text:
# Electron gas oscillations in plasma. Theory and applications.

## 1  Introduction

The studying of electron gas oscillations in plasma is interesting physical problem, mainly because it enables one to examine plasma properties from the theoretical point of view as well as it provides the basis for subsequent experiments in this area. Let us discuss the electric charge variation in electroneutral plasma. If a volume charge appears in such a system, i.e. electrons density increases or decreases in some finite area, then, after an external influence is over, the oscillating process consisting in periodical changes of the sign of the considered volume charge is known to appear. We can roughly neglect the motion of positively charged ions since their mass is several orders of magnitude greater then electron mass. The process of electron gas oscillations is schematically shown in Fig. 1. The electrons motion from the central area is presented in Fig. 1(a). Thus, the central region acquires excessive positive charge. Electrons moving to the central area are depicted in Fig. 1(b). In this case the central region becomes negatively charged.

It is necessary to remind that the frequency of this process $`\omega _p`$, called plasma frequency, is related to free electrons density in plasma $`n_0`$ by the formula

$$\omega _p^2=\frac{4\pi e^2n_0}{m},$$
(1)
where $`e`$ and $`m`$ are the charge and the mass of the electron.

Numerous attempts were made to describe electron gas oscillations within the context of both classical and quantum mechanics (see, for example, Ref. ). The method of kinetic equation is one of the most commonly used approaches to this problem in frames of classical theory. The kinetic equation for each type of particles has the form:

$$\frac{f_\alpha }{t}+𝐯\frac{f_\alpha }{𝐫}+\dot{𝐩}\frac{f_\alpha }{𝐩}=\mathrm{St}f_\alpha ,$$
(2)
where $`f_\alpha (𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ is the distribution function depending on the coordinate $`𝐫`$, momentum $`𝐩`$ and time $`t`$ for either electron $`(\alpha =e)`$ or ion $`(\alpha =i)`$ component, $`\mathrm{St}f_\alpha `$ is the collision integral. The derivative $`\dot{𝐩}`$ is equal to $`q\left(𝐄+\frac{1}{c}[𝐯\times 𝐁]\right)`$ for the case of electromagnetic interactions, $`q`$ is the particle charge.

The collision integral is negligible if the mean free path $`l`$ of a particle is much greater than the distance of the electromagnetic field (produced by charged particles in plasma) variation $`L`$: $`lL`$. The Eq. (2) with $`\mathrm{St}f_\alpha =0`$ for $`\alpha =i,e`$ should be supplied with the system of averaged Maxwell equations in order for the electric $`𝐄`$ and magnetic $`𝐁`$ fields to be specified. The electromagnetic field, determined in such a manner, is called the self-consistent field. The self-consistent field conception enables one to investigate electromagnetic properties of plasma and describe various plasma phenomena . The kinetic equation with $`\mathrm{St}f_\alpha 0`$ takes into account the collision processes between particles in plasma. There exist several types of collision integrals .

There is, however, another approach, developed in Refs.  to describe the evolution of $`N`$ interacting particles. It is known that the classical dynamics of $`N`$ interacting particles can be presented by the system of differential equations of motion in configurational space of $`3N`$ dimensions or in $`6N`$-dimensional phase space. It is also possible to describe the evolution of such a system by means of partial differential equations in three-dimensional physical space as the dynamics of microscopic singular material fields (see Ref. ). A particle in this approach was determined as $`\delta `$ function distribution containing spatial coordinates and time independently. This method allows one to implement the mapping of trajectories dynamics in the fields dynamics and vice versa. To describe the particles dynamics on the macroscopic scale in this approach one should smooth the microscopic distributions. This procedure is well known in classical electrodynamics and hydrodynamics.

The transfer to the quantum-mechanical description is realized by replacing the dynamic functions with Hermitian operators. In this case the dimensionality of the configuration space is conserved and the state of the system is completely defined by the wave functions in $`3N`$-dimensional space. However, physical characteristics of the $`N`$ particles system are determined in three-dimensional physical space.

The quantum-mechanical description of the system of $`N`$ charged particles with arbitrary masses was considered in Ref. . Particles were taken to interact by Coulomb forces and with external classical electromagnetic field characterized by vector $`𝐀(𝐫,t)`$ and scalar $`\phi (𝐫,t)`$ potentials. It is worth mentioning that the evolution of $`N`$ particles was described in three-dimensional physical space. The exact microscopic equations for the description of the quantum dynamics of the $`N`$ particles system in physical space were obtained in that paper. The transfer to the macroscopic observable fields was implemented by means of smoothing procedure of microscopic functions. Note that the quantum description of the $`N`$ particles system can be formally reduced to one particle Shrödinger equation if we express all operators in terms of creation and annihilation operators. However, one particle wave functions are the operators in this approach. In Ref.  it was shown that the quantum dynamics of the $`N`$ particles system can be described using non-operator wave function in three-dimensional physical space. This result is of great importance.

We applied the formalism developed in Ref.  to the description of the electron gas oscillations in plasma. The solutions of linearized Shrödinger equation in the approximation of the self-consistent field were obtained in Ref. .

The main goal of this paper is to study electron gas oscillations in plasma using quantum mechanical approach. The quantum description is implemented in three-dimensional physical space. In Sec. 2 we analyze spherically and axially symmetrical solutions of the non-linear Shrödinger equation. The conditions of the oscillations process existence are examined. It is found that in the center or on the axis of symmetry of the systems the static density of electrons enhances. This process leads to the increasing of density and pressure of the ion gas. Then, in Sec. 3 we discuss possible applications of the considered model. We suggest that this mechanism could occurs in nature as rare phenomenon called the fireball and could be used in carrying out the research concerning controlled fusion. The description of the experiments, carried out for the purpose to generate long-lived spherical plasma structures, is presented. Finally, in Sec. 4 we discuss our results.

## 2  Quantum description of electron gas oscillations

We will assume electrons in plasma to be a quantum many body system. Such an assumption is due to the fact that, as it will be shown below, the obtained solutions have characteristic sizes of atomic order. The complex $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ function is introduced in three-dimensional space and has the form

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐫,t)=\sqrt{n_e(𝐫,t)}e^{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\sigma (𝐫,t)},$$
(3)
where $`n_e(𝐫,t)=\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|^2`$ is the density of electrons, $`\sigma (𝐫,t)`$ is the phase of the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$. The function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ satisfies the partial differential equation:

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{t}=\widehat{H}\mathrm{\Psi }.$$
(4)
The Hamiltonian in the Eq. (4) is expressed in the following way

$$\widehat{H}=\frac{1}{2m}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}}{i}\frac{e}{c}𝐀(𝐫,t)\right)^2+e\phi (𝐫,t)+e^2d^3𝐫^{}G(𝐫𝐫^{})|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2+\theta (𝐫,t),$$
(5)
where $`G\left(𝐫𝐫^{}\right)=\frac{1}{\left|𝐫𝐫^{}\right|}`$. In the Eq. (5) the first two terms are the components of single electron Hamiltonian in the external electromagnetic field. The third term presents the potential energy of the electron in the self-consistent electrostatic field created by the whole electrons system, with number density of particles being equal to $`\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|^2`$. The function $`\theta (𝐫,t)`$ describing exchange interactions between electrons has the form

$$\theta (𝐫,t)=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Psi }}{\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|}+\underset{𝐫_0}{\overset{𝐫}{}}\frac{dp_e(𝐫,t)}{\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|^2}+e^2d^3𝐫^{}\underset{𝐫_0}{\overset{𝐫}{}}𝑑G\left(𝐫𝐫^{}\right)\frac{q_2(𝐫,𝐫^{},t)}{\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|^2},$$
(6)
where $`p_e(𝐫,t)`$ is the pressure of the electron gas, $`q_2(𝐫,𝐫^{},t)`$ is the correlation function.

Therefore, in order to resolve exactly the considered problem one should take into account all terms in the Eq. (6). In Ref.  we assumed that the contribution of exchange interactions to the dynamics of free electrons in plasma is much smaller than the contribution of self-consistent electrostatic field. This assumption is valid at low density of free electrons in plasma. Then, in describing the dynamics of the electron gas we neglected the function $`\theta (𝐫,t)`$. As it will be seen from further speculations, these rough approximations allow us to get some characteristics of the oscillations process which are close enough to those obtained from the treatment of similar problem within the classical approach.

Let us consider the electroneutral plasma formed by the singly ionized gas, with the energy of electrons being more than the ionization potential of this gas. We will suppose that plasma possesses a spherical symmetry for density and velocities distribution of the electron and the ion gases. Note that there is no electromagnetic radiation in this system since the magnetic field is absent throughout the volume. The magnetic field, and hence the radiation, can appear if plasma parameters deviate from the spherically symmetrical distribution. If such deviations are small, the system is likely to reconstruct its internal structure and becomes spherically symmetrical again. The problem of the system stability to such deviations is under investigation now.

Taking into account the small mobility of heavy ions in gas compared to the mobility of electrons we will suppose that the density of ions is the constant value $`n_i(𝐫,t)=n_0`$. We will also consider that in our case there are no external electromagnetic fields except those of positively charged ions. The potential of self-consistent field created by the electron gas is represented by the formula (using spherical coordinates):

$$U_e=ed^3𝐫^{}G(𝐫𝐫^{})|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2=4\pi e\underset{r}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{dR}{R^2}\underset{0}{\overset{R}{}}x^2|\mathrm{\Psi }(x,t)|^2𝑑x.$$
(7)
Similarly, for the potential $`\phi `$ of singly ionized gas with density of ions $`n_i(r,t)`$ one has

$$\phi =4\pi e\underset{r}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{dR}{R^2}\underset{0}{\overset{R}{}}x^2n_i(x,t)𝑑x.$$
(8)
Thus, taking into account Eqs. (7) and (8), the Eq. (4) can be represented in the following way

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{t}+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Psi }4\pi e^2\mathrm{\Psi }F(\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|^2n_0)=0,$$
(9)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{^2}{r^2}+\frac{2}{r}\frac{}{r}`$ is the Laplas operator in the spherical coordinate system and

$$F(\mathrm{})=\underset{r}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{dR}{R^2}\underset{0}{\overset{R}{}}x^2(\mathrm{})𝑑x.$$

Moreover, we demand that the system should be electroneutral as a whole, i.e. the condition must be satisfied:

$$\underset{R\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{R^3}\underset{0}{\overset{R}{}}x^2\left|\mathrm{\Psi }(x,t)\right|^2𝑑x=\frac{n_0}{3}.$$
(10)
We will search for a solution of the Eq. (9) in the form:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }_0+\chi (r)e^{i\omega t}.$$
(11)
Here $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ is the solution in the case of unperturbed electroneutral plasma, $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_0|^2=n_0`$, $`\chi (r)`$ is the complex function describing small perturbations on frequency $`\omega `$, $`|\chi ||\mathrm{\Psi }_0|`$. Using the Eq. (11), we get that $`|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2=n_0+\mathrm{\Psi }_0f+|\chi |^2`$, where $`f=\chi e^{i\omega t}+\chi ^{}e^{i\omega t}`$. Taking into account that $`|\chi ||\mathrm{\Psi }_0|`$, we obtain that $`|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2n_0+\mathrm{\Psi }_0f`$.

Then, we substitute the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$, given in the Eq. (11), and approximate expression for $`|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2`$ in the Eq. (9). Having considered the complex-conjugate equation together with the obtained one, it was easy to get the following equation for the function $`f`$:

$$\mathrm{}\omega f+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}\mathrm{\Delta }f4\pi e^2\mathrm{\Psi }_0\left(2\mathrm{\Psi }_0+f\right)F\left(f\right)=0.$$
(12)
For the total linearization, it is necessary to suppose that $`2\mathrm{\Psi }_0+f2\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ in the third term of the Eq. (12). Then, we represent the function $`\chi `$ through its real and imaginary parts: $`\chi =\chi _1+i\chi _2`$. Hence, $`f=\chi _1\mathrm{cos}\omega t+\chi _2\mathrm{sin}\omega t`$, and the Eq. (12) can be divided into two independent similar equations for $`\chi _1`$ and $`\chi _2`$:

$$\mathrm{}\omega \chi _n+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}\mathrm{\Delta }\chi _n8\pi e^2n_0F\left(\chi _n\right)=0,n=1,2.$$
(13)
One can find out that the functions

$$\chi _n=B_n\frac{\mathrm{sin}\gamma r}{r},n=1,2,$$

where $`B_n`$ are real constants, are the solutions of the Eq. (13). The behavior of the functions $`\chi _n`$ is shown in Fig. 2.

The parameter $`\gamma `$ satisfies the dispersion relation

$$\gamma ^2=\frac{\omega m}{\mathrm{}}\left[1\pm \left(14\frac{\omega _p^2}{\omega ^2}\right)^{1/2}\right],$$
(14)
where $`\omega _p`$ is determined in the Eq. (1). The positive part of the Eq. (14) as a function of frequency $`\omega `$ is presented in Fig. 3.

It is worth noticing that if the values of $`B_n`$ are limited, the expressions for $`\chi _n`$ satisfy the condition of system electroneutrality Eq. (10).

Now we present the estimate of some characteristics of the oscillations process. For the density $`n_0=2.7\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, i.e. for completely singly ionized gas under the atmospheric pressure and when $`\omega =2\omega _p`$, the frequency of electron oscillations is:

$$\nu =\frac{\omega _p}{\pi }=2\left(\frac{e^2n_0}{\pi m}\right)^{1/2}9\times 10^{13}\mathrm{Hz}.$$

This frequency corresponds to the electromagnetic radiation in the infrared range with the wavelength $`\lambda =c/\nu 3\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}`$. In this case $`\gamma _{1,2}=\pm [(2m\omega _p)/\mathrm{}]^{1/2}\pm 2.3\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}^1`$. The size of the central region $`\delta `$, where the most intensive oscillations of the electron gas are observed, is equal to $`\pi /\gamma 1.4\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}`$. The obtained value for $`\delta `$ is of atomic order. That is why we have adopted the quantum approach to the electron gas oscillations problem.

From the Eq. (14) one can see that the frequency $`\omega =2\omega _p`$ is the critical value, since for frequencies less than $`2\omega _p`$, $`\gamma `$ becomes a complex value and under these circumstances the oscillations of the electron gas are damped. However, there is no contradiction between this result and the well known fact that in using the classical approach to similar problem one gets the value $`\omega =\omega _p`$ for the critical frequency. The plasma frequency $`\omega _p`$ is the critical value for a frequency in a sense that oscillations of electron gas can appear only if $`\omega \omega _p`$. According to our result $`\omega `$ should be greater (or equal) than $`2\omega _p`$. However, under such condition the inequality $`\omega \omega _p`$ is sure to be satisfied. The obtained constraint for possible oscillations frequencies $`\omega 2\omega _p`$ is unlikely to be the feature of geometry of the system in question. As it will be shown below, there is the same condition for axially-symmetrical electron gas oscillations. We suspect that the deviation from the result of classical theory ($`\omega \omega _p`$) results from the quantum approach used in our paper.

Now let us discuss the origin of each of the branches in the dispersion relation. At high oscillations frequencies the parameter $`\gamma `$ is great for the upper branch. Therefore, we can define the considered branch as the ”high-energy” one. Moreover, it is possible to treat the upper branch as the ”classical” one. If $`\omega 2\omega _p`$, the dispersion relation for this branch becomes similar to the relation between energy $`\mathrm{}\omega `$ and ”momentum” $`\mathrm{}\gamma `$ for a classical particle:

$$\mathrm{}\omega =\frac{(\mathrm{}\gamma )^2}{2m}.$$

Note that the definition ”high-energy” is consistent with ”classical” owing to the correspondence principle between classical and quantum mechanics (see, for instance, Ref. ).

The lower branch is the antithesis to the upper branch in all respects. To begin with the behavior of the parameter $`\gamma `$ at high frequencies. Contrary to the upper branch the lower one vanishes as $`\omega ^{1/2}`$. This fact means that we can define considered branch as the ”low-energy” one. Thus, according to the correspondence principle again we can also treat it as the ”quantum” branch. We suspect that such substantially quantum phenomenon as superconductivity of electron gas may take place if the dispersion relation is realized as the lower branch. This problem is also discussed in Sec. 3 devoted to possible applications of the described model.

Now let us discuss the ion gas density distribution. We supposed that number density of the ion gas was constant throughout the volume because of the small mobility of heavy ions. However, it leads to incorrect results. It is necessary to remind that the exact expression for the density of the electron gas in searching for the solution in the form of the Eq. (11) is presented as $`\left|\mathrm{\Psi }\right|^2=n_0+\mathrm{\Psi }_0f+\left|\chi \right|^2`$. Let us define in this expression $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0f`$ and $`\overline{n}_e=n_0+\left|\chi \right|^2`$ as the dynamic and static components of the electron gas density. In deriving the approximate linearized Eq. (13) the function $`\left|\chi \right|^2`$ was supposed to be small and thus neglected. This procedure is not correct because the integral operator $`F\left(\left|\chi \right|^2\right)`$ becomes divergent for the function $`\chi =(B/r)\mathrm{sin}\gamma r`$. The divergence is caused by the time independent quantity $`|\chi |^2`$, which means the excessive static component of the electron gas density. We assumed that the density of the ion gas was constant. The average of the frequently oscillating dynamic component over time is zero, but $`\left|\chi \right|^2`$ does not depend on time. It is naturally to expect that under some conditions the negative volume charge, described by the function $`|\chi |^2`$, will be compensated (or neutralized) by the removing of positive ions. This process will result in local changing of density and pressure of the ion gas.

Indeed, it can be shown that for our case the condition of static stability of the ion gas is:

$$kT\frac{n_i}{r}=\frac{4\pi e^2}{r^2}n_i\underset{0}{\overset{r}{}}\left(n_i\overline{n}_e\right)x^2𝑑x$$
(15)
where $`k`$ is Boltzmann constant, $`T`$ is the ion gas temperature, $`n_i`$ is the ions density.

For the neutralization process to occur we demand that the ions density $`n_i`$ should be equal to the static electrons density $`\overline{n}_e=n_0+|\chi |^2`$ with high level of accuracy. Then, from Eq. (15) we get the following inequality:

$$\frac{kTr^2}{4\pi e^2n_i}\left|\frac{n_i}{r}\right|1.$$

Having substituted the expression for $`n_i`$ in the last formula, we obtained the condition of the neutralization: $`(kTB^2\gamma )/(4\pi e^2n_0)1`$. Taking into account that ions density in the center of the system should be equal to $`n_c=B^2\gamma ^2`$, this condition can be rewritten in the following way:

$$n_c\frac{4\pi e^2\gamma }{kT}n_0.$$
(16)
For instance, for $`T=10^3\mathrm{K}`$ and the value $`\gamma =2.3\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}^1`$, which was obtained above, we get that $`n_c500n_0`$. We supposed that the perturbations described by the function $`\chi `$ were small, i.e. $`n_cn_0`$. Hence, the condition Eq. (16) is satisfied and the excessive static electron charge is undoubtedly compensated by the ion charge and the divergence in the integral $`F(|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2n_i)`$ can be eliminated. Thus, the approximate, linearized theory trends to describe the pressure enhancement of the ion gas in the center of symmetrically oscillating electron gas.

The ion density enhancement, described in our paper, and the Debye shielding are the completely different phenomena since the latter is the static effect and the former is the dynamic phenomenon. It should be also noted that the electron gas density enhancement is the essentially quantum effect and cannot be obtained within the classical approach with the use, for example, of the kinetic equation method. Indeed, in the classical description of the electron gas oscillations in plasma we get that electron distribution function in the Eq. (2) has the form:

$$f_e(𝐫,𝐩,t)=f_0(𝐩)+\delta f(𝐫,𝐩,t),$$

where $`f_0(𝐩)`$ is the unperturbed stationary as well as spatial coordinates independent distribution function, $`\delta f(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ is the perturbation of the distribution function. The electrons number density is expressed in the following way

$$n_e(𝐫,t)=d^3𝐩f_e(𝐫,𝐩,t)=n_0+\delta n(𝐫,t),$$

where

$$\delta n(𝐫,t)=d^3𝐩\delta f(𝐫,𝐩,t).$$
(17)
The function $`\delta f(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ is usually taken to be proportional to $`\mathrm{exp}[i(\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}\omega t)]`$. Therefore, the average of $`\delta n(𝐫,t)`$ over time in the Eq. (17) is zero. Thus, it is impossible to obtain the electron gas density enhancement within the context of the classical theory.

Basing on the obtained approximate solutions of the non-linear Shrödinger equation, we suggest the following dynamics of the spherically symmetrical electron gas oscillations with finite amplitude:

1. The appearance of the excessive negative volume charge in the center of the system (quantum mechanical effect in electron gas oscillations).
2. The neutralization of the small negative volume charge as a result of the ions motion towards the center.
3. The enhancement of the ion gas density and pressure.
4. The Hamiltonian in the Eq. (5) is changed allowing for the new electric charges distributions. The approximate solution of the new equation provides further pressure enhancement of the ion gas.

While considering non-linear Shrödinger equation (9), it can be seen that along with the components on frequency $`\omega `$, the terms which do not depend on time as well as on frequencies $`2\omega `$, $`3\omega `$ and etc appear. One can make sure of this representing the solution of the Eq. (9) in the form:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(r,t)=\mathrm{\Psi }_0+\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{\Psi }_k(r,t),$$

where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1=(B_1/r)e^{i\omega t}\mathrm{sin}\gamma r`$.

It is worth mentioning that along with spherically symmetrical solution of the Eqs. (4)-(6), there is at least one axially-symmetrical solution which has the form:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(r,t)=n_0^{1/2}+BJ_0(\gamma r)e^{i\omega t},$$

where $`J_0`$ is the zero-order Bessel function, $`B`$ is a real constant. In this case the dispersion relation takes the same form as the Eq. (14). All consequences obtained for spherically-symmetrical oscillations are valid for this case as well.

## 3  Applications

In this section we present the data of the fireball appearance in nature and various theoretical models for the description of this phenomenon. We also analyze the possibility for a fireball to be accounted for in frames of our model of quantum electron gas oscillations in plasma.

The fireball is a very rare natural phenomenon. However, numerous observations of fireballs have been collected (see, for example, Ref ). It should be noted that most of the fireball observers were not professional researchers and, thus, their descriptions of this phenomenon may appear to be quite subjective. However, the substantial number of these observations reveal some regularity. We present below the key aspects of the fireball observations.

* The fireball appearance. A fireball more often appears beside the lightning stroke. There are, however, a considerable amount of observations when a fireball appeared without a lightning. Different sharpened objects such as metallic pieces, antennae, wires etc are reported to favor the fireball appearance. The fireball observers usually mention that there can be the high electric field strength, for instance, corona discharge on the metallic objects.
* The fireball disappearance. A fireball often disappears smoothly attenuating. However, rather frequently a fireball disappears with explosion, releasing of great amount of heat energy and melting metal and sand.
* Stationary state of a fireball The usual average size of a fireball is about $`30÷40\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}`$. The lifetime is in the range from $`1`$ to $`200\mathrm{s}`$. The color of the fireball glow is various: red, yellow, white and blue. The minimal number of observed fireballs had green hues. Neither high brightness of a fireball nor the effects which can be regarded as the evidence of thermal radiation are the characteristics of a fireball. Its light looks like a glow discharge. Even transparent fireballs are reported to appear. Sometimes the observers mention that a fireball has more bright core.
* The fireball form. A fireball often has elliptical or spherical form. The form, which can be identified with toroidal one, is rarely observed. The fireball surface is reported to consist of needles. The fireball sparking is the frequently mentioned feature.
* The fireball motion and location. A fireball is regularly located near objects on the ground or in the atmosphere (for example, near airplanes). It moves, as a rule, along these objects on a certain distance. A fireball can be elastically reflected by the objects or disappears in touch with them. A fireball moves towards the air current as well as in the reversed direction. A fireball can penetrate indoors through a chimney, window glass and holes, with their diameter being less than the visible one of a fireball. It is worth noticing that window glass is not destroyed sometimes when a fireball travels through it. The fireball interaction with ferromagnetic materials is not observed.
* The biological action of a fireball. The biological effects of a fireball are the legs and arms paralysis as well as the tan.

The fireball models can be divided into several groups. According to one of them a fireball appears if the electromagnetic radiation with the wavelength of several centimeters or shorter is closed on itself forming a stable wave package. This process occurs either in the atmosphere or on the ground in a certain form a lightning discharge. Other fireball models are based on the step leader. A fireball is either identified with the step leader or is its extension under certain conditions (”unfinished” lightning, combination of currents values etc).

According to the model of quantum electron gas oscillations in plasma, developed in this paper, we found that if one presents the solution of the non-linear Shrödinger equation in the form of the Eq. (11), then time independent excessive component of the electron gas density always appears. It leads to the ion gas density enhancement in the center of the system. This property is unlikely to be the feature of the adopted Hamiltonian.

In order to maintain plasma in ionized state and realize the process described above, the energy ingress from the outside or the energy release within the system is wanted. Nuclear fusion reactions can, in principle, serve as similar source of energy. The reactions will proceed if pressure and density of the ion gas attain appropriate values.

This process seems to support the existence of a fireball. Water is known to contain deuterium in the amount of $`1/5000`$ under normal conditions. If water vapors are present in atmosphere, the running the nuclear fusion reactions will release energy, which supports the oscillations of the electron gas and prevents the recombination of plasma. Possible exothermic nuclear fusion reactions are:

$${}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{D}_{1}^{}+{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{D}_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{He}_{2}^{}+{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{n}_{0}^{},$$

$${}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{D}_{1}^{}+{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{D}_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{T}_{1}^{}+{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{p}_{1}^{},$$

$${}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{D}_{1}^{}+{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{T}_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{He}_{2}^{}+{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{n}_{0}^{},$$

where $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{D}_{1}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{T}_{1}^{}`$ are the heavy isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium), $`{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{He}_{2}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{He}_{2}^{}`$ are the helium isotopes, $`{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{n}_{0}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{p}_{1}^{}`$ are the neutron and the proton. Taking into account small sizes of the central (active) region and small amount of deuterium in atmosphere, it is possible to use the term ’microdose’ nuclear fusion reactions for the process in question. Axially-symmetrical oscillations of the electron gas are likely to appear as very seldom observed type of a fireball in the form of shining, sometimes closed cord (see also the list of the observed fireball properties in the beginning of this section). Uncomplicated calculation shows that energy released in deuterium nuclei fusion in $`1\mathrm{d}\mathrm{m}^3`$ of water vapors (the average size of a fireball) has the value of about $`1\mathrm{M}\mathrm{J}`$, that corresponds to energy evaluations of some observed fireballs .

However, along with high-energy ’fireballs’ there often appear low-energy ones. The energy estimate of such ’fireballs’ (see Ref. ) indicates that the nuclear fusion reactions are unlikely to support their existence. Low-energy fireball may be presented in frames of our model as the solution with the dispersion relation described by the lower branch (see Fig. 3). The superconductivity might be the mechanism preventing possible attenuation of the electron gas oscillations caused by various dissipation processes.

Moreover, the facts, indirectly verifying that quantum electron gas oscillations in plasma are the possible model of a fireball, are (see also the list of the observed fireball properties in the beginning of this section):

1. Numerous fireball observers mention the elevated level of the atmospheric gas ionization when a fireball appears. This fact points out that a fireball generates very strong electromagnetic radiation with the frequency in the ultraviolet range (or even higher). Although the systems with spherically-symmetrical electron gas oscillations do not reveal radiation, the ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation could be generated in the outer layers of such systems. The origin of this radiation would be various secondary effects, for example, small deviations from spherically-symmetrical state.
2. Persons who were beside a fireball sometimes revealed the tan. The explanation of this fact is the same as in the item 1.
3. A fireball often disappears with heavy explosion. This point indicates that there is the elevated pressure region within a fireball. This region should have small size. If the size had been great, the weight of a fireball would have exceeded the weight of air and a fireball would have descended to the ground. However, it confronts the observations that a fireball freely moves in the atmosphere. The pressure and density of the ion gas are inevitably increased if the electron gas oscillations in plasma are described in frames of our model.
4. A fireball burns small holes, from several millimeters to $`2÷3\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}`$ across, when it travels through dielectric materials (glass, plastic) as well as through thin metallic sheets. If a fireball is described on the basis of our model, the nuclear fusion reactions may take place in its central region. Thus, high temperature, required to melt, for example, glass, can be achieved.
5. The fireball lifetime is anomalously high. This fact can be accounted for by none of the models based on the classical electrodynamics or hydrodynamics.

### 3.1 Experimental studying of electron gas oscillations in plasma

Groups and separate researchers developing the problem of the controlled fusion are suggested to pay attention to self-consistent, radially and axially oscillating electron ’plasmoids’ as a base models to self-supported nuclear fusion reactions. The authors of this article have certain experience in generating ball-like plasma structures. We present below the description of the experiments carried out in the N. N. Andreev Institute of Acoustics in 1995-1999.

The plant, used to generate spherical plasma structures, is shown in Fig. 4(a).

The reservoir capacitor $`C_010^7\mathrm{F}`$ was charged up to the voltage $`U_02\times 10^5\mathrm{V}`$. The electrostatic field energy of the capacitor was $`W_{el}=\frac{C_0U_0^2}{2}2\times 10^3\mathrm{J}`$. After the complete capacitor discharge, the point $`Q`$ formed very strong corona charging about $`5\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}`$ across. The corona was visible even in diffuse sunlight. The point $`Q`$ was the sharpened quenched steel wire. The space near the point was enriched with heavy water ($`\mathrm{D}_2\mathrm{O}`$). When a high-voltage pulse was applied to the electrode $`S`$, the break-down of the spark gap occurred and the capacitor $`C_0`$ was short-circuited. The process of the capacitor discharge is schematically presented in Fig. 4(b). The voltage fell from $`200\mathrm{k}\mathrm{V}`$ to zero during the time $`\tau 10^8\mathrm{s}`$. Glowing dark-red spheres about $`3\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}`$ across separated from the point $`Q`$ at the moment of the break-down. The lifetime of these structures was in the interval $`1÷5\mathrm{s}`$.

The described discharge scheme seems to have implemented the excitation of the spherically symmetrical electron gas oscillations. The electron gas was formed by the high-voltage corona discharge on the point $`Q`$.

The disadvantages of the considered plant are:

* high power of the charging devise caused by strong leakage current in displaying a corona discharge;
* high level of noise in short-circuiting of the capacitor $`C_0`$;
* big overall dimensions of the plant.

The listed disadvantages were partially removed in the plant which is shown in Fig. 5(a).

In this circuit, $`C_1`$ denotes the reservoir capacitor. When high voltage $`U_0`$ was applied to the point $`2`$ of the circuit, the potential of the point $`Q`$ was always equal to zero because of the shunting resistor $`R`$. After the break-down of the spark gap, the potential of the capacitor $`C_0`$ fell to zero and the potential of the point $`Q`$ became equal to $`U_0`$. This process is schematically depicted in Fig. 5(b). The parameters of this circuit were: $`C_010^{10}\mathrm{F}`$, $`C_110^9\mathrm{F}`$, $`R10^9\mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`U_01.5\times 10^5\mathrm{V}`$. Leakage currents were almost eliminated since all reservoir elements had been placed in transformer oil. The principal elements of this circuit have passed preliminary testing.

At the end of this section we briefly discuss the results of the experiments, carried out for the purpose to study the interaction of laser radiation with the tantalum targets, which are presented in Ref. . The authors of this paper report that long-lived structures were produced in the experiments. These objects are reported to emit hard gamma-ray radiations (with energy of quanta $`E0.1\mathrm{MeV}`$) and abandon specific tracks on the metallic walls of the vacuum chamber. These facts imply that, as it was also mentioned by the authors of Ref. , the density of matter within the generated structures is very high. Such stable, long-lived structures cannot be described be means of classical electrodynamics. This point was also noticed in Ref. . We suppose that the authors of this article have exited the electron gas oscillations which may be described in frames of our model. Thus, for example, the elevated pressure in these objects can be successfully accounted for. The suggestion that the superconductive electric current might circulate within the produced structures was put forward in Ref. . This hypothesis agrees with our anticipation that superconductivity might occur in the outer layers of spherically and axially symmetrical electron gas oscillations in plasma.

## 4  Conclusion

The quantum mechanical description of the electron gas oscillations in plasma has been presented in this paper. We have analyzed spherically and axially symmetrical solutions of the non-linear Shrödinger equation. The conditions of the oscillations process existence have been examined. It has been found that in the center or on the axis of symmetry of the systems the static density of electrons enhanced. This process led to the increasing of density and pressure of the ion gas. We have also discussed possible applications of the obtained solutions. It has been suggested that this mechanism could occurs in nature as rare phenomenon called the fireball and could be used in carrying out the research concerning controlled fusion. The description of the experiments, carried out for the purpose to generate long-lived spherical plasma structures, has been presented.

New approaches to the technical development of the controlled fusion problem are requested nowadays. The collected experience of plasma physics allows one to operate with very complicated plasma configurations. The problem of the self-consistent plasma confinement in power-generating plants can probably be imposed. In this situation a fireball is of particular interest because of its high energy and long lifetime. A great number of the observations concerning a fireball appearance was collected. Plenty of the fireball models has been constructed. The advances in the studying of plasma interactions with rf radiation and matter point out that the stable plasma structures, supplied by the energy of nuclear fusion reactions, can, in principle, be implemented.

Taking into account limited amount of the exhaustible resources of natural energy carriers, the mankind will inevitably face energy catastrophe in 21st century. The consequence will be the complete destruction of the modern industrial civilization. The alternative energy sources, such as geothermal, tidal, wind-power, solar and water-power stations, will be unable to prevent this catastrophe. The only possibility for the mankind is to acquire the energy released in the controlled fusion, using for this purpose almost inexhaustible deuterium resource in the oceanic water. However, the numerous attempts to implement the stable controlled fusion, using the technique of electrical heating of plasma with its subsequent squeezing by the external magnetic field, are likely to fail. Now it is possible to claim that this technique is a dead-end for the outlined problem. In our opinion, the self-consistent plasma structure - a fireball, is one of the possible ways to acquire almost inexhaustible energy resource.


format: text

text:
# Topographical Maps as Complex Networks

## I Introduction

Among the vast spectrum of natural phenomena involving intense information exchange between spatially distributed elements, the mammals cortex stands out as particularly complex and intriguing Scannell (1999). While the full understanding of this organ still represents one of the biggest challenges to science, continuing investigations in the areas of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurogenetics, and neuroinformatics have provided a wealthy of information about its organizational principles. It is currently known that the mammals neocortex is characterized by coexistence of hierarchy, modularity, short and long range connections, spatial correlations, and topographical maps. Two neuronal modules are said to be topopographically connected if adjacent neurons of the input layer connect to adjacent neurons of the output layer (e.g. Chklovskii (2000); Kandel et al. (1995)). One of the most distinctive and ubiquitous properties of the mammals brain are the topographical connections between its several modules Essen (1997); Bartels and Zeki (1998); Kandel et al. (1995). In the visual system, for example, the cortical region LGN (i.e. lateral geniculate nucleus) connects topographically to the cortical region V1, and then to V2 and further (e.g. Ding and Casagrande (1998); Ichida and Casagrande (1998); Lyon et al. (1998)). The fact that such modules exchange information vertically along the hierarchies while communicating horizontally with other modules in the same hierarchical level has motivated a computational model known as multistage integration Bartels and Zeki (1998). Indeed, cortical feedback through such connections seems to be essential for achieving important functionalities such as orientation selectivity P. C. Murphy and Sillito (1999). Sensory cortical modules are not only topographically connected between themselves, but also receive topographically structured representations of the input stimuli. In the visual system, for instance, we have the visiotopic maps which have been identified as being important for target detection Kardar (2002). At the same time, the functional characteristics of the cells distributed along the cortical surface have been shown to be highly correlated, in the sense that cells that are close one another tend to have similar functions (e.g. Kandel et al. (1995); Friston et al. (1996)). It is very likely that such organizational principles are not accidental or secondary. Contrariwise, it is possible that such geometrical arrangement of the cortical circuitry may be essential for proper information processing. The main purpose of the present work is to analyze modular topographical connections in terms of the interesting and powerful concepts and measurements supplied by the new area of complex networks. The basic structure of the cortical connections, which is shared by many species, is likely to be the result of an attempt at optimizing several conflicting requirements simultaneously, including minimal wiring, minimal metabolism/energy, number of cortical areas, as well as molecular and genetical constraints Karbowski (2003). The minimal wiring requirement, and henceforth minimal transmission delay, have often been identified in the literature as the most important requirement shaping cortical connections Cherniak (1995); Mitchison (1991); Karbowski (2001); Chklovskii (2002). The special efforts invested by the central nervous system in implementing topographical connections provide a primary indication that such a kind of strategy plays an important role in minimizing connectivity requirements while guaranteeing effective cortical processing.

The importance of maintaining spatial relationships and adjacencies through several cortical modules can, in principle, be associated to the following putative requirements or properties derived from experimental findings and computational theory:

*Adjacency:* As extensively indicated by experimental investigations, neighboring neurons tend to have similar functionalities, implying spatial correlation of neuronal activity along the cortical surface. Such an organization also accounts for a certain degree of redundancy.

*Accessibility:* Neural operation involves intensive exchange of information along time and space. In order that decisions can be taken timely, it is important that neurons enrolled in cooperative processing have effective access to information in any of the enrolled cells. Information accessibility can be quantified in terms of time or distance, and can be estimated inside the same cortical module or between different modules. High accessibility demands more connections between neurons, with the highest possible degree being achieved when each cell is directly connected to every other cell. In other words, connectivity tends to favor accessibility.

*Parallelism:* As neuronal cells are relatively slow processing units, real-time cortical operation requires parallel and distributed processing. It is important to observe that some parallel processing paradigms, such as vector processing and pipelining, do not necessarily lead to intense combinatorial connections between all involved modules.

*Broadcasting:* Another important mechanism possibly underlying information transmission is *broadcasting*. Unlike point-to-point intercommunication, broadcasting is characterizing by the fact that the same information is sent to several other neurons. Broadcasting can be particularly useful for neural modulation and control. While wide broadcasting can take place along time, short term action demands high levels of neuronal connections.

Though it is not currently clear how these features are adopted and combined at different cortical regions in order to allow emergence of proper behavior, it is only through the quantitative characterization of network connectivity and spatial constraints that new hypotheses and further experimental investigation, including functional evaluation, can be obtained and validated. In order to better appreciate the possible implications of topographical connections for cortical architecture, it is also important to consider the connectivity patterns intrinsic to cortical modules. As there is no current agreement on whether the local cortical connections follow random Braitenberg (1998) or selective attachment Young (1992); Shefi (2002), both situations are considered in the present study.

While the connections underlying traditional neuronal networks can naturally be represented in terms of graphs, the recent interest in *complex networks* Albert and Barabási (2002) has paved the way to characterize important properties of such structures with respect to both their connections and organization, especially in terms of the node degree (i.e. the number of connections of each neuron), average length and clustering coefficient Albert and Barabási (2002); Bollobás (2002); Barabasi et al. (2001). Graph theory Bollobás (2002) thus provides several concepts and tools for measuring, modeling and validating several aspects of cortical geometry and functionality.

The present work reports on the potential of applying complex network formalism to investigate in a quantitative manner the effects that topographical connections may have in modifying important properties of the involved cortical modules, with special attention given to their connectivity. The neuronal cells, each represented by a network node, are assumed to be uniformly distributed along the cortical topography. The connections inside each modular network follow four different architectures: preferential-attachment (PAT), random network (RAN), short-range network (SHR) and long-range network (LNR), which will be detailed later. Topographical connections between two such cortical modules A and B are established by linking each node of A to the nearest node in B with probability $`\beta `$. In order to quantify the impact of such topographical connections over the network properties, several measurements are obtained while the degree of topographical coupling between modules A and B, quantified in terms of the probability $`\beta `$, is increased. Furthermore, we measure the same network properties for random connections between A and B in order to establish a comparison with the topographical connections case. We also consider uni- and bidirectional connections between modules for both topographical and random inter-modular models, as further explained below.

The article starts by introducing the adopted network terminology as well as the several measurements considered for characterization of the properties of the investigated networks. The obtained simulation results characterize the changes of the network properties in terms of the topographical coupling, indicating that topographical connections can have major impact over the properties of the involved networks.

## II Models and methods

The cortical modules, with $`N`$ nodes connected through $`n`$ directed edges, are embedded into an $`L\times L`$ two-dimensional space $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ representing the cortical domain associated to each module. Each network node $`i`$, $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},N`$, is randomly positioned at coordinate $`(x_i,y_i)`$. The number of nodes in each module is $`N=\mathrm{Round}\left(\gamma L^2\right)`$ where $`\gamma `$ is the density of nodes and Round is the rounding function. The connections inside each cortical module are implemented as follows: a pair of selected nodes establishes a connection if a random number, uniformly distributed between , is smaller than $`p`$. The selection of nodes to be connected is performed according to the following architectures: PAT, RAN, SHR or LNR. In the PAT networks, the connections follow a preferential attachment scheme as described in the following. The probability to choose a node to implement a connection depends linearly on the number of connections of that node. Our procedure began with the same probability for all nodes and new connections are added progressively. This procedure results in a network with few highly connected nodes and many poorly connected nodes (Figure 1-a). For RAN networks, two nodes are selected at random for respective connection (Figure 1-c). The construction of the SHR and LNR networks are similar but follow different criteria. First, a list of pair of nodes with Euclidean distances in decreasing or increasing order is elaborated (for SHR or LNR networks, respectively). Then a pair of nodes is randomly selected and if a random number, uniformly distributed between , is smaller than $`\mathrm{exp}\left[i/(TN)\right]`$, the pair is connected, where $`i`$ is the ordinal number of the pair in the list and $`T`$ is a dimensionless parameter that regulates the length of the connection. Small values of $`T`$ produce networks that observe the imposed criteria more closely, while for very large values of $`T`$ a RAN architecture is obtained (see Figures 1-b and 1-d). In this paper we set $`T=0.1`$ in order to retain some longer or shorter range intra-modular connections for SHR and LNR networks, respectively. For all cases the boundary conditions of modules are open (i.e. non-periodical).

Random and topographical schemes were considered for the inter-modular connections (IMC). In the topographical case, the IMC between neurons in the two cortical modules A and B are established according to the following rule: each neuron in module A connects in a directed way to the nearest neuron in module B with probability $`\beta `$. The nearest neighbor condition is ignored in the case of the random model. Therefore, the probability $`\beta `$ controls the degree of topographical coupling between the two modules, with complete mapping being achieved for $`\beta =1`$. The two modules A and B are adjacent and they are separated by a distance $`a`$, so that nodes in B do not overlap with nodes in A (see Figures 2 and 5). Both topographical and random IMC models were implementing regarding bidirectional or unidirectional connections. In the bidirectional case, there exist directed connections from nodes of module A to nodes of module B, and vice-versa from B to A, while for unidirectional connections, there exist directed connections solely from nodes of module B to nodes in module A.

The following measurements were used in this work in order to quantify several properties of the considered complex networks:

*Shortest path length:* Let $`i`$ and $`j`$ be two network nodes with at least one path from $`i`$ to $`j`$. The *shortest path*, $`\delta _{i,j}`$, between these nodes is understood as the minimal total sum of edge lengths connecting $`i`$ to $`j`$. The average of this measurement, denoted by $`\delta `$, can be used to characterize the accessibility between two nodes in terms of Euclidean arc length. When there are no paths from $`i`$ to $`j`$, we set $`\delta _{i,j}=\left(N1\right)\sqrt{\left(2L^2+a^2\right)}`$ in order to penalize the accessibility in that case. We calculate the mean over all shortest paths of the network in the bidirectional case, while for unidirectional case the averaging procedure is applied only over $`\delta _{i,j}`$ such that $`i`$ and $`j`$ are nodes from B and A layers respectively, as illustrated in Figure 2.

*Path degree:* Is the fraction of pair of nodes without any path between them. Represented henceforth as $`\pi `$, this measurement provides complementary information about the accessibility between nodes.

## III Results

One hundred realizations of each models were obtained by simulations considering $`L=128`$ pixels, $`\gamma =0.02`$, $`p=0.1`$ and $`0.3`$. For short range networks, we used $`T=0.1`$, while the values of $`\beta `$ vary from 0.1 to 0.9. The adopted cortical separation was $`a=8`$ pixels, similar to the typical distance between neighboring nodes inside a module.

Figures 3 and 4 show the average shortest path length $`\delta `$ as a function of the unidirectional IMC intensity quantified by $`\beta `$, for $`p=0.1`$ and $`p=0.3`$, respectively. The values $`\delta `$ decrease linearly in the PAT and LNR architectures (Figures 3(a-b) and 4(a-b)), while the RAN and SHR architectures present an exponential decay of $`\delta `$ when $`\beta `$ increases (Figures 3(c-d) and 4(c-d)). The IMC type, either topographical or random, influences the behavior of $`\delta `$ in a selective manner, depending on the connectivity model adopted for the modules. For example, in PAT and LNR architectures the behavior of $`\delta `$ for random IMC is essentially undistinguishable from the topographical IMC case. The greatest difference appears for RAN and SHR architectures: in these cases the topographical connections have a lower average shortest path than the corresponding random IMC. The difference between topographical and random IMC is more evident in the RAN architecture for $`p=0.1`$. In addition, when $`p`$ increases from 0.1 to 0.3, $`\delta `$ decreases by about 20$`\%`$ in the RAN architecture for both topographical and random IMCs, while in the SHR architecture $`\delta `$ does not present significant changes. This is in contrast to the strong decrease in $`\delta `$ when $`p`$ increases from 0.1 to 0.3 in the PAT and LNR architectures, particularly in the latter case, which always showed $`\delta `$ higher than the former.

Figures 6 and 7 display the average shortest path length, $`\delta `$ as a function of the IMC intensity $`\beta `$, for $`p=0.1`$ and $`p=0.3`$ respectively, regarding bidirectional connections. We observe that the IMC type, either topographical or random, influences the behavior of $`\delta `$ in a selective manner, depending on the modular architecture. In particular, $`\delta `$ associated to random IMC is lower than that corresponding to topographical IMC only for the SHR architecture. In the case of the other modular architectures there are no great differences. In a similar way to the unidirectional case, $`\delta `$ decreases linearly in the PAT and LNR architectures (Figures 6(a-b) and 7(a-b)), and exponentially in the RAN and SHR architectures (Figures 6(c-d) and 7(c-d)). In addition, we observe that topographical IMC decays slower than random IMC. The difference between the two types of IMC is more definite in the SHR architecture for $`p=0.3`$. We also note that an increase of $`p`$ values from 0.1 to 0.3 in the PAT and LNR architectures, particularly in the latter, tend to enhance accessibility between the network nodes in that models (Figures 6(a-b) and 7(a-b)). This effect is substantially weaker in the RAN architecture (particularly in the topographical IMC), and almost null in the SHR architecture both for topographical and random IMCs.

The properties characterized by the node degree, path degree and clustering coefficient did not show significant differences between topographic and random realizations of the IMC. However, we observed different values of path degree produced by the PAT and LNR when compared to the other two network types. In particular, path degrees tend to be considerably higher in the PAT and LNR than in SHR and RAN networks, which implies a higher standard deviation $`\mathrm{\Delta }\delta `$ (displayed as errors bars in Figures 3-7). Figure 8 displays the scatter plots of $`\pi `$ in terms of the standard deviation $`\mathrm{\Delta }\delta `$ of the shortest path length. We observe that the fraction of pair of nodes without any path connecting them is smaller in the LNR networks than in PAT networks. Moreover $`\pi `$ suffers the influence of directionality (uni- or bidirectional) in the PAT networks but not in LNR case. In the latter case, random IMC seems to be more efficient than topographical both for unidirectional and bidirectional cases. The measurements $`\pi `$ for RAN and SHR networks are small and almost independent of the IMC type, $`p`$ and $`\beta `$ values (for the values considered here), while in PAT networks $`\pi `$ decreases with $`\beta `$ and $`p`$.

Our simulations suggest that topographical networks are more effective in terms of minimal wiring only for the RAN and SHR architectures with unidirectional IMCs. However, opposite conclusions were reached regarding bidirectional IMCs, except for the RAN architecture for low $`p`$ and $`\beta `$. Furthermore, the cortical architectures obtained for the short range networks are, in general, more effective in the sense of minimal wiring than random networks, and less sensitive to the IMC intensity.

## IV Conclusions

An interesting conclusion from our experiments is that the PAT and LNR models, irrespective of $`p`$ or the directionality of the mappings, are little affected by the type of map between modules being random or topographical. In other words, in case the intracortical connections are PAT or LNR, there is little advantage in using topographical maps as the means for getting overall shorter connections. In that case, topographical maps would need to be biologically justified in some other way, perhaps in terms of metabolical constraints. Still regarding the PAT and LNR models, the average shortest path has been found to be always smaller for the former, but such an advantage tends to diminish with $`p`$. Therefore, preferential-attachment networks such as those considered in this work are particularly efficient for obtaining shortest path connections between two cortical modules irrespective of the type of connection (i.e. random or topographical).

A completely different scenario has been identified for the RAN and SHR models, in the sense that the type of connection between modules tended to influence more definitely the respective average shortest paths. Generally, the SHR tended to have average shortest path $`\delta `$ smaller than for RAN networks. Substantial differences of $`\delta `$ as consequence of random or topographical connections were observed for SHR model with bidirectional maps and high $`p`$, with the random connections leading to smaller shortest path values than the topographical case (see Figures-6(d) and-7(d)). However, the greatest differences of $`\delta `$ were obtained for the RAN networks with unidirectional maps and for smaller $`p`$ (see Figures-3(c) and-4(c)). Interestingly, the topographical connections allowed substantially shortest paths in this case. This effect was also verified, to a lesser degree, for the RAN with higher $`p`$. From the biological perspective, such results indicate in the case of SHR and RAN cortical modules, the topographical maps lead to substantially smaller values of average shortest paths when one considers unidirectional maps. In this sense, the existence of unidirectional topographical connections in the cortex could be understood as being compatible with random and/or short range intracortical connections, which are the connectivity schemes found to benefit the most from such a kind of mapping.

The main implications for cortical function and organization of the Finding reported in the current work are discussed in the following. First, it is clear that topographical connections, even at moderate levels, can affect the properties of the involved modules. Indeed, the addition of a few short length connections between the two topographically organized modules can considerably enhance the accessibility between any two nodes in the resulting structure, reducing the shortest path between pairs of neurons, with the consequent improvement of time accessibility. Such enhancements imply that information can be exchanged and broadcasted more effectively between the neurons of the resulting topographically connected network than in the cortical modules taken isolated.

The intrinsic properties of topographical connections suggest that the many cortical regions involving such a communication could therefore account for one of the explanations for this ubiquitous and peculiar aspect of cortical architecture, enhancing accessibility while minimizing the length of the IMC, while also preserving spatial adjacency. More general conclusions considering the whole cortex are precluded by the fact that the cortical morphology and mapping seem to vary from species to species and from region to region (e.g. Lyon et al. (1998) and Kaas and Lyon (2001)). At the same time, the use of the concepts and results reported in this paper provides an interesting tool for investigating and interpreting each of such cases. Considering that topographical connections coexist with lateral connections at intra-modular level, the above proposed methodology can also be immediately extended to investigate the possible implications of such connections along the cortical modules inside the same module. The consideration of topographical connections between other types of spatially-constrained complex networks can also be considered as a means of enhancing information exchange.

###### Acknowledgements.

Luciano da F. Costa is grateful to FAPESP (processes 99/12765-2 and 96/05497-3), CNPq and Human Frontier for financial support. Luis Diambra thanks Human Frontier for his post-doc grant.