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# Equation of state of dense matter and the minimum mass of cold neutron stars

## 1 Introduction

Mass of neutron stars is bound on the lower-density side by the minimum mass, $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$. Equilibrium neutron star configurations with $`M<M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ do not exist. Some astrophysical scenarios, in which a neutron star looses matter, and reaches the critical value $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, were proposed (Blinnikov et al. 1984, Colpi et al. 1989, Colpi et al. 1991, Sumiyoshi et al. 1998). Basically, one considers a neutron star in a close binary system with a more compact, and more massive object (more massive neutron star, stellar mass black hole). At a sufficiently small separation between a neutron star and its companion, less massive, and therefore larger, neutron star starts to lose mass due to gravitational pull of its companion, the lost matter being accreted by the companion compact object. This process is self-accelerating, because decrease of mass leads to increase of neutron star size, making it even more susceptible to the mass loss. After crossing $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, no equilibrium configuration can be reached. Numerical simulations suggest, that after crossing the $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ value, a neutron star will undergo an explosion (Blinnikov et al. 1984, Colpi et al. 1989, 1991, Sumiyoshi et al. 1998).

Of course, rotation and thermal effects can affect (actually - increase) the actual value of the minimum neutron star mass. As we will see, rotation will also change the nature of the minimum-mass configuration. In the present paper, we will restrict ourselves to neutron stars built of cold catalyzed matter. For newly born proto-neutron stars, both thermal and neutrino-trapping effects are large, and are expected to increse minimum mass to $`0.91.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (Goussard et al. 1998, Strobel et al. 1999). However, $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ for static, cold neutron stars still remains the absolute lower bound on the mass of neutron star.

The calculation of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ for neutron stars has a long history. The first correct estimate of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ was obtained by Oppenheimer & Serber (1938). They showed, that the previous estimate obtained by Landau (1938) was much too small, and moreover based on incorrect arguments. Oppenheimer & Serber (1938) obtained an estimate $`0.17\mathrm{M}_{}`$ without taking into account nuclear interactions. Then they argued, that inclusion of the contribution from the nucleon-nucleon interactions leads to a decrease of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ to $`0.030.10\mathrm{M}_{}`$, depending on the assumptions they made about the (very poorly known at that time) nucleon-nucleon interaction. It should be stressed, that their criterion of stability was based on energy arguments: a neutron star had to be stable with respect to transformation into medium mass nuclei (they took calcium as an example). Calculation of Harrison et al. (1964) was based on the Harrison-Wheeler equation of state (Harrison et al. 1964), which described both the crust and the liquid core of neutron stars. From the present-day point of view, their equation of state above neutron drip was unrealistic. They obtained $`M_{\mathrm{min}}=0.18\mathrm{M}_{}`$, at a central density of only $`\mathrm{3\; 10}^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. Using two versions of the Levinger & Simmons (1961) baryon-baryon potential, Tsuruta & Cameron (1966) obtained $`M_{\mathrm{min}}=0.110.13\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Cohen & Cameron (1971), using the equation of state (EOS) based on the up-dated version of the Levinger-Simmons nucleon-nucleon potential (Langer et al. 1969), obtained $`M_{\mathrm{min}}=0.065\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Finally, in their classical paper on the EOS and structure of neutron stars, Baym et al. (1971b, hereafter BPS), who used their own (BPS) EOS of the outer crust, and that of Baym et al. (1971a, hereafter BBP) for the inner crust and for the outer layers of the liquid core, obtained $`M_{\mathrm{min}}=0.0925\mathrm{M}_{}`$.

The properties of the equilibrium configurations near $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ are sensitive to the EOS of neutron star matter at subnuclear densities, i.e. for mass density significantly below normal (saturation) density of nuclear matter, $`\rho _0=\mathrm{2.7\; 10}^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ (baryon density significantly below $`n_0=0.16\mathrm{fm}^3`$). As we will show, a particularly important role is played by the EOS near the inner crust - liquid core boundary. Therefore, the EOS should give physically correct description of this transition region; a brutal ad hoc matching of the inner crust and liquid core are not sound for this purpose. The microscopic model, underlying the EOS, should be the same on both sides of the crust-core boundary, and should therefore be based on the same effective nuclear hamiltonian.

In the present paper, we calculate $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ and study static configurations near minimum mass. We also study the effect of rotation on these configurations. We use two EOS, based on different effective nuclear hamiltonians. These effective hamiltonians are: a recent SLy model (Chabanat et al. 1998, for applications see Douchin & Haensel 2000, Douchin et al. 2000, EOS in Douchin & Haensel 2001), and a somewhat older FPS model (Ravenhall & Pandharipande 1989, for applications see Lorenz et al. 1993).

The plan of the paper is as follows. Equation of state near crust-liquid core interface is discussed in Sect.2. In Sect. 3, we study equilibrium configurations near $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, and their dependence on the assumed EOS model. The problem of binding energy and stability of low-mass neutron stars is studied in some detail in Sect.4. Possible effects of elastic strain within the equilibrium configurations near $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ are estimated in Sect. 5. Effects of rotation are studied in Sect. 6. Finally, Sect. 7 contains discussion of our results and conclusions.

## 2 Equation of state of cold catalyzed matter near the crust-core interface

The properties of neutron stars close to $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ are determined by the EOS of dense matter at subnuclear densities, and in particular in the density interval $`0.1\rho _0<\rho <\rho _0`$. At such densities, the actual structure of the ground state of matter results from the interplay of the surface and Coulomb terms in the total energy density. These tiny “finite size” terms, which are absent in uniform $`npe`$ matter, are difficult to calculate with high precision at the density of interest. However, these terms, very small compared to the main bulk energy contribution, decide what is the actual shape of nuclei, and whether or not matter with nuclear structures is energetically preferred over the spatially uniform $`npe`$ matter.

As we already stressed in Sect.1, it is mandatory to use the same effective nuclear hamiltonian to describe both nuclear structures (nuclei) and neutron gas in the inner crust, and the uniform $`npe`$ matter of the liquid core. In the present paper we use a recently developed SLy model of neutron star matter (Douchin & Haensel 2000, Douchin et al. 2000, Douchin & Haensel 2001), based on the SLy effective nuclear interaction (Chabanat et al. 1997, 1998). For this model, nuclei in the ground state of neutron star matter remain spherical down to the bottom edge of the inner crust (Douchin & Haensel 2000). Transition to the uniform $`npe`$ plasma takes place at $`\rho _{\mathrm{edge}}=\mathrm{1.3\; 10}^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ (baryon density $`n_{\mathrm{edge}}=0.078\mathrm{fm}^3`$). The crust-core phase transition is very weakly first-order, with a relative density jump of about 1%.

Unfortunately, absence or presence of non-spherical (called also “exotic” or “unusual”) nuclear shapes in the bottom layers of the inner crust depends on the assumed model of effective nuclear hamiltonian. As an example of a different effective nuclear hamiltonian, we will consider the FPS model (Pandharipande & Ravenhall 1989, Lorenz et al. 1993), which also gives a unified description of both the inner crust and the liquid core. For the FPS model, the crust-liquid core transition takes place at higher density $`\rho _{\mathrm{edge}}=\mathrm{1.6\; 10}^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ (baryon density $`n_{\mathrm{edge}}=0.096\mathrm{fm}^3`$), and is preceded by a sequence of phase transitions between various nuclear shapes (Lorenz et al. 1993). The sequence of phase transitions starts at $`\mathrm{1.1\; 10}^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3\frac{1}{3}\rho _0`$ (baryon density $`n_\mathrm{b}=0.064\mathrm{fm}^3`$), at which spherical nuclei immersed in neutron gas are replaced by the cylindrical ones. Then follows a transition from cylindrical nuclei immersed in neutron gas to the slabs of nuclear matter interspaced with neutron gas, which at still higher density are replaced by nuclear matter with cylindrical holes filled with neutron gas, replaced eventually by nuclear matter with spherical bubbles filled with neutron gas. This last phase persists up to $`\rho _{\mathrm{edge}}`$. All phase transitions are very weakly first-order, with relative density jumps smaller than 1%.

Both EOS are compared, in the relevant density interval, in Fig.1. In the vicinity of the crust-core interface, the SLy EOS is stiffer than the FPS one. Moreover, in the case of the SLy EOS the discontinuous stiffening (jump of compression modulus) at the crust-core transition is more pronounced than in the FPS case, where it has been preceded by a sequence of phase transitions connected with changes of nuclear shapes. Such a sequence of phase transitions implied therefore a gradual stiffening of matter.

## 3 Mass, radius and central density of configuration close to $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$

The mass-radius plot for the SLy EOS, in the vicinity of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, is shown in Fig.2. The mass minimum is very flat, particularly on the lower-density branch. In contrast, the minimum of the mass-central density curve is very sharp, and the curve $`M(\rho _\mathrm{c})`$ on the lower-density side is extremely steep, as seen in Fig.3. Configurations to the left of the minimum in Fig.3 have $`\mathrm{d}M/\mathrm{d}\rho _\mathrm{c}<0`$, and are therefore unstable with respect to small radial perturbations; they are not expected to exist in the Universe (see, e.g., Shapiro & Teukolsky 1983).

Let us denote central density of the $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ configuration by $`\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$. Configurations with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$ are very loosely bound by gravitational forces (see below). Their radii are $``$ hundreds of kilometers, and a small difference in their mass is accompanied by a large difference in radii. For example, on a stable branch on Fig.2, a decrease in mass by $`0.001\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (i.e., by one percent) implies an increase in radius by $``$ hundred kilometers (i.e., by more than a factor of two !). Simultaneously, as seen in Fig.3, for $`\rho _\mathrm{c}<\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$ (unstable branch) the increase of mass with decreasing central density becomes extremely steep.

This behavior is related to the specific structure of neutron stars near $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, and to the properties of the EOS of neutron star matter at subnuclear density. Neutron stars close to $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ are loosely bound, huge spheres of the solid crust, of the radius of hundreds of kilometers, containing a tiny liquid core, which at $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ constitutes 2% of the stellar mass for the SLy EOS, and 3% of mass in the case of the FPS model.

In the context of the stability of equilibrium configurations, a particular role is played by the adiabatic index of the neutron star interior, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=(n_\mathrm{b}/P)(\mathrm{d}P/\mathrm{d}n_\mathrm{b})`$. As we see in Fig.3 the most dramatic steepening of the $`M(\rho _\mathrm{c})`$ curve takes place at $`\rho _\mathrm{c}\mathrm{1.6\; 10}^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ for the SLy EOS, to be compared with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}\mathrm{2.2\; 10}^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ for the FPS EOS. At such central density, neutron stars have a tiny, stiff, liquid core with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{core}}2`$. The average value of the adiabatic index within the crust is much lower, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{crust}}1.3`$, below the Newtonian threshold for instability with respect to small radial perturbation. Gravitational pull barely binds the equilibrium configurations, which are unstable with respect to small radial perturbations.

At $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, the radius of the liquid core is 3.8 km for the SLy EOS, and 4.2 km for the FPS model. As the SLy EOS is stiffer for $`10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3<\rho <\rho _0`$ than the FPS one, the SLy neutron stars at $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ are less compact, and contain smaller and less massive liquid core. Parameters of neutron star models with minimum mass are collected in Table 1.

For $`\rho _\mathrm{c}<\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$, both the mass of the liquid core and its radius decrease very slowly with decreasing $`\rho _\mathrm{c}`$, while the total mass and total radius of the star increases extremely steeply.

## 4 Binding energy of low-mass neutron stars

Binding energy of a neutron star, $`E_{\mathrm{bind}}`$, is defined as the mass defect with respect to dispersed configuration of the same number of baryons, multiplied by $`c^2`$. Dispersed configuration is characterized by negligible pressure and gravitational interactions. Equivalently, one may define $`E_{\mathrm{bind}}`$ as a net work needed to transform a neutron star into a dispersed configuration.

One may contemplate several definitions of dispersed configuration. Let us first consider the net work needed to transform neutron star, consisting of $`A`$ baryons, into a dispersed configuration, under the condition of keeping matter always in the ground state. In this way, dispersed configuration will be a pressureless cloud of the dust of $`{}_{}{}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}`$, with mass per nucleon $`m_{\mathrm{Fe}}\mathrm{mass}\mathrm{of}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}\mathrm{atom}/56=\mathrm{1.6587\; 10}^{24}`$ g. Binding energy with respect to such a dispersed configuration is

$$E_{\mathrm{bind}}^{(\mathrm{Fe})}=\left(Am_{\mathrm{Fe}}M\right)c^2.$$
(1)
Another dispersed configuration is that of a pressureless hydrogen cloud. Binding energy in that case is

$$E_{\mathrm{bind}}^{(\mathrm{H})}=\left(Am_\mathrm{H}M\right)c^2,$$
(2)
where the mass of the hydrogen atom $`m_\mathrm{H}=\mathrm{1.6735\; 10}^{24}`$g.

Binding energy of low-mass, cold, static neutron stars, versus stellar mass, in the vicinity of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, is plotted in Fig. 4. As we see, neutron stars with $`M<0.17\mathrm{M}_{}`$ are unbound with respect to $`{}_{}{}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}`$. However, neutron stars are always bound with respect to the hydrogen cloud configuration. At the same mass (or baryon number), unstable configuration (dotted line in Fig.4) is less bound than the stable one.

The case of $`E_{\mathrm{bind}}<0`$ deserves a comment. Negative binding energy with respect to dispersed $`{}_{}{}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}`$ indicates, that neutron stars with $`M<0.17\mathrm{M}_{}`$ are actually metastable with respect to transformation into a cloud of $`{}_{}{}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}`$ dust. Their decompression (while locally keeping the matter in the ground state) would eventually lower the total energy, after overcoming an initial energy barrier resulting from gravitational binding of the outer layers. While being metastable with respect to large amplitude decompression, configurations with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}>\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$ are, however, stable with respect to small amplitude radial perturbations; this is to be contrasted with an instability of configurations with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}<\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$. One expects, that equilibrium configurations with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}<\rho _{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{min}}`$, after being perturbed, will eventually expand to huge white-dwarf like configurations with radii exceeding $`10^4`$ km.

## 5 Effect of elastic strains

Configurations of hydrostatic equilibrium were calculated using the Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation (OV) of general relativity (see, e.g., Shapiro & Teukolsky 1983). The OV equation is derived under the assumption that matter is described by the ideal fluid stress tensor. However, at $`M0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ a neutron star is nearly all solid, except for a small liquid core containing only $`23\%`$ of stellar mass. In contrast to liquid, a solid can sustain a shear strain, which contributes to the stress tensor. In the isotropic approximation, the elastic shear-strain term in the stress tensor of the Coulomb crystal of the solid crust is determined by the shear modulus $`\mu `$. The effect of elastic strain on the stellar structure can be roughly estimated using the model of Baym & Pines (1971). In the presence of elastic shear strain, static neutron star configuration can be non-spherical. Assuming for simplicity that the deviation from sphericity is quadrupolar, let us estimate possible ellipticity $`\delta R/R`$, where $`\delta R`$ is the absolute value of the difference between the polar and the equatorial radii. For a Coulomb crystal the maximum (i.e., breaking) strain does not exceed $`10^2`$ (Ruderman 1992). The Baym-Pines (1971) model predicts that $`\delta R/R<0.01b`$ where the “rigidity parameter” $`b\beta _{V_{\mathrm{crust}}}\mu dV/|E_{\mathrm{grav}}|`$. Here, $`E_{\mathrm{grav}}`$ is the gravitational energy of a neutron star and $`\beta `$ is a numerical factor $`1`$. For a $`1.4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ neutron star, one typically has $`b10^5`$, but for $`M0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ one obtains $`b10^2`$ (Carlini & Treves 1989). Therefore, we expect that the effect of elastic shear strain on the stellar radius at $`M0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ is $`\delta R/R<10^3`$.

## 6 Effects of rotation

The shortest observed pulsar period is $`P_{\mathrm{min}}^{\mathrm{obs}}=1.558`$ms, which corresponds to rotation frequency $`\nu _{\mathrm{max}}^{\mathrm{obs}}=641`$Hz. For massive neutron stars of $`M1.3\mathrm{M}_{}`$, rotation at such frequency has a rather small offect on neutron star structure, and can be described using slow rotation approximation (Hartle 1967). Leading effects of rotation on neutron star structure are then quadratic in $`\nu `$, and are small as long as gravitational pull, acting on a unit mass element at the equator $`GM/R^2`$ is significantly larger than the centrifugal force $`4\pi ^2R\nu ^2`$. However, with decreasing mass of a neutron star rotating at fixed $`\nu `$, the rotational effects become more and more important. At the same $`M`$, the equatorial radius of a rotationally flattened neutron star becomes significantly larger than that of a static configuration. Importance of rotation increases with increasing equatorial radius and decreasing mass, and become decisive for $`\nu ^2GM/(4\pi ^2R^3)`$.

We performed exact calculations of stationary configurations of cold neutron stars, rotating uniformly at 100 Hz and 641 Hz. Numerical calculations were carried out using exact 2-D equations for uniformly rotating configurations in general relativity. Equations of hydrostatic equilibrium were solved using numerical code, based on the pseudospectral method, and developed at DARC Meudon (Bonazzola et al. 1998, Gourgoulhon et al. 1999). Low-mass constant-$`\nu `$ sequences in the $`MR`$ plane are displayed in Fig. 5.

Effects of rotation are larger for the stiffer SLy EOS, which is most natural. At 641 Hz and $`M<0.8\mathrm{M}_{}`$, effects of rotation are very large. The lowest-mass configuration corresponds to the mass-shedding limit. We get $`M_{\mathrm{min}}^{\mathrm{SLy}}(641\mathrm{Hz})=0.61\mathrm{M}_{}`$. For the FPS EOS, the effect is smaller, because it is softer than the SLy one, and therefore low-mass neutron stars are more compact. We obtain $`M_{\mathrm{min}}^{\mathrm{FPS}}(641\mathrm{Hz})=0.54\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Even at $`\nu =100`$ Hz, rotation has a sizable effect, with minimum mass, reached at the mass-shedding limit, $`M_{\mathrm{min}}^{\mathrm{SLy}}(100\mathrm{Hz})=0.13\mathrm{M}_{}`$, larger, by nearly 40%, than that for static neutron stars.

For the SLy minimum mass configuration rotating at $`\nu =641`$ Hz the equatorial and polar radius of the liquid core are 11 km and 9 km, respectively. However, the crust is much more deformed than the whole star, having equatorial thickness of 6 km, four times larger than the polar one. This results in quite a large oblateness, $`R_{\mathrm{pole}}/R_{\mathrm{eq}}=0.6`$. The mass is concentrated in a liquid core, which contains 93% of neutron star mass.

Minimum mass configuration, calculated for the SLy EOS at $`\nu =100`$ Hz, has the (nearly spherical) liquid core constituting half of the stellar mass. However, the equatorial radius of the liquid core is only about $`6`$ km, to be compared with the 28 km equatorial thickness of the crust. Consequently, the oblateness of the minimum mass configuration is large, $`R_{\mathrm{pole}}/R_{\mathrm{eq}}0.7`$.

Our calculations show, that the rotating configurations close to minimum mass cannot be approximated by a homogeneous rotating ellipsoid, like the model of Colpi et al. (1991). The two quantities relevant for the Keplerian (mass shedding) limit, mass and equatorial radius, are determined by different parts of a low-mass neutron star. Namely, the mass is supplied by the liquid core, while the equatorial radius is defined by the outer edge of the extended solid crust. Therefore, the approximation in which a neutron star is represented by a homogeneous (constant density - incompressible) spheroid (Colpi et al. 1991) is inadequate.

It should be mentioned, that even at the mass-shedding limit at 641 Hz, rotating configurations are not susceptible to the viscosity-driven tri-axial instability which would imply emission of gravitational radiation. This secular instability sets in at kinetic to gravitational potential energy ratio $`T/W=0.14`$. We get $`T/W=0.061`$ for the SLy EOS, and even less, $`T/W=0.056`$, for the softer FPS EOS. Our conclusion is opposite to that obtained by Colpi et al. (1991), which results from the inadequacy of the model used by these authors.

One may ask, whether the values $`T/W=0.050.06`$ are above the threshold for the gravitational-radiation driven Chandrasekhar-Friedman-Schutz (CFS) instability. The threshold values $`T/W0.040.05`$ for the $`m=4,5`$ CFS instabilities, calculated for realistic EOS by Morsink et al. (1999), correspond to $`M0.8\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Extrapolation of these results to strongly deformed configurations with $`M0.6\mathrm{M}_{}`$ rotating at 641 Hz (Fig. 5) would be risky. Therefore, the problem of the CFS instabilities in rotating low-mass neutron stars has to be clarified in the future studies.

One has to point out basic difference between low-mass stationary uniformly rotating configurations and the static ones. Let us denote central density of the minimum mass configuration by $`\rho _{\mathrm{c},M_{\mathrm{min}}}`$. In the static case, equilibrium configurations with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}<\rho _{\mathrm{c},M_{\mathrm{min}}}`$ are secularly unstable with respect to radial perturbations. However, for $`\nu 100`$ Hz, stationary configurations with $`\rho _\mathrm{c}<\rho _{\mathrm{c},M_{\mathrm{min}}}`$ just do not exist.

## 7 Summary and conclusion

In the present paper we determined the properties of the minimum mass configuration of neutron stars, built of cold catalyzed matter. We used two recent EOS of cold catalyzed matter, which describe in a unified way both the crust and the liquid core, as well as their interface. For static neutron stars, we get a minimum mass of $`0.09\mathrm{M}_{}`$, coinciding with the value of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ obtained three decades ago in the BPS paper. The value of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ for neutron stars built of cold catalyzed matter is quite independent of the specific EOS used. However, the structure of the minumum mass configuration is sensitive to the EOS at $`\rho \rho _0`$. For the FPS and SLy EOS we get $`R(M_{\mathrm{min}})220`$ km and 270 km, respectively. Our minimum mass configurations contain a tiny liquid core with $`23\%`$ of the stellar mass. The structure of the $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$ configurations for the EOS considered in the present paper are substantially different from that obtained in the classical BPS paper. While BPS got a similar value of $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, the radius of their minimum mass configuration was only 160 km, and it was completely solid. These differences can be easily understood in terms of the differences in the EOS at subnuclear density. Namely, for $`\rho \rho _0`$, the BPS EOS is softer, and its crust-core transition takes place at significantly higher density than for the SLy and FPS ones.

Within mass interval $`M_{\mathrm{min}}=0.09<M<0.17\mathrm{M}_{}`$, neutron stars are unbound with respect to dispersed $`{}_{}{}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}`$. In the similar mass range, neutron stars are less bound than carbon-oxygen white dwarfs of the same mass. However, all neutron stars are bound with respect to dispersed hydrogen.

Effects of rotation have been shown to be important for $`M_{\mathrm{min}}`$, and for the low-mass neutron stars in general. For neutron stars rotating rigidly at $`P=1.56`$ms, minimum mass is determined by the mass-shedding limit: it is $`0.5\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`0.6\mathrm{M}_{}`$, for the FPS and SLy EOS, respectively. The minimum mass configuration at $`P=1.56`$ms is quite oblate, due to strong deformation of the crust by the centrifugal force.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to A. Potekhin for his help in preparation of Figs.1,3,4. We are also very grateful to the referee, S. Blinnikov, for his remarks and comments which helped to improve the present paper. This research was partially supported by the KBN grant No. 5P03D.020.20.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The study of deep inelastic scattering of polarized electrons with protons at very high energies will be one of the major new physics topics after the upgrade of the HERA storage ring. The colliding-beam experiments H1 and ZEUS will for the first time have access to longitudinal polarized electrons222In this paper, “electron” is generically used to refer to both electron and positron.. The longitudinal polarization of the electron beam in a storage ring like HERA is achieved with the spin rotators from the naturally polarized transverse polarization through the emission of synchrotron radiation which is known as the Sokolov-Ternov effect .

Currently the transverse and longitudinal electron polarizations at HERA are measured with, respectively, a transverse polarimeter (TPOL) and a longitudinal polarimeter (LPOL). The new LPOL will use a Fabry-Pérot cavity to stock photons from a laser in resonance such that an amplified laser beam can be obtained. Such a technique has been successfully employed at CEBAF .

The paper is organized as follows. In section 2, the necessities for having a fast and precise polarization measurement are briefly discussed. The new LPOL is presented in section 3.

## 2 The necessities for having a fast and precise polarization measurement

The basic HERA physics program including using polarized electron beams has been described in a series of workshops . Here we shall only briefly discuss why it is important to have a fast and precise electron polarization ($`P_e`$) measurement.

As far as the colliding experiments H1 and ZEUS are concerned, the dominant Standard Model processes, neutral current (NC) and charged current (CC) interactions, are very sensitive to the electron beam polarization at high $`Q^2`$ as it is shown for the NC case in figure 1.

The NC cross-sections can be expressed in terms of structure functions $`\stackrel{~}{F}_2`$ and $`x\stackrel{~}{F}_3`$, which contain linear combinations of the quark densities and quadratic functions of the vectorial ($`v_q`$) and axial ($`a_q`$) couplings of the quarks ($`q`$) to the $`Z`$ boson. A precise knowledge of $`P_e`$ is thus necessary in order to measure accurately the NC cross-sections, which in turn provide a unique constraint on the parton densities at large $`x`$ . The same cross-section data can also be used to measure the coupling constants $`v_{u,d}`$ and $`a_{u,d}`$ with a precision comparable to those obtained by LEP for the couplings of the heavy quarks. The polarized beam is necessary for determining the vector couplings $`v_{u,d}`$ and desirable for enhancing the sensitivity for $`a_{u,d}`$.

Similarly, the reduced CC cross-sections $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{\mathrm{CC}}(e^+p)=(1+P_e)x\left[(\overline{u}+\overline{c})+(1y)^2(d+s)\right]`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{\mathrm{CC}}(e^{}p)=(1P_e)x\left[(u+c)+(1y)^2(\overline{d}+\overline{s})\right]`$ can be larger or smaller than the unpolarized cross-sections. A larger cross-section will effectively improve the statistical precision in probing the helicity structure of the CC interaction and in determining the propagator mass of the exchanged $`W`$ boson. The CC cross-sections data also provide a means to search directly for right-handed CC interactions. The search sensitivity depends, however, crucially on the precision of the electron polarization measurement.

Although the current polarimeters do not allow a precise and fast polarization measurement on a bunch-by-bunch base, there is indication that there are significant polarization variations both within a luminosity fill as a function of time and among different bunches (e.g. between colliding and non-colliding bunches). A fast measurement will thus provide the HERA machine a quick feedback to optimize the polarization and maintain the maximum polarization.

## 3 The new longitudinal polarimeter

The principle of the polarization measurement relies on the non-destructive method of detecting backscattered photons produced in Compton scattering of an intense circularly polarized laser (photon) beam off the electron beam. The transverse polarization is measured from the vertical asymmetries between the left and right circularly polarized photons, whereas the longitudinal polarization is determined from the energy symmetries of the different photon helicities. The current statistical precision of the LPOL is around 1% for 2 minutes of data taking averaged over all bunches in the ring (up to 190). The systematic uncertainty is about 2% which is dominated by the energy scale uncertainty of the calorimeter measuring the backscattered photons in multi-photon mode333 Three different modes of operation can be distinguished for a polarimeter detecting the backscattered photons: (1) single-photon mode: The probability to scatter a photon is very low (0.01 for the existing TPOL), so that at most one phone per interaction is detected in the calorimeter), (2) few-photon mode: The probability is high enough that on average one photon per bunch crossing is observed, (3) multi-photon mode: Per bunch crossing a large number of photons is scattered into the calorimeter (e.g. around 1000 for the actual LPOL).. To reach a same statistical precision for a single bunch, more than 30 minutes are required due to the low pulsed laser frequency (up to 100 Hz to be compared with the electron bunch repetition rate of 10 MHz). The statistical precision of the TPOL is 1% per minute again averaged over all bunches (the current TPOL data acquisition (DAQ) system does not allow the differentiation of bunch to be made). The systematic uncertainty is about twice that of the LPOL due mainly to the limited statistics of the dedicated rise-time runs taken with a flat machine and needed to define the absolute polarization scale.

The new LPOL will be installed next to the existing LPOL during the shutdown early next year. The new LPOL is expected to provide the most precise measurement of the polarization with a statistical error of 0.1% (0.3%) for the colliding (non-colliding) bunches and 1% per minute for every single bunch, and a systematic uncertainty at per mill level.

The conceptual layout of the new LPOL is shown schematically in figure 2.

The cavity surrounds the interaction point for a length of 2 m. The main part of the cavity is a cylindrical vacuum vessel made of stainless steel, with a wall thickness of around 0.3 cm. The optical elements (mirrors) of the cavity are mechanically decoupled from the beam pipe and are rigidly fixed to a stable optical table. The latter is isolated from the HERA tunnel through pneumatic isolators. The central part of the cavity is connected to two end pieces by means of two bellows. Only the end pieces are in contact with the beam pipe. The bellows, acting as a vibration filter, block thus vibrations in the machine from reaching the mirrors.

In addition to the Fabry-Pérot cavity, there are a few other optical components mounted on the optical table, in particular the infrared laser source of 0.7 W (Nd:YAG, $`\lambda =1064`$ nm). The role of the these external optical elements is twofold: the laser beam after having been highly circularly polarized has to be transported into the cavity, and the properties of the laser beam have to be measured and monitored.

The whole system is placed in a hut maintaining a stable temperature within $`1^{}`$C so that the resulting mechanical deformation of the cavity can be handled by an electronic feedback system acting on the frequency of the tunable laser.

To estimate the precision with which the polarization can be measured with the new device, a number of systematic effects have been studied: 1) the energy scale and energy linearity of the calorimeter, 2) the fluctuations of the laser power inside the cavity, 3) the dead material in front of the polarimeter, 4) the properties of the electron beam, and 5) the polarization precision of the laser light. Based on the simulations and the experience obtained from the similar cavity at CEBAF, all considered effects can be controlled such that the systematic uncertainty of the electron polarization would be measured at per mill level. In particular, a precise in-situ energy calibration is possible under the few-photon operation mode, in contrast with the multi-photon mode, since the Compton spectra of one or two photons are still visible in the measured energy distribution.

## 4 Summary

The new longitudinal polarimeter being constructed will use a Fabry-Péroy cavity to significantly gain the effective power of a laser light. The increased power will enable us to operate the polarimeter in the few-photon mode, and still reaching a high statistical precision of $`𝒪(0.1)`$%. The new polarimeter has a number of important advantages over the existing ones:

* The polarimeter can be calibrated using the same data as for the polarization measurement.
* Systematic uncertainties can be tracked and controlled based on the information obtained from the data.
* Fast and reliable feedback can be given to the machine, helping to optimize the polarization.

The precision that the device is expected to reach will be around $`0.20.4`$% on the polarization. This will guarantee that the physics potential of HERA is not limited by the polarimetry, and that high precision measurements for the study of neutral and charged currents are possible.


text:
# Lambda production in 40 A GeV/c Pb-Au collisions

## 1 Introduction

CERES/NA45 is an experiment at the CERN SPS dedicated to measure low-mass e+e- pairs near midrapidity in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions . The CERES spectrometer (Fig. 1) covers the full azimuthal acceptance in the polar angle region between $`8^{}`$ $`<`$ $`\theta `$ $`<`$ $`14.6^{}`$. The high electron identification capability allows to separate the rare leptonic signals from the large hadronic background; it is provided by two ring-imaging Cerenkov counters (RICH). Precise tracking of charged particles and vertex reconstruction are provided by two silicon drift detectors (SDD1,2) located behind a segmented Au target. This detector system is also used as a multiplicity trigger to get information on the centrality of the collision.

In order to improve the momentum resolution the CERES experiment has been upgraded  during 1998 by the addition of a new magnet system and a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with a radial electric drift field. The TPC is operated inside an inhomogeneous magnetic field with a maximal radial component of 0.5 T, and provides the measurement of up to twenty space points for each charged particle track. Besides a precise determination of the momentum the TPC also provides additional electron identification via dE/dx. The magnet system between the two RICHes was not operated in the upgraded configuration.

The addition of the TPC substantially improves the hadron capability of the CERES spectrometer allowing a systematic investigation of hadronic observables around midrapity. In the fall of 1999 the upgraded CERES spectrometer was operated for the first time and $`810^6`$ semicentral Pb+Au collisions at 40 A GeV/c beam momentum were recorded. Because of a not yet completely functional read-out system this data set is limited in terms of statistics and momentum resolution. In the fall of 2000, the CERES spectrometer was fully operational with a very good overall performance, and $`3310^6`$ central 158 A GeV/c Pb+Au events were recorded. In this paper we will focus on the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ analysis of the 40 A GeV/c data set.

## 2 Analysis of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hyperon signal

In this $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ analysis we have used only the information from the SDD’s and the TPC. The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hyperon and its antiparticle were identified by reconstructing their decays into final states containing only charged particles: $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{p}\pi ^{}`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}\overline{\mathrm{p}}\pi ^+`$. The geometrical acceptance for the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ measurement is shown on the left side in Fig. 2. We have also analyzed negatively charged particles (h-) and proton-like positive net charges, shortly denoted as $`(+)()`$ .

The momentum of charged particles is determined from their curvature in the TPC. Since we are not applying any particle identification method in the extraction of the strange particle signals we run through the combinations of all positive tracks with all negative tracks measured in the TPC assuming a decay hypothesis and calculate the invariant mass spectrum. In the same manner, the combinatorial background is evaluated using the mixed event method.

To get a significant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ signal we had to reduce the large combinatorial background using different types of cuts discussed in the following.

Discrimination from target tracks: Taking into account the proper decay length $`c\tau _0`$ = 7.89 cm of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and the $`\gamma `$-factor of about 5 for the TPC acceptance, the decay length in the laboratory is $`\beta c\tau _{lab}=\beta \gamma c\tau _0`$ 40 cm. This means that more than 70 % of all $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ produced in the target decay after the SDD’s (the distance between target and SDD2 is about 13 cm). To enhance the signal-to-background ratio, an optional cut requiring the absence of matching tracks in the SDD is used.

Reconstruction of secondary vertex: In a second step, the decay vertex $`v_{rec}`$ in z-direction (beam direction) is reconstructed for all $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ candidates by back-extrapolation of the TPC tracks and computing the point of their closest approach. This procedure was tested using a simulation. The result is shown in Fig. 2, right. This reconstructed secondary vertex is used in the analysis for an additional (optional) cut $`v_{rec}50`$ cm. At this threshold, the resolution in $`v_{rec}`$ is 12 cm.

Kinematical cuts: The extraction of the strange-particle signal is performed using geometrical and kinematical constraints. A fiducial cut of 130 $`\theta `$ 240 mrad was placed on individual tracks. Due to a loss in tracking efficiency at low momentum, a lower transverse-momentum cut of 250 MeV/c was introduced for negatives. These conditions affect the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ acceptance as shown in Fig. 2, middle. Additionally, a lower $`p_t`$ cut of 500 MeV/c for positives and an upper $`p_t`$ cut of 2.0 GeV/c for positives and 0.6 GeV/c for negatives are introduced since they cost no signal and reduce background. Also, only pairs with an opening angle greater 20 mrad are accepted. For a clean $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ acceptance, we reject all $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hyperons with $`p_t`$ 0.9 GeV/c and $`p_t`$ 2.5 GeV/c. There is also a fiducial cut in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ rapidity: $`2.0<y<2.4`$. Fig. 3 shows an Armenteros plot of the data and calculated lines for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and K$`{}_{}{}^{0}{}_{\mathrm{S}}{}^{}`$. In order to isolate clean $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ particles, additional cuts were made on $`p_t^+`$ selecting 10 - 120 MeV/c and on the Podolanski-Armenteros variable $`\alpha `$ selecting values below 0.65, i.e. only $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$’s where the proton is emitted backwards in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ rest frame.

## 3 Consistency tests:

In Fig. 4, left, the invariant mass spectrum is plotted for three different methods analyzing the same events; (1) TPC in a stand-alone mode, (2) TPC plus SDD veto and (3) TPC plus SDD veto plus vertex cut. One can notice a loss in signal but a large improvement in the signal-to-background ratio as successive cuts are introduced. The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ signal, obtained after subtraction of combinatorial background, is fitted with a Gaussian. The fit parameters for all three methods are very similar, the average of mΛ = 1.117 $`\pm `$ 0.001 GeV/c2 is close to the accepted value  and the resolution is $`\sigma _\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ = 11.2 $`\pm `$ 0.4 MeV/c2.

As an additional consistency test the acceptance corrected number of reconstructed $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$’s is plotted as a function of the decay length in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ rest frame, as shown in the right part of Fig. 4. The superimposed solid line represents an exponential fit with a proper decay length $`c\tau _0`$ = (8.1 $`\pm `$ 0.5) cm, in good agreement with the accepted  value of 7.89 cm.

## 4 Centrality classes

The event sample was divided into three centrality classes according to the number of SDD1/SDD2 tracks as indicated in Tab. 1. Also indicated there are the corresponding fractions of the geometric cross section and the number of participants $`N_{part}`$ evaluated using the UrQMD model .

## 5 Results

The experimental data were corrected for the geometrical acceptance and reconstruction efficiency. In Fig. 5, left, the corrected but un-normalized $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ spectra are presented in different multiplicity bins for two different analysis methods. The invariant multiplicity is fitted with an exponential distribution $`dN/p_tdp_t\mathrm{exp}(m_t/T_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$, also shown in Fig. 5.

The dependence of the inverse slope parameter TΛ on the number of participants Npart is presented in Fig. 6, left. The measured values of TΛ exhibit a slight but not very significant increase as a function of centrality. As shown the slopes are close to those observed at top AGS and SPS energies. The measured values are not well reproduced by the UrQMD model (line in Fig. 6), as also observed for the slopes of the proton spectra . The mass dependence of the inverse slope is presented in Fig. 6, right. Within errors, our present data agree with the systematic behavior of measurements at top SPS energies . The large differences between the slopes (T$`_\mathrm{h}^{}`$ = 176 $`\pm `$ 5 MeV, T(+)-(-) = 278 $`\pm `$ 12 MeV and TΛ = 273 $`\pm `$ 20 MeV) indicate the presence of a strong radial flow also at 40 A GeV beam energy .

The midrapidity density dNΛ/dymid has been obtained by extrapolating the transverse momentum spectra to pt = 0 using the functional form given above. On the right side of Fig. 5 the rapidity densities in the measured pt interval as well as extrapolated to pt = 0 are presented as a function of centrality. A continuous rise with centrality is observed. In our most central multiplicity class we determine a total midrapidity density dNΛ/dymid = 11.8 $`\pm `$ 2. A somewhat larger value of about 15 is reported by the NA49 collaboration . Putting our present data into context with measurements at lower and higher beam energy, a continously rising behavior is seen as a function of $`\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}`$ (see Fig. 7, left).

We have also extracted the signal for the $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. But due to the low statistics it is not possible to show transverse momentum spectra for $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. Since all corrections are symmetric for particle and antiparticle, they cancel in the ratio and we obtain RΛ = $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ = 0.024 $`\pm `$ 0.010. The dominant error is statistical. Our result is in good agreement with the value recently reported by NA57 , albeit with a much larger statistical error for our present result. The $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ratio as a function of $`\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}`$ (Fig. 7, right) shows the expected steep rise with increasing beam energies; for a net-baryon-free region the antiparticle/particle ratio is expected to be one and at RHIC energies this values is approached.

Information about the chemical freeze-out parameters of the expanding system, the temperature T and the baryonic chemical potential $`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$, can be obtained from the ratios of particle yields. Utilizing the thermal model of  we have calculated several particle abundancies corresponding to the phenomenological condition  of fixed average energy per hadron of 1 GeV between top AGS and SPS energies, characterized by a parameterization in $`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$/T. The comparison of computed and measured particle ratios is presented in Fig. 8, left. Taking the different measured particle ratios into account we could extract the mean ratio $`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$/T = 2.8$`\pm 0.3`$. Following the Cleymans-Redlich freeze-out curve , this corresponds to values of $`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ = 410 $`\pm `$ 30 MeV and T = 143 $`\pm `$ 5 MeV. This result is shown in the phase diagram Fig. 8, right. The chemical freeze-out point at 40 A GeV is near the phase boundary and falls into the systematics between top AGS and SPS energies.

## References


text:
# Self-shielding Effects on the Column Density Distribution of Damped Lyman Alpha Systems

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems (hereafter, DLAs) contain most of the atomic hydrogen in the universe (e.g., Wolfe et al. 1995; Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe 2000). They are therefore fundamental objects to understand galaxy formation: in the process of forming galaxies, the matter that is originally in the low-density, ionized intergalactic medium must invariably become first atomic, before it can form molecular clouds and stars.

The nature and geometrical shape of the DLAs is still a subject of debate. The two alternative hypotheses that are being discussed at present and confronted with the observations are as follows: (a) They are rotating disks, which may or may not be forming stars; (b) They are approximately spherical halos, where global rotation contributes little to the support against gravity. The truth may be a combination of these two possibilities: DLAs might be described as flattened halos or thick disks, with a range of the ratio of rotation velocity to velocity dispersion.

A fundamental property of DLAs is that their associated metal lines reveal the presence of multiple absorbers in most of the systems, which are thought to arise from clumps of gas. The multiple absorption lines appear over velocity intervals of $`30`$ to $`300\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The statistical properties of the multiple absorption lines have been used to attempt to distinguish between the disk and halo models, but both alternatives seem to be consistent with observations (Prochaska & Wolfe 1997, 1998; Haehnelt, Steinmetz, & Rauch 1998, 2000; McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 1999). Although the observations reveal that there are usually one or a few clumps intersected along a random line of sight, with characteristic column densities of $`10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, the size of the clumps is not well known. Constraints in a few systems from double lines of sight in lensed QSO’s, and from model calculations of the ionization parameter, indicate sizes or structure in the range of 20 pc to 1 kpc (Rauch, Sargent, & Barlow 1999; López et al. 1999). Models of structure formation predict that the overall size of DLAs is of the order of 1 to 10 kpc (e.g., Katz et al. 1996; Gardner et al. 1997; McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 1999). If the clump size is not much smaller than the size of DLAs, then the absorption lines would actually be arising from mild fluctuations in density and velocity in a turbulent medium; whereas if the clump sizes are much smaller, they would be real separate entities with a large overdensity relative to an interclump medium.

This paper discusses the effects of self-shielding on the form of the column density distribution of damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems, and the dependence of this distribution on the size of the gas clumps. As the gas becomes self-shielding against the external cosmic ionizing background, there is a rapid transition from ionized to fully atomic gas, and this causes a feature in the column density distribution. If $`X`$ is the neutral fraction of the gas seen at a column density $`N_{HI}=1.6\times 10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (where the optical depth to photons at the hydrogen ionization edge is equal to one), a hump in the column density distribution will occur at $`N_{HI}1.6\times 10^{17}X^1\mathrm{cm}^2`$. Therefore, a measurement of $`X`$ from this feature in the column density distribution, combined with an independent estimate of the ionizing background intensity, can be used to infer the size of the gas clumps.

Observationally, compared with the expected number extropolated from low column density distributions, an excess of absorption systems with $`N_{HI}2\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ is found by Lanzetta et al. (1991). The recent compilation of the column density distribution of known DLAs by Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe (2000) shows more clearly a hump around $`N_{HI}2\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. Theoretically, based on an approximate calculation of the self-shielding effect, Murakami & Ikeuchi (1990) showed that a flat part appears in the column density distribution. With a simplified consideration on the ionizing flux transfer, Petitjean, Bergeron, & Puget (1992) investigated models of self-gravitating, photoionized, spherical gaseous cloud and explained the flattening of the column density distribution at $`N_{HI}2\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ as the effect of self-shielding. Similar calculations of the expected column density distribution due to self-shielding have been done by Corbelli, Salpeter, & Bandiera (2001) for plane-parallel geometry.

Here, we will consider a spherical geometry with a singular isothermal profile to perform a self-shielding calculation, and focus on the application of inferring the size of the gas clumps in damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems.

## 2 METHOD

### 2.1 Model for Gaseous Halos

We model a DLA as a spherical cloud of gas with a singular isothermal profile, $`\rho _g=A/r^2`$, with a cutoff at the virial radius, where $`\rho _g`$ is the gas density. The model depends only on the constant $`A`$, which can be recast in terms of the mass of an associated virialized dark matter halo. We will be presenting results for dark matter halo masses of $`10^9`$, $`10^{10}`$, $`10^{11}`$, and $`10^{12}M_{}`$, assuming that 5% of the mass of the halo is in the form of gas. For the cosmological model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$, $`H_0=70\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$, and at $`z=3`$, the virial radii corresponding to these halo masses are $`r_{\mathrm{vir}}=5.2,11.1,23.9,`$ and $`51.5\mathrm{kpc}`$, and the halo circular velocities are $`V_c=29,62,134,`$ and $`289\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, respectively (e.g., Padmanabhan 1993). In Cold Dark Matter models of structure formation, the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems should be located in halos over this range of masses (e.g., Gardner et al. 1997). The constant $`A`$ is simply determined by the condition that 5% of the halo mass is equal to the total gas mass within radius $`r_{\mathrm{vir}}`$. The model ignores clumpiness of the gas, but as discussed later the results depend only on the assumed radius at a given density, so the halo radius will essentially play the role of the radius of a clump.

### 2.2 The Background Spectrum And The Ionization Profiles

The other quantity that determines the profile of neutral hydrogen is the intensity of the external ionizing background. We assume an intensity of $`I_\nu =3\times 10^{22}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Hz}^1\mathrm{sr}^1`$, constant at all frequencies between the H I  Lyman limit, $`\nu _L`$, and the He II Lyman limit, $`4\nu _L`$. The intensity is set to zero at frequencies above $`4\nu _L`$. This is a sufficiently good approximation for our purpose to the background spectrum expected from QSOs, after absorption by the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest is taken into account (e.g., Haardt & Madau 1996). The reason is that He II becomes self-shielding at a larger radius in the gaseous halo than H I (owing to the faster He II recombination rate and the lower intensity of the cosmic background at the He II Lyman limit, compared to hydrogen; e.g., Miralda-Escudé & Ostriker 1990), and therefore the photons at frequency above $`4\nu _L`$ in the cosmic background are absorbed before reaching the region where H I opacity is important. With this spectrum, our adopted value of the intensity at the H I Lyman limit corresponds to a H I photoionization rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.25\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

In our calculation, we will set the total hydrogen number density to $`n_H=0.76\rho _g/m_H`$ (where $`m_H`$ is the mass of the hydrogen atom), and the electron number density to $`n_e=0.82(1x_{HI})\rho _g/m_H`$, where $`x_{HI}=n_{HI}/n_H`$ is the hydrogen neutral fraction. The factors 0.76 and 0.82 assume a helium abundance of $`Y=0.24`$ by weight, and that all the helium is in the form of He I  and He II  with the same neutral fraction as hydrogen. Other than these factors, the presence of helium is ignored in our calculation. This is a good enough approximation owing to the small helium abundance by number, plus the fact that every photoionization of He I produces a photon following recombination of He II which ionizes hydrogen.

### 2.3 Self-shielding Calculation

We compute the self-shielded H I density profile using an iterative procedure similar to the one described by Tajiri & Umemura (1998). Photoionization equilibrium demands that at each radius, we have

$$x_{HI}(r)_{4\pi }𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }_{\nu _L}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{I_{\nu ,0}e^{\tau _\nu }}{h\nu }a_\nu 𝑑\nu =[1x_{HI}(r)]^2\frac{0.82\rho _g(r)}{m_H}\alpha _B(T),$$
(1)
where $`x_{HI}(r)`$ is the hydrogen neutral fraction at radius $`r`$, $`I_{\nu ,0}`$ is the cosmic background intensity, $`\tau _\nu `$ is the photoionization optical depth from radius $`r`$ to infinity along a given direction, $`a_\nu `$ is the photoionization cross section of hydrogen, and $`\alpha _B(T)`$ is the case B recombination coefficient at temperature $`T`$ (we use the on-the-spot approximation, see Osterbrock 1989). We fix the temperature to $`2\times 10^4`$ K, for which the recombination coefficient is $`\alpha _B=1.41\times 10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Spitzer 1978; Verner & Ferland 1996). One can compute self-consistently the gas temperature assuming thermal equilibrium under photoionization conditions, but in practice the gas is likely to be frequently shock-heated in any model of moving gas clumps in a halo. To numerically evaluate the integral in equation (1), we compute the integral over frequency at many values of the optical depth and obtain a fit to this function. The integral over solid angle is reduced to one dimension in the spherical case, and is performed at each radius. We initiate $`x_{HI}(r)`$ by assuming the system to be optically thin. At each iteration, $`\tau _\nu `$ is recomputed for each radius and polar angle, and new values of $`x_{HI}`$ are found. This iteration is repeated until $`x_{HI}`$ has converged with a fractional error less than $`10^5`$.

## 3 RESULTS

The neutral fraction profile as a function of radius, in $`\mathrm{kpc}`$, is shown in the left panel of Figure 1 for the four halo masses. As expected, the ionizing photons penetrate deeper in halos of lower mass. For a power-law density profile, self-similarity implies that the shape of the $`x_{HI}`$ profile depends on the gas density and the background intensity only through one parameter, $`X`$, which is the neutral fraction at the radius $`r_{ss}`$ where the cloud becomes self-shielding: $`Xx_{HI,0}(r_{ss})`$. Here, $`r_{ss}`$ is defined as the impact parameter where the column density is $`N_{HI,0}(r_{ss})=a_{\nu _L}^1=1.59\times 10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ with both $`x_{HI,0}`$ and $`N_{HI,0}`$ computed without including the self-shielding correction. Using the approximation $`X1`$ and ignoring also any external cutoff in the isothermal gas density profile, one finds

$$X=\left[\frac{1.64\alpha _BN_{HI,0}}{0.76\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }r_{ss}}\right]^{1/2}.$$
(2)
Thus, the shape of the neutral fraction profile depends only on the product $`\mathrm{\Gamma }r_{ss}`$. It is easily shown that the self-shielding radius $`r_{ss}`$ is proportional to $`(A^2/\mathrm{\Gamma })^{1/3}M^{4/9}/\mathrm{\Gamma }^{1/3}`$. For the four halo masses we use, ($`10^9,10^{10},10^{11},`$ and $`10^{12}M_{}`$), and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.25\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^1`$, we find $`r_{ss}=1.3,3.6,9.9,`$ and $`27.6\mathrm{kpc}`$, and $`X=1.8\times 10^3,1.1\times 10^3,6.3\times 10^4,`$ and $`3.8\times 10^4`$, respectively. The right panel of Figure 1 shows the neutral fraction profiles for these four cases as a function of $`r/r_{ss}`$.

This general shape of the neutral fraction profiles of self-shielding clouds ionized by the cosmic background can be simply understood as follows: the cloud becomes self-shielding at the radius where the total rate of recombinations balances the rate at which photons come into the cloud. Therefore, once a radius $`r_{ss}`$ is reached where most photons with frequency near $`\nu _L`$ have been absorbed, the cloud becomes mostly neutral over a small range in radius, because the rate of recombinations required to balance the absorption of all the higher frequency photons is not much higher. The effect has been demonstrated before by Murakami & Ikeuchi (1990) and Petitjean, Bergeron, & Puget (1992), and is analogous to the sharp edges of H I disks produced by self-shielding (Corbelli & Salpeter, 1993). Since $`a_{4\nu _L}a_{\nu _L}/64`$, we conclude that for $`X>1/64`$, some of the highest frequency photons will penetrate into the atomic region of the cloud (causing a residual ionization inside the atomic region), while for $`X<1/64`$, all the photons have mean free paths small compared to $`r_{ss}`$ once the cloud is mostly atomic, so the intensity of ionizing photons suddenly drops to zero and there is a sharp transition to a completely atomic gas.

Figure 2 shows the predicted distribution of H I column densities, $`f(N_{HI})`$, when random lines of sight intersect the four model gas clouds (obtained by requiring $`f(N_{HI})dN_{HI}rdr`$, where $`N_{HI}(r)`$ is found by integrating the hydrogen density times the neutral fraction in Fig. 1 over lines of sight at impact parameter $`r`$). The transition to atomic gas causes a feature in the distribution, with a hump appearing at column density $`N_{HI}N_{HI,0}X^1`$.

Superposed on our curves, we reproduce a recent compilation of the column density distribution of known damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems, from Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe (2000). The points seem to fit best the curve for the $`10^{10}M_{}`$ halo (notice that the points can be arbitrarily shifted vertically). In particular, the point at the lowest column density suggests a shallower slope of the distribution. This is a marginal indication that the feature predicted by the self-shielding effect may have been detected. If so, the value of $`X`$ that is inferred is $`X1.1\times 10^3`$, which for our adopted value of the photoionization rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, corresponds to $`r_{ss}3.6\mathrm{kpc}`$. We caution, however, that the predicted shape depends on the assumed total gas density profile, which we have taken to be singular isothermal.

## 4 DISCUSSION

We have shown that self-shielding should cause a sharp transition from an ionized to an atomic medium in any gas cloud photoionized by the external cosmic background. The expected absence of photons above frequency $`4\nu _L`$ due to He II absorption makes that transition even sharper once the neutral fraction has been increased by a factor 64 by self-shielding. This produces a hump in the column density distribution. The column density at which the hump occurs measures the quantity $`\mathrm{\Gamma }r_{ss}`$.

Most damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems are likely to be photoionized by the external cosmic background. In fact, since their rate of occurrence is about one fourth per unit redshift at $`z3`$ (Storrie-Lombardi, McMahon, & Irwin, 1996), and the mean free path of ionizing photons is $`\mathrm{\Delta }z1`$ (Miralda-Escudé & Ostriker, 1990), it is easily shown that if all the sources of the cosmic ionizing background were embedded inside damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems, then the local source in any such system would contribute about the same flux as the external background on average. It is much more likely that any sources associated with typical damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems do not contribute significantly to the cosmic background.

The results for the column density distribution presented by Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe (2000) suggest a possible detection of the self-shielding effect, which would imply a radius $`r_{ss}3.6\mathrm{kpc}`$ for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.25\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^1`$. This represents a measurement of the size of the clumps in damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems. Even though our calculation is for a spherical, isolated cloud, a system of randomly located clumps would produce a similar column density distribution depending on the radius of the clumps, as long as each clump is illuminated by the ionizing background with an optical depth $`1`$ along a large fraction of directions. This should be correct since the typical number of intersected clumps identified in the metal absorption lines is not very large.

The typical size of damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems inferred from CDM models where all halos with $`V_c40\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ give rise to the absorption systems is 1 to 10 $`\mathrm{kpc}`$ (e.g., Katz et al. 1996; Gardner et al. 1997; McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 1999). Hydrodynamic cosmological simulations show that, at redshift $`z24`$, for halos more massive than $`10^{11}M_{}`$, the projected distance of DLAs to the center of the nearest galaxy is around $`10\mathrm{kpc}`$ (Gardner et al., 2001). Since the clump size we infer is about the same, this suggests that the multiple metal absorption lines do not arise from highly overdense clumps, but from mild density fluctuations in gaseous halos. If there were highly overdense clumps, their small self-shielding radii would produce a column density distribution with a less pronounced hump at lower column density than the curves in Figure 2. The appearance of individual absorption lines in the spectra of Mg II and other metal lines might be deceiving, and could be due to a continuous medium, where the Mg II density is highly sensitive to the gas density due to photoionization and self-shielding effects.

Nevertheless, a number of caveats must be borne in mind in interpreting the observed column density distribution as a measurement of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }r_{ss}`$. In reality, there should be a distribution of clump sizes, and differences from a simple spherical geometry would introduce additional variations, which would smooth the shape of the distribution predicted in Figure 2. Furthermore, the density profile of the gas cloud can be different from what we assume here. A fully three-dimensional calculation of self-shielding in a hydrodynamic simulation of galaxy formation would be highly desirable for a more robust interpretation of the observations of damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems.

Finally, we mention that once the size of the clumps is known, their column densities can be used to infer their gas mass, and the temperature required to have a cloud in hydrostatic equilibrium (see Corbelli, Salpeter, & Bandiera 2001). Using a typical column density $`N_H3\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for a clump, and a radius $`r_{ss}3.6\mathrm{kpc}`$, a gas mass of $`M_g1.6\times 10^8M_{}`$ is inferred for the self-shielded region. In the absence of dark matter, the temperature in hydrostatic equilibrium is $`TGM_gm_H/kr_{ss}2.3\times 10^4`$K. Since this is near the expected temperature in photoionization equilibrium, this would imply that the gas clumps in damped systems do not contain a lot of dark matter. However, this conclusion is altered if the gas temperature is higher due to shock heating or turbulent motions are important.

This work was supported in part by NSF grant NSF-0098515.