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# I Introduction

## I Introduction

The masses for the proton-rich nuclei above $`A=60`$ have not yet been measured. However, they are important for the astrophysical rapid-proton capture (rp) process  which follows a path in nuclei near $`N=Z`$ for $`A=60100`$. The rp process is the dominant source of energy in type I X-ray bursts, and it determines the crust composition of accreting neutron stars . It may also be responsible for the p process nucleosynthesis of a few proton-rich stable nuclei in the $`A=74`$$`98`$ mass range. In the absence of experimental masses for the proton-rich nuclei, one often uses the masses based upon the Audi-Wapstra extrapolation (AWE) method . In this paper we use the displacement-energy method  to obtain the proton-rich masses with the Skyrme Hartree-Fock model for the displacement energies. The displacement energy is the difference in the binding energies of mirror nuclei for a given mass $`A`$ and isospin $`T`$:

$$D(A,T)=BE(A,T_z^<)BE(A,T_z^>),$$
(1)
where $`T=T_z^<=T_z^>`$, $`BE(A,T_z^<)`$ is the binding energy of the proton-rich nucleus and $`BE(A,T_z^>)`$ is the binding energy of the neutron-rich nucleus. The displacement energy can be much more accurately calculated than the individual $`BE`$ in a variety of models since it depends mainly on the Coulomb interaction. In particular, we will use the spherical Hartree-Fock model based upon the recent SkX set of Skyrme parameters , with the addition of charge-symmetry breaking (CSB), SkXcsb . With the addition of CSB these calculations are able to reproduce the measured displacement energies for all but the lightest nuclei to within an rms deviation of about 100 keV . In the $`A=4175`$ mass region the mass (binding energy) of most of the neutron-rich nuclei are experimentally usually known to within 100 keV or better (the only exception being 71Br for which we use the AWE). Thus we combine the experimental binding energy for the neutron-rich nucleus $`BE(A,T_z^>)_{exp}`$ together with the Hartree-Fock value for $`D(A,T)_{HF}`$ to provide an extrapolation for the proton-rich binding energy:

$$BE(A,T_z^<)=D(A,T)_{HF}+BE(A,T_z^>)_{exp}.$$
(2)
The method is similar to the one used by Ormand  for the proton-rich nuclei with $`A=4670`$. In  the displacement energies are based upon shell-model configuration mixing which includes Coulomb and CSB interactions with parameters for the single-particle energies and strengths which are fitted to this mass region. In the present work, which covers the region $`A=4175`$, the displacement energies are based upon Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations with a global set of parameters which are determined from the properties of closed-shell nuclei and nuclear matter. The CSB part of the interaction has one parameter which was adjusted to reproduce the displacement energies in the $`A=48`$ mass region .

The displacement energies for all but the lightest nuclei can be reproduced with the constant CSB interaction given in , and we use the same CSB interaction for the extrapolations to higher mass discussed here.

The calculations presented here are relevant for the masses of proton-rich nuclei via their connection with their mirror neutron-rich analogues. We are not able to improve upon the masses of nuclei with $`N=Z`$, and as will be discussed, the relative large errors which remain for the 64Ge and 68Se masses provide now the dominant uncertainty in the rp-process calculations.

Details of the Hartree-Fock calculations will be discussed, and a comparison between the calculated and experimental displacement energies for the $`A=4175`$ mass region will be made. Then the extrapolations for the proton-rich masses and the associated one- and two-proton separation energies will be presented. The proton drip line which is established by this extrapolation will be compared to experiment, and the nuclei which will be candidates for one- and two-proton decay will be discussed. Finally we explore the significance of the new extrapolation for the rp process in type I X-ray bursts.

## II Displacement-Energy Calculations

The SkXcsb interaction is used to carry out Hartree-Fock calculations for all nuclei in the range $`Z=2038`$ and $`N=2038`$. The binding energies are then combined in pairs to obtain theoretical displacement energies for $`A=4175`$ and $`T=1/2`$ to $`T=4`$:

$$D(A,T)_{HF}=BE(A,T_z^<)_{HF}BE(A,T_z^>)_{HF}.$$
(3)
The calculation is similar to those presented in , but several refinements are made. The single-particle states in proton-rich nuclei become unbound beyond the proton-drip line. In the nuclei we consider they are unbound by up to about 2 MeV. Since 2 MeV is small compared to the height of the Coulomb barrier (about 6 MeV at a radius of 7 fm), the states are “quasi-bound” and have a small proton-decay width (on the order of keV or smaller). To obtain the quasi-bound wave functions we put the HF potential in a box with a radius of 20 fm and a depth of 20 MeV. In all cases we consider, the dependence of the results on the form of the external potential is negligible as long as the radius is greater than about 10 fm and the potential depth is greater than about 10 MeV.

In  the occupation numbers of the spherical valence states were filled sequentially, and in this mass region they always occur in the order f7/2, p3/2, f5/2, p1/2 and g9/2. We have improved on this scheme by carrying out an exact pairing (EP) calculation  at each stage of the HF iteration. The exact pairing model has recently been discussed in . The EP method uses the single-particle energies from the HF calculation together with a fixed set of $`J=0,T=1`$ two-body matrix elements and gives the orbit occupations and the pairing correlation energy. The orbit occupations are then used together with the HF radial wave functions to calculate the nucleon densities which go into the Skyrme energy density functional. This procedure is iterated until convergence (about 60 iterations). The pairing is calculated for protons and neutrons with the same set of two-body matrix elements taken from the FPD6 interaction for the pf shell  and the Bonn-C renormalized G matrix for the matrix elements involving the g9/2 orbit . For those nuclei we consider here, the occupation of the g9/2 orbit is always small. It is known that deformed components of the 2s-1d-0g shell are essential for the nuclear ground states above $`A=76`$ as indicated by the sudden drop in the energy of the 2+ state from 709 keV in 72Kr to 261 keV in 76Sr . Thus we do not go higher than $`A=76`$. In addition, one cannot always use Eq. (2) above $`A=76`$ since many of the masses of the neutron-rich nuclei are not known experimentally.

The results we obtain are not very sensitive to the strength of the pairing interaction and the associated distribution of the nucleons between the $`p`$ and $`f`$ orbits, since these orbits have similar rms radii and single-particle Coulomb shifts. For example, a 20 percent change in the strength of the pairing interaction results in displacement energy changes of less than 20 keV. If pairing is removed, the displacement energies can change by up to about 100 keV. Thus, at the level of 100 keV accuracy pairing should be included, but it is not a crucial part of the model.

A final refinement has been to add a Coulomb pairing contribution to the proton-proton $`J=0`$ matrix elements. The two-body Coulomb matrix elements were calculated in a harmonic-oscillator basis. The Coulomb pairing is then defined as the difference of the diagonal $`J=0`$ matrix elements from the $`(2J+1)`$ weighted average (which corresponds to the spherical part of the Coulomb potential which is in the HF part of the calculation). The Coulomb pairing matrix elements are 50-100 keV.

In Fig. 1 the calculated displacement energies (crosses) are shown in comparison with experiment (filled circles) in cases where both proton- and neutron-rich masses have been measured and with the AWE (squares) in cases where the mass of the proton-rich nucleus is based upon the AWE. The corresponding differences between experiment and theory are shown in Fig. 2 including the experimental or AWE error bars. It can be seen that when the displacement energy is measured the agreement with the calculation is excellent to within an rms deviation of about 100 keV. The most exceptional deviation is that for $`A=54`$ involving the 54Ni-54Fe mirror pair; a confirmation of the experimental mass for 54Ni (which has a 50 keV error) would be worthwhile. The comparison based upon the AWE (squares) shows a much larger deviation with typically up to 500 keV differences, but the AWE error assumed is sometimes (but not always) large enough to account for the spread. The implication of this comparison is that the error in the HF extrapolation of the displacement energies is probably much less than the error in the AWE of the displacement energies. In particular, one notices in Fig. 1 in the region $`A=6075`$ that the displacement energy based upon the AWE shows a small oscillation which is not present in the HF calculation and which is not present in the experimental data for $`A<60`$.

## III Proton-Rich Masses and Separation Energies

The next step is to use Eq. (2) to calculate the binding energy of the proton-rich nuclei based upon the HF calculation of the displacement energy together with the experimental binding energy of the neutron-rich nucleus . The only neutron-rich nucleus whose mass is not yet experimentally measured is 71Br for which we use the AWE value. The binding energies for the HF extrapolations for the proton-rich nuclei are given an error based upon the experimental error of the neutron-rich binding energy folded in quadrature with an assumed theoretical error of 100 keV.

The HF extrapolated set of binding energies for proton-rich nuclei together with the experimental binding energies for nuclei with $`N=Z`$ and neutron-rich nuclei provides a complete set of values from which the one- and two-proton separation energies are obtained. The masses for the $`N=Z`$ nuclei 66As, 68Se, 70Br, are not measured and we use the AWE value. The mass for 74Rb has a relatively large experimental error.

Results for the one- and two-proton separation energies are shown in Fig. 3. The first line in each box is the one-proton separation energy (and the associated error) based upon the AWE with the associated error. The second line is the one-proton separation energy based upon the HF extrapolation, and the third line is the two-proton separation energy based upon the HF extrapolation. The error in the separation energies is the error for the binding energies of the parent and daughter nuclei folded in quadrature.

The double line in Fig. 3 is the proton-drip line beyond which the one-proton separation energy and/or the two-proton separation energy becomes negative. However, due to the Coulomb barrier, some of the nuclei beyond the proton-drip line may have lifetimes which are long enough to be able to observe them in radioactive beam experiments. The observation of 65As in the experiment of Blank et al.  excludes half-lives which are much shorter than 1 $`\mu `$s which indicates that it is unbound by less than 400 keV. The identification of 65As as a $`\beta `$-emitter by Winger et al.  together with the non-observation of emitted protons by Robertson et al.  indicates that it is unbound by less than 250 keV. Both limits are compatible (within error) with the HF results given in Fig. 3. The non-observation of 69Br in the radioactive beam experiments of Blank et al.  and Pfaff et al.  means that its lifetime is less than 24 nsec which implies that it is proton unbound by more than 500 keV . This is compatible with the HF result shown in Fig. 3. The non-observation of 73Rb in the experiments of Mohar et al. , Jokinen et al. , and Janas et al.  gives an upper limit of 30 nsec for the half-life which implies that 73Rb is proton unbound by more than 570 keV, again in agreement (within error) of the present HF result. Thus all of the current experimental data are consistent with our calculations.

The proton-drip line has not yet been reached for most $`Z`$ values. Beyond the proton-drip line there are several candidates for nuclei which should be explored for one-proton emission: 54Cu, 58Ge, 64As, 68Br, 69Br, 72Rb and 73Rb. The most promising candidates for the illusive diproton emission (in addition to 48Ni ) are 64Zn, 59Ge, 63Se, 67Kr and 71Sr. Estimated lifetime ranges for these diproton decays are given by Ormand .

## IV Implications for the rp process

The rp process beyond Ni plays a critical role during hydrogen burning at high temperatures and densities on the surface of accreting neutron stars in X-ray bursters and X-ray pulsars . Nuclear masses are among the most important input parameters in rp-process calculations, as they sensitively determine the balance between proton capture and the inverse process, ($`\gamma `$,p) photodisintegration. It is this ($`\gamma `$,p) photodisintegration that prevents the rp process from continuing via proton captures, once a nucleus close to the proton drip line is reached. This nucleus becomes then a ”waiting point” as the rp process has to proceed at least in part, via the slow $`\beta ^+`$ decay. The effective lifetime of the waiting points in the rp process determines the overall processing time scale, energy generation, and the final abundance distribution. At a waiting point nucleus (Z,N), a local (p,$`\gamma `$)-($`\gamma `$,p) equilibrium is established with the following isotones (Z+1,N), (Z+2,N). The effective proton capture flow destroying waiting point nuclei and reducing their lifetime is then governed by the Saha equation and the rate of the reaction leading out of the equilibrium. Because of the odd-even structure of the proton drip line 2 cases have to be distinguished . For temperatures below $``$ 1.4 GK equilibrium is only established with the following isotone (Z+1,N). In this case, the destruction rate of the waiting point nucleus via proton captures $`\lambda _{(Z,N)(p,\gamma )}`$ is determined by the Saha equation and the proton capture rate on the following isotone (Z+1,N). The total destruction rate of the waiting point nucleus (Z,N) is then given by the sum of proton capture and $`\beta `$-decay rates:

$$\lambda =\lambda _\beta +Y_p^2\rho ^2N_A^2\left(\frac{2\pi \mathrm{}^2}{\mu _{(Z,N)}kT}\right)^{3/2}\frac{G_{(Z+1,N)}(T)}{(2J_\mathrm{p}+1)G_{(Z,N)}(T)}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{Q_{(Z,N)(p,\gamma )}}{kT}\right)<\sigma v>_{(Z+1,N)(p,\gamma )}$$
(4)
$`\lambda _\beta `$ is the $`\beta `$-decay rate of nucleus (Z,N), $`Y_p`$ the hydrogen abundance, $`\rho `$ the mass density, $`J_p`$ the proton spin, $`G_{(Z,N)}`$ the partition function of nucleus (Z,N), $`T`$ the temperature, $`\mu _{(Z,N)}`$ the reduced mass of nucleus (Z,N) plus proton, $`Q_{(Z,N)(p,\gamma )}`$ the proton capture Q-value of the waiting point nucleus, and $`<\sigma v>_{(Z+1,N)(p,\gamma )}`$ the proton capture rate on the nucleus (Z+1,N). For higher temperatures local equilibrium is maintained between the waiting point nucleus (Z,N) and the next two following isotones (Z+1,N) and (Z+2,N). In this case, $`\lambda _{(Z,N)(p,\gamma )}`$ is given by the Saha equation and the $`\beta `$-decay rate of the final nucleus $`\lambda _{(Z+2,N)\beta }`$, and the total destruction rate $`\lambda `$ of the waiting point nucleus becomes:

$$\lambda =\lambda _\beta +Y_p^2\rho ^2N_A^2\left(\frac{2\pi \mathrm{}^2}{kT}\right)^3\mu _{(Z,N)}^{3/2}\mu _{(Z+1,N)}^{3/2}\frac{G_{(Z+2,N)}(T)}{(2J_\mathrm{p}+1)^2G_{(Z,N)}(T)}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{Q_{(Z,N)(2p,\gamma )}}{kT}\right)\lambda _{(Z+2,N)\beta }$$
(5)
In both cases, the destruction rate of a waiting point nucleus depends exponentially either on its one-proton capture Q-value $`Q_{(Z,N)(p,\gamma )}`$ or two-proton capture Q-value $`Q_{(Z,N)(2p,\gamma )}`$. Nuclear masses therefore play a critical role in determining the rp-process waiting points and their effective lifetimes.

It has been shown before that the most critical waiting point nuclei for the rp process beyond Ni are 64Ge, 68Se and 72Kr . With the exception of 56Ni and 60Zn, these nuclei are by far the longest-lived isotopes in the rp-process path. The reason for those three nuclei being the most critical ones is that with increasing charge number the $`N=Z`$ line moves closer to the proton drip line and away from stability. Therefore, proton capture Q-values on even-even $`N=Z`$ nuclei, which are favored in the rp process because of the odd-even structure of the proton drip line, decrease with increasing charge number, while the $`\beta `$-decay Q-values become larger. 64Ge, 68Se and 72Kr happen to be located in the ”middle”, where proton capture Q-values are already low enough to suppress proton captures and allow $`\beta `$ decay to compete, but at the same time $`\beta `$-decay Q-values are still small enough for half-lives to be long compared to rp-process time scales. The critical question is to what degree proton captures can reduce the long $`\beta `$-decay lifetimes of 64Ge (63.7 s half-life), 68Se (35.5 s half-life) and 72Kr (17.2 s half-life). As Eqs. 4 and 5 show, the answer depends mainly on the one- and two-proton capture Q-values. Unfortunately, experimental data exist for none of the relevant Q-values. The only available experimental information are upper limits of the one-proton capture Q-values of 68Se and 72Kr from the non-observation of 69Br  and 73Rb , and the lower limits on the one-proton capture Q-value on 65As from its identification as a $`\beta `$-emitter in radioactive beam experiments (see Sec. III). While these data provide some constraints, accurate Q-values are needed for the calculations and have to be predicted by theory. The new masses calculated in this work cover exactly this critical mass range, and provide improved predictions for all the relevant Q-values in the $`A=64`$–72 mass region (see Fig. 3). As discussed in Sec. III, all of our new predictions are compatible with the existing experimental limits.

To explore the impact of the new mass predictions on rp-process models, we performed calculations with a 1-D, one zone X-ray burst model . Ignition conditions are based on a mass accretion rate of 0.1 times the Eddington accretion rate, an internal heat flux from the neutron star surface of 0.15 MeV/nucleon, an accreted matter metallicity of 10-3 and a neutron star with 1.4 solar masses and 10 km radius.

In principle, proton separation energies can influence the reaction flow in two ways. First, they affect the forward to reverse rate ratios for proton capture reactions and the local (p,$`\gamma `$)-($`\gamma `$,p) equilibria through the $`\mathrm{exp}(Q/kT)`$ term in the Saha equation (in Eqs. 4 and 5). This leads to an exponential mass dependence of the waiting point lifetimes. Second, theoretical predictions of reaction rates $`<\sigma v>`$ (in Eq. 4) depend also on the adopted Q-values. In this work we choose to take into account both effects. To explore the impact of Q-value uncertainties on proton capture reaction rate calculations we use the statistical model code SMOKER . Even though the nuclei in question are close to the proton drip line a statistical approach is justified in most cases because reaction rates tend to become important only for larger Q-values when a local (p,$`\gamma `$)-($`\gamma `$,p) equilibrium cannot be established. Then the level density tends to be sufficient for the statistical model approach. Based on the new reaction rates we then use our new Q-values to recalculate ($`\gamma `$,p) photodisintegration rates via detailed balance as discussed in .

For the relevant temperature range between 1-2 GK, our new proton capture reaction rates vary in most cases not more than a factor of two within the explored mass uncertainties. An exception among the relevant reaction rates are the proton capture rates on 65,66As, 69,70Br, and 73,74Rb. These rates show a somewhat stronger variation of typically a factor of 4 – 6 as the associated proton capture Q-values are particularly uncertain. Fig. 4 shows two examples for the Q-value dependence of statistical model reaction rates. Generally, a larger Q-value leads to larger rates, as the higher excitation energy of the compound nucleus opens up more possibilities for its decay. For reference, Fig. 4 also shows the rates listed in , which had been calculated using Q-values from the Finite Range Droplet Mass model (FRDM1992) .

To disentangle the different effects of mass uncertainties quantitatively we performed test calculations in which changes in masses were only taken into account in the calculation of the ($`\gamma `$,p) photodisintegration rates, while the proton capture rates were kept the same. These test calculations lead to very similar luminosity and burst time scale variations as presented in this paper. Discrepancies were at most 8% in the luminosity and 0.1% in the burst timescale. This can be understood from Eq. 4 and 5. For example, a change of 1.37 MeV in the proton capture Q-value changes the 65As reaction rate and therefore the lifetime of the 64Ge waiting point nucleus by a factor of 3–4 (see Fig. 4 and Eq. 4). However, the same 1.37 MeV Q-value change in the $`\mathrm{exp}(Q/kT)`$ term in Eq. 5 would result in a lifetime change of 6 orders of magnitude (for a typical $`kT=100`$ keV). We therefore conclude that the impact of mass uncertainties on rp process calculations through changes in theoretical reaction rate calculations within the statistical model is much smaller than the impact through changes in (p,$`\gamma `$)/($`\gamma `$,p) reaction rate ratios.

The following calculations were performed with different assumptions on masses beyond the $`N=Z`$ line from $`Z=30`$-38: SkX based on the mass predictions of this work, SkX-MIN with all proton capture Q-values set to the lowest value, and SkX-MAX with all proton capture Q-values set to the highest values within the error bars of our binding energy predictions. A similar set of calculations has been performed for the mass extrapolations of Audi and Wapstra 1995  (AW95) and are labeled AW, AW-MIN, and AW-MAX. Fig. 5 shows the X-ray burst light curve, the nuclear energy generation rate, the abundances of the most important waiting point nuclei and the hydrogen and helium abundances as a function of time for all our calculations. As an example, Fig. 6 shows the time integrated reaction flow corresponding to the SkX calculation. While the $`\alpha `$p and rp processes below 56Ni are responsible for the rapid luminosity rise at the beginning of the burst, processing through the slow waiting points 64Ge, 68Se, 72Kr and the operation of the SnSbTe cycle (indicated by the 104Sn abundance) lead to an extended burst tail. The rp process from 56Ni to 64Ge, and the slowdown at 64Ge lead to a pronounced peak in the energy generation rate around 50 s after burst maximum. In principle the other waiting points have a similar effect, but the corresponding peaks in the energy production are much wider and therefore not noticeable.

Fig. 7 compares X-ray burst light curves for different assumptions on nuclear masses. Generally, lower proton capture Q-values enhance photodisintegration and favor the waiting point nuclei in local equilibria. Both effects lead to a slower reaction flow and therefore to less luminous but longer lasting burst tails. Even though the uncertainties in our new mass predictions are significantly smaller than in AW95, they still allow for a burst length variation from $`150`$$`250s`$ and a luminosity variation of about a factor of 2 (SkX-MIN and SkX-MAX). The lower limit Q-value calculation with AW95 masses (AW-MIN) is similar to our lower limit (SkX-MIN), but the larger uncertainties in the AW95 masses lead to large differences in the upper limits (SkX-MAX and AW-MAX) and would imply significantly shorter bursts with much more luminous tails (AW-MAX). However, some of the large proton capture Q-values in AW-MAX and to a lesser degree in SkX-MAX are already constrained by the experiments on 69Br and 73Rb. If those constraints are taken into account one obtains the AW-MAXEXP and SkX-MAXEXP calculations respectively, which are also shown in Fig. 7. The SkX-MAXEXP and AW-MAXEXP light curves are very similar.

The dependence of the light curves on the choice of proton capture Q-values can be understood entirely from the changes in $`\beta `$-decay and proton-capture branchings of the main waiting points 64Ge, 68Se, and 72Kr shown in Table I. The calculations with the lower limits on proton capture Q-values (SkX-MIN and AW-MIN) do not differ much as they all predict that proton captures do not play a role. However, for the upper limits sizable proton capture branches occur and lead to significant reductions in the lifetimes of the waiting points. In our upper limit (SkX-MAX) we obtain 26% proton capture on 68Se (via 2p capture) and 86% proton capture on 64Ge, while proton captures on 72Kr, with 8%, play only a minor role. These branchings become even larger for the AW95 upper limit calculations (AW-MAXEXP and AW-MAX). Note that $`\beta `$ decay of 60Zn is negligible (See Table I) because proton capture dominates for the whole range of nuclear masses considered here.

The importance of the one-proton capture Q-values in the determination of lifetimes for rp-process waiting points has been discussed extensively before . This importance is clearly expressed by the large changes in branching ratios and light curves when experimental constraints (which only exist for one-proton separation energies) are imposed on the AW-MAX calculations leading to AW-MAXEXP (Fig. 7 and Table I ). However, the two-proton capture Q-values can be equally important. For example, the proton capture branching on 68Se changes by an order of magnitude from 2% in AW to 15% in AW-MAXEXP. This change is entirely due to the change in the 70Kr proton separation energy from 1.86 MeV in AW to 2.4 MeV in AW-MAXEXP as the proton capture Q-value on 68Se is very similar (only 0.05 MeV difference). The reason for this sensitivity is the onset of photodisintegration of 70Kr that depends very sensitively on its proton separation energy. As soon as temperatures are sufficiently high for 70Kr($`\gamma `$,2p)68Se to play a role, 68Se, 69Br, and 70Kr are driven into a local (p,$`\gamma `$)-($`\gamma `$,p) equilibrium. With rising temperature the proton capture on 68Se drops then quickly to zero, because the temperature independent and slow $`\beta `$ decay of 70Kr in Eq. 5 cannot provide a substantial leakage out of the equilibrium. This is different from the situation at lower temperatures described by Eq. 4 where a lower equilibrium abundance of 69Br at higher temperatures can be somewhat compensated by the increasing proton capture rate on 69Br. This effect is illustrated in Fig. 8 which shows the lifetime of 68Se against proton capture and $`\beta `$ decay as a function of temperature for different choices of proton capture Q-values. The lifetime equals the $`\beta `$-decay lifetime for low temperatures because of slow proton capture reactions, and at high temperatures because of the photodisintegration effect discussed above. For the AW masses, the low proton separation energy of 70Kr leads to strong photodisintegration already at temperatures around 1.15 GK before proton captures can play a role. Therefore proton captures never reduce the lifetime significantly. For AW-MAXEXP, the only change is a larger 70Kr proton separation energy of 2.4 MeV. Though 69Br is unbound by 500 keV, proton captures can reduce the lifetime of 68Se by about a factor of two around 1.4 GK before photodisintegration sets in and starts inhibiting further proton captures. This can be compared with the upper limits of our predictions for proton separation energies (SkX-MAX). The larger proton separation energy of 69Br allows an onset of proton captures at slightly lower temperatures, but the lower proton separation energy of 70Kr leads also to an onset of photodisintegration at somewhat lower temperatures thus effectively shifting the drop in lifetime by about 0.1 GK. Note that it is not only the amount of lifetime reduction, but also how well necessary conditions match the actual conditions during the cooling of the X-ray burst that determine the role of proton captures and therefore the overall time scale of the rp process. As Fig. 8 shows, both depends sensitively on the nuclear masses.

A long-standing question is how the nuclear physics, and in particular the properties of the long-lived waiting points 64Ge, 68Se, and 72Kr affect the end-point of the rp process. Even for our lowest proton capture Q-values where proton captures on 68Se and 72Kr become negligible, we still find that the rp process reaches the SnSbTe cycle . Fig. 9 shows the final abundance distribution for the two extreme cases - our calculation with the slowest (SkX-MIN) and the fastest (AW-MAX) reaction flow. In both cases, the most abundant mass number is $`A=104`$, which is due to accumulation of material in the SnSbTe cycle at 104Sn. The main difference between the abundance patterns are the abundances that directly relate to the waiting points at $`A=64`$, 68, and 72 and scale roughly with the waiting point lifetime. In addition, for AW-MAX nuclei in the $`A=98`$–103 mass range are about a factor of 3 more abundant because of the faster processing and the depletion of $`A=64`$, 68, and 72.

## V Summary and Conclusions

We have made a new set of predictions for the masses of proton-rich nuclei on the basis of the displacement energies obtained from spherical Hartree-Fock calculations with the SkXcsb Skyrme interaction . SkXcsb provides a large improvement in the displacement energies over those obtained with other Skyrme interactions via the addition of a one-parameter charge-symmetry breaking component . A comparison with the experimental displacement energies measured in the mass region A=41-59 indicates that the accuracy of the calculated displacement energies is about 100 keV. We thus use this as a measure of the uncertainty expected for the higher mass region of interest in this paper. Experimental masses for some proton-rich nuclei in the mass region A=60-70 will be required to test our predictions. At the upper end, we may expect some deviation due to the very deformed shapes which involve the excitation of many $`pf`$-shell nucleons into the $`g_{9/2}`$ ($`sdg`$) shell which go beyond our spherical approach. In addition to the application to the rp-process, we have discussed the implication of the present model for the proton drip line. The most promising candidates for diproton emission are 64Zn, 59Ge, 63Se, 67Kr and 71Sr.

Our rp-process calculations based upon the masses obtained in the present model and those obtained from the Audi-Waptra mass extrapolations demonstrate clearly the sensitivity of X-ray burst tails on nuclear masses at and beyond the $`N=Z`$ line between Ni and Sr. Such a sensitivity on the Q-values for proton capture on 64Ge and 68Se has been pointed out before by Koike et al.  based on a similar X-ray burst model. However, Koike et al.  used a limited reaction network including only nuclei up to Kr. As we show in this paper, this is not sufficient for any assumption on nuclear masses, and as a consequence we find very different light curves and final abundances.

Our new calculation leads to tighter constraints on proton capture Q-values as compared with the AW95 mass extrapolations (see Fig. 7). The first radioactive beam experiments including the nonobservation of 69Br and 73Rb have also begun to provide important constraints. If those experiments are taken into account, our new predictions do not lead to substantially tighter limits, with the exception of the proton capture on 64Ge, where no experimental upper limit on the proton capture Q-value exists. Our new calculations increase the minimum $`\beta `$ branching at 64Ge by an order of magnitude from 1% to 14%, leading to a lower limit of the average 64Ge half-life in the rp process of 12.6 s instead of 0.9 s. As a consequence, we predict a smooth and continuous drop in the light curve during the first 30–40 s after the maximum, as opposed to the hump predicted with AW-MAX.

However, uncertainties in the mass predictions are still too large to sufficiently constrain the light curves and to determine the role that proton captures play in the reduction of waiting point lifetimes. While we find that within the errors of our mass predictions proton capture on 72Kr is negligible, our predicted average proton capture branchings for 64Ge and 68Se still cover a large range of 0.5%–86% and 0.0% - 26% respectively (of course this is a model-dependent result - for example more hydrogen or a higher density could strongly increase the proton capture branches). To a large extent this is because of the large uncertainties in the masses of $`N=Z`$ nuclei 64Ge (measured: 270 keV), 68Se (AW95 extrapolated: 310 keV), and 72Kr (measured: 290 keV)  that cannot be determined with the method presented here. In addition, uncertainties in the masses of mirror nuclei increase the errors for 73Rb (170 keV) and 70Kr (160 keV) substantially beyond the $``$100 keV accuracy of our predicted Coulomb shifts. Overall, this results in typical uncertainties of the order of 300 keV for several of the critical proton capture Q-values.

To summarize, uncertainties in the masses of the nuclei that determine the proton capture branches on 64Ge and 68Se represent a major nuclear physics uncertainty in X-ray burst light curve calculations. The relevant nuclei are listed in the upper part of Table II together with the currently available mass data and their uncertainties. The proton capture branches on 60Zn and 72Kr are of similar importance, but are sufficiently well constrained by current experimental limits and theoretical calculations. However, both the experimental and the theoretical limits are strongly model dependent. Therefore, improved experimental mass data would still be important to confirm the present estimates. These nuclei are listed in the lower part of Table II. As discussed in Sec. III there is experimental evidence indicating proton stability of all the nuclei listed, except for 69Br and 73Rb, which are probably proton unbound. Mass measurements of the proton bound nuclei could be performed with a variety of techniques including ion trap measurements, time of flight measurements, or $`\beta `$ decay studies. Recent developments in the production of radioactive beams allow many of the necessary experiments to be performed at existing radioactive beam facilities such as ANL, GANIL, GSI, ISOLDE, ISAC, and the NSCL. Mass measurements of the proton unbound nuclei 69Br and 73Rb require their population via transfer reactions from more stable nuclei, or by $`\beta `$ decay from more unstable nuclei. Both are significantly more challanging as much higher beam intensities or the production of more exotic nuclei are required, respectively.

Of course, burst timescales depend sensitively on the amount of hydrogen that is available at burst ignition. The more hydrogen that is available the longer the rp process and the longer the burst tail timescale. In this work we use a model with a large initial hydrogen abundance (close to solar) to explore the impact of mass uncertainties on X-ray burst light curves. This allows us to draw conclusions on the uncertainties in predictions of the longest burst timescales and the heaviest elements that can be produced in X-ray bursts. The former is important for example in light of recent observations of very long thermonuclear X-ray bursts from GX 17+2 , the latter for the question of the origin of p nuclei discussed below. Nevertheless we expect a similar light curve sensitivity to masses for other models as long as there is enough hydrogen for the rp process to reach the $`A=7476`$ mass region. In our one zone model we find that this requires about a 0.35-0.45 hydrogen mass fraction at ignition. Even though the burst temperatures and densities vary somewhat with the initial conditions we find shorter, but otherwise very similar reaction paths governed by the same waiting point nuclei. For bursts with initial hydrogen abundances below $``$ 0.3 the rp process does not reach the $`A=6072`$ mass region anymore and the mass uncertainties discussed in this work become irrelevant.

Observed type I X-ray bursts show a wide variety of timescales ranging from 10 s to hours. Our goal is to improve the underlying nuclear physics so that the observed burst timescales can be used to infer tight constraints on ignition conditions in type I X-ray bursts such as the amount of hydrogen available for a given burst. Such constraints would be extremely useful as they could, for example, lead to constraints on the impact of rotation and magnetic fields on the fuel distribution on the neutron star surface as well as on the heat flux from the neutron star surface . Our results indicate that without further theoretical or experimental improvements on nuclear masses it will not be possible to obtain such tight, quantitative constraints.

Nevertheless, some qualitative conclusions can already be drawn on the basis of our new mass predictions. Our new results provide strong support for previous predictions that the rp process in the $`A=6472`$ mass region slows down considerably leading to extended burst tails . As a consequence, the long bursts observed for example in GS 1826-24  can be explained by the presence of large amounts of hydrogen at ignition and can therefore be interpreted as a signature of the rp process.

Even for our lowest proton capture Q-values, when 68Se and 72Kr slow down the rp process with their full $`\beta `$-decay lifetime the rp process still reaches the SnSbTe cycle. Clearly, such a slowdown of the rp process does not lead to a premature termination of the rp process as has been suggested previously (for example ), but rather extends the burst time scale accordingly. As a consequence we find that hydrogen is completely consumed in our model.

However, a slower rp process will produce more nuclei in the $`A=64`$–72 range and less nuclei in the $`A=98`$–103 mass range. Interestingly, among the most sensitive abundances beyond $`A=72`$ is 98Ru, which is of special interest as it is one of the light p nuclei whose origin in the universe is still uncertain. p nuclei are proton rich, stable nuclei that cannot be synthesized by neutron capture processes. While standard p process models can account for most of the p nuclei observed, they cannot produce sufficient amounts of some light p nuclei such as 92,94Mo and 96,98Ru (for example ). Costa et al.  pointed out recently that a increase in the 22Ne($`\alpha `$,n) reaction rate by a factor of 10-50 above the presently recommended rate could help solve this problem, but recent experimental data seem to rule out this possibility . Alternatively, X-ray bursts have been proposed as nucleosynthesis site for these nuclei . An accurate determination of the 98Ru production in X-ray bursts requires therefore accurate masses in the $`A=6472`$ mass range. Further conclusions concerning X-ray bursts as a possible p process scenario have to wait for future self-consistent multi-zone calculations with the full reaction network, that include the transfer of the ashes into the interstellar medium during energetic bursts.

Support for this work was provided from US National Science Foundation grants number PHY-0070911 and PHY-95-28844.


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# 1 Introduction and History

## 1 Introduction and History

The TEXONO222Taiwan EXperiment On NeutrinO Collaboration has been built up since 1997 to initiate and pursue an experimental program in Neutrino and Astroparticle Physics. By the end of 2001, the Collaboration comprises more than 40 research scientists from major institutes/universities in Taiwan (Academia Sinica, Chung-Kuo Institute of Technology, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, and Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station), China (Institute of High Energy Physics, Institute of Atomic Energy, Institute of Radiation Protection, Nanjing University, Tsing Hua University) and the United States (University of Maryland), with AS, IHEP and IAE (with ) being the leading groups. It is the first research collaboration of this size and magnitude. among Taiwanese and Chinese scientists from major research institutes.

The research program is based on the the unexplored and unexploited theme of adopting detectors with high-Z nuclei, such as solid state device and scintillating crystals, for low-energy low-background experiments in Neutrino and Astroparticle Physics. The “Flagship” program is a reactor neutrino experiment to study low energy neutrino properties and interactions. It is the first particle physics experiment performed in Taiwan where local scientists are taking up major roles and responsibilities in all aspects of its operation: conception, formulation, design, prototype studies, construction, commissioning, as well as data taking and analysis.

In parallel to the reactor experiment, various R&D efforts coherent with the theme are initiated and pursued. Subsequent sections give the details and status of the program.

## 2 Kuo-Sheng Neutrino Laboratory

The “Kuo-Sheng Neutrino Laboratory” is located at a distance of 28 m from the core #1 of the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station (KSNPS) at the northern shore of Taiwan. A schematic view is depicted in Figure 1.

A multi-purpose “inner target” detector space of 100 cm$`\times `$80 cm$`\times `$75 cm is enclosed by 4$`\pi `$ passive shielding materials cosmic-ray veto scintillator panels, the schematic layout of which is shown in Figure 2 The shieldings provide attenuation to the ambient neutron and gamma background, and are made up of, inside out, 5 cm of OFHC copper, 25 cm of boron-loaded polyethylene, 5 cm of steel and 15 cm of lead.

Different detectors can be placed in the inner space for the different scientific goals. The detectors will be read out by a versatile electronics and data acquisition systems based on a 16-channel, 20 MHz, 8-bit Flash Analog-to-Digital-Convertor (FADC) module. The readout allows full recording of all the relevant pulse shape and timing information for as long as several ms after the initial trigger. The reactor laboratory is connected via telephone line to the home-base laboratory at AS, where remote access and monitoring are performed regularly. Data are stored and accessed in a multi-disks array with a total of 600 Gbyte memory via IDE-bus in PCs.

It is recognized recently that due to the uncertainties in the modeling of the low energy part of the reactor neutrino spectra, experiments to measure Standard Model neutrino-electron cross sections with reactor neutrinos should focus on higher electron recoil energies (T$`>`$1.5 MeV), as with (b), while neutrino magnetic moment searches should base on measurements with T$`<`$100 keV.

Accordingly, data taking for Period I Reactor ON/OFF has started in July 2001 and will continue till March 2002. Two detector systems are running in parallel using the same data acquisition system but independent triggers: (a) an Ultra Low Background High Purity Germanium (ULB-HPGe), with a fiducial mass of 1.06 kg, and (b) 46 kg of CsI(Tl) crystal scintillators. The target detectors are housed in a nitrogen environment to prevent background events due to the diffusion of the radioactive radon gas.

### 2.1 Germanium Detector

As depicted in Figure 3, the ULB-HPGe is surrounded by NaI(Tl) and CsI(Tl) crystal scintillators as anti-Compton detectors, and the whole set-up is further enclosed by another 3.5 cm of OFHC copper and lead blocks.

The measured spectrum, after cuts of cosmic and anti-Compton vetos, during 12.2 days of reactor ON data taking is displayed in Figure 4. Background (order of 1 keV-1kg-1day-1) and threshold (5 keV) levels comparable to underground Dark Matter experiment has been achieved on site. Additional cuts based on pulse shape and timing information are expected to further reduce the background level at low energy. It is expected the data taken in Period I would allow us to achieve world level sensitivities in $`\overline{\nu _e}`$ magnetic moments ($`\mu _\nu `$), and therefore indirectly, radiative lifetimes ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\nu `$). These are the lowest threshold data so far for reactor neutrino experiments, and therefore allow the studies of more speculative topics, like $`\mu _\nu `$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\nu `$ for $`\nu _e`$ from reactors, possible nuclear cross-sections, as well as anomalous neutrino interactions.

### 2.2 Scintillating CsI(Tl) Crystals

The potential merits of crystal scintillators for low-background low-energy experiments were recently discussed.

The CsI(Tl) detector system is displayed in Figure 5. Each crystal module is 2 kg in mass and consists of a hexagonal-shaped cross-section with 2 cm side and a length 40 cm. The first sample is with two 20 cm crystals glued optically at one end to form a module (L20+20). Techniques to grow CsI(Tl) mono-crystal of length 40 cm (L40), the longest in the world for commercial production, have been developed and are deployed in the production for subsequent batches. The light output are read out at both ends by custom-designed 29 mm diameter photo-multipliers (PMTs) with low-activity glass. The sum and difference of the PMT signals gives information on the energy and the longitudinal position of the events, respectively.

Extensive measurements on the crystal prototype modules have been performed. The energy and spatial resolutions as functions of energy are depicted in Figure 6. The energy is defined by the total light collection $`\mathrm{Q}_1+\mathrm{Q}_2`$. It can be seen that a $``$10% FWHM energy resolution is achieved at 660 keV. The detection threshold (where signals are measured at both PMTs) is $`<`$20 keV. The longitudinal position can be obtained by considering the variation of the ratio $`\mathrm{R}=(\mathrm{Q}_1\mathrm{Q}_2)/(\mathrm{Q}_1+\mathrm{Q}_2)`$ along the crystal. Resolutions of $``$2 cm and $``$3.5 cm at 660 keV and 200 keV, respectively, have been demonstrated.

In addition, CsI(Tl) provides powerful pulse shape discrimination capabilities to differentiate $`\gamma `$/e from $`\alpha `$ events, with an excellent separation of $`>`$99% above 500 keV. The light output for $`\alpha `$’s in CsI(Tl) is quenched less than that in liquid scintillators. The absence of multiple $`\alpha `$-peaks above 3 MeV  in the prototype measurements suggests that a 238U and 232Th concentration (assuming equilibrium) of $`<10^{12}`$ g/g can be achieved.

The data taken from the CsI(Tl) detector for Period I would be used for further optimization of the operation parameters as well as for studying the background. A cosmic muon event is shown in Figure 7. A $`>`$150 kg system will be installed for Period II. The physics goals include studies of neutrino-electron and neutrino-nuclei scattering cross sections.

## 3 R&D Program

Various projects with stronger R&D flavors are proceeding in parallel to the reactor experiment. The highlights are :

### 3.1 Low Energy Neutrino Detection

It is recognized recently that 176Yb and 160Gd are good candidate targets in the detection of solar neutrino ($`\nu _e`$) by providing a flavor-specific time-delayed tag. Our work on the Gd-loaded scintillating crystal GSO indicated major background issues to be addressed. We are exploring the possibilities of developing Yb-based scintillating crystals, like doping the known crystals $`\mathrm{YbAl}_{\mathrm{l5}}\mathrm{O}_{12}`$(YbAG) and $`\mathrm{YbAlO}_3`$(YbAP) with scintillators.

In addition, we have completed a feasibility study on boron-loaded liquid scintillator for the detector of $`\overline{\nu _e}`$. The case of “Ultra Low-Energy” HPGe detectors, with the potential applications of Dark Matter searches neutrino-nuclei coherent scatterings, are now being investigated.

### 3.2 Dark Matter Searches with CsI(Tl)

Experiments based on the mass range of 100 kg of NaI(Tl) are producing some of the most sensitive results in Dark Matter “WIMP” searches. The feasibilities and technical details of adapting CsI(Tl) or other good candidate crystal like CaF2(Eu) for WIMP Searches have been studied. A neutron test beam measurement was successfully performed at IAE 13 MV Tandem accelerator. We have collected the world-lowest threshold data for nuclear recoils in CsI, enabling us to derive the quenching factors, displayed in Figure 8, as well as to study the pulse shape discrimination techniques at the realistically low light output regime. The KIMS Collaboration will pursue such an experiment in South Korea.

### 3.3 Radio-purity Measurements with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Measuring the radio-purity of detector target materials as well as other laboratory components are crucial to the success of low-background experiments. The typical methods are direct photon counting with high-purity germanium detectors, $`\alpha `$-counting with silicon detectors or the neutron activation techniques. We are exploring the capabilities of radio-purity measurements further with the new Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) techniques. This approach may be complementary to existing methods since it is in principle a superior and more versatile method as demonstrated in the 13C system, and it is sensitive to radioactive isotopes that do not emit $`\gamma `$-rays (like single beta-decays from 87Rb and 129I) or where $`\gamma `$ emissions are suppressed (for instance, measuring 39K provides a gain of 105 in sensitivity relative to detecting $`\gamma `$’s from 40K). A pilot measurement of the 129I/127I ratio ($`<10^{12}`$) in CsI was successfully performed demonstrating the capabilities of the Collaboration. Further beam time is scheduled at the IAE AMS facilities to devise measuring schemes for the other other candidate isotopes like 238U, 232Th, 87Rb, 40K in liquid and crystal scintillators beyond the present capabilities by the other techniques.

### 3.4 Upgrade of FADC for LEPS Experiment

Following the success in the design and operation of the FADCs at the KS Lab, we will develop new FADCs for the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) constructed as a sub-detector for the LEPS experiment at the SPring-8 Synchrotron Facilities in Japan. The current FADCs are being used to provide readout to test the prototype TPC, an event of which is depicted in Figure 9. The upgraded FADCs will have 40 MHz sampling rate, 10-bit dynamic range and be equipped with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) capabilities for real time data processing. This new system is expected to be commissioned in Fall 2002.

In addition, the Collaboration is participating in the discussions on the scientific program and technical feasibilities of (a) the “H2B” project: a 2000 km Very Long Baseline High Energy Neutrino Experiment at Beijing to receive a neutrino beam from the HIPA Facilities in Tokyo due to be commissioned by 2006 in Japan, and (b) the detection scheme of very high energy tau-neutrinos using mountain ranges as target and air as the subsequent showering volume.

## 4 Outlook

With the strong evidence d neutrino oscillations from atmospheric and solar neutrino experiments, there are intense world-wide efforts to pursue the next-generation of neutrino projects. Neutrino physics and astrophysics will remain a central subject in experimental particle physics in the coming decade and beyond. There are room for ground-breaking technical innovations - as well as potentials for surprises in the scientific results.

A Taiwan, China and U.S.A. collaboration has been built up with the goal of establishing a qualified experimental program in neutrino and astro-particle physics. It is the first generation collaborative efforts in large-scale basic research between scientists from Taiwan and Mainland China. The technical strength and scientific connections of the Collaboration are expanding and consolidating. The flagship experiment is to perform the first-ever particle physics experiment in Taiwan at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Plant. From the Period I data taking, we expect to achieve world-level sensitivities and neutrino magnetic moments and radiative lifetime studies. A wide spectrum of R&D projects are being pursued. New ideas are being explored within a bigger framework.

The importance of the implications and outcomes of the experiment and experience will lie besides, if not beyond, neutrino physics.

## 5 Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the scientific members, technical staff and industrial partners of TEXONO Collaboration, as well as the concerned colleagues for the many contributions which “make things happen” in such a short period of time. Funding are provided by the National Science Council, Taiwan and the National Science Foundation, China, as well as from the operational funds of the collaborating institutes.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

A dilute cloud of Bose-condensed atoms confined within a trapping potential at low temperatures can be described by a wave function satisfying the Gross-Pitaevskii equation . This equation is nonlinear due to the atomic interactions through a local delta potential. The mathematical structure of the equation is that of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Stationary states of the latter, because of the confinement caused by a trapping potential, are restricted to discrete energy levels. These stationary eigenstates form a set of nonlinear modes, in analogy to linear modes that are solutions of a linear Schrödinger equation. The nonlinear modes can be called coherent modes, since the wave function of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation corresponds to a coherent state of Bose-condensed atoms. It is also possible to use the term topological modes, emphasizing that the wave functions related to different energy levels have different spatial topology.

This modal structure of the confined condensate states is in close analogy with nonlinear optical modes of nonlinear waveguide equations in optics . And the methods of creating nonlinear coherent modes of trapped Bose atoms \[5-7\] are also similar to those employed in optics, where one uses specially prepared initial conditions or invokes an action of external fields. Dynamics of fractional populations, characterizing the occupation of coherent modes of Bose-condensed trapped atoms, displays as well many phenomena equivalent to those known in optics, for instance collapses, revivals, and Rabi-type oscillations. The nonlinear dynamics of processes coupling bosonic coherent modes have been studied in several papers considering the general case \[5-7\], antisymmetric modes , dipole topological modes in a two-component condensate , dark-soliton states , and vortex modes \[12-19\].

The aim of the present paper is threefold: First, we demonstrate the existence of a critical line for the population dynamics of Bose condensates, which is a kind of bifurcation line due to the nonlinearity of evolution equations. Second, we show that there is an intimate relation between the studied nonlinear dynamical system and the corresponding averaged system, so that the bifurcation line is an analog of the critical line, and instabilities happening at the former are the counterparts of critical phenomena occurring at the latter. Third, we study the spatio-temporal evolution of atomic density under the action of a resonant external field.

## 2 Critical Phenomena

The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation has the form

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{\phi }{t}=\left[\widehat{H}(\phi )+\widehat{V}\right]\phi ,\widehat{H}(\phi )=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m_0}^2+U(𝐫)+AN|\phi |^2,$$
(1)
where $`U(𝐫)`$ is a trapping potential; $`A4\pi \mathrm{}^2a_s/m_0`$; $`a_s`$ is a scattering length; $`m_0`$ is mass; and $`N`$ is the number of particles; $`\widehat{V}`$ is a potential of external fields. The wave function $`\phi `$ is normalized to unity, $`\phi =1`$. The nonlinear topological modes are defined \[5-7\] as the eigenfunctions of the nonlinear Hamiltonian, that is, they are the solutions to the eigenproblem

$$\widehat{H}(\phi _n)\phi _n(𝐫)=E_n\phi _n(𝐫).$$

It is worth stressing here the principal difference between the topological coherent modes and collective excitations. The former are self-consistent atomic states defined by the nonlinear Gross-Pitaevskii equation. While the latter are the elementary excitations corresponding to small deviations from a given atomic state and are described by the linear Bogolubov-De Gennes equations .

Assume that at the initial time the system was condensed to the ground-state level with an energy $`E_0`$. So that the initial condition to Eq. (1) is $`\phi (𝐫,0)=\phi _0(𝐫)`$. Suppose we wish to couple the ground state $`\phi _0`$ with another state $`\phi _j`$ having a higher energy $`E_j`$. The best way for doing this is, clearly, by switching on an external field, say $`\widehat{V}=V(𝐫)\mathrm{cos}\omega t`$, oscillating with a frequency $`\omega `$ which is close to the transition frequency $`\omega _j(E_jE_0)/\mathrm{}`$, so that the detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega \omega \omega _j`$ be small, $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\omega /\omega |1`$. Then one can look for a solution to Eq. (1) in the form

$$\phi (𝐫,t)=c_0(t)\phi _0(𝐫)e^{iE_0t/\mathrm{}}+c_j(t)\phi _j(𝐫)e^{iE_jt/\mathrm{}}.$$
(2)
The considered situation is very similar to the description of nonlinear resonant processes in optics . The validity of the quasi-resonant two-level approximation (2) for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation has been confirmed mathematically \[5-7\] and also proved by direct numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation \[8,10,12-14\], the agreement between the two-level picture and the simulations being excellent.

The coefficients $`c_i(t)`$ define the fractional level populations $`n_i(t)|c_i(t)|^2`$. The equations for these coefficients can be obtained by substituting the presentation (2) in Eq. (1). It is again worth noticing the similarity of this presentation with the slowly-varying-amplitude approximation commonly used in optics, if one treats the factors $`c_i(t)`$ as slow functions of time, as compared to the exponentials in Eq. (2), which implies that $`|dc_i/dt|E_i`$. This approximation, being complimented by the averaging technique , permits one to slightly simplify the evolution equations for $`c_i(t)`$. In this way \[5-7\], we come to the equations

$$\frac{dc_0}{dt}=i\alpha n_jc_0\frac{i}{2}\beta c_je^{i\mathrm{\Delta }\omega t},\frac{dc_j}{dt}=i\alpha n_0c_j\frac{i}{2}\beta ^{}c_0e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }\omega t},$$
(3)
in which the transition amplitudes

$$\alpha _{ij}A\frac{N}{\mathrm{}}|\phi _i(𝐫)|^2\left(2|\phi _j(𝐫)|^2|\phi _i(𝐫)|^2\right)𝑑𝐫,\beta \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}\phi _0^{}(𝐫)V(𝐫)\phi _j(𝐫)𝑑𝐫,$$

caused by the nonlinearity and by the modulating field, respectively, are introduced, and the abbreviated notation $`\alpha \alpha _{0j}`$, with setting $`\alpha _{0j}=\alpha _{j0}`$, is used. Note that the transition amplitude $`\beta `$ is nonzero only if the potential $`V(𝐫)`$ depends on space variables. The initial conditions to Eqs. (3) are $`c_0(0)=1`$ and $`c_j(0)=0`$.

Usually, one solves such evolution equations with fixed parameters $`\alpha ,\beta `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$, keeping in mind a particular realization. Instead of this, we have studied the behavior of solutions to Eqs. (3) in a wide range of varying parameters. It turned out that this behaviour is surprisingly rich exhibiting new interesting effects.

First of all, it is easy to notice that the number of free parameters in Eqs. (3) can be reduced to two by the appropriate scaling. For this purpose, we measure time in units of $`\alpha ^1`$ and introduce the dimensionless parameters

$$b\frac{|\beta |}{\alpha },\delta \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\omega }{\alpha }.$$

It is also evident that Eqs. (3) are invariant with respect to the inversion $`\alpha \alpha `$, $`\beta \beta `$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega \mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$, and $`tt`$. Therefore it is possible to fix the sign of one of the parameters, say $`\alpha >0`$, since the opposite case can be obtained by the inversion. For concreteness, we shall also keep in mind that $`\beta `$ is positive. The dimensionless detuning is assumed to always be small, $`|\delta |1`$. And the dimensionless transition amplitude $`b`$ is varied in the region $`0b1`$. We have accomplished a careful analysis by numerically solving Eqs. (3). When parameter $`b`$ is small, the fractional populations oscillate reminding the Rabi oscillations in optics, where $`|\beta |`$ would play the role of the Rabi frequency. The amplitude of these oscillations increases with increasing $`b`$. It would be more correct to say that in our case there exist nonlinear Rabi oscillations, as far as Eqs. (3) differ from the corresponding equations for optical two-level systems by the presence of the nonlinearity due to interatomic interactions. This nonlinearity not only slightly modifies the Rabi-type oscillations of the fractional populations but, for a particular relation between parameters, can lead to dramatic effects. By accurately analyzing the behaviour of solutions to Eqs. (3), with gradually varying parameters, we have found out that there exists the critical line

$$b+\delta 0.5,$$

at which the system dynamics experiences sharp changes. This is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, where the parameter $`b=0.4999`$ is kept fixed and the critical line is crossed by varying the detuning $`\delta `$. In Fig. 1, the detuning is zero, and the fractional populations display the Rabi-type oscillations. By slightly shifting the detuning to $`\delta =0.0001`$ drastically changes the picture to that in Fig. 2, where the top of $`n_j(t)`$ and the bottom of $`n_0(t)`$ become flat, and the oscillation period is approximately doubled. A tiny further variation of the detuning to $`\delta =0.0001001`$ yields again drastic changes to Fig. 3, where there appear the upward cusps of $`n_j(t)`$ and the downward cusps of $`n_0(t)`$. The following small increase of the detuning to $`\delta =0.00011`$ squeezes the oscillation period twice, as is shown in Fig. 4. After this, making $`\delta `$ larger does not result in essential qualitative changes of the population behaviour. All dramatic changes in dynamics occur in a tiny vicinity of the critical line. The same phenomena happen when crossing the line $`b+\delta 0.5`$ at other values of parameters or if $`\delta `$ is fixed but $`b`$ is varied. This is demonstrated in Fig.5 for varying $`\delta `$ and another choice of $`b=0.3`$.

The unusual behaviour of the fractional populations is due to the nonlinearity of the evolution equations (3). Systems of nonlinear differential equations, as is known, can possess qualitatively different solutions for parameters differing by infinitesimally small values. The transfer from one type of solutions to another type, in the theory of dynamical systems, is, generally, termed bifurcation. At a bifurcation line, dynamical system is structurally unstable.

The second aim of our paper is to show that the found instability in the considered dynamical system is analogous to a phase transition in a statistical system. To elucidate this analogy for the present case, we have to consider the time-averaged features of the dynamical system given by Eqs. (3). To this end, we need, first, to define an effective Hamiltonian generating the evolution equations. This can be done by transforming these equations to the Hamiltonian form

$$i\frac{dc_0}{dt}=\frac{H_{eff}}{c_0^{}},i\frac{dc_j}{dt}=\frac{H_{eff}}{c_j^{}},$$

with the effective Hamiltonian

$$H_{eff}=\alpha n_0n_j+\frac{1}{2}\left(\beta e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }\omega t}c_0^{}c_j+\beta ^{}e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }\omega t}c_j^{}c_0\right).$$
(4)
An effective energy of the system can be defined as a time average of the effective Hamiltonian (4). For this purpose, Eqs. (3) can be treated by means of the averaging technique , as it is described in detail in Ref. , which provides the guiding-center solutions. Substituting the latter in Eq. (4), together with the time-averaged fractional populations, results in the effective energy

$$E_{eff}=\frac{\alpha b^2}{2\epsilon ^2}\left(\frac{b^2}{2\epsilon ^2}+\delta \right),$$

where $`\epsilon `$ is a dimensionless average frequency defined by the equation

$$\epsilon ^4(\epsilon ^2b^2)=(\epsilon ^2b^2\epsilon ^2\delta )^2.$$

The effective energy, being the time average of the effective Hamiltonian (4), characterizes the average features of the system. As an order parameter for this averaged system, one can take the difference of the time-averaged populations,

$$\eta \overline{n}_0\overline{n}_j=1\frac{b^2}{\epsilon ^2}.$$

The capacity of the system to store the energy pumped in by the resonant field can be described by the pumping capacity $`C_\beta =E_{eff}/|\beta |`$. The influence of the detuning on the order parameter is characterized by the detuning susceptibility $`\chi _\delta =|\eta /\delta |`$. Analyzing the behaviour of the introduced characteristics as functions of the parameters $`b`$ and $`\delta `$, we found out that they exhibit critical phenomena at the critical line $`b+\delta =0.5`$, which coincides with the bifurcation line for the dynamical system. Expanding these characteristics over the small relative deviation $`\tau |bb_c|/b_c`$ from the critical point $`b_c=0.5\delta `$, we obtain

$$\eta \eta _c\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}(12\delta )\tau ^{1/2},C_\beta \frac{\sqrt{2}}{8}\tau ^{1/2},\chi _\delta \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\tau ^{1/2},$$
(5)
where $`\eta _c\eta (b_c)`$ and $`\tau 0`$. As is seen, the pumping capacity and detuning susceptibility display divergence at the critical point. The related critical indices for $`C_\beta ,\eta `$, and $`\chi _\delta `$ are equal to $`1/2`$. These indices satisfy the known scaling relation:

$$ind(C_\beta )+2ind(\eta )+ind(\chi _\delta )=2,$$

where $`ind`$ is the evident abbreviation for index.

In order to clarify what is the origin of the found critical effects for the studied dynamical system, let us return back to Eqs. (3). Again we pass to dimensionless notation measuring time in units of $`\alpha ^1`$. By means of the substitution

$$c_0=\left(\frac{1p}{2}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{exp}\left\{i\left(q_0+\frac{\delta }{2}t\right)\right\},c_j=\left(\frac{1+p}{2}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{exp}\left\{i\left(q_1\frac{\delta }{2}t\right)\right\},$$
(6)
where $`p,q_0`$, and $`q_1`$ are real functions of $`t`$, equations (3) can be reduced to the form

$$\frac{dp}{dt}=b\sqrt{1p^2}\mathrm{sin}q,\frac{dq}{dt}=p+\frac{bp}{\sqrt{1p^2}}\mathrm{cos}q+\delta ,$$
(7)
in which $`qq_1q_0`$. Note that this reduction to an autonomous dynamical system is valid for arbitrary detuning $`\delta `$. Moreover, this system possesses the integral of motion

$$I(p,q)=\frac{1}{2}p^2b\sqrt{1p^2}\mathrm{cos}q+\delta p,$$
(8)
which can be defined by using the initial conditions $`p(0)=1`$ and $`q(0)=0`$ corresponding to the conditions $`c_0(0)=1`$ and $`c_j(0)=0`$. This gives

$$I(1,0)=\frac{1}{2}\delta .$$
(9)
The existence of the integral of motion means that the dynamical system is integrable in quadratures. This fact does not help much for studying the time evolution of the system, since the formal solutions $`p(t)`$ and $`q(t)`$ are expressed through rather complicated integrals, so that the system evolution, anyway, is to be analysed numerically. However, the property of integrability implies that the appearance of chaos in the system is impossible. Consequently, the observed critical effects in no way could be related to chaos. Then what is their origin? The answer to this question comes from the analysis of the phase portrait for Eqs. (7) in the rectangle defined by the inequalities $`1p1`$, $`0q2\pi `$. This analysis shows that, if $`b+\delta <0.5`$, then the motion starting at the initial point $`p(0)=1`$, $`q(0)=0`$ is oscillatory, with a trajectory lying always in the lower part of the phase rectangle, below the separatrix given by the equation

$$\frac{1}{2}p^2b\sqrt{1p^2}\mathrm{cos}q+\delta pb=0.$$
(10)
When $`b+\delta =0.5`$, the separatrix touches the initial point, so that the following motion occurs in the phase region above the separatrix. In this way, if we consider, under the given initial conditions, the parametric manifold formed by the parameters $`b[0,1]`$ and $`\delta 1`$, then the critical line $`b+\delta =0.5`$ separates the parametric regions related to two different types of solutions to Eqs. (7).

## 3 Spatio-Temporal Evolution

The resonance formation of coherent topological modes can be noticed by observing the spatio-temporal behaviour of the atomic density. To illustrate this, we consider a cylindrical trap, with the frequency ratio

$$\nu \frac{\omega _z}{\omega _r}(\omega _r\omega _x=\omega _y).$$
(11)
Introduce dimensionless cylindrical variables

$$r\frac{\sqrt{r_x^2+r_y^2}}{l_r},z\frac{r_z}{l_r}\left(l_r\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{}}{m_0\omega _r}}\right)$$
(12)
and the dimensionless wave function

$$\psi _{nmk}(r,\phi ,z)l_r^{3/2}\phi _{nmk}(𝐫),$$
(13)
in which $`n=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ is the radial quantum number; $`m=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}`$ is the asimuthal quantum number; and $`k=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ is the axial quantum number. The effective coupling parameter in dimensionless units is

$$g\frac{AN}{\mathrm{}\omega _rl_r^3}=4\pi \frac{a_s}{l_r}N.$$
(14)
The density of particles

$$\rho (𝐫,t)N|\phi (𝐫,t)|^2,$$
(15)
according to the form (2), contains both slow functions of time, $`c_0(t)`$ and $`c_j(t)`$, as well as fastly oscillating exponentials. To exclude the fastly oscillating terms, we introduce the envelope density

$$\overline{\rho }(𝐫,t)\frac{\omega }{2\pi }_0^{2\pi /\omega }\rho (𝐫,t)𝑑t,$$
(16)
where the integration is over time explicitly entering the exponentials, while $`c_0`$ and $`c_j`$ are kept fixed. Defining the dimensionless envelope density

$$\rho (r,\phi ,z,t)\frac{l_r^3}{N}\overline{\rho }(𝐫,t),$$
(17)
we obtain

$$\rho (r,\phi ,z,t)=n_0(t)|\psi _0(r,\phi ,z)|^2+n_j(t)|\psi _j(r,\phi ,z)|^2,$$
(18)
with $`j`$ denoting the set $`\{n,m,k\}`$ of quantum numbers.

Numerical calculations for the envelope density (18) are illustrated in Figs. 6 to 11, where it is clearly seen how strongly the spatio-temporal behaviour of the density (18) depends on the values of the parameters $`b`$ and $`\delta `$ in the vicinity of the critical line $`b+\delta 0.5`$. The behaviour of the density for the radial dipole mode $`(n=1,m=0,k=0)`$ is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The corresponding transition frequency in units of $`\omega _r`$, for large $`g1`$, is

$$\omega _{100}0.096(\nu g)^{2/5}.$$

The density for the basic vortex mode $`(n=0,m=1,k=0)`$ is given in Figs. 8 and 9. The related transition frequency, for $`g1`$, is

$$\omega _{010}\frac{3.424}{(\nu g)^{2/5}}.$$

And the density (18) for the axial dipole mode $`(n=0,m=0,k=1)`$ is shown in Figs. 10 and 11; the transition frequency of the latter mode being

$$\omega _{001}0.060(\nu g)^{2/5}.$$

In all Figs. 6 to 11, we set the coupling parameter (14) g=100 and take the frequency ratio (11) $`\nu =10`$, which corresponds to a disk-shape trap with the aspect ratio

$$R_r\left(\frac{<r^2>_{nmk}}{<z^2>_{nmk}}\right)^{1/2}\sqrt{2}\nu ,$$
(19)
as $`g1`$. For the chosen values of $`g`$ and $`\nu `$ the transition frequencies are

$$\omega _{010}0.216(basicvortexmode),$$

$$\omega _{001}0.951(axialdipolemode),$$

$$\omega _{100}1.521(radialdipolemode).$$

This demonstrates that the transition frequencies are arranged in the order

$$\omega _{010}<\omega _{001}<\omega _{100},$$
(20)
the lowest energy level corresponding to the basic vortex mode.

Let us note that the basic vortex mode, with the winding number $`|m|=1`$, sets off from other vortices with higher winding numbers $`|m|2`$. For a given angular momentum, the creation of several basic vortices is more energetically profitable than the formation of one vortex with a higher winding number .

## 4 Density of Current

When a coherent topological mode is excited in a trap, the density of current, as a function of space and time, also displays a peculiar behaviour. The density of current

$$𝐣(𝐫,t)\frac{i\mathrm{}}{2m_0}\left[\phi ^{}(𝐫,t)\phi (𝐫,t)\phi (𝐫,t)\phi ^{}(𝐫,t)\right]$$
(21)
can be rewritten as

$$𝐣(𝐫,t)=\frac{\mathrm{}}{m_0}\mathrm{Im}\phi ^{}(𝐫,t)\phi (𝐫,t).$$
(22)
The wave function (2) is the sum

$$\phi (𝐫,t)=\phi _0(𝐫,t)+\phi _j(𝐫,t)$$
(23)
of the terms

$$\phi _i(𝐫,t)c_i(t)\phi _i(𝐫)e^{iE_it/\mathrm{}},$$
(24)
where the index $`i=0,j`$.

With the wave function (23), the density of current (21) becomes

$$𝐣(𝐫,t)=𝐣_0(𝐫,t)+𝐣_{top}(𝐫,t)+𝐣_{int}(𝐫,t),$$
(25)
where the first term is the ground-state current density

$$𝐣_0(𝐫,t)\frac{\mathrm{}}{m_0}\mathrm{Im}\phi _0^{}(𝐫,t)\phi _0(𝐫,t),$$
(26)
the second term is the topological current density

$$𝐣_{top}(𝐫,t)\frac{\mathrm{}}{m_0}\mathrm{Im}\phi _j^{}(𝐫,t)\phi _j(𝐫,t),$$
(27)
due to the excited topological mode, and the third term is the interference current density

$$𝐣_{int}(𝐫,t)\frac{\mathrm{}}{m_0}\mathrm{Im}\left[\phi _0^{}(𝐫,t)\phi _j(𝐫,t)+\phi _j^{}(𝐫,t)\phi _0(𝐫,t)\right],$$
(28)
caused by the interference between the ground-state mode and the excited topological mode.

For the functions (24), one has

$$\phi _i^{}(𝐫,t)\phi _i(𝐫,t)=|c_i(t)|^2\phi _i^{}(𝐫)\phi _i(𝐫).$$

Using the substitution (6), one gets

$$n_0(t)|c_0(t)|^2=\frac{1p(t)}{2},n_j(t)|c_j(t)|^2=\frac{1+p(t)}{2}.$$
(29)
Since the ground-state wave function $`\phi _0(𝐫)`$ is real,

$$𝐣_0(𝐫,t)=0.$$
(30)
And the topological current density (27) acquires the form

$$𝐣_{top}(𝐫,t)=\frac{\mathrm{}}{m_0}n_j(t)\mathrm{Im}\phi _j^{}(𝐫)\phi _j(𝐫).$$
(31)
For example, in the case of a vortex mode, when $`\phi _j(𝐫)e^{im\phi }`$, with $`m=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}`$, one has

$$\mathrm{Im}\phi _j^{}(𝐫)\phi _j(𝐫)=\frac{m}{r}|\phi _j(𝐫)|^2𝐞_\phi .$$

Then the topological current density (31) is

$$𝐣_{top}(𝐫,t)=\frac{m\mathrm{}}{m_0r}n_j(t)|\phi _j(𝐫)|^2𝐞_\phi .$$
(32)
The total topological current is, of course, zero,

$$𝐣_{top}(𝐫,t)𝑑𝐫=0,$$
(33)
provided there is no flux through the boundary.

The interference current density (28) is a kind of the Josephson current oscillating with the transition frequency $`\omega _j\omega `$. If one averages over these fast oscillations, treating $`c_i(t)`$ as slow functions of time, one gets

$$\frac{\omega }{2\pi }_0^{2\pi /\omega }𝐣_{int}(𝐫,t)𝑑t=0.$$
(34)
Thus, the slow time variation of the summary density of current (25) is

$$\frac{\omega }{2\pi }_0^{2\pi /\omega }𝐣(𝐫,t)𝑑t=𝐣_{top}(𝐫,t),$$
(35)
being due to the topological current density (31).

## 5 Discussion

Here we have studied the resonant excitation of coherent topological modes in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. It is worth mentioning that there could be another way of creating those stationary modes that do not have zeros, except, may be, at infinity. Suppose, we wish to create a mode $`f(𝐫)`$ having no zeros. Then it is possible to perturb the system with the potential

$$V_f(𝐫)=E_f\frac{\widehat{H}(f)f(𝐫)}{f(𝐫)},$$

such that the given function $`f(𝐫)`$ be the ground-state wave function for the eigenproblem

$$\left[\widehat{H}(f)+V_f(𝐫)\right]f(𝐫)=E_ff(𝐫).$$

However, this way does not allow us to form topologically different modes having different number of zeros, which is admissible by means of the resonant excitation.

In conclusion, we have considered the population dynamics of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, subject to the action of a resonant spatio-temporal modulation of the trapping potential. A careful analysis of evolution equations has been made for the wide range of varying parameters. Such a variation of parameters can be easily realized by changing trap characteristics, varying the number and kind of condensed atoms, and by changing the scattering length using Feshbach resonances . It turned out that on the manifold of possible parameters there exists a critical line where the evolution equations display structural instability. We have demonstrated that this instability for a dynamical system is analogous to a phase transition for a stationary averaged system. For the latter, one can define an order parameter, pumping capacity, and detuning susceptibility which exhibit critical phenomena at the critical line. The origin of this critical line is elucidated by showing that it divides the parametric manifold onto two regions corresponding to different solutions of the evolution equations. The spatio-temporal behaviour of the density of trapped atoms is studied for several first topological modes.

Acknowledgement

One of us (V.I.Y.) is very grateful to V.K. Melnikov for many useful discussions.

Figure captions

Fig. 1. The time dependence of the fractional populations $`n_0(t)`$ and $`n_j(t)`$ for $`b=0.4999`$ and $`\delta =0`$. Here and in the Figures 1 to 5 the dashed line corresponds to the ground-state population $`n_0(t)`$ and the solid line, to the excited-level population $`n_j(t)`$.

Fig. 2. Flattening of the fractional populations, with their oscillation period being doubled, at $`b=0.4999`$ and $`\delta =0.0001`$.

Fig. 3. The appearance of the upward cusps of $`n_j(t)`$ and of the downward cusps of $`n_0(t)`$ for $`b=0.4999`$ and $`\delta =0.0001001`$.

Fig. 4. Fractional populations versus time for $`b=0.4999`$ and $`\delta =0.00011`$.

Fig. 5. The dynamics of fractional populations, for varying $`\delta `$ and fixed $`b=0.3`$, demonstrating the qualitative change of behaviour when crossing the critical line: (a) $`\delta =0.242681`$; (b) $`\delta =0.242682`$; (c) $`\delta =0.243000`$; (d) $`\delta =0.3`$.

Fig. 6. The spatio-temporal behaviour of the envelope density (18) as a function of the radial variable $`r`$, at fixed $`z=0`$ for the radial dipole mode $`(n=1,m=0,k=0)`$. Here and in all following figures the characteristic parameters $`g=100,\nu =10`$, and $`b=0.4999`$ are fixed, while the detuning $`\delta `$ is varied in the vicinity of the critical line $`b+\delta 0.5`$. In this Figure, we set $`\delta =0.00010`$. Time is measured in dimensional units explained in the text: $`t=0`$ (solid line); $`t=3`$ (long-dashed line); $`t=15`$ (short-dashed line).

Fig. 7. The same as in Fig. 6, but for the detuning $`\delta =0.00011`$ and for the moments of time: $`t=0`$ (solid line); $`t=10`$ (long-dashed line); $`t=26`$ (short-dashed line). At the time $`t=26`$ the system is in the pure radial dipole state.

Fig. 8. Excitation of the basic vortex mode $`(n=0,m=1,k=0)`$. The envelope density is shown as a function of the radial variable $`r`$ for $`z=0`$. The detuning is $`\delta =0.00010`$. The moments of time are: $`t=0`$ (solid line); $`t=3`$ (long-dashed line); $`t=15`$ (short-dashed line).

Fig. 9. The same as in Fig. 8, but for the detuning $`\delta =0.00011`$. The moments of time are: $`t=0`$ (solid line); $`t=10`$ (long-dashed line); $`t=26`$ (short-dashed line). At $`t=26`$ the system is in the pure vortex state.

Fig. 10. Excitation of the axial dipole mode $`(n=0,m=0,k=1)`$. The envelope density as a function of the axial variable $`z`$ at the point $`r=0`$. Here $`\delta =0.00010`$. The time moments are: $`t=0`$ (solid line); $`t=3`$ (long-dashed line); $`t=15`$ (short-dashed line).

Fig. 11. The same as in Fig. 10, but for the detuning $`\delta =0.00011`$ and for the times: $`t=0`$ (solid line); $`t=20`$ (long-dashed line); $`t=26`$ (short-dashed line). At the moment $`t=26`$ the system is in the pure axial dipole state.