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# Searching for unknown open clusters in the Tycho-2 catalog Based on observations of the ESA Hipparcos satellite

## 1 Introduction

The new generation of high precision astrometric catalogs such as Hipparcos (ESA 1997) and Tycho2 (Høg et al. 2000) offers an important opportunity to study the kinematics of the nearby known open clusters and associations (Dias et al. 2001; Baumgardt et al. 2000; Robichon et al. 1999; de Zeeuw et al. 1999). Moreover, these catalogs also provide data for systematic searches for new open cluster candidates based on proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes (Platais et al. 1998).

In this work, we present the first results of a search for previously unknown open clusters in the solar neighborhood. The search is based on the analysis of observational data (proper motions, photometry and images) provided by the Tycho2 catalog, and by the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) plates.

The cluster candidates described here are all previously unknown, or at least unlisted, according to the the most up-to-date catalog of open clusters presently available (Dias et al. 2002). The objects were named Alessi 1, 2, 3, etc, sorted by right ascension. These clusters are all large (20 \- 110), rather bright and poor, indicating that they are possibly nearby sparse clusters or some sort of Open Cluster Remnants (hereafter OCR). As we will show later on, most candidates are possible nearby objects, closer than $``$600 pc. This is interesting because it enlarges the sample of nearby open clusters, and also because of the increasing interest in clusters in late stages of dissolution, as demonstrated by the recent studies of POCRs - Possible Open Cluster Remnants - performed by Bica et al. (2001), and the controversial cases of NGC~1252 (Baumgardt 1998; Pavani et al. 2001) and NGC~6994 (Odenkirchen & Soubiran 2002; Carraro 2000; Bassino et al. 2000).

In the next section, we describe the procedures adopted in the search for clusters and the tools used in their analysis. Sect. 3 is dedicated to the presentation of each cluster candidate. Finally, in Sect. 4 we summarize the main results of this paper and give some concluding remarks.

## 2 Cluster search and analysis strategy

A stellar field in which an open cluster is present, exhibits a number of particular characteristics which reveal its existence. The cluster members are within a limited volume, resulting in an increased stellar density when compared to the surrounding field. Furthermore, they display similar radial velocities and proper motions, which produce clumps in phase space, and have the same age, chemical composition and a broad range in mass, which produce distinctive sequences in a color-magnitude diagram. So, in theory, it is possible to distinguish cluster members from field stars in a certain region of the sky. One should, however, be careful about jumping into conclusions solely based on one of these characteristics: star counts, common proper motions, or apparent cluster sequences in the color-magnitude diagram. In fact, extinction patterns or chance alignment of bright stars along the same approximate line-of-sight can give the illusion of the presence of a cluster. Also, certain combinations of stellar populations and reddening can produce sequences in the color-magnitude diagram that can be confused with a cluster sequence.

We started by searching the Tycho2 catalog for groups of bright stars that show simultaneously a small deviation in proper motions and a noticeable enhancement in the local stellar density. As a result, several fields were selected as containing potential open cluster candidates. These fields were then visually inspected in the DSS plates, and those seeming to host actual clusters were included in a final list of open cluster candidates. The DSS images of two of the selected fields (Alessi~6 and 9) show no obvious concentrations of stars. These two cases will be discussed below. The finding charts for the selected objects are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Then, for each field, individual membership probabilities were determined by applying the statistical method of Sanders (1971) to the Tycho2 proper motions. For further details on the method and its utilization we refer the reader to papers such as Dias et al. (2001), among others.

For 10 of the 11 objects studied here, we found significant results for the statistical analysis of proper motions, as well as a good separation between the cluster and field populations in the proper motion vector-point diagrams (hereafter VPD). The VPDs are shown in Fig. 3.

The validity of the VPD analysis was tested by comparing to a number of control fields. For each candidate field we took four nearby fields (north, south, east, west) 2 cluster radii from the center. These comparison fields were selected with the same diameter of the probable cluster. For most objects we found a good contrast between the candidate VPD and the control fields’ VPDs, further assessing that the feature observed in the candidate VPD could correspond to an open cluster.

As mentioned in the beginning of this section, another indicator of the presence of a stellar aggregate is an enhancement of the stellar density with respect to the surrounding field. We have plotted the Radial Density Profile Diagrams (hereafter RDPs) shown in Fig. 4 to address this point. The construction of the RDP requires the determination of the central coordinates of each cluster candidate. For this purpose, marginal distributions in RA and DEC were built using Tycho2 stars with membership probability higher than $`50\%`$, and brighter than $`V_T=11.5`$ mag (Tycho2 is 90$`\%`$ complete in this range). The central coordinates were then taken to be the highest peaks exhibited in each marginal distribution.

The RDPs were built using the same selection criteria (Tycho2 stars with membership probability higher than $`50\%`$, and brighter than $`V_T=11.5`$ mag). The same selection criteria were also applied to each of the 4 control fields in order to derive their mean densities. Densities were calculated by counting stars in a number of concentric rings and then dividing the counts by the area of the ring. For each RDP, we have also plotted a line indicating the average value of the densities of the four nearby control fields above mentioned. Although we are dealing with small numbers and the statistical fluctuations are high, we have used the proper motion criteria to isolate the potential cluster members from the field stars. Thus, we considered a concentration of stars with similar motions around the candidate cluster center as an indication of the presence of a cluster. All the candidates display clear over-densities of Tycho2 stars. A further check on the first and second generation DSS images also reveals all, but two objects (Alessi~6, 9) as slight concentrations of bright stars, corroborating the results from the RDP analysis. Despite not being evident in the DSS images, Alessi~6 and 9 have been included in the final list of candidates presented in this article. Alessi~6 is an interesting case because it could be related to the open cluster BH~164. As for Alessi~9, all the results indicate the presence of a genuine open cluster.

The field levels of the RDPs (horizontal line in Fig. 4) are not exactly zero as would be expected if we were using only members. This is because the RDPs were built using stars with membership probability $`>50\%`$, so some field interlopers are still present. Each candidate’s radius was estimated from the RDP as the radius where the density profile reaches the mean density of its control fields. Due to the limited photometric depth of the Tycho2 data, these radii will not include the cluster coronae and should therefore be considered as lower limits.

The next step was to perform a photometric analysis. Color-magnitude diagrams (Fig. 5; hereafter CMDs) of the cluster fields were plotted using the Tycho2 BV photometry transformed to the Johnson system using the relations given in the Hipparcos catalog. Membership probabilities were used to select the probable cluster members, reducing the effects of contamination by field stars and allowing the construction of clearer CMDs. For 7 of the 11 candidates we found good CMDs, for 2 we have hints of a main sequence (MS), and for 2 we do not identify any sign of a MS. Nevertheless, although the Tycho2 magnitudes are reasonably precise for the brighter stars ($`V9`$), for the fainter ones the errors in B and V become large yielding almost useless colors for $`V`$ greater than $`1011`$. So our failure to identify a MS does not necessarily reflect the nonexistence of a cluster.

For each candidate field, there were some stars with published spectral types. These were used to derive intrinsic colors by interpolating over the tables relating spectral types and colors given by Schmidt-Kaler (1982), taking care not to use stars with peculiar spectral features (Be, Ap, etc). Once the intrinsic colors were determined, individual color excesses were computed. The color excess distributions of the member stars were then used in deriving the mean reddenings for the candidate clusters. In a similar fashion, the spectral types were used to estimate the absolute magnitudes, and from there the apparent and absolute distance moduli distributions. However, contrary to the reddening determination, where stars were used regardless of their luminosity class, only stars of luminosity class V (dwarfs) were used in the distance determination. Also, although the reddening values obtained from spectral types are quite precise, the distances are much more uncertain. Using the distance to the cluster derived from spectral types as a rough estimate, we then refined the determination via ZAMS fitting in the CMD. The errors in the derived reddenings, distances and ages have been estimated by applying the sames procedures to a few well studied clusters (Blanco~1, IC~2391, Pleiades, NGC~1662 and NGC~7092). The comparison of our values with those derived from previous detailed studies has allowed us to estimate $`\sigma _{E(BV)}0.04`$ mag, $`\sigma _{dist}10\%`$ and $`\sigma _{age}30\%`$.

Fig. 5 shows the CMDs for the 11 fields under study. We have superimposed the Schmidt-Kaler (1982) ZAMS and solar composition isochrones from Girardi et al. (2000) shifted to account for the effects of reddening and distance. Further comments on the fits (reddening, distance and age) will be given below in Sect. 3 when discussing each cluster.

As done for the RDPs and VPDs, each candidate CMD was compared to 4 control fields, 2 cluster radii from the center, adopting the same limiting magnitude. The combined N,S,E,W control fields’ CMDs are shown in Fig. 6. In order to produce diagrams with stars covering the same effective area as the clusters’ CMDs and make the comparisons more meaningful, a radius of half a cluster radius was used for each of the N,S,E,W fields. Stars with P$`>70`$% are plotted in black while all the others are plotted in a lighter tone. The ZAMS and isochrones that delineate the sequence detected in the clusters’ CMDs have also been plotted. It is readily seen that the control fields do not exhibit the sequences seen in the clusters’ CMDs. In some cases there is an occasional “member” that appears on top of, or very close to, the reference lines. The number of “members” in the control fields is small in all cases (they could be interlopers or even cluster stars that escaped), and do not define the more populated sequences seen in the cluster candidates’ CMDs.

## 3 Discussion and results

In this section, we discuss each of the 11 investigated fields. The main results are summarized in Tabs. 1 and 2.

In Tab. 1 we present the candidates’ positions, angular diameters, reddenings, distances and ages, plus the derived linear diameters and velocity dispersions. The adopted procedures were described in Sect. 2 and the results confirm that if real, the clusters are likely to be situated in the solar vicinity. The results from the kinematic analysis are given in Tab. 2. Finally, in Tab. 3 we list the Hipparcos members found in the regions of several candidates. The identification of possible Hipparcos members allows us to estimate the distance to these objects in a different way. Because of the small number of such stars, the mean cluster parallax was simply taken as the mean of the individual stellar parallaxes, and no special corrections were applied. When only one measurement was available, it was adopted as the cluster parallax. The distances obtained from the CMDs are also listed for comparison purposes. Some clusterings (Alessi~2, 6, 12, 19) had Hipparcos members in their fields with large errors due to their small (or even negative) parallaxes. These stars are also listed in Tab. 3 for the sake of completeness. Overall, despite that the small number and precision of the parallaxes of member stars does not allow rigorous distance determinations, they do provide a very useful consistency check of the photometrically derived distances.

Considering together the results obtained from each point of view - astrometric, photometric and star counts - nearly all the investigated fields show signs of the existence of open clusters. Except for 2 fields (Alessi~1 and 11) all the candidates show signs of a cluster sequence in the CMD, while the comparison fields show nothing. A final conclusion regarding the true nature and parameters of the clusterings will require, however, more precise and deeper photometry.

We will now proceed to discuss each of the 11 investigated fields.

### 3.1 Alessi~1

This candidate is a large ($`54^{}`$), isolated group of stars located relatively far from the Galactic plane ($`b=13\stackrel{}{.}3`$). It stands fairly well in the DSS image (Fig. 1), and shows significant features in both the RDP and VPD diagrams. All this evidence points to the presence of an open cluster. In fact, the kinematic analysis yielded 28 probable members.

The photometric result is not good since the CMD presented in Fig. 5 does not exhibit any cluster sequence. Instead, we find one bright member followed by a gap of $`1.5`$ mag and then number of fainter stars badly spread out in the CMD. These fainter stars have $`B`$ or $`V`$ fainter than $``$ 10.5 mag, so the scatter is expected to be mainly a result of the photometric precision of the Tycho2 data. A final confirmation of the reality of this cluster and the determination of its fundamental parameters will require deeper and more precise photometric data.

### 3.2 Alessi~2

Alessi~2 resembles a slightly fainter and smaller version of Alessi~1 in the DSS image (Fig. 1). The VPD (Fig. 3) shows a noticeable concentration centered nearly at the 0,0 point. The RDP (Fig. 4) shows a significant over-density in the cluster core when compared to the control fields. Despite its faintness, the CMD (Fig. 5) is fairly well defined with a visible main-sequence, turn-off and even one star considered as member in the giant branch.

The only Hipparcos member in the field happens to have a negative parallax (see Tab. 3). We note, however, that the distance estimated from the CMD is 500 pc, for which the errors in the Hipparcos parallaxes are greater than 100% (distance greater than $``$ 400 pc) and therefore negative parallaxes are expected. In this sense, although useless in providing an independent distance estimate, the small (in this case, negative) parallax is consistent with the CMD derived distance.

### 3.3 Alessi~3

Alessi~3 stands out as a chain of bright stars that dominates the entire 90 arcmin of the DSS image (Fig. 1). As Alessi~1, this candidate lies far from the plane of Milkyway with $`Z78`$ pc. The region has a nice VPD (Fig. 3) with a clear separation between cluster members and field stars. The RDP (Fig. 4) also agrees well with the existence of a concentration of kinematically related stars. Although somewhat scattered, the CMD (Fig. 5) shows the characteristic features expected for a cluster: a main sequence, a turn-off and three stars considered members in the giant branch. The photometric analysis yields Alessi~3 as the oldest cluster candidate in the sample with probably half a billion years.

The field contains two Hipparcos stars considered as members but with very different parallaxes (see Tab. 3). One of them, HIP35207AB, belongs to a multiple system so we expect its parallax not to be so reliable. Based on the other star, HIP34974, we find a distance of 240 pc which is in excellent agreement with the 290 pc derived photometrically.

A subsequent verification in Tycho2 shows probable members out to a diameter of 80 or even more, including two other Hipparcos (giant) stars which are also possible members. This is not surprising since this candidate is presumably a nearby one.

### 3.4 Alessi~5

Apparently, this is the most compact candidate in the investigated sample. It appears in the DSS plates (Fig. 1) as a few bright stars concentrated around the bright multiple star DUN~97 (HIP~52437) and seen in projection against a crowded area of the Carina arm. The concentration of stars is easily seen as the sharp central peak displayed by its RDP (Fig. 4). Its VPD (Fig. 3) shows an evident, although poor, concentration of members.

The CMD (Fig. 5) shows a clear main sequence. The absence of stars in the giant branch and a nearly vertical main sequence containing mainly B3-B8 stars are indicative of a young aggregate. As with many young open clusters, the absence of clear evolutionary features together with poor statistics result in somewhat uncertain age determinations. There are three Hipparcos members (Tab. 3) in the Alessi~5 region and the distance estimated from their parallaxes (320 pc) is consistent with the photometric distance (400 pc). We do note, however, that two of the Hipparcos stars are multiple systems that present large errors in their parallaxes.

It is interesting to point out that the nearby classical cepheid EY~Car (HIP~52380) is certainly not a member of Alessi~5 despite the coincidence of its kinematic parameters in the Hipparcos catalog ($`\mu _\alpha cos\delta =9.12`$ mas/yr and $`\mu _\delta =+4.28`$ mas/yr). According to the distance determined by Berdnikov et al. (2000) (2.02 kpc) this cepheid is located behind of the candidate, probably in the Carina arm.

### 3.5 Alessi~6

The DSS image of the field of Alessi~6 (Fig. 1) does not reveal any evident clustering of stars. Interestingly, the VPD analysis allowed to identify a clump of stars with high membership probabilities whose RDP (Fig. 4) reveals a significant spatial concentration of stars with similar kinematics. Although the concentration in the VPD (Fig. 3) is not very tight, the statistical solution is compatible with the existence of an open cluster, and there is a good separation between the distribution of the stars considered as members and the field population.

The CMD (Fig. 5) shows a poorly populated cluster sequence with no clear evolutionary features, which makes the derived age quite uncertain. As with most of the fields presented in this work, the scatter in the lower MS is likely to be due mainly to photometric errors, although the redder stars could be field giant interlopers.

Similarly to Alessi~2, the Hipparcos members in the field have large errors, being most of them negative. Again, no useful distance can be derived from the parallaxes although they do support the indication given by the CMD that Alessi~6 is beyond $``$ 400 pc.

The cluster candidate Alessi~6 is an interesting case because it forms a close pair with the nearby cluster BH~164 (the centers of both aggregates are 51 apart). Curiously, the Lyngå (1987) coordinates of BH~164, taken from van den Bergh & Hagen (1975), show no evidence of a cluster. New coordinates, fundamental parameters and mean absolute proper motions of BH~164 have been recently determined by Moitinho et al. (2003) and by Kharchenko et al. (2003). Both studies were based on Tycho2 data.

Besides their small separation, both clusters have similar ages and are located at 440 pc (Moitinho et al. 2003) which corresponds to a separation of about 15 pc. Their close distance could indicate a real physical relation between both groups of stars. On the other hand, Kharchenko et al. (2003) puts BH~164 at a distance of 540 pc, which would imply that it is not physically related to Alessi~6. Despite the different distance determinations, both studies give similar proper motions for BH~164 ($`\mu _\alpha cos\delta =7.1\pm 0.4`$ mas/yr; $`\mu _\delta =10.9\pm 0.4`$ mas/yr), which are not very different from those estimated for Alessi~6 ($`\mu _\alpha cos\delta =7.3\pm 3.4`$ mas/yr; $`\mu _\delta =4.3\pm 3.4`$ mas/yr). A final word regarding the true nature of the possible pair BH~164/Alessi~6 will require deeper photometric data and radial velocities for both clusters.

### 3.6 Alessi~8

This is a possible poor cluster in the Lupus-Norma border. Alessi~8 is seen in the DSS image (Fig. 1) as a compact arc of a few bright stars surrounded by fainter stars almost not detached from the background.

The VPD (Fig. 3) shows an evident clump of stars which are spatially concentrated, as expressed by the RDP (Fig. 4). The CMD exhibits a fairly defined sequence with a 1 mag. gap between $`V1011`$. All these results support the existence of a cluster in the field.

### 3.7 Alessi~9

Despite not being easily seen in the DSS image (Fig. 2), Alessi~9 is from all points of view (astrometric, photometric and star counts) one of the best candidates studied here. The RDP (Fig. 4) shows an obvious concentration of stars and the VPD (Fig. 3) exhibits a clear segregation of the cluster and field populations. Due to the aggregate’s large extent (about $`140^{}`$) and richness of the Milkyway background, only Tycho2 stars brighter than $`V_T<10.5`$ where considered in the astrometric analysis in order to reduce the contamination by field stars. The CMD (Fig. 5) has a well defined morphology (ZAMS and turn-off) that indicate the existence of a true open cluster and allow to obtain good reddening, distance and age estimates. We find that Alessi~9 is the nearest (190 pc) open cluster in the sample.

Two interesting Hipparcos stars were found in the region of the cluster (see Tab. 3): one analyzed member (HIP~86552) and one possible member (HIP~86658) that is a $`\beta `$Lyr type eclipsing binary. Comparison of the distance obtained from the CMD analysis and that provided by the Hipparcos parallaxes shows a good agreement between both values.

### 3.8 Alessi~10

This is a very isolated group of late $`B`$ and early $`A`$ stars situated far from the Galactic plane ($`Z140`$ pc), in a poor field with almost nothing but faint anonymous galaxies. It stands as a chain of bright stars in the DSS image (Fig. 2). This group is very interesting because its VPD (Fig. 3) shows one of the best separations between field and cluster populations in the sample of candidates presented here. Its RDP (Fig. 4) shows a clear density enhancement of kinematically related stars relative to its very underpopulated background. The CMD shown in Fig. 5 is not very clear, exhibiting considerable spreading, which results in rather uncertain estimates of both reddening and distance and no age estimate. Despite the limited quality of the data, analysis of the published spectral types for the 8 brightest members seems to indicate that the scatter could be due to variable reddening. A more conclusive analysis will require more and deeper astrometric and photometric data. Nevertheless, the existence of a physical cluster seems to be the best explanation for the presence of a tight group of kinematically similar early type stars far from the Galactic plane.

The field of Alessi~10 also hosts two Hipparcos stars (HIP~98899 and HIP~98904) with high membership probabilities. Once again we find a good agreement between the distance obtained from the Hipparcos parallaxes of these two stars and that derived from the photometric data and spectral types. Although the number of detected members is small, we do find a few possible members inside an area of nearly one degree, almost twice the cluster’s estimated diameter.

### 3.9 Alessi~11

This group lies in an interesting field with three relatively bright variable stars in its radius and a fourth one in the immediate vicinity: BX~Del a pop II cepheid; BW~Del an eclipsing algol-type binary; UV~Del a semi-regular and GR~Sge an irregular variable. The available studies of these stars do not allow us to assess the possibility of their association to Alessi~11. According to the only information found in the literature, BX~Del is at a distance of 1.355 kpc (Beers & Sommer-Larsen 1995).

The analyzed group of stars is not well detached from the background as its RDP indicates (Fig. 4). The VPD shows a large scatter which is expressed in the standard deviation obtained by the statistical analysis (Tab. 2). Even more dramatically than in the case of Alessi~1, the faint magnitudes of the Tycho2 stars render a useless CMD for Alessi~11, allowing no estimates of reddening, distance or age.

Due to the limitations of the present dataset, the nature of Alessi~11 remains quite doubtful, although the RDP seems to support the existence of a cluster, and so does the kinematic analysis (at least marginally).

### 3.10 Alessi~12

Alessi~12 is a large ($`64^{}`$) sparse group of the stars, as seen in the DSS image (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, its RDP (Fig. 4) shows an evident concentration of kinematically related stars well above the background. The VPD (Fig. 3) also displays a good separation between the cluster and field populations. The CMD (Fig. 5) displays a well defined main sequence and turn-off which allow us to be fairly confident on the estimated reddening, distance and age.

The field of Alessi~12 contains three Hipparcos proper motion members (see Tab 3). Again, as with Alessi~2 and 6, the errors in the parallaxes are higher than 100%, which we take as indicative of a distance greater than $`400`$ pc.

### 3.11 Alessi~19

This is another very large group of bright stars. Its RDP reveals an evident concentration of kinematically related stars and the VPD shows a very small dispersion and good separation between members and non-members. The CMD, however, is not very clear since it is poor and exhibits a large gap that results in a not well defined ZAMS and turn-off. The large derived diameter of 14 pc is not characteristic of a standard open cluster and may indicate that Alessi~19 could be possibly a loose association.

The 4 Hipparcos members presented in Tab. 3 have errors close to 100% in their parallaxes and do not allow a usefull distance estimate. Once more, as in the cases of Alessi~2, 6, and 12, we take this as indicative of a possible stellar aggregate located at a distance greater than $`400`$, which is consistent with the 550 pc derived from the CMD.

## 4 Summary

The Sanders technique applied to the Tycho2 proper motions has proved to be a powerful tool to search for new, bright and nearby open cluster candidates.

Radial density profiles, built using stars sharing similar proper motions, have revealed the existence of 11 previously undetected star clusterings. Because the stars in each cluster candidate have similar kinematics, their spatial concentration is not likely due to projection or extinction effects. In order to verify whether these concentrations correspond to real open clusters, CMDs were built using Tycho2 photometry. Except for two objects (Alessi~1 and 11), we have been able to identify cluster sequences, further assessing the reality of the stellar aggregates. The kinematic analysis yielded the candidates’ mean proper motions and membership probabilities. The CMDs together with published spectral types have allowed us to obtain preliminary estimates of their reddenings, distances and ages. We found that all the studied objects have diameters larger than $`20^{}`$ and are closer than 0.6 kpc, which puts them in the solar vicinity. They are also relatively young or of intermediate age.

Regarding the nature of the open cluster candidates, we find that Alessi 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 are likely open clusters. Alessi 19 is a possible loose cluster or association and finally, Alessi 1 and 11 are ambiguous cases that need more and deeper data before reaching any further conclusion.

The characteristics of most of the studied clusters (morphology, poor core with the presence of remote members, among others) could indicate that some of them are dissolving clusters. We expect that more data (deeper imaging and radial velocities) will allow to establish if some of the clusters are indeed OCRs, and if so, whether they have been dissolved by natural dynamical evolution, or by striping due to encounters with giant interstellar clouds or tidal interactions with the Galactic disk.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors wish to thank J.R.D. Lépine for reading and commenting the manuscript, and the anonymous referee whose comments helped making the text clearer and more precise. Extensive use has been made of the SIMBAD, WEBDA and DSS databases and of the Sky Charts (http://astrosurf.com/astropc/) facility. AM acknowledges financial support by CONACyT (Mexico; project I33940-E), DGAPA (Mexico; project IN111500), and FCT (Portugal; grant BPD/20193/99). WSD is supported by FAPESP (grant number 99/11781-4).


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# References

## Abstract

Let $`A^2`$ be the affine plane over a field $`K`$ of characteristic $`0`$. Birational morphisms of $`A^2`$ are mappings $`A^2A^2`$ given by polynomial mappings $`\phi `$ of the polynomial algebra $`K[x,y]`$ such that for the quotient fields, one has $`K(\phi (x),\phi (y))=K(x,y)`$. Polynomial automorphisms are obvious examples of such mappings. Another obvious example is the mapping $`\tau _x`$ given by $`xx,yxy`$. For a while, it was an open question whether every birational morphism is a product of polynomial automorphisms and copies of $`\tau _x`$. This question was answered in the negative by P. Russell (in an informal communication). In this paper, we give a simple combinatorial solution of the same problem. More importantly, our method yields an algorithm for deciding whether a given birational morphism can be factored that way.

00footnotetext: 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 14E09, 14E25; Secondary 14A10, 13B25.
Keywords and phrases: affine plane, birational morphisms, peak reduction
$``$) Partially supported by RGC Grant Project 7126/98P.

Birational morphisms of the plane

Vladimir Shpilrain

and

Jie-Tai Yu

1. Introduction

Let $`K[x,y]`$ be the polynomial algebra in two variables over a field $`K`$ of characteristic $`0`$, and $`A^2`$ the affine plane over $`K`$. Birational morphisms of $`A^2`$ are mappings $`A^2A^2`$ given by polynomial mappings $`\phi `$ of the algebra $`K[x,y]`$ such that for the quotient fields, one has $`K(\phi (x),\phi (y))=K(x,y)`$. Polynomial automorphisms are obvious examples of such mappings. Another obvious example is the mapping $`\tau _x`$ given by $`xx,yxy`$. Call either of those mappings a simple affine contraction. For a while, it was an open question whether every birational morphism is a product of simple affine contractions. This question was answered in the negative by Russell (in an informal communication). The paper  by Daigle contains an elaboration of Russell’s methods.

In this paper, we use an altogether different method of “peak reduction” to easily establish the same result. More importantly, our method gives an algorithm for deciding whether a given birational morphism can be factored that way:

Theorem 1.1. Let $`K`$ be an algebraically closed field. Then there is an algorithm for deciding whether a given birational morphism of $`A^2`$ over $`K`$ is a product of simple affine contractions.

Here we assume that we are able to perform calculations in the ground field $`K`$, which basically means that, given (arithmetic expressions for) two elements of $`K`$, we can decide whether or not they are equal.

Our method can also be applied to fields that are not algebraically closed to prove that a particular birational morphism is not a product of simple affine contractions.

Proposition 1.2. Let $`K`$ be any field of characteristic $`0`$, and $`\varphi :xu,yv`$ a birational morphism of $`A^2`$ over $`K`$. If $`\varphi `$ is a product of simple affine contractions, then the sum of the degrees of $`u`$ and $`v`$ can be decreased by a single generalized simple affine contraction.

Generalized simple affine contractions are morphisms of the types (ET1)–(ET3), defined in Section 2.

For example, the following birational morphism of $`A^2`$ over $`𝐑`$ is not a product of simple affine contractions (see Example 2 in the end of Section 2): $`xx,yyx^2+y`$. To find a birational morphism of $`A^2`$ over $`𝐂`$ that is not a product of simple affine contractions, is somewhat more difficult. The following birational morphism is a simplification of an example due to Cassou-Nogues and Russell  :

$`xx^4y^22x^3y+x^2+xy,yx^6y^33x^5y^2+3x^4y+2x^3y^2x^33x^2y+x+y`$.

We explain this example in Section 2, after the proof of Theorem 1.

2. Peak reduction

The “peak reduction” method is a simple but rather powerful combinatorial technique with applications in many different areas of mathematics as well as theoretical computer science. It was introduced by Whitehead, who used it to solve an important algorithmic problem concerning automorphisms of a free group (see e.g. ). Since then, this method has been used to solve various problems in group theory, topology, combinatorics, and probably in some other areas as well.

In general, this method is used to find some kind of canonical form of a given object $`P`$ under the action of a given group (or a semigroup) $`T`$ of transformations. The idea behind the method is rather simple: one chooses the complexity of an object $`P`$ one way or another, and declares a canonical form of $`P`$ an object $`P^{}`$ whose complexity is minimal among all objects $`t(P),tT`$. To actually find a canonical form, or a “canonical model”, $`P^{}`$ of a given object $`P`$, one tries to arrange a sequence of sufficiently simple transformations so that the complexity of an object decreases at every step. To prove that such an arrangement is possible, one uses “peak reduction”; that means, if in some sequence of simple transformations the complexity goes up (or remains unchanged) before eventually going down, then there must be a pair of consecutive simple transformations in the sequence (a “peak”) such that one of them increases the complexity (or leaves it unchanged), and then the other one decreases it. Then one tries to prove that such a peak can always be reduced.

In the commutative algebra context, objects are polynomials; their complexity is their degree; the group of transformations is the group of polynomial automorphisms; simple transformations are elementary and linear automorphisms. (An elementary automorphism is a one that changes just one variable.)

We have used this technique in our earlier paper  to contribute toward a classification of two-variable polynomials having classified, up to an automorphism, polynomials of the form $`ax^n+by^m+_{im+jnmn}c_{ij}x^iy^j`$ (i.e., polynomials whose Newton polygon is either a triangle or a line segment). Later, Wightwick  used the idea of peak reduction in combination with splice diagrams technique due to Eisenbud and Neumann  to classify all two-variable polynomials over $`𝐂`$ up to an automorphism. More details and results can be found in our survey .

Here we use this technique to prove our statements.

Proof of Theorem 1.1 and Proposition 1.2. Consider the direct product $`K[x,y]\times K[x,y]`$ of two copies of the polynomial algebra $`K[x,y]`$, and introduce the following elementary transformations (ET) that can be applied to elements of this direct product:

(ET1) $`(u,v)(\frac{u+a}{cv+b},v)`$ for arbitrary $`a,b,cK`$, with the denominator not 0.

(ET1) $`(u,v)(u,\frac{v+a}{cu+b})`$ for arbitrary $`a,b,cK`$, with the denominator not 0.

(ET2) $`(u,v)(u+q(v),v)`$ for an arbitrary polynomial $`q(v)`$.

(ET2) $`(u,v)(u,v+q(u))`$ for an arbitrary polynomial $`q(u)`$.

(ET3) $`(u,v)(v,u)`$.

Transformations (ET1) or (ET1) are only applied if the corresponding ratio is a polynomial.

It is clear that a birational morphism $`xu,yv`$ is a product of polynomial automorphisms and mappings of the form $`xx,yxy`$ if and only if the pair $`(u,v)`$ can be taken to $`(x,y)`$ by a sequence of elementary transformations (ET1)–(ET3).

We are now going to use “peak reduction” to show that, if the sum of the degrees of a pair of polynomials can be reduced by a sequence of elementary transformations (ET1)–(ET3), then it can be reduced by a single elementary transformation.

Obviously, (ET3) cannot change the sum of the degrees; also, a single (ET1) or (ET1) can only decrease the sum of the degrees, unless $`c=0`$. Thus, up to a symmetry, there are only the following possibilities for a “peak”:

(1) (ET3) followed by one of the (ET1), (ET1), (ET2), or (ET2).

(2) (ET2) followed by (ET2).

(3) (ET2) followed by (ET1) or (ET1).

The first possibility is trivial: for example, (ET3) followed by (ET1) is the same as (ET1) followed by (ET3). Therefore, if the sum of the degrees could be reduced by (ET3) followed by (ET1), then it could also be reduced by (ET1) followed by (ET3), hence by just (ET1).

The second possibility was handled in ; it turns out to be easy, too.

In (3), if (ET2) is followed by (ET1), we get the pair $`(u+q(v),\frac{v+a}{c[u+q(v)]+b})`$. Since we are under the assumption that (ET2) does not decrease the sum of the degrees, we have $`deg(u+q(v))deg(u)`$. Therefore, we have two possibilities:

(i) $`deg(u+q(v))>deg(u)`$. In this case, $`deg(u+q(v))=deg(q(v))=deg(q)deg(v)`$, and we conclude that the polynomial $`q`$ must be linear; otherwise, $`v+a`$ cannot be divisible by $`c[u+q(v)]+b`$. Moreover, $`q`$ has to be a constant since otherwise, the ratio $`\frac{v+a}{c[u+q(v)]+b}`$ is a constant, but no pair of the form $`(u,c),cK`$, can be taken to $`(x,y)`$ by a sequence of (ET1)–(ET3). But if $`q(v)`$ is a constant, then (ET1) cannot change the sum of the degrees.

(ii) $`deg(u+q(v))=deg(u)`$. In this case, $`deg(u)deg(q(v))`$, so again, the polynomial $`q`$ must be linear; otherwise, $`v+a`$ cannot be divisible by $`c[u+q(v)]+b`$. As in (i) above, we conclude that $`q`$ has to be a constant, in which case (ET1) cannot change the sum of the degrees.

Thus, we are left with the crucial possibility where (ET2) is followed by (ET1) with $`c0`$. The result of applying this pair of elementary transformations to $`(u,v)`$ is $`(\frac{u+q(v)+a}{cv+b},v)`$. The polynomial $`q(v)`$ can be written as $`r(cv+b)`$ for some other polynomial $`r`$. Then

$$(\frac{u+q(v)+a}{cv+b},v)=(\frac{u+r(cv+b)+a}{cv+b},v)=(\frac{u+r_1(cv+b)+a_1}{cv+b},v),$$

where the polynomial $`r_1`$ has zero constant term.

Since $`r_1(cv+b)`$ is divisible by $`cv+b`$, we get

$$(\frac{u+r_1(cv+b)+a_1}{cv+b},v)=(\frac{u+a_1}{cv+b}+r_2(cv+b),v).$$

This means, in particular, that $`u+a_1`$ is divisible by $`cv+b`$. But then a single (ET1) would reduce the sum of the degrees of the pair $`(u,v)`$. This completes the “peak reduction”.

To get now an algorithm claimed in the statement of Theorem 1, we first have to show that one can effectively determine whether a single elementary transformation can reduce the sum of the degrees of a given pair of polynomials. For (ET2) or (ET2), this is well known (see e.g. \[3, Theorem 6.8.5\]). For (ET1) or (ET1), the procedure is quite straightforward. Suppose we want to find out whether, say, $`u(x,y)+a`$ is divisible by $`v(x,y)+b`$ for some $`a,bK`$ (we can clearly assume that $`c=1`$). We apply the usual “long division” algorithm with respect to some fixed term ordering (see e.g. ). In the end, the divisibility condition translates into a system of polynomial equations over $`K`$ in a single variable $`b`$, complemented by an equation $`a=p(b)`$ for some polynomial $`p`$. The solvability of such a system over an algebraically closed field can be decided by using Gröbner bases technique (see e.g. ). (Of course, an actual solution may not be found in general.)

If the system has no solutions, then a single elementary transformation cannot reduce the sum of the degrees of a given pair of polynomials, and we conclude that our birational morphism is not a product of simple affine contractions. If the system has a solution, then we apply the corresponding elementary transformation, keeping our parameters $`a,b`$, etc. as variables, because we do not have explicit values for them. Then, for the new pair of polynomials, we do the same thing: we check if a single elementary transformation can reduce the sum of the degrees. This will yield another system of polynomial equations over $`K`$, that expands the previous system by introducing new variables and new equations. Again, it can be decided whether or not this system has a solution.

This procedure will obviously terminate in a number of steps not exceeding the sum of the degrees of the original pair of polynomials. This completes the proof. $`\mathrm{}`$

Example 1. The birational morphism

$`xu(x,y)=x^4y^22x^3y+x^2+xy,yv(x,y)=x^6y^33x^5y^2+3x^4y+2x^3y^2x^33x^2y+x+y`$,

mentioned in the Introduction, is constructed as follows. Start with the birational morphism $`(xy+1,x^2y+x)`$, apply $`xx+y,yy`$ to get $`((x+y)y+1,(x+y)^2y+(x+y))`$. Then apply $`x\frac{1}{x},yx+x^2y`$ (this is a bijective morphism of $`K(x,y)`$) to get the above example.

A single transformation (ET2) cannot reduce the sum of the degrees of the pair $`(u,v)`$ because the degree of $`v`$ is not divisible by the degree of $`u`$ (cf. ). Neither can a single (ET1) : a straightforward check shows that $`v(x,y)+a`$ is not divisible by $`cu(x,y)+b`$ for any $`a,b,cK`$. Therefore, by Proposition 1.2, this birational morphism is not a product of simple affine contractions.

Example 2. The birational morphism $`xx,yyx^2+y`$ is not a product of simple affine contractions over $`𝐑`$, by Proposition 1.2. However, over $`𝐂`$, a single (ET1) can reduce the degree of $`yx^2+y`$ since $`yx^2+y=y(x^2+1)=y(x+i)(xi)`$. It is now easy to see that over $`𝐂`$, this birational morphism is a product of simple affine contractions.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Andrew Campbell for helpful comments.

Department of Mathematics, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031

e-mail address: shpil@groups.sci.ccny.cuny.edu

http://www.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~shpil/

Department of Mathematics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

e-mail address: yujt@hkusua.hku.hk

http://hkumath.hku.hk/~jtyu


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# Scalable photonic quantum computation through cavity-assisted interaction

## Abstract

We propose a scheme for scalable photonic quantum computation based on cavity assisted interaction between single-photon pulses. The prototypical quantum controlled phase-flip gate between the single-photon pulses is achieved by successively reflecting them from an optical cavity with a single-trapped atom. Our proposed protocol is shown to be robust to practical nose and experimental imperfections in current cavity-QED setups.

Realization of quantum computation requires accurate coherent control of a set of qubits. A small volume optical cavity provides a platform to achieve strong coherent interactions between atoms and photons, and has been exploited as the critical component in several schemes for implementation of quantum computation and communication . In a prototypical cavity-based quantum computation scheme of Ref. , the atoms are adopted as qubits while photons mediate the interaction between them. Scaling to large-scale quantum computation via this paradigm then requires that many atoms be localized and separately addressed within a tiny optical cavity , or alternatively be coherently transported into and out of the cavity mode . However, in spite of recent significant laboratory advances , these tasks remain daunting experimental challenges.

Here, we propose a scalable quantum computation scheme where qubits are encoded as polarizations of single-photon pulses. An optical cavity with a single trapped atom is employed as the critical resource to achieve controlled gate operations between photonic qubits and to act as a high efficiency single-photon detector. The proposed computation architecture is based on the state-of-the-art in cavity quantum electrodynamics , can be readily scaled up to many qubits, and could be integrated with protocols for the realization of quantum networks .

Quantum computation with single-photon polarizations as qubits  has the obvious advantage that the number of qubits can readily be scaled up by generating many single-photon pulses. The main obstacle to this approach is that it is exceedingly difficult to achieve quantum gate operations between single-photon pulses. The typical photon-photon coupling rate in available materials is orders of magnitude too small to allow for any meaningful gate operation at the single-quantum level. An interesting idea, as has been put forward recently in the so-called linear optics quantum computation scheme , is to achieve effective nonlinear interaction between photons through feed-forward from high efficiency single-photon detectors. Though this approach is a very important advance, a significant obstacle is that the required efficiency $`\alpha `$ of the single-photon detectors for scalable quantum computing is extremely high (e.g., for gate success with probability $`p0.99`$, $`\alpha 0.999987`$ ).

In our proposed scheme, we combine the advantage of scalability from the photonic qubits and the power of strong atom-photon coupling in a high-finesse optical resonator. Such a cavity with one or few atoms in a configuration of far-off-resonant interactions provides an effective Kerr nonlinearity for the input light , as was first observed in Ref. . However, this nonlinear phase shift is typically too small for realization of the operation of the prototypical quantum Controlled-NOT gate (C-NOT). Compared with the approach of Ref. , our new protocol has the following significant advances: (i) A different interaction mechanism between photon pulses leads to a much larger effective interaction rate sufficient for the realization of a quantum C-NOT gate with current experimental capabilities. (ii) The conditional phase flip in our scheme is very insensitive to variation of the atom-photon coupling rate, so that high-fidelity gate operations can be realized even if the atom is not localized in the Lamb-Dicke regime. (iii) The pulse shapes for pairs of interacting single photons suffer very small changes due to interactions with the atom-cavity system, which is otherwise quite difficult to achieve . (iv) Finally, the noise properties of our scheme are quite favorable, and should allow significant improvement in the error threshold for large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computation.

The basis states for our qubit consist of two orthogonal polarization states of a single-photon pulse, denoted by $`|h`$ and $`|v`$. A series of single-photon pulses is generated by emission from a single atom in a cavity ; single-qubit operations on these photonic qubits are accurately performed through polarization rotations. The critical problem for quantum computation with these qubits is to achieve a nontrivial two-qubit interaction. Here, we choose the quantum controlled phase flip (CPF), where the CPF gate for qubits $`j`$ and $`k`$ flips the phase of the input state if both qubits are in $`|h`$ polarizations, and has no effect otherwise. The CPF gates, together with simple single-qubit operations, realize universal quantum computation .

As illustrated in Fig. 1a, the CPF gate for two arbitrary pulses $`j`$ and $`k`$ is implemented by simply reflecting them successively from a high-Q cavity which contains a single-trapped atom. The atom has three relevant levels as shown in Fig. 1b, and is initially prepared in an equal superposition of the two ground states, i.e., $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}=\left(|0+|1\right)/\sqrt{2}`$. The atomic transition $`|1|e`$ is resonantly coupled to a cavity mode $`a_h`$, which has $`h`$ polarization and is resonantly driven by the $`h`$ polarization component of the input single-photon pulse. The $`v`$ polarization component of the input pulse is reflected by the mirror M.

Before describing the detailed model and supporting calculations, first we summarize the basic ideas of our scheme, which consists of two critical steps. (A) By reflecting one single-photon pulse, say $`j`$, from the cavity and the mirror, a CPF gate between the atom and the pulse $`j`$ is achieved as described by the unitary operator $`U_{aj}^{CPF}=e^{i\pi |0_a0||h_jh|}`$. (B) A composition of the CPF gates between the atom and the pulses $`j,k`$ generates a CPF gate between the pulses $`j`$ and $`k`$ described by the unitary operator $`U_{jk}^{CPF}=e^{i\pi |h_jh||h_kh|}`$, while restoring the atom into its initial state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}`$. Experimentally the composition is performed by successively “bouncing” the pulses from the cavity (see Fig. 1a).

Step (A) – When the incoming photon is $`v`$ polarized, it will be reflected by the mirror M without any phase and shape change. When the incoming photon is in $`h`$ polarization, it is resonant with the bare cavity mode if the atom is in the $`|0`$ state and thus acquires a phase of $`e^{i\pi }`$ after its reflection; however, if the atom is in the $`|1`$ state, the frequency of the dressed cavity mode from the resonant atom-cavity coupling is significantly detuned from the frequency of the incoming pulse. In this case, the cavity functions in the same fashion as the mirror M and the photon pulse is reflected without a phase change. A composition of the above sub-processes realizes the desired CPF gate $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$ between the atom and the photon.

Step (B) – Critical to the second step of our protocol is the following operator identity:

$`U_{jk}^{CPF}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{jk}|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}`$ $`=`$ $`U_{aj}^{CPF}R_a\left(\pi /2\right)U_{ak}^{CPF}R_a\left(\pi /2\right)`$ (2)
$`\times U_{aj}^{CPF}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{jk}|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}\text{ ,}`$
where $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{jk}`$ denotes an arbitrary state of the photonic qubits $`j`$ and $`k`$, and $`R_a\left(\theta \right)`$ is a single-bit rotation on the atom which transforms according to $`R_a\left(\theta \right)|0=\mathrm{cos}\theta /2|0+\mathrm{sin}\theta /2|1`$ and $`R_a\left(\theta \right)|1=\mathrm{sin}\theta /2|0+\mathrm{cos}\theta /2|1`$. The identity (1) demonstrates that the CPF gate between two arbitrary single-photon pulses $`j`$ and $`k`$ can be implemented by first reflecting the pulse $`j`$ from the cavity as shown in Fig. 1a, then applying a $`\left(\pi /2\right)`$-pulse laser on the atom, then reflecting the pulse $`k`$ from the cavity, then applying a $`\left(\pi /2\right)`$-pulse laser on the atom, and finally reflecting the pulse $`j`$ again from the cavity.

The CPF gate $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$ between the atom and the photon pulse can also be used to achieve quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement of the photon number in the pulse. For this purpose, we simply prepare the atom in the state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}`$, reflect the to-be-measured photon pulse from the cavity, apply a $`R_a\left(\pi /2\right)`$ rotation on the atom, and finally perform a measurement of the atomic state in the basis $`\{|0,|1\}`$. The measurement outcome is “$`0`$” if and only if the $`h`$ component of the pulse has a photon. By the same avenue, we can also measure the parity of several photonic qubits (“parity” concerns whether a series of pulses has a total even or odd photon number in their $`h`$ components) by successively reflecting them from the cavity, and can as well measure the total photon number of both $`h`$ and $`v`$ components of a single pulse by reflecting it twice from the cavity with a polarization flip between the two reflections. Such QND measurements have wide applications for quantum information processing . Note that the measurement of atomic internal states can be done with near $`100\%`$ efficiency through the quantum jump technique . So, the efficiency of our QND measurement is principally only limited by the inefficiency of the CPF gate between the atom and the photon pulse caused by atomic spontaneous emission loss, which as we will see later, is significantly less than the inefficiency of conventional destructive single-photon detectors.

Now we present a detailed theoretical model to demonstrate that the CPF gate $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$ between the atom and the single-photon pulse $`j`$ can be obtained simply by reflecting the latter from the cavity. The initial state of the pulse $`j`$ can be expressed as $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_p_j=c_{hj}|h_j+c_{vj}|v_j`$, where $`c_{hj}`$ and $`c_{vj}`$ are arbitrary superposition coefficients. The polarization component states $`|\mu _j`$ $`\left(\mu =h,v\right)`$ have the form $`|\mu _j=_0^Tf_j\left(t\right)a_\mu ^{in}\left(t\right)𝑑t|\text{vac}`$, where $`f_j\left(t\right)`$ is the normalized pulse shape as a function of time $`t`$, $`T`$ is the pulse duration, $`a_\mu ^{in}\left(t\right)`$ are one-dimensional field operators (cavity input operators) with the standard commutation relations $`[a_\mu ^{in}\left(t\right),a_\mu ^{}^{in}\left(t^{}\right)]=\delta _{\mu \mu ^{}}\delta \left(tt^{}\right)`$ , and $`|\text{vac}`$ denotes the vacuum of all the optical modes. The cavity mode $`a_h`$ is driven by the corresponding cavity input operator $`a_h^{in}\left(t\right)`$ through

$$\dot{a}_h=i[a_h,H]\left(i\mathrm{\Delta }+\kappa /2\right)a_h\sqrt{\kappa }a_h^{in}\left(t\right)\text{ ,}$$
(3)
where $`\kappa `$ is the cavity (energy) decay rate and the Hamiltonian

$$H=\mathrm{}g\left(|e1\left|a_h+\right|1e|a_h^{}\right)$$
(4)
describes the coherent interaction between the atom and the cavity mode $`a_h`$. The detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in Eq. (2) is meant to be $`0`$ for our scheme, but we retain it here for subsequent pedagogical purposes. The cavity output $`a_h^{out}\left(t\right)`$ is connected with the input by the standard input-output relation

$$a_h^{out}\left(t\right)=a_h^{in}\left(t\right)+\sqrt{\kappa }a_h\text{ .}$$
(5)
As the $`v`$ component of the pulse is reflected by the mirror $`M`$, we simply have $`a_v^{out}\left(t\right)=a_v^{in}\left(t\right)`$.

Equations (2)-(4) determine the evolution of the joint state of atom and photon pulse, and can be solved without further approximation through numerical simulation. However, before presenting the simulation results, first we attack this problem analytically with some rough approximations to reveal the underlying physics. If the atom is in the state $`|0`$, the Hamiltonian $`H`$ does not play a role in Eq. (2). In this case, from Eqs. (2) and (4) we find

$$a_h^{out}\left(t\right)\frac{i\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa /2}{i\mathrm{\Delta }+\kappa /2}a_h^{in}\left(t\right)\text{ ,}$$
(6)
where the high-frequency components of the field operators $`a_\mu ^{in}\left(t\right)`$ and $`a_\mu ^{out}\left(t\right)`$ have been discarded, which is a valid approximation if the input pulse shape $`f_j\left(t\right)`$ changes slowly with time $`t`$ compared with the cavity decay rate, i.e., $`\left|_tf_j\left(t\right)/f_j\left(t\right)\right|\kappa `$. Under this approximation, we have $`a_h^{out}\left(t\right)a_h^{in}\left(t\right)`$ for resonant interaction $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$, so the $`h`$ component acquires the phase $`\pi `$ after reflection from the cavity. However, if the atom is in the state $`|1`$, the response function of the cavity is modified by the coupling (3), where for the case of strong coupling , the two dressed cavity modes have frequencies that are effectively detuned from that of the input pulse by $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\pm g`$, respectively. In the case that $`g\kappa `$, we have $`a_h^{out}\left(t\right)a_h^{in}\left(t\right)`$ from Eq. (5), thereby confirming the preceding analysis to give the desired CPF gate $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$.

Armed with this understanding, we finally present exact numerical simulations for the theoretical model described by Eqs. (2)-(4). In the simulation, we discretize the continuum field operators $`a_h^{in}\left(t\right)`$ and $`a_h^{out}\left(t\right)`$, and change the dynamics into the Schrodinger picture to avoid operator ordering. The details of the simulation method can be found in Ref. . Atomic spontaneous emission noise is effectively described by an imaginary part $`\left(i\gamma _s/2\right)\left(|ee||11|\right)`$ in the Hamiltonian $`H`$ , where $`\gamma _s`$ is the spontaneous emission rate from the state $`|e`$. The input pulse is taken to be Gaussian with $`f_j\left(t\right)\mathrm{exp}\left[\left(tT/2\right)^2/\left(T/5\right)^2\right]`$ , where $`t`$ ranges from $`0`$ to $`T`$.

The numerical simulations show that the CPF gate $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$ works remarkably well. First of all, the conditional phase factor is either $`e^{i\pi }`$ or $`e^{i0}`$ depending on the atomic state $`|0`$ or $`|1`$, and this phase factor is very insensitive to the variation of the coupling rate $`g`$ in the typical parameter region. For instance, its variation is smaller than $`10^6`$ for $`g`$ varying from $`6\kappa `$ to $`\kappa `$. This result cannot be understood naively from Eq. (5), from which one gets a phase of $`e^{i0}`$ only when $`g\kappa `$. The reason for this discrepancy is that we have two addressed cavity modes with symmetric effective detunings $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\pm g`$, and their joint effect makes the phase factor $`e^{i0}`$ very stable even if $`g`$ is reduced to a value comparable with $`\kappa `$. The stability of the conditional phase against variations of $`g`$ in the typical parameter region is an important advantage of our scheme, as $`g`$ in current experiments suffers significant random variation (roughly by a factor of $`2`$) due to residual atomic motion .

The simulation also shows that the output pulse basically has the same shape as the input pulse if the pulse duration $`T1/\kappa `$. Fig. 2a shows the output pulse shapes $`|f_i(t)|`$ for the cases of the atomic states $`|1`$ and $`|0`$, respectively, and demonstrates very good overlap with the input pulse shape shown in the same figure. In more quantitative terms, we consider the fidelity $`F`$ of the CPF gate $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$ for the input atom-photon state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}[|\mathrm{\Psi }_{pi}=(|h+|v)/\sqrt{2}]`$. Reductions in $`F`$ below unity are caused by shape mismatching between the input and the output pulses and can be numerically calculated. Fig. 2b shows the gate fidelity $`F`$ calculated in this way for different pulse durations $`T`$. For $`T=240/\kappa `$ (corresponding to a pulse width $`T/51\mu `$s for the parameters of Ref. ), the gate fidelity is about $`99.9\%`$. The shape of the output pulse is also very insensitive to variation of the coupling rate $`g`$ in the typical parameter region. For instance, the relative shape change is smaller than $`10^4`$ for $`g`$ varying from $`6\kappa `$ to $`\kappa `$.

The dominant noise in our CPF gate arises from photon loss due to atomic spontaneous emission, leading to a vacuum-state output when the input is a single-photon pulse. This noise yields a leakage error (also called an erasure error) which means that the final state is outside of the qubit Hilbert space $`\{|h,|v\}`$ . Fig. 2c shows the probability $`P_s`$ of spontaneous emission loss as a function of $`g/\kappa `$ for the input state $`|1|h`$, assuming $`\gamma _s=\kappa `$. The curve is well simulated by the empirical formula $`P_s1/\left(1+2g^2/\kappa \gamma _s\right)`$. If the initial state of the system is $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{ai}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{pi}`$, the average probability of the leakage error per $`U_{aj}^{CPF}`$ gate is given by $`P_e=P_s/4`$. In current experiments , typically $`(\kappa ,\gamma _s)/2\pi (8,5.2)`$ MHz, and $`g/2\pi 25`$ MHz, which yields $`P_e0.8\%`$. With these parameters, a typical pulse width $`T/524/\kappa 0.5`$ $`\mu `$s. As the pulses $`j`$ and $`k`$ are injected successively for the CPF gate $`U_{jk}^{CPF}`$, we need to introduce a time delay of few $`\mu `$s between them. For demonstration-of-principle experiments, this time delay can be routinely achieved through simple fiber loops. To obtain longer time delay, atomic ensembles could be employed to store photon pulses for several seconds .

Because the principal noise in our scheme is photon loss during gate operations which is modeled as a leakage error, very efficient quantum error correcting codes can be incorporated into this computation scheme to achieve fault-tolerance . For instance, a rough estimate in Ref.  shows that through concatenated coding, quantum computation can tolerate leakage error at a percent level per gate, as compared to the error threshold of about $`10^5`$ for general quantum errors . The leakage error only affects the probability to register a photon from each pulse and has no influence on the fidelity of its polarization state if a photon is registered for each qubit (e.g., through QND or destructive measurements). So, leakage error induces small inefficiency for each gate (at a level of a few percents), which is not debilitating for experimental quantum computing up to dozens of CPF gates even without quantum error correction.

In summary, we have shown that a cavity with a single-trapped atom, conventionally used as a single-photon source, can be exploited to realize scalable, fully-functional quantum computation. The proposed scheme is well based on the state-of-the-art in cavity quantum electrodynamics, is robust to various experimental sources of noise, and offers a promising approach to the realization of large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computation.

This work was supported by the Michigan start-up fund, by the FOCUS center, by the MURI Center for Quantum Networks (No. DAAD19-00-1-0374), by the NSF (Nos. EIA-0086038 and PHY-0140355), and by the Office of Naval Research (No. N00014-02-1-0828).


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# Equilibrium currents in quantum double ring system: A non-trivial role of system-reservoir coupling.

## I Introduction

Mesoscopics, a fertile branch of Physics deals with systems and phenomena in the scale of nano- to micrometers. The distinguishing feature of these systems is that at extremely low temperatures an electron retains it’s phase coherence throughout the sample. These systems have revealed a new range of unexpected quantum phenomena, often counter-intuitiveimry ; datta . The notion of the usual ensemble averaged transport coefficients such as the conductivity, i.e., local and material specific, has to be replaced by that of conductance, i.e., global and operationally specific to the sample as well as the nature of probes of measurement. Some novel and hitherto unheard of features in classical physics, e.g., non-local current-voltage relationshipswebb , breakdown of Ohm’s law, absolute negative resistance (four probe)butiprl1986 , normal-state Aharonov-Bohm effectwebb , quantization of point-contact conductance (Landauer formalism)vanwees , universal conductance fluctuations (new form of ergodicity), persistent currentsBIL , spin-polarized transportprinz ; datta1 , coulomb blockadeglazman  and many novel effects arising due to electron correlations, have been observed in these systems. Interpretation of these require full recognition of the wave nature of quasi particles and keeping track of their phase coherence over the entire sample including the measurement leads and probes (quantum measurement process). Even the equilibrium properties, are very sensitive to the nature of statistical ensemble used. The results differ qualitatively from one ensemble to anotherimry .

## II Motivation

Recently it has been proposed that these systems will provide a testing ground for verifying the violation in the basic laws of thermodynamicsTA . This behavior has been explained by taking recourse to the effects of entanglement, through which the quantum system is so interlinked with the bath that the resulting behavior of the system alone cannot be treated within a conventional thermodynamic approach. Here the finite coupling between the bath and the system plays a crucial role. It should be noted that equilibrium thermodynamics of the super-system comprising of system (sub-system) plus bath, does not imply standard equilibrium thermodynamics for the sub-system alone. In-fact the thermodynamic equilibrium properties of the system depend on the coupling parameter, unlike equilibrium statistical mechanics. For example, it has been shown via an analytical treatment that the mean orbital magnetic moment, a thermodynamic property, is determined by the electrical resistivity (which is related to system-bath coupling parameter) of the materialdattgup\_prl . What is crucial for dissipative diamagnetism is that system-bath interaction has to be treated exactly, there is no clear cut separation between what is the system and what is the bath- both are inexorably linked to one many-body system. In this work, motivated by the above results, we provide a simple example wherein the equilibrium properties are determined by the system-reservoir coupling parameter in a non-trivial manner. Our results follow from the consideration of the dephasing of a single particle quantum coherence while the earlier dynamical treatments required in addition to quantum coherence, entanglement between system and bath. It is in this spirit that we study the persistent current densities in a quantum double ring system coupled to a reservoir via a simple voltage probe method due to Büttikerbuti . We explicitly show that when the coupling parameter is very small there is perfect agreement between the magnetic moments calculated from the local currents (via Amperes law) and that from the derivative of free energy with respect to magnetic field, increasing the strength of coupling parameter however leads to disagreement between the two.

## III Background

It is well known that spontaneous currents which never decay can flow in super-conducting systems. In 1983, Büttiker , Imry and LandauerBIL  first predicted that, a normal metal ring threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux $`\varphi `$, in the phase coherent domain carries persistent currents . These arise because the magnetic flux breaks the time reversal symmetry thus inducing currents. This is a quantum effect and the total current flowing in the ring is related to the derivative of free energy with respect to fluxcheungibm ; cheungprb . For clean rings it is periodic in flux with period of $`2\pi \varphi /\varphi _0`$. The magnetic flux incidentally plays the same role as a periodic potential in the Bloch sense, and therefore one gets the band structure, elastic scattering if present in the loop induces gaps in the spectrum and reduces the magnitude of persistent currents. Later in 1985, Büttiker buti  investigated the effect of a reservoir coupled to a ring. This simply means breaking the phase coherence. Electrons enter the reservoir lose their phase memory and are re-injected again from the reservoir with an uncorrelated phase. The S-Matrix for coupling between system and reservoir is given by-

$$S_J=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}(a+b)& \sqrt{ϵ}& \sqrt{ϵ}\\ \sqrt{ϵ}& a& b\\ \sqrt{ϵ}& b& a\end{array}\right)$$

wherein, $`a=\frac{1}{2}(\sqrt{12ϵ}1)`$ and $`b=\frac{1}{2}(\sqrt{12ϵ}+1)`$, for $`ϵ0`$ the system and reservoir are decoupled while for $`ϵ0.5`$ the system and reservoir are strongly coupled. The above S-Matrix satisfies the conservation of currentshapiro , and accounts for the possibility of strong to weakly coupled reservoirs through the coupler “$`ϵ`$”. One of the important conclusions of the work was that the magnitude of persistent current flowing in the loop decreases with increasing coupling strength $`ϵ`$ but without any change in their nature, i.e., diamagnetic or paramagnetic. This effect is solely due to exchange of carriers between reservoir and ring (dephasing), and also this is true if the lead connecting reservoir to ring has a charging energy much less than the level spacing. Experimentally persistent currents in both open and closed systems have been observedwebb ; levy ; chandra ; maily  and these observations have given rise to a spurt in theoretical activitiesrmp\_persis .

## IV Model

Let us consider the double ring system as shown in FIG. 1. The static localized flux piercing the loop is necessary to break the time reversal symmetry and induce a persistent current in the system. The geometry we consider is a one-dimensional ring with an attached bubble and a lead connected to a reservoir at chemical potential $`\mu `$. The reservoir acts as an inelastic scatterer and as a source of energy dissipation. All the scattering processes in the leads including the loop are assumed to be elastic. Hence there is complete spatial separation between the elastic and inelastic processes. The loops J1J2aJ3J1 and J1J2bJ3J1 enclose the localized flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. However, the bubble J2aJ3bJ2 does not enclose the flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. The same S-Matrix coupler couples the double ring to the reservoir, i.e., $`S_{J1}=S_J`$, for the other two junctions we take symmetric couplersporod .

$$S_{J2}=S_{J3}=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{1}{3}& \frac{2}{3}& \frac{2}{3}\\ \frac{2}{3}& \frac{1}{3}& \frac{2}{3}\\ \frac{2}{3}& \frac{2}{3}& \frac{1}{3}\end{array}\right)$$

The waves in the four arms of the system depicted in FIG. 1 are related as follows: The waves incident into the branches of the double ring system are related by the S-Matrices for J1J2 arm by-

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}y_1\\ v_1\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& e^{ikl_1}e^{i\alpha _1}\\ e^{ikl_1}e^{i\alpha _1}& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x_1\\ u_1\end{array}\right)$$

for J2bJ3 arm by-

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}y_2\\ v_2\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& e^{ikl_2}e^{i\alpha _2}\\ e^{ikl_2}e^{i\alpha _2}& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x_2\\ u_2\end{array}\right)$$

for J2aJ3 arm by-

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}y_3\\ v_3\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& e^{ikl_3}e^{i\alpha _3}\\ e^{ikl_3}e^{i\alpha _3}& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x_3\\ u_3\end{array}\right)$$

for J3J1 arm by-

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}y_4\\ v_4\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& e^{ikl_4}e^{i\alpha _4}\\ e^{ikl_4}e^{i\alpha _4}& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x_4\\ u_4\end{array}\right)$$

Here $`kl_1`$, $`kl_2`$, $`kl_3`$ and $`kl_4`$ are the phase increments of the wave function in the absence of flux. $`\alpha _1`$, $`\alpha _2`$,$`\alpha _3`$, and $`\alpha _4`$ are the phase shifts due to flux in the arms of the considered double ring system. Clearly, $`\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _4=\frac{2\pi \mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the flux piercing the loop and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is the flux quantum $`\frac{hc}{e}`$, also $`\alpha _1+\alpha _3+\alpha _4=\frac{2\pi \mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}`$, thus $`\alpha _2=\alpha _3`$colin\_prb ; colin\_ijmpb . The current densities (in dimensionless form) in the various arms of the system are given as followsbuti ; colin\_prb \- $`I_1=|x_1|^2|y_1|^2`$, $`I_2=|x_2|^2|y_2|^2`$, $`I_3=|x_3|^2|y_3|^2`$, $`I_4=|x_4|^2+|y_4|^2`$, wherein complex amplitude for propagating waves $`x_1,x_2,x_3,x_4,y_1,y_2,y_3,y_4,`$ are as depicted in Fig. 1. The induced current densities in the various arms of the loop are assigned labels $`I_1,I_2,I_3`$ and $`I_4`$, while the arm lengths of various parts of the ring are $`l_1,l_2,l_3`$ and $`l_4`$.

Now a question may arise as to why we consider the persistent current densities in this special geometry of a double ring. This geometry exhibits the current magnification effect in equilibriumcolin\_prb  which is a quantum phenomena. The current magnification effect, a purely quantum phenomena arises in equilibrium and non-equilibrium systemsmosk ; deo\_cm ; colin\_ijmpb  and leads to large orbital magnetic moments. A double ring systempareek\_double  which does not exhibit current magnification effect will show no disagreement between the magnetic moments calculated from the local current densities (via Amperes law) and that from the derivative of the free energy, which we have separately verifiedcb\_unpub .

## V Theory

We know that magnetic moment is the derivative of free energy with respect to magnetic field, $`\mu =\frac{1}{c}\frac{F}{H}`$, wherein $`F`$ is the free energy and $`H`$ is the magnetic field enclosed by the system. From text books we know that a current carrying loop behaves as a magnet, in other words Amperes law which states- magnetic moment is current multiplied by the area enclosed. The orbital magnetic moment density for a system coupled to reservoir can be calculated in two ways, first from the formulation of Akkermans, et al, akker ; mello  one can calculate it as follows-

$`d\mu ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle \frac{[lndetS]}{\varphi }}dE`$ (1)
Here, $`d\mu `$ is the differential contribution to the magnetic moment at energy E, and S is the on-shell scattering matrix. In the system considered in Fig. 1, the on-shell scattering matrix is just the complex reflection amplitude $`r`$. Also from Amperes law one can calculate the orbital magnetic moment density via the local currents in the system. The orbital magnetic moment density defined via local currents in a loop, depends strongly on the topology of the system, whereas the magnetic moment densities calculated from the eigen spectrum as also in the formulation of Akkermans, et al, do not. This is special to only one-dimensional geometry where the eigen-spectrum is independent of variation in topology of the system . In fact there are infinitely many topological structures possiblecedraschi ; colin\_ijmpb . If we consider our system as depicted in Fig. 1, to be planar and lying in the x-y plane then the magnetic moment density ($`\mu _1`$) can be viewed as being generated by current density $`I_1`$ enclosing an area $`A_r`$ and by current density $`I_3`$ enclosing area $`A_b`$, i.e., $`\mu _1=\frac{1}{c}(I_1A_r+I_3A_b)`$, wherein $`A_r`$ and $`A_b`$ are the areas enclosed by the ring ($`J1J2aJ3J1`$) and the bubble ($`J2aJ3bJ2`$) respectively. Another orientation of the system in which the arm $`J2bJ3`$ is in the x-z plane gives $`\mu _2=\frac{1}{c}(I_1A_r+I_2A_r)/2=I_cA_r/2`$ wherein $`I_c=I_1+I_2`$ is said to be the most appropriate generalization of the equilibrium persistent current and which is consistentcb\_unpub  with Eq. 1, see \[cedraschi, \] for further details. Several other orientations are possible, for example, if the bubble lies in x-y plane and the ring lies in x-z plane, then $`\mu _z=\frac{1}{c}(I_3A_rI_2A_r)/2`$ and $`\mu _y=\frac{1}{c}I_1A_r`$. Even when our system lies in the x-y plane for fixed $`l_1,l_2,l_3`$, by deforming their shapes we can have different values of magnetic moment density along the z direction. It is also worth mentioning that the total magnetic moment (at temperature $`T=0`$) of a representative system is obtained by integrating the magnetic moment densities up-to the Fermi wave-vector $`k_f`$.

## VI Results

From the Amperes law we calculate the orbital magnetic moment density for some length parameters. After calculating we plot the orbital magnetic moment densities obtained for the case of $`\mu _2=\frac{1}{c}(I_1A_r+I_2A_r)/2=I_cA_r/2`$. In Fig. 2(a) we depict the plot of the energy-eigen values (normalised by $`\pi ^2`$) of the closed system, and in Fig. 2(b) we plot the dimensionless orbital magnetic moment density $`\mu _2`$ obtained via the local persistent current densities as a function of the dimensionless Fermi wave-vector $`kl`$ for different coupling parameters. Now lets test the equivalence of these definitions as $`ϵ0`$, i.e., the reservoir and system are almost decoupled. We see complete agreement. It can be noted from Fig. 2(a) that the ground state carries diamagnetic current while 1st, 2nd and 3rd excited states carry paramagnetic current for small values of flux (which is obvious from their slopes), the 4th excited state carries diamagnetic currents while the fifth paramagnetic current. Similarly from the top most panel of Fig. 2(b), the $`ϵ0`$ limit, it can be seen that the ground state carries diamagnetic current (magnitude is negative) while 1st, 2nd and 3rd excited states carry paramagnetic currents (magnitude is positive), the 4th carries diamagnetic current while the fifth paramagnetic current. Indeed the two definitions are completely equivalent as far as the $`ϵ0`$ limit (henceforth referred to as the weak coupling case) is considered. Now as we increase $`ϵ`$, we notice a dramatic change from the weak coupling case (see middle panel in FIG. 2(b)). There are paramagnetic-diamagnetic jumps at those Fermi energies wherein one would have expected pure diamagnetic or paramagnetic current. This behavior is more seen as one increases the coupling till the maximum ($`ϵ=0.5`$) is reached, see lowest panel of Fig. 2(b). Looking closely at the middle panel of Fig. 2(b), one can notice that the peaks broaden, noticeably the ground, 1st, 3rd and 5th, while the nature of the currents carried at 2nd and 4th levels changes qualitatively. Also, as one approaches the $`ϵ=0.5`$ limit the 1st, 3rd and 5th levels disappear completely, these are some of the other qualitative features which distinguish the cases depicted in Fig. 2(a) and (b). This reaffirms that predictions from equilibrium thermodynamics are in general not valid for a quantum system strongly coupled to a bath. In the conventional equilibrium treatment the properties of the bath appear only through a single parameter namely, the temperature $`T`$ and nowhere the coupling parameter appears in the magnitude of equilibrium physical quantities. Our results reaffirm that equilibrium properties are determined by the coupling parameter in the quantum domain. The finite coupling can lead to qualitative changes (and not just the broadening of levels or persistent current peaks) from that of the predictions of equilibrium statistical mechanics as shown above.

We have verified separately that the orbital magnetic moment density calculated by the formulation of Akkermans, et al, (Eq. 1) is similar to that in Fig. 2(b), for the geometry considered herecb\_unpub . In addition we also have calculated the orbital magnetic moment density for different topological configurations, e.g., $`\mu _1,\mu _z,\mu _y`$ (see the Theory section for further details) and obtained results not in consonance with that calculated from the eigen-spectrum (equilibrium statistical mechanics), thus bolstering the fact that the orbital magnetic moment density calculated from the local current densities is inherently linked to the topology of the system. As already pointed out, the orbital magnetic moment density calculated through the local current densities is qualitatively different (nature) from that calculated from the closed system energy eigen-spectrum which is independent of topological variations.

We have seen these novel features not only for one set of length parameters but for many different set of length parameters. In Fig. 3(a), we plot the energy eigenvalues (normalised by $`\pi ^2`$) as a function of flux, and in Fig. 3(b) the dimensionless orbital magnetic moment densities as a function of the dimensionless Fermi wave-vector $`kl`$ for different length parameters. Herein also it can be seen from Fig. 3(a) that the ground and the first excited states carry diamagnetic currents while 2nd and 3rd carry paramagnetic currents for small values of flux (which is obvious from their slopes), the 4th and 5th again carry diamagnetic currents. Similarly from the top most panel of Fig. 3(b), the $`ϵ0`$ limit, it can be seen that the ground and first excited state carry diamagnetic current (magnitude is negative) while 2nd and 3rd carry paramagnetic currents (magnitude is positive), the 4th and 5th carry diamagnetic currents. The two definitions are again completely equivalent as far as the $`ϵ0`$ limit is considered. Again as we increase $`ϵ`$, we notice the same change from the weak coupling case (see middle panel in FIG. 3(b)). There are paramagnetic-diamagnetic jumps at those Fermi energies wherein one would have expected pure diamagnetic or paramagnetic current. This behavior is more seen as one increases the coupling till the maximum ($`ϵ=0.5`$) is reached, see lowest panel of Fig. 3(b). Thus, in contrast, to the case of a single quantum ring coupled to a reservoir as was considered by Büttiker, wherein coupling only led to a broadening of energy levelsbuti , in the case of a quantum double ring system considered here, in addition to level broadening one also sees a change in nature of currents as one increases the strength of coupling to the reservoir.

One should also mention here that there is a drawback in modeling the inelastic effects by this model, if one changes the position of attachment of lead and the double ring system. Qualitatively, different results for the orbital magnetic moment density would be obtained as by definition it involves the length parameters of our system, These length parameters will of-course change with position of junction (J1) . Only in the very weakly coupled regime can the specific position of lead to reservoir attachment be ignored. Of-course this drawback does not exist for the system investigated by Büttiker in Ref.buti,  wherein the orbital magnetic moment density would be same irrespective of the position where lead is attached. However, this simple model for coupling between system and reservoir is enough in order to bring out the importance of finite coupling between system and bath, vis a vis equilibrium thermodynamics.

## VII Conclusions

In this work we have shown using a very simple model of system-reservoir coupling that the equilibrium properties are determined by the strength of coupling parameter. This is consistent with the recent findingsTA ; dattgup\_prl , that in the quantum domain, equilibrium properties of the sub-system are related to dissipative coefficients arising due to subsystem-bath coupling, unlike the predictions of conventional statistical mechanics. These fully dynamical studies in the quantum domain invoke coherence and entanglement between system and bath degrees of freedom to come to the same conclusion. However our treatment is simple and invokes the single particle coherence which is disrupted by the presence of the reservoir (without bringing the notion of quantum entanglement between system and bath). However these finite coupling induced qualitative changes can be observed only in hybrid rings which exhibit current magnification effect, a purely quantum phenomena, in equilibriumcolin\_prb . We have verified separately that multiple ring structures which do not exhibit current magnification effect do not show these qualitative changes apart from features expected from broadening of energy levelscb\_unpub . These results can be verified experimentally by attaching a voltage probe coupled to a nanoscopic semi-conducting system as depicted in Fig. 1. Here the voltage probe serves the purpose of a reservoir. One can change the parameters of the junction between system and lead by applying appropriate gate voltage (to simulate the effects of coupling parameter) beneath the junction and measure the orbital magnetic response as function of the gate voltage.

## VIII Acknowledgments

Authors thank Dr. P. S. Deo for useful discussions.