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# Tunneling effects on impurity spectral function in coupled asymmetric quantum wires

## I Introduction

From a theoretical point of view, it is well known that the Coulomb interaction leads to the Luttinger liquid (LL) behavior of one-dimensional (1D) electron systems. The LL is mostly characterized by the spin-charge separation in the elementary excitation spectrum.  However, experimental results concerning inelastic light scattering due to both charge-density (plasmon) and particle-hole (single-particle) excitations in 1D electron systems based on semiconductor quantum wires (SQWs) can be interpreted within the random-phase approximation (RPA) in the framework of the Fermi liquid (FL) theory.  Among other issues, the Fermi edge singularity  and the band gap renormalization  in these systems can also be successfully explained within the RPA. As a matter of fact, the resonant inelastic light-scattering experiments in SQWs have been analyzed using both the FL and LL theory.  Recently, a new kind of tunneling spectroscopy in coupled parallel quantum wires in GaAs-based semiconductors was able to check out the Luttinger liquid behavior of the electrons in extremely clean systems at very low temperatures.  Differences between the Luttinger and Fermi liquid behavior turned out to be noticeable in the one-electron spectrum.

So far, no definitive evidence for LL versus FL behavior has been obtained. It is still a puzzle in clarifying the conditions under which the 1D electron system embedded in SQW behaves as a LL. There have been theoretical suggestions that mechanisms induced by impurity scattering, thermal fluctuations as well as intersubband scattering can likely suppress the LL behavior.  Effects of the intersubband (or interwire) excitations are believed to disable the LL behavior, provided the system looses its strict one-dimensional character. Moreover, electron intra- and intersubband relaxations through slightly impurity scattering channels could restore the FL behavior. On the other hand, localized impurity (or defect) induced effects in a 1D metallic systems in quantum wires have been extensively studied  within both the FL and LL theories. These impurity effects turn out to be related to critical phenomena in the strongly correlated regime and to the X-ray absorption spectrum, where a optical created valence hole is regarded as an impurity.

In this work we are interested in studying the impurity induced optical properties in semiconductor quantum wires which can be helpful in understanding the 1D properties of the electron systems. We focus on the spectral function of a localized valence hole (or an spinless impurity) in a two-component coupled double quantum wires at finite temperatures. The considered interaction is of a localized state with a continuum described by a coupled double 1D system with two subbands (or components) filled with electrons. Two parallel wires in the $`x`$-direction, with zero thickness in the $`z`$-direction, compose the system. In the $`y`$-direction, the two wires are of 300 Å and 200 Å widths, respectively, separated by a 30-Å AlGaAs barrier of 300 meV height. We assume zero thickness in the $`z`$-direction since the confinement in this direction is much stronger than that in the $`y`$-direction. The energy gap between the first and the second subbands is $`\omega _0`$ $``$ 5.36 meV. We consider the impurity localized at the center of the barrier. Such a system is also similar to a type-II quantum wire heterostructures, where valence holes are localized between two parallel 1D electron gases.

Our theoretical result indicates that the interwire tunneling induced many-body effects in coupled asymmetric quantum wire systems lead to a non-monotonic impurity spectral function. A pronounced extra peak appears in the impurity spectral function up to 20 K.

The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II we present the theory with the working formulae; in Sec. III we provide our numerical results and discussions; we conclude in Sec. IV with a summary.

## II Theory

### A Interwire Coulomb potential

The anisotropy in the direction perpendicular to the wires leads to a very weak tunneling, but it is sensitive enough to produce important effects on both the electron-electron (e-e) $`V^{ee}`$ and the electron-impurity (e-i) $`V^{ei}`$ Coulomb interactions. The asymmetry leads to nonzero off-diagonal e-e interaction matrix elements of $`V^{ee}`$.  These elements represent e-e scattering in which only one of the electrons experiences interwire (or intersubband) transition. In the symmetric situation (two identical wires), however, these off-diagonal matrix elements vanish because the wavefunctions of the ground and the first excited states are symmetrical and anti-symmetrical, respectively, in the confinement direction.

On the other hand, the e-i interaction matrix element related to the interwire transitions is defined as

$$V_{12}^{ei}(q)=\frac{2e^2}{\epsilon _0}𝑑y\varphi _1(y)K_0(q\left|y\right|)\varphi _2(y),$$
(1)
where $`\epsilon _0`$ is the static dielectric constant, $`e`$ the electron charge, $`K_0(q\left|y\right|)`$ the zeroth-order modified Bessel function of the second order, and $`\varphi _j(y)`$ the electron wavefunction in the wire (or subband) $`j`$. The derivation of this potential is similar to that in Ref. , where its quasi-two-dimensional counterpart was calculated. The Bessel function $`K_0(q\left|y\right|)`$ results from the integral in the $`x`$-direction, which involves the external e-i Coulomb potential

$$V^{ext}(x,y)=\frac{e^2}{\epsilon _0}\frac{1}{\sqrt{(xx_i)^2+(yy_i)^2}};$$
(2)
and the plane wave describing free electrons in that direction. It depends obviously on the impurity position $`x_i=y_i=0`$, which has been chosen here as the origin of the coordinates. The component $`V_{12}^{ei}(q)`$ represents interwire (intersubband) transitions suffered by the electron as it interacts with the localized impurity. This interaction induces anisotropy (or tunneling) effects on the full impurity spectral function that we investigate in this work. We mention that, for two identical wires, $`V_{12}^{ei}(q)=0`$ due to the fact that the $`\varphi _1(y)`$ and $`\varphi _2(y)`$ are symmetrical and anti-symmetrical functions of $`y`$, respectively.

### B Interwire impurity Greens function

We model the system by an Anderson impurity localized below the continuum of the two subbands ($`j=1,2`$) in the coupled quantum wires filled with electrons. This approach has been used before in studying optical holes in doped two-dimensional systems at zero temperature. We point out that the Hamiltonian presenting the interaction between the impurity and the two-component 1D electron gas can be transformed into a problem of a localized level with energy $`\epsilon _i`$ and a two-component non-interacting bosons (electron-hole pairs). Therefore, we are dealing with an independent boson model which is exactly solvable. The term in the Hamiltonian describing the boson coupling to the impurity is written as

$$H^{}=d^+d\left[\epsilon _i+_{\lambda q}V_\lambda ^{ei}(q)\left(b_{q\lambda }+b_{q\lambda }^+\right)\right],$$
(3)
where $`b_{\lambda q}^+`$ ($`b_{\lambda q}`$) creates (destroys) a boson in the state $`\lambda (j,j\stackrel{´}{})`$ with wavevector $`q`$. Here, $`V_\lambda ^{ei}(q)`$ is the electron-impurity interaction matrix element. Notice that this coupling occurs only when the impurity state is occupied and $`d^+d=1.`$

After a canonical transformation of the type $`e^SH\stackrel{´}{}e^S`$ with

$$S=d^+d_{\lambda q}\frac{V_\lambda ^{ei}(q)}{\omega _\lambda (q)}\left(b_{q\lambda }^+b_{q\lambda }\right),$$
(4)
the Hamiltonian (3) can be rewritten as

$$H^{}=d^+d\left(\epsilon _i_\lambda \mathrm{\Delta }_\lambda \right),$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\lambda =_q\left|\frac{V_\lambda ^{ei}(q)}{\omega _\lambda (q)}\right|^2`$ is the self-energy involving the frequency $`\omega _\lambda (q)`$ of the boson in the state $`\lambda `$ with wavevector $`q.`$ One may then proceed to obtain the impurity Greens function from the Hamiltonian (5). After some algebra, an exact and closed form to the impurity Greens function are obtained

$$G(t)=ie^{it\left(\epsilon _i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\lambda \mathrm{\Delta }_\lambda \right)}_\lambda \mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{\Phi }_\lambda (t)\right],$$
(6)
where

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_\lambda (t)=_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{d\nu }{\nu ^2}R_\lambda (\nu )\left\{\left[n_B(\nu )+1\right]\left(1e^{i\nu t}\right)+n_B(\nu )\left(1e^{i\nu t}\right)\right\},$$
(7)
with $`n_B(\nu )`$ being the Bose distribution function. The Feynman´s theorem on the disentangling of field operators is employed to determine $`\mathrm{G}(t)`$. The benefit of treating the system within the independent boson model comes when our working formulae are obtained without any approximation.

In Eq. (6), $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\lambda \mathrm{\Delta }_\lambda `$ is the self-energy shift in relation to the impurity energy $`\epsilon _i.`$ This shift is time independent and has no major effect on the total impurity spectral function other than renormalizing the band-to-band threshold transition energy $`\omega _T=\epsilon _i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\lambda \mathrm{\Delta }_\lambda `$. For the sake of simplicity, we take $`\omega _T=0`$ throughout this paper. We focus on the time-dependent self-energy term $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\lambda (t)`$ which requires the boson density of states

$$R_\lambda (\nu )=\frac{1}{\pi }\frac{dq}{2\pi }\left|V_\lambda ^s(q,\nu )\right|^2Im\left[\mathrm{\Pi }_\lambda (q,\nu )\right],$$
(8)
which determines the shape of the impurity spectral function. In Eq. (8), $`V_\lambda ^s(q,\nu )`$ is the screened e-i Coulomb potential, and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\lambda (q,\nu )`$ is the non-interacting irreducible polarizability function. The screened interaction $`V_\lambda ^s`$ is obtained from the generalized self-consistent equation,

$$V_\lambda ^s(q,\nu )=_{\lambda \stackrel{´}{}}\left[\epsilon _{\lambda ,\lambda \stackrel{´}{}}(q,\nu )\right]^1V_{\lambda \stackrel{´}{}}^{ei}(q),$$
(9)
with the dielectric matrix

$$\epsilon _{\lambda ,\lambda \stackrel{´}{}}=\delta _{\lambda \lambda \stackrel{´}{}}V_{\lambda \lambda \stackrel{´}{}}^{ee}\mathrm{\Pi }_{\lambda \stackrel{´}{}}$$
(10)
being written within the RPA.

We point out that the formula for the density of states $`R_\lambda (\nu )`$ has been conveniently chosen in order to take into account elementary excitations (or screening) occurring in the experiment. The quantity $`R_\lambda (\nu )`$ is also playing a role of a density of states for the electron-electron interaction provided it is determined by collective excitations (entering in the calculation via the screened e-i potential $`V_\lambda ^s(q,\nu )`$), which remain in the particle-hole excitation continuum where $`Im\left[\mathrm{\Pi }_\lambda (q,\nu )\right]0.`$ It will then depend on the electron density $`n_e`$ in the sample, since the polarizability $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\lambda `$ does. Therefore, in calculating $`R_\lambda (\nu )`$, we are dealing with a boson density of states, which have been mapped onto elementary excitations in the real electron system.

The elementary excitation spectra of a Fermi system embedded in the biwire structure present the well-known optical, $`\omega _+(q),`$ and acoustic, $`\omega _{}(q)`$, plasmon modes corresponding to the in-phase and out-of-phase charge density fluctuations, respectively.  The dispersion relations of these modes are obtained through the equation $`det\left|\epsilon _{\lambda \lambda \stackrel{´}{}}(q,\omega )\right|=0`$.

We devoted special attention in this work to the element $`R_{12}(\nu ),`$ which is interpreted as the rate of creating interwire electron-hole pairs (bosons) with electron (hole) being in the wider (narrower) wire. The tunneling between the wires is responsible for $`V_{12}^{ei}(q)`$ and, as a consequence, for $`R_{12}(\nu )`$. It then leads to the interwire impurity spectral function defined as

$$A_{12}(\omega )=2Im\left[𝑑te^{i\omega t}g_{12}(t)\right],$$
(11)
where

$`g_{12}(t)=i\mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{\Phi }_{12}(t)\right]`$

is the finite temperature impurity Greens function involving the electronic transitions between the wires. The impurity spectral function in 3D systems at zero temperature diverges as power-law at $`\omega \omega _T`$. This divergency is due to the so-called orthogonality catastrophe involving the overlap between the initial (without impurity) and final (with impurity) many-body states.  Here, the Bose distribution function $`n_B(\omega )`$, governing the particle-hole excitations at finite temperatures, plays an important role being responsible for the behavior of $`A_{12}(\omega )`$ as $`\omega 0`$.

## III Numerical results

In Fig. 1 we show the $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ at different temperatures for the total charge density $`n_e=10^6`$ cm-1. As discussed above, Eq. (8) indicates that the screened e-i potential $`V_{12}^s(q,\nu )`$ in the interwire particle-hole continuum, where $`Im\left[\mathrm{\Pi }_{12}(q,\nu )\right]0,`$ determines the interwire density of states $`R_{12}(\nu )`$. On the other hand, the weak interwire particle-hole excitations in the present system only result in partially Landau damping on the plasmon modes as we discussed in Ref. . Therefore, the survived optical $`\omega _+(q)`$ and acoustic $`\omega _{}(q)`$ plasmon modes in this region are of dominant contribution to $`V_{12}^s(q,\nu )`$ and, consequently, in determining the $`R_{12}(\nu )`$. In order to understand that, we show in Fig. 2 the intra- and interwire particle-hole excitation spectra along with the plasmon dispersion relations of the optical and the acoustic modes in the system with $`n_e=10^6`$ cm-1 at zero temperature. The corresponding $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ is given by the solid curve in Fig. 1. Clearly, there are well defined borders of the interwire particle-hole continuum at zero temperature. The well shaped $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ follows the optical and acoustic branches entering and leaving each continuum region. The acoustic (optical) mode enters and leaves the lower interwire particle-hole continuum region at $`\omega _{}`$ $`3.0`$ and $`3.8`$ meV ($`\omega _+`$ $`3.7`$ and $`4.3`$ meV), respectively. The optical one enter the higher interwire particle-hole continuum region at $`\omega _+`$ $`6.3`$ meV. In comparison with the plasmon dispersions, our calculation indicates that the $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ is dominated by the acoustic and the optical plasmon branches which remain in the interwire particle-hole continuum. We address that, in calculating $`R_{12}(\nu )`$, we are dealing with an interwire boson density of states, which have been mapped onto elementary excitations in the Fermi system.

For the sake of completeness, we show the intrawire element $`R_{11}(\nu )`$ in the inset of Fig. 1 for the same temperature range. The rate $`R_{11}(\nu )`$ is dominated by the intrawire particle-hole excitations. But the partially damped acoustic plasmon mode in the intrawire particle-hole excitation continuum has a small contribution to $`R_{11}(\nu )`$ in our asymmetric system. We also show that, quantitatively, the $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ is larger than the $`R_{11}(\nu )`$ at very low temperatures. Consequently, it dominates the full impurity spectral function at low temperatures. In increasing temperature, $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ ($`R_{11}(\nu )`$) decreases (increases) and the interwire effects carried by $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ are suppressed by $`R_{11}(\nu )`$. Moreover, the function $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ is of different behavior in comparing with the $`R_{11}(\nu )`$ which is roughly a slowly varying function. The abrupt increase in $`R_{12}(\nu )`$ leads to a specific structure in the impurity spectral function. We also found that the elements $`R_{22}(\nu )`$ and $`R_{21}(\nu )`$ are of negligible contribution due to the small probability of creating electron-hole pairs whose electrons are found in the narrower wire.

In Fig. 3, the dotted and dashed lines show $`A_{jj\stackrel{´}{}}(\omega )`$ for $`(j,j\stackrel{´}{})=(1,1)`$ and $`(j,j\stackrel{´}{})=(1,2)`$, respectively, at $`T=2`$ K. The full spectrum (solid line) should be observed experimentally via photoemission or photocurrent spectroscopy and are proportional to the impurity density of states involving elementary excitations mostly due to the wider quantum wire. The interwire tunneling induced effects as discussed above reflect on the non-diagonal element $`A_{12}(\omega )`$. We see structures in the spectral function $`A_{12}(\omega )`$ in which dip and peak correspond to the behavior of $`R_{12}(\nu )`$. These structures represent the contribution coming from interwire boson excitations, which decrease as the temperature increases.

In Fig. 4(a), we show $`A_{12}(\nu )`$ at temperature $`T=2`$ K for different charge densities $`n_e`$. The figure clearly shows the effects due to interwire particle-hole excitations and their dependence on the total charge density in the sample. As $`n_e`$ decreases, the narrower wire becomes less populated and the shoulders in the figures get affected. In Fig. 4(b), we show the temperature evolution of $`A_{12}(\omega )`$ for $`n_e=10^6`$ cm-1. Although the temperature suppresses the interwire boson excitations, the effects due to interwire interaction is observable in our calculation up to $`T=30`$ K. Moreover, the Boson distribution function $`n_B(\omega ),`$ governing the interwire self-energy propagator $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{12}(t)`$ at finite temperatures, leads to the divergency in $`A_{12}(\omega )`$ for $`\omega 0`$.

## IV Summary

In summary, we have studied the non-diagonal (interwire) element of the spectral function matrix of a localized impurity in a coupled double quantum wires. We show that the tunneling between the two asymmetric wires induces interwire particle-hole excitation effects leading to a pronounced peak in the impurity spectral function up to 20 K which should be observable in the photoemission or photocurrent spectroscopy. We finally remark that experimental observations of these effects could serve as a signature of one-dimensional FL in the proposed system.

## V Acknowledgments

This work is supported by FAPESP, the research foundation agency of the state of São Paulo, Brazil.


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# The Formaldehyde Masers in NGC 7538 and G29.96-0.02: VLBA, MERLIN, and VLA Observations

## 1 Introduction

Astronomical observation of emission from the $`1_{10}1_{11}`$ transition at 4.83 GHz (6 cm) of the formaldehyde (H2CO) molecule is exceedingly rare. Only four Galactic sources have been observed to emit: three of these sources have been shown to be masers. The H2CO 6 cm emission in the compact H II region NGC 7538 B was first observed by Downes & Wilson (1974) and was shown to be a compact, non-thermal maser by Forster et al. (1980). Most recently, an H2CO maser was discovered in G29.96-0.02 by Pratap, Menten & Snyder (1994, hereafter PMS94). H2CO masers are also observed in Sgr B2 (Whiteoak & Gardner 1983). The fourth H2CO emission source, Orion-KL, is known to have extended thermal emission (e.g. Johnston et al. 1983). Though detection of H2CO masers is expected to require interferometric observations which are not sensitive to the broad angular scale $`1_{10}1_{11}`$ absorption that dominates single dish measurements of the 4.83 GHz line (e.g. Bieging et al. 1980), dedicated interferometric surveys (e.g. Forster et al. 1985; PMS94; Mehringer, Goss, & Palmer 1995) have been rather unsuccessful in discovering new masers.

There is currently no working theoretical model of the Galactic formaldehyde maser process, despite a history of relatively rapid understanding of astrophysical formaldehyde phenomena. Almost immediately after the discovery of interstellar formaldehyde in 6 cm absorption by Snyder, Buhl, Zuckerman, & Palmer (1969), observations were made of “anomalous” 6 cm absorption (Palmer, Zuckerman, Buhl, & Snyder 1969), 2 cm absorption (Evans, Cheung, & Sloanaker 1970), and emission in the $`2_{12}1_{11}`$ (Kutner, Thaddeus, et al. 1971) and $`2_{11}1_{10}`$ (Thaddeus et al. 1971) millimeter lines (see Fig. 1). Improved laboratory measurements (Tucker, Tomasevich, & Thaddeus 1971, 1972; Nerf 1972) and excitation calculations (Townes & Cheung 1969; Thaddeus 1972; Evans 1975; Garrison et al. 1975) explained these phenomena shortly thereafter, but cannot explain the observed maser emission. Boland & de Jong (1981) proposed a continuum radiation pump mechanism to explain the NGC 7538 maser. Though the radiative pump has been successfully applied to the several ($`>10`$) extragalactic H2CO (mega)masers which have been observed (e.g. Baan et al. 1986, 1993), the model is not applicable to the continuum morphology discovered in NGC 7538 more recently (e.g. Pratap et al. 1992), nor can the model explain the Sgr B2 and G29.96-0.02 masers discovered subsequently. Thus, the Galactic 6 cm formaldehyde maser phenomenon remains unexplained nearly 30 years after its discovery. In a search for new empirical constraints on these mysterious objects, this paper presents an observational study of the Galactic H2CO masers in NGC 7538 and G29.96-0.02.

NGC 7538 (S158) is a well-studied H II region complex at a distance of $`d3`$ kpc (Campbell & Thompson 1984). At the southern edge of the optical nebula lie three radio and infrared sources. The radio sources were designated A, B, & C by Martin (1973) from 2$`\mathrm{}`$-resolution 5 GHz observations. Wynn-Williams et al. (1974) detected infrared counterparts at 20 $`\mu `$m for the radio sources; A: IRS2, B: IRS1, and C: IRS3. The masers are located in front of IRS1 (IRAS 23116+6111) which is partially optically thick at 6 cm. The IRS1 H II region is thought to have a central star of type O6 V or B0.5 II (e.g. Israel et al. 1973; Willner 1976) and there is a relatively large mass of cold dust associated with IRS1 (but not IRS2 or 3) resulting in a relatively low H II region gas-to-dust mass ratio of 75 (Willner 1976). NGC 7538-IRS1 is also associated with a remarkable number of maser species besides H2CO (see §4.4).

G29.96-0.02 (hereafter G29.96) is a cometary H II region at a distance of $`d6.5`$ kpc (Morisset et al. 2002). The H2CO masers lie in a “hot core” about two arcseconds west of the cometary head. The hot core ($`T>100`$ K; $`n>10^7\mathrm{cm}^3`$) is thought to be powered by an embedded star, not by the cometary H II region (e.g. De Buizer et al. 2002; Pratap et al. 1999; Cesaroni et al. 1998). The hot core also shows maser emission from H2O and CH3OH (Hofner & Churchwell 1996; Walsh et al. 1998).

All previous observational studies of H2CO masers have utilized either single dish antennas or $`10`$ km baseline interferometers (e.g. Forster et al. 1980, 1985; Rots et al. 1981; PMS94). Past observations were unable to spatially resolve the maser emission. A lower limit of $`T_B10^5`$ K brightness temperature has been determined for the NGC 7538 and G29.96 masers (Rots et al. 1981; PMS94). The NGC 7538 H2CO source has two velocity components at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}58`$ km s-1 (component I) and $`60`$ km s-1 (component II), separated by $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}1`$ (Rots et al. 1981). Forster et al. (1985) noted a factor of two intensity increase in component I over 3 years. No polarization was detected in the NGC 7538 maser components to a 3-$`\sigma `$ upper limit of 5% of the total intensity in the Stokes $`Q`$, $`U`$, and $`V`$ parameters (Forster et al. 1985). The G29.96 masers exhibit several blended spectral features including velocity components at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}100`$ km s-1 (component I) and $`102`$ km s-1 (component II) that appear coincident on the sky (PMS94). No polarization observations have been made of the G29.96 masers.

Sensitive milliarcsecond-resolution observations of H2CO masers are needed. Placing more stringent empirical constraints on Galactic H2CO 6 cm maser emission requires the following observational results: (1) a determination of the angular extent of the maser emission $`\theta _m`$, allowing a determination of the intrinsic sizes and brightness temperatures, (2) a detection of the radiatively coupled $`2_{11}2_{12}`$ (2 cm) line, yielding limits on inversion and level populations, (3) sensitive limits on polarized intensity, and (4) a characterization of the observed maser intensity increase in NGC 7538. Furthermore, accurate relative positions of the H2CO masers with respect to other maser species could constrain the poorly-understood physical conditions of the maser environment.

Compared to the Rots et al. (1981) VLA observations of the NGC 7538 H2CO masers which used 12 antennas recording a single polarization, the VLA is now more sensitive, using all 27 antennas and recording dual polarizations. Furthermore, using the sensitivity of the VLBA with the phased VLA, observations of the relatively weak ($`100`$ mJy) H2CO masers at milliarcsecond angular resolution are possible. We have conducted new observations of the NGC 7538 and G29.96 H2CO masers at 6 cm and 2 cm using the Very Large Array (VLA) of the NRAO111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. and at 6 cm using Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) of the NRAO and the Multi-element Radio Linked Interferometry Network222MERLIN is operated as a National Facility by the University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory, on behalf of Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). (MERLIN).

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

We have summarized the observational parameters in Tables 1, 2, and 3. Tables 1 and 2 list the logistical parameters of the observations including bandwidth, spectral configuration, and calibrator information. All antennas in all observations use dual-circular polarization feeds. Table 3 lists the resulting sensitivities of the images. We assume throughout that the observed 6 cm formaldehyde line is the dominant $`22`$ hyperfine component which is separated from the $`10`$ component by 1.13 km s-1 (Tucker et al. 1971; Downes et al. 1976).

The maser line widths, velocities, and velocity gradients were determined using the The Groningen Image Processing System (GIPSY) software package333http://www.astro.rug.nl/$``$gipsy/. All other reduction and imaging was done with the Astronomical Image Processing System (AIPS) software package444http://www.nrao.edu/aips/.

### 2.1 VLA ‘CnB’

The NGC 7538 and G29.96 masers were observed on 13 February 1996 at 4.83 GHz (6 cm) using the 27 antennas of the VLA for 20 minutes each. The NGC 7538 and G29.96 maser positions were also observed on 13 February 1996 at 14.49 GHz (2 cm) with the VLA for 40 minutes each. In ‘CnB’ configuration the VLA baseline lengths range from 0.065 km to 7.7 km.

All of the VLA ‘CnB’ observations were sensitive to the continuum radiation from the H II regions. The continuum contribution was subtracted from the maser channels using the AIPS task UVLSF. The 2 cm continuum radiation from G29.96 was averaged and imaged from 40 line-free channels over about 1 MHz of bandwidth. The RMS noise of the line-free 2 cm continuum image of G29.96 is 3.0 mJy beam-1.

### 2.2 VLA ‘B’

The NGC 7538 masers were observed on 24 July 2002 at 4.83 GHz with the VLA for 40 minutes. In ‘B’ configuration the array baseline lengths range from 0.21 km to 11.4 km.

The VLA ‘B’ observations were sensitive to the continuum radiation from the H II regions. The continuum contribution was subtracted from the maser channels using the AIPS task UVLSF. The continuum radiation was averaged and imaged from 28 line-free channels over 84 kHz of bandwidth. The RMS noise of the line-free continuum image is 1.6 mJy beam-1.

### 2.3 MERLIN

The NGC 7538 masers were observed on 1-3 October 2001 using the MERLIN radio telescope of Jodrell Bank Observatory for a total of $`28`$ hours. Six antennas were used; the Mark II at Jodrell Bank, the 32 m antenna at Cambridge, and the 25 m dishes at Knockin, Darnhall, Tabley, and Defford. The baseline lengths of MERLIN range from 11 km to 217 km. The phases were calibrated by frequent observations at 14 MHz bandwidth of 2300+638. 3C84 was observed at both 14 MHz and 500 kHz bandwidth allowing bandwidth-dependent calibration to be transferred.

Due to a pointing error, the MERLIN observations were centered 1.6 arcminutes from the maser position. Though a $`2\mathrm{}`$ displacement is within the primary receiving beam of the MERLIN antennas ($`\mathrm{FWHM}10\mathrm{}`$), decoherent averaging during on-line integration (‘time smearing’) made necessary a factor of 2.8 amplitude correction (see Thompson 1999). The measured positions of the masers were not affected by the error.

### 2.4 VLBA+Y27

Using the ten antennas of the VLBA and the 27-element phased VLA as an 11-station VLBI array, we observed the NGC 7538 and G29.96 H2CO masers on 22 September 2000 for $`1.8`$ hours each. The amplitude scale was set by online system temperature monitoring and a priori gain measurements. The VLBA observations of the masers were phase-referenced to their respective phase calibrators. The phase referencing technique allows the maser visibility phases (which correspond to sky position) to be determined from those of the brighter phase-reference source (see Walker 1999). The maser targets and the phase-reference sources were alternately observed in a 2.5:1.5 minute cycle. Data from the Hancock, North Liberty, Mauna Kea, and St. Croix VLBA stations were not part of the final data set because the station-based visibility phases could not be adequately tracked and transferred due to poor signal to noise. The baseline lengths contributing to the final images range from 52 to 1806 km.

## 3 Results

The VLA images of the continuum radiation from the H II regions are shown in Figures 2 and 3. The VLA ‘B’ array image (§2.2) of the 6 cm continuum radiation from NGC 7538 is shown in Figure 2 with the position of the H2CO masers indicated. The VLA ‘CnB’ array image (§2.1) of the 2 cm continuum radiation from G29.96 is shown in Figure 3 with the position of the H2CO masers indicated.

### 3.1 NGC 7538 6 cm Emission

#### 3.1.1 Angular Position and Size

We have detected H2CO masers with VLBI observations for the first time. The VLBA images of the NGC 7538 H2CO component I masers are shown in Figure 4. Component I splits into two peaks, Ia and Ib, in the VLBA image. The absolute position uncertainty of the strongest peak in the VLBA images of component I is 2 mas, phase-referenced to the calibrator J2302+6405. The positions of the emission peaks in the brightest VLBA channel image at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}=57.84`$ km s-1 are summarized in Table 4. The VLBA position for component I is consistent with Rots et al. (1981) within their 100-mas-uncertainty. The Ia and Ib feature peaks are separated by $`14.0\pm 0.5`$ mas (42 AU) in the $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}=57.84`$ km s-1 channel image. The total extent of the velocity structure of component I in the VLBA images is $`60`$ mas ($`200`$ AU).

The MERLIN images show both components I and II. Figure 5 shows the channel images of the brightest emission from the two components. The components are separated by $`79\pm 5`$ mas (240 AU), in agreement with the previous determination of $`110\pm 30`$ mas by Rots et al. (1981).

Component I shows a very compact structure from which MERLIN observations recover all of the emission and from which the VLBA recovers about 60% of the emission. In the VLBA images (Fig. 4), features Ia and Ib have resolved angular diameters $`\theta _m10`$ mas corresponding to brightness temperatures $`T_B10^8`$ K. In contrast, component II does not show any compact structure on long baselines: MERLIN detects only $`70`$% of the emission and only the two shortest VLBA baselines detect component II. The deconvolved size of component II in the MERLIN image (Fig. 5) is 64 mas. The component sizes are consistent with the previous upper limits of 150 mas measured by Rots et al. (1981). The angular size of component II corresponds to a brightness temperature of $`5\times 10^6`$ K.

The measurement of the maser brightness temperature and of the background continuum radiation which the maser amplifies allows a determination of the gain of the maser. The measurements are related by $`T_BT_{bg}e^\tau `$ where $`T_B`$ is the brightness temperature of the maser, $`T_{bg}`$ is the brightness temperature of the background continuum radiation, and $`\tau `$ is the gain of the maser. Using a brightness temperature $`T_{bg}=2700`$ K measured from the VLA ‘B’ observations, the masers have gains $`\tau 11`$.

#### 3.1.2 Velocity Gradient

The maser lines are resolved in velocity in all of the observations except those from the VLA ‘CnB’ array. All of the lines are fit well by single gaussians. Table 5 summarizes the fitted and deconvolved peak intensity, velocity width at half-maximum, and line center for the different observations.

The MERLIN and VLBA observations show, for the first time, a velocity gradient in the masing gas. In the VLBA images, the dashed arrow in Figure 4 traces the direction of a velocity field which extends through the Ia peak at a position angle of $`31\pm 5\mathrm{°}`$ for several tens of milliarcseconds (several beamwidths). Figure 6 shows a position-velocity plot of the slice indicated in Figure 4. The plot shows a linear velocity dependence along the slice of magnitude 28 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{arcsecond}^1`$ (1900 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{pc}^1`$). The MERLIN observations show a velocity gradient in both components that is consistent with that shown in Figure 6.

We note that a linear velocity gradient is consistent with the maser emission arising from a rigid rotating disk (or cylinder). However, the position of component II is not consistent with a linear extension of the component I gradient shown Figure 6. That is, component II does not lie on the disk which models Figure 6. Emission from a maser component at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}=60.19`$ km s-1 consistent with the 28 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{arcsecond}^1`$ velocity gradient would lie $`60`$ mas away from component I at $`30\mathrm{°}`$ position angle, as marked by the ‘$`+`$’ symbol in Figure 5. However, component II is observed to lie $`80`$ mas from component I at $`17\mathrm{°}`$ position angle (Fig. 5). Therefore we conclude that the two maser components are not simply related and do not lie in a single, uniform gas cloud.

#### 3.1.3 Intensity

The VLA ‘B’ array spectrum of the H2CO masers is shown in Figure 7. In July 2002, we observed component I to have an intensity of $`1257\pm 5`$ mJy beam-1. The intensity on July 2002 is a factor of three larger than the $`335\pm 20`$ mJy beam-1 observed in April 1983 by Forster et al. (1985) when variability was first noted using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope with 0.36 km s-1 velocity resolution. We note an intensity increase in component II for the first time. In July 2002, we observe an intensity for component II of $`385\pm 5`$ mJy beam-1 with the VLA ‘B’ array compared to $`205\pm 20`$ mJy beam-1 observed by Forster et al. (1985). A light curve of the maser component intensities is shown in Figure 8.

#### 3.1.4 Polarization

At the 3-$`\sigma `$ level, we detect no polarization in any of the observations. Our VLA data place a more sensitive upper limit of 1% (3-$`\sigma `$) on circularly polarized intensity than the previous limit of 5% set by Forster et al. (1985). The MERLIN and VLBA data show no detectable linearly polarized intensity, corresponding to a 10% (3-$`\sigma `$) upper limit in Stokes $`Q`$ & $`U`$, consistent with the previous limit of 5% set by Forster et al. (1985).

### 3.2 G29.96 6 cm Emission

#### 3.2.1 Angular Position and Size

Table 6 summarizes the VLBA image properties of the G29.96 masers. The VLBA+Y27 $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}=100.2`$ km s-1 image of G29.96 H2CO maser component I is shown in Figure 9. The absolute position uncertainty of the VLBA image peak is 10 mas, phase-referenced to the calibrator J1851+0035. The image of component II in the $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}=102.1`$ km s-1 channel appears coincident on the sky. The two components are separated by $`1\pm 3`$ mas ($`7\pm 19`$ AU).

The resolved sizes of the masers in the VLBA images are $`\theta _m20`$ mas, corresponding to brightness temperatures $`T_B10^7`$ K. Using a brightness temperature $`T_{bg}=50`$ K for the background 6 cm continuum radiation measured from the VLA ‘CnB’ observations after a beam dilution correction using the 2 cm continuum image, the G29.96 maser gains are $`\tau 12`$.

#### 3.2.2 Line Widths

Figure 10 shows the G29.96 H2CO maser spectra. The figure includes both the VLBA+Y27 spectrum from the current paper and the VLA ‘A’ array spectrum observed by Pratap et al. (PMS94). Pratap et al., with a spectral resolution of 0.38 km s-1, detected “several blended features” whose emission is spread over $`5`$ km s-1. Remarkably, we detect two spectrally unresolved velocity features in the VLBA data despite a more favorable spectral resolution of 0.30 km s-1. Our VLA ‘CnB’ spectra are consistent with Pratap et al. after correction for absorption, which is discussed below in §3.3.2. The properties of the G29.96 line emission are summarized in Table 7.

#### 3.2.3 Polarization

At the 3-$`\sigma `$ level, we detect no polarization in any of the observations. The VLA and VLBA observations were sensitive only to Stokes $`I`$ and $`V`$ parameters. The VLA data place an upper limit of 15% (3-$`\sigma `$) circularly polarized intensity on component I. The VLBA data are also consistent with zero polarized intensity.

### 3.3 Absorption

#### 3.3.1 Two Centimeter

We have detected the 2 cm transition in the direction of Galactic H2CO maser sources for the first time. Using the VLA ‘CnB’ array, we observe the 2 cm line in absorption in both NGC 7538 and G29.96. All of the 2 cm line detections have a corresponding 6 cm feature that is coincident in velocity. The optical depths $`\tau `$ of all of the absorption features are noted in Figures 11-14. The optical depths are calculated using

$$\tau =\mathrm{ln}\left(1\frac{T_L}{T_xT_{bg}}\right),$$

where $`T_L`$ is the (negative) temperature of the line (after continuum subtraction) and $`T_x2`$ K is the excitation temperature of the line (Palmer et al. 1969; Thaddeus 1972). The derived H2CO column densities are discussed in §4.

Figure 11 shows the 2 cm absorption at the position of the NGC 7538 masers. The 2 cm minimum in the NGC 7538 observations corresponds to the position and velocity ($`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}60`$ km s-1) of (the weaker) maser component II (Fig. 11b). The position of the 2 cm minimum at the component I velocity ($`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}58`$ km s-1, Fig. 11d) lies less than two arcseconds away.

Figure 12 shows the 6 cm and 2 cm spectra at the position of the G29.96 maser. No 2 cm line is detected at the velocity of the maser but an absorption feature is seen at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}107`$ km s-1. The 6 cm absorption evident in Figure 12a at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}107`$ km s-1 and $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}98`$ km s-1 is discussed below.

No 2 cm line emission is detected from either NGC 7538 or G29.96 with a 3-$`\sigma `$ brightness temperature sensitivity limit of 43 K. A low gain ($`\tau 1`$) maser amplification of the 2 cm doublet in either NGC 7538 or G29.96 would produce an emission line of brightness temperature $`T_B100`$ K. We conclude that there is no inversion of the 2 cm line.

#### 3.3.2 Six Centimeter

Using the VLA ‘CnB’ array we detect 6 cm absorption in both NGC 7538 and G29.96. We detect 6 cm absorption in G29.96 at the position of the masers in the hot core (Fig. 12a) as well as against the cometary H II region. Figure 13a shows the fit to the hot core absorption features which are summarized in Table 8. The maser spectrum after subtraction of the absorption (Fig. 13b) is consistent with the Pratap et al. (PMS94) observations. Figure 14a shows the spectrum at the 6 cm minimum in the VLA ‘CnB’ observations which corresponds to absorption against the cometary H II region. Figure 14b shows the 2 cm absorption spectrum at this position.

We detect no 6 cm absorption at the position of the masers in NGC 7538-IRS1. Figure 14c shows the spectrum at the 6 cm minimum of the VLA ‘CnB’ observations which corresponds to absorption against IRS2. No 2 cm absorption is detected at this position (Fig. 14d) which is consistent with the 2 cm observations of Martín-Pintado et al. (1985) and Evans et al. (1975) (though compare our Fig. 11a,b with Fig. 9 of Martín-Pintado et al.).

#### 3.3.3 Column Densities

The formaldehyde column densities can be calculated from the absorption spectra. Column densities $`N`$ calculated from 6 cm spectra are denoted $`N_6`$ while those calculated from 2 cm spectra are denoted $`N_2`$. The following relations were used to determine column densities from the spectra (e.g. Wilson 1972; Wadiak et al. 1988; Osterbrock 1989)

$$\frac{N_6}{T_x}=1.36\times 10^{13}\tau \mathrm{\Delta }v,$$

$$\frac{N_2}{T_x}=1.26\times 10^{13}\tau \mathrm{\Delta }v,$$

where $`N`$ has units $`\mathrm{cm}^2`$, $`T_x`$ has units K, $`v`$ has units km s-1, and where the summation is over the spectral channels with line radiation. The column densities are summarized in Table 9 grouped by cloud velocity and background continuum object.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Absorption Clouds

We have detected the formaldehyde distributions in NGC 7538 and G29.96 though observations of the 2 cm and 6 cm lines in absorption against the H II regions’ continuum radiation. The absorbing systems offer information about the ambient formaldehyde environment. Appendix A describes the calculations which permit comparisons between the 6 cm and 2 cm lines relating to Table 9. Section 4.2 discusses the formaldehyde calculations permitted by the masers lines.

The detection of both 6 cm and 2 cm absorption lines toward the G29.96 hot core at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}107`$ km s-1 (Fig. 12a,b) permits a calculation of the excitation temperatures as described in Appendix A. The ratio of optical depths is 2.35 for which $`T_{21}/T_{43}=0.21`$. If we choose excitation temperatures in this ratio for the $`N/T_x`$ values listed for the hot core in Table 9, we find comparable column densities for the 6 cm and 2 cm lines, indicating that the absorbing cloud is smaller than the 6 cm beam.

The NGC 7538 masers’ two velocity components show 2 cm absorption at both velocities (Fig. 11b,d). Though the masers only exist in a region of diameter $`30`$ AU (Fig. 4), the clouds responsible for the 2 cm absorption lines have larger sizes comparable to the beam ($`3000`$ AU). The two maser velocity components appear to come from two separate cloud environments. In addition to (1) the detection of the of the distinct absorbing velocities, evidence for two separate NGC 7538 masers includes: (2) the components have disparate brightness temperatures ($`10^8`$ K compared to $`10^6`$ K) and maser gains ($`11`$ compared to $`6`$), (3) the components are not connected by the velocity gradient observed in the maser gas (Fig. 5), and (4) the masers appear to increase intensity independently (Fig. 8). We conclude that the masers occur in separate clouds.

### 4.2 Maser Gain Calculation

The maser amplification process depends on the column density of the maser species. In this section we calculate the formaldehyde column densities from the observed maser gains. We use the level notation from Appendix A for our calculation. We find that a comparison between the column densities derived from absorption lines and maser lines indicates a relatively strong maser inversion.

The gain of the maser amplification of background radiation can be expressed as (e.g. Elitzur 1992)

$$\tau =\frac{h\nu _{21}}{4\pi \mathrm{\Delta }v}g_2B_{21}(n_2n_1)𝑑l,$$

where $`B_{21}`$ is the Einstein $`B`$-coefficient for stimulated emission and $`l`$ is the amplification path or gain length. Here we express $`\tau `$ in the form of Equation 21 from Boland & de Jong (1981),

$$\tau =3.4\times 10^{13}\eta x(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})n(\mathrm{H}_2)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }l}{\mathrm{\Delta }v},$$

where $`\eta =(n_2n_1)/n(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})`$ such that a more negative number is a stronger inversion, $`x(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})n(\mathrm{H}_2)=n(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})`$, $`x(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})`$ is the fractional abundance of ortho-formaldehyde with respect to the total density of hydrogen, and $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)`$ is the density of hydrogen. The values of the parameters used in our calculations are listed in Table 10.

For the values obtained from VLBA observations ($`\tau 12`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }v=0.5`$ km s-1, see Table 5), we find $`\eta x(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})n(\mathrm{H}_2)\mathrm{\Delta }l=1.8\times 10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. We derive limiting values of $`\eta `$ from the following arguments: (1) We consider $`\mathrm{\Delta }l`$ to be geometrically constrained to be comparable to the radius of the H II region, $`R_{II}`$. For $`\mathrm{\Delta }l=R_{II}=2.8\times 10^{16}\mathrm{cm}`$, $`\eta x(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})n(\mathrm{H}_2)=6.3\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}^3`$. (2) For NGC 7538-IRS1, van der Tak et al. (2000) have determined $`x(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})=10^8`$. Adopting this value, we obtain $`\eta n(\mathrm{H}_2)=6.3\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}^3`$. (3) Any non-thermal H2CO level populations must occur in the density range $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)<6\times 10^5\mathrm{cm}^3`$ (Green et al. 1978) or else the level populations ‘thermalize’ and any pumping is quenched. For instance, the Orion-KL emission lines originate in gas of density $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)10^7\mathrm{cm}^3`$ which could not support non-thermal excitation (Kunter & Thaddues 1971; Johnston et al. 1983). For $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)<6\times 10^5\mathrm{cm}^3`$ we obtain $`\eta <0.1`$. The maser population inversion is defined not to exceed unity such that $`\eta >1`$ which implies $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)>6.3\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}^3`$. The limits $`1<\eta <0.1`$ may be compared with the typical inversion strength of the Boland & de Jong radiative pump model $`\eta =0.008`$.

Alternately, we may assume that the column density $`N=n(\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CO})\mathrm{\Delta }l`$ in the maser gas is the same as that independently found from our absorption observations (§3.3.3). From Table 9, a typical value is $`N/T_x=3\times 10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{K}^1`$. For $`T_x=2`$ K we find that $`N=6\times 10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. Using $`N\eta =1.8\times 10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ from above we obtain $`\eta =0.3`$ which is consistent with the $`\eta `$ value reasoned from the maser gain.

### 4.3 Inversion Mechanism

A continuum radiation excitation mechanism capable of producing the high gains observed in the 6 cm masers would also be expected to affect the 2 cm doublet level populations: the relatively flat Bremsstrahlung spectrum of H II region plasmas should excite the 6 cm and 2 cm doublets comparably (to within an order of magnitude, see also Wadiak et al. 1988). For example, the Boland & de Jong (1981) radiative inversion model predicts a 2 cm maser for H II region spectra which turnover at wavelength $`\lambda _03`$ cm. However, no 2 cm maser is present (§3.3.1) though the spectrum of NGC 7538-IRS1 is observed to turnover in the favorable $`\lambda _03`$ cm range (e.g. Pratap et al. 1992; Gaume et al. 1995; Bloomer et al. 1998; Momose et al. 2001; Akabane et al. 2001). Furthermore, since formaldehyde occurs in typical column densities around most H II regions (including the maser objects, e.g. van der Tak et al. 2000; Schöier et al. 2002), there is no reason on the grounds of either continuum morphology or formaldehyde abundance to expect that only the few maser-bearing H II regions should support a formaldehyde inversion. Therefore, we suggest that the 6 cm maser inversion is due to a rare collisional excitation, not to the readily available centimeter wavelength continuum radiation which has been discussed by other authors (e.g. Pratap et al. 1992; PMS94; Mehringer, Goss, & Palmer 1994). The remarkable paucity of formaldehyde masers is likely a result of selective inversion conditions such as resonant interactions with species exclusive to only a few H II regions. In an attempt to find unusual conditions which can explain the presence of collisionally-pumped formaldehyde masers, we discuss the shock morphology of H II regions.

Hill & Hollenbach (1978) have modelled the dissociation wave and shock wave evolution of expanding H II regions. Our maser environments most resemble their “Model 3” in which the density is $`n=10^4\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and the H II region radius is $`R=1.5\times 10^{17}`$ cm and the ambient magnetic field $`|\stackrel{}{B}|=33.5\mu \mathrm{G}`$ of the model is closest to that of NGC 7538-IRS1 (Hoare, private communication; Momose et al. 2001). For NGC 7538-IRS1 the model correctly predicts the observed H2 line emissivity ($`10^{12}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{cm}^2`$, Bloomer et al. 1998; Hoban et al. 1991), shock velocity ($`10`$ km s-1, e.g. Deharveng et al. 1979), and age ($`3\times 10^4`$ yr, e.g. Martin 1973) for the H II region.

The relevant aspect of the Hill & Hollenbach model is that the initially faster dissociation wave is eventually overtaken by the shock wave. The epoch at which the shock passage occurs is $`7\times 10^42\times 10^5`$ yr, in good agreement with the age of the IRS1 H II region. During the passage there exists a transition region about half-molecular in composition. Also, the region contains transient phenomena such as non-equilibrium populations of various species such as cool molecular gas and hot excited atoms.

Evidence that these transition-shock collision regions are sufficiently rare to explain the observed paucity of formaldehyde masers is discussed by Bertoldi & Draine (1996). They find that for “a broad range of parameters of interest” (density, shock velocity, etc.) the dissociation and shock waves are merged and there is no relative evolution of the Hill & Hollenbach type. However, they suggest that clumps in the ambient molecular cloud are sites where the dissociation and shock waves are separate and where time-dependent effects may become important. Therefore, we suggest that formaldehyde masers occur in the small number of H II regions which possess (1) separately evolving dissociation and shock waves, (2) an age equal to the epoch of dissociation and shock wave passage, and (3) a neighboring molecular cloud with ambient clumps of sufficient number density and formaldehyde column density to cause time-dependent wave effects.

We consider it possible that the formaldehyde maser inversion is a result of collisions between formaldehyde and a rare transient species within the relatively exotic conditions in the shock/dissociation-transition region. However, since H2CO collisions with relatively rare species, such as hot H atoms or excited H2 (e.g. Green et al. 1978) have not been fully explored, the collision cross-sections required to formulate a quantitative model are not yet available.

### 4.4 Other Masers in NGC 7538

NGC 7538 is the closest of the three sources known to have H2CO masers ($`d=3`$ kpc compared with G29.96-0.02 ($`d=6`$ kpc) and Sgr B2 ($`d=8`$ kpc)). Also, the NGC 7538-IRS1 region contains a large number of maser species. NGC 7538 is then best suited for studies targeted at understanding the H2CO relationship to other maser species in close linear and angular proximity. For example, empirical correlations among the H2CO, OH, and H2O maser species have prompted searches for new H2CO masers (e.g. Forster et al. 1985). In the search for a working H2CO pump, an understanding of the physical conditions of IRS1 through the observation of other masers is valuable. Studying the nearby masers that have relatively well-understood excitation mechanisms could considerably illuminate the H2CO inversion environment.

Figure 15 shows the 22 GHz continuum image of IRS1 from Gaume et al. (1995) overlaid with the positions of other known masers in the region. A protostellar outflow is thought to power the maser environment. Based on 15 GHz continuum observations, Campbell (1984) suggests an edge-on protostellar disk and bipolar outflow. A disk/outflow scenario is also supported by 22 GHz continuum and H66$`\alpha `$ recombination line observations (Gaume et al. 1995) which show a $`100`$ km s-1 stellar wind and apparent disk (cf. Jaffe & Martín-Pintado 1999). Furthermore, based on CH3OH maser observations, Minier et al. (1998) suggest a protostellar disk and a blueshifted southern outflow. Alternately, a shell model has been proposed to explain the various maser positions (Dickel et al. 1982). A cartoon summary of these models, including the molecular clumps that we suggest are important for the formaldehyde maser process, are included with the observational data in Figure 15. Table 11 summarizes the observational uncertainties and physical conditions of the masers.

The $`{}_{}{}^{15}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ (3,3) masers are the only IRS1 masers that could arise at the same density, temperature, and position as the H2CO masers (Fig. 15; Table 11). Furthermore, the velocity gradient observed in the $`{}_{}{}^{15}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ (3,3) masers is consistent with the H2CO maser velocity gradient shown in Figure 5. The position of the non-metastable $`{}_{}{}^{14}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ (9,6) maser in the IRS1 region (Madden et al. 1986) is also consistent with the $`{}_{}{}^{15}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ and H2CO masers’ positions and velocity gradient. The $`{}_{}{}^{14}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ (9,6) maser species, like H2CO, is quite rare and poorly-understood (Elitzur 1992). Though the current position uncertainty of the NH3 (9,6) maser is too large to positively associate it with the H2CO, the two may be related. The NGC 7538 NH3 (9,6) maser has only been observed at a single epoch; however, the NH3 (9,6) maser in W49 is known to be variable (Wilson & Henkel 1988; Huettemeister et al. 1995). Future observations of NH3 in NGC 7538 could indicate (1) an accurate absolute position for the NGC 7538 $`{}_{}{}^{14}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ (9,6) maser near the NGC 7538 H2CO masers and/or (2) $`{}_{}{}^{14}\mathrm{NH}_{3}^{}`$ (9,6) maser intensity increase similar to the NGC 7538 H2CO masers (Fig. 8). Either (1) or (2) would suggest that the H2CO and NH3 masers arise in the same volume.

The H2O masers in the region have the most disparate physical conditions from the H2CO (Table 11). However, recent observations (Hoare, private communication) show that the IRS1 H2O masers appear related to the H2CO masers. MERLIN observations show 9 H2O masers within 200 mas of the H2CO positions. Furthermore, the two H2O masers closest in position and velocity to H2CO maser component II ($`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}60.1`$ km s-1) have tripled in intensity in 10 years. It is interesting to note that the H2CO masers have also tripled in intensity over 10 years. Since it is unlikely that the H2O and H2CO masers exist in the same volume, perhaps the two species are related by a shock interaction with a clump at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}60.1`$ km s-1. Indeed, the shock-driven pumping scheme for H2O masers (Elitzur, Hollenbach, & McKee 1989) includes molecular clumps and may be compatible with the H2CO pumping mechanism we suggest using the Hill & Hollenbach (1978) and Bertoldi & Draine (1996) models.

## 5 Conclusions

We have detected and imaged the unusual H2CO masers with VLBI baselines for the first time showing milliarcsecond structure (tens of AUs in linear scale) and brightness temperatures in excess of $`10^8`$ K. MERLIN images of the NGC 7538 H2CO masers show the separation between the two velocity components to be $`79\pm 5`$ mas and the components appear to arise in separate clouds. We also measure a $`1900\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{pc}^1`$ velocity gradient in the NGC 7538 maser gas. Both NGC 7538 maser components have been shown to increase intensity on 5-10 year timescales despite remaining constant in intensity for the first 10 years after discovery. We do not detect variability in the G29.96 masers on a two year timescale.

We detect the 2 cm formaldehyde line in absorption in both NGC 7538 and G29.96. We detect no 2 cm line emission from any of the maser regions from which we conlcude that there is no inversion of the 2 cm levels. From the good agreement between the column densities derived from the maser lines and the absorption lines, we find that the inversion of the masers is $`\eta 0.3`$. We suggest that the strong but rare formaldehyde inversion process involves a collisional pumping interaction. We posit that the environment which generates these pump conditions results from unusual shock dynamics around the H II regions.

I.M.H. is supported by the NRAO pre-doctoral researcher program. We thank D. S. Shepherd for helpful comments on an earlier draft. We thank M. Hoare for communicating the MERLIN observations of the NGC 7538 H2O masers.

## Appendix A Optical Depth Calculations

The optical depth $`\tau `$ for thermal absorption is proportional to

$$\tau \mu ^2\left(\frac{\nu }{\mathrm{\Delta }v}\right)S\left(\frac{n_L}{g_L}\frac{n_U}{g_U}\right)$$

where $`\mu `$ is the permanent dipole moment of the molecule, $`\nu `$ is the transition frequency, $`\mathrm{\Delta }v`$ is the thermal Doppler line width, $`S`$ is the line strength, and $`n`$ and $`g`$ are, respectively, the number of absorbers and the statistical weights of the upper and lower levels of the transition. For the 6 cm and 2 cm transitions of formaldehyde $`S_{6cm}3/2`$, $`S_{2cm}5/6`$, $`g=3`$ for both levels in the 6 cm doublet, and $`g=5`$ for both levels in the 2 cm doublet (see Townes & Schawlow, 1955).

We may analyze our data using a four level system for which we use the following notation: $`1_{11}1`$, $`1_{10}2`$, $`2_{12}3`$, and $`2_{11}4`$. We shall present our results as constraints on three excitation temperatures; $`T_{21}`$ between the 6 cm doublet levels, $`T_{43}`$ between the 2 cm doublet levels, and $`T_{31}`$ between the $`J=2`$ and $`J=1`$ doublets. We examine only those absorbing systems for which we have detected both 6 cm and 2 cm absorption. Also, we assume that the absorbing clouds are smaller than the telescope beam while the extent of the continuum radiation is not.

When both the 6 cm and 2 cm line have been observed we may compare the optical depths of the lines

$`{\displaystyle \frac{<\tau _{2\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}>}{<\tau _{6\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}>}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{6cm}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{2cm}}}{\displaystyle \frac{5}{6}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{3}{5}}{\displaystyle \frac{N_3\left(1e^{h\nu _{43}/kT_{43}}\right)}{N_1\left(1e^{h\nu _{21}/kT_{21}}\right)}}`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{6cm}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{2cm}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\nu _{43}}{\nu _{21}}}{\displaystyle \frac{N_3}{N_1}}{\displaystyle \frac{T_{21}}{T_{43}}},`$
where it is assumed that $`h\nu kT`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the solid angle of the telescope beam over which the absorption measurement is averaged, and where

$$\frac{N_3}{N_1}=\frac{g_3}{g_1}e^{h\nu _{31}/kT_{31}}$$

can be substituted since the total populations between the 6 cm and 2 cm doublets are approximately thermally distributed. Substituting $`\nu _{43}/\nu _{21}3`$, we have the relation

$$\frac{<\tau _{2\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}>}{<\tau _{6\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}>}\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_{6cm}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{2cm}}\frac{5}{3}\frac{T_{21}}{T_{43}}e^{h\nu _{31}/kT_{31}}.$$

For calculations we will use $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{6cm}/\mathrm{\Omega }_{2cm}=9.35`$, $`T_{31}=20`$ K, and $`\nu _{31}=140.84`$ GHz.


text:
# The INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC)

## 1 Introduction

INTEGRAL is observing the gamma ray sky up to $`10`$ MeV with two instruments, the spectrometer SPI (Vedrenne et al. (2003)) and the imager IBIS (Ubertini et al. (2003)). The wavelength coverage is extended to X-rays ($`3`$ keV) by the X-ray monitor JEM-X (Lund et al. (2003)) and to the optical domain by the OMC camera (Mas-Hesse et al. (2003)).

INTEGRAL has been conceived from the origin as an observatory type mission in which most of the observation time is available to the astronomical community at large, irrespective of their contribution to the building of the instruments.

Most of the INTEGRAL observations are long (several 100 000 s) and organised in many individual pointings of few 1000 s (see below). The resulting data sets are large ($`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}`$ Gbytes per day of observation) and complex as they need to refer to auxiliary data that describe the pointing and conditions in which each of the pointings was performed. In addition the data for the three high-energy instruments are obtained from coded-mask optical systems and therefore require considerable processing before an image of the sky and/or the spectral energy distribution of a source can be calculated.

Well aware of the complexity of the data analysis and of the need to bring the data to the community in a form in which scientific results can be obtained it was decided very early on to develop a centre in which the data would be received, analysed, archived and distributed. The INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC) was conceived to meet these general goals. It grew from a consortium of European and US institutes who responded to a call by ESA to develop and operate the facility.

We will describe here the INTEGRAL observation strategy, the flow of data from INTEGRAL to the users, the main steps of the processing and the products that can be obtained from the ISDC to exploit the data.

## 2 INTEGRAL observation strategy

The INTEGRAL observation strategy is dictated by the coded-mask system. In turn this strategy drives the structure given to the INTEGRAL data, it is therefore summarised here.

The high energy instruments on board INTEGRAL are based on coded-mask optics. One of the properties of these systems, in particular in the case of the spectrometer SPI (Vedrenne et al. (2003)), is that the number of detectors (and therefore of measurements during a single pointing) is less than the number of pixels on the sky in the field of view. In order to be able to exploit the angular resolution and the whole field of view of the spectrometer despite this property, but also to increase the number of background detector measurements during the observation, the INTEGRAL observations are split into many pointings separated by 2 degrees arranged in either a hexagonal pattern of 7 points around the main target of the observation or in a square of 25 pointings also centered on the main target of the observation (Fig. 1; Jensen et al. (2003)). The dwell time on each pointing can vary based on the total time to be spent on a given dither pattern, it is typically 2000 s.

The observations of the Galactic plane or of the central regions of the Galaxy that correspond to the surveys of the core program (Winkler et al. (2003)) are also organised in pointings of typically 2200 s, albeit on patterns that are adapted to the surveys rather than in the hexagons or squares described above.

It follows that INTEGRAL data are divided in a (often large) number of data sets, each associated with a single pointing or slew. Single pointings and slews are called science windows, they are the most important unit in the data processing and analysis.

## 3 The INTEGRAL data Flow

The scheduling of the observations is organised by the INTEGRAL Science Operations Centre (ISOC) at ESTEC (Much et al. (2003)). The commands to the satellite are generated by the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt (Germany).

The INTEGRAL data are received at the rate of 120 kbits/s at one of two ground stations, Redu in Belgium and Goldstone in California. The data are then routed to the ESOC where the technical information is decoded and the status of the spacecraft and instruments checked. The data, technical and scientific, are then sent still in real time to the ISDC which is located in Versoix near Geneva.

The data arrive at the ISDC with a delay of typically few seconds following their receipt at the ground station. The fraction of data that arrive in real time is larger than 95%.

In order to correct for some problems that occur in the real time data transmission, the telemetry is consolidated few days after the event at ESOC. The consolidated data, that correspond to the most complete data set that can be obtained, are sent on compact disks to the ISDC approximately 2 weeks after the observation.

## 4 The ISDC processing

The two data streams, the near real time data that arrive few seconds after reception on the ground and the consolidated data that arrive some two weeks later, are both processed at the ISDC.

The near real time data are screened for gamma ray bursts in the IBAS (INTEGRAL Burst Alert System, Mereghetti et al. (2003)) as they arrive. The bursts that occur in the field of view of the instruments are detected and their position on the sky calculated using the best attitude information available at the time of the burst within few seconds. These positions are sent in near real time to the community. Up to June 2003, 6 burst positions have been derived. IBAS has issued one position within 30 s of the burst (Mereghetti et al. (2003)). The IBAS system also issues alerts when bursts are observed in the anticoincidence shield of the SPI instrument. These bursts, although with no position on the sky from the INTEGRAL data, can be used in conjunction with other satellites of the interplanetary network, to measure their direction (von Kienlin et al. (2003)). There is approximately one burst per day in the anticoincidence shield data and one per month in the field of view of IBIS.

The near real time data are processed in a number of steps and merged with data describing the planned operations (planning data) automatically. This processing generates a view of the instrument and spacecraft status, provides detector images and deconvolved sky images on a pointing by pointing basis. These data and products are ready approximately 2 hours after their reception. Source detection algorithms are applied to the deconvolved data and the resulting source fluxes are automatically compared with the content of a catalogue that describes the available knowledge of the field observed (Ebisawa et al. (2003)). This quick look analysis (QLA) is able to detect and bring to the attention of ISDC scientists all sources brighter than $`50100`$ mCrab in well defined energy bands and to report on any source that is the object of a target of opportunity proposal.

The consolidated data are processed automatically once received from ESOC through a standard analysis that is very similar to the quick-look analysis (see below). One step is, however, added in which data from all pointings of an observation are combined together. The results of the analysis are then archived together with the consolidated data in the INTEGRAL archive where they can be accessed when they become available according to the data rights in force (http://isdc.unige.ch). The data and results of the standard analysis are finally distributed to the observer.

In addition to the automatic processing of the near real time and consolidated data, users can access either form of the data (near real time or consolidated) to perform analysis interactively through a set of programs called the Offline Science Analysis (OSA). This analysis is built using the same elements as the quick-look and standard analysis and generates the same products, albeit customised to the needs of the user through an interactive system. When used at ISDC on the near real time data, this analysis allows scientists to describe the properties of newly discovered sources within few hours. This has been at the origin of most of the communications to the community in the first months of the mission. The OSA software is distributed by the ISDC to the community. It can be obtained through the web page of the ISDC. The software is distributed together with a description of the instruments in a format matched to the software, a set of test data and with an extensive documentation that includes not only user manuals and a scientific validation report for the instrument analysis but also a description of the known limitations and issues of the version being distributed. A catalogue that describes known high energy sources (Ebisawa et al. (2003)) is also provided. Regular releases of the complete package are taking place as the level of the software and instrument descriptions improve.

## 5 INTEGRAL data

The telemetry data ($`120`$ kbits/s) are received at the ISDC where a number of products combining instrument and spacecraft status, housekeeping and planning data are generated to provide the information required for the scientific exploitation in a convenient form.

### 5.1 Raw data

The raw data have the same information content as the original telemetry. These data are produced by the pre-processing (Fig. 2). They are formatted and organised so that all data associated with a science window are grouped together, even if the telemetry is received at different times as is the case for histograms accumulated on board.

INTEGRAL spacecraft and instruments generate many different kinds of data depending on the mode of the instruments. Consequently, pre-processing generates some 120 different types of data.

Some types of data are not strictly associated with science windows and are associated with whole revolutions, they are processed and organised accordingly. These data include for example descriptions of the status of the pixel array of the ISGRI detector or parameters that describe the on-board processing.

### 5.2 Prepared data

The first step in the analysis is the conversion of all time formats to a common unit. This information is added to the raw data to form the prepared data (Fig. 2). The central on board time of the spacecraft is broadcast to the instruments which then use it individually. In addition SPI uses a further clock also synchronised with the spacecraft. All timing information is uniformised at this step to simplify all subsequent treatment of time data. On board time is used in all the ISDC processing to avoid any loss of information or precision. Conversion to standard barycentric time is made in the last steps of the analysis if and when necessary. The precision of the timing is described in Walter et al. (2003).

In addition the technical analysis performs several tasks like an analysis of the instrument configuration at all times that extracts lists of parameters to be used in the scientific processing. These parameters include descriptions of the pixels and parameters of the on board software that influence the data taken. Instrument gains are also calculated and monitored.

This analysis step includes also a number of operations that verify the status of the instruments and spacecraft and display status parameters for the operators. It is thus possible to compute the fraction of time that is actually spent performing observations in nominal conditions while the spacecraft is stably pointing, an information that is provided to the mission planners who monitor the successful completion of the observation program. Operators and scientists are alerted whenever non nominal conditions that may require actions are met. This analysis step also confronts the actual state of the instruments and spacecraft with the expected status derived from planning data.

### 5.3 Scientific analysis

The next step is the scientific analysis. This is done in the near real time environment by the Quick Look Analysis (QLA), in the consolidated data stream automatically on all observations by the Standard Analysis (SA) and interactively by the users on any set of data by the Offline Science Analysis (OSA). This analysis performs, irrespective of the environment where it runs, a number of corrections that are derived from the calibrations files in the archive or obtained from the previous steps in the processing. Appropriate calibration data are selected from the status of the instruments, gains previously derived are applied and corrections related e.g. to the JEM-X anodes and to the status of the individual IBIS pixels are applied. The dead time for each detector is computed and used in the calculation of the fluxes.

The time intervals during which the instruments were in conditions that are required for the analysis are computed. Only the corresponding data are used in the subsequent steps and the time intervals are used to calculate event rates. When the analysis is performed manually, the parameters defining these intervals can be set by the users. Pre-defined sets are used in the automatic processing like the quick-look analysis or the standard analysis.

High level products like deconvolved images, light curves and spectra are finally derived. This is done in standard forms for the quick-look and standard analysis and may be tuned by the user when the tools are used off-line. The algorithms used in this step are described elsewhere in this issue (Goldwurm et al. (2003); Mas-Hesse et al. (2003); Skinner and Connell (2003); Strong (2003), Westergaard et al. (2003)). Corrections that take the alignment of the instruments compared to the reference attitude of the spacecraft given by the star trackers are applied. The precision of the celestial coordinates provided for the sources is given in Walter et al. (2003).

All calibrations and instrument characteristics that are needed in the different steps of the analysis are stored in a set of files. For each file the epoch of its creation as well as the epochs for which it is valid are provided. The files are generated as knowledge of the instruments increases and as their charactistics change with time. They are accessed through the ISDC archive. They are organised so that the analysis software can access them without manual intervention.

All the products that are generated as the analysis proceeds are indexed in such a way that they are associated with the relevant original data without the need to duplicate these unnecessarily. The total amount of data including the raw telemetry generated per revolution is about $`10`$ Gbytes. It is organised in more than 10 000 files in a well defined tree structure that is known to the software and largely transparent for the user.

In the near real time environment, the data and products are temporarily saved to be available to scientists responsible for following the observations and monitoring the instruments and to the observers on site.

In the consolidated data processing chain the data and products are archived and distributed to the users. The archive can be consulted from the network and public data retrieved. Data and products are also distributed to the observers by the ISDC.

The ISDC system has been designed to work for all instruments of INTEGRAL. The system is structured in a very modular architecture that allows a very easy adaptation to other instruments and missions. It is thus now being adapted to process data from one of the instruments of ESA’s Planck mission. Further uses of the system can be envisaged in the future.

## 6 The ISDC operations

The ISDC system is operated around the clock in a dedicated set of machines organised as the operational network. Both near real time and consolidated data are processed and analysed in this environement. Data in the operational network are not accessible from outside. The archive being populated from the operational network and accessible from outside according to data access rules is the only exception. Scientists and engineers analysing their own data at the ISDC work on another set of computers organised as the office network. The office network (including the archive) has excellent connections to the external world (100 megabits/s in June 2003), while the operational network is almost completly isolated. The ISDC work on the operational network is performed by a team of operators and scientists during office hours every day of the year while the development, maintenance, further data analysis and other tasks are performed by the remaining staff on the office network.

Variability is one of the main characteristics of most gamma-ray sources. In order to exploit this property to gain physical insights on the sources it is necessary to react fast to unexpected events. The ISDC therefore reacts to gamma ray bursts in a matter of seconds and to the discovery of new sources in a matter of hours. To achieve this despite the fact that staff are present for only about a third of the time on site, the IBAS system and the near real time processing chain issue alerts automatically when gamma ray bursts occur, when new sources are detected or when large amplitude variations with respect to expected source fluxe are measured. Alerts are also generated when major problems are found in a process or when communications in the ground segment are interrupted.

These alerts are monitored continuously, the most important of them issue telephone messages to some of the staff $`24`$ h/day, allowing them to react in few hours at any time. This enables the ISDC to inform the community of important events in few hours and thus it makes it possible for ESA and other agencies to perform target of opportunity observations with INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton or with other instruments in a short time. IBAS sends a set of messages to the community within seconds of the detection of a gamma ray burst.

The near real time data are available at ISDC for analysis beyond the quick-look analysis approximately 2 hours after the observation was made. These data may be used by the observers present at ISDC while their data are being obtained. This facility has allowed to communicate the main characteristics of newly discovered sources within a short time to the community.

The ISDC responds to enquiries of users related to data, analysis and software issues through a helpdesk accessible through the ISDC web page. This is operated together with the ISOC so that users do not need to know whether their questions are best dealt with in ISOC or ISDC. Further forms of support to the community offered by ISDC staff include the possibility to visit the centre and the issue of an electronic newsletter. Data analysis workshops will also be organised regularly during the mission.

## 7 The ISDC organisation

The ISDC was established in 1995 after ESA had accepted the proposal put forward to them by a consortium of 12 institutes. The ISDC is attached to the Geneva Observatory, itself the astronomy department of the university of Geneva. This gives the possibility to accept a number of PhD students, of which there are 5 in Summer 2003. The staff increased steadily from very few (2) in 1995 to some 40 in June 2003 most of them working in Ecogia, a rural settlement near Versoix, some 8km from Geneva. The staff are mainly astrophysicists and software engineers, aproximatly half of them are under contract with co-investigators to work at the ISDC. Some instrument teams also keep staff located at ISDC to benfit from a close link.

The ISDC system has been designed, developed and implemented by the growing staff in close collaboration with the teams that developed the instruments and who contributed large parts of the instrument specific analysis software.

## 8 Conclusion

The ISDC has been designed to be the interface between the INTEGRAL data and the scientific community. It aims at providing to the users of INTEGRAL the data, software and infrastructure that are needed to process these complex data in a way that makes it possible for general users to fully exploit the scientific potential of the mission.

Since launch the ISDC system has been running without problems, all subsystems have been activated successfully. This resulted in the timely publication of the first important INTEGRAL results on gamma-ray bursts and new sources.

The archive is regularly populated and the data are sent to the users. No backlog has been generated over the first 8 months of the mission.

The ISDC maintains a web page through which data, software, its newletter, general information and links to other sites are provided. This is accessible through http://isdc.unige.ch.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are very indebted to all staff who have contributed in the course of the years to the development of the ISDC, be they staff of the ISDC, of the institutes who contributed to the instruments or of ESA. The ISDC is attached to the Geneva Observatory. It is funded by national funding agencies and ESA through the Principal and Co- investigators who form the ISDC consortium (T.J.-L. Courvoisier, R. Walter, A.J. Dean, R. Hudec, S. Mereghetti, T. Montmerle, A. Preite Martinez, R. Staubert, A.W. Strong, J.-P. Swings, N.J. Westergaard, N. White, A.A. Zdziarski). The INTEGRAL instrument teams have contributed a large fraction of the instrument specific software. The ISDC development benefited from several visits made at similar centers in Europe and the US.


text:
# A Second Supersymmetry in Thermo Field Dynamics

## 1 Constructing a second supersymmetry

As in , the components of the fermionic supercharges of the first
supersymmetry are

$`Q_+=af^{};q_+=\stackrel{~}{a}\stackrel{~}{f}^{};Q_{}=a^{}f;q_{}=\stackrel{~}{a}^{}\stackrel{~}{f}`$ (1.1)
These are nilpotent operators acting on the enlarged Fock space $`|n_B,\stackrel{~}{n}_B,n_F,\stackrel{~}{n}_F`$, and satisfy a $`_2`$ \- graded Lie algebra (that is, the structure $`\{O,O\}=E`$, $`[O,E]=O`$, $`[E,E]=E`$ for even ( $`E`$ ) and odd ( $`O`$ ) operators ).

Writing the above components in a vector form, we identify the
supercharge and its conjugate as

$`\left(\begin{array}{c}Q_+\\ q_+\end{array}\right)and\left(\begin{array}{c}Q_{}\\ q_{}\end{array}\right)`$ (1.6)
Let us consider a $`SU(1,1)`$ transformation acting on our vector supercharge. This can be thought of as a R-symmetry transformation.

$`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha & \beta \\ \overline{\beta }& \overline{\alpha }\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}Q_+\\ q_+\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}Q_1\\ Q_2\end{array}\right)`$ (1.13)
( $`\alpha ,\beta `$ and $`|\alpha |^2|\beta |^2=1`$ ) where

$`Q_1\alpha Q_++\beta q_+`$ (1.14)
$`Q_2\overline{\beta }Q_++\overline{\alpha }q_+`$ (1.15)
Similarly

$`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha & \beta \\ \overline{\beta }& \overline{\alpha }\end{array}\right)^{}\left(\begin{array}{c}Q_{}\\ q_{}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\overline{Q}_1\\ \overline{Q}_2\end{array}\right)`$ (1.22)
where

$`\overline{Q}_1\overline{\alpha }Q_{}+\overline{\beta }q_{}`$ (1.23)
$`\overline{Q}_2\beta Q_{}+\alpha q_{}`$ (1.24)
Getting a new set of fermionic supercharge components $`Q_1,Q_2,\overline{Q}_1,\overline{Q}_2`$; we now show that they indeed satisfy the extended superalgebra. In addition, the Hamiltonian is left invariant under the R-symmetry.

Using the superalgebra relations of the first supersymmetry (as stated in  ), we see that the operators $`Q_1,Q_2,\overline{Q}_1,\overline{Q}_2`$ are indeed nilpotent; thereby converting bosons and fermions into each other when acting on the enlarged Fock space. Proceeding to calculate the algebra generated by these operators, we obtain

$`\{Q_1,\overline{Q}_1\}`$ $`=`$ $`|\alpha |^2(N_B+N_F)+|\beta |^2(\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)`$ (1.25)
$`\{Q_2,\overline{Q}_2\}`$ $`=`$ $`|\beta |^2(N_B+N_F)+|\alpha |^2(\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)`$ (1.26)
$`\{Q_1,\overline{Q}_2\}`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha \beta (N_B+N_F)+\alpha \beta (\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)`$ (1.27)
$`\{Q_1,Q_2\}`$ $`=`$ $`\{\overline{Q}_1,\overline{Q}_2\}=0`$ (1.28)
$`[𝐐,(N_B+N_F)]`$ $`=`$ $`[𝐐,(\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)]=0`$ (1.29)
where $`𝐐`$ denotes any of $`Q_1,Q_2,\overline{Q}_1,\overline{Q}_2`$. Hence, the operators $`Q_1,Q_2,\overline{Q}_1,\overline{Q}_2,(N_B+N_F),(\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)`$ too satisfy a $`_2`$ \- graded Lie algebra.

Moreover, we can also see the anti-commutators between the two
generations of supercharges :

$`\{Q_1,Q_+\}=\{Q_1,q_+\}=\{Q_2,Q_+\}=\{Q_2,q_+\}=0`$ (1.30)
and similarly their corresponding conjugate relations. These could be
interpreted as the absence of central charges.

Note also the relations

$`\{Q_1,Q_{}\}=\alpha (N_B+N_F)`$ (1.31)
$`\{Q_1,q_{}\}=\beta (\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)`$ (1.32)
$`\{Q_2,Q_{}\}=\overline{\beta }(N_B+N_F)`$ (1.33)
$`\{Q_2,q_{}\}=\overline{\alpha }(\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)`$ (1.34)
and their corresponding conjugates. In the specific case of $`_2`$ \- graded Lorentz algebras, eqs. (1.15), (1.16), (1.17), (1.18) would have been zero on the R.H.S. In other types of $`_2`$ Lie gradings that need not be so.
However, at the moment, we do not have a definite interpretation of these R.H.S terms.

Finally, putting together the full algebra, including both generations, we indeed have a super Lie algebra. It still remains to show, that the thermal system under consideration, obeys this second supersymmetry.

In terms of the first supersymmetry, the total Hamiltonian is given by

$`\widehat{H}_1=\{Q_+,Q_{}\}\{q_+,q_{}\}`$ (1.35)
Under the R-transformation of the supercharges, the above Hamiltonian
takes the form

$`\widehat{H}_2`$ $`=`$ $`\{Q_1,\overline{Q}_1\}\{Q_2,\overline{Q}_2\}`$ (1.36)
$`=`$ $`\left(|\alpha |^2|\beta |^2\right)\left[(N_B+N_F)(\stackrel{~}{N}_B+\stackrel{~}{N}_F)\right]`$
$`=`$ $`\widehat{H}_1`$
thus remaining invariant under the R-symmetry transformation of the
supersymmetry generators. Also, we have

$`[𝐐,\widehat{H}_2]=0`$ (1.37)
meaning that the supercharges of this second supersymmetry are all
conserved quantities.

This concludes our argument that our thermal system confers to a second supersymmetry.

## 2 Supersymmetry at finite temperatures

In this section, we check how our second supersymmetry behaves at finite temperatures. The method followed is essentially the same as in .

First we look at the zero temperature case, where we get

$`0|\widehat{H}_2|0`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (2.1)
$`and𝐐|0`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (2.2)
implying that at zero temperature there is neither explicit nor spontaneous breakdown of the second supersymmetry.

At finite temperatures, the thermal vacuum $`|0(\beta )`$ has to be considered, which is annihilated by the Bogoliubov transformed annihilation operators.

In , three methods are considered. In the first method, the Fock space state vectors are taken to be temperature dependent, while the operators are not. Using this method for our second supersymmetry, we get similar results as in  :

$`0(\beta )|\widehat{H}_2|0(\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (2.3)
$`and𝐐|0(\beta )`$ $``$ $`0`$ (2.4)
there is no explicit breaking, but only spontaneous breaking of the second supersymmetry.

The second method involves a temperature dependence for both; the state vectors, as well as the operators acting on them. From our point of view, this method seems more appropriate. Now the creation/annihilation operators have a $`\beta `$ \- dependence given by the Bogoliubov transformations . The canonical quantization relations still remain valid. Therefore, the super Lie algebra too retains its form. The Hamiltonian can be seen to take the form

$`\widehat{H}_2(\beta )=\{Q_1(\beta ),\overline{Q}_1(\beta )\}\{Q_2,(\beta )\overline{Q}_2(\beta )\}`$ (2.5)
The invariance of the Hamiltonian under the Bogoliubov transformation

$`\widehat{H}_2(\beta )=\widehat{H}_2`$ (2.6)
can also be verified. Moreover, the Bogoliubov transformed supercharges $`𝐐(\beta )`$ too are constants of motion.

The following results are obtained

$`0(\beta )|\widehat{H}_2(\beta )|0(\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (2.7)
$`and𝐐(\beta )|0(\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (2.8)
giving an explicitly as well as spontaneous unbroken second supersymmetry at finite temperatures.  and  obtain similar results for the first
supersymmetry.

The third method in  neglects the tilde operators, hence restricting to a sub-algebra of the super Lie algebra. Such a sub-algebra could still be chosen to contain one of the two supersymmetries. The $`SU(1,1)`$ R-symmetry is now reduced to a $`U(1)`$ phase. In a sense, this means, looking at a sub-system of the full (mathematically) thermal system. Therefore, fixing to a sub-system comes at the price of losing some of the symmetry contained in the system as a whole.

## 3 Discussion and conclusions

The central idea of this article is to show that the supersymmetric system given in  also contains a second supersymmetry. In order to do this, one has to find the appropriate R-symmetry, which maps the supercharges of one generation to that of another. At the same time, the R-action on the supercharges should leave the Hamiltonian invariant. We have shown that the $`SU(1,1)`$ R-symmetry does precisely that.

Note that the supersymmetry considered here and in  is not the usual space-time $`_2`$ \- graded supersymmetry of the Lorentz algebra. The Lorentz superalgebra acts on Lorentz-covariant quantum fields. In fact, the approach taken here, is far more modest. In our case, the superalgebra is actually a $`_2`$ \- grading of the canonical commutator/anti-commutator algebra. The Hamiltonian, is that of a free oscillator, with bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom. The supercharges are defined at a given frequency $`\omega `$. Their action on the Fock space converts bosons and fermions ( at $`\omega `$ ) into each other, thus maintaining supersymmetric partner states at the same frequency. In a sense, this can be likened to the situation in supersymmetric quantum mechanics.

In addition, for this second supersymmetry, we simply check its behaviour at finite temperatures, using the procedure in . The corresponding
results are similar. At this stage, it is noteworthy to point out that at finite temperature, the supersymmetry constructed on Minkowski space quantum field theory ,  shows interesting differences from the supersymmetry we have considered here. There the supersymmetry is always broken
spontaneously in thermal states.

## Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof. R. Parthasarathy for proof reading the manuscript and for his encouraging remarks as well. We would also like to thank Prof. R. Flume for informing us about the work of  and .