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# A deep Chandra observation of the cluster environment of the 𝑧=1.786 radio galaxy 3C294

## 1 Introduction

3C294 is a powerful Fanaroff-Riley II radio source (FR II) at a redshift of 1.786. A high resolution image of the radio emission shows it to have a Z-shaped morphology, which may be explained by a precessing or torqued jet (McCarthy et al. 1990). Extended Lyman $`\alpha `$ emission was found to be associated with the source, with a luminosity of $`7.6\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (McCarthy et al. 1990). The source was later observed by Stockton et al. (1999) in the K band using an adaptive optics system on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, resolving it into a number of knots arranged over an approximately triangular region. They interpreted this pattern as a set of dusty dwarf galaxy-like clumps illuminated in a cone by an obscured nucleus. Quirrenbach et al. (2001) observed the system at higher resolution with an adaptive optics system on the Keck telescope in K and H bands, finding emission from two components with a separation of $`1`$ arcsec. One component was identified as the active nucleus, the other as the core of a colliding galaxy.

X-ray emission was detected from the position of 3C294 by Crawford & Fabian (1996), using *ROSAT* proportional counter data. The data quality was insufficient to conclude whether the emission was spatially extended or thermal in origin. Their favoured model was for X-ray emission from a rich cluster of galaxies. Hardcastle & Worrall (1999) later examined a long *ROSAT* observation taken with its High Resolution Imager (HRI), concluding that the source was possibly spatially extended.

We first observed 3C294 with *Chandra* in 2000, for a total of 20 ks with the ACIS-S detector (Fabian et al. 2001). The X-ray emission was spatially extended about the central core X-ray source in a distinctive hourglass shape. The hourglass was aligned in the north-south (N-S) direction and extended to radii of at least 100 kpc. A spectrum of the diffuse emission was fitted using a thermal model, giving a best-fitting temperature of 5 keV. The emission could have been due to inverse Compton scattering, but since there was little excess emission associated with the radio jet of the source, except on the southern hotspot, this emission mechanism was considered unlikely. The most likely explanation for the observed diffuse emission was a thermal one, generated by the intracluster medium (ICM) of the inner parts of a cluster. The existence of such a hot cluster at this redshift is consistent with a low-density universe.

Here we present the results of a ten times deeper *Chandra* exposure of 3C294, for almost 200 ks. Luminosities and distances were calculated in this paper by assuming $`H_0=70\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}=0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$. Relative abundances were calculated assuming the results of Anders & Grevesse (1989).

## 2 Data analysis

The observation was split into two sections: one period beginning on 2002 Feb 25 with an exposure of 69.8 ks, and the second on 2002 Feb 27 with an exposure of 122.0 ks. Visual inspection of the lightcurves for the two observations in the band 0.3 to 5 keV showed no evidence for contamination by flares, therefore the total effective length of observations was 191.8 ks.

Both of the data sets were taken using the ACIS-S3 detector in VFAINT mode. This mode of observation grades events using a $`5\times 5`$ matrix of detector pixels around the centroid of each event, rather than the standard $`3\times 3`$ matrix for the FAINT observation mode, and yields a dataset with a substantially lower background.

In order to take advantage of the VFAINT observation mode, the data were reprocessed using the CAIO acis\_process\_events tool with the check\_vf\_pha option switched on. The gain file applied to the reprocessed dataset was acisD2000-08-12gainN0003.fits from CALDB version 2.12.

Since the two data sets were taken over only a few days, the roll angles of the spacecraft were within a couple of degrees of each other. Therefore we merged the two events files together into a single file, reprojecting the position of the events (in sky aligned detector coordinates) of the first data set to match that of the second. To test whether this step was valid we generated spatially-weighted response and ancillary matrices for the diffuse emission for the two data sets individually and compared the differences in fitting the spectra using the two responses on both data sets. There was no significant difference in either the quality of the fits or their best-fitting parameters.

The weighted responses for each region were created from the appropriate FEF calibration file (acisD2000-01-29fef\_piN0002) and the CIAO mkwarf and mkrmf tools, weighting the response using the number of counts in the 0.3 to 7.5 keV band.

Creating a suitable background spectrum is an important part of the analysis of low surface brightness objects such as the diffuse emission here. Given that the emission is small in extent and the observation is long, it is preferable to use a background spectrum generated from the observation itself rather than different observations. A blank-sky background dataset would have a different instrument response and galactic absorption to our observation. We therefore used blank regions of the S3 detector in the merged events file to provide the background. Too small a region gives uncertain background subtraction, and too large risks introducing systematics from the variation of the background over the chip. We used a background field $`4.97\times 1.67\mathrm{arcmin}^2`$ along the CCD node which harbours the diffuse emission, subtracting a circle of radius $`0.41\mathrm{arcmin}`$ centred on the central source.

### 2.1 The diffuse emission

The diffuse X-ray emission has the distinctive hourglass shape seen in our earlier observation of this object (Fabian et al. 2001). In Fig. 1 we show images of the emission, smoothed by a Gaussian, in three observed energy bands (0.3-1.0, 1.0-1.5 and 1.5-5.0 keV), superimposed as red, green and blue.

In order to see the diffuse emission above the background easily we have applied a background-reduction technique (analogous to applying a cut in brightness to an image with many photons), the result of which shown in Fig. 2 (top). We removed those photons which did not have 3 or more neighbouring photons within a radius of 1 arcsec from them. The removed photons were in a flat distribution around the diffuse emission.

To highlight the main features of the three-colour image (Fig. 1) we show a smoothed version of it in Fig. 2 (bottom). We used the bin accretion algorithm of Cappellari & Copin (2002) to create a tessellated image in each of the three bands with a ratio of signal to Poisson noise of 0.8. The centroids of the cells formed by tessellation were then interpolated with the natgrid natural neighbour interpolation library111http://ngwww.ucar.edu/ngdoc/ng/ngmath/natgrid/nnhome.html to form images, which were superimposed as red, green and blue layers.

The raw images are shown individually in Fig. 3, emphasizing that the emission is extended in each of the three bands. The diffuse emission is still visible in a 3-5 keV image, corresponding to 8.4-13.9 keV in the rest frame. Binning the data into 16 arcsec bins shows there is no evidence for any low intensity emission surrounding the central diffuse emission (we calculate limits for the outlying gas in Section 4.1.1).

The images also show several point sources: a central hard source corresponding to the position of the radio core, another hard source 14 arcsec to the north-east (NE), a soft source 9 arcsec to the west-south-west (WSW), and two fairly soft sources along the direction of the radio axis (6 arcsec to the NE and 8 arcsec to the SW) corresponding to the position of the radio hotspots. We will discuss these point sources in later sections.

The surface brightness declines sharply at the edge of the hourglass shape. Fig. 4 shows a surface brightness cut in a north-south direction, measured by moving a $`21\times 1\mathrm{arcmin}^2`$ box along that axis, excluding the point source in the centre, the NE and the WSW. We show the number of counts in the three observed bands: 0.3-1.0, 1.0-1.5 and 1.5-5.0 keV. The profile appears box-like with the number of counts dropping from about 60 to 10 in around 5 arcsec at the N and S edges.

The profile in the east-west direction declines more smoothly than that in the north-south direction. In the southernmost lobe the diffuse emission declines slowly to the east. In the northernmost lobe it declines slowly to the west.

We fitted the 0.3-6 keV spectrum of the diffuse emission from the regions shown in Fig. 5 by a mekal model (Mewe, Gronenschild & van den Oord 1985; Liedahl, Osterheld & Goldstein 1995) with a phabs absorbing screen (Balucinska-Church & McCammon 1992), giving best-fitting parameters of $`\mathrm{k}T=5.9_{1.3}^{+1.8}`$ keV, $`Z=0.07_{0.07}^{+0.26}\mathrm{Z}_{}`$, $`N_H=3.8_{1.8}^{+2.1}\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (with $`1\sigma `$ uncertainties). At 2$`\sigma `$, the uncertainty on the temperature was $`\mathrm{k}T=5.9_{2.0}^{+3.4}`$ keV. The data were binned into spectral bins containing at least 20 counts. The spectrum is shown in Fig. 6, with the contributions to $`\chi ^2`$ from each spectral bin. The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the fit was 1.00 (33.0/33). The regions were chosen to exclude the emission from along the radio axis of the source, an area which could be contaminated by inverse Compton emission. We summarise the results of spectral fits in Table 1.

We also fitted the spectrum of the diffuse emission using a power-law absorbed by a phabs model. This model fitted the spectrum well (reduced $`\chi ^2=0.91=31.0/34`$) with a photon index of $`2.3_{0.1}^{+0.3}`$, however it required strong absorption of $`(1.1\pm 0.3)\times 10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ which would be unreasonable if it were distributed over the whole volume of the diffuse emission.

Although both models fitted so far require excess absorption, there is a known degradation of the ACIS soft X-ray response222http://cxc.harvard.edu/cal/Links/Acis/acis/Cal\_prods/qeDeg/ which may account for this. We have refitted the spectra making use of the preliminary response model acisabs of Chartas & Getman (2002). Fitting the spectrum from 0.4-6 keV by a power-law model (increasing the lower energy bound of the spectral fit as suggested by the documentation of this model) and absorbing it with the acisabs model plus a phabs model (fixed to the Galactic value of $`1.2\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$), the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the best-fit was $`0.64=20.6/32`$. The best-fitting photon index was $`2.29\pm 0.10`$ ($`1\sigma `$), and the intrinsic luminosity of the power-law was $`2.5\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ between 1 and 10 keV in the restframe. There was no indication of an iron line in the residuals of the power-law fit. We note, however, that the energy of an iron line would lie close to the iridium M-edge of the mirror, which could cause a problem if the spectral calibration is not perfect.

We also fitted a mekal model absorbed by the acisabs and phabs models as above, allowing the abundance and temperature to be free. In that case the best-fitting temperature of the gas was $`3.5_{0.5}^{+0.6}`$ keV ($`1\sigma `$) or $`3.5_{0.7}^{+1.1}`$ keV ($`2\sigma `$). The best-fitting abundance was $`0.30_{0.25}^{+0.30}\mathrm{Z}_{}`$ ($`1\sigma `$) or $`0.30_{0.30}^{+0.57}\mathrm{Z}_{}`$ ($`2\sigma `$). A plot of $`\chi ^2`$ space shows the errors in temperature and abundance to be largely orthogonal. The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the best-fitting parameters was $`0.98=30.3/31`$. Separate spectra of the northern and southern lobe were made, and fitted simultaneously with the absorbed mekal model above. There was no evidence in the residuals of the fit indicating that the spectra of the two lobes were different.

As a final check, we refitted the spectrum of the diffuse emission by minimizing a modified version of the C-statistic (allowing background subtraction; Arnaud 2002) rather than the $`\chi ^2`$-statistic. With the mekal model, we found temperature and abundance of $`kT=3.9_{+0.6}^{0.5}`$ and $`Z=0.2_{0.2}^{+0.2}\mathrm{Z}_{}`$ ($`1\sigma `$), fitting the spectrum from 0.4-6 keV. Fitting from 1-6 keV, we obtained a temperature of $`7.4_{1.6}^{+2.7}`$ keV, confirming the result above using the $`\chi ^2`$-statistic. A power-law model gave the best-fitting spectral index $`2.26_{0.10}^{+0.09}`$. The C-statistic does not provide a goodness-of-fit.

In summary, providing that we assume that the acisabs model is appropriate for correcting the ACIS-S low energy response, both mekal and power-law models give acceptable fits to the spectrum of the diffuse emission. The best-fitting mekal temperature is $`3.5`$ keV and the abundance is $`<0.9\mathrm{Z}_{}`$ ($`2\sigma `$), with a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 0.98. The best-fitting power-law spectral index is $`2.3`$, with a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 0.64.

### 2.2 The source to the West-South-West (WSW)

We extracted archival *Hubble Space Telescope* (*HST*) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) data of four observations of 3C294 (datasets U27LFC0{1,2,3,4}T). The observations were taken using a filter with a central wavelength of 6895Å, and each had an exposure time of 140 s. The data were combined using the iraf task crrej.

The *HST* field in Fig. 7 is dominated by a star known as U1200-07227692 in the USNO-A2.0 catalogue (Monet et al. 1998). The star has B and R-band magnitudes of 13.0 and 11.5 in that catalogue, and a V band magnitude of 12.0 (Hubble Guide Star Catalogue 1.2, Lasker et al. 1990). Quirrenbach et al. (2001) discuss the various disagreeing measurements of the position of this star, but state that the USNO-A2.0 position is the most accurate. The position in this catalogue (14:06:43.3, +34:11:23.5) matches within an arcsec the position of the soft X-ray source to the south-east-east of the central nucleus (Figs. 3 & 5).

This star was reported to be an F-type star by Wyndham (1966; spectrum taken by F. Zwicky 1965). Stockton, Canalizo & Ridgway (1999) found the star to be a double with a separation of 0.13 arcsec, and an intensity ratio of 1.5:1 in $`K^{}`$. McCarthy et al. (1990) from its spectrum find it to be a subgiant K star, with a spectral break at 4000Å.

The flux of this source is $`6\times 10^{16}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ between 0.3 and 5 keV. This flux is low (relative to its optical luminosity) when compared with the fluxes of optically bright main-sequence stars (Hünsch, Schmitt & Voges 1998). The low flux is more typical of subgiant K stars than F-type stars.

### 2.3 The North-East (NE) source

The X-ray spectrum of the source to the NE of the core is shown in Fig. 8. It is well fitted by an absorbed ($`N_\mathrm{H}10^{20}`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$) power-law model, but the best-fitting photon index is unphysical at 0.7. A partial covering model fits better, with an absorption of $`2.5_{1.7}^{+1.4}\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, a partial covering fraction of $`75_{56}^{+14}`$ per cent, a power law index of $`1.6_{1.0}^{+1.1}`$ ($`1\sigma `$ errors). The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ for the fit was $`0.82=3.3/4`$. The model was fitted to the data in spectral bins of at least 20 counts, and between the energies of 0.5 and 7 keV. We added Galactic absorption and corrected the data with the acisabs model, although the correction makes no difference to the best-fitting parameters. The source contains very few counts below 0.8 keV, suggesting it is heavily absorbed. If this source lies at the same redshift as 3C294 its intrinsic luminosity is $`2.8\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ between 1 and 10 keV.

The *HST* image of 3C294 in Fig. 7 contains a very-faint point source at the location of the NE source. We estimated a photometric redshift for this source using the publicly available code hyperz (Bolzonella, Miralles & Pelló 2000), and calibrated, archival imaging data from the HST (F702 filter), INT Wide-Field Camera (i´Sloan filter) and UKIRT (K filter). The best solution is consistent with $`z=z_{3\mathrm{C}294}`$, though we emphasize that this is based on three filters only. The best-fitting solution is $`z=1.93_{1.23}^{+0.14}`$, and there is a secondary solution $`z=2.97_{0.97}^{+0.41}`$ (90 per cent confidence intervals).

The flux from this source in X-rays varied between the original *Chandra* observation and the one we present here. In the original observation on 2000 October 29 the count rate between 0.5-7 keV was $`(2.2\pm 0.3)\times 10^3\mathrm{s}^1`$. The combined count rate from the merged datasets here is $`(9.2\pm 0.7)\times 10^4\mathrm{s}^1`$. Therefore the flux of the source declined by a factor of $`2.4`$ in $`4.2\times 10^7`$ s.

### 2.4 The core spectrum

A power law model is not a good fit to the spectrum of the core source, associated with the central active nucleus. The best-fitting photon index was not physical at $`0.65`$, and the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ was 2.7. The data were fit between 0.5 and 7 keV.

A much better fit is found using a partially-obscured pexrav (Magdziarz & Zdziarski 1995) reflection model plus emission from a neutral iron line at 6.4 keV (Fig. 9), with Galactic absorption. acisabs correction had little effect on the best fitting values, although the uncertainties on the best-fitting parameters were lower since we did not fit for Galactic absorption, instead fixing it. We quote the values corrected by acisabs absorption here. The partial coverer was placed at the redshift of the source.

The relative ratio of the reflected to direct component was found to be $`5.1_{1.5}^{+2.0}`$ ($`1\sigma `$). The covering model had a column density of $`8.4_{0.9}^{+1.1}\times 10^{23}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ and a covering fraction of $`97.6_{3.0}^{+1.0}`$ per cent ($`1\sigma `$). Solar abundance was assumed, as was an inclination angle of $`60^{}`$, and the width of the iron line was set to zero. The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the fit was $`0.55=5.0/9`$. The flux in the iron line was $`2.0_{1.1}^{+1.3}\times 10^6`$ photon$`\mathrm{s}^1`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$. Using an F-test, we estimate there is only a 3.5 per cent probability of an intrinsic spectrum without the added neutral iron line giving as a good a fit as a model with the line.

Fig. 10 shows the spectrum of the best-fitting model, with the width of the iron line set to 0.05 keV. The intrinsic luminosity of the underlying power law is $`1.1\times 10^{45}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ between 1 and 10 keV in the rest frame, after correction for absorption. We note that the direct emission leaking to our line of sight below 1.5 keV (Fig. 10) need not be due to partial covering, but just to some of the radiation being scattered by ionized gas. In this case the above nucleus luminosity is a lower limit.

The *HST* image in Fig. 7 shows a faint elongated structure at the position of the X-ray nucleus, aligned roughly in the north-south direction.

### 2.5 Radio hotspots

Fig. 11 shows an overlay of the X-ray emission between 0.3 and 5 keV, overlayed with 6 cm radio and a Lyman-$`\alpha `$ contour taken from Fig. 2 of McCarthy et al. (1990). To make this image, the McCarthy et al. data were converted to J2000 coordinates, and the central radio source was aligned with the *Chandra* X-ray source. The radio hotspots are in a similar position to the two X-ray point sources along the radio axis, but the X-ray sources are rotated by about 6 degrees clockwise about the core from the radio hotspots, and appear to be closer in. Each spot is displaced by about 1.8 arcsec. The X-ray sources contain too few counts to generate a spectrum, but can easily be seen in the 0.3-1 and 1-1.5 keV images, but not from 1.5-5 keV, indicating that they have soft spectra ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }>2.3`$, the value of the diffuse flux, Section 2.1). If we assume a photon index for the spectrum of the hotspots of 2.3, the unabsorbed flux emitted in a 1.2 arcsec radius circle about the NE hotspot from 1-10 keV is $`5.8\times 10^{16}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ (rest frame 1-10 keV luminosity $`L_{110}1.7\times 10^{43}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$). The intrinsic flux for the SW hotspot is $`5.5\times 10^{16}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ ($`L_{110}1.6\times 10^{43}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$).

## 3 Interpretation of the point sources

### 3.1 The NE source

This source is bright in the X-ray band and has a low optical flux. The X-ray spectrum indicates that it is highly absorbed. The source has also varied in X-ray brightness strongly over 18 months. It is therefore likely to be a Seyfert II galaxy (of an intrinsic luminosity of $`2.5\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ between 1 and 10 keV), harbouring a highly obscured AGN. The galaxy may be a member of the cluster, a possibility supported by its photometric redshift.

### 3.2 Radio axis features

Four sources appear to lie along the direction of the radio axis: the core (§2.4), two sources coincident with the radio hot spots, and the NE source (§2.3). Indeed, the NE source is on a direct line joining the lower hotspot and the core. It is tempting to directly connect the NE source with the radio axis, but it is difficult to suggest a mechanism describing how the radio axis could trigger activity in the NE source, which appears to be a Seyfert II. The hotspots, the core, and the NE source are probably aligned by chance.

There is an enhancement of the X-ray emission along the SW side of the jet, and there is also a hole in emission along the NE side (Figs. 11 and 2). This may indicate that the jet is relativistic and beamed, with the SW side being beamed towards us.

### 3.3 The central source

The spectrum of the central source is fit well with a model of a highly obscured, reflection-dominated, AGN. The intrinsic luminosity of the nucleus is of the order of $`10^{45}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

## 4 Interpretation of the diffuse emission

### 4.1 Thermal

#### 4.1.1 Hydrostatic models

If we approximate the emitting volumes as two spheres of radius 6.4 arcsec, then the total emitting volume is $`3.9\times 10^{70}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. Using the normalisation of the mekal model (with the acisabs correction), we find the electron density to be approximately $`2.6\times 10^2\mathrm{cm}^3`$. The energy content of the hot gas is therefore of the order $`(3/2)k_BTnV1.5\times 10^{61}\mathrm{erg}`$ (assuming $`kT3.5`$ keV), where $`n`$ is the total particle density. If this were delivered over $`10^8\mathrm{yr}`$, this would require a power of $`5\times 10^{45}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, not including $`P\mathrm{d}V`$ work.

If we are observing gas in hydrostatic equilibrium, the sharp edges at 100 kpc mean that the scale height there is $`20`$ kpc. The virial temperature of the cluster then has to be $`100/20=5`$ times the temperature of the gas. Therefore if this is a cluster in hydrostatic equilibrium it must be very hot, extremely massive, and more massive than RX J1347-1145 (Allen, Schmidt & Fabian 2002).

Sharp X-ray edges are seen in many nearby clusters in a phenomenon known as a cold front (Markevitch et al. 2000). The gas temperature decreases sharply across these features, with the cooler gas being closer to the centre; pressure is continuous across the front. If this is the explanation for the sharp edges to the diffuse X-ray emission of 3C294, there must be hotter surrounding gas. Assuming pressure equilibrium across the front, then the ratio of the temperatures of the gas either side of the front is approximately equal to the inverse of the ratio of their densities. If we estimate the density drop as a factor of 2.5 (estimated from Fig. 4), then the outer temperature should be roughly 8 keV. This again makes the cluster very hot and rare at its redshift (Fabian et al. 2001). Moreover, the interiors of nearby clusters with cold fronts do not show brightness profiles as flat as we see here.

We can place a limit on the luminosity of any gas that lies outside of the observed diffuse emission. We calculated the flux limit in a shell between radii of 16 and 55 arcsec from the core, assuming a temperature for the gas of 3.5 keV, an abundance of $`0.3\mathrm{Z}_{}`$, and Galactic absorption, and find the $`3\sigma `$ upper limit on the intrinsic luminosity of that gas between 1 and 10 keV to be $`10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Using this limit we can say that the mean density of gas in the shell must be less than $`1/5`$ of the average density of gas making the observed extended X-ray source. This is inconsistent with the cold front hypothesis.

Fabian et al. (2001) concluded that the diffuse emission found around the point source in 3C294 was most likely direct X-ray emission from the core of a cluster. Unfortunately our analysis of this longer observation presents some difficulty for this interpretation. In particular, the sharp drops observed at the edges of the diffuse emission are in contrast to the expected profile from intracluster gas. We plot a surface brightness cut of Abell 2199 (taken from data in Johnstone et al. 2002), a cluster at a redshift of 0.0309, on Fig. 4. This cut was produced by enlarging the size of the moving box by a factor of 13.7, corresponding to the relative angular diameter distance of 3C294 compared to A2199, and examining an energy range of 0.82 to 2.71 keV, corresponding to an energy range of 0.3 to 1 keV at the redshift of 3C294. The cut through A2199 has a large central peak, indicating gas with a short cooling time in the centre, and no sharp drops in brightness. The cut through 3C294 is quite unlike A2199, with a largely flat profile and sharp drops at the edges. Note, however, that the diffuse emission has a less abrupt edge to the east and west. The sharpness of the N and S edges to the X-ray emission mean that the gas is disturbed and not in complete hydrostatic equilibrium. Transonic motion may be sufficient to account for what is seen.

Unfortunately we cannot distinguish between a thermal and non-thermal source of the diffuse emission on spectral grounds, nor identify an iron line.

#### 4.1.2 Shocks and mergers

Alternatively, if the central engine underwent a massive explosion in the past we may be observing the shocked material behind two shock fronts travelling to the north and south. In that case the AGN must be embedded in a dense environment such as a cluster, as is shown by the calculated electron density. A factor of 4 density increase by the shock would imply $`n_e7\times 10^3\mathrm{cm}^3`$ in the preshocked gas, unless adiabatic expansion was already strong. The preshock temperature is unknown but must be such that the gas outside the shock is undetectable (e.g. $`\mathrm{k}T<1.5`$ keV). The total thermal energy in the gas is $`1.5\times 10^{61}\mathrm{erg}`$. The shock velocity must be greater than $`2000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Therefore the time since the explosion is $`5\times 10^7\mathrm{yr}`$. The total energy in the expanding gas (thermal plus kinetic) must be $`2\times 10^{61}\mathrm{erg}`$, and the power greater than $`10^{46}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

Simpson & Rawlings (2002) make the hypothesis that the diffuse X-ray emission in 3C294 is produced by two shocks propagating in opposite directions from the site of a collision of two clusters. In this model the powerful radio source in the core of 3C294 would have been triggered by the merger. If the collision velocity were $`10002000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ then there would be enough energy to raise the temperature of the cluster from 2 to 5 keV. One problem with this model is that the surface brightness profile we observe does not match that expected from simulations of merging galaxies (e.g. Ritchie & Thomas 2002). The region of emission is not expected to have a flat brightness profile and the edges of the heated region are not sharp.

It is interesting that although the diffuse emission from 3C294 does not appear to have the same morphology as some clusters of galaxies thought to be merging (e.g. Markevitch & Vikhlinin 2001), there is a resemblance with Abell 2256 which has subcomponents of $`4.5`$ keV and $`78`$ keV in an early state of merger at redshift 0.058 (Sun et al. 2002). The core of A2256 has two sharp and smooth edges like 3C294. However the physical scale of the core is about twice as large than that of the emission from 3C294, and the profile not as flat.

Carilli et al. (2002) argue that diffuse X-ray emission seen around the narrow-line radio galaxy PKS 1138-262 is caused by the radio source shocking a cocoon of gas. The morphology of the X-ray emission from 3C294 suggests this is not the case in this object, as the emission does not have the ellipsoidal shape of a radio cocoon (e.g. Cygnus-A, Smith et al. 2002).

In summary, the evidence suggests that a thermal origin for the diffuse emission is implausible unless the gas is in a dynamically active state, and requires significant gas extending beyond that seen.

### 4.2 Non-thermal

A different interpretation is that we are observing X-rays from the central AGN scattered by the electrons in a surrounding cluster (see Sazonov, Sunyaev & Cramphorn 2002). In this model the central source switched on only recently, and the flux rise time was short so the furthest edges are sharp. A toroidal dust cloud around the nucleus could collimate the radiation into the two cones seen to either side of the nucleus. This model has difficulty in producing the observed surface brightness profile. Since the flux drops as the square of the radius, and the density of any plausible scattering medium will decrease with distance from the AGN, the brightest part of the scattered radiation should be closest to the AGN, with the brightness declining quickly with radius.

The brightness profile can be flattened by inclining the radiation cone towards the observer. To test whether this is a viable explanation for the observed surface brightness profile, we made a simple numerical scattering model. We assumed the optical depth was low enough so that only single scattering events were important. The emission along a line of sight was calculated by integrating along that line the product of the density of the scattering material (taken to be proportional to the reciprocal of the distance from the centre), and the flux at that position at the time when the observer sees it (originally emitted from a central source, but taking into account light travel time). The emission is integrated along positions which lie inside the radiation cones. The cones have an opening angle of $`30^{}`$ and are inclined at an angle of $`15^{}`$ towards and away from the observer, rotated about the $`x`$-axis. The central source was switched on at $`t=0`$ for $`10^4`$ yr. The emission along each line of sight was then integrated along the $`x`$-axis to simulate the surface brightness cut in Fig. 4.

We show in Fig. 12 the calculated profiles for three different times. Although the profiles appear fairly flat, in linear terms they fall steeply from the centre. There is also a gap in the centre, which is caused by the growing shell of photons moving along the cones. The gap may be avoided by modifying the burst of radiation from the core to have a longer-living tail. 3C294 has a dip in surface brightness to the north of the core, but it is shallow. This model has difficulty in reproducing the flat brightness profile across the cluster. If the density profile in the cluster were inverted (as for a bubble, see Section 4.3), or if the radiation was confined close to the plane of the sky in a fan-like shape, then the brightness profile could be flattened.

A further problem with this model is that only a small fraction of the photons emitted will be scattered by the cluster. We can estimate what the required power for the central source is. The luminosity of the cones (excluding the radio axis) is $`3\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. If a third of the sky is subtended by the cones (approximately correct if the opening angles of the cones are $`30^{}`$), and 1 per cent of the radiation is scattered by the electrons, then this would require an X-ray luminosity between 1 and 10 keV from the central source of $`10^{47}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The total bolometric power of the source would be significantly larger. This luminosity is much higher than that seen (Section 2.4) but the source may be variable. It would need to be powered by accretion onto a $`10^{10}\mathrm{M}_{}`$ black hole.

A different non-thermal model is that we are observing inverse Compton scattered radiation from relativistic electrons. In that case the electrons could either be a population scattering CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) photons requiring energies of $`\gamma 1000`$ (in order to scatter photons into the 1 keV band), or $`\gamma 10100`$ to scatter UV-IR radiation from the central source (e.g. Brunetti, Setti & Comastri 1997). The energy density in the CMB at that redshift was $`2\times 10^{11}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and the energy density from the nucleus would be $`3\times 10^{12}L_{47}d_2^2\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ ($`L_{47}`$ is the luminosity of the source in units of $`10^{47}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and $`d_2`$ is the distance from the source in units of $`10^2\mathrm{kpc}`$). The inverse Compton cooling time of the CMB-scattering electrons would be $`6\times 10^7\mathrm{yr}`$ and the cooling time of the UV-scattering electrons longer by a factor of $`1000`$. We therefore require the total energy in relativistic electrons to be $`5\times 10^{59}\mathrm{erg}`$ if the radiation was scattered from the CMB, and a factor 1000 times greater if it was scattered from the UV radiation field. We now ignore the UV case given its energy requirements. The total energy in relativistic particles may be 10 to 100 times larger than $`5\times 10^{59}\mathrm{erg}`$ if we account for other particles such as low energy electrons and protons. To provide an equivalent energy density to the CMB magnetically would require a field of $`24\mu `$G, which is much more than that found in low-redshift clusters ($`B\text{few}\mu `$G; Clarke, Kronberg & Böhringer 2001). Providing the magnetic field is of a similar strength to that in low redshift clusters, inverse Compton losses are expected to dominate over synchrotron losses. $`\gamma 1000`$ electrons will radiate at around $`2\mathrm{MHz}`$ in a $`\mu `$G field, but otherwise would be undetectable. Such an ‘inverse Compton cloud’ model would be the most energetically efficient way of explaining the data. In order to confine this relativistic plasma the gaseous medium of at least a group would be required in order not to lose the energy by adiabatic expansion.

An inverse Compton origin for the diffuse X-rays surrounding 3C294 therefore appears to be energetically feasible. Such a component in lower redshift clusters will not be dominant, owing to the sixty-fold lower energy density of the CMB. It may however be detectable (e.g. the Coma cluster, Fusco-Femiano et al. 1999; see also the theoretical discussion by Sarazin 1999). Inverse Compton scattering is also invoked to explain the hotspots in several other radio sources (Celotti, Ghisellini & Chiaberge 2001; Hardcastle, Birkinshaw & Worrall 2001), and may account for the excess emission from the radio hotspots in 3C294 (Section 2.5). The X-ray morphology of the diffuse emission does not match that of the radio source (Fig. 11; McCarthy et al. 1990) or of deeper radio images (K. Blundell, priv. comm.). In particular, the X-ray emission to the NW and SE of the nucleus has no radio counterpart. That need not be a major problem though, since the higher energy electron population ($`\gamma 10^4`$) necessary for radio emission would have a lifetime of $`<10^6`$ yr and so be absent. We could simply be seeing the older electron population in a source where the jet direction has changed by $`60^{}`$ over the past $`10^8`$ yr.

### 4.3 A hybrid model

Many clusters seen at low redshift with central radio sources have bubbles of radio plasma displacing the X-ray emitting gas (e.g. Perseus cluster, Fabian et al. 2000; Hydra A, McNamara et al. 2000; Cygnus A, Wilson, Young & Shopbell 2000). Perhaps the powerful radio source 3C294 has created exceptionally large bubbles in the NS direction in the surrounding ICM on a timescale of $`10^8`$ yr. As for the bubbles in Hydra A and Perseus, the expansion may be subsonic. The gas will fall back when the radio source drops in intensity. The X-ray emission can then be partially thermal, at large distances from the centre, and non-thermal nearer the centre, particularly along the radio axis.

If we are observing bubbles, the pressure of non-thermal particles in the bubbles will be close to the pressure of the surrounding thermal gas. If we assume a cooling time for the electrons of $`6\times 10^7`$ yr, emitting a power of $`3\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, then the total energy in the bubbles would be $`5.7a\times 10^{57}\mathrm{erg}`$ (where $`a`$ is a factor to account for energy in particles not emitted in the band we are observing in). Assuming a volume of $`4\times 10^{70}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, the pressure inside the lobes would be $`1.5a\times 10^{11}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. This pressure is consistent with the pressure found in many clusters.

In this picture, were 3C294 to be at $`z=0`$, the inverse Compton emission would be 60 times weaker, and thermal emission from the surrounding cluster would dominate the X-ray image. The bubbles could appear as holes in the X-ray emission.

## 5 Conclusions and Discussion

3C294 is a powerful, type II, radio-loud quasar, surrounded by extensive diffuse X-ray emission. A diffuse ICM is likely to be present, at least as the working surface for the radio lobes and providing at least some the X-ray emission via bremsstrahlung. The sharp N and S edges to the X-ray emission mean, for a thermal origin, that the gas is not in complete hydrostatic equilibrium. It may have been displaced within the inner third by a bubble of relativistic plasma. Inverse Compton emission from relativistic electrons with $`\gamma 10^3`$ probably accounts for emission from the radio hotspots, and possibly all the diffuse emission if such a population exists well beyond the radio structure. The X-ray spectrum of the diffuse emission mildly favours a power-law of non-thermal origin, provided that the preliminary acisabs model for the correction of the soft X-ray degradation of the detector is adequate.

3C294 is an exceptional object, and may be revealing an energetic phase relevant to many rich clusters of galaxies in which a powerful active nucleus transfers considerable energy, and a relativistic particle population, into the ICM. This may be crucial for explaining the properties of present-day clusters (see e.g. Wu, Fabian & Nulsen 2000).

## Acknowledgements

ACF and CSC thank the Royal Society for their support. The authors are also grateful to Poshak Gandhi for his analysis of the available optical data for the NE source.

The *HST* data presented in this paper were obtained from the Multimission Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute (MAST). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.


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# Can one extract the electron-phonon-interaction from tunneling data in case of the multigap superconductor MgB2?

## Abstract

In the present work we calculate the tunneling density of states (DOS) of MgB2 for different tunneling directions by directly solving the two-band Eliashberg equations (EE) in the real-axis formulation. This procedure reveals the fine structures of the DOS due to the optical phonons. Then we show that the numeric inversion of the standard *single-band* EE (the only available method), when applied to the *two-band* DOS of MgB2, may lead to wrong estimates of the strength of certain phonon branches (e.g. the $`E_{2g}`$) in the extracted electron-phonon spectral function $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$. The fine structures produced by the two-band interaction at energies between 20 and 100 meV turn out to be clearly observable only for tunneling along the $`ab`$ planes, when the extracted $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$ contains the combination $`\alpha ^2F_{\sigma \sigma }(\omega )`$+$`\alpha ^2F_{\sigma \pi }(\omega )`$, together with a minor $`\alpha ^2F_{\pi \pi }(\omega )`$+$`\alpha ^2F_{\pi \sigma }(\omega )`$ component. Only in this case it is possible to extract information on the $`\sigma `$-band contribution to the spectral functions. For any other tunneling direction, the $`\pi `$-band contribution (which does not determine the superconducting properties of MgB2) is dominant and almost coincides with the whole $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$ for tunneling along the $`c`$ axis. Our results are compared with recent experimental tunneling and point-contact data.

There is a growing consensus that superconductivity in MgB2 with a critical temperature $`T_c40K`$ (Ref. Akimitsu, ) is driven by the electron-phonon interaction (EPI) (for a recent review see Ref. MA, ). An important subject to address for a proper understanding of the surprising physical properties of this material is the character of the order parameter (or superconducting gap): is it constant over the whole Fermi surface, or strongly momentum dependent? The idea of multiband superconductivity in MgB2 liu ; sh ; mazin ; gol ; br ; Choi ; mazinimp  is supported by many recent experimental results from tunneling GiubileoPRL01 ; IavaronePRL02 ; Esk , point contact SzaboPRL01 ; SchmidtPRL01 ; Gonnelli  and specific heat capacity measurements BouquetPRL01 . These data directly support the picture that the superconducting gap has two different values on two qualitatively different parts of the Fermi surface, one $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\sigma `$ for the two quasi-two-dimensional $`\sigma `$ bands and another one $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\pi `$ for the pair of 3D $`\pi `$ bands liu ; mazin .

While, within first-principles calculations of the electronic structure and the EPI in this compound, there is an agreement com1  on this qualitative picture, still disagreement is present about the precise values of characteristic frequencies and coupling constants. According to most calculations liu ; kong ; bohnen ; Choi , the EPI or, equivalently, the Eliashberg spectral function $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$ (EF) is dominated by the optical boron bond-stretching $`E_{2g}`$ phonon branch around 60 - 70 meV.

In principle, photoemission or optical measurements can also deliver information on the EPI marsiglio , although the main experimental tool for the determination of the EPI in superconductors so far is the tunneling measurement. This method has been applied to standard superconductors with an isotropic (constant in $`𝐤`$-space) superconducting gap and allowed for the determination of the Eliashberg spectral functions in case of many conventional low-temperature superconductors (see e.g. Ref. wolf, ).

The spectral EF is obtained from the first derivative of the tunneling current

$$\frac{dI_T}{dV}N_T=\alpha _T\text{Re}\frac{E}{\sqrt{E^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2(E)}}|_{E=eV},$$
(1)
where $`V`$ is the applied voltage, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(E)`$ is the complex superconducting gap which depends on energy $`E,`$ and the factor $`\alpha _T`$ is determined by the properties of the tunneling barrier  and the corresponding average of the Fermi velocities of quasiparticles. The standard single-band procedure to obtain the EF from the tunneling DOS can be found in textbooks wolf ; parks . Another mathematically elegant method has been proposed in Ref.d1, . It has been used to investigate conventional (low $`T_c`$) as well as high-temperature superconductors nostro .

Unfortunately, this approach is restricted to momentum independent $`s`$-wave order parameters and cannot be used to describe anisotropic superconductors as MgB2. Nevertheless, there has been a recent attempt to obtain the EPI in MgB2 by using this standard approach d1a . The $`E_{2g}`$ phonon mode has been resolved, but its predominance for the electron-phonon coupling was questioned. More recently, the $`E_{2g}`$ mode has been also resolved in point-contact spectra Naidyuk .

The purpose of this paper is to clarify what information can be extracted using this *single-band* standard procedure if one applies it to a *two-band* superconductor. The starting point is the theoretical study of the quasiparticle tunneling in MgB2-based junctions. The superconducting gap functions for the $`\sigma `$ and $`\pi `$ band are obtained from an extended Eliashberg formalism. The parameters for the two-band model utilized in this work, which are based on first-principles electronic structure calculations kong , have been used before for a successful description of specific heat gol  and tunneling br  properties of MgB2.

The interband and intraband electron-phonon spectral functions $`\alpha ^2F_{ij}(\omega )`$, where $`i,j=\pi ,\sigma `$ (see Figure 1) and the Coulomb pseudopotential matrix $`\mu _{ij}^{}`$ (see Ref.comment, ) are the basic input for the two-band Eliashberg theory. The theoretical conductance curves of MgB2 for different tunneling directions can be obtained directly by solving the corresponding two-band Eliashberg equations (EE) br  in the real-axis formulation. The only free parameter is the normalization constant $`\mu `$ in the Coulomb pseudopotential matrix which is fixed in order to reproduce the experimental $`T_c=39.4`$ K.

One may see in Fig. 1 that the $`\sigma \sigma `$ EPI is dominated by the optical boron bond-stretching $`E_{2g}`$ phonon mode. For other channels there are also important contributions from low frequency modes (30-40 meV) and from high frequency phonon modes ($``$ 90 meV).

In contrast to the case of a conventional junction described by Eq.(1), the conductance in a MgB2-I-N tunnel junction is a weighted sum of the contributions of the DOS of $`\sigma `$ and $`\pi `$ bands, where the weights are determined by the corresponding Fermi velocities (plasma frequencies) in the bands and by the angle of the tunneling current with respect to the ab plane br . Figure 2 (a) and (b) shows the calculated tunneling conductances in the ab-plane and along the c-axis direction. In the case of MgB2 according to Ref.br, ,

$`N_{ab}^T(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`0.33N_\sigma (\omega )+0.67N_\pi (\omega ),`$
$`N_c^T(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`0.01N_\sigma (\omega )+0.99N_\pi (\omega ),`$ (2)
where $`N_\sigma (\omega )`$ and $`N_\pi (\omega )`$ are the partial superconducting DOS.

The contribution of the $`\pi `$ band is always dominant even if tunneling is almost in the ab plane br . In the insets of Fig.2 the fine structures due to electron-phonon interaction are shown. The maximum amplitude of these structures is of the order of 0.5% for measurements along the c-axis and 2-3% in the ab-plane. The double-gap features of the DOS visible in the ab-plane $`N_{ab}^T(\omega )`$ should be experimentally observable even for a certain amount of impurity scattering because the interband impurity scattering rate appears to be very weak mazinimp . On the other hand, due to the smallness of the $`\sigma `$-band plasma frequency in the c direction, the conductance in the c-axis direction is almost totally determined by the $`\pi `$ band and therefore no double-peak structure is expected in the conductance spectrum. In fact this change in behavior has been experimentally observed by spatially well-defined tunnel measurements over a step edge in small MgB2 single crystals IavaronePRL02  and by directional point-contact spectroscopy in larger crystals Gonnelli .

In order to test the reliability of the numeric inversion technique of the standard *single-band* Eliashberg equation when applied to a *two-band* superconductor, we use the calculated tunneling DOS shown in Fig. 2 as an input. Of course, in the case of a single-band superconductor the inversion should reproduce the shape of the single-band Eliashberg function used for the calculation of the tunneling DOS. This will not be true anymore if one tries to invert a tunneling DOS which is derived from a multiband Eliashberg theory. The inverted spectral functions should correspond to the mixture of the $`\sigma `$\- and $`\pi `$-band contributions. We can introduce the following functions:

$`\alpha ^2F_\sigma (\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha ^2F_{\sigma \sigma }(\omega )+\alpha ^2F_{\sigma \pi }(\omega )`$
$`\alpha ^2F_\pi (\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha ^2F_{\pi \pi }(\omega )+\alpha ^2F_{\pi \sigma }(\omega ).`$
Namely, these functions determine the normal state properties in the two-band model. Tunneling measurements can only give information on these combinations of $`\alpha ^2F_{i,j}(\omega )`$ ($`i,j=\sigma ,\pi `$) which are indicated by thick lines in Fig. 1. In order to illustrate this point we show in Figure 3 (a) and (b) the results of the inversion of our calculated tunneling DOS of Fig.2 (a) and (b) using a standard single-band code (solid lines). The effect of the single-band EE inversion is estimated by a least-square fit to the inverted spectral functions with the weights for $`\alpha ^2F_\sigma `$ and $`\alpha ^2F`$ π as free parameters. These fits are shown by the dashed curves in Fig.3. Since tunneling along the $`c`$-direction –due to the very different plasma frequencies in the two bands br – practically corresponds to a single-band case, the inversion properly reproduces the $`\alpha ^2F_\pi `$ as one expects. In contrast, in the case of tunneling along the $`ab`$-direction (which corresponds to an actual multiband situation) the weights are quite different from the theoretical expectation. The results of the fit are summarized below:

$`\alpha ^2F_{ab}(\omega )`$ $``$ $`0.31\alpha ^2F_\sigma (\omega )+0.16\alpha ^2F_\pi (\omega )`$
$`\alpha ^2F_c(\omega )`$ $``$ $`0.01\alpha ^2F_\sigma (\omega )+0.99\alpha ^2F_\pi (\omega )`$ (3)
As one may see the $`\sigma `$-band spectral functions $`\alpha ^2F_{\sigma \sigma }(\omega )+\alpha ^2F_{\sigma \pi }(\omega )`$ play an essential (and amplified) role only if the contribution of $`N_\sigma (\omega )`$ is significant. The numerical simulations show that about 33% of the $`\sigma `$-band contribution in the tunneling DOS corresponds to a contribution of about 66% of $`\alpha ^2F_\sigma (\omega )`$ in the effective $`\alpha ^2F_{ab}(\omega )`$. These results are reasonable since $`\lambda _\pi =(\lambda _{\pi \pi }+\lambda _{\pi \sigma })0.6`$ while $`\lambda _\sigma =(\lambda _{\sigma \sigma }+\lambda _{\sigma \pi })1.23`$. Somewhat simplifying it seems that the contributions of the tunneling DOS to the phonon structures are weighted by the corresponding coupling constants. The inversion of the c-axis case results in a $`\alpha ^2F_c(\omega )`$ that is almost exactly the sum of the $`\alpha ^2F_i(\omega )`$ components taken with the same weights present in the sum of the corresponding superconducting $`N_\pi (\omega )`$ and $`N_\sigma (\omega )`$ (see, Eqs.2). In this case, the coupling constant from the inversion is almost equal to $`\lambda _\pi `$, and therefore the effective Eliashberg function will show strong contributions from low and high frequency phonons.

The above results show that from tunneling measurements at very low temperatures and by numeric inversion of the standard single-band Eliashberg equations one can obtain reliable information on the EPI in MgB2 only for the $`\pi `$ band. For doing this we can use the Donetsk’s inversion program d1  which allows to find the $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$ for a single-band superconductor.

The interesting point is that measuring single crystals in the clean limit one should see different phonon contributions for different tunneling directions, in accordance with the two-band model. From tunneling measurements exactly along ab and c directions it is possible to extract information on $`\alpha ^2F_\pi (\omega )`$ and on $`\alpha ^2F_\sigma (\omega ),`$ by solving the system of equations (3) and this could be a useful method for testing the two-band model and identifying the phonon modes responsible for superconductivity in MgB2. From the experimental point of view this possibility could remain only virtual since the smallness of the phonon structures expected in the tunneling along the *c* axis (see the inset of Fig.2 (b)) could prevent a correct inversion of the EE in the presence of noise.

In polycrystalline samples the $`\pi `$ band dominates the tunneling current br  and it is only possible to extract information about the combination of spectral functions $`\alpha ^2F_\pi (\omega )`$, which does not play an important role for the superconducting properties of MgB2. The recent work of D’yachenko et al., d1a  which claims the experimental determination of $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$, is very likely contaminated by strong contributions from the $`\pi `$ band. A value of the coupling constant $`\lambda =0.9`$ was reported in Ref.d1a . Unfortunately, such data cannot give information on the nature of superconductivity in a two-band superconductor as MgB2 which is driven by the interaction in the $`\sigma `$ band.

The inversion of the calculated ab-plane conductance $`N_{ab}^T(\omega )`$ shows that a significant contribution to the phonon structures comes from $`\sigma `$ bands and this is reflected in the resulting $`\alpha ^2F_{ab}(\omega )`$. Therefore, only in junctions with the tunneling current running along the $`ab`$ planes and at low temperature one can observe the fine structures of the superconducting DOS produced by the electron-phonon interaction at energies between 20 and 100 meV. In recent point-contact measurements Naidyuk  the anisotropic EPI was observed, though no quantitative estimate was presented. Further experiments on high-quality tunnel junctions are needed in order to obtain data allowing for a quantitative estimate of the EPI, which should also take into account the ’tunneling cone’ effect wolf , i.e. the distribution of tunneling angles. According to our result shown in Eq.(3), separate studies of ab-plane and c-axis tunneling conductances may allow a quantitative estimate of the EPI and should thus provide a crucial test for the first-principle results of the two-band model.


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# New Relations for Excited Baryons in Large 𝑁_𝑐 QCD

(January, 2003)

## Abstract

We show that excited baryons in large $`N_c`$ QCD form multiplets, within which masses are first split at $`O(1/N_c)`$. The dominant couplings of resonances to various mesons are highly constrained: The $`N(1535)`$ decays at leading $`1/N_c`$ order exclusively to $`\eta `$-$`N`$ rather than $`\pi `$-$`N`$, and vice versa for the $`N(1650)`$. This multiplet structure is reproduced by a simple large $`N_c`$ quark model, well studied in the literature, that describes resonances as single-quark excitations.

preprint: DOE/ER/40762-275 UMPP#03-036

During the past two decades there have been two approaches to using large $`N_c`$ QCD in the description of excited baryons. The first approach HEHW ; MP ; MM ; Mat3 ; MK , developed in the mid-1980s in the context of Skyrme models, was based on the study of meson-baryon scattering with the identification of excited baryons as resonances (as indeed they are in nature). The second approach CGKM ; PY ; Goity ; CCGL1 ; CCGL2 ; GSS ; CC1 ; CC2 , developed more recently, was cast in quark model language and used operator counting rules in a manner similar to those developed to describe the large $`N_c`$ properties of the ground-state band of $`I=J`$ baryons DM ; Jenk ; DJM1 ; DJM2 ; JL . However, unlike for the case of ground-state band baryons, where the quark model is a shorthand for simply implementing group theory, the quark model treatment requires nontrivial dynamical assumptions. In particular, the method is based on matrix elements of operators between excited baryon states, which is strictly only sensible if the excited states are stable, at least at large $`N_c`$. While this assumption is true in quark models, it is not true in large $`N_c`$ QCD. This raises the question of the extent to which results for excited baryons in such treatments are in fact results of large $`N_c`$ QCD.

Here we show: i) At leading order in the large $`N_c`$ expansion of QCD the baryons form multiplets, within which masses and widths are degenerate up to splittings of $`O(1/N_c)`$; this result can be derived from large $`N_c`$ consistency rules with no additional model assumptions. ii) Certain multiplets have no coupling to the $`\pi `$-$`N`$ decay channel, while others have no coupling to the $`\eta `$-$`N`$ channel up to corrections of $`O(1/N_c)`$; phenomenological evidence of this is seen in the decays of the $`N(1535)`$ and $`N(1650)`$. The degeneracy structure of result i) was previously derived in the quark model language by Pirjol and Yan PY . We reproduce these quark model results via the technology of Refs. CCGL1 ; CCGL2 . We note that the fact that large $`N_c`$ quark model reproduces the multiplet structure of large $`N_c`$ QCD helps to justify these models.

In this work we focus on the lowest-lying negative-parity states. In the $`N_c=3`$ quark model they correspond to a 70-plet of SU(6). For simplicity we look here at nonstrange baryons. However, the generalization to positive-parity states and states with nonzero strangeness is straightforward and will be considered in the future future .

We start by working directly in a large $`N_c`$ world (neglecting $`1/N_c`$ corrections) in order for our analysis to be consistent with results based on treatments of meson-baryon scattering. Of course, in comparing with the physical world of $`N_c=3`$, one must bear in mind possible $`1/N_c`$ corrections (which can in principle be parameterized in a consistent and constrained way), as well as artifacts such as states existing in large $`N_c`$ but not in the physical world.

Our principal tools are the linear relations between meson-baryon scattering amplitudes in various partial waves HEHW ; MP ; MM ; Mat3 ; MK  that become exact in the large $`N_c`$ limit. Here we limit our attention to the scattering of $`\pi `$ and $`\eta `$ mesons off ground-state band ($`I=J`$) baryons, in which the final state contains the same meson as in the initial state. Recall that in the large $`N_c`$ limit the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is stable, and thus it is perfectly meaningful to discuss scattering off the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. The relevant $`S`$ matrix formulas HEHW ; MP ; MM ; Mat3 ; MK  for such scattering are given by:

$`S_{LL^{}RR^{}IJ}^\pi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{K}{}}(1)^{R^{}R}\sqrt{(2R+1)(2R^{}+1)}(2K+1)`$ (5)
$`\times \left\{\begin{array}{ccc}K& I& J\\ R^{}& L^{}& 1\end{array}\right\}\left\{\begin{array}{ccc}K& I& J\\ R& L& 1\end{array}\right\}s_{KL^{}L}^\pi ,`$
$`S_{LRJ}^\eta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{K}{}}\delta _{KL}\delta (LRJ)s_K^\eta .`$ (6)
For $`\pi `$ scattering, we denote the incoming baryon spin (=isospin) by $`R`$, the final baryon spin as $`R^{}`$, the orbital angular momentum of the incident (final) pion by $`L`$ ($`L^{}`$), and $`I`$ ($`J`$) represents the total isospin (angular momentum) of the state. $`S_{LL^{}RR^{}IJ}^\pi `$ denotes the $`S`$ matrix for this channel (isospin- and angular momentum-reduced in the Wigner-Eckart theorem sense), the factors in braces are $`6j`$ coefficients, and $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ are universal amplitudes that are independent of $`I`$, $`J`$, $`R`$, and $`R^{}`$. In $`\eta `$-meson scattering, the isospin $`R`$ of the baryon cannot change and equals the total isospin $`I`$ of the state. The orbital angular momentum $`L`$ of the $`\eta `$ remains unchanged in the process due to large $`N_c`$ constraints. The total angular momentum $`J`$ of the state is then constrained by the triangle rule $`\delta (LRJ)`$. $`S_{LRJ}^\eta `$ is the reduced scattering amplitude, and $`s_K^\eta `$ are universal amplitudes independent of $`R`$ and $`J`$. The structure of Eqs. (5) and (6) imply that the scattering amplitudes in different channels are linearly related. There are more $`S`$ matrix amplitudes $`S_{LL^{}RR^{}IJ}^\pi `$ than there are $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ functions; thus there are linear constraints between the $`S_{LL^{}RR^{}IJ}^\pi `$ (that hold to leading order in the $`1/N_c`$ expansion). Analogously, there are fewer $`s_K^\eta `$ amplitudes than $`S_{LRJ}^\eta `$ amplitudes.

Equations (5) and (6) were originally derived HEHW ; MP ; MK ; MM ; Mat3  in the Skyrme model. Despite these initial derivations, the validity of Eqs. (5) and (6) does not depend on model assumptions about chiral solitons; rather the equations follow directly from large $`N_c`$ QCD. A derivation of these relations directly from the large $`N_c`$ consistency rules, based on the formalism of Ref. DJM2  and which exploits the noted $`I_t=J_t`$ rule MM , can be found in a more detailed report of our work article . We note that the only assumptions needed in this derivation are i) Baryonic quantities in large $`N_c`$ QCD scale according to the generic large $`N_c`$ rules of Witten Wit , or more slowly (if there are cancellations); ii) there exists a hadronic description that reproduces the large $`N_c`$ QCD results; iii) the $`\pi `$-$`N`$ coupling scaling is generic (without cancellations) scaling as $`N_c^{1/2}`$; and iv) nature is realized in the most symmetric representation of the contracted $`SU(2N_f)`$ group that emerges from the previous assumptions.

To make concrete predictions about degeneracy patterns, one needs a method to identify the position of a resonance. We use a common theoretical definition of resonance position: The partial-wave scattering amplitudes are functions of energy. By analytically continuing the energies into the complex plane one can identify the resonance position as the location of the pole, with the real part being identified as the mass and the imaginary part as the width. This theoretical definition is unambiguous but has the disadvantage of not being directly determined by scattering with physical kinematics. Fortunately, in the limit of vanishingly small widths, the theoretical definition agrees with the result extracted from scattering data via any sensible prescription.

This resonance position definition implies the existence of degeneracies. Consider the structure of Eqs. (5) and (6). A pole in the partial wave amplitude for some channel on the left-hand side of Eq. (5) implies a pole in one of the $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ amplitudes on the right-hand side. But since all the $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ amplitudes contribute to more than one channel, a pole in one channel implies the existence of poles in others, i.e., states with different $`I,J`$ quantum numbers but with the same mass and width. An analogous argument exists for $`\eta `$-meson scattering.

To isolate multiplets of degenerate baryon states, one must first determine whether degeneracies could occur in poles of the $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ and $`s_K^\eta `$ amplitudes themselves. A priori one expects the $`K`$ sectors ought to be dynamically disconnected at large $`N_c`$, as it would be unnatural to suppose otherwise. In Skyrme models, this is quite clear—the various $`K`$ sectors are completely separate. However, one may reasonably expect degeneracies in the poles of amplitudes with identical $`K`$ but distinct values of $`L`$ or $`L^{}`$: $`L`$ is not a conserved quantum number; one can have a resonance with given $`I`$ and $`J`$ but that can reached in scattering by more than one $`L`$ (e.g., by scattering off a $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ rather than $`N`$). In such a case, scattering amplitudes in channels with different $`L`$ have degenerate poles. Similarly, partial-wave amplitudes involving the scattering of different mesons, but which couple to the same $`K`$ channel, may produce degenerate poles (e.g., $`s_{222}^\pi `$ and $`s_2^\eta `$).

Degenerate multiplets can be found quite simply. Start by assuming a pole in one of the $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ or $`s_K^\eta `$ amplitudes and use selection rules implicit in the $`6j`$ coefficients in Eq. (5) and the triangle constraint in Eq. (6) to find all partial-wave amplitudes that couple. Note in doing this one must consider all possible $`L`$, $`L^{}`$, $`R`$, and $`R^{}`$ as well as the conserved $`I`$ and $`J`$ (which label the quantum numbers of the state). Since we focus on negative-parity states, we restrict attention to the case of $`L`$ even. From this exercise one identifies the following multiplets of negative-parity baryon states with degenerate masses and widths (modulo splitting at order $`1/N_c`$) and the associated $`s_{KL^{}L}^\pi `$ or $`s_K^\eta `$ amplitudes:

$`N_{1/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(s_0^\eta ),`$ (7)
$`N_{1/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2},N_{3/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(s_{100}^\pi ,s_{122}^\pi ),`$ (8)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2},N_{3/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},N_{5/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(s_{222}^\pi ,s_2^\eta ),`$ (9)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},N_{5/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(s_{322}^\pi ).`$ (10)
These multiplets are formally infinite in size, as we are working in the large $`N_c`$ limit and thus some states are large $`N_c`$ artifacts. Note that all amplitudes with the same $`K`$ have exactly the same multiplet structure: For example, $`s_{100}^\pi `$ and $`s_{122}^\pi `$ have the same states in their multiplets, as do $`s_{222}^\pi `$, $`s_2^\eta `$. As discussed above, it is natural to interpret this to mean that any given multiplet of baryon states is accessible via more than one scattering channel provided it has the same $`K`$.

We note that the same degeneracy patterns were found using the quark model assumption of stable excited baryons PY . However, as noted above this assumption is inconsistent with large $`N_c`$ QCD where the width of excited states in generically $`O(N_c^0)`$. We stress that our prediction of these degenerate multiplets is model independent, following directly from large $`N_c`$ consistency conditions and that it predicts degenerate masses and widths. We do not predict a priori whether or not large $`N_c`$ QCD generates low-lying resonances that are narrow enough to identify. Rather we show that if any such resonances do exist, they fall into multiplets labeled by $`K`$. The fact that we find multiplets of degenerate states at large $`N_c`$ is not surprising; it reflects the contracted $`SU(2N_f)`$ symmetry emerging for baryons as $`N_c\mathrm{}`$. It is somewhat surprising that these multiplets were not identified previously in the context of large $`N_c`$ meson-baryon scattering (excepting the degeneracy between the $`N_{1/2}`$ and the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2}`$), particularly since studies of the baryon spectrum in models using Eq. (5) were done nearly two decades ago HEHW ; MK . In those works, however, the resonance position was fixed “experimentalist-style” via motion in the Argand plots rather than by looking directly at poles in the complex plane; this obscured the underlying degeneracies.

We note that Eqs. (7)–(10) may be of more theoretical interest than phenomenological import in the real world of $`N_c`$=3. The phenomenological difficulty is that the states in nature one may wish to identify with the negative-parity $`\mathrm{𝟕𝟎}`$-plet (in quark model language) lie in a 200 MeV-wide band (from 1520 MeV ($`N_{3/2}`$) to 1700 MeV ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2}`$), as listed by the Particle Data Group PDG ). Such states may be associated with three distinct $`K`$’s, all of which are split by $`O(N_c^0)`$. On the other hand, the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-$`N`$ mass splitting is an $`O(1/N_c)`$ effect but is $`290`$ MeV. Since the expected $`1/N_c`$ corrections that split the multiplets are of the same scale or larger than the distance between the multiplets, it may be very difficult to identify states clearly as belonging to given $`K`$ multiplets on the basis of spectroscopy alone.

However, the multiplet structure does have nontrivial phenomenological implications for the decays of excited baryons. Note that $`K=0`$ negative-parity states do not couple to the $`\pi `$-$`N`$ channel. This follows from the fact \[Eq. (5)\] that $`K`$ is a vector sum of $`L`$ and the $`\pi `$ isospin (=1), implying that $`K=0`$ only occurs for $`L=1`$, which gives the wrong parity. Similarly, the negative-parity states in the $`K=1`$ multiplet cannot couple to the $`\eta `$-N channel. Assuming that there exist well isolated resonances in both the $`K=0`$ and $`K=1`$ channels, at large $`N_c`$ the states associated with the $`K=1`$ channel decay into $`\pi `$-$`N`$ but not $`\eta `$-$`N`$, and vice versa for the $`K=0`$ states. For the $`N_c=3`$ world there are subleading $`1/N_c`$ effects, which can cause some mixing of the $`K`$ modes and hence give nonzero but suppressed decays into the “forbidden” channels. When looking for this effect in phenomenology one must avoid large $`N_c`$ artifacts. In particular, the existence of more than one low-lying negative-parity $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2}`$ state appears to be an artifact (only one is present in the $`N_c=3`$ quark model), so this prediction for decay modes only applies to the $`N_{1/2}`$ in the real world. The decay patterns of the $`N(1535)`$ and $`N(1650)`$ are consistent with the $`N(1535)`$ being predominantly the $`K=0`$ state, while the $`N(1650)`$ is predominantly $`K=1`$. The Particle Data Group PDG  lists the decay fraction of $`N(1535)`$ into $`\pi `$-$`N`$ (35–55%) as being essentially the same as the decay fraction into $`\eta `$-$`N`$ (35–50%), despite having a substantially larger phase space for decay (nominally by a factor of $`2.6`$ evaluated at the mass peak, but effectively higher since the $`\eta `$-$`N`$ channel is only 50 MeV from threshold). This indicates the coupling to $`\eta `$-$`N`$ is much larger than to $`\pi `$-$`N`$. In contrast, the decay fractions for the $`N`$(1650) are listed as PDG  55–90% into $`\pi `$-$`N`$ and only 3–10% into $`\eta `$-$`N`$. Since the phase space for decay is only $`1.6`$ times greater for the $`\pi `$-$`N`$ channel, this indicates a much stronger coupling of the state to $`\pi `$-$`N`$.

We now turn to the other major approach that has been used to study excited baryons in the large $`N_c`$ limit CGKM ; PY ; Goity ; CCGL1 ; CCGL2 ; GSS ; CC1 ; CC2 . This approach uses quark model language and expresses the large $`N_c`$ constraints via identification of the $`N_c`$ scaling of operators. Formally, this is very similar to the techniques of Ref. DJM2 . An important distinction, however, is that Ref. DJM2  used quark model language only as simple tool for doing group theory and without any dynamical assumptions of the quark model, while the work of Refs. CGKM ; PY ; Goity ; CCGL1 ; CCGL2 ; GSS ; CC1 ; CC2  depends in part on quark model dynamics: it neglects coupling to decay channels and hence the widths of the baryons. Moreover, the analyses done so far are based on the dynamics of the simplest version of the quark model, i.e., the lowest-lying negative-parity states are described as being single-quark excitations without configuration mixing. In this picture the states discussed here have one quark carrying a single unit ($`\mathrm{}=1`$) of orbital excitation about an $`(N_c1)`$-quark core symmetric under spin$`\times `$flavor. For $`N_c=3`$ this produces the familiar SU(6) 70-plet, but for larger $`N_c`$ generates additional states.

Previous derivations of the multiplets were based directly on implementation of the large $`N_c`$ consistency rules PY  which, though intellectually elegant, is rather cumbersome. Here we show how to derive them us the simple operator methods of Refs. CCGL1 ; CCGL2 . Up to $`O(N_c^0)`$, 3 operators contribute to the Hamiltonian in this quark picture, denoted by $`=c_1𝟙+𝕔_\mathrm{𝟚}\mathrm{}𝕤+𝕔_\mathrm{𝟛}\mathrm{}^{(\mathrm{𝟚})}𝕘𝔾_𝕔/_𝕔`$, where lowercase indicates operators acting upon the excited quark, subscript $`c`$ indicates those acting upon the core, $`G^{ia}`$ denotes the combined spin-flavor operator $`q^{}\sigma ^i\tau ^aq`$, and $`\mathrm{}^{(2)}`$ is the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}=2`$ tensor operator. References CCGL1 ; CCGL2  elucidate this notation. We find that to leading order in $`1/N_c`$ all of the mass eigenvalues are given by only three linear combinations of these parameters:

$`m_0`$ $``$ $`c_1N_c(c_2+5/24c_3),`$
$`m_1`$ $``$ $`c_1N_c1/2(c_25/24c_3),`$
$`m_2`$ $``$ $`c_1N_c+1/2(c_21/24c_3).`$ (11)
For example, the Hamiltonian up to $`O(N_c^0)`$ for the two $`N_{1/2}`$ states is

$`H_{N_{1/2}}`$ $`=`$ $`(\overline{N}_{1/2}\overline{N}_{1/2}^{})𝐌_{N_{1/2}}(N_{1/2}N_{1/2}^{})^T,`$
$`𝐌_{N_{1/2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{ccc}c_1N_c\frac{2}{3}c_2& & \frac{1}{3\sqrt{2}}c_2\frac{5}{24\sqrt{2}}c_3\\ \frac{1}{3\sqrt{2}}c_2\frac{5}{24\sqrt{2}}c_3& & c_1N_c\frac{5}{6}c_2\frac{5}{48}c_3\end{array}\right).`$ (14)
where $`N_{1/2}`$ and $`N_{1/2}^{}`$ refer to unmixed negative-parity spin-1/2 nucleon states in the initial quark model basis. This may be obtained from Eqs. (A6)–(A8) or Table II of Ref. CCGL2  \[again including only contributions up to $`O(N_c^0)`$\]. Diagonalizing, one finds the masses of the two physical states are given by, $`M_{N_{1/2}}^{(1)}=m_0`$ and $`M_{N_{1/2}}^{(2)}=m_1`$. Note the surprising absence of square roots of terms quadratic in $`c_2`$ and $`c_3`$, which also implies simple analytic results for mixing angles as will be presented in our longer article on this work article .

Using analogous notation for the other states, we find $`M_{N_{3/2}}^{(1)}=m_2`$, $`M_{N_{3/2}}^{(2)}=m_1`$. The $`N_{5/2}`$ state is unmixed but also has a degenerate eigenvalue: $`M_{N_{5/2}}=m_2`$. For large $`N_c`$, the relevant $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ states of low spin are two $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2}`$’s (masses $`m_1`$ and $`m_2`$), three $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2}`$’s ($`m_0`$, $`m_1`$, and $`m_2`$), two $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2}`$’s ($`m_0`$ and $`m_1`$), and one $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2}`$ ($`m_2`$) (In comparison, the only $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$’s for $`N_c=3`$ are a single $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2}`$). These simple analytic expressions for the masses were not noted in previous work using this approach; those studies included the $`O(1/N_c)`$ terms in the Hamiltonian and then diagonalized numerically, obscuring the leading $`O(N_c^0)`$ result.

Clearly, the fact that all of the masses described by the model are given by either $`m_0`$, $`m_1`$, or $`m_2`$ to leading order in the $`1/N_c`$ expansion implies that at large $`N_c`$ the various states fall into degenerate multiplets. These multiplets, labeled by the mass, are given by

$`N_{1/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(m_0),`$ (16)
$`N_{1/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2},N_{3/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(m_1),`$ (17)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1/2},N_{3/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{3/2},N_{5/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2},\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2},`$ $`\mathrm{}`$ $`(m_2).`$ (18)
This multiplet structure is striking. Comparing the multiplet structures in Eqs. (16)-(18) predicted for the simple quark model with single-quark excitations to the structure seen for resonances derived directly from large $`N_c`$ QCD in Eqs. (7)-(10), it is apparent that the two are identical. The interpretation is simply that $`m_0`$ represents a pole mass appearing in the $`K=0`$ scattering amplitude, $`m_1`$ in $`K=1`$, and $`m_2`$ in $`K=2`$. The fact that these two pictures have the same multiplet structure at large $`N_c`$ implies that that even this simplest version of the quark model manages to capture at least some nontrivial aspects of QCD dynamics. This might help explain, in part, the surprising phenomenological successes of simple quark models.

In summary, we have shown, in a fully model-independent way, that in large $`N_c`$ QCD the masses and widths of excited baryons (as measured by their pole positions) form multiplets of states with degenerate masses and widths labeled by $`K`$. The quantum numbers of states in these multiplets are given in Eqs. (16)–(18). The $`K=0`$ ($`K=1`$) multiplet decouples from the $`\pi `$-$`N`$ ($`\eta `$-$`N`$) channel as $`N_c\mathrm{}`$, suggesting that $`N(1535)`$ is associated with $`K=0`$ while $`N(1650)`$ is associated with $`K=1`$. Simple quark models describing the lowest-lying excited baryons as single-quark excitations reproduce the same pattern of degenerate multiplets in the large $`N_c`$ limit as that seen directly in large $`N_c`$ QCD.

The authors thank Dan Pirjol for his communication with them pointing out the significance of Ref. PY . T.D.C. was supported by D.O.E. through grant DE-FGO2-93ER-40762; R.F.L. was supported by N.S.F. through grant PHY-0140362.


text:
# Blobby accretion in magnetic cataclysmic variables

## 1. Introduction

The idea about the blobby accretion in magnetic cataclysmic variables had appeared as an attempt to explain the flickering and the soft X-ray excess in such systems. The fast variability at a time-scale of dozens of seconds is well described by the “shot noise” model with an exponential decay of its auto-correlation function (ACF, Andronov 1994). The “shot noise” is interpreted as a result of accretion of large diamagnetic blobs (Beardmore & Osborne 1997; Kuijpers & Pringle 1982; Panek 1980).

Such blobs originate due to the Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, when a heavy fluid (matter) is opposed in the gravitation field to a light fluid (magnetic field).

The dynamical properties of such blobs were investigated by King (1993). The drag force, which has an influence on the trajectories of the blobs in magnetic field is expressed as follows:

$$f_{drag}=k[\stackrel{}{\nu }^{}(\stackrel{}{\nu }^{}\stackrel{}{b}^{})\stackrel{}{b}^{}]$$
(1)
The drag coefficient

$$k=\frac{B^2l^2}{c_Am}$$
(2)
is dependent on such parameters, as the magnetic field strength $`B`$, blob size $`l`$, blob mass $`m`$ and Alfvén velocity in interblob plasma $`c_A`$. Because the Alfvén velocity and the mass of the blob are expressed as

$$c_A=\frac{B}{\sqrt{4\pi \rho _i}},m=\frac{4}{3}\pi l^3\rho _b$$
(3)
where $`\rho _b`$ and $`\rho _i`$ are the densities of the blob and interblob plasma in the flow, respectively, the drag coefficient is expressed as

$$k=\frac{3B\rho ^{1/2}}{2\pi ^{1/2}\rho _bl}$$
(4)
In the models of accretion, the dipolar field configuration is usually assumed, although, it is not a precise approach.

Varying the parameters of density and size, we can achieve a good approach to the observations, comparing blob velocities with existing Doppler tomograms (e.g. Heerlein et al. 1999).

Possible differences between the blob parameters, such as mass and size (Wynn & King 1995), could lead the differences in locations of the active regions on the white dwarf surface and in the variability of the shot noise decay time.

If we calculate the blob trajectories with the range of sizes between $`10^8`$ to $`10^{10}`$ cm, then in the case of HU Aqr, we can obtain the next ideal dependence of the initial blob size on the azimuth on white dwarf surface (Fig.1).

Having such a clear picture of distribution of the blob sizes at the white dwarf surface, we can expect the smooth variability of the shot noise decay time. If we remove the orbital variability from our observations, we can calculate the biased ACF and, using the method described by Andronov (1994), we can calculate the exponential decay time for unbiased ACF.

During the fall onto the white dwarf’s surface, the blobs are deformed owed to tidal forces. The undisturbed size of a blob is expressed by Halevin et al.(2002b) as

$$l=\frac{\tau }{4}\left(\frac{2GM_{wd}}{r_{coup}}\right)^{1/2}$$
(5)
where $`r_{coup}`$ is the coupling distance and $`M_{wd}`$ is a mass of the white dwarf. One can see that the falling time of the blobs does not depend on the stopping height.

In the Fig.2, one can see the phase variability of the shot noise decay time for X-ray Ginga observations of AM Her. Although the data are significant, we do not see smooth variations, as expected.

To make more realistic model of blobby accretion in polars, we have used the SPH method. The pure hydrodynamical model was made by Cach & Howell (2002). Dynamical positions of the flow points at the Doppler tomogram is shown in Fig.3.

In our model, we have used the hydrodynamical parameters of the flow to make comparison between the gas pressure (not the ram one) and the magnetic pressure. When the magnetic pressure becomes larger than the gas pressure, we convert our SPH points into blobs.

Here we used computed from our model parameters of the flow with the formula of Hameury, King, & Lasota (1986) for the minimum scale of the structures which are unstable to the Rayleigh-Taylor mechanism

$$l=\frac{B_b^2r_b^2}{2GM_{wd}\rho _b}$$
(6)
where $`B_b`$ is magnetic field and $`r_b`$ is the distance of blob appearance. Substituting (6) to the (4), we obtain the expression for the drag force in the next form:

$$k=\frac{4\pi ^{1/2}GM_{wd}B\rho _i^{1/2}}{r_b^2B_b^2}$$
(7)
The very interesting result is that, under such assumptions, the drag force does not depend neither on the blob sizes nor on the blob density, but only on the magnetic field and the interblob plasma density, which we assumed to be a constant.

The modeled Doppler tomogram for HU Aqr is shown in Fig.4.

First of all, one can see that this model cannot explain the observed accretion curtain features. It will be possible, if we take into account the disruption of the blobs by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. In the next Fig.5, one can see the distribution of the accretion blob sizes on the white dwarf surface for the case of AM Her. There is already no strong dependence. However, possible effect is that large blobs can originate in outer parts of the accretion stream, and, hence, they will fall into outer parts of the active region on white dwarf surface.

Let analyze again the decay scale variability curves. The composite curves do not show strong dependencies. But some individual curves (as in the case of BY Cam) can show them.

Much more simpler can be the picture for the soft X-ray shot noise, because the source of this radiation is expected have a zero (or about) height.

Take a look at the size distribution (Fig.5). Because the sizes of the blobs are in inverse proportion with the blob density and the density is inversely proportional to the shock height, we can expect that this distribution is about to express also the shock height. Such distribution of the shock heights could explain the observed double humped orbital soft X-ray variability of AM Her (Christian 2000) as absorption by higher shocks.

Under our assumptions, larger blobs have smaller densities. As we know from the work of Fisher & Beuermann (2001), for larger accretion rate per unit area, the maximum of cyclotron radiation shifts to the shorter wavelengths. So we can expect, that in blue wavelengths we can observe accretion of the shorter blobs, that has been already discovered by Beardmore & Osborne (1997).

So, let me show the final results of investigations of the shot noise decay time in magnetic cataclysmic variables (Table 1). For AM Her and EF Eri, we have analysed the X-ray variability and detected the mean decay times of about 70 s.

From optical observations in V and R band for BY Cam and QQ Vul, the systems with higher magnetic fields, the decay time is smaller. For AR UMa, we could not find the shot noise because the system was in its low state. But it can be the consequence of the high magnetic field and the full disruption of the blobs by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

So, the main our future perspectives are:
$``$Advanced models with Kelvin-Helmholtz disruption.
$``$Investigations of the shot noise behavior in soft X-rays.
$``$Investigations of the systems with different magnetic fields, especially high-field polars.
$``$Analysis of the long term behavior of the shot noise parameters.

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