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# Kinematic Evidence for an Old Stellar Halo in the Large Magellanic Cloud

> The oldest and most metal-poor Milky Way stars form a kinematically hot halo, which motivates the two major formation scenarios for our galaxy: extended hierarchical accretion  and rapid collapse . RR Lyrae stars are excellent tracers of old and metal-poor populations . We measure the kinematics of 43 RR Lyrae stars in the inner regions of the nearby galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The velocity dispersion, $`\sigma _{true}=53\pm 10`$ km/s, indicates that a kinematically hot metal-poor old halo also exists in the LMC. This suggests that our galaxy and smaller late-type galaxies like the LMC have similar early formation histories.

In the Milky Way, the old metal-poor objects such as globular clusters and RR Lyrae stars, define an almost spherical halo population . Models of halo formation by accretion  indicate that these old objects formed in small satellite galaxies which were subsequently accreted by the Galaxy, while dissipational collapse models  indicate that the halo formed rapidly before the disk collapsed. If these models apply to small galaxies, we would expect them to show a halo population defined by its oldest objects . At a distance of 50 kpc  the ideal laboratory to test this is the LMC, which is 10 times fainter than our Galaxy. The oldest LMC globular clusters appear to lie in a flat rotating disk whose velocity dispersion is 24 km/s . This disk suggests that the LMC has indeed no kinematical halo of old metal-poor objects, and that therefore the formation of the LMC proceeded without a halo phase. We measured the kinematics of field RR Lyrae stars in the LMC which are known to be among the oldest and most metal-poor objects in this galaxy . This sample is a by-product of the MACHO microlensing project , which provided photometry for about $`8000`$ RR Lyrae stars in a 10 square degree region around the bar of the LMC.

The observations were acquired with the FORS1 multi-slit spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit Telescope 1 (UT1), during the nights of 10 and 11 January 2003. Two exposures of 20 minutes were obtained for each mask containing 5-10 RR Lyrae stars in six central fields of the LMC bar, at distances from 0.7 to 1.5 degrees away from the rotational center (RA = $`05^h17^m.6`$, DEC = $`69^o02^{}.0`$). We used the GRIS\_600B+12 grating, that gives $`R=1000`$ and covers from $`\lambda 3500`$ to $`\lambda 5900`$Å. This resolution is adequate for the measurement of radial velocities even in the broad-lined RR Lyrae spectra, provided that a good signal-to-noise is achieved (Fig. 1). The spectra were reduced using the standard packages APALL and ONEDSPEC within IRAF. HeNeAr lamps were used for the wavelength calibration, which typically have 14 usable lines that yield 0.2 Å rms. In order to measure the velocities, we used both cross correlations and line centroiding, and decided that the latter works better for these wide-line stars, in the presence of line variations with phase. Corrections for the phase  of the Ca line velocities in a few cases do not affect the results. Tests of both methods give similar velocities within 20 km/s rms.

We also measured the kinematical properties of known Mira and Cepheid variables from the MACHO and OGLE catalogue. We observed 64 RR Lyrae, 5 Cepheids, and 23 Miras of the LMC. About 10% of the observing time was devoted to calibrations. Two masks containing RR Lyrae of the globular cluster $`\omega `$ Cen  were acquired using the same setup. Thus, high quality spectra of 17 $`\omega `$ Cen RR Lyrae (5 RRab, 8 RRc, and 4 RRe) were obtained. In addition, a few repeat observations were taken in order to assess the velocity errors. The radial velocities (Fig. 2) were measured by centroiding the lines H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$, H$`\delta `$, and CaII K $`\lambda `$3933.66 Å. We discarded 21 LMC stars that have only one line measured accurately, leaving 43 stars that have 2-4 lines accurately measured. The internal errors measured from the different lines range from 1 to 33 km/s. Of the final 43 stars considered, 29 are RRab, 11 are RRc and 3 are RRe. The dispersions for the velocity measurements add quadratically:

$$\sigma _{obs}^2=\sigma _{true}^2+\sigma _{rms}^2+\sigma _{phase}^2$$

where $`\sigma _{obs}`$ is the observed velocity dispersion (Table 1), $`\sigma _{true}`$ is the real velocity dispersion of the population, $`\sigma _{rms}`$ is the mean error of the individual velocities, and $`\sigma _{phase}`$ is the dispersion in the velocities created because we observe the stars at a random phase.

The $`\omega `$Cen RR Lyrae velocity dispersion varies as a function of distance from the cluster center and as a function of metallicity . For the observed $`\omega `$Cen field, the velocity dispersion of its RR Lyrae should be $`\sigma _{true}=17`$ km/s. We measure $`\sigma _{obs}=20`$ km/s, indicating that $`(\sigma _{rms}^2+\sigma _{phase}^2)^{1/2}=10`$ km/s. The $`\omega `$Cen RR Lyrae spectra have S/N twice as high as the LMC RR Lyrae, and we expect that $`\sigma _{rmsLMC}>\sigma _{rms\omega Cen}`$. The $`\omega `$Cen RR Lyrae were also observed at a random phase. Thus, we expect that the dispersion due to the phase correction of the LMC RR Lyrae should be low.

The Cepheids can be taken as another control sample for our measurements, as they have random phase errors comparable to RR Lyrae. Cepheids and carbon stars in the LMC should be kinematically similar. The velocity dispersion of C stars is $`\sigma _{true}=15`$ km/s . While we measured only 5 Cepheids, the measured velocity dispersion $`\sigma _{obs}=28`$ km/s agrees with the C stars if $`(\sigma _{rms}^2+\sigma _{phase}^2)^{1/2}=24`$ km/s.

The LMC Miras have $`\sigma _{true}=33`$ km/s . This velocity dispersion is the largest of all kinematic tracers measured so far in the LMC . Most of the tracers are of young or intermediate-age, and show disk kinematics. In our Galaxy, the Miras have kinematics intermediate between the disk and the halo . The LMC Miras of our sample yield an observed velocity dispersion $`\sigma _{obs}=43\pm 6`$ km/s . Subtracting in quadrature the true velocity dispersion, gives $`(\sigma _{rms}^2+\sigma _{phase}^2)^{1/2}=28`$ km/s, in agreement with the errors estimated above.

For the final sample of 43 LMC RR Lyrae we measure $`\sigma _{obs}=61\pm 7`$ km/s. This is much larger than the velocity dispersion of any other population, but in order to find $`\sigma _{true}`$, we need to estimate how much is due to errors or the phase correction. The contribution of phase to the dispersion budget was estimated to be $`\sigma _{phase}=20`$ km/s using the radial velocity curves of known RR Lyrae . Based on the control samples discussed above, we assume conservatively $`(\sigma _{rms}^2+\sigma _{phase}^2)^{1/2}=30`$ km/s. This yields $`\sigma _{true}=53\pm 10`$ km/s for the LMC RR Lyrae .

One additional correction that cannot be added as a $`\sigma `$ in quadrature is the LMC rotation. Several young and intermediate-age kinematic tracers have been measured in the LMC, including HII regions, PN, CH stars, Miras, and carbon stars. In the inner regions of the LMC bar these populations are rotating as a solid body, with $`25`$ km/sec/kpc. For a scale of 1 kpc = 1.2o, our fields should not show a rotation component larger than 10 km/s.

In addition, a correction for rotation may not be necessary for the RR Lyrae population, because there is no evidence that this old population follows the LMC rotation. Based on the Milky Way RR Lyrae, one might suspect that the LMC RR Lyrae do not rotate like the rest of the stars. However, a composite RR Lyrae population may be present. For example, earlier interpretation of the RR Lyrae number counts indicated an exponential disk distribution . Multiple components (halo + thick disk) cannot be ruled out without rotation measurements. Our fields are not spread out enough to measure the rotation. In order to measure the systemic rotation of the RR Lyrae population, one would need to observe $`N50`$ stars per field in fields located $`>`$3o away on opposite sides of the bar. We estimate the correction in two ways: using the velocities from HI maps , and using the mean rotation fits of the disk . This correction does not change at all the LMC RR Lyrae velocity dispersion.

The large RR Lyrae velocity dispersion $`\sigma _{true}=53`$ km/s implies that metal-poor old stars are distributed in a halo population. The velocity dispersion for the old RR Lyrae stars is higher than that of the old LMC clusters, although there are too few old clusters to measure the kinematics in the LMC. The presence of a kinematically hot, old and metal-poor halo in the LMC suggests that galaxies like the Milky Way and small galaxies like the LMC have similar early formation histories .

The stellar halo traced by the RR Lyrae amounts only to 2% of the mass of the LMC, which is akin to the Milky Way halo . In consequence, its contribution to the microlensing optical depth should not be important . The ongoing Supermacho experiment would discover an order of magnitude more microlensing events towards the LMC , allowing to test this prediction.

* We gratefully acknowledge suggestions from E. Olszewski, A. Drake, M. Catelan, and C. Alcock, and support by the Fondap Center for Astrophysics 15010003, by the U. S. Department of Energy to University of California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract W-7405-Eng-48, and by the Bilateral Science and Technology Program of the Australian Department of Industry, Technology and Regional Development.


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# Time-resolved Photo-Phonon Spectroscopy of Exchange Coupled 𝐶𝑟^limit-from3+ - Pairs in Ruby

## Abstract

A rather simple method is used to detect at once both optical absorption spectra and excited-states nonradiative transitions in 0,03 at $`\%`$ and 0,16 at $`\%`$ ruby at temperature 2 K. The technique utilizes a time-resolved bolometer detection of phonons, generated by the excited-state nonradiative relaxation following optical excitation with a pulsed tunable dye laser. The observed excitation spectra of phonons well coincide with already known absorption spectra of both single chromium ions and pairs of the nearest neighbors. For the first time the fast ($`0,5\mu s`$)resonant energy transfer from single chromium ions to the fourth- nearest neighbors is observed directly. The new strongly perturbed $`Cr`$-single-ion sites are observed.

The used method can be referred, as photo-phonon spectroscopy. The nonequilibrium phonons (NP), which are created after laser pulse excitation due to radiationless relaxation, can be detected as bolometer temperature changing in real time following laser excitation, if a free length of the phonons is comparable to distance up to a bolometer. Therefore, the bolometer signal amplitude is determined by both the absorption cross section and the radiationless relaxation intensity so both absorption spectra and radiationless relaxation can be studied by this method. For the first time this technique was proposed in Robin and Kuebler (1977). It is a natural development of the photo-acoustic Rosencwage (1980) method. Absorption spectra of ruby in the $`R_1`$ \- $`R_2`$ region were observed in Robin and Kuebler (1977) utilizing sinusoidally chopped light excitation. We use a pulse laser excitation and wider rang of the light wave lengthes then in Robin and Kuebler (1977). It has allowed us to identify the lines of chromium ion pair and to deduct about the fast resonant energy transfer from single ions to the fourth nearest neighbors and about new single ion sites.

The geometry of experiment is shown in Fig. 1. The dye (oxazin 1) tunable laser is used for optical excitation of $`Cr^{3+}`$ ions. It produces light pulses of $`8ns`$ in duration with a repetition frequency 12,5 Hz and a spectral half-width $`0,1\text{Å}`$ at any wave length in the range $`6915\text{Å}÷7100\text{Å}`$. The samples of a ruby have $`Cr^{3+}`$ concentration 0,03 at$`\%`$ and 0,16 at$`\%`$ and thickness (along axis $`C_3`$) $`10,0mm`$ and $`5,0mm`$ accordingly. Linearly polarized laser radiation is transmitted through a sample along the $`C_3`$-axis. The phonon pulse created at passage of laser radiation through a sample are detected by a superconductive Sn- or In-bolometer. The bolometer was evaporated on one of lateral sides of a sample. It’s shape is a meander and area $`3mm^2`$. Samples are immersed in liquid helium which is pumped down to 2 K. The working point of a bolometer is tuned to the inferior part of the linear site of superconductive transition due to an external magnetic field. The bolometer signals are amplified using a wide-band preamp with a small noise signal. Data output is via stroboscopic oscilloscope. All processes of measuring (detecting of a signal, its accumulation and processing, change of a wave length of the laser) were automated.

It is necessary to note, that the laser wave length can be changed with a step, smaller 0,005 Å, however the reflecting monochromator, used by us, did not allow to establish the wave length values with this accuracy. Precisely enough it was possible to establish only the wave length relative change. Besides in the literature there is no unambiguity in wave length values of the $`R_1`$ and $`R_2`$ lines of a ruby. Though some authors give its to within the 0,01 Å, the wave length value, for example, $`R_1`$ lines at helium temperature in different works varies from 6933,6 Å to 6935,0 Å Kisliuk et al. (1969); Engstrom and Mollenauer (1973); Powell and DiBartolo (1972). Therefore, in order to prevent confusion at identification of lines, we further considered, as well as in Kisliuk et al. (1969) where the complete data on absorption spectra and luminescence of the concentrated ruby are cited most, $`\nu (R_1)=14418,52cm^1`$, i.e., $`\lambda (R_1)`$ =6933,6 Å.

When a sample is excited by a laser pulse, the bolometer detects a phonon pulse after some delay time depending on the distance $`L`$ between the impact laser point and the bolometer ($`L=2,5mm`$ for results, shown in Figs. 2-6).

Typical signals are shown in Fig. 2. The spike at the time initial moment in this figure is because the bolometer detects not only phonons, but also the light scattered in the sample. The phonon pulses were observed at all the explored laser wave length band, i.e., that is also and at nonresonance laser excitation, which light frequency was differed from frequencies of optical transitions both single ions as pairs of the nearest neighbors. The reason of nonresonance laser generation of these background phonons is not clear and demands separate studying. During wave length scanning the amplitude of a bolometer signal is measured at some fixed delay time after the laser pulse excitation. The number of accumulation in each point is equal 50. Then the specter is normed on the background, because the dye laser pulse intensity depends on wave length. Further, everywhere, where we shall speak about a phonon excitation specter, the specter received thus will be meant.

At scanning of a wave length of the laser in a low concentrated ruby we observed change of the phonon signal only in the vicinity of the $`R_1`$ and $`R_2`$ lines (see Fig. 3).

As you can see from this figure, the considerable decreasing of the phonon signal is observed at resonant pumping of $`R_1`$ line. Probably, it is caused by decreasing of background phonons generation due to absorption of a laser pulse in volume of the sample, giving to decreasing of the laser pulse intensity. Growth of the phonon signal at the resonance with a $`R_2`$ line may be explained by creation of additional $`29cm^1`$ phonons generated by the excited-state nonradiative relaxation $`2\overline{A}\overline{E}`$ as in Hu (1980) .

The most interesting results were received in the concentrated ruby sample (0,16 at% $`Cr^{3+}`$). In our work the transmission spectrum was measured without use of a monochromator. The wave length of the input laser is varied. The output laser pulse, past through a sample, is detected by a photomultiplier. Rather low peak stability of dye laser pulses, plus usage of the high-speed photomultiplier, importing additional noise, and also is essential a smaller chromium ion concentration gave to that in a transmission spectrum only $`R_1`$ and $`R_2`$ lines were well observed as you can see in Fig. 3. However, when we begin to detect phonon signal on a bolometer, but not a transmission specter, we have received unexpected interesting results (see Fig. 4): There is addition generation of phonons at particular excitation wave lengthes.

In Fig. 4 all known absorption lines of chromium single ions and pairs of the nearest neighbors are shown also. In view of that spectral width of the laser in our experiment about 0.1 A, coincidence of the experimental values of lengths of waves, at excitation on which is observed change of phonon signal, to absorption lines of the nearest neighbors is quite satisfactory. It is visible, that the lines, excitation of which is not accompanying with nonradiative transitions ($`4A3`$, $`4B3`$), are not observed by the method utilized in the given work. Therefore, it is possible to count, that change of the phonon signal is bound to generation of phonons due to nonradiative transitions from optical excited state on a metastable level.

Let’s consider more in details the phonon excited spectra in area $`R_1`$ and $`R_2`$ lines. As you can see in the inset of Fig. 2, $`R_2`$-excited phonon signal differs under the shape from a background phonon signal and has the expressed ballistic character. Indeed, at short times equal the times of flight of ballistic longitudinal and transverse 29 cm<sup>-1</sup> phonons, the bolometer signal amplitude has peaks. The excitation wave lengthes of these phonons peaks are near the transmissivity dip ($`\lambda `$ =6919,26 Å), as you can see in Fig. 5. At increasing of a delay time, these peaks decrease and two new excitation lines of phonons with $`\lambda =6919,85\text{Å}`$ and $`\lambda =6920,17\text{Å}`$ become visible in the phonon excitation spectra. These lines are in longwave area of $`R_2`$ region.

Even more interesting situation is observed in the $`R_1`$ region, as you can see in Fig. 6. Already at small delay times about 0.5 $`\mu s`$ there is well allowed line lower than a $`R_1`$-level on 1,1 A in the phonon excitation specter. It is known, that approximately here there should be the line of the fourth nearest neighbors $`4H3`$ which is very difficult to resolve by direct optical methods: the energy level experimental value is not given in Kisliuk et al. (1969), $`\nu (4H3)=14416,7cm^1`$ Kanskaya et al. (1970); Montagna et al. (1987), $`\nu (4H3)=\nu (R_1)2cm^1`$ Selzer et al. (1977) that is $`\nu (4H3)=14416,52cm^1`$. Just approximately in this place ($`\nu =14416,36cm^1`$, $`\lambda `$ =6934,65 Å.) the peak in the phonon excitation spectra is observed at all delay times, as you can see in Fig. 4 and Fig. 6. Presence or absence of the line located on frequency is little bit lower than $`R_1`$-line, it is very important Selzer et al. (1977); Montagna et al. (1987); et.al. (1994) for examination of mechanisms of migration of energy from single ions to pairs. However intensities of phonon signals on transitions $`4H3`$ and $`4G3`$ pairs are expected equal Montagna et al. (1987), and in our experiment strongly differ. Probably, it is so because at the $`4H3`$-transition frequency simultaneously with pairs the single ions are excited, which fastly transfer energy to ones. It is possible to tell, that for the first time the fast resonance transfer of energy from single ions to pairs of the fourth-nearest neighbors has been detected directly.

At last, you can see in Fig. 4 and Fig. 6, that at increasing of a delay time two new lines become visible in the phonon excitation spectra. One of them ($`\lambda =6933,11\text{Å}`$) is some more to the up of the $`R_1`$ line, and another, very intensive ($`\lambda =6934,3\text{Å}`$) is some more to the down. From the different literary data follows, that the level $`4I3`$ or practically coincides with $`R_1`$-line Kisliuk et al. (1969), or lays above on 0,5 $`cm^1`$ Kanskaya et al. (1970); Montagna et al. (1987). At us the difference between $`\lambda =6933,11\text{Å}`$ and $`R_1`$ lines is almost 1,0 $`cm^1`$. Besides, as against $`4G3`$ and $`4H3`$ lines, this line is not observed at 0,5 $`\mu `$s delay time. Therefore for the statement, that is the line of pairs $`4I3`$ there are no major bases. The not clearest is occurrence of phonon peak with $`\lambda =6934,3\text{Å}`$. At delay times less than 1,0 $`\mu `$s it is not observed at all, and then very fast grows with increasing of delay time, i.e., there is an effective phonon generation delayed in time at this wave length. As the time dependence of this phonon peak sharply differs from ones of $`4G3`$ and $`4H3`$ (and also the third and distant neighbors) we count, that this line originate from strongly perturbed $`Cr`$ single ions, near to but not part of pairs. Indirect confirmation of this conclusion is that almost on the same distance from a $`R_2`$ line the phonon peak (see Fig. 5) also is observed. As you can see in this Figure the dip in the backward photon echo amplitude is by to the strong resonant absorption of the second laser pulse, twice past through a sample. It is visible, that the pairs $`4H3`$ does not render practically any influence on a photon echo signal. Against this some influence of new centers with $`\lambda =6933,13\text{Å}`$ and $`\lambda =6934,3\text{Å}`$ affecting on the photon echo signal shape of uprise and wane versus wave length. It, in our opinion, again testifies for the benefit of that these two lines belong to single chromium ions. Qualitatively similar to our phonon excitation spectrums the spectra of fluorescence excitation were observed in Selzer et al. (1978) at 5,0-$`\mu `$s delay in $`0,51at\%Cr^{3+}`$ ruby at 6 K in the region of the $`R_1`$ \- $`R_2`$ lines. It was assumed in Selzer et al. (1978), that the new lines of fluorescence excitation in vicinity of the $`R`$ lines, are originate from $`R^{}`$ ions. In Selzer et al. (1978) the lines similar to $`6920,17\text{Å}`$ and $`6934,13\text{Å}`$ were concerned to $`N_2`$-excitation lines, and similar to $`6933,13\text{Å}`$ was concerned to $`N_1`$-excitation line.

Thus, it is shown, that the time-resolved photo-phonon spectroscopy appears very sensing method of detection of optical transitions in those excited states which have the strong nonradiative relaxation. A time resolution of the method is defined by a bolometer risetime (it is about $`30,0ns`$ in the case of the $`In`$-bolometer and $`20,0ns`$ in the case of the $`Sn`$-bolometer) and allows to observe the spectra evolution on a nanosecond time scale. A combination of this method and detection of the time-resolved fluorescence excitation spectra give more the complete physical pattern of such phenomena, as, for example, process of energy transfer between single ions and pairs of the nearest neighbors, so up to the end not solved to this day, by that there are all new and new models Jamison and Imbusch (1997) at this problem.

The authors would like to thank Dr. N.K.Solovarov for the helpful discussion of results. This work was in parts support of RFBR grants No. 00-02-16510, 01-02-17730, 02-02-17622 and, ISTC grant No. 2121.


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# HST Observations of Young Stellar Clusters in Nearby Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

While the rich cluster systems in merger galaxies and starbursts have been studied intensively over the past decade, it is sometimes overlooked that even some “normal”, undisturbed spiral galaxies can form highly luminous, young star clusters (Larsen & Richtler 1999; Paper I). Within a distance of 10 Mpc, there are several examples of spirals with rich cluster systems which have been imaged with HST/WFPC2, allowing the properties and environment of individual star clusters to be studied in great detail. By combining the HST images with ground-based photometry, it is possible to look for trends in structural parameters with cluster age and mass, providing potentially valuable clues to the physics of cluster formation and subsequent dynamical evolution.

## 2. Cluster structure versus mass and age

We have recently scanned the HST archive for images of galaxies included in the original survey from Paper I. A total of 17 galaxies were found to have adequate HST data (Larsen 2004). The constraint that the clusters have to be visible on ground-based images is not as severe as it might appear at first, since a high S/N in the HST images is anyway required to measure accurate structural parameters. By fitting “Moffat” models of the form $`P(r)[1+(r/r_c)^2]^\alpha `$, it is possible to constrain both the core radius $`r_c`$ and the shape of the luminosity profile at large radii, parameterised by the slope $`\alpha `$. While these profiles have no physical motivation, they have been shown to fit LMC clusters well (Elson et al. 1987). For $`\alpha =1`$, they are identical to a King (1962) model with infinite concentration parameter.

The left panel in Fig. 1 shows the distribution of envelope slopes for clusters in four age bins. There is a clear tendency for many of the youngest clusters to have extended outer envelopes. This may reflect the density structure of the parent molecular cloud cores, or be a hint that some of these clusters are unbound and expanding. Older clusters gradually evolve towards a King-like profile. In the right-hand panel, the FWHM and half-light radii are shown versus cluster mass. In each panel, the constant-density relation (size $`M^{1/3}`$) is shown with a dashed line, while the solid lines indicate a fit to the data. For the half-light radii, only clusters with $`1<\alpha <5`$ were included in the fit (clusters with $`\alpha <1`$ have poorly defined half-light radii and are shown with diamond symbols). Although both relations show substantial scatter, the fits are significantly shallower than for the constant-density relation. This conclusion is robust to selection effects, which would be expected to produce a bias against extended, low-mass objects.

The main limitation in this study is the difficulty of detecting low-mass clusters older than a few times $`10^7`$ years. This situation is expected to improve when new ACS data become available.

## References

Elson, R. A. W., Fall, S. M. & Freeman, K. C. 1987, ApJ, 323, 54

King, I. R. 1962, AJ, 67, 471

Larsen, S. S. & Richtler, T. 1999, A&A, 345, 59

Larsen, S. S. 2004, A&A, in preparation


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# Ab initio calculation of transport properties of metal-C60-metal junctions

## I Introduction

Using molecules as functional units for electronic device application  is an interesting perspective and a possible goal of nano-electronics. Work in this field has clearly demonstrated that many of the important molecular device characteristics relate specifically to a strong coupling between the atomic and the electronic degrees of freedom, for a popular introduction see reference . However, from a theoretical point of view, the accurate prediction of the properties of atomic and molecular scale devices – including the true I-V curves with as few adjustable parameters as possible – still represents a formidable challenge  despite the advances and wide-spread application of large scale ab initio modeling based on the density functional theory (DFT) over the last two decades

Recall that most of the previous DFT-based ab initio simulations  solve only two kinds of problems: (i) finite systems such as isolated molecules and clusters, as in quantum chemistry; (ii) periodic systems consisting of super-cells, as in solid state physics. However, a molecular electronic device is neither finite nor periodic. Typically, it has open boundaries which are connected to long and different electrodes extending to electron reservoirs far away, and the external bias potentials are applied to these reservoirs. In other words, calculations of finite or periodic systems do not include the correct boundary conditions for a nano-scale device in the quantum transport regime. Therefore, a new formalism for electronic analysis is required to carry out the first principle transport modeling for molecular electronics.

In this article, we briefly outline a formalism that combines the density functional theory with the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green’s functions (NEGF) so that non-equilibrium properties of the quantum transport regime can be predicted from atomistic approach without any phenomenological parameters . To show how it works, we apply our NEGF-DFT approach to investigate a C60 molecule connected to two Au electrodes. The rest of the article is organized as follows: in section II, we present the NEGF-DFT formalism and, in section III, we present the transport properties of the Au-C60-Au tunnel junctions and compare them with the properties of the Al-C60-Al ones. Section IV is reserved for a short summary.

## II NEGF-DFT formalism

The simplest model of a molecular device is schematically shown in figure 1 where a C60 molecule is contacted by two semi-infinite Au electrodes which extend to $`z=\pm \mathrm{}`$ where bias voltage is applied. To calculate the electronic states of such a device, two problems should be solved. First, the infinitely large problem (due to the electrodes) must be reduced to something manageable on a computer, i.e., one has to solve an open boundary problem. Second, one has to find the charge density $`\rho (𝐫)`$ of the molecule and electrodes provided there is a bias voltage across the device, and this is a non-equilibrium problem. From the computational point of view, it is convenient to divide our system into three parts: a scattering region with some portion of electrodes and two metal electrodes extending to $`z=\pm \mathrm{}`$, as shown by the vertical lines in figure 1.

To reduce the infinitely large problem to that defined inside the scattering region (see figure 1), we notice that the effective Kohn-Sham (KS) potential $`V_{\mathrm{eff}}[\rho (𝐫)]`$ deep inside the left or right lead is very close to the corresponding bulk KS potential. This fact makes the boundary conditions to be written in the following form :

$$V_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝐫)=\{\begin{array}{cccc}& V_{l,\mathrm{eff}}(𝐫)=V_{l,\mathrm{bulk}}(𝐫),\hfill & z<z_l,\hfill & \\ & V_{c,\mathrm{eff}}(𝐫),\hfill & z_l<z<z_r,\hfill & \\ & V_{r,\mathrm{eff}}(𝐫)=V_{r,\mathrm{bulk}}(𝐫),\hfill & z>z_r,\hfill & \end{array}$$
(1)
where the planes $`z=z_{l(r)}`$ are the left (right) limits of the scattering region (see figure 1), and $`V_{l,\mathrm{bulk}}(𝐫)`$ and $`V_{r,\mathrm{bulk}}(𝐫)`$ are known. In practice, within the DFT, we only need to match the Hartree potential $`V_\mathrm{H}[\rho (𝐫)]`$ at the boundaries. This can be accomplished by solving the Poisson equation on $`U_\mathrm{H}(𝐫)`$ by use of a 3D real space grid and boundary conditions at $`z=z_{l(r)}`$, and $`V_\mathrm{H}(𝐫)=eU_\mathrm{H}(𝐫)`$. Once the Poisson equation is solved, $`V_\mathrm{H}(𝐫)`$ is matched, and by use of the DFT we can show that $`V_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝐫)`$ is also matched. Thus, equation (1) is valid.

In addition, the 3D real space Poisson solver allows us to deal with any gate potentials, $`V_g`$. In our model, they provide just additional boundary conditions for the electrostatics, so they change $`U_\mathrm{H}(𝐫)`$. Furthermore, once $`V_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝐫)`$ is matched across the boundaries, the charge density $`\rho (𝐫)`$ is automatically matched at the boundaries. The lower panel of figure 1 shows the charge density: although the densities in the leads and in the scattering region are calculated separately, they match perfectly across the boundaries.

The above “screening approximation”  allows us to reduce the infinitely large Hamiltonian of the system to the effective finite one defined inside the scattering region. In this approximation, we neglected any influence the scattering region may give to the leads, but if the portion of the leads included inside the scattering region is long enough, such an approximation is well controlled. On the other hand, the semi-infinite leads do contribute to the scattering region, and this contribution is included through the self-energies $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{l(r)}(E)`$ in the Green’s function $`G(E)`$ of the scattering region, for example,

$$G^R(E)=\left(EH_0V_{\mathrm{ps}}V_\mathrm{H}V_{\mathrm{xc}}\mathrm{\Sigma }_l^R\mathrm{\Sigma }_r^R\right)^1,$$
(2)
$$V_\mathrm{H}=eU_\mathrm{H},\mathrm{\Delta }U_\mathrm{H}(𝐫)=4\pi \rho (𝐫).$$
(3)
Here, $`H_0`$ is the kinetic energy of a valent electron, and the atomic cores of the scattering region are fixed in space and described by pseudo-potentials, so we have $`V_{\mathrm{ps}}`$, and $`V_{\mathrm{eff}}[\rho ]=V_\mathrm{H}[\rho ]+V_{\mathrm{xc}}[\rho ]`$ is the effective KS potential obtained within the DFT. For example, the exchange correlation potential $`V_{\mathrm{xc}}`$ is taken in a simple local form following the polynomial formula suggested in reference , and the (retarded) self-energies due to the semi-infinite left and right electrodes are calculated following an iterative technique described in references .

However, to calculate the charge density $`\rho (𝐫)`$ away from equilibrium due to the bias voltage $`V_b`$, we have to apply the NEGF method . The density matrix of the scattering region is calculated from the so-called lesser Green’s function $`G^<(E)`$ of the scattering region as follows:

$$\widehat{\rho }=\frac{1}{2\pi i}𝑑EG^<(E),\text{where}G^<(E)=G^R(E)\mathrm{\Sigma }^<(E)G^A(E).$$
(4)
Here, $`G^{R(A)}(E)`$ is the retarded (advanced) Green’s function of the scattering region. Note that $`G^<(E)`$ is defined through the Keldysh equation . The lesser self-energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^<[f_l,f_r]`$ can be evaluated within the mean field theory as follows:

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }^<(E)=if_l(E,\mu _l)\mathrm{\Gamma }_l(E)+if_r(E,\mu _r)\mathrm{\Gamma }_r(E),$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{l(r)}=i(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{l(r)}^R\mathrm{\Sigma }_{l(r)}^A)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{l(r)}^{R(A)}`$ is the retarded (advanced) self-energy of the left (right) electrode, and $`f_{l(r)}(E)`$ are the corresponding Fermi distribution functions. Note that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^<[f_l,f_r]`$ is more than a simple Fermi distribution: a fact reflecting the non-equilibrium nature of the problem, $`\mu _l\mu _r`$.

In our numerical procedure, we use a LCAO minimal s, p, d atomic basis set (a real space fireball linear combination of atomic orbitals ) to expand the electron wavefunction and define the effective Hamiltonian matrix $`F`$:

$$H_0+V_{\mathrm{ps}}+V_\mathrm{H}+V_{\mathrm{xc}}F_{jk}[\rho (𝐫)]$$

Here, to calculate $`V_{\mathrm{ps},jk}`$, the atomic cores are described by standard norm conserving nonlocal pseudo-potentials . We evaluate $`G^R`$ by direct matrix inversion, $`G^A(E)=G^R(E)`$, and we construct $`\rho (𝐫)`$ from numerical evaluation of the integral in equation (4) using a suitable contour in the complex plane $`E`$ . Once $`\rho (𝐫)`$ is obtained, we evaluate the KS potential and iterate the above procedure, equations (2), (3), and (4), untill numerical convergence is reached.

Thus, we construct the self-consistent $`\rho (𝐫)`$ by the NEGF technique (it takes care of the non-equilibrium statistics) and we calculate the Hartree potential by solving the 3D Poission equation directly (equation (3) includes all the external fields as the electrostatic boundary conditions). As a result, our NEGF-DFT formalism is able to solve charge transport problems in addition to the conventional electronic structure calculations: we know both the density of states $`\mathrm{DOS}(E)`$ and the density matrix $`G^<(𝐫,𝐫^{},E)/2\pi i`$ of the scattering region. Moreover, we can easily calculate the electron charge on the molecule at nozero $`V_b`$ and $`V_g`$. Of course, the density matrix $`\widehat{\rho }`$ is normalized to the total number of valent electrons in the scattering region,

$$\mathrm{Tr}(\widehat{\rho }S)=N_\mathrm{e}=\mathrm{const},$$

where $`S`$ is the overlap matrix of the atomic orbitals we use. Then, one can introduce the (average) number of electrons in the molecule by calculating this trace over the molecular orbitals belonging to the molecule only:

$$\mathrm{Tr}_{\mathrm{mol}}(\widehat{\rho }S)=N_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{mol}}(V_b,V_g).$$

The difference between the calculated $`N_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{mol}}(V_b,V_g)`$ and $`N_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{mol}}^{(0)}`$ of a free molecule can called an (average) excess charge on the molecule in the units of $`e`$,

$$Q=N_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{mol}}(V_b,V_g)N_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{mol}}^{(0)}.$$

## III Au-C60-Au molecular tunnel junction

In this section we report our analysis on the transport properties of an Au-C60-Au molecular tunnel junction calculated by use of our NEGF-DFT electronic package as discussed above. The device structure is shown in the upper panel of figure 1. So far a considerable amount of theoretical and experimental effort has been devoted to investigate transport properties of C60 and other fullerene molecules . The device we present consists of the fullerene molecule C60 fixed in the middle of two gold electrodes. Here, we consider two distances between the electrodes, $`11.7`$ Å and $`13.7`$ Å. This correspondes to the minimum distance between an Au atom and C atom of $`2.3`$ Å and $`3.3`$ Å, respectively. Each electrode consists of repeated unit cells with nine Au atoms in the (100) direction and extended to infinity. Note that we do not expect that the C60 molecule can be found in the Coulomb blockade regime in such junctions if the electrode separation is small, say $`913`$ Å. The number of electrons in the molecule is not a good quantum number if the interaction with electrodes is strong.

The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics is calculated as follows:

$$I=\frac{2e^2}{h}T(E,V_b)[f_l(E)f_r(E)]𝑑E,$$
(6)
where $`T(E,V_b)`$ is the transmission coefficient at the energy $`E`$ and bias voltage $`V_b`$. The Fermi distribution functions $`f_{l(r)}(E)`$ limit the integration in equation (6) to the small energy range $`eV_b`$ at the Fermi level of the electrodes (in the zero temperature limit). Transmission coefficient $`T(E,V_b)`$ is calculated by use of the Green’s functions  which we have already obtained as a result of the NEGF-DFT self-consistent iterations, so we write

$$T(E,V_b)=\mathrm{Tr}\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_l(E)G^R(E)\mathrm{\Gamma }_r(E)G^R(E)\right].$$
(7)
Here, the matrix $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{l(r)}(E)`$ is related to the line-widths resulting from the coupling of the scattering region to the left (right) lead. It is evaluated in terms of the corresponding self-energy matrices $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{r(l)}`$ as follows:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{l(r)}(E)=i\left(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{l(r)}^R(E)\mathrm{\Sigma }_{l(r)}^R(E)\right).$$
(8)
The retarded Green’s function of the scattering region $`G^R(E)`$ is given as the following matrix:

$$G^R(E)=\left(ESF[\rho ]\mathrm{\Sigma }^R(E)\right)^1,$$
(9)
where $`F[\rho ]`$ is the effective Hamiltonian of the scattering region and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^R=\mathrm{\Sigma }_l^R+\mathrm{\Sigma }_r^R`$ is the total self-energy matrix. The density of state function is calculated from the density of state matrix $`A(E)=i\left(G^R(E)G^R(E)\right)`$ as follows:

$$\mathrm{DOS}(E)=\mathrm{Tr}\left(A(E)S\right)/2\pi .$$

For the Au-C60-Au junctions at $`V_b=0`$, the density of states near the Fermi energy is presented on figures 2 and 3 (the Fermi level is set to $`E_\mathrm{F}=0`$ in this article). Note that at positive gate voltages, $`V_g0`$, the energy levels originated from the LUMO of C60 are partially occupied so they lie near $`E=0`$ and $`Q>0`$ (in the units of $`e`$). At negative gate voltages, $`V_g<V_g^{}<0`$, the energy levels originated from the heighest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of C60 begin to be depopulated, so the energy levels originated from the LUMO of C60 are shifted far to the right from $`E=0`$ and $`Q<0`$ (in the units of $`e`$).

The transmission coefficient obtained from equation (7) is presented on figure 4 as a function of the electron energy $`E`$ for three different bias voltages and the zero gate potential. The sharp peak in $`T(E,V_b)`$ is the result of a resonance transmission through the LUMO of the C60. At $`V_b=0`$, this resonance lies just above the Fermi level of the leads, see figures 2 and 3. As the bias voltage is applied, the peak position shifts toward higher energies. If the system is absolutely symmetric and $`V_b0`$, we would expect the same voltage drop at the two electrode-molecule junctions. In our system, the atomic structures of $`C_{60}`$ facing the left and right electrodes are not the same, and this breaks the left-right symmetry. We therefore observe an asymmetric voltage drop at the two contacts. Consequently, the transmission peak position shifts by about $`0.15`$ eV when $`V_b`$ is increased by $`0.2`$ V, i.e., the applied voltage drops more on one side than on the other side of the C60. We also calculated the I-V curve for this device by use of equation (6); it is shown in the inset of figure 4.

We can easily calculate the equilibrium conductance $`G`$ of the junction, $`G=dI/dV`$. In the linear regime, $`0.25\mathrm{V}<V_b<0.25`$ V, see figure 4, we can use the following formula:

$$G=G_0T(E=E_\mathrm{F},V_b=0)$$
(10)
(valid in the zero temperature limit). Here, $`G_0=2e^2/h`$ is the quantum of conductance. As the positive gate potential changes the occupancy of the LUMO-derived energy levels, we can expect the strong dependence of $`G(V_g)`$ for different separations of the leads. These results are presented in figures 5 and 6.

Similar metallic behaviour has been reported before  for Al-C60-Al junctions at the electrode separation of $`9.3`$ Å (it correspondes to the minimum distance between an Al atom and C atom of $`1.1`$ Å). Note that the work function of Al is $`4.19`$ eV whereas the work function of Au is $`5.3`$ eV. At $`V_b=V_g=0`$, we have $`Q3e`$, $`G2.2G_0`$ for the Al-C60-Al junction  and $`Q0.7e`$, $`GG_0`$ for the Au-C60-Au one (the electrode separation of 11.7 Å). In addition, for the Au-C60-Au device, the current in the linear (metallic) regime is (roughly) one order of value smaler than the current calculated for the Al-C60-Al one.

Here, the interesting physics is that despite the large HOMO-LUMO gap of a free $`C_{60}`$ ($`1.8`$ eV ), we predict metallic transport characteristics for the Au-C60-Au devices, and they are qualitatively the same as the properties of the Al-C60-Al devices. We found that if the $`C_{60}`$ molecule is relatively well bonded to metallic leads, there is a strong charge transfer from the leads to the C60 cage and it partially fills the (empty) LUMO of C60. In other words, charge transfer from the electrodes to C60 aligns the LUMO to the Fermi energy of the leads. As a result, we obtain a large resonance conductance and the metallic I-V curve.

## IV Summary

We have shown that the NEGF-DFT formalism is a powerful technique for modeling charge transport properties of molecular electronic devices. The novelty of this technique is in constructing electron charge density via nonequilibrium Green’s functions and the very effective screening approximation. Since the entire algorithm is based on evaluating Green’s function, the technique is intrinsically $`O(N)`$ : this is because atoms far away from each other do not overlap so that the Hamiltonian matrix is block-diagonal. This has tremendous computational advantage which we demonstrated by calculating the nonlinear I-V curve of the Au-C60-Au molecular tunnel junction.

## Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, le Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l’Aide à la Recherche de la Province du Québec, and NanoQuebec. We gratefully acknowledge Jeremy Taylor and Brian Larade for their contributions throughout the work presented here.


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# BNL-NT-03/19 BI-TP 2003/22 DESY 03-119 Charmonium at finite temperature

## 1 Introduction

The study of charmonium at finite temperature has received considerable interest ever since the seminal paper by Matusi and Satz . The behavior of charmoinum at finite temperature was studied using potential models with some screened potential  and it was found that excited states like $`\psi ^{}`$ and $`\chi _c`$ are dissociated at $`T_c`$ while the ground state charmonia $`J/\psi `$ and $`\eta _c`$ were found to be dissociated at $`1.1T_c`$. In last year’s conference (Lattice 2002) lattice calculation of the charmonium spectral functions were reported  which indicated that in contrast to potential model expectations ground state charmonia may exist up to temperatures as high as $`1.5T_c`$ while $`\chi _c`$ states are dissociated . In this paper we are going to present our results on the charmonium system at finite temperature on isotropic lattice with lattice spacing $`a^1=4.86`$ and $`9.72`$ GeV. The spectral functions were extracted using the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM)  and confirm earlier results on survival of the ground state and dissolution of $`\chi _c`$ states. The survival of the ground state charmonia has been confirmed also very recently in . For other studies of meson spectral functions at finite temperature using MEM see .

## 2 Numerical results

We consider the temporal correlators of meson currents

$$G(\tau ,T)=\underset{\stackrel{}{x}}{}J(\stackrel{}{x},\tau )J(\stackrel{}{0},0),$$
(1)
with $`J=\overline{q}(\stackrel{}{x},\tau )\mathrm{\Gamma }q(\stackrel{}{x},\tau )`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1,\gamma _5,\gamma _\mu ,\gamma _5\gamma _\mu `$ for scalar, pseudoscalar, vector and axial vector channels. The low-lying states in these channels correspond to $`\chi _{c0}`$, $`\eta _c`$, $`J/\psi `$ and $`\chi _{c1}`$ mesons, respectively. The spectral function which we are interested in is related to the meson correlator by the integral relation

$$G(\tau ,T)=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑\omega \sigma (\omega ,T)\frac{\mathrm{cosh}\omega (\tau 1/(2T))}{\mathrm{sinh}\omega /(2T)}.$$
(2)
Although this relation is valid a priori only in the continuum, it has been shown recently that also in the limit of non-interacting theory it holds on the lattice . In our simulations we used non-perturbatively improved Wilson fermions  and the standard Wilson action for gauge fields. The simulation parameters are summarized in Table 1. The $`\kappa `$ values in this table correspond to a vector meson mass close to the actual $`J/\psi `$ mass, i.e. $`3.13(1)`$ GeV at $`\beta =6.64`$ and $`3.83(2)`$ GeV at $`\beta =7.192`$ (these were estimated from the spatial correlators).

In Fig. 1 we show charmonium spectral functions below the deconfinement temperature, $`T_c`$, reconstructed using MEM for two different lattice spacings. One can clearly identify the ground state peak corresponding to $`J/\psi `$, $`\eta _c`$ and $`\chi _c`$ states. The other structures in the spectral functions are lattice artifacts as their position strongly depends on the lattice spacing (they scale roughly as $`1/a`$). In our analysis we have used free lattice spectral functions from  as default model (for other forms, see Ref. ) in MEM analysis.

Below the deconfinement temperature the temporal extent of the lattice is about 1 fm or larger and spectral functions can be reliably reconstructed. As we increase the temperature the temporal extent becomes smaller and smaller and the reconstruction of the spectral function becomes more and more difficult. However, even without reconstructing the spectral function certain statements about their temperature dependence can be made just by inspecting the temperature dependence of the corresponding meson correlators. The temperature dependence of the meson correlators comes from the temperature dependence of the integration kernel in Eq. 2 and from the temperature dependence of the spectral function. In order to separate the former effect from the temperature dependence arising from modifications of the spectral function we consider the ratios $`G(\tau ,T)/G_{recon}(\tau )`$ for different channels with $`G_{recon}=𝑑\omega \sigma (\omega ,T^{})\mathrm{cosh}(\omega (\tau 1/2T))/\mathrm{sinh}(\omega /2T)`$ and $`T^{}`$ being the smallest temperature available at that lattice spacing, i.e. $`T^{}=0.75T_c`$ for the data set with $`a^1=4.86`$ GeV and $`T^{}=0.9T_c`$ for data with $`a^1=9.72`$ GeV. Our numerical results for $`G/G_{recon}`$ are shown in Fig. 2.

As one can see from the figure in the pseudoscalar channel almost no modification occurs at the level of the correlation functions up to temperatures $`1.5T_c`$ but substantial modifications of the correlator are seen at $`3T_c`$. In the vector channel we see small gradual modifications of the correlators with increasing temperature which become substantial at $`3T_c`$. In contrast to this a strong temperature dependence is seen in the scalar and axial vector channels as we cross $`T_c`$.

Now let us discuss the spectral functions above $`T_c`$. Since the physical extent of the imaginary time direction is rather small at high temperature a reliable reconstruction of the spectral function is difficult. In particular one finds that the reconstructed spectral functions are quite sensitive to the default model. Thus a correct choice of the default model is important. As we do not expect medium effects at energies considerably larger than the open charm threshold we will use the high energy part of the spectral function calculated below $`T_c`$ as a default model. At low energy this is matched to a default model of the form $`m(\omega )=m_1\omega ^2`$, with $`m_1`$ chosen such that $`m(\omega )`$ is a continuous function in the entire energy interval. The vector and scalar spectral functions above $`T_c`$ are shown in Fig. 3. For comparison we also plot there the spectral function at $`0.9T_c`$. As one can see the ground state peak in the vector channel (the $`J/\psi `$ state) exists in the deconfined phase up to the temperature $`T=1.5T_c`$ while there is no such peak in the scalar channel even at $`1.1T_c`$, i.e. the $`\chi _{c0}`$ state is dissolved already at that temperature. The calculation of the errors shown in Fig. 3 is explained in .

## Acknowledgment

This work has been authored under the contract DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of energy. Support from DFG under grant FOR 339/2-1 is gratefully acknowledged.


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# Magnetization of Nuclear-Spin-Polarization-Induced Quantum Ring

## Abstract

Properties of a Nuclear-Spin-Polarization-Induced Quantum Ring (NSPI QR) are studied theoretically. In the proposed system a local nuclear spin polarization creates an effective hyperfine field which confines the electrons with the spins opposite to the hyperfine field to the regions of maximal nuclear spin polarization. We investigate the electron energy spectrum and the magnetic response of NSPI QR and their evolution in time due to the nuclear spin diffusion and relaxation.

PACS numbers: 73.23.Ra, 75.75.+a

Nuclear spin polarization in semiconductor heterostructures has several intriguing properties such as the large value of effective nuclear hyperfine field, experienced by electrons, and long longitudinal nuclear spin relaxation time . Nuclear spins embedded into mesoscopic systems were proposed to be used in spintronic devices and for quantum computation (see  and references therein). There are several techniques of polarizing nuclear spins. The most extensively employed methods use the optical pumping scheme  or transport polarization scheme . These techniques are developed to allow local polarization and controllability of nuclear spins .

It has been recently suggested that locally polarized nuclei can be used to confine the electrons of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) into different so-called nuclear-spin-polarization-induced structures -. In these papers the electronic states in NSPI quantum wire , quantum dot -, and periodic structure  were studied. The idea of producing NSPI structures was as following. The local nuclear spin polarization can be described by the effective hyperfine field $`𝐁_{hf}`$, which acts at electronic spins and enters in electronic Hamiltonian through Zeeman-type potential $`\frac{g}{2}\mu _B\sigma 𝐁_{hf}(𝐫,t)`$ . (Here $`g`$ is the electron $`g`$-factor, $`\mu _B`$ is the Bohr magneton and $`\sigma `$ is the Pauli-matrix vector corresponding to the electron spin.) The Zeeman splitting results in that the potential is attractive for electrons with one spin projection and repulsive for others. The energy is proposed to be shifted by the constant potential of the order of the 2DEG Fermi energy ($`eV_{gate}E_F^{2DEG}`$) by the means of the gate located under the 2DEG. Then the potential landscape, created by the inhomogeneous nuclear spin polarization, can be considered as the confining potential

$$U_{conf}(𝐫,t)=\frac{\left|g\right|}{2}\mu _BB_{hf}(𝐫,t).$$
(1)
It is assumed that $`B_{hf}(𝐫,t)>0`$ in Eq. (1). The maximum nuclear field in GaAs can be as high as $`B_{hf}=`$5.3T in the limit that all nuclear spins are fully polarized . This high level of nuclear spin polarization has been achieved experimentally. For example, the optical pumping of nuclear spins in 2DEG has demonstrated nuclear spin polarization of the order of $`90\%`$, . A similarly high polarization has been created by quantum Hall edge states ($`85\%`$) .

In this paper we extend the study of NSPI systems by considering the electronic structure of the NSPI QR. This means that we assume the hyperfine field in Eq.(1) to be axially symmetric and to have maximum at $`rr_0`$ (which can be considered as the characteristic radius of the ring). The energy profile of the system is schematically presented in Fig. 1. The system is placed into an external magnetic field $`𝐁`$ perpendicular to the ring plane, i.e. along $`z`$-axis. It is well known that in such geometry an equilibrium persistent current appears as a direct manifestation of Aharonov-Bohm effect (for a review see , ). The persistent current yields the orbital magnetic moment, which is an oscillating function of the Aharonov-Bohm flux. In the present paper we calculate the magnetic moment of NSPI QR, which may be directly measured in experiments.

We would like to underline the difference of the present investigation from previous works in this field. In Ref.  the interplay of nuclear magnetization and persistent current was considered. The authors of  have shown that the Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations of the persistent current in mesoscopic rings could exist at zero magnetic field as the result of combined action of the nonequilibrium nuclear spin population and charge carrier spin-orbit interaction. The role of the nuclear spin magnetization in Ref.  and in the present paper is different. In NSPI QR the local nuclear spin polarization is used only to confine electrons into a ring and the oscillations of the magnetic moment are because of the evolution of the confining potential, while in Ref.  a time-dependent non-trivial profile of nuclear spin polarization enters into the phase of the electron wave function and causes Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations.

Local nuclear spin polarization is not static. Processes of nuclear spin diffusion and relaxation change the hyperfine field in time making the electron confining potential (Eq.(1)) time-dependent. To find the hyperfine magnetic field $`B_{hf}(r,t)`$ we should solve the diffusion equation with relaxation. We do this as in Refs.  and  assuming that the nuclear hyperfine field has Gaussian distribution at the initial moment of time $`t=0`$. The solution of the diffusion equation with relaxation has a form

$$B_{hf}(r,t)=B_{hf}(r_0,0)e^{\frac{t}{T_1}}\left(1+\frac{t}{t_0}\right)^1e^{\frac{r^2+r_0^2}{2d_0^2\left(1+\frac{t}{t_0}\right)}}I_0\left(\frac{rr_0}{d_0^2\left(1+\frac{t}{t_0}\right)}\right)\text{ ,}$$
(2)
where $`t_0=\frac{d^2}{2D}`$ is a characteristic diffusion time; $`D`$ is the nuclear spin diffusion coefficient; $`T_1`$ is the nuclear spin relaxation time; $`r_0`$, $`d_0,`$ and $`B_{hf}(r_0,0)`$ define the radius, the half-width and the amplitude of the distribution of the hyperfine field at $`t=0`$, respectively; $`I_0(z)`$ is the modified Bessel function. When the width of the ring is smaller than its radius ($`2d_0\sqrt{1+t/t_0}<r_0`$), the approximate expression for the nuclear hyperfine field is:

$$B_{hf}(r,t)B_{hf}(r_0,0)\frac{\mathrm{exp}(t/T_1)}{\sqrt{1+t/t_0}}\sqrt{\frac{r_0}{r}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{(rr_0)^2}{2d_0^2(1+t/t_0)}\right).$$
(3)
This time-dependent hyperfine magnetic field corresponds (due to Eq.(1)) to the confining potential with minimum at $`rr_0`$ , the half-width

$`d(t)d_0\sqrt{1+t/t_0}`$

and the depth

$`V_0(t)={\displaystyle \frac{\left|g\right|}{2}}\mu _BB_{hf}(r_0,t){\displaystyle \frac{\left|g\right|}{2}}\mu _BB_{hf}(r_0,0){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{exp}(t/T_1)}{\sqrt{1+t/t_0}}}.`$

Since the characteristic time of nuclear spin evolution is much larger than the time scale of electron motion in the mesoscopic ring, we can consider the electrons in the quasi-time-independent confining potential $`U_{conf}(r,t)`$ at each moment of time. To proceed, we approximate the exact hyperfine field potential (Eq.(1)) by the following potential

$$\stackrel{~}{U}_{conf}(r)=a_1r^2+a_2r^2+a_3$$
(4)
where $`a_i`$ are time-dependent parameters as described below. Such a potential was a success to model the electronic states in both quantum dots and rings. To make this model potential (Eq.(4)) corresponding to the confining potential of NSPI QR, given by Eqs. (1) and (3), we adjust the position of the minimum, depth and width of these potentials. The following dependence of the coefficients $`a_i`$ on the parameters of the latter potential is obtained: $`a_1=V_0r_0^4/8d^2`$, $`a_2=V_0/8d^2`$, and $`a_3=V_0\left(1+r_0^2/4d^2\right)`$.

The solution of the Schrödinger equation with approximating potential (4) can be expressed in terms of the hypergeometric function ,  and the energy spectrum is

$$E_{n,m}=\left(n+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{M}{2}\right)\mathrm{}\omega +\frac{m}{2}\mathrm{}\omega _c+V_0\left(1+\frac{r_0^2}{4d^2}\right),$$
(5)
where we used the following notations: $`M=\sqrt{m^2\frac{V_0}{E_0}\frac{r_0^2}{8d^2}}`$, $`\omega =\sqrt{\omega _c^2+\omega _0^2}`$, $`E_0=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m^{}r_0^2}`$, $`\omega _c=\left|e\right|B/m^{}c`$ is the cyclotron frequency, $`m^{}`$ and $`e`$ are the electron effective mass and charge, $`n=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ and $`m=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}`$, $`\omega _0=\left(\frac{V_0}{m^{}d^2}\right)^{1/2}`$ stands for the frequency of the parabolic potential to which $`\stackrel{~}{U}_{conf}`$ tends at $`rr_0`$ ($`\frac{d^2\stackrel{~}{U}_{conf}}{dr^2}|_{r=r_0}=m^{}\omega _0^2`$). In the limit of one-dimensional ring ($`\mathrm{}\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _c,`$ $`E_0`$) we obtain from Eq.(5) for $`n=0`$: $`E_{n,m}V_0+\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _0}{2}+E_0\left(m+\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}\right)^2`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the flux of external magnetic field, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0=hc/e`$. The spectrum of NSPI quantum dot can be obtained from Eq.(5) in the limit when the inner ring radius tends to zero. For example in the weak magnetic field, i.e. assuming $`E_0\mathrm{}\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _c`$, we get: $`E_{n,m}2V_0+\mathrm{}\omega _0(n+\frac{1}{2})+\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _0}{2}\left(\left|m\right|+\frac{\omega _c}{\omega _0}m\right)`$.

Further we study the magnetic moment of the electronic system which is given by the standard formula:

$$=\underset{n,m}{}f_F(E_{n,m})_{n,m},$$
(6)
where $`f_F`$ is the Fermi distribution function and the magnetic moment of $`(n,m)`$ state is

$$_{n,m}=\frac{E_{n,m}}{B}=M_0\left(m+\left(M+2n+1\right)\frac{\omega _c}{\omega }\right),$$
(7)
where $`M_0=\frac{e\mathrm{}}{2m^{}}`$.

If we are interested in the magnetic field dependence of the magnetic moment, we would obtain the results thoroughly presented in Ref.. Besides, in NSPI QR there is the time evolution of the nuclear spin polarization due to diffusion and relaxation. The time evolution of the electronic structure of NSPI QR depends upon the relation between two characteristic times, $`T_1`$ and $`t_0`$. Correspondingly three characteristic time-regimes can be discussed as in Ref. . The illustrations of the obtained results are shown on Fig. 2 for the case of ”relaxation regime” when $`T_1<2t_0`$. We present the time evolution of the energy spectrum $`E_{n,m}`$ (Fig. 2a), number of electrons $`N=_{n,m}f_F(E_{n,m})`$ (Fig. 2b), and the magnetic moment $``$ (Fig. 2c) in NSPI QR. We have considered GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure based NSPI QR assuming ring radius $`r_0=1\mu m`$, initial NSPI QR half-width $`d_0=0.1\mu m`$ and initial value of hyperfine field $`B_{hf}(r_0,0)=2.65T`$ (50% of nuclear spins are polarized). The corresponding energies are $`E_0=0.5710^3meV`$ and $`V_0(0)=3.410^2meV`$.

Let us consider the results of our calculations in more detail. In the relaxation regime presented here, the change of the confining potential is described by the first exponential factor in Eq. (3). The amplitude of the confining potential exponentially decreases in time, while the shape only slightly changes due to the diffusion. Consequently, the depth of the energy levels and their number decreases with time (Fig. 2a,b). As the result, the magnetization of electrons in NSPI QR changes its value and sign with time (Fig. 2c). Each sign change of the magnetization occurs when the number of the electron in systems decreases by one. The dependence of the energy spectrum $`E_{n,m}`$, number of electrons $`N`$, and the magnetic moment $``$ on time is characterized by the parameters, which define the value and the profile of the initial nuclear polarization, by the value of external magnetic flux, and by the parameters of the electronic subsystem.

In conclusion, we have studied the electronic spectrum and magnetization of NSPI QR. In this structure the spin-polarized electrons are confined by locally polarized nuclear spins. The most interesting feature of NSPI QR is that its properties are time-dependent at fixed values of external parameters, such as, for example, the applied magnetic field. This effect is due to the nuclear spin diffusion and relaxation processes. Experimental realization of NSPI QR will demonstrate a new kind of mesoscopic phenomenon and can be useful in future spintronic devices. On the other hand, investigation of magnetic moment could be used to extract information on nuclear spin relaxation and diffusion mechanisms.

This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, grant DMR-0121146. S. N. Sh. acknowledges the hospitality of Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory and thanks Yu. A. Kolesnichenko for helpful discussions.


text:
# Cold Dark Matter’s Small Scale Crisis Grows Up

## 1 Introduction

The formation of structure in the universe by the hierarchical clustering is an elegant and well-defined theory that explains observations of the universe on large scales (Blumenthal et al. 1984). In early simulations, it seemed that merging was too efficient to be consistent with the observed hierarchy of structures (White $`\&`$ Rees 1978). This “overmerging” problem was reproduced in simulations for several years (White et al. 1987, Frenk et al. 1988). While overmerging was a virtue on the scale of galaxies, it was a problem for rich clusters of galaxies. Solutions focused on the role of gas dynamics in making lumps within rich clusters of galaxies (Katz $`\&`$ White 1993). Eventually, Moore, Katz and Lake (1996) showed that numerical heating dominated over physical mechanisms unless simulations had nearly $`10^6`$ particles within the virial radius of a cluster. Simulations with this resolution reversed the picture, overmerging disappeared and halos the size of the Milky Way are predicted to have nearly the same scaled distribution of substructure as the Virgo cluster (Moore et al. 1999, hereafter M99; Klypin et al 1999).

This strong prediction can be tested observationally. A Milky Way sized halo should have $``$500 satellites within 500 kpc, with circular velocities greater than 5% of the parent halo’s velocity, i.e. $`V_{cir}/V_{parent}>0.05`$, in contrast to a scant 11 that are observed (Klypin et al. 1999; M99).

It has been suggested that the stellar components of the Milky Way satellites might have accumulated in the core regions of their dark halos where the characteristic velocities $`\sigma `$ are smaller than the asymptotic value of $`V_{cir}`$. The observed velocities of Milky Way’s satellites would be re-mapped to much higher peak values than expected, shifting the objects plotted in Fig.1 (left panel) to the right until they match the theoretical prediction (Hayashi et al. 2003). There are still many satellites missing at lower peak velocities compared to CDM predictions, but these are declared to have gone dark owing to the ejection of gas from systems with low escape velocities of only 20 - 60 km s-1. These objects are also deficient in the field (c.f. Kauffmann, White $`\&`$ Guiderdoni 1993) where the same processes could keep them from being observed.

Is this the solution to the overmerging crisis? The ROSAT X-ray satellite discovered a new class of objects: fossil groups (Ponman et al. 1994). RXJ1340.6+4018 at redshift $`0.171`$ is the archetype with a bright isolated elliptical galaxy $`M_R=22.7`$, surrounded by dark matter and a hot gaseous halo. The spatial extent of the X-ray emission, $`500`$ kpc, the total mass, $`610^{13}`$ M, and the mass of the hot gas correspond to a galaxy cluster $`40`$% as massive as Virgo, and the optical luminosity of the central galaxy is comparable to that of cluster cD galaxies (Jones, Ponman $`\&`$ Forbes 2000, hereafter JPF00). Five additional fossil groups have been confirmed spectroscopically. For one of them, RXJ1416.4 the X-rays temperature is estimated to be $`1.5`$ keV (Jones et al. 2003). Fossil groups are not rare. Their number density is $`2.410^7`$ $`h_{50}^3`$ Mpc-3 using the definition that they have a dominating giant elliptical galaxy with the next brightest object being 2 magnitudes fainter, embedded in a X-ray halo with a luminosity 10-60 % of the Virgo cluster (Vikhlinin et al. 1999; Jones et al. 2003). They comprise $``$20% of all clusters and groups with an X-ray luminosity larger than $`2.510^{42}h_{50}^2`$ ergs-1, and host nearly all field galaxies brighter than $`M_R=22.5`$ (Vikhlinin et al 1999). Their total mass density is comparable to massive galaxy clusters. Their high mass-to-light ratio, $`M/L_R300`$, is comparable to Virgo. The luminosity-temperature relations are also similar (Jones et al. 2003).

We define overmerged systems as objects dominated by a single central object with weak substructure with the Milky Way as a local prototype. In contrast, clusters of galaxies have abundant substructure and a central galaxy with a velocity dispersion that is considerably less than the overall dark halo, the local prototype being the Virgo cluster. In this Letter, we examine overmerging in systems with masses intermediate between the Milky Way and the Virgo cluster.

## 2 The cumulative substructure function in Fossil Groups

We compare the cosmological model predictions (De Lucia et al. 2004) to the substructure function of RXJ1340.6+4018, Virgo and Coma clusters of galaxies, Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) and the Local Group. In Fig.1 the cumulative substructure function is the number of objects with velocities greater than a fraction of the parent halo’s velocity.

For the groups and clusters, we convert luminosity functions (LFs) to substructure functions using using the Tully-Fisher relation for the spirals (Tully & Pierce 2000) and the Faber-Jackson (1976) relation for early-type galaxies. RXJ1340.6+4018 has a velocity dispersion of $`\sigma _{parent}380`$ km s-1 ($`V_{parent}=\sqrt{2}\sigma _{parent}`$) and its brightest galaxy has $`\sigma 260`$ km s-1 (JPF00). The substructure plots skip the largest central galaxy. With the observations, it can be difficult to disentangle the central object from diffuse light in the cluster. However, a greater uncertainty comes from the simulations that might still have too little resolution in the very center of the cluster (Taylor, Silk and Babul 2003). For the second brightest object, we find $`V_{cir}/V_{parent}0.35`$ and proceed down the LF to construct a substructure function. For the Virgo cluster, we use the LF of Binggeli, Sandage $`\&`$ Tammann (1985) and for the Coma cluster the LF of Trentham (1998).

The cumulative distribution of satellites in the Milky Way’s halo and Andromeda’s halo are also plotted. Here, the measured one-dimensional velocity dispersions of satellites (Mateo 1998) are converted to circular velocities assuming an isotropic velocity dispersion (M99).

We would like to have a sample of LFs for objects with intermediate mass between the Local Group and Virgo cluster. There are only a few LFs known in this range, most of them from studies of Hickson (1982) compact groups. Hunsberger, Charlton $`\&`$ Zaritsky (1998) constructed an LF from 39 compact groups. To convert this to the substructure function in Fig.1 (right panel), we adopt $`\sigma 370`$ km s-1 for the typical velocity of the parent’s halo and use the Tully-Fisher relation that Mendes de Oliveira et al. (2003) have shown applies to galaxies in HCGs.

In the right panel of Fig.1, we show a composite substructure function for the 5 loose groups in Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey (2000). These look very different than the other substructure functions, appearing to be shifted strongly to the right compared to the composite for the 39 HCGs. While these objects could be very different, loose groups are likely to have even more contamination than typical HCGs (Hernquist, Katz and Weinberg 1995). Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey (2000) point to the Local Group as an archetype of loose groups. While the Local Group is certainly a physical association, it is not bound and virialized. If we treated it as a group, the Milky Way would appear as the second brightest member and the rest of the points would move upward by a factor of 2. This would indeed be an archetypal substructure function for a loose group. If instead, we wait for the virialization of the group and the merger of M31 and the Milky Way, we would see something extremely similar to the substructure function of the individual virialized systems. While the fist few points of the combined substructure function of the 39 HCGs place them high on the substructure function, the LFs quiclky flatten at the faint end and show a deficit of structure there (right panel Fig.1). The combined substructure function of the 5 loose groups from Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey (2000) show behavior that is intermediate between the HCGs and the brighter clusters.

Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey (1998b) find that their two groups with the greatest number of members (HCG 62 and NGC 741) can be broken into two distinct subgroups. They suspect that the fraction with such structure is much higher than 40% since their statistic is less sensitive for the groups with fewer members and requires an angular offset of the centroids of the subclumps.

In the left panel of Fig.1, the similarity of the substructure function in RXJ1340.6+4018 to the Milky Way and Andromeda is striking. It shows that fossil groups are also overmerged objects. However, for galaxies of any given $`V_{cir}`$ that are missing in the fossil group, galaxies with the same $`V_{cir}`$ appear with the predicted frequency in Virgo and are observed in the field as well. The Virgo cluster contains six L\* galaxies (Binggeli, Sandage $`\&`$ Tammann 1985) with L\* being a characteristic luminosity in the luminosity function and is roughly the luminosity of the Milky Way. Fossil groups show one or no L\* galaxies (Mulchaey $`\&`$ Zabludoff 1999; Jones et al. 2003), while the CDM substructure function would predict a few in each group. The likelihood that the substructure in fossil groups and in the Virgo cluster is drawn from the same, universal cosmological distribution function is negligibly small, especially at the low mass end.

## 3 The transition from Overmerging to Galaxy Clusters

Where does the transition from overmerged systems to galaxy clusters with substantial substructure occur? Is the transition from overmerging to clusters smooth, abrupt or merely ill determined with a scattering of points?

Studies of Hickson (1982) Compact Groups, loose groups (Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey 1998a,b), the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS; Colless et al. 2001), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al. 2000) are sources for catalogs of groups and clusters. Balogh et al. (2003) analyzed both surveys to look at “galaxy ecology” or star formation as a function of environment. Desai et al. (2003) fit some circular velocity functions to a sample from the SDSS and compared this to the large simulation by Reed et al. (2003). The critical range of group velocity dispersions is $`250400`$ km s-1, as this is where one would like to see the transition from overmerging on the scale of galaxies to the abundant substructure in clusters. In this range, there are 39 objects in the HCG sample of (Hunsberger, Charlton $`\&`$ Zaritsky 1998), 5 loose groups in the sample of Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey (1998a), 9 SDSS groups from Desai et al. (2003) and roughly 40 groups from the 2dFGRS (Balogh et al. 2003). Only the HCGs and the loose groups have LFs that are deep enough to be used in the bottom panel of Fig.2. There are a few other sources with not quite enough information to be used. For example, the LFs observed by Muriel, Valotto $`\&`$ Lambas (1998) shows a number of groups with LFs that are similar to the HCG sample of Hunsberger, Charlton $`\&`$ Zaritsky 1998, but the typical velocity dispersions for the groups is unknown.

We plot the number of galaxies brighter than $`M_B<19`$ versus velocity dispersion in the top panel of Fig. 2 using the data from Balogh et al. (2003) and Desai et al. (2003). As expected, the number of galaxies increases with the velocity dispersion of the group. We added a line that shows what one would observe if the substructure function of Virgo were universal. At low dispersion, it appears that objects have more substructure than scaling Virgo. This owes to the criteria that there must be 10 members to be included as a group in the samples. With the cut of $`M_B<19`$, the Milky Way would still be consistent with a scaled Virgo substructure function. At the high velocity dispersion end, there is less substructure than the scaled Virgo substructure function predicts. This is consistent with previous studies where the luminosity function within large clusters was relatively constant rather than scaling with cluster size (De Propis et al. 2003). There is not a large sample of such clusters in CDM simulations. There are a few high resolution runs of individual clusters (Borgani et al. 2002) and the high resolution run of Reed et al. (2003) simulated a volume of 100 Mpc side which is not large enough for a good sample of large clusters.

There are fewer mass functions that reach $`V_{cir}/V_{parent}>0.05`$ and these have been collected in the bottom panel of Fig. 2. This sample includes all the systems shown in Fig. 1 and adds the Fornax cluster. Fornax has a velocity dispersion $`\sigma 374`$ km s-1, comparable to the RXJ1340.6, but has little diffuse X-ray emission (e.g. Horner, Mushotzky $`\&`$ Scharf 1999) and considerably more substructure (obtained from the luminosity function of Ferguson $`\&`$ Sandage 1989), albeit less than a scaled version of Virgo would predict. For RXJ1340.6+4018, integrating the luminosity function within the large error bars gives an upper limit of $`30`$ members with $`V_{cir}/V_{parent}>0.05`$, but only nine are spectroscopically confirmed. We use 9 as the number of substructures and show the current uncertainty with an error bar to 30 in Fig.2.

The loose groups might not be a single bound systems but projections of filaments of galaxies (Hernquist, Katz $`\&`$ Weinberg 1995) or superposition of multiple structures (Zabludoff $`\&`$ Mulchaey 1998b). At the moment, the loose groups are the main objects that we have have in the transition region intermediate between overmerged systems and clusters. Fig.2 is sparsely populated, but argues for substantial variation of properties of systems with velocity dispersions of $`300400`$ km s-1.

## 4 Discussion

What is the origin of the fossil groups? The similarity in their cumulative galaxy distribution with the Local Group (Fig. 1, left panel) suggests that they are the end result of merging of L\* galaxies in low density environments (Jones et al. 2003). The giant elliptical in RXJ1340.6+4018 has no spectral features which would indicate recent star formation. Hence, the last major merger must have occurred several gigayears ago (JPF00).

Although the substructure function of fossil groups and the Local Group are similar, the merger of the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy will not form an X-ray dominated fossil group. The mass of the merged Local Group will be $`3510^{12}`$M (Kahn $`\&`$ Woltjer 1959) within 300 kpc with $`V_{max}290`$ km s-1, 10% higher than Andromeda and significantly less than observed fossil groups. Merging won’t change the circular velocity of the satellites, though they will change morphology and than will fade. The result will look more like Centaurus A which has a substructure function like the Local Group with an elliptical at the middle but no X-ray emission and a total mass that is less than fossil groups (Karachentsev et al. 2002). Additional “two by two” hierarchical mergering would make a system that matched the optical properties of a fossil group, but it is not clear why “overmerging” would propagate up the hierarchy to produce fossil groups while clusters like Virgo have galaxies of the same luminosity as those that are missing in fossil groups.

X-ray halos in fossil groups and clusters are an outstanding problem (Mulchaey 2000). In general, it is difficult to keep all the gas from cooling at early times and becoming a part of the galaxies. Since Virgo has extensive X-ray emission while Fornax has a paltry intracluster medium, we have all 4 combinations of systems that are overmerged or having abundant substructure together with those with abundant or very little intracluster medium. It might well be that having fossil groups among the progenitors of a cluster is key to producing their X-ray emission.

Dynamical friction and merging aren’t a general solution to the overmerging problem. Clearly, these dynamical effects were included in the full numerical simulations that first highlighted the problem in the CDM model. Any specific substructure function evolves in the same way by dynamical friction and merging independent of the parent mass. The dynamical friction timescale $`t_{df}`$ is proportional to the crossing time of a system $`t_{cr}`$ divided by the fractional mass of the sinking object (e.g. $`t_{df}0.05t_{cr}/(M_{sinker}/M_{parent})`$. The crossing time of all virialized halos is the same. Further the fractional mass of the sinking satellite is a function of the variable $`V_{cir}/V_{parent}`$ in the substructure function and the tidal radius of the satellite which is determined by it’s orbital pericenter as fraction of the virial radius $`r_{peri}/r_{virial}`$. All of these quantities scale with parent mass such that the evolution of the substructure function is independent of the mass of the parent halo. Dynamical friction can be important in promoting the merger of the largest objects in less than one Hubble time, within a parent halo, but dynamical friction alone will not create substructure functions that are different for different parent masses. Of course, galaxies could have had a long time to evolve by dynamical friction, but this will not affect the substructure function below $`V_{circ}/V_{parent}`$ of 0.2.

What mechanisms could explain the substructure function of fossil groups? The first thought might be merely cosmic variance. The top panel of Fig. 2 shows the variance in the groups selected from the SDSS (Desai et al. 2003). The figures in Desai et al. (2003) show that the variance seen in the groups selected from the SDSS (shown here in Fig. 2) is already 2-3 times greater than observed in the simulation of a (100Mpc)3 volume simulated by Reed et al. (2003). The fossil groups lie well outside of the variation seen in the large simulation, but they are rare enough that a larger volume is required to be definitive.

One might extend the proposal of Hayashi et al. (2003) who argue for shifting points to the right and then blowing the baryons out of the smallest objects. While gas ejection is attractive to explain the missing satellites of the Local Group, it would take nearly 10 times as much energy to blow the gas out of the missing galaxies in fossil groups. Further, the gas ejection must also be tuned to the environment since the same galaxies appear at the predicted frequency in clusters and the field. We have no evidence that L\* galaxies are fragile in either of these environments. The same tuning argument is a severe constraint on solutions that alter the initial cosmic fluctuation spectrum. Star formation could be suppressed at a higher energy scale in fossil groups by appealing to intense bursts of star formation as seen in starburst galaxies at high redshift or by appealing to the power of a super-massive black-hole. The comoving number densities of the ULIRG starburst galaxies at high redshift roughly matches the number densities of the halos predicted at the same redshift by hierarchical merging leading to the speculation that there is a starburst galaxy in every halo with mass $`10^{13}M_{}`$ (Somerville, Primack $`\&`$ Faber 2001). These halos will also be the progenitors of objects the size of fossil groups and larger.

Such an energy injection could also create the reservoir of gas needed for large clusters as well as the observed entropy floor in that gas. As substructure is suppressed, gas falling into the deep potential well of a massive dark cluster will be more effectively heated in an accretion shock. This could enhance substructure suppression and boost the fraction of baryons that settle into a single luminous galaxy. However, the presence of intracluster gas doesn’t appear to be related to the substructure function as we see all combinations of X-ray emission and substructure functions in our small sample of systems. It’s also not clear why energy input was so effective at suppressing substructure in a fossil group, but so ineffective in Fornax and Virgo which have the powerful sources Fornax A and M87.

Fossil groups offer a better environment to test these hypotheses than galaxies that are counterparts to the Milky Way. If the galaxies have been altered in fossil groups, they need to be a factor of ten fainter than expected from their dark matter mass. As a result, they should have velocity dispersions that are anomalously high by nearly a factor of two.

Gravitational lensing provides three possible tests. M99 suggested direct detection of mass clumps using the brightness ratio of lensed images. With this technique, Dalal and Kochanek (2002) used a sample of isolated ellipticals that are likely the centers of fossil groups. They find that a few percent of the mass in halos is in clumps with masses in the range of $`10^610^9`$M which is a factor of a few below what is seen in simulations (M99; Klypin et al. 1999; Ghigna et al. 2000). However, Zentner and Bullock (2003) found that Dalal and Kochanek’s model underestimated the substructure since they placed substructures uniformly in the halo rather than allowing for stripping and destruction in the central regions where they had the greatest sensitivity. There are other consequences associated with lumps that are more massive than $`10^9`$ M. In the strong lensing case, the positions of images will shift betraying individual lumps rather than just their statistical properties. This was not seen by Dalal and Kochanek (2002). Shifts in the center of mass may also be seen with weak lensing maps. Here, one would compare the centers defined by the brightest galaxy, the X-ray emission and the lensing map. If there is significant clumping, the brightest galaxy will be displaced from the center of mass defined by the other two. The center of the X-ray emission generally agrees with the location of the brightest galaxy (Mulchaey 2000), but the lensing map should be a more sensitive test.

## 5 Conclusions

Gas processes have been invoked to explain the absence of the dwarf satellites in the Milky Way and the field compared to CDM predictions. However, we now find that overmerging persists to the larger mass scale of fossil groups where galaxies as massive as the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud are “missing”, though they appear at the predicted abundance in both the field and clusters of galaxies. Fig.2 shows that the “overmerging” behavior is more dependant on the mass of the parent halo rather than the mass of the satellite, though this could owe to our limited sample size. We have pointed to some key observations that can resolve whether this owes to energetic phenomena or is a result of an unknown source that is closely tied to the mass scale of the parent halo. To resolve this issue, we need more systems with velocity dispersions in the range of 300-400 km s-1. For the present data, overmerging behaviour seems to be the generic behaviour for objects with T$`1`$ keV .

We would like to thank Simon White, Andi Burkert, Chris Kochanek and Claudia Mendes de Oliveira for useful discussions and comments. G.L acknowledges support from the US National Science Foundation.