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# Quasiparticle Formation and Optical Sum Rule Violation in Cuprate Superconductors

## Abstract

Using a simple model for the frequency dependent scattering rate, we evaluate the in-plane optical integral for cuprate superconductors in the normal and superconducting states. In the overdoped region, this integral is conserved. In the optimal and underdoped region, though, the optical integrals differ, implying a lowering of the in-plane kinetic energy in the superconducting state. This sum rule violation, due to the difference of the non Fermi liquid normal state and the superconducting Fermi liquid state, has a magnitude comparable to recent experimental results.

In superconductors, there is a dramatic change in the conductivity due to opening of an excitation gap in the finite frequency response, and the formation of a zero frequency $`\delta `$ function peak representing the dissipationless response of the condensate. The change is such as to preserve the optical sum rule, in that the finite frequency weight removed by the opening of the excitation gap is recovered by the condensate peak.

In cuprate superconductors, though, there is experimental evidence that the sum rule is violated for c-axis conductivity. Over the measured frequency range, more weight is present in the condensate peak than can be accounted for by the loss of finite frequency weight. Since the total optical sum rule must be preserved, the extra weight in the condensate peak is coming from outside this frequency range. This is unusual, since in classic superconductors, the change in the optical integral is exhausted over a frequency range of order 4$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the superconducting gap. Anderson has stressed that such sum rule violations are connected to the lack of quasiparticle poles in the normal state, and their emergence in the superconducting state. This is unlike the premise of BCS theory, where quasiparticles are assumed to exist in the normal state.

Although the sum rule violation for the c-axis response is profound, its contribution to the condensation energy is small due to the smallness of the c-axis kinetic energy in the cuprates. If kinetic energy effects are to play a role in the condensation energy, then they must be coming from the in-plane response, since the in-plane kinetic energy is quite large, of order an eV. This largeness, though, means that the violation is difficult to see. That is, a 1 meV change in the kinetic energy would represent $``$1% change in the optical integral. Recently, though, two groups have claimed to observe such a change. Ellipsometry data on optimal and underdoped Bi2212 have been quantified as corresponding to a change in the kinetic energy of 1 meV. The same kinetic energy change has been inferred from reflectance data on an underdoped Bi2212 film, though no such change could be resolved in an overdoped film. These results are intriguing, since a 1 meV kinetic energy savings per plane is in excess of the condensation energy inferred from specific heat data.

In this paper, using a simple model for the frequency dependent scattering rate based on angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) and infrared data, we calculate the change in the optical integral from the normal to the superconducting state, and find its sign and magnitude to be comparable to these recent findings.

The full optical integral, integrating over all energy bands, is proportional to the bare carrier density over the bare electron mass, and thus must be conserved. Of greater interest here is the optical response of the band around the Fermi energy, correlating with the experimental data which are typically integrated out to an energy of order the plasma frequency (1 eV). This leads to a consideration of the single band sum rule

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}Re\sigma _{xx}(\omega )𝑑\omega =\frac{\pi e^2a^2}{2\mathrm{}^2V}E_K$$
(1)
where the restriction of $`\sigma `$ to the single band response is implicit, and where $`a`$ is the in-plane lattice constant, $`V`$ the unit cell volume, and

$$E_K=\frac{2}{a^2N}\underset{k}{}\frac{^2ϵ_k}{k_x^2}n_k$$
(2)
with $`N`$ the number of k vectors, $`ϵ_k`$ the bare dispersion as defined by the effective single band Hamiltonian, and $`n_k`$ the momentum distribution function. For a Hamiltonian with near neighbor hopping, $`E_K`$ is equivalent to minus the kinetic energy ($`E_{kin}\frac{2}{N}_kϵ_kn_k`$), but in general these two quantities differ.

For free electrons, the inverse mass tensor is a constant in momentum, and thus this integral is conserved due to charge conservation. This is not generally the case, since the sum of the inverse mass tensor over the Brillouin zone vanishes. When considering the change in this integral between different electronic states, the emphasis in the past has been on a possible change in the inverse mass tensor. In general, though, we expect $`ϵ_k`$ to be invariant, and therefore the change should instead be due to changes in $`n_k`$. A simple case is BCS theory, where the kinetic energy increases in the superconducting state due to particle-hole mixing. If a near neighbor tight binding model applied, the BCS optical integral would be smaller in the superconducting state than in the normal state, opposite to the recent experimental results.

The BCS model, though, assumes the existence of quasiparticle poles in the normal state. It is straightforward to demonstrate that the kinetic energy can indeed be lowered in the superconducting state if the normal state is a non Fermi liquid and the superconducting state a Fermi liquid. This occurs if the effect of quasiparticle formation on sharpening $`n_k`$ is larger than the smearing due to particle-hole mixing. This effect is anisotropic in momentum, due to anisotropies in the scattering rate and the d-wave order parameter. Given these anisotropies and the anisotropy of the mass tensor, it is not obvious what the effect of the kinetic energy lowering will be on the optical integral, since a near neighbor tight binding model is inadequate to describe $`ϵ_𝐤`$. In addition, ARPES measurements indicate a substantial doping dependence of the scattering rate, which implies that the sum rule violation will also be doping dependent.

We start by considering a simple model for the frequency dependent scattering rate, based on fits to ARPES data at the $`(\pi ,0)`$ point. This was used in work on the condensation energy and the c-axis sum rule. The model assumes a large frequency independent scattering rate in the normal state, consistent with the broad Lorentzian lineshapes. In the superconducting state, the broad peak is replaced by a sharp peak at the superconducting gap energy, followed at higher binding energy by a spectral dip, then a broad maximum (the “hump”). This change is modeled by cutting off Im$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ at the energy of the spectral dip. The resulting $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{\Gamma }=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\pi }\mathrm{ln}\left|\frac{\omega \omega _0}{\omega +\omega _0}\right|i\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Theta }(|\omega |\omega _0)$$
(3)
where $`\omega _0`$ is the spectral dip energy. This self-energy is then used in the spectral function

$$A=\frac{1}{\pi }\mathrm{Im}\frac{Z\omega +ϵ}{Z^2(\omega ^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)ϵ^2}$$
(4)
where $`Z=1\mathrm{\Sigma }/\omega `$. For this form of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, the spectral function has two $`\delta `$ functions located at $`\pm E`$, where $`E`$ satisfies the pole condition (denominator of Eq. 4 vanishes). Such poles always exist for $`E<\omega _0`$ because of the log divergence of Re$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ at $`\pm \omega _0`$. The weight of the poles are determined as  $`|dA^1(\pm E)/d\omega |`$. In addition, there are incoherent pieces for $`|\omega |>\omega _0`$.

For now, we assume $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is $`k`$ independent. $`\omega _0`$ is also assumed to be $`k`$ independent, as implied by ARPES experiments. $`ϵ_k`$ is taken from a six parameter tight binding fit to normal state ARPES data. For the order parameter, the d-wave form $`\mathrm{cos}(k_xa)\mathrm{cos}(k_ya)`$ is assumed. The $`k`$ sum is done using a 100 by 100 grid in the irreducible quadrant of the zone. The quasiparticle pole weight contribution to $`n_k`$ is analytic. The incoherent contribution is evaluated by trapezoidal integration. We consider the T=0 limit, and thus $`n_k=_{\mathrm{}}^0A(\omega )𝑑\omega `$. In practice, the lower cut-off is taken to be -10 eV. In the normal state with no lower cut-off, $`n_k=1/2\mathrm{tan}^1\left(ϵ/\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)/\pi `$.

In Fig. 1a, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_KE_K^NE_K^S`$ (where $`N`$ denotes normal state and $`S`$ superconducting state) is plotted as a function of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The strong dependence on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is expected, since as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ increases, the change in $`n_k`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }n_kn_k^Nn_k^S`$) becomes increasingly pronounced, leading to a larger sum rule violation. This implies that the sum rule violation becomes larger as the doping decreases, since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ from ARPES measurements increases with underdoping.

One issue with Fig. 1a is the rather large value of the sum rule violation for realistic values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (the antinodal scattering rate from ARPES is $``$100 meV for optimal doping). It is known, though, that the scattering rate from ARPES is a strong function of momentum. We consider a simple model for the anisotropy with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{\Gamma }_N[1+c_R(\mathrm{cos}(k_xa)\mathrm{cos}(k_ya))^2/4]`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N`$ is the nodal scattering rate and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N(1+c_R)`$ the antinodal one. In Fig. 1b, we plot $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_K`$ versus $`c_R`$ for various $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N`$, and find that it rapidly saturates with $`c_R`$, and thus with the antinodal scattering rate. We have also considered the influence of the anisotropic pseudogap on the normal state, and found this had little effect on $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_K`$.

To gain further insight, we plot in Fig. 2a the integrand of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_K`$ as a function of momentum. Note that the overall integral is negative, with negative regions corresponding to unoccupied states near the d-wave node ($`(0,0)(\pi ,\pi )`$ Fermi crossing) and occupied states near the $`(\pi /2,0)`$ points, and positive regions to occupied states near the node and unoccupied states near the antinode ($`(\pi ,0)(\pi ,\pi )`$ Fermi crossing). To understand this, we plot two curves on Fig. 2a, one the Fermi surface, the other the zero of the inverse mass tensor. In our model $`n_k`$ is equal to 1/2 on the Fermi surface, and thus $`\mathrm{\Delta }n_k`$ changes sign there. Therefore, the optical integrand, which is the product of the inverse mass tensor times $`\mathrm{\Delta }n_k`$, changes sign each time one of these two curves is crossed. From this, one can easily understand the various sign regions in the plot.

Perhaps more instructive is to convert the optical integral to the equivalent one involving $`n_kϵ_k`$ (using Greens theorem for periodic functions). The resulting integrand is plotted in Fig. 2b, and as expected, is localized about the Fermi surface. The important point is that the integrand peaks at the node. This can be easily understood. In the superconducting state there are quasiparticle poles, but at the node, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k=0`$, so there is a true step discontinuity in $`n_k`$ there. As one moves away from the node, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k`$ increases from zero, and so $`|n_k|`$ decreases in magnitude. From Fig. 2b, it is easy to appreciate the result of Fig. 1 that the optical integral is sensitive to the nodal scattering rate and not so sensitive to the antinodal one. As our model was motivated by fitting ARPES data in the antinodal region of the zone, this indicates that a model based directly on the nodal region should be considered.

Normal state ARPES data are consistent with a scattering rate of the form -Im$`\mathrm{\Sigma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_k+\alpha |\omega |`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ has the anisotropy described above and $`\alpha `$ is momentum independent. For simplicity, we will assume that both of these terms have an infrared cut-off at $`\omega _0`$ as we did for the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ model. When determining Re$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, it is important to provide an ultraviolet cut-off to Im$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. A hard cut-off at $`\omega _c`$ leads to a log singularity in Re$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ at $`\omega _c`$. Rather, we take Im$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ to saturate at $`\omega _c`$. This gives

$$\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\alpha =\frac{\alpha }{\pi }\left(\omega \mathrm{ln}\left|\frac{\omega ^2\omega _0^2}{\omega ^2\omega _c^2}\right|+\omega _c\mathrm{ln}\left|\frac{\omega \omega _c}{\omega +\omega _c}\right|\right)$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=\mathrm{\Sigma }_\alpha +\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The normal state $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is obtained by setting $`\omega _0=0`$. $`\omega _0`$ is the energy of the dispersion kink along the zone diagonal, which is the same energy as the spectral dip at $`(\pi ,0)`$, and thus $`\omega _0`$ is $`k`$ independent. For $`\omega _c`$, fits to ARPES are consistent with a value of 500 meV.

For illustrative purposes, we consider first the case with no anisotropy in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. In Fig. 3, we plot the sum rule violation versus $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for a typical value of $`\alpha `$. The variation with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is similar to Fig. 1a despite the presence of a substantial $`\alpha `$ term. Thus for a “pure” marginal Fermi liquid ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$), the sum rule violation is essentially zero. The reason is that with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$, the normal state posseses quite sharp spectral peaks, and thus the change in $`n_k`$ when going into the superconducting state is reduced.

To make quantitative comparisons to experiment, realistic values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ and $`\alpha `$ as a function of doping are needed. We can obtain them from the optics data. In Fig. 4a, we plot $`1/\tau (\omega )`$ for four Bi2212 samples in the superconducting state extracted from reflectivity data. The linear high frequency behavior is of the form $`a+b\omega `$. Let us relate these parameters to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ and $`\alpha `$. The $`\alpha `$ term is easy to obtain, since it is $`k`$ independent. At T=0, $`1/\tau `$ is an average of -2Im$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ over a frequency range of 0 to $`\omega `$ . Since the $`\alpha `$ term is linear in $`\omega `$, then $`\alpha =b`$.

The $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ term is a different story. If it were isotropic, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=a/2`$. For the anisotropic case, these two quantities are related by a Fermi surface integral. We can do this analytically by replacing the anisotropy term by $`\mathrm{cos}^2(2\varphi )`$, where $`\varphi `$ is the Fermi surface angle (the node is at $`\varphi =\pi /4`$). We find that the Fermi velocity along the Fermi surface can also be fit to the same anisotropic form. The resulting transport integral is  $`2\tau (0)=[𝑑\varphi v(\varphi )/\mathrm{\Gamma }(\varphi )]/𝑑\varphi v(\varphi )`$ where $`v(\varphi )=v_N[1+v_R\mathrm{cos}^2(2\varphi )]`$ ($`v`$ is the modulus of the velocity) and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\varphi )=\mathrm{\Gamma }_N[1+c_R\mathrm{cos}^2(2\varphi )]`$. From ARPES $`c_R=3`$, and from the tight binding fit, $`v_R=0.72`$. Solving, we find that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N^1=3.4\tau (0)`$.

For the other parameters, we note that the deviation of $`1/\tau (\omega )`$ from linearity sets in at an energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{max}+\omega _0`$, where $`\omega _0`$ is the single particle scattering rate gap. This is easily shown from the Kubo bubble by dressing one of the two lines. From ARPES and tunneling, $`\omega _0=\mathrm{\Delta }_{max}+\omega _{res}`$, where $`\omega _{res}`$ is the energy separation of the peak and the dip. This is found to vary with doping as 5$`T_c`$, and we use this to extract $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{max}`$ from the optics scattering rate gap. The resulting $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{max}`$ values are consistent with ARPES and tunneling measurements.

These values are used to determine the sum rule violation versus doping, shown in Fig. 4b. We find no sum rule violation for the overdoped sample. This is the expected BCS like behavior, and is consistent with the experimental result on an overdoped film. For the other samples, we find a sum rule violation which increases from 1.5 to 2.2 meV as the doping decreases. The doping trend is consistent with the reported experimental results (also shown in Fig. 4b), although the values are perhaps too large by a factor of two. This may be due to the approximation of using a hard infrared cut-off on the scattering rate in the superconducting state. Still, given the simplicity of our model, and the substantial experimental error bars, the agreement with experiment is surprisingly good. The doping trend in our model is due to the increase in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N`$ with underdoping. We also note that the kinetic energy change is about twice $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_K`$.

As for where the extra condensate weight is coming from, we note that the the experimental optical integrals balance at an energy cut-off of about 2 eV. This value is comparable to the Mott gap of the insulator, so we speculate that the extra weight comes from the upper and lower Hubbard bands. This would be in accord with the more delocalized nature of the electrons in the superconducting state.

In conclusion, using a simple model for the frequency dependent scattering rate, we can understand recently reported results for the sum rule violation for the in-plane conductivity. The effect is due to the formation of quasiparticles in the superconducting state, and confirms earlier speculations by Anderson. As the doping increases into the overdoped region, we find the sum rule violation goes away, consistent with the more Fermi liquid like nature of the normal state.

We acknowledge discussions with N. Bontemps, A. Santander-Syro, D. van der Marel, D. Basov, T. Timusk, and A. Georges. This work was supported by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Science, under contract W-31-109-ENG-38, the Aspen Center for Physics, and the CNRS (France). We would like to thank Prof. Bontemps and the ESPCI for their hospitality while this work was in progress, Prof. Timusk for providing his data, and Profs. Bontemps and van der Marel for use of their unpublished work.


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# Shot noise as a tool to probe an electron energy distribution

## 1 Introduction

Recently, shot-noise measurements are emerging as an important tool to obtain information on the transport properties and interactions among carriers in quantum structures . Since Coulomb repulsion between electrons and their fermionic nature can regulate their motion, this effect may be detected in the shot-noise reduction (in respect to the Poissonian value), but cannot be deduced from time-averaged dc measurements. In particular, shot noise has been used as a tool to probe: fractional charge , effective superconducting charge , quantum transmission modes in atomic-size contacts , mechanisms of tunneling , etc. (see, e.g., recent review ).

In this contribution, we discuss the possibility to employ the shot-noise measurements to obtain information on the energy distribution of nonequilibrium carriers injected from a contact emitter. Using ballistic electrons to study nanoscale structures has recently been a very active research area. In a usual technique called “hot-electron spectroscopy” , carriers injected from an emitter contact are analyzed in a collector contact by means of a barrier which is transparent only for the carriers having energy greater than the barrier height. By changing the bias on the collector barrier, the electron energy profile can be analyzed. This technique requires the design of a special collector filter for getting information on the electron energies. Here, we propose a simpler method which does not require a design of the filter, rather it employs a “natural” filter: the potential barrier that appears due to an injected space charge. This space charge limits the current producing the resistance effect by means of a barrier, which reflects a part of the injected carriers back to the emitter. The height of the barrier depends on the screening parameter of the material, and it varies with the external bias. The essential difference with the case of a fixed barrier is that the space-charge barrier fluctuates in time and produces the long-range Coulomb correlations between the transmitted electrons, that leads to the significant suppression of shot noise registered at the collector contact. The level of suppression depends drastically on the energy profile of the injected carriers , while the time-averaged quantities (the mean current, conductance, etc.) do not.

## 2 Shot-noise suppression by Coulomb correlations

We consider the current injection into a ballistic conductor at high biases (Fig. 1). To adequately describe the transport and noise under the nonlinear far-from-equilibrium conditions, one has to solve the transport equation coupled self-consistently with a Poisson equation . The self-consistent built-in field determines the potential barrier $`\mathrm{\Phi }_b`$, at which electrons are either reflected or transmitted depending on their energy. The steady-state ballistic current $`I`$ is determined by the electrons passed over the barrier (tunneling is neglected):

$$I=\frac{q}{2\pi \mathrm{}}_{\mathrm{\Phi }_b}^{\mathrm{}}N(\epsilon )𝑑\epsilon ,$$
(1)
where $`q`$ is the electron charge, $`N(\epsilon )=Af(\epsilon ,𝐤_{})𝑑𝐤_{}/(2\pi )^{d1}`$ is the number of occupied transversal modes, $`A`$ is the cross-sectional area, $`d`$ is the dimension of a momentum space and $`f(\epsilon ,𝐤_{})`$ is the occupation number of a quantum state of a longitudinal energy $`\epsilon `$ and a transverse momentum $`𝐤_{}`$ at the emitter. Note that the differential conductance for this kind of emitter is given by $`G=c(q^2/2\pi \mathrm{})N(\mathrm{\Phi }_b)`$, where $`c(U,\mathrm{})`$ is the Coulomb interaction factor dependent on the bias $`U`$ and the length of the ballistic region $`\mathrm{}`$.

Since there is no scattering, the occupation of transversal modes is conserved during the motion, and the only source of noise is the fluctuations of the occupation numbers at the emitter modulated by the potential-barrier fluctuations $`\delta \mathrm{\Phi }_b`$. The barrier fluctuations induce the long-range Coulomb correlations, and they are found from the Poisson equation . The result may be summarized by introducing the current-fluctuation transfer function $`\gamma (\epsilon )`$ as follows:

$$\delta I=\frac{q}{2\pi \mathrm{}}\left[_{\mathrm{\Phi }_b}^{\mathrm{}}\delta N(\epsilon )𝑑\epsilon N(\mathrm{\Phi }_b)\delta \mathrm{\Phi }_b\right]=\frac{q}{2\pi \mathrm{}}_{\mathrm{\Phi }_b}^{\mathrm{}}\gamma (\epsilon )\delta N(\epsilon )𝑑\epsilon .$$
(2)
As a result of the long-range Coulomb interactions, the transmission for different energies differs by the factor $`\gamma (\epsilon )`$. Thus, the low-frequency current-noise spectral density is

$`S_I={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Phi }_b}^{\mathrm{}}}\gamma ^2(\epsilon )K(\epsilon )𝑑\epsilon ,`$ (3)
where $`K`$ is given through the correlator $`\delta N(\epsilon )\delta N(\epsilon ^{})=(q/2\pi \mathrm{})^2K(\epsilon )(\mathrm{\Delta }f)\delta (\epsilon \epsilon ^{})`$, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }f`$ the frequency bandwidth. At high biases $`qU\mathrm{\Phi }_b`$, we find the asymptotic formula for the function $`\gamma `$

$`\gamma (\epsilon )={\displaystyle \frac{3}{\sqrt{qU}}}\left[\sqrt{\epsilon \mathrm{\Phi }_b}v_\mathrm{\Delta }\right],`$ (4)
where

$`v_\mathrm{\Delta }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{N(\mathrm{\Phi }_b)}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Phi }_b}^{\mathrm{}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N}{\epsilon }}\right)\sqrt{\epsilon \mathrm{\Phi }_b}𝑑\epsilon .`$ (5)
It is important to highlight that the current noise (3) depends on the details of the distribution function $`N(\epsilon )`$ at the emitter through the parameter $`v_\mathrm{\Delta }`$. The function $`\gamma (\epsilon )`$ plays the role of the energy-resolved shot-noise suppression factor.

## 3 Example

To illustrate the implementation of the results, we consider the emitter in which the injection energy profile has a peak at energy $`\epsilon _0`$ superimposed on a wide background of 3D Fermi-Dirac (FD) electrons (see Inset in Fig. 2). Under the assumption that the width of the peak is narrow on the scale of the temperature $`T`$, the number of the occupied modes for each longitudinal energy $`\epsilon `$ can be written as

$$N(\epsilon )=\frac{mk_BT}{2\pi \mathrm{}^2}\left[\mathrm{ln}\{1+\mathrm{exp}[(\epsilon _F\epsilon )/k_BT]\}+\stackrel{~}{a}k_BT\delta (\epsilon \epsilon _0)\right]$$
(6)
where $`\epsilon _F`$ is the Fermi energy, and $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ is the dimensionless peak magnitude. It is known that the mean current for ballistic injection in the limit of high biases is described by the Child law independently of the distribution function . For the distribution (6), the steady-state current (1) is obtained as ($`\epsilon _0>\mathrm{\Phi }_b`$ is assumed)

$$I=\frac{q}{2\pi \mathrm{}}N_S\frac{k_BT}{\xi }[F_1(\xi \mathrm{\Phi }_b/k_BT)+\stackrel{~}{a}],$$
(7)
where $`N_S=k_F^2A/(4\pi )`$, $`k_F^2=2m\epsilon _F/\mathrm{}^2`$, $`\xi =\epsilon _F/k_BT`$, and we denote the Fermi-Dirac integrals of index $`j`$ by $`F_j(\alpha )=_0^{\mathrm{}}x^j[1+\mathrm{exp}(x\alpha )]^1𝑑x/\mathrm{\Gamma }(j+1)`$. It is seen that the information on the peak position $`\epsilon _0`$ is lost in the time-averaged current $`I`$. In contrast, the noise is sensitive to both the peak position and its magnitude, as will be shown below.

Assuming that the peak electrons are uncorrelated (Poissonian), while the FD electrons are correlated by the Pauli exclusion, we obtain the correlation function for the injected carriers

$$K(\epsilon )=\frac{2G_\mathrm{S}}{\xi }[F_1(\xi \epsilon /k_BT)+\stackrel{~}{a}k_BT\delta (\epsilon \epsilon _0)],$$
(8)
where $`G_\mathrm{S}=(q^2/2\pi \mathrm{})N_S`$ is the Sharvin conductance. Thus for the current noise we obtain

$$S_I=2qI_{bg}\frac{9k_BT}{qU}[1\sqrt{\pi }wg_1+w^2g_2+a(\sqrt{\epsilon _\delta }w)^2],$$
(9)
where $`I_{bg}`$=$`I(\stackrel{~}{a}=0)`$ is the background current, $`wv_\mathrm{\Delta }/\sqrt{k_BT}=(\sqrt{\pi }g_1+a/\sqrt{\epsilon _\delta })/(2g_2)`$, $`a`$=$`\stackrel{~}{a}/F_1(\alpha )`$ is the ratio between the current of the peak and the current of the background, $`g_1`$=$`F_{1/2}(\alpha )/F_1(\alpha )`$ and $`g_2`$=$`F_0(\alpha )/F_1(\alpha )`$ are the coefficients dependent on the degree of degeneracy of injected electrons ($`g_1`$=$`g_2`$=1 at high temperatures for nondegenerate electrons), and $`\alpha =\xi \mathrm{\Phi }_b/k_BT`$ and $`\epsilon _\delta =(\epsilon _0\mathrm{\Phi }_b)/k_BT`$ are the positions of the Fermi energy and the $`\delta `$ peak with respect to the potential barrier. The current noise (9) has a form of a shot noise suppressed by Coulomb interactions. The suppression is enhanced with the bias $`U`$ and depends on the details of the injected distribution, in particular on the peak parameters $`a`$ and $`\epsilon _\delta `$. Note that for noninteracting carriers ($`\gamma `$=$`1`$), one gets $`S_I=2qI_{bg}(g_2+a)`$, that means the information on the peak position is lost, in a similar way as for the average current (7). For this case the noise is a sum of two shot-noise terms: the first one is multiplied by the factor $`g_2`$ (Fermi suppressed Poissonian shot noise ), and the second one is the Poissonian noise from the $`\delta `$ peak. Thus, the role of the Coulomb interactions is crucial in providing an additional information on the injected carriers.

In the experiment, if one is interested in getting information on the peak electrons, one can register the noise for two cases: with and without the $`\delta `$ peak, and then find the ratio

$$\beta =\frac{S_I}{S_I^{bg}}=1+a\frac{(\sqrt{\epsilon _\delta }w)^2+a/(4g_2\epsilon _\delta )}{1(\pi g_1^2)/(4g_2)}.$$
(10)
It is seen that the parameter $`\beta `$ is a nonmonotonic function of the peak position. We have studied the behavior of $`\beta `$ when the peak position $`\epsilon _\delta `$ and the peak current $`a`$ are varied. The results are illustrated in Fig. 2. For a fixed $`a`$, each curve displays a minimum at some energy correspondent approximately to the energy $`\epsilon _0^{}=\mathrm{\Phi }_b+v_\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$, where the current-fluctuation transfer function vanishes: $`\gamma (\epsilon _0^{})`$=0. Since the barrier height $`\mathrm{\Phi }_b`$ is a function of the applied bias, one can tune by $`U`$ the $`\delta `$ peak position to $`\epsilon _0^{}`$ where the noise is minimal, thereby revealing the peak position. In the opposite case, when the peak position is given, one may get information on the screening parameter at the space-charge barrier.

Summarizing, we have shown that Coulomb interactions in ballistic structures are of interest from several points of view: On the one hand, they lead to the shot-noise suppression that may be important for applications. On the other hand, they give the possibility to use the shot-noise measurements as a tool to deduce an important information on the properties of nonequilibrium carriers in nanoscale structures with hot-electron emitters, resonant-tunneling-diode emitters, superlattice emitters, etc., not otherwise available from dc measurements.


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# Accretion during the merger of supermassive black holes

## 1 Introduction

A large fraction of galaxies in the local Universe harbor supermassive black holes (Magorrian et al., 1998), with the black hole mass correlating well with the velocity dispersion of the galaxy (Ferrarese & Merritt, 2000; Gebhardt et al., 2000). One explanation for this correlation is that black holes, like galaxies themselves, have grown in mass through the hierarchical merging of smaller progenitors (Haehnelt & Kauffmann, 2000; Cavaliere & Vittorini, 2000; Menou, Haiman & Narayanan, 2001). This implies that the frequent galactic mergers at high redshift could also involve the inspiral, and probably eventual coalescence, of supermassive black holes. Typically, these binaries will pair black holes of disparate masses, since minor galactic mergers are more common than major mergers in hierarchical models of galaxy formation (Haehnelt & Kauffmann, 2000).

For a black hole binary with masses of $`10^8M_{}`$ and $`10^6M_{}`$, gravitational radiation will lead to merger within a Hubble time if the separation is $`10^2\mathrm{pc}`$. Reaching such a small separation, following a galactic merger, requires that the black holes lose almost all of their orbital angular momentum to stars, dark matter, or gas. Angular momentum loss to stars occurs readily at large radii, but slows down at pc-scale separations if the supply of stars on low angular momentum orbits, which can interact with the binary, becomes depleted (Begelman, Blandford & Rees, 1980; Mikkola & Valtonen, 1992; Makino, 1997; Quinlan & Hernquist, 1997). The extent of this loss cone depletion remains a subject of active debate (Milosavljevic & Merritt, 2001; Yu, 2002; Zhao, Haehnelt & Rees, 2002), with recent work suggesting that stellar dynamical processes may suffice to bring binaries into the gravitational radiation dominated regime. Irrespective of these uncertainties, gas, if it is present at small radii in the nucleus, is likely to be the most efficient sink of binary angular momentum (Begelman, Blandford & Rees, 1980; Pringle, 1991; Ivanov, Papaloizou & Polnarev, 1999; Gould & Rix, 2000). In this letter, we study the role of gas in hastening the merger process, and the influence of the binary on the accretion rate and luminosity of the black holes.

## 2 Timescales for black hole mergers

When the mass ratio of the binary, $`q=M_2/M_11`$, the interaction of the lower mass hole with the disk is identical to that of a Jupiter mass planet in a protoplanetary disk (ignoring relativistic effects due to black hole spin). This regime, which Gould & Rix (2000) described as ‘planet-like’, has been extensively studied (Goldreich & Tremaine, 1980; Lin & Papaloizou, 1986). The secondary black hole will open a gap in the disk around the primary, and exchange angular momentum with the gas via gravitational torques. If the disk mass is at least of the same order of magnitude as the secondary, orbital migration then occurs on the viscous timescale of the accretion disk (Syer & Clarke, 1995; Ivanov, Papaloizou & Polnarev, 1999). The radial velocity of fluid in the disk is given by $`v_r=3\nu /2r`$, where $`\nu `$ is the ‘viscosity’ used to approximate angular momentum transport within the disk at radius $`r`$. Using the Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) $`\alpha `$ prescription, $`\nu =\alpha c_sh`$, where $`c_s`$ is the disk sound speed and $`h`$ the vertical scale height, the rate of migration is approximately

$$\dot{a}_{\mathrm{visc}}\frac{3}{2}\left(\frac{h}{r}\right)^2\alpha v_K$$
(1)
where $`v_K`$ is the Keplerian velocity. Equating this to the rate of inspiral due to gravitational radiation, which for circular orbits is

$$\dot{a}_{\mathrm{GW}}=\frac{64G^3M_1M_2(M_1+M_2)}{5c^5a^3},$$
(2)
we obtain the critical semi-major axis within which gravitational radiation is the dominant process leading to orbital decay. For $`q1`$ we find

$$a_{\mathrm{crit}}=\left(\frac{128}{5}\right)^{2/5}\left(\frac{h}{r}\right)^{4/5}\alpha ^{2/5}q^{2/5}\left(\frac{GM_1}{c^2}\right).$$
(3)
This transition radius between disk-driven migration and gravitational wave inspiral scales with the gravitational radius of the primary black hole, and decreases for more extreme mass ratios. For fiducial parameters of $`(h/r)10^2`$, $`\alpha =10^2`$, and $`q=10^2`$, we obtain $`a_{\mathrm{crit}}10^2GM_1/c^2`$, or around $`3.5\times 10^3\mathrm{pc}`$ for a primary black hole mass of $`5\times 10^8M_{}`$.

Once gravitational radiation becomes significant, the $`\dot{a}_{\mathrm{GW}}a^3`$ dependence of equation (2) ensures that disk torques rapidly become negligible. The merger timescale from $`a_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ is

$$t_{\mathrm{merge}}=\frac{1}{2c}\left(\frac{128}{5}\right)^{3/5}\left(\frac{h}{r}\right)^{16/5}\alpha ^{8/5}q^{3/5}\left(\frac{GM_1}{c^2}\right),$$
(4)
which is around $`10^5\mathrm{yr}`$ for the parameters above. During this final stage of orbital decay, gravitational torques will still extract angular momentum from the disk interior to the orbit, maintaining a gap and forcing the inner disk to accrete more rapidly. Simulations show that gap opening occurs on an orbital timescale, so there is no dynamical reason why this driven inflow should not continue until the inspiral velocity reaches a significant fraction of the Keplerian velocity. Adopting the criteria that $`\dot{a}_{\mathrm{GW}}10^2v_K`$, a gap could remain until $`a17q^{2/5}(GM_1/c^2)a_{\mathrm{crit}}`$. In practice, the thin disk approximation will instead break down when the accretion rate through the inner disk exceeds the Eddington limit.

For mass ratios $`q10^2`$, $`a_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ is substantially outside the marginally stable orbit. However, we note that for smaller $`q`$, disk-driven migration may always be more important than gravitational radiation. This means that, if a geometrically thin accretion disk is present, low frequency gravitational waves would not be detectable from extreme mass ratio binaries, except during the final dynamical stage of the merger. Geometrically thick accretion flows, however, are expected to be much less efficient at driving migration (Narayan, 2000).

## 3 Numerical merger model

We model the migration of the secondary black hole in the planet-like regime (Gould & Rix, 2000) using an approximate, one dimensional treatment. We assume that the orbit remains circular, and solve for the coupled evolution of the disk surface density $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(r,t)`$ and secondary semi-major axis $`a`$. The governing equation for the surface density evolution is (Lin & Papaloizou, 1986; Trilling et al., 1998)

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{t}=\frac{1}{r}\frac{}{r}\left[3r^{1/2}\frac{}{r}\left(\nu \mathrm{\Sigma }r^{1/2}\right)\frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }r^{3/2}}{(GM_1)^{1/2}}\right].$$
(5)
The first term on the right-hand side describes the usual diffusive evolution of an accretion disk. The second term describes how the disk responds to the torque from the secondary, which is approximated as a fixed function of radius $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(r,a)`$. We adopt

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{fq^2GM_1}{2r}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{\mathrm{\Delta }_p}}\right)^4r<a`$
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{fq^2GM_1}{2r}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a}{\mathrm{\Delta }_p}}\right)^4r>a`$ (6)
where $`f`$ is a dimensionless normalization factor and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p=\mathrm{max}(h,|ra|)`$. The rate of migration of the secondary is

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}a}{\mathrm{d}t}=\left(\frac{a}{GM_1}\right)^{1/2}\left(\frac{4\pi }{M_2}\right)_{r_{\mathrm{in}}}^{r_{\mathrm{out}}}r\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }dr+\dot{a}_{\mathrm{GW}},$$
(7)
where the integral is taken over the entire disk.

To fix $`f`$, and to help visualize the interaction, we have run high resolution ($`400^2`$ mesh points) simulations of the secondary-disk interaction using the ZEUS hydrodynamics code (Stone & Norman, 1992). Figure 1 shows the results from a locally isothermal ($`c_s=c_s(r)`$ only) calculation, which was evolved for 400 orbits of the secondary until a near steady-state was obtained. For both this run, with $`(h/r)0.07`$, and for simulations of cooler disks with $`(h/r)=0.035,0.02`$, the edge of the gap lies close to the 2:1 orbital resonance. A low level of accretion onto the secondary from the outer disk is observed. In our 1D disk code described below, gaps of approximately the correct width are obtained using $`f=10^2`$.

We complete the model by adopting a viscosity $`\nu =1.5\times 10^{20}(r/0.1\mathrm{pc})^{3/2}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$, where the prefactor is chosen to match the viscosity of a disk with $`\alpha =10^2`$ and $`(h/r)=0.01`$ at 0.1 pc. The scaling with radius is model dependent and poorly known. We adopt a power-law with an index of 3/2 primarily for numerical convenience.

### 3.1 Results for prompt mergers

Figure 2 shows the evolution of a black hole binary with masses $`M_1=5\times 10^8M_{}`$ and $`M_2=10^7M_{}`$, calculated by numerically integrating equation (5) using an explicit method on a non-uniform grid. 800 mesh points were used to resolve the disk from $`r_{\mathrm{ms}}=1.4\times 10^4\mathrm{pc}`$ out to $`3\mathrm{pc}`$. The disk has a zero-torque boundary condition at the inner edge, and an initial surface density profile corresponding to a constant accretion rate of $`1M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ out to $`1\mathrm{pc}`$. Starting from a separation of 0.1 pc, a combination of disk-driven migration and inspiral due to gravitational radiation leads to merger within $`2\times 10^7\mathrm{yr}`$.

In Figure 3 we show the disk surface density profile during the migration and inspiral. There are two phases. In the first, the secondary migrates inwards within a gap under the action of disk torques, while the inner disk is partially depleted by accretion onto the primary black hole. The accretion rate onto the primary black hole in this first phase is somewhat reduced compared to the value it would have in the absence of a binary. This behavior can be easily understood – adding a binary companion to the disk merely increases the amount of angular momentum that must be transported outwards before mass can be accreted. Flux-limited samples of AGN may therefore select against finding close binaries. Disk-driven migration continues until angular momentum loss due to gravitational radiation first becomes important, at a separation of $`10^2\mathrm{pc}`$. Thereafter, the inspiralling black hole begins to sweep up the gas in the inner disk, forming a narrow inner spike in the disk surface density that is pushed inwards. The outer disk is unable to evolve on such a rapid timescale, so a large gap develops between the outer disk and the secondary.

The final stages of the merger drive rapid accretion of the inner disk. Around $`3\times 10^5M_{}`$ of gas remain in the inner disk when the secondary reaches $`10^3\mathrm{pc}`$, around 200 yr prior to merger. This implies an enormous accretion rate (formally exceeding $`10^6M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$) immediately prior to merger, and signals the breakdown of the thin-disk approximation. Instead of being radiated, the dissipated energy will instead go into thermal energy, puffing up the inner disk and forming a hot accretion flow (Begelman & Meier, 1982). There are large uncertainties in the further evolution, but we speculate that the final merger is likely to occur within a common envelope formed from the disrupted inner disk. As in the common envelope evolution of binary stars (Taam, Bodenheimer & Ostriker, 1978), strong outflows are extremely likely, with characteristic velocities comparable to the orbital velocity of $`10^4\mathrm{kms}^1`$. Strong outflows from galactic nuclei may therefore act as signposts to systems where binaries are either currently inspiralling, or have recently merged.

### 3.2 Quiescent galactic nuclei from black hole binaries

The timescale on which black holes form a hard binary, following a galactic merger, depends upon the stellar dynamics of the interaction between the binary and the stellar population. Gas could well flow into the merged nucleus on a shorter timescale (Hernquist & Mihos, 1995). As a result, even if the merging galaxies contain substantial quantities of gas, it is not obvious that the resulting black hole binary will find itself in a gas-rich environment.

Figure 2 also shows how the secondary migrates in disks that have the same viscosity as that considered previously, but initially lower disk masses and accretion rates. We ran one model with an initial accretion rate of $`0.1M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ and a disk mass of $`6\times 10^6M_{}`$, and a second with $`\dot{M}=10^2M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{disk}}=6\times 10^5M_{}`$. Migration rates in these lower mass disks are substantially reduced, so it is possible that there could be a long-lived population of binaries embedded in low mass disks. The reduced level of accretion onto the binary, due to the gravitational torques, could then contribute to the surprisingly low levels of accretion inferred in most local galactic nuclei. This suppression of accretion, however, is only effective for cold gas. Hot gas, with low specific angular momentum, can surmount the angular momentum barrier and replenish small disks around the binary components (Bate & Bonnell, 1997). Explaining why this accretion does not lead to large luminosities (Fabian & Rees, 1995; Loewenstein et al., 2001) almost certainly involves the radiation physics (Narayan & Yi, 1995), and possibly hydrodynamics (Blandford & Begelman, 1999), of low $`\dot{M}`$ flows.

## 4 Summary

The ubiquity of supermassive black holes in the local Universe (Magorrian et al., 1998) suggests that black holes may also be common in the high redshift progenitors that merged to make up present day galaxies. Although a large black hole fraction at high-$`z`$ is not proven (Menou, Haiman & Narayanan, 2001), a high frequency of mergers between galaxies harboring black holes would have interesting implications for the accretion history of AGN (Haehnelt, Natarajan & Rees, 1998; Haehnelt & Kauffmann, 2000; Cavaliere & Vittorini, 2000), and for the structure of galaxies themselves (Ravindranath, Ho & Filippenko, 2002).

In this letter, we examined the coupled evolution of a supermassive black hole binary embedded in a gaseous accretion disk. First, we showed that, in a gas-rich environment, a binary with a separation of $`0.1\mathrm{pc}`$ merges within around $`10^7\mathrm{yr}`$. Close binary quasars are therefore expected to be uncommon. Long lived black hole binaries are more likely to be found in apparently quiescent galactic nuclei at low redshift, where the disk accretion rate is lower, and where migration may be further slowed by inefficient disk angular momentum transport (Menou & Quataert, 2001). Second, we examined the possible observational signatures of the merger. We argued that large enhancements to the accretion rate were unlikely during the phase of disk-driven migration. Forced accretion of any inner disk during the final, gravitational wave driven inspiral, however, is likely to lead to much of the inner disk being expelled in a high velocity quasi-spherical outflow.

PJA thanks Yale for hospitality during the course of this work. Numerical simulations made use of the UK Astrophysical Fluids Facility.


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# First SIMBA observations toward CH3OH masers

## 1 Introduction

Massive star formation has attracted increasing interest in recent years, with the mounting evidence that methanol masers provide excellent tracers and probes of the high-mass star formation process (e.g. Hunter et al. 1998; Minier et al. 2001). Such evidence has led to several surveys aimed at identifying new high-mass stars, often targeting IRAS colour-selected UCHII regions (Caswell et al. 1995; Schutte et al. 1993; Szymczak et al. 2000). Although making significant contributions to the discovery of new massive star forming regions (MSFRs), such surveys have yielded only a $``$15% detection rate of methanol masers.

An alternative approach for discovering MSFRs has been provided by blind surveys of 6.7 GHz methanol masers. In particular, the surveys of Ellingsen et al. (1996) and Pestalozzi et al. (2002, in prep.) have sampled in a consistent manner large regions of the galactic plane from the southern and northern hemispheres respectively. Since the majority of methanol masers revealed in these surveys does not have a clear association (within the positional accuracy) with IRAS sources, the question has arisen: could they be tracing early stages of the high-mass star formation process, in which the still highly-embedded, nascent star is radiating much of its flux in the millimetre and submillmetre regions (as suggested by Walsh et al. 1999)?

With the aim of answering this question, in addition to ascertaining the SEDs for regions for which there is existing IR data (IRAS and MSX), we report here on 1.2 mm bolometer observations of the regions surrounding eight 6.7 GHz methanol masers detected in blind surveys. This constitutes the first part of our follow-up investigations for understanding the methanol maser phenomenon, and the evolutionary route to forming massive stars.

## 2 Observations

Observations were made using the SIMBA 1.2 mm bolometer array on the SEST on 19 October 2001. SIMBA is a 37-channel hexagonal array in which the HPBW of a single element is about 24” and the separation between elements on the sky is 44”. The bandwidth in each channel is about 50 GHz. Spectral line emission present in the band may contribute to the total continuum flux values reported in this paper, though not more than 30% as in the case of molecular rich clouds (e.g. IRC+10216, L-Å Nyman, priv. comm.). These observations were made in fast-mapping mode. Areas typically of 600” x 384” were imaged in order to detect nearby IRAS sources in the field, using a scan speed of 80”s-1. Typical total observation times were around one hour per source, during which 5 to 6 maps were produced. Zenith opacities lay in the range 0.217 – 0.270 throughout the observing run. The resulting data were reduced with the MOPSI mapping software package developed by R. Zylka, using a ”deconvolution” algorithm111Developed within the SIMBA collaboration to remove the contribution of the electronics arising from the fast-mapping observing mode, the ”converting” algorithm (Salter 1983) to convert the coordinates from rectangular to equatorial, and partly the NOD2 and GILDAS libraries. The calibration of our data was performed using 1.2 mm Uranus data for 19 October. The multiplication factor between counts and Jy was 166.5 mJy count-1 beam-1 (Table 1).

## 3 Results & Discussion

Figs.1 and 2 show the images obtained at 1.2 mm for the sources listed in Table 1. The same table gives the peak and integrated fluxes of the detections of the 1.2 mm dust continuum. For the position accuracy of the 1.2 mm emission we adopt the FWHP of one channel of the array (24”). For the IR sources we refer to the literature (1-2’ for IRAS, 5” for MSX). The positions of the southern methanol masers are accurate to better than 1 arcsec (Ellingsen, priv. comm.). The position of G41.34-0.14 has been determined to an accuracy of 5 mas222Observed with the Jodrell-Bank $``$ Cambridge baseline, while for G40.25-0.19 the uncertainty is larger (about 1’). We refer to Ivezić & Elitzur (2000) for the discussion about the IRAS sources found close to our methanol masers. In their reanalysis of the colour properties of the galactic IRAS sources they find a consistent separation of the Point Source Catalogue (PSC) into four classes that, according to the authors, are due to different spatial distribution of the dust around those sources. Confirmation comes from radiative transfer calculations for a point source surrounded by a dust envelope. By varying $`p`$ in the power law density profile $`r^p`$ the authors produce solutions characterised by the optical depth $`\tau _\nu `$. Making use of that study we are able to infer density profile and optical depth of some of our sources.

### 3.1 G40.25-0.19

G40.25-0.19 has been detected both by the Onsala blind survey and by the colour-selected survey of Szymczak et al. (2000). Our SIMBA map of G40.25-0.19 shows only one site of emission which has no associated IR emission. The methanol maser emission is well-separated from the 1.2 mm emission peak. Poor positional accuracy of the methanol maser does not allow us to draw conclusions about associations. Further continuum and molecular line observations are required in order to characterise the nature of this region.

### 3.2 G41.34-0.14

G41.34-0.14 (component `a` in Fig. 2) was detected by Pestalozzi et al. (2002) during the Onsala 6.7 GHz blind survey. It has two main features, the strongest is approximately 20 Jy. The associated IRAS source has been systematically discarded by colour-selected surveys, since it does not match any criteria for UCHII regions. It seems to have a flat density profile ($`p=0`$) and an optical depth of $`\tau _\nu 0.1`$. In the same field we have discovered two other nearby 1.2 mm sources, of which `b` has both an IRAS and MSX counterpart, whilst `c` does not have any IR counterpart.

### 3.3 327.12+0.51

This strong (80 Jy, three spectral features) methanol maser was first detected by MacLeod & Gaylard (1992). It has OH and H2O associated masers (Caswell et al. 1980; Batchelor et al. 1980), making it a classical high mass star formation region. IRAS 15437-5343 shows colours of an UCHII region and appears deeply embedded (high optical depth $`\tau _\nu 100`$). Its density profile is fairly flat ($`0p0.5`$). 8.6 GHz and 6.67 GHz continuum emission (12 and $`<`$12 mJy respectively) have been observed by Walsh et al. (1998) at more than 1 arcmin offset from the IRAS source. Phillips (1998) detected a 0.5 mJy 8.6 GHz continuum peak at 1 arcsec from the methanol maser. VLBI observations of the methanol maser (Phillips 1998) show a linear distribution of the maser components with a linear velocity gradient. Assuming a Keplerian disc, the mass for the central object is estimated to be 14.7 M.

### 3.4 327.59-0.09 & 327.62-0.11

There are two weak (3 Jy), single featured methanol masers in the SIMBA field, `a,b` as 327.59-0.09 and 327.62-0.11 respectively (Ellingsen et al. 1996). Both show clearly associated 1.2 mm and MSX counterparts. IRAS 15490-5353 could be related to component `b`. No other counterpart is visible. As for 333.13-0.56, we suggest that the methanol masers trace very deeply embedded objects.

A third 1.2 mm peak of emission is visible in the field (component `c`), having an MSX and probably an IRAS counterpart, but no methanol maser.

### 3.5 329.34+0.15

This single featured 15 Jy methanol maser has been discovered by Ellingsen et al. (1996) and is clearly associated with IRAS 15567-5236, an UCHII region. Schutte et al. (1993) did not detect any methanol maser above their 5 Jy limit. Walsh et al. (1998) detect both a 8.6 and a 6.67 GHz continuum peak ($`<`$20 and 270 mJy/beam respectively). The colours of IRAS 15567-5236 suggest that we are observing a young object with very low optical depth ($`\tau _\nu <0.1`$). The density profile is fairly flat, p=0.5.

### 3.6 332.35-0.44

This weak (4 Jy, one spectral feature) methanol maser was discovered by Ellingsen et al. (1996). It seems to lie on the edge of a 5 GHz peak of emission (Haynes et al. 1978). Both IR sources appearing in the SIMBA field fall on top of the 1.2 mm peak of emission, within the positional accuracies. Since the angular distance between the IR sources and the methanol maser is greater than 1’, there is no clear association between the two emitting components. Ellingsen et al. exclude it as an association because the colours of the IRAS source are not representative for an UCHII region. The IRAS source seems to have a flat density profile ($`p=0`$) and low optical depth, $`\tau _\nu 0.1`$.

### 3.7 333.13-0.56

This 6.7 GHz maser source was detected by Ellingsen et al. (1996). It shows three distinct spectral features, the strongest being about 17 Jy. It does not have any IRAS counterpart within the positional accuracies. An MSX source lies at a distance of $`>`$1.5 arcmin from both the methanol maser position and the peak in the 1.2 mm emission. The methanol maser and the strong 1.2 mm emission are spatially coincident within the positional accuracies. This indicates that the methanol maser is tracing a very deeply embedded object.

## 4 Conclusions

We can divide the observed source list into two separate groups: 333.13-0.56, 327.59-0.09, 327.62-0.11, G41.34-0.14 in the first group; 332.35-0.44, 327.12+0.51, 329.34+0.15 in the second. G40.25-0.19 is left out of the discussion because of the poor positional accuracy of the methanol maser. The first group collects all sources with either no IRAS counterpart or a weak one. These sources could have been detected only by blind surveying. The 1.2 mm dust continuum confirms the existence of dust where a methanol maser is detected. We consider them as the group of young, still embedded sources. The sources of the second group have clear IRAS and MSX couterparts. The colours of the IRAS sources fulfil the selection criteria by Wood & Churchwell (1989) or Szymczak et al. (2000), so we can consider them as (young) UCHII regions. The lack of cm continuum emission towards most of the sources can be explained in two ways: we can see it as a further argument to strengthen our hypothesis that these sources are in early stages of the stellar evolution; it could also be argued that those central stars are not massive enough to produce Lyman $`\alpha `$ photons. We prefer the former idea, as methanol masers are known to trace massive stars.

Despite the clear separation into two classes of the sources, it remains nevertheless difficult to find correlations between the 1.2 mm flux density and the methanol flux density. Furthermore it is puzzling to notice that 327.59-0.09 and 327.62-0.11 do have an 1.2 mm and an MSX counterpart but no clear IRAS counterpart. These topics will be investigated further, by observing in the submillimetre range (850-450 $`\mu `$m).

The observations lead us to the following conclusions:

* Blind surveys of methanol masers facilitate the detection of young, still deeply embedded high-mass star formation regions;
* IRAS sources associated with methanol masers show a flat density profile ($`0p0.5`$), which means that they can be classified as objects in an early stage of massive star formation.

###### Acknowledgements.

SIMBA was built and installed at the SEST at La Silla (Chile) within an international collaboration between the University of Bochum and the MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, the Swedish National Facility (OSO) and ESO. We thank the SEST team for their help with the observations and data reduction. We thank Dr M. Albrecht and collaborators for providing the planet maps for our data calibration. We thank Dr Simon Ellingsen for providing accurate positions of some methanol masers and useful comments on the manuscript. EMLH thanks STINT for funding her research position and the Vetenskaprådet for a travel bursary to the SEST.


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# Untitled Document

BCCUNY-HEP/02-01 hep-th/0201194

Velocity-Dependent Forces and an Accelerating Universe

Ramzi R. Khuri1,2,3a e-mail: khuri@gursey.baruch.cuny.edu. and Andriy Pokotilov1,2b e-mail: APokotilov@gc.cuny.edu.

1Department of Natural Sciences, Baruch College, CUNY

17 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010

2Graduate School and University Center, CUNY

365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10036

3Center for Advanced Mathematical Sciences

American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon ∗∗ Associate member.

Abstract

In recent work, it was shown that velocity-dependent forces between parallel fundamental strings moving apart in a $`D`$-dimensional spacetime implied an expanding universe in $`D1`$-dimensional spacetime. Here we expand on this work to obtain exact solutions for various string/brane cosmological toy models.

January 2002

1. Introduction

In a recent paper , it was shown that the velocity-dependent forces between parallel fundamental strings in $`D`$ spacetime dimensions, with certain initial conditions, lead to an expanding universe in $`D1`$ dimensions. The findings were consistent with recent observations  of an accelerating universe, and predict an asymptotially constant late time expansion rate.

We start with the action $`S=I_D+S_2`$, where

$$I_D=\frac{1}{2\kappa ^2}d^Dx\sqrt{g}e^{2\varphi }\left(R+4(\varphi )^2\frac{1}{12}H_3^2\right)$$

is the $`D`$-dimensional string low-energy effective spacetime action and

$$S_2=\frac{\mu }{2}d^2\zeta \left(\sqrt{\gamma }\gamma ^{\mu \nu }_\mu X^M_\nu X^Ng_{MN}+ϵ^{\mu \nu }_\mu X^M_\nu X^NB_{MN}\right)$$

is the two-dimesional worldsheet sigma-model source action. $`g_{MN}`$, $`B_{MN}`$ and $`\varphi `$ are the spacetime sigma-model metric, antisymmetric tensor and dilaton, respectively, while $`\gamma _{\mu \nu }`$ is the worldsheet metric. $`H_3=dB_2`$ and $`\mu `$ is the string tension. The fundamental string solution to the combined action, representing stationary macroscopic strings parallel to the $`x^1`$ direction, is given by

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill ds^2& =h^1\left(dt^2+(dx^1)^2\right)+\delta _{ij}dx^idx^j,\hfill \\ \hfill e^{2\varphi }& =h=1+\frac{k_n}{r^n},B_{01}=h^1\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`n=D4`$, $`r^2=x^ix_i`$ and the indices $`i`$ and $`j`$ run through the $`D2`$-dimensional space transverse to the string. The constant $`k_n=2\kappa ^2T_1/n\mathrm{\Omega }_{n+1}`$, where $`T_1=\mu `$ is the tension of the string, equal to its mass/length, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{n+1}`$ is the volume of $`S^{n+1}`$, the $`n+1`$-dimensional unit sphere.

This solution can be extended to a multi-static string solution owing to the existence of a zero-force condition. This condition in turn arises from the cancellation between the attractive gravitational and dilatational forces of exchange with the repulsive antisymmetric field exchange, and is based on the existence of supersymmetry and the saturation of a BPS bound .

It was subsequently shown that, in addition to the zero static force, the leading order ($`O(v^2)`$) velocity-dependent forces cancel for moving strings as well  (see also ). This result too is associated with the existence of higher supersymmetry . Following , it is straightforward to verify that the four-point amplitude corresponding to the scattering of two such fundamental string states approaches zero in the small velocity limit. This is identical to the result found for the $`a=\sqrt{3}`$ black holes, which also preserve half of the total spacetime symmetries, the maximum for such black hole, string or $`p`$-brane solutions.

The Lagrangian for a test fundamental string moving in the background of a parallel source string is then given by \[1,,5\]

$$=mh^1\left(\sqrt{1h\dot{x}^2}1\right),$$

where $`m`$ is the mass of the string, $`\dot{x}^2=\dot{x}^i\dot{x}_i`$ and the “$``$” represents a time derivative. It was shown in  that the velocity-dependent force following from this Lagrangian is repulsive whenever the strings are moving away from each other, and this leads to a further separation of the strings. Since this type of interaction occurs for any two strings, if we start with any number of close, parallel strings initially moving apart in the transverse space, they will continue to do so indefinitely and will fuel an expanding universe in the $`D2`$-dimensional transverse space and therefore in the $`D1`$-dimensional spacetime orthogonal to the strings. For example, five-dimensional fundamental strings lead to an expanding universe in $`D=4`$ spacetime dimensions.

The toy model presented in  consisted of a large number of fundamental strings initially very close to each other. Each pair of such strings interacts as above, so that an initial outward propagation of the strings tends to further push them apart in the transverse space. In a mean-field approximation, the effective force on each string was approximated by that of a single, very large source fundamental string whose Noether charge $`k`$ is equal to the total charge of all of the strings in the $`D`$-dimensional space. The distance $`r`$ between the test string and the source string in this model then represents the approximate average position of the strings, and hence the size of the universe. The time dependence of $`r`$ at both early and late times was determined  for this expanding model.

In this paper, we expand on the results of  to obtain exact solutions for the radial position as a function of time for the mean-field approximation for $`D=5`$ and $`D=6`$ for the case of zero angular momentum. We also consider a spherically symmetric toy model and obtain similar results in the very early and late time limits as well, to give further support to the mean-field approximation results.

2. Generalized $`p`$-Branes

Before outlining these solutions, it is interesting to note that the Lagrangian (1.1) also arises whenever we consider the motion of a maximally supersymmetric $`p`$-brane moving in the background of a parallel, identical $`p`$-brane. For example, (1.1) is the same Lagrangian one obtains for a test fivebrane moving in the background of a parallel source fivebrane or for a D0-brane moving in the background of a source D0-brane (see, e.g., ). This can be seen immediately either from supersymmetry, or through dimensional reduction . For the case of the fivebrane, for example, one replaces the two form $`B_{01}`$ with a six-form $`A_{012345}`$ and proceeds in the same manner to obtain (1.1), where now $`m`$ represents the mass of the test fivebrane moving in the background of a parallel source fivebrane.

The relevant dimension is the number of transverse dimensions, given by $`n=Dp3`$, since the harmonic function $`h=1+k_n/r^n`$ depends only on $`n`$. Here

$$k_n=\frac{2\kappa _D^2T_p}{n\mathrm{\Omega }_{n+1}},$$

where $`T_p`$, the tension of the $`p`$-brane, is equal to its mass/$`p`$-volume . Compactifying $`qp`$ dimensions, we can relate the $`D`$-dimensional Newton’s constant $`G_D`$ to the $`Dq`$-dimensional Newton’s constant $`G_{Dq}`$ via

$$G_D=\kappa _D^2=\kappa _{Dq}^2V_q=G_{Dq}V_q,$$

where $`V_q`$ is the compactified $`q`$-volume. Since $`T_p=m/V_p`$, it follows that

$$k_n=\frac{2\kappa _{Dq}^2T_{pq}}{n\mathrm{\Omega }_{n+1}},$$

which is just (2.1) for a $`pq`$-brane. In particular, for $`q=p1`$, we recover the string formula. For $`q=p`$, we obtain the formula for D0-branes. As long as the longitudinal directions of the branes are held parallel,the dynamics are independent of $`p`$, the dimension of the branes, and depend only on the number of transverse directions.

In what follows, we will consider parallel strings for simplicity, keeping in mind that we could equally well consider, say, D0-branes in one less dimension.

3. Mean-Field Approximation

For the case in which we replace the total repulsive force on a single string by an effective, large string at the origin, it was shown in  that

$$\dot{r}^2=\frac{\rho (h\rho +2)}{(h\rho +1)^2},$$

where $`E`$ is the constant total energy of the string, and where $`\rho =E/m`$ is the ratio of the energy to the rest energy of the test string. We have set the angular momentum $`l=0`$. Following, Chebyshev’s Theorem 1 In order to integrate (3.1) we need to evaluate integrals of the form $`x^m(a+bx^n)^p𝑑x`$ (so called binomial differentials), where $`m,n,p`$ are any rational numbers and $`a,b`$-any constants. Chebyshev proved that integrals of this form can be expressed through algebraic, logarithmic and inverse circular functions in only three cases: 1) $`p`$ is an integer (positive, negative or zero) 2) $`\frac{m+1}{n}`$ is an integer 3) $`\frac{m+1}{n}+p`$ is an integer., only the two cases of $`D=5`$ ($`n=1`$) and $`D=6`$ ($`n=2`$) can be integrated exactly.

A straightforward integration for $`n=1`$ yields

$$\left(\frac{\rho +3}{\rho +1}\right)\mathrm{ln}\left(\sqrt{\frac{r}{a}}+\sqrt{\frac{r}{a}+1}\right)+\sqrt{\frac{r}{a}}\sqrt{\frac{r}{a}+1}=\sqrt{\frac{\left(\rho +2\right)^3}{\rho \left(\rho +1\right)^2}}\left(\frac{tt_0}{k_1}\right),$$

where $`a=\frac{\rho k_1}{\rho +2}`$. For small $`r`$ (or early time $`t`$), $`r\left(\frac{\rho +2}{\rho +1}\right)^2t^2/k_1`$, while for large $`r`$ (or late time), $`r\sqrt{\rho (\rho +2)/(\rho +1)^2}t`$, 2 The constant energy $`E`$ does not include the constant rest energy $`m`$. It is straightforward to show that, in the late time limit, $`\gamma =\left(1\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}=\rho +1`$, so that the interaction energy is ultimately transformed into kinetic energy ($`=\left(\gamma 1\right)m`$). both in agreement with the findings of . In this three-dimensional transverse space, $`r(t)`$ represents the mean size of the universe in this toy model. Restoring factors of the speed of light $`c`$ in (2.1), it follows that $`k_1=\frac{2G_5M}{Lc^2\mathrm{\Omega }_2}=\frac{G_4M}{2\pi c^2}`$, where $`L`$ is the length of each string and $`M`$ is the mass of the source string, representing the effective total mass of the universe in the mean-field approximation.

In , it was claimed that $`r<<k_1`$ and $`r>>k_1`$ corresponded to early and late times (relative to the current epoch), respectively, in the expansion of the universe as implied in (3.1). Let us verify this assumption using estimates of cosmological parameters obtained in . The current matter density $`\rho `$ is very close to the critical density $`\rho _0=3H_0^2/8\pi G_4`$, and the age of the universe $`t_0=H_0^1`$, where $`H_0`$ is the Hubble’s constant at present time. Ignoring numerical factors of $`O(1)`$, we take the current size of the universe $`r_0ct_0`$ and its mass as $`M\rho r_0^3`$. It is then straightforward to show that $`k_1`$ is at most an order of magnitude less than $`r_0`$. It follows that $`r<<k_1`$ corresponds to much earlier times than present $`t<<k_1/c`$ and $`r>>k_1`$ corresponds to much later times $`t>>k_1/c`$. The model for $`n=1`$ has the defect that the ratio of relative velocities to relative positions is not immediately a spatial constant, unless the spatial dimensions of the universe are restricted to two (see next section).

For the more interesting case of $`n=2`$, a straightforward integration yields

$$\sqrt{r^2+a}+\sqrt{a}\left(\frac{\rho +2}{\rho +1}\right)\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{r+\sqrt{r^2+a}\sqrt{a}}{r+\sqrt{r^2+a}+\sqrt{a}}\right)=\sqrt{\frac{\rho (\rho +2)}{(\rho +1)^2}}(tt_0),$$

where again $`a=\frac{\rho k_2}{\rho +2}`$ and $`t_0`$ is a constant. For small $`r`$, $`rr_0\mathrm{exp}\frac{t}{\sqrt{k_2}}`$, while for large $`r`$ we again find $`r\sqrt{\rho (\rho +2)/(\rho +1)^2}t`$, both again in agreement with the findings of . In this four-dimensional transverse space, the three-dimensional universe may be regarded as an expanding spherical shell with radius $`r(t)`$. A subtle point here arises as to the connection beween $`G_5`$ and $`G_4`$. In going from a five-dimensional universe to a four-dimensional one whose constant time slices consist of the expanding three-sphere, it follows that $`G_5G_4r(t)`$. So $`G_5`$ and $`G_4`$ cannot both be constant. For constant $`G_5`$, $`k_2=G_5M/2\pi ^2c^2`$ (from (2.1)) is also constant, but the four-dimensional Newton’s law changes with time as the universe expands. The alternative picture is to demand a constant $`G_4`$, but then allow for changing $`k_2`$, so that the mean-field model in this case should be thought of as an approximation to a cosmological $`p`$-brane solution with $`k_2`$ a function of time. In either case, within the limits of these toy models, a straightforward calculation shows that $`k_2\overline{r}^2`$, where $`\overline{r}`$ is the current size of the universe. It again follows that the early ($`r<<\sqrt{k_2}`$) and late ($`r>>\sqrt{k_2}`$) time limits are valid, as in the $`n=1`$ case. Especially interesting features of the $`n=2`$ case, other than allowing for a spatially constant Hubble’s constant, are the inflationary expansion at early times and the asymptotically constant expansion rate for late times. This latter feature is generic to these string/brane models, since the velocity-dependent forces vanish at asymptotically large distances.

4. Spherical Shell Model

Now consider the following model of a string-seeded universe for both $`n=1`$ and $`n=2`$. $`N`$ parallel, identical strings, with $`N>>1`$, are all located at the same distance $`R`$ from the center of the transverse $`D2`$ dimensional space and move with the same, purely radial, velocity $`\stackrel{}{v}=\dot{R}\widehat{R}`$ outward from the center. We would again like to determine $`R(t)`$ and to compare our findings with the mean-field approximation. Before doing so, we note that such a model is consistent with the cosmological observation of a Hubble’s constant. In the $`n=1`$ ($`n=2`$) case, the spatial universe consists of an expanding $`2`$-sphere ($`3`$-sphere). It is straightforward to show that the relative position is given by $`r_{21}=|\stackrel{}{r}_{21}|=|\stackrel{}{r}_2\stackrel{}{r}_1|=2R\mathrm{sin}\theta /2`$, where $`\theta `$ is the angle between the position vectors $`\stackrel{}{r}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{}{r}_2`$. Similarly, the relative speed between two strings $`v_{21}=|\stackrel{}{v}_{21}|=|\stackrel{}{v}_2\stackrel{}{v}_1|=2v\mathrm{sin}\theta /2`$, where $`\stackrel{}{v}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{}{v}_2`$ are the velocities of the two strings. It follows that $`v_{21}/r_{21}=v/R`$ is a constant over each sphere (or for a given time slice), representing the Hubble’s constant for this model.

The Hamiltonian for the system of test string moving in the source string background can be easily obtained from the Lagrangian (1.1) of this system 3 It is convenient to use this velocity dependent form of the Hamiltonian. In the same way, one can easily obtain the conventional form $`H=H(r,p)`$ by using the expression for the momenta $`p_i=\frac{m\dot{x}_i}{\sqrt{1h\dot{x}^2}}`$. Then $`H=\frac{m}{h}\left(\sqrt{1+h\frac{p^2}{m^2}}1\right)`$ .

$$H=\frac{m}{h}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1h\dot{x}^2}}1\right),$$

For $`D=5`$ ($`D=6`$) this model is equivalent to a system of particles on the surface of a 2-sphere (3-sphere) with two-particle energy of interaction. This interaction energy is just the difference between the conserved total energy of the 2-particle system given by (4.1) and the kinetic energy of the test string, since the source string is assumed to be stationary in the mean-field approximation. Note also that in the mean-field approximation (see also ), the energy (4.1) was taken to be a constant, which led to a solution for the motion of a single test string in the background of a much larger source string, which approximated the aggregate effect of the velocity-dependent forces of all the other strings. In the shell model, the interaction energies obtained from (4.1) are not individually constant but must be added into a total energy for the system, which is then set equal to a constant total energy. The center of mass of the system remains at the center of the sphere. The interaction energy of one string in the background of another is then given by 4 Strictly speaking, we should use the more cumbersome relativistic form of the kinetic energy. However, since most of the subsequent analysis involves the early time expansion, the non-relativistic approximation used for this model is valid. Furthermore, as we shall see later, the result for late times is not affected by making this simplification either.

$$E_{int12}=\frac{m}{h_{12}}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1h_{12}\dot{r}_{12}^2}}1\right)\frac{m\dot{r}_{12}^2}{2},$$

where $`h_{12}=1+\frac{k_n}{r_{12}^n}`$ and $`r_{12}`$ is the relative position of the strings.

For $`D=5`$ we assume for simplicity that the $`1^{st}`$ string is located at the north pole of the 2-sphere with radius $`R`$. Then, by symmetry, the energy of interaction between the $`1^{st}`$ string and $`dN`$ strings which are located inside the belt with azimuthal angles between $`\theta `$ and $`\theta +d\theta `$ is given by

$$dE_{int12}=dN\left[\frac{m}{h_{12}}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1h_{12}\dot{r}_{12}^2}}1\right)\frac{m\dot{r}_{12}^2}{2}\right],$$

where $`dN=\frac{N}{2}\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}d\theta `$, $`r_{12}=2R\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}`$, $`\dot{r}_{12}=2\dot{R}\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}`$ and $`h_{12}=1+\frac{k_1}{r_{12}}`$

In order to obtain the energy of interaction between $`1^{st}`$ string and all other strings we need to integrate (4.1) over $`\theta `$ from $`\theta =0`$ to $`\theta =\pi `$. This can be done explicitly, but leads to a rather complicated, and not especially illuminating, expression. In order to make a connection with the early-time mean-field approximation, we first make the assumption that $`\frac{k_1}{r_{12}}>>1`$. This means that the distance between any two strings $`r_{12}<<k_1`$ and our model can describe the system during the time when this condition holds, i.e. early times.

Thus we replace $`h_{12}\frac{k_1}{r_{12}}`$ in (4.1) . The integration over $`\theta `$ is easy to perform, and we obtain for the energy of interaction between the $`1^{st}`$ string and all the other strings

$$E_{1int}=\frac{4mNR}{k_1}\left\{\frac{2}{15a^3}\left[\sqrt{1a}(3a^2+4a+8)8\right]+\frac{a}{8}+\frac{1}{3}\right\}$$

where

$$a=\frac{2\dot{R}^2k_1}{R}.$$

Note that $`a`$ is restricted to be in the domain $`0a1`$ for this model to be valid.

By symmetry, the total energy of interaction of $`N`$ strings is

$$E_{int}=NE_{1int}$$

and the total conserved energy of the system is

$$NE_1=E=E_{int}+N\frac{m\dot{R}^2}{2},$$

where $`E_1`$ is the total energy of a single string.

First assume $`a<<1`$ and expand the total interaction energy of the system (4.1) in powers of $`a`$

$$E_{int}=\frac{3mR}{10k_1}N^2\left[a^2+O(a^3)\right].$$

Thus up to $`2^{nd}`$ order in $`a`$, Eq. (4.1) takes the form

$$\rho =\frac{3NR}{10k_1}a^2+\frac{R}{4k_1}a$$

where $`\rho =E_1/m=E/mN`$ is again the ratio of the total energy (not including the rest energy) of each string to its rest energy.

Solving the quadratic equation in (4.1) for $`a`$, and using $`R<<k_1`$, it easily follows that the linear term in $`a`$ in (4.1) may be dropped. It then follows that up to an $`O(1)`$ numerical factor, $`a\sqrt{\frac{k_1\rho }{NR}}<<1`$. Since $`\rho `$ is at least of $`O(1)`$, it follows that from $`a<<1`$ that $`R>>\frac{k_1}{N}`$. Dropping the $`2^{nd}`$ term in the r.h.s. of (4.1), solving (4.1) with respect to $`\dot{R}`$ and integrating we obtain

$$R\left(\frac{\rho }{kN}\right)^{1/3}t^{4/3}.$$

Another domain of interest is when $`a1`$. This corresponds to an even earlier time, since from (4.1) it follows that $`at^{2/3}`$, so that an earlier time corresponds to larger $`a`$. For $`a1`$, the solution $`R=R(t)`$ is easily obtained from the definition of $`a`$ (4.1)

$$R\frac{t^2}{k_1}$$

and is valid for $`Rk_1/N`$, which can be seen from (4.1) with $`E_{int}`$ given by (4.1) and $`E_{1int}`$ by (4.1) with $`a1`$. Note that this quadratic expansion in time is consistent with the early-time approximation of the mean-field model.

For large $`R`$ ($`R>>k_1`$), we can assume that $`h=1+k_1/R1`$, so that $`H/R=0`$. From (4.1), (4.1) it then follows that the constant energy $`E_1`$ depends only on $`\dot{R}`$ and $`N`$ 5 This last statement is obviously also valid for the correct relativistic expression for the kinetic energy. so that $`\dot{R}`$ depends only on $`N`$ and $`\rho `$. So the radial velocity $`\dot{R}`$ is constant. Thus $`Rt`$ for large $`R`$, again in agreement with the mean-field approximation.

As mentioned above, for $`D=6`$, the transverse motion of parallel strings is equivalent to the motion of particles with two particle energy of interaction given by (4.1) with

$$h_{12}=1+\frac{k}{r_{12}^2}$$

where $`r_{12}=2R\mathrm{sin}\frac{\chi }{2}`$, $`\dot{r}_{12}=2\dot{R}\mathrm{sin}\frac{\chi }{2}`$ and $`\chi `$ is the azimuthal angle, where we assume that the $`1^{st}`$ string is located at the north pole of the 3-sphere.

If we assume (as before) that the $`N>>1`$ strings are distributed homogeneously on the surface of the 3-sphere, then the number of strings located inside the belt with azimuthal angles between $`\chi `$ and $`\chi +d\chi `$ is

$$dN=\frac{2N}{\pi }\mathrm{sin}^2\chi d\chi $$

and the energy of interaction between the $`1^{st}`$ string (at the north pole) and $`dN`$ strings inside the belt is given by the same expression (4.1) with $`h_{12}`$ given by (4.1) and $`dN`$ by (4.1). Assuming (as for $`D=5`$) that $`\frac{k_2}{r_{12}^2}>>1`$ (i.e. $`R<<\sqrt{k_2}`$) and replacing $`h_{12}\frac{k_2}{r_{12}^2}`$ we obtain

$$dE_{int}=\frac{2Nm}{\pi }\mathrm{sin}^2\chi d\chi \left[\frac{4R^2\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\chi }{2}}{k_2}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1\frac{k_2\dot{R}^2}{R^2}}}1\right)2\dot{R}^2\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\chi }{2}\right]$$

integrating this expression over $`\chi `$ from $`0`$ to $`\pi `$ we obtain the energy of interaction between the $`1^{st}`$ string and all other strings

$$E_{int}=\frac{2mNR^2}{k_2}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1\frac{k_2\dot{R}^2}{R^2}}}1\right)mN\dot{R}^2$$

and conservation of energy condition can be written in the same form (4.1) as before with $`E_{int}`$ given by (4.1) or

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{1b}}1\frac{b}{2}=\frac{\rho k_2}{2NR^2}$$

where

$$b=\frac{k_2\dot{R}^2}{R^2},$$

where $`0<b<1`$. For $`R<<\sqrt{k_2/N}`$, it follows from (4.1) that $`1b<<1`$. Alternatively, expanding (4.1) in powers of $`1b`$ and keeping only the first nonvanishing term we easily obtain that condition $`b1`$ (or $`1b<<1`$) leads to $`R<<\sqrt{k_2/N}`$. From the definition of $`b`$ (4.1) we see that $`RR_0\mathrm{exp}\frac{t}{\sqrt{k_2}}`$ in this case, again corresponding to the exponentially inflationary expansion in the $`D=6`$ mean-field model.

On the other hand, the condition $`\frac{\rho k_2}{2NR^2}<<1`$ or $`R>>\sqrt{\frac{k_2}{N}}`$ (again $`\rho `$ is at least of $`O(1)`$) leads to $`b<<1`$, which can also be easily seen from (4.1). As before, expanding (4.1) in powers of $`b`$, keeping the lowest nonvanishing term and then integrating (in order to get $`R=R(t)`$) we obtain

$$R\sqrt{\frac{\rho }{12Nk_2}}t^2$$

For large $`R`$ (i.e. $`R>>\sqrt{k_2}`$) we can drop the $`1`$ in Eq (4.1). In this case we obviously obtain the same result as for $`D=5`$ (and generally any $`D`$): expansion with constant radial speed, once more in agreement with the mean-field limit. We emphasize again that the nonrelativistic approximation for the kinetic energy in both cases does not affect the results for either early or late times.

An interesting possibility in this case is that the moving strings in $`D=6`$ lead to an expanding five-dimensional universe, in which an effective four-dimensional brane universe resides, following . The asymptotic late time expansion rate is also intriguing, and may represent a testable prediction for this type of model.

One possible advantage to the type of asymptotically flat universe shown in these models is that, in contrast to a de Sitter universe, S-matrices would be well-defined . At the same time, these models allow for an accelerating universe without assuming the existence of a cosmological constant. One can regard the changing acceleration as corresponding to an effective cosmological “constant” which varies with time. For example, the $`D=6`$ ($`n=2`$) model which has exponential growth in the early universe, has a constant effective cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }k_2^1`$ () which, however, is due entirely to the velocity-dependent forces between the strings/branes. At very late times, the effective cosmological constant is zero. It is then a straightforward but tedious exercise to determine the exact time dependence of the effective cosmological constant in these models.

Further investigations of this type of model are clearly merited. More complicated and far more realistic models, possibly involving different species of branes could be considered. Furthermore, it would be interesting to go beyond the analytic, classical results obtained above, using a possible combination of numerical computations, quantum string effects and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Nevertheless, it is likely that the leading order behaviour of the type of accelerating string/brane universe considered above is well-described in the classical approximation. Needless to say, these results await further verification and a better understanding of the underlying many-body interactions.

Acknowledgements: Research supported by PSC-CUNY Grant # 63497 00 32 and a Eugene Lang Junior Faculty Research Fellowship.

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text:
# Dust emission and star formation toward a redshift 5.5 QSO

## 1 Introduction

Many high-redshift quasars (QSOs) have recently been found through wide field imaging surveys, notably the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; Schneider et al. sch01 (2001); Anderson et al. and01 (2001)) and the Digital Palomar Sky Survey (DPSS; Kennefick et al. 1995a ,1995b ; Djorgovski et al. djo99 (1999)). Now over 250 QSOs are known with redshifts $`z>3.6`$, thirteen of which are at $`z>5`$ (Fan et al. fan99 (1999), 2000a , 2000b ; Zheng et al. zhe00 (2000); Stern et al. ste00 (2000); Sharp et al. sha01 (2001); Fan et al. fan01 (2001)) and one at $`z>6`$ (Fan et al. fan01 (2001)). All but one of the $`z>5`$ QSOs were found from magnitude $`i21.5`$ limited surveys, limiting their implied rest frame blue magnitudes to $`M_\mathrm{B}<26`$.

In a 74 arcmin2 field observed for the SPICES survey (Stern et al. ste01 (2001)), Stern et al. (ste00 (2000)) discovered the redshift 5.50 QSO RD (i.e., “R-band Dropout”) J030117+002025 (RD0301 hereafter), which has an $`i`$-band AB magnitude of 23.4 and $`M_\mathrm{B}23.4`$ in an Einstein-de Sitter Universe ($`H_0=50\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$, $`q_0=0.5`$), and $`M_\mathrm{B}24.0`$ in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-cosmology ($`H_0=65\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}=0.3`$) which we adopt throughout this paper. RD0301 is significantly fainter than the typical QSO found in the wide field SDSS and DPSS surveys. The discovery of such a very high redshift QSO was surprising because the surface density of such objects, as implied by the intermediate-redshift QSO luminosity function and redshift evolution models, is so low that the probability to find one in the observed field is only $`15\%`$ (Stern et al. ste00 (2000)). The discovery may therefore imply that the luminosity evolution of faint high-redshift QSOs is weaker than expected, and that there could be a larger, optically faint QSO population at high redshifts. This possibility is particularly interesting in terms of which sources re-ionize the early Universe (cf., the recent Gunn-Peterson trough results of Becker et al. \[bec01 (2001)\] and Djorgovski et al. \[djo01 (2001)\]).

Another important question in studies of the early Universe is how the growth of massive black holes relates to the formation of early stellar populations. A tight correlation between black hole masses and bulge luminosities or velocity dispersions in local galaxies indicates that their formation was closely related (Magorrian et al. mag98 (1998)). The recent detection of strong thermal dust emission from many high-redshift QSOs shows that vigorous star formation is coeval with black hole growth (Carilli et al. 2001a ; Omont et al. omo01 (2001); Isaak et al. isa01 (2001)). Interestingly, the FIR luminosity of these QSOs does not seem to be well correlated with their optical luminosity in the studied range of optical luminosities, $`M_\mathrm{B}=26`$ to $`29.5`$. A similar result was previously found also in lower redshift, lower optical luminosity QSOs (Sanders et al. san89 (1989); Chini et al. chi89 (1989)). Such a lack of correlation might suggest that the warm dust is not heated by the QSO. Instead, star formation and black hole accretion could have had a common cause, which might be the infall of material toward the center of the host galaxy.

The QSOs observed in the millimeter and submillimeter surveys are the optically most luminous objects, and their implied optical luminosities are on average ten times higher than their FIR luminosities, so that dust heating by the AGN cannot be excluded on energetic grounds. It is of great interest therefore to investigate whether strong millimeter emission is also found in high-redshift QSOs which are optically much fainter than those observed so far. In this respect, RD0301 is a unique object: it is the optically least luminous QSO known at $`z>4`$, and it is one of the highest redshift quasars ever detected.

Searching for high-redshift dust emission is of great interest also because for them there was little time to produce the observed dust. At redshift 5.5, the universe was about 1 Gyr old, a time not much longer than the dynamical timescale of typical galaxies. Observing large amounts of dust at such redshifts thus sets back the first epochs of vigorous star formation irrespective of whether the observed dust was heated by an AGN or a starburst.

## 2 Observations and results

Our observations of RD0301 were made during the winters of 2000 and 2001 with the 37-channel Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer array (MAMBO; Kreysa et al. 1999a , 1999b ) at the IRAM 30-meter telescope on Pico Veleta, Spain. MAMBO is sensitive between 190 and 315 GHz, with half-power sensitivity limits at 210 and 290 GHz, and an effective bandwidth center for steep thermal spectra at $`250`$ GHz. The bolometer feed horns are matched to the telescope FHWM beam at 1.2 mm of $`10\stackrel{}{.}7`$. They are arranged in an hexagonal pattern with a beam separation of 22′′. The source was observed with the array’s central channel, using the “on-off” observing mode, in which the telescope secondary mirror chops in azimuth by 30 to 50′′ at a rate of 2 Hz. For on-off observations the target is positioned on the array’s central bolometer, and after every 10 seconds of integration the telescope is nodded so that the previous “off” beam, which typically misses the other bolometer beams, becomes the “on” beam. Thus for only half the on-sky observing time the target is positioned on any bolometer. A scan usually lasts for 12 or 16 such 10 sec sub-scans, i.e., 6 to 8 on-off cycles.

The telescope pointing was monitored regularly on two $`10`$ deg distant pointing sources, 0336$``$019 and 0221$`+`$067, and was in most cases stable within $`2^{\prime \prime }`$. The signals from the pointing sources were monitored for sensitivity problems. The gain calibration was performed using observations of Mars, Uranus, and Ceres. We here adopt a calibration factor of 12 500 counts per Jansky for 0.5 sec integration bins, a value which is expected to be accurate to within 20%. The point-source sensitivity was on average $`30\mathrm{mJy}\mathrm{s}^{1/2}`$, i.e., in one second of on-sky (on and off source) integration, an rms noise level of 30 mJy is reached.

The data were analyzed using the MOPSI software package created by Robert Zylka (see Zylka zyl98 (1998)). Correlated sky noise was subtracted from each channnel as the weighted mean of the signals from the best-correlating surrounding channels.

RD0301 was observed on seventeen different nights between February 2000 and March 2001. The atmospheric conditions were mostly very good, with zenith opacities between 0.1 and 0.2. From a total of 184 scans, each with 120 or 180 sec on-sky exposure, we eliminated one observation (1 March 2000) of 15 scans because of a 5′′ pointing drift. Six other scans were eliminated throughout because they showed unusual noise, possibly due to passing clouds. To improve the quality of the data we furthermore ignored 10 scans at elevations below 27 degrees, where the gain-elevation and opacity corrections become large and uncertain.

The total on-sky integration time was 6.0 hours. The scans were reduced individually, and the signals were then averaged, which yields a target flux of $`0.87\pm 0.20\mathrm{mJy}`$ (Fig. 1). If the scans with elevation $`<27`$ deg were included, the signal rises to $`0.93\pm 0.21`$ mJy. When weighting the scan signals by each scans’ inverse average mean square noise level, the signal becomes $`0.76\pm 0.19\mathrm{mJy}`$. The dispersion in the integrated signals of the off-target channels is 0.26 mJy. The source signal appears stronger in the winter 1999/2000 observations, which might in part be due to the fact that many of these observations were performed at low elevation, making them subject to larger gain-elevation and opacity uncertainties.

The coadded data of both years show an average signal that stabilizes at a significant level compared with the target channel’s integrated noise, and also compared with the signal of the off-target channels. We therefore believe that the source is detected with the confidence level suggested by the errors quoted.

To our knowledge this is the deepest integration ever at millimeter or submillimeter wavelengths, and the faintest thermal emission ever detected. As a promising outlook we note that this object would be detected by ALMA in a few seconds, with an angular resolution of less than 0.1 arcsec.

## 3 Discussion

### 3.1 Thermal nature of the millimeter emission

At redshift 5.5 our observing frequancy of 250 GHz corresponds to an emitted frequency of 1625 GHz or a wavelength of 185 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$. From a flux measurement at only one frequency we cannot distinguish whether the emission follows a steep thermal spectrum, or constitutes the millimeter extension of a radio synchrotron spectrum. The VLA 1.4 GHz FIRST survey (Becker, White & Helfand bec95 (1995)) however yields a 5$`\sigma `$ upper limit flux density of $``$ 1 mJy within 30′′ from RD0301. Since rising non-thermal spectra are not observed at high radio frequencies, it is unlikely that the millimeter emission is synchrotron radiation. Carilli et al. (2001a , 2001b ) show that for most of the high-redshift QSOs detected at 1.2 mm warm dust is the likely source of the emission.

### 3.2 FIR luminosity, dust mass, and star formation rate

We therefore conclude that the millimeter flux of RD0301 is thermal in nature. When matching the observed 1.2 mm flux of 0.87 mJy to a grey body with a dust temperature of 50 K and an emissivity index $`\beta =1.5`$ (well adapted for high-redshift sources – see, e.g., Benford et al. 1999), the FIR luminosity of RD0301 is $`L_{\mathrm{FIR}}=4.0\times 10^{12}\mathrm{L}_{}`$, and the implied dust mass $`10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$. The FIR luminosity of RD0301 is comparable to its optical luminosity, $`L_{\mathrm{opt}}3.7\times 10^{12}\mathrm{L}_{}`$, given by the rest frame blue magnitude $`M_\mathrm{B}24.0`$ (for a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-cosmology). We here adopted the blue luminosity bolometric correction factor of $`12`$ derived for the PG sample by Elvis et al. (elv94 (1994)).

Both the FIR luminosity and the dust mass are comparable to those derived for local infrared-luminous galaxies such as Arp 220 and Mrk 231 (e.g., Radford et al. rad91 (1991)). The thermal luminosity of RD0301 is comparable also to that of the bright high-redshift starburst galaxies found in deep optical surveys (Adelberger & Steidel ade00 (2000)), and of those thought to be producing the bulk of the FIR background emission (Peacock et al. pea00 (2000)). If the FIR luminosity of RD0301 arose from a continuous starburst of age 10 to 100 Myr with a modified Salpeter IMF (see Omont et al. omo01 (2001) for details on the adopted starburst model), the implied star formation rate would be $`600\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. This value again is similar to those inferred for Arp 200 and Mrk 231.

### 3.3 Comparison with the SDSS and DPSS QSOs

The millimeter flux of RD0301 is typical for the optically brightest high-redshift QSOs. When averaging (as if we observed one single object) the MAMBO observations of the 112 redshift 3.6 to 5.0 QSOs observed in the Carilli et al. (2001a ) SDSS and Omont et al. (omo01 (2001)) DPSS surveys, one obtains an average flux density of $`1.3\pm 0.05`$ mJy, which implies an average luminosity of $`L_{\mathrm{FIR}}5\times 10^{12}\mathrm{L}_{}`$. The dust luminosity of RD0301 is therefore close to the average dust luminosity of a sample of quasars with $`26>M_\mathrm{B}>29.5`$, sources which are optically 10 to 100 times brighter than RD0301.

The mean blue magnitudes of the Carilli et al. (2001a ) and Omont et al. (omo01 (2001)) QSOs are $`27.0`$ and $`27.9`$ mag, respectively (Fig. 2). Although the QSOs of these samples span a range of about 25 in optical brightness, the DPSS QSOs studied by Omont et al. (omo01 (2001)) are on average twice as bright in the optical as the SDSS QSOs observed by Carilli et al. (2001a ). Similarly, the average 1.2 mm flux of the QSOs in the respective samples differs by a factor two, $`0.92`$ mJy versus $`2.1`$ mJy (large squares in Fig. 2). However, the significance of a possible correlation between the average optical and millimeter brightness of high $`z`$ QSOs remains low since the scatter in both quantities is much larger than the difference between the samples’ averages (see Omont et al. \[omo02 (2002)\] for a detailed statistical discussion).

RD0301 does not follow the possible trend of increasing millimeter flux with optical luminosity seen in the QSO millimeter surveys, as Fig. 2 well illustrates. Further (sub)millimeter observations of optically faint ($`M_\mathrm{B}>26`$) high-redshift QSOs are needed to clarify the relation between their thermal and optical luminosities. A lack of such a correlation would support the idea that the dust heating is caused by young, massive stars, and not by the AGN. This hypothesis is also supported by the detection of CO emission in a number of high-redshift QSOs (Guilloteau gui01 (2001); Cox et al. cox02 (2002)), and by the lack of strong radio emission from most of them (Carilli et al. 2001b ).

Alternatively, unification models of AGN might not necessarily predict a strong correlation between the orientation-dependent optical emission and the isotropic FIR flux from the AGN. But still the AGNs’ FIR flux should correlate well with its hard X-ray emission, which does not suffer much from extinction. Millimeter-studies of high-redshift, hard X-ray sources would be most useful to address this interesting issue (e.g. Page et al. pag01 (2001)). SIRTF observations of mid-IR PAH features should also be able to clarify the origin of the FIR emission: a strong correlation between PAH and FIR emission supports the starburst origin of the FIR luminosity (Genzel et al. gen98 (1998)).

###### Acknowledgements.

We wish to thank E. Kreysa, L. Reichertz and the MPIfR bolometer group for building MAMBO, and R. Zylka for providing the excellent MOPSI data reduction package. Thanks also to Alain Omont, Chris Carilli, Hauke Voss, Alexandre Beelen, and the IRAM staff for help with the observations and interpretation. The constructive comments and criticism from Daniel Stern are much appreciated. IRAM is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany), and IGN (Spain).