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# Quasiparticle density of states of 𝑑-wave superconductors in a disordered vortex lattice

## Abstract

We calculate the density of states of a disordered inhomogeneous $`d`$-wave superconductor in a magnetic field. The field-induced vortices are assumed to be pinned at random positions and the effects of the scattering of the quasi-particles off the vortices are taken into account using the singular gauge transformation of Franz and Tešanović. We find two regimes for the density of states: at very low energies the density of states follows a law $`\rho (ϵ)\rho _0+\beta |ϵ|^\alpha `$ where the exponent is close to $`1`$. A good fit of the density of states is obtained at higher energies, excluding a narrow region around the origin, with a similar power law energy dependence but with $`\alpha `$ close to $`2`$. Both at low and at higher energies $`\rho _0`$ scales with the inverse of the magnetic length ($`l^1\sqrt{B}`$).

The effect of disorder on the low-energy density of states of $`d`$-wave superconductors has been a subject of considerable recent interest both for practical and for theoretical reasons report . From the practical point of view the presence of disorder pinning mechanisms is important to prevent energy dissipation due to the motion of the vortices in an external field. From the theoretical point of view several conflicting predictions have appeared in the literature. Some progress toward understanding the disparity of theoretical results has been achieved realising that the details of the type of disorder affect significantly the density of states report . In contrast to conventional gapped $`s`$-wave superconductors, the presence of gapless nodes in $`d`$-wave superconductors leads to power law behavior for the low-$`T`$ thermodynamic properties and is expected to affect the transport properties. Linearizing the spectrum around the four Dirac-like nodes it has been suggested that the system is critical. It was obtained that the density of states is of the type $`\rho (ϵ)|ϵ|^\alpha `$, where $`\alpha `$ is a non-universal exponent dependent on the disorder, and that the low energy modes are extended states (critical metal) NTW . Taking into account the effects of inter-nodal scattering (hard-scattering) it has been shown that an insulating state is obtained instead, where the density of states still vanishes at low energy but with an exponent $`\alpha =1`$ independent of disorder Senthil . The addition of time-reversal breaking creates two new classes designated spin quantum Hall effect I and II, due to their similarities to the usual quantum Hall effect, corresponding to the hard and soft scattering cases, respectively report . The proposed formation of a pairing with a symmetry of the type $`d+id`$ breaks time-inversion symmetry did  but up to now remains a theoretical possibility. On the other hand applying an external magnetic field naturally breaks time-reversal invariance and therefore it is important to study the density of states in this case.

Moreover, the interaction between the superconductor quasiparticles and the vortices induced by the external magnetic field has also been a subject of considerable debate Gorkov ; Anderson ; FT . In the presence of the vortices the quasiparticles feel the combined effect of the external magnetic field and of the spatially varying field of the chiral supercurrents. Performing a gauge transformation to effectively reduce the system to one in a zero average magnetic field it was shown FT  that the natural low energy modes are Bloch waves rather than the Dirac Landau levels proposed in Gorkov ; Anderson . These results also showed that the quasiparticles besides feeling a Doppler shift caused by the moving supercurrents Volovik  (scalar potential) also feel a quantum “Berry” like term due to an Aharonov-Bohm scattering of the quasiparticles by the vortices (vector potential).

In this Letter we will be concerned with the effect of positional vortex disorder on the density of states of a superconductor in an external magnetic field. The density of states of a dirty but homogeneous $`s`$-wave superconductor in a high magnetic field where the scattering of the quasiparticles off scalar impurities was considered using a Landau level basis Dukan . For small amounts of disorder it was found that $`\rho (ϵ)ϵ^2`$ but when the disorder is higher than some critical value a finite density of states is created at the Fermi surface. In the same regime of high magnetic fields but with randomly pinned vortices and no impurities the density of states at low energies increases significantly with respect to the lattice case suggesting a finite value at zero energy Sacramento . Refs. Ye ; Khveshchenko  considered the effects of random and statistically independent scalar and vector potentials on $`d`$-wave quasiparticles and it was predicted Khveshchenko  that at low energies $`\rho (ϵ)\rho _0+aϵ^2`$, where $`\rho _0B^{1/2}`$. To our knowledge the effect of randomly pinned discrete vortices on the spectrum of a $`d`$-wave superconductor has not been addressed previously.

We will consider the lattice formulation of a disordered $`d`$-wave superconductor in a magnetic field. We start from the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equations $`\psi =ϵ\psi `$ where $`\psi ^{}(𝐫)=(u^{}(𝐫),v^{}(𝐫))`$ and where the matrix Hamiltonian is given by

$$=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\widehat{h}& \widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}\\ \widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{}& \widehat{h}^{}\end{array}\right)$$

with FT ; PRB

$`\widehat{h}`$ $`=`$ $`t{\displaystyle \underset{𝜹}{}}e^{\frac{ie}{\mathrm{}c}_𝐫^{𝐫+𝜹}𝐀(𝐫)𝑑𝐥}\widehat{s}_𝜹ϵ_F`$
$`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0{\displaystyle \underset{𝜹}{}}e^{\frac{i}{2}\varphi (𝐫)}\widehat{\eta }_𝜹e^{\frac{i}{2}\varphi (𝐫)}.`$ (1)
The sums are over nearest neighbors ($`𝜹=\pm 𝐱,\pm 𝐲`$ on the square lattice); $`𝐀(𝐫)`$ is the vector potential, $`\widehat{s}_𝜹u(𝐫)=u(𝐫+𝜹)`$, $`\widehat{\eta }_𝜹=1/4`$ for $`s`$-wave pairing and $`\widehat{\eta }_𝜹=(1)^{\delta _y}\widehat{s}_𝜹`$ for $`d`$-wave pairing. In eq. (1) we have factorized the phase of the order parameter and have taken the London limit assuming that the amplitude $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is constant everywhere in space, which is valid in the regime of low fields where the size of the vortex cores is negligible. It is convenient to perform a singular gauge transformation to eliminate the phase of the off-diagonal term in the matrix Hamiltonian. In such a way the magnetic field is compensated by an array of opposing half-fluxes. We carry out the unitary transformation FT  $`𝒰^1U`$, where

$$𝒰=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\varphi _A(𝐫)}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\varphi _B(𝐫)}\end{array}\right)$$

with $`\varphi _A(𝐫)+\varphi _B(𝐫)=\varphi (𝐫)`$. The vortices are separated into two groups $`A`$ and $`B`$ positioned at $`\{𝐫_i^A\}_{i=1,N_A}`$ and $`\{𝐫_i^B\}_{i=1,N_B}`$ such that the vortices $`A`$ are only visible to the particles and the vortices $`B`$ are only visible to the holes. The phase fields $`\varphi _{\mu =A,B}`$ are defined through $`\mathbf{}\times \mathbf{}\varphi _\mu (𝐫)=2\pi \widehat{z}_i\delta (𝐫𝐫_i^\mu )`$. The resulting system is effectively in a magnetic field $`𝐁_{eff}^\mu =𝐁\varphi _0\widehat{z}_i\delta (𝐫𝐫_i^\mu )`$ that vanishes on average if $`N_A=N_B`$. Under the unitary transformation the BdG equations convert in the $`d`$-wave case to PRB

$`t{\displaystyle \underset{\delta }{}}e^{i𝒱_𝜹^A(𝐫)}u(𝐫+𝜹)ϵ_Fu(𝐫)+\mathrm{\Delta }_0{\displaystyle \underset{\delta }{}}e^{i𝒜_𝜹(𝐫)}(1)^{\delta _y}v(𝐫+𝜹)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵu(𝐫)`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_0{\displaystyle \underset{\delta }{}}e^{i𝒜_𝜹(𝐫)}(1)^{\delta _y}u(𝐫+𝜹)+t{\displaystyle \underset{\delta }{}}e^{i𝒱_𝜹^B(𝐫)}v(𝐫+𝜹)+ϵ_Fv(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵv(𝐫)`$ (2)
where the phase factors are given by PRB  $`𝒱_𝜹^\mu (𝐫)=_𝐫^{𝐫+𝜹}𝐤_s^\mu 𝑑𝐥`$ and $`𝒜_𝜹(𝐫)=\frac{1}{2}_𝐫^{𝐫+𝜹}\left(𝐤_s^A𝐤_s^B\right)𝑑𝐥`$. Here $`\mathrm{}𝐤_s^\mu =m𝐯_s^\mu =\mathrm{}\mathbf{}\varphi _\mu \frac{e}{c}𝐀`$, where $`𝐤_s^\mu `$ is the superfluid wave vector for the $`\mu `$-supercurrent. This quantity can be calculated for an arbitrary configuration of vortices PRB  like

$$𝐤_s^\mu (𝐫)=2\pi \frac{d^2k}{(2\pi )^2}\frac{i𝐤\times 𝐳}{k^2+\lambda ^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N_\mu }{}}e^{i𝐤(𝐫𝐫_i^\mu )}.$$
(3)
Here $`\lambda `$ is the magnetic penetration length and the sum extends over all vortex positions. The BdG equations are then solved taking an arbitrary configuration of vortices and the density of states is calculated in the standard way. The average over disorder is then carried out calculating the density of states for each vortex configuration and then performing the average on the density of states over $`100`$ different configurations.

The situation where the vortices are regularly distributed in a lattice was treated before PRB . Since the average magnetic field vanishes it is possible to solve the BdG equations using a standard Bloch basis since the supercurrent velocities are periodic in space and there is no need to consider the magnetic Brillouin zone. Taking the continuum limit and linearizing the spectrum around each node effectively decouples the nodes. It was shown that the low-energy quasiparticles are then naturally described as Bloch waves and not Dirac-Landau levels as previously proposed Gorkov ; Anderson . However, it was found that in the linearized problem different assignments of the $`A`$ and $`B`$ vortices lead to somewhat different spectra, which was unexpected PRB . It was found that taking the theory on the lattice regularized this problem and indeed the system has a manifest internal gauge symmetry such that the spectrum is independent of the $`A`$-$`B`$ vortex assignments, as it should be. Moreover, the lattice formulation explicitly involves internodal contributions which, as discussed above, are important for the properties of the density of states in the disordered case. In the vortex lattice case, however, it was found that only in special commensurate cases (for the square lattice) the inclusion of the internodal contributions is relevant since only in such cases a gap develops due to the interference terms between the various nodes, estimated to be of the order of $`\sqrt{B}`$. In a general incommensurate case the interference is not relevant leading to qualitatively similar spectra. The spectrum is gapless with a linear density of states at low energy PRB . One would therefore expect that in a general disordered vortex case internodal scattering might not be relevant (particularly for high Dirac cone anisotropy $`t/\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$).

We consider a square lattice with lattice constant $`\delta `$ (taken as $`1`$), where the electron hopping is described by Hamiltonian (1). Application of the external magnetic field generates vortices which are placed at the center of a plaquette (unit cell). The number of vortices in the two-dimensional system of size $`L\times L`$ is proportional to the quantized magnetic flux piercing through the system. We parametrize the intensity of the magnetic field by the ratio of the number of vortices, $`N_\varphi `$, (divided equally in two groups $`A`$ and $`B`$) by the number of lattice sites $`B=\frac{N_\varphi }{L\times L}`$. The $`N_\varphi `$ vortices are distributed randomly over the $`L\times L`$ plaquettes. We consider then periodic boundary conditions and solve the BdG equations numerically. We consider $`\lambda \mathrm{}`$. In this limit the repulsive interaction between vortices is not screened and therefore the vortex distribution is not strictly arbitrary. We assume that the pinning centers are strong enough to overcome the vortex repulsion. We have checked that the case with a random distribution of vortices is qualitatively the same as for the case where the vortex positions are allowed to vary with a radius of a few unit cells around a lattice position. We find that, as the disorder is introduced, the low energy density of states generally increases.

In Figure 1 we show the density of states for the cases of a weak ($`B=1/200`$) and of a strong magnetic field ($`B=1/2`$; for this high value the density of vortices is high and strictly we are in a regime where the size of the vortex cores can not be neglected). In the case of a strong magnetic field the Landau level structure at high energies is clear and it extends to low energies superimposed by the effects of disorder and the effect of the low-energy modes close to the $`d`$-wave nodes. At weak fields the density of states is small at low energies having a dip close to zero energy. We have checked for finite size effects on the spectrum. For system sizes larger than $`16\times 16`$ the density of states at not very low energies converges and the finite size dependence is negligible. In Figure 2 we show the density of states for a system with size $`20\times 20`$ and for various magnetic fields. The density of states at small energies is finite up to quite small energies where there is a dip to a value that decreases as the magnetic field decreases. Only for quite small magnetic fields the density of states approaches zero at the origin. Neglecting the narrow region close to the origin we have fitted the density of states using the power law

$$\rho (ϵ)=\rho _0+\beta |ϵ|^\alpha .$$
(4)
In the inset of Figure 2 we show the fits for the various values of the magnetic field. Reasonable fits are obtained taking $`\alpha 2`$ and we obtain that $`\rho _0B^{1/2}`$. In Figure 3 we show the magnetic field dependence of the parameters of the fit for different system sizes $`L=10,12,16,20`$. The various system sizes fit in the same universal curve indicating that the finite size effects are negligible. Note that in the lattice case the density of states at low energies is linear FT ; Marinelli ; PRB ; AV  (this result differs from the behavior obtained by others for a $`d`$-wave superconductor with no disorder Volovik ; Wang , where $`\rho (ϵ0)B^{1/2}`$). The finite density of states at zero energy is therefore a consequence of finite disorder.

In Figure 4 we focus on the narrow region close to $`ϵ=0`$ for the same set of parameters considered in Figure 2. Except for the lowest field case $`B=1/200`$ the density of states seems to be finite at zero energy. The particular field density of $`B=1/200`$ corresponds to only two vortices (since the size of the system is $`20\times 20`$). As shown in Marinelli  in this case the spectrum is usually gapped and therefore the density of states vanishes at zero energy. Performing a fit like in eq. (4) we obtain an exponent which is now close to $`1`$. In this regime $`\rho _{0\mathrm{d}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{p}}`$ also scales with $`\sqrt{B}`$ and the slope scales linearly with $`B`$. In this low energy regime the finite size effects are still noticeable but the dependence on the magnetic field is common to the various system sizes. At these low energies the density of states for the various system sizes appears to be of the following approximate form $`\rho (ϵ)(1/\omega _H)(1/l^2)\left((ϵ/\omega _H)(\delta ^2/l^2)\right)`$, where $`\omega _H\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }_0B}`$ and $``$ is a universal function. In the left panel of Figure 4 we show $`\rho (ϵ)`$ for various fields while in the right panel we illustrate the near scaling at low energies consistent with $`(x)c_1+c_2x`$ at small $`x`$. In Figure 5 we show the field dependence of the slope of $`\rho (ϵ)`$ and of the zero energy density of states. Note that $`\beta (B0)`$ (Fig. 5) appears to be small but finite, consistent with a crossover to a “Dirac node” scaling ($`\rho (ϵ)(1/\omega _H)(1/l^2)\left(ϵ/\omega _H\right)`$) at very low fields.

In summary, we have calculated the density of states of a disordered $`d`$-wave superconductor in a pinned vortex array. Both the disorder and the magnetic field fill the density of states at low energies. In general we find a finite density of states at zero energy except in the limit of very small magnetic fields. The density of states deviates from the zero energy value by a power law. Excluding a narrow region close to zero energy a good fit is obtained with an exponent close to $`2`$. Performing the same type of fit at very low energies a good fit is obtained with an exponent close to $`1`$. In the very low magnetic field limit the dip of the density of states is more pronounced. The zero energy density of states scales with the inverse of the magnetic length ($`\sqrt{B}`$). Except for the zero energy finite value the energy dependence of the density of states in the case with disorder is similar to the lattice case. This suggests that the vortex disorder does not dramatically affect the density of states at low energies. A preliminary analysis of the inverse participation ratio indicates that the states are still extended, as in the lattice case. Our results for the lowest and zero energies are clearly most susceptible to finite size effects- we will report on a detailed study of this region separately. In the gapped $`s`$-wave case however the disorder introduces states in the gap thereby changing qualitatively the low energy density of states, as in the high field limit Sacramento . These results will be presented elsewhere.

We acknowledge correspondence with D. Khveshchenko regarding ref. Khveshchenko . This work was supported in part by NSF grant DMR00-94981 (ZT) and by FCT Fellowship SFRH/BPD/5602/2001 (JL).


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# Circumstellar Interaction Around Supernovae

## 1 Introduction

During their lifetimes, massive stars undergo mass loss during various evolutionary phases. When they finally end their lives as supernovae, the interaction reveals the mass loss processes leading up to the explosion. and the structure of the exploding star. Recent multiwavelength observations have revealed many facets of the interaction and we now have observations showing circumstellar interaction around all types of massive star supernovae. Circumstellar interaction can be related to late massive star evolution and to the physical processes in the dense gas interaction. Analysis of the radio and X-ray emission from supernovae yields the energy in high velocity ejecta and can be used to set limits on the amount of relativistic ejecta; the relation of supernovae to gamma-ray bursts can thus be explored.

A recent review of circumstellar interaction with an emphasis on the relevant physical processes is in CF02 . Here, I briefly review recent developments, emphasizing the relation of circumstellar interaction to the various supernova types. In § 2, I discuss the wide range of multiwavelength observations of circumstellar interaction that is now available. Interaction around the various types of supernovae is discussed in § 3. Conclusions are in § 4.

## 2 Multiwavelength observations of interaction

One of the most sensitive ways of finding or observing supernovae with circumstellar interaction is through their nonthermal, radio synchrotron emission. The radio light curves of extragalactic supernovae show an early absorbed phase, so that there is a rise to a maximum followed by an approximately power law decline W02 . Fig. 1 shows the relationship between the observed peak luminosity and the age at peak luminosity (from C98 , with updates). Recent detections are SN 2001ig Ry01 , SN 2001gd St02 , and SN 2002ap B02 . All types of massive star supernovae are represented, including Type Ib/c which are thought to have lost their hydrogen envelopes before the explosion, Type IIb which have lost almost all their hydrogen envelopes before the explosion, Type IIn with narrow line optical emission, Type IIL with linear optical light curves, Type IIP with plateau light curves, and the peculiar SN 1987A. Interestingly, the different types of supernovae populate different parts of this diagram. Although the numbers are still small, some trends are showing up in the interaction properties. The Type Ib/c supernovae peak early and have a range of luminosity, while the Type IIL and Type IIn SNe peak late and also have a range of luminosity. The Type IIb are intermediate between these and the one Type IIP is of low luminosity. The early peak of the Type Ib/c supernovae is an indication that their radio emitting regions expand relatively rapidly C98 .

The other wavelength region where young supernova remnants are broadly observed is X-rays. Fig. 2 shows the relation between the X-ray and radio luminosity of young remnants. Here, the radio luminosity is estimated from $`\nu L_\nu `$ at 5 GHz. X-ray emission has been detected from the full range of massive star supernovae, and there is a clear correlation of the X-ray and radio emission. The X-ray luminosities, primarily from IL02 , are not all in the same X-ray band, but this should not have a large effect on the correlation. X-ray line emission has been detected in a number of cases (SN 1987A Mi02 , SN 1986J He98 , SN 1993J Sw02 , SN 1998S Pe02 , Cas A), showing that the emission is thermal, at least in these cases. The correlation of the X-ray and radio emission shows that both of these give a measure of the strength of circumstellar interaction, even though they involve different radiation mechanisms. Radio emission provides a good indicator of whether a particular event is suitable for observation with the space missions Chandra and XMM.

At UVOIR (ultraviolet/optical/infrared) wavelengths, circumstellar interaction is generally not observed in Type Ib/c and Type IIP supernovae, but is observed in the spectra of Type IIL, IIb, and IIn supernovae. The reason appears to be the relatively low densities and high velocities present in Type Ib/c and Type IIP supernovae, so that radiative shock waves are not present; in addition, the X-ray luminosities are not sufficient to illuminate the expanding ejecta to observable levels. In the cases with stronger circumstellar interaction, UVOIR emission is potentially observable from shocked, cooled gas, from freely expanding ejecta, and from unshocked circumstellar gas. In the case of SN 1995N, all of these components have been observed Fe01 ; ultraviolet HST observations are especially useful for observing the ejecta.

Strong infrared emission, presumably from dust, has been observed from the Type IIL supernovae SN 1979C and 1980K D83  and, recently, from a number of Type IIn supernovae Fa00 ; Di94 ; Ge02 . The preferred explanation has been emission from radiatively heated circumstellar dust. Another possible source of emission is collisionally heated dust in the hot, shocked gas, as is observed in a number of Galactic supernova remnants, including Cas A D87 . The high observed luminosity implies that the source is not dust formed in the freely expanding ejecta.

## 3 Circumstellar interaction and supernova types

### 3.1 Type Ib/c supernovae and “hypernovae”

The best observed Type Ic supernova was SN 1994I in M51, which had a rapid decline after maximum light and can be interpreted as an explosion with an ejecta mass of only $`0.9M_{}`$ Iw94 ; Yo95 . It is the only normal Type Ic supernova to have been detected in X-rays I98 ; I02 . Chevalier C98  applied a synchrotron self-absorption model to the available radio data on SN 1994I and found an implied shock radius of about $`1.2\times 10^{16}`$ cm at an age of 36 days, giving a shock velocity of $`39,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Application of the asymptotic power law density profile of MM99  ($`\rho r^{10.1}`$) yields an outer shock radius $`R=1.7\times 10^{16}(M/M_{})^{0.32}(E/10^{51}\mathrm{ergs})^{0.44}(\dot{M}_5/v_{w3})^{0.12}`$ cm, where $`M`$ is the ejecta mass, $`E`$ is the explosion energy, $`\dot{M}_5=\dot{M}/10^5M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ is the mass loss rate, and $`v_{w3}=v_w/10^3\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ is the wind velocity B02 . The approximate agreement of the hydrodynamic model with the radio radius may be improved by using a more accurate density model for the exploded star, because the density profile is not fully in the asymptotic power law regime for such a small mass star. Immler et al. I02  have used Chandra observations of SN 1994I to deduce a presupernova mass loss rate of $`1\times 10^5M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1(v_w/10\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1)`$. For a Wolf-Rayet star wind velocity $`v_w10^3\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, the inferred mass loss rate of $`1\times 10^3M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ is surprisingly high. However, Immler et al. I02  used a model for the interaction from Chevalier C84 , which was developed before the recognition of Type Ib/c supernovae as a separate type and was based on a Type Ia interpretation. If the high mass loss rate holds up in a more detailed model, it may be evidence for mass loss from a companion star, as has previously been suggested based on radio observations of Type Ib/c supernovae vD93 .

Much attention has recently been focused on Type Ic supernovae because of the occurrence of SN 1998bw, apparently associated with the gamma-ray burst GRB 980425 Ge98 . The strong radio emission from the source at early times (Fig. 1) implied the presence of relativistic motions, further supporting the GRB connection K98 ; Li99 . SN 1998bw also had an unusual optical spectrum, with velocities in lines extending out to $`60,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ Ge98 . The interpretation of the supernova light curve and spectra led to an explosion energy estimate of $`(24)\times 10^{52}`$ ergs, extraordinarily high for a supernova Iw98 ; Wo99 . Other Type Ic supernovae have been discovered with broad lines in their spectra, including SN 1997ef, SN 2002ap, and SN 2002bl. Because of the high energies inferred for these events, Mazzali et al. Ma02  and others have called these objects hypernovae.

Outside of SN 1998bw, broad-lined Type Ic supernovae have not been directly connected with GRBs. In the case of SN 2002ap, there are limits on any corresponding GRB Hu02 . Despite its broad line spectrum, SN 2002ap was a weaker radio source than the normal SN 1994I (Fig. 1; B02 ). Its position in Fig. 1 indicates a higher $`M_{ej}`$ or lower $`E`$ than SN 1994I, plus a lower circumstellar density. The model of Mazzali et al. Ma02  has $`M_{ej}=2.4M_{}`$, which can account for part of the difference, but there is no evidence for the high energy ($`4\times 10^{51}`$ ergs) that they infer for the explosion. X-ray observations of SN 2002ap with XMM also showed a surprisingly low luminosity Ro02 . This emission is sensitive to the distribution of high velocity gas and thus sets additional constraints to those obtained from optical observations. Sutaria et al. Su02  suggested that inverse Compton is the most likely X-ray emission mechanism because of the relatively soft spectrum of the source. Approximate modeling of the radio emission in B02  showed that the energy in high velocity ejecta is small. The claim of high energies in broad line SN Ic is based on modeling the broad optical absorption lines. However, the radio emission probably gives a more direct estimate of the energy in high velocity ejecta and the possible relation to GRBs. The broad line Type Ic SN 2002bl was also a much weaker radio source than SN 1998bw Be02 .

The combination of radio and X-ray observations with a hydrodynamic model for the exploded star that is consistent with the observed optical supernova emission should make it possible to estimate the mass loss density around the supernova progenitor. This information will be useful in determining the progenitor evolution leading to an explosion. Type Ib/c supernovae occur at higher rates than expected for single stars that have lost their envelopes and binary evolution is a likely factor (e.g., We99 ). The mass loss properties remain uncertain parameters for the presupernova evolution of these objects.

### 3.2 Type IIb supernovae

The Type IIb supernova SN 1993J was in M81 at a distance of only about 3.6 Mpc and has become the second best observed case of circumstellar interaction, after SN 1987A. The exploded star in this case is thought to be an initially $`1215M_{}`$ star that lost most of its envelope mass as a result of binary interaction No93 ; Wo94 .

VLBI imaging shows an approximately symmetric, but variable, shell of radio emission B00 . The ratio of shell thickness to radius is $`\mathrm{\Delta }R/R0.3`$ M95 , which is larger than expected in standard interaction models C82a . A possible explanation is that inhomogenities in the wind lead to a broader region. Although this specific situation has not been modeled, there is evidence that shock interaction with a clumpy medium gives rise to a broader, more turbulent shocked medium than would otherwise be present JJN96 . Relatively large scale inhomogeneities may be related to the variability that has been observed in the radio structure B00 . An examination of the optical line profiles of the supernova also gives an indication of inhomogeneity. Without inhomogeneities, the corrugation of the reverse shock wave is relatively small CBE92 , which would produce a more box-like H$`\alpha `$ line than was observed M00b .

There has been some confusion regarding the ambient density profile for SN 1993J. Assuming a form $`\rho _wr^s`$, both radio vD94 ; FLC96 ; M97 ; Mi01  and X-ray I01  studies have led to $`s=1.51.7`$. This is a surprising result because it implies a mass loss rate decreasing as a power law in time leading up to the supernova; Immler et al. I01  deduce a gradual reduction in $`\dot{M}`$ by $`>10`$ based on the X-ray light curve from $`\mathrm{𝑅𝑂𝑆𝐴𝑇}`$ observations. However, the initial radio studies assumed that free-free absorption was the primary absorption process. Fransson & Björnsson FB98  showed that other physical processes, especially synchrotron self-absorption, are important for the radio curve and a detailed model yields $`s=2`$, which is the expected value close to a massive star. The X-ray result of Immler et al. I01  appears to be due to an interpretation of the slowly decaying X-ray flux in terms of an adiabatic shocked region. In fact, the soft X-ray emission in the $`\mathrm{𝑅𝑂𝑆𝐴𝑇}`$ band is dominated by emission from the reverse shock, which we expect to be radiative FLC96 . The X-ray spectra from ASCA give further evidence for a cool shell formed downstream from a radiative shock Un02 . In the radiative case with $`s=2`$, the X-ray emission is expected to be relatively constant when it is not absorbed CF94 . Swartz et al. Sw02  have obtained a Chandra spectrum of SN 1993J at an age of 7 years. It shows cool and hot components that can be identified with the reverse shock wave and the forward shock, respectively. The cool component itself requires two temperature components (0.35 and 1.01 keV) to fit the spectrum. This may be an indication that the emission is from a radiatively cooling shock front.

### 3.3 Type IIn/IIL supernovae

The Type IIn and IIL designations are not necessarily distinct; for example, SN 1998S had a light curve that led to a IIL designation L00 , but also had narrow lines, leading to a IIn designation Le00 . SN 1995N and SN 1998S are the best observed recent supernovae in the IIn category. There have been recent HST Fe01  and X-ray Fo00 ; Pe02  observations of these supernovae. They both have X-ray luminosities in the range $`10^{40}10^{41}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, are strong radio emitters, and show narrow lines in their optical spectra. Both supernovae show evidence for the reverse shock front moving into heavy element rich gas. In the case of SN 1995N, the UV/optical spectra show evidence for emission from photoionized gas just inside the reverse shock front, including the OI $`\lambda `$7774 recombination line, but there is no H emission associated with this component Fe01 . Chandra spectra for SN 1995N are not yet available, but summed Chandra spectra of SN 1998S show evidence for an overabundance of the Si group elements Pe02 . Thus, although these supernovae were of Type II, with hydrogen in their spectra at early times, they developed evidence for a reverse shock front moving into enriched material within several years of the explosion. In addition, Leonard et al. Le00  noted that the photospheric spectrum of SN 1998S at an age of 25 days resembled that of a Type Ic supernova, with absorption lines of OI $`\lambda `$7774 and SiII $`\lambda `$6355 and weak H$`\alpha `$ emission. The implication is that strong mass loss just before the supernova almost entirely removed the hydrogen envelope.

Additional observations of SN 1998S have shown a number of interesting features. The evolution of the optical spectrum has been interpreted as indicating several regions of mass loss through which the supernova shock front is moving Le00 ; Fa00 . The supernova, which was discovered on 3 March, 1998, showed symmetric broad lines with FWZI (full width at zero intensity) of $`20,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ until 12 March, 1998. The sudden disappearance of the lines can be interpreted as due to the shock wave overtaking an inner dense region. Chugai C01  has recently interpreted the broad lines as due to scattering in a dense circumstellar medium out to $`10^{15}`$ cm. This requires $`\dot{M}_5/v_{w1}\stackrel{}{\stackrel{>}{}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}300}`$ in this region. Leonard et al. Le00  find little evidence for subsequent circumstellar interaction until an age of 108 days. The later X-ray and radio observations imply $`\dot{M}_5/v_{w1}(1020)`$ Pe02 . An early infrared excess implies the presence of circumstellar dust Fa00 , which places additional constraints on the circumstellar density and dust content.

Fassia et al. Fa01  observed narrow emission lines and inferred that the outer circumstellar medium had a velocity of $`4050\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. From the time evolution and velocities, they inferred that the outer wind started at least 170 years ago, stopped about 20 years ago, and the inner dense wind may have started less than 9 years ago. The variability might be related to the mass loss variability observed in late type stars.

The structure of red supergiant winds is uncertain, because they are generally quite distant. However, red giant AGB (asymptotic giant branch) stars are known to have a semi-periodic shell structure, observed in scattered light (e.g., IRC +10216, MH00 ) as well as in the HST images of several planetary nebulae (e.g., B01 ). The characteristic time scale for the shells, several 100 years, is indicative of an instability in the acceleration mechanism for the wind. Similar mass loss processes are likely to occur in red supergiants; the mass loss characteristics of IRC +10216 are $`v_w=14\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`\dot{M}=2\times 10^5M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$, which are comparable to values for red supergiants. The shell properties for IRC +10216 can be determined from observations of dust scattered light MH00 . The shells have a density contrast of a factor 3 over the rest of the wind and contain a substantial fraction of the total mass in the wind. If the supernova is expanding at $`10^4\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, the interaction should lead to structure in the supernova light curves on a timescale of $`100`$ days.

It is also possible that the mass loss properties are determined by the late nuclear burning phases just before the explosion. When there is very little H envelope left on a star, the nuclear processes can play a role in the mass loss properties. Both SN 1995N and SN 1998S appear to have exploded at a time of strong mass loss when the H envelope was almost entirely lost. SN 1993J also exploded with a modest H envelope (few $`0.1M_{}`$); in this case, the small envelope mass has been attributed to binary interaction No93 ; Wo94 . However, the mass loss from the envelope should then be especially strong when the star first becomes a red supergiant and is not very powerful at the time of the explosion. SN 1993J in fact had strong mass loss at the time of the explosion and in the cases of SN 1995N and SN 1998S, the mass loss was even stronger. These observations suggest the possibility that the heightened luminosity in the late burning stages plays a role in driving the strong mass loss that leads to the loss of the H envelope.

### 3.4 Type IIP supernovae

There is little evidence for circumstellar interaction around Type IIP supernovae, but the evidence that we have indicates a low circumstellar density. Fig. 1 shows the relatively low radio luminosity of SN 1999em. The X-ray luminosity of SN 1999em is correspondingly low (Fig. 2; Pe02 ) and the X-ray luminosity of the Type IIP SN 1999gi is similarly low Sc01 . Approximate models for the X-ray emission lead to a mass loss rate of $`(12)\times 10^6M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1(v_w/10\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1)`$.

Information on the initial mass of supernovae comes from studies of their stellar environments, especially with HST; such studies have been carried out for the Type IIP SNe 1999em and 1999gi Sme02 . These studies indicate that these Type IIP supernovae may have come from $`812M_{}`$ stars. Type IIP supernovae are compatible with single star evolution and initial masses $`815M_{}`$ and relatively little mass loss during the evolution. This is consistent with the evolutionary models of Schaller et al. Sc92  who find that these stars end their lives as RSGs with $`\dot{M}2\times 10^6M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$, in agreement with the properties noted above.

## 4 Conclusions

Early circumstellar interaction gives rise to a number of interesting physical processes in dense media, including radiative $`1,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ shock waves, particle acceleration in fast shock waves, and the emission of infrared dust echoes. The conditions in circumstellar interaction approach those in quasars; in fact, some supernovae which are likely circumstellar interactors have spectra similar to Seyfert galaxies Fi89 , but the physical situation is better understood for the supernova case. Analysis of the observations shows the mass loss processes leading to the supernova.

The observational support for these studies is promising. The Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray missions have made the X-ray emission from nearby supernovae accessible. SOFIA and SIRTF should contribute to our understanding of infrared dust emission from supernovae. Together with ground-based observations, the detailed picture of supernova interaction with circumstellar matter should give considerable insight into the late evolution of massive stars.

I am grateful to Claes Fransson for collaboration and discussion of these topics. This research was supported in part by NASA grant NAG 5-8232 and grant GO-08648.03-A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.


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# On Tripolar Magnetic Reconnection and Coronal Heating

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Recently (Aschwanden, 2001) has used Yohkoh, Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE) observations in the evaluation of coronal heating models for active regions. He focusses on three main results obtained from aforesaid spacecrafts, namely, the overdensity of coronal loops, chromospheric upflows of heated plasma and the localization of heating in the lower corona. He examines various A.C. and D.C. models on the basis of above criteria. In D.C. models he considers bipolar, tripolar and quadrupolar magnetic reconnection and favours tripolar magnetic reconnection where magnetic reconnection between two polarities of a closed and the unipolar footpoint of an open field line may take place. Such a situation may arise due the emergence of a new dipole in an open field region or by the collision of the footpoint of an open field line with an adjacent dipole. In this case the open field line can carry hot plasma upward into the upper corona, regardless of the size of the interacting dipole. Thus tripolar reconnection is highly relevant for the coronal heating especially for open field regions such as coronal holes.

(Chae et al., 2000) have studied transient network brightenings (blinkers) and explosive events in the solar transition region, recorded by the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) in the line O V $`\lambda `$ 630 and Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) instrument in the line Si IV $`\lambda `$ 1402 together with the photospheric magnetograms taken by the Big Bear Solar Observatory videomagnetograph. They find that the explosive events (which are features with very broad UV line profile) tend to keep away from the centres of network brightenings. CDS blinkers contain many small-scale short-lived SUMER ‘unit brightening events’ having size of a few arc seconds and a lifetime of a few minutes. Each of these unit brightening events is characterized by a UV line profile which is not as broad as those of explosive events. Thus blinkers (transient network brightenings) and explosive events both may be due to magnetic reconnection with different geometries.

The explosive events are considered to occur as a result of the collision of a network flux thread (which is part of a very large loop) and an intranetwork flux thread which is part of a very small loop ( Chae et al. (1999), Chae et al. (2000) ). This interaction has therefore the potential for conveying hot plasma into large- scale loops and is a very suitable mechanism for explaining the observed footpoint heating, upflows and overdensity in EUV loops. Further, the relaxation of the newly formed open field line may accelerate acoustic waves or shock waves and heat plasma along its passage. Thus the process of tripolar magnetic reconnection has a better connectivity to the upper corona and to the solar wind via the open field line than bipolar and quadrupolar reconnection geometries (Aschwanden, 2001).

When two open magnetic field lines of opposite polarity reconnect, the newly configured polarities relax into two bipolar field lines. The lower one connects the two magnetically conjugate photospheric footpoints whereas the upper ends of the disconnected field lines in the upper corona combine and finally move into interplanetary space. Thus there is a high-density closed loop downward and a low-density segment moving upward (see, e.g., Shimizu et al. (1992); (Krucker & Benz, 2000); (Parnell & Jupp, 2000); Aschwanden et al. (2000) ). This type of heating process is applicable to big or small flares (including micro- and nano-flares) ((Parker, 1991); (Brown et al., 2000)). Bipolar magnetic reconnection has been investigated, in some way or other, by (Litvinenko, 1999) , (Longcope & Kankelborg, 1999) , (Furusawa & Sakai, 2000) , Sakai et al. (2000) , (Sakai, Takahata,& Sokolov, 2001) also.

Quadrupolar magnetic reconnection has been observed and modeled in solar flares ( Uchida et al. (1994); (Uralov, 1996); (Hanaoka, 1996) ; Nishio et al. (1997); Aschwanden et al. (1999)). Here the exchange of connectivity between positive and negative polarities in a system with two closed field lines takes place by pushing them into physical contact such that the new configuration is in a lower energy state.

Chromospheric quadrupolar magnetic reconnection between two contiguous flux tubes of opposite polarity has been considered by (Sturrock, 1999) in connection with its possible relationship to coronal heating. His basic idea has been that reconnection occurs preferentially where the growth rate of the relevant instability is greatest. He arrives at the conclusion that quadrupolar magnetic reconnection can lead to coronal heating by Joule dissipation and by the generation and subsequent dissipation of high frequency Alfvén and magnetoacoustic waves. The heating of solar wind particles may take place when high frequency Alfvén waves, produced during reconnection, are absorbed by cyclotron damping.

In view of above it seems quite worthwhile to study magnetic reconnection in tripolar geometry such as that given in Fig. 1. In §2 we present the relevant theoretical details. The data used and the results obtained, exhibited in §3, are discussed in §4 alongwith our conclusions.

Throughout cgs system of units is used. Wherever necessary, the heights are expressed in km.

## 2 THEORETICAL DETAILS

We adopt the formalism of (Sturrock, 1999). As shown in Fig. 1 there is a network flux thread (part of a very large loop) which collides with an intranetwork flux thread which is a part of very small loop. It is assumed that magnetic reconnection would occur preferentially where the growth rate of resistive tearing mode instability is greatest. The medium under consideration is a partially ionized hydrogen plasma so that the role of helium and other elements may be ignored.

The tearing mode growth rate depends on the wave number of the mode. The wave number of the most rapidly growing mode is given by (Sturrock, 1994)

$$k_M=1.4R_m^{0.25}l^1,$$
(1)
where $`l`$ is the width of the reconnecting region and $`R_m`$, the transverse magnetic Reynolds number, is given by

$$R_m=t_D/t_A,$$
(2)
with

$$t_D=4\pi l^2/\eta c^2,$$
(3)
and

$$t_A=l/v_A.$$
(4)
Here $`t_D`$ is the resistive diffusion time, $`t_A`$ the Alfvén transit time, $`v_A`$ the Alfvén velocity, c the speed of light in vacuum and $`\eta `$, the Coulomb resistivity of the hydrogenic plasma, is given by (Spitzer, 1962)

$$\eta =1.510^7T^{1.5}s$$
(5)
In equation (5), T is the temperature of the hydrogenic plasma. The Alfvén velocity $`v_A`$ is estimated through the following equation

$$v_A=B/(4\pi \rho )^{0.5},$$
(6)
where the mass density $`\rho `$ may be obtained from

$$\rho =(n_p+n_H)m_p.$$
(7)
In the above B is the magnetic field strength before reconnection, $`n_p`$ and $`n_H`$ are the number densities of proton and neutral hydrogen, respectively.

The growth time $`t_g`$, which is the inverse of the growth rate, is given by

$$t_g=1.585R_m^{0.5}t_D.$$
(8)
The growth rate of instability depends sensitively upon the assumed width $`l`$ of the current sheet between two flux tubes and it may be related to the pressure scale height H by

$$l=ϵH.$$
(9)
Here $`ϵ`$ is a dimensionless parameter and the scale height $`H`$ is given by

$$H=10^{3.48}Tm_p/m_{av},$$
(10)
with

$$m_{av}=(n_p+n_H)m_p/(n_e+n_p+n_H),$$
(11)
where $`m_p`$ is the proton mass and $`n_e`$ the number density of electrons.

The tearing mode instability leads to the formation of small islands which allow for the rapid diffusion of the magnetic field. For the most rapidly growing mode the island length scale $`x_{TM}`$ is given by

$$x_{TM}=1.51R_m^{0.25}l.$$
(12)
If the tearing region is in a dynamic state and the inhomogeneities move at the Alfvén speed then they will lead to fluctuations having frequency $`\nu _{TM}`$ given by

$$\nu _{TM}=v_A/x_{TM}.$$
(13)
Such fluctuations may play a role in providing additional thermal energy to the corona.

The average energy dissipation rate in the reconnection region may be obtained from(Tandberg-Hanssen & Emslie 1988)

$$U_t=B^2V/8\pi t_R,$$
(14)
where $`V`$ is the volume of the reconnecting region(s) and $`t_R`$, the reconnection time scale, is given by (Spicer, 1977)

$$t_R=t_A^{0.4}t_D^{0.6}.$$
(15)
In the case of multiple reconnecting regions, as in the tearing mode, the volume of reconnecting region may be taken to be $`V=L^2l`$, where L is the longitudinal length scale and $`l`$ is the width. As an approximation L may be taken to be the diameter of the flux tube.

It is possible to estimate the minimum strength of the magnetic field required to heat the reconnecting region to coronal temperature ($`10^6`$K) by using the following relation

$$1.5nk_BT=B_{min}^2/8\pi ,$$
(16)
where $`k_B`$ is the Boltzmann constant and n is given by

$$n=n_e+n_p+n_H.$$
(17)
Such an estimate can be made at each height where magnetic reconnection can occur.

## 3 THE DATA AND RESULTS

For the sake of completeness the data taken from Cox (2000) have been exhibited in Figures 2 and 3. In particular, Fig. 2 shows variation of temperature with height in the photosphere-chromosphere region whereas Fig. 3 exhibits $`n_e`$, $`n_p`$ and $`n_H`$ as a function of height h in km.

The data of Fig. 2 and equation (5) have been used to obtain resistivity $`\eta `$ as a function of height and is displayed in Fig. 4. Since the resistivity is inversely proportional to $`T^{1.5}`$ it has maximum value in the temperature minimum region.

The data of Figures 2 and 3 together with equations (10) and ( 11) lead to the results displayed in Fig. 5 where the scale height H is shown to vary with height in the lower solar atmosphere. The lowest value of scale height falls in the temperature minimum region.

In order to estimate the width $`l`$ of the reconnecting region we require the value of parameter $`ϵ`$. This can be done by estimating the length over which the magnetic field will diffuse over a time scale characteristic of changes in the photosphere, e.g., the mean lifetime of photospheric granules which is 10 minutes ((Cox, 2000)). This procedure alongwith equations (3), (5), (9) and the data of Fig. 2 give $`ϵ=0.0114`$ corresponding to $`l=1.48`$ km and $`T=4400K`$ at 520 km. Now equation (9) alongwith the results of Fig. 5 may be used to obtain the width $`l`$ of the reconnecting region as a function of height which is displayed in Fig. 6.

The nature of variation of width with height is similar to that of scale height vs height curve, as expected.

The evaluation of Alfvén transit time $`t_A`$ requires the values of Alfvén velocity $`v_A`$ and the width $`l`$. In order to determine $`v_A`$ we require the magnetic field strength as a function of height (which is not known) and the mass density $`\rho `$. Assuming a constant mean value $`B=100`$ G, the data of Fig. 3 and equation (7), the Alfvén velocity has been determined and is displayed in Fig. 7 as a function of height.

As expected $`v_A`$ increases with height because $`\rho `$ decreases with height. Using the values of $`l`$ and $`v_A`$ the Alfvén transit time becomes known through equation (4).

With the width $`l`$ and the resistivity $`\eta `$ known it is possible to determine resistive diffusion time $`t_D`$ by using equation (3). This enables us to find transverse magnetic Reynolds number $`R_m`$ through equation (2). The Reynolds magnetic number has been displayed in Fig. 8 as a function of height. The resulting curve shows a minimum near 100 km and increases upwards monotonically. The resistive diffusion time $`t_D`$ is displayed in Fig. 9 as a function of height.

Using equation (1), the values of $`R_m`$ and width $`l`$ it is possible to evaluate the wave number $`k_M`$ of the most rapidly growing mode. This wave number as a function of height is displayed in Fig. 10. It shows a broad maximum in the 0 - 700 km region.

The growth time (which is the inverse of growth rate) has been obtained through Equation (8) and the already known values of the magnetic Reynolds number (Fig. 8) and the resistive diffusion time (Fig. 9). The growth time $`t_g`$ and the growth rate are displayed in Figures 11 and 12, respectively.

The growth rate curve shows a maximum at 1800 km and the growth time curve shows a minimum at the same height, as it should.

Using Equation (15), the resistive diffusion time tD and the Alfvén transit time tA we obtained reconnection time tR which is exhibited as a function of height in Fig. 13. It exhibits a broad minimum in the range 1200 - 1900 km. It appears that the reconnection is slower in the temperature region and faster in the upper chromosphere.

Fig. 14 exhibits island length scales $`x_{TM}`$ as a function of height. These values have been obtained from Equation (12), the magnetic Reynolds number (Fig. 8) and the width $`l`$ of the reconnecting region (Fig. 6).

The shortest length scales are obtained around 1900 km in the upper chromosphere which is a desirable feature for all coronal heating mechanisms (Aschwanden, 2001).
The frequencies of MHD waves generated as a result of fluctuations in the reconnecting region are displayed in Fig. 15. These frequencies increase from temperature minimum region to upper chromosphere, similar to (Sturrock, 1999), monotonically.

Using Equation (14), $`B=100`$ G, $`L=10^8`$ cm, the width $`l`$ (Fig. 6) of reconnecting region and reconnection time $`t_R`$ (Fig. 13) we estimate the average energy dissipation rate as a function of height. This result is displayed in Fig. 16 which shows that the energy dissipation rate increases with height upto 1800 km and falls upwards. . The peak in dissipation rate agrees with the peak in the growth rate of the tearing mode instability. The height of peak dissipation rate finds favour with the observation made by (Aschwanden, 2001).

In Fig. 17 we display the minimum magnetic field strength $`B_{min}`$ required to heat the reconnecting site to coronal temperatue $`10^6K`$ as a function of height. It is clear from this curve that at a height of 1600 km the required minimum magnetic field is about 100 G whereas at a height of 500 km it is about 6000 G. Such a possibility is consistent with the evidence for direct heating of chromospheric gas to coronal temperatures (Krucker & Benz, 1998).

## 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The data, namely, temperature $`T`$, electron, proton and hydrogen number densities $`n_e,n_p,n_H`$ and mean lifetime of granules, used by us are of quite recent origin and seem to be reliable. The temperature minimum occurs near 500 km (Fig. 1). At each height the number density of neutral hydrogen is greater than the number densities of electrons and protons (Fig. 3).

The classical Coulomb resistivity $`\eta `$ is inversely proportional to $`T^{1.5}`$ consequently it has largest value at that height at which the temperature is minimum. Similar trend is noticeable at other heights (Fig. 4).

The scale height $`H`$ and width $`l`$ of the reconnecting region vary with height in the same way. Both of them have their minimum values near 500 km. Essentially, the nature of curves of temperature, scale height, width, resistivity is quite similar, as expected.

Because of decreasing mass density $`\rho `$ the Alfvén velocity increases with height, monotonically as the magnetic field strength $`B`$ before reconnection has been given a fixed value of 100 G. For the better understanding of the coronal heating problem the distribution of magnetic field with height is quite essential.

The magnetic Reynolds number determines to what extent the field is frozen into the plasma. Higher values of $`R_m`$ means better frozen-in-field approximation. In the region under consideration $`R_m`$ varies from about $`3\times 10^3`$ to $`3\times 10^7`$, i.e. the frozen-in-field approximation is quite good to describe photospheric-chromospheric region (Fig. 8).

The resistive diffusion time $`t_D`$ varies with height (Fig.9) in the same way as the temperature. It has minimum value near 500 km and lies in the range $`6\times 10^2s<t_D<6\times 10^4s`$ for the solar atmospheric region under consideration.

The wave number of the rapidly growing mode shows a broad peak in the region 0 - 700 km (Fig. 10). This is because $`k_M`$ is inversely proportional to the width of reconnecting region which has minimum value in the aforesaid region.

The growth time of instability decreases monotonically with height upto 1900 km and increases upwards (Fig.11). Since the growth rate is the inverse of growth time hence growth rate exhibits opposite nature (Fig. 12). The growth rate is maximum at 1800 km consequently heating is expected to occur near this height. In fact, the energy dissipation rate is maximum at 1800 km (Fig. 16). Thus the growth rate seems to be a better indicator of heating. Further the magnetic reconnection time $`t_R`$ has minimum value in the 1200 - 1900 km region (Fig.13) but the width of the reconnecting region is larger in this region. Since the energy dissipation rate varies directly with width and inversely with reconnection time hence the above- mentioned behaviour of dissipation rate is quite expected.

It is clear from Fig. 14 that the island length scale has its lowest value at 1900 km. Since smaller length scales are more efficient in energy dissipation than larger length scales hence the above heating rate is in agreement with this well-known result.

The energy dissipation rate (Fig. 16) gets support from the minimum magnetic field strength vs height curve (Fig. 17) because at 1900 km the required minimum magnetic field strength $`B_{min}`$ to heat the chromospheric plasma to coronal temperature is about 100 G. It is this value which has been used to obtain Alfvén velocity $`v_A`$, Alfvén transit time $`t_A`$ etc. .

The frequency of MHD waves, generated due to magnetic reconnection, increases with height (Fig. 15). Since the higher frequency waves may dissipate more readily than the lower frequency waves hence the heating wil be enhanced by the high frequency waves higher up in the atmosphere. Similar conclusion has already been forwarded by (Sturrock, 1999).

In tripolar geometry (Fig. 1) a network flux thread which is a part of a very large loop collides with an intranetwork flux thread which is part of a very small loop. At the intersection point the two flux threads are antiparallel, forming a relative angle that is greater than 90 degree. Consequently the reconnection at the intersection point could produce strong bidirectional outflows (Fig. 1a). This explains explosive events showing high velocity motions in their line profiles.

The open field line may carry hot plasm upward into the upper corona, regardless of the size of the interacting dipole. The open field line may also act as a waveguide to send MHD fluctuations into the corona and interplanetary space.

Thus tripolar reconnection is a very suitable mechanism for heating open field regions (coronal holes) in particular and the solar corona in general. It may also accelerate the solar wind particles.

We are grateful to Professor J.V. Narlikar, Director for his kind hopitality, encouragement and all possible help during our stay at IUCAA, Pune. One of us (U.N.) is grateful to Meerut College authorities for granting duty leave during the course of this work. The help of Dr. Sudhanshu in computation and related problems is thankfully acknowledged. Thanks are due to Dr. Nagendra Kumar for carefully reading the manuscript.


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# Implementing TOPbase/Iron Project: Continuous Absorption from Fe ii

## 1 Introduction and Rationale

State of the art Photoionization cross sections have been available from The Opacity Project (Seaton 1994, The Opacity Project Team, 1995) for more than a decade. Nevertheless, stellar atmospheres codes have been slow to fully incorporate these results. Surely, one reason for the delay in adopting these calculations is that metal opacities are not particularly important for many stellar atmospheres. The well-known opacities from hydrogen, bound-free, and H<sup>-</sup>, usually dominate other sources.

But it is also tedious to incorporate the detailed TOPbase results into workable subroutines with typical algorithms, which treat levels individually, or in groups. This technique is difficult for complex atoms, where no simple parameterization can describe all of the cross sections adequately. In this paper, we propose adoption of the method used by Peach (1967), which provides a practical solution to this problem. We then discuss an example of stellar continuum calculations that uses TOPbase/Iron Project cross sections along with her algorithm. We first outline the general problem of dealing with the TOPbase/Iron Project material.

Photoionization cross sections in TOPbase are given for typically hundreds of levels. For each level, the cross sections may be given several hundred to a thousand photon energies. The cross sections include large deviations from the smooth hydrogenic functions, that are possible in multi-electron systems. The resulting features may be quite sharp, being essentially spectral lines, or they can be broader, when there is strong interaction between bound and continuum states. Not only do Fano profiles appear, but also broad, deep absorption minima (Cooper minima), which result from nodes in the radial wave functions. These are especially apparent in transitions involving $`s`$-electrons, as in Na I. Broad absorption maxima can result from photoexcitation of core electrons (PEC), essentially bound-bound transitions of inner electrons. These maxima can appear in the cross sections of numerous levels.

A consensus has emerged that it is permissable to smooth over the resonances of photoionization cross sections (cf. Bautista, Romano, and Pradhan 1998, Prieto et al. 2002). This smoothing affects the sharp features which we shall call high-frequency components, but leaves broader ones, such as Cooper minima or PEC. Prieto has published a number of resonance-smoothed photoionization cross sections (RSP) on his website:
http://hebe.as.utexas.edu/at/at.cgi Our current opacity routines use the Prieto RSP’s for all atoms and ions with the exception of Fe i and ii. Specifically, the following atoms and atomic ions are included: Li i, Be i and ii, B i and ii, C i, Na i, Mg i and ii, Al i, Si i and ii, S i, and Ca i and ii.

For Fe i, we have sampled each 100Å from material discussed by Bautista (1997). The Fe ii cross sections are from a web site of Dr. Nahar
http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/ nahar/, cf. Nahar and Pradhan 1994).

While the RSP’s omit some of the higher TOPbase levels, they may still contain several hundred levels (e.g. Si i), with several hundred data points for each level. If all of this information were included in a standard FORTRAN data statement, the result would be thousands of records long. However, for practical calculations, the individual cross sections are not necessary. We need only their appropriately weighted sums.

## 2 Algorithm and calculations

The continuous opacity due to a given atom or atomic ion is the weighted sum of the cross sections over a number of levels. We define the K-factor:

$$Kfact=\underset{n}{}g_n\mathrm{exp}[(\chi _n/kT)]\sigma _n(\lambda )$$
(1)
Here, $`g_n`$ is the statistical weight of the level $`n`$, $`\chi _n/kT`$ the appropriate Boltzmann factor, and $`\sigma _n(\lambda )`$ is the photoionization cross section.

Consider the opacity due to photoionizations from level $`n`$ of an atom or atomic ion in the $`i^{th}`$ ionization stage. Write the corresponding number density as $`N_{n,i}`$. Put $`N_{t,i}`$ for the sum of the $`N_{n,i}`$’s in the $`i^{\mathrm{th}}`$ stage of ionization. We have

$$N_{n,i}=N_{t,i}\frac{g_n}{u_i(T)}\mathrm{exp}(\chi _n/kT),$$
(2)
where $`u_i(T)`$ is the partition function for the $`i^{\mathrm{th}}`$ ionization stage. The opacity due to all levels from this ion is thus

$$\varkappa _i(\lambda )=N_{i,t}\frac{1}{u_i(T)}Kfact.$$
(3)
In LTE, this K-factor is a function only of the temperature and wavelength. Since it is a sum over cross sections, some of the high-frequency structure for individual levels will be smoothed. One sees primarily, the absorption edges, and the most pronounced structure, for example, the PEC. The algorithm consists of computing this K-factor over the wavelengths likely to be or relevance, say from 500 to 8000A, for a relatively small number of temperatures. It is straightforward to include all of the levels in TOPbase, or the RSP’s.

The opacities for any given atom or atomic ion are then found from bilinear interpolations in this temperature-wavelength grid.

We have calculated the K-factor at 20Å intervals, for all species except for Fe i.

With 20Å sampling, K-factors were first obtained for 376 points \[(8000-500)/20 + 1\]. Then, unnecessary points were eliminated wherever “interior” data could be fit by linear interpolations from bounding points to within 2%. For example, if the data at $`\lambda `$4020 could be fit by interpolation between the points at $`\lambda \lambda `$4000 and 4040, the point at $`\lambda `$4020 was dropped. This technique resulted in considerable shortening of the data statements, especially for lower tempertures.

The current routines for Fe i and ii are considered provisional, because they have not been resonance smoothed. The Nahar Fe ii photoionization file is some 33 megabytes in size, and contains cross sections for 745 states (or “$`LS`$-multiplets”). We computed K-factor’s every 20Å ($`\lambda \lambda `$500–8000) for 8 temperatures (2000 - 16000K). The adopted cross section at each of the grid wavelengths is an average of the nearest four TOPbase points. We have postponed improving this algorithm until smoothed cross sections are available. The current Fe ii subroutine is some 360 FORTRAN statements, including data statements, comments, and commented diagnostics. Comparisons between the K-factors for smoothed and unsmoothed cross sections for lighter species show differences in detail, but not major trends, extending over tens of angstroms. The feature discussed below is relatively broad.

Fig. 1 shows plots of the K-factors for Fe ii at 7000 and 12000K, based on the Nahar data file. The dotted line shows the resulting “H-factors,” that is, where the photoionization cross sections are all assumed hydrogenic (Cowan 1981, Eq. 18.47). The feature between about 1700 and 2000Å is notable. We suggest that it arises from core photoexcitations $`3d^54snl3d^54pnl`$ within Fe ii. It is important to notice that in these sort of transitions the outer $`nl`$ electron acts as spectator and has only little effect on the wavelengths and radiative rates of the core transitions. The related $`3d^54s3d^54p`$ transitions in Fe iii give rise to the strong lines in UV Multiplets 34, 50, 51, and 52. We have made a further investigation of the nature of the $`3d^54snl3d^54pnl`$ transitions in Fe ii using the atomic structure code autostructure (Badnell 1986, 1997; Badnell & Pindzola 1989). This code is an extension of the atomic structure program superstructure by (Eissner et al. 1974). It allows for the calculation of level energies, and radiative and Auger rates within a statistical Thomas–Fermi–Dirac model potential (Eissner & Nussbaumer 1969). Thus, we compute the total of 8988 $`LS`$-coupling dipole allowed transitions $`3d^54snl3d^54pnl`$ for $`5n10`$ and $`0l3`$, with the majority of the $`3d^54pnl`$ states lying above the the first ionization threshold. A little less than half of these transitions, 4090, end up in upper states that can autoionize to Fe iii target states. Such transitions manifest themselves as PEC resonances in the close coupling photoionization cross sections of Nahar and Pradhan (1994). Several of the cross sections that contribute to the local peak in the 1700 to 2000Å region are shown in Fig. 2 (following page). The remaining 4898 transitions go to levels that do not autoionize and must be treated as bound-bound transitions. We show a subset of the former lines in Fig 3. The concentration of transitions in the region 1700-2000Å is clear.

## 3 Observations

IUE spectra of iron-rich stars show significant depressions in the wavelength range from roughly 1700-1800Å, as is shown in the top 4 panels of Fig. 4. These spectra were downloaded from the url http://archive.stsci.edu/iue/. Because of the high noise level of the spectra, we have chosen to plot only the maxima within 10Å regions. Complete spectra may be seen at the url cited in the figure. Smith and Dworetsky (1993) report high iron abundances in 112 Her, and HR 6000. The magnetic Ap star $`\alpha ^2`$CVn has long been known to be iron rich (cf. Cohen 1970), while Muthsam and Cowley (1984) showed HR 6870 (HD 168733) to be quite iron rich. The stars 87 Psc and 53 Tau are iron poor (see Smith and Dworetsky 1993), and their spectra lack the strong minima seen in the other four stars.

Lanz, et al. (1996) discuss the region on the short wavelength side of 1600Å. The interpretation is not straightforward, though the figures shown here are clearly relevant for any interpretation. Note that HR 6000, notorious for its lack of strong Si ii lines in ground-based photographic spectra, also lacks the depression short of $`\lambda `$1600 (cf. Andersen, et al. 1984).

## 4 Application to Fe ii

Fig. 5 shows calculated spectra in the wavelength region under consideration. The model was based on the adopted parameters of Kochukhov et al. (2002), an effective temperature of 11600K and log(g) = 3.0. We also followed these authors in using crude abundances to set the model. We took abundances 0.1 SAD (Grevesse and Sauval 1998) for elements helium through neon, and 10 SAD for all heavier elements. This was only for the determination of the temperature-pressure structure. A flux-constant model was derived from an Atlas 9 model (Kurucz 1993), but the depth depencence was recalculated using Michigan routines as described in earlier papers (cf. Cowley 1996), except that our opacity routines now incorporate TOPbase data for the species enumerated above.

The three curves were all based on the same $`T(\tau )`$, though a new pressure structure was calculated based on the different iron and silicon abundances. Thus, the flux is not strictly constant in the models without the enhanced abundances. We do not consider this significant in the present exploratory calculations. The three curves shown are for iron and silicon enhanced by a factor of 10 (lower), solar (middle), and depleted by a factor of 10 (upper). All elements other than iron and silicon were assumed to have the same abundances used in the Atlas9 model.

The calculations show clearly that the Fe ii continuum is significant in this region. Of the three calculated minima, the one at the shortest wavelength (about $`\lambda `$1640) is not well matched to the observations. It is certainly Fe ii and not Si, as a separate calculation (not shown) has revealed. There is a possibly corresponding feature to be seen in the spectra of $`\alpha ^2`$CVn and HR 6000, though much weaker than in the calculations. This region deserves further study.

The two longer-wavelength minima, at approximately $`\lambda \lambda `$1700 and 1740 fit the observations of the iron-rich spectra reasonably well. There is a small discrepancy in the wavelengths; the calculated minima are some 20 to 30Å short of the stellar minima. But these discrepancies are 2% or less, well within the accuracy with which energy levels in Fe ii were calculated (cf. Nahar and Pradhan, op. cit. Table 1).

## 5 Conclusions

Some of the absorption in the region $`\lambda \lambda `$1700–2000 of the spectra shown in Fig. 4 will result from the strong transitions in Fe ii as well as the multiplets mentioned above in Fe iii. But we show here that a measurable contribution to the depression must be due to the specific shapes of the Fe ii photoionization cross sections. Note that the lowest of the levels shown in Fig. 2, at 9.38eV is the 76th level above ground. Any attempt to treat higher levels in Fe ii by a hydrogenic approximation or simple parameterization would miss the relevant structure.

A number of loose ends need to be tidied before our metal opacity routines can be considered satisfactory. We need smoothed cross sections for Fe i and ii, as well as other heavy species, such as Mn i and ii or Co i and ii that can be relevant for special stars. It is also necessary to make sure that the partition functions used with the TOPbase/Iron Project cross sections are compatible with those levels. Provisional, spot checks for a few spectra show that this is not likely to be a serious problem, as the calculated levels are usually within a few per cent of the laboratory values. Line opacity was not relevant for the current calculations. Eventually, we must consider the overlap between the TOPbase “resonances” and predicted lines in the Kurucz data base.

These are matters for future contributions.

## Acknowledgments

We thank D. J. Bord, F. Castelli, R. D. Cowan, R. L. Kurucz, S. Johansson, L. L. Lohr, S. Nahar, A. K. Pradhan, and M. J. Seaton for various comments and advice. We join many astronomers grateful to the workers at the IUE Project and Space Telescope Multimission-Archive for providing observational material in such convenient and useful forms. Apologies are surely due to others whose names were inadvertently omitted.


text:
# Extranatural Inflation

## Abstract

We present a new model of inflation in which the inflaton is the extra component of a gauge field in a 5d theory compactified on a circle. The chief merit of this model is that the potential comes only from non-local effects so that its flatness is not spoiled by higher dimensional operators or quantum gravity corrections. The model predicts a red spectrum ($`n0.96`$) and a significant production of gravitational waves ($`r0.11`$). We also comment on the relevance of this idea to quintessence.

preprint: HUTP-03/A006

Inflation is a theoretically attractive idea for solving many problems of Standard Big Bang cosmology, and recently many experiments have confirmed its predictions of a flat Universe with a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic perturbations. However, despite its many successes, there are still no completely natural inflationary models known in particle physics. Although most of the literature concentrates on supersymmetric models, supersymmetry alone is not sufficient to protect the flatness of the inflaton potential. Supergravity corrections spoil the flatness because supersymmetry is broken during inflation Copeland:1994vg . The other candidate models for inflation rely on the inflaton taking values larger than the Planck mass, $`M_P`$ ($`M_P(8\pi G)^{1/2}`$). Examples of this possibility include chaotic inflation Linde:gd , and natural inflation Freese:1990rb ; Adams:1992bn , to be discussed below. However, the use of a simple potential requires the fine-tuning of an infinite number of nonrenormalizable operators, suppressed by powers of $`M_P`$.

Natural inflation assumes that the inflaton is a Pseudo Nambu Goldstone Boson (PNGB), parametrized by an angular variable $`\theta \theta +2\pi `$. In the limit of exact symmetry, $`\theta `$ is an exactly flat direction. However, some tilt is necessary, and this is introduced by explicit symmetry breaking terms, resulting in a Lagrangian of the form

$$=\frac{f^2}{2}(\theta )^2V_0(1\mathrm{cos}(\theta )),$$
(1)
where $`f`$ is the spontaneous breaking scale. The canonically normalized field is $`\varphi =f\theta `$, so the potential is naturally a function of $`\varphi /f`$, which can be flat for large $`f`$. This scenario is however problematic, because the requirements $`ϵ1`$ and $`\eta 1`$ on the slow-roll parameters

$$ϵ\frac{M_P^2}{2}\left(\frac{V^{}}{V}\right)^2\frac{M_P^2}{f^2},\eta M_P^2\frac{V^{\prime \prime }}{V}\frac{M_P^2}{f^2}$$
(2)
gives $`fM_P`$. This implies the spontaneous breaking scale is above $`M_P`$ which is presumably outside the range of validity of an effective field theory description. Moreover, it is expected that quantum gravity effects, such as the virtual appearance of black holes, will explicitly break the global symmetry Kallosh:1995hi . These effects, usually suppressed by powers of $`f/M_P`$, are here unsuppressed, so that it is hard to justify why $`V_0`$ should be smaller than $`M_P`$, as required by the COBE bound on the overall normalization of density perturbations: $`\delta \rho /\rho 10^5`$.

In this letter, we show that an extradimensional version of natural inflation can solve all the above problems, giving a very simple and trustworthy model of inflation.

Consider a 5d model with the extra dimension compactified on a circle of radius $`R`$. The extra component $`A_5`$ of an abelian gauge field propagating in the bulk cannot have a local potential, due to the higher dimensional gauge invariance; a shift symmetry protects it similarly to what happens to a four-dimensional PNGB. A non-local potential as a function of the gauge invariant Wilson loop

$$e^{i\theta }=e^{i{\scriptscriptstyle A_5𝑑x^5}}$$
(3)
will however be generated in presence of charged fields in the bulk. For a non-abelian gauge group, also the self-interactions of the gauge bosons contribute to the potential. At energies below $`1/R`$, $`\theta `$ is a 4D field with a Lagrangian of the form

$$=\frac{1}{2g_4^2(2\pi R)^2}(\theta )^2V(\theta )+\mathrm{}$$
(4)
where $`g_4^2=g_5^2/(2\pi R)`$ is the 4D gauge coupling, and the potential $`V(\theta )`$ is given at one-loop by Hosotani:1983xw ; Hatanaka:1998yp ; Antoniadis:2001cv ; vonGersdorff:2002as ; Cheng:2002iz

$$V(\theta )=\frac{1}{R^4}\underset{I}{}(1)^{F_I}\frac{3}{64\pi ^6}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\mathrm{cos}(nq\theta )}{n^5},$$
(5)
where $`F_I=0(1)`$ for massless bosonic (fermionic) fields of charge $`q`$ coupled to $`A_5`$. Note that the potential is of the same form as in natural inflation (with small corrections from additional terms in the sum), with the effective decay constant given by

$$f_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{2\pi g_{4\mathrm{d}}R}.$$
(6)
It is easily seen that $`f_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ can be bigger than $`M_P`$ for sufficiently small $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}`$; the slow-roll condition $`f_{\mathrm{eff}}M_P`$ requires only that

$$2\pi g_{4\mathrm{d}}M_PR1.$$
(7)
The canonically normalized field is $`\varphi =\theta f_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Due to the higher dimensional nature of the model, the potential (5) can be trusted even when the 4d field $`\varphi `$ takes values above $`M_P`$; no dangerous higher-dimension operator can be generated in a local higher-dimensional theory. This conclusion is quite important as it is commonly believed that any inflation model with field values above $`M_P`$ cannot be justified from a particle physics point of view; we see that this conclusion is valid only if we restrict to purely 4d models. Quantum gravity corrections to the potential (5) are negligible if the extra dimension is bigger than the Planck length, different from what is expected in a 4d PNGB model. Again locality in the extra space is the key feature; virtual black holes cannot spoil the gauge invariance and do not introduce a local potential for $`A_5`$, while non-local effects are exponentially suppressed by $`e^{2\pi M_5R}`$, because the typical length scale of quantum gravity effects (the 5d Planck length $`M_5^1`$) is much smaller than the size of the extra dimension.

It is now clear that $`\varphi `$ is a good candidate for the inflaton. The extra-dimensional nature of the model has no cosmological consequences aside from constraining the quantum corrections to the inflaton potential, assuming the extra dimension is stabilized. Moreover, one can check that the Hubble length $`H^1`$ is much larger than the size of the extra dimension so that the theory can be treated as 4-dimensional during inflation.

To keep quantum gravity corrections under control we can estimate a lower bound on the size of the extra dimension

$$R5M_P^1.$$
(8)
From this inequality the slow-roll condition (7) requires

$$g_{4\mathrm{d}}10^2;$$
(9)
this is equivalent to saying the dimensionful 5d gauge coupling satisfies

$$\frac{1}{g_{5\mathrm{d}}^2}10^3M_5.$$
(10)
An upper bound on the size of the extra dimension can be obtained using the COBE normalization for the curvature density. The maximum value of $`R`$ will be obtained inflating near the top of the potential so that the vacuum energy is given by

$$V_0\frac{c}{16\pi ^6}\frac{1}{R^4},c𝒪(1),$$
(11)
where $`c`$ depends on the number of charged fields in the bulk. In this case the curvature density can be estimated by

$$\delta _H=\frac{1}{5\sqrt{3}\pi }\frac{V^{3/2}}{M_P^3V^{}}\frac{1}{20\sqrt{6}\pi ^4}\left(\frac{c}{M_P^4R^4ϵ}\right)^{1/2}.$$
(12)
The constraint of the COBE measurement

$$\delta _H=1.91\times 10^5,$$
(13)
implies the size of extra dimension, $`R`$, to satisfy

$$Rc^{1/4}(10^{17}\mathrm{GeV})^1,$$
(14)
where the equality is reached taking $`ϵ`$ as big as presently allowed by constraints on $`n`$: $`|n1|0.1`$. Note that the extra dimension is very small and it can be stabilized by a generic mechanism without affecting the cosmological evolution up to very high scales.

As a consequence of the smallness of the slow-roll parameters and of the density perturbations, a small parameter seems quite unavoidable in any model of inflation: this is the case for the gauge coupling (9) in our model. Nevertheless, note that the limit $`g_50`$ is natural in the ’t Hooft sense. For $`g_5=0`$ we have a U(1) gauge symmetry with no charged field; this symmetry forbids gravity to make $`g_50`$ and a similar reasoning holds for non-abelian groups.

For $`(2\pi g_{4d}R)^1M_P`$, the potential can be expanded in powers of $`\varphi `$ and the density perturbations in the observable window is determined by the lowest order term, the mass term. The predictions are then the same as those of the chaotic inflation model with a parabolic potential Linde:gd . The spectral index is given by $`n=12/N_{\mathrm{COBE}}`$, where $`N_{\mathrm{COBE}}`$ is the number of e-folds between the exit of wavelengths now comparable to the observable Universe and the end of inflation. The reheating temperature is determined by the $`A_5`$ decay through gauge interactions. This gives $`T_{\mathrm{rh}}10^{13}10^{14}\mathrm{GeV}`$, when $`R`$ and $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}`$ saturate the bounds (8) and (9) foot1  and it scales as $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}^{3/2}R^{1/2}`$. $`N_{\mathrm{COBE}}`$ can be estimated to lie in the interval $`5560`$. The spectrum is therefore red-tilted:

$$n0.96,$$
(15)
a value not far from the present experimental sensitivity and compatible with the recent WMAP data MAP .

It is known that a significant gravitational wave contribution requires large enough vacuum energy during inflation. Combined with the slow-roll conditions and the COBE normalization this requires a variation of the inflaton field bigger than the Planck scale Lyth:1996im , which again typically appears to be out of control of the effective theory description. As we stressed, this conclusion holds only for 4d scenarios, while our model predicts a relative amplitude of the gravitational waves and density perturbations Liddle:cg

$$r12.4ϵ=6.2/N_{\mathrm{COBE}}0.11,$$
(16)
which could be detected by the forthcoming Planck satellite.

For $`(2\pi g_{4d}R)^1`$ close to $`M_P`$, higher power terms are non-negligible and the predictions will deviate from those based on the simple monomial potential; the spectral index becomes in this case even smaller than (15) Moroi:2000jr  and therefore would be at least as measurable. On the contrary the contribution of gravity waves becomes smaller and difficult to measure for small $`f_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ Adams:1992bn .

One could ask whether it is possible to derive a purely 4d theory by the recent idea of deconstructing dimensions, where the Wilson line in the extra dimension corresponds to a 4d PNGB Arkani-Hamed:2001ca ; Hill:2000mu ; Cheng:2001vd ; Arkani-Hamed:2001nc . In this case one replaces the 5d gauge theory by a (closed) chain of 4d gauge groups, with the adjacent gauge groups connected by the link fields, which get nonzero VEVs and break the gauge groups down to the diagonal one. There is one linear combination of the Nambu-Goldstone bosons not eaten by the massive gauge fields. It remains light and corresponds to the non-local Wilson line field in the 5d case. However the required symmetry breaking scale,

$$f_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{f_{\mathrm{link}}}{\sqrt{N}},$$
(17)
where $`f_{\mathrm{link}}`$ is the VEV of the link fields and $`N`$ is the number of the sites, requires the problematic relation $`f_{\mathrm{link}}M_P`$. The point is that although we can simulate the locality in extra dimensions in the gauge sector by deconstruction, we did not modify the nature of the 4d gravity which is the origin of the problems foot2 . Purely 4d models based on a PNGB with $`fM_P`$ can however be constructed, though they involve more structure than the simple extra-dimensional scenario we have described Arkani-Hamed:2003mz .

Recent observations indicate that most of the energy of the Universe is given by a negative pressure component. A candidate for this component is a nearly massless, slow-rolling scalar, called the quintessence field. The extreme flatness of the potential and the bounds coming from the absence of long range forces mediated by this scalar indicate that the quintessence field could be a PNGB Frieman:1995pm ; Carroll:1998zi . The problems of this proposal include those of the ‘natural inflation’ scenario because the spontaneous breaking scale is again required to be comparable or bigger than $`M_P`$ Hill:2002kq . Again using the extra component of a gauge field as quintessence, one can avoid this problem and obtain a naturally flat potential. Still, the required flatness demands very small parameters: the quintessence mass must be smaller than the present Hubble scale $`mg_{4\mathrm{d}}/RH_010^{33}\mathrm{eV}`$. Either a very small gauge coupling or a very large extra dimension is required, in the absence of other model-building ideas.

It is interesting to ask whether the slow-roll condition $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}RM_P1`$ can naturally arise in string compactifications containing a circle around which we can wrap a Wilson line $`e^{i\theta }`$. For instance if the gauge group lives in ten dimensions and spacetime is compactified to four dimensions, then in type I theory $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}^2g_s/(V_6M_s^6)`$ and $`M_P^2g_s^2M_s^8V_6`$, so that $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}M_PRg_s^{1/2}RM_s`$. For this to be much smaller than one in the perturbative regime, we then require the radius $`RM_s^1`$, much smaller than the string length, which is not in the regime of validity of our effective field theory description. Nevertheless we can take the $`T`$ dual to get a convenient description of the physics. The $`T`$ dual theory has a radius $`\stackrel{~}{R}=1/(M_s^2R)M_s^1`$, and the Wilson line for a non-abelian group turns into an angle $`\theta `$ between D-branes on the circle. Using the distance between branes as an inflaton is the idea of brane inflation Dvali:1998pa . Note however that in this regime the potential between the branes is naturally a function of the distance $`\stackrel{~}{R}\theta `$ between them, so on dimensional grounds the potential is of the form $`V(\theta )M_s^4F(\stackrel{~}{R}\theta M_s)`$. Since $`\stackrel{~}{R}M_s1`$, the largeness of the effective $`f`$ does not in itself guarantee that the potential is sufficiently flat. Finding stringy scenarios that naturally lead to $`g_{4\mathrm{d}}M_PR1`$ while leading to the effective 5-dimensional field theory regime we have been using then remains an important and interesting challenge Banks:2003sx .

In conclusion we have shown that the extra component of a gauge field in a 5d theory is a good candidate for the inflaton. The predictions of our model are similar to the chaotic model with parabolic potential, so that our proposal can be considered a sensible particle physics embedding of this simple scenario. Locality in the extra dimension protects the flatness of the potential against Planck scale effects, even if the inflaton takes values above the Planck scale. As there is no trustworthy model in 4d with a variation of the inflaton field bigger than $`M_P`$, the detection of a gravitational wave contribution to the CMBR anisotropy, would probably point to the existence of extra dimensions or other modifications of 4d gravity.