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# The Role of Surface Entropy in Statistical Emission of Massive Fragments from Equilibrated Nuclear Systems

## I Introduction

Over the last decade, a considerable effort has been made to understand the phenomenon of production of multiple intermediate-mass fragments (IMF) in individual nuclear reaction events. Yet, in spite of this effort, understanding of this process is still far from being satisfactory. For example, a consensus is still lacking on even such a fundamental issue of whether the fragment production is dominantly a statistical or a dynamical process. To a certain extent, such lack of consensus is due to the fact that different models, promoting conflicting production scenarios, appear equally successful in describing select subsets of experimental observations.

The present study is driven by the realization that statistical models that have been used in the interpretation of nuclear multifragmentation data Bondorf et al. (1995); Gross (1997); Bauer (1988); Fisher (1967); Friedman (1988) fail to provide a coherent or satisfactory IMF production scenario. Among other things, they fail to overcome the fundamental difficulty of traditional equilibrium-statistical decay models Gavron (1980); Charity  in explaining how IMF production can effectively compete with nucleon and light-charged particle production, when the IMF emission barriers are many tens of MeV high, compared to $``$ 6 MeV for protons. It was the inability of these statistical decay models to explain the IMF production rates that gave rise to the attractive speculation that multiple IMF production could be a manifestation of the liquid-gas phase transition in finite nuclear matter. This is so, because one would expect a gas of nucleons enclosed in a container of sufficiently large size to equilibrate under certain circumstances into a mix of nucleons, light-charged particles, and IMFs. This would be a process essentially analogous to condensation of a gas into liquid droplets. If this were the case, the abundance of IMFs could be large and, perhaps, comparable to that observed experimentally.

For many years, speculations regarding the relevance of the liquid-gas transition for what is termed nuclear multifragmentation have driven studies of this latter phenomenon. So far, however, scrutiny of practical models featuring such a phase transition Bondorf et al. (1995); Gross (1997); Bauer (1988); Fisher (1967) has revealed significant gaps in the chain of reasoning leading to the “prediction” of an experimentally observable liquid-gas phase transition. For example, models based on the concept of an existence of a freeze-out configuration Bondorf et al. (1995); Gross (1997) utilize in their formalisms a “thought” container with ideally reflecting walls, the boundary of the freeze-out volume. Reflection of any outgoing flux of nucleons and light-charged particles (LCP) back into the freeze-out volume, Tõke (2001) is crucial for the models allowing particles to eventually form bigger clusters, the intermediate-mass fragments. However, since there is no known physical boundary defining such a freeze-out volume, or mechanism by which IMFs could pass the high saddle of emission barriers, the predicted IMF abundance must be considered an artifact of the modelling itself.

Similarly severe are shortcomings of approaches utilizing percolation Bauer (1988) or Fisher’s model, Fisher (1967) which have recently been applied Moretto et al. (1999) to nuclear multifragmentation. Schmelzer et al. (1999) Notably, these models do not even address the issue of the high Coulomb barrier inhibiting fragment emission. The presence of a high barrier is obvious even in the vicinity of the critical point, where the expected matter density (in the range of 1/3 – 1/2 of ground-state matter density) is still high enough to trap any fragment formed inside the expanded nuclear system in very much the same way as it would trap fragments formed at ground state density. In the case of Fisher’s model, largely overlooked remains the fact that, by design, the formalism is limited to events in which there is no more than one cluster present at any time, with the balance of the system being always in a state of a homogenous, monomeric gas of individual molecules. While such “either-zero-or-one-fragment” events may be essential in a condensation theory, such as represented by Fisher’s model, they are of little, if any, interest in the context of nuclear multifragmentation.

A somewhat different statistical approach to explaining high yields of IMFs observed in energetic nuclear reactions was adopted in the expanding-emitting source model (EESM). Friedman (1988) This model considers dynamic, isentropic, self-similar expansion of a nuclear system to densities below the equilibrium density proper for the given total excitation energy, where it finds enhanced fragment emission probabilities. However, as pointed out recently, Tõke (2001) the EESM formalism unjustifiably derives most of the (collective) energy necessary for a fragment to overcome the Coulomb emission barrier, not from a thermal heat bath, as prescribed by Weisskopf’s approach, Weisskopf (1937) but from a thermally isolated single, compressional degree of freedom.

The above discussion emphasizes the need for an alternative scenario of statistical IMF emission. The present study demonstrates that a simple scenario, closely related to that known from fission studies, offers an explanation of how at moderately high excitation energies, IMF emission can compete effectively with nucleon evaporation. It represents an extension of ideas and formalism presented in a recent publication. Tõke and Schröder (1999) Central to this formalism is the notion of a relatively high entropy associated with the diffuse nuclear surface region (as opposed to bulk matter). Note that it is also the increased surface entropy that enhances the fission probability of a heavy nucleus relative to nucleon evaporation. This latter enhancement is commonly described in terms of the ratio $`a_f/a_n`$ of level density parameters for saddle and ground-state configurations, respectively.

The formalism adopted in the present study is described in detail in Section II. While this formalism is somewhat schematic, it is believed to capture the essential physics underlying the processes involved. One benefit of such a schematic treatment is that it provides a direct insight into the phenomena of interest, disregarding a multitude of secondary details demanded by a more rigorous approach. Results of calculations are presented in Section III, while the conclusions are presented in Section IV.

## II Theoretical Formalism

The present study assumes that an excited nuclear system expands in a self-similar fashion so as to reach a state of approximate thermodynamical equilibrium, where the entropy $`S`$ is maximal for the given total excitation energy $`E_{tot}^{}`$, i.e.,

$$\frac{S(E_{tot}^{},\rho )}{\rho }|_{E_{tot}^{}}=0.$$
(1)
The functional dependence of entropy on $`E_{tot}^{}`$ and the bulk nuclear matter density $`\rho `$ is evaluated using the Fermi-gas model relationship

$$S=2\sqrt{aE_{th}^{}}=2\sqrt{a(E_{tot}^{}E_{compr})},$$
(2)
where $`a`$ is the level density parameter, $`E_{th}^{}`$ is the thermal excitation energy and $`E_{compr}`$ is the collective compressional energy. The dependence of $`S`$ on bulk nuclear matter density $`\rho `$ arises in Eq. 2 through the dependence of both, the level density parameter $`a`$ (“little-$`a`$”) and the compressional energy $`E_{compr}`$ on the matter density.

The dependence of little-$`a`$ on the nuclear matter density for infinite nuclear matter is given by the Fermi-gas model:

$$a=a_o(\frac{\rho }{\rho _o})^{\frac{2}{3}},$$
(3)
where $`a_o`$ is the level density parameter for the nuclear matter at ground-state matter density $`\rho _o`$.

The above equation holds approximately also for finite nuclei if the expansion or compression of these nuclei is assumed to occur in a self-similar fashion. This is so because for finite nuclei, the little-$`a`$ parameter consists Tõke and Swiatecki (1981); Ignatyuk et al. (1975) of volume and surface terms, $`a_V`$ and $`a_\sigma `$, respectively, both of which are proportional to $`\rho ^{2/3}`$ under the assumption of self-similar expansion:

$$a=a_V+a_\sigma =A(\frac{\rho }{\rho _o})^{\frac{2}{3}}\alpha _V+A^{\frac{2}{3}}(\frac{\rho }{\rho _o})^{\frac{2}{3}}\alpha _\sigma ,$$
(4)
where $`\alpha _V`$ and $`\alpha _\sigma `$ are volume and surface coefficients, respectively, independent of bulk nuclear matter density.

The term “self-similar expansion” is used here to describe a type of expansion in which any change in the matter density profile is reducible to a simple rescaling of the radial coordinate, such that:

$$f_\rho (r)=c^3f_o(cr),$$
(5)
where $`f_o(r)`$ is the ground-state density profile function and $`c`$ is a scaling constant.

The presence of a surface contribution to the level density parameter is of crucial importance in the present study as it describes the part $`S_\sigma `$ of entropy $`S`$ of the system associated with the diffuse surface domain and is seen to have significant effect on the fragment emission probability. One has

$$S=S_V+S_\sigma =a_VT+a_\sigma T,$$
(6)
where $`S_V`$ is the entropy of the bulk matter and T is the system temperature.

The compressional energy in Eq. 2 is approximated in the present study following the schematic prescription proposed in the expanding emitting source model EESM Friedman (1988), i.e.,

$$ϵ_{compr}=ϵ_b(1\frac{\rho }{\rho _o})^2,$$
(7)
where $`ϵ_{compr}`$ and $`ϵ_b`$ are the compressional and the ground-state binding energy per nucleon of the system, respectively. Note that Eq. 7 ensures that the compressional energy varies parabolically with $`\rho `$, from zero at ground-state density ($`\rho _o`$) to $`ϵ_b`$ at zero density.

Equations 13 and 7 allow one to obtain an analytical expression for the equilibrium density, $`\rho _{eq}/\rho _o`$, of nuclear matter as a function of the excitation energy per nucleon, $`ϵ_{tot}^{}=E_{tot}^{}/A`$, where $`A`$ is the mass number of the system:

$$\frac{\rho _{eq}}{\rho _o}=\frac{1}{4}(1+\sqrt{98\frac{ϵ_{tot}^{}}{ϵ_b}}).$$
(8)
Equation 8 reflects the fact that for $`ϵ_{tot}^{}<ϵ_b`$, the system is bound as far as the self-similar expansion mode is concerned, and features a single maximum in entropy in the range of matter densities $`1/2\rho _{eq}/\rho _o1`$. For $`ϵ_{tot}^{}ϵ_b`$, the system is essentially unbound with respect to the self-similar expansion mode, with the entropy diverging as the matter density $`\rho `$ tends to zero. However, for $`(9/8)ϵ_bϵ_{tot}^{}ϵ_b`$, the system still has a local metastable maximum at a finite density given by Eq. 8, i.e., in the range of matter densities $`1/4\rho _{eq}/\rho _o1/2`$. The latter metastable (with respect to self-similar expansion mode) maximum in entropy is separated from the divergence at zero density by a minimum at $`\rho _{saddle}`$, where

$$\frac{\rho _{saddle}}{\rho _o}=\frac{1}{4}(1\sqrt{98\frac{ϵ_{tot}^{}}{ϵ_b}}).$$
(9)
Here, $`E_b=Aϵ_b`$.

Further, one can obtain the caloric equation of state of an equilibrated system (i.e. at constant, zero external pressure) by using the Fermi-gas model relationship between the system temperature $`T`$ and thermal excitation energy $`E_{th}^{}`$

$$T=\sqrt{\frac{E_{th}^{}}{a}}=(\frac{\rho _{eq}}{\rho _o})^{\frac{1}{3}}a_o^{\frac{1}{2}}\sqrt{E_{tot}^{}E_b(1\frac{\rho _{eq}}{\rho _o})^2}.$$
(10)
The probability $`p`$ of emitting a fragment from an equilibrated excited system as defined above can be evaluated using the Weisskopf formalism: Weisskopf (1937)

$$pe^{\mathrm{\Delta }S}=e^{S_{saddle}S_{eq}},$$
(11)
where $`S_{saddle}`$ and $`S_{eq}`$ are saddle-point and equilibrium-state entropies, respectively. The latter two entropies can be calculated using Eq. 2:

$$S_{eq}=2\sqrt{a_A[E_{tot}^{}E_b(1\frac{\rho _{eq}}{\rho _o})^2]},$$
(12)
$$S_{saddle}=S_{res}+S_{frag}=2\sqrt{(a_{res}+a_{frag})E_{saddle}^{th}}.$$
(13)
In Eqs. 12 and 13, $`a_A`$, $`a_{res}`$ and $`a_{frag}`$ are the level density parameters of the system at equilibrium, the residue, and the fragment, respectively, while $`E_{saddle}^{th}`$ is the thermal excitation energy of the system in the saddle-point configuration. The latter quantity is calculated as

$$E_{saddle}^{th}=E_{tot}^{}E_b(1\frac{\rho _{eq}}{\rho _o})^2V_{saddle},$$
(14)
where $`V_{saddle}`$ is the (collective) saddle-point energy.

Formally, the emission probability $`p`$ can be also expressed in terms of an effective emission barrier $`B_{eff}`$,

$$pe^{\frac{B_{eff}}{T}},$$
(15)
when one sets

$$B_{eff}=T\mathrm{\Delta }S.$$
(16)
A selection of results of calculations performed using the above formalism is presented in Section III below.

## III Results of Model Calculations

Results of the calculations performed in the framework of the formalism presented in Section II are presented in Figs. 1–7. In these calculations, values of $`\alpha _V`$=1/14.6 MeV-1 and $`\alpha _\sigma `$=4/14.6 MeV-1 have been assumed for the coefficients $`\alpha _V`$ and $`\alpha _\sigma `$, as suggested in literature Tõke and Swiatecki (1981). Further, $`ϵ_b`$=8 MeV was assumed Friedman (1988) for the ground-state binding energy per nucleon, while the saddle-point collective energy was approximated by the Coulomb energy of the residue and fragment represented by two touching spheres of radius parameter $`r_{Coul}=1.3(\rho /\rho _o)^{1/3}`$ fm. The calculations were made for excited 197Au nuclei.

Fig. 1 illustrates the dependence of the equilibrium density, $`\rho _{eq}`$, of bulk matter on the excitation energy per nucleon (solid curve). As seen in this figure, for the range of excitation energies readily accessible in experiments, the bulk matter density in a state of maximum entropy differs substantially from that of the nuclear ground state. This affects both, the caloric equation of state and the fragment emission probability, two entities of considerable interest.

The dashed curve seen in Fig. 1 illustrates the net gain in entropy resulting from the relaxation of the self-similar expansion mode in an excited $`{}_{}{}^{197}Au`$ system. Large gains in entropy associated with the relaxation of this mode emphasize the importance of this mode for a statistical description of excited nuclear systems, notably for models based on the concept of microcanonical Gross (1997) or pseudo-microcanonical Bondorf et al. (1995) equilibrium.

The caloric curve calculated for states of maximum entropy, i.e., for the states of equilibrium density $`\rho _{eq}`$ is depicted in Fig. 2. Not surprisingly, this curve shows considerable deviation from the simple Fermi-gas form of $`T\sqrt{E_{tot}^{}}`$. Note that in experiments, such as the recently reported ISIS experiment, Beaulieu et al. (2001) it is $`E_{tot}^{}`$ and not the purely thermal contribution to it, $`E_{th}^{}`$, that is in fact measured. This is so, because the static compressional energy $`E_{compr}`$ is experimentally undistinguishable from thermal excitation $`E_{th}^{}`$.

Most notably, the caloric curve seen in Fig. 2 features a maximum temperature of approximately $`T_{max}`$=6 MeV, an indication that for higher temperatures the system is inherently unstable and does not find an equilibrium density. In other words, under the assumption that its matter distribution is homogeneous, a nuclear system placed in a heat bath of $`T>6MeV`$ would expand indefinitely, for which it would derive increasing amounts of energy from the heat bath. In a more realistic case, which is beyond the present consideration, the system would likely decay into a “gas” of fragments and free nucleons that would continue its indefinite expansion.

The particular form of the caloric curve seen in Fig. 2 can, perhaps, be better understood when inspecting the dependence of the free energy $`F`$ on matter density $`\rho `$ and temperature $`T`$, which is is illustrated in Fig. 3. The calculations show that, at temperatures below $`T6MeV`$, the free energy as a function of $`\rho `$ features two equilibrium points, a local minimum and local maximum, where the latter reflects an unstable equilibrium These two points predicted for any temperature $`T`$ of less than approximately 6 MeV, correspond to different excitation energies per nucleon, $`ϵ_{tot}^{}`$. Note that at both these extremal points, the pressure of the system at its surface is zero. This is so, because the pressure is proportional to the partial derivative of the free energy with respect to density at constant entropy, and both, the free energy and the entropy are stationary with respect to the matter density at the extremal points in question. At $`T6MeV`$, the minimum and maximum in $`F`$ as a function of $`\rho `$ merge into an inflection point and, then, at even higher temperatures, the free energy features only a monotonic decrease with decreasing $`\rho `$. The inflection point in $`F`$ corresponds to maximum in $`T`$ as a function of $`E_{tot}^{}`$. Obviously, a monotonic decrease in free energy with decreasing matter density means that no equilibrium density exists for a given temperature.

The role of the surface entropy in fragment emission is clear from Fig. 4 illustrating the dependence of effective barriers (see Eq. 16) for the emission of 12C and 16O from exited 197Au nuclei. Solid lines in this figure illustrate the results obtained when the surface entropy is taken into consideration via inclusion of $`a_\sigma `$ in the expression for the level density parameter $`a`$ (see Eq. 3), while dashed lines represent results of calculations in which the surface entropy effects were neglected, i.e., in which $`a`$ was assumed simply proportional to the mass number.

It is important to note that with the reduction in the effective barrier being dominantly due to the surface entropy effects, no analogous reduction is expected for the emission of nucleons or light charged particles. In the latter case, the effective barriers are expected to show trends similar to those shown by the dashed lines in Fig. 4.

The effects of the surface entropy on the relative emission rates of various IMFs are illustrated in Fig. 5, displaying the reduced probabilities (taken as bare Boltzmann factors) for the emission of IMFs of different atomic numbers from an equilibrated 197Au system as functions of the total excitation energy per nucleon. The spectra are normalized to the probability for emitting a proton, bound to the system by $`Q_p`$=8 MeV and experiencing a Coulomb barrier of 4 MeV (corresponding to a Coulomb radius parameter of $`r_C`$=1.3 fm). As seen in this figure, already at excitation energies per nucleon of the order of 3 MeV/nucleon, fragment emission begins to compete effectively with proton emission and, then, at higher excitation energies, fragment emission becomes the dominant decay mode. Note, that the highest probabilities seen in Fig. 5, above the dashed line, reflect dynamical instability with respect to the fragment emission mode. In fact, Weisskopf’s approach Weisskopf (1937) is inapplicable in the domain above the dashed line, as in this domain, the saddle-point entropy exceeds that for the “equilibrium” density of a self-similarly expanded system. In the calculations, it was assumed that the mass number of the fragment is twice the atomic number, i.e., $`A_{fr}=2Z_{fr}`$.

Since the magnitude of the effective barrier depends on the excitation energy and, thus, on temperature $`T`$, and since $`T`$ is a non-monotonic function of $`E_{tot}^{}`$, one would expect the fragment emission probabilities $`p`$ to deviate significantly from a simple Arrhenius law with an exponential functional dependence on the inverse temperature $`1/T`$. This expectation is confirmed by Fig. 6, where logarithmic plots of $`p`$ versus $`1/T`$ are seen to feature clear deviations from linearity, including a prominent “back-bending”. The latter back-bending is obviously expected in view of the maximum in the caloric curve seen in Fig. 2. Such a behavior is also suggested by the general deviation of the caloric equation of state from the one for a low-temperature Fermi gas.

On the other hand, pseudo-Arrhenius plots depicted in Fig. 7, where the logarithm of the emission probability, $`ln(p)`$, is plotted versus the inverse square root of the total excitation energy, $`1/\sqrt{E_{tot}^{}}`$, , are to a good approximation straight lines. This observation comes as a surprise, as it cannot readily be expected based on the details of the theoretical formalism employed. Therefore, no simple explanation for such a linearity can be offered at this time, the very rationale behind the construction of such pseudo-Arrhenius plots being numerous experimental findings. Moretto et al. (1995); Tso et al. (1997); Moretto et al. (1997); Beaulieu et al. (1998); Moretto et al. (1999) While it may be purely fortuitous, the linear character of pseudo-Arrhenius plots predicted by the present formalism seems to be in agreement with experimental observations.

## IV Conclusions

A formalism has been developed to describe quantitatively, albeit in a schematic fashion, a scenario of purely statistical emission of massive fragments from finite equilibrated systems. The formalism recognizes the importance of thermal expansion of hot matter and considers the stability of such systems at equilibrium nuclear densities. The important role of surface entropy consists in an effective “softening” of the nuclear surface, resulting in enhanced fragment emission probabilities. The decay scenario underlying this formalism is that of a thermally expanded system with developed thermal fluctuations of the diffuse surface. Within such a scenario, fragment emission is naturally viewed as analogous to fission.

The calculations performed within the framework of the proposed formalism show that, with increasing excitation energy and mostly due to effects of increased surface entropy, the effective barriers for fragment emission decrease and, eventually, vanish. As no equivalent decrease is expected for nucleons and light charged particles, one expects that at high excitation energies, fragment emission competes effectively with nucleon and LCP emission.

The formalism presented here also predicts an occurrence of negative heat capacity in highly excited nuclear systems. It also predicts linear pseudo-Arrhenius plots, where the logarithm of the fragment emission probability, $`ln(p)`$, is plotted versus the inverse square-root of the excitation energy, $`1/\sqrt{E^{}}`$. This latter prediction is found in agreement with numerous experimental observations. Moretto et al. (1995); Tso et al. (1997); Moretto et al. (1997); Beaulieu et al. (1998) However, as also expected, the formalism predicts non-linear true Arrhenius plots, where the independent variable is the inverse temperature, $`1/T`$, rather than $`1/\sqrt{E^{}}`$. This is so, because the effective emission barriers depend rather strongly on excitation energy (and temperature) and, hence, fail to satisfy one of the fundamental prerequisites of the Arrhenius law.

The simplicity of the presented formalism should allow one to incorporate it into existing statistical decay codes. For purposes where the ultimate goal is to obtain an agreement with experimental data, it would be desirable, however, to improve the formalism itself. For example, one should use more realistic (and lower) saddle-point energies, instead of the schematic Coulomb energies of touching spheres. One should also be mindful of differences in equilibration times for nucleon and LCP emission modes, on the one hand, and for different IMF emission and fission modes, on the other hand. It is natural to expect that modes requiring major rearrangement of mass require longer times to equilibrate than modes that do not require such a rearrangement. Consequently, one would expect all IMF emission modes to attain equilibrium later than nucleon emission modes, and fission modes to reach equilibrium even later. As a result, early in the decay process, while the IMF degree of freedom is approaching equilibrium, one would expect to see “pre-IMF nucleons”, in much the same way as one sees pre-fission neutrons. Hilscher and Rossner (1992); Hinde et al. (1992) Similarly, one would expect to see pre-fission IMF emission in situations when for the same systems at equilibrium, fission would dominate. Importantly, the latter pre-fission IMF emission modes may succeed in removing enough charge and excitation energy from the system so as to pre-empt fission altogether - a phenomenon that has recently been observed experimentally. Djerroud et al. (2001)

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy grant No. DE-FG02-88ER40414.


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# References

The non-renormalizability of the Einstein-Hilbert action in a perturbative expansion around a fixed background spacetime  is often taken to indicate that a quantum theory based on it is meaningful only as an effective field theory with a domain of applicability that is limited both in the infrared and in the ultraviolet (UV) regime. Quantitatively however the corrections in the effective field theory realm are way too small to be physically relevant . “Large” quantum gravity effects, if any, require a much higher degree of universality viz insensitivity on the cut-off and computational procedures. Early on S. Weinberg  stressed that in a Wilsonian framework this would (hypothetically) be the case if the averaging flow had a hidden UV stable fixed point, whose critical manifold might still be finite dimensional. This would be equivalent to quantum Einstein gravity being non-perturbatively renormalizable! – a scenario whose verification or refutation is clearly of outstanding theoretical significance. Some version of this “asymptotic safety” scenario arguably underlies also the dynamical triangulations approach to quantum gravity and, at least indirectly, the canonical quantization program of A. Ashtekar and its ramifications. The scenario lay mostly dormant since , presumably for lack of evidence and computational techniques. Recently however important evidence for its viability has been reported by M. Reuter and O. Lauscher . Their setting is that of ‘exact’ flow equations for an averaged effective action functional. Due to the complexity of the problem only the (extended) Einstein-Hilbert truncation has been studied, corresponding to a projection of the averaging flow into a 2 (or 3) dimensional subspace in which a non-Gaussian fixed point is seen .

Here we report on fairly complete results obtained on analogous issues in a truncation of Einstein gravity describing spacetimes with two Killing vectors. The reduced system turns out to inherit the non-renormalizability of full Einstein gravity (beyond one loop). The renormalization flow will therefore move in an infinite dimensional space of Lagrangians constrained only by the initial symmetry requirement. In this space we are able to regain UV renormalizability in the sense of strict cutoff independence. The space turns out to be parameterized by functions $`h()`$ of one real variable which generalize the notion of a renormalized coupling. Functions connected by the renormalization flow $`\mu \overline{h}(,\mu )`$ defined below are regarded as equivalent. This infinite dimensional space is now the appropriate arena to search for a fixed point (function) and, remarkably, there is one! Moreover it is unique and the renormalization flow appears to be driven locally toward the fixed point. Of course one cannot expect that “truncation of classical degrees of freedom” and “quantization” are commuting operations. Based on the ‘anti-screening’ nature of the interaction  it is however hard to imagine that a symmetry reduction of classical degrees of freedom would make the UV renormalization properties worse. In other words, our analysis also provides a complementary test of the asymptotic safety scenario: If quantum Einstein gravity indeed has a hidden fixed point it should emerge already in the symmetry reduced quantum theory (but not vice versa).

We begin with describing the outcome of the classical reduction procedure . One is interested in the solutions of Einstein’s equations with two commuting Killing vectors. They cover a variety of physically interesting situations: If one of the Killing vectors is timelike these are stationary axisymmetric spacetimes, among them in particular all the prominent black hole solutions. If both Killing vectors are spacelike the subsector comprises (depending on a certain signature) cylindrical gravitational waves, colliding plane gravitational waves, as well as generalized Gowdy cosmologies. The set of all these solution is equipped with a symplectic structure which is induced by the standard symplectic structure of general relativity. It is important that both the reduced Einstein equations and the induced symplectic structure follow from a two-dimensional (2D) action principle, which we take as the basis for developing the quantum theory. This action couples 2D gravity non-minimally via a “radion” field $`\rho `$ to a 2D matter system. The radion field is related to the determinant of the internal metric, the matter system is a noncompact $`\mathrm{O}(1,2)`$ nonlinear sigma-model. This means the fields are maps $`n=(n^0,n^1,n^2)`$ from the 2D spacetime manifold into the hyperboloid $`H_ϵ=\{n=(n^0,n^1,n^2)\text{IR}^{1,2}|nn=(n^0)^2(n^1)^2(n^2)^2=ϵ\}`$. The sign $`ϵ=\pm 1`$ distinguishes the two main situations, where either both Killing vectors are spacelike ($`ϵ=+1`$) or only one of them ($`ϵ=1`$). Accordingly the 2D metric $`\gamma _{\mu \nu }`$ will either have Lorentzian or Euclidean signature; without (much) loss of generality we shall always assume it to be conformally flat $`\gamma _{\mu \nu }e^\sigma \eta _{\mu \nu }`$, and describe the dynamics in terms of $`\sigma `$. The phase space is then characterized by the equations of motion and the symplectic structure following from the flat space action $`S=d^2xL`$, with

$$L(n,\rho ,\sigma )=\frac{1}{2\lambda }[\rho ^\mu n_\nu n+ϵ^\mu \rho _\mu (2\sigma +\mathrm{ln}\rho )],$$
(1)
where $`nn=ϵ`$ and $`\lambda `$ is Newton’s constant per unit volume of the internal space. Further, to account for the original 2D diffeomorphism invariance, the weak vanishing of the hamiltonian and the diffeomorphism constraints $`_00,_10`$ has to be imposed. The latter are given by $`_0=T_{00}`$ and $`_1=T_{01}`$, if $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ denotes the classical energy momentum tensor derived from (1). The trace $`T_\mu ^\mu `$ vanishes on-shell. Classical observables are quantities which Poisson commute with these constraints and are weakly nonvanishing. A unique feature of the 2-Killing reduction is that an infinite set of such (nonlocal) observables can be constructed explicitly! (They are analogues of the nonlocal conserved charges in conventional sigma-models .) This makes the system a compelling laboratory for studying quantum aspects of general relativity .

We now want to embark on a Dirac quantization of the system. That is the vector $`n`$ as well as $`\rho ,\sigma `$ are promoted to independent quantum fields whose dynamics is governed by the action (1). The constraints are intended to be defined subsequently as composite operators in terms of which the projection onto the physical state space is formulated. Clearly the key issue to be addressed is that of the renormalizability of an action functional motivated by (1) and its symmetries and extended by suitable sources needed to define composite operators. In contrast to nonlinear sigma-models without coupling to gravity we find that the quantum field theory based on (1) is not UV renormalizable in the strict sense. Renormalizability in the strict quantum field theoretical sense typically presupposes that the bare and the renormalized (source extended) action have the same functional form, only the arguments of that functional (fields, sources, and coupling constants) get renormalized. Though the bare action is motivated by the classical one it can be very different from it. In any case the form of the (bare=renormalized) action functional is meant to be known before one initiates the renormalization. The 2-Killing vector reduction of general relativity has been known for some time to be renormalizable at the 1-loop level . Here we confirm this result, but we also find that the system is not renormalizable in the above sense beyond one loop. This means the reduced system accurately portrays the features of full Einstein gravity . Technically the non-renormalizability arises because the dependence on the dimensionless radion field $`\rho `$ is not constrained by any Noether symmetry. Thus it can – and does – enter the counter terms in a different way as in the bare action, no matter how the latter is chosen.

The solution we propose is to renormalize the theory in a space of Lagrangians which differ by an overall conformal factor that is a function of $`\rho `$. More precisely we showed that to all orders in the loop expansion nonlinear field renormalizations exist such that for any prescribed bare $`h_B()`$ there exists a renormalized $`h()`$ such that

$`{\displaystyle \frac{h_B(\rho _B)}{\rho _B}}L(n_B,\rho _B,\sigma _B)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{h(\rho )}{\rho }}L(n,\rho ,\sigma ),`$
$`\text{but}h_B()`$ $``$ $`h().`$ (2)
A subscript ‘B’ denotes the bare fields while the plain symbols refer to the renormalized ones. The fact that $`h_B()`$ and $`h()`$ differ marks the deviation from conventional renormalizability; it holds with one notable exception described below. In order to be able to perform explicit computations we derive this result in a specific computational scheme: Dimensional regularization, minimal subtraction and the covariant background field expansion, with adaptations from . Ultimately the reason why (2) works is that $`L`$ possesses two conformal symmetries in field space (possibly linked to those in ) which together with the obvious strict symmetries characterize the Lagrangian up to a $`\rho `$-dependent prefactor. Denoting by $`L_h`$ the right hand side of (2) there exist currents $`C_\mu `$ and $`D_\mu `$ obeying the on-shell identities

$$^\mu C_\mu =\rho _\rho \mathrm{ln}hL_h,^\mu D_\mu =\mathrm{ln}\rho \rho _\rho \mathrm{ln}hL_h.$$
(3)
They can be promoted to Ward identities for the corresponding composite operators and could also serve to characterize the theory in a regularization independent way. (See  for an analysis of this type for conventional sigma-models). We made no attempt to address the infrared problem here because, guided by the analogy to the abelian sector , we expect it to disappear upon projection onto the physical state space. Even in the above explicit scheme the details of the renormalization are fairly technical and will be described in . Here we only mention three important points concerning composite operators, again valid to all orders of the loop expansion: (i) Arbitrary functions of $`\rho `$ are finite as composite operators; no additional renormalizations are needed. (ii) The $`\mathrm{O}(1,2)`$ Noether currents $`J_\mu ^i,i=0,1,2`$, can be defined as finite composite operators and obey $`\text{[[}J_\mu ^i(h,n)\text{]]}=J_\mu ^i(h_B,n_B)`$, where $`\text{[[}\text{]]}`$ denotes the normal product in the above scheme. (iii) The energy momentum operator can be defined as a composite operator $`\text{[[}T_{\mu \nu }\text{]]}`$; it is unique up to an improvement term of the form $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_{\mu \nu }=(_\mu _\nu \eta _{\mu \nu }^2)\mathrm{\Phi }`$, where the bare and the renormalized improvement potential are of the form $`\mathrm{\Phi }_B=f_B(\rho _B)+f_0\sigma _B`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }=f(\rho )+f_0\sigma `$, respectively. Here $`f_0`$ is a finite constant and in general $`f_B()f()`$.

The function $`h()`$ plays the role of a generalized (renormalized) coupling. In contrast to Newton’s constant $`\lambda `$, which is an ‘inessential’ coupling in Weinberg’s terminology  (both in our truncated and in full quantum Einstein gravity) the function $`h()`$ can be seen from (3) to be an essential coupling (or rather an infinite collection thereof), while $`\lambda `$ does not require renormalization. To lowest order it is fixed by strict renormalizability to be $`h(\rho )=\rho ^p+O(\lambda )`$, for some $`p0`$. To this order it has a direct physical interpretation. Namely $`h(\rho )/\rho `$ is the conformal factor in a Weyl transformation $`G_{MN}(x)\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho (x))G_{MN}(x)`$ of a generic 4D metric $`G_{MN}(x)`$ with two Killing vectors in adapted coordinates. The spacetime dependence of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ enters only through the scalar field $`\rho `$, a concept familiar from scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Beyond one loop one is forced to allow for nontrivial finite deformations $`h(\rho )=\rho ^p+\frac{\lambda }{2\pi }h_1(\rho )+\left(\frac{\lambda }{2\pi }\right)^2h_2(\rho )+\mathrm{}`$, where $`h_l(\rho ),l1,`$ can be arbitrary functions of $`\rho `$, and for definiteness we take $`p>0`$ from now on. The deformation is necessary because $`h()`$ is subject to a nontrivial flow equation $`\mu \frac{d}{d\mu }\overline{h}=\beta _h(\overline{h}/\lambda )`$, where $`\mu `$ is the renormalization scale and $`\mu \overline{h}(,\mu )`$ is the ‘running’ coupling function. To avoid a possible misunderstanding let us stress that the way how $`\overline{h}(,\mu )`$ depends on its first argument changes with $`\mu `$, not just the value $`h(\rho (x))`$, which is still a function of spacetime and hence not a good coupling. The specific form of the corresponding functional beta function $`\beta _h(h)`$ does not allow one to preserve $`h(\rho )\rho ^p`$, even if this was the inital choice for some normalization scale $`\mu _0`$. However one can impose $`h(\rho )/\rho ^p\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ for $`\rho \mathrm{}`$ as a boundary condition; it is preserved under the flow and guarantees that the flow is solely driven by the counter terms, as it should.

Remarkably $`\beta _h(h)`$ can be obtained in closed form and is given by

$$\beta _h(h/\lambda )=\rho _\rho \left[\frac{h(\rho )}{\lambda }_\rho ^{\mathrm{}}\frac{du}{u}\frac{h(u)}{\lambda }\beta _\lambda \left(\frac{\lambda }{h(u)}\right)\right].$$
(4)
Here $`\beta _\lambda (\lambda )`$ is the conventional (numerical) beta function of the $`\mathrm{O}(1,2)`$ nonlinear sigma-model without coupling to gravity, computed in the minimal subtraction scheme. $`\beta _h(h)`$ can thus be regarded as a “gravitationally dressed” version of $`\beta _\lambda (\lambda )`$, akin to the phenomenon found in  in a different context. With $`\beta _h(h)`$ known explicitly we can search for a fixed point function $`h^{\mathrm{beta}}()`$, satisfying $`\beta _h(h^{\mathrm{beta}})=0`$. Most importantly it exists. Further subject to the above asymptotic boundary condition it is unique and comes out as

$$h^{\mathrm{beta}}(\rho )=\rho ^p\frac{\lambda }{2\pi }\frac{2\zeta _2}{\zeta _1}\left(\frac{\lambda }{2\pi }\right)^2\frac{3\zeta _3}{2\zeta _1}\rho ^p+\mathrm{},$$
(5)
where $`l\zeta _l,l1`$, are the $`\mathrm{O}(1,2)`$ beta function coefficients: $`\zeta _1=ϵ,\zeta _2=1/2,\zeta _3=ϵ5/12`$ . Note that both the functional form and the numerical coefficients in $`h^{\mathrm{beta}}(\rho )`$ are fixed by the “conformal renormalizability” condition (2). Moreover, although we use a loopwise expansion to construct the fixed point (5) it can be regarded as “non-Gaussian” in the following sense: There exists a function $`h^{\mathrm{ren}}()`$ for which $`h_B^{\mathrm{ren}}()=h^{\mathrm{ren}}()`$, so that one almost recovers conventional renormalizability. (A similar concept was recently employed in the context of T-duality ) However beyond one loop $`h^{\mathrm{ren}}(\rho )`$ differs from $`h^{\mathrm{beta}}(\rho )`$, in particular $`\beta _h(h^{\mathrm{ren}})0`$. Thus if one was to explore the vicinity of this conventionally renormalizable Lagrangian the fixed point (5) could not be seen and, in view of Eq. (7) below, there was little chance to impose the constraints. Finally we cannot resist mentioning the resemblance of (5) to the “least coupling” form of the dilaton functional proposed in .

From a Wilsonian viewpoint the linearized flow around a fixed point encodes information about the critical manifold and the rate of approach to it. For the functional flow $`\mu \overline{h}(,\mu )`$ induced by (4) we write $`\overline{h}(,\mu )=h^{\mathrm{beta}}()+\frac{\lambda }{2\pi }\overline{\delta h}(,\mu )+O(\lambda ^2)`$ and linearize in $`\overline{\delta h}`$. The resulting integro-differential equation can be solved analytically and reveals the following pattern

$$\overline{\delta h}(\rho ,\mu )\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}\text{for}\{\begin{array}{cc}ϵ=+1\hfill & \text{and}\mu \mathrm{}\hfill \\ ϵ=1\hfill & \text{and}\mu \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(6)
The behavior (6) suggests ultraviolet stability of the fixed point for $`ϵ=+1`$ and infrared stability for $`ϵ=1`$. Heuristically one can argue  that the $`ϵ=+1`$ case (where both Killing vectors are spacelike) captures the intuition behind a truncated version of the 4D functional integral for (Lorentzian or Euclidean) quantum gravity. The same is not true for the sector with one timelike and one spacelike Killing vector ($`ϵ=1`$). The existence of an ultraviolet fixed point in the non-renormalizable $`ϵ=+1`$ theory therefore is in the spirit of the asymptotic safety scenario. To quote from : “A theory is said to be asymptotically safe if the ‘essential’ coupling parameters approach a fixed point as the momentum scale of their renormalization point goes to infinity.” However there are also important differences: Due to the complicated form of $`\beta _h(h)`$ no preferred parameterization of $`\overline{h}(,\mu )`$ in terms of numerical running couplings exist; the solutions $`\overline{\delta h}`$ can be grouped into classes with qualitatively different rate of decay (it is not always powerlike). In particular there is no obvious way to define the dimension of the critical manifold.

In order for $`h^{\mathrm{beta}}`$ to qualify as a good fixed point one should also have a chance to impose the constraints when $`h=h^{\mathrm{beta}}`$. From the result (iii) described after Eq. (3) we know that $`T_{00}=_0`$ and $`T_{01}=_1`$ can be defined as composite operators. Clearly a necessary condition for the quantum constraints to have a sufficiently large ‘kernel’ on the state space generated by $`\rho ,_\mu \sigma ,J_\mu ^i`$ is that the trace anomaly vanishes. This is to say there should exist an improvement potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }=f(\rho )+f_0\sigma `$ such that when $`\text{[[}T_\mu ^\mu \text{]]}`$ is computed as a composite operator in the above scheme it vanishes modulo contributions proportional to the equations of motion operator. The counter terms relating $`f_B(\rho _B)`$ to $`f(\rho )`$ and those relating $`\rho _B`$ to $`\rho `$ depend on $`h`$. This triggers a non-autonomous inhomogeneous flow equation for a running $`\overline{f}(,\mu )`$. One might expect that when $`\overline{h}`$ becomes stationary also $`\overline{f}`$ becomes stationary and defines the proper improvement potential at the fixed point. This is indeed the case, moreover

$$\mu \frac{d}{d\mu }\overline{h}=0=\mu \frac{d}{d\mu }\overline{f}\text{[[}T_\mu ^\mu \text{]]}=0,$$
(7)
to all loop orders. That is, the trace anomaly of the improved energy momentum tensor vanishes precisely at the fixed point of the functional flow. The proof links the stationarity of $`\overline{f}`$ to a variant of the Curci-Paffuti relation . The combinations $`\text{[[}_0\pm _1\text{]]}`$ are then expected to generate a 2D conformal algebra with formal central charge $`c=4`$. The value $`c=4`$ in itself has little significance because the (sub-) state space generated by $`\rho ,_\mu \sigma `$ has indefinite metric. The latter feature is not an artifact, it is directly related to the notorious “conformal factor problem” of 4D quantum Einstein gravity. As stressed in , even for free field doublets of opposite signature inequivalent quantizations exist which affect the value of $`c`$ through the choice of vacuum. For the 2-Killing reduction a complete construction of the physical state space is presumably only possible in a bootstrap formulation as in . Showing the equivalence of the present Lagrangian-based quantum theory and the bootstrap theory is therefore a major desideratum. For this already the construction of the first nonlocal quantum observable at the fixed point (following Lüscher’s strategy in the $`\mathrm{O}(3)`$ sigma-model ) would be indicative. The Lagrangian construction on the other hand provides a direct link to 4D quantum Einstein gravity; in particular the fixed point in the truncated theory established here appears to be a necessary prerequisite for a fixed point in full quantum Einstein gravity.

In this letter we investigated the 2-Killing reduction of pure Einstein gravity. Classically a large class of matter couplings can be included  ranging from Einstein-Maxwell and dilaton-axion gravity  to $`N=16`$ supergravity . The fixed point structure of all these systems can be studied along similar lines.

Acknowledgments: We wish to thank M. Reuter, N. Mohammedi, and D. Maison for useful discussions.


text:
# The status of Galactic field 𝜆 Boötis stars in the post-Hipparcos era

## 1 Introduction

Knowledge of the evolutionary status of the members of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group is essential to put tight constraints on the astrophysical processes behind this phenomenon. We have chosen the following working definition as group characteristics: late B- to early F-type, Population I stars with apparently solar abundances of the light elements (C, N, O and S) and moderate to strong underabundances of Fe-peak elements (see Faraggiana & Gerbaldi 1998 for a critical summary of the various definitions). Only a maximum of about 2% of all objects in the relevant spectral domain are believed to be $`\lambda `$ Boötis -type stars (Paunzen 2001). That already suggests either that the mechanism responsible for the phenomenon works on a very short time-scale (106 yrs) or else the general conditions for the development are very strict.

We know already of a few $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars in the Orion OB1 association and one candidate in NGC 2264 (Paunzen 2001), for both of which log $`t`$$``$ 7.0. The evolutionary status for two $`\lambda `$ Boötis -type spectroscopic-binary systems (HD 84948 and HD 171948) has been determined as very close to the Zero Age Main Sequence (ZAMS hereafter) for HD 171948 and to the Terminal Age Main Sequence (TAMS hereafter) for HD 84948 (Iliev et al. 2002). The results for the other Galactic field stars are not clear.

In 1995, Iliev & Barzova summarized the evolutionary status of 20 $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars (and Vega) using Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ photometric data. They concluded that most of the stars studied are in the middle of their main-sequence evolution, with only a few objects near the ZAMS.

Paunzen (1997) investigated the parallaxes measured by the Hipparcos satellite for a sample of $`\lambda `$ Boötis -type stars in order to derive luminosities, masses and ages for 18 objects in common with Iliev & Barzova (1995). He found no systematic influence of the distance, effective temperature, metallicity and rotational velocity on the difference between photometrically calibrated absolute magnitudes and those derived from Hipparcos parallaxes. Six objects were found to be very close to the ZAMS and a hypothesis was proposed that all other stars are in their Pre-Main-Sequence (PMS hereafter) phase.

Later on, Bohlender, Gonzalez & Matthews (1999) and Faraggiana & Bonifacio (1999) challenged that hypothesis with plausible arguments such as the unusually vigorous star-forming activity that it implied in the solar neighbourhood and a statistical analysis of normal-type stars.

Already Gray & Corbally (1998) stated that the $`\lambda `$ Boötis phenomenon can be found from very early stages to well into the main-sequence life of A-type stars. That conclusion was based on the incidence of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars among very young A-type stars, which is not very different from the incidence among Galactic field stars.

In this paper we present a much more extensive investigation, including the data of the Hipparcos satellite. With the help of photometric data of the Johnson UBV, Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ and Geneva 7-colour systems, different calibrations of the absolute magnitude, effective temperature and surface gravity are applied and compared.

From evolutionary models (Claret 1995), masses and ages are estimated. They are compared with those derived by Iliev & Barzova (1995) and Paunzen (1997).

As a further step, the proper motions of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars are used to calculate space velocities. That very important information should help further to sharpen the group properties and to sort out probably misclassified stars.

Another point investigated is the question as to whether there exists a typical abundance pattern for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group. Heiter (2002) and Heiter et al. (2002) tried to shed more light on the abundance pattern in the context of the proposed theories. We have searched for correlations of the individual abundances with, especially, mass and age.

However, we will not comment on our results in the context of the developed theories and models, because they still depend on too many free parameters. The aim of this paper is not to promote one of the suggested theories but rather to find strict observational constraints which should be incorporated into future theoretical investigations.

## 2 Program stars and their astrophysical parameters

The program stars were taken from the lists of Gray & Corbally (1998) and Paunzen (2001), with the omission of apparent spectroscopic binary systems (e.g. HD 38545, HD 64491, HD 111786, HD 141851 and HD 148638) as well as of HD 191850 for which no $`\beta `$ measurement is available so no reliable astrophysical parameters could be derived from the Strömgren photometric system. A further critical assessment of the literature was performed in order to reject probable non-members and ill-defined objects. In total, 57 well established $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars were chosen.

The photometric data were taken from the General Catalogue of Photometric Data (GCPD; http://obswww.unige.ch/gcpd/) as well as from the Hipparcos and Tycho database. If available, averaged and weighted mean values were used.

The following calibrations for the individual photometric systems were used to derive the effective temperatures and surface gravities:

* Johnson UBV: Napiwotzki, Schönberner & Wenske (1993)
* Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$: Moon & Dworetsky (1985) and Napiwotzki et al. (1993)
* Geneva 7-colour: Kobi & North (1990) and Künzli et al. (1997)

The reddening and absolute magnitudes were estimated by use of the Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ system. The calibrations for the Johnson UBV and Geneva 7-colour system need an a-priori knowledge of the reddening which is not easy to estimate.

An independent way to derive the interstellar reddening maps is to use data from open clusters as well as Galactic field stars. Several different models have been published in the literature (Arenou, Grenon & Gómez 1992, Hakkila et al. 1997). Chen et al. (1998) compared the results from Arenou et al. (1992) and those derived from Hipparcos measurements, and found an overestimation in previously published results for distances less than 500 pc. They consequently proposed a new model for Galactic latitudes of $`\pm `$10$`\mathrm{°}`$, but otherwise find excellent agreement with the model by Sandage (1972). We use here the model proposed by Chen et al. (1998) who corrected previous models by Arenou et al. (1992) on the basis of the Hipparcos data. The values from the calibration of the Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ and the model by Chen et al. (1998) are in very good agreement. To minimize possible inconsistencies we have averaged the values from both approaches.

The Hipparcos parallaxes were converted directly into absolute magnitudes. The latter were averaged (using weights based on the standard errors) with the absolute magnitudes derived from the photometric calibrations. With the absolute bolometric magnitude of the Sun ($`M_{\mathrm{Bol}}`$) = 4.75 mag (Cayrel de Strobel 1996) and the bolometric correction taken from Drilling & Landolt (2000), luminosities (log L/L) were calculated (Table 1).

We have also corrected our data for the so-called ‘Lutz–Kelker effect’ (Koen 1992), an overestimation of parallaxes owing to random errors. Oudmaijer, Groenewegen & Schrijver (1998) showed that that bias has to be taken into account if individual absolute magnitudes from Hipparcos parallaxes are calculated.

The projected rotational velocities were taken from Uesugi & Fukuda (1982), Stürenburg (1993), Abt & Morrell (1995), Holweger & Rentzsch-Holm (1995), Chernyshova et al. (1998), Heiter et al. (1998), Paunzen et al. (1999a,b), Kamp et al. (2001), Solano et al. (2001), Andrievsky et al. (2002) and Heiter (2002). If possible the individual values were averaged with weights in accordance with the listed standard errors.

As the next step, we have used the post-MS evolutionary tracks and isochrones from Claret (1995) to estimate the individual masses and ages for our program stars. The models were calculated with solar abundances. That is justified because the abundance pattern found for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars must be restricted to the surface only: almost all of them would lie below the Population II ZAMS which would be applicable if they were metal-poor throughout. Table 2 lists the masses together with minimum and maximum ages, which are not necessarily equally spaced owing to the shape of the isochrones. Since the lifetime for a star on the MS is dependent on its mass, we have transformed the ages thus determined into relative ones ($`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$) in the following way. For our sample we find masses (Table 2) from 1.6 to 2.5 M, which correspond to times on the MS of 2.2 Gyr down to 700 Myr. The relative age is zero for an object which just arrived at the ZAMS and unity for stars at the TAMS. We have taken into account the error of the estimated mass as well as the error box of the calibrated ages.

## 3 A test sample of normal stars

For comparison with the results obtained for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars we generated a test sample of apparently normal dwarfs with the same effective temperatures. We limited the sample to luminosity class V objects for which photometric and Hipparcos measurements are available. Known spectroscopic binary systems were excluded. Then, only objects for which the spectral classifications published by Gray & Garrison (1987; 1989a,b) and Garrison & Gray (1994) agree within two temperature sub-classes with those by Abt & Morell (1995) have been considered. The final sample (see Table 3) has the same number of stars as the $`\lambda `$ Boötis list. Special attention has been paid to the $`(BV)_0`$ distribution of the test sample to ensure that it similar to that of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis objects (Fig. 4, upper panel). Thus, the test sample represents luminosity class V stars in the solar neighbourhood, covering the same spectral range as the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group.

All basic parameters were derived in exactly the same way as for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis objects. All statistical significance levels presented in the following sections are based on several hypothesis tests (e.g. t-test; Rees 1987).

We have not explicitly listed the parameters of this sample but it is available in electronic form via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 or http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html.

## 4 The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram based on Hipparcos and photometric data

Earlier investigations already concluded that the group of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars comprises the whole area between the ZAMS and TAMS. Only the interpretation of the evolutionary stage (PMS or post-MS) varied. In this work we have not investigated a possible PMS hypothesis as proposed by Paunzen (1997). Beside the arguments given in Bohlender et al. (1999) and Faraggiana & Bonifacio (1999) we would like to add a few more points. If we speculate that some of these stars are in a PMS phase then they would have ages of one Myr or even younger since they are in the ‘right upper corner’ of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (HRD hereafter) very close to the birth-line according to the models of Palla & Stahler (1993). So they should be very bright in the IR region and lie within the boundaries of star-forming regions or molecular clouds; neither implication has been verified so far (King 1994).

Figure 1 shows the HRD with the data taken from Table 1. The post-MS evolutionary isochrones are from Claret (1995). It is encouraging to see that no object lies below the ZAMS; that gives further confidence in the calibrations used.

To estimate the most probable age distribution of our program stars, we have used a moving average (Fig. 2). Such a method takes into account the errors of individual data as it counts all points (plus and minus the standard deviation) which lie in a certain bin (Rees 1987). From the histogram it is clear that the group of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars comprises evolutionary stages of the entire MS with a peak at $`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$``$ 0.85 (about 1 Gyr). Taking the few candidates in the Orion OB1 association and NGC 2264, the percentage for very young objects (log $`t`$$`<`$ 7.0) would be approximately 5% which fits very well into the overall picture.

Since the distribution of the test sample (Fig. 2) agrees at a 99.9% significance level, the age distribution of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis objects is not distinct from that of other luminosity class V objects in the same spectral domain within the solar neighbourhood. That is already a first hint that the mechanism behind the $`\lambda `$ Boötis phenomenon operates only within very tight constraints, since only 2% of all stars are objects of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis type.

Gray & Corbally (1998, 1999) made an extensive survey for $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars in 24 open clusters and associations and found not a single candidate. The cluster ages range from 15 to 700 Myr. Therefore, only a few candidates in the Orion OB1 association and NGC 2264 remain. It seems that the star-formation process within open clusters does not favour the manifestation of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis phenomenon.

Table 4 lists the 16 stars that we have in common with the papers of Iliev & Barzova (1995) and Paunzen (1997). For the calibration of effective temperatures they both used the method of Moon & Dworetsky (1985) within the Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ photometric system; Iliev & Barzova (1995) also derived the luminosities with this calibration whereas Paunzen (1997) took advantage of the Hipparcos data. For the calibration of mass and age, Iliev & Barzova (1995) interpolated between the evolutionary tracks given by Schaller et al. (1992), whereas Paunzen (1997) used the CESAM models by Morel (1997). As expected, there are star-to-star variations, but overall the parameters fit well. The effective temperatures from this work are in very good agreement with those of both references. The luminosities and thus the calibrated ages are in better agreement with those of Iliev & Barzova (1995).

As a further test of the calibrated values, we have calculated the surface gravity via the effective temperature, mass and luminosity. Figure 3 shows the correlation of the photometrically calibrated surface gravity log $`g`$(phot) and the calculated one log $`g`$(evol). The mean errors for both parameters are typically $`\pm `$0.1 dex. Although there is some indication of a systematic offset, the mean difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$log $`g`$ = log $`g`$(evol) $``$ log $`g`$(phot) = +0.10(11) is not significant. A similar effect was already noticed by Iliev & Barzova (1995) whereas Faraggiana & Bonifacio (1999) reported an inconsistency between the position in the HRD and the log $`g`$ values derived from Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ photometry using the calibration of Moon & Dworetsky (1985). We conclude that the photometric calibrations for the group of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars are valid, in contradiction to the results of Faraggiana & Bonifacio (1999).

Before making a detailed statistical analysis, we looked to see whether our sample exhibits an apparent bias. Figure 4 shows that the sample includes significantly more cooler objects (70%) with effective temperatures lower than 8000 K. However, there is no observational bias from classification-resolution spectroscopy since the spectroscopic survey for new members included many more hotter- than cooler-type objects (Gray & Corbally 1999, Paunzen 2001). That fact could be interpreted as a manifestation of the working mechanism itself, or it could be due to the method used in this very limited spectral range. It is well known that at cooler temperatures (spectral domain A5 to F2), even a moderate metal-weakness can be detected at classification resolution since the overall metallic-line spectrum is much richer than for an A0-type object. However, we are not able to decide whether the distribution of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis sample is due to a bias within the observational technique or due to the phenomenon itself.

Figure 5 shows the averaged effective temperatures, masses and projected rotational velocities for each age bin. The mean effective temperature is rather constant up to $`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$``$ 0.5 with values between 8300 K to 8800 K. It then decreases linearly almost to 7000 K for the most evolved objects. The mean masses are constant within the error bars at about 1.9 M for $`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$`<`$ 0.75 and then increase to almost 2.2 M. Most interesting is the non-existence of a correlation of the projected rotational velocity with age. The mean value for the whole range is about 120 km s-1. If we compare these results with those of our test sample, we find several differences as well as similarities:

* The trends for the effective temperature and mass are identical. However, the $`\lambda `$ Boötis objects seem to have lower temperatures as well as masses for $`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$`>`$ 0.8
* The $`v`$ sin $`i`$ distributions are identical within 1$`\sigma `$ with a slightly higher scatter for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group ($`\overline{\sigma }_{\mathrm{𝐿𝐵}}`$ = 19 km s-1 and $`\overline{\sigma }_{\mathrm{𝑁𝑜𝑟}}`$ = 15 km s-1)

Overall, there is no obvious distinction between the two samples.

Gray (1988) reported that several $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars exhibit peculiar hydrogen-line profiles with weak cores and broad but often shallow wings. Iliev & Barzova (1993) examined the peculiar profiles of four objects. They were able to fit those profiles with two models having different temperatures (hotter for the wings by approximately 400 K) and concluded that it is a sign of circumstellar material around the objects. Faraggiana & Bonifacio (1999) interpret the peculiar profiles as an indication of undetected spectroscopic-binary systems in which two stars with solar abundances but different stellar parameters mimic one apparently metal-weak object. The classification of the hydrogen-line profiles for 19 stars were taken from Gray & Corbally (1993) and Paunzen & Gray (1997). For our sample we find only two objects (HD 30422 and HD 107233) with peculiar profiles among the younger objects ($`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$`<`$ 0.66) but seven with normal ones. The picture for the older objects is just the opposite: there are only two objects (HD 90821 and HD 120500) with normal profiles but nine with peculiar ones.

Several attempts were made to detect signs of circumstellar lines in the optical domain (Andrillat, Jaschek & Jaschek 1995; Hauck, Ballereau & Chauville 1995, 1998; Holweger, Hempel & Kamp 1999). From our list, sixteen objects were investigated but only three objects have positive detections: HD 11413, HD 193256 and HD 198160 (Holweger et al. 1999). These stars are rather evolved ($`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$ = 0.83, 0.92 and 0.84, respectively) but owing to the poor number statistics, any conclusion about the significance has to be treated with caution.

## 5 The abundance pattern of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars

Since the first detailed abundance analysis in the late eighties, there has been a question as to whether a unique abundance pattern exists for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group. Most of the proposed candidates for membership have been found by classification-resolution spectroscopy (typically 40 Å mm-1 to 120 Å mm-1). In the classical photographic domain (3800 to 4600 Å) spectral lines of Ca, Mg, Fe and Ti are the main contributors to the overall appearance of the metallic-line spectrum. Gray (1988) defined the membership of the class in terms of a weak Ca K and metallic-line spectrum compared to the temperature classification of the hydrogen lines.

Paunzen et al. (1999a) and Kamp et al. (2001) already investigated the behaviour of the lights elements C, N, O and S for a statistically significant number of members:

* The star-to-star scatter for the abundances of C, N, O and S is much smaller than that for heavier elements
* The abundances of C, N, O and S are not strictly solar but range from $``$0.8 dex to +0.2 dex compared to the Sun
* Fe-peak elements are always more underabundant

Heiter (2002) and Heiter et al. (2002) tried to shed more light on the abundance pattern in the context of the theories proposed. They used mean values for a sample of 34 stars (not all elements’ abundances were determined for all objects) and concluded:

* The iron-peak elements from Sc to Fe as well as Mg, Si, Ca, Sr and Ba are underabundant by 1 dex compared to the Sun
* Al is slightly more depleted whereas Ni, Y and Zr are slightly less depleted
* The mean abundance of Na is solar, but the star-to-star scatter is about $`\pm `$1 dex
* The star-to-star scatter is twice as large as for a comparable sample of normal stars

Otherwise they find no, or only a poor, correlation of individual abundances with astrophysical parameters such as the effective temperature, surface gravity, projected rotational velocity, age and pulsational period.

We have used the individual abundances published by Venn & Lambert (1990), Stürenburg (1993), Holweger & Rentzsch-Holm (1995), Chernyshova et al. (1998), Heiter et al. (1998), Paunzen et al. (1999a,b), Kamp et al. (2001), Solano et al. (2001), Heiter (2002) and Andrievsky et al. (2002) for members of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group. The individual values were weighted according to the errors listed in the references. For our further analysis we have used only objects for which an abundance of carbon or oxygen is available, since those are key elements for the definition of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group.

Values for stars of superficially normal type were taken from Adelman (1991, 1994, 1996), Adelman et al. (1991, 1997), Hill & Landstreet (1993), Hill (1995), Caliskan & Adelman (1997) and Varenne & Monier (1999).

Let us recall that the membership of an object in the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group is mainly based on spectroscopy at classification resolution. The only other approach is the definition of membership criteria in the UV region (Solano & Paunzen 1999). No reference in the literature was found which describes membership criteria based on detailed abundance analysis in the optical region. If we compare the status of other chemically peculiar stars of the upper main sequence then a similar situation is evident (Wolff 1983; Cowley 1995). Objects have been classified as being chemically peculiar but their individual elemental abundances differ widely. No attempt has so far been made to define the membership of the classical CP stars to a sub-class by detailed abundances alone (Preston 1974).

The $`\lambda `$ Boötis group is unusual in this respect since it shows strong underabundances, not found for any other group, of most heavier elements. The only exceptions are intermediate and true Population II-type objects and field blue stragglers, post-AGB and F-weak stars (Gray 1988, 1989; Jaschek, Andrillat & Jaschek 1989; Andrievsky, Chernyshova & Ivashchenko 1995; van Winckel, Waelkens & Waters 1995). Objects with very low surface gravities (post-AGB and Population II-type objects) are easily distinguished even at classification resolution and will not be considered in the following discussion. For the other groups the underabundances of the Fe-peak elements are rather moderate. But, more importantly, the abundances of the light elements C, N, O and S scale just like those of the heavier elements. We have therefore chosen to use \[C/Z\] versus \[Z\] diagrams (\[O/Z\], \[N/Z\] and \[S/Z\] behave analogously) in order to investigate the behaviour of the group of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars. The field blue stragglers, intermediate Population II and F-weak types of stars all fall in the area around \[C/Z\] $``$ 0 in these diagrams.

Figure 6 shows such diagrams for the elements Fe, Na, Ca and Mg for the stars on our program as well as for those of superficially normal types. From this Figure we are able to conclude:

* All program stars are Population I-type objects with \[C/Fe\] $``$ 0
* The $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars exhibit iron abundances that are significantly lower than those found for the superficially normal stars
* There is a large overlap for all other heavier elements

Cowley et al. (1982) have proposed that $`\lambda `$ Boötis -type and other weak-line stars may arise from small ($``$ 0.3 dex) abundance fluctuations in the interstellar medium. That might be true for a small fraction of the objects, but underabundances up to a factor of 100 can not be explained without some other mechanism such as diffusion, accretion or mass-loss.

A very intriguing fact is that eight program stars exhibit magnesium abundances which range from $``$0.52 to $``$0.13 dex, which seems to contradict the classification based on moderate-resolution spectroscopy. One of the most important classification criterion is the moderate to extreme weakness of the Mg II 4481 Å line (Gray 1988). What can actually cause that discrepancy? Slettebak, Kuzma & Collins (1980) have shown that the equivalent width of the line decreases with increasing rotation for models later than A0. The same fact was also described by Abt & Morrell (1995). A much stronger effect was found for H$`\gamma `$. That means that a rapidly rotating star will be classified much later according to H$`\gamma `$ than on the basis of Mg II 4481 Å. Taking a rapidly rotating A5 type star one would classify it as hF1mA7 or metal-weak. However, the three objects with the highest magnesium abundances of our sample are indeed the fastest rotators: HD 193256 (250 kms-1; $``$0.15 dex), HD 170680 (205 kms-1; $``$0.20 dex) and HD 198160 (200 kms-1; $``$0.13 dex). But there is no overall correlation for the whole sample, i.e. fast rotators do also exhibit rather strong underabundances (e.g. HD 111604) and vice versa. Otherwise the fast rotators are not outstanding in any respect.

One observational fact is the wide range of abundances ($``$1.3 to +1.2 dex) for sodium (Table 5 and Fig. 6) first indicated in the work of Stürenburg (1993). In the recent literature no explanation of the variability has been given. Sodium is the only element for which such a behaviour has been detected so far. Furthermore, predictions for that element have not been discussed so far within any proposed theory (Turcotte & Charbonneau 1993). In an effort to shed some light on the subject, we have investigated whether a correlation can be found between the individual sodium abundances and the density of sodium in the surrounding interstellar medium. Welsh, Crifo & Lallement (1998) published the local distribution of interstellar Na I within 250 pc of the Sun. They used all published absorption densities and the distances derived from the Hipparcos satellite. The densities were scaled in three steps (a value of three denotes the highest density) and plotted for different Galactic coordinates and distances from the Sun. We have selected members of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group whose sodium abundances are known and for which nearby data points are available in the maps of Welsh et al. (1998). We have also checked more recent references such as Sfeir et al. (1999) and Vergely et al. (2001) which give essentially the same results. In total, thirteen objects fulfill the requirements: HD 319, HD 31295, HD 74873, HD 84123, HD 125162, HD 183324, HD 192640, HD 193256, HD 193281, HD 198160, HD 204041, HD 210111 and HD 221756.

We have to emphasize that not a single sodium abundance for the line of sight to any $`\lambda `$ Boötis star has yet been measured. Bohlender et al. (1999) reported a few detections of such features, e.g. for HD 319, HD 192640 and HD 221756, but they did not derive quantitative densities or abundances.

Figure 7 shows the correlation of the individual sodium abundances with the absorption densities for the local interstellar medium (ISM hereafter). Since there is a linear correlation visible it suggests that there is an interaction (e.g. accretion) between the stars and their environments at some stage of stellar evolution. The correlation does not reflect any age dependency, since objects are included with 0.33 $`<`$$`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$`<`$ 1.01. This rather small sample is reasonably representative of the whole sample of program stars in terms of its distribution in $`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$ and effective temperature. Unfortunately it is not possible to include any data for superficially normal objects in Fig. 7 since no sodium abundances for bright field stars are available. The only data are those published by Varenne & Monier (1999; Fig. 6) for members of the Hyades.

From our current analysis two main questions arise for the $`\lambda `$ Boötis phenomenon: How many mechanisms are involved? What are the observational constraints? It is clear that there is one mechanism which produces the observed pattern throughout the whole MS lifetime for stars between late B and early F types. We are not able to decide if it is ‘internal’ or ‘external’ but we have some hints about it. It is highly improbable that one mechanism works for early evolutionary stages and an independent second one at very late stages producing the same absolute abundance pattern. That seems to be supported by the non-existence of a correlation between the iron abundance and age (Fig. 8). The abundance of sodium for the stellar atmosphere is correlated with that of the local ISM. There are two possible explanations for that: 1) the atmospheric abundance resembles the one from the cloud in which the star was born, or 2) it currently interacts with the local ISM. If we believe in the first interpretation then all other abundances ought also to resemble those in the local ISM. That seems not to be the case, since many other ‘normal’ stars located within the same ISM clouds show no significant elemental underabundances at all. So we are left with the picture of an interaction between the star and its environment.

## 6 The space motions of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars

In order to study the kinematics of nearby stars, one needs to calculate the Galactic space-velocity components ($`U`$, $`V`$ and $`W`$), given the star’s proper motion, parallax (both listed in the Hipparcos catalogue) and radial velocity. Here, the formulae and error propagation are taken from the Hipparcos documentation as well as from Johnson & Soderblom (1987).

It was chosen to calculate heliocentric Galactic velocity components, which can easily be corrected for the solar motion. A right-handed coordinate system for $`U`$, $`V`$ and $`W`$ was used, so they are positive in the directions of the Galactic centre, Galactic rotation and the North Galactic Pole. The ‘standard solar motion’ in this system would be (+10.4, +14.8, +7.3) taken from Mihalas & Routly (1968).

The authors followed the approach of the Hipparcos consortium who discussed the calculation, transformation matrix and error propagation. We would like to give only a short description of the error estimation. The general equation for the variance of a function of several variables is used for this purpose. That formula is true only if the covariances are zero (the errors are uncorrelated). That assumption is fulfilled since the two proper-motion components are measured independently. Furthermore it is assumed that only the radial velocity, proper motions and parallax contribute to the error distribution. For nearby stars (about 25 pc) an error of the proper motions of about $`\pm `$3 mas yr-1 (most of the Hipparcos measurements are a factor three better than that) corresponds to an uncertainty in the transverse motion of only about 0.5 km s-1; it is clear that the errors of the radial velocities are much more significant.

The radial velocities for our program stars are listed in Table 6. The following references were used for that Table: Wilson (1953), Evans (1967), Batten, Fletcher & MacCarthy (1989), Barbier-Brossat, Petit & Figon (1994), Duflot et al. (1995), Hauck et al. (1995, 1998), Fehrenbach et al. (1996, 1997), Nordström et al. (1997) and Grenier et al. (1999a,b). The mean and the error of the mean were calculated without weighting the individual measurements. From Table 6 only three stars (HD 319, HD 110411 and HD 204041) show evidence for variable radial velocities but no prominent photometric or spectroscopic variability has been detected so far. Moreover, Table 6 lists the kinematic data for the program $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars from the Hipparcos database. The investigated sample is limited in distance ($``$ 220 pc) because of the lack of Hipparcos data and/or radial velocities for more distant objects. No star exceeds $``$$`V`$$``$ = 50 km s-1 and the sample is very homogeneously distributed. A similar conclusion is given by Gómez et al. (1998a) for classical CP stars as well as by Gómez et al. (1998b) for a small sample of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars.

We have compared the velocities of stars in our $`\lambda `$ Boötis sample with the results of Caloi et al. (1999). They studied the relationship between the kinematics, age and heavy-element content for the solar neighbourhood, using the Hipparcos data. For $`V`$$`<`$$``$40 km s-1, $``$$`U`$$``$$`>`$ +60 km s-1 and $``$$`W`$$``$$`>`$ +30 km s-1, the minimum stellar age is about 2 Gyr. Only two of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars would meet the $`V`$ criterion, HD 6870 ($`V`$$`=`$$``$41.7(2.8) km s-1) and HD 84123 ($`V`$$`=`$$``$45.4(4.4) km s-1), but their $`U`$ and $`W`$ velocities (like those of all other stars in the sample) are well below the limits given. Overall, the velocities are typical of true Population I objects.

The comparison with the sample of normal stars (Fig. 9) shows very good agreement between the two distributions. They agree at significance levels of 72% ($`U`$), 74% ($`V`$) and 97% ($`W`$).

Notice that Faraggiana & Bonifacio (1999) made a similar analysis for a different sample of candidate $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars (see Section 4 therein). They only investigated the parameter $`(U^2+W^2)^{1/2}`$ which is a measure of the kinematic energy not associated with Galactic rotation. They come to the conclusion that all of their program stars are qualified as disk members. Since they give no individual values for the space motions and radial velocities, we are not able to compare our results with theirs.

## 7 Conclusions

We have used all currently available photometric data as well as Hipparcos data to determine astrophysical parameters such as the effective temperatures, surface gravities and luminosities. As a next step, masses and ages were calibrated within appropriate post-MS evolutionary models. Furthermore, Galactic space motions were calculated with the help of radial velocities from the literature. The comparison with already published results shows good agreement of the derived parameters. All results were compared with those of a test sample of normal-type objects in the same spectral range chosen in order to match the $`(BV)_0`$ distribution of the $`\lambda `$ Boötis group. From a comprehensive statistical analysis we conclude:

* The standard photometric calibrations within the Johnson UBV, Strömgren $`uvby\beta `$ and Geneva 7-colour systems are valid for this group of chemically peculiar stars.
* The group of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars consists of true Population I objects which can be found over the whole area of the MS with a peak at a rather evolved stage ($``$ 1 Gyr). That is in line with the distribution of the test sample.
* The $`\lambda `$ Boötis type group is not significantly distinct from normal stars except, possibly, by having slightly lower temperatures and masses for $`t_{\mathrm{rel}}`$$`>`$ 0.8. The $`v`$ sin $`i`$ range is rather narrow throughout the MS with a mean value of about 120 kms-1.
* There seems to exist a non-uniform distribution of effective temperatures for group members with a large proportion of objects (more than 70%) cooler than 8000 K.
* It seems that objects with peculiar hydrogen-line profiles are preferentially found among later stages of stellar evolution.
* No correlation of age with elemental abundance or projected rotational velocity has been detected.
* A comparison of the stellar Na abundances with nearby IS sight lines hints at an interaction between the $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars and the ISM.
* There is one single mechanism responsible for the observed phenomenon which produces moderate to strong underabundances working continuously from very early (10 Myr) to very late evolutionary stages (2.5 Gyr). It produces the same absolute abundances throughout the MS lifetime for 2% of all luminosity class V objects with effective temperatures from 10500 K to 6500 K.
* The current list of stars seem to define a very homogeneous group, validating the proposed membership criteria in the optical and UV region.

These rather strict observational results for a significant number of $`\lambda `$ Boötis stars will need to be taken into account in future work on theories and models trying to explain the phenomenon. The constraints presented here will help considerably to reduce the number of free parameters in the models and finally to provide a critical test for them.
Acknowledgements. This work was partly supported by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, project P14984 and it is dedicated to G. Derka who died during its preparation. Use was made of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France and the GCPD database, operated at the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Lausanne.