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# Broad-band X-ray spectra of the persistent black hole candidates LMC X–1 and LMC X–3

## 1. Introduction

Together with Cyg X–1, LMC X–1 and LMC X–3 are the only persistent X–ray binaries where the presence of a black hole is established by accurate measurement of the mass function. The binary nature of LMC X–3 was discovered by Cowley et al. (1983), who observed an optical period of 1.7 days, and derived a mass function $`f(M)=2.3M_{}`$. The likely mass of the compact object is $`M_\mathrm{X}9M_{}`$, strongly indicative of a black hole. In the case of LMC X–1, an estimate could be obtained only after an accurate X-ray position was derived from ROSAT observations (Cowley et al. 1995). The optical period is $`4.2`$ days, the mass function is $`f(M)=0.14M_{}`$, the inferred mass of the compact star is $`M_\mathrm{X}6M_{}`$.

Since their discovery with Uhuru (Leong et al. 1971), the two sources have been studied practically with all the X–ray missions. Both sources are usually found in the so–called soft–high state. Wilms et al. (2000, hereinafter W00) described the observation of sporadic episodes of low/hard state in LMC X-3, and recently Boyd & Smale (2000) and Homan et al. (2000) reported clear signs that the source entered a low/hard state. In comparison, the other two persistent black-hole candidates (BHCs), Cyg X–1 and GX 339–4, are found most of time in their hard–low state. We note, however, that such dichotomy of states describes only roughly the complexity of the spectral behaviour of BHCs, even of the persistent ones. As an example, the so called ”intermediate state” is now known to be quite common in Cygnus X–1. For a review of BHC states see Tanaka & Lewin (1995) and van der Klis (1995).

The X-ray spectrum of LMC X–3 has been studied in detail with EXOSAT and GINGA (Treves et al. 1988, 1990; Ebisawa et al. 1993). It is consistent with the “standard” model, i.e., the superposition of a “multicolor disk blackbody” (DBB) and power law high energy tail (PL), which appeared sporadically in the GINGA exposures. Such spectral shape is confirmed by recent RXTE observations (Nowak et al. 2000, hereinafter N00; W00). As in most high–state BHCs, the X–ray flux of LMC X–3 is fairly stable on short timescales ($`<1`$ ks), but it is subject to irregular or quasi periodic variability by up to a factor $`4`$ on 100–200 day time scales, as apparent in particular from the ASM–RXTE monitoring. Associated spectral transitions have been detected on such long flux variations (W00).

Also the spectrum of LMC X–1 was studied in detail with GINGA (Ebisawa et al. 1993). Similar to the case of LMC X–3, it is fit by a DBB+PL, which agrees with recent RXTE observations by Schmidtke et al. (1999). The X-ray flux of the source appears to be secularly more stable than that of LMC X–3, while more variable on shorter timescales (N00, W00). Ebisawa, Mitsuda & Inoue (1989) reported a QPO at 0.075 Hz. The QPO was not detected in RXTE observations (Schmidtke et al. 1999, N00).

Here we report on $`40`$ ks observations of LMC X–1 and LMC X–3 obtained with BeppoSAX in October 1997. The main advantage of BeppoSAX compared to other missions is the broad energy band covered by its instrumentation (0.1–300 keV). Preliminary results were presented by Treves et al. (2000), and by Dal Fiume et al. (2000). The paper is structured as follows: in Section 2 we describe the data reduction, in Section 3 and 4 we present the data analysis for the two objects, and in Section 5 we summarize and discuss our results.

All errors are 90% confidence for one parameter, unless otherwise indicated.

## 2. The data

The BeppoSAX scientific payload includes four coaligned Narrow Field Instruments covering the nominal energy range 0.1–300 keV, namely the Low Energy Concentrator Spectrometer (LECS, 0.1–10 keV), the 3 units of the Medium Energy Concentrator Spectrometer (MECS, 1.3–10 keV), the High Pressure Gas Scintillation Proportional Counter (HPGSPC, 4–120 keV) and the Phoswich Detector System (PDS, 12–300 keV). For further details on the BeppoSAX mission and instruments see Boella et al. (1997) and references therein.

As part of our program on persistent BHCs, BeppoSAX observed LMC X–1 and LMC X-3 on 1997 October 5-6 (from 20:55 to 12:50 UT), and 1997 October 11 (from 10:15 to 03:48 UT), respectively. The data reduction procedure for the LECS, MECS, PDS and HPGSPC was based on the XAS software (Chiappetti & Dal Fiume 1997; Chiappetti et al. 1999).

The LECS and MECS are imaging instruments, thus requiring spatial selection of source photons. The extraction radius for the LECS spectra is 8 arcmin for the MECS spectra is 8.36 arcmin. At the time of the observations, only two MECS units were active.

The exposure times and count rates are reported in Table 1. We note that for LMC X–3 no flux is detected in the PDS (the $`3\sigma `$ upper limit is $`11`$ cts/s in the 15–60 keV band). LMC X–1 was detected in the PDS, but see section 5 for a discussion of possible background contamination and source confusion. An estimate of the overall count rate corresponding to our best background subtraction is $`0.25\pm 0.03`$ cts/s in the 15–60 keV range.

Because of possible source confusion in the LMC field (see below) and because of the low detected count rate, we did not include the HPGSPC in our spectral analysis.

## 3. Data analysis: LMC X–3

### 3.1. Spectral analysis

LECS and MECS spectra were restricted to the 0.2-4 keV, and 1.8-10 keV energy ranges, respectively. A normalization factor was used as a free parameter in the fitting procedure, in order to allow for uncertainties in the cross–calibration of the LECS and MECS. The best–fit value of such parameter ($`0.75`$) is in agreement with the nominal value indicated by the BeppoSAX SDC. Moreover, we include a systematic error of 2% in the MECS data.

A spectral fit with a simple absorbed DBB is not satisfactory ($`\chi ^2/dof=283/216`$, see Table 2). The model understimates the LECS data between 1 and 2 keV. We have therefore introduced an additional spectral component, represented by a PL, the inclusion of an extra component improves the fit (see Table 3). The spectra and the residuals are plotted in Figure 1. The extrapolation of the power–law above 10 keV is consistent with the PDS upper limit.

The spectral index ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }2.7`$) is close to the measurements of other missions (Treves et al. 1990, W00). N00 reported a slightly steeper power–law index ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }3`$, RXTE data), with a normalization which is, however, a factor $`2030`$ larger.

The best fit values of the hydrogen column density are consistent with the mean Galactic value ($`N_\mathrm{H}<6\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, Dickey & Lockman 1990). This result agrees with previous determinations (Treves et al. 1986, Treves et al. 1988a).

For what concerns the DBB component, the best fit values of the temperature at the inner edge of the disk (Table 2, and Table 3) are similar to those determined from Ginga data (Treves et al. 1990), while the values are lower than those derived from BeppoSAX PV (Performance Verification) data (Siddiqui et al. 1998), and RXTE data (W00, N00). Comparing our 2–10 keV flux ($`F_\mathrm{X}=2.7\times 10^{10}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$) with the value reported by Siddiqui et al (1998) ($`F_\mathrm{X}=4.8\times 10^{10}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$, and $`F_\mathrm{X}=9.2\times 10^{10}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ in October and November 1996, respectively) shows that $`T_{\mathrm{in}}`$ is positively correlated with the luminosity. Our value of $`R_{\mathrm{in}}`$ determined in the case of DBB+PL is consistent with the value derived from the same model fit to Ginga data (Treves et al. 1990) and BeppoSAX PV data (Siddiqui et al. 1998), but it is smaller than that derived by N00 for RXTE data.

We did not find any evidence of emission features, such as the 6.4 keV Fe $`K_\alpha `$ line, in contrast to 1996 RXTE observations reported by N00. The upper limit on the line EW ($`300`$ eV at 90% level) is however consistent with the N00 results.

### 3.2. Timing analysis

The MECS data were subdivided in 17 separate intervals of $`2000`$ s duration, and the power spectral densities were computed for each interval, and then averaged together. No evidence for variability in excess of the counting statistics was found. We can then put an upper limit of $`1`$ % to the rms of variability, in the frequency range $`10^30.2`$ Hz. This is in agreement with previous measurements (Treves et al. 1988, 1990; Schmidtke et al. 1999; N00).

## 4. Data analysis: LMC X–1

### 4.1. Spectral analysis

The spectral analysis of LECS and MECS data of LMC X–1 was performed in the same way as described above. The source was detected in the PDS up to $`60`$ keV, with a significance $`>2.5\sigma `$. However one should note that the 59 ms Crab like radio pulsar PSR 0540-69 is only 25 away from LMC X–1, and hence within the MECS field of view but not in the LECS, due to its narrower field of view. The pulsar can contribute to the flux in the PDS. This problem will be treated in detail in section 5.

For the moment we consider the LECS and MECS data only, integrated over the entire duration of the observation. This spectrum is referred to as ”total” in the tables.

As for LMC X-3, a single absorbed DBB does not give an acceptable fit ($`\chi ^2/dof=708/216`$, see Table 2), and a second component is necessary in order to obtain a satisfactory fit. The inclusion of a PL gives $`\chi ^2/dof=212/193`$. Results of the fits performed with the DBB+PL model are presented in Table 3. The spectrum is shown in Figure 2. Our data do not require the presence of the iron emission line at $`6.4`$ keV, as was instead suggested by other observations (Ebisawa et al. 1989; Schlegel et al. 1994; N00). However our upper limit on the EW ($`250`$ eV at 90% level) is consistent with earlier positive detections.

For consistency, we require that, as in the case of LMC X–3, the joint fit of LECS and MECS data to the DBB+PL model extrapolates in the range of sensitivity of the PDS without predicting to high of a flux. The model–extrapolated count rate in the PDS is only $`(2.55\pm 1.75)\times 10^2`$ cts/s, while the measured count rate is $`0.25\pm 0.03`$ cts/s, in the same range (Table 1). This suggests that some additional contribution, possibly the already mentioned pulsar, must be considered to account for the total signal measured in the PDS.

The best fit values of the inner radius and temperature are consistent with those derived from Ginga data (Ebisawa et al. 1989). RXTE data shows a similar temperature, but a larger DBB normalization (N00). The PL slope and normalization are similar to those derived by N00 from RXTE data.

### 4.2. Spectral variability

In Figure 3 (top panel) we show the lightcurve, in Figure 3 (bottom panel) a color ($`410`$ keV/$`1.54`$ keV) vs. time plot. The last part of the observation clearly shows a decrease of the MECS count rate, with associated spectral evolution (hardening). In order to quantify such spectral evolution, we extracted two different spectra, collecting data from the first $`30`$ ks of the observation (Part 1), and from the remaining time (Part 2). Results are reported in Table 3. There are significant differences in the DBB parameters, with an increase of the temperature ($`9`$%) as the radius decreases ($`38`$%) in Part 2. The anticorrelation between the disk temperature and radius is similar to that observed in RXTE data (W00). There is also a weak indication of a hardening of the PL in Part 2. It should be noted that the fit to Part 2 data is quite poor in terms of $`\chi ^2`$, so that it is difficult to quantify statistically such differences.

### 4.3. Timing analysis

The MECS light curve of LMC X–1 shows evidence of variability (Figure 3). We calculated PSDs from 16 uniterrupted time intervals ($`3000`$ s long) in the 1.5-10 keV, and averaged them together. The PSDs were normalized after Leahy et al. (1983). We fitted the average PSD with a power-law plus a constant to take into account the contribution from counting statistics. The power spectrum, after subtraction of the constant term, is shown in Figure 4. The value of the observed slope $`\alpha `$ is consistent with that obtained in previous measurements (Ebisawa et al. 1989, Schmidtke et al. 1999, N00). The total fractional rms in the $`3\times 10^40.2`$ Hz band is $`6\%`$. No broad line feature is evident in the PSD. We can put a 3$`\sigma `$ upper limit of $`9\%`$ to the fractional rms of a QPO as the one reported by Ebisawa et al. (1989) (see Dal Fiume et al. 2000).

### 4.4. PDS contamination from the nearby source PSR 0540–69

Fit to LMC X–1 PDS data alone with a simple power–law yields $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.1_{0.5}^{+0.8}`$. As already noted, the source field may be contaminated by PSR 0540-69, 25’ away from LMC X–1. At such distance, the PDS effective area is 68% of that on–axis. Unfortunately the signal from the pulsar (Mineo et al. 1999) prevents a pulsation analysis to asses the amount of contamination of the LMC X–1 PDS data. Therefore, in order to estimate the possible contribution of PSR 0540-69 to the PDS signal of LMC X–1, we have performed the analysis in two different ways, and cross–checked the results.

The employed methods are detailed in Appendix A. Our final conclusion is that it seems likely that both sources contribute significantly to the PDS flux, but the present data are insufficient to asses their relative importance with acceptable significance. In any case, our analysis casts doubts on previous detections of a hard ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }2`$) high energy powerlaw in LMC X–1, such as that reported by Ebisawa et al. (1989).

## 5. Summary and Discussion

We have presented an analysis of BeppoSAX observations of LMC X–1 and LMC X–3. Here we summarize and discuss our main results.

1) The LECS and MECS spectra of both sources can be reproduced as a superposition of a multicolor disk blackbody with a steep power law. The parameters defining the DBB are similar to those obtained by RXTE, though in the case of LMC X–3, we derived significant lower temperature and normalization, by 20% and 70%, respectively. Power law slope values are consistent with the RXTE data (N00, W00), though in the case of LMC X–3 the normalization we obtained lies a factor $`20`$ below. This would imply that large variations of the hard component, probably indipendent on the soft component, may occur in this source on long time scales. We note that W00 reported on spectral transitions occuring in LMC X–3 on long time scales.

2) While LMC X–3 does not show significant variability on time scales $`<1`$ ks, LMC X–1 shows flux and spectral variations on such time scales. The trend we observe can be roughly described as a hardening of the spectrum as the 2–10 keV count rate decreases. Such trend is common in X–ray binaries. The hardening is due to the anticorrelation between the disk temperature and the disk radius (and a possible hardening of the PL component as the disk temperature increases). This is consistent with the idea that moving inwards the disk becomes hotter. However, it is not clear why the disk in LMC X–1 becomes hotter (and pushes closer to the black hole) while its overall luminosity decreases. The same behaviour is observed in RXTE data. Our Part 1 and Part 2 disk best fit parameters falls exactly on the $`kT_{\mathrm{DBB}}R_{\mathrm{DBB}}`$ correlation shown by W00 (see their Figure 7). The BeppoSAX lower energy boundary with respect to RXTE allows, in principle, a more accurate constraint on such correlation. Temperature–radius contours show a systematic correlation between the two parameters. Therefore we can not exclude that part of the $`kT_{\mathrm{DBB}}R_{\mathrm{DBB}}`$ correlation is due to systematic errors in the model fit. W00 also report a decrease of the overall 2–20 keV flux as the disk temperature decreases (and the disk radius increases), mainly caused by a decrease (by a factor $`2`$) of the powerlaw flux, and argue that this fact may indicate the beginnings of a transition to a low/hard state. We must note that the disk luminosity, instead, increases by a factor $`1.6`$ during such transition, a behaviour hardly fitting in the state transition hypothesis. Our data show a different situation, since the powerlaw flux remains almost constant in Part 1 and 2.

3) If the steep power law is due to Comptonization of disk photons in an active corona, the best fit values of the photon index, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.7`$ for LMC X–1 and LMC X–3 respectively, imply that in these systems the Compton parameter $`y1`$, so that such component is only marginal in the overall energy budget (see also N00).

4) We do not detect any emission line. In particular, the EW of the 6.4 keV iron line has an upper limit of 250 and 300 eV in LMC X–1 and LMC X–3, respectively, consistent with the recent RXTE data (N00).

5) We derive only an upper limit to the presence of a QPO in LMC X–1. This result is consistent with the negative results of BBXRT (Schlegel et al. 1994), and RXTE (Schmidtke et al. 1999, N00). As N00 argue, the previously reported QPO could have been an artifact of misesitimation of Poissonian noise level, rather than an indication of a variable nature of such QPO.

6) The pulsar PSR 0540-69 can dominate PDS counts in the LMC X–1 field, or, at least, give a similar contribution. The question arising here is whether the pulsar emission could contribute to the counts in the RXTE observations as well, as the angular distance from LMC X–1 is well within the field of view of RXTE. N00 report a steep power law ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }3`$), which is clearly consistent with our MECS results, but not with the pulsar emission, the latter featuring a much harder power law ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }2`$). BeppoSAX and RXTE high energy results are not, however, in contradiction if we assume that both power laws exist. In fact, given their relative normalizations (the pulsar power law, at 1 keV, lies a factor $`20`$ below the LMC X–1 one), it is easy to see that the pulsar and LMC X–1 emission are equal at $`20`$ keV, the latter dominating the power law flux below. Note that the maximum energy RXTE detected LMC X–1 is indeed $`20`$ keV.

###### Acknowledgements.

FH, AT and TB thank the Italian MURST and the European Union for financial support under the grants COFIN98-02-154, and CHRX-CT93-0329 (TMR ”Accretion onto compact objects”), respectively.

## Appendix A LMC X–1 PDS contamination from PSR 0540-69

In order to asses the possible contribution of PSR 0540-69 to the LMC X–1 PDS flux, we first reanalyzed a BeppoSAX archival observation of 25 October 1996, from which Mineo et al. (1999) reported on the LECS/MECS properties of PSR 0540-69. In this pointing of PSR 0540-69, LMC X–1 is $`25^{}`$ offset. The 15–100 keV PDS count rate in our observation is $`0.43\pm `$0.07 cts/s, while that in the 1996 observation is $`0.34\pm `$0.06 cts/s. The ratio between the two is $`0.8\pm 0.2`$, consistent with the ratio of the effective areas at the position of LMC X–1 in the two cases, that is 0.68. This suggests that most of the PDS signal comes from LMC X–1.

An alternative way to compare the amount of flux in the PDS from each source, is to extrapolate to the PDS range the model spectra used in the the MECS analysis of our data. We fitted the MECS data of PSR 0540-69 to an absorbed PL with $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ fixed to $`4\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 (Finley et al. 1993). The best fit photon index is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.95_{0.08}^{+0.09}`$, consistent with previous determinations (Mineo et al. 1999, Finley et al. 1993). We then extrapolated such model spectrum in the PDS, correcting the MECS counts by a factor $`0.85\times 0.9\times 0.68=0.52`$, where the first term takes into account the different flux normalizations between the two intruments, the second term is due to the PSA correction applied during the data reduction, the third term is simply the collimator relative transmission. After this, we obtained a simulated count rate, in the range \[15–60\] keV, of $`0.12\pm 0.04`$ cts/s, while the measured one (in the same energy range) is $`0.25\pm 0.03`$ cts/s. This fact suggests that a fraction between 30% and 80% of the flux detected in PDS could be attributed to the pulsar emission.

The same procedure was applied to the LMC X–1 data. We used a model with the flattest powerlaw slope ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.07`$) allowed by the 99% confidence contours, in order to maximize its possible contribution in the PDS (corresponding to $`N_\mathrm{H}=0.73\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2). The simulated 15–60 keV countrate is $`(5.92\pm 2.76)\times 10^2`$ cts/s. Such a value could explain the remaining fraction of PDS counts, once that the possible pulsar contribution, as computed above is subtracted. These results suggest that the contribution to the hard X–ray flux from LMC X– 1 should be equal to or lower than the contribution from the nearby source PSR 0540-69. This conclusion is consistent with our previous argument, based on direct measurement of the count rates with LMC X–1 on and off axis, only if we assume that LMC X–1 and PSR 0540-69 contribute equally to the PDS signal.


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# Noise Delays Bifurcation in a Positively Coupled Neural Circuit

## I Introduction

The effects of random currents on the firing behavior of real and model neurons have received a considerable amount of attention in neurobiology and physics literature . Several experimental results indicate that in vivo neural spike trains seem to be excessively noisy, with interspike interval distribution showing 1/f spectra . However, other in vitro experiments have shown that noisy stimuli can produce highly reliable firing with the neuron locking onto large range variations of the noise . A number of theoretical studies have attempted to reconcile such seemingly disparate results by studying the dynamics of neural networks with additive noise, showing that high variance firing behavior can arise in networks of threshold elements . At the same time additive noise in oscillating networks of more realistic neurons destabilizes synchronous and phase locked behavior, producing complicated spatiotemporal patterns . These simulation results have appeared in the context of a body of literature that has delved into the effects of noise on the response of excitable and oscillatory non-linear dynamical systems. In particular a number of investigators have considered what happens to single neurons and circuits of neurons when noise perturbs periodically modulated input signals. Experimental work has identified noise induced signal amplification and resonance in a number of preparations e.g. . Theoretical analyses have successfully explained such findings employing the language of stochastic resonance developed originally for general multi-stable dynamical systems. There the enhancement of the subthreshold stimuli and encoding of stimulus structure had a non-linear relationship with the noise amplitude, resulting in a signal-to-noise ratio relationship with a pronounced peak. Noise effects have also been studied in the context of indigenous oscillations in neural models, focusing on the so-called “autonomous stochastic resonance” . For example, a recent report by Lee shows noise induced coherence resonance in a Hodgkin-Huxley model, with pre-cursors of the sub-critical Hopf bifurcation revealed by the action of random currents . In this sense noise “advanced” the bifurcation. Similar effects have also been found in a generic saddle-node driven oscillator where noise advances the onset of oscillations and upregulates the mean frequency

Although pulse coupled or synaptically coupled neural networks have received much recent attention with regard to their dynamics  and computational power , we believe that this Letter is the first attempt to look in detail at the effects of noise on the onset of synaptically sustained firing in such networks. That is, circuits of intrinsically quiescent neurons where activity occurs purely due to the recurrent synaptic interactions. To our knowledge, almost all efforts to study the interplay of noise and neural oscillators report noise induced increase in firing and advancement of bifurcations, e.g. . In this light our finding is rather intriguing since we observe a noise induced delay of bifurcation in a purely positively coupled circuit of neural oscillators. We also observe a phenomenon that may be termed “stochastic anti-resonance”, since the delay of bifurcation depends non-linearly on the noise level. Our analysis of this system leads us to conclude that the relative width of the attractor basins for the quiescent and persistent firing states is the key factor in determining whether stochastic resonance has a delaying, neutral, or advancing effect on the bifurcation.

Below we summarize the dynamics of the spiking neuron used in this circuit (the $`\theta `$-neuron), and analyze the case of two coupled cells in the regimes of weak and strong excitatory coupling in both noise free and noisy simulations. Since we believe that the phenomenon we observe is generic for circuits of recurrently coupled spiking neurons, first we describe the stochastic anti-resonance phenomenon observed in this simple circuit.

Figure 1A, upper trace shows the firing patterns of two cells whose spiking behavior results from mutual excitatory synapses. The cells are initially quiescent (they are not intrinsically spiking) and their activity results from an initial external input to one cell. Activity can be terminated by small levels of noise (Figure 1A, middle trace), whilst increased noise levels cause intermittent firing (Figure 1A, lower trace). Figure 1B plots the probability ($`M_1`$) of observing firing in the last 200 msecs of a 2000 msec run over an ensemble of 1000 sample paths. The x-axis plots the strength of the synaptic coupling ($`g_s`$). In the noise free circuit, $`g_s^{}`$ is the critical value of coupling above which sustained firing occurs (i.e. $`M_1`$=0 for $`g_s<g_s^{}`$, $`M_1`$=1 for $`g_sg_s^{}`$). Since the synaptically sustained firing apears with a non-zero frequency, we suspect that the bifurcation here is of a sub-critical Hopf type. At small noise levels (Figure 1B, traces 1,2), increasing the noise amplitude progressively shifts the curves of $`M_1`$ to the right with respect to the noise-free case. This behavior is surprising as addition of small amounts of noise for a single autonomously spiking $`\theta `$-neuron induces the opposite effect - noise advanced bifurcation (see ). The effect has been described in a generic saddle-node oscillator in . Above a critical noise value, the onset of sustained firing is advanced back to the left (Figure 1B, traces 3 and higher). Thus the bifurcation is delayed for low noise amplitudes and advanced with higher noise. Figure 1C shows that there is a non-linear relationship between the amount of injected noise and the firing probability. Here we plot the value of $`g_s=g_s^{2/3}`$ at which continuous sustained firing is observed in 2/3 of the sample paths, the same points are marked on the probability plots in Figure 1B. Adding small amounts of noise moves the probability curves to the right. This can be viewed as a probabilistic signature of a delay of the bifurcation. As the noise amplitude grows, the bifurcation is delayed further, and the test point $`g_s^{2/3}`$ occurs at higher $`g_s`$ values. As the noise is increased further, noise fluctuations are strong enough to induce intermittent firing. Both the probability curves and the location of the test point then move back to the left towards the noise-free value. If we consider the sustained firing as signal (perturbed by noise), this resembles stochastic resonance, however here the net effect of noise is “negative”.

It should be noted that this effect is not restricted to the dynamics of the $`\theta `$-neuron. All aspects of noise induced delay of bifurcation seen above also occur in a circuit where each of the cells is modeled with a more complicated conductance based, Hodgkin-Huxley model for a pyramidal neuron  (simulations not shown). This is not surprising, since this model can be readily reduced to the $`\theta `$-neuron which we now describe.

## II The $`\theta `$-neuron

The $`\theta `$-neuron model developed by Ermentrout and Gutkin  is derived from the observation that wide class of neuronal models of cortical neurons, based on the electrophysiological model of Hodgkin and Huxley show a saddle-node type bifurcation at a critical parameter value. This parameter determines the dynamical behavior of the solutions of the corresponding system of ordinary differential equations. General dynamical systems theory tells us that the qualitative behavior in some neighborhood of the bifurcation point (which may be quite large as it extends up to the next bifurcation or other dynamic transition) is governed by the reduction of the system to the center manifold. In the present case of the saddle-node bifurcation which is the simplest bifurcation type, this leads to the following differential equation

$$\frac{dx}{dt}=\lambda +x^2.$$
(1)
Here, the bifurcation parameter $`\lambda `$ is considered as the input to the neuron while $`x`$ records its activity. Obviously, a solution to this equation tends to infinity in finite time. This is considered as a spiking event, and the initial values are then reset to $`\mathrm{}`$. In order to have a model that does not exhibit such formal singularities, one introduces a phase variable $`\theta `$ that is $`2\pi `$-periodic via

$$x=\mathrm{tan}(\frac{\theta }{2}).$$
(2)
$`\theta `$ is then a variable with domain the unit circle $`S^1`$, and a spike now corresponds to a period of $`\theta `$. Spikes are no longer represented by transitions through infinity, but by changes of some discrete topological invariant. The original differential equation is then transformed into

$$\frac{d\theta }{dt}=(1\mathrm{cos}(\theta ))+(1+\mathrm{cos}(\theta ))\lambda .$$
(3)
Due to the nonlinearity of the transformation from $`x`$ to $`\theta `$, the input $`\lambda `$ is no longer additive. In fact, it is easy to show that $`(1+cos\theta )`$ is the phase resetting function for the model . As before, the bifurcation occurs at $`\lambda =0`$. There, we have precisely one rest point, namely $`\theta =0`$ which is degenerate. In any case, the sensitivity to the input $`\lambda `$ is highest at $`\theta =0`$ and lowest at $`\theta =\pi `$ which according to the derivation of our equation is considered as the spike point. When $`\lambda `$ is positive, the equation does not have any rest point. In this case, $`\theta `$ continues to increase all the time, and the neuron is perpetually firing. When $`\lambda `$ is negative, however, there are two rest points, a stable one denoted by $`\theta _r`$ and an unstable one $`\theta _t>\theta _r`$. If $`\theta `$ is larger than $`\theta _t`$ it increases until it completes a period and comes to rest at $`\theta _r+2\pi `$ which is identified with $`\theta _r`$ as we are working on the unit circle $`S^1`$. Thus, if the phase is above the threshold value $`\theta _t`$, a spike occurs and the neuron returns to rest. So far, we have tacitly assumed that the input $`\lambda `$ is constant. We now consider the situation where the input can be decomposed as

$$\lambda =\beta +\sigma \eta ,$$
(4)
where $`\beta `$ is a constant term, the so-called bias, while $`\eta `$ is (white) noise and $`\sigma `$ its intensity. In this case, sufficiently strong noise can occasionally push the phase $`\theta `$ beyond the threshold value $`\theta _t`$ causing intermittent firing (Figure 1C). Equation 3 now becomes a canonical stochastic saddle-node oscillator which has been studied in Rappel & Wooten and Gutkin & Ermentrout .

## III Coupled neurons

We now consider the situation where we have two neurons (distinguished by subscripts $`i=1,2`$). The dynamics then takes place on the product of two circles, i.e. on a two-dimensional torus $`T`$, represented by the square $`[\pi ,\pi ]\times [\pi ,\pi ]`$ in the plane, with periodic boundary identifications. We first consider the simple case of two uncoupled, noise-free neurons ($`\sigma _1=\sigma _2=0`$) with the same bias $`\beta `$. Their dynamics are independent. In the phase plot shown in Figure 2(i) the diagonal is always an invariant curve, corresponding to synchronized activity of the two neurons. If $`\beta >0`$, both neurons continue to fire, although their phase difference, if not 0 initially, is not constant, due to the nonlinearity of the differential equation governing it. If $`\beta =0`$, $`(0,0)`$ is a degenerate rest point (Figure 2(ii)). The two curves $`\theta _1=\theta _2=0`$ are homoclinic orbits and all flow lines eventually terminate at this fixed point. One or both neurons will spike before returning to rest if their initial phase is between 0 and $`\pi `$.

If $`\beta <0`$ (Figure 2(iii)), we have four fixed points - the attractor $`(\theta _1=\theta _2=\theta _r)`$, the repeller $`(\theta _1=\theta _2=\theta _t)`$, and the two saddles where one of the neurons has its phase at $`\theta _r`$ (rest) and the other one at $`\theta _t`$ (threshold). Some special heteroclinic orbits are given by the straight lines where one of the two neurons stays at $`\theta _t`$ while the other one moves from the threshold to the rest value, spiking if its initial phase was above threshold. All other flow lines terminate at the attractor. We now add an interaction term $`s_ig_s`$ to the input of neuron $`i`$. $`s_i`$ is considered as the synaptic input from neuron $`j`$ to neuron $`i`$ ($`ij`$) and $`g_s`$ is the synaptic intensity. (One could also study the case of a single neuron $`i`$ for which $`s_i`$ represents synaptic self-coupling, but here we are interested in the case of two coupled neurons). A precise equation for $`s_i`$ can be derived from electrophysiological models, however for our qualitative study we only need the characteristic features that it stays bounded between 0 and 1. Typically, it is peaked near the spike of neuron $`j`$, i.e. where $`\theta _j=\pi `$. With this interaction term, the equation for neuron $`i`$ then becomes

$$\frac{d\theta _i}{dt}=(1\mathrm{cos}(\theta _i))+(1+\mathrm{cos}(\theta _i))(\beta +g_ss_i+\sigma \eta ).$$
(5)
Since $`s_i`$ represents the input that neuron $`i`$ receives from neuron $`j`$, $`s_i`$ should essentially be considered as a function of the phase $`\theta _j`$ of $`j`$. Once more, we first consider the situation without noise, i.e. $`\sigma =0`$ (although our final aim is to understand the effect of noise on the dynamic behavior of the coupled neurons). We also assume that we are in the excitable region, i.e. $`\beta <0`$. $`g_s`$ is assumed to be positive (excitatory coupling), and so the coupling counteracts the effect of the bias to a certain extent, a crucial difference being, however, that the synaptic input to each neuron is time dependent, in contrast to the constant bias. If $`g_s`$ is sufficiently small, the qualitative situation does not change compared to the case without coupling, i.e. $`g_s=0`$. We still have a heteroclinic orbit from the saddle $`(\theta _1=\theta _t,\theta _2=\theta _r)`$ to the attractor $`(\theta _r,\theta _r)`$, although $`\theta _2`$ does not stay constant anymore along that orbit, but increases first a little due to the input from neuron 1 before it descends again to the rest value. (Figure 2(iv)). (Of course, we also get such an orbit with the roles of the two neurons reversed; in fact, the dynamical picture is always invariant under reflection across the diagonal, i.e.under exchanging the two neurons.) If $`g_s`$ reaches some critical value $`g_s^{}`$, however, the heteroclinic orbit starting at $`(\theta _t,\theta _r)`$ does not terminate anymore at the attractor, and the value of the phase of neuron 2 is increased so much by the synaptic interaction that it reaches the other saddle $`(\theta _r,\theta _t)`$ (Figure 2v). Besides two heteroclinic orbits that go from the repeller to the two saddles as before, all other orbits still terminate at the attractor $`(\theta _r,\theta _r)`$, for $`g_s=g_s^{}`$. If $`g_s`$ is increased beyond $`g_s^{}`$, however, the heteroclinic orbit between the two saddles mutates into a stable attractor (Figure 2(vi)). It corresponds to sustained asynchronous firing of the two neurons. In fact, if the phase difference between the two neurons is too small, the dynamics converges towards the double rest point (except in some region in the vicinity of the node), and both neurons stop firing. This is caused by the fact that when the two neurons are close to synchrony, neither cell is sensitive enough to its synaptic input to maintain firing (an effective refractory period). Conversely, if they are out of synchrony, a single spike can induce the second neuron to fire at a time when the first one is close to rest, and sensitive to synaptic input itself. If $`g_s`$ is only slightly above the critical value, the basin of attraction of that limit cycle will still be relatively small, but as $`g_s`$ is increased further, the basin grows in size until eventually it is larger than the basin of attraction of the double rest point. On the basis of the preceding analysis, it is now straightforward to predict the effect of noise. If $`g_s`$ is only slightly above the critical value $`g_s^{}`$, a small amount of noise is more likely to kick the dynamics out of the narrow basin of attraction of the asynchronous limit cycle and into the large basin of the double rest point than vice versa. In effect, a small noise level increases the critical parameter value required for the qualitative transition to sustained asynchronous firing. A larger amount of noise, however, has the potential to move the dynamics from the rest point into the basin of attraction of the asynchronous limit cycle. Once in that basin, the neurons will fire. Thus, for large noise in that regime, one will observe that the neurons will fire, perhaps with some intermissions spent near the double rest point. So, a larger value of noise will cause intermittent periods of sustained firing of the two neurons even at somewhat smaller values of $`g_s`$. In effect, it decreases the value of the critical parameter. Thus, we observe a genuinely nonlinear effect of the noise level $`\sigma `$ (Figure 1E). For values of the coupling $`g_s`$ that are substantially larger than the critical value $`g_s^{}`$, even small amounts of noise have a good chance of perturbing the dynamics out of the attracting vicinity of the double rest point into the attracting region of the asynchronous limit cycle. This will further enhance the sustained asynchronous firing pattern of the two neurons.

## IV Conclusions

In this work we report a new and unusual effect of noise in a simple neural circuit. When the sustained oscillations in the circuit are induced by recurrent excitatory coupling, small noise levels can exert a strong influence on the circuit dynamics, often abolishing the firing. The probability of observing sustained firing has been used to characterize the transition from quiescent to oscillatory behavior. Figure 1B clearly shows that in this system, noise delays this transition. Noise induced delay of bifurcation can therefore occur in a completely positively coupled circuit. The same noise has the exact opposite effect of advancing the bifurcation when it is applied to a single autonomously firing neuron. The paradoxical effect of noise in this circuit can be understood by considering the structure of its phase plane - and in particular the width of the attractor basins for the sustained antiphase oscillations. When the width of the attractor basin is small, small levels of noise can perturb the system into the larger basin of the stable quiescent state. However, transitions in the opposite direction from the rest-state to a sustained firing state can only occur when noise fluctuations reach a critical value. Above this value, transitions into the firing state begin to counteract transitions into the quiescent state. Alternatively, as the coupling strength increases, the basin of attraction for the sustained firing solution grows at the expense of the quiescent state. The negative (bifurcation-delaying) effect of the noise is then eliminated. In this system low levels of noise effectively act as a switch to turn off otherwise continuous firing behavior. Alternatively, low levels of noise ensure that sustained firing can only take place above a critical coupling threshold. In this way, small amounts of noise may in fact help to reduce overall noise levels by eliminating the formation of spurious attractors. It has yet to be determined whether this effective noise-induced control mechanism can be observed in large ensembles of coupled neurons.

Funding was provided by National Science Foundation Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellowship (B.S.G.) and the Santa Fe Institute (T.H. and J.J.) The authors thank Cosma Shalizi for helpful discussions.


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# The Accelerations of Stars Orbiting the Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

To appear in the September 21, 2000 issue of Nature

Recent measurements1-4, of the velocities of stars near the center of the Milky Way have provided the strongest evidence for the presence of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy5, but the observational uncertainties poorly constrain many of the properties of the black hole. Determining the accelerations of stars in their orbits around the center provides much more precise information about the position and mass of the black hole. Here we report measurements of the accelerations for three stars located $``$ 0.005 pc (projected on the sky) from the central radio source Sagittarius A\* (Sgr A\*); these accelerations are comparable to those experienced by the Earth as it orbits the Sun. These data increase the inferred minimum mass density in the central region of the Galaxy by an order of magnitude relative to previous results and localized the dark mass to within 0.05 $`\pm `$ 0.04 arcsec of the nominal position of Sgr A\*. In addition, the orbital period of one of the observed stars could be as short as 15 years, allowing us the opportunity in the near future to observe an entire period.

In 1995, we initiated a program of high resolution 2.2 $`\mu m`$ (K band) imaging of the inner 5 arcsec $`\times `$ 5 arcsec of the Galaxy’s central stellar cluster with the W. M. Keck 10-m telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii (1 arcsec = 0.04 pc at the distance to the Galactic Center, 8 kpc, ref. 6). From each observation, several thousand short exposure ($`t_{exp}`$=0.137 sec) frames were collected, using the facility near-infrared camera, NIRC7,8, and combined to produce a final diffraction-limited image, having an angular resolution of 0.05 arcsec. Between 1995 and 1997, images were obtained once a year with the aim of detecting the stars’ velocities in the plane of the sky. The results from these measurements are detailed in ref. 4; in summary, two-dimensional velocities were measured for 90 stars with simple linear fits to the positions as a function of time. These velocities, which reach up to 1400 km/sec, implied the existence of a $`2.6\times 10^6\mathrm{M}_{}`$ black hole coincident ($`\pm `$0.1 arcsec) with the nominal location of Sgr A\* (ref. 9), the unusual radio source10,11,12 long believed to be the counterpart of the putative black hole.

The new observations presented here were obtained several times a year from 1997 to 1999 to improve the sensitivity to accelerations. With nine independent measurements, we now fit the positions of stars as a function of time with second order polynomials (see Fig. 1). The resulting velocity uncertainties are reduced by a factor of 3 compared to our earlier work, primarily as a result of the increased time baseline, and, in the central square arcsecond, by a factor of 6 that presented in ref. 3, due to our higher angular resolution. Among the 90 stars in our original proper motion sample4, we have now detected significant accelerations for three stars, S0-1, S0-2 and S0-4 (see Table 1); specifically, these are the sources for which the reduced chi-squared for a quadratic fit is smaller than that for the linear model of their motions by more than 1. These three stars are independently distinguished in our sample, being among the fastest moving stars (v = 560 to 1350 km/sec) and among the closest to the nominal position of Sgr A\* (r1995 = 0.004 to 0.013 pc). With accelerations of 2-5 milli-arsecond/yr2, or equivalently $`(36)\times 10^6`$ km/sec2, they are experiencing accelerations similar to the Earth in its orbit about the Sun.

Acceleration vectors, in principle, are more precise tools than the velocity vectors for studying the central mass distribution. Even projected onto the plane of the sky, each acceleration vector should be oriented in the direction of the central mass, assuming a spherically symmetric potential. Thus, the intersection of multiple acceleration vectors is the location of the dark mass. Figure 2 shows the acceleration vector’s direction for the three stars. Within 1 $`\sigma `$, these vectors do indeed overlap, and furthermore, the intersection point lies a mere 0.05 $`\pm `$ 0.03 arcsec East and 0.02 $`\pm `$ 0.03 arcsec South of the nominal position of Sgr A\*, consistent with the identification of Sgr A\* as the carrier of the mass. Previously, with statistical treatments of velocities only, the dynamical center was located to within $`\pm `$ 0.1 arcsec (1$`\sigma `$) of Sgr A\*’s position4. This velocity-based measurement is unaffected by the increased time baseline, as its uncertainty is dominated by the limited number of stars at a given radius. Therefore, the accelerations improve the localization of our Galaxy’s dynamical center by a factor of 3, which is critical for reliably associating any near-infrared source with the black hole given the complexity of the region.

Like the directions, the magnitudes of the acceleration vectors also constrain the central black hole’s properties. In three dimensions, the acceleration and radius vectors ($`a_{3D}`$ and $`r_{3D}`$, respectively) provide a direct measure of the enclosed mass simply by $`a_{3D}=G\times M/r_{3D}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$. For a central potential, the acceleration and radius vectors are co-aligned and, with a projection angle to the plane of the sky $`\theta `$, the two dimensional projections place the following lower limit on the central mass: $`Mcos^3(\theta )=a_{2D}\times r_{2D}^2/G`$. This analysis is independent of the star’s orbital parameters, although $`\theta `$ is in fact a lower limit for the orbital inclination angle. Figure 3 shows the minimum mass implied by each star’s two-dimensional acceleration as a function of projected radius, along with dashed curves displaying how the implied mass and radius grow with projection angle. For each point, the uncertainty in the position of the dynamical center dominates the minimum mass uncertainties. Also plotted are the results from the statistical analysis of the velocity vectors measured in the plane of the sky, which imply a dark mass of $`2.33.3\times 10^6M_{}`$ inside a radius of 0.015 pc3,4. If, as has been assumed, this dark mass is in the form of a single supermassive black hole, the enclosed mass should remain level at smaller radii. Projection angles of 51 - 56 and 25 - 37 degrees for S0-1 and S0-2, respectively, would yield the mass inferred from velocities and place these stars at a mere $``$0.008 pc (solid blue portions of the limiting mass curves in Figure 3), thus increasing the dark mass density implied by velocities by an order of magnitude to $`8\times 10^{12}M_{}/pc^3`$. With smaller projection angles, these two stars also allow for the enclosed mass to decrease at smaller radii, as would occur in the presence of an extended distribution of dark matter surrounding a less massive black hole13-17. In contrast to the agreement between the mass distribution inferred from the velocities and the accelerations for S0-1 and S0-2, the minimum mass implied by S0-4’s acceleration is inconsistent at least at the 1$`\sigma `$ level. We note, in support of the validity of S0-4’s acceleration vector, that its orientation is consistent with the intersection of the S0-1 and S0-2 acceleration vectors (see Fig. 2). Nonetheless, continued monitoring of S0-4 will be important for assessing this possible discrepancy. Overall, the individual magnitudes of the three acceleration vectors support the existence of a central black hole with mass $`3\times 10^6M_{}`$.

With acceleration measurements, it is now possible to constrain the individual orbits. We checked the conclusions of the previous studies3,4 by assuming that the stars are bound to a central mass of $`2.33.3\times 10^6M_{}`$ located within 0.03 arcsec of the nominal position of Sgr A\*. Excellent orbital fits were found for S0-1 and S0-2 for the entire range of masses and for true focii within 0.01 arcsec of the nominal position of Sgr A\*, suggesting that we now have comparable accuracy in determining the IR location of Sgr A\* (ref. 9) and the dynamical center of our Galaxy (see Fig. 4). The orbital solutions for these stars have eccentricities ranging from 0 (circular) to 0.9 for S0-1 and 0.5 to 0.9 for S0-2 and periods ranging from 35 - 1,200 and 15 - 550 years, respectively, raising the possibility of seeing a star make a complete journey around the center of the Galaxy within the foreseeable future. Although the fits are not yet unique, they impose a maximum orbital distance from the black hole, or apoapse, of 0.1 pc. This suggests that S0-1 and S0-2 might have formed locally. If these stars are indeed young2, then their small apoapse distance presents a challenge to classical star formation theories in light of the strong tidal forces created by the central black hole and might require a collisional or compressional star formation scenario18,19. However, dynamical friction may by able to act on a short enough time scale to bring these stars in from a much larger distance20. More accurate orbital parameters are needed to fully address these problems and others such as the distance to the Galactic Center21. The determinations of these parameters will be considerably improved when radial velocities are measured for these stars using adaptive optics techniques, as the current solutions based on the proper motion data alone predict radial velocities ranging from 200 to 2000 km/sec.

Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Packard Foundation. We are grateful to James Larkin for swapping telescope time; Ortwin Gerhard, Mike Jura, and Alycia Weinberger for useful input; and telescope observing assistances Joel Aycock, Teressa Chelminiak, Gary Puniwai, Chuck Sorenson, Wayne Wack, Meg Whittle, and software/instrument specialists Al Conrad and Bob Goodrich for their help during the observations. The data presented here were obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.G. (e-mail: ghez@astro.ucla.edu).

Figure 1. Ghez et al.

Figure 2. Ghez et al.

Figure 3. Ghez et al.

Figure 4. Ghez et al.


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# Commensurate-Incommensurate transition in the melting process of the orbital ordering in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3: neutron diffraction study

## Abstract

The melting process of the orbital order in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 single crystal has been studied in detail as a function of temperature by neutron diffraction. It is demonstrated that a commensurate-incommensurate (C-IC) transition of the orbital ordering takes place in a bulk sample, being consistent with the electron diffraction studies. The lattice structure and the transport properties go through drastic changes in the IC orbital ordering phase below the charge/orbital ordering temperature $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, indicating that the anomalies are intimately related to the partial disordering of the orbital order, unlike the consensus that it is related to the charge disordering process. For the same $`T`$ range, partial disorder of the orbital ordering turns on the ferromagnetic spin fluctuations which were observed in a previous neutron scattering study.

Charge ordering is an ubiquitous phenomenon in transition metal oxides. For example, a so-called “CE-type” charge ordering plays an essential role in the Colossal Magnetoresistance (CMR) phenomenon which can be observed in hole-doped perovskite manganites, such as $`R_{1x}A_x`$MnO3, where $`R`$ denotes trivalent rare-earth ions while $`A`$ denotes divalent alkaline-earth ions.  In the CE-type charge-ordered state which appears near $`x1/2`$, Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions form a checkerboard pattern with a $`1:1`$ ratio. As pointed out in pioneering works on La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 by Wollan and Koehler  and Goodenough,  this charge-ordered state is accompanied with the ordering of the $`e_g`$ orbitals on Mn3+ sites as well as the CE-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin ordering,  thereby offering an ideal platform to study an interplay among charge, orbital and spin degrees of freedom.

Reflecting such multiple degrees of freedom, the CE-type charge/orbital/spin ordering shows a complicated ordering/melting process. According to very recent x-ray scattering studies on Pr1-xCaxMnO3 with $`x1/2`$, the simultaneous charge/orbital long-range ordering is formed at $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$. Well above $`T>T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, however, the charge/orbital short-range correlation is developed, but the correlation length of the short-range charge ordering $`\xi _{\mathrm{CO}}`$ is always longer than that of the orbital ordering $`\xi _{\mathrm{OO}}`$, indicating that the charge ordering is a driving force for the CE-type charge/orbital ordering.  As for the spin correlations, the CE-type AFM long-range spin order is established at $`T_\mathrm{N}`$ which is far below $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, and the AFM spin fluctuations in the charge/orbital-ordered phase is rapidly taken over by the ferromagnetic fluctuations in the $`T`$ region for $`T_\mathrm{N}TT_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$.

One of the interesting but not well-elucidated aspects of the CE-type charge/orbital ordering transition is the incommensurability of the orbital ordering. When the ideal CE-type charge/orbital order is formed, zigzag arrangement of the ordered $`d(3x^2r^2)`$ and $`d(3y^2r^2)`$ orbitals of Mn3+ ions in the $`ab`$ plane and associated lattice distortions will double the unit cell along the $`b`$ axis in the orthorhombic ($`Pbnm`$) lattice, and produce commensurate superlattice reflections at $`𝒒_{\mathrm{OO}}=(0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$.  In contrast to these expectations, based on electron diffraction studies, it has been repeatedly reported that the CE-type charge/orbital ordering in La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and $`R_{1x}`$CaxMnO3 with $`x1/2`$ ($`R`$: rare-earth ions) is incommensurate,  and an elaborate charge/orbital ordering (or melting) process was suggested. In particular, it was argued that the onset of the commensurate orbital ordering is decoupled from the onset of the charge ordering, and the orbital ordering can be incommensurate immediately below $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$. In fact, the incommensurability  $`ϵ`$ in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 observed by electron diffraction becomes finite above the AFM spin ordering temperature $`T_\mathrm{N}`$, and $`ϵ`$ grows with increasing $`T`$, reaching as large as $`0.110.12`$ near $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$.  It should be noted that such a large value of $`ϵ`$ has been observed mainly in electron diffraction studies or an x-ray study with La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 powder sample.

By contrast, very recent x-ray scattering studies on single crystal samples of Pr1-xCaxMnO3 argued that the orbital ordering wave vectors remain strictly commensurate throughout the ordered phase at any temperature, being in striking disagreement with the electron diffraction studies.  Incidentally, there is no explicit statement on the incommmensurability from neutron diffraction studies to our knowledge, seemingly giving an impression that the charge/orbital ordering may be commensurate. A lack of consensus on this issue over three diffraction techniques may give rise to a question whether the incommensurate orbital ordering is an intrinsic bulk property.

To unravel this issue, neutron diffraction would be a key experimental technique because of high transmissibility of neutrons which allows to observe bulk properties of the specimen. Moreover, the neutron diffraction has an advantage that it is sensitive to the displacements of oxygen ions which are introduced by the orbital ordering. In what follows, we shall report a detailed neutron diffraction study of the melting process of the orbital ordering in a single crystal sample of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3. We shall demonstrate that the orbital ordering is indeed incommensurate for certain temperature range below $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, and argue that the anomalies are intimately related to the disordering process of the orbital order, unlike the conventional picture that it is related to the collapse of the charge ordering.

Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 is orthorhombic, but is very close to cubic.  Throughout this paper, we employ the $`Pbnm`$ setting for convenience of easier comparison with preceding works. Thereby, the lattice constants are related to the simple cubic lattice parameter $`a_c`$ as $`abc/\sqrt{2}\sqrt{2}a_c5.4`$ Å. In the $`Pbnm`$ setting, the superlattice reflections due to the orbital ordering appear at $`(h,k/2,l)`$ with $`k=\text{odd integer}`$ at low temperatures. The CE-type AFM Bragg reflections by the Mn3+ moments appear at $`(h/2,k,l)`$ with $`k=\text{integer}`$ and $`h,l=\text{odd integer}`$, while those by the Mn4+ moments appear at $`(h/2,k/2,l)`$ with $`h,k,l=\text{odd integer}`$.

The single crystal sample was melt-grown by the floating zone method as described elsewhere.  The quality of the sample was checked by x-ray powder diffraction measurements and by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP). Neutron diffraction experiments were performed using a triple axis spectrometer GPTAS installed at the JRR-3M reactor in JAERI, Tokai, Japan. The incident neutron momentum is $`k_\mathrm{i}=2.66`$ Å-1 with a pyrolytic graphite (PG) filter employed before the sample to suppress higher-order contaminations. Most of the measurements were carried out with a double axis configuration with 20-20-20 collimators, while for measurements at high temperature ($`T250`$ K) the collimation was relaxed to 20-40-20 or 20-40-40 to improve the visibility of weak superlattice peaks. The sample was mounted in an Al can filled with He gas, and was attached to the cold head of a closed-cycle helium gas refrigerator. The temperature was controlled within an accuracy of 0.2 K. All the measurements were carried out on the $`(h,k,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ scattering plane except for the $`T`$ dependence of the AFM Bragg reflection (0.5, 0.5, 1).

In order to confirm the presence of the superlattice peaks due to lattice modulations induced by the orbital ordering, we surveyed the $`(h,k,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ scattering plane at 100 K. The superlattice peaks were observed at the $`(h,k\pm 1/2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ positions with $`h,k=\text{integer}`$. The peak intensity shows a strong $`Q`$ dependence due to the structure factor, and for an accessible $`Q`$ range of the present experiments, the strong peaks were observed along the $`(2,k,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ line, and the profiles around $`(2,0.5,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ scanned along $`k`$ at selected $`T`$’s are shown in Fig. 1. Since the charge/orbital ordering transition is weakly first order with hysteresis (See Fig. 2(d)), all the measurements in the present study were carried out with elevating $`T`$. The magnetic and charge/orbital ordering transition temperatures for the present sample are $`T_\mathrm{N}180`$ K and $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}240`$ K, respectively (See Fig. 2(a)). In the left column of Fig. 1, one can see a well-defined peak centered at $`k=0.5`$ up to $`T220`$ K, indicating that the orbital order is commensurate. Even for the moderate momentum resolution of neutron diffraction, the peak has a finite width, indicating that the orbital ordering is not a true long range order. From the width of profiles, the correlation length $`\xi `$ for the orbital ordering is roughly estimated to be an order of $`100`$ Å at 100 K, being consistent with the x-ray scattering study ($`\xi =160\pm 10`$ Å).  The finite correlation length of the orbital ordering also limits the correlation length of the accompanied CE-type AFM spin ordering, as was demonstrated in recent neutron diffraction studies.

At $`T=220`$ K, the width is slightly wider than those at lower $`T`$’s, but it recovers the low $`T`$ value for $`225\text{K}TT_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, and the profile splits into two peaks at the incommensurate positions $`(2,0.5\pm ϵ,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$.  Upon elevating $`T`$ above $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}240`$ K, the width increases rapidly, while the intensity decreases drastically. As shown in Fig. 1(f), the intensity of the superlattice peaks at $`T=250`$ K is now weaker than a tail of the Huang scattering centered at $`Q=(2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ which was observed in a recent x-ray measurement.  As labeled in Fig. 1(e), the weak peak at left and the stronger peak at right are assigned to $`(2,1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})+𝒒_{\mathrm{OO}}`$ and $`(2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})𝒒_{\mathrm{OO}}`$ with $`|𝒒_{\mathrm{OO}}|=0.445`$, respectively. From the scattering configuration, it is straightforward to see that the superlattice intensity results from the transverse component of the lattice distortions induced by the orbital ordering because of the $`|𝑸𝜼|^2`$ term in the cross section, where $`𝜼`$ represents a displacement vector of constituent ions. Furthermore, an asymmetry of superlattice intensities reflects the difference of the structure factor of generic fundamental nuclear Bragg reflections, weak $`(2,1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ and intense $`(2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ reflections. It should be noted that similar two peak profiles with asymmetric intensity in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 were clearly observed in electron diffraction studies,  but not observed in recent x-ray studies.

Now that the incommesurability of the orbital ordering has been confirmed by the present neutron diffraction study, we shall examine the melting process of the orbital ordering in further detail. In Fig. 2(a) are plotted the $`T`$ dependences of the order parameter of the CE-type AFM spin ordering for the Mn4+ moments observed at $`𝑸=(0.5,0.5,1)`$ and that of the orbital ordering observed around $`𝑸=(2,0.5,0)`$ with elevating $`T`$. The CE-type AFM spin ordering disappears at $`T_\mathrm{N}180`$ K. The $`T`$ dependence of the orbital order parameter in Fig. 2(a) exhibits a clear change at $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}215`$ K. The intensity decreases gradually up to $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}`$, then drops steeply towards $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}240`$ K. Interestingly, this changeover of the $`T`$ dependence of the intensity corresponds to the commensurate-to-incommensurate transition of the orbital ordering vector $`𝒒_{\mathrm{OO}}=(0,\delta ,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$, as is shown in Fig. 2(b). Up to $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}215`$ K, the peak position is commensurate with $`\delta =0.5`$, then $`\delta `$ gradually decreases towards $`\delta 1/3`$. Namely, the orbital ordering in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 is incommensurate for $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}TT_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$. The $`T`$ dependence of the width of the superlattice peak is also shown in the same panel. The width shows a subtle increase around $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}`$ which is also evident in the profile shown in Fig. 1(c), but recovers and maintains the low $`T`$ value up to $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$. The $`T`$ region of the incommensurate orbital ordering corresponds exactly to the precipitous change of the lattice constants as evidenced by the $`T`$ dependence of the scattering vector for the $`(2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ nuclear Bragg reflection (Fig. 2(c)), and a steep decrease of the resistivity (Fig. 2(d)).

From the data presented in Fig. 2, the following intriguing picture emerges for the melting process of the orbital ordering in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3. The melting process consists of three stages. First of all, the C-IC transition of the orbital ordering is not correlated to the CE-type spin ordering at $`T_\mathrm{N}180`$ K, and begins at $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}215`$ K. In a very early stage of the C-IC transition, the superlattice is still almost commensurate, but its width increases (Fig. 1(c)), indicating that the commensurate and nearly-commensurate orbital orders are mixed in the system. This stage may be attributed to the situation in which occasional discommensurations are introduced to the system. According to high resolution lattice images, it is suggested that unpaired Mn3+ stripes cause discommensurations.  In the second stage of the transition, the superlattice peak splits into two incommensurate peaks. At the same time, the lattice constants show precipitous changes, and the incommensurability varies quickly, although the width recovers the low $`T`$ value. The decrease of the superlattice intensity above $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}`$ indicates that the number of the orbital-disordered Mn3+ ions rapidly increases in the system. Concomitantly, the local melting of the orbital ordering triggers the rearrangement of the local Jahn-Teller lattice distortions, and causes the change of lattice constants (Fig. 2(c)). This rearrangement process also triggers the steep decrease of the resistivity (Fig. 2(d)). In the third stage above $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, the charge ordering and quasi-long-range orbital ordering is destroyed, and their correlation lengths rapidly increase. By $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, the local Jahn-Teller lattice distortions are sufficiently relaxed, then a rapid change of the lattice constants disappears above $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$ (Fig. 2(c)).

It should be noted that in a study of the CE-type ordering the charge and orbital orderings are often considered to take place at the same temperature, because the CE-type charge and orbital orders are strongly coupled and their transition temperatures are very close. By careful examination of the melting process of the orbital ordering, however, we succeeded in establishing that the anomalies in the structural, transport and magnetic properties take place in the IC orbital ordering state below the charge ordering temperature $`TT_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$. The present results indicate that the importance of distinguishing the gradual melting process of orbital ordering from the collapse of charge ordering in order to understand the nature of the physical properties in the CMR manganites.

It is also noteworthy that the partial disordering of the orbital order is consistent with the onset of ferromagnetic spin fluctuations previously reported.  Kajimoto et al. reported that the ferromagnetic spin fluctuations are developed for $`T_\mathrm{N}TT_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$. In the melting process of the C-IC orbital ordering, a partially disordered orbital order disturbs static AFM exchange paths, and gives rise to ferromagnetic spin fluctuations. In this sense, the C-IC orbital disordering process is intimately related to the ferromagnetic spin fluctuations.

In summary, we have studied the melting process of the orbital ordering in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 single crystal as a function of $`T`$ by neutron diffraction measurements. We successfully demonstrated that an incommensurate orbital ordering certainly exists in a bulk sample. The quasi long-range orbital ordering persists well above the C-IC transition temperature $`T_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IC}}`$. The incommensurate melting of the orbital order induce the rearrangement of the lattice structure and the steep decrease of the resistivity due to partial disordering of the orbital order, and also induce ferromagnetic spin fluctuations which was reported in the previous neutron scattering study. This fact indicates that the drastic anomalies in charge/orbital ordered manganites are caused by the change of the orbital order rather than the charge order.

This work was supported by a Grand-In-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan and by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.


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# Recent Results Addressing the KARMEN Timing Anomaly

## THE KARMEN SIGNAL

In 1995, the KARMEN collaboration at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s ISIS spallation source published evidence karmen1  for an anomaly in the arrival-time distribution of neutrinos from pion and muon decay in a pulsed beam-stop source. The anomaly consisted of an excess of events with a small amount of electromagnetic energy ($`<`$35 MeV) delayed 3.6 $`\mu `$s with respect to the beam arrival.

In KARMEN’s first data set (1990-95) the anomaly comprised $`83\pm 28`$ events; data through 1998 oehler  increased the excess to $`103\pm 34`$ events.

### The particle interpretation

An explanation of the anomaly is that an exotic particle, referred to in this paper as $`Q^0`$, is produced by the rare decay $`\pi ^+\mu ^+Q^0`$ near the kinematic threshold for that process. From a $`\pi ^+`$ decay at rest, the $`Q^0`$ would travel $`17.5`$ meters to the KARMEN detector in 3.6 $`\mu `$s (corresponding to a velocity $`v0.016c`$). The anomalous signal in the detector would be due to the decay of the $`Q^0`$ to an electromagnetic final state. Based on the measured time of flight, the mass of the $`Q^0`$ must be 33.91 MeV. The visible energy of the anomaly favors a three-body decay to an electron (or possibly photon) pair and an invisible final-state particle, likely a neutrino. A likelihood analysis oehler  has shown evidence for a correlation between position and arrival time for events in the anomaly, consistent with the slow-moving particle interpretation.

If interpreted as such a particle, the KARMEN signal corresponds to a curve in $`Q^0`$ lifetime versus $`BR(\pi ^+\mu ^++Q^0)BR(Q^0\mathrm{visible})`$. This branching ratio is minimized at $`10^{16}`$ for a lifetime $`\tau _{Q^0}=3.6`$ $`\mu `$s. For any larger branching ratio, two solutions exist, one at a longer and one at a shorter lifetime. A previous experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) has ruled out at 90% C.L any exotic $`\pi ^+`$ decays to muons above a branching ratio of $`2.1\times 10^8`$ daum95 . This constrains the lifetime of the $`Q^0`$ to be between $`10^7`$ and $`10^3`$ s (see Figure 1).

### Theoretical explanations

Most theoretical speculation on the anomaly has been along one of two lines: neutral heavy leptons govaerts ; barger  and light neutralinos choudhury . Both are discussed briefly below:

A “standard” neutral heavy lepton (“heavy” or “sterile neutrino”), which would be produced and decayed solely through mixing with $`\nu _\mu `$, is consistent with the KARMEN data alone. However, the KARMEN result would require the particle to have a relatively large mixing with $`\nu _\mu `$ glr ; shrock ; such a large mixing is not consistent with the PSI branching ratio limit. A neutral heavy lepton explanation for the $`Q^0`$ is still allowed if its production is dominated by a small mixing with $`\nu _\mu `$ and its decay is dominated by a much larger mixing with $`\nu _\tau `$.

Another scenario consistent with the KARMEN data is an $`R`$-parity violating neutralino decay. This scenario is allowed in an unconstrained supersymmetric model, but chargino mass limits pdg  exclude a such light neutralino in models such as SUGRA, which introduce a chargino-neutralino mass relation.

## FERMILAB E815 (NuTeV)

Fermilab experiment 815 (NuTeV) has performed a direct search for $`Q^0`$ decay using a beam created by the decays of high-energy pions and kaons. The experiment took data during Fermilab’s 1996-97 Tevatron fixed target run, accumulating $`2.54\times 10^{18}`$ 800 GeV protons on a BeO target with the detector configured to search for exotic particle decays. Sign-selected secondary pions and kaons in the $`100400`$ GeV range were focused down a 440 m decay pipe, where they could decay before hitting a steel beam dump. A total of $`(1.4\pm 0.1)\times 10^{15}`$ pion decays occurred in the pipe. Neutral weakly-interacting decay products (neutrinos and possibly $`Q^0`$’s) traveled through approximately 900 m of earth berm shielding before arriving at the detector.

The E815 detector consisted of an instrumented decay channel followed by an iron-target neutrino detector. The decay channel was composed of an upstream charged particle veto followed by a series of helium bags totaling 34 m in length, interspersed with 3 m $`\times `$ 3 m multiwire argon-ethane drift chambers. The chambers were used to track charged particles from decays in the helium fiducial volume. The neutrino detector, which consisted of iron plates interspersed with drift chambers and liquid scintillator counters, provided calorimetry, particle identification, and triggering. A toroid spectrometer at the downstream end of the detector measured the momentum of muons too energetic to range out in the calorimeter.

In this experiment, the experimental signature of $`Q^0`$ decay was the spontaneous appearence of a low-mass, low-transverse momentum electron-positron pair in the helium decay channel. The analysis requirements were that two well-reconstructed tracks form a vertex in the decay channel fiducial volume, and that the tracks be identified as electrons based on the shape of their shower in the calorimeter. Because of the low mass of the $`Q^0`$, signal events typically had a very small opening angle and thus formed a single merged electron-like cluster in the calorimeter.

Backgrounds to the $`Q^0`$ search were primarily due to interactions between the high-flux neutrino beam and material in the upstream berm, veto, and decay channel drift chambers. Interactions in the berm and veto wall could produce photons or neutral kaons which could then convert or decay to charged particles in the decay channel. Interactions in the drift chambers themselves could produce charged tracks directly in the fiducial volume. These backgrounds were reduced by removing events with activity in the upstream veto wall, by making tight cuts on electron identification, and by a series of kinematic cuts designed to discriminate against the high-$`Q^2`$ events with large invariant mass final states typical of neutrino deep inelastic scattering.

With the final requirements, the expected background level from all sources was $`(0.06\pm 0.05)`$ events with a signal acceptance of 16% for decays in the fiducial region. After a blind analysis, the signal region contained no events. The result excluded the short-lifetime solution to the KARMEN anomaly above a branching ratio of $`5\times 10^{12}`$ at 90% C.L. (see Figure 1 and Ref. e815prl ).

## THE SEARCH AT PSI

A new indirect search for $`Q^0`$ production was recently conducted at PSI by M. Daum et al. koglin . The experiment exploited the near-zero $`Q`$-value in the $`\pi ^+\mu ^+Q^0`$ decay by searching for muons from $`\pi ^+`$ decay emerging parallel to and with the same velocity as the parent $`\pi ^+`$.

The experiment began with a proton beam aimed at a production target; a narrow-band beam of pions with momentum 150 MeV/$`c`$ was selected and focused toward a decay region. Downstream of the decay region a beamline selected charged particles of a particular momentum traveling in the forward direction. A series of scintillation counters in the downstream beamline measured the velocity of particles in the beamline, allowing identification of decay products.

The signature of $`Q^0`$ production is an excess of forward muons with a momentum of 113.5 MeV. The search technique was to scan the analysis beamline to select different momenta around 113.5 MeV/$`c`$, in 0.5 MeV/$`c`$ steps. The number of forward muons was counted in each momentum configuration, and the dependence of the muon rate was fit to a $`Q^0`$ plus background distribution.

The final fit indicated a branching ratio $`BR(\pi ^+\mu ^+Q^0)=(1.3\pm 2.3)\times 10^{10}`$, reported as a limit $`BR(\pi ^+\mu ^+Q^0)<6.0\times 10^{10}`$ at 95% C.L. Because the $`Q^0`$ decay is not detected, this limit applies to both the short and long lifetime solutions of the KARMEN anomaly. Unlike the E815 limit, it is independent of $`BR(Q^0\mathrm{visible})`$.

## STATUS OF THE ANOMALY

At present, the timing anomaly remains an apparently significant feature of the KARMEN data set. New data from KARMEN over the next year will be interesting, but will not be a major addition to the existing data. Neither the PSI nor the Fermilab groups expect to take more data. Their current results are already approaching inherent limitations in their technique: the unavailability of arbitrarily high beam intensities in the Fermilab case, and the intrinsic $`\pi ^+\mu ^+\nu \gamma `$ background at PSI. Some upcoming experiments, including BooNE (Fermilab E898) will have some sensitivity to the $`Q^0`$, particularly in the short-lifetime region. A dedicated search for $`Q^0`$ decay has been proposed at ISIS, and it is possible that the muon source at a muon storage ring may be used to search for $`Q^0`$ production. No experiment currently approved is likely to have sufficient sensitivity to confirm or rule out the existence of the $`Q^0`$.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author thanks the E815 (NuTeV) collaboration, M. Daum and J. Koglin of PSI, and C. Oehler of the University of Karlsruhe. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation.


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# Single hole transistor in a p-Si/SiGe quantum well

## Abstract

A single hole transistor is patterned in a p-Si/SiGe quantum well by applying voltages to nanostructured top gate electrodes. Gating is achieved by oxidizing the etched semiconductor surface and the mesa walls before evaporation of the top gates. Pronounced Coulomb blockade effects are observed at small coupling of the transistor island to source and drain.

Transport through small metallic islands, defined in semiconductor heterostructures, has been of considerable interest recently. When the island is only weakly coupled to reservoirs via tunnel barriers, the Coulomb blockade (CB) effect determines the carrier transport. In such islands, the interplay between interactions and size quantization can be studied. A large number of experiments have investigated the properties of single electron transistors made out of conventional metals, and of high mobility, low density two-dimensional electron gases, defined in mostly Ga\[Al\]As or Si, among other materials. Single hole transistors out of p-Si/SiGe quantum wells are of particular interest for several reasons: (i) the material has a large g-factor of $`g_{eff}`$ = 6.7 and a large effective mass ($`m^{}`$ = 0.25), (ii) the interaction parameter $`r_S`$, defined as the ratio between the Coulomb energy of two holes at their average separation, and the Fermi energy, is very large, i.e., $`r_S4`$ for typical carrier densities, and (iii) the properties of the quantum well are strongly influenced by biaxial strain, due to the lattice mismatch at the Si/SiGe interface.
However, p-SiGe has been notoriously difficult to gate, due to leakage currents across the Schottky barrier. Recently, progress has been reported in this respect. Emeleus et al.  have tuned the hole density in a p-Si/SiGe quantum well using a homogenous back gate. This method, however, cannot be applied for the production of nanostructured gates. Homogeneous top-gating of this material has been reported as well. In those samples, the two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) is buried very deeply below the surface, which limits the pattern transfer into the 2DHG. To our knowledge, the fabrication of any kind of gated nanostructure in p-Si/SiGe has not been reported yet. It should be noted that small islands and wires have been patterned out of p-$`Si/Si_{1x}Ge_x/Si`$ resonant tunneling structures by etching. Furthermore, single hole charging effects have been observed in p-Si and in two-terminal,$`\delta `$-doped SiGe devices.

Here, we present the fabrication and characterization of a gated single hole transistor in a p-Si/SiGe quantum well. The gate leakage is reduced by oxidizing the etched surface before the definition of the top gates. At low temperatures, we observe, clear single hole tunneling and CB oscillations.
The samples have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and contain a 200Å $`\mathrm{Si}_{0.85}\mathrm{Ge}_{0.15}`$ layer on top of an undoped Si substrate, a 150Å B-doped Si layer with a setback of 180Å from the well, and a 200Å undoped Si cap. The $`Si_{0.85}Ge_{0.15}`$ layer forms a triangular potential well for the two-dimensional hole gas (Fig. 1a). Due to the lattice mismatch between Si and $`Si_{0.85}Ge_{0.15}`$, the heavy hole ($`m_J`$ = $`\pm `$3/2) potential is split from the light hole ($`m_J`$ = $`\pm `$1/2) potential, and ensures that the lowest occupied bound state has heavy hole character. The hole density of the ungated 2DHG is $`p_{2D}`$ = 3.6 $`\times `$ 1015m-2, and an elastic mean free path of $`l_e`$ = 100 nm is obtained from magnetoresistivity measurements.

Tests have indicated that in our samples, large leakage currents between the top gate and the 2DHG can flow across the mesa edge. Therefore, we have deposited a layer of SiO2 by thermal evaporation right after the reactive ion etch that defines the mesa, i.e., with the photoresist still on the mesa. We have used this technique in earlier work for the fabrication of homogeneous gates, Fig. 1b.  After lift-off of the oxide, the top gate (10 nm Ti and 20 nm Al) was patterned by electron beam lithography and thermal evaporation. This sequence of technology steps reduces leakage currents in our samples significantly.
The geometry of the gates is crucial. While deposition of a homogeneous Ti/Al gate reduces $`p_{2D}`$ by roughly a factor of two due to pinning effects, we find that for grounded gates in the sub-micron regime, the 2DHG is depleted underneath, with a lateral depletion length of roughly 100 nm. This depletion is probably caused by strain and pinning on defects, which complicates a simulation of the device. Preliminary experimental studies on split gates with various openings $`w`$ between the two electrodes were used to develop the gate geometry. For $`w<`$ 100 nm, we were unable to open the channel between the split gates without simultaneously populating the regions below the gates. For $`w>`$ 250 nm, the channels could not be pinched off. Also, the pinch-off voltage of split gates with identical geometry can be quite different.
In Fig. 1c, the island geometry is shown. Three split gate electrodes (point contact gates pc1, pc2, as well as the center gates cg) define the dot with a lithographic size of 500 nm $`\times `$ 800 nm. For pc1 and pc2, $`w`$ = 150 nm was chosen.
The measurements have been carried out in a $`{}_{}{}^{3}He/^4He`$ dilution refrigerator with a base temperature of 90 mK. DC voltages are applied between source and drain, and the current is measured with a resolution of $``$ 500 fA.

We have studied two different quantum dots of identical geometry and performed several cooldowns, all leading to similar results. Here, we focus on the measurements from one device, taken in a single cooldown.

Split gates pc1 and pc2 are used to adjust the coupling of the island to source and drain (Fig. 2a). Due to the small elastic mean free path, conductance quantization is not observed. The leakage currents measured at the center gates is shown in the inset of Fig. 2a. At sufficiently large split gate voltages $`V_{pc1}`$ and $`V_{pc2}`$, CB oscillations are observed as a function of the center gate voltage $`V_{cg}`$ (Fig. 2b).
The measured CB resonances can be fitted well to the expression describing a thermally smeared CB peak in the multi-level transport regime, i.e. $`G(V_{cg},T_h)=G_{max}cosh^2[\frac{\eta (V_{cg}V_{max})}{2.5k_BT_h}]`$. Here, $`G_{max}`$ and $`V_{max}`$ denote the amplitude and the position of the CB resonance, respectively. The lever arm $`\eta `$ translates $`V_{cg}`$ into energy and is obtained from measurements of the CB diamonds (Fig. 3a). We find $`\eta `$ = 0.68 eV/V. As fit parameter, we obtain hole temperatures of $`T_h`$ = 390 mK to 570 mK, depending on the peak. A Lorentzian, on the other hand, which is appropriate for homogeneously broadened resonances, fits significantly worse (inset in Fig. 2b). The full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) thus fluctuate strongly from peak to peak, and furthermore saturate for bath temperatures below 400 mK, as well as for source-drain bias voltages below Vsd = 120 $`\mu `$V. We conclude that neither the electron temperature, nor Vsd determine the FWHM in this regime (T $`<`$ 400 mK and Vsd $`<`$ 120 $`\mu `$V). Furthermore, we observe a pronounced pair modulation of the peak separations in this regime. Qualitatively similar modulations are observed in both devices and in all cooldowns, although the detailed structure varies strongly. A measurement of the Coulomb diamonds, i.e., the current as a function of both $`V_{sd}`$ and $`V_{cg}`$ is shown in Fig. 3a. The stability of the diamonds shows that there is little telegraph noise and switching at frequencies below 1Hz, the bandwidth of our setup. However, noise of higher frequencies may be substantial; and gate voltage dependent charge rearrangements in the substrate may be present and could determine the FWHM of the CB peaks.
In Fig. 3b, we show the temperature dependence of the CB oscillations. Temperature dependent measurements support the interpretation in terms of a strongly disordered dot (Fig. 3b). As the temperature increases, not only the CB oscillations are smeared out, but also a striking overall increase in $`G`$ is observed, which indicates thermally enhanced transport through the island. Since the conductance of the individual tunnel barriers, measured with positive voltages applied to the remaining gates, does not depend on temperature between 90 mK and 2K, the observed overall increase of $`G`$ is entirely due to the island. Several scenarios could lead to such a behavior, such as Variable-Range Hopping or Efros-Shklovskii hopping. Reasonable agreement with Variable-Range Hopping (i.e., $`\rho exp[(T_0/T)^{1/3}]`$) is found, and we can estimate the characteristic temperature from fits to $`T_00.55K`$. This result depends only weakly on $`V_{cg}`$. We cannot, however, distinguish between Variable-Range hopping and Efros-Schklovskii hopping, due to the limited range of temperatures.
Similar modulations of Coulomb diamonds have been observed in double dot systems for weak coupling between the dots. Possibly, the modulation is thus an indication that at $`V_{cg}`$ 40 mV, the island splits up into two smaller, weakly coupled puddles, due to disorder. The modulated diamonds then reflect the formation of a “molecular state”, or of a capacitance between the two puddles. A different number of puddles would result in a different modulation period. Since we can not tune the two puddles independently nor the coupling between them, we are unable to extract the puddle sizes and the interdot conductance. Nevertheless, this interpretation allows us to quantify the island in terms of capacitances. Within this interpretation, the average CB period in Fig. 3a corresponds to $`e/C_g`$, where e is the elementary charge and $`C_g`$ the capacitance between the total island and the center gates. The average distance between the diamond corners along the $`V_b`$-direction corresponds to twice the charging energy $`E_C=e^2/C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ of the island: $`\delta V_{sd}`$ = $`2e/C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. Here, $`C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ denotes the total capacitance of the island. From Fig. 3a, we find $`C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ = 170 aF, which corresponds to a single electronic island radius of r$``$ 200 nm. Hence, the level spacing inside the dot can be estimated as $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ 8 $`\mu `$eV, which justifies our assumption of multilevel transport used above.

In summary, we have demonstrated that top gate defined nanostructures can be fabricated and operated on p-SiGe. The leakage currents can be significantly reduced by oxidizing the mesa edges before top gate deposition. We have observed Coulomb blockade on a top gate defined island in p-Si/SiGe. The island is strongly disordered, which manifests itself in thermally enhanced transport as well as in a possible puddle formation at small hole densities.
The authors would like to thank S. Graf for technical assistance. Financial support by the Swiss National Science Foundation and MINAST is gratefully acknowledged.