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# Ultrahigh field electron cyclotron resonance absorption in In1-xMnxAs films

thanks: Present address: Physics Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, U.S.A.thanks: To whom correspondence should be addressed.thanks: Present address: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.

## Abstract

We have carried out an ultrahigh field cyclotron resonance study of $`n`$-type In1-xMnxAs films, with Mn composition $`x`$ ranging from 0 to 12%, grown on GaAs by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. We observe that the electron cyclotron resonance peak shifts to lower field with increasing $`x`$. A detailed comparison of experimental results with calculations based on a modified Pidgeon-Brown model allows us to estimate the s-d and p-d exchange coupling constants, $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$, for this important III-V dilute magnetic semiconductor system.

InMnAs alloys and their heterostructures with AlGaSb, the first grown III-V dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) munekata ; ohno ; munekata1 , serve as a prototype for implementing electron and hole spin degrees of freedom in semiconductors. Recent experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of controlling ferromagnetism in these systems optically koshihara  and electrically ohno1 . Understanding their electronic, transport, and optical properties is crucial for designing novel ferromagnetic semiconductor devices with high Curie temperatures. However, their basic band parameters such as effective masses and $`g`$-factors have not been accurately determined.

The localized Mn spins strongly influence the delocalized conduction and valence band states through the s-d and p-d exchange interactions. These interactions are usually parameterized as $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$, respectively furdyna . Determining these parameters is important for understanding the nature of Mn electron states and their mixing with delocalized carrier states. In narrow gap semiconductors like InMnAs, due to strong interband mixing, $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ can influence both the conduction and valence bands. This is in contrast to wide gap semiconductors where $`\alpha `$ influences primarily the conduction band and $`\beta `$ the valence band. In addition, in narrow gap semiconductors, due to the strong interband mixing, the coupling to the Mn spins does not effect all Landau levels by the same amount. As a result, the electron cyclotron resonance (CR) peak can shift as a function of $`x`$, the Mn concentration. This can be a sensitive method for estimating these exchange parameters. A recent CR study on Cd1-xMnxTe matsuda2  showed that the electron mass is strongly affected by $`spd`$ hybridization. To our knowledge, however, there have been no CR studies on any III-V DMS systems (for our preliminary results, see matsuda ; matsuda1 ).

In this paper we describe the dependence of electron CR observed in $`n`$-type In1-xMnxAs films on $`x`$. A detailed comparison with theoretical calculations provides insight into the effects of Mn ions on the Landau and Zeeman splittings of the conduction band states.

We studied four $``$2-$`\mu `$m-thick In1-xMnxAs films with $`x`$ = 0, 0.025, 0.050 and 0.120 by ultrahigh-field magneto-absorption spectroscopy. The films were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on semi-insulating GaAs substrates at 200C. All the samples were $`n`$-type and did not show ferromagnetism down to 1.5 K. The electron densities and mobilities deduced from Hall measurements are listed in Table 1. The single-turn coil technique nakao  was used to generate ultrahigh magnetic fields with pulse duration $``$7 $`\mu `$s. The sample and pick-up coil were placed in a helium flow cryostat. We used the 10.6 $`\mu `$m line from a CO2 laser and produced circular polarization using a CdS quarter-wave plate. The transmitted radiation was detected by a fast HgCdTe photovoltaic detector.

Typical measured CR spectra at 30 K and 290 K are shown in Figs. 1 (a) and (b), respectively. Note that to compare the transmission with absorption calculations, the transmission increases in the negative $`y`$ direction. Each figure shows spectra for all four samples labeled by the corresponding Mn compositions from 0 to 12 %. All the samples show pronounced absorption peaks (or transmission dips) and the resonance field decreases with increasing $`x`$. Increasing $`x`$ from 0 to 12% results in a $``$25 % decrease in cyclotron mass (see Table 1). It is important to note that at resonance, the densities and fields are such that only the lowest Landau level for each spin type is occupied (see Fig. 2). Thus, all the electrons were in the lowest Landau level for a given spin even at room temperature, precluding any density-dependent mass due to nonparabolicity (expected at zero or low magnetic fields) as the cause of the observed trend.

At high temperatures (e.g., Fig. 1(b)) the $`x`$ = 0 sample clearly shows nonparabolicity-induced CR spin-splitting with the weaker (stronger) peak originating from the lowest spin-down (spin-up) Landau level, while the other three samples do not show such splitting. The reason for the absence of splitting in the Mn-doped samples is a combination of 1) their low mobilities (which lead to substantial broadening) and 2) the large effective $`g`$-factors due to the Mn ions; especially in samples with large $`x`$ only the spin-down level is substantially thermally populated (cf. Fig. 2).

We also performed midinfrared interband absorption measurements at various temperatures using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, which revealed no significant $`x`$-dependence of the band gap except for the different amounts of Burstein-Moss shifts due to the different carrier densities.

We calculated the conduction band Landau levels based on a modified Pidgeon-Brown model pidgeon ; kossut  including full $`k_z`$ dependence and also sp-d exchange coupling of the electrons and holes to the Mn ions. This is an 8 $`\times `$ 8 band $`𝐤𝐩`$ method with a magnetic field along the  direction. We used a standard set of band parameters for InAs meyer , neglecting any $`x`$-dependence of these parameters. We vary the gap with $`T`$ according to $`E_g(T)=0.4170.000276T^2/(93+T)\mathrm{eV}`$ meyer . As seen in Table I, the mass does not vary significantly with $`T`$. Other low field CR studies of InAs Palik  show a very weak $`T`$-dependence to the cyclotron mass and also take into account polaron effects. Since we are mainly interested in the $`x`$ dependence of the mass, for simplicity, we adjust the $`F`$ parameter to keep the mass constant with $`T`$. Alternatively, one might wish to keep $`F`$ constant and vary the $`𝐤𝐩`$ optical matrix element $`E_p`$.

Since InMnAs is a narrow gap semiconductor, the coupling between the valence and conduction bands is strong, and thus, not only $`\alpha `$ but also $`\beta `$ is important in calculating the conduction band Landau levels. A photoemission experiment okabayashi  reports $`\beta `$ = $``$0.7 eV, and a theoretical estimate dietl  suggests that $`\beta 0.98`$ eV. No value has been reported for $`\alpha `$, to our knowledge.

We chose $`\beta `$ = $``$1.0 eV and $`\alpha `$ = 0.5 eV as the values which best represent the observed trends though these values can change depending upon the other parameters used in the $`𝐤𝐩`$ calculation. Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show the lowest three Landau levels (spin up and down) in the conduction band for the $`x`$ = 0 and 12% samples. In addition, the Fermi levels are calculated and plotted (dotted lines) for carrier densities of $`10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`10^{16}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. Both the mass and $`g`$-factor are strongly energy and magnetic field dependent as well as $`x`$ dependent. We can also see that in the $`x`$ = 12% sample the spin order is reversed and the spin splitting is significantly enhanced by the presence of Mn ions; the latter explains the absence of CR spin splitting in the 12% sample. We found that both the sign and values of $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are critically important in explaining the experimental data and therefore it is a good method for determining these parameters. In various investigations of II-VI DMS’s it has been established that $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ differ in sign and usually the absolute value of $`\beta `$ is greater than $`\alpha `$ furdyna ; kossut , which is consistent with our results.

In Fig. 3, we show the effective $`g`$-factors for electrons in the lowest Landau level in In1-xMnxAs as a function of applied magnetic field and Mn doping concentration, $`x`$. The curves are shown for temperatures of 30 K and 290 K, respectively. As can be seen, at 30 K and high Mn concentration, the effective $`g`$-factor is extremely large ($`>100`$) and has the opposite sign of the undoped sample. Due to Mn doping and the large nonparabolicity of the narrow gap semiconductor, the $`g`$-factor is very dependent on magnetic field and is reduced substantially at high magnetic fields and temperatures.

Based on the calculated Landau levels, we also calculated the cyclotron resonance spectra for the four samples at 30 K and 290 K. The magneto-optical absorption coefficient at the photon energy $`\mathrm{}\omega `$ is Bassani

$$\alpha (\mathrm{}\omega )=\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{(\mathrm{}c)n_r}ϵ_2(\mathrm{}\omega )$$
(1)
where $`ϵ_2(\mathrm{}\omega )`$ is the imaginary part of the dielectric function and $`n_r`$ is the index of refraction. The imaginary part of the dielectric function is found using Fermi’s golden rule. The result is

$`ϵ_2(\mathrm{}\omega )={\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{\lambda ^2(\mathrm{}\omega )^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n,\nu ;n^{},\nu ^{}}{}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑k_z|\widehat{e}\stackrel{}{P}_{n,\nu }^{n^{},\nu ^{}}(k_z)|^2`$
$`\times \left(f_{n,\nu }(k_z)f_{n^{},\nu ^{}}(k_z)\right)\delta \left(\mathrm{\Delta }E_{n^{},\nu ^{}}^{n,\nu }(k_z)\mathrm{}\omega \right),`$ (2)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_{n^{},\nu ^{}}^{n,\nu }(k_z)=E_{n^{},\nu ^{}}(k_z)E_{n,\nu }(k_z)`$ is the transition energy and $`\lambda `$ the magnetic length. The function $`f_{n,\nu }(k_z)`$ in Eq. (2) is the probability that the state $`(n,\nu ,k_z)`$, with energy $`E_{n,\nu }(k_z)`$, is occupied. It is given by the Fermi distribution function and depends on the net carrier density.

Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show the calculated CR absorption coefficient for electron-active circularly polarized 10.6 $`\mu `$m light in the Faraday configuration as a function of magnetic field at 30 K and 290 K, respectively. Densities for each sample are given in Table I. In the calculation, the curves were broadened based on the mobilities of the samples. The broadening used was: ($`T`$ = 30 K, 0% - 4 meV, 2.5% - 40 meV, 5% - 40 meV and 12% \- 80 meV); ($`T`$ = 290 K, 0% - 4 meV, 2.5% - 80 meV, 5% - 80 meV, 12% \- 80 meV).

At $`T`$ = 30 K, we see a shift in the CR peak as a function of doping in agreement with Fig. 1 (a). For $`T`$ = 290 K, we see the presence of two peaks in the pure InAs sample. The second peak originates from the thermal population of the lowest spin-down Landau level (cf. Fig. 2). The peak does not shift as much with doping as it did at low temperature. This results from the temperature dependence of the average Mn spin. We believe that the Brillouin function used for calculating the average Mn spin becomes inadequate at large $`x`$ and/or high temperature due to its neglect of Mn-Mn interactions such as pairing and clustering.

In summary, we have observed electron CR in In1-xMnxAs for the first time and studied its dependence on the Mn concentration, $`x`$. Owing to band mixing in this narrow gap system, the CR peak actually shifts with $`x`$; we observed a $``$25% mass reduction by increasing $`x`$ from 0 to 0.12. Theoretical calculations based on an $`8\times 8`$ band k$``$p model successfully reproduce this behavior. These results demonstrate that CR can be used for determining the $`spd`$, electron/hole - $`Mn`$ ion exchange interactions $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$. We obtained $`\beta `$ = $``$1.0 eV and $`\alpha `$ = 0.5 eV as the values which best represent the observed trends. We also showed that at low temperatures and high $`x`$ the effective $`g`$-factor is extremely large ($`>100`$) and has the opposite sign of the $`x`$ = 0 sample; it is very dependent on magnetic field and reduced substantially at high magnetic fields and temperatures. These findings should be useful for designing novel spin-based semiconductor devices.

This work was supported by DARPA through grant No. MDA972-00-1-0034 and the NEDO International Joint Research Program.


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# Evolution of the cluster X-ray scaling relations since 𝑧>0.4

## 1 Introduction

Correlations between the X-ray properties of galaxy clusters are useful statistical tools which allow to study the cluster physics. The best-studied correlation for the low-redshift clusters is that of the X-ray luminosity with the temperature (e.g., Mushotzky 1984, David et al. 1993, Markevitch 1998, Arnaud & Evrard 1999). The mass of the intracluster gas correlates with both temperature (Mohr, Mathiesen & Evrard 1999, Vikhlinin, Forman & Jones 1999) and X-ray luminosity (Voevodkin, Vikhlinin & Pavlinsky 2002b). The observed tightness of these correlations indicates a similar formation history for all clusters and is consistent with the predictions of the self-similar models of the cluster formation.

However, the details of these scaling relations are different from the predictions of the self-similar theory. The best-known example is the slope of the $`LT`$ correlation: it is observed that $`LT^{2.7}`$ for hot clusters (e.g., Markevitch 1998), while theory predicts $`LT^2`$ (e.g., Kaiser 1981). Such deviations may be due to non-gravitational processes such as preheating (e.g., Cavaliere, Menci & Tozzi 1997) or radiative cooling and feedback from star formation (Voit & Bryan 2001). Observing the evolution of scaling relations can provide useful constraints on such models. The scaling relations at high redshift also are of great value for cosmological studies based on cluster evolution. They provide the means to convert an easily observed X-ray luminosity function into the more cosmologically useful temperature or mass functions (e.g., Borgani et al. 2001).

Most of the previous high redshift studies have focused on the $`LT`$ relation. Mushotzky & Scharf (1997) analyzed a large sample of distant clusters observed with ASCA (most at $`z0.3`$, with a few at $`z>0.4`$) and found no evidence for evolution in the $`LT`$ relation. Several results for a small number of distant cluster observed by *Chandra* have been published recently. Borgani et al. (2001) analyzed a sample of 7 clusters at $`z>0.5`$ and concluded that the data allow at most a very mild evolution — if the luminosity for the given temperature is $`L(z)(1+z)^A`$, then $`A<1`$. A similar conclusion has been reached by Holden et al. (2002) from an analysis of 12 clusters at $`z>0.7`$.

The $`LT`$ relation at both low and high redshifts has a large intrinsic scatter, comparable to the expected evolutionary effects. The scatter in the low-redshift $`LT`$ relation is significantly reduced when the central cooling regions of the clusters are excised from both the luminosity and temperature measurements (Fabian et al. 1994, Markevitch 1998). Therefore, it is desirable to exclude the cooling cores in the distant clusters because this too may reduce the scatter and thus more easily expose any evolution. This task is feasible only with the *Chandra*’s arcsecond angular resolution.

As of Spring 2002, *Chandra* had observed 22 clusters at $`z>0.4`$ with sufficient exposure for accurate temperature measurements. Most of this sample is derived from flux-limited X-ray surveys: 7 clusters from the EMSS (Henry et al. 1992), 11 from the *ROSAT* serendipitous surveys, 160 deg2 (Vikhlinin et al. 1998), RDCS (Rosati et al. 1998), WARPS (Ebeling et al. 2000), and 2 from the *ROSAT* All-Sky Survey. We use these *Chandra* observations to derive correlations between the X-ray luminosity, temperature, and gas mass at $`z>0.4`$.

We use $`H_0=50`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 throughout.

## 2 Data Analysis

*Chandra* data were reduced in a standard manner (see Markevitch & Vikhlinin 2001 for a fuller description of our procedures). Spectral analysis was performed in the 0.8–10 keV band, to minimize the calibration uncertainties due to time-dependent decrease in the low energy quantum efficiency111cxc.harvard.edu $``$ Calibration $``$ ACIS $``$ April HEAD Meeting. The effective area below 1.8 keV in the front-illuminated CCDs was corrected by an empirical factor of 0.93 to improve the cross-calibration with the back-illuminated CCDs (see Markevitch & Vikhlinin 2001 for details). Background maps were generated using the prescriptions of Markevitch (2002). Cluster spectra were fit with the MEKAL model, with absorption fixed at the Galactic value, and abundance fixed at $`0.3`$ Solar unless the quality of the data allowed a direct measurement.

The imaging analysis was performed in the 0.7–2 keV energy band, but we also checked 2–7 keV images to excise hard, self-absorbed sources which may contaminate the spectral analysis of the faintest clusters.

Our aim was to compare the high-redshift $`LT`$ relation with the low-redshift one from Markevitch (1998), and so we followed this analysis as closely as possible. Temperatures were measured by fitting a spectrum integrated within a radius of 0.5–1 Mpc with a single-temperature MEKAL model; this region contained at least 75% of the total cluster flux. The bolometric X-ray luminosity was computed by normalizing the best-fit spectral model by the observed total 0.7–2 keV count rate within 2 Mpc. The extrapolation of a typical $`\beta `$-model profile shows that at most 4% of the X-ray flux originates outside this radius, which we ignore. The clusters with sharply peaked surface brightness profiles are likely to contain cooling cores, and so we excluded the central 100 kpc regions in such clusters from both the spectral analysis and count rate computations, multiplying the measured count rates by 1.06 to account for the flux within $`r<100`$ kpc in a typical $`\beta `$-model cluster.

It is important to verify that there is no systematic difference between our *Chandra* and earlier *ASCA* temperature measurements. Using the procedure outlined above, we derived temperatures for a number of nearby clusters from the *ASCA* samples of Markevitch (1998) and White (2000) and confirmed that on average, the agreement between *Chandra* and *ASCA* measurements is at a level of 5% or better (Fig. 2).

## 3 Results

The resulting $`LT`$ correlation in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$ cosmology is shown in Fig. 2. The scatter in the correlation is very small — it is almost consistent with the measurement uncertainties. The slope is consistent with the low-redshift relation, but the normalization is significantly different — for the same temperature, clusters at high redshift are more luminous. If the $`z`$-dependence of the correlation is parameterized as $`L(1+z)^{A_{LT}}T^\alpha `$ with $`\alpha `$ fixed at its local value of 2.64, then $`A_{LT}=1.5\pm 0.3`$ (90% confidence) for this cosmology. For $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$, evolution of the $`LT`$ relation is weaker, but still significant (Table 3).

Let us now consider correlations involving the gas mass. Assuming spherical symmetry, the radial profile of the gas mass in a cluster is trivially derived from the observed X-ray surface brightness profile. The main question is: within which radius to measure the gas mass? We chose the radius defined by the mean gas overdensity over the average baryon density in the Universe $`\delta _g=M_g(r)/\left(4/3\pi r^3\rho _b\right)=324(h/0.5)^{1/2}`$, where $`M_g(r)`$ is the gas mass within the radius $`r`$, and $`\rho _b=5.55M_{}\text{kpc}^3\times (1+z)^3`$ is the average baryon density from Big Bang nucleosynthesis theory (Burles, Nollett, & Turner 2001). This choice is motivated by two considerations. First, if the mass fraction of baryons in clusters is representative of that for the Universe as a whole, then at large distances from the cluster center, $`\delta _g`$ should equal the mean total mass overdensity, $`\delta _m`$, and at the same time $`\delta _g`$ is easily determined from the X-ray imaging data (our procedure is described in Vikhlinin et al. 1999). Strictly speaking, the baryon mass should include the stellar material but we ignore this minor contributor. Second, Jenkins et al. (2001) developed a universal model for the cluster total mass function for masses corresponding to $`\delta _m=324`$ at the redshift of observation, therefore our values can be readily compared to theoretical predictions.

Figure 3 shows the correlation of $`M_{g,324}`$ with the cluster temperature. The solid line shows this relation for a sample of low-redshift clusters (Voevodkin et al. 2002a). For the $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$ cosmology, the evolution is very weak. If the $`z`$-dependence in the correlation is parameterized as $`M_g(1+z)^{A_{MT}}T^\beta `$ with $`\beta `$ fixed on its local value of 1.76, then $`A_{MT}=0.5\pm 0.4`$. For $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$, the derived gas masses are significantly smaller and there is a strong evolution in the $`M_gT`$ relation, $`A_{MT}=1.5\pm 0.4`$.

Figure 4 shows a correlation of $`M_{g,324}`$ with the X-ray luminosity. This relation is potentially useful for estimating the mass function from the X-ray luminosity function for distant clusters. Therefore, we used in this case the total cluster luminosity (i.e. not excluding the central regions) in the 0.5–2 keV energy band — the quantity commonly measured in the serendipitous *ROSAT* cluster surveys. The solid line in Fig. 4 shows the $`ML_{\mathrm{tot}}`$ correlation for low-redshift clusters (Voevodkin et al. 2002b). The $`M_gL`$ relation shows a strong evolution in all cosmologies. If its $`z`$-dependence is parameterized as a power law, $`M(1+z)^{A_{ML}}L^\gamma `$ with $`\gamma `$ fixed at its local value of $`0.83`$, then $`A_{ML}2\pm 0.4`$ (Table 3).

## 4 Discussion and conclusions

We have used *Chandra* observations of a sample of 22 distant, $`z>0.4`$, clusters to show that the correlations between the cluster temperature, luminosity, and gas mass evolve significantly with respect to the low-redshift relations.

Our detection of significant evolution in the $`LT`$ relation appears to contradict some other recent *Chandra* studies (Borgani et al. 2001, Holden et al. 2002). The difference between their and our results can be traced mostly to a more consistent comparison of the high- and low-redshift samples, such as exclusion of the cool cores and extraction of the luminosities in the 2 Mpc aperture. Note that the results of Novicki et al. (2002) who self-consistently use *ASCA* data for the nearby and distant clusters, agree well with our $`LT`$ evolution.

It is theoretically expected that within clusters, the baryon contribution to the total mass, $`f_b`$, should be close to the average value in the Universe (e.g., White et al. 1993). This notion continues to gain observational support (most recently, Allen, Schmidt & Fabian 2002). If $`f_b`$ is indeed constant, the evolutions in the $`ML`$ and $`MT`$ relations involving the gas mass or total mass should be identical.

The observed evolution of the cluster $`M_gTL`$ correlations indicates that clusters at high redshift were systematically denser than at present — hotter and more luminous for a given mass, as expected in a theory of the hierarchical self-similar formation. However, the details of the observed evolution contradict the self-similar predictions. For example, the standard theory (e.g., Bryan & Norman 1998) predicts that for a given temperature, the product $`H(z)M_\mathrm{\Delta }(T,z)`$ should be constant, where $`M_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the mass measured within the radius of the overdensity $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with respect to the critical density at redshift $`z`$, and $`H(z)`$ is the Hubble constant. For the realistic cluster density profiles, this implies that approximately $`M_\delta (z,T)(1+z)^{3/2}`$ in almost any cosmology, where $`M_\delta `$ corresponds to the mean overdensity $`\delta `$ relative to the average density at redshift $`z`$. However, we observe little evolution in the $`M_{g,\delta }T`$ relation for the currently favored $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$ cosmology, seemingly at odds with the theoretical prediction. This possibly indicates the importance of non-gravitational processes for heating the intracluster gas that would change $`T`$ but are unlikely to modify $`M_g`$, just as is inferred from the scaling relations for low-redshift clusters.

This work was supported by NASA grant NAG5-9217 and contract NAS8-39073. We thank J. P. Henry and M. Novicki for sharing their results prior to publication.


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# References

As motivated by the string theory  , there has been a lot of studies in the recent years on brane models. These models could provide a solution to problem of the hierarchy between the Plank scale and the electroweak scale  . In the Randall-Sundrum (RS)  model, the fifth dimension has orbifold geometry $`S_1/Z_2`$, and two branes with opposite brane tension are located at the orbifold fixed points in a $`AdS`$ space with negative bulk cosmological constant. The exponential warp factor in the spacetime metric generates a hierarchy scale on the observational brane, which is determined by the distance between two branes. A mechanism of stabilizing this distance is suggested by Goldberger and Wise (GW)  using a bulk scalar field.

The existence of a small positive cosmological constant is strongly indicated by recent observational data , which is about $`0.7`$ of the critical density. This value is $`120`$ orders of magnitude less than that from quantum field theory. Some attempts to get a small cosmological constant in variant of RS scenarios have been made . In the meantime, the recent observations by BooMERANG and MAXIMA  on the location of the first peak in the Microwave Background Radiation anisotropy as an strong evidence of the flat universe strongly support the predictions of inflation. The corresponding inflation mechanism in the RS model have been proposed . Therefore, the consideration of de Sitter phase on the brane is very important, which is studied in Ref. .

In this letter, we study the effect of a small cosmological constant on the stability of the RS model. We drive the correction of a small four dimensional (4D) effective cosmological constant on the 3-brane to the GW radion potential, and then give some discussions.

We start with a 5D action

$$S_{bulk}=d^4x𝑑y\sqrt{g}\left(\frac{1}{2\kappa ^2}R\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)d^4x\left(\sqrt{g_1}\mathrm{\Lambda }_1+\sqrt{g_2}\mathrm{\Lambda }_2\right),$$
(1)
where $`\kappa `$ sets the 5D fundamental scale, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the cosmological constant of the bulk, $`g_1`$ and $`g_2`$ are the induced metrics on two 3-branes with the corresponding brane tensions are $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$, located at $`y=0`$ and $`y=r`$, respectively. A metric ansatz with maximal symmetry given by Ref.  is

$$ds^2=\left(\mathrm{cosh}(ky)\frac{\kappa \mathrm{\Lambda }_1}{\sqrt{6(\mathrm{\Lambda })}}\mathrm{sinh}(ky)\right)^2\left(dt^2+e^{Ht}d𝐱^2\right)+dy^2,$$
(2)
The corresponding matching condition at $`y=r`$

$$k\left(1\frac{\kappa ^2\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\mathrm{\Lambda }_2}{6(\mathrm{\Lambda })}\right)\mathrm{sinh}(kr)=\frac{\kappa ^2}{6}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_1+\mathrm{\Lambda }_2)\mathrm{cosh}(kr)$$
(3)
must be satisfied, where $`k=\sqrt{\frac{\kappa ^2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{6}}`$ and

$$H^2=\frac{\kappa ^4}{36}\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\frac{\kappa ^2}{6}\mathrm{\Lambda }$$
(4)
is the Hubble parameter on two 3-branes. Assuming that the energy densities of two 3-branes are expressed as $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\sigma +\mathrm{\Lambda }_{1eff}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2\sigma +\mathrm{\Lambda }_{2eff}`$, then fine-tuning $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{\kappa ^2\sigma ^2}{6}`$, when $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{1eff},\mathrm{\Lambda }_{2eff}\sigma `$, which means a very small net cosmological constant on the 3-brane, we can rewrite Eqs. (3) and (4) as

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_{1eff}=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{2eff}\mathrm{exp}(2kr),$$
(5)
$$H^2\frac{\kappa ^4}{18}\sigma \mathrm{\Lambda }_{1eff}\frac{\kappa _4^2\mathrm{\Lambda }_{eff}}{3},$$
(6)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{eff}\frac{\kappa ^4}{6\kappa _4^2}\sigma \mathrm{\Lambda }_{1eff}`$ is the 4D effective cosmological constant on the 3-brane. For convenience, we define $`\eta \sqrt{\frac{\kappa ^2\sigma ^2}{6\mathrm{\Lambda }}}11`$, then see that $`\eta \frac{\kappa _4^2}{\kappa ^2\mathrm{\Lambda }}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{eff}`$ . When $`\eta 0`$, the 4D effective cosmological constant tend to 0. Therefore, we can regard $`\eta `$ as a measurement of 4D effective cosmological constant.

We can see from the metric (2) that the distance between two branes required to solve the hierarchy problem is less than that in the absence of cosmological constant, but when $`\eta \mathrm{exp}(2ky)2`$, for $`ky1`$, the warp factor have a singularity in finite distance, thus the other brane ought to be placed in $`\eta \mathrm{exp}(2ky)<2`$. Fig. 1 reflects the relation between the location of the other brane, which is required to generate the hierarchy between the Planck scale and the electroweak scale, and the 4D effective cosmological constant on the 3-brane. We see that with the increasing of the cosmological constant, the location of the other brane is gradually close to the singularity, but never arrive at it. Therefore, a model of RS type with the 4D effective cosmological and the proper distance without the singularity, which is required to generate the hierarchy, is reasonable.

To study the effect of a small effective cosmological constant to the stability of this model, following the GW mechanism , we introduce a bulk scalar field into the model,

$$S_{bulkscalar}=\frac{1}{2}d^4x𝑑y\sqrt{g}\left(g_{MN}^M\varphi ^N\varphi m^2\varphi ^2\right),$$
(7)
where $`g_{MN}`$ is the 5D metric given in (2), and the boundary potentials of the scalar field are

$$S_1=\lambda _1d^4x\sqrt{g_1}\left(\varphi ^2v_1^2\right)^2\mathrm{at}y=0$$
(8)
$$S_2=\lambda _2d^4x\sqrt{g_2}\left(\varphi ^2v_2^2\right)^2\mathrm{at}y=r$$
(9)
where $`v_1`$ and $`v_2`$ are the vacuum expectation values of bulk scalar field on two 3-branes, $`\lambda _1`$ and $`\lambda _2`$ are corresponding coupling constants.

We are interested in those configurations of the bulk scalar field where the boundary potentials are minimized. This essentially amounts to negligible dynamics of $`\varphi `$ along the direction tangential to any of two 3-branes. This assumption is reasonable because we focus on the stability of two 3-branes system at the moment and do not study phenomenological consequence of possible coupling of the bulk scalar field $`\varphi `$ to matter fields living on two 3-branes. Therefore, it suffices to concentrate on the equation of motion of $`\varphi `$ only in $`y`$ direction, which is

$$_y^2\varphi 4f(y)_y\varphi m^2\varphi =0,$$
(10)
where

$$f(y)=\frac{k(e^{ky}+\eta \mathrm{cosh}(ky))}{e^{ky}\eta \mathrm{sinh}(ky)}.$$
(11)
For $`\eta \mathrm{exp}(2ky)1`$, i.e. a very small cosmological constant, this equation is reduced to

$$_y^2\varphi 4k(1+\eta e^{2ky})_y\varphi m^2\varphi =0,$$
(12)
Limiting ourselves to the regime where $`ϵ`$ is small, $`ϵ\nu 2\frac{m^2}{4k^2}1`$, where $`\nu \sqrt{2+\frac{m^2}{k^2}}`$, and only focusing on the effect of the 4D cosmological constant, we ignore the term of $`ϵ`$ (for the effect of $`ϵ`$, see Ref. ), and in the meantime reserve the first order term of $`\eta \mathrm{exp}(2ky)`$. Thus the solution of Eq. (12) is

$$\varphi ae^{(2\nu )ky}+be^{(2+\nu )ky}+\frac{4}{3}b(\eta e^{2ky})e^{(2+\nu )ky}+O((\eta e^{2ky})^2,ϵ),$$
(13)
where $`a`$ and $`b`$ are two constant determined by appropriate boundary conditions on two 3-branes. Minimizing the boundary potential at $`y=0`$ and $`y=r`$, we drive

$$a\frac{v_1v_2(1+\frac{4}{3}\eta )e^{(2+\nu )kr}}{1(1+\frac{4}{3}\eta )e^{2\nu kr}},$$
(14)
$$b\frac{v_1e^{2\nu kr}+v_2e^{(2+\nu )kr}}{1(1+\frac{4}{3}\eta )e^{2\nu kr}}.$$
(15)
Substituting Eqs. (13), (14) and (15) into the action (7) and making integration of $`y`$, we get an effective potential for the radion from the bulk scalar field part

$$V_{scalar}(v)4kv^4\left(v_2v_1v^ϵ\right)^2+\frac{8}{3}\eta kv^2\left(v_2v_1v^ϵ\right)^2,$$
(16)
where $`v=\mathrm{exp}(kr)`$ denotes the variability of the distance between two 3-branes. Compared with the potential in absence of the effective 4D cosmological constant , this has an additional correction from a 4D effective cosmological constant, but we see that this term do not change the minimum of the effective potential. However, there is still a contribution from the curvature of the universe in de Sitter brane ,

$$V_{curvature}=\frac{1}{2k\kappa ^2}v^2R_4,$$
(17)
where $`R_4=12H^2`$ is the 4D scalar curvature. Consequently, combining Eq. (16) and (17), the effective potential is reduced to

$$V_{eff}(v)=4kv^4\left(v_2v_1v^ϵ\right)^2+\frac{8}{3}\eta kv^2\left(v_2v_1v^ϵ\right)^2+\frac{12}{\kappa ^2}k\eta v^2.$$
(18)
For $`\eta \mathrm{exp}(2kr)1`$, we plot Fig. 2, for $`k\frac{1}{\kappa }m_p`$ and $`\mathrm{exp}(ky)10^{16}`$, which is required to generate the hierarchy between the Plank scale and electroweak scale. We see that a small cosmological constant can raise the value of the effective potential in the minimum and make this minimum unstable. When the cosmological constant increases to certain value, $`\eta 10^{36}`$, this minimum disappears, and the correspondent value of the cosmological constant is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{eff}10^{36}m_p^4`$ for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{1}{\kappa ^5}`$.

In summary, we have studied the effect of a very small cosmological constant on the stability of the RS model and show that if there is a small cosmological constant on the observational 3-brane, the distance between two branes required to solve the hierarchy problem is less than that in the absence of cosmological constant and without singularity. We give an effective potential about this distance in some detail, and find that when the cosmological constant is very small, the corresponding minimum remain surviving, but is unstable. As the cosmological constant increases, this minimum disappear, and in this case we hardly determined the distance between two branes by this mechanism. For $`k\frac{1}{\kappa }m_p`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }m_p^5`$ and $`\mathrm{exp}(ky)10^{16}`$, while the minimum appears, the cosmological constant value is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{eff}10^{36}m_p^4`$. We see that to quintessence determined by updated observation, there exists a minimum, and we can get the proper distance between two 3-branes required to solve the hierarchy problem by the GW mechanism. However, to inflation in early universe, there requires a more high energy scale, in this period whether we can get an reasonable hierarchy scale is still uncertain.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Yuan-Zhong Zhang for useful discission. This work is supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 10047004, and also supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China under Grant No. NKBRSF G19990754.


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# Shot noise in self-assembled InAs quantum dots

## Abstract

We investigate the noise properties of a GaAs-AlAs-GaAs tunneling structure with embedded self-assembled InAs quantum dots in the single-electron tunneling regime. We analyze the dependence of the relative noise amplitude of the shot noise on bias voltage. We observe a non-monotonic behaviour of the Fano-factor $`\alpha `$ with an average value of $`\alpha 0.8`$ consistent with the asymmetry of the tunneling barriers. Reproducible fluctuations observed in $`\alpha `$ can be attributed to the successive participation of more and more InAs quantum dots in the tunneling current.

Performing noise measurements on microscopic semiconductor devices allows an insight into details of the transport process not accessible by conventional conductance experiments. In the most simple system for such an experiment, an ideal tunneling barrier, a frequency-independent power spectrum of the current noise up to frequencies corresponding to the transit time of the carriers is observed. This case, known as full shot noise, is due to a Poissonian statistics of the individual tunneling events and a totally uncorrelated flow of charge carriers Ambrozy (1982).

If an additional source of negative correlation due to the Pauli-exclusion principle is introduced the noise amplitude was shown to be reduced Li et al. (1988); Liu et al. (1995). In these experiments, changing the ratio of the transmissivity through the two barriers of a double-barrier resonant-tunneling structure resulted into a suppression of the relative shot-noise amplitude compared to full shot noise. Theoretical models for purely coherent transport Chen and Ting (1991) and for classical sequential tunneling Davies et al. (1992) have been developed. Both yield identical results for the noise suppression since shot noise generally is not sensitive to dephasing Blanter and Büttiker (2000). This suppression of the shot noise was also observed for resonant tunneling in zero-dimensional systems Birk et al. (1995); Nauen et al. (2002). Under certain circumstances a positive correlation between individual tunneling events can even increase the noise power above the full Poissonian shot noise value Iannaccone et al. (1998); Kuznetsov et al. (1998).

In this paper we present noise measurements on self-assembled InAs quantum dot (QD) systems. These samples form an ideal system for noise experiments since they provide zero-dimensional states of microscopic dimensions. Furthermore, it is possible to select individual QDs for transport by applying different bias voltages between the source and drain contacts Narihiro et al. (1996); Itskevich et al. (1996); Suzuki et al. (1997); Hapke-Wurst et al. (2000). Consequently, we are able to measure the noise spectra of a resonant tunneling current through single zero-dimensional states.

What we find in the experiments is a modulation of the amplitude of the shot noise normalized to full shot noise as a function of the applied bias voltage $`V_{SD}`$. We can link this to resonant single-electron tunneling through individual InAs QDs in agreement with theoretical expectations.

The active part of our samples consists of a GaAs-AlAs-GaAs resonant tunneling structure with embedded InAs QDs of 10-15 nm diameter and 3 nm height Hapke-Wurst et al. (1999). These QDs are situated between two AlAs barriers of nominally 4 nm and 6 nm thickness. The formation of pyramidal QDs is due to the lattice mismatch between InAs and AlAs resulting in a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. About one million QDs are placed randomly on the area of an etched diode structure of $`40\times 40\mu \text{m}^2`$ area. A 15 nm undoped GaAs spacer layer and a GaAs buffer with graded doping on both sides of the resonant tunneling structure provide three-dimensional collector and emitter electrodes. Connection to the active layer is realized by annealed Au/Ge/Ni/Au contacts.

A schematic sample structure with one InAs QD embedded in an AlAs barrier is sketched in the inset (a) of Fig. 1. When applying a finite bias the zero-dimensional states of the QDs inside of the AlAs barrier can be populated by electrons and a current through the structure sets on, see Fig. 1 (b). In our experiments a positive bias voltage means tunneling first through the base of a QD and out of the top. Due to the finite height of the InAs QDs of approximately 3 nm their pinnacles penetrate into the top AlAs barrier. This effectively reduces the width of the top barrier below that of the nominally thinner barrier at the base of the QDs. Therefore positive bias voltage corresponds to non-charging transport.

A typical current-voltage ($`I`$-$`V`$) characteristic is shown in Fig. 1. We observe a step-like increase of the current at bias voltages of 75, 95 and 120 mV. Each one of these current steps corresponds to the emitter Fermi energy $`E_F`$ getting into resonance with the ground states of different individual QDs. At bias voltages lower than 70 mV no transport occurs since all the zero-dimensional states inside the barrier lie above the emitter Fermi energy $`E_F`$ and, consequently, electron flow is prohibited by the AlAs barriers.

The negative slope of the first current plateaus is related to the density of states of the three-dimensional emitter. Indeed, a triangular-shaped $`I`$-$`V`$ curve as indicated by the dotted line is expected for such a 3D-0D-3D tunneling diode. In particular with a Fermi energy $`E_F=13.6`$ meV and an energy-to-voltage conversion factor of approximately 0.3 the current falls back to zero when the distance to the onset voltage exceeds $`\mathrm{\Delta }V=45`$ mV Hapke-Wurst et al. (2000). Then the QD ground state with energy $`E_D`$ falls below the conduction band edge $`E_C`$ of the emitter and no resonant transport through this particular dot can take place anymore.

The noise experiments are performed in a 4He bath cryostat with a variable temperature insert. The sample is always immersed in liquid helium. This allows for temperatures between 1.4 K and 4 K under stable conditions.

The bias voltage $`V_{SD}`$ is applied between the source and drain electrodes by means of a filtered DC-voltage source. The noise signal is detected by a low-noise current amplifier in a frequency range from 0 to 100 kHz. The use of a current amplifier requires small capacitive loading by the external circuit. Accordingly, electrical connection to the sample is provided by a low-capacitance line with $`C10`$ pF (see Fig. 2, inset).

The amplifier output is fed into a fast Fourier-transform analyzer (FFT) to extract the noise spectra and in parallel into a voltmeter for measuring the total DC-current through the sample. The amplifier and the input stages of the FFT have been tested for linearity in the range of interest, overall calibration has been verified by measuring the thermal noise of thick film resistors.

By analyzing the frequency spectra we find that shot noise is present above a certain frequency, as shown in Fig. 2. The spectra have been smoothed using a boxcar average. The fluctuations of the signal increase with frequency because of the capacitive loading of the current amplifier. The superior signal-to-noise ratio at a bias voltage $`V_{SD}=130`$ mV is due to a higher integration time. At frequencies below $`20`$ kHz we find an additional $`1/f`$-noise contribution.

For characterizing the relative amplitude of the shot noise we use the dimensionless Fano factor $`\alpha `$, being defined as the ratio $`\alpha =S/S_{poisson}`$ between full Poissonian shot noise $`S_{poisson}=2eI`$ (for $`eV_{SD}k_BT`$) and the measured noise power density $`S`$, with the total current $`I`$ and the electron charge $`e`$. Consequently, full shot noise corresponds to $`\alpha =1`$. For the purpose of extracting $`\alpha `$ from the spectra we average above the cut-off frequency of the 1/f noise, thus increasing the signal to noise ratio. The measured shot noise $`S`$ as a function of bias voltage $`V_{SD}`$ is shown in Fig. 3. For comparison we plot the calculated full shot noise $`\alpha =1`$.

We consider the bias range where the first three QD states get into resonance with the emitter Fermi energy $`E_F`$ as depicted in Fig. 3. By averaging current and noise on the first plateau we find a Fano factor $`\alpha 0.8`$. The suppression of shot noise for on-resonance tunneling is well understood theoretically (see Blanter and Büttiker (2000) and references therein): The value of the Fano factor $`\alpha `$ is directly linked to the transmissivity aspect of left and right barrier:

$$\alpha =\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_L^2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_R^2}{\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_L+\mathrm{\Gamma }_R\right)^2}.$$
(1)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ are the partial decay widths of the resonant state $`E_D`$. For symmetric barriers ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$) the suppression would become $`\alpha =1/2`$. Responsible for this is the Pauli exclusion principle: For symmetric barriers the tunneling of an electron from the emitter into the QD is forbidden as long as the QD state $`E_D`$ is occupied. This anti-correlates successive tunneling events. However, in the asymmetric case (e.g. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$) full poissonian shot noise ($`\alpha =1`$) would be recovered, since then the transport will be controlled by one barrier solely.

To get a more quantitative insight we use the textbook formula for the transmission coefficient $`T`$ of a rectangular tunneling barrier neglecting any influence of the applied bias voltage on the shape of the barrier potential:

$$T(E)=\frac{1}{1+\left\{1+\left(\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{\kappa }{k}\frac{k}{\kappa }\right)^2\right)\right\}\mathrm{sinh}^2(\kappa a)},$$
(2)
with $`\kappa =\sqrt{2m^{}(V_0E)}/\mathrm{}`$ and $`k=\sqrt{2m^{}E}/\mathrm{}`$, the barrier width $`a`$ and height $`V_0=1.05\text{eV}E_F`$, the effective electron mass $`m^{}`$ and the energy $`E`$ of the tunneling emitter electrons. This is justified since the AlAs barriers in our sample are narrow but high. The transmission coefficients $`T_{L,R}`$ of the left and right barrier are linked to the partial decay widths $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{L,R}`$ via $`T_{L,R}=\mathrm{}\nu T_{L,R}`$ with the attempt rate $`\nu =\sqrt{2E_D/m^{}}/w`$ of the resonant QD state $`E_D`$ and $`w`$ the distance between both barriers. Since $`\nu `$ is identical for both barriers Eq. (1) transforms into

$$\alpha =\frac{T_L^2+T_R^2}{\left(T_L+T_R\right)^2}.$$
(3)
We take the thickness of the tunneling barrier at the base of the QD $`a_L=4`$ nm as fixed. From the measured Fano factor $`\alpha 0.8`$ we extract from Eq. (3) the ratio $`T_R/T_L=8.4`$ at a bias voltage of 0.1 V. We can now use Eq. (2) to calculate the thickness of the second barrier as $`a_R=3.2`$ nm. The top AlAs barrier has been grown with a nominal thickness of 6 nm and the average height of an InAs QD is 3 nm. Hence, the calculated value of $`a_R=3.2`$ nm is in good agreement with the expected barrier thickness of 3 nm.

Up to now we have dealt with the bias regime where very few single QDs determine the transport. If the bias voltage is increased above 130 mV the energy separation between consecutive QD states is narrowed considerably (Fig. 3) compared to the onset region. Therefore, the number of QD states contributing to the current reaches the order of ten at 190 mV. In this multiple-QD tunneling regime we observe a non-monotonic behaviour of the Fano factor with the noise being sub-Poissonian ($`\alpha <1`$) on resonance. In between the current plateaus we find increasing noise. However, there $`\alpha `$ is found to be still sub-poissonian. For better insight into this observation we have plotted the corresponding Fano factor $`\alpha `$ in comparison with the $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics in Fig. 4 (a).

First, we will concentrate on the increase of the Fano factor $`\alpha `$ at the onset of every current plateau (see Fig. 4(a)). A detailed view of the Fano factor at a current step is plotted in Fig. 4 (b). Full Poissonian shot noise is present in a stream of electrons that is totally uncorrelated. The suppression of the shot noise for on-resonance transport as predicted by Eq. (1) is due to a negative correlation in the electron flow induced by the Pauli exclusion principle: As one electron enters the resonant QD state the tunneling of further electrons into that state is forbidden. The resulting dependence between consecutive tunneling events suppresses the noise.

When a QD level starts coming into resonance only a few electrons from the high energy tail of the Fermi distribution contribute to the resonant current. This implies that the Pauli principle does not play a role as long as an electron in the QD can tunnel out before the next one is available in the emitter, in other words as long as the attempt frequency in the emitter is smaller than the tunneling rate through the second barrier. In such an uncorrelated case the Fano factor will approach its Poissonian value $`\alpha =1`$, see Fig. 4 (b). If the resonant state is moved further into the Fermi sea of the emitter, the number of electrons available to resonant tunneling increases and the Pauli principle sets in. The Fano factor starts becoming suppressed until reaching its minimum on the current plateau.

Applying higher bias voltage we note in Fig. 4 (a) a reduction of the overall modulation amplitude in the Fano factor $`\alpha `$, eventually leading to an average suppression of $`\alpha 0.8`$. As we have stated above every single QD contributes to the total current over a bias range of approximately $`50`$ mV. This implies that e.g. the QD linked to the current step at $`V_{SD}=145`$ mV in Fig. 4 (a) transmits electrical current over most part of the plotted bias range (up to $`190`$ mV) before its eigenstate moves below the emitter conductance band edge $`E_c`$. The same holds for every consecutive QD. Thus at a specific bias voltage $`V_{SD}`$ the total current $`I_{total}(V_{SD})`$ is a sum of the currents $`I_i`$ through every single QD : $`I_{total}(V_{SD})=_{i=1}^{n(V_{SD})}I_i(V_{SD})`$ with $`n(V_{SD})`$ being the number of transmitting QDs. As indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 1 each current $`I_i(V_{SD})`$ features an approximately linear decreasing behavior with increasing bias voltage.

From the theoretical models for on-resonance transport we know that the suppression coefficient $`\alpha _i`$ is constant and its value is given by Eq. (1). We may speculate that in the multi-dot regime the $`\alpha _i`$ are modified by additional mechanisms like interaction effects. The fluctuations in the Fano factor minima may be traced to that. Nevertheless, this implies that with increasing bias voltage we have a growing number of QDs transmitting electrons with approximately constant value for the Fano factor $`\alpha `$. Since we normalize the measured noise on the total current this results in a reduction of the effect of additional QDs coming into resonance.

In the limit of a large number of QDs being in resonance with the emitter Fermi sea we expect any modulation of the Fano factor to vanish, and its value to saturate at the value of the ensemble averaged suppression: $`\alpha =1/n(V_{SD})_{i=1}^{n(V_{SD})}\alpha _i`$. In fact, this is what we find for bias voltages above 190 mV, where $`n(190\text{mV})`$ is on the order of ten: The measured value $`\alpha 0.8`$ is once again in reasonable agreement with the asymmetry of our tunneling structure (see above).

Apart from the main features found in the noise and $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics we observe a fine structure as shown exemplarily in Fig. 4 (b) around 181 mV. Most likely this can be linked to transport through QDs only weakly coupled to the emitter. Additionally, these fine structures may be influenced by the fluctuations of the local density of states in the emitter Schmidt et al. (2001).

To conclude, we have measured the shot noise of an array of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs). We observe a suppression of the shot noise on current plateaus that is related to resonant tunneling through the zero-dimensional ground state of a QD as predicted by theory. In the step region between two current plateaus the noise increases. This is because of the negligible influence of the Pauli principle as long as the number of emitter electrons with the energy of a specific QD state is sufficiently low. As more QD states lie between the Fermi energy and the conduction band edge of the emitter we find a suppression of the modulation amplitude of the shot noise.

We acknowledge financial support from DFG, BMBF, DIP and TMR.


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# On the X-ray lines in the afterglows of GRBs

## Introduction

There is mounting evidence from late-time observations of the optical afterglows (AGs) of relatively nearby (redshift $`\mathrm{z}<1`$) gamma ray bursts (GRBs) that long duration GRBs are produced in the explosions of supernovae akin to SN1998bw (Galama et al. 1998), by the ejection of ordinary baryonic matter –essentially ionized Hydrogen– in the form of plasmoids or “cannonballs” (CBs), with very highly relativistic Lorentz factors ($`\gamma 10^3`$) (Dar and De Rújula 2000a,b, Dado et al. 2002a,b,c), but otherwise similar to the ones observed in quasars (Marscher et al. 2002) and microquasars (e.g., Mirabel and Rodriguez 1994; Belloni et al. 1997; Mirabel and Rodriguez 1999; Rodriguez and Mirabel 1999 and references therein). The ejection of these cannonballs (CBs) close to the line of sight makes their sky-projected motion appear extremely superluminal111With the exception (Dar and De Rújula 2000a) of the very close-by GRB 980425, associated to SN1998bw, this “hyperluminal” motion is not directly observable, but it was suggested (Dado et al. 2002d) that it gives rise to the observed scintillations in the GRB radio afterglows (Taylor et al. 1997) and may thereby be measurable..

On Dec. 11, 19:09:21 UT 2001 the long duration ($`270`$ s) GRB 011211 was detected in the constellation Crater by BeppoSAX (Gandolfi et al. 2001). Approximately ten hours after the GRB, its optical afterglow was detected by Grav et al. (2001) and was followed by measurements of its declining light-curve by Bloom et al. (2001), Jensen et al. (2001), Holland et al. (2002), Bhargavi et al. 2001, Fiore et al. (2001), Burud et al. (2001) Covino et al. (2001); and Fruchter et al. (2001), who also measured its redshift: $`\mathrm{z}=2.141`$, confirmed in turn by Gladders et al. (2001). The GRB’s host galaxy was detected, with a red magnitude $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{host}}=25.0\pm 0.3`$, by Burud et al. (2001).

Observations with XMM-Newton of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 011211 started at 06:16:56 UT on December 12, 2001, 11 h (39.6 ks) after burst, and lasted 27 ks (Reeves et al. 2002a). The analysis of the X-ray spectrum revealed significant evidence for emission lines only in the first 10 ks of observations. The emission lines that were fitted to the first 5 ks data had energies of $`1.40\pm 0.05\mathrm{keV}`$, $`2.19\pm 0.04\mathrm{keV}`$, $`2.81\pm 0.04\mathrm{keV}`$, $`3.79\pm 0.07\mathrm{keV}`$, and $`4.51\pm 0.12\mathrm{keV}`$, in the GRB rest frame. They were interpreted by the observers as $`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$ lines from MgXI, SiXIV, SXVI, ArXVIII and CaXX, blueshifted by the motion at $`\beta =\mathrm{v}/\mathrm{c}=0.086\pm 0.04`$ of a shell ejected by a massive GRB progenitor in a supernova (SN) explosion having occurred a couple of days prior to the GRB. In this interpretation, a section of the SN shell near the line of sight was illuminated and reheated to a temperature of $`\mathrm{T}4.5\pm 0.5`$ keV by the beamed GRB, and it emitted the blueshifted X-ray lines.

Borodzin and Trudolyubov (2002) have criticized the above interpretation by noticing that the data showing the lines were accumulated during the first 5 ks of observations, while the source was located near the edge of a CCD chip, and that the lines disappeared as the satellite was subsequently repositioned. Moreover, the background data collected over the edge of the CCD show a very significant peak at the position of the most prominent alleged line. Rutledge and Sako (2002) have also criticized the significance of these data on statistical grounds. Reeves et al. (2002b) have responded to these critiques and insisted on the significance of their results, though they find that a fit without the two lines of minimum and maximum energy (attributed to MgXI and CaXX) is as good, or even a little better, than the fit with all five lines.

We cannot enter into the above controversy. In what follows, we discuss the data in Reeves et al. (2002a) at face value for, even if their significance is weakened, they constitute a good stage within which to discuss the predictions of the CB model (Dar and De Rújula 2000a) concerning X-ray lines in GRB afterglows. We concentrate on GRB 011211 because it has, so far, the best measured X-ray spectrum, but we also discuss other GRBs of known redshift in which $`\mathrm{Fe}`$ lines and/or a recombination edge have been claimed to be observed (GRB 970508: Piro et al. 1998; GRB 970828: Yoshida et al. 1999; 2001 and GRB 991216: Piro et al. 2000). In all cases these “lines” or “recombination edges” are not truly observationally established; we shall often refer to them as spectral features, for the sake of precision.

The subject of X-ray lines in GRB afterglows has attracted considerable theoretical attention: Bottcher (2000), Bottcher and Fryer (2001), Ghisellini et al. (2002), Kumar and Narajan (2002), Lazzati et al. (1999, 2002), Meszaros and Rees (2001), Rees and Meszaros (2000), Vietri et al. (2001), Wang et al. (2002), Weth et al. (2000).

The interpretation of the X-ray features in Reeves et al. (2002a) as metal lines is not without problems. First, the non-detection of the Fe $`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$ line was argued to be due to the relatively long time it takes the $`\beta `$ decay chain $`\mathrm{Ni}^{56}\mathrm{Co}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}^{56}`$ to produce $`\mathrm{Fe}^{56}`$ in supernova explosions. This appears to be inconsistent with the fact that the only X-ray lines with large flux and equivalent width previously claimed to be detected in GRB afterglows were attributed to Fe lines: the BeppoSAX results for GRB 970508 (Piro et al. 1998) and GRB 000214 (Antonelli et al. 2000), the ASCA observations for GRB 970828 (Yoshida et al. 1999; 2001) and the Chandra data on GRB 991216 (Piro et al. 2000). Second, the fitted blueshift of the X-ray lines is supposedly due to the beaming of the GRB radiation that illuminates only a small section of the expanding SN shell, near the line of sight. The energy deposition time in such a segment is very short in the observer frame: the GRB ejecta is moving initially with a large Lorentz factor $`\gamma `$, and it overtakes a SN shell with an estimated radius $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{SNS}}10^{15}`$ cm in $`\mathrm{t}(1+\mathrm{z})\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{SNS}}/\mathrm{c}\gamma ^210`$ sec of observer’s time, for $`\gamma >100`$. The radiative cooling time of an optically thin SN shell with an electron density $`\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{e}10^{15}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and a temperature of 4.5 keV is also extremely short: $`\tau 1`$ s. The arrival times (in the observer frame) of recombination photons from the SN shell sector illuminated by a GRB jet of opening angle $`\theta =20^o`$ are spread over $`\mathrm{t}=\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{SNS}}(1+\mathrm{z})(1\mathrm{cos}\theta )/\mathrm{c}=1.75`$ h after the GRB, while the putative XMM lines were observed 11 h after burst. These, and other puzzling geometrical and physical details of the model, leave ample room for other interpretations of the observations, should they be real.

An alternative interpretation (Dar and De Rújula 2001a) is that the spectral features observed in the X-ray afterglows of GRBs are optical Hydrogen-recombination lines from the CBs that produce GRBs, Doppler shifted to the X-ray band by the CBs’ highly relativistic motion ($`\gamma 10^3`$) and observed222Doppler-shifted Lyman, Balmer and HeI lines have been detected from the mildly relativistic jets of SS433 (e.g. Margon 1984; Kotani et al. 1996; Eikenberry et al. 2001). at very small angles ($`\theta 1/\gamma `$).

In this paper we show that the energies of the X-ray emission lines perhaps detected in the afterglow of GRB 011211 happen to coincide with the energies of Hydrogen’s Balmer and Lyman lines, redshifted by $`1+\mathrm{z}=3.141`$ due to the cosmic expansion, and blueshifted by a Doppler factor $`\delta 835`$. This value of $`\delta `$ is, as we shall see, that of the CBs at the time of the observation of the putative X-ray lines (some 11h after burst) obtained from a Cannonball-Model fit to the light-curve of the optical afterglow of GRB 011211, prior to the reported X-ray observations. What this means is that the positions of the X-ray lines —predicted in the CB model— coincide with the observed positions of the most prominent spectral features in the data.

In discussing the previous indications for “Fe” lines in the AGs of GRBs 970508, 970828 and 991216 (Dar and De Rújula 2001a) we argued that they were compatible with $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission, though the data were insufficient to make a decisive distinction between a highly boosted hydrogen line and a merely redshifted Fe line. Here, we rediscuss this issue in more detail, now that we also have independent a-priori determinations of the values of $`\delta `$ in each individual GRB at the time of the corresponding X-ray observations. As for the case of GRB 011211, all prominent features in the spectra coincide in energy with lines that can be expected in the CB model.

The CB model predicts that the X-ray lines should be relatively narrow and move in time from higher to lower frequencies, as the CBs decelerate while ploughing though the interstellar medium (ISM). The blending of the emissions from unresolved CBs with somewhat different Doppler factors, and/or a poor energy resolution, may broaden the lines considerably and conceal the time-dependence of their energy. In the current data, the limited energy resolution and the required integration over relatively long time-intervals would certainly have precluded the observation of the predicted line motion.

## CB model fit to the AG of GRB 011211

We do not give here a detailed description of the CB model, which we have discussed at nauseam elsewhere (Dar and De Rújula 2000a,b, Dado et al. 2002a,d). We simply reproduce the formulae required for the analysis at hand.

In the CB model the afterglow has three origins: the ejected CBs, the concomitant SN explosion, and the host galaxy (HG). These components are usually unresolved in the measured GRB afterglow, so that the corresponding light curves and spectra are measures of the cumulative energy flux density:

$$\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{AG}}=\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{CBs}}+\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{SN}}+\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{HG}}.$$
(1)
The contribution from the host galaxy dominates the light-curve at late times and was fitted (in each band) to the late afterglow. The contribution of the supernova was modelled by assuming an SN1998bw-like contribution placed at the GRB redshift, $`\mathrm{z}=2.141`$. In this particular GRB, as in all the ones with redshift $`\mathrm{z}>1.2`$, the SN contribution is too dim to be observable (Dado et al. 2002a).

In the CB model the jetted cannonballs are made of ordinary matter, mainly hydrogen. For the first $`10^3`$ seconds of observer’s time, a CB is still cooling fast and emitting via thermal bremsstrahlung (Dado et al. 2002a), but after that its emissivity is dominated by synchrotron emission from ISM electrons that penetrate in it. Integrated over frequency, this synchrotron emissivity is approximately equal to the energy deposition rate of the ISM electrons in the CB333The kinetic energy of a CB is mainly lost to the ISM protons it scatters; only a fraction $`\mathrm{m}_\mathrm{e}/\mathrm{m}_\mathrm{p}`$ is re-emitted by electrons, as the AG.. The electrons from the ISM that enter the CBs are Fermi accelerated there to a broken power-law energy distribution with a “break” energy (or more appropriately a “bend” energy) equal to their incident energy in the CBs’ rest frame. In that frame, the electrons’ synchrotron emission (prior to attenuation corrections) has an approximate spectral energy density (Dado et al. 2002d):

$$\mathrm{F}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}[\nu ,\mathrm{t}]=\mathrm{E}_\gamma \frac{\mathrm{dn}_\gamma }{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{E}_\gamma }\mathrm{f}_0\frac{(\mathrm{p}2)\gamma ^2}{(\mathrm{p}1)\nu _\mathrm{b}}\frac{[\nu /\nu _\mathrm{b}]^{1/2}}{\sqrt{1+[\nu /\nu _\mathrm{b}]^{(\mathrm{p}1)}}}$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{p}2.2`$ is the spectral index of the Fermi accelerated electrons prior to the inclusion of radiation losses, $`\mathrm{f}_0`$ is an explicit normalization constant proportional to the ISM baryon density $`\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{p}`$, $`\gamma (\mathrm{t})=1/\sqrt{1\beta ^2}`$ (with $`\beta =\mathrm{v}/\mathrm{c}`$) is the Lorentz factor of the CBs, and $`\nu _\mathrm{b}1.87\times 10^3[\gamma (\mathrm{t})]^3[\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{p}/10^3\mathrm{cm}^3]^{1/2}`$ Hz is the “injection bend” frequency in the CB rest frame444This bend frequency does not correspond to the conventional synchrotron “cooling break”. It is produced by an injection bend in the high energy electron spectrum in the CB at the energy $`\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{b}=\gamma (\mathrm{t})\mathrm{m}_\mathrm{e}\mathrm{c}^2`$ with which the ISM electrons enter the CB at a particular time in its decelerated motion (Dado et al. 2002d).. The X-ray frequency domain in Eq. (2) is always at $`\nu \nu _b`$, so that the expected spectrum is $`\mathrm{d}\mathrm{n}_\gamma /\mathrm{d}\mathrm{E}_\gamma \mathrm{E}^\alpha `$, with a slope $`\alpha =(\mathrm{p}+2)/22.1`$. The radiation emitted by a CB is Doppler-shifted and forward-collimated by its highly relativistic motion, and redshifted by the cosmological expansion. A distant observer sees a spectral energy flux:

$$\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{obs}}[\nu ,\mathrm{t}]\frac{(1+\mathrm{z})\delta (\mathrm{t})^3\mathrm{R}^2\mathrm{A}(\nu ,\mathrm{z})}{\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{L}^2}\mathrm{F}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}[\frac{(1+\mathrm{z})\nu }{\delta (\mathrm{t})},\frac{\delta (\mathrm{t})\mathrm{t}}{1+\mathrm{z}}],$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{R}`$ is the radius of the CB (which in the CB model tends to a calculable constant value $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{max}}=𝒪(10^{14})`$ cm, in minutes of observer’s time), $`\mathrm{A}(\nu ,\mathrm{z})`$ is the total extinction along the line of sight to the GRB, $`\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{L}(\mathrm{z})`$ is the luminosity distance555The cosmological parameters we use are: $`\mathrm{H}_0=65`$ km/(s Mpc), $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$. and $`\delta (\mathrm{t})`$ is the Doppler factor of the light emitted by the CB:

$$\delta (\mathrm{t})=\frac{1}{\gamma (\mathrm{t})(1\beta (\mathrm{t})\mathrm{cos}\theta )}\frac{2\gamma (\mathrm{t})}{1+\theta ^2\gamma (\mathrm{t})^2},$$
(4)
where $`\theta `$ is the angle between the CB’s direction of motion and the line of sight to the observer. The last approximation is valid in the domain of interest for GRBs: $`\gamma ^21`$ and $`\theta ^21`$. The total AG is the sum over CBs (or large individual GRB pulses) of the flux of Eq. (3).

For an interstellar medium of constant baryon density $`\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{p}`$, the deceleration of the CBs results in a Lorentz factor, $`\gamma (\mathrm{t})`$, that is given by (Dado et al. 2002a):

$`\gamma `$ $`=`$ $`\gamma (\gamma _0,\theta ,\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}};\mathrm{t})={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{B}}}\left[\theta ^2+\mathrm{C}\theta ^4+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{C}}}\right],`$
$`\mathrm{C}`$ $``$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{B}^2+2\theta ^6+\mathrm{B}\sqrt{\mathrm{B}^2+4\theta ^6}}}\right]^{1/3},`$
$`\mathrm{B}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\gamma _0^3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{3\theta ^2}{\gamma _0}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6\mathrm{c}\mathrm{t}}{(1+\mathrm{z})\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}}},`$ (5)
where $`\gamma _0=\gamma (0)`$, and $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}=\mathrm{N}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}/(\pi \mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{max}}^2\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{p})`$ characterizes the CB’s slow-down in terms of $`\mathrm{N}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}`$, its baryon number and $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{max}}`$, its radius (it takes a distance $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}/\gamma _0`$, typically of $`𝒪(1)`$ kp, for the CB to slow down to half its original Lorentz factor).

In Fig. (1), we show that the optical afterglow of GRB 011211 in the IRV bands is very well fitted in the cannonball model of GRBs, by use of Eqs. (2) to (5). Besides the overall normalization, the fit involves three parameters: $`\theta =1.159\pm 0.005`$ mrad; $`\gamma _0=824\pm 2`$, and $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}=0.271\pm 0.004`$ Mpc. We have fixed the spectral index in Eq. (2) to $`\mathrm{p}=2.2`$, since that value is compatible with the one fit, in the same manner, to all of the optical, X-ray and radio AG light-curves of GRBs of known redshift (Dado et al. 2002a,d). There is a reason why in this fit we have not used the X-ray light curve as part of the input. The contribution of the lines is a significant fraction of the X-ray count rate, and they fade away rapidly in the observational period between 0.46 and 0.77 days after burst. The lines are, in the CB model, a contribution that adds to the synchrotron-radiation described in Eqs. (2) to (5). The X-ray light curve, thus, should decline faster that its synchrotron component. The decline observed in the measured interval is $`50`$%, while the prediction is 32% for the synchrotron component, as determined from the fit to the optical light curves.

It is consuetudinary in the GRB afterglow literature to quote values of $`\chi ^2`$ for the fits, and errors for the parameters. Yet, the models are not fundamental theories, but rough approximations of no doubt hideously complicated phenomena. Moreover, the dominant contribution to the $`\chi ^2`$ values very often originates in the spread of almost simultaneous measurements; Fig. (1) shows this to be the case for GRB 011211, whose $`\chi ^2`$/d.o.f. in our CB-model fit is 1.4 for 26 data points666We have dealt with the problem of partial data incompatibility with the method recommended by the Particle Data Group (2000), tantamount in the cases at hand to equating the difference between the extreme central values to a formal $`2\sigma `$ spread.. In this fit, we approximate the ISM-density and the CB radius by constants. The tiny nominal statistical errors of the fit, given in the previous paragraph, do not include the systematic effects of deviations from these approximations, nor do they reflect the systematic errors in the data, involving the use of different detectors, assumptions about absorption, etc. Thus, even though our results here and elsewhere are very good, it would be misleading to emphasize the $`𝒪`$ (1%) high “precision” of our predicted line energies, since there is simply no way to know what the “true” errors in the parameters are. For other GRBs, we will not report the nominal parameter errors, which are also minute.

## The X-ray line data of GRB 011211

The X-ray spectrum of this GRB has been well measured, in comparison with previous cases. This is shown in Fig (2), which we have borrowed from the data analysis by Borodzin and Trudolyubov (2002). These authors find that the spectrum is compatible with a power-law of slope $`\alpha =2.14\pm 0.03`$, modified only by absorption in the Galaxy. A slope $`2.1`$ is expected in the CB model and —as extracted from the time-dependence of the optical and/or X-ray AGs— it is compatible with the observations for all GRBs of known redshift (Dado et al. 2002a,b,c). In Fig (2) we also show how very compatible with the data at hand the expected $`\alpha 2.1`$ actually is.

The observation and the properties of the lines reported in Reeves et al. (2002a) are model dependent; they are in particular very sensitive to the continuum underlying the peaks in the data. This can be seen in Fig. (3a), where we have redrawn the data in Fig. 2 of Reeves et al. (2002a) without a model curve to guide the eye (this figure reports data for the 5 ks interval in which the lines were seen). Quite clearly, one can draw a smooth continuum on this figure, above which the alleged lines would lose much of their significance. To draw such a continuum with as little prejudice as possible we have first made a smooth fit to Fig. 1 of Reeves at al. (2002a), which displays the data on the complete 27 ks of observational time, where there are no significant line features. We have then redrawn this continuum777The zig-zag feature around 0.5 keV, also present in Fig. 1 of Reeves et al., (2002a) is presumably the effect of the oxygen absorption edge in our Galaxy, somewhat smoothed by resolution. on top of the 5 ks data, with a normalization meant to underemphasize the possible non-smooth deviations; the result is shown in Fig. (3b). This procedure may not be a sophisticated data analysis, but it is a sure way to account for detector-response and other systematic effects, such as the energy-dependence of the detector’s effective area (all we are assuming is that these effects are the same for the 5 ks and the 27 ks data sets). Clearly, with the continuum “background” of Fig. (3b), the two alleged lines at $`1.21`$ and $`1.44`$ keV are not significant (these are the putative ArXVIII and CaXX lines). Also, the other three smaller-energy lines, particularly the lowest-energy one, are not very prominent888Recall that Reeves et al. (2002b) also find that the inclusion of the lowest and highest energy lines does not improve their fits.. The vertical lines in Fig. (3b) are CB model expectations, which we proceed to discuss.

## Line emission in the CB model

As a CB —in a time of $`𝒪(1)`$ s after it exits the transparent outskirts of the shell of the SN associated with it— becomes transparent to the bulk of its enclosed radiation, its internal radiation pressure drops abruptly and its transverse expansion rate is quenched by collisionless, magnetic-field-mediated interactions with the ISM (Dado et al. 2002a). During this phase, the ISM electrons that enter the CB cool mainly by synchrotron emission. The synchrotron emission is partially reabsorbed by the partially ionized CB through free-free transitions at low radio frequencies and by bound–free and bound–bound transitions at optical frequencies (in the CB rest frame). The CB plasma cools mainly by line emission from electron–proton recombinations.

### Line energies: the case of GRB 011211

At a given time $`\mathrm{t}`$, the CBs are viewed with a blue-shifting Doppler factor $`\delta (\mathrm{t})`$, so that a line of laboratory wavelength $`\lambda _\mathrm{i}`$ would be observed at a redshift $`\mathrm{z}`$ to have an energy uplifted by a “boost” factor $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t})`$:

$`\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{i}(\mathrm{t})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t})\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{i}^{\mathrm{lab}}=\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t}){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{h}\mathrm{c}}{\lambda _\mathrm{i}}}`$
$`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t})`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta (\mathrm{t})}{1+\mathrm{z}}},`$ (6)
with $`\delta (\mathrm{t})`$ as in Eq. (4). The parameters that we fit to the optical AG of GRB 011211, substituted in Eqs. (4,5), result in $`\gamma (\mathrm{t})=668`$ at $`\mathrm{t}11`$ h, the time when the lines were seen. For a redshift $`\mathrm{z}=2.141`$, Eq. (4) implies $`\delta (\mathrm{t})835`$, so that lines at rest in the CBs would be uplifted in energy by a factor $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t})266`$ at the time of the observations.

In Fig. (4) we show the predicted evolution of the energy $`\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{i}(\mathrm{t})\delta (\mathrm{t})`$ of the $`\mathrm{H}`$ lines as a function of time, for the case of GRB 011211. The X-ray observations of Reeves et al. (2002a) lasted too little for the line motion to have an observable effect, given their limited statistics and energy resolution. This is also the case for all the other GRBs to be discussed below.

In normal dense astrophysical plasmas, e.g., plasma clouds in the broad-line region of quasars (see, e.g., Laor et al. 1997 and references therein), the prominent Hydrogen lines are: $`\mathrm{H}\alpha [\lambda 6563]`$, $`\mathrm{H}\beta [\lambda 4861]`$, the higher energy Balmer lines accumulating at $`\mathrm{H}\mathrm{}[\lambda 3647]`$, and the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha [\lambda 1215.7]`$ line. The first three of these lines are, as one can see in Fig. (3b), at the positions where there are, perhaps, indications in the data of an excess over a smooth continuum: the predicted energies are 0.50, 0.68 and 0.91 keV, while the fit of Reeves et al. (2002a) results in $`0.45\pm 0.05`$, $`0.70\pm 0.02`$ and $`0.89\pm 0.01`$ keV, respectively. The $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ line ought to be uplifted in energy to $`2.74`$ keV, above the range shown in Fig. (3). Interestingly, there is a feature in the 27 ks data (Fig. 1 of Reeves et al. 2002a) which, although it is also not very significant, sits at that very point999We do not have access to that figure in an e-friendly format, and it is too complicated to reproduce by hand, or by scanning.. All these features have widths comparable with the experimental resolution of somewhat less than 100 eV.

We have argued in Dar and De Rújula (2000, 2001a,b) and Dar et al. (2000) that the ordinary matter constituting cannonballs ought to be shattered by their violent collision with the SN shell, and exit it in the form of unbound baryons and electrons, so that the expected X-ray lines would be merely hydrogenic. But it is quite possible that the collisions be somewhat “cushioned” (Hubbard and Ferry, in preparation, Hubbard 2002) such as to leave some nuclei unscathed, as the CBs gather SN shell material in their passage: in their collisions with shell nuclei, the baryons or nuclei of the CBs lose a considerable fraction of their initial Lorentz factor (Dar and De Rújula 2001b), but they may do it in many soft collisions, as opposed to a few hard ones. It that case, one may expect to see also $`\mathrm{He}`$\- or even “metal” lines, uplifted in energy by as much as the $`\mathrm{H}`$ lines are. The predicted position of the $`\mathrm{He}\alpha [\lambda 5875]`$ of $`\mathrm{HeI}`$ is also shown in Fig. (3b). One quasi-degenerate example of lines, prominent in the broad line region of quasars, is the pair $`\mathrm{MgII}[\lambda 2796.3;\lambda 2803.5]`$, which in the case at hand should appear at 1.19 keV, see Fig. (3b). This is where Reeves et al. (2002a) claim to see Ar XVIII, at $`1.21\pm 0.02`$ keV. But the possible choices (other than for $`\mathrm{H}`$ and perhaps $`\mathrm{He}`$ and $`\mathrm{Ni}`$ lines) are far too vast to draw definite conclusions from these very scant data. This is even more so in the “standard” interpretation, in which the overall line-shift is a free parameter.

### Other GRBs with X-ray spectral “features”

There are GRBs of known redshift in whose X-ray data the observation of “$`\mathrm{Fe}`$” lines or recombination edges has been claimed; in chronological order: GRB 970508 (Piro et al., 1999), GRB 970828 (Yoshida et al. 1999, 2001 and references therein) and GRB 991216 (Ballantyne et al. 2002 and references therein). The corresponding data are shown in Figs. (5, 6, 7), from which we have, as for GRB 011211 in Fig. (3), eliminated theoretical lines that unavoidably “guide the eye”. It is clear from these figures, without further ado, that without a very good knowledge of the shape and magnitude of the smooth continuum underlying the putative lines, it is not possible to claim the observation of statistically convincing effects. The evidence for a line is more convincing in the case of GRB 000214 (Antonelli et al. 2000), but its redshift is not known, precluding an explicit analysis.

The case for the observation of line features is presumably weakest for GRB 970508, see Fig. (5). The upper panel is the spectrum of the “early” X-ray AG, extending for some 30 ks after the start of the observations, at 6 hours after the GRB. The lower figure shows the later data around 1 day after the burst. The feature at $`\mathrm{E}3.4`$ keV in the upper panel has been interpreted as an $`\mathrm{Fe}`$ line at the GRB’s redshift $`\mathrm{z}=0.835`$ (Piro et al. 2000). In Dado et al. (2002a) we have fit the optical AG of this GRB in the CB model, the resulting parameters are $`\theta =3.51`$ mrad, $`\gamma _0=1123`$ and $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}=0.293`$ Mpc101010The value of $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}`$ is for the early part of the AG, the time at which the X-ray line was possibly observed, which precedes the abrupt rise in this AG at $`1`$ day, discussed in Dado et al. (2002a).. With these parameters, we obtain $`\delta (\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})142`$ and $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})=78`$, nearly constant through the X-ray observation time, as in Fig. (4). Boosted by this $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})`$, one of the potentially strong lines, the $`\mathrm{n}=2`$ to $`\mathrm{n}=1`$ transition in $`\mathrm{HeII}`$ would be at 3.17 keV, where the feature is in the upper panel of Fig. (5). For this particular GRB, which is viewed at a relatively large angle, $`\delta `$ and $`\mathrm{B}`$ are quite small, and other putative lines are at sub-keV energies, where absorption appears to be very strong. The data, however, are not good enough to extract conclusions from the coincidence of the observed feature and the $`\mathrm{He}`$ line, nor from its $`\mathrm{Fe}`$-line interpretation.

GRB 970828, in spite of its being well localized (Remillard et al. 1997, Smith et al. 1997, Marshall et al. 1997, Murakami et al. 1997, Greiner et al. 1997), had no detectable optical AG down to a magnitude $`\mathrm{R}23.8`$ (Groot et al. 1998). Such “orphan” GRBs are expected in the CB model, not only because of possible absorption, but because the time at which the optical AGs begin to decline very fast is extremely sensitive to the circumburst ISM density, and may be as short as $`𝒪(10^2)`$ days, see Fig. (6) of Dado et al. (2001). In that article, lacking optical data, we fit the X-ray light curve of this GRB in the CB model, with the result that its parameters were $`\gamma _0=1153`$, $`\theta =0.86`$ mrad and $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}=0.87`$ Mpc (these values are not as well determined as in GRBs with well measured optical AGs). Yoshida et al. (1999, 2001) analized the spectra of this GRB in three time intervals, in the middle one of which, at $`\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}}1.2\times 10^5`$ s, they found hints of structure, reproduced in Fig. (6). These authors first ascribed the feature at $`\mathrm{E}4.8`$ keV to the $`\mathrm{Fe}`$ $`\mathrm{K}_\alpha `$ line, which resulted in a prediction of a redshift $`\mathrm{z}=0.33`$. The subsequently measured redshift of the likely host galaxy is $`\mathrm{z}=0.9578`$ (Djorgosvski et al. 2001). More recently Yoshida et al. (2001) attribute the feature to a recombination edge of $`\mathrm{Fe}`$. The CB model fit results in $`\delta (\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})1004`$ for which, at the GRBs redshift, $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})513`$, and a $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ line would be at a predicted $`\mathrm{E}5.2`$ keV which is, as shown in Fig. (6), quite compatible with the position of the apparent feature in the data.

In the case of GRB 991216, Piro et al. (2000) have interpreted the features at $`3.4`$ keV and $`>5`$ keV of the X-ray spectra shown in Fig. (7) as the 6.7 keV $`\mathrm{K}_\alpha `$ line of He-like $`\mathrm{Fe}`$, and a $`\mathrm{Fe}`$ recombination edge, respectively. The reported significance of the line is larger than $`4\sigma `$. On the other hand, Ballantyne et al. (2002) have analized in detail the line feature in a more specific model. They report that the “F-test” significance of the $`\mathrm{K}_\alpha `$ line is 98%, an explicit example of how difficult it is to convince oneself that lines have actually been observed: a $`2.33\sigma `$ effect in a Gaussian distribution has the same significance111111These authors also find that an extra non-Galactic absorption “is significant only at the 97% confidence level” (the emphasis is ours, and 97% is $`2.17\sigma `$).. For this GRB, the CB model fit to the optical AG results in $`\gamma _0=906`$, $`\theta =0.43`$ mrad and $`\mathrm{x}_{\mathrm{}}=0.462`$ Mpc, which imply, at the average observational time $`\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}}39`$ hours, $`\delta (\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})905`$ and a boost $`\mathrm{B}(\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}})448`$ at the GRB’s redshift $`\mathrm{z}=1.02`$. For that predicted boost, there are no indications of deviations from a smooth distribution at the positions of the $`\mathrm{H}`$ Balmer lines, except, perhaps, for the corresponding recombination edge. But the $`\mathrm{n}=3`$ to $`\mathrm{n}=2`$ line of $`\mathrm{HeII}`$ and the $`\mathrm{H}`$ $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ line very snuggly coincide with the two allegedly significant features of the X-ray spectrum, as shown in Fig. (7) (the alleged Fe line centers at 3.4 keV, the predicted He line is at 3.39 keV). But, once again, the data are not precise enough to extract decisive inferences.

## A rough way to search for lines

The procedure we have discussed to predict the Doppler factor, $`\delta (\mathrm{t})`$, is elaborate: it involves fitting the available data with use of Eqs. (1) to (5). There is an approximate and much simpler procedure that observers looking at a particular X-ray AG may find useful.

The observed X-ray frequencies are, in the CBs’ rest system, always above the injection bend: $`\nu \nu _\mathrm{b}`$ in Eq. (2). This implies that the observed energy flux of Eq. (3) is:

$$\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{obs}}\gamma ^2\delta ^3\left[\frac{\nu }{\delta }\right]^{\mathrm{p}/2}\nu _\mathrm{b}^{(\mathrm{p}2)/2}\gamma ^{3\mathrm{p}/21}\delta ^{3+\mathrm{p}/2}\nu ^{\mathrm{p}/2}$$
(7)
The index $`\mathrm{p}`$ can be fit to the X-ray spectrum of the AG being studied. If this X-ray AG, as it usually the case, is observed late enough for its light-curve to be an approximate power law $`\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{obs}}\mathrm{t}^\alpha `$, $`\alpha `$ can be fit to the data. For this approximation to be good, it is necessary that $`\delta 2\gamma `$, that is $`\theta ^2\gamma ^21`$ in Eq. (4), implying that Eq. (7) further simplifies to $`\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{obs}}\delta ^{2\mathrm{p}+2}`$. The conclusion is that $`\delta (\mathrm{t})\mathrm{t}^\mathrm{b}`$ with $`\mathrm{b}=\alpha /[2\mathrm{p}+2]`$ (for the theoretical $`\mathrm{p}=2.2`$, $`\delta \mathrm{b}^{\alpha /6.4}`$, so that $`\delta `$ evolves roughly as the 6.4-th root of the X-ray AG energy flux). This result is approximate also in that Eq. (7) describes the synchrotron-radiated X-ray background, not the extra line contribution. But if the latter is quite significant, the lines are easier to find!

Knowing the time dependence of $`\delta (\mathrm{t})`$ allows the observer to “stack” the data taken at different times, in a search for lines with an energy evolving with time as in Eq.(6), that is $`\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{i}(\mathrm{t})\delta (\mathrm{t})`$. The trick is to construct a time-integrated spectrum:

$`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{F}}(\stackrel{~}{\nu })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}}}{}}\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{obs}}(\stackrel{~}{\nu },\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}}),`$
$`\stackrel{~}{\nu }`$ $``$ $`\nu _{\mathrm{obs}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}}}{\mathrm{t}_0}}\right]^\mathrm{b},`$ (8)
where $`\mathrm{t}_0`$ is an arbitrary reference time, e.g. the onset of the observations: $`\mathrm{t}_0=\mathrm{min}[\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{obs}}]`$. In $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{F}}`$ the CB-model’s lines occur at approximately fixed, time-independent scaled frequencies $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }`$, so that the lines “stack up” —rather than drifting— with time.

### Line intensities

A detailed modelling of the line intensities is a very involved problem. Here we can only offer a qualitative, order-of-magnitude discussion of the subject.

The recombination rate in a hydrogenic CB is (Osterbrock 1989):

$$\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{rec}}6.0\times 10^{44}\mathrm{x}^2\left[\frac{\mathrm{N}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}}{6\times 10^{50}}\right]\left[\frac{\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{b}}{10^7\mathrm{cm}^3}\right]\left[\frac{\mathrm{T}}{10^4\mathrm{K}}\right]^{0.7}\mathrm{s}^1,$$
(9)
where $`\mathrm{N}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}`$ is the total baryon number of the CB, $`\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{b}`$ is its baryon density, and $`\mathrm{x}`$ is the fraction of ionized hydrogen in the CB. The line emission luminosity in the CB rest frame is $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{rec}}\times 13.6\mathrm{eV}.`$ The corresponding radiation is boosted and relativistically beamed to an observed energy flux:

$`\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{lines}}`$ $``$ $`2.5\times 10^{11}(1+\mathrm{z})\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ (10)
$`\times `$ $`\mathrm{n}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}\mathrm{x}^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{L}}{2\times 10^{28}\mathrm{cm}}}\right]^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{N}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}}{6\times 10^{50}}}\right]\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{b}}{10^7\mathrm{cm}^3}}\right]\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{T}}{10^4\mathrm{K}}}\right]^{0.7}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{10^3}}\right]^4,`$
where $`\mathrm{n}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}`$ is the number of CBs (or prominent GRB pulses), and the luminosity distance $`\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{L}`$ is normalized to its reference value for $`\mathrm{z}=1`$ and our chosen cosmological parameters.

For the reference parameters to which we have normalized Eq. (10), the flux is comparable to those reported for the X-ray line-emissions in GRB afterglows. Its exact value depends rather weakly on temperature and quite strongly on the ionization fraction $`\mathrm{x}`$ in the CBs, whose qualitative evolution can be assessed as follows. The bound-free cross section for photoionization of atomic hydrogen in its $`\mathrm{n}`$-th excited state by photons with frequency above the ionization threshold, $`\nu _\mathrm{n}=3.29\times 10^{15}/\mathrm{n}^2\mathrm{Hz}`$, is given by $`\sigma _\nu (\mathrm{n})=\mathrm{n}\sigma _1\overline{\mathrm{g}}_\mathrm{n}(\nu /\nu _\mathrm{n})^3`$, with $`\sigma _1=64\alpha \pi \mathrm{a}_0^2/(3\sqrt{3})`$ $`7.91\times 10^{18}`$ cm2 ($`\mathrm{a}_0=0.53\times 10^8`$ cm is the Bohr radius and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_\mathrm{n}`$ is the Gaunt factor for photo-absorption by hydrogen). Thus, a partially ionized CB with a typical radius $`\mathrm{R}_{_{\mathrm{CB}}}2.5\times 10^{14}\mathrm{cm},`$ and density $`\mathrm{n}_\mathrm{b}10^7\mathrm{cm}^3,`$ is opaque to optical radiation. The recombination photons are repeatedly reabsorbed and reemitted while diffusing out of the CB. The optical radiation of a CB (X-rays in the observer’s frame) is the sum of the line emission and the power-law synchrotron radiation from its surface. In a quasi-equilibrium state the ionization fraction is such as to keep the local recombination rate equal to the joint ionization rate by the synchrotron and recombination radiations121212 The cooling rate of electrons via bremsstrahlung, $`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{brem}}1.43\times 10^{27}\overline{\mathrm{n}}_\mathrm{e}\mathrm{T}^{1/2}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1,`$ is more than three orders of magnitude smaller than the electron cooling rate via recombination and line emission.. The temperature is controlled by the same equilibrium, by the CBs’ surface energy loss and by the energy input from the continuing collision of the CB and the ISM. It is difficult to ascertain without a complete modelling of the problem. In Eq. (10) we have used a reference $`\mathrm{T}`$ so that the maximum of the thermal distribution (at $`3\mathrm{T}`$) is of the order of magnitude of the line energies of Hydrogen, whose transitions dominate the thermal energy transport within the CB.

Initially, the ionization is close to maximal and the line radiation of Eq. (10) results in a flux comparable to that of the power-law-behaved synchrotron radiation in the X-ray band. Later, when $`\gamma (\mathrm{t})`$ decreases, equilibrium between the ionization and recombination rates results in a rapid decline of line emission: the recombination rate is $`\mathrm{x}^2`$ and the photo-ionization rate is $`(1\mathrm{x})\gamma ^2`$, so that when $`\mathrm{x}`$ is small, $`\mathrm{x}\gamma `$, and the recombination rate decreases like $`\gamma ^2`$. Moreover, the diffusion time of recombination photons becomes very long as $`\mathrm{x}0`$ which results in strong suppression of line emission. The derivation of an exact X-ray spectrum and its time dependence would require very complicated radiation-transport calculations which are beyond the scope of this paper.

## Conclusions

We have studied an alternative (Dar and De Rújula 2001a) to the interpretation by Reeves et al. (2002a) of the X-ray data of XMM-Newton on GRB 011211. Unlike the quoted authors, we have not for the moment studied in detail the very involved question of the predicted absolute and relative intensities of the lines, which is very model dependent (the density profile, ionization level and temperature of a CB, as well as their time dependence, are quite complicated issues). But we have shown that, in the CB model, the positions of the lines are predictable and happen to coincide with the meager evidence for most of them. In the CB model long-duration GRBs are associated with SNe that are compatible with an approximately SN1998bw-like standard candle. Reeves et al. (2002a) adduce that their data supports this association; we contend that —if it does— it is not for the reasons they advance, but because their observations are consistent with CB-model expectations.

We have shown that the Fe-line candidates observed in three other GRBs could very well be $`\mathrm{H}`$ or $`\mathrm{He}`$ lines, again predictably boosted by the very fast motion of cannonballs. The individual data on each of the four GRBs that we have discussed is inconclusive, but the overall consistency of the CB-model interpretation of their X-ray spectral features is encouraging. In the CB model the presence of X-ray lines which —case by case— have predictable energies, is a very natural possibility. In contrast, in the other scenarios that have been discussed, the X-ray lines require in every instance the introduction of ad-hoc and sometimes rather exotic hypothesis on the surroundings of the GRB engine.

With better data it ought to be possible to distinguish the lines expected in the CB model from the ones of the standard GRB paradigm(s). Not only the line positions can, in the CB model, be foretold; but also their widths should be narrow, and predictably time dependent (Dar end De Rújula 2001a).

We thank Ehud Behar and Ari Laor for useful comments. The support of the Asher Fund for Space Research at the Technion is gratefully acknowledged.