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# A Galactic Wind at 𝑧=5.190 Based on observations made at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation.

## 1 Introduction

Following the epoch of recombination, the Universe settled into the comparatively dormant dark ages, during which the primordial glow had begun to fade but the first present–day astronomical objects had yet to form. This tranquil epoch proved short–lived, however, as the formation of the first stars and quasars ushered in the first era of cosmological heating and enrichment at $`z<20`$ (e.g. Gnedin & Ostriker, 1997; Haiman & Loeb, 1997, 1998; Ostriker & Gnedin, 1996; Valageas & Silk, 1999). Evidence of these processes in the form of galaxy–scale outflows is abundant in spectroscopy of the high–redshift Universe. Both optical/IR spectra of the $`z3`$ Lyman–break population (e.g. Pettini et al., 2001) and optical spectra of lensed Ly$`\alpha `$–emitting galaxies at $`z>4`$ (Frye, Broadhurst, & Benitez, 2001) show metal absorption lines which are blueshifted by hundreds of km s-1 with respect to the stellar rest frame of the galaxy, and Ly$`\alpha `$ emission lines which are shifted similarly redward. These observations, as well as the characteristic P–Cygni profile of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission lines (e.g. Bunker, Moustakas, & Davis 2000; Dey et al. 1997, 1998; Dickinson 1998; Ellis et al. 2001, Lowenthal et al. 1997; Weymann et al. 1998) paint a coherent picture of optically thick expanding regions surrounding star–forming galaxies, most naturally driven by the starbursts that render them visible in the first place (e.g. Heckman et al., 2000, and references therein).

We present a direct observation of such an outflow at $`z=5.190`$ in high–resolution optical spectroscopy of the serendipitously detected star–forming galaxy J123649.2$`+`$621539 (hereafter ES1, for Echelle Spectrograph and Imager serendipitous detection number one). The sharp blue cut–off and broad red wing of the ES1 Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line are consistent with the profile expected for the transfer of line radiation in an expanding envelope (e.g. Surdej, 1979). The suggested outflow velocity of $`v>300`$ km s-1 is in broad agreement with simulations of the late evolution of Ly$`\alpha `$ emission and absorption in star–forming galaxies (e.g. Tenorio–Tagle et al., 1999), and is consistent with observations of powerful nearby starbursts (e.g. Heckman, Armus, & Miley, 1990). The spectrum of ES1 therefore presents evidence for both a high star–formation rate and a high–redshift, starburst–driven galactic wind, fitting well within the expectations of current models for the early history of galaxy formation.

In §2 we discuss the detection of ES1 and we give a description of the spectrum and the available archival imaging. In §3 we detail the properties of the ES1 Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line, and we present a model for the emission line profile consistent with the expanding shell scenario introduced above. We conclude in §4 with a discussion of the implications of the evidence for a strong outflow in ES1 for both the evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshift, and for the origin of the UV background at $`z>3`$. Throughout this paper we adopt the currently favored $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$–cosmology of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\text{M}=0.35`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.65`$, with $`H_0=65`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 (e.g. Riess et al., 2001). At $`z=5.190`$, such a universe is only 1.10 Gyr old — corresponding to a look–back time of 92.1% of the age of the Universe — and an angular size of 1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$0 corresponds to 6.31 kpc.

## 2 Observation and Data Reduction

ES1 was detected in a 2.25 hour exposure made with the Echelle Spectrograph and Imager (ESI; Sheinis et al., 2000) at the Cassegrain focus of the Keck II telescope on UT 2001 February 25. The instrument was configured in its medium–resolution echellete mode with a spectroscopic slit of dimensions 1″ $`\times `$ 20″, yielding a spectral resolution of $`2`$ Å (78 km s-1) at 7500 Å. The 2.25 hour exposure was broken into four integrations of 1800 seconds and one integration of 900 seconds; we performed 3″ spatial offsets between each integration to facilitate the removal of fringing at long wavelengths. We used IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. (Tody, 1993) to process the echellogram, following standard slit spectroscopy procedures (e.g. Massey, Valdes, & Barnes, 1993)222A User’s Guide to Reducing Slit Spectra with IRAF, available online at http://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/web/docs/spectra.html. Some aspects of treating the ten individual orders of the spectrum were facilitated by the software package BOGUS333BOGUS is available online at http://zwolfkinder.jpl.nasa.gov/$``$stern/homepage/bogus.html., created by D. Stern, A.J. Bunker, and S.A. Stanford. Wavelength calibrations were performed in the standard fashion using Xe, HgNe, and CuAr arc lamps; we employed telluric sky lines to adjust the wavelength zero–point. The night was near photometric with 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$6 seeing, and we performed flux calibrations with observations of standard stars from Massey & Gronwall (1990) taken with the instrument in the same configuration as the target observation. A portion of one order of the discovery spectrum, centered on the ES1 emission line, is shown in Figure 1.

The target object for this observation was a Lyman–break galaxy at $`z=3.125`$ (D16; Steidel 2001, private communication), located in the Hubble Deep Field North West Flanking Field (Williams et al., 1996). ES1 was fortuitously placed on the spectroscopic slit roughly 4″ south of D16, along the parallactic angle of 150 (Figure 2). Upon making the observation, we immediately noticed a strong, serendipitously detected emission line near 7527 Å whose asymmetric profile suggested redshifted Ly$`\alpha `$ at $`z=5.190`$. As the spectrograph configuration for the discovery spectrum covered only 20 arcsec2 — suggesting a surface density of high redshift Ly$`\alpha `$–emitters roughly 30 to 90 times in excess of current estimates (e.g. Cowie & Hu 1998; Dawson et al. 2001; Stern & Spinrad 1999; Thompson, Weymann, & Storrie–Lombardi 2001) — we consider the detection of ES1 to be highly providential.

Careful inspection of the reduced spectrum failed to reveal emission lines at other wavelengths. Though the galaxy continuum is faintly detected redward of the emission line, the observation did not achieve sufficient signal–to–noise to confirm the presence or absence of interstellar absorption lines. The non–detection of high–ionization state emission lines typically observed in AGN spectra, e.g. N V $`\lambda 1240`$, C IV $`\lambda 1549`$, or He II $`\lambda 1640`$, strongly suggests that the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission in ES1 is due to the Lyman continuum flux of OB stars, rather than the hard UV spectrum of an AGN. For $`z=5.190`$, the nebular emission lines typically associated with star–forming galaxies are inaccessible to optical spectroscopy.

We were fortunate that ES1 is located in the HDF North West Flanking Field. Figure 2 displays a portion of the single–orbit Hubble Space Telescope (hereafter HST) $`I_{814}`$ image of that region with a projection of the spectroscopic slit. ES1 is faint and compact, typical for a very distant galaxy (Steidel et al., 1996). By running the source extraction algorithm SExtractor (Bertin & Arnouts, 1996) on the Flanking Field image and employing the conversion from data number to AB magnitude given in Williams et al. (1996), we determine an isophotal magnitude for ES1 of $`I_{\text{AB}}=25.4\pm 0.2`$. This is challengingly faint, comparable to the first detected galaxies at $`z>5`$, e.g. HDF 3–951 with $`I_{814}=25.6`$ (Spinrad et al., 1998). Moreover, as an appreciable fraction of the $`I`$–band radiation for the source is from the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line, the true continuum magnitude must be still fainter than that determined from the source extraction. ES1 appears marginally resolved, subtending 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$3 (FWHM) on the Flanking Field image, while stars on the same image have a FWHM near 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$2. Thus, the physical size of the emitting region appears to be only $`4`$ kpc in diameter.

We present ground–based $`V`$, $`R`$, $`I`$, and $`z`$ images of ES1 in Figure 3 and we give the ground–based photometry in Table 2. The $`V`$ and $`I`$ images are from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope imaging campaign of Barger et al. (1999); the $`R`$ and $`z`$ images are from our own Keck imaging campaign of the HDF and its environs (see Stern et al., 2000). The fact that ES1 is not detectable in the $`V`$ or $`R`$ bands is characteristic of high–redshift galaxies, where intervening neutral hydrogen (the Lyman forests) severely attenuates the continuum signal blueward of Ly$`\alpha `$ (Madau, 1995; Steidel et al., 1996; Stern & Spinrad, 1999). The fact that ES1 is not detectable in the $`z`$ band is due only to the comparative shallowness of the $`z`$ band image. Based on the model spectrum described in section § 3.2 and assuming that ES1 has a flat spectrum in $`f_\nu `$ at wavelengths longer than the emission line, we expect a Vega–based continuum magnitude in the $`z`$ band of $`z\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}27.0}`$. This value is almost five times as faint as the $`3\sigma `$ limiting magnitude in that image (see Table 2).

## 3 Properties of the Ly$`\alpha `$ Emission Line

### 3.1 The Emission Line Luminosity & Equivalent Width

In the fashionable cosmology $`\mathrm{\Omega }\text{M}=0.35`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.65`$, the ES1 Ly$`\alpha `$ flux of $`3.0\times 10^{17}`$ ergs cm-2 s-1 corresponds to a line luminosity of $`9.0\times 10^{42}`$ ergs s-1. For the prescription given in Dey et al. (1998) assuming no dust aborption and negligible extinction, this luminosity corresponds to a star formation rate (SFR) of $`10`$ M yr-1. As is evident in Figure 4, these values are typical of Ly$`\alpha `$–emitting galaxies at high redshift ($`z>3`$) discovered serendipitously (e.g. Dawson et al., 2001; Dey et al., 1998; Manning et al., 2000; Spinrad et al., 1999; Stern & Spinrad, 1999) or in narrow band surveys (e.g. Hu et al., 1999; Rhoads et al., 2000). Of course, such galaxies may represent rare systems at the high–luminosity tip of an unexplored underlying population, and the observed Ly$`\alpha `$ luminosities may accordingly be governed by a selection effect. This point is borne out by the faint system discovered in the blind spectroscopic survey of well–constrained lensing clusters (Ellis et al., 2001), which is at a higher redshift ($`z=5.576`$) and is an order of magnitude less luminous in Ly$`\alpha `$ than ES1.

We estimate a rest–frame equivalent width for the emission line of $`W_{\lambda ,\text{rest}}=120\pm 40`$ Å based on the emission line model described in the following section. This result should be treated with a degree of circumspection, however. The foremost caveat is that both the total line flux and the continuum level which enter the calculation were obtained from the model spectrum before attenuation by neutral hydrogen absorption. In this manner we attempted to circumvent the ambiguity in deriving an equivalent width from a strongly P–Cygni line profile coupled with a pronounced continuum break, essentially arriving at a theoretical equivalent width from the spectrum as it would appear if not truncated by foreground absorption. As a second caveat, the continuum redward of the emission line is not well–detected, with a significance of far less than $`1\sigma `$. Together, we expect these two effects to cause an over-estimation of $`W_{\lambda ,\text{rest}}`$. However, this tendency toward over–estimation may be offset by the fact that this is a serendipitous detection, so ES1 was not well centered in the spectroscopic slit (see Figure 2). As such, we have been conservative in our estimate of the uncertainty in $`W_{\lambda ,\text{rest}}`$, which includes sky noise, the uncertainty in the continuum level redward of the emission line in the extracted spectrum, and the fit errors in the model spectrum. Even so, with $`W_{\lambda ,\text{rest}}=120\pm 40`$ Å, ES1 figures in the top 2% of Lyman–break galaxies with Ly$`\alpha `$ in emission in the near–complete continuum–selected sample of Steidel et al. (2000).

### 3.2 Modeling the Emission Line

The asymmetric Ly$`\alpha `$ emission lines commonly observed in high–redshift starburst galaxies are generally ascribed to the interaction of Lyman continuum photons generated by newborn OB associations with a galaxy–scale expanding shell of neutral hydrogen. For a sufficiently massive starburst, the hot ionized gas created in the vicinity of the stars vents into the halo of the galaxy, where it sweeps up neutral hydrogen into an optically thick shell. Recombination in the ionized gas converts Lyman continuum photons escaping from the surface of the hot stars into line photons. Then, from the vantage of an observer, the near side of the expanding shell absorbs photons on the blue side of the resonant Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line, causing a flux decrement on what would otherwise be the blue wing of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission. The far side of the shell back–scatters Ly$`\alpha `$ photons into the observer’s line–of–sight; as these photons are offset redward by hundreds of km s-1 from both the rest frame of the galaxy and the approaching side of the neutral shell, they escape the galaxy and impose a pronounced red wing on the emission line profile. The net effect is to create the P–Cygni profile ubiquitous in observations of expanding shells.

The comparatively high signal–to–noise of the ES1 Ly$`\alpha `$ detection created the opportunity for probing this emission line structure with a simple model. In accordance with the scenario described above, we fit the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission feature with three components: (1) a comparatively large amplitude, narrow Gaussian intended to model line radiation generated by recombination in the ionized hydrogen; (2) a small amplitude, broad Gaussian intended to model the red wing of line photons back–scattered off the far side of the expanding shell; and (3) a Voigt absorption profile intended to model the blue decrement caused by the absorption of line photons by the near side of the shell. We modeled the weak continuum with a constant ($`f_\lambda \lambda ^0`$) baseline.

To account for the continuum decrement caused by line blanketing in the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest, we attenuated the model spectrum by a transmission profile adopted from Madau (1995), where the optical depth due to the combined effect of many Ly$`\alpha `$ absorption lines is given as

$$\tau =0.0036\left(\frac{\lambda }{\lambda _\alpha }\right)^{3.46},$$
(1)
with $`\lambda _\alpha =1216`$ Å. At high redshifts ($`z>4.5`$), absorption by metal systems makes a non–negligible contribution to cosmic opacity. Hence, we accounted for the combined effect of metal lines with the additional factor also given in Madau (1995),

$$\tau =0.0017\left(\frac{\lambda }{\lambda _\alpha }\right)^{1.68}.$$
(2)
Neither Lyman series line blanketing nor continuum absorption from neutral hydrogen were included, as both these effects fall shortward of the wavelength range of interest.

Figure 5 shows the minimum–$`\chi ^2`$ model resulting when the centroids, amplitudes, and widths of each of the model components are left unconstrained. We weighted the $`\chi ^2`$–fit by the error spectrum shown in the figure; this had the effect of diminishing the contribution to the fit by pixels which fall on OH and O2 night sky emission lines (which are the dominant source of error in low signal–to–noise spectra over the wavelengths of interest). We note that the residuals are distributed evenly about zero, demonstrating an encouraging lack of systematic error in our model. Furthermore, when just the components intended to model the expanding shell were examined (the red, broad Gaussian and the blue Voigt–profile absorption), we found the resulting profile to be in excellent qualitative agreement with the P–Cygni line profiles expected for the transfer of line photons in expanding envelopes (e.g. see Surdej, 1979, and references therein).

Table 1 summarizes the minimum–$`\chi ^2`$ model parameters. This best–fit model yields a redshift for the central component of the ES1 emission line of $`z=5.190\pm 0.001`$. Most strikingly, to fit the red wing of the emission line, the model demands that the broad emission component be displaced by 320 km s-1 from the central emission component. Owing to the strong signal of the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest at such a high redshift, only a small blue absorption component is required. Still, though of minor amplitude, the absorption component is displaced by fully $`360`$ km s-1 from the central emission component. These displacement velocities are in broad agreement with those predicted by Tenorio–Tagle et al. (1999) for the late stages of the evolution of the Ly$`\alpha `$ profile of a star–forming galaxy. Moreover, though these values somewhat exceed the $`10^2`$ km s-1 winds typically observed in nearby starbursting dwarf galaxies (e.g. Martin, 1998), they compare favorably with the $`10^2`$$`10^3`$ km s-1 outflows observed in more powerful local starbursts (Heckman et al., 1990).

We explored a variety of alternative kinematic scenarios for the ES1 emission, most notably by fixing the centroid for the central emission component and arbitrarily sliding the separation between the central component and the broad component over a range of values. These models suffered from worsened $`\chi ^2`$, with broader emission demanded as the displacement velocity was diminished. Figure 6 illustrates this trend, implying that even if the minimum–$`\chi ^2`$ model in Figure 5 over–estimates the separation between the central component and the broad component of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission, the broad component itself can only get broader. That is, no matter what combination of fit–parameters one chooses, there is no escaping a very energetic component to the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission of ES1. In a similar vein, it is also worthy of note that models which do not include a high–velocity compenent (e.g. models with a single Gaussian emission compenent) also suffer from a worsened $`\chi ^2`$ compared to that of the model in Figure 5.

## 4 Discussion and Conclusion

The spectral profile of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission of ES1 presents evidence for a galaxy–scale outflow with a velocity of $`v>300`$ km s-1. Of course, as Heckman et al. (2000) caution, the outflow rate of a galactic wind cannot necessarily be interpreted as the rate at which mass or energy escapes into the IGM, since the observable manifestation of an outflow may be produced by material still deep inside the gravitational potential well of the galaxy halo. Nonetheless, the outflow velocity estimated for ES1 far exceeds the escape speed of a nominally low mass ($`M<10^{10}M_{\mathrm{}}`$) pregalactic fragment, consistent with the general observation that hot gas can readily escape from dwarf galaxies, though perhaps not from more massive systems (Heckman et al., 2000; Heckman, 2000; Martin, 1999).

This conclusion bears on a host of cosmological issues surrounding the evolution of galaxies and the IGM at high redshift. Foremost, it suggests that processed material from ES1 will become available to the IGM, potentially providing the enrichment necessary to account for the amount of metals there observed. Indeed, recent observations of C IV absorption systems along the lines–of–sight to lensed QSOs call for enrichment at increasingly high redshift, beyond even $`z>5`$ (e.g. Aguirre et al. 2001; Rauch, Sargent, & Barlow 2001). Additionally, both detailed observations and careful theoretical studies demand a mechanism for pre–heating the material out of which galaxy clusters ultimately collapse and become bound (e.g. Kaiser, 1991; Mushotzky & Scharf, 1997, and references therein). Here again, galaxy–scale outflows at high redshift are the likely culprit (e.g. Renzini et al., 1993). Finally, galactic winds have proved important in reproducing the faint–end slope of the observed field galaxy luminosity function in semi–analytic models of galaxy formation. Outflows are invoked to suppress star–formation in low–mass dark matter halos, either via the direct escape of gas–phase baryons in the outflow itself (e.g. Somerville & Primack, 1999), or by ram pressure stripping of the gas–phase baryons by energetic winds from neighboring galaxies (Scannapieco & Broadhurst, 2001).

As a somewhat speculative conclusion, we now consider the expected correlation between strong galactic outflows and the escape of Lyman continuum radiation from star–forming galaxies. This correlation bears directly on the much–debated physical nature and relative contributions of the sources which comprise the UV background, as a significant contribution by sources other than QSOs is required at high redshift, owing to the rapid decline in the space density of optical and radio–loud quasars at $`z>3`$ (Bianchi, Cristiani, & Kim, 2001; Madau, Haardt, & Rees, 1999).

It is likely that star–forming galaxies fill this niche. From the theoretical standpoint, mechanical energy deposition in the form of supernovae and stellar winds is expected to result in an over–pressured cavity of hot gas inside star–forming galaxies. In galaxies for which the star–formation rate per unit area $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}10^1M_{\mathrm{}}\text{yr}^1\text{kpc}^2`$, the superbubble ultimately expands and bursts out into the galaxy halo, allowing for the escape of hot gas and facilitating the leak of Lyman continuum photons (Heckman et al., 2000; Tenorio–Tagle et al., 1999). Of course, as the superbubble will expand in the direction of the vertical pressure gradient, the burst is expected to take the form of a weakly collimated, bipolar wind. Hence, the leak of UV radiation may depend sensitively on not only the distribution of neutral gas and dust in the galaxy interstellar medium, but on the inclination of the system. Nonetheless, from the observational standpoint, Steidel, Pettini, & Adelberger (2001, hereafter SPA01) report the detection of significant Lyman continuum emission in a composite spectrum of 29 Lyman–break galaxies at $`z=3.40\pm 0.09`$, suggesting an escape fraction444Here, $`f_{\text{esc}}`$ is the fraction of emitted 900 Å photons that escapes the galaxy without being absorbed by interstellar material, normalized by the fraction of emitted 1500 Å photons which similarly escapes. As SPA01 point out, this definition differs from definitions encountered elsewhere, which typically consider only the fraction of emitted 900 Å photons which escapes (e.g. Bianchi et al. 2001; Heckman et al. 2001; Hurwitz, Jelinsky, & Dixon 1997; Leitherer et al. 1995). of UV ionizing photons of $`f_{\text{esc}}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.5}`$.

Given the evidence for a strong outflow in ES1, it would be intriguing to measure the flux of photons below $`\lambda =912`$ Å. However, ES1 is very faint even above Ly$`\alpha `$; we estimate that it fades to $`I_{\text{AB}}>29`$ below the Lyman limit. We can do only slightly better at high redshifts with more accessible spectra: even in a composite of four of the highest signal–to–noise Keck spectra of galaxies at $`z>4.5`$ collected by Spinrad and collaborators (Figure 7), our measurement of the flux of 900 Å photons is consistent with zero at the $`1\sigma `$ level. This result translates to the coarsely constrained flux ratio $`f_\nu (1100\text{ Å})/f_\nu (900\text{ Å})=16.7\pm 51.9`$ ($`1\sigma `$ uncertainty). To convert this value to the more useful $`f_\nu (1500\text{ Å})/f_\nu (900\text{ Å})`$ ratio, we adopt an empirical correction factor based on the set of fluxes given in SPA01, yielding an effective $`f_\nu (1500\text{ Å})/f_\nu (900\text{ Å})=31.4\pm 98.2`$. Finally, for the same intrinsic Lyman discontinuity of 3 adopted by SPA1, we find an escape fraction of $`f_{\text{esc}}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.1}\pm 0.3`$. As we did not correct our initial $`f_\nu (1100\text{ Å})/f_\nu (900\text{ Å})`$ ratio for the opacity of the IGM, this value represents a lower limit. Evidently, to satisfactorily constrain the correlation between outflow dynamics and the escape of UV ionizing photons in an individual high redshift galaxy, we will require spectroscopy of a lensed, blue candidate system viewed along the outflow direction.

We are humbly indebted to E. Scannapieco and J. Walters for making generous and substantial contributions to this work, and for providing prodigious comic relief. We are grateful to A. Barger for making public optical images of the HDF and its Flanking Fields of which we have made extensive use; to C. Steidel for providing the target which resulted in this fortuitous detection; to M. Hunt for unwittingly providing software which aided in the reduction of the echelle data; to M. Dickinson for acting as the steward of the HDF and for providing the North West Flanking Field mosaic included in this work; to the anonymous referee for providing careful, useful commentary; and to the expert staff of the Keck Observatory for their invaluable assistance in making the observation. The work of SD was supported by IGPP–LLNL University Collaborative Research Program grant #02–AP–015. HS gratefully acknowledges NSF grant AST 95–28536 for supporting much of the research presented herein. AD acknowledges partial support from NASA HF–01089.01–97A and from NOAO. NOAO is operated by AURA, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the NSF. The work of DS was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. The work of SD, WvB, WdV, and MR was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W–7405–Eng–48. This work made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service.


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# Optical conductivity of a superfluid density wave

## Abstract

We present a calculation of the low frequency optical conductivity of a superconductor in the presence of quenched inhomogeneity in both the superfluid and normal fluid densities. We find that inhomogeneity in the superfluid density displaces spectral weight from the condensate to a frequency range that depends critically on the spatial correlation of normal and superfluid density fluctuations.

Measurements of the optical conductivity, $`\sigma (\omega )`$, in the microwave and terahertz regimes have proved to be a valuable probe of quasiparticle dynamics in cuprate superconductors. Because even relatively poor samples are in the clean limit where the scattering rate is smaller than the gap frequency, or $`1/\tau \mathrm{\Delta }`$, the spectral weight of the dissipation due to quasiparticle scattering is far greater than that associated with pair creation. As a consequence the quasiparticle Drude peak can be clearly resolved, and its width can yield the scattering rate. Important clues as to the nature of the scattering can be obtained by comparing the rates measured by microwave conductivity with those measured by angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES).

Extracting $`1/\tau `$ from the microwave conductivity of a cuprate requires $`\sigma (\omega )`$ to be consistent with the two-fluid model for a clean, d-wave superconductor . In this model the total conductivity contains two contributions: a $`\delta `$-function at $`\omega =0`$ due to the condensate and a Drude-like peak due to quasiparticle scattering. The spectral weights of these components are the super and normal fluid densities, respectively. As the temperature $`T`$ tends to zero the normal fluid density, $`\rho _n`$, is expected to decrease linearly with $`T`$. The superfluid density, $`\rho _s`$ is expected to increase at the same rate, so that the total density remains constant. This simple behavior permits $`\rho _{n,s}`$ and $`1/\tau `$ to be determined in the superconducting state.

The two-fluid model provides an excellent description of the microwave properties of $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ (YBCO) single crystals . The scattering rates inferred from the two-fluid analysis are remarkably small, approaching $``$ 10 GHz as $`T0`$. On the other hand, analysis of ARPES yields low temperature scattering rates that are larger by a factor of at least 100 . One possible explanation is that the single particle self-energy measured by ARPES is very different from the momentum relaxation rate that determines the conductivity. However, an alternative explanation is that the ARPES data are collected almost exclusively from studies of $`Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta }`$ (BSCCO) rather than YBCO.

It would seem that the microwave data on BSCCO would hold the resolution to this question. However, analysis of such data has been problematic because the spectra are not consistent with the two-fluid model described previously. In fact the success of the two-fluid description is unique to YBCO single crystals - all other cuprates that have been measured show distinctly different properties . In these materials the spectral weight of the Drude peak extrapolates to a large residual value as $`T0`$, suggesting that a substantial fraction of the normal fluid fails to condense.

Recently, the frequency dependence of the conductivity was reported in optimally doped BSCCO . The measurements were performed using coherent time-domain spectroscopy, a technique which can determine $`\sigma (\omega )`$ up to frequencies $`\omega /2\pi `$1 THz. The width of the Drude peak at low temperature was determined to be $``$300 GHz. Integration of the real part of the conductivity over the experimental range showed that the uncondensed portion is at least 30$`\%`$ of the condensate spectral weight. A study of BSCCO for several carrier concentrations showed that this percentage increases with doping, reaching about 60$`\%`$ in an overdoped sample .

The two-fluid description of $`\sigma (\omega ,T)`$ in such samples is not internally consistent. Fitting the spectra requires $`\rho _n`$ to vary with frequency and actually increase with decreasing $`T`$ for $`\omega `$300GHz. On the other hand, the quasiparticle conductivity could be described by physically reasonable parameters if Re $`\sigma `$ has a third component: a peak centered at $`\omega `$=0, whose spectral weight grows in proportion to $`\rho _s`$ as $`T`$ decreases.

The proportionality to $`\rho _s`$ suggests that this anomalous part of $`\sigma `$ is related to current fluctuations of the superfluid. However, in a homogeneous superconductor the spectral weight of such fluctuations decreases exponentially with $`T`$, which is opposite to the growth of spectral weight that was observed. Recently, Barabash et al.  showed that a component of Re $`\sigma `$ can increase as $`T0`$ if $`\rho _s`$ is spatially inhomogeneous. They considered a Josephson junction network with a quenched variation $`\delta J`$ about the mean coupling $`\overline{J}`$. ($`J`$ is the superfluid density defined on a lattice rather than a continuum). They showed that the global phase stiffness $`J`$ equals $`\overline{J}\delta J^2/\overline{J}`$. $`J`$ is less than $`\overline{J}`$ because the phase varies more rapidly in regions where the stiffness is below the average value.

The result stated above is important to the optical conductivity because the spectral weight of the condensate $`\delta `$-function is proportional to $`J`$, whereas the total spectral weight of condensate current fluctuations is proportional to $`\overline{J}`$. Thus inhomogeneity of the superfluid density must displace spectral weight $`\delta J^2/\overline{J}`$ from the $`\delta `$-function to nonzero frequency. If $`\delta J`$ varies in proportion to $`\overline{J}`$ then the displaced spectral weight will track that of the condensate, in agreement with terahertz experiments .

The existence of strong spatial inhomogeneity in BSCCO has been demonstrated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements . The local density of states (LDOS) of BSCCO varies randomly in space, with spatial fluctuations that have a minimum wavelength of $``$50 $`\AA `$. The variations in LDOS suggest quenched inhomogeneity in local carrier concentration, $`x`$, and therefore in the local $`\rho _s`$.

To determine whether quenched inhomogeneity in $`\rho _s`$ is responsible for the anomaly in $`\sigma (\omega )`$, we need to consider the spectrum of the spectral weight removed from the condensate. In a system with no normal component the spectral weight would be expected to appear at the natural oscillation frequency of the condensate, which is the Josephson plasma frequency, $`\omega _s`$. In optimal cuprates $`\omega _s/2\pi `$$``$200 THz, whereas the anomalous dissipation is found below $``$1 THz. Inhomogeneity can only explain the data if the presence of a normal fluid in addition to the superfluid causes the displaced spectral weight to appear at frequencies much smaller than $`\omega _s`$.

In this paper we calculate the change in $`\sigma (\omega )`$ due to inhomogeneity in a superconductor in which normal and superfluid coexist. This is the first calculation in which the spectral weight of the conductivity is consistent with the theorem of Ref. . We find that $`\sigma (\omega )`$ is extremely sensitive to correlations of the normal and superfluid density variations in the the medium. The spectrum depends crucially on whether the correlation is positive (such that regions of large $`\rho _s`$ have large $`\rho _n`$) or negative. If the correlation is positive, the displaced spectral weight indeed shifts to the plasma frequency. However, when the fluctuations of normal and superfluid density are anticorrelated, the spectral weight appears at low frequencies, in agreement with microwave and terahertz measurements on cuprate superconductors.

To treat the conductivity in the presence of inhomogeneity we apply the extended two-fluid phenomenology developed by Pethick and Smith , and Kadin and Goldman . This approach successfully describes quenched inhomogeneity at the normal-superconductor interface and fluctuating inhomogeneity, as in the Carlson-Goldman oscillations . In the extended two-fluid model the superfluid is accelerated by gradients of the chemical potential as well as electric fields, that is,

$$\dot{\stackrel{}{J_s}}=\rho _s(\stackrel{}{E}\mu _s).$$
(1)
The chemical potential has the subscript $`s`$ because in a superconductor $`\mu `$ is the energy per electron required to add a pair to the condensate. The corresponding equation for the normal fluid current requires solving the Boltzmann equation for the quasiparticle distribution function. However for frequencies less than $`1/\tau `$, the distribution function is the equilibrium distribution shifted by the ’quasiparticle chemical potential’ or $`\mu _n`$. If the normal fluid is in local equilibrium with the condensate $`\mu _n=\mu _s`$, which differs from ”global” equilibrium where $`\mu _n`$=0. In the low frequency regime the constitutive relation for the normal fluid has the simple form:

$$\dot{\stackrel{}{J}_n}=\rho _n(\stackrel{}{E}\mu _n)\stackrel{}{J}_n/\tau .$$
(2)
A closed system of equations requires continuity relations. The total charge of the superconductor separates naturally into a normal component, $`Q_n`$ that depends on both the coherence factors and the distribution function,

$$Q_n\underset{k}{}q_kf_k$$
(3)
where $`q_k^2u_k^2v_k^2`$, and a superfluid component that depends only on coherence factors,

$$Q_s\underset{k}{}2ev_k^2=2eN_F\mu _s.$$
(4)
Under conditions for which $`\mu _n`$ can be defined, the normal fluid charge is given by,

$$Q_n=2N_F\lambda (\mu _s\mu _n),$$
(5)
where $`N_F`$ is the normal state density of states at the Fermi level. The parameter $`\lambda `$ relates the normal fluid charge to the shift of $`\mu _n`$ away from local equilibrium.

In a superconducting medium the normal and superfluid charge are not separately conserved. Interconversion of normal and superconducting charge occurs through two types of processes. In the first process, $`Q_n`$ changes as quasiparticles recombine or scatter. In the second, the quasiparticle charge changes even if $`f_k`$ remains constant. In this process, $`Q_n`$ varies because the quasiparticle excitation spectrum, and consequently the effective charge, adjusts to the local value of $`\mu _s`$. Continuity equations that include both types of exchange between the two fluids are:

$$\dot{Q}_{n,s}+\stackrel{}{J}_{n,s}=(,+)(\frac{Q_n}{\tau _Q}\lambda \dot{Q}_s),$$
(6)
where $`\tau _Q`$ is the rate of conversion of normal charge into superfluid charge due to scattering and recombination processes. The above system of equations is closed by $`\stackrel{}{E}=Q/ϵ_0`$.

To see how quenched inhomogeneity affects the optical conductivity, we consider the simplest possible model: a one-dimensional sinusoidal variation in normal and superfluid density. We assume that the densities of the two components vary as $`\rho _{s,n}(x)=\rho _{s,n}+Re\{\rho _{sq,nq}e^{iqx}\}`$, where $`\rho `$ is the average density and $`\rho _q`$ is the amplitude of the inhomogeneity at wavevector $`q`$. Because the medium is inhomogeneous, a uniform applied field generates a field at $`q`$. Solving the extended two-fluid equations to lowest order in $`\rho _{nq,sq}`$, we obtain,

$$\frac{E_q}{E_0}=\frac{\rho _{sq}+\rho _{nq}F}{\omega _s^2\omega ^2(1\lambda )+(\omega _n^2i\omega \lambda /\tau )F},$$
(7)
where,

$$F\frac{\omega (\omega +i/\tau _Q^{})v_s^2q^2/(1\lambda )}{(\omega +i/\tau )(\omega +i/\tau _Q^{})v_n^2q^2/\lambda },$$
(8)
$`\omega _{s,n}^2\rho _{s,n}/ϵ_0+v_{s,n}^2q^2`$, $`v_{s,n}^2\rho _{s,n}/2N_Fe^2`$, and $`\tau _Q^{}\tau _Q(1\lambda )`$.

The uniform current density in response to these fields is given by $`J_0=\sigma _0E_0+\sigma _qE_q`$, where $`\sigma _0`$ is the uniform two-fluid conductivity, and $`\sigma _q`$ is the conductivity that varies with wavevector $`q`$. In the two fluid model these are given by,

$$\sigma _{0,q}=\frac{i\rho _{s,sq}}{\omega }+\frac{i\rho _{n,nq}}{\omega +i/\tau }.$$
(9)
The effective conductivity of the medium, $`\sigma =\sigma _1+i\sigma _2`$, is the ratio of the uniform current density to the uniform field, so that, $`\sigma =\sigma _0+\sigma _qE_q/E_0`$. The second term in this equation is the change in the optical conductivity due to inhomogeneity, or $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$.

The extra term in the conductivity is particularly simple if $`\rho _n=0`$, in which case,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _2=\frac{\rho _{sq}}{\omega }\frac{\rho _{sq}}{\omega _s^2\omega ^2}.$$
(10)
The inhomogeneity in the superfluid density indeed removes spectral weight $`\rho _{sq}^2/\rho _s`$ from the condensate $`\delta `$-function, in agreement with the results of Ref. . In the absence of a normal fluid component the spectral weight reappears in a $`\delta `$-function at the Josephson plasma frequency.

We next assume that $`\rho _n0`$ (even at $`T=0`$), and describe how this assumption affects $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma (\omega )`$. We focus on the behavior of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$ when the normal fluid density fluctuations are either perfectly correlated or anticorrelated with those of the superfluid density. We take for two-fluid parameters values that are suggested by the terahertz and microwave experiments: $`(\rho _s/ϵ_0)^{1/2}`$=1000 THz, $`(\rho _n/ϵ_0)^{1/2}`$=800 THz, and $`\tau ^1=\tau _Q^1`$=3 THz. The existence of normal fluid at $`T=0`$ implies a large density of states at the Fermi level, $`N_0`$. While the origin of $`N_0`$ is outside the scope of this paper, one may speculate that it is closely related to the strong inhomogeneity observed by STM. If we make the reasonable approximation of neglecting BCS coherence factors for the quasiparticle states introduced by disorder, then $`\lambda =N_0/N_F`$.

We begin with the case where the density fluctuations are perfectly anticorrelated, so that $`\rho _{sq}=\rho _{nq}`$ and the total fluid density is uniform throughout the medium. Fig. 1 shows $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _1(\omega )`$ with $`(\rho _{sq}/ϵ_0)^{1/2}`$=100 THz, for several values of $`v_sq\tau `$. $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _1(\omega )`$ is positive and centered at $`\omega =0`$ rather than $`\omega _s`$. The spectra depend strongly on $`v_sq\tau `$. For $`v_sq\tau `$1, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _1`$ has a Drude-like spectrum, whose width is $`1/\tau `$. As $`v_sq\tau `$ increases beyond unity, the spectral weight drops and a peak near the Carlson-Goldman frequency $`v_sq`$ appears in the spectrum.

The key issue is the fraction of the displaced condensate spectral weight that appears in the low-frequency peak, as opposed to $`\omega \omega _s`$. In Fig. 2 we compare the reduction in condensate weight with the increase in dissipation at low frequency. The change in condensate spectral weight was evaluated from the $`lim_{\omega 0}(\pi /2)\omega \mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _1(\omega )`$. The low frequency spectral weight was obtained by numerically computing the integral of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _1`$ with respect to $`\omega `$ from 0 to 100 THz. Fig. 2 shows these two quantities, normalized to $`\rho _{sq}^2/\rho _s`$, as a function of $`v_sq\tau `$. They are equal in magnitude but opposite in sign, which shows that all of the spectral weight removed from the condensate appears at low frequency and none appears at $`\omega _s`$. Moreover, the decrease of condensate spectral weight coincides exactly with the prediction of Barabash et al.  as $`v_sq\tau 0`$, but vanishes for $`v_sq\tau `$1.

The surprising results presented above are a straightforward consequence of the anticorrelation of the density fluctuations. There is no dissipation near $`\omega _s`$ or $`\omega _p[(\rho _s+\rho _n)/ϵ_0]^{1/2}`$ because the inhomogeneous medium is dynamically homogeneous at high frequencies. For $`\omega \omega _p`$ the fractional difference in the conductivity of the superfluid rich and superfluid poor regions is only $`1/(\omega _p\tau )^2`$. The anomalous dissipation appears instead at low frequency where the conductivity is strongly inhomogeneous. $`\sigma `$ is smaller in the regions that are superfluid poor and normal fluid rich. $`E`$ will be larger in such regions, which is precisely equivalent to more rapid phase variation in regions of low stiffness. Thus the increase in dissipation arises ultimately from an amplification of the electric field in regions with greater than average $`\rho _n`$. Finally, the dynamical inhomogeneity disappears when $`\omega v_sq`$ because the normal and superfluid response again become indistinguishable in this regime.

We are now prepared to understand the sharp difference in $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$ if the super and normal fluid density waves are in phase. Fig. 3 shows $`Re\{\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma (\omega )\}`$ calculated with identical parameters as in Fig. 1, except that $`\rho _s=\rho _n`$. The change in conductivity is negative, and the spectra are nearly independent of $`q`$ in contrast to the strongly $`q`$ dependent and positive change generated when $`\rho _s=\rho _n`$. The reduction in conductivity is exactly as expected from the previous arguments: now regions of large $`E`$ coincide with normal fluid poor regions and the dissipation is attenuated. The spectra are nearly independent of $`q`$ because the dynamical inhomogeneity does not tend to zero when the normal and superfluid response become indistinguishable. The spectral weight is displaced equally from the condensate and the normal fluid, and weight 2$`\rho _{sq}^2/\rho _s`$ shifts to $`\omega _p`$.

We conclude with a qualitative comparison of the calculation and the low frequency $`\sigma (\omega )`$ of the cuprates. Despite an oversimplified representation of quenched disorder, the model provides a natural explanation for the most surprising feature of the data, the dramatic increase of the anomalous spectral weight as $`x`$ increases from under to overdoped values. The calculation shows that this can occur if the spatial correlation of $`\rho _s`$ and $`\rho _n`$ depends strongly on $`x`$. Such a change in the nature of the correlations upon crossing optimal doping $`x_{opt}`$ would indeed be expected, based on very general considerations. For a sample with $`x<x_{opt}`$, regions of lower than average $`\rho _s`$ will be strongly underdoped patches. These patches will be insulators, or at least regions with small $`\rho _n`$. On the other hand, the regions of low $`\rho _s`$ in a sample with $`x>x_{opt}`$ will be strongly overdoped, i.e. regions of large $`\rho _n`$. Thus the correlation varies systematically from positive to negative with increasing $`x`$, leading to a dramatic increase in the low frequency spectral weight.

We acknowledge valuable discussions with D.-H. Lee, J.C. Davis, S. Kivelson, A.J. Millis, and P.A. Lee. This work was supported by NSF-9870258 and DOE-DE-AC03-76SF00098.


text:
# A search for 4750- and 4765-MHz OH masers in Southern Star Forming Regions

## 1 Introduction

High-mass star formation regions frequently exhibit OH maser emission, with thost most commonly observed being from the main-lines of the ground state $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}(J=3/2)`$ transitions, in particular the 1665-MHz ($`F=11`$) transition. Masing in the other ground state main-line transition at 1667 MHz ($`F=22`$) frequently accompanies the 1665-MHz masers, and in some sources the 1612- or 1720-MHz satellite-line transitions also exhibit maser action. Emission from the OH molecule has been detected towards star formation regions for all levels with energies less than approximately 500 K above the ground state. A number of searches towards star-forming regions have been undertaken for the higher exited OH transitions at 4765 MHz  and 6035 MHz  (the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, F=1$``$0 and $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{5/2}^{}`$, F=3$``$3 transitions respectively).

For the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}(J=3/2)`$ and $`(J=5/2)`$ levels, the most commonly observed masing transitions towards star-forming regions are in each case one of the two main lines. However, for the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}(J=1/2)`$ level, which is the lowest energy level of the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$ ladder, emission from the single main-line transition at 4750-MHz is very rare and the most commonly observed transition from this level is the F= $`10`$ satellite line, analogous to the 1720-MHz transition in the ground-state. Masing emission from all of the transitions in the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$ ladder is rare and one obvious reason for this is that all the levels are at a higher energy than the two lowest levels in the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{3/2}^{}`$ ladder level where masing emission is relatively strong and common. The reason for the 4765-MHz transition being the most common masing transition in the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$ ladder is that the $`F=1`$ levels in $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}(J=1/2)`$ naturally become over populated with respect to the $`F=0`$ due to selection rules . 4765-MHz OH maser emission typically takes the form of a single narrow masing line and they are generally considered to be more highly variable than ground-state transitions, the most spectacular example being Mon R2 , which had a peak flux of 80 Jy in late 1997, but which we were unable to detect (5-$`\sigma `$ = 80 mJy) in these observations. Intriguingly, Mon R2 is also unique in that it is the only 4765-MHz OH maser which has ever been found to exhibit any polarization . Monitoring of a number of other 4765-MHz OH masers  shows that typically the degree of variability is much less than that for Mon R2. Analysis of the line width of the masers during variation by Szymczak et al. suggests that the masers are saturated, as do VLBI observations by Baudry et al. .

Towards a small number of well studied OH maser sources (NGC7538, Sgr B2, W3(OH) & Mon R2) the 1720- and 4765-MHz OH maser transitions have been observed to be spatially coincident to within the relative positional errors of the observations . However, in most of these cases the positional errors are relatively large and the emission at the two frequencies is not necessarily coincident in velocity once Zeeman splitting is taken into account. The apparent association between 1720- and 4765-MHz OH masers was further strengthened by the results of the search of Cohen et al. . They searched a sample of IRAS sources bright at 60 $`\mu `$m and found that all but one of the sites exhibitting 1720-MHz emission also showed 4765-MHz emission. MacLeod  examined the relationship between 1720-, 4765- and 6035-MHz OH masers, again finding a strong correlation between the presence of 4765- and 1720- MHz OH masers. His analysis also shows that the vast majority of 4765-MHz maser sources exhibit 6035-MHz maser emission (there being only two exceptions).

While radiative pumps are generally favoured for excitation of the ground-state OH lines, it is possible to produce inversion in the 4765-MHz transition through either radiative or collisional processes . Current theories prefer radiative excitation of all OH maser lines including those from the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$ ladder , although in the past collisional models have been put forward . Much of the focus of previous modelling of 4765-MHz OH masers has been on finding conditions under which it is inverted at the same time as the 1720-MHz transition. Combining our observations of the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, F=1$``$1 and $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$, F=1$``$0 transitions with those of the ground-state and 6035-MHz transitions by Caswell , (also observed at high-resolution with the ATCA), we have investigated the associations between the various OH transitions. These observations constitute a unique set of data, as for the first time a large number of sites have been observed in all the common OH maser transitions, at arcsecond resolution, with good sensitivity using the same instrument. Determining whether the different OH maser transitions are coincident is difficult as it requires full polarization VLBI observations to obtain the necessary spatial resolution and to account for the velocity shifts due to Zeeman splitting. From our observations and those of Caswell we are not able to determine coincidence of individual maser spots, however, they are able to show if the different transitions occur within the same maser cluster and whether the velocities are aligned.

It was suggested more than 30 years ago that since there are a number of OH maser transitions which are relatively common in star-formation regions, it should be possible to use observations of multiple transitions to test and constrain theoretical models of OH maser emission . The only source which has been studied at high spatial resolution in a large number of OH transitions is W3(OH) , for which Cesaroni & Walmsley  produced a model which qualitatively matches the masers, thermal emission and absorption observed from the OH molecule towards the source. A similar approach has recently been used with some success for multiple methanol maser transitions towards sites of high-mass star formation  and the close relationship between OH and methanol masers  holds out the possibility of combining observations of both species to further constrain pumping models and the implied physical conditions . Observations such as these can be compared with the detailed studies of individual sources to determine to what degree the conditions inferred are generally applicable.

## 2 Observations and Data reduction

The Australia Telescope Compact Array was used to make the observations of both the 4750- and 4765-MHz transitions, with rest frequencies 4750.656 MHz and 4765.562 respectively . The configuration of six antennas yielded 15 baselines between 5 and 95 k$`\lambda `$ for the 4765-MHz and between 1 and 90 k$`\lambda `$ for the 4750-MHz observations. All pointings had 30 minutes or more of on-source observation, and the primary (and bandpass) calibrations were obtained from observations of PKS 1934-638. The correlator was configured with a 4-MHz bandwidth and 1024 spectral channels for each of the four polarisation products recorded. The sources were selected from those observed to exhibit either 6035- or 1720-MHz OH masers , or those previously reported to have 4765-MHz emission . The observations spanned two epochs, 25-26 August 1999 for the 4750-MHz observations and 15-16 September 2000 for the 4765-MHz observations. Only those sites which showed 1720-MHz or 4765-MHz emission were searched for 4750-MHz emission. There are no reported southern sites of 4750-MHz emission other than that in Sgr B2 .

Data reduction was performed using the miriad and karma software packages and following the standard methods. With 1024 channels the effective velocity resolution at 4765-MHz is 0.3$`\text{km s}^1`$. The 1-$`\sigma `$ level over this bandwidth was $``$ 20 mJy per channel and the positional accuracy of the observations was typically 0.6″. We used a number of different methods to search for maser emission in our interferometric dataset. A vector averaged spectrum with a velocity resolution of 0.3 $`\text{km s}^1`$ was formed at the positions listed in tables 1 & 2. The velocity range covered by the spectrum and the measured 5-$`\sigma `$ noise levels are listed in the same tables. In addition two image cubes were produced (both centred on the velocity listed in the tables), the first with an angular size of 256″ covering a velocity range of $`\pm `$$`\text{km s}^1`$with a 0.2 kms resolution and the second cube with an angular size of 150″ and a velocity range of $`\pm `$20 $`\text{km s}^1`$ with a resolution of 1 $`\text{km s}^1`$. The 1-$`\sigma `$ noise levels in each of these images were approximately 30 and 12 mJy/beam respectively.

Unlike the ground-state OH transitions the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}(J=1/2)`$ transitions are not expected to exhibit circular polarisation, as this level is diamagnetic (unlike all other OH rotational energy levels which are paramagnetic). None of the 4765-MHz masers observed have detectable levels of linear, or circular polarisation, the most stringent upper limits being 3.6% for linear polarisation and 5% for circular polarisation.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 4750-MHz transition

A total of 17 star forming regions were searched for 4750-MHz OH emission, the position, velocity range and noise level for each site is given in Table 1. Only one of the 12 sites with 1720-MHz OH masers showed any sign of 4750-MHz emission, this being the marginal detection towards G348.550-0.979 (Fig. 1). The possible weak 4750-MHz OH maser emission at -21$`\text{km s}^1`$ does not match the velocity of the 1720- or 6035-MHz masers towards this site , but does overlap that of the 1665- and 1667-MHz masers. The 4750-MHz transition has received very limited attention, with the only major searches being those by Gardner & Martin-Pintado  and Cohen et al. . The only site which has previously been reported to show 4750-MHz OH maser emission is S252 which was detected as an OH maser by Cohen et al.  and which subsequent observations showed to be quite variable . One of the sources searched for 4750-MHz emission was Sgr B2, which was the first reported source to show emission from this transition . Interferometric observations of the same source with a synthesised beamwidth of approximately 3″ show a similar spectrum . Our observations are at a higher spatial resolution and a combination of this and a relatively short integration time have produced a larger than average noise level for Sgr B2 which has meant that the 4750-MHz emission in this source is beneath our detection limit.

### 3.2 4765-MHz transition

A total of 55 star forming regions were searched for 4765-MHz OH emission, the position, velocity range and noise level for each site is given in Table 2. Fourteen likely 4765-MHz OH masers were detected towards nine different regions, two further sites showed signs of broader thermal emission, or possibly blended weak maser emission. These are listed in table 3 and spectra of each source are shown in figure 2. Ten of the sources have not previously been detected as 4765-MHz OH masers, the remaining previously reported in various papers, as indicated in the table. All of the new detections are relatively weak and below the sensitivity limit of most previous searches. We failed to detect emission in six sites where 4765 MHz emission had previously been reported (Mon R2, IRAS12073-6233, IRAS16183-4958, G338.925+0.557, IRAS17175-3544/NGC6334F, G10.623-0.383), a number of these exhibit thermal emission observed with single dishes. For IRAS16183-4958 and G10.623-0.383 the emission which has previously been reported is broad and most likely thermal in nature . The thermal emission maybe resolved by our interferometric observations, and then our detection limits would then be considerably worse, as the sources would only contribute to the shorter baselines. For those sources where the emission is strong enough to plot intensity as a function of uv distance there is no sign of this. However, none of these are thermal sources. The most likely reason for the absence of emission from the other four sources, which have clearly been detected as masers in previous observations, is that the 4765-MHz maser is known to be highly variable, as reported for example by Smits et al. .

A total of 38 sites of 6035-MHz OH masers were searched for 4765-MHz emission, resulting in ten detections (26%). In comparison, of the 12 1720-OH masers searched, 2 were observed to harbour 4765-MHz emission (17%) and both of these are also sites of 6035-MHz OH masers. This casts some doubt on the claimed predictive power of 1720/4765-MHz association, suggesting the presence of other excited OH transitions is at least as good a signpost for the presence of 4765-MHz OH masers, although with few detections the statistics are not compelling.

### 3.3 Comparison of different transitions

We have used our results to compare the emission we detect at 4765-MHz with published observations of other OH transitions toward the same site. This apparently simple task is complicated by the effect of Zeeman splitting on the OH molecule, which shifts the observed velocity by differing amounts for the various transitions. Fortunately Caswell & Vaile  have determined the magnetic field strength within the majority of the regions searched from observations of the 6035-MHz masers. We have used this information to calculate the velocity correction for each OH transition of interest. We have calculated the velocity shift due to Zeeman splitting for the various transitions using the method outlined in Elitzur , and using the Lande-g factors as measured by Radford . For the main-lines the Zeeman splitting is straight forward with the different $`\sigma `$-components all experiencing a velocity shift of essentially the same magnitude. For satellite lines the situation is more complex with potentially multiple Zeeman pairs being generated. From a theoretical standpoint, it isn’t clear which pair will dominate as this may depend upon the pumping scheme, although observations tend to suggest that the pair with the largest Einstein A-coefficients dominate, at least for the 1720-MHz transition . Table 4 lists the amount by which RCP emission is shifted by the measured magnetic fields in each of the regions which show 4765-MHz OH masers. We have assumed that velocity shifts of 0.295, 0.177, 0.057 & 0.028 km s-1 mG-1 apply for the 1665-, 1667-, 1720- and 6035-MHz transitions respectively and that a positive $`B`$ field will shift RCP emission to a more positive velocity . The velocities in the table should therefore be subtracted from RCP velocities and added to LCP velocities to correct for Zeeman splitting. Where the alignment between different transitions is discussed for the individual sources below, the velocities have been corrected for the effects of Zeeman splitting (except where the observation is of total intensity).

We have used spectra in the literature to determine the strength of the other OH maser transitions at the velocity of the 4765-MHz OH maser emission. The results are listed in table 5 and demonstrate a number of general trends for the associations between the 4765-MHz emission and other common OH maser transitions. With one exception the 4765-MHz maser emission aligns in velocity with a peak in the 6035-MHz spectrum and since we know that the two transitions are spatially coincident to within 1 arcsecond then it seems likely that the emission from the two transitions is co-spatial. The 1665-MHz emission typically covers a wider velocity range than any of the other transitions and so it is not surprising that it overlaps the velocity range of the 4765-MHz emission. The 1665-MHz and 6035-MHz emission which aligns with the 4765-MHz are usually not the strongest peak in the spectrum. The 1665-MHz is often weaker than the 6035-MHz emission at the same velocity, and 1667-MHz emission is usually weak or in some cases entirely absent from the site. Caswell  found 81% of main line OH maser sources have associated 6.7-GHz methanol emission. We find for our sample of fourteen 4765-MHz OH masers only 61% have associated methanol masers. This may indicate a tendency for the 4765-MHz masers to be more common towards regions without 6.7-GHz methanol masers, although the sample size is too small to reach definitive conclusions.

## 4 Notes on individual sources

### 4.1 Detections

#### G240.316+0.071

OH maser emission at this location was first detected in the 1665-MHz transition by MacLeod . Subsequent observations by Caswell  detected weak 1667-MHz emission at the same location, but offset in velocity from the 1665-MHz peak (Caswell, pers. comm.). The newly detected 4765-MHz maser has two spectral features at velocities of 63.0 and 65.2 $`\text{km s}^1`$, neither of which match that of the strongest 6035-MHz emission at 63.6 $`\text{km s}^1`$ . The secondary peak of the 6035-MHz emission matches the weaker 4765-MHz feature at 62.8 $`\text{km s}^1`$. There is no 6.7-GHz methanol maser emission towards this site.

#### G240.311+0.074

This newly detected maser source is offset to the south by approximately 20″ from G240.316+0.071. High resolution observations by Caswell at 1665- and 6035-MHz  have not reported any emission towards this location. A search of SIMBAD reveals no other astrophysical objects within 10″ of this site.

#### G294.511-1.621

The ground-state OH maser emission at this location was detected by Braz et al.  towards an $`\text{H}_2\text{O}`$ maser source. The 4765-MHz OH maser emission was discovered by Smits  and is the strongest detected in this survey with a peak flux density of 2 Jy. The velocity and position of the 4765-MHz emission matches that of the 6035-MHz emission at -12 $`\text{km s}^1`$ . A minor peak of the 1665-MHz aligns with the 4765-MHz maser and there is probably 1667-MHz emission at the same velocity, but the ATCA observation is of total intensity and so cannot be corrected for Zeeman splitting (Caswell, pers. comm.).

#### G309.921+0.479

The 4765-MHz OH emission in this source is relatively broad (2.1 $`\text{km s}^1`$) and may be quasi-thermal emission or a blend of a number of weak maser features. The secondary peak (-59.8 $`\text{km s}^1`$) matches the peak of the 6035-MHz maser, the broad emission is echoed in the weaker broad emission in the 6035-MHz spectrum . The magnetic field in this region is confused and so determining the alignment for the 1665- and 1667-MHz transitions is less certain, it appears that in both cases the 4765-MHz emission aligns with lesser peaks .

#### G328.304+0.436

This newly detected maser source is offset to the south-west by approximately 24″ from G328.307+0.430. As for G240.311+0.074, Caswell does not report any emission at 1665- or 6035-MHz  towards this location, and a SIMBAD search finds nothing within 10″.

#### G328.307+0.430

This new 4765-MHz detection has two features at -90.5 and -92.0 $`\text{km s}^1`$, it was not detected in previous surveys, the most sensitive of which was Cohen et al. . The 1667-MHz emission towards this source is weak and unlike the majority of the other regions there is no 6.7-GHz methanol maser emission at this site. The stronger 4765-MHz emission matches the velocity of a 10 Jy LCP peak at 1665-MHz, although there is no Zeeman pair . The 6035-MHz emission is also aligned in velocity with the strongest 4765-MHz maser.

#### G328.808+0.633/G328.809+0.633

Caswell  reports two nearby sources each of which exhibit both 6035 MHz OH and 6.7-GHz methanol masers. To within the accuracy of our resolution we find 4765-MHz OH maser emission to also be present at both sites. G328.809+0.633 is offset from the Hii region and also exhibits 1720-MHz OH emission. The velocity of the 1720-MHz OH maser in the total intensity observation of Caswell  is offset by +0.2 $`\text{km s}^1`$ from the 4765-MHz peak. Full polarization observations reveal that after correction for Zeeman splitting the 1720-MHz emission does not align with the 4765-MHz maser peak (Caswell pers. comm.). There appears to be peaks in the 6035-MHz spectrum which correspond to the two 4765-MHz peaks  and the strongest 1665-/1667-MHz emission covers the same velocity range .

#### G333.135-0.431/G333.135-0.431s

There are two sites of 6035-MHz OH maser emission in this region. G333.135-0.431 contains the stronger emission and doesn’t have an associated 6.7-GHz methanol maser, while G333.135-0.431s contains weaker 6035-MHz emission covering a larger velocity range and with weak 6.7-GHz methanol masers . The strong narrow 4765-MHz maser lies towards the first of these sites and matches the velocity of secondary peaks in all of the 1665-, 1667 and 6035-MHz transitions . The 4765-MHz emission towards G333.135-0.431s appears to be thermal and matches the velocity of the strongest 1665-/1667-MHz absorption, broad weaker 6035-MHz emission and broad weak 6.7 GHz methanol emission .

#### G353.410-0.360

This was the strongest source detected by Cohen et al., and has not varied more than 6%. The 4765-MHz peak matches the velocity and position of the peak of the complex 6035-MHz spectrum, but it isn’t clear whether or not the 1720-MHz emission matches the 4765-MHz velocity. The observations of Gaume & Mutel  have coarse spectral resolution, while the total intensity observations of Caswell  show a significant velocity offset, suggesting that the transitions probably do not align. The 1665- and 1667-MHz velocity ranges do not overlap with the 4765-MHz emission \[1983a\].

#### Sgr B2/G0.666-0.035

4765-MHz maser emission was first observed towards Sgr B2 by Gardner & Ribes  at 60.8 and 61.4 $`\text{km s}^1`$ using the Parkes telescope. It was not seen by Effelsburg or VLA observations in 1983 and 1984 . We find no narrow emission, but a weak and broad feature at a lower velocity which matches the broad-band observations of Gardner & Ribes . This does not match the velocity of the 6035-MHz or 1720-MHz maser emission .

#### G11.904-0.141

The 4765-MHz maser emission from this new detection peaks at 41.8 $`\text{km s}^1`$ and aligns in velocity with the weaker of the two 6035-MHz maser peaks . It also matches the velocity of the strongest LCP features in the 1665- and 1667-MHz spectra \[1983b, 1989\].

#### W49N and W49SW

Previous single dish observations have not been able to discriminate between the 4765-MHz OH emission at 2.2 $`\text{km s}^1`$ from the northern portion of this region with the emission at 8.2 $`\text{km s}^1`$ from the south west portion, 1.2′ away. Two features can be found in W49N, the stronger peaking at 2.1 $`\text{km s}^1`$, the other peaking at 2.6 $`\text{km s}^1`$. The two sources are offset by 12″ to the East. Smits  has summarised the previous observations of the 4765-MHz OH maser emission in this source, and we detect all the spectral features observed by him and confirm a velocity of 8.6 $`\text{km s}^1`$ for the emission towards W49SW. We also detect a previously unreported maser towards the same region at a velocity of 11.9 $`\text{km s}^1`$. No feature was observed corresponding to the report of Smits  of a weak broad emission around 3.6 $`\text{km s}^1`$, but the intensity of all the observed features appears to have declined in the intervening period. The OH maser emission in this region is very complex and we have not attempted to determine the alignment of the 4765-MHz emission with other transitions as the potential for confusion is too great. This is exacerbated by the fact that for these northern sources our positional errors in declination are several arcseconds. However, the position Caswell & Vaile  report for the strongest 6035-MHz emission matches the 4765-MHz maser W49SW.

### 4.2 Non detections

#### Mon R2

Mon R2 is one of the best studied 4765-MHz masers and is known to be highly variable and also show polarized emission . Emission from the 4765-MHz transition towards this source was first reported by Gardner & Martin-Pintado . Cohen et al.  failed to detect any emission, but it was later detected by Cohen et al. . Smits et al. monitored it closely from late 1994 through to mid-1997 and it reached a peak flux density of 80 Jy in 1997, at times doubling in intensity every 19 days . When observed by Szymczak et al.  in 1998 it had declined by an order of magnitude from its peak, to a flux density 6 Jy and it subsequently declined further to below the detection limits for the Hartebeesthoek radio telescope (Smits, pers. comm.). We also find no emission in this survey with an upper limit of 80 mJy, 3 orders of magnitude lower than its strongest recorded flux density.

#### IRAS12073-6233

This source was discovered by Cohen et al.  and subsequently monitoring by Smits  observed it to reach a maximum flux density of 1.2 Jy in 1994.8, which afterwards fell at about 0.5 Jy per year. Our non-detection of this source is consistent with this decline continuing.

#### IRAS16183-4958

This weak detection in the survey of Cohen et al. , was not detected in our observations. Had it remained constant it would have been well above our detection limit and so must have decreased in intensity by at least 50% in the intervening period.

#### G338.925+0.557

This source was detected in a search of 1720-MHz OH maser sources by MacLeod . MacLeod reports a peak flux density of 1.5 Jy, while we fail to detect any emission stronger than 70 mJy, indicating that this source decreased in intensity by more than a factor of 20 in the four year period between the two sets of observations.

#### IRAS17175-3544/NGC6334F

This weak detection in the survey of Cohen et al. , was not detected in our observations. If it had remained constant it would have been well above our detection limit and so must have decreased in intensity by at least 67% in the intervening period.

## 5 Discussion

The association between 1720- and 4765-MHz OH masers has only been studied in detail towards W3(OH). Of the two 4765-MHz masers we detected which may be closely associated with 1720-MHz OH emission, for one the velocity (after correction for Zeeman splitting) doesn’t match and for the other it may align, but further investigation is required. VLBI observations of the 1720-MHz OH masers by Masheder et al.  found that although the two transitions came from the same spatial location (within the relative uncertainties), the velocities did not align. Intriguingly, more recent MERLIN observations by Gray et al.  found both spatial and velocity alignment between the two transitions. One possible explanation for this is that the 4765-MHz OH masers can be highly variable and it is not unknown for masers features to disappear and new features appear at nearby, but different velocities (e.g. W49N). This highlights the major pitfall in attempting to test theoretical models with multi-transition observations; variability over time and the effects of observations at different spatial and spectral resolutions all add uncertainty to comparisons of the different transitions. Our observations suggest that 4765-MHz OH masers are frequently not accompanied by 1720-MHz OH masers, but further high resolution, full polarization observations of the 1720-MHz OH masers in southern star forming regions are required to confirm this.

It is clear from literature that current theoretical OH maser models are complicated by unknown, or poorly known excitation rates for the pumping paths. The models of Gray et al.  produce parameter ranges where both 1720- and 4765-MHz transitions are inverted with local temperatures of 125K, high densities and large velocity gradients. These are the only conditions under which 4765-MHz masers are significantly excited and the 6035-MHz line is strongly suppressed under these conditions. This is contrary to our observations in which 4765- and 6035-MHz masers are commonly present together.

In contrast the models of Pavlakis & Kylafis \[1996b\], which use different collision rates find 4765-MHz masers are only excited with low velocity gradients, while 1720-MHz emission is only exited with high velocity gradients. Pavlakis & Kylafis \[1996b\] find that the 4765-MHz masers only appear at higher densities than the ground state main lines and there is essentially no overlapping density range. This contrasts with our observations that the 4765-MHz OH masers are typically associated with the 1665-MHz transition. Modelling of the 6035-MHz OH masers is covered in a separate paper  and the issue of the association between 4765- and 6035-MHz masers is not covered. Through comparison of the plots from the two papers we can deduce that the two transitions are both inverted for the narrow molecular hydrogen density range of $`4\times 10^610^7`$cm-3, with 150 K gas, 200 K dust temperatures and large optical depth (Pavlakis & Kylafis 1996b - Fig. 6d ; 2000 - Fig. 9d). Once again, for these physical conditions the ground state main lines are not inverted. Pavlakis & Kylafis have many more free parameters in their modelling, complicating interpretation. It is also possible that there are, unpublished parameter combinations that excite 4765-, with 1665-, 1720- and/or 6035-MHz.

Pavlakis and Kylafis \[1996b\] find a number of different parameter combinations which produce 1720-MHz OH masers, but the strongest emission occurs in the absence of far infrared emission, at high densities and large velocity gradients. Under these conditions they also predict that the 4750-MHz transition should produce bright masers. Our search failed to detect any strong 4750-MHz masers associated with 1720-MHz OH masers, which suggests that the one of the other parameter combinations must be responsible for the 1720-MHz OH masers.

## 6 Conclusions

We report the discovery of ten new $`{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{1/2}^{}`$ F=1$``$0 4765-MHz OH maser emission sites, more than doubling the number reported in the southern hemisphere. We have found that the frequently purported association between 1720-MHz OH masers and 4765-MHz emission is not as strong as the correspondence between 6035- and 4765-MHz masers. The 4765-MHz OH masers are relatively weak and uncommon compared to the 1665-, 1667- and 6035-MHz transitions and so, except for attempting to explain the 1720-/4765-MHz association, the models of Pavlakis & Kylafis \[1996a, 1996b, 2000\] and Gray et al.  largely ignore this transition. Examination of published spectra of the 1665-, 1667-, 1720- and 6035-MHz OH transitions shows that after correcting for the effects of Zeeman splitting the 4765-MHz OH masers are characterised by a close association with the 6035-MHz transition, modest 1665-MHz emission and weak or absent 1667-MHz emission. None of the current models of OH maser emission produces results which are qualitatively consistent with these findings. We suggest that the best indicator of likely 4765-MHz OH masers is the presence of other excited state transitions, such as the 6035-MHz, but that these regions also frequently possess the correct physical conditions to produce satellite-line masers from the ground-state. Further theoretical modelling is required to determine ranges of physical parameters which can produce OH maser emission with the same characteristic as we observe. In addition, we failed to find any sites where 1720-MHz and 4750-MHz OH emission are produced simultaneously despite this being a well populated condition in theoretical models for certain parameter ranges.

Determining the relative intensity of emission from different OH transitions by comparison with published observations has several major sources of uncertainty, in particular temporal variability and instrumental effects. To overcome this it would be highly desirable to be able to make simultaneous, or quasi-simultaneous full polarization observations of a large number of OH transitions, at high spatial and spectral resolution. Such observations are possible, for example, with the ATCA. The 19 lowest frequency OH transitions fall within the frequency coverage and it is possible to observe many, or all of these within a single observing session. This type of observation would clearly provide much stronger observational constraints and tests for theoretical modelling than are currently available.

A number of the newly discovered 4765-MHz OH masers (G240.331+0.074 &G328.304+0.436) are not associated with previously detected sites of ground-state OH masers or other common sign-posts of star formation, such as IRAS sources. These masers are very weak, but further investigation is warranted to confirm their existence and to try and determine whether they are associated with high-mass star formation, or some other astrophysical phenomena.

## 7 Acknowledgments

We would like to thank J.L. Caswell for providing unpublished Parkes and ATCA spectra for a number of sources and communication of unpublished results. The Australia Telescope Compact Array is part of the Australia Telescope, funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility, and managed by CSIRO. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service.


text:
# Collective oscillations of a 1D trapped Bose gas

## Abstract

Starting from the hydrodynamic equations of superfluids, we calculate the frequencies of the collective oscillations of a harmonically trapped Bose gas for various 1D configurations. These include the mean field regime described by Gross-Pitaevskii theory and the beyond mean field regime at small densities described by Lieb-Liniger theory. The relevant combinations of the physical parameters governing the transition between the different regimes are discussed.

Recent experiments on trapped Bose gases at low temperature have pointed out the occurrence of characteristic 1D features. These include deviations of the aspect ratio and of the release energy  from the 3D behaviour as well as the appearence of thermal fluctuations of the phase, peculiar of 1D configurations . Interest in 1D interacting Bose gases arises from the occurrence of quantum features which are not encountered in 2D and 3D. For example in 1D the fluctuations of the phase of the order parameter rule out the occurrence of long range order even at zero temperature . Such systems cannot be in general described using traditional mean field theories and require the development of a more advanced many-body approach. In the case of 1D Bose gases interacting with repulsive zero-range forces, this has been implemented by Lieb and Liniger  who studied both the equation of state and the spectrum of elementary excitations of a uniform gas. In the presence of harmonic trapping, 1D Bose gases exhibit new interesting features. The corresponding equilibrium properties have been already discussed in a recent series of theoretical papers (see  and references therein). In the present work we investigate the consequences of harmonic trapping on the collective oscillations of an interacting 1D Bose gas at zero temperature. We will consider various configurations, ranging from the mean field regime  where the healing length is larger than the average interparticle distance, to the Tonks-Girardeau limit  where the gas acquires Fermi like properties. We will show that the frequency of the lowest compression mode provides a useful indicator of the different regimes.

We start our discussion from the hydrodynamic equations of superfluids in 1D

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}\delta n_1+{\displaystyle \frac{}{z}}\left(n_1v\right)=0,`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}v+_z\left(\mu _\mathrm{}e(n_1)+V_{ext}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}mv^2\right)=0,`$ (2)
which decribe the dynamic behaviour of such systems at zero temperature. In these equations $`n_1(z,t)`$ is the 1D density of the gas, $`v(z,t)`$ is the velocity field, while $`V_{ext}(z)`$ is the external trapping potential which in the following will be assumed to be harmonic: $`V_{ext}(z)=m\omega _z^2z^2/2`$. The hydrodynamic equations of superfluids have been already successfully employed to predict the collective frequencies of 3D trapped Bose-Einstein condensates . A crucial ingredient of these equations is the local equilibrium ($`\mathrm{}e`$) chemical potential $`\mu _\mathrm{}e`$, which should be evaluated for a uniform 1D gas ($`V_{ext}=0`$) at the density $`n_1`$. The applicability of the above equations requires the validity of the local density approximation along the $`z`$-th direction. This is expected to be accurate for sufficiently large systems. Furthermore, Eqs.(1,2) should be limited to the study of macroscopic phenomena where variations in space take place over distances larger than the average distance between particles. From Eq.(2) one can easily calculate the ground state profile through the equation

$$\mu _\mathrm{}e(n_1(z))+V_{ext}(z)=\mu .$$
(3)
The collective oscillations are instead determined by writing the density in the form $`n_1(z,t)=n_1(z)+e^{i\omega t}\delta n_1(z)`$, with the function $`\delta n_1(z)`$ obeying the linearized equation

$$\omega ^2\delta n_1(z)=\frac{1}{m}_z\left[n_1(z)_z\left(\frac{\mu _\mathrm{}e}{n_1}\delta n_1(z)\right)\right],$$
(4)
which immediately follows from Eqs.(1,2). In the case of uniform systems ($`V_{ext}=0`$) one has plane wave solutions $`\delta n_1=\mathrm{exp}(iqz)`$ with $`\omega ^2=c^2q^2`$, where $`q`$ is the wave vector of the excitation and $`c^2=n_1(\mu _\mathrm{}e/n_1)/m`$ is the square of the sound velocity. It is worth reminding that the applicability of the hydrodynamic equations is not limited to the mean field scenario. Actually in  it has been proven that in 1D Bose gases the velocity of sound, derived from the macroscopic compressibility, coincides with the one derived from the microscopic calculation of the phonon excitation spectrum also in regimes far from mean field.

In the first part of the work we evaluate $`\mu _\mathrm{}e(n_1)`$ and the corresponding solutions for the collective oscillations in the framework of the mean field Gross-Pitaevskii theory. Even in this regime one can explore a rich variety of situations ranging from the Thomas-Fermi regime in the radial direction to the one of tight confinement where the motion in the radial direction is frozen. In the second part we extend the analysis to regimes beyond mean field, including the limit of the Tonks-Girardeau gas.

Let us consider a uniform system of length $`L`$ in the $`z`$-th direction and confined by a harmonic potential $`V(r_{})=m\omega _{}^2r_{}^2/2`$ in the radial direction. By writing the order parameter in the form $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\sqrt{n_1}f(\rho _{})/a_{}`$, where $`n_1=N/L`$ is the 1D density, $`a_{}=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/m\omega _{}}`$ is the oscillator length in the radial direction and $`\rho _{}=r_{}/a_{}`$ is the dimensionless radial coordinate, the 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equation yields the dimensionless equation

$$\left(\frac{1}{2}\frac{^2}{\rho _{}^2}\frac{1}{2\rho _{}}\frac{}{\rho _{}}+\frac{1}{2}\rho _{}^2+4\pi an_1f^2\right)f=\frac{\mu _\mathrm{}e}{\mathrm{}\omega _{}}f$$
(5)
for the function $`f`$ obeying the normalization condition $`2\pi |f(\rho _{})|^2\rho _{}𝑑\rho _{}=1`$. In Eq.(5), $`\mu _\mathrm{}e/\mathrm{}\omega _{}`$ is the chemical potential in units of the radial quantum oscillator energy. Eq. (5) shows that the relevant dimensionless parameter of the problem is $`an_1`$. It is worth considering two important limits. If $`an_11`$, one enters the radial Thomas-Fermi regime (hereafter called 3D cigar), where many configurations of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian are excited in the radial direction and the equation of state takes the analytic form

$$\frac{\mu _\mathrm{}e}{\mathrm{}\omega _{}}=2(an_1)^{1/2}.$$
(6)
Notice that in this limit the chemical potential is not linear in the density. This implies, in particular, that the sound velocity is related to the chemical potential by the law $`c^2=\mu _\mathrm{}e/2m`$  rather then by the Bogoliubov relation $`c^2=\mu _\mathrm{}e/m`$. A second important case is the perturbative regime where $`an_11`$ (hereafter called 1D mean field). In this case the solution of (5) approaches the Gaussian ground state of the radial harmonic oscillator and one finds the linear law

$$\frac{\mu _\mathrm{}e}{\mathrm{}\omega _{}}=1+2an_1$$
(7)
for the chemical potential.

If the gas is harmonically trapped also along the $`z`$-th direction, the density $`n_1`$ exhibits a $`z`$-th dependence which is worth calculating as a function of the relevant parameters of the problem: the scattering length $`a`$, the number $`N`$ of atoms and the trapping frequencies $`\omega _{}`$ and $`\omega _z`$. To this purpose one has to solve Eq.(3) by imposing the normalization condition $`n_1(z)𝑑z=N`$. A useful quantity is the Thomas-Fermi radius $`Z`$ defined by the value of $`z`$ at which the equilibrium density $`n_1(z)`$ vanishes. According to Eq.(3), one has $`\mu \mu _\mathrm{}e(an_1=0)=(1/2)m\omega _z^2Z^2`$. In terms of $`Z`$, Eq.(3) can be rewritten as $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e(an_1(z))=(m\omega _z^2Z^2/2\mathrm{}\omega _{})(1z^2/Z^2)`$, where we have defined the dimensionless quantity $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e(an_1(z))=\left[\mu _\mathrm{}e(an_1(z))\mu _\mathrm{}e(an_1=0)\right]/\mathrm{}\omega _{}`$. This function is fixed by the solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (5). Its inverse $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e^1`$ gives the value of $`an_1`$ as a a function of $`z`$, so that the normalization condition obeyed by the density can be written as

$$\frac{Za_{}}{a_z^2}_1^1\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e^1\left[\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{Za_{}}{a_z^2}\right)^2(1t^2)\right]𝑑t=\frac{Naa_{}}{a_z^2},$$
(8)
with $`t=z/Z`$. Eq. (8) explicitly points out the relevance of the dimensionless combination $`Naa_{}/a_z^2`$ where $`a_z=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/m\omega _z}`$ is the oscillator length in the axial directions. From Eq.(8) one can calculate, for a given choice of the parameters, the radius $`Z`$ and hence the $`1D`$ density profile. In the 3D cigar limit $`Naa_{}/a_z^21`$, one has $`Z=(a_z^2/a_{})(15Naa_{}/a_z^2)^{1/5}`$ and

$`n_1(z)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{16a}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{15Naa_{}}{a_z^2}}\right)^{4/5}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{z^2}{Z^2}}\right)^2.`$ (9)
In the 1D mean field limit $`Naa_{}/a_z^21`$, one instead finds  $`Z=(a_z^2/a_{})(3Naa_{}/a_z^2)^{1/3}`$ and

$`n_1(z)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4a}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{3Naa_{}}{a_z^2}}\right)^{2/3}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{z^2}{Z^2}}\right).`$ (10)
The density profiles are different in the two regimes, reflecting the different behaviour of the equation of state. The conditions of applicability of the local density approximation employed above are determined by requiring that $`Za_z`$. In the 1D mean field regime this implies the non trivial condition $`(a_z/a_{})(Naa_{}/a_z^2)^{1/3}1`$.

Let us now discuss the behaviour of the collective oscillations. The hydrodynamic equation (4) has simple analytic solutions if the density derivative of the chemical potential is a power law function: $`\mu _\mathrm{}e/n_1n_1^{\gamma 1}`$. The Thomas-Fermi and the 1D mean field regimes belong to this class of solutions with $`\gamma =1/2`$ and $`\gamma =1`$ respectively. Also the Tonks-Girardeau limit (see Eq.(13) below) belongs to the same class with $`\gamma =2`$. Hence in these three relevant limits the dipersion relation for the collective frequencies can be obtained analytically. By looking for solutions of the form $`n_1^{\gamma 1}\delta n_1(z)=z^k+az^{k2}\mathrm{}`$, where $`k1`$ and only positive powers of $`z`$ are included in the polynomial, one finds the result

$$\omega ^2=\omega _z^2\frac{k}{2}[2+\gamma (k1)].$$
(11)
The case $`k=1`$ corresponds to the center of mass motion whose frequency is given by $`\omega =\omega _z`$ independent of the value of $`\gamma `$. The most interesting $`k=2`$ case (lowest compressional mode) is instead sensitive to the regime considered. One finds $`\omega ^2=(5/2)\omega _z^2`$, $`\omega ^2=3\omega _z^2`$ and $`\omega ^2=4\omega _z^2`$ for the 3D cigar, 1D mean field and Tonks-Girardeau regimes respectively. The result $`\omega ^2=(5/2)\omega _z^2`$ was first derived in  by solving the hydrodynamic equations for a trapped 3D system in the limit of a highly elongated trap ($`\omega _z\omega _{}`$). This prediction has been confirmed experimentally with high precision . The result $`\omega ^2=3\omega _z^2`$ was derived in , while the result $`\omega ^2=4\omega _z^2`$ for the Tonks-Girardeau gas is simply understood by recalling that, in this limit, there is an exact mapping with the 1D ideal Fermi gas  where the excitation spectrum, in the presence of harmonic confinement, is $`\omega =k\omega _z`$. The same result has been recently derived in  using the mean field equations of Kolomeisky et al. .

In order to evaluate the collective frequencies in the intermediate regimes where the hydrodynamic equations are not analytically soluble, we have developed a sum rule approach , based on the evaluation of the ratio $`\mathrm{}^2\omega ^2=m_1/m_1`$ between the energy weighted and inverse energy weighted sum rules. In the following we will limit the discussion to the lowest compression mode which is naturally excited by the operator $`_{i=1}^Nz_i^2`$. The energy weighted moment is given by $`m_1=(1/2)[_{i=1}^Nz_i^2,[H,_{i=1}^Nz_i^2]]=(2N\mathrm{}^2/m)z^2`$ where $`z^2=n_1(z)z^2𝑑z/N`$ is the average square radius fixed by the ground state solution $`n_1(z)`$. The inverse energy weighted moment $`m_1`$ is related to the static polarizability $`\alpha `$ by $`m_1=(1/2)\alpha `$. This is evaluated by adding the pertubation $`ϵz^2`$ to the Hamiltonian and calculating the corresponding changes $`\delta z^2`$ of the expectation value of the square radius: $`\alpha =N\delta z^2/ϵ`$. Adding the perturbation $`ϵz^2`$ is equivalent to changing the frequency $`\omega _z`$ of the harmonic confinement, so that the result for the collective frequency takes the compact form

$$\omega ^2=2\frac{z^2}{dz^2/d\omega _z^2}.$$
(12)
We have calculated the ratio $`\omega ^2/\omega _z^2`$ as a function of the dimensionless parameter $`Naa_{}/a_z^2`$, thereby exploring the transition between the 3D cigar and the 1D mean field regimes. The results are reported in Fig. 1. For the experimental conditions of  where $`Naa_{}/a_z^2=0.24`$ and $`0.08`$, we predict $`\omega ^2/\omega _z^2=2.85`$ and $`2.91`$ respectively, confirming that those experiments are actually touching the transition between the two mean field regimes.

It is worth noticing that result (12) for the collective frequency, being based on general sum rule arguments, applies also to regimes beyond mean field where the density profile $`n_1(z)`$ and hence the value of $`z^2`$ cannot be evaluated starting from the Gross-Pitaevskii equation of state. Deviations from the mean field regime become important when the healing length $`\xi =(8\pi an)^{1/2}`$ is comparable to the average distance $`d`$ between particles. In the presence of tight radial confinement one can use the relationship $`n=n_1/\pi a_{}^2`$ between the 3D density evaluated at $`r_{}=0`$ and the 1D density $`n_1=n(r_{})𝑑\stackrel{}{r}_{}`$. When $`a`$ becomes smaller than $`d`$, one can write $`d=1/n_1`$. One then obtains the result $`\xi /d=\sqrt{a_{}^2n_1/8a}`$ which becomes smaller and smaller as the 1D density decreases, thereby suggesting the occurrence of important deviations from the mean field behaviour for very dilute 1D samples. This should be contrasted with the 3D case where the mean field condition ($`\xi >d`$) is better and better satisfied as the density decreases. The combination $`a_{}^2n_1/a`$ can then be used as an indicator of the applicability of the mean field approach. When its value becomes of the order of $`1`$ or smaller, one enters a new regime characterized by important quantum correlations. The corresponding many-body problem was investigated by Lieb and Liniger  who considered 1D repulsive zero-range potentials of the form $`g_{1D}\delta (z)`$. The interaction parameter $`g_{1D}`$ can be also written as $`g_{1D}=\mathrm{}^2/(ma_{1D})`$ where $`a_{1D}`$ is the one-dimensional scattering length . By averaging the 3D interaction $`4\pi ^2\mathrm{}^2a\delta (𝐫)/m`$ over the radial density profile, one obtains the simple identification $`a_{1D}=a_{}^2/a`$ . The comparison with the expression for $`\xi /d`$ shows that the deviations from the mean field increase by decreasing $`a_{1D}n_1`$.

In the Lieb-Liniger scenario the energy per particle $`ϵ(n_1)`$, when expressed in units of the energy $`\mathrm{}^2/2ma_{1D}^2`$, turns out to be a universal function of the dimensionless parameter $`a_{1D}n_1`$. Important limits are the high density limit $`a_{1D}n_11`$, where one finds $`ϵ(n_1)=\mathrm{}^2n_1/ma_{1D}`$ and hence the mean field result (7) for the chemical potential $`\mu _\mathrm{}e=(n_1ϵ(n_1))/n_1`$ (a part from the constant term arising from the radial external force). Note that under the assumption $`a_{}a`$, the two conditions $`an_11`$ and $`a_{1D}n_11`$ required to realise the 1D mean field regime can be simultaneously satisfied. The other important limit is the low density Tonks-Girardeau limit $`a_{1D}n_11`$, where the chemical potential takes the value

$`\mu _\mathrm{}e=\pi ^2\mathrm{}^2n_1^2/2m.`$ (13)
Here the chemical potential no longer depends on the interaction coupling constant and reveals a typical Fermi-like behaviour .

In the presence of axial harmonic trapping the ground state density profile has been evaluated in  using the local density approximation (3). In this case the normalization condition $`n_1(z)𝑑z=N`$ takes the form

$$\frac{Za_{1D}}{a_z^2}_1^1\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e^1\left[\left(\frac{Za_{1D}}{a_z^2}\right)^2(1t^2)\right]𝑑t=\frac{Na_{1D}^2}{a_z^2}.$$
(14)
Similarly to Eq.(8), we have introduced the radius $`Z`$ at which the density vanishes and the inverse of the function $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e(n_{1D}a_{1D})`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_\mathrm{}e`$ is now the chemical potential expressed in units of $`\mathrm{}^2/2ma_{1D}^2`$. Eq.(14) shows that the relevant combination of parameters is given by $`Na_{1D}^2/a_z^2`$. This differs by the factor $`(a_{}/a)^3`$ from the combination $`Naa_{}^2/a_z^2`$ characterizing the transition between the mean field regimes discussed in the first part of this work.

Analytic solutions are obtained in the two limits $`Na_{1D}^2/a_z^21`$ and $`Na_{1D}^2/a_z^21`$. In the first case, one recovers the mean field result (10). In the second one, we find the profile

$`n_1(z)={\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{2N}}{\pi a_z}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{z^2}{Z^2}}\right)^{1/2},`$ (15)
with $`Z=\sqrt{2N}a_z`$. In this case the applicability of the local density approximation simply requires $`N1`$.

By determining numerically the density profiles in the intermediate regimes we have calculated the frequency of the lowest compressional mode using the sum rule formula (12). The results are reported in Fig. 2 as a function of $`Na_{1D}^2/a_z^2`$. Fig. 1 shows the evolution of the collective frequency as a function of the parameter $`Naa_{}/a_z^2`$ for two different choices of the ratio $`a_{}/a`$. The corresponding curves reveal the transition between 3D cigar, 1D mean field and Tonks-Giradeau regimes. It is however worth pointing out that if the condition $`a_{}a`$ is not well satisfied, the 1D mean field regime is not clearly identifiable (see for example the dotted line in Fig. 1). In this case the determination of the collective frequencies requires the simultaneous inclusion of 3D and beyond mean field effects.

This research is supported by the Ministero della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (MURST).