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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

We are closing in on neutron stars both observationally and theoretically. Observationally, a number of masses (M) and a few radii (R) have been measured as well as a number of other properties. Theoretically, modern equation of states (EOS) are more reliable due to precision measurements of nucleon-nucleon interactions, detailed calculations of binding energies of light nuclei and nuclear matter which constrain three-body forces, inclusion of relativistic effects, improved many-body and Monte Carlo methods, etc.

Ultimately, we can exploit the one-to-one correspondence between the EOS and the mass-radius relation of cold stellar object:

$`P(\rho )M(R)`$ (1)
Observing a range of neutron star M and R thus reveals the EOS (e.g., pressure P versus density $`\rho `$) of dense and cold hadronic matter. Possible phase transitions from nuclear matter to quark matter (either can also undergo superfluid transitions at certain densities and temperatures), hyperon matter, kaon or pion condensates, etc., would also be revealed by an anomalous/kinky function $`P(\rho )`$ and $`M(R)`$. The higher the order of the transition is, the smoother will $`M(R)`$ be and very accurate observations will thus be necessary. On the other hand, just one accurately measured neutron star mass and radius would already constrain the EOS significantly. Information on the EOS at high baryon densities and the presence or absence of phase transitions could guide us in solving QCD after decades of unsuccessful attempts.

In the following I shall give a brief account of the present status on neutron star observations and theory referring to  for longer reviews. Subsequently, I shall attempt to recount the most likely possible phase transition in dense nuclear matter with emphasis on quark matter and its possible color superconducting states, as this is most relevant at this conference. Finally, I shall point to important developments expected in the near future.

## 2 Observed neutron star masses

Only a few masses have been determined from the more than thousand neutron stars, that have been discovered so far:

Binary pulsars: Six double neutron star binaries are known so far, and all of them have masses in the surprisingly narrow range $`1.36\pm 0.08M_{}`$ . Neutron stars are estimated to have a binding energy of $`10\%`$ of their mass. Thus $`1.5`$ $`M_{}`$ of nuclei are needed to obtain a $`1.35`$ $`M_{}`$ star. It is suspicious that the Chandrasekhar mass (maximum mass before gravitational collapse sets in) for the iron core inside a large burning star is just around $`1.5`$ $`M_{}`$. It is therefore a tempting conclusion that the iron cores are the progenitors of neutron stars and that all neutron stars are simply produced with $`M1.35`$ $`M_{}`$. Similarly, white dwarfs are formed in a narrow mass range around $`M0.6`$ $`M_{}`$ whereas their Chandrasekhar mass is $`M1.35`$ $`M_{}`$. The latter mass is probably reached by accretion and is responsible for supernova type SN-1a used as standard candles in cosmology. Calculations of supernova explosions do, however, indicate that neutron stars should be formed with a wide range of masses and so the narrow binary pulsar mass range could be a selection effect in forming a double neutron star system. Whereas selection effects often are important in astrophysics the contrary is the case in particle physics, where one does not believe in accidents but invoke some underlying symmetry.

Millisecond binary pulsars with white dwarf companions have less precise mass determination. Promising progress is reported, e.g., for PSR J0437-4715  where a pulsar mass of $`M=(1.58\pm 0.18)M_{}`$ (error bars are $`2\sigma `$) is found.

Vela X-1 and Cygnus X-2 are X-ray binary pulsar/burster with high/low mass companions respectively. From X-ray pulse delays, optical radial velocities and constraints from X-ray eclipse, their masses have been determined. For Vela X-1: $`M=1.87_{0.17}^{+0.23}M_{}`$ , and for Cygnus X-2: $`M=1.8\pm 0.4M_{}`$ .

QPO’s are neutron stars emitting X-ray’s at frequencies of the orbiting accreting matter. Such quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) have been found in 12 binaries of neutron stars with low mass companions. If the QPO originate from the innermost stable orbit  of the accreting matter, their observed values imply that the accreting neutron star has a mass $`2.3M_{}`$ in the case of 4U 1820-30. If not, the QPO’s constrain the EOS as shown in Fig. 1.

## 3 Observed neutron star radii

The small size of neutron stars makes it very difficult to observe them directly and measure their radius. Estimates have been obtained using quite different methods, which has the benefit that the systematic errors are also different.

RX J1856.5-3754 is our nearest known neutron star. It is non-pulsating and almost thermally radiating. It has been studied recently with the Hubble space telescope by Walter et al. . Its surface temperature is $`T57`$ eV and its distance is, from parallax measurements and circumstantial evidence, about $`d61`$ pc. From the measured flux

$$F=\sigma _{SB}T^4R^2/d^2$$
(2)
one obtains a radius of $`R_{\mathrm{}}=R/\sqrt{12GM/R}7`$ km which is incompatible with almost any EOS. Kaplan et al.  have reanalysed the HST data and find only half the parallax and thus twice the distance and radius $`R_{\mathrm{}}15`$ km corresponding to $`R12`$ km for $`M=1.4M_{}`$. Its age would be almost a million years which is compatible with standard modified URCA cooling. The spectrum is, however, suppressed in the optical part as compared to the X-rays. Recent more detailed analyses of the spectrum  attempting to model the neutron star atmosphere and its absorption, as well as including magnetic fields does not improve the spectral fit. A much better description is obtained from a two temperature model, i.e., a small hot spot and a colder area with a larger radius $`9(d/61pc)`$ km.

Gravitational lensing by our nearest neutron star may be observed in june 2003, when J1856.5-3754 will pass within $`0.3`$ arcseconds of a background star as it flies through space with proper motion of 0.332 arcseconds per year. According to  (see, however, ) it should just be possible to measure that the 26.5 magnitude background star moves by 0.6 milliarcseconds due to the gravitational field of the neutron star. This accuracy requires that the Hubble space telescope is extended with the Advanced Camera for Surveys. If possible, its mass could be derived and our nearest known neutron star would then also be the first one with both mass and radius determined.

X-ray bursts are thermonuclear explosions of accreted matter on the surface of neutron stars. After accumulating hydrogen on the surface for hours, pressure and temperature become sufficient to trigger a runaway thermonuclear explosion seen as an X-ray burst that lasts a few seconds . Assuming that the burst spectra are black-body one can from the resulting temperature and measured flux estimate the neutron star radius if its distance is known. Often the radius is underestimated because only a hot spot emits or the spectrum contains a hard tail. Some bursts do, however, give radii of order $`12`$ km with a period of almost constant (Eddington) luminosities.

Quescent neutron stars are non-accreting X-ray binaries of which some are emitting thermally. Recently, a few quescent neutron stars have been discovered in galactic globular clusters where the distance is known relatively accurately. CXOU 132619.7-472910.8 in NGC 5139 has $`T=66\pm 5`$ eV and $`R_{\mathrm{}}=14.3\pm 2.1`$ km (90% confidence limit) and similar radii although with larger uncertainties are obtained from half a dozen other quescent neutron stars .

Burst oscillations in the X-ray flux during the first seconds of the bursts have recently been exploited to determine the compactness or redshift $`M/R`$. Whereas the average amplitude increases with the growing size of the hot spot, the amplitude is strongly modulated by the rotational period of the neutron star. The flux does not completely disappear when the hot spot is on the back side due to bending of the light in the gravitational field. This way $`M/R<0.16`$ can be extracted  for 4U 1636-53 and a radius $`R>1213`$ km is obtained for a $`M=1.4M_{}`$ neutron star (see Fig. 1). Corrections from aberration, doppler shifts, etc. are being investigated. Yet, the oscillation analyses is another new promising method by which we can obtain neutron star masses and radii.

Absorption lines in the neutron star photospheres should be detectable with the spectrographs on board Chandra and XMM. The gravitational redshift and pressure broadening of absorption lines determine $`M/R`$ and $`M/R^2`$ respectively and would thus complement other mass and radius information. First results were, however, disappointing. Only in RX J1856.5-3754 were there indications for one or two lines  but higher resolution is required and will come with future observation time.

## 4 Modern equation of states of dense matter

The relation between $`M(R)`$ and $`P(\rho )`$ is often presented (in particular by observers) by a wide variety of curves calculated from “old” EOS thus implying that one can get anything from theory. This is very unfair as many old EOS’s are inconsistent with known nucleon-nucleon interactions and/or saturation density and binding energy of nuclei/nuclear matter and should therefore not be taken seriously.

Modern microscopic EOS’s are actually converging . The NN interaction is now well determined and constrain potential models leaving only minor differences. Relativistic effects have been included and current scattering experiments at intermediate energies will determine the NN interactions at higher momenta relevant for higher densities. Three-body interactions can be constrained in order to fit nuclear binding and saturation density as well as binding energies of light nuclei up to $`A8`$. Many-body and Monte Carlo techniques are now much more accurate. The resulting “modern” EOS  are quite reliable up to a few times nuclear saturation densities. Above they are expected to break down but can be constrained by causality conditions. It is boldly predicted  that neutron stars in the mass range $`M0.81.8M_{}`$ all have radius just around $`R11.5`$ km (see Fig. 1).

The uncertainties in the EOS at densities $`\rho \stackrel{>}{}3\rho _0`$ affect $`M(R)`$ for the heavy neutron stars only. By making the EOS stiffer at high densities in a smooth way, the maximum mass can increase up to $`M\stackrel{<}{}2.02.3M_{}`$  but not much higher due to the causality ($`c_s<c`$) condition. Rotation can increase it by $`10`$% for the millisecond pulsars.

Phase transitions generally soften the EOS and lower the maximum mass. If the $`M=2.25M_{}`$ mass in 4U 1820-30 stands this would rule out any major phase transition and allow only the stiffest EOS.

Many other phase transitions in neutron stars have been considered. It is expected that superfluid phases of neutrons and protons exist at least in certain density regions at low temperatures although $`T_c`$ have not been calculated reliably for strongly interacting and correlated nuclear matter. At typical neutron star densities neutrons and protons are superfluid as well due to $`{}_{}{}^{1}S_{0}^{}`$ and, in the case of protons, also $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{2}^{}`$ pairing . These superfluid and superconducting components will have drastically different transport properties than normal Fermi liquids. Generally the resistance, specific heat, viscosities, cooling, etc. are suppressed by factors of order $`\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Delta }_i/T)`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ is the gap of quarks, nucleons or electrons. A superfluid neutron gas in the inner crust is assumed in the description of glitches  and provides constraints on the EOS (see Fig. 1).

Eventually at very high densities nucleon degrees of freedom must be replaced by quark ones but it is not known whether core densities of neutron stars are sufficient. Such quark stars will be discussed in the following section.

More speculative phases are $`\pi ^0`$, $`\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^{}`$ condensates as well as hyperons ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$,…). In  a condensate of virtual $`\pi ^0`$ is found in a narrow density interval due to strong tensor correlations. The $`K^{}`$ energy can be calculated at low densities and a naive extrapolation would lead to condensate at high densities $`\rho \stackrel{>}{}4\rho _0`$. However, correlations in nuclear matter invalidates such an extrapolation and makes a $`K^{}`$ condensate unlikely . Hyperons are found to appear at rather low densities $`\rho \stackrel{>}{}23\rho _0`$ in a number of models . Due to limited information on hyperon-nucleon two- and three-body interactions one cannot exclude the presence of hyperons in cores of neutron stars but their effect on the binding energy and thus the EOS is minor whereas their effect on $`\mu _e`$ could be substantial .

## 5 Quark stars

Natures marvelous variety of EOS’s results in the existence of several different stable stellar objects all around one solar mass. These can be ordinary stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes - and possibly also quark stars. Quark stars come in several categories depending on the details of the nuclear to quark matter phase transition:

* The pure quark stars also called “strange” stars consist of up, down and strange quarks with electrons to fulfil charge neutrality. Possibly a crust of nuclei is suspended above the surface of the quark star. In simple bag model EOS a rather low bag constant and strange quark mass is required to make strange stars and strangelets. If the SAX J1808.4-3658 really has $`R6`$ km based on accretion in magnetic fields  or RX J1856-1754 has $`R7`$ km from the one-temperature fit in Ref.  that would indicate strange stars rather than normal neutron stars.
* Hybrid stars have a core of quark matter and a mantle of nuclear matter. The quark core size depends on the EOS and vanishes for large bag constants leading to a normal (nucleons only) neutron star.
* Mixed stars have a mixed phase of nuclear and quark matter over a range of density or radius. The mixed phase appear in two-component systems, where the two components: neutrons and protons or up and down quarks . It is, however, required that the interface tension is sufficiently small so that the surface and Coulomb energies of the associated structures are small . If not, a hybrid star results.

A mixed phase of quark and nuclear matter has lower energy per baryon at a wide range of densities  if the Coulomb and surface energies associated with the structures are sufficiently small . The mixed phase will then consist of two coexisting phases of nuclear and quark matter in droplet, rod- or plate-like structures (see Fig. 2) in a continuous background of electrons much like the mixed phase of nuclear matter and a neutron gas in the inner crust of neutron stars . Another requirement for a mixed phase is that the length scales of such structures must be shorter than typical screening lengths of electrons, protons and quarks.

In the mixed phase the nuclear and quark matter will be positively and negatively charged respectively. $`\beta `$-equilibrium determines the chemical potentials and densities in the coexisting phases. Total charge neutrality

$$n_e=(1f)n_p+f(\frac{2}{3}n_u\frac{1}{3}n_d\frac{1}{3}n_s),$$
(3)
where $`n_p`$ is the proton density, determines the “filling fraction” $`f`$, i.e. the fraction of the volume filled by quark matter. For pure nuclear matter, $`f=0`$, the nuclear symmetry energy can force the electron chemical potential above $`100`$ MeV at a few times normal nuclear matter densities. With increasing filling fraction, however, negative charged droplets of quark matter replace some of the electrons and $`\mu _e`$ decreases. With increasing density and filling fraction it drops to its minimum value given $`\mu _e=m_s^2/4\mu `$ corresponding to pure quark matter, $`f=1`$.

## 6 Color superconductivity

If quark matter exists in neutron stars or is produced in heavy-ion collisions, a condensate of quark Cooper pairs may appear at low temperatures characterized by a BCS gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ usually referred to as color superconductivity (CSC) . The appearance of a gap through color-flavor locking (CFL) requires the gap to exceed the difference between the u,d,s quark Fermi momenta, which is not the case for sufficiently large strange quark masses or for an appreciable electron chemical potential, $`\mu _e`$, which is present in neutron star matter as discussed in .

In neutron star matter $`\beta `$-equilibrium relates the quark and electron chemical potentials

$$\mu _d=\mu _s=\mu _u+\mu _e.$$
(4)
Temperatures are normally much smaller than typical Fermi energies in neutron stars.

The strange quark masses and electron chemical potentials stress the system in the direction of splitting the quark chemical potentials. The pairing interaction prefer overlapping quark Fermi surfaces. We shall investigate this competition in detail below. The case where interactions between quarks are strong and the effective pairing gaps is larger than $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{>}{}\sqrt{2}|\mu _e/2m_s^2/8\mu |`$ was shown in  to favor the CFL phase.

If interactions are weak, the chemical potentials are then related to Fermi momenta by $`\mu _i=\sqrt{m_i^2+p_i^2}`$. If the strange quark mass $`m_s`$ is much smaller than the quark chemical potentials, Eq. (4) implies a difference between the quark Fermi momenta

$`p_up_d`$ $`=`$ $`\mu _e,`$ (5)
$`p_up_s`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_s^2}{2\mu }}\mu _e,`$ (6)
$`p_dp_s`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_s^2}{2\mu }},`$ (7)
where $`\mu `$ is an average quark chemical potential. Strange quark masses are estimated from low energy QCD $`m_s150200`$ MeV and typical quark chemical potentials are typically $`\mu 400600`$ MeV for quark matter in neutron stars . Consequently, $`m_s^2/2\mu 1025`$ MeV.

The BCS gap equation has previously been solved for pure u,d and u,d,s quark matter ignoring electrons and $`\beta `$-equilibrium and the conditions for condensates of dicolor pairs (2CS) and CFL respectively were obtained. There are three 2CS conditions

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{>}{}|p_ip_j|,ij=u,d,s.$$
(8)
In bulk quark matter total charge neutrality of quarks and electrons and $`\beta `$-equilibrium require that $`\mu _em_s^2/4\mu `$. In a mixed phase of quark and nuclear matter the electron chemical potential is a decreasing function from the value in pure $`\beta `$-equilibrium nuclear matter $`\mu _e100200`$ MeV down to that for bulk quark matter (if the cores of neutron stars are very dense) $`\mu _em_s^2/4\mu 510`$ MeV.

We can now give a qualitative picture of the various phases that strongly interacting matter undergoes as the density increases towards the center of a cold neutron star (see Fig. 3). The inner crust will undergo several transitions as the nuclear matter and neutron gas mixed phase change dimensionality via nuclei, rods, plates, tubes, bubbles to nuclear matter in which the neutron and protons may be superfluid. If quark matter appears at higher densities in a mixed phase with nuclear matter those structures repeat again.

Inside the quark matter part of this mixed phase the CSC phase also changes with density or $`\mu _e`$ depending on the size of the effective pairing interaction $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ between two quarks i,j (see, e.g., ).

* If the pairing is strong $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{>}{}\sqrt{2}|\mu _e/2m_s^2/8\mu |`$ the CFL phase is favored and no electrons appear as was shown in . This condition is not likely to be fulfilled in the mixed phase with low quark filling fraction, where $`\mu _e`$ may be of order $`100200`$ MeV or larger.
* If $`\mu _e/2\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{>}{}m_s^2/2\mu `$ a number of CSC phases appear. In the beginning of the mixed phase ($`f0`$) only (7) fulfils (8) and we have a 2CS of d,s quarks. A 2CS of u,s quarks may, however, compete at larger filling. At the end of the mixed phase ($`f1`$) all (5,6,7) fulfil (8) resulting in CFL. In between a crystalline LOFF phase and a CFL phase with a $`\pi ^{}`$ condensate (analogous to the CFL-$`K^0`$ phase in ) may appear.
* If the pairing interaction is weak or the strange quark mass large such that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{<}{}m_s^2/4\mu `$ a number of different CSC phases such as a 2CS of u,s quarks or CFL-K may appear as has been discussed in .

In the mixed phase gaps may be affected by the finite size of the quark matter structures as is the case for nuclei. Also surface and Coulomb energies generally disfavors mixed phases.

The finite temperature extension of the competing phases, calculations of the critical temperatures and densities, order of the transitions, etc. for neutron star matter should be investigated further. Probably, the superfluid phases undergo a second order phase transition to the normal phase with increasing temperature at constant baryon density. However, transitions between competing phases might also occur as indicated in Fig. 3.

Temperatures in neutron stars, $`T\stackrel{<}{}10^6K10^4`$ MeV after cooling, are typically much lower than lattice melting temperatures, $`T_{melt}Z^2e^2/170a`$ where $`a`$ is the lattice spacing (see Fig. 3). Thus the quark matter structures would be solid frozen and the cores of neutron stars would be crystalline and possibly also CSC. Lattice vibration will couple electrons at the Fermi surface with opposite momenta and spins via phonons and lead to a “standard” BCS gap for electrons. The isotopic masses are similar but as densities and Debye frequencies are larger, we can expect considerably larger BCS gaps for electrons. The electrical superconductivy affect magnetic fields through the Meissner effect and magnetic field decay.

## 7 Outlook

A number of promising developments have been mentioned above that may provide new information on neutron star masses, radii, EOS and possible phase transitions in high density matter.

On the observational front more and better masses and radii are determined by a number of different methods (thus with different systematic errors). On the theoretical front the uncertainties in the EOS are reduced by improved two- and three-body forces, relativistic effects and manybody calculations leading to socalled modern EOS. A number of phase transitions are still possible at high densities and can lead to marvelous structured phases and condensates.

We can hope for additional information from other directions as well:

Gamma ray bursters. The discovery of afterglow in Gamma Ray Bursters (GRB) allows determination of their very high redshifts ($`z1`$). They imply that GRB have an enormous energy output $`10^{53}`$ ergs which requires some central engine more powerful than ordinary supernovae . These could be a special class of type Ic supernova (hypernovae) where cores collapse to black holes, or binary neutron stars merging, or some major phase transition to, e.g., quark matter . Also soft GRB may be explained by accretion on strange stars .

Neutrinos from the formation of a “proto-neutron star” will be detected from the predicted 1-3 supernovae explosions in our and neighboring galaxy per century. In the case of the recent 1987A in LMC 19 neutrinos were detected on earth and with the upgraded neutrino detectors many thousand neutrinos are expected. The neutrinos can test the SN models, the neutron star EOS and early cooling. During the first second rapid cooling takes place and a phase transitions to, e.g., quark matter or CSC may occur. This may result in a delayed neutrino blimps .

Gravitational wave ground based interferometic detectors currently under commission will improve sensitivity significantly. Detectable candidate sources are inspiralling binary neutron stars or black holes merging which may be responsible for gamma ray bursts. R-mode instabilities in rapidly rotating neutron stars may also be detectable .

Relativistic heavy-ion collisions are probing the high temperature and low baryon density part of the QCD phase diagram at the opposite end to neutron stars. The phase transition from hadronic matter to a quark-gluon plasma is searched for though the transition may well be a smooth cross over. Some “anomalous” effects, i.e. deviations from predictions based on hadronic theory, have been found and are currently studied intensively at RHIC. It has been speculated that one might find a critical point at high temperatures which would then indicate that the smooth cross over changes to a first order transition at higher baryon densities. That would be valuable information for neutron stars although it would not tell at which density the transition would occur at low temperatures.

Superfluidity in cold fermionic atomic systems will, due to the rapid progress in cooling and trapping techniques, soon be discovered. The great advantage of atomic traps is that one can vary the number of particles, their density and interaction strength as well as the number of spin states, masses, etc. Measuring the size of the pairing gap and varying these parameters provides a testing ground for analytical calculations in the dilute or weakly interacting limit . This would be very useful for gap calculations in neutron and nuclear matter as well as quark matter.

The future of neutron star observations looks bright as new windows are about to open. A new fleet of X- and Gamma-ray satellites have and will be launched. With upgraded ground based observatories and detectors for neutrinos and gravitational waves  our knowledge of neutron star properties will be greatly improved. Heavy-ion physics at RHIC and LHC may add further to our understanding of the QCD phase diagram.

Thanks to R. Ouyed and F. Sannino for organizing this conference and comments on the manuscript.


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# Crystalline silicate dust around evolved starsBased on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA

## 1 Introduction

The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) has provided a new and unprecedented view on the occurence and composition of circumstellar and interstellar dust. One of the surprises of the ISO mission was the discovery of ubiquitous crystalline silicates in circumstellar dust shells of both evolved and young stars (see e.g. Waters et al. 1996; Waelkens et al. 1996). We have carried out an extensive study of the presence and properties of crystalline silicates. The present study is the third in a series, in which we study these silicates using ISO spectra. In previous papers (Molster et al. 2001c; 2001d; hereafter Papers I and II respectively) we have measured and described the circumstellar dust features found in the infrared spectra of 17 stars with different evolutionary status. The majority of these features could be identified with crystalline olivines (Mg2xFe2-2xSiO4) and pyroxenes (MgxFe1-xSiO3), where $`1x0`$. Jäger et al. (1998, hereafter JMD) measured the mass absorption coefficient of crystalline pyroxenes and olivines with different Fe over Mg ratios. Bands of both materials show a shift in the wavelength position of the peaks to longer wavelengths with increasing Fe content. The detection of the 69 micron feature, which is very sensitive to the Fe/Mg ratio (Koike et al. 1993; JMD), as well as the relative strength of the crystalline silicate features in the spectrum of IRAS09425-6040 (Molster et al. 1999a), led to the conclusion that the crystalline olivines observed in the ISO spectra are very Mg-rich ($`x>0.95`$); the Mg-rich end member of the olivines is called forsterite. Similarly, the enstatite band at 40.5$`\mu `$m is sensitive to the Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratio and points top the presence of Mg-rich pyroxenes. The identification of the dust species is very important for a better insight in the formation and evolution of dust. This may lead to a better understanding of the mass loss process and thus the evolution of the mass-losing star itself.

There is a clear separation between sources with and without a dusty disk. This difference is evident quantitatively in the sense that the crystalline silicate features are stronger with respect to the continuum in the sources which are surrounded by a disk (Molster et al. 1999a), and also qualitatively in the shape of the features, which is a proof for different dust properties (Paper I).

However, more quantitative statements are necessary to come to a better understanding of the nature of the circumstellar dust in these objects, and of their formation and processing history. In order to get these quantitative statements, a comparison with laboratory measurements is necessary. Unfortunately the laboratory measurements do not always agree with each other. In Paper II we discussed different laboratory measurements of olivines and pyroxenes, and possible causes of discrepancy. Despite these differences, qualitative agreement with the ISO spectra is already quite impressive as we will demonstrate in the present study.

In Section 2 we discuss trends in the position and width of the solid state bands. In Section 3 we apply a very simple optically thin dust model to the spectra to determine a typical temperature for the dust species. The results of this modelling are used to look for correlations which are discussed in Section 4.

Peak positions show variation from source to source. We adopt the naming in Paper I, which implies that if we refer to a wavelength position we use $`\mu `$m, while if we refer to the name of specific feature we will write ‘micron’.

## 2 Peak positions and bandwidths

As the measurements in paper I show, there is a spread in the peak positions and bandwidths of the different features (see e.g. Fig. 1, where we plotted the spread in the 2 strongest olivine peaks at 23.6 and 33.6 $`\mu `$m). There is no clear trend in the spread. We note that, apart from 89 Her, all disk sources show the 33.6 micron features at a longer wavelength than the outflow sources (see Fig. 1).

Here we will discuss possible causes for this spread. One of the best investigated causes for shifts in bands is the chemical composition. Difference in the mineralogical composition as well as the abundance of the different elements are known to change the peak positions. Another cause for a change in the peak position is the temperature: a lower temperature tends to narrow the features, shift them to shorter wavelengths and in some cases even split the band. A third method why bands shift and change width is variations in the size and shape of the dust grains. Changing the crystallinity of the material can also change the appearance of the feature. Below we will discuss these four effects more extensively.

### 2.1 Composition and temperature

JMD and Koike et al. (1993) showed that the inclusion of Fe in (crystalline) silicates will increase the wavelengths of the peak positions of the different features. Since the shift in wavenumbers is rather constant for the different features and proportional to the \[FeO\] content (JMD), these shifts are best seen for the features at the longest wavelengths (see Fig. 2). However, even a plot of the 69.0 micron feature versus the 33.6 micron feature does not show a clear trend (see Fig. 1). Both Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 show that the crystalline olivines are very Mg-rich and Fe-poor. The wavelength positions are consistent with an absence of Fe in these crystals. We conclude that the spread in the observations cannot (only) be explained by a very small and changing \[FeO\] content, therefore another mechanism should also be responsible.

Another mechanism to shift bands is the temperature. The 69.0 micron forsterite feature is found in different laboratory spectra where it always peaks at 69.7 $`\mu `$m, while in our ISO spectra it is always found around 69.0 $`\mu `$m. This shift is significant. Lowering the temperature will shift this feature bluewards (e.g. Bowey et al. 2000, Chihara et al. 2001). Another effect of a temperature decrease is a narrowing of this feature (see Fig. 2). This is a general property of crystalline features reflecting the anharmonic interaction of the phonon modes with the thermal phonon bath. At higher temperature the phonon modes are more excited and their distribution is broader. Hence, phonon-assisted absorption will shift bands redwards and will broaden their profiles at higher temperature. The amount of broadening depends on the origin of the feature. The 69.0 micron band is one of the best isolated bands in our spectrum to test for this effect. This narrowing of the absorption bands with decreasing temperature may be responsible for the fact that the observed band widths (of dust with typical temperatures of $`100`$K) in almost all cases is smaller than the laboratory widths measured at room temperature.

Besides shifting and narrowing a band, bands can also split in two components upon lowering the temperature (e.g. Bowey et al. 2000, Chihara et al. 2001). This might explain why in some sources we see a blend and in others we find two separate components. The narrowing (and splitting) of the features might provide an independent measurement of the temperature of the dust, without knowing anything of the rest of the spectrum!

We conclude from these comparisons that the crystalline silicates are very Mg-rich and cold. However, both processes shift the peaks together along the same line in the wavelength versus FWHM diagram, so other processes must play a role too.

### 2.2 Shape and size

Strong transitions as found in the crystalline silicates can be very shape dependent. Not only the band strength is affected by grain shape, also the peak position can change dramatically. For instance, the peak wavelength of the 33.6 micron forsterite feature is located around 32.7 $`\mu `$m for spherical grains, while it shifts to 33.8 $`\mu `$m for a continous distribution of ellipsoids (see Fig. 3). The same figure also clearly demonstrates that the relative strength of the features is very shape dependent.

Another shape effect, which can play a role in the shape of the spectrum, is the preferential growth in the direction of 1 or 2 crystallographic axes (see e.g. Bradley et al. 1983 and reference in there). Although this is not likely to shift and broaden features that much, unless features corresponding to 2 different axes blend significantly, it does play a role in the relative strength of the features.

Difference in the size of the particles can also influence the spectra. However, this only becomes important when the size of the particles is comparable to the wavelength of the feature. Relatively large particles will broaden the feature and shift it to longer wavelengths.

Finally, we would like to note that coagulation and porousity can also have an effect on the width of the bands. This has been theoretically investigated for amorphous quartz spheres by Bohren and Huffman (1983) and in the laboratory by Koike and Shibai (1994). This effect is difficult to quantify, but is likely to play a role for the crystalline silicates.

To conclude, we can say that shape effects might play a role in the spread of the peak positions.

### 2.3 Crystallinity

A final consideration should be the crystallinity, i.e. degree of lattice order or number density of lattice defects. Single crystals without defects show much sharper peaks than those with some defects. Therefore the width of the peaks might be an indication of the crystallinity of the dust grains.

Fig. 4 shows a comparison between forsterite in different environments and 2 laboratory spectra. The forsterite measured by JMD was formed from a melt and probably polycrystalline, while the forsterite measured by Koike et al. (2000b) was a single crystal. The poly-crystalline forsterite is expected to have defects where the different crystals meet each other.

The comparison with the astrophysical spectra suggests that around evolved stars nature produces nice single crystals, while around young stars poly-crystalline material seems to be formed. Around young stars it is expected that crystalline silicates form at the inner edge of accretion disks where the dust particles will (partially) melt. When mixed with cooler regions the liquid drops will likely solidify again and crystallize. In the outflows of evolved stars, gas will slowly cool and condense into dust grains. The time and temperature in these environments are likely to be sufficient to completely crystallize and get rid of all defects. It seems that this is not the case for young stars, where the (partially) melted dust grains cool more rapidly, being unable to remove all the defects.

Fig. 4 already shows that the crystallinity might shift the peak position of the feature a few tenth of a micron. So it is likely to play a role in the spread.

### 2.4 Summary

Above we discussed several mechanisms to shift and broaden features. We can conclude that the crystalline silicates are Fe-poor and cold. However, the reason for the spread in peak position is not well known. Shape effects and crystallinity, due to the different environments in which these particles are formed, are likely to play a role, but a combination with temperature and composition effects cannot be excluded.

Finally, it should be noted that all the features, of which the peak positions are plotted in Fig. 1 are part of a complex. Contributions of nearby features from other materials, which were not detected as separate features, might result in (apparent) differences of the peak positions. In this respect it is interesting to note that the 33.6 micron feature is the dominant feature in the 33 micron complex and also seems to show the least spread in the observations. The 23.6 and 69.0 micron features are part of the 23 and 60 micron complexes, respectively, and are much less dominant in these complexes. So relatively minor contributions will have less impact on the 33.6 micron feature than on the 23.6 and 69.0 micron features.

### 2.5 Other claimed trends

In a very limited sample Voors (1999) found a constant separation (in $`\mu `$m) between the 30.6 and the 32.8 micron band, which suggest a common species for these two features. We could not confirm this, but found a relation with $`\lambda _x`$ indicating the wavelength of the $`x`$ micron feature. Although we found a trend for those two features, we consider it unlikely that the 2 dust features come from the same material, since their strength normalized to the 33.6 micron feature does not correlate. Although we did not further investigate the correlation found, it may reflect a common cause, e.g. a difference in general temperature of the dust particles.

Based on a study of the crystalline silicate features in AFGL4106, Molster et al. (1999b) concluded that the forsterite features were broader than the enstatite features. We have tested whether this conclusion holds for our larger sample, using the mean results from paper II, and could not confirm their claim. A similar negative result was found, when we compared the different laboratory datasets.

## 3 The modelling

In this section we will apply a simple dust emission model to derive the typical temperature and abundance ratio of forsterite and enstatite in the dust shells. We assume that the dust shell is optically thin at infrared wavelengths (which is reasonable because we see the dust features in emission), the grain size distribution of the different dust species is similar to what has been measured in the laboratory ($`2\mu `$m, which also is quite realistic, because the width of the features indicates grains smaller than the wavelength) and that all grains of a given composition have the same (single) temperature (this is probably less realistic, but we only want to get a typical temperature for the dust species and are at the moment not interested in the temperature distribution). A comparison of several laboratory data sets with the observations indicates that the laboratory data of Koike et al. (2000b) give a good qualitative match to the observations. We will use this data set for our modelling. We determined an eye-ball spline-fit continuum, maximizing the continuum and still be smooth (no sudden changes in the slope), both in $`F_\nu `$ and $`F_\lambda `$. This continuum was derived in a similar way (using similar wavelength positions as continuum) for both the stellar and the laboratory spectra. Whenever possible we tried to use the whole wavelength range (SWS + LWS) to determine the placement of the continuum for the stellar spectra (see also Paper I). We have fitted the continuum subtracted spectra with the continuum subtracted forsterite and enstatite (50% ortho-enstatite and 50% clino-enstatite) mass absorption coefficients multiplied by blackbody functions.

$$F(\nu )_{\mathrm{model}}=\underset{i}{}B(T_i,\nu )\kappa (\nu )_iM_i$$
(1)
$`F(\nu )_{\mathrm{model}}`$ is the calculated model flux, $`B(T_i,\nu )`$ is the blackbody function at temperature $`T_i`$ of dust species $`i`$, $`\kappa (\nu )_i`$ is the mass absorption coefficient of dust species $`i`$ and $`M_i`$ is a multiplication factor which is related to the total mass of dust species $`i`$.

The temperature of the blackbody is not necessarily the same for enstatite and forsterite. In determining the best fit, we varied the temperature in steps of 5 K. The resulting spectra were separately scaled to fit the spectrum. This scaling factor is related to the mass of the dust species. The absolute masses requires knowledge of the distances to the stars but, for each source the masses of the different dust components can be directly compared. The mineral mass ratios determined in this paper assume that they have the same grain size and shape distribution (both around stars and in the laboratory samples). The best fits were determined by eye and no $`\chi ^2`$ method has been applied. This method is of sufficient accuracy given the current quality of the lab data and given the fact that several prominent dust features still lack identification, thus strongly affecting any $`\chi ^2`$ method. We found that the temperature and mass for forsterite could be determined using the 23 and 33 micron complexes, while the enstatite values are mainly based on the 28 and 40 micron features.

The results of this simple fitting procedure are shown in Fig. 5 to 16 and the derived temperatures and mass ratios are given in Table 1. We also derived an estimate for the typical temperature of the underlying continuum. For this we assumed that the continuum is caused by small grains with optical constants based on the amorphous silicate set 1 of Ossenkopf et al. (1992) and a continuous distribution of ellipsoids as shape distribution. We fitted the continuum to the original, not the continuum subtracted, spectra. An independent fit based on a $`Q(\lambda )\lambda ^1`$ emissivity law gave similar temperatures. This gave us confidence that the continuum temperature is reasonably well determined in this way. It should be noted that other shape distributions (e.g. spheres) and other sets of optical constants of amorphous olivines can easily change the derived temperature by $`\pm `$ 20 K, more often to higher than to lower temperatures. From these fits we could in principle derive a relative mass, like in the case of enstatite and forsterite. Although the uncertainties in the (mass) absorption coefficients (due to shape, size and compositional differences) are systematic, the spread in values makes it very difficult to interpret them and to compare them with other observations. Therefore, we have not given an amorphous over crystalline silicate mass ratio. However, since the differences between the different datasets are systematic, trends can still be derived from these numbers. For the remainder of this paper we will take the temperature derived by the fit with the Ossenkopf data set as the continuum temperature (Table 1), because these fits tend to produce the best fits. We compared the temperatures found in this study with those found by Molster et al. (1999b; 2001a), and we found a reasonable agreement. Difference in the temperatures found could often be described to the use of different laboratory data sets.

Our simple model, consisting of only two crystalline dust components and a single temperature for each dust component, fits most stars very well, see e.g. MWC922 (Fig. 8). Still, it is clear that this simple model is not sufficient to explain all the features. The main discrepancies between our model fits and the ISO data lie at the wavelengths below 20 $`\mu `$m. We note that the three stars with a continuum temperature above 200 K all show crystalline silicates in emission in the 10 micron region. The temperature of the crystalline silicates has been determined based on bands at wavelengths longwards of 20 micron. These bands are dominated by cool dust, and the derived low temperatures (Table 1) are too low to explain the strength of the crystalline silicate bands in the 10 micron complex. A second, much warmer, component must be introduced to explain these 10 micron bands. Likely a temperature gradient is present in these sources. The discrepancies shortwards of $`20\mu `$m do not solely reflect the presence of a temperature gradient in these sources, but indicate that still other dust components must be present. The 18 micron complex is badly fitted. The modelled 19.5 micron feature (originating from both forsterite and enstatite) is often much too strong and the modelled 18.0 and 18.9 micron features are often too weak when compared to the ISO spectra. The too strong 19.5 micron feature might be a radiative transfer effect, since this feature is less of a problem in the full radiative transfer modelling (see e.g. Molster et al. 1999b; 2001a). This might indicate that our assumption of $`\tau 1`$ is not correct at wavelengths around 19.5 $`\mu `$m. The poor fit of the 18.0 and 18.9 micron features suggests the presence of another dust component.

There is more evidence for the presence of an extra dust component. The 29.6 and 30.6 micron features also need extra emissivity, as is very clear in the spectra of NGC6537 (Fig. 6) and of NGC6302 (Fig. 7). In these two sources the 40.5 micron feature is not well fitted, suggesting that the same dust component which is responsible for the 29.6 and 30.6 micron features also has a peak around 40.5 $`\mu `$m. A possible candidate for this extra dust component is diopside (MgCaSi2O6), which peaks at the required wavelengths. However this material also produces strong peaks at other wavelengths, e.g. at 20.6, 25.1 and 32.1 $`\mu `$m, which are observed in the ISO data, but often not as strong as expected. Therefore, the identification of the carrier of the 29.6 and 30.6 micron features remains open. It should be noted, that the temperature and relative mass of enstatite are estimated from the 28 and 40 micron complexes. Therefore a significant contribution of an unknown dust component to one (or both) of these 2 complexes can change the estimated temperature and abundance of enstatite.

The 33.0 micron feature is not well fitted, but this feature is likely to be influenced by instrumental behaviour (see Paper II). In the 35 micron plateau we clearly miss intensity around 34.8 $`\mu `$m in all sources. The predicted 69.0 micron feature is often too weak with respect to the ISO spectra (see e.g. Fig. 15). This may be an indication for the presence of colder dust, and thus for a temperature gradient, we will come back to this later.

Apart from all the features that are missing, we also have a problem with too much intensity predicted by our modelling around 27 $`\mu `$m. This excess is mainly due to enstatite, but also forsterite contributes slightly. We are still looking for an explanation of this phenomenon.

Finally, we did not attempt to fit the absorption profiles. As stated above we assumed the dust was optically thin. Also, no attempt was done to fit the carbon dust features, which are present in some sources.

### 3.1 The sample stars

Here we describe the model fits to the spectra of the individual stars, which where analyzed in Paper I. For a description of the individual stars in this sample we refer to Paper I. From this sample we rejected Roberts 22 and VY 2-2, because the ISO satellite was unfortunately offset when observing these two objects resulting in large flux jumps in the overall spectrum. This made it impossible to derive temperature estimates of the dust around these two stars. OH26.5+0.6 has also not been fitted, because below 30 $`\mu `$m it has an absorption spectrum (Sylvester et al. 1999), which could not be described with our simple model.

The main uncertainties in the model fits are due to uncertainties in the continuum subtraction. This leads to errors in the temperature of the order of 10 K and mass uncertainties of the order of a factor 2. We note that for our modelling we completely rely on the laboratory data input. This may result in systematic effects on our derived temperatures and masses.

#### 3.1.1 IRAS09425-6050

The fit to the spectrum of IRAS09425-6040 is shown in Fig. 5. The model fit also produces a somewhat too strong 19.5 micron feature. It should be noted that the full radiative transfer calculations of Molster et al. (2001a) produces excellent fits to the 19.5 micron feature. The broad feature at 11 $`\mu `$m is due to SiC. This very simple model predicts no significant flux in the 10 micron complex due to crystalline silicates, which is consistent with its absence in the ISO spectrum.

The forsterite grains have a temperature of 85 K. This temperature agrees with the temperature range presented in the detailed radiative transfer model (Molster et al. 2001a). However, in contrast to the results presented here these detailed calculations predict that enstatite is much cooler than forsterite. As a result those models could not reproduce the relative strength of the observed 28 and 40 micron complexes. It also resulted in an unrealistically high mass for the enstatite. Molster et al (2001a) argue that this might have to do with the not well known absorptivity of crystalline enstatite.

#### 3.1.2 NGC6537

The results for NGC6537 are shown in Fig. 6. The temperatures found for the forsterite (75 K) and enstatite (60 K) in NGC6537 are among the lowest found in our sample. Note that if an extra dust component significantly contributes to the 40 micron complex, the temperature of enstatite will be higher (and its mass lower) than what has been determined here.

The spectral energy distribution of the complete spectrum is too broad to be fitted by a single temperature dust component.

#### 3.1.3 NGC6302

The continuum subtracted spectrum of NGC 6302 and its good fit are shown in Fig. 7.

Molster et al. (2001b) used the same method as used in this paper, and therefore found the same temperatures. As for NGC6537, it was not possible to fit the spectral energy distribution with a single temperature dust component. Molster et al. (2001b) attribute the broad energy distribution to the presence of a population of large grains, which mainly contribute to the long wavelength side. The presence of this population of large grains is indicated by the gentle slope of the spectrum up to mm wavelengths (Hoare et al. 1992).

The temperature found for the enstatite and forsterite, respectively 65 and 70 K, are similar to the temperature of NGC6537, which in many aspects looks very similar to NGC6302. Kemper et al. (2001) assumed two temperature regimes: a cold one from 30 to 60 K, and a warm one from 100 to 118 K. Both components contain forsterite and enstatite. Our results, giving a temperature somewhere in between those two regimes, is in agreement with theirs, although the exact comparison is somewhat difficult.

#### 3.1.4 MWC922

The fit to the continuum subtracted spectrum of MWC922 is one of the best we have (see Fig 8). Especially the 40 micron complex is very well reproduced by our model, indicating that the 50% clino- and 50% ortho-enstatite are the right proportions for this object. At $`\lambda <16\mu `$m the spectrum of MWC922 is dominated by PAH-features which were not incorporated in the fitting procedure.

#### 3.1.5 AC Her

A model with cool dust fits the long wavelength part ($`>20\mu `$m) of the AC Her spectrum (dotted line in Fig. 9). However, the short wavelength features indicate the presence of a dust component with a much higher temperature. The temperature of this material is not well constrained. In Fig. 9 we show a fit of 700 K (dashed line in Fig. 9), but a similar fit could be derived with a temperature several hundreds degrees Kelvin higher or lower. Therefore it is impossible to give a reliable mass estimate for this hot component.

In our modelling we only assumed a single temperature. Based on the necessity of (at least) two different temperatures, the existence of a temperature gradient seems more likely. It is interesting to note that the overall spectrum of AC Her is very similar to that of comet Hale Bopp (Molster et al. 1999a) where we know that the dust is located in one place. Temperature differences found in the grains around this comet must therefore originate from the grain size differences. Small grains can account for the high temperature dust emission, while bigger grains are responsible for the low temperature dust emission. Such a scenario might also be possible for AC Her, which would imply that the dust might not have to be so close to the star as previously thought (e.g. Alcolea & Bujarrabal 1991). Jura et al. (2000) found a disk like structure for this object, which supports the above mentioned scenario. A full radiative transfer model fit would be necessary to completely understand the dust distribution around AC Her, but that is beyond the scope of this paper.

#### 3.1.6 HD45677

From the continuum subtracted spectrum of HD45677 we first removed the broad amorphous silicate features (Fig. 10). We cannot exclude that we also removed part of the crystalline silicate features in the 18 micron complex in this way. This does not influence our results since these are mainly based on the 23, 28, 33 and 40 micron complexes. To fit the spectrum of HD45677 we ignored the strength of the 19.5 micron feature, which is severely overestimated in our resulting fit. If we would have fitted the 19.5 and 40 micron features simultaneously, the 28 micron complex would have been severely underestimated. Likewise, attempts to fit the 18 and 28 micron complex together will result in a severely overestimated 40 micron complex, and also the fits to the 23 and 33 micron complexes will become worse. It is unlikely that this discrepancy can be fully explained by the subtraction of the amorphous silicates. Because this is not the only source with this problem, we leave this for future research.

Malfait (1999) also studied this star. He modelled this object with a radiative transfer code. HD45677 could only be modelled with a 2 component dust shell, consisting of a hot shell, responsible for the main part of the flux up to 20 $`\mu `$m and a cool component which is the main contributor to the crystalline silicates features. Due to the method we use here, our temperature estimate is based on this cool component. Malfait finds a temperature between 250 and 50 K for this cool component. Unfortunately this is not specified for the different components separately, so we can only say that our temperature estimates do agree with this temperature range.

The predicted strength of the crystalline silicate features in the 10 micron complex is underestimated. Since the strength of the amorphous silicate band at 10 $`\mu `$m is uncertain, errors in the estimate of its contribution affect the strength of the crystalline silicate bands at these wavelengths and we did not attempt to fit the hot crystalline silicate compounds.

#### 3.1.7 89 Her

Before we fitted the continuum subtracted spectrum of 89 Her, we first subtracted a broad feature below the 26 to 45 $`\mu `$m region (Fig. 11). This feature is also seen in HD44179 and probably AFGL 4106 and discussed in Paper II.

The continuum subtracted spectrum of 89 Her is quite noisy at the longer wavelengths, which makes the fits not as well constrained as in other stars. Also in this star warmer grains are necessary to explain the crystalline silicate structure found on top of the amorphous silicate feature in the 10 micron complex. Again, problems in the separation of the crystalline and amorphous silicates kept us from fitting this feature. Based on the CO observations and the near-IR excess, it was argued in Paper I, that there must be dust with different temperatures, likely a temperature gradient, around 89 Her.

#### 3.1.8 MWC300

Although we have argued in this paper that the strength of the 19.5 micron feature is difficult to model correctly, we decided, because of the problems in the 28 micron complex to constrain the enstatite by the 19.5 micron feature in MWC300 (see Fig. 12). If we would have fitted the strength of the 28 micron complex, and ignored the 19.5 micron feature, we would have derived a temperature of roughly 150 K, which is much larger than the forsterite temperature. It would also predict prominent features at the shorter wavelengths, which were not seen. The use of the 19.5 micron feature to constrain enstatite resulted in a similar temperature for the forsterite and enstatite dust species. This result, together with the reasonable fit at the 40 micron complex makes us confident in our approach for this star. We note however, that because of the problems with the 28 micron feature the values for enstatite are poorly constrained. The source of the extra flux in the 28 micron feature is unknown.

#### 3.1.9 HD44179

As for 89 Her, we removed the very broad feature in the 26 to 45 $`\mu `$m range in the continuum subtracted spectrum of HD44179. The 18 micron complex seems to contain a contribution from amorphous silicates which was also removed. The result can be found in Fig. 13. It should be noted that a change in the subtraction of the broad 18 micron amorphous silicate feature, whose properties are not well determined, may change the derived temperature by more than the typical fitting error of 10 K.

The derived continuum temperature of 120 K is somewhat uncertain due to the complex nature of the source (Waters et al. 1998). Since the short wavelength part of the continuum is formed by C-rich grains, we based our fits on the long wavelength range. This will likely underestimate the temperature of the continuum. Taken all these uncertainties into account, the crystalline silicates may have an equal or even lower temperature than the amorphous silicates, as is found in the other stars.

#### 3.1.10 HD161796

The 40 micron complex in HD161796 is dominated by crystalline water ice. In order to fit this spectrum (Fig. 14) we therefore added crystalline water ice to the spectrum (Smith et al. 1994). In general most features are reasonably well reproduced. The poor fit around 40 $`\mu `$m suggests that an underlying weak broad component contributes. Possibly, this is amorphous water ice.

Within the errors, the crystalline and amorphous temperatures are the same. The peak wavelength of the crystalline water ice feature in our model is slightly offset from our ISO spectrum. This may be a temperature effect (Smith et al. 1994), reflecting the sensitivity of the emissivities to temperature.

#### 3.1.11 HD179821

HD179821 shows prominent crystalline water ice features in the 40 and 60 micron complex. Therefore, we also added crystalline water ice in this model fit (Fig. 15). The crystalline silicate features are rather cold, 65 K for the enstatite and 75 K for the forsterite, therefore no detectable features are expected in the 10 micron region.

#### 3.1.12 AFGL4106

For the fit to the continuum subtracted spectrum of AFGL4106 (Fig. 16) we changed the ratio of clino versus ortho enstatite to 1 : 3. Otherwise the 44.7 micron feature would have appeared too strong in the model spectrum. This feature is located in the wing of the 43.0 micron feature. The 43.0 micron feature is not well reproduced by our simple model, resulting in an offset of the 44.7 micron feature.

A broad feature between 30 and 45 $`\mu `$m seems present. It is not known whether this is the same feature as in 89 Her and HD44179. It seems to peak at a longer wavelength (38 $`\mu `$m) than in the other two sources. Subtracting this feature, would increase both the temperature of forsterite and enstatite. The 40.5 $`\mu `$m feature is very strong, even if one removes this broad feature, indicating that other dust species are present. No attempt has been made to fit the substructure in the 18 micron band in view of the large and uncertain amorphous silicate contribution. In this star no detectable 10 micron structure is expected from the crystalline silicates, which is in agreement with the observations.

A full radiative transfer calculation was made for this source by Molster et al. (1999b). The enstatite abundance derived by them was based on the (wrong) assumption that the 32.8 micron feature was due to ortho-enstatite, and is therefore difficult to compare. This is related to their use of another datasets for forsterite, which has a different intrinsic ratio of the 23.7 and 33.6 micron features. The result is a lower temperature and therefore higher mass for forsterite in their calculations. Also, for the amorphous olivines they used a different dataset, however in this case it resulted in a higher temperature and therefore lower mass. The combination of those two effects explains the low amorphous silicate to forsterite ratio found by them compared to this study.

#### 3.1.13 NML Cyg

We could not reliably fit enstatite to the spectrum of NML Cyg since a part of the 28 micron complex was missing, due to problems with the data reduction (see Paper I). We were able to fit forsterite to the continuum subtracted spectrum and found a temperature of about 150 K (not shown).

#### 3.1.14 IRC+10420

Also for IRC+10420 we only fitted the forsterite component which appeared to be about 90 K (not shown). Enstatite could not be fitted due to the lack of data in the 28 micron region. We checked the 40 micron complex and, if enstatite would have been fitted, an ortho-enstatite to clino-enstatite ratio of 2 : 1 would probably give the best fit to the strength of the 44.7 micron feature.

## 4 Correlations

From the modelling, we were able to derive values for the temperature and the relative contributions to the total amount of dust mass by forsterite and enstatite. Correlating these values can give interesting insight in the dust inventory as we will show in this section. Since in Paper I and II it was found that there is a significant difference between the spectra of disk and of outflow sources, we will separate them. In all plots in this section the outflow sources are represented by a circle while the disk sources are represented by diamonds.

### 4.1 Temperature dependence of laboratory spectra: peak width and position

In Sec 2.1 we showed a relation between the peak position and FWHM of the 69 micron forsterite band and the temperature of the forsterite grains. Since we have now determined the temperature of the forsterite grains, we checked this relation in our data (Fig. 17).

There is no clear correlation between these two quantities. A possible explanation for this scatter behaviour might be the fact that the temperature of the forsterite is determined from bands in the 20 to 40 $`\mu `$m range. The strength and width of the 69 micron feature may be dominated by much cooler dust. The predicted strength from our simple model fits, which is lower than the strength in our ISO spectra (see e.g. HD179821), supports this statement.

### 4.2 Other temperature trends

In Figure 18 we compare the temperature of the enstatite and forsterite, derived from our simple model fits. For the disk sources the enstatite and forsterite grains seem to have an equal temperature, while in the 3 outflow sources the forsterite seems warmer.

In Fig. 19 we compare the forsterite temperature and the amorphous silicate temperature.

We first note that, in general, the crystalline forsterite grains are colder than the underlying continuum consisting of amorphous silicates. The difference in temperature between the amorphous and crystalline silicates has probably to do with the difference in chemical structure. The crystalline silicates are Mg-rich (see this paper and Paper II), while the amorphous silicates must contain metals to explain their higher near-infrared absorptivity. Possibly the reaction of the Mg-rich crystalline silicates with gaseous iron may proceed in these outflows at temperatures well below the glass temperature leading simultaneously to amorphous and dirty silicates (Tielens et al. 1998).

For some stars like IRC+10420, MWC922 and IRAS09425-6040 the difference in temperature excludes the possibility of one grain population, which is partially crystalline. The crystalline and amorphous silicates must form two separate grain populations, which are not in thermal contact. From this simple model we cannot say that they are also spatially separated, but radiative transfer modelling (Molster et al. 1999b; 2001a) indicates that this is not necessary. Finally, we note that there is no obvious separation between the disk and the outflow sources. Because of the analogy between the different sources, we expect that this grain segregation is valid for all sources in our sample.

### 4.3 Abundance trends

From our modelling we were also able to derive an abundance ratio for enstatite and forsterite (Fig. 20).

In all sources, except NGC6302, the enstatite is more abundant than the forsterite, on average a factor 3–4. Again there seems to be a difference between the disk and outflow sources. The outflow sources have, on average, a higher enstatite over forsterite ratio than the disk sources. We note however, that the number of outflow sources is low and more data is required to confirm this trend.

If crystallization of the amorphous grains is a thermally driven process, it is expected that warmer dust shells would show a higher crystalline silicate fraction. This effect would be most clear in the disks sources, where the dust stays at roughly the same place. In the outflow sources, the temperature of the optically thin dust shell is more an indication of the age of the dust. Cooler dust would be further out and therefore older, in which case an increase of the crystallinity with a lowering of the temperature may even be possible. We investigated the crystalline over amorphous silicates abundance ratio with the temperature of the amorphous silicates. We excluded AC Her, 89 Her and HD45677 from this analysis because the continuum and feature temperatures derived likely do not reflect particles with the same size distribution and/or location around these objects, resulting in unrealistic mass ratios. No clear relation could be found between the temperature of the amorphous silicates versus the crystallinity, neither for the disk nor for the outflow sources. The crystallization process is either a relic of the past or it is not thermally driven. This is not too surprising. Thermally driven crystallization requires temperatures of $`1000`$K (Hallenbeck & Nuth, 1998), which is well above the temperature of either the crystalline or amorphous silicates in our sources.

### 4.4 Crystallinity versus stellar flux ratio

It has been suggested by Waters et al. (1999) that the enstatite over forsterite ratio increases with luminosity of the star. They based their conclusions on the ratio of the 32.97 and 33.6 micron bands. They attributed the former band to enstatite, and the latter one to forsterite. Unfortunately, the 32.97 micron band is strongly affected by instrumental effects (see Paper II), which are most prominent in the brightest sources. These are usually also the intrinsic most luminous sources, such as IRC+10420 and NML Cyg. Since it is likely that in high flux sources grain formation will result in different ratios of the dust species we still decided to investigated this scenario. We could find no trend for the stars in our sample, which had a reliable distance (and thus flux) estimate.

## 5 Discussion

Most features can be explained with forsterite and enstatite. However laboratory spectra of these species often produce too broad bands. Most laboratory spectra were measured at room temperature, while the dust species around our stars are in the order of 80 K. Lowering the temperature can narrow the dust features, and this might be the natural solution for the width problem. It can also solve another problem. The 69.0 micron feature has been attributed to forsterite. It is very sensitive to the Fe/(Mg+Fe) ratio in olivine, and one of the key features for the determination of the Fe content in crystalline silicates. However in most lab spectra it peaks at 69.7 $`\mu `$m. Recent laboratory measurements show that this feature shifts to shorter wavelengths when the sample is cooled and will be at $`69.1\mu `$m at 77 K and even at $`68.8\mu `$m when measured at 4 K (Bowey et al. 2000). At the same time, the feature narrows (cf. Fig 2). So it seems that the temperature dependence is able to solve also this problem.

From the correlation study in this chapter a clear difference between the disk and the outflow sources emerges. The differences found in Paper I and Paper II were based on the shape and strength of the different solid state features in the spectrum. These differences can now be traced back to differences in temperature and chemical composition of the circumstellar dust. The outflow sources seem more abundant in cold enstatite grains than the disk sources, although more observations would help to quantify this better. There are also indications that in the high luminosity outflow sources the ortho- over clino-enstatite abundance ratio is larger than unity (see AFGL4106 and IRC+10420), while in the other (disk) sources nice fits were obtained with a ratio of unity. Because of the large crystalline water-ice component in the 40 micron complex of HD161796, it is difficult to quantify its ortho- over clino-enstatite ratio. Therefore we cannot exclude that this difference we see is related to the more massive nature of the central stars of AFGL4106 and IRC+10420 rather than the disk-outflow character.

The difference between the disk and the outflow sources might be related to differences in conditions during the condensation of the grains out of the hot gas, and/or to differences in the conditions since the formation of the dust particles. Smyth (1974) found that clino-enstatite slowely inverts to ortho-enstatite between 920 and 1220 K. Dust particles will stay longer within this temperature range in the case of massive stars than for low mass stars. This might explain the overabundance of ortho-enstatite in IRC+10420 and AFGL4106 with respect to the other stars. Another possible difference during the formation of these grains could be the amount of radiation pressure exerted on the particles. It is expected to be lower in the disk sources, otherwise the disk is likely to be blown away. Also the presence of a companion -most if not all disk sources are a binary system- might influence the dust forming process. If, on the other hand, we assume that the initial (forming) conditions are similar for the disk and outflow sources, than the differences in the conditions after formation must be dominant. Time is an obvious differences. Also a relation with grain coagulation -the disks contain large grains- cannot completely be ruled out.

We note that clino-enstatite is often found in meteorites on earth. The process responsible for the overabundance of clino-enstatite in meteorites in the disks of young stars might be the same as the one in the disks around evolved stars. We also want to note that in chondrites or primitive meteorites, i.e the less processed ones, clino-pyroxenes are less abundant than the ortho-pyroxenes. This similarity between the disks around young and around evolved stars, is new evidence to the hypothesis that the circumstances and processes in disks around young stars are very similar to these in disks around evolved stars, although their origin is quite different.

The equal temperature of enstatite and forsterite in the disk sources, is in principle compatible with the assumption that enstatite and forsterite are present as a composite grain in the disk sources. However, it is equally well possible that their individual equilibrium temperatures are similar, in which case they can still be individual grains. New uninterupted laboratory measurements of the optical properties of both materials, especially in the wavelength range were they absorb the stellar light and emit the thermal radiation, would allow us to make these kind of calculations and settle this point. The different temperatures found for forsterite and enstatite in the outflow sources suggests two separate grain populations in these environments.

## 6 Conclusions

We can summarize the main results of this study as follows:

* The ISO spectra could be reasonably well fitted with laboratory spectra of forsterite and enstatite.
* The models underestimate the flux at 18, 29.6, 30.6, 48 $`\mu `$m and sometimes at 40.5 $`\mu `$m, which is an indication for the presence of (an)other dust component(s). No convincing identification could be made yet. Diopside does have features at most of these wavelengths, but also strong features at others which are weak or absent in the ISO-spectra.
* The 19.5 micron feature is often overestimated by our model spectra. No explanation is yet known for this phenomenon, but it should be noted that in the full radiative transfer modelling it appeared to be much less of a problem. This might indicate that optical depth effects play a role. Also the calculation of the absorption coefficients from the constants instead of the absorption coefficients from laboratory particles might lead to differences.
* The band width of the laboratory data is larger than in our ISO spectra. This difference is likely a temperature effect, and might be used as an independent temperature indicator. Especially the 69.0 micron band is very suitable for this analysis.
* The temperature of the forsterite and enstatite grains are (almost) similar for the disk sources, while the forsterite is slightly warmer in the outflow sources. This would imply that the forsterite and/or enstatite grains differ slightly in the disk and outflow sources. It is not clear whether this difference is due to a different formation process, or due to a different dust process history after the grain formation. Since this trend is only based on 3 sources more data is required to confirm the difference between the dust and outflow sources.
* The crystalline silicates are colder than the amorphous silicates. This is probably due to the difference in chemical composition. No Fe is present in the crystalline silicates, while in the amorphous silicates it is expected to explain the higher absorptivity. This difference in temperature also implies that the crystalline and amorphous grains are two distinct grain populations.
* Enstatite is on average a factor 3–4 more abundant than forsterite in our sources. There are indications that the enstatite over forsterite ratio in the outflow sources is higher than in the disk sources.
* In the low luminosity sources the spectra were well fitted with an equal amount of ortho- and clino-enstatite, while in the two high luminosity sources more ortho-enstatite seems to be present.
* No correlation could be found between the crystallinity and the temperature of the dust. Also the luminosity of the stars does not seem to be correlated with the enstatite over forsterite ratio.
* These simple model fits already give a good insight in the dust around our stars. In Paper I the shape of the features naturally separated the disk and outflow sources. In this study the differences between these two categories became again evident.

Acknowledgements.
We greatly thank Janet Bowey for providing her laboratory data. FJM wants to acknowledge the support from NWO under grant 781-71-052 and under the Talent fellowship programm. LBFMW acknowledges financial support from an NWO ‘Pionier’ grant.


text:
# Progress in QCD next-to-leading order calculations

## Abstract:

I review progress related to the calculation of QCD jet cross sections at the NLO accuracy. After a short introduction into the theory of NLO calculations, I discuss two recent developments: the calculation of two- and three-jet leptoproduction at the NLO accuracy and the extension of the dipole subtraction method for computing NLO corrections for processes involving massive partons.

conference: International Europhysics Conference on HEP

Jet cross sections at the NLO accuracy consist of the first two terms of the perturbative expansion in the strong coupling,

$$\sigma =\sigma ^{\mathrm{LO}}+\sigma ^{\mathrm{NLO}}=_md\sigma ^\mathrm{B}+\sigma ^{\mathrm{NLO}}.$$
(1)
The leading order cross section is the integral of the fully exclusive Born matrix element of $`m`$ final-state partons over the available phase space. The NLO correction is a sum of two terms: the real correction is the integral of the Born matrix element of $`m+1`$ final-state partons and the virtual correction is the integral of the interference term between the Born-level and one-loop amplitudes of $`m`$ final state partons,

$$\sigma ^{\mathrm{NLO}}=_{m+1}d\sigma ^\mathrm{R}+_md\sigma ^\mathrm{V}.$$
(2)
In four dimensions both contributions are divergent. An observable is IR-safe if the total NLO correction is finite in four dimensions. However, for almost all cases of interest the phase-space integrations cannot be performed analytically, therefore, in the sum, the cancellation of the singularities requires special care. In the literature several general methods are described  to find this finite contribution, each relying on the same principle, namely we subtract an auxiliary cross section from the real corrections such that $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}`$ has the same pontwise singular behaviour in any dimensions as $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}`$. Moreover, $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}`$ has to be chosen simple enough, so that it is analytically integrable in $`d`$ dimensions over the one-parton subspaces that cause the soft and collinear divergences and thus it can be combined with the virtual contribution to give a finite correction in four dimensions. Thus the total NLO contribution can be written as a sum of two terms, an $`(m+1)`$-parton and an $`m`$-parton integral,

$$\sigma ^{\mathrm{NLO}}=_{m+1}\left[\left(\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}\right)_{\epsilon =0}\left(\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}\right)_{\epsilon =0}\right]+_m\left[\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{V}+_1d\sigma ^\mathrm{A}\right]_{\epsilon =0}.$$
(3)
Although, the principle is simple, the numerical implementation that is also stable and efficient is difficult. The various methods, that differ in the explicit choice for the auxiliary cross section, were developed with the aim of finding the solution with the best numerical behaviour. In this respect, the dipole method  has several advantageous features, only partially shared by the other techniques: (i) The calculation is exact; the same auxiliary cross section is subtracted and added back. (ii) The phase space is exactly the same for the $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}`$ as for $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}`$, which allows for an efficient generation of the phase space, most suitable for the actual calculation at hand. (iii) There is no need for any particular manipulation of the squared matrix element. (iv) The calculation is Lorentz invariant at any intermediate step, thus switching between various frames of reference can be achieved by simply transforming the momenta. (v) There is no need for crossing functions, thus partonic cross sections can be calculated also with hadrons in the initial state. (vi) It can be implemented in a fully process independent way, therefore, a truly general purpose code, suitable for any initial states, can be written and the same matrix elements in the same code can be used for various processes. The first such example is the NLOJET++ code that already incorporates three- and four-jet production in $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation , two- and three-jet leptoproduction  and two- and three-jet hadroproduction .

As a new application of the method, let us turn to the computation of NLO corrections to three-jet leptoproduction. Although the NLOJET++ program can be used for calculating any IR-safe observable, for the sake of comparison with existing data I present differential distributions that were also measured by the H1 collaboration at HERA. In order to make the comparisons, I used the same kinematic range as employed in the experiment, i.e., $`5\mathrm{GeV}^2<Q^2<5000\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, $`0<x_{\mathrm{Bj}}<1`$, $`0.2<y<0.6`$, $`1<\eta _{\mathrm{jet}}^{\mathrm{lab}}<2.5`$, $`E_{T,\mathrm{jet}}^{\mathrm{Breit}}>5\mathrm{GeV}`$. The hard scale was chosen to be the average transverse momentum of the three-jets. The leading order curves were obtained using the CTEQ5L pdf’s and $`\alpha _s`$ run from $`\alpha _s(M_{\mathrm{Z}^0})=0.127`$ using one-loop running, and the NLO curves with CTEQ5M1 pdf’s and $`\alpha _s`$ run from $`\alpha _s(M_{\mathrm{Z}^0})=0.118`$ using two-loop running. The three-jet final states were selected using the inclusive $`k_T`$ algorithm. The plots in Figs. 2 and 2 show the differential distributions in the momentum transfer squared and the Bjorken variable, respectively. We can observe that the leading order predictions have different shape than the data: too low for small values of the variables and too high for large values. The radiative corrections bring theory and experiment much closer. Taking into account the hadronization corrections, the NLO prediction gives a remarkably good description of the data.

We should consider the impressive agreement with caution. For small values of $`Q^2`$ the radiative corrections are rather large (between 30 and 60 %), so we may expect that the higher order corrections are also large, which is also indicated if we look at the dependence of the NLO prediction for the (3+1)-jet inclusive cross section on the renormalization and factorization scales in Fig. 4. The scale dependence of the cross section at NLO is still large indicating potentially large higher order corrections. At high $`Q^2`$ (see Fig. 4 we find that the renormalization-scale dependence is reduced significantly, while the originally not too strong factorization-scale dependence does not change substantially. Setting the two scales equal, at NLO we find a rather flat curve with a wide plato around the chosen hard scale. If $`Q^2`$ is large, however, the NLO corrections are negative indicating that all order resummation of terms such as $`\mathrm{ln}1/x_{\mathrm{Bj}}`$ may be important, which will typically increase the cross sections.

Let us now turn to discussing some developments in the theory of NLO calculations for processes involving massive partons. A lot of such calculations exist in the literature, but most of them were carried out for a specific process, not with the general methods worked out for processes of massless partons. The role of massive partons will become even more important when the LHC comes into operation and perhaps a lot of new massive coloured particles will be found, or at least will be searched for. Recently, both the slicing  and the dipole  techniques were extended to taking into account the parton masses. Here I advocate another extension of the dipole method which has a smooth zero-mass limit.

In order to understand why the zero-mass limit may be important, let us recall the different physical roles the finite mass $`M`$ of the QCD partons play in different physical processes. In some processes (e.g. the total cross section for heavy-quark hadroproduction) the finite (and large) value of $`M`$ has the essential role of setting the hard scale of the cross section. In these cases the massless limit is IR unstable, and the corresponding cross section cannot be computed in QCD perturbation theory. In other processes (e.g. the production of heavy-flavoured jets), instead, the hard scale $`Q`$ is independent of the mass $`M`$, and the latter has only the role of an auxiliary (though important) kinematic scale. These processes are IR stable in the massless limit, that is, when $`M0`$ the cross section is still infrared- and collinear-safe and, thus, perturbatively computable.

The processes that are perturbatively stable in the massless limit are often studied in kinematic regions where the typical hard scale $`Q`$ is much larger than the mass $`M`$ of one (or more) of the heavy partons. In this regime the integral of the real term $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}(M)`$ of the NLO cross section in eq. (2) leads to contributions of the type

$`{\displaystyle _{m+1}}d\sigma ^\mathrm{R}(M){\displaystyle _0^{Q^2}}d𝐪_{}^2\left(𝐪_{}^2\right)^\epsilon {\displaystyle \frac{1}{𝐪_{}^2+M^2}}\stackrel{~}{QM}\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{M^2}}+\mathrm{O}(\epsilon ),`$ (4)
$`{\displaystyle _{m+1}}d\sigma ^\mathrm{R}(M){\displaystyle _0^{Q^2}}d𝐪_{}^2\left(𝐪_{}^2\right)^\epsilon {\displaystyle \frac{M^2}{\left[𝐪_{}^2+M^2\right]^2}}\stackrel{~}{QM}M^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{M^2}}+\mathrm{O}(\epsilon ),`$ (5)
where $`𝐪_{}`$ generically denotes the typical transverse momentum of the heavy parton with mass $`M`$. Since these contributions are finite when $`\epsilon 0`$, naively, they would not require any special treatments within the subtraction method. However, this could lead to serious numerical problems in kinematic regions where $`QM`$. When computing the NLO cross section, the large $`\mathrm{ln}Q^2/M^2`$ contribution would appear in the first term (the $`(m+1)`$-parton integral) on the right-hand side of Eq. (3), and it would be compensated by an equally large (but with opposite sign) logarithmic contribution arising from the second term (the $`m`$-parton integral). Owing to the presence of several large (although compensating) contributions, a similar naive procedure would lead to instabilities in any numerical implementations of the NLO calculation. The numerical instabilities would increase by increasing the ratio $`Q/M`$ and, in particular, they would prevent from performing the massless limit. The second contribution in Eq. (5) can also lead to numerical instabilities due to the presence of a linearly divergent (in the limit $`M^2/Q^20`$) integral, because its variance increases linearly with $`Q^2/M^2`$.

These numerical problems can be avoided if we set up our massive-parton formalism by choosing the auxiliary cross section $`\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}(M)`$ in such a way that the following property is fulfilled:

$$\underset{M0}{lim}_{m+1}\left[\left(\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}(M)\right)_{\epsilon =0}\left(\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}(M)\right)_{\epsilon =0}\right]=_{m+1}\left[\left(\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}(M=0)\right)_{\epsilon =0}\left(\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}(M=0)\right)_{\epsilon =0}\right].$$
(6)
To avoid the problems related to the large logarithmic contributions in Eq. (4), it is sufficient to impose that the integral of the subtracted cross section on the left-hand side of Eq. (6) is finite when $`M0`$. Equation (6) is, instead, a stronger constraint. It implies that, in the evaluation of the subtracted cross section, the massless limit (or, more generally, the limit $`M/Q0`$) commutes with the $`(m+1)`$-parton integral. This guarantees that $`[\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{R}(M)\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{A}(M)]`$ does not contain integrands of the type in Eq. (5).

The explicit details of the algorithm will be published soon. Here, I only remark that it follows from eqs. (3) and (6) that the $`m`$-parton contribution also possesses a smooth zero-mass limit,

$$\underset{M0}{lim}_m\left[\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{V}(M)+_1d\sigma ^\mathrm{A}(M)\right]_{\epsilon =0}=_m\left[\mathrm{d}\sigma ^\mathrm{V}(M=0)+_1d\sigma ^\mathrm{A}(M=0)\right]_{\epsilon =0},$$
(7)
provided the analytic integration over the one-parton phase space, $`_1`$ is performed uniformly in the parton masses. Relation (7) can be utilized to deduce the universal singular behaviour, both as $`\epsilon 0`$ and as $`M0`$, of the one-loop QCD amplitudes . The first computation employing our techniques is published in Ref. ).

In summary, the theory of NLO calculations is well established, including massive partons. For QCD phenomenology the NLO corrections are known for the most interesting processes, including two- and three-jet hadro- and leptoproduction and two-jet photoproduction. Jet phenomenology could benefit from (i) a program for three-jet photoproduction, (ii) programs for heavy-flavoured jet lepto-, hadro-, photoproduction and (iii) programs for vector-boson(s) and associated jet(s) hadroproduction.

I thank my collaborators, Z. Nagy (first part) and S. Catani, S. Dittmaier and M.H. Seymour (second part) for a pleasant a fruitful collaboration. This work was supported in part by the EU Fourth Framework Programme grant FMRX-CT98-0194 (DG 12 - MIHT) and by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund grant OTKA T-025482.