text:
# Thermodynamics of fully connected Blume-Emery-Griffiths neural networks

## 1 Introduction

It has been argued recently that an optimal Hamiltonian, guaranteeing the best retrieval properties for neural networks with multistate neurons can be found by maximizing the mutual information content of the network . In this way, for two-state neurons the well-known Hopfield model is recovered , for three-state neurons a Blume-Emery-Griffiths (BEG) type spin-glass model is obtained - (and references therein). In the discussion of the extremely diluted asymmetric version of this model , which has an exactly solvable dynamics because there are no feedback spin correlations , a new phase appeared, the so-called quadrupolar phase, that could yield new retrieval information. The time evolution of the order parameter characterizing this phase together with the stability properties of this phase in the extremely diluted model have been studied . Furthermore, the zero-temperature parallel dynamics of the fully connected architecture taking into account all feedback correlations has been solved recently . No quadrupolar phase has been found in this case.

A complete study of both the thermodynamic and retrieval properties of a fully connected architecture governed by such a BEG spin-glass Hamiltonian is not yet given in the literature. Although some preliminary results about the retrieval quality of this model for uniformly distributed patterns and non-zero temperatures have been presented in , one would like to have a complete temperature-capacity phase diagram as a function of the pattern activity. Furthermore, one would also like to solve the question posed in  about the stability of the quadrupolar phase. Finally, one would like to know in more detail how the retrieval quality of this model compares with other three-state neuron models. To fill these gaps is the purpose of the present work.

The main results obtained are the following. Using replica-symmetric mean-field theory it is shown that the retrieval phase is systematically larger than the one of the $`3`$-state neuron models known in the literature. The critical capacity of the BEG neural network is about two times bigger than the one of the $`3`$-state neuron Ising model . The region of thermodynamic stability of the retrieval states is much larger than the one for the $`3`$-Ising model and, interestingly, even slightly bigger than the corresponding region for the Hopfield model. Next, it is found that the quadrupolar phase is not a stable solution for low temperatures but can become stable at high temperatures for suitable choices of the network parameters. The physical meaning of this is discussed. Finally, by calculating the zero-temperature entropy we expect that, for uniformly distributed patterns, replica-symmetry breaking is of the same order as the breaking in the Hopfield model.

The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The model is introduced from a dynamic point of view in section 2. Section 3 presents the replica-symmetric mean-field approximation and obtains the fixed-point equations for the relevant order parameters. In Section 4 these equations are studied in detail for arbitrary temperatures. In particular, a temperature-activity phase diagram for low loading and temperature-capacity phase diagrams for finite loading and several pattern activities are obtained. Also the specific thermodynamic properties are discussed. Where appropriate, the results are compared with the diluted version of the model. Concluding remarks are given in section 5. Finally, the appendix contains the explicit form of the fixed-point equations.

## 2 The model

Consider a network of N neurons, $`\{\sigma _i\}`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{}N`$, which take values out of the set $`\{1,0,1\}`$. In this network we want to store $`p=\alpha N`$ patterns, $`\{\xi _i^\mu \}`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{}N`$ and $`\mu =1,\mathrm{}p`$. They are supposed to be independent identically distributed random variables (iidrv) with respect to $`i`$ and $`\mu `$ drawn from a probability distribution given by

$$\rho (\xi _i^\mu )=a\delta (1(\xi _i^\mu )^2)+(1a)\delta (\xi _i^\mu ),$$
(1)
with $`a`$ the pattern activity, viz.

$$\underset{N\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{N}\underset{i}{}(\xi _i^\mu )^2=a.$$
(2)
The neurons are updated asynchronously according to the transition probability

$$\text{Pr}\left(\sigma _i^{}=s\{1,0,1\}|\{\sigma _i\}\right)=\frac{\mathrm{exp}[\beta ϵ_i(s|\{\sigma _i\})]}{{\displaystyle \underset{s\{1,0,1\}}{}}\mathrm{exp}[\beta ϵ_i(s|\{\sigma _i\})]}$$
(3)
with $`\beta `$ the inverse temperature and $`ϵ_i(s|\{\sigma _i\})`$ an effective single site energy function given by

$$ϵ_i(s|\{\sigma _i\})=h_i(\{\sigma _i\})s\theta _i(\{\sigma _i\})s^2,s\{1,0,1\}$$
(4)
where the random local fields are defined by

$$h_i=\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}J_{ij}\sigma _j,\theta _i=\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}K_{ij}\sigma _j^2.$$
(5)
The coefficients in these local fields are determined via the Hebb rule

$$J_{ij}=\frac{1}{a^2N}\underset{\mu =1}{\overset{p}{}}\xi _i^\mu \xi _j^\mu ,K_{ij}=\frac{1}{a^2(1a)^2N}\underset{\mu =1}{\overset{p}{}}\eta _i^\mu \eta _j^\mu ,\eta _i^\mu =((\xi _i^\mu )^2a).$$
(6)
For zero temperature, the dynamical rule becomes

$$\sigma _i^{}=\text{sign}(h_i(\{\sigma _i\}))\mathrm{\Theta }(|h_i(\{\sigma _i\})|+\theta _i(\{\sigma _i\})).$$
(7)
The long-time behaviour of this network is governed by the Hamiltonian

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\underset{ij}{}J_{ij}\sigma _i\sigma _j\frac{1}{2}\underset{ij}{}K_{ij}\sigma _i^2\sigma _j^2.$$
(8)
Since we want to compare this model with the $`3`$-Ising model and we want to be able to change the relative importance of the two terms we rewrite the Hamiltonian as

$$H=\frac{A}{2}\underset{ij}{}\stackrel{~}{J}_{ij}\sigma _i\sigma _j\frac{B}{2}\underset{ij}{}\stackrel{~}{K}_{ij}\sigma _i^2\sigma _j^2,$$
(9)
with

$$\stackrel{~}{J}_{ij}=aJ_{ij},\stackrel{~}{K}_{ij}=a(1a)K_{ij}.$$
(10)
For

$$A=\frac{1}{a},B=\frac{1}{a(1a)}$$
(11)
we trivially recover the model above. When we now take $`K_{ij}=b\delta _{ij}`$ and $`A=B=1`$ we obtain the $`3`$-state Ising model . Finally, we find back the Hopfield model by taking first $`B=0`$ and then $`a=1`$, again with $`A=1`$.

## 3 Replica-symmetric mean field theory

We apply the standard replica technique  in order to calculate the free energy of the model. Within the replica-symmetry approximation and for a finite number, $`s`$, of condensed patterns, we obtain

$`f(\beta )=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\nu =1}{\overset{s}{}}}\left(aAm_\nu ^2+a(1a)Bl_\nu ^2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2\beta }}\mathrm{log}(1\chi )+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2\beta }}\mathrm{log}(1\varphi )`$ (12)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2\beta }}{\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{1\chi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2\beta }}{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{1\varphi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{Aq_1\chi }{(1\chi )^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{Bp_1\varphi }{(1\varphi )^2}}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta }}{\displaystyle DsDt\mathrm{ln}\text{Tr}_\sigma \mathrm{exp}\left(\beta \stackrel{~}{H}\right)}_{\{\xi ^\nu \}},`$
with the effective Hamiltonian $`\stackrel{~}{H}`$ given by

$$\stackrel{~}{H}=A\sigma \left[\underset{\nu }{}m_\nu \xi ^\nu +\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right]+B\sigma ^2\left[\underset{\nu }{}l_\nu \eta ^\nu +\sqrt{\alpha u}t\right]+\frac{\alpha }{2}\frac{A\chi }{1\chi }\sigma ^2+\frac{\alpha }{2}\frac{B\varphi }{1\varphi }\sigma ^2,$$
(13)
and where $`Ds`$ and $`Dt`$ are Gaussian measures, $`Ds=ds(2\pi )^{1/2}\mathrm{exp}(s^2/2)`$. Furthermore

$$\chi =A\beta (q_0q_1),\varphi =B\beta (p_0p_1),r=\frac{q_1}{(1\chi )^2},u=\frac{p_1}{(1\varphi )^2}.$$
(14)
In these expressions the relevant order parameters are

$`m_\nu `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a}}\xi ^\nu {\displaystyle DsDt\sigma _\beta }_{\{\xi ^\nu \}},`$ (15)
$`l_\nu `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a(1a)}}\eta ^\nu {\displaystyle DsDt\sigma ^2_\beta }_{\{\xi ^\nu \}},`$ (16)
$`q_0`$ $`=`$ $`p_0={\displaystyle DsDt\sigma ^2_\beta }_{\{\xi ^\nu \}},`$ (17)
$`q_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle DsDt\sigma _\beta ^2}_{\{\xi ^\nu \}},`$ (18)
$`p_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle DsDt\sigma ^2_\beta ^2}_{\{\xi ^\nu \}},`$ (19)
where $`_\beta `$ represents the thermal average with respect to the effective Hamiltonian $`\stackrel{~}{H}`$. In the sequel we take only one condensed pattern such that the index $`\nu `$ can be dropped.

The parameter $`m`$ is the usual overlap between the condensed pattern and the network state, while $`l`$ is related to the activity overlap, i.e., $`\sigma ^2\xi ^2`$. In  it has been called the fluctuation overlap between the binary state variables $`\sigma _i^2`$ and $`\eta _i^2`$. Furthermore, $`q_0`$ is the activity of the neurons and $`q_1`$ and $`p_1`$ are the Edwards-Anderson order parameters with their conjugate variables $`r`$, respectively $`u`$. Finally, $`\chi `$ and $`\varphi `$ are the susceptibilities proportional to the fluctuation of the $`m`$ overlap, respectively $`l`$ overlap.

We remark that the trace over the neurons and the average over the patterns can be performed explicitly. The resulting expressions are written down in A.

## 4 Thermodynamic and retrieval properties

In this section, we study the thermodynamic and retrieval properties of the fully connected BEG network by numerically solving the fixed-point equations (15)-(19) for one condensed pattern. Depending on the temperature $`T`$ and on the system parameters $`\alpha `$ and $`a`$ we recognize the following phases in terms of the order parameters.

There is a retrieval phase $`R`$ ($`m>0,l>0,q_1>0`$) characterized by positive $`m`$ and $`l`$ and a quadrupolar phase $`Q`$ ($`m=0,l>0,q_1=0`$) where only $`l`$ is non-zero, meaning that the active neurons ($`\pm 1`$) coincide with the active patterns but the signs are not correlated. This implies that this phase also carries some retrieval information. From the fact that $`q_1=0`$ in this phase we know that the spins are not frozen, so that we expect to find this phase only for high enough temperatures. Furthermore, there is the spin-glass phase $`S`$ ($`m=0,l=0,q_1>0`$) and the paramagnetic phase $`P`$ ($`m=0,l=0,q_1=0`$). We first look at low loading $`\alpha =0`$.

### 4.1 Low loading

For $`\alpha =0`$, the fixed-point equations simplify a lot because all the integrations (see A) drop out. This allows us to carefully study the quadrupolar state as a function of the pattern activity $`a`$ since it turns out that the effect of the quadrupolar phase is strongest for a small loading capacity and high temperatures. A temperature-activity phase is presented in figure 1. A dashed (full) line corresponds to a continuous (discontinuous) transition.

Below $`a=1/2`$, there is a continuous transition at $`aT_R=2/3`$ from the retrieval phase at low $`T`$ to the paramagnetic phase at high $`T`$. This is similar to the $`3`$-Ising model where it occurs for all values of $`a`$ . At $`a=1/2`$ the transition becomes discontinuous and, up to $`a=0.698`$, the only phases present are $`R`$ and $`P`$. The quadrupolar phase starts to appear at $`a=0.698`$ and $`aT=0.767`$, and beyond that point it keeps growing for increasing $`a`$. The transition $`RQ`$ remains discontinuous up to $`a=0.708`$ and $`aT=0.78`$ . For bigger values of $`a`$, it remains continuous and ends at $`aT=(1(2e)^1)^1=0.64`$ for $`a=1`$. We remark that this phase diagram is the same, up to some slightly different numerical values for the transition points, as the corresponding one for the extremely diluted model , confirming the fact that for low loading the architecture is not important.

### 4.2 Finite loading

Next, in figures 2, 3 and 4 we present the temperature-capacity phase diagrams for three typical values of the pattern activity, $`a=1/2`$, $`a=2/3`$ (uniformly distributed patterns) and $`a=0.8`$. As before, a dashed line corresponds to a continuous transition, while a full line corresponds to a discontinuous transition (in all order parameters).

We start with some general observations. Below the line $`T_R`$ retrieval states occur. The curve $`T_F`$ represents the thermodynamic transition between retrieval states and spin-glass states. Hence, below $`T_F`$ the retrieval states are global minima of the free energy while above this line the spin-glass states are. Thermodynamic transitions are shown as thick lines. The line $`T_{SG}`$ denotes the transition from the spin-glass to the paramagnetic phase.

In all phase diagrams we notice some reentrance, i.e., $`\alpha _c`$ at some finite $`T`$ is larger than $`\alpha _c`$ at $`T=0`$. This effect is well-known from the literature (see, e.g., , ) and signals the breaking of replica symmetry. In order to have an idea about the size of this breaking compared with other models, we calculate the entropy at zero temperature :

$$S=\frac{\alpha }{2}\left[\mathrm{ln}(1\chi )+\mathrm{ln}(1\varphi )+\frac{\chi }{1\chi }+\frac{\varphi }{1\varphi }\right].$$
(20)
We find that this entropy is indeed negative but small. For uniform patterns, e.g., the entropy of the retrieval state at $`\alpha _c`$ is, $`S(\alpha _c)=0.0017`$, which is of the same order of magnitude as the one for the Hopfield model, i.e., $`S(\alpha _c)=0.0014`$, suggesting that the breaking is comparable. Moreover, the zero temperature entropy becomes more negative for increasing $`a`$, e.g., $`S(\alpha _c)`$ is $`0.0010`$, $`0,0017`$ and $`0.031`$ for $`a=1/2`$, $`a=2/3`$ and $`a=0.8`$ respectively, which might suggest that the breaking becomes larger.

Next, we look at the different phase diagrams in more detail. In the case of $`a=1/2`$ shown in figure 2, the diagram quantitatively resembles the one for the $`3`$-Ising model . At high temperatures there is the continuous transition from the disordered paramagnetic phase to the spin-glass phase. When crossing the curve $`T_R`$ retrieval states show up as local minima of the free energy. At these points the overlap with the embedded patterns jumps from zero to a finite macroscopic value. In comparison with the $`3`$-Ising model there is a small kink in the line $`T_R`$. When lowering $`T`$ further the retrieval states become global minima of the free energy. This happens along the curve $`T_F`$ and this thermodynamic transition is first order. The value for the critical capacity at zero temperature is $`\alpha _c=0.058`$, while the thermodynamic transition point is $`\alpha _F=0.030`$.

For uniform patterns (see figure 3) several transition curves bordering the different phases discussed above show up. Here we note that the critical curves $`T_{SG}`$ and $`T_R`$ end in different temperature points at $`\alpha =0`$ giving rise to a ‘crossover’ region for small $`\alpha `$ as it occurs in the Potts model . This is related with the fact that for $`\alpha =0`$ this model has a discontinuous transition at $`T_F`$. In this crossover region the retrieval states (global minima below $`T_F`$) and the paramagnetic states (local minima below $`T_F`$) coexist. Comparing these results with those found for the $`3`$-Ising model , we see that the $`\alpha _c=0.091`$ found here is almost double of the critical capacity of the latter, $`\alpha _c=0.046`$. We recall that the last number is obtained in the case of an optimal choice for the model parameter $`b`$, i.e. $`b=1/2`$, which makes the Hamming distance minimal . Furthermore, the region of thermodynamic stability for the retrieval states is about four times bigger. Compared with the Hopfield model, we notice that $`\alpha _c`$ is smaller in the BEG model, $`0.091`$ versus $`0.13`$, but $`\alpha _F`$ is larger, $`0.053`$ versus $`0.051`$. So a bigger number of the retrieval states in the BEG network are global minima of the free energy.

Figure 4 shows the phase diagram for $`a=0.8`$. We immediately remark that the structure of the phase diagram turns out to be more complicated, as expected. The major difference with the foregoing phase diagrams is the presence of the quadrupolar phase for high temperatures. Indeed, from the discussion in section 4.1 (see figure 1) we know that this quadrupolar phase shows up from an activity $`a=0.698`$ onwards. As a consequence, the cross-over or coexistence region is larger than the one for the $`a=2/3`$ phase diagram. The transition from the $`Q`$ phase to the $`P`$ phase is discontinuous and by comparing the relevant free energies of the different phases we find the thermodynamic transition line $`T_F^{}`$ below which the quadrupolar states are global minima. We see that $`T_F^{}`$ joins nicely with $`T_F`$, as it should. The transition from the $`R`$ to the $`Q`$ phase is continuous for small $`\alpha `$ up to $`\alpha =0.0023`$ and discontinuous beyond that value. Finally, we notice that there is a larger reentrance suggesting a stronger replica-symmetry breaking, which is consistent with the fact that the zero-temperature entropy is more negative in this case, as mentioned above.

The quadrupolar phase is situated in the high temperature region and we can understand the physics behind it in the following way. The spin-glass order parameter $`q_1`$ is zero, meaning that the $`\pm 1`$ spins are not frozen and as a consequence $`m`$ can be zero. The fact that $`l`$ is not zero practically means that the spins can flip freely between $`\pm 1`$ but the probability that they jump to 0 or vice versa becomes very small. This effect arises from $`a>1/2`$ onwards when the ratio between the second and the first term in the Hamiltonian starts increasing as $`(1a)^1`$. It implies that the information content of the system is non-zero in this phase. A practical example may be in pattern recognition where, looking at black and white pictures on a grey background, this phase would tell us the exact location of the picture with respect to the background without finding the details of the picture itself.

Returning to figure 4 we remark that in the shaded region two retrieval states coexist. A similar behaviour has also been seen in other multi-state networks, e.g., the fully connected Potts model . Their presence can be understood by studying the overlap order parameter $`m`$ as a function of $`\alpha `$. This is shown in figure 5 where the full line denotes stable solutions, while the dashed line corresponds to unstable solutions (saddle points). For small $`T`$ two stable solutions occur. The one with the smallest overlap vanishes for large $`T`$.

We end this section with a technical remark. In studying the fixed-point equations of this model, it turns out that a lot of solutions are in fact saddle points and not minima of the free energy. This can, of course, be investigated by studying the local stability of the extrema of the free energy. For large $`a`$ we find, e.g., that there may be more than 4 possible solutions involving some kind of quadrupolar character ($`m=0`$, $`l>0`$). Only the solution depicted in figure 4 is a stable one (a real atractor). This also answers the question posed in  about the stability of the quadrupolar state at low temperatures.

### 4.3 Coefficients $`A`$ and $`B`$ versus the critical capacity

In defining the BEG neural network model, we have included the possibility of varying the coefficients $`A`$ and $`B`$ in the Hamiltonian. The value of the coefficients $`A`$ and $`B`$ given by (11) stems from . They are obtained by optimizing the mutual information of the system. One could expect that this choice also improves other properties of the neural network, e.g., the basin of attraction, the critical capacity $`\alpha _c`$.

Figure 6 shows $`\alpha _c`$ (dashed line) and $`\alpha _R`$ (full line) as a function of $`\gamma =a(1a)B`$ with $`A`$ fixed at $`A=1/a`$ for uniform patterns at $`T=0`$. For $`\gamma =1`$, we recover the BEG neural network as in (11) and studied above. It turns out that the maximum in the critical capacity is located at $`\gamma =0.712`$ with a corresponding value of $`\alpha _c=0.096`$. Also the maximum in the thermodynamic transition is located at a value smaller than 1. This does not agree with the expectation formulated above.

A reason for this is the approximation done in order to get the mean-field Hamiltonian in . At a certain point in its derivation the authors assume that $`q_0a`$. Consequently, the mutual information of the network is optimized under this assumption. Although this assumption is natural for having a complete match between the final state of the network and the condensed pattern, in general, it may not be realized in a specific model. Furthermore, the fact that replica-symmetry breaking may be bigger for larger $`\alpha `$, as is also suggested by the zero-temperature entropy calculation, could be an extra reason why the maximum in $`\alpha _c`$ is further away from the value $`\gamma =1`$ than is the maximum in $`\alpha _F`$. A further investigation is non-trivial and beyond the scope of the present work.

## 5 Concluding remarks

We have considered both the thermodynamic and retrieval properties of fully connected BEG networks. Fixed-point equations for the relevant order parameters have been derived for arbitrary temperatures in the replica-symmetric mean-field approximation. An activity-temperature phase diagram for low loading has been obtained. Near saturation, capacity-temperature phase diagrams have been discussed in detail for several values of the activity of the three-state patterns.

Compared with existing three-state neuron models the retrieval region is larger and, e.g., for uniformly distributed patterns the critical capacity at zero temperature is almost two times bigger. Also the region of thermodynamic stability of the retrieval states is much enlarged and even larger than the one for the two-state Hopfield model. A new information carrying phase, the quadrupolar phase, appears at larger values of the activity in the high-temperature region of the phase diagram and may extend the practical usefulness of this network, e.g, in pattern recognition.

We would like to thank J. Busquets-Blanco, R. Erichsen jr., I. Pérez-Castillo and W. Theumann for fruitful discussions. One of the authors (DB) thanks W. Theumann for hospitality and financial support during a stay at the Instituto de Física of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, where part of this work has been done. This work has been supported in part by the Fund of Scientific Research, Flanders-Belgium.

## References

## Appendix A Explicit expressions for the fixed point equations

In this appendix we write down explicitly the fixed-point equations for the order parameters of the BEG network. After performing the trace over the spins and the average over the condensed patterns in equations (15)-(19) we obtain

$`m={\displaystyle DsDt𝐕_\beta [\left(Am+A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bl(1a)+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]}`$ (21)
$`l={\displaystyle DsDt𝐖_\beta [\left(Am+A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bl(1a)+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]}`$
$`{\displaystyle DsDt𝐖_\beta [\left(A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bla+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]}`$ (22)
$`q_0=p_0=a{\displaystyle DsDt𝐖_\beta [\left(Am+A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bl(1a)+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]}`$
$`+(1a){\displaystyle DsDt𝐖_\beta [\left(A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bla+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]}`$ (23)
$`q_1=a{\displaystyle DsDt\left(𝐕_\beta [\left(Am+A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bl(1a)+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]\right)^2}`$
$`+(1a){\displaystyle DsDt\left(𝐕_\beta [\left(A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bla+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]\right)^2}`$ (24)
$`p_1=a{\displaystyle DsDt\left(𝐖_\beta [\left(Am+A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bl(1a)+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]\right)^2}`$
$`+(1a){\displaystyle DsDt\left(𝐖_\beta [\left(A\sqrt{\alpha r}s\right),\left(Bla+B\sqrt{\alpha u}t+\frac{\alpha }{2}X\right)]\right)^2}`$ (25)
with

$$\chi =A\beta (q_0q_1),\varphi =B\beta (p_0p_1),r=\frac{q_1}{(1\chi )^2},u=\frac{p_1}{(1\varphi )^2}$$
(26)
and

$$X=A\frac{\chi }{1\chi }+B\frac{\varphi }{1\varphi }.$$
(27)
The functions $`𝐕_\beta `$ and $`𝐖_\beta `$ are defined by

$`𝐕_\beta (x,y)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sinh}(\beta x)}{\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{exp}(\beta y)+\mathrm{cosh}(\beta x)}},`$ (28)
$`𝐖_\beta (x,y)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cosh}(\beta x)}{\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{exp}(\beta y)+\mathrm{cosh}(\beta x)}},`$ (29)
and reduce, for zero temperature, to

$`𝐕_{\mathrm{}}(x,y)`$ $`=\text{sign}(x)\mathrm{\Theta }(|x|+y),`$ (30)
$`𝐖_{\mathrm{}}(x,y)`$ $`=\mathrm{\Theta }(|x|+y).`$ (31)


format: text

text:
# The Sizes of OH (1720 MHz) Supernova Remnant Masers: MERLIN and VLBA Observations of IC 443

## 1 Introduction

Maser emission from the OH (1720 MHz) satellite transition $`({}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{},J=\frac{3}{2},F=21)`$ in supernova remnants was first observed by Goss (1968) toward W28 and W44. Study of OH (1720 MHz) masers in SNRs was then renewed by Frail, Goss, and Slysh (1994) toward the supernova remnant W28. Subsequent studies and surveys (Yusef-Zadeh et al. 2000; Yusef-Zadeh et al. 1999; Koralesky et al. 1998; Green et al. 1997; Frail et al. 1996; Yusef-Zadeh et al. 1996) have observed $`200`$ Galactic supernova remnants and found that 22 remnants have associated OH (1720 MHz) maser emission. Unlike their Hii region counterparts (e.g. Gray, Doel, & Field 1991), SNR OH (1720 MHz) masers are thought to be collisionally pumped (e.g. Elitzur 1976), and are never accompanied by masers from the other ground state OH transitions (e.g. Green et al. 1997; Frail et al. 1996). Additionally, Hii region OH masers are relatively small in size ($`2`$ mas) and are known to be variable (e.g. Masheder et al. 1994) while SNR OH (1720 MHz) masers are much larger ($`200`$ mas, §3.1) and have not been observed to vary.

Observations suggest that OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers occur where the shock front from a supernova explosion encounters a molecular cloud (e.g. W28: Frail, Goss, and Slysh 1994; Kes 78: Koralesky et al. 1998; 3C391: Frail et al. 1996; W44: Wootten 1977). In such interactions, a C-type (non-dissociative) shock can produce the relatively rare conditions ($`n10^5\mathrm{cm}^3`$, $`T90`$ K, $`N_{\mathrm{OH}}10^{1617}\mathrm{cm}^2`$) needed to produce collisionally pumped OH (1720 MHz) masers (Elitzur 1976; Wardle 1999; Lockett, Gauthier, & Elitzur 1999, hereafter LGE; see also Draine & McKee 1993). Observationally, the VLBA-scale Zeeman magnetic field measurements from OH (1720 MHz) masers in W44, W28, and W51C (Claussen et al. 1999, hereafter C99; Brogan et al. 2002) verify the $`C`$-type shock predictions of the collisional pump. The temperature, density, and OH column of the OH (1720 MHz) collisional pump are also well established by observation (e.g. Claussen et al. 1997, hereafter C97; C99).

The SNR/molecular cloud interaction in IC 443 is especially well studied. Many molecular observations have verified that the temperature ($`T=33100`$ K) and density ($`n=(18)\times 10^5`$ cm-3) are in accord with OH (1720 MHz) theory (Turner et al. 1992; Dickman et al. 1992; Ziurys, Snell & Dickman 1989; van Dishoeck et al. 1993; Cesarsky et al. 1999; Rho et al. 2001). The OH (1720 MHz) masers occur in “clump G” of the shocked molecular interaction regions in IC 443 (DeNoyer 1979b; Huang, Dickman, & Snell 1986) and, specifically, sub-clump G1 as resolved by submillimeter and interferometric observations (van Dishoeck et al. 1993; Tauber et al. 1994). Nonetheless, an important observational constraint that is still required is the transverse size of the region of OH inversion. In addition, the fraction of this region that participates in the observed stimulated emission remains uncertain.

A fundamental problem in understanding OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser emission lies in quantifying the scatter-broadening of the imaged maser sizes. The narrow-band maser emission does not permit multi-wavelength fitting of the scattering properties to the $`\lambda ^2`$ wavelength dependence expected of ionized ISM scattering at radio frequencies. It is not known if the resolved areas of OH (1720 MHz) maser emission reveal the true sizes of the emitting regions or are simply scatter-broadened images of smaller regions. Many of the well-studied maser regions (such as W28 and W44) lie in directions of the Galaxy along which the scattering due to the ionized interstellar medium is expected to be prominent (e.g. Yusef-Zadeh et al. 1999; Kaspi et al. 1993; Taylor & Cordes 1993; Cordes et al. 1991). C99 have studied the OH (1720 MHz) masers in the supernova remnants W28 and W44 at 40 mas resolution with the VLBA and at 200 mas resolution with MERLIN. They find angular sizes $`30\mathrm{mas}<\theta <240\mathrm{mas}`$ and argue that these sizes may be the intrinsic, unscattered sizes of the masers. In contrast, some OH (1720 MHz) masers near the Galactic center (Yusef-Zadeh et al. 1996) have sizes expected to be dominated by angular scatter-broadening.

Claussen et al. (2002) have recently determined that the interstellar scattering of the W28 masers is minimal by studying the scattering properties of both an adjacent background pulsar and an extragalactic source. In this paper, we seek to corroborate their results with an independent OH (1720 MHz) maser image size measurement. In order to minimize the angular broadening effects caused by the interstellar medium, the OH (1720 MHz) masers in the supernova remnant IC 443 have been observed. Both C99 and Frail, Goss, & Slysh (1994) suggested that the IC 443 masers would be useful for this purpose, since this SNR lies toward the Galactic anticenter ($`\mathrm{}=189.1^{}`$, $`b=3.0^{}`$). Indeed, sources in the direction of IC 443 are expected to show less than 1 mas of scatter-broadening (Lazio & Cordes 1998a,b). In addition, IC 443 is nearby at a distance of 1.5 kpc, compared to W44 (3 kpc) and W28 (2.5 kpc), which improves the IC 443 image linear resolution at the source (Fesen 1984; Mufson et al. 1986; Velazquez et al. 2002; Green 1989; Radhakrishnan et al. 1972; Kaspi et al. 1993; Hartl et al. 1983). The shocked $`1720\mathrm{MHz}`$ OH emission in IC 443 was first detected by DeNoyer (1979a).

This paper presents new observations of the OH (1720 MHz) masers in IC 443 made using the Multi-element Radio Linked Interferometry Network111MERLIN is operated as a National Facility by the University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory, on behalf of Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). (MERLIN) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) of the NRAO222The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.. This paper also examines an NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) ‘A’ configuration observation of the IC 443 masers (from 12 March 1994) that has already been discussed by C97. This paper will use the source numbering convention of Claussen et al. (C97 Table 4).

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 MERLIN

The MERLIN radio telescope of the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories observed the IC 443 OH masers at $`1720\mathrm{MHz}`$ on 2000 January 20 for $`9`$ hours. Six antennas were used, including the Mark II at Jodrell Bank, the 32 m antenna at Cambridge, and the 25 m dishes at Knockin, Darnhall, Tabley, and Defford. Both right-handed and left-handed circular polarizations were recorded. The correlator produced 512 spectral channels across a 500 kHz passband which yielded a velocity channel spacing of 0.17 km s-1 and a velocity resolution of 0.20 km s-1. The visibilities were integrated for 8.0 s. The field of view of the array for these parameters is larger than the $`10\mathrm{}`$ over which the maser emission is distributed (C97).

The absolute amplitude calibration was set by observations of 3C286. The bandpasses were calibrated using observations of 3C84. The phases were calibrated by frequent observations of 0617+210 at 13 MHz bandwidth and transferred to the 500 kHz maser bandwidth using the 3C84 offset solutions. The rms noise in the final images is 11 mJy beam-1, in agreement with expected values. The synthesized beam of the images is $`250\times 155`$ mas at a position angle $`27\mathrm{°}`$.

### 2.2 VLBA+Y1

We also observed the IC 443 OH (1720 MHz) masers on 2001 November 02 with the ten antennas of the VLBA plus one antenna of the VLA for $`5`$ hours. Both left and right circular polarizations were recorded. The correlator produced 1024 spectral channels across a 1 MHz band yielding a 0.17 km s-1 velocity channel spacing and a velocity resolution of 0.20 km s-1. The visibilities were integrated for 8.9 s. The field of view of the VLBA+Y1 array for these parameters is $`15\mathrm{}`$. Approximately half of the data were unusable due to ionospheric and other effects. In particular, the baselines to Mauna Kea did not have sufficient signal to allow self-calibration and were not used in the final images. The synthesized beam of the resulting images is $`15\times 12`$ mas at a position angle of $`12\mathrm{°}`$.

The amplitude scale was set by online system temperature monitoring and a priori antenna gain measurements. Bandpass responses and station delays were found from observations of J0555+3948. The observations were phase referenced to J0557+2413 which is $`4.8\mathrm{°}`$ distant from the masers. The phase reference source and the maser targets were alternately observed every 2 minutes to allow the maser visibility phases to be tracked against the brighter J0557+2413. The rms noise in the final images is 25 mJy beam-1, in agreement with expected values.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Images

An image of the strongest maser channel ($`V_{\mathrm{LSR}}=4.64`$ km s-1) from the VLA data (C97) is shown in Figure 1a (resolution $`1.19\mathrm{}\times 0.92\mathrm{}`$), while Figure 1b shows an image made from the combined VLA and MERLIN data for the same velocity (resolution $`590\times 540`$ mas). Figure 2 shows the $`V_{\mathrm{LSR}}=4.64`$ km s-1 channel from the MERLIN data alone with a resolution of 250$`\times `$155 mas. Three of the six features noted by C97 using the VLA are visible in the MERLIN image. In addition, the MERLIN data has resolved the VLA Feature 1 into two peaks, 1A and 1B. All four MERLIN sources are well resolved. All image features were analyzed by fitting two-dimensional gaussian deconvolutions with the AIPS333The Astronomical Imaging Processing System (AIPS) software package of the NRAO is documented at http://www.nrao.edu/aips/ task JMFIT. The deconvolved angular sizes are $`90<\theta <180`$ mas. Table 1 summarizes the MERLIN image features, including the brightness temperatures corresponding to the feature sizes. Figure 2 also shows the MERLIN Stokes $`I`$ line profiles from the maser peak positions. The velocity widths and velocities of these features are summarized in Table 3 and presented in §3.2. From Table 3, it is also clear that the MERLIN observations recover all of the line flux density observed for Features 1, 2, and 3 with the VLA (C97). Feature 5 is not detected in the MERLIN image (Fig. 2), although the fact that it is unresolved in the VLA data (Fig. 1a) suggests that it should not be resolved out by MERLIN. This discrepancy is most likely due to low level residual sidelobes that are apparent in the MERLIN image (caused by insufficient UV coverage) at the position of Feature 5. Since all of the other VLA line flux density is recovered in the MERLIN image, we conclude that the masers do not exhibit structure on scales larger than $`200`$ mas. The 200 mas MERLIN angular size upper limits correspond to $`4\times 10^{15}`$ cm (300 AU) at the distance of IC 443 (1.5 kpc).

Figure 3 shows the image of the $`V_{\mathrm{LSR}}=4.64`$ km s-1 velocity channel from the VLBA+Y1 observations. The three peaks lie within the MERLIN 1A feature. The VLBA was not able to detect the other, weaker MERLIN features. The 1A core sizes are in the range $`25<\theta <75`$ mas, with brightness temperatures $`(519)\times 10^8`$ K, and are summarized in Table 2. The VLBA image (Fig. 3) contains about 75% of the line flux density in the MERLIN image of Feature 1A. Thus we would argue that about 75% of the maser emission comes from compact cores while about 25% of the maser emission exists on extended angular scales resolved out by the VLBA. Figure 3 also shows the VLBA Stokes $`I`$ spectra at the three image peaks whose properties are summarized in Table 3.

### 3.2 Line Widths

The MERLIN and VLBA Stokes $`I`$ spectra at the peak maser positions were fitted with gaussian profiles using the GIPSY444The Groningen Image Processing System (GIPSY) software package is documented at http://www.astro.rug.nl/$``$gipsy/. software package. The resulting deconvolved line widths of the maser line profiles from the MERLIN and the VLBA observations are summarized in Table 3. These data are comparable to other OH (1720 MHz) maser observations, with typical line widths of $`0.5`$ km s-1. However, a few of the IC 443 SNR maser lines are measured to have velocity widths less than the Doppler velocity width $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_D`$ of the masing gas. We estimate the minimum Doppler velocity width in the maser by assuming a gas temperature of $`T=90`$ K in accord with the molecular studies of the shocked region (e.g. van Dishoeck, Jansen, & Phillips 1993) and by ignoring the Doppler contributions of any bulk turbulent flows in the shock. By this method we find $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_D=0.49`$ km s-1 in IC 443 clump G1. Any contributions from turbulent motions, which are expected to be small, would broaden the expected $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_D`$ and further stress that the maser lines are sub-Doppler. Thus, the MERLIN 1A line ($`\mathrm{\Delta }V=0.42\pm 0.05`$ km s-1) and the VLBA 1A1 line ($`\mathrm{\Delta }V=0.24\pm 0.07`$ km s-1) are appreciably narrower than the expected Doppler profile. The significance of these sub-Doppler line widths is discussed in §4.2.

### 3.3 Polarimetry

Figure 4 shows the Stokes $`I`$ and $`V`$ profiles from the 1A source peak of the MERLIN image in Figure 2. This figure demonstrates that the 1A maser is $`10`$% right circularly polarized. The Stokes $`V`$ profiles for MERLIN Features 1B, 2, and 3 and VLBA Feature 1A1 also show $`10`$% circular polarization. Features 1B and 2 are right circularly polarized, while Feature 3 is left circularly polarized. The Stokes $`V`$ profiles from the C97 VLA data are in agreement with these MERLIN and VLBA results, in both the magnitude and sense of circular polarization. These IC 443 circular polarization results are in distinct contrast to the Zeeman S-shaped profiles typically observed in OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers (e.g. Brogan et al. 2000; C99; C97).

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Sizes

The geometry at the shock front is an important consideration when discussing the measured maser sizes. OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers are observed only at the SNR/molecular cloud interface where the shock front is moving transversely across the plane of the sky (e.g. Frail et al. 1996). IC 443 provides an excellent example of this geometrical selection effect. There is a $`9`$ pc ring of shocked molecular interaction around the SNR (e.g. Dickman et al. 1992) but the masers are only observed in clump G where the shock is moving transverse to the line of sight (e.g. Wang & Scoville 1992). This transverse motion allows maximum velocity coherence along the line of sight. The post-shock region that provides the collisional pump conditions (LGE; Wardle 1999) is determined by the downstream temperature profile needed for the collisional excitation and the dissociative SNR X-rays that generate OH molecules from H2O that is formed upstream.

LGE suggest that the size of the region suitable for population inversion and maser emission $`L`$ is $`10^{16}`$ cm ($`700`$ AU). This transverse scale $`L`$ is much smaller than the measured size of the shocked clump G region: $`(58)\times 10^{17}`$ cm (Turner et al. 1992; van Dishoeck et al. 1993; Tauber et al. 1994; Cesarsky et al. 1999). However, these sizes are only an upper limit to the possible transverse sizes $`\mathrm{}_m`$ of the masers. The physical conditions required for the maser emission are more stringent than those responsible for the shocked emission observed in the molecular studies. We measure angular sizes in the range $`90<\theta <180`$ mas, corresponding to linear sizes $`135\mathrm{AU}<\mathrm{}_m<270`$ AU. Therefore, less than 10% of the transverse width $`L`$ of the IC 443 clump G region that can theoretically produce stimulated emission shows maser radiation.

The multiple compact cores observed in IC 443 with the VLBA (Fig. 3) are not unique in the OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser class. A similar core/diffuse morphology is observed using MERLIN and the VLBA by C99 in the W44 and W28 masers. They also note that MERLIN recovers all of the line flux density observed with the VLA. The VLBA observation of the W44 E11 maser source shows a compact core responsible for about half of the emission. All of the flux density of the W28 E24, E30, and E31 maser sources is resolved out completely in the VLBA data. In fact, all of the W28 and W44 masers imaged with the VLBA by C99 show some $`100`$ mas structure to which MERLIN is sensitive, but which is resolved out by the VLBA observations. Since the intrinsic structures in the IC 443, W28, and W44 masers are comparable, this morphology likely indicates further physical similarity among all OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser regions.

We assume that the line of sight to IC 443 is relatively free of scatter-broadening effects (e.g. Lazio & Cordes 1998a,b). We have also measured linear sizes comparable to those observed on MERLIN and VLBA scales by C99 in W28 and W44. These angular size and morphology measurements indicate that all MERLIN and VLBA OH (1720 MHz) angular size measurements to date (e.g. C99; Brogan et al. 2002), except those in the Galactic center (Yusef-Zadeh et al. 1996), have determined the intrinsic maser sizes. In general it appears that a $``$300 AU region of diffuse maser emission surrounds multiple compact cores $``$60 AU in transverse size.

### 4.2 Line Widths

Using the narrow line widths of the MERLIN 1A line and the VLBA 1A1 line (Table 3), it is possible to place constraints on the geometry of the maser regions. Elitzur (1998) suggests that the Doppler width $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_D`$ expected from the line-emitting gas will be related to the emitted maser line width $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ by $`\mathrm{\Delta }V=\mathrm{\Delta }V_D/\sqrt{p}`$ such that integer values of $`p=1,2,3`$ correspond to the dimension of filamentary, planar, or ellipsoidal region geometries, respectively. Comparison of this relation with the velocity widths for Features 1A (MERLIN) and 1A1 (VLBA) in Table 3, implies that at least some of the masers are emitted from regions with $`p3`$. The gas region geometry implied for these features by this line narrowing is roughly ellipsoidal; the data are not consistent with a thin emitting filament along the line of sight. LGE find that an OH (1720 MHz) maser region with an aspect ratio of three can yield a maser brightness temperature $`T_B<10^9`$ K. This prediction is in good agreement with the brightness temperatures listed in Tables 1 and 2.

We will not discuss various maser line ‘rebroadening’ theories (e.g. Litvak 1970; Peters & Allen 1972) that depend explicitly on saturation because we have been unable to constrain the saturation state of the masers. Elitzur (1998) suggests a test for maser saturation that requires an antisymmetric Stokes $`V`$ line profile but, as discussed in §4.3, we do not observe an antisymmetric Stokes $`V`$ line profile in the IC 443 masers. Since we may only assume that the masers are saturated on the grounds that they have not been observed to vary (see §§3.1, 4.4), the only warranted line width discussion is the geometry theory discussed above.

### 4.3 Polarization

The Zeeman splitting of the OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser line emission from supernova remnants has proven to be an outstanding tool for measuring the magnetic field strengths in supernova shock fronts (e.g. Brogan et al. 2000). The maser Stokes $`V`$ line profiles often show the expected antisymmetrical S-shaped thermal Zeeman pattern. In some cases, spatial or spectral blending of different maser components partially confuse the expected Zeeman profile. However, IC 443 represents the first observation of single-handed circularly polarized line spectra from OH (1720 MHz) masers in supernova remnants (see Fig. 4). There are a number of effects which could potentially cause the observed circular polarization, and many of these could act simultaneously: (1) spatial blending of masing spots; (2) spectral blending of individual maser lines; (3) velocity gradients; (4) magnetic field gradients; and (5) Faraday rotation. In the following, we are able to rule out (1) and (2) from our observational results. We cannot constrain the contributions of (3), (4), and (5) but we give a few examples of how these effects could conspire to yield the observed polarization.

In general, if spatially distinct maser features emit at different velocities or different luminosities, their emission would not present a symmetrical S-shaped Zeeman or gaussian Stokes $`I`$ profile when convolved together in a large beam. For example, different OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser source spectra are spatially blended in VLA observations of W28 and W44 (C97) and do not present simple Zeeman Stokes $`V`$ profiles. However, subsequent MERLIN and VLBA observations toward W28 and W44 do discern simple Zeeman spectra from multiple spatial components (C99). Similarly, spatial blending is a complicating factor for the interpretation of IC 443 Feature 1 (Fig. 1). VLA observations (C97) show a single maser feature while MERLIN observations (Fig. 2) reveal the presence two resolved maser peaks, 1A and 1B. The MERLIN 1A maser feature, in turn, has emission from at least three distinct sources (1A1, 1A2, and 1A3; Fig. 3) on VLBA size scales. Surprisingly, the VLA, MERLIN, and VLBA data, covering three orders of magnitude in angular resolution, all show the same $``$10% circular polarization. Thus, although these IC 443 VLBA observations have the highest linear resolution of any OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser study to date, no symmetrical S-shaped Zeeman line profiles are observed to be spatially blended. Therefore, unlike the W28 and W44 masers for which subsequent MERLIN and VLBA observations do discern simple Zeeman spectra (C99), we observe no evidence that spatial blending is responsible for confusing the circular polarization signal in the IC 443 OH (1720 MHz) masers.

Spectral blending may explain the circular polarization levels even when spatial blending cannot. Spectral blending, however, is not discernible with multiple angular resolution studies since all of the emission components lie along the line of sight. It is possible that several different masers, each with the expected Zeeman profile, lie along the line of sight with different velocities, line widths, and amplitudes. In specific combinations these masers could be superposed to yield a 10% circularly polarized line profile. However, it is unlikely that all of the spatially distinct lines-of-sight in the IC 443 maser images (Figs. 1, 2, & 3) contain these exact superpositions necessary to reproduce the $`10`$% circular polarization levels. Additionally, the sub-Doppler line widths observed in the IC 443 masers (§3.2, 4.2) limit an explanation involving spectral blending, since several line components at different velocities would be required, and such blending must necessarily broaden the observed Stokes $`I`$ profile that is their sum. For these reasons, we do not believe that spectral blending can account for the symmetrical Stokes $`V`$ profiles observed for the OH (1720 MHz) masers in IC 443.

Since it appears that neither spectral blending nor spatial blending significantly affects the line profiles observed in the IC 443 OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers, the observed $``$10% circular polarization levels are most likely an intrinsic property of the maser emission. Elitzur (1992) reviews a number of polarization selection mechanisms that could affect the OH (1720 MHz) maser collisional pump, including velocity or magnetic field gradients. For example, Cook (1966) and Shklovskii (1969) require both a magnetic field and velocity gradient along the line of sight in order to amplify one hand of circular polarization. Similarly, Deguchi & Watson (1986) predict a circularly polarized line in the presence of a uniform magnetic field and a large velocity gradient. A line-of-sight magnetic field “beaming” geometry has also been suggested to affect the degree of circular polarization (Gray & Field 1994). Alternatively, Deguchi & Watson (1993) suggest that if the Faraday rotation within the gain medium is significant, Stokes $`U`$ polarization can be transfered to Stokes $`V`$ signal. For this Stokes transfer mechanism, Field & Gray (1994) estimate that an electron column density of $`N_e>10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ is required. The studies of IC 443 clump G by Bykov et al. (2000), Turner et al. (1992), and Keohane et al. (1997) indicate electron column densities of this order. However, it is not clear how the OH (1720 MHz) maser polarization data for IC 443 – (1) the 10% circular polarization (Fig. 4) and (2) the 4.2% linear polarization (VLA: C97) – can apply or constrain these theories.

### 4.4 Proper Motion

Dickman et al. (1992) consider it plausible that clump G was a preexisting molecular cloud condensation, only now being encountered by the SNR blast wave. Theories due to McKee et al. (1978) and, if applicable, Bertoldi & McKee (1990) suggest that a cloud with the size and mass of clump G should survive the shock ram and be accelerated into ballistic motion. Indeed, Wang & Scoville (1992) find IC 443 clumps C1 and C2 to have been accelerated in this way. Clump G may be expected to have a ballistic velocity on the order of the shock velocity $`v_s40`$ km s-1 (e.g. van Dishoeck et al. 1993; Draine, Roberge, & Dalgarno 1983). Thus, the phase-referenced VLBA maser observations of IC 443 (Fig. 3) are suitable as the first epoch of a possible $`30`$ mas proper motion measurement over $`5`$ yr.

Alternatively, clump G may remain stationary. In such a case, the maser lifetime can be expected to be determined by the relatively short shock crossing time $`L/v_s10^3`$ yr. Indeed, Cesarsky et al. (1999) finds that clump G is not in steady state and Rho et al. (2001) suggest the presence of a time-variable $`C`$-type shock to explain their \[Oi\] 63.18 $`\mu `$m line and infrared continuum data. However, our data do not show any time variability in the maser emission over the six years between the VLA and MERLIN observations (see §3.1).

Furthermore, McKee & Tan (2002) suggest that stars may form in $`10^5`$ yr in physical conditions satisfied by OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser regions such as IC 443 clump G and W44 (cf. Plume et al. 1997; Wootten 1978). Indeed, star formation theory often identifies shock fronts as the agent by which molecular clouds are compressed to high density ($`n>10^5\mathrm{cm}^3`$) and triggered into the gravitational collapse of new stars (e.g. Elmegreen & Lada 1977). However, Dickman et al. (1992) expect the clumps to retain their “kinematic signatures” for at least $`10^6`$ yr.

The timescales of the various dynamical predictions applicable to IC 443 clump G span three or four orders of magnitude. A proper motion study of the masers in these environments may distinguish between the different theoretical scenarios. Also, future study of the IC 443 system could considerably illuminate the degree to which OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers mark the sites of future star formation in molecular clouds (e.g. Wardle & Yusef-Zadeh 2002).

## 5 Conclusions

Interstellar image scatter-broadening is expected to be minimal toward IC 443 near the Galactic anticenter. The MERLIN and VLBA linear resolution at the relatively close 1.5 kpc distance to the supernova remnant is the most favorable of any investigation to date. Thus, these data represent the most reliable measurement of the intrinsic sizes of OH (1720 MHz) masers in supernova remnants. Also, we observe multiple compact maser cores at VLBA angular scales, as has been observed in other VLBI studies of OH (1720 MHz) masers (e.g. C99). If we generalize these findings to all similar masers, these results indicate that OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers have a core/diffuse morphology with linear sizes approaching $`300`$ AU and cores smaller than $``$60 AU. These measured sizes also indicate that approximately 10% of the shocked “clump G” region in IC 443 capable of supporting the maser actually shows maser emission.

The circular polarization profiles of the IC 443 OH masers are unique in their class. We also present the narrowest line observed from OH (1720 MHz) SNR masers. Future work on IC 443 masers should include high spectral and spatial resolution linear polarization imaging. Linear polarization information may help constrain the role of the magnetic field in both the Zeeman behavior and the geometry of the masing gas (e.g. Elitzur 1998). A second epoch of phase-referenced proper motion observations of the IC 443 masers may yield information on the dynamical lifetime of the maser regions. In conclusion, though IC 443 contains a relatively small number of OH (1720 MHz) masers compared to other SNRs, IC 443 is an excellent laboratory for the study of the polarization and morphology properties that seem to be ubiquitous in the OH (1720 MHz) SNR maser class.

We wish to thank M. Elitzur for helpful comments on an earlier draft. We also thank the referee for timely correspondence. IMH was supported in part by the NRAO summer student program and the NRAO pre-doctoral researcher program.


text:
# Open charm 𝐵 decays

## 1 Introduction

Studies of charm-related $`B`$ decays provide information about the dynamics of $`B`$ meson decays. Results of these fields can be used to check predictions of theoretical models. Recently new results appeared from the $`B`$ factories at KEK and SLAC and from CLEO. This report covers the recent results on this subject from Belle  and CLEO .

The CLEO results are based on a 9.15 fb-1 data sample collected at the center-of-mass (CM) energy of the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ resonance, while the Belle results are obtained using various data samples from 29.2 fb-1 to 78.7 fb-1. Both group identify $`B`$ candidates by two kinematic variables: the energy difference, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=(_iE_i)E_b`$, and the beam constrained mass, $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}=\sqrt{E_b^2(_i\stackrel{}{p}_i)^2}`$, where $`E_b=\sqrt{s}/2`$ is the beam energy and $`\stackrel{}{p}_i`$ and $`E_i`$ are the momenta and energies of the decay products of the $`B`$ meson in the CM frame.

## 2 $`BD\pi `$ Isospin Analysis (CLEO Collaboration)

Precise measurements of the $`BD\pi `$ branching fractions can be used to extract of the strong phase difference $`\delta _I`$ between the $`I=1/2`$ and $`I=3/2`$ isospin amplitudes in the $`D\pi `$ system. Observation of the color-suppressed $`\overline{B}^0D^0\pi ^0`$ decay  completed the measurements of the $`D\pi `$ final states. Recently CLEO collaboration improved the accuracy in the $`B^{}D^0\pi ^{}`$ and $`\overline{B}^0D^+\pi ^{}`$ branching fractions , these results are presented here.

$`D^0`$ mesons are reconstructed using three decay channels $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$, $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$. Charged $`D`$ mesons are reconstructed via the mode $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$. In each case, $`D`$ candidates are required to have an invariant mass within $`3\sigma `$ of the nominal $`D`$ mass. The fitted $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distributions for each of the $`D`$ decay modes are presented in Fig. 1. The following branching fractions have been obtained: $`(B^{}D^0\pi ^{})=(4.97\pm 0.12\pm 0.29\pm 0.22)\times 10^3`$ and $`(\overline{B}^0D^+\pi ^{})=(2.68\pm 0.12\pm 0.24\pm 0.12)\times 10^3`$. Here the first error is statistical, the second is systematic and the third one is a separate systematic error due to the experimental uncertainty of the production fractions of charged and neutral $`B`$ mesons from $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ decays. Using the measurements of $`(\overline{B}^0D^0\pi ^0)`$ , $`\mathrm{cos}\delta _I=0.863_{0.0230.0350.030}^{+0.024+0.036+0.038}`$ has been obtained. The difference of $`\delta _I`$ from zero is $`2.3\sigma `$ indicating the presence of final state interactions in $`BD\pi `$ decays.

## 3 $`BD_s\pi /K`$ (Belle Collaboration)

The decay $`B^0D_s^+\pi ^{}`$ is expected to be dominated by a $`bu`$ transition, with no penguin contribution. Therefore, it can provide a way to determine the CKM matrix element, $`|V_{ub}|`$ . The decay $`\overline{B}^0D_s^+K^{}`$ can occur via $`W`$-exchange or final state rescattering and cannot be described by a spectator graph. The measurement of this decay mode can be used to estimate $`W`$-exchange or final state rescattering contributions in other $`B`$ decays. Only upper limits have been reported for these decays by CLEO . Recently, the BaBar collaboration presented evidence for the $`B^0D_s^+\pi ^{}`$ decay .

Here Belle results  on a search for these decays are presented. The $`D_s^+`$ candidates are reconstructed in the $`D_s^+\varphi \pi ^+`$, $`\overline{K}^0K^+`$ and $`K_S^0K^+`$ decay channels. $`D_s^+`$ candidates are combined with a charged kaon or pion to form a $`B`$ meson. To extract the signal, a binned maximum likelihood fit to the two-dimensional distribution of data in $`M(D_s)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is performed. The $`D_s^+`$ signal is described by a two-dimensional Gaussian, while the background function includes three components: combinatorial (flat in $`M(D_s)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$), $`q\overline{q}`$ events that peak in $`M(D_s)`$ and are flat in $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, and $`B`$ decay events that peak in $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and are flat in $`M(D_s)`$. The levels of three background components are allowed to vary independently in the three reconstructed $`D_s^+`$ modes.

Figures 2 and 3 show the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M(D_s)`$ projections for events from the signal region, the fitted signal plus background combined shape by solid lines and background shape including the peaking background by dashed lines. In addition to the clear signals at the $`D_s^+`$ mass in Fig. 3, also seen are peaks at the $`D^+`$ mass, corresponding to the $`\overline{B}^0D^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`\overline{B}^0D^+K^{}`$ decays. The fit results are given in Table 1. The results of one-dimensional fits to the $`M(D_s)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions are also shown in Table 1 for comparison. A statistically significant signal ($`6.4\sigma `$) is observed for the $`\overline{B}^0D_s^+K^{}`$ decay channel, while only evidence is reported for the $`B^0D_s^+\pi ^{}`$ decay.

## 4 $`B^{}D^{()+}\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ (Belle Collaboration)

A study of charmed meson production in $`B`$ decays provides an opportunity to test predictions of Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) and QCD sum rules. $`B`$ decays to $`D^{()}\pi `$ final states are the dominant hadronic $`B`$ decay modes and are measured quite well . The large data sample accumulated in the Belle experiment allows to study production of $`D`$ meson exited states. $`D^{}`$s are P-wave excitations of quark-antiquark systems that contain one charmed and one light ($`u`$,$`d`$) quark. The $`BD^{}\pi `$ decays have been studied by Belle  using the $`D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ and the $`D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ final states.

Figure 4 shows the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for the $`B^{}D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^{}D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ candidates. The following branching fractions are measured: $`(B^{}D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{})=(1.07\pm 0.05\pm 0.16)\times 10^3`$ and $`(B^{}D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{})=(1.24\pm 0.07\pm 0.22)\times 10^3`$, without any assumption about the intermediate final states.

To study the dynamics of $`BD^{()}\pi \pi `$ decays, an analysis of the Dalitz plots shown in Fig. 5 is performed. The fit to the $`D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ Dalitz plot includes three final states: $`D_2^0\pi ^{}`$, $`D_0^0\pi ^{}`$ and the contribution of the process with virtual $`D^0\pi `$ production($`D_v^0\pi ^{}`$). The results are presented in Table 2.

Two additional degrees of freedom should be taken into account in the $`D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ final state: the angle ($`\alpha `$) between the pion from the $`D^{}`$ decay and the pion from the $`D^{}`$ decay in the $`D^{}`$ rest frame and the azimuthal angle ($`\gamma `$) of this particle relative to the plane of the $`B^{}D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ decay. The fit to the $`D^+\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ distribution includes three final states: $`D_1\pi ^{}`$, $`D_2^0\pi ^{}`$ and $`D_1^0\pi ^{}`$. The results are presented in Table 2.

Using these measurements the ratio of $`D_2^0`$ branching fractions $`h=(D_2^0D^+\pi ^{})/(D_2^0D^+\pi ^{})=1.77\pm 0.49`$, consistent with the world average $`h=2.3\pm 0.6`$ , is obtained. The measured ratio $`R=(B^{}D_2^0\pi ^{})/(B^{}D_1^0\pi ^{})=0.89\pm 0.14`$ is lower than the CLEO measurement $`1.8\pm 0.8`$  (although the results are consistent within errors) but is still a factor of 3 larger than the factorization prediction . Belle measurements show that the narrow resonances compose $`(33\pm 4)\%`$ of the $`D\pi \pi `$ decays and $`(66\pm 7)\%`$ of the $`D^{}\pi \pi `$ decays. This result is inconsistent with the QCD sum rule prediction and may indicate a large contribution from a color suppressed amplitude.

## 5 $`\overline{B}^0D^{()0}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ (Belle Collaboration)

Exclusive hadronic decay rates provide important tests of models for $`B`$ meson decays. The $`\overline{B}^0D^{()0}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ decays provide a precision testing ground for factorization  and the possibility to search for resonant substructure in the final state. At present, only an upper limit $`(\overline{B}^0D^0\pi ^+\pi ^{})<1.6\times 10^3`$  exists.

Here the Belle results  on a study of these decays are presented. $`D^0`$ candidates are reconstructed in the $`K^{}\pi ^+`$, $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ final states. Figure 6 shows the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for the $`\overline{B}^0D^{()0}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ candidates. The following branching fractions are measured: $`(\overline{B}^0D^0\pi ^+\pi ^{})=(7.5\pm 0.7\pm 1.5)\times 10^4`$ and $`(\overline{B}^0D^0\pi ^+\pi ^{})=(6.2\pm 1.2\pm 1.7)\times 10^4`$. Figure 7 shows the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass spectra for the selected events. These distributions are fitted by a sum of the $`\rho ^0`$,$`\sigma `$ and $`f_0(1370)`$ resonances. The amplitudes and phases are free parameters in the fit. The branching fraction of $`(\overline{B}^0D^0\rho ^0)=(3.0\pm 1.2\pm 0.4)\times 10^4`$ and the 90% CL upper limit $`(\overline{B}^0D^0\rho ^0)<5.1\times 10^4`$ are obtained.

## 6 $`B^{}D^0K^{}`$ (Belle Collaboration)

The decay $`B^{}D^0K^{}`$ can be used for $`\varphi _3`$ determination . This mode has been previously observed by the CLEO Collaboration .

$`D^0`$ mesons are reconstructed in the decay channels $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$, $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ using a $`2\sigma `$ mass window from the nominal $`D^0`$ mass. The $`K^{}`$ candidates are combined from the $`K_S^0\pi ^{}`$ pairs.

The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distributions are presented in Fig. 8(a) and (b) respectively. A signal of $`114.4\pm 13.5`$ events with $`10.9\sigma `$ statistical significance is observed. The fit results are presented in Table 3. The measured branching fraction $`(B^{}D^0K^{})=(5.4\pm 0.6\pm 0.8)\times 10^4`$ agrees well with the world average . Figure 9 shows the $`K^{}`$ helicity and invariant mass distributions obtained by fitting the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ spectra in each bin.

## 7 Conclusion

A nonzero strong phase $`\delta _I`$ is obtained using the CLEO and Belle measurements of the branching fractions $`(BD\pi )`$. The $`2.3\sigma `$ difference from zero indicates the presence of final state interactions in $`BD\pi `$ decays. The observation of the $`\overline{B}^0D_s^+K^{}`$ decay by Belle emphasizes the importance of $`W`$ exchange or final state rescattering. In $`B^{}D^{()+}\pi ^{}\pi ^{}`$ decays all four P-wave $`D^{}`$ have been observed and their parameters have been measured by Belle. For the broad $`D_0^0`$ and $`D_1^0`$ states this is the first measurement.


text:
# Some puzzling problems in nonequilibrium field theories

## I Introduction

The introduction of the Renormalization Group (RG) ideas and their application to the study of critical phenomena constitutes one of the milestones in the spectacular development of the Statistical Physics during the last quarter of the twentieth century. The RG proved to be not only a powerful analytical tool to deal with complex problems (i.e. , problems with many different relevant scales), but also a conceptually beautiful and elegant theory, with a huge range of applicability. While RG ideas applied in (discrete) real space have helped to shed light on many problems , it has been in the framework of (continuous) field theoretical descriptions where, combined with perturbative methods, the RG has reached its most successful expressions. In particular, given a continuous field theoretical representation of a given statistical system at thermodynamical equilibrium, the identification of its critical points with fixed points of a conveniently defined RG transformation permits to obtain (perturbative) analytical expressions for the corresponding critical exponents. At the same time, by allowing to distinguish relevant from irrelevant ingredients in a rather systematic way, the combined use of field theories and the RG, has permitted to obtain elegant classifications of equilibrium critical phenomena and put under firm basis the concept of universality . The representation of the Ising model universality class by the $`\lambda \varphi ^4`$ theory and its subsequent renormalization constitutes a paradigmatical instance .

Given this rather satisfactory scenario, theoreticians started wondering whether also critical phenomena occurring in systems away from equilibrium could be attacked using similar tools. In the lack of a well established theory for non-equilibrium phenomena, it is not straightforward to extend the equilibrium formalism to deal with non-equilibrium problems (for example, in these cases there is no partition function to be renormalized). The best way to do so turned out to be expressing such problems in terms of Langevin equations describing the underlying dynamics at a (continuous) coarse grained level. This procedure is valid not only to study general non-equilibrium processes but also relaxation to equilibrium states (the model A and B for the non-conserved and conserved relaxation dynamics of the Ising class are prototypical examples). In some cases Langevin equations representing given microscopic processes can be derived analytically using different techniques (among them: Fock space formalism combined with coherent state representations , and Poisson transformations ), while in many other cases they are just postulated from a phenomenological ground, by respecting what are considered a priori to be main symmetries, conservation laws, and other relevant dynamical constraints.

Experience teaches us that the richness and variety of phase transitions occurring away from equilibrium is by far much larger than that of equilibrium, and that in many cases it is very difficult to decide a priori what are the essential ingredients to be put into a sound Langevin description. Therefore, developing rigorous and systematic techniques envisaged to derive coarse grained Langevin equations from microscopic models is a high priority task within this context. On the lack of such general approaches one has to rely many times on phenomenological approaches.

Before proceeding, let us remark that any arbitrary Langevin equation can be written as an equivalent Fokker-Planck equation , and its solution expressed in terms of a generating functional (or equivalently and effective action) obtained as a path integral representation of the stochastic Langevin process. Therefore, in what follows “Langevin equations”, “Fokker-Planck equations”, “generating functionals”, or “field theoretical actions” (Liouville operator) will be used interchangeably (see ).

In the forthcoming sections we report on a variety of interesting non-equilibrium systems, and present a list of open problems within this field.

## II The driven Lattice gas (DLG)

The DLG is a variation of the kinetic Ising model with conserved dynamics, in which transitions in the direction (against the direction) of an externally applied field, $`\stackrel{}{E}`$, are favored (unfavored) , while transitions perpendicular to the field are unaffected by it. The external field induces two main non-equilibrium effects: (i) the presence of a net current of particles along its direction, and (ii) strong anisotropy. At high temperatures, the system is in a disordered phase while lowering the temperature there is (for half-filled lattices) a continuous transition into an ordered phase with high and low density aligned-with-the-field stripes. Elucidating the DLG critical properties is an important issue in the way to rationalize the behavior of non-equilibrium systems. The following Langevin equation was proposed some years back based on phenomenological arguments :

$`_t\varphi (𝐫,t)=`$ $`\tau _{}_{}^2\varphi _{}^4\varphi +{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{6}}_{}^2\varphi ^3`$ (2)
$`+\tau _{}_{}^2\varphi \alpha _{}\varphi ^2+\eta (𝐫,t),`$
where $`\varphi `$ is the coarse grained field, $`\eta `$ is a conserved Gaussian noise, and where the cubic term (a dangerously irrelevant variable ) is kept in order to ensure stability . The fact that some of the predictions derived analytically from this equation (for instance, the order parameter critical exponent $`\beta `$ takes a value $`1/2`$) have not been convincingly verified numerically (a value $`\beta 0.33`$ is systematically found in 2-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of the DLG and variations of it ), has triggered further studies. These new analyses ended up with the proposal of a new Langevin equation aimed at describing the critical properties of the DLG:

$$_t\varphi (𝐫,t)=\tau _{}_{}^2\varphi _{}^4\varphi +\frac{\lambda }{6}_{}^2\varphi ^3+\tau _{}_{}^2\varphi +\eta .$$
(3)
This equation is a well known one: it coincides with the Langevin equation representing the random DLG (RDLG)  (for which the driving field takes values $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`\mathrm{}`$ in a random unbiased fashion, generating anisotropy but not an overall current). This equation has been extensively studied in ; its critical dimension is $`d_c=3`$ (instead, $`d_c=5`$ for (2)) and its associated critical exponents and finite size scaling properties are now well known. At least two different recent numerical studies show that this equation reproduces rather nicely all DLG critical properties, and support the conclusion that it is the anisotropy and not the overall current the main ingredient characterizing the DLG phase transition.

However, the situation is far from satisfactory. The central issue is that naive power counting analysis shows that the current term establishing the difference between the two abovementioned theoretical descriptions is a relevant perturbation at the Eq.(3) RG fixed point and therefore, it is unclear why it should be absent in the proper Langevin description. It has been argued in  that the coefficient of this term happens to vanish in the limit $`E\mathrm{}`$. This would imply that the DLG has a sort of multicritical point in the infinite fast driving limit. This scenario still needs to be confirmed numerically .

Another theoretical way out of this puzzling situation is that the non-linear current term should be absent due to the fact that the microscopic theory is fermionic (i.e. occupation number restricted to be $`0`$ or $`1`$), while the Langevin equation describes, in principle, a bosonic process: the current term is required in this bosonic formalism in order to have a vanishing current in perfectly ordered aligned-with-the-field stripes (for which, the fermionic restriction precludes the presence of a non-vanishing current). We are presently working in the derivation of a field theoretical description that takes properly into account the fermionic nature of the microscopic model.

## III Systems with many absorbing states

Maybe the best well-known genuine non-equilibrium Langevin equation is the, so-called, Reggeon field theory

$$_t\rho (𝐱,t)=\rho (𝐱,t)+a\rho (𝐱,t)b\rho ^2(𝐱,t)+\sqrt{\rho }\eta (𝐱,t)$$
(4)
that captures the critical properties of phase transitions into a single absorbing state (with no extra symmetries nor conservation laws), usually referred to as the directed percolation (DP) universality class . The key property of Eq.(4) is that all terms (including the noise) vanish in the absence of activity, i.e. for $`\rho (𝐱)=0`$). Even though convincing experimental realizations of this broad universality class are still missing, an overwhelming number of models have been studied, all of them sharing their critical behavior with this minimal Langevin equation. The situation is less satisfactory for systems with many different absorbing states , a prototype of which is the Pair Contact Process (PCP) . In the PCP pairs of particles can generate new particles or get annihilated, but isolated particles do not have any dynamics; any configuration with just isolated particles is therefore absorbing. Models of this are relevant, for example, in catalysis . The following Langevin equation for the PCP and related models was proposed some years back:

$`_t\rho (𝐱,t)=D^2\rho (𝐱,t)+a\rho (𝐱,t)b\rho ^2(𝐱,t)`$ (5)
$`+\alpha \rho (𝐱,t)e^{w_1_0^t\rho (𝐱,s)𝑑s}+\sqrt{\rho }\eta (𝐱,t)`$ (6)
where the field $`\rho `$ in Eq.(4) represents the density of pairs (activity), and the effect of the isolated particles (characterizing the different absorbing states ) is captured in the non-Markovian exponential term. It has been argued that the critical properties of this equation when approaching the critical point from the active phase are DP like . Indeed, it is straightforward to see that in the presence of non-vanishing stationary activity the exponential term cancels out and we are left simply with DP. On the contrary, for spreading experiments for which critical propagation can occur inside the absorbing phase, the exponential term can be expanded in power series, and one ends up with

$`_t\rho (𝐱,t)=D_2_𝐱^2\rho (𝐱,t)+a\rho (𝐱,t)`$ (7)
$`+\alpha \rho (𝐱,t){\displaystyle _0^t}\rho (𝐱,s)𝑑s+\sqrt{\rho }\eta (𝐱,t)`$ (8)
which is the well-known Langevin equation describing isotropic percolation dynamically i.e. dynamical percolation (DyP) . These results are rather satisfactorily reproduced in numerical simulations . Still there is a point which remains obscure: If one works right at the critical point of the full theory, dynamical percolation terms are generated perturbatively, as first observed in  and recently stressed in . This new vertex being more relevant than the dominant non-linearity in Eq. (4), leaded van Wijland to propose that the true asymptotic critical behavior should be controlled by a DyP fixed point. In order to generate an active phase (missing in DyP) he proposes to treat the term proportional to $`n^2`$ as a dangerously irrelevant operator, and finds an analytical expression for $`\beta `$. We believe that such a calculation cannot apply to the PCP since, even including the new term lacks of a well defined active phase. Being more precise, a term $`b\rho `$ cannot compensate the linear in time divergence of $`\alpha \rho (𝐱,t)_0^t\rho (𝐱,s)𝑑s`$ in the active phase.

Another open problem in this context is understanding within a systematic RG calculation how the background field (describing the different absorbing configurations) emerges as a slave mode of the activity field, i.e. how it inherits the critical properties of the order parameter in the active phase . A comprehensive understanding of this family of phase transitions putting together the active and inactive phases is still missing.

## IV Self-organized criticality

The observation that sandpiles, the archetype of self-organized systems , fall into different absorbing states after every avalanche, right before new sand is added, opened the door to rationalize their critical properties using Langevin equations similar to those described in the preceeding section. The first step in order to do so was to regularize the sandpiles, by introducing the, so-called, fixed energy sandpiles (FES) which eliminate dissipation and addition of energy (sand-grains) . This converts the total energy into a control parameter: large total energy generates stationary activity, while small amounts of energy lead the system with certainty to an absorbing configuration. The proposed set of equations for FES are:

$`_t\rho (𝐱,t)`$ $`=`$ $`a\rho (𝐱,t)b\rho ^2(𝐱,t)+^2\rho (𝐱,t)`$ (9)
$`+`$ $`wE(𝐱,t)\rho (𝐱,t)+\sqrt{\rho }\eta (𝐱,t)`$ (10)
$`_tE(𝐱,t)`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda ^2\rho (𝐱,t)`$ (11)
where $`a,b,w`$, and $`\lambda `$ are constants, and $`\eta `$ is a Gaussian white noise. In these equations the activity dynamics is controlled by the same type of terms appearing in Eq.(4), plus an additional coupling between the activity field and a static conserved energy field. This extra term stems from the fact that creation of activity is locally fostered by the presence of a high background field density, and the energy is a conserved field, $`E(𝐱,t)`$. The extra conservation law is therefore a new (relevant) ingredient with respect to RFT. Some other terms, consistent with the symmetries and conservation laws, could have been included in Eq.(11) but they all turn out to be irrelevant from a power counting analysis . This same set of Langevin equations (plus higher order noise terms) has been derived using Fock-space techniques for other discrete models with many absorbing states and a static local conservation law . The field theoretical analysis of this set of equations turns out to be a delicate issue (observe that analogous field theories for models with absorbing states but where the conserved field is not a static one can be studied perturbatively without any problem, ). As happens in the case of many absorbing states (without a conservation law) also here, at criticality DyP type of terms are generated. Here, even the physics coming from the active phase is not easy to work out. In this context, it has also been recently proposed  that the critical properties should be described by the “regularized” DyP fixed point, and again similar criticisms as those made before could apply here (although in this case, the problem is even more involved).

A successful RG calculation of this theory would be extremely valuable from a theoretical perspective; it would not only determine the critical exponents for a vast class of self-organized systems, but also clarify the issue of the proposed connection between self-organized criticality and the pinning of interfaces in disordered media .

Another related problem is that of the study of the effect of quenched disorder in systems with absorbing states . A field theoretical analysis by Janssen , revealed the existence of running away RG trajectories, whose correspondence with the observed phenomenology in $`d=1`$ and $`d=2`$  remains mysterious.

Before finishing this section, we want to point out that a promising formulation of the same problem, namely deriving an effective action for sandpiles has been recently addressed in .

## V Other Reaction Diffusion Systems

In this section we briefly enumerate some other open problems in field theoretical analyses of general reaction diffusion processes.

### A Two symmetric absorbing states

For some time it was believed that parity conservation (PC) was the main ingredient of a new, non DP, universality class . By now, it is well established that the presence of an exact $`Z_2`$ symmetry between to equivalent absorbing states is its main distinctive trait . Also, the introduction of parity conservation has been shown to play no relevant role in reaction-diffusion binary spreading models (, see also ). A field theoretical description of this universality class was proposed by Cardy and Täuber some years back. It starts with a Fock-space representation of the reaction diffusion lattice model in this class: $`A+A0`$, $`A(m+1)A`$ (with $`m`$ an even constant) allowing to derive a field theoretical action. Even though the analysis of such a theory (that guarantees that the parity in the number of particles is conserved) is based on some uncontrolled expansion, it reproduces nicely many general features of this family, including the existence of a non-trivial critical point below two dimensions, the critical dimension $`d_c=2`$, and some other properties. The formalism is also applicable to odd values of $`m`$ where it also generates sound results .

An interesting open problem in this perspective would be to construct a more adequate field theoretical representation that should include as the main ingredient the presence of two symmetric $`Z_2`$ absorbing states, in the hope that in this more natural language a detailed standard RG procedure would be applicable.

Another related problem is that of writing down and analyzing a field theory for the Voter model  and extensions of it, for which a similar symmetry between different absorbing states appears (also the non-equilibrium kinetic Ising model at zero temperature belongs two this family of models with $`Z_2`$-symmetric absorbing states ).

### B Pair Contact Process with diffusion (PCPD)

In recent years, a new single-component absorbing-state universality class has been unveiled. It is the so called PCPD: if in the standard PCP we allow for diffusion of isolated particles we are led to this new class. Observe that switching-on diffusion represents a singular perturbation as, for instance, the many PCP absorbing configurations are reduced just to two, an empty one and one with a single wandering particle. It seems that the main ingredient in this class is the fact that reactions are binary (two particles are required for reactions to occur) and solitary particles travel performing random walks in between reaction zones. A field theory for this model was worked out by Howard and Täuber  some years back. Using a bosonic field theory (exact for a version of the model without a stationary active phase, usually called annihilation-fission process) they concluded that the critical dimension is $`d_c=2`$ and that the transition is not DP-like. Unfortunately, the theory turned out to be non-renormalizable (i.e. an infinite hierarchy of relevant operators are generated perturbatively, making it un-tractable).

Different proposals have been made recently in order to rationalize the critical behavior of this class. These go from the existence of continuously variant exponents (as a function of the diffusion constant), to the existence of two universality classes (for small and large diffusion constants respectively), or just one well-defined set of critical exponents .

One possible strategy to analyze this problem from a field theoretical point of view is to introduce discrete models in this class with two different species: one corresponding to diffusing “isolated” particles, and one “diffusing-reacting” type of particle playing the role of the pairs in the original model . This leads to a set of Langevin equations analogous to those proposed for the PCP, Eq.(6) but including diffusion of the secondary field. This changes the critical dimension from $`d_c=4`$ to $`d_c=2`$, but a systematic perturbative analysis allowing for a determination of the critical exponents has not been completed so far.

Similar problems are observed upon studying ternary-reactions (as $`3A0`$, combined with $`3A3+m`$) for which new critical behavior is expected . For higher order nth-reactions the upper critical dimension for annihilation is below $`d=1`$ therefore no anomalous phase transition is expected to occur .

## VI Discussion

We have briefly reviewed some non-equilibrium field theoretical open problems. They are related to non-equilibrium Ising-like models as well as systems with absorbing states. Other families of problems not discussed here are interfacial growth, non-equilibrium wetting phenomena, transitions described by the multiplicative noise equation as for example those occurring in the synchronization of coupled-map-lattices, etc. The existence of the various problems reported here gives raise to the following priorities for the developing of a systematic non-equilibrium field theoretical formalism:

i) the necessity of developing new tools for deriving Langevin equations (or field theories) in a systematic, rigorous way, from discrete microscopic models.

ii) Understanding the role of hard-core repulsion and/or implementing this constraint in a systematic way in field theoretical descriptions .

iii) Developing new analytical schemes, specially in low dimensions, to deal with problems for which standard epsilon-expansion does not yield satisfactory results.

It is my hope that this brief overview will stimulate further studies in this field.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge A. Achahbar, H. Chaté, C. da Silva Santos, R. Dickman, P. L. Garrido, G. Grinstein, R. Livi, J. Marro, R. Pastor-Satorras, M. A. Santos, Y. Tu, F. van Wijland, A. Vespignani, and S. Zapperi, for very enjoyable collaborations and/or enlightening discussions on the issues discussed in this paper. I acknowledge financial support from the European Network contract ERBFMRXCT980183, and the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (FEDER), under project BFM2001-2841.