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# A VLBA SEARCH FOR A STIMULATED RECOMBINATION LINE FROM THE ACCRETION REGION IN NGC 1275

## 1 Introduction

The radio source 3C 84 is associated with NGC 1275, the dominent member of the Perseus Cluster. The radio source has a complex structure on parsec scales that has been an object of study with VLBI since the very early days of that technique (see Walker et al. 2000 and references therein). There is a bright core region, compact at high frequencies, which is thought to be close to the central engine of the AGN. Extending to the south, currently to about 15 milliarcseconds (mas), is a complex structure clearly related to the jet seen on larger scales, but showing a morphology reminiscent of a radio lobe. That structure has been moving outward at approximately 0.3 mas yr-1 and its size extrapolates to zero at about 1959 when 3C 84 started to increase in flux density from below 10 Jy to values in excess of 50 Jy reached in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The flux density has been decreasing lately, but 3C 84 is still one of the brightest compact sources in the sky. HI absorption is seen against the nuclear region at both the optical systemic velocity of $`v=5260`$ km s-1 (deVaucouleurs et al., 1991) and at the velocity of a possibly infalling system at about $`v=8200`$ km s-1. VLBI observations of this absorption have provided information on the intervening clouds (Momjian, Romney, and Troland, 2002) which are thought to be located along the line-of-sight far from the nucleus.

In 1993, a structure extending about 8 mas north of the core was found in early Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA; Napier et al., 1994) observations at 8.4 GHz (Walker, Romney, & Benson, 1994) and in Global VLBI Network observations from 1991 at 22 GHz (Vermeulen, Readhead, & Backer, 1994). By assuming that the northern and southern features originated in the core at the same time, a simple relativistic beaming model gives an intrinsic jet velocity of about $`0.4c`$ and an angle to the line of sight of about $`40^{}`$ (Walker, Romney, & Benson, 1994, updated for $`H_o=75`$ km s-1Mpc-1, the value that is used in this paper). The assumption of a common start time is reasonable given the flux history of the source and the measured velocities. The northern feature was much brighter at the higher frequency, suggesting that the radiation is free-free absorbed. The absorption is only seen against the counterjet. The near-side jet is not absorbed at all and the core is at most weakly absorbed; synchrotron self-absorption may be responsible for the inverted spectrum. Therefore, the absorbing material is most likely located on parsec scales ($`1\mathrm{pc}=3\mathrm{mas}`$), probably associated with the presumed accretion disk that feeds a central black hole. The implications of the observed absorption for disk structure are discussed by Levinson, Laor, & Vermeulen (1995).

The counterjet absorption was studied in detail with near-simultaneous VLBA observations at many frequencies in 1995 by Walker et al. (2000). It was also seen on somewhat larger scales at lower frequencies by Silver, Taylor, & Vermeulen (1998). These observations left little room to doubt that free-free absorption is the explanation of the observed spectrum of the counter jet. They also were able to determine the two-dimensional distribution of the absorption over the region of the counterjet. That structure was found to be dominated by a radial gradient decreasing with core distance. If the gradient is fitted with a power law, the index is a bit above $`2`$. But a power law is not an especially good description of the observed gradient. If a temperature of $`10^4`$ K is assumed, the absorption implies a gas with an emission measure (EM) of about $`5\times 10^8`$ pc cm-6 at a projected distance of 2.5 pc from the core.

The theory of radio recombination lines predicts that weak maser-like emission can occur over almost the entire radio frequency range due to non-LTE effects (see, for example, Shaver, 1976). The strength of the lines, determined by the degree of inversion of the population levels, is a sensitive function of density and temperature. Calculations of the expected strength of recombination lines for gas parameters implied by the free-free absorption and geometry in 3C 84, in a benign radiation environment, showed that there was a significant chance of being able to detect such lines. An observation of such a line would provide significant constraints on the physical conditions in the absorbing gas. The calculations indicated that the strongest lines would be those in the general vicinity of 20 GHz.

The observation of recombination lines from the counterjet region of 3C 84 is tricky. The counterjet only provides a small fraction of the total flux density, so, even if the optical depth against that region is moderately high, the effect on the total power spectrum would be small. This would place severe requirements on the bandpass calibration of observations that don’t resolve the source. We have used the VLBA, along with one antenna of the VLA, to attempt to detect the H65$`\alpha `$ line ($`\nu _{rest}=23.404284`$ GHz) in 3C 84. With the resolution of the VLBA, the region where the line is expected to be seen can be separated spatially from the rest of the source, relaxing the bandpass calibration requirements. And the fact that the recombination line is not expected to be seen against the bright parts of the source allows those regions to be used to do an accurate bandpass calibration using a method developed for these observations.

The calculations of expected line strengths that encouraged us to make the observations reported here ignored the possible effects of the intense radio radiation from the jets. It turns out that those effects can be severe. Shaver (1978) showed that a strong background radio source can alter the level populations and saturate the recombination line maser. With saturation, the amount of amplification is limited by the pump rate, so the line strength can be much lower than would be calculated without taking saturation into account. The conditions in 3C 84 are such that the system is likely to be at or near saturation. Even more serious, Shaver (1978) pointed out that radio recombination lines will be severely broadened by radiation damping in the presence of a strong radio source. Inserting numbers appropriate for 3C 84 into equation 24 of Shaver (1978) gives a line width of thousands of km s-1. This would make the line unobservable. Therefore detection of a line would imply either that the absorbing region is at least twice as far from the radio source than implied by the geometry described above, or that something is wrong with the physics. Likewise, a non-detection, unfortunately, provides no interesting constraints on the physical conditions in the 3C 84 accretion region.

## 2 The Observations

On 1998 September 18, 3C 84 was observed in left circular polarization on the VLBA and one antenna of the VLA. The frequency range $`22937.0823051.08`$ MHz was spanned using 8 slightly-overlapped, 16 MHz baseband channels. The correlator provided 32 spectral channels for each baseband channel. After throwing out edge channels from each baseband, the final data set retained a total of 224 spectral channels. The frequency was chosen so that the H65$`\alpha `$ recombination line, at the systemic velocity, would be red-shifted to the center of the fifth baseband channel. The total velocity range in the final spectra is $`4618`$ to $`6104`$ km s-1, or $`642`$ to $`+844`$ km s-1relative to the systemic velocity. The individual channel velocity width is 6.63 km s-1. The VLA electronics system limited coverage at that station to baseband channels $`37`$.

The data were processed in AIPS. Initial amplitude calibration was done in the usual manner based on continuously measured system temperatures and on gain values provided by the VLBA staff. Two calibrator scans at the 22.2 GHz frequency where VLBA gains are measured confirmed that the calibration at 23.0 GHz did not need a significant frequency dependent adjustment. But the flux scale was adjusted upward significantly when the gain normalization was confined to the 3 best calibrated antennas. Even that left the total flux density of 3C 84 about 12% below the $`15.5\pm 0.5`$ Jy measured by contemporaneous VLBA pointing observations. As a compromise between believing the interferometer calibration and trying to match the total flux density of 3C84, an upward adjustment was made to cut the difference in half. The total flux scale adjustment relative to the blind a priori calibration was 28%.

For the spectral calibration, a high quality image was required based on all of the data. For this, the data were fringe fitted and then bandpass calibrated using a single bandpass for the full time of the data set. Many iterations of self-calibration and imaging produced the final image shown in Figure 1. The off-source RMS noise level is 0.29 mJy beam-1. The peak flux density in the image is 1.9 Jy beam-1 and the integrated flux density is 14.6 Jy. For the northern feature alone, the peak is 42 mJy beam-1and the total is 1.20 Jy. The resolution (convolving beam) is $`0.49\times 0.35`$ mas elongated in position angle $`4.3^{}`$. Comparison with the image from 1995 October (Walker et al., 2000) shows good correspondence between even fairly minor features. But there have been noticable changes including expansion away from the core in both the north and south.

By a somewhat circuitous scheme using time dependent bandpass calibrations, we effectively self-calibrated each spectral channel independently using the CLEAN component model from the image described above. The model was then subtracted from the data and images were made of each channel. We call these the “difference images”. These images turn out to be essentially pure noise and were not deconvolved.

As a representative example of the difference images, Figure 2 shows a grey scale display of channel 100. A coarse contour plot of the continuum image is overlayed for orientation. This channel is typical in that the difference image looks like noise with no distinction between on and off source regions. This means that the data and model match very well with any residuals lying well below the noise level. This is not surprising given the fact that the continuum image, which is based on all 224 channels, has a noise level about 10 times below that of the individual channel images.

In the procedure described above, the data were being forced to match as closely as possible the predictions of the image, which in turn had been made from the data. But always an assumption was made that the image is the same in all channels. Any violation of that assumption should show up in the final images, which are essentially the residuals from the model on a channel by channel basis. If the source structure were different in a channel, as it would be if a spatially variant spectral line were present, the difference image should show the spatial structure of the differences. Actually, this is only true to first order because some of the differences will be absorbed into the channel dependent calibration factors. To test the magnitude of this effect, we modified the data for one channel to mimic the presence of a 10 mJy additional point source somewhere in the middle of the northern feature. We then processed the data in the same way that we processed the real data. The point source appeared in the difference image, reduced in amplitude by 23%. That indicates that the self-calibration can scatter about a quarter of the real difference into calibration parameters. Note that a spatially invarient spectral line would just appear as a gain offset in the affected channels and would not appear in the difference images.

In addition to processing the data as described above, we made difference images based on a more tradional bandpass calibration using 0528+134. The only channel dependent calibration derived from the 3C 84 data itself was the removal of linear phase slopes with a fringe fit. The difference images derived in this way for all channels were indistinguishable from noise, but with noise levels about twice as high as in the channel images based on channel by channel self-calibration. This exercise adds confidence that we have not self-calibrated away a line and that there is no spatially invarient line covering the whole source. But lower limits on line strength, even given the reductions we estimate due to the self-calibration, are provided by the images based on self-calibration of each channel. Basically the bandpass calibration provided by self-calibration on the source itself is significantly better than that provided by the data on the calibrator.

## 3 Results

No recombination line was detected in any of the images in either emission or absorption. The limits presented here are from the difference image cube based on data with each channel separately self-calibrated. The rms noise in the difference image is 3.0 mJy beam-1 with 0.5 MHz spectral resolution essentially independent of position. For lower spectral or spatial resolution, up to factors of a few, the noise decreases about as expected.

Two example spectra from the difference image cube are shown in Figure 3. Each is the spatially integrated difference flux density spectrum for one of two regions of the northern feature whose locations are shown in the inset. Region A includes the peak of the northern feature while Region B is closer to the core where a stronger line might be expected based on the radial gradient of the free-free absorption found by Walker et al. (2000). For Regions A and B, the integrated flux densities in the continuum image are 121 and 207 mJy respectively while the spectra have one sigma noise levels of 4.1 and 8.5 mJy. The three sigma upper limits to the line-to-continuum ratio are 0.10 and 0.12. Adjusting for the possible degradation of flux due to self-calibration, discussed earlier, these results suggest that any line is less than about 15% of the continuum. This is the value that will be used in the discussion below. Note that this limit required some spatial integration. On a point by point basis, the three sigma limit to the line-to-continuum ratio is not much better than 0.5.

Note that the difference image noise level is about $`2\times 10^4`$ of the total continuum flux density. Any attempt to make an equivalently sensitive search for the recombination line with a single dish or an interferometer that could not resolve the northern feature would have required bandpass calibration to better than a part in $`10^4`$, a difficult limit to achieve.

## 4 Discussion

As noted in the Introduction, the radio continuum observations give good evidence that the parsec scale structure of 3C 84 includes an opposing pair of jets inclined at about $`40^{}`$ to the line-of-sight with significant amounts of ionized gas in the region between the jets. The ionized gas is most likely associated with the accretion disk that would be there in most AGN models. The projected distance from the northern feature to the core is about 2.5 pc so, with the above geometry, the region of the jet that emits the absorbed radiation is about 5 pc from where the radiation passes through the disk on the way to the Earth. That is a small enough distance that, as also noted in the Introduction, gas at the disk would be subject to a sufficiently high radiation intensity that radiation damping would be expected to broaden the H65$`\alpha `$ recombination line to thousands of km s-1, preventing detection in our observations. Our non-detection is consistent with this expectation.

If a line had been detected, the lack of excessive radiation damping would constrain the gas to lie beyond some minimum distance from the radio emitting regions. The actual distance limit depends on which portions of the overall radio source illuminate the absorbing gas. The bare minimum illumination is from the northern feature, the feature for which the free-free absorption is seen. If that is the only radiation illuminating the absorbing gas, the separation between the northern jet and the absorbing region would have to be at least 11 pc for the radiation damping line width to be below the approximatly 500 km s-1 upper limit for what could have been detected in our observations. That is over twice the distance between the northern jet and the disk in the geometry derived from the continuum observations. It is a bare minimum distance, because both the southern feature (near side jet) and the core region most likely also illuminate the absorption region. With this additional illumination, the minimum distance between the emitting and absorbing regions would need to be much higher, up to about 50 pc if all regions illuminate the absorbing gas. Thus if a line had been observed, and the physics is right, the absorbing region would have to be sufficiently far from the various radio sources that the idea that it is associated with the accretion disk would be wrong. That, in turn, would leave us struggling to explain why only the northern feature is free-free absorbed.

The free-free absorption of the northern feature gives the EM, for any assumed temperature, of the ionized gas along the line-of-sight (Walker et al., 2000). The EM is a function of the electron density and the absorbing region thickness so its value constrains those parameters. The upper panel of Figure 4 shows the constraints for an assumed temperature of $`10^4`$ K. Constraints for a range of values of the EM are shown representing the range observed over different positions along the northern feature. Two other limits are also shown. The horizontal line is at 2.5 pc, the projected core distance of the centroid of the counterjet. This is a rough upper limit for the thickness of the absorbing region if it is associated with the accretion disk. For the observed emission measures, this thickness limit constrains the density to values above about $`10^4`$ cm-3. A second limit, given by the lack of significant Thomson optical depth, is also shown. Given the observed free-free absorption, the Thompson optical depth would only be important at very large sizes and low densities. This could become an issue if the absorbing region is actually far enough from the AGN core to avoid severe line broadening by radiation damping.

If saturation and radiation damping were not a problem, the non-detection of H65$`\alpha `$ could be used, along with the measured EM, to place some constraints on the physical conditions of the free-free absorbing gas. For completeness, we will show those constraints. The constraints would be of interest if the absorbing region is actually farther from the continuum radiation source than we believe or if for some reason the radiation damping is not as severe as we believe.

Using the measured EM and the assumed temperature, the optical depth of maser-like recombination line emission that would be expected from the absorbing gas can be calculated for a range of values of density and line width. The lower panel of Figure 4 shows the results of such calculations for an emission measure that is midway between the values obtained from the continuum absorption. The calculations are based on departure coefficients very similar to those of Salem & Brocklehurst (1979) and are for the case when external radiation does not affect the level populations or line width. Optical depths are plotted for several different line widths. The figure also shows the upper limit to the line-to-continuum ratio of 0.15 that was derived above from the data. In the absence of saturation or radiation damping, Figure 4 shows that the recombination line non-detection would imply that the absorbing gas must have an appropriate combination of high density or high line width, presumably due to turbulence or other dynamic effects. Or it could be at a velocity outside the observed window. Note that the thermal line width for the assumed temperature is lower than the smallest velocity width shown.

To put the velocity range and line widths observed into some perspective, consider that the orbital velocity at about 3.3 pc from a $`4\times 10^8M_{\mathrm{}}`$ black hole is about 700 km s-1, or about half of the total observed velocity range. That mass is clearly uncertain but is what was estimated by Wu & Han (2001) using the correlation between black hole mass and bulge velocity dispersion. The 3.3 pc distance is just the observed offset of 2.5 pc deprojected along the disk for the geometry described earlier. That orbital velocity shows that it is possible for gravitationally bound material in the region of interest to be moving fast enough to produce line widths high enough to explain our non-detection. But it also shows that, if the absorbing material is moving with the disk, it could be observable. This would depend on the reasonable assumptions that the disk is moving transversely where it crosses the sight lines to the far-side jet, and that it has an internal velocity spread that is much smaller than the orbital velocity.

The Broad Line Region (BLR) line widths in NGC 1275 are of the order of our total frequency span (see, for example, Nelson & Whittle, 1999). A recombination line that wide would both not be sufficiently intense to observe, according to Figure 4, and would be washed out by our primary data reduction technique. But typical BLR sizes, determined from reverberation mapping, are much smaller than the region probed by the sight lines through the free-free absorbing material. Therefore the BLR line widths would only be a problem if the high velocities are maintained well beyond the region that emits the optical lines.

The most rudimentary models of accretion disks predict temperatures at distances such as those of interest here (few parsecs) that are too low to imply the presence of ionized gas. But the free-free absorption shows that such gas is present. Other lines of evidence, based on attempts to understand optical lines, also suggest that ionized gas is present (see Collin & Huré, 1999, and references therin). It is possible that such gas is not in the plane of the disk, but rather in an atmosphere or wind above the disk that is ionized by energetic photons from the central regions of the system. If this is the case, the constraints shown in Figure 4 apply to the ionized atmosphere or wind, not the neutral core of the disk. If a wind is involved (see, for example Königl & Kartje, 1994), it is likely that the the velocity would be outside the observed window, providing a natural explanation for the lack of an observed recombination line even if it weren’t for the effects of the external radiation.

## 5 Summary

A search has been made for the H65$`\alpha `$ recombination line in the radio source 3C 84 in the center of NGC1275. Observations of free-free absorption against the northern feature at about 2.5 pc projected distance from the core of this source suggested that, for a wide range of possible densities, such recombination lines could be observed. The recombination lines were only expected to be observed against the weak northern feature which is probably the receeding jet on the far side of the source. The ability of the VLBA to separate this feature from the rest of the source spatially was used to relax the bandpass calibration requirements and to allow the use of a novel scheme to to do an accurate bandpass calibration based on the source itself. These advantages allowed a much deeper search for the recombination line to be made than would have been possible with lower spatial resolution.

No H65$`\alpha `$ line was found. The limit on the optical depth is approximatly 0.15, depending on exactly how the measurements are made and what region is measured.

The non-detection is expected because of saturation and radiation damping caused by the intense radio radiation from the jets. Therefore conclusions cannot be made about the physical conditions in the the free-free absorbing region unless that region is actually much further from the jets than the geometry would suggest — a bare minimum of twice as far as expected and probably much further. If saturation and radiation damping were not an issue, the recombination line optical depth limit would constrain the free-free absorbing material to have a combination of high line width and high density, as shown in Figure 4. Alternatively, the absorbing material could have a velocity significantly offset from the systemic value. High line widths and offset velocities are often seen in AGN, including NGC 1275. The most extreme velocities and line widths are in the BLR, which is smaller than the region of the absorption, but velocities adequate to hide the recombination line could occur on the appropriate scales.

Sadly, Anantharamaiah succumbed to cancer in October 2001 before this paper was finished. He was well loved by all who knew him and he is sorely missed. We are grateful to Miller Goss for a critical and helpful reading of the manuscript and to Joan Wrobel for both reading the manuscript and for provoking us to seek out a discussion of the effects of the radiation field on the maser emission.


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# NUGA: the IRAM Survey of AGN Spiral Hosts

## 1. Introduction

The study of interstellar gas in the nuclei of galaxies is key for understanding nuclear activity and circumnuclear star formation. Within the central kiloparsec, most of the gas is in the molecular phase, which makes CO lines the optimal tracers of nuclear gas dynamics. Up to now, however, CO surveys of galaxies made with single-dish telescopes or interferometers were hampered by insufficient spatial resolution. Furthermore, until very recently (Baker 2000; Jogee et al 2001), the published survey samples have included very few AGN.

NUGA aims at filling this gap by carrying out a high resolution/sensitivity CO survey of a moderately large sample of 12 nearby AGN which span the whole sequence of activity types (Seyf 1, 2 and LINERs). We seek to determine the molecular gas distributions and kinematics in the central 1 kpc of the nuclei with resolutions $`<`$1′′ ($`<`$10-50$`\mathrm{pc}`$), and to study the different mechanisms driving gas infall to the AGN. Observations in the 2–1 and 1–0 lines of 12CO are carried out with the IRAM interferometer. On the modeling side, N-body simulations are performed to analyse the evolution of stellar/gaseous gravitational instabilities in the different study cases. NUGA has a multiwavelength approach: the sample is defined based on the availability of high-quality optical and near-infrared images of the galaxies, both from ground-based telescopes and the HST; these are essential to study how star formation proceeds in the nuclear region. The long term aim is to complete a supersample of 25-30 objects observed by consortium members, within and outside NUGA, with the IRAM array.

## 2. NUGA unveils gravitational instabilities in Seyferts

Analysis of the first NUGA data on 8 targets has produced a set of studies of individual galaxies which represent prototypical examples of the large variety of gravitational instabilities unveiled in the maps, including m=1 modes (one-arm spirals, lopsided disks), m=2 perturbations (rings, two-arm spirals) and stochastic patterns (non self-gravitating perturbations) (Fig.1).

The CO maps obtained in 4 galaxies (NGC 4826, NGC 1961, NGC 3718 and NGC 4579) reveal $`m=1`$ perturbations, which appear as one-arm spirals and lopsided disks. Asymmetric modes develop from several tens to several hundreds of pc. The maps of NGC 4826 (see García-Burillo et al. 2002) reach so far 16 pc resolution and resolve the inner molecular disk to a radius of 700 pc. Molecular gas mass is distributed in a 40 pc-radius lopsided disk containing 15% of the total gas content, and two $`m=1`$ spirals at different radii. A model of the streaming motions associated with the $`m=1`$ perturbations suggest that the inner modes are fast trailing waves (Fig. 2). This implies that the lopsided instability may slow down or temporarily halt gas infall. The $`1.4^{\prime \prime }`$ CO(2-1) maps of NGC 1961 (see Baker et al. 2002) partly resolve the circumnuclear disk, showing a very strong one-arm spiral instability from several hundred pc to 1.5 kpc. The Unsharp Masked HST/NICMOS map shows also a similar feature in the dust map.

We have also found examples of $`m=2`$ perturbations (two-arm spiral waves and gas bars). NGC 6951 shows a very regular nuclear spiral structure, roughly coincident with the hot-spot circumnuclear ring. NGC 2782, a hybrid starburst-transition object, shows an intricate mixture of instabilities including an outer two-arm spiral, a gas bar, and a nuclear mini-spiral. NGC 3147 shows a nested two-arm spiral structure and a compact source on the AGN.

Most of the nuclear perturbations observed in NUGA targets are self-gravitating gas instabilities. The CO+HST images of NGC 7217 identify self-gravitating perturbations in the disk and, also, stochastic instabilities on the AGN (see Combes et al. 2002). The 1–0 map shows molecular gas confined in a very regular circular ring of 800 pc radius. The 2–1 map shows also a compact unresolved source on the AGN linked to a stochastic mini-spiral seen in the $`VI`$ HST color image. Combes et al. (2002) have made self-consistent numerical simulations that account for the CO ring morphology and the onset of central non self-gravitating perturbations. The combination of ring+stochastic waves in NGC 7217’s gas distribution might reflect evolution along the Seyfert sequence, with this galaxy being a more evolved Seyfert.

## 3. Conclusions and Prospects

Preliminary results based on still incomplete observations of 8 galaxies of the sample reveal a wide range of gravitational instabilities in the central 1 kpc of NUGA targets. Most remarkably, $`m=1`$ modes appear at different spatial scales in some AGNs, although these modes might not universally favor AGN feeding. Point-symmetric $`m=2`$ perturbations and stochastic patterns dominate the response in others. Although general conclusions will have to wait for a global analysis of the 30-galaxy supersample, these results already indicate that the correlation between activity type (Seyf 1, 2 or LINERs) and nuclear morphology of the host might be weak at scales of ten-to-hundred pc. If confirmed, the lack of a clear evolutionary scenario may reflect a mismatch between the episodic AGN duty cycle, and the larger time-scales needed to build up nuclear gravitational instabilities which are directly or indirectly involved (by the onset of nuclear starbursts) in fueling AGN.

## References

Baker, A.J. 2000, BAAS, 193, 5706

Baker, A. J., Schinnerer, E., Englmaier, P. P. et al. 2002, A&A, submitted

Combes, F., García-Burillo, S., Boone, F. et al. 2002, A&A, submitted

García-Burillo, S., Combes, F., Hunt, L. K. et al. 2002, A&A, submitted

Jogee, S., Baker, A. J., Sakamoto, S., & Scoville, N. Z. 2001, BAAS, 198, 7404

Krips, M., Eckart, A., Pott, J. U. et al. 2002, A&A, submitted


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# Landau parameters of nuclear matter in the spin and spin-isospin channels

## Abstract

The equation of state of spin and isospin polarized nuclear matter is determined in the framework of the Brueckner theory including three-body forces. The Landau parameters in the spin and spin-isospin sectors are derived as a function of the baryonic density. The results are compared with the Gamow-Teller collective modes. The relevance of $`G_0`$ and $`G_0^{}`$ for neutron stars is shortly discussed, including the magnetic susceptibility and the neutron star cooling.

The equation of state (EOS) of nuclear matter is a major issue of the quantum-mechanical many-body problem. The reliability of any theoretical prediction has been measured on its capability of reproducing the empirical saturation energy and density, once the convergence of the theory has been firmly established. This is the case of the Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone theory: the hole-line expansion has been proved in fact to be rapidly converging SONG , and the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (BHF) approximation implemented by three-body forces (3BF) can account for the empirical saturation point UMB . Besides saturation density and energy additional constraints have been the compressibility extracted from the monopole energy and the symmetry energy from the binding energy of $`NZ`$ nuclei. In the spin-isospin channel a further constraint has been provided by the Gamow-Teller (GT) giant resonances (see OSTE  for a review). Recently the Landau parameter $`G_0^{}`$ has been extracted from the experimental data with a very small uncertainty SAK . So it represents a very robust constraint for the EOS of nuclear matter. The theoretical prediction of $`G_0^{}`$ demands for extending the calculation of the EOS of nuclear matter to spin-polarized neutrons and protons. Such calculations have been stimulated by the search of a spontaneous transition to a ferromagnetic state to explain the strong magnetic fields observed in neutron stars VIDA ; FRASC ; BOMB , but it can have important implication in the physics of atomic nuclei.

We extended the calculation of the EOS to polarized nuclear matter in the framework of the BHF approximation with the continuous choice for the auxiliary potential. As 2BF we took the Argonne $`AV_{18}`$ AV18  and as 3BF the one from Ref.TBF . Starting from unpolarized nuclear matter at a given density $`\rho `$ (we only consider symmetric nuclear matter), we ran different polarization states of neutrons and protons

$`\delta _n={\displaystyle \frac{N_{}N_{}}{N}}\delta _p={\displaystyle \frac{Z_{}Z_{}}{Z}}\rho ={\displaystyle \frac{N+Z}{V}}.`$ (1)
The results are reported in Fig. 1 for two typical densities of nuclear matter with 2BF (left side) and 2BF plus 3BF (right side). Since the EOS of isospin-polarized nuclear matter fulfills a quadratic law as a function of isospin-symmetry parameter ISO ; ISOS , and the same is true for the EOS of spin-polarized nuclear matter versus the spin-symmetry parameter FRASC ; BOMB , we fit the EOS (data plotted as symbols in Fig.1) by the least square method in the mixed case according to a quadratic law

$$E_A(\rho ,\delta _n,\delta _p)E_A(\rho ,0,0)=\underset{\tau \tau ^{}}{}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\tau ,\tau ^{}}(\rho )\delta _\tau \delta _\tau ^{},$$
(2)
where $`\tau =n,p`$ is the isospin quantum number.

In symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) the coefficients $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\tau \tau ^{}}`$ are related to the zero-order Landau parameters

$`G_0=G_{nn}^0+G_{np}^0={\displaystyle \frac{4N(0)}{\rho }}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{nn}+\mathrm{\Lambda }_{np})1,`$ (3)
$`G_0^{}=G_{nn}^0G_{np}^0={\displaystyle \frac{4N(0)}{\rho }}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{nn}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{np})1,`$ (4)
where $`N(0)`$ is the level density at the Fermi surface. In Fig. 2 the two Landau parameters are plotted as a function of the density based on Eqs.(3) and (4).

The Landau parameter $`G_0^{}`$ is the strength of the spin-isospin component $`V_{\sigma \tau }=G_0^{}(\sigma _1\sigma _2)(\tau _1\tau _2)`$ of the residual interactionMIG , which governs the Gamow-Teller (GT) giant resonance in nuclei OSTE . Its value at the saturation point has been determined with high precision from the experimental excitation energy of the GT resonance on 90Ni SAK . The value reported is $`1.182<G_0^{}<1.188`$ (we have multiply by a factor two according to the definition we adopted). More recent fit on 112Sn and 208Pb within a RPA calculation with Skyrme forces confirm such a predictionBEN . Our nuclear-matter prediction of $`G_0^{}`$ at the saturation density, which is about 1.22 including 3BF is in a pretty good agreement with the previous values. The value without 3BF of about 1.30 is in less agreement. Since the behaviour of $`G_0^{}`$ around the saturation point is very flat, there is no room for large uncertainties in the comparison. Such an agreement provides a further support to the important role played by the microscopic 3BF as to reproducing all saturation properties of nuclear matter. Other predictions of $`G_0^{}`$ including 3BF are from phenomenological Skyrme forces, which unfortunately are scattered in wide range of values lower than the experimental one BEN .

So far experimental information on $`G_0`$ is not enough since spin resonances have only been observed with too small strength compared to other collective modesOSTE .

The prediction of $`G_0`$ and $`G_0^{}`$ for densities other than the nuclear density, which is reported in Fig. 2, is of great interest in the study of neutron stars. In connection with the strong magnetic fields observed in neutron stars some authorsFANT ; VIDA ; FRASC ; BOMB  studied the magnetic susceptibility $`\chi `$ in neutron matter and found that $`G_0`$ reduces the $`\chi `$ of degenerate neutron gas. This reduction is amplified at high density when including 3BF either in Brueckner calculationsFRASC  and in Montecarlo many-body simulations FANT .

Spin and spin-isospin excitations of nuclear matter are coupled to the weak interaction governing the neutrino emission of URCA processes as well as the neutrino transport in neutron stars. The high-density increase of $`G_0`$ and $`G_0^{}`$, driven by the 3BF, is expected to have important implications for the neutron star cooling for the sizeable enhancement induced by the nuclear correlations on the neutrino mean free path GIAI .

In conclusion, in this note we reported on a BHF calculation of the Landau parameters $`G_0`$ and $`G_0^{}`$ as a function of baryonic density. The main scope was to point out the large effect of 3BF, especially at high densities. At the 2BF level, there is a wide disagreement with previous Brueckner calculations (see Ref.BALDO  and Refs. therein quoted) that has not yet clearly explained, since one can hardly control and compare the different approximations. On the other hand, our prediction for $`G_0^{}`$ has been found to be in very good agreement with the experimental value extracted from GT resonance when 3BF is included. The relevance of the spin Landau parameter for neutron stars has been also discussed in connection with magnetic susceptibility and neutrino mean free path.

This work is supported in part by the Chinese Academy of Science within the One Hundred Person Project and the NNSF of China under the contract No.s 10075078, 19935030 and 10047001.


text:
# Spin Injection and Detection in Magnetic Nanostructures

\[

## Abstract

We study theoretically the spin transport in a nonmagnetic metal connected to ferromagnetic injector and detector electrodes. We derive a general expression for the spin accumulation signal which covers from the metallic to the tunneling regime. This enables us to discuss recent controversy on spin injection and detection experiments. Extending the result to a superconducting device, we find that the spin accumulation signal is strongly enhanced by opening of the superconducting gap since a gapped superconductor is a low carrier system for spin transport but not for charge. The enhancement is also expected in semiconductor devices.

\]

There has been considerable interest recently in spin transport in magnetic nanostructures.  The spin polarized electrons injected from ferromagnets (F) into nonmagnetic materials (N) such as a normal metal, semiconductor, and superconductor create nonequilibrium spin accumulation in N.  The efficient spin injection, accumulation, and transport are central issues to be explored in manipulating the spin degree of freedom of the electron. Johnson and Silsbee  have demonstrated that the injected spins penetrate into N over the spin-diffusion length of $`\mu `$m scale using the spin injection and detection techniques in F1/N/F2 trilayer structures. Very recently, Jedema et al. have made a permalloy/copper/permalloy (Py/Cu/Py) structure  and observed spin accumulation at room temperature. Subsequently, they have shown that the efficiency of spin injection and accumulation is greatly improved in a cobalt/aluminum/cobalt (Co/I/Al/I/Co) structure with tunnel barriers (I).

In this paper, we study the spin injection and detection in a device of F1/N/F2 structure by taking into account the geometry of nonlocal measurement.  By proper modeling of the system in the diffusive transport regime, we derive an analytical expression for the spin accumulation signal which covers from the metallic to the tunnel regime. A controversial issue on the analysis of spin accumulation has been raised in the structures of metallic contacts.  We discuss the issue based on the present analytical expression. Extending the result to the device containing a superconductor, we find that the spin signal is greatly enhanced by opening of superconducting gap. Large spin signals are also expected in semiconductor devices.

We consider a spin injection and detection device consisting of a nonmagnetic metal N connected to ferromagnets of injector F1 and detector F2 as shown in Fig. 1. F1 and F2 are the same ferromagnetic films of width $`w_\mathrm{F}`$ and thickness $`d_\mathrm{F}`$, and are separated by distance $`L`$. N is a normal metal film of width $`w_\mathrm{N}`$ and thickness $`d_\mathrm{N}`$. The magnetizations of F1 and F2 are aligned either parallel or antiparallel. Since the spin-diffusion length $`\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$ of N ($`\lambda _{\mathrm{Cu}}1\mu `$m,  $`\lambda _{\mathrm{Al}}1\mu `$m ) is much larger than the length $`\lambda _\mathrm{F}`$ of F ($`\lambda _{\mathrm{Py}}5`$ nm ), we consider the device having dimensions of $`\lambda _\mathrm{F}(d_\mathrm{N},d_\mathrm{F})(w_\mathrm{N},w_\mathrm{F})\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$. This situation, which corresponds to the experimental geometry,  facilitates a description for the spin and charge transport in the device.

The electrical current $`𝐣_\sigma `$ for spin channel $`\sigma `$ is driven by the electric field $`𝐄`$ and the gradient of the carrier density deviation $`\delta n_\sigma `$ from equilibrium: $`𝐣_\sigma =\sigma _\sigma 𝐄eD_\sigma \delta n_\sigma `$, where $`\sigma _\sigma `$ and $`D_\sigma `$ are the electrical conductivity and the diffusion constant. Making use of $`\delta n_\sigma =N_\sigma \delta ϵ_\sigma `$ and $`\sigma _\sigma =e^2N_\sigma D_\sigma `$ ($`N_\sigma `$ is the density of states in the spin subband and $`\delta ϵ_\sigma `$ is the shift in the chemical potential of carriers from its equilibrium value) gives $`𝐣_\sigma =(\sigma _\sigma /e)\mu _\sigma `$, where $`\mu _\sigma =ϵ_\sigma +e\varphi `$ is the electrochemical potential (ECP) and $`\varphi `$ the electric potential. The continuity equations for charge and spin in the steady state are $`\left(𝐣_{}+𝐣_{}\right)=0`$ and $`\left(𝐣_{}𝐣_{}\right)=e\delta n_{}/\tau _{}+e\delta n_{}/\tau _{}`$, where $`\tau _{\sigma \sigma ^{}}`$ is the scattering time of an electron from spin state $`\sigma `$ to $`\sigma ^{}`$. Using these equations and detailed balancing $`N_{}/\tau _{}=N_{}/\tau _{}`$, one obtains

$`^2\left(\sigma _{}\mu _{}+\sigma _{}\mu _{}\right)=0,`$ (1)
$`^2\left(\mu _{}\mu _{}\right)=\lambda ^2\left(\mu _{}\mu _{}\right),`$ (2)
with the spin-diffusion length $`\lambda =\sqrt{D\tau _{\mathrm{sf}}}`$, where $`\tau _{\mathrm{sf}}^1=\frac{1}{2}(\tau _{}^1+\tau _{}^1)`$ and $`D^1=(N_{}D_{}^1+N_{}D_{}^1)/(N_{}+N_{})`$. The material parameters in N are spin-independent:

$`\sigma _\mathrm{N}^{}=\sigma _\mathrm{N}^{}=\frac{1}{2}\sigma _\mathrm{N}`$, $`D_{}=D_{}`$, etc., and those in F spin-dependent: $`\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{}\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{}`$ ($`\sigma _\mathrm{F}=\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{}+\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{}`$), $`D_{}D_{}`$, etc.

We employ a simple model for the interfacial currents of the junctions. The distribution of the interfacial spin currents is uniform over the contact area $`A_\mathrm{J}=w_\mathrm{F}w_\mathrm{N}`$ since the $`\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$ is much longer than $`w_\mathrm{F}`$ and $`w_\mathrm{N}`$, and ECP has a discontinuous drop at the interface of junction $`i`$ ($`i=1,2`$) associated with the interface resistance $`R_i`$.  We neglect the interfacial spin-flip scattering  for simplicity. The interfacial current $`I_i^\sigma `$ across the interface ($`z=0`$) is given by $`I_i^\sigma =(G_i^\sigma /e)\left(\mu _\mathrm{F}^\sigma |_{z=0^+}\mu _\mathrm{N}^\sigma |_{z=0^{}}\right)`$, where $`G_i^\sigma `$ is the interface conductance ($`G_i=G_i^{}+G_i^{}=R_i^1`$). In the transparent contact ($`G_i\mathrm{}`$) the ECPs are continuous at the interfaces, while in the tunneling junction the discontinuity in ECP is much larger than the spin splitting in ECP. The interfacial charge and spin currents are $`I_i=I_i^{}+I_i^{}`$ and $`I_i^s=I_i^{}I_i^{}`$.

When the bias current $`I`$ flows from F1 to the left side of N ($`I_1=I`$) and no charge current through the F2/N junction ($`I_2=0`$), the solutions for ECPs that satisfy Eqs. (1) and (2) are constructed as follows. In the N electrode whose thickness and contact dimensions are much smaller than $`\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$, $`\mu _\mathrm{N}^\sigma `$ varies only in the $`x`$ direction: $`\mu _\mathrm{N}^\sigma (x)=\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{N}+\sigma \delta \mu _\mathrm{N}`$, where $`\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{N}=(eI/\sigma _\mathrm{N})x`$ for $`x<0`$, $`\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{N}=0`$ for $`x>0`$, and $`\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}=a_1e^{|x|/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}+a_2e^{|xL|/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}`$ with the $`a_1`$-term being the ECP shift due to spin injection from F1 at $`x=0`$, and the $`a_2`$-term being the feedback shift due to the presence of F2 at $`x=L`$. The spin current $`j_s=j_{}j_{}`$ flows in the $`x`$ direction according to $`j_s=(\sigma _\mathrm{N}/e)\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}`$. The continuity of the spin current at junction $`i`$ yields $`I_i^s=2(\sigma _\mathrm{N}A_\mathrm{N}/e\lambda _\mathrm{N})a_i`$, where $`A_\mathrm{N}=w_\mathrm{N}d_\mathrm{N}`$ is the cross-sectional area of N. Note that only the spin current flows in the region of $`x>0`$ and no charge current there.

In the F1 and F2 electrodes whose thickness and contact dimensions are much larger than $`\lambda _\mathrm{F}`$, the spin splitting of $`\mu _\mathrm{F}^\sigma `$ decays quickly along the $`z`$ direction, so the solution has the form near the interface ($`0<z\lambda _\mathrm{F}`$): $`\mu _\mathrm{F}^\sigma (z)=\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{F}+\sigma b_i\left(\sigma _\mathrm{F}/\sigma _\mathrm{F}^\sigma \right)e^{z/\lambda _\mathrm{F}}`$, where $`\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{F}=(eI/\sigma _\mathrm{F}A_\mathrm{J})z+eV_1`$ in F1 and $`\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{F}=eV_2`$ in F2, $`V_1`$ and $`V_2`$ being the voltage drops $`(\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{F}\overline{\mu }_\mathrm{N})/e`$ at the interfaces of junctions 1 and 2, respectively. The continuity of the spin currents at the junctions leads to $`I_1^s=p_\mathrm{F}I2(\sigma _\mathrm{F}A_\mathrm{J}/e\lambda _\mathrm{F})b_1`$ and $`I_2^s=2(\sigma _\mathrm{F}A_\mathrm{J}/e\lambda _\mathrm{F})b_2`$, where $`p_\mathrm{F}=(\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{}\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{})/(\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{}+\sigma _\mathrm{F}^{})`$ is the current polarization of F1 and F2. The constants $`a_i`$, $`b_i`$, and $`V_i`$ are determined by the continuity condition for the spin and charge currents at the interfaces.

The spin-dependent voltage $`V_2`$ detected at F2, i.e., the potential difference between the right side of N electrode and the F2 electrode, is given by

$`V_2/I`$ $`=`$ $`\pm 2_\mathrm{N}e^{\frac{L}{\lambda _\mathrm{N}}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{2}{}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{P_\mathrm{J}\frac{R_i}{_\mathrm{N}}}{1P_\mathrm{J}^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{p_\mathrm{F}\frac{_\mathrm{F}}{_\mathrm{N}}}{1p_\mathrm{F}^2}}\right)`$ (3)
$`\times `$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{2}{}}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{2\frac{R_i}{_\mathrm{N}}}{1P_\mathrm{J}^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\frac{_\mathrm{F}}{_\mathrm{N}}}{1p_\mathrm{F}^2}}\right)e^{\frac{2L}{\lambda _\mathrm{N}}}\right]^1,`$ (4)
where signs “+” and “$``$” correspond to the parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) alignments of magnetizations, $`_\mathrm{N}=\rho _\mathrm{N}\lambda _\mathrm{N}/A_\mathrm{N}`$ and $`_\mathrm{F}=\rho _\mathrm{F}\lambda _\mathrm{F}/A_\mathrm{J}`$ represent the resistances of N and F with cross-sections $`A_\mathrm{N}`$ and $`A_\mathrm{J}`$ and lengths $`\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$ and $`\lambda _\mathrm{F}`$, respectively, and $`P_\mathrm{J}=|G_i^{}G_i^{}|/G_i`$ is the interfacial current polarization, and $`\rho _\mathrm{N}=\sigma _\mathrm{N}^1`$ and $`\rho _\mathrm{F}=\sigma _\mathrm{F}^1`$ are the resistivities. The spin accumulation signal is detected as the voltage change $`V_s=(V_2^\mathrm{P}V_2^{\mathrm{AP}})=2|V_2|`$ or the resistance change $`R_s=V_s/I`$ when the magnetizations change from the P to AP alignment.

The spin accumulation signal $`R_s`$ depends on whether each junction is a metallic contact or a tunnel junction. Since $`_\mathrm{F}/_\mathrm{N}`$ $`0.01`$ for the typical values ($`\rho _\mathrm{F}/\rho _\mathrm{N}`$ $`10`$, $`\lambda _\mathrm{F}/\lambda _\mathrm{N}0.01`$, and $`A_\mathrm{N}/A_\mathrm{J}0.1`$),  we have the following limiting cases; When both junctions are transparent contact ($`R_1,R_2_\mathrm{F}`$), we have

$`R_s={\displaystyle \frac{4p_\mathrm{F}^2}{(1p_\mathrm{F}^2)^2}}_\mathrm{N}\left({\displaystyle \frac{_\mathrm{F}}{_\mathrm{N}}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{e^{L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}}{1e^{2L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}}}.`$ (5)
When one of the junctions is a transparent contact and the other is a tunnel junction, i.e., ($`R_1_\mathrm{F}_\mathrm{N}R_2`$) or ($`R_2_\mathrm{F}_\mathrm{N}R_1`$), we have

$`R_s={\displaystyle \frac{2p_\mathrm{F}P_\mathrm{J}}{(1p_\mathrm{F}^2)}}_\mathrm{N}\left({\displaystyle \frac{_\mathrm{F}}{_\mathrm{N}}}\right)e^{L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}.`$ (6)
When both junctions are tunneling junctions ($`R_1,R_2_\mathrm{N}`$), we have

$`R_s=P_\mathrm{J}^2_\mathrm{N}e^{L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}.`$ (7)
Note that $`R_s`$ in the above limiting cases is independent of $`R_i`$. Equations (5)-(7) indicate that the resistance mismatch factor $`(_\mathrm{F}/_\mathrm{N})`$ is removed systematically when a transparent contact is replaced with a tunnel junction.  Thus, the maximum spin signal is achieved when all the junctions are tunnel junctions.

Figure 2 show the spin accumulation signal $`R_s`$ in Eqs. (5)-(7) for $`p_\mathrm{F}=0.73`$,  $`P_\mathrm{J}=0.4`$,  and $`_\mathrm{F}/_\mathrm{N}=10^2`$.  We see that $`R_s`$ increases by one order of magnitude by replacing a transparent contact with a tunnel barrier. The value $`_\mathrm{N}=3\mathrm{\Omega }`$  taken from the Py/Cu/Py structure yields $`R_s=1\mathrm{m}\mathrm{\Omega }`$ at $`L=\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$. If one takes into account the cross-shaped Cu,  one expects one-third of the above value, which is in reasonable agreement with the experimental value $`0.1\mathrm{m}\mathrm{\Omega }`$.  In the Co/I/Al/I/Co structure, $`_\mathrm{N}=3\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is estimated  and $`R_s=100\mathrm{m}\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is obtained at $`L=\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$, which is 10 times larger than the experimental value $`10\mathrm{m}\mathrm{\Omega }`$.  This discrepancy may be attributed to the reduction in $`P_\mathrm{J}`$ due to the spin-flip scattering at the barriers.

A question arises on whether the contacts of metallic F1/N/F2 structures is transparent ($`R_i_\mathrm{F}`$)  or tunneling-like ($`R_i_\mathrm{N}`$).  The experimental values

of Py/Cu ($`R_iA_\mathrm{J}5\times 10^{12}\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm2, $`\rho _\mathrm{F}10^5\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm,  and $`\lambda _\mathrm{F}5`$nm ) yields $`R_i_\mathrm{F}`$, which is strictly speaking neither transparent or tunneling-like. However, the values of $`R_s`$ for $`R_i=_\mathrm{F}`$ calculated from Eq. (4) are about 2 times larger than those for the transparent case in Fig. 2, indicating that the Py/Cu/Py structure lies on the verge of transparent regime. However, depending on sample fabrication processes, there will be cases that belong to the intermediate regime ($`_\mathrm{F}R_i_\mathrm{N}`$), for which one should use

$`R_s={\displaystyle \frac{4P_\mathrm{J}^2}{(1P_\mathrm{J}^2)^2}}_\mathrm{N}\left({\displaystyle \frac{R_1R_2}{_\mathrm{N}^2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{e^{L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}}{1e^{2L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}}}.`$ (8)
If $`R_i_\mathrm{N}`$, then $`R_s`$ is close to the values of tunneling case, so that the contacts of $`R_i_\mathrm{N}`$ belong to the tunneling regime.

The spin injection into a superconductor (S) is of great interest from basic and practical points of views. We show that S becomes a low-carrier system for spin transport by opening of the superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and the resistivity of the spin current increases below the superconducting critical temperature $`T_c`$. In the tunneling device of F1/I/S/I/F2, the spin signal would increase due to the increase of $`_\mathrm{N}`$ below $`T_c`$ \[see Eq. (7)\]. Therefore, we investigate in detail how the spin signal is enhanced by opening of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. In the following, we consider the situation where the spin splitting of ECP, the maximum of which is $`\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}(0)\frac{1}{2}eP_\mathrm{J}_\mathrm{N}I`$, is smaller than $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, i.e., $`I<2\mathrm{\Delta }/(eP_\mathrm{J}_\mathrm{N})`$, for which the suppression of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ due to spin accumulation can be neglected.  We also neglect charge imbalance created by injection of QP charge into S, which originates from the conversion of injected QPs into condensate, and produces the excess voltage due to charge accumulation at F2.  However, the effect is spin-independent and does not contribute to $`R_s`$.

In the superconducting state, the equation for the spin splitting $`(\mu _{}\mu _{})`$ is the same as Eq. (2) with $`\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$ in the normal-state,  which is intuitively understood as follows. Since the dispersion curve of the QP excitation energy is given by $`E_k=\sqrt{ϵ_k^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2}`$ with one-electron energy $`ϵ_k`$, the QP’s velocity $`\stackrel{~}{v}_k=(1/\mathrm{})(E_k/k)=(|ϵ_k|/E_k)v_k`$ is slower by the factor $`|ϵ_k|/E_k`$ compared with the normal-state velocity $`v_k(v_\mathrm{F})`$. By contrast, the impurity scattering time $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{\sigma \sigma ^{}}=(E_k/|ϵ_k|)\tau _{\sigma \sigma ^{}}`$  is longer by the inverse of the factor. Then, the spin-diffusion length $`\lambda _\mathrm{S}=(\stackrel{~}{D}\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{sf})^{1/2}`$ in S with $`\stackrel{~}{D}=\frac{1}{3}\stackrel{~}{v}_k^2\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{\mathrm{imp}}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{\mathrm{imp}}^1=_\sigma ^{}\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{\sigma \sigma ^{}}^1`$ results in $`\lambda _\mathrm{S}=\sqrt{D\tau _{sf}}=\lambda _\mathrm{N}`$ owing to the cancellation of the factor $`|ϵ_k|/E_k`$. Consequently, the spin splitting in S has the same form of solution as in N.

Utilizing the so-called semiconducting picture for electron tunneling between F and S, the charge and spin currents across junction 1 are calculated as $`I=\stackrel{~}{G}_\mathrm{T}V`$ and $`I_1^s=P_\mathrm{J}\stackrel{~}{G}_\mathrm{T}V`$ at low bias $`V`$ ($`=V_1<\mathrm{\Delta }`$),  and those across junction 2 are $`I_2=\stackrel{~}{G}_\mathrm{T}[V_2P_2\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}(L)/e]=0`$ and $`I_2^s=P_2\stackrel{~}{G}_\mathrm{T}V_2`$. Here, $`P_2`$ takes $`P_\mathrm{J}`$ ($`P_\mathrm{J}`$) for the P (AP) alignment, $`\stackrel{~}{G}_\mathrm{T}=\chi _s(T)G_\mathrm{T}`$ is the tunnel conductance in the superconducting state, and $`\chi _s(T)`$ is the Yosida function  which represents the reduction of the tunnel conductance by opening of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ below $`T_c`$.

The spin accumulation in S is determined by balancing the spin injection rate with the spin-relaxation rate: $`I_i^s+e(𝒮_i/t)_{\mathrm{sf}}=0`$, where $`𝒮_i`$ is the total spins accumulated in S by spin injection through junction $`i`$. At low temperatures the spin relaxation is dominated by the spin-flip scattering via the spin-orbit interaction $`_{\mathrm{so}}`$ at nonmagnetic impurities or grain boundaries. The scattering matrix elements of $`_{\mathrm{so}}`$ over quasiparticle states $`|𝐤\sigma `$ with momentum $`𝐤`$ and spin $`\sigma `$ has the form: $`𝐤^{}\sigma ^{}|_{\mathrm{so}}|𝐤\sigma i\left(u_k^{}u_kv_k^{}v_k\right)[\stackrel{}{\sigma }_{\sigma ^{}\sigma }(𝐤\times 𝐤^{})]`$, where $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }`$ is the Pauli spin matrix and $`u_k^2=1v_k^2=\frac{1}{2}\left(1+ϵ_k/E_k\right)`$. Using the golden rule formula,  we can calculate $`(𝒮_i/t)_{\mathrm{sf}}`$ and obtain $`I_i^s=[2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })/(e_\mathrm{N})]a_i`$, where $`2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ represents the QP populations and $`f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })=1/[\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Delta }/k_\mathrm{B}T)+1]`$.

From the matching condition of the spin currents across the barriers, we obtain the spin signal $`R_s`$ in the superconducting state

$`R_s=V_s/I={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })}}P_\mathrm{J}^2_\mathrm{N}e^{L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}.`$ (9)
If the $`IV`$ characteristics, $`I=\chi _s(T)V/R_\mathrm{T}`$, is used,

$`V_s/V={\displaystyle \frac{\chi _s(T)}{2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })}}P_\mathrm{J}^2{\displaystyle \frac{_\mathrm{N}}{R_\mathrm{T}}}e^{L/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}.`$ (10)
The above results are obtained from those of the normal state by the scaling $`\rho _\mathrm{N}\rho _\mathrm{N}/[2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })]`$ and $`R_\mathrm{T}R_\mathrm{T}/\chi _s(T)`$. Equation (9) is interpreted as follows: The spin-current density in SC is given by $`j_s=(\sigma _\mathrm{N}/e)`$ $`2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}`$,  where the effective conductivity $`2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })\sigma _\mathrm{N}`$ decreases due to the decrease of QP populations by opening the gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ below $`T_c`$. The boundary condition that the injected spin current $`P_\mathrm{J}I`$ is equal to $`2j_s(0^+)A_\mathrm{N}`$ yields $`\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}\{eP_\mathrm{J}I_\mathrm{N}/[2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })]\}e^{|x|/\lambda _\mathrm{N}}`$. The decrease of the effective conductivity is compensated by the increase of $`\delta \mu _\mathrm{N}`$ to maintain the same spin injection in the constant $`I`$, and therefore $`R_s`$ increases as $`\frac{1}{2}f_0^1(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ below $`T_c`$. Note that the $`T`$-dependent factor in Eq. (10) is

the same as that in the spin-relaxation time $`\tau _s=\left[\chi _s(T)/2f_0(\mathrm{\Delta })\right]\tau _{\mathrm{sf}}`$,  which is derived from $`\left(𝒮/t\right)_{\mathrm{sf}}=𝒮/\tau _s`$.

Figure 3 shows the temperature dependence of $`R_s=V_s/I`$ and $`V_s/V`$. The values are normalized to those at $`T_c`$. The strong increase of $`V_s/I`$ reflects the $`T`$-dependence of the resistivity of the spin current below $`T_c`$. The signal $`V_s/V`$ increases with the same $`T`$-dependence as $`\tau _s(T)`$, indicating that the spin-relaxation time in S is directly obtained by measuring $`V_s`$ vs $`T`$ at constant $`V`$. To test these predictions, it is highly desirable to measure $`V_s`$ of Co/I/Al/I/Co structures  by lowering $`T`$ below $`T_c`$.

A large enhancement of spin signals is also expected in degenerate semiconductors, because the resistivity is much larger compared with normal metals and the spin-diffusion length is relatively long. In degenerate semiconductors, the spin current is given by $`j_s=\mu _mn_c_x(\mu _{}\mu _{})`$, where $`\mu _m`$ is the mobility and $`n_c`$ the carrier concentration. For Si-doped GaAs with $`n_c=10^{18}`$cm-3 and $`\mu _m=2\times 10^3`$cm2/Vs at room temperature,  $`\rho _\mathrm{N}=1/(e\mu _mn_c)=0.1\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm. For (Mn,Ga)As, $`\rho _\mathrm{F}=0.010.1\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm.  It follows from Eqs. (6) and (7) that $`R_s\rho _\mathrm{F}`$ for a (Ga,Mn)As/I/GaAs($`n`$-type)/(Ga,Mn)As device and $`R_s\rho _\mathrm{N}`$ for a F1/I/GaAs($`n`$-type)/I/F2 device. Therefore, we expect that $`R_s`$ is larger by several orders of magnitude than that of metal case. This result is promising for applications for spintronic devices.

In summary, we have studied the spin injection and detection in the F1/N/F2 structure, and derived an expression for the spin accumulation signal which covers from the metallic to the tunneling regime. This enables us to resolve the recent controversy of spin injection and detection experiments. Extending the result to a superconducting device, we have found that the signal is strongly enhanced below $`T_c`$, because superconductors become a low carrier system for spin transport by opening of the gap and a larger spin splitting is required for carrying the same spin current. Our finding can be tested in superconducting devices such as Co/I/Al/I/Co by lowering temperature below $`T_c`$. A large spin accumulation signal is also expected in semiconductor devices.

This work is supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from MEXT and CREST.


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# References

Meson resonances from unitarized meson scattering at one loop in Chiral Perturbation Theory 111To appear in the proceedings of the 5th International Conference on “Quark confinement and the hadron spectrum”, held in Gargnano, Garda Lake, Italy. 10-14th September 2002 222Work supported by Spanish CICYT projects FPA2000-0956, PB98-0782 and BFM2000-1326

J.R.Peláez1,2 333Marie Curie Fellow. MCI-2001-01155. E-mail: jrpelaez@fis.ucm.es , and A. Gómez Nicola2

1 Universita’ degli Studi and INFN, Firenze, ITALY

2 Dep. Física Teórica II. Universidad Complutense, Madrid. SPAIN

## Abstract

We show the results for the scattering poles associated to the $`\rho `$, $`f_0`$, $`a_0`$, $`K^{}`$, $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$ resonances in meson-meson scattering. Our amplitudes are obtained from the complete one-loop meson-meson scattering amplitudes from Chiral Perturbation Theory. Once unitarized with the Inverse Amplitude Method, they describe remarkably well the data simultaneously in the low energy and resonance regions up to 1.2 GeV, using low energy parameters compatible with present determinations.

We report on our progress  on determining the poles that appear in the recent description  of meson-meson scattering by means of unitarized one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT). The interest of these poles is that, at least when they are close to the real axis, they are associated to Breit-Wigner resonances whose mass $`M_R`$ and width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ is related to the pole position as $`\sqrt{s_{pole}}M_R\mathrm{\Gamma }_R/2`$. When they are not so close to the real axis, their interpretation is much less clear.

Starting from one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory  our unitarized amplitudes respect the spontaneous chiral symmetry pattern of QCD up to fourth order in the chiral expansion, i.e. in powers of meson masses or momenta over the chiral scale $`4\pi f1.2`$GeV. Nevertheless, since the ChPT amplitudes behave as polynomials at high energy, they violate partial wave unitarity, which we impose with the Inverse Amplitude Method (IAM).

Part of this program had already been carried first for partial waves in the elastic region, for which a single channel approach could be used, finding the $`\rho `$ and $`\sigma `$ poles in $`\pi \pi `$ scattering and that of $`K^{}`$ in $`\pi K\pi K`$ . For coupled channel processes, an approximate form of this approach had already been shown  to yield a remarkable description of meson-meson scattering up to 1.2 GeV. When these partial waves were continued to the second Riemann sheet of the complex $`s`$ several poles were found, corresponding to the $`\rho `$, $`K^{}`$, $`f_0`$, $`a_0`$, $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$ resonances. ( The $`\kappa `$ pole can also be obtained in the elastic single channel formalism ). The approximations were needed because at that time not all the meson-meson amplitudes were known to one-loop, and therefore only the leading order and the dominant s-channel loops were considered in a simplified calculation, neglecting crossed and tadpole loop diagrams. As a consequence the ChPT low energy expansion could only be recovered at leading order. The divergences were regularized with a cutoff, which violates chiral symmetry, making them finite, but not cutoff independent. Nevertheless, the cutoff dependence was weak and the description of the data remarkable. Still, due to this cutoff regularization, it was not possible to compare the eight parameters of the chiral Lagrangian, which are supposed to encode the underlying QCD dynamics, with those obtained from other low energy processes. That is, it was not possible to test the compatibility of the chiral parameters with the values already present in the literature.

Due to the controversial nature ( or even existence) of the scalar states, it is very important to check that these poles are not just artifacts of the approximations, estimate the uncertainties in their parameters, and check their compatibility with other experimental information regarding ChPT.

The $`K\overline{K}K\overline{K}`$ amplitudes were thus calculated in , also unitarizing them coupled to the $`\pi \pi `$ states, and reobtaining the $`\sigma `$ and $`f_0`$ and $`\rho `$ poles. The whole calculation of meson meson scattering has been recently completed with the new $`K\eta K\eta ,\eta \eta \eta \eta `$ and $`K\eta K\pi `$ amplitudes . In addition the other five existing independent amplitudes have also been recalculated. The reason is that to one loop, one could choose to write all amplitudes in terms of just $`f_\pi `$ (set IAM I), or use all $`f_\pi `$, $`f_K`$ and $`f_\eta `$ (set IAM II ), etc… However, when one choice is made for one amplitude, the other ones have to be calculated consistently in order to to keep perturbative unitarity, which is needed for the IAM.

Thus, with our recently completed one-loop meson-meson calculation  within the standard $`\overline{MS}1`$ scheme, we have been able to check that it is possible to find a simultaneous remarkable description of meson-meson scattering up to 1.2 GeV, including both the low energy and resonance regions. We have also been able to estimate the uncertainties in a fit to the whole meson-meson scattering. Furthermore, we have shown that this description can be obtained with a set of renormalized chiral parameters compatible with those already present in the literature (see Table I). The new amplitudes reproduce the low energy chiral expansion up to one loop, in a remarkable agreement with recent data on threshold parameters.

Once we have checked the correct chiral low energy behavior, the scale invariance, and the compatibility of the parameters obtained from the complete IAM fit, we have very recently extended our amplitude to the complex plane in search of poles. Our results can be found in Table II.

Let us note that we find very stable results for all poles, with the exception of the $`a_0`$, which is very sensible to whether one chooses to truncate the series in terms of a single $`f_\pi `$ , or also in terms of $`f_K`$ and $`f_\eta `$. We can therefore conclude that the existence of those poles and their positions are robust results from the Inverse Amplitude Method when applied to one-loop ChPT meson-meson amplitudes.