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# The Centauro events as a result of induced pions emission

## 1 Introduction

Overwhelming majority of theoretical pictures describing the high energy processes at high multiplicity leads to Poisson distribution for probability of emission a given number of pions, provided the average number of pions is fixed. In more sophisticated models this probability is given by the sum of Poisson distributions - see papers  and references therein. In all the distributions of that kind the average number of neutral $`n_0`$ and charged pions $`n_{ch}`$ are determined by the following relatons:

$$n_0=\frac{1}{3}\overline{n},n_{ch}=\frac{2}{3}\overline{n}.$$

Notice that the experimanteal data obtained by the existing accelerators ($`\sqrt{s}540`$ GeV) do agree with that theoretical distributions. On the other hand, in cosmic rays the events were found with large multiplicity ($`\overline{n}10÷100`$), in which the neutral pions are absent . Their energy is about $`E_{lab}(1÷2)10^3`$ TeV. These events were called Centauros. Below we shall suppose that charged particles in Centauro events are the pions.

Notice that it is practically impossible to interpret Centauro events as a fluctuations of Poisson distribution - the probability $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ for such a fluctuation is too small. For example, for $`\overline{n}=100`$ we get:

$$w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})=e^{n_0}10^{14}.$$

As it will be shown below, the charge distribution in a system of the given total number of pions $`n`$ is closesly connected with symmetry properties of the production amplitude $`M(p_1,\tau _1,\mathrm{},p_n,\tau _n)`$ relative to permutations of isotopic indices $`\tau _1,\mathrm{},\tau _n`$. The later symmetry leads also to certain type of symmetry for the permutations of momenta $`p_1,\mathrm{},p_n`$, as it follows from Bose-properties for whole amplitude $`M`$. Notice that the charge distribution differs from Poisson one if amplitude $`M`$ is symmetric relative to permutation of momenta. As it will be seen below, we get in this case the significant increase of the probability of events with neither neutral nor charged pions. On the other hand, the permutation properties of amplitude $`M`$ can give very useful information on properties of the objects generating the Centauro events.

For a system of $`n`$ pions with small values of total isospin the charge distributions for certain types of symmetries (Young tableaux) were derived more that twenty years ago by Pais 111In ref.  concrete realizations for all Young tableaux with one and two rows were constructed, some special cases with three lines were considered also. In connection with this question see also paper .. The charge distribution in the case, when all possible Young tableaux give the same contribution to the wave function, was obtained in . In this case the distribution has sharp form and is close to Poisson one for large values of $`n`$.

Recently in connection with Centauro events in ref.  the role of small isospins in a system of $`n`$ pions was emphasized. This is an important fact because in the nuclear collisions namely small vlues of isospin are realized. To explain Centauro events in ref.  the most symmetric form of wave function for a system of $`n`$ pions was also used. These two assumptions automatically lead to the smooth charge distribution, in accordance with ref. .

In the present paper we are going to collect altogether those results of refs. , which in our opinion may take immediate attitude toward Centauro problem. Transparent deduction of the results  will be given. Taken altogether, these results give rigid restrictions on theoretical models of Centauros. We consider this paper as a short review.

Physical reasons will be explained, which enhance the production probability of the pions of the same sort. This enhancement takes place when the totally symmetric (in momentum space) amplitude dominates, and it compensates Poisson’s diminition of process. This phenomenon has much in common with induced photon emission, that leads to formation of laser bunch.

## 2 Connection between the symmetry of amplitude and the charge distribution of pions

The production amplitude of $`n`$ pions has the form:

$$M(p_1,\tau _1;p_2,\tau _2;\mathrm{};p_n,\tau _n)=\underset{\alpha }{}M_\alpha (p_1,\mathrm{},p_n)\phi _\alpha (\tau _1,\mathrm{},\tau _n),$$
(1)
where the sum is taken over all the possible types of symmetry $`\alpha `$, characterized by Young tableaux. As we have only three sorts of pions ($`\pi ^+,\pi ^0,\pi ^{}`$), index $`\tau _i`$ ($`i=1,2,\mathrm{},n`$) takes also only three nonzero values. It follows that the rows number in Young tableaux doesn’t exceed three as well. Totally symmetric function $`\phi _\alpha (\tau _1,\mathrm{},\tau _n)`$ corresponds to the only Young tableau with one row.

The most important fact consists in the following: more symmetric function $`\phi _\alpha (\tau _1,\mathrm{},\tau _n)`$ gives more smooth distribution in charge space. On the contrary, less symmetric Young tableaux with three rows give sharp charge distribution. Notice that the total number of young tableaux is very large:

$$N\frac{3}{8}\sqrt{\frac{3}{\pi }}\frac{3^n}{n^{3/2}}$$

and most part of $`N`$ comes from Young tableaux with three rows. So to observe the Centauro events with appreciable probability, it is necessary to increase the role of symmetric terms (with one and two rows) in the sum (1). In other words, it means that by some dynamical reasons the pions are produced in symmetric states in momentum space.

First of all, let us demonstrate the pion distribution in the case when large number of amplitudes with the different symmetry types gives the same contribution into the sum (1). Consider the case of even number $`n=2k`$ with total zero isospin $`I=0`$. We shall obtain the pions distribution for the amplitude in a special form:

$$M=\widehat{S}\left\{M(p_1,p_2,\mathrm{},p_n)(\stackrel{}{a}_1\stackrel{}{a}_2)\mathrm{}(\stackrel{}{a}_{2k1}\stackrel{}{a}_{2k})\right\},$$
(2)
where $`\stackrel{}{a}_i`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$) is isotopic vector of pion, $`\widehat{S}`$ is the symmetrization operator. Equation (2) for $`M`$ is the special form of (1), as eq. (2) is symmetric relative to permutations of pions in pairs, e.g., $`\stackrel{}{a}_1\stackrel{}{a}_2`$, etc. Nevertheless this form of $`M`$ gives rather sharp distribution in number of neutral or charged pions. Suppose that $`M(p_1,p_2,\mathrm{},p_n)`$ depends sharply on the arguments $`p_1,p_2,\mathrm{},p_n`$ so as it differs noticeably from zero only when $`p_1\overline{p}_1,p_2\overline{p}_2,\mathrm{}`$ and $`\overline{p}_1\overline{p}_2\overline{p}_3\mathrm{}\overline{p}_n`$. This condition provides that the amplitude $`M`$, eq. (2), contains a large number of terms with different permutation symmetries. Making symmetrization, we get $`M(p_2,p_1,p_3,\mathrm{},p_n)0`$ for $`p_1\overline{p}_1`$, $`p_2\overline{p}_2`$. On the contrary, $`M(p_2,p_1,p_3,\mathrm{},p_n)`$ differs from zero when $`p_1\overline{p}_2`$, $`p_2\overline{p}_1,`$ $`p_3\overline{p}_3,\mathrm{}`$. We get the same result making permutation of any pair of arguments. So, integrating over whole phase volume to calculate the cross section, we obtain that all the permuted terms in eq. (2) give the same contribution. It follows that the value of cross section is proportional to a number of nonzero isospin amplitudes in eq. (2).

Now let us find out how this number depends on the number of charged (or neutral) pions. Assume that among $`n=2k`$ pions there are $`k_1`$ of $`\pi ^+`$, $`k_1`$ of $`\pi ^{}`$ and $`2k_2`$ of $`\pi ^0`$-mesons. Considering vectors $`\stackrel{}{a}_i`$ in (2) in the coordinates $`a_\pm ,a_0`$, we get for the isospin part of amplitude:

$$\chi =\left[\delta _{\tau _1}^{\tau _1^{}}\mathrm{}\delta _{\tau _{k_1}}^{\tau _{k_1}^{}}\right]\left[\delta _{\sigma _1}^{\sigma _1^{}}\mathrm{}\delta _{\sigma _{k_2}}^{\sigma _{k_2}^{}}\right].$$
(3)
As it is seen, $`\chi =1`$ for $`\tau _1=\mathrm{}=\tau _{k_1}=1`$, $`\tau _1^{}=\mathrm{}=\tau _{k_1}^{}=1`$, $`\sigma _1=\mathrm{}=\sigma _{k_2}=\mathrm{}=\sigma _{k_2}^{}=0`$. Let’s look for such permutations of mesons, which give us nonzero values of $`\chi `$. First we can do all the possible permutations of upper indices in the first brackets in (3), the set of lower indices being fixed, and obtain the factor $`k_1!`$. Secondly it is also possible to permute indices in second bracket in eq. (3). This operation changes positions of $`\pi ^0`$-mesons (no identical operations have been done!). The number of nonzero amplitudes is $`(2k_21)!!`$. Permutations of indices between both brackets give zero result.222Total number of terms in (2) and in the cross section also is $`2^kk!k_1!(2k_21)!!`$. Later on we shall study the distribution over $`k_1`$ and $`k_2`$ only. From this it follows that the probability $`w(k_1,k_2)`$ to emit $`k_1`$ pairs of $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`k_2`$ pairs of $`\pi ^0`$ is

$$w(k_1,k_2)\frac{k_1!(2k_21)!!}{(k_1!)^2(k_2!)^2}.$$
(4)
The denominator in (4) appeared from the usual normalization condition for the cross section with an identical particles in final state, see, for instance, ref. . Calculating the normalization constant for $`w(k_1,k_2)`$, we finally get:

$$w(k_1,k_2)=\frac{k!}{k_1!k_2!}\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{k_1}\left(\frac{1}{3}\right)^{k_2},$$
(5)
where $`k=k_1+k_2`$. This is binomial distribution. For large values of $`k`$ and small $`k_1`$ (or $`k_2`$) we may approximate eq. (5) by Poisson distribution. It follows from eq. (5) that the emission probability of nothing but charged particles only (i.e., the probability to observe the Centauro event) is suppressed strongly, e.g., $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})10^9`$ for $`n=100`$.

In the deduction given above we used for amplitude $`M`$ partially symmetric form, eq. (2). Surely there exist other combinations of isovectors $`\stackrel{}{a}_i`$ of less symmetric form, e.g. $`\stackrel{}{a}_1\left[\stackrel{}{a}_2\times \stackrel{}{a}_3\right]`$.

Being included in $`M`$, they would give more sharp charge distribution then it follows from (5). In the most consistent form tetrms of all different symmetries were taken into consideration in ref. . Contribution to the cross section from all that terms was taken to be equal. In comparison with (5) the asymptotics of formula (16) from ref.  gives the probability of event without charged pions

$$w(\pi ^0)=\frac{8}{3}\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{3}}\frac{\sqrt{n}}{3^n}$$
(6a)
Analogously obtained probability of nothing but charged particles has the form:
$$w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})=\frac{8}{3}\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^n$$
(6b)
This is less than it follows from eq. (5) at $`n=2k`$.

Let us consider now the contrary case. We find the charge distribution in a system of $`n=2k`$ pions at $`I=0`$, described by the state totally symmetric in the momenta (and isospin) variables. Corresponding isospin wave function is obtained from eq. (2) provided the amplitude $`M(p_1,\mathrm{},p_n)`$ is not changed under the momenta permutations. We emphasize that in this case the amplitude (2) is not yet the amplitude of a particular form. In this case it is defined unambiguously and doesn’t depend on the angular momentum addition scheme in the initial amplitude which produces after symmetrization the amplitude eq. (2). Therefore all nonzero terms in eq. (2) are the same, that results in 100% constructive interference. Then instead of eq. (4) we obtain

$$w(k_1,k_2)\frac{(k_1!)^2[(2k_21)!]^2}{(k_1!)^2(2k_2)!}.$$
(7)
Calculating the normalization factor by means of the relation:

$$\underset{l=0}{\overset{k}{}}\frac{(2l1)!!}{(2l)!!}=\frac{(2k+1)!!}{(2k)!!},$$

where, by definition, $`(1)!!=1`$, we find:

$$w(k_1,k_2)=\frac{2^kk!}{(2k+1)!!}\frac{(2k_21)!!}{2^{k_2}k_2!}.$$
(8)
In contrast to eq. (5), the distribution (8) is rather smooth. It is shown in figure 1. At $`k_21`$ we have $`w(k_2)1/\sqrt{k_2}`$. The average numbers of the neutral and charged pions both in the case of distribution (8) and in the case of eq. (5) are found the same and equal to

$$n_0=\frac{1}{3}n,n_{ch}=\frac{2}{3}n.$$

¿From eq. (7) at $`n1`$ we obtain the production probabilities of nothing but neutral pions $`w(\pi ^0)`$ or nothing but charged pions $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ (Centauros):

$$w(\pi ^0)=\frac{1}{n},w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})=\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2n}}.$$
(9)
These probabilities are enhanced by many orders in comparison to eq. (5). This enhancement is just well known in quantum optics the induced emission phenomenon. The numerator of eq. (7) contains extra (in comparison with eq. (4)) factorials $`k_1!(2k_21)!!`$. These extra factorials appear due to interference, which is extremely essential in the case of symmetric state relative to the final pion momenta permutations. The same behaviour of amplitude is found in the case of pion emission with the same momenta. The reason of this enhancement results from the fact that the emission of one sort bosons in the state with the same momenta has essential advantage over the emission of the same number of bosons of two or several sorts. Note that according to eq. (9) the probability $`w(\pi ^0)`$ by $`(\pi n/2)^{1/2}`$ times less than $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$, in contrast to the Poisson distribution. In the latter case we have:

$$w(\pi ^0)w(\pi ^+\pi ^{}).$$

However, inspite of maximal enhancement of neutral pion production probability $`w(\pi ^0)`$, it remains less than $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$. This fact is connected with particular diminution of ”initial” Poisson probability $`w(\pi ^0)`$.

This can be also explained without starting from the Poisson distribution. Although the enhancement of induced $`\pi ^0`$-emission is considerably stronger than that in the case of the same number of $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ (see below eq. (10)), however the combinatorial factor (the coefficient 2) enhances the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$-production (see below eq. (11)). This factor appears in expansion of the scalar operator $`\stackrel{}{c}^2=2c_{\pi ^+}^{}c_\pi ^{}^{}+c_{\pi ^0}^2`$ in terms of the pion creation operators.

In order to emphasize more clearly the connection between possible Centauro production and the induced photon emission we reproduce eq. (8) by means of the second quantization formalism. The totally symmetric isospin $`n`$-particle wave function at $`I=0`$ has the form:

$$|\varphi =\frac{1}{\sqrt{(2k+1)!}}\left(\stackrel{}{c}^2\right)^k|0,$$

where $`\stackrel{}{c}^2=2c_{\pi ^+}^{}c_\pi ^{}^{}+c_{\pi ^0}^2`$, $`c_i^{}`$ is the pion creation operator of $`i`$-th sort, $`n=2k`$. Calculating the amplitude $`k_1\pi ^+,k_1\pi ^{},2k_2\pi ^0|\varphi `$ and taking into account that

$$k_1\pi ^+|(c_{\pi ^+}^{})^{k_1}|0=\sqrt{k_1!},2k_2\pi ^0|(c_{\pi ^0}^{})^{2k_2}|0=\sqrt{(2k_2)!},$$
(10)
we find:

$$k_1\pi ^+,k_1\pi ^{},2k_2\pi ^0|\varphi =C_k^{k_1}\frac{2^{k_1}k_1!\sqrt{(2k_2)!}}{\sqrt{(2k+1)!}},$$
(11)
where $`C_k^{k_1}`$ is the binomial coefficient. The amplitude (11) squared reproduces eq. (8). Enhancement of the pion production amplitude in the case of the same sort of pions is due to the same factors (10) which enhance the photon induced emission amplitude.

Note that the formulae (9) for $`w(\pi ^0)`$ and $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ coincide with the result obtained in ref. 333In ref.  the probabilities $`w(\pi ^0)`$ and $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ were calculated by projecting pion field on the state of small isospin, $`I=0,1`$. with accuracy of replacement of the pion number $`n`$ in eq. (9) by the average number $`\overline{n}`$ in ref. . The probability of a given number of pions in ref.  was described by the Poisson distribution. Averaging eqs. (9) by Poisson distribution just leads to the replacement of $`n`$ by $`\overline{n}`$ (with accuracy of the power corrections).

## 3 Role of the small total isospin of the $`n`$ pion system

It was shown in the previous section that refusal from domination of most symmetric isospin wave function leads to negligibly small probability of Centauro production. In the present section we show that refusal from small isospin values also sharply diminishes the probabilities $`w(\pi ^0)`$ and $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ even in the case of totally symmetric wave function. This aspect of phenomenon has been emphasized in ref. .

Les us calculate the probabilities $`w(\pi ^0)`$ and $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ considering the totally symmetric $`n`$-pion state with $`n=2k`$ and isospin $`I=n,I_3=0`$.444The charge structure of the state with $`I_3`$ close to the maximal value is almost definite. Therefore the problem appears for the state with small $`I_3`$ only. The isospin wave function has the form:

$$|\varphi _I=A(I)(\stackrel{}{c}^2)^kY_{I0}\left(\frac{\stackrel{}{c}^{}}{\sqrt{\stackrel{}{c}^2}}\right)|0,$$
(12)
where $`A(I)`$ is the normalization factor:

$$A(I)=\sqrt{\frac{4\pi }{(2I+1)!!}}.$$

The probabilities concerned are determined by the following amplitudes:

$`M(\pi ^0)`$ $`=`$ $`2k\pi ^0|\varphi _I=A(I)\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2I+1}{4\pi }}}P_I(1)2k\pi ^0|(c_{\pi ^0}^{})^{2k}|0,`$
$`M(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`k\pi ^+,k\pi ^{}|\varphi _I=A(I)\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2I+1}{4\pi }}}P_I(0)\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2}^kk\pi ^+,k\pi ^{}|(c_{\pi ^+}^{}c_\pi ^{}^{})^k|0,`$
where $`P_I(x)`$ is the Legendre polynom.

¿From here at $`I1`$ we obtain:

$`w(\pi ^0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi I}}{2^I}},`$ (13a)
$`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2^I}}.`$ (13b)
At $`I=n100`$ the probabilities (13a), (13b) have the order of $`10^{30}`$.

## 4 Conclusion

Thus we have convinced that the events containing nothing but $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$-mesons or $`\pi ^0`$-mesons at high multiplicity can have appreciable probability only at simultaneous realization of the following two conditions:

1. Symmetric state of $`n`$-meson system relative to the permutation of momenta (and isospin indices).
2. Small total isospin.

The first condition seems us to be considerably more essential than the second one, since due to isospin conservation the second condition is satisfied automatically, while the first condition implies the strong restrictions to the dynamics of high multiplicity pion production. We emphasize that these results follow from rather general consideration. Therefore any model, which pretends to explanation of Centauros, must first of all satisfy to two these conditions.555We mean the models in which the hadrons produced are considered as pions.

It should mention that under symmetric function we mean the function corresponding to the Young tableau with one or two rows. Thus, proceeding from ref.  one can obtain that $`I=0`$ for the Young tableau with two equal rows $`w(\pi ^+\pi ^{})=1/n`$, but $`w(\pi ^0)=0`$. However, the Young tableau with three approximately equal rows leads to distribution which differs from zero only at $`n_0`$ and $`n_{ch}`$ close to $`\frac{1}{3}n`$ and $`\frac{2}{3}n`$ correspondingly. Since the overwhelming majority of the Young tableaux is the Young tableaux with three rows, namely they determine the distribution when all the Young tableaux give equal contributions.

On these grounds it can be conceived that Centauros are produced from decay of a particle as if consisting from large number of pions in totally symmetric state. On the ground that the experimental hadron transverse momenta in Centauro equal to $`p_T1.5`$ GeV/c, one can expect that the size of this hypothetical object is of the order of (1.5 GeV/c)-1. The field with energy $`E230`$ GeV  is concentrated in this volume. Considering the pions as quanta of this field one can suppose that this object could be similar in its properties to the classical solution of a field equation. One can expect that namely at high energy the heavy particles having the properties close to the classical solutions can be produced. This hypothesis have been suggested in ref. . Note that possible soliton solution to explain Centauros is, for example, the slowly damping classical solution for Higgs scalar field found in ref. .

Let us give a possible estimation of the Centauro production cross section. Assuming that a Centauro is produced from a soliton decay, we see that the only dimensional parameter is its size $`r_0\text{(1.5 GeV/c)}^1`$. It follows that relative probability of the soliton production is the ratio:

$$wr_0^2/r_{st}^210^2,$$
(14)
where $`r_{st}`$ is the strong interaction radius. This estimation is rather rough. The probability of Centauro production is obtained by multiplying eq. (14) by (9). Therefore the probability to find a Centauro is estimated as

$$w(\text{Centauro})10^3.$$
(15)
Although this estimation does not depend explicitly on energy, it becomes valid only begining from rather high energy (which we don’t estimate), when quasiclassical objects can be produced. CERN SPS-collider experiments  at $`\sqrt{s}=540`$ GeV give so far no evidences for Centauro production. From the present point of view this means that inspite the fact that the energy $`\sqrt{s}=540`$ GeV exceeds the threshold for production of the mass $`M=230`$ GeV/c2, this energy is not enough for proceeding the physical phenomena leading to Centauro production (e.g., for developing the soliton object).

The other approaches to Centauros were discussed in refs. .

## 5 Appendix

From the present consideration some conclusions follow for the high multiplicity pion production in nuclear reactions. It follows that charge distribution of pions produced in any nuclear reaction would be smooth provided the pion momenta are close enough to each other. The latter comes true in kinematics near the phase volume bound. For example, in the reaction

$$pppp+n\pi $$
(16)
at highest possible pion number $`n`$ allowed by energy conservation the reaction kinematics automatically forbids the wide variation of the pion momenta. This ensures automatically the total symmetry of pion production amplitude relative to the momenta permutation in the narrow allowed region. As it was shown above, we obtain the smooth charge distribution in this case.

It would be useful to carry out the experimental research of the reaction (16) in the kinematics concerned. Such investigation is possible at the meson factory accelerators, where due to high intensity the small cross sections can be measured.

Another interesting reaction is the extremely many pion annihilation of low energy antiprotons (see ref. ):

$$p+\overline{p}n\pi .$$
(17)
Usually rather sharp binomial distribution (as eq. (5)) is expected in such processes, which follows from the statistical models . In this reaction at highest possible multiplicity $`n`$ we expect a smooth distribution as well.

The authors are grateful to A.B. Kaidalov, V.E. Markushin, A.I. Nikishov, V.A. Novikov, L.B. Okun, I.S. Shapiro and M.B. Voloshin for useful discussions and valuable remarks.


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# Detection of new Optical Counterpart candidates to PSR B1951+32 with HST/WFPC2

## 1 Introduction

The detection of nonthermal high energy magnetospheric emission from isolated pulsars has remained a non-trivial problem, despite great advances in instrumentation and technological expertise. To date, only 7 optical pulsars have been detected with emission believed to be magnetospherically dominated, and despite considerable effort, only 8 $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars. In contrast to radio emission, which is generally believed to be generated in close proximity to the magnetic poles, no clear theoretical model construct exists as regards the higher energies. The two principal schools of thought place $`\gamma `$-ray emission localised either to the magnetic poles (Daugherty & Harding 1996) or located further out in the magnetosphere (Romani 1996). Considerable problems remain with these two frameworks, in terms of predicted fluxes, spectral indices and light curve morphologies, and it is clear that further work is required on this subject. This is all the more relevant when one attempts to address the growing empirical database of lower energy emission, in particular in the optical regime. A consequence of non-linear processes within the magnetosphere, this synchrotron emission forms a useful constraint with which one can attempt to comprehensively develop a self-consistent theoretical framework. Consequently it is important to try and acquire synchrotron (optical/X-ray) data of known $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars, and so extend this empirical database.

The pulsar PSR B1951+32, located within the complex combination supernova remnant (SNR) CTB 80, was first identified as a steep-spectrum, point-like source in the radio (Strom 1987), and discovery of radio pulses with an unusually fast 39.5-s period quickly followed (Kulkarni et al. 1988). Canonically, the pulsar’s age and the estimated dynamical age of the SNR are consistent at $`10^5`$ yrs (Koo et al. 1990) and both have been determined to be at a distance of $``$ 2.5 kpc. There is thus general agreement that the association is valid. Evidence for pulsed emission was subsequently found in $`\gamma `$-rays (Ramanamurthy et al. 1995) and possibly in X-rays (Safi-Harb et al. 1995; Chang & Ho 1997), with upper limits in the infrared (Clifton et al. 1988). The ROSAT observations in the X-ray regime do indicate a complex light curve strongly dominated by the intense X-ray radiation of a pulsar-powered synchrotron nebula (Safi-Harb et al. 1995; Becker & Truemper 1996). The unambiguous double-peaked $`\gamma `$-ray (EGRET) light curve obtained by Ramanamurthy et al. (1995) at the appropriate spin-down ephemeris suggested that the pulsar had a conversion efficiency, in terms of rotational energy to $`\gamma `$-rays, of $``$ 0.004. Consequently there are strong grounds for the possibility of an optical detection.

However, the pulsar is quite distant and located within a rather complex SNR. Recent radio observations at 92cm (Strom & Stappers 2000) indicate that the pulsar is located at the edge of the flat radio spectrum ’core’ of the SNR, and it is clear from X-ray observations that the pulsar is to some extent interacting with its environment. From models such as Pacini & Salvati (1987) and Shearer & Golden (2001) we would expect emission in the $`V`$ magnitude range 24-26 depending upon the line of sight absorption, estimated from E(B-V) = 0.8-1.4 (Blair et al. 1984). Ground-based CCD observations by Blair & Schild (1985) and Fesen & Gull (1985) yielded a relatively crowded field with two possible counterparts at $`m_v`$ 20 and $`m_v`$ 21 respectively (known hereafter as counterparts 1 and 2).

Using a ground-based MAMA detector in the TRIFFID camera, we have previously examined the central field of CTB 80, but could find no evidence of pulsations in either $`B`$ or $`V`$ from these two counterparts (O’Sullivan et al., 1998). It was noted that counterpart 1 had an extension (see Fig. 1) towards the mapped radio timing position given in Table 2, which implied an unresolved stellar combination and/or plerionic/remnant material. Using PSF-fitting and deconvolution techniques, the removal of counterpart 1 yielded a best-estimate imposed decomposition of the “extension” into two further point sources (numbered 4 and 5 in Fig. 1), while a further point source (numbered 6 in Fig. 1) was detected some distance further away. These 3 sources had apparent magnitudes of $`m_V`$ $``$ 22.1/$`BV`$ $``$ 0.8, $`m_V`$ $``$ 22.6/$`BV`$ $``$ 0.6, and $`m_V`$ $``$ 23.1/$`BV`$ $``$ 0.0. However, none of them exhibited pulsed emission at the 1% level. As was noted, both the photometry and time series analysis were complicated by their low signal-to-noise and proximity to counterpart 1.

It is clear that in order to unambiguously resolve the various apparent components within the radio error ellipse, diffraction-limited photometry must be obtained, which would facilitate further attempts to detect optical pulsations from the suspected optical counterpart(s) to PSR B1951+32. Consequently we obtained from the HST archive WFPC2 images of the CTB 80 SNR obtained with the F547W, F673N, F656N, and F502N passbands. In the next section we detail the reduction of the various exposures and their astrometric and photometric analyses. From this we assess the feasibility that we have identified new plausible optical counterparts, and assess the implications - both in terms of follow-up high speed 2-d photometry, and for current theoretical models.

## 2 Analysis of archival HST/WFPC2 observations

We obtained from the HST archive all existing WFPC2 data of the CTB 80 SNR, as listed in Table 1. The core of the CTB 80 remnant lies on chip WF3 of the WFPC2 camera in every case. Image processing and photometry were performed using the IRAF (Tody 1993), STSDAS, and DAOPHOT-II (Stetson 1994) packages. The images in each band and chip were stacked and cleaned of cosmic rays and hot pixels using standard techniques. The F547M intermediate-width band enabled us to perform a deep photometric search for faint stellar sources, to S/N=2 at MAGF547M = 26.7. Photometry was performed with DAOPHOT-II/allstar PSF-fitting, applying the correct “synthetic” zeropoint & gain ratio (Holtzman et al. 1995), correcting the photometry for CTE effects using the recipe of Stetson (1998), correcting for geometric distortion across the different WF chips, and correcting to the “standard” $`0^{\prime \prime }.5`$ radius photometry.

### 2.1 The Astrometric Solution

Accurate mapping of the radio positions to the WFPC2 images requires a more precise astrometric plate solution than is provided in the WFPC2 image headers. The average absolute pointing error of HST is 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$8 $``$ 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5 (Biretta et al. 2000), due to errors in the Guide Star Catalog (GSC). Spacecraft roll can cause an additional shift of up to 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5. This degree of uncertainty, in this relatively crowded field, would make it impossible to pin down the identification of a probable optical counterpart to PSR B1951+32.

Therefore, using 31 stars on chip WF3 in common with the new 2MASS Point Source Catalog1112MASS Second Incremental Data Release, 2000 March 2, and an iterative matching and fitting process, we derived a much improved astrometric solution with a total rms error of only 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$15. The various published radio coordinates for PSR B1951+32 from the literature were filtered to yield only those which were judged to be fully independent of each other, and based either on genuine interferometric observations or on a timing solution which had not been affected by a glitch (although susceptible to timing noise). We list these two “best” radio positions for PSR B1951+32, from Foster et al. (1990) and Foster et al. (1994), in Table 2. Given that Migliazzo et al. (2002) have reported an accurate proper motion for the pulsar of 25 $`\pm `$ 4 mas yr-1 at PA = 252 $`\pm `$ 7 from new VLA observations, the difference between the radio and HST epochs warranted a correction for significant proper motion. The 10.2 yr difference for the radio timing position resulted in a correction of $`0^{\prime \prime }.254`$ in a WSW direction; the interferometric position was corrected by $`0^{\prime \prime }.22`$ in the same direction, due to its 8.7 yr difference. The resulting positions (see Table 2) were then mapped onto the improved HST optical astrometric solution, and their corresponding 1-$`\sigma `$ and 3-$`\sigma `$ error ellipses are shown overplotting the F547M image in Fig. 2. As Foster et al. (1994) note, the discrepancy between them is probably the result of timing residuals, which may also lead to an underestimate of the errors for the timing result. This must be borne in mind when evaluating the nature of objects discovered optically in the vicinity of these radio positions.

### 2.2 A Synchrotron Nebulosity Associated with PSR B1951+32

In Fig. 2, we note the presence of a patch of nebulosity $``$ 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$8$`\times `$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$3 in extent, some or all of which lies within the mapped radio 3-$`\sigma `$ error ellipses in the F547M image. It is not immediately evident in the narrowband images. As noted in section 1, previous ground based time-resolved MAMA observations (O’Sullivan et al. 1998) have suggested the presence of such a broadband (present in both $`B`$ and $`V`$) extended luminosity at this location. It was then assumed to be composed of two adjacent stars (numbered 4 and 5 in Fig. 1), but with the hindsight afforded by these higher resolution HST observations, we now know that “star” 4 marks the compact nebula, while “star” 5 is comprised of a blend of some of this nebula with some of star 4HST in Table 3. Leaving the source intact as a single compact nebula would have yielded photometry of $`m_V`$ $``$ 21.6/$`BV`$ $``$ 0.7 in that MAMA data. After correction for reddening of E(B-V) = 1.0 (adopted from O’Sullivan et al. (1998)), the colour of this nebula is (B-V)0 = -0.3$`\pm `$0.3; clearly this is a blue object within the range of these wavebands. This colour is also consistent with the colours of synchrotron plerions associated with young pulsars - the Crab and PSR0540-69 in the LMC - with their approximately flat optical spectral indices.

### 2.3 Evidence for an Optical Counterpart to PSR B1951+32

Further evidence of the limits of ground-based observations of this field is seen in Fig. 2, where candidate 1 from Blair & Schild (1985) is itself resolved into 2 stars, 2HST and 3HST, of roughly equal magnitude. Comparison with Fig. 1 shows that star 6 from O’Sullivan et al. (1998) is clearly recovered in this HST data as star 5HST, as are the other nearby faint/crowded stars denoted ’w’ and ’y’ (the latter is also resolved into a close pair).

Now we turn our attention to the identification of candidates for an optical counterpart to PSR B1951+32. Five point-like sources were measured within or immediately outside the area covered by the larger 3-$`\sigma `$ position ellipses. Of these, stars 1HST and 4HST are the most likely to be candidate counterparts. Both lie inside the 3-$`\sigma `$ interferometric position ellipse, and although both lie outside the 3-$`\sigma `$ timing position ellipse, they are closer to it than any other sources. On the basis of position, neither is clearly a stronger candidate than the other. The difference between the two radio coordinates is primarily in Right Ascension - they are consistent with each other in Declination - which might indicate some systematic error in RA for one of these radio measurements. This would then favour the optical counterpart candidate which differed least in Dec from the two radio positions. However, both candidates lie roughly equidistant in Declination from a line connecting the two radio coordinates. The other possibility, as noted in Section 2.1, is that the entire error ellipse may be underestimated for the timing position; for example, a doubling of the axis lengths of this 3-$`\sigma `$ ellipse would be just enough to make both candidates consistent with it.

Only one other measured source lies within the 3-$`\sigma `$ interferometric position ellipse - star 5HST, but this can be ruled out as a candidate counterpart because it is completely inconsistent with the radio timing position, even allowing for possible underestimated errors in the latter. Finally, the close pair of stars 2HST and 3HST lie just outside the 3-$`\sigma `$ interferometric ellipse, and well outside the 3-$`\sigma `$ timing position ellipse, which would be sufficient grounds for ruling them out as candidate counterparts; but two other factors rule them out with certainty: firstly they are too bright to be consistent with the emission predicted by the phenomenological models, and secondly they failed to exhibit optical pulsations in the study by O’Sullivan et al. (1998).

Of the two candidate counterparts, object 4HST is a straightforward point-source measurement. However, object 1HST requires some further analysis and comment. In automatically determining and fitting the list of stars detectable in the WFPC2 F547M image, this point-like source was detected within the small nebulous patch and measured at MAGF547M = 24.3 $`\pm `$ 0.3 (ie. with a $`S/N`$ of 3.1). Unfortunately, the narrowband images were too insensitive to show such faint stellar sources, which therefore ruled out confirmation of the detection of this point-like source in another band. In Fig. 2, where we plot the F547M image superimposed with the detected point-like sources that survived our DAOPHOT-II/allstar analysis, it is clear that object 1HST lies within the compact nebulosity which is unambiguously associated with the core of the CTB 80 SNR. It is also clear that this object is within the combined radio/optical error region for PSR B1951+32.

However, there is a problem with this photometric result for object 1HST. An inspection of the resulting star-subtracted image shows that MAGF547M = 24.3 must be an overestimation of the flux of the apparent point source within the nebula, as the fitting-and-subtraction process does not result in a smooth underlying background, but rather a pronounced “hole” in the nebula. This is a consequence of three probable factors: the undersampling of the WF3 PSF, coupled with the rapidly changing background in the vicinity of the source, and the possibility that the source is not a pure point-source but may be broadened by being embedded in a knot of the nebulosity.

To investigate this issue we performed the following test. The position of the source 1HST, as determined by DAOPHOT-II/allstar, was kept constant, while its magnitude was varied from MAGF547M = 21 - 29 in steps of 0.5 magnitude. At each magnitude it was subtracted from the original image and aperture photometry was performed on the resulting subtracted image, in order to measure the residual flux level within the central core pixels of the source. These residual fluxes were plotted as a ratio of the flux measured using the same aperture and background annulus on the original image; this ratio is an estimate of the subtraction smoothness - see Fig. 3. In this Figure, we also plot the median values and error bars for the same flux ratio of all the well-measured stars over the entire WF3 chip, binned in 0.5-mag intervals. For our pulsar counterpart candidate, one would expect to see subtraction smoothness of the same order as had been achieved for stars of the same brightness elsewhere in the field. The conclusion is that, to first order, the source would have to have MAGF547M $``$ 25.2 to prevent oversubtraction into the nebula; and undersubtraction would occur at MAGF547M $``$ 26.2. The magnitude of object 1HST therefore lies within this interval, but its $`S/N`$ would be reduced to $``$2 - 2.5.

The question then arises, could one normally detect such a faint source as object 1HST in this data without these corrections, or is it spurious? We performed Monte Carlo simulations in order to test this hypothesis. Using the PSF shape and photometric zeropoint previously determined for the F547M image, artificial stars were added into the 512x512 pixel region centred on the nominal pulsar position. For each 0.5 magnitude step from MAGF547M = 21 - 29, 25 stars were added to this field at random positions, and then the same automatic star detection and measurement process was repeated in order to try to recover them. This entire process was repeated 100 times for robust statistics on the efficiency of star detection with increasing magnitude. Then, to take into account the effect of the higher background within the small nebula, which increases the sky noise, the simulations were repeated with the background everywhere increased to the mean background within the small nebula. The results are shown by the two traces in Fig. 4. Clearly, there is a good (between $``$ 60% - 80%) probability of detecting a point source as faint as MAGF547M = 25.5 - 26.5. The level of the increased nebular background is shown to have only a very marginal effect on star detection (although the gradients within the nebular background are likely causes for bias in the photometric measurement, as has already been noted).

Crucially, the estimated magnitude of MAGF547M = 25.2 - 26.2 for object 1HST, including the correction for the oversubtraction effect, is within the range predicted by the successful mode framework of Pacini & Salvati (1987) and more recently the phenomenological analysis of Shearer & Golden (2001). The magnitude of object 4HST is also consistent with these models, at the brighter end of the predicted range. Consequently, taken together with their positions with respect to the two radio-position error ellipses, we suggest that these two objects are plausible new optical counterpart candidates to PSR B1951+32. Both candidates lie within a region of area $``$ 1 arcsec2. To estimate the probability of unrelated field stars being found within this region and at the same magnitude as the candidates, we computed a luminosity function (LF) for the total measured stellar content of the three near-identical WF chips - WF3 containing the pulsar field, and WF2 and WF4 abutting it and containing similar starfields. The LF was then normalised to give the density of foreground/background objects per arcsec2 at 0.5-mag intervals. For object 4HST at MAGF547M = 24.5, the LF has over 300 stars or 0.02 stars per arcsec2. For object 1HST at MAGF547M $``$ 25.75, the LF has over 700 stars or 0.05 stars per arcsec2. These numbers were not significantly increased when the LF was corrected for the corresponding detection efficiencies shown in Fig. 4. For the entire magnitude range of MAGF547M = 24 - 26.5, generously bracketing the two candidates and their uncertainties, the LF has over 3000 stars or 0.18 stars per arcsec2. Thus the probability of finding two such objects an arcsecond apart is significant, but low.

## 3 Conclusions

Hester (2000a) has reported on a similar analysis of the same archival HST data, and agrees that the knot of extended continuum emission is synchrotron dominated as a consequence of the pulsar wind. Hester (2000b) places the radio counterpart 0.5” to the East/SE of this nebula (see Fig. 5) - roughly between our proposed counterpart candidates 1HST and 4HST, although closer to 1HST than to 4HST. We have reproduced his results by mapping the Foster et al. (1994) radio timing position onto the original GSC-based astrometric solution from the HST data pipeline. However, we are more confident in our 2MASS-recalibrated and astrometry, which also benefits from our correction utilising the accurate proper motion rate, published some time after Hester’s analysis by Migliazzo et al. (2002). As a result our mapped radio timing position differs from Hester’s by 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$47. Hester also comments that the relative locations, orientation and luminosity are similar to the knot situated 0.5” to the SE of the Crab pulsar. The agreement, in terms of synchrotron luminosity from the nebula, is compelling, regardless of which of the two astrometric solutions are used, since they overlap within their errors. However the location of the pulsar is still uncertain, given the considerable discrepancy between the two best independent radio positions. We have outlined the evolution in these radio positions and optical astrometric solutions which, taken together, locate the pulsar in an error region which is still too large to definitively pin down the pulsar’s optical counterpart; however the more accurate mapped radio position (in terms of formal quoted errors) lies to the East/SE of the nebula. This supports the geometric orientation suggested by Hester (2000a,b).

One of the two newly resolved sources which we have identified as 1HST and 4HST may therefore indeed be the $``$ 24th-26th magnitude pulsar as predicted by the models of Pacini & Salvati (1987) and Shearer & Golden (2001). The other possibilities are that both are unrelated field stars, or that 1HST is a localised ‘knot’ within the bigger ‘knot’ of the synchrotron nebula while 4HST is a field star; both of these possibilities would imply that the true optical counterpart is fainter still. This would possibly reconcile one difficulty with the present analysis - the inconsistency of the two new candidates with the formally small error ellipse of the radio timing position; but it would create another difficulty - the inconsistency of candidates fainter than 26th magnitude with the phenomenological model predictions. Deeper HST and/or diffraction-limited adaptive optics imaging will be needed to determine which of these various possibilities is the correct interpretation, by putting some hard constraints on the colour and spectral index of both the synchrotron nebulosity and the candidate counterparts. Goldoni et al. (1995) noted that the optical spectral index steepened with age for the known optically emitting pulsars, while Shearer & Golden (2001) showed that this is consistent with the flattening of the pulse-peak luminosity relationship with the outer field strength. Consequently, with its expected steep optical spectral index, one would expect that the optical counterpart to PSR B1951+32 will not be as distinctly blue as younger Crab-like pulsars, but nevertheless distinguishable from regular thermally-emitting stars. Additionally, one could test the candidates by looking for proper motion, which (since the epoch of these HST observations) should now amount to a possibly detectable $`0^{\prime \prime }.12`$. Follow-up timing studies with the upgraded TRIFFID imaging photon-counting camera would permit the search for optical pulsations from a securely identified counterpart, with much higher statistical significance than previously. Not only would this provide the essential confirmation of any optical counterpart, it would also test the hitherto successful optical models of Pacini & Salvati (1987) and Shearer & Golden (2001) in an age regime where few optical pulsars have been found.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Enterprise Ireland under the Basic Research Programme. RFB is also grateful for financial support from the Improving Human Potential programme of the European Commission (contract HPFM-CT-2000-00652). This publication is based upon Hubble Space Telescope data obtained from the ST-ECF archive, ESO, Garching, Germany. It also makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. Finally, we also wish to thank the referee, Richard Strom, for his useful suggestions and constructive comments which have considerably improved the paper’s content and presentation.


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# References

Recently Sen has constructed a classical time-dependent solution which describes the decay process of an unstable D-brane in the open string theory. During the decay process the tachyonic field on the brane rolls down toward the minimum of the potential. There have been recently a lot of studies on various cosmological effects of the rolling tachyon . In general the unconventional form of the tachyonic action makes the cosmology with tachyonic field differ from that with a normal scalar field. Regarding the role of tachyon as a inflaton, recently Kofman and Linde  pointed out the difficulties in generating an acceptable metric perturbation. In this paper, we propose a model of inflation with multi-tachyon, and study the dynamics of this type of assisted inflation. Our results show that some of the difficulties with a single tachyonic field are overcome and our model satisfies the observations.

We start with a brief review on the problems of the single tachyonic inflation model. The 4D effective field theory of the tachyon field coupled to Einstein gravity is given by

$$S=\frac{1}{2\kappa ^2}d^4x\sqrt{g}R+S_{brane},$$
(1)
where $`\kappa ^2=\frac{1}{M_p^2}`$ is the 4D Planck mass, $`S_{brane}`$ the 4D effective field theory action of the tachyon field. To a non-BPS D3-brane action in supersymmetric theory (BSFT), one has

$$S_{brane}=\tau _3d^4x\left(\alpha ^{}\mathrm{ln}2e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}_\mu T^\mu T+e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\right),$$
(2)
where the tension of the non-BPS brane is

$$\tau _3=\frac{\sqrt{2}M_s^4}{(2\pi )^3g_s},$$
(3)
with $`g_s`$ being the string coupling, and $`M_s=l_s^1=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}`$ the fundamental string mass and length scales. The Planck mass in this theory is given by a dimensional reduction

$$M_p^2=\frac{vM_s^2}{g_s^2}.$$
(4)
In Eq.(4), $`v=\frac{(M_sr)^d}{\pi }`$, $`r`$ is the radius of the compactification, and $`d`$ is the number of the compactified dimensions.

Redefining the tachyon field $`T\sqrt{2\mathrm{ln}2}T`$, the effective action of the tachyon field in the Born-Infeld form can be written as 222For a scalar field $`\varphi `$ with standard kinetic term, the authors of  have given a constraint on the potential $`U`$ of the scalar field: $`2H^2<\kappa ^2U<3H^2`$. With this potential satisfying the constraint, the cosmological inflation can occur. It is interesting to see whether there is a similar constraint on the potential $`V`$ of the tachyon in the action (5). A similar calculation yields a constraint: $`0<\kappa ^2V<3\sqrt{3}H^2`$.

$$S_{brane}=d^4x\sqrt{g}V(T)\sqrt{1+\alpha ^{}_\mu T^\mu T},$$
(5)
which is a close expression incorporating all higher order of powers of $`_\mu T`$. The potential $`V(T)`$ around the maximum is

$$V(T)\tau _3e^{\frac{T^2}{8ln2}},$$
(6)
which has a maximum at $`T=0`$ and at large $`T`$ in terms of Ref. , the potential should be exponential

$$V(T)e^T.$$
(7)
The potential $`V(T)`$ in the Born-Infeld type of action can be regarded as a smooth function which interpolates between two asymptotic expressions given by (6) at maximum and by (7) at infinity.

Assuming that inflation occurs near the top of the tachyon potential, for a tachyonic field which is spatially homogeneous but time-dependent the slow-rolling conditions are given by

$$ϵ=\frac{M_p^2}{2\alpha ^{}V(T)}\left(\frac{V^{}(T)}{V(T)}\right)^2<1;$$
(8)
$$\eta =\frac{M_p^2}{\alpha ^{}V(T)}\frac{V^{\prime \prime }}{V(T)}<1.$$
(9)
In the slow-rolling approximation, the Hubble expansion rate can be expressed as

$$H^2\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}V(T),$$
(10)
and the equation of motion for the rolling tachyon in an expanding universe is

$$3H\dot{T}+(\alpha ^{}V(T))^1V^{}0.$$
(11)
Substituting (3) and (6) into (9), we have

$$g_s>\frac{(2\pi )^3v}{4\sqrt{2}\mathrm{ln}2}10^2v.$$
(12)
The amplitude of the gravitational waves produced during inflation is

$$𝒫_G\frac{H}{M_p}3.6\times 10^5.$$
(13)
Substituting (4) and (10) into (13), we have

$$g_s^310^7v^2.$$
(14)
Combining (12) and (14), one can see that for the inflation driven by the rolling of the tachyon to happen, the following condition

$$v<10^{13}$$
(15)
must be satisfied. Since the 4D effective theory is applicable only if $`v1`$ , Eq.(15) implies that the single tachyonic inflation can not result in a reasonable observed universe.

To solve this problem, we introduce more tachyon fields into the model and consider an assisted inflation scenario with multi-tachyonic fields. Specifically we consider a system with $`n`$ non-coincident but parallel non-BPS D3-branes . In this system, there are two kinds of open strings. One of them starts from and ends on the same brane; The other starts from a given brane, then ends on a different brane. If the distance between two branes are much larger than the string scale, one can ignore the second kind of open strings, leaving a tachyon on the world volume for every brane. Thus, we have $`n`$ tachyons without interaction. And the action is simply the sum of $`n`$ single-tachyonic actions:

$$S_{brane}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}d^4x\sqrt{g}V(T_i)\sqrt{1+\alpha ^{}_\mu T_i^\mu T_i}.$$
(16)
With the multi-tachyonic fields the slow-rolling conditions are found to be

$$ϵ=\frac{M_p^2}{2\alpha ^{}V_{sum}(T)}\left(\frac{V^{}(T_i)}{V(T_i)}\right)^2<1;$$
(17)
$$\eta =\frac{M_p^2}{\alpha ^{}V(T_i)}\frac{V^{\prime \prime }(T_i)}{V_{sum}(T)}<1,$$
(18)
where $`V_{sum}(T)=_{i=1}^nV(T_i)`$. The Friedman equation is now

$$H^2\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}V_{sum}(T).$$
(19)
And the equation of motion for one of the tachyons is

$$3H\dot{T}_i+(\alpha ^{}V(T_i))^1V^{}(T_i)0.$$
(20)
Similar to the discussions on the constraints on the model parameters above, for the assisted inflation to be successful we have

$$ng_s^310^7v^2;ng_s>10^2v.$$
(21)
Thus we get,

$$v<10^{13}n^2.$$
(22)
One can see that when $`n10^7`$, the condition, $`v1`$, required by the applicability of the 4D effective field theory is satisfied.

In the following, we will calculate the amplitude of the density perturbation of our model. For potential (6) and the equations of motion of the tachyon fields (20), we notice that the equation of motion for each of the tachyon fields follow a simple relationship

$$\frac{d\mathrm{ln}T_i}{dt}\frac{d\mathrm{ln}T_1}{dt}.$$
(23)
This means that if the slow-rolling conditions are satisfied, all the tachyons would follow a similar trajectory with a unique late attractor, i.e. $`T_1T_2\mathrm{}T_nT`$. The calculation of the density perturbation responsible for the anisotropy of CMB depends crucially on this late-time attractor of the fields. In this case, the Friedman equation (19) can be rewritten as

$$H^2\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}nV(T),$$
(24)
where $`V(T)`$ at maximum is given by (6). The number of e-folds during inflation is

$$N=H𝑑t_{T_{60}}^{T_{end}}\frac{H^2V(T)}{V^{}(T)}𝑑T,$$
(25)
where $`T_{60}`$ is the field value corresponding to $`N60`$ as required when the COBE scale exits the Hubble radius, and $`T_{end}`$ is the value of the tachyon field at which inflation ends. And $`T_{end}`$ is determined by

$$\eta \frac{10^2v}{ng_s}e^{\frac{T_{end}^2}{8\mathrm{ln}2}}1.$$
(26)
Thus, we have

$$T_{end}^28\mathrm{ln}2\mathrm{ln}\frac{ng_s}{10^2v}.$$
(27)
Following the definition of the amplitudes of the density perturbation in Refs.  and , we have

$$𝒫_S\frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}nV(T)}}\frac{H^2}{2\pi \dot{T}},$$
(28)
and

$$𝒫_S\frac{ng_s^2}{v^{\frac{3}{2}}T_{60}}.$$
(29)
Taking $`n10^{11}`$, $`v10`$ and $`g_s10^8`$, from (25) and (27), we obtain that $`10T_{60}T_{end}𝒪(1)`$. Substituting the values of these parameters into (29), we have the amplitudes of the density perturbation, $`𝒫_S10^6`$. This is consistent with the observation of COBE. In this case, from (4) and (3), the string mass scale $`M_s10^8M_p`$ and the total tension $`n\tau _310^{16}M_p^4`$.

In summary we have proposed a multi-tachyonic inflation model. Our results shown that with the help of a large number of tachyons the problems with a single tachyonic field to satisfy the slow-rolling condition and to generate the amplitude of the gravitational waves constrained by the CMB anisotropy can be solved. Furthermore the energy scale associated with the inflation in our model is also much smaller than the Planck scale. We should point out, however that our model does not solve all of the problems raised in . In fact $`M_sH`$ required in the single as well as multi tachyonic inflation model implies that the size of the de-Sitter horizon will be smaller than the string length i.e. $`\frac{1}{H}l_s`$, which makes it invalid to describe the tachyon condensation by using an effective field theory  333We thank A. Linde for pointing out this to us. . In the general inflation models, the inflaton mass is of the same order as or less than $`H`$. However in the tachyonic inflation model the inflaton has a mass around the string scale $`M_s=l_s^1`$. There might be some possible ways to overcome this difficulty. For instance, one may extend the model studied in this paper by including the effects of tachyons resulting from the open string stretching between different branes. There could exist the possibility in such kind of multi-brane system that the inflaton (tachyon) mass scale be fine-tunned so that it is in the range required and smaller than the string scale $`M_s`$. To realize this speculation with a model may not be easy and goes beyond the scope of this paper. Finally, we would also like to mention here that the usual reheating mechanism is problematic in the tachyon inflation model, as pointed out by Kofman and Linde , because the tachyon does not oscillate during the decay of non-BPS branes. This issue has been discussed recently in .

This work implies that the inflation and cosmological applications of the multi-tachyon/multi-brane may have more fruitful phenomena, which is worth studying further.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Robert Brandenberger, Xiaobo Gong, Qing-Guo Huang, Miao Li and Dehai Zhang for discussions. This project was in part supported by NNSFC under Grant Nos. 10175070 and 10047004, as well as also by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China under grant No. NKBRSF G19990754.