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# Decoherence in a Cooper pair shuttle

(March 16, 2024)

## Abstract

We examine decoherence effects in the Josephson current of a Cooper pair shuttle. Dephasing due to gate voltage fluctuations can either suppress or enhance the critical current and also change its sign. The current noise spectrum displays a peak at the Josephson coupling energy and shows a phase dependence.

The Josephson effect josephson62  consists in a dissipation-less current between two superconducting electrodes connected through a weak link tinkham96 ; barone82 . The origin of the effect stems from the macroscopic coherence of the superconducting condensate. Since its discovery in 1962, the research on devices based on the Josephson effect has been achieving a number of important breakthroughs both in pure tinkham96  and applied physics barone82 . One of the most recent exciting developments is probably the implementation of superconducting nano-circuits for quantum information processing makhlin01 , which requires the ability to coherently manipulate these devices. By now, this has been shown in several experiments in systems of small Josephson junctions qcomp .

Very recently, Gorelik et al. gorelik01 ; isacsson02  proposed a very appealing setup, the Cooper pair shuttle, able to create and maintain phase coherence between two distant superconductors. In its simplest realization, shown in Fig.1, the system is made up of a superconducting grain, externally forced to move periodically between two superconducting electrodes. Despite the fact that the grain is in contact with only one lead at a time, the shuttle does not only carry charge, as in the normal metal case gorelik98 ; erbe01 ; klein97 , but it also establishes phase coherence between the superconductors.

Aim of this work is to analyze how the presence of the environment affects the coherent transport in the Cooper pair shuttle. The interplay grifoni98  between the periodic driving and the environmental dephasing leads to several interesting results. By increasing the coupling to the environment it may result in an enhancement of the supercurrent as well as in a change of its sign ($`\pi `$-junction). In the last part of this Letter we propose an effective implementation of the shuttle mechanism where the switching of the Josephson couplings is controlled by an external magnetic field. The shuttle consists of a small superconducting island coupled to two macroscopic leads and forced to change its position periodically in time, with period $`T`$, from the Right ($`R`$) to the Left ($`L`$) electrode and back (see Fig.1).

The grain is small enough so that charging effects are important, while the two leads are macroscopic and have definite phases $`\varphi _{L,R}`$. The moving island is described by the Hamiltonian

$$H_0=E_C[\widehat{n}n_g(t)]^2\underset{b=L,R}{}E_J^{(b)}(t)\mathrm{cos}(\widehat{\varphi }\varphi _b)$$
(1)
where $`E_C`$ is the charging energy, $`E_J^{(L,R)}`$ is the Josephson coupling to the left or right lead respectively, and $`n_g`$ is the gate charge. The variable $`\widehat{n}`$ is the number of excess Cooper pairs in the grain and $`\widehat{\phi }`$ is its conjugate phase, $`[\widehat{n},\widehat{\phi }]=i`$. The system operates in the Coulomb blockade regime, $`E_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{(b)}E_C`$ ($`b=R,L`$) so that only the two charge states $`\{|n=0,|n=1\}`$ are important. Their relative energy ($`\mathrm{\Delta }E_C`$) is controlled by the gate charge $`n_g(t)`$. The superconducting gap is assumed to be the largest energy scale in the problem, so that quasi-particle tunnelling can be neglected. Both $`E_C`$ and $`E_J^{(L,R)}`$ are time dependent: when the grain is close to one of the leads, the corresponding Josephson coupling is non-zero (with value $`E_J`$) and the two charge states are degenerate (positions $`L`$ and $`R`$ in Fig.1). In the intermediate region (position $`C`$), $`E_J^{(L)}=E_J^{(R)}=0`$. As in Ref. isacsson02  we employ a sudden approximation (which requires a switching time $`\mathrm{\Delta }t1/E_J`$) and suppose $`E_J^{(L,R)}(t)`$ to be step functions in each region (see Fig.1). We further assume, as in Ref.gorelik01 , that the system is at the charge degeneracy as long as the island is in contact with one of the electrodes. In the intermediate region (C) it is not necessary to specify the exact variation of $`n_g(t)`$, only the time integral of the energy difference between the two charge states will enter in the results.

The shuttle is coupled via the charge operator $`\widehat{n}`$ to an environment described by the Caldeira–Leggett model weiss99

$$H_{int}=\widehat{n}\underset{i}{}\lambda _i(a_i+a_i^{})+H_{bath}.$$
(2)
In Eq.(2), $`H_{bath}`$ is the bath Hamiltonian, with boson operators $`a_i`$, $`a_i^{}`$ for its $`ith`$ mode. The form of the coupling in Eq.(2) can describe either gate voltage fluctuations makhlin01  or, in some limits, random switching of background charges in the substrate paladino02 .

In order to analyze the transport process, we evaluate the time averaged supercurrent at steady state

$$I=\overline{\widehat{I}}\frac{1}{T}_0^T𝑑t\widehat{I}(t),$$
(3)
and the power spectrum of the current fluctuations

$$S(\omega )=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑\tau \stackrel{~}{S}(\tau )e^{i\omega \tau }$$
(4)
where

$$\stackrel{~}{S}(\tau )=\frac{1}{2}\overline{[\widehat{I}(t+\tau ),\widehat{I}(t)]_+}\overline{\widehat{I}(t+\tau )\widehat{I}(t)}.$$
(5)
In the Schrödinger picture, the current operator is ($`\mathrm{}=1`$)

$$\widehat{I}(t)=2eE_J\mathrm{sin}\left(\widehat{\phi }\varphi _L\right)\mathrm{\Theta }_L(t)$$
(6)
corresponding to the exchange of Cooper pairs with the left lead. The function $`\mathrm{\Theta }_L(t)`$ is defined as follows: $`\mathrm{\Theta }_L(t)=1`$ when the grain is in the $`L`$ region, and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_L(t)=0`$ otherwise (the functions $`\mathrm{\Theta }_R(t)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_C(t)`$ are defined analogously). In order to evaluate Eqs.(3, 4), we need to compute the reduced density matrix of the grain $`\rho (t)`$. After one period the evolution of $`\rho (t)`$ can be computed through a map $`_t`$ defined by $`\rho (t+T)=_t\rho (t)`$. The stationary limit is obtained by studying the fixed point of $`_t`$ shytov01 . Since only two charge states in the grain are relevant, the reduced density matrix can be parametrized, in the charge basis, as $`\rho (t)=1/2\left[1\mathrm{I}+\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{r}(t)\right]`$, where $`\sigma _i`$ ($`i=x,y,z`$) are the Pauli matrices and $`r_i(t)=\sigma _i`$. The assumption of a stepwise varying Hamiltonian considerably simplifies the form of the map $`_t`$, obtained as a composition of the time evolutions of $`\rho `$ in the intervals L,C,R (see Fig. 1). Separately for each of these intervals, the master equation for $`\stackrel{}{r}(t)`$ has the form cohen

$$\dot{\stackrel{}{r}}(t)=\underset{k\{L,R,C\}}{}\left[G_k(t)\stackrel{}{r}(t)+2\gamma _J(T_b)\stackrel{}{w}_k\right]\mathrm{\Theta }_k(t)$$
(7)
with $`\stackrel{}{w}_{L,R}^{}=\mathrm{tanh}(E_J/T_b)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}\varphi _{L,R},& \mathrm{sin}\varphi _{L,R},& 0\end{array}\right),\stackrel{}{w}_C^{}=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0,& 0,& 0\end{array}\right)`$,

$$G_{L,R}=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}2\gamma _J(T_b)& 0& E_J\mathrm{sin}\varphi _{L,R}\\ 0& 2\gamma _J(T_b)& E_J\mathrm{cos}\varphi _{L,R}\\ E_J\mathrm{sin}\varphi _{L,R}& E_J\mathrm{cos}\varphi _{L,R}& 0\end{array}\right),$$
(8)
$$G_C=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\gamma _C(T_b)& E_C& 0\\ E_C& \gamma _C(T_b)& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),$$
(9)
where the bath is taken in thermal equilibrium at temperature $`T_b`$.

Here, $`\gamma _J(T_b)`$ and $`\gamma _C(T_b)`$ are the temperature-dependent dephasing rates in the regions L, R and C, respectively, obtained in the Born-Markov approximation. As an example, for an ohmic bath with coupling to the environment $`\alpha 1`$, one has weiss99  $`\gamma _J(T_b)=(\pi /2)\alpha E_J\mathrm{coth}(E_J/2T_b)`$ and $`\gamma _C(T_b)=2\pi \alpha T_b`$. This treatment is valid provided that $`\gamma _{J,C}T_b,E_J`$, and that the time interval $`t_{J(C)}`$ is much longer than both $`T_b^1`$ and $`E_{J(C)}^1`$. In the coupling regions L and R, the only energy scale is set by the Josephson energy, while, during the free evolution time, the relevant scale is the energy difference between charge states. Correspondingly, all the physical quantities depend on the phases $`2\theta =E_Jt_J`$ and $`2\chi =_C𝑑t\mathrm{\Delta }E_C(t)`$ footnote1 . The other important variable is the phase difference $`\varphi =\varphi _L\varphi _R`$. The effect of damping is characterized by the two dimensionless quantities $`\gamma _Jt_J`$ and $`\gamma _Ct_C`$ footnote2 .

*Average current*\- In the limiting case considered by Gorelik et al. gorelik01 , the Josephson current does not depend on the dephasing rates. One expects, however, that this cannot be always the case. If, for example, the period T is much larger than the inverse dephasing rates, the shuttle mechanism is expected to be inefficient and the critical current should be strongly suppressed. In fact, we find a quite rich scenario, depending on the relative value of the various time scales and phase shifts.

The expression of the current $`I(\varphi ,\theta ,\chi ,\gamma _Jt_J,\gamma _Ct_C)`$ can be obtained analytically from Eqs.(3,7). However, it is rather cumbersome and not instructive, so we prefer to present it in some limiting cases. A typical plot of $`I`$ as a function of $`\theta `$ and $`\varphi `$ is shown in Fig.2. Depending on the value of $`\theta `$ (a similar behaviour is observed as a function of $`\chi `$), the critical current can be negative, i.e. the system can behave as a $`\pi `$-junction. The phase shifts accumulated in the time intervals L,C and R, leading to the current-phase relation shown in Fig.2, are affected by the dephasing rates in a complicated way. By changing $`\gamma _Jt_J`$ and $`\gamma _Ct_C`$, certain interference paths are suppressed, resulting in a shift of the interference pattern and ultimately in a change of the sign of the current, as shown in Fig.3.

An analysis of the critical current as a function of the dephasing rates reveals another interesting aspect: the Josephson current is a non-monotonous function of $`\gamma _Jt_J`$, i.e. by increasing the damping, the Josephson current can increase. The behavior as a function of the dephasing rates is presented in Fig.3. The presence of a maximum Josephson current at a finite value of $`\gamma _Jt_J`$ can be understood by analyzing the asymptotic behaviors in the strong and weak damping limits, where simple analytic expressions are available (in the following we do not explicitely write the temperature dependence in $`\gamma _J`$, $`\gamma _C`$).
i)If the dephasing is strong, $`I`$ can be expanded in powers of $`e^{\gamma _Jt_J}`$ and $`e^{\gamma _Ct_C}`$ and, to leading order

$$I_{strong}\frac{2e}{T}\mathrm{tanh}\left(\frac{E_J}{T_b}\right)e^{(\gamma _Jt_J+\gamma _Ct_C)}\mathrm{cos}(2\chi )\mathrm{sin}(2\theta )\mathrm{sin}\varphi .$$
(10)
Strong dephasing is reflected in the simple (i.e. $`\mathrm{sin}\varphi `$) current-phase relationship and in the exponential suppression of the current itself.
ii)In the opposite limit of weak damping ($`\gamma _Jt_J\gamma _Ct_C1`$ footnote2 ),

$$I_{weak}\frac{2e}{T}\mathrm{tanh}\left(\frac{E_J}{T_b}\right)\frac{\gamma _Jt_J}{\gamma _Ct_C}\frac{(\mathrm{cos}\varphi +\mathrm{cos}2\chi )\mathrm{tan}\theta \mathrm{sin}\varphi }{1+\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{cos}2\chi }.$$
(11)
The current tends to zero if the coupling with the bath is negligible during the interaction time. In this case, indeed, the time evolution in the intervals $`L,R`$ is almost unitary, while, in the region $`C`$, pure dephasing leads to a suppression of the off-diagonal terms of the reduced density matrix $`\rho (t)`$. As a result, in the stationary limit the system is described by a complete mixture with equal weights. The current then tends to zero in both limiting cases of large and small $`\gamma _Jt_J`$. Therefore one should expect an optimal coupling to the environment where the Josephson current is maximum. A regime where the crossover between the strong and weak damping cases can be described in simple terms is the limit $`\gamma _C0`$, for a fixed value of $`\theta `$. For example, at $`\theta =\pi /4`$ the current reads

$`I={\displaystyle \frac{2e}{T}}\mathrm{tanh}\left({\displaystyle \frac{E_J}{T_b}}\right)`$
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{2e^{\gamma _Jt_J}\left[2e^{2\gamma _Jt_J}\mathrm{cos}\varphi +\left(1+e^{4\gamma _Jt_J}\right)\mathrm{cos}2\chi \right]\mathrm{sin}\varphi }{\left(1+e^{2\gamma _Jt_J}\right)\left(1+e^{2\gamma _Jt_J}\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{cos}2\chi +e^{4\gamma _Jt_J}\right)}}`$ (12)
In the limit of vanishing $`\gamma _Jt_J`$, Eq.(12) corresponds to the situation discussed in gorelik01 . Indeed, both expressions are independent of the dephasing rates. The difference in the details of the current-phase(s) relationship are due to the different environment.

In all the three cases presented here, Eqs.(10,11,12), the change of sign of the current as a function of the phase shifts $`\theta `$ or $`\chi `$ is evident.

*Current Noise* \- Cooper pair shuttling is a result of a non equilibrium steady state process. Therefore, to better characterize the transport, we analyze supercurrent fluctuations as defined in Eq.(4). This should be contrasted with the standard Josephson effect tinkham96 , where the supercurrent is an equilibrium property of the system. We first consider the zero frequency noise in the two regimes of strong and weak dephasing.
When the dephasing is strong, correlations on time scales larger than $`T`$ are suppressed and the noise spectrum reads

$$S(0)_{strong}\frac{4e^2}{T}\left\{\frac{1}{2}e^{\gamma _Jt_J}\mathrm{cos}(2\theta )+e^{2\gamma _Jt_J}f(\theta ,\varphi ,\chi )\right\},$$
(13)
where $`f(\theta ,\varphi ,\chi )=\mathrm{cos}^2(2\theta )e^{\gamma _Ct_C}\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{cos}\chi \mathrm{sin}^2(2\theta )`$. The leading term in Eq.(13) is due to the damped oscillations in the contact regions (L,R). The phase dependent contribution is exponentially suppressed since it comes from correlations over times larger than the period. For weak dephasing (same limits of Eq. (11)), we find

$$S(0)_{weak}\frac{4e^2}{T}\frac{1}{\gamma _Ct_C}\frac{\mathrm{tan}^2\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\varphi }{2(1+\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{cos}2\chi )},$$
(14)
which shows a much richer structure as a function of the phases $`\theta `$ and $`\chi `$ footnote3 . Finally, we briefly discuss the finite frequency spectrum in the case of strong dephasing (see Fig.4). Superimposed to the peak at the Josephson energy, there are oscillations of frequency of the order of $`T^1`$. The presence of these oscillations is related to the periodicity of the island motion. The modification of these fringes as a function of the phases is a signature of the coherence in the Cooper pair shuttle.

We conclude by suggesting a possible experimental test of our results which does not require any mechanically moving part. The time dependence of the Josephson couplings and $`n_g`$ is regulated by a time dependent magnetic field and gate voltage, respectively. The setup consists of a superconducting nanocircuit in a uniform magnetic field as sketched in Fig.5. By substituting the Josephson junction by SQUID loops, it is possible to control the $`E_J`$ by tuning the applied magnetic field piercing the loop. The presence of three type of loops with different area, $`A_L,A_R,A_C`$ allows to achieve indipendently the three cases, where one of the two $`E_J`$’s is zero (regions L,R) or both of them are zero (region C), by means of a *uniform* magnetic field. If the applied field is such that a half-flux quantum pierces the areas $`A_L`$,$`A_R`$ or $`A_C`$, the Josephson couplings will be those of regions R,L and C, respectively and the Hamiltonian of the system can be exactly mapped onto that of Eq.(1). Moreover, by choosing the ratios $`A_C/A_R=0.146`$, and $`A_C/A_L=0.292`$ the two Josephson coupling are equal, $`E_J^{(L)}=E_J^{(R)}`$. This implementation has several advantages. It allows to control the coupling with the environment by simply varying the time dependence of the applied magnetic field. The time scale for the variation of the magnetic field should be controlled at the same level as it is done in the implementation of Josephson nanocircuits for quantum computation (see Ref. makhlin01  for an extensive discussion). For a quantitative comparison with the results described here, the magnetic field should vary on a time scale shorter than $`\mathrm{}/E_J`$, tipically a few nanoseconds with the parameters of the first article in Ref. qcomp . This is possible with present day technology buisson03 . At a qualitive level the results presented in this paper ($`\pi `$-junction behavior, non-monotonous behavior in the damping) do not rely on the step-change approximation of the Josephson couplings (which leads to Eq.(7)). Those effects are observable even if the magnetic field changes on time-scales comparable or slower than $`E_J`$. The only strict requirement is that only one Josephson coupling at the time is switched on.

We gratefully acknowledge many helpful discussions with G. Falci, Yu. Galperin and Yu.V. Nazarov. This work was supported by the EU (IST-SQUBIT, HPRN-CT-2002-00144) and by Fondazione Silvio Tronchetti Provera.


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# Globular cluster candidates within the Fornax Cluster: intracluster globulars? Based on observations obtained at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, NOAO, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

## 1 Introduction

The Fornax Cluster is an excellent target for studying globular clusters: it is very rich, contains different types of galaxies and the globular cluster candidates can be detected at least as unresolved sources. There are numerous photometric studies of globular cluster systems in selected Fornax galaxies, particularly the central one NGC 1399 as well as other early-type galaxies. Most of these studies show that the color distribution of the globular clusters is bimodal due to the presence of two globular cluster populations, “red” and “blue”; these integrated colors are mainly driven by metallicity in objects as old as these ones.

With regard to the globular cluster system of NGC 1399, the Washington photometry by Ostrov et al. (1993) confirmed the existence of a color gradient that had been detected earlier by Bridges at al. (1991), and suggested that the color distribution was multimodal, as was also supported by the V,I photometry by Kissler-Patig et al. (1997). The HST imaging by Forbes et al. (1998) and Grillmair et al. (1999), and a refined analysis of their previous Washington photometry by Ostrov et al. (1998), pointed to the bimodal character of the color distribution. More recently, the wide-field study by Dirsch et al. (2002a, b) showed that globular custers with a broad metallicity distribution – that cannot be fitted with a single Gaussian – extend further than 100 kpc from NGC 1399 center.

There are fewer investigations of globular cluster systems in dwarf galaxies that are not in the Local Group. Miller and collaborators (Miller et al. 1998a, b; Miller 1999; Lotz et al. 2001) carried out a survey with images from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 of the Hubble Space Telescope (FOV $``$ 6 arcmin2) to analyze the properties of globular clusters and nuclei of dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) in the Fornax and Virgo Clusters and the Leo Group. They include about 20 dEs from the Fornax Cluster but none of them are in common with the present work. They show that the globular cluster specific frequency $`S_\mathrm{N}`$ (number of globular clusters with respect to the parent galaxy’s luminosity) of the dEs is in the range 2–6; the luminosity function of the globular cluster candidates is consistent with a Gaussian with peak at $`M_V^07`$ mag and dispersion $`\sigma _V1.4`$ mag (assuming a distance modulus of 31.4 for the Fornax Cluster); and most of the globular cluster $`(VI)`$ colors are similar to those of the metal-poor globular cluster population (also Ashman & Bird 1993). The globular cluster system of the luminous dE,N galaxy NGC 3115 DW1 was studied by Durrell et al. (1996a) and Puzia et al. (2000) who obtained mean metallicities $`[Fe/H]=1.2`$ and $`1`$, respectively, and they both agreed on a specific frequency $`S_\mathrm{N}`$ = 4.9. Durrell et al. (1996b) obtained, on the basis of Washington photometry, a low mean metallicity, $`[Fe/H]=1.45`$, for the globular cluster systems of two dE galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and they suggested that the dwarf galaxies globular cluster systems present a similar range of metallicities ($`[Fe/H]=2`$ to $`1`$) as globular clusters in the halos of spiral galaxies, in agreement with Ashman & Bird (1993). Turning to the Local Group, Minniti et al. (1996) constructed a master-dE galaxy combining the data from globular cluster systems of several dEs in this Group; they found an old and metal-poor globular cluster population whose metallicity distribution matched the one of the Milky Way halo globulars.

The abovementioned bimodality in the color distribution of globular clusters in elliptical galaxies, is closely related to the formation of the globular clusters and a variety of scenarios have been proposed (for reviews on the subject see, e.g., Ashman & Zepf 1998 or Harris 2001). Ashman & Zepf (1992) and Zepf & Ashman (1993) predicted this bimodal metallicity distribution of globulars in elliptical galaxies as a result of gas-rich mergers; they proposed that the blue population originally belonged to the progenitor galaxies and the red population formed during the merger. The numerical simulations from Bekki et al. (2002) showed that dissipative mergers create new globular clusters but they were not able to reproduce properly the bimodal metallicity distribution observed in elliptical galaxies.

A different point of view was exposed, e.g., by Forbes et al. (1997) who found a correlation between the mean metallicity of the metal-rich globular clusters and the parent galaxy luminosity, which suggested that they share the same chemical enrichment process, while the mean metallicity of the metal-poor ones seems to be independent of the galaxy luminosity. They proposed that the bimodality originated in two phases of globular cluster formation from gas with different metallicities, and that most of them formed ”in situ”. The HST study of 17 early-type galaxies by Larsen et al. (2001) showed a correlation between the colors of both, blue and red globular clusters populations, with the B-luminosity and central velocity dispersion of the host galaxy, and concluded that their observations support globular cluster formation ”in situ”, in the protogalaxy potential well.

Alternatively, Forbes & Forte (2001) analyzed the relation between the mean color of blue and red globulars with the galaxy velocity dispersion and suggested that red globular clusters share a common origin with the host galaxy and blue ones seem to have formed quite independently; according to Côté et al. (1998) these blue globular clusters may have been captured from other galaxies by merger processes or tidal stripping.

The idea of the accretion of dwarf galaxies into the cD halo of NGC 1399, the stripping of their gas and globular clusters and the formation of new clusters from this gas poses a different origin for the red globular clusters (Hilker et al. 1999). Burgarella et al. (2001) analyzed the blue globular cluster populations from 47 galaxies and found no correlation between their mean metallicity, which is very similar for all these systems, and the galaxy properties (luminosity, velocity dispersion, etc); they proposed that the metal-poor globular clusters may have formed from gas fragments of similar metallicity, as already suggested by Ashman & Bird (1993), and located within the dark halo of the galaxy.

More recently, the semianalytic model by Beasley et al. (2002) assumed that the metal-poor globular clusters formed in protogalactic fragments and the metal-rich ones originated in the gas-rich mergers of such fragments that occurred later.

Assuming the presence of globular clusters inside clusters of galaxies, an alternative scenario is proposed by White (1987) and West et al. (1995), who pointed to the possible existence of a population of globular clusters that are not bound to individual galaxies; instead, they are supposed to move freely in the central regions of the galaxy clusters. These intracluster globular clusters may be the result of interactions or mergers between the galaxies, or they may have formed precisely in the environment of a galaxy cluster without any parent galaxy. The kinematic analysis by Minniti et al. (1998) and by Kissler-Patig et al. (1999) also suggested that some globular clusters may be associated with the gravitational potential of the galaxy cluster and not solely with NGC 1399. On the other hand, Grillmair et al. (1999) found no evidence of intergalactic globular clusters in an HST/WFPC image at a radial distance of about $`1\stackrel{}{.}4`$ from NGC 1399, but due to the small field of view, they were not able to rule out their existence. Several objections against the intraclusters were raised by Harris et al. (1998) who tried to explain by means of their existence the supposed high specific frequency of M87, the central Virgo galaxy; but the latest values of $`S_\mathrm{N}`$ obtained for NGC 1399 by Ostrov et al. (1998) and Dirsch et al. (2002b) showed that it is not so high ($`S_\mathrm{N}`$ = 5.6 and 5.1, respectively).

In favor of the existence of intergalactic material, Theuns & Warren (1997), Mendez et al. (1997), and Ciardullo et al. (1998) presented evidence for the presence of intergalactic planetary nebulae within the Fornax and Virgo Clusters, while Ferguson et al. (1998) reported several hundred of intracluster red giants in Virgo. Some globular clusters may have been stripped with them from other cluster galaxies if this is their origin (Harris 2001).

In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of globular cluster candidates found near dwarf galaxies in the Fornax Cluster and its connection with the above mentioned scenarios. It is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the observations and the adopted criteria for the globular cluster candidates’ selection. In Sect. 3 we analyze the color distribution, luminosity function and spatial distribution of the candidates. Finally, a summary of the results and a discussion on their implications are provided in Sect. 4. Preliminary results of this work have been presented by Bassino et al. (2002).

## 2 Observations and globular cluster selection

CCD images of 15 fields centered on low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies in the Fornax Cluster were obtained (with the original purpose of studying the LSB galaxies, Cellone et al. 1994; Cellone & Forte 1996) with the 0.90-m and 1.50-m telescopes at CTIO (Chile), during two observing runs in October 1989 and November 1990, and using the $`C`$ and $`T_1`$ filters of the Washington photometric system. The dwarf galaxies are listed in Table 1: the first column gives their FCC numbers (Ferguson 1989) and the second one gives the respective angular distances from NGC 1399, which will be considered as the center of the Cluster. The dwarfs are distributed in angular distance from 12′ up to 175′ from NGC 1399 (see Figure 1); as we will adopt a distance modulus of 31.35 for the Fornax Cluster throughout this paper (Madore et al. 1999), that corresponds to projected distances ranging between 65 and 950 kpc from the cluster center. The fields sizes range from 10 to 17 arcmin2; hence, they have the advantage of being larger than the ones studied by Miller et al. (1998a) to search for cluster candidates. However, they are not as deep as the HST images: we identify cluster candidates up to $`T_1`$ 22 mag while Miller et al. reach $`V`$ 25 mag (equivalent to $`T_1`$ 24.5 mag, according to the relation between these magnitudes obtained from Geisler (1996) and Cellone et al. (1994)). For a detailed description of the observations we refer to Cellone et al. (1994).

In order to identify the globular cluster candidates, we selected the point sources within certain ranges of colors and magnitudes. The analysis of each frame was carried out in the following steps:

1. The dwarf galaxies were first removed using the IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated by AURA, Inc. under contract to the National Science Foundation. / STSDAS tasks “ellipse” and “bmodel”, which allowed us to fit elliptical isophotes to the galaxies, create a model based on them and subtract the model from the image.
2. Using the photometric software SExtractor (Source-Extractor, Bertin & Arnouts 1996) we detected all the sources in the dwarf-subtracted frames, we measured their instrumental magnitudes and colors, and each object was classified with an “stellarity-index”, a tool for performing a reliable resolved/unresolved source separation. Among the different types of magnitudes that SExtractor measures, the “corrected isophotal” were selected as the most reliable ones for stellar-like sources (Arnouts et al. 1997).
3. The instrumental magnitudes and colors were transformed to the standard system via the equations derived by Cellone et al. (1994), which were applied to the new measurements because they were both obtained by means of aperture photometry. The reddening towards the dwarfs’ fields was obtained from the Schlegel et al. (1998) maps and transformed into the Washington system by means of the relations given by Harris & Canterna (1979). As the mean estimated color–excess $`E_{CT_1}`$ 0.02 mag is much smaller than the photometric errors (see below), it was considered negligible.
4. All the sources classified with an “stellarity-index” below 0.35 were considered as resolved sources and were discarded. The limiting index was estimated running DAOPHOT on several images as well as adding artificial stars to the frames, and comparing the results for different values of the “stellarity-index” with the results for the DAOPHOT indices “sharpness”, “chi” and “roundness” that allow the identification of point sources, galaxies and image defects.
5. Finally, we selected as globular cluster candidates those point sources with: magnitudes $`19<T_1<22`$ mag and colors $`0.8<(CT_1)<2.2`$ mag. We estimate that the completeness of the sample is larger than 90 % above magnitude $`T_1`$ 22 mag. This conservative cutoff prevents against any possible bias introduced by small variations in the photometric limit between different fields. Reassuringly, we found no correlation between effective exposure (considering telescope diameter and integration time) and surface density of globular cluster candidates. The number of globular cluster candidates that was identified in each dwarf galaxy’s field ranges from zero to ten, which corresponds to surface densities between 0.00 and 0.71 candidates/arcmin2, as is listed in the third column of Table 1.

Figure 2 shows the color-magnitude diagram of all the identified sources (about 350), and the ones selected as globular cluster candidates (75). The mean photometric errors for the globular cluster candidates are 0.09 mag in $`T_1`$ and 0.15 mag in $`(CT_1)`$.

## 3 Results

We concentrate on the following features of the globular cluster candidates: their color distribution, their luminosity function, and their spatial distribution. Due to the small number of candidates found around each dwarf, we will analyze the characteristics of all of them together.

### 3.1 Color distribution

The $`(CT_1)`$ color distribution is shown in Figure 3; it is an histogram smoothed by means of a Gaussian with a dispersion comparable to the errors in $`(CT_1)`$. The color-metallicity calibration from Geisler & Forte (1990) has also been included in this Figure. In order to take into account the background contamination we have used a comparison field located at $`3\stackrel{}{.}5`$ north-east from the cluster center, which has already been used by Dirsch et al. (2002b) and whose color distribution is also shown in Figure 3, after normalizing for the different field sizes corresponding to the dwarfs’ images and to the background’s one. The comparison field was observed with $`C`$ and $`R_{KC}`$ filters instead of $`C`$ and $`T_1`$, but according to Geisler (1996), the Kron-Cousins $`R`$ and the Washington $`T_1`$ magnitudes are similar, to a high degree of accuracy, for the color range considered in this paper. The comparison field is not very far from FCC 76, the dwarf with the largest projected distance from NGC 1399 in the sample; thus, the contribution from the background may be probably overestimated and so we may be underestimating the surface densities obtained after this correction. The surface density of globular cluster candidates for each dwarf field, after the background-correction, is given in the last column of Table 1.

The color distribution of the raw data, as can be seen in Figure 3, is extended and appears to be bimodal (see also the color-magnitude diagram displayed in Figure 2). In order to quantify this apparent bimodality in a statistical way, we have applied to the raw data the KMM test which helps to detect and evaluate bimodality in datasets (see Ashman et al. 1994 for a description of the test and its application). The results of the test indicate that two Gaussians with means at 1.18 and 1.86 mag can be fit to the set of $`(CT_1)`$ values, and assuming that both Gaussians have the same covariance (homoscedastic fitting) we obtain a dispersion $`\sigma `$ = 0.2 mag for them. The hypothesis that this $`(CT_1)`$ distribution is unimodal rather than bimodal is rejected at a confidence level of 100% according to the KMM test. It must be taken into account that the number of candidates is small (75 objects) but, according to the study of the KMM algorithm sensitivity performed by Ashman et al. (1994), there is a sufficient large separation in the means of the two Gaussians (3.4 $`\sigma `$) to be able to obtain a significant rejection of the unimodal hypothesis.

The result of the background subtraction is also shown in Figure 3, where the corrected color distribution appears to be bimodal too, with two possible peaks that would be located at $`(CT_1)`$ 1.2 and 1.9 mag, corresponding to metallicities \[Fe/H\] $`1.6`$ and 0.1, respectively (Geisler & Forte 1990). However, it is not possible to apply the KMM test to this corrected distribution because the number of candidates is smaller than 50, and Ashman et al. (1994) state that in this cases the test does not provide a reliable result for detecting bimodality. Anyway, even though we cannot confirm statistically the bimodality, it is clear that we do not find a single population of metal-poor globular cluster candidates around the dwarfs, as happens in the cases already mentioned in the Introduction; instead, an extended distribution that expands over the whole metallicity range, from metal-poor to metal-rich populations, is detected.

In spite of the apparent symmetry in the corrected color distribution displayed in Figure 3, we cannot be sure that the number of these probable metal-poor and metal-rich candidates are similar because we do not have a complete area sample. Figure 1 shows that there are more dwarfs near to NGC 1399 than far from it. We have not attempted to search for radial globular clusters color gradients with respect to the dwarfs or to the Fornax Cluster center due to the small sample we are considering.

Whether or not two globular cluster populations should be expected in dwarf galaxies is still unclear. All the globular clusters around dwarfs in the Local Group studied by Minniti et al. (1996) had metallicities that correspond to a metal-poor population, with \[Fe/H\] $`1`$. They suggested that the dE galaxies included in their study seem to have formed no metal-rich globular clusters. In turn, Durrell et al. (1996b) found a possible bimodality in the colors of the globular clusters of the Virgo dwarf VCC 1254, which they speculate might correspond to two phases of globular cluster formation.

With regard to the results for the NGC 1399 globular cluster system, Ostrov et al. (1998) identified globular clusters located between $`0\stackrel{}{.}5`$ and $`4\mathrm{}`$ from the galaxy center finding two globular cluster populations with $`(CT_1)`$ 1.3 and 1.8 mag, respectively. In turn, Dirsch et al. (2002b) performed a wide-field study of this system and showed that the innermost sample, between 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$8 and 4$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5, was clearly bimodal with peaks at $`(CT_1)`$ 1.3 and 1.75 mag; at larger radii, from 4$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5 up to $`22\mathrm{}`$, the metal-poor population became dominant without changing the position of the blue peak.

### 3.2 Luminosity function

We plot the luminosity function (background-corrected) in Figure 4: an histogram of the number of globular cluster candidates vs. $`T_1`$, where we use an upper limiting magnitude, $`T_1=21.5`$ mag, omitting the last bin where the completeness of the red candidates is more seriously affected. A Gaussian distribution, calculated with the parameters obtained by Ostrov et al. (1998) fitting the luminosity function of the NGC 1399 globular cluster system, is included for comparison.

Our sample covers only $`7\%`$ of the area under that Gaussian and, after background subtraction, we are left with 37 globular cluster candidates with magnitudes $`19<T_1<21.5`$. Although it is a small sample, we attempt to compare it with the number of globular clusters that we should have found, in a similar area, if they belonged to the dwarf galaxies’ globular cluster systems. We calculate the total integrated brightness of our sample’s dEs by means of the $`T_1`$ total integrated magnitudes of the dwarfs given by Cellone et al. (1994), the adopted distance modulus to the Fornax Cluster and the relation between V and $`T_1`$ magnitudes mentioned above; thus, we obtain a total integrated visual brightness for the sample of $`18.8`$ mag. As the range of specific frequencies proposed for dEs is $`S_\mathrm{N}`$ = 2–6 (Miller et al. 1998a; Elmegreen 1999), we estimate that we should have found between 4 and 13 globular cluster dwarfs’ GC candidates, within the mentioned $`T_1`$ range. By comparison, we have identified three to ten times more globular cluster candidates than what is inferred from the $`S_\mathrm{N}`$ values.

### 3.3 Spatial distribution

#### 3.3.1 Distribution with respect to the dwarf centers

If the globular cluster candidates are bound to the respective dwarf galaxies, the projected density of globular clusters vs. galactocentric distance is expected to increase towards the center. This behavior can be clearly seen in the Fig. 5 of Lotz et al. (2001), which shows the summed radial distribution of globular cluster candidates from a sample of 51 dEs.

Figure 5 depicts the surface number density of globular clusters (background-corrected), calculated in concentric annuli around each of the dwarfs and summed over all of them. These surface densities are estimated as follows. First, a set of 20″wide annuli is established around each dwarf, taking into account the different scales of the images. For each image, annuli with more than 60% of their area outside the frame limits were discarded, thus leading to the 160″ limit in angular distance. Then, for each dwarf, the number of globular candidates is estimated within each annulus, applying a completeness correction to the annuli lying partly outside the corresponding frame. Afterwards, the counts for each annulus are background-corrected, subtracting the density of the background field multiplied by the area of the corresponding complete annulus. Finally, the background-corrected counts are summed over the annuli defined by the same angular distance from each dwarf, and divided by its complete area.

As can be seen in Figure 5, no concentration towards the center is evident. In order to demonstrate this statistically, we compare this observed distribution with a uniform distribution, that is, one with a constant number density calculated as the same number of globular clusters, scattered across the same total area. The result of a $`\chi ^2`$ test performed between them, indicates that the observed distribution is statistically consistent with being drawn from a uniform distribution at a significance level of 89 %. Under this evidence, it is not possible to assert that these globular cluster candidates are bound to the respective dwarfs as they show no concentration to the dwarf centers, although we cannot confirm this hypothesis without the aid of radial velocities.

We must take into account that the studied radial distribution shown in Figure 5 extends up to 14 kpc from the center of the dEs. The radial density profiles from Lotz et al. (2001) reach almost zero value at shorter distances from the dwarfs, between 1.1 and 8.7 kpc, according to the dwarf’s exponential scalelength they use and the distance modulus we have adopted, while the summed radial distribution of the globular cluster system for 11 Virgo dEs by Durrell et al. (1996b) extends to only 2.5 kpc. Both results indicate that the globular cluster systems of dwarfs are rather compact.

#### 3.3.2 Distribution with respect to the Cluster center

Finally, we studied the surface density of the potential globular clusters but now vs. the distance to the center of the Fornax Cluster, more precisely to NGC 1399 (Figure 6). As the number of GC candidates is small, we consider them in two separate groups to reinforce the statistic: the globular clusters located nearer than 80′ from NGC 1399 and those between 80′ and 160′ from it.

The surface densities of globulars were calculated as the number of clusters (background-corrected) around the dwarfs corresponding to each group, divided by the total surveyed area in each case. We have excluded the two dwarf galaxies more distant from the center, at more than $`2\stackrel{}{.}5`$: that is FCC 76 and FCC 314. FCC 76 has probably underwent recent star-formation (Cellone et al. 1994) while FCC 314 is seen projected on to a background cluster of galaxies, so both of them could led to misleading results for the distribution of globular cluster candidates with respect to the cluster center.

Although the statistical noise is relatively large, the results show that the globular clusters located closer to the cluster center have a higher projected density than the ones located farther than 80′, which seem to be approaching to zero density. As the $`S_\mathrm{N}`$ values for nucleated dEs are higher than for non-nucleated dEs (Miller et al. 1998a), we also estimate separately the surface density of the globular cluster candidates around dwarfs with nucleus and without it. They are included in Figure 6 and show no difference between them or with the results for all the dEs together.

## 4 Discussion

With regard to the color distribution of the globular cluster candidates, it is interesting to note that we do not find a single population, the metal-poor one, as seems to be the common case for dwarf galaxies (Durrell et al. 1996b; Miller et al. 1998a, b; Miller 1999), but an extended distribution, which appears to be bimodal though we cannot prove it statistically due to the small sample involved. In addition, if we take into account the specific frequency estimated for dwarf galaxies (Miller et al. 1998a; Elmegreen 1999) and the luminosity function of the globular cluster candidates, we should have found significantly fewer globular cluster candidates than we actually do.

According to the projected density of the potential globular clusters, they show no concentration towards the dwarfs while they do show concentration with respect to the center of the cluster. These results led us to speculate that the globular cluster candidates may not be associated to the dwarf galaxies themselves. We are then left with three possibilities: first, that these globular cluster candidates belong to the globular cluster system of NGC 1399; second, they may be moving freely throughout the potential well of the cluster, without being bound to any galaxy in particular; or third, that they are a mix of both. In the first case, we should be accepting that the globular cluster system of NGC 1399 is much more extended and numerous than previously thought. According to this hypothesis, Figure 6 suggests that there should be clusters up to at least an intermediate angular distance of 80′ (a projected distance of about 430 kpc) from the central galaxy; the CCD study over the largest area around NGC 1399 was performed by Dirsch et al. (2002b), which extends up to 22′, and showed that the globular cluster system extends over a radial projected distance of more than 100 kpc.

The total number (background corrected) of globular clusters within the area covered by our observations can be roughly estimated as about 550 clusters, by extrapolating their luminosity function over the whole range of $`T_1`$ magnitudes. Thus, the number of clusters that should be distributed within a circular area of radius 80′around NGC 1399 may be calculated, just taking into account the ratio of the areas, as several $`10^4`$ clusters. For comparison, the total number of globular clusters associated with galaxies in the Fornax Cluster may also be roughly estimated as follows. The blue magnitude of all the galaxies included in the Ferguson (1989) catalogue is $`B=8.3`$ mag; adopting for them a mean color index $`BV0.8`$ mag and the distance modulus mentioned above, we obtain an absolute visual magnitude $`M_V=23.8`$. If we assume a ”typical” specific frequency $`S_\mathrm{N}=5`$ we conclude that about $`1.6\times 10^4`$ globular clusters should be associated with galaxies in Fornax. It is interesting to note that the number of globular clusters that we found within a circular area of radius 80′around NGC 1399 is of the same order o larger than the estimated number of globulars associated to galaxies in the whole Fornax Cluster.

It is also likely that some globular clusters might have escaped from its parent galaxies and, after that, remained within the potential well of the Fornax Cluster as a whole (see, for instance, Kissler-Patig et al. 1999). White (1987) propose that the distribution of the stripped globular clusters within the cluster will follow the same density profile as the galaxies and they might form a kind of envelope around the central galaxy. Alternative origins for the intraclusters are mentioned by West et al. (1995), who speculate that they might have formed “in situ”, without a parent galaxy, or during mergers of sub-systems with a high gas content.

Deeper images are required to clarify this picture and a new survey in the Fornax Cluster is in progress. The true nature of these candidates might be confirmed by means of spectra.

###### Acknowledgements.

We wish to thank the referee, Dr. M. Kissler-Patig, for his comments which helped to improve the present paper. We are also grateful to S. D. Abal, M. C. Fanjul and R. E. Martínez for technical assistance. This work was partially supported by grants from CONICET and Fundación Antorchas, Argentina.


text:
# The anticommutator spin algebra, its representations and quantum group invariance

## 1 Introduction

The algebra of observables in quantum theory plays a fundamental role. When classical systems are quantized, their classical symmetry algebra acting on a set of physical observables, in simplest examples, remains the same. For some completely integrable non-linear models, consistent quantization requires that the classical symmetry group be replaced by a quantum group  via a deformation parameter $`q=1+O(\mathrm{})`$. In recent years quantum groups involving fermions have received widespread attention. These include deformed fermion algebras , spin chains  and Fermi gases . At the same time, some quantum systems, most notably fermionic quantum systems do not have any classical analogues. Nevertheless, fermions are perhaps the most important sector of quantum phenomena. Motivated by these considerations, we define a fermionic version of the angular momentum algebra by the relations

$`\{J_1,J_2\}`$ $`=`$ $`J_3`$ (1)
$`\{J_2,J_3\}`$ $`=`$ $`J_1`$ (2)
$`\{J_3,J_1\}`$ $`=`$ $`J_2`$ (3)
where $`J_1`$, $`J_2`$, $`J_3`$ are hermitian generators of the algebra. We will name this algebra ACSA, the anticommutator spin algebra. In these expressions the curly bracket denotes the anticommutator

$$\{A,B\}AB+BA$$
(4)
so (1-3) should be taken as the definition of an associative algebra. This proposed algebra does not fall into the category of superalgebras in the sense of Berezin-Kac axioms. In particular, the algebra is consistent without grading and there are no (graded) Jacobi relations. As it is defined this algebra falls into the category of a (non-exceptional) Jordan algebra where the Jordan product is defined by:

$$AB\frac{1}{2}(AB+BA).$$
(5)
A formal Jordan algebra, in addition to a commutative Jordan product, also satisfies $`A^2(BA)=(A^2B)A`$. When the Jordan product is given in terms of an anticommutator this relation is automatically satisfied. Just as a Lie algebra where the Lie bracket as defined by the commutator leads to an enveloping associative algebra, a Jordan algebra defined in terms of the above product leads to an enveloping associative algebra which we consider as an algebra of observables.

The physical properties of this system turn out to be similar to those of the angular momentum algebra yet exhibit remarkable differences. Since the angular momentum algebra is used to describe various internal symmetries, ACSA could be relevant in describing those symmetries.

In section 2 we will show that ACSA is invariant under the action of the quantum group $`SO_q(3)`$ with $`q=1`$. Here, $`SO_q(3)`$ is defined as the quantum subgroup of $`SU_q(3)`$ where each of the (non-commuting) matrix elements of the $`3`$x$`3`$ matrix is hermitian. We note that this defines a quantum group only for $`q=\pm 1`$. For $`q=1`$ one has the real orthogonal group $`SO(3)`$.

In section 3, we will construct all representations of ACSA and show that the representations can be labelled by a quantum number $`j`$ corresponding to the eigenvalue of $`J_3`$ whose absolute value is maximum. For integer $`j`$, spectrum of $`J_3`$ is given by $`j,j1,\mathrm{},j`$ whereas for half-integer $`j`$ there are two representations. These two representations are such that for $`j=2k\pm \frac{1}{2}`$ spectrum of $`J_3`$ is respectively given by $`j,j2,\mathrm{},\pm \frac{1}{2}`$ and $`j,j+2,\mathrm{},\frac{1}{2}`$. Section 4 is reserved for conclusions and discussion.

## 2 The invariance quantum group $`SO_q(3)`$, $`q=1`$

In order to find the invariance quantum group of this algebra, we transform the generators $`J_i`$ to $`J_i^{}`$ by:

$$J_i^{}=\underset{j}{}\alpha _{ij}J_j.$$
(6)
The matrix elements $`\alpha _{ij}`$ are hermitian since $`J_i`$’s are hermitian and they commute with $`J_i`$’s but do not commute with each other. For the transformed operators to obey the original relations, there should exist some conditions on the $`\alpha `$’s which define the invariance quantum group of the algebra. It is very convenient at this moment to switch to an index notation that encompasses all three defining relations of the algebra in one index equation. For the angular momentum algebra this is possible by defining the totally anti-symmetric rank 3 pseudo-tensor $`ϵ_{ijk}`$. A similar object for ACSA which we will call the fermionic Levi-Civita tensor, $`u_{ijk}`$, is defined as:

$$u_{ijk}=\{\begin{array}{cc}1,& ijk,\hfill \\ 0,& \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(7)
Thus the defining relations (1-3) become:

$$\{J_i,J_j\}=\underset{k}{}u_{ijk}J_k+2\delta _{ij}J_i^2$$
(8)
The second term on the right is needed since when $`i=j`$ the left-hand side becomes $`2J_i`$. When we apply the transformation (6) on this relation we get:

$$\{J_k^{},J_m^{}\}=\underset{p}{}u_{kmp}J_p^{}=\underset{p,j}{}u_{kmp}\alpha _{pj}J_j\text{for}km.$$
(9)
However, substituting the transformation equations into the left-hand side, we have:

$$\{J_k^{},J_m^{}\}=\underset{i,j}{}\left([\alpha _{ki},\alpha _{mj}]J_iJ_j+\alpha _{mj}\alpha _{ki}u_{ijn}J_n+2\alpha _{mj}\alpha _{kj}J_j^2\right)$$
(10)
These two equations yield the following relations among $`\alpha _{ij}`$ when $`km`$:

$`\{\alpha _{mj},\alpha _{kj}\}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (11)
$`[\alpha _{ki},\alpha _{mj}]`$ $`=`$ $`0\text{for}ij`$ (12)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{ij}{}}\alpha _{mj}\alpha _{ki}u_{ijn}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{p}{}}u_{mkp}\alpha _{pn}`$ (13)
Now we will define the quantum group $`SO_q(3)`$ and show that the relations above correspond to the case $`q=1`$. The quantum group $`SO_q(3)`$ can be defined as the quantum subgroup of $`SL_q(3,C)`$ where an element is given by:

$$A=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\alpha _{11}& \alpha _{12}& \alpha _{13}\\ \alpha _{21}& \alpha _{22}& \alpha _{23}\\ \alpha _{31}& \alpha _{32}& \alpha _{33}\end{array}\right)$$
(14)
where

$$\alpha _{ij}^{}=\alpha _{ij}$$
(15)
$$A^T=A^1$$
(16)
and

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha _{mj}& \alpha _{mi}\\ \alpha _{kj}& \alpha _{ki}\end{array}\right)GL_q(2)\text{for}km,ij.$$
(17)
The quantum group $`SO_q(3)`$ is equivalent to the quantum group $`SL_q(3,R)SU_q(3)`$. However one can show for $`SL_q(3)`$ that $`q=e^{i\beta }`$ for some $`\beta R`$ and similarly for $`SU_q(3)`$ that $`qR`$. Thus one finds that $`q=\pm 1`$ for $`SO_q(3)`$. When $`q=1`$ the quantum group becomes the usual $`SO(3)`$ group; the interesting case is when $`q=1`$ which, as we will show, is the invariance quantum group of ACSA.

Equations (11) and (12) are easily shown to be satisfied by the matrix $`ASO_{q=1}(3)`$ by recognizing that the quantities involved belong to a submatrix that is an element of $`GL_{q=1}(2)`$, as in equation (17). For a general matrix $`MGL_q(2)`$ where:

$$M=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)$$

we have the relations:

$`ac`$ $`=`$ $`qca`$ (18)
$`adqbc`$ $`=`$ $`daq^1cb`$ (19)
$`bc`$ $`=`$ $`cb`$ (20)
The relation (18) implies that $`\alpha _{mj}\alpha _{kj}=(1)\alpha _{kj}\alpha _{mj}`$, which proves equation (11) is satisfied, and the relations (19) and (20) show $`ad=da`$ for $`q=1`$ which implies $`\alpha _{ki}\alpha _{mj}=\alpha _{mj}\alpha _{ki}`$ thus proving that equation (12) is satisfied by the elements of an $`SO_{q=1}(3)`$ matrix.

It is a little harder to show that equation (13) is satisfied by elements of $`SO_{q=1}(3)`$ matrices. However, if one writes out the indices of the equation, one finds that equation (13) implies that each matrix element is equal to the $`GL_{q=1}(2)`$-determinant of its minor. This fact is indeed satisfied by $`SO_{q=1}(3)`$ matrices since $`\mathrm{det}A=1`$ and $`A_{}^{1}{}_{}{}^{T}=A`$, one can show that $`A=Co(A)`$ which itself means that every element is equal to the determinant of its minor. Note that since $`q=1`$, the cofactor of an element is always equal to the minor without any alternation of signs. This type of determinant with no alternation of signs is also called a permanent.

Thus, we have found that the invariance quantum group of ACSA is the quantum group $`SO_q(3)`$ with $`q=1`$. Strictly speaking, the ACSA is a module of the $`q`$-deformed $`SO(3)`$ quantum algebra with $`q=1`$. It is very interesting to note that the invariance group of the angular momentum algebra is also $`SO_q(3)`$ but with $`q=1`$.

## 3 Representations

The Anticommutator Spin Algebra is defined by the relations (1-3). In order to find the representations of this algebra we define the operators:

$`J_+`$ $`=`$ $`J_1+J_2`$ (21)
$`J_{}`$ $`=`$ $`J_1J_2`$ (22)
$`J^2`$ $`=`$ $`J_1^2+J_2^2+J_3^2`$ (23)
which obey the following relations:

$`\{J_+,J_3\}`$ $`=`$ $`J_3`$ (24)
$`\{J_{},J_3\}`$ $`=`$ $`J_3`$ (25)
$`J_+^2`$ $`=`$ $`J^2J_3^2+J_3`$ (26)
$`J_{}^2`$ $`=`$ $`J^2J_3^2J_3`$ (27)
Furthermore, it can easily be shown that $`J^2`$ is central in the algebra, ie that it commutes with all the elements of the algebra. For this reason, we can label the states in our representation with the eigenvalues of $`J^2`$ and $`J_3`$:

$`J^2\lambda ,\mu `$ $`=`$ $`\lambda \lambda ,\mu `$ (28)
$`J_3\lambda ,\mu `$ $`=`$ $`\mu \lambda ,\mu `$ (29)
The action of $`J_+`$ and $`J_{}`$ on the states such defined is easily shown to be:

$`J_+\lambda ,\mu `$ $`=`$ $`f(\lambda ,\mu )\lambda ,\mu +1`$ (30)
$`J_{}\lambda ,\mu `$ $`=`$ $`g(\lambda ,\mu )\lambda ,\mu 1`$ (31)
It is enough to look at the norm of the states $`J_+\lambda ,\mu `$ and $`J_{}\lambda ,\mu `$ to find $`f(\lambda ,\mu )`$ and $`g(\lambda ,\mu )`$. Thus:

$`\lambda ,\mu J_+^2\lambda ,\mu `$ $`=`$ $`|f(\lambda ,\mu )|^2`$ (32)
$`\lambda ,\mu J^2J_3^2+J_3\lambda ,\mu `$ $`=`$ $`|f(\lambda ,\mu )|^2`$ (33)
$`\lambda \mu ^2+\mu `$ $`=`$ $`|f(\lambda ,\mu )|^2`$ (34)
$`f(\lambda ,\mu )`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\lambda \mu ^2+\mu }`$ (35)
and, similarly, $`g(\lambda ,\mu )=\sqrt{\lambda \mu ^2\mu }`$. These coefficients must be real due to the fact that $`J_+`$ and $`J_{}`$ are hermitian operators. This constraint imposes the following conditions on $`\lambda `$ and $`\mu `$:

$`\lambda \mu ^2+\mu `$ $``$ $`0`$ (36)
$`\lambda \mu ^2\mu `$ $``$ $`0`$ (37)
which can be satisfied by letting $`\lambda =j(j+1)`$ for some $`j`$ with:

$$j\mu j.$$
(38)
Note that equation (30) shows that the action of $`J_+`$ is composed of a reflection which changes sign of $`\mu `$, the eigenvalue of $`J_3`$, followed by raising by one unit. Similarly, equation (31) shows that $`J_{}`$ reflects and lowers. Thus the highest state $`\mu =j`$ is annihilated by $`J_{}`$ and ”lowered” by $`J_+`$. Applying $`J_+`$ or $`J_{}`$ twice to any state gives back the same state due to relations (26) and (27). Thus starting from the highest state we apply $`J_{}`$ and $`J_+`$ alternately to get the spectrum:

$$j,j+1,j2,j+3,\mathrm{}$$
(39)
This sequence ends so as to satisfy equation (38) only for integer or half-integer $`j`$. For integer $`j`$, it terminates, after an even number of steps, at $`j`$ and visits every integer in between only once. For half-integer $`j=2k\pm \frac{1}{2}`$ it ends at $`j=\pm \frac{1}{2}`$ having visited only half the states with $`\mu `$ half-odd integer between $`j`$ and $`j`$. The rest of the states cannot be reached from these but are obtained by starting from the $`\mu =j`$ state and applying $`J_{}`$ and $`J_+`$ alternately; starting with $`J_{}`$.
We now give a few examples:

* For $`𝐣=\mathrm{𝟐}`$ the states follow the sequence:

$$\mu =\mathrm{𝟐},\mathrm{𝟏},\mathrm{𝟎},\mathrm{𝟏},\mathrm{𝟐}.$$
* For $`𝐣=\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}`$ there exist two irreducible representations one with:

$$\mu =\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},$$

and the other with:

$$\mu =\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}.$$
* For $`𝐣=\frac{\mathrm{𝟓}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}`$ the two representations are given by:

$$\mu =\frac{\mathrm{𝟓}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},$$

and by:

$$\mu =\frac{\mathrm{𝟓}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟐}},\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}.$$

## 4 Conclusions

The Anticommutator Spin Algebra, which is a special Jordan algebra, described in this paper has many implications. The first of these is the fact that this algebra is a consistent fermionic algebra which is not a superalgebra. For possible physical applications the right-hand side of the defining relations (1-3) must also be supplied with an $`\mathrm{}`$. In a superalgebra approach where the $`J_i`$ are regarded as odd operators, the $`\mathrm{}`$ on the right-hand side should also be regarded as an operator anticommuting with the $`J_i`$. These models  result from the quantization of the odd Poisson bracket. In our approach however, the concept of grading and therefore an underlying Poisson bracket formalism does not exist. In particular, there is no Jacobi identity. Nevertheless, the associative algebra we consider is consistent with quantum mechanics where physical observables correspond to hermitian operators and their eigenvalues to possible results of physical measurement of these observables. It is for this reason that ACSA suggests a new kind of statistics which, we believe, will be useful in physics.

The second implication is the important role of quantum groups in mathematical physics. As we have shown in this paper, the invariance group of ACSA turns out to be a quantum group. Given the fact that ACSA is very similar to normal spin algebra and that the invariance group of spin algebra plays an important role in physics, the invariance quantum group of ACSA, $`SO_{q=1}(3)`$, becomes a prime example of how central quantum groups have become in mathematical physics. It is also interesting to note that more algebras like ACSA can be constructed where the commutators of the original Lie algebra are turned into anticommutators and that such algebras might also have invariance quantum groups that is the same as the invariance group of the original Lie algebra with $`q=1`$. This possibility is open to investigation in a more general framework.


text:
# References

ON THE UNIVERSAL X-RAY LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF BINARY X-RAY SOURCES IN GALAXIES

K. A. Postnov

Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow University, Russia

Abstract. The empirically determined universal power-law shape of X-ray luminosity function of high mass X-ray binaries in galaxies is explained by fundamental mass-luminosity and mass-radius relations for massive stars.

The unique possibilities offerred by modern X-ray space observatories Chandra and XMM-Newton make it possible to observe point-like X-ray sources in nearby galaxies which allows studies of formation and evolution of the population of close binary systems as a whole. Recently, Grimm, Gilfanov and Sunyaev (2002, 2003) reported that the differential luminosity function of point-like X-ray sources in nearby galaxies has a universal power-law shape

$$\frac{dN}{dL_x}\text{SFR}\times L_x^\alpha $$

in the wide range of X-ray luminosities $`10^{34}10^{40}`$ erg/s, where SFR means the star formation rate in a specific galaxy, $`\alpha =1.61\pm 0.12`$.

In this Letter we show that the empirically found power-law form of the X-ray luminosity function naturally appears during accretion of matter in close binary systems. In high-mass X-ray binaries, the compact star accretes matter from stellar wind from an early-type optical companion. Observations suggest (De Jager, 1980) that stellar wind mass loss rate from massive ($`>`$ several $`M_{}`$) main sequence stars can be parametrized as

$$\dot{M}_w\frac{L_o}{v_{\mathrm{}}}$$
(1)
where $`L`$ is the stellar luminosity, $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ is the stellar wind velocity at the infinity. With a good accuracy the latter is proportional to the escape velocity near stellar photosphere $`v_{\mathrm{}}3v_p`$. Formula (1) simply refelcts the radiation pressure driven wind.

It is well known that for stationary stars on the main sequence power-law mass-luminosity (M-L) and mass-radius (M-R) relations hold (see e.g. Zel’dovich, Blinnikov, Shakura 1981). The M-L relation follows from the diffusive character of the heat transfer from stellar interiors

$$L1/\kappa \rho T^4$$
(2)
($`\kappa `$ is the opacity, $`\rho `$ is the density, $`T`$ is the temperature) with account of the virial relation $`TM/R`$ for stationary stars. For sufficiently massive stars Tompson scattering dominates in the opacity and $`LM^3`$ (Eddington, 1926). The empirically determined power-law index for early-type stars is close to the theoretically expected value 3, with slightly decreasing down to 2.7 for very massive stars (De Jager, 1980).

The M-R relation can be obtained by using the energy release per gramm in the stellar core due to thermonuclear reactions

$$ϵ\rho T^{Ze}$$
(3)
where $`Ze=\mathrm{log}<\sigma v_0>/\mathrm{log}T`$ is the Zel’dovich number showing the temperature dependence of thermonuclear reactions (see Blinnikov 2000) and radiation diffusion equation (2): $`RM^{Ze1/Ze+3}`$. For example, for the pp-cycle $`Ze3\mathrm{}10`$, for the CNO-cycle $`Ze10\mathrm{}27`$, depending on the central temperature. The empirically found mass-radius relation for main sequence stars is $`RM^{0.8}`$ with some decrease in the power-law index for very massive stars.

The accretion rate onto a compact star from stellar wind $`\dot{M}_a`$ is determined by its orbital velocity ($`v_{orb}`$), the masses by the binary system companions ($`M_x`$ and $`M_o`$ for the compact and optical star, respectively) and by the stellar wind velocity (Lipunov 1992). In the case of fast stellar wind ($`v_w>v_{orb}`$), the Bondi-Hoyle accretion rate is

$$\dot{M}_a\dot{M}_w\frac{M_x^2}{a^2v_w^4}$$

(here $`a`$ is the binary’s semi-major axis). Substituting equation (1) for stellar wind mass loss rate and using M-L and M-R relations yield the X-ray luminosity

$$L_x\dot{M}_aM_o^{2.5}/a^2.$$

Observations also suggest that the binary systems semi-major axis distribution has a flat shape $`d\mathrm{log}a=const`$ (Massevich, Tutukov 1988) and thus is independent of the optical star mass, so $`M_oL_x^{2/5},dM_o/dL_xL_x^{3/5}`$.

Then for the luminosity function of X-ray sources accreting from stellar wind,

$$\frac{dN}{dL_x}=\frac{dN}{dM_o}\frac{dM_o}{dL_x},$$

using the Slapetdr mass function for main sequence stars $`dN/dM_oM_o^{2.35}`$, we get

$$\frac{dN}{dL_x}L_x^{0.94}L_x^{3/5}L_x^{1.54}$$
(4)
which is very close to what is actually observed. In fact, in the stationary case, instead of using the Salpeter initial mass funciton, we should utilize the steady-state mass distrubution with account of the mass loss rate $`dM_o/dtM_w`$, which would make the mass dependence even steeper than the initial mass function has, so the power-law index in equation (4) changes towards higher values, as we need.

In the case of slow stellar wind $`v_w<v_{orb}`$, the rate of mass capture by the compact star is mainly determined by its orbital velocity, which for high-mass X-ray binaries with $`M_o/M_x>>1`$ depends on the optical star mass in the similar way as the escape velocity does, so no qualitative changes are expected.

Note that although the chemical composition is important for absolute values of stellar luminositites and radii, it does not affect their functional dependence on mass which determines the shape of the luminosity function.

Remarkably, a close to the obtained dependence can be formally derived in the case of accretion from optical star through the Roche lobe overflow, too. Indeed, in this case the accretion rate occurs in the thermal time scale of normal star, $`\tau _{KH}`$: $`\dot{M}_oM_o/\tau _{KH}M_oR_oL_o/GM_o^2`$. Then again $`L_x\dot{M}_oM_o^{2.8}`$, $`M_oL_x^{0.36}`$,

$$\frac{dN}{dL_x}L_x^{0.94}L_x^{0.64}L_x^{1.58}.$$

However, in real high-mass X-ray binaries the mass transfer rate in the thermal time scale leads to the supercritical accretion regime, the accretion luminosity becomes on the order of the Eddington one and does not depend on the optical star mass. In reality, in stationary case it can be notably less than the Eddington value due to absorption in the powerful wind outflow from the accretion disc, as in the case of SS 433. Such sources are not numerous and can not significantly affect the shape of the X-ray luminosity function.

I acknowledge R.S.Sunyaev and M.R.Gilfanov for discussions. The work is partially supported by the RFBR grant 00-02-17164.


text:
# Energy Spectrum and Mass Composition around the Knee by EAS Measurements11footnote 1talk given at the 18th European Cosmic Ray Symposium, Moscow, July 2002.

## 1 Introduction

The knee of the primary cosmic ray (CR) energy spectrum has been discovered by Khristiansen and Kulikov  in the year 1958. In their first conclusion the discoverers claimed that the kink in the spectrum is a consequence of the superposition of cosmic rays of galactic and supergalactic origin. Two years later B. Peters pointed out with a theoretical argumentation that the position of the knee should get shifted in proportion to the charge of the primaries if magnetic fields would be responsible for the acceleration of the CR . For the following 40 years a lot of experiments  confirmed the kink in the energy spectrum (i.e. the change of the power-law index), displayed by various observables mapping the primary spectrum. Also astrophysical models accounting for such a kink got more detailed. Nevertheless the key questions of the origin of the knee are still not convincingly solved. The ideas vary from astrophysical reasons like rigidity cut-off at the acceleration , rigidity dependent escape from our galaxy , or the single-source model predicting a dominance of the flux at the knee by particles coming from a nearby supernova  to a scenario adopting a new channel of the primaries interaction producing new unobserved particles carrying away some energy . Many of these ideas and conjectures predict a detailed shape of the primary cosmic ray spectrum around the knee with specific variations of the elemental composition. Thus the experimental access to attack the basic questions are detailed and accurate measurements of the energy spectra of the various cosmic ray primaries, which imply also a determination of the energy variation of the CR mass composition.

It should be emphasised that all measurements around the knee are only of indirect character, i.e. the observation of primary CR is based on the interpretation and reconstruction of extensive air-showers (EAS). These techniques require a good knowledge of the shower development in the atmosphere and of the interaction mechanisms of high-energy particles with air-molecules. Extensive Monte Carlo simulation procedures are used for these purposes. For the high-energy hadronic interactions more or less bold extrapolations from lower energies, formulated as theoretical models and parameterizations, are at disposal. For the knee-energies accelerator data are not yet available (though the Tevatron collider is now close to the knee-energies) neither for relevant target-projectile combinations nor for the kinematic region of extreme forward interactions. This situation leads to an uncertainty of unknown order, in some sense only to be estimated by using same reconstruction procedures based on the different hadronic interaction models. Though in the last years the improved understanding of the high-energy hadronic interaction has reduced larger disagreements in predictions of air-shower observables , it remains unclear if there are common systematic uncertainties in the interaction models by unknown features and interaction paths, not yet considered. Hence results of air-shower experiments around the knee region may be considered in three categories: i) Information on the primary energy spectrum and chemical composition in absolute scale. ii) Phenomenological information with a minimised influence of the Monte Carlo simulations, but with general results for the understanding of the origin of the knee. iii) Proofs and tests of Monte Carlo models by using redundant information of the experimental investigations.
The concern to the latter aspect has been emphasised in last years by invoking the possibilities of multi-detector setups . The validity of the hadronic interaction models used as generators of Monte Carlo simulations has got an important subject in context of EAS analyses. Here a co-operation between present and future accelerator experiments and the cosmic ray investigations is aspired. Some recent initiatives have been started to establish such interrelated efforts, e.g. the NEEDS (Needs from Accelerator Experiments for the Understanding of High-Energy Extensive Air-Showers) workshop, held in Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in April 2002 , where physicists of both the high-energy accelerator and the cosmic ray communities commonly discussed about future possibilities of mutual assistance and exchange of relevant data.

## 2 The all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum

The reconstruction of the all-particle energy spectrum from air-shower measurements was proceeded over many years with basically similar experimental devices and procedures: An array of detectors spread over an area of several thousands of square-meters measures particle and/or Cherenkov light densities. The lateral density distributions and integral quantities of them are analysed (adopting some experiences gained by Monte Carlo simulations) to infer the primary energy of the incident particles, either for single events or more often for the average of the measured distributions. These procedures require a-priori assumptions of the elemental composition, since the lateral distributions and total intensities differ for different primary masses of the shower inducing particle. The idea is to realise a calorimetric determination of the energy of shower cascades by the total Cherenkov light intensity produced in the atmosphere or by the total number of (charged) particles at a certain observation level. The determined quantities are assumed to be proportional to the primary energy.
Typical examples of such measurements are presented by the energy spectra obtained by the Akeno  and Tibet  detector arrays. Both experiments use a field of scintillation detectors to measure the charged particle component. Akeno converted the obtained size of the showers into the primary energy by help of EAS results measured at observation levels of high altitude (conversion in N$`{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{max}}{}_{e}{}^{}`$) and a theoretically anticipated parameter for the dependence of the shower size maximum from the primary energy. Tibet uses Monte Carlo simulations for fitting the obtained size spectrum introducing the elemental composition as free parameters. The two energy spectra from the two different experiments (see Fig. 1) differ by the position

and the sharpness of the knee: Akeno attained a much sharper knee at an energy position higher than the results of the Tibet experiment show. Such differences are subject of current discussions.
Fig.1 compiles the energy spectra obtained by various different experiments. Most of them use for the reconstruction of the energy a single observable like the EAS size and convert the obtained size spectrum with help of Monte Carlo simulations. In contrast, the multi-detector setup of the KASCADE experiment e.g. enables to determine both the electron and muon sizes of each single EAS event. Various methods are applied to reconstruct the primary energy spectra in a consistant way using both informations simultaneously. In this manner the correlated uncertainty on energy and mass gets disentangled. A common fit to the electron and muon size spectra with the assumption of two primary mass group spectra following two power laws with a knee (8 free parameters: spectral indices below and above the knee, the knee position, and the normalization factors for the light and heavy spectra, respectively) leads to the energy spectra of the two components and the all-particle energy spectrum as sum . The fit is based on a Fredholm integral with the detector response function as kernel. This response function is prepared by detailed Monte Carlo calculations including a full simulation of the detector properties. A step forward is the application of an unfolding procedure on the two size spectra  leading to the mass group spectra of four components. A further analysis using the two sizes per single event is based on neural net estimations of the primary energy . The latter procedure is also sensitive to the influence of different hadronic interaction models as the net is trained by two different models.
Despite of considerable differences of the applied methods analysing the observables, different simulation procedures, and different observation levels the compiled experimental results agree in a remarkable way. Assuming an uncertainty of 15% for the energy reconstruction (shown in Fig. 1 at $`310^{15}`$eV) all the results appear to be concordant with each other. Only at the high-energy ends the spectra exhibit somehow larger differences, may be as consequence of saturation effects of the different detector devices in addition to missing statistical accurracy and also due to larger uncertainties of the models providing the reference patterns. This observation is remarkable, first of all as most of the experimental results have been published without quoting systematic uncertainties due to the reconstruction procedures or the model dependence. After compiling the data (14 spectra) the average values and their variances result in a slope below the knee to $`\gamma _1=(2.68\pm 0.06)`$ and above the knee to $`\gamma _2=(3.06\pm 0.08)`$ with the knee position at $`E_k=(3.2\pm 1.2)10^{15}`$eV, without taking into account the statistical accuracy of the different experiments or any further systematic uncertainty.

## 3 The cosmic ray elemental composition

Whereas the energy reconstruction can be based on one single measurable quantity, the determination of the mass composition needs at least a second observable, which characterises in relation to the first the actual status of the EAS development which is specific for the mass of the primary. The first interaction of a cosmic nucleus of mass A with an air molecule determines the further development of the air shower, and the mechanisms of this interaction are responsible for the formation of mass sensitive observables at earth-bound experiments.

With increasing mass of the target or projectile the cross sections of nucleus-nucleus interactions get larger. For example, the inelastic cross section $`\sigma _{inel}^{AAir}`$ of iron is at $`1`$PeV approximately 6 times larger than for protons of equal energy. Hence an EAS starts earlier in average and develops faster in the atmosphere with increasing primary mass. In a first good approximation a primary nucleus of mass A and energy $`E_0`$ can be regarded for the shower development as a swarm of A independent nucleons generating A superimposed independent proton showers of the energy $`E_0/A`$ (superposition principle). As a consequence showers induced by heavy primaries generate more secondary particles, each of smaller energy, and due to the faster attenuation of the electromagnetic component

with a smaller number of electrons at the observation level (after the EAS maximum). Simultaneously the number of muons is larger. The muons interact weakly with the atmosphere, they are less absorbed and their decay time is long compared to pions, so that they add up throughout the shower development. The superposition model predicts for all additive observables power law dependences with the mass. Even if the principle is an approximation, this dependence is sufficiently valid (Fig. 2). From statistical reasons the fluctuations of the sum of A independent showers should be smaller than of a shower generated by a single proton of higher energy (Fig. 2). The effect is smeared out by the limits of the superposition model in the interaction, but it remains efficient for mass separation in experiments. Further, surviving hadrons have less energy, and compared to the electron or muon number the total number of hadrons in EAS is small and they are concentrated around the shower axes. The faster development of showers induced by heavy primaries lead

additionally to larger relative angles to the shower axes of the secondaries and flatter lateral distributions.
The atmospheric Cherenkov light, produced dominantly by relativistic

electrons and positrons is directly sensitive to the height of the shower maximum, which is more distant from the observation level for heavier primaries (Figs. 2 and 3). Further mass sensitive differences in the longitudinal shower development, but less pronounced and with difficulties to measure, are the relative arrival times of the secondary particles of the shower disc, in particular of the muons or of the Cherenkov light and the relative angles of incidence of EAS muons.
In addition to different observables considered in various

experiments, also different reconstruction techniques are applied. One approach implies the comparison of the distributions of the mass sensitive observables with Monte Carlo predictions for different primary masses in bins of energy. Examples for that are the MSU  experiment (fluctuations of muon numbers), Blanca  (slope of the lateral distribution of the Cherenkov light, Fig. 4), EAS-TOP/MACRO  (muon multiplicity measured deep underground, Fig. 4), Chacaltaya  (hadron multiplicity measured in burst chambers), or the ratio of muon to electron size like used in KASCADE  or CASA-MIA .
Fig.3 compiles different results on the quantity Xmax of experiments sensitive to the Cherenkov light and points out how sensitive the measurements are to the uncertainties. Up to 40 g/cm2 difference for different high-energy interaction models, and up to 60 g/cm2 variance due to sytematic experimental uncertainties in addition to the uncertainty for the energy estimation may explain the scatter of the data points in the figure so that actually no definite conclusion is possible on the mass composition on basis of this observable.
Uncertainties in the model calculations for Xmax are naturally transmitted to expectations of particle distributions at observation level. Consequently results obtained by measuring charged particles also scatter enormously (Fig. 6). It was found by the KASCADE collaboration that results of the mean logarithmic mass depend strongly on the choice of observables . KASCADE is able to register a large set of observables for EAS hitting the Central Detector of KASCADE. The same analyses method (neural net classification trained with always the same set of simulations) is applied to sets of different observables (Fig. 5). Most of the results indicate an increase of the mean logarithmic mass above the knee. The results point to an invalid balance of energy and particle numbers predicted by the interaction models. Averaged values of such a multivariate approach are displayed for two different interaction models underlying the neural net training among some other experimental results at Fig. 6.

## 4 Behaviour of single mass groups

A deeper insight in the structure of the knee is provided by the spectra of single mass groups. The KASCADE experiment e.g., measures with its multi-detector setup local muon density spectra for different muon energy thresholds for event samples of fixed core distances . The event selection is performed with help of the scintillator array, whereas the muon densities are estimated independently by devices placed in the center of the array. Moreover, the possibility to reconstruct the electron to muon number

in each station of the array allows to divide the total sample of EAS in an electron-rich and an electron-poor subsample. This selection is nearly independent of Monte-Carlo assumptions, as it is well known that showers induced by light primaries have a larger ratio than EAS induced by heavy primaries. The analysis results in the statement that the local muon density spectra (which reflect the primary energy spectra) show a knee in the total sample, a even more pronounced knee for the electron-rich (light primaries) sample, and no knee for the electron-poor (heavy primaries) sample (Fig. 7). The accessible energy range for this analysis lies between 1 and 10 PeV. This result was found to be valid for many

different core distances and for two muon energy thresholds and is a strong experimental hint for the origin of the knee from a decrease of the flux of light primary particles.
Combining surface measurements of the shower size with underground muon multiplicities by the EAS-TOP and MACRO experiments also a decrease of the contribution of light primaries to the flux above the knee is observed .
A more promising way towards a solution of the puzzle of the knee is a new approach worked out by the KASCADE collaboration: Large statistical accuracy and reliable estimates of the electron and muon size per single shower allow to apply unfolding methods to the two-dimensional size distribution obtaining the energy spectra of different mass groups. Mathematically the inverse problem is put: $`g(y)=R(y,x)p(x)d(x)`$ with $`y=(N_e,N_\mu ^{\mathrm{tr}})`$ and $`x=(E,A)`$. The quantity $`R(y,x)`$ is the response matrix which includes additionally to the mass sensitive shower sizes also the intrinsic shower fluctuations, which are mass dependent, too. The response function has to be deduced from Monte Carlo simulations. Different methods are applied to solve the problem: An iterative procedure using the Gold-algorithm based on a minimization of the $`\chi ^2`$-function . Alternatively an approach based on the Bayes-theorem is applied , where for each mass-energy-bin the probabilities have to be calculated how the $`N_eN_\mu ^{tr}`$-bins will be populated. An iterative procedure tries subsequently to reproduce the given two-dimensional size-distribution of the data. Whereas the kernel function for the first approach is calculated by combining simulations of high stastical accuracy, using the thinning procedure and full simulations to describe all physical and experimental effects (fluctuations of shower size, efficiencies, reconstruction accuracies), the latter approach requires a larger statistical accuracy of full simulations, but does not require the inversion of the response matrix.
In a first step the unfolding method using the Gold-algorithm was applied to the one-dimensional spectra of the sizes, only. Preliminary results were reported by the KASCADE collaboration  and confirm again (but still with large systematic uncertainties) that the knee is due to the spectrum of light primaries. As a new aspect the positions of the knee for the different mass groups suggest a rigidity dependent behaviour of the knee (Fig. 8). Though the absolute fluxes and slopes of the different mass groups still have large uncertainties arising from the limited number of Monte Carlo simulations, from model uncertainties, and methodological reasons, the results indicate to the rigidity dependent knee position.

## 5 Conclusions and future

It remains still unclear if the present results are able to distinguish between different theoretical rigidity-dependent models for the origin of the knee. Fig. 9 shows results of the mean logarithmic mass deduced by 3 different methods applied for the

KASCADE experiment using identical data samples and the same high-energy interaction model generating the reference patterns (QGSJET). Hence most sources of systematic uncertainties should be eliminated. Remaining differences in estimating mean mass and energy must be of methodical origin. It is evident that the resulting uncertainties are of the same order as the differences of the astrophysical models. The experimental results favour models predicting a lower mean logarithmic mass of the CR mass composition, and they have obvious difficulties to match e.g. the model of Erlykin and Wolfendale  where the knee display a composition dominated by oxygen nuclei, with a steeply falling proton component below the knee and leading to a large mean mass number. Models with a simple rigidity dependent knee and identical spectral indices before and after the knee (e.g. the Biermann-model ) tentatively better agree with the data. More definite conclusions, however, are presently hardly possible.
For a consolidation of the rigidity dependent knee position (i.e. ascribing the knee to an astrophysical origin and excluding features due to changements of the interaction scaling with the atomic mass) a kink for the heavy (iron) component at $`10^{17}`$eV should be observed. This is necessary in order to confirm the above stated results and to match the total energy spectrum at higher energies. A large number of the present detector installations measure around the (proton) knee region or they are optimized for much higher energies around the Greisen-Zatsepsin-Kuzmin cutoff (GZK). None of the modern multidetector experiments is optimised for the energy range of $`10^{16}`$ to $`10^{18}`$eV. Only the Yakutsk array  which registers air-Cherenkov radiation from EAS covers the full energy range from knee region to GZK cut off energies. The interest of newer EAS observation experiments (HESS, Argo, Milagro, e.g.) is directed to the detection of high-energy Gamma ray sources in the TeV region (in this way attacking also the origin of the charged primary cosmic rays - see G.Heinzelmann, these proceedings). These experiments measure as background charged cosmic rays up to the knee region. There are several ideas to use this background for physics relevant for the discussed subject, though corresponding activities are not well elaborated. Nevertheless the data can be used to improve the results and/or to test the interaction models at moderate energies.
In order to improve the present situation, the KASCADE experiment is being extended (KASCADE-Grande), covering an area of $`600\times 600`$m2 by installing the former EAS-TOP detectors  at the site of the Forschungzentrum Karlsruhe. The extended detector installation will be able to measure the CR energy spectrum and mass composition up to $`10^{18}`$eV in a total measuring time of 3-4 years. The data taking will start end of 2002. The KASCADE-Grande experiment will include the full information provided by the original KASCADE multi-detector setup for each measured single event. The multiparameter set-up will enable consistancy studies of the high-energy hadronic interaction models. This possibility is of great importance as a step towards the development and tests of the high-energy hadronic interaction models (see S. Ostapchenko, these proceedings) used for interpreting ultra-high energy cosmic ray observations.
The origin of the knee is still a puzzle. But a large progress is obvious thanks to larger statistical accuracy of multiparameter measurements combined with sophisticated analysis methods. The main uncertainty and hence pointing to the key to the solution is the missing knowledge of the detailed interaction mechanisms for the energy and kinematic ranges under consideration. Efforts in this direction are a common subject of particle and cosmic ray physicists . Such efforts will become even more important with CR measurements at much higher energies, around the ankle of the CR spectrum and above with experiments like the Pierre-Auger-Project, HiRes, or EUSO (see H. Blümer, these proceedings).

I would like to thank the organizers of the Moscow ECRS for their kind invitation and hospitality. I acknowledge fruitful discussions and valuable clarifications with my colleagues of KASCADE and other experiments.

## References