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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Recently Hamuy et al. (2003) upon the basis of the spectra and light curve of the supernova SN 2002ic with narrow H$`\alpha `$ emission suggested that this object was a SN Ia interacting with a dense circumstellar (CS) envelope. Furthermore, Hamuy et al. claim that another supernova, SN 1997cy, classified as SN IIn (i.e., the supernova with narrow H$`\alpha `$ emission) is a counterpart of SN 2002ic. The narrow unresolved H$`\alpha `$ line is attributed to the emission of the photoionized dense CS gas, while H$`\alpha `$ broad component with the full width at half maximum of $`1800`$ km s-1 is identified with the emission of shocked dense CS clouds. The dense CS matter (CSM) according to Hamuy et al. (2003) is associated with a high mass-loss from the red supergiant. The latter may be either a companion to a white dwarf in a symbiotic binary system, or a presupernova itself, if supernova originates from a single intermediate mass star in the SN 1.5 scenario (Iben and Renzini 1983).

The luminosity of SN 2002ic is high by SN Ia standards and this is attributed to the interaction with the dense CS matter (Hamuy et al. 2003). Remarkably, the light curve of SN 1997cy has been already modeled in terms of the CS interaction (Turatto et al. 2000). However, in the latter study SN 1997cy was claimed to be a hypernova with the enormous energy of $`3\times 10^{52}`$ erg and large mass of $`25M_{}`$. The hypernova model is, of course, incompatible with the hypothesis of SN Ia as it was admitted by Hamuy et al. (2003).

On the other hand, it was demonstrated recently that the hypernova model is not necessary at all to account for the bolometric light curve of SN 1997cy; the CS interaction of a normal supernova with a typical energy of $`10^{51}`$ erg and low mass of $`1.5M_{}`$ is quite successful in reproducing the light curve of SN 1997cy (Chugai and Danziger 2003). This result along with the spectral arguments in favor of explosion of SN Ia in the case of SN 1997cy (Hamuy et al. 2003) compels us to consider the explosion of SN Ia inside a dense CS envelope as a promising interpretation of SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy.

Despite it is not clear as yet how the spectrum of SN Ia forms in the case of the strong CS interaction, it would be sensible to study the density and the structure of the CS envelope using constraints imposed by the bolometric light curve. Here we model the light curves of both aforementioned supernovae assuming that their radiation is a combination of the radioactive luminosity of SN Ia and the luminosity powered by the interaction of the supernova with the dense CS environment. The results are discussed then in terms of different evolutionary scenarios presumably leading to SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy events.

## 2 The light curve model

Let us assume that SN Ia explodes inside a spherically-symmetric CS envelope. We are interested in the bolometric light curve produced by the superposition of the intrinsic radioactive luminosity of SN Ia and of the luminosity powered by the interaction with the CS matter. To compute the light curve we use the model which was applied for the modeling of the light curve of SN 1998S (Chugai 2001). In this model the interaction dynamics is calculated in the thin shell approximation which treats the region between the forward and reverse shock waves as infinitely thin shell (Chevalier 1982). The supernova envelope is characterized by the mass ($`M`$), kinetic energy ($`E`$), and presupernova radius ($`R_0`$). We assume that the initial kinematics of the supernova envelope is free expansion ($`vr`$) and the density distribution in this envelope is exponential, $`\rho \mathrm{exp}(v/v_0)`$, where $`v_0`$ is defined by $`E`$ and $`M`$. Below we adopt $`M=1.4M_{}`$, $`E=1.5\times 10^{51}`$ erg, and the 56Ni mass of $`0.7M_{}`$. This choice is consistent with SN Ia delayed detonation models with maximal 56Ni mass (Höflich et al. 1995).

The numerical solution of the equation of motion for the thin shell provides us with the evolution of the shell radius and velocity. The resulting kinetic luminosities of the forward and reverse shock waves are transformed into X-ray luminosities using cooling rates of the post-shock gas (Chugai 1992). The X-ray radiation of both shocks with corresponding temperatures is partially absorbed by the supernova envelope, thin shell and the CS gas. The bolometric luminosity powered by the interaction we calculate as the total absorbed X-ray luminosity. This simple model ignores details of the optical spectrum formation and cannot describe the emergent spectrum in detail.

The light curve powered by the radioactive decay 56Ni—56Co—56Fe is calculated using analytical theory for homogeneous envelope (Arnett 1980). To compute the overall energy deposition rate we assume that 56Ni is mixed in the inner $`0.8M_{}`$. The interaction of gamma-rays with the matter is treated in the single flight approximation assuming the absorption coefficient of 0.03 cm2 g-1. The opacity is assumed to be 0.15 cm2 g-1.

The calculated bolometric curves of SN Ia without and with the CS interaction assuming the wind with a constant mass loss rate ($`\rho r^2`$) are shown in Fig. 1. The density parameter $`w=4\pi r^2\rho `$ for the models in Fig. 1 is $`4\times 10^{15}`$ g cm-1, $`2\times 10^{16}`$ g cm-1, and $`10^{17}`$ g cm-1, respectively. For the wind velocity $`10`$ km s-1 these values correspond to the mass loss rate $`6\times 10^5M_{}`$ yr-1, $`3\times 10^4M_{}`$ yr-1, and $`1.5\times 10^3M_{}`$ yr-1. Figure 1 shows that the contribution of the interaction to the SN Ia luminosity at the light maximum becomes substantial for $`w>10^{16}`$ g cm-1, while the contribution of the interaction with the more rarefied wind, $`w10^{16}`$ g cm-1 can be detected only at the very late epoch ($`t>1`$ yr). Amazingly, at late time ($`t300`$ d), the interaction luminosity for low CS density depends on $`w`$ more steeply than for high CS density, i.e., there is a saturation effect. This is related to the fact that for low $`w`$ the luminosity is determined primarily by the radiative reverse shock wave while the contribution of the adiabatic forward shock increases with $`w`$. For high $`w`$ the forward shock wave becomes radiative and dominant, so the overall luminosity turns out to be $`Lwv_\mathrm{s}^3`$, (where $`v_\mathrm{s}`$ is the thin shell velocity). In this case the luminosity obviously grows less rapidly than $`w`$ since the velocity $`v_\mathrm{s}`$ notably decreases as $`w`$ increases.

We considered above only the case of the stationary wind. However, the shape of the light curve powered by the CS interaction depends on the density distribution in the CS envelope. This fact will be taken into account below in the modeling of the light curves of SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy.

## 3 Light curves of SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy and their CS envelopes

The $`BVI`$ light curves during 70 day interval are available for SN 2002ic. To recover monochromatic light curves using our bolometric light curve model one needs to specify the photosphere radius ($`R_\mathrm{p}`$). We assume that the photosphere coincides with the thin shell, i.e, $`R_\mathrm{p}=R_\mathrm{s}`$. This equality is justified for SN 1998S (SN IIn) where the opaque thin shell forms at the SN/CSM interface (Chugai 2001). However, for SN 2002ic this assumption should be considered as a rough approximation since the spectrum does not show the smooth continuum which is characteristic of SN 1998S. Adopting $`R_\mathrm{p}=R_\mathrm{s}`$ and using the calculated bolometric luminosity we derive the effective temperature and assuming black-body spectrum we then compute absolute $`BVI`$ magnitudes. To compare the model with observations we adopt redshift $`z=0.067`$, reddening $`E(BV)=0.073`$ (Hamuy et al. 2003) and the Hubble constant $`H_0=70`$ km s-1 Mpc-1. The $`K`$-correction related to the redshift is small and was calculated assuming black-body spectrum with the temperature $`T=10000`$ K. We adopt the supernova explosion date 2452585 JD.

The $`BVI`$ light curves for SN 2002ic are calculated for a wide range of parameter variations. The general conclusion is that the stationary wind $`\rho r^2`$ (model ic2) results in the steep light drop which is inconsistent with observations. More adequate behavior is provided by the model ic1 with the flat density distribution (Fig. 2). The light curves for both models are shown in Fig. 3. Although, we focus on the modeling of $`V`$ light curve, which possesses pre-maximum observational points, in the other bands the agreement is also satisfactory. In the $`I`$ band the accuracy of the fit for the model ic1 is better than 0.2 mag. Deviations are greatest in the $`B`$ band, although the general behavior is reproduced quite sensibly. The bolometric light curves for both models are shown in Fig. 4. It demonstrates that CS interaction contributes about 50% at the light maximum and dominates after the maximum. This inference is qualitatively consistent with the decomposition of the light curve of SN 2002ic by Hamuy et al. (2003). Note, for the interaction to be prominent at the light maximum, the CS envelope must be dense at the radius $`r2\times 10^{15}`$ cm. With the expansion velocity $`u10`$ km s-1 the age of this matter is $`r/u70`$ yr; i.e., the supernova must explode not later than $`10^2`$ yr after the termination of the major mass loss episode.

Some uncertainty in the choice of the photospheric radius may affect the derived CS density. To check the effect of this uncertainty we calculated monochromatic light curves of SN 2002ic assuming $`R_\mathrm{p}=0.8R_\mathrm{s}`$. The best fit is obtained for the CS density 10% larger than that for the model ic1. This demonstrates that the derived CS density is not very sensitive to the assumption on the photospheric radius.

The lack of photometric data for SN 2002ic at late epoch ($`>70`$ days) does not permit us to derive the CS density at distances exceeding $`7\times 10^{15}`$ cm. Within this radius, the integrated mass of the CS envelope is $`0.4M_{}`$.

Fortunately, for SN 1997cy the light curve is traced for over 600 days after the outburst (Turatto et al. 2000). The bolometric light curve of SN 1997cy published by Turatto et al. (corrected for the adopted by us $`H_0=70`$ km s-1 Mpc-1) is shown in Fig. 5. In this plot we also present our simulated light curves for models cy3 and cy4 with CS density profiles shown in Fig. 6. The model cy3 has the same density distribution as the model ic1 for SN 2002ic, with the exception that the density is 10% higher in the cy3 model. The model cy4 with the inner density minimum shows the similar fit of the light curve as the model cy3 and thus demonstrates the uncertainty in the choice of the CS density distribution in the inner region. Yet we note that the CS densities around SN 1997cy and SN 2002ic are roughly similar at the radii of $`7\times 10^{15}`$ cm.

The steepening of the light curve after about day 500 indicates the CS density drop at the radius $`r=R_\mathrm{b}2\times 10^{16}`$ (Figs. 5 and 6). The integrated mass of the CS envelope is $`M_{\mathrm{cs}}=5.4M_{}`$ for the model cy3 and $`5.9M_{}`$ for the model cy4. We adopt the ”minimal” estimate $`M_{\mathrm{cs}}=5.4M_{}`$. The recovered CS mass for SN 1997cy is close to that found earlier in the low mass supernova model (Chugai and Danziger 2003). More surprising is that the mass of the CS envelope recovered by Turatto et al. (2000) in their model of hypernova is also practically the same ($`5M_{}`$).

The age of the dense CS envelope around SN 1997cy is $`t_{\mathrm{cs}}=R_\mathrm{b}/u=630/u_1`$ yr, where $`u_1`$ is the flow velocity in units of 10 km s-1. The average mass loss rate is, therefore,

$$\dot{M}=M_{\mathrm{cs}}/t_{\mathrm{cs}}=8\times 10^3\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{cs}}}{5M_{}}\right)u_1M_{}\text{yr}^1.$$
(1)
The velocity of the superwind is generally $`1020`$ km s-1 (Wood 1993), so the average mass loss rate for the presupernova of SN 1997cy assuming CS mass $`5.4M_{}`$ is $`\dot{M}10^2M_{}`$ yr-1. Remarkably, given the similar density of the CS envelope around SN 2002ic, the estimated average mass loss rate is characteristic of this event too.

Let us now check whether the derived CS density distribution around SN 1997cy is consistent with the luminosity of the narrow H$`\alpha `$ emission. The emission measure of the CS envelope in the model cy3 on day 70 is $`6.4\times 10^{65}x^2`$ cm-3 (where $`x`$ is the hydrogen ionization degree). Adopting the electron temperature $`10^4`$ K, the predicted recombination luminosity of H$`\alpha `$ in Menzel case B is $`2\times 10^{41}x^2`$ erg s-1. Turatto et al. (2000) distinguish in the H$`\alpha `$ profile on day 70 three components — narrow, intermediate, and broad. However, the relative contribution of each component is not reported. To minimize uncertainty related to the broad component which is affected by the blend of Fe II lines, we consider only the intermediate component and the narrow one within the range of radial velocities $`|v_r|<2000`$ km s-1. The latter is the range of the velocities of the broad H$`\alpha `$ component in SN 2002ic either (Hamuy et al. 2003). The spectrum of SN 1997cy on day 70 (Turatto et al. 2000) provides a rough luminosity estimate for these two components $`L5\times 10^{40}`$ erg s-1. According to the data on SN 2002ic obtained by Hamuy et al. (2003) we assume that the contributions of narrow and intermediate (i.e., broad in SN 2002ic) components are comparable. With this assumption the luminosity of the narrow component in SN 1997cy is $`2.5\times 10^{40}`$ erg s-1. Combined with the luminosity suggested by the emission measure, the latter luminosity implies the average ionization degree in the CS envelope $`x0.35`$. This suggests the Thomson optical depth of the CS envelope of $`\tau _\mathrm{T}0.5`$.

Remarkably, the luminosity of narrow H$`\alpha `$ in SN 2002ic during whole observed period ($`t70`$ days) is practically constant and equal to $`2\times 10^{40}`$ erg s-1 (Hamuy et al. 2003). We thus conclude that the luminosity of narrow H$`\alpha `$ in both supernovae is similar at the epoch of 70 days. This fact taken together with the similarity of the CS density at $`r7\times 10^{15}`$ cm indicates that for SN 2002ic the structure of the CS envelope and its total mass are roughly similar to those of SN 1997cy. We thus expect that the mass of the CS envelope of SN 2002ic is probably also several solar mass.

## 4 The nature of presupernova

The striking feature of progenitors of both SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy is an unusually high mass loss rate $`\dot{M}10^2M_{}`$ yr-1 during several hundred years prior to the explosion. This indicates the existence of certain mechanism that synchronizes the phase of violent mass loss with the epoch of supernova explosion. If SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy actually are SNe Ia, it is naturally to assume that the violent mass loss is related to the epoch when CO white dwarf attains the Chandrasekhar mass ($`M_{\mathrm{Ch}}`$).

Following the hypothesis of Hamuy et al. (2003) we consider two scenarios that may, in principle, result in an explosion of a SNe Ia inside hydrogen-rich circumstellar envelope: (i) an explosion of accreting white dwarf in a binary system with a red supergiant companion to the white dwarf (Whelan and Iben 1973) and (ii) an explosion of a degenerate CO core of a single star (Arnett 1969; Iben and Renzini 1983).

### 4.1 Binary system

The model of binary system suggests that the CO white dwarf attains the Chandrasekhar mass as a result of accretion from a red giant or supergiant companion. Since the red supergiant mass loss rate through the superwind does not exceed $`3\times 10^4M_{}`$ yr-1 (Wood 1994), rather unusual conditions are necessary for the mass loss rate to attain $`10^2M_{}`$ yr-1. The required mass loss rate, as well as synchronization of explosion with the stage of intense mass loss, could be qualitatively explained within two feasible sequences of events in a binary.

The first version exploits the steepening of the mass-radius relation for white dwarfs when approaching Chandrasekhar limit. For $`MM_{\mathrm{Ch}}`$ a small increase of dwarf mass is accompanied by a considerable reduction of its radius. Even more, it may happen that as a result of nuclear burning in the vicinity of the maximum of temperature, a considerable fraction of the outer layers of CO dwarf may convert into 22Ne; this also may lead to some reduction of the radius of the dwarf in several hundred years immediately before the explosion. The decrease of white dwarf radius will result in the spin-up of its rotation. The rapid rotation and enhancement of magnetic field due to the differential rotation combined with the increase of the gravitational potential at the surface of white dwarf will result in the increase of the kinetic luminosity of the wind from the innermost parts of accretion disk. We assume that, similarly to the winds from white dwarfs (Hachisu et al. 1999), the interaction of this wind with the envelope of the red supergiant may cause an intense mass loss by the latter. This effect was considered by Hachisu et al. (1999) as a mechanism for the removal of angular momentum. We are interested here in the supergiant mass loss only.

Let the mass and radius of white dwarf be $`M_1`$ and $`R_1`$, while those of red supergiant be $`M_2`$ and $`R_2`$. Assuming that the velocity of white dwarf stellar wind is of the order of the escape velocity (the maximum estimate) and the velocity of gas lost by red supergiant is of the order of escape velocity as well, one gets, from the condition of the balance of energy fluxes (the regime of ablation), an estimate for the typical mass loss rate by the red supergiant:

$$\dot{m}_2=f(q)\dot{m}_1\left(\frac{M_1}{M_2}\right)\left(\frac{R_2}{R_1}\right),$$
(2)
where $`\dot{m}_1`$ is the mass loss rate via the fast wind of white dwarf, $`f(q)`$ is the geometrical factor calculated by Hachisu et al. (1999), and $`q=M_2/M_1`$. Given the estimated mass of the CS envelope we adopt $`q4`$. For $`f(q)`$ we take $`f0.033`$ assuming that the red giant fills its Roche lobe (Hachisu et al. 1999). Inserting these values in Eq. (2) and adopting $`R_2=1000R_{}`$, $`R_1=3\times 10^3R_{}`$, and $`\dot{m}_1=10^5M_{}`$ yr-1 (this value corresponds to the white dwarf accretion rate limit set by Eddington luminosity) we obtain $`\dot{m}_210^2M_{}`$ yr-1. The model, thus, is able to provide the required red-giant mass loss rate. However, it should be noted that this value is obtained for rather extreme assumptions about white dwarf mass loss rate and wind velocity, and assuming 100% efficiency of the ablation mechanism.

A modification of the scenario of the rapid mass loss in the symbiotic binary with the white dwarf mass approaching $`M_{\mathrm{Ch}}`$ might be the formation of a common envelope. This might happen due to the expansion of the red supergiant envelope induced by the white dwarf wind and subsequent Roche-lobe overflow. The common envelope also could result in the loss of the envelope by the red supergiant in the time scale of several hundred years.

The drawback of mechanisms of the rapid mass loss induced by the white dwarf contraction at the mass $`MM_{\mathrm{Ch}}`$ is the relatively weak dependence of the kinetic luminosity of the white dwarf wind on the dwarf radius. This leaves us with a troublesome question as to why the envelope is lost at the right time and not markedly earlier.

The second version of the symbiotic star evolution suggests the formation and loss of the common envelope with the subsequent merger of the sub-Chandrasekhar CO white dwarf and the degenerate CO core of the red supergiant. The formation of a super-Chandrasekhar mass object followed by the SN Ia explosion would explain then synchronization of the violent loss of the hydrogen envelope and SN Ia event. However, this prima facie natural synchronization mechanism suffers from the following serious problem.

For the merger of dwarf and core due to the gravitational wave radiation to occur soon after the termination of the common envelope stage, the dwarf – core pair has to become rather close. For the merger to occur in $`t_0`$ years, the initial semi-major axis of the dwarf – core system should be (Landau and Lifshitz 1971)

$$a=2\times 10^9\left(\frac{t_0}{100\text{yr}}\right)^{0.25}\left(\frac{M}{M_{}}\right)^{0.5}\left(\frac{\mu }{M_{}}\right)^{0.25}\text{cm},$$
(3)
where $`M`$ is the total mass of the system and $`\mu `$ is its reduced mass. For instance, for similar masses of components of $`0.8M_{}`$ and $`t_0=100`$ yr the distance between components after the common envelope stage has to be $`a=2\times 10^9`$ cm. Such a close approach is accompanied by the release of $`8.6\times 10^{49}`$ erg of the binding energy with $`4.3\times 10^{49}`$ erg deposited into envelope in the form of hydrodynamic motions. This estimate only weakly depends on the masses of the dwarf and the core. If all this energy is spent on the ejection of the envelope, then, given the low binding energy of the red giant envelope ($`<10^{48}`$ erg), the kinetic energy of the circumstellar envelope should be $`4\times 10^{49}`$ erg. In reality, for the mass of the CS envelope of $`5M_{}`$ and velocity of its expansion $`<300`$ km s-1 (Hamuy et al. 2003), the kinetic energy of the envelope is only $`<5\times 10^{48}`$ erg, i. e., at least by an order of magnitude lower. Thus, the energy released during the spiral-in cannot be spent entirely on the ejection of the envelope. On the other hand, such a huge energy cannot be radiated away in several hundred years as well. Actually, the maximum average luminosity of a gravitationally bound red supergiant with initial mass $`<10M_{}`$ does not exceed $`10^5L_{}`$ (Iben and Renzini 1983). Even in the case of maximum luminosity the total energy radiated away in 600 yr does not exceed $`8\times 10^{48}`$ erg. The rate of energy generation during the spiral-in that exceeds the rate of radiation by the hydrostatic configuration, would result in a rapid expansion of the envelope and in turn-off of the spiral-in process.

To summarize, in the stage of intense mass loss from the common envelope the dwarf and the core cannot get closer that it is allowed by the energy loss via radiation and mass loss ($`10^{49}`$ erg). In this case the minimum final separation of the objects after common envelope phase has to be $`10^{10}`$ cm with unacceptably large merger time $`6\times 10^4`$ yr. Thus, the model of the merger in the common envelope cannot explain synchronization of violent mass loss and supernova explosion within several hundred years. Therefore, the merger scenario for SN 2002is and SN 1997cy is unlikely.

The model of the white dwarf explosion in the system with a red supergiant component predicts an interesting effect. If the hydrogen-rich envelope of the giant is not lost completely prior to the explosion, several tenths of solar mass will then be lost due to the interaction of the supernova envelope and red supergiant. The major fraction of this matter acquires low velocity ($`10^3`$ km s-1) and thus should reside in the inner part of the expanding supernova envelope (Chugai 1986; Livne et al. 1992). Detection of a narrow H$`\alpha `$-line from the “inner” hydrogen in the spectrum of a SN Ia would indicate an explosion in a system with red supergiant. Of course, the presence of a narrow H$`\alpha `$-line from circumstellar gas strongly reduces possibility of the detection of H$`\alpha `$ from the central region of SN Ia.

### 4.2 Single star

After pioneering work of Becker and Iben (1979), it is usually supposed that single stars do not form exploding CO cores of Chandrasekhar mass. For instance, Gil-Pons et al. (2003) find that stars with initial mass (8.7 – 11)$`M_{}`$ ignite carbon in the weakly degenerate cores and the burning extends to the formation of Ne and Mg. The envelopes of stars are lost by stellar (super)wind. However, uncertainties of the models of the intermediate mass stars do not rule out completely the possibility of formation of exploding CO cores of the Chandrasekhar mass in these stars (Iben and Renzini 1983). The resulting supernovae were dubbed SN 1.5; this name has to stress their intermediate status between SN Ia and SN II.

One of the uncertainties in the evolutionary computations of the limiting mass of CO cores is related to the usually ignored rotation. Dominguez et al. (1996) approximately took into account the rotation in the one-dimensional model and demonstrated that the lifting effect permits a star with the initial mass of 6.5 $`M_{}`$ to form a Chandrasekhar mass CO core.

Another obstacle to the SN 1.5-type supernovae is probably a complete loss of the envelope via superwind before the mass of the core mounts to $`M_{\mathrm{Ch}}`$. Remarkably, in this regard, SN 1997cy exploded in a dwarf galaxy (Turatto et al. 2000), likewise, supposedly, SN 2000ic (Hamuy et al. 2003). The common property of dwarf galaxies is low metallicity that favors low mass loss rate. This might explain why the envelopes of presupernovae have not been lost by the AGB superwind prematurely.

Let the combination of low metallicity and rotation eventually result in formation of a Chandrasekhar mass CO core in a single star. What may then cause an intense mass loss by supergiant in $`600`$ yr prior to explosion? One may assume that the contraction of the core as it mounts to the Chandrasekhar mass can lead to the intense mass loss. For instance, the increase of gravitational potential and, as a consequence, the growth of temperature and density may result in a more intense energy release in the double burning shell at the core boundary. Another possibility may be related to C-burning flashes in the CO core.

The absence of smooth continuum in the early spectra of SN 2002ic implies that the mass of the hydrogen in the envelope of supernova is significantly smaller than $`1M_{}`$. The scenario of single star explosion thus suggests that the hydrogen envelope should be almost completely lost prior to the explosion.

## 5 Conclusion

The simulations of the light curves of SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy in the model of the SN Ia expansion in a dense circumstellar envelope led us to conclusion that (i) the density of CS envelope for both supernovae is comparable and the corresponding mass loss prior to SN explosion occurred in the time scale of several hundred years with the rate of $`10^2M_{}`$ yr-1; (ii) the mass of the CS envelope of SN 1997cy is close to $`5M_{}`$; (iii) the time scale of formation of CS envelope of SN 1997cy did not exceed 600 yr.

If SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy are actually type Ia supernovae that exploded in dense circumstellar envelopes, then there must exist a mechanism that provides the synchronization of intense outflow of a huge amount of matter in several hundred years and the SN Ia explosion event. The analysis of two scenarios of the possible evolution to the explosions of SN 2002ic and SN 1997cy – accretion onto a white dwarf in a symbiotic system or SN 1.5 scenario – does not allow us to identify with confidence the mechanism of the synchronization of the mass loss and explosion. We believe that the most natural mechanism should involve the contraction of the CO white dwarf (in the binary-star scenario) or CO core (in the SN 1.5 scenario) when approaching the Chandrasekhar limit. However, the details of the process that has to “switch-on” the violent mass loss by a supergiant several hundred years prior to the SN Ia explosion have yet to be understood. We, however, may almost certainly rule out prima facie conceivable scenario of the merger of CO white dwarf and CO core of a red supergiant due to the angular momentum loss via gravitational wave radiation after ejection of the common envelope.

Both scenarios have interesting predictions that may turn out crucial for their verification. The scenario of the symbiotic star predicts a wide range for the masses of CS envelopes – from several tenth of $`M_{}`$ to about $`6M_{}`$, with low masses being dominant since low-mass giants prevail in symbiotic systems. In the single star scenario the initial mass is close to 8 $`M_{}`$ and CS envelopes should be, therefore, similar and rather massive. If future observations will reveal relatively large number of SN 2002ic-type events with the mass of the CS envelope greater than one solar, then the single-star model should be preferred. At present, with only two detected SN 2002ic-like events, both indicating high-mass CS envelopes, the scenario of SN 1.5 is favored.

Note, SN 2002ic-subtype events are extremely rare. The fact that, despite their luminosity exceeds the luminosity of a typical SN Ia, only two such supernovae were discovered as yet implies that their relative occurrence rate among all SNe Ia is less than 1 per cent.

This work was partially supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grants 01-02-16295 and 03-02-16254) and Federal Science and Technology Program “Astronomy”.

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# Baryon spectroscopy on the lattice: recent results

## Abstract

Progress in determining the baryon spectrum using computer simulations of quarks and gluons in lattice QCD are summarized and some future plans are outlined.

Baryon spectroscopy is plagued by numerous unresolved issues. The quark model predicts many more statesisgurkarl ; capstick  than are currently known. Experiments in Hall B at Jefferson Laboratory are currently mapping out of the spectrum of $`N^{}`$ nucleon excitations, so the question of the so-called “missing resonances” should soon be resolved. A quark-diquark picture of baryons predicts a sparser spectrumdiquark . Various bag and soliton models have also attempted to explain the baryon masses. The natures of the Roper resonance and the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$ remain controversial. Experiment shows that the first excited positive-parity spin-$`1/2`$ baryon lies below the lowest-lying negative-parity spin-$`1/2`$ resonance, a fact which is difficult to reconcile in quark models. First principles studies of the baryon spectrum using lattice Monte Carlo methods are long overdue.

State of the art results for the low-lying hadron spectrum using the Iwasaki gauge action and a clover tadpole-improved fermion action are presented in Fig. 1. The quenched spectrum (upper left) deviates from experiment by under ten per cent. The inclusion of two flavors of light quark loops produces excellent agreement with experiment for the $`K`$ and $`\varphi `$ mesons, but the baryon masses show significant deviations from their experimental values. The authors suggest that finite volume errors will explain these discrepancies.

During the last few years, a handful of lattice studies have begun at last to focus attention on the excited baryon spectrum. Other than some preliminary unquenched results, all estimates to date have utilized the quenched approximation, and most have used unphysically heavy quarks. Systematic errors due to discretization and finite volume are not yet under control. Although the current status of such calculations is still embryonic, a renewed interest of the lattice community in such calculations promises substantial progress in the near future. For example, the Lattice Hadron Physics Collaboration (LHPC)lhpc  recently formed and one of its major objectives is the computation of the $`N^{}`$ spectrum. The formation of this collaboration was spearheaded by the late Nathan Isgur and is funded by the Department of Energy’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) initiative. I shall outline the plans of this collaboration later in this talk. But first, results from four selected recent baryon studies are presented.

Latest results in the quenched approximation from the CSSM Lattice collaboration using an improved gauge field action and a fat-link irrelevant clover (FLIC) fermion action are shown in Fig. 2. Rather heavy quark masses were used, but the level orderings are in qualitative agreement with those observed in experiments.

The first-excited state in the positive-parity spin-$`1/2`$ sector is found to be significantly highersasaki0 ; dgr ; glozman ; adelaide0  than the Roper mass when unphysically large quark masses are used.

Recently, the use of overlap fermions has allowed quenched calculationslee  with realistically light quark masses, and this point appears to be crucial for identifying the Roper as a radial excitation of the nucleon. Fig. 3 shows dramatic changes in the quenched baryon masses as the pion mass drops below 300 MeV. An important note of caution concerning these findings is the use of empirical Bayesian constrained curve fitting to extract the excited state mass from a single correlation function. Although likely reliable, an analysis using several operators in a correlation matrix would be much preferred. Also, at such light quark masses, one must very carefully check finite volume errors (as evidenced in the next study described below). In a more recent paperlee2 , these authors have also addressed the issue of pollution of the first-excited state observed in Fig. 3 by unphysical $`\eta ^{}N`$ quenched artifacts. Such ghost contributions were distinguished by obtaining results in two volumes $`16^3\times 28`$ and $`12^3\times 28`$, corresponding to lattice extents $`3.2`$ and $`2.4`$ fm, respectively. The conclusion, within the quenched approximation, that the Roper is a radial excitation of the nucleon with three valence quarks was confirmed.

A large sensitivity of the Roper resonance to finite volume errors in the quenched approximation has recently been reported in Ref. sasaki . In Fig. 4, one sees that for $`m_\pi ^20.5`$ GeV2, the infinite volume results for the $`N^{}`$ Roper are degenerate with the negative parity $`N^{}`$, in disagreement with the results shown in Fig. 3. The lattice spacings and actions differ, so this discrepancy could simply be a discretization artifact. Also, maximum entropy methods are being employed, which further muddies the issue. Nevertheless, an important message seems clear: large volumes and small quark masses are especially important for reliable results in baryon spectroscopy.

Doubly charmed baryons, also of current experimental interest, have also been studied recentlylewis  in the quenched approximation using an improved gauge action on anisotropic lattices with the D234 action for the light quarks and a nonrelativistic (NRQCD) action for the heavy quarks. Two lattice spacings $`a0.15,0.22`$ fm and four light quark masses were used. These authors found that mass splittings between $`J=\frac{1}{2}`$ and $`\frac{3}{2}`$ baryons from color hyperfine interactions were not suppressed, unlike the meson sector. Many charmed and bottom baryons were studied. No finite volume checks were done, and radiative corrections to the couplings in the NRQCD action were ignored. Results using a clover fermion action at $`\beta =6.2`$ have also been presentedflynn  recently.

The Lattice Hadron Physics Collaboration is currently using large sets of extended operators with correlation matrix techniques to capture a significant portion of the baryon spectrum. Excited states will be extracted without resorting to maximum entropy methods. We believe that the construction of good operators is crucial: the operators have been designed with one eye towards maximizing overlaps with the low-lying states of interest, and the other eye towards minimizing the number of source needed in computing the required quark propagators. For example, the three-quark operators we plan to use are expressed in terms of smeared quark fields $`\stackrel{~}{\psi }`$, the covariant three-dimensional Laplacian $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$, and the $`p`$-link covariant displacement $`\stackrel{~}{D}_j^{(p)}`$ by

| (1): | $`\varphi _{ABC}^F\epsilon _{abc}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\alpha \beta \gamma }\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_1}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Aa\alpha }\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_2}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Bb\beta }\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_3}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Cc\gamma }`$, |
| --- | --- |
| (2): | $`\varphi _{ABC}^F\epsilon _{abc}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\alpha \beta \gamma }^j\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_1}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Aa\alpha }\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_2}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Bb\beta }\left(\stackrel{~}{D}_j^{(p)}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_3}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Cc\gamma }`$, |
| (3): | $`\varphi _{ABC}^F\epsilon _{abc}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\alpha \beta \gamma }^{jk}\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_1}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Aa\alpha }\left(\stackrel{~}{D}_j^{(p_1)}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_2}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Bb\beta }\left(\stackrel{~}{D}_k^{(p_2)}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{n_3}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right)_{Cc\gamma }`$, |

where $`n_1`$, $`n_2`$, $`n_3`$, $`p`$, $`p_1`$, $`p_2`$ are positive integers, $`j,k=\pm 1,\pm 2,\pm 3`$ are spatial directions, $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma `$ are Dirac spin indices, $`A,B,C`$ are quark flavors, and $`a,b,c`$ indicate colors. Different powers of the spatial Laplacian $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ are utilized to build up radial structure, and the displacement operator $`\stackrel{~}{D}_j`$ is used to incorporate orbital structure. The group theoretical projections necessary to obtain operators transforming irreducibly under the symmetries of the lattice have been carried out using software written in Maple. Degeneracy patterns among the different irreducible representations of the cubic group must be exploited to identify angular momentum $`J`$ eigenstates in the continuum limit. We hope to present our first results in the near future. Note that our operator construction approach can be easily adapted for mesons, pentaquark systems, and so on.

Regardless of how the operators are constructed, extracting the baryon spectrum in lattice simulations remains a challenge. It is especially important for baryons that the Monte Carlo calculations be done in large volumes with realistically light quark masses and without the quenched approximation. Furthermore, all baryon studies must ultimately confront the thorny issue of treating unstable resonances. The techniques for doing this are well knowndewitt , but are untested in QCD. However, computing speeds continue to increase and large computer clusters dedicated to hadron physics are coming on-line. Given the renewed interest in baryon spectroscopy, substantial progress is inevitable. This work was supported by NSF award PHY-0099450.


text:
# Charge transport and phase transition in exciton rings

## Abstract

The macroscopic exciton rings observed in the photoluminescence (PL) patterns of excitons in coupled quantum wells (CQWs) are explained by a series of experiments and a theory based on the idea of carrier imbalance, transport and recombination. The rings are found to be a source of cold excitons with temperature close to that of the lattice. We explored states of excitons in the ring over a range of temperatures down to $`380`$mK. These studies reveal a sharp, albeit continuous, second order phase transition to a low-temperature ordered exciton state, characterized by ring fragmentation into a periodic array of aggregates. An instability at the onset of degeneracy in the cold exciton system, due to stimulated exciton formation, is proposed as the transition mechanism.

Bound electron-hole pairs – excitons – are light Bose particles  with a mass comparable or smaller than that of the free electron. Since the quantum degeneracy temperature scales inversely with the mass, it is anticipated that Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of excitons  can be achieved at temperatures as much as six orders of magnitude larger than the microKelvin temperatures employed in atom condensation . High quantum degeneracy temperatures and the possibility to control exciton density by laser photoexcitation makes the cold exciton gas a paradigm system for studies of collective states and many-body phenomena. As well as BEC , the cold exciton and electron-hole systems are expected to host a range of novel collective states, such as a BCS-like condensate , paired two-dimensional Laughlin liquid , coupled Wigner solids , and an excitonic charge density wave state .

The theoretical predictions above rely on the experimental realization of cold exciton gases. Although the semiconductor crystal lattice can be routinely cooled to temperatures well below $`1`$K in He-refrigerators, after decades of effort with various materials, it appears to be experimentally challenging to lower the temperature of the exciton gas to even a few Kelvins. The exciton temperature, $`T_X`$, determined by the ratio of the energy relaxation and recombination rates, exceeds by far the lattice temperature in most semiconductors. For $`T_X`$ to approach the lattice temperature, the lifetime of excitons should considerably exceed their energy relaxation time.

Due to the long lifetime and high cooling rate, the indirect excitons in CQWs form a unique system in which a cold exciton gas can be created. The long lifetimes are due to spatial separation of the electron and hole wells  while high cooling rates result from momentum conservation being relaxed in the direction perpendicular to the QW plane . The form of interaction is crucial for the formation of collective exciton states. In the absence of in-plane forces, the indirect excitons are dipoles oriented perpendicular to the QW plane. The repulsive interaction between such dipoles stabilizes the exciton state against the formation of metallic electron-hole droplets  and results in screening of in-plane disorder .

The seemingly unique opportunity to realize a cold exciton gas stimulated great interest and has led to active experimental studies . Recently, an intriguing observation was made of bright macroscopic exciton rings in the spatial PL patterns in CQWs with an onset of fragmentation of the external ring into an ordered array of aggregates taking place at a few Kelvin . Luminescence rings were also observed in other CQW materials . Yet neither the rings nor their fragmentation have been accounted for by theory.

Here, the conundrum of ring formation is resolved by new experiments, leading to a consistent and compelling picture, based on the mechanism of carrier imbalance, transport and recombination. We conclude that, since the carriers recombining to form the excitons are in thermal equilibrium, the rings represent a source of cold excitons. As such, the rings present a new opportunity to study novel states of the cold exciton gas.

With this motivation, we have explored states of excitons in the ring over a range of temperatures down to $`380`$mK. These studies reveal a sharp, albeit continuous, second order phase transition to a low-temperature ordered exciton state. We present a phase diagram and propose a model for fragmentation involving hydrodynamical instability due to stimulated exciton formation at the onset of degeneracy in the exciton system.

The spatial distribution of indirect excitons, observed by measuring the PL pattern, undergoes a striking transformation as a function of photoexcitation power, $`P_{ex}`$. While at low $`P_{ex}`$ the indirect excitons are observed only within the excitation spot, at high $`P_{ex}`$ the most prominent feature in the PL pattern is a bright ring concentric with the laser spot and separated from it by an annular dark region (Fig. 1). The radius of the ring, and hence of the dark region, increases with $`P_{ex}`$  exceeding 100 $`\mu `$m at the highest intensities (Fig. 1a-c).

How can excitons appear so far away from the excitation spot? The excitons can, in principle, travel in a dark state after having been excited, until slowed down to a velocity below photon emission threshold, where they can decay radiatively . This mechanism can account for the somewhat more diffuse inner ring of smaller radius up to tens of microns observed around the excitation spot . However, within this framework, a number of qualitative features of the external ring appear to be difficult to explain. In particular — why the observed rings are so sharp, why the ring radius changes with the gate voltage, and why the rings produced by distant sources interact before overlapping.

To that end, we are led to assume that the excitons are generated within the ring. Indeed a general off-resonance laser excitation creates charge imbalance in the CQW structure, leading to carrier transport and recombination at large distances . Most of the hot electrons and holes, created by the off-resonance excitation , cool down and form excitons giving rise to PL observed within or near the laser spot. However, charge neutrality of the carriers excited in CQW is generally violated mainly due to electrons and holes having different collection efficiency to the CQW. Overall charge neutrality in the sample is maintained by opposite charge accumulating in the doped region outside CQW. We note parenthetically that the sign of carrier imbalance cannot be deduced from first principles. We speculate that the current through CQWs from n-doped GaAs layers (Fig. 1f) creates electron gas in the CQW, while excess holes are photogenerated in the laser excitation spot. However, nothing in the discussion and conclusions below will be affected if electrons are replaced by holes and vice versa.

The holes created at the excitation spot diffuse out and bind with electrons, forming indirect excitons. This process depletes electrons in the vicinity of the laser spot, creating an essentially electron-free and hole rich region, which allows holes to travel a relatively large distance without encountering electrons. At the same time, a spatial nonuniformity of electron distribution builds up, causing a counterflow of electrons towards the laser spot. A sharp interface between the hole rich region and the outer electron rich area forms (Fig. 1e), since a carrier crossing into a minority region quickly binds with an opposite carrier to form an exciton. (Recently, possible relation between charge imbalance of photoexcited carriers and PL ring patterns has been informally discussed also by I.V. Kukushkin and D. Snoke.)

To summarize our transport model, electrons and holes move in the CQW plane, each species in its own quantum well, governed by coupled diffusion equations

$$\dot{n}=D\mathrm{\Delta }nwnp+J(r),\dot{p}=D^{}\mathrm{\Delta }pwnp+J^{}(r)$$
(1)
with $`n(r)`$, $`p(r)`$ the electron and hole concentration, $`D`$, $`D^{}`$ the diffusion constants, and $`w`$ the rate at which an electron and hole bind to form an exciton. The source term for holes is localized at the excitation spot, $`J^{}(r)=P_{ex}\delta (r)`$, while the electron source is spread out over the entire plane, $`J(r)=I(r)a(r)n(r)`$, with $`I(r)`$ and $`a(r)n(r)`$ the currents in and out of CQW. The stationary solution of Eqs. (1), displayed in Fig. 1e, indeed shows a structure of two regions dominated by electrons and holes, and separated by a sharp interface where exciton density $`n_xnp`$ is peaked. The radius of the inner hole region, determined by the balance between the radial hole flux and electron counterflow from the periphery, increases with the excitation power, as in the experiment (Fig. 1a-c). Density variation across the electron-hole interface can be obtained from a 1D system of stationary equations, $`Dn^{\prime \prime }=wnp`$, $`D^{}p^{\prime \prime }=wnp`$, with the boundary conditions $`Dn_{x+\mathrm{}}=cx`$, $`n_x\mathrm{}=0`$, where $`c`$ is particle flux normal to the interface and, by symmetry, $`D^{}p(x)=Dn(x)`$. Interface width scales as $`(DD^{}/wc)^{1/3}`$, making the exciton ring width practically independent of its radius (cf. Fig. 1a-c).

The exciton ring can be externally controlled by gate voltage: it expands by a factor of two after reducing the voltage across the structure from $`V_g=1.3`$V to $`V_g=1.262`$V (Fig. 2h-j). This is just as one expects since a reduction of transverse electric field, and hence of the current $`I(r)`$, depletes electrons in CQWs, while holes in the inner region remain practically unaffected.

Experiments with two rings created by spatially separated laser spots (Fig. 2a-d) reveal the most intriguing prediction of the transport model: the carrier distribution is strongly perturbed not only inside, but also outside the ring. As the spots are brought closer, the rings attract one another, deform, and then open towards each other (Fig. 2a-c). This happens well before the rings merge into a common oval-shaped ring (Fig. 2d), suggesting the existence of “dark matter” outside the rings that mediates the interaction. In the transport model, which readily accounts for the attraction (Fig. 2e-g), this dark matter is just the electron flow outside each ring which is perturbed by the presence of another ring. Electrons in the area between the rings are depleted more strongly than at the same radial distance in other directions, which shifts the balance of carrier fluxes to the hole side. As a result, the electron-hole interface moves further out between the rings.

The configuration of the electron-hole interface in a stationary state can be easily obtained by noting that the time-independent Eqs.(1) yield Poisson equation $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }=J_{tot}J^{}J`$ for the linear combination of electron and hole densities $`\mathrm{\Phi }=DnD^{}p`$. The solution

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)=\frac{1}{2\pi }\mathrm{ln}|𝐫𝐫^{}|J_{tot}(𝐫^{})d^2r^{}$$
(2)
describes hole density in the region $`\mathrm{\Phi }>0`$ and electron density in the region $`\mathrm{\Phi }<0`$. The interface is thus given by the contour line $`\mathrm{\Phi }=0`$. In particular, two hole sources of equal strength at $`𝐫=𝐫_{1,2}`$ give a family of Bernoulli lemniscata $`|𝐫𝐫_1|\times |𝐫𝐫_2|=\mathrm{const}`$ (Fig. 2e-g).

By defocussing the source and illuminating a large area (Fig. 3), a striking new feature emerges which presents a further piece of compelling evidence for the proposed mechanism. In the indirect exciton PL pattern, around the localized spots, small rings appear which mirror the behavior of the outer ring. However, the rings shrink at increasing laser power, indicating that electron-hole contrast here is inverted. This suggests that the spots reflect pinholes in the CQW barriers, each representing a localized source of electrons embedded in the hole rich inner area. A model with a bright hole source and a weaker electron source (Eqs.(1),(2)), shows the same qualitative behavior (Fig. 3g). Increasing hole flux (via $`P_{ex}`$), as soon as the electron source is enveloped by the hole rich area, a ring forms around it and then starts to shrink.

The most surprising feature of the spatial PL pattern is ring fragmentation into circular aggregates forming a highly regular, periodic array over macroscopic lengths, up to ca. $`1`$mm (Figs. 1-4). The aggregates on the ring are clearly distinct from the localized bright spots generated by the pinholes: In contrast to the latter, the aggregates move in concert with the ring when the position of the source is adjusted. Moreover, in contrast to the spots, the aggregates are cold: they do not contain direct excitons (Fig. 4a,b).

The conditions in the ring are optimal for the formation of a very cold exciton gas. The excitons in the ring are formed by electrons and holes which travel over macroscopic distances, and thus may cool to the lattice temperature. This facilitates characterization of the ordered exciton state which appears abruptly as the temperature is decreased below ca. $`2`$K. The phase diagram, obtained from the azimuthal PL distribution Fourier spectrum (Fig. 4c), is presented in Fig. 4d.

The ordered low-temperature exciton phase is a new state that has not been predicted. The temperature dependence (Fig. 4) indicates that exciton ordering is a low temperature phenomenon. Interestingly, it is observed in the same temperature range (below a few Kelvin) as the bosonic stimulation of exciton scattering , suggesting that the ordering may be an intrinsic property of a statistically degenerate Bose-gas of excitons. Regarding the relevance of quantum effects, we also note that an estimate of the exciton density in the ring based on the optical shift due to the repulsive dipolar interaction  yields $`n10^{10}`$ cm<sup>-2</sup>. This corresponds to the quantum degeneracy temperature $`T_0=(\pi \mathrm{}^2n)/(2Mgk_B)0.2`$ K, with $`M=0.21m_0`$ the exciton mass, and $`g=4`$ the spin degeneracy of the exciton state in our CQWs, and to the occupation number of the lowest energy state $`\nu =e^{T_0/T}10.5`$ at $`T=0.4`$ K .

At the onset of quantum degeneracy, the rate at which electrons and holes bind to form excitons will be enhanced due to stimulated processes: $`w1+\nu `$ in Eq.(1). To see how this can cause a hydrodynamical instability, consider a fluctuation in exciton distribution which leads to growth of exciton density via stimulated electron-hole binding. The depletion of local carrier concentration will cause carriers to stream towards the fluctuation point, attracting more carriers and leading to subsequent increase in exciton density.

The simplest to analyze is instability of a steady state with spatially uniform carrier sources and density distribution. To simplify algebra, we take identical electron and hole parameters in Eqs.(1), $`D^{}=D`$, $`J^{}(r)=J(r)=\alpha (n_0n)`$, with $`n`$ the electron (also, hole) density. Adding an equation for exciton dynamics,

$$_tn_x=D_x\mathrm{\Delta }n_x\gamma (n_x)+w(n_x)n^2$$
(3)
with $`n_x`$ the exciton density, $`\gamma (n_x)`$ the exciton radiative recombination rate, and linearizing Eqs.(1),(3) over a uniform steady state, we have

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\delta \dot{n}D\mathrm{\Delta }\delta n\\ \delta \dot{n}_xD_x\mathrm{\Delta }\delta n_x\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\lambda +2wn& w^{}n^2\\ 2wn& \gamma ^{}w^{}n^2\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\delta n\\ \delta n_x\end{array}\right)$$

where $`w^{}=dw/dn_x`$, $`\gamma ^{}=d\gamma /dn_x`$. Stability requires a positive definite matrix, which gives $`\alpha w^{}n^2<(\alpha +2wn)\gamma ^{}`$. Since the binding rate $`w(n_x)`$ diverges near BEC transition due to the buildup of stimulated processes, the system becomes unstable at temperatures approaching $`T_{BEC}`$. The azimuthal modulation wavelength, selected by the competition of the instability with particle diffusion, favors the length scale of the order of the radial exciton distribution width, as seen in experiment.

Besides the outlined scenario, several other mechanisms might account for fragmentation. First, we mention a possibility that exciton dipoles, by tilting spontaneously from the direction normal to CQWs, can reverse the sign of exciton interaction to attractive, causing fragmentation . Also, a purely classical Gann-type effect is possible, in which the radial current distribution becomes nonuniform and develops a modulation in the azimuthal direction. However, the perfect periodicity of the fragments, the phase diagram and, in particular, the low transition temperature, all suggest a fundamental collective mechanism most likely of quantum origin.

Acknowledgements

We thank A.L. Ivanov, L.V. Keldysh, I.V. Kukushkin, D-H Lee, and P.B. Littlewood for valuable discussions. Communications on the theory of PL patterns based on exciton transport and recombination by A.L. Ivanov are greatly appreciated. This work was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098 and by RFBR. LL acknowledges support from ”Non-Equilibrium Summer Institute at Los Alamos” and the MRSEC Program of the NSF under Grant No. DMR 98-08941