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# A Map of the Cosmic Microwave Background from the BEAST Experiment.

## 1 Introduction

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), interpreted as relic radiation from an early hot dense phase of the universe, is generally acknowledged as one of our primary probes of conditions in the early universe(Hu and Dodelson 2002 and references therein). Mapping the temperature anisotropies of the CMB has been the subject of intensive effort over the past two decades, with the results of many studies published within the last 3 years: BOOMERANG (Netterfield et al. 2001), MAXIMA(Lee et al. 2001), CBI (Mason et al 2002), DASI(Halverson et al. 2002), Archeops (Benoit et al. 2002), and ACBAR(Kuo et al. 2002) among others (see Bersanelli et al 2002 for a recent review).

Temperature anisotropy measurements have been used to calibrate the amplitude of the initial density perturbations and constrain the primordial spectral index (Gorski et al. 1996), measure the overall density of the universe(De Bernardis et al. 2001, etc.), and recently to make detailed comparisons between competing scenarios for structure formation, leaving a rather narrow range of consistent adiabatic inflationary models. In combination with recent constraints from supernova SNIa and Large Scale Structure (LSS) data, CMB temperature anisotropy data strongly suggest models with a large fraction of the total energy density in a cosmological constant or other ’dark sector’.

CMB data are normally reduced to an estimate of the angular power spectrum of fluctuations for comparison to theoretical predictions. The salient features of the currently allowed adiabatic inflationary models are a series of ’acoustic’ peaks and troughs in the power spectrum from $`\mathrm{}`$ (spherical harmonic multipole) of about 200 and up.(Bond & Efstathiou 1987) The positions and amplitudes of these peaks pin down the details of the cosmological models. Each of the aforementioned experiments was designed to target a particular region of ’$`\mathrm{}`$-space’ or portion of the angular power spectrum. Sensitivity to high $`\mathrm{}`$ modes is limited by the angular resolution of the telescope. Resolution in $`\mathrm{}`$-space is limited by the size of the region studied. Amplitude uncertainties at all $`\mathrm{}`$ are limited by the detector noise and integration time. At low $`\mathrm{}`$ values in particular, sample variance can increase the amplitude uncertainty of a measurement, an effect which can only be reduced by increasing sky coverage. BEAST, in particular the observing campaign described in this paper, has been optimized to study the first of these peaks in detail.

### 1.1 Instrument Overview

BEAST is a mixed Q-band (38-45 GHz) and Ka-band (25-35 GHz) focal plane that views the sky through a 2.2 m off-axis telescope followed by a modulating flat mirror. Primarily funded by NASA, BEAST is largest aperture CMB telescope flown to date. The instrument is described in detail in Childers et al. (2003), while the optical design is described in Figueiredo et al. (2003). BEAST is most similar to one of our previous balloon borne telescopes, HACME (Staren et al. 2000; Tegmark et al. 2000) but with a much larger telescope and a focal plane array. After two balloon flights in 2000, BEAST was reconfigured to take advantage of the UC White Mountain Research Station (WMRS) site on Barcroft mountain, CA (altitude 3800 m ). The data described here were taken with 6 elements of the array operational, 2 Ka-band and 4 Q-band detectors. 2 of the Q-band detectors are installed on an Ortho-Mode Transducer (OMT) using a single horn split into vertical and horizontal polarizations. The other horns have single polarization receivers, oriented at various angles. The telescope was installed in an unused building, modified so the roof can be rolled off. BEAST is aligned at 74 degrees East of North, and can view nominal central elevation angles from 60 to greater than 90 degrees. The instrument was fully installed and operational at Barcroft in July, 2001, and took data nearly continuously until December 2001. Two more weeks of data were obtained in February 2002 and a longer campaign took place from August through October of 2002.

### 1.2 Observing strategy

BEAST views the sky through a large (2.5 meter diameter) spinning flat mirror, tilted 2.2 degrees from its rotation axis. As the flat spins this tilt moves the field of view of the telescope around a nearly elliptical path on the sky of diameter about 9 degrees. The 5 operational feeds thus follow the path shown in Figure 1 for the normal telescope elevation angle of 90.4 degrees. Two main strategies were employed in taking data. The first involved scanning the nominal (central) elevation of the telescope from 80 to 90 degrees and back continuously, the second method was to keep the elevation angle fixed near 90 degrees and allow Earth rotation to provide the mapping scan. All of the data reported here are from the ’fixed elevation’ data set. This choice was made primarily for the simpler and more robust pointing solution obtained in fixed elevation mode, and the fact that there were no significant improvements in systematic tests gained from the elevation scans. The resulting map is an annulus around the North Celestial Pole (NCP) of width $`10`$ degrees, around declination 37 degrees. Figure 2 shows the entire Q-band map with the beam trajectories overlaid.

The output of each radiometer is amplified, ac coupled with a highpass filter time constant of 15 seconds, and then integrated in an ’ideal’ or boxcar integrator with nearly 100% duty cycle. The integration time is set for $`800\mu `$s and digitized to 16 bits.

The angular position of the flat mirror (rotating at 2 Hz) is measured simultaneously so the data can be synchronized with the instantaneous position of the relevant telescope beam. The first step of analysis involves rebinning the raw 1250 Hz data stream into ’optical sectors’, corresponding to 250 angular positions of the flat mirror. Each ’optical sector’ therefore, identifies an angular position of the flat, which is related by the telescope geometry to a precise azimuth-elevation pointing for each of the 5 active detector elements. These pointing data are converted to celestial coordinates and then ultimately to HEALPix (Hierarchical Equal Area isoLatitude Pixelisation, Gorski et al. (1998)) pixel numbers. The resulting optical sector data stream has an effective sampling rate of approximately 450 Hz. The raw data amount to approximately 3.7 Gigabytes per day.

### 1.3 Calibration

The receivers are calibrated hourly by passing an ambient temperature microwave absorber between the feeds and the secondary mirror. The output of the acquisition system is then corrected for the effects of the ac coupling in addition to a small (order 10%) correction for compression of the detector outputs while viewing the ambient target. The difference between the load and the sky temperatures is then used to compute the calibration coefficients, measured in K/V. This hourly calibration constant is applied to the data during pipeline analysis. Calibration and effective beamsize were confirmed independently using Cygnus A as the celestial source. Overall calibration uncertainty is $`\pm `$10%. Calibration and beamsize issues are covered more completely in Childers et al. (2003).

## 2 Data Set

### 2.1 Raw Data Statistics

Figure 3 shows a sample section of time ordered data for a typical channel. The top strip of small points is the raw data stream, including electrical and any radiometric offset. The large nearly sinusoidal component is due to the varying atmospheric contribution as the flat sends the beam through different elevations and therefore different optical depths. This variation is approximately 60 mK peak-to-peak for this Q-band (38-45 GHz) channel. We obtain a high signal to noise estimate of the nearly constant atmospheric contribution for each revolution by binning all the data for each hour by optical sector to produce a ’template’ signal for that hour. We then subtract this template from every revolution in that hour to remove the first order atmospheric contribution. Note that systematic errors fixed in the telescope frame or phase locked to the flat revolution would be removed as well. Examples of such effects are fixed sidelobe contamination and electrical noise synchronous with the flat motion. Since our strategy keeps the telescope fixed, in principle any sidelobe illumination of the observatory or ground would be removed. There is no direct evidence for any contribution except atmosphere. The solid line plotted through the raw data points is the template for this hour, while the central strip of data points clustered near zero are the residuals from the template subtraction. The lower strip of data points show the result of highpass filtering the template-removed data set at 10 Hz corresponding to about 6 degrees on the sky (effectively giving us a low $`\mathrm{}`$-space cutoff). These data have been offset from zero for clarity. The combination of 1 hour template removal and steep 10 Hz highpass filter is a reasonable compromise between between extending the low $`\mathrm{}`$ coverage and minmizing the increasing effects of 1/f instrument and atmospheric noise contributions. Other filters have also been tried and will be reported on in the future. Without the template removal, harmonics of the spin rate remain in the data and can show up as striping in the maps. Hourly sections of data are our natural units since calibrations happen on the hour, breaking the continuity of the data stream. There appears to be no benefit to using longer sections for calculating the template: we have not yet investigated in detail the advantages of using shorter time periods for template subtraction. Both hourly template removal and 10 Hz highpass filter were used in the analysis described below.

Estimates for the noise amplitude spectral density for this hour are given in Figure 4, calibrated in $`\mu \mathrm{K}\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}`$. The large signal near 2 Hz and its higher frequency harmonics are due to the atmospheric contribution discussed above. Notice that due to fact that the beam trajectory is not circular, and passes beyond zenith, the resulting atmospheric signal is distorted from sinusoidal, producing significant harmonics of the spin frequency. Also shown on the plot is the noise density after template removal and 10 Hz highpass filtering. The plot demonstrates the BEAST detector noise has significant contributions from correlated, long memory (or “1/f”) noise. The knee frequency of “1/f” noise is defined as the frequency where the total noise power spectral density (1/f + white) exceeds by a factor of two its white noise level. The latter determines our sensitivity per unit time for angular scales near the beam size. Table 1 summarizes the receiver and atmospheric noise and signal performance for a typical accepted hour of data from this campaign.

### 2.2 Pointing Reconstruction

The BEAST scan strategy produces a large area map (2470 square degrees) with high resolution, and we require a precise pointing solution to associate every optical sector for every channel with a position in celestial coordinates. We know the geometry of the telescope, but not well enough to calculate the beam positions to sufficient accuracy for map reconstruction. Deviation from ideality of the optics gives uncertanties on the ”a priori” knowledge of the beam positions. BEAST was placed in an existing building that did not allow us to move the telescope appreciably in azimuth, and we are unable to target the moon, sun or any planets for pointing verification. We bootstrapped the pointing model by starting with the known geometry, then flying a small airplane equipped with GPS over the system in a grid pattern. The spikes in the BEAST data due to the airplane thermal emission were then correlated with the measured relative position of the airplane to make a crude improvement to the pointing model. Cygnus A as well as several other well known radio sources are included in our map, and we have been able to use these sources to further refine the pointing model, beamsize and calibration. Figure 5 is a portion of the final map (all Q-band channels averaged) showing Cygnus A and the Cygnus Loop region. The reconstruction returns an effective resolution of 23 arcminutes FWHM in Q-band. This is in contrast with the previously measured telescope resolution of 19 arcminutes. The smearing from the design resolution to the measured effective FWHM of 23 arcminutes is due to a combination of unmeasured pointing errors (telescope flex, long term telescope sag), residual errors in the pointing reconstruction algorithm, smearing due to the finite HEALPix resolution of 6.9 arcminutes, and smearing from the inital flat rotation sectors (about 6.7 arcminutes). The pointing model is converted to a lookup table of azimuth and elevation for each horn, sector and telescope elevation for use in the pipeline processing.

### 2.3 Data Reduction and Analysis

The first data reduction step was to reformat the data into optical sectors, and incorporate relevant pointing information into a single file (hereafter called ’level 0 FITS file’), which conforms to the FITSIO standard. A single file was produced for each hour, including all channels, as well as telescope elevation, and other pointing information. In addition to rebinning to optical sectors we measured some statistics on these hourly sets to allow simple data culling later. In particular we measured the RMS of each channel for the hour as well as the RMS after highpass filtering the data at 10 Hz. Transients (generally due to thermal emission from airplanes crossing the instruments field of view) were removed and replaced with adjacent data. These points were flagged as ’unusable’ for later analysis stages. Level 0 processing was:1) Import 1 hour Receiver and Pointing data, 2) Calculate statistics (RMS and highpass filtered RMS), 3) Rebin raw (not highpass filtered) data to Optical sectors, 4) Remove transients, flag bad or replaced points 5) Store data to FITS, save summary statistics in header.

The next step was to cull the data for bad weather and out of specification performance (ie when systems were off or under test or during calibrations). This was done by looking at the statistics of the highpass filtered data RMS in the level 0 headers. Generally all the channels showed the same sensitivity to bad weather, and there was a clear knee in the distribution of RMS’s for making the cut.

We then moved to ’level 1’ data files, which integrated the pointing data into map pixel indices. We chose to use the HEALPix (Gorski et al. 1998) set of standards and routines, partly for the inherent advantages of the pixelization scheme and partly for the extensive infrastructure of tools available from the HEALPix team for manipulating and visualizing the resulting maps. This standardization and set of tools has been invaluable in performing all of our subsequent analysis 111The HEALPix homepage is located at http://www.eso.org/science/healpix/.. Every sample for each channel was then associated with an azimuth-elevation pointing via the lookup table mentioned above, then to a celestial coordinate pointing using the known observation time and location, thence to a HEALPix index using the HEALPix IDL library routines. We chose to use Nside=512, with a resolution corresponding to 6.9 arcminute pixels as a reasonable oversampling of our beamsize. Level 1 data files then included time, 6 columns of data, 1 column of ’goodness-of-data’ flag, and 6 columns of HEALPix indices.

To produce a map, we 1) Read in Level 1 file, 2) Calculate and subtract hourly atmospheric template from all channels, 3) highpass filter all channels at 10 Hz, 4) Bin into daily map (ignoring flagged points, saving statistics), 5) Iterate for all hours to complete daily map for all channels, 6) Save daily map to disk, start next day This generates a map with statistics for each day for each channel. We then co-added (averaged by pixel) the daily channel maps into total data set channel maps, weighting by the average noise per pixel per day. The Q-band channels were then co-added with appropriate noise weighting to create the total Q-band data maps, as were the Ka channels. In addition to these averaged maps, we made ’difference’ maps, where we binned 1/2 of the days into one map, the other 1/2 of the days into another. Then we generated the difference of these two maps on a pixel by pixel basis, dividing by 2 to maintain the noise statistics of the average maps. These difference maps give us a measure of the noise in the maps vs the signal + noise in the average maps. Some of these difference maps are displayed below.

### 2.4 Maps and Statistics

Figures 6 and 7 display two representative sections of the BEAST Q-band average map. Each Figure contains 3 panels. The top panel is the full Nside=512 resolution map in gnomonic projection around $`\delta `$ = 38 degrees and $`\alpha `$= 0 and 160 degrees. The second panel is this same map smoothed with a 0.5 degree FWHM gaussian. The third panel is the 0.5 degree FWHM smoothed difference map as a visual guide to the effective noise level in the smoothed average map.

### 2.5 Noise properties

Figure 8 shows the distribution of pixel values for the Q-band map, compared with a gaussian distribution. The distributions with and without the galaxy and point source cuts are shown. One measure of the noise and signal in the map is to calculate the standard deviation of the map (after removing foreground contaminated regions) and compare with the standard deviation in the difference map, which should have the same noise characteristics, but no CMB signal. For Q-band we find $`254\pm 25\mu \mathrm{K}`$ at 6.9’ pixels for the sum map and $`252\pm 25\mu \mathrm{K}`$ for the difference map. Smoothing to 30 arcminutes FWHM we get $`54\pm 5\mu \mathrm{K}`$ for the sum and $`47\pm 5\mu \mathrm{K}`$ for the difference, consistent with a signal RMS contribution of $`26\mu `$ K (Rayleigh-Jeans units). Converting to blackbody spectrum and correcting for 3% atmospheric attenuation we obtain $`28\pm 3\mu \mathrm{K}`$ (quoted error dominted by calibration uncertainty). Note that this includes the map smoothing, and the complex BEAST filter produced by our AC coupling, beam shape, highpass filter, and template removal, so is not our best estimate of sky signal, but only an indicator of a statistically significant sky signal.

### 2.6 Foregrounds

Any sensitve CMB map of this size will cross regions of significant foreground contamination as is seen in our maps with the galactic crossings. Other than a few regions the map appears to be remarkably clean. By comparison with foreground maps, we have been able to determine a very conservative cut in galactic latitude which removes diffuse foregrounds, while for point sources we have used a strict point source finding algorithm operating on the data maps. Point sources were removed by excising a 1 degree diameter circle of pixels centered on each source. The most interesting feature of our foreground contamination is a large structure near $`\alpha `$=60 degrees, $`\delta `$=36.5 degrees. The feature is 0.75 mK in the smoothed Q-band map and 1.4 mK in Ka-band, implying a power law spectral index of -1.9, consistent with free-free emission. We see a large correlation with a feature in the combined IRAS/DIRBE map (Finkbeiner et al. ), but no correlation at all with the Haslam map at 408 MHz. Initially we thought this might be evidence for spinning dust grains, but a comparison with integrated H$`\alpha `$ emission showed a very large correlation, consistent with free-free emission. This comparison was made possible by the availability of a map of integrated H$`\alpha `$ emission produced by D. Finkbeiner (Finkbeiner, 2003) using data from WHAM (Reynolds et al. 2002), VTSS (Dennison et al. 1998), and SHASSA (Gaustad et al. 2001). The expected free-free emission is estimated by scaling from Bennett et al. (1992) which predicts $`3\mu \mathrm{K}`$ /Rayleigh at 40 GHz. For our structure we measure $`5.7\mu `$K/Rayleigh. Since the correlations with the H$`\alpha `$ map were so much more evident than with Haslam and IRAS that we used the H$`\alpha `$ data to estimate our required galactic latitude cut: by cutting out data with $`b`$ less than $`25\mathrm{°}`$ we expect less than $`10\mu `$K contamination from free-free emission. This is a very conservative cut and we expect to refine this further to increase the accepted sky fraction. Our resulting foreground removal template is shown in figure 9, shaded regions are used in the power spectrum analysis.

## 3 Discussion

We have produced extended ($`2500`$ square degree) sky maps with good angular resolution and control of systematics. Visual inspection of the smoothed maps shows unmistakable structure. Quantitative results for the power spectrum of CMB fluctuations which is consistent with our data are presented in a companion paper (O’Dwyer et al. 2003). In addition to cosmic structures we have interesting correlations with known astrophysical foregrounds. Further analysis will yield important information about the amplitude, spectra and possibly polarization of these foregrounds.

As an aid in interpreting our maps, and as a guide to our $`\mathrm{}`$-space filter, we have made a single realization of a ’white’ power spectrum sky (equal power on all scales), and then simulated the BEAST pipeline over that map. We created a full sky map with normally distributed noise in each pixel. This map was then smoothed with a gaussian of FWHM=23 arcminutes to simulate our effective beam. Next we simulated the time ordered data expected from this map without additional noise by sampling with the BEAST pointing timestream. We ran the resulting timeline through the BEAST analysis pipeline, including template removal, filtering and binning. Finally we cut using the same foreground template used in the actual data map. ’PseudoCl’ power spectra (that is power spectra calculated assuming full sky coverage but actually covering only a particular region) were calculated for the full unsmoothed white input map, the smoothed white map, the smoothed and foreground cut white map, and the full BEAST simulated smoothed and foreground cut map. The results are shown in figure 10. The two all sky power spectra have been scaled by the sky fraction (2.85% of full sky) of the foreground cut template in order to put them onscale, and to demonstrate that the primary effect of limited sky coverage on our $`\mathrm{}`$-space filter is just amplitude. All of the smoothed maps display the high $`\mathrm{}`$ cutoff of our beam. Below $`\mathrm{}`$ of about 150, the input map power spectrum is virtually the same as the smoothed and cut sky power spectra, while the BEAST simulated map power spectrum displays the low $`\mathrm{}`$ cutoff of the combined template removal and 10 Hz highpass filter. The loss of sensitivity from $`\mathrm{}50`$ to $`\mathrm{}150`$ is dominated by the highpass filter cutoff. Note that this analysis neglects correlations among different $`\mathrm{}`$s. Figure 11 gives an approximation to the $`\mathrm{}`$ space window function based on these calculation.

Power spectra from the data and cosmological parameter estimates will be presented in a companion paper (O’Dwyer et al. 2003).

## 4 Future Observations

We have shown the utility of making large area sky maps with a simple scanning strategy and expect to add significantly more data in the near future. The data presented so far are the result of 27 days of ”good data”. Our experience so far is we can achieve ”good data” more than 50% of the days at our observatory. The site has proven to be extremely good in our wavelength range and the atmosphere stable. A paper discussing the site is in preparation. One year of observations with the existing system only improved by new HEMT’s should yield 7 $`\mu `$K errors per 30 arcminute pixel on 10% of the sky. The BEAST optics are precise enough to observe to nearly 1 THz so a variety of sky surveys are possible. At 90 GHz the beam size would be about 8.5 arc minutes FWHM while at 150 GHz it is 5 arcminutes.

## 5 Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to thank K. Gorski, D. Maino, D. Finkbeiner, S. Myers, T. Montroy and J. R. Bond for useful discussions. M. Lim and J. Staren made significant contributions early in the development of BEAST. We wish to thank the White Mountain Rearch Station, particularly D. Trydahl, R. Masters, and M. Morrison, for heroic efforts in getting BEAST sited. WMRS director F. Powell’s enthusiastic support has been critical to our success. BEAST was built with help from numerous talented UCSB physics undergraduates, as well as the superb UCSB machine shop, and administrative staff. We wish to thank E.Mattaini and E.Santambrogio from IASF Milano for there contributions. We also want to thank the National Scientific Balloon Facility staff for their support on our two balloon campaigns leading up to the current ground based work. The develpment and operations of BEAST were supported by NASA Office of Space Sciences, the National Science Foundation, University of California White Mountain Research Station, and the California Space Institute (CalSpace). Production of the superb BEAST optics were made possible by personal and corporate support from K. Kedward (UCSB ME), M. Pryor (COI), S. Dummer (Surface Optics), J. Wafer and T. Ives(Thin Film Technology),TRW, J. Anthony (Union Carbide) and Able Engineering. We had support from NRAO and M. Pospieszalski, as well as TRW in developing our HEMT amplifiers. N.F. and A.P. were partially supported by CNPq grant # 470531/2001-0. JM is supported by FAPESP grants 01/13235-9 and 02/04871-1. TV and CAW were partially supported by FAPESP grant # 00/06770-2. TV was partially supported by CNPq grants # 466184/00-0 and 302266/88-7-FA. CAW was partially supported by CNPq grant # 300409/97-4 and FAPESP grant # 96/06501-4. The research described in this paper was performed in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


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# Entanglement teleportation using three-qubit entanglement

## Abstract

We investigate the teleportation of an entangled two-qubit state using three-qubit entangled GHZ and W channels. The effects of white noise on the average teleportation fidelity and amount of entanglement transmitted are also studied.

The linearity of quantum mechanics allows building of superposition states of composite system that cannot be written as products of states of each subsystem. Such states are called entangled. States which are not entangled are referred to as separable states. An entangled composite system gives rise to nonlocal correlation between its subsystems that does not exist classically. This nonlocal property enables the uses of local quantum operations and classical communication to transmit information with advantages no classical communication protocol can offer. The understanding of entanglement is thus at the very heart of quantum information theory Nielsen . In recent years, three-particle entangled states have been investigated by a number of authors Vidal ; Dur ; Acin ; Andrianov ; Rajagopal . They have also been shown to have advantages over the two-particle Bell states in their application to dense coding Wiesner ; Hao , teleportation Bennett ; Karlsson ; Yeo1 , and cloning Buzek ; Ekert .

In Refs. Vidal ; Dur , Dur et al. pointed out that the three-particle entangled GHZ state Greenberger , while maximally entangled, is not robust in that if one of the three particles is traced out, the remaining two-particle system is not entangled as measured by several criteria. On the other hand, another three-particle entangled W state Zeilinger , which is inequivalent to the GHZ state under stochastic local operations and classical communication, is robust in that it remains entangled even after any one of the three particles is traced out. More recently, Sen et al. Dagomir  showed that $`N`$-particle entangled W states, for $`N>10`$, lead to more “robust” (against white noise admixture) violations of local realism, than $`N`$-particle entangled GHZ states. The GHZ and W states thus exhibit very different properties when subjected to physical processes like state loss, or white noise.

In Ref.Gorbachev , V. N. Gorbachev and A. I. Trubilko demonstrated a teleportation scheme $`P_0`$ for an entangled two-qubit state to be transmitted using a three-qubit GHZ channel. L. Marinetto and T. Weber Weber  considered the same protocol $`P_0`$ and the problem of which kind of two-qubit states can be perfectly teleported through a three-qubit quantum channel. B. S. Shi, Y. K. Jiang and G. C. Guo Shi  developed conditional teleportation protocols for transmitting two entangled qubits using non-maximally entangled three-qubit GHZ channels. In this paper, we review the Gorbachev-Trubilko entanglement teleportation scheme $`P_0`$ Gorbachev , recasting it in the language of density operators and quantum operations. We then study the consequences of replacing the three-qubit GHZ state in their scheme with a three-qubit W state. Finally, we investigate how the presence of white noise affects the entanglement teleportation capability of the three-qubit GHZ and W states. We conclude with some remarks on future research.

We begin with a review of the entanglement teleportation protocol $`P_0`$ of V. N. Gorbachev and A. I. Trubilko Gorbachev . It involves a sender, Alice, and two receivers, Bob and Cindy. Alice is in possession of an entangled two-qubit input system 45, and another qubit 3 entangled with both a fourth qubit 1 in Bob’s possession, and a fifth qubit 2 in Cindy’s possession (i.e. a three-qubit entangled state, $`\chi _{123}`$). Initially the composite system 12345 is prepared in a state with density operator, $`\sigma _{12345}^{total}=\chi _{123}\pi _{45}`$, where Explanation1

$$\pi _{45}=|\psi _{45}\psi |,|\psi _{45}=\mathrm{cos}\frac{\theta }{2}|01_{45}+e^{i\varphi }\mathrm{sin}\frac{\theta }{2}|10_{45},$$
(1)
$`0<\theta <\pi ,0\varphi 2\pi `$ are the polar and azimuthal angles respectively. Here, we use $`|0`$ and $`|1`$ to denote an orthonormal set of basis states for each qubit. To teleport the input state $`\pi _{45}`$ to the joint target system 12 of Bob and Cindy, Alice performs a joint Bell basis measurement on systems 3 and 4, described by operators $`I_{12}\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^jI_5`$, $`I_{12}`$ and $`I_5`$ are the identity operators on the composite subsystem 12 and subsystem 5 respectively, $`j`$ labels the outcome of the measurement,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^1=|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{34}\mathrm{\Phi }^+|,\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^2=|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{34}\mathrm{\Phi }^{}|,\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^3=|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{34}\mathrm{\Psi }^+|,\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^4=|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{34}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}|,$$
(2)
where

$$|\mathrm{\Phi }^\pm _{34}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|00_{34}\pm |11_{34}),$$

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }^\pm _{34}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|01_{34}\pm |10_{34})$$

are the Bell states. Next, Alice performs a von Neumann measurement on system 5, described by operators $`I_{1234}\mathrm{\Pi }_5^k`$, $`I_{1234}`$ is the identity operator on composite subsystem 1234, $`k`$ labels the outcome of the measurement,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_5^1=|\nu ^+_5\nu ^+|,\mathrm{\Pi }_5^2=|\nu ^{}_5\nu ^{}|,$$

$$|\nu ^+_5=\mathrm{cos}\frac{\mu }{2}|0_5+e^{i\lambda }\mathrm{sin}\frac{\mu }{2}|1_5,$$

$$|\nu ^{}_5=\mathrm{sin}\frac{\mu }{2}|0_5+e^{i\lambda }\mathrm{cos}\frac{\mu }{2}|1_5,$$
(3)
$`0\lambda 2\pi `$, $`0\mu \pi `$. If Alice’s measurements have outcome $`j`$ and $`k`$, she broadcasts her measurement results (three-bit) to Bob and Cindy via a classical channel. The joint state of Bob and Cindy’s target system 12 conditioned on Alice’s measurement results is given by

$$\rho _{12}^{jk}=\frac{1}{p_{jk}}\mathrm{tr}_{345}[(I_{12}\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^j\mathrm{\Pi }_5^k)(\chi _{123}\pi _{45})],$$
(4)
where

$$p_{jk}=\mathrm{tr}_{12345}[(I_{12}\mathrm{\Pi }_{34}^j\mathrm{\Pi }_5^k)(\chi _{123}\pi _{45})].$$
(5)
For Bob and Cindy to successfully complete the teleportation protocol, they perform a classically coordinated $`j`$\- and $`k`$-dependent unitary operation $`U_{12}^{jk}`$ on system 12 (see Table I and II) such that

$$\tau _{12}^{jk}=U_{12}^{jk}\rho _{12}^{jk}U_{12}^{jk},$$
(6)
where $`U_{12}^{jk}=\sigma _1^b\sigma _2^c`$, $`b,c=0,1,2,3`$:

$$\sigma ^0=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),\sigma ^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right),\sigma ^2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& i\\ i& 0\end{array}\right),\sigma ^3=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$

The success of the entanglement teleportation scheme can be measured by the amount of entanglement transmitted, and the fidelity Jozsa  between the input state $`\pi _{in}`$ and the output state $`\tau _{out}^{jk}`$, averaged over all possible Alice’s measurement outcomes, $`j`$ and $`k`$, and over an isotropic distribution of input states $`\pi _{in}`$, given in Eq.(1):

$$F=\frac{1}{4\pi }_0^\pi _0^{2\pi }\mathrm{sin}\theta d\theta d\varphi \underset{j=1}{\overset{4}{}}\underset{k=1}{\overset{2}{}}p_{jk}F^{jk}$$
(7)
where

$$F^{jk}\mathrm{tr}(\tau _{out}^{jk}\pi _{in}).$$
(8)
To quantify the amount of entanglement associated with a density matrix $`\rho _{SS^{}}`$, we consider the concurrence Wootters ; Hill , $`C=\mathrm{max}\{\lambda _1\lambda _2\lambda _3\lambda _4,0\}`$ where $`\lambda _k(k=1,2,3,4)`$ are the square roots of the eigenvalues in decreasing order of magnitude of the spin-flipped density matrix operator $`R=\rho _{SS^{}}(\sigma ^2\sigma ^2)\rho _{SS^{}}^{}(\sigma ^2\sigma ^2)`$, where the asterisk indicates complex conjugation. For instance, after some straightforward algebra, the concurrence associated with the input state $`\pi _{45}`$ is given by

$$C(\pi _{45})=\mathrm{max}\{\mathrm{sin}\theta ,0\}.$$

In Ref.Gorbachev , V. N. Gorbachev and A. I. Trubilko considered

$$\chi _{123}=\chi _{123}^{GHZ}=|GHZ_{123}GHZ|,|GHZ_{123}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|000_{123}+|111_{123}).$$
(9)
Substituting Eq.(9) into Eq.(5) yields

$$p_{j1}=\frac{1}{8}(1\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta ),$$

$$p_{j2}=\frac{1}{8}(1+\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta ).$$
(10)
It follows from Eq.(1) and results from Eq.(6) that

$$F^{j1}=\frac{34\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}2\theta +2\mathrm{cos}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{4(1\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta )},$$

$$F^{j2}=\frac{3+4\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}2\theta +2\mathrm{cos}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{4(1+\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta )}.$$
(11)
Putting Eq.(10) and Eq.(11) into Eq.(7) gives

$$F=\frac{2}{3}+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{cos}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\mu .$$
(12)
The average teleportation fidelity $`F`$ is thus dependent on Alice’s von Neumann measurement on system 5, specified by $`\lambda `$ and $`\mu `$. When $`\lambda =0`$, $`\mu =\frac{\pi }{2}`$, $`F^{jk}=1`$ for all $`j`$ and $`k`$, and we have $`F=1`$. The concurrences associated with the output states $`\tau _{out}^{j1}`$ and $`\tau _{out}^{j2}`$ are respectively given by

$$C(\tau _{out}^{j1})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}\theta }{1\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta },0\},$$

$$C(\tau _{out}^{j2})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}\theta }{1+\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta },0\}.$$
(13)
We note that for each $`0<\theta <\pi `$, $`C(\tau _{out}^{jk})=\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ is not maximal when $`\mu =\frac{\pi }{2}`$. In fact, $`C(\tau _{out}^{j1})=1`$ when $`\mu =\theta `$, or $`C(\tau _{out}^{j2})=1`$ when $`\mu =\pi \theta `$. However, unless $`\theta `$ is known, these maxima cannot be obtained.

Here, we consider

$$\chi _{123}=\chi _{123}^W=|W_{123}W|,|W_{123}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}(|001_{123}+|010_{123}+|100_{123}).$$
(14)
Substituting Eq.(14) into Eq.(5) yields

$$p_{11}=p_{21}=\frac{1}{24}[3+\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\mu (1+3\mathrm{cos}\theta )],$$

$$p_{31}=p_{41}=\frac{1}{24}[3\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\mu (13\mathrm{cos}\theta )],$$

$$p_{12}=p_{22}=\frac{1}{24}[3+\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\mu (1+3\mathrm{cos}\theta )],$$

$$p_{32}=p_{42}=\frac{1}{24}[3\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\mu (13\mathrm{cos}\theta )].$$
(15)
It follows from Eq.(1) and results from Eq.(6) that

$$F^{11}=F^{21}=\frac{4\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{sin}^4\frac{\theta }{2}}{3+\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\mu (1+3\mathrm{cos}\theta )},$$

$$F^{31}=F^{41}=\frac{4\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\theta }{2}(1+\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{sin}\theta )}{3\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\mu (13\mathrm{cos}\theta )},$$

$$F^{12}=F^{22}=\frac{4\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\theta }{2}(1+\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{sin}\theta )}{3+\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\mu (1+3\mathrm{cos}\theta )},$$

$$F^{32}=F^{42}=\frac{4\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{cos}^4\frac{\theta }{2}}{3\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\mu (13\mathrm{cos}\theta )}.$$
(16)
Putting Eq.(15) and Eq.(16) into Eq.(7) gives

$$F=\frac{5}{9}\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}.$$
(17)
The average teleportation fidelity $`F`$ is therefore, in contrast to Eq.(12), independent of $`\lambda `$. When $`\mu =0`$, $`F=\frac{5}{9}<\frac{2}{3}`$, which is not better than any classical communication protocol Bennett ; Popescu ; Horodecki . However, we note from the following

$$C(\tau _{out}^{11})=C(\tau _{out}^{21})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{8\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\theta }{2}}{3+\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\mu (1+3\mathrm{cos}\theta )},0\},$$

$$C(\tau _{out}^{31})=C(\tau _{out}^{41})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{8\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\theta }{2}}{3\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\mu (13\mathrm{cos}\theta )},0\},$$

$$C(\tau _{out}^{12})=C(\tau _{out}^{22})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{8\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{cos}^2\frac{\theta }{2}}{3+\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\mu (1+3\mathrm{cos}\theta )},0\},$$

$$C(\tau _{out}^{32})=C(\tau _{out}^{42})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{8\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\mu }{2}\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\theta }{2}}{3\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\mu (13\mathrm{cos}\theta )},0\},$$
(18)
that with total probability

$$p_{31}+p_{41}+p_{12}+p_{22}=\frac{1}{6}(3+\mathrm{cos}\mu )=\frac{2}{3},$$

independent of $`0<\theta <\pi `$, we have

$$C(\tau _{out}^{31})=C(\tau _{out}^{41})=C(\tau _{out}^{12})=C(\tau _{out}^{22})=1.$$

In fact, it can be shown that $`\tau _{out}^{31}=\tau _{out}^{41}=\tau _{out}^{12}=\tau _{out}^{22}=|\mathrm{\Psi }^+`$, that is, a Bell state. So, as long as the input state $`\pi _{in}`$ has nonzero entanglement Explanation1 , we could end up having $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^+`$ as output state, with total probability equal to $`\frac{2}{3}`$, when $`\mu =0`$. In view of this, it would be more appropriate to call this process “probabilistic entanglement swapping” Ekert2 ; Zeilinger2 .

Finally, we study the effects on the Gorbachev-Trubilko entanglement teleportation protocol $`P_0`$ Gorbachev  due to the presence of white noise. In particular, we want to see the effect on the average teleportation fidelity and amount of entanglement transmitted when the three-qubit GHZ state is used as a channel. For the three-qubit W channel, we consider, for $`\mu =0`$, the effect on the total probability of having an entangled output state $`\pi _{out}^{jk}`$ and its associated concurrence. To these ends, we consider

$$\widehat{\chi }_{123}^{GHZ}=w\chi _{123}^{GHZ}+(1w)\frac{1}{8}I_{123},$$
(19)
and

$$\widehat{\chi }_{123}^W=w\chi _{123}^W+(1w)\frac{1}{8}I_{123},$$
(20)
where $`0w1`$ is called visibility in Ref.Dagomir . It defines to what extent the quantum processes associated with $`\chi _{123}^{GHZ}`$ $`(\chi _{123}^W)`$ are visible in those given by $`\widehat{\chi }_{123}^{GHZ}`$ $`(\widehat{\chi }_{123}^W)`$. If $`w=0`$, no trace is left of these $`\chi _{123}^{GHZ}`$ $`(\chi _{123}^W)`$ generated processes, and if $`w=1`$, we have the full visibility, not affected by any noise. Substituting $`\chi _{123}`$ in Eq.(4) with Eq.(19) and going through essentially the same calculations, we obtain for the three-particle GHZ state,

$$F=\left(\frac{2}{3}+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{cos}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\mu \right)\left(\frac{5}{12}+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{cos}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\mu \right)(1w),$$
(21)
$$C(\tau _{out}^{j1})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}\theta }{1\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta }\left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}\theta }{1\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta }\right)(1w),0\},$$

$$C(\tau _{out}^{j2})=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}\theta }{1+\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta }\left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\mathrm{sin}\mu \mathrm{sin}\theta }{1+\mathrm{cos}\mu \mathrm{cos}\theta }\right)(1w),0\}.$$
(22)
The rate of decrease of $`F`$ $`(C(\tau _{out}^{jk}))`$ with respect to $`(1w)`$ depends on Alice’s single-qubit measurement on system 5, specified by $`\lambda `$ and $`\mu `$. That is, the white noise couples to Alice’s von Neumann measurement, Eq.(3). $`F`$ $`(C(\tau _{out}^{jk}))`$ decreases at a higher rate when Alice’s measurement yields a higher $`F`$ $`(C(\tau _{out}^{jk}))`$. For $`\mu =\frac{\pi }{2}`$ and $`\theta =\frac{\pi }{2}`$, it follows from Eq.(22),

$$C(\tau _{out}^{j1})=C(\tau _{out}^{j2})=\mathrm{max}\{1\frac{3}{2}(1w),0\}.$$
(23)
Putting Eq.(20) into Eq.(4), we have for the three-particle W state, when $`\mu =0`$,

$$C(\tau _{out}^{31})=C(\tau _{out}^{41})=C(\tau _{out}^{12})=C(\tau _{out}^{22})=\mathrm{max}\{1\frac{9(1w)}{2[4(1w)]},0\},$$
(24)
with total probability

$$p_{31}+p_{41}+p_{12}+p_{22}=\frac{2}{3}\frac{1}{6}(1w).$$
(25)
So, although the total probability decreases linearly with increasing $`(1w)`$, it is never zero. The concurrence associated with the entangled output states decreases at an increasing rate with respect to $`(1w)`$ and is nonzero as long as $`(1w)<\frac{8}{11}`$, in contrast to Eq.(23).

In conclusion, we recast the entanglement teleportation scheme $`P_0`$ of V. N. Gorbachev and A. I. Trubilko Gorbachev  in the language of density operators and quantum operations. This allows us to investigate the consequences of replacing the three-qubit GHZ state in their original scheme with a three-qubit W state, both in terms of the average teleportation fidelity and the amount of entanglement transmitted. Our results show that, $`P_0`$ with a three-qubit W channel, is impossible to give average fidelity better than any classical communication protocol. It is not clear if there exist more general completely positive maps rather than the unitary operators $`U_{12}^{jk}`$, which could yield a higher average teleportation fidelity. However, we show that with total probability $`\frac{2}{3}`$, we could have a maximally entangled Bell state as output, if the input state has nonzero entanglement. We are also able to study the effects of white noise. It would be interesting to see how the average fidelities and amount of entanglement transmitted would change when the GHZ and W states are being subjected to other types of noise.

The author thanks A. I. Trubilko for useful pointers, Yuri Suhov and Andrew Skeen for useful discussions. This publication is an output from project activity funded by The Cambridge MIT Institute Limited (“CMI”). CMI is funded in part by the United Kingdom Government. The activity was carried out for CMI by the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. CMI can accept no responsibility for any information provided or views expressed.


text:
# The square of the Weyl tensor can be negative

## Abstract

We show that the square of the Weyl tensor can be negative by giving an example:

$$ds^2=dt^2+2yzdtdx+dx^2+dy^2+dz^2.$$

This metric has the property that in a neighbourhood of the origin,

$$C^{ijkl}C_{ijkl}<0.$$

KEY: Sign of curvature invariants; Weyl tensor

————————-

H.-J. Schmidt, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Potsdam,

Am Neuen Palais 10, D-14469 Potsdam, Germany.

E-mail: hjschmi@rz.uni-potsdam.de http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~hjschmi

Let us consider the metric

$$ds^2=dt^2+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}yzdtdx+dx^2+dy^2+dz^2.$$
(1)
At the coordinate origin, the metric equals just the usual Minkowski metric

$$\eta _{ij}=\mathrm{diag}(1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1})$$

and all Christoffel symbols vanish. The only components of $`g_{ij,kl}`$ which do not vanish are

$$g_{01,23}=g_{10,23}=g_{01,32}=g_{10,32}=1.$$
(2)
Therefore, at $`t=x=y=z=0`$, only those components of the Riemann tensor, where all 4 indices are different from each other, can have a non-vanishing value. Example:

$$R_{0312}=1/2,R^{0312}=1/2,R_{0312}R^{0312}=1/4.$$
(3)
One gets

$$R^{ijkl}R_{ijkl}<0.$$

Further, the Ricci tensor vanishes there, and the Weyl tensor is equal to the Riemann tensor. Consequently, the square of the Weyl tensor is negative, and, by continuity, metric (1) represents an example of a spacetime, where

$$C^{ijkl}C_{ijkl}<0,$$

at least in an open neighbourhood of the origin.

Here this inequality can be applied: Equation (27) of  reads

$$B=\left(W_{ikl}^sW_{abc}^rg_{sr}g^{ia}g^{kb}g^{lc}\right)^{1/2}$$

where $`W_{ikl}^s`$ denotes the Weyl tensor, which we preferred to denote by $`C_{ikl}^s`$ in the above text. In the note added to , the authors argued that eq. (27) could not have the character of a square root from a negative real.

The purpose of this comment is to clarify, that from the purely differential geometric point of view, this is not the case, and therefore, one needs further physical motivations for the exclusion of negative values of the square of the Weyl tensor.

Note added: Possible negative values of “quadratic” curvature invariants have also been discussed recently in ; there the authors proposed to call the sets where this happens “regions of gravitomagnetic dominance”.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The analysis of magnetic white dwarfs has made considerable progress since the last white dwarf workshop: 1. It could be shown that neither the magnetic white dwarf Grw $`+70^{}8247`$ \[Jordan & Friedrich (2001)\] nor LP 790$``$29 (Jordan & Friedrich 2002, Beuermann et al. 2002) are fast rotators ($`P<10`$ min) but are rotating slowly ($`P>20`$ years). 2. Automatic fitting procedures have been developed which can be used to derive the geometries of complex magnetic fields for rotating white dwarfs (see Euchner et al. 2002, Euchner et al., these proceedings, Gänsicke et al, these proceedings). 3. First models with consistent energy values and oscillator strengths for neutral helium in strong magnetic fields have been calculated and can be compared to observed spectra and polarization data.

Grw $`+70^{}8247`$ the first white dwarf in which a magnetic field has been detected, turned out to be a long standing challenge for the modeling, since the polarization could not be fitted, while the flux spectrum could be well reproduced by centered dipole models. Now, a possible solution could be found. First models with consistent energy values and oscillator strengths for neutral helium in strong magnetic fields have been calculated and can be compared to observed spectra and polarization data. Such calculation were applied to the DAP GD 229.

## 2 Analysis of Grw $`+70^{}8247`$

Fits to the flux spectrum of Grw $`+70^{}8247`$ have been published by Wickramasinghe & Ferrario Wickramasinghe & Ferrario (1988), Jordan Jordan (1988), Jordan Jordan (1989), and Jordan Jordan (1992). The result was a pure dipole models with a polar field strength of about 320 MG. However, one mystery of this well studied object still remained: the detailed wavelength dependence of the circular and linear polarization predicted by the dipole model strongly deviated from the observation.

Since the fitting procedure has very much improved since than, I have repeated the analysis with a method developed by Jordan and Rahn. The code is similar to the one described by Euchner et al. (2002) but uses a genetic algorithm instead of an evolutionary strategy.

The best fit of the spectrum to a pure magnetic dipole model resulted in a polar field strength of 347 MG and an angle $`i=56^{}`$ between the dipole axis and the observer. However, the model cannot fit the observed polarization (see. Fig. 1). The situation does not change if one allows for offsets of the dipole relative to the center of the star. The fitting of the spectrum resulted in dipole offsets smaller than 0.005 stellar radii.

The next step was an an expansion of the surface magnetic fields into spherical harmonics

$$\begin{array}{ccc}B_r=\hfill & _{l=1}^{\mathrm{}}_{m=0}^l(l+1)(g_l^m\mathrm{cos}m\varphi +h_l^m\mathrm{sin}m\varphi )\hfill & \\ & P_l^m(\mathrm{cos}\theta )& \\ B_\theta =+\hfill & _{l=1}^{\mathrm{}}_{m=0}^l(g_l^m\mathrm{cos}m\varphi +h_l^m\mathrm{sin}m\varphi )\hfill & \\ & dP_l^m(\mathrm{cos}\theta )/d\theta & \\ B_\varphi =\hfill & _{l=1}^{\mathrm{}}_{m=0}^lm(g_l^m\mathrm{cos}m\varphi +h_l^m\mathrm{sin}m\varphi )\hfill & \\ & dP_l^m(\mathrm{cos}\theta )/d\mathrm{sin}\theta & \end{array}$$

with the associated Legendre polynomials $`P_l^m`$. The components are given in spherical coordinates $`r,\theta ,`$ and $`\varphi `$. For this paper we limited ourselves to $`l4`$, i.e. to 24 free parameters; an additional parameter is the angle $`i`$ between the arbitrary magnetic axis and the observer.

The best fit parameters were

$`i=75.9^{}`$      $`g_{10}=183.00`$ $`g_{11}=+0.71`$ $`h_{11}=+0.36`$    $`g_{20}=40.58`$ $`g_{21}=+16.16`$ $`h_{21}=16.38`$ $`g_{22}=+0.02`$ $`h_{22}=+0.16`$  $`g_{30}=+1.39`$ $`g_{31}=1.51`$ $`h_{31}=+6.16`$ $`g_{32}=0.46`$ $`h_{32}=0.38`$  $`g_{33}=0.22`$ $`h_{33}=+0.55`$     $`g_{40}=+1.45`$ $`g_{41}=5.41`$ $`h_{41}=+7.41`$ $`g_{42}=0.49`$ $`h_{42}=0.37`$  $`g_{43}=+0.53`$ $`h_{43}=+0.56`$ $`g_{44}=+0.11`$ $`h_{44}=0.48`$

Fig. 1 shows the improvement: While the fit to the flux spectrum remained virtually unchanged, the main features of the wavelength dependent circular polarization can now be well reproduced by the model. The change is mainly due to a different distribution of the magnetic field component towards the observer. Due to the large number of free parameters it is clear that this solution is not unique and that other models could fit the flux and polarization spectrum well. However, this is the first time that the circular polarization of the most famous magnetic white dwarf Grw $`+70^{}8247`$ could be explained by any model.

## 3 Modeling of GD 229

For a long time modeling of magnetic white dwarfs was limited to pure hydrogen. However, as in the case of non-magnetic white dwarfs some of the objects posses helium rich atmospheres. However, wavelengths for helium components were not available before 1998 when Jordan et al. could identify most of the absorption features in the spectrum of GD 229 with stationary line components. In the meantime the data sets have been enlarged (see Jordan et al. Jordan et al. (2001)).

Radiative transfer calculations had to wait until data for oscillator strengths were calculated by Schmelcher and Becken. Now a first application to GD 229 with consistent line data for helium in a magnetic field is presented here.

Fig. 2 shows the best fit to the spectrum of GD 229 with an offset dipole model ($`i=30^{}`$, dipole strength 497 MG, offset in dipole direction $`0.25`$ stellar radii, offsets in other directions $`<0.004`$ stellar radii) and several features, in particular the main feature at 4200 Å, are well reproduced. However, several other parts of the spectrum lack resemblance with the observation. There is also no agreement of the model prediction with circular polarization. Therefore, the fitting is not satisfactory at the moment and has to be continued.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Radio pulsars have peculiar space velocities between $`30\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`1600\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, significantly greater than those of their progenitor stars. The highest speed is from the Guitar Nebula pulsar (Cordes & Chernoff 1998), while the lowest has been recently measured for B2016+28 by Brisken et al. (2002) from very accurate VLBA pulsar parallaxes. An early explanation for the large space velocities of pulsars called for recoil in a close binary that becomes unbound at the time of (symmetric) supernova explosion. Now, a number of observations hint at a natal origin of these high space velocities, or at a combination of orbital disruption and internal kick reaction (when the progenitor lives in a binary). Evidence for a kick at the time of neutron star birth is now found in a variety of systems, e.g., in double neutron star binaries such as B1913+16 (Weisberg, Romani, & Taylor 1989; Cordes, Wasserman, & Blaskiewicz 1990; Wex, Kalogera & Kramer 2000) where misalignment between the spin and orbital angular momentum axes indicates velocity asymmetry in the last supernova.

Among the physical processes that have been proposed to account for the kick impulses at birth are large-scale density asymmetries seeded in the pre-supernova core (leading to anisotropic shock propagation), asymmetric neutrino emission in presence of ultra-strong magnetic fields (see Lai, Chernoff, & Cordes 2001 for a review), or off-centered electromagnetic dipole emission from the young pulsar (Harrison & Tademaru 1975). However, none of these mechanisms can explain kicks as large as $`1600\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

A further interesting, yet unexplained, statistical property of pulsars has been pointed out by Arzoumanian, Chernoff and Cordes (2002). They find that the pulsar peculiar velocity distribution function is bimodal, i.e., it is described by two almost equally populated Gaussian components with mean velocities of $`90\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (the fast pulsars) and $`500\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (the very fast pulsars), respectively. This suggests that two distinct physical mechanisms are responsible for this bimodality, and in this proceeding we try to depict a scenario that may account for this dichotomy.

In a recent paper (Colpi & Wasserman 2002) we reconsidered the idea first put forward by Imshennik & Popov (1998) that, in the collapse of a rotating core, one or more self-gravitating lumps of neutronized matter may form in close orbit around the central nascent neutron star, transfer mass in the short lived binary, and ultimately explode, causing the remaining, massive neutron star to acquire a substantial kick velocity, as high as the highest observed. The light member explodes as mass transfer drives it below the minimum stable mass (against radial perturbations) for a neutron stars. Stability is lost upon decompression by the $`\beta `$decaying neutrons and nuclear fissions by radio-active neutron-rich nuclei that deposit energy driving matter into rapid expansion (Colpi, Shapiro & Teukolsky 1989, 1993; Blinnikov et al. 1984, 1990; Sumiyoshi et al. 1998). The kick originates from the orbital motion of this evanescent super-close binary. Along similar lines Eichler & Silk (1992) attributed the largest kicks of pulsars to gravitational ejection of fragments formed during rotationally unstable collapse.

We have studied several effects that may mitigate the magnitude of the kick, such as gravitational bending of the exploding debris, and rotational averaging of the momentum impulse. A point that was previously overlooked is that the minimum mass of hot still lepton-rich matter is much higher than the value for cold catalyzed matter, and this opens new evolutionary pathways (we refer to Colpi & Wasserman 2002 for details).

## 2 Light fragments around proto-neutron stars

### 2.1 Dynamical rotational non-axisymmetric instabilities

Formation of a light companion around a main body implies breaking of spherical and axial symmetry in the collapse of post-collapse phases. During dynamical collapse, unstable bar modes can grow in a fluid that may end with fragmentation. However this is known to occur only if the core contracts almost isothermally (Bonnell 1994), but collapse in type II supernovae is far from isothermal so that instabilities of this type do not have time to grow (Lai 2000). Can fragmentation/fission be excited after the proto-neutron star core has formed ? Rapid rotation in equilibrium bodies is known to excite non-axisymmetric dynamical instabilities. Interestingly, core collapse simulations of unstable rotating iron cores (Heger, Langer & Woosley 2000; Fryer & Heger 2000) or polytropes (Zwerger & Muller 1997) indicate that proto-neutron stars, soon after formation, can rotate differentially above the dynamical stability limit set when the rotational to gravitational potential energy ratio $`T_{\mathrm{rot}}/|W|`$ exceeds $`0.26.`$ Strong non-linear growth of the dominant bar-like deformation ($`m=2`$) is seen in these cores (described as polytropes by Rampp, Muller, & Ruffert 1998). The bar evolves, producing two spiral arms that drain the core’s excess angular momentum outwards. A further possibility that we would like to mention here refers to the case of fizzlers, temporary equilibrium bodies supported almost entirely by rotation, which are driven dynamically unstable against bar-like modes by deleptonization of hot nuclear matter on timescales of $`110`$ sec (Imamura, & Durisen 2001), producing spiral patterns around a central core.

In all these above calculations however there is no sign of fission/fragmentation into separate condensations. How can a double or multiple system form from a bar-unstable core or fizzler ? According to Bonnell’s picture (1994), the evolution of the bar instability is more complex, in reality. If the rapidly spinning proto-neutron star core or fizzler goes bar unstable when surrounded by a fall-back disk, then matter present in the bar-driven spiral arms interacts with this material. The sweeping of a spiral arm into fall-back gas can gather sufficient matter to condense, by strong cooling and deleptonization, into a (or a few) fragments of neutronized matter. This occurs because the $`m=1`$ mode grows during the development of the $`m=2`$ mode. The $`m=1`$ mode causes the off-centering of one spiral arm which then sweeps up more material on one side than the other during continuing accretion. The condensation may eventually collapse into a low mass proto-neutron star fragment or in a few fragments of material. This has never been proved numerically.

### 2.2 Triggering explosion at the minimum mass limit

If a light (proto-)neutron star forms around the main central body, which limits can be imposed on its mass ? Cooling plays a key role in addressing these questions. Goussard, Haensel & Zdunik (1998), and Strobel & Weigel (2001) have shown that the value of the minimum stable mass $`m_{\mathrm{mmc}}`$ for a neutron star (located at the turning point in the mass-radius relation of spherical non-rotating equilibria) is a function of the temperature: it varies from $`\mathrm{¿}\mathrm{}1M_{}`$ at 50-100 milliseconds after core bounce (setting the actual value of the mass of the central neutron star), to $`0.7M_{}`$ after $`1`$ second, down to $`0.3M_{}`$ after 30 seconds, reaching the value of $`0.0925M_{}`$ for cold catalyzed matter ($`T<1`$ MeV) several hundred seconds later. Thus, the condensation of nuclear matter gathered in the spiral arm by the instability may become self-bound if its mass $`m`$ is above the minimum corresponding to that particular temperature. Once formed it is stabilized against expansion by cooling.

The value of $`m`$ and of the mass ratio $`q=m/M`$ in the binary (with $`M`$ the heavier of the two stars) remains unpredictable to us at this level, so we may just depict three possible scenarios for the formation and evolution of this evanescent binary: case (A) when the instability sets after few hundreds of milliseconds or a second after core bounce and binary formation occurs so that $`m\mathrm{¿}\mathrm{}0.7M_{}`$ (implying a pre-existing iron core of large mass if the primary is as massive as 1.4$`M_{}`$); case (B) when a lighter star with $`m0.20.4M_{}`$ forms around a main body after several seconds or tens of seconds from core bounce or after fizzler destabilization (occurring on this time scale); case (C) when cooling is sufficiently advanced that the minimum mass approaches its asymptotic value and the binary companion can have $`m\mathrm{¡}\mathrm{}0.2M_{}`$.

## 3 Neutron star kicks

The magnitude of a natal kick in (A) is difficult to estimate and we must await for realistic simulations of core collapse. We note that the evolution in this case might be similar to that described in coalescing neutron star binaries with unequal masses (see Rosswog et al. 2000) where it has been shown that large kicks can be acquired as a consequence of mass loss via strong winds.

In cases (B) and (C), one factor that could lower the final neutron star speed is the finite velocity of the ejecta. Colpi, Shapiro & Teukolsky (1993) have shown that in the dynamical phase of the explosion the ejecta can attain speeds $`w_o`$ varying from 10,000 to $`50,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. These speeds are close to the escape velocity from the binary and therefore the final kick imparted to the remaining neutron star may be influenced substantially by gravitational deflection of the ejecta, and velocity phase averaging during the explosion. A further complication is the rapid decay of the orbit separation following unstable mass transfer and emission of gravitational waves. This may lead to coalescence before any mass is ejected above escape velocity.

In binary mass transfer scenarios (cases B,C), the maximum kick velocity $`V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{max}}`$ is determined approximately from the value of the relative orbital velocity between the stars at the time the light donor loses its stability $`V(GM/r_{\mathrm{expl}})^{1/2}`$ driven by Roche lobe spill-over: explosion can occur either when the light star reaches $`m_{\mathrm{mmc}}`$ after a phase of stable mass transfer, or at higher mass $`m_{\mathrm{expl}}`$ if mass transfer is unstable (see Colpi & Wasserman 2002). The maximum kick is thus given by

$$V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{max}}\frac{m_{\mathrm{mmc}}}{(m_{\mathrm{mmc}}+M)}V\frac{0.68G^{1/2}m_{\mathrm{mmc}}^2}{m_{\mathrm{expl}}^{(f1/6)}[R(m_{\mathrm{expl}})]^{1/2}}M^{2/3}$$
(1)
where $`R(m_{\mathrm{expl}})`$ and $`m_{\mathrm{expl}}`$ are the radius and mass of the star at the time of explosion ($`f<1`$.) Roche lobe spill-over imposes $`V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{max}}M^{2/3},`$ as separation $`r_{\mathrm{expl}}M^{1/3}`$ in contact binaries. In case (B), the warmer unstable proto-neutron star always suffers unstable mass transfer and the system may enter a phase of common envelope evolution. In this case we expect that the star develops an unstable core of mass $`mm_{\mathrm{mmc}}(T),`$ while losing its envelope, and explodes on its own dynamical time before coalescence of the two stars in completed over $``$ one orbital period. Ejection of part of the envelope enshrouding the system may provide an additional thrust to the merged object.

In Figure 1, $`V_{\mathrm{kick}}`$ is plotted as a function of the speed of the ejecta $`w_o`$ for (B) and (C), computed including gravitational bending and orbit phase-averaging. At large $`w_o`$ the kick approaches its maximum limiting value. As shown in the figure, hydro-dynamical effects produce a widespread range in velocities, and most remarkably it is able to produce very high kicks, $`V_{\mathrm{kick}}\mathrm{¿}\mathrm{}1600\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

## 4 On the bimodal distribution of pulsar kick velocities

The kicks that result from this mechanism are confined to the orbital plane of the evanescent neutron star binary, and thus are likely to be nearly perpendicular to the spin vector of the remnant neutron star, which is probably aligned with the spin of the unstable iron core and the spin of the unstable post-collapse core. A spin-perpendicular kick would be consistent with the requirements imposed by observations of geodetic precession of B1913+16, where the kick is constrained to lie very nearly in the plane of the progenitor binary, which was most likely perpendicular to spins of the spun-up neutron star (i.e. B1913+16) and its pre-explosion companion star (Wex, Kalogera & Kramer 2000; a kick $`\mathrm{¿}\mathrm{}250\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ has been invoked for this system).

In contrast, X-ray observations of the Vela pulsar have revealed a jet parallel to its proper motion (Pavlov et al. 2000; Helfand, Gotthelf & Halpern 2001), and it has been argued that the proper motions of both Vela and the Crab pulsar are closely aligned with their spin axes. The kick mechanism studied here would not be able to account for parallel spin and velocity. However, we note that the proper motions of both Vela and the Crab correspond to transverse speeds of $`70141\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`171\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ respectively, using reasonable estimates of the distances to the pulsars. For the alignment to be real, the space velocities of these two systems must lie in the plane of the sky. The inferred speeds of these two pulsars are then considerably smaller than the characteristic speed arising from explosion of a low mass, tidally disrupted companion. Plausibly, the birth of Vela and the Crab did not involve an evanescent binary phase; some other mechanism must have been responsible for their spin-aligned kicks (such as those explored by Lai, Chernoff, & Cordes 2001). We are led to suggest that in a pulsar, the larger kick component results from the formation and disruption of short-lived super-close binary, and is perpendicular to the spin axis. The smaller kick component is instead associated with other less vigorous kicks that tend to align with the rotation axis, perhaps because of phase averaging (e.g. Spruit & Phinney 1998). A superposition of these two classes of kicks would also be consistent with the requirement of nearly but not precisely spin-perpendicular kicks to account for the observation of geodetic precession in B1913+16. If this idea is correct, then one expects that lower velocity neutron stars should have their space velocities predominantly along their spin axes, while higher velocity neutron stars should have space velocities predominantly perpendicular to their spins. This would create two nearly independent components in the velocity distribution: the “fast” and “very fast” neutron stars. A contamination of low velocity stars belonging to the low velocity “tail” of the high velocity component would come from those explosions in the evanescent binary where light bending and rotational averaging have been more important. This could imply the occurrence of bimodal distribution of velocities for the pulsar population as such inferred from the observations (Arzoumanian, Chernoff, & Cordes 2002). Since the two classes of “fast” and “very fast” pulsars are nearly equally populated, pulsars with large kicks are not exceptional. This would imply that progenitor stars with rapidly rotating iron cores are common in Nature.

## 5 Black hole kicks

Recently it has been reported that the binary X-ray Nova GRO J1655-40 (Mirabel et al. 2002) hosts the first black hole candidate for which we have evidence of a runaway motion of $`112\pm 18\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ imparted by a natal kick. GRO J1655-40 is a source that shows $`\alpha `$-elements in its optical spectrum indicating that formation of the black hole was accompanied by a supernova explosion (Isrealian et al. 1999). The black hole was very likely born in a two step process in which a hot proto-neutron star forms first, accompanied by the launch of a successful shock wave, but is subsequently destabilized to gravitational collapse by substantial fallback of material from the stellar envelope.

The evanescent binary scenario, proposed here, for the origin of kicks applies naturally to the black hole case, particularly in a fall-back scenario (and not for prompt core collapse). Continuing accretion onto the off-centered spiral pattern could be even more compelling in this case, leading to the formation of a massive fragment, and substantial fall-back on the side where the pattern is not develop fully. Thus, if the formation of a light exploding proto-neutron star accompanies core collapse to a black hole, its maximum kick velocity would scale as $`V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{bh}}=V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{ns}}(M_{\mathrm{ns}}/M_{\mathrm{bh}})^{2/3}.`$ If we hypothesize that both fast black holes and “very fast” pulsars acquire their large speeds via the disruption of an evanescent binary, then we infer fast black hole recoil velocities

$$V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{bh}}170\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\left(\frac{V_{\mathrm{kick},\mathrm{ns}}}{500\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{ns}}}{1.3M_{}}\frac{5.4M_{}}{M_{\mathrm{bh},\mathrm{GROJ1655}}}\right)^{2/3}.$$
(2)
We note that a kick of this magnitude is consistent with the observed value for GRO J1655-40 (Mirabel et al. 2002).


text:
# Close stars and an inactive accretion disk in Sgr A∗: Eclipses and flares

## 1 Introduction

The center of our Galaxy appears to host a very massive black hole (e.g., Genzel 2000, Ghez et al. 2000) identified with the compact radio source Sgr A (e.g. Reid et al. 1999), with $`M_{BH}3\times 10^6M_{}`$. One mystery of Sgr A is the fact that its bolometric (mostly radio) luminosity is very low, i.e. $`10^9`$ of the corresponding Eddington luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{Edd}}=1.3\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{sec}(M_{BH}/10^6M_{})`$ whereas its quiescent X-ray emission is even dimmer than radio: $`L_x10^{11}L_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$ (Baganoff et al. 2001b; for a review of Sgr A see Melia & Falcke 2001 and Markoff et al. 2001 on the role of the jet). This is puzzling because there is enough hot gas observed at $`0.04`$ parsec from Sgr A core to let the black hole radiate some $`4`$ orders of magnitude more (Baganoff et al. 2002a). The current favorite explanation of this aspect of Sgr A are accretion flow solutions (Narayan & Yi 1994; Narayan 2002) that radiate extremely little compared to the standard disks (Shakura & Sunyaev 1973).

However for “our” black hole to grow so massive there should have been a much more vigorous accretion activity in the past. Such an activity is usually assumed to proceed via the thin standard disk and cease when the supply of matter ends. Note that practically independently of the exact value of the specific angular momentum of the accreting material, $`a`$, above the threshold value of $`\sqrt{3}R_gc`$, an accretion disk will develop over a broad range of radii because matter in the disk flows in and out (Kolykhalov & Sunyaev 1980). $`R_g`$ here is the gravitational radius, i.e., $`R_g=2GM_{\mathrm{BH}}/c^29\times 10^{11}`$ cm. A “light” and very cold ($`T10^210^3`$ K) inactive disk may remain there essentially indefinitely because its viscosity is extremely low. Nayakshin (2002) recently suggested that there is such a disk in Sgr A and that it is draining the heat from the hot gas by thermal conduction. Instead of flowing into the black hole the hot gas in this model settles down (condensates) onto the inactive disk at large distances. The accretion of the hot gas is thus delayed in this picture which then would explain the low luminosity of Sgr A.

Sgr A is believed to be closely related to the Low Luminosity AGN (LLAGN; e.g. Ho 1999). Most if not all of these sources seem to have cold disks that often can be seen only through water maser emission (e.g. Miyoshi et al. 1995) arising in a range of radii where gas temperature is $`2001000`$ K (Neufeld & Maloney 1995). These disks also seem to miss their innermost parts (Quataert et al. 1999). Unfortunately our GC is an extremely “low luminosity” LLAGN and an inactive disk can be very hard to detect. In particular, a thermally emitting inactive accretion disk with $`T_d\stackrel{<}{}100`$ K and $`R_d\text{few}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^4R_g`$ is dim enough not to violate the quiescent bolometric luminosity constraints. In addition, disks of such low temperature are razor-thin, i.e. $`H/R10^3`$. If the disk happened to be oriented nearly edge-on to us, it would be very difficult to spot it via its quiescent emission.

However there seems to be as many as $`10^4`$ stars in the central arcsecond ($`1\mathrm{}0.039`$ pc $`1.2\times 10^{17}`$ cm) of the Galaxy. The orbits of brightest of these stars (B and possibly O type; Gezari et al. 2002) are now being precisely mapped (e.g. Schödel et al. 2002). These stars may be eclipsed by the disk if it is optically thick. In addition, even much smaller and much less luminous solar-type stars will produce X-ray and near infra-red flares when passing through the disk. In this Letter we hope to present a concise but clear overview of our ongoing work on the star-disk interactions near GC (Nayakshin, Cuadra & Sunyaev 2003, in preparation).

## 2 Star-disk eclipses and crossings

A star can be eclipsed when it moves into the area shadowed by the disk as seen from our line of sight. If the star moves “far” behind the disk then this type of eclipses is completely analogous to the eclipses of Sun by the Moon and can be referred to as a “blocking eclipse”. As such it happens because both the blocked and the blocking objects have finite sizes. The star may instead strike the disk, pass through it, and become eclipsed because it moved from the front/visible side of the disk to its back/invisible side. This type of eclipses may be referred to as an “impact eclipse”.

In Figure (1) we show two star trajectories interesting in terms of eclipses and flares. The star moving along the ABCD path is eclipsed by the disk twice per orbit. In point B the star does not physically intercepts the disk but only its shadow, and hence this is the beginning of a blocking eclipse. Due to the star’s finite size and (most likely) a gradual rather than an abrupt nature of the disk edge on both the inner and the outer boundaries, partial eclipses could be observed for hours to months (see Fig. 4). The eclipse ends at point C when the star goes through the disk, from its back to its front side. NIR infra-red and an X-ray flare will be emitted (see Figure 2). If the disk is optically thick to X-rays, then NIR flare will precede the X-ray flare. The former is thermal in nature and is strongest when the star is in the disk midplane, whereas the latter can only reach the observer when the star is in the disk photosphere (see §3). The CD part of the trajectory is an “unremarkable” quiescent star emission, which terminates when the star hits the disk for the second time. This time the X-ray flare should be emitted first. The eclipsed part DA ends when the star emerges from the disk shadow without a flare.

To date, there is only one star whose orbit is nearly completely known, i.e. the star S2 (Schödel et al. 2002). The orbit is highly elliptical (eccentricity $`e=0.87`$), inclined at $`i_{}=\pm 46^{}`$ (we picked the $`+`$ sign here), and the period is 15.2 years. We plot (Figure 3) the orbit of S2 and a disk that does not eclipse any of the measured positions (Fig. 1 in Schödel et al. 2002). Note that the disk can in principle still exist beyond $`R_i`$ or $`R_d`$ but it cannot be optically thick there. Figure (4) shows the expected lightcurve of the star (the passage of the periblackhole radius for S2 occured at 2002.3). The eclipse $`ab`$ ($`t2002.0`$) is of the blocking type and therefore there is no flare associated with it, whereas the second eclipse (point $`c`$) begins with a flare. Figures (3 & 4) are only examples. We find that a disk with no inner hole or a disk with a larger inner hole, $`R_i\stackrel{>}{}0.05`$″and an arbitrarily large outer radius are also possible for the present data (Cuadra et al. 2003, in preparation).

A brief summary of what one can learn from observations of star eclipses and flares:

1. Coordinates of star’s trajectories are three-dimensional; therefore, star-disk crossing points (e.g. D or C) yield 3D coordinate of a point in the disk. Together with the known coordinates of Sgr A itself, any such crossing yields a line in the disk plane. Therefore, knowledge of 3D coordinates of points D & F, for example, (and Sgr $`A^{}`$) is sufficient to determine the plane of the disk rotation.
2. If the plane of the disk is known, then the projected coordinates of two blocking points (A & B) uniquely determine the outer disk radius (unless the disk is strongly warped).
3. Appearance or disappearance of stars (in blocking points) will be gradual and this should yield information on how the disk is terminated on both boundaries.
4. The maximum luminosity of a flare is a strong function of the angle between the star and the disk velocity at the point of impact (§3), $`\theta _r`$. Hence one can tell whether the disk is rotating clockwise or counter-clockwise in Fig. (1). The best constraints here are offered by a star whose orbital plane is close to the disk plane.
5. In general, a star that is on an elliptical orbit and that strikes the disk twice per orbit, will do so at different radii from the black hole (e.g. F is farther from the center than E in Fig. 1), so the flare durations, amplitudes and spectra will be different. Such events will offer better constraints on the variation of the disk density and temperature with $`R`$ than will flares from separate stars.
6. Currently orbits of only the bright stars can be followed in Sgr A star cluster. These stars have radii $`R_{}510R_{}`$ and hence should yield very large X-ray and NIR flares (see §3). Of course such flares are much less frequent than the typical flares from stars with $`R_{}R_{}`$.

## 3 Physics of star-disk flares

Reader not interested in physical or mathematical detail of our model for the star-disk flares may proceed directly to §3.1 and Figure (5) where star-disk flare properties are summarized.

At a distance $`R`$ from the black hole, let a star with mass $`M_{}=m_{}M_{}`$ and radius $`R_{}=r_{}R_{}`$ move with velocity $`v_{}`$ that makes angle $`\theta _r`$ with the disk circular Keplerian velocity, $`v_K`$. We also define for convenience $`r_4=R/10^4R_g`$. The relative velocity of the disk and the star, $`v_{\mathrm{rel}}`$ is essential for the problem. In general $`v_{\mathrm{rel}}^2=v_K^2+v_{}^22v_{}v_K\mathrm{cos}\theta _r`$, and one needs to carry out calculations for arbitrary $`v_{}`$ and $`\theta _r`$ and then integrate over the star’s 3D velocity distribution. In what follows we simply assume that $`v_{}v_K`$. Under the assumption of an isotropic star cluster the “average” angle $`\theta _r`$ is equal to $`\pi /2`$, so $`v_{\mathrm{rel}}=\sqrt{2}v_K`$. However we shall keep in mind the importance of the actual $`v_{}`$ and $`\theta _r`$ for exact results (cf. point iv above).

The star’s internal density is very much larger than that of the disk and we can consider the star to be a rigid solid body (see Syer et al. 1991). We neglect tidal effects and accretion of gas onto the stellar surface because the corresponding Bondi radius is much smaller than $`R_{}`$ ($`R_\mathrm{B}=GM_{}/v_{\mathrm{rel}}^2=1.5\times 10^9m_{}r_47\times 10^{10}r_{}`$). The Mach number of the star in the disk is about $`v_{\mathrm{rel}}/\sqrt{(kT_d/m_p)}10^4`$. Thus the star drills a narrow hole in the disk (Syer et al. 1991) Note also that $`R_{}H`$. The star is essentially a piston moving into the gas and the rate at which the star makes work on the gas in the disk is approximately $`L_w\pi R_{}^2m_pn_dv_{\mathrm{rel}}^3`$, where $`n_d`$ is the midplane density of hydrogen nuclei.

#### X-ray spectrum.

The characteristic temperature to which the gas is heated in the shock wave is

$$T_{\mathrm{char}}=\frac{2}{3}\frac{\mu v_{\mathrm{rel}}^2}{2k}=1.8\times 10^8r_4^1\mathrm{K},$$
(1)
where we set $`\mu m_p/2`$. For $`T_{\mathrm{char}}`$ as high as $`10^8`$ K, optically thin X-ray spectra are dominated by bremsstrahlung emission. The photon spectral index in the $`2\stackrel{<}{}E\stackrel{<}{}8`$ keV energy range is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\stackrel{<}{}1.5`$ and is in agreement with the observed values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1\pm 0.7`$ (Baganoff et al. 2001, Goldwurm et al. 2002). Fe K$`\alpha `$ line emission is weak as observed. Absorption of soft X-rays in the disk photosphere could be significant. However we find that X-rays from bright flares photo-ionize the disk material enough to hide this absorption on the background of the existing neutral absorber in the line of sight.

#### X-ray luminosity.

Consider first an optically thin case. If the cooling time of the shocked gas, $`t_c`$, is shorter than $`R_{}/v_{}`$, then the X-ray luminosity, $`L_{\mathrm{xe}}`$, should be about $`L_w`$. On the other hand, if adiabatic losses dominate cooling of the hot gas, then $`L_{\mathrm{xe}}L_w(R_{}/v_{}t_c)L_w`$. We find that the latter case is more appropriate for Sgr A flares, for which we obtain

$$L_{\mathrm{xe}}4.1\times 10^{33}n_{11}^2r_{}^3r_4^{1/2}\mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{sec},$$
(2)
where $`n_{11}=n_d/10^{11}`$ cm-3.

If the disk is optically thick to photo-absorption, then X-ray emission becomes observable only when the star reaches the disk photosphere, i.e. when $`\tau =(\mathrm{cos}i)^1\sigma _{\mathrm{eff}}Hn_p1`$, where $`i`$ is the disk inclination angle, $`H`$ is disk half-thickness, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{eff}}=b\sigma _T`$ is the effective X-ray total cross section ($`b`$ few), and $`n_p`$ is local density. This moment defines the maximum in the X-ray lightcurve; inside the disk X-rays cannot escape to the observer; in the disk photosphere, on the other hand, the gas density is much smaller than it is in the midplane.

Using the $`\tau =1`$ condition we then obtain the density $`n_{\mathrm{max}}\mathrm{cos}i/(b\sigma _TH)`$ at which the maximum X-ray luminosity, $`L_{\mathrm{max}}`$, is emitted. $`L_{\mathrm{max}}`$ is clearly given by the optically thin luminosity (eq. 2), calculated with $`n_{\mathrm{max}}`$ instead of $`n_d`$, times $`\mathrm{exp}[1]`$:

$$L_{\mathrm{max}}2\times 10^{34}\left[\frac{\mathrm{cos}i}{b}\right]^2T_2^1r_{}^3r_4^{7/2}\text{erg/sec}.$$
(3)
#### Flare duration.

The disk half thickness, $`H`$, is

$$H=\sqrt{\frac{kT_dR^3}{GM_{\mathrm{BH}}m_p}}=3.9\times 10^{12}T_2^{1/2}r_4^{3/2}\mathrm{cm},$$
(4)
where $`T_2=T_d/100`$ K, and we assumed that the gas is mainly molecular hydrogen. The flare duration for an optically thick disk is $`t_{\mathrm{dur}}(H+2R_{})/v_{}`$:

$$t_{\mathrm{dur}}2.5\times 10^4T_2^{1/2}r_4^2+670r_{}r_4^{1/2}\mathrm{sec},$$
(5)
which is in accord with observations if $`R10^310^4R_g`$.

#### Mass of the disk.

The disk surface density $`\mathrm{\Sigma }2Hn_dm_p=12.8n_{12}r_4^{3/2}T_2^{1/2}`$ g cm-2. The mass of the accretion disk, calculated for density and temperature independent of radius, is $`M_dM_{}n_{12}r_4^{7/2}T_2^{1/2}`$. Such a “light” disk is neither globally nor locally self-gravitating (e.g. Kolykhalov & Sunyaev 1980; Gammie 2001).

#### NIR Luminosity.

Consider optically thick case, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }1`$ g/cm2. Deep inside the disk X-rays are absorbed and re-emitted as a black body emission in the near infrared. Assuming $`L_w\sigma _BT_{ir}^4\times 2(2H)^2`$, we get $`T_{ir}2.7\times 10^3\mathrm{K}[n_{12}r_{}^2/T_2]^{1/4}r_4^{9/8}`$. The predicted NIR luminosity is then $`\nu L_\nu =4H^2\mathrm{cos}i\nu B_\nu (T_{ir})`$:

$$\nu L_\nu =4.5\times 10^{35}\mathrm{cos}iT_2r_4^3\frac{\overline{\nu }^4}{e^x1}\text{erg/sec},$$
(6)
where $`\overline{\nu }\nu /1.5\times 10^{14}`$, and $`xh\nu /kT_{ir}`$; we assumed the distance to the GC $`D=8.0`$ kpc. While the luminosity in the optically thin case will be different from that given in eq. (6), we continue to use the latter as a rough guide in both cases.

#### Number of star-disk flares per year.

A cusp with stellar density $`n_{}(R)=n_0(R/R_c)^p`$, with $`p=7/4`$ is predicted by Bahcall & Wolf (1976) for $`R_t<R<R_c`$, where $`R_t20R_gm_{}^{1/3}`$ is the tidal radius and $`R_c`$ is the cusp radius. Alexander (1999) finds that $`n_{}(R)`$ with $`p`$ ranging from $`3/2`$ to $`7/4`$ is slightly favored over a constant density one (i.e. $`p=0`$). Eckart et al. (2003) finds that the mass of a putative cusp is $`M_{\mathrm{cusp}}5\times 10^3M_{}`$ and $`R_c0.14\mathrm{}1.7\times 10^{16}`$ cm. Thus $`n_03.8\times 10^9m_{}^1`$ pc-3. As an example, we give the number of star-disk crossings per year for $`p=3/2`$:

$$\dot{N}(R)6.7\times 10^3m_{}^1\frac{\mathrm{ln}(R_d/R_i)}{\mathrm{ln}(500)}\text{year}^1,$$
(7)
where we assumed $`R_i>R_t`$. This is the rate of star-disk crossings, and not all of these will produce flares strong enough to be detected. Within current uncertainties the expected rate of flares compares quite well with the observed $`1`$ flare per day (Baganoff et al. 2002b) for power-law indices $`p`$ ranging from $`1`$ to $`2`$, but would be too low if $`p0`$ unless $`M_{\mathrm{cusp}}`$ is greatly under-estimated.

#### Inner hole in the disk.

The star-disk interactions can remove the disk angular momentum and yield some accretion. The time to remove all disk angular momentum (found as in Ostriker 1983) is shorter than $`10^6`$ years for radii less than $`2\times 10^3R_g`$ where we assumed $`p=3/2`$. The disk viscous time at $`r_3=R/10^3R_g`$ is $`t_{\mathrm{visc}}5\times 10^5\alpha ^1T_2^1r_3^{1/2}`$ years, where $`\alpha <1`$ is viscosity parameter (Shakura & Sunyaev 1973). Clearly the disk inner hole cannot be refilled by accretion of material from larger radii for $`R10^3R_g`$. In addition, any “minor” accretion events in the past would heat up the inner disk and destroy it.

### 3.1 Summary of flare properties

We plot flare properties in Figure (5) for two values of the star’s radius, $`R_{}=R_{}`$ (thin curves) and $`R_{}=5R_{}`$ (thick). Conclusions from Figure (5):

1. Flare X-ray luminosity is a strong function of radius $`R`$. Flares even from large stars are too dim to be detected for $`R\stackrel{>}{}2\times 10^4R_g`$. Strong flares are produced by large ($`R_{}>R_{}`$) stars. If disk is optically thick, X-ray spectra of weak flares should be influenced by photo-absorption in the disk photosphere.
2. To date no flares from Sgr A much in excess of $`L_x10^{35}`$ erg/sec were observed by Chandra or XMM. This requires the disk midplane density be $`n_d\stackrel{<}{}10^{11}`$ cm-3. The infrared opacity of dust is $`k_{nir}\text{few}`$ cm2/gm (Fig 3b in Pollack et al. 1994). The disk is optically thin in NIR for $`R\text{few}\times 10^3R_g`$.
3. The disk cannot be exactly edge-on to us or else X-ray flares would be too weak (see eq. 3).
4. The maximum NIR 2 $`\mu `$m luminosity for solar-type stars is $`\text{few}\times 10^{34}`$ erg/sec. Such flares cannot be detected because the current limit on NIR flares (Hornstein et al. 2002) is about $`20`$ mJy or $`2\times 10^{35}`$ erg/sec. Further, the flares are actually offset from Sgr A location by $``$ 0.1″. If detected they would probably appear as “noise” not associated with Sgr A itself.
5. Similar X-ray and NIR flares from star-disk interactions in more distant LLAGN with $`M_{\mathrm{BH}}3\times 10^6M_{}`$ have smaller luminosities (typically $`n_d1/M_{\mathrm{BH}}`$). In accord with this, no such X-ray flares have yet been observed in other LLAGN.
6. Radio emission from the shocked gas is very weak (compared to the NIR or X-ray luminosities) since it is completely self-absorbed. This explains why there is no radio flares correlated with X-ray outbursts in Sgr A.
7. The bolometric luminosities of the O-type stars can be as high as $`10^{39}`$ erg/sec. Passing through the disk their radiation will form a strong ionization front and will be reprocessed into a cooler thermal emission. The emission will be coming from a larger surface area than $`\pi R_{}^2`$. The flare NIR K-band luminosity should be much larger than the star quiescent emission (in the same band).

## 4 Modulation of jet emission by stars

The luminous stars produce powerful winds with mass loss rates as high as $`\dot{M}_w=10^5M_{}`$ per year. The optical depth to free-free absorption in radio frequencies, $`\tau _{\mathrm{ff}}(\nu )`$, can be significant. Estimating density in the wind a distance $`\stackrel{~}{R}`$ from the star as $`n_H\dot{M}_w/4\pi \stackrel{~}{R}^2v_wm_p`$, we obtain

$$\tau _{\mathrm{ff}}2\dot{M}_6^2v_3^2T_4^{3/2}[\nu /10^{11}\text{Hz}]^2[\stackrel{~}{R}/10^{13}\text{cm}]^3,$$
(8)
where $`T_4`$ is wind temperature in units of $`10^4`$ K, and $`v_3v_w/10^3`$ km/sec, and $`\dot{M}_6=\dot{M}_w/10^6M_{}`$ per year. Therefore such powerful stellar winds may eclipse jet radio emission at low enough frequencies. Unfortunately probability of this event is extremely low because there are very few (if any!) of such stars within small enough distance from Sgr A.

A much more likely effect is a star passing through the jet. The jet emission can be either enhanced (via providing seed photons from the star) or reduced (via providing too many seed photons which over-cool the jet electrons). The rate of such “jet-crossing” events is roughly $`\theta _j/\pi `$ times smaller than that for the star-disk crossings, where $`\theta _j`$ is the jet opening angle. For example, for $`\theta _j=3^{}`$ the rate is 1/60 of that given by eq. (7), i.e. $`100`$ year-1. However since Sgr A radio power is much greater than its quiescent X-ray emission only the brightest stars are likely to cause jet disturbance. Therefore one may expect probably few events per year. The duration of the event is much longer than that of X-ray flares, i.e. $`t_{\mathrm{dur}}\theta _jR/v_{}`$ i.e. weeks to years depending on the distance $`R`$. Interestingly, Zhao et al. (2001) recently reported discovery of a 106 day periodicity in the radio emission of Sgr A.

## 5 Discussion

We have shown that eclipses of close stars by the disk may be a very effective tool with which to constrain the disk’s plane and direction of rotation, inner and outer radii, and the optical depth variation with radius. The predicted X-ray and NIR flares may yield additional constraints on the properties of the disk. The disk density is the only parameter of the model that is completely free; all the others – the star’s radii, number density, disk size, temperature and inclination angle have certain limitations from observations of either stellar orbits near Sgr A or its quiescent emission. It is thus remarkable that a disk with midplane density $`n_d\text{few}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^{11}`$ cm-3 produces X-ray flares with “right” duration, X-ray luminosity, spectrum, and low enough NIR and radio emission to pass all of the observational constraints on Sgr A flares. If the inactive disk indeed exists, it is necessary to understand how it interacts with the hot (ADAF-type) flow.

## 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Useful discussions with P. Predehl, R. Schoedel, T. Ott, and especially Jorge Cuadra are greatly appreciated.