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# Magnetization transport and quantized spin conductance

## Abstract

We analyze transport of magnetization in insulating systems described by a spin Hamiltonian. The magnetization current through a quasi-one-dimensional magnetic wire of finite length suspended between two bulk magnets is determined by the spin conductance which remains finite in the ballistic limit due to contact resistance. For ferromagnetic systems, magnetization transport can be viewed as transmission of magnons, and the spin conductance depends on the temperature $`T`$. For antiferromagnetic isotropic spin-$`1/2`$ chains, the spin conductance is quantized in units of order $`(g\mu _B)^2/h`$ at $`T=0`$. Magnetization currents produce an electric field and, hence, can be measured directly. For magnetization transport in electric fields, phenomena analogous to the Hall effect emerge.

Transport of magnetization in various magnetic systems has received considerable attention both theoretically and experimentally wolf:01 ; awschalom:02 ; forster:75 ; slonczewski:89 . A spatially varying magnetic field gives rise to a current of magnetic dipoles forster:75 ; slonczewski:89 , similar to the transport of electric charge driven by an electric gradient. Here we consider insulating magnets described by a spin Hamiltonian, where magnetization can be transported by excitations such as magnons and spinons without transport of charge. Theoretical work on such systems has been focused on the long-wavelength limit for magnets with translational invariance forster:75 ; castella:95 .

In contrast, we propose to investigate magnetization transport in systems with broken translational invariance. In particular, we consider a quasi-one-dimensional system of finite length, e.g., a spin chain sandwiched between two bulk magnets which act as reservoirs for magnetization, where the magnetic field gradient is nonzero only over the system. Then, the magnetization current is determined by the spin conductance $`G`$ which remains finite in the ballistic limit due to the contact resistance between the reservoirs and the system, in analogy to electronic transport in mesoscopic systems datta . This is in stark contrast to the spin conductivity which diverges in the ballistic limit due to translational invariance forster:75 ; castella:95 . Here, we derive the spin conductance $`G`$ for both ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AF) systems. We find that, for FM systems, magnetization transport can be viewed as transmission of magnons and the conductance is temperature dependent. For the AF spin-$`1/2`$ chain, the conductance has a value of order $`(g\mu _B)^2/h`$, where $`g`$ is the gyromagnetic ratio and $`\mu _B`$ the Bohr magneton. Further, spin currents produce an electric field which allows one to measure $`G`$. We discuss magnetization transport in an external electric field and show that phenomena analogous to the Hall effect exist.

Ferromagnetic systems. – We first discuss a system with isotropic FM exchange interaction in a magnetic field $`𝐁(𝐱_i)=B_i𝐞_z`$. The spins occupy the sites $`𝐱_i`$ of a simple $`d`$-dimensional lattice with lattice constant $`a`$,

$$\widehat{H}=J\underset{ij}{}\widehat{𝐬}_i\widehat{𝐬}_j+g\mu _B\underset{i}{}B_i\widehat{s}_{i,z},$$
(1)
with $`J<0`$. Here, $`\widehat{𝐬}_i`$ is the spin operator of the spin with spin quantum number $`S`$ at $`𝐱_i`$, and $`ij`$ denotes nearest neighbor sites. For spatially constant $`B_i=B>0`$, the elementary excitations of the system are magnons with dispersion mattis

$$ϵ_𝐤g\mu _BB+|J|Sa^2k^2$$
(2)
which carry a magnetic moment $`g\mu _B𝐞_z`$. Here, $`𝐤`$ is the magnon wave vector. For temperature $`Tg\mu _BB/k_B`$, the magnon density is small and the noninteracting-magnon theory is valid for all $`d`$.

We now consider a setup for a magnetization transport measurement as sketched in Fig. 1(a). A spin chain extends from $`x=L/2`$ to $`L/2`$ and is suspended between two large three-dimensional (3D) reservoirs, R1 and R2. $`La`$ is sufficiently small that magnons propagate ballistically through the chain. The reservoirs narrow adiabatically towards the chain \[“transition region” in Fig. 1(a)\]. The system is still described by Eq. (1), with the sites $`𝐱_i`$ occupying a bounded region in space \[Fig. 1(a)\]. A small spatially varying magnetic field $`\delta B(x)𝐞_z`$ with $`\delta B(x)=\mathrm{\Delta }B/2`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }B/2`$) for $`x<L/2`$ ($`x>L/2`$) is superimposed on the offset field $`B𝐞_z`$ for $`t>0`$ \[Fig. 1(b)\]. For $`|x|<L/2`$, $`\delta B(x)`$ interpolates smoothly between the values $`\pm \mathrm{\Delta }B/2`$ in the reservoirs. The field gradient results in a magnetization current $`I_m`$ from R1 to R2. In linear response theory, $`I_m`$ can be expressed in terms of the spin conductivity $`\sigma (x,x^{},\omega )`$,

$$I_m(x,\omega )=𝑑x^{}\sigma (x,x^{},\omega )_x^{}\delta B(x^{},\omega ).$$
(3)
To calculate $`I_m(x,\omega )`$, knowledge of $`\sigma `$ for $`x,x^{}[L/2,L/2]`$ is sufficient because $`_x^{}\delta B(x^{},\omega )=0`$ inside the reservoirs. For a quasi-one-dimensional system, due to the continuity equation, $`\sigma `$ is related to the susceptibility $`\chi `$ by $`\sigma (q,\omega )=i\omega \chi (q,\omega )/q^2`$ remark1 . In the noninteracting-magnon approximation,

$$\chi (q,\omega )=\frac{(g\mu _B)^2}{\mathrm{}}_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dk}{2\pi }\frac{n_B(ϵ_{k+q})n_B(ϵ_k)}{(ϵ_{k+q}ϵ_k)/\mathrm{}+\omega +i0}.$$
(4)
Here, $`n_B(ϵ)=1/[\mathrm{exp}(\beta ϵ)1]`$ is the Bose distribution function and $`\beta =1/k_BT`$. In the limit $`\omega 0`$ of a dc field, from Eq. (4) we find that $`lim_{\omega 0}\sigma (x,x^{},\omega )=(g\mu _B)^2n_B(g\mu _BB)/h`$ is independent of $`x`$ and $`x^{}`$. Integrating over $`x^{}`$ in Eq. (3), we find that

$$I_m(x)=\frac{(g\mu _B)^2}{h}n_B(g\mu _BB)\mathrm{\Delta }B=G\mathrm{\Delta }B$$
(5)
is constant and depends only on the difference of magnetic fields in the reservoirs, $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$. Although magnetization is transported ballistically, the spin conductance $`G`$ remains finite due to the contact resistance for magnons between reservoirs and the system, similar to the related phenomenon in charge transport datta .

In FM systems, the magnetization current is carried by magnons. This allows us to reproduce Eq. (5) from the Landauer-Büttiker approach datta . The field difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ switched on at $`t=0`$ results in a shift of the magnon energies $`ϵ`$ in the reservoirs \[Eq. (2)\] and of the magnon distribution functions $`n_B(ϵ)`$ \[Fig. 1(c)\]. Hence, a nonequlibrium situation is established. The magnetization in the reservoirs relaxes towards the new equilibrium values by magnetization transport from R1 to R2, i.e., the magnetization current $`I_m`$. All magnons incident on the spin chain from R2 are transmitted into R1 remark2 . In contrast, magnons with $`ϵ[g\mu _B(B\mathrm{\Delta }B/2),g\mu _B(B+\mathrm{\Delta }B/2)]`$ are not transmitted from R1 to R2. This results in a net magnetization transport current

$`I_m`$ $`=`$ $`g\mu _B{\displaystyle _0^{g\mu _B\mathrm{\Delta }B}}𝑑ϵv(ϵ)\rho (ϵ)n_\mathrm{B}(ϵ+g\mu _BB)`$ (6)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(g\mu _B)^2}{h}}n_B(g\mu _BB)\mathrm{\Delta }B=G\mathrm{\Delta }B,`$
where $`v(ϵ)=_{k_x}ϵ_{k_x}/\mathrm{}`$ is the magnon velocity and $`\rho (ϵ)=1/hv(ϵ)`$ is the magnon density of states in the spin chain.

If the system connecting R1 and R2 consists of several chains with finite interchain exchange $`J^{}`$, $`G=(g\mu _B)^2_k_{}n_B(g\mu _BB+ϵ_k_{})/h`$, where $`ϵ_k_{}`$ is the energy of the transverse magnon mode. At $`T=0`$, $`G=0`$ because the system and the reservoirs are in the spin-polarized ground state.

Antiferromagnetic systems. – As we show next, magnetization transport in antiferromagnets is significantly different from ferromagnets but similar to charge transport in Fermi liquids. In an AF chain with half-integer spin, the elementary excitations are massless, and we will show that $`G0`$ even at $`T=0`$. The spin-$`1/2`$ chain is believed to capture the essential features fradkin:91 ; haldane:80 ; haldane:83 ; affleck:89 . Thus, we now consider a spin-$`1/2`$ chain with isotropic AF exchange interaction $`J>0`$ in Eq. (1) suspended between two AF reservoirs remark3 . For $`t>0`$, a magnetic field $`B(x)`$ is applied along $`𝐞_z`$ such that $`B(x)=\mathrm{\Delta }B/2`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }B/2`$) for $`x<L/2`$ ($`x>L/2`$). By a Jordan-Wigner transformation and subsequent bosonization, the spin chain can be mapped onto a Luttinger liquid (spinless fermions). Then, at $`T=0`$, the Euclidean Lagrangian flows into a massless free theory under renormalization group fradkin:91 ; haldane:80 ; affleck:89 ,

$$_E=𝑑x\frac{K}{2}\left[\frac{1}{v}(_\tau \varphi )^2+v(_x\varphi )^2\right],$$
(7)
where $`K=2`$, $`v=(\pi /2)Ja/\mathrm{}`$, and the homogeneous part of $`\widehat{s}_z`$ is identified with $`_x\varphi /\sqrt{\pi }`$. The imaginary-time spin conductivity is $`\sigma (q,\omega _n)=(g\mu _B)^2(v/\pi \mathrm{}K)\omega _n/(\omega _n^2+v^2q^2)`$ shankar:90 . However, in order to calculate $`G`$, it is not sufficient to evaluate the dc limit $`\omega 0`$ of $`\sigma (q,\omega )`$ because the elementary excitations change on propagation from the reservoirs (magnons) through the chain (spinons). Following the related analysis for charge transport through a Luttinger liquid coupled to Fermi leads maslov:95 , we model the transition from a 3D ordered AF state to the spin chain by spatially varying $`K(x)`$ and $`v(x)`$ in the Lagrangian Eq. (7). For simplicity, we assume that $`K(x)`$ and $`v(x)`$ change discontinuously from the values of the spin chain to the ones of a bulk antiferromagnet at $`x=\pm L/2`$ \[Fig. 2(a)\]. The values $`K_b`$ and $`v_b`$ in the bulk region are choosen such that Eq. (7) correctly reproduces the dynamic susceptibility of a 3D AF ordered state. From the nonlinear sigma model description allen:97 , we estimate $`v_b\sqrt{3}Ja/\mathrm{}`$ and $`K_b4\sqrt{3}/\pi `$. The spin conductance then follows from $`G=[(g\mu _B)^2/\pi \mathrm{}]lim_{\omega _n0}\omega _nG_{\varphi \varphi }(x,x^{},\omega _n)`$ where the time ordered Green’s function

$$G_{\varphi \varphi }(x,x^{},\omega _n)=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑\tau e^{i\omega _n\tau }T_\tau \varphi (x,\tau )\varphi (x^{},0),$$
(8)
must be evaluated for the inhomogeneous system including the transition regions maslov:95 . For given $`x^{}[L/2,L/2]`$, $`G_{\varphi \varphi }(x,x^{},\omega _n)`$ is obtained from the ansatz $`G_{\varphi \varphi }(x,x^{},\omega _n)=a\mathrm{exp}[\omega _nx/v(x)]+b\mathrm{exp}[\omega _nx/v(x)]`$ for the four regions $`x<L/2`$, $`L/2<x<x^{}`$, $`x^{}<x<L/2`$, and $`L/2<x`$. The boundary conditions for the spin current are automatically satisfied by evaluating Eq. (8). We find that $`lim_{\omega _n0}\omega _nG_{\varphi \varphi }(x,x^{},\omega _n)=1/2K_b`$ is independent of $`x`$, $`x^{}`$ and of the parameters $`K`$ and $`v`$ of the spin chain. The spin conductance at $`T=0`$,

$$G=\frac{(g\mu _B)^2}{hK_b}$$
(9)
depends only on the parameter $`K_b`$ of the bulk system.

We next argue that Eq. (9) remains valid also for a finite temperature and an offset magnetic field. Both analytical eggert:94  and recent numerical castella:95  analysis indicate that, even at finite $`TJ/k_B`$, Eq. (7) describes the low energy behavior of the spin-$`1/2`$ chain correctly. Similarly, a finite offset magnetic field, $`g\mu _BBJ`$, suppresses quantum fluctuations of $`\widehat{s}_z`$ in the bulk, leading only to a slight decrease of $`K_b`$. Our result Eq. (9) is hence robust both for finite temperatures and magnetic fields. In summary, an AF spin-$`1/2`$ chain suspended between AF reservoirs acts as a transport channel for magnetization with a spin conductance of order $`(g\mu _B)^2/h`$. For $`N`$ parallel spin chains with vanishing interchain exchange interaction, each chain acts as an independent transmission channel and $`G`$ increases by a factor $`N`$. The spin conductance is quantized in units of order $`(g\mu _B)^2/h`$.

Preparation of a sample as shown in Fig. 1(a) is challenging. A promising strategy is the use of a bulk material with an intrachain exchange $`J`$ much stronger than the interchain exchange, such as Sr2CuO3. If heated to temperatures $`T`$ much larger than the Néel ordering temperature $`T_N`$, the spin chains decouple and magnetization is transported predominantly along the spin chains. Hence, an AF wire heated to $`T>T_N`$ in its central part, but cooled to $`TT_N`$ at its ends \[Fig. 2(b)\] provides a realization of the system in Fig. 1(a). Recent experiments sologubenko:01  provide strong evidence that elementary excitations in various quasi-one-dimensional systems have mean-free paths of several hundred nanometers at temperatures up to $`50`$ K. The mean-free path is limited by the defect concentration in the samples. For $`L<1`$ $`\mu `$m, transport through the system shown in Fig. 2(b) then is indeed ballistic as assumed above \[Eq. (9)\].

Detection of spin currents. – A current of magnetic dipoles produces an electric dipole field. The electric field is most easily calculated by decomposing the magnetization current into contributions propagating at a certain velocity $`v`$, $`I_m=g\mu _B_vn(v)v`$, where $`n(v)`$ is the line density of magnetic dipoles with velocity $`v`$. For each $`v`$, the electric field in the laboratory frame is obtained by a Lorentz transform of the magnetic dipole field in the comoving frame. Summing over $`v`$, we find that the total electric dipole field \[Fig. 3(a)\]

$$𝐄_m(𝐱)=\frac{\mu _0}{2\pi }\frac{I_m}{r^2}(0,\mathrm{cos}2\varphi ,\mathrm{sin}2\varphi )$$
(10)
depends only on $`I_m`$. Here, $`\mathrm{sin}\varphi =y/r`$, $`\mathrm{cos}\varphi =z/r`$, and $`r=\sqrt{y^2+z^2}`$. For a numerical estimate, we now consider $`N`$ parallel uncoupled AF spin-1/2 chains connecting two AF reservoirs. With Eqs. (9) and (10),

$$|𝐄_m(𝐱)|N\frac{\mu _0}{2\pi }\frac{(g\mu _B)^2}{h}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }B}{r^2}=N\frac{g^2}{4}\times 10^{19}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }B[T]}{r[m]^2}\frac{V}{m}.$$
(11)
Even for moderate $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=10^3`$ T and large $`r=10^5`$ m, the magnetization current transported by $`N10^4`$ parallel spin chains leads to an electric field $`E_m10^8`$ V/m. The voltage drop between the two points $`(0,r,0)`$ and $`(0,0,r)`$ indicated in Fig. 3(a) is then $`V_m=E_mr10^{13}`$ V, which is within experimental reach remark4 ; remark5 .

Spin currents in electric fields. – A moving magnetic dipole moment also interacts with an external electric field $`𝐄(𝐱)`$, leading to phenomena analogous to the Hall effect. A magnetic dipole $`g\mu _B𝐞_z`$ moving in an electric field acquires an Aharonov-Casher phase aharonov:84  and the spin Hamiltonian is modified to

$`\widehat{H}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{J}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{ij}{}}\left[\widehat{s}_i^+\widehat{s}_j^{}e^{i\theta _{ij}}+\widehat{s}_i^{}\widehat{s}_j^+e^{i\theta _{ij}}+2\widehat{s}_{i,z}\widehat{s}_{j,z}\right]`$ (12)
$`+g\mu _B{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}B_i\widehat{s}_{i,z},`$
where $`\widehat{s}_j^\pm =\widehat{s}_{j,x}\pm i\widehat{s}_{j,y}`$ and $`\theta _{ij}=g\mu _B_{𝐱_i}^{𝐱_j}𝑑𝐱(𝐄\times 𝐞_z)/\mathrm{}c^2`$. Introducing magnon creation and annihilation operators, Eq. (12) can be rewritten in terms of magnons with single-magnon Hamiltonian $`\widehat{h}`$. From Eq. (12),

$$\widehat{h}=\frac{|J|Sa^2}{\mathrm{}^2}(\widehat{𝐩}g\mu _B𝐄\times 𝐞_z/c^2)^2+g\mu _BB.$$
(13)
Here, we discuss only the classical motion of magnons propagating with velocity $`𝐯=v_x𝐞_x`$ in a 2D system of finite width $`W`$ in the $`y`$ direction \[Fig. 3(b)\], where $`I_m=g\mu _Bnv_xW`$, and $`n`$ is the magnon density. From the equation of motion implied by Eq. (13), one obtains the force acting on a magnon, $`𝐅=g\mu _B[B(𝐯\times 𝐄)𝐞_z/c^2]`$. The second term accounts for the interaction with the electric field. We now focus on $`𝐄=E^{}(x,y,2z)`$ with $`E^{}=\mathrm{const}`$. Then, the equation of motion of the magnons is formally identical to that of electrons in a constant magnetic field. Magnons are deflected into the $`𝐞_y`$ direction perpendicular to the transport direction $`𝐞_x`$. Stationarity is reached when the magnon repulsion equals the driving force along $`𝐞_y`$ due to the electric field. Taking into account only dipolar forces between the magnons, in the stationary state $`Bv_xE^{}y/c^2`$ is constant as function of $`y`$. The difference in magnetic fields $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=B(y=W/2)B(y=W/2)`$ is related to the magnetization current density by the spin Hall conductance $`G_H`$,

$$\frac{I_m}{W}=G_H\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }B}{W}=\frac{g\mu _Bnc^2}{E^{}}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }B}{W}.$$
(14)
In the hydrodynamic regime, the drift velocity $`v_x`$ is determined by the magnon scattering time $`\tau `$. At low temperatures, $`\tau `$ is limited by impurities in the sample. For $`\tau `$ on the order of $`10^2`$$`10^3`$ ns, as measured for yttrium iron garnet (YIG) at $`1`$$`4`$ K (Ref. douglass:63, ), $`_xB=10^6`$ T/m, $`J=200`$$`k_B`$, $`S=1`$, and $`a=1`$ Å, the drift velocity is $`v_x=10`$$`10^3`$ m/s. A variation of electric field $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=E(y=W/2)E(y=W/2)=10^7`$ V/m across the magnetic system then would lead to $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=10^3`$$`10^1`$ G resulting from the spin Hall effect. Thus, the spin Hall conductance $`G_H`$ is within experimental reach.

Acknowledgements. – This work was supported by the EU TMR network MOLNANOMAG, no. HPRN-CT-1999-00012, the Swiss NCCR Nanoscience, DARPA, and the Swiss NSF. We gratefully acknowledge discussions with C. Bruder, C. Egues, H.-A. Engel, H. Gassmann, A. Khaetskii, F. Marquardt, and P. Recher.


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# Effect of microstructures on the electron-phonon interaction in the disordered metals Pd60Ag40

## I Introduction

The electron-phonon ($`e`$-ph) scattering time, $`\tau _{ep}`$, is one of the most important physical quantities in metals and superconductors. For instance, it determines the dephasing (also called the phase-breaking or decoherence) time for the electron wave function, the cooling time for an electron gas, and the relaxation time for the order parameter in a superconductor. The $`e`$-ph scattering time also plays a crucial role in the development of novel mesoscopic devices such as sensitive low-temperature bolometers Gershen01 . The $`e`$-ph scattering time in the presence of multiple (elastic) impurity scattering has been intensively calculated by several authors Schmid86 ; Reizer86 ; Belitz87 , but the current understanding of the temperature and electron elastic mean free path, $`\mathrm{}`$, dependences of $`\tau _{ep}`$ is still incomplete. In particular, different temperature and disorder dependences of $`\tau _{ep}`$ have been reported, both theoretically and experimentally Lin00 ; Lin02 . Recently, it was proposed that, in addition to the dependence on the total level of disorder, the $`T`$ and $`\mathrm{}`$ dependence of $`\tau _{ep}`$ might be fairly sensitive to the microscopic quality of the disorder Lin95 ; Lin98b ; Sergeev00 . It has also been conjectured that the contribution due to the Umklapp process of impurity scattering may be important GYWu01 .

In this work, we have fabricated two series of Pd60Ag40 thick films by DC-sputtering and RF-sputtering deposition techniques. The palladium-silver alloys are chosen because Pd and Ag form perfect fcc solid solution through the alloy series Laufer87 . Also, since the masses of the Pd and Ag atoms are quite similar, the vibrational spectrum of the lattice does not change significantly through the alloy series Dugdale . The low-field magnetoresistances of our films are measured at liquid-helium temperatures, and are compared with the weak-localization theoretical predictions to extract the values of the $`e`$-ph scattering time. Our results for the temperature and electron mean free path dependence of $`\tau _{ep}`$ and their implications are described below.

## II Experimental method

Our films were prepared from a 99.995% pure Pd60Ag40 (hereafter refereed to as PdAg) target. Two series of thick films were fabricated, one by DC-sputtering and the other by RF-sputtering deposition technique. The films were deposited onto glass substrates held at room temperature. In both cases, a background pressure of $`3\times 10^6`$ torr was reached before an argon atmosphere of $`3.8\times 10^3`$ torr was introduced to initiate the deposition process. A same sputtering gun was used for these two deposition methods, but with the gun being connected to either a DC or a RF power supply. The distance between the sputtering target and the glass substrates was the same for both methods. The sputtering power was progressively adjusted to “tune” the deposition rate, which resulted in different amounts of disorder, i.e., the residual resistivities $`\rho _0`$ \[= $`\rho `$(10 K)\], in the films. For the DC-sputtering (RF-sputtering) case, the deposition rate was varied from 30 to 230 (19 to 333) $`\mathrm{\AA }`$/min, and values of $`\rho _0`$ ranging from 281 to 183 (74 to 178) $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$ cm were obtained.

The sample structures of our films were carefully studied by performing the powder diffraction on an MAC MXP18 x-ray diffractometer. The x-ray power was 10 kW and the scanning speed was 6 degrees per minute. In all cases, we found our samples to reveal very similar diffraction patterns, which clearly suggested that both the DC and RF sputtered films possessed the same fcc lattice structure characteristic to that of the PdAg alloys. Representative x-ray diffraction patterns for two DC and two RF sputtered films are shown in Fig. 1.

Most of our films had a thickness $`t`$ 4000 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$. This thickness ensured that the weak-localization effects were three-dimensional in our samples. It also ensured that the thermal phonons were unambiguously three-dimensional, i.e., the wavelength of the most probable thermal phonons was always smaller than the film thickness at our measurement temperatures. This latter condition greatly eliminated any complications that might result from phonon confinement effects. (In reduced-dimensional systems, modifications to the phonon spectrum and the speed of sound might be significant, which could lead to non-straightforward temperature and disorder behavior of $`\tau _{ep}`$.)

Our values of the diffusion constant, $`D`$, were evaluated through the Einstein relation $`\rho _0^1=De^2N(0)/(1+\lambda )`$, where $`N(0)`$ is the electronic density of states at the Fermi level, and $`\lambda `$ is the $`e`$-ph mass enhancement factor. The values of $`N(0)`$ were calculated from the independently determined electronic specific heat: $`\gamma T=\frac{1}{3}\pi ^2k_B^2N(0)T`$. For Pd60Ag40, $`\lambda `$ 0.43, and $`\gamma `$ 3.3 mJ/mol K2 Laufer87 . Then, we obtained $`D(100/\rho _0)`$ cm2/s, where $`\rho _0`$ is in $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$ cm. Table 1 lists the values of the relevant parameters for our films studied in this work.

## III Results and Discussion

The normalized magnetoresistivities, $`\mathrm{}\rho (B)/\rho ^2(0)=[\rho (B)\rho (0)]/\rho ^2(0)`$, for the PdAg17 thick film at several temperatures are plotted in Fig. 2. The symbols are the experimental data and the solid curves are the three-dimensional weak-localization theoretical predictions Fuku81 . It is clearly seen that the weak-localization predictions can describe well our experimental data. Therefore, the electron dephasing time $`\tau _\varphi `$, which is the key parameter in the weak-localization theory, can be reliably extracted. Since PdAg has a very strong spin-orbit scattering, $`\tau _\varphi `$ is the only adjusting parameter in the comparison of the theory with experiment. (That the spin-orbit scattering is strong in PdAg is evident in the shape of the positive magnetoresistivity curves shown in Fig. 2.) The details of our data analysis procedure was discussed previously Lin94 .

In three dimensions, the total electron dephasing rate that governs the weak-localization effects is given by Fuku81

$$\frac{1}{\tau _\varphi (T,\mathrm{})}=\frac{1}{\tau _\varphi ^0(\mathrm{})}+\frac{1}{\tau _{ep}(T,\mathrm{})},$$
(1)
where $`\tau _\varphi ^0=\tau _\varphi (T0)`$ depends very weakly on temperature, if at all, and is called the saturated dephasing time. Whether $`\tau _\varphi ^0`$ should reach a finite or an infinite value as $`T0`$ is currently under vigorous experimental and theoretical investigations Lin02 . At finite temperatures, the dominating inelastic electron process in three dimensions is solely due to the $`e`$-ph scattering, while the Nyquist electron-electron scattering is negligibly small Lin02 ; Lin98 ; Gershen99 . Usually, one writes $`1/\tau _{ep}=A_{ep}T^p`$ over the limited temperature range accessible in a typical experiment, where $`A_{ep}`$ characterizes the strength of the $`e`$-ph coupling, and $`p`$ is an effective exponent of temperature. According to current understanding, $`p`$ lies between 2 and 4 Schmid86 ; Reizer86 ; Belitz87 ; Sergeev00 .

The extracted $`\tau _\varphi (T)`$ between 0.5 and 20 K for each of our films is least-squares fitted to Eq. (1), and the fitted values of the relevant parameters ($`\tau _\varphi ^0`$, $`A_{ep}`$, and $`p`$) are listed in Table 1. Figure 3 shows a plot of the variation of $`1/\tau _\varphi `$ with temperature for the PdAg17 thick film. The symbols are the experimental data. The thick solid curve drawn through the data points is obtained with $`\tau _\varphi ^0`$, $`A_{ep}`$, and $`p`$ as free parameters. In this case, we obtain a temperature exponent $`p=2.2\pm 0.1`$. For comparison, we have also least-squares fitted the measured $`1/\tau _\varphi `$ with Eq. (1), but with $`p`$ fixed at an integer value of either 2, 3, or 4 (while allowing $`\tau _\varphi ^0`$ and $`A_{ep}`$ to vary). The dotted, dashed, and thin solid curves in Fig. 3 plot the fitted results with $`p`$ = 2, 3, and 4, respectively. It is clearly seen that our temperature dependence of $`1/\tau _{ep}`$ can be best described with an exponent $`p`$ equal or close to 2. In fact, we have found that the temperature behavior of $`\tau _{ep}`$ for all films listed in Table 1 is very similar, i.e., $`1/\tau _{ep}`$ demonstrates an essentially quadratic temperature dependence.

Inspection of Table 1 indicates that, for either DC or RF sputtered films, the value of $`A_{ep}`$ decreases with increasing level of disorder ($`\rho _0`$) in the sample. Figure 4 plots the fitted $`A_{ep}`$ as a function of the diffusion constant. Clearly, ones sees that $`A_{ep}`$ varies linearly with $`D`$, implying that $`1/\tau _{ep}D\mathrm{}`$. It should be noted that, if we plot $`1/\tau _{ep}`$ as a function of the measured $`\rho _0^1`$, we also observe a linear variation, i.e., $`1/\tau _{ep}\rho _0^1\mathrm{}`$. Such a linearity of $`A_{ep}`$ with $`\mathrm{}`$ holds for both series of films. Quantitatively, however, the values of $`A_{ep}`$ (for a given disorder) for the DC and RF sputtered films are very different. For example, while the DC sputtered PdAg12 and the RF sputtered PdAg18 thick films have essentially the same $`\rho _0`$, their values of $`A_{ep}`$ differ by several times. Moreover, Fig. 4 reveals that the slope of the linearity is about a factor of 2 larger in the DC than RF sputtered films. Since the x-ray diffraction studies demonstrate that the crystal structures are quite similar for both series of films (Fig. 1), the differences in the values of $`A_{ep}`$ and the variation of $`A_{ep}`$ with $`\mathrm{}`$ strongly imply that the $`e`$-ph interaction must be very sensitive to the microstructures of the samples. The subtle difference in the microstructures in these two series of films may result from the different ways of sample preparation.

Taken together, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 demonstrate that the $`e`$-ph scattering in PdAg possesses an anomalous temperature and disorder dependence of $`1/\tau _{ep}T^2\mathrm{}`$. This dependence is insensitive to the fabrication method. Such a $`T^2\mathrm{}`$ behavior is totally unexpected, even qualitatively, in terms of the current theoretical concepts for the $`e`$-ph interaction in impure conductors. According to the “orthodox” $`e`$-ph interaction theory for disordered metals Schmid86 ; Reizer86 ; Belitz87 , that assumes a coherent motion of the impurity atoms with the deformed lattice atoms at low temperatures, one should expect a $`T^4\mathrm{}`$ dependence. Recently, it was speculated that, in real metals containing heavy (light) impurities and tough boundaries, the impurity and/or boundary atoms might not move in phase with the lattice atoms Lin95 . The first calculations in consideration of this effect have been done by Sergeev and Mitin Sergeev00 . They found that even a small amount of “static” potential scatterers drastically changes the $`e`$-ph-impurity interference, and the relaxation rate is proportional to $`T^2^1`$, where $``$ is the electron mean free path with respect to the static impurities ($`\mathrm{}`$). Experimentally, a $`T^4`$ temperature dependence has been observed very recently in disordered Hf and Ti thin films Gershen01 . (A $`T^4`$ dependence had been previously observed in Bi thin films over a very limited temperature range of 0.6$``$1.2 K Komnik94 .) However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the combined $`T^4\mathrm{}`$ law has never been confirmed in real conductors thus far. On the other hand, a distinct $`T^2\mathrm{}^1`$ dependence has been observed in Ti1-xAlx Lin95  and Ti1-xSnx alloys Lin98b . Previously, a $`T^2\mathrm{}`$ dependence was independently found in AuPd thick films ($`t`$ 4000 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$) Lin98 , and Nb thin films ($`t`$ 200 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$) Gershen90 . In the present case of PdAg thick films, the masses of the Pd and Ag atoms are quite similar, and the films are three-dimensional. Therefore, it is not clear how the Sergeev-Mitin theory evoking heavy (light) impurities and tough boundaries can apply to this case.

The criterion for the $`e`$-ph interaction to satisfy the dirty-limit condition is $`q_T\mathrm{}1`$, where the wave number of the thermal phonons $`q_Tk_BT/\mathrm{}v_s`$, and $`v_s`$ is the speed of sound. Taking $`v_s`$ 2600 m/s vs  and $`\mathrm{}`$ 2$``$8 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$, we obtain $`q_TT`$ (0.01$``$0.04)$`T`$ for our PdAg thick films. The phase-breaking lengths $`\sqrt{D\tau _\varphi }`$ in our films are calculated to be 690$``$1500 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ at 2 K. (The dephasing length essentially saturates below about 2 K.) This length scale justifies the use of three-dimensional weak-localization theory to describe our experimental magnetoresistivities.

## IV Conclusion

We have measured the $`e`$-ph scattering time $`\tau _{ep}`$ in DC and RF sputtered PdAg thick films. In both series of films, we observe an anomalous $`1/\tau _{ep}T^2\mathrm{}`$ temperature and disorder dependence. Moreover, the $`e`$-ph coupling is found to be much stronger in the DC than RF sputtered films. This observation strongly indicates that the $`e`$-ph interaction not only is sensitive to the total level of disorder but also is sensitive to the microscopic quality of the disorder. These results pose a new theoretical challenge.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to V. Mitin, A. Sergeev, and G. Y. Wu for valuable discussions. This work was supported by the Taiwan National Science Council through Grant Nos. NSC90-2112-M-009-037 and NSC90-2119-M-007-004.


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# Probing Disk Accretion in Young Brown Dwarfs

## 1 Introduction

In their pre-main-sequence phase, low mass stars accrete high angular momentum material from a circumstellar disk. The star remains a comparatively slow rotator, however, apparently due to disk-locking, i.e., magnetic braking by large-scale stellar field lines that thread the disk. In the classical T Tauri phase, the fields may also mediate accretion by truncating the inner disk and channeling in infalling material (Königl 1991; Ostriker & Shu 1995). While many independent observations support this picture for stars with masses $`>`$0.2$`M_{}`$, whether it applies to objects at or below the hydrogen-burning limit is only now being explored.

The formation mechanisms of brown dwarfs are still open to debate. Most recently, Padoan & Nordlund (2002) have argued that brown dwarfs form in the same way as more massive stars, via ‘turbulent fragmentation’. Reipurth & Clarke (2001), on the other hand, suggested that brown dwarfs are stellar embryos ejected from newborn multiple systems before they accreted sufficient mass to eventually start hydrogen burning. In this model, dynamical interactions are expected to prune their disks. Studies of disk accretion, rotation and activity in young brown dwarfs could help distinguish between these scenarios. In particular, it is of considerable interest to investigate whether some or all young sub-stellar objects undergo a T Tauri-like phase and if so how long that phase lasts.

Accretion signatures have been seen already in high-resolution spectra of a few very low mass sources. Muzerolle et al. (2000) detected an asymmetric H$`\alpha `$ line profile in the M6 object V410 Anon 13 in Taurus and used magnetospheric accretion models to show that it is accreting from a disk but at a much lower rate than that found in higher mass stars. White & Basri (2002) found two more Taurus M5.5-M6.5 objects with H$`\alpha `$ profiles similar to other classical T Tauri stars.

Here we present high-resolution optical spectroscopy of a much larger sample of objects near or below the sub-stellar limit in the nearby ($``$ 150 pc) Upper Scorpius and $`\rho `$ Ophiuchus star-forming regions. Our targets are sources with M5 or later spectral types from the surveys of Ardila, Martín, & Basri (2000) for Upper Sco and Wilking, Greene & Meyer (1999) for $`\rho `$ Oph. Our goals are to search for broad, asymmetric H$`\alpha `$ lines indicative of disk accretion, to measure rotational properties as denoted by v sin i, and to investigate chromospheric activity, in these young very low mass objects in comparison to their older counterparts in the field and to (higher-mass) T Tauri stars.

In a subsequent paper (Mohanty et al., in prep), we will use these optical spectra, together with observed photometry and theoretical isochrones, to derive effective temperatures, gravities, masses and ages for our sample objects. For the purposes of this paper, we assume an age of $``$ 1 Myr for $`\rho `$ Oph and $``$ 5 Myr for Upper Sco (Preibisch & Zinnecker 1999). If we also assume that the effective temperatures of our young M5-M8 objects are comparable to those of field M dwarfs of the same spectral type ($``$ 3000-2500 K, similar to what is derived by Wilking, Greene & Meyer 1999 for their $`\rho `$ Oph sample), then theoretical models (Chabrier et al. 2000) imply masses of $``$ 0.1 – 0.02 $`M_{}`$. Thus, our sample spans a mass range from the stellar/sub-stellar boundary well into the brown dwarf domain.

## 2 Observations and Analysis

We obtained optical spectra of the target sample using the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES; Vogt et al. 1994) on the Keck I telescope on 2002 May 19 and 20 UT. With the 1.15” slit, the two-pixel-binned spectral resolution is R $``$ 33,000. The instrument yielded 15 spectral orders in the 6390 – 8700 Å wavelength range, with gaps between the orders, providing a variety of features related to youth and accretion activity. For comparison to our targets and to derive v sin i, we used M dwarf and M giant spectroscopic standards observed with the same HIRES set up. The data were reduced in a standard manner using IDL routines, as described in Basri et al. (2000).

We derived rotational velocities ($`vsini`$) of the targets by cross-correlating with a ‘spun-up’ template of a slowly rotating standard. Multiple spectral orders ($``$ 6), selected on the basis of an absence of strong telluric features, strong gravity-sensitive features, and stellar emission lines, were used in the cross-correlation analysis. Following White & Basri (2002), we used a combination of giant and dwarf spectra for the template.

## 3 Results and Discussion

Table 1 lists the equivalent widths of Li I and H$`\alpha `$ lines, full widths at 10% of the peak flux level of H$`\alpha `$, and $`vsini`$ values of our sample, along with the relevant error estimates. Of our 14 targets in Upper Sco, 11 show Lithium 6708 Å absorption and have similar radial velocities (standard deviation $``$ 2 kms-1). The remaining three (USco 85, USco 99 and USco 121) do not show Lithium, and are likely non-members; we do not discuss them further. Except for GY 5, our $`\rho `$ Oph sources do not have sufficient signal-to-noise in the blue to measure Li equivalent widths, primarily because they suffer from significant extinction. However, their membership in the $`\rho `$ Oph molecular cloud has been established by Wilking, Greene & Meyer (1999) using near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy.

Figure 1 shows H$`\alpha `$ line profiles of our sample. The $`\rho `$ Oph source GY 5 exhibits a broad, asymmetric H$`\alpha `$ profile while none of the Upper Sco targets do. There is evidence of a measurable change in the H$`\alpha `$ emission of USco 128 between two observations separated by about an hour.

### 3.1 Disk Accretion

Accreting (“classical”) T Tauri stars exhibit strong, broad H$`\alpha `$ line profiles indicative of high velocities in a nearly free-falling flow (e.g., Hartmann, Hewett, & Calvet 1994). Weak-line T Tauri stars, on the other hand, harbor weak, narrow H$`\alpha `$ lines, presumably originating in their active chromospheres. The equivalent width of the H$`\alpha `$ line is often used to distinguish between these two types of objects. However, the threshold value of H$`\alpha `$ equivalent width depends on the spectral type (Martín 1998). White & Basri (2002) suggested full-width at 10% of the peak emission as a more accurate empirical indicator of accretion than either the H$`\alpha `$ equivalent width or optical veiling: 10% widths $`>`$ 270 kms-1 indicate accretion independent of the stellar spectral type.

The $`\rho `$ Oph source GY 5 has a 10% H$`\alpha `$ width of 352 kms-1 (and an equivalent width of 65 Å ): it appears to be undergoing accretion. Interestingly, it is one of the sources with a mid-infrared excess detected by the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), consistent with the presence of a circumstellar disk (Comeron et al. 1998; Bontemps et al. 2001; Natta et al. 2002). Thus, GY 5 may be the first spectroscopically confirmed sub-stellar object with an accreting disk detected via infrared excess as well as H$`\alpha `$ characteristics. Surprisingly, Wilking, Greene, & Meyer (1999) did not see H$`\alpha `$ emission ($`<`$ 5 Å) in their low-resolution optical spectrum of GY 5 (albeit obtained “under nonideal conditions”). It may be that the accretion onto GY 5 is highly variable (or highly asymmetric so that geometric effects are important).

According to ISO mid-infrared flux measurements, GY 141 and GY 310 also harbor excess emission but GY 37 does not (Comeron et al. 1998; Bontemps et al. 2001). H$`\alpha `$ line profiles in our optical spectra do not show clear evidence of on-going accretion in any of these three objects. Given the problems of extinction, it would be interesting to obtain near-infrared spectra of all $`\rho `$ Oph sources to investigate other accretion signatures such as Pa $`\beta `$ and Br $`\gamma `$. Given the large ISO beam, it would also be prudent to confirm via high angular resolution observations (e.g., ground-based L- and N-band imaging) that the mid-infrared sources indeed coincide with the brown dwarfs.

By the White & Basri (2002) criterion, none of the Upper Sco objects in our sample shows evidence of on-going accretion. The case of USco 128, however, is intriguing. In low-resolution spectra, Ardila et al. (2000) reported a ‘constant’ H$`\alpha `$ equivalent width of 130 Å in two observations separated by a month. Our two HIRES spectra, separated by just one hour, yield equivalent widths of 16 and 25 Å; i.e., there was a measurable change in the line over a short time interval (see Fig. 1). While it is true that low-resolution spectra of late-type objects systematically overestimate H$`\alpha `$ as a result of blending with the 6569 Å TiO band-head, a factor of $``$5 difference between the Ardila et al. (2000) values and ours is difficult to account for in this way. However, variation in the H$`\alpha `$ width by more than a factor of 5 is not uncommon in flares. It may be that chromospheric activity in USco 128 is highly variable. In that case, the large width reported by Ardila et al. (2000) may correspond to a period of sustained high activity and flaring.

The mean age of stars in the Upper Sco region is $``$5 Myr whereas $`\rho `$ Oph sources are even younger at $``$1 Myr (e.g., Preibisch & Zinnecker 1999). Our results suggest that if most brown dwarfs are born with disks, their accretion rates decrease rapidly, within the first few million years. Such a conclusion is also consistent with measurements of disk frequency as a function of age using infrared excess. While a large fraction –$``$60%– of brown dwarf candidates in the $``$1-Myr-old Trapezium cluster show near-infrared excess (Muench et al. 2001), the fraction appears to be much lower in the somewhat older $`\sigma `$ Orionis ($``$3-8 Myr) and TW Hydrae ($``$10 Myr) associations (Jayawardhana, Ardila & Stelzer 2002). Thus, it appears that at least the inner disks of brown dwarfs deplete rather quickly, at timescales comparable to or smaller than those for T Tauri stars (Jayawardhana et al. 1999). Disk dissipation timescales in Upper Sco might be even shorter than in some other star-forming regions due to strong winds and ionizing radiation from numerous luminous stars in its midst (Preibisch & Zinnecker 1999 and references therein). Studies of large samples of brown dwarfs in several young clusters, spanning a range of ages and environments, will provide a more definitive answer.

### 3.2 Stellar Rotation and Activity

Measures of stellar rotation and chromospheric activity in young brown dwarfs, in comparison with their older counterparts in the field and higher-mass coeval T Tauri stars, can shed light on a variety of questions, from the nature of sub-stellar magnetic fields to the efficiency of disk locking.

A large fraction of the lowest-mass stars in Orion appear to be fast rotators whereas Taurus objects of similar spectral type rotate much more slowly (Clarke & Bouvier 2000; Herbst et al. 2001; White & Basri 2002). According to a scenario advocated by Hartmann (2002), late-type Orion objects have not yet had time to slow down via disk braking whereas (somewhat older) Taurus objects have. In the standard picture, following disk unlocking, the low-mass stars (and presumably brown dwarfs) would spin up again. Eventually, braking by magnetized winds is expected to slow the stars down again, though it appears that such braking may not be efficient in the lowest mass stars and brown dwarfs (Mohanty & Basri 2002a; Mohanty & Basri 2002b). In the first few Myr, in any case, contraction timescales are expected to be much shorter than braking timescales, so spin-up is expected to dominate (once the disk locking ends) over this period (Bouvier, Forestini & Allain 1997).

Among the $`\rho `$ Oph targets, we find $`vsini`$ 14 kms-1 in GY 5, which very likely harbors a disk. It is interesting to note that GY 141 and GY 310, which also show mid-infrared excess, are relatively slow rotators ($``$ 6 and 10 kms-1, respectively) while GY 37, which does not show a mid-infrared excess, is a rapid rotator ($``$ 22 kms-1). This may be a hint of disk-locking in action, though further observations and a larger sample are required for verification.

Among the 11 Upper Sco members in our sample (all apparently non-accretors), six show rotational velocities $`vsini>`$ 15 kms-1. The average $`vsini`$ of the Upper Sco sample is $``$ 25 kms-1. In seven similar mass non-accretors in Taurus, on the other hand, White & Basri (2002) find an average $`vsini`$ of $``$ 10 kms-1, with only one object rotating above 15 kms-1. Thus, the Upper Sco brown dwarfs appear to be rotating noticeably faster than their Taurus counterparts. Since Upper Sco is believed to be somewhat older than Taurus, we may be seeing the signature of spin-up due to gravitational contraction following disk unlocking.

In our Upper Sco sample, the equivalent widths of H$`\alpha `$ arising from chromospheric activity are in the range $``$ 6-18 Å (except one larger width in USco 128). Without accurate effective temperature determinations, we cannot yet calculate the H$`\alpha `$ fluxes these widths correspond to. However, the H$`\alpha `$ widths are comparable to saturated widths in field M dwarfs of similar spectral type (Mohanty & Basri 2002a; Mohanty & Basri 2002b). Thus, if the effective temperatures of the Upper Sco objects are similar to those of field dwarfs of the same spectral type, then their H$`\alpha `$ fluxes would correspond to saturated levels in the field. This issue will be investigated further in a subsequent paper (Mohanty et al., in prep).

## 4 Summary

We have explored disk accretion, stellar rotation and chromospheric activity in a substantial sample of young brown dwarfs in the Upper Sco and $`\rho `$ Oph star-forming regions using high-resolution optical spectra from the HIRES instrument on the Keck I telescope. We have detected evidence of accretion in the $`\rho `$ Oph source GY 5 in the form of a broad, asymmetric H$`\alpha `$ emission line. Interestingly, GY 5 also has a mid-infrared excess detected by ISO consistent with the presence of a disk. The H$`\alpha `$ profiles of our Upper Sco targets suggest little or no on-going accretion. It appears that if most brown dwarfs are born with disks, their accretion rates decrease rapidly, on timescales comparable to or shorter than those for T Tauri disks. On average, the Upper Sco brown dwarfs are rotating faster than their somewhat younger counterparts in Taurus, which may be a hint of spin-up due to contraction once the disk locking has ended. Their chromospheric activity levels, as indicated by H$`\alpha `$, are comparable to the saturated activity levels seen in field objects of similar spectral type. Our results, in comparison with similar studies of other young clusters spanning a range of ages and environments, will help unveil the origin and early evolution of sub-stellar objects.

We thank the Keck Observatory staff for their outstanding support, and David Ardila, Beate Stelzer and Russel White for useful conversations. This work was supported in part by NSF grants AST-0205130 to RJ and AST-0098468 to GB.


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# Critical Fluctuations in the Microwave Complex Conductivity of BSCCO and YBCO Thin Films

thanks: present address: D.-N. Peligrad: Philips Research Laboratories, Weisshausstrasse 2, D-52066, Aachen, Germany; B. Nebendahl: Agilent Technologies Deutschland GmbH, Herrenberger Str. 130, D-71034, Böblingen, Germany (September 6, 2002; revised version December 4, 2002)

## Abstract

Critical fluctuations above $`T_c`$ are studied in the microwave complex conductivity of BSCCO-2212, BSCCO-2223, and YBCO thin films. The analysis of the experimental data yields the absolute values and the temperature dependence of the reduced coherence length $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$. Besides the well known 3D XY critical regime having the static critical exponent $`\nu =2/3`$, a crossover to a new critical regime with $`\nu =1`$ is observed when $`T_c`$ is approached. In more anisotropic superconductors the reduced coherence lengths are larger, and the critical regimes extend to higher temperatures.

The nature of superconducting fluctuations in high-temperature superconductors has continued to attract a great deal of attention. The small coherence lengths, high transition temperatures, and large anisotropy due to the layered structure make the fluctuations of the order parameter much stronger than in classical low temperature superconductors. Particularly intriguing has appeared the possibility of observing critical fluctuations in a fairly wide temperature range around $`T_c`$. In this regime the critical exponents deviate with respect to their mean-field values. Renormalization group theory provides an appropriate description of this phenomenon. One obtains scaling laws and universality features which are of great importance in identifying the nature of the phase transition Fisher:91 . The critical fluctuations in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors have been studied by penetration depth Kamal:94 ; Anlage:96 , specific heat Salamon:93 ; Overend:94 , magnetization Salamon:93 , resistivity Menegotto:97 ; Han:98 ; Han:00 , thermal expansivity Pasler:98 ; Meingast:01 , and two-coil inductive measurements Osborn:02 . The conclusions drawn from these data seemed to point at the critical behavior pertaining to the 3D XY universality class in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors. However, the discrepancies in the region of critical behavior varied from a fraction of a degree Han:98 ; Han:00  to $`\pm 10`$ K Kamal:94 ; Pasler:98 .

In this paper we present novel results and a new type of data analysis of the microwave fluctuation conductivity in thin films of high temperature superconductors $`Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta }`$ (BSCCO-2212), $`Bi_2Sr_2Ca_2Cu_3O_{10+\delta }`$ (BSCCO-2223), and $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ (YBCO). The advantage of the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ method is that one obtains two experimental data sets, i. e. the real and imaginary parts of the fluctuation conductivity, both of which have to corroborate with a given theoretical model using the same set of parameters. It represents therefore a more stringent test on the nature of the fluctuations than methods yielding a single experimental curve. Using this feature, we determine for the first time experimentally the absolute values and the temperature dependence of the coherence length above $`T_c`$ in high-Tc superconductors. Quite surprisingly, we observe in all our samples two critical regimes with the static critical exponents $`\nu =2/3`$ well above $`T_c`$, and a crossover to $`\nu =1`$ when $`T_c`$ is approached.

YBCO thin films having 200 nm thickness were grown on $`MgO`$ substrate. BSCCO-2212 (350 nm) and BSCCO-2223 (100 nm) thin films were grown on $`LaAlO_3`$ and $`NdGaO_3`$ substrates, respectively. The sample was positioned in the center of an elliptical copper cavity resonating in eTE111 mode at $`9.5`$ GHz, with the microwave electric field $`E_\omega `$ parallel to the ab-plane of the superconducting film. The temperature of the sample could be varied from 2 K to room temperature by a heater and sensor assembly mounted on the sapphire sample holder. The $`Q`$-factor was measured by a recently introduced modulation technique Nebendahl:01 , which enables the resolution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ to 0.02 ppm, while the frequency shift was monitored by a microwave frequency counter.

Fig. 1 shows the experimental values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f`$ for the BSCCO-2212 thin film. The complex frequency shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{~}{\omega }/\omega =\mathrm{\Delta }f/f+i\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ is related to the sample and cavity parameters according to the cavity perturbation analysis Peligrad:01

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{~}{\omega }}{\omega }=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{N}\left[1N+\frac{(\stackrel{~}{k}/k_0)^2N}{\left[\mathrm{coth}(i\stackrel{~}{k}d/2)+\mathrm{tanh}(i\stackrel{~}{k}\zeta )\right]i\stackrel{~}{k}d/2}\right]^1,$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the filling factor of the sample in the cavity, and $`N`$ is the depolarization factor of the film. The complex wavevector in the film is $`\stackrel{~}{k}=k_0\sqrt{1i\stackrel{~}{\sigma }/(ϵ_0\omega )}`$, where $`k_0=\omega \sqrt{\mu _0ϵ_0}`$ is the vacuum wavevector, and $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }=\sigma _1i\sigma _2`$ is the complex conductivity of the film. The thickness of the film is $`d`$, and $`\zeta `$ is the asymmetry parameter due to the substrate Peligrad:01 . The parameters $`N`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in Eq. (1) have been evaluated from the comparison of the experimental and theoretical curves of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f`$ in the normal state far above $`T_c`$ where $`\sigma _n`$ is known from $`\mathrm{𝑑𝑐}`$ measurements. By taking the ratio of the slopes of the theoretical $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f`$ curves, one eliminates $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ so that $`N`$ can be determined from the comparison to the experimental ratio. In the next step, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ can be determined from the measured value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ at a given temperature in the normal state. We have used $`\sigma _n=6.410^5\mathrm{\Omega }^1m^1`$ for the normal state conductivity at 150 K. Similar evaluation at temperatures above 150 K did not change the resulting parameters. Eq. (1) can then be used to convert the experimental data for $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1/2Q)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f`$ at any temperature to obtain the corresponding experimental values of $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ as shown in the inset to Fig. 1. Similar results for the complex conductivity in BSCCO-2212 have been obtained previously on single crystals Waldram:99 . The observed peak in $`\sigma _1`$ is due to the superconducting fluctuations and its maximum is reached when the coherence length diverges Fisher:91 ; Dorsey:91 . We found $`T_c=87.9`$ K in our BSCCO-2212 thin film.

In this paper we focus on $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ at, and above $`T_c`$, shown on an expanded scale in Fig. 2(a). Here the reduced temperature $`ϵ=\mathrm{ln}\left(T/T_c\right)`$ is used. The $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity above $`T_c`$ is given by Peligrad:02

$$\stackrel{~}{\sigma }^{\mathit{3}D}=\frac{e^2}{32\mathrm{}\xi _{0c}}\left(\frac{\xi (T)}{\xi _0}\right)_0^{Q_{ab}}_{Q_c}^{Q_c}\frac{4q_{ab}^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}\left[1i\mathrm{\Omega }(1+q_{ab}^2+q_c^2)^1\right]}{\pi (1+q_{ab}^2+q_c^2)[\mathrm{\Omega }^2+(1+q_{ab}^2+q_c^2)^2]}𝑑q_{ab}𝑑q_c.$$
(2)
The prefactor is the Aslamazov-Larkin term for the 3D case. The reduced coherence length $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ is the same for the in-plane and c-axis coherence lengths, i. e. $`(\xi _{ab}(T)/\xi _{0ab})=(\xi _c(T)/\xi _{0c})`$, so that we use it without subscripts. The cutoff in the fluctuation wavevector is introduced in $`Q_{ab}(T)=k_{ab}^{max}\xi _{ab}(T)=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ab}\xi _{ab}(T)/\xi _{0ab}`$ for the ab-plane and $`Q_c(T)=k_c^{max}\xi _c(T)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_c\xi _c(T)/\xi _{0c}`$ along the c-axis, rather than a single cutoff on the modulus Silva:02 . The dimensionless parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\left(\pi \mathrm{}\omega /16k_BT_c\right)\left(\xi (T)/\xi _0\right)^2`$ involves the operating microwave frequency $`\omega `$ and the temperature dependence of the reduced coherence length. The analytical result of the integration in Eq. (2) and its application in the data analysis has been reported in detail Peligrad:02 . The cutoff parameters $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ab}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ are constrained by the ratio $`\sigma _2(T_c)/\sigma _1(T_c)`$ which can be evaluated from the experimental data. In the present case we found $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ab}=0.7`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c=0.06`$. Also, the parameter $`\xi _{0c}`$ in Eq. (2) can be determined from the experimental value of $`\sigma _2(T_c)`$, and we obtained $`\xi _{0c}=0.05`$ nm for the BSCCO-2212 sample. Similar results for $`\xi _{0c}`$ were obtained also from $`\mathrm{𝑑𝑐}`$ conductivity measurements Hopfengartner:91 .

The temperature dependence in the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity of Eq. (2) is due to the reduced coherence length. It is interesting to examine first the simple Gaussian form $`(\xi (T)/\xi _0)=1/\sqrt{ϵ}`$. The fluctuation conductivity calculated using the Gaussian coherence length is shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2(a). Since the experimental values are much higher one may conclude that the fluctuations are not Gaussian in this temperature range. We have tried also other forms of the type $`(\xi (T)/\xi _0)=A/ϵ^\nu `$, but none of those could fit satisfactorily the experimental data. Some examples are shown in the insets of Fig. 2. With the variation of the parameters $`A`$ and $`\nu `$, one can fit better either the section close to $`T_c`$, or the one at higher temperatures, or make a compromise which never gets the right shape in the whole temperature region. Obviously, a single static critical exponent $`\nu `$ cannot describe the experimental results. The true behavior of $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ has to be determined from the experimental data itself. Therefore, we have used the experimental values of $`\sigma _2(T)`$ to solve numerically for $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ in the imaginary part of $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }^{\mathit{3}D}`$ given by Eq. (2). The results are shown in Fig. 2(b). One observes that in the region $`0.07<ϵ<0.35`$ the static critical exponent is close to $`\nu =2/3`$ as expected for the critical regime of the 3D XY universality class. Thus, the present analysis recovers, in this part, the results obtained previously by other techniques in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors. The solution of Eq. (2) it seems to yield correct results when used in the critical regime. Namely, the recent calculation by Wickham et al. Wickham:00  has shown that the form of the expression for the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity does not depend on the regime of the fluctuations. Only the coherence length has different behavior in the Gaussian and critical regimes. In the present case, the full result in Fig. 2(b) shows a clear crossover from the 3D XY critical regime to another critical regime with $`\nu =1`$ when $`T_c`$ is approached. The appearance of these two critical regimes with a well defined crossover has not been reported previously. The absolute values of the reduced coherence lenght reveal that the crossover between the regimes is not just a change of the critical exponent but also involves a step in the magnitude of the coherence length.

On the high temperature side, one observes in Fig. 2(b) a deviation from the 3D XY critical regime at $`ϵ>0.35`$, probably marking the crossover to the Gaussian regime with the critical exponent $`\nu =1/2`$. The drop seen in the last few points at $`ϵ>0.5`$ can be interpreted in terms of the energy cutoff in the fluctuation spectrum Carballeira:01 ; Vina:02 . This high temperature region is not in the focus of the present report.

The extraction of the coherence length was based on the imaginary part of the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity $`\sigma _2`$ which is due only to the superconducting fluctuations, i. e. it has no contribution from the normal electrons. We may now check the consistency of the analysis on the real part of the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity. By inserting the values of $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ from Fig. 2(b) in the real part of the solution of Eq. (2), we can calculate the corresponding values of $`\sigma _1`$. The result is plotted as the full line in Fig. 2(a). One observes an excellent agreement between the calculated and the total measured real conductivity up to $`ϵ=0.09`$. Beyond this region, the calculated values of $`\sigma _1`$ fall below the total experimental $`\sigma _1^{tot}`$. It appears that for $`ϵ<0.09`$, the normal conductivity contribution vanishes due to the decrease of the one-electron density of states at the Fermi level Timusk:99 ; Varlamov:99 . However, for $`ϵ>0.09`$, there appears gradually a contribution of the normal conductivity which has to be added to the fluctuation conductivity $`\sigma _1`$ in order to get $`\sigma _1^{tot}`$. A more detailed analysis of this effect will be reported elsewhere Peligrad:02c .

We have also analyzed the same experimental data of the BSCCO-2212 sample using the expression for the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity in the 2D case Peligrad:02 ; Silva:02 . Following the procedure analogous to the 3D case described above, we find the values of $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ for the 2D case which are also shown in Fig. 2(b). One finds that this coherence length saturates when $`T_c`$ is approached. Since this is a completely unphysical behavior, one may conclude that BSCCO-2212 is not an effective 2D system near $`T_c`$. However, the analysis at higher temperatures reveals that both, 2D and 3D calculations yield nearly the same slope of 2/3. The effective layer thickness in the 2D  expression for the fluctuation conductivity is a free parameter which affects strongly the absolute values but only slightly the slopes of $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$. In Fig. 2(b) we have used the effective layer thickness of 2.8 nm, which yields the best fit to the $`\sigma _1`$ data at higher temperatures, and in addition matches the coherence length of the 3D case. This remarkable result shows that the anisotropic 3D behavior matches with the 2D behavior when the coherence length $`\xi _c(T)`$ approaches the cutoff value $`\xi _{0c}/\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$.

One can check also the calculated $`\sigma _1`$ for the 2D case. The dashed line in Fig. 2(a) shows a strong deviation from the experimental data at temperatures close to $`T_c`$. This proves again that the behavior in this temperature range is not of the 2D nature. At higher temperatures, however, the calculated $`\sigma _1`$ in the 2D and 3D cases practically overlap, thus corroborating the result found in the coherence length.

Fig. 3 shows the final results of the analysis of the fluctuation conductivity in YBCO, and BSCCO-2223 films. From the temperature dependences of the reduced coherence lengths one concludes readily that the appearance of multiple critical regimes of the superconducting fluctuations is a general feature in high-$`T_c`$ layered superconductors. The anisotropy of the system affects the temperature ranges of the critical regimes. The more anisotropic superconductors have their critical regimes extended to higher temperatures. BSCCO-2223 exhibits the critical state with $`\nu =1`$ up to 1.4 K above $`T_c`$, which is considerably more extended than found above in BSCCO-2212. The 3D XY critical regime with $`\nu =2/3`$ is found in BSCCO-2223 in a large interval $`0.08<ϵ<0.44`$.

YBCO is the least anisotropic material of the three superconductors studied here. We observe in Fig. 3 that it also develops the critical regime with $`\nu =1`$, but very close to $`T_c`$. The values of the reduced coherence length $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ are much lower than in the BSCCO superconductors. Also, the $`\mathit{3}D`$ XY critical regime with $`\nu =2/3`$ is found in YBCO in a much narrower temperature range $`0.05<ϵ<0.12`$. This finding is in agreement with the combined analysis of the $`\mathrm{𝑑𝑐}`$ conductivity, specific heat, and susceptibility measurements in YBCO single crystals Ramallo:99 . Beyond $`ϵ=0.12`$, the reduced coherence length in YBCO shows a drop towards the Gaussian value $`1/\sqrt{ϵ}`$. With such low values of $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ the $`\mathrm{𝑎𝑐}`$ fluctuation conductivity becomes so small that our signal to noise ratio precludes a further analysis.

In conclusion, we have determined for the first time the absolute values and the temperature dependence of the reduced coherence length $`\xi (T)/\xi _0`$ above $`T_c`$ in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors. Our results show in detail how the fluctuations of the order parameter develop in YBCO, BSCCO-2212, and BSCCO-2223 systems with different degrees of anisotropy. In the vicinity of $`T_c`$, one finds a hitherto unobserved critical regime with the static critical exponent $`\nu =1`$. At higher temperatures one observes a crossover to a critical regime having $`\nu =2/3`$ as predicted for the 3D XY universality class.

The authors acknowledge the preparation of the BSCCO-2223 thin film to Dr. A. Attenberger, and V. Rǎdulescu for the help in the development of the required software for data analysis.


text:
# A note on gravitational wave lensing

## 1 Introduction

Gravitational lensing of electromagnetic waves is a well known phenomenon predicted by the General Theory of Relativity (for a review on this issue see Schneider, Ehlers and Falco sef (1992)). In principle, gravitational lensing of gravitational waves should occur in the same way as it does for light. The most obvious difference is that gravitational wave propagation is not disturbed by dust grains, as happens for light, so that the central part of our galaxy may be investigated by using the next generation of gravitational wave detectors.

In a very interesting paper Ruffa (ruffa (1999)), assuming that the mass of the Galactic center is in the form of a massive black hole with mass $`M2.6\times 10^6`$ M (for a Galactic center overview see Eckart, Genzel, Ott and Schoedel egos (2002)), the gravitational wave lensing problem was studied by a typical Fraunhoffer diffraction approach. It was pointed out (Ruffa ruffa (1999)) that extra galactic sources can be amplified by a factor of about $`17,000`$ and galactic neutron stars by over $`4,000`$. The author also argued that the Earth would take about 10.1 days to traverse the focused region of the extra galactic sources. For galactic bulge sources the focused region would be scaled down by a factor of nearly 3 and hence the observing time would be reduced to about 3 days.

The question that naturally arises is “how likely is it that we see the proposed enhancement?” To answer this question we need to estimate the number of sources that could be expected to be observed, both galactic and extra-galactic. In principle, of course, there are many extra-galactic sources as there are $`10^{11}`$ galaxies. However, we need to limit the number, applying a cut-off by requiring that the expected intensity (after amplification) be greater than the sensitivity of the detector.

As will be seen, the chances of seeing the dramatic enhancement calculated by Ruffa are extremely small. This is due to the fact that Ruffa assumes a very special geometry, with the source, lens and observation point aligned. Whereas Ruffa considered Fraunhoffer diffraction, an analysis using “geometric optics” for gravitational waves had been undertaken, in which the special geometry of Ruffa was not assumed (De Paolis, Ingrosso and Nucita din (2001)). This analysis gave a much higher probability but a lower enhancement.

In this paper, we evaluate the probability of enhancement of the gravitational wave signals as a consequence of diffraction by massive compact objects in the highly aligned geometry.

We also consider the lensing effect due to a possible companion star of the gravitational wave source in the framework of the classical microlensing theory. In addition to this case we consider the gravitational wave lensing due to the massive black hole at the galactic center. As we shall see, the gravitational wave signal amplification due to the companion object (or the black hole at the galactic center) might be detectable by the VIRGO detector for some orbital parameters of the binary system.

## 2 Probability of signal enhancement by the galactic central black hole

Let us assume that the observer, the lens and the source (a spinning pulsar) are on the same line. The lens will focus the gravitational waves that pass through the Einstein radius $`R_E=\sqrt{\frac{4GM}{c^2}\frac{Dd}{D+d}}`$ to the Earth in a region orthogonal to the line of sight. Here $`D`$ is the distance between the observer and the lens ($`8`$ kpc) and $`d`$ is the lens-source distance. Using diffraction theory, the focused area is determined by $`D`$ and the diffraction pattern for the circular annular region bounded by radii $`R_E`$ and $`R_E`$+$`\delta R_E`$. Note that a gravitational wave that passes at the distance $`R_E`$+$`\delta R_E`$ from the lens is focused in $`D+\delta D`$. It is possible to show (by evaluating the 3 dB points of the signal, see Ruffa ruffa (1999)) that the radius of the focused region is given by

$$\rho (d)0.175\lambda \frac{D}{R_E(d)}$$
(1)
where $`\lambda `$ is the gravitational wave length 111In the case of non-precessing pulsars rotating with frequency of $`30`$ Hz, the emitted gravitational waves has frequency $`60`$ Hz (see e.g. Shapiro and Teukolsky st (1983)). Consequently, the gravitational wave length turns out to be $`5\times 10^8`$ cm.. As pointed out by Ruffa, the increase in intensity depends on the ratio (known as the intensity ratio) of the annular region bounded by the radii $`R_E`$ and $`R_E`$+$`\delta R_E`$ to the focused region area. This can be determined by the system of equations 222We note that in all case of interest $`R_E10^{17}`$ cm and, from eq. (1), $`\rho R_E`$.

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\rho (d)(D+\delta D)R_E(d)\delta D,\hfill \\ \\ \delta R_E(d)=\frac{1}{R_E(d)}\frac{2GM}{c^2}\frac{d^2}{(D+d)^2}\delta D.\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
We note that the first equation is Ruffa’s eq. (4) at first order approximation (since $`\rho R_E`$) and the second one derives from differentiating the expression for the Einstein radius $`R_E`$ with respect to $`D`$. Solving for $`\delta D`$, we finally obtain

$$\delta R_E(D)\frac{1}{2}\frac{\rho d}{D+d},$$
(3)
which reduces to $`\delta R_E(D)\rho /2`$ for $`dD`$. Taking into account the previous equations and the expression of the Einstein radius, the intensity ratio turns out to be

$$IR(d)\frac{d}{D+d}\frac{R_E}{\rho },$$
(4)
implying a gravitational wave amplification factor 333 Since the gravitational wave amplitude $`h`$ is proportional to the square root of the energy flux, the enhancement in $`h`$ is proportional to the square root of the intensity ratio.

$$A=\sqrt{IR(d)}.$$
(5)
Assume now that Ruffa’s treatment still holds if the source is not fully aligned with the observer-lens line but forms at least an angle $`\theta \rho (d)/d`$ with it. Consequently, the probability density of finding the source within a circular region of radius between $`\rho `$ and $`\rho +d\rho `$ is proportional to the ratio between that circular area and the surface of the cylinder centered at the galactic center and having radius $`d`$ and height $`H`$. From simple geometric considerations, this probability density, after integration over $`d\rho `$, gives the following probability of finding a source within the radius $`\rho (d)`$

$$P_g(d)3\times 10^3\frac{c^2}{GM}\lambda ^2\frac{D(D+d)}{d^2H}.$$
(6)
On the other hand, the real probability to observe a gravitational wave enhancement in the case of the observer, lens and source on the same line of sight has to take into account also the number of expected sources behind the central black hole.

From an extrapolation of the neutron star (NS) birthrate (Narayan and Ostriker no (1990)) 444From historical supernovae (SNe) in our galaxy one gets an SN frequency of one event every $`40\pm 10`$ yr (Tammann, Loeffler and Schroeder tls (1994)). These estimates do not take into account any SN rate evolution with time and the fact that only about $`10\%`$ of the historical SNe have been close and bright enough to have been detectable by the naked eye, and therefore have to be considered as a lower limit to the inferred present galactic SN number. A more realistic estimate of the SN rate for our galaxy is about one over 20 years (Panagia panagia (1999)). Observations show that large late-type spiral galaxies produce about 10 SNe per century (Tammann, Loeffler and Schroeder tls (1994)). and from the number of supernovae required to account for the heavy element abundance in the Milky Way (Arnett, Schramm and Truran ast (1989)), we expect that our galaxy contain $`N10^9`$ NSs. For simplicity we assume that the NS population has a usual disk-like shape, i.e. the number density profile is given by

$$n(r,z)\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_{NS}}{2Hm}e^{z/H}e^{(rD)/\mathrm{\Delta }},$$
(7)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{NS}1`$ M pc-2, $`m1`$ M, $`H0.30`$ kpc and $`\mathrm{\Delta }3.5`$ kpc is the typical length scale of the galactic disk. In order to consider the distribution of matter behind the black hole, equation (6) has to be multiplied by the factor $`n(r,0)V/N`$, $`V`$ being the total volume of the disk. Consequently, the probability to have an enhancement of the gravitational wave signal according to the mechanism proposed by Ruffa is

$$P(d)10^2\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_{NS}}{Nm}\frac{c^2}{GM}\frac{\lambda ^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2}{H}\frac{D(D+d)}{d^2}e^{(dD)/\mathrm{\Delta }}\mathrm{yr}^1.$$
(8)
In Fig. 1 we give the probability $`P`$ as a function of the source distance $`d`$ from the galactic center.

As one can see, the probability to have a gravitational wave enhancement a la Ruffa by the black hole at the galactic center from a pulsar in the line of sight to the galactic center is as low as $`10^{20}`$ per year. The total probability (assuming that there are no pulsars closer than $`5\times 10^5`$ kpc to the galactic center) is $`10^{12}`$ per year. In other words, we could expect to wait for a hundred times the age of the universe to see one!

Let us see now what happens in the case of a gravitational wave signal due to a supernova explosion in other galaxies behind the galactic black hole. Since $`dD`$, in this case $`\rho 0.175\lambda \sqrt{Dc^2/4GM}`$. The probability of a galaxy being within the focused region at a distance $`d`$ is simply $`(\rho /2d)^2`$. Thus the total probability will go as $`(\rho /d_{min}\rho /d_{max})/4`$. Since $`d_{max}>d_{min}`$, we only need to find the probability of a galaxy at the closest distance to be on the line of sight, i.e. the number density of galaxy does not matter. It is known that supernovae explode in typical galaxies less frequently than once every $`25`$ years. Consequently, the relevant probability is $`0.01\rho /d_{min}`$ per year. Taking $`d_{min}`$ as 1 Mpc, the probability is less than $`10^{15}`$ per year! As such, there is no real likelihood of being able to see the Ruffa enhancement. Of course, there are also other expected sources of bursts of gravitational waves from gamma-ray bursts (see e.g. Ruffert and Janka rj (1998)) or binary systems (see e.g. De Paolis, Ingrosso and Nucita din2 (2002) and references therein) that could in principle be detectable by VIRGO (Jaranowski and Kròlak jk (1999) and Passaquieti passaquieti (2000)), LIGO (Barish barish (2000)) or LISA (Hiscock, Larson, Routzahn and Kulick hlrk (2000) and Vecchio vecchio (1999)) experiments. However, from the discussion above, it can easily be calculated that the expected probability of seeing a gravitational wave amplification by the central black hole of one of such event is even less than $`10^{15}`$ per year.

## 3 Signal enhancement in binary systems

Let us consider now the enhancement of the gravitational waves emitted by a rotating neutron star due to the microlensing effect of a companion star moving around the compact source on a circular orbit with radius $`R_{orb}`$. Let $`m`$ and $`M`$ be the masses of the pulsar and of the companion star, respectively. We further assume that the orbital plane of the binary star is inclined at an angle $`i`$ with respect to the line of sight. The companion star coordinates, with respect to a reference frame with $`x`$ and $`y`$ axes on the orbital plane, are given by

$$x_M=R_{orb}\mathrm{cos}\theta ,y_M=R_{orb}\mathrm{sin}\theta ,z_M=0,$$
(9)
where $`\theta =\sqrt{G(m+M)/R_{orb}^3}t`$ is the orbital angle measured with respect to the positive direction of the $`x`$ axis pointing towards the observer. The distance between the companion star $`M`$ and the line of sight to the gravitational wave source turns out to be

$$d_{ls}(\theta )=\sqrt{x_M^2\mathrm{sin}^2i+y_M^2}.$$
(10)
For a source-observer distance greater than the distance between the source and the lens ($`R_{orb}`$), the Einstein radius is $`R_E\sqrt{4GMR_{orb}/c^2}`$. Consequently, as in usual microlensing theory, the flux amplification factor is given by (see e.g. Schneider, Ehlers and Falco sef (1992))

$$A_f=\frac{u^2+2}{u\sqrt{u^2+4}},$$
(11)
with $`u=d_{ls}(\theta )/R_E`$. Obviously, since the impact parameter $`u`$ depends on the position of the companion star on the orbit, we expect that the flux amplification $`A_f`$ is a periodic function of time with period $`P=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{R_{orb}^3}{G(m+M)}}`$. We also note that the effect of the amplification is maximal for $`i0^o`$. The expected gravitational wave amplitude enhancement is $`A_h\sqrt{A_f}`$. In Table 1, assuming $`m=1.4M_{}`$, the maximum flux amplification $`A_{f,max}`$, the gravitational wave signal amplification $`A_{h,max}`$ and the microlensing event time-scale $`T_{1/2}`$ are shown for different values of the orbital parameters ($`R_{orb}`$, $`P`$, $`i`$ and $`M`$). As one can note, the amplification effect decreases for increasing inclination angles while the event time-scale $`T_{1/2}`$ goes up. Since the gravitational wave amplification is the same for a compact or a normal companion star, assuming that VIRGO will be able to detect only $`1\%`$ of the pulsars with spin period $`P_{sp}<100`$ ms within about $`25`$ kpc from Earth in three years of integration, one expects $`10^4`$ detectable binaries. Therefore, the number of binary systems with plane inclination angle $`i0.1^0`$ is easily found to be about 10. Of course, since the probability of having high enough amplification of the signal for long enough is expected to be rather small, the chances of having a really detectable amplified signal from a binary system are low. Some higher probability is expected if the lens object is the black hole at the galactic center, due to its higher mass. In this case, as one can see from Table 1, both the signal amplification and duration are expected to be high enough to have a signal detectable by VIRGO. For details about the detectable gravitational wave amplitude see Gourgoulhon and Bonazzola gb (1996).

Finally, we want to note that the effects of the gravitational light deflection and amplification in eclipsing binary stars has been considered in detail (Marsh marsh (2001), Beskin and Tuntsov bt (2002)) and by Schneider (schneider (1989)) for the binary pulsar 1957+20 as a way for determining the binary system parameters. Actually, the gravitational wave amplification is, if gravitational wave astronomy becomes practicable in the future, a much more powerful tool since gravitational waves are never shielded by the lens object (as happens for light rays) giving the unique possibility to trace the sources even in regions (like the galactic center) where light suffers strong absorption.

###### Acknowledgements.

One of us (AAN) is grateful to KFUPM for hospitality and cordiality. AQ would also like to acknowledge the research facilities of KFUPM and the Physics Department of the University of Lecce, where this work was initiated.


text:
# On the time evolution of the redshift and the luminosity distance

## 1 Introduction

Much attention has been devoted to the study of the temporal evolution of the redshift and the luminosity distance, because of the alternative scheme they constitute to determine the values of the cosmological parameters in comparison with other approaches (White, Scoot & Silk 1994; Perlmutter et al 1998; Schmidt et al 1998; Riess et al 1998). First proposed by Sandage (Sandage 1962) in a pioneering work (including an important Appendix from MacVittie), this possibility has been recently subject to a renewal of interest with the improvement of spectroscopic techniques (Loeb 1998). In this paper, our aim is to highlight some points on the temporal evolution of the redshift and the luminosity distance which have not been submitted yet to full scruting in the litterature. Observing a source at different instants, we establish that its redshift and luminosity distance evolute with time and tend to given values, namely the stable equilibrium states associated to the first order differential equation they verify. More precisely, this result brings out the existence of a specific value of the redshift to which the sources concentrate. This can shed some light to the observation of a peak in the count of quasars at $`z2.5`$ (Fan et al 1999; and references therein), which up to now failed to be explained completely (Peebles & Ratra 2002). Besides, these values depending only on the cosmological parameters, their experimental measurements could provide a new tool to determine the value of the cosmological parameter.

## 2 Time derivatives of the redshift and the luminosity distance

Let us introduce some fundamentals in order to precise our notations. Taking the convention $`G=c=1`$, we start with the Robertson-Walker line element under the form:

$$ds^2=dt^2a^2(t)\left(\frac{dr^2}{1kr^2}+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2\right),$$
(1)
with $`k`$ the curvature index taking the discrete values $`1`$, $`0`$ or $`+1`$ and $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2=d\theta ^2+sin^2\theta d\varphi ^2`$ the line element of the unit two-sphere. The cosmological redshift $`z`$ is given by:

$$z+1=\frac{a_o}{a_e},$$
(2)
with $`a_o`$ and $`a_e`$ the values of $`a(t)`$ at the instants $`t_o`$ and $`t_e`$, when the signal is, respectively, observed and emitted. In the same vein, the luminosity distance $`d_L`$ reads (e.g. Weinberg 1972; Peacock 2000):

$$d_L=r_ea_o(1+z),$$
(3)
with $`r_e`$ the radial coordinate of the source. The apparent luminosity $`l`$ can be related to the luminosity distance by:

$$l=\frac{L}{4\pi }\frac{1}{d_L^2},$$
(4)
where $`L`$ is the global luminosity which is a constant. Finally, the bolometric magnitude $`m`$ is defined by:

$$m=5log_{10}d_L+C$$
(5)
where $`C`$ is a constant depending on the absolute magnitude and on the choice of the units of $`d_L`$.

Reminding that $`a(t)(/t)`$ is a conformal Killing vector field for the metric (1), we obtain the relation:

$$\frac{dt_e}{a_e}=\frac{dt_o}{a_o},$$
(6)
which relates the intervals of proper time along the world lines of the observer and the source. From Equations (2) and (6), the derivative of the redshift with respect to the time of observation is:

$$\dot{z}=H_o(1+z)\left(1h(z)\right),$$
(7)
where $`h(z)={\displaystyle \frac{\psi }{1+z}}`$ with $`\psi ={\displaystyle \frac{a_o}{\dot{a}_o}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{a}_e}{a_e}}`$ and $`H_0`$ represents the Hubble constant. From now on, we assume a comoving source, i.e. we suppose that the effects of the peculiar velocity and acceleration (Phillipps 1982) can be neglected or at least isolated (Loeb 1998).

Using (7), the time derivative of the luminosity distance (3) reads:

$$\dot{d}_L=2r_ea_oH_o(1+z)\left(1\frac{1}{2}h(z)\right).$$
(8)
According to (4) and (5), the time derivatives of the apparent luminosity and the bolometric magnitude are related to the time derivative of the luminosity distance (8) by:

$`\dot{l}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{16\pi l^3}{L}}\right)^{1/2}\dot{d}_L,`$ (9)
$`\dot{m}`$ $`=`$ $`5{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{d}_L}{d_L}}.`$ (10)
Using Einstein’s equations, the function $`\psi `$ can be related to the cosmological parameters. Considering the matter content of the universe to be a perfect fluid with a mass density $`\rho `$ and a pressure $`p`$, the Einstein equations for the metric (1) read:

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{a}}{a}}\right)^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k}{a^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{3}}\rho ,`$ (11)
$`2{\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{a}}{a}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{a}}{a}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{k}{a^2}}+\mathrm{\Lambda }8\pi p,`$ (12)
with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ the cosmological constant. Assuming that the fluid is a mixture of noninteracting dust and radiation, the energy momentum conservation leads to:

$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`\rho _{mo}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a_o}{a}}\right)^3+\rho _{ro}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a_o}{a}}\right)^4,`$ (13)
$`p`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\rho _{ro}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a_o}{a}}\right)^4,`$ (14)
with $`\rho _m`$ the matter density and $`\rho _r`$ the radiation density. The combination of (11) and (12) with the aid of (13) and (14) furnishes the following relations between the cosmological parameters:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{k}{a_o^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`H_o^2\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}q_o+2\mathrm{\Omega }_{ro}\right),`$ (15)
$`q_o`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{ro}\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o},`$ (16)
where the standard notations for the deceleration parameter $`q_o={\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{a}_o}{a_o}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{H_o^2}}`$, the matter density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _{mo}}{H_o^2}}`$, the radiation density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{ro}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _{ro}}{H_o^2}}`$ and the cosmological parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{H_o^2}}`$ have been introduced.

Substituting (13) into (11) and appealing to the relations (13) and (14) yield for $`h`$ (see Phillipps 1982; Lake 1981; Rüdiger 1980; Janis, 1992) and references therein):

$$(h(z))^2=\frac{\psi ^2}{(1+z)^2}=1\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}+\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}z+\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}}{(1+z)^2}+\mathrm{\Omega }_{ro}z(2+z).$$
(17)
## 3 Stability of the equilibrium states of $`\dot{z}`$ and $`\dot{d}_L`$

In the following, the observations being performed within the matter dominated aera, we assume that the radiation energy density is negligible, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{ro}0`$. Furthermore, in order to preserve generality and to grasp better the role of the cosmological constant on the evolution of the redshift and the distance luminosity, we do not impose any specific relation on the values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}`$. The typical cases $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3,\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=0)`$ and $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3,\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=0.7)`$ are presented as illustrative examples (see figures 1-2).

Introducing

$$v(z)=H_o(1+z)f(z),$$
(18)
with $`f(z)=1h(z)`$ and $`h(z)`$ given by (17), Equation (7) becomes

$$\dot{z}=v(z).$$
(19)
The equilibrium states associated to (19), i.e. the values of $`z0`$ such that $`v(z)=0`$, are given by the roots of $`f`$:

$`z_{eq1}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (20)
$`z_{eq2}`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(X+\sqrt{X(X+4)}\right),`$ (21)
$`z_{eq3}`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(X\sqrt{X(X+4)}\right),`$ (22)
where $`X={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}}}`$. The root $`z_{eq2}`$ is only positive for $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ and $`z_{eq3}`$ is always negative. Therefore, for $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, the only equilibrium state is $`z_{eq1}=0`$ and for $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, the equilibrium states $`z_{eq1}`$ and $`z_{eq2}`$ have to be considered.

The stability of these states stems from the study of the sign of $`v`$ (e.g. Arnold 1978). According to (18), the sign of $`v`$ is derived from the sign of $`f`$. Using (17), the derivative of $`f`$ with respect to $`z`$ reads:

$$\frac{df}{dz}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}}{h(z)}\left[\frac{1}{2}\frac{X}{(1+z)^3}\right].$$
(23)
For $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, Equation (23) provides $`{\displaystyle \frac{df}{dz}}0`$ for all $`z0`$. The function $`f`$ is then decreasing and as $`f(0)=0`$, $`f(z)`$ is always negative. With (18), this implies that $`v`$ is negative for all $`z`$. The equilibrium state $`z_{eq1}=0`$ is then stable for $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$. An illustrative representation of the functions $`f`$ and $`v`$ is given in fig.1 for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=0`$.

When $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, we deduce from (23) that $`{\displaystyle \frac{df}{dz}}0`$ for $`0zz_1`$, with $`z_1=1+(2X)^{1/3}`$, and $`{\displaystyle \frac{df}{dz}}0`$ for $`zz_1`$. The function $`f`$ is then increasing for $`0zz_1`$ and decreasing for $`zz_1`$. As $`f(0)=0`$, $`f`$ is positive for $`0zz_{eq2}`$, with $`z_{eq2}`$ given by (21), reaches a maximum at $`z_1z_{eq2}`$ and is negative for $`zz_{eq2}`$. From (18), it follows that $`v`$ is positive for $`0zz_{eq2}`$ and negative for $`zz_{eq2}`$. Hence, for $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, $`z_{eq1}=0`$ is a unstable equilibrium state and $`z_{eq2}`$ is stable. The functions $`f`$ and $`v`$ are displayed in fig.1 when $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=0.7`$, i.e. for $`X=7/3`$.

Using (3) and (8), the time derivative of the luminosity distance becomes:

$$\dot{d}_L=2H_od_L\stackrel{~}{g}(d_L),$$
(24)
where $`\stackrel{~}{g}(d_L)=1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\stackrel{~}{h}(d_L)`$. The function $`\stackrel{~}{h}(d_L)`$ is deduced from the expression (17) of $`h(z)`$ by performing the substitution of $`z`$ by $`d_L`$ in accordance with (3). Denoting

$$w(d_L)=2H_od_L\stackrel{~}{g}(d_L),$$
(25)
Eq (24) becomes $`\dot{d}_L=w(d_L)`$. As $`d_Lr_ea_o`$ for $`z0`$, the equilibrium states associated to $`w`$ are defined by the roots of $`\stackrel{~}{g}(d_L)`$. The solution of $`\stackrel{~}{g}(d_L)=0`$ is:

$$d_L^{eq}=\frac{r_ea_o}{3}\left[1+u+2(1+u)cos\left(\frac{1}{3}tan^1\sqrt{\frac{4(1+u)^6}{[2(1+u)^327X]^2}1}\right)\right],$$
(26)
with $`u=X+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}}}`$. The stability of this equilibrium state is deduced from the study of the sign of $`w`$. As $`d_Lr_ea_o`$ and with (25), the sign of $`w`$ is derived from the sign of $`\stackrel{~}{g}(d_L)`$. Using (3), the derivative of $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ with respect to $`d_L`$ reads:

$$\frac{d\stackrel{~}{g}}{dd_L}=\frac{1}{2r_ea_o}\frac{df}{dz}.$$
(27)
Therefore, the variations of $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ mimic those of $`f`$. When $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, $`f`$ is decreasing, then $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ decreases and as $`\stackrel{~}{g}(r_ea_o)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ is positive for $`r_ea_od_Ld_L^{eq}`$ and negative for $`d_Ld_L^{eq}`$. For $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, $`f`$ is increasing for $`0zz_1`$ ($`z_1=1+(2X)^{1/3}`$) and decreasing for $`zz_1`$. The function $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ is then increasing for $`r_ea_od_Lr_ea_o(1+z_1)`$ and decreasing for $`zr_ea_o(1+z_1)`$. As $`\stackrel{~}{g}(r_ea_o)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ is positive for $`r_ea_od_Ld_L^{eq}`$ and negative for $`d_Ld_L^{eq}`$.

Using (25), we obtain finally that $`w`$ is positive for $`r_ea_od_Ld_L^{eq}`$ and negative for $`d_Ld_L^{eq}`$ in both cases $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ and $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$. The equilibrium state $`d_L^{eq}`$ is then stable. The behavior of $`w`$ with respect to $`z`$ is displayed in fig.2 for $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3,\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=0)`$ and for $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3,\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=0.7)`$.

## 4 Discussion

The temporal evolution of the redshift is tied to the stability of its equilibrium states. For $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, the state $`z_{eq1}=0`$ is stable and the redshift tends to $`z_{eq1}=0`$. In other words, this suggests that the sources concentrate to form a peak at about $`z_{eq1}0`$. This phenomenon being not corroborated by observations, the case $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ is discarded. For $`X{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$, among the two equilibrium states $`z_{eq1}=0`$ and $`z_{eq2}`$ defined by (21), only the second one is stable. Therefore, the value of the redshift evolves with time until reaching $`z_{eq2}`$. Taking for the values of the cosmological parameters $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}0.7`$ (Perlmutter et al 1998; Schmidt et al 1998, Riess et al 1998; and references therein), we find $`z_{eq2}2.1`$. This result can dovetail and shed some light to the observation of a peak in the count of quasars centered at about $`z2.5`$ (see Fan 1999 and references therein)111The preceding observations suggested a peak at about $`z2`$ (Shkolovsky 1967; Petrosian, Salpeter & Szekers 1967; Kardashev 1967; Burbidge & Burbidge 1967).. The small difference between the prediction and the observation can be ascribed to the experimental uncertainties. The values of the cosmological parameters we used to compute $`z_{eq2}`$ can eventually constitute another explanation for this difference. Furthermore, the value $`z_{eq2}`$ may be attained asymptotically .

These considerations suggest that the value of $`X={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}}}`$ ought to be greater than $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$. It constitutes an evidence for a nonvanishing cosmological constant (see Peebles & Ratra 2002; and references therein). Assuming $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}0.3`$, the minimal value admissible for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}`$ is about $`0.15`$ and for a flat spacetime such that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}+\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}=1`$, the lower bound for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}`$ becomes $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}`$. Moreover, from the experimental determination of $`z_{eq2}`$, a value of $`X={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}}}`$ could be estimated from (21) providing therefore a new method to determine the value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}`$.

Let us end up with some considerations on the luminosity distance. As $`d_L^{eq}`$ defined in (26) is a stable equilibrium state, the luminosity distance evolves with time and tends to $`d_L^{eq}`$. The same conclusion can be displayed for the apparent luminosity and the bolometric magnitude. Using (9) and (4), it turns out that the apparent luminosity has a stable equilibrium state $`l_e`$ related to $`d_L^{eq}`$ by:

$$l_e=\frac{L}{4\pi }\frac{1}{(d_L^{eq})^2}.$$
(28)
With (10) and (5), the same result is proven for the bolometric magnitude with a stable equilibrium state $`m_e`$ of the form:

$$m_e=5log_{10}d_L^{eq}+C.$$
(29)
Therefore, the apparent luminosity and bolometric magnitude evolves in time until reaching $`l_e`$ and $`m_e`$ respectively.

The approximation of $`d_L^{eq}`$ provides an estimation of the redshift where a peak is expected. Equation (26) can be rewritten:

$$d_L^{eq}=\frac{r_ea_o}{3}\left[1+u+2(1+u)cos\varphi \right],$$
(30)
with $`u=(\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}+3)/\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}`$ and $`\varphi ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}tan^1\left[\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{4(1+u)^6}{(2(1+u)^327X)^2}}1}\right]`$. The study of the variation of $`\varphi `$ with respect to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}`$ yields:

$$0\varphi \varphi _0,$$
(31)
where $`\varphi _0`$ takes the value $`\varphi _0\mathrm{2\hspace{0.33em}10}^2`$ for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}=0.3`$. It implies that $`d_L^{eq}`$ can be approximated by:

$$d_L^{eq}r_ea_o(1+u),$$
(32)
up to an error of about $`10^2r_ea_o`$. For $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }o}0.7`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{mo}0.3`$, we expect the luminosity distance and bolometric magnitude to evaluate in time and to form a peak at a redshift about $`u12`$. Albeit these results seem to be similar to that obtained for the redshift, the lack of a class of sources with the same absolute luminosity for redshifts greater than $`3`$ and the actual performances of observation (Fan 2001) may not bring out the existence of such peaks.

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