text:
# Integrable deformations of systems on graphs with loops

Studying spectral properties and scattering processes for the Schrödinger-type operators on infinite trees   has provided many unexpected results including the relation between the scattering ($`S`$) matrix on an infinite tree with cycles and Artin–Selberg $`L`$-function . However, no reasonable integrable deformation of second-order operators that resembles that for the lattices $`𝐙`$ ($`(L,A)`$-pairs of the Toda chain type) and $`𝐙_2`$ ($`(L,A,B)`$-triples) (see ) had been constructed.

In , Krichever and Novikov had constructed the deformation of arbitrary fourth-order symmetrical operator $`L`$ in the form of the $`(L,A,B)`$-triple, $`\dot{L}=LABL`$, for the $`T_3`$ graph (infinite homogeneous tree with vertices of valence three). This deformation preserves the spectral data of the zero level $`L\psi =0`$.

In , the Krichever–Novikov integrable system was generalized to the case of an arbitrary (inhomogeneous) tree graph $`T`$. An arbitrary graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ with finite number of cycles can be innambiguously (up to isomorphisms) presented as the quotient of the universal covering tree graph $`T`$ by the action of a finitely generated subgroup $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of the total group of symmetries of the tree graph $`T`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=T/\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

We consider operators $`L`$ acting on the space of functions $`\psi _P`$ on vertices of a graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The distance $`d(X_1,X_2)𝐙_+\{0\}`$ on a tree graph is measured in number of edges entering the path connecting the vertices $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$. The order of equation $`L\psi =0`$ where $`(L\psi )_P=_Xb_{P,X}\psi _X`$ is the maximal diameter $`\mathrm{max}_Pd(X_1,X_2):b_{P,X_1}0,b_{P<X_2}0`$ or $`b_{X_1,X_2}0`$. In the general graph, paths connecting two vertices $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ are not unique. We can then consider the theory on the covering tree $`T`$ claiming all functions $`\psi _X`$ and coefficients of the operators $`L`$, $`A`$, and $`B`$ to be periodic with respect to the action of the symmetry subgroup $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. On the factorized graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, this means that we associate coefficients of the operators with paths of the corresponding lengths connecting preimages $`\stackrel{~}{X}_1,\stackrel{~}{X}_2T`$ of the corresponding points $`X_1,X_2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

We first consider an arbitrary graph without loops.

###### Theorem 1

 Real self-adjoint operator $`L`$ of the fourth order on a graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ without loops admits an isospectral deformation of a zero energy level $`L\psi =0`$ having the form of the $`(L,A,B)`$-triple $`[B=A^t]`$,

$$\dot{L}=LA+A^tL,$$
(1)
where $`A`$ is the second-order operator,

$$(A\psi )_X=\underset{X^{}:d(X,X^{})=1}{}a_{X,X^{}}\psi _X^{}+s_X\psi _X,$$
(2)
iff the operator $`L`$,

$$(L\psi )_X=\underset{X^{\prime \prime }:d(X,X^{\prime \prime })=2}{}b_{X,X^{\prime \prime }}\psi _{X^{\prime \prime }}+\underset{X^{}:d(X,X^{})=1}{}r_{X,X^{}}\psi _X^{}+\rho _X\psi _X$$
(3)
(such that all $`b_{X,X^{\prime \prime }}>0`$) can be presented in the form

$$L=Q^tQ+u_X,$$
(4)
where $`Q`$ is a second-order operator

$$(Q\psi )_X=\underset{X^{}:d(X,X^{})=1}{}q_{X,X^{}}\psi _X^{}+v_X\psi _X.$$
(5)
In the case where $`b_{X,X^{\prime \prime }}b_{X^{\prime \prime },X}>0`$, the coefficients $`q_{X,X^{}}`$ are inambiguously determined by the coefficients $`b_{X,X^{\prime \prime }}`$ and vice versa. In particular, for arbitrary three points $`X_1,X_2,X_3`$ such that $`X_1X_3`$ and $`d(X_i,X_{i+1})=1`$, i=1,2, $`b_{X_1,X_3}=q_{X_1,X_2}q_{X_3,X_2}`$. The coefficients $`v_X`$ depend on a free parameter—the value of $`v_{X_0}`$ at the given point $`X_0`$ (the center). \[An arbitrary fourth-order operator $`L`$ (3) on the tree $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ admits representation (4) and, hence, isospectral deformation (1.\]

The coefficients $`a_{X,X^{}}`$ of deformation operator (2) are inambiguously expressed (up to a total multiplicative constant) via $`q_{X,Y}`$. For arbitrary three vertices

$$X_1,X_2,X_3:d(X_i,X_{i+1})=1,i=1,2,$$
(6)
we obtain111It was a misprint in this formula in .

$$\frac{a_{X_2,X_1}}{q_{X_1,X_2}}=\frac{a_{X_2,X_3}}{q_{X_3,X_2}}\text{and}a_{X_3,X_2}=a_{X_2,X_1}\frac{q_{X_2,X_3}^2}{q_{X_1,X_2}q_{X_3,X_2}}$$
(7)
\[in particular, when $`X_1=X_3`$ we obtain $`a_{X_1,X_2}=a_{X_2,X_1}q_{X_2,X_1}^2/q_{X_1,X_2}^2`$\].

Let $`\{X_j^{}\}`$ and $`\{X_i^{\prime \prime }\}`$ be the sets of vertices that are neighbor to the respective vertices $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ but do not coincide with $`X_1`$ or $`X_2`$. Explicit formulas for the deformation read

$`\dot{b}_{X_1,X_3}`$ $`=`$ $`r_{X_1,X_2}a_{X_2,X_3}+a_{X_2,X_1}r_{X_2,X_3}+b_{X_1,X_3}(s_{X_1}+s_{X_3})`$
$`\dot{r}_{X_1,X_2}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{X^{\prime \prime }}{}}b_{X_1,X^{\prime \prime }}a_{X^{\prime \prime },X_2}+{\displaystyle \underset{X^{}}{}}b_{X_2,X^{}}a_{X^{},X_1}+\rho _{X_1}a_{X_1,X_2}+\rho _{X_2}a_{X_2,X_1}+r_{X_1,X_2}(s_{X_1}+s_{X_2}),`$ (8)
$`\dot{\rho }_{X_1}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\{X^{}\}X_2}{}}r_{X_1,X^{}}(a_{X^{},X_1}+a_{X_1,X^{}})+2\rho _{X_1}s_{X_1}.`$
###### Lemma 1

. For arbitrary tree graph, deformation (8) by virtue of (7) preserves conditions (6) (and, hence, factoring condition (4).

We now consider arbitrary graph with vertices of valence three and finite number of loops.

###### Theorem 2

For arbitrary graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ with vertices of valence three and arbitrary number of loops, deformation (8) preserves the periodicity properties iff for any closed cycle with the consequtive (cyclically ordered) vertices $`\{X_i\}_{i=1}^n`$, $`X_{n+1}X_1`$, the two conditions

(a) $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}(){\displaystyle \frac{q_{X_k,X_{k+1}}}{q_{X_{k+1},X_k}}}=1\text{(cocycle condition, see }\text{[5]}\text{)},`$ (9)
(b) $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}r_{X_i,X_{i+1}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{i1}{}}}(){\displaystyle \frac{q_{X_k,X_{k+1}}}{q_{X_{k+2},X_{k+1}}}}=0`$ (10)
are satisfied.

###### Remark 1

The proof is the lengthy but direct calculation using formulas (7), (8). Note that the time derivative of condition (a) is twice the condition (b), and the only nontrivial part is to prove that the time derivative of condition (b) necessarily vanishes providing both conditions (a) and (b) are satisfied. Therefore, no new conditions arise. Because both condition (a) and condition (b) satisfies the cocycle property, it suffices to impose these conditions only on base cycles of a graph.


format: text

text:
# Ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model with a generalized type of hopping

## Abstract

The extrapolation of small-cluster exact-diagonalization calculations is used to examine ferromagnetism in the one-dimensional Hubbard model with a generalized type of hopping. It is found that the long-range hopping with power decaying hopping amplitudes ($`t_{ij}q^{|ij|}`$) stabilizes the ferromagnetic state for a wide range of electron interactions $`U`$ and electron concentrations $`n`$. The critical value of the interaction strength $`U_c(q)`$ above which the ferromagnetic state becomes stable is calculated numerically and the ground-state phase diagram of the model (in the $`U`$-$`q`$ plane) is presented for physically the most interesting cases.

The Hubbard model has become, since its inception  in 1963, one of the most popular examples of a system of interacting electrons with short-range interactions. It has been used in the literature to study a great variety of many-body effects in metals, of which ferromagnetism, metal-insulator transitions, charge-density waves and superconductivity are the most common examples. Of all these cooperative phenomena the problem of ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model has the longest history. Although the model was originally introduced to describe the band ferromagnetism of transition metals, it soon turned out that the single-band Hubbard model is not the canonical model for ferromagnetism. In fact the existence of saturated ferromagnetism has been proven rigorously only for very special limits. The first well-known example is the Nagaoka ferromagnetism that comes from the Hubbard model in the limit of infinite repulsion and one hole in a half-filled band . Another example where saturated ferromagnetism has been shown to exist is the case of the one-dimensional Hubbard model with nearest and next-nearest-neighbor hopping at low electron densities . Moreover, several examples of the fully polarized ground state have been found on special lattices (special conduction bands) as are the fcc-type lattices , the bipartite lattices with sublattices containing a different number of sites , the lattices with unconstrained hopping of electrons  and the flat bands . This indicates that the lattice structure and the kinetic energy of electrons, i.e., the type of hopping play an important role in stabilizing the ferromagnetic state.

In this paper we show that if the electron hopping is described by a more realistic model (than the nearest-neighbor hopping) then ferromagnetism comes from the Hubbard model naturally for a wide range of the model parameters. No extra interactions terms should be included. In particular, we have found that the long-range hopping with power decaying hopping amplitudes $`t_{ij}`$ given by

$$t_{ij}(q)=\{\begin{array}{cc}0,\hfill & i=j,\hfill \\ q^{|ij|}/q,\hfill & ij\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
gives rise to ferromagnetism for electron densities above half-filling. As soon as $`q`$ that controls the effective range of the hopping ($`0q1`$) is different from zero the ferromagnetic state is stabilized for all Coulomb interactions $`U`$ greater than some critical interaction strength $`U_c(q)`$ that value is dramatically reduced with increasing $`q`$. From this point of view one of main reasons why the ferromagnetic state absent in the ordinary Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping ($`q=0`$) is that the description of the electron hopping was too simplified.

The selection of hopping matrix elements in the form given by Eq. 1 has several advantages. It represents a much more realistic type of electron hopping on a lattice (in comparison to nearest-neighbor hopping), and it allows us to change continuously the type of hopping (band) from nearest-neighbor $`(q=0)`$ to infinite-range $`(q=1)`$ hopping and thus immediately study the effect of the long-range hopping. Another advantage follows from Fig. 1 where the density of states (DOS) corresponding to Eq. 1 is displayed for several values of $`q`$. It is seen that with increasing $`q`$ more weight shifts to the upper edge of the band and the DOS becomes strongly asymmetric. Thus one can study simultaneously (by changing only one parameter $`q`$) the influence of the increasing asymmetry in the DOS and the influence of the long-range hopping on the ground state properties of the Hubbard model.

The Hamiltonian of the single-band Hubbard model is given by

$$H=\underset{ij\sigma }{}t_{ij}c_{i\sigma }^+c_{j\sigma }+U\underset{i}{}n_in_i,$$
(2)
where $`c_{i\sigma }^+`$ and $`c_{i\sigma }`$ are the creation and annihilation operators for an electron of spin $`\sigma `$ at site $`i`$, $`n_{i\sigma }`$ is the corresponding number operator ($`N_\sigma =_in_{i\sigma }`$) and $`U`$ is the on-site Coulomb interaction constant.

The exact results on the ground states of the Hubbard model with the generalized type of hopping (Eq. 1) exist only for the special case of $`q=1`$ when the electrons can hop to all sites with equal probabilities . For this type of hopping and the electron filling just above half-filling ($`N=_\sigma N_\sigma =L+1`$, where $`L`$ is the number of lattice sites) it was shown that the ground state is not degenerate with respect to the total spin $`S`$ and it is maximally ferromagnetic with $`S=(L1)/2`$ (for all $`U>0`$). For higher fillings $`(N>L+1)`$ the ferromagnetic ground state still exists but it is completely degenerate with respect to $`S`$. The limit of infinite-range hopping is, however, the least realistic limit of Eq. 1. It is interesting, therefore, to look at the possibility of ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model with a generalized type of hopping for smaller values of $`q`$ that describe a much more realistic type of electron hopping.

In this paper we extend calculations to arbitrary $`q`$ and arbitrary band fillings $`n=N/L`$. The ground states of the model are determined by exact diagonalizations for a wide range of model parameters ($`q,U,n`$). Typical examples are then chosen from a large number of available results to represent the most interesting cases. The results obtained are presented in the form of phase diagrams in the $`U`$-$`q`$ plane. To determine the phase diagram in the $`U`$-$`q`$ plane (corresponding to some $`L`$ and $`n`$) the ground state energy of the model is calculated point by point as functions of $`q`$ and $`U`$. Of course, such a procedure demands in practice a considerable amount of CPU time, which imposes severe restrictions on the size of clusters that can be studied with this method ($`L16`$). Fortunately, we have found that the ground-state energy of the model depends on $`L`$ only very weakly (for a wide range of the model parameters) and thus already such small clusters can describe satisfactorily the ground state properties of the model.

Let us first briefly discuss the case of $`N=L+1`$. According to analytical results  only for this case the ground state of the model with unconstrained hopping $`q=1`$ is maximally ferromagnetic and nondegenerate with respect to the total spin $`S`$. Numerical calculations that we have performed on finite clusters up to $`L=12`$ showed that the ferromagnetic state persists as the ground state also for $`q<1`$, but with decreasing $`q`$ the region of its stability shifts to higher values of $`U`$. In accordance with the exact results  obtained for $`q=1`$ we found that the critical interaction strength $`U_c(q)`$ (above which the ground state is ferromagnetic) goes to zero for $`q1`$ while in the opposite limit ($`q0`$) $`U_c`$ tends to infinity. Although the appearance of the ferromagnetic state at finite $`q`$ and $`N=L+1`$ is interesting from the theoretical point of view, thermodynamically this result is not significant if the ferromagnetic state does not persist also for higher fillings. Analytical results obtained for $`q=1`$ predict, however, that the ground states for $`N>L+1`$ are completely degenerate with respect to the total spin $`S`$ and thus the only possibility for the stabilization of the ferromagnetic state is that the long-range hopping with $`q1`$ removes this degeneracy.

Numerical calculations that we have performed for a wide range of electron fillings $`n>1`$ fully confirmed this assumption. It was found that the long-range hopping with $`q1`$ not only removes the degeneracy of the ground states with respect to $`S`$ but at the same time stabilizes the ferromagnetic state. Furthermore, these calculations showed that the effect of the long-range hopping on the stability of the ferromagnetic state is extremely strong, especially for small values of $`q`$. The results of our small-cluster exact-diagonalization calculations obtained on finite clusters up to $`L=16`$ sites are summarized in Fig. 2. There is shown the critical interaction strength $`U_c`$, above which the ground state is ferromagnetic, as a function of $`q`$ for several values of electron concentrations $`n`$ ($`n=5/4,3/2,7/4`$). To reveal the finite-size effects on the stability of ferromagnetic domains, the behavior of the critical interaction strength $`U_c(q)`$ has been calculated on several finite clusters at each electron filling. It is seen that finite-size effects on $`U_c`$ are small and thus these results can be satisfactorily extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit $`L\mathrm{}`$. Our results clearly demonstrate that the ferromagnetic state is strongly influenced by $`q`$ for electron concentrations above half-filling and generally it is stabilized with increasing $`q`$ . The effect is especially strong for small values of $`q`$ where small changes of $`q`$ reduce dramatically the critical interaction strength $`U_c`$ and so the ferromagnetic state becomes stable for a wide range of model parameters. The results presented in Fig. 2d show that only for $`q=0`$ (nearest-neighbor hopping) $`U_c=\mathrm{}`$, while for finite $`q`$ (that represents a much more realistic type of electron hopping) the critical interaction strength $`U_c`$ is finite. Thus the absence of ferromagnetism in the ordinary Hubbard model with the nearest-neighbor hopping ($`q=0`$) can be explained as a consequence of too simplified description of electron hopping on the lattice. For any $`q>0`$ ferromagnetism comes naturally from the Hubbard model with a generalized type of hopping for a wide range of model parameters without any other assumptions. This opens a new route towards the understanding of ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model.

In order to exclude the possibility that ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model with the long-range hopping described above is a consequence of boundary conditions used (open boundary conditions), let us finally examine the influence of boundary conditions on the stability of the ferromagnetic state. In Fig. 3 we present representative results of exhaustive numerical studies of the model obtained for $`n=3/2`$ on all finite (even) clusters up to $`L=16`$ sites for open and periodic boundary conditions. There is plotted the difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=E_fE_g`$ between the exact ground state $`E_g`$ and the ferromagnetic state $`E_f`$ as a function of $`1/U`$ for $`q=0.25`$ and different $`L`$. The ground state is ferromagnetic in the regions where $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=0`$. In accordance with results discussed above one can see a nice convergence of numerical results for the open boundary conditions. These results can be satisfactorily extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit $`L=\mathrm{}`$. We have plotted this extrapolated behavior in Fig. 3b to demonstrate clearly a convergence of small-cluster exact-diagonalization results for the periodic boundary conditions. It is seen that results for the periodic boundary conditions converge slowly than ones for the open boundary conditions, but their convergence to the thermodynamic limit is apparent. This confirms the stability of the ferromagnetic state in the Hubbard model with the long-range hopping.

In summary, the extrapolation of small-cluster exact-diagonalization calculations was used to examine ferromagnetism in the one-dimensional Hubbard model with a generalized type of hopping. It was found that the long-range hopping with power decaying hopping amplitudes stabilizes the ferromagnetic state for a wide range of model parameters. The critical value of the interaction strength $`U_c(q)`$ above which the ferromagnetic state becomes stable was calculated numerically and the ground-state phase diagram of the model (in the $`U`$-$`q`$ plane) was presented for selected values of electron fillings.

This work was supported by the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA under grant No. 2/7021/20. Numerical results were obtained using computational resources of the Computing Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Figure Captions

Fig. 1. The non-interacting DOS corresponding to a generalized hopping (Eq. 1) for different values of $`q`$ and $`L=4000`$ sites.

Fig. 2. The critical interaction strength $`U_c`$ ($`1/U_c`$) as a function of $`q`$ calculated for different $`n`$ and $`L`$.

Fig. 3. The difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=E_gE_f`$ between the exact ground state $`E_g`$ and the ferromagnetic state $`E_f`$ as a function of $`1/U`$ calculated for $`n=3/2,q=0.25`$ and different $`L`$. (a) Open boundary conditions. (b) Periodic boundary conditions.


text:
# First results from the Very Small Array – II. Observations of the CMB

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The measurement of primordial structure in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is of great importance in cosmology. These features, imprinted at $`z1000`$, enable direct investigation of the formation of structure in the universe as well as constraining the values of basic cosmological quantities such as the amounts of various forms of matter and vacuum energy in the universe. Primordial CMB fluctuations, however, are extremely faint ($`\mathrm{\Delta }T<100\mu `$K) and have to be seen through various foregrounds and in the presence of the systematic errors inevitably present in any experiment.

These challenges account for the gap of nearly three decades between the discovery of the CMB (Penzias & Wilson, 1965) and the detection of primordial fluctuations by the COBE satellite (Smoot et al., 1992). COBE detected statistical anisotropy on angular scales of $`90^{}`$ to $`10^{}`$ (corresponding to angular multipoles $`\mathrm{}=2`$ to $`20`$); this is greater than the horizon scale at the epoch of imprinting and provided very strong evidence for a period of inflation in the early universe. After COBE, observations have focused increasingly on the angular scales at which features due to acoustic oscillations in the primordial plasma were expected (Sakharov, 1965; Sunyaev & Zel’dovich, 1970; Peebles & Yu, 1970).

Recently, results have been announced from a new generation of instruments capable of detecting a range of acoustic modes. As well as unequivocally detecting the first acoustic peak at $`\mathrm{}220`$, MAXIMA (Lee et al., 2001), BOOMERanG (Netterfield et al., 2001) and DASI (Halverson et al., 2002), all detect power at smaller angular scales, $`300<\mathrm{}<800`$, with strong evidence for a second peak at $`\mathrm{}550`$, while CBI (Padin et al., 2001) (which is optimised for observation at high $`\mathrm{}`$) detects the sharp decline in power at $`\mathrm{}1000`$ expected from photon diffusion (Silk, 1968).

Here we report measurements of the CMB anisotropies on scales of $`3\stackrel{}{.}6`$$`0\stackrel{}{.}4`$ (angular multipoles $`\mathrm{}`$=150–900) at 34 GHz using the Very Small Array (VSA). This paper is the second in a series of four papers which report the results of the first season of observations made using the VSA in its compact configuration. Here we describe the observational strategy, data reduction and image-plane analysis, whilst Watson et al. (2002) (hereafter Paper I) provide a detailed description of the experimental method and design. Extraction of the angular power spectrum is presented by Scott et al. (2002) (Paper III), and estimates of the cosmological parameters using the VSA data are given by Rubiño-Martin et al. (2002) (Paper IV). A detailed description of the telescope will be given by Rusholme et al. (in prep.) (Paper 0).

## 2 OBSERVATIONS

The VSA is a development of the Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope (CAT) (Robson et al., 1993), a three-element interferometer which operated at 15 GHz from a sea-level site in Cambridge. The VSA has 14 horn-reflector antennas mounted on a tilt-table and operates over the frequency range 26–36 GHz with an observing bandwidth of 1.5 GHz. The telescope is sited at the Teide Observatory, Tenerife at an altitude of 2400m.

Prior to our first season of CMB observations, a series of commissioning observations was undertaken (see Paper I). These demonstrated that the telescope was working to specification and that systematic effects such as the effects of the Sun and the Moon can all be removed from the data to a very low level. Calibration of the data was shown to be limited only by the uncertainty in the absolute flux measurement of our primary calibrator, Jupiter, which is 3.5 %; the absolute flux calibration of VSA observations is based on the flux scale of Mason et al. (1999) and the brightness temperature of Jupiter at 34 GHz is taken to be 154.5 K.

Detailed descriptions of the VSA, its data analysis procedures and commissioning observations are given in Rusholme et al. (in prep.) and Paper I; in this paper we describe the key features of the first season’s observation of the CMB.

### 2.1 Array configuration

The 14 VSA antennas can be placed anywhere on the tilt-table, allowing freedom to design the array configuration for specific observational goals. The ‘compact array’ configuration used for the observations reported in this paper was optimised to provide almost uniform $`uv`$-coverage over the multipole range $`\mathrm{}150`$$`900`$, whilst minimising the number of visibilities with low fringe rates. The sky signal in such visibilities cannot be separated from the spurious signal (see Paper I), and is predominantly contributed by the shortest north-south baselines. Figure 1 shows the VSA ‘compact array’ configuration and $`uv`$-coverage.

### 2.2 Observing frequency

The VSA has the flexibility to observe anywhere in the 26–36 GHz range, with 1.5 GHz instantaneous bandwidth. This tunability allows the VSA to observe at more than one frequency. In principle, this allows one to fit for a component of a known spectral index, i.e. it would allow a separation of one or more Galactic components by virtue of their spectral indices. We have in fact chosen to observe at just a single frequency of 34 GHz. Our knowledge of the CMB foregrounds suggests that the Galactic foregrounds at frequencies $`30`$ GHz will contribute a few $`\mu `$K of signal in our fields (see section 3.2). Choosing a frequency at the higher end of the VSA observing band (34 GHz) reduces the free-free and synchrotron foregrounds by a factor of $`1.82.2`$ compared to the lower end ($`26`$ GHz). Since the proposed spinning dust component is expected at $`1520`$ GHz (Draine & Lazarian, 1998), its 34-GHz emission also will be considerably lower than its peak value.

### 2.3 Field selection

For practical CMB observation, it is important to choose fields which are relatively free from Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. All the VSA fields are situated at Galactic latitudes greater than 20 and have low Galactic synchrotron and free-free emission, as predicted by the 408-MHz all-sky radio survey of Haslam et al. (1982). The dust maps of Schlegel et al. (1998) were used to select fields with relatively low dust contamination. The actual level of Galactic contamination in our fields is discussed in Section 3.2.

To avoid bright clusters, we consulted the NORAS (Bohringer et al., 2000), BCS (Ebeling et al., 1998) and Abell (Abell, 1958) catalogues. All fields were also chosen to be as free as possible of bright radio sources, since these are the major contaminant of CMB observations at 34 GHz. We used two low-frequency surveys, NVSS (Condon et al., 1998) at 1.4 GHz and Green Bank (Gregory et al., 1996) at 4.85 GHz to select CMB fields in which there were predicted to be no sources brighter than 500 mJy at 34 GHz within the VSA primary beam (FWHM$`=4\stackrel{}{.}6`$). Predictions were made by extrapolating the flux density of every source in the 4.8 GHz catalogue to 34 GHz using its spectral index between 1.4 and 4.85 GHz. A further practical consideration which affected the choice of CMB fields was the need to observe all fields for a reasonable length of time (more than 5 hours) from both Tenerife and Cambridge. This limits the declination range of our fields to between +26 and +54. To maximize observing efficiency, we also selected fields that are evenly spaced around the sky. In order to increase the $`\mathrm{}`$-resolution of our measurement of the CMB power spectrum, we selected regions of sky where we can mosaic several VSA pointings. In each region of sky, mosaiced fields are separated by $`2\stackrel{}{.}75`$. Our final choice of fields used during the first year of observation is shown in Figure 2 and in Table 1.

### 2.4 Observing strategy

During the first year of VSA observations, we undertook two distinct observation programmes, each using the compact array. First, we have made deep mosaiced observations of eight fields in three evenly spaced regions of sky (hatched regions in Figure 2). Each mosaiced field was observed for $``$ 400 hours, reaching a thermal noise of approximately 30 mJy. Mosaicing in this way enables us to increase the $`\mathrm{}`$-resolution of our measurements whilst also reducing sample variance. However, all the fields must be observed with the Ryle Telescope in Cambridge for source subtraction (see section 3.5), and the time taken for us to survey all fields with the Ryle Telescope prior to any observation with the VSA has limited the area of sky that we can cover with deep mosaicing in this first year. Consequently, for $`\mathrm{}`$ 300, our measurements of the CMB power spectrum are limited by sample variance.

In order to achieve a good estimate of the CMB power spectrum in the region $`\mathrm{}`$ 300, we undertook a second observation programme; a shallow survey in one large area of sky. The shallow survey consists of 2 days observation on each of 30 mosaiced fields (Figure 2 hexagonal region), and covers an area of approximately 300 square degrees. For this shallow survey, our source subtraction strategy no longer limits the area of sky we can observe with the VSA in a given time. Since for the shallow survey we are only concerned with low-$`\mathrm{}`$ observations, where the contribution of point sources to the CMB power spectrum will be negligible, prior surveying with the Ryle Telescope is not necessary. Instead, we monitor only sources predicted to be greater than 100 mJy at 34 GHz on the basis of low-frequency survey information. Only the results from the deep mosaiced fields are reported in this series of VSA results papers; the results from the shallow survey will be presented in a later paper.

### 2.5 Observing schedule

Quasi-independent tracking of the VSA antennas enables us to effectively filter out the effects of bright contaminating sources such as the Sun and the Moon (see Paper I). We are able therefore to observe during both the day and night, with useful CMB observations possible at separations as close as 40 degrees from the Sun and 30 degrees from the Moon. Consequently, we implemented an observing strategy that made use of all available time during the first year of observation.

In each 24-hour period, we obtained 5–6 hours of integration on each of 3 CMB fields; the total effective integration time (after flagging and filtering of the data) for each of the VSA fields is given in Table 1. The remaining time in each 24-hour period was divided between calibration sources. We observed at least one flux calibrator (Jupiter, Cas A or Tau A), with observations of fainter sources (e.g. NGC7027, 3C273 and Cyg A) interspersed. Observation of fainter sources allowed valuable checks on the diurnal stability of the telescope.

### 2.6 Data reduction

The data from the first year of VSA observations were reduced as described in detail in Paper I. Each day’s CMB observation is reduced and analysed independently. The resulting calibrated visibilities from each day are stacked together, and the full dataset for each field is analysed. We check the stacks by eye for signs of residual contaminating signal, which is easily identified as regions of coherent phase. The data are stacked both as a function of hour angle and per-antenna, and are flagged interactively. This stage of flagging typically removes 20$`\%`$ of the data; this is in addition to the preliminary flagging operations described in Paper I, which account for abnormal errors such as pointing, hardware failure, bad weather and filtering of the spurious signal.

The fully-flagged and stacked data are held as visibility files, containing the real and imaginary part for each observed $`uv`$-position along with an associated rms noise level. It is critical for the power spectrum analysis that the estimate of the noise on each visibility is accurate. We calculate the noise on each visibility point from the scatter in the visibility data on each baseline each day. This takes into account the number of flagged points in each smoothed 64-second sample, in addition to other flagging operations such as gain corrections implied by the system temperature monitoring. As a further check, we recalculate our noise estimates when the data are gridded in the $`uv`$-plane, prior to producing reduced datasets for the power spectrum estimation. Here we estimate the noise for each gridded visibility using the spread of values within the stacked files (i.e. using the complete 70–80 day data sets). Both methods yield the same noise estimates.

The final data stacks for each of the VSA fields typically contain $``$ 800,000 visibility points, each one averaged over 64 seconds. The combined edits from all categories result in a rejection of $``$ 50$`\%`$ of the data in each field.

## 3 FOREGROUNDS

### 3.1 Diffuse Galactic foregrounds

The diffuse Galactic foregrounds consist of three known components: synchrotron, free-free and vibrational dust, together with a further postulated component of spinning dust.

Synchrotron emission has a varying spectral index ($`T\nu ^\beta `$) of $`\beta _{synch}2.73.2`$ (Davies et al., 1996) depending on frequency and position on the sky. The steep spectral index allows low-frequency radio surveys such as the 408-MHz all-sky radio map (Haslam et al., 1982) and the 1420-MHz radio map (Reich & Reich, 1988) to be used to estimate the synchrotron component at higher frequencies.

Free-free emission is thermal bremsstrahlung radiation emitted by ionized gas in the Galaxy. The spectral index for free-free is more well-known with $`\beta _{ff}2.15`$; it shows very little variation with electron temperature and density, although it does steepen slightly at higher frequencies. The 656.3 nm H$`\alpha `$ line is a good tracer of free-free emission (Valls-Gabaud (1998) and Dickinson et al. in prep). Dust absorption, however, can cause these estimates to be systematically lower than the true values.

Vibrational dust is only a concern for CMB experiments observing at frequencies above $`90`$ GHz (de Zotti et al., 1999), and is expected to contribute $`<<1\mu `$K at VSA observing frequencies. A further component has recently been postulated by Draine & Lazarian (1998), based on observational evidence (Kogut et al. (1996); Leitch et al. (1997); de Oliveira-Costa et al. (1997); de Oliveira-Costa et al. (1999); de Oliveira-Costa et al. (2002), but see also Mukherjee et al. (2001)). They postulate a population of ultra-small ($`10^9`$m) spinning dust grains which emit via rotational emission. The spectrum of spinning dust is likely to be highly peaked at about $`1520`$ GHz.

### 3.2 Galactic foregrounds in the VSA fields

A simple method of estimating the foreground contamination is to calculate the rms variation in each of the foreground template maps for each VSA field. This is then converted to temperature units at 34 GHz. This is simplistic and susceptible to uncertainty due to the extrapolation to 34 GHz. This method, however, does give us an estimate of the amplitude of the foreground signals and indicates to what level the VSA observations are contaminated by diffuse foregrounds. A more rigorous cross-correlation analysis will be presented in a future paper (Dickinson et al., in prep.).

The rms method has been applied to $`8^{}\times 8^{}`$ patches of sky centred on each of the three VSA deep fields (VSA1, VSA2 and VSA3). These are large enough to cover the mosaiced fields within the $`4\stackrel{}{.}6`$ FWHM of the primary beam. We use the de-striped and source-subtracted version of the Haslam et al. (1982) 408 MHz map as used by Davies et al. (1996) to trace the synchrotron component, whilst the recently published WHAM H$`\alpha `$ data (Reynolds et al., 1998) are used to trace the free-free component. For the dust-correlated emission, we use the 100 $`\mu `$m IRAS/DIRBE map given by Schlegel et al. (1998). The maps were smoothed to $`1^{}`$ resolution since the WHAM data are at $`1^{}`$ resolution.

The synchrotron emission is assumed to have a spectral index $`\beta =3.0`$ between 408 MHz and 34 GHz. The conversion from H$`\alpha `$ units (1 Rayleigh $`(R)10^6/4\pi `$ photons s-1 cm-2 sr-1) to free-free emission is calculated to be 4.5 $`\mu `$K/$`R`$ (Dickinson et al. in prep.). To estimate the $`total`$ dust-correlated component (which may include emission from spinning dust and vibrational dust) we have assumed a coupling coefficient of 10 $`\mu `$K/(MJy sr-1). This number is rather arbitrary since previous estimates which range from $`036\mu `$K/(MJy sr-1) at $`30`$ GHz, have been calculated for different angular scales and for different regions of sky. The total value is the sum of the individual components added in quadrature. The estimates of the components and total contamination from Galactic foregrounds for the three fields are given in Table 2.

The value of the synchrotron component is probably an over-estimate since there are some residuals from discrete radio sources left in the map; above $``$ 10 GHz, the free-free component is expected to dominate the synchrotron component. The free-free estimate from H$`\alpha `$ is probably the most reliable although there may be some absorption of the H$`\alpha `$ signal due to dust. Following Dickinson et al. (in prep.), we can use the 100 $`\mu `$m emissivity to calculate what this correction might be. For all the VSA fields, the dust emissivity is $`<5`$ MJy sr-1. If all the dust were lying in front of the H$`\alpha `$ gas, then the correction is $`23`$ percent. A more likely situation is a mixing of the gas and dust, thus the dust correction is $``$ 10 percent. The table indicates the brightest Galactic foreground may be the spinning dust, although very little is known about this component. The estimates are likely to be higher than the real value since we chose a rather high coupling coefficient based primarily on the COBE-DMR dust-correlated value (Kogut et al., 1996) which is only strictly true at the 7 scale. This is the total dust correlated component which will also include any other correlated foreground, most notably, the free-free component.

In summary, using rms estimates for these VSA fields, it seems that the diffuse Galactic foregrounds are very weak at 34 GHz compared to the primordial CMB signal. For example, if $`T_{\mathrm{CMB}}=60\mu `$K near the first peak $`\mathrm{}200`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{GAL}}=5\mu `$K, then the contamination is at the $`0.35`$ per cent level. For $`\mathrm{}800`$, if $`T_{\mathrm{CMB}}=30\mu `$K, then the contamination is $`1.4`$ per cent. However, the contamination is likely to be considerably smaller at higher $`\mathrm{}`$-values, since all the Galactic foregrounds have power spectra which decrease at smaller angular scales. The full cross-correlation analysis (Dickinson et al., in prep.) will provide a more accurate estimate of the contamination from Galactic foregrounds.

### 3.3 Point sources

Radio sources (mostly radio galaxies and quasars, but also some stars) are expected to be a major contaminant of CMB observations at centimetre wavelengths (see e.g., Taylor et al. (2001)). Their population is not well known at frequencies higher than 10 GHz, and many are expected to be variable and/or have spectra that rise with frequency, i.e. $`\alpha <0`$ (where flux density S $`\nu ^\alpha `$). On the angular scales of interest to primordial CMB work, such sources are also generally unresolved. To eliminate point source contamination from VSA observations, all the radio sources in each CMB field with flux density greater than our source-confusion limit, are observed and subtracted directly from our visibility data. We estimate the contribution of unsubtracted sources below our confusion limit using a preliminary estimate of the 34 GHz source count; this source count is estimated from the sample of sources we detect at 34 GHz.

### 3.4 Source confusion and the VSA

The level to which sources must be subtracted from our CMB fields is determined by comparing the flux sensitivity of the VSA to the rms confusion noise remaining from unsubtracted sources. The VSA, operating in its compact configuration, has a flux sensitivity of about 30 mJy in each deep mosaic pointing. In order that our observations are dominated by receiver noise we must therefore ensure that the rms flux density on a VSA map from unsubtracted sources, the confusion noise, is less than the flux sensitivity of 30 mJy. Following the standard approach (e.g. Scheuer (1957)),

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{conf}}^2=\mathrm{\Omega }_0^{S_{\mathrm{sub}}}n(S)S^2𝑑S,$$

where $`S`$ is the flux density, $`n(S)`$ is the differential source count per steradian, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the VSA synthesised beam solid angle and $`S_{sub}`$ is the flux density limit down to which sources are subtracted. Normalising this in terms of the number of sources, $`N`$, per VSA synthesised beam that are subtracted,

$$N=_{S_{\mathrm{sub}}}^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Omega }n(S)𝑑S,$$

and parameterising $`n(S)`$ as $`n(S)dS=KS^\beta `$, we obtain

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{conf}}=[N(\beta 1)/(3\beta )]^{1/2}S_{\mathrm{sub}}.$$

For a given level of source subtraction, $`S_{\mathrm{sub}}`$, one can thus estimate the residual confusion noise. The level of source subtraction can then be optimised to ensure that $`\sigma _{\mathrm{conf}}`$ is less than the flux sensitivity of the VSA. To calculate this confusion noise, however, the differential source count, $`n(S)`$, at our observing frequency of 34 GHz is required. At the outset of observations with the VSA, the source count at 34 GHz was not known. Instead we used an estimate extrapolated from the 15-GHz source count obtained using source subtraction observations for the Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope(CAT).

Based on the small sample of sources observed during the CAT source-subtraction program, the 15 GHz source counts were found to have $`\beta =`$1.8 (O’Sullivan, 1995). Using this value for $`\beta `$ at 15 GHz and assuming a conservative average spectral index of $`\alpha `$=0 between 15 and 34 GHz, we find that to ensure that the confusion noise is significantly lower than the flux sensitivity of the VSA ($``$ 30 mJy) we must subtract all sources brighter than 80 mJy at 34 GHz.

### 3.5 Source-subtraction strategy

To ensure that all potentially contaminating sources are detected, one would ideally survey each CMB field at the same frequency as the VSA, but with increased resolution and sensitivity. This, however, would require a telescope more expensive than the VSA. Instead, we adopt a two-stage strategy.

First, prior to observation with the VSA, we survey all the VSA fields at 15 GHz using the Ryle Telescope (RT) in Cambridge. The RT, which uses five 13-m diameter antennas and gives a resolution of $`30`$ arcsecs, is used in a raster scanning-mode and reaches an rms noise level of $`\sigma 4`$ mJy (see Waldram et al. (2002)). This allows us to identify sources above 20 mJy at 15 GHz, and ensures that we find all sources above our source-confusion limit of 80 mJy at 34 GHz, even allowing for a spectral index as steep as $`\alpha `$ $``$2 between 15 and 34 GHz.

Having identified the contaminating sources in each field, we monitor each source at 34 GHz using a separate single-baseline interferometer working simultaneously with the VSA (see Paper I). This single-baseline interferometer consists of two 3.7-m dishes separated by 9 metres on a north-south baseline. Each dish is situated in an enclosure similar to that of the VSA, and is fitted with identical horn-reflector feeds and receivers as used on the main array. All sources identified in the 15 GHz survey are monitored. The monitoring is done simultaneously with and at the same frequency as the VSA observation, ensuring that sources which are variable on time-scales as short as a few days can be subtracted accurately.

On average, each source identified in the 15-GHz survey is observed once every three days. The flux of each monitored source is then averaged over the duration of each corresponding field observation (typically 80 days) and its contribution is then subtracted directly from the stacked visibility data.

### 3.6 Point source observations

In total, 346 sources with flux densities greater than 20 mJy were identified in the 15 GHz survey of the VSA fields. All of these sources were observed with the source subtractor, and the list of monitored point sources with flux densities greater than 60 mJy at 34 GHz is given in Table 3. Although our source-subtraction strategy requires that only sources brighter than 80 mJy must be subtracted, and our source list is only complete to this level, since the data were available we subtracted point sources down to a flux limit of 60 mJy. Typically, between 10 and 15 sources with flux density greater than 60 mJy were subtracted from each CMB field.

To calculate the residual point-source contamination remaining after source-subtraction, we used a preliminary source count at 34 GHz. The source count is based on the 78 sources with $`S_{34}>60`$ mJy detected by the source subtractor. The differential count is given approximately by

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}N}{\mathrm{d}S}=54\left(\frac{S}{\mathrm{Jy}}\right)^{2.15}\mathrm{Jy}^1\mathrm{sr}^1.$$

Note that this count is not entirely accurate due to the uncertain completeness at lower flux levels, but is sufficient to estimate our residual confusion noise. A more complete analysis of the 34-GHz count will be given in a subsequent paper. When the count is integrated up to our nominal subtraction limit of 80 mJy it gives a residual confusion noise of $`\sigma _{\mathrm{conf}}=14`$ mJy, which when added in quadrature to our typical thermal noise of 40 mJy gives only a 6 % increase in noise level. The effect of the residual sources on the CMB power spectrum is discussed in Paper III.

## 4 RESULTS

Although the CMB power spectrum is calculated directly from the complex visibility data obtained from our observations (see Paper III), image-plane analysis provides valuable consistency checks on the data. Here we present images of the VSA fields and discuss the checks that we have performed on the data.

Figure 3 shows images of a typical VSA individual field (VSA3A) at full resolution. The top two panels show the map before source-subtraction and the synthesised beam, while the lower left panel shows the map after source subtraction. Inside the primary beam envelope (FWHM = 4$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6, shown by a circle), the maps are dominated by astronomical signal. Outside this region, the maps are dominated by instrumental (thermal) noise.

Comparison of the rms power measured in the outer region of each map with the calculated instrumental noise provides information about the level of residual contaminating signals. Unwanted signals (such as crosstalk or distant bright sources) are not constrained to lie within the primary beam envelope in the image plane. Instead their effect is to increase the total rms power level across the whole of a map. A simple way to measure the instrumental noise directly from a map is to measure the rms level far from the primary beam. The measured noise levels, given in Table 5, all agree extremely well with the calculated values. The slightly higher noise levels obtained in VSA1B and VSA3B reflect the smaller amount of data collected on these fields.

A more rigorous approach to estimating the thermal noise on each map, and also the amount of any residual contaminating signal, is to ‘autosubtract’ our visibility data. Here we take the time-ordered visibility data for each field and reverse the sign of alternate visibilities. On the time scale between adjacent visibility points (64 seconds), both astronomical and spurious signals are effectively coherent, and are thus cancelled out. In contrast, the noise on adjacent visibilities is completely uncorrelated, and the rms noise on the map is unaffected. This technique therefore provides a robust estimate of our thermal noise. In addition, we can compare the rms power in the autosubtracted maps with that far outside the primary beam envelope of our standard field maps. Any discrepancy between the two would be indicative of residual spurious signals.

Autosubtraction was applied to all eight VSA fields, and maps of each field were made. The bottom right panel in Figure 3 shows the autosubtracted map for VSA3A. Clearly the astronomical signal has been subtracted, leaving a constant noise level. The rms noise on each autosubtracted map was measured and the values are given in Table 5. There is excellent agreement between the noise levels measured far from the map centres and those measured by autosubtraction.

The approximate CMB signal level in each map can be estimated by subtracting the map rms in the central area ($`4\times 4`$ degrees) in quadrature from the rms noise level estimated from the autosubtracted maps (or from the far-out portions of the sky maps). These figures are also given in Table 5, and represent the average temperature fluctuations in the CMB averaged over the $`\mathrm{}`$-range of the observations. For the synthesised beam size of the full resolution maps ($`17`$ arcmin), the approximate flux-to-temperature conversion is $`1\mathrm{mJy}\mathrm{beam}^11.1\mu \mathrm{K}`$, giving mean rms CMB fluctuations in the maps of 40 – 65 $`\mu `$K.

All the maps are robust to minor variations in flagging and filtering. The data have also been split by observing epoch, by day/night and by alternate visibilities; the resulting maps are fully consistent with each other. Analogues of theses consistency checks are also applied to the power spectra (see Paper III).

In addition to analysing each field independently, it is instructive to compare images of fields within each mosaiced region. As an example, we present an image of the VSA2/VSA2-OFF mosaic (Figure 4). Here a contoured map of VSA2-OFF is overlaid on a grey-scale image of the VSA2 field. Common structures are clearly seen, agreeing in both position and in flux density.

Finally, in Figure 5, we present images of the fully source-subtracted VSA fields. To enhance signal-to-noise, a $`uv`$-taper function has been applied to the data. The taper has the form of the CMB power spectrum estimated from the complete VSA data set (see Paper III). The individual overlapping maps are combined linearly using standard Aips tasks. The individual maps are transformed to the same grid, then corrected for the individual primary beam responses (which multiplies up the outer parts of the map); they are then combined pixel by pixel, weighted by their primary beams, and the resulting image multiplied by the total weight map, resulting in an image in units of signal-to-noise. This is then re-scaled back to the map units of Jy beam-1. (This final re-scaling is only approximate as the sensitivities vary slightly between the component maps; however, no quantitative analysis is done using these images). The peak value of the signal-to-noise varies between 6 and 8.5 in the three combined images. The maps have not been CLEANed, so the CMB fluctuations are convolved with the synthesised beam, which is somewhat different for each field due to differences in flagging.

## 5 CONCLUSIONS

We have observed eight overlapping fields in three separate regions of the sky with the VSA compact array, a total of 101 square degrees. The CMB anisotropies are clearly detected in all fields, and individual features in different overlapped pointings agree well with each other. We have assessed the Galactic foreground contamination based on low-frequency radio, dust, and $`\mathrm{H}_\alpha `$ data, and found it to be negligible. To eliminate confusion by foreground radiosources, we have surveyed all the fields at 15 GHz with the Ryle Telescope (RT). The flux of all sources found in the RT survey were monitored simultaneously with and at the same frequency as the VSA observations using a separate single-baseline interferometer. These sources were subtracted from the data. The count of sources in the VSA fields is effectively complete to 80 mJy at 34 GHz, although we have detected sources as faint as 60 mJy. After removal of these sources from the VSA main array data, the residual source confusion is negligible. We have checked the data for evidence of components other than the CMB and thermal noise, and have found none.

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the staff of the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Teide Observatory for invaluable assistance in the commissioning and operation of the VSA. The VSA is supported by PPARC and the IAC. Partial financial support was provided by Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology project AYA2001-1657. A. Taylor, R. Savage, B. Rusholme, C. Dickinson acknowledge support by PPARC studentships. K. Cleary and J. A. Rubiño-Martin acknowledge Marie Curie Fellowships of the European Community programme EARASTARGAL, “The Evolution of Stars and Galaxies”, under contract HPMT-CT-2000-00132. K. Maisinger acknowledges support from an EU Marie Curie Fellowship. A. Slosar acknowledges the support of St. Johns College, Cambridge. We thank Professor Jasper Wall for assistance and advice throughout the project.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Propagation of electromagnetic waves in low-collision fully ionized plasma is described by asymptotic solution of the coupled kinetic and Maxwell equations. The trivial fact is known: an exponential solution $`\mathrm{exp}(ikxi\omega t)`$, proposed by L. Landau in 1946 (in the simplest case of a plane geometry) with complex $`\omega `$, is not a solution of either the Vlasov equations (for longitudinal plasma waves), nor the equations for transversal waves. Nevertheless in the available literature one usually admits that namely Landau solution is true but the above mentioned equations must be correspondingly corrected by additional terms according to Landau rules of passing around poles in calculation of logarithmically divergent integrals appearing at substitution of the solution into the primary equations.

The proposed method of two-dimensional Laplace transformation combined with Vlasov prescription of calculating divergent integrals in the sense of principal value allows one to obtain very simply asymptotical solutions of the original equations.

In this work we briefly describe both the techniques and the results of the proposed in  new iteration procedure. Following to this method one replaces Laplace image $`Q_{p_1p_2}(\stackrel{}{v}_e)`$ of the Coulomb collision term $`Q(\stackrel{}{v}_e,x,t)`$ by the term

$$f_{p_1p_2}^{(1)}(\stackrel{}{v}_e)\left[\frac{Q_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v}_e)}{f_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v}_e)}\right],$$
(1)
where $`f_{p_1p_2}^{(1)}(\stackrel{}{v}_e)`$ is Laplace image of the perturbation of electron distribution function, $`Q_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v}_e)`$ is Laplace image of the collision term, calculated in the null-iteration approximation using Laplace image $`f_{p_1p_2}^o`$ of the collisionless approximation of $`f_{p_1p_2}^{(1)}`$

$$f_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v}_e)=\frac{|e|}{m_e}\frac{f_0^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})}{v_z}\frac{E_{p_1p_2}}{p_1+v_xp_2}+\frac{v_xf_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})}{p_1+v_xp_2}.$$
(2)
In our boundary problem we can suppose $`f_{p_2}^{(e)}=0`$.

The method of subtraction of unphysical backward field waves suggested in  at non-zero $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}`$ and $`f_{p_2}^{(e)}`$ does not yet define single-valued dependence of $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}`$ and $`f_{p_2}^{(e)}`$ on $`\stackrel{}{v}_e`$. As we said before, the boundary conditions are not independent and the given boundary electrical field $`E(0,t)`$ defines the boundary function $`f_1^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v},0,t)`$. Such an interrelation of these quantities can be determined through the natural condition of absence of kinematical waves. In the case $`E(0,t)=E_0\mathrm{cos}(\omega t)`$, $`p_1=\pm i\omega `$, the general expression for $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})`$ is

$$f_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})=\frac{a(\stackrel{}{v})}{p_1+i\omega }+\frac{a^{}(\stackrel{}{v})}{p_1i\omega },$$
(3)
where symbol  means complex conjugation.

By equating amplitudes of the kinematical waves to zero one obtains linear integral equations for determination of $`a(\stackrel{}{v})`$ and $`a^{}(\stackrel{}{v})`$:

$$\left[\frac{|e|}{m_e}\frac{f_0^{(e)}}{v_z}E_{p_1p_2}\right]_{\begin{array}{c}p_1=\pm i\omega \hfill \\ p_2=p_1/v_x\hfill \end{array}}+v_xf_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})=0$$
(4)
where $`E_{p_1p_2}`$ (see Eq.(37) in ) contains integrals of the type

$$\frac{f_{p_1}^{(e)}u_xu_zd^3\stackrel{}{u}}{p_1+u_xp_2}.$$
(5)
These equations define uniquely the dependence $`a(\stackrel{}{v})`$ on $`\stackrel{}{v}`$. But determined in this way $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})`$ can not be used to eliminate unphysical backward field waves in $`E(x,t)`$, as was supposed in . To this end one must use the boundary condition for $`F_{p_1}`$ (that is Laplace transform of $`E(x,t)/x|_{x=0}`$).

In this way function $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}`$ has the form

$$f_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v}_e)\frac{f_0^{(e)}}{v_z}\eta (\stackrel{}{v}),$$
(6)
where $`\eta (\stackrel{}{v})`$ is some complicated function of $`\stackrel{}{v}`$. Assuming that factor $`f_0^{(e)}/v_z`$ is the main in the dependence of $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v}_e)`$ on $`\stackrel{}{v}`$ we can use Eq.(6) with replacement $`\eta (\stackrel{}{v})\eta (\overline{\stackrel{}{v}})`$ for rough estimates. Then, in the expression for collision term, $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}`$ in Eq.(2) can be approximately omitted (both terms in Eq.(2) have the same structure in $`\stackrel{}{v}`$).

Analogous considerations in the case of longitudinal waves lead to the determination of $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}`$, but there are no other free boundary conditions to eliminate the backward waves in $`E(x,t)`$. This fact leads to the inevitable conclusion that the normal boundary component of electrical field $`E(0,t)=E_0\mathrm{cos}(\omega t)`$ is broken at the plasma boundary due to the surface charge. This plasma boundary field can be found with the proportional changing of $`f_{p_1}^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v})`$ and $`E_0E_0^{}`$, $`E_{p_1}E_{p_1}^{}`$ in linear equation of the type (4) without changing field amplitude $`E_0`$ in $`E_{p_1}`$ in equation for $`E_{p_1p_2}`$ (see Eq.(37) in ).

## 2 Collisional damping of electromagnetic waves

Characteristic equation which is an equation for double poles $`p_1`$, $`p_2`$ of Laplace images of electrical field $`E(x,t)`$ and distribution function $`f_1^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v}_e,x,t)`$ has been obtained in . For $`E(0,t)E_0\mathrm{exp}(\omega t)`$ it has the following form

$$G(p_1,p_2)=\left(p_1i\omega \right)\left[p_2^2\frac{p_1^2}{c^2}+\frac{\omega _L^2p_1}{c^2}\frac{v_zd^3\stackrel{}{v}}{p_1+v_xp_2}\left(\frac{f_0^{(e)}}{v_z}\frac{m_e}{|e|}\frac{Q_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v})}{E_{p_1p_2}}\right)\right]=0,$$
(7)
where $`Q_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v})E_{p_1p_2}`$ (see , Eqs.(27)-(29)).

The integrals are defined according to Vlasov principal value prescription. The residue of Eq.(7) at pole $`p_1=i\omega `$ defines poles in $`p_2`$.

In the case of procedure (1) the pole equation differs in form from the pole equation in :

$$G(p_1,p_2)=\left(p_1i\omega \right)\left[p_2^2\frac{p_1^2}{c^2}+\frac{\omega _L^2p_1}{c^2}\frac{f_0^{(e)}}{v_z}\frac{v_zd^3\stackrel{}{v}}{p_1+v_xp_2\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(\stackrel{}{v})}\right]=0,$$
(8)
where

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(\stackrel{}{v})\frac{Q_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v})}{f_1^0(\stackrel{}{v},p_1,p_2)}$$
(9)
does not contain the value $`E_{p_1p_2}`$; $`f_1^0(\stackrel{}{v},p_1,p_2)`$ is defined by Eq.(2).

In analogy with , one uses approximation

$$_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}F(v_x)f_0^{(e)}(v_x)𝑑v_x=_0^{\mathrm{}}\left[F(v_x)+F(v_x)\right]f_0^{(e)}(v_x)𝑑v_x\frac{F(v_{0x})+F(v_{0x})}{2},$$
(10)
where coefficient $`1/2`$ appears owing to difference in normalization of distribution functions taken in intervals $`(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})`$ and $`(0,\mathrm{})`$ and

$$v_{0x}\sqrt{\overline{v_x^2}}.$$
(11)
Then one obtains

$$\frac{f_0^{(e)}}{v_z}\frac{v_zd^3\stackrel{}{v}}{p_1+v_xp_2\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(\stackrel{}{v})}_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑v_y_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Theta }(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)\frac{f_0^{(e)}(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)}{v_z}v_z𝑑v_z$$
(12)
where

$$\mathrm{\Theta }(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)\frac{\left[p_1\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}^+(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)\right]}{p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2p_1\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}^+(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)+v_{0x}p_2\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}^{}(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)}$$

and

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}^\pm (v_{0x},v_y,v_z)\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)\pm \mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(v_{0x},v_y,v_z).$$

The replacement $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(v_x,v_y,v_z)\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)`$, $`v_x^2v_{0x}^2kT/m_e`$ is made after taking derivatives in $`v_x`$, $`v_y`$, and $`v_z`$ in the differential operator $`Q_{p_1p_2}^o(\stackrel{}{v})`$; integrals in $`dv_y`$ and $`dv_z`$ can be approximately estimated by their mean values:

$$_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑v_y_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Theta }(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)\frac{f_0^{(e)}(v_{0x},v_y,v_z)}{v_z}v_z𝑑v_zN_yN_z\mathrm{\Theta }(v_{0x},v_{0y},v_{0z})$$
(13)
with evident normalization constants $`N_y`$ and $`N_z`$.

After elementary transformations one obtains dispersion (poles) equation in the form

$$\left[\left(p_2^2\frac{p_1^2}{c^2}\right)\left(p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2p_1a+v_{0x}p_2b\right)\frac{\omega _L^2}{c^2}p_1\left(p_1\frac{a}{2}\right)\right]=0,$$
(14)
where

$`a`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}^+(v_{0x},v_{0y},v_{0z})={\displaystyle \frac{4\lambda }{\left(3v_{0x}^2\right)^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{p_1^42p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2+5v_{0x}^4p_2^4}{\left(p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2\right)^2}}`$ (15)
$`b`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{p_1p_2}^{}(v_{0x},v_{0y},v_{0z})={\displaystyle \frac{8\lambda }{\left(3v_{0x}^2\right)^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{p_1^3v_{0x}p_23p_1v_{0x}^3p_2^3}{\left(p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2\right)^2}}`$ (16)
$`\lambda `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi e^4Ln_i}{m_e^2}};p_1=i\omega ;v_{0x}v_{0y}v_{0z}{\displaystyle \frac{kT_e}{m_e}},`$ (17)
and further as

$`\left[\left(c^2p_2^2p_1^2\right)\left(p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2\right)^3\omega _L^2p_1^2\left(p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2\right)^2\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{4\lambda p_1}{\left(3v_{0x}^2\right)^{3/2}}}\left(c^2p_2^2p_1^2\right)\left[p_1^44p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2+11v_{0x}^4p_2^4\right]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda p_1}{\left(3v_{0x}^2\right)^{3/2}}}\omega _L^2\left[p_1^42p_1^2v_{0x}^2p_2^2+5v_{0x}^4p_2^4\right]`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (18)
This equation is an analogue of the characteristic equation (30) in .

For both electron modes

$`p_2^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\pm {\displaystyle \frac{i\omega }{c}}\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _L^2}{\omega ^2}}}+\delta ^{(1)},`$ (19)
$`p_2^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`\pm {\displaystyle \frac{i\omega }{v_{0x}}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{v_{0x}^2\omega _L^2}{2c^2\omega ^2}}\right)+\delta ^{(2)},`$ (20)
we obtain from Eq.(18) at $`|\delta ^{(1,2)}|1`$ and neglecting terms with higher orders in $`v_{0x}^2/c^2`$ in Eqs.(15), (16):

$`\delta ^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\pm {\displaystyle \frac{2\pi e^4n_iL\omega _L^2}{3\sqrt{3}v_{0x}m_ekT_ec\omega ^2\sqrt{1\omega _L^2/\omega ^2}}};`$ (21)
$`\delta ^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`\pm \left({\displaystyle \frac{\pi e^4n_iL\omega ^2}{3\sqrt{3}v_{0x}^4m_ekT_e}}\right)^{1/3}.`$ (22)
that coincides with corresponding expressions for $`\delta ^{(1,2)}`$ in , in spite of differences of characteristic equations.

Let us emphasize here the sharp increase of the dissipative collisional absorption of electromagnetic waves proportional to $`1/\sqrt{1\omega _L^2/\omega ^2}`$ at $`\omega \omega _L+0`$ with the dominating collisionless non-dissipative reflective evanescence of waves at $`\omega <\omega _L`$.

## 3 Conclusions

Coincidence of collisional damping decrements for the two variants of iteration process is an evidence of the proposed calculation method correctness. The approximation (1) is more preferable than one used in  since it has more evident physical sense. The difference of both iteration procedures appears at large values of $`v_{0x}^2/c^2`$, however in this case there is also growing contribution of relativistic corrections to the original equations.

The requirements of absence of both unphysical backward (divergent at $`x\mathrm{}`$) field waves and kinematical waves smearing electron distribution function $`f_1^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v},x,t)`$ in $`v_x`$ lead at the given boundary field $`E(0,t)`$ to the determination of the boundary distribution function $`f_1^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v},0,t)`$ and the solution $`f_1^{(e)}(\stackrel{}{v},x,t)`$ with single-valued dependence on $`\stackrel{}{v}`$, $`x`$, and $`t`$.

Acknowledgements The author is thankful to Dr. A. P. Bakulev for his criticism and assistance in preparing the paper in  style.