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# Large-Scale Structure & Future Surveys

## 1. Introduction

The study of perturbations in the universe plays a central role in modern cosmology. Not only do these perturbations create the opportunity for objects like galaxies and clusters to form, but they also record a history of the early phases of the universe. By studying the detailed statistics of the perturbations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) or on the galaxy distribution, we can learn about the time scales and matter content of the universe and perhaps even about very early physics, such as the nature of inflation.

Over thirty years of galaxy surveys have produced an ever-improving map of the density structure of the universe. With the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al. 2000) and 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS; Colless et al. 2001), we will have over a million galaxy redshifts tracing the density in the local universe. These surveys will measure the clustering of galaxies on huge scales and will allow detailed comparison of the clustering properties of different subclasses of galaxies on intermediate and small scales. Current surveys at higher redshift, for example, the CNOC II (Yee et al. 2000), DEEP (http://deep.ucolick.org/), and VIRMOS (http://www.astrsp-mrs.fr/virmos/vvds.htm) surveys, plan to acquire around 100,000 redshifts of galaxies from much earlier epochs. This will allow us to measure the evolution of galaxy properties, including their clustering, over cosmic time.

Large redshift surveys have been among the heaviest users of our wide-field multi-object spectroscopic capabilities. As the current generation of surveys moves towards completion, it is very timely (indeed, past due) to begin planning for the next. There are several different options, not all of which involve large amounts of spectroscopy. In my contribution, I discuss some of the options and offer a sketch of one possibility, a large redshift survey at $`z3`$.

## 2. What can we learn from large-scale structure?

In planning for the future, we must begin with what we hope to learn from surveys of large-scale structure. This discussion breaks into two sets of topics. First, large-scale structure depends upon, and therefore can inform, fundamental cosmology. The current state of perturbations in the universe is a product of both the initial seeding of the fluctuations and their evolution throughout cosmic history. These two ingredients are usually separable, especially when combined with CMB anisotropy measurements. The spatial dependences of clustering statistics can measure the abundances and properties of cosmic matter, e.g., the baryon fraction, neutrino mass, and the coldness of the dark matter, as well as the spectrum of the initial fluctuations, e.g., the spectral tilt or perhaps any intrinsic scales. The time evolution of clustering statistics further depends on cosmological parameters, e.g. the matter density of the universe or the properties of dark energy. Large-scale structure can also be sensitive to non-Gaussianity in the initial seeding of perturbations. Finally, measurements of peculiar velocities and redshift distortions test the role of gravity in driving the evolution of the cosmic perturbations.

Second, with regard to galaxy surveys, one is probing the properties of galaxy clustering bias. While this is often seen as a nuisance in the context of large-scale structure, measurements of clustering bias are an opportunity to place constraints on the theory of galaxy formation. With large surveys, we are moving beyond the idea of bias as a single number to investigate the dependences of bias on spatial scale, time, and intrinsic properties of the galaxies. These dependences should encode the relation of galaxies both to mass and to other galaxies. Clustering bias should be a precision test of galaxy formation theory. However, it is not clear that current theory can utilize the precision of even the current generations of surveys, and so I will focus my discussion strictly on cosmological inferences from large-scale structure.

It is important to recognize the value of the “linear regime”, i.e. the smallness of fluctuations on large scales. In the theory of gravitational instability, small fluctuations evolve in simple ways, namely that the evolution of each Fourier mode depends on its wavelength and on the homogeneous properties of the universe but remains independent from all other perturbative modes. This means that linear-regime perturbations retain full memory of their history. Perturbations on smaller scales, in which the rms fractional density fluctuation is order unity or larger, grow in a non-linear fashion in which all modes become coupled to one another. This erases many imprints of the early universe (e.g., Meiksin et al. 1999). Hence, searches for preferred scales or subtle non-Gaussian signatures in the early universe are generally only possible on large, linear scales.

Some of the cosmological signatures available in linear-regime clustering include:

* Features in the initial power spectrum. The initial spectrum is usually assumed to be a power-law in wavenumber, as is common in inflationary models. However, there are models that predict more complicated spectra, and there has been persistent albeit controversial observational evidence for a peak in the power spectrum on scales of $`120h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ (e.g., Broadhurst et al. 1990).
* Baryon acoustic oscillations. Prior to $`z1000`$, the coupling of the photons and electrons in the ionized universe causes perturbations to act as sound waves (Peebles & Yu 1970). The rapid loss of pressure support at recombination captures a snapshot of these oscillations. The result is harmonic signatures in the CMB and matter power spectra. The effect is smaller in the matter spectrum because the baryons are subdominant to the cold dark matter, which does not participate in the acoustic motion.
* Neutrino masses. Massive neutrinos suppress clustering on small scales relative to large scales because they move too quickly to be trapped in small fluctuations (Bond & Szalay 1983).
* Initial non-Gaussianity. Most inflation models produce Gaussian initial conditions for the density perturbations, but there are exceptions. If primordial non-Gaussianity exists, then the linear regime carries even more information and would be an important new window onto the process that initiates structure formation.

Fortunately, clustering bias may also be simple in the linear regime. Models in which galaxy formation is a local (i.e., sub-Mpc) process predict a scale-independent bias on large scales (Coles 1993). This is especially secure when seeking preferred scales, e.g. the baryon acoustic oscillations, as it is implausible that galaxy formation would involve action on such enormous and specific scales.

In the present-day universe, the linear regime conservatively would be defined as wavelengths above $`60h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ or wavenumbers $`k<k_{NL}=0.1h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. Sharp spatial features, such as the baryon acoustic oscillations, are erased on smaller scales (Meiksin et al. 1999). At higher redshift, clustering is less advanced and so the linear regime extends to smaller comoving scales. However, because $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m0.3`$, the non-linear scale recedes only slowly at low redshifts. At $`z1`$, the non-linear scale is at best a factor of two smaller ($`k_{NL}=0.18h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$). At redshifts above 1, the non-linear scale begins to recede quickly, both because of the faster evolution and because of the shape of the CDM power spectrum on small scales. At $`z3`$, the non-linear scale is roughly 5 times smaller than present ($`k_{NL}=0.5h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$).

## 3. Surveys in Cosmological Context

Measuring clustering in the linear regime requires enormous survey volumes with moderate, but not superb, sampling densities. The 2dFGRS survey will provide about a survey volume of about $`0.1h^3\mathrm{Gpc}^3`$. The SDSS main galaxy survey is currently of similar size and will eventually triple this volume. The SDSS luminous, red galaxy (LRG; Eisenstein et al. 2001) sample will probe a yet larger volume, about $`1h^3\mathrm{Gpc}^3`$.

Current surveys at $`z1`$ probe considerably less volume than this, which means that they do not compete well in measuring linear regime clustering. These surveys are of course wonderful for studying galaxy evolution, including the change in clustering on intermediate scales. Surveys of quasars have too small a number density to sample the density field properly.

It is worth noting that increasing the volume of a “local” sample by a factor of 10 over SDSS LRG would require a $`\pi `$ steradian survey to $`z=1`$ with at least a million galaxies. Volume alone drives us to high redshift!

Weak lensing surveys are quickly maturing (see Wittman 2002 for a review). This method carries great promise because it avoids the problems of galaxy bias. The ability to measure mass fluctuations directly will be a great advance on both linear and non-linear scales. In particular, weak lensing studies will measure the amplitude, tilt, and smoothed shape of the matter power spectrum to excellent precision (e.g., Hu & Tegmark 1999). Note that this applies to both $`z<1`$ clustering, using galaxies as the sources, and $`z3`$ clustering, using the CMB as the source, although the latter is limited to $`k<0.2h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$ even for optimistic future experiments (Hu 2001, Hu & Okamoto 2002). It will be difficult for galaxy clustering surveys to compete on these topics, because the amplitudes and broad tilts are exactly the items with which clustering bias interferes.

Nevertheless, weak lensing in cosmological contexts does have some weaknesses. In particular, because sources are lensed by all mass along the line of sight, weak lensing suffers heavily from projection effects. This is crippling for the study of sharp features in the power spectrum and initial non-Gaussianity. Separating the lensing signal by source redshift provides a small amount of resolution along the line of sight but not enough for these topics (Hu 1999).

The primary anisotropies of the CMB (those produced at $`z1000`$) are also the product of the linear regime. The Planck mission (http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Planck/) should be able to measure the primary signal to $`\mathrm{}2500`$, which is $`k0.25h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. Converting the available precision to the requirements on a galaxy redshift survey produces an equivalent survey volume of $`20h^3\mathrm{Gpc}^3`$! This is of course superb. However, on smaller scales, the primary anisotropies of the CMB will be very difficult to measure.

## 4. Surveys at $`z=3`$

I have argued that linear-regime clustering is a path to fundamental cosmology. How do we improve the coverage described in the last section? The scale of survey required to improve the current situation at $`k<0.1h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$, much less to compete with the CMB, suggests that we consider how to access the linear regime at $`k>0.2h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. For this, we must work at higher redshift, and the next convenient window for optical spectroscopy is $`z3`$ using the Lyman break selection technique (Steidel et al. 1996). Let us therefore consider a large survey at $`z3`$.

As a primary purpose of such a survey is to search for preferred scales, i.e., sharp features in the power spectrum, it would be best to design a survey that can certainly detect the one such feature that we strongly expect to exist, namely the baryon acoustic oscillations. The first oscillation appears at $`k<0.1h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$ and should be accessible in current low-redshift surveys (Percival et al. 2001 claims a 2-$`\sigma `$ hint of the oscillations). The second oscillation is still available at $`z<1`$, but the current mid-redshift surveys are probably too small for the expected amplitude. A survey at $`z=3`$ could recover the entire sequence, limited only by the sharply declining amplitude of the higher harmonics.

Detecting the third and fourth acoustic peaks111As a matter of nomenclature, one should note that the peaks in the matter power spectrum appear half as often as the peaks in the CMB power spectrum. Hence, the fourth peak in the matter power spectrum is (roughly) the seventh peak in the CMB power spectrum. would require a survey at $`z3`$ of roughly $`0.5h^3\mathrm{Gpc}^3`$ at the optimal number density of tracers. The latter is set by the inverse of the power spectrum on the desired scale (Kaiser 1986). For Lyman break galaxies, which are known to have $`\sigma _81`$ (Steidel et al. 1998), the desired sampling is roughly $`0.001h^3\mathrm{Mpc}^3`$, which is (coincidentally and fortunately) roughly the available number of targets accessible to few-hour exposure times on 8-meter class telescopes. The total number of galaxies in the survey would be half a million, and they would be distributed over about 150 square degrees with a sampling a 1 galaxy per square arcminute.

The statistical precision on the power spectrum available to such a survey is shown in Figure 1, following the approximations of Tegmark (1997). The survey would yield 1% measurements of bandpowers narrow enough to sample the acoustic peaks. It would detect 3 or 4 of the peaks, depending on cosmology, with a marginal detection of one additional peak in each case.

What value does the detection of acoustic peaks have, given that we (likely) have detected them in the CMB power spectrum? The key idea is that the scale of these oscillations defines a standard ruler. At low redshift, this allows us to split the angular diameter distance degeneracy of the CMB, thereby measuring the Hubble constant (Eisenstein et al. 1999). At higher redshift, we actually get to measure this distance twice, once along the line of sight and once transverse to the line of sight. This cosmological distortion is familiar to those using the Alcock-Paczynski (1979) test, but here we need not rely on the ratio of the distances, as the distance itself is known from the shape of the acoustic peaks in the CMB. Hence, one is able to constrain both the angular diameter distance to $`z=3`$ and the Hubble constant at $`z=3`$. Clearly, this will put leverage on dark energy. In the limit that the dark energy is a cosmological constant, then the Hubble constant at $`z=3`$ is very nearly $`\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_mH_0^2}(1+z)^3`$. This measurement of $`\mathrm{\Omega }H_0^2`$ would allow a consistency check with the CMB, the failure of which could be resolved by permitting extra relativistic species at $`z10^4`$.

The exact value of such a measurement in the context of joint parameter estimation with CMB, supernovae distance-redshift relations, weak lensing experiments, and other probes of classical cosmology remains to be calculated.

Lest one become too focused on baryon oscillations, it should be stressed that the fine structure of the linear regime on the scales $`0.25h\mathrm{Mpc}^1<k<0.5h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$ is terra incognita to any current or planned survey, yet this is exactly the regime that controls the formation of large galaxies. The level of precision indicated in Figure 1 would open a new discovery space for effects in the initial power spectrum and its subsequent evolution.

## 5. Why spectroscopy?

An alternative to a large redshift survey at $`z=3`$ would be an even larger imaging survey using photometric redshifts to create the angular correlations of Lyman-break galaxies222To be clear, the photometric redshifts are not of sufficient precision to create an effectively 3-dimensional survey; rather one is simply creating a thinner slab of space within which to do 2-dimensional analyses.. A proposal similar to this, but at lower redshift, has been made by Cooray et al. 2001. Such a survey would access the linear regime in a similar fashion to the discussion in the previous section.

It is worth noting some of the disadvantages of this approach. First, the imaging survey would have to be considerably larger to match the precision, several thousand square degrees instead of 150. Second, the projection would significantly reduce leverage on non-Gaussianity and slightly reduce sensitivity to narrow features, such as the higher acoustic oscillations. Third, one loses the ability to measure the line-of-sight distance of the acoustic peak and other Alcock-Paczynski effects. Finally, such a survey offers less control over systematic errors. All the modes in a single-band imaging survey would be strictly angular, meaning that they are degenerate with angular errors in the map (e.g., photometry offsets). A spectroscopic survey can remove such errors by using modes that are mixed between radial and tangential directions (Tegmark et al. 1998). With photometric redshifts, an imaging survey does have some redundancy, namely that different slabs should be uncorrelated, but this is partially compromised by the scatter in photometric redshifts and by the need to control systematic errors in multiple bands of imaging. Given that we seek precision measurements, the redundancy of the spectroscopic survey is a notable advantage.

## 6. Conclusions

I have described some of the landscape in the design of the next generation of large-scale structure surveys. The linear regime remains a very powerful window into cosmic history. Recognizing this value, the most persuasive extension beyond current surveys is to seek smaller scales rather than additional precision on large scales. This can be done only by observing the universe at higher redshift. $`z3`$ is the next plausible window. A large survey of around half a million $`z3`$ galaxies over 150 square degrees would probe the linear-regime power spectrum to scales twice as small as the CMB primary anisotropies with percent level precision. This is sufficient to detect four acoustic oscillations, which in turn can be used to measure the Hubble constant and angular diameter distance to $`z=3`$. We must quantify in detail how such a survey would compare to and complement other possible cosmological measurements.

A survey of this size and scope is challenging but not impossible. It is probably too large for current wide-field spectrographs, but one can certainly imagine next-generation instruments that could perform the observations in reasonable time. If the science case can be shown to be quantitatively compelling, then such a survey would be a feasible next step in cosmology.

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# Temperature-induced pair correlations in clusters and nuclei

## Abstract

The pair correlations in mesoscopic systems such as $`nm`$-size superconducting clusters and nuclei are studied at finite temperature for the canonical ensemble of fermions in model spaces with a fixed particle number: i) a degenerate spherical shell (strong coupling limit), ii) an equidistantly spaced deformed shell (weak coupling limit). It is shown that after the destruction of the pair correlations at $`T=0`$ by a strong magnetic field or rapid rotation, heating can bring them back. This phenomenon is a consequence of the fixed number of fermions in the canonical ensemble.

The pair correlations in a macroscopic superconductor are destroyed by increasing the temperature or the external magnetic field. The critical field which marks the boundary between the superconducting and normal phases, is a decreasing function of the temperature $`T`$. The BCS theory, which is the mean field approximation based on the grand canonical ensemble, describes very accurately this regime. Applying the grand canonical mean field approach to rotating nuclei egido , where the angular velocity plays the role of the magnetic field, gives an analogous result: The angular velocity where the pair correlations disappear decreases with the temperature. Nuclei and atomic nano-size clusters are composed of a small and fixed number of particles, the single-particle spectrum is discrete and the level spacing is comparable with the pair gap. Due to these facts, the fluctuations of the order parameter become important, which smear out the transition from superconducting to normal phase egido ; perenboom ; delftralph ; moretto ; shim  and lead to pronounced differences between a system with even and odd particle number balian .

In order to properly take into account these fluctuations one has to use the canonical ensemble. The most direct way is to calculate the partition function from the exact eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian, which is possible for some models. In this Letter we study the simple model of fermions occupying an isolated shell of single particle states and interacting by a pairing force. We shall demonstrate that at zero temperature the magnetic field or the angular velocity attenuate the paring in a step-wise manner until it disappears completely above a critical value. For a mesoscopic system in the strong magnetic field heating may bring back the pair correlations. This surprising effect is a consequence of the fixed number of fermions in such a small system. The reduction of the fluctuations in particle number leads to a strong increase of the fluctuations of the order parameter, which constitute the pair correlations above the critical field. A re-entrance of pair correlations has first been discussed by Balian, Flocard and Veneroni balian , who studied ensembles with either only even numbers of particles or only odd numbers of particles. We shall demonstrate that the more stringent restriction to a fixed number of particles, which is realized in small systems, leads to qualitatively different results.

First we consider fermions in a spherical potential. Then the electronic states in the cluster (the spin-orbit coupling can be neglected) are characterized by $`l`$, the orbital momentum of the shell, its $`z`$-projection $`\lambda `$ and spin projection $`\sigma `$, which we label by $`k=\{\lambda ,\sigma \}`$. The condition, $`k>0`$, used below in Eq. (1), means that $`\lambda +\sigma >0`$. Due to the strong spin-orbit splitting in nuclei the nucleonic states in a shell are specified by the total angular momentum $`j`$, ($`\stackrel{}{j}=\stackrel{}{l}+\stackrel{}{s}`$), and its projection $`mk`$. We assume that there are only pair correlations within the last partially filled shell. The corresponding ”single-shell” Hamiltonian

$`H=H_{\mathrm{pair}}\omega M,M=L_z+gS_z,`$ (1)
$`H_{\mathrm{pair}}=GA^+A,A^+={\displaystyle \underset{k>0}{}}a_k^+a_{\overline{k}}^+,`$
consists of the pairing interaction $`H_{\mathrm{pair}}`$, which acts between the valence fermions in the last shell with the strength $`G`$, and the “cranking term”. The $`z`$-components of the total orbital angular momentum and spin, which are the sums of all valence fermion contributions, are denoted by $`L_z`$ and $`S_z`$. The operator $`A^+`$ creates a fermion pair in the time-reversal states $`(k,\overline{k})`$. In the case of clusters, the cranking term represents the interaction of the electrons with the magnetic-field, where we introduce the Larmour frequency $`\omega =\mu _BB`$ and the Bohr magneton $`\mu _B`$. The gyromagnetic ratio $`g=2`$. In the case of nuclei, the cranking term takes into account the rotational perturbations at the angular frequency $`\omega `$ and $`g=1`$.

The eigenvalues of $`H_{\mathrm{pair}}(\omega =0)`$ are esebag

$$E_\nu =\frac{G}{4}(N_{\mathrm{sh}}\nu )(\mathrm{\Omega }+2N_{\mathrm{sh}}\nu ).$$
(2)
were $`N_{\mathrm{sh}}`$ is the number of particles in the shell, which consists of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ degenerated single-particle states and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=4l+2`$ for clusters and $`2j+1`$ for nuclei. The seniority $`\nu `$, which is the number of unpaired particles, is constrained by $`0\nu N_{\mathrm{sh}}`$. We assume that $`\nu \mathrm{\Omega }/2`$, otherwise one can pass to the hole representation. Each $`\nu `$-state at $`\nu 1`$ is degenerated. The eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian (1) are

$$E_{\nu ,i}(\omega )=E_\nu \omega M_{\nu ,i}.$$
(3)
The index $`i`$ involves additional quantum numbers of the $`\nu `$-state including the spin and possible orbital momenta and their $`z`$-projections for clusters or the total angular momentum of $`\nu `$ nucleons and its projection for nuclei. In the case of clusters, $`\mu _BM_{\nu ,i}`$ is the total magnetic moment of $`\nu `$ particles while in nuclei $`M_{\nu ,i}`$ is the angular momentum $`z`$ projection of $`\nu `$ nucleons. For simplicity, we refer to $`M`$ as the angular momentum and omit the index $`i`$ for the states with minimal energy at each $`\nu `$, which have maximal $`M_\nu `$.

The canonical partition function $`Z`$ and the mean value $`\overline{M}`$ are given by

$`Z(T,\omega )={\displaystyle \underset{\nu ,i}{}}\mathrm{exp}({\displaystyle \frac{E_{\nu ,i}(\omega )}{T}}),`$ (4)
$`\overline{M}(T,\omega )={\displaystyle \frac{T}{Z}}{\displaystyle \frac{Z}{\omega }}.`$ (5)
The evaluation uses the fact that for each $`\nu `$ the sum over $`i`$ can be reduced to a sum over single-particle projections. For nuclei, the numerical diagonalization procedure described in Ref. sheikh  is used, which permits us also to treat a non-degenerate shell (see below). We consider only the part of $`\overline{M}`$ which is generated by the particles near the Fermi surface that participate in the pair correlation. The contributions for the other particles can be found in ref. kuzmenko2  and will be discussed together with the details of the evaluation of the sums for clusters in an forthcoming extended paper kuzmenko1 .

We introduce the “canonical” pair gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ as a measure of the correlation energy

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}^2(T,\omega )={\displaystyle \frac{G}{Z(G)}}{\displaystyle \underset{\nu ,i}{}}\nu ,i|A^+A|\nu ,i\mathrm{exp}({\displaystyle \frac{E_{\nu ,i}(G)}{T}})`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{G}{Z(G=0)}}{\displaystyle \underset{\nu ,i}{}}\nu ,i,0|A^+A|\nu ,i,0\mathrm{exp}({\displaystyle \frac{E_{\nu ,i}(G=0)}{T}}),`$ (6)
where $`|\nu ,i,0`$ denote the uncorrelated fermion configurations in the shell. The second term subtracts the expectation value of the pairing interaction in an ensemble of uncorrelated fermions. A detailed discussion of the proper definition of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ was given in the review delftralph . Applying the mean-field approximation and the grand canonical ensemble to our model, the thus introduced $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ becomes the familiar BCS gap parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}`$. However, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ must be clearly distinguished from $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}`$ because it incorporates the correlations caused by the fluctuations of the order parameter.

We take as energy scale $`E(0)=G\mathrm{\Omega }/4`$, the quasiparticle energy at $`T=\omega =0`$. A value of $`E(0)=0.30.4meV`$ was found for Al-clusters with radii $`R=510nm`$ ralph , which sets the energy scale. The nuclear mass measurements give $`E(0)=0.81.5MeV`$.

Let us first consider the destruction of the pair correlations at $`T=0`$. Since $`M_\nu `$ increases with $`\nu `$, the energy $`E_\nu (\omega )`$ becomes smaller than $`E_{\nu 2}(\omega )`$ at the frequency

$$\omega _\nu (M_\nu M_{\nu 2})=E_\nu E_{\nu 2}.$$
(7)
When the state of the lowest energy changes from $`\nu 2`$ to $`\nu `$, two more electron states are blocked and the pair correlations are reduced. The last step at the critical frequency $`\omega _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ leads to the maximal seniority $`\nu _{\mathrm{max}}`$, where all particle states are blocked and the pairing is completely destroyed. Fig. 1 illustrates the step-wise destruction of pairing by blocking for a half-filled $`l=5`$ shell, which is the Fermi level in a spherical Al-cluster with about $`10^3`$ atoms.

Fig. 1 also shows the gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}(\omega ,T)`$ obtained by applying the mean-field approximation (cf. esebag ; kuzmenko2 ) to the single-shell model. For $`T=0`$, the pair correlations are more rapidly destroyed than for the exact solution. The quantal fluctuations of the order parameter generate additional pair correlations. For finite $`T`$, the mean-field gap behaves as known from macroscopic superconductors: $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}(\omega ,T)`$ is reduced at $`T=0.4E(0)`$ and reaches $`0`$ at a lower value of $`\omega `$. This is the familiar shift of the critical frequency $`\omega _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ toward smaller values with increasing $`T`$. However, the canonical gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}(\omega ,T)`$ behaves differently: The abrupt drop around $`\omega _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ is smoothed out by the fluctuations of the order parameter. Moreover substantial pair correlations appear in the region above $`\omega _{\mathrm{crit}}`$, which increase with $`T`$. The comparison with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}(\omega ,T)`$ shows that the fluctuations contribute more at finite $`T`$ than at $`T=0`$. For $`T=E(0)`$, the pair correlations fall off very gradually with $`\omega `$. The nuclear case is quite similar.

Fig. 2 shows how these temperature-induced pair correlations appear with increasing $`T`$. For $`\omega =0`$, there is a pronounced drop of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ around $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}(\omega =0)=E(0)/2`$, where the mean-field gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}`$ goes to zero. Above this temperature there is a long tail of pair correlations caused by the fluctuations. For $`\omega =0.05E(0)`$, the drop is shifted to smaller $`T`$ by about the same amount as the $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ of the mean-field solution (not shown). This trend continues for $`\omega =0.1E(0)`$. For larger $`\omega \omega _{\mathrm{crit}}`$, the pair-correlations built up with increasing $`T`$.

The temperature-induced pairing can be understood in the following way. At $`T=0`$, all electrons are unpaired when the state of the maximum seniority becomes the ground state for $`\omega >\omega _{\mathrm{crit}}`$. At $`T>0`$, excited states with lower seniorities enter the canonical ensemble, which reintroduce the pair correlations.

The degenerate spherical shell corresponds to the strong coupling limit ($`\mathrm{\Delta }/d1`$, $`d`$ distance between the levels) of ref. balian . For $`\omega =0`$, one may compare $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ of the present work with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_F`$ obtained for the ensemble with good particle number parity in ref. balian , which we will refer to as BVF in what follows. For $`T<0.5T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, both are similar. However for $`T>T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_F=0`$ whereas $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ remains finite up much higher temperatures. The case $`\omega 0`$ is not shown in ref. balian  for the strong coupling limit.

In order to investigate the consequence of deviations from the spherical symmetry, we used the deformed shell-model described in sheikh . The Hamiltonian is given by

$$H=\underset{k}{}e_ka_k^+a_k+H_{\mathrm{pair}}\omega M.$$
(8)
The solutions are found by numerical diagonalization in the configuration space of a $`j`$-shell.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the case of a cluster without spherical symmetry. The half- filled shell consists of 12 equidistant levels, each of which contains two states with spin up and down. Our choice of the level distance $`d=0.85E(0)`$ corresponds to weak coupling $`\mathrm{\Delta }d`$ and is realistic for the nano-clusters. We assume an irregular cluster shape. As a consequence, the orbital momentum is quenched and only the spins contribute to the magnetic moment $`\mu _BM`$. The behavior of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ and $`\overline{M}(T,\omega )`$ is similar to the spherical case. The step-wise destruction of the pair correlations corresponds to subsequent spin flips of electrons, which increase $`M`$ by 2. The temperature-induced pairing appears in the region above $`\omega 2d`$. The spin flips have been observed in tunneling experiments on $`Al`$ nano-clusters delftralph . The mean-field gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{mf}}(T=0)`$ breaks down at the first flip, as discussed by Braun et al. braun  in their analysis of the tunneling spectra based on the mean-field approximation. However, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}(T=0)`$ is more stable and disappears only after all levels are blocked by subsequent spin flips.

Fig. 5 demonstrates that the temperature dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ is qualitatively similar to the strong coupling case in Fig. 2. A new feature is that sometimes $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}^{\mathrm{odd}}>\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}^{\mathrm{even}}`$. For the curves $`\omega =2d`$ in Fig. 5, this happens because the frequency is above the first crossing in the even system (cf. Fig. 3) but still below the first crossing in the odd system, which means two states are blocked in the even but only one in the odd system. For $`\omega =4d`$ the analogous happens at the third crossing. In the region of high temperatures ($`T>2T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$) the canonical pairing gaps for odd and even systems practically coincide because all members of $`Z`$ contribute with a similar weight. At small $`T`$ they differ because only the states with small seniorities are important.

Our choice of parameters lies between to the weak coupling cases $`\mathrm{\Delta }/d=1.14`$ and 1.19 of the grand canonical ensembles with even or odd particle number studied by BVF ($`\mathrm{\Delta }/d=w_F\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in balian ). As in the case of strong coupling, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ decreases very gradually for $`T>T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, whereas $`\mathrm{\Delta }_F`$ of BVF drops sharply to zero at $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$. However, also in the region $`T<T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ the results of the two approaches are different. The differences between the even and odd systems are much less pronounced in the canonical ensemble. For $`\omega =0`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }/d=1.14`$, and odd particle number, BVF find $`\mathrm{\Delta }_F=0`$ for $`T<0.2T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_F0`$ for $`0.2T_{\mathrm{crit}}<T<T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_F=0`$ for $`T>T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, which they called the re-entrance phenomenon of pairing. As seen in Fig. 5, the strong fluctuations in the canonical ensemble keep $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}`$ finite in the whole temperature interval, i. e. there is no re-entrance of pairing for $`\omega =0`$ and odd particle number. On the other hand, the canonical ensemble gives temperature-induced pair correlations for $`\omega >2d`$ both for even and odd particle number, which has not been found for grand-canonical ensembles with fixed the particle number parity. It should be mentioned that BVF considered a systems with $`N=100,101`$ whereas we studied systems with $`N10`$, for which the conservation of particle number is more important.

We have also studied the case of a half-filled $`j=11/2`$ shell in a deformed axial nucleus by assuming that $`e_k`$ in Eq. (8) is proportional to $`k^2`$. We chose the distance $`e_{7/2}e_{5/2}=0.28E(0)`$, which is realistic. If the axis of rotation is parallel to the symmetry axis, the behavior is similar to the deformed clusters, except the steps in $`M`$ are different from 2. If the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the symmetry axis, the projection $`M`$ of the angular momentum is no longer conserved. Then $`\overline{M}(T=0,\omega )`$ is no longer a step function and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}(\omega ,T=0)`$ decreases in a gradual manner. The increase of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{can}}(\omega ,T)`$ with $`T`$ is found to be weak. Hence, temperature-induced pairing is expected in nuclei that build up large angular-momentum by aligning the individual angular-momenta of the nucleons near the Fermi surface. These are either spherical nuclei (see Figs. 1,2) or the high-K isomers (see e.g. highk ).

In summary, at very low temperature an increasing external magnetic field causes the magnetic moment of small superconducting clusters ($`R<5`$ $`nm`$) to grow in a step-wise manner. Each step reduces the pair correlations until they are destroyed. However, with increasing temperature the steps are washed out and substantial pair correlations re-appear for high field strengths, where they are quenched at $`T=0`$. Nuclei that built up angular momentum along a symmetry axis behave in an analogous manner. The pair correlations are destroyed in a step-wise manner by subsequent alignment of the angular momenta of individual nucleonic orbitals with the symmetry axis. These steps are washed out with increasing temperature and pair correlations appear at values of the rotational frequency, where they are quenched at $`T=0`$. This phenomenon of temperature-induced pairing reflects the strong fluctuations of the order parameter in very small systems with a fixed particle number.

Supported by the grants INTAS-93-151-EXT and DE-FG02-95ER40934.


text:
# Stroboscopic optical observations of the Crab pulsar

## 1. Introduction

Among all known pulsars, the Crab pulsar is the brightest in all the spectral regions and, therefore, by far the most thoroughly investigated. It is $`1000`$ year old, with the rotation period of $`33`$ms. In optical it is a 16.5 magnitude star and its pulsations were detected more than 30 years ago (Cocke et al. 1969). We observed the Crab pulsar optically in stroboscopic mode for more than eight years. We detected a faint peak in Fourier spectra of the pulsar’s light curve at frequency $`1/60`$Hz and suggested that it may be the signature of free precession of the pulsar. Another statistical analysis applied on the extensive data set confirms the presence of a periodic signal with the period of 60 seconds.

## 2. Stroboscopic observations of the Crab pulsar

Our stroboscopic system is based on a shutter that opens with the prescribed frequency and phase. The light signal is thus observed periodically only during one part of the period. We have applied this technique in performing highly accurate phase resolved optical photometry of the Crab pulsar.

The phase light curve of the Crab pulsar is well known (see Figure 1) and the arrival times of the pulses can be precisely calculated. The shutter is a rotating wheel with the width of the out-cuts corresponding to the width of the Crab pulsar’s main pulse. While observing, we lock our stroboscopic shutter in phase to the main peak, so that the CCD detector receives all light from the main pulse, but the bright emission from the surrounding nebula is reduced by a factor of 10, which substantially lowers the noise in the pulsar’s signal. In the stroboscopic mode we take several hundred consecutive images with exposure times of some seconds and thus obtain, at each observing run, the pulsar’s light curve $`m_k(t_l)`$, where $`t_l`$ are consecutive starting times of exposures in the k-th observing run.

A faint 60 second periodic modulation of the Crab pulsar light curve was identified already seven years ago (Čadež & Galičič 1996) and a simple free precession model was proposed to explain the observed phenomenon (Čadež et al. 1997). We have continued to monitor the pulsar and up to the year 2001 a set of 3400 images has been built. It covers more than 20 hours of photometry data (exposure times of the images are between 4 and 15 seconds and sampling rates are between $`4.0`$ and $`26.7`$ seconds) taken with four different telescopes (the Hubble Space Telescope, the $`1.22`$m and $`1.82`$m telescopes of the Asiago Observatory and the $`2.12`$ telescope of the Guillermo Haro Observatory). Data are spanning a period of almost nine years (Čadež et al. 2001).

## 3. Data analysis and results

The following Fourier analysis on our data is applied to confirm for the observed 60 second modulation. For each obtained light curve $`m_k(t_l)`$ we calculate its Fourier transform

$$F_k(\omega )=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi (t_{l_{max}}t_{l_{min}})}}\underset{l}{}m_k(t_l)e^{i\omega t_l}\frac{t_{l+1}t_{l1}}{2}$$
(1)
in order to test if all Fourier transforms contain a common signal at a given frequency. However, since the rotation frequency $`\omega _{rot}`$ of the pulsar is slowly decreasing one should expect that the free precession frequency $`\omega _{fp}`$ should also be decreasing. Therefore we have to allow for the recalibration of frequency scale to a common date in order to take this effect into account. The theoretical prediction (Čadež et al. 1997) is that $`\omega _{fp}`$ can change as $`\omega _{rot}^p`$, where p can go from 1 to 3. Thus we rescale all the Fourier transforms to the same date (Jan. 1, 1996) as

$$\stackrel{~}{F}_k(\omega )=F_k\left(\omega \left(\frac{\omega _{rot}^{}}{\omega _{rot}}\right)^p\right),$$
(2)
where $`\omega _{rot}^{}`$ is the pulsar’s rotation frequency at the reference date and $`\omega _{rot}`$ is the pulsar’s rotation frequency at the time of observations. For the value of $`p`$ we take 1 (Čadež et al. 2001).

With $`\stackrel{~}{F}_k(\omega )`$ we construct a matrix that has for its components cross-correlation functions between pairs of Fourier transforms

$$M_{jk}(\omega )=\stackrel{~}{F}_j(\omega )\stackrel{~}{F}_k(\omega ).$$
(3)
If $`m_k`$ were white statistically independent random processes, then $`M_{jk}(\omega )`$ for all $`j`$, $`k`$ and given $`\omega `$ would be a random process distributed in the complex plane according to a $`2D`$ Gaussian distribution. If, however, $`M_{jk}(\omega )`$ contain a common signal , then they are distributed in a ring around the origin of the complex plane. The probability that a common signal is present is large if the effective width of the ring is significantly smaller than its radius.

At a discrete sample of frequencies $`\omega _s`$, where $`\nu _s=\omega _s/2\pi `$ goes from $`0.007`$ Hz to $`0.02`$ Hz in steps of $`3.3\times 10^4`$Hz, we calculate radial distributions $`\frac{dN}{d|M_{jk}|}(\omega _s)`$ of cross-correlation functions $`M_{jk}(\omega _s)`$. The number of cross-correlated pairs binned in 45 bins of width $`3.3\times 10^4\mathrm{mag}^2/\mathrm{Hz}`$ is 136 in the case of the Crab pulsar and 78 in the case of a test star. The results for the test star and the Crab pulsar are shown in Figure 2. In the case of the test star all distributions are similar which confirms the assumption of white Gaussian noise. It is apparent that the Crab pulsar is noisier than the test star which is also in agreement with Čadež et al. (2001). At a frequency $`0.0167`$ Hz we can see brighter colors on the contour plot for the values of $`|M_{jk}|`$ between 0 and 0.004 $`\mathrm{mag}^2/\mathrm{Hz}`$ on one side and ‘a darker island’ for the values of $`|M_{jk}|`$ around 0.007 $`\mathrm{mag}^2/\mathrm{Hz}`$. It is clear, that a periodic signal at the frequency $`1/60`$Hz is present.

## 4. Conclusions

Presented evidence suggests that the Crab pulsar free precesses. However, the measured free precession signal is too faint to give a final answer whether the amplitude of the free precession changes with time and on what time scale the pulsar relaxes its internal stress. Examining the free precession one can learn about the equation of state of the neutron matter in pulsars. Moreover, Chandra observations of the Crab pulsar and its nebula (Weisskopf et al. 2000) has given additional motivation to understand interaction mechanisms between the pulsar and highly magnetized plasma around it. We are continuing to observe the Crab pulsar in stroboscopic mode. The increase in signal to noise ratio of the free precession signature will help answer some of the open questions regarding pulsar physics.

## References

Cocke, W. J., Disney, M. J., and Taylor, D. J. 1969, Nature, Lond. 221, 525.

Čadež, A., and Galičič, M. 1996, A&A, 306, 443.

Čadež, A., Galičič, M., and Calvani, M. 1997, A&A, 324, 1005.

Čadež, A., Vidrih, S., Galičič M., and Carramiñana, A. 2001, A&A, 366, 930.

Percival, J. W., et al., 1993, ApJ, 407, 276.

Weisskopf, M. C., et al., 2000, ApJ, 536L, 81.