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# Fluidization of wet granular matter

## Abstract

We have studied the effect of small amounts of added liquid on the dynamic behavior of a granular system consisting of spherical glass beads. The critical acceleration $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for fluidization is found to increase strongly when liquid is added. It furthermore depends on the bead radius, the height of the sample, and the shaking frequency. As our main result, we find that these dependencies can be presented in a factorized form. We present a simple model which accounts for most of our findings.

As it is generally known from everyday experience, the mechanical properties of a granular material change dramatically if some liquid is added. The main reason is the internal cohesion due to capillary forces arising from liquid bridges between the grains Mikami et al. (1998); Israelachvili (1991); Hornbaker et al. (1997); Halsey and Levine (1998); Bocquet et al. (1998); Fraysse et al. (1999). While recent years have seen considerable progress in understanding the dynamics of dry granular materials Ristow (2000); Jaeger et al. (1996); Kadanoff (1999); Dixon and Durian (2003), the physical mechanisms underlying the properties of wet systems still pose many unanswered questions.

In this article we cosider granular matter in a container vibrated vertically with a certain frequency $`\nu `$ and an amplitude $`A`$ Ristow (2000). If this agitation is weak, the particles of the granulate remain fixed and do not move against each other. When the strength of the agitation is increased beyond the so-called fluidization threshold by enhancing $`A`$ or $`\nu `$, the granulate becomes fluidized Ristow (2000). In this state the cohesiveness of the granulate is overcome. This enables a liquid-like flow of the granular matter, e.g. through pipe systems Duran (2000). Furthermore there starts in general a convective flow resembling to that of a fluid. The form of the vibration used in most experiments was a sinusoidal horizontal or, in particular, a vertical vibration. Ristow (2000, 1997); Metcalfe et al. (2002)

In our experiments, we have studied the effect of capillary forces, which are characteristic for wet granular matter, on the fluidization behavior of the granulate 111The only fluidization experiments which are mentioned in literature and concern wet granular matter were done by blowing air through the granulate Simons et al. (1993) and are therefore not immediately comparable to the experiments presented in this paper.. We mounted a small cylindrical glass container (diameter: $`2.5`$ $`cm`$; height: $`4`$ $`cm`$) filled at about three quarters with the granular matter consisting of glass beads on an inductive shaker. The container was shaken vertically with amplitudes between $`1\mu m`$ and $`1mm`$ and frequencies between $`20`$ and $`333Hz`$. We conducted the experiment with several samples composed of particles with radii from $`138\mu m`$ to $`500\mu m`$, respectively. In order to prevent crystallization, the beads in each sample were chosen to be slightly polydisperse: the spread in bead size ranged from 10 to 20 $`\%`$. We added controlled amounts of liquid and shook the sample by hand for some minutes in order to obtain a homogeneous distribution of liquid.

For the results presented here, we used water as the liquid, but similar results were obtained using nonane. We can therefore exclude that leaching of ions from the glass, and other side effects due to the specific properties of water Olivi-Tran et al. (2002), play a significant role.

We measured the fluidization threshold as follows: The shaking frequency $`\nu `$ was fixed at a certain value. The shaking amplitude $`A`$ was increased until a relative motion of the particles was visible through the glass wall. It turned out that this transition was rather well defined, since small variations of less than $`5\%`$ of the amplitude at the critical value were decisive for the existence of the fluidization behavior. From the amplitude and the frequency we calculated the fluidization amplitude:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }:=4\pi ^2\frac{A\nu ^2}{g}$$

where $`g`$ is the gravitational acceleration.

We found that the fluidization acceleration for wet granular matter depends strongly on the water content $`W`$, but also on the bead radius $`R`$, the sample height $`H`$ and the shaking frequency $`\nu `$ as follows:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(W,H,R,\nu )=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0(1+G(W,H,R,\nu ))$$

with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=1.2`$ Ristow (2000) being the value for the dry case. As it turned out, the function $`G(W,H,R,\nu )`$ can be factorized and written as

$$G(W,H,R,\nu )=f(W)h(H)p(R)q(\nu )$$
(1)
i.e. the contribution of each single parameter can be treated separately. This is the main result of this paper. The form of the dependencies is described below.

Dependence on water content: The fluidization amplitude $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ was found to depend strongly on the water content $`W`$ as shown in Fig. 1. For small water contents the fluidization acceleration $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ was a rapidly increasing but smooth function of $`W`$ and went from the value for the dry granulate ($`W=0`$) to a plateau value. The value of the water content at which this plateau was reached, $`W_b`$, was roughly $`0.1\%`$, as is shown in Fig. 1 for different frequencies. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ saturated then at this plateau value and stayed constant till water contents of the order of magnitude of $`10\%`$. The plateau value depended on the frequency $`\nu `$ and the bead radius $`R`$, as we will discuss later in the text.

We can provide an explanation for this behavior in terms of the capillary forces which have a hysteretic character Willett et al. (2000); Crassous et al. (1994); Zitzler et al. (2002); Schulz et al. (2003).

For this we look at first at the capillary forces between two glass beads with a radius $`R`$. As it can be shown analytically Willett et al. (2000), the capillary force between two perfectly smooth beads depends for sufficient small liquid contents only on the radius $`R`$, but not on $`W`$:

$$F_{cap}=2\pi R\gamma $$

with the surface tension $`\gamma `$.

On the other hand it was found experimentally Rumpf (Interscience Publishers, 1962) that for very small water contents and beads with a rough surface, the capillary forces are not constant but decrease monotonically and smoothly to zero for $`W0`$:

$$F_{cap}=2\pi R\gamma f(w)$$

with the volume of a single capillary bridge $`w`$ and $`f`$ being a function which depends on the roughness of the sphere surfaces Halsey and Levine (1998); Willett et al. (2000).

The function $`f(w)`$ is for perfect spheres and complete wetting equal to one but for a rough surface, it tends to zero as $`w0`$. The shape of $`f(w)`$ has been discussed in detail before Halsey and Levine (1998). Based on these considerations, it may be approximated by

$$f(w)=\left[\frac{w}{w+w_0}\right]^\mu $$
(2)
with $`w_0:=R\delta ^2`$ characterizing the roughness amplitude, $`\delta `$. For the exponent, we have $`\mu =(2\chi )/(2+\chi )`$, where $`\chi `$ is the roughness exponent of the bead surface. For (typical) scratch and dig roughness as for our beads, $`\chi `$ is close to zero, and $`\mu 1`$. This corresponds to the regime found by Hornbaker et al. Hornbaker et al. (1997).

At equilibrium, we assume that all of the liquid is in the bridges, $`w=\frac{8\pi R^3W}{3c\rho _p}`$, where $`c`$ is the coordination number of the network of bridges ($`c6`$) Geromichalos et al. (2003a) and $`\rho _p`$ is the packing density of the spheres $`\rho _p0.64`$. Under dynamic conditions the typical bridge volume would be expected to be somewhat smaller than the equilibrium value. Our own measurements Kohonen et al. (2003) suggest that $`w=\alpha R^3W`$, where $`\alpha 0.25`$ Geromichalos et al. (2003b).

We assume that the starting condition for fluidization due to vertical shaking is that the force $`F_0`$ exerted from the vibration is big enough to break the capillary bridges in at least one horizontal plane in the pile. Here the vibrational force is given directly by Newton’s law:

$$F_0=(\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_0)Mg$$
(3)
with the mass of the granular sample $`M`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0:=\mathrm{\Gamma }(W=0)1.2`$ Ristow (2000). The mass of the (cylindrical) pile is given by

$$M=\rho _g\rho _{rcp}HB$$

with the density of the bead material (glass) $`\rho _g`$, the random close packing density for beads $`\rho _{rcp}0.64`$ Scott (1960), the height of the cylindrical sample $`H`$ and its base area $`B`$.

The expression for the force exerted from the capillaries in the relevant horizontal plane is

$$F_{pl}=\frac{B}{R^2}\rho _{2D}2R\gamma f(w)$$
(4)
with the two-dimendional ’density’ $`\rho _{2D}`$ of the bridges which have to break.

From equating (3) and (4), one gets

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(W)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\left(1+\frac{\stackrel{~}{c}f(w)}{HR}\right)$$

with $`\stackrel{~}{c}=\frac{2\gamma \rho _{2D}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\rho _g\rho _{rcp}g}`$. As it can be seen in Fig. 1, this can be used quite well to describe the $`W`$-dependence of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. $`\stackrel{~}{c}`$ was a fitting parameter which was also a function of the bead radius $`R`$ and the shaking frequency $`\nu `$ (see below).

The function $`f(w)`$ connects the bridge formation directly to the roughness. From $`W_00.05\%`$ (see Fig. 1) we get $`\delta 500nm`$, which is similar to the peak-to-peak roughness obtained from the inspection of the beads by atomic force microscopy 222Furthermore we should add that the capillary forces depend strongly on the particle shape as we saw when we did similar experiments with NaCl-cubes and nonane as wetting liquid and found no saturation.. As it can be seen in Fig. 1, the dependence of the fluidization acceleration on the liquid content is described quite well by this theory.

A further prediction is the dependence of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ on $`H`$, which we could confirm at least qualitatively in additional control measurements at $`0.25mmH35mm`$ with $`R=138\mu m`$ and $`W=0.13\%`$ as is shown in Fig. 2. We could could fit the values plotted in Fig. 2 quite well with

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(W,H)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\left(1+\frac{\stackrel{~}{c}f(w)}{R}\left(\frac{1}{H}+\frac{1}{H_c}\right)\right)$$
(5)
The finite limiting value $`H_c`$ may be understood as follows. One ruptured horizontal plane may be sufficient to fluidize the surrounding medium only to a certain vertical distance. Hence in samples with large $`H`$, the initial fluidization occurs in horizontal layers with a thickness $`H_c<H`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ becomes independent of $`H`$. We were able observe this behavior by direct optical monitoring.

Dependence on the bead radius: As already mentioned the dependence of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ on the bead radius $`R`$ proved to be non-trivial. We found $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(W,R)\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ to be proportional to $`\frac{1}{R^\beta }`$ with $`\beta 0.5`$, as shown in Fig. 3 for $`H3cm`$. We were able to describe the data with

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(W,R)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\left(1+\frac{\stackrel{~}{c}f(w)}{R^\beta R_0^{1\beta }}\left(\frac{1}{H}+\frac{1}{H_c}\right)\right)$$
(6)
The deviation of the measured values from the prediction according to Eq. 5 gets larger for smaller and smaller bead radii. Hence we set $`R_0=0.5mm`$ as the value where 5 and 6 yield the same value for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ 333For $`R<R_0`$ the measured fluidization acceleration according is smaller than the value obtained from 5, since $`\beta =0.5<1`$. Assuming that particles with $`RR_0`$ do not form clusters (explained in the text), one would expect $`\beta =1`$ for that case.. Therewith we obtained a $`\rho _{2D}`$ ranging between $`3`$ and $`4`$, which is a reasonable result.

A possible explanation for $`\beta 1`$ is that the particles of a wet granulate tend more and more to form (statistical and temporary) clusters the smaller they are. Since these clusters may behave like single bigger particles Samadani and Kudrolli (2000, 2001), $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(W,R)`$ should be especially for small $`R`$ smaller than the fluidization acceleration expected from Eq. 5. This is consistent with $`\beta <1`$, as observed.

Frequency dependence: The fluidization amplitude turned out to depend also on the shaking frequency $`\nu `$. In general we observed that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ was a concave and monotonous rising function of $`\nu `$. This frequency dependence was most distinctive for small beads and at high liquid contents, although it did not depend very strongly on $`W`$ for the bigger $`R`$. Some sample curves of this dependence are shown in Fig. 4.

The frequency dependence could be fitted with the function

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu )=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\left(1+\zeta \mathrm{ln}(1+\nu /\nu _0)\right)$$

with

$$\zeta :=\frac{C_1\stackrel{~}{c}f(w)}{R^\beta R_0^{1\beta }}\left(\frac{1}{H}+\frac{1}{H_c}\right)$$

(see Eq. 1) for the applied large frequencies with the fitting parameter $`\zeta `$ (and accordingly $`C_1`$), as is shown in Fig. 4. The value of $`\nu _0`$ turned out to be of the order of $`1Hz`$. The frequency dependence was more pronounced for the small beads, i.e. $`\zeta `$ was a monotonous falling function of $`\nu `$. It emerged that $`\zeta (R)`$ was roughly proportional to $`R^\beta `$ (see Fig. 3).

We will now provide a qualitative explanation for this behavior. The amplitudes $`A`$ corresponding to the frequencies $`\nu `$ were only about $`1\mu m`$ for the higher $`\nu `$ which is much smaller than the radii of the glass beads. This means that a translational motion of the glass beads is more and more difficult for higher frequencies and occurs only through many-particle collisions. Thus the rotational degree of freedom becomes more and more important for the higher frequencies which leads to a concave form of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu )`$, since rotational motion is not impeded significantly by small $`A`$ if the particles are perfect spheres 444One important parameter for this dependence is the bead roughness.. We have already mentioned the occurrence of particle clusters in the wet granulate. Since these clusters are irregular, they cannot easily rotate. Hence one expects a more pronounced frequency dependence, i.e. a bigger $`\zeta `$, for the smaller beads where the assumed clusters are more pronounced (see above). This is in qualitative agreement with our measurements.

The rotational motion of non-spherical particles in a granulate consisting of them is much more difficult (as for the case of clusters described above) and depends clearly on $`A`$. Hence we conducted also some experiments with cubes 555We used NaCl with a size of $`300\mu m`$; as wetting liquid we used nonane. (M. Scheel, D. Geromichalos, S. Herminghaus; manuscript in preparation) and other particles like cylinders, river sand and foraminiferes in order to check our assumption. For the case of cubic particles 666$`W=0.3\%`$; $`50Hz\nu 333Hz`$ we observed indeed a very different behavior: The increase of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu )`$ was nearly linear and quite strong 777We observed a linear increase from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }2`$ at $`50Hz`$ to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }8`$ at $`333Hz`$.. The $`\nu `$-dependence of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ was for the other non-spherical particles also linear but not as pronounced as for the cubical case. The dependence $`\zeta _1:=\frac{\text{d}\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu )}{\text{d}\nu }`$ in the case of cylinders was very close to that for the glass beads, while the cases of river sand and foraminiferes lied in-between the observed extremes given by the spheres and the cubes. Concluding it can be said that $`\zeta _1`$ increased with the ’roughness’ (or ’edginess’) of the particles. Furthermore $`\zeta _1`$ was a monotonous rising function of $`W`$ which is also consistent with our explanation of the $`\nu `$-dependence 888The liquid leads to a formation of clusters. This causes an additional obstruction of rotational motions and consequently an increase of the fluidization acceleration..

It is interesting to note that for the beads, with a roughness exponent $`\chi 0`$, we get $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\mathrm{ln}(\nu )`$, while for edgy grains, with $`\chi 1`$ we find $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\nu ^1`$. Whether this finding represents a coincidence or bears some fundamental physics remains to be investigated.

Inspiring discussions with M. Schulz are gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank the German Science Foundation for financial support within the Priority Program ‘Wetting and Structure Formation at Interfaces’.


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# Optical and Infrared Observations of Anomalous X-ray Pulsars

## 1. Introduction

Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) have been classified as a distinct category of neutron stars on the basis of observational properties which they share in common. They were detected as X-ray sources with long ($``$10s) pulse periods. The term anomalous refers to the fact that the power associated with rotational energy loss through spin-down is not sufficient to produce the observed luminosities, nor were they obviously associated with binary companions.

If they are short-lived, as supernova remnant associations suggest, then AXPs along with the Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs) and Dim Isolated Neutron Stars (DINSs) hint at a large population of neutron stars which differ considerably to the radio pulsars and X-ray pulsars in binaries.

The earlies models were based purely on the X-ray properties of AXPs, but with the identification and photometry of the first optical and infrared counterparts, it became possible to test these models against the measured flux ratio $`F_X/F_{IR}`$.

Currently, the forerunner to explain these objects is the magnetar model (Thompson & Duncan, 1996), in which AXPs are neutron stars whith dipole magnetic fields of order $`B>10^{14}`$ Gauss, the decay of which supplies the energy of the observed luminance. Thus they are thought to be very similar objects to the SGRs when in quiescence, although bursting activity has now been seen from AXPs also. This brings into view the prospect of probing the physics of super-QED field physics. One would expect to see variation in the optical or IR, if the emission at those wavelengths is directly related to the processes causing the bursting activity.

Since these first measurements, further optical and infrared observations have been undertaken. It is now starting to be possible to construct spectral energy distributions and to look for broad features. In this way, we can gain more information and another handle on these intriguing objects.

## 2. AXP 4U 0142

Optical and infrared images were taken of the field of AXP 4U 0142+61 using LRIS and NIRC at Keck respectively.

The object was clearly seen in the V, R, I, K and Ks bands, but after two hours of integration there was only a marginal ($`2\sigma `$) detection in the B band, which could be seen either as a tentative detection or a hard upper limit in magnitude. On the plot, Figure 2, the spectral energy distribution (SED) of 4U0142 is shown from the infrared to the X-ray, de-reddened with an $`A_V=5.1`$, the figure inferred from the X-ray column density of hydrogen.

The points to note are that the optical/IR spectral points do not match extrapolations of the blackbody + power law spectrum which was fit to the X-ray (White et al, 1996); there appears to be a break in the continuum in B; there is a marked difference between the K and Ks bands which, due to their spectral proximity, is most easily attributed to variability (since the respective measurements were taken over two and a half years apart). Conversely, the optical flux appears to have been stable.

The choice of reddening has a marked impact on the shape of the SED, but the above three statements remain valid for the range of $`A_V`$ that has been suggested, i.e. $`A_V=2.6`$ from a nearby OB association (Hulleman et al, 2001) to $`5.1`$ from the Hydrogen column inferred from the X-ray spectrum (Patel et al, 2002). Full details of these results are presented in Hulleman (2003).

## 3. AXP 1E 1048

Optical and infrared images were taken of AXP 1E 1048.1-5937 using MagIC and PANIC on the Magellan II (Clay) telescope, Las Campanas and using ISAAC at VLT. See Figure 1 for the I- and Ks-band images. The analysis is still ongoing, and the results presented here are thus preliminary.

The object was detected in the I band at an apparent magnitude of $`I=26.6\pm 0.15`$ after over two hours’ exposure time at superb seeing conditions of $`0.^{\prime \prime }3`$. This may fairly be said to be at the limits of what is possible at the current time. Also, it is worth noting that our Ks band magnitude of $`21.2\pm 0.4`$ is already fainter than that which was measured by Wang & Chakrabarty (2002), but consistent with the upper limits measured by Israel et al (2002). Thus the hope is clearly that here we are seeing the AXP in its quiescent state.

See again Figure 2 where the points for this AXP are also plotted, de-reddened with $`A_V=5.8`$ (Wang & Chakrabarty, 2002). We see that the gradient of the spectrum from Ks to I is now different to what was seen before, different to 4U 0142+61; and that the infrared emission has varied considerably.

## 4. Implications

The results above seem to suggest that the optical emission seems stable whereas the near infrared emission is highly variable. This in turn suggests that the source for the optical and the infrared emission is different, and perhaps that the latter is related in some way to, or more influenced by bursting activity.

The Magnetar model gives a qualitative explanation for the optical/IR flux, in terms of ion currents flowing through the magnetosphere which maintain the global twist in the magnetic field. If this is so, then one would expect a relationship between the torque working on the star and the optical flux. Thus the comparison of optical emission to the spin down history of the AXPs will yield this relationship, and so it is vital that both optical and X-ray monitoring are continued.

There is also the suggestion that the magnetar model may be able to explain the spectral break (seen in the B band of 4U 0142) coming from a particular radius in the magnetosphere, having a weak breaking frequency dependence on the magnetic field ($`\nu _{break}B^{1/5}`$). This is can be verified with further photometry.

## References

Hulleman, F., Tennant, A. F., van Kerkwijk, M. H., Kulkarni, S. R., Kouveliotou C., & Patel, K. 2001, ApJ 563, L49

Hulleman, F., van Kerkwijk, M. H., Kulkarni, S. R., 2003, A&A, submitted.

Israel, G. L., Covino, S., Stella, L., Campana, S., Marconi, G., Mereghetti, S., Mignani, R., Negueruela, I., Oosterbroek, T., Parmar, A. N., Burderi, L., & Angelini, L. 2002, ApJ 580, L143

Patel, S. K., Kouveliotou C., Woods, P. M., Tennant, A. F., Weisskopf, M. C., Finger, M. H., Wilson-Hodge, C., Gurus, E., van der Klis, M., & Belloni, T. 2003, ApJ 587, 367

Thompson, C., Duncan, R. C., 1996, ApJ 373, 322

White, N. E., Angelini, L., Ebisawa, K., Tanaka, Y., Gosh, P. 1996, ApJ 463, L83

Wang, Z., & Chakrabarty, D. 2002, ApJ 579, L33


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# Intrinsic spectral blueshifts in rapidly rotating stars?

## 1 Introduction

Wavelength displacements in stellar spectra are affected not only by stellar radial motion causing a Doppler shift, but also by line asymmetries and shifts caused by, e.g., atmospheric pulsation, surface convection, stellar winds, and gravitational potential. However, for solar-type stars, the net effect of convective blueshifts and gravitational redshifts, as predicted from hydrodynamic model atmospheres, does not exceed 1 km s-1 (e.g., Dravins dravins99 (1999)).

For a few nearby open clusters, it has been possible to determine accurate radial motions from astrometry only, not invoking spectroscopy. Comparing such astrometric radial velocities to spectroscopic data for the Hyades, indicates not only the existence of such convective lineshifts, but also an increasing blueshift of stellar spectra, reaching 3–5 km s-1 for rapidly rotating stars earlier than about F5 V: Madsen et al. (madsen02 (2002)) and Dravins (dravins03 (2003)). Since there do not yet exist any detailed hydrodynamic models of such earlier-type stellar atmospheres from which synthetic spectral-line shifts could be reliably computed, it is not yet possible to theoretically verify the reality of these suggested trends.

In order to examine this effect, we have analyzed spectroscopic data for as large a dataset as possible, using the open-cluster database WEBDA111Available at http://obswww.unige.ch/webda/ . Although its data sets are somewhat inhomogeneous, this permits a study of relative wavelength displacements for ten clusters, as function of stellar spectral type and of rotational velocity.

Five of these clusters have astrometric radial velocities deduced from Hipparcos data (Madsen et al. madsen02 (2002)): Hyades, Pleiades, Coma Berenices, Praesepe and $`\alpha `$ Persei, but only for the Hyades (and perhaps also Coma) is the accuracy adequate to permit studies of not only relative but also absolute wavelength shifts. For stars not measured from Hipparcos, their astrometric radial velocities are estimated by assuming they follow the cluster’s common space motion.

Spectroscopic radial velocities for the other five clusters (IC 2391, NGC 6475, IC 4665, NGC 1976 and NGC 2516) permit studies of relative wavelength shifts relative to their mean. This is possible for clusters of small angular size whose stars share the same velocity vector, so that the variation across the sky of the radial motions is negligible compared to the shifts one is searching for.

All ten clusters have metallicities close to solar. Their ages range from 13 Myr (NGC 1976) to 660 Myr (Praesepe).

## 2 The 10 clusters

Fig. 1 shows absolute wavelength shifts of stellar spectra in the Hyades, plotted as spectroscopic minus astrometric radial velocities. A slight trend of a somewhat increased blueshift (by about 1 km s-1) when going from K-type to mid-F type stars ($`BV`$ from about 1.1 to 0.5) is expected due to the more vigorous convection in F stars, causing increased convective blueshift. However, this trend continues and becomes enhanced for even hotter stars, a region where not many detailed hydrodynamic models have yet been developed. Many of these stars are also rapidly rotating, making it difficult to disentangle whether the dependence is upon spectral type or/and on rotation, or perhaps even on something else. A similar dependence on rotation is suggested also from data for some cool Hyades M-stars: Fig. 2. The trend seen in the Hyades is also present in Praesepe and possibly in Coma Berenices. In $`\alpha `$ Persei the same is seen except for the most rapid rotators (all of spectral type B). For the Pleiades, the trend for earlier spectral types is at best weak, while its M–stars do show a clear correlation, noted also by Terndrup et al. (terndrup00 (2000)); see their Fig. 3. The error bars in Fig. 2 include both the stated spectroscopic errors and the part of the astrometric error coming from the internal velocity dispersion in each cluster. For detailed discussions on the astrometric error budget, see Lindegren et al. (lindegren00 (2000)) and Madsen (madsen03 (2003)).

The rotational broadening of spectral line profiles makes the spectroscopic determination of wavelength shifts difficult in rapidly rotating stars, and even the errors of several km s-1 quoted in the literature may be optimistic. Therefore, one should not draw conclusions from individual data points for rapid rotators in, e.g., Fig. 1, but only from their averages and from the general trends. The statistical scatter may well account for some stars showing apparent redshifts.

The trend of increasing blueshift with higher $`V\mathrm{sin}i`$ can be seen in IC 2391 and NGC 2516, partly in IC 4665, maybe in NGC 1976, but not in NGC 6475 (Fig. 2). In contrast with $`\alpha `$ Persei and maybe the Pleiades, NGC 1976 and IC 4665, the most blueshifted stars in IC 2391 and NGC 2516 happen to be of B-type. It must be noted that all these five clusters generally lack mid- and late A stars, for which the trend is well visible in the Hyades. There is no apparent correlation between the suggested trends and cluster age. For instance, IC 2391 and IC 4665 are coeval (45 Myr), while the Pleiades (130 Myr) and NGC 2516 (110 Myr) have about the same age, but show different trends.

The compiled data sets of spectroscopic radial velocities and projected rotational velocities $`V\mathrm{sin}i`$ are quite inhomogeneous, especially for the early spectral types. Since the number of sources is huge, we only give some references to observations or compilations for the interesting part of Figs. 1 and 2 (i.e. where $`V\mathrm{sin}i`$ shows a trend towards blueshifted spectra). The Hyades set is a mixture of the compilations by Perryman et al. (perryman98 (1998)) and Głebocki & Stawikowski (glebocki00 (2000)), and the observations by Griffin et al. (griffin88 (1988)) and Reid & Mahoney (reid00 (2000)). The Pleiades set mainly comes from Liu et al. (liu91 (1991)), Morse et al. (morse91 (1991)), Raboud & Mermilliod (raboud98 (1998)), Queloz et al. (queloz98 (1998)) and Terndrup et al. (terndrup00 (2000)). Coma Berenices data are largely from Abt & Willmarth (abt99 (1999)). Praesepe data are chiefly from McGee et al. (mcgee67 (1967)), Rachford (rachford98 (1998)) and Abt & Willmarth (abt99 (1999)). Data for $`\alpha `$ Persei primarily come from Kraft (kraft67 (1967)), Petrie & Heard (petrie70 (1970)), Millward & Walker (millward85 (1985)), Prosser (prosser92 (1992)) and Morrell & Abt (morrell92 (1992)). For IC 2391, the data are mainly from Levato & Garcia (levato84 (1984)) and Levato et al. (levato88 (1988)); for NGC 6475 mainly from Abt & Jewsbury (abt69 (1969)), Abt et al. (abt70 (1970)) and Gieseking (gieseking77 (1977)), and for IC 4665 predominantly from Abt & Snowden (abt64 (1964)), Abt & Chaffee (abt67 (1967)) and Morrell & Abt (morrell91 (1991)). NGC 1976 data are for the most part from Abt et al. (abtea70 (1970)), Smith et al. (smith83 (1983)), Morrell & Levato (morrelll91 (1991)) and Abt et al. (abt91 (1991)), while those for NGC 2516 mainly originate from Abt et al. (abtea69 (1969)), Abt & Levy (abt72 (1972)), Herwig (herwig97 (1997)) and González & Lapasset (gonzalez00 (2000)).

Instead of open clusters, binaries may be used to study lineshifts in stars (e.g. Pourbaix et al. pourbaix02 (2002)). However, studies of visual-spectroscopic binaries (Pourbaix pourbaix00 (2000)), including such with one component being a rapidly rotating A star, have not revealed trends of blueshifts correlated with stellar rotation, but the effect could be hidden in the errors of the estimated binary parameters.

## 3 Spectrum shifts due to atmospheric dynamics

Although data for different clusters are thus somewhat scattered, there still remains the suggestion of a common trend, such that more rapid stellar rotation (and early spectral type) correlates with increased spectral blueshift. In this Section, we now look at some plausible mechanisms that might explain such shifts.

### 3.1 Convection

Convective blueshifts of spectral lines occur in solar-type stars due to the correlation between upward motions of photospheric gas, and their local brightness. Rising and blueshifted elements of hot (bright) gas contribute a larger number of photons than the same gas when it has cooled off (is darker) and is sinking (thus redshifted). The effect for the Sun is typically 300–400 m s-1, increasing to about 1 km s-1 in hotter F–type stars (Allende Prieto et al. 2002b ).

The effects suggested by Figs. 1 and 2, however, are of greater magnitude, and are unlikely to be explained by convective blueshifts. This assessment is based on a theoretical grid of 55 two-dimensional hydrodynamic model atmospheres (Ludwig et al. ludwig99 (1999)) for A- to K-type main-sequence stars with solar metallicity. Fig. 3 shows the run of the horizontal and vertical component of the convective velocity at Rosseland optical depth unity, as function of $`BV`$. For the conversion from effective temperature to color, a semi-empirical relation in Alonso et al. (alonso96 (1996)) was used. Some scatter is apparent: the large velocities in six models around $`BV=0.3`$ are due to radial oscillations which are not of convective origin, and maximum convective velocities of about 2.2 times solar are found at $`BV=0.33`$ (7000 K). For a given stellar surface contrast, the velocity scaling should be indicative of also the scaling for line shifts. For mid F-type dwarfs some enhancement occurs due to an increased granular temperature contrast but even then the convective blueshift would not exceed about 1 km s-1, at least not in the optical wavelength region. Velocities and temperature contrasts quickly drop towards A-type objects, reducing the shifts.

The convective blueshift so far discussed is not correlated with stellar rotation. However, a dependence could arise if rapid rotation would somehow modify the convective flows under the influence of Coriolis and centrifugal forces, enhancing the blueshift.

The horizontal scale of granulation seems to be proportional to the pressure scale height at optical depth unity (Freytag et al. freytag97 (1997)). The velocities of Fig. 3 lead to convective turn-over time scales for A- to G-type dwarfs within a factor 2 of the solar value ($`10`$ min). Even at rotation rates close to break-up, turn-over time scales remain more than one order of magnitude shorter than the rotational period, rendering Coriolis forces rather ineffective for modulating the convective surface structures. Centrifugal forces reduce the effective surface gravity, producing more “giant-like” conditions. At given effective temperature, lower-gravity models tend to produce larger shifts, but observed velocity spans of line bisectors in giants hardly exceed 2 km s-1 (Gray & Nagel gray89 (1989), Allende Prieto et al. 2002a ). Since large lineshifts can be expected to be accompanied by also large line asymmetries, it appears improbable that lineshifts of 3–5 km s-1 could be produced by effects of rotation on convection.

### 3.2 Pulsation

Gas motions where upward velocity correlates with increased brightness may cause blueshifted spectra, irrespective of the scale of the gas flows. Quite a few among the rapidly rotating earlier-type stars showing spectral blueshifts reside in the area of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram populated by Delta-Scuti-type and similar variables. The sign of the effect appears correct in the sense that maximum outward motion in these pulsating stars occurs near the phase of stellar maximum brightness; thus an average over a pulsation cycle should lead to somewhat blueshifted lines.

Although the number of \[known\] pulsating Delta Scuti stars in open clusters is not especially great (Antonello & Pasinetti Fracassini antonello98 (1998); Rodríguez & Breger rodriguez01 (2001)), several are rapidly rotating and might influence our statistical trends. Detailed studies of the radial-velocity and line-shape variations have been made for a few larger-amplitude Delta Scuti stars (e.g., Dravins et al. dravins77 (1977); Yang et al. yang87 (1987)), but larger pulsational amplitudes are confined to the slow rotators (Breger breger00 (2000)). Since typical amplitudes in Delta Scuti stars are modest (maybe 3 km s-1), and typical photometric amplitudes only some per cent, these appear inadequate for causing a statistical bias of the magnitudes suggested by Figs. 1 and 2.

### 3.3 Meridional circulation

Wavelength shifts may offer a possibility to study large-scale stationary flows across stellar surfaces, such as meridional circulation. In a rotating star, meridional flows are generated with – in the simplest case – rising motions at the poles and sinking at the equator (Sweet sweet50 (1950)). The classical theory predicts very slow motions, occurring on the Kelvin-Helmholtz time-scale of the star, implying slow flows even in fast rotators. However, the classical theory becomes questionable at the flow boundaries (for a discussion see Tassoul tassoul00 (2000)) due to divergent solutions towards infinite flow speeds. Hitherto, this problem has not been clarified, not excluding the possibility that meridional flows in the atmosphere could be faster than at first expected. In our case, the measured spectral-line displacements originate mainly from the upper stellar photosphere, while the classical theory is about motions in stellar interiors. Issues include whether the very much lower densities in stellar atmospheres (as compared to the interiors) somehow might cause more rapid flows there (to perhaps conserve momentum), whether there are counter-rotating “cells” near stellar surfaces (Tassoul & Tassoul tassoul83 (1983); their Fig. 1), or other dynamic issues connected with the relatively thin line-forming layers.

Related large-scale flows at the stellar surface are thermally driven “winds”: rotation leads to gravity darkening, i.e. a non-uniform temperature distribution, with the stellar poles hotter than the equatorial regions. A localized heating of an atmosphere was studied by Showman & Guillot (showman02 (2002)) in the context of driving (zonal) winds on irradiated extra-solar giant planets. They find wind speeds up to 2 km s-1 for temperature contrasts similar to those expected on rapidly rotating stars.

The radial-velocity component of a meridional circulation pattern is much smaller than its tangential component (e.g. Tassoul tassoul00 (2000)). The tangential velocity is – again in the simplest case – directed from the poles towards the equator of a rotating star. Such a flow seen equator-on would spectroscopically produce a net blueshift, seen pole-on a net redshift. Stars having a large $`V\mathrm{sin}i`$ are likely observed nearly equator-on, and for such stars one would expect blueshifts. However, even if one assumes little cancellation by the averaging of the velocity field over the visible stellar hemisphere, the velocities needed to produce the observed lineshifts have to be comparable to the sound speed. Such flow velocities appear difficult to sustain under the dissipative influence of shock formation (e.g., Landau & Lifschitz landau82 (1982)).

### 3.4 Shock-wave propagation

Despite the fact that full 3-dimensional hydrodynamic models with ensuing spectral-line synthesis have not yet been developed for A-type and hotter stars, various 2-dimensional atmospheric models are becoming available. One sequence of such models, at temperatures near the onset of convection, are being developed by Holweger (holweger03 (2003)). Models for main-sequence A-type stars of 8200 and 9000 K effective temperatures show that the atmosphere is highly dynamic. It moves up and down in a pulsation-like manner and is traversed by numerous shocks which pass up through the photosphere at supersonic velocities of typically 20–30 km s-1. Rising shocks (moving towards the observer) appear blueshifted; they are accompanied by density enhancements and plausibly must contribute blueshifted spectral-line components. Given their great amplitudes, it does not seem unreasonable that a statistical bias of the blueshifted profiles could well amount to several km s-1, the amounts we have been discussing.

In the absence of a detailed treatment of line formation in these models, various weighting functions can be applied on the vertical velocity field to get an indication of likely wavelength shifts for the spectral lines. By weighting the local vertical velocity field with the local internal energy $`E_i`$ (a rough proxy for spectral-line excitation), a displacement is found, mimicking spectral blueshifts of 1–2 km s-1 (Holweger holweger03 (2003)).

A further factor is that the corresponding radial-velocity signatures probably become better visible in rapidly rotating stars. The wavelength shift of any stellar spectrum is normally determined through a cross-correlation of the observed spectrum with some spectral template, and then the main weight comes from the flanks of the sharper stellar spectral lines. For slowly rotating stars, many photospheric lines (originating in the lower atmosphere) contribute to the radial-velocity signal. In rapid rotators, however, the spectral broadening causes most weak lines to become very shallow and not contributing much to the radial-velocity signal which is then weighted towards the wavelength positions of the flanks of the stronger lines (such as the Balmer lines from hydrogen). Those typically originate in the upper photosphere, at those greater atmospheric heights where the rising shockwaves have become more fully developed, and where one could expect their blueshifted contributions to be more significant.

Even if, obviously, any genuine comparison with theory must eventually include detailed line-profile synthesis, we find this scenario the most plausible among the ones considered for explaining the intrinsic blueshifts in rapidly rotating early-type stars. Further observational tests should include analyses of differential wavelength shifts within the spectra of individual stars, both between their weaker and stronger lines, and between the flanks and wings of stronger ones.

## 4 Systematic shifts due to template mismatch

Systematic wavelength shifts could also result from instrumental effects in the process of measuring and deducing radial velocities. Radial-velocity instruments often use a cross correlation template taken from a slowly rotating cooler star. However, for a rapidly rotating hotter star, such a template may have a zero-point mismatch in wavelength since the rotational broadening blends different spectral-line groups than those in cooler stars (e.g., Morse et al. morse91 (1991); Verschueren et al. verschueren99 (1999); Griffin et al. griffin00 (2000)).

Even if effects of this type are present to some degree, we find it unlikely that they could amount to the several km s-1 suggested by observations (identified effects rather appear to lie on levels of 0.5–1 km s-1).

## 5 Effects on open-cluster studies

Irrespective of their cause – physical or instrumental – the existence of systematic blueshifts in some fraction of open-cluster stars can influence precise studies of cluster membership and dynamics. For stars whose membership in a cluster is doubted, a probability of membership is normally computed, taking into account the observed deviation of the star’s motion from that of the cluster as a whole. Obviously, if for some groups of stars such measures are systematically shifted due to other effects, these stars may erroneously be rejected as cluster members (or non-members included).

Also biases may enter for any kind of studies of cluster dynamics that are based upon spectroscopic radial velocities. The effects are likely to be greatest for groupings with many rapidly rotating stars, in particular young clusters and OB-associations.

## 6 Conclusions

Absolute and relative wavelength shifts permit certain studies of stellar atmospheric dynamics. For some nearby, well-studied open clusters, indications are that rapidly rotating stars (especially those of early spectral types) have their spectra blueshifted by 3–5 km s-1. Having searched for mechanisms that might produce such shifts, we conclude that one plausible candidate appears to be upward propagating shock waves, now seen in hydrodynamic simulations of hotter stars. However, other mechanisms cannot be excluded, and will probably be required to explain the apparently analogous trends seen also for rapidly rotating M-type dwarfs. Irrespective of their causes, such shifts may influence assigned cluster membership for any star, and affect the deduced cluster dynamics. The phenomenon may also imply that rapidly rotating field stars could have underestimated radial velocities.

Future analyses of these phenomena should include, on the observational side, large and homogeneous data sets, and also separate wavelength measurements for different classes of spectral lines. On the theoretical side, the primary need is for synthetic spectral line profiles computed from hydrodynamic model atmospheres.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work, supported by the Swedish Research Council, The Swedish National Space Board, and the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund, has made extensive use of the open–cluster database WEBDA and the SIMBAD database at CDS.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In non-supersymmetric theories, such as QCD, it is very difficult, if possible at all, to perform reliable analytic calculations in the non-perturbative regime. In the supersymmetric version of the theory the situation is much better, due to holomorphy. In particular the exact gluino condensate  can be evaluated in $`𝒩=1`$Super-Yang-Mills.

In previous publications  we suggested a precise way of copying non-perturbative results from a supersymmetric theory to a certain non-supersymmetric theory named orientifold field theory (due to its realization via orientifold type-0 string theory ). The orientifold theory is an SU$`(N)`$ gauge theory coupled to a Dirac fermion in the two-index antisymmetric representation, $`\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }+\overline{\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }\text{ }}`$. Similarly, one can consider  a generalized orientifold QCD (or $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$), which consists of $`N_f`$ flavors of Dirac fermions in the antisymmetric representation $`(N_f1)`$.

Our purpose here is to carry out an explicit calculation of the quark condensate in one-flavor QCD anticipated in Ref. . Let us briefly recall the idea behind such a calculation. Consider three one-parameter families of gauge theories, the above-mentioned parameter being $`N`$, of their common gauge group SU$`(N)`$:

* Pure Yang Mills (YM) theory also known as gluodynamics;
* $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{F}`$ i.e. standard ’t Hooft’s extension of QCD at arbitrary $`N`$ (the number of quarks in the fundamental plus anti-fundamental representation $`N_f`$ is kept fixed);
* $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{A}`$, i.e. the SU$`(N)`$ gauge theory with $`N_f`$ Majorana fermions in the adjoint representation.

In Ref.  we made a simple observation that, as $`N`$ increases, the generalized orientifold theory $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ interpolates between the three other theories above. Indeed, at $`N=2`$, the fermions of $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ are gauge singlets, and, therefore, $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ reduces to YM. At $`N=3`$, $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ obviously coincides with $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{F}`$. Moreover, at $`N\mathrm{}`$ the bosonic sector of $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ goes into that of $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{A}`$ — a straightforward generalization  of the results of Ref. . This last observation becomes particularly interesting for one massless flavor, since in this case the limiting large-$`N`$ theory $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{A}`$ is nothing but the supersymmetric generalization of YM theory — SYM theory also known as supersymmetric gluodynamics. We will limit our attention to this case hereafter.

A consistency check of the above statements can be made by comparing the coefficients of the $`\beta `$ functions of these theories at different values of $`N`$, as well as the anomalous dimensions of the corresponding fermion bilinears $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$. In Table 1 we present this check for the $`N_f=1`$ case under discussion.

| $`\frac{\text{ Theory}}{\text{ Coefficients}}`$ | YM | $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{F}`$ | $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ | SYM |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`\beta _0`$ | $`\frac{11}{3}N`$ | $`\frac{11}{3}N\frac{2}{3}`$ | $`3N+\frac{4}{3}`$ | $`3N`$ |
| $`\beta _1`$ | $`\frac{17}{3}N^2`$ | $`\frac{17}{3}N^2\frac{13}{6}N+\frac{1}{2N}`$ | $`3N^2+\frac{19}{3}N\frac{4}{N}`$ | $`3N^2`$ |
| $`\gamma `$ | $``$ | $`\frac{3(N^21)}{2N}`$ | $`\frac{3(N2)(N+1)}{N}`$ | $`3N`$ |

Table 1.

We use the standard definition of the coefficients of the $`\beta `$ function from PDG, see Ref. ,

$$\mu \frac{\alpha }{\mu }2\beta (\alpha )=\frac{\beta _0}{2\pi }\alpha ^2\frac{\beta _1}{4\pi ^2}\alpha ^3+\mathrm{}$$
(1)
The coefficients can be found in , where formulae up to three loops are given. The anomalous dimension $`\gamma `$ of the fermion bilinear operators $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is normalized in such a way that

$$\left(\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }\right)_Q=\kappa ^{\gamma /\beta _0}\left(\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }\right)_\mu ,\kappa \frac{\alpha (\mu )}{\alpha (Q)},$$
(2)
and $`\mu `$ and $`Q`$ denote the normalization points. For our present purposes we can limit ourselves to the two-loop $`\beta `$-functions and the one-loop anomalous dimensions. We can check easily that the various coefficients of $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ go smoothly from those of YM ($`N=2`$) through those of $`\mathrm{QCD}_\mathrm{F}`$ ($`N=3`$) to those of SYM theory at $`N\mathrm{}`$.

Since many non-perturbative properties of SYM theory are known, the large-$`N`$ expansion will provide us with information on the non-perturbative behavior of one-flavor QCD at $`N=3`$, modulo $`1/N1/3`$ corrections. The planar equivalence method is applicable to a large class of bosonic correlators and can be tested, in principle, in lattice calculations. In this letter we will concentrate our attention on a one-point function, the quark condensate, which has been explicitly computed in SYM theory, and measured on the lattice.

## 2 Renormalization-group-invariant quantities with a smooth large-$`N`$ limit

In order to carry out our calculation we need to define, for each theory, renormalization-group-invariant (RGI) fermion-bilinear operators and compare their vacuum expectation values (VEV’s) with the appropriate power of the corresponding fundamental RGI scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Furthermore, we would like always to deal with quantities that can be expanded at large $`N`$ and fixed ’t Hooft ($`N`$-independent) coupling $`\lambda `$,

$$\lambda \frac{g^2N}{8\pi ^2}=\frac{\alpha N}{2\pi },$$
(3)
as a (possibly asymptotic) power series in $`1/N`$. It turns out that this latter requirement calls for a slightly unconventional definition of the above quantities since at fixed $`\lambda `$ a non-integer power of $`g^2`$ behaves as a non-integer power of $`N`$ and is, thus, non-analytic at $`N=\mathrm{}`$.

The standard (two-loop) definition of the scale parameter $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, which follows from the conventions of Ref. , is

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{standard}}=\mu \left(\frac{16\pi ^2}{\beta _0g^2(\mu )}\right)^{\beta _1/\beta _0^2}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{8\pi ^2}{\beta _0g^2(\mu )}\right).$$
(4)
(For further details see Appendix A.) Because $`g^2`$ is multiplied everywhere by $`\beta _0`$, Eq. (4) does not suffer from the above-mentioned problem; it defines an $`N`$-independent constant of dimension of mass. In what follows, it will be convenient to adopt a more general definition,

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_c=\mu \left(c\lambda (\mu )\right)^{\beta _1/\beta _0^2}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{N}{\beta _0}\frac{1}{\lambda (\mu )}\right),$$
(5)
where the constant $`c`$ has a finite large-$`N`$ limit around which it can be expanded. In the standard definition $`c=\beta _0/(2N)`$, cf. Eq. (4). For the time being we will keep $`c`$ as a free parameter, and will discuss the sensitivity of our results to the choice of $`c`$ later. In a similar manner we introduce RGI bifermion operators as 111 The kinetic term of the fermion fields is canonically normalized, i.e. $`=\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\overline{)}D\mathrm{\Psi }`$.

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }_{\stackrel{~}{c}}N^2\left(\stackrel{~}{c}\lambda (\mu )\right)^{\gamma /\beta _0}\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(6)
where $`\stackrel{~}{c}`$, like $`c`$, has a smooth large-$`N`$ limit. Its impact on $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }_{\stackrel{~}{c}}`$ will be discussed later. Equation (6) will be applied both to the gluino condensate in SYM theory and to the quark condensate in the orientifold theory. With the above definitions the condensates and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$’s approach finite limits as $`N\mathrm{}`$. Moreover, the ratio

$$R(N)=\frac{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }_{\stackrel{~}{c}}}{\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^3}$$
(7)
also approaches a finite limit at large $`N`$ in both theories, and enjoys a smooth $`1/N`$ expansion.

## 3 The gluino condensate and the large-$`N`$ limit of the orientifold condensate

In SYM theory, where a number of exact results were obtained, the general considerations of Sect. 2 simplify considerably. First of all, the expression for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in Eq. (5) becomes exact  rather than the two-loop approximation,

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{SYM}}^3=\mu ^3\left(\frac{1}{c\lambda (\mu )}\right)\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{\lambda (\mu )}\right).$$
(8)
(In this case the standard value of $`c=3/2`$.) Furthermore, the definition (6) of the gluino condensate becomes

$$\lambda \lambda _{\stackrel{~}{c}}\frac{1}{N^2}\left(\stackrel{~}{c}\lambda (\mu )\right)\lambda ^{a,\alpha }\lambda _\alpha ^a.$$
(9)
Note that we deal here with the holomorphic part, there is no complex conjugate term in the right-hand side. The reason is that the exact results for the gluino condensate are routinely presented in terms of the holomorphic condensate, see below. Generally speaking, the VEV $`\lambda ^{a,\alpha }\lambda _\alpha ^a`$ is complex. We will assume the vacuum angle $`\theta `$ to vanish. Then one can choose the vacuum state in such a way that $`\lambda ^{a,\alpha }\lambda _\alpha ^a`$ is real. We will discuss shortly how the gluino condensate defined in this particular way is mapped onto the orientifold theory.

The exact expression for the gluino condensate in SU($`N`$) supersymmetric gluodynamics can be obtained from weak coupling considerations . All numerical factors are carefully collected for SU(2) in the review paper . A weak coupling calculation for SU($`N`$) with arbitrary $`N`$ was carried out in . Note, however, that an unconventional definition of the scale parameter $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is used in Ref. . One can pass to the conventional definition of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ either by normalizing the result to the SU(2) case  or by analyzing the context of Ref. . Both methods give the same result, see Appendix A. When expressed in terms of our $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{SYM}}`$ it gives, for the ratio defined in Eq. (7)

$$R_{\mathrm{SYM}}(N)=\frac{c\stackrel{~}{c}}{2\pi ^2}.$$
(10)
This result is exact, there are no $`1/N`$ corrections. Note that all existing calculations of the gluino condensate were done in the Pauli-Villars (PV) regularization scheme. Equation (10), as it is, holds in that scheme. However, as we explain in Appendix B, for SUSY gluodynamics with dimensional reduction the PV scheme gives the same result as the more currently used $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ scheme. Thus, all results following from (10) can be viewed as referring to the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ scheme.

Now let us turn to the orientifold theory which is planar equivalent to supersymmetric gluodynamics. The first question to ask is the mapping of $`\lambda ^{a,\alpha }\lambda _\alpha ^a`$ onto $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_{[ij]}\mathrm{\Psi }^{[ij]}`$. There are many ways to establish a proper normalization. The simplest way is the comparison of the corresponding mass terms. The Dirac fermion $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ of the orientifold theory can be replaced by two Weyl spinors, $`\xi _{[ij]}`$ and $`\eta ^{[ij]}`$, so that the fermion mass term becomes:

$$m\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }=m\xi \eta +\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.,$$
(11)
while in softly broken SYM the mass term has the form

$$\frac{m}{2}\lambda \lambda +\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.$$
(12)
Thus,

$$\frac{1}{2}\lambda \lambda \xi \eta ,\text{or}\lambda \lambda \overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }\text{at}\theta =0.$$
(13)
The same identification is obtained from comparison of the two-point functions in the scalar and/or pseudoscalar channels in both theories.

In the orientifold theory

$$\frac{\gamma }{\beta _0}=\frac{\left(1\frac{2}{N}\right)\left(1+\frac{1}{N}\right)}{1+\frac{4}{9N}}=1+O(1/N),$$
(14)
and

$$\frac{3\beta _1}{\beta _0^2}=\frac{1+\frac{19}{9N}\frac{4}{3N^3}}{\left(1+\frac{4}{9N}\right)^2}=1+O(1/N).$$
(15)
The nonperturbative planar equivalence  implies

$$R_{\mathrm{OR}}(N)=R_{\mathrm{SYM}}\stackrel{~}{K}(1/N),\stackrel{~}{K}(1/N)=1+O(1/N),$$
(16)
where the $`O(1/N)`$ terms in $`\stackrel{~}{K}`$ reflect deviations from the SYM/OR equivalence at non-planar level.

Expressing the result in terms of the conventional fermion bilinear through Eqs. (6) and (10) we arrive at

$`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_{[ij]}\mathrm{\Psi }^{[ij]}(\mu )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{N^2}{2\pi ^2}}\mu ^3\left(\lambda (\mu )\right)^{(\gamma /\beta _0)3(\beta _1/\beta _0^2)}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{3N}{\beta _0\lambda (\mu )}}\right)`$ (17)
$`\times `$ $`\stackrel{~}{K}(1/N)c^{1(3\beta _1/\beta _0^2)}\stackrel{~}{c}^{1(\gamma /\beta _0)}`$
where all quantities refer to those of $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$, see Eqs (14) and (15).

This is our final general result. It shows a dependence on the choice of $`c`$ and even more so on $`\stackrel{~}{c}`$ (since its exponent is of order $`1/2`$). Such dependence can be absorbed, however, in the definition of the factor $`\stackrel{~}{K}(1/N)`$ modifying just the sub-leading terms. We, thus, rewrite (17) in a simpler form

$`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_{[ij]}\mathrm{\Psi }^{[ij]}(\mu )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{N^2}{2\pi ^2}}\mu ^3\left(\lambda (\mu )\right)^{(\gamma /\beta _0)3(\beta _1/\beta _0^2)}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{3N}{\beta _0\lambda (\mu )}}\right)K(1/N),`$
$`K(1/N)`$ $`=`$ $`1+O(1/N).`$ (18)
## 4 Finite-$`N`$ corrections and numerical results

The fact that $`\mathrm{QCD}_{\mathrm{OR}}`$ goes into YM theory at $`N=2`$ implies the vanishing of the fermion condensate at $`N=2`$. In other words we know for sure that the function $`K(1/N)`$ (as well as the previously introduced $`\stackrel{~}{K}(1/N)`$) must have a zero at $`N=2`$. Moreover, arguments can be given that this zero is of the first order. Then we can write

$$K(1/N)=\left(1\frac{2}{N}\right)K_{}(1/N),$$
(19)
where $`K_{}(1/N)`$ is supposed to be free from “large” $`1/N`$ corrections. Assuming that $`K_{}(1/3)`$ differs from 1 by $`\pm 30\%`$ at most, and setting $`N=3`$, we arrive at the final formula for the quark condensate in one-flavor QCD

$$\frac{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_{[ij]}\mathrm{\Psi }^{[ij]}(\mu )}{\mu ^3}=\frac{3}{2\pi ^2}K_{}(1/3)\left(\lambda (\mu )\right)^{1578/961}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{27}{31\lambda (\mu )}\right),$$
(20)
where $`\lambda (\mu )=3\alpha _s(\mu )/2\pi `$, see Eq. (3).

As has been already mentioned, we expect non-planar corrections in $`K_{}`$ to be in the ballpark $`\pm 1/N`$. If so, three values for $`K_{}(1/3)`$,

$$K_{}(1/3)=\{2/3,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}4}/3\}$$
(21)
give a representative set. The only thing we need now is the value of $`\lambda (\mu )`$. Given $`\mu `$, $`\lambda _{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(\mu )`$ and Eq. (21) one can get a numerical evaluation of the predicted quark condensate in one-flavor QCD.

The problem is that one-flavor QCD is different both from real QCD, with three massless quarks, and from quenched QCD in which lattice measurements have been recently carried out . In quenched QCD there are no quark loops in the running of $`\alpha _s`$; thus, it runs steeper than in one-flavor QCD. On the other hand, in three-flavor QCD the running of $`\alpha _s`$ is milder than in one-flavor QCD.

To estimate the input value of $`\lambda _{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(\mu )`$ we resort to the following procedure. First, starting from $`\alpha _s(M_\tau )=0.31`$ (which is close to the world average) we determine $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}^{(3)}`$. Then, with this $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ used as the input, we evolve the coupling constant back to 2 GeV according to the one-flavor formula. In this way we obtain

$$\lambda (2\mathrm{GeV})=0.115.$$
(22)
Then

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }=\{0.014,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0.021},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0.028}\}\mathrm{GeV}^3,\mu =2\mathrm{GeV},$$
(23)
corresponding to three values of $`K_{}`$ in Eq. (21).

A check exhibiting the sensitivity of our prediction to the value of $`\lambda (2\mathrm{GeV})`$ is provided by lattice measurements. Using the results of Ref.  referring to pure Yang-Mills theory one can extract $`\alpha _s(2\mathrm{GeV})=0.189`$. (Here and below everything is in $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$.) Then, as previously, we find $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}^{(0)}`$, and evolve back to 2 GeV according to the one-flavor formula. The result is

$$\lambda (2\mathrm{GeV})=0.097.$$
(24)
The estimate (24) is smaller than (22) approximately by one $`\sigma `$. This is natural since the lattice determinations of $`\alpha _s`$ lie on the low side, within one $`\sigma `$ of the world average. Using Eq. (24) we would get then

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }=\{0.05,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0.07},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0.09}\}\mathrm{GeV}^3,\mu =2\mathrm{GeV},$$
(25)
Now we have to compare our prediction with an “empiric” value of the quark condensate in one-flavor QCD. Chiral perturbation theory allows one to determine the quark masses (see e.g. ). The Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner (GMOR) relation  then implies

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }=0.015\pm 0.005\mathrm{GeV}^3,\mu =2\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(26)
One should remember that the very basis of this derivation, the GMOR relation, implies three light flavors. One can hope, though, that this particular quantity, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$, is not very sensitive to the number of light flavors, although it is difficult to assign any uncertainty associated with the $`N_f`$ dependence.

Lattice measurements of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ were performed  in quenched QCD. Two methods were used. The first determination was based on the measurement of the strange quark mass through a fit of the $`K`$-meson mass to its empiric value. Then $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ was extracted from the GMOR relation. The second determination was a direct measurement of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$. Both methods agree as far as the central value is concerned, while the uncertainties are much larger in the latter method. We quote here the result  obtained in the first method,

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }=0.019\pm 0.004\mathrm{GeV}^3,\mu =2\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(27)
If, instead, one uses Eq. (47) of Ref.  and substitutes there $`a`$ in physical units from Ref. , one gets

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }=0.012\pm 0.004\mathrm{GeV}^3,\mu =2\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(28)
In view of the above, it is not unreasonable to assume that the quark condensate in one-flavor QCD lies between these values. Our educated guess is

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{one}\mathrm{fl}\mathrm{QCD}}=0.016\pm 0.005\mathrm{GeV}^3,\mu =2\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(29)
Comparison with Eq. (23) exhibits a significant overlap! Given all uncertainties involved in our numerical estimates, both from the side of supersymmetry/planar equivalence and the “empiric” side, we can state with satisfaction that the agreement is quite remarkable.

## 5 Conclusion

We started from supersymmetric gluodynamics where powerful methods, such as holomorphy, allow one to exactly calculate the gluino condensate. We then applied the non-perturbative planar equivalence obtained in  in conjunction with the orientifold large-$`N`$ expansion  to predict the value of the quark condensate in one-flavor massless QCD, up to subleading $`1/N`$ corrections. This seemingly first quantitative application of a $`1/N`$ expansion in $`D=4`$ produces a value for the quark condensate in remarkable agreement with the “empirical value.” Hopefully, this may pave the way to a whole new line of research based on translating a variety of exact results in supersymmetric theories to ordinary one-flavor QCD.

Two extensions of our method look worth being considered:

* Evaluation of subleading $`1/N`$ corrections, for which we were only able to give rough estimates here;
* Extension of our method in the direction of connecting non-supersymmetric or $`𝒩=1`$ supersymmetric theories to $`𝒩2`$ theories for which even more is known.

Whether or not either one of these developments can be carried out remains to be seen.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank Leonardo Giusti for informing us of recent lattice results and to Valya Khoze for clarifying to us the definition of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in Ref. . Special thanks go to Andre Hoang for bringing to our attention Ref. , to Philippe de Forcrand who deciphered for us Refs.  and to Arkady Vainshtein for discussions of the Pauli-Villars vs. $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ schemes. We are grateful to A. Czarnecki, K. Chetyrkin and A. Kataev for communications.

A.A. thanks the Albert-Einstein-Institüt for warm hospitality. The work of M.S. was supported in part by DOE grant DE-FG02-94ER408.

## Appendix A. Master formulae

In this Appendix we present basic formulae which are repeatedly used as an input in the bulk of the paper.

The master formula for the gluino condensate in SU($`N`$) supersymmetric gluodynamics is

$`\lambda _\alpha ^a\lambda ^{a\alpha }`$ $`=`$ $`32\pi ^2M_{\mathrm{PV}}^3{\displaystyle \frac{1}{g^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{8\pi ^2}{Ng^2}}\right)`$ (A.1)
$`=`$ $`4NM_{\mathrm{PV}}^3{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\lambda }}e^{1/\lambda },`$ (A.2)
where $`M_{\mathrm{PV}}`$ is the mass of the Pauli-Villars regulator, $`g^2`$ is the coupling constant at $`M_{\mathrm{PV}}`$, the gluino field is normalized in such a way that the fermion part of the Lagrangian is ( assuming that the vacuum angle $`\theta =0`$)

$$_{\mathrm{ferm}}=\frac{i}{g^2}\overline{\lambda }^{\dot{\alpha }}D_{\dot{\alpha }\alpha }\lambda ^\alpha .$$
(A.3)
For numerical comparisons we need to know $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}^{\mathrm{one}\mathrm{fl}}`$. This quantity is estimated in a number of ways in Sect. 4. We use the standard formala  for the running gauge coupling constant at two loops,

$$\alpha (\mu )=\frac{4\pi }{\beta _0\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mu ^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}}\left(1\frac{2\beta _1}{\beta _0^2}\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mu ^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}}{\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mu ^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}}+\mathrm{}\right).$$
(A.4)
The corresponding expression for $`\lambda `$ is quoted in Eq. (4).

## Appendix B. The Pauli-Villars vs. $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ regularization schemes

All existing calculations of the gluino condensate are performed in the Pauli-Villars scheme, while all perturabative calculations and experimental determinations are routinely carried out in the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ scheme. Therefore, for our purposes it is necessary to know the relations between the corresponding $`\alpha `$’s or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$’s.

The first derivation of this relation can be found in ’t Hooft’s pioneering paper , see Sect. 13. Unfortunately, the key expression (13.7) contained an error which, unfortunately, propagated in part in some reviews, e.g. Ref. . It was corrected by Hasenfratz and Hasenfratz , see also Ref. , as well as in a later reprint of Ref.  (see ). In pure Yang-Mills theory

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{PV}}=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{22}\right).$$
(B.1)
The difference is entirely due to the fact that the vectorial index $`\mu `$ of the gauge connection $`A_\mu ^a`$ takes $`D`$ rather than four values in $`D`$ dimensions. In QCD with $`N_f`$ flavors $`1/22`$ must be replaced by $`\left(224\frac{N_f}{N}\right)^1`$.

In supersymmetric theories the situation is slightly more complicated on the one hand, and considerably simpler, on the other. Indeed, dimensional regularization per se cannot be used since it breaks the balance between the number of the fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom. For instance, in SUSY gluodynamics the standard dimensional regularization would effectively imply $`D2`$ bosonic degrees of freedom and $`2`$ fermionic.

The problem is fixed by using dimensional reduction with the subsequent application of the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ procedure. The supersymmetry is maintained because even in $`D4`$ dimensions the numbers of the fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom match.

The most crucial point can be expressed as follows. In the ’t Hooft language the difference between the PV and $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ schemes comes entirely from the non-zero mode parts of the determinants (quantum corrections in the instanton background). If one uses a more straightforward perturbative language, one can split the calculation of the gauge coupling renormalization (by virtue of the background field method, in a weak background) in two parts — the one associated with the magnetic interaction with the background field, and the one associated with the charge interaction. It is easy to see that the magnetic part produces no difference between PV and $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$. The difference is entirely due to the charge part, which is in one-to-one correspondence with the non-zero mode parts of the determinants in the instanton calculation.

For non-supersymmetric theories one must carry out a special dedicated calculation to analyze the difference between PV and $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$. In supersymmetric theories the charge-interaction part in the gauge coupling renormalization cancels (by the same token all non-zero mode determinants in the instanton background cancel). This cancellation is due to the balance between the number of fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom. Thus, dimensional reduction plus $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ procedure give rise to the same $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ as the Pauli-Villars regularization,

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{PV}}=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}},\text{SUSY dimensional reduction}.$$
(B.2)


text:
# Investigation of the spectra of coupled polaritons on the periodically modulated metallic layer and the narrow regions of anomalous transparency

## 1 Introduction

A metal-dielectric interface is known to be able to sustain surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) , i.e., collective excitations of surface electron density coupled to the electromagnetic field. Since the SPP phase and group velocities are less than the velocity of light, the SPPs cannot be excited by external electromagnetic wave falling on a perfectly flat metal surface . Nevertheless, when the film is periodically modulated and a spatial period of modulation coincides with the wavelength of SPP, the latter can be excited by a normal incident electromagnetic wave. This leads to the well-known Wood anomalies discovered in 1902 for the reflectance spectra of metallic gratings illuminated by $`p`$\- ($`TM`$-) polarized light . Later these anomalies were associated with the SPP excitation . Since then both reflection  and transmission  gratings are of great interest to physicists. In reflection gratings two types of anomalies have been predicted theoretically  and later confirmed experimentally : the effect of SPP excitation is responsible for the existence of one anomaly111Here it is necessary to underline that except the SPP excitation there exists another type anomaly related to the parameters (wavelength, angle of incidence) such that one of the diffracted orders intersects the boundary between propagating and evanescent waves. From the formal point of view it corresponds to the branch point in a Fourier expansion and was first indicated by Lord Rayleigh in discussion on Wood’s experiments. For good metals this anomaly is close to that related to the SPP excitation. Note that for infinitely conducting media these two anomalies coincide. These two anomalies are often called as Wood anomaly (in a broad sense); it seems better to call the former Wood anomaly and the latter Rayleigh anomaly., and the other one exists when the depth of the grating grooves exceeds some critical value (of order of the quarter wavelength). The latter anomaly is associated with the standing waves having the field energy highly concentrated inside the grooves. Transmission gratings exhibit an unusual property: this kind of structures can be highly transmitting at certain frequencies . As it was originally shown in paper , there are two types of transmission resonances in the transmission grating: coupled SPP s on both horizontal surfaces of the metallic grating, and cavity modes located inside the slits. The authors of paper  preferred to identify these resonances as horizontal and vertical SPP resonances, respectively. Recently these resonances have been confirmed experimentally .

Another kind of transmitting structures was proposed recently: a flat, optically thick metal film, perforated with the subwavelength hole 2D array . The transmission of light through these structures (due to SPP resonance) can be much larger than that expected from the standard aperture theory . Notice that this extraordinary transmission effect has potential applications  in subwavelength photolithography, near-field microscopy, wavelength-tunable filters, optical modulators, and flat-panel displays.

To obtain the high transmittancy of the metal film, instead of hole array one can use the films with spatially modulated dielectric constant . The transmission of the electromagnetic wave through the flat metal film, whose dielectric constant has 1D modulation of sinusoidal shape, was considered in paper . It has been found that at the SPP resonance such dissipation-free films become fully transparent regardless of its thickness; however, the width of transmission resonance shrinks when the film thickness increases. Recently, an attempt of analytical treatment of optical transmission through periodically modulated metal films capable of supporting SPPs has been presented in paper . However, in the above-mentioned paper the coupling between SPPs on different film boundaries has not been taken into account explicitly. Also the authors of papers  neglected the field dissipation in the metal film and obtained the expression for film transmittancy without taking into consideration the off-resonance second spatial field harmonic.

In this paper we examine theoretically transmission of a plane normally incident electromagnetic wave through the flat metal film with dielectric constant being periodically modulated in one in-plane dimension. We analyze the transmittance in the case where the periodicity is caused by a sinusoidal shape modulation. The dependencies of the film transmittancy upon incident wave frequency, modulation depth and film thickness are investigated. It is found that the film transmittancy increases considerably when the conditions for resonance interaction between the incident electromagnetic wave and SPPs are satisfied and light absorbtion is small. It is shown that the dependence of the film transmittancy upon incident electromagnetic wave frequency exhibits two maxima, which correspond to the resonances on symmetric and antisymmetric SPP modes. The values of the film transmittancy in the vicinity of maxima can be much higher than that of the unmodulated film. It is shown that when the losses in the metal are taken into account, a certain optimal modulation depth (which maximizes the film resonance transparency) corresponds to each value of the losses.

The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we derive the algebraic expression for the modulated film transmittancy. In section 3 the transmission properties of the film are analyzed and the numerical results are presented. The paper is concluded with a brief summary of results and possible applications (section 4).

## 2 Problem statement and main equations

Consider a flat metallic film of a finite thickness $`d`$, supposing that the film/air boundaries coincide with the planes $`z=0`$ and $`z=d`$ (see Fig.1). Besides, the dielectric constant of the film is considered to be modulated along direction $`x`$ as

$$\epsilon (x)=\epsilon _m^{}(1i\delta +a\mathrm{cos}(gx)).$$
(1)
Here $`\epsilon _m=\epsilon _m^{}(1i\delta )`$ is the complex dielectric permittivity of an unmodulated metal ($`\epsilon _m^{}<0`$), $`\delta `$ is the loss angle tangent, $`a`$ is the modulation depth, $`g=2\pi /b`$ is the modulation wavenumber ($`b`$ is the period of modulation).

The plane p-polarized electromagnetic wave is assumed to propagate in a positive $`z`$-axis direction. Since the solution of our problem has to be uniform along direction $`y`$, we can assign $`\frac{}{y}0`$. Besides, we suppose that $`\stackrel{}{E},\stackrel{}{H}\mathrm{exp}(i\omega t)`$. In this case the Maxwell equations for p-polarized electromagnetic wave can be represented in the form ($`E_y=H_x=H_z=0`$):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{H_y(x,z)}{z}}={\displaystyle \frac{i\omega }{c}}\epsilon (x)E_x(x,z),`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{H_y(x,z)}{x}}={\displaystyle \frac{i\omega }{c}}\epsilon (x)E_z(x,z),`$ (3)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{E_z(x,z)}{x}}{\displaystyle \frac{E_x(x,z)}{z}}={\displaystyle \frac{i\omega }{c}}H_y(x,z).`$ (4)
Since the dielectric permittivity is periodic, the solution of equations (2)–(4) can be given in the form of Fourier–Floquet series. Due to supposed smallness of the modulation, we can truncate this expansion taking into account three spatial field harmonics only. Thus, the $`y`$-component of the magnetic field can be written as

$$H_y(x,z)=H_0(z)+H_1(z)\mathrm{cos}(gx)+H_2(z)\mathrm{cos}(2gx).$$
(5)
Here $`H_0(z)`$, $`H_1(z)`$,$`H_2(z)`$ are the amplitudes of zeroth, first and second spatial harmonics of magnetic field, respectively.

Substituting the expression (5) in the Maxwell equations, and neglecting the terms of $`a^2`$ order, we obtain

$`H_0^{\prime \prime }(z)+k^2\epsilon _mH_0(z)\alpha H_1^{\prime \prime }(z)=0,`$ (6)
$`H_1^{\prime \prime }(z)\left(g^2k^2\epsilon _m\right)H_1(z)2\alpha H_0^{\prime \prime }(z)\alpha \left[H_2^{\prime \prime }(z)2g^2H_2(z)\right]=0,`$ (7)
$`H_2^{\prime \prime }(z)\left(4g^2k^2\epsilon _m\right)H_2(z)\alpha \left[H_1^{\prime \prime }(z)2g^2H_1(z)\right]=0.`$ (8)
Here $`\alpha =(a/2)(1i\delta )^1`$, and the primes denote the derivatives with respect to $`z`$.

The eigenvalues of the homogeneous set of equations (6)-(8) can be found from the bicubic characteristic equation

$$\left(\gamma ^2P_0^2\right)\left(\gamma ^2P_1^2\right)\left(\gamma ^2P_2^2\right)\alpha ^2\left[\left(\gamma ^2P_0^2\right)\left(\gamma ^22g^2\right)^2+2\gamma ^4\left(\gamma ^2P_2^2\right)\right]=0,$$
(9)
where

$$P_n^2=n^2g^2k^2\epsilon _m,n=0,1,2.$$

The roots of the characteristic equation (9) can be written to within $`\alpha ^2`$ as

$$\gamma _0^2=P_0^22\alpha ^2\frac{P_0^4}{g^2}+O(\alpha ^4),\gamma _1^2=P_1^2\alpha ^2\frac{[P_1^22g^2]^2}{3g^2}+2\alpha ^2\frac{P_1^4}{g^2}+O(\alpha ^4),$$

$$\gamma _2^2=P_2^2+\alpha ^2\frac{[P_2^22g^2]^2}{3g^2}+O(\alpha ^4).$$

The general solution of equations (6)-(8) can be given in the form (since $`|\alpha |1`$, for our purposes it is sufficient to restrict our consideration of the solution to the linear terms in $`\alpha `$)

$$H_0(z)=\left\{B_0^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _0z+B_0^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _0z\right\}+\alpha \varphi _{01}\left\{B_1^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _1z+B_1^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _1z\right\},$$
(10)
$`H_1(z)`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha \varphi _{10}\left\{B_0^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _0z+B_0^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _0z\right\}+\left\{B_1^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _1z+B_1^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _1z\right\}+`$ (11)
$`\alpha \varphi _{12}\left\{B_2^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _2z+B_2^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _2z\right\},`$
$$H_2(z)=\alpha \varphi _{21}\left\{B_1^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _1z+B_1^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _1z\right\}+\left\{B_2^{(s)}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _2z+B_2^{(c)}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _2z\right\}.$$
(12)
Here

$$\varphi _{nl}=\frac{\gamma _l^2nlg^2}{\gamma _l^2P_n^2},n,l=0,1,2,$$

$`B_n^{(s)}`$, $`B_n^{(c)}`$ are the arbitrary coefficients corresponding to the eigenfunctions of equations (6)-(8). The coefficients $`B_n^{(s)}`$, $`B_n^{(c)}`$ are to be obtained by matching the boundary conditions.

The fields outside the film can be found from equations (6)–(8), if we put $`\epsilon (x)=1`$ and $`\alpha =0`$. Apart from this, for the first and the second spatial harmonics we have to use radiation boundary conditions. So, the spatial harmonics of magnetic field outside the film are

$`H_0^{}(z)=H_i\mathrm{exp}\left[p_0z\right]+H_r\mathrm{exp}\left[p_0z\right],H_1^{}(z)=H_1^{}\mathrm{exp}\left[p_1z\right],`$ (13)
$`H_2^{}(z)=H_2^{}\mathrm{exp}\left[p_2z\right],z0,`$
$`H_0^+(z)=H_t\mathrm{exp}\left[p_0\left(zd\right)\right],H_1^+(z)=H_1^+\mathrm{exp}\left[p_1\left(zd\right)\right],`$ (14)
$`H_2^+(z)=H_2^+\mathrm{exp}\left[p_2\left(zd\right)\right],zd.`$
Here $`H_i`$, $`H_r`$, $`H_t`$ are the amplitudes of incident, transmitted and reflected waves, correspondingly, $`H_1^\pm `$, $`H_2^\pm `$ are the amplitudes of the first and the second harmonics, $`p_n=\sqrt{n^2g^2k^2}`$, $`\mathrm{Re}(\mathrm{p}_\mathrm{n})\mathrm{Im}(\mathrm{p}_\mathrm{n})0`$, $`n=0,1,2`$. The tangential component of electric field can be obtained from the equation (2) and with accuracy up to the linear in $`\alpha `$ terms can be represented in the form

$$E_x=\frac{1}{ik\epsilon _m}\left[H_0^{}(z)\alpha H_1^{}(z)+\mathrm{cos}(gx)\left\{H_1^{}(z)2\alpha H_0^{}(z)\alpha H_2^{}(z)\right\}+\mathrm{cos}(2gx)\left\{H_2^{}(z)\alpha H_1^{}(z)\right\}\right].$$
(15)
The continuity of the tangential components of the electric and magnetic field at boundaries $`z=0`$ and $`z=d`$ results in the following system of linear equations

$$\widehat{H}_0X_0+\alpha \widehat{A}_{01}X_1=G.$$
(16)
$$2\alpha \widehat{A}_{10}X_0+\widehat{H}_1X_1+\alpha \widehat{A}_{12}X_2=0,$$
(17)
$$\alpha \widehat{A}_{21}X_1+\widehat{H}_2X_2=0.$$
(18)
Here

$$\widehat{H}_l=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& \eta _l& p_l& 0\\ \mathrm{cosh}\gamma _ld& \mathrm{sinh}\gamma _ld& 0& 1\\ \eta _l\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _ld& \eta _l\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _ld& 0& p_l\end{array}\right),\widehat{A}_{nl}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\varphi _{nl}& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& \eta _l\mathrm{\Phi }_{nl}& 0& 0\\ \varphi _{nl}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _ld& \varphi _{nl}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _ld& 0& 0\\ \eta _l\mathrm{\Phi }_{nl}\mathrm{sinh}\gamma _ld& \eta _l\mathrm{\Phi }_{nl}\mathrm{cosh}\gamma _ld& 0& 0\end{array}\right),$$

$$X_0=\left(\begin{array}{c}B_0^{(c)}\\ B_0^{(s)}\\ H_r\\ H_t\end{array}\right),X_1=\left(\begin{array}{c}B_1^{(c)}\\ B_1^{(s)}\\ H_1^{}\\ H_1^+\end{array}\right),X_2=\left(\begin{array}{c}B_2^{(c)}\\ B_2^{(s)}\\ H_2^{}\\ H_2^+\end{array}\right),G=\left(\begin{array}{c}H_i\\ p_0H_i\\ 0\\ 0\end{array}\right),$$

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{nl}=\varphi _{nl}1,\eta _n=\gamma _n/\epsilon _m$$

The solution of equations (16)–(18) for the fundamental (zeroth), the first and the second spatial harmonics can be written as

$$X_0=\left[\widehat{I}+2\alpha ^2\widehat{H}_0^1\widehat{A}_{01}\widehat{F}^1\widehat{A}_{10}\right]\widehat{H}_0^1G,$$
(19)
$$X_1=2\alpha \widehat{F}^1\widehat{A}_{10}\widehat{H}_0^1G,$$
(20)
$$X_2=2\alpha ^2\widehat{H}_2^1\widehat{A}_{21}\widehat{F}^1\widehat{A}_{10}\widehat{H}_0^1G,$$
(21)
where

$$\widehat{F}=\widehat{H}_12\alpha ^2\widehat{A}_{10}\widehat{H}_0^1\widehat{A}_{01}\alpha ^2\widehat{A}_{12}\widehat{H}_2^1\widehat{A}_{21},$$
(22)
$`\widehat{I}`$ is the unit $`4\times 4`$ matrix. The main features of electromagnetic wave transmission through the modulated film can be deduced from the analysis of expression (19). Matrices $`\widehat{H}_0`$ and $`\widehat{H}_2`$ are the nonsingular matrices. At the same time matrix $`\widehat{H}_1`$ is a singular matrix. The condition $`\mathrm{Det}|\widehat{\mathrm{H}}_1|=0`$, $`\left[p_1\mathrm{tanh}\gamma _1d\eta _1\right]\left[p_1\eta _1\mathrm{tanh}\gamma _1d\right]=0`$ is known to be the dispersion relation for SPP (with wavenumber $`g`$ and frequency $`\omega `$) on the unmodulated film . Thus, if the frequency of an incident wave is far enough from the SPP frequency (i.e. the value of $`\mathrm{Det}|\widehat{\mathrm{F}}|`$ is far from zero), the term, proportional to $`\alpha ^2`$ in expression (19) can be neglected and then $`X_0\widehat{H}_0^1G`$. In other words, the transmittancy of the film with modulated dielectric permittivity is approximately equal to that of the unmodulated film. If the incident wave frequency is close to that of the SPP symmetric or antisymmetric mode of the modulated film (i.e. $`\mathrm{Det}|\widehat{\mathrm{F}}|0`$) then the term proportional to $`\alpha ^2`$ achieves the values of order of unity and becomes comparable with the first term. Therefore, the transmittancy of the film with modulated dielectric permittivity differs considerably from that of the unmodulated film.

## 3 Results

In this section we investigate the dependence of film transmittancy upon frequency, modulation depth, film thickness and losses.

The dependence of the modulated film transmittancy upon the frequency of incident wave is presented in Fig.2. For the comparison the frequency dependence of the unmodulated film transmittancy for the same values of parameters is depicted in Fig.2 by dashed lines. As evident from Fig.2, the frequency dependence of modulated film transmittancy exhibits two resonance maxima. At the same time the value of the modulated film transmittancy at frequencies close to the resonance frequencies is much higher than the value of uniform unmodulated film transmittancy. In particular, when there are no losses in the film (curve 1), the value of the modulated film transmittancy at resonances is equal to unity. In other words, the full transmission of incident electromagnetic wave through the lossless film with modulated dielectric permittivity is possible at two fixed frequencies. The reason for full transparency of the metal film with modulated dielectric permittivity lies in the following. The SPP spectrum of a finite thickness film contains two modes, the high-frequency (HF) symmetric mode and the low-frequency (LF) antisymmetric mode . The SPP symmetric mode is characterized by the fact that the values of the SPP magnetic field at film boundaries $`z=0`$ and $`z=d`$ are equal, and $`z`$-components of the electric field (along with the surface charge density) are of different signs, i.e., the HF eigenmode possesses reflective symmetry with respect to the plane $`z=d/2`$. At the same time the values of the SPP antisymmetric mode magnetic field at the film boundaries have opposite signs. So, the LF eigenmode possesses reflective antisymmetry with respect to the plane $`z=d/2`$. Nevertheless, the absolute values of the SPP electric and magnetic field amplitudes at the film boundaries $`z=0`$ and $`z=d`$ are equal to each other both for the SPP symmetric mode and for the SPP antisymmetric one. Hence, in the case where the film modulation period is equal to the SPP wavelength (i.e. the conditions for the SPP excitation are met) the incident wave upon diffracting on the modulation excites the SPP at boundary $`z=0`$. Further, following the interaction with the modulation, at boundary $`z=d`$ the SPP transforms into the bulk electromagnetic wave, this electromagnetic wave being radiated with the same amplitude as an incident wave (due to the above-mentioned equality between the SPP field amplitudes at both of the boundaries). Thus, the transmittancy of the lossless film with modulated dielectric permittivity is equal to unity if the absorbance in the film is absent and when the conditions for the SPP excitation are met. Fig.2 also shows that as the losses increase, the modulated film transmittancy decreases monotonically. At the same time when losses in the film are taken into account, the maximum value of transmittancy for the LF resonance exceeds that for the HF resonance.

The necessity to allow for the second spatial harmonic in the expression (5) is seen from Fig.3, which depicts the frequency dependence of the second spatial harmonic amplitude at boundary $`z=0`$ in the case where the losses in the film do not exist. As seen from Fig.3, the amplitude of the second spatial harmonic at frequencies far from the SPP resonance frequencies are considerably less than the amplitude of the incident wave. At the same time the value of the second spatial harmonic amplitude in the vicinity of resonances is of the same order as the amplitude of the incident wave. The need to take into account the second spatial harmonic, when the expressions for the modulated film transmittancy and reflectance are obtained, follows from this ratio between the amplitudes of the second harmonic and the incident wave.

The influence of the modulation depth value upon the modulated film transmittancy and upon the value of resonance peak frequency is shown in Fig.4. As Fig.4 illustrates, as the modulation depth $`a`$ increases, the resonance peak frequency decreases monotonically both in the case of LF resonance (curves 1,2 in Fig.4a) and in the case of HF resonance (curves 3,4 in Fig.4b). As it follows from the comparison of curves 1,2, the LF resonance peak frequency is increased, as the film thickness increases (Fig.4a). At the same time the HF resonance peak frequency is decreased, as the film thickness increases (Fig.4b). Note that at LF resonance (Fig.4a), as the modulation depth $`a`$ increases, the value of the transmittance maximum $`T_{max}`$ increases as well (at small values of $`a`$). However, starting from some value of the modulation depth $`a_{opt}`$ ($`a_{opt}0.072`$ for $`\omega _0d/c=0.5`$ and $`a_{opt}0.073`$ for $`\omega _0d/c=1.0`$) the value of $`T_{max}`$ decreases with an increase of $`a`$. At HF resonance (Fig.4b), the value of $`T_{max}`$ reaches its maximum, when $`a_{opt}0.076`$ (for $`\omega _0d/c=0.5`$) and when $`a_{opt}0.072`$ (for $`\omega _0d/c=1.0`$). Thus, both for LF resonance and for HF resonance with the losses in the film being taken into account, there exists a certain value $`a_{opt}`$, which corresponds to the “optimal tuning”: when the modulation depth of the film is equal to $`a_{opt}`$, the resonance transmission of the electromagnetic wave through the modulated film is highest for the given value of losses. This phenomenon can be explained as follows: when the film modulation depth is equal to $`a_{opt}`$, the SPP excitation occurs with the highest effectiveness due to the equality of free space impedance and modulated film impedance. Besides, Fig.4a shows that the value of $`T_{max}`$ at LF resonance is decreased, as the film thickness $`d`$ increases. At the same time in the case of the HF resonance, as the film thickness increases, the value of $`T_{max}`$ increases likewise (Fig.4b).

This phenomenon is illustrated in detail in Fig.5, which presents the dependence of transmittancy maximum value and resonance peak frequency upon the film thickness. As seen from Fig.5, with an increase of the film thickness, the value of transmittance maximum $`T_{max}`$ is decreased monotonically for the LF resonance (curve 1). At the same time at the HF resonance the value of $`T_{max}`$ is monotonically increased with an increase of $`d`$ (curve 2) and in the limit $`d\mathrm{}`$ the values of $`T_{max}`$ for two resonances coincide. With an increase in $`d`$ the resonance peak frequency increases in the case of the LF resonance (curve 1) and decreases in the case of the HF resonance (curve 2).

The dependence of the optimal modulation depth upon the losses is depicted in Fig.6 in the cases of LF and HF resonances. As Fig.6 shows, at small values of losses the value of optimal modulation depth does not depend essentially upon the value of losses. However, at high values of losses and when the film thickness is small (curves 1,1,2,2) the value of $`a_{opt}`$ is decreased monotonically as the value of $`\delta `$ increases. At the same time at large values of film thickness (curves 3,3) and at high values of the losses the optimal modulation depth is increased as the value of $`\delta `$ increases. Besides, as indicated in Fig.6a, with an increase of the film thickness, the value of $`a_{opt}`$ for the LF resonance also increases over the whole range of losses. Nevertheless, at HF resonance (see Fig.6b) as the film thickness increases, the value of $`a_{opt}`$ increases only in the case of high values of losses. However at small values of $`\delta `$ the value of $`a_{opt}`$ for HF resonance is decreased with increasing $`\delta `$. It should be noted that as it follows from the comparison of Fig.6a and Fig.6b, the value of the optimal modulation depth for the LF resonance is less sensitive to the value of losses than the value of the optimal modulation depth for the HF resonance.

The dependence of the transmission resonance width upon the film parameters is shown in Fig.7 and Fig.8. Fig.7 shows the dependence of transmission resonance width upon the modulation depth. As the modulation depth increases (see Fig.7), the transmission resonance width for small values of $`a`$ increases likewise. However, when the modulation depth exceeds a certain value, the transmission resonance width decreases with an increase of the modulation depth. It should be emphasized that the comparison between curves 1 and 2 (Fig.7a) shows that in the case of LF resonance the transmission resonance width is decreased as the film thickness increases. At the same time the comparison between curves 1 and 2 (Fig.7b) results in the fact that at HF resonance the transmission resonance width increases with increasing film thickness. The detailed dependence of resonance curve width upon the film thickness is presented in Fig.8. From Fig.8 one can see the monotonous decrease of the transmission resonance width with increasing film thickness for the LF resonance (curve 1) and also the monotonous increase of transmission resonance width with an increase in film thickness for the HF resonance (curve 2).

## 4 Conclusion

In conclusion, we calculated the transmittance spectra of flat metallic film, whose dielectric constant is periodically modulated in one dimension parallel to the projection of the electric field onto the film surface. The transmittancy spectra has been calculated for the normally incident electromagnetic wave with the wavelength close to the period of modulation. It is found that transmittancy spectra of modulated film exhibits two maxima, the transmittancy of modulated film in the vicinity of maxima being much higher than that of unmodulated film. It is shown that this abnormally high transmittancy arises due to the transformation of incident electromagnetic wave into the symmetric or antisymmetric SPP mode on one boundary and the subsequent transformation of the above-mentioned symmetric or antisymmetric SPP mode into bulk electromagnetic wave on the other boundary. This property enables one to make such film transparent for the incident radiation and it is shown that for small but finite absorption the transmittancy can achieve the values of the order of unity. It is found that when losses in the film are taken into account there exists an “optimal tuning” of the film, i.e. the ratio between the losses and the modulation depth of the film, which corresponds to the highest resonance transmittancy.

The phenomenon of abnormally high resonance transmittancy of the film at certain frequencies can be used in different devices (like optical filters) which have to select assigned frequency. Moreover, this phenomenon can be widely used in photo-lithography, near-field microscopy and photonics.

## Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate our colleague A. Nikitin for helpful discussions.

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