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# Hyperbolic geometry, continued fractions and classification of the finitely generated totally ordered simple dimension groups

## 1 Introduction

The dimension of a subspace of the Euclidean space $`R^n`$ can be 1, 2, 3 or more. It is no longer true that dimension of any non-trivial subspace of the infinite-dimensional Euclidean space $`R^{\mathrm{}}`$ is a positive integer. It was discovered by von Neumann that there exist linear subspaces in $`R^{\mathrm{}}`$ of a non-integer (continuous) dimension. Namely, there exists a dimension function on the projections in a von Neumann algebra ranging in the unit interval.

Unlike the von Neumann algebras, the dimension function on the projections of a $`C^{}`$-algebra, $`A`$, takes value in an abelian group, $`K_0(A)`$, rather than in $`R`$, see e.g. \[Effros 1981\] , Chapter 1. For instance, if $`A`$ is an AF-algebra ibid., then the range of the dimension function in $`K_0(A)`$ is known as a dimension group of $`A`$, see appendix for the definition. The classification of such groups is a difficult open problem.

In the remarkable paper \[Effros & Shen 1980\] , the authors classified the dicyclic dimension groups, i.e. dimension groups inside the abelian group $`Z^2`$. Their main result says that each simple dicyclic group can be assigned a positive irrational number $`\alpha `$, defined modulo the action of matrix group $`GL(2,Z)`$, and such that if $`\alpha =[a_0,a_1,a_2,\mathrm{}]`$ is a regular continued fraction of $`\alpha `$, then one gets a representation of the dicyclic group via the simplicial dimension groups:

$$Z^2\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& \mathrm{a}_0\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^2\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& \mathrm{a}_1\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^2\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& \mathrm{a}_2\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{}$$
(1)
see \[Effros & Shen 1980\] , Theorem 3.2. The irrational $`\alpha `$ is a slope of the straight line in the plane, which is the universal cover of two-dimensional torus, see \[Effros & Shen 1980\]  Theorem 2.1. The range of the dimension function (a positive cone) in $`Z^2`$ is the half-plane $`P_\alpha =\{(k,l)Z^2|\alpha k+l0\}`$, and it is shown that each simple dicyclic dimension group arises in this way.

The objective of our note is similar classification of the polycyclic dimension groups, i.e. dimension groups inside the abelian group $`Z^n`$. Recall that the universal cover for surfaces of genus $`g2`$ is no longer the Euclidean plane but the hyperbolic (Lobachevsky) half-plane $`H`$. It is well known, that the role of straight lines in $`H`$ is played by the simple geodesics, i.e. geodesics with no self-crossing points; we refer the reader to appendix for an exact definition. Thus, to classify the polycyclic dimension groups, one needs:

(i) to define a dimension group, $`G`$, coming from the simple geodesic, $`\gamma `$, on a hyperbolic surface of genus $`g2`$;

(ii) to define a slope $`\alpha R`$ of $`\gamma `$ on the surface;

(iii) to construct a simplicial approximation of dimension group $`G`$ in terms of the slope $`\alpha `$ of geodesic $`\gamma `$ .

The realization of (i) – (iii) is as follows. The closure, $`\overline{\gamma }`$, of a simple non-periodic geodesic $`\gamma `$ consists of the continuum of disjoint non-periodic geodesics known as a geodesic lamination $`\lambda `$ \[Casson & Bleiler 1988\] . Let $`|\lambda |`$ be the total number of the principal regions of $`\lambda `$ (ibid., p.60) and $`n=2g+|\lambda |1`$, where $`g`$ is the genus of the hyperbolic surface, $`X`$, carrying the lamination $`\lambda `$. It is known, that the set of invariant transversal measures of $`\lambda `$ is a convex compact set $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{k1}`$ of dimension $`1k\left[\frac{n}{2}\right]`$, where $`[]`$ is the integer part of a number, see \[Sataev 1975\] . By $`G_\lambda `$ we understand the dimension group inside the abelian group $`Z^n`$, whose state space $`S(G_\lambda )`$ is isomorphic to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{k1}`$. The assignment of $`G_\lambda `$ via the invariant measures on $`\lambda `$ is unique \[Goodearl 1986\] , Chapter 4. To implement (ii), we shall use the Jacobi-Perron continued fraction attached to the geodesic lamination $`\lambda `$. Namely, a standard bijection (a blow-up, see the appendix) between geodesic laminations and foliations gives rise to a measured foliation $`_\lambda `$ on the surface $`X`$. For simplicity, we let $`_\lambda `$ be given by trajectories of a closed 1-form $`\omega _\lambda `$ on $`X`$. Let $`\lambda _i=_{\gamma _i}\omega _\lambda `$ be the periods of $`\omega _\lambda `$ in a basis $`\{\gamma _1,\mathrm{},\gamma _n\}`$ of the relative homology $`H_1(X,Sing\omega _\lambda ;Z)`$; choosing $`\lambda _10`$, we let $`\theta _{i1}=\lambda _i/\lambda _1`$ for $`i2`$ and $`\theta =(\theta _1,\mathrm{},\theta _{n1})`$. Consider the Jacobi-Perron continued fraction of $`\theta `$ \[Bernstein 1971\] :

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ \theta \end{array}\right)=\underset{k\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ I& b_0\end{array}\right)\mathrm{}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ I& b_k\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ I\end{array}\right),$$
(2)
where $`I`$ is the unit matrix, $`b_i=(b_1^{(i)},\mathrm{},b_{n1}^{(i)})^T`$ a vector of the non-negative integers and $`I=(0,\mathrm{},0,1)^T`$. By a slope of the geodesic $`\gamma `$, we shall understand an irrational number $`\alpha `$ given by the regular continued fraction:

$$\alpha =[b_1^{(0)}+1,\mathrm{},b_{n1}^{(0)}+1,b_1^{(1)}+1,\mathrm{},b_{n1}^{(1)}+1,\mathrm{}].$$
(3)
(In other words, $`\alpha `$ is a concatenation from zero to infinity of the vectors $`b_i`$ with the entries added by 1 and, thus, all strictly positive.) Finally, to realize item (iii), one needs to restrict to the generic case $`k=1`$, i.e. the totally ordered dimension groups. Such a restriction secures convergence of the Jacobi-Perron continued fraction (2) and one can apply the known theorem of \[Effros & Shen 1979\]  on approximation of the unimodular dimension groups by the simplicial dimension groups. A summary of our results can be formulated as follows.

###### Theorem 1

Each finitely generated totally ordered simple dimension group $`G`$ can be indexed by a positive irrational number $`\alpha U`$, where $`U`$ is a generic subset of $`R`$. The parametrization, $`G_\alpha `$, has the following properties:

(i) if $`G_\alpha `$ and $`G_\alpha ^{}`$ are order-isomorphic, then:

$$\alpha ^{}=\frac{a\alpha +b}{c\alpha +d}\text{for a matrix}\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)GL(2,Z);$$
(4)
(ii) $`G_\alpha `$ is the limit of the following simplicial dimension groups:

$$Z^n\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ \mathrm{I}& \mathrm{b}_0\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{n}\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ \mathrm{I}& \mathrm{b}_1\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{n}\mathrm{}$$
(5)
The article is organized as follows. The dimension group $`G_\lambda `$ is introduced in section 2. Theorem 1 is proved in section 3. Finally, in section 4 a brief account of geodesic laminations, measured foliations and the Jacobi-Perron fractions is given; it is supplemented by basic facts on the dimension groups, whose complete coverage can be found in \[Rørdam, Larsen & Laustsen 2000\] , Chapter 5.

## 2 Dimension groups generated by foliations

For notation, we refer the reader to appendix; let $`\gamma `$ be a simple non-periodic geodesic on a hyperbolic surface $`X`$ of genus $`g2`$. The closure $`\overline{\gamma }`$ contains a continuum of non-periodic pairwise disjoint simple geodeisics, which form a perfect (Cantor) set on $`X`$. Such a closure is a geodesic lamination, which we shall denote by $`\lambda `$. The number of principal regions of $`\lambda `$ will be denoted by $`|\lambda |`$.

It is well known that $`\lambda `$ corresponds to a foliation $`_\lambda `$ on $`X`$, see e.g. \[Thurston 1997\] , Chapter 8.5. The foliation $`_\lambda `$ has $`|\lambda |`$ singular points of saddle type; it is obtained from the geodesic lamination $`\lambda `$ by a blow-down homotopy (see the appendix). Denote by $`\mathrm{\Phi }_X`$ the space of foliations on $`X`$, whose singularity set coincides with that of $`_\lambda `$. The coordinates $`(\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n)`$ of $`_\lambda `$ in $`\mathrm{\Phi }_X`$ are given by the formula:

$$\lambda _i=_{\gamma _i}\omega _\lambda 𝑑\mu ,$$
(6)
where $`\omega _\lambda `$ is a closed 1-form tangent to the leaves of foliation $`_\lambda `$, $`\{\gamma _1,\mathrm{},\gamma _n\}`$ is a basis in the relative homology $`H_1(X,Sing_\lambda ;Z)`$ and $`\mu `$ an invariant transversal measure on the leaves of foliation $`_\lambda `$, see Section 4.2 for the details. It follows from the formulas for the relative homology that:

$$n=2g+|\lambda |1.$$
(7)
On the other hand, it is known that the total number of independent invariant measures of foliation $`_\lambda `$ is equal to $`k\left[\frac{n}{2}\right]`$, see \[Sataev 1975\] . If we denote by $`(\mu _1,\mathrm{},\mu _k)`$ all such measures, then parameter $`\mu `$ in formula (6) can be written as $`\mu =_{j=1}^k\alpha _j\mu _j`$, where $`\alpha _j0`$ are some real numbers. Thus, one gets from formula (6) an $`n\times k`$ matrix $`(\lambda _{ij})`$, whose entry $`\lambda _{ij}`$ is obtained by integration of $`\omega `$ along the contour $`\gamma _i`$ with $`\mu =\mu _j`$; each $`j`$-row of the matrix defines a homomorphism $`h_j:Z^nR`$, such that $`h_j(e_i)=\lambda _{ij}`$, where $`e_i`$ is a base element in $`Z^n`$. It is easy to see, that the kernel of $`h_j`$ is a hyperplane in $`R^n`$. Thus, one obtains a dimension group, $`G_\lambda `$, inside the abelian group $`Z^n`$, which is bounded by the $`k`$ hyperplanes corresponding to the measures $`(\mu _1,\mathrm{},\mu _k)`$.

###### Definition 1

The dimension group $`G_\lambda `$ is called associated to the geodesic lamination $`\lambda `$ (equivalently, foliation $`_\lambda `$).

In the sequel, our main case will be $`k=1`$ (i.e. the totally ordered dimension group $`G_\lambda `$). Note that the foliations $`_\lambda `$ with a unique invariant ergodic measure are generic in the space $`\mathrm{\Phi }_X`$ \[Masur 1982\] . In this generic case, the dimension group $`G_\lambda `$ can be identified with the projective class of a $`Z`$-module $`Z\lambda _1+\mathrm{}+Z\lambda _nR`$, i.e. an equivalence class of the modules $`\mu (Z\lambda _1+\mathrm{}+Z\lambda _n)`$, where $`\mu >0`$ is a real number.

## 3 Proof of theorem 1

To prove theorem 1, we have to show that parametrization $`G_\alpha `$ of the polycyclic totally ordered simple dimension groups described in introduction has the following properties:

(i) if $`G_\alpha `$ and $`G_\alpha ^{}`$ are order-isomorphic, then

$$\alpha ^{}=\frac{a\alpha +b}{c\alpha +d}\text{for a matrix}\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)GL(2,Z);$$

(ii) $`G_\alpha `$ is the limit of the following simplicial dimension groups:

$$Z^n\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ \mathrm{I}& \mathrm{b}_0\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{n}\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ \mathrm{I}& \mathrm{b}_1\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{n}\mathrm{}$$

We shall proceed stepwise; we refer the reader to the appendix for all preliminary facts and notation used below.

(i) Let $`G`$ be a finitely generated totally ordered simple dimension group. In this case $`GZ^n`$ is a dense subgroup of the real line $`R`$. Let $`\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n`$ be a set of generators of the subgroup; one can always choose $`\lambda _i`$ to be positive.

We wish to construct a measured foliation $``$ from the set of reals $`\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n`$. The foliation is carried by a surface $`X`$, whose genus we shall further specify. Our goal can be achieved with the help of the method of zippered rectangles (see the appendix). First, we define the bottom of the rectangle to be $`\lambda _1+\mathrm{}+\lambda _n`$; so far the construction is not unique pending a choice of a permutation $`\pi `$. Next, one takes an irreducible permutation $`\pi `$ on the $`n`$ symbols; the top of the rectangle will be $`\lambda _{\pi (1)}+\mathrm{}+\lambda _{\pi (n)}`$. (If one takes a different $`\pi `$, one would get another parameterization of dimension groups by measured foliations; note, however, that the number of such choices is always finite.) Instead of $`\pi `$, one can specify the number and types of the singular points of the foliation $``$; there exists a one-to-one correspondence between these two sets of data \[Masur 1982\] , \[Veech 1982\] . Now, the method of zippered rectangles produces a unique measured foliation $``$ on a surface $`X`$, whose genus is given by the formula:

$$g=\frac{1}{2}(n+1|Sing|),$$
(8)
where $`|Sing|`$ is equal to the number of cyclic permutations in the prime decomposition of $`\pi `$.

Using the integration formula (16), it is immediate that dimension group, generated by the foliation $``$, is order-isomorphic to $`G`$. Note that since $`G`$ is totally ordered, the foliation $``$ is uniquely ergodic.

We can now index the group $`G`$ by a slope $`\alpha `$ of the foliation $``$; we shall write the corresponding dimension group as $`G_\alpha `$. Denote by $`i`$ an (index) map which assigns to every totally ordered simple dimension group a slope $`\alpha `$ of the corresponding measured foliation $``$.

Let us prove the following series of lemmas, which reflect the properties of the index map.

###### Lemma 1

The index map $`i`$ is an injection.

Proof. Indeed, let to the contrary, $`GG^{}`$ and $`i(G)=i(G^{})`$. By the uniqueness theorem (\[Perron 1907\] , Section 5, Theorem 4), the Jacobi-Perron fractions for the vectors $`\lambda ,\lambda ^{}`$ must be different in at least one term. So does the regular continued fractions, which define the slopes $`\alpha ,\alpha ^{}`$. Thus, by a main property of the continued fractions, we have $`\alpha \alpha ^{}`$. One runs into a contradiction with the initial assumption. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Lemma 2

If the totally ordered dimension groups $`G_\alpha `$ and $`G_\beta `$ are order-isomorphic, then

$$\beta =\frac{a\alpha +b}{c\alpha +d},$$
(9)
where $`a,b,c,d`$ are integers such that $`adbc=\pm 1`$.

Proof. Let $`G_\alpha `$ and $`G_\beta `$ be given by the $`Z`$-modules $`Z\lambda _i`$ and $`Z\lambda _i^{}`$, respectively. Since $`G_\alpha `$ and $`G_\beta `$ are order-isomorphic, after a scaling:

$$Z\lambda _1+\mathrm{}+Z\lambda _n=Z\lambda _1^{}+\mathrm{}+Z\lambda _n^{},$$
(10)
as the subsets of the real line; moreover, there exists a positive isomorphism $`G_\alpha G_\beta `$ given by the formula $`\lambda _j^{}=_{i=1}^na_{ij}\lambda _i`$, where $`A=(a_{ij})`$ is invertible matrix with the non-negative integer entries $`a_{ij}0`$, see e.g. \[Effros 1981\] , p.10.

According to \[Bauer 1996\] , Proposition 3, matrix $`A`$ can be uniquely factorized as:

$$A=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ I& b_0^{}\end{array}\right)\mathrm{}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ I& b_s^{}\end{array}\right):=B_1^{}\mathrm{}B_s^{},$$
(11)
where $`b_i^{}=(\stackrel{~}{b}_1^{(i)},\mathrm{},\stackrel{~}{b}_{n1}^{(i)})`$ are vectors of the non-negative integers. Thus, $`\lambda ^{}=B_1^{}\mathrm{}B_s^{}\lambda `$ and by the definition of a slope:

$$\beta =[\stackrel{~}{b}_1^{(0)}+1,\mathrm{},\stackrel{~}{b}_{n1}^{(s)}+1,\alpha ]=\frac{a\alpha +b}{c\alpha +d},$$
(12)
for a matrix $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)GL(2,Z)`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Remark 1

Note that the converse of lemma 2 is true only in the case of the dicyclic dimension groups. The effect is due to the fact that the Jacobi-Perron algorithm converges only on a generic subset of the slopes $`\alpha R`$.

The item (i) of theorem 1 is proved.

(ii) Let $`Z\lambda _1+\mathrm{}+Z\lambda _n`$ be a $`Z`$-module in $`R`$, corresponding to the totally ordered dimension group $`G_\alpha `$.

###### Remark 2

The $`\lambda _i`$ can be obtained from the continued fraction of $`\alpha `$ using an inverse of formula (3) and the Jacobi-Perron continued fraction:

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ \theta \end{array}\right)=\underset{k\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ I& b_0\end{array}\right)\mathrm{}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ I& b_k\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ I\end{array}\right),$$
(13)
where $`\theta =(\lambda _2/\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n/\lambda _1)`$ and $`\lambda _10`$. It is known \[Bauer 1996\] , that the fraction is convergent on a generic set $`VR^n`$ of vectors $`\lambda `$ corresponding to the foliation $`_\alpha `$ with the unique ergodic measure. In particular, the totally ordered dimension groups are in bijection with such foliations and therefore our fraction is always convergent.

One can now apply a result of Effros and Shen: the dimension group $`G_\alpha `$ is a unimodular dimension group given by the following limit of simplicial dimension groups:

$$Z^n\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ \mathrm{I}& \mathrm{b}_0\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{n}\stackrel{\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ \mathrm{I}& \mathrm{b}_1\end{array}\right)}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{n}\mathrm{}$$
(14)
see \[Effros & Shen 1979\] , Corollary 3.3. The item (ii) follows. Theorem 1 is proved. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 4 Appendix

The present section contains a brief account on the geodesic laminations, measured foliations, method of zippered rectangles and the Jacobi-Perron continued fractions. The corresponding topics are covered in \[Casson & Bleiler 1988\] , \[Masur 1982\]  and \[Bernstein 1971\] , respectively. We also add a paragraph on the dimension groups; we refer the reader to \[Rørdam, Larsen & Laustsen 2000\]  for a complete account.

### 4.1 Geodesics laminations

Let $`S`$ be a finite genus surface of constant negative curvature (a hyperbolic surface). By a geodesic, one understands a maximal arc on $`S`$ consisting of the locally shortest sub-arcs (in the given metric on $`S`$). Each geodesic is the image of the open real interval $`I`$ under a continuous map $`IS`$.

###### Lemma 3

(Topological classification of geodesics) Let $`pS`$ be a point with an attached unit vector $`tS^1`$ on the surface $`S`$. Then :

(a) for almost all points $`tS^1`$ (w.r.t. to the Lebesgue measure on $`S^1`$), the geodesic line through $`p`$ in direction $`t`$ is an immersion $`IS`$, i.e. a finite or infinite curve with self-intersections;

(b) the remaining set $`KS^1`$ has the cardinality of continuum and geodesic lines through $`p`$ in the direction $`tK`$ are embedded curves of one of the three types:

(i) periodic;

(ii) spiraling towards a periodic geodesic;

(iii) non-periodic, whose closure is a perfect (Cantor) subset of $`S`$.

Proof. See \[Artin 1924\]  and \[Myrberg 1931\] . $`\mathrm{}`$

The geodesics of type (b) are called simple, since they have no self-crossing points. Every geodesic $`\gamma :IS`$ of type (iii) is recurrent, i.e. for any $`t_0I`$ and $`\epsilon >0`$ the $`\epsilon `$-neighbourhood of $`p(t_0)`$ has infinitely many intersections with $`\gamma (t)`$ provided $`t>N`$, where $`N=N(\epsilon )`$ is sufficiently large. The topological closure of recurrent geodesic on $`S`$ contains a continuum of the disjoint recurrent geodesics, and called a geodesic lamination $`\lambda `$. The intersection of $`\lambda `$ with any closed curve on $`S`$ is a Cantor set. The set $`S\lambda `$ is called a principal region of $`\lambda `$. The principal region can have up to $`4g4`$ connected components on the surface of genus $`g2`$ \[Casson & Bleiler 1988\] . We denote by $`|\lambda |`$ the total number of such components.

A foliation $``$ on a surface $`X`$ is a partition of $`X`$ into a disjoint union of $`1`$-dimensional and, possibly, a finite number of $`0`$-dimensional leaves denoted by $`Sing`$. The immediate examples of foliations are orbits of the flows and trajectories of the quadratic differentials $`f(z)dz^2`$ on $`X`$ \[Fathi, Laudenbach & Poénaru 1979\] . The foliation $``$ is called measured if it supports an invariant transversal measure on the leaves \[Fathi, Laudenbach & Poénaru 1979\] . In other words:

(i) $`Sing`$ consists of the $`n`$-prong saddles, where $`n3`$;

(ii) each $`1`$-leaf is everywhere dense in $`X`$.

The geodesic lamination $`\lambda `$ can be obtained from $``$ by a blow-up homotopy. Namely, a separatrix of $``$ is a $`1`$-leaf one of whose ends lie in $`Sing`$. The blow-up is a replacement of the separatrix by a narrow strip $`[\epsilon ,\epsilon ]\times R`$ using a homotopy surgery, which does not affect the nearby leaves. The complement of the blown-up separatrices consists of leaves of $``$ that make up a perfect (Cantor) set on $`X`$. It is not hard to prove (e.g. \[Thurston 1997\] ), that the above complement is homeomorphic to $`\lambda `$. Moreover, $`|\lambda |`$ is equal to the number of singular points of the foliation $``$. Note that each measured foliation can be given by the orbits of a closed one-form $`\omega `$ on $`X`$, passing, if necessary, to a double cover of $`X`$ \[Masur 1982\] .

### 4.2 Method of zippered rectangles

There exists a remarkable construction, which allows to produce a measured foliation from a given set of positive reals $`(\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n)`$. Let $`\pi `$ be a permutation of $`n`$ symbols. Consider a rectangle with the base $`\lambda _1+\mathrm{}+\lambda _n`$ and the top $`\lambda _{\pi (1)}+\mathrm{}+\lambda _{\pi (n)}`$. We shall identify the open interval $`(\lambda _{i1},\lambda _i)`$ in the base with the open interval $`(\lambda _{\pi (i)1},\lambda _{\pi (i)})`$ at the top for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$. The resulting object will be a $`k`$-holed topological surface, $`X`$, of genus $`g=\frac{1}{2}(nN(\pi )+1)`$, where $`N(\pi )`$ is the number of cyclic permutations in the prime decomposition of $`\pi `$ \[Veech 1982\] . A foliation $``$ on $`X`$ is defined by vertical lines given by the closed 1-form $`\omega =dx`$. The order of the singular points of $``$ depends on the length of the elementary cyclic permutations and the total number of the singular points equals $`k=N(\pi )`$. The singular points are located at the holes of surface $`X`$. To recover $`\lambda _i`$ from the 1-form $`\omega `$, notice that

$$n=2g+N(\pi )1=dimH_1(X,Sing;Z),$$
(15)
where the last symbol stays for the relative homology of $`X`$ with respect to the set of singular points of $``$. Since $`\omega =dx`$, one arrives at the elementary, but important formula:

$$\lambda _i=_{\gamma _i}\omega ,$$
(16)
where $`\gamma _i`$ are the elements of a basis in $`H_1(X,Sing;Z)`$.

### 4.3 Jacobi-Perron fractions

The Jacobi-Perron algorithm and connected (multidimensional) continued fraction generalizes the euclidean algorithm (regular continued fraction) of an irrational number. Namely, let $`\lambda =(\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n)`$, $`\lambda _iRQ`$ and $`\theta _{i1}=\frac{\lambda _i}{\lambda _1}`$, where $`1in`$. The continued fraction

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ \theta _1\\ \mathrm{}\\ \theta _{n1}\end{array}\right)=\underset{k\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(\begin{array}{ccccc}0& 0& \mathrm{}& 0& 1\\ 1& 0& \mathrm{}& 0& b_1^{(1)}\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& & \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\\ 0& 0& \mathrm{}& 1& b_{n1}^{(1)}\end{array}\right)\mathrm{}\left(\begin{array}{ccccc}0& 0& \mathrm{}& 0& 1\\ 1& 0& \mathrm{}& 0& b_1^{(k)}\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& & \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\\ 0& 0& \mathrm{}& 1& b_{n1}^{(k)}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 0\\ \mathrm{}\\ 1\end{array}\right),$$

where $`b_i^{(j)}N\{0\}`$, is called a Jacobi-Perron fraction, see \[Perron 1907\] . To recover the integers $`b_i^{(k)}`$ from the vector $`(\theta _1,\mathrm{},\theta _{n1})`$, one has to repeatedly solve the following system of equations:

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}\theta _1& =b_1^{(1)}& +\frac{1}{\theta _{n1}^{}}\\ \theta _2& =b_2^{(1)}& +\frac{\theta _1^{}}{\theta _{n1}^{}}\\ \mathrm{}& & \\ \theta _{n1}& =b_{n1}^{(1)}& +\frac{\theta _{n2}^{}}{\theta _{n1}^{}},\end{array}$$

where $`(\theta _1^{},\mathrm{},\theta _{n1}^{})`$ is the next input vector. Thus, each vector $`(\theta _1,\mathrm{},\theta _{n1})`$ gives rise to a formal Jacobi-Perron continued fraction. Whether the fraction is convergent or not, is yet to be determined.

Let us introduce the following notation. We let $`A^{(0)}=\delta _{ij}`$ (the Kronecker delta) and $`A_i^{(k+n)}=_{j=0}^{n1}b_i^{(k)}A_i^{(\nu +j)},b_0^{(k)}=1,`$ where $`i=0,\mathrm{},n1`$ and $`k=0,1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}`$. The Jacobi-Perron continued fraction of the vector $`(\theta _1,\mathrm{},\theta _{n1})`$ is said to be convergent, if $`\theta _i=lim_k\mathrm{}\frac{A_i^{(k)}}{A_0^{(k)}}`$ for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},n1`$. Unless $`n=2`$, convergence of the Jacobi-Perron fractions is a delicate question. To the best of our knowledge, there exists no intrinsic necessary and sufficient conditions for such a convergence. However, the Bauer criterion and the Masur-Veech theorem imply that the Jacobi-Perron fractions converge for the generic vectors $`(\theta _1,\mathrm{},\theta _{n1})`$. Namely, let $``$ be a measured foliation on the surface $`X`$ of genus $`g1`$. Recall that the foliation $``$ is called uniquely ergodic if every invariant measure of $``$ is a multiple of the Lebesgue measure. By the Masur-Veech theorem, there exists a generic subset $`V`$ in the space of all measured foliations, such that each $`V`$ is a uniquely ergodic measured foliation. We let $`\lambda =(\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n)`$ be the coordinate vector of the foliation $``$. Then the following (Bauer’s) criterion is true: the Jacobi-Perron continued fraction of $`\lambda `$ converges if and only if $`\lambda VR^n`$ \[Bauer 1996\] .

### 4.4 Dimension groups

We use $`Z,Z^+,Q`$ and $`R`$ for the integers, positive integers, rationals and reals, respectively and $`GL(n,Z)`$ for the group of $`n\times n`$ matrices with entries in $`Z`$ and determinant $`\pm 1`$.

By an ordered group we shall mean an abelian group $`G`$ together with a subset $`P=G^+`$ such that $`P+PP,P(P)=\{0\}`$, and $`PP=G`$. We call $`P`$ the positive cone on $`G`$. We write $`ab`$ (or $`a<b`$) if $`baP`$ (or $`baP\backslash \{0\}`$).

G is said to be a Riesz group if:

(i) $`gG`$ and $`ng0,nZ^+`$ implies $`g0`$;

(ii) $`u,vx,y`$ in $`G`$ implies existence of $`wG`$ such that $`u,vwx,y`$.

Given ordered groups $`G`$ and $`H`$, we say that a homomorphism $`\phi :GH`$ is positive if $`\phi (G^+)H^+`$, and that $`\phi :GH`$ is an order isomorphism if $`\phi (G^+)=H^+`$.

A positive homomorphism $`f:GR`$ is called a state if $`f(u)=1`$, where $`uG^+`$ is an order unit of $`G`$. We let $`S(G)`$ be the state space of $`G`$, i.e. the set of states on $`G`$ endowed with the natural topology.

$`S(G)`$ is a compact convex subset of the vector space $`Hom(G,R)`$. By the Krein-Milman theorem, $`S(G)`$ is the closed convex hull of its extreme points, which are called pure states.

An ordered abelian group is a dimension group if it is order isomorphic to $`lim_{m.n\mathrm{}}(Z^{r(m)},\phi _{mn})`$, where the $`Z^{r(m)}`$ are simplicially ordered groups (i.e. $`(Z^{r(m)})^+Z^+\mathrm{}Z^+`$), and the $`\phi _{mn}`$ are positive homomorphisms. The dimension group $`G`$ is said to be unimodular if $`r(m)=Const=r`$ and $`\phi _{mn}`$ are positive isomorphisms of $`Z^r`$. In other words, $`G`$ is the limit

$$Z^r\stackrel{\phi _0}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{r}\stackrel{\phi _1}{}\mathrm{Z}^\mathrm{r}\stackrel{\phi _2}{}\mathrm{},$$
(17)
of matrices $`\phi _kGL(r,Z^+)`$.

The Riesz groups are dimension groups and vice versa. The Riesz groups can be viewed as the abstract dimension groups, while dimension groups as a representation of the Riesz groups by the infinite sequences of positive homomorphisms.

Acknowledgments. I thank G. A. Elliott for interesting discussions and the referee for helpful comments.

The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada, E-mail: igor.v.nikolaev@gmail.com

Current address: 1505-657 Worcester St., Southbridge, MA 01550, U.S.A.


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# The Dynamical Influence of a Planet at Semimajor Axis 3.4 AU on the Dust Around ϵ Eridani

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Some nearby main sequence stars appear to host debris belts like the asteroid belt and the Kuiper Belt in our solar system; see the reviews by Backman & Paresce (1993) and Zuckerman (2001). Extrasolar asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects can reveal themselves by generating clouds of circumstellar dust that emit thermally in excess of the stellar photospheric emission. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) discovered dozens of “Vega-like” stars which show signs of circumstellar dust, and upcoming observatories like the Keck Interferometer, the Spitzer Space Telescope, JWST and Darwin/TPF should detect many more.

The small body belts in our solar system bear the dynamical signatures of planets; perhaps their extrasolar analogs do too. Millimeter and submillimeter images of dust rings around the Vega-like stars $`\beta `$ Pictoris, Vega, Fomalhaut, and $`ϵ`$ Eridani all show clumps and asymmetries (Holland et al., 1998; Greaves et al., 1998; Koerner et al., 2001; Wilner et al., 2002; Holland et al., 2003). Dust spiraling past a planet under the influence of Poynting-Robertson (P-R) drag (Robertson, 1937; Wyatt & Whipple, 1950) can become temporarily trapped in exterior mean-motion resonances (MMRs) with the planet, forming rings of enhanced dust density (Gold, 1975) like the one created by the Earth in the solar zodiacal cloud (Dermott et al., 1994; Reach et al., 1995). Locating clumps and holes in these rings can constrain the position, mass and orbital eccentricity of the perturbing planet (Kuchner & Holman, 2003; Kuchner, 2003).

Of the four Vega-like stars mentioned above, the K2 V star $`ϵ`$ Eridani is closest to Earth at a distance of 3.22 pc. Greaves et al. (1998) imaged a blobby ring of emission around $`ϵ`$ Eridani at 850 $`\mu `$m using the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Quillen & Thorndike (2002) have modeled the blobs in this ring, and suggest that a perturbing planet at a semimajor axis of $`40`$ AU could be responsible for the observed asymmetries. One might consider this ring at $`60`$ AU to be an analog of the Kuiper belt, perturbed by Neptune (Liou & Zook, 1999; Moro-Martín & Malhotra, 2003)—though the $`ϵ`$ Eridani Neptune analog has an eccentric orbit.

The $`ϵ`$ Eridani system may also contain a circumstellar emission peak within a few arcseconds ($`<20`$ AU) of the star (Beichman et al., 1988; Greaves et al., 1998; Dent et al., 2000; Li et al., 2003), and probably a second planet! Precise Doppler measurements suggest that a massive planet ($`m\mathrm{sin}i=0.86\pm 0.05M_{jupiter}`$) orbits $`ϵ`$ Eridani in an eccentric orbit ($`e=0.6\pm 0.2`$) at semimajor axis $`a=3.4\pm 0.1`$ AU (Campbell et al., 1988; Cumming et al., 1999; Hatzes et al., 2000). Interpretation of this data remains controversial, partially due to the fact that $`ϵ`$ Eridani is young and active (Gray & Baliunas, 1995), despite a preliminary astrometric detection of the planet (Gatewood, 2000).

The dust responsible for the emission interior to $`20`$ AU would eventually spiral past this precise-Doppler planet, which could easily trap dust temporarily in MMRs. Present images can barely resolve the disk interior to 20 AU, but future high-resolution observations could probe this region of the debris disk and investigate the cloud structure created by the planet. $`ϵ`$ Eridani’s inner dust cloud may resemble the solar zodiacal cloud perturbed by planets of the inner solar system—though the inner $`ϵ`$ Eridani planet has an eccentric orbit.

Li et al. (2003) have questioned the existence of the central submillimeter emission peak, suggesting it may be due to noise. Initial images taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope (Stapelfeldt et al., 2003) of another debris disk system, Fomalhaut, reveal mid-IR emission from warm dust occupying a central region of the system that had appeared relatively empty in earlier submillimeter images (Holland et al., 1998). In addition, the excess flux detected by IRAS at $`25`$ $`\mu `$m around $`ϵ`$ Eridani was contained in a beam only sensitive to the inner 20 AU of the system (Beichman et al., 1988). Even if the claimed central submillimeter emission is spurious, then, it is still likely that $`ϵ`$ Eridani contains a central dust cloud; if the radial velocity planet is real, this cloud should reflect its presence.

The $`ϵ`$ Eridani system provides a rare opportunity to compare dust cloud simulations to images of a nearby, roughly face-on debris disk, in a case where some orbital parameters of the perturbing planet are independently measurable—to build a bridge between different dynamical methods for detecting extrasolar planets. In this paper, we examine the inner “exozodiacal” component of the $`ϵ`$ Eridani dust, near the precise-Doppler planet. We use numerical simulations of the interaction of a planet and a dust cloud to predict what observations might reveal at $`20`$ AU in this system. We consider how dust cloud imaging could test the existence of the reported planet, and, if it exists, constrain its properties.

## 2 SIMULATION PARAMETERS

To model the effect of the precise-Doppler planet on the dust in $`ϵ`$ Eridani we numerically integrated the equations of motion for dust grains (Liou & Zook, 1999), using a symplectic $`n`$-body map (Wisdom & Holman, 1991), modified to include terms for radiation pressure and P-R drag (Wilner et al., 2002). We do not attempt to model the effect of collisions on the eventual distribution of dust. In each simulation, we integrated the orbits of 1000 dust grains for a maximum of $`5\times 10^8`$ years, the approximate age of the $`ϵ`$ Eridani system. We stop integrating a particle’s orbit if it enters the planet’s Hill sphere or reaches an orbit with eccentricity $`e_{dust}>1.0`$ or semimajor axis $`a_{dust}>200`$ AU or $`a_{dust}<0.1`$ AU.

### 2.1 The Planet

Hatzes et al. (2000) combined radial velocity data from several sources (McDonald Observatory, Lick Observatory, the European Southern Observatory at la Silla and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope) and deduced that the planet’s orbit has semimajor axis $`a=3.4\pm 0.05`$ AU and eccentricity $`e=0.6\pm 0.05`$. Radial velocity data from Lick Observatory (Marcy et al., 2002) considered alone yield a different eccentricity ($`e=0.43`$), suggesting that the true uncertainties in the planet’s orbital parameters are quite high. We show simulations with $`e=0.6`$, though we tried simulations with both values and found no significant difference in the cloud morphology.

Our dynamical models probe the full three dimensional structure of the dust cloud. They require as input the inclination, $`i`$, and the longitude of ascending node, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, of the planet, orbital elements unconstrained by radial-velocity measurements. For the purposes of this exploration, we used $`i`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ from preliminary astrometric work by Gatewood (2000). Our models will ultimately test the astrometric measurements.

We assume the inclination of the planet’s orbit to the line of sight is $`i=46^{}`$, which Gatewood (2000) determined to be the best fit to astrometric and radial velocity data. The Gatewood (2000) value has a large uncertainty ($`\pm 17^{}`$), so it is roughly consistent with values suggested by the shape of the outer ring of 850 $`\mu `$m emission (Greaves et al., 1998) and the tilt of the stellar pole (Saar & Osten, 1997). The amplitude of the radial velocity variations constrains the mass of the planet to $`m\mathrm{sin}i=0.86\pm 0.05M_J`$ (Hatzes et al., 2000) given the mass of the star ($`M_{}=0.8M_{}`$). For $`i=46^{}`$, this gives $`m=1.20M_J`$. We discuss the effects of varying planet mass and inclination in § 4. We adopt a longitude of ascending node of $`\mathrm{\Omega }=120^{}`$ (Gatewood, 2000), and an argument of pericenter of $`\varpi =49^{}`$ (Hatzes et al., 2000). These parameters are only weakly constrained by data, but variations affect only the observed orientation of any dust cloud structure.

### 2.2 The Dust Grains

Recent models (Sheret et al., 2004; Li et al., 2003; Dent et al., 2000) attempt to use the $`ϵ`$ Eridani spectral energy distribution (SED) and the azimuthally-averaged radial profile from the 850 $`\mu `$m image to constrain dust grain properties. However, the grains in the center of the cloud may not resemble the grains in the outer ring; they are likely to be smaller and more collisionally processed. We adopt a dust grain size of $`s=15`$ $`\mu `$m for all of our simulations, a typical grain size for the solar zodiacal cloud. We discuss the effects of varying grain size in §4.

For spherical grains, the radiation pressure factor, $`\beta `$, which determines the strength of the P-R force, is related to the grain size by $`\beta =3L_{}/\left(16\pi cGM_{}\rho s\right)`$, where $`s`$ is the grain radius in microns and $`\rho `$ is the dust grain density (Wyatt & Whipple, 1950; Burns, 1976). Assuming $`\rho =2`$ g cm-3 gives $`\beta =(\text{0.099 }\mu \text{m})/s`$ for grains orbiting $`ϵ`$ Eridani. For 15 $`\mu `$m grains, this corresponds to $`\beta =0.007`$.

In order to generate snapshots of the dust distribution at several different phases of the planet, we use a procedure nearly identical to that used by Wilner et al. (2002) to create face-on disk models. Kuchner & Holman (2001) used a similar procedure to schematically illustrate disk structures. Quillen & Thorndike (2002) also created disk models in this fashion, but restricted their simulations to two dimensions. We record the position of each particle throughout the integration at regular intervals corresponding to four particular phases on the planet’s orbit, rotating the three-dimensional positions into a coordinate system tilted 46 from face-on. Then we sort these positions into four three-dimensional histograms that model the density distribution of dust in an inertial frame at each of the four orbital phases, assuming a steady-state source.

We calculate the emission from the density distribution using ZODIPIC111This IDL software package is available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~mkuchner (Kuchner & Serabyn, 2002; Danchi et al., 2003), assuming the cloud is optically thin, and we scale the column density so the total 25 $`\mu `$m flux matches that measured by IRAS. As mentioned above, at this wavelength IRAS was sensitive to emission within approximately 20 AU of $`ϵ`$ Eridani, the size of our simulated images.

ZODIPIC iteratively calculates dust grain temperatures for grains in equilibrium with stellar radiation. We model the photospheric emission from the star by a blackbody at 5156K (Bell & Gustafsson, 1989) with luminosity $`L_{}=0.34L_{}`$ and distance 3.218 pc. We assume a simple modified blackbody model for dust grain emission. At wavelengths longer than some critical wavelength, $`\lambda _0`$, a dust grain’s emission coefficient, $`ϵ`$, decreases roughly according to a power law; $`ϵ=ϵ_0\left(\lambda _0/\lambda \right)^q`$. At wavelengths shorter than $`\lambda _0`$, we hold $`ϵ`$ constant. We assume amorphous, moderately absorbing grains, for which $`q=1.0`$ and $`\lambda _0`$ equals the grain radius (Backman & Paresce, 1993). This choice falls between the porous grains favored by Li et al. (2003) and the more solid grains favored by Sheret et al. (2004). We discuss the uncertainty in dust emission properties in § 4.

The initial particle inclinations $`i^{}`$ were chosen from a uniform distribution on the interval $`[0,5]^{}`$, where $`i^{}=0^{}`$ corresponds to the plane of the planet’s orbit. The initial ascending node, argument of periapse, and mean anomaly for each particle were selected from a uniform distribution on the interval $`[0,2\pi )`$. We explored a range of initial particle eccentricities.

## 3 SIMULATION RESULTS

Since the P-R timescale for dust around $`ϵ`$ Eridani is less than the age of the system, none of the observed dust can be considered primordial; its presence requires the existence of dust-generating bodies in the system. We present the results of two simulations with different initial conditions, meant to model dust grains generated by different populations of small bodies. We choose to study two populations that have analogs in our solar system, one where dust grains begin on low-eccentricity orbits, and one where they begin on highly eccentric orbits. Later in this section, we discuss the parameter space between these two extremes.

### 3.1 Asteroid Dust Model

For the first model, we started the grains on orbits with semimajor axes $`a=15`$ AU and eccentricities chosen from a uniform distribution on the interval $`[0.05,0.15]`$. This model represents dust generated in a belt of small bodies on low-inclination orbits like the asteroid belt. Figure 1 shows four snapshots of the model at 850 $`\mu `$m, when the planet’s mean anomaly is $`M=0`$, $`\pi /2`$, $`\pi `$ and $`3\pi /2`$.

The results resemble the model for the Vega disk by Wilner et al. (2002). The primary observable structure the planet carves in the dust distribution is a pair of clumps that appears to orbit the star once for every two orbits of the planet. The clumps occupy circumstellar radii of roughly 5–10 AU. This zone corresponds roughly to the orbit of dust with $`e_{dust}=0.4`$ in the 3:1 exterior MMR.

Figure 2 shows a histogram of the dust concentration as a function of eccentricity and orbital period for the particles represented in Figure 1. The dust was released at $`a=15`$ AU, where the dust orbital period, $`P_{dust}`$, is approximately 9.3 times the orbital period of the planet, $`P_{planet}`$. In Figure 2, particles trapped in MMRs form dark vertical bars; the bars at $`P_{dust}/P_{planet}=3,4,5,\mathrm{},9`$ show that the resonantly trapped grains in this model primarily occupy the 3:1 through 9:1 exterior MMRs. Fainter dark lines are also visible at the periods of other resonances, notably the 5:2 and 7:2 exterior MMRs. Dust is captured most strongly into the 3:1 and 4:1 resonances.

Kuchner & Holman (2003) illustrated four principal structures a planet could create in an optically thin disk of dust released on low-eccentricity orbits. Our asteroidal dust model for $`ϵ`$ Eridani corresponds to case IV in that paper, the high-mass planet on a moderately eccentric orbit. The Quillen & Thorndike (2002) model of the outer ring corresponds to case III; $`ϵ`$ Eridani could host both a case III dust ring and a case IV dust ring. Figure 2 illustrates that the eccentricities of the dust grains in the MMRs range from 0 to roughly the planet’s eccentricity (0.6) as described in Kuchner & Holman (2003).

Besides the dust clumps, Figure 1 shows a torus of dust particles that is not centered on the star. This torus appears to be generated at the same time as the clumps by the mechanism described in Kuchner & Holman (2003). Figure 2 reveals that most of the dust in non-resonant orbits is concentrated in orbits with $`e_{dust}<0.4`$. But the offset of the center of the torus ($`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$) from the star shows that it must contain higher eccentricity particles, such as those in the most distant $`n:1`$ MMRs.

To first order, changing the mass of the planet, the initial semimajor axis of the dust or $`\beta `$ only changes which resonances are populated; e.g., for more massive planets, more distant resonances dominate. However, for planets much more massive than Neptune, the dominant MMRs are always of the form n:1. Since MMRs of the form n:1 generally produce a two-clump structure, the appearance of the cloud hardly changes whether MMRs 2:1 to 5:1 dominate or MMRs 5:1-8:1 dominate, for example. Consequently, the basic resonant pattern is robust to changes in the above mentioned parameters.

### 3.2 Comet Dust

We also considered dust released at higher orbital eccentricities. Such dust could be generated by small bodies in eccentric orbits, like comets in our solar system. The outer ring may scatter such objects inward just as the Kuiper Belt leaks comets into the inner solar system (Fernandez, 1980; Duncan et al., 1988; Levison & Duncan, 1997).

Figure 3 shows an extreme example, a 1000 particle model with initial dust semimajor axes $`a_{dust}=50`$ AU and eccentricities chosen from a uniform distribution on the interval $`[0.8,0.9]`$. The choice of semimajor axis is motivated by the location of the Kuiper Belt in the solar system. For such high eccentricities, however, moderate changes in initial semimajor axis will do little to alter a particle’s steep initial approach to the center of the system.

This model generates a substantially different cloud morphology than the asteroid dust model described above. This comet-dust model has a torus of emission, but no resonant dust clumps. The inclination of the torus produces two limb-brightened areas where the optical depth through the torus is highest. These enhancements resemble the rotating clumps of Figure 1, but unlike the clumps generated by dust in MMRs, the emission enhancements due to limb-brightening do not vary with time.

Figure 4 shows the histogram of dust concentration as a function of eccentricity and orbital period for the dust in Figure 3. This histogram lacks the dark vertical bars that appear in Figure 2 indicating dust trapped in the 3:1 through 9:1 MMRs. These regions of the histogram in Figure 4 are relatively unpopulated, suggesting that the dust released at high orbital eccentricities avoids these n:1 MMRs. Faint dark bars appear at the locations of several other MMRs, but they represent only weak enhancements over the background of particles in non-resonant orbits.

Because fewer comet-dust particles become trapped in MMRs, dust grains in the comet-dust simulation pass through the central 6” more rapidly, on average, than grains in the asteroidal dust simulation described above. The mean lifetime of a dust grain in Figure 3 is $`\tau 5.5\times 10^6`$ yrs, compared to $`\tau 8\times 10^6`$ yrs for the dust in Figure 1. This shorter dust lifetime reduces the amount of information that goes into each snapshot of dust density. As a result, Figure 3 appears grainier than Figure 1.

The resonant dust clumps seen in Figure 1 seem to emerge only when the dust originates on low-eccentricity orbits. By running a set of brief simulations of 100 particles each, we traced the initial dust grain eccentricity at which the resonant clumps begin to vanish. Dust grains released with eccentricities as high as 0.4 continue to be trapped into the n:1 MMRs, but the clumps become fainter and fainter as the initial $`e_{dust}`$ is increased. At initial dust orbital eccentricities greater than $`e_{dust}0.6`$, our simulations no longer show any sign of trapping in the n:1 MMRs.

This critical eccentricity is the eccentricity of the planet’s orbit. The disappearance of clumps may simply reflect when the orbits of particles in the key MMRs begin to intersect the orbits of the planet. Particles in the 3:1 exterior mean-motion resonance would become planet crossing at some longitudes of pericenter at an eccentricity of $`e_{dust}0.2`$. At $`e_{dust}0.8`$, all particles at the nominal semimajor axis of this resonance must cross the planet’s orbit.

## 4 DISCUSSION

To match the observed total emission from dust in the central $`6^{\prime \prime }`$ of the $`ϵ`$ Eridani cloud, our simulations require a mass of $`0.1`$ lunar masses ($`7\times 10^{24}g`$) of $`15`$ $`\mu `$m dust grains. The mean line-of-sight optical depth for both asteroid and comet dust models is $`5\times 10^3`$. Both the resonant blobs of the asteroid model and the limb-brightened regions of the comet model have line-of-sight optical depths of approximately $`0.02`$.

A better calculation of the dust mass in the system’s center depends on a realistic model for dust grain size distribution and physical characteristics (porosity, etc). Models similar to those in Li et al. (2003) and Sheret et al. (2004) might give more accurate mass estimations, but due to the lack of observational constraints, none yet exist for the central zodiacal cloud of $`ϵ`$ Eridani. Regardless of the physical model used to calculate dust mass, most of the mass in the debris disk will reside in the source population of small bodies.

Our simulated dust clouds are nevertheless consistent with current observations of the inner dust cloud, for both the asteroid and comet models. Based on the dust grain physical properties and emission characteristics discussed in § 2.2, we generate 850 $`\mu `$m, azimuthally averaged, radial profiles of our simulated dust clouds. These are convolved with a Gaussian of full-width half-maximum (FWHM) 15” to match the resolution of the Greaves et al. (1998) image. Figure 5 presents these radial profiles, plotted against the Greaves et al. (1998) radial profile. Both models are consistent with the observed profile. In addition, the total 850 $`\mu `$m flux within 20 AU implies a total flux at 25 $`\mu `$m that is consistent with the 25 $`\mu `$m IRAS excess (Beichman et al., 1988).

When the planet mass is varied by $`\pm 0.4M_J`$, a range consistent with current uncertainties in inclination and $`m\mathrm{sin}i`$, as well as the uncertainty in the mass determination of Gatewood (2000), we find no significant difference in the cloud morphology. Aside from its effect on planet mass, varying the inclination of the planet’s orbit would affect only the projected separation between any dust blobs (or ring) and the central star. However, only in the extreme case of a nearly edge-on planetary orbit would the observed dust morphology be unrecognizable; since all observations of $`ϵ`$ Eridani indicate a roughly face-on orientation, we do not believe that inclination effects are a serious concern.

### 4.1 Shortcomings of the Models

A weakness of our simulations is that we cannot properly account for collisions between grains. The time scale for dust grain collisions within the inner ring of dust ($`\tau _{}=1.0\times 10^4`$) is long compared to collision time scales in the debris disks around Vega, $`\beta `$ Pictoris and Fomalhaut (Dent et al., 2000), but still less than $`10^5`$ years for grains within 20 AU of the star, shorter than the P-R time scale ($`10^6`$$`10^7`$ years). In the absence of larger bodies, collisions tend to limit the maximum dust density in any given area by destroying grains. On the other hand, grains colliding with larger bodies can generate dust. The short collisional lifetime of the grains suggests that the dust may be generated by bodies closer to the star than the 15 AU asteroid belt we simulated, bodies that are perhaps themselves in resonant orbits with the planet.

Our simulations were performed with dust grains having a uniform value of $`\beta `$, a consequence of adopting a uniform dust grain size. In general, increasing $`\beta `$, or equivalently decreasing the grain size, increases the sharpness of features in our dust images. The reverse is true when $`\beta `$ is decreased (grain size increased). A more physically realistic simulation would include a range of dust grain sizes; because the sharpness of features depends on $`\beta `$, we expect actual observations to reveal features that are somewhat less sharp than the ones presented here.

The precise-Doppler planet would interact secularly with the planet predicted by Quillen & Thorndike (2002) on a time scale of $`10^8`$$`10^9`$ years. The structure of the outer ring, with its longer P-R time, may reflect this interaction, though the secular perturbations of the outer planet on the inner planet and inner dust ring probably have little consequence. However, the system could contain other unknown planets, which could add significant perturbations.

### 4.2 Future Observations

Observations of the inner regions of $`ϵ`$ Eridani with future telescopes might allow us to not only confirm the existence of the planet, but also to infer the existence of an asteroid belt or some other source of dust located within the outer dust ring. To assess the detectability of the expected dust morphology, we convolved our simulated images with Gaussians representing the beams of several current and planned telescopes. Figure 6 presents convolved images of the dust structure at two different phases of the planet, as the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) might see at 1.3mm. We simulate an elliptical beam for PdBI, $`1.5^{\prime \prime }\times 2.2^{\prime \prime }`$ FWHM, appropriate for a source at the declination of $`ϵ`$ Eridani, observed by PdBI in the “CD” configuration. Figure 7 shows similar images for the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at 450 $`\mu `$m. In each image, we remove 90% of the starlight before convolution.

Observations with PdBI at 1.3mm may marginally resolve the dust blobs. The expected emission at 1.3mm, based on the IRAS photometry, is very close to the sensitivity limit of PdBI ($`0.7`$ mJy beam-1). At this level, the probability of detection depends critically on the physical model used to predict dust emission at 1.3mm from the observed $`25\mu `$m flux. Deviations from our modified blackbody emission model could reduce the expected flux to a level below the detection threshold, or enhance it to provide a higher-confidence detection.

Observations with the SMA at 450$`\mu `$m should provide higher angular resolution, though the expected flux levels remain close to the detection limit ($`8`$ mJy beam-1). We expect the SMA to easily separate the dust emission from the stellar emission, though it may still be difficult to simultaneously achieve the sensitivity and resolution needed to resolve individual dust clumps. In general, an instrument must achieve a resolution of better than $`3`$ arcseconds in order resolve the dust blobs.

Though Spitzer is scheduled make observations of the $`ϵ`$ Eridani circumstellar disk, the proximity of our dust blobs to the central star will make them difficult to separate from the stellar glare. At wavebands where Spitzer may achieve the necessary 3 arcsecond resolution, the photospheric emission from the star will most likely obscure any faint emission from the dust.

Figures 8 and 9 show simulated images of our comet dust model, as seen by the PdBI and the SMA, respectively. These simulated images show that a single detection of dust blobs in $`ϵ`$ Eridani would be ambiguous. Multiple observations spanning a few years are required to test whether or not the dust blobs move. Detecting revolving clumps would support the asteroid dust model, confirming the existence of the planet and constraining its ascending node, inclination, and longitude of pericenter.

Yet even if the revolving clumps are not found, we may still be able to use the cloud morphology to confirm the existence of the planet. As Figure 3 shows, the torus of dust that develops when we have eccentric particles has an inner void that is approximately circular, but the circle is not centered on the star. Detecting that the inner cutoff of the dust cloud is a circle not centered on the star would also be a sign of planetary perturbations, and it would constrain the planet’s ascending node, inclination, and longitude of pericenter.

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) should provide greatly enhanced sensitivity, along with spatial resolution equal to that of the simulated images in Figures 1 and 3. This array should easily resolve any dust structure created by the planet in the central 20 AU of the $`ϵ`$ Eridani system, and provide the dynamical information described above with a single observation. The proposed space missions SPECS (Leisawitz et al., 1999), Eclipse (Trauger et al., 2003), and TPF222See http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov should also be able to make detailed maps of the central dust cloud.

## 5 CONCLUSIONS

Our simulations suggest that if the inner ring ($`<20`$ AU) in the $`ϵ`$ Eridani debris disk is comprised of dust released on low-eccentricity orbits $`(e_{dust}0.4)`$ exterior to the precise-Doppler planet orbiting $`ϵ`$ Eridani, future submillimeter images of this system should detect an off-center limb-brightened ring and a pair of dust clumps that appear to orbit the star once every fourteen years. If the dust is released on highly eccentric orbits $`(e_{dust}0.4)`$, we would not see rotating dust clumps, but rather an inclined torus of dust with a circular inner void off-center from the star. High-resolution observations of the $`ϵ`$ Eridani dust complex with the IRAM PdBI, the SMA, or ALMA could confirm the existence of the planet reported by Hatzes et al. (2000). Our simulations are not the last word on the structure of this cloud; we do not take into account the mutual collisions of dust grains. However, finding one of the generic structures we predict would constrain the unknown orbital elements of the planet and lend confidence to the practice of interpreting dust cloud patterns as resonant signatures of extrasolar planets.

This work was performed in part under contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) through the Michelson Fellowship program funded by NASA as an element of the Planet Finder Program. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology.