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# Reciprocity law for compatible systems of abelian mod 𝑝 Galois representations

## 1 Introduction

Motives defined over number fields give rise to compatible systems of $`p`$-adic and mod $`p`$ representations of absolute Galois groups of number fields. Compatible systems of $`p`$-adic representations have been extensively studied. Although compatible systems of mod $`p`$ representations have received less attention, they have been considered by Serre in his work in the 1960’s and 1970’s on studying adelic images of Galois groups acting on products of $`p`$-adic Tate modules of an elliptic curve for varying $`p`$.

In \[K\] we showed how studying compatible systems of mod $`p`$ representations can be useful in proving results about $`p`$-adic representations. Specifically, using this point of view, we rederived in a simple way the result (see \[He\]) that strictly compatible systems of one-dimensional $`p`$-adic representations (see I-11 of \[S\]) arise from Hecke characters. Compatible systems of mod $`p`$ representations make quite apparent how to use the fact that we have a compatible system rather than just one representation at hand, while in the case of compatible $`p`$-adic systems this is not so apparent. The difference between these two types of compatible systems is mainly accounted for by the fact that given a $`p`$-adic representation it can be made part of at most one (semisimple) compatible system, while this is far from being true for a mod $`p`$ representation.

In \[K\] we proved that one-dimensional compatible mod $`p`$ systems arise from Hecke characters. In this paper we would like to generalise results of \[K\] to the case of higher dimensional, but still abelian, compatible mod $`p`$ systems. We recall the definition of compatible systems of $`n`$-dimensional, mod $`p`$ representations of the absolute Galois group of a number field $`K`$.

###### Definition 1

Let $`K`$ and $`L`$ be number fields and $`S,T`$ finite sets of places of $`K`$ and $`L`$ respectively. An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of $`n`$-dimensional mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`G_K:=\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{K}/K)`$ with defect set $`T`$ and ramification set $`S`$, consists of giving for each finite place $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`L`$ not in $`T`$ a continuous, semisimple representation

$$\rho _{\mathrm{}}:G_KGL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}}),$$

for $`𝐅_{\mathrm{}}`$ the residue field of $`𝒪_L`$ at $`\mathrm{}`$ of characteristic $`p`$, that is

* unramified at the places outside $`S`$ $`\{`$ places of $`K`$ above $`p`$ $`\}`$
* for each place $`r`$ of $`K`$ not in $`S`$ there is a monic polynomial $`f_r(X)L[X]`$ such that for all places $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`L`$ not in $`T`$, coprime to the residue characteristic of $`r`$, and such that $`f_r(X)`$ has coefficients that are integral at $`\mathrm{}`$, the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(\mathrm{Frob}_r)`$ is the reduction of $`f_r(X)`$ mod $`\mathrm{}`$, where $`\mathrm{Frob}_r`$ is the conjugacy class of the Frobenius at $`r`$ in the Galois group of the extension of $`K`$ that is the fixed field of the kernel of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$.

The following theorem was proved in \[K\].

###### Theorem 1

An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of one-dimensional mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{K}/K)`$ arises from a Hecke character.

In Section 4 of \[K\] it is explained what one means by saying that a compatible system of 1-dimensional mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations arises from a Hecke character.

The theorem below is the main result of this paper. It generalises the result of \[K\] to semisimple compatible systems $`(\rho _{\mathrm{}})`$: by this we mean that $`(\rho _{\mathrm{}})`$ is a strictly compatible system as in the definition above and each $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$ has abelian image. By saying that a compatible system $`(\rho _{\mathrm{}})`$ as in the definition above, is the sum of compatible systems $`(\rho _{i,\mathrm{}})`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$), we mean that $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}_{i=1}^n\rho _{i,\mathrm{}}`$ for all $`\mathrm{}`$ outside a finite defect set.

###### Theorem 2

An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of abelian, semisimple mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{K}/K)`$ is a direct sum of one-dimensional compatible systems each of which arises from a Hecke character.

This theorem is but a small step in studying compatible systems of mod $`p`$ Galois representations of arbitrary dimensions. Because of it such compatible systems which are abelian are completely understood. Theorem 2 also proves Conjectures 1 and 2 of \[K\] for all abelian compatible systems of mod $`\mathrm{}`$ Galois representations which might be summarised by saying that abelian compatible mod $`p`$ systems of Galois representations are motivic (and all that this entails!).

The proof of Theorem 2 uses the ideas of \[K\]. The main problem that arises when generalising the arguments in \[K\] is that although using arguments of \[K\] one can easily get that the characteristic polynomials $`f_r(X)`$ each have a shape that is consistent with the compatible system arising from Hecke characters, we cannot use the arguments in \[K\] directly to show that the nature of the roots of $`f_r(X)`$ for varying $`r`$ is consistent with the compatible system arising from Hecke characters. It is this difficulty that is overcome in the lemma and corollary below and the ensuing arguments. We focus mainly on this difficulty as otherwise the arguments are similar to \[K\] where the theorem above was announced. Theorem 2 would have directly followed from Theorem 1 of \[K\] if we could prove that the compatible system in the theorem is the sum of 1-dimensional compatible systems. But this we cannot prove a priori. More generally it seems hard to prove that a compatible system of mod $`\mathrm{}`$ or $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations is “the sum of 2 compatible systems” if each mod $`\mathrm{}`$ or $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representation in the compatible system is decomposable.

As in \[K\], Theorem 2 has the following corollary.

###### Corollary 1

1. An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of abelian, semisimple mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{K}/K)`$ lifts to a compatible system of $`n`$-dimensional $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations $`\{\rho _\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\}`$ as in I-11 of \[S\].

2. An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system of abelian, semisinmple $`n`$-dimensional $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations $`\{\rho _\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\}`$ as in I-11 of \[S\] arises from Hecke characters.

The seocnd part of the corollary is implied by difficult results of Waldschmidt in transcendenatl number theory, while the proof we offeris more “elementary”.

In the last section of the paper we indicate what the analogs of our theorems for function fields should be. We do not prove these proposed analogs. We hope that someone will carry out the proofs of these analogs and more interestingly answer the question at the end that we do know how to answer. The question asks for the natural analog to a result of \[He\] in the setting of function fields: to answer it will probably need transcendence results in characteristic $`p`$.

## 2 Proof of theorem

Let $`(\rho _{\mathrm{}})`$ be an abelian, semisimple, compatible system of $`L`$-rational representations of $`G_K`$ with $`K`$ a number field, that has finite defect set $`T`$ and finite ramification set $`S`$. Using the arguments in Lemma 1 of \[K\], which generalise easily to higher dimensional abelain semisimple compatible systems of mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations, we can reduce to the case when $`K`$ is a Galois extension of $`𝐐`$ that contains $`\sqrt{1}`$, $`L`$ contains $`K`$ and is again Galois over $`𝐐`$.

Using class field theory as in the proof of Theorem 1 of \[K\], the association of Galois representations to Hecke characters due to Taniyama and Weil that is recalled in Section 4.1 of \[K\], the analog of Lemma 1 of \[K\] in this setting, and Proposition 2 in \[K\] we are reduced to looking at a system of homomorphisms $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}:\mathrm{Cl}_{𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p}GL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}})`$. Here $`\mathrm{Cl}_{𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p}`$ is the strict ray class group of conductor $`𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p`$, with $`𝗆_{\mathrm{}}`$ the prime to $`p`$ part of the Artin conductor of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$ which is divisible only by the primes in $`S`$. By using the fact that the subgroup of $`\mathrm{Cl}_{𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p}`$ that is the image of principal ideals prime to $`𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p`$ is of index that is bounded independently of $`\mathrm{}`$, to considering the induced system of homomorphisms $`(𝒪_K/𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p𝒪_K)^{}GL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}})`$ which by abuse of notation we denote by the same symbol $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$: we shall now exclusively study only these homomorphisms. We have to show how these homomorphisms arise from algebraic characters of $`K^{}`$, where $`K^{}`$ is considered as the $`𝐐`$-valued points of the algebraic group $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐞𝐬}_{K/𝐐}(𝐆_m)`$ over $`𝐐`$, that have a subgroup of finite index of the units $`𝒪_K^{}`$ in their kernel (see Section 4.1 of \[K\]).

These homomorphisms all factor through the quotient by the image of the global units $`E`$ of $`K`$. The compatible data translates into saying that for any principal prime ideal generated by an element $`r`$ of $`K`$ (we denote the ideal $`(r)`$ generated by $`r`$, again by $`r`$) that is not in $`S`$ there is a monic polynomial $`f_r(X)L[X]`$ such that for all $`\mathrm{}`$ not in $`T`$ an whose residue characteristic is different from that of $`r`$ and at which $`f_r(X)`$ is integral, the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(\mathrm{Frob}_r)`$ is the reduction mod $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`f_r(X)`$. Let the roots of $`f_r(X)`$ be $`\gamma _{1,r},\mathrm{},\gamma _{n,r}`$: note that when $`r`$ varies all these are algebraic integers which lie in extensions of $`L`$ that are of degree over $`L`$ that is bounded by $`n`$. By using Proposition 3 of \[K\], which generalises a result of \[CS\], and using the compatible data it is easy to see (see Section 4.2 of \[K\]) that there is an integer $`t_{i,r}`$ such that $`\gamma _{i,r}^{t_i,r}=\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }^{}}`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$, with the exponents some integers and with $`\sigma `$ running through the distinct embeddings of $`K`$ in $`\overline{𝐐}`$. Note that the ramification indices of all primes in any field $`M`$ of degree over $`𝐐`$ bounded by some integer $`T`$, is bounded independently of $`M`$, and the number of roots of unity in such $`M`$ is also bounded independently of $`M`$. From this it is easy to see that there is an integer $`m`$ independent of $`i`$ and $`r`$ such that $`\gamma _{i,r}^m=\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$, with the exponents some integers.

We would like to prove that the $`m_{i,r,\sigma }`$’s are independent of choice of the principal prime ideal $`(r)`$ that is coprime to the primes in $`S`$. To prove this we cannot use the argument in \[K\] that relied on the fact that in the one-dimensional situation the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(rr^{})`$ (with $`rr^{}`$ regarded as the image of $`rr^{}`$ mod $`𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p`$) is the reduction mod $`\mathrm{}`$ of a fixed polynomial in $`L[X]`$ for almost all primes $`\mathrm{}`$ and where $`r`$ and $`r^{}`$ generate principal prime ideals, not in $`S`$. In the higher dimensional case this is not a priori the case, although a posteriori we will see that this is true. Thus we need to modify the arguments of \[K\] to take into account this complication, and indeed this is the main contribution of the present paper.

Consider the homomorphisms $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}^m:(𝒪_K/𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p𝒪_K)^{}GL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}})`$ (where by $`mth`$ power we just mean taking $`mth`$ powers of the $`n`$ homomorphisms that consititute $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$). Choose any principal prime ideals $`(r)`$ and $`(r^{})`$ of $`K`$ that are not in $`S`$. Fix $`i`$ between 1 and $`n`$. Then we see that for almost all primes $`\mathrm{}`$ there is a $`i(\mathrm{})`$ that lies between 1 and $`n`$ such that the reduction of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{i(\mathrm{}),r^{},\sigma }}`$ mod $`\mathrm{}`$ is a root of the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}^m(rr^{})`$.

We have the following lemma:

###### Lemma 1

Let $`(r)`$ and $`(r^{})`$ be principal prime ideals of $`K`$ not in $`S`$. Fix an integer $`i`$ between 1 and $`n`$. Consider a prime $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`𝐐`$ that is prime to the residue characteristics of the primes in $`S`$ and is prime to the cardinalities of the multiplicative groups of the residue fieds at primes of $`S`$. Then if a prime of $`K`$ splits completely in $`K(\zeta _{\mathrm{}},(\sigma (rr^{}))^{1/\mathrm{}})`$ with $`\sigma `$ running through $`\mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$, it also splits completely in one of the fields $`K(\zeta _{\mathrm{}},(\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{j,r^{},\sigma }})^{1/\mathrm{}})`$ for some $`j`$ between 1 and $`n`$.

Proof: Fix $`i`$ between 1 and $`n`$. Then we see that for almost all primes $`\mathrm{}`$ there is a $`i(\mathrm{})`$ that lies between 1 and $`n`$ such that the reduction of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{i(\mathrm{}),r^{},\sigma }}`$ mod $`\mathrm{}`$ is a root of the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}^m(rr^{})`$. Now for almost all primes $`s`$ of $`K`$ that split completely in $`K(\zeta _{\mathrm{}},(\sigma (rr^{}))^{1/\mathrm{}})`$ for all $`\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$, the cardinality of the residue field at $`s`$ is 1 mod $`\mathrm{}`$ and further $`\sigma (rr^{})`$ is a $`\mathrm{}`$th power modulo $`s`$ for all $`\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$. Thus by choice of $`\mathrm{}`$, the reduction of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{i(\mathrm{}),r^{},\sigma }}`$ mod $`s`$ is an $`\mathrm{}`$th power, and thus $`s`$ also splits in $`K(\zeta _{\mathrm{}},(\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{i(\mathrm{}),r^{},\sigma }})^{1/\mathrm{}})`$ which proves the lemma.

###### Corollary 2

Fix an integer $`i`$ between 1 and $`n`$. For all sufficiently large primes $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`𝐐`$, the subgroup generated by $`\tau (rr^{})`$ of $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ where $`\tau `$ runs through $`\mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$, contains the image of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{j,r^{},\sigma }}`$ in $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ for some $`j`$ between 1 and $`n`$.

Proof: Consider $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ as a $`𝐅_{\mathrm{}}`$ vector-space, and denote the $`𝐅_{\mathrm{}}`$ vector-space generated by $`\sigma (rr^{})`$ of $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ for $`\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$ by $`V`$. Let $`W_j`$ be the one-dimensional vector space of $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ generated by $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r^{})^{m_{j,r^{},\sigma }}`$ for $`j`$ between 1 and $`n`$. Let $`𝐕`$ be the span of the $`V`$’s and the $`W_j`$’s. Then using Kummer theory, the Cebotarev density theorem, the above lemma and the injectivity of the map $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}K(\zeta _{\mathrm{}})^{}/(K(\zeta _{\mathrm{}})^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ (note that $`\sqrt{1}K`$: for this injectivity see Lemma 2.1 of \[CS\]) we conclude that if an element of the dual $`𝐕^{}`$ has kernel that contains $`V`$, then its kernel also contains $`W_j`$ for some $`j`$ between 1 and $`n`$. But if $`\mathrm{}`$ is large enough, this forces one of the $`W_j`$’s to be contained in $`V`$ by the following easy claim.

Claim: If a prime $`\mathrm{}`$ is bigger than a given integer $`k`$, any finite dimensional vector space over $`𝐅_{\mathrm{}}`$ cannot be written as the union of $`k`$ proper subspaces.

We apply this claim to the vector space $`X=(𝐕/V)^{}`$ and the subspaces $`(V/W_j)^{}X`$ where the intersection is taking place in $`𝐕^{}`$. From the claim we see that $`W_j`$ is contained in $`V`$ for some $`j`$ and thus the corollary follows.

We now claim that that fixing a prime $`(r)`$ not in $`S`$ and which lies above a prime of $`𝐐`$ that splits completely in $`K`$ (we call such a prime a split prime), for all split primes $`(r^{})`$ of $`K`$ of different residue characteristic from that of $`r`$, the distinct tuples that occur in $`(m_{i,r,\sigma })_\sigma `$ and $`(m_{i,r^{},\sigma })_\sigma `$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$) are the same. Namely, fixing an $`i`$ between 1 and $`n`$, from the corollary it follows that there is a fixed $`j(i)`$ between 1 and $`n`$, such that for infinitely many primes $`\mathrm{}`$ the image of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma r^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma r^{m_{j(i),r^{},\sigma }}`$ in $`K^{}/(K^{})^{\mathrm{}}`$ is contained in the subgroup generated by the images of $`\sigma (rr^{})`$ as $`\sigma `$ runs through $`\mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$. From this as in Step 3 of proof of Theorem 1 of \[CS\], using the unit theorem, we see that some power of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma r^{m_{i,r,\sigma }}\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma r^{m_{j(i),r^{},\sigma }}`$ is contained in the subgroup of $`K^{}`$ generated by $`\sigma (rr^{})`$ as $`\sigma `$ runs through $`\mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$. From this, as $`r`$ and $`r^{}`$ generate split primes of different residue characteristic, we see that $`m_{i,r,\sigma }=m_{j(i),r^{},\sigma }`$. Thus we get an injection from the distinct tuples in the collection $`(m_{i,r,\sigma })_\sigma `$ to the distinct tuples in the collection $`(m_{i,r^{},\sigma })_\sigma `$. Now as $`r,r^{}`$ play symmetric roles the claim follows. Repeating the argument by fixing a split principal prime of residue charateristic prime to $`r`$ we in fact conclude that the distinct tuples that occur in the collection $`(m_{i,r,\sigma })_\sigma `$ is independent of $`r`$ with $`r`$ any split principal ideal prime to $`S`$.

We now need a small argument to prove in fact that even the multiplicities with which distinct tuples occur in $`(m_{i,r,\sigma })_\sigma `$ is independent of $`r`$. The difficulty here is related to the fact that if we have a linear representation $`\rho `$ of a group $`G`$ such that for every $`gG`$, $`\rho (g)`$ has 1 as an eigenvalue, it does not follow that the identity representation occurs in the semisimplification of $`\rho `$.

We know by our work that there are only finitely many possibilities for the $`m_{i,r,\sigma }`$’s as $`i,r,\sigma `$ vary ($`r`$ varies over split principal prime ideals not in $`S`$) and let $`N`$ be a natural number greater than all the finitely many integers $`|2m_{i,r,\sigma }|`$’s. Let $`(\alpha )`$ be a split prime ideal of $`K`$ not in $`S`$ and choose a large enough rational prime $`p^{}`$, coprime to the places in $`S`$ and $`T`$ and $`\alpha `$, such that whenever $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (\alpha )^{m_\sigma }1`$ is not coprime to $`p^{}`$, with $`m_\sigma `$ integers and $`|m_\sigma |N`$, then all the $`m_\sigma `$’s are 0. This is possible as the $`\sigma (\alpha )`$’s for $`\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)`$ are multiplicatively independent. Consider integral elements $`\beta `$ in $`K`$ such that $`\beta `$ is congruent to $`\alpha `$ mod $`p^{}`$, and $`\beta `$ generates a split prime ideal not in $`S`$. We claim that the unordered collection of $`n`$, $`[K:𝐐]`$-tuples $`(m_{i,\alpha ,\sigma })_\sigma `$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$, is the same as $`(m_{i,\beta ,\sigma })_\sigma `$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$. This is because the numbers $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)}\sigma (\alpha )^{m_{i,\alpha ,\sigma }}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)}\sigma (\beta )^{m_{i,\beta ,\sigma }}`$, with the latter congruent to $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)}\sigma (\alpha )^{m_{i,\beta ,\sigma }}`$ mod $`p^{}`$ by choice of $`\beta `$, are congruent mod $`\mathrm{}^{}`$ under some ordering, for $`\mathrm{}^{}`$ any prime above $`p`$ in a sufficiently large number field. From this and the fact that $`p^{}`$ was chosen so that, whenever $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (\alpha )^{m_\sigma }1`$ is not coprime to $`p^{}`$ and $`|m_\sigma |N`$, then all the $`m_\sigma `$’s are 0, the claim follows. Such elements $`\beta `$ surject onto $`(𝒪_K/m_{\mathrm{}}p𝒪_K)^{}`$ for almost all primes $`p`$ of $`𝐙`$. This follows from the Cebotarev density theorem as the only condition on the $`\beta `$’s is that they generate split prime ideals not in $`S`$ and that for a fixed prime $`p^{}`$ of $`𝐙`$ they be congruent to a fixed number $`\alpha `$ mod $`p^{}`$. We denote the common value of $`m_{i,\beta ,\sigma }`$ for all such $`\beta `$’s by $`m_{i,\sigma }`$. (At this point we know that the multiplicities with which distinct tuples occur in $`(m_{i,r,\sigma })_\sigma `$ is independent of $`r`$.)

From this we conclude (see Section 4.2 of \[K\] for more details) that the homomorphisms $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}^m:(𝒪_K/𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p𝒪_K)^{}GL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}})`$ for almost all primes $`\mathrm{}`$ are the direct sums of the homomorphisms that arise from reducing the homomorphisms $`x\mathrm{\Pi }_{\sigma \mathrm{Gal}(K/𝐐)}\sigma (x)^{m_{i,\sigma }}`$ mod $`\mathrm{}`$. In particular $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}^m:(𝒪_K/𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p𝒪_K)^{}GL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}})`$ factors through $`(𝒪_K/p𝒪_K)^{}`$. Thus, remembering that the $`𝗆_{\mathrm{}}`$’s were divisible by only finitely many primes, we conclude that $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$ factors through $`(𝒪_K/𝗆p𝒪_K)^{}`$ for a non-zero ideal $`𝗆`$ independent of $`p`$. Then again as in proof of Theorem 1 of \[K\] (Section 4.2 of \[K\]) we repeat the argument above using principal split prime ideals that are congruent to 1 mod $`𝗆`$. Namely we see that for such prime ideals $`r`$, the roots of the characteristic polynomial $`f_r(X)`$ are $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\sigma \sigma (r)^{m_{i,r,\sigma }^{\prime \prime }}`$ with integers $`m_{i,r,\sigma }^{\prime \prime }`$. Using the argument above we conclude that the $`m_{i,r,\sigma }^{\prime \prime }`$’s are independent of $`r`$, and thus we can set $`m_{i,r,\sigma }^{\prime \prime }=m_{i,\sigma }^{\prime \prime }`$. This is enough to prove that the system of homomorphisms $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}:(𝒪_K/𝗆_{\mathrm{}}p𝒪_K)^{}GL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}})`$ arise from algebraic characters of $`K^{}`$, where $`K^{}`$ is considered as the $`𝐐`$-valued points of the algebraic group $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐞𝐬}_{K/𝐐}(𝐆_m)`$ over $`𝐐`$, that have a subgroup of finite index of the units $`𝒪_K^{}`$ in their kernel. From this we conclude that the compatible system $`(\rho _{\mathrm{}})`$ of Theorem 2 is the direct sum of the one-dimensional compatible systems that arise from Hecke characters $`\chi _i`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$ such that $`\chi _i`$ has infinity type $`(m_{i,\sigma }^{\prime \prime })_\sigma `$. This end the proof of the theorem.

Remark: There is a simpler dévissage argument, in which one takes determinants of the compatible system and deduces Theorem 2 from Theorem 1 of \[K\], to prove Theorem 2 in the case when we know that the compatible system we are dealing with is integral (see Definition 1 of \[K\]).

## 3 Analogs for function fields

While in both \[K\] and the present paper we have been concerned with representations of absolute Galois groups of number fields, it looks plausible that the methods of \[K\] and this paper should carry over to this setting and lead to the classification of abelian compatible mod $`\mathrm{}`$ systems of absolute Galois groups of function fields.

Let $`𝐅`$ be a finite field of characteristic $`p`$ and consider the ring of polynomials $`𝐅[t]`$ and rational functions $`𝐅(t)`$: these will serve as our analogs of $`𝐙`$ and $`𝐐`$ respectively. Any function field, say $`K`$, we consider will be a finite separable extension of $`𝐅(t)`$, and the ring of integers $`𝒪_K`$ will be the integral closure of $`𝐅[t]`$ in $`K`$. Thus by our choices if $`K`$ corresponds to the function field of a smooth projective curve $`X`$ that is geometrically irreducible over a finite extension of $`𝐅`$, then $`X`$ comes equipped with a finite set of infinite places. We denote by $`G_K`$ the Galois group of the separable closure $`K^s`$ of $`K`$ over $`K`$.

To get the right analog of compatible systems in this setting one would need to consider the field of rationality $`L`$, which is part of definition of compatible systems, to be a finite extension of the function field $`K`$. In \[G\] there is an account of compatible systems of $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations in this setting. Here is the definition of compatible mod $`\mathrm{}`$ systems in this setting.

###### Definition 2

Let $`K`$ and $`L`$ be function fields as above, with a choice of infinite places of $`K,L`$ as above, and $`S,T`$ finite sets of places of $`K`$ and $`L`$ respectively that contain the infinite places. An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of $`n`$-dimensional mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`G_K`$ with defect set $`T`$ and ramification set $`S`$, consists of giving for each finite place $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`L`$ not in $`T`$ a continuous, semisimple representation

$$\rho _{\mathrm{}}:G_KGL_n(𝐅_{\mathrm{}}),$$

for $`𝐅_{\mathrm{}}`$ the residue field of $`𝒪_L`$ at $`\mathrm{}`$ of characteristic $`p`$, that is

* unramified at the places outside $`S`$ $`\{`$all places of $`K`$ above the place of $`𝐅_q[T]`$ below $`\mathrm{}`$ $`\}`$
* $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(G_\mathrm{}_i)`$ is trivial where $`G_\mathrm{}_i`$ is a decomposition group at the infinite places $`\mathrm{}_i`$
* for each place $`r`$ of $`K`$ not in $`S`$ there is a monic polynomial $`f_r(X)L[X]`$ such that for all places $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`L`$ not in $`T`$, and that do not lie above the prime of $`𝐅[T]`$ below $`r`$, and such that $`f_r(X)`$ has coefficients that are integral at $`\mathrm{}`$, the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(\mathrm{Frob}_r)`$ is the reduction of $`f_r(X)`$ mod $`\mathrm{}`$, where $`\mathrm{Frob}_r`$ is the conjugacy class of the Frobenius at $`r`$ in the Galois group of the extension of $`K`$ that is the fixed field of the kernel of $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$.

The condition of being split, or at least potentially split via a base change independent of $`\mathrm{}`$, at the infinite places is natural in this context as pointed out to us by Gebhard Böckle. There is a definition of Hecke characters for function fields in \[Gr\], that depends on the choice of infinite places, and there it is indicated how to attach compatible system of $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations to Hecke characters in this situation that are (potentially) split at the infinite places. Then we expect that the methods here should be able to prove that an $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of abelian, semisimple mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`G_K`$ is a direct sum of one-dimensional compatible systems each of which arises from a Hecke character. From this will follow the following 2 statements:

1. An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system $`\{\rho _{\mathrm{}}\}`$ of abelian, semisimple mod $`\mathrm{}`$ representations of $`G_K`$ lifts to a compatible system of $`n`$-dimensional $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations $`\{\rho _\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\}`$ (split at all infinite places).

2. An $`L`$-rational strictly compatible system of abelian, semisimple $`n`$-dimensional $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations $`\{\rho _\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\}`$ of $`G_K`$ arises from Hecke characters.

It will be useful to have a systematic exposition that will give details of construction of Galois representations associated to Hecke characters in this setting (generalising and giving more details the work in \[Gr\]) and also prove the statements above. This will lead to a proof that the compatible system of characteristic $`p`$ Galois representations attached by G. Böckle, R. Pink and others to Drinfeld modular forms arise from Hecke characters. It is also seems plausible that the second statement above can be strengthened considerably:

Question: If we have a (continuous) abelian semisimple representation $`\rho :G_KGL_n(L_{\mathrm{}})`$ that is (potentially) split at the infinite places, with $`\mathrm{}`$ a finite place of a function field $`L`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{}}`$ the completion of $`L`$ at $`\mathrm{}`$, unramified oustide a finite set of places $`S`$ that includes the infinite places, and for places $`v`$ not in $`S`$, the characteristic polynomial of $`\rho (\mathrm{Frob}_v)`$ has coefficients in $`L`$, then is $`\rho `$ the sum of 1-dimensional compatible systems that arise from Hecke characters in the sense of Gross in \[Gr\]?

The analog of this question for number fields is answered affirmatively by G. Henniart in \[He\] using results of Waldschmidt in transcendental number theory. Of course a question like the one above cannot be answered using only the elementary algebraic techniques of the present paper.

Acknowledgements: The author would like to acknowledge helpful conversations and correspondence with Srinath Baba, Gebhard Böckle, Guy Henniart, Dinesh Thakur and Michel Waldschmidt.

## 4 References

\[CS\] Corrales, C., and Schoof, R., The support problem and its elliptic analogue, J. of Number Theory 64 (1997), 276–290.

\[G\] Goss, D., Basic structures of function field arithmetic, Springer-Verlag, 1996.

\[Gr\] Gross, B., Algebraic Hecke characters for function fields, in Séminaire de Théorie des Nombres, Progress in Math. 22 (1982), 87–90, Birkhauser.

\[He\] Henniart, G., Représentations $`\mathrm{}`$-adiques abéliennes, in Séminaire de Théorie des Nombres, Progress in Math. 22 (1982), 107–126, Birkhauser.

\[K\] Khare, C., Compatible systems of mod $`p`$ Galois representations and Hecke characters, Mathematical Research Letters 10 (2003), vol. 1, 71–84.

\[S\] Serre, J-P., Abelian $`\mathrm{}`$-adic representations and elliptic curves, Addison-Wesley, 1989.

Dept of Math, University of Utah, 155 S 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. e-mail: shekhar@math.utah.edu

School of Mathematics, TIFR, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, INDIA. e-mail: shekhar@math.tifr.res.in


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# HU-EP-03/63DESY 03-138SFB/CPP-03-34September 2003 Non–perturbative renormalization of the axial current with improved Wilson quarks Talk presented by R. Hoffmann at Lattice 2003

## 1 Introduction

Due to the explicit breaking of chiral symmetry in a lattice theory with Wilson quarks a finite renormalization constant $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ for the isovector axial current is needed so that Ward identities take their canonical form up to small lattice corrections. Otherwise a safe extrapolation to the continuum can not be achieved for physical quantities involving this current.

The function $`Z_\mathrm{A}(g_0)`$  currently used by the ALPHA collaboration was obtained by requiring that certain chiral Ward identities are satisfied in the $`\mathrm{O}(a)`$ on–shell improved lattice theory up to $`\mathrm{O}(a^2)`$ cutoff effects. This normalization condition is evaluated at zero quark mass and hence the mass term in the PCAC relation was dropped.

However, even in the framework of the Schrödinger functional simulations at vanishing quark mass are not possible if the physical volume, or equivalently the renormalized coupling, is too large. For the large couplings one therefore evaluates the normalization condition at finite quark mass and extrapolates to the chiral point. Since the mass term was ignored in the derivation of the normalization condition this introduces an error of $`\mathrm{O}(r_0m)`$ in $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$. The Sommer scale $`r_0`$  is used as a typical hadronic scale.

Here we present a normalization condition for the axial current, which is derived using the full PCAC relation. This reduces the $`\mathrm{O}(r_0m)`$ errors in $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ to $`\mathrm{O}(am)`$ and therefore results in a much flatter chiral extrapolation.

## 2 The axial Ward identity

By performing local infinitesimal symmetry transformations of the quark and anti–quark fields in the Euclidean functional integral one derives the Ward identities associated with the chiral symmetry of the continuum action. An axial transformation of the isospin doublet quark fields gives the partially conserved axial current (PCAC) relation

$$_\mu A_\mu ^a(x)𝒪2mP^a(x)𝒪=\delta 𝒪,$$
(1)
where $`\delta 𝒪`$ is the variation of some operator $`𝒪`$. $`A_\mu ^a(x)`$ and $`P^a(x)`$ are the isovector axial current and isovector pseudoscalar density, respectively.

Let $``$ be the space–time region where the chiral transformation is applied. The axial current $`A_\nu ^b(y)`$ is inserted as an internal operator ($`y`$). If $`𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}`$ denotes a polynomial in the basic fields outside this region the integrated form of the axial current Ward identity is

$`{\displaystyle _{}}d\sigma _\mu \left(x\right)A_\mu ^a\left(x\right)A_\nu ^b\left(y\right)𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}`$
$`2m{\displaystyle _R}\mathrm{d}^4xP^a\left(x\right)A_\nu ^b\left(y\right)𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}`$
$`=iϵ^{abd}V_\nu ^d\left(y\right)𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}.`$ (2)
The right–hand side of (2) originates from the variation of the internal operator $`A_\nu ^b(y)`$ since under chiral transformation the axial current rotates into the vector current $`V_\mu ^a(x)`$.

## 3 Normalization conditions on the lattice

A normalization condition for the axial current on the lattice is derived by demanding that eq. (2) in terms of the renormalized currents is still valid up to lattice artifacts for a given choice of $``$ and $`𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}`$.

We use Schrödinger functional boundary conditions in $`\mathrm{O}(a)`$-improved lattice QCD , i.e. we have an $`L^3\times T`$ space–time cylinder with periodic boundary conditions in the spatial directions and fixed (Dirichlet) boundary condition in the temporal direction.

We choose $`=L^3\times [T/3,2T/3]`$ and an $`𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}`$, which creates pseudo-scalar states at the upper and lower temporal boundary. In the renormalization scheme we employ  the normalization condition now gives a relation between a set of (improved) correlation functions on the lattice and the renormalization factor $`Z_\mathrm{A}(1+b_\mathrm{A}am_q)`$.

If the mass is set to zero in (2) with our choice for $`𝒪_{\mathrm{ext}}`$ the lattice version of equation (2) becomes

$`Z_\mathrm{A}^2f_{AA}^I=f_1,`$ (3)
where $`f_1`$ is the correlator connecting the pseudo-scalar boundary states and $`f_{AA}^I`$ is the correlation function corresponding to the surface integral in (2) in terms of the improved lattice currents.

If the mass term in the PCAC relation (1) is not neglected one has to evaluate an additional correlation function $`\stackrel{~}{f}_{PA}^I`$ corresponding to the second term in (2). For this correlator on–shell $`\mathrm{O}(a)`$ improvement breaks down due to contact terms. The normalization condition thus obtained is

$`Z_\mathrm{A}^2(1+b_\mathrm{A}am_q)^2\left(f_{AA}^I2m\stackrel{~}{f}_{PA}^I\right)=f_1.`$ (4)
In the improved theory the normalization conditions (3) and (4) result in an intrinsic uncertainty of $`\mathrm{O}(a^2)`$ in $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$. Condition (3) will lead to an additional error of $`\mathrm{O}(r_0m)`$ when evaluated at finite quark mass whereas (4) will lead to $`\mathrm{O}(am)`$ errors from the contact terms in the correlator multiplying the quark mass and also from $`b_\mathrm{A}`$, which we only know perturbatively.

## 4 Testing the new normalization condition

We choose the Schrödinger functional setup with $`T=\frac{9}{4}L`$, $`\theta =0`$ and vanishing background field $`(C=C^{}=0)`$ and evaluate the normalization conditions on $`8^3\times 18`$ quenched lattices with several different values of the hopping parameter.

Figure 1 shows the results from both normalization conditions as a function of the PCAC mass for $`\beta =8.0`$ on the same set of lattices. In this case a simulation at the chiral point is possible in the Schrödinger functional. As expected the quark mass dependence is strongly reduced when the new normalization condition is used. Also the statistical error in $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ is much smaller with the massive condition.

More interesting is the case of $`\beta =6.0`$, where $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ has to be extracted from a chiral extrapolation using a quadratic fit. Figure 2 shows that in this case the curvature is more pronounced but the mass dependence for the new method is still quite flat. The error in the extrapolated value for $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ is however larger for the massive normalization condition:

| massive | $`Z_\mathrm{A}=0.8135(58)`$ |
| --- | --- |
| massless | $`Z_\mathrm{A}=0.8237(37)`$ |

(5)
## 5 Disconnected quark diagrams

On closer inspection the reason for this larger error can be found by looking at the possible Wick contractions for the correlation functions $`f_{AA}^I`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_{PA}^I`$. The structure of the external operator used leads to disconnected quark diagrams where the two current insertions each couple to one temporal end of the lattice only.

Those cause large statistical fluctuations especially in the volume correlator $`\stackrel{~}{f}_{PA}^I`$, which make the extraction of $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ from the new normalization condition statistically more difficult.

These diagrams can be suppressed by using a different external operator in the derivation of the normalization conditions. This operator requires the existence of a third quark species (spectator) and can therefore be used only as an approximation in a theory with $`N_f<3`$. We are working on an extension of this argument.

Figure 3 shows the result from both conditions if only connected quark diagrams are used. Note that in this case a linear extrapolation in the quark mass is possible. The extrapolated values for $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$ in this case are

| massive | $`Z_\mathrm{A}=0.8135(20)`$ |
| --- | --- |
| massless | $`Z_\mathrm{A}=0.8148(25)`$. |

(6)
Here the new condition not only results in a flat extrapolation, it also gives an extrapolated value of $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$, which is consistent with (5) and has a smaller statistical error.

## 6 Conclusions

The new normalization condition including the mass term has only a very small dependence on the quark mass. If the spectator quark argument can be extended to the two flavor case it is therefore a suitable tool for calculating the axial current normalization constant in the cases were simulations at zero quark mass are not possible.

This work is also a preparation for an unquenched determination of $`Z_\mathrm{A}`$. Due to algorithmic problems at large values of the bare gauge coupling and small quark masses we will benefit greatly from a reliable chiral extrapolation.

We thank M. Lüscher and S. Sint for valuable contributions. This work was supported by the DFG (SFB/TR 09) and the GK271.


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# A model of an expanding giant that swallowed planets for the eruption of V838 Monocerotis

## 1 Introduction

The outbust of V838 Mon was discovered in 2002 January (Brown 2002). The object was about 6 mag brighter than its presumable quiescent brightness level (Munari et el. 2002a). After a short phase of slow decline it had a second episode of fast brightening by nearly the same factor. V838 Mon gradually faded again in February, but in March a third peak was observed. Figs. 1 & 2 display the visual light curve of the outburst compiled from various sources. To our knowledge such a light curve has never been observed before.

Spectra of V838 Mon taken by several groups (Munari et el. 2002a; Goranskii et el. 2002; Banerjee & Ashok 2002; Wisniewski et al. 2003) suggested a very cool and extended photosphere throughout the eruption. V838 Mon became redder during the outburst and the following decline. The spectrum near the peak of the outbust was fitted with a K5 giant while several months later an M10 giant can be concluded (Munari et el. 2002b; Munari & Desidera 2002). Later infrared observations in 2002 October led to the suggestion that this star is the first L-supergiant (Evans et al. 2003). This evolution in time corresponds to a gradual decrease in the effective temperature from $``$6000 K to less than $``$2300 K (Munari et el. 2002b; Kimeswenger et al. 2002; Evans et al. 2003).

The light echo observed around V838 Mon is an indication of high mass loss, which occurred several thousand years ago (Munari et el. 2002a; Bond et el. 2003). The distance to the object is still uncertain. Initial estimates varied from 0.64 kpc (Kimeswenger et al. 2002) to $``$10 kpc (Munari & Desidera 2002). Later and more detailed analysis suggests that the distance is at least 5-8 kpc (Bond et al. 2003; Crause et al. 2003a; Tylenda 2003). Assuming a distance around 8 kpc, the estimated maximum expansion radius of V838 Mon (Soker & Tylenda 2003) is $``$3200 $`R_{}`$ ($``$15 AU).

Evans et al. (2003) used IRAS and 2MASS data to conclude that the temperature of the progenitor of V838 Mon was $``$7300 K. Its luminosity at 8 kpc is then $``$160 L. Combining these two parameters, we find a stellar radius of $``$$`R_{}`$ for the progenitor of V838 Mon, which would suit a star on the red giant branch (RGB).

The overall observed behaviour of V838 Mon is very different from nova outbursts and hard to be understood by any of the known astronomical events. A bold suggestion that this outburst was caused by the release of gravitational energy during a binary merger event has been put forth (Soker & Tylenda 2003). According to this scenario, the first brightening was caused by the merger of the outer layers of the two stars. Then, after about a month, the cores collided generating more energy and causing the second burst. The third peak was ascribed to changes in luminosity as the system settled into equilibrium. The analysis shows that the gravitational energy released by an accreted mass of $``$0.05 $`M_{}`$ is sufficient to inflate the envelope of a 1.5 $`M_{}`$ main-sequence star to $``$500 $`R_{}`$.

A careful inspection of the light curve of V838 Mon (Figs. 1 & 2) shows that the three peaks have a similar structure, namely each maximum is followed by a decline and a very weak secondary peak. In our opinion this characteristic of the light curve is inconsistent with the binary merger model mentioned above. The shape of the light curve prompts us to argue that V838 Mon had three events of similar nature, but probably of different strengths. The obvious candidate for such behaviour is the swallowing of massive planets in close orbits around a parent star.

During the past decade radial velocity studies of nearby stars have been very successful in finding planets. So far more than one hundred candidates for extrasolar planets have been discovered. Massive planets of Jupiter’s mass (MJ) or larger have been seen to be common around many stars at very close orbits (Livio & Soker 2002; Schneider 2003).

The fate of a planet in close orbit to an expanding RGB or asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star has been investigated by several authors (Livio & Soker 1984; Harpaz & Soker 1994; Soker 1996a,b; 1998; Siess & Livio 1999a,b). It is generally accepted that some of the inner planets surrounding a star should be engulfed and swallowed as it expands after leaving the main-sequence. It was shown that the inner planets in the solar system, up to and including Earth are likely to be eventually swallowed by the Sun (Rybicki & Denis 2001). There were also numerous reports of signs that many giant stars have in fact swallowed planets during their evolution (Siess & Livio 1999a,b). It was estimated that at least 3.5-9% of stars should experience enhanced mass loss as a result of planets and brown dwarf companions spiralling into their envelopes (Livio & Soker 2002).

Even before being engulfed, planets can be affected by enhanced solar-like winds and tidal interaction which becomes the dominant effect at a close range. The engulfed planet may be evaporated inside the envelope or overflow its Roche Lobe while spiralling inwards (Harpaz & Soker 1994; Soker 1996b, 1998), but there is a range of masses for which the planet can survive and expel the envelope and a range (around 1-10 MJ) where it can survive up to reaching the stellar core (Livio & Soker 1984; Soker 1998; Siess & Livio 1999a,b). We note that Sandquist et al. (1998) have conducted 3D hydrodynamic simulations of Jupiter-like planets entering the envelope of main-sequence stars. They have found the results to be sensitive to the stellar mass and to the details of planetary interior models. They concluded that in some cases planets less massive than Jupiter can survive through to the base of the convective zone (see also Sandquist et al. 2002).

## 2 Our model

We would like to propose then that the multi-stage eruption of V838 Mon was the swallowing of three planets in succession. In our scenario, in addition to the gravitational energy generated by the process, there may also be a rapid release of nuclear energy as ‘fresh’ hydrogen is driven into the hydrogen burning shell of a post main-sequence star. The material arrives from the outer convective stellar region as a shock wave is formed by the infalling supersonic body. This will be augmented by material from the incoming planet itself if it is massive enough (probably several MJ, around 0.01 $`M_{}`$) to avoid being evaporated away before reaching the nuclear burning region. The replenishment of the dwindling hydrogen abundance in the burning shell can cause a significant increase in the rate of nuclear reactions. This should be even more enhanced if the incoming hydrogen manages to penetrate deeper into the star where temperatures are higher.

A rather similar situation has been investigated and the effects of a large planet or a brown dwarf companion being swallowed by an AGB or RGB star were calculated (Siess & Livio 1999a,b). It was found that the accretion can be accompanied by substantial expansion and subsequent ejection of matter, infrared emission, increase in surface metalicity (especially Lithium abundance) and a spin-up of the star. The case considered was where the planet’s mass is deposited into the interior of the star at a slow rate and this was represented as an internal accretion process. A spherically symmetric stellar evolution code was used and accretion rates of only $`10^510^4`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1 were assumed. Even then, completing the rather complicated evolution and following the increase in luminosity for the higher mass transfer rate used was difficult. The situation we are describing calls for matter to enter the hydrogen burning region at higher rates and the entire process terminating much sooner than in the above mentioned calculations.

The gravitational energy released by an infalling planet of several MJ is very large. If we consider a planet with 5 MJ that spirals-in into a host star with a core mass of 1 M within a time scale of one month, the rate at which gravitational energy is released is:

$$L\frac{G(1M_{})(5\times 0.001M_{})}{1R_{}}/30d2\times 10^6L_{}$$
(1)
This is much larger than the luminosity emitted in the first peak, which is $`3\times 10^4L_{}`$ for a distance of 8 kpc (Soker & Tylenda 2003), and even bigger than the luminosity of the entire outburst ($`6\times 10^5L_{}`$). On the other hand, the enormous expansion of the stellar envelope might require the utilization of most, if not all the released gravitational energy. In this case, we conclude that most of the gravitational energy was probably used to throw away the ejecta and the luminosity rise was due to nuclear energy.

While the scenario we are promoting could occur in any of the post main-sequence stages from the RGB to the AGB phase, it appears to most likely happen at the RGB stage. At this phase, stars with masses up to 2 $`M_{}`$ (i.e. most stars) will expand to almost the same radius they will reach later during the AGB phase and the thermal pulses (Siess & Livio 1999a,b; Rybicki & Denis 2001). Thus, any planet that is eventually engulfed by its host star is likely to be accreted at this earlier phase. We note that as stated in Section 1, the estimated radius of V838 Mon prior to the eruption is suitable for the RGB phase.

It should be emphasised that the initial engulfment could be as a result of the very slow expansion of the giant star and then a rapid eruption consequently taking place, or a stellar flare (shell hydrogen burning tends to be unstable) that is greatly enhanced by the swallowed planet (or brown dwarf). The induced eruption causes additional planets to be engulfed and swallowed. The material that was seen to have been previously ejected from the star (the light echo, Section 1), could well have been a result of an even inner planet that had been accreted at an earlier stage. That event should not have been strong and extensive enough to totally engulf the planets that were swallowed during the present outburst, but may have started their spiralling-in process a long time ago.

The free fall time for a planet with an initial separation, $`a`$, into a star with a mass $`M`$ is given by:

$$t_{ff}=7.5d(\frac{M}{2M_{}})^{1/2}(\frac{a}{0.3AU})^{3/2}$$
(2)
Assuming that V838 Mon has a mass in the range of 1-3 M and that the actual spiralling-in time is within an order of magnitude of this obvious lower limit, the timing of the second and third peaks relative to the initial outburst would constrain all three planets to be within about 0.5 AU from the star just prior to the outburst (which is obtained assuming the actual falling-in time is about 4 times the free-fall time and taking into account that the last peak was about two months after the initial burst). Returning once again to the estimated value of the progenitor’s radius, being within the range expected for a star in the RGB (Section 1), we find that this value is also consistent with what would be expected for a strong tidal interaction with planets in the range described by Eq. 2 (Soker, private communication) and is thus in line with our model.

It is believed that Lithium is destroyed at early stages in stars as it is convected into hot nuclear burning regions. The accretion of planets could cause a significant enhancement of this and other elements on the surface of stars. While several other mechanisms have been offered to explain the Lithium enrichment observed in many evolved giant stars, there are problems with these scenarios. Therefore, the presence of this element in several giant stars was taken as an indication that these objects have swallowed planets in the past (Siess & Livio 1999a,b). In fact, the reported detection of the isotop Li6 in the atmosphere of HD 82943, which hosts two planetary systems, was interpreted as evidence for accretion of planet/s (Israelian et al. 2001; 2003), but see also Reddy et al. (2002). Lithium was actually observed in the spectra of V838 Mon during the outburst (Munari et el. 2002a; Goranskii el. 2002). These observations, together with the evidence for ejected matter, infrared emission excess, the radius of the progenitor and its significant expansion during the outburst (Munari et al. 2002a; Banerjee & Ashok 2002; Kimeswenger et al. 2002; Bond et al. 2003; Crause et al. 2003b; Evans et al. 2003), are consistent with the predictions of the models (Siess & Livio 1999a,b) and thus strongly support the proposed scenario for V838 Mon.

## 3 Other considerations

The second brightening in the light curve of V838 Mon (Figs. 1 & 2) was extremely fast and strong compared with the third peak (the information on the first maximum is limited as there are no magnitude estimates just before the onset of the outburst). The difference between the two peaks may be attributed to planets of different masses, compositions or even to a solid planet (compared with a gaseous one).

Recent spectra (Munari & Desidera 2002; Wagner & Starrfield 2002), taken after the decline from outburst, revealed a weak blue continuum that may point to the presence of a hot B-type star in addition to the cool outbursting object. We note, however, that since the field of V838 Mon is quite crowded, the possible companion may actually be a background star unrelated with the erupting object. In addition, even if V838 Mon is a member in a binary system, it may have no effect on the scenario suggested above. Indeed planets in close orbits have been observed in binary systems (Dvorak et al. 2003) and investigations have shown that they can be stable for a long period of time despite the presence of a binary companion (Dvorak et al. 2003; David et al. 2003).

The peculiar outburst of V838 Mon may not be unique. A few other stars have shown several observational similarities to V838 Mon, and in particular similar colour evolution, but the observational data of these objects are relatively scarce. The list includes M31RV (Red Variable in M31 in 1988) (Rich et al. 1989; Mould et al. 1990; Bryan & Royer 1992), V4332 Sgr (Luminous Variable in Sgr, 1994) (Martini et al. 1999) and maybe also CK Vul (Nova-? Vul 1670) (Shara, Moffat & Webbink 1985; Kato 2003). It was thus suggested that V838 Mon is the proto-type of a new class of objects (Munari et al. 2002a,b; Bond et al. 2003), which we propose may all have been expanding giants who were observed in the act of swallowing planets. V838 Mon is presumably an extreme case of this new group, in which three relatively massive planets were consumed during the outburst. According to our ideas, there should be more examples of expanding giants that swallow less and lighter planets thus showing weaker and less spectacular eruptions.

## 4 Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all professional and amateur astronomers whose data were used to plot the figures. In particular we thank P. Sobotka, U. Munari, S. Kimeswenger, V. Goranskii, H. Bond and L.A. Crause for sending us their photometric data. In this research, we have used, and acknowledge with thanks, data from the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Stars Observers) and VSNET (Variable Star Network) International Databases, based on observations submitted by variable star observers worldwide. We also thank K. Wu, T. Mazeh, T. Bedding, L.L. Kiss and especially N. Soker and M. Livio for useful comments and discussions. AR is supported by the Australian Research Council.


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# All information-theoretically secure key establishing protocols are quantum protocols

## The non-existence theorem

Examples of information-theoretically secure protocols are: BB84 BBB+92 , B92 Ben92  and EPR Eke91 . In particular, security of BB84 has been proven in May98 ; SP00 . Neither of these protocols can be entirely performed on a Turing machine because they assume a quantum channel. Such a channel is something rather exclusive. Almost all of contemporary computing technology and communication infrastructure is classical. Furthermore, in the absence of practical quantum repeaters, quantum channel is the main cause of severely limited range of the QKD DBCZ99 . It is therefore legitimate to ask whether there is any classical IT secure protocol. The answer to that is found in the Theorem 1. below, but first we need three definitions.

Definition 1. Classical communication channel is a device which has one input and at least two outputs such that perfect copies of the information sent to the input appear at the outputs.

Definition 2. A protocol is said to be classical if it assumes only classical channels and can be performed on a Turing machine.

Definition 3. A key establishing protocol is said to be information-theoretically secure if it allows two legitimate parties, who do not share a secret initially, to establish with a high probability a common string (key) about which an adversary has only partial knowledge limited by the upper bound known to (but not necessarily under control of) the legitimate parties.

For example the BB84 protocol followed by the information reconciliation BBB+92  forms an information-theoretically secure protocol. This definition is slightly weaker then the more common one which requires the legitimate parties to be able to limit the adversaries knowledge about the key to an arbitrarily small fraction of the key. However, the two are almost equivalent. Namely, any protocol which fits the Definition 3 can be complemented with the privacy amplification BBBM95  in order to satisfy the stronger definition, whereas any protocol that satisfies the stronger definition trivially satisfies the weaker one. We are now ready to prove the following theorem.

Theorem 1. Two parties initially sharing no secret can not establish a common string about which an adversary has only partial knowledge by a purely classical protocol.

Other, more colloquial formulation of the theorem might be: ”All information-theoretically secure key establishing protocols (in both weak and strong sense) are quantum protocols.”.

Proof. Imagine the situation as in Fig 1 where Alice and Bob are connected with one classical and one quantum channel so that they can perform BB84 protocol. Additionally, they are connected with channel(s) necessary to perform another information-theoretically secure protocol named T. We assume that T is a classical protocol and prove, by reductio ad absurdum, that this can not be true.

In the setup in Fig 1, Eve is familiar with both BB84 and T protocols and can make perfect copies of information going through all classical channels connected to Alice and Bob, and is free to make attempts to tamper with the quantum channel. In order to establish a common secret key Alice and Bob perform BB84 protocol using the quantum channel and the public channel (we assume BB84 protocol with polarized photons). Each of them has a local non-deterministic random bit generator. This protocol goes like this:

1. Alice generates two bits in order to encode one of the 4 possible polarizations of photon whereas Bob generates one bit in order to choose one of the two polarizers;
2. Alice sends polarized photon to Bob;
3. At that moment Eve who is tampering with the quantum channel tries to find out which photon state has been emitted by Alice but she can not obtain full information because of no-cloning theorem;
4. Bob receives the photon and measures it with his polarizer. The result $`r`$ is interpreted as ”0” or ”1”, according to the BB84 specification;
5. Bob sends to Alice the code of his polarizer, that is the bit he generated in the step 1, through the public channel;
6. If Bob’s polarizer matched photon polarization (meaning the measurement of the polarization was correct), Alice sends ”OK” and the bit $`r`$ is kept by both Alice and Bob, otherwise it is discarded.
7. Alice and Bob repeat steps 1 through 6 any number of times to obtain each a string of desired length.
8. When the desired string length is reached, Alice anb Bob perform information reconciliation, which results in the final shared key.

This protocol is information-theoretically secure. Its security relies entirely on the fact that Eve can not make a perfect copy of state emitted by Alice in the step 3 of each round, because no-cloning theorem no-cloning  of Quantum Mechanics applies to the quantum channel. However if the protocol T is secure then Alice and Bob can replace the quantum channel with T and perform a similar protocol in the following way:

1. Alice generates two random bits, Bob generates one random bit;
2. Alice, instead of generating a photon simply sends her two bits to Bob using classical protocol T;
3. At that moment Eve is listening to the protocol T but she can not obtain full information because T is information-theoretically secure;
4. Bob receives the bits from Alice, and calculates what he would measure in the case that Alice did send him a real photon and he used real polarizer according to his previously generated bit. The result $`r`$ is interpreted as ”0” or ”1”, according to the BB84 specification.
5. Bob sends to Alice the code of his ”polarizer” that is the bit he generated in the step 1 through the public channel;
6. If Bob’s bit matched photon polarization code (meaning the measurement of the polarization would be correct), Alice sends ”OK” and the bit $`r`$ is kept by both Alice and Bob, otherwise it is discarded.
7. Alice and Bob repeat steps 1 through 6 any number of times to obtain each a string of desired length.
8. When the desired string length is reached, Alice anb Bob perform information reconciliation, which results in the final shared key.

This protocol also makes possible for Alice and Bob to obtain a partially secret key. But it differs from the first protocol only by the fact that the quantum channel in the step 3. has been replaced by a classical protocol T. This in turn means that the effect of quantum channel in BB84 can be achieved entirely in terms of the classical protocol T which can not be true because no-cloning theorem does not have a classical explanation, Q.E.D.

Another way to prove the Theorem 1 would be to show that an unknown quantum state could be cloned with a help of a classical information-theoretically secure protocol.

## 1 SKAPD protocol and the non-existence theorem

It is the question of how the Theorem 1 relates to the SKAPD protocol of Maurer Mau93a  which is widely referred to being classical.

Maurer’s protocol consists of three ”phases” during which Alice and Bob (and possibly Eve) communicate over classical channels. Each phase (advantage distillation, information reconciliation and privacy amplification) is purely classical and can be performed on a Turing machine. Therefore it is tempting to think of it as being ”classical”. But, the three phases alone are not sufficient for establishing the key: they can not even begin without Alice and Bob (and Eve) having their initial binary strings. We are therefore coerced to conclude that there is another hidden but crucial ”0-th” phase. In the Maurer’s ”satellite scenario” (Fig 2) a satellite S emanates a weak signal of a random binary string, S0. Alice, Bob and Eve are ”connected” to the satellite by separate channels in order to obtain three different (but largely overlapping) copies of a binary string. Each of the parties uses its own copy to perform subsequent phases. Crucial requirement in the 0-th phase is that Eve can not copy (without errors) the information that is sent to either Alice or Bob. This means that, by definition, Alice and Bob are not connected to the satellite by classical channels. Further requirement is that the satellite sends a very weak signal such that Eve is not able to receive faithful copy of S0 (in which case Alice and Bob have a zero chance of establishing the key). This requirement pushed to its extreme, by allowing Eve to have better and better receiving antenna, would eventually lead to the requirement that the satellite should only send one quantum of electromagnetic radiation at a time, thus apparently realizing quantum channels with Alice, Bob and Eve. One possible model of this low-power communication is that the satellite encodes zeros and ones with quantum states (polarizations) just the way Alice does in the BB84. But instead of sending only one photon per bit, it sends many photons of the same state (per bit) in all directions so that every participant would be able to receive multiple copies of the same state. Having received multiple copies corresponding to a given bit, parties would be able to measure the state but still not with absolute certainty. At the end, parties would obtain similar but not equal copies of the initial string S0, which is exactly what is required. Even more interesting is the fact that the security of this phase (in the present model) clearly comes from the quantum effects but not from the no-cloning theorem because no-cloning theorem applies only to single measurement of an unknown state whereas here one is allowed to perform multiple measurements.

Scenarios other than the ”satellite scenario” have also been worked out: for example digitizing of a publicly announced patch of the Moon’s surface, or listening to a known weak radio source in deep Space, but no scenario is known in which zeroth phase is purely classical.

To conclude, existence of the information-theoretically secure SKAPD protocol by itself does not contradict the Theorem 1.

An additional support for the Theorem 1 comes from the recent work of tomographic  where striking equality has been found in noise thresholds for a family of quantum key-generating protocols and the SKAPD protocol indicating that these protocols might have more in common than previously realized.

## Discussion

It could be argued that since we live in the quantum world all practical protocols are necessarily quantum. However, this is not what the Theorem 1 is about. Theorem 1 states that is is impossible to even imagine an information-theoretically secure protocol that would rely only on notion of classical channels and Turing machines. And since today communications and computers are to a very high degree classical, it means that they are unsuitable for information-theoretically secure key establishing protocols. Theorem 1 spells out a simple principle: information-theoretically secure protocols must rely on some quantum effect, but not necessarily the no-cloning theorem.

## Conclusion

By virtue of the Theorem 1 no classical key generating protocol could ever be proven secure. To illustrate this it has been shown that a provably secure protocol SKAPD, previously thought to be classical, is in fact not entirely classical. On the other hand, quantum protocols which have been proven secure so far are very impractical because of limited range, expensive gadgetry and generally non-existing infrastructure of quantum channels needed to support them on a wider scale. While some of these limitations could be overcame with further technological development, we hope that the Theorem 1 would inspire new ideas for more practical quantum protocols.


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# A birth and growth of a collimated molecular jet from an AGB star

## 1. Introduction

Evolved stars of about a solar mass generally are spherically symmetric, yet the planetary nebulae (PNe) that immediately follow them on their evolutionary path often are not. Collimated stellar jets of material have been observed up to 0.3 pc from central objects of planetary nebulae, and precessing jets have been proposed as the origin of the asymmetries in the subsequent planetary nebulae (e.g., Sahai & Trauger 1998). Moreover, it has recently been shown theoretically that magnetic fields could launch and shape the jets (Blackman et al. 2001).

We consider here a member of a small, but exceptionally interesting class of stellar water maser sources that are characterized by extremely large spreads of maser velocities (up to 260 km s-1, Likkel, Morris, & Maddalena 1992). This class of ”water fountains” includes only three bona fide objects: IRAS 16342$``$3814 (Morris, Sahai, & Claussen 2003), IRAS 19134$`+`$2131 (Imai et al. 2003) and W43A (Diamond & Lyman 1988; Imai et al. 2002). This class of sources appear to be closely related morphologically and kinematically to other post-AGB stars revealed by optical, infrared and mm-wave observations.

Here we report VLBA observations of the W43A water masers during 1994–2002, which present a birth and growth of a stellar jet with precession, occurring formed prior to forming a proto-planetary nebula.

## 2. VLBA observations

The VLBA observations have been made in the following epochs, 1994 June 25 and October 10, 1995 March 17, 2002 April 3, July 26, and November 24. We observed W43A and calibrators for 10 hrs in total in each of the epochs. Since the year 2002, the phase-referencing technique has been applied to precisely estimate the source coordinate with respect to the stable reference frame fixed with extragalactic quasars and the W43A 1612-MHz OH masers.

## 3. Growing and precessing stellar jet

The W43A jet traced by water maser emission is highly collimated, both spatially and kinematically (see figure 1). Most of the maser spots are concentrated in the receding (north–east side) and approaching (south–west side) clusters. Both clusters have lengths of 250–350 AU but widths of only $``$20 AU. The two clusters are separated by $``$1700 AU. The width of the aligned masers is only $``$1/85 of the total length. The ratio is much smaller than any of those observed in ”molecular outflows”. Measured proper motions with line-of-sight velocities of the masers indicate the presence of a bipolar jet with a 3-D space speed of 145 $`\pm `$ 20 km s-1. Moreover, two pairs of the maser clusters are located almost point-symmetrically with respect to the estimated dynamical center of the water masers, which is the most likely origin of the jet (Imai et al. 2002). The extremely high collimation and point-symmetrical distributions of similar jets have been seen in optical observations of PNe and young stellar objects, but this is the first such molecular jet with these characteristics to be observed.

Furthermore, we found that the observed angular pattern of the water masers has grown during 1994–2002, the growth rate is roughly same as the speed of the maser feature motions. The angular pattern is well fit by a precessing jet model (figure 2). These results support that the jet was born around the year 1960 and precessing since its birth.

## 4. Water fountain before becoming a planetary nebula

Previous observations have inferred that stellar jets have already been formed $``$1000 yrs before an AGB star evolves into a post-AGB star and starts the photoionization of its circumstellar envelope (Miranda et al. 2001). On the other hand, the dynamical age of the jet in W43A is only $``$ 40 yrs. Combined with the presence of SiO masers in W43A (Nakashima & Deguchi 2003), which are detected in very few PPNe and with the OH masers such as those typically found in OH/IR stars (figure 1), this estimate strongly suggests that we are observing a star in transition. Another two ”water fountains” also have similar dynamical ages ($``$100 yrs for IRAS 16342$``$3814, Morris, Sahai, & Claussen 2003, 50 yrs for IRAS 19134$`+`$2131, Imai et al. 2003), but their morphologies seem already to be destroyed; it is difficult to find clear alignment and point symmetry in their maser distributions. Very likely, the water fountains last for a very short period ($``$100 yrs). The latter two sources have already exhibited (bipolar) nebulosity (Sahai et al. 1999; Sahai et al. 2003 in preparation), while W43A does not exhibit any nebulosity (Deguchi 2003 in private communication). Thus the water fountain appears just before or during the transition to a PPN. Comparing the above time scales with the duration of significant mass-loss rate from OH/IR stars (1000-4000 yrs, Lewis 2001), a water fountain should affect the development of PN morphology from the beginning of its formation (Sahai & Trauger 1998).

## 5. Future prospective

The driving object and the formation mechanism of the W43A jet are still unclear. W43A could be an AGB star able to create a collimated jet driven by the magnetic force due to the dynamo action at the interface between the rapidly rotating core and the more slowly rotating envelope of the star (Blackman et al. 2001) Alternatively, W43A could be a binary system where the ejected material from a mass-losing star falls onto an accretion disk surrounding a companion that creates the jet. These hypothesis are examined by astrometric technique for the water and hydroxyl masers in W43A, they are associated with the collimated jet and a spherically-expanding envelope, respectively. The locations of the dynamical centers of these jet and envelope should provide a strong constraint on binary system models. Therefore, we are performing phase-referencing VLBI observations to determine their coordinate with respect to the common extragalactic quasars. The location of the SiO masers also precisely indicate the position of the star that create the envelope and provides material to the jet.

Furthermore, because the devolution of the W43A jet is expected before our death, we will monitor the water maser morphology and kinematics for elucidating a growth of a planetary nebula developing its asymmetrical morphology.

### Acknowledgments.

The NRAO’s VLBA is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. H. I. was partially financially supported by the Leids Kerkhoven-Bosscha Fonds of Leiden University for attending the conference.

## References

Blackman, E. G., Frank, A., Markiel, J. A., Thomas, J. H., & Van Horn, H. M. 2001, Nature, 409, 485

Diamond, P.J., & Nyman, L.-A. 1988, in IAU Symp. 129, VLBI and their impact on Astrophysics, ed. J.M. Moran & M.J. Reid (Dordrecht: Reidel), 249

Imai, H., Morris, M., Sahai, R., Hachisuka, K., & Azzollini, J. R. F. 2003, A&A, submitted

Imai, H., Obara, K., Diamond, P. J., Omodaka, T., & Sasao, T. 2002, Nature, 417, 829

Lewis, B. M. 2001, A&A, 560, 400

Likkel, L., Morris, M., & Maddalena, R. J., 1992, A&A, 256, 581

Miranda, L. F., Gómez, Y., Anglada, G., & Torrelles, J. M. 2001, Nature, 414

Morris M. R., Sahai, R., & Claussen, M. 2003, RmxAC, 15, 20

Nakashima, J., Deguchi, S., 2003, PASJ, 55, 229

Sahai, R., te Lintel Hellert, P., Morris, M., Zijlstra, A., & Likkel, L. 1999, ApJ, 514, L115

Sahai, R., & Trauger, J. T. 1998, AJ, 116, 1357


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# Magnetic Tunnel Window’s Imprint and Beyond

## Abstract

We report results from Monte Carlo simulations of systems of magnetic dipoles that relax through quantum tunneling, much as Fe8 crystals at very low temperature. For short times, a hole develops in suitably defined magnetic field pseudo–distributions, which matches the shape of the tunnel window (TW). Much later, ordinary field distributions $`P(h)`$ develop similar holes if thermal energies are not much larger than the TW’s energy. Still later, below the long–range ordering (LRO) temperature, $`P(h)`$ exhibits the signature of LRO.

,

Magnetic relaxation in crystals of single–molecule magnets, such as Fe8, has recently become a subject of great interest. Experimentally observed relaxation at temperatures $`T`$ that are below some $`10^2`$ of single–ion crystal anisotropy barrier energies $`U`$ is temperature independent, and is duly attributted to magnetic quantum tunneling (MQT) . As explained in Ref. , hyperfine interactions with nuclear spins open up tunneling windows (TW’s) of energy $`\epsilon _w`$ that are comparable to magnetic dipolar energies. Then,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}(\epsilon _h)\mathrm{\Gamma }\eta (\epsilon _h/\epsilon _w),$$
(1)
is the tunneling rate for spins at very low temperature, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is some rate, $`\eta (x)1`$ for $`x1`$, $`\eta (x)0`$ for $`x1`$, and $`2\epsilon _h`$ is the Zeeman energy change upon tunneling. From here on, times are given in terms of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^1`$. The results reported here in Figs. 1, 2(a), and 3 are for $`\eta (x)=1`$ for $`x<1`$ and $`\eta (x)=0`$ for $`x>1`$; in Fig. 2(b) we show results for $`\eta (x)=\mathrm{exp}(x)`$. We shall refer to the former TW as flat and to the latter one as exponential.

An unusual magnetization $`M`$ relaxation of fully polarized Fe8 like systems, $`M_{t=0}M_t\sqrt{t}`$, was predicted in Ref.  and later observed . In an important piece of work, Wernsdorfer et al.  found that $`M_t\sqrt{t}`$ if a small magnetic field $`H`$ is applied at $`t=0`$, after quenching from a higher temperature. This behavior has been explained recently . In addition, since $`dM_t(H)/dt=2\mathrm{\Gamma }𝑑hf(h,t)\eta (h+H)`$ at all times, where $`f(h,t)=[P_+(h,t)P_{}(h,t)]`$, and $`P_+(h)`$ \[$`P_{}(h)`$\] is the density distribution for fields $`h`$ acting on up \[down\] spins, $`f(h,t)`$ can be determined by a suitable application of magnetic fields. \[$`f`$ itself is not normalized, and is therefore not a distribution. In fact, it turns out that $`f(h)`$ is proportional to the system’s energy \]. A “hole” of “intrinsic width”, was thus observed to develop in time, and conjectured to correspond to the width in $`\eta (h)`$, i.e., to the width of the TW .

We report Monte Carlo simulations of Ising systems of interacting dipoles on SC lattices. Initially, spins are allowed to flip readily at temperature $`T_aU/10T_o`$ ($`T_o2.5`$ is the LRO temperature) until the energy per spin reaches some value $`\epsilon _a`$. A field $`H`$ is applied then and spins only flip at rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$ \[see Eq. (1)\] thereafter, thus simulating temperatures below some $`10^2U`$. We have previously found  that $`M_t\epsilon _at`$. Here, we report results for the evolution of the field pseudo-distribution function $`f(h)`$ and for $`p(H)P_+(h)+P_{}(h)`$. Fields and energies are given in terms of nearest neighbor dipolar values.

How $`P_+(h)`$ and $`P_{}(h)`$ split, leading to a non-vanishing $`f(h)`$, after thermalization at high $`T`$ is illustrated in the inset of Fig. 1. The hole that develops in $`f(h)`$ after quenching and applying field $`H`$ is shown in Fig. 1. The shape of the hole is shown in Figs. 2(a) and (b), for flat and exponential TW’s, respectively, for $`H=2`$. Clearly, not only is the hole’s width the same as the width of $`\eta `$, as conjectured in Ref. , but $`f(h)/h`$ matches $`\eta (h)`$ for the three shortest times shown in Figs. 2(a) and (b). When $`t1`$, the hole widens, as shown in Fig. 2(a) for $`t=4`$.

On the time scale on which the hole in $`f/h`$ develops, $`P(H)`$ remains approximately independent of time. On the other hand, a hole which resembles the TW grows at much later times in $`P(H)`$ if $`T\epsilon _w`$ . This is exhibited in Fig. 3. Still later, below the long–range ordering (LRO) temperature, $`P(h)`$ exhibits the signature of LRO  whether $`T\epsilon _w`$ or not. If, on the other hand, the energy of the system is kept constant, no LRO ensues, as expected. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.