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# Observational manifestations of young neutron stars: Spin-powered pulsars

## 1. Introduction

It is an impossible task to summarize the diversity of pulsar phenomena observed across the electromagnetic spectrum on a few pages. Clearly, the wealth of information that can be obtained outside the classical radio window today justifies some re-definition of the word “pulsar”. Rather than being characterised by appearing as a pulsating radio sources, a new definition of pulsar should be that it emits radiation that is pulsed due to rotation and powered by rotational energy. This definition also encompasses X-ray pulsars that are clearly powered by the loss of rotational energy but which have not been detected at radio frequencies. This may be due to a misaligned radio beam or due to a very low radio luminosity. The discovery of an increasing number of very weak radio pulsars coincident with X-ray point sources by Camilo and co-workers (see these proceedings) clearly shows that the expression “radio-quiet” cannot be used without the discussion of a corresponding flux density limit. Bearing this in mind, we will use “radio-quiet” in the context of sources where pulsations have been detected at high energies but not (yet) at radio frequencies, assuming that there is no fundamental difference in the physics of these objects. Also, concentrating on young pulsars, we will neglect the whole population of millisecond pulsars which appear, however, to function under the same underlying principles as young pulsars (Kramer et al. 1998). There is not sufficient room to discuss these principles in a detailed theoretical framework, but observational implications for a working theory will be pointed out. Young, slowly-rotating pulsars known as “Magnetars” (SGRs/AXPs) are discussed by Kaspi in these proceedings.

## 2. The population of young pulsars

The majority of spin-powered pulsars are still discovered and studied at radio frequencies. They dominate by far the number of about 1600 pulsars currently known, of which most are shown in the $`P\dot{P}`$–diagram presented in Figure 1. We will define “young pulsars” as those with a characteristic age, $`\tau =P/2\dot{P}`$, of less than 100 kyr. About 80 of these are currently known, and they are located in the upper left area of Fig. 1. Specifically, pulsars with characteristic ages of less than 10 kyr appear in the cross-hatched area, whilst pulsars with ages between 10 and 100 kyr are located in the hatched area. The latter pulsars are often compared to the Vela pulsar if they match its spin-down luminosity, i.e. $`\dot{E}>10^{36}`$erg s-1. A corresponding line of constant $`\dot{E}`$ is shown together with a line for $`\dot{E}=10^{33}`$ erg s-1. About 26 Vela-like pulsars are currently known (Kramer et al. 2003a). In comparison, there are only 6 Crab-like pulsars, including the fastest rotating young but radio-quiet pulsar PSR J0537$``$6910 with a period of only 16 ms, the “Crab-twin” PSR B0540$``$69, PSR J1124$``$5916, and PSR B1509$`58`$. In the same group we also find PSR J1119$``$6137 with the youngest age and highest $`\dot{P}`$ for any radio pulsar whilst the overall records are currently set by the radio-quiet PSR J1846$``$0258 in Kes75 with a period of 323 ms and characteristic age of only 722 yr (Gotthelf et al. 2000). This raises the question about the birth periods of pulsars which have currently been estimated for about 9 sources (e.g. Migliazzo et al. 2002), covering one order of magnitude from less than 14 ms for PSR J0537$``$6910, over 19 ms for the Crab pulsar to 140 ms for PSR J0538+2817 (Migliazzo et al. 2002, Kramer et al. 2003b). For some of these estimates, a measured braking index was needed. In total, 5 pulsars have a measured braking index that seems to reflect a physical braking process (rather than timing noise) with values ranging from $`n=1.4`$ to $`n=2.9`$ (e.g. Zhang et al. 2001).

## 3. Radio properties

The radio properties of pulsars are discussed in detail by Gupta (these proceedings). Therefore, we do not attempt to present or discuss the rich assortment of radio phenomena, but shortly review those which we consider to be important in context of the bigger picture and their connection to high energy emission. In comparison to high energies, the energy output in the radio is tiny (see Section 7.), with a median luminosity observed at 1400 MHz of $`L_{1400}=25\pm 5`$ mJy kpc2. This number is biased by distant luminous sources, so that $`L_{1400}=3\pm 1`$ mJy kpc2 computed for pulsars within a 3 kpc distance is a more representative number. There is a slight trend for older pulsars to be less luminous but this is mostly suggested by the millisecond pulsars which are indeed less luminous and less efficient radio emitters (Kramer et al. 1998). The flux density spectrum, $`S\nu ^\alpha `$, is steep with a mean spectral index of $`\alpha 1.7`$. No age dependence is found despite earlier reports to the contrary (Maron et al. 2000). The highest radio frequency that pulsars have been detected at is 87 GHz (Morris et al. 1997) and there are indications for a spectral turn-up at mm-wavelengths (Kramer et al. 1996). These observations are interesting due to a suggested “radius-to-frequency mapping” (RFM), according to which high frequency radio emission originates from closer to the neutron star surface than low frequency emission (Cordes 1978). The model is motivated by the observation that pulse profiles become narrower at high frequencies. However, it seems difficult to decide whether the derived magnetospheric altitudes correspond to the heights where the coherent, usually highly polarized emission is created or where it escapes the magnetosphere after it had been created further down and propagated to the escape radius, possibly in certain wave modes (see contributions by Gupta, Petrova and Karastergiou et al.). In any case, there seems to be no doubt that the classical radio emission originates from a few hundred km or so above the pulsar surface (e.g. Kramer et al. 1997), and that the radiating plasma originates from the polar cap region. The interesting question is thereby how this plasma is related to that creating high energy emission, for which competing models place the origin near the polar cap as well (e.g. Daugherty & Harding 1996) or further out in the magnetosphere in so-called “outer gaps” (e.g. Cheng et al. 1986). Clues are available from giant pulses observed for a handful of pulsars at radio frequencies. Giant pulses are individual pulses with flux densities exceeding the mean value by a factor of 10 to 100 or more. Recently published results for the Crab pulsar by Hankins et al. (2003) reveal fine-structure on nanosecond timescales with brightness temperatures reaching $`10^{37}`$ K. Giant pulses tend to be aligned with the high energy pulses rather than with the radio profile (see Section 7.). This suggests a common origin, indicating that some observed radio emission could be in fact a by-product of the high energy radiation process. This could explain the highly unusual “High-Frequency Components”, seen to emerge at some odd pulse phases in the Crab profile at a few GHz (Moffett & Hankins 1996), as the results of such possible by-products and geometrical RFM-like effects. This likely possibility underlines our need to take geometry into account if we want to understand both the observed radio as well as the high energy emission.

## 4. Optical properties

Currently, only five pulsars are reported to show pulsed optical emission (see contribution by Mignani or Shearer & Golden 2002 for a review). The prime example is the Crab pulsar which is strong enough to allow extensive studies of its single pulses and their polarization properties, revealing interesting differences between the peak emission of the prominent double-peaked profile and the bridge and non-zero off-pulse emission (e.g. Romani et al. 2001, Kanbach et al. 2003). The similarity between the optical, X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray profiles suggests that the emission is created by the same incoherent non-thermal radiation process, presumably at the same location. The polarization measurements and the applications of the rotating-vector model (Radhakrishnan & Cooke 1969) thereby allow us to study the geometry of the corresponding emission region in a way that is not yet possible at X-rays. Such studies are not possible for the other weaker pulsars with detected pulsed emission, i.e. Vela, Geminga and PSRs B0656+14 and B0540$``$69. Unpulsed emission has been detected for four pulsars, including PSR B1055$``$52 which together with the Crab, Vela, Geminga and possibly PSR B0656+14 is also detected as a gamma-ray pulsar (e.g. Thompson 2001), again suggesting that the optical emission is closely related to the X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray emission. For a discussion of the involved luminosities it is important to note that for both PSRs B1055$``$52 and B0656+14 the most recent distance estimates dropped by more than a factor of two (see Kramer et al. 2003a, Brisken et al. 2003).

## 5. X-ray properties

On one hand, X-ray observations promise to offer a more direct insight into the magnetospheric plasma densities and processes when compared to the view provided by radio observations that is somewhat occluded by the (unknown) physics responsible for the coherence of the radio emission. On the other hand, in many pulsars the observed X-ray emission is due to a mixture of thermal and non-thermal processes which cannot always be discriminated by the available data. Non-thermal, magnetospheric emission can be created by an accelerated relativistic plasma and should be highly pulsed with a power-law spectrum ranging from optical to $`\gamma `$-ray frequencies. Thermal emission may originate from the stellar surface and may still show low-amplitude modulation due to the rotating hot polar cap. In this case, we would expect a blackbody spectrum that is modified by a possible atmosphere of the neutron star, ranging from optical to soft X-ray frequencies. In addition, matters may be complicated due to unresolved emission from pulsar-driven synchrotron nebulae or pulsar winds interacting with dense ambient media. Neglecting X-ray detections of millisecond pulsars, pulsed emission has been observed for 15 radio pulsars while 9 pulsars have only been seen as unpulsed X-ray sources (Fig. 1; see Becker, these proceedings, and Becker & Aschenbach 2002 for a review). In addition, Geminga and PSRs J0537$``$6910, J1209$``$51/52, J1811$``$1925 and J1846$``$0258 are clearly spin-powered pulsars at X-rays but have no corresponding radio detection, yet. An account of recent deep searches in X-ray sources is given by Camilo (these proceedings), which lead, for instance, to the discovery of radio pulses from the 66-ms pulsar J0205+6449 in SNR 3C58. This pulsar would supersede the Crab as the youngest radio pulsar if 3C58 is indeed associated with the historical supernova SN1181 (Murray et al. 2002). In general, it is instructive to group the X-ray detected pulsars into Crab-like sources, Vela-like sources and middle-aged pulsars. The Crab-like pulsars include PSRs B0540$``$69, J0537$``$6909, B1509$``$58, J0205+6449 and J1617$``$5055, all of which show strong features of magnetospheric emission and doubled-peaked profiles which are, if detected, aligned with similar optical profiles. For Vela-like pulsars only Vela itself has been detected as a faint optical source. Their X-ray spectra do not represent simple power-laws whilst the pulse profiles are more complicated and typically misaligned with radio or $`\gamma `$-ray pulses. Finally, the middle-aged pulsars, i.e. Geminga, PSR B1055$``$52 and PSR B0656+14, show a mixture of thermal and non-thermal emission with energy-dependent profiles. The non-thermal emission is thought to originate either from the polar cap region (e.g. Daugherty & Harding 1996, Harding et al. 2002) or outer gaps (e.g. Cheng et al. 1986, Romani 1996).

## 6. $`\gamma `$-ray properties

The $`\gamma `$-ray emission of pulsars is highly pulsed, beamed and, obviously, of non-thermal origin. There are 7 “classical” $`\gamma `$-ray detections, i.e. Crab, Vela, Geminga and PSRs B1055+53, B1509$``$58, B1706$``$44 and B1951+32 (see e.g. Thompson 2001 or Kanbach 2002 for recent reviews). Their typically double-peaked profiles change their appearances towards higher energies due to a phase-dependent spectral hardness, suggesting, again, that geometry plays an important role. Similar studies are not possible for other, much weaker pulsars for which a detection has been suggested. Here, significance levels are much lower, and often their detection is based on the positional coincidence of a known radio pulsar with an unidentified $`\gamma `$-ray point source. A viable pulsar candidate should have properties consistent with those of the classical $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars, shown to be steady $`\gamma `$-ray sources (e.g. McLaughlin et al. 1996). While the beaming fraction is uncertain, the $`\gamma `$-ray luminosity seems to be a few per cent of the spin-down luminosity. Until recently, this $`\gamma `$-ray efficiency was believed to reach much larger values, up to 20%. However, this value was set by PSR B1055$``$52 for which the updated distance estimate (see Section 4.) now results in a decreased efficiency of only 4%. A recent detailed discussion of the proposed associations was presented by Kramer et al. (2003a) who estimated that about $`19\pm 6`$ of the associations are genuine. Ultimately, it will need instruments like GLAST to verify most of these candidates. By extending the observed $`\gamma `$-ray spectrum to a few tens GeV, GLAST may then also be able to distinguish between the outer gap and polar cap model. The polar cap model interprets the observed emission as inverse Compton scattering of upward polar cap cascades and expects a cut-off of the spectrum due to $`\gamma `$-B-field absorption. In contrast, the spectrum expected for the outer gap particles is curvature radiation limited and should extend to higher energies (e.g. Thompson 2001).

## 7. Relation to spin-parameters

It would be naive to assume that the radiation processes are governed by a single or a few control variables. It is nevertheless intriguing to relate some of the radiation properties to the spin-down luminosity and the magnetic fields at the surface and light cylinder.

A comparison of the energy output at radio, optical, X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray frequencies is complicated by uncertain distance estimates, different spectral shapes, instrumental effects and in particular by the unknown beaming fractions. The radio emission appears to be emitted in a cone of radius $`\rho `$ that scales with period as $`\rho 1/\sqrt{P}`$ (e.g. Kramer et al. 1998). Due to the potential mixture of thermal and non-thermal emission observed, at optical and X-rays one typically assumes isotropic emission in the computation, even though this is obviously wrong for non-thermal emission. At $`\gamma `$-rays a beaming fraction of $`1/4\pi `$ is adopted due to the lack of better knowledge. Bearing these uncertainties in mind, we can try to compare the derived luminosities “observed” at the different frequencies with the spin-down luminosity, $`\dot{E}`$. At radio no correlation can be found between $`L_{radio}`$ and $`\dot{E}`$. This is not unexpected giving the importance of geometry and the complicated processes that must be present to create coherent emission. In the optical range, one can use peak luminosities to mitigate geometrical issues or luminosities integrated over the pulse profile (Shearer & Golden 2002). Using the new distance for PSR B0656+14 has a significant impact on the low number statistics, and we find $`L_{opt}\dot{E}^{1.6\pm 0.2}`$ (see Fig. 2). The X-ray luminosity, $`L_X`$, was studied by a number of authors, including Becker & Trümper (1997) who found $`L_X\dot{E}`$ at soft X-rays ($`0.12.4`$ keV). More recently, Possenti et al. (2002) reviewed the harder X-rays ($`210`$ keV), deriving a relationship that is remarkably similar to that at optical frequencies, $`L_X\dot{E}^{1.5}`$. At $`\gamma `$-rays, the low number statistics is again affected by revised distances for PSRs B1055$``$52 and J0218+4232 (Kramer et al. 2003a) but the values are consistent with $`L_\gamma \dot{E}^{0.5}`$ (Thompson 2001). In conclusion, the inferred efficiencies, $`\eta _\nu =L_\nu /\dot{E}`$, show large variation at each frequency band, but as a general trend they increase from radio to $`\gamma `$-rays. A formal fit gives $`\eta _\nu \nu ^{0.17\pm 0.10}`$ (Fig. 2).

In order to explain the lack of radio emission from magnetars (see Kaspi, these proceedings), it has been suggested that a surface magnetic field exceeding the quantum critical field, $`B_{crit}=m_e^2c^3/e\mathrm{}=4.4\times 10^{13}`$ Gauss, would quench the radio emission due to the lack of emitting plasma (Zhang & Harding 2000, see Fig. 1). However, the discoveries of pulsars with magnetar-like spin-parameters and derived magnetic fields above the critical field, like the 6-s PSR J1847$``$0130 with $`B_S10^{14}`$ Gauss (McLaughlin et al. 2003), question the importance of the actual field value for the emission process. A more directly observable effect may be caused by the magnetic field at the light cylinder. It has been noted that pulsars with detected giant pulses happen to have the largest field strengths (Fig. 2, see contributions by Johnston and Joshi et al.) and that in general the giant pulse emission seems to align with the high energy emission. Indeed, there also appears to be a direct observational link between the radio giant pulses of the Crab and its optical emission (Shearer et al. 2003). Giant pulses may finally provide the clue to connect the emission across the whole electromagnetic spectrum.

## 8. Summary & Conclusions

Apparently, the radio emission originates from close to the stellar surface, while the high energy emission may tend to be created further out. In that picture, one would not expect an alignment of radio and high-energy emission, as typically observed. Where alignment is observed, like for the Crab pulsar, the observed radio emission may be of different origin and more related to that at high energies. Only the Crab’s pre-cursor component may be considered as the classical radio pulse, while main and interpulse are by-products of high energy processes causing also the High-Frequency Components at a few GHz. If that is the case, the Crab pulsar should be considered as a much less luminous radio source, similar to PSR B0540$``$69 when ignoring its giant pulse emission (Johnston & Romani 2003). In summary, we have reason to believe that optical, X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray processes are related and that they connect to the radio via giant pulses. A lot appears to be determined, or at least influenced, by geometry, and it is clear that no single control parameter exists. There is still a lot to be done and understood.

### Acknowledgments.

I thank the RAS for a substantial travel grant.

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# Varying critical percolation exponents on a multifractal support

## I 1 - Introduction

One remarkable feature of critical phenomena is the concept of universality, that means, the fact that critical exponents are independent of the particular type of lattice and of nature of the physical system. Transitions in systems so diverse as gases, magnets or metalic alloys, can be characterized by the same critical indices. In some sense this can be explained as a consequence of the equivalence of the local simmetry of these different systems ShangMa . Non universal behavior is a rare event observed only in special situations and non trivial models.

In magnetic systems the critical exponents, in general, depend only on the dimension of the space and on the dimension of the spins. The variation of critical exponents for fixed dimension of the lattice and fixed dimension of the spin is found in non trivial cases in which there is some types of competing interactions, frustration or symmetry breaking Domb&Green ; Stanley .

In this work we report results obtained for a complex model which is universal with respect to some exponents but that shows non-universality with respect to the correlation length exponent $`\nu `$. We deal with percolation phenomena in a multifractal support immersed in a 2D space. It has been shown that percolation corresponds to the $`q=1`$ state of Potts model Wu . In this perspective we expect universal behavior for percolation in $`2`$ dimensions, for any kind of lattice. The multifractal support we have proposed has a new local lattice structure: the local connectivity and the local anisotropy vary from region to region. The strength of the anisotropy change of the multifractal support is related to a single parameter $`\rho `$. The exponent $`\nu `$ of the critical percolation cluster varies with $`\rho `$ showing an accentuated sensibility to the local anisotropy of the support structure. On the other side, the percolation cluster is a fractal with a fractal dimension, $`d_f`$, that is identical to the one of the standard percolation cluster. The same occurs with the critical exponent $`\beta `$. That means, if we take into consideration only $`d_f`$ and $`\beta `$ we could say that the universality class holds for this problem.

A motivation for this work also comes from the problem of direct percolation in which the anisotropy of the model is responsible for anisotropic clusters and for different correlation lengths in parallel and perpendicular directions. In this work we observe the build up of percolation clusters that are very elongated for small values of $`\rho `$, showing anisotropic structures. Do these local anisotropic properties affect the critical exponents?

In the reference last ; lim  an object, $`Q_{mf}`$, is developed to study percolation in multifractal systems. This object is a natural generalization of the square lattice in which it is possible to estimate analytically the full spectrum of fractal dimensions. Besides it exhibits a rich distribution of area among the blocks and a non-trivial topology, the number of neighbors varies along the object. Moreover its geometric qualities and algorithmic simplicity, it is straightforward to study the percolating properties of $`Q_{mf}`$.

In a previous work last  we have introduced the multifractal, analytically determined its spectrum of fractal dimensions, analyzed some properties of the histogram of percolating lattices versus occupation probability, and estimated the fractal dimension of the percolation cluster for several parameters of $`Q_{mf}`$. In a further work lim  we have performed a comprehensive study of the determination of the percolation threshold, $`p_c`$. In particular we have explored the relation between $`p_c`$ and the topologic properties of $`Q_{mf}`$. In this work we deal with the problem of the class of universality of $`Q_{mf}`$ and its relation with symmetry characterization.

The multifractal object we develop, $`Q_{mf}`$, is an intuitive generalization of the square lattice. Suppose that in the construction of the square lattice we use the following algorithm: take a square of size $`L`$ and cut it symmetrically with vertical and horizontal lines. Repeat this process $`n`$-times; at the $`n^{th}`$ step we have a regular lattice with $`2^n\times 2^n`$ cells. The setup algorithm of $`Q_{mf}`$ is quite similar, the main difference is that we do not cut the square in a symmetric way. In the next section we explain in detail this algorithm.

## II 2 - The Multifractal support

In this section we present the multifractal object $`Q_{mf}`$ in a double perspective. Initially we introduce the object $`Q_{mf}`$ using its growing algorithm. In a second moment we show how percolation properties are studied in such a non-trivial system.

### II.1 2-1 The generating algorithm of $`Q_{mf}`$

We start with a square of linear size $`L`$ and a parameter $`0<\rho =\frac{s}{r}<1`$, for integers $`r`$ and $`s`$. The first step, $`n=1`$, consists of two sections of the square: a vertical and an horizontal. Initially the square is cut in two pieces of area $`\frac{s}{r+s}`$ and $`\frac{r}{s+r}`$ by a vertical line (we use $`L^2`$ area units). This process is shown in figure 1 (a), where we use $`\rho =\frac{s}{r}=\frac{2}{3}`$. The horizontal cut is shown in figure 1 (b). Note that we use the same $`\rho `$. The first partition of the square generates four rectangular blocks: the largest one of area $`(\frac{r}{s+r})^2`$, two of area $`\frac{rs}{(r+s)^2}`$ and the smallest one of area $`(\frac{s}{r+s})^2`$.

The second step, $`n=2`$, is shown in figure 1 (c) and (d). The same process of vertical and horizontal sections is repeated as in step $`1`$ inside each block. In this way $`Q_{mf}`$ is a self-affine object. As observed in the figure at end of step $`n=2`$ there are $`2^4`$ blocks. Generically we have after the $`n^{th}`$-step $`2^{2n}`$ blocks. The partition process produces a set of blocks with a variety of areas. We call a set of all elements with the same area as a $`k`$-set. In the case $`n=2`$ there are five $`k`$-sets.

At the $`n^{th}`$-step of the algorithm, the partition of the area $`A`$ of the square in $`L^2`$ units follows the binomial rule:

$$A=\underset{k=0}{\overset{n}{}}C_k^n\left(\frac{s}{s+r}\right)^k\left(\frac{r}{s+r}\right)^{nk}=\left(\frac{r+s}{r+s}\right)^n=1.$$
(1)
The number of elements of a $`k`$-set is $`C_k^n`$.

In reference last  we see that as $`n\mathrm{}`$ each $`k`$-set determines a monofractal whose dimension is $`d_k=lim_n\mathrm{}\frac{logC_n^ks^kr^{(nk)}}{log(s+r)^{\frac{n}{2}}}`$. In the same limit $`n\mathrm{}`$ the ensemble of all $`k`$-sets engenders the actual multifractal $`Q_{mf}`$.

In figure 2 (a) we show $`Q_{mf}`$ , as in figure 1 ($`\rho =\frac{2}{3}`$), for $`n=8`$. We use the following code color: blocks of equal area (same $`k`$-set) share the same color. Figure 2 (b) is a zoom of the inner square part of 2 (a). We can observe in this picture that it shows a slight anisotropy compared with the square lattice. The anisotropy in the figure is not very accentuated because $`\rho =\frac{2}{3}`$ is close to the square lattice case, $`\rho =1`$.

In the construction process of $`Q_{mf}`$ we see that as $`r>>s`$ (or $`\rho 0`$) the blocks became more stretched in one direction than other. In this way $`\rho `$ is a measure of the stretching of the blocks. This property will reflect in the anisotropy of the percolation cluster as we shall see in the simulations.

### II.2 2-2 The percolation in $`Q_{mf}`$

The main subject of this work is the study of the percolation properties of $`Q_{mf}`$. To perform such a task we develop a percolation algorithm. The percolation algorithm of $`Q_{mf}`$ starts mapping this object into the square lattice. The square lattice should be large enough that each line segment of $`Q_{mf}`$ coincides with a line of the lattice, this condition imposes that $`\rho `$ is a rational number. In this way all blocks of the multifractal are composed by a finite number of cells of the square lattice. To explain the percolation algorithm we suppose that $`Q_{mf}`$ construction is at step $`n`$. We proceed the percolation algorithm by choosing at random one among the $`2^{2n}`$ blocks of $`Q_{mf}`$ independent of its size. Once a block is chosen all the cells in the square lattice corresponding to this block are considered occupied. Each time a block of $`Q_{mf}`$ is chosen the algorithm check if the occupied cells at the underlying square lattice are connected in such a way to form an $`infinite`$ percolation cluster. The algorithm to check percolation is similar to the one used in ziff ; bp2 ; freitas0 ; freitas2 .

Figure 3 shows the percolating cluster of $`Q_{mf}`$ for $`\rho =\frac{1}{3}`$ and a particular realization. Others $`\rho `$ show a similar aspect, but the blocks became more stretched as $`\rho 0`$. In this limit the multifractal turns more anisotropic. If we compare this percolating cluster with the percolating cluster of square lattice stauffer  we observe a strong anisotropy in the present case. Such anisotropy is observed also in the scaling of the correlation length, $`\xi `$, as we see in the next section.

Following the literature stauffer  we call $`p`$ the density of occupation of a lattice. $`R_L`$ is the probability that for a site occupation $`p`$ there exists a contiguous cluster of occupied sites which cross completely the square lattice of size $`L`$. $`p_c`$ is the density of occupation at the percolation threshold. There are several ways ziff  to define $`R_L`$, we use two of them: $`R_L^e`$ is the probability that there exits a cluster crossing either the horizontal or the vertical direction, and $`R_L^b`$ is the probability that there exits a cluster crossing around both directions. At the limit of infinite lattice size $`R_L^e`$ and $`R_L^b`$ converge to a common value in the case of the square lattice.

## III 3 - Numerical Results

In this section we deal with the estimation of critical exponents and fractal dimensions of $`Q_{mf}`$. Before the numerics we warn to a specific point in this process. Suppose the multifractal construction is at step $`n`$, the underlying square lattice has the number of cells $`2^n\times 2^n`$, and the number of blocks is $`2^{2n}`$, values that are independent of $`\rho `$. The size of the underlying lattice, however, is $`L=(r+s)^n`$, a function of $`\rho `$. Because of this point we have to take care in the effect of finite size properties of the multifractal.

A comprehensive study of the percolation threshold, $`p_c`$, of $`Q_{mf}`$ is performed in lim , we resume this point in the following. The way we find the best estimative of $`p_c`$ is to use, for several $`L`$, the average value of $`R_L^e`$ and $`R_L^b`$. The results for specific values of $`\rho `$ are summarized in Table $`I`$. The results point to a value of $`p_c`$ which slightly increases with $`\rho `$ and present a strong discontinuity at $`\rho =1`$ (the square lattice).

### III.1 3-1 Fractal dimension of the percolating cluster

The estimation of the fractal dimension of the percolating cluster, $`d_f`$, is performed using the definition:

$$d_f=lim_L\mathrm{}\frac{ln(M)}{ln(L)}.$$
(2)
Where $`M`$ is the mass of the percolating cluster and $`L`$ the lattice size. We use in our simulations values of $`L`$ that correspond to $`5<n<10`$. The results for several $`\rho `$ are shown in Table $`I`$. The exact value of $`d_f`$ in two dimensions is $`d_f=\frac{91}{48}=1.89583`$. The values obtained are close to $`2\%`$ of the exact value and are not correlated to $`\rho `$. However, this fact is not enough to conclude that $`Q_{mf}`$ is in the same class of universality of two dimensional standard percolation. In the next paragraphs we shall return to this point.

### III.2 3-2 The critical exponent $`\beta `$

Percolation in bidimensional spaces shows critical phenomenon close to the critical point $`p_c`$. The critical exponent $`\beta `$ is defined from the relation:

$$R_L\left(p_c(L)p_c\right)^\beta ,$$
(3)
where $`p_c`$ is the exact occupation probability value in contrast to $`p_c(L)`$ which is its finite size value. The power-law (3) is verified for $`p_c(L)`$ obtained either from $`R_L^e`$ or $`R_L^b`$. In the first case the formation of a spanning cluster and the power-law are at $`p>p_c`$. Otherwise, if we use $`R_L^b`$, we have to search for a power-law in the vicinity of the critical value for $`p<p_c`$. We use in our estimation $`R_L=R_L^e`$ which shows smaller fluctuations than $`R_L^b`$. As the numerical estimation of $`\beta `$ is based in equation (3), $`R_L`$ is a key element of the analysis. For $`Q_{mf}`$ the probability $`R_L`$ is not a well behaved function of $`p`$ for low $`L`$ last . Actually, $`R_L`$ can show, depending on $`\rho `$, an inflection point at $`p_c`$ in this regime. In the case where $`L\mathrm{}`$ the scaling of $`\left(p_c(L)p_c\right)`$ recovers the power-law behavior. In this regime we find the same $`\beta `$ of two dimension standard spaces, $`\beta =\frac{5}{36}=0.13888`$. We check in our simulations that for $`n=9`$, $`\beta `$ is around $`5\%`$ of the exact value of standard percolation. A set of values of $`\beta `$ are shown in Table $`I`$.

Table $`I`$ summarize the estimated $`p_c`$, $`d_f`$, and $`\beta `$ for several $`\rho `$. The values of $`d_f`$, and $`\beta `$ fluctuate around the theoretical value of the standard percolation and do not show any correlation with $`\rho `$. The main conclusion we take from the data is that $`d_f`$ and $`\beta `$ do not depend on $`\rho `$.

Table I

| $`(s,r)`$ | (1,1) | (4,3) | (3,2) | (2,1) | (5,2) | (3,1) | (4,1) | (5,1) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`p_c`$ | 0.5929 | 0.5253 | 0.5267 | 0.5262 | 0.5260 | 0.5261 | 0.5254 | 0.5253 |
| $`d_f`$ | 1.895 | 1.892 | 1.890 | 1.900 | 1.891 | 1.911 | 1.902 | 1.929 |
| $`\beta `$ | 0.127 | 0.135 | 0.141 | 0.128 | 0.131 | 0.140 | 0.141 | 0.118 |

### III.3 3-3 The critical exponent $`\nu `$

An important quantity in percolation theory is the correlation length, $`\xi `$. It diverges at the critical point $`p=p_c`$ with a critical exponent $`\nu `$ and it is related to the size of the percolation cluster. In a finite size system, near the critical point, we use this fact to approximate $`\xi `$ by the system length $`L`$. The exponent $`\nu `$ is defined from the scaling equation:

$$\xi L\left(p_c(L)p_c\right)^\nu .$$
(4)
In order to estimate numerically $`\nu `$ we plot $`ln\left(p_c(L)p_c\right)`$ against $`ln(L)`$. The slope of this curve is $`\nu `$. Figure 4 illustrates this process for $`\rho =\frac{1}{3}`$ and the case where $`p_c`$ is obtained from $`R_L^e`$. It is indicated in the figure the linear regression equation of the data. $`\nu `$ can also give some hint about the symmetry of the percolation cluster. In other words, $`\nu `$ informs about the isotropy of the percolation cluster, or the dependence of $`\xi `$ with some direction.

We emphasize that $`Q_{mf}`$ is not an isotropic object and as a consequence the percolating cluster is also anisotropic. In this way there is no reason for the percolating cluster to be associated to an unique scaling relationship as in equation (4). We note that $`R_L^e`$ is related to the existence of a spanning cluster in either direction, and $`R_L^b`$ in both directions. Actually $`R_L^b`$ measures an average of the crossing probability over both directions. This average over both directions erase the anisotropic effect of the spanning cluster on the statistics. Otherwise, the probability $`R_L^e`$ (crossing at either directions) accentuate the anisotropy of the percolating cluster. Therefore, we do not expect a same result for $`\nu `$ using $`p_c(L)`$ obtained from $`R_L^e`$ or $`R_L^b`$.

Figure 5 shows $`\nu `$ versus $`\rho `$ for the two cases: crossing in either directions (diamonds), and crossing in both directions (triangles). We call $`\nu ^e`$ and $`\nu ^b`$ these two exponents. The values of $`\rho `$ are indicated in the figure. Based in this figure we initially conclude: diversly from $`d_f`$ and $`\beta `$, the exponent $`\nu `$ depends on $`\rho `$. For the case $`\rho =1`$ (the square lattice) we have $`\nu ^e=1.33`$ and $`\nu ^b=1.39`$, considering the sensitivity of the method, these values are in good agreement to the exact value of $`\nu =\frac{4}{3}=1.333`$.

An anisotropic percolating cluster has a larger spanning probability in either direction, $`R_L^e`$, than in both directions, $`R_L^b`$. Therefore, as the anisotropy of the cluster increases, the difference between the two estimations becomes more accentuated. This result is observed in figure 5. The same result can be verified using $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu =|\nu ^e\nu ^b|`$ which increases as $`\rho 0`$. In Table $`II`$ we show the data of figure 5 and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$.

Table II

| $`(s,r)`$ | (1,1) | (4,3) | (3,2) | (2,1) | (5,2) | (3,1) | (4,1) | (5,1) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`\nu ^e`$ | 1.33 | 3.80 | 3.25 | 2.49 | 4.78 | 3.48 | 4.92 | 6.13 |
| $`\nu ^b`$ | 1.39 | 3.84 | 3.16 | 2.03 | 3.53 | 2.65 | 2.98 | 3.41 |
| $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.09 | 0.46 | 1.25 | 0.83 | 1.94 | 2.72 |

It is also observed in figure 5 that generically $`\nu `$ decreases with $`\rho `$. This phenomenon is related with the stretching effect that increases as $`\rho 0`$. We have discussed this point in section $`\mathrm{\S }2`$ in connection with the stretching of the blocks that forms the tilling of the multifractal.

## IV 4 - Final Remarks

To summarize we study critical exponents and fractal dimensions of the incipient infinite cluster constructed on a self-affine multifractal $`Q_{mf}`$. The quantities $`\beta `$ and $`d_f`$ do not depend on the local symmetries of the percolating cluster. As a consequence these two numbers are equal to the ones of the standard (isotropic) two dimensional percolation. On the other side, the exponent $`\nu `$, which is related to the correlation length, depends on the local symmetry properties of the percolation cluster. There are some points to consider in the symmetry properties of $`Q_{mf}`$ and its isotropy. The first is related with the stretching of the blocks of $`Q_{mf}`$ which increases as $`\rho 0`$. Moreover there is the topology of $`Q_{mf}`$, specially its coordination number, that changes along the object.

We have in mind in the construction of the multifractal object the modeling of fluid flow in geologic medium. The multifractal pattern of $`Q_{mf}`$ is a candidate to describe petroleum reservoir heterogeneities Hermann ; Muller1 , complex geological structures Muller2  and to study other geophysical situations Riedi ; Hubert ; Lovejoy .

The anisotropy of the percolation cluster is revealed when we compare the percolation threshold and $`\nu `$ in either direction and in both directions. In fact, $`R_L^b`$ performs an average over both directions erasing the anisotropic effect of the percolation cluster. Moreover we estimate two $`\nu `$ exponents, $`\nu ^e`$ and $`\nu ^b`$, which are associated with $`R_L^e`$ and $`R_L^b`$. Typically the correlation length and the exponents $`\nu `$ are larger for the percolation over $`Q_{mf}`$ than in usual percolation. This fact is related to the very stretched blocks in the multifractal that can make long range connections in the object. We see that the $`\nu `$ exponent is able to probe the local anisotropy of the percolation cluster on a multifractal support. The value of $`\nu `$ that is identical to the standard percolation ($`\rho =1`$, the symmetric square lattice) unfolds into different values indicating different degrees of local anisotropies.

To conclude, we estimate some quantities for percolation on the multifractal object $`Q_{mf}`$ immersed in two dimensions. The exponent $`\beta `$ and the fractal dimension of the percolation cluster are the same of standard percolation in two dimensions. The exponent $`\nu `$ that is related with the correlation length is influenced by the anisotropy of $`Q_{mf}`$. Depending on the parameters that characterize the stretching of the tilling of $`Q_{mf}`$, $`\rho `$, several values of $`\nu `$ appear. In this way the universality class of percolation on $`Q_{mf}`$ depends also on $`\rho `$, the anisotropy of the tilling of the multifractal. This surprising result reveals that in this problem the local symmetry of the support governed by $`\rho `$ affects strongly the critical percolation behavior, leading to non-universality.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)-Brazil, FINEP and CTPETRO.

FIGURE LEGENDS


text:
# Recycling of ghost galaxies: The origin of giant HI ring around NGC 1533

## 1. Ring formation from tidal disruption of LSBs

Recent observational results of NGC 1533 HI rings and numerical models for this objects are described in detail by Ryan-Weber et al. (2002) and by Bekki et al. (2003, in preparation), respectively. We accordingly summarize briefly the important three results derived in this numerical studies (See Figure 1 for the model details). Firstly, the strong tidal filed of NGC 1533’s progenitor HSB strips the outer diffuse HI gas disk of the LSB and completely destroy the stellar disk of the LSB. The stripped HI gas forms an incomplete gas ring and the LSB is swallowed by the HSB finally. This outer HI ring formation is different from the merger scenario of polar ring formation proposed by Bekki (1998). Secondly, the HSB forms a bar and loses its spiral arms owing to tidal heating of the interaction, and therefore can be classified as a barred S0 after merging. Thirdly, star formation can proceed in the giant gas ring either by the cloud-cloud collisions within the ring or by strong external gaseous pressure of the hot gas surrounding the HI ring. The proposed merger models thus explain (1) the observed large total mass of the HI ring, (2) structure and kinematics of the HI ring, and (3) the morphology of the host S0 galaxy (NGC 1533).

## References

Ryan-Weber, E., Webster, R., & Bekki, K., 2002, preprint (astro-ph/0209321).

Bekki, K., 1998, ApJ, 499, 635


text:
# Event Selection Using an Extended Fisher Discriminant Method

## I Introduction

At the Durham Statistics in Physics Conference (2002), S. Towers1  noted some of the problems that occur when one uses many, correlated variables in a multivariate analysis and proposed a heuristic method to shrink the number. In this note a semi-automatic method is suggested help with this problem. The MiniBooNE experiment is faced with just such a problem, distinguishing $`\nu _e`$ events from background events given a large number of variables obtained from the event reconstructions.

## II Fisher Discriminant Method and its Extension

The Fisher discriminant method is a standard method for obtaining a single variable to distinguish hypotheses starting from a large number of variables. If the initial variables come from a multi-normal distribution, the Fisher variable encapsulates all of the discrimination information. However, in many problems the variables are not of this form and the Fisher variable, although useful, is not sufficient.

The Fisher discriminant method 2  finds the linear combination $`y`$ of the initial variables $`x`$ which maximizes

$$(\overline{y}_{\mathrm{sig}}\overline{y}_{\mathrm{bkg}})^2/[\mathrm{var}_{\mathrm{sig}}+\mathrm{var}_{\mathrm{bkg}}],$$

where $`\overline{y}`$ is the mean value of the variable and var is the variance. If $`S`$ is the correlation matrix for the original variables corresponding to the denominator, then the inverse of $`S`$ dotted into $`(\overline{x}_{\mathrm{sig}}\overline{x}_{\mathrm{bkg}})`$, gives the combination which maximizes the preceding expression.

If the distribution is not multi-normal, there is information still to be obtained after finding the Fisher variable. It is then useful to apply this method successively, firstly to the original variables and, afterwards, to several non-linear transformations of the variables. Presently, three transformations are chosen: the logarithms of the original variables, the exponentials of the original variables and the cube of the original variables. Together with the original variables, this is then four choices. The present note describes a work in progress. It is highly likely that these are not optimum and that better choices can and will be found. Indeed, it is likely that the optimum choice depends on the problem.

The method is also used with the original denominator, $`[\mathrm{var}_{\mathrm{sig}}+\mathrm{var}_{\mathrm{bkg}}]`$ and then with each individual variance in turn. This is done since some of the variables may be quite narrow for signal and wide for background or vice versa. (See Figure 1) There are then $`4\times 3=12`$ variables obtained with this method.

The procedure follows the following steps:

* 1. Start with equal Monte Carlo samples of signal and background events
* 2. Multiply and translate each variable to have an overall mean of zero and unit variance. It is useful to fold variables if necessary to maximize the difference in means. A few events, very far out on the tails of the distribution are clipped ($`x>6\sigma `$).
* 3. Order the variables according to $`|\overline{x}_{\mathrm{sig}}\overline{x}_{\mathrm{bkg}}|`$ divided by the smallest of the signal and background variances. At present, the ordering of variables is done only once.
* 4. Apply this extended Fisher method to the appropriate transformation of the variables.
* 5. Use the Gram-Schmidt procedure to make the other variables have zero correlation coefficient with the chosen linear combination.
* 6. The new variable is a linear combination of the original $`n`$ variables. One variable must be discrded to have an independent set. Discard the least significant (by the criterion of step 3) of the original variables. Using the $`n1`$ non-Fisher variables, go back to step 2 to get the next variable.

For MiniBooNE the roefitter reconstruction started with 49 particle identification variables. Using the steps outlined, these were reduced to 12 variables. When $`\nu _e`$ quasi-elastic events were compared with background neutral current $`\pi ^0`$ events, the use of this procedure with a neural net kept 46% of the $`\nu _e`$ and reduced the $`\pi ^0/\nu _e`$ ratio to 1.1% of its original value. The neural net was not hard to tune. The reconstruction–particle identification package is still being improved, so these numbers will improve further. The results obtained here are similar to those obtained using a more elaborate neural net on a subsample of 26 of the original 49 variables.

These 12 variables have zero correlation coefficients. Use of the neural net is simplified and it is convenient to look at the effect of cuts using these variables.

Plots of the first nine of the twelve variables are shown in Figure 2.


text:
# On the formation time scale and core masses of gas giant planets

## 1 Introduction

The core accretion model (Mizuno, 1980; Pollack et al., 1996) provides the most popular explanation for the origin of the Solar System’s gas giants, and is consistent with the higher frequency of extrasolar planets found to be orbiting metal-rich stars (Laughlin, 2000; Murray & Chaboyer, 2002; Santos et al., 2003). In the simplest version of this model, a core grows at a fixed orbital radius from the binary accretion of solid planetesimals (Safranov, 1969). Initially, this core is surrounded by a near-hydrostatic gaseous envelope, with most of the luminosity being provided by ongoing planetesimal accretion. Growth continues until a critical mass is exceeded. Above the critical mass there is no stable core-envelope solution, and more rapid accretion of the bulk of the planetary envelope ensues.

Observational constraints from the Solar System pose two possible problems for core accretion models. First, although Jupiter can form within the lifetimes of protoplanetary disks (Haisch, Lada & Lada, 2001), it is hard to form Uranus and Neptune in their present locations rapidly enough. This has prompted suggestions that the outer giant planets may have migrated outward from birthplaces closer to the Sun (Thommes, Duncan & Levison, 1999). Second, upper limits to the core mass of Jupiter, derived from Galileo data, are smaller than most theoretical estimates. Guillot (1999) obtains a firm constraint of $`M_{\mathrm{core}}14M_{}`$, which is reduced to $`10M_{}`$ using a more model-dependent approach. This is only marginally consistent with the $`1030M_{}`$ core predicted by Pollack et al. (1996), and has led to renewed interest in models for massive planet formation via disk instability (Boss, 1997).

The possibility that orbital migration (Goldreich & Tremaine, 1980) of planetary cores might reduce the accretion time scale and ameliorate these problems was recognized by Hourigan & Ward (1984). In a laminar disk flow, however, gravitational torques from the disk induce a rapid, uniformly inward drift (Ward, 1997). The benefit of a higher accretion rate must therefore be balanced against the reduced residence time of the planet in the disk. In this Letter, we point out that this trade-off may not be necessary in a turbulent disk. Numerical simulations (Laughlin, Steinacker & Adams, 2003; Nelson & Papaloizou, 2003a) of the migration of low mass planets within turbulent magnetized disks (which extend work by Nelson & Papaloizou 2003b; Winters, Balbus & Hawley 2003) show that for low enough masses, the sense as well as the rate of migration is determined by turbulent fluctuations in the disk. As a result, the planet random walks in orbital radius as it grows. This behavior was suggested as a likely consequence of migration in a magnetized disk by Terquem (2003). Here, we quantify how random walk migration affects massive planet formation.

## 2 Method and Assumptions

We begin our calculations by assuming that a $`0.1M_{}`$ solid core, with density $`\rho _{\mathrm{core}}=3.2`$ g cm-3, has formed at $`5`$ au in a disk with a local surface density of planetesimals of $`\sigma _p=10`$ g cm-2, and a surface density profile of $`\sigma _pr^{3/2}`$. According to Safranov (1969) the solid core grows at the rate $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{core}}=\pi R_c^2\sigma _p\mathrm{\Omega }F_g`$, where $`R_c`$ is the effective, or capture, radius, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the angular frequency, and $`F_g`$ is the gravitational enhancement factor (Greenzweig & Lissauer, 1992). We will denote the total planet mass (core plus envelope) by $`M_p`$.

The planetesimal accretion produces a core luminosity of $`L_{\mathrm{core}}=GM_{\mathrm{core}}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{core}}/R_{\mathrm{core}}`$. With this we can construct quasi-equilibrium models of the envelope using standard stellar structure equations. The equations of hydrostatic equilibrium, mass conservation, and radiative transfer are (Papaloizou & Terquem, 1999; Hansen & Kawaler, 1994)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dP}{dR}}`$ $`=`$ $`g\rho `$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dM}{dR}}`$ $`=`$ $`4\pi R^2\rho `$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dT}{dR}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{GM\rho T}{R^2P}}.`$ (3)
Here $`P`$ is the pressure, $`\rho `$ the density, $`T`$ the temperature, $`R`$ the distance from the planet center, $`g`$ the acceleration due to gravity, $`M`$ the mass enclosed within $`R`$, and $``$ the smaller of the radiative or adiabatic temperature gradients. The inner boundary is located at the core radius and, as in Pollack et al. (1996), the outer boundary is located at the smaller of the Hill radius, $`R_{\mathrm{Hill}}=a(M_p/3M_{\mathrm{star}})^{1/3}`$, or the accretion radius, $`R_a=GM_p/c_s^2`$, where $`a`$ is the planet’s orbital radius, and $`c_s`$ is the local gas sound speed in the disk. The envelope is taken to be a hydrogen and helium mixture, with mass fractions of 0.7 and 0.28 respectively, and with an equation of state given by Chabrier et al. (1992). Opacities from Bell & Lin (1994) are used in calculating the radiative temperature gradient. The adiabatic temperature gradient is found from the equation of state tables (Chabrier et al., 1992).

To solve equations (1-3) we need to calculate the planetesimal accretion rate, which depends on $`\sigma _p`$, $`F_g`$, and $`R_c`$. The planetesimal surface density – which is more precisely the time-dependent mean surface density within the planet’s feeding zone – and the gravitational enhancement factor both depend only on $`M_p`$, and can be calculated using expressions given by Pollack et al. (1996) and Greenzweig & Lissauer (1992). For the capture radius we adopt a simpler approach than Pollack et al. (1996), and take $`R_c`$ to be the radius at which a planetesimal with a radius of $`100`$ km, falling radially through the planet’s envelope, has intercepted a mass of $`1/10`$ of its own mass. Since this depends upon the planet’s structure, we iterate at each timestep to find a self-consistent solution. If more than one solution is possible (with different planet masses), we choose between them by requiring that the total planet mass cannot decrease with increasing time. We then advance to the next timestep by incrementing the core mass, and by updating $`\sigma _p(r)`$ to account for the mass of planetesimals accreted on to the core in the current timestep. We neglect both the shepherding effect of a migrating core upon the planetesimals (Tanaka & Ida, 1999) (which would reduce the accretion rate), and the possibility of diffusion of the planetesimals due to the same fluctuating potential that causes core migration (which might increase the accretion rate).

## 3 Results

Our model for planetary growth is a slightly simplified version of that used by Pollack et al. (1996). If we assume, as they did, that the core remains at a fixed radius, almost identical growth rates are obtained. Figure 1 shows the core mass and total planet mass against time for a core fixed in radius at $`5`$ au. There is an initially rapid growth phase (their Phase I) in which the core grows to a mass of $`10M_{}`$ in less than $`1`$ Myr, followed by a second phase (Phase II) in which the core grows slowly to a mass of $`17M_{}`$. Once the core reaches this mass, the gaseous envelope grows extremely rapidly (Phase III), producing a final planet mass, in this case, of $`100M_{}`$, and a total growth time of just over $`7`$ Myr.

If the disk at 5 au is turbulent111There is uncertainty as to whether magnetohydrodynamic turbulence can be sustained at radii of a few au, due to the low ionization fraction near the disk midplane (Gammie, 1996). The disk may only be fully turbulent at late epochs, when the gas surface density is low enough that cosmic rays can ionize the interior., the latest simulations of migration suggest that the core may actually undergo a random walk in orbital radius. After $`N`$ steps of size $`\mathrm{\Delta }a`$, the typical distance moved will be $`\mathrm{\Delta }a\sqrt{N}`$. We find that the most interesting behavior occurs for planets that wander by a few tenths of an au per Myr, which can be accomplished by moving the core either in or out by a distance $`\mathrm{\Delta }a=0.01\mathrm{au}`$ every $`dt=2000`$ yr, with the direction of motion determined randomly. This ‘coarse-grained’ approach ignores smaller time scale fluctuations, but we have verified that including these (while keeping the overall amount of migration constant) does not substantially alter the results. Figure 2 shows the core mass and total planet mass as a function of time, for a simulation in which the core started at $`5`$ au, but then random walked through the disk. We also plot the migration track of the core for this specific realization. The onset of rapid growth of the envelope occurs in a time of less than $`1`$ Myr, an order of magnitude less than that obtained for a core fixed in radius.

These results can be understood in terms of the relationship between $`M_{\mathrm{core}}`$ and $`M_p`$ (Papaloizou & Terquem, 1999). For a given planetesimal accretion rate there is a critical core mass $`M_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ above which the core cannot support a stable envelope. Below this mass there are generally two solutions, a high-mass solution and a low-mass solution. For $`M_{\mathrm{core}}M_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, the low-mass solution has a small envelope mass, so that $`M_pM_{\mathrm{core}}`$. As the core mass approaches $`M_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, the envelope mass increases, ultimately contributing $`30`$ % of the total planet mass. Moreover, the critical mass increases with increasing planetesimal accretion rate. As a result, for a given core mass, the low mass solution decreases with increasing accretion rate, while the high mass solution increases with increasing accretion rate.

When the core is fixed in radius the planetesimal accretion rate initially increases with time as the core and planet grow. This growth, however, depletes the planetesimals in the feeding zone (Pollack et al., 1996), resulting in the accretion rate reaching a peak and then declining to an approximately constant value. For the parameters of the calculation shown in Figure 1, this plateau is at $`78\times 10^7M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. At this stage the core mass is $`10M_{}`$, well below the critical core mass for this planetesimal accretion rate of $`1718M_{}`$ (Papaloizou & Terquem, 1999). The core and planet therefore grow slowly, taking $`67`$ Myr, until the core mass nears the critical core mass. Once at the critical core mass, the low mass envelope solution is no longer valid. However, since the accretion rate depends on the total planet mass, a high mass solution is possible. The envelope mass is therefore determined by the high mass solution and the planet, and core, grow rapidly. This halts when the planetesimal accretion rate saturates, and the total planet mass exceeds the high mass solution for that accretion rate. This occurs, in this case, at a total planet mass of $`100M_{}`$.

When the core is able to random walk through the disk, the result is quite different. The random walk allows the core to not only sample a larger region of the disk, but also prevents a single region from being depleted to the same extent as when the core is stationary. The planetesimal accretion rate can therefore be maintained at a much higher value, and the core grows more rapidly (Hourigan & Ward, 1984; Ward, 1989). This is a generic feature of any migration model, and it may be offset, in part, by the tendency of a migrating core to shepherd planetesimals away from the feeding zone (Tanaka & Ida, 1999). What is more novel about the random walk case is that the planetesimal accretion is also highly variable, and this is what ultimately leads to the rapid growth phase in this scenario.

At early times, as in the stationary case, the core mass is significantly lower than the local $`M_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, the total planet mass is dominated by the core, and the planet grows via the accretion of planetesimals. In this regime, when $`M_{\mathrm{core}}`$ is less than about $`10M_{}`$, the variable accretion rate occasioned by migration simply means that the planet grows at a variable rate. If, however, the core mass approaches the local critical core mass, the envelope mass can become quite significant. Once $`M_{\mathrm{core}}`$ reaches $`1012M_{}`$, it is possible for the core to migrate into a region where the accretion rate is low enough for the core mass to be reasonably close to the local critical core mass. The planet then acquires an envelope that contributes a non-negligible portion of the total planet mass. If, subsequently, the core random walks into a region where the accretion rate is considerably higher, the low-mass stable envelope solution (Papaloizou & Terquem, 1999) would again have the planet mass dominated by the core. This would, however, require a decrease in the total planet mass. Such a decrease is unlikely to be physical, since it would require shedding a bound envelope whose binding energy has presumably already been radiated as an additional contributor to the planetary luminosity. Accordingly, we assume that the low-mass solution remains inaccessible, in which case the envelope grows rapidly, reaching, in this case, a mass of $`200M_{}`$.

Within this model, the core mass at which the rapid growth phase occurs depends on the specific random walk of the core. If the core is able to stay in a region of high accretion rate for a long time, the critical core mass will be higher than if the core, fairly early on, random walks into and then out of a region with a low accretion rate. From additional runs, we find typical cores masses are between $`12M_{}`$ and $`15M_{}`$. We have also experimented with altering the rate of migration. If the planet executes a random walk with a larger amplitude – as some of the simulations suggest – the end result is rapid formation of a gas giant with a massive core. For example, a run with $`\mathrm{\Delta }a=0.02\mathrm{au}`$ and $`dt=10^2\mathrm{yr}`$ led to rapid accretion after 0.5 Myr, with a core mass of $`25M_{}`$. We expect qualitatively similar results if the migration includes a steady radial drift in addition to the fluctuating component, since steady drift would similarly allow the core to sample a very wide range of disk radii.

These results suggest that under standard Solar Nebula conditions we can form Jupiter rather rapidly, but with a core mass that may still be too large (Guillot, 1999). Since the derived formation time for Jupiter at 5 au is smaller than the lifetime of the Solar Nebula, however, it is possible to trade off some of the reduction in formation time for a smaller core mass. Figure 3 shows that if we reduce the initial planetesimal surface density at 5 au to $`5`$ g cm-2, the lower time-averaged accretion rate allows the onset of rapid growth to occur at a smaller final core mass. In this model the growth time is now longer ($`1.5`$ Myr), but the core mass at the end of the calculation has been reduced to only $`6M_{}`$. Depending upon the additional mass of heavy elements accreted during the subsequent phases of growth, this could be consistent with the apparently low core mass of Jupiter.

## 4 Discussion

If gas giants form within turbulent regions of the protoplanetary disk, numerical simulations (Nelson & Papaloizou, 2003a; Laughlin, Steinacker & Adams, 2003) show that fluctuating disk torques can cause growing cores to wander in orbital radius. We have incorporated a simple treatment of this random walk migration into models for the formation of gas giants via core accretion, and find that for standard Solar Nebula conditions the formation time scale of Jupiter can be reduced by almost an order of magnitude. Potentially, this could allow massive planets to form via core accretion at greater orbital radii, or in disks with smaller planetesimal surface densities, than previously suspected. For the Solar System, a modestly smaller surface density of planetesimals (5 g cm-2) allows for the timely formation of Jupiter with an initial core mass $`<10M_{}`$, in better agreement with observational constraints.

For extrasolar planetary systems the main implication is that for protoplanetary disks of modest mass and Solar metallicity, the formation time scale for giant planets at 5 au is significantly less than the typical disk lifetime (Haisch, Lada & Lada, 2001). At smaller radii – closer to the snow line (Sasselov & Lecar, 2000) – the time scale would be shorter still. This implies that giant planets could form in less favorable conditions, either in clusters where the disk lifetime was shorter, or around lower metallicity stars with smaller reservoirs of planetesimals (though if planets are common in M4, as suggested by Sigurdsson et al. (2003), their formation by core accretion is still problematic). The observed preponderance of metal-rich stars as planetary hosts may then arise from a combination of an enhanced probability of forming multiple planets at high metallicity, coupled with frequent destruction of planets via Type II inward migration (Armitage et al., 2002; Trilling, Lunine & Benz, 2002).

The authors would like to thank John Papaloizou, Richard Nelson and Keith Horne for useful discussions. WKMR acknowledges support from a PPARC Standard Grant. This paper is based in part upon work supported by NASA under Grant NAG5-13207.


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# References

“Junk” DNA as a genetic decoy

João Magueijo

Theoretical Physics Group, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

South Kensington, London SW7 2BZ, UK

It is well known  that in most species a large proportion of the genome does not appear to code genes or proteins, or even regulate coding DNA. This leads to the descriptive expression “junk DNA”. Naturally, it is possible that the hidden information in this DNA has simply escaped us so far; however that such sequences have high redundancy (they may, for example, be long repetitions of the same base) gives weight to their characterization as junk. This raises the question: if junk DNA is indeed useless, what might be its evolutionary advantage?

An obvious answer is that there is no evolutionary advantage to junk DNA; however its presence doesn’t cause any harm either. In particular the extra metabolic activity it implies may be negligible, because the percentage of metabolic activity associated with DNA replication is very small. Since only features harmful to survival or reproduction are selected out, a neutral accessory such as junk DNA could still survive.

This is certainly a factor , and in some insects it has been shown that the genome size is related to the ability to eliminate DNA. However, for it to be the complete answer to this question one would need to prove that eliminating junk DNA by chance (i.e. by random mutation) carries a suitably low probability in all species. Also it is not always true that the energy cost associated with DNA replication is negligible .

A much more interesting possibility is that junk DNA may be a positive evolutionary feature, even though it serves no useful direct purpose. In this short note we suggest that its role is to protect the gene. Most significantly its presence may baffle the actions of mutation agents, such as retro-viruses. In the presence of large amounts of junk, a random genetic agent hits junk most of the time; the meaningful pieces of the genome meanwhile “hide” in the foliage. The higher the percentage of junk the higher the protection it affords to directly useful DNA.

The validity of this argument is far from general. It must certainly be part of the story regarding retroviral insertions, which can indeed be found within junk DNA (along with the low-information sequences mentioned above). According to our hypothesis such insertions are missed hits. However the argument is not so clearcut (and in some cases has to break down) with regards to environmental mutagens. Then junk DNA only stands a chance of protecting the gene if junk sequences wool around the low density important sequences. Even then the argument does not apply, for instance, to ionizing radiation. If a harmful photon or cosmic ray crosses $`n`$ junk DNA sections before crossing a “good” one, and if $`p1`$ is the probability of interaction with any one of them, then the probability of a harmful mutation is $`p(1p)^np`$, i.e. the junk did nothing to decrease the cross-section. (The reason why this argument does not apply to retoviruses is that $`p`$ is not small once the virus penetrates within striking distance of the DNA). So we are not claiming that junk DNA protects the gene against a general mutation; only that this is a factor in some cases.

With this proviso, the hypothesis that junk DNA protects the gene may be tested by considering that the percentage of junk DNA varies widely from specie to specie, with Drosophila possessing one of the lowest  and the salamander one of the highest. This allows us to predict a number of possible correlations. Let us consider first the effect of retro-viruses. If junk DNA acts as a decoy only against unwanted retro-viral insertions, then there should be a close link between the number of different retro-viruses attacking a given specie and its percentage of junk DNA (the fact that some junk DNA are viral insertions will induce a feedback complication to this link). The higher the threat, the higher the protection.

However, other factors interfere with this correlation. Although viral insertions are generally bad news, mutations are also useful, supplying natural selection with variety. But mutation is only beneficial as long as it does not over-run the ability of a species to stabilize its positive features. The ideal mutation rate depends directly on how prolifically a given species reproduces and how short its cycles are. The percentage of junk DNA should reflect this optimized mutation rate.

If a large part of the offspring goes to waste anyway, there is no harm is having a lot of mutation in every generation. This is the case for most insects. If on the contrary a species reproduces very little, and it is crucial to preserve a large proportion of the offspring, then mutation has to be severely suppressed, as the species can only rarely afford a random mutation. This is the case for large mammals. Thus there should be an anti-correlation between the reproductive ability of a species and the percentage of junk DNA it contains (this is consistent with known estimates). More directly, there should be an anti-correlation between the natural mutation rates of a species and its percentage of junk DNA.

There certainly are many other factors, together with the number of retro-viruses and the natural ideal mutation rates, determining the level of protection that should be given to useful DNA in a given species. But the point we wish to make in this note is that, whatever the answer, it is likely that junk DNA is an expression of this delicate balance. That junk DNA percentages are at best rough estimates makes a direct comparison futile at this stage. But as our understanding of genomes improves, it should be possible to test this idea.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank R. Badawi, K. Baskerville, J. Brosius, C. Cantor, and L. Pogosian, for discussions. I also thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments (and for pointing out the obvious: that I am not an expert in the field). I am grateful for D. Bosanac for organizing the interdisciplinary conference “Space, time, and life” (Brijuni, 2002), where the idea in this paper was born.


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# Classical trajectories in quantum transport at the band center of bipartite lattices with or without vacancies

## Abstract

Here we report on several anomalies in quantum transport at the band center of a bipartite lattice with vacancies that are surely due to its chiral symmetry, namely: no weak localization effect shows up, and, when leads have a single channel the transmission is either one or zero. We propose that these are a consequence of both the chiral symmetry and the large number of states at the band center. The probability amplitude associated to the eigenstate that gives unit transmission ressembles a classical trajectory both with or without vacancies. The large number of states allows to build up trajectories that elude the blocking vacancies explaining the absence of weak localization.

Bipartite lattices. The possibility that qualitative differences between models with pure diagonal or non-diagonal disorder may exist, have attracted a considerable interest since Dyson’s work on a phonon model in one dimension Dy53 . For instance it has been reported that non-diagonal disorder promotes a delocalization transition at $`E=0`$ BM98 ; Ve01 ; GM98 . Although this raised a controversy regarding the general statement saying that the particular type of disorder should not matter in a single parameter scaling theory Ec83 , in recent years a different view has emerged which ascribes that transition to the peculiar properties of bipartite lattices. These lattices are characterised by the electron-hole symmetry of the spectrum (also known as chiral symmetry) and, while diagonal disorder efficiently breaks this symmetry, pure non-diagonal disorder does not. More recently, however, it has been shown CS03  that, at $`E=0`$, standard exponential localization occurs in a system with vacancies (a defect that also preserves chirality), reopening the mentioned controversy.

Here we report on some anomalies in transport properties at the band center of bipartite lattices that are indeed related to chirality, namely: i) the absence of weak localization MB00 ; LV01 , and, ii) when single channels leads are connected to cavities with or without vacancies, the transmission is either zero or one. We show that these anomalies are a associated to the existence of ballistic classical trajectories which are possible due to chiral symmetry and the large number of states at $`E=0`$.

We illustrate these ideas on cavities of the square lattice with vacancies.

The Hamiltonian. We consider a tight-binding Hamiltonian in $`L\times L`$ clusters of the square lattice with a single atomic orbital per lattice site,

$`\widehat{H}={\displaystyle \underset{m,n}{}}ϵ_{m,n}|m,n><m,n|`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{<mn;m^{}n^{}>}{}}t_{m,n;m^{}n^{}}|m,n><m^{},n^{}|`$ (1)
where $`|m,n>`$ represents an atomic orbital at site $`(m,n)`$, and $`ϵ_{m,n}`$ its energy (in the perfect system all were taken equal to zero). For zero magnetic field the hopping energies between nearest-neighbor sites (the symbol $`<>`$ denotes that the sum is restricted to nearest-neighbors) were taken equal to 1. A vacancy was introduced at site $`(m,n)`$ by taking $`ϵ_{m,n}=\mathrm{}`$. On the other hand, for finite magnetic field, and using Landau’s gauge, the hopping energy from site $`(m,n)`$ to site (m’,n’) is written as $`t_{m,n;m^{}n^{}}=\mathrm{exp}\{2\pi i[m/(L1)^2](\mathrm{\Phi }/\mathrm{\Phi }_0)\}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the magnetic flux and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ the magnetic flux quantum. In the absence of defects this system has $`L`$ eigenstates at the band center with momentum $`𝐤=(k_x,k_y)`$ such that $`k_x+k_y=\pi `$ (the lattice constant is hereafter taken as the length unit). Once the cavity was connected to leads of width $`W`$, the conductance $`G`$ was calculated by means of Green’s function techniques Ve99 .

Quantum transport anomalies in bipartite lattices with vacancies. In Fig. 1 we plot the results for the conductance versus magnetic flux in two cases. In the upper panel results for a rather large cavity with leads of width $`W=4`$ are reported. It can be noted that while at an energy close to the band center the weak localization effect clearly shows up, just at the band center the conductance unambigously decreases with the magnetic flux LV01 . The lower panel of the figure provides further support to this result. It shows the results of a calculation on a rather small cluster which includes all possible configurations of disorder. Again at the band center no weak localization effect is present. At $`E=0.1`$, instead, we observe a clean increase of $`G`$ up to a flux in which an abrupt change of slope is noted. The latter is probably an effect of level crossing. In any case, this results confirms that obtained on the larger cluster. The conductance distribution obtained on $`6\times 6`$ clusters with 6 vacancies and leads of width 1 connected at opposite corners of the cavity are shown in Fig. 2. All disorder realizations were included in the calculation. At the band center the distribution is reduced to two $`\delta `$-functions at $`G`$=0 and $`G_0`$, i.e., the cavity either does not conduct or behaves as a purely ballistic system with unit transmission. Similar behavior is obtained for other cluster sizes and averaging on different disorder configurations. This is no longer the case at a finite energy (still quite close to the band center) as shown in the lower panel of the figure. Fig. 3 illustrates how increasing the leads width and cavity size affect the rather odd result found at $`E=0`$ CS03 . The conductance distribution for the $`6\times 6`$ cavity with $`W=6`$ leads and 6 vacancies, although still show peaks at $`G=G_0,2G_0,..`$ they are no longer $`\delta `$-functions. Increasing the system size shows the expected tendency towards a gaussian distribution. The probable causes of these results are discussed below.

Classical trajectories. At this stage we wish to identify the nature of the state that, at zero magnetic field, contributes to the current with exactly one conductance quantum in the case of leads of width $`W=1`$ (see below). Working within the Green functions formalism does not allow to single out a given state as Green functions contain information of all states at a particular energy. Then, as and it is evident that only one of the states at $`E=0`$ is participating in the current we should look for an alternative procedure. We have chosen trying to identify which Hamiltonian contains the information we are looking for. In order to center the discussion let us focus on a defect free $`L\times L`$ cluster with leads of width 1 connected at opposite corners of the cavity. Diagonalizing such a cluster with two negative imaginary parts added to the diagonal energies of the sites at which the leads are connected, gives $`L1`$ eigenstates with real energy at $`E=0`$. Displacing the leads from the corners reduces the number of these eigenstates. None of the probability densities associated to these states seem to be related to the unit transmission found in this case. What actually happens is that, in order to build up an eigenstate which travels from one lead to the other, one should diagonalize a Hamiltonian which includes a large portion of the leads. When this is done, the eigenstate missing from the $`L`$ set shows up. Now, to establish a current we have added to the diagonal energies at the two lead ends a positive and a negative imaginary part, respectively, which is a practical way to introduce the source and sink required to produce a current. This procedure splits an eigenstate from the $`L`$ degenerate set at $`E=0`$ which is precisely the one that contributes to the current. The result obtained on a $`30\times 30`$ defect free cluster connected to leads of length 100 is shown in the upper panel of Fig. 4. The figure shows the probability density associated to the just mentioned eigenstate. Interestingly enough it is noted that the image is much like a classic ray. We have checked that all of the rest of the $`L1`$ eigenstates remain localized within the cavity. Introducing vacancies slightly distorts this straight trajectory but still keeping the classical picture we have in mind. The results for the same cavity with 30 vacancies are shown in the middle panel of Fig. 4. The system has enough degrees of freedom (see below) to build up a trajectory that eludes the blocking vacancies. Of course, as this is not always possible, the average conductance is reduced by the presence of vacancies (see below). Nonetheless, the classical picture of Fig. 4 offers an explanation to the odd conductance distribution of Fig. 2 reduced to just two peaks at 0 and $`G_0`$. However, as shown in the lower panel of Fig. 4, a magnetic field put in evidence the quantum signature of that state, destroying the classical picture and, as a consequence, the transmission is reduced. Thus, the conductance histogram (not shown here) is no longer similar to that of Fig. 2. How are these results related to the absence of the weak localization effect shown in Fig. 1?. As already observed in JB90 , the change in $`G`$ for small magnetic fields is negligible small unless a “stopper” is placed on the cavity to prevent direct transmission. On semiclassical grounds, the magnitude of the weak-localization correction was derived to be TN97  $`G(\mathrm{\Phi })G(0)T_{cl}R_{cl}`$ where $`T_{cl}`$ and $`R_{cl}`$ are the classical transmission and reflection probabilities respectively. Therefore if a trajectory eludes the vacancies (as in Fig. 4), $`R_{cl}0`$ and the weak localization correction is suppressed. This explains the absence of the weak localization effect. Besides, the spreading of the probability amplitude shown in Fig. 4, is the cause of the decrease in conductance as the field is switched on.

Discussion. Now the question is how can the system manage to build up a wavefunction that avoids scattering with vacancies. Building up a wavefunction localized along lines requires combinations of a sufficiently large number of momenta. This is actually possible due to the $`L`$ available momenta with $`k_x+k_y=\pi `$ that, in the defect free cavity, are associated to the eigenstates at $`E=0`$. By combining the wave functions of this linear space in the reciprocal lattice, and others with energy positive and negative very close to zero, it is possible to construct trayectories in real space which are straight lines parallel or perpendicular to that space. States with energies positive and negative participate with the same weight, to guarantee that the total energy is zero. This has been verified by projecting the wavefunctions of Fig. 4 (upper and middle panel) onto the eigenstates of the isolated cavity. When leads of width $`W=1`$ are attached to the cavity, there are leads positions for which there is a perfect matching between the wavefunctions of the cavity and those of the semi-infinite leads and, thus, perfect transmission. This occurs more rarely as the leads width increases. For other energies, the manifold of constant energy correspond to an arbitrary curve in $`𝐤`$-space. In addition, the energies in its the vecinity are not symetrically distributed. All this does not allow, in general, to construct one dimensional curves in real space. Is the chiral symmetry of the lattice which guarantees that this manifold is a straight line just at $`E=0`$.

In three dimensions (a cubic lattice) a similar effect shows up. If leads of width $`W=1`$ are connected to opposite corners of a cube of side $`L`$ the conductance is exacly one quantum. It can be easily checked that in such a cube there are $`3L2`$ eigenstates with zero energy contained in the plane $`k_x+k_y+k_z=3\pi /2`$. However, this only holds for $`L`$ odd.

Scaling. It is interesting to investigate how the above results scale with the system size. As shown in Fig. 5, when the number of vacancies is constant the conductance increases with $`L`$ reaching 1 at a size which depends on the actual number of vacancies. This shows that as far as the number of eigenstates at $`E=0`$ removed by the defects remains finite, the fraction of disorder realizations for which the conductance is zero will vanish. If the number of vacancies is proportional to the linear size of the system (in the figure we show results for $`L`$ vacancies) $`G`$ again increases with $`L`$ although our results ddo not elucidate whether it reaches unity for large systems. Finally, for a constant defect concentration the conductance goes exponentially to zero as in the case of leads of width $`W=L`$ CS03 .

Experimental implementation. Is it possible to detect this effect? In recent years quantum corrals have been assembled by depositing a closed line of atoms or molecules on noble metal surfaces ES00 ; CL93 ; He94 ; ML00 . In these sistems the local density of states (DOS) reveals patterns that remind the wave functions of two dimensional non-interacting electrons under the corresponding confinement potential. These systems would be canditates in order to detect the effect here described. The transport must be done now in the plane of the surface, not orthogonal to it. Also, Co atoms can be inserted into the quantum corral. When this atom is in the Kondo regime produces a local depletion in the density of states which can simulate the effect of vacancies in our model, allowing to made up arbitrary distributions (in number and location) of them. Another possibility is to build up a dot array WL97  on a square lattice with a number of electrons that exactly half fill one of the bands of the array. Controlling the gate potentialapplied to a particular dot, it can be put into or out resonance, simulating in this way the existence of vacancies in the array.

Partial financial support by the spanish MCYT (grant MAT2002-04429-C03),the argentinians UBACYT (x210 and x447) and Foundación Antorchas, and the University of Alicante are gratefully acknowledged. We are thankful to C. Tejedor for interesting remarks.