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# FCNC production of same sign Top quark pairs at the LHC.

## I Introduction

With an integrated luminosity of about 100 fb-1 the CERN LHC is expected to produce several tens of millions of $`t\overline{t}`$ pairs for each of the detectors, ATLAS and CMS per yearkonisberg . Such a high rate of production will allow the LHC to look for new physics effects involving the top quark. In particular, Flavor Changing Neutral Current (FCNC) effects are a well known way to look for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). The standard way to measure FCNC couplings is by searching for rare top quark decays like $`tq\gamma ,qZ`$ ($`q=u,c`$)raretopdec . Also, the FCNC couplings $`Vtq`$, with $`V=\gamma ,Z,H`$ and gluon can be probed via the associated $`tZ`$, $`t\gamma `$ and $`tH`$ production at the LHCmultilepton ; branco , or at lepton colliderseetop .

The appearance of FCNC in the quark sector occurs at the one loop level in the SM and is very suppresed by the GIM mechanism. However, some extensions of the SM can generate these couplings at tree level, like Topcolor assisted Technicolorhill ; theories . At the LHC one can think of a process in which two incoming up type quarks exchange a neutral boson and then change to a pair of (same sign) top quarksslabospitsky , see Fig. (1). As expected from the fact that the anomalous coupling appears twice in the Feynman diagram, the rates predicted can become negligible for not very small coupling values. In this sense, the usual production process that involves only one anomalous coupling is usually a better probe. However, we believe that the production of same sign top quark pairs is an interesting way to confirm the existence of a FCNC with the top quark, and it should be considered in future runnings of the LHC. Apart from the standard backgrounds associated with a top quark pair there is no other SM process that can hide this signal. The SM process $`ppbbW^+W^+`$ is negligible. Unfortunately, the only way to separate the $`tt`$ from the $`t\overline{t}`$ signal is by identification of same charges in the dilepton mode -a mode with very low efficiency. However, the size of the FCNC couplings could be large and as we shall see, the LHC could find many pairs of tops even during the first few years of running. Another interesting feature of this signal is that higher center-of-mass energies of the colliding beams would boost the production rates, which makes this process a very good possibility at a future VLHC.

Below, we will discuss separately this process via three intermediary bosons for the FCNC: the SM Z boson, a Z’ boson and a scalar boson that couples strongly with the top quark. Then we will make a comment on the detection mode required to separate the $`tt`$ signal from the $`t\overline{t}`$ signal.

## II FCNC for the top quark.

We will consider the two possibilities for the Flavor transition of the top quark with the two lighter up and charm quarks. We parameterize the FCNC couplings of the top quark with the following Lagrangian:

$`Ł`$ $`=`$ $`\overline{t}(y_{tq}^RP_R+y_{tq}^LP_L)qH`$ (1)
$`+`$ $`\overline{t}\gamma _\mu (a_{tq}^LP_L+a_{tq}^RP_R)qZ^\mu `$
$`+`$ $`g_2\overline{t}\gamma _\mu (B_{tq}^LP_L+B_{tq}^RP_R)qZ_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mu }`$
where, $`q=u,c`$. Similar parameterizations have appeared in the literature; for instance, the couplings $`a_{tq}^{L,R}`$ are defined as $`a_{tq}^{L,R}\frac{g_W}{2c_W}X_{tq}^{L,R}`$ in Ref. multilepton ; slabospitsky , and $`y_{tq}^{L,R}\frac{g_W}{2}g_{tq}^{L,R}`$ with $`c_{a,v}=1/\sqrt{2}`$ in Ref. branco . In general, there can be dimension 5 (and higher) operators that generate transition magnetic dipole couplings $`tq\gamma `$, $`tqZ`$ and $`tq`$-gluonmultilepton ; tcgluon ; slabospitsky . In this work we are only considering dimension 4 interactions.

### II.1 FCNC with the Z boson.

There are three top quark FCNC couplings that involve existing gauge bosons $`\gamma `$, $`Z`$ and the gluon and that are currently considered at the Tevatron Run IIwwagner . Here, we want to take the case of the Z boson. Similar results will hold for the other two bosons, as we shall see later. At LEP all the FCNC couplings of the Z boson with the fermions have been strongly constrained for all the charged leptons and the light quarks. However, the top quark cannot be a decay product of Z, and the only direct constraint of a $`Ztq`$ ($`q=u,c`$) coupling comes from the Tevatronabe :

$`\sqrt{|X_{tq}^R|^2+|X_{tq}^L|^2}0.8,`$ (2)
which translates to $`|a_{tq}|0.3`$ for the couplings defined here. The weakness of this bound is also evident from the associated upper bound on the branching ratio $`Br(tcZ)33\%`$abe . However, Run II of the Tevatron is expected to reach a level of $`1.5\%`$, which would be translated in a much stronger bound on $`X_{tq}^R0.04`$wwagner . Actually, it has been shown that this coupling can be tested down to values of order $`10^2`$ at the LHC via the associated production of a top and a Z or $`\gamma `$ multilepton . On the other hand, even the present weak bound can be made stronger by considering more specific models. In Ref. extraquarks  an extension of the SM with extra quark singlets or doublets was considered; it was found that present stringent constraints on the diagonal couplings imply an $`X_{tq}0.2`$ ($`a_{tq}0.07`$) bound that is one fourth the size of the direct limit.

We show in Fig. 2 the production cross section for $`pptt`$ for values of the $`a_{tq}^R`$ couplings below 0.15 ($`X_{tq}0.4`$). With an expected 100 fb-1 of luminosity there could be a few hundreds pairs of same sign tops coming from this coupling. Notice that the scale of the plot Fig. (2) is logarithmic to accomodate the $`a_{tq}^4`$ dependence of the cross section. Because of the larger parton luminosity from the $`u`$ quark the process $`uutt`$ is more sensitive to the size of the FCNC couplings. However, it is usually assumed that the top-charm transition coupling should be the larger one (as it turns out with the hierarchy of the CKM matrix elements). We could have run the values of $`a_{tc}^R`$ up to 0.3 but we have only considered values up to 0.14 to prove that indeed the production rate could be large enough. In fact, in Ref. slabospitsky  the authors have used $`a_{tu}^R`$ of the order 0.4 and have obtained a huge rate of a couple tens of pb for the LHC.

To bear in mind, for the $`cctt`$ process there is also the equivalent $`\overline{c}\overline{c}\overline{t}\overline{t}`$ like sign anti-top production process, because the parton luminosity of $`c`$ and $`\overline{c}`$ coincide. According to Fig. (2) if the bounds of Ref. extraquarks  apply for this case the production from charm quarks could be not higher than of order 1 fb. As we shall discuss later a rate of only a few fb’s may be too small to ever be identified at the LHC. We should consider rates of order 10 fb and higher the ones to look for to make the search of this signal feasible. In this sense, the production of same sign top quark pairs is not the best way to probe these FCNC couplings, in fact the associated production of a single top with a neutral boson like Z or $`\gamma `$ is considerably more sensitive. However, $`tt`$ production is an interesting signal that clearly indicates the presence of significant FCNC.

To be consistent with the usual experimental limitations, in this work we have imposed the following cuts on the rapidity, transverse momentum and invariant mass of the top quarks:

$`|y_t|`$ $`2`$
$`Pt_t`$ $`40\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$
$`M_{tt}`$ $`380\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$
These cuts reduce the total rate in about $`40\%`$.

We have taken the factorization scale equal to the invariant mass of the $`tt`$ pair $`\mu =M_{tt}`$. The top quark mass we have used is $`m_t=175`$GeV. The Parton Distribution Function (PDF) used was the recent CTEQ6Mlai . Our calculations are at tree level, obtained with the aid of the CompHEP programpukhov .

Please notice that for the process $`uctt`$ it is understood that the other possibility $`cutt`$ is already included in the figures shown.

### II.2 FCNC with the Z’ boson

Now we want to consider a heavy Z’ boson, such as the one that appears in Topcolor assisted technicolor (TC2) modelschivukula . In these models the heavy Z’ couples strongly with the third family of quarks and may induce FCNC. The coupling strength is given by $`g_2=e/c_Ws_\varphi c_\varphi `$ where $`c_W`$ is the cosine of the SM $`SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y`$ mixing angle and $`\varphi `$ is the mixing angle for the $`Z_1`$ and $`Z_2`$ neutral bosons of the TC2 model. As shown in Ref. chivukula  electroweak data requires the mass of Z’ to be higher than 1-4 TeV for values of $`\mathrm{sin}^2\varphi `$ between 0.05 and 0.5 (this range of values implies the diagonal coupling strength $`g_2`$ to be of order between 0.7 and 1.2). We show in Fig. (3) the production cross section of $`pptt`$ for different values of $`M_Z^{}`$. We have chosen high values of the coupling $`B_{tc}`$ (between 0.5 and 0.7) but we have also assumed only the right handed current term $`B_{tc}^R`$ as different from zero. Given the assumption that the cross section must be at least of order 10 fb to become detectable we can see that $`B_{tc}^R`$ must be higher than 0.5 to yield this production rate. Again, other processes where the anomalous coupling appears only once in the Feynman diagram are more sensitive. For instance, from Ref. yue  a loop level induced rare top decay $`tcV`$ ($`V=\gamma ,Z`$ or gluon) would require a smaller coupling size $`B_{tc}=g_1K_{tc}0.2`$ to become of order $`10^5`$ (for gluon) or $`10^6`$ (for $`\gamma `$) for its branching ratio, which is already at expected detectable levels at the LHC. However, the rare top quark decay would be an indirect way to test the existence of Z’.

Finding a Z’, or any heavy resonance, that couples preferentially to the third family is possible via $`\tau `$ lepton pair productionmrenna , but it may not be possible at all at any future hadron collider (including the LHC) searching in the $`t\overline{t}`$ modevalencia . This is because of the overwhelming QCD production of $`t\overline{t}`$, which in contrast makes no background for a $`tt`$ signal. Therefore, either the single top production mode or the same sign $`tt`$ pair mode could be the way to test this kind of physics at the LHC.

### II.3 Scalar FCNC

Next we want to consider a FCNC scalar coupling of the type $`Htq`$hill . This coupling was also studied in Ref. branco ; tcatlhc . It is not expected that the $`y_{tc}^L`$ coupling could be very large, maybe of order $`\lambda ^2m_t/f_\pi `$ with $`\lambda =0.22`$ in relation to the CKM mixing parameter (the Cabibbo angle). Also, $`y_{tu}^L`$ would be less than $`\lambda ^3m_t/f_\pi `$ kanemura ; burdman . However, there is no reason to believe the right handed $`y_{tq}^R`$ coupling couldn’t be much larger. In fact, the dynamical Top-color (TopC) model generally predicts $`0.2y_{tc}^R0.7`$kanemura ; burdman . For this size of the FCNC coupling the production of top pairs can be significant, see Fig. (4).

If the scalar Higgs mass is not very high, between 100 and 200 GeV, a coupling somewhat higher than $`y_{tc}^R=0.3`$ could give enough rate to be observed at the LHC.

#### II.3.1 Scalar FCNC production at a VLHC

At this point it is interesting to compare with what would be expected at a VLHC machine with a center of mass (CM) energy of $`\sqrt{s}=100`$TeV for this same scalar coupling. In Figure (5) we show the much higher rates for even smaller values of the coupling size and for a heavier scalar boson.

### II.4 Dependence on PDF set and factorization scale.

Throughout this work we have used CTEQ6M. We have checked the uncertainty due to the PDF by computing the production of tt pairs with all the 41 sets of ctq6l PDFs provided by the CTEQ grouplai . The variation amounts to only about 10$`\%`$, we show our results in Figure (6). We have only shown the computations that are farther apart from each other, i.e. the results of any other PDF set will fall between the curves shown. Figure (6) applies to the $`uutt`$ process; a similar graph would apply to the $`cctt`$ process, except that the highest (lowest) curve would come from ctq6l.09 (ctq6l.10) instead of the ctq6l.18 (ctq6l.17) PDF set.

To compare different values of the factorization scale we have tried some fixed scale values, it turns out that the fixed value of $`380`$ GeV yields almost the same cross section as the running $`\mu =M_{tt}`$ value. Also, there is some mild dependence on the (fixed) factorization scale, we have found about less than $`20\%`$ variation going from $`\mu =190`$GeV to $`\mu =760`$GeV.

## III Identification of tt pairs at LHC

Compared with the number of $`t\overline{t}`$ pairs that are expected every year at the LHC, of the order of 10 million, our $`tt`$ signal is overwhelmed by many orders of magnitude. There are 3 modes of detecting a pair of top quarks depending on the decay products of the $`W`$ bosons: dilepton, lepton plus jets and all jets mode. Separating these signals can only happen via the dilepton mode, in which the two same sign tops produce two same sign leptons. Unfortunately, this mode is associated with a small branching ratio, approximately $`5\%`$. Considering a $`50\%`$ b-tagging efficiency, this mode will let us observe only a small $`2\%`$ (or less) fraction of all the top quark pairs producedabe ; topd0 . Our assumption here is that it will be possible to identify the sign of top quark pairs via the dilepton mode with an overall efficiency of order $`1\%`$ at the LHC. Then, we can expect to observe from a few to up to several tens of same sign top events every year for the parameters used in this paper.

### III.1 SM background for $`tt`$ production.

The SM background we have considered here is production of $`ppbbW^+W^+`$. In the SM there are 45 diagrams for the $`uubbW^+W^+`$ process (49 for $`ccbbW^+W^+`$), of which two give the most important contributions, see Figure (7). By taking only one diagram at a time we have found that the greatest contribution is less than of order $`6\times 10^6`$ fb. So, we can safely conclude that the total contribution must be well below the $`10^4`$ fb level. This is a negligible background.

## IV Conclusion

In this work we have shown that FCNC couplings of the top quark with either the SM gauge bosons or new bosons like the ones that appear in Top color assisted technicolor theories, could give rise to significant production of same sign top quark pairs at the LHC. Such a signal could be searched for in the dilepton mode. We have found that for FCNC top quark couplings, well within the present experimental constraints, we could have production cross sections of order several tens or a few hundred femtobarns at the LHC. In terms of sensitivity, the cross section is proportional to the fourth power of the FCNC coupling. In particular, a coupling size of order 0.05 (0.1) for tuZ (tcZ) would give rise to a few tt pairs detected in the dilepton mode at the LHC. In addition, in the case of a heavy resonance like Z’ or a scalar H, a coupling size of 0.15 (0.5) for tuZ’ (tcZ’) along with a Z’ mass between 1 and 1.6 TeV would be required for the same yield. A coupling size higher than 0.1 (0.3) for tuH (tcH) along with a 100-300 GeV mass range in the case of the scalar FCNC; in comparison, for even slightly smaller couplings a twice as large mass range of 100-600 GeV of the scalar boson could be probed in a VLHC with CM energy $`\sqrt{s}=100`$TeV.

Upon the completion of this article, another work on the production of top quarks via the FCNC anomalous dimension 5 tq$`\gamma `$ and tqZ couplings has appeared. They have computed the cross section for $`p\overline{p}tt`$ at the Tevatron with NLO-NLL and NNLO-NLL corrections. They obtain a cross section of order a few femtobarns at the Born level with a $`25\%`$ increase due to the higher order correctionskidonakis . To compare with their analysis we show in Figure (8) the production of $`tt`$ at both the Tevatron and the LHC from either, the combination of dimension 5 tu$`\gamma `$ and tuZ couplings used by them ($`\kappa ^\gamma =\kappa ^Z`$) or the dimension 4 tuZ used by us ($`a_{tu}`$).

Instead of the fixed value for the factorization scale $`\mu =m_t=175`$GeV, we have used $`\mu =M_{tt}`$. That is why we have a somewhat lower (about $`20\%`$ less) value for the Born level cross section. Otherwise, if we use $`\mu =m_t`$ we obtain the same rates. To be consistent with their calculations, we have applied no cuts in this figure. The dimension 5 operator requires a mass scale factor $`1/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for which they have used a rather small value $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=m_t`$. If we use the same scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=m_t`$ for the LHC we would obtain a huge rate of order $`10^4`$fb, and we could as well be violating unitarity constraints. For these operators, we think a higher mass scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1`$TeV is more realistic; we have used it for the LHC production in Figure (8). Notice that the dimension 4 tuZ coupling could yield even higher production rates than the dim 5 coupling. However, due to the much smaller range of luminosity of the Tevatron, as compared with the LHC, these rates may be too low to be detectable.

Acknowledgments We want to thank C.-P. Yuan for numerous suggestions for this work. We also thank Conacyt for support.


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# SDSS J161033.64–010223.3: A second Cataclysmic Variable with a Non-radially Pulsating Primary

## 1 Introduction

The white dwarf accretors in cataclysmic variable (CV) stars have outer layers that differ from those of isolated white dwarfs. Not only is there an accumulation of hydrogen-rich material, leading ultimately to a nova explosion, the accretion process itself results in heating, mixing and compression which change the thermal structure and composition profile (Townley & Bildsten 2003). Observations that contribute towards probing these structures are not easy to interpret – the chemical compositions of the outer layers of the primaries of CVs are complicated by the rapid settling rate of the heavier elements (Sion 1999), the chemical abundances in nova ejecta are the end product of a mixture of dredge-up from the core and nuclear reactions during the explosion, embedded in shock-driven hydrodynamic processes. It would be of greater value to probe the outer layers by more direct means, as is possible through the application of asteroseismology to single white dwarfs (e.g., Clemens 1993).

A start in this direction was made by the discovery of the first CV to show non-radial pulsations (i.e. a CV whose primary is a ZZ Cet star) – namely the dwarf nova GW Lib (Warner & van Zyl 1998). GW Lib is a low mass transfer ($`\dot{M}`$) system that has only had one observed outburst (in 1983) of very large amplitude. Its oscillation spectrum is complicated and has yet to be fully unravelled (van Zyl et al. 2000), and as such it remains to make a quantitative contribution to the determination of outer structure of an accreting white dwarf. Its predominant oscillation modes have periods that lie near 236, 376 and 650 s, with amplitudes in the range 5 – 15 mmag, and evidence for other modes, including sum and difference frequencies, and some possible periods around 1000 s and 5000 s. As with large amplitude ZZ Cet stars, the oscillation spectra are not stationary, individual modes (which may in many cases be unresolved multiplets) varying greatly in amplitude on time scales of days, months and years.

Nevertheless, the discovery of further examples of this class of CV will surely be welcomed, and that is what we present here – a second CV in which large amplitude non-radial oscillations of the primary can be studied by the brightness modulations that they cause. In Section 2 we describe what was previously known about the star, in Section 3 we present our photometric observations and their Fourier transforms and in Section 4 we add some general comments.

## 2 The star SDSS J161033.64–010223.3

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has released an initial tranche of newly discovered CVs, found as candidates from their colours and then selected on the basis of spectroscopic appearance (Szkody et al. 2002). Among the multitude of spectra one in particular caught our attention. The nineteenth magnitude SDSS J161033.64-010223.3 (which we will abbreviate to SDSS1610) shows a blue continuum with broad hydrogen absorption lines containing narrow emission cores, and He I 5876 Å weakly in emission. It is typical of a dwarf nova in quiescence. The depth of the H$`\beta `$ absorption, when compared with that for isolated white dwarfs (Wesemael et al. 1993), shows that there can be little overlying emission continuum from an accretion disc. The system is therefore in a very low state of mass transfer, a requirement if the heating effect of accretion is not to move the white dwarf out of the ZZ Cet instability strip (which for isolated DA white dwarfs is $``$ 11000 – 12000 K (Bergeron et al. 1995)).

## 3 Photometric observations

We have carried out high speed photometric observations of SDSS1610 with the 74-inch Radcliffe reflector at the Sutherland site of the South African Astronomical Observatory, using the University of Cape Town CCD Photometer (O’Donoghue 1995) with no photometric filter (i.e., in ‘white light’). Our observing log is given in Table 1.

Variations of brightness on time scales $``$ 100s of seconds were evident even on the first night of observation, which was of poor photometric quality. In Fig. 1 we show the light curves obtained on later nights, of better quality. The slow variation is caused by differential extinction relative to the (redder) comparison star. The presence of continuous oscillations with a range $``$ 0.10 mag is obvious. Fourier transforms (FTs) of the three long runs (S6991, S6994 and S7000) with first and second order trends removed, are shown seperately in Fig. 2. The dominant regions of oscillation power, in order of decreasing amplitude, are at $``$ 607 s, 2488 s (or its alias at 2419 s), 304 s (the first harmonic of 607 s), 220 s and 345 s, with amplitudes in the range 5 – 25 mmag. The frequencies are listed in Table 2. The fact that these periods bear no simple relationship to each other (as could be the case if the star was an intermediate polar in a low state) and their time scales show that SDSS1610 is a second example of a CV with a non-radially oscillating primary. The absence of much overlying emission from the accretion disc implies that the observed amplitudes are not greatly reduced from those originating in the primary.

There are low frequency peaks in the FTs of individual nights in the vicinity of 200 $`\mu `$Hz and its first and second harmonics. In the FT of the three long runs combined (Fig. 3) there is a choice of aliases, the best-fitting being 207.0 ($`\pm `$ 0.4), 413.7 ($`\pm `$ 0.2) and 625.1 ($`\pm `$ 0.6) $`\mu `$Hz. This is equivalent to a period of 80.52 min and its harmonics. The alternate choice is equivalent to 85.08 min. We suggest that these features are produced by orbital modulation. As has been pointed out by Thorstensen et al. (2002), the dwarf novae with orbital periods in the vicinity of 80 mins are a particularly interesting group, of which GW Lib ($`P_{orb}`$ = 76.78 min from spectroscopic observations) is a member. The orbital signal is strongest in run S6994. We have prewhitened the light curve at the principal oscillation frequencies and produced a light curve folded on the 80.52 period, which is shown in Fig. 4. It is a double humped light curve, very similar to that of WZ Sge (Patterson 1980) and WX Cet (Rogoziecki & Schwarzenberg-Czerny 2001), both of which are very low $`\dot{M}`$ dwarf novae where it is proposed that the reason for two humps per orbit is because the bright spot on the disc is visible from behind through the low optical thickness disc (Robinson, Nather & Patterson 1978a).

The FTs of SDSS1610 bear a strong resemblence to that of the ZZ Cet star VY Hor (O’Donoghue, Warner & Cropper 1992), where the principal frequency is 1626 $`\mu `$Hz at an amplitude of 60 mmag. In VY Hor and GD 154 (Robinson et al. 1978b), the eigenfrequencies are completely described by the sequences $`pf`$ and $`(q+\frac{1}{2}+ϵ)f`$, where $`p`$ = 1, 2, ….. and $`q`$ = 0, 1, 2, ….. For VY Hor $`ϵ=0.037`$ and for GD 154 $`ϵ=0.03`$. A similar situation obtains in PG 1351+489, where $`ϵ=0.03`$ (Winget, Nather & Hill 1987).

In the case of SDSS1610, where the amount of observational material is much less than was available for these ZZ Cet star studies, we can fit the few observed eigenfrequencies with $`ϵ0.25`$. In Table 2 the final column gives the ratio of the average with respect to the mean $`f_1`$ of the frequencies measured on the three nights (for the mean of ‘$`2f_1+f_2`$’ we use only run S6994, in run S7000 the identification of this mode is uncertain). It should be remembered that the peak frequencies quoted in Table 2 are those of unresolved multiplets and therefore would be expected to vary slightly from one run to the next. For this reason, we have not given frequencies determined from the FT of the combined runs, which in addition introduces the problem of aliasing. If the proximity to values of $`(q+\frac{1}{2})f`$ in GD 154, VY Hor and PG 1351+489 is a sign of non-linear resonant coupling between modes (O’Donoghue et al. 1992), it would appear that in SDSS1610 we are seeing resonances close to another commensurability, viz $`(q+\frac{3}{4})f`$. In GW Lib, a similar structure is seen in the FT with the presence of $`q=0,1`$ and 2 peaks, and $`p=1`$ peaks, where $`f=1545`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`(q+\frac{3}{4}+ϵ)f`$ with $`ϵ0.03`$.

The amplitudes of the various eigenmodes vary from night to night and even within a run. In Fig. 5 we show FTs of the first and second halves of run S6994 which illustrate that the first harmonic of the principal eigenfrequency is varying in strength. As with other ZZ Cet stars, this simply means that there is unresolved multiplet structure in these FTs.

A few unidentified low amplitude peaks ($`45`$ mmag) present in the FTs are not listed in Table 2; they occur in individual runs only. These are: 3860.1 $`\mu `$Hz in run S6991; 8731.1 $`\mu `$Hz and 9712.3 $`\mu `$Hz in run S6994; 6893.6 $`\mu `$Hz and 8225.4 $`\mu `$Hz in run S7000.

## 4 discussion

Clemens (1993) partitioned ZZ Cetis into a ‘hot’ group and a ‘cool’ group and shows that the distribution and range of periods is different in the two groups. A decade later, with far more ZZ Cet stars known, this division is less convincing; there are many stars that combine oscillation modes from both groups, as do GW Lib and SDSS1610 Clemens also pointed out that similarities in the ZZ Cetis, at least among the hotter ones, probably arise because all have a similar amount of hydrogen, $`10^4`$ M in their envelopes. The primary of a CV could have any amount of hydrogen, from zero to $`10^4`$ M, depending on when it last had a nova eruption.

SDSS1610 probably has rare dwarf nova outbursts of amplitude similar to WZ Sge and would therefore reach $`m_V11`$ at maximum. A search through archived sky patrol plates is therefore recommended, and a watch should be kept for future outbursts. The value of following the heating effects of an outburst on the eigenfrequencies of the primary has already been pointed out (Warner & van Zyl 1998).

## Acknowledgements

PAW is supported by funds made available from the National Research Foundation and by strategic funds made available to BW from the University of Cape Town. BW’s research is supported by the University.


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# Identifying the Background Signal in ARPES of High Temperature Superconductors

## Abstract

One of the interesting features of the photoemission spectra of the high temperature cuprate superconductors is the presence of a large signal (referred to as the “background”) in the unoccupied region of the Brillouin zone. Here we present data indicating that the origin of this signal is extrinsic and is most likely due to strong scattering of the photoelectrons. We also present an analytical method that can be used to subtract the background signal.

Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has provided a unique insight into the electronic structure of the high temperature superconductors RMP . Information from ARPES about the Fermi surface, the symmetry of the superconducting gap and pseudogap, as well as the many body interactions and their energy scales, have stimulated a number of theoretical papers. As a result of recent technological advances in electron optics, even more precise information is now being obtained. In order to proceed with a detailed analysis of such data, however, one needs to understand some subtle properties of the ARPES spectra and be able to separate intrinsic features from extrinsic ones.

Early ARPES experiments on high temperature superconductors revealed an unusually large signal outside of the occupied region of the Brillouin zone - sometimes referred to as the “background”. Its origin has been debated for a long time, with some suggesting it to be an intrinsic property (incoherent part of the spectral function), while others regard it as an extrinsic effect BACK . If the background signal is extrinsic (e.g. due to photoelectron scattering), it would be a source of contamination of the signal inside of the Fermi surface as well. Answering this question is thus quite important, since it impacts our understanding of the nature of the many body interactions in the cuprates as well as a quantitative analysis of ARPES data.

Here we present ARPES data collected at the Synchrotron Radiation Center undulator 4m NIM beamline using both Scienta SES200 and SES50 analyzers. The optimally doped thin film samples of Bi2212 were grown using an RF sputtering technique while the optimally doped single crystal samples were grown in a floating zone furnace. To obtain quantitative information about the intensity, we divide each spectra by the acquisition time and the photon flux - measured by a Ni mesh at the entrance of the experimental chamber.

We show data illustrating the background signal in Fig. 1. Panels (a) and (c) display ARPES data going from the occupied states (top) to well beyond the Fermi momentum (kF) along the the $`(1,0)(1,1)`$ direction and a parallel cut through the nodal Fermi point $`(0.38,0.38)`$ respectively (momentum values are in $`\pi /a`$ units). The spectra far beyond kF show very little momentum dependence, yet they retain quite a significant intensity compared to the spectra inside the Fermi surface. This can easily be seen by examining panels (b) and (d), where we show the bottom 20 energy distribution curves (EDCs) from each cut. The background lineshape strongly resembles that of the Fermi function, including its temperature dependence. The data in panel (b) were taken at 200K, while data in panel (d) were measured at 50K. One can easily see that the width of the background leading edge increases with temperature. Interestingly, the midpoint of this leading edge in the superconducting state is shifted from the chemical potential towards higher binding energy by approximately the same amount as the midpoint shift of the antinode (maximum superconducting gap) spectra at the Fermi momentum. This occurs even along the diagonal direction where the gap in the spectral function at kF (the node) is zero (Fig. 1e).

To test whether the observed background is an intrinsic part of the spectral function, we utilize the fact that spectra representing a single spectral function scale in exactly the same way at different k-points as a function of photon energy. We have therefore performed measurements at various photon energies and compare spectra measured inside the Fermi surface with the ones well outside, which represent the background. If the background is an intrinsic part of the spectral function, then the intensities of both should scale the same way with photon energy for two sufficiently close values of momenta. This conclusion is easily drawn from inspecting the intrinsic part of the ARPES intensity:

$$I=M(h\nu ,k)A(k,\omega )f(\omega )$$
(1)
where $`M(h\nu ,k)`$ is the dipole matrix element, $`A(k,\omega )`$ the spectral function, and $`f(\omega )`$ the Fermi function. This form is valid if there is only one energy band present along the $`(0,0)(1,1)`$ direction, as expected for the cuprates. In this case, the matrix element is expected to vary slowly as a function of momentum and the lineshape of the EDCs at all k points scale the same way with photon energy, since the spectral function itself does not depend on photon energy. If on the other hand the background is due to an extrinsic effect, spectra inside the Fermi surface do not scale with photon energy, since in this case, the ARPES intensity is given by:

$$I=M_1(h\nu ,k)A(k,\omega )f(\omega )+M_2(h\nu ,k)B(k,\omega )f(\omega )$$
(2)
where $`B(k,\omega )`$ is the background function and the matrix elements $`M_1(h\nu ,k)`$ and $`M_2(h\nu ,k)`$ will in general depend differently on the photon energy.

In Fig. 2a, we plot the spectra obtained at various photon energies both inside and outside the Fermi surface along the $`(0,0)(1,1)`$ direction of optimally doped Bi2212. From these data, we conclude that the weight of an EDC is much larger inside kF than outside at a photon energy of 18eV, whereas they become comparable at 15 or 20 eV. In order to obtain a quantitative comparison, in Fig. 2b we plot directly the energy integrated intensity for both curves at each photon energy. Here one can see that the integrated intensity both inside and outside kF peaks at about 18 eV, indicating that the two are related, however they are not proportional to each other. The occurrence of the maximum in the intensity at 18 eV is known to be due to matrix elements and is in good agreement with theoretical calculations BANSIL . To examine the relation between the two intensities in more detail, in Fig. 2c we plot the ratio of the signal (defined as the difference between the intensity inside and outside kF) divided by the intensity outside kF. Here one can clearly see that at 18 eV the “intrinsic” signal is 2.5 times stronger than the background, while at other photon energies it constitutes only about half of the background intensity. This pronounced photon energy dependence of the ratio gives strong evidence that the background is not a part of the spectral function that gives rise to the intrinsic signal inside of the Fermi surface. We further note that the EDCs inside the Fermi surface do not scale as a function of the photon energy, contrary to the signal outside of the Fermi surface as seen in the insets of panel (a). This can only be explained if the ARPES intensity is a sum of two independent components as in Eq. 2.

Similar conclusions can be reached by analyzing momentum distribution curves (MDCs). In panel (d) we plot MDC data at a binding energy of 30 meV obtained at the same photon energies as in panel (a). These data were normalized outside the Fermi surface, at the momentum indicated by the arrow, and it is easy to see that the data do not scale close to the MDC peak position. When the background is subtracted and data normalized to the area under the curves (panel e), then the MDC peak lineshape becomes independent of the photon energy, suggesting that this part of the data is indeed due to a single component spectral function.

The next question we should try to answer regards the origin of the background signal. At this stage we do not have a definite answer. However, we believe that scattering of photoelectrons is the most likely cause. These compounds have very short escape depths of 3-5 ÅMIKEESCAPE . The CuO plane, from which electrons with energies close to the chemical potential originate, is located some 12 Å below the sample surface. One would therefore expect a large number of photoelectrons to undergo scattering, leading to a loss of momentum information. In contrast, in the case of simple metals, the photoelectrons originate from the top most layer, therefore even if the escape depth is the same, fewer electrons will undergo scattering, leading to a much smaller background signal. This hypothesis is supported by two properties of the background: the existence of the shift of the background leading edge towards higher binding energies from the chemical potential in the superconducting state (Fig. 1e), and the fact that the maximum intensity of the background occurs at the same photon energy (18 eV) as the maximum intensity of the intrinsic signal (Fig. 2b). These observations are consistent with the scattering scenario, since the background will result from a momentum averaging of all the photoelectrons, and all electrons near the Fermi energy have roughly the same characteristics. Therefore if a maximum in the intensity occurs at some photon energy in a specific part of the Brilloun zone due to the matrix elements, a much smaller maximum in the background intensity will be observed, as the latter involves some type of zone averaging. Moreover, the Fermi function like behavior of the background signal reveals that the scattering that gives rise to it is likely elastic in origin. The fact that the background is not due to secondaries was discussed in our earlier paper MIKEESCAPE .

In the last part of the paper, we will concentrate on a method for subtracting the background from the data. Previously proposed methods, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, were all based on analysing EDCs. Some involve subtracting a curve located outside and far from kF from all EDCs, while others treat the background as a fitting parameter HONGQP ; FENGQP . Here we present a method that takes advantage of analysing the data in terms of MDCs JOHNSONVALLA . In this method, the MDC lineshape is fit by a lorentzian plus a linear component of the form $`a+bk`$. The lorentzian is of course part of the spectral function and can be used for further analysis. Here we are interested in the linear component which constitutes the background. The method is illustrated in Fig. 3. The MDC lineshape at various binding energies is fit by a lorentzian plus a line. Then, for a given k point, the magnitude of the linear component is plotted as function of binding energy. One can easily see that this background has a shape similar to the one in Fig. 1, and also that the intensity of the background is changing slightly as a function of the momentum - it increases with increasing momentum (i.e., $`b`$ is non-zero). This behavior is consistent with the dipole matrix elements, which act to suppress intensity for low values of momenta. However its precise origin is not clear and will require more theoretical work on understanding the photoelectron scattering processes. This effect also illustrates that previous methods of background subtraction were not quite accurate because of this “hidden” momentum dependence.

In summary, we have shown that the background present in the ARPES spectra of high temperature cuprate superconductors is extrinsic and most likely due to scattering of the photoelectrons. We have also proposed a new method for background subtraction that is more accurate than previously used methods.

This work was supported by the NSF DMR 9974401, the U.S. DOE, Office of Science, under contract W-31-109-ENG-38, the CREST of JST, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan. The Synchrotron Radiation Center is supported by NSF DMR 9212658. JM is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and MR in part by the Indian DST through the Swarnajayanti scheme. AK is supported by the Royal Society of Great Britain.


text:
# Convection in protoneutron stars and the structure of surface magnetic fields in pulsars

## 1 Introduction

Our knowledge of the magnetic field strength in neutron stars comes mainly from radiopulsars with measured spin-down rates. With the assumption that the spin-down torque on the pulsar is determined by its magnetodipole radiation (Ostriker & Gunn 1969), the spin period, $`P`$, and spin-down rate, $`\dot{P}`$, are related to the field strength at the magnetic pole, $`B_d`$, by

$$P\dot{P}=\frac{8\pi ^2B_d^2R^6}{3c^2I}$$
(1)
where $`I`$ is the moment of inertia and $`R`$ is the radius (we assume that the magnetic and rotation axes are perpendicular). The magnetic fields inferred from the spin-down data range from $`5\times 10^{13}`$ to $`10^8`$G but, most likely, these fields characterize the global magnetic configuration of neutron stars rather than a fine magnetic structure near the stellar surface.

Measurements of the spin-down rate are not, however, the only way to obtain information about the neutron star magnetic fields. Recent observations of the X-ray spectra features of some pulsars provide one more opportunity to look into the magnetic field near the surface. Absorbtion features in the spectrum of the isolated pulsar 1E 1207.4-5209 were associated by Sanwal et al. (2002) with atomic transitions of once-ionized helium in the neutron star atmosphere with a strong “surface” magnetic field, $`B_s1.5\times 10^{14}`$G. An estimate of the spin-down rate of this pulsar provides the strength of the “dipole” magnetic field, $`B_d(24)\times 10^{12}`$G (Pavlov et al. 2002) that is typical for radio pulsars of that age ($`0.21.6`$ Myr). Becker et al. (2002) found an emission line in the X-ray spectrum of PSR B1821-24 that could be interpreted as cyclotron emission from the corona above the pulsar’s polar cap. This emission line is likely formed in a magnetic field $`B_s3\times 10^{11}`$G which is approximately two orders of magnitude stronger than the “dipole” field inferred from $`P`$ and $`\dot{P}`$. Haberl et al. (2003) interpreted a broad absorption feature in the spectrum of the isolated neutron star RBS1223 as a cyclotron line produced by protons in the magnetic field $`(26)\times 10^{13}`$ G. These measurements provide strong evidence that the local magnetic fields on the neutron star surface can exceed the conventional “dipole” field.

Another piece of evidence on the distinction between the “dipole” and “surface” magnetic fields comes from the data on emission of radio pulsars. Recently, Gil & Mitra (2001) and Gil & Melikidze (2002) argued that the formation of a vacuum gap in radio pulsars is possible if the actual surface magnetic field near the polar cap is very strong, $`B_s10^{13}`$G, irrespective of the field measured from the $`P`$-$`\dot{P}`$ data. Also, radio emission from the recently discovered pulsar PSR J2144-3933 with the longest period 8.5 s, which lies extremely far beyond the conventional death line, can be understood if this pulsar has a strong surface magnetic field of complex geometry (Gil & Mitra 2001). Radio emission of many other pulsars which lie in the pulsar graveyard and should be radio silent can be explained if one adopts the model with a strong and complex surface field with a small curvature of the field lines ($`<10^6`$ cm). This model is consistent with the conclusion of Arons & Scharlemann (1979) and Arons (1993) that pulsars with very long periods ($`5`$ s) require a more complex field configuration than a dipole if pair creation is essential for the mechanism of radio emission. Analysing the phenomenon of drifting subpulses observed in many pulsars, Gil & Sendyk (2000) found that their behaviour is consistent with the vacuum gap maintained by a strong sunspot-like magnetic field. Following this idea Gil, Melikidze & Mitra (2002 b) found that in the famous case of PSR 0943+10 (Deshpande & Rankin 1999, 2001) the “surface” field should be approximately 7 times stronger than the “dipole” component inferred from the spin-down rate. A sunspot-like configuration of the surface magnetic field is also suggested by the spin-down index in some pulsars (Cheng & Ruderman 1993, Ruderman, Zhu & Cheng 1998). Also, Cheng & Zhang (1999), analysing the X-ray emission from the polar regions of the rotation-powered pulsars, argued that $`B_s10^{13}`$G and the characteristic curvature of the field lines is around $`10^5`$cm resembling the sunspot-like structure.

Rapidly growing amount of evidence on the distinction between the local field strength at the stellar surface and the global “dipole” field suggests that this can be a general phenomenon in neutron stars. In this paper, we propose a scenario of the formation of such complex magnetic configurations with the strength of a small scale “surface” field in excess of the “dipole” component. It is generally accepted that neutron stars are subject to hydrodynamic instabilities soon after their birth in the core collapse (see, e.g., Epstein 1979, Livio, Buchler & Colgate 1980, Burrows & Lattimer 1986). The convective stage lasts about 30-40 s (Miralles, Pons & Urpin 2000, 2002) and, under certain conditions, turbulent motions can amplify the magnetic field via dynamo action (Thompson & Duncan 1993, Xu & Busse 2001). The generated magnetic field must be frozen into the crust that is formed in the course of neutron star cooling. Because of high crustal conductivity, magnetic fields with a relatively small lengthscale, $`10^5`$ cm, can survive during the active lifetime of radio pulsars.

The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we consider convection and associated dynamo action in protoneutron stars, and estimate the field that can be generated during this stage. We discuss the crust formation and small scale crustal magnetic structures in Section 3. Our results are briefly summarized in Section 4.

## 2 Convection in protoneutron stars

Neutron stars are formed in a supernova explosion associated to the gravitational collapse of massive stars. The explosion lasts $`1`$ s and is followed by the core bounce and generation of a strong shock which heats the protoneutron star to a very high temperature $`10^{11}`$ K (Burrows & Lattimer 1986, Burrows & Fryxell 1992, Rampp & Janka 2000). Hydrostatic equilibrium settles down on a very short timescale $`10^310^2`$ s but, even when the equilibrium is reached, the surface layers are very extended, thus the radius of a protostar is $`50100`$ km instead of the canonical 10-15 km. However, compression of the exterior zones is quite fast and, after a few seconds, the star is compressed to the canonical radius.

Hydrodynamic instabilities in a newly born neutron star are driven by both the lepton gradient (Epstein 1979), and the development of negative entropy gradients, which are common in many simulations of supernovae explosions (Bruenn & Mezzacappa 1994, 1995, Rampp & Janka 2000) and evolutionary models of protoneutron stars (Keil & Janka 1995, Keil, Janka & Müller 1996, Pons et al. 1999). Likely, both, the convective and neutron finger instabilities, can arise in protoneutron stars (Miralles, Pons & Urpin 2000) with the neutron finger unstable region typically surrounding the convective region. Initially, only the surface layer, containing around $`0.5M_{}`$, is unstable but the bottom of the unstable region spreads down to the center. Approximately in 10 s, the whole star is subject to instability with convection, operating in the central region of the enclosed mass $`0.5M_{}`$, and the neutron finger instability dominating in the rest of the volume. After $`20`$ s, the unstable region begins to shrink to the center and, at $`t40`$ s, both the temperature and lepton gradients become too smooth to maintain instabilities. Both, the Rayleigh and Grashoff numbers are typically large in the unstable regions, and instabilities likely do operate in a turbulent regime (Thompson & Duncan 1993).

During the hydrodynamic unstable phase, a protoneutron star is opaque to neutrino, and the turbulent velocity can be estimated by the standard mixing-length approximation (see, e.g., Schwarzschild 1958). The largest unstable lengthscale is of the order of the pressure lengthscale, $`L`$, and the turbulent velocity in this scale, $`v_L`$, can be estimated as

$$v_L\frac{L}{\tau _L},$$
(2)
where $`\tau _L`$ is the instability growth time (which is of the order of the turnover time in a scale $`L`$). In the convectively unstable region, we have

$$\frac{1}{\tau _L^2}\frac{1}{\tau _c^2}=\frac{1}{3}g\beta \frac{|\mathrm{\Delta }T|}{T},$$
(3)
where $`\tau _c`$ is the convection growth time, $`g`$ is the gravity, $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ is the difference between the actual and adiabatic temperature gradients, and $`\beta `$ is the thermal expansion coefficient. The turbulent velocity, $`v_L`$, varies in time since $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ progressively reduces due to the neutron star cooling. Convection is a dynamical instability and grows on a short timescale ($`0.11`$ ms when convection is most efficient). Assuming $`L13`$ km and using the calculations of $`\tau _c`$ (Miralles, Pons & Urpin 2000), we can estimate $`v_L10^8`$ cm/s (except the late unstable phase when convection is almost exhausted).

In the region of a ”doubly diffusive” instability often referred to as ”neutron fingers”, a destabilizing influence of the lepton number gradient usually dominates the effect of $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$. This instability is the astrophysical analog of salt fingers that exist in terrestrial oceans. Physically, a fluid element perturbed downward in the proto-neutron star can thermally equilibrate more rapidly with the background but find itself lepton-poorer and denser and, therefore, subject to a downward force that would amplify perturbations. This instability is typically more efficient in the region above the convective zone, involving a larger portion of the stellar material. With the same reasoning, we can estimate $`v_L`$ in this region substituting

$$\frac{1}{\tau _L^2}\frac{1}{\tau _{nf}^2}=\frac{1}{3}g\delta |Y|$$
(4)
into equation (2); $`\tau _{nf}`$ is the neutron finger instability growth time, $`\delta `$ is the chemical expansion coefficient and $`Y=(n_e+n_\nu )/n`$ is the lepton fraction with $`n_e`$, $`n_\nu `$, and $`n`$ is the number density of electrons, neutrinos, and baryons, respectively. The neutron finger instability is typically slower than convection, $`\tau _{nf}30100`$ ms (except the very early and very late phases). Being slower, this instability can nevertheless exist in a more extended region. Using the calculations of $`\tau _{nf}`$ (Miralles, Pons & Urpin 2000), we estimate $`v_L(13)\times 10^6`$ cm/s in the neutron finger unstable region.

Likely, protoneutron stars rotate relatively rapidly (Zwerger & Müller 1997, Rampp, Müller & Ruffert 1998) and, hence, can be subject to the turbulent dynamo action. The initial spins of pulsars are not well constrained by observations but, most likely, they lie around $`100`$ ms (Narayan 1987). The influence of rotation on turbulence is characterized by the Rossby number, Ro$`=P/\tau _L`$ where $`P`$ is the spin period. Since there are two unstable regions inside the proto-neutron star with substantially different properties, the Rossby number can differ much in the convective and neutron finger unstable regions. In the convective zone, we have Ro$`100`$, and the influence of rotation on turbulence is probably negligible. On the contrary, in the neutron fingers unstable region, Ro$`1`$ and turbulence can be strongly modified by the Coriolis force. Therefore, the neutron finger unstable region seems to be better suited for the mean-field dynamo action (see Bonanno, Rezzolla & Urpin 2003). Note that this region is typically above the convectively unstable region, therefore the mean-field dynamo operates mainly in the surface layers.

In both unstable regions, however, turbulent motions can generate turbulent magnetic fields by small-scale dynamo action. The electrical conductivity of hot nuclear matter, $`\sigma `$, is relatively high, $`\sigma 1.5\times 10^{24}T_{10}^2`$ s-1 where $`T_{10}=T/10^{10}K`$ (Baym, Pethick & Sutherland 1971), and therefore the characteristic timescale of ohmic dissipation is very long ($`10^5`$ yrs for the field with the lengthscale $`L13`$ km). The magnetic diffusivity, $`\eta =c^2/4\pi \sigma `$, is small compared to viscosity, $`\nu `$, therefore the dynamo operates in the regime of large magnetic Prandtl numbers, Pr=$`\nu /\eta `$. There are two factors that cause viscous stresses in protoneutron stars: neutrino transport and neutron scattering (Thompson & Duncan 1993). Neutrino-induced viscosity dominates on scales larger than the neutrino mean-free path and can be very efficient. However, even this large viscosity cannot prevent instability on scales comparable to the pressure lengthscale (Miralles, Pons & Urpin 2000). The viscosity caused by neutron scattering operates on scales shorter than the neutrino mean-free path and is much smaller, but the magnetic Prandtl number is large even in this case,

$$\mathrm{Pr}=\frac{\nu }{\eta }2.6\times 10^4\rho _{14}^{5/4}T_{10}^41,$$
(5)
where $`\rho _{14}=\rho /10^{14}`$g/cm3 and $`\rho `$ is the density; we use the analytical fit for the coefficient of viscosity of hot nuclear matter obtained by Cutler, Lindblom & Splinter (1990).

There are two qualitatively different phases to a small-scale dynamo action: the kinematic phase when the field does not provide a noticeable influence on turbulent motions, and the dynamical phase when velocity is affected by the Lorentz force. In the kinematic regime, a weak seed magnetic field grows in strength exponentially in time, while the characteristic lengthscale of a field, $`\mathrm{}_B`$, decreases exponentially (Kazantsev 1968, Kraichnan 1976, Kulsrud & Anderson 1992). In protoneutron stars, instabilities generate primary turbulent motions on scales $`L`$, and these motions amplify turbulent magnetic fields of the same scale. However, the energy of such magnetic fluctuations is transfered to the small scales after a few eddy-turnover times. For Pr$`1`$, the magnetic energy is first transfered to scales shorter than the viscous dissipative scale, $`\mathrm{}_\nu `$Re$`{}_{}{}^{3/4}L`$ (Re is the Reynolds number at the lengthscale $`L`$), but greater than the magnetic dissipative lengthscale, $`\mathrm{}_\eta \mathrm{}_\nu `$Pr-1/2 (see, e.g., Schekochihin, Boldyrev & Kulsrud 2002). Both lengthscales, $`\mathrm{}_\nu `$ and $`\mathrm{}_\eta `$, are very small in protoneutron stars,

$$\mathrm{}_\nu 1.9\times 10^5v_8^{3/4}L_5^{1/4}T_{10}^{3/2}\rho _{14}^{15/16}\mathrm{cm},$$
(6)
$$\mathrm{}_\eta 1.2\times 10^7v_8^{3/4}L_5^{1/4}T_{10}^{1/2}\rho _{14}^{5/16}\mathrm{cm},$$
(7)
where $`v_8=v_L/10^8`$cm/s, and $`L_5=L/10^5`$cm. Turbulent motions with the lengthscale shorter than $`\mathrm{}_\nu `$ are suppressed by viscosity, but magnetic fluctuations can exist if their lengthscale is larger than $`\mathrm{}_\eta `$. Probably, turbulence is well developed in both unstable zones, and fluctuations spread through a wide range of scales (see, e.g., Thompson & Duncan 1993). The kinematic growth phase is terminated when the Lorentz force starts modifying the convective motions. Since the characteristic growth time of small-scale fields, $`L/v_L`$, is much shorter than the duration of the unstable phase, the small-scale dynamo operates likely in a nonlinear regime in both unstable regions.

In the non-linear regime, turbulence drives kinetic and magnetic energy cascades which are quasi-steady in protoneutron stars. The nature of these cascades in MHD turbulence has been a matter of debate for many years. Iroshnikov (1963) and Kraichnan (1965) suggested that in the inertial range kinetic and magnetic power spectra are given by

$$E_K(\mathrm{})E_M(\mathrm{})\mathrm{}^{3/2},$$
(8)
where $`\mathrm{}`$ is the lengthscale of fluctuations. On the other hand, solar wind data suggest a spectrum $`\mathrm{}^{5/3}`$ as in the Kolmogorov theory. Numerical simulations (see, e.g., Kida, Yanase & Mizushima 1991, Haugen, Brandenburg & Dobler 2003) indicate that the magnetic energy spectrum probably does not show a power law behaviour. It seems that spectra can be even shallower than $`\mathrm{}^{3/2}`$ in some models. For any more or less plausible spectra, however, the amplitude of magnetic fluctuations increases with $`\mathrm{}`$ and reaches its maximum on scales comparable to the main lengthscale of turbulence, $`L`$. In a saturated phase, small-scale magnetic fields are approximately in equipartition with velocity fluctuations,

$$B_{\mathrm{}}B_{eq}(\mathrm{})=\sqrt{4\pi \rho }v_{\mathrm{}},$$
(9)
where $`B_{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ are the amplitudes of magnetic and velocity fluctuations with the lengthscale $`\mathrm{}`$. Equation (9) yields only the order of magnitude estimate, since the magnetic and kinetic energy have generally different spectra (Kida, Yanasa & Mizushima 1991).

Turbulence is non-stationary in both unstable zones of protoneutron stars. It arises very rapidly soon after the collapse, reaches some quasi-steady regime, and then goes down when the temperature and lepton gradients are smoothed (after $`3040`$ s). The timescale required for fluid to make one turn in a turbulent cell with the lengthscale $`\mathrm{}`$ can be estimated as $`\tau _{\mathrm{}}\pi \mathrm{}/v_{\mathrm{}}`$. This timescale varies with time, but is typically much shorter than the characteristic cooling timescale, $`\tau _{cool}`$, except the very late phase when gradients are smoothed and instabilities are less efficient. Therefore, turbulence can be treated in a quasi-steady approximation during the almost whole unstable phase. Using equation (9), we can estimate the maximum field generated in the lengthscale $`\mathrm{}L`$ during the quasi-steady regime as $`B_{Lc}10^{16}`$ G in the convective zone, and $`B_{Lnf}(13)\times 10^{14}`$ G in the neutron finger unstable zone. However, the temperature and lepton number gradients are progressively reduced as the protoneutron star cools down and, therefore, the turbulent velocity decreases as well. As the result, the strength of small-scale magnetic fields generated by turbulence also decreases compared to the maximum value, but estimate (9) is still valid until the quasi-steady condition $`\tau _{cool}\tau _{\mathrm{}}`$, is fulfilled. We assume that this condition breaks down at $`t=t_a`$ when $`\tau _{\mathrm{}}(t)`$ becomes comparable to the cooling timescale: $`\tau _{\mathrm{}}(t_a)\tau _{cool}(t_a)`$. Then, the turbulent velocity at $`t=t_a`$ is given by

$$v_{\mathrm{}}(t_a)\frac{\pi \mathrm{}}{\tau _{cool}(t_a)}.$$
(10)
We assume that the final strength of the magnetic field generated by the small-scale dynamo, $`B_{\mathrm{}}`$, is of the order of $`B_{eq}(\mathrm{})`$ at $`t=t_a`$. Perhaps this estimate provides only the upper limit on a field strength since turbulent motions can influence magnetic fluctuations even at $`t>t_a`$. However, the decay of turbulence is rather fast, and the kinetic energy of turbulence rapidly becomes smaller than the magnetic energy. Therefore, we have for the final strength of the generated magnetic field

$$B_{\mathrm{}}q\sqrt{4\pi \rho }v_{\mathrm{}}(t_a),$$
(11)
where $`q`$ is a numerical factor, $`q1`$. Substituting expression (10) for $`v_{\mathrm{}}(t_a)`$, we obtain

$$B_{\mathrm{}}\frac{q\pi \sqrt{4\pi \rho }\mathrm{}}{\tau _{cool}(t_a)}.$$
(12)
The final strength of the generated small-scale field turns out to be the same for both unstable zones and decreases with decreasing lengthscale. For the largest turbulent scale, $`\mathrm{}=L13`$ km, estimate (12) yields $`B_L3\times 10^{13}q`$ G if $`\tau _{cool}`$ is of the order of a few seconds. Note that our estimate is in contrast to that of Thompson & Duncan (1993) who assumed that the strength of the generated field is approximately given by its maximum value.

## 3 Crust formation and crustal small-scale magnetic fields

It is difficult to predict final disposition of the magnetic field after the turbulent motions inside the protoneutron star stop. Most likely, there exists a wide spectrum of magnetic fluctuations with the lengthscale shorter than $`L`$ and with the field strength given by equation (12). When convection is exhausted, these small-scale fluctuations evolve under the influence of the ohmic dissipation and buoyancy. After a magnetohydrodynamic quasi-equilibrium is established, one expects that magnetic loops densely fill the volume and surface of the star, although the field strength may vary considerably, depending on the degree of intermittency of the generated small-scale field. In liquid nuclear matter, the ohmic decay timescale of fluctuations with the lengthscale $`\mathrm{}`$ is

$$\tau _\mathrm{O}(\mathrm{})\frac{4\pi \sigma \mathrm{}^2}{c^2}=2.8\times 10^7T_{10}^2\left(\frac{\mathrm{}}{L}\right)^2\mathrm{yrs},$$
(13)
and dissipation is important only for fluctuations with very small $`\mathrm{}`$.

Likely, the crust formation provides the most important influence on the evolution of small-scale magnetic fields at this stage. Approximately at the age $`4050`$ s (soon after convection stops), the neutron star cools down to the internal temperature $`(13)\times 10^{10}`$K (Pons et al. 1999). At such temperature, neutrons and protons can form nuclei and clusters in the nuclear matter with the density $`10^{14}`$ g/cm3. When the neutron star cools down to a lower temperature, nuclei can be formed at $`\rho <10^{14}`$ g/cm3 as well. Note that nuclear composition at high density depends generally on the pre-history of the neutron star. For instance, the composition of ”ground state” matter (Negele & Vautherin 1973) differs noticeably from that of ”accreted” matter (Haensel & Zdunik 1990). The Coulomb interaction of nuclei leads to the crystal formation even at a relatively high temperature. Crystallization occurs when the ion coupling parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=Z^2e^2/(ak_BT)`$ reaches the critical value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_m170`$ (Slattery, Doolen & De Witt 1980); $`a=(3/4\pi n_i)^{1/3}`$ is the mean inter-ion distance, $`n_i`$ and $`Z`$ are the number density and charge number of ions, respectively; $`T`$ is the temperature, and $`k_B`$ is the Boltzmann constant. Then, the crystallization temperature is

$$T_m=\frac{Z^2e^2}{ak_B\mathrm{\Gamma }_m}1.3\times 10^7Z^{5/3}\mu _e^{1/3}\rho _{12}^{1/3}\frac{170}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_m}K,$$
(14)
where $`\mu _e`$ is the number of baryons per one electron, and $`\rho _{12}=\rho /10^{12}`$ g/cm3. For the density $`\rho 10^{13}10^{14}`$ g/cm3, the crystallization temperature is of the order of $`10^{10}`$ K (Baiko & Yakovlev 1996). Therefore, the crust formation starts almost immediately after the end of the convective phase, and the magnetic fields generated by convective motions should be frozen into the crust. Solidification proceeds rather rapidly, and the outer boundary of the crust reaches the density $`10^{10}`$ g/cm3 after $`1`$ day in the case of standard cooling.

In crystal layers, the magnetic field evolution is mainly determined by ohmic dissipation. The crust electric conductivity $`\sigma _c`$, can be expressed in terms of the electron relaxation time, $`\tau _e`$ (see, e.g., Baiko & Yakovlev 1996),

$$\sigma _c1.5\times 10^{22}x^2\beta \left(\frac{\tau _e}{10^{16}\mathrm{s}}\right)\mathrm{s}^1,$$
(15)
where $`x=p_F/m_ec`$, $`\beta =v_F/c`$; $`p_F`$ and $`v_F`$ are the electron Fermi momentum and velocity, respectively. In a high density region, electrons are ultrarelativistic and $`\beta 1`$. Using expression (15), we can estimate the ohmic decay timescale of magnetic fluctuations with the lengthscale $`\mathrm{}`$ in the crust,

$$\tau _{\mathrm{Oc}}(\mathrm{})=\frac{4\pi \sigma _c\mathrm{}^2}{c^2}0.7\times 10^5x^2\beta \left(\frac{\tau _e}{10^{16}\mathrm{s}}\right)\mathrm{}_5^2\mathrm{yrs},$$
(16)
where $`\mathrm{}_5=\mathrm{}/10^5`$cm. This timescale is short for short lengthscale fluctuations, but $`\tau _{\mathrm{Oc}}`$ can be much longer than the cooling timescale for fluctuations with relatively large $`\mathrm{}`$. For instance, the decay of fluctuations with $`\mathrm{}10^310^5`$ cm proceeds certainly on a timescale longer than the time required for the formation of a well developed crust. Therefore, turbulent magnetic fields with relatively large lengthscales are likely frozen into the crystallized matter soon after convection stops.

Further evolution of turbulent magnetic fields deposed in the neutron star crust depends on conductive properties of the crustal matter and the cooling scenario. The behaviour of such fields is governed by the standard induction equation where only the ohmic dissipation is included and is qualitatively similar to the behaviour of a large scale crustal magnetic field considered in detail by Urpin & Konenkov (1997). We refer the results of this paper in what follows. We consider the evolution of turbulent fields for the neutron star model with the standard cooling since this cooling scenario can better account for the available observational data. Note that models with accelerated cooling always lead to a slower decay of the magnetic field (Urpin & Van Riper 1993) and, as a result the small-scale magnetic structure can survive for a longer time in such models. The crustal conductivity is determined by scattering of electrons on phonons and impurities. Scattering on phonons dominates the conductivity while the neutron star is relatively hot whereas impurities give the main contribution at a low crustal temperature (see, e.g., Yakovlev & Urpin 1980). The effect of impurities on the conductivity is characterized by the impurity parameter $`Q`$,

$$Q=\frac{1}{n}\underset{n^{}}{}n^{}(ZZ^{})^2,$$
(17)
where $`n^{}`$ is the number density of an interloperspecies of charge $`Z^{}`$, $`n`$ and $`Z`$ are the number density and charge of the dominant ion species; summation is over all species. Most likely, $`Q`$ ranges from 0.001 to 0.1 within the crust.

In Fig.1, we plot the time dependence of the surface strength of a small-scale magnetic field for a neutron star model with mass $`M=1.4M_{[]}`$ and with the equation of state of Pandharipande and Smith (see, e.g., Pandharipande, Pines & Smith 1976). The radius of this model is $`R=15.98`$ km. For the sake of simplicity, we assume in calculations that the dependence of a field on polar and azimuthal coordinates is sinusoidal with the wavelength equal to the main scale of turbulence, $`L`$, and use the so called local approximation in these two directions. This is a sufficiently good approximation since the radius of the star is substantially larger than $`L`$ and the thickness of the crust. We also assume that the initial radial depth of a small-scale field is equal to the main scale of turbulence, $`L`$, and varies within the range 1-2 km. This range of depth corresponds to the density from $`5\times 10^{12}`$ g/cm3 to $`10^{14}`$ g/cm3 for the PS-model. The initial radial dependence of the field is chosen in accordance with the model proposed by Urpin & Konenkov (1997). Note that main conclusions of our paper are not sensitive to a particular choice of this dependence but are flexible to the value of $`L`$.

The magnetic field evolution is shown for three initial depths of the field, $`L=1`$ km (this depth corresponds to the density $`\rho 5\times 10^{12}`$ g/cm3 in the crust), $`L=1.2`$ km ($`\rho 10^{13}`$ g/cm3), and $`L=2`$km ($`\rho 10^{14}`$ km). For the purpose of illustration, the decay in the case $`L=1.2`$ km is shown for two initial field strength, $`3\times 10^{13}`$ G and $`10^{13}`$ G (curves 2 and 4, respectively). During the initial stage ($`t10^5`$ yrs), the crustal conductivity is determined by scattering of electrons on phonons and is relatively low for all calculated models. Therefore, the field decay can be essential during this stage, and the surface field strength can weaken by a factor $`27`$, depending on the lengthscale of the initial turbulent field. Obviously, a decrease during the initiale stage is smaller for the field with larger $`L`$. For instance, a small-scale field with $`L=1`$ km is reduced by a factor $`7`$ after $`10^5`$ yrs whereas the field with $`L=2`$ km decreases less than twice after the same time. Note that for $`L>2`$ km the decrease during the initial stage is practically negligible, and the field at $`t10^5`$ yrs is only a bit lower than the initial field.

After $`10^5`$ yrs, the dominant conductivity mechanism changes from electron-phonon to electron-impurity scattering. As a result, the conductivity increases and the rate of field decay slows down. We calculate the field decay during this stage using an intermediate value of the impurity parameter, $`Q=0.01`$ that characterizes not a very poluted crust. For larger $`Q`$, the decay is more rapid (see, for comparison, Urpin & Konenkov 1997). The evolution of small-scale fields shows the presence of flat segments of the decay curves at $`t0.1100`$ Myr like those of a large-scale field. The length of a plateau depends on the impurity parameter, $`Q`$. The lower that $`Q`$ gets, the longer the plateau on the corresponding decay curve is. During the impurity dominating stage, the decay turns out to be extremely slow, and the characteristic decay time can be as long as 10-100 Myr.

These simple model calculations show very clearly that turbulent magnetic fields with the lengthscale of the order of the turbulence main lenghtscale in proto-neutron stars ($`13`$ km) can survive in the crust during a very long time $`10100`$ Myr that is generally comparable to the active lifetime of radiopulsars. The field strength in such magnetic spots on the surface can reach $`5\times 10^{12}2\times 10^{13}`$ G depending on the radius of a spot and can be larger than (or comparable to) the strength of the dipole field.

## 4 Conclusion

We have considered the formation and evolution of small-scale magnetic structures in the neutron star surface layers. A wide spectrum of these structures can be generated by the small-scale turbulent dynamo action during the unstable phase that lasts $`3040`$ s after the neutron star birth. There are two substantially different unstable regions in the proto-neutron star, with the convective instability active in the inner region and the neutron-finger instability more efficient in the outer region. Generally, the small-scale dynamo can generate small-scale magnetic structures in both unstable zones. Due to high conductivity of nuclear matter, the lengthscale of generated magnetic structures spreads from the main scale of turbulence, $`L13`$ km (comparable to the pressure scale height), to extremely short lengthscales determined by ohmic dissipation. After instabilities stop, structures with short lengthscales decay on a short timescale $`\mathrm{}^2`$ due to finite electrical conductivity whereas fields with larger lengthscales can survive for a longer time. The crust formation that starts almost immediately after instabilities stop may have the decisive influence on the evolution of such magnetic fields. These magnetic structures can be frozen into the crystallized matter and then evolve in the crustal layers. The neutron star cooling increases the conductivity of the crust and, as a result, small-scale magnetic structures decay extremely slowly. Our calculations show that structures with the lengthscale $`L13`$ km can survive as long as 10-100 Myr that is basically comparable to the active life-time of radiopulsars.

The strength of the magnetic field generated by the small-scale dynamo action is approximately determined by equipartition and decreases with the decreasing lengthscale. For magnetic structures with $`L13`$ km, the magnetic field can be as strong as $`5\times 10^{12}2\times 10^{13}`$ G even for radiopulsars as old as $`10100`$ Myr. Note that the decay of small-scale magnetic fields is qualitatively similar to that of the large-scale crustal field considered by Urpin & Konenkov (1997). The origin of a large-scale field in neutron stars is still debatable, but it is possible that this field was generated by some mechanism in the layer with $`\rho <2\times 10^{14}`$ g/cm3 that corresponds to the crust (see, e.g., Bonanno, Rezzolla & Urpin 2003). Then, the thickness of a layer occupied by the large-scale field can generally differ from $`L`$. If the initial depth of a large-scale field is smaller than $`L`$, then the small-scale field decreases slower, and we observe a radiopulsar with magnetic ”spots” where the field is stronger than the dipole field inferred from the spin-down rate. On the contrary, if the initial depth of a large-scale field is larger than $`L`$, then small-scale structures decay faster than the dipole field, and the resulting magnetic field becomes more regular with the age.

Small-scale magnetic structures with $`L13`$ km and $`B5\times 10^{12}2\times 10^{13}`$ G at the surface may have an important influence on many properties of radiopulsars. As already mentioned in the Introduction, this range of the surface magnetic field is favourable for the inner vacuum gap formation in pulsars (Gil & Melikidze 2002). The sparking discharge of this gap produces filaments of electron-positron plasma, whose presence seems absolutely necessary for generation of coherent pulsar radio emission. Moreover, the $`𝐄\times 𝐁`$ drift of spark plasma should be manifested as the observed subpulse drift, provided that the actual surface field has some degree of axial symmetry, with a tendency to converge at the local pole (see Gil, Melikidze & Geppert, 2003 for review). These authors assumed that one small-scale structure (a ”spot”) coincides to some extent with the canonical (dipolar) polar cap in the sence that the magnetic field lines form a complex magnetic configuration near the pole but connect smoothly with a subset of open dipolar field lines at a larger radius (Gil, Melikidze & Mitra 2002a). This means that the actual polar cap is defined by those non-dipolar field lines which penetrate the light cylinder.

A study of small-scale magnetic structures can also provide information regarding the very early evolutionary stage of neutron stars since the observed fields were frozen into the crust soon after the neutron star birth. For example, the presence of small-scale magnetic structures in radiopulsars can be a good evidence that proto-neutron stars pass the turbulent stage in their evolution.

## Acknowledgement

One of the authors (V.U.) thanks the University of Alicante for hospitality and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology for a financial support (grant AYA2001-3490-C02-02). This paper is supported in parts by the Polish KBN Grant 2 P03D 008 19 and the grant 04-02-16243 of the Russian Foundation of Basic Research. J.G. acknowledges the renewal of the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship.