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# Simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of GRS 1915+105Based on observations with INTEGRAL, an ESA project with instruments and science data centre funded by ESA member states (especially the PI countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain), Czech Republic and Poland, and with the participation of Russia and the USA.

## 1 Introduction

Microquasars are galactic X-ray binaries exhibiting relativistic jets (Mirabel & Rodríguez 1999). The microquasar GRS 1915+105 has been extensively observed since this source is known to be extremely variable at all wavelengths (see Fuchs et al. 2003 for a review). It hosts the most massive known stellar mass black hole of our Galaxy with $`M=14\pm 4M_{}`$ (Greiner et al. 2001a). It was the first galactic source to show superluminal ejections (Mirabel & Rodríguez 1994) in the radio domain, which has enabled to give an upper limit of 11.2$`\pm `$0.8 kpc to the distance of the source (Fender et al. 1999). In addition to these arcsecond scale ejections, GRS 1915+105 sometimes produces a compact jet which has been resolved at milli-arcsecond scales in radio (Dhawan et al. 2000), corresponding to a length of a few tens of AU. The presence of such a compact and quasi-steady radio jet is now commonly inferred in the low/hard X-ray state of several microquasars but it is rarely resolved (see Fender 2003 and references therein).

We present here the first multi-wavelength campaign on GRS 1915+105 involving the recently launched INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL, 3 keV–10 MeV). This campaign was conducted by the MINE111See http://elbereth.obspm.fr/$``$fuchs/mine.html. (Multi-$`\lambda `$ INTEGRAL NEtwork) international collaboration aimed at performing multi-wavelength observations of galactic X-ray binaries simultaneously with the INTEGRAL satellite. In Sect. 2 we present an overview of our campaign, our results are shown in Sect. 3 and discussed in Sect. 4.

## 2 Overview of the multi-wavelength campaign

We conducted a multi-wavelength observation campaign of GRS 1915+105 in March-April 2003. In this letter we focus only on April 2–3, when we obtained data covering the widest range of frequencies, with the largest number of involved instruments observing simultaneously with INTEGRAL (Fig. 1). These observations are ToO (Targets of Opportunity) triggered by the MINE collaboration under the INTEGRAL Guaranteed Time Programme (PI Mirabel) and related programmes on the other instruments222Except for the RXTE observations which are part of a larger simultaneous INTEGRAL/RXTE campaign on GRS 1915+105 (PIs Hannikainen, Rodriguez), for which the RXTE planning team kindly agreed to schedule an observation during the INTEGRAL ToO presented here.. The detailed analysis of the whole campaign, i.e. March 24–25, April 2–3 and April 17–18 2003 (Fig. 2) including further instruments, will be presented in forthcoming papers. We thus present here an overview of the results of a (nearly) simultaneous campaign involving the Very Large Array (VLA), the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Ryle Telescope (RT) in radio, the ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT) in IR, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and INTEGRAL in X and $`\gamma `$-rays.

### 2.1 INTEGRAL

The data from the Integral Soft Gamma Ray Imager (ISGRI, 15 keV–1 MeV, Lebrun et al. 2003), were reduced with the Off-line Scientific Analysis software (OSA) v2.0 following Goldwurm et al. (2003). The total elapsed time resulted in $``$101 ks divided in 46 independent science windows (scw). For each of them we produced images in 2 energy bands, 20–40 keV and 40–80 keV, where GRS 1915+105 was clearly detected and from which we could obtain its position and flux. The spectral extraction was performed independently for every scw in 128 channels linearly rebined in the 20–1000 keV range. Given the low level of variability (less than 20%, see Fig. 1), the resultant spectra were combined with *mathpha*, and fitted between 20 and 400 keV with *xspec* v11.2 (also used for the SPI and RXTE spectral fits). Note that we also produced spectra with the officially available 13–1000 keV matrix. The results show no significant differences when fitting the spectra in the 20–400 keV range.

For the Spectrometer on board Integral (SPI, 20 keV–8 MeV, Vedrenne et al. 2003), after correction of the misalignment, we extracted simultaneously the spectra of 6 sources seen by ISGRI in the 20–40 keV band. We extracted the spectra of both the sources and background with the standard *spiros* programme (Skinner & Connell 2003), using the latest derived response matrix (Sturner et al. 2003). The observation being made in dithering mode, we were able to resolve the background in each energy bin and each detector independently.

Using OSA v2.0, JEM-X (Joint-European Monitor for X-rays, 3–35 keV, Lund et al. 2003) spectra were extracted (Westergaard et al. 2003) for the 42 scw where the source was within 5°of the pointing direction and then combined for a total exposure of $``$88 ks. The latest responses were used but the effective area corrected by a factor of 2 for the known losses due to dead anodes and the exclusion of the outermost areas of the detector.

### 2.2 RXTE

The RXTE observations were reduced following the standard procedure for bright sources, using the lheasoft package v5.2. See e.g. Rodriguez et al. (2003), for the details of the Proportional Counter Array (PCA, 2–60 keV) and High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE, 20–200 keV) data reduction followed for the spectral extraction and analysis (note that we only extracted spectra from the proportional counter unit 0 and 2 for the PCA). We also extracted light curves with $``$4 ms resolution from the PCA (see Fig. 1), and produced power spectra with *powspec* 1.0.

### 2.3 Infrared

The near infrared observations were performed with the 3.58 m ESO/NTT through a ToO programme (PI Chaty) dedicated to observations of high energy transient sources. The telescope was equipped with the IR spectrograph and imaging camera SOFI. We took images in the broad band filters $`J`$ ($`1.247\pm 0.290\mu `$m), $`H`$ ($`1.653\pm 0.297\mu `$m) and $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ ($`2.162\pm 0.275\mu `$m) with a 4.9$`\times `$4.9 field of view (0.292′′/pixel). Nine images of 60 s integration time were acquired in each filter and co-added. We also observed in the $`K_\mathrm{s}`$-band with high temporal resolution (see Fig. 1), taking 450 exposures of 2 s each, by averaging 9$`\times `$2 s frames, and randomly offsetting in distance and direction between each frame, during nearly 2.3 hours. The images were reduced using the iraf suite. Each image was corrected by a normalized dome-flat field, and sky-subtracted by a sky image (median filter combination of 9 consecutive images). The data were then analysed using *apphot*. Absolute photometry was performed using 2 standard stars: HST P499-E and HST S808-C (Persson et al. 1998). The conditions were photometric for most of the observations, the seeing being typically 0.8′′.

### 2.4 Radio

We observed the source during two hours on April 2, 2003 with the VLBA at 2.0 and 3.6 cm (ToO programme, PI Ribó). The observing strategy was the same as the one described in Dhawan et al. (2000). A detailed analysis of all the VLBA data acquired during this campaign will be presented in Ribó et al. (2003). The simultaneous radio light curve obtained with the VLA at 3.6 cm (8.4 GHz) during the first hour of the VLBA observations reveals a nearly constant flux density of 160$`\pm `$1 mJy (1$`\sigma `$ error, see Fig. 1), providing good confidence in the obtained VLBA images.

The Ryle Telescope observations at 15 GHz are part of a continuing monitoring program (see Pooley & Fender 1997 for more details). The data are shown in Figs. 1 & 2 with 5 min averaging; the typical uncertainty is 2 mJy + 3% in flux scaling.

## 3 Results

Figure 2 shows the general radio and X-ray behaviour of GRS 1915+105 during our observing campaign. Despite X-ray and giant radio flaring episodes that occurred in March–April 2003, our multi-wavelength observations took place during quasi-quiet periods, with a slowly decaying ASM flux $`50`$ cts/s and an unusually high radio level ($`>`$100 mJy).

The accumulated spectra obtained with INTEGRAL (ISGRI and SPI) and with RXTE (PCA and HEXTE) on April 2–3 are shown in Fig. 3. The ISGRI and SPI spectra are well jointly fitted in the 20–400 keV range by a power law with a photon index of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.16\pm 0.04`$ which is flatter than the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.58\pm 0.02`$ index of the HEXTE spectrum in the 20–200 keV range. This difference may be due to either instrument, since the background noise of HEXTE is uncertain when pointing in the galactic plane, and the calibration (e.g. background correction) of ISGRI and SPI are still in progress. Moreover, the HEXTE spectrum is built only on $``$6 ks of observation whereas the INTEGRAL spectra are averaged over 101 ks.

The PCA + HEXTE spectrum (3–200 keV, cf Fig. 3) was fitted by the sum of a multicolor blackbody model (diskbb), a power law and an iron line at $``$6 keV assuming a interstellar absorption with $`N_\mathrm{H}=5\times 10^{22}`$ cm-2. The fitted power law, with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.94\pm 0.01`$, accounts for 77% of the total unabsorbed 3–20 keV flux, and is flatter than at higher energies where the soft component has no longer influence. The resulting inner disk temperature is very high ($`kT>3`$ keV) as already noticed by Muno et al. (1999, 2001) who obtained similar results while fitting the plateau state of GRS 1915+105 (cf discussion), which may indicate either that the diskbb model is not valid here, or that other emission processes, such as Comptonization in thermal plasma (Zdziarski et al. 2001), are responsible for the low energy X-ray component. An analysis of the averaged spectrum obtained with JEM-X gives spectral fits (4–30 keV) consistent with the PCA. The estimated luminosity is $`7.5\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1 corresponding to $``$40% of the Eddington luminosity for a $`14M_{}`$ black hole. As shown in Fig. 3, a very clear Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) at 2.5 Hz with a 14% rms level was observed in the RXTE/PCA signal.

The VLBA high resolution images (Fig. 4) show the presence of a compact radio jet with a $``$7–14 mas length (85–170 AU at 12 kpc). This jet is very similar to the one observed by Dhawan et al. (2000) and is responsible for the high radio levels measured with the RT and the VLA (Fig. 2) by its optically thick synchrotron emission.

The source was fairly bright in near-IR (compare e.g. to Chaty et al. 1996) with apparent magnitudes $`J=17.19\pm 0.06`$, $`H=14.46\pm 0.12`$ and $`K_\mathrm{s}=12.95\pm 0.14`$. This corresponds to an excess of 75% to 85% in the $`K_\mathrm{s}`$-band flux compared to the $`K`$=14.5-15 mag. of the K-M giant donor star of the X-ray binary (Greiner et al. 2001b). The spectral energy distribution of Fig. 5 is compatible with a strong contribution to the near-IR bands from the synchrotron emission of the jet extending from the radio up to the near-IR. However, the $`J`$, $`H`$, and $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ dereddened flux densities are not compatible with such a single power law emission, since a significant change in the slope appears at the $`H`$-band by dereddening with a visible absorption $`A_V=19.5`$ (Chapuis & Corbel 2003). We point out here that while the value of the visible absorption is still a matter in the debate (see e.g. Fuchs et al. 2003 and Chaty et al. 1996), this H band excess might be due to the sum of the different components adding to the jet emission in the near-IR, such as the donor-star, the external part of the accretion disc or a free-free emission.

The detailed light curves of our observations (Fig. 1) show nearly quiet flux densities when compared to flares or oscillations, with variations $``$20% at all wavelengths. The most interesting phenomenon is a moderate $``$25% decrease (from 4.9 to 3.6 mJy) in the $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ flux density lasting 20 min which precedes by 31 min a $``$20% decrease in the RT signal (from 145 to 118 mJy) lasting 48 min. This may be due to instabilities in the jet inducing an immediate synchrotron response in the IR and the delay being due to the time for the material along the jet to become optically thin to the radio emission (Mirabel et al. 1998).

## 4 Discussion

Bright radio emission ($`F_\nu `$$``$ 100 mJy at 15 GHz) accompanied by steady X-ray emission (ASM $``$50 cts/s) similar to what happened around April 2, 2003 were observed on several past occasions in GRS 1915+105 (see e.g. Fig. 1 of Muno et al. 2001). This state is known as the plateau state (Fender et al. 1999; Klein-Wolt et al. 2002 and references therein) but is also called the radio loud low/hard X-ray state (Muno et al. 2001) and type II state (Trudolyubov 2001). It also corresponds to the $`\chi _1`$ and $`\chi _3`$ X-ray classes of Belloni et al. (2000) who used PCA color-color diagram, and indeed our April 2 observation appears as the $`\chi _1`$ class when plotted in such a diagram. Dhawan et al. (2000) observed GRS 1915+105 with the VLBA during the 1998 plateau state, and they found a compact radio jet very similar to the one shown in Fig. 4.

The strong QPO at 2.5 Hz observed on April 2 is consistent with the low/hard state of GRS 1915+105. The presence of the 0.5–10 Hz QPO seems correlated to a hard tail in the energy spectra of the source (Markwardt et al. 1999; Muno et al. 1999), although the energy dependence of the QPO amplitude might show a cut-off at high energy (Rodriguez et al. 2002), indicating that the QPO is probably not related to a global oscillation of that hard component.

The high energy emission of GRS 1915+105 on April 2 is also consistent with the low/hard state of the source, with a power law dominated spectrum (77% at 3–20 keV), although always softer ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$$``$3) than for the other BH binaries (McClintock & Remillard 2003). The INTEGRAL observations show that this power law spectrum extends up to 400 keV without any cutoff during this plateau state, consistent with the observations with OSSE (Zdziarski et al. 2001).

Here for the first time, we observed simultaneously all the properties of the plateau state of GRS 1915+105 that were previously observed individually. We thus confirm the presence of a powerful compact radio jet, responsible for the strong steady radio emission and probably for a significant part of the bright near-IR emission, as well as a QPO (2.5 Hz) in the X-rays and a power law dominated X-ray spectrum with a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$$``$3 photon index up to at least 400 keV. Detailed fits of the RXTE and INTEGRAL spectra of GRS 1915+105 in this plateau state, to determine for example whether this power law is due to an inverse Compton scattering of soft disc photons on the base of the compact jet (see e.g. Fender et al. 1999; Rau & Greiner 2003) or not, will be studied in forthcoming papers. In our multi-wavelength March-April campaign, the source was observed essentially in the plateau state. In order to better understand the unusual behaviour of GRS 1915+105, we need to carry out similar simultaneous broad-band campaigns during the other states, in particular during the sudden changes in the X-ray state that correspond to powerful relativistic ejection events.

Detailed analysis and interpretation of all of our observations and their scientific implications will be presented, separately, in future articles.

###### Acknowledgements.

Y.F. and J.R. acknowledge financial support from the CNES. M.R. acknowledges support from a Marie Curie individual fellowship under contract No. HPMF-CT-2002-02053. D.C.H. acknowledges the Academy of Finland for financial support. A.A.Z. has been supported by KBN grants 5P03D00821, 2P03C00619p1,2 and PBZ-054/P03/2001. S.C. is grateful to skills and availability of the ESO staff for performing ToO programmes, and particularly to the support astronomer Emanuela Pompei.


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# Applications of Gas Imaging Micro-Well Detectors to an Advanced Compton Telescope

## 1 Introduction

The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) is envisioned as a $`100`$-fold increase in sensitivity in the medium energy gamma-ray band (0.4-50 MeV) over CGRO/COMPTEL, the only Compton telescope flown in space with enough sensitivity to make astronomical observations (Schönfelder et al. 1993). Many technological approaches are currently being studied to make ACT a reality (Kurfess & Kroeger 2001, and references therein). Among these, one scheme, being pursued by both the MEGA (Kanbach et al. 2003) and TIGRE (O’Neill et al. 2003) projects, seeks to increase sensitivity by tracking the recoil electron from the initial Compton scatter interaction. The telescope consists of a tracker, made of a stack of thin silicon strip detectors, and a calorimeter, made of small CsI crystals. The Compton interaction takes place in the tracker; the recoil electron may be tracked through several layers of silicon, while the scattered photon is absorbed in the calorimeter. Measuring the electron momentum has the effect of reducing the typical Compton “event circle” to a smaller “event arc,” reducing background and improving imaging. We present a concept for ACT that takes electron tracking one step further: a gas electron-track imager, instrumented with pixelized micro-well detectors.

## 2 Pixelized Micro-Well Detectors

The micro-well detector is a type of gas proportional counter based on micro-patterned electrodes (Deines-Jones et al. 2002a, 2002b). Each sensing element consists of a charge-amplifying well (Figure 2).

The cathode and anode electrodes are deposited on opposite sides of an insulating substrate. The well is formed as a cylindrical hole through the cathode and substrate, exposing the anode. An array of such wells forms a detector, with the active tracking volume bounded by a drift electrode. Ionization electrons produced by the passage of a fast charged particle drift toward the anodes and into the wells. An ionization avalanche occurs in each well, where an intense electric field is set up by the voltage applied between the anode and cathode. Micro-well technology is very robust, and allows large areas to be read out with good spatial ($`100`$ $`\mu `$m) and energy (18% FWHM at 6 keV) resolution at low cost.

We are working to develop pixelized micro-well detectors (PMWDs) to enable true imaging of charged particle tracks. In this approach, each anode pad is connected to an element of a thin-film transistor (TFT) array. The individual transistor gates are connected in columns, and the outputs are connected in rows. The gate drivers for each column are then activated sequentially, allowing the charge collected on the anode pads to be read out by charge-intergating amplifiers at the end of each row. Thus a two-dimensional projected image of the charged particle track is recorded. The third dimension may be determined by measuring the drift time of the ionization electrons. These combined PMWD-TFT arrays will be assembled into modular detector units called three-dimensional track imaging detectors (TTIDs), as shown in Figure 2. Each TTID comprises two back-to-back PMWD-TFT arrays bounded by drift electrodes and field-shaping electrodes on the four walls. The electronics are distributed around the periphery of the module and then folded up along the walls.

Our concept for a Compton telescope consists of a tracker made up of TTID modules surrounded by a calorimeter similar to that envisioned for MEGA or TIGRE. The PMWDs would have a pitch of $`150`$–200 $`\mu `$m, and the tracker would be filled with xenon gas at $`3`$ atm pressure. These numbers represent a compromise between high interaction probability, low electron scattering, high spatial resolution, and the number of electronics channels required. The UV scintillation light from the xenon serves as a trigger, both for the drift timing electronics and for coincidence with the calorimeter.

## 3 Advantages of Electron Tracking for ACT

The primary advantage of a gas tracker for a Compton telescope is that the recoil electron may be tracked far more accurately than in any other detector medium. This is due to the low Coulomb scattering per track measurement distance in a uniform low-density environment. For xenon gas at 3 atm with a readout pitch of 150 $`\mu `$m, $`100`$ samples of the track may be recorded in $`3.2\times 10^3`$ radiation lengths. This is the same number of radiation lengths as 300 $`\mu `$m of silicon, or one layer of a typical silicon tracker as in MEGA or TIGRE, in which only one sample is possible. Monte Carlo simulations made with Geant4 indicate that in a TTID with the above parameters the initial direction of a 1 MeV electron may be determined to $`7^{}`$ (rms), compared to $`25^{}`$ expected for a silicon tracker. (The effects of passive materials are not yet included in these simulations or estimates.)

The primary advantage of electron tracking is the reduction of the point spread function (PSF). There are two components to the PSF of a Compton telescope. The first is the width of the event arc, equivalent to the error in the computed scatter angle $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$. (This is often referred to as the angular resolution meaure, or ARM.) This width is determined by the spatial and energy resolution of the tracker and calorimeter. The second component is the length of the event arc, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. This is roughly given by the error in the recoil electron’s initial direction, projected onto the plane perpendicular to the scattered photon direction. We plot analytical calculations of these quantities for a xenon Compton telescope with the parameters given above in Figure 3 (left) as a function of incident photon energy and Compton scatter angle $`\varphi `$.

A CsI calorimeter with 5 mm $`\times `$ 5 mm pixels and an energy resolution of 5% (FWHM) at 662 keV is assumed, as for MEGA and TIGRE. The calculated quantities are for “good” events, in which the incident photon scatters once in the xenon tracker and is then totally absorbed in the CsI. We assume that the micro-well energy resolution scales as the inverse square root of the energy (giving, for example, 1.5% FWHM at 1 MeV) and that the average distance between tracker and calorimeter interactions is 1 m. The accuracy of the location of the initial Compton scatter is on the order of the pitch and is neglected compared to the 5 mm pixel size of the CsI. The errors in the determination of the recoil electron direction are taken from Geant4 simulations. For low scatter angles the electron receives very little energy, making tracking difficult, and so $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ is large. The calculation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ includes an analytic correction for Doppler broadening (Zoglauer & Kanbach 2003).

The total angular area of the PSF is given by $`A=\mathrm{sin}\varphi \mathrm{\Delta }\varphi \mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. This is the region of the sky from which the incident photon could have originated. To decrease background and improve imaging, it is critical to minimize this area. Figure 3 (right) shows the total PSF area for a Xe Compton telescope. For comparison, the equivalent curves for a different ACT scheme, the germanium triple-Compton approach (Kurfess & Kroeger 2001), are shown as well. The triple-Compton technique relies on detectors with excellent energy resolution to reconstruct multiple (at least three) Compton scatter sequences so as to derive a photon’s energy without the need for a calorimeter. For our calculations we assume that the second scatter occurs at the most likely angle from the Klein-Nishina formula. The thick Ge detectors assumed in Figure 3 achieve a very small $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ due to their energy resolution, but are not able to track the recoil electron ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =2\pi `$). Therefore the PSF area is much larger, especially at large scatter angles. The inclusion of large scatter angles is necessary to achieve a large effective area.

Polarization sensitivity is a major goal of ACT. Polarization is detected by measuring the asymmetric azimuthal distribution of Compton-scattered polarized photons (Lei et al. 1997). Since this azimuthal asymmetry is most pronounced for large scatter angles, a Compton polarimeter will benefit greatly from a low background for large-scatter angle events. Figure 5 compares the minimum detectable polarization (Lei et al. 1997) for ACT telescopes similar to the Ge triple-Compton, MEGA, and Xe designs for a $`10^6`$ s observation of a 100 mCrab source.

An effective area of 3000 cm2 (typical of current ACT concepts; Kurfess & Kroeger 2001) and a total background twice that of COMPTEL are assumed for each, as well as the maximum possible azimuthal asymmetry, so that only the effects of the PSF area are compared. The Xe ACT concept achieves 2-3 times the polarization sensitivity of the other designs due to its tracking ability.

Good electron tracking is also of great value for background rejection. Recording the recoil electron direction of motion allows the suppression of upward-moving background gamma rays from the atmosphere (e.g., O’Neill et al. 2003). In a gas detector, this technique will work well below 1 MeV. In addition, the complete kinematic information gained from the electron’s motion permits consistency checks on the reconstructed photon’s direction and energy. For example, events that are not fully absorbed in the calorimeter may be identified. We calculate that incompletely absorbed 20 MeV photons may be rejected for scattering angles greater than $`10^{}`$.

## 4 Xe ACT Concept and Prototype Development

The low density of the gas tracker (the $`1/e`$ attenuation length for Compton scattering of 1 MeV photons in 3 atm of xenon gas is 11.6 m) implies that a large physical volume will be required to achieve a high effective area. Initial Geant4 simulations indicate that a sensitivity $`100`$ times that of COMPTEL may be achieved for a xenon tracking volume 2.5 m deep (0.22 attenuation lengths, similar to the MEGA concept) $`\times `$ 2.5 m in diameter, surrounded by CsI 10 cm thick on the bottom and 5 cm thick on the sides. This concept requires $`200`$ kg of Xe and $`5800`$ kg of CsI, a ratio of tracker to calorimeter masses that is similar to that in the MEGA or TIGRE concepts. The effective area for single Compton scattering in the tracker followed by complete absorption in the calorimeter is $`6700`$ cm2 at 1 MeV. No passive material was included in the simulation. Such a telescope would imply a total payload mass of $`8000`$ kg, well within the low earth orbit capability of launchers such as the Delta IV. Thus the Xe telescope concept is feasible and meets the goals of ACT.

To demonstrate the advantages of the Xe ACT, we plan to build and test a prototype over the next three years (Figure 5). The PWMD-TFT arrays will be produced by Penn State. The tracker and electronics will be designed and constructed at GSFC, while UNH will supply three simple NaI calorimeter modules to be placed behind and on two sides of the tracker. Special attention will be paid to implementing the high density of channels and interconnects and to minimizing the amount of passive material in the gas volume. Our goal is to test this prototype with 100% polarized gamma rays from 0.7–100 MeV at Duke University’s High Intensity Gamma Source in 2006 and to compare the results with more detailed simulations to prove the value of precise electron tracking for ACT.


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# Percolation of unsatisfiability in finite dimensions

## Abstract

The satisfiability and optimization of finite-dimensional Boolean formulas are studied using percolation theory, rare region arguments, and boundary effects. In contrast with mean-field results, there is no satisfiability transition, though there is a logical connectivity transition. In part of the disconnected phase, rare regions lead to a divergent running time for optimization algorithms. The thermodynamic ground state for the NP-hard two-dimensional maximum-satisfiability problem is typically unique. These results have implications for the computational study of disordered materials.

Complex problems with many degrees of freedom are of interest to both physicists and theoretical computer scientists. The overlap is especially strong between the physics of disordered materials and optimization problems in the typical case. For example, there is a close correspondence between the ground states of Ising spin glasses, with up and down spins, and optimal assignments of Boolean variables, which can be true or false, in a logical formula. This correspondence is more than superficial as both systems exhibit phase transitions in the structure of minimal configurations and in the dynamics of the physical systems or optimization algorithms BarthelWeigtHartmannMonassonZecchina . Such connections lead to advances in the two fields. Combinatorial optimization algorithms from computer science are often employed to simulate disordered condensed matter systems HartmannRiegerBook . Approaches from statistical physics, including techniques such as replica theory and concepts such as the thermodynamic limit and scaling, have proven useful in studying the running time algorithms and the structure of solution space MonassonEtAl .

Motivated by work on mean field Boolean formulas and progress in understanding models of finite-dimensional disordered materials, we investigate ensembles of Boolean formulas whose graphs are two-dimensional. These formulas are composed by conjunctively joining logical clauses, with each clause formed using nearest neighbor variables. The optimization problem is to assign truth values so as to satisfy the maximum number of clauses in the formula. This is closely analogous to minimizing the number of broken bonds in an Ising spin glass spinglass . Using ideas from statistical physics, including percolation and thermodynamic ground states, we find a transition in the structure of logically connected components and investigate the uniqueness of optimal assignments.

Decomposing the problem into clusters of strongly connected components that contain contradictory cycles greatly reduces the running time of an exact optimization algorithm. These contradictory strongly-connected components (CSC’s) need not percolate even though the clauses form percolative structures. In addition, the rapid convergence to a unique ground state as the size of the problem increases suggests that the problem is easy in the typical case, though it is classified as difficult in the worst case sense. Two central categories in this classification from computational complexity theory are P and NP decision (yes/no) problems Papadimitriou . Problems in P can be decided in time polynomial in the size of the problem description, while a proof of the answer for NP problems can be checked in polynomial time. NP-hard problems, a solution to which could be used to quickly solve any problem in NP, are believed to be solvable only in exponential time for the worst case realizations. It may well be that many NP-hard problems derived from physical systems, such as finding the ground state configuration for the 2D spin-glass in a magnetic field Barahona , are typically solvable in polynomial time. Our results support this possibility. NP-hard problems with algorithms that typically take polynomial time on some problem sets are known Papadimitriou , but have not been extensively and directly studied for physical problems in finite dimensions.

We consider finite-dimensional Boolean formulas $`Z`$ of the form

$$Z=_{\mathrm{}=1}^M(_{i=1}^Ky_i^{\mathrm{}})$$
(1)
where $``$ is the logical OR operation, $``$ is the logical AND operation, and $`\{y_i^{\mathrm{}}\}`$ are literals chosen from a set $`Y=\{x_1,\mathrm{},x_N,\overline{x}_1,\mathrm{},\overline{x}_N\}`$ of $`N`$ Boolean variables and their negations. The variables are identified with the vertices of a two-dimensional lattice. We specialize to clauses with $`K=1`$ and $`K=2`$. We form 2-clauses by choosing two neighboring variables and negating each variable with probability $`1/2`$. The 1-clauses are single literals, with probability $`1/2`$ of negation. A sample formula is depicted in Fig. 1(a). The ensemble is defined by parameters $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$, respectively the ratios of the number of $`2`$-clauses to $`N`$ and $`1`$-clauses to $`N`$. The 2-clauses do not overlap and no two 1-clauses contain the same variable. Given a truth assignment $`x_i\{T,F\}`$ for all Boolean variables, a clause is satisfied if one of the literals in the clause is $`T`$. If all clauses are satisfied, the formula $`Z`$ is satisfied. Determining the existence of a satisfying truth assignment is the problem of satisfiability (SAT).

The optimization of the number of satisfied clauses in $`Z`$ can be mapped to determining the ground state of a spin glass in a heterogeneous field. This mapping translates Boolean assignments $`x_i=\{\mathrm{F},\mathrm{T}\}`$ to spin variables $`S_i=\{1,+1\}`$. A bond energy $`E_{\mathrm{}}`$ can be assigned to a clause $`(y_0^{\mathrm{}}y_1^{\mathrm{}})`$ connecting variables $`x_i`$ and $`x_j`$ via MonassonEtAl

$`E_{\mathrm{}}={\displaystyle \frac{J}{4}}[1\mathrm{\Delta }(y_0^{\mathrm{}})S_i\mathrm{\Delta }(y_1^{\mathrm{}})S_j+\mathrm{\Delta }(y_0^{\mathrm{}})\mathrm{\Delta }(y_1^{\mathrm{}})S_iS_j],`$ (2)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }(y_0^{\mathrm{}})=1`$ if $`y_0^{\mathrm{}}=x_i`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(y_0^{\mathrm{}})=1`$ if $`y_0^{\mathrm{}}=\overline{x}_i`$ and similarly for $`j`$ (nearest neighbor to $`i`$) replacing 0 with 1. The total spin glass energy $`E`$ is given by $`E=_{\mathrm{}=1}^ME_{\mathrm{}}`$. Any clause that is not satisfied costs an energy $`J`$; the existence of an $`E=0`$ ground state is equivalent to satisfiability of the Boolean formula.

Resolution Papadimitriou  is a method that can be used to quickly decide SAT for $`K2`$. This procedure is equivalent to mapping each 2-clause to a pair of logical implications and searching for “contradictory cycles” (CCs). For example, the clause $`x_1x_2`$ is equivalent to $`\overline{x}_1x_2`$ and $`\overline{x}_2x_1`$. Clauses with $`K=1`$ are replaced by a single implication, e.g., $`\overline{x}_1`$ becomes $`x_1\overline{x}_1`$. The Boolean formula can be represented by an implication digraph (i.e., directed graph) $`G=(Y,E)`$ with $`2N`$ vertices and $`(2\alpha +\gamma )N`$ edges $`E`$. For a sample mapping, see Fig. 1(b). The formula $`Z`$ can not be satisfied if there is a CC, which is a path $`p`$ in $`G`$ that connects a variable to its negation and vice versa, i.e., $`p=(x_ix_j\mathrm{}\overline{x}_i\mathrm{}x_i)`$. For the formulas we consider, the existence of contradictory cycles can be decided in time linear in $`N`$ Cormenetal .

We find that there are CCs for any $`\alpha >0`$ (taking $`\gamma =0`$), as $`N\mathrm{}`$, in these finite-dimensional formulas. Defining $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)`$ as the value of $`\alpha `$ for which $`1/2`$ of the finite-dimensional $`N`$-variable formulas are satisfiable, $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)0`$ as $`N\mathrm{}`$ (see Fig. 2.) This crossover is coarse, in that the width of the crossover from low to high probability of satisfiability is proportional to $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)`$, for large $`N`$. This to be contrasted with random mean-field $`K=2`$ formulas, where for $`N\mathrm{}`$, there is a sharp SAT to UNSAT phase transition (the probability that a formula is satisfiable is $`1`$ for $`\alpha <\alpha _c=1`$ and $`0`$ for larger $`\alpha `$.) These differences result from small CCs, which at small $`\alpha `$ are exponentially rare in the mean field case but appear with Poissonian statistics in the finite-dimensional case, where loops are more important.

The location of the SAT/UNSAT crossover can be computed by an expansion in $`\alpha `$. Some subgraphs are “forcing”, i.e., in all satisfying assignments one of the variables has a fixed truth value. The smallest unsatisfiable graph is found by joining two contradictory forcing subgraphs. An example of this graph type is depicted in Fig. 1(b). On the triangular lattice, these subgraphs have density $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(\alpha )=\frac{\alpha ^6}{2^73^4}+𝒪(\alpha ^7)`$. The density of the simplest unsatisfiable graphs on the square lattice is $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}(\alpha )=\frac{\alpha ^8}{2^{16}}+𝒪(\alpha ^9)`$. In general, if the smallest unsatisfiable subgraph has $`r`$ bonds and density $`c_r\alpha ^r`$, the probability of satisfiability is $`P_{\mathrm{SAT}}(N)=(1c_r\alpha ^r)^N`$, to lowest order in $`\alpha `$, giving $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)(c_r^{1/r}\mathrm{ln}2)N^{1/r}`$. We plot numerical results and analytic expansions for $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)`$ in Fig. 2, which includes the next order analytic corrections in $`\alpha `$ (7-edged subgraphs with density $`\frac{5^2}{2^73^7}\alpha ^7+O(\alpha ^8)`$ on the triangular lattice and 9-edged subgraphs with density $`\frac{\alpha ^9}{2^{16}}+𝒪(\alpha ^{10})`$ on the square lattice).

We also plot analytic estimates and numerical results for $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)`$ for the 1-in-2-SAT problem in Fig. 2. While a clause in 2SAT (i.e., $`K=2`$) is satisfied if either literal is true, a clause is satisfied in 1-in-2-SAT when exactly one literal in a clause is true. The 1-in-2-SAT problem maps both to an Ising spin glass in the absence of a magnetic field and to the two-color problem Walsh . The smallest unsatisfiable graphs are given by frustrated cycles, giving $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)3(N/\mathrm{ln}2)^{1/3}`$ and $`\alpha _{1/2}(N)2^{5/4}(N/\mathrm{ln}2)^{1/4}`$ for the triangular and square lattices, respectively.

Given the lack of a sharp SAT/UNSAT transition, due to the existence of small unsatisfiable graphs, we have investigated the percolation of large unsatisfiable graphs as a phase transition. We study these graphs within the context of MAXSAT, which is the problem of minimizing the number of unsatisfied clauses. In two dimensions, the determination of the ground state for the Ising spin glass (or MAX-1-in-2-SAT) is in P Barahona , while determining the ground state for MAXSAT with $`K=2`$ is NP-hard, even for planar graphs. We studied the CSCs, sets of literals for which any two literals are connected by a directed path in the implication digraph and which contain a CC. We find that the probability of having a spanning CSC has a transition that becomes sharper with increasing $`N`$, with a critical value for $`\alpha `$ of $`\alpha _S=1.8245(5)`$ on the triangular lattice. The cluster size distribution $`n(s)`$ at criticality behaves as $`n(s)s^\tau `$, with $`\tau =2.02(5)`$. The scaling of the probability for a spanning CSC near $`\alpha _S`$ gives a correlation length exponent of $`\nu =1.32(3)`$. These values are consistent with the 2D values for standard percolation, where $`\tau =187/91`$ and $`\nu =4/3`$ StaufferAharony .

Percolation of paths in the implication digraph can be related to connectivity percolation Bollobasetal . This is done by projecting part of the implication digraph on $`2N`$ literals onto an undirected graph of $`N`$ variables. This “trimmed” projection has the same statistics as standard connectivity percolation with edge probability $`\stackrel{~}{p}=2pp^2`$, where for our finite-dimensional case, $`p=\alpha /2z`$, with $`z=4`$ ($`z=6`$) for square (triangular) lattices, if overlapping clauses are allowed. (On the triangular lattice with overlapping clauses, we find $`\alpha _S=1.887(2)`$.) In mean field, the percolation of paths containing a contradiction coincides with the SAT/UNSAT transition. This is not the case in finite dimensions. But given this type of connection and studies of percolation of directed edges in finite dimensions PfeifferRieger , it is not surprising that CSC percolation appears to be in the same universality class as standard connectivity percolation.

The decomposition of the graphs into CSCs speeds up exact search algorithms for MAXSAT. Here, we apply this decomposition to estimate running times of such an algorithm. We used a MAXSAT code bf  that first finds a heuristic bound to the solution and then applies an exact Davis-Putnam-Loveland-Logemann (DPLL) search. The running time measure $`t`$ is the number of “backtracks” that are executed while partially exploring the tree of all possible assignments. Each CSC cluster can be loaded into the algorithm individually footindep . The sum of the unsatisfied clauses from each cluster gives the minimal number of unsatisfied clauses for the entire formula. When $`\alpha <\alpha _S`$, the distribution of sizes of the CSCs, is exponentially decaying in the cluster size, $`n(s)e^{s/s_\xi (\alpha )}`$, with $`s_\xi \xi ^d(\alpha _S\alpha )^{d\nu }`$. If we plot the median number of backtracks for each cluster, we find that the median running time of the DPLL-type algorithm scales exponentially with the cluster size, $`t^{}(s)e^{s/s_\tau (\alpha )}`$. When $`s_\xi (\alpha )<s_\tau (\alpha )`$, the median running time for a sample, $`T^{}(L)`$, is bounded by a multiple of the system volume, $`T^{}(L)L^2`$. However, when $`s_\xi >s_\tau `$, $`T^{}(L)`$ diverges more rapidly, with an estimate for the largest cluster size in a finite sample giving $`T^{}(L)L^{2s_\tau /s_\xi }`$. The mean running time, $`\overline{T}(L)`$, diverges exponentially with $`L`$. The transition between the linear and superlinear median time behaviors defines $`\alpha _G<\alpha _S`$ via $`s_\xi (\alpha _G)=s_\tau (\alpha _G)`$. Fig. 3 shows convolutions of the cluster size distribution $`n(s)`$ and the median time $`t^{}(s,\alpha )`$ as a function of size. The change from negative to positive slope on the semi-log plot gives $`\alpha _G1.3`$ for the DPLL code we use. This slowing down of the algorithmic dynamics is similar to that for the physical dynamics of random magnets GriffithsRanderia  and is reminiscent of the change from the easy-SAT to hard-SAT phases in random graphs BarthelWeigtHartmannMonassonZecchina .

Despite the divergence of the running times for the exhaustive DPLL-type algorithms, we might expect that the ground states could be found in time proportional to the system volume in the typical case, even above the CSC percolation transition. Assuming that the droplet picture describes these finite-dimensional spin glasses, the presence of the magnetic field destroys the spin glass phase FisherHuse  and the correlations are finite-ranged (though in 2SAT there are some correlations in the external fields.) So while the CSCs percolate, the effects of frustration remain localized beyond some length scale. This picture also implies one unique thermodynamic state. If this is the case there may be a way to develop a new algorithm to deal with the local frustrated bonds, either by solving subsystems and joining the solutions together to form the whole system or by a more clever heuristic algorithm. We leave this as a conjecture and simply test for uniqueness.

To test whether the ground state is unique, we study the effect of boundary conditions, similar to studies of the Ising spin glass NSISGunique . By comparing ground states for a system of linear size $`L`$ and an expanded system of linear size $`L^{}`$ (each with free boundaries), one can determine if the ground state is unique or not from the sensitivity to boundary conditions. If the solutions in the common subsystem of linear size $`w`$ become fixed as $`L`$ and $`L^{}`$ diverge, a unique ground state exists in the thermodynamic limit. Note that the ground state must be unique for $`\alpha <\alpha _S`$, as the logical structure of the graph does not percolate.

Since the $`\pm J`$ spin glass with magnetic field (equivalent to optimal assignments for MAX2SAT) has many degenerate ground states, we study the weighted MAX2SAT (WMAXSAT) question, where the degeneracy is broken, to be able directly to compare ground state solutions. Each clause has an associated weight, chosen uniformly in the interval $`[0,1)`$, and the optimization problem is now to minimize the sum of the weights of the unsatisfied clauses. We also introduce 1-clauses, with the same weight distribution. The addition of 1-clauses lowers $`\alpha _S`$, allowing us to study a larger range system of system sizes, as the graphs are sparser.

We estimate the quantity $`P(2L,L,w)`$, the probability that there is a change in the central area of area $`w^2`$ when the system size expands from $`L`$ to $`2L`$ NSISGunique , by sampling from the WMAXSAT ensemble. To be able to complete the simulations, we impose an upper limit $`B`$ on the number of backtracks in the DPLL and report $`P`$ for a range of $`B`$. The points in Fig. 4, with $`w=2`$, are well fit by an exponential in $`L`$, in the limit of large $`B`$. (A power law fit gives an exponent less than $`2`$, which is inconsistent with a fractal domain wall picture for a model with two states NSISGunique .) The $`w=4`$ data is also well described by an exponential with the same slope. For $`\alpha =1.7`$ and $`\gamma =0.2`$, we estimate a correlation length of $`\xi =2.5\pm 0.3`$. The exponential approach to a unique state holds for all $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$ that we explored.

Working within the concepts and the algorithms for spin glasses and other disordered materials, we have studied the problem of optimal satisfaction of Boolean formulas. There is no thermodynamic SAT to UNSAT transition, due to the finite density of small unsatisfiable formulas. There is a percolation transition, however, in the logical structure of the formulas as the clause density is increased, that is apparently in the class of standard connectivity percolation. Below this transition, we use rare region arguments to predict a transition in the mean running time of an optimization algorithm. We find that the ground state is unique even in the high clause density regime. This uniqueness suggests that the MAX2SAT problem can be solved “locally” by studying subsamples larger than the correlation length and patching subsolutions together (though for large correlation lengths, rare regions might again dominate the running time.) This general approach in turn has potential applications to algorithms for studying spin glasses and other random magnets. This project was supported in part by the National Science Foundation through grant DMR-0109164.


text:
# The Case Against Objective Measurement

## Introduction

Let a particle and detector interact. The state of the system prior to interaction is given by

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(t)=exp(iHt)\psi _iD_i$$

where $`\psi _i`$ is the initial state of the particle, and $`D_i`$ is the initial state of the detector. After interaction at time $`t_0`$, the particle and detector will become entangled and evolve into two decoherent components

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(tt_0)=\psi (t)D_0+D_1(t)$$
(1)
where the first is the partially scattered particle together with the detector in its ground state, and the second is the detector in its excited or capture state. The second component is zero at $`t_0`$.

In the following reducto ad absurdum argument, I first assume that eq. 1 may stochastically reduce to either $`\psi (t)D_0`$ or $`D_1`$ without the benefit of an observer. I will then show that the result is not supportable when an observer is added to the mix.

## The Rules

I do not propose a *theory* of collapse. The rules given below describe the collapse of a wave function in a way that is independent of theory. They define the circumstances that trigger a collapse, they specify the timing consistent with observation and Hamiltonian dynamics, and they do so without having to provide a separate theoretical structure. A collapse refers here to an individual event, not an ensemble of events. So $`D_1`$ is the sole surviving state in one collapse, and $`\psi (t)D_0`$ is the survivor in another. Potentially, each of these collapses follows its own rule. The first rule (A) governs a collapse to the state $`D_1`$, and the second rule (B) governs a collapse to the state $`\psi (t)D_0`$.

Rule (A): *The probability current J flowing from the first to the second component in eq. 1 gives the probability per unit time that there will be a stochastic choice of state $`D_1`$, causing a collapse of the superposition to $`D_1`$.*

The probability current $`J`$ is equal to the time rate of change of the square modulus. It is the rate at which the first component decreases and the second component increases due to current flow from the first to the second.

The total probability of a collapse to $`D_1`$ is equal to an integral of $`J`$ from the beginning of the interaction to the end. That amount will depend on the cross section of the interaction and the length of time that the detector is exposed to the oncoming particle. This means that the collapse (corresponding to a particle capture) can occur at any time during the interaction, where both the time of the collapse and the total probability of its happening are determined by the probability current. So whatever theory of collapse one might entertain, it must make use of the magnitude and duration of this current. Otherwise, the theory will conflict with Hamiltonian dynamics.222To simplify matters I assume that a collapse, once begun, is instantaneous. The following argument does not critically depend on that assumption.,333One thing is certain. A theory is wrong that requires an (almost) immediate state reduction because of the macroscopic nature of the detector; for surely the size of the detector has nothing to do with the current flowing into it. Circumstances might make the current flow in eq. 1 indefinitely small; in which case, the macroscopic superposition might last for an indefinitely long period of time. This, I believe, is the basic flaw in the gravitational theory of Penrose  and in the spontaneous reduction theory of Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber . Their ‘timing’ is off. Macroscopic states don t always collapse as soon as they are created.

Now consider rule (B) that governs a collapse to $`\psi (t)D_0`$ when there is no capture in an individual event. This one is difficult. The trouble is that it makes no sense to declare ‘no-capture’ while the interaction is still in progress. Doing so would abort rule (A). There is no moment of time during the interaction when a no-capture collapse can occur without prematurely abandoning the possibility of a capture. Therefore, a collapse to $`\psi (t)D_0`$ can only occur when the interaction is complete; that is, assuming that the state is not first collapsed by rule (A) or by the intervention of an observer.

Rule (B): *If the superposition $`\psi (t)D_0+D_1(t)`$ survives to the end of an interaction, then it will collapse to the current contributing component $`\psi (t)D_0`$, making it the sole survivor.*

Rule (B) follows from the necessity to preserve rule (A). However, there are consequences that make this rule untenable. For simplicity, suppose that the approaching particle has a total probability of capture equal to 60%. Let an observer look at the detector before the interaction is complete - at a time when there is only a 50% probability of capture. Rule (A) then requires that the observer find the detector in its capture state 50% of the time; and otherwise, rule (B) requires that the observer find the superposition of eq. 1 since the interaction is not yet over. The observer is therefore exposed to a strange combination of pre-quantum and quantum states, consisting of $`D_1`$ plus the superposition in eq. 1. This will lead to the following observational absurdity.

The state of the system is listed on the left in fig. 1 and the corresponding experience of the observer (following the Born interpretation) is listed on the right. From the first row, the observer will find the detector in the state $`D_1`$ a full 50% of the time. From the second row, $`D_1`$ will be observed *half* of 50% of the time because of the Born rule applied to the superposition, and $`D_0`$ will be observed for the *other half* of that time. All together, $`D_1`$ will be observed 75% of the time, and $`D_0`$ will be observed 25% of the time. Our initial assumption was that the particle is captured 50% of the time (up to the time of the observation), so there is something absurdly wrong with this result?

Rule (A) is surely correct if the Hamiltonian is to be believed. Because of that, a no-capture collapse is unavoidably delayed until the interaction is terminated is some way, and this sets up the absurd result in fig. 1. The conundrum posed here is more fundamental than any possible ‘theory’ of measurement. It has to do with the difficulty in finding a straightforward empirical formula (i.e., a set of rules A and B) that accurately portrays the ‘timing’ of the two possible reductions. Since rules of this kind should apply generally to any interaction, their failure to apply in this situation suggests that absurdity will follow whenever objective state reduction is allowed to compete with the reduction associated with an observer.

The above argument shows that observer state reduction cannot compete with objective state reduction in this interaction. Since an observation (resulting in reduction) can surely be arranged, it is strongly suggested that an objective reduction will not occur in this or in any similar situation. More generally, it is suggested that there is *no such thing* as an objective measurement. Quantum mechanics doesn’t need objective measurement, there is no empirical or presently existing theoretical reason for it, so Occam’s razor seems to require that we reject the idea. It may only be a remnant of classical thinking.

## Rules Governing Observer Reduction (Observer Measurement)

On the other hand, it is possible to discover consistent and well-behaved rules that describe *observer reductions* alone. This has been done in a previous publication . These exclusively observer-based rules make it possible to include the observer in a quantum mechanical system, and they place novel macro-theoretical constraints on participating brain states.

Standard quantum mechanics with the Born interpretation does not allow the observer to be included in the system. It allows an observer to look at the system at one particular time, but it does not let him follow further developments in a continuous way. He can come back later and see what has happened, but he cannot stay and become part of the system. This limitation on the observer is overcome by the proposed observer-based rules .

There are five of these rules in ref. 3, the first four of which give a consistent and accurate empirical description of observation measurement. The first of these replaces the Born rule. It replaces the static notion of *probability* with the dynamic notion of *probability/time*. It is this, together with the other rules, that allows the expansion of quantum mechanics to include conscious observers on a continuing basis.

In addition, these rules make novel synthetic statements about brains. Two of the rules are *selection rules* that limit the transitions that can take place between those brain states that are the basis states of state reduction. As such, the rules place significant macro-theoretical constrains on the brains of conscious observers.

The proposed rules in ref. 3 are successfully applied to a number of different situations, including two different versions of the Schrödinger cat experiment. I believe they are generalizable to any interaction that includes an observer. Therefore, they are the empirical guidelines that must be met by any theory that claims to explain observer based state reduction in quantum mechanics, whether or not objective reduction is also validated.


text:
# Critical Current of the Spin-Triplet Superconducting Phase in Sr2RuO4

## Abstract

There have been two different proposals for the spin-triplet order parameter of the superconducting phase in Sr2RuO4; an $`f`$-wave order parameter and the multigap model where some of the bands have the line node. In an effort to propose an experiment that can distinguish two cases, we study the behavior of the supercurrent and compute the critical current for these order parameters when the sample is a thin film with the thickness $`d\xi `$ where $`\xi `$ is the coherence length. It is found that the supercurrent behaves very differently in two models. This will serve as a sharp test for the identification of the correct order parameter.

Introduction: The order parameter of the superconducting phase in Sr2RuO4 has been a subject of intensive research since its discovery in 1994 maeno ; mackenzie . In particular, the field has been stimulated by the prospect of identifying the simplest electronic version of spin-triplet superconductor. The early proposal made by Rice and Sigrist suggested the following spin-triplet order parameter with $`p`$-wave symmetry rice ; maeno2 .

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{d}(k_x\pm ik_y),$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the magnitude of the order parameter and $`\widehat{d}`$ is a unit vector perpendicular to the spin of the condensed pair vollhardt . This order parameter breaks time-reversal symmetry and has a full gap on the Fermi surface. Indeed the flat 17O Knight shift across $`T_c`$ ishida , for the magnetic field along the $`ab`$ plane, and the observation of spontaneous magnetic moment in $`\mu `$SR luke  are consistent with the spin-triplet order parameter and broken time-reversal symmetry, respectively. This encouraged theoretical investigations of the effects of the characteristic collective modes (the spin waves and clapping mode) and the topological defects with the order parameter of Eq.1 tewordt ; kee ; kee2 ; half .

The experiments performed later on cleaner samples, however, reveal the existence of the nodal structure in the order parameter; the $`T^2`$ dependence of the specific heat nishizaki , the $`T`$-linear behavior of the superfluid density bonalde , the $`T^3`$ dependence of $`1/T_1`$ in NMR ishida3 , the $`T^2`$ behavior of the ultrasonic attenuation lupien , and the $`\sqrt{H}`$ dependence of the specific heat in a magnetic field nishizaki  at low temperatures. While these behaviors are consistent with an $`f`$-wave superconductor with nodes hasegawa ; won ; dahm ; miyake ; graf , this may be at odd with the fact that the quasi-two dimensional system with strong ferromagnetic fluctuations would typically favor the $`p`$-wave superconductor with Eq.1 sigrist ; sato . In an effort to resolve this issue, the following order parameter with the horizontal node was proposed as a strong candidate won .

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{d}(k_x\pm ik_y)\mathrm{cos}(ck_z),$$
(2)
where $`c`$ is the lattice constant in the $`c`$-axis. It was shown that the magneto-thermal conductivity would provide useful information about the validity of this order parameter won2 ; won3 . Such experiments were indeed carried out tanatar ; izawa , and the results are consistent with Eq.2, even though the data cannot exclude the possible presence of small amount of $`p`$-wave mixture.

An alternative model was suggested by Zhitomirsky and Rice zhito ; annett . Their multigap model utilizes the fact that there exist three bands; $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$, and $`\gamma `$ maeno2 . Here the dominant $`p`$-wave order parameter with Eq.1 resides on the active $`\gamma `$ band while the proximity effect leads to the following $`f`$-wave-like (it will be called $`f^{}`$-wave hereafter) order parameter with the line nodes in the $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ bands zhito .

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{d}(k_x\pm ik_y)\mathrm{cos}(ck_z/2).$$
(3)
The observation of a double transition in a recent specific heat measurement near $`H_{c2}`$ was interpreted in terms of this multigap model deguchi . On the other hand, the specific heat and the magnetic penetration depth for low temperatures ($`TT_c`$) and low field ($`HH_{c2}`$) appear to be consistent with the $`f`$-wave order parameter of Eq.2.

Thus it is not clear at the moment which order parameter is the correct description of the superconducting phase; this is the fundamental issue for Sr2RuO4. Previously it was suggested that the angle dependence of the magneto-thermal conductivity can be used to distinguish different order parameters maki . The Raman spectra can be also used to detect different contributions from the clapping mode in the $`f`$-wave and the multigap models kee3 ; dora . These proposals, however, reply on the quantitative, albeit detectable, difference in two models. Thus it is still desirable to have a sharp test that leads to the qualitatively different outcome in two cases.

In this paper, we provide such a proposal; the study of the critical current in two models for the spin-triplet superconductor. In particular, we investigated the behavior of the supercurrent for the $`f`$-wave and $`f^{}`$-wave order parameters. It is found that the supercurrent in the $`ab`$-plane has the same form in both cases and has significant contributions from the quasiparticles. On the other hand, if the current flows along the $`c`$-axis, the supercurrent in the $`f^{}`$-wave is relatively immune to the quasiparticles at small current while that of the $`f`$-wave still acquires a large contribution from the quasiparticles. Notice that the supercurrent in the multigap model would be dominated by the $`p`$-wave component on the $`\gamma `$-band and its behavior would be the same as the case of $`s`$-wave superconductor where the quasiparticle contribution is almost absent at small current parks . Combining all these, it can be seen that the supercurrent in the $`f`$-wave case is much more affected by the quasiparticles. Thus the study of the supercurrent provides a clear mean to distinguish two different proposals for the order parameter of the superconducting phase in Sr2RuO4.

More specifically, we will consider a thin film with the sample thickness $`d\xi `$, where $`\xi `$ is the coherent length. Under this condition, the magnitude of the superconducting gap, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and the supercurrent will be uniform across the system parks . When a uniform current flows, the Cooper-pair acquires a center of mass momentum of $`𝐪_s`$. If there were no contribution from the quasiparticles, the supercurrent would be simply proportional to $`𝐪_s`$. The quasiparticles, however, change this behavior via the shifted quasiparticle dispersion, $`E_𝐤`$, in the presence of the superflow parks .

$$E_𝐤=E_𝐤^0+𝐯_𝐤𝐪_s,$$
(4)
where $`E_𝐤^0=\sqrt{\xi _𝐤^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^2}`$ and $`𝐯_𝐤=\xi _𝐤/𝐤`$ is the quasiparticle velocity. The total current, $`j_s`$, as a function of $`s=v_Fq_s`$ rises linearly at small $`s`$ and has a maximum at some value of $`s`$, then drops as $`s`$ is further increased. When $`dj_s/ds<0`$, the system is unstable; thus the critical current is determined by the value of $`s`$ where $`dj_s/ds=0`$ parks . The detailed behavior of the supercurrent and the value of the critical current in each case are discussed below.

$`f`$-wave order parameter: We will consider two different cases; the current in the $`ab`$-plane and along the $`c`$-axis.

a. the current in the $`ab`$-plane

The gap equation for the order parameter in the presence of a uniform current can be written as

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)=T\underset{i\omega _n}{}\underset{𝐩}{}V(𝐤,𝐩)\mathrm{Tr}[\rho _1\sigma _1G(i\omega _n,𝐩)]$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }f(𝐤)`$, $`V(𝐤,𝐩)=Vf(𝐤)f(𝐩)^{}`$, and $`f(𝐤)`$ represents the momentum dependence of the order parameter. Here the single particle Green’s function $`G(i\omega _n,𝐤)`$ is given by

$$G^1(i\omega _n,𝐤)=i\omega _n𝐯_𝐤𝐪_s+\xi _𝐤\rho _3+\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)\rho _1\sigma _1,$$
(6)
where $`\xi _𝐤=(k_x^2+k_y^2)/2mt\mathrm{cos}(ck_z)\mu `$ is the single particle dispersion.

The uniform current reduces the amplitude of the order parameter and the current dependence of the amplitude at $`T=0`$ can be obtained from the following equation derived from Eq.4 (the lattice constant $`c=1`$ for simplicity).

$$\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }(0)}{\mathrm{\Delta }(s)}\right]=\frac{8}{\pi ^2}_0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}𝑑k_z_0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}𝑑\varphi |f|^2\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{arccosh}\left[\frac{s\mathrm{sin}\varphi }{\mathrm{\Delta }(s)|f|}\right]$$
(7)
where $`s=v_Fq_s`$, $`\varphi `$ is the angle between the direction of the current $`\widehat{𝐪}_s`$ and the quasiparticle velocity $`𝐯_𝐤`$. $`\mathrm{\Delta }(s)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ represent the amplitude of the order parameter in the presence and absence of the current, respectively.

In the case of the $`f`$-wave order parameter, $`f(𝐤)=e^{\pm i\varphi }\mathrm{cos}(ck_z)`$, a straightforward computation at $`T=0`$ leads to

$$\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }(0)}{\mathrm{\Delta }(s)}\right]=\frac{2}{\pi }\left[\mathrm{arcsin}y\left(\mathrm{ln}y\frac{1}{2}\right)\frac{y}{2}\sqrt{1y^2}_0^{\mathrm{arcsin}y}𝑑\varphi \mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{sin}\varphi )\right]$$
(8)
for $`ys/\mathrm{\Delta }(s)<1`$. When $`y>1`$, there is no solution for the gap equation. Now the contribution from the quasiparticles to the current can be computed from parks

$$𝐣_{qp}=eT\underset{i\omega _n}{}\underset{𝐤}{}\mathrm{Tr}[𝐯_𝐤G(i\omega _n,𝐤)].$$
(9)
Taking into account this, the net supercurrent for the $`f`$-wave order parameter is obtained as

$`𝐣_s`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{en}{m}}𝐪_s\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{8}{\pi ^2y}}{\displaystyle _0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}}𝑑k_z{\displaystyle _0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}}𝑑\varphi \mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{Re}\sqrt{(y\mathrm{cos}\varphi )^2(\mathrm{cos}k_z)^2}\right]`$ (10)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{en}{m}}𝐪_s\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi y}}\left(\sqrt{1y^2}{\displaystyle \frac{12y^2}{y}}\mathrm{arcsin}y\right)\right],`$ (11)
where $`n=k_F^2/2\pi `$ is the density of electrons in the plane. The supercurrent as a function of $`s/\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ can be obtained from Eq.8 and Eq.11; the result is plotted in Fig. 1(a). The critical current occurs at $`s=0.74\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ and the value of the critical current is $`j_c=0.465(en/mv_F)\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$.

b. the current along the c-axis

When the current is along the $`c`$-axis, the gap equation for the $`f`$-wave order parameter at $`T=0`$ is now given by

$$\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }(0)}{\mathrm{\Delta }(s)}\right]=\frac{4}{\pi }_0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}𝑑k_z(\mathrm{cos}k_z)^2\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{arccosh}\left(\frac{s\mathrm{sin}k_z}{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{cos}k_z}\right)=\mathrm{arcsinh}y\frac{y}{\sqrt{1+y^2}},$$
(12)
where $`s=v_{Fc}q_s`$ with $`v_{Fc}=tc`$ and $`𝐯_𝐤=(tc)\mathrm{sin}k_z\widehat{𝐪}_s`$ is used. The net supercurrent is also found as

$$𝐣_s=\frac{en}{m}\left(\frac{v_{Fc}}{v_F}\right)^2𝐪_s\left[1\frac{4}{\pi y}_0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}𝑑k_z\mathrm{sin}k_z\mathrm{Re}\sqrt{(y\mathrm{sin}k_z)^2(\mathrm{cos}k_z)^2}\right]=\frac{en}{m}\left(\frac{v_{Fc}}{v_F}\right)^2𝐪_s\left[1\frac{y}{\sqrt{1+y^2}}\right].$$
(13)
Notice that $`v_{Fc}`$ and $`v_F`$ are the velocities along the $`c`$-direction and in the $`ab`$-plane, respectively. The supercurrent computed from Eq.12 and Eq.13 is plotted in Fig. 1(b); the critical current occurs at $`s=0.61\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ and the value of the critical current is $`j_c=0.277(en/m)(v_{Fc}/v_{F}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$.

$`f^{}`$-wave order parameter: When the current is in the $`ab`$-plane, the gap equation and the expression for the supercurrent turns out to be the same as those of the $`f`$-wave case. Thus the supercurrent in this case is given by Fig. 1(a). On the other hand, when the current is along the $`c`$-axis, both of the gap equation and the supercurrent for the $`f^{}`$-wave order parameter are quite different from the $`f`$-wave counterpart. The gap equation now has the following form with $`s=v_{Fc}q_s`$.

$`\mathrm{ln}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }(0)}{\mathrm{\Delta }(s)}}\right]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}}𝑑k_z\left[\mathrm{cos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k_z}{2}}\right)\right]^2\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{arccosh}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{s\mathrm{sin}k_z}{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{cos}(\frac{k_z}{2})}}\right]`$ (14)
$`=`$ $`\left[\mathrm{ln}(2y){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4y^2}}\right)\right]\theta \left(y{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right),`$ (15)
where $`\theta (x)=1`$ for $`x>0`$ and is zero if $`x<0`$. The supercurrent is given by

$`𝐣_s`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{en}{m}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{v_{Fc}}{v_F}}\right)^2𝐪_s\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi y}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑k_z\mathrm{sin}k_z\mathrm{Re}\sqrt{(y\mathrm{sin}k_z)^2\left(\mathrm{cos}{\displaystyle \frac{k_z}{2}}\right)^2}\right]`$ (16)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{en}{m}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{v_{Fz}}{v_F}}\right)^2𝐪_s\left[1\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4y^2}}\right)^2\theta \left(y{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)\right].`$ (17)
The supercurrent as a function of $`s/\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ is plotted in Fig. 1(c). Notice that the quasiparticle contribution to the current does not enter for $`s/\mathrm{\Delta }<1/2`$, so the supercurrent is proportional to $`𝐪_s`$ in this regime. The critical current is found at $`s=0.56\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ and the value of the critical current is $`j_c=0.531(en/m)(v_{Fc}/v_{F}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$.

Summary and Conclusion: We investigated the behavior of the supercurrent and obtained the critical current in the cases of the $`f`$-wave and $`f^{}`$-wave order parameters defined in Eq.2 and Eq.3. In the superconductor with the full gap, the quasiparticle contribution to the supercurrent would enter only when the current exceeds some value. If the order parameter has nodes, however, the quasiparticle contribution may affect the supercurrent even in the small current limit. When the current flows in the $`ab`$-plane, the supercurrent in the $`f`$-wave and $`f^{}`$-wave cases is indeed affected by quasiparticles even for small current and it has the same form in both cases. On the other hand, if the current is along the $`c`$-axis, the supercurrent in the $`f^{}`$-wave case behaves similarly to the case with the full gap; in contrast, the quasiparticle contribution still enters at small current in the $`f`$-wave case.

Now the discussion about different models for the superconducting order parameter in Sr2RuO4 is in order.

1) When the current is in the $`ab`$-plane, the supercurrent in the multigap model would be mainly determined by the dominant $`p`$-wave component on the $`\gamma `$-band and its behavior is similar to the case of $`s`$-wave superconductor; the small contribution from the $`f^{}`$-wave component is subdominant so that the supercurrent is not much affected by the quasiparticles at small current. Thus, the critical current in the multigap model would be much bigger than that of the $`f`$-wave model where the supercurrent acquires a significant quasiparticle contribution.

2) If the current is along the $`c`$-axis, even the supercurrent from the $`f^{}`$-wave component (as well as the $`p`$-wave component) in the multigap model does not acquire the quasiparticle contribution at small current and as a result the supercurrent is even less affected by the quasiparticles. On the other hand, the supercurrent in the $`f`$-wave model is still very much affected so that the critical current is again much smaller.

The qualitative difference in the behavior of the supercurrent in two models can be used to discriminate one of the leading candidates for the order parameter of the superconducting phase in Sr2RuO4.

Acknowledgments: HYK and YBK thank Aspen Center for Physics for its hospitality during the summer workshop in 2003. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Canada Research Chair Program, and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (HYK and YBK).


text:
# 1 INTRODUCTION

## 1 INTRODUCTION

One of the most interesting questions which remains unsolved in the general theory of relativity is the energy-momentum localization. Numerous attempts have been made in the past for a solution, and this question still attracts considerable attention in the literature, and remains an important issue to be settled. After the expression obtained by Einstein  for the energy-momentum complexes, many physicist, such as Landau and Lifshitz , Papapetrou , Bergmann , Weinberg  and Møller  had given different definitions for the energy-momentum complexes. These definitions, except that of Møller, are restricted to evaluate the energy distribution in quasi-Cartesian coordinates. In his opinion Lessner  sustained that the Møller energy-momentum complex is an important concept of energy and momentum in general relativity. Some interesting results recently obtained  sustain the conclusion that the Møller energy-momentum complex gives reasonable results for many space-times. Also, Cooperstock  gave his opinion that the energy and momentum are confined to the regions of non-vanishing energy-momentum tensor of the matter and all non-gravitational fields.

## 2 BLACK HOLE SOLUTIONS IN $`2+1`$ DIMENSIONS

In recent years the several gravity models in 2+1 dimensions have gained considerable attention . Due to an expectation is that the study of 2+1 dimensional theories would provide relevant information about the correponding theory in 3+1 dimensions. In 2+1 dimensions the number of independent components of the Riemann curvature tensor and the Einstein tensor are the same, consequently the imposition of Einstein’s equations in vacuum implies that the curvature rwnsor also vanishes. Therefore, the space-time described by the vacuum solutions to Einstein equations in 2+1 dimensions are no gravitional wave and no interaction between masses, and the existence of black hole would be prevented . However, Bañados, Teitelboim, and Zanelli (BTZ)  have discovered a black hole solution to the Einstein-Maxwell equations (with a negative cosmological constant) in 2+1 dimensions, which is characterized by mass, angular momentum, and charge parameters. Because of energy-momentum is a fundamental conserved quantity associated with a symmetry of space-time geometry. Thus, there are many study about that the energy of 2+1 dimensional black hole solutions in different gravity models . In this article, we will study the energy distribution of non-rotating black hole solutions in $`2+1`$ dimensions with Einstein and Møller energy-momentum complexes. We use the geometrized units $`(G=c=1)`$ and adopt the signature of the metric with $`(,+,+)`$. It follows the convention that the Latin indices run from $`1`$ to $`2`$ and the Greek indices run from $`0`$ to $`2`$ . Now, we investigate these following 2+1 dimensional non-rotating black hole solutions with non-zero cosmological constant:
(i) Uncharged black hole solution
The solution is given by

$$ds^2=(\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2M)dt^2+(\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2M)^1dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2,$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the cosmological constant.
(ii) Charged black hole
This solution is expressed by the line element

$$ds^2=(\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2M2Q^2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{r}{r_+}\right))dt^2+(\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2M2Q^2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{r}{r_+}\right))^1dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2,$$
(2)
where $`r_+=\sqrt{M/\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$.
(iii) Coupling to a static scalar field
The solution of 2+1 dimensional gravity field coupled to a static scalar field is described by

$$ds^2=\left(\frac{(r2B)(B+r)^2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{r}\right)dt^2+\left(\frac{(r2B)(B+r)^2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{r}\right)^1dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2$$
(3)
(iv) The static and circularly symmetric exact solution of the Einstein-massless scalar equation
The static and circularly symmetric exact solution of the Einstein-massless scalar equation is given by

$$ds^2=Bdt^2+B^1dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2,$$
(4)
where $`B=(1q)R^q`$, $`R=r/r_0`$ and q stands for the scalar charge.

## 3 ENERGY IN THE EINSTEIN PRESCRIPTION

The well known energy-momentum complex of Einstein  is defined as

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^\nu =\frac{1}{2\kappa }\frac{}{x^\sigma }H_\mu ^{\nu \sigma },$$
(5)
with superpotential

$$H_\mu ^{\nu \sigma }=\frac{g_{\mu \rho }}{\sqrt{g}}\frac{}{x^\eta }[(g)(g^{\nu \rho }g^{\sigma \eta }g^{\sigma \rho }g^{\nu \eta })],$$
(6)
and the gravitational coupling constant $`\kappa `$. Then we evaluate the energy and momentum by Einstein energy-momentum complex in quasi-Cartesian coordinates of 2+1 dimentional space-time,

$$P_\mu =\frac{1}{2\kappa }\frac{H_\mu ^{oi}}{x^i}d^2x.$$
(7)
and the energy component is obtained by using the Gauss theorem

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}(r)=P_0=\frac{1}{2\kappa }\frac{H_0^{0i}}{x^i}𝑑x𝑑y.$$
(8)
The metric of the non-rotating black hole solutions in 2+1 dimensions can be taken as in Cartesian coordinates

$$ds^2=vdt^2+(\frac{x^2}{r^2}w+\frac{y^2}{r^2})dx^2+(\frac{2xy}{r^2}w\frac{2xy}{r^2})dxdy+(\frac{y^2}{r^2}w+\frac{x^2}{r^2})dy^2.$$
(9)
Hence, the required nonvanishing components $`H_0^{0i}`$ of the Einstein energy-momentum complex are shown to be

$`H_0^{01}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{x}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{v}{\sqrt{vw}}}(1w),`$ (10)
$`H_0^{02}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{v}{\sqrt{vw}}}(1w).`$ (11)
Finally, we find the energy within a circle withe radius $`r`$ is

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}(r)=\frac{1}{2\kappa }\frac{v}{\sqrt{vw}}(1w)𝑑\theta .$$
(12)
## 4 ENERGY IN THE MØLLER PRESCRIPTION

For another thing, the Møller energy-momentum complex  is given by

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^\nu =\frac{1}{\kappa }\frac{}{x^\rho }\chi _\mu ^{\nu \rho },$$
(13)
with superpotential

$$\chi _\mu ^{\nu \rho }=\sqrt{g}(\frac{g_{\mu \beta }}{x^\alpha }\frac{g_{\mu \alpha }}{x^\beta })g^{\nu \alpha }g^{\rho \beta }.$$
(14)
The energy and momentum using the Møller energy-momentum complex in spherical coordinates are calculated as

$$P_\mu =\frac{1}{\kappa }\frac{\chi _\mu ^{oi}}{x^i}d^2x.$$
(15)
and the energy component is obtained by using the Gauss theorem

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}(r)=P_0=\frac{1}{\kappa }\frac{\chi _0^{0i}}{x^i}𝑑r𝑑\theta .$$
(16)
For the 2+1 dimensional non-rotating black hole solutions in spherical coordinates, the metric can be expressed in the form

$$ds^2=v(r)dt^2+w(r)dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2.$$
(17)
So, the only nonvanishing component of Møller energy-momentum complex is

$$\chi _0^{01}=\frac{r}{\sqrt{vw}}\frac{v}{r}.$$
(18)
At last, the energy within a circle withe radius $`r`$ is obtained

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}(r)=\frac{1}{\kappa }\frac{r}{\sqrt{vw}}\frac{v}{r}𝑑\theta .$$
(19)
## 5 ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF $`2+1`$ DIMENSIONAL BLACK HOLE SOLUTIONS

To put these four space-time solutions(1)-(4) into equations (6) and (14), these cases furnish:
(i)Uncharged black hole solution:

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}=\frac{\pi (\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2M1)}{\kappa },$$
(20)
and

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}=\frac{4\pi \mathrm{\Lambda }r^2}{\kappa }.$$
(21)
(ii)Charged black hole solution:

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}=\frac{\pi [\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2M2Q^2\mathrm{ln}(\frac{r}{r_+})1]}{\kappa },$$
(22)
and

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}=\frac{4\pi (\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2Q^2)}{\kappa }.$$
(23)
(iii) Coupling to a static scalar field:

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}=\frac{\pi [\mathrm{\Lambda }(r2B)(B+r)^2r]}{\kappa r},$$
(24)
and

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}=\frac{4\pi [\mathrm{\Lambda }(B+r)(r^2Br+B^2)]}{\kappa r}.$$
(25)
(iv)The static and circularly symmetric exact solution of the Einstein-massless scalar equation:

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}=\frac{\pi [(1q)R^q1]}{\kappa },$$
(26)
and

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}=\frac{2\pi q(1q)R^q}{\kappa }.$$
(27)
## 6 CONCLUSION

The enery distributions for some $`2+1`$ dimensional black hole solutions were computed with the Einstein and Møller energy-momentum complexes. In these four solutions the energy distributions of Einstein energy-momentum complex differ from Møller, and those each solution also differ with other three with Einstein’s (or Møller’s) prescription. Specially, we found that all of the energy component of Møller energy-momentum complex are negative.

As $`r`$ becomes larger, the energy distribution of Virbhadra’s solution for the Einstein-massless scalar equation becomes

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}\frac{\pi }{\kappa }(1q)R^q$$
(28)
and

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}\frac{2\pi }{\kappa }q(1q)R^q,$$
(29)
and the energy distributons of these three solutions become

$$E_{\mathrm{Ein}}\frac{\pi \mathrm{\Lambda }r^2}{\kappa }$$
(30)
and

$$E_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}\frac{4\pi \mathrm{\Lambda }r^2}{\kappa }.$$
(31)
Because those solutions are not asymtotical flat, $`E_{\mathrm{Ein}}`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{ø}\mathrm{l}}`$ of all solutions divergence while $`r\mathrm{}`$. Nevertheless those energy-momentum complex still could be used to study the topology of black hole solutions.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. S. Deser, Prof. R. Jackiw, Prof. R. Mann and Dr. E.C. Vagenas for useful comments. I.-C. Yang also thanks the National Science Council of the Republic of China for financial support under the contract number NSC 92-2112-M-006-007


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# Low lying nucleons from chirally improved fermionsPresented at LATTICE 2003 by P. Crompton. The work was supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (APART 654, C. Gattringer), by Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung in Österreich (P14806-TPH, L.Ya. Glozman and P16310-N08, C.B. Lang) and by DFG and BMBF.

## Abstract

We report on our preliminary results on the low-lying excited nucleon spectra which we obtain through a variational-basis formed with three different interpolators.

There are two competing pictures for understanding baryon physics in different mass regions. For hadrons with heavy quarks linear confinement and perturbative gluon exchange corrections  provide a satisfactory description. For lighter quarks towards the chiral limit we have to expect manifestations of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking . Lattice studies can shed light on the relevant mechanisms. In particular after the advent of Ginsparg-Wilson fermions it is now also possible to run computations relatively close to the chiral limit.

However, exact chiral fermion actions (like the overlap action) are very costly. On the other hand, recently developed approximate solutions of the Ginsparg-Wilson equation allow to work at relatively small quark masses at only moderate numerical cost. Two such approximate solutions, the parametrized fixed point action and the chirally improved action, have been studied in the BGR-collaboration . Here we present results for low lying nucleon states computed with the chirally improved (CI) action . The CI operator is a parameterization of the Dirac operator with terms essentially restricted to the hypercube. It allows for simulations at pseudoscalar-mass to vector-mass ratios down to $`m_{PS}/m_V`$ = 0.32 for a relatively large lattice spacing of $`a=0.15`$ fm (see  for more details). Thus we can work with light pions on large physical volumes. The quark propagators are determined for quenched gauge configurations generated with the Lüscher-Weisz action. Here we discuss results derived from 100 configurations on $`16^3\times 32`$ and $`12^3\times 24`$ lattices at a lattice spacing of $`a=0.15`$ fm as determined with the Sommer parameter . This gives rise to spatial extensions of 2.4 fm and 1.8 fm. In this study our quark mass values cover the region $`0.02am_q0.2`$ corresponding to values of $`m_{PS}/m_V`$ down to 0.397. A detailed account of our setting is given in .

We implemented the following three interpolating operators for the nucleon

$`\chi _1(x)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ_{abc}\left[u_a^T(x)C\gamma _5d_b(x)\right]u_c(x),`$ (1)
$`\chi _2(x)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ_{abc}\left[u_a^T(x)Cd_b(x)\right]\gamma _5u_c(x),`$ (2)
$`\chi _3(x)`$ $`=`$ $`iϵ_{abc}\left[u_a^T(x)C\gamma _0\gamma _5d_b(x)\right]u_c(x).`$ (3)
These operators were Jacobi-smeared at both source and sink. We remark that we also experimented with point sinks and wall sources but found unchanged results and no improvement of the quality of our data. We computed all cross correlations ($`n,m=1,2,3`$)

$$C_{nm}(t)=\chi _{n}^{}{}_{}{}^{}(0)\chi _m(t).$$
(4)
For a basis of infinitely many operators ($`n,m=1,2\mathrm{}\mathrm{}`$) the diagonalization of the matrix $`C`$ would lead to the optimal operator combinations building the physical states. Finding these combinations is equivalent to the generalized eigenvalue problem

$$C(t)𝜻^{(k)}(t)=\lambda ^{(k)}(t,t_0)C(t_0)𝜻^{(k)}(t),$$
(5)
with eigenvalues behaving as

$$\lambda ^{(k)}(t,t_0)=e^{(tt_0)W_k}.$$
(6)
Each eigenvalue corresponds to a different energy level $`W_k`$ dominating its exponential decay. The optimal operators $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i`$ which have maximal overlap with the physical states are linear combinations of the original operators $`\chi _i`$,

$$\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i=\underset{j}{}c_j^{(i)}\chi _j.$$
(7)
The coefficients $`c_j^{(i)}`$ are obtained from the $`j`$-th entry of the $`i`$-th eigenvector (corresponding to eigenvalue $`\lambda ^{(i)}`$). Note that here we work with only a finite basis of operators which gives rise to corrections to the single exponential decay Eq. (6) which are discussed in more detail in .

We project the operators in the correlation matrix (4) to definite parity. This allows us to disentangle states with positive and negative parity. We use the eigenvalues of the full correlation matrix to identify the plateaus in the effective mass. In this region we then use fully correlated two-parameter fits for the largest and second largest eigenvalues to determine the energy of the ground state and first excited state. We also experimented with Bayesian fitting techniques but do not discuss these results here.

In our data we clearly identify the nucleon, the two lowest negative parity states N(1535) and N(1650) and an excited state of positive parity with a mass well above the masses of the two excited negative parity states and thus too high to be identified with the Roper state at 1440 MeV. We denote this state as $`N_+^{}`$. For negative parity and for the excited state in the positive parity sector the quality of the fits decreases towards smaller quark masses and we cannot maintain the standards of our fitting procedure. We do not give results in these cases.

Our results for masses the are given in Fig. 1. Like previous studies  we clearly observe a splitting between the nucleon and the negative parity states. At large quark masses this is attributed to the orbital excitation of the quark motion in the confining color-electric field. The splitting slowly increases towards the chiral limit. This implies that near the chiral limit there is another mechanism contributing in addition to confinement. This is quite consistent with the chiral constituent quark model  where a considerable part of the splitting is related to the flavor-spin residual interaction between valence quarks. Also the splitting between the two negative parity states is clearly visible.

At smaller quark masses (below $`am_q=0.05`$) plateaus in the effective mass plots for both negative parity states and for $`N_+^{}`$ completely disappear and hence we cannot trace these states closer to the chiral limit. At small Euclidean time separation there is a hint from our data (for smeared source and point sink) that there may be one more positive parity excited state. However, our analysis did not provide consistent results for this weak signal.

We performed our analysis for two different lattice sizes $`16^3\times 32`$ (full curves in Fig. 1) and $`12^3\times 24`$ (dashed curves). Fig. 1 shows that the two data sets fall on top of each other and we do not suffer from finite size effects.

Interesting physical insight can be obtained from the mixing coefficients $`c_j^{(i)}`$ of Eq. (7). In Fig. 2 we show their dependence on the pseudoscalar mass and again compare $`16^3\times 32`$ (filled symbols) and $`12^3\times 24`$ (crosses) to illustrate the absence of finite volume effects. Operator $`\chi _1`$ clearly dominates the nucleon at all quark masses, whereas in QCD sum rule analyses  it is assumed that the equally weighted superposition of $`\chi _1`$ and $`\chi _2`$ is the optimal combination coupling to the nucleon.

The nucleon belongs to a 56-plet which would require that under the permutation of two quarks a diquark subsystem has positive parity since the color wave function is completely antisymmetric. In the large $`N_c`$ limit the nucleon should not contain pseudoscalar or vector diquark subsystems and one expects the interpolator content from $`\chi _2`$ and $`\chi _3`$ to be minimal as is indeed seen in our data.

Fig. 2 shows that at large quark masses the $`N(1535)`$ is dominated by $`\chi _1`$ and $`N(1650)`$ by $`\chi _2`$. As the chiral limit is approached $`N(1535)`$ couples optimally to $`(\chi _1\chi _2)`$ while $`N(1650)`$ couples to $`(\chi _1+\chi _2)`$ and the $`\chi _3`$ contribution is suppressed in both cases. $`N(1535)`$ and $`N(1650)`$ belong to the negative parity $`L=1`$ 70-plet of $`SU(6)`$ and both contain scalar and pseudoscalar diquark components in their wave functions. So the mixing in the vicinity of the chiral limit is very different from the mixing in the heavy quark region. Within the quark model this mixing is attributed to the tensor force and our results hint at its relation to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.

In  the subtraction of a parametrization of possible quenched artifacts ($`\eta ^{}N`$), giving rise to negative values of the correlation function for central $`t`$-values, was crucial for the identification of a Roper signal. We also observe such negative values but postpone a detailed analysis to future studies with better statistics.


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# Dating of two Paleolithic human fossil bones from Romania by accelerator mass spectrometry

## 1 Introduction

In this study we have dated two human fossil remains found in Romania, by the method of radiocarbon dating using the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) technique, performed at the Pelletron accelerator in Lund University, Sweden. These are the most ancient dated human fossil remains from Romania, attributed by some archaeologists to the upper Paleolithic, the Aurignacian period. The first skull, and scapulum and tibia remains were found in 1952 in Baia de Fier, in the Woman’s Cave, in Hateg, Gorj county in the province Oltenia, by Constantin Nicolaescu-Plopsor. Another skull was found in Cioclovina cave, near commune Bosorod, Hunedoara county in Transylvania, found by a worker at the exploitation of phosphate deposits, in the year 1941. The skull arrived at Francisc Rainer, anthropologist, and Ioan Simionescu, geologist, who published a study of this skull. The absence of stratigraphical observation information made the cultural and chronological attribution of these skulls very difficult, and a number of archaeologists questioned the Paleolithic character of these fossil remains. For this reason, the dating of the two skulls by a physical analysis is decisive.

## 2 Experimental

Samples of bone were taken from the scapulum and tibia remains from the Woman’s cave, from Baia de Fier, and from the skull from the Cioclovina cave. The 14C content was determined in the two samples by using the AMS system at Lund University. Normally, sufficient collagen for AMS measurements can be extracted from bone fragments with masses of 1 g, or more provided that at least 5 to 10% of the original collagen content is present. But for the presently studied bone remains, because of the small available quantity of very old bone samples, the determination of the radiocarbon content in the bones was difficult. We have essentially applied the Longin method  for the extraction of collagen from the bone structure. We use the collagen to refer to collagen that has undergone a degree of diagenesis. The next step is the transformation of the collagen into pure carbon in an experimental set-up for the preparation of samples for AMS technique . The pure carbon, placed in a copper holder, is arranged in a wheel, together with two standards of oxalic acid and one anthracite background sample. The wheel with the samples and standards is put into the ion source of the accelerator. The central part of the Lund AMS system is a Pelletron tandem accelerator. The accelerator is run at a terminal voltage of 2.4 MV during AMS experiments. The particle identification and measuring system consists of a silicon surface barrier detector of diameter of 25 mm. The computer system alternately analyses the data of the 13C current received from a current integrator and the 14C counts arriving from the particle detector, to obtain, finally, the ratio 14C/13C for each sample. Each sample is measured 7 times. The precision of the measurements for samples close to Modern  is around 1 % .

## 3 Results and Archaeological Considerations

Dating of the two sampes by the AMS-technique gave the following results:

| Skull Woman’s cave, Baia de Fier, Gorj, Oltenia | 30150 $`\pm `$ 800 years BP |
| --- | --- |
| Skull Cioclovina cave, Bosorod, Hunedoara | 29000 $`\pm `$ 700 years BP |

Fig. 1 shows the skull found alongside with fragments of scapulum, mandible and a dyaphisis of tibia in Baia de Fier, in the Woman’s Cave, in Gorj county in the province Oltenia, by C. S. Nicolaescu-Plopsor in 1952. C. S. Nicolaescu-Plopsor worked for the establishing of the geologic and archaeologic stratigraphy . He found two Paleolithic layers from the lithic pieces, one Musterian and one Aurignacian. In 1952 he found a skull, which he assumed to be a homo sapiens fossilis. The skull has been found in a gallery known as the ”Musterian gallery”. In the following years he and his collaborators discovered in a different area of the same cave fragments of scapulum, mandibula and tibia, this archeological material being attributed to the Middle Paleolithic (Musterian). Even though the skull was found in the layer, the levels here are mixed and the stratigraphy is not clear. Most of the lithic materials discovered in the Woman’s cave from Baia de Fier belong to the Musterian period. The few Aurignacian pieces from this cave have been discovered near the entrance of the cave, while the analyzed scapulum and tibia have been found inside the cave. This circumstance renders difficult the association of the human remains with a specific historic cultural period. Fig. 2 shows the skull found in Cioclovina cave, near commune Bosorod, Hunedoara county in Transylvania, which was found by a worker at the exploitation of phosphate deposits, in the year 1941. The stratigraphical conditions in which the skull has been discovered were unclear from the moment of the discovery, and the association with the few lithic pieces found in the cave is not established. The skull arrived at Francisc Rainer, anthropologist, and Ioan Simionescu, geologist, who published a study of this skull. These authors advanced the hypothesis that the skull belongs to the man of the type Homo sapiens fossilis, with strong Neanderthalian characters. Unfortunately no further anthropological studies of this skull have been reported since then. Moreover, certain authors have questioned the Paleolithical age of this skull. The skull is now in the custody of Theodor Neagu from the Faculty of Geology of the University of Bucharest. In this condition, the dating of the two human fossil remains by physical analysis was crucial.

## 4 Conclusions

The analysis of the fossil remains from Baia de Fier and Cioclovina caves by radiocarbon using the AMS technique have demonstrated that the remains are very ancient and could be attributed to the period of upper Paleolithic period, the Aurignacian. On the basis of the dating of the fossil remains presented in this study, a future cultural identification might be possible, and in this way the fossil remains might be associated with other findings of the same type from the Central and Eastern Europe.

Figure captions
Fig. 1.    Skull found in the Women’s cave, Baia de Fier Hateg, Gorj county in the province Oltenia     Fig. 2.    Skull found in the Cioclovina cave, near commune Bosorod, Hunedoara county in Transylvania