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# Selection Effects in high-redshift Submillimeter Surveys and pointed observations

## 1 Introduction

From the IRAS survey, it was clear that the absorption and re-emission of starlight by interstellar dust in the Milky Way, and of both starlight and accretion energy from AGN by dust in external galaxies, is a very important process. The thermal emission spectrum of dust heated by this radiation, which is observed to peak at a wavelength of order 100 $`\mu `$m, is redshifted into the submm waveband with a very strong $`K`$-correction, making high-redshift submm galaxies unusually easy to detect as compared with their low-redshift counterparts. Between redshifts of about 0.5 and 10 the $`K`$-correction almost balances the cosmological dimming of a source with a fixed template SED, and so the flux density received from a galaxy is approximately constant. Although the submm waveband is thus a very attractive window for cosmology, it is technically very challenging to image submm radiation at the faint sensitivity levels – several mJy at 850 $`\mu `$m – required to detect even an ultraluminous galaxy, defined as possessing a far-infrared(IR) luminosity in excess of $`10^{12}`$ L, at any redshift $`z0.5`$.

Systematic submm-wave cosmology has only been possible since the commissioning of the SCUBA camera at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in 1997. A handful of known high-redshift galaxies and AGN were detected earlier using single-pixel detectors, but blank-field surveys were impossible, due to a combination of relatively low sensitivity and a very small field of view. SCUBA brought 37 and 91 detectors operating in the atmospheric windows at 850 and 450 $`\mu `$m respectively, providing a 2.5-arcmin field of view, and has been used to good effect to make a range of surveys of the high-redshift Universe. Recently, the MAMBO camera at the IRAM 30-m telescope has also produced deep survey images at 1.25 mm. The existing BIMA, IRAM, Nobeyama and OVRO interferometer arrays are very valuable for making sensitive, high-resolution mm-wave observations, but because of their small fields of view, they are not practical survey instruments. Prior to the debut of SCUBA, the one-dimensional multi-channel 350-$`\mu `$m SHARC camera at the Caltech Submm Observatory (CSO) was used to limit the counts of faint submm galaxies, and the relatively large primary beam of the BIMA array at 2.8 mm was exploited to impose the first limit to the mm-wave counts in a mosaicked image of the Hubble Deep Field. The detection of a very significant intensity of submm/far-IR background radiation from the COBE FIRAS and DIRBE datasets was achieved in parallel to the first SCUBA surveys.

The prospects for further instrumental developments are excellent. The lithographic manufacture of large arrays of bolometers is now routinely demonstrated. The BOLOCAM detector array that uses one type of this technology has recently undergone its first engineering tests at the CSO. An alternative technology is exploited in the forthcoming SHARC-II camera for the CSO. Bolometers that exploit superconducting and quantum interference devices rather than simple thermistors are also being developed. These promise increased stability and reduced response time, and would lead to a crucial increase in the degree of multiplexing possible in their readouts, and so to much larger arrays. The future SCUBA-II camera for the JCMT and large-format bolometer cameras for the 50-m LMT are expected to exploit such devices. The SMA interferometer array on Mauna Kea will provide the first sensitive, fully-$`uv`$-sampled interferometric images in the submm band, and in the future the 64$`\times `$12 m ALMA array will provide extremely sensitive, high-resolution observations.

Wide-band mm/submm-wave spectrometers are also being developed, using both arrays of heterodyne detectors and dispersive techniques. These instruments will offer the potential for the direct determination of redshifts for mm/submm-selected galaxies from mm-wave observations of CO lines. There is a natural symbiotic relationship between new panoramic bolometer cameras and these spectrographs, which together will be capable of both detecting and obtaining redshifts for large samples of high-redshift dusty galaxies without recourse to either optical, near-IR, or even radio telescopes.

The results and consequences of the first SCUBA surveys have been discussed extensively elsewhere. Here the potential selection effects in this new waveband are described in the context of our knowledge of the SEDs of the detected objects.

## 2 Submm-wave selection effects

### 2.1 Redshifts of submm-selected galaxies

In mm/submm-wave surveys there is a unique bias in favor of the detection of high-redshift galaxies at the expense of their low-redshift counterparts. The flux density of a galaxy with a fixed SED is expected to be approximately constant over a wide range of redshifts from about 0.5 to 10. The increase in the volume element out to $`z2`$ conspires to bias the selection function to greater redshifts; a demonstration of this effect in currently popular world models as a function of SED is presented elsewhere.

There is broad agreement that the objects detected in SCUBA surveys are at redshifts $`z3\pm 2`$. All three SCUBA galaxies with redshifts confirmed using CO spectroscopy are at $`z>1`$. Others for which deep multiwaveband data is available have no potential low-redshift counterparts. Four of the first galaxies from the CUDSS survey were identified with galaxies at $`z<1`$; however, more extensive results show a smaller fraction of potential low-redshift identifications. Note that two initially plausible low-redshift identifications of galaxies in the SCUBA Lens Survey were subsequently revised upwards in the light of additional data. New results from this meeting are consistent with a distant redshift distribution.

Despite their potential for detecting high-redshift galaxies, submm surveys detect galaxies at restframe wavelengths considerably longwards of the peak of their SEDs. It is thus possible that the form of this SED can affect the interpretation of the results of SCUBA surveys. The main effect would be to overestimate the bolometric luminosity associated with a submm-selected galaxy if its dust temperature was overestimated.

### 2.2 SEDs of submm-selected galaxies

Potential selection effects in submm-wave surveys are controlled by the SEDs of the detected galaxies. The SEDs of individual dusty galaxies certainly vary from galaxy to galaxy, and could vary systematically with luminosity and redshift. Here and in previous work connected with the SCUBA Lens Survey, three parameters are used to describe the SED; a dust temperature $`T`$ in a standard Planck function $`B_\nu `$, an index $`\beta `$ in a dust emissivity function $`\nu ^\beta `$ and a spectral index $`\alpha `$ to describe the mid-IR SED, $`f_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$.

Dust SEDs are steeper than blackbody spectra in the Rayleigh–Jeans (RJ) regime. If the SED is represented by the function $`\nu ^\beta B_\nu `$, then the RJ spectral index is $`2\beta `$. Some authors represent the SED by a greybody of the form $`(1\mathrm{exp}K\nu ^\beta )B_\nu `$, explicitly taking account of the increase in optical depth with increasing frequency. In this case, the RJ spectral index is also $`2\beta `$, but the SEDs differ near their peaks. Temperatures fitted using a greybody SED are typically about 20% greater than those derived from the $`\nu ^\beta B_\nu `$ SED.

The mid-IR $`\alpha `$ term is introduced because dust SEDs do not fall exponentially like blackbodies in the Wien regime, due to the contribution from additional hot dust components in the interstellar medium. At frequencies above which the gradient of $`\nu ^\beta B_\nu `$ is steeper than that of the power law $`\nu ^\alpha `$, the SED is represented by this power law, thus incorporating the observed mid-IR properties of galaxy SEDs; see Fig. 1. The radio emission associated with dusty galaxies is represented by an additional power-law function, normalized to fit the low-redshift far-IR–radio correlation.

These three simple parameters can provide an adequate and appropriate description of the SEDs of distant dusty galaxies from the mm to mid-IR waveband, which are constrained only by a handful of broad-band photometric measurements with little or no spatial resolution. When sub-arcsecond spatially-resolved images from ALMA are available, it will be important to investigate more details of the mm to near-IR SEDs, using radiative transfer models, including full details of the complex geometry, the different physical components and conditions in a merging, star-forming galaxy, and of a potential point-like nuclear heat source. However, few of the parameters required by such models can be constrained at present, and so we prefer to use the simple three-parameter SED. Based on fits to the form of evolution of low-redshift 60-$`\mu `$m IRAS galaxies and more distant galaxies selected at 175 $`\mu `$m, described elsewhere, values of $`T=38`$ K, $`\beta =1.5`$ and $`\alpha =1.7`$ were chosen; the associated SED is shown by the dashed line in Fig. 1.

Information about the SEDs of the high-redshift luminous galaxies detected in submm surveys can be obtained by several different routes.

First, submm-wave observations of a representative sample of galaxies from the IRAS catalog can be made. However, being at low redshifts ($`z0.1`$), the properties of these galaxies have rather little overlap with those of the more distant, typically much more luminous galaxies found in deep submm surveys. The results indicate that there is a weak trend for the dust temperature to increase with increasing luminosity, and that $`T=36\pm 5`$ K and $`\beta =1.3\pm 0.2`$ are reasonable typical values; see the dotted SED shown in Fig. 1. Independent results for the typical SEDs of IRAS galaxies, which yields a similar generic spectrum, are shown by the solid line in Fig. 1.

Secondly, color information for high-redshift submm-selected dusty galaxies can be obtained from multiband submm/mm/IR observations and combined with independent redshift information to derive $`T`$ and $`\beta `$. The few temperatures available are in the range 40-50 K, consistent with the SEDs described above. The relevant data are plotted in Fig. 1. Note that because dust SEDs are thermal, it is impossible to distinguish a priori between the effects of an increase in temperature or a reduction in redshift.

Thirdly, the color technique can be used to measure SEDs for high-redshift galaxies with known redshifts, but a less uniform selection criterion, for example the most luminous IRAS galaxies, high-redshift radio galaxies, optically-selected AGN and gravitational lenses. The ranges of luminosity and redshift that are appropriate to the SCUBA galaxies are sampled using this approach; however, the surveyed objects are diverse, and perhaps extreme and unrepresentative. For example, the dust temperature inferred from observations of the most luminous lensed quasar is about three times greater than the typical temperature inferred from IRAS, ISO and SCUBA data.

In general, dust temperatures in high-redshift AGN seem to be greater than in IRAS and SCUBA galaxies. This is probably due both to the selection effect against detecting hot objects in SCUBA surveys, and to higher intrinsic temperatures in the most luminous objects.

### 2.3 Pointed observations

There has been much concerted effort to detect statistical samples of known high-redshift galaxies, such as the Lyman-break galaxies, classical radio galaxies, quasars and gravitational lenses using mm/submm instruments. Before SCUBA, this technique provided the only opportunity to study the high-redshift mm/submm Universe. Today, it provides a direct opportunity to connect the results obtained from deep submm surveys to more developed fields of observational cosmology carried out in other wavebands.

The selection functions at work in these studies favor the detection of the highest redshift members of flux-limited samples of objects selected in another waveband, because of the familiar mm/submm $`K`$-correction. The ratio between the submm flux density of a galaxy and that measured in any other waveband, with the possible exception of soft X-ray observations of highly-enshrouded gas-rich AGN, is expected to be a strongly increasing function of redshift. For example, the submm–radio/optical flux density ratio of a galaxy with a reasonable radio or optical SED, $`f_\nu \nu ^1`$, and a submm SED, $`f_\nu \nu ^{3.5}`$, should increase with redshift $`z`$ as $`(1+z)^\gamma `$, where $`\gamma 4.5`$. The SCUBA detection of a $`z=5.8`$ quasar discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey reported at this meeting, despite the typical lack of detections of $`z3`$ quasars, provides a possible example. It is exciting that the growing number of very high-redshift objects detected in other wavebands could be relatively easy to detect in pointed mm/submm observations, using existing telescopes like the JCMT and CSO, forthcoming telescopes like the SMA and LMT, and ultimately at great sensitivity and resolution using ALMA. The intergalactic medium is always transparent to mm/submm radiation, and so this type of observation could be very important for tracing the process of re-ionization in the years ahead.

It should be possible to study the intrinsic evolution of the dust emission properties of a well-defined sample of galaxies by making mm/submm observations of a sub-sample that have been selected carefully elsewhere to have a fixed luminosity as a function of redshift. For example, while the fraction of powerful radio galaxies drawn from flux-limited samples that are detected by SCUBA is observed to increase with redshift, consistent with the selection effect above, a sub-sample with matched radio luminosities still displays a statistically significant increase in dust luminosity with redshift, indicating that powerful radio galaxies are systematically more luminous in the submm than the radio waveband at higher redshifts.

## 3 Summary: future observations of very early galaxies

Selection effects in deep mm/submm-wave surveys generally favor the detection of the most distant objects. For a fixed bolometric luminosity, dusty galaxies with colder dust temperatures are more likely to be detected. The detection of galaxies at the highest redshifts in the mm/submm waveband requires only that they are luminous and contain dust. Because absorption along the line of sight is not significant in the mm/submm waveband, dust generated and heated in the very first galaxies, prior to the epoch of re-ionization, could potentially be detected in the submm waveband.

## Acknowledgments

I thank the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation for support at the IoA, UMass/INAOE for support at the meeting, the CfA for organizing ‘The First Generation of Cosmic Structures’, for which some of this material was prepared, and Jan and Rick Caldwell for hospitality prior to both meetings.


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# Kondo and mixed valence regimes in multi-level quantum dots

## Abstract

We investigate the dependence of the ground state of a multi-level quantum dot on the coupling to an external fermionic system and on the interactions in the dot. As the coupling to the external system increases, the rearrangement of the effective energy levels in the dot signals the transition from the Kondo regime to a mixed valence (MV) regime. The MV regime in a two level dot is characterized by an intrinsic mixing of the levels in the dot, resulting in non-perturbative sub- and super-tunneling phenomena that strongly influence the Kondo effect.

(10 September 2000)

The Kondo effect arises from the coherent screening between a localized spin and the spin of surrounding mobile electrons, producing for example anomalous transport properties in metals with magnetic impurities. Recently, however, there has been a great deal of experimental activity in systems where an individual localized spin is probed directly, either in small metallic clusters,  in isolated magnetic atoms on metallic surfaces,  and in quantum dots defined in semiconductor systems.  This activity has been generated in great part by interesting and specific theoretical predictions.

A great deal of information has been obtained about the Kondo effect in both the linear and non-linear transport regimes thanks to experiments in and theory for quantum dots. Several conditions have been analyzed, including large dots (with a quasi-continuous energy spectrum),  one-level dots (well described by the Anderson impurity model),  and the two- and multi-level quantum dots with discrete energy spectrum.  The ability to change the structural parameters of the semiconductor quantum dot makes these systems particularly attractive for the experimental investigation of the Kondo effect. This flexibility invites the exploration of the transition from the Kondo to the non-Kondo ground state of the dot as either the shape, coupling to the external system or the gate voltage applied to the dot are changed. For instance, experiments show different sequences of Kondo and non-Kondo ground states in quantum dots, as the gate voltage (hence the number of electrons in the dot) is varied.  To address these Kondo–non-Kondo transitions, we consider a model of a multilevel quantum dot with discrete energy spectrum. Our results are quite interesting, as they describe a rich behavior for different parameter values of experimental accessibility. Previous investigations on both single- and multi-level models have uncovered interesting features of the Kondo effect, including Kondo peaks in the conductance and the associated density of states, their temperature dependence, and other features.  However, the typical approximation made in models of multilevel quantum dots with discrete energy levels is to neglect the strong mixing between the energy levels of the dot due to the interaction with the external fermionic system. This approximation incorporates the external fermionic system only as a broadening of the individual levels in the quantum dot.

In this paper we show that the mixing among energy levels of the dot due to the coupling to the external system leads to a qualitative rearrangement of the levels at large coupling (in a regime we call ‘mixed valence’ (MV)). This is characterized by the appearance of effective dot levels exhibiting sub- and super-tunneling to the leads. In the linear regime, we explore the alternation between spinless and spinful ground states, as function of the interaction constants in the dot and the coupling to the external fermionic system, as the gate voltage (dot occupation) changes. Depending on the various dot parameters, we find two regimes for weak coupling to the leads: the “Hund’s rule” regime, where the dot tends to have maximal absolute value of spin, and successive addition of electrons does not cancel the Kondo effect; and the even-odd Kondo–non-Kondo regime, where the absolute spin of the dot is minimized, i.e., it is nonzero only if the number of electrons in the dot is odd. For strong coupling with the leads, the appearance of sub- and super-tunneling quasi-levels results in changes of the occupation sequence of the dot in the MV regime, in sharp contrast with the single-level quantum dot. This behavior may yield the observed different sequences of Kondo and non-Kondo ground states seen sometimes in experiments.

In what follows we consider explicitly a two-level quantum dot in the linear regime at zero temperature, both for simplicity and ease of presentation. However, most of our description and conclusions are valid for higher level-multiplicity. Details will be shown elsewhere.  The Hamiltonian of the model can be written as

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{l,\sigma }{}}\{E_l\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }^+\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }+U_1{\displaystyle \underset{ll^{}}{}}\widehat{n}_l\widehat{n}_l^{}U_2(\stackrel{}{S}_l)^2\}+J\stackrel{}{S}_1\stackrel{}{S}_2`$ (1)
$`+`$ $`\gamma {\displaystyle \underset{l,\sigma }{}}(\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }^+\widehat{a}_{0,\sigma }+\widehat{a}_{0,\sigma }^+\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma })+H_F(\widehat{a}_{r,\sigma }^+,\widehat{a}_{r,\sigma }).`$ (2)
Here, the fermionic operators $`\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }^+,\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }`$ describe the state (orbital) in the dot with index $`l=1,2`$, and spin index $`\sigma `$. $`\widehat{n}_{l,\sigma }=\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }^+\widehat{c}_{l,\sigma }`$ is the particle number operator of the state $`(l,\sigma )`$ and $`\widehat{n}_l=\widehat{n}_l+\widehat{n}_l`$. $`\stackrel{}{S}_l=\widehat{c}_{l,\alpha }^+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_{\alpha \beta }\widehat{c}_{l,\beta }`$ is the spin operator for level $`l`$. The operators $`\widehat{a}_{r,\sigma }^+,\widehat{a}_{r,\sigma }`$ refer to the fermions in the external electron system (the leads). There is a tunnel coupling $`\gamma `$ between the dot and the external system at point $`r=0`$, and $`H_F`$ is the Hamiltonian of the external fermionic system. This one-lead geometry is schematically depicted in the inset of Fig. 1.

The basic interactions in the quantum dot are the Hubbard-like repulsion between the electrons on a given level of the dot, represented here by the constant $`U_2`$, and the density-density repulsion between the charges on different energy levels via the interaction constant $`U_1`$. We also include an exchange interaction between the spins of the two levels via the interaction constant $`J`$. Typically, the range of $`J`$ is $`0|J|U_1`$. In what follows we consider the antiferromagnetic exchange ($`J>0`$), the role of the ferromagnetic exchange being less interesting. The various constants of these interactions depend mostly on the overlap integrals between the wave functions of the different energy levels. Therefore, they can be changed by changing the shape of the quantum dot, which is experimentally accessible.

To deal with the external fermionic system, we note that due to the $`\delta (r)`$-like interaction with the dot, one can consider only the s-wave scattering of the external electrons on the dot, and hence use a one-dimensional description of the external system.  We use a discretized representation of the external electron system, so that the resulting problem reduces to the coupling of the quantum dot states to a 1D fermionic chain $`H_F=t_{i=1}^L(\widehat{a}_{i\sigma }^+\widehat{a}_{i+1,\sigma }+\widehat{a}_{i+1,\sigma }^+\widehat{a}_{i\sigma })`$ (similar to the linear chain form for the s-d model in Ref. \[\]).

Integrating the fermionic degrees of freedom consecutively, starting from the site directly coupled to the quantum dot, we find that the influence of the external fermionic system on the quantum dot renormalizes the coupling constants in the system, and most importantly, gives rise to an additional term of the form $`i\kappa _{l,l^{}}\widehat{c}_{l\sigma }^{\omega _n+}\widehat{c}_{l^{}\sigma }^{\omega _n}`$ in the effective Hamiltonian, where $`\omega _n`$ denotes the Matsubara frequency. Consecutive elimination of external degrees of freedom yields recurrent relations for the running interaction constants; we find

$`\stackrel{~}{\omega }_{j+1}`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _n+\stackrel{~}{\omega }_jt^2/D_{nj}`$ (3)
$`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_{j+1}`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_jt^2/D_{nj}`$ (4)
$`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }_{j+1}`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }_j+i\omega _n\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_j^2/D_{nj},`$ (5)
where $`D_{nj}=\omega _n\stackrel{~}{\omega }_j+t^2`$, and $`j`$ is the integration step index.

These relations can be directly iterated. As we are interested in the interaction of the dot with infinite leads, we look for fixed points of the recurrent relations. This yields an effective dot coupling for small Matsubara frequencies given by $`\kappa (\gamma ^2/2t)\mathrm{sgn}(\omega _n)`$, where the hopping in the fermionic chain $`t`$ is of the order of the bandwidth of the external fermionic system.  While being approximately constant at small frequencies, the mixing $`\kappa `$ decays at large frequencies. This property insures the transition from the mixed valence regime for shallow energy levels, to the Kondo regime for deep levels.

The state of the quantum dot is characterized by the occupation of different energy levels. To determine the ground state of the dot, we treat the many particle interactions by means of the Hubbard – Stratonovich decoupling of the four-fermionic terms with subsequent mean field (Hartree) approximation for the bosonic decoupling fields.  At the mean field level, the spin and occupation of a given level of the dot are characterized by the average values of the decoupling fields $`\stackrel{}{M}_l`$ (the average spin of the level $`l=1`$ or 2 – assumed frozen along the $`z`$-direction), and $`R_l`$ (the average charge/number of electrons on level $`l`$). The mean field solutions for the isolated quantum dot, $`\kappa =0`$, allow us to classify the states of the quantum dot as follows: i) $`M_l=0`$, $`R_l=0`$: the level $`l`$ is empty; ii) $`M_l=\pm 1`$, $`R_l=1`$: the level $`l`$ is singly occupied, spin $`1/2`$; iii) $`M_l=0`$, $`R_l=2`$: the level $`l`$ is doubly occupied, spin $`0`$. Further, we denote the states of the quantum dot as $`(n,m)`$ with $`n`$ and $`m`$ being the occupation of the first and the second energy levels, respectively.

In the mean field treatment, we replace the two level quantum dot with interactions by a non-interacting quantum dot with quasi-energy levels that depend on the ground state of the quantum dot. This approach allows one to describe correctly the properties of the quantum dot in the ground state and its gapless excitations, including the Kondo effect, which is the aim of our treatment. At the same time, the quasi-energy levels do not reproduce the gapped excitation spectrum of the quantum dot measured, for example, in optical experiments.

For the isolated quantum dot, the positions of the quasi-energy levels are given by $`ϵ_1^,=E_1+R_2U_1\pm [M_1(2U_2+J)M_2J]`$, $`ϵ_2^,=E_2+R_1U_1\pm [M_2(2U_2+J)M_1J]`$, where the sign “$`+`$” (“$``$”) corresponds to $``$ ($``$) spin. As the gate voltage lowers, more electrons occupy the quantum dot. Whereas the spin of states with 0, 1, 3 and 4 electrons in the dot is defined uniquely, the state with 2 electrons in the dot can have total spin 1, if the electrons occupy different energy levels (the state (1,1)), or total spin 0 in the states (0,2) or (2,0). Which of these states is chosen depends on the relation between the interaction constants in the dot. Taking the degenerate case $`E_1=E_2`$ and comparing the free energies of different states of the isolated dot with total occupation 2, we find, that the state (1,1) is realized under the condition $`U_1<2U_2+3J`$, i.e., if the Hubbard and exchange interactions that favor the magnetic state dominate over the density-density repulsion between the electrons on different levels. In the opposite case, the nonmagnetic (0,2) or (2,0) states of the quantum dot are realized for two electrons in the dot. Extending this result for the multilevel dot with almost degenerate single particle levels, the condition $`U_1<2U_2+3J`$ corresponds to the Hund’s rule regime, hence a sequence of consecutive Kondo states as the dot charge increases. The opposite condition corresponds to the alternation of the Kondo and non-Kondo ground states for odd and even numbers of electrons, respectively, as one expects for separate single-level dots.

The coupling to the leads via a nonzero coupling $`\kappa `$ results in the broadening and mixing of the energy levels that are given now by the expression $`z_\pm ^\sigma =\left(ϵ_1^\sigma +ϵ_2^\sigma \pm \sqrt{(ϵ_1^\sigma ϵ_2^\sigma )^24\kappa ^2}\right)/2i\kappa `$. In the limit of zero level mixing (zero tunneling), the values of $`z_\pm ^\sigma `$ coincide with $`ϵ_{1,2}^\sigma `$. Small level mixing $`\kappa `$ leads to small deviations of the solutions from the above mentioned values, although the structure of the quasi-energy spectrum remains the same.

In contrast, in the case of strong level mixing, when the condition $`2\kappa >|ϵ_1ϵ_2|`$ is satisfied, the quasi-energy spectrum changes qualitatively, reflecting the transition into the regime we call mixed-valence (MV). This regime is realized if the level spacing in the noninteracting dot is small. Then the square root in the expression for the $`z_\pm ^\sigma `$ turns out to be purely imaginary. The positions of the energy levels for a given spin direction coincide. It is convenient to rearrange the energies $`z_\pm `$ introducing the values $`z_1`$ and $`z_2`$ in the following manner $`z_1z_+\theta (\omega _n)+z_{}\theta (\omega _n)`$, $`z_2z_+\theta (\omega _n)+z_{}\theta (\omega _n)`$. Then we obtain $`z_{1,2}=\left(ϵ_1+ϵ_2\right)/2i\left(\kappa \sqrt{\kappa ^2(ϵ_1ϵ_2)^2/4}\right)\mathrm{sgn}(\omega _n)`$. In the limit of large $`\kappa `$ one has two degenerate levels for each spin projection, one strongly broadened ($`z_2`$) and the other one with strongly suppressed broadening ($`z_1`$).

Since in the MV regime the quasi-levels are degenerate (even in the presence of interactions), the electrons fill the dot pairwise, each pair containing two electrons with the same projection of the spin. (One could say that the strong mixing provides an effective ferromagnetic interaction between spins.) The sequence of ground states obtained by changing the gate voltage is modified correspondingly. For example, neglecting the exchange interaction, and in the regime $`E_1E_2>2U_2U_1>0`$, the sequence of ground states in the dot changes from “empty dot $``$ lower level singly occupied (Kondo state) $``$ lower level doubly occupied $``$ upper level singly occupied with lower level full (Kondo state) $``$ both levels doubly occupied in the weak coupling regime \[or $`(0,0)(1,0)(2,0)(2,1)(2,2)`$ in our $`(n,m)`$ notation\], to “empty dot $``$ both levels singly occupied (Kondo state with spin 1) $``$ both levels doubly occupied in the mixed valence regime \[or $`(0,0)(1,1)(2,2)`$\]. The first sequence results in two Kondo peaks in the conductance (odd occupation) separated by two non-Kondo states (even occupation), whereas in the MV case one can see only one Kondo triplet-like peak (in the state with both levels singly occupied). This difference in ground state sequences will clearly have experimentally observable consequences.  Notice, however, that the contribution to the Kondo effect from the two levels differs qualitatively. Whereas the broad supertunneling level results in behavior typical of the one-level dot in the MV regime (where charge fluctuations are strong, and one observes strong temperature dependence of the Kondo peak ), the narrow subtunneling level contributes as a deep Kondo level in a one-level quantum dot (with large spin fluctuations and universal temperature dependence).

Note that the sub- and super-tunneling rearrangement of the energy levels and related changes in the state of the quantum dot described here can only occur in the multilevel (two-level here) dot. Moreover, this can be calculated theoretically only if one takes fully into account the effect of mixing of energy levels in the dot through the coupling to the external fermionic system. This non-perturbative effect is not present in other treatments, either because the strong coupling is explicitly neglected,  or because it is treated only perturbatively.

A typical change of the state of the dot with gate voltage is shown in Fig. 1. Close to the Fermi level ($`E_F=0`$, for $`E_1,E_20.84,0.64`$) the spin and the occupation of both levels jump simultaneously, the values of the average spin and charge on both levels being equal, $`M_1=M_2`$, $`R_1=R_2`$. The dot is, therefore, in the MV regime. As the gate voltage lowers the levels in the dot, the MV regime breaks down (at $`E_13.9`$), the level 2 becomes doubly occupied and nonmagnetic ($`R_22`$, $`M_2=0`$), whereas the level 1 remains singly occupied. The quantum dot is in the Kondo regime. Finally, the level 1 becomes doubly occupied also (at $`E_15.1`$). The dot is completely filled. Note, that in the nonmagnetic states of the dot, the spin is identically zero, whereas the average charge assumes a continuously varying nonzero value due to the coupling to the external system. The different behavior of the spin and charge of the dot is similar to the quantization of the spin and the absence of quantization of the charge in a quantum dot, predicted recently in the limit of a large dot.

The exchange interaction generally favors the magnetic (1,1) state of the quantum dot with both levels singly occupied. However, whereas the ferromagnetic exchange does not affect the transition between the Kondo and MV regimes, the AFM exchange suppresses the MV regime, effectively increasing the interlevel separation $`ϵ_1^\sigma ϵ_2^\sigma `$. At the same time, the Kondo effect is suppressed by the antiferromagnetic correlation of spins in the dot.  The influence of the AFM exchange interaction on the MV regime is illustrated in Fig. 2. Here the change of the ground state of the dot is shown versus the tunneling amplitude $`\gamma `$ for zero and nonzero values of the AFM coupling $`J`$. We can see that at the transition to the MV regime the charge state of the dot changes from (1,2) (Kondo state with three electrons in the dot, spin 1/2) to (1,1) (Kondo state with two electrons in the dot, spin 1). Therefore, increasing the coupling to the external fermionic system causes the delocalization of one of the electrons in the quantum dot. The nonzero AFM exchange $`J`$ shifts the transition to the higher values of the coupling $`\gamma `$ thus competing with the MV regime.

Different ground state behavior has been identified in a two-level quantum dot (although most of our conclusions can be generalized to the multi-level case). This behavior depends on interaction parameters and coupling to the external leads, resulting in a situation not described before: a strong-coupling ‘mixed valence’ regime, which produces Kondo-like behavior for even numbers of electrons in the dot. One can anticipate that if a sample exhibits consecutive Kondo peaks for both odd and even occupation, the signature of the MV regime would be a non-universal temperature dependence of the conductance, and its low-temperature unitary limit would clearly exceed the single-channel level.

This work was supported in part by US Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-91ER45334.


text:
# Reconnection in a striped pulsar wind

## 1 Introduction

The diffuse synchrotron radiation from the Crab Nebula has now been observed in great detail in several wavebands, e.g., Hester et al. (1995). Although by far the best observed example, the Crab is just one of several pulsars surrounded by such a nebula (Arons, 1996), whose ultimate source of energy is almost certainly the rotational kinetic energy of the central neutron star (Pacini, 1967). However, despite intensive efforts, it is still not known how this energy is transferred from the neutron star to the radiating, relativistic electrons.

It is widely accepted that pulsars emit an electron-positron plasma, which carries away energy in the form of an ultra-relativistic magnetized wind, together with large amplitude waves (Rees & Gunn, 1974). At a shock front, located, in the case of the Crab Nebula, some $`10^{17}`$cm from the neutron star, this energy is released into the relativistic electrons responsible for the observed radiation. The most serious problem with this picture is that close to the strongly magnetized neutron star the energy must be carried mostly by electromagnetic fields as Poynting flux (Michel, 1982). But, in order to produce the radiating electrons, the energy flux at the shock front must be carried mainly by the particles (Rees & Gunn, 1974; Kennel & Coroniti, 1984; Emmering & Chevalier, 1987). As has been pointed out by several authors — and emphasized recently by Chiueh, Li & Begelman (1998) and Bogovalov & Tsinganos (1999) — in an ideal, ultra-relativistic MHD wind, there is no plausible way of converting the Poynting flux into particle energy flux. Several effects have been investigated in attempts to overcome this difficulty, ranging from rapid expansion in a magnetic nozzle (Chiueh, Li & Begelman, 1998) to non-ideal MHD effects in a two-fluid (electron and positron) plasma (Mestel & Shibata, 1994; Melatos & Melrose, 1996). It has also been suggested that a global non-axisymmetric instability of the nebular plasma alleviates the problem by enabling the conversion of magnetic to particle energy (Lyubarsky, 1992; Begelman, 1998). However, perhaps the most promising explanation to date has been that of reconnection in a striped pulsar wind, as advanced by Michel (1982), Coroniti (1990) and Michel (1994). Here, we reanalyze this process. Both Coroniti and Michel effectively assumed the wind maintained constant speed during reconnection. We find that the hot plasma in the current sheets where reconnection takes place performs work on the wind, accelerating it substantially. As a result, the reconnection rate is much slower than hitherto claimed. In the case of the Crab Nebula, we conclude that reconnection is not capable of converting a significant fraction of the energy flux before the wind reaches the position at which the shock front is encountered.

The conversion of Poynting flux to kinetic energy is also a central problem in a certain class of models of gamma-ray bursts. It has been proposed that the emission of a large amplitude electromagnetic wave by a black hole or neutron star(s) underlies the burst phenomenon, that the gamma-rays are generated by dissipative processes in the wave, and that the X-ray and lower frequency emission is produced at an outer shock front (Usov, 1992, 1994; Blackman & Yi, 1998). The calculations we present can be rescaled to this situation and may offer a mechanism for accelerating the wind to the very high Lorentz factors required before dissipation sets in.

The paper is organized as follows: in Section 2 we describe the problem as formulated by Coroniti (1990) and Michel (1994), present estimates of the effect of reconnection and explain in physical terms the reasons for our new result. The perturbation method we employ is a short wavelength approximation, which uses as a small parameter the ratio of the radius of the light cylinder to the actual radius. This is presented in outline in Section 3, relegating most of the algebra to the Appendix, but pointing out the differences between our method and that of Coroniti (1990). An analytic asymptotic solution to the system is given in Section 4, followed by results of a numerical integration of the equations and a discussion of the limitations of our approach. Finally, in Section 5, we summarize our conclusions and their implications, especially for our understanding of the Crab Nebula.

## 2 The striped wind

Despite the presence of a plasma, the total power lost by a rotating magnetized neutron star may be estimated using the formula for a magnetic dipole rotating in vacuum Gunn & Ostriker (1969), Michel (1982). However, the presence of plasma changes the physical picture significantly: for example, even an axisymmetric rotator surrounded by plasma loses energy by driving a plasma wind, in contrast to an aligned magnetic dipole in vacuum. Furthermore, although a strong vacuum electromagnetic wave readily loses energy to particles (Ostriker & Gunn, 1969; Asseo, Kennel & Pellat, 1978; Melatos & Melrose, 1996), the presence of plasma is likely to prevent the formation of such waves and restrict dissipation to shock fronts or regions in which the magnetic field undergoes reconnection.

In the case of an oblique rotator, the energy lost in the wind can be regarded as shared between an axisymmetric component of the Poynting flux and one due to MHD waves, the ratio being determined by the angle between the magnetic and rotational axes. Michel (1971) pointed out that such waves, which have a phase speed less than that of light, should evolve into regions of cold magnetically dominated plasma separated by very narrow, hot, current sheets. The formation of this pattern may be imagined as follows: in the axisymmetric case, a current sheet separates the two hemispheres with opposite polarity beyond the light cylinder. As the obliquity increases, this sheet begins to oscillate about the equatorial plane because the field line at a given radius alternates in direction with the frequency of rotation, being connected to a different magnetic pole every half-period. Such a picture is observed in Solar Wind. In a quasi-radial flow, the amplitude of these oscillations grows linearly with radius and at large distances one can locally imagine quasi-spherical current sheets following each another and separating the stripes of magnetized plasma with opposite polarity. Coroniti (1990) called this picture a striped wind. Recently Bogovalov (1999) has found an exact solution for the oblique split monopole case which has precisely this structure.

It was noticed by Usov (1975) and Michel (1982) that these waves must decay at large distances, since the current required to sustain them falls off as $`r^1`$. This is slower than the fall-off in the available number of charge carriers, which goes as $`r^2`$. Coroniti (1990) considered the reconnection process in a striped wind and came to the same conclusion. In the case of a highly oblique rotator, both Coroniti and Michel agreed that the MHD wind of the Crab pulsar could be transformed by this mechanism from one dominated by Poynting flux to one dominated by particle kinetic energy flux well within the radius of the termination shock.

The pulsar wind beyond the light cylinder is quasi-spherical (Chiueh, Li & Begelman, 1998; Bogovalov & Tsinganos, 1999), and, as the magnetic field is predominantly toroidal, it scales roughly as

$`B`$ $`=`$ $`B_\mathrm{L}{\displaystyle \frac{r_\mathrm{L}}{r}},`$ (1)
where $`r_\mathrm{L}=c/\mathrm{\Omega }=cP/2\pi `$ is the light-cylinder radius, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ the angular velocity of the neutron star $`P`$ its period of rotation and $`B_\mathrm{L}`$ the magnetic field strength at $`r_\mathrm{L}`$. Near the light cylinder, the poloidal and toroidal components are comparable, but within it the poloidal field is nearly dipolar, so that one can estimate

$`B_\mathrm{L}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{r_\mathrm{L}^3}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}9}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{30}}{P^3}}\mathrm{G},`$ (2)
where $`\mu =10^{30}\mu _{30}`$G$``$cm3 is the magnetic moment of the star and $`P`$ is given in seconds. The density $`n`$ in the quasi-spherical flow, measured in the rest frame of the star, decreases approximately as

$`n`$ $`=`$ $`n_\mathrm{L}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r_\mathrm{L}}{r}}\right)^2,`$ (3)
since in a steady, spherical, relativistic flow $`r^2nv`$ is constant and the speed $`v`$ is close to $`c`$. The density is conveniently normalized by the Goldreich-Julian charge density $`\rho _{\mathrm{GJ}}`$:

$`n_\mathrm{L}`$ $`=`$ $`\kappa \rho _{\mathrm{GJ}}/e`$ (4)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa B_\mathrm{L}\mathrm{\Omega }}{2\pi ec}}`$
where $`\kappa `$ is the multiplicity coefficient. This quantity is rather uncertain but generally expected to be large: $`\kappa 10^310^4`$ (Arons, 1983).

The Poynting flux may be estimated as

$`W`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{cB_\mathrm{L}^2}{4\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r_\mathrm{L}}{r}}\right)^2`$ (5)
and the ratio of the Poynting flux to the kinetic energy flux, called the magnetization parameter $`\sigma `$, is

$`\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{W}{mc^3\gamma n}}.`$ (6)
At the light cylinder this quantity takes on the value

$`\sigma _\mathrm{L}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _\mathrm{L}}{2\gamma _\mathrm{L}\kappa \mathrm{\Omega }}}`$ (7)
$`=`$ $`13\times 10^7{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{30}}{\gamma _\mathrm{L}\kappa P^2}}`$ (8)
where $`\omega _\mathrm{L}=eB_\mathrm{L}/mc`$ is the gyrofrequency at the light cylinder. The ratio $`\omega _\mathrm{L}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is large for all pulsars. For example, in the case of the Crab, where $`\mu _{30}5`$, we have $`\omega _\mathrm{L}/\mathrm{\Omega }10^{11}`$.

The speed of a fast magnetosonic wave propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field in a magnetically dominated plasma corresponds to a Lorentz factor $`\gamma _{\mathrm{fms}}=\sqrt{\sigma }`$ \[e.g., Kirk & Duffy (1999)\]. In pulsar models, plasma is ejected at Lorentz factors of $`10^2`$ to $`10^3`$, which is higher than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{mfs}}`$ for most pulsars. In the case of the Crab, however, these values correspond to a trans-alfvénic speed ($`\gamma _\mathrm{L}\sqrt{\sigma _\mathrm{L}}`$) at the light cylinder. At some point beyond the light cylinder, but before the onset of dissipation, we expect the wind to establish a supersonic ideal MHD flow, in which the value of $`\sigma `$ and $`\gamma `$ are constant. In the following, these values are indicated by the subscript ‘L’, even though, strictly speaking, they may not be achieved at the light cylinder itself. Using the above estimates, we then find that, for the Crab, $`\kappa =10^4`$ corresponds to $`\sigma _\mathrm{L}3\times 10^4`$ and $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}200`$. At the light cylinder, almost all the energy is carried by the electromagnetic field. If this energy were completely transferred from Poynting flux into plasma kinetic energy, the Lorentz factor would attain the value

$`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}\sigma _\mathrm{L}`$ (9)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _\mathrm{L}}{2\kappa \mathrm{\Omega }}}.`$
However, a cold, radial MHD wind does not accelerate, because the outwardly directed pressure gradient arising from the gradient of the magnetic field is exactly balanced by the inwardly directed tension force exerted by the curved toroidal field lines. In the absence of dissipation, the energy flux remains locked in the field as Poynting flux.

The idealized radial structure of the wind and embedded current sheets corresponding to the field of a perpendicular split monopole is shown in Fig. 1. In the proper plasma frame the current density $`I^{}`$ (current per unit length in the toroidal direction) is, according to Ampère’s law,

$`I^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{cB^{}}{2\pi }}.`$ (10)
Here and in the following we use primed values to indicate quantities in the proper plasma frame, e.g., $`B^{}=B/\gamma `$, $`n^{}=n/\gamma `$ etc. Usov (1975) and Michel (1982) noticed that the current in Eq. (10) cannot be maintained to arbitrarily large radius: since the proper current density cannot exceed $`en^{}c`$ and the width of the sheet is less than half a wavelength, $`\pi r_\mathrm{L}`$, one can easily see from Eqs.(1), (3) and (4) that the striped wind cannot exist beyond the radius

$`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`\pi \kappa \gamma r_\mathrm{L}`$ (11)
\[see also (Melatos & Melrose, 1996)\]. When the velocity of the current carriers approaches the speed of light, an anomalous resistance arises and the alternating magnetic field dissipates by heating the plasma. Coroniti (1990) considered the dissipation as reconnection through the current sheet, whose minimum thickness he took equal to the Larmor radius which a thermal particle of the hot plasma in the sheet would have, if it entered the cold magnetized part of the wind. In terms of the fraction $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of a wavelength $`2\pi r_\mathrm{L}`$ occupied by the two current sheets, this condition reads

$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`>`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{T^{}}{\pi \gamma r_\mathrm{L}eB^{}}}`$ (12)
where $`T^{}`$ is the characteristic “temperature” of the particles in the sheet, in energy units. Taking into account that the sheet is in pressure equilibrium,

$`n^{}T^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{8\pi }}`$ (13)
one can easily see that the current density $`j^{}<en^{}c`$, so that Coroniti’s condition is, to within a factor of the order of unity, the same as that of Michel (1994).

If, initially, a fraction $`\alpha `$ of the plasma is concentrated in the sheets, dissipation begins at a radius $`r_1=\alpha r_{\mathrm{max}}`$. For $`r<r_1`$ the sheet width exceeds the limiting value of Eq. (12), the current carriers remain non-relativistic, the conductivity is very high and reconnection does not proceed. For $`r>r_1`$, however, the current carriers become relativistic, an anomalous resistivity arises, and reconnection brings energy and plasma into the sheet until, eventually, all the magnetic flux is destroyed at the radius $`r=r_{\mathrm{max}}`$.

Both Michel and Coroniti estimated the radius $`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ by substituting into Eq.(11) the initial Lorentz factor $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}`$. The corresponding value is large compared to the light cylinder radius. For the Crab, it is of the order of $`10^7r_\mathrm{L}`$, which is, nevertheless, still well within the radius of the standing shock $`r_\mathrm{s}10^9r_\mathrm{L}`$. However, as we show below, the flow accelerates as reconnection proceeds. Basically, this is because the hot plasma continues to exert an outwardly directed pressure gradient, but the compensating inwardly directed tension force is absent. Equivalently, it is clear that the hot plasma performs work during the radial expansion, and this appears as an acceleration of the wind. In an accelerating wind, most of the energy is released when the Lorentz factor of the flow is roughly at its maximum value, given by Eq. (9). The corresponding radius is

$`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`\pi \kappa \gamma _{\mathrm{max}}r_\mathrm{L}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \omega _\mathrm{L}}{2\mathrm{\Omega }}}r_\mathrm{L}`$
$`=`$ $`210^{17}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{30}}{P}}\mathrm{cm}`$
In the case of the Crab, $`r_{\mathrm{max}}10^{11}r_\mathrm{L}`$, which significantly exceeds the radius of the standing shock, so that only a small fraction of the wave energy is converted into particle energy before the plasma arrives at this shock front.

## 3 Equations

### 3.1 Local structure of the wave

The striped wind described above can be regarded as an MHD wind containing an entropy wave which moves together with the plasma. At large distances the wave consists locally of spherical current sheets separating cold, magnetized stripes of plasma with opposing polarity (see Fig. 1). To find the evolution of this wave, we use a two-timescale perturbation approach, assuming that the timescale on which it evolves i.e., the timescale on which the reconnection sheet grows, is much longer than the period $`P`$ of the wave. Details of this method are presented in the Appendix. Here we restrict ourselves to the most important steps in the argument.

In the cold magnetized part of the wind the magnetic field $`B`$, which is toroidal, is constant on the fast timescale and the plasma pressure vanishes. The plasma density $`n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$ ($`n_\mathrm{c}`$ in the lab. frame) is also constant on the fast timescale. In the hot sheet, the magnetic field vanishes, the pressure $`p^{}`$ is constant on the fast timescale, as is the plasma density $`n_\mathrm{h}^{}`$, which, in contrast to previous treatments, is not constrained to equal $`n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$. In the plasma frame the entire pattern is at rest, but the plasma speed $`v`$, and the corresponding Lorentz factor $`\gamma `$ change on the slow timescale as the wave evolves. In the cold part of the wind, the magnetic field is frozen into the plasma, so that in spherical polar coordinates we can write for the slow evolution in radius

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}r}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B}{rn_\mathrm{c}}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (15)
\[see Eq. (A33)\]. Although the method is strictly valid only for $`rr_\mathrm{L}`$, we normalize the quantities in the wind to their value at $`r=r_\mathrm{L}`$. Using Eq. (4) and interpreting the multiplicity factor as referring to the density of electron/positron pairs outside the current sheets, this yields

$`{\displaystyle \frac{B^{}}{rn_\mathrm{c}^{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi e}{\kappa }}.`$ (16)
Following Coroniti (1990), we assume that reconnection keeps the sheet width equal to the limiting value given in Eq. (12) and (A32). The condition that the cold and hot parts of the flow are in pressure equilibrium (13) leads, together with Eq. (16), to the relation

$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{rZc}{4\pi \gamma vr_\mathrm{L}\kappa }}`$ (17)
where a useful variable

$`Z`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n_\mathrm{c}^{}}{n_\mathrm{h}^{}}}={\displaystyle \frac{n_\mathrm{c}}{n_\mathrm{h}}}`$ (18)
has been introduced. In his treatment, Coroniti (1990) set $`n_\mathrm{h}^{}=n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$ to write his equation (16) — the counterpart of our Eq. (17).

The remaining equations needed to describe the wave evolution are those of conservation of particle number and energy (equivalent to the equation of motion in the relativistic formulation) and the entropy equation. To zeroth order in $`r_\mathrm{L}/r`$ these confirm that the plasma speed equals the pattern speed, the hot and cold parts are in pressure equilibrium and the configuration shown in Fig. 1 and described above is stationary on the fast timescale.

### 3.2 The continuity equation

The slow evolution of the system is obtained by averaging over a wave-period, which we denote by angle brackets: $`\mathrm{}`$. Conservation of particle number (the continuity equation) gives

$`nvr^2`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{constant}`$ (19)
This equation is exact. In the short wavelength approximation, one can replace the time average by a spatial one, because all slowly varying parameters are constants on the scale of one wavelength. This immediately yields

$`vr^2n_\mathrm{c}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{Z}}+\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)\right]`$ $``$ $`C_1=\mathrm{constant}`$ (20)
\[see Eq. (A34), noting that in this section we use $`\gamma `$ and $`v`$ to refer to the zeroth order quantities, denoted in the Appendix by $`\gamma _0`$ and $`v_0`$\].

### 3.3 The energy equation

After time averaging, the energy equation is

$`r^2w^{}\gamma ^2v+{\displaystyle \frac{EB}{4\pi }}c`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{constant}`$ (21)
Here $`w^{}`$ is the enthalpy density: outside of the sheets $`w^{}=mn_\mathrm{c}^{}c^2`$, whereas within them $`w^{}=4p^{}+mn_\mathrm{h}^{}c^2`$ ($`=B^2/2\pi +mn_\mathrm{h}^{}c^2`$). One can substitute for the electric field using $`E=vB`$ because, by assumption, $`E`$ and $`B`$ are nonzero only outside the sheets, where magnetic field is frozen into the plasma.

Replacing once again in Eq. (21) the time average by a spatial one yields

$`\gamma ^2vr^2\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{2\pi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{mn_\mathrm{c}^{}c^2}{Z}}\right)\mathrm{\Delta }+(1\mathrm{\Delta })\left(mn_\mathrm{c}^{}c^2+{\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{4\pi }}\right)\right]`$ $``$ $`C_2=\mathrm{constant}`$ (22)
\[see Eq. (A35)\].

Coroniti (1990) did not use equation (21) in his analysis. Instead, he assumed the plasma both inside and outside of the sheet is strictly stationary in the wave frame so that the sheet edge moved through a constant density plasma. This led him to set $`n_\mathrm{h}^{}=n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$ in Eq. (17) (our numbering), thus reducing the number of unknowns. He was then able to find an expression for the speed of the sheet edge. However, such a picture violates energy conservation, as is apparent from Eq. (21): the condition of pressure equilibrium ($`p^{}=B^2/8\pi \gamma ^2`$) means that a decrease in the enthalpy flux in the magnetized part of the flow ($`=r^2vB^2/4\pi `$) cannot be balanced by an increase in the enthalpy flux in the sheet ($`=r^2w^{}\gamma ^2v=4r^2p^{}\gamma ^2v`$) unless there is a velocity (and density) jump across the sheet edge.

### 3.4 The entropy equation

The entropy equation requires more care. Following Eq. (21) of Coroniti (1990) and setting the ratio of specific heats to $`4/3`$, we write for the full nonlinear equation:

$`3{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}p^{}}{\mathrm{d}t}}4{\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{n^{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}n^{}}{\mathrm{d}t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(E{\displaystyle \frac{v}{c}}B\right)j`$ (23)
(see Eq. A4) where the convective derivative $`d/dt/t+v/r`$. The right-hand side of this equation, when multiplied by $`\gamma `$, is the rate of entropy generation in the rest-frame of the plasma, which moves with speed $`v`$. In the limit of a sharp transition between the magnetized and unmagnetized parts of the flow, the entropy generation term is the product of two singular functions: one for the current and another for the electric field in the plasma frame. To find the slow evolution of the wave, it is essential to perform the averaging process before inserting this specific representation, which is not well-defined at the point at which entropy is generated. In moving from his Eq. (21) to (22), Coroniti overlooked this point. As a consequence of this, and of the incorrect expression for the expansion speed of the sheets, he came to the erroneous conclusion \[in his equation (26)\] that the wave Lorentz factor remains almost constant during reconnection.

Following the averaging procedure described in the Appendix (Eqs. A27 to A30), we find \[see Eq. (A37)\]:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{4p^{}}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left(r^2\gamma v\mathrm{\Delta }\right)+3\gamma v{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }p^{}\right)+`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{v}{\gamma }}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left[\gamma ^2\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)p^{}\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma p^{}\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)}{r}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left(rv\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (24)
This equation may be integrated, using the equations of continuity (20) and flux freezing (16):

$`(13Z)n_\mathrm{c}^{}r^3`$ $``$ $`C_3=\mathrm{constant}`$ (25)
\[See Eqs. (A38A42)\].

The system thus consists of five algebraic equations (16), (17), (20), (22) and (25) for the five slowly varying unknown functions of radius: $`n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$, $`Z`$, $`B^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`\gamma `$.

## 4 Results

### 4.1 Asymptotic solution

A general solution to this system is difficult to find, and the most straightforward way to generate a numerical solution is to revert to integrating the differential forms of the continuity, energy and entropy equations. However, it is possible to extract analytically an asymptotic solution, valid for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`\gamma ^2`$, $`\sigma _\mathrm{L}^11`$, which is just the regime we are interested in.

As can be checked a posteriori, the quantity $`n_\mathrm{c}^{}r^3`$ is an increasing function of $`r`$, so that, according to Eq. (25), $`Z1/3`$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$. Defining, in accordance with Eq. (7),

$`\sigma _\mathrm{L}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{B^2/4\pi }{mn_\mathrm{c}^{}c^2}}\right]_{r=r_\mathrm{L}}`$ (26)
we can use the continuity equation (20) to rewrite the energy equation (22) as

$`\gamma ^2vr^2(1+\mathrm{\Delta }){\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{4\pi }}+\gamma mc^2C_1`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}mc^2C_1(1+\sigma _\mathrm{L}).`$ (27)
Here we have assumed the initial thickness of the current sheet is vanishingly small. This is reasonable, since before the onset of reconnection, the plasma in the sheet expands adiabatically and cools, causing the sheet width to decrease. To lowest order in the small parameters, this equation (27), together with Eq. (16), and the continuity equation (20) yield the same result:

$`\gamma r^2n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`C_1`$ (28)
so that the system is nearly degenerate. Expanding the equations to next order and eliminating the leading term gives

$`\sigma _\mathrm{L}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Delta }}{Z}}3\mathrm{\Delta }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\gamma _\mathrm{L}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\gamma ^2}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{\gamma _\mathrm{L}}}1.`$ (29)
At large radius $`Z1/3`$ and for a super-Alfvénic flow ($`\gamma \gamma _\mathrm{L}>\sqrt{\sigma }`$), one finds $`\gamma /\gamma _\mathrm{L}3\sigma _\mathrm{L}\mathrm{\Delta }`$, leading to the asymptotic solution

$`\gamma `$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _\mathrm{L}\gamma _\mathrm{L}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }r}{2\pi \omega _\mathrm{L}r_\mathrm{L}}}\right]^{1/2}`$ (30)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }r}{18\pi \omega _\mathrm{L}r_\mathrm{L}}}\right]^{1/2}`$ (31)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{T^{}}{mc^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _\mathrm{L}\gamma _\mathrm{L}}{6\gamma }}=\left[{\displaystyle \frac{18\mathrm{\Omega }r}{\pi \omega _\mathrm{L}r_\mathrm{L}}}\right]^{1/2}`$ (32)
$`p^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{B_\mathrm{L}^2}{8\pi \gamma _\mathrm{L}^2}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{r_\mathrm{L}}}\right)^3{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi \omega _\mathrm{L}}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}`$ (33)
which agrees with our estimate that the maximum value of $`\gamma `$ given in Eq. (9) is attained at the radius $`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ of Eq. (2), where $`\mathrm{\Delta }1`$. Note that this solution is independent of the actual value of $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}`$, which enters only as a scaling factor for $`\gamma `$.

### 4.2 Numerical solution

Three physical parameters determine the cold radial MHD wind of a pulsar in the absence of reconnection. They are the values at the light cylinder of the magnetization parameter $`\sigma _\mathrm{L}`$, Lorentz factor $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}`$ and the ratio of the particle gyro frequency to the rotation period $`\omega _\mathrm{L}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$. These are related to the multiplicity parameter $`\kappa `$ by Eq. (7). In the presence of reconnection, the same three parameters also uniquely specify the asymptotic solution at large radius Eqs. (3033). However, the full solution requires one additional initial condition, which is the fraction $`\alpha `$ of plasma which is initially present in the current sheets. This quantity determines the radius at which reconnection starts, which is, formally, the position at which we impose the initial condition $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$. The perturbation analysis presented above is valid when this radius is large compared to $`r_\mathrm{L}`$.

To investigate the dependence of the solutions on this initial condition, we have solved the system by integrating numerically the three equations continuity, energy and entropy written in differential form: (A34), (A35) and (A37). The results are shown in Fig. 2, for parameters appropriate for the Crab pulsar: $`\sigma _\mathrm{L}=3\times 10^4`$, $`\gamma _\mathrm{L}=200`$, ($`>\sqrt{\sigma _\mathrm{L}}`$, so that the wind is initially supersonic) and $`\omega _\mathrm{L}/\mathrm{\Omega }=10^{11}`$. The multiplicity parameter for these parameters is $`\kappa =8\times 10^3`$. Solutions for three different initial conditions are shown, corresponding to starting points for reconnection at $`10`$, $`10^3`$ and $`10^5\times r_\mathrm{L}`$. Superposed on these solutions is the analytic asymptotic solution. For all values of the initial condition, the asymptotic solution is approached rapidly, and followed closely, until $`\mathrm{\Delta }1`$. The termination shock in the wind of the Crab pulsar is thought to lie at roughly $`r_\mathrm{s}10^9r_\mathrm{L}`$. At this point, $`\mathrm{\Delta }0.01`$ and the energy flux is still dominated by Poynting flux.

### 4.3 Validity of the solutions

The range of validity of our treatment is limited by two factors. According to our solutions, the temperature in the current sheets decreases outward. The expression used for the gyro-radius in Eqs. (17) and (A32) assumes $`T>mc^2`$, as does the choice $`\widehat{\gamma }=4/3`$ for the ratio of specific heats. This is not the case at very large radius and the range of validity is therefore restricted to

$`\gamma `$ $`<`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}}{6}}`$ (34)
At the upper end of this range, $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1/18`$, so the assumption $`\mathrm{\Delta }1`$ is still valid. The corresponding radius $`r_2`$ is

$`r_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \omega _\mathrm{L}}{18\mathrm{\Omega }}}r_\mathrm{L}={\displaystyle \frac{10^6\mu _{30}}{P^2}}r_\mathrm{L}`$ (35)
At this point, the fraction of the Poynting flux transferred to the plasma is still small. For the Crab, one obtains (see Fig. 2) $`r_210^{10}r_\mathrm{L}`$, which already exceeds the radius of the standing shock. Thus, our treatment is valid up to the shock front, before which reconnection is indeed ineffective in the wind of this pulsar.

The second limitation concerns the assumption that the dissipation proceeds sufficiently quickly to keep the sheet thickness equal to the minimum value given by Eq. (12). This assumption holds provided the proper propagation time, $`r/(c\gamma )`$, exceeds the Larmor period. Because the sheet width is equal to the Larmor radius, this condition,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\gamma }}`$ $`>`$ $`4\pi ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma r_\mathrm{L}`$ (36)
is equivalent, to within a factor of the order of unity, to the condition that pressure equilibrium within the sheet has time to be established. Substituting Eq. (31) and $`Z=1/3`$, one finds

$`\gamma `$ $`<`$ $`\gamma _\mathrm{M}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}\kappa .`$ (37)
If $`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}>\gamma _\mathrm{M}`$, the flow accelerates only up to the point where $`\gamma =\gamma _\mathrm{M}`$, after which no further dissipation can occur. This regime arises for

$`\kappa `$ $`<`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _\mathrm{L}}{6\mathrm{\Omega }}}}`$ (38)
$`=`$ $`210^3{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\mu _{30}}}{P}}`$ (39)
or, alternatively,

$`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _\mathrm{L}\gamma _\mathrm{L}>\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{3\omega _\mathrm{L}}{2\mathrm{\Omega }}}}`$ (40)
$`=`$ $`610^3{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\mu _{30}}}{P}}`$ (41)
Otherwise, acceleration continues and the flow can, in principle, reach $`\gamma _{\mathrm{max}}`$, unless it encounters a shock front.

In the case of a pulsar moving through the interstellar medium, one can estimate the position of the termination shock by equating the magnetic pressure to the ram pressure of the medium:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{B_\mathrm{L}^2}{8\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r_\mathrm{L}}{r}}\right)^2`$ $`=`$ $`\rho V^2`$ (42)
where $`\rho `$ is the density of the interstellar medium, and $`V`$ the velocity of the pulsar through it. Taking $`V=100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and a particle density of $`1\mathrm{cm}^3`$, one obtains

$`r_\mathrm{s}`$ $`=`$ $`7\times 10^{14}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{30}}{P^2}}\mathrm{cm}.`$ (43)
Comparing this with the expression for $`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$, Eq. (2), one sees that the flow remains Poynting dominated up to the termination shock for all but the milli-second pulsars.

## 5 Conclusions

We have examined the fate of a wave generated in a pulsar wind by the rotating, magnetized neutron star. This wave is built from the oscillating equatorial current sheet which, at large distances, may be considered locally as a sequence of spherical current sheets separated in radius by the distance $`\pi r_\mathrm{L}`$. As was suggested by Usov (1975) and Michel (1982), the wave decays because the particle number density eventually becomes insufficient to maintain the necessary current. Dissipation begins when the velocity of the current carriers reaches the speed of light or, almost equivalently, when the sheet width becomes equal to the Larmor radius (Coroniti, 1990; Michel, 1994). The dissipation process may be considered as reconnection of oppositely directed magnetic fields (Coroniti, 1990). In the proper plasma frame, plasma from the inter sheet space slowly moves towards the sheet, which slowly expands, absorbing more plasma and magnetic energy. The distance at which the wave decays completely is proportional to the Lorentz-factor $`\gamma `$ of the flow \[Eq.(9)\], as found by Michel and Coroniti. In this formula, however, they inserted the initial Lorentz-factor, $`\gamma 1001000`$ and concluded that in the case of the Crab pulsar the wave decays well before the wind reaches the termination shock.

We find that the flow accelerates during the dissipation process. The reason is that in the freely expanding flow, hot plasma in the current sheet performs work on the flow. The restraining magnetic tension force is released by reconnection, but the accelerating pressure gradient remains. As a result, most of the magnetic energy is dissipated when the flow has accelerated to a Lorentz-factor which is of the same order as the maximal one. For the Crab, the corresponding distance is well beyond the standing shock, so we conclude that the wave does not dissipate before entering the shock. Using a simple estimate of the location of the termination shock for other isolated pulsars, we find this conclusion holds for all except those of milli-second period. In the Appendix, we show that our result applies not only to the singular current sheet structure discussed by Coroniti (1990), but also to a more general smooth distribution of current and magnetic field.

Exactly how the wind energy dissipates remains a mystery, not only in the case of pulsars, but also in the closely related models proposed for gamma-ray bursts (Usov, 1992, 1994; Blackman & Yi, 1998). At present, one can only speculate that dissipation might be possible in a combination of shocks and current sheets at the position of the bright equatorial X-ray torus observed in the Crab (Brinkmann, Aschenbach & Langmeier, 1985). If the Crab is an oblique rather than a perpendicular rotator, a significant part of the energy flux at high latitudes is transferred by the axisymmetric part of the Poynting flux, which cannot dissipate by reconnection. It has been suggested that the release of this energy may be triggered by the kink instability (Lyubarsky, 1992; Begelman, 1998), giving rise to the jet-like structure observed in the Crab Nebula, orientated, presumably, along the rotation axis of the pulsar (Hester et al., 1995). Thus, the idea that dissipation of the axisymmetric component and the wave component of the Poynting flux is fundamentally different has both observational and theoretical support. Current sheets are not expected to be responsible for the former. We have demonstrated in this paper that they also cannot be responsible for the latter, until the pulsar wind encounters the termination shock.

Y.L. thanks the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik for support under their international visitor program.

## Appendix A Equations of entropy-wave evolution in the two-timescale approximation

### A.1 MHD equations

Consider a non-steady, axially symmetric, radial MHD wind. In spherical coordinates, the electromagnetic fields, fluid velocity and current density in the laboratory frame are $`\stackrel{}{B}=B(r,t)\widehat{\phi }`$, $`\stackrel{}{E}=E(r,t)\widehat{\theta }`$, $`\stackrel{}{v}=v(r,t)\widehat{𝐫}`$, $`\stackrel{}{j}=j(r,t)\widehat{\theta }`$, and the proper (i.e., in the fluid rest frame) energy density, pressure, temperature (in energy units) and number density are $`e^{}(r,t)`$, $`p^{}(r,t)`$ $`T^{}(r,t)`$ and $`n^{}(r,t)`$.

Then the equations of MHD are that of continuity:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}(\gamma n^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}(r^2\gamma vn^{})`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A1)
(where $`\gamma =1/\sqrt{1v^2/c^2}`$), the energy equation (zeroth component of the divergence of the stress-energy tensor):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}(T^{00})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}(r^2T^{01})`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A2)
where

$`T^{00}`$ $`=`$ $`(e^{}+p^{})\gamma ^2p^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{E^2+B^2}{8\pi }}`$
$`T^{01}`$ $`=`$ $`(e^{}+p^{})\gamma ^2v+{\displaystyle \frac{EBc}{4\pi }}`$ (A3)
the entropy equation:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\widehat{\gamma }1}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}p^{}}{\mathrm{d}t}}{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{\gamma }p^{}}{n^{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}n^{}}{\mathrm{d}t}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(E{\displaystyle \frac{v}{c}}B\right)j`$ (A4)
(where $`\mathrm{d}/\mathrm{d}t/t+v/r`$ and $`\widehat{\gamma }`$ is the ratio of specific heats) and the two Maxwell equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}(rB)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{c}}{\displaystyle \frac{E}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{c}}j`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A5)
(Ampère’s law) and

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}(rE)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{c}}{\displaystyle \frac{B}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A6)
(Faraday’s law). The system is completed by Ohm’s law

$`j`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _\mathrm{c}\gamma \left(E{\displaystyle \frac{v}{c}}B\right)`$ (A7)
the ideal gas law

$`p^{}`$ $`=`$ $`n^{}T^{}`$ (A8)
and an equation of state, for which we select

$`p^{}`$ $`=`$ $`(\widehat{\gamma }1)(e^{}n^{}mc^2)`$ (A9)
where $`m`$ is the (mean) particle rest mass. In the following we will take $`\widehat{\gamma }=4/3`$, as appropriate for a relativistic gas.

Eliminating $`n^{}`$ from Eq. (A4) using the equation of continuity (A1) we find

$`4p^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{t}}+3\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{4p^{}}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}(r^2\gamma v)+3v\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{r}}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma \left(E{\displaystyle \frac{v}{c}}B\right)j.`$ (A10)
In the limit of a relativistic gas, $`e^{}3p^{}`$, the set of equations (A2), (A10), (A5) and (A6) is then independent of $`n^{}`$, which appears only in the continuity equation (A1).

### A.2 Perturbative solution

To solve these equations, we exploit the two-timescales present in the problem. The fast timescale is that of the pulsar rotation period $`t_{\mathrm{fast}}=P2\pi /\mathrm{\Omega }`$. We assume that the initial conditions in the wind close to the star have period $`P`$ and that at any fixed radius, all quantities vary with this period. At a distance of a few light-cylinder radii ($`r_\mathrm{L}c/\mathrm{\Omega }`$), we assume that the wind has settled down into an almost stationary pattern in which the fluid speed does not vary on the fast timescale, although the density, pressure and especially the magnetic field do so. Our initial conditions at this distance, therefore, constitute an entropy wave comoving with the fluid. The wave evolves on the slow timescale which is the expansion timescale of the wind $`t_{\mathrm{slow}}rP/r_\mathrm{L}`$. For $`rr_\mathrm{L}`$, we have conditions suitable for a two-timescale expansion, i.e., $`t_{\mathrm{fast}}t_{\mathrm{slow}}`$. The general procedure is: i) transform to fast and slow independent variables, ii) expand the dependent variables, iii) collect and solve the zeroth order equations, and iv) collect the first order equations and demand that the secular terms they contain vanish (Nayfeh, 1973).

First, we define a fast phase variable

$`\varphi `$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }\left[t{\displaystyle _0^r}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}r^{}}{v_\mathrm{w}(r^{})}}\right]`$ (A11)
where $`v_\mathrm{w}(r)`$ is the speed of the pattern, which is to be determined. We now change variables from $`(r,t)`$ to $`(\varphi ,R)`$, where the dimensionless ‘slow’ variable is defined as

$`R`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon r/r_\mathrm{L}`$ (A12)
with $`\epsilon 1`$ and $`R1`$. In terms of the new variables, we find for the continuity equation (A1):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}(\gamma n^{}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_\mathrm{w}}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}(\gamma vn^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(R^2\gamma vn^{})`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A13)
the energy equation (A2):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{T^{00}}{\varphi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_\mathrm{w}}}{\displaystyle \frac{T^{01}}{\varphi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(R^2T^{01})`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A14)
the modified entropy equation (A10):

$`4p^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{\varphi }}+3\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{\varphi }}4{\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{v_\mathrm{w}}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}(\gamma v)`$ (A15)
$`3{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma v}{v_\mathrm{w}}}{\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{\varphi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{4\epsilon p^{}}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(R^2\gamma v)+3\epsilon \gamma v{\displaystyle \frac{p^{}}{R}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}\gamma (EvB)j`$
Ampère’s equation (A5):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{E}{\varphi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_\mathrm{w}}}{\displaystyle \frac{B}{\varphi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(RB)+{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\mathrm{\Omega }}}j`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A16)
Faraday’s equation (A6):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{\varphi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_\mathrm{w}}}{\displaystyle \frac{E}{\varphi }}+{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(RE)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (A17)
In these equations we have expressed all velocities in units of the speed of light ($`vcv`$ etc.).

We now expand the dependent variables, noting that for an entropy wave the zeroth order velocity is independent of the phase:

$`v`$ $`=`$ $`v_0(R)+\epsilon v_1(\varphi ,R)`$
$`n^{}`$ $`=`$ $`n_0^{}(\varphi ,R)+\epsilon n_1^{}(\varphi ,R)`$
$`p^{}`$ $`=`$ $`p_0^{}(\varphi ,R)+\epsilon p_1^{}(\varphi ,R)`$ (A18)
etc.

Substituting and collecting terms of order $`\epsilon ^0`$ we find from the continuity equation (A13) that for a non-uniform wind (one in which $`\gamma _0n_0`$ is a function of $`\varphi `$)

$`v_\mathrm{w}`$ $`=`$ $`v_0(R).`$ (A19)
The Maxwell equations (A17) and (A16) then lead to

$`{\displaystyle \frac{B_0}{\varphi }}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi \gamma _0^2v_0}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}j_0.`$ (A20)
From Faraday’s law (A17), it then follows that the quantity $`E_0v_0B_0`$ is independent of $`\varphi `$. Furthermore, in order to describe a wave with both a reconnection zone and a region in which ideal MHD holds ($`\sigma _\mathrm{c}\mathrm{}`$), it follows from Ohm’s law Eq. (A7) that this quantity must be zero:

$`E_0`$ $`=`$ $`v_0B_0.`$ (A21)
The energy equation (A14) yields the pressure balance condition:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}\left(p_0^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{B_0^2}{8\pi \gamma _0^2}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (A22)
Finally, using Eqs. (A19) and (A21) it can be seen that the entropy equation (A15) is satisfied identically to zeroth order.

To first order in $`\epsilon `$, we have for the continuity, energy and Maxwell equations:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _0}{v_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}(n_0^{}v_1)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(R^2\gamma _0v_0n_0^{})`$ (A23)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_0}}T_1^{01}T_1^{00}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}\left(p_1^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{v_1\gamma _0^2}{v_0}}(e_0^{}+p_0^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{B_0}{4\pi \gamma _0^2v_0}}E_1\right)`$ (A24)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(R^2T_0^{01}\right)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}\left(E_1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_0}}B_1\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(RB_0){\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\mathrm{\Omega }}}j_1`$ (A25)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}\left(B_1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{v_0}}E_1\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(Rv_0B_0).`$ (A26)
In the entropy equation, one may substitute for the zeroth order current using equation (A20) to find

$`{\displaystyle \frac{4\gamma _0}{v_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\varphi }}(p_0^{}v_1)+`$ (A27)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \gamma _0v_0}}(E_1v_0B_1){\displaystyle \frac{B_0}{\varphi }}={\displaystyle \frac{4p_0^{}}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}(R^2\gamma _0v_0)+3\gamma _0v_0{\displaystyle \frac{p_0^{}}{R}}.`$
The equations governing the evolution of the zeroth order quantities on the slow scale are given in the usual manner by imposing non-secular behavior on the first order equations (Nayfeh, 1973). This ensures that the first order quantities do not grow to dominate the zeroth order terms of the expansion within $`\mathrm{O}(r/r_\mathrm{L})`$ wave periods. As frequently happens, the imposition of these regularity conditions suffices to determine the slow variation of the zeroth order quantities. Consider, for example, Eq. (A23), which is a linear, inhomogeneous equation for $`v_1`$. The right-hand side is, by construction, a periodic function of $`\varphi `$. Therefore, $`v_1`$ will grow with $`\varphi `$ unless the integral of the right-hand side over a complete period vanishes. Applying these considerations also to Eq. (A24) leads to the conditions:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(R^2\gamma _0v_0{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi n_0^{}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A28)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(R^2{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi T_0^{01}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left\{R^2\gamma _0^2v_0\left[{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi \left(e_0^{}+p_0^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{B_0^2}{4\pi \gamma _0^2}}\right)\right]\right\}`$ (A29)
$`=`$ $`0`$
Equation (A25) is needed only if the first order current is required, and Eq. (A26) yields only the conservation of the phase-integrated flux. Equation (A27) is integrated by parts to give, using (A26)

$`{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi p_0^{}{\displaystyle \frac{4}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(R^2\gamma _0v_0\right)+`$ (A30)
$`3\gamma _0v_0{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi p_0^{}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \gamma _0R}}{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi B_0{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(Rv_0B_0\right).`$
### A.3 Application to the striped wind

For the striped wind (Fig. 1), the zeroth order solution is

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array}{cc}\hfill n_0^{}=& n_\mathrm{h}^{}(R)\hfill \\ \hfill p_0^{}=& p^{}(R)\hfill \\ \hfill B_0=& 0\hfill \end{array}\}\mathrm{for}0<\varphi <\pi \mathrm{\Delta }(R)\mathrm{and}\pi <\varphi <\pi [1+\mathrm{\Delta }(R)]\hfill \\ \begin{array}{cc}\hfill n_0^{}=& n_\mathrm{c}^{}(R)\hfill \\ \hfill p_0^{}=& 0\hfill \\ \hfill B_0=& B(R)\hfill \end{array}\}\mathrm{for}\pi \mathrm{\Delta }<\varphi <\pi \hfill \\ \\ \begin{array}{cc}\hfill n_0^{}=& n_\mathrm{c}^{}(R)\hfill \\ \hfill p_0^{}=& 0\hfill \\ \hfill B_0=& B(R)\hfill \end{array}\}\mathrm{for}\pi [1+\mathrm{\Delta }(R)]<\varphi <2\pi \hfill \end{array}$$

together with the condition of pressure equilibrium between the hot and cold layers:

$`p^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{8\pi \gamma _0^2}}={\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{8\pi }}`$ (A31)
Coroniti’s estimate of the thickness of the neutral sheet gives

$`\mathrm{\Delta }(R)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{p^{}(R)\mathrm{\Omega }}{n_\mathrm{h}^{}(R)e\pi B(R)v_0(R)}}`$ (A32)
and the ideal MHD condition outside the sheet implies flux freezing there:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{B(R)}{R\gamma _0(R)n_\mathrm{c}^{}(R)}}\right]`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (A33)
This latter relation follows formally by using the first order form of the ideal MHD condition: $`E_1=v_0B_1+v_1B_0`$ in Faraday’s equation (A26) together with the continuity equation (A23) and the fact that in our present configuration $`B_0`$ and $`n_0`$ are independent of $`\varphi `$ outside of the sheet.

The five unknowns obey, in addition, equations (A28, A29, and A30). In the case of Eqs. (A28) and (A29) the integration over $`\varphi `$ may be performed immediately to give:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left\{R^2\gamma _0v_0\left[\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)n_\mathrm{c}^{}+\mathrm{\Delta }n_\mathrm{h}^{}\right]\right\}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A34)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left\{R^2\gamma _0^2v_0mc^2\left[\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)n_\mathrm{c}^{}+\mathrm{\Delta }n_\mathrm{h}^{}\right]+2R^2\gamma _0^2v_0\left(1+\mathrm{\Delta }\right){\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{8\pi }}\right\}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (A35)
\[Eq. (20 and 22\]. The left-hand side of Eq. (A30) is also straightforwardly integrated. On the right-hand side, however, we first rewrite the integration in terms of $`B_0^2`$:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{4\mathrm{\Delta }p_0^{}}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(R^2\gamma _0v_0\right)+3\gamma _0v_0{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }p_0^{}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \gamma _0R}}{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}d\varphi \left[{\displaystyle \frac{Rv_0}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{B_0^2}{R}}+B_0^2{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(Rv_0\right)\right].`$ (A36)
Now the integration over $`\varphi `$ can be performed unambiguously to give, using Eq. (A31):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{4\mathrm{\Delta }B^2}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(R^2\gamma _0v_0\right)+3\gamma _0v_0{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }B^2\right)+`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{v_0}{\gamma _0}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left[\gamma _0^2\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)B^2\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma _0B^2\left(1\mathrm{\Delta }\right)}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(Rv_0\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (A37)
To integrate the entropy equation (A37) we first multiplying it by $`R^2\gamma _0v_0`$ and combine terms with and without $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ to find

$`4\gamma _0v_0{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}R}}\left(R^2v_0\gamma _0\mathrm{\Delta }B^2\right)2\gamma _0vR{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}R}}\left(Rv_0\gamma _0\mathrm{\Delta }B^2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}R}}\left(R^2v_0^2\gamma _0^2B^2\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (A38)
The last term appears to be of zeroth order in $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, but, because of the continuity equation (A34), it is in fact of first order. Substituting for $`B^{}`$ using the flux freezing condition of Eq. (A33), this term can be reduced to

$`2R^2v_0\gamma _0n_\mathrm{c}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}R}}\left(R^2v_0\gamma _0n_\mathrm{c}^{}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`2R^2v_0\gamma _0n_\mathrm{c}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}R}}\left(R^2v_0\gamma _0\mathrm{\Delta }(n_\mathrm{c}^{}n_\mathrm{h}^{})\right)`$ (A39)
where the continuity equation (A34) was used. Returning to equation (A38), and using the substitution

$`v_0\gamma _0\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{RZ}{4\pi \kappa }}`$ (A40)
where $`Z`$ is defined in Eq. (18), one finds

$`2Rn_\mathrm{c}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}Z}{\mathrm{d}R}}+3n_\mathrm{c}^{}(3Z1)+(3Z1)R{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}n_\mathrm{c}^{}}{\mathrm{d}R}}=0.`$ (A41)
which integrates to

$`(13Z)^{2/3}R^3n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{constant}.`$ (A42)
The striped wind shown in Fig. 1 is a particular (and singular) idealization of a wind containing cold magnetized parts of opposite polarity separated by hot sheets. More generally, we can envisage an idealization in which $`n_0^{}`$, $`B_0`$ and $`p_0^{}`$ are all continuous functions of $`\varphi `$. First, assume $`B_0`$ and $`n_0^{}`$ take on the constant values $`B`$ and $`n_\mathrm{c}^{}`$ outside of the sheets. From the condition of pressure balance

$`B^2`$ $`=`$ $`B_0^2(\varphi )+8\pi \gamma _0^2p_0^{}(\varphi )`$ (A43)
Defining the effective sheet width as

$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi \gamma _0^2}{B^2}}{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}\varphi }{2\pi }}p_0^{}(\varphi )`$ (A44)
and the average particle density $`n_\mathrm{h}^{}`$ within the sheet via:

$`\left(n_\mathrm{h}^{}n_\mathrm{c}^{}\right)\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}\varphi }{2\pi }}\left[n_0^{}(\varphi )n_\mathrm{c}^{}\right]`$ (A45)
we find, from Eqs. (A28A30) a system of equations which is identical to those obeyed in the singular idealization.