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Thermodynamics of 2D string theory

Sergei Yu. Alexandrov,123 alexand@spht.saclay.cea.fr and Vladimir A. Kazakov1 kazakov@physique.ens.fr

1Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, Unité de Recherche du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure et à l’Université de Paris-Sud.

24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris CEDEX, France

2Service de Physique Théorique, CNRS - URA 2306, C.E.A. - Saclay,

F-91191 Gif-Sur-Yvette CEDEX, France

3 V.A. Fock Department of Theoretical Physics, St. Petersburg University, Russia

We calculate the free energy, energy and entropy in the matrix quantum mechanical formulation of 2D string theory in a background strongly perturbed by tachyons with the imaginary Minkowskian momentum $`\pm i/R`$ (“Sine-Liouville” theory). The system shows a thermodynamical behaviour corresponding to the temperature $`T=1/(2\pi R)`$. We show that the microscopically calculated energy of the system satisfies the usual thermodynamical relations and leads to a non-zero entropy.

1. Introduction

Nontrivial backgrounds in the string theory often have a thermodynamical behaviour corresponding to a certain temperature and a classically big entropy. Typical examples are the black holes where the thermodynamics manifests itself by the Hawking radiation at a certain temperature $`T_H`$ and the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. The latter is expressed through the classical parameters of the system (the area of the horizon) and satisfies the standard thermodynamical relations with the free energy and energy (mass of the black hole).1 For review of black hole physics see \[1,,2\].

In this paper we will try to demonstrate that the thermodynamical behaviour with a temperature $`T`$ is a rather natural phenomenon in the 2-dimensional string theory in specific backgrounds created by tachyon sources with Euclidean momenta corresponding to the Matsubara frequencies $`2\pi k/T,k=1,2,\mathrm{}`$. For $`k=1`$ this system is T-dual to the so called “Sine-Liouville” theory conjectured to describe 2D string theory on the Euclidean black hole background . The latter can be obtained introducing a vortex source with the Euclidean time compactified on a radius $`R=1/2\pi T`$. It was studied in  and further in \[5,,6\] in the matrix quantum mechanical (MQM) formulation using the integrability properties.

We will use here the MQM in the singlet sector to study this system in Minkowskian time, perturbed by a source of “tachyons” with imaginary momenta. This approach, elaborated in the paper , using some early ideas of , extensively relies on the classical Toda integrability and the representation of the system in terms of free fermions arising from the eigenvalues of the matrix field. We will demonstrate that the microscopically defined energy of the system, calculated as the energy of (perturbed) Fermi sea, coincides with its thermodynamical counterpart $`E`$ calculated as the derivative of the free energy with respect to the temperature. The free energy itself can be found from the Fermi sea due to its relation with the number of particles $`N=/\mu `$.

This coincidence of the microscopic and thermodynamical energies looks satisfactory, though a little bit mysterious to us. We could not figure out here where the entropy, also following from this derivation, comes from since the system looks like a single classical state of the moving Fermi liquid. The formulas become especially simple in the black hole limit proposed in , where the energy and entropy dominate with respect to the free energy. On the other hand, the entropy naturally disappears in the opposite limit of the trivial linear dilaton background where the perturbation source is absent.

The entropy seems to be more visible in the T-dual formulation of the theory based on the vortex perturbation in the compact Euclidean time where we deal with the higher representations of the $`SU(N)`$ symmetry of the MQM . However the direct counting of the nonsinglet states appears to be technically a difficult problem. But we still think that our observation could shed light on the origin of the entropy of the black hole type solutions in the string theory.

The paper is organized as follows. In the next section we review the fermionic representation of $`c=1`$ string theory. In section 3 we show how one can describe the tachyon perturbations in this formalism. Section 4 presents the explicit solution for the particular case of the Sine-Liouville theory. In section 5 we evaluate the grand canonical free energy and energy of the system using the techniques of integration over the Fermi sea. In section 6 we demonstrate that the quantities found in the previous section satisfy the thermodynamical relations and give rise to a nonvanishing entropy. The parameter $`R`$ of the perturbations can be interpreted as the inverse temperature. Finally, we discuss our results and remaining problems.

2. The $`c=1`$ string theory as the collective theory of the Fermi sea

The $`c=1`$ string theory can be formulated in terms of collective excitations of the Fermi sea of the upside-down harmonic oscillator \[10,,11,,12,,13\]. The tree-level tachyon dynamics of the string theory is contained in the semiclassical limit of the ensemble of fermions, in which the fermionic density in the phase space is either one or zero. Each state of the string theory corresponds to a particular configuration of the incompressible Fermi liquid \[14,,15,,16\].

In the quasi-classical limit the motion of the fermionic liquid is determined by the classical trajectories of its individual particles in the phase space. It is governed by the one-particle Hamiltonian

$$H_0=\frac{1}{2}\left(p^2x^2\right),$$

where the coordinate of the fermion $`x`$ stands for an eigenvalue of the matrix field and $`p=i\frac{}{x}`$ is its conjugated momentum. We introduce the chiral variables

$$z__\pm (t)=\frac{x(t)\pm p(t)}{\sqrt{2}},$$

and define the Poisson bracket as $`\{f,g\}=\frac{f}{z_{_{}}}\frac{dg}{z__+}\frac{f}{z__+}\frac{dg}{z_{_{}}}`$. In these variables $`H_0=z__+z_{_{}}`$ and the equations of motion have a simple solution

$$z__\pm (t)=e^{\pm t}z__\pm ,$$

where the initial values $`z_\pm `$ parameterize the points of the Fermi sea. Each trajectory represents a hyperbole $`H_0(p,x)=E.`$ The state of the system is completely characterized by the profile of the Fermi sea that is a curve in the phase space which bounds the region filled by fermions. For the ground state, the Fermi sea is made by the classical trajectories with $`E<\mu `$, and the profile is given by the hyperbole

$$z__+z_{_{}}=\mu .$$

The state is stationary since the Fermi surface coincides with one of the classical trajectories and thus the form of the Fermi sea is preserved in time. For an arbitrary state of the Fermi sea, the Fermi surface can be defined more generally by

$$z__+z_{_{}}=M(z__+,z_{_{}}).$$

It is clear from (2.1) that a generic function $`M`$ in (2.1) leads to a time-dependent profile. However, this dependence is completely defined by (2.1) and it is of little interest to us. We can always replace (2.1) by the equation for the initial values $`z__\pm `$.

For a given profile, we define the energy of the system and the number of fermions as the following integrals over the Fermi sea

$$E_0=\frac{1}{2\pi }\underset{^{_{\mathrm{Fermi}\mathrm{sea}}}}{}dxdpH_0(x,p),N=\frac{1}{2\pi }\underset{^{_{\mathrm{Fermi}\mathrm{sea}}}}{}dxdp.$$

It is implied that the integrals are bound by a cut-off at a distance $`\sqrt{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. For example, we can restrict the integration to $`0<z_\pm <\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. For the ground state (2.1), dropping non-universal terms proportional to the cut-off one reproduces the well known result

$$E_0(\mu )=\frac{1}{4\pi }\mu ^2\mathrm{log}(\mu /\mathrm{\Lambda }),N(\mu )=\frac{1}{2\pi }\mu \mathrm{log}(\mu /\mathrm{\Lambda }).$$

Given the number of fermions, one can also introduce the grand canonical free energy through the relation

$$N=/\mu ,$$

where $``$ is given in terms of the partition function for a time interval $`T`$ by

$$=\mathrm{log}𝒵/T.$$

For the case of the ground state, one finds from (2.1) that the (universal part of the) grand canonical free energy is related to the energy of the fermions as

$$=E_0+\mu N=\frac{1}{4\pi }\mu ^2\mathrm{log}(\mu /\mathrm{\Lambda }).$$

3. The profile of the Fermi sea for time dependent tachyon backgrounds

The ground state (2.1) describes the simplest, linear dilaton background of the bosonic string. Now we would like to study more general backgrounds characterized by condensation of tachyons with nonzero momenta. Such backgrounds correspond to time-dependent profiles (2.1), characterized by the function $`M(z__+,z_{_{}})`$. We restrict ourselves to the states that contain only tachyon excitations whose momenta belong to a discrete lattice

$$p_n=in/R,n\text{ZZ}.$$

They look as Matsubara frequencies corresponding to the temperature $`T=1/(2\pi R)`$, or to the compactification in the Euclidean time with the radius $`R`$. We will perturb the system in the same manner as in . It has been shown that at the quasiclassical level the perturbations can be completely characterized by the asymptotics of the profile of the Fermi sea at $`z__+z_{_{}}`$ and $`z_{_{}}z__+`$. Accordingly, the equation for the profile can be written in two forms which should be compatible with each other

$$z__+z_{_{}}=M_\pm (z__\pm )=\underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}kt_{\pm k}z__\pm ^{k/R}+\mu +\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}v_{\pm k}z__\pm ^{k/R},$$

where $`t_{\pm k}`$ are coupling constants associated with the perturbing operators and defining the asymptotics of the Fermi sea for $`z_+z_{}`$ and $`z_{}z_+`$ correspondingly. $`v_{\pm k}`$ are the coefficients to be found, which completely fix the form of the profile.

It was shown in  that such perturbations are described by the dispersionless limit of a constrained Toda hierarchy. The phase space coordinates $`z__\pm `$ play the role of the Lax operators, $`t_{\pm k}`$ are the Toda times, and eq. (3.1) appears as the constraint (string equation) of the hierarchy .

The integrability allows to find the explicit solution for the profile. It is written in the parametric form as follows

$$z__\pm (\omega ,\mu )=e^{\frac{1}{2R}\chi (\mu )}\omega ^{\pm 1}\left(1+\underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_{\pm k}(\mu )\omega ^{k/R}\right),$$

where $`\chi `$ is the so called string susceptibility related to the Toda $`\tau `$-function as $`\chi =_\mu ^2\mathrm{log}\tau `$. The latter is the generating function for the coefficients $`v_{\pm k}`$ in (3.1)

$$v_{\pm k}=_{t_{\pm k}}\mathrm{log}\tau ,$$

which can be identified with one-point vertex correlators \[5,,7\]. Moreover, the change of variables $`z__\pm \mathrm{log}\omega ,\mu `$ turns out to be canonical, i.e.,

$$\{\mu ,\mathrm{log}\omega \}=1.$$

To find the coefficients $`a_{\pm k}`$ it is enough to use a simple procedure suggested in . One should substitute the expressions (3.1) in the profile equations (3.1) and compare the coefficients in front of $`\omega ^{\pm k/R}`$.

4. Solution for Sine-Gordon coupled to gravity

Let us restrict ourselves to the case $`n=1`$ corresponding to the Sine-Gordon theory coupled to gravity or the so called Sine-Liouville theory. In this case there are only $`t_{\pm 1}`$ coupling constants and the equation (3.1) takes the form

$$z__\pm =e^{\frac{1}{2R}\chi }\omega ^{\pm 1}(1+a_\pm \omega ^{\frac{1}{R}}),$$

where $`\chi `$ can be found from \[4,,18\]

$$\mu e^{\frac{1}{R}\chi }+(\frac{1}{R}1)t_1t_1e^{\frac{2R1}{R^2}\chi }=1,a_\pm =t_1e^{\frac{2R1}{2R^2}\chi }.$$

Assuming that $`\frac{1}{2}<R<1`$ (which means that the corresponding compactification radius is between the Kosterlitz-Thouless and the self-dual one), the first equation for the sucseptability can also be rewritten in terms of scaling variables:

$$w=\mu \xi ,\xi =\left(\lambda \sqrt{1/R1}\right)^{\frac{2R}{2R1}},$$

where $`\lambda =\sqrt{t_1t_1}`$. The result reads

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \chi & =R\mathrm{log}\xi +X(w),\hfill \\ \hfill w& =e^{\frac{1}{R}X}e^{\frac{1R}{R^2}X}.\hfill \end{array}$$

5. Free energy and energy of the perturbed background

Let us consider the average over the Fermi sea of an observable $`𝒪`$ defined on the phase space

$$<𝒪>=\frac{1}{2\pi }\underset{^{_{\mathrm{Fermi}\mathrm{sea}}}}{}dz__+dz_{_{}}𝒪(z__+,z_{_{}}).$$

Here the boundary of the integration is defined by the profile equation (3.1). Since the change of variables described by eq. (3.1) is canonical (see eq. (3.1)), one can write

$$<𝒪>=\frac{1}{2\pi }\underset{\mu }{}𝑑s\underset{\omega _{_{}}(s)}{\overset{\omega __+(s)}{}}\frac{d\omega }{\omega }𝒪(z__+(\omega ,s),z_{_{}}(\omega ,s)).$$

The limits of integration over $`\omega `$ are defined by the cut-off. We choose it as two walls at $`z__+=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ and $`z_{_{}}=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. Then the limits can be found from the equations

$$z__\pm (\omega __\pm (s),s)=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }}.$$

First, consider the case of $`𝒪=1`$. Then the integral (5.1) gives the number of fermions in the Fermi sea, i.e., $`N=<1>`$. Taking the derivative with respect to $`\mu `$, we obtain

$$_\mu N=\frac{1}{2\pi }\mathrm{log}\frac{\omega __+(\mu )}{\omega _{_{}}(\mu )}.$$

In this case it is enough to restrict ourselves to the main order in the cut-off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for the boundary values $`\omega __\pm `$. From (5.1) and (3.1) we find to this order

$$\omega __\pm =\omega _{(0)}^{\pm 1},\omega _{(0)}=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }e^{\chi /R}}.$$

Combining (5.1) and (5.1), we find

$$_\mu N=\frac{1}{2\pi }\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{1}{2\pi R}\chi .$$

Taking into account the relation (2.1), we find that the free energy coincides with the logarithm of the $`\tau `$-function and $`\beta =2\pi R`$ represents the time interval at which the theory is compactified

$$=\frac{1}{\beta }\mathrm{log}\tau .$$

This derivation of the grand canonical free energy was done in . However, using the general formula (5.1), we can also find the energy of the system, at least for the case of the Sine-Liouville theory. Since it is given by the integral of the free Hamiltonian (2.1), from (5.1) and (4.1) one obtains

$$_\mu E=_\mu <z__+z_{_{}}>=\frac{1}{2\pi }e^{\frac{1}{R}\chi }\left\{(1+a_+a_{})\mathrm{log}\omega Ra_+\omega ^{1/R}+Ra_{}\omega ^{1/R}\right\}|_\omega _{_{}}^{\omega __+}.$$

To find the final expression one needs to know the limits $`\omega __\pm `$ in the second order in the cut-off. It is easy to show from (5.1) that eq. (5.1) should be changed by

$$\omega __\pm =\omega _{(0)}^{\pm 1}(1a_\pm \omega _{(0)}^{1/R}).$$

Substituting these limits into (5.1), one finds

$$_\mu E=\frac{1}{2\pi }e^{\frac{1}{R}\chi }\left\{(1+a_+a_{})\left(\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda }+\frac{1}{R}\chi \right)2a_+a_{}\right\}+\frac{R}{2\pi }(t_1+t_1)\mathrm{\Lambda }^{1/2R}.$$

Integrating over $`\mu `$ and using $`a_+a_{}=\frac{R}{1R}e^{\frac{2R1}{R^2}X}`$, we get

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2\pi E& =\xi ^2\left(\frac{1}{2R}e^{\frac{2}{R}X}+\frac{2R1}{R(1R)}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{1}{2(1R)}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)(\chi +R\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda })\hfill \\ & +\xi ^2\left(\frac{1}{4}e^{\frac{2}{R}X}\frac{R}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}+\frac{R(45R)}{4(1R)^2}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)+R(t_1+t_1)\mu \mathrm{\Lambda }^{1/2R}.\hfill \end{array}$$

We observe that the last term is non-universlal since it does not contain a singularity at $`\mu =0`$. However, $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ enters in a non-trivial way. It is combined with a non-trivial function of $`\mu `$ and $`\xi `$.

6. Thermodynamics of the system

We found above the energy of the Sine-Liouville theory (5.1) and also restored the free energy in the grand canonical ensemble for a general perturbation. In the Sine-Liouville case one can integrate the equation (4.1) to get the explicit expression

$$2\pi =\frac{1}{2R}\mu ^2(\chi +R\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda })\xi ^2\left(\frac{3}{4}e^{\frac{2}{R}X}\frac{R^2R+1}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}+\frac{3R}{4(1R)}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right).$$

Now we are going to establish thermodynamical properties of our system. It is expected to possess them since the spectrum of perturbations corresponds to the Matsubara frequencies typical for a system at a nonzero temperature. First of all, note that in the standard thermodynamical relations the free energy appears in the canonical, rather than in grand canonical ensemble. Therefore we define

$$F=\mu \frac{}{\mu }.$$

It is easy to check that it can be written as

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2\pi F& =\frac{1}{R}^\mu s\chi (s)𝑑s=\frac{1}{2R}\mu ^2(\chi +R\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda })\hfill \\ & +\xi ^2\left(\frac{1}{4}e^{\frac{2}{R}X}Re^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}+\frac{R}{4(1R)}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right).\hfill \end{array}$$

Following the standard thermodynamical relations, let us also introduce the entropy as a difference of the energy and the free energy:

$$S=\beta (EF).$$

One finds from (5.1) and (6.1)

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill S& =\xi ^2\left(\frac{R}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{1}{2(1R)}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)(\chi +R\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda })\hfill \\ & +\xi ^2\left(\frac{R^3}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}+\frac{R^2(34R)}{4(1R)^2}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)+\frac{R^2}{2\pi }(t_1+t_1)\mu \mathrm{\Lambda }^{1/2R}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Thus, all quantities are supplied by a thermodynamical interpretation. The role of the temperature is played by $`T=\beta ^1=1/2\pi R`$. However, to have a consistent picture, the following (equivalent) thermodynamical relations should be satisfied:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill S& =\frac{F}{T}=2\pi R^2\frac{F}{R},\hfill \\ \hfill E& =\frac{(\beta F)}{\beta }=\frac{(RF)}{R}.\hfill \end{array}$$

In these relations it is important which parameters are hold to be fixed when we evaluate the derivatives with respect to $`R`$. Since we use the free energy in the canonical ensemble, one should fix the number of fermions $`N`$ and the coupling constant $`\lambda `$ but not the chemical potential $`\mu `$.

Another subtle point is that a priori the relation of our initial parameters to the corresponding parameters which are to be fixed may contain a dependence on the inverse temperature $`R`$. Therefore, in general we should redefine

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \xi & \xi =\left(a(R)\lambda \right)^{\frac{2}{2R}},\hfill \\ \hfill \mathrm{\Lambda }& b(R)\mathrm{\Lambda },\hfill \\ \hfill F& F+\frac{1}{2}c(R)\mu ^2.\hfill \end{array}$$

We find the functions $`a(R)`$, $`b(R)`$ and $`c(R)`$ from the condition (6.1), where $`N`$, $`\lambda `$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ are fixed. We emphasize that it looks rather non-trivial to us that it is possible to find such functions of $`R`$ that this condition is satisfied. It can be considered as a remarkable coincidence indicating that the functions $`F`$, $`E`$ and $`S`$ do have the interpretation of thermodynamical quantities as free energy, energy and entropy correspondingly. In appendix A it is shown that the parameters should be taken as

$$a(R)=\left(\frac{1R}{R^3}\right)^{1/2},b(R)=1,c(R)=0.$$

It is worth noting several features of this solution. First of all, the plausible property is that we do not redefine the cut-off and the free energy. On the other hand, the constant $`\lambda `$ coincides with its initial definition (4.1) if to absorb one $`R`$ factor into definition of the coupling constants 2 This corresponds to the fact that one should not introduce such $`R`$ factor in front of the perturbing potential as was done in . $`t_{\pm 1}`$ what probably indicates the right relation of $`\lambda `$ with the corresponding coupling constant in the conformal Sine-Liouville theory. Another important consequence of the choice (6.1) is that the entropy (6.1) is proportional to $`\lambda ^2`$ and therefore vanishes in the absence of perturbations. It appears to be non-zero only when the background of the string theory is described by a time dependent Fermi sea. However, a puzzle still remains how to calculate the entropy in a similar way as the energy was evaluated, that is by directly identifying the corresponding degrees of freedom which give rise to the same macroscopic state and, hence, the entropy.

6.1. The "Black hole" limit

Let us restrict ourselves to the limit $`\mu 0`$. If we perturbed the 2D string theory by the vortex, instead of the tachyon, modes it would correspond to the black hole limit \[3,,4\]. In this limit we have $`X=0`$. As a result, we obtain from (6.1), (5.1) and (6.1) for all three thermodynamical quantities:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2\pi F& =\frac{(2R1)^2}{4(1R)}\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^{\frac{4R}{2R1}},\hfill \\ \hfill 2\pi E& =\frac{2R1}{2R(1R)}\left(\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )\frac{R}{2(1R)}\right)\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^{\frac{4R}{2R1}},\hfill \\ \hfill S& =\frac{2R1}{2(1R)}\left(\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )\frac{R^2(32R)}{2(1R)}\right)\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^{\frac{4R}{2R1}},\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`\stackrel{~}{\lambda }=a(R)\lambda `$. It is worth to note an interesting feature of this solution. Since $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )1`$, we get $`2\pi ES`$ and in comparison with these quantities $`F`$ is negligible. This is to be compared with the result of  that the analysis of the dilatonic gravity derived from 2D string theory leads to the vanishing free energy and to the equal energy and entropy. We see that it can be true only in a limit, but the free energy can never be exactly zero since it is its derivative with respect to the temperature that produces all other thermodynamical quantities.

For the special case of $`R=2/3`$ which is T-dual to the stringy black hole model, we find:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \beta F& =\frac{1}{18}\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^8,\hfill \\ \hfill \beta E& =\left(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )\frac{1}{2}\right)\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^8,\hfill \\ \hfill S& =\left(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )\frac{5}{9}\right)\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^8.\hfill \end{array}$$

For the dual compactification radius $`R=3/2`$, all quantities change their sign:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \beta F& =3\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^3,\hfill \\ \hfill \beta E& =\left(2\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )3\right)\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^3,\hfill \\ \hfill S& =2\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda }\xi )\stackrel{~}{\lambda }^3.\hfill \end{array}$$

This might be interpreted as a result for the background dual to the black hole of a negative mass, which does appear in the analysis of .

7. Conclusions and problems

The main puzzle of the black hole physics is to find the states corresponding to the entropy of a classical gravitating system. In our case, instead of a black hole, the role of such system is played by a nontrivial tachyonic background. However, it manifests the similar properties as the usual dilatonic black hole, which appears as a T-dual perturbation of the initial flat spacetime. Therefore, it is not surprising that the studied background also possesses a nonvanishing entropy.

In our case we have a little more hope to track the origin of the entropy, than, for example, in the study of the Schwarzschild black hole, since we are dealing with the well defined string theory and can identify its basic degrees of freedom. It allowed us in this paper to find microscopically the energy and free energy of the “Sine-Liouville” background. The entropy was calculated not independently, but followed from the basic thermodynamical relations. Our main result is the coincidence of this microscopic and the thermodynamical energies. The latter is calculated as a derivative of the free energy with respect to the temperature. Note that the “temperature” appears from the very beginning as a parameter of the tachyonic perturbation, and not as a macroscopic characteristic of a heated system. That is why the thermodynamical interpretation comes as a surprise.

An analogous situation can be seen in the Unruh effect . There the temperature seen by the accelerating observer is defined by the value of the acceleration, which does not a priory have any relation to thermodynamics. In fact, in the latter case the temperature can be found from the analysis of the quantum field theory on the Rindler space which is the spacetime seen by the accelerating observer. The same should be true for our case. It should be possible to reproduce the global structure of the tachyonic background from the matrix model solution, and then the thermodynamical interpretation should appear from the analysis of the spectrum of particles detected by some natural observer .

One might try to find a hint to the thermodynamical behaviour of our system in the very similar results for the T-dual system of  where instead of tachyons we have the perturbation by vortices. There the Euclidean time is compactified from the very beginning and the Gibbs ensemble is thus explicitly introduced with $`R`$ as a temperature parameter. On the other hand, the coincidence of microscopic energies in two mutually dual formulations (up to duality changes in parameters, like $`R1/R`$) is far from obvious. Even how to find the energy in this dual case is not clear.

In conclusion, we hope that our observation will help to find a microscopic approach to the calculation of entropy at least in the 2D string theory with nontrivial backgrounds. Together with the plausible conjecture that the dual system describes the 2D dilatonic black hole, it could open a way for solving the puzzle of the microscopic origin of entropy in the black hole physics.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful I. Kostov for valuable discussions. Also we thank the Theoretical Physics Division of CERN, where a part of the work was done, for the kind hospitality. This work of S.A. and V.K. was partially supported by European Union under the RTN contracts HPRN-CT-2000-00122 and -00131. The work of S.A. was supported in part by European network EUROGRID HPRN-CT-1999-00161.

Appendix A. Calculation of $`F/R`$

In this appendix we calculate the derivative of the free energy (6.1) with respect to $`R`$. First, note that due to (6.1) and (2.1), we have

$$\left(\frac{F}{R}\right)_{N,\lambda ,\mathrm{\Lambda }}=\left(\frac{}{R}\right)_{\mu ,\lambda ,\mathrm{\Lambda }}=\left(\frac{}{R}\right)_{\mu ,\xi ,\mathrm{\Lambda }}+\left(\frac{\xi }{R}\right)_\lambda \left(\frac{}{\xi }\right)_{\mu ,\mathrm{\Lambda },R}.$$

From (6.1) and (6.1) one can obtain

$$2\pi \xi \left(\frac{}{\xi }\right)_{\mu ,\mathrm{\Lambda },R}=\xi ^2\frac{R(2R1)}{1R}\left(e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{1}{2R}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right),$$

$$\xi ^1\left(\frac{\xi }{R}\right)_\lambda =\frac{1}{R(2R1)}\left(\mathrm{log}\xi +2R^2\frac{d\mathrm{log}a(R)}{dR}\right).$$

The most complicated contribution comes from the first term in (A.1). From (6.1), (6.1) and (4.1) one finds

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2\pi \left(\frac{}{R}\right)_{\mu ,\xi ,\mathrm{\Lambda }}& =\xi ^2\left(\frac{1}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{1}{2R(1R)}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)\frac{X}{R}\hfill \\ & +\xi ^2\left(\frac{R(2R)}{(1R)^2}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{3}{4(1R)^2}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)\hfill \\ & \frac{1}{2}\mu ^2\left(\frac{d\mathrm{log}b(R)}{dR}+\frac{dc(R)}{dR}\right).\hfill \end{array}$$

Putting the results (A.1), (A.1) and (A.1) together, we obtain

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2\pi \left(\frac{F}{R}\right)_{N,\lambda ,\mathrm{\Lambda }}& =\frac{1}{R^2}\xi ^2\left(\frac{R}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{1}{2(1R)}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)\chi \hfill \\ & +\xi ^2\left(\frac{R(2R)}{(1R)^2}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{3}{4(1R)^2}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)\hfill \\ & +\xi ^2\left(\frac{2R^2}{1R}e^{\frac{1}{R^2}X}\frac{R}{1R}e^{2\frac{1R}{R^2}X}\right)\frac{d\mathrm{log}a(R)}{dR}\hfill \\ & \frac{1}{2}\mu ^2\left(\frac{d\mathrm{log}b(R)}{dR}+\frac{dc(R)}{dR}\right).\hfill \end{array}$$

We observe that the term proportional to the susceptibility $`\chi `$ coincides with the corresponding term in the entropy (6.1) what can be considered as the main miracle of the present derivation. To get the coincidence of other terms, we obtain a system of three equations, from which only two are independent:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \frac{d\mathrm{log}b(R)}{dR}+\frac{dc(R)}{dR}& =0,\hfill \\ \hfill 2\frac{d\mathrm{log}a(R)}{dR}\frac{1}{R^2}\mathrm{log}b(R)& =\frac{2R3}{R(1R)}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Since we have only two equations on three functions, there is an ambiguity in the solution. It can be fixed if we require that the entropy vanishes without perturbations. Then we come to the following result

$$a(R)=\left(\frac{1R}{R^3}\right)^{1/2},\mathrm{log}b(R)=0,c(R)=0,$$

which ensures the thermodynamical relations (6.1). Note that in fact they are fulfilled only up to terms depending on the cut-off $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Such terms can not be reproduced by differentiating with respect to the temperature, but they are considered as non-universal in our approach and thus can be dropped.

References

relax W. Kummer and D. V. Vassilevich, “Hawking radiation from dilaton gravity in (1+1) dimensions: A pedagogical review”, Annalen Phys. 8 (1999) 801, gr-qc/9907041. relax S. R. Das and S. D. Mathur, ‘’The Quantum Physics of Black Holes: Results from String Theory”, Ann. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 50 (2000) 153, gr-qc/0105063. relax V. Fateev, A. Zamolodchikov, and Al. Zamolodchikov, unpublished. relax V. Kazakov, I. Kostov, and D. Kutasov, “A Matrix Model for the Two Dimensional Black Hole”, Nucl. Phys. B622 (2002) 141, hep-th/0101011. relax S. Alexandrov and V. Kazakov, “Correlators in 2D string theory with vortex condensation”, Nucl. Phys. B610 (2001) 77, hep-th/0104094. relax I. Kostov, “String Equation for String Theory on a Circle”, Nucl. Phys. B624 (2002) 146, hep-th/0107247. relax S.Yu. Alexandrov, V.A. Kazakov, and I.K. Kostov, “Time-dependent backgrounds of 2D string theory”, Nucl. Phys. B640 (2002) 119, hep-th/0205079. relax R. Dijkgraaf, G. Moore, and M.R. Plesser, “The partition function of 2d string theory”, Nucl. Phys. B394 (1993) 356, hep-th/9208031. relax V. A. Kazakov and A. Tseytlin, “On free energy of 2-d black hole in bosonic string theory”, JHEP 0106 (2001021) , hep-th/0104138. relax E. Brezin, V. Kazakov and Al. Zamolodchikov, Nucl. Phys. B338 (1990) 673. relax G. Parisi, Phys. Lett. B238 (1990) 209, 213. relax D. Gross and N. Miljkovic, Phys. Lett. B238 (1990) 217. relax P. Ginsparg and J. Zinn-Justin, Phys. Lett. B240 (1990) 333. relax J. Polchinski, “What is string theory”, Lectures presented at the 1994 Les Houches Summer School ‘‘Fluctuating Geometries in Statistical Mechanics and Field Theory’’, hep-th/9411028. relax I. Klebanov, Lectures delivered at the ICTP Spring School on String Theory and Quantum Gravity, Trieste, April 1991, hep-th/9108019. relax A. Jevicki, “Developments in 2D string theory”, hep-th//9309115. relax V. Kazakov and A. A. Migdal, Nucl. Phys. B311 (1988) 171. relax G. Moore, “Gravitational phase transitions and the sine-Gordon model”, hep-th/9203061. relax C. R. Nappi and A. Pasquinucci, “Thermodynamics of two-dimensional black holes”, Mod. Phys. Lett. A7 (1992) 3337, hep-th/9208002. relax R. Dijkgraaf, E. Verlinde, and H. Verlinde, “String propagation in a black hole geometry”, Nucl. Phys. B371 (1992) 269. relax S. R. Unruh, ‘’Notes on black hole evaporation”, Phys. Rev. D14 (1976) 870. relax S.Yu. Alexandrov, in progress.


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# The Remarkably Featureless High Resolution X-ray Spectrum of Mrk 478

## 1 Introduction

High resolution spectra of active galaxies have proven to be a valuable probe of the physical processes governing the gas near their nuclei. The Chandra spectra of NGC 4151 (Ogle et al., 2000) and Mrk 3 (Sako et al., 2000), sources in which our direct line of sight to the nucleus is subject to heavy absorption, are characterized by strong emission lines from hot photoionized plasmas located in the extended narrow-line regions of these galaxies. For an overview of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its complement of instruments, see (Weisskopf et al., 2002). In the spectra of the broad line Sy 1 galaxies (BLS1s) NGC 5548 Kaastra et al. (2000), MCG-6-30-15 (Lee et al., 2001), and NGC 3783 (Kaspi et al., 2000), the more directly observed power law continuum may be absorbed by highly ionized gas that is probably associated with the broad line region.

Narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) differ from these BLS1s in that they have narrower optical emission lines and steeper soft X-ray continua, which are usually highly variable. See Osterbrock & Pogge (1985) for observational criteria that define NLS1s. Pounds, Done, and Osborne (1995) and others have suggested that the the accretion rates in NLS1s are closer to the Eddington limit than in BLS1s of the same luminosities. The high resolution Chandra grating spectra of the NLS1 galaxies, Ton S 180 (Turner et al., 2001) and NGC 4051 (Collinge et al., 2001), do not yet provide a consistent picture of NLS1s. NGC 4051 has a few emission and absorption lines on a complex continuum, while the X-ray spectrum of Ton S 180 is relatively featureless. XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (den Herder et al., 2001, RGS) observations of NLS1s have shown broad absorption troughs attributed to L shell transitions of weakly ionized Fe in two cases: IRAS 13349+2438 (Sako et al., 2001) and Mrk 359 (O’Brien et al., 2001). Further high resolution spectra of NLS1s are needed to clarify the relation between this class of source and their broad-line counterparts.

Mrk 478 is a classic example of the NLS1 class with a strong steep X-ray spectrum (Gondhalekar et al., 1994) and low interstellar column density ($`N_H`$). These attributes combine to make it one of the brightest NLS1s in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV, $`E0.1`$ keV) (Marshall et al., 1995). The spectrum measured by EUVE remains somewhat controversial: Marshall et al. (1996) modelled it with a steep power law spectrum with $`N_H10^{20}`$ cm-2 but Hwang and Bowyer (1997) later claimed that it showed strong emission lines at 79 and 83Å in the rest frame. These differences may have resulted from the poor statistical significance of the spectral data. Marshall et al. (1996) argued that the rapid, high amplitude EUV variability of Mrk 478, coupled with weak UV variability indicated that the EUV to soft X-ray portion of the spectrum was the result of Comptonized thermal emission near the inner edge of an accretion disk. The EUVE data, however, were insufficient to test for spectral variability or to search for features in the variability spectrum on time scales of less than a few hours.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

Mrk 478 was observed with the Chandra Low Energy Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) using the High Resolution Camera on 8-9 August 2000 (TJD = JD - 2451000. = 765.31-766.27). The exposure time was 80857 s. Nearly simultaneous observations were obtained with BeppoSAX Medium Energy Concentrator Spectrometer (MECS) (Boella et al., 1997) from TJD 766.07 through 767.59.

### 2.1 LETGS Spectral and Broad-band Variability

The average, background-subtracted count rate in zeroth order was 0.409 $`\pm `$ 0.002 count s-1 in a 11″ radius aperture which contains $`>`$ 99% of the power. Background was determined from a similarly sized region 26″ away from zeroth order in a direction avoiding the dispersed spectra and the diffraction spikes caused by the LETG coarse and fine support structure. The count rate in 300 s bins varied by 30-40% over the observation (see Fig. 1). The dispersed events were binned in 4000 s intervals in order to determine a softness ratio, $`R(SH)/(S+H)`$, where $`H`$ and $`S`$ are the counts in hard (5-25 Å, or about 0.5-2.5 keV) and soft (25-60 Å, 0.2-0.5 keV) bands. The uncertainties were determined from counting statistics only.

The total count rate light curve showed variability on short time scales. Assuming that the variations follow a Gaussian distribution with standard deviation $`s`$ about the mean count rate $`R`$, then the fractional variability amplitude is $`F_{var}=s/R=0.132\pm `$ 0.008 after accounting for Poisson fluctuations (Edelson et al., 2002). The strongest event was an increase of almost a factor of 2 in just 20 ksec. The softness ratio also showed a clear trend, decreasing by about 25% throughout the observation. However, this slow trend is not obviously correlated with any of the rapid variations in the total count rate. Fitting spectra to the first and last 10000 s of the observation gives photon indices that changed from 3.02 $`\pm `$ 0.05 to 2.82 $`\pm `$ 0.05 over the course of the observation (fixing the column density to the best-fit value).

### 2.2 LETGS Spectroscopic Data Reduction

The LETGS spectral data were reduced from standard L1 event lists using IDL and custom processing scripts. The procedure is quite similar to standard processing using CIAO and is described in more detail by Marshall et al. (2002). The position of zeroth order was used to locate the standard “bow-tie” extraction region. The effective area (EA) of the LETGS has undergone a few revisions since launch both due to a recalculation of the LETG efficiencies and due to a series of in-flight calibration observations designed to probe the HRC-S quantum efficiency. We adjusted the EA as described in the appendix, which provides a good fit to the spectrum of PKS 2155-304 to a power law model.

Based on a simple model of the spectrum (see the next section), high order fluxes are negligible for $`E>`$ 0.15 keV. In the 0.10-0.15 keV range where high orders are important, the high order spectra are generally smooth so that it is still possible to detect emission or absorption lines. Based on the analysis in the appendix, the systematic uncertainties in the high order contributions are estimated to be $``$ 10% for $`E>0.13`$ keV, where high orders contribute less than half of the observed flux.

### 2.3 Continuum Fits

The LETGS data were rebinned adaptively to provide a signal/noise ratio of 5 in each bin over the 0.15 to 10.0 keV range (see Fig. 2). Using the adjusted EA model, the spectrum was well fitted by a simple power law with a photon index of 2.91 $`\pm `$ 0.03. Fit parameters are summarized in table 1. The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ was 1.022 for 891 degrees of freedom, which is an acceptable fit even without adding possible systematic errors. The quoted uncertainties are 90% for one interesting parameter; the uncertainties in $`N_H`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ were highly correlated so the joint uncertainties are somewhat larger. This model was used as the basis for line searches in the LETGS data.

A single power law model was a bad fit to the LETGS and MECS data jointly. Combining a more coarsely binned LETGS spectrum (to a signal/noise ratio of 20) with the MECS data, the minimum $`\chi ^2`$ was 439 for 152 degrees of freedom for model consisting of a single power law (see table 1). The main deviations are found at high energies as the spectrum flattens in the 2-10 keV band; $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.98\pm `$ 0.03 was determined from ASCA observations (Reeves & Turner, 2000). For the MECS data alone, we obtain $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.2\pm `$ 0.2, comparable to the ASCA results and significantly flatter than the slope obtained from the LETGS data alone. The X-ray spectrum from 0.15-10.0 keV is best fit by the sum of two power laws with photon indices of 3.03 $`\pm `$ 0.04 and 1.4 $`\pm `$ 0.2 (see Fig. 3). The joint confidence region for the two power law indices is shown in Fig. 4. The steep spectral slope of the soft band is comparable to previous results. Using EUVE data in the wavelength range 65-120Å (about 0.1-0.2 keV), Marshall et al. (1996) obtained a slope of 4.2 $`\pm `$ 0.7. (Gondhalekar et al., 1994) also found a steep photon index (3.32$`{}_{}{}^{+0.25}{}_{0.13}{}^{}`$) using ROSAT PSPC data from the 0.11-1.9 keV band. The Galactic $`N_H`$ measured by 21 cm absorption (Murphy, Lockman, Laor, & Elvis, 1996) is $`9.6\pm 1.0\times 10^{19}`$, which is consistent with the fit results.

### 2.4 Emission and Absorption Line Searches

The LETGS spectrum was binned at 0.025 Å, which is half of the instrument resolution. No significant features were found that were consistent with the instrument line response. The data were rebinned at 0.125Å to create a count spectrum at slightly coarser resolution (Fig. 5) with sufficient counts per bin to search for narrow spectral features against the continuum model. In order to allow $`<5`$% chance of a random line detection, features must be more significant than $`4.0\sigma `$, given that about 790 bins are examined (in the 1-100 Å band shown in Fig. 5. The one bin exceeding this threshold is in the C-K edge where the EA has a systematic error. We conclude that there are no significant, narrow absorption or emission features in the spectrum. At specific wavelengths, we can reduce the significance level threshold because there aren’t as many bins tested. We derived 3$`\sigma `$ limits to the equivalent widths of unresolved lines (FWHM $``$ 0.05 Å): 0.20 Å (800 eV) at Fe-K$`\alpha `$, 0.10 Å for the 4-90 Å range and 0.035 Å in the 6-35 Å range.

Finally, we searched for broader lines, particularly in the EUV region where Hwang and Bowyer (1997) reported 1-2Å wide lines at 79 and 83 Å in the rest frame with fluxes of 4.8 and 2.5 $`\times 10^4`$ ph cm-2 s-1. The line detections were claimed to be significant at the 2.8 and 3.6 $`\sigma `$ level, respectively. In order to search for these features in the Chandra spectrum, the putative lines were modeled as Gaussians with $`\sigma =0.5`$ Å. Using the best fit power law model and the high order efficiencies, we computed the high order contributions and subtracted them to produce a spectrum representative of first order only. This spectrum was binned to 0.5 Å resolution in order to search for lines that might be $``$ 1 Å wide. Fig. 6 shows that any lines with $`\lambda >60`$Å must be rather weak. We can place conservative $`3\sigma `$ upper limits to lines 1 Å wide at $`1.0\times 10^4`$ ph cm-2 s-1 in the 60-100 Å range.

## 3 Discussion and Summary

The LETGS data can give confidence to an extrapolation from the EUV into the X-ray band, as indicated from simultaneous observations with IUE, EUVE, and ASCA Marshall (2002). It seems rather clear now that the peak of the spectral energy distribution is in the EUV band, as suggested by Marshall et al. (1996). The thermal peak of disk emission is limited to less than 0.1 keV in order that there be no significant spectral curvature in the LETGS spectrum above 0.2 keV. Thus, we may place a limit on the blackbody temperature of $`kT0.03`$ keV.

The power law shape in the .15-10 keV band can be obtained by Comptonizing the disk thermal emission as suggested by Pounds, Done, and Osborne (1995) in a disk corona. We modelled the disk spectrum as a blackbody at $`kT_d=`$20 eV and set the coronal electron temperature to $`kT_c40`$ keV. Using the comptt model (Titarchuk, 1994) in Xspec, we estimate that the optical depth can be of $`0.5`$ in order to obtain the rather steep spectral slope below 1 keV. Above 1 keV, the flatter spectrum can be reproduced with the same input spectrum and Comptonizing region but with a somewhat larger optical depth, $`5`$. In reality, there would likely be a wide range of optical depths. The relative strengths of the two components would depend entirely on the relative covering fractions; in this case, the higher optical depth region should be $``$1% of the covering fraction in at lower optical depth. Alternatively, Hubeny, et al. (2001) found that self-Comptonized disk atmospheres consisting of H and He can have steep soft spectra for black hole masses $`M10^8`$ M. Disk atmospheres with significant metal content would be expected to show absorption edges that are not observed and have somewhat flatter spectra (Ross, Fabian, & Mineshige, 1992). The spectrum of a Comptonized disk should drop exponentially near 1 keV (Hubeny et al.) but this is where a hard power law component begins to dominate, which would result from Comptonization of the disk emission by a very hot corona.

It is interesting that the softness ratios vary on relatively long time scales for both NLS1s and BLS1s. In BLS1s, the spectra tend to soften as they brighten. This has been taken to indicate that a relatively slowly varying soft component, possibly direct emission from an accretion disk, contributes to the soft X-ray spectra of BLS1s. In Mrk 478 and in the NLS1s Akn 564 and Ton S180 (Edelson et al., 2002), however, the total count rate is rapidly variable and appears to be uncorrelated with the softness ratio. The spectral modelling suggests that the entire X-ray spectrum is governed by Compton scattering of thermal emission from the accretion disk. In the covering fraction model, the spectral shapes are dependent primarily on the structure of the corona, which is substantially larger than the hottest regions of the accretion disk, so the spectral shape can vary slowly as the seed photon rate varies. In the disk self-Comptonization model, however, the Comptonizing region is intimately linked to the photon source via the vertical structure of the disk. It would seem unlikely that this vertical structure would vary slowly as the accretion rate through the disk changes rapidly.

We find no narrow emission or absorption features. In particular, we do not detect emission lines at 79 and 83Å that were reported by Hwang and Bowyer (1997) using the same EUVE data used by Marshall et al. (1996) to fit a simple continuum model. Similarly, none of the forbidden lines found in the NGC 4051 spectrum are detected in our spectrum; the limit on the Si xiii line at 6.741 Å is consistent with the equivalent width of this line in NGC 4051 but the Ne ix line is at least 50% weaker (with a limit of 0.025 Å) and the O vii 22.102 Å line is $`\times `$6 weaker than their counterparts in NGC 4051. Collinge et al. (2001) show that the lines observed in the NGC 4051 X-ray spectrum could result from a warm absorption system as found in many broad line Sy 1 galaxies (Reynolds, 1997). The NLS1 Akn 564 also shows signs of a warm absorber (Matsumoto, Leighly, and Marshall, 2001). For Mrk 478, however, we find no evidence of warm absorption that would link this source to other NLS1s, so warm absorption is not a characteristic that can be used to distinguish broad and narrow line Sy 1 galaxies. One NLS1 which has a spectrum similar to that of Mrk 478 is PKS 0558-504. The RGS spectrum O’Brien et al. (2001) shows no significant absorption or emission line features in the 0.3-2 keV band. Instead of fitting the soft spectrum to a power law shape, they used a combination of several blackbody spectra.

Support for this work was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through Chandra Award Number NAG 5-10032 issued by the Chandra X-Ray Center (CXC), which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of NASA under contract NAS 8-39073. HLM was supported under NASA contract SAO SV1-61010 for the CXC.

## Appendix A Assessing and Adjusting the LETGS Effective Area

We started with the LETGS effective area (EA) that was released by the Chandra X-ray Center on 9 Mar 2000 and updated 31 Oct 2000.111The effective area is available at http://cxc.harvard.edu/cal/Links/Letg/User /Hrc\_QE/EA/correct\_ea/letgs\_NOGAP\_EA\_001031.mod. The LETG efficiencies were used, along with the transmission models of the UV ion shield, to determine the EAs for orders 2-5.

The EAs were adjusted based on an analysis of the LETGS spectrum of PKS 2155-304, observation ID 331. The spectrum of PKS 2155-304 was well fitted by a power law with a photon index of 2.45 for energies in the 0.5 to 3 keV range, so the model was extrapolated below 0.5 keV to examine the accuracy of calibration near and below the C-K edge. A very good fit with systematic errors of less than 10% could be obtained with slight adjustments to the 1st order EA model; decreasing the optical depth at C-K (0.285 keV) by 0.13 and adding an edge at 75 Å (0.162 keV) with an optical depth of 0.4. The 75 Å edge is an approximate description for an EA adjustment that has now been added to the LETGS EA model but it is not a physical one. This wavelength merely corresponds to a point where the low energy calibration based on HZ 43 was joined to a high energy calibration based on PKS 2155-304 (Pease, et al., 2002).

Higher order efficiencies in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th orders were adjusted by factors of 0.5, 0.8, and 1.8, respectively, in order to match the C-K edge features of 2nd and 3rd orders (at about 87 Å and 130 Å, respectively) and to match the overall count spectrum in the 0.1-0.15 keV band (where these orders dominate). We included 5th order, which was always less than 10% of the observed counts for $`E>0.1`$ keV and ignored all higher orders. There were significant residuals in the LETGS spectra of both PKS 2155-304 and Mrk 421 (observation ID 1715) at the C-K edge in first order, however, due to a 0.5 eV error in the energies of the resonance features (resulting from a flight filter wavelength calibration inaccuracy) as described by Pease, et al. (2002).

For an observation of exposure time $`T`$, the net count spectrum, $`C_\lambda `$, in a $`\delta \lambda `$ interval about $`\lambda `$ (determined for first order) is given by

$$C_\lambda =T\delta \lambda \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}mN_{\lambda /m}A_m(\lambda /m),$$
(A1)
where $`\lambda /m`$ is the wavelength in order $`m`$ that disperses to the same physical location as $`\lambda `$ in first order, $`N_\lambda `$ is the photon flux at $`\lambda `$, and $`A_m(\lambda )`$ is the EA in order $`m`$ at $`\lambda `$. The spectrum shown in Fig. 7 was computed using

$`n_\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{C_\lambda }{TA_\lambda \delta \lambda }}`$ (A2)
$`=`$ $`N_\lambda +{\displaystyle \underset{m=2}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}mN_{\lambda /m}{\displaystyle \frac{A_m(\lambda /m)}{A_\lambda }},`$ (A3)
where $`A_\lambda =A_1\lambda `$, so $`n_\lambda `$ is actually an estimate of $`N_\lambda `$, differing only in the inclusion of higher orders. The contributions to the observed flux densities calculated using eq. A2 due to order $`m`$ at first order wavelength $`\lambda `$ are

$$n_{\lambda ,m}=mN_{\lambda /m}\frac{A_m(\lambda /m)}{A_\lambda }.$$
(A4)
This procedure results in an “unfolded” spectrum in which the computed flux density follows the true flux density closely in the spectral region where first order dominates; i.e., where

$$n_\lambda \underset{m=2}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}n_{\lambda ,m}.$$
(A5)
In spectral fitting, eq. A1 is solved iteratively for $`N_\lambda `$ or the parameters of a model giving $`N_\lambda `$. We perform all model fits this way and then use eqs. A2 and A4 for visualization purposes.


text:
# On the Question of Interference in Radiation Produced by Relativistic Channeled Particles

## Abstract

Two approaches used in the description of the channeling radiation emitted from relativistic positrons are compared with each other. In the first (traditional) case, the probability of the process is proportional to a sum of absolute squares of the amplitudes of the transition between two states with definite transverse energy levels of the positrons traversing single crystals. In the second case, we begin with calculation of the sum of amplitudes for transition between states with different transverse energy levels for corresponding radiation frequency, and then the sum is squared. One must keep in mind that the latter approach can be used only in the case when positrons move in a nearly harmonic planar potential with equidistant transverse energy levels. It is shown that the calculation based on the second approach can give rise to a peak structure in the spectrum when the number of transverse energy levels is much greater than one.

We consider a relativistic charged particle incident onto a crystal at a small angle to a crystal planes. In the planar channeling case for positively charged positrons, the channel is between the crystal planes. This channel is the source of a potential well in the direction transverse to particle motion giving rise to transversely bound states for the particle. Transitions to lower-energy states lead to the phenomenon known as channeling radiation (CR). Calculations of the CR process are carried out by using the rules of quantum electrodynamics. The longitudinal and transverse motion of relativistic channeled positrons is described by the time-independent Dirac equation and the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation with relativistic corrections, respectively. The wave functions in the matrix element are given by the solutions of these equations, and, since the potential in our case only depends on the coordinate x, the part of the wave function describing the free motion along the y- and z-axes is a plane wave. The part of the wave function describing transverse nonrelativistic one-dimensional oscillations of planarly channeled positrons in the laboratory frame is obtained solving the Schrödinger equation for the transverse motion. The intensity of the CR is proportional to the square of the matrix element absolute value. The Doppler formula for the energy of photon emitted is derived using the energy and momentum conservation laws. For this energy one gets

$$\omega =\frac{\epsilon _n\epsilon _{n^\stackrel{´}{}}}{1\frac{p_{}}{E}\mathrm{cos}\theta },$$
(1)
where $`\epsilon _n`$ and $`\epsilon _{n^\stackrel{´}{}}`$ are the discrete energy levels of the transverse oscillations of the positron in the channel before and after radiation, respectively, $`E`$ and $`p_{}`$ are the energy and the longitudinal momentum of the positron, and $`\theta `$ is the angle of radiation emission relative to the direction of motion of the channeled positron.

The radiation of a maximum frequency

$$\omega =2(\epsilon _n\epsilon _{n^\stackrel{´}{}})\gamma ^2,\gamma =\frac{E}{m}$$

is emitted in the forward direction (at $`\theta =0`$ ). For positrons of not too high transverse energies, a good approximation (see e.g., Refs.\[1-3\]) is the harmonic potential leading to equidistant energy levels

$$\epsilon _n=\mathrm{\Omega }(n+1/2),$$

where $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\frac{2}{d_p}\sqrt{\frac{2U_0}{E}}`$ is the oscillation frequency, $`d_p`$ is the distance between planes in the corresponding units, and $`U_0`$ is the depth of the potential well. Since $`\frac{p_{}}{E}=(1\frac{1}{2}\gamma ^2),`$ and $`\mathrm{cos}\theta =(1\frac{1}{2}\theta ^2),`$ Eq. (2) can be expressed as

$$\omega =2\gamma ^2(nn^\stackrel{´}{})\mathrm{\Omega }(1+\theta ^2\gamma ^2)^1.$$
(2)
The case $`nn^\stackrel{´}{}=1`$ corresponds to the peak values of the experimental CR spectra , being the first harmonic with the photon energy $`\omega =2\gamma ^2\mathrm{\Omega }`$. As it follows from Eq.(2), photons emitted via positron transition from any initial level $`n`$ to the final level $`n1`$ are identical (i.e., have the same energies for the same emission angles). This means that the resulting amplitude should be given by an additive superposition of amplitudes of all such transitions. The positron state outside the crystal $`(z<0)`$ is a plane wave, whereas inside the crystal $`(z>0)`$ , the part of its wave function corresponding to the transverse motion is a superposition of the harmonic oscillator eigenvectors. Factors $`c_n`$ describing transitions from the initial state to states with the transverse energy levels $`n`$ can be found using boundary conditions set upon the wave function at the crystal border $`(z=0)`$. Then, a transition to the closest lower level $`n1`$ occurs with emission of a photon having energy $`\omega `$. The amplitude $`M_{n,n1}`$ of such a transition was calculated in Refs.. One may expect that the total amplitude of the transition from the initial to final state accompanied by the photon emission is determined by products of the amplitudes $`c_n`$ and $`M_{n,n1}`$. Following the rules of the quantum mechanics, we express this amplitude as

$$A\underset{n}{}c_nM_{n,n1},$$
(3)
were summation is performed over all the harmonic oscillator levels. In paper  the spectral-angular distribution of emitted photons is represented as

$$\frac{d^2\varpi }{d\omega dO}\underset{f}{}\left|M_{if}\right|^2.$$
(4)
The sum entering Eq.(4) is the one over the quantum numbers f of the transverse motion of the particle. Then, the probability of having a definite transverse energy is taken into account by multiplying each term of this sum by a corresponding factor. In our consideration, discrete levels of the transverse motion in the harmonic oscillator potential refer to the intermediate state of the particle. Accordingly, the contribution to the intensity $`\frac{d^2\varpi }{d\omega dO}`$ due to transitions, e.g., between the closest levels is determined by the square of the absolute value of expression (3)

$$\frac{d^2\varpi ^{(1)}}{d\omega dO}\left|\underset{n}{}c_nM_{n,n1}\right|^2.$$
(5)
In other words, unlike Ref., we get an expression that contains interference terms mixing amplitudes of photon emission from different equidistant levels. We would like to note that dynamics of channeling electron in a crystal differs from that of the positron case. The transverse potential well for the electron does not give rise to equidistant energy levels for transverse particle motion. Therefore, there are no interference contributions to the photon emission intensity similar to those present in Eq. (5). In our opinion, this could explain the greater intensity in case of channeling positron compared to that for the electron observed in experiment . We think that studying the problems like the one under consideration in this paper can help in the development of methods for obtaining polarized photon beams.

The authors would like to thank L.G. Levchuk for helpful discussions and interest to the work.