fraction of these faint radio sources for which little is known, these are the optically faint radio source population – believed to be high redshift galaxies in which the dust content is large enough to completely obscure the IR, optical, uv and even soft x-ray emission. There seems to be a correspondence between this population and the faint SCUBA source population (e.g. Hughes et al. 1998). The latter are now considered to be responsible for the vast bulk of the star formation in the early Universe but their detailed properties remain largely unknown. In particular, it is unclear whether the radio and FIR emission arise via AGN, star formation activity or some combination of both phenomena.

## 3. The role of VLBI

In principle extremely sensitive global VLBI observations have sufficient resolution to distinguish between AGN and starburst activity in these optically faint radio sources. A taste of what may be possible is provided by the recent EVN observations of the Hubble Deep Field.

### 3.1. Deep Field VLBI observations of the HDF

On 12-14 November 1999 the EVN conducted the first pilot VLBI “blank field” observations of the radio sky. The field chosen was the HDF-N – an area that is just about as empty and undistinguished as the radio sky gets. The brightest source in the $`2`$ arcminute radial field of view was an FR-I radio galaxy with a total WSRT 1.4 GHz flux density of $`1.6`$ mJy.

The data were recorded at a rate of 256 Mbits/sec for 32 hours – a sustained capability that is unique to the EVN (and has recently been extended to 512 Mbits/sec). Observing in external phase-reference mode, a total of $`14`$ hours of “on-source” data were collected. With a resolving beam area 1 million times smaller than the WSRT HDF-N observations, the EVN surveyed an area of about 12 square arcminutes. Six HDF-N radio sources were thus targeted simultaneously (using wide-field imaging techniques – see Garrett et al. 1999). The final naturally weighted images have an r.m.s. noise level of $`33\mu `$Jy/beam – much larger than that expected from thermal noise considerations ($`11\mu `$Jy/beam). The images are probably limited by the inclusion of poorly calibrated or completely corrupt data - difficult to identify in this case, and not uncommon with external phase-calibration during observations made at solar maximum.

Nevertheless, the EVN simultaneously detected three radio sources above the $`165\mu `$Jy ($`5\sigma `$) limit, in the inner part of HDF-N region (see Fig 3). These include: VLA J123644+621133 (a $`z=1.013`$, low-luminosity and extremely distant FR-I radio source which is resolved by the EVN into a core plus hot-spots, the latter being associated with the larger scale radio jet), VLA J123642+621331 (a dust enshrouded, optically faint – $`I<25^m`$, $`z=4.424`$ starburst system – Waddington et al. 1999) and the faintest detection, VLA J123646+621404 (a face-on spiral galaxy at $`z=0.96`$ with a total EVN flux density of $`180\mu `$Jy/beam).

The diversity of optical type is interesting but the real surprise is the detection of a radio-loud AGN in the dust obscured, $`z=4.4`$, starburst system. This argues that at least some fraction of the optically faint radio source population harbour hidden AGN (this may be similar to the same obscured population detected by Chandra). These AGN powered systems might be quite difficult to detect with SCUBA, if the dust temperatures are higher than that associated with pure star forming systems. In any case, the detection of this system highlights the use of VLBI as a powerful diagnostic – able to distinguish in principle (via brightness temperature arguments) between radio emission generated by nuclear starbursts and AGN.

## 4. Future Prospects for Deep Field VLBI Studies

The EVN observations of the HDF suggest that deep, wide-field VLBI studies are not only possible, but in principle they can deliver important astronomical results. So far we have only scratched the surface. In a sense, we are just beginning to appreciate the fact, that VLBI has reached a sensitivity level where we can expect to detect many discrete radio sources in a single field of view (irrespective of where you point the telescopes!). This is quite a departure from the traditional VLBI “postage stamp” approach of observing specific, singular targets, often chosen from flux limited catalogues of the very brightest and most compact radio sources in the sky.

### 4.1. Short-term developments

In the short-term continuum VLBI sensitivity is set to continue its steady improvement – three new telescopes are expected to come on-line (including the 64-m Sardinia Radio Telescope, see Grueff these proceedings) and various upgrades are already well advanced (e.g. the replacement of the surface of the Lovell 76-m). Recent EVN test observations have demonstrated that the new 2-head, 512 Mbit/sec data recording system can reach thermally limited r.m.s. noise levels of $`20`$ microJy/beam with (on-source) integration times of only $`2.5`$ hours. There is every reason to believe that much longer observations employing “in-beam” phase-calibration techniques (rather than external phase-calibration) can also attain thermally limited noise levels. For example, currently a 24 hour observation of a carefully selected deep field should attain a r.m.s. noise level of $`7`$ microJy/beam. Similar noise levels can be achieved with a global VLBI array. At these sort of flux density levels, the radio sky becomes so crowded that it makes sense to image out a large fraction of the primary beam of the largest individual antennas in the array. The anticipated introduction of extremely fine spectral resolution and sub-second integration times at the EVN Data Processor at JIVE, will make it possible to do just this. Dozens of faint sub-mJy and microJy radio sources will thus be simultaneously targeted and imaged with milliarcsecond resolution, full uv-coverage and microJy sensitivity.

The “postage stamp” era of VLBI will thus be consigned to the astronomical dust bin, and with it, the current limitations of VLBI to conduct unbiased, general sky surveys. Fig. 4 highlights the type of VLBI, deep field observing philosophy that might be employed. The “in-beam” calibrator is chosen to be bright enough to provide adequate SNR in the phase solutions but not so bright as to impose dynamic range limitations on the surrounding field (see Garrett 2000b for a more detailed explanation).

### 4.2. Longer-term expectations

PC disk-based “recording” systems (e.g. MkV, Whitney 2001 and PC-EVN, Parsley 2001) are expected to replace the aging MkIV and VLBA tape recorders over the next few years. Initially they provide the same level of economy, capacity and recording data rates as current tape based systems but with a much reduced level of maintenance and a much higher level of reliability. In addition, the capacity of these disk-based systems is also expected to increase rapidly, as they take advantage of the continuing commercial development of PCs and their peripheral storage devices. Commercially operated optical fibre networks also appear capable of distributing VLBI data from telescopes to a central correlator in real-time. Tests are already being conducted, both within Europe, the US and between the two continents (see Schilizzi these proceedings & Schilizzi 2002). In any case, the expectation is that VLBI will be able to utilise several GHz of bandwidth on the same time-scale as the EVLA and e-MERLIN begin operation i.e. before the end of the current decade. Employing several GHz of bandwidth has of course implications down the line: a more capable correlator will be required, perhaps not very different to the system now being designed for the EVLA and e-MERLIN. VLBI data acquisition electronics will also need to be completely redesigned, and broad-band receivers must be introduced at telescopes across the network. A new instrument will thus emerge (currently dubbed $`e`$EVN) that will deliver substantial benefits: sub-microJy noise levels and almost full uv-coverage at $`\lambda 6`$ cm (see Fig. 5).

### 4.3. New Deep Field VLBI Science

At these sub-microJy noise levels, it should be possible to begin to detect not only traditional VLBI targets such as low-luminosity AGN, SN (SNR) etc., but also cosmologically distant, nuclear starburst galaxies, such as those now observed (but typically not well resolved) by connected arrays in the Hubble Deep Field. Fig. 6 shows how the radio and sub-mm flux density of Arp 220 changes with redshift. In nuclear starbursts (such as Arp 220) a large fraction of the radio emission is contained within a region of intense star formation, usually less than a kpc across. At cosmological distances 1 kpc corresponds to an angular diameter of $`0.1`$ arcsecond on the sky, a scale size that is ideally suited to a combined $`e`$EVN and e-MERLIN array.

With a star formation rate (SFR) of $`100`$ M/yr, Fig. 6 shows that Arp 220 could in principle be detected by the $`e`$EVN out to cosmologically interesting redshifts. Since many of the galaxies in the HDF have inferred SFR that are more than an order of magnitude larger than Arp 220, the radio structure of galaxies at even earlier epochs may be probed. It is not clear what to expect but the view is expected to be dramatic, as massive star formation (and its violent “radio loud” aftermath – SN, SNR and GRBs) rampages unchecked through still-forming galaxies. A detailed study of the radio structure of such distant systems will probably require the nanoJy sensitivity of a high resolution, next generation radio instrument, such as the Square Km Array (SKA). Deep radio continuum images can tell us how star formation is distributed through a given system, providing clues to the nature of the galaxy formation process itself and the importance of galaxy interactions and mergers, not to mention the inter-relationship between AGN activity and star formation. But in the meantime, the $`e`$EVN with baselines on the scale of several thousand km, GHz of bandwidth, “fantastic” input and output data rates, and of course microJy sensitivity, can make a useful start in this area. The $`e`$EVN will also form a natural test-bed for the SKA, encountering many of the same problems and initial limitations. The next few years promise to be exciting and challenging, for radio astronomy in general but VLBI in particular.

#### Acknowledgments.

Several of the results shown here were made in collaboration with several colleagues. I’d particularly like to acknowledge contributions made by Ger de Bruyn, Simon Garrington and Tom Muxlow. I’d also like to thank the organisers of the meeting for their support, pazienza (particularly with regard to the production of this paper) and the memorable entertainment at the conference dinner!


text:
# Events in the life of a cocoon surrounding a light, collapsar jet

## 1 Introduction

Collimated flows of plasma with velocities close to the speed of light, commonly referred to as relativistic jets, have been discovered in a number of astronomical systems. Objects known or suspected to produce them include: extragalactic radio sources (Begelman, Blandford & Rees 1984); microquasars (Mirabel & Rodriguez 1999); supernovae (Khokhlov et al. 1999); and $`\gamma `$-ray bursts (GRBs). While extragalactic radio sources produce by far the largest and most energetic jets in the Universe, GRBs provide perhaps the most extreme example of relativistic flow that may be collimated, exhibiting speeds of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }100`$ or more (e.g. Waxman, Frail & Kulkarni 1998; Wang, Dai & Lu 2000; Panaitescu & Kumar 2002; Soderberg & Ramirez-Ruiz 2002).
Given the twin requirements of enormous energy $`10^{53}`$ erg and association with star forming regions (see Mészáros 2001 for a recent review), the currently favoured models all involve massive, collapsing stars and their byproducts, especially black holes. A “collapsar” forms when the evolved core of a massive star collapses to a black hole, either by fallback or because the iron core fails to produce an outgoing shock (Woosley 1993; MacFadyen & Woosley 1999). The shocks responsible for producing the $`\gamma `$-rays must arise after the relativistic jet has broken free from the stellar progenitor, whose density is reduced along the rotation axis due to an early phase of accretion111The majority of stellar progenitors, with the exception of some very compact stars, will not collapse entirely during the typical duration of a GRB. A stellar envelope will thus remain to impede the advance of the jet (see Matzner 2002). (MacFadyen & Woosley 1999; Aloy et al. 2000; Wheeler et al. 2000; MacFadyen, Woosley & Heger 2001; Wheeler, Meier & Wilson 2002). While the light, relativistic jet (i.e. light compared to the stellar density) makes its way out of the progenitor star, its rate of advance is slowed down and most of the energy output during that period is deposited into a cocoon or “wastebasket” surrounding it. The jet head propagates at mildly relativistic velocity until it emerges from the edge of the He core into the low density H envelope at $`r_{}10^{11}`$ cm (MacFadyen & Woosley 1999; Mészáros & Rees 2001; Matzner 2002). At this stage (and provided that the density of the H envelope varies steeply with radius; see §3), the head of the jet will advance relativistically, and the cocoon plasma could escape swiftly from the stellar cavity and accelerate in approximately the same way as an impulsive fireball – its energy will be converted via adiabatic expansion into bulk kinetic energy.

Here we describe the evolution and collimation of such cocoon fireballs. We argue that an understanding of the structure and time-dependence of the cocoon plasma can come only through a knowledge of the properties of the stellar material through which it propagates. A cocoon fireball may be stalled while propagating through an extended or a high mass envelope, but could expand freely beyond the stellar cavity of a Helium post-Wolf-Rayet star. We show that even if only a small fraction of the energy in the jet ($``$ 1%) is deposited into the cocoon, it would have enough kinetic energy to substantially alter the structure of the expanding outflow, if not in fact provide much of the observed power. The latter may be true for an observer that lies off-axis to the jet or at early times when the initial jet contribution to the emission is negligible. We examine the physical conditions within the cocoon plasma – namely its confinement, collimation and initial entropy – to determine whether or not this delayed fireball will become matter dominated before it becomes optically thin. We discuss the possible role of cocoon fireballs in producing $`\gamma `$-ray and X-ray transients (both thermal and non-thermal), along with the standard afterglow emission that would originate from the deceleration shock. We suggest that detailed observations of this prompt burst and afterglow emission may provide a potential tool for diagnosing the size of the cocoon cavity and the initial energy to mass ratio $`\eta =(E/Mc^2)`$. It also provides a means for probing the state of the stellar medium through which both the initial jet and cocoon propagate.

## 2 Cocoons: “Wastebaskets” of Relativistic Plasma

The properties of the stellar envelope have a decisive effect on the appearance of a jet propagating through it. The characteristic stellar progenitor structure is that of an evolved massive star, with $`2M_{}`$ Fe core of radius $`10^9`$ cm and a $`8M_{}`$ He core extending out to $`r_{}10^{11}`$ cm (MacFadyen et al. 2001). In some cases, a cool H envelope reaches out to $`10^{13}`$ cm, while in others the envelope has been largely lost. The post-collapse (radiation-dominated) pressure profile out to the edge of the He core drops roughly as $`p_{He}\rho _{He}^{4/3}r^2`$ over some two decades in radius (Mészáros & Rees 2001). Beyond the He core, it drops drastically as $`p_Hr^4`$ since at these distances the pressure profile is still the precollapse one. The precollapse density of the presupernova model A25 of MacFadyen et al. (2001) scales roughly as $`\rho r^3`$, so that the radiation-dominated pressure is $`pr^4`$ (see Mészáros & Rees 2001).

Suppose that a collimated beam has been established. If all the particles in the beam are ultra relativistic, then $`p_j=\frac{1}{3}\rho _jc^2`$ and the sound speed is $`c_sc/\sqrt{3}`$. At a given time, the beam will have evacuated a channel out to some location where it impinges on the stellar envelope222Reconversion into random energy occurs at the end of the channel, which is a natural site for particle acceleration (Colgate 1974; Chevalier 1982; Mészáros & Waxman 2001; Ramirez-Ruiz, MacFadyen & Lazzati 2002). at a “working surface” which itself advances out at speed $`V_h`$ (see Fig. 1a). If the power in the jet, $`L_j`$, is roughly conserved and stationary, then approximating the channel as a cylinder of radius $`r`$, we balance momentum fluxes at the “working surface” to obtain

$$\frac{L_j}{\theta _j^2r^2c}\rho _{\mathrm{env}}V_h^2vV_hc_s,$$
(1)
where $`v`$ is the speed of the beam, $`\rho _{\mathrm{env}}`$, the stellar envelope density, and $`\theta _j`$ the jet opening angle. If the beam consists of relativistic plasma then $`vc`$, and relativistic fluid mechanics must be used (the reader is referred for further details to the generalised formalism developed by Matzner 2002). During propagation in the iron and He cores, the head of the jet will propagate with subrelativistic velocities. The energy supplied by the jet exceeds that imparted to the swept-up stellar material by a factor $`c/V_h1`$. The surplus (or waste) energy must then not accumulate near the “working surface” but be deposited within a cocoon surrounding the jet (Fig. 1; slightly resembling the cocoons that envelop jets of radio sources: see Begelman et al. 1984 and Begelman & Cioffi 1992).

After the jet emerges into the H envelope, the sudden and drastic density drop at the outer edges permits the jet head to accelerate to velocities close to the speed of light ($`V_hc`$). Thus, if it is a general property that the jet becomes relativistic near the boundary of the He core, the outer edge of the H envelope is reached in a crossing time $`r_H/2c\mathrm{\Gamma }_h^2`$ as measured by an observer along the line of sight. For an H envelope density varying as $`\rho _Hr^\beta `$ with $`\beta 3`$ (see §3), the outer edge of the star is reached in a crossing time that may matter little when compare to the He-core traversal time333Many presupernova stars, on the other hand, have density profiles with $`\beta 2`$ (Chevalier 1989). For these stellar progenitors, the jet may be unable to punch through the stellar envelope (Matzner 2002).. The fraction of relativistic plasma injected into the cocoon after $`V_hc`$ will be much reduced (Mészáros & Rees 2001). The amount of energy that accumulated in the cocoon while the jet was advancing subrelativistic is then444A more rigorous estimate of the cocoon energy content, which accounts for both relativistic and non-relativistic jet propagation, can be found in equation 10 of Matzner (2002).

$$E_c=_0^{t_{\mathrm{He}}}L_j(t)𝑑t\frac{r_{}L_j}{\overline{V}_\mathrm{h}}5\times 10^{50}\overline{V}_{\mathrm{h},10}^1r_{,11}L_{j,50}\mathrm{erg},$$
(2)
where $`t_{\mathrm{He}}r_{}/\overline{V_\mathrm{h}}`$ is the He-core traversal time, $`\overline{V_\mathrm{h}}`$, the average speed of the jet head (which is about c/2; Aloy et al. 2000), and we adopt the convention $`Q=10^xQ_x`$, using cgs units. The cocoon expands in the transverse direction with a velocity given by $`V_c(p_c/\rho _{\mathrm{env}})^{1/2}`$. The forces driving the cocoon expansion will be effective so long as $`p_c>p_{\mathrm{env}}`$ (Matzner 2002). The cocoon material could in principle reach pressure equilibrium with the external stellar gas, but this generally would not happen before the jet head has reached the outer layers of the progenitor star. The length of the cocoon region is similar to that of the jet, but its breadth is determined by its transverse velocity. A wide jet would create a near-spherical cavity, but a narrow jet would advance much faster than the transverse expansion of the cocoon (Matzner 2002), so that the cocoon would be “cigar-shaped” (or maybe more like an “hourglass” in the case when the external pressure is a steep function of radius; see Fig. 1c).

At the radii $`r_{}`$ (probably the radius of the He core) where the head of the jet starts to advance relativistically, the volume of the material deposited into the cocoon, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{cav}}`$, is related to both jet and cocoon expansion velocities by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{cav}}(\pi /3)r_{}^3(V_c/V_h)^2`$ (Matzner 2002). At that point in time, the cocoon plasma would itself be able to break out and accelerate. Unlike the jet, this cocoon material does not have a relativistic outward motion, although it has a relativistic internal sound speed (i.e. similar energy to mass ratio). At first an asymmetric bubble (since pressure balance may never be reached if the external pressure falls off much steeper than $`r^3`$) will be inflated which can expand most rapidly along the rotation axis (Fig. 1c) and may eventually escape the stellar progenitor. But it may never expand freely unless it escapes into an exponentially decreasing atmosphere with $`\beta 5`$ (.i.e. bare He star; see §3).

### 2.1 Trapping and collimation

Insofar as the cocoon material and the lower-entropy stellar envelope can be treated as two separate fluids (i.e. diffusion and viscosity can be neglected), it is feasible to estimate the cone angle, $`\theta _c`$, of the expanding plasma. The stellar envelope, which contains the outflow along the axis, has a sufficiently large optical depth $`\tau _{\mathrm{env}}10^{11}`$ that most of the radiation released is trapped, and transported into the cavity by bulk flow rather than diffusing outwards. The optical depth across the cavity is enormous, even if $`\eta `$ is so high that the baryon density is low, because of the thermal pair density ($`T`$ 20 keV), and the radiation is then well enough trapped to justify a fluid treatment. Collective plasma effects and magnetic fields may also reduce the effective mean free path. Unless there is violent entrainment, there would not be much mixing of baryons from the envelope into the cocoon, so that during the build-up its ratio of energy to baryon-rest-mass will be given approximately by $`\eta `$. If the magnetic field contributes significant to the total energy density (i.e. MHD jet) and has a preferred orientation, then the pressure and magnetosonic velocities are of course anisotropic, but the dynamics would be essentially the same as for pure radiation. When the pressure at the outer edges of the cocoon cavity has halved the flow becomes transonic and the cross-sectional area is minimised. In this way a directed nozzle can be established. The channel cross section is proportional to the total power discharge and varies inversely with the pressure at the outer edges of the cocoon cavity (Blandford & Rees 1974). Unfortunately neither the jet thrusts nor the pressures at the outer edges of the cocoon are known well enough to quantitatively predict the dimensions of the nozzle. Beyond the nozzle, however, the external pressure drops steeply, and the cocoon material expands freely in the transverse direction. The flow spreads out over an angle $`\gamma _c^1`$. If its free expansion starts just outside the nozzle, where the Lorentz factor of the cocoon material $`\gamma _c`$ is only $``$ 2, then it will spread over a wide angle and will develop into a roughly semi-spherical blast wave. The cocoon fireball will then expand with $`\gamma _cr/r_{\mathrm{cav}}`$, where $`r_{\mathrm{cav}}\theta _cr_{}`$ is the typical, initial dimension that the fireball would have if it started out spherically.

## 3 The state of Cocoon Fireballs

### 3.1 A brief overview of the fireball model

Before turning to the question of how the kinetic energy of the cocoon plasma is converted to radiation, it is worthwhile to summarise now the essential features of the generic fireball scenario.

In the so-called standard fireball model (see Piran 1999 for a recent review), it is conjectured that the fireball wind, expelled by a central source of dimension $`r_010^510^6`$ cm (notice than in the case of the cocoon fireball, the relativistic plasma is confined to a much extended cavity), accelerates at small radii such that its Lorentz factor grows linearly with radius until the entire fireball energy is converted into kinetic energy at $`\eta r_0`$ (Cavallo & Rees 1978; Goodman 1986; Paczyński 1986; Shemi & Piran 1990). This energy must be converted to radiation in an optically-thin region, as the observed bursts are non-thermal. The radius of transparency of the ejecta is

$$r_\tau =\left(\frac{\sigma _TE_{4\pi }}{4\pi m_pc^2\eta }\right)^{1/2},$$
(3)
where $`E_{4\pi }`$ is the isotropic equivalent energy generated by the central site. The inertia of the swept-up external matter decelerates the shell ejecta significantly by the time it reaches the deceleration radius (Mészáros & Rees 1997; Chevalier & Li 1999):

$$r_\gamma =\left(\frac{(3s)E_{4\pi }}{m_pAc^2\eta ^2}\right)^{1/(3s)},$$
(4)
where the external medium particle density is $`n(r)=Ar^s`$, with $`s=0`$ for a homogeneous medium $`n(r)=n_{\mathrm{ism}}`$, and $`s=2`$ for a wind ejected by the stellar progenitor at a constant speed. Given a certain external baryon density $`n(r)`$, the initial Lorentz factor $`\eta `$ then strongly determines where both internal and external shocks develop (see e.g. Fig. 3 of Ramirez-Ruiz, Merloni & Rees 2001). Changes in $`\eta `$ will modify the dynamics of the shock deceleration and the manifestations of the afterglow emission.

### 3.2 The propagation of cocoon fireballs

The above summary describes the qualitative features of the generic fireball model. While similar scaling laws are also expected for the evolution of the cocoon material, the physical conditions within and around this plasma are different, and so appreciable deviations from the “standard” evolution are thus likely to occur. This variety of propagation effects can substantially modify the emergent radiation, so that important constraints on the nature of the source producing them can be obtained simply by detecting these changes. For this reason, we now turn to consider the cocoon properties in more detail.

Consider a homogeneous fireball of energy $`E_c`$, total mass $`M_c`$ initially confined to a cocoon cavity. Clearly, since $`\tau >1`$, the initial fireball will be an opaque sphere in thermal equilibrium, characterised by a single temperature: $`T_c400gE_{c,52}^{1/4}r_{\mathrm{cav},9}^{3/4}`$ keV in a spherical cocoon cavity, or $`T_c100gE_{c,52}^{1/4}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{cav},30}^{1/4}`$ keV in a “hourglass” cocoon. $`g`$=11/4 for $`T_c>m_ec^2`$ (photons and pairs), and it drops to 1 when $`T_cm_ec^2`$ (only photons).

When the radiation energy dominates the evolution (i.e. $`\eta 1`$), the fluid expands under its own pressure such that its Lorentz factor grows linearly with radius, $`\gamma _cr/r_{\mathrm{cav}}`$. When the fireball has a size of $`r_{\eta _c}=\eta r_{\mathrm{cav}}`$, all the internal energy has been converted into bulk kinetic energy and the matter coasts asymptotically with a constant Lorentz factor $`\eta `$. This is perhaps true for a cocoon propagating into the exponentially decreasing atmosphere of a carbon-oxygen or helium post-Wolf-Rayet star and into the circumstellar environment beyond it, as in curve (a) of Figure 2. When there is a remaining H envelope (with $`\rho _Hr^\beta `$) beyond the He core, the deceleration radius of the cocoon fireball may well be inside the star. The energy required to sweep up an external stellar mass of $`m_{\mathrm{env}}`$ is $`\gamma _c^2m_{\mathrm{env}}c^2`$, where $`\gamma _cr`$ and $`m_{\mathrm{env}}\rho (r)r^3r^{\beta +3}`$. Thus, the cocoon blast wave is undecelerated for $`\beta 5`$. By the same token, the initial relativistic jet will expand freely provided $`\beta 3`$. For a moderately dense H envelope, the cocoon fireball, which starts being decelerated by the stellar matter at $`r<r_\eta `$ (see curve (b) of Fig. 2), emerges from the H envelope with a Lorentz factor $`\gamma _c<\eta `$. For an extended or denser H envelope, corresponding to curve (c) in Figure 2, the cocoon of relativistic material would be stalled before emerging. However, even in this case, the cocoon may have more energy than the binding energy of the envelope, and could give rise to a “hypernova” (Iwamoto et al. 1998; Paczyński 1998; Wang & Wheeler 1998). An accompanying GRB will be present depending on whether or not the jet is also choked.

### 3.3 The role of $`\eta `$

The baryon load build-up in the cocoon reservoir, $`M_cE_c/\eta c^2`$, influences the fireball evolution by increasing the opacity and thus delaying the escape of radiation. The $`e^\pm `$ pair opacity, $`\tau _p`$, decreases exponentially with decreasing local temperature, and falls to unity when $`T_p`$ 20 keV. The matter opacity, $`\tau _b`$, on the other hand, drops as $`r^2`$, and thus the escape temperature may drop far below $`T_p`$ if $`\tau _b>\tau _p=1`$ (Shemi & Piran 1990; Piran 1999). Two critical values for $`\eta `$ determine the order of these transitions:

$$\eta _p=\left(\frac{3\sigma _T^2E_c\sigma T_p^4}{\theta _c^2m_p^2c^4r_{\mathrm{cav}}}\right)^{1/2}10^{10}E_{c,52}^{1/2}r_{\mathrm{cav},9}^{1/2}\theta _{c,0}^1$$
(5)
and

$$\eta _b=\left(\frac{3\sigma _TE_c}{2\theta _c^2m_pc^2r_{\mathrm{cav}}^2}\right)^{1/3}5\times 10^3E_{c,52}^{1/3}r_{\mathrm{cav},9}^{2/3}\theta _{c,0}^{2/3}.$$
(6)
The effect of the baryons is only negligible when $`\eta >\eta _p`$ and the evolution is that of a pure photon-lepton fireball ($`\tau _p=1>\tau _b`$). If $`\eta `$ is less extreme, there are two qualitative changes in the fireball’s mode of propagation. First, the matter opacity becomes important when $`\eta _p>\eta >\eta _b5\times 10^3E_{c,52}^{1/3}r_{\mathrm{cav},9}^{2/3}\theta _{c,0}^{2/3}`$. The comoving temperature, in this case, decreases far below $`T_p`$ before $`\tau =\tau _b`$ reaches unity, yet the fireball continues to be radiation dominated and most of the energy still escapes as radiation. Second, for $`\eta `$ smaller than $`\eta _b`$, the fireball becomes matter dominated before it becomes optically thin, and most of the initial energy its converted into bulk kinetic energy (this is likely to be the common situation for the initial jet fireball; see §3.1). These two modes of propagation will be referred to in the following as radiation dominated and matter dominated, respectively.

## 4 Massive progenitors, stalled cocoons and Fe lines

The properties of the stellar envelope determined in the previous section have an important effect on the appearance of a jet propagating through it. While the details remain uncertain, preliminary calculations suggest that a relativistic jet can be launched along the progenitor rotation axis (MacFadyen & Woosley 1999; Aloy et al. 2000; MacFadyen, Woosley & Heger 2001). One would expect baryon contamination to be the lowest near this axis, because angular momentum flings material away from it and material with low-angular momentum falls into the black hole (Fryer & Heger 2000). The jet would be expected to break free of the H envelope, and in principle lead to a successful GRB, provided the central engine feeding time exceeds the He-core crossing time and that the stellar pressure continues to drops at least as fast as $`p_Hr^4`$. In addition to the stellar pressure required to stall the initial jet, there is another, smaller pressure which can prevent the cocoon material to expand freely. The cocoon fireball will, in general, be easier to confine than the initial jet, for two reasons: first, the fraction of matter with a clear line of sight along the rotation axis will be much reduced (i.e. $`\mathrm{\Omega }_c>\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{funnel}}\mathrm{\Omega }_j`$), and second, the cocoon blast wave may never expand freely for an H envelope density varying as $`\rho _Hr^\beta `$ with $`\beta <5`$.

The energy of the relativistic material that accumulated in the cocoon while the jet was advancing subrelativistically is nevertheless much larger than the binding energy of the H envelope. As soon as the jet penetrates into the low-density envelope beyond $`r_{}`$, the cocoon plasma would itself be able to “break-out” and expand through the envelope along the direction of least resistance, which is likely to be the rotation axis of the stellar progenitor (perhaps further channelled as the jet penetrates further into the envelope). The cocoon fireball, in this scenario, may start to decelerate before it becomes matter dominated. It starts being relativistic during the acceleration stage, but a self similar phase could then begin after enough external material has been collected. In the interim, the Lorentz factor will drop faster than that of a cold fireball propagating through a similar density profile would (Fig. 2). If the H envelope did not exist, then the cocoon fireball would reach the outer edge of this envelope after a few seconds, corresponding to case (a) in Fig. 2, where $`t_{c,H}r_{\mathrm{cav}}/c+r_H/(2c\eta ^2)`$. However, for very extended or slow rotating stars (i.e. denser cores), the cocoon material would generally carry less energy and inertia than the stellar envelope; it would then take up to a few hours for it to reach the outer surface of the star as it expands subrelativistically with a velocity of the order of $`V_cc(E_c/M_{\mathrm{env}}c^2)^{1/2}10^9(M_{\mathrm{env}}/M_{})^{1/2}`$ cm s-1 (the case of an ultimately choked cocoon).

As it expands relativistically (but notice that, as argued above, for very extended or slow rotating stars the cocoon material may be stalled prior to the acceleration of the fireball to relativistic velocities), the cocoon fluid cools with $`T(r/r_{\mathrm{cav}})^1`$. The coasting photons, whose local energy is $`T`$ are blue shifted. An observer detects them with a temperature of $`T_{\mathrm{obs}}\gamma _c(r)T(r)`$. Seeing that $`Tr^1`$ and $`\gamma _cr`$, we find that during the acceleration stage $`T_{\mathrm{obs}}T_c`$, where

$$T_c\{\begin{array}{cc}70r_{,11}^{5/8}L_{j,50}^{1/8}(\frac{M_{\mathrm{env}}}{M_{}})^{1/4}\mathrm{keV}\hfill & (\mathrm{spherical})\hfill \\ & \\ 34r_{,11}^{1/2}L_{j,50}^{1/4}V_{c,9}^{1/2}\mathrm{keV}\hfill & (\mathrm{hourglass})\hfill \end{array}$$
(7)
is the initial black-body temperature of the opaque, cocoon cavity. These photons would escape freely after the expanding fireball becomes optically thin, which is likely to occur at some distance from the stellar surface and thus $`T_{\mathrm{obs}}T_c`$. The escape temperature may drop far below $`\gamma _c(r)T_p`$ if condition $`\eta >\eta _b`$ is not satisfied or if the deceleration of the fireball takes place before the radius of transparency (but it is always $`4000\gamma _c(r)`$ K, the recombination temperature). A similar diagram to Fig. 2 can be drawn for $`T_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ as a function of radius (see Fig. 3).

In the case of a successful break-through of the jet, a strongly decelerated, cocoon fireball could result in a potentially interesting and observable phenomenon. Not only would a conventional “long” GRB be detectable, followed by a standard afterglow, but also there would be, after some seconds or up to a day, a secondary, almost thermal (see Goodman 1986) brightening , caused by the cocoon photospheric emission containing $`10^{50}`$ erg . The observed duration of this emission would be of the order of $`r_{\tau _c}/(c\gamma _c^2)`$ a few hours for a cocoon expanding at mildly relativistic velocities (case (b) in Fig. 3). A choked cocoon will, however, expand more or less isotropically through the rest of the envelope, causing its disruption. This would then appear, after the disrupted envelope becomes optically thin, as a type II supernova (or a type Ib/c if there is a significant injection of radioactive material). Some evidence for supernova-type emission has been found in: GRB 980326 (Bloom et al. 1999); GRB 970228 (Reichart 1999); GRB 990712 (Björnsson et al. 2001); GRB 000911 (Lazzati et al. 2001); GRB 011121 (Bloom et al. 2002; Dado et al. 2002; Garnavich et al. 2002). The decelerating external shock of a cocoon fireball may produce a significant absorption edge in the cooled shocked ejecta, so long as cooling is faster than adiabatic losses and protons are well coupled to the electrons. Absorption edges can also arise from cooler, denser material or filaments in pressure equilibrium with the shocked envelope ejecta (Mészáros & Rees 1998).

It is, of course possible that the initial jet is a magnetically confined configuration, whose collimation properties are unaffected by the distribution of the external matter. In this case, the cocoon cavity would still have a dynamically-important magnetic field strength. If the field were tangled, continuing reconnection processes may lead to acceleration of non-thermal electrons. It is therefore plausible that a substantial fraction of the energy stored in the cocoon cavity could be released, via magnetic dissipation, in a non-thermal $``$ UV/X-ray continuum with $`LE_c/t_{c,H}10^{47}`$ erg s-1. A magnetic field of $`10^5`$ G could confine clumps of gas with densities up to $`n10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, even at keV temperatures. Such clumps would be optically thick and could reprocess a non thermal UV/X-ray continuum arising from within the dilute plasma between them (as envisaged by Mészáros & Rees 2001) and (in the absence of both entrainment and substantial $`e^\pm `$ pair production) may also excite Fe-line emission. If the UV/X-ray continuum can maintain a ionization parameter $`\xi =L_x/(nr^2)`$ of the order of $`10^310^4`$, a modestly supersolar Fe mass fraction could yield a recombination line luminosity comparable to the one observed in GRB 991216 (Piro et al. 2000; Ballantyne & Ramirez-Ruiz 2001; Vietri et al. 2001; McLaughlin et al. 2002; Ballantyne et al. 2002; Kallman, Mészáros & Rees 2002).

## 5 Compact progenitors, GRB precursors, and afterglow signatures

A relativistic cocoon fireball is likely to escape if the star loses its hydrogen envelope before collapsing (MacFadyen & Woosley 1999; Aloy et al. 2000; Wheeler et al. 2000; MacFadyen et al. 2001; Matzner 2002). This is expected for example in stars with high radiative mass-loss (e.g. Ramirez-Ruiz et al. 2001). The fireball cocoon will then emerge from the He core into an exponentially decreasing atmosphere and into the rarified circumstellar environment beyond it, where it acquires the limiting bulk Lorentz factor $`\gamma _c\eta `$, unless of course, $`\eta >\eta _b`$. In this later case, the cocoon plasma continues to be radiation dominated when it becomes optical thin. At this stage, the baryons will switch immediately to a coasting phase with $`\gamma _cr_{\tau _c}/r_{\mathrm{cav}}`$ (where $`r_{\tau _c}<r_\eta `$) and most of the energy escapes as photons. As follows from the previous discussion, an observer will detect them with a temperature of $`T_{\mathrm{obs}}\gamma _cT`$. Thus the observed thermal peak frequency would be in the BATSE \[20-600\] keV spectral window (see equation 7) for compact He envelopes $`r_{}10^{11}`$ cm (the outer edge of the He core varies with initial mass, roughly as $`r_{}10^{11}(M_i/35M_{})^2`$; Woosley, Langer & Weaver 1993) . For extended He envelopes ($`r_{}10^{12}`$ cm), however, the thermal emission could be detectable with instruments like Ginga and the BeppoSAX wide field cameras. The time delay between the cocoon photospheric emission and the start of the main burst is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\gamma r_{\mathrm{cav}}/(2c)+r_{\tau _c}/(2c\eta ^2)\mathrm{max}[r_{\tau _j},r_{\mathrm{int}}]/(2c\eta ^2)`$, where $`r_{\mathrm{int}}`$ is the radius of internal shocks in the jet fireball. The thermal signal emerging from a cocoon fireball with $`\eta _p>\eta >\eta _b`$ will most likely appear as a transient signal at the beginning of the main burst since $`|\mathrm{\Delta }t_\gamma |0.1`$ s. In contrast to the main burst, this signal would only last for $`r_{\mathrm{cav}}/c0.1`$ seconds. Such thermal precursors may have indeed been observed by Ginga (Murakami et al. 1991). For compact stellar cocoons ($`r_{\mathrm{cav}}<10^{10}`$ cm), however, this thermal signal could be very short lived and may be difficult to disentangle from the internal shock emission.

The cocoon fireball will strongly modify the usual properties of the standard internal shocks and the afterglow emission when $`\eta <\eta _b`$ (i.e. the cocoon fireball becomes matter dominated). The total energy available in the cocoon afterglow is essentially, the kinetic energy of the relativistic wind deposited during the He-core traversal time, here estimated to be $`7r_{,11}`$ seconds, minus the fraction dissipated (and converted into prompt $`\gamma `$-rays) in internal shocks. The size of the stellar cavity and the initial Lorentz factor $`\eta `$, along with the jet lifetime, strongly determine whether or not the cocoon fireball would carry less energy and inertia than the relativistic jet itself. For $`E_{4\pi ,c}>E_{4\pi ,j}`$, the main afterglow will be dominated by the deceleration of the cocoon fireball (this scenario is likely to occur when the source lifetime is of the order of the He-core traversal time, so that the energy carried by the initial jet is much less than that accumulated in the cocoon). An interesting consequence of this scenario is that if the observer lies off-axis to the jet, there could be a large fraction of detectable afterglows for which no $`\gamma `$-ray event is detected (commonly referred to as“burstless” or “orphan” afterglows; see Mészáros, Rees & Wijers 1998). The initial jet starts being decelerated by the external medium at a smaller radius, so that the cocoon material always overtakes it and sweeps the jet material. This collision would be an important contribution to the observed afterglow at early times ($`\frac{r_{\gamma _j}}{2c\eta ^2}<\frac{r_{\gamma _c}}{2c\eta ^2}`$), when the afterglow emission produced by the jet fireball dominates. The afterglow shock may experience, after starting out in the canonical manner, a “resurgence” similar to the shock refreshment produced by the delayed energy injection of a long-lived central engine (see Panaitescu, Mészáros & Rees 1998 for the case of GRB 970508).

If the jet produced by the accretion maintains its energy for much longer than it takes the jet to reach the surface of the H envelope, or is very highly collimated, the initial jet is likely to be more energetic than the cocoon material (i.e. $`E_j>E_c`$, and since entrainment may dominate in the initial fireball $`E_{4\pi ,j}=\frac{4\pi E_j}{\mathrm{\Omega }_j}>E_{4\pi ,c}=\frac{4\pi E_c}{\mathrm{\Omega }_c}`$). Figure 4 shows the evolution of both jet and cocoon fireballs for this matter dominated case. The adiabatic fireball evolution (thick solid line) was computed using a similar numerical method to the one developed by Kobayashi, Sari & Piran (1999). The main afterglow will be produced by the slowing down of the jet as in the usual case, however, the emission at early stages would be caused by the deceleration of the cocoon fireball. Figure 5 shows the contribution of the cocoon afterglow radiation at low frequency and at early times when the initial jet contribution to the emission is negligible. If the external medium is homogeneous the sub-millimiter afterglow produced by the jet should rise slowly at times between a few hours and one day, while for the cocoon material the emission should fall steeply after this. Therefore observations made at sub-millimiter frequencies with the SCUBA (James Clerk Maxwell Telescope) or with MAMBO (IRAM telescope) instruments would be very powerful in determining if the early afterglow is dominated by the cocoon fireball emission.

There could also be additional precursor signatures which are not associated with the ejecta blast wave, but with the dynamics of the fireball at the coasting phase. The $`\gamma `$-ray (i.e internal shocks) signal emerging from the cocoon fireball would precede by $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\mathrm{\Gamma }\frac{r_{\tau _j}}{2c\eta ^2}`$ a few seconds that produced by the initial relativistic wind (provided that $`E_{4\pi ,j}>E_{4\pi ,c}`$ and $`\frac{r_{\tau _j}}{2c\eta ^2}>r_{\mathrm{cav}}/c`$). The observed variability time scale of this prompt gamma-ray emission is related to the typical size of the shocked plasma region containing the photon field: $`\mathrm{\Delta }r_{\mathrm{cav}}`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }r/\gamma ^2`$ for $`r>\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma ^2`$. For compact stellar cocoons (i.e. $`r_{}<10^{11}`$ cm), the expected delay between the cocoon precursor and the main pulse, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, would be proportional to the total initial jet energy: $`E_{4\pi ,j}`$. It will then simply reflect a correlation between the burst strength and the time elapsed since the previous emission episode, similar to what is observed in GRB lightcurves (Ramirez-Ruiz & Merloni 2001).

## 6 Discussion

We have discussed, in the context of a collapsar model of gamma-ray bursts (which are normally assumed to occur in shocks taking effect after the relativistic jet has broken free from the stellar envelope), the dynamics and evolution of the relativistic plasma surrounding a light, relativistic jet. As the jet makes its way out of the stellar envelope, most of its energy output during that period goes into a cocoon of relativistic plasma. This material subsequently escapes along the direction of least resistance. Provided that the density along the H envelope vary monotonically with radius as $`\rho _Hr^\beta `$, the properties of the cocoon plasma would be similar to those argued in §3. A collimated cocoon moving into a region with $`\beta 5`$ (i.e. no H envelope) will become overpressured relative to its surroundings, and thereafter expands freely. If the relativistic jet carries less energy and inertia than the cocoon plasma itself ($`\frac{4\pi E_c}{\mathrm{\Omega }_c}>\frac{4\pi E_j}{\mathrm{\Omega }_j}`$), it will start to decelerate at a smaller radius than the collimated cocoon fireball, so that the latter would overtake it. In this case, the afterglow would be dominated by the emission of the cocoon material, which is likely to be ejected at larger angles relative to the observer than those from the jet itself. On the other hand, if the jet produced by the accretion maintains its energy for much longer than it takes the jet head to reach the surface of the He envelope, the relativistic jet is likely to contain substantially more energy than the off-axis cocoon material (since $`\mathrm{\Omega }_j\mathrm{\Omega }_c`$), so that it dominates the flux after expanding for a longer time than the initially observed off-axis region.

Additional effects are expected when the cocoon fireball material becomes optically thin. Shock waves within the plasma can contribute with a short-lived ($``$ few seconds) non-thermal $`\gamma `$/X-ray transient for a cocoon propagating inside a compact post-Wolf-Rayet star (and so long as $`\eta <\eta _b5\times 10^3E_{c,52}^{1/3}r_{\mathrm{cav},9}^{2/3}\theta _{c,0}^{2/3}`$; see §3). For very extended or slow rotating stars, a long lasting (few hours to a day) UV/X-ray (almost) thermal pulse, whose total energy may be a few percent of the total burst energy, is likely to appear. If magnetic dissipation within this plasma is important, it is also possible that a substantial fraction of the energy stored in the cocoon can contribute a non-thermal UV/X-ray afterglow, and also excite Fe line emission from the envelope gas. The detection of these prompt multi-wavelength signatures would be a test of the collapsar model; and the precise measurement of the time delay between emissions may help constrain the dimensions and properties of the H envelope, the size of the cocoon cavity, the initial dimensionless entropy of the jet, $`\eta `$, and the radius of the emitting region. The processes discussed here suggest that if GRBs are the outcome of the collapse of massive stars involving a relativistic fireball jet, bursts and afterglows may have a more complex spectra and time-structure than those alluded to the “standard” model.

## Acknowledgements

It is a pleasure to acknowledge many helpful conversations with Roger Blandford and Peter Mészaŕos. We thank the referee Chris Matzner for numerous insightful comments and suggestions. This research has been supported by CONACYT, SEP, ORS foundation, the Royal Society, and the Italian MUIR.


text:
# Dislocation jamming and Andrade creep

## Abstract

We simulate the glide motion of an assembly of interacting dislocations under the action of an external shear stress and show that the associated plastic creep relaxation follows Andrade’s law. Our results indicate that Andrade creep in plastically deforming crystals involves the correlated motion of dislocation structures near a dynamic transition separating a flowing from a jammed phase. Simulations in presence of dislocation multiplication and noise confirm the robustness of this finding and highlight the importance of metastable structure formation for the relaxation process.

Andrade reported in 1910 that the creep deformation of soft metals at constant temperature and stress grows in time according to a power law with exponent $`1/3`$, i.e. $`\gamma t^{1/3}`$ where $`\gamma `$ is the global strain of the material Andrade10 . More generally, the creep deformation curve usually follows the relation $`\gamma =\gamma _0+\beta t^{1/3}+\kappa t`$, where $`\gamma _0`$ is the instantaneous plastic strain, $`\beta t^{1/3}`$ is Andrade creep, and $`\kappa t`$ is referred to as linear creep Friedel ; Cottrell . This same behavior has since been observed in many materials with rather different structures leading to the conclusion that this should be a process determined by quite general principles, independent of most material specific properties. In crystalline materials, Andrade’s and linear creep find their microscopic origin in the dynamics of dislocations, the topological defects responsible for their plastic deformation Friedel ; Cottrell ; Hirth92 . Plastic flow only occurs when the externally applied stress overcomes a threshold value, the yield stress of the material, such that large-scale dislocation motion may take place. Despite various arguments proposed within the dislocation literature Friedel ; Cottrell ; Mott53 ; Cottrell96 ; Nabarro97 , there is no general consensus on the basic mechanism to explain Andrade’s law. Mott Mott53  attributed the power law to an athermal cooperative process taking place close to the yield stress, but his idea was not worked out. Later explanations have always focused on thermally activated processes Cottrell96 ; Nabarro97  and rely on assumptions that may not be fully warranted disdep .

Under the action of external stress, dislocations tend to glide cooperatively due to their mutual long-range elastic interactions, which can be attractive or repulsive. The anisotropic character of dislocation-dislocation interactions contributes at the same time to the formation of spatial dislocation structures observed in transmission electron micrographs of plastically deformed metals Hahner98 . As a result of these peculiar interactions, self-induced constraints build up in the system and the motion of dislocations may eventually cease. Small variations of the external loading, the density, or the dislocation distribution can, however, enhance dislocation motion in a discontinuous manner. This gives rise to rather complex and heterogeneous spatio-temporal patterns of plastic flow, which have been observed experimentally in the form of slip lines and slip bands emerging on the surface of metals Becker32 ; Bengus67 ; NEU-83  or in the acoustic emission activity of ice crystals Miguel01 . Other processes commonly taking place in plastically deforming crystals such as hardening, fatigue, or plastic instabilities ANA-99 ; DAN-00 , are further consequences of the dislocations intriguing behavior.

In this Letter, we study the temporal relaxation of a relatively simple dislocation dynamics model through numerical simulation. In particular, we consider the behavior of parallel straight edge dislocations moving in a single slip system under the action of constant stress. We show that the model gives rise to Andrade-like creep at short and intermediate times for a wide range of applied stresses, without invoking thermally activated processes. At larger times the strain-rate, which is proportional to the density of mobile dislocations, crosses over to a linear creep regime (steady rate of deformation), whenever the applied stress is larger than a critical threshold $`\sigma _c`$, or decays exponentially to zero. These results suggest that a possible interpretation of the creep laws could be found within the general scenario wrapping a dynamic phase transition from a flowing to a jammed dislocation phase. The “jamming” scenario has been recently proposed Liu  to understand a broad class of non-equilibrium physical systems (granular media, colloids, supercooled liquids, foams) which, in spite of their differences, exhibit common properties such as slow dynamics and scaling features near the jamming threshold. When jammed, these systems are unable to explore phase space, but they can be unjammed by changing the stress, the density, or the temperature. To further explore the analogies of dislocation motion and these so-called jammed systems, we consider the influence of dislocation multiplication, due for instance to the activation of Frank-Read sources Friedel ; Cottrell ; Hirth92  during the deformation process, and thermal-like fluctuations on the dynamics of the dislocations. Dislocation multiplication favors the rearrangements of the system and induces a linear creep regime (flowing phase) at lower stress values, but it does not affect the initial power-law creep. The introduction of a finite effective temperature $`T`$ has a similar effect.

We consider a two-dimensional (2d) model representing a cross section of a single-slip oriented crystal where $`N`$ point-like edge dislocations glide in the $`xy`$ plane along directions parallel to the $`x`$ axis. Dislocations with positive and negative Burgers vectors (the topological charge characterizing a dislocation) $`𝐛_n=\pm b\widehat{x}`$ are assumed to be present in equal numbers, and the initial number of dislocations is the same in every realization. Several $`2d`$-models containing similar basic ingredients have been proposed in the literature in the last few years Kubin87 ; Amodeo90 ; Groma93 ; Miguel01 . An important feature common to these models is that dislocations interact with each other through the long-range elastic stress field they produce in the host material. An edge dislocation with Burgers vector $`b\widehat{x}`$ located at the origin gives rise to a shear stress $`\sigma ^s`$ at a point $`𝐫=(x,y)`$ of the form Friedel ; Cottrell ; Hirth92

$$\sigma ^s(𝐫)=D\frac{x(x^2y^2)}{(x^2+y^2)^2},$$
(1)
where $`D=\mu /2\pi (1\nu )`$ is a coefficient involving the shear modulus $`\mu `$ and the Poisson ratio $`\nu `$ of the material. We further assume an overdamped dynamics in which the dislocation velocities are linearly proportional to the local forces. Accordingly, the velocity of the $`n`$th dislocation along the glide direction, if an external shear stress $`\sigma `$ is also applied, is given by

$$\frac{\chi _\mathrm{d}^1v_n}{b}=b_n(\underset{mn}{}\sigma ^s(𝐫_{nm})+\sigma ),$$
(2)
where $`\chi _\mathrm{d}`$ is the effective mobility of the dislocations note  ($`\chi _\mathrm{d}^1/b`$ the effective friction per unit length) and $`𝐫_{nm}\stackrel{}{r}_n\stackrel{}{r}_m`$ the relative position vector of dislocations $`n`$ and $`m`$. Periodic boundary conditions are imposed in the direction of motion (i.e. the $`x`$ axis). In order to take correctly into account the long range nature of the elastic interactions (Eq. 1), we sum the stress over an infinite number of images. This sum can be performed exactly and the results are reported in Ref. Hirth92 . When the distance between two dislocations is of the order of a few Burgers vectors, linear elasticity theory (i.e. Eq .(1)) breaks down. In these instances, phenomenological nonlinear reactions, such as the annihilation of a pair of dislocations, describe more accurately the real behavior of dislocations in a crystal Kubin87 ; Amodeo90 ; Groma93 ; Miguel01 . In our model, we annihilate a pair of dislocations with opposite Burgers vectors when the distance between them is shorter than $`y_\mathrm{e}`$ (for Cu, $`y_\mathrm{e}1.6`$nm Essma79 ). In the following, we measure all lengths in units of $`y_\mathrm{e}`$, time in units of $`t_o=y_\mathrm{e}^2/(\chi Db^3)`$, and stresses in units of $`Db/y_\mathrm{e}`$.

To analyze creep relaxation, we integrate numerically the $`N`$ coupled equations using an adaptive step size fifth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. Simulations start from a configuration of $`N_0`$ dislocations randomly placed on a square cell of size $`L`$. We have considered two different box sizes $`L=100y_\mathrm{e}`$, and $`L=300y_\mathrm{e}`$, with initial numbers of dislocations $`N_0=400`$, and $`N_0=1500`$, respectively. We first relax the system until it reaches a metastable arrangement, where the remaining dislocation density is around $`1`$%. Next we apply an external shear stress and let the system evolve. The results are typically averaged over several (100-400) random initial configurations.

In Fig. 1 we report the plastic strain rate of the material, defined as $`d\gamma /dt_ib_iv_i`$, for different values of the applied stress. The strain rate decays as a power law, with an exponent close to $`2/3`$, in agreement with Andrade’s law. For high stresses the power law relaxation is followed by a plateau indicating the onset of a linear creep regime. The crossover time increases as the stress decreases, and for stresses lower than $`\sigma 0.00750.01`$ the plateau disappears and the creep decays exponentially to zero. In Fig. 2 we display the steady-state strain rate as a function of stress. This plot suggests the presence of a non-equilibrium phase transition between a moving and a jammed stationary state controlled by the applied stress. Using $`\sigma _c=0.0075`$, we find $`d\gamma /dt(\sigma \sigma _c)^\beta `$ with $`\beta =1.8\pm 0.1`$.

From our model and the analysis of our data, we propose a new explanation of Andrade creep. In the course of time, most dislocations tend to arrange themselves into metastable structures. These structures often consist of small-angle dislocation boundaries separating slightly misoriented crystalline blocks, whose stress fields are screened on large length-scales, of dislocation dipoles, or of far more complex dislocation arrangements Miguel01 . The stress field generated by a fraction of the dislocations in these metastable configurations conserves, however, the initial long-range character, and this enforces the continuation of the relaxation process. If the applied stress is close to the critical threshold, dislocations rearrange in a correlated and intermittent manner Miguel01  exploring further configurations, yielding Andrade law as the average result. Above the critical stress, the system eventually enters a linear creep regime in which dislocation structures are coherently moving with a velocity that grows with the applied stress. On the contrary, for stress values below the critical threshold, dislocations cannot get around the self-induced constraints built up by their mutual (attractive/repulsive) interactions and thus they are unable to further explore configuration space, the signature of a jammed system Liu . The closer is the applied stress to the threshold, the longer is the extent of the power-law regime before the system falls either in the flowing or in the jammed state. Precisely at the critical point and in an infinite system, the Andrade power-law would last indefinitely.

Within the proposed scenario, it appears natural to ask whether two important effects, namely dislocation multiplication and thermal fluctuations, affect this behavior in a relevant way. During plastic deformation, in fact, new dislocations are created within the crystal. It is widely believed that the Frank-Read multiplication mechanism Friedel ; Cottrell ; Hirth92  is the most relevant for dislocations gliding under creep deformation. Since Frank-Read sources cannot be directly simulated in a two dimensional model, we employ a phenomenological procedure, introducing dislocations pairs with a rate $`r`$ proportional to the external stress. Similar multiplication mechanisms have been successfully used in the past Kubin87 ; Amodeo90 ; Groma93 ; Miguel01 . Thermal fluctuations are accounted for by adding a Gaussian random force per unit length $`\eta _n(t)/b`$ to Eq. 2. The force has zero mean and its correlations are given by

$$\eta _n(t)\eta _m(t^{})=k_BT\chi _\mathrm{d}^1\delta _{n,m}\delta (tt^{}),$$
(3)
where $`T`$ is an effective temperature characterizing the strength of the fluctuations note1 . This random force could also mimic, as a first approximation, the influence of dislocation motion in other slip systems that may be active simultaneously in the material (see Hahner98 ; Groma00 ).

We have performed a series of simulations for different multiplication rates and effective temperatures (measured in units of $`Db^3/k_B`$) when the applied stress is close to the critical value (i.e. $`\sigma =0.0075`$). We used the same procedure and initial conditions described previously and, given the additional fluctuations present in the strain rate, we focus our attention on the integrated plastic strain $`\gamma `$. As shown in Fig. 3, a linear creep regime appears after a crossover time which decreases with $`r`$ and $`T`$. Nevertheless Andrade creep (i.e. $`\gamma t^{1/3}`$) still persists at shorter times. A visual inspection of the dislocation arrangements during the deformation is useful to understand the origin of the various creep regimes. At low $`T`$, we observe the presence of slowly relaxing metastable structures as for $`T=0`$. On the other hand, at much higher effective temperature (i.e. $`T1`$) these structures have completely broken up (melt), the flow of dislocations becomes fluid-like, and Andrade creep disappears. In order to substantiate quantitatively this statement, we measure the angular correlation between dislocations. For each dislocation pair with coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r}_i`$ and $`\stackrel{}{r}_j`$, we define $`\theta `$ as the azimuthal angle with respect to the $`y`$ axis of the vector $`\stackrel{}{r}_{ij}`$ (i.e. $`\theta \mathrm{arccos}(\widehat{y}\stackrel{}{r}_{ij}/|\stackrel{}{r}_{ij}|)`$). Thus two dislocations placed in the same wall have either $`\theta 0`$ or $`\theta \pi `$, a dislocation dipole is characterized by $`\theta \pi /4,3\pi /4`$ and two dislocations in a pileup yield $`\theta \pi /2`$ Friedel ; Cottrell ; Hirth92 . The distribution $`P(\theta )`$ is obtained after averaging over all dislocation pairs in several realizations ($`100`$) of the dynamics at a given instant. Fig. 4 shows $`P(\theta )`$ for different values of $`T`$. At low effective temperatures we observe five roughly equivalent peaks, corresponding to walls, dipoles and pileup configurations. As the effective temperature increases, the peaks at $`\theta =0,\pi `$ and $`\theta \pi /4,3\pi /4`$, corresponding to walls and dipoles, progressively disappear, while the $`\theta =\pi /2`$ peak remains. This peak indicates that even in the high temperature regime the dislocations are correlated in the $`x`$ direction, the only possible direction of motion. Apart from this no other structure remains in the system.

In conclusion, our results capture several features of the phenomenology observed in creep deformation experiments. Andrade’s scaling and the creep curve appear to be controlled by a non-equilibrium phase transition between a jammed and a flowing dislocation state. Determining the critical stress value, and characterizing its behavior (possible dependence on density and temperature) is of utmost importance for practical purposes, since it establishes the mechanical strength of crystalline materials.

We thank R. Pastor-Satorras for useful discussions. M.C.M. acknowledges financial support from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain).


text:
# Substrate effects in magneto-optical second-harmonic generation from first principles: Fe/Cu(001)

## Abstract

We compute the nonlinear optical response of an Fe monolayer placed on top of 1 to 4 monolayers of Cu(001). Our calculation is based on ab initio eigenstates of the slab, which are obtained within the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method. The ground-state spin-polarized electronic structure is converged self-consistently to an accuracy better than 0.1 mRy. Subsequently, we take the spin-orbit interaction into account within a second variational treatment. The new set of eigenstates allows us to calculate the magneto-optical transition matrix elements. The second-harmonic response is determined in the reflection geometry with magnetization perpendicular to the surface (the so-called polar configuration) using the surface-sheet model. Adding layers of a noble metal (Cu) to the Fe monolayer gives a new degree of freedom for the inclusion of nonmagnetic Cu d bands to the nonlinear magneto-optical response of the slab, and the energy bands show that such an addition converges essentially to an addition of d-states and a small broadening of the d-band with growing number of Cu layers. The screened nonlinear optical susceptibility is calculated and converges quite well with a growing number of Cu layers. Our first-principles results confirm that the magnetic tensor elements of the nonlinear optical response tensor are roughly of the same order of magnitude as the nonmagnetic ones (in contrast to linear optics, where the magnetic response is only a minor correction).