text:
# On geometric potentials in nanomechanical circuits

## Abstract

We demonstrate the formation of confinement potentials in suspended nanostructures induced by the geometry of the devices. We then propose a setup for measuring the resulting geometric phase change of electronic wave functions in such a mechanical nanostructure. The device consists of a suspended loop through which a phase coherent current is driven. Combination of two and more geometrically induced potentials can be applied for creating mechanical quantum bit states.

Quantum mechanics in curved-linear manifolds has been elaborated for some time . The propagation of waves in curved waveguides can be ’translated’ for quantum particles into a Hamiltonian consisting of the kinetic energy operator and a resulting potential energy, which is of pure geometric origin. The ability to build nanostructures with a three-dimensional relief allows the realization of low-dimensional electronic systems possessing a mechanical degree of freedom . This is exemplified in recent work by Prinz et al.  and Schmidt and Eberl , who demonstrated how to realize rolled-up semiconductor films with a radis of curvature $`R100`$ nm. Thus it is worth while studying the influence of geometrical potentials on phase coherently propagating particles in curved low-dimensional electron systems. This will induce a phase shift in the electronic wave function corresponding to Berry’s phase .

For the case of a two-dimensional electron gas, flexing it leads to a geometrical potential of the form

$$U=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{8m}\left(\frac{1}{R_1}\frac{1}{R_2}\right)^2$$
(1)
where $`m`$ is the effective mass and $`R_1`$, $`R_2`$ are the principal curvature radii of the surface in the point where the electron resides. The geometric potential is always attractive and independent of the electric charge of a particle, similar to gravitation. Furthermore, it is of purely quantum origin, i.e. it vanishes for the limit $`\mathrm{}0`$.

If one of the radii tends to infinity we obtain a cylindrical surface. Particularly, this is the case when electrons are confined to a quantum wire having the shape of a plane curve. The Schrödinger equation for such a curved linear 1D system reads (see Fig. 1(a))

$$\widehat{H}\psi =\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}\frac{d^2}{ds^2}+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{8mR^2(s)}\right]\psi =E\psi ,$$
(2)
where $`s`$ is the length of the arc of the wire counted from an arbitrary origin and $`1/R(s)`$ is the local curvature. A straight forward derivation of Eq. (2) is given in . It is further shown in this work that a wire of the shape of an Archimedes spiral gives the geometric potential with an asymptotic behavior resulting in Coulomb’s law

$$1/R^2(s)1/s.$$
(3)
Hence, there is an infinite set of bound states corresponding to the localization of electrons at the origin of the spiral.

If one starts from a quantum wire consisting of two straight lines conjugated by an arc of a circumference (’open book’-shape) the corresponding geometrical potential is a rectangular potential well (see Fig. 1(b)) with a width $`\alpha R`$ and a depth $`\mathrm{}^2/8mR^2`$. Here $`R`$ is the radius of the circumference and $`\alpha `$ is the conjugating arc (angle between two rectilinear parts of the wire). There exists one and only one bound state for $`\alpha <\pi `$ in such a system and its energy is given by

$$E_o=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{8mR^2}\left(1\frac{16z^2}{\alpha ^2}\right),$$
(4)
where $`z(\alpha )`$ is the root of $`\mathrm{cos}z=4z/\alpha `$ between 0 and $`\pi /2`$ (see Fig. 1(b)). For example, for a U-shaped wire ($`\alpha =\pi `$) with $`R=100`$ Åand an electron mass in GaAs $`m=0.07m_0`$, we find a binding energy of $`E_o=4`$ K. Whereas for the conjugation of two perpendicular straight lines, i.e. $`\alpha =\pi /2`$, we obtain $`E_o=3`$ K. The phase of the wave function in the quasiclassical regime is then given by the integral

$$\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}_0^SP𝑑s^{}=\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}_0^S\sqrt{2m(E_FU(s^{}))}𝑑s^{}.$$
(5)
For a wire with a small curvature the relation for the Fermi energy and the geometrical potential is $`E_F\mathrm{}^2/8mR^2`$. The total phase shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ after passing through the conjugation then is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi \alpha /8k_FR`$ where $`k_FR1`$ with $`k_F=P_F/\mathrm{}`$. In the opposite limit, i.e. $`k_FR1`$ the integral in Eq. (5) gives $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =\alpha /2`$.

The most realistic case of course is given in the limit $`k_FR1`$. A mechanically deformable quantum interferometer will be able to sense such a deformation, provided its sensitivity to the phase shifts exceeds the value $`\alpha /8k_FR`$. Such a mechanical quantum interferometer (MQUI) can be realized by suspending a two-dimensional electron gas in a thin membrane. While the electron gas usually is 10 nm thin, the total membrane thickness will be around 90 nm. This leaves the minimal radius of curvature at $`R500`$ nm, giving a confinement potential for the lowest state of $`E_o1.6`$ mK. As Prinz et al.  have shown smaller curvature radii can be achieved. Especially, considering surface bound two-dimensional electron gases in InAs heterostructures should allow reaching the regime $`R10`$ nm, effectively leading to temperatures in the range of $`4`$ K.

An MQUI is shown in Fig. 2: the interferometer basically consists of a ring shaped suspended membrane containing a two-dimensional electron gas. This geometry first allows to measure interference induced by a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the plane of the ring, i.e. ’classical’ Aharonov-Bohm oscillations (see Fig. 2(a)). In this way the interferometer is to be calibrated. The diameter of the ring should be smaller than the phase coherence length $`L_\varphi `$, i.e. in this case 5 $`\mu `$m as found for two-dimensional electron gases will be sufficient. Deformation of the arms of the ring is facilitated by using gating electrodes beneath the ring, also indicated in Fig. 2(b). In order to avoid depletion of the electron gas the suspended heterostructure contains a highly n-doped GaAs back-layer. By gating the interferometer arms individually two flexing modes can be supported. Both modes are shown in Fig. 2(b). Since the potential shows a dependence of $`R^2`$ both will lead to the same wave function shift. Another technique for mechanically modulating the suspended electron ring is given by using surface acoustic waves . The modulation amplitude is considerably increased in suspended membranes .

Intriguingly the combination of two curved sections connected by a thin wire $`w`$ – denoted as a $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$-shaped element – will lead to a double quantum well potential, as demonstrated in Fig. 3(a). Depending on $`R(s)`$ and on $`w`$ the two discrete states in the wells $`E_o^{A,B}`$ can communicate, i.e. a tunnel splitting of the order of $`2\delta E_o`$ will occur. Thus this system represents a mechanical quantum bit (mqubit), whose communication is given by the exchange of phonons at an energy $`2\delta E_o=hf_{\mathrm{ph}}=hc_\mathrm{a}/w`$, where $`c_\mathrm{a}`$ is the velocity of sound in the heterostructure and $`w`$ is the length of the connecting element. Naturally, this scheme can be extended to a chain with $`N`$ elements forming $`N/2`$ $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$-wire mqubits as shown in Fig. 3(b). A whole variety of different modes is available for information exchange between two mqubits (ii). Stretching and contracting the wire elements individually allows to steer inter and intra-mqubit communication. The overall information exchange is performed through low frequency phonon modes, e.g. indicated by dashed lines (iii). The energy of these modes is determined by $`c_\mathrm{a}`$ and the chain length. Sectioning into sub-chains the interaction of the mqubits organized in a hierarchy.

As another example we imagine to illuminate the U-shaped wires for generating electron-hole pairs forming excitons. Both electrons and holes and hence the excitons will be attracted to the bottom of the U-wires’ geometric potentials. Since excitons do not obey the Pauli exclusion principle, the probability to capture more and more excitons will increase.

This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through the projects Bl/487-1& 3 and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research via grant 16377, by the program ’Physics of Solid Nanostructures’ of the Russian Ministry of Science, and by the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB 348) of the DFG. AVC thanks Jorg Kotthaus for the hospitality during the research visit to the Center for NanoScience. RHB likes to thank Herbert Walther for discussing the importance of vibronic modes for quantum computation in atom chains.

Fig. 1: (a) Sketch of a single wire and the resulting geometrically induced confinement potentials. The parameter $`\alpha `$ gives the degree of bending and $`E_o`$ represents a bound electronic state in the resulting potential. (b) For $`\alpha =\pi `$ and $`\alpha =\pi /2`$ square well potentials with different binding energies are obtained.

Fig. 2: Mechanical quantum interferometer: (a) electrons propagate phase coherently through the ring similar to an Aharonov-Bohm geometry. Flexing the arms of the ring ($`\alpha `$, $`\alpha ^{}`$) a geometrical potential is formed which leads to an effective phase shift of the electronic wave function within the interferometer. (b) Two flexing modes can be distinguished (i) and (ii) both of which are leading to an identical phase shift.

Fig. 3: (a) A $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$-wire forming a double quantum well potential: the discrete states in the two wells can interact depending on the connecting wire element length $`w`$. In case of tunneling a mechanical quantum bit (mqubit) is formed, i.e. the two discrete states are tunnel split by $`\delta E_o`$. (b) Chain of $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$-wire elements defining a circuit of ten coupled mechanical quantum bits (i). Communication between two mqubits is achieved by a variety of local deformations of the wires (ii). Parallel addressing of mqubit chains is possible through acoustic phonons propagating along the wire with the velocity of sound (iii) but at lower frequencies (indicated by dashed lines).


format: text

text:
# Chemistry and clumpiness in planetary nebulae

## 1 Introduction

Nearby planetary nebulae are clearly observed to be clumpy (O’Dell et al., 2002) with perhaps the best known example being the Helix nebula (Meaburn et al., 1998; O’Dell & Handron, 1996). The latter authors estimate that around half of the mass of the Helix nebula is contained in clumps. The origin of the clumps remains very unclear and there have been several models proposed for their generation. Dyson et al. (1989) suggested that the SiO maser spots observed in the atmospheres of AGB stars could be the first manifestation of clumps later observed in the planetary nebula. Other models involve clumps forming much later during the planetary nebula phases. Williams (1999) has shown how density fluctuations at an ionization front boundary can produce knots and tails when the ionization front switches locally from R-type to D-type (see e.g. Shu 1991 for a detailed discussion of ionization front types). Instabilities in the shell of ionized gas, with the instability being either Rayleigh-Taylor (Capriotti, 1973) or ‘thin layer’ (García-Segura & Franco, 1996), have also been proposed as mechanisms to form clumps.

Very recently, Huggins & Mauron (2002) have observed the envelopes of NGC 7027, the proto-typical young planetary nebula, and IRC+10216, the standard C-rich AGB star, in order to look for knots generated at the AGB phase. Since none were observed in these two objects, any envelope knots must be very small or else they would be seen in scattered light. However, in the innermost regions of NGC 7027, the ionized and neutral material surrounding the ionized cavity are observed to be very clumpy and Huggins & Mauron (2002) suggest that the knots are formed as the complex (and poorly understood) transition from AGB wind to planetary nebula occurs. The models and explanations for the origin of the clumps can thus be separated into two types: those in which the clumps form early, before the PN is fully developed (Dyson et al., 1989; Huggins & Mauron, 2002) and those in which the clumps form later during the PN stage (Williams, 1999; García-Segura & Franco, 1996; Capriotti, 1973).

The chemical history of the clumps will depend on where and when they formed since the chemistry is sensitive to the radiation field, temperature and extinction of the clump gas. Molecular observations may thus offer the best way to establish the evolutionary history of the clumps and thus to differentiate between the two types of model. There has been rapid progress in recent years in characterising the chemistry of the post-AGB phases with many molecules being identified in young objects such as NGC 7027 (e.g. Hasegawa & Kwok 2001 and references therein) and several species observed in evolved PNe such as the Helix where, for example, Young et al. (1997) observed neutral carbon in the globules. Bachiller et al. (1997) observed molecules in clumps in a range of planetary nebulae at different evolutionary stages, allowing trends in the molecular abundances with age to be identified.

In this paper, we trace the chemical evolution of model clumps, assuming them to have formed early on in the history of the PN and compare the results from those expected if the clumps formed in situ. The aim is to identify observable species that can be used as discriminants between the two scenarios.

Our model is described in Section 2, and our results are presented, discussed and compared with observations in Section 3. We conclude in Section 4 that molecular tracers do exist in PPNe and PNe, and that some large molecules originating in the stellar atmosphere may survive the transition into the interstellar medium.

## 2 Physical and chemical model

The difference between a clumpy and non-clumpy model is that clump interiors will have a higher extinction than their surroundings. In the harsh environment of a planetary nebula this can help to shield molecules so that they survive for longer than if they were in the interclump gas. The chemical difference between clumps that are formed out of the planetary nebula gas and those that formed earlier is that in the latter case, complex molecules may be shielded and preserved long enough to be detectable in clumps. In the former case, all such molecules will have been destroyed as the extinction of the gas dropped as the PN evolved.

Howe et al. (1992) investigated the gas-phase chemistry in a carbon-rich AGB wind during its transition to a planetary nebula. This work was followed by a paper (Howe et al., 1994) investigating the formation of molecules in a dense, neutral globule such as those observed in the Helix nebula. Howe et al. (1994) ran equilibrium chemistry models for clumps with extinctions between 0 and 2.0, comparable to those of the Helix knots (Meaburn et al., 1998). They found that molecular abundances in the globule are enhanced with $`\mathrm{C}_2\mathrm{H}`$ and $`\mathrm{CN}`$ at abundances that are possibly detectable in carbon-rich globules.

Here, we extend the work of Howe et al. (1994) in that the time-dependent chemistry is calculated, beginning with the rich chemistry of a carbon-rich AGB atmosphere. The molecular species are assumed to be locked into a clump with a density contrast with the surrounding medium. The chemistry of the clump is then traced as both it and the surrounding medium expand away from the star. At the final stage of the calculation, the clump and medium have similar properties to those of the Helix. As the knots in the Helix have a low extinction, the chemistry by this stage is tending towards that expected of a diffuse cloud with this initial composition. However, at intermediate stages, the rich initial chemistry should give rise to marked differences compared with that expected from a standard ISM mixture. Some of these molecules should be present in detectable quantities and if found, would argue for an early clump formation model. We follow the physical and chemical evolution of a parcel of gas (either clump or interclump material) as it moves out from the AGB atmosphere to the protoplanetary (PPN) and planetary nebula (PN) phases, ultimately merging with the interstellar medium.

In the AGB atmosphere, the number density and temperature are on the order of $`10^{12}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`10^3\mathrm{K}`$, respectively. We assume that the clump/interclump density ratio is about 10 (Mauron & Huggins 2000 find the multiple shells in the envelope of IRC+10216 to have density contrasts of $`10`$), and that the size of the clump is comparable to a stellar radius (about $`10^{13}\mathrm{cm}`$). Thus, if the gas:dust ratio is similar to that in the interstellar medium, the visual extinction associated with a clump in the atmosphere is very large. The chemistry in the atmosphere is determined under thermodynamical equilibrium, and the relative abundances are fixed as the envelope expands and the density falls. At lower densities, however, thermodynamic equilibrium no longer applies and chemistry is driven by two-body reactions of ion-molecule and other types, as in conventional interstellar chemistry.

Since no chemical evolution occurs in the initial expansion, we begin our computation of the evolution at a later stage (time $`t=t_1=100\mathrm{yr}`$) at which the densities are low enough to be dominated by two-body reactions initiated by cosmic ray ionisation and by photoprocesses driven by the radiation field of the central star and by the ambient interstellar medium.

For simplicity, we use a power-law description of the physical development. We do not attempt to model the initiation and evolution of a clump. In a steady outflow at constant velocity, the density should fall off as $`t^2`$. However, the density fall off in a clump may be slower. A $`t^{3/2}`$ dependence gives a reasonable fit to typical densities through the PPN and PN stages (as observed by, e.g. Martin-Pintado et al. 1995; Meaburn et al. 1998). Therefore we adopt

$$n(t)=10^7\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)^{3/2}\mathrm{cm}^3,$$
(1)
for times $`t>t_1`$, where $`t_1=100\mathrm{yr}`$. On the assumption of constant clump mass throughout the expansion, this gives

$$r(t)=10^{14}\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{cm}.$$
(2)
The visual extinction associated with a clump must therefore vary as $`t^1`$, and we write

$$A_V=10^2\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)^1.$$
(3)
The distance of the clump from the star is $`d`$, which in a steady flow must increase linearly with time:

$$d(t)=10^{16}\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)\mathrm{cm}.$$
(4)
We adopt the following dependence of temperature on time, as it gives values for the PN clump temperatures comparable to the typical measured values (Martin-Pintado et al., 1995; Meaburn et al., 1998):

$$T(t)=316\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)^{1/4}\mathrm{K}.$$
(5)
The radiation field experienced by the parcel of gas is initially dominated by the contribution from the central star, and later by that of the interstellar radiation field. We adopt the following expression, similar to that used by Howe et al. (1994), for the radiation field intensity $`\chi `$,

$`\chi `$ $`=`$ $`0;D<10^{16}\mathrm{cm},`$ (6)
$`=`$ $`100\chi _{\mathrm{ism}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{t}{t_1}}\right)^2+\chi _{\mathrm{ism}};D<10^{16}\mathrm{cm},`$ (7)
where we assume that $`\chi _{\mathrm{ism}}`$ gives photorates as in the UMIST rate file (Millar et al. 1997, and discussed further below). There is some uncertainty in this, since the radiation field may be harder than that of the interstellar medium. We use the canonical cosmic ray ionisation rate of $`\chi _{\mathrm{ism}}=1.3\times 10^{17}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

The evolution of the interclump medium can be followed in a very similar way to that of a clump. In this single-point calculation, the initial composition in the AGB atmosphere is the same as for a clump but the parcel of gas is assumed to have an initial density lower by a factor of 10 compared with the clump. The density falls off with the square of the distance from the star, as appropriate for a steady spherically symmetric flow.

$$n(t)=10^6\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)^2\mathrm{cm}^3.$$
(8)
A parcel of gas will then experience an extinction that varies as

$$A_V=10^2\left(\frac{t}{t_1}\right)^{4/3}.$$
(9)
Since the clump and interclump medim will initally have the the same temperature, it is assumed for simplicity that the interclump medium temperature is the same as that of the clump, and therefore varies as given by Equation 5. This is unlikely to be true in the later stages of the PN evolution when the interclump medium will be hotter than the clumps but this will only accelerate the destruction of those molecules that survived the drop in extinction. In the period of interest, the range of temperatures involved does not influence the chemistry very strongly.

The chemical model used is similar to the one employed in Viti & Williams (1999). However, we have made considerable changes to the chemistry. To all the basic species (O, C, CO etc.) we have added all the species (mainly hydrocarbons) that are thought to be abundant at the initial stage of the PPN; this chemistry also includes species that have an unpaired electron located on an internal or terminal carbon atom. For most of these additions, the UMIST rate file for gas phase reactions, involving several hundred species (Millar et al., 1997), and which is normally used routinely in our models, did not have a sufficient network of reactions. Therefore the formation and destruction routes were taken from Frenklach & Feigelson (1989). The reaction rates were fitted by using different formulae from the UMIST ones. To account for that, we have modified our code to include new rate coefficients calculations taken from Cau (2001). For some of those reactions, no rate coefficients are available and Frenklach & Feigelson (1989) determine them from the rate coefficients of their inverse reactions: we have employed the same method here. We have not included three-body reactions. We have also excluded reactions which use an ‘unspecified’ species as a collisional body causing de-excitation or dissociation. These may be of some relevance and should be included in further studies. Note that Frenklach & Feigelson (1989) also extrapolated their rate coefficients to temperatures very different from those at which they were measured.

## 3 Results and discussion

### 3.1 Predictions

We present in Figures 1-4 results of the calculations of the evolution of molecular fractional abundances in clump and interclump gas, for several illustrative species. In Table 1 we give the computed fractional abundances of potentially observable species in the clump, and also the clump:interclump ratio of abundances, for several epochs between about 2 and 10 thousand years, i.e. the period of transition from PPN to PN phases.

The figures show generally the same qualitative behaviour. A comparison of clump and interclump abundances shows that molecules are photodissociated earlier in the interclump than in the clump gas, as expected. Thus molecules survive longer in the clumps, and so the ratio of clump to interclump abundances varies strongly. For example, the CN abundance ratio varies from 0.26 at 2550 yr to 270 at 10050 yr, a factor of 1000.

Figure 1 shows the clump and interclump evolution of CO and CN fractional abundances. These represent molecules that have high and low initial abundances, respectively, i.e. in the stellar atmosphere of the AGB star. The abundance of CO remains high in both clump and interclump gas until photodissociation begins to play a role as the gas density and extinction decline during the expansion, with CO in the higher density clump gas surviving until later times. On the other hand, CN is a molecule formed as a product of photodissociation of larger species, here called a degradation product. Since photodissociation is faster in the interclump gas, the production of CN is also faster there initially, so CN rises faster in the interclump gas than in the clump, but also declines earlier.

Similar effects are observed for other species. The simple carbon chains $`\mathrm{C}_4\mathrm{H}`$ and $`\mathrm{C}_5\mathrm{H}`$ are both degradation products of larger species, and the time evolution illustrated in Figure 2 shows that their abundances peak in the interclump gas earlier (by several thousand years) than in the clump gas. Figure 3 shows the time evolution of $`\mathrm{C}_2\mathrm{H}_2`$ (which is abundant in the stellar atmosphere) and $`\mathrm{C}_4\mathrm{H}_2`$, a degradation product of larger species. Their behaviours are as for CO and CN. Both molecules ultimately decline as the gas enters the interstellar medium.

Molecules with rather slower photodissociation rates survive longer. In Figure 4, benzene has a timescale for survival longer than the ten thousand year period considered here. This raises the possibility that some large and relatively photo-resistant species may survive the transition into the interstellar medium and may establish a population there (Williams 2003). Note however that our benzene chemistry may be incomplete; in the chemistry adopted here its formation and destruction are mainly dominated by the neutral-neutral reaction of two $`\mathrm{C}_3\mathrm{H}_3`$ molecules and its reverse.

Table 1 illustrates the effects of the different photodissociation timescales in the expanding gas, and gives snapshot values of the clump:interclump abundance ratio at 2550, 6300, and 10050 yr, for species that are potentially observable. The earliest epoch is approximately when the interclump abundances are at a maximum, while the values in the clump of species formed by degradation are low. For such species, then the ratio is low.

At epoch $`6300\mathrm{yr}`$, many of the degradation products have declined in abundance in the interclump gas, while their abundances in the clump gas are growing, so the ratio is generally large. At the latest epoch shown in Table 1, then most of the degradation products have declined in abundance in the clump gas, and have declined even further in the interclump gas, so the ratio is in many cases again large. However, by this stage the abundances in the clump gas may have declined so far as to make many of the species undetectable. If we take a fractional abundance of $`10^8`$ to represent a characteristic detection limit at $`10000\mathrm{yr}`$, where the clump extinction is $`1`$ magnitude, then about 70% of the species listed are possibly not detectable at this epoch, whereas only about 30 percent are not detectable at $`6500\mathrm{yr}`$. Thus, there is a very significant change in the detectable chemistry of the clump gas the PN ages.

The column density of any species is made up of contributions from both clump and interclump gas. At the earliest PPN epoch illustrated, Table 1 shows that chemistry is largely determined by the interclump gas, while at later epochs it is determined in the clumps. Table 2 lists molecules that are likely to be the most important tracers of either clump or interclump gas, at the three epochs chosen.

### 3.2 Comparison with observations

Here the results will be compared very generally with observations of three objects: CRL618, NGC7027 and the Helix nebula. These objects span progressively advanced evolutionary stages with CRL618 being a PPN, NGC 7027 a young PN and the Helix an evolved PN. As discussed immediately below, comparison with CRL618 is made difficult by the complex geometry of the source. The comparisons with NGC 7027 and the Helix are more straight-forward.

Carbon-rich protoplanetary nebulae such as CRL618 and AFGL2688 have been the subject of several molecular studies in recent years. In particular, CRL618 has been used as a typical example of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star in the transition evolving toward the planetary nebula stage (Herpin & Cernicharo 2000; Cernicharo et al. 2001a,b; Woods et al. 2002). Here we attempt a qualitative comparison of our models with some observations and theoretical work on this object. Herpin & Cernicharo (2000) show that to reproduce the observed emission of CO, HCN, HNC, H2O, OH and O, a 3-component geometry is needed (see their figure 3), with a central torus at high density ($`5\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}^3`$) and a gradient of temperatures ranging from 250 to 1000 K; an extended AGB remnant envelope with a density of $`5\times 10^5\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and temperature of 100K; and finally the lobes, where high velocity gas is emitted from, with a density of $`10^7\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and a two-component temperature of 200 and 1000 K. In follow up papers, Cernicharo et al. (2001a,b) observed methylpolyynes, small hydrocarbons and benzene along the same line of sight and conclude that the emission of these species must come from the central torus region.

The scenario we model is different from the 3-component geometry but we can attempt a comparison with the species emitted from the AGB remnant component where the temperature is close to the one derived in our model (see Table 1), although the density is much higher. We find that our best match with the PPN CRL618 occurs at early times $``$ few hundred years. At this time the density is relatively high: our CO column density is $`6\times 10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, while Herpin & Cernicharo (2000) derive a value of $`7\times 10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ and our HCN is $`2.5\times 10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, only slightly over a factor of 4 less than the observed one; our HNC is, however, over 3 orders of magnitude underabundant with respect to observations. Given the differences in the physical parameters adopted, any further comparison would be of limited value.

It should also be noted that following the ISO discovery of benzene in CRL618 (Cernicharo et al. 2001b), Woods et al. (2002) presented a chemical model of this proto-planetary nebula. They show that the physical conditions of CRL618 are such to encourage an efficient production of benzene. However, similarly to Cernicharo et al. (2001b) results, they model the dense inner torus and therefore we are unable to make a direct comparison with their chemical model.

The young PN NGC 7027 is molecule rich with a large number of species identified within it. Hasegawa & Kwok (2001) have observed several species and collated the results of previous work. In their table 3, they list measured fractional abundances. If the emission that Hasegawa & Kwok (2001) detected is regarded as originating from a large collection of clumps then their results can be directly compared with ours in Table 1. Adopting an age of around 1000 yr for the nebula and comparing with our results gives the following: CN is predicted to have a fractional abundance of $`9\times 10^{10}`$ and Hasegawa & Kwok (2001) measure $`1.7\times 10^8`$; HCN is $`6\times 10^5`$ (predicted) verses $`>1.2\times 10^9`$ (observed); and $`\mathrm{C}_2\mathrm{H}`$ is $`6\times 10^7`$ vs $`1.1\times 10^8`$. Given the simplicity of the model and the inexactness of the comparison to be within around one order of magnitude of the observational results for several species is very encouraging (the exact age of the nebula or the filling factor of the clumps can easily yield uncertainties of an order of magnitude).

To compare the results for the later stages with those of the Helix, we can use the last columns of Table 1 with the results of Bachiller et al. (1997). The model results for this evolved PN do not agree nearly so well with the observations as for NGC7027 and CRL618. Some results are not inconsistent with the observations: the model predictions do not exceed the upper limits established for SiO and CS, being an order of magnitude less; the predicted $`\mathrm{HC}_3\mathrm{N}`$ abundance is several orders of magnitude less than the upper limit set by Bachiller et al. (1997). However the models severely underpredict the abundances of HCN, HNC, CN and $`\mathrm{HCO}^+`$. This indicates that these molecules whose earlier clump abundances were comparable to the observed levels survive for longer than our simple model predicts.

## 4 Conclusions

The chemistry of the gas in the slow wind ejected from a star in the AGB phase is strongly affected by photoprocesses driven by the hardening radiation field of the central star, as the system is transformed into a PPN and then to a PN. If the slow wind density distribution is smoothly monotonic, then the degradation product molecules in the gas are confined to the PPN stage. However, if the slow wind is clumpy, perhaps because of clumpiness in the precursor AGB atmosphere, then molecules in clumps are protected against photodissociation until significantly later times, and may be present in the PN phase of evolution. We have presented lists of molecules that may represent tracers of such clumpiness. Benzene survives the transition into the PN phase, suggesting that some long-lived molecules may last long enough to be injected into the general interstellar medium. A comparison with observations suggests that this model can, at the PPN and young PN stage, correctly predict the abundance of several molecular species to within an order of magnitude. At later stages, the model severely underestimates the abundance of some short-chain molecules. Thus the shielding of molecules in clumps may be even more effective than as described in this simple model.

The original aim of this work was to chemically identify when clumps form in PNe. The comparison of the results in the early stages with the data from CRL618 and NGC 7027 supports the hypothesis that the clumps form at an early stage; if they formed later out of low extinction gas, the abundances of the molecules would be significantly depleted compared with the values observed. As noted above, the evidence of the continuing presence of molecules in an evolved PN like the Helix indicates that the protective ability of the clumps persists until late stages. Future work in this field should include a more realistic physical model for the different post-AGB phases to account for the survival of molecules in the clumps. It should also be possible to model individual sources and thus carry out a much more detailed comparison with observations both from existing facilities and also from forthcoming facilities such as ALMA.

## Acknowledgements

We thank the referee, Pierre Cox, for a very constructive report that led to an improved paper. We also thank John Dyson and Jonathan Rawlings for useful discussions. MPR acknowledges the support of PPARC. SV thanks the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and DAW thanks the Leverhulme Trust for financial support. PC was a Fellow supported by the European Commission TMR programme in Astrophysical Chemistry while this work was carried out.


text:
# MIGRATION OF JUPITER-FAMILY COMETS AND RESONANT ASTEROIDS TO NEAR-EARTH SPACE

## INTRODUCTION

The orbits of more than 70,000 main-belt asteroids, 1000 near-Earth objects (NEOs), 670 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), and 1000 comets are known. Most of the small bodies are located in the main asteroid and trans-Neptunian (Edgeworth-Kuiper) belts and in the Oort cloud. These belts and the cloud are considered to be the main sources of the objects that could collide with the Earth. About 0.4% of the encounters within 0.2 AU of the Earth are from periodic comets (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CloseApp.html), and 6 out of 20 recent approaches of comets with the Earth within 0.102 AU were due to periodic comets (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/ClosestComets.html). So the fraction of close encounters with the Earth due to active comets is $``$1%. Reviews of the asteroid and comet hazard were given in -. Many scientists - believe that asteroids are the main source of NEOs (i.e. objects with perihelion distance $`q`$$`<`$1.3 AU). Bottke et al.  considered that there are 200$`\pm `$140 km-sized Jupiter-family comets at $`q`$$`<`$1.3 AU, with $``$80% of them being extinct comets.

Duncan et al.  and Kuchner  investigated the migration of TNOs to Neptune’s orbit, and Levison and Duncan  studied the migration from Neptune’s orbit to Jupiter’s orbit. Ipatov and Hahn  considered the migration of 48 Jupiter-crossing objects (JCOs) with initial orbits close to the orbit of Comet P/1996 R2 and found that on average such objects spend $``$ 5000 yr in orbits which cross both the orbits of Jupiter and Earth. Using these results and additional orbit integrations, and assuming that there are $`5\times 10^9`$ 1-km TNOs with 30$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$50 AU , Ipatov ,, found that about $`10^4`$ 1-km former TNOs are Jupiter-crossers now and 10-20% or more 1-km Earth-crossers could have come from the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt into Jupiter-crossing orbits. Note that previous estimates of the number of bodies with diameter $`d`$$``$$`1`$ km and 30$``$$`a`$$``$50 AU were larger: $`10^{10}`$  and $`10^{11}`$  In the present paper we use the estimates from , but now include a much larger number of JCOs. Preliminary results were presented by Ipatov -, who also discussed the formation of TNOs and asteroids, and in .

## COLLISION PROBABILITIES IN THE MODEL OF FIXED ORBITAL ELEMENTS

In this section we estimate the probabilities of collisions of near-Earth objects with planets in the model of fixed orbital elements. As the actual collisions of migrating objects with terrestrial planets are rare, we use an approximation of random phases and orientations to estimate probabilities of collision for families of objects with similar orbital elements. We suppose that their semi-major axes $`a`$, eccentricities $`e`$ and inclinations $`i`$ are fixed, but the orientations of the orbits can vary. When a minor body collides with a planet at a distance $`R`$ from the Sun, the characteristic time to collide, $`T_f`$, is a factor of $`k=v/v_c=\sqrt{2a/R1}`$ times that computed with an approximation of constant velocity, where $`v`$ is the velocity at the point where the orbit of the body crosses the orbit of the planet, and $`v_c`$ is the velocity for the same semi-major axis and a circular orbit. This coefficient $`k`$ modifies the formulas obtained by Ipatov , for characteristic collision and close encounter times of two objects moving around the Sun in crossing orbits. These formulas also depend on the synodic period and improve on Öpik’s formulas when the semi-major axes of the objects are close to each other. As an example, at $`e`$=0.7 and $`a`$=3.06 AU, we have $`k`$=2.26.

Based on these formulas, we calculated probabilities (1/$`T_f`$) for $``$ 1300 NEOs, including 343 Venus-crossers, 756 Earth-crossers and 1197 Mars-crossers. The values of $`T_f`$ (in Myr), $`k`$, and the number $`N_f`$ of objects considered are presented in Table 1. We considered separately the Atens, Apollos, Amors, and several Jupiter-family comets (JFCs). The relatively small values of $`T_f`$ for Atens and for all NEOs colliding with the Earth are due to several Atens with small inclinations discovered during the last three years. If we increase the inclination of the Aten object 2000 SG344 from $`i`$=$`0.1^{}`$ to $`i`$=$`1^{}`$, then for collisions with the Earth we find $`T`$=28 Myr and $`k`$=0.84 for Atens and $`T`$=97 Myr and $`k`$=1.09 for NEOs. These times are much longer, and illustrate the importance of rare objects.

## INITIAL DATA

As the migration of TNOs to Jupiter’s orbit was investigated by several authors, we have made a series of simulations of the orbital evolution of JCOs under the gravitational influence of planets. We omitted the influence of Mercury (except for Comet 2P) and Pluto. The orbital evolution of about 9352 and 10301 JCOs with initial periods $`P_a`$$`<`$20 yr was integrated with the use of the Bulirsh-Stoer (BULSTO code ) and symplectic (RMVS3 code) methods, respectively. We used the integration package of Levison and Duncan .

In the first series of runs (denoted as $`n1`$) we calculated the evolution of 3100 JCOs moving in initial orbits close to those of 20 real comets with period $`5`$$`<`$$`P_a`$$`<`$9 yr, and in the second series of runs (denoted as $`n2`$) we considered 7250 JCOs moving in initial orbits close to those of 10 real comets (with numbers 77, 81, 82, 88, 90, 94, 96, 97, 110, 113) with period 5$`<`$$`P_a`$$`<`$15 yr. In other series of runs, initial orbits were close to those of a single comet (2P, 9P, 10P, 22P, 28P, 39P, and 44P). In order to compare the orbital evolution of comets and asteroids, we also investigated the orbital evolution of asteroids initially moving in the 3:1 and 5:2 resonances with Jupiter. The number of objects in one run usually was $``$250.

In most JCO cases the time $`\tau `$ when perihelion was passed was varied with a step $`d\tau `$$``$1 day (i.e., $`\nu `$ was varied with a step $`<`$$`0.2^{}`$). Near the $`\tau `$ estimated from observations, we used smaller steps. In most JCO cases the range of initial values of $`\tau `$ was less than several tens of days. For asteroids, we varied initial values of $`\nu `$ and the longitude of the ascending node from 0 to 360. The approximate values of initial orbital elements ($`a`$ in AU, $`i`$ in deg) are presented in Table 2. We initially integrated the orbits for $`T_S`$$``$10 Myr. After 10 Myr we tested whether some of remaining objects could reach inside Jupiter’s orbit; if so, the calculations were usually continued. Therefore the results for orbits crossing or inside Jupiter’s orbit were the same as if the integrations had been carried to the entire lifetimes of the objects. For Comet 2P and resonant asteroids, we integrated until all objects were ejected into hyperbolic orbits or collided with the Sun. In some previous publications we have used smaller $`T_S`$, so these new data are more accurate.

In our runs, planets were considered as material points so literal collisions did not occur. However, using the formulas of the previous section, and the orbital elements sampled with a 500 yr step, we calculated the mean probability $`P`$ of collisions. We define $`P`$ as $`P_\mathrm{\Sigma }/N`$, where $`P_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is the probability for all $`N`$ objects of a collision of an object with a planet during its lifetime, the mean time $`T`$=$`T_\mathrm{\Sigma }/N`$ during which perihelion distance $`q`$ of an object was less than the semi-major axis $`a_{pl}`$ of the planet, the mean time $`T_d`$ (in Kyr) spent in orbits with $`Q`$$`<`$4.2 AU, and the mean time $`T_J`$ during which an object moved in Jupiter-crossing orbits. The values of $`P_r`$=$`10^6P`$, $`T_J`$, $`T_d`$, and $`T`$ are shown in Tables 3-4. Here $`r`$ is the ratio of the total time interval when orbits are of Apollo type ($`a`$$`>`$1 AU, $`q`$=$`a(1e)`$$`<`$$`1.017`$ AU) at $`e`$$`<`$0.999 to that of Amor type ($`1.017`$$`<`$$`q`$$`<`$1.3 AU) and $`T_c`$=$`T/P`$ (in Gyr). In almost all runs $`T`$ was equal to the mean time in planet-crossing orbits and 1/$`T_c`$ was a probability of a collision per year (similar to 1/$`T_f`$).

In Table 5 for several objects that had large collision probabilities with the Earth, we present times (Myr) spent by these objects in orbits typical for inner-Earth objects (IEOs, $`Q`$$`<`$0.983 AU), Aten ($`a`$$`<`$1 AU and $`Q`$$`>`$0.983 AU), Al2 ($`q`$$`<`$1.017 AU and 1$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$2 AU), Apollo, and Amor objects, and also probabilities of collisions with Venus ($`p_v`$), Earth ($`p_e`$), and Mars ($`p_m`$) during their lifetimes $`T_{lt}`$ (in Myr). Objects 44P and 113P presented in Table 5 were not included in the lines $`n1`$ and $`n2`$ marked by  in Table 3, respectively, and objects 2P and 10P with BULSTO were not included in the lines for the corresponding series of runs in Table 3 with $`N`$=250 for 2P and $`N`$=2149 for 10P.

## ORBITAL EVOLUTION OBTAINED BY DIRECT INTEGRATIONS

Here and in Figs. 1, 2a-c, 3-5 we present the results obtained by the Bulirsh-Stoer method (BULSTO code ) with the integration step error less than $`\epsilon `$$``$\[$`10^9`$-$`10^8`$\], and in the next section we compare them with those of BULSTO with $`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^{12}`$ and a symplectic method.

The results showed that most of the probability of collisions of former JCOs with the terrestrial planets is due to a small ($``$0.1-1%) fraction that orbited for several Myr with aphelion $`Q`$$`<`$4.7 AU. Some had typical asteroidal and NEO orbits and reached $`Q`$$`<`$3 AU for several Myr. Time variations in orbital elements of JCOs obtained by the BULSTO code are presented in Figs. 1, 2a-b. Plots in Fig. 1 are more typical than those in Fig. 2a-b, which were obtained for two JCOs with the highest probabilities of collisions with the terrestrial planets. Fig. 2c shows the plots for an asteroid from the 3:1 resonance with Jupiter. The results obtained by a symplectic code for two JCOs are presented in Fig. 2d-e. Large values of $`P`$ for Mars in the $`n1`$ runs were caused by a single object with a lifetime of 26 Myr.

The total times for Earth-crossing objects were mainly due to a few tens of objects with high collision probabilities. Of the JCOs with initial orbits close to those of 10P and 2P, six and nine respectively moved into Apollo orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU (Al2 orbits) for at least 0.5 Myr each, and five of them remained in such orbits for more than 5 Myr each. The contribution of all the other objects to Al2 orbits was smaller. Only one and two JCOs reached IEO and Aten orbits, respectively.

One former JCO (Fig. 2a), which had an initial orbit close to that of 10P, moved in Aten orbits for 3.45 Myr, and the probability of its collision with the Earth from such orbits was 0.344 (so $`T_c`$=10 Myr was even smaller than the values of $`T_f`$ presented in Table 1; i.e., this object had smaller $`e`$ and $`i`$ than typical observed Atens), greater than that for the 9350 other simulated former JCOs during their lifetimes (0.17). It also moved for about 10 Myr in inner-Earth orbits before its collision with Venus, and during this time the probability $`P_V`$=0.655 of its collision with Venus was greater ($`P_V`$$``$3 for the time interval presented in Fig. 2a) than that for the 9350 JCOs during their lifetimes (0.15). At $`t`$=0.12 Myr orbital elements of this object jumped considerably and the Tisserand parameter increased from $`J`$$`<`$3 to $`J`$$`>`$6, and $`J`$$`>`$10 during most of its lifetime. Another object (Fig. 2b) moved in highly eccentric Aten orbits for 83 Myr, and its lifetime before collision with the Sun was 352 Myr. Its probability of collisions with Earth, Venus and Mars during its lifetime was 0.172, 0.224, and 0.065, respectively. These two objects were not included in Table 3. Ipatov  obtained the migration of JCOs into IEO and Aten orbits using the approximate method of spheres of action for taking into account the gravitational interactions of bodies with planets. In the present paper we consider only the integration into the future. Ipatov and Hahn  integrated the evolution of Comet P/1996 R2 both into the future and into the past, in this case the mean time $`T_E`$ during which a JCO was moving in Earth-crossing orbits is $`T_E=5\times 10^3`$ yr. The ratio $`P_S`$ of the number of objects colliding with the Sun to the total number of escaped (collided or ejected) objects was less than 0.015 for the considered runs (except for 2P).

Ratio $`P_S`$ of objects colliding with the Sun to those colliding with planets or ejected $`\begin{array}{cccccccc}& & & & & & & \\ \text{Series}\hfill & n1\hfill & 9P\hfill & 10P\hfill & 22P\hfill & 28P\hfill & 39P\hfill & 44P\hfill \\ P_S\hfill & 0.0005\hfill & 0\hfill & 0.014\hfill & 0.002\hfill & 0.007\hfill & 0\hfill & 0.004\hfill \end{array}`$

Some former JCOs spent a long time in the 3:1 resonance with Jupiter (Fig. 1a-b) and with 2$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$2.6 AU. Other objects reached Mars-crossing orbits for long times. We conclude that JCOs can supply bodies to the regions which are considered by many scientists  to belong to the main sources of NEOs, and that those rare objects that make transitions to typical NEO orbits dominate the statistics. Only computations with very large numbers of objects can hope to reach accurate conclusions on collision probabilities with the terrestrial planets.

In Fig. 3 we present the time in Myr during which objects had semi-major axes in an interval with a width of 0.005 AU (Figs. 3a-b) or 0.1 AU (Figs. 3c). At 3.3 AU (the 2:1 resonance with Jupiter) there is a gap for asteroids that migrated from the 5:2 resonance and for former JCOs (except 2P).

For the $`n1`$ data set, $`T_J`$=0.12 Myr and, while moving in Jupiter-crossing orbits, objects had orbital periods $`P_a`$$`<`$$`10`$, 10$`<`$$`P_a`$$`<`$20, 20$`<`$$`P_a`$$`<`$50, 50$`<`$$`P_a`$$`<`$200 yr for 11%, 21%, 21%, and 17% of $`T_J`$, respectively. Therefore, there are three times as many JCOs as Jupiter-family comets (for which $`P_a`$$`<`$20 yr). We also found that some JCOs, after residing in orbits with aphelia deep inside Jupiter’s orbit, transfer for tens of Myr to the trans-Neptunian region, either in low or high eccentricity orbits. We conclude that some of the main belt asteroids may reach typical TNO orbits, and then become scattered-disk objects having high eccentricities, and vice versa. The fraction of objects from the 5:2 resonance that collided with the Earth was only 1/6 of that for the 3:1 resonance. Only a small fraction of the asteroids from the 5:2 resonance reached $`a`$$`<`$2 AU (Fig. 3b).

The distributions of migrating former JCOs (2P and 10P) and resonant asteroids in $`a`$ and $`e`$ (left) and in $`a`$ and $`i`$ (right) are presented in Fig. 4-5. For each picture we considered 250 migrating objects (288 for Fig. 5), 100 intervals for $`a`$, and about the same number of intervals for $`e`$ and $`i`$. Different designations correspond to different numbers $`n`$ of orbital elements (calculated with a step of 500 yr) in one bin (in Fig. 4 $`\mathrm{`}`$$`<`$=$`\mathrm{`}`$ means $``$). Similar plots for 39P runs were presented in . All the former JCOs reached low eccentricity orbits very rarely with 2$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$3.5 AU and 11$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$28 AU. There were many positions of objects when their perihelia were close to a semi-major axis of a giant planet, mainly of Jupiter (Fig. 4a). Note that Ozernoy et al.  considered the migration of Neptune-crossers and found that the main concentrations of perihelia were near Neptune’s orbit.

W. Bottke pointed out that H. Levison showed that it is difficult to detect solar collisions in any numerical integrator, so he removed objects with $`q`$$`<`$$`q_{\mathrm{min}}`$. The results presented above were obtained considering collisions with the Sun, but we also investigated what happens if we consider $`q_{\mathrm{min}}`$ equal to $`k_S`$ radii $`r_S`$ of the Sun. For $`k_S`$=2, some results are presented in Fig. 4d-e, 5b. The only difference with the runs that considered collisions with the Sun is that for those runs for series 2P and 10P and for the 3:1 resonance, some objects reached $`90^{}`$$`<`$$`i`$$`<`$$`180^{}`$ (mainly with 2$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$3.5 AU) (Fig. 4b-c, 5a). For $`k_S`$=2 there were no comets with $`i`$$`>`$90 and there were only a few orbits of asteroids with $`i`$$`>`$90 (Fig. 4d-e, 5b). The consideration of $`q_{\mathrm{min}}`$ at $`k_S`$=3 did not influence the collision probabilities with the terrestrial planets or getting orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU. For example, with BULSTO for the two objects with the largest collision probabilities, the time spent in orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU decreased by only 0.3% for 2P at $`k_S`$=3 and was the same for 10P at $`k_S`$=10.

## COMPARISON OF ORBIT INTEGRATORS

To determine the effect of the choice of orbit integrators and convergence criteria, we made additional runs with BULSTO at $`\epsilon `$=10-13 and $`\epsilon `$=10-12 and with a symplectic integrator. The orbital evolution of 9551 JCOs was computed with the RMVS3 code. For the symplectic method we usually used an integration step $`d_s`$ of 3, 10, and 30 days. For series $`n2`$ and 44P we took different values of $`d_s`$ between 5 and 10 days.

We find that, exclusive for the case of close encounters with the Sun, the differences between integrator choices (with $`d_s`$$``$10 days) are comparable to the differences between runs with slightly different initial conditions. Our interpretation is that 1) very small numbers of particles contribute most of the collision probabilities with the terrestrial planets, 2) runs with larger numbers of particles are more reliable, and 3) small differences in initial conditions or in the errors of the orbit integrators modify the trajectories substantially, especially for those particles making major changes in their orbits due to close encounters or resonances. We conclude that for the purposes of this paper, the various choices of orbit integrator are sufficiently equivalent.

To illustrate these points, Tables 3-4 present the results obtained by BULSTO with $`\epsilon `$$``$10-12 and the symplectic method with $`d_s`$$``$10 days. Most of the results obtained with these values of $`\epsilon `$ and $`d_s`$ are statistically similar to those obtained for $`10^9`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^8`$. For example, a few objects spent millions of years in Earth-crossing orbits inside Jupiter’s orbit (Figs. 1-2), and their probabilities of collisions with the Earth were thousands of times greater than for more typical objects. For series $`n1`$ with $`d_s`$$``$10d, the probability of a collision with Earth for one object with initial orbit close to that of Comet 44P was 88.3% of the total probability for 1200 objects from this series, and the total probability for 1198 objects was only 4%. This object and the object presented in Fig. 2e and in the third line of Table 5 were not included in Table 3 with $`N`$=1199 for $`n1`$ and with $`N`$=250 for 2P, respectively. For the 3:1 resonance with $`d_s`$=10 days, 142 objects spent 140 and 84.5 Myr in IEO and Aten orbits, respectively, even longer than for $`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^9`$-$`10^8`$. Additionally, up to 40 Myr and 20 Myr were spent in such orbits by two other objects which had estimated probabilities of collisions with the terrestrial planets greater than 1. For the 2P runs with $`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^{12}`$ and $`N`$=100, the calculated objects spent 5.4 Myr in Apollo orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU.

The values of $`P_r`$ are usually of the same order of magnitude for different methods (see Tables 3-4), and the difference between the data is comparable to the differences between different runs belonging to a series. For Earth and Venus, the values of $`P_r`$ are about 1–4 for Comets 9P, 22P, 28P and 39P; for Comet 44P they are about 4–6. For 28P and 39P with the symplectic method $`P_r`$ is about twice that for BULSTO. For 10P the values of $`P_r`$ are about 20–40 and are several times larger than for the above series, and for 2P they exceed 100 and are several times larger than for 10P. With the $`n1`$ and $`n2`$ runs, for Earth $`P_r`$$`>`$4 and $`P_r`$$`>`$10, respectively. The ratio of $`P_r`$ to the mass of the planet was typically several times larger for Mars than for Earth and Venus. The main difference in $`P_r`$ was found for the 3:1 resonance. In this case greater values of $`P_r`$ were obtained for $`d_s`$=10 days than for BULSTO. As noted above, a few exceptional objects dominated the probabilities, and for the 3:1 resonance two objects, which had collision probabilities greater than unity for the terrestrial planets, were not included in Table 4. These two objects can increase the total value of $`P_r`$ for Earth by a factor of several.

The mean time $`T_d`$ (in Kyr) spent in orbits with $`Q`$$`<`$4.2 AU can differ by three orders of magnitude for different series of runs (Tables 3-4). For most runs (except for 2P and asteroids) the number of objects which got $`Q`$$`<`$4.7 AU was several times larger than that for $`Q`$$`<`$4.2 AU.

For symplectic runs with $`d_s`$=30 days for most of the objects we got results similar to those with $`d_s`$$``$10 days, but about 0.1% of the objects reached Earth-crossing orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU for several tens of Myr (e.g., Fig. 2d) and even IEO orbits. These few bodies increased the mean value of $`P`$ by a factor of more than 10. With $`d_s`$=30 days, four objects from the runs $`n1`$, 9P, 10P had a probability of collisions with the terrestrial planets greater than 1 for each, and for 2P there were 21 such objects among 251 considered. For resonant asteroids, we also obtained much larger values than those for BULSTO for $`P`$ and $`T`$ for RMVS3 with $`d_s`$=30 days, and similarly for the 3:1 resonance even with $`d_s`$=10 days. For this resonance it may be better to use $`d_s`$$`<`$10 days. Probably, the results of symplectic runs with $`d_s`$=30 days can be considered as such migration that includes some nongravitational forces.

In the case of close encounters with the Sun (Comet 2P and resonant asteroids), the probability $`P_S`$ of collisions with the Sun during lifetimes of objects was larger for RMVS3 than for BULSTO, and for $`10^{13}`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^{12}`$ it was greater than for $`10^9`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^8`$ ($`P_S`$=0.75 for the 3:1 resonance with $`d_s`$=3 days). This probability is presented in Table 7 for several runs.

For Comet 2P the values of $`T_J`$ were much smaller for RMVS3 than those for BULSTO and they were smaller for smaller $`\epsilon `$; for other runs these values do not depend much on the method. In our opinion, the most reliable values of $`T_J`$ were obtained with $`10^{13}`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^{12}`$. In the direct integrations reported by Valsecchi et al. , 13 of the 21 objects fell into the Sun, so their value of $`P_S`$=0.62 is in accordance with our results obtained by BULSTO; it is less than that for $`\epsilon `$=$`10^{12}`$, but greater than for $`\epsilon `$=$`10^9`$. Note that even for different $`P_S`$ the data presented in Tables 2-3 usually are similar. As we did not calculate collision probabilities of objects with planets by direct integrations, but instead calculated them with the random phase approximation from the orbital elements, we need not make integrations with extremely high accuracy. We showed  that for BULSTO the integrals of motion were conserved better and the plots of orbital elements for closely separated values of $`\epsilon `$ were closer to one another with $`10^9`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^8`$. The smaller the value of $`\epsilon `$, the more integrations steps are required, so $`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^{12}`$ for large time intervals are not necessarily better than those for $`10^9`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^8`$. Small $`\epsilon `$ is clearly necessary for close encounters. Therefore we made most of our BULSTO runs with $`10^9`$$``$$`\epsilon `$$``$$`10^8`$. We found , that former JCOs reached resonances more often for BULSTO than for RMVS3 with $`d_s`$=30 days. For a symplectic method it is better to use smaller $`d_s`$ at a smaller distance $`R`$ from the Sun, but in some runs $`R`$ can vary considerably during the evolution. The choice of $`d_s`$ depends on the smallest values of $`R`$, so a symplectic method with a constant $`d_s`$ may not be effective when $`R`$ is very different for different objects considered.

## MIGRATION FROM BEYOND JUPITER TO THE EARTH

The fraction $`P_{TNJ}`$ of TNOs reaching Jupiter’s orbit under the influence of the giant planets in 1 Gyr is 0.8-1.7% . As the mutual gravitational influence of TNOs can play a larger role in variations of their orbital elements than collisions , we considered the upper value of $`P_{TNJ}`$. Using the total of $`5\times 10^9`$ 1-km TNOs with $`30`$$`<`$$`a`$$`<`$$`50`$ AU, and assuming that the mean time for a body to move in a Jupiter-crossing orbit is 0.12 Myr, we find that about $`N_{Jo}`$=$`10^4`$ 1-km former TNOs are now Jupiter-crossers, and 3000 are Jupiter-family comets. With the total times spent by $`N_J`$ simulated JCOs in Apollo orbits we can estimate the number of 1-km former TNOs now moving in such orbits using the following formula: $`N_{Apollo}=N_{Jo}t_{Apollo}/(N_Jt_J)`$, where $`t_{Apollo}`$ is the total time during which $`N_J`$ former JCOs moved in Apollo orbits, and $`N_Jt_J`$ is the total time during which $`N_J`$ JCOs moved in Jupiter-crossing orbits. Similar formulas can be considered for other types of orbits. Based on $`n1`$ and $`n2`$ series of runs, we obtain that there are about 700-900 Amors and 2000-3000 Apollos (the last numbers include very eccentric orbits) which came from the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and have diameters greater than 1 km. Even if the number of Apollo objects is an order of magnitude smaller than the above value, it may still be comparable to the real number (750) of 1-km Earth-crossing objects (half of them are in orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU), although the latter number does not include those in highly eccentric orbits.

The ratio $`k_2`$ of the number of Apollos with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU to the number of all Apollos was very different for different series of runs. It was 0.4 for $`n1`$ runs, but the total time spent by 3100 considered objects in orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU was due mainly only to one object. For $`n2`$ series with RMVS3, $`k_2`$=0.2, but practically all time spent by 6250 objects in orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU was also due to one object. For all JCOs considered, $`k_2`$ was about 0.5, but the total time spent in orbits with $`a`$$`<`$2 AU was due mainly to the objects from 2P series of runs.

The values of the characteristic time (usually $`T_c`$) for the collision of a former JCO or a resonant asteroid with a planet (see Tables 3-4) are greater than the values of $`T_f`$ for NEOs in Table 1, so we expect that the mean inclinations and eccentricities of unobserved NEOs are greater than those for the NEOs that are already known. Similar results were found in . On average, the values of $`T_c`$ for our $`n1`$ and $`n2`$ series and for most of our simulated JCOs were not greater than those for our calculated asteroids, and migrating Earth-crossing objects had similar $`e`$ and $`i`$ for both former JCOs and resonant asteroids. Former JCOs, which move in Earth-crossing orbits for more than 1 Myr, while moving in such orbits, usually had larger $`P`$ and smaller $`e`$ and $`i`$ (sometimes similar to those of the observed NEOs, see Figs. 1-2). It is easier to observe orbits with smaller values of $`e`$ and $`i`$, and probably, many of the NEOs moving in orbits with large values of $`e`$ and $`i`$ have not yet been discovered. About 1% of the observed Apollos cross Jupiter’s orbit, and an additional 1% of Apollos have aphelia between 4.7-4.8 AU, but these Jupiter-crossers are far from the Earth most of time, so their actual fraction of ECOs is greater than for observed ECOs. The fraction of Earth-crossers among observed Jupiter-family comets is about 10%. This is a little more than $`T/T_J`$ for our $`n1`$ runs, but less than for $`n2`$ runs. For our former resonant asteroids, $`T_J`$ is relatively large ($``$0.2 Myr), and such asteroids can reach cometary orbits.

Comets are estimated to be active for $`T_{act}`$$``$$`10^3`$$`10^4`$ yr. $`T_{act}`$ is smaller for closer encounters with the Sun , so for Comet 2P it is smaller than for other JFCs. Some former comets can move for tens or even hundreds of Myr in NEO orbits, so the number of extinct comets can exceed the number of active comets by several orders of magnitude. The mean time spent by Encke-type objects in Earth-crossing orbits is $``$0.4 Myr (even for $`q_{\mathrm{min}}`$). This time corresponds to $``$40-400 extinct comets of this type. Note that the diameter of Comet 2P is about 5-10 km, so the number of smaller extinct comets can be much larger.

The above estimates of the number of NEOs are approximate. For example, it is possible that the number of 1-km TNOs is several times smaller than $`5\times 10^9`$, while some scientists estimated that this number can be up to $`10^{11}`$ . Also, the fraction of TNOs that have migrated towards the Earth might be smaller. On the other hand, the above number of TNOs was estimated for $`a`$ $`<`$ 50 AU, and TNOs from more distant regions can also migrate inward. Probably, the Oort cloud could also supply Jupiter-family comets. According to Asher et al. , the rate of a cometary object decoupling from the Jupiter vicinity and transferring to an NEO-like orbit is increased by a factor of 4 or 5 due to nongravitational effects (see also ). This would result in larger values of $`P_r`$ and $`T`$ than those shown in Table 3.

Our estimates show that, in principle, the trans-Neptunian belt can provide a significant portion of the Earth-crossing objects, although many NEOs clearly came from the main asteroid belt. Many former Jupiter-family comets can have orbits typical of asteroids, and collide with the Earth from typical NEO orbits. It may be possible to explore former TNOs near the Earth’s orbit without sending spacecraft to the trans-Neptunian region.

Based on the estimated collision probability $`P=4\times 10^6`$ we find that 1-km former TNOs now collide with the Earth once in 3 Myr. This value of $`P`$ is smaller than that for our $`n1`$, and especially than for $`n2`$, 10P and 2P runs. Assuming the total mass of planetesimals that ever crossed Jupiter’s orbit is $``$$`100m_{}`$, where $`m_{}`$ is the mass of the Earth ,, we conclude that the total mass of bodies that impacted the Earth is $`4\times 10^4m_{}`$. If ices comprised only half of this mass, then the total mass of ices $`M_{ice}`$ that were delivered to the Earth from the feeding zone of the giant planets is about the mass of the terrestrial oceans ($`2\times 10^4m_{}`$).

The calculated probabilities of collisions of objects with planets show that the fraction of the mass of the planet delivered by short-period comets can be greater for Mars and Venus than for the Earth (Table 3). This larger mass fraction would result in relatively large ancient oceans on Mars and Venus. On the other hand, there is the deuterium/hydrogen paradox of Earth’s oceans, as the D/H ratio is different for oceans and comets. Pavlov et al.  suggested that solar wind-implanted hydrogen on interplanetary dust particles could provide the necessary low-D/H component of Earth’s water inventory, and Delsemme  considered that most of the seawater was brought by the comets that originated in Jupiter’s zone, where steam from the inner solar system condensed onto icy interstellar grains before they accreted into larger bodies.

Our estimate of the migration of water to the early Earth is in accordance with , but is greater than those of Morbidelli et al.  and Levison et al. . The latter obtained smaller values of $`M_{ice}`$, and we suspect that this is because they did not take into account the migration of bodies into orbits with $`Q`$$`<`$4.5 AU. Perhaps this was because they modeled a relatively small number of objects, and Levison et al.  did not take into account the influence of the terrestrial planets. In our runs the probability of a collision of a single object with a terrestrial planet could be much greater than the total probability of thousands of other objects, so the statistics are dominated by rare occurrences that might not appear in smaller simulations. The mean probabilities of collisions can differ by orders of magnitude for different JCOs. Other scientists considered other initial objects and smaller numbers of Jupiter-crossing objects, and did not find decoupling from Jupiter, which is a rare event. We believe there is no contradiction between our present results and the smaller migration of former JCOs to the near-Earth space that was obtained in earlier work, including our own papers (e.g. ), where we used the same integration package.

From measured albedos, Fernandez et al.  concluded that the fraction of extinct comets among NEOs and unusual asteroids is significant (at least 9% are candidates). The idea that there may be many extinct comets among NEOs was considered by several scientists. Rickman et al.  believed that comets played an important and perhaps even dominant role among all km-size Earth impactors. In their opinion, dark spectral classes that might include the ex-comets are severely underrepresented (see also ). Our runs showed that if one observes former comets in NEO orbits, then it is probable that they have already moved in such orbits for millions (or at least hundreds of thousands) years, and only a few of them have been in such orbits for short times (a few thousand years). Some former comets that have moved in typical NEO orbits for millions or even hundreds of millions of years, and might have had multiple close encounters with the Sun (some of these encounters can be very close to the Sun, e.g. in the case of Comet 2P at $`t`$$`>`$0.05 Myr), could have lost their mantles, which causes their low albedo, and so change their albedo (for most observed NEOs, the albedo is greater than that for comets ) and would look like typical asteroids or some of them could disintegrate into mini-comets. Typical comets have larger rotation periods than typical NEOs -, but, while losing considerable portions of their masses, extinct comets can decrease these periods. For better estimates of the portion of extinct comets among NEOs we will need orbit integrations for many more TNOs and JCOs, and wider analysis of observations and craters.

## CONCLUSIONS

Some Jupiter-family comets can reach typical NEO orbits and remain there for millions of years. While the probability of such events is small (about $``$0.1%), nevertheless the majority of collisions of former JCOs with the terrestrial planets are due to such objects. Most former TNOs that have typical NEO orbits moved in such orbits for millions of years (if they did not disintegrate into mini-comets), so during most of this time there were extinct comets. From the dynamical point of view there could be many extinct comets among the NEOs. The amount of water delivered to the Earth during planet formation could be about the mass of the Earth oceans.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by NRC (0158730), NASA (NAG5-10776), INTAS (00-240), and RFBR (01-02-17540). For preparing some data for figures we used some subroutines written by P. Taylor. We are thankful to W. F. Bottke, S. Chesley, and H. F. Levison for helpful discussions.


text:
# Fermi liquid behavior of metallic 2D holes at high temperatures

## Abstract

The resistivity $`\rho `$ of high mobility dilute 2D holes in GaAs exhibits a peak at a certain temperature $`T^{}`$ in zero magnetic field($`B`$=0). In the $`T>T^{}`$ regime where d$`\rho `$/d$`T<`$0, we observe for the first time both the $`\nu =1`$ quantum Hall(QH) effect and a low field insulator-QH transition which is consistent with the 2D hole system being a Fermi liquid(FL). The known linear $`T`$-dependent conductivity in this $`T`$ regime then can be explained by hole-hole Coulomb interactions of this FL. The fact that the system is metallic (d$`\rho `$/d$`T>`$0) for $`T<T^{}`$ implies that the high temperature FL transforms into the 2D metallic state in the neighborhood of $`T^{}`$.

The effect of disorder on the electronic properties of solids has been one of the central problems in modern condensed matter physicsLee&rama . Anderson’s pioneering work demonstrated the localization effect of disorder on the electron wavefunctionsandersonlocalization . The seminal one-parameter scaling theory of localization by Abrahams et al. made the remarkable conclusion that all non-interacting disordered electronic systems are localized in zero magnetic field in two dimensions(2D)scaling79 . However, when a strong perpendicular magnetic field is applied to 2D systems, quantized Landau Levels(LLs) form and extended states can exist around the centers of the LLs. In high quality 2D systems, the integer QH effect can be seen at low temperatures when the Fermi energy moves across the mobility edges which separate the extended states in the centers of LLs from the localized states between LLsQH ; LaughlinQH .

To connect the $`B`$=0 insulating ground state in 2D and the QH states in finite $`B`$, it was argued that the positions of the extended states should float up in energy as $`B`$0floatup . Therefore a zero field insulator-QH transition should be seen when an extended state moves across the Fermi energy by increasing $`B`$ from zero. The $`B`$=0 Anderson insulator to QH transition was first demonstrated in a $`B`$=0 strongly localized 2D electron systemJiang93  and later in $`B`$=0 weakly localized 2D systems as wellfloatupweak . Moreover, as predicted by the theory, experiment found the positions of the extended states deviating from the LLs and floating up above the Fermi surface as $`B`$0 in a 2D electron system with tunable densityGlozman .

The recent discovery of the possible $`B`$=0 2D metallic state and metal-insulator transition(MIT) in low density 2D electron/hole systems has attracted a lot of attentionmitreview . Note that $`r_s`$, the dimensionless ratio between the Coulomb interaction energy and the Fermi energy of these dilute systems showing a 2D MIT, is much larger than one. This poses the question if the the conventional theory of localization is applicable and what is the role of strong Coulomb interactions in these dilute 2D systems. At present, there is still no consensus on either the origin of the metallic behavior or the nature of the insulating state of the $`B`$=0 2D MIT. Nonetheless, Shubnikov-de Haas(SdH) oscillations have been seen on both sides of the MIT and the insulating state of the MIT can be turned into a QH conductor by applying a perpendicular magnetic field, that is quite similar to conventional Fermi liquid type insulating 2D systems. The insulator-QH transition in a perpendicular magnetic field was employed on the insulating side of the 2D MIT by different authors to investigate how the extended states behave in the density-magnetic field phase diagramHaneinnature ; Dultz ; Yasin .

In this paper, we report for the first time the observation of the insulator-QH transition at high temperatures in a dilute 2D hole system that is metallic at low $`T`$. All previous studies on the insulator-QH transition were done on true $`B`$=0 2D insulators, either in the conventional Fermi liquidJiang93 ; floatupweak  or the insulating phase of the 2D MITHaneinnature ; Dultz ; Yasin . This paper focuses on the metallic side of the 2D MIT, where the zero field $`T`$-dependent resistivity $`\rho (T)`$ changes from metallic to insulating-like above a certain temperature scale $`T^{}`$HaneinholePRL ; MillsPRL99 ; Lilly ; Noh03 ; Gaothesis . The conductivity of 2D holes was shown to be a linearly increasing function of $`T`$ in the $`T>T^{}`$ insulating regimeNoh03 ; Gaothesis . There exist a few theoretical models to explain the insulating $`\rho (T)`$ of the 2D metallic state at $`T>T^{}`$. A simple non-interacting picture for the apparent insulating behavior of metallic 2D systems at high $`T`$ is the $`T`$-dependent scattering of a non-degenerate system by Das Sarma and HwangDasSarma . On the other hand, Spivak conjectured that Coulomb correlations could be responsible for such an insulating $`\rho (T)`$Spivak .

Fig.1c, to be discussed in detail below, demonstrates the existence of SdH oscillations as well as an insulator-QH transition in the high $`T`$ insulating regime of metallic 2D holes. The existence of a quantum magneto-resistance minimum and an insulator-QH transition suggest the metallic 2D hole system in fact behaves like a normal insulating Fermi liquid at $`T>T^{}`$. Together with the known linear $`T`$-dependent zero field conductivity\[Fig.1a,b\], our results suggest the insulating $`\sigma (T)`$ at $`T>T^{}`$ is due to the Coulomb interactions of Fermi liquid in the ”ballistic” transport regimeZala . Therefore, the metallicity of the system for $`T<T^{}`$ implies that the 2D metallic state is fundamentally different from the high temperature insulating Fermi liquid.

Our measurements were performed on a back-gated 2D hole system in a 10nm wide GaAs quantum well made from one of the wafers used in our previous study GaoPRL03 , a (311)A GaAs wafer using Al.1Ga.9As barriers and symmetrically placed Si delta-doping layers. The wafer was thinned to $``$150 $`\mu `$m for gating from the back of the sample and prepared in the form of a Hall bar, of approximate dimensions (2.5$`\times `$9) mm2, with diffused In(5%Zn) contacts. The measurement current was applied along the \[2̄33\] direction and kept low such that the power delivered on the sample is less than a few fWatts/cm2 to avoid over heating the holes.

Fig.1a presents the zero magnetic field temperature dependent resistivity of 2D holes with density $`p`$=1.13$`\times `$1010cm-2 which is on the metallic side of the MIT. For this sample, the MIT happens around $`p_c`$=0.78 $`\times `$1010cm-2 when the density is changed by the backgate. It can be seen in Fig.1a that $`\rho (T)`$ changes from insulating-like(d$`\rho `$/d$`T<`$0) to metallic(d$`\rho `$/d$`T>`$0) below $`T^{}0.3K`$. In Fig.1b we plot the data as conductivity $`\sigma (T)`$, in units of $`e^2/h`$. For either $`T>1.5T^{}`$ or $`T<0.5T^{}`$, $`\sigma (T)`$ can be viewed as a linear function of $`T`$, but with a different coefficient d$`\sigma (T)`$/d$`T`$ Noh03 ; Gaothesis . Fig.1c shows the main result of this paper, the insulator-QH transition in the high temperature insulating regime of the metallic state. The longitudinal magneto-resistivity $`\rho _{xx}(B)`$ at several temperatures are plotted on Fig.1c. For $`T>T^{}`$, there is a low field insulator-$`\nu =1`$ QH transition at critical field $`B_c^L`$=0.35Tesla, denoted by the crossing of $`\rho _{xx}(B)`$ curves. The $`\rho _{xx}(B)`$ curves also cross at a high critical field $`B_c^H`$=0.55Tesla. For comparison, we also include $`\rho _{xx}(B)`$ curves at 0.11K and 18mK which are below $`T^{}`$. As $`T`$ drops below $`T^{}`$ the size of the low field negative magneto-resistivity decreases and a sharp resistivity spike develops around $`\nu =5/3`$. The large resistivity spike at $`\nu 5/3`$ and how the $`B`$=0 2D metal transforms into QH states at low $`T`$ need further study. Again, we emphasize that although SdH oscillations are known to exist in the 2D metallic state at low $`T`$, to the best of our knowledge Fig.1 is the first report of a SdH minimum and an insulator-QH transition in the high $`T`$($`>T^{}`$) insulating regime of the 2D holes with $`p>p_c`$.

Although the $`\rho _{xx}(B)`$ data and insulator-QH transition in Fig.1 appear to be similar to previously studied Anderson insulator-QH transitions Jiang93 ; floatupweak , the underlying physics should be very different. Most of the previous experiments were performed in the low temperature diffusive regime such that $`k_BT<\mathrm{}/\tau `$, where $`k_B,\mathrm{},\tau `$ are the Boltzmann constant, Planck’s constant divided by 2$`\pi `$ and the scattering time, respectively. Thus the low $`B`$ insulating $`\rho (T)`$ was likely to be mainly driven by single particle quantum interference (Anderson localization). In the temperature regime($`T>T^{}`$) where our high mobility metallic sample shows the ”insulator-QH transition”, there is no single particle interference effect due to strong dephasing, and the sample is actually in the ballistic regime ($`k_BT>\mathrm{}/\tau `$)Zala . Recent interaction theories on the conductivity of 2D Fermi liquids in the ballistic regime predict a linear $`T`$-dependent zero field conductivityZala  and a parabolic negative magneto-resistivity at $`\omega _c\tau >`$1Gornyi . The data in Fig.1 show that our sample behavior is qualitatively consistent with the predictions of ref.Zala ; Gornyi  at $`T>T^{}`$Li . Recently, some authors have attempted to interpret the $`T<T^{}`$ metallic behavior using the Fermi liquid theory in ref.Zala . Under this interpretation, we found the fitted Fermi liquid parameters to be inconsistent between 2D hole samples with similar densities but different mobilitiesGaothesis . Note that since d$`\sigma (T)`$/d$`T`$ changes sign at $`T^{}`$, it is not a priori known whether the $`\sigma (T)T`$ at $`T>T^{}`$ or at $`T<T^{}`$ is due to interaction corrections. We believe that the $`\sigma (T)T`$ at $`T>T^{}`$ is related to interaction effects of a ballistic Fermi liquid, where both the parallel field and perpendicular field effect are consistent with theoretical expectationsnote .

Observing the SdH oscillation and an ”insulator-QH transition” in the $`T>T^{}T_F`$ insulating regime of low density 2D holes is somewhat unexpected, since it was originally believed that the insulating $`\rho (T)`$ at $`B=0`$ in this temperature range is related to the non-degenerate nature of the low density hole gasDasSarma . Note that if the insulating $`\rho (T)`$ at $`T>T^{}`$ has a classical origin as in ref.DasSarma , it would be unlikely for the sample to show a negative magneto-resistivity and the ”insulator-QH transition” in Fig.1 because the classical Drude magneto-resistivity is zero. At present, it is unclear if a more elaborated semi-classical model can reproduce a non-monotonic $`T`$ dependent zero field $`\rho (T)`$ and an ”insulator-QH transition” at high $`T`$ at the same time. To further elucidate the high $`T`$ ”insulator-QH” transition of metallic 2D holes, we plot both $`B_c^L`$ and $`B_c^H`$ for five densities on the density-magnetic field diagram shown in Fig.2. The values of $`B_c^L`$ and $`B_c^H`$ are obtained from the crossing of the $`\rho _{xx}(B)`$ curves at temperatures $`T>T^{}`$. For $`p`$=0.93,1.13,1.32$`\times 10^{10}`$cm-2, the insulator-$`\nu =1`$ QH transition is observed at $`B_c^L`$, while for higher densities the sample enters the QH state with $`\nu >1`$ at $`B_c^L`$. As a reminder, the density dependence of $`B_c^L,B_c^H`$ in Fig.2 is related to the nature of the high $`T`$ insulating phase of 2D holes on the metallic side($`p>p_c`$) of the MIT, differing from all previous insulator-QH studies which were on the insulating($`p<p_c`$) side of the $`B=0`$ MITHaneinnature ; Dultz ; Yasin . As we suggest above, the zero field localization exhibited by the sample at $`T>T^{}`$ could be due to the Coulomb interactions of a ”ballistic” Fermi liquid. Thus, the trace of $`B_c^L,B_c^H`$ in Fig.2 represents a metal-insulator boundary in $`p,B`$ space for a Fermi liquid in which localization is prompted merely by interactions. Zhang et al. has constructed a global phase diagram for a 2D system in a magnetic fieldZhang , considering only the disorder induced Anderson localization. An extended theoretical phase diagram like ref.Zhang  including the interaction effect has yet to be developed to make comparison with Fig.2.

The persistence of the $`\nu =1`$ QH effect into the $`TT_F`$ regime suggests a large energy gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ of the $`\nu =1`$ QH state for the low density 2D hole gas. We plot $`\rho _{xx}(T)`$ at the center of the $`\nu =1`$ QH state for 2D holes with different densities on Fig.3. The black lines are fitted curves using the activated function $`exp(\mathrm{\Delta }_1/2T)`$. The density dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ is presented in the inset of Fig.3. The Fermi temperature $`T_F`$ is also plotted using effective hole masses $`m^{}=0.38m_e`$ and $`0.19m_e`$ to compare with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$. Fig.3 shows that the energy gap in the $`\nu =1`$ QH state could be 2-3 times larger than the Fermi energy of 2D holes in the low density regime. Many body effects have been known to be important in the $`\nu =1`$ QH state where novel collective spin excitations named Skyrmions may existSondhi ; Schmeller . Therefore $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ should be related to the interaction energy, which is much larger than the Fermi energy in low density holes. Interestingly, the inset of Fig.3 shows a sharp non-monotonic density dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$. We suspect the sharp drop of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ at lower density is due to the competition between the QH liquid and Wigner solid at the lowest Landau levelShayegan .

Finally we would like to comment on the contradictory results concerning the fate of the lowest extended states as $`B0`$ in low density GaAs 2D electron/hole systems in ref.Haneinnature ; Dultz ; Yasin . Both Hanein et al. Haneinnature  and Yasin et al. Yasin  used the low $`B`$ insulator-QH transition to track the positions of the in 2D GaAs systems in the insulating side of MIT. The low $`B`$ insulator-QH transition in the $`T>T^{}`$ regime observed in this paper suggests that caution must be taken while interpreting the finite temperature insulator-QH transition. Due to the non-monotonicity of $`\rho (T)`$ in dilute 2D GaAs systems, the critical density/resistivity of the MIT is not well defined and could depend on the experimental temperature. If an experiment is done at high temperature, the critical density could appear to have a higher value with a correspondingly lower value of critical resistivity. As a result, for experiments where temperature is high or the electrons/holes are overheated, the insulator-QH transition for $`p`$ slightly lower than $`p_c`$ could be only the insulator-QH transition of metallic holes at $`T>T^{}`$. In fact, the $`B_c^L`$ of the high $`T`$ insulator-QH transition increases with $`p`$ for $`p`$ just above $`p_c`$, as Fig.2 shows, which may cause the $`B_c^L`$ appear to ”float up” for $`p<p_c`$ in a sample with high $`T`$. Thus, the positions of extended states extracted from the insulator-QH transition depend critically on the sample temperature around the region $`pp_c`$, which is exactly the crucial density region where the extended states appear to float upYasin  or saturateHaneinnature ; Dultz . We note that $`T^{}`$ for 2D holes in GaAs was found to be linearly dependent on density and to extrapolate to zero at some density $`p^{}`$GaoPRL03 . Practically the positions of extended states determined from insulator-QH transitions can only be reliably extrapolated to $`T0`$ for densities below $`p^{}`$ but not the $`p_c`$ determined from the temperature coefficient of zero field $`\rho _{xx}(T)`$. In our opinion, the different behavior of the lowest extended states as $`B0`$ around the $`p_c`$ of the 2D MIT in ref.Haneinnature ; Dultz ; Yasin  might be simply related to the different base temperatures of the 2D systems.

In summary, we demonstrate for first time that there exist SdH oscillations and an insulator-QH transition in the high temperature insulating regime of low density (low $`T`$-metallic) 2D holes in a GaAs quantum well. We also show that the energy gap of the $`\nu =1`$ QH state has a large value, attesting the strong interactions in the low density GaAs hole system. These results together with the linear $`T`$ dependent conductivity suggest the 2D metallic hole system behaves like a localized Fermi liquid in the ballistic transport regime for $`T`$ higher than $`T^{}`$, the temperature at which zero field resistivity changes from insulating to metallic.

The work at UCR is supported by a LANL CARE program.