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# Hard X-ray timing and spectral properties of PSR B0540-69

## 1 Introduction

PSR B0540-69 is a young Crab-like pulsar located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and was discovered at X-rays by Seward et al. (1984) who used the Einstein X-ray Observatory. Like the Crab it is embedded in a bright synchrotron wind nebula which was confirmed in the optical waveband (Chanan et al. 1984) shortly after the discovery of the pulsar. The rotational characteristics of PSR B0540-69 resemble those of the Crab pulsar as well, therefore their spin-down ages are of the same order of magnitude, $`10^3`$ yr.

The pulse profile of PSR B0540-69, however, is considerably different from that of the Crab. The Crab profile shows two sharp peaks from optical to high-energy gamma-rays (for the most recent high-energy picture from soft X-rays up to high-energy gamma-rays see Kuiper et al. (2001)), while the pulse profile of PSR B0540-69 consists mainly of a broad asymmetric pulse with indications for fine structure (Middleditch & Pennypacker 1985; Boyd et al. 1995; Seward et al. 1984). Most recently, Mineo et al. (1999) described the pulse shape as nearly sinusoidal with a minor structure on the left side of the maximum on the basis of higher-statistic BeppoSAX data. Hirayama et al. (2002) analysed all available ASCA data on this source. They confirmed the broad profile and discussed a hump on the leading wing of the profile as a possible interpulse, analogous to the case of the Crab.

Measurements of the total pulsed spectrum of PSR B0540-69 between 0.2 and 10 keV by the Chandra X-ray Observatory suggest a hard spectrum with a photon spectral index of 1.83 $`\pm `$ 0.13 (Kaaret et al. 2001), consistent with the BeppoSAX (Mineo et al. 1999) and ASCA (Hirayama et al. 2002) spectral findings. At soft X-rays (ROSAT 0.1 – 2.4 keV) Finley et al. (1993) reported an index 1.3 $`\pm `$ 0.5 (90% errors), statistically consistent with the indices measured above 2 keV. If the pulsed spectrum would extend from medium energy X-rays with the same power-law index into the hard X-ray or soft gamma-ray regime, then pulsed emission should have been detected by the BATSE (20 – 600 keV) and OSSE (50 keV – 10 MeV) instruments aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). However, no detection of pulsed soft gamma-ray emission from PSR B0540-69 has been reported sofar (Hertz et al. (1995); Wilson et al. (1993)).

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) archive contains a huge amount of hard X-ray data with PSR B0540-69 in the field of view. A part of these data had been used by Zhang et al. (2001) to provide an accurate measurement of the spin frequency of the pulsar and its first and second derivatives by phase-linking on a limited time interval. In this paper we present the hard X-ray characteristics of PSR B0540-69 using all these available RXTE Proportional Counter Array (PCA, 2 – 60 keV) and RXTE High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE, 15 – 250 keV) data. In order to augment the spectral coverage towards lower energies we also used soft X-ray data ($``$ 0.01 – 2.5 keV) from the ROSAT PSPC in a consistent analysis.

## 2 Observations and data

### 2.1 RXTE PCA

The PCA (Jahoda 1994) consists of five Proportional Counter Units (PCU) sensitive in the $``$2 – 60 keV range with an energy resolution less than 18% at 6 keV and a large field of view of 1$`\mathrm{°}`$ FWHM. Each PCU has three Xenon layers which provide the basic scientific data. When running in GoodXenon configuration each photon captured in a Xenon layer is registered with a timing resolution of 1 $`\mu `$s. The individual triggers do not contain any spatial information.

The PCA observed the LMC many times with PSR B0540-69 in its large field of view. We analysed archival data from observations performed in the GoodXenon configuration with offset angles less than 30$`\mathrm{}`$ and durations longer than $``$5 ks (see Table 1), resulting in a total dataset containing 684 ks of exposure, after screening for Earth occultations, South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) passages and enhanced background due to high-energy particles. We used this exceptionally long exposure of PSR B0540-69 for our timing analysis. To boost the signal-to-noise ratio for this weak source we selected the photons registered in the first Xenon layer of the PCUs.

### 2.2 RXTE HEXTE

The HEXTE instrument (Rothschild et al. 1998) aboard RXTE consists of two independent detector clusters (A and B) each containing 4 Na(Tl)/CsI(Na) phoswich scintillation detectors passively collimated to a 1$`\mathrm{°}`$ FWHM field of view and co-aligned with the PCA. The instrument is sensitive to photons with energies in the energy range 15 – 250 keV with an energy resolution of about 15.4% at 60 keV. The net open area of the 8 detectors is $`1600`$ cm2. The events can be tagged with a maximum time resolution of $`7.6\mu `$s. In its default operation mode the field of view of each cluster is switched on and off source to provide instantaneous background measurements reducing the effective source-on exposure by roughly a half. Due to high-energy particle events the overall performance of the instrument is degraded resulting in a dead-time fraction of about 40%. When the source of interest is observed off-axis the response is further reduced by the collimator/detector assembly. For a source observed $`30\mathrm{}`$ off-axis the sensitive area is reduced to about 0.5 of its on-axis value.

In the spectral analysis of HEXTE data all these effects which reduce the effective sensitive area are taken into account. Due to the co-alignment of HEXTE with the PCA the same observations have been used as for the PCA. For the spectral analysis HEXTE data from all observations listed in Table 1 have been used, not limited to those observations falling within the stable gain period used in the PCA spectral analysis.

The total dead-time and off-axis corrected Cluster-A and B on-source (=PSR B0540-69) exposures are 248.4 ks and 260.7 ks, respectively.

### 2.3 ROSAT PSPC

To extend the spectral coverage to the soft X-ray regime we also included ROSAT PSPC data in our study. The PSPC is a gas-filled imaging proportional counter which operates in photon counting mode (Pfeffermann & Briel 1986). It is sensitive over the 0.01 – 2.5 keV energy band. The energy resolution is $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=0.45E^{0.5}`$. The events are tagged on board with a precision of $`130\mu `$s, but the erratic spacecraft clock makes absolute timing difficult.

We could identify in the ROSAT archive 3 PSPC observation sequences with PSR B0540-69 nearly on-axis. The observation identifiers are RP400052N00 (PSPC-B), RP150044N00 (PSPC-C) and RP400133N00 (PSPC-B), with effective exposure times of 8.5 ks, 5.1 ks and 1.7 ks, respectively.

## 3 Timing analysis

For all selected photons measured with the RXTE PCA with energies above 2 keV barycentric corrections to their arrival times have been derived using the FTOOLS program `fasebin` (Blackburn 1995) and a source position of $`\alpha _{2000}`$ = 05h40m11s.221 and $`\delta _{2000}`$ = -69°19′54″.98 (Kaaret et al. 2001). The ephemeris used to derive the pulse profile is presented in Table 2. This ephemeris predicts accurately the instantaneous rotation frequency of the source for the epochs of our observations. However, it is not a phase connected timing solution.

For each observation contributing to our total data set of 684 ks we derived a pulse profile. Because the ephemeris is not a phase connected solution for long timescales, we cannot combine the individual profiles directly. Therefore, we correlated all pulse profiles first with a profile template based on the longest data block and later again with the result of the aligned combination to obtain the final profile. The statistical uncertainties in the estimates of the phase shifts varied approximately over the range 0.6 – 3%.

Fig. 1 shows the resulting pulse profile (2 – 20 keV) of PSR B0540-69 for the total screened exposure of 684 ks. The statistical accuracy of this profile is at least an order of magnitude higher than for earlier published profiles (e.g. Eikenberry et al. (1998), Mineo et al. (1999), Hirayama et al. (2002)) and the genuine profile becomes more clearly visible: A single broad pulse with a clear dip at the top. Such a shape could be the result of two narrower pulses separated $``$ 0.2 in phase. To investigate this further, we attempted to describe the shape of the profile as the sum of two symmetrical Gaussians on top of a flat background, by making a fit to the measured profile with as free parameters the widths, positions and amplitudes of the gaussians. The resulting best fit is shown in Fig. 1 (positions: $`p_1`$ = 0.330 $`\pm `$ 0.004, $`p_2`$ = 0.531 $`\pm `$ 0.003; widths: $`\sigma _1`$ = 0.102 $`\pm `$ 0.003, $`\sigma _2`$ = 0.079 $`\pm `$ 0.002) with underneath the fit residuals expressed in number of $`\sigma `$’s. The overall fit looks good, particularly for the component with maximum at phase 0.531, but there are a few phase intervals in which there appear significant deviations from this empirical model ($`\chi _r^2`$ of fit: 167.3/93 ; $`P(\chi ^2>167.393)`$ = 3.65 $`\times `$ 10-6 (4.7$`\sigma `$ dev.)). The most significant positive excess is around phase 0.3 (near the position of one of the gaussians) reaching a significance of 5.4$`\sigma `$, proving that the top of the broad profile has significant fine structure. The positive excesses far in the wings at phases around 0.1 and 0.7 reach significances of 3.6 and 4.0$`\sigma `$, respectively. We do not consider these latter deviations significant, because there was no a priori reason to select these phases (no single trial). Hirayama et al. (2002) discussed a hump in the ASCA profile at a phase consistent with our excess around phase 0.1, as a possible separate interpulse in analogy to the Crab profile. With our better statistics we do not confirm the detection of this hump. Finally, the negative excursion at phase 0.24, together with the positive excess at phase 0.3 suggest that the leading wing of the profile is steeper than fitted with the Gaussian profile.

The high counting statistics in the PCA data allow us to construct significant pulse profiles in differential energy windows from 2 keV up to 30 keV (Fig. 2 d to j), showing the first profiles above 10 keV. Up to 12 keV the statistical accuracy is very high and some fine structure on top of the broad profile seems to be consistently present in successive energy windows, most notably the sharp maximum at phase $`0.3`$.

Fig. 2 also shows pulse profiles we derived from RXTE HEXTE data at higher energies and from ROSAT data at lower energies. We could construct the HEXTE profiles of PSR B0540-69 by following the same analysis steps for the same observation windows as was performed for the PCA timing analysis, applying the phase shifts determined in the correlation analysis of the high-statistics PCA profiles to the low-statistics HEXTE profiles. This allowed us to reveal the PSR B0540-69 pulse profile up to 48 keV. The ROSAT profiles are derived using the data reported earlier in Sect. 2.3, and the phase alignment was determined by cross correlating the PCA master profile with the total ROSAT profile. Finally, the optical PSR B0540-69 pulse profile from the High Speed Photometer (HSP) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) (Boyd et al. 1995) is shown. The optical profile shape is strikingly similar to the PCA X-ray profile. Therefore, we choose to align also the optical profile by cross correlation. We note, however, that Ulmer et al. (1999) report in a preliminary communication that there is a phase shift of 0.17 between the optical and the X-ray pulse, the optical arriving earlier. We would like to see this result confirmed.

At a first glance it is not obvious, due to the varying statistics, whether the pulse shape varies from the optical to the hard X-ray windows. Therefore, we fitted now all profiles in Fig. 2 with the empirical model of two Gaussian profiles with the positions and the widths fixed to the best-fit values shown in Fig. 1 and leaving the normalisations free. We verified that all fits are good with reduced $`\chi ^2`$ values ranging between 0.93 and 1.32 (98 d.o.f), except for the optical profile (18 d.o.f.). Only this optical profile appears to be somewhat broader than the X-ray profiles. Fig. 3 shows the ratio of the counts in the two Gaussian components from the optical regime to the hard X-rays. This ratio appears to be surprisingly constant, underlining the stability of the profile shape and showing that the spectra of the two empirical components are within the statistics the same. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the broad and structured pulse profile of PSR B0540-69 is the sum of two distinct components with different spectra.

## 4 Spectral analysis

Unfortunately, the total RXTE PCA data set of 684 ks is not uniform in energy calibration, because the gain settings on the PCA instrument have been changed a number of times since the launch of RXTE. For the derivation of the total pulsed spectrum of PSR B0540-69 we selected therefore the observations performed in the third and longest gain epoch (April 15, 1996, 23:05 – March 22, 1999, 17:37), to obtain a dataset with a constant channel-to-energy relation with total exposure of 462 ks. For each observation in this data set we derived the pulse profile and the response corrected for the offset angle. If an observation contained one or more time intervals in which the number or the order of active PCUs was different, then these intervals were treated as separate data blocks. All offset-corrected response files were summed using weighing factors ($`f_i`$) as calculated in Eq. (1), where $`N_{\mathrm{pcu},i}`$ is the number of PCUs on in data block $`i`$, $`t_i`$ is the exposure of data block $`i`$ and $`T`$ is the total exposure of the selected (third epoch) dataset.

$$f_i=\frac{N_{\mathrm{pcu},i}t_i}{5T}$$
(1)
Pulse profiles in 14 differential energy ranges between 3.4 and 30.2 keV for the 462 ks data set were derived following the same procedure as explained in the timing analysis.

In order to determine the excess counts in the broad pulse profiles for all 14 differential energy ranges, we fitted these profiles with the shape of the best-model fit shown in Fig. 1. Again, we verified that the model fits were statistically in agreement with the data for all energy intervals. Using the numbers of excess counts and the derived response values we can derive the PSR B0540-69 pulsed spectrum measured by the PCA.

For the ROSAT and RXTE HEXTE data we performed a consistent spectral analysis. Also for the profiles measured by these instruments we determined the pulsed excess counts by making fits with the empirical model. The resulting total pulsed X-ray spectrum of PSR B0540-69 is shown in Fig. 4; the flux values are given in Table 3. From the plot it is evident that the X-ray spectrum has not the shape of a single power-law. A single absorbed power-law fit to just the ROSAT PSPC and RXTE PCA data renders a photon index of 1.845 $`\pm `$ 0.004, fixing the hydrogen column density (NH) at 4.6 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 (Kaaret et al. 2001). This value is consistent with earlier measurements: 1.83 $`\pm `$ 0.13 (Kaaret et al. 2001), 1.94 $`\pm `$ 0.03 (Mineo et al. 1999) and 1.3 $`\pm `$ 0.5 (Finley et al. 1993). However, our reduced $`\chi ^2`$ is unacceptably high with a value of 4.75 with 20 d.o.f., rejecting this simple shape. Therefore we have fitted the data with an absorbed power-law model with an energy dependent index:

$$F(E_\gamma )=e^{\mathrm{N}_\mathrm{H}\sigma }\alpha E_\gamma ^{(\beta +\gamma \mathrm{ln}E_\gamma )}$$
(2)
In the fit the parameters $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ were kept free and NH was fixed again at $`4.6\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2.

This resulted in a $`\beta `$ of 1.360 $`\pm `$ 0.005 and $`\gamma `$ of 0.143 $`\pm `$ 0.003, which means that the photon index softens at higher energies (for example at 1 keV : $``$ 1.35, 2 keV : $``$ 1.56, 4 keV : $``$ 1.76 and 8 keV : $``$ 1.95). With a $`\chi _r^2`$ of 31.0/19 the model fits reasonably well to the measured spectrum. For energies between 20 and 50 keV, the measured shape is poorly defined, and the flux values of the PCA and HEXTE are also consistent with a power-law with index 2.

## 5 Summary and discussion

This study of the hard X-ray characteristics of the young spin-down powered pulsar PSR B0540-69 using archival RXTE PCA/HEXTE and ROSAT PSPC observations resulted in a detection of this pulsar up to $``$ 50 keV. For the first time pulse profiles above 10 keV are shown. Furthermore, we derived the total pulsed spectrum of PSR B0540-69 in a consistent analysis from $``$ 0.01 – 50 keV.

Because of the high statistics we were able to obtain a very detailed master pulse profile in the 2 – 20 keV range, which could reasonably be described by the sum of two symmetrical Gaussians. Remarkably, this double Gaussian shape could be well fitted to all shown X-ray pulse profiles and resembles very much the optical profile which is, however, somewhat broader. The distribution of the ratios between the two Gaussian components as a function of energy appears to be consistent with being flat. Therefore we could not conclude that the pulse consists of two distinct Gaussian components with different spectra.

The derived total pulsed spectrum of PSR B0540-69 clearly shows a bend towards higher energies and cannot be described by a single power-law. We proposed and fitted an energy dependent power-law model to the data, successfully describing the curved spectral shape up to $``$ 20 keV. Between 20 and 50 keV the measured flux shape is also consistent with a power-law with index 2.

Directly after the discovery of PSR B0540-69 its timing properties, apart from the pulse profile, were found to be very Crab-like (Seward et al. 1984). If we compare our results to the characteristics of the Crab pulsar we see some remarkable additional similarities. Even though the Crab and PSR B0540-69 show different pulse profiles (Crab: two sharp peaks, PSR B0540-69: one broad structured pulse), for both the coarse shapes of the profiles remain stable from optical to hard X-rays. The second Crab-like pulsar (PSR B1509-58) also shows a very stable single broad pulse from soft X-rays up to MeV $`\gamma `$-rays (Kuiper et al. 1999; Cusumano et al. 2001), but pulsed optical emission has not been found sofar.

Furthermore, the shape of the total pulsed spectrum of PSR B0540-69 looks strikingly similar to that of the Crab in the $``$ 0.01 – 50 keV range. In Fig. 4 the two total pulsed spectra are plotted in E2F(E) representation. The bending of the spectrum around 10 keV appears to occur similarly in both spectra. The intrinsic X-ray luminosities are comparable as well, within the uncertainties caused by the errors in the Crab distance and the absolute calibrations of the RXTE PCA and HEXTE detectors.

Next to PSR B0540-69 and the Crab pulsar, PSR B1509-58 shows a similar spectral behaviour at X-ray/$`\gamma `$-ray energies (Kuiper et al. 1999; Cusumano et al. 2001), although its spectrum appears to reach its maximum luminosity at higher energies (10 – 30 MeV) relative to the Crab and PSR B0540-69. These three young ($`1.6\times 10^3`$ yr) X-ray/$`\gamma `$-ray pulsars exhibit different spectral behaviours compared to older $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars like, for example, the Vela pulsar and Geminga. Older $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars show a hard high-energy spectrum with a turn-over at GeV energies. Therefore, the observed spectral shape for the three young pulsars might be characteristic for very young pulsars in general.

The models that have been proposed to explain high-energy emission from highly magnetised pulsars, can be classified into two distinct classes, namely Polar Cap (e.g. Sturrock (1971); Daugherty & Harding (1994)) and Outer Gap models (e.g. Cheng et al. (1986a, b); Chiang & Romani (1994); Romani & Yadigaroglu (1995); Cheng et al. (2000)). Outer gap models seem to be most successful in explaining the Crab pulse profile and spectrum as well as the optical polarisation angle variation with phase (Romani & Yadigaroglu 1995; Cheng et al. 2000).

As PSR B0540-69 shows predominantly Crab-like characteristics, one may expect that Outer Gap models can explain its profile and spectrum as well. Unfortunately, the geometry of the magnetic inclination ($`\alpha `$) and viewing angles ($`\zeta `$) cannot be constrained by radio measurements. In a recent model calculation for PSR B0540-69 based on the three dimensional outer magnetosphere model of Cheng et al. (2000), Zhang & Cheng (2000) chose likely values for these angles ($`\alpha =50\mathrm{°}`$; $`\zeta =76\mathrm{°}`$) by constraining the model to the observed radio emission and broad pulse profiles. Their calculations predict a single broad pulse shape in the optical, X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray windows and a power-law shaped total pulsed spectrum from the optical up to $``$ 100 keV. Above 1 MeV a bend in the spectrum is expected.

Our new hard X-ray findings do not agree entirely with these model calculations. The first difference is in the observed high-resolution pulse profile. We confirmed the broad nature of the pulse, but it also shows a significant dip on the top of the profile with a significant excess to the left of it. Secondly, the observed total pulsed spectrum flattens above 10 keV, while the model expects the bend to occur above 100 keV. These discrepancies are likely a result of the uncertainties in the pulsar geometry. We note that Zhang & Cheng (2000) also describe with their Outer Gap model the high energy properties of PSR B1509-58. For slightly different angles ($`\alpha =60\mathrm{°}`$; $`\zeta =75\mathrm{°}`$) they predict a broad pulse profile with fine structure over the top, very similar to what we found for PSR B0540-69. This suggests that model calculations for PSR B0540-69 with a slightly larger magnetic inclination angle could reproduce in detail our measured profile. Therefore, optical polarisation measurements are required to constrain the magnetic inclination and viewing angles to model the high-energy emission processes of this young pulsar more accurately.

Earlier, Cheng & Wei (1995) calculated the high-energy spectrum based on the Outer Gap model of Cheng et al. (1986a, b) assuming that the X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray emission is synchrotron self-Compton radiation from secondary e± pairs. They predict a spectral break between about 10 and 100 keV depending on the size of the Outer Gap. A relatively large Outer Gap (gradually increasing with age) could explain the apparent break in the spectrum around 10 keV.

A more accurate measurement at higher energies of the total pulsed spectrum of PSR B0540-69 is very important to discriminate the different model calculations. For the INTEGRAL mission (20 keV – 8 MeV) a very long exposure (2 Ms) of the LMC is scheduled. Unfortunately, for the spectral shape we derived in this work INTEGRAL will be able to detect the pulsed signal only up to $``$ 70 keV. More importantly, GLAST (20 MeV – 300 GeV) should be able to detect pulsed hard $`\gamma `$-ray emission if the spectrum behaves Crab-like.

###### Acknowledgements.

We wish to thank the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for maintaining its online archive service which provided the data used in this research. We also thank Frank Verbunt (Utrecht University) for carefully reading our manuscript.


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# Detecting Dark Matter using Centrifuging Techniques

(January 2003)

## Abstract

A new and inexpensive technique for detecting self interacting dark matter in the form of small grains in bulk matter is proposed. Depending on the interactions with ordinary matter, dark matter grains in bulk matter may be isolated by using a centrifuge and using ordinary matter as a filter. The case of mirror matter interacting with ordinary matter via photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing provides a concrete example of this type of dark matter candidate.

It is known that a large fraction of the mass of the universe is in the form of dark matter. Most of this dark matter is believed to exist in the form of as of yet unknown elementary particles. Many different types of candidates have been proposed, such as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS), strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPS) and charged massive particles (CHAMPS). Despite many experimental searches all attempts to detect these particles have failed. For a review see.

Interestingly there is one possible dark matter candidate which has not yet been experimentally scrutinized. The idea is that dark matter particles may have strong enough self interactions such that they can condense into small grains, and also interact with ordinary matter, such that a grain can remain on the surface of the Earth. A specific candidate for this kind of dark matter is provided by theories respecting mirror symmetry, as we will now briefly explain.

Mirror symmetry appears broken by the interactions of the known elementary particles (because of their left-handed weak interactions). Nevertheless, mirror symmetry can exist if one introduces for every particle a corresponding mirror particle, of exactly the same mass as the ordinary particle . These mirror particles interact with each other in exactly the same way that the ordinary particles do. The mirror particles are not produced (significantly) in laboratory experiments just because they couple very weakly to the ordinary particles. In the modern language of gauge theories, the mirror particles are all singlets under the standard $`GSU(3)SU(2)_LU(1)_Y`$ gauge interactions. Instead the mirror fermions interact with a set of mirror gauge particles, so that the gauge symmetry of the theory is doubled, i.e. $`GG`$ (the ordinary particles are, of course, singlets under the mirror gauge symmetry). Mirror symmetry is conserved because the mirror fermions experience $`V+A`$ (right-handed) mirror weak interactions and the ordinary fermions experience the usual $`VA`$ (left-handed) weak interactions. Ordinary and mirror particles interact with each other predominately by gravity (and possibly by new interactions as we will explain below). Clearly, mirror matter is an ideal candidate for the dark matter inferred to exist in the Universe because it is dark and stable. It also appears to have the right properties to explain a number of other interesting puzzles. For a review, see Ref..

While we know that ordinary and mirror matter do not interact with each other via any of the known non-gravitational forces, it is possible that new interactions exist which couple the two sectors together. In Ref., all such interactions consistent with gauge invariance, mirror symmetry and renormalizability were identified. Of most importance for this paper is the photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing interaction. In quantum field theory, photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing is described by the interaction

$$=\frac{ϵ}{2}F^{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }^{},$$
(1)
where $`F^{\mu \nu }`$ ($`F_{\mu \nu }^{}`$) is the field strength tensor for electromagnetism (mirror electromagnetism). This type of Lagrangian term is gauge invariant and renormalizable and can exist at tree level or may be induced radiatively in models without $`U(1)`$ gauge symmetries (such as grand unified theories). One effect of ordinary photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing is to give the mirror charged particles a small electric charge. That is, they couple to ordinary photons with electric charge $`ϵe`$. The most important experimental particle physics implication of photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing is that it modifies the properties of orthopositronium. The current experimental situation is summarized in Ref., which shows that $`\left|ϵ\right|10^6`$, with some evidence for $`\left|ϵ\right|10^6`$ from the 1990 vacuum cavity experiment.

Understanding the possible astrophysical implications of photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing has been the subject of a number of recent papers. The existence of photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing allows mirror matter to explain a number of puzzling observations, including the pioneer spacecraft anomaly, anomalous meteorite events and the unexpectedly low number of small craters on the asteroid 433 Eros. In Ref., it was shown that these explanations require $`\left|ϵ\right|10^9`$. Thus, the most interesting parameter range for $`ϵ`$ suggested by observations is

$$10^9\stackrel{<}{}|ϵ|\stackrel{<}{}10^6.$$
(2)
One other, perhaps very important implication of photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing which we have yet to mention is that it can provide a force which opposes the effect of gravity, so that a mirror matter fragment can potentially remain on the Earth’s surface. Whether this actually happens, depends on the strength of the photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing compared to the weight of the fragment. If the mirror fragment is embedded inside ordinary matter, then the mirror atoms will have an average electrostatic energy induced by the photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing. The fragment can experience a strong force when this energy changes rapidly as a function of its position, e.g. at the boundary between a low and high density medium. In the appendix we derive the following equation for the electrostatic force exerted on a stationary fragment at the boundary between two media compared to its weight:

$$\frac{\left|F_{\text{static}}\right|}{\left|F_{\text{gravity}}\right|}\left|ϵ\right|10^{10}(\text{cm}/R)$$
(3)
Here, R is the size of the fragment. For positive $`ϵ`$, the electrostatic force is (typically) directed from the high density medium toward the low density medium, while for negative $`ϵ`$ the electrostatic force has the opposite direction. According to the above equation, a mirror matter fragment of size $`R=1\text{ cm}`$ could remain on the Earth’s surface if $`ϵ`$ is positive and $`ϵ10^{10}`$. \[Of course, if it impacted with high velocity, it would be buried some distance below the surface, as we will discuss\]. For $`ϵ`$ less than $`10^{10}`$ it would fall toward the center of the Earth. If $`ϵ<0`$, then the mirror matter fragment would necessarily move into the ground (because in this case the electrostatic force is then attractive between the low density air and high density ground). But, because the ground is of varying composition, a fragment would stop after becoming completely embedded within the ground. The limit for this to happen would be of the same order of magnitude, i.e. $`|ϵ|10^{10}`$.

If dark matter exists in the form of small grains in the ground, then one may try to isolate it by centrifuging soil samples. Modern ultracentrifuges are capable of an acceleration of about $`10^6g`$ . In the case of mirror matter Eq. (3) shows that increasing the force of gravity by a factor of a million will remove mirror matter fragments greater than 100 microns in size for $`10^{10}|ϵ|10^6`$. The simplest technique to detect the presence of small grains of dark matter is to first weigh a soil sample, then centrifuge it for some time111 The centrifugation time required can be estimated from $`F_{\text{friction}}`$, Eq.(19), derived in the appendix. The velocity of the fragment, relative to the spinning test tube in a centrifuge, can be found by equating $`F_{\text{friction}}F_{\text{acceleration}}10^6g`$. From Eq.(19), this suggests $`U\stackrel{>}{}0.2`$ cm/s. Taking into account possible uncertainties in our approximations, a centrifugation time of 10 minutes should be adequate., and then weigh it again. If there were indeed mirror matter grains present, then these should have been removed, leading to a lowering of the weight. In practice the sensitivity of such tests is limited to about one part in $`10^6`$ by weight (for a 100 gram sample). Still, nobody has ever done this type of experiment before. Such a sensitivity may well be enough to discover this type of dark matter, if it exists (especially if the sample to be tested is chosen appropriately, see the discussion below).

A more sensitive test may be performed by attempting to catch the escaping dark matter fragments in a backing around the inside of the centrifuge. The backing should preferably be of inhomogeneous composition to maximize the probability of catching fragments in it. By centrifuging many soil samples the backing may become enriched with dark matter fragments. A direct weight measurement of the backing could confirm this. Alternatively, a sample of the backing may be centrifuged and tested for a decrease in weight as described above. Such a technique could yield a sensitivity of about 1 part in $`10^710^8`$ by weight. One might worry that the velocity of the fragments could be too large to be caught in the backing, however it turns out that the frictional force of a mirror fragment moving in ordinary matter is quite large, as we also show in the appendix. The conclusion is that a mirror fragment (with initial velocity $`U_i`$) will slow down enough to enable it to be captured in ordinary matter (of mass density $`\rho `$) after a distance of order:

$`L`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{10^7}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{U_i}{300\text{ m/s}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{4\text{ g}/\text{cm}^3}{\rho }}\right)\text{ meters,}\text{ for}U_i300\text{ m/s}`$
$`L`$ $``$ $`10^7\left({\displaystyle \frac{U_i}{300\text{ m/s}}}\right)^4\left({\displaystyle \frac{10^8}{ϵ}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{4\text{ g}/\text{cm}^3}{\rho }}\right)\text{ meters,}\text{ for}U_i300\text{ m/s}`$
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\left(|ϵ|/10^8\right)^2`$ for $`|ϵ|10^8`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1`$ for $`|ϵ|10^8`$. Since the speed at which a fragment will leave the centrifuge is less than about 1000 m/s, the above equation suggests that a backing thickness greater than about a millimetre will be adequate to capture small fragments.

Besides weight measurements, there could be other ways to detect small dark matter grains escaping from a centrifuge. Since the interaction between the dark matter particles and ordinary atoms are strong enough to keep small grains from sinking into the Earth, these interactions may also be strong enough to cause a dark matter grain to thermalize with its environment on not too long time scales. The escaping dark matter grains may thus also be detected using cryogenic calorimeters.

The next issue is what type of sample to use. If this type of dark matter were present during the Earth’s formation it would be expected to be most abundant in the Earth’s core. However, such dark matter may also be extraterrestrial in origin, for example it may come from small mirror matter space bodies if they collide with the Earth. In this case, this dark matter may be present on (or near) the Earth’s surface; enhanced at various ‘impact sites’. Various candidate sites have been discussed in Ref., including Tunguska and a small yet specific site in Jordan. Furthermore, according to Eq.(Detecting Dark Matter using Centrifuging Techniques) the mirror matter fragments will be very close (centimeters!) to the surface (since the impact velocity in both of these events is expected to be less than 1 km/s because of atmospheric effects). More generally, it has been known for a long time that deep sea sediment is one place where extraterrestrial material accumulates significantly. It should also be a good place to test for the existence of mirror matter-type dark matter.

In conclusion, we have explored the possibility that dark matter may potentially exist on (or near) the Earth’s surface. A specific example of such dark matter is provided by mirror matter with photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing interaction. This type of dark matter has yet to be experimentally tested. We have therefore proposed a new and inexpensive technique to directly test samples for the presence of this type of dark matter. In the case of mirror matter, we have shown that this test is effective for mirror matter fragments larger than 100 microns in the range of $`10^{10}|ϵ|10^6`$, with a sensitivity of up to 1 part in $`10^8`$.

Acknowledgments R.F. would like to thank Peter Haines for some valuable discussions.

Appendix: Can a Mirror Matter Fragment Remain at the Earth’s Surface? In this appendix we will estimate the force on a mirror matter fragment embedded in an ordinary matter medium which is due to the photon-mirror photon interaction. We will call this force $`F^ϵ`$. In general, for a fragment in motion (with velocity $`U`$), $`F^ϵ`$ will contain a velocity dependent frictional term as well as a static term, that is

$`F^ϵ=F_{\text{static}}+F_{\text{friction}}`$ (5)
where $`F_{\text{static}}`$ is independent of $`U`$ and $`F_{\text{friction}}0`$ as $`U0`$. We will first estimate $`F_{\text{static}}`$ and then consider $`F_{\text{friction}}`$.

Consider a mirror matter fragment with mass density $`\rho ^{}`$, composed of mirror atoms of mass $`M_A^{}`$, embedded within ordinary matter. Suppose this fragment is at the interface of two homogeneous (ordinary matter) mediums, which we label medium 1 and medium 2 (e.g. air/earth or earth/quartz etc). Let $`A`$ be the cross sectional area of the fragment measured parallel to the interface. If the fragment moves a distance $`dr`$ orthogonal to the interface, then the number of mirror atoms moving from medium 1 to medium 2 is simply $`A\rho ^{}dr/M_A^{}`$ and the electrostatic potential energy of the fragment will change by an amount $`dE`$:

$$dE=\left(\zeta _2\zeta _1\right)\frac{A\rho ^{}dr}{M_A^{}}$$
(6)
where $`\zeta _1`$ ($`\zeta _2`$) are the mean electrostatic energies coming from the interactions of mirror atoms with the ordinary atoms of medium 1 (medium 2). Therefore it will experience an electrostatic force of:

$$F_{\text{static}}=\left(\zeta _1\zeta _2\right)\frac{A\rho ^{}}{M_A^{}}\widehat{n}$$
(7)
Here $`\widehat{n}`$ is the unit normal vector of the interface, pointing from medium 1 to 2.

The energies $`\zeta _{1,2}`$ are very small because they are suppressed by $`|ϵ|10^6`$ and are most significant when the mirror and ordinary nuclei are close enough so that the screening effects of the electrons can be approximately ignored. If $`z`$ is the distance between the mirror nuclei and the nearest ordinary nuclei, then

$`\zeta (z)`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{ZZ^{}e^2ϵ}{z}}`$ $`\text{for }zr_2`$
$`\zeta (z)`$ $`0`$ $`\text{for }zr_2`$ (8)
where $`Z`$ is the atomic number of the ordinary atoms, $`Z^{}`$ is the (mirror) atomic number of the mirror atoms. The distance $`r_2`$ is the radius over which significant electrostatic interaction occurs, which we will approximate to the second Bohr radius, i.e.

$$r_24a_0/Z^{}10^9\text{cm},$$
(9)
where $`a_0`$ is the hydrogen Bohr radius.

Because of rapid thermal motion and the (typically) different chemical composition and structure of the mirror matter fragment and ordinary matter medium, to a good approximation, the mean value of $`\zeta _i`$, $`\zeta _i`$, is simply the value of $`\zeta (z)`$ averaged over the volume occupied by atoms, that is:

$`\zeta `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\frac{4}{3}\pi a^3}}{\displaystyle _0^a}\zeta (z)𝑑V`$ (10)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\frac{4}{3}\pi a^3}}{\displaystyle _0^{r_2}}{\displaystyle \frac{ZZ^{}e^2ϵ}{r}}4\pi r^2𝑑r`$
where $`a`$ is the mean distance between atoms (typically about $`3\times 10^8\text{ cm}`$ for a solid).

Thus, for a solid, we estimate that

$`\zeta `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}ZZ^{}e^2ϵ{\displaystyle \frac{r_2^2}{a^3}}`$ (11)
$``$ $`ϵ\left({\displaystyle \frac{Z}{Z^{}}}\right)10^2eV`$
Recall that the force due to the electrostatic interactions depends on the difference in $`\zeta `$ between the two mediums \[Eq.(7)\]. This will be medium dependent, depending on the chemical composition and structure of the mediums. But, from Eq.(11), it is clear that the difference in $`\zeta `$ between two mediums will have the form:

$`\zeta _1\zeta _2=ϵ\lambda _{1,2}10^2eV`$ (12)
where $`\lambda _{1,2}`$ is the ‘medium dependent’ part, which is a number of order 1. In going from a low density medium (such as air) to a high density medium, solid earth, $`\lambda _{1,2}`$ is negative, which implies an attractive force if $`ϵ`$ is negative and a repulsive force if $`ϵ`$ is positive.

The force on the mirror fragment due to the electrostatic interactions can be obtained by combining equations , Eq.(7) and Eq.(12) 222 Unless otherwise stated, we use natural units with $`\mathrm{}=c=1`$.,

$`F_{\text{static}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(\zeta _1\zeta _2)\rho ^{}R^2}{M_A^{}}}\widehat{n}`$ (13)
$`=`$ $`ϵ\lambda _{1,2}10^{13}\left(\rho ^{}/\left(\text{g}/\text{cm}^3\right)\right)(R/\text{cm})^2\widehat{n}\text{ g cm}/\text{s}^2`$
where we have taken $`M_A^{}20M_{\text{proton}}`$, $`AR^2`$ where $`R`$ is the size of the object.

To find out if a mirror matter grain can remain at the Earth’s surface, we have to compare this with the gravitational force $`F_{\text{gravity}}`$. With our notation,

$$\left|F_{\text{gravity}}\right|\rho ^{}R^3g.$$
(14)
Hence,

$$\frac{\left|F_{\text{static}}\right|}{\left|F_{\text{gravity}}\right|}\left|ϵ\right|10^{10}(\text{cm}/R)$$
(15)
where we have used that $`\left|\lambda _{1,2}\right|1`$

Recall that $`F_{\text{static}}`$ is the force on a mirror matter fragment embedded in an ordinary matter medium, where the fragment was at rest relative to the medium. As discussed in Eq.(5), for a fragment moving with relative velocity $`U`$ there will be a velocity dependent frictional term, $`F_{\text{friction}}`$ as well. Our purpose now is to estimate $`F_{\text{friction}}`$. The frictional effect of mirror matter moving through an ordinary matter medium has been considered previously in Ref., but in that case only the high velocity regime was examined ($`U1\text{ km/s}`$). For the purposes of this paper, we are particularly interested in the case where $`U1\text{ km/s}`$, which hasn’t been evaluated previously.

A mirror matter fragment moving through a homogeneous ordinary matter medium will experience a friction force caused by momentum transfer from collisions of mirror atoms with the ordinary atoms in the medium. If $`Uv_{\text{thermal}}`$ then the frequency of collisions suffered by a mirror atom is roughly $`nv_{\text{thermal}}\sigma `$, with $`n=\rho /M_A10^{23}/\text{cm}^3`$ is the number density of atoms in the ordinary medium, $`v_{\text{thermal}}\sqrt{6k_bT_{\text{room}}/m_{\text{atom}}}`$ is the average relative speed of mirror atoms relative to the ordinary atoms, both assumed to be of mass $`m_{\text{atom}}`$, and $`\sigma `$ is the elastic cross section. In the Born approximation, the differential cross section is given by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}}={\displaystyle \frac{4M_A^2ϵ^2e^4Z^2Z^2}{(4M_A^2U^2\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\theta _{\text{scatt}}}{2}+\frac{1}{r_2^2})^2}}.`$ (16)
This is just the Rutherford formula cutoff at a distance $`r_2`$, \[Eq.(9)\], which is the range of the potential. At low velocities, $`U\stackrel{<}{}300`$ m/s, the second term in the denominator dominates over the first term and the cross section becomes approximately isotropic, and Eq.(16) reduces to

$$\sigma =16\pi M_A^2ϵ^2e^4Z^2Z^2r_2^4.$$
(17)
Observe that for $`|ϵ|\stackrel{>}{}10^8`$, $`\sigma \stackrel{>}{}r_2^2`$ which is unphysical. In fact, the interaction has become so strong that the Born approximation breaks down. For $`|ϵ|\stackrel{>}{}10^8`$, the cross section saturates at $`\sigma r_2^2`$. Thus, we have:

$`\sigma `$ $``$ $`10^2ϵ^2\text{cm}^2\text{ for }|ϵ|10^8,`$
$`\sigma `$ $``$ $`10^{18}\text{cm}^2\text{ for }|ϵ|10^8.`$ (18)
Note that the above cross section is only valid provided that $`U300\text{m/s}`$. For larger velocities the cross section is suppressed by the first term in the denominator of Eq.(16), see Ref. for more discussion about the high velocity regime.

In a collision part of the relative momentum will be transferred. If the whole mirror matter fragment is moving with velocity $`U`$ relative to the medium, the momentum transferred by the collisions will average out to about $`m_{\text{atom}}U`$ per mirror atom per collision 333 Note that this implicitly assumes that the ordinary matter medium is in the solid state. For a gaseous ordinary matter medium such as air, air molecules would build up within the body and move along with it, which would effectively reduce the size of the frictional force compared to a solid (even taking account of the density difference). For a gaseous medium it is better to work in the rest frame of the mirror body, and examine the momentum transferred by the impacting air molecules (as was done in Ref.). . Therefore the friction force $`F_{\text{friction}}`$ exerted on the fragment of mass M (taking $`m_{\text{atom}}20M_{\text{proton}}`$) is approximately:

$$F_{\text{friction}}M\sqrt{\frac{6k_bT_{\text{room}}}{m_{\text{atom}}}}n\sigma U10^9\mathrm{\Lambda }\left(M/\text{g}\right)\left(U/\left(\text{m/s}\right)\right)\left(\frac{\rho }{\text{g}/\text{cm}^3}\right)\text{ g m}/\text{s}^2$$
(19)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\left(|ϵ|/10^8\right)^2`$ for $`|ϵ|10^8`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1`$ for $`|ϵ|10^8`$.

From Eq.(19) we find that a mirror fragment with initial velocity $`U_i`$ will slow down enough to enable it to be captured in ordinary matter after a distance of order:

$`L{\displaystyle \frac{10^7}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{U_i}{300\text{ m/s}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{4\text{ g}/\text{cm}^3}{\rho }}\right)\text{ meters}`$ (20)
Recall that the above equation is roughly valid for $`U_i300`$ m/s. For completeness, let us mention that in the case of $`U_i300`$ m/s, the corresponding distance is:

$$L\frac{U_i^4M_A^{}^2M_A}{160\pi \rho Z^2Z^2ϵ^2e^4}10^7\left(\frac{U_i}{300\text{ m/s}}\right)^4\left(\frac{10^8}{ϵ}\right)^2\left(\frac{4\text{ g}/\text{cm}^3}{\rho }\right)\text{ meters.}$$
(21)
Anyway, the net effect is that for low velocities, $`U1\text{ km/s}`$ we see from Eq.(20,21) that mirror matter fragments rapidly slow down in ordinary matter.


text:
# Quantum Processors and Controllers

## 1 Introduction

Let us consider simple example of control using a Hilbert space of composite quantum system with two parts:

$$=_c_d.$$
(1)
Here $`_d`$ is a Hilbert space of quantum system considered as data, (controlled variables, subject of control) and $`_c`$ is Hilbert space of control (“manager”, program of changes). The approach is close analogue of conditional quantum dynamics .

It is possible to start with classical example with reversible Controlled-NOT gate defined on set of two binary variables as $`(a,b)(a,a\mathrm{𝖷𝖮𝖱}b)`$, i.e., if first binary variable is $`a=\mathrm{𝟢}`$, then second one is unchanged, but if $`a=\mathrm{𝟣}`$, then $`b\mathrm{𝖭𝖮𝖳}b`$. Reversible logical gates are usual tools in quantum computations; here XOR is eXclusive OR, $`a+b(\mathrm{mod}2)`$. Construction of quantum Controlled-NOT gate is straightforward (see  or any other introduction in quantum information science).

In quantum networks bits are changed to qubits (quantum bits) and yet another quantum gate with two qubits is controlled-U gate , when quantum gate $`U`$ is applied to second qubit if first one is $`|1`$ ($`|a`$ is notion for state of qubit in Dirac notation), but if first qubit is $`|0`$ then second one is unchanged.

It is possible to write controlled-U as $`4\times 4`$ matrix

$$\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill U_{11}& \hfill U_{12}\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill U_{21}& \hfill U_{22}\end{array}\right),$$
(2)
where $`U_{ij}`$ are components of quantum gate for second qubit, i.e., $`2\times 2`$ matrix $`U`$.

To describe development of the idea, programmable quantum gate arrays are used in Sec. 2. Such quantum devices also are called quantum processors, but may be used as quantum controllers as well, it is discussed in Sec. 3. More formal mathematical description of programmable quantum controllers provided in Sec. 4. Universality of quantum computations and control are briefly recollected in Sec. 5. Some discussion on universal control with continuous quantum variables is presented in Sec. 6.

## 2 Programmable quantum gate arrays

It is possible to use decomposition Eq. (1) with more general quantum networks and describe process of control as

$$𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}:\left(|C|\mathrm{\Psi }\right)|C^{}(𝒖_C|\mathrm{\Psi }),$$
(3)
i.e., $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}`$ is some fixed network and different control strategies ensured by different states $`|C`$ of control registers: for each such state different operator $`𝒖_C`$ acts on second system. The expression Eq. (3) coincides with definition of special kind of quantum network, programmable quantum gate array . Let us use notation $`𝖢_n^m`$ for $`dim_c=m`$ and $`dim_d=n`$.

It should be mentioned, that $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}`$ as any other quantum computational network  with pure states must be described as linear unitary operator acting on the Hilbert space Eq. (1) (similarly with example Eq. (2) above for simplest case with two qubits). Here the quantum laws have serious implications denoted already in : any two states of “program” (first, control register) must be orthogonal, i.e., maximal number of different operators $`𝒖_C`$ availiable for application to second, controlled system is equal to dimension of Hilbert space $`_c`$, i.e., for universal control $`dim_c=\mathrm{}`$, because number of different quantum gates is infinite.

To explain this result, let us consider two different “control strategies” $`|A`$ and $`|B`$

$`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}\left(|A|\mathrm{\Psi }\right)`$ $`=`$ $`|A^{}(𝒖_A|\mathrm{\Psi }),`$
$`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}\left(|B|\mathrm{\Psi }\right)`$ $`=`$ $`|B^{}(𝒖_B|\mathrm{\Psi }),`$
but because $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}`$ is unitary operator, it may not change scalar product of two vectors, i.e.,

$$AB=A^{}B^{}\mathrm{\Psi }|𝒖_A^{}𝒖_B|\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(4)
In Eq. (4) $`AB`$ and $`A^{}B^{}`$ are fixed numbers, but for $`𝒖_A𝒖_B`$ term $`\mathrm{\Psi }|𝒖_A^{}𝒖_B|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ depends on $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$. But Eq. (4) must be satisfied for any $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ and so

$$AB=A^{}B^{}=0,$$
(5)
i.e., states corresponding to different programs are orthogonal.

For example even for one controlled qubit, set of all possible gates may be described by continuous three-dimensional family, i.e., even for this simple case with $`dim_d=2`$, for universal control it is necessary to have $`dim_c=\mathrm{}`$ with control register described by three continuous quantum variables ($`𝖢_2^\mathrm{}^3`$).

It is interesting, that such enormous difference between size of control and controlled system is rather subtle property of quantum dynamics, for example, it may be found linear, but non-unitary operator like Eq. (3) for universal control and with size of control register only in two times bigger than for controlled quantum system $`𝖢_n^{n^2}`$, it is simply operator of multiplication of a matrix on a vector written as formal linear map {$`(^{})(^{})`$; $`𝑨v\mathrm{𝟏}𝑨v`$)}, but it would contradict to laws of quantum mechanics.

## 3 Quantum processors as controllers

It is clear, that such approach has some difference with other methods of consideration of quantum control , there controlled system is also described as some state, but control is introduced as set of “external” controlling operators; gates or Hamiltonians, i.e., control and data are described from different points of view (semiclassical coherent control).

* Another attempt of joint quantum description of control and controlled system, using same term “quantum controller,” was included in , as some perspective for above-mentioned semiclassical coherent control. It was not suggested a general model of such joint quantum description, but few illustrative examples were presented. But here is discussed an alternative approach, it is enough to recall some distinctive principles of consistent framework for quantum control with pure states considered in present paper:

1. Control and controlled system must not be entangled. It follows directly from definition Eq. (3).
    2. The consequence of such definition is impossibility to use superposition of states in control register.
    3. So, there is noticeable asymmetry between control and controlled system in such approach.
    4. Final development of the principles is original three-level design of programmable quantum controller discussed below in Sec. 4, Fig. 1.

The construction of programmable quantum gate arrays, or quantum processors  provides more unified description of control and controlled system. It is in agreement with principles just mentioned above. Term “quantum controller” may be also justified for such a system, because for universal quantum processor on controlled system $`_d`$ formally may be simulated practically any physical process, if to use tradition of consideration of such systems suggested by R. Feynman and D. Deutsch . For classical processors difference in sizes of program and data is not such a radical and this new property of quantum processor (controller) is related with infinite amount of different quantum programs (algorithms of control).

Despite of discussed above result about infinite-dimensional controlling register, universal quantum controllers with finite dimension of control space $`_c`$ are also quite usefull. It should be mentioned first so-called stochastic quantum processors . Such quantum processor does not produce correct answer each time, but provides special “check bit” displaying if answer is correct or not. If answer is not correct, it is suggested to perform calculations again and again. Probability of correct answer is reduced with size of data register and increases with number of tries.

Seems idea of stochastic quantum processor quite interesting, but has lot of problems, for example it is not even clear if it is possible to use composition of such networks for few-steps process due to unspecified time of each step and it is certainly some problem for application of such system as quantum controllers. It is also not quite clear, if it is always possible to “discard” incorrect result of action for general controller and start all again.

In addition, the “ideal limit” of such design resembles non-possible linear (but non-unitary) operator discussed earlier and it is similar with some other known models of quantum systems (“relaxation” gate, “instantaneous” reduction, etc.), then balance between “arduous” and “impossible” is too fine and linked with deep problems of quantum mechanics.

Anyway, the idea of stochastic gates seems useful, for example in  was shown, that continuous limit of some special stochastic network discussed in  coincides with continuous limit of some “deterministic” quantum gate, despite of very different behavior in finite, discrete case. It should be mentioned also, that main efforts of many authors last time were applied rather to the stochastic design, but deterministic one seems more appropriate for present consideration of quantum controllers.

Another construction with finite control register uses “universality in approximate sense”. It is quite reasonable approach and based on idea, that in realistic tasks always possible instead of continuous infinite space of parameters to use only finite set of points for approximation. The more dense set, the more accurate such a method. Some basic papers about universality in quantum computation uses such approach .

## 4 More rigor mathematical <br>description

Let us consider quantum processors and controllers with more details . It was already mentioned, that all different states of controlling register must be orthogonal. Let us use for simplicity finite controlling register and choose such orthogonal states as new basis. It is possible to denote it simply as $`|0`$, $`|1`$, $`|2`$, …, i.e., “no operation,” “operation #1,” “operation #2,” …

If $`dim_c=m`$ and $`dim_d=n`$ in Eq. (1), then $`dim=mn`$ and in suggested new basis $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}`$ may be written as block-diagonal $`mn\times mn`$ matrix

$$𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill 𝒖_0& & & \\ & \hfill 𝒖_1& & \hfill 0\\ & & \hfill \mathrm{}& \\ \hfill 0& & & \hfill 𝒖_{m1}\end{array}\right),$$
(6)
where $`𝒖_k`$ are $`n\times n`$ matrices and it is convenient to choose $`𝒖_0=\mathrm{𝟏}`$ (“no operation”). It is example of conditional quantum dynamics described in  and using Dirac notation it may be rewritten as

$$𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}=|00|𝒖_0+|11|𝒖_1+\mathrm{}$$
(7)
Such approach may be appropriate for simple quantum controller, but for more difficult operations it is reasonable to consider an advanced design  of quantum processor that can be used as a programmable quantum controller. Instead of two systems Eq. (1) here is used design with three “buses”

$$=_p_c_d.$$
(8)
Here $`_p,_c,_d`$ are Hilbert spaces of program, controller and data, or pseudo-classical, intermediate and quantum buses respectively (see Fig 1).

The idea is to use composition of two operators. First one was described earlier, it is quantum controller $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}`$ acting on intermediate and quantum buses $`_c_d`$ and second one acts on $`_p_c`$ and on each step provides intermediate bus $`_c`$ with new state $`|k`$ used as index $`k`$ of operator $`𝒖_k`$ by quantum controller.

Let us consider simplest example with “cyclic memory (ROM)”. Let $`dim_c=m`$ and it is necessary to perform program with $`p`$ steps. Then $`dim_p=m^{p1}`$ and element $`|K`$ of $`m^p`$-dimensional Hilbert space $`_p_c`$ may be described as

$$|K|k_p,\mathrm{},k_2;k_1$$
(9)
and “program” is simply operator of cyclic shift

$$𝖲_{\mathrm{𝗁𝖿𝗍}}:|K|k_1,k_p,\mathrm{},k_3;k_2.$$
(10)
Finally, for $`p`$ steps of the programmable quantum controller with cyclic ROM ($`𝖢_n^{m^p}`$), it is possible to write

$$(𝖲_{\mathrm{𝗁𝖿𝗍}}𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}})^p:\left(|K|\mathrm{\Psi }\right)|K(𝒖_{k_p}\mathrm{}𝒖_{k_1}|\mathrm{\Psi })$$
(11)
and because set of operators $`𝒖_k`$ contains identity (unit), it is possible to implement any sequence with up to $`p`$ operators using different programs $`|K`$.

One problem here is huge size of program register. A method to reduce the size is to use instead of shifted array more complicated algorithm for generation of indexes. For example, instead of each sequence of $`n`$ equivalent indexes $`k`$ it could use pair $`(n,k)`$. It should be mentioned yet, that only reversible algorithms are appropriate here due to common principles of quantum computations — otherwise dynamics would not be unitary. Really there are some methods of automatic conversion of any algorithm to reversible one, but in such a case each step generates a “garbage” and size of program register may be even bigger, than for ROM. So the area is related with classical theory of optimal reversible computations.

On the other hand, it was already mentioned earlier, that all states of program register are orthogonal. It is not necessary to use superposition of different states. It was a reason to call the register “pseudo-classical.” Such systems may be more simple for implementation  and so problem with size may be not such essential, as for data register.

Yet another advantage of such pseudo-classical program register is possibility to use “halt bit” and algorithms with variable length. It is mentioned here, because such an opportunity is not very common for general quantum algorithms due to quantum parallelism and interference of different branches.

## 5 Universality of quantum control

When method of generation of arbitrary sequence of operators like Eq. (11) is given, ideas of implementation of universal control follows to standard procedures .

Let us consider case with finite size of control register. For good approximation it is possible to choose $`𝒖_k`$ near identity operator, i.e.

$$𝒖_k(\epsilon )=\mathrm{exp}i𝑯_k\epsilon 1+i𝑯_k\epsilon (\epsilon 0).$$
(12)
Here $`𝑯_k`$ are Hermitian operator and corresponds to Hamiltonians in some other approach to quantum control . Then small parameter $`\epsilon `$ is analogue of minimal time of action of some external influence by the control Hamiltonian.

Due to general theory it is enough to have posibility to generate full Lie algebra of Hermitian operators as linear span of $`𝑯_k`$ and all possible consequent commutators, but this part coinsides with general theory of universal quantum computations and control and does not discussed here in details .

Algorithms of generation of indexes for application of different gates $`𝒖_k`$ often may be described using few nested cycles with repeating series of states-indexes $`|k`$  due to general algebraic approach with Lie algebras and commutators mentioned above.

Despite of such analogue in mathematical expressions, discussed approach has some advantages due to closed description of controlling and controlled systems. Really the quantum controller uses only one fixed Hamiltonian $`𝑯_C`$, $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}=e^{i𝑯_C\delta t}`$ and $`𝑯_k`$ are rather formal operators.

On the other hand, such quantum description has some difficulties, because despite of pseudo-classical character of program register, it is anyway some special kind of quantum system. It is not look reasonable, that for control of such program register may be used some standard silicon chip. It was already mentioned, that for presented model only reversible programs are compatible with laws of quantum mechanics. Really it could be simply shown, that irreversible operator for some state of quantum controller has absurd property: it “shrinks” to zero wave vector of the system (and all environment, due to linearity). One method of more correct modeling is to use mixed states and density matrices. But it is not only problem of given approach, most other models of interface between classical devices and quantum system always provides some challenge and may be much more nontrivial .

## 6 Continuous quantum variables

Quantum computations with continuous variables is also active area of research . The ideas presented here also possible to use in case of control described by continuous quantum variables. For such a case direct sum in Eq. (7) should be changed to direct integral . For such a system quantum control variables are continuous, but controlled system is described by finite-dimensional Hilbert space. It is particular case of hybrid quantum computing .

Here pseudo-classical character of program bus provides some simplification. It may be described using classical terms and it is in agreement with relative success of usual semiclassical description of quantum control. But intermediate and quantum buses may not be considered using only classical ideas. Here intermediate bus could provide some challenge as an “interface” between classical and quantum world. In presented approach it is not so critical, because pseudo-classical bus is also described as a quantum system and was called so due to “recommendation” to use here only orthogonal set of states. It is principally possible to apply any superposition of states to such “pseudo-classical” bus, but in such a case states of control and controlled system became entangled after application of $`𝖢_{\mathrm{𝗍𝗋𝗅}}`$ Eq. (3) and it is not considered as prescribed functioning of considered device.

One simple method of description of quantum computation with continuous variables is to consider some functional spaces and space of linear differential operators. Well known example are operators of coordinate and momentum $`𝒑`$, $`𝒒`$. Draft of universal quantum controller, based on design of hybrid quantum processor  depicted on Fig. 2.

Here controlled system is anyway finite-dimensional and only some subset of controlling variables described by infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. Interesting question is problem of universal control of continuous variables. Such models were described yet only in semiclassical approach to quantum computation and control. It was shown, that Hamiltonian with (bi)linear combinations of coordinate and momentum are not enough  for universal quantum computation (control) and so some nonlinear (third-order)  or exponential  expressions may be used instead.

It is clear from previous consideration, that it is simpler to use some analogue of universality in approximate sense for control of quantum continuous variables — it was discussed earlier, dimension of Hilbert space for universal control must coincide with cardinality (“number of points”) in Hilbert space of controlled system and so for controlled system with continuous variables ($`𝖢_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}^{\mathrm{}}}`$) such idea would produce very different problems related with mathematical theory of infinite cardinal numbers.

So, (precisely) universal control of $`N`$-dimensional system is possible using continuous quantum variables ($`𝖢_N^{\mathrm{}}`$), but quite likely, that control of continuous quantum system ($`𝖢_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}`$) may be universal only in approximate sense. On the other hand, distinction between approximate and rigor universality in last case has rather theoretical significance, because it is not clear, how to find a difference between such $`𝖢_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}`$-controllers during any finite amount of time. Anyway, both tasks discussed below are difficult and out of scope of presented paper.

In addition, more accurate consideration of models of quantum computations and control with continuous variables is not complete without necessary attention to principles of quantum field theory. This difficult area is still in state of development, especially because correct description of quantum fields is possible only using relativistic theory .


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# Photometric study of new southern SU UMa-type dwarf novae – II: Authentication of BF Ara as a Normal SU UMa-type Dwarf Nova with the Shortest Supercycle

## 1 Introduction

ER UMa stars are still an enigmatic subgroup of SU UMa-type dwarf novae (for a review of dwarf novae and SU UMa-type dwarf novae, see Osaki (1996) and Warner (1995), respectively). Although most of SU UMa-type dwarf novae have supercycle lengths ($`T_\mathrm{s}`$: the interval between successive superoutbursts) long than $``$100 d (cf. Nogami et al. 1997), ER UMa stars have extremely short $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ (19–50 d, for a review, see Kato et al. 1999). Only five definite members have been discovered: ER UMa (Kato & Kunjaya 1995; Robertson et al. 1995; Misselt & Shafter 1995); V1159 Ori (Nogami et al. 1995; Patterson et al. 1995); RZ LMi (Robertson et al. 1995; Nogami et al. 1995); DI UMa (Kato et al. 1996); and IX Dra (Ishioka et al. 2001).

From the theoretical standpoint, ER UMa stars pose difficult and interesting problems. The outburst mechanism of SU UMa-type dwarf novae is now widely believed to be a combination of thermal and tidal instabilities in the accretion disk (Osaki, 1989). A smooth extension of SU UMa-type dwarf novae toward higher mass-transfer rates ($`\dot{M}`$) seems to be a natural explanation of extremely short $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ in ER UMa stars (Osaki, 1995a). This explanation, however, requires a poorly understood mechanism to prematurely quench superoutbursts to reproduce the extremely short $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ ($``$19 d) in RZ LMi (Osaki, 1995b).

The origin of the supposed high mass-transfer rates is also a mystery, since the mass-transfer is mainly driven by gravitational wave radiation in SU UMa-type dwarf novae, within the standard evolutionary framework of cataclysmic variables (CVs) (Rappaport et al. 1982, 1983; for recent reviews of CV evolution, see King 1988, 2000).

Several attempts have been made to ascribe such a high $`\dot{M}`$ to a nova-induced enhancement of mass-transfer (originally discussed in Nogami et al. (1995) in the context of “nova hibernation” scenario: Shara et al. 1986). Recent model calculations, however, have not been successful to reproduce the supposed wide $`\dot{M}`$ diversity in short-period systems to which ER UMa stars belong (Kolb et al., 2001). An irradiation-induced, cyclic mass-transfer variation has been shown to be also less effective in short-period systems (King et al. 1995, 1996; McCormick 1998, see also a general discussion in Patterson 1998).

Most recently, several ideas have been proposed to explain the unusual outburst properties of ER UMa stars. Hellier (2001) proposed an idea to explain the ER UMa-type phenomenon by considering a decoupling between the thermal and tidal instabilities. Buat-Ménard et al. (2001) tried to explain the ER UMa-type phenomenon by introducing an inner truncation of the accretion disk and irradiation on the secondary star. These ideas either require a still poorly understood mechanism or an arbitrary parameter selection, which does not yet seem to reasonably reproduce observations (Buat-Ménard & Hameury, 2002).

From the observational side, the distribution of $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ seems to be discontinuous between ER UMa stars and usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae (c.f. Nogami et al. 1997; Hellier 2001). Furthermore, the distribution of the orbital periods ($`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$) or superhump periods ($`P_{\mathrm{SH}}`$) of ER UMa stars strongly concentrates in a short-period region (Ishioka et al., 2001). These observational properties have raised the following central problems: (1) Do ER UMa stars and usual SU UMa stars comprise a continuous distribution of $`T_\mathrm{s}`$? and (2) Are there long-$`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$ (or long-$`P_{\mathrm{SH}}`$) ER UMa stars? These fundamental questions have not been yet answered. The second question is particular important because the working hypotheses by Hellier (2001) and Buat-Ménard et al. (2001) either require a small binary mass-ratio ($`q`$ = $`M_2`$/$`M_1`$) or a short orbital period, which would enable a weak tidal torque or a strong effect of irradiation, respectively.

From these motivations, a search for transitional objects between ER UMa stars and usual SU UMa-type stars, and long-$`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$ ER UMa stars has been undertaken. CI UMa ($`T_\mathrm{s}`$ 140 d) was once claimed to be a transitional object (Nogami & Kato, 1997), but the pattern of its outbursts is much more irregular than those of ER UMa stars. A short $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ (89 d) system, V503 Cyg (Harvey et al., 1995) is also unusual in its infrequent normal outbursts.111 Kato et al. (2002) reported the detection of a dramatic changes in the outburst pattern of V503 Cyg. V503 Cyg may be a system with two distinct states (the states with low or high number of normal outbursts), both of which are unlike those of ER UMa stars.  Low-amplitude SU UMa-type dwarf nova, HS Vir, which has similar properties to ER UMa stars in its high frequency of normal outbursts (Kato et al., 1995, 1998), has recently confirmed to have a long ($`T_\mathrm{s}`$ = 186 or 371 d, Kato et al. 2001) supercycle, which is unlike those of ER UMa stars. Most recently, SS UMi ($`T_\mathrm{s}`$ = 84.7 d, Kato et al. 2000) has been shown to be the shortest $`T_\mathrm{s}`$ system having usual properties of SU UMa-type dwarf novae (Kato et al., 1998). A search for transitional objects or long-$`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$ ER UMa has been unsuccessful.

BF Ara is a dwarf nova having a range of variability 13.6 – (16.0p and a tentative classification of an SS Cyg-type dwarf nova according to the 4-th edition of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Kholopov et al., 1985). Bruch (1983) photometrically studied this object during an outburst, and recorded 0.25-mag variations which could be attributed to a superhump. However, because of the lack of a sufficiently long series of photometry and the lack of knowledge in the outburst properties, this object has been largely neglected in the past studies. In the most recent years, Kato et al. (2001) noticed the presence of a clear recurring periodicity of long outbursts (likely superoutbursts). From an analysis of the visual observations reported to the VSNET Collaboration,222 http://www.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/. Kato et al. (2001) proposed a mean supercycle length of 83.4 d, on the presumed assumption that BF Ara is an SU UMa-type dwarf nova. Since this supercycle length broke the shortest record among usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae, BF Ara has been regarded as a key object to study the borderline and the relation between usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae and ER UMa stars. The next important step has undoubtedly been an unambiguous detection of superhumps which authenticates BF Ara as a genuine SU UMa-type dwarf nova. We conducted a photometric campaign during a long outburst in 2002 August as an intensive project of the VSNET Collaboration (Kato et al., 2002).

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 CCD Observations

The observers, equipment and reduction software are summarized in Table 1. All observers performed aperture photometry implemented in the packages listed in Table 1. The observations used unfiltered CCD systems having a response close to Kron-Cousins $`R_\mathrm{c}`$ band for outbursting dwarf novae. The errors of single measurements are typically less than 0.01–0.03 mag. The magnitudes were determined relative to GSC 8347.944, whose constancy during the observation was confirmed by a comparison with GSC 2.2 S230002154022. The relative magnitudes by PN using the primary comparison star of GSC 8347.1475 have been converted to the common scale by adding a constant of $``$0.691 mag.

Barycentric corrections to the observed times were applied before the following analysis.

### 2.2 Visual Observations

Visual observations were done with 32-cm (RS), 40-cm (AP), 32-cm (PN) and 32-cm (BM) reflectors. All observations were done using photoelectrically calibrated $`V`$-magnitude comparison stars. The typical error of visual estimates was 0.2 mag. The observations were used to determine the outburst cycle lengths and characteristics. CCD monitoring observation by TR (18-cm refractor and an unfiltered ST-7E) has been included in the analysis.

## 3 The 2002 August Superoutburst

### 3.1 Course of Outburst

The 2002 August outburst was detected by RS on August 14.415 UT at a visual magnitude of 14.4. The object was reported to be fainter than 14.8 on August 13.491 UT. The object further brightened to a magnitude of 14.0 on August 16.478 UT. Because the outburst was apparently a long, bright outburst (likely superoutburst), we initiated a CCD photometric campaign through the VSNET Collaboration. From the August 18 observations by GB and PN, unmistakable superhumps were detected (vsnet-alert 7450)333 http://www.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/Mail/alert7000/
msg00450.html. , qualifying BF Ara as a genuine SU UMa-type dwarf nova (see section 3.2 for more details). The journal of the CCD observations is listed in Table 2.

Figure 1 shows the light curve of the outburst based on CCD photometry. The slowly fading (0.10 mag d-1) superoutburst plateau phase and a more rapidly fading phase on August 27 (BJD 2452514) are clearly demonstrated. The plateau phase lasted for 13 d since the start of the outburst. Nightly light curves are presented in Figure 2, demonstrating the clear presence of superhumps.

### 3.2 Superhump Period

Figure 3 shows the result of a period analysis using Phase Dispersion Minimization (PDM: Stellingwerf 1978) applied to the data set covering the superoutburst plateau (2002 August 18–26), after removing the linear decline trend. The best determined frequency of superhumps is 11.368(2) d-1, corresponding to a mean superhump period of $`P_{\mathrm{SH}}`$ = 0.08797(1) d. The significance of this period is better than 99.99%.

Figure 4 shows the phase-averaged profile of superhumps at the period of 0.08797 d. The rapidly rising and slowly fading superhump profile is very characteristic of an SU UMa-type dwarf nova (Vogt, 1980; Warner, 1985).

### 3.3 Superhump Period Change

We extracted the maximum times of superhumps from the light curve by eye. The averaged times of a few to several points close to the maxima were used as representatives of the maximum times. The errors of the maximum times are less than $``$0.002 d. The resultant superhump maxima are given in Table 3. The values are given to 0.0001 d in order to avoid the loss of significant digits in a later analysis. The cycle count ($`E`$) is defined as the cycle number since BJD 2452504.990. The maximum at $`E`$ = 46.5 likely corresponds to a secondary superhump maximum, which is sometimes observed around superhump phases at 0.4–0.6 (Udalski, 1990; Kato et al., 1992). The maxima at $`E`$ = 101.5 and 102.5 correspond to late superhumps (Haefner et al., 1979; Vogt, 1983; van der Woerd et al., 1988; Hessman et al., 1992), which are known to have similar periods with ordinary superhumps, but have phases of $``$0.5 different from those of ordinary superhumps. Excluding the maxima of the likely secondary superhump and late superhumps, a linear regression to the observed superhump times gives the following ephemeris (the errors correspond to 1$`\sigma `$ errors at $`E`$ = 39):

$$\mathrm{BJD}(\mathrm{maximum})=2452504.9902(5)+0.087917(15)E.$$
(1)
The derived $`OC`$’s against equation 1 are almost zero within the expected errors of the maximum times (Figure 5). A quadratic fit yielded a period derivative of $`\dot{P}`$ = $``$0.6$`\pm `$1.2 $`\times `$ 10-6 d cycle-1, or $`P_{\mathrm{dot}}`$ = $`\dot{P}/P`$ = $``$0.8$`\pm `$1.4 $`\times `$ 10-5. This virtually zero period derivative makes a clear contrast against recently discovered SU UMa-type dwarf novae (V877 Ara, KK Tel), which have large negative period derivatives (Kato et al., 2002).

## 4 Astrometry and Quiescent Identification

The quiescent counterpart of BF Ara has been suggested by Vogt & Bateson (1982). Since this field is very crowded, we have tried to make an unambiguous independent identification based on outburst CCD images.

Astrometry of the outbursting BF Ara was performed on CCD images taken by GB and PN. An average of measurements of seven images (UCAC1 system, 60 – 240 reference stars; internal dispersion of the measurements was $``$0′′.08) has yielded a position of 17h 38m 21s.322, $``$47 10 41′′.46 (J2000.0). The position agrees with the GSC$``$2.2.1 star at 17h 38m 21s.307, $``$47 10 41′′.10 (epoch 1996.680 and magnitude $`r`$ = 17.67), which is most likely the quiescent counterpart of BF Ara (Figure 6). Comparing with our position and the oldest DSS image (epoch = 1979.367), no apparent proper motion was detected; its upper limit is deduced to be 0′′.03 yr-1. Note that the DSS red image taken on 1998 June 17 happened to catch BF Ara in outburst.

The Astrographic Catalog (AC) contains an object about 2 arcseconds from BF Ara. The position in the latest version of AC is 17h 38m 21s.376, $``$47 10 39′′.31 (J2000.0, epoch=1904.644 and magnitude $`b`$=13.11). In case it was really BF Ara in outburst, the deduced proper motion is $``$0′′.022 yr-1.

## 5 BF Ara as an SU UMa-type Dwarf Nova

Our observations have clearly established that BF Ara is indeed an SU UMa-type dwarf nova. This classification finally enables us to unambiguously determine the outburst types and supercycle length. Figure 7 shows a long-term light curve covering the interval 1997 June – 2002 October.

Table 4 lists the recorded outbursts of BF Ara. The table is an updated extension of the table in Kato et al. (2001), who only listed superoutburst candidates which had been recorded at that time. The durations generally correspond to the durations when the variable was brighter than 15.0 mag. The durations of single or a few solitary observations have been supplemented with an uncertainty mark (:). The durations of outbursts have a clear bimodal ($``$2 d or $``$7 d) distribution, which is very characteristic of an SU UMa-type star (Vogt, 1980; Warner, 1985). The type identification of the outbursts was primarily based on their durations.

Since the occurrence of superoutbursts is quite regular (Kato et al., 2001), we have made a reanalysis of the supercycle length based on the new material. A linear regression to the observed start times of supermaxima gives the following ephemeris:

$$\mathrm{JD}(\mathrm{maximum})=2450632.4+84.34E_O,$$
(2)
where $`E_O`$ denotes the number of supercycles since the first (JD 2450626.9) superoutburst. The refined mean supercycle length is 84.3(3) d. The $`OC`$’s against this equation are displayed in Figure 8. The $`|OC|`$’s are usually within 10 d. The small $`|OC|`$ values are almost comparable to those of ER UMa stars (Honeycutt et al., 1995; Robertson et al., 1995; Kato, 2001), although the short-term stability of the supercycle is not as marked as in ER UMa stars.

## 6 Relation to ER UMa Stars

In addition to short $`T_s`$, ER UMa stars have distinct outburst properties. They can be summarized as: (1) extremely short ($``$4 d) recurrence time of normal outbursts, (2) extremely large (0.30–0.45) duty cycles of superoutbursts (see folded figures in Robertson et al. 1995; Kato 2001) (3) low outburst amplitudes (2–3 mag). These properties are the natural consequences from the disk-instability model in high-$`\dot{M}`$ systems (Osaki, 1995a). These properties can thus be reasonably used to discriminate ER UMa stars from (a larger population of) SU UMa-type dwarf novae.

In the case of BF Ara, the shortest observed intervals (see Table 4) of normal outbursts was 6 d, although most of the shortest intervals are close to 10 d. These values more resemble those of usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae with the shortest recurrence times.444 The exact conclusion would await further dense, deep observations, since some of the faint, short, normal outbursts could have easily escaped from detection in the present study.  The durations of the well-observed superoutbursts were typically 11–17 d (Table 4). The detailed CCD observation of the 2002 August superoutburst (the duration being 13 d) is in agreement with these estimates. These values correspond to superoutburst duty cycles of 0.13–0.20, which are noticeably smaller than those of ER UMa stars.

Some properties of the superoutburst of BF Ara are also unlike those of ER UMa stars. The mean decline rate (0.10 mag d-1) of the superoutburst plateau (cf. section 3.1) is also close to those of usual SU UMa-type stars (Kato et al., 2002), rather than an extremely small value of $``$0.04 mag d-1 in ER UMa (Kato & Kunjaya, 1995). The evolution of superhumps (section 3.2) is also quite normal for a usual SU UMa-type dwarf nova with smoothly decaying amplitudes of superhumps, in contrast to ER UMa stars which show a rapid initial decay of the superhump amplitudes and a later regrowth (Kato et al., 1996).

These features indicate that BF Ara should be classified as a usual SU UMa-type dwarf nova rather than an ER UMa star. BF Ara is thus qualified as a usual SU UMa-type dwarf nova with the shortest measured $`T_s`$. Despite the past and present intensive studies of the most promising candidates of transitional objects, there still remains an unfilled gap of distributions between ER UMa stars and usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae.

## 7 On the Superhump Period Change

The periods of “textbook” superhumps in usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae are known to decrease at a rather common rate of $`\dot{P}/P5\times 10^5`$ during superoutbursts (e.g. Warner 1985; Patterson et al. 1993; for a recent progress, see Kato et al. 2002). This decrease of the superhump periods has usually been attributed to a decrease in the angular velocity of precession of an eccentric disk, which is caused by a decrease in the disk radius during superoutbursts (Osaki, 1985).

In recent years, however, several systems have been found to show zero to positive (increase of the periods) period derivatives. The best-established examples include WZ Sge-type dwarf novae (SU UMa-type dwarf novae with very infrequent (super)outbursts, see e.g. Bailey 1979; Downes & Margon 1981; Patterson et al. 1981; O’Donoghue et al. 1991; Kato et al. 2001) and related large-amplitude systems (V1028 Cyg: Baba et al. 2000; SW UMa: Semeniuk et al. 1997; Nogami et al. 1998; WX Cet: Kato et al. 2001). Since all of these objects have short orbital periods, small $`q`$, and small $`\dot{M}`$, there has been a suggestion that either $`q`$ or low $`\dot{M}`$ is responsible for the period increase (Kato et al., 2001). The most recent discoveries of long-period (thus likely large $`q`$), and likely low-$`\dot{M}`$ SU UMa-type dwarf novae (V725 Aql: Uemura et al. 2001; EF Peg: K. Matsumoto et al, in preparation, see also Kato 2002), having zero or marginally positive $`P_{\mathrm{dot}}`$, have more preferred the interpretation requiring a low $`\dot{M}`$.

The present discovery of a virtually zero $`\dot{P}`$ in a long-period ($`P_{\mathrm{SH}}`$ = 0.08797(1) d), otherwise relatively normal, system is therefore surprising. This discovery has not only strengthened the previously neglected diversity of $`P_{\mathrm{dot}}`$ in long-period SU UMa-type systems claimed in Kato et al. (2002), but also provides a new clue to understand the physics of superhump period changes.

Since BF Ara has short outburst recurrence times (both superoutbursts and normal outbursts), $`\dot{M}`$ is expected to high (Ichikawa & Osaki, 1994). By using typical supercycles of BF Ara (84.3 d) and V725 Aql ($``$900 d), the expected $`\dot{M}`$ in BF Ara is $``$10 times larger than that in V725 Aql (Ichikawa & Osaki, 1994). The occurrence of nearly zero $`P_{\mathrm{dot}}`$ systems in a wide region of $`\dot{M}`$ implies that the interpretation requiring a low $`\dot{M}`$ would be no longer valid, or a different mechanism is responsible for BF Ara. Murray (2000); Montgomery (2001) recently suggested that the (prograde) apsidal motion of the eccentric disk can be reduced by introducing pressure forces. A high $`\dot{M}`$ in BF Ara may have modified the usual time-evolution of superhump period through this pressure effect. If this is the case, we can expect a more prominent effect in ER UMa stars, although a limited $`P_{\mathrm{dot}}`$ measurement (Patterson et al., 1995) failed to allow us a definitive conclusion. Further observations of $`P_{\mathrm{dot}}`$ in more systems with a wide range of parameters are definitely needed.

## Acknowledgments

This work is partly supported by a grant-in-aid \[13640239 (TK), 14740131 (HY)\] from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The CCD operation of the Bronberg Observatory is partly sponsored by the Center for Backyard Astrophysics. The CCD operation by Peter Nelson is on loan from the AAVSO, funded by the Curry Foundation. This research has made use of the Digitized Sky Survey producted by STScI, the ESO Skycat tool, the VizieR catalogue access tool.