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# Five-dimensional metrics of Petrov type 22

## 1 Introduction

In this article, we study the metric of a black hole that is localized on a brane in the five-dimensional AdS-space. This metric is of interest because it presumably describes the gravitational collapse of matter trapped on a brane in the Randall–Sundrum scenario . It was argued in ref.  that this black hole is described by a “black cigar” in five dimensions. However the analytical form of the black cigar metric is not known. For an attempt to find this metric using a restricted ansatz, see ref. . Some numerical approximations can be found in refs. . The analytical form of the metric of a black hole living on a membrane in four-dimensional AdS-space was constructed in ref. .

We use the five-dimensional Petrov classification  to look for this metric. We show that this unknown metric should have Petrov type 22 or type 4. In the latter case, we do not have additional constraints on the Weyl tensor. Imposing Petrov type 22, however, leads to an additional constraint on the Weyl tensor. This makes it easier to solve Einstein’s equations. We therefore look for the metric of the localized black hole within the class of metrics having Petrov type 22. This method is similar to the method used by Kerr for constructing the rotating black hole in four dimensions. This metric was found while sieving through the metrics of Petrov type $`D`$.

The outline of this article is as follows. In Section 2, we give a short review of the five-dimensional Petrov classification. There, we also show that the Petrov type of a black hole that is localized on a brane should have Petrov type 4 or 22. In Section 3, we classify all metrics that have Petrov type 22, are static111although it was argued in ref.  that the localized black hole should be time-dependent. See ref.  for an AdS/CFT argument. and have a space-like $`SO(3)`$ isometry group. In Section 4, we classify all metrics that have Petrov type 22, are static and have a space-like $`SO(3)`$ isometry group. From these classifications, it follows that the black hole we were looking for, does not have type 22. Hence, unfortunately, we did not find the analytical form of its metric.

## 2 Review of the five-dimensional Petrov classification

We only give a brief review of this classification, a longer discussion can be found in . We need to introduce two objects, the Weyl spinor and the Weyl polynomial.

The Weyl spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{abcd}`$ is the spinorial translation of the Weyl tensor $`C_{ijkl}`$

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{abcd}=(\gamma _{ij})_{ab}(\gamma _{kl})_{cd}C^{ijkl}.$$

Here, $`\gamma _{ij}=\frac{1}{2}[\gamma _i,\gamma _j]`$, where $`\gamma _i`$ are the $`\gamma `$-matrices in 5 dimensions. These are $`4\times 4`$ matrices. It can be verified that the Weyl spinor is symmetric in all its indices.

The Weyl polynomial $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is a homogeneous polynomial of degree four in four variables:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }_{abcd}x^ax^bx^cx^d.$$
(1)
The Petrov type of a given Weyl tensor is nothing else than the number and multiplicity of the irreducible factors of $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$. In this way, we get 12 different Petrov types, which are depicted in figure 1.

We use the following notation. The number denotes the degree of the irreducible factors and underbars denote the multiplicities. For example, a Weyl polynomial which can be factorized into two different factors, each having degree 2, has Petrov type 22. As a second example, a Weyl polynomial which can be factorized in a polynomial of degree 2 times the square of a polynomial of degree 1 has Petrov type 211. The arrows between the different Petrov types denote increasing specialization of the Weyl tensor. In accordance to the literature on the four-dimensional Petrov classification, all Weyl tensors different from type 4 are called algebraically special.

#### Example: the black string in AdS

The metric of a black string in AdS reads

$$ds^2=\frac{l^2}{z^2}\left(Udt^2+U^1dr^2+dz^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2\right),$$
(2)
where $`U(r)=1\frac{2m}{r}`$ and $`d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2`$ is the metric on the unit 2-sphere. If we choose the tetrad as

$`e_t`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{z}{l}}U^{1/2}_t`$ $`e_r`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{z}{l}}U^{1/2}_r`$ $`e_z`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{z}{l}}_z`$
$`e_\theta `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{z}{lr}}_\theta `$ $`e_\varphi `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{z}{lr\mathrm{sin}\theta }}_\varphi ,`$
we find after some algebra the Weyl polynomial

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{48mz^2}{l^2r^3}\left(T^2X^2+X^2Y^2+T^2Z^2+Y^2Z^24TXYZ\right).$$

The metric (2) has Petrov type $`22`$ because $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ can be factorized into two polynomials of degree 2

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{48mz^2}{l^2r^3}\left(TX+iXYiTZYZ\right)\left(TXiXY+iTZYZ\right).$$

Far from the AdS-horizon, the localized black hole will look like this black string . Because the black string has type 22, it follows from Figure 1 that the localized black hole should have Petrov type 22 or 4. In the next Section, we will look for the metric of the localized black hole by classifying the metrics of type 22.

## 3 Classification of metrics of type 22

In this section, we classify all metrics that are static, have an $`SO(3)`$-isometry group and have Petrov type 22. These metrics satisfy Einstein’s equations. Hence, the Ricci-tensor satisfies $`R_{\mu \nu }=4\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{\mu \nu }`$. We will assume in the rest of the article that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }0`$. The classification in the case of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ can be found in ref. .

A calculation shows that the most general ansatz for the Weyl spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{abcd}`$ has 4 independent components.

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \mathrm{\Psi }_{1114}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{1444}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{2223}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{2333}=24i\phi _4\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Psi }_{1123}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{1224}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{1334}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{2344}=8i\phi _4\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Psi }_{1111}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{2222}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{3333}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{4444}=24(\phi _2+\phi _3)\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Psi }_{1133}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{2244}=8(\phi _2+\phi _3)\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Psi }_{2233}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{1144}=8(\phi _23\phi _3)\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Psi }_{1122}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{3344}=8(2\phi _1\phi _2+\phi _3)\text{ and }\mathrm{\Psi }_{1234}=8(\phi _1+\phi _3)\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
Here, the four functions $`\phi _i`$ depend on the coordinates $`r`$ and $`z`$. The above linear combinations are chosen in such a way that the functions $`\phi _i`$ transform nicely under tetrad transformations (see appendix A).

A metric has Petrov type 22 if by definition the Weyl polynomial obtained from the Weyl spinor (3) can be factorized into two factors of degree 2. In , we have shown that this is the case if and only if one of the following four conditions is satisfied

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \text{Case A: }& \phi _3=\phi _4=0\hfill \\ \hfill \text{Case B: }& \phi _1+\phi _2=0\hfill \end{array}\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \text{Case C: }& \phi _1^2=\phi _3^2+\phi _4^2\hfill \\ \hfill \text{Case D: }& \phi _2^2=\phi _3^2+\phi _4^2\hfill \end{array}$$
(4)
The classification is then as follows.

The metric has type 22 if and only if it is one of the following metrics.

1. The black string in AdS

$$ds^2=\frac{l^2}{z^2}\left(Udt^2+U^1dr^2+dz^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2\right),$$
(5)
where $`U(r)=1\frac{2m}{r}`$ and $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ is the metric on the unit 2-sphere.
2. A wrapped product built on a dS-Schwarzschild space

$$ds^2=dz^2+\mathrm{sin}^2(\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }}z)\left[\left(1\frac{2m}{r}\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2\right)dt^2+\frac{dr^2}{1\frac{2m}{r}\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2}+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2\right]$$
(6)
This metric is part of the so called RS-AdS-Schwarzschild black hole
3. A cosmological model in which space is the product of a two-sphere and a two-dimensional manifold of constant curvature. Hence, the metric reads

$$ds^2=dz^2+a(z)^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2+b(z)^2dM^2,$$
(7)
where $`M`$ can be $`𝔼^2`$, $`S^2`$ or $`^2`$. The functions $`a(z)`$ and $`b(z)`$ are determined by Einstein’s equations. We do not know the analytical expression of the general solution. A particular solution is $`a(z)=b(z)=\mathrm{sin}(\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }}z)/\sqrt{3\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. See ref.  for a classification of all $`4+1`$-dimensional cosmological models with spatial hypersurfaces that are homogeneous, connected and simply connected.

The derivation of this classification is tedious, it can be found in appendices D and E. We now prove222We remind the reader that we have assumed that the metric of the localized black hole is static. If the results in ref.  and ref.  are valid, this restriction is too strong and our proof breaks down. that the localized black hole on a brane has Petrov type 4. In Section 2, we argued that the metric of the localized black hole has type 22 or type 4. This metric does not appear in our classification of metrics of type 22. Hence, it has Petrov type 4.

## 4 Classification of metrics of type 22

A metric has Petrov type 22 if by definition the Weyl polynomial is the square of a polynomial of degree 2. This is the case if and only if one of the following three conditions is satisfied

Case AC: $`\phi _1=\phi _3=\phi _4=0`$ (8)
Case AD: $`\phi _2=\phi _3=\phi _4=0`$
Case BC: $`\phi _1+\phi _2=0\text{and}\phi _1^2=\phi _3^2+\phi _4^2`$
These conditions are combinations of the conditions (4). This is reflected in our notation. The classification is then as follows.

The metric has type 22 if and only if it is one of the following metrics.

1. The product of the spheres $`S^3`$ and $`S^2`$

$$ds^2=\frac{1}{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2+\frac{1}{4\mathrm{\Lambda }}d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2$$
(9)
2. The generalized AdS-Schwarzschild metric

$$ds^2=U(r)dt^2+U^1(r)dr^2+r^2dM^2,$$
(10)
where $`U(r)=k\frac{m}{r^2}+\mathrm{\Lambda }r^2`$ and $`M`$ is a space of constant curvature. If $`M=S^3`$, $`𝔼^3`$ or $`^3`$, then $`k=1`$, 0, $`1`$ respectively. If $`M`$ is the unit three-sphere, then the metric reduces to AdS-Schwarzschild.

Details of the classification can be found in appendix C.

## 5 Conclusions

In this article, we have given a classification of five-dimensional Einstein manifolds that are static, have an $`SO(3)`$ isometry group and have Petrov type 22. We have used this classification to prove that the localized black hole on a brane is not algebraically special. Some topics of further research are the following.

1. One can further refine the five-dimensional Petrov classification as given in . Indeed, it should be possible to subdivide the Petrov types for which the Weyl polynomial can not be completely factorized into smaller subtypes (i.e. the Petrov types 4, 31, 22, 22 and 211). This project is essentially the determination of an invariant classification of the polynomials of degree four in four variables, hence belongs to 19th century’s “invariant theory”. See ref.  for an introduction to classical invariant theory.
2. Classify all Einstein metrics of type $`22`$ without assuming additional isometries. This classification is a higher-dimensional generalization of Kinnersley’s classification of four-dimensional metrics of Petrov type $`D`$. This could lead to the discovery of new five-dimensional metrics. It would shed some light on the possible solutions of the five-dimensional Einstein’s equations. One knows that the set of black holes is much richer in five dimensions than in four dimensions. See e.g. ref.  for a five-dimensional rotating black string.

Before attacking the general classification, it is perhaps better in view of refs.  and  to start by classifying time-dependent metrics with an $`SO(3)`$ isometry group.
3. As far as I know, almost nothing is known about the five-dimensional Petrov classification. It would be good to make a thorough study of it.

## Acknowledgments

This work has been supported in part by the NSF grant PHY-0098527.

## Appendix A Tetrad transformation on the Weyl spinor

Under tetrad rotations ($`s=+1`$) and reflections ($`s=1`$)

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}e_r\\ e_z\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\chi & \mathrm{sin}\chi \\ s\mathrm{sin}\chi & s\mathrm{cos}\chi \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}e_r\\ e_z\end{array}\right),$$

the Weyl spinor transforms as

$$\phi _1\phi _1,\phi _2\phi _2,\left(\begin{array}{c}\phi _3\\ \phi _4\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}2\chi & \mathrm{sin}2\chi \\ s\mathrm{sin}2\chi & s\mathrm{cos}2\chi \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\phi _3\\ \phi _4\end{array}\right).$$

From this, we have the important result that we can always do a tetrad rotation to put $`\phi _4=0`$. On top of this, we can specify the sign of $`\phi _3`$ by an additional reflection.

## Appendix B The field equations

The vacuum Einstein equations (notice our non-standard normalization of the cosmological constant)

$$R_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }R14\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{\mu \nu }=0$$
(11)
are equivalent to the system

$`d\omega +\omega \omega =\mathrm{\Omega }`$ (12)
$`d\mathrm{\Omega }+\omega \mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }\omega =0,`$ (13)
where the Riemann tensor $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is expressed in terms of the Weyl spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{abcd}`$ (3) and the Ricci tensor, which is proportional to the metric by (11). The connection $`\omega `$ is the Levi-Civita connection associated with the tetrad. The most general ansatz for the tetrad of a static space-time with $`SO(3)`$ symmetry reads

$$\begin{array}{cc}& e_t=A_t\hfill \\ & e_r\text{ and }e_z:\text{ linear combinations of }_r\text{ and }_z\hfill \\ & e_\theta =\sigma _\theta \hfill \\ & e_\varphi =\frac{\sigma }{\mathrm{sin}\theta }_\varphi \hfill \end{array}$$
(14)
In the above, $`A`$ and $`\sigma `$ are functions of the coordinates $`r`$ and $`z`$. The non-zero commutators are

$`[e_t,e_r]`$ $`=`$ $`\mu e_t,[e_t,e_z]=\nu e_t,`$ (15a)
$`[e_r,e_\theta ]`$ $`=`$ $`\kappa e_\theta ,[e_z,e_\theta ]=\lambda e_\theta ,`$ (15b)
$`[e_r,e_\varphi ]`$ $`=`$ $`\kappa e_\varphi ,[e_z,e_\varphi ]=\lambda e_\varphi ,`$ (15c)
$`[e_r,e_z]`$ $`=`$ $`\delta e_r+\epsilon e_z`$ (15d)
$`[e_\theta ,e_\varphi ]`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{cot}\theta \sigma e_\varphi ,`$ (15e)
where $`\mu ,\nu ,\delta ,\epsilon ,\kappa ,\lambda `$ and $`\sigma `$ are functions of the coordinates $`r`$ and $`z`$. We will split the resulting field equations into two blocks.

### The equations from (12)

The definition of the curvature leads to two algebraic equations

$`\sigma ^2\kappa ^2\lambda ^2\mathrm{\Lambda }3\phi _1\phi _2=0`$ (16)
$`\kappa \mu +\lambda \nu \mathrm{\Lambda }+\phi _1\phi _2=0`$ (17)
and a set of first order differential equations. The ones involving the vector $`e_r`$ are
$`e_r(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma \kappa `$ (18a)
$`e_r(\epsilon )e_z(\delta )`$ $`=`$ $`\delta ^2+\epsilon ^2+\phi _1+3\phi _2+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (18b)
$`e_r(\kappa )`$ $`=`$ $`\kappa ^2\delta \lambda \phi _1\phi _22\phi _3+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (18c)
$`e_r(\lambda )`$ $`=`$ $`\kappa \delta +\kappa \lambda +2\phi _4`$ (18d)
$`e_r(\mu )`$ $`=`$ $`\nu \delta \mu ^2\phi _1+\phi _24\phi _3\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (18e)
$`e_r(\nu )`$ $`=`$ $`\nu \mu +\delta \mu +4\phi _4`$ (18f)
and the ones involving the vector $`e_z`$ are

$`e_z(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma \lambda `$ (19a)
$`e_z(\kappa )`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon \lambda +\kappa \lambda +2\phi _4`$ (19b)
$`e_z(\lambda )`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon \kappa +\lambda ^2\phi _1\phi _2+2\phi _3+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (19c)
$`e_z(\mu )`$ $`=`$ $`\nu \epsilon \nu \mu +4\phi _4`$ (19d)
$`e_z(\nu )`$ $`=`$ $`\nu ^2+\epsilon \mu \phi _1+\phi _2+4\phi _3\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (19e)
### The equations from (13)

The Bianchi identity leads the following set of equations

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill e_r(\phi _1)& =\frac{5}{2}\kappa \phi _1+\frac{1}{2}(\kappa +\mu )\phi _2+\frac{1}{2}(4\kappa +\mu )\phi _3\frac{1}{2}(\nu +4\lambda )\phi _4\hfill \\ \hfill e_r(\phi _2)& =\frac{1}{2}\kappa \phi _1+\frac{1}{2}(5\kappa 3\mu )\phi _2\frac{1}{2}(4\kappa +3\mu )\phi _3+\frac{1}{2}(3\nu +4\lambda )\phi _4\hfill \\ \hfill e_r(\phi _3)& =e_z(\phi _4)+\frac{1}{2}\kappa \phi _1\frac{1}{2}(\kappa +\mu )\phi _2+(2\epsilon +\kappa \frac{1}{2}\mu )\phi _3\hfill \\ & +(\frac{1}{2}\nu +2\delta \lambda )\phi _4\hfill \\ \hfill e_r(\phi _4)& =e_z(\phi _3)\frac{1}{2}\lambda \phi _1+\frac{1}{2}(\nu +\lambda )\phi _2+(\frac{1}{2}\nu 2\delta +\lambda )\phi _3\hfill \\ & +(2\epsilon +\kappa \frac{1}{2}\mu )\phi _4\hfill \\ \hfill e_z(\phi _1)& =\frac{5}{2}\lambda \phi _1+\frac{1}{2}(\nu +\lambda )\phi _2\frac{1}{2}(\nu +4\lambda )\phi _3\frac{1}{2}(4\kappa +\mu )\phi _4\hfill \\ \hfill e_z(\phi _2)& =\frac{1}{2}\lambda \phi _1+\frac{1}{2}(3\nu +5\lambda )\phi _2+\frac{1}{2}(3\nu +4\lambda )\phi _3+\frac{1}{2}(4\kappa +3\mu )\phi _4\hfill \end{array}$$
(20)
## Appendix C Type 22: solutions in cases AC, AD and BC

In this appendix, we classify all solutions of the field equations given in appendix B that are of Petrov type 22. We point out that if all components of the Weyl spinor (3) vanish, the space has constant curvature. Indeed, a conformally flat metric which is Einstein, is necessarily of constant curvature.

### Case AC: $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

From the Bianchi equations (20), we immediately get $`\mathbf{(}𝜿\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`\mathbf{(}𝝀\mathbf{+}𝝂\mathbf{)}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Hence, we have two possibilities. The first one is $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Then all components of the Weyl spinor are zero and we obtain a space of constant curvature. The second possibility is $`𝜿\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝀\mathbf{+}𝝂\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Then we obtain from (16) and (17) $`𝝈\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. This is not a good solution of the field equations, because in this case the tetrad (14) is degenerate. Therefore, in case AC, we obtain only the five-sphere.

### Case AD: $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

This case is similar to the previous one. From the Bianchi equations (20), we get $`𝜿𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝀𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. If $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, we have a sphere. If $`𝜿\mathbf{=}𝝀\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, we find from equations (17) and (16) $`𝝈^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟒}𝚲`$. Hence, the metric reads

$$𝒅𝒔^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝒅𝑴_\mathrm{𝟑}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟒}𝚲}𝒅𝛀_\mathrm{𝟐}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{,}$$

where $`𝛀_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ is the unit two-sphere. This metric is Einstein if and only if $`𝑴_\mathrm{𝟑}`$ is an Einstein space. As is well-known — see for example \[13, Ex. 28.2\]— a three-dimensional Einstein space is necessarily of constant curvature. Therefore $`𝑴_\mathrm{𝟑}`$ is a sphere. All in all, Case AD leads to the five-sphere or to the product of two spheres (9).

### Case BC: $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}^\mathrm{𝟐}`$

As shown in appendix A, we can choose our tetrad in such a way that $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}`$. We will assume that $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ otherwise, we obtain the five-sphere. From the Bianchi equations (20), we obtain $`𝝂𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}𝜹𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{(}𝜿\mathbf{}𝜺\mathbf{)}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Hence, we have $`𝝂\mathbf{=}𝜹\mathbf{=}𝜿\mathbf{}𝜺\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. From equation (17), we get $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟐}𝜿𝝁\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟐}𝚲`$. Inserting all this into equation (18) and (19) leads to the following equations

We will resolve two cases $`𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝜿\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

* Case BC.1: $`𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
From the commutation relation (15d), we see that we can always find a coordinate system in which $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝒓𝜿\mathbf{}_𝒓`$ and $`𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}𝒓\mathbf{}_𝒛`$. The solution of the differential equations (21) then reads

$$𝜿\mathbf{=}\mathbf{\left(}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟒}}\mathbf{+}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{}𝚲\mathbf{\right)}^{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{,}𝝀\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}\frac{\sqrt{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}}}{𝒓}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐭}\mathbf{\left(}\sqrt{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒛\mathbf{\right)}\mathbf{,}$$

and

$$𝝁\mathbf{=}\mathbf{\left(}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟒}}\mathbf{+}𝚲\mathbf{\right)}\mathbf{\left(}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟒}}\mathbf{+}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{}𝚲\mathbf{\right)}^{\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{.}$$

Here $`𝑪_\mathrm{𝟏}`$ and $`𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ are two arbitrary integration constants. We have used a shift on the coordinate $`𝒛`$ to eliminate the third integration constant. Finally, the remaining tetrad vectors $`𝒆_𝒕`$ and $`𝒆_𝜽`$ are determined from the commutation relation (15a) and the algebraic equation (16) respectively

$$𝒆_𝒕\mathbf{=}\mathbf{\left(}𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{}𝚲𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\right)}^{\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{}_𝒕\text{and}𝝈^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\frac{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\left(}\sqrt{𝑪_\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒛\mathbf{\right)}}\mathbf{.}$$

This solution is the metric (10).
* Case BC.2: $`𝜿\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
Because $`𝜹\mathbf{=}𝜺\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, we can always find a coordinate system in which $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}_𝒓`$ and $`𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}_𝒛`$. It then follows from (16) and (15a) that the metric is of the form

$$𝒅𝒔^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝑾\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}𝒅𝒕^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒅𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒅𝒛^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝝈\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒅𝛀^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{.}$$

Hence, it is the product of two Einstein spaces, leading to the product of two spheres (9).

## Appendix D Type $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟐}`$: solutions in cases A, B and C

In this appendix, we classify all solutions of the field equations given in appendix B, subject to the conditions of case A, B and C of (4).

### Case A: $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

The Bianchi identities give

$$𝜿𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}\mathbf{(}𝜿\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\text{and}\mathbf{}𝝀𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{(}𝝀\mathbf{+}𝝂\mathbf{)}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{.}$$
(22)
Because we are not interested in the trivial case $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, it follows from these equations that $`𝜿𝝂\mathbf{=}𝝀𝝁`$. We choose our tetrad such that $`𝝂\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. At this point, it is necessary to resolve two cases: $`𝝁\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝁\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

* Case A.1: $`𝝁\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
From equations (17) and (18e), we have $`𝚲\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. We are not interested in this case, a discussion can be found in .
* Case A.2: $`𝝁\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
In this case, we have $`𝝀\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. From equation (18f) we find $`𝜹\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, and from equations (17), (19e), (19c) and (22) we obtain

$$𝜿\mathbf{(}𝜿\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\frac{𝜺}{\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{(}𝜿\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}\text{and}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\frac{𝜿}{\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{(}𝜺\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}\mathbf{.}$$

Hence we have $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ or $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, leading to cases AC or AD. The discussion in appendix C shows that this leads to the five-sphere or the product of two spheres (9).

### Case B: $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

We choose the tetrad in such a way that $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. From the Bianchi equations (20), we get $`𝝁\mathbf{(}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝂\mathbf{(}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Hence, there are two possibilities. The first one is $`𝝁\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ or $`𝝂\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Then we have $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}`$ or $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}`$. Therefore the metric has type 22. This case is treated in case BC of appendix C. The second possibility is $`𝝁\mathbf{=}𝝂\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Then, it follows from (15a) that the manifold is a product manifold with metric of the form $`𝒅𝒔^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝒅𝒕^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒅𝑴^\mathrm{𝟐}`$. $`𝚲`$ has to be zero for this metric to be Einstein.

### Case C: $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}^\mathrm{𝟐}`$

We choose our tetrad such that $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}`$. A similar analysis as the one in  shows that we have either case AC, BC or

$$𝝀\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝝂\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟖}}\mathbf{(}𝝁\mathbf{+}𝜺\mathbf{)}\mathbf{(}𝜿\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}\text{and}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟖}}\mathbf{(}𝝁\mathbf{+}𝜺\mathbf{)}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟑}𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}𝜺\mathbf{+}𝝁\mathbf{)}\mathbf{.}$$

Inserting these relations into (19) leads to $`𝚲\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

## Appendix E Type 22: solutions in case D, $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}^\mathrm{𝟐}`$

We choose the tetrad in such a way that $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}`$. From the Bianchi identities, it follows that $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ or that $`𝜹\mathbf{=}𝝂`$. In the former case, the discussion in case AD shows that this leads to the five-sphere or the product of two spheres. We will now proceed with the latter case $`𝜹\mathbf{=}𝝂`$. An analysis similar to the one in  shows that the problem is split into three cases

D.1 $`𝜺\mathbf{=}𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}\text{ and }𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}`$
D.2 $`𝜺\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}\text{ and }𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟑}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}`$
D.3 $`𝜺\mathbf{=}𝜿\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{.}`$
### Case D.1: $`𝜺\mathbf{=}𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

This case is treated in case BC of appendix C.

### Case D.2: $`𝜺\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, $`𝜿\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟑}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

Inserting the relation $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟑}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ into the Bianchi equations gives $`𝝀\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝝂`$. From equation (17), we get $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{(}𝜿𝝁\mathbf{}𝝂^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}𝚲\mathbf{)}`$. Inserting these results into equations (18) and (19) gives

We choose coordinates in such a way that $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{=}𝑨\mathbf{}_𝒓`$ and $`𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{=}𝑩\mathbf{}_𝒛`$. From the commutation relation (15d), it follows that $`𝑩`$ depends only on the coordinate $`𝒛`$, hence, by a coordinate transformation, we can put $`𝑩\mathbf{=}\sqrt{𝚲}`$. The solution of (24b) splits into two cases.

* $`𝝂`$ is not constant
Then we have $`𝝂\mathbf{=}\sqrt{𝚲}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐭}𝒛`$. We have removed the integration constant by a coordinate transformation on $`𝒛`$. From equations (24), we have

$$𝝁\mathbf{=}\frac{𝒇\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}}{\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}𝒛}\text{and}𝜿\mathbf{=}\frac{𝒈\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}}{\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}𝒛}\mathbf{.}$$

From the commutation relations, it follows that we can take $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}\frac{𝒓𝒈\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}}{\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}𝒛}\mathbf{}_𝒓`$ without loosing generality. The solution of (23) then reads

$$𝒇\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}𝒈\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}𝚲\mathbf{}\frac{𝒎}{𝒓^\mathrm{𝟑}}\text{and}𝒈\mathbf{(}𝒓\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝒓}\mathbf{\left[}𝑪_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}\frac{\mathrm{𝟐}𝒎}{𝒓}\mathbf{}𝚲𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\right]}^{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{.}$$

This leads to the metric (6).
* $`𝝂`$ is constant
In a similar way as above, one can show that this case leads to the black string in AdS (2).

### Case D.3: $`𝜺\mathbf{=}𝜿\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$

From (17), we get $`𝝋_\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}𝝀𝝂\mathbf{+}𝚲`$. From (18) and (19) we obtain the following equations
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{(}𝝁\mathbf{)}& \mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝝂^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝝀𝝂\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟒}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}𝚲\hfill \\ \hfill 𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{(}𝝂\mathbf{)}& \mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\hfill \\ \hfill 𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{(}𝝀\mathbf{)}& \mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}\hfill \end{array}$$
(25)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{(}𝝁\mathbf{)}& \mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝝂𝝁\hfill \\ \hfill 𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{(}𝝂\mathbf{)}& \mathbf{=}\mathbf{}𝝂^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝝀𝝂\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟒}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}𝚲\hfill \\ \hfill 𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{(}𝝀\mathbf{)}& \mathbf{=}𝝀^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝝀𝝂\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟒}𝝋_\mathrm{𝟐}\hfill \end{array}$$
(26)
We choose coordinates in such a way that $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{=}𝑨\mathbf{}_𝒓`$ and $`𝒆_𝒛\mathbf{=}𝑩\mathbf{}_𝒛`$. From the commutation relation (15d), it follows that we can do a coordinate transformation to make $`𝑨`$ and $`𝑩`$ both depend only on $`𝒛`$. The solution splits into three cases

* $`𝝁\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
From (16) and (15a), it follows that the metric can be written as

$$𝒅𝒔^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝑨\mathbf{(}𝒛\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{(}𝒅𝒕^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒅𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝑩\mathbf{(}𝒛\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒅𝒛^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝝈\mathbf{(}𝒛\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒅𝛀^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{.}$$

This metric belongs to the class (7), where the factor is a two-plane. We have not been able to find an analytical form of the general solution of (25) and (26).
* $`𝝁\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{(}𝝁\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
In this cases, the metric can be written as

$$𝒅𝒔^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝑨\mathbf{(}𝒛\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{(}𝒅𝒓^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒆^{\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}𝑪𝒓}𝒅𝒕^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝑩\mathbf{(}𝒛\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒅𝒛^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝝈\mathbf{(}𝒛\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}𝒅𝛀^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{.}$$

This metric belongs to the class (7), where the second factor is the two-sphere if $`𝑪^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{<}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and the two-dimensional hyperbolic space if $`𝑪^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{>}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. We have not been able to find an analytical form of the general solution of (25) and (26).
* $`𝝁\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝒆_𝒓\mathbf{(}𝝁\mathbf{)}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$
This case leads to the same metrics as above.


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# Field-Effect Persistent Photoconductivity

## Abstract

We report a persistent increase or decrease in the two-dimensional electron density of AlAs or GaAs quantum wells flanked by AlGaAs barriers, brought about by illuminating the samples at $`T4`$ K while simultaneously applying a voltage bias between a back gate and the two-dimensional electron gas. Control of the final carrier density is achieved by tuning the back gate bias during illumination. Furthermore, the strength of the persistent photoconductivity depends on the Al mole fraction in the back AlxGa1-xAs barrier, and is largest at $`x0.4`$.

Several compound semiconductors, when illuminated briefly at low temperatures ($`T100`$ K) with infrared or visible light, retain their photoconductivity for times that vary from a few minutes to hours or days. This remarkable phenomenon, called persistent photoconductivity (PPC), has been mostly observed in doped II-IV and III-V semiconductors such as AlGaAs:Si/Te lang79 , ZnCdTe:Cl burkey76 , GaAsP:Te/S craford68 , and AlN:Si zeisel00 , in which it likely results from the formation of “DX-centers”. The latter are charged defect centers that behave as deep donors, and transform into metastable shallow donors under appropriate illumination. A successful microscopic model for the DX-centers in AlGaAs, based on large lattice relaxation, has been established by Chadi and Chang chadi89 .

A general picture of PPC, however, is still conspicuously missing, and alternative models are still being invoked to explain its origin. Indeed, PPC also occurs in materials that do not contain DX-centers theis86 ; reddy98 ; chen98 ; zervos99 , and can actually result in a reduction of the electrical conductivity, in which case it is referred to as negative PPC chou85 ; pettersson93 . Aside from the DX-center model, another mechanism put forward to account for PPC involves the photoexcitation and subsequent separation of electron-hole pairs, followed by trapping of some of the electrons (or holes) by the spacers/barriers theis86 ; zervos99 . Deep levels in undoped materials such as GaN and GaAs may also result from the formation of anion antisites (e.g., NGa) or vacancies (VGa or VAs in GaAs) reddy98 ; chen98 . In many cases, PPC probably stems from the cumulative effect of electron-hole pair excitation and relaxation of defects similar to the DX-centers.

The main result we wish to describe here is that the two-dimensional (2D) carrier density ($`n`$) in a GaAs or AlAs quantum well (QW) with suitable AlxGa1-xAs barriers ($`x0.4`$), can be tuned reversibly from almost zero to values larger than 5 $`\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2, by applying a small electric field ($`<500`$ V/cm) between the 2D electrons and a back gate, while briefly illuminating the sample at $`T4`$ K with red LED light. In other words, the zero-frequency dielectric permittivity of Al0.39Ga0.61As, which is equal to 10$`ϵ_0`$, increases effectively by two orders of magnitude when the material is illuminated at low temperatures, as calculated from the geometric capacitance of the sample. In samples with Al0.39Ga0.61As barriers, the carrier density thus induced in the QW remains approximately constant after light is turned off, while with barriers with a lower Al content, the photoconductivity is only partly persistent. Though most of our measurements were done in AlAs QWs, we also have some limited data on GaAs QWs, which we will discuss later in this report.

To quantify this field-effect PPC (FEPPC), we have performed measurements in an 11 nm-wide AlAs QW grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), surrounded by Al0.39Ga0.61As barriers, with a single Si front dopant layer separated from the QW by a 75 nm-thick Al0.39Ga0.61As spacer (Fig. 1). Two samples were cut from the same wafer, one unpatterned and contacted in the van der Pauw geometry (sample A), and one patterned as a Hall bar mesa (sample B). Both were fitted with a gate located on the back of the 400 $`\mu `$m-thick, undoped GaAs substrate. 150 nm-thick AuGeNi contacts were deposited and alloyed at 440 oC, and samples were cooled in the dark, either in a 4He dewar, or in a 3He cryostat kept at $`T4`$ K. A red LED (wavelength 660 nm) was placed next to the sample at a distance of about 1 cm. The carrier density was determined through measurements of the Hall resistance ($`R_{xy}`$). From transport measurements done on this and other samples, we have confirmed that the density deduced from $`R_{xy}`$ at 4 K is the same as the 2D carrier density obtained from Shubnikov-de Haas data at 0.3 K. Magnetotransport data in AlAs samples illuminated using the technique described here have been reported elsewhere depoortere02 .

Figure 2 illustrates the effect of illumination on the four-point resistance ($`R`$) of sample A with an applied back gate bias ($`V_{BG}`$), at $`T=4.2`$ K. At time $`t=0`$, $`V_{BG}=4`$ V initialR . $`V_{BG}`$ is first raised to 7 V, which changes $`R`$ by a negligible amount in the dark. As the LED is turned on, $`R`$ drops from 2400 to 830 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ in about 30 s, after which it remains constant. The LED current is then turned off at $`t=125`$ s, which does not affect $`R`$. At $`t=165`$ s, $`V_{BG}`$ is set back to 4 V, which does not change $`R`$ in the dark, and then at $`t=177`$ s, the LED is turned back on. As a result, $`R`$ now increases to reach a maximum of 2270 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, slightly lower than its value at $`t=0`$. After reaching this maximum, $`R`$ slowly decreases while the LED is on. Finally, the LED is turned off again at $`t=270`$ s, keeping $`R`$ unchanged. The data in Fig. 2 thus show that the resistance drop obtained after illumination at $`V_{BG}=7`$ V can be partly reversed by illuminating the sample at the “original” $`V_{BG}=4`$ V. The initial $`R=2400`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ cannot be fully recovered at $`V_{BG}=4`$ V, however, indicating that the sample keeps some memory of its illumination. This initial $`R`$ can nevertheless be retrieved if the LED is turned on at $`V_{BG}`$ lower than 4 V.

The evolution of $`R`$ as we illuminate sample A at successively lower $`V_{BG}`$ is plotted in Fig. 3, obtained in a separate run. The current passing through the LED is plotted in the lower panel as a function of time. At time $`t=0`$, the sample density is low ($`<2\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2), and $`R`$ is correspondingly high. At $`t=15`$ s, we illuminate the sample at $`V_{BG}=30`$ V until $`R`$ drops to 260 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and stops decreasing. We then reduce $`V_{BG}`$ to 20 V, which does not affect $`R`$ (even as we shine light upon the sample). We further decrease $`V_{BG}`$ to 15 V, which in the dark does not change $`R`$ either. The LED is then turned on: $`R`$ increases, quickly reaches a maximum value of 530 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, then starts to decrease slowly, similarly to the behavior seen in Fig. 2. We turn off the LED right after $`R`$ reaches its maximum value (For our experiment at lower $`V_{BG}`$, this time is marked by a vertical arrow in Fig. 2). $`R`$ remains constant after illumination has stopped. This procedure is then repeated by (1) lowering $`V_{BG}`$, (2) illuminating the sample, thereby increasing $`R`$, and (3) turning the LED off as $`R`$ comes close to its peak value. From the data of Fig. 3, we see that the resistance obtained after illumination increases as $`V_{BG}`$ decreases. When light is applied at $`V_{BG}`$ lower than 3 V, our contact resistance to the 2D electrons becomes too high for $`R`$ to be measured reliably.

A similar illumination sequence (with a denser set of back gate biases) was applied to sample B, and the carrier density was measured after every illumination. The density obtained after each exposure to light at $`V_{BG}`$ is plotted as a function of $`V_{BG}`$ in Fig. 4. For $`V_{BG}>16`$ V, the density remains constant at $`n5.6\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2, while for lower biases ($`5<V_{BG}<14`$ V), $`n`$ decreases quickly and approximately linearly with $`V_{BG}`$. It is worth noting that the change in $`n`$ with $`V_{BG}`$ is about 200 times larger than what it would be if this experiment were realized without illumination: in this case, the slope of $`n(V_{BG})`$ would be about $`2\times 10^8`$ cm-2/V BGleak .

For $`V_{BG}5`$ V, the density decreases more slowly as $`V_{BG}`$ is lowered. We note that for $`n`$ lower than $`1.7\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2, our contact resistance in this sample becomes prohibitively high, preventing an accurate measurement of the density. As indicated earlier for sample A, we also note that the densities plotted in Fig. 4 depend on the history of conditions applied to the sample during a given cooldown: a repeat of the sequence of illuminations at incremental values of $`V_{BG}`$ tends to shift the curve of Fig. 4 to lower $`V_{BG}`$.

All other AlAs QWs with Al0.39Ga0.61As barriers we have measured so far display a behavior qualitatively similar to that of Figs. 2 \- 4: $`n`$ can be tuned controllably from less than 2 to about $`5\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2, by illuminating the sample at $`0<V_{BG}<20`$ V. In QWs confined within lower-x AlxGa1-xAs barriers, however, the maximum density obtained after illumination is lower than in samples with $`x0.4`$. We define this “maximum” density ($`n_{max}`$) in a given sample as that reached by increasing $`V_{BG}`$ and by illuminating the sample at $`T4`$ K for brief intervals ($`<5`$ seconds) until $`n`$ saturates. The density obtained in this manner is characteristic of the sample, in the sense that it does not depend on cooldown or on the history of illumination and gating longillum .

In Fig. 5, we plot $`n_{max}`$ for different AlAs samples, as a function of the Al concentrations ($`x_B`$) in the back AlGaAs barrier. The structures grown above the AlAs QW in these samples are all similar to the one shown in Fig. 1. As $`x_B`$ decreases from 0.39 to 0.08, $`n_{max}`$ decreases from about 5.6 to 1.9 $`\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2, showing a direct correlation between $`x_B`$ and sample density. Furthermore, out of the several samples grown with $`x_B`$ = 0.45, none has a density higher than $`4.0\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2, indicating that the strongest FEPPC is obtained with $`x_B0.4`$. We point out that, when $`x0.4`$, the forbidden gap in AlGaAs becomes indirect, so that photons indeed are much less efficiently absorbed by the barriers.

Although we do not have a quantitative explanation for the phenomenon described in this report, we can nevertheless draw a qualitative picture of FEPPC from our measurements. First, since the effect depends sensitively on the Al concentration in the AlGaAs barrier underneath the QW, we suggest that the charged centers responsible for the increase in 2D carrier density after illumination are also located below the QW GaAsPPC . In addition, because of screening, the back gate has little effect on electric fields above the QW when 2D electrons are present in the QW. Thus, since the increase in 2D density brought about by illumination at $`V_{BG}>15`$ V is at least $`4\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2 (Fig. 4), we deduce that FEPPC creates $`4\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2 positive charges in the back AlGaAs barrier.

Our next question concerns the nature of these positive charges in the back AlGaAs layer: can they result from unintentional impurities present in the MBE during growth, or do they originate from some other kind of crystal defect? Because contaminants (mainly C) in our MBE are mostly incorporated as acceptors in the barriers, they cannot cause the effect we observe. Furthermore, the concentration of unintentional dopants required to produce a 2D density observed in our measurements needs to be greater than 5 $`\times 10^{16}`$ cm-3, a value about 500 times larger than the estimated background impurity concentration in our samples. Thus residual impurities cannot explain the magnitude of the field-and-light-induced electric charge, and we are led to conclude that this charge results from the presence of crystal defects in AlGaAs, which are able to bind a positive charge at low temperatures. High quality AlGaAs alloys are notoriously difficult to grow by MBE, so a larger density of crystal defects is actually expected in this material.

A simple mechanism for FEPPC for $`V_{BG}>0`$, outlined below, can have two possible starting points: either photons absorbed by the back AlGaAs layer produce electron-hole pairs, which are then separated by the electric field; or light can induce a deep-to-shallow transition in levels associated with AlGaAs defects, thereby generating an effective ($`DX`$-like) donor in the barrier. In both scenarios, the field separates positive and negative charges spatially, attracting electrons towards the back gate, and repelling the positive charge towards the QW. Once the LED is turned off, some of the positive charges remain trapped in the AlGaAs close to the QW, creating an electric field that is much stronger than the field resulting from $`V_{BG}`$. We do not know at this point the nature and energetics of the charge-trapping defects, or the precise mechanism for charge transport through the AlGaAs during and after illumination. The reason why FEPPC is strongest for $`x_B=0.4`$ is also unknown, though it could be related to the near-degeneracy of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`X`$ conduction band minima in Al0.4Ga0.6As mooney90 . Measurements of the photoluminescence and the photoconductivity spectrum, as well as optical deep level transient spectroscopy chantre81 , could yield valuable insight into the physics of FEPPC.

Our results in GaAs are qualitatively similar to those in AlAs: in GaAs QWs bounded by Al0.39Ga0.61As barriers, we obtained a density increase of about $`5\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2 after illumination with $`V_{BG}=6`$ V (150 V/cm), while a much smaller density increase ($`1\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2) was observed under illumination at $`V_{BG}=0`$ V. We did not measure the dependence of FEPPC on $`x_B`$ in GaAs QWs.

Lastly, we point out that when both front and back gates are added to the sample, densities as high as $`n=9.6\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2 can be obtained after sample illumination. FEPPC may thus also occur in the top AlGaAs barrier, although the effect is complicated by the presence of intentional Si dopants near the surface of our sample. We have not studied the front-gate-dependent PPC in greater detail. It is also worth noting that when Si dopants are present in the back barrier of the sample, FEPPC seems to have a weaker effect on 2D carrier density, possibly because the dopant layer partly screens $`V_{BG}`$ during illumination.

In summary, we describe in this paper the basic properties of a new form of persistent photoconductivity, tunable with an electric field. By illuminating AlAs or GaAs quantum wells (surrounded AlxGa1-xAs barriers) while applying an electric field ranging from 0 to $`500`$ V/cm across the back AlGaAs barrier, we can vary the 2D electron density from $`0`$ to more than $`5\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2. FEPPC is strongly sensitive to the Al mole fraction of the back AlxGa1-xAs barrier: the light-induced 2D density increases with $`x`$, and reaches a maximum at $`x0.4`$. The fact that $`n`$ depends chiefly on the Al content of the back barrier indicates that the charged centers responsible for back-gate-controlled FEPPC in our samples are mostly located within that barrier.

The authors gratefully acknowledge useful discussions with D. C. Tsui. We also thank Audrey Lee and Troy Abe for help with optical measurements. This work was supported by the NSF.

References and Notes


text:
# Castor A and Castor B resolved in a simultaneous Chandra and XMM-Newton observation

## 1 Introduction

Castor is a sextett system at a distance of $`16`$ pc, and composed of three visual stars each of which is by itself a spectroscopic binary. Castor C (= YY Gem) consists of two late-type stars (dM1e + dM1e) and is separated from Castor AB by $`74^{\prime \prime }`$. The primaries in both Castor A and Castor B are of spectral type A (A1 V and A5 V, respectively). Neither strong stellar winds (typical for early-type stars) nor magnetic activity (typical for late-type stars) are thought to produce X-ray emission in early A-type stars. Nevertheless, observations by EXOSAT allowed to separate two sources of X-ray emission, YY Gem and the visual binary of Castor AB (Pallavicini et al. (1990a)). Castor AB was also marginally resolved from YY Gem by ASCA (see Gotthelf et al. (1994)). The most likely explanation is that the presumably late-type spectroscopic companions of Castor A and/or Castor B are responsible for the X-ray emission. The companion of Castor A is most likely a late-K star in a 9.21 d eccentric orbit, while Castor B’s companion seems to be an early-M dwarf with a 2.93 d circular orbit (Güdel & Schmitt (1996), Heintz (1988)). Schmitt et al. (1994) have argued in favor of Castor A as the X-ray source because they detected microwaves from Castor A but not from Castor B. The latter was, however, subsequently detected as a radio source as well (Güdel & Schmitt (1996)). X-ray and microwave emission are expected to be associated with each other because both are generated as a result of magnetic energy release in flares. In contrast to the Sun, stars are known to be microwave emitters also during phases of quiescence. X-ray and microwave emission in stars have been found to be strongly correlated (Benz & Güdel (1994), Güdel & Benz (1993)).

In a recent XMM-Newton observation Güdel et al. (2001) found that all three visual binaries in the sextett are X-ray sources. The angular separation of Castor A and B is $`4^{\prime \prime }`$, at the limit of the spatial resolving power of XMM-Newton. The superior resolution of Chandra now allows us to present an unambiguous X-ray detection of both Castor A and Castor B, and for the first time to isolate the X-ray spectrum and lightcurves of both binaries. A contemporaneous XMM-Newton observation provides higher signal-to-noise at both medium- and high-spectral resolution. To date high-resolution X-ray spectra have been presented for about a dozen late-type stars (e.g. Güdel et al. (2001), Ness et al. (2001), Mewe et al. (2001), Raassen et al. (2002), Stelzer et al. (2002), Ness et al. (2002a)), providing for the first time direct access to the physical conditions in stellar coronae by measuring fluxes of individual emission lines. The relative strength of lines from different elements shed light on the temperature, density and abundances in the emitting region. Enlarging the data base of high-resolution studies of stars is important to distinguish which of the observed properties are typical for stellar coronae and which of the objects are peculiar. Observing a variety of stars with different spectral type, multiplicity, rotation, and age will eventually allow to disentangle the influences of these parameters on stellar activity. The combination of our simultaneous XMM-Newton and Chandra observation provides a unique data set with all the capabilities of the present-day generation of X-ray instruments, and enables a detailed study of the characteristics of three coronal X-ray sources in the Castor system.

In Sect. 2 we introduce the observations. The data reduction is described in Sect. 3. We present in brief our analysis of the medium-resolution spectrum (Sect. 4). Modelling the high-resolution spectra obtained with both Chandra and XMM-Newton, and interpretation of the results is the major purpose of this paper (Sect. 5). Therefore, Sect. 4 does not aim at an exhaustive discussion of the medium-resolution spectrum of Castor AB. Rather it is introduced because of the additional information it provides for a better understanding of the high-resolution spectrum which is used along this paper. A study of the X-ray variability of Castor A and B based on the X-ray lightcurves is given in Sect. 6. In Sect. 7 we compare the activity of Castor A and B to other active stars, and in Sect. 8 we summarize our results.

## 2 Observations

We have obtained deep X-ray observations of the Castor system with both Chandra and XMM-Newton (Obs-IDs 28 and 0112880801, respectively). The observations took place simultaneously on Sep 29/30, 2000. Chandra was used in the the LETGS configuration, i.e. the Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) was combined with the High Resolution Camera for Spectroscopy (HRC-S). XMM-Newton allows to perform high-resolution spectroscopy with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) and at the same time CCD imaging and spectroscopy with the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC). During the observation EPIC was operated in full-window mode with the thick filter inserted due to the optical brightness of Castor ($`V1.6`$ mag). For the same reason the Optical Monitor was in closed position.

The prime target of this campaign was YY Gem (= Castor C), discussed by Stelzer et al. (2002) where we also presented the observing log. The instrumental setup allows to analyse also the temporal and spectral behavior of the other two visual components of the sextett, Castor A and Castor B. In this paper we focus on the X-ray emission of these two binary stars.

## 3 Data Reduction

Fig. 1 shows the zeroth order LETGS image of Castor A and B. Their separation on the LETGS image is $`3.8^{\prime \prime }`$ and the position angle is $`64.9^{}`$, in agreement with the value expected from the optical ephemeris (Heintz (1988)).

With the LETGS both the dispersed spectrum of Castor A and Castor B and their lightcurves are separable. In Fig. 2 the raw LETGS spectrum of the Castor system is displayed. To extract the LETGS spectrum for Castor A and Castor B we followed the CIAO 2.2 science threads111http://asc.harvard.edu/ciao/threads/spectra-multi-hrc/ for grating spectroscopy with multiple sources. Three sources are detected with tgdetect, corresponding to YY Gem, Castor A, and Castor B. We selected a rectangular box of $`0.0005^{}`$ width in the cross-dispersion direction defining the source spectrum of each Castor A and Castor B. The background was extracted from two larger rectangular regions above and below the source spectrum, and excluding respectively the other two X-ray sources. Lightcurves for Castor A and Castor B are extracted from a circle of radius $`2^{\prime \prime }`$ at their zeroth order position. The background is estimated from an average of the counts in four square-shaped regions arranged symmetrically around the source. After background subtraction we find a total of $`1989\pm 46`$ cts and $`1667\pm 43`$ cts for Castor A and B respectively. The exposure time of Chandra was $`57.9`$ ksec.

With XMM-Newton Castor A and B are not resolved, but its instruments provide higher sensitivity allowing for a detailed and quantitative analysis. The RGS data were reduced with the standard pipeline rgsproc of the XMM-Newton Science Analysis System (SAS), version 5.3. With help of the bkgexclude parameter we made sure that YY Gem is excluded from the background extraction region. We extracted the first order total spectrum of Castor AB (source plus background) and a background spectrum for analysis with the CORA 222CORA is provided by J.-U. Ness and available at http://www.hs.uni-hamburg.de/DE/Ins/Per/Ness/Cora/index.html line fitting program (see Sect. 5). The RGS response matrix was generated with 6500 energy bins.

The data collected by the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard XMM-Newton was also analysed with the standard XMM-SAS tools, version 5.3. The position of the X-ray source representing Castor AB was determined by searching in an iterative way for the photon centroid at the expected position. Lightcurves and spectra for Castor AB were extracted from a $`25^{\prime \prime }`$ sized circle centered on their X-ray position. This value for the extraction radius corresponds to the point where the integrated radial distribution of counts around the position of Castor AB flattens out. This way we ensure that YY Gem does not contribute significantly to the selected photons. A $`1`$ ksec long time interval near the end of the XMM-Newton pointing was cut out because of higher background (see Fig. 6). The total useful exposure time with EPIC pn amounts to 48.6 ksec.

## 4 Medium-Resolution Spectrum: EPIC pn

Since this paper concentrates on the specific new achievements enabled by the high spatial and spectral resolution of Chandra and XMM-Newton the EPIC spectrum will only briefly be introduced. We discuss only the pn spectrum, which provides the highest sensitivity among the EPIC instruments.

For the spectral fitting we select photons from a circular region as described in Sect. 3. A background spectrum is obtained from a nearby source-free region of the same area. We restrict the analysis to energies above $`0.3`$ keV, because the spectral response of pn is not well understood for lower energies. We use the pn redistribution matrix for single and double event patterns released in April 2002 together with an ancilliary response file generated in the course of our data reduction process. Modelling of the spectrum is performed with XSPEC version 11.2.0.

Considerable emission is seen in the pn spectrum up to comparatively high energies. The statistics are good enough to visually identify an Fe feature at $`6.7`$ keV. The shape of the spectrum is best approximated by a three-temperature (3-T) model describing thermal emission from a hot, optically thin plasma (three VMEKAL models). In the selected energy range absorption is negligible. A model with solar abundances gives $`\chi _{\mathrm{red}}^2=1.65`$ for $`528`$ dof, and leaves substantial residuals especially near $`10`$ Å(neon) and $`22`$ Å(oxygen). An acceptable solution ($`\chi _{\mathrm{red}}^21`$) is found for subsolar abundances of iron, oxygen, and neon. All other elements do not have strong enough lines in the sensitive spectral range of EPIC to change the fit result significantly. We summarize the best fit parameters for the 3-T model with variable abundances in Table 1.

## 5 High-Resolution Spectra: LETGS and RGS

The high-resolution spectrum of both Castor A and Castor B (displayed in Fig. 3) is that of a typical active late-type dwarf star. The LETGS spectrum, though being quite weak, shows that the major emission lines in both stars are from O VIII, O VII, Ne IX, and Fe XVII. A quantitative analysis of the LETGS spectrum by measuring fluxes for individual lines is subject to large uncertainties because the effective area of the LETGS for off-axis sources is not well-understood. We estimate these uncertainties (a sum of HRC-S and grating efficiency, transmission in the spatially inhomogeneous filter) to amount to $`10`$ %. This is comparable to or smaller than the statistical errors due to the faintness of both Castor binaries. RGS provides higher sensitivity, but no information on the location of the X-ray emission within the Castor AB system. In view of the similarity of the LETGS spectrum of Castor A and Castor B, we feel justified to model the combined RGS spectrum, and consider it as representative for both stars.

In the following we concentrate on the lines from hydrogen- and helium-like ions. The triplets of helium-like ions are composed of resonance $`r`$, intercombination $`i`$, and forbidden $`f`$ line, and represent the most interesting lines in terms of plasma diagnostics: Their line ratios $`G=(f+i)/r`$ and $`R=f/i`$ are sensitive to the electron temperature $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ and the electron density $`n_\mathrm{e}`$ of the emitting plasma, respectively (Gabriel & Jordan (1969)). The ratio of hydrogen-like Ly$`\alpha `$ and helium-like $`r`$ line provides a measure for the coronal temperature, as it reflects the presence of different ionization stages of the same element. In the case of Castor AB the only two elements with considerable emission above the background in the triplets and Ly$`\alpha `$ lines are oxygen and neon. The data analysis and results for these two elements are discussed below.

We measured the line strengths with the CORA line fitting application (Ness et al. (2001)). For the LETGS data we used Gaussians to represent the individual emission lines. For RGS line shapes Lorentzians are a better representation than Gaussians. All lines are added to a constant describing the local background.

### 5.1 Oxygen

In Fig. 4 we show the LETGS and the RGS spectrum in the region of the O VII triplet.

To increase the signal both sides of the LETGS spectrum were co-added. To guide the fit we held the distance between the line centers fixed on the expected value, and restricted the line widths to $`0.03`$ Å corresponding to the instrumental width of the LETGS. This latter restriction assures that random statistical fluctuations do not influence the line profile. Given the large uncertainties related to poor statistics and low effective area at the off-axis position a conversion of the LETGS counts to line fluxes would not warrant meaningful results, and we renounce on performing this exercise.

For the quantitative analysis only the RGS is used. As the CCD in the relevant part of the spectrum has failed on RGS 2, only RGS 1 is available for the analysis of the O VII triplet. Due to the higher quality of the RGS spectrum as compared to the LETGS it was possible to leave the line centers and line widths free in the fitting process. In Table 2 we give the line parameters (central wavelength, width, number of counts, and photon flux) for the O VII triplet and O VIII Ly$`\alpha `$ line. The flux has been determined from the effective area of the RGS at the respective wavelength after modeling of the count spectrum with CORA.

### 5.2 Neon

The neon triplet is more difficult to model, as it is known to be blended with a number of iron lines. We included additional Lorentzians to account for iron emission at $`13.79`$ Å (from Fe XIX) and $`13.83`$ Å (from Fe XVII). Further lines of Fe XIX may contaminate the $`r`$ and the $`i`$ line of Ne IX, but are indistinguishable from the latter ones in the data. As a first approximation we performed the formal analysis of the neon triplet in the same way as for oxygen, assuming that the contamination by iron is negligible. The best fit together with the data is shown in Fig. 5 on the top. Again only one RGS instrument is available, RGS 2, because of a CCD failure in the relevant spectral range on RGS 1.

To investigate the effect of iron contamination in the neon triplet we made use of the information obtained from the medium-resolution EPIC spectrum (discussed in more detail in Sect. 4). Modeling the EPIC spectrum provides an estimate for temperature and abundances in the X-ray emitting region, but the density can not be well constrained. The contribution of iron to the line emission in the critical spectral range ($`\lambda \mathrm{13.4..13.8}`$ Å) can be estimated by generating an artificial RGS spectrum for a plasma that has the same temperature structure as the EPIC spectrum, but no neon. We performed this simulation with XSPEC setting the Ne abundance of the EPIC 3-T best fit model of Table 1 to zero. Then we subtracted the simulated neon-free spectrum from the data. The result is shown in Fig. 5 (bottom), and should give an idea about the actual strength of the Ne IX triplet. Clearly the $`r`$, $`i`$, and $`f`$ lines are more pronounced as compared to the pure data, implying that the iron contamination of the data is substantial rendering any physical parameters derived from the spectrum at these wavelengths questionable.

### 5.3 Coronal Density

We derive the electron temperature $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ and density $`n_\mathrm{e}`$ for the oxygen and neon triplets using the calculations by Porquet et al. (2001) for a collision dominated plasma. As discussed above the line fluxes for the neon triplet derived from the data are severely affected by contaminating iron lines. We continue to include Ne IX in the analysis merely with the aim to investigate the effect of line blending in this spectral range.

The assumption of a collisional plasma is justified if $`G1`$, while larger values of $`G`$ prevail in photo-ionized plasmas. UV radiation from the star can modify the relative intensities of the emission lines by populating one level at the expense of another one (see Porquet et al. (2001)). In particular, the upper level of the forbidden transition can be depopulated to the upper level of the intercombination transition. For typical late-type coronal X-ray emitters the UV flux is low and can be neglected. However, for Castor A and Castor B the A-type primaries in each of the binaries provide substantial UV flux at the position of the X-ray emitting secondary. The influence of radiative processes can be expressed in the radiation temperature $`T_{\mathrm{rad}}`$. We compute $`T_{\mathrm{rad}}`$ making use of UV fluxes derived from archived International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) data of Castor A and B. In Table 3 we tabulate the IUE fluxes of each of the two binaries at the wavelengths corresponding to the excitation energy between the upper levels of the $`f`$ and the $`i`$ line for oxygen and neon. Making use of the distance ($`16`$ pc), stellar radius (derived from the Stefan-Boltzmann law), and limb darkening (from Table 1 of Diaz-Cordoves et al. (1995)) of Castor A and B we convert the UV flux to intensity and derive $`T_{\mathrm{rad}}`$ from the Planck curve for a blackbody emitting at the corresponding UV wavelength. The effect of the UV emission at the position of the secondary is proportionate to the ’dilution factor’ $`W`$, which depends on the stellar radius and the distance to the UV source, i.e. the binary separation (see Porquet et al. (2001) for the definition of $`W`$).

The case of Castor is complicated by the fact that the UV field and geometrical situation of both components (A and B) differ slightly from each other, but only a combined measurement of the X-ray line ratios is available. Our RGS measurements for the $`G`$, $`R`$, and Ly$`\alpha /r`$ ratios are summarized in Table 4. For the $`G`$ ratio the effect of UV photo-excitation is negligible and we can infer an average temperature for Castor AB. We find $`2`$ MK for oxygen and $`8`$ MK for neon. Using these temperatures we calculated the $`R`$ ratio as a function of density for the two components separately: (A) adopting the radiation temperature and dilution factor of Castor A, and (B) for the values of $`T_{\mathrm{rad}}`$ and $`W`$ of Castor B. While for neon $`T_{\mathrm{rad}}<10000`$ K has no effect on the $`R`$ ratio, for oxygen there are slight differences between the two calculations: We find $`n_\mathrm{e}=10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ for Castor A, and $`n_\mathrm{e}=\mathrm{5\hspace{0.17em}10}^9\mathrm{cm}^3`$ for Castor B. Note that this result was derived under the assumption that both stars exhibit the same line ratios. Slight differences in the line ratios may lead to an effect on the density of the same order as the range given above. We summarize the results for the temperatures and densities in Table 4 together with the line ratios.

The RGS data of the Ne IX triplet results in a very high density. Such high densities are untypical, though not generally excluded for active stars. Above we have demonstrated that in the case of Castor the neon line ratios are influenced by blending with iron lines. Therefore, a more credible estimate for the density is derived from the spectrum after subtraction of the simulated iron contribution. In Table 4 we confront the results obtained directly from the data and after taking account of the simulation. It turns out that the temperature and density have not changed by much. However, the flux of $`i`$ and $`f`$, and subsequently any physical parameters derived from them, are subject to large uncertainties. To summarize, it can be concluded that physical parameters derived from the Ne IX triplet should always be regarded with caution, and this part of the spectrum is not suited for an investigation of the conditions in the corona with the RGS instrument. Among the current X-ray instruments only the HETG is able to sufficiently resolve a stellar spectrum in this region (see Ness et al. (2002b)).

## 6 X-ray Lightcurves

To examine the X-ray variability of Castor A and Castor B we extracted their lightcurves using (A) the Chandra LETGS zeroth order signal, and (B) the XMM-Newton data collected by the EPIC pn.

With EPIC the stars are not resolved, so that only a combined lightcurve of Castor AB is obtained. The EPIC pn lightcurve (Fig. 6, top panel) displays strong variability including four flares within the observing time of $`50`$ ksec. The high signal-to-noise of EPIC pn allows to estimate characteristic parameters for these flares: Rise and decay times, peak luminosity, and energy content are summarized in Table 5. All flares are of short-duration (less than $`1`$ h) and of similar strength. While the rise takes place linearly, the decay phase follows an exponential resulting from cooling. The decay times are typically about a factor $`23`$ longer than the rise times. At peak emission the amplitude has increased by a factor $`23`$. The energy budget of the flares is listed in columns 5-7 of Table 5. We give the total energy radiated in the flare time interval (as derived from an integration of the EPIC pn spectrum), the amount of energy above the quiescent energy during the flares, and the fractional increase of energy emitted during the flares (see Table caption for a more detailed description).

The second to fourth flare observed with EPIC can be assigned to either one of Castor A or B because of the simultaneous coverage with Chandra (see Fig. 6 and Table 5). In order to determine the host of the first flare, which was observed by XMM-Newton alone, we make use of EPIC MOS images: we extract MOS 1 images for data subsets corresponding to the time of flares. A contour plot of each of these images is seen in Fig. 7. For clarity we have underlaid the contours for the quiescent emission. Their two peaks are separated by $`3.2^{\prime \prime }`$ outlining the positions of Castor A and B. A shift of the photon peak from one flare to the other is noticeable, indicating that the emission comes from different positions within the Castor AB system. For flare #2 to #4 the star that is closer to the peak of the flare contours is the one which is also listed in Table 5, i.e. the MOS image is consistent with the Chandra lightcurves. The contour of flare #1 suggests that this event took place on Castor A. This way we have identified the host of all flares. However, Fig. 7 makes clear that this analysis puts us at the limit of the capability of EPIC.

To trace the evolution of the coronal temperature during the flares we computed a hardness ratio derived from the counts in a soft band (S; $`0.30.85`$ keV) and a hard band (H; $`0.852.0`$ keV) of EPIC pn. For this choice of energy bands the Ly$`\alpha `$ line and the triplet of neon, which are indicators of hot plasma, are located in the hard band. The temporal behavior of $`H/S`$ is displayed in Fig. 8. For three out of the four flares the peak in the spectral hardness precedes that of the lightcurve indicating that the outburst is a result of heating. Flare #2 is remarkably hard, i.e. the relative amplitude of this event in $`H/S`$ with respect to the other flares is larger than in Fig. 6 where count rates in the $`0.35`$ keV broad band are shown. Note that this event is weaker in the LETGS lightcurve than expected from direct comparison with the EPIC lightcurve. It seems natural to explain this difference by a combination of flare hardness, i.e. temperature, and instrumental sensitivity. However, emission at higher energies ($`E>2`$ keV) where the sensitivity of the LETGS drops sharply is not more prominent than for the other flares.

A time-resolved study of the high-resolution RGS spectrum would provide more information about temperature and density changes during the flares. However, due to poor statistics such an analysis does not seem promising. For Castor C which is brighter in X-rays we found enhanced emission at $`\lambda <16`$ Å (either from continuum or unresolved lines), and marginal ($`1.5\sigma `$) evidence for variable $`G`$ and $`R`$ ratio during flares (Stelzer et al. (2002)). Similarly Güdel et al. (2002) observed variable emission line fluxes during a giant flare on Proxima Centauri.

## 7 X-ray Activity Level

X-ray flux, luminosity, and the ratio between X-ray and bolometric luminosity are frequently used to measure the strength of stellar activity. We computed the X-ray luminosity of Castor AB by integrating the time-averaged EPIC pn spectrum. For the ROSAT band we derived $`\mathrm{lg}L_\mathrm{x}=28.96`$ erg/s, compatible with earlier measurements of EXOSAT and Einstein (Pallavicini et al. (1990b)), and ROSAT (Schmitt et al. (1994)).

The Chandra data can be used to obtain an independent, estimate of the X-ray luminosity of each of the two binaries. Since the zeroth order does not contain any information on the spectral distribution of the counts we used PIMMS333http://asc.harvard.edu/toolkjet/pimms.jsp to derive the X-ray luminosities. We find $`\mathrm{lg}L_{\mathrm{x},\mathrm{A}}=28.9`$ erg/s and $`\mathrm{lg}L_{\mathrm{x},\mathrm{B}}=28.8`$ erg/s in the ROSAT band assuming a one-temperature Raymond-Smith model of $`kT=1`$ keV. While clearly too simplistic this rough estimate shows that the result obtained with both satellites are compatible with each other.

Based on the Chandra luminosities the $`\mathrm{lg}(L_\mathrm{x}/L_{\mathrm{bol}})`$ ratio can be evaluated for all components of Castor AB. To compute the bolometric luminosity for the A-type primaries we made use of the published $`V`$ magnitudes (e.g. Hünsch et al. (1999)) and the bolometric corrections given by Kenyon & Hartmann (1995). The bolometric magnitudes of the secondaries were kindly made available by M. Güdel (priv.comm.). Assuming that the X-rays are emitted by the primaries leads to $`\mathrm{lg}(L_\mathrm{x}/L_{\mathrm{bol}})=6.3`$ and $`6.0`$ for Castor A and B, respectively. This is higher than the canonical value of $`L_\mathrm{x}/L_{\mathrm{bol}}10^7`$ measured for early-type (OB) stars that produce X-rays in their winds. If instead the unresolved secondaries are responsible for the X-ray emission $`\mathrm{lg}(L_\mathrm{x}/L_{\mathrm{bol}})`$ is $`3.7`$ and $`3.5`$, as typical for late-type active stars. Thus the observed emission level suggests the low-mass companions as X-ray emitters.

Recently, Ness et al. (2002a) investigated the dependence between coronal temperature (expressed in the Ly$`\alpha /r`$ ratio) and activity level (represented by the X-ray surface flux) for a number of late-type stars. We add Castor AB to this sample. When converting $`L_\mathrm{x}`$ to flux we assumed (i) that the secondaries are the source of the X-rays, and (ii) that the observed X-rays are distributed over the surface of both late-type stars. Both assumptions are supported by our discussion above. Fig. 9 demonstrates that Castor AB are moderately active stars that fit well into the straight correlation between X-ray flux and temperature characterizing stellar coronae.

## 8 Summary

Castor is so far the only stellar system observed simultaneously with both Chandra and XMM-Newton. The contemporaneous observation allowed us to explore the X-ray emission from this multiple star with unprecedented detail using the complementary capabilities of both satellites.

The $`\alpha `$ Gem system, composed of the two spectroscopic binaries Castor A and Castor B, has been resolved for the first time in X-ray light. At a separation of $`4^{\prime \prime }`$ the only X-ray instrument capable of resolving Castor A and B completely is presently Chandra. The Chandra LETGS allowed us to separate both the lightcurves and the high-resolution spectrum of the binaries, demonstrating that these stars behave like a typical late-type coronal X-ray emitter: they exhibit strong variability including several flares, and their spectrum is dominated by emission lines of O VIII, O VII, Fe XVII, and Ne IX. However, the LETGS spectrum is of low quality (due to the off-axis position and X-ray faintness of Castor A and B).

A quantitative analysis of the high-resolution spectrum of Castor AB was performed with the XMM-Newton RGS. Its resolution is insufficient to resolve the two binaries from each other, but its higher sensitivity allows to use individual emission lines and their flux ratios for coronal diagnostics. We measured the temperature sensitive $`G`$ ratio and the density sensitive $`R`$ ratio of the helium-like ions of oxygen and neon, and compared these ratios to calculations for collisional ionization equilibrium to learn more about the conditions in the coronal plasma of Castor AB. Simulating a neon-free RGS spectrum based on the temperature structure inferred from the EPIC spectrum and subtracting this simulated spectrum from the data we have shown that the neon triplet is severely contaminated by a blend of iron lines which affect the $`r`$ and the $`i`$ line. As a result the density derived from the Ne IX triplet must be regarded as quite uncertain.

For oxygen we are able to derive more reliable plasma parameters. For this element the electron temperature is $`2`$ MK and the electron density is $`(0.5\mathrm{}1)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. The two values for the density arise from differences of the radiation field of Castor A and B. However, the assumption of equal line ratios for both stars may have introduced an uncertainty of the same order, such that we consider the values cited above as a likely range for the density rather than two different values for the coronae of the two stars.

Another temperature sensitive line ratio compares the strength of the Ly$`\alpha `$ line of an H-like ion to the resonance line of the He-like ion of the same element. Representing two different ionization stages this ratio directly relates to coronal temperature. We showed that the coronal temperature of Castor AB as measured by Ly$`\alpha /r`$ fits well into the correlation with X-ray surface flux observed for active stars. Note that the Ly$`\alpha /r`$ measurements for the active stars we used for comparison (data from Ness et al. (2002a)) were all based on LETGS data, while our data point for Castor derives from an RGS observation. Previous studies of stars observed with both the RGS and the LETGS indicate a tendency of the RGS to measure slightly higher values for Ly$`\alpha /r`$ than the LETGS (Audard et al. (2001), Raassen et al. (2002), Stelzer et al. (2002)). However, most of the RGS and LETGS measurements are compatible with each other within the statistical uncertainties. Therefore, we consider the respective calibration of both instruments sufficient for a direct comparison.

The X-ray lightcurves of Castor A and Castor B show that both are strongly variable and frequently subject to flaring. With a combination of Chandra lightcurves and EPIC MOS images for individual flares we established the host of each of the six flares: Chandra directly resolves component A and B, while in the MOS image the photon center shifts during flares. Three events occurred on Castor A and three on Castor B. Two of the flares were observed only with Chandra (during the last part of the observation, when the XMM-Newton exposure had already finished). For these two flares the low S/N of Chandra does not allow an analysis of its characteristics. For the four flares that occurred within the observing time of XMM-Newton we made use of the excellent sensitivity of EPIC pn, and derived duration and energy output for each of them. The flare recurrence time can be estimated to one event every $`35`$ h. Similarly strong activity was observed on Castor AB in an earlier XMM-Newton observation presented by Güdel et al. (2001). However, lacking simultaneous high-spatial resolution Chandra data some uncertainty remained as to the origin of the flares (Castor A or B). On basis of this earlier XMM-Newton observation Güdel et al. (2001) supposed that the flare rate on Castor B is higher than on A, and flares decay faster than on A. The observations presented here suggest similar flare rates for both A and B. For the flares observed with XMM-Newton our quantitative analysis shows indeed that decay times are shorter for B than for A. But still better statistics are required to clearly establish a difference in the flaring properties of Castor A and B. The flares on all visual components of the Castor system (including YY Gem; see Stelzer et al. (2002)) are of short-duration similar to the majority of X-ray flares seen on young stars, but in contrast to the common type of long-duration flares on more evolved stars such as RS CVn binaries. The X-ray luminosity and strength of all X-ray flares observed on Castor A and B so far is similar to that of dMe flare stars with amplitudes of a factor of $`2\mathrm{}3`$ (see e.g. Pallavicini et al. (1990b)). This supports the common believe that the late-type companions in each of the binaries are responsible for the X-ray emission.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to D. Porquet for help with the model calculations. BS wishes to thank M. Güdel and V. Costa for providing information on the stellar parameters and UV flux of Castor A and B, and G. Micela for careful reading of the manuscript. The CORA software is kindly provided by J-.U. Ness. BS acknowledges financial support from the European Union by the Marie Curie Fellowship Contract No. HPMD-CT-2000-00013.


text:
# Positive operator valued measures covariant with respect to an irreducible representation

## 1 Introduction

It is well known  that, given a square-integrable representation $`\pi `$ of a unimodular group $`G`$ and a trace class, trace one positive operator $`T`$, the family of operators

$$Q(X)=_X\pi (g)T\pi (g^1)𝑑\mu _G(g),$$

defines a positive operator valued measure (POVM) on $`G`$ covariant with respect to $`\pi `$ ($`\mu _G`$ is a Haar measure on $`G`$). In this paper, we prove that all the covariant POVMs are of the above form for some $`T`$. More precisely, we show this result for non-unimodular groups and for POVMs based on the quotient space $`G/Z`$, where $`Z`$ is a central subgroup.

Let $`G`$ be a locally compact second countable topological group and $`Z`$ be a central closed subgroup. We denote by $`G/Z`$ the quotient group and by $`\dot{g}G/Z`$ the equivalence class of $`gG`$. If $`aG`$ and $`\dot{g}G/Z`$, we let $`a\left[\dot{g}\right]=\dot{a}\dot{g}`$ be the natural action of $`a`$ on the point $`\dot{g}`$.

Let $`\left(G/Z\right)`$ be the Borel $`\sigma `$-algebra of $`G/Z`$. We fix a left Haar measure $`\mu _{G/Z}`$ on $`G/Z`$. Moreover, we denote by $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ the modular function of $`G`$ and of $`G/Z`$.

By *representation* we mean a strongly continuous unitary representation of $`G`$ acting on a complex and separable Hilbert space, with scalar product $`,`$ linear in the first argument.

Let $`(\pi ,)`$ be a representation of $`G`$. A positive operator valued measure $`Q`$ defined on $`G/Z`$ and such that

1. $`Q\left(G/Z\right)=I`$;
2. for all $`X\left(G/Z\right)`$,

$$\pi \left(g\right)Q\left(X\right)\pi \left(g^1\right)=Q\left(g\left[X\right]\right)gG$$

is called $`\pi `$-*covariant* POVM on $`G/Z`$.

Given a representation $`(\sigma ,𝒦)`$ of $`Z`$, we denote by $`(\lambda ^\sigma ,P^\sigma ,^\sigma )`$ the imprimitivity system unitarily induced by $`\sigma `$. We recall that $`^\sigma `$ is the Hilbert space of ($`\mu _G`$-equivalence classes of) functions $`f:G𝒦`$ such that

1. $`f`$ is weakly measurable;
2. for all $`zZ`$,

$$f\left(gz\right)=\sigma \left(z^1\right)f\left(g\right)gG\text{;}$$
3. $$_{G/Z}f\left(g\right)_𝒦^2\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)<+\mathrm{}$$

with scalar product

$$f_1,f_2_^\sigma =_{G/Z}f_1\left(g\right),f_2\left(g\right)_𝒦\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)\text{.}$$

The representation $`\lambda ^\sigma `$ acts on $`^\sigma `$ as

$$\left(\lambda ^\sigma \left(a\right)f\right)\left(g\right):=f\left(a^1g\right)gG$$

for all $`aG`$. The projection valued measure $`P^\sigma `$ is given by

$$\left(P^\sigma \left(X\right)f\right)\left(g\right):=\chi _X\left(\dot{g}\right)f\left(g\right)gG\text{.}$$

for all $`X\left(G/Z\right)`$, where $`\chi _X`$ is the characteristic function of the set $`X`$.

We recall some basic properties of square integrable representations modulo a central subgroup. We refer to Ref.  for $`G`$ unimodular and $`Z`$ arbitrary and to Ref.  for $`G`$ non-unimodular and $`Z=\{e\}`$. Combining these proofs, one obtains the following result.

###### Proposition 1

Let $`(\pi ,)`$ be an irreducible representation of $`G`$ and $`\gamma `$ be the character of $`Z`$ such that

$$\pi \left(z\right)=\gamma \left(z\right)I_{}zZ\text{.}$$

The following facts are equivalent:

1. there exists a vector $`u`$ such that

$$0<_{G/Z}\left|u,\pi \left(g\right)u_{}\right|^2\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)<+\mathrm{}\text{;}$$
(1)
2. $`(\pi ,)`$ is a subrepresentation of $`(\lambda ^\gamma ,^\gamma )`$.

If any of the above conditions is satisfied, there exists a selfadjoint injective positive operator $`C`$ with dense range such that

$$\pi \left(g\right)C=\mathrm{\Delta }\left(g\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}C\pi \left(g\right)gG\text{,}$$

and an isometry $`\mathrm{\Sigma }:^{}^\gamma `$ such that

1. for all $`u`$ and $`vdomC`$

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }(uv^{})(g)=u,\pi \left(g\right)Cv_{}gG\text{,}$$
2. for all $`gG`$

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }(\pi (g)I_{^{}})=\lambda (g)\mathrm{\Sigma }\text{,}$$
3. the range of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is the isotypic space of $`\pi `$ in $`^\gamma `$.

If Eq. (1) is satisfied, $`(\pi ,)`$ is called *square-integrable modulo* $`Z`$. The square root of $`C`$ is called *formal degree* of $`\pi `$ (see Ref. ). In particular, when $`G`$ is unimodular, $`C`$ is a multiple of the identity.

## 2 Characterization of $`Q`$

We fix an irreducible representation $`(\pi ,)`$ of $`G`$ and let $`\gamma `$ be the character such that $`\pi |_Z=\gamma I_{}`$. The following theorem characterizes all the POVM on $`G/Z`$ covariant with respect to $`\pi `$ in terms of positive trace one operators on $``$.

###### Theorem 2

The irreducible representation $`\pi `$ admits a covariant POVM based on $`G/Z`$ if and only if $`\pi `$ is square-integrable modulo $`Z`$.

In this case, let $`C`$ be the square root of the formal degree of $`\pi `$. There exists a one-to-one correspondence between covariant POVMs $`Q`$ on $`G/Z`$ and positive trace one operators $`T`$ on $``$ given by

$$Q_T\left(X\right)v,u_{}=_XTC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)$$
(2)
for all $`u,vdomC`$ and $`X\left(G/Z\right)`$.

Proof. Let $`Q`$ be a $`\pi `$-covariant POVM. According to the generalized imprimitivity theorem  there exists a representation $`(\sigma ,𝒦)`$ of $`Z`$ and an isometry $`W:^\sigma `$ intertwining $`\pi `$ with $`\lambda ^\sigma `$ such that

$$Q\left(X\right)=W^{}P^\sigma \left(X\right)W$$

for all $`X\left(G/Z\right)`$.

Define the following closed invariant subspace of $`𝒦`$

$$𝒦_\gamma =\{v𝒦\sigma \left(z\right)v=\gamma \left(z\right)v\}\text{.}$$

Let $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ be the restrictions of $`\sigma `$ to $`𝒦_\gamma `$ and $`𝒦_\gamma ^{}`$ respectively. The induced imprimitivity system $`(\lambda ^\sigma ,P^\sigma ,^\sigma )`$ decomposes into the orthogonal sum

$$^\sigma =^{\sigma _1}^{\sigma _2}\text{.}$$

If $`f^\sigma `$ and $`zZ`$, then

$$\left(\lambda ^\sigma \left(z\right)f\right)\left(g\right)=f\left(z^1g\right)=f\left(gz^1\right)=\sigma \left(z\right)f\left(g\right)gG\text{.}$$

On the other hand, if $`u`$ and $`zZ`$, we have

$$\left(\lambda ^\sigma \left(z\right)Wu\right)\left(g\right)=\left(W\pi \left(z\right)u\right)\left(g\right)=\gamma \left(z\right)\left(Wu\right)\left(g\right)gG\text{.}$$

It follows that $`\left(Wu\right)\left(g\right)𝒦_\gamma `$ for $`\mu _G`$-almost every $`gG`$, that is, $`Wu^{\sigma _1}`$. So it is not restrictive to assume that

$$\sigma =\gamma I_𝒦$$

for some Hilbert space $`𝒦`$. Clearly, we have

$$^\sigma =^\gamma 𝒦\text{}\lambda ^\sigma =\lambda ^\gamma I_𝒦\text{.}$$

In particular, $`\pi `$ is a subrepresentation of $`\lambda ^\gamma `$, hence it is square-integrable modulo $`Z`$.

Due to Prop. 1, the operator $`W^{}=\left(\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}I_𝒦\right)W`$ is an isometry from $``$ to $`^{}𝒦`$ such that

$$W^{}\pi (g)=\pi (g)I_^{}𝒦gG.$$

Since $`\pi `$ is irreducible, there is a unit vector $`B^{}𝒦`$ such that

$$W^{}u=uBu.$$

Let $`(e_i)_{i1}`$ be an orthonormal basis of $``$ such that $`e_idomC`$, then

$$B=e_i^{}k_i,$$

where $`k_i𝒦`$ and $`_ik_i_𝒦^2=1`$.

If $`udomC`$, one has that

$`(Wu)(g)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[(\mathrm{\Sigma }I_𝒦)\left(uB\right)\right](g)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _i}\mathrm{\Sigma }(ue_i^{})(g)k_i`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _i}u,\pi \left(g\right)Ce_i_{}k_i`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _i}C\pi \left(g^1\right)u,e_i_{}k_i`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _i}(e_i^{}k_i)(C\pi \left(g^1\right)u),`$
where the series converges in $`^\sigma `$. On the other hand, for all $`gG`$ the series $`_i(e_i^{}k_i)(C\pi \left(g^1\right)u)`$ converges to $`BC\pi \left(g^1\right)u`$, where we identify $`^{}𝒦`$ with the space of Hilbert-Schmidt operators. By unicity of the limit

$$(Wu)(g)=BC\pi \left(g^1\right)ugG.$$

If $`u,vdomC`$, the corresponding covariant POVM is given by

$`Q\left(X\right)v,u_{}`$ $`=`$ $`P^\sigma \left(X\right)Wv,Wu_^\sigma `$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{G/Z}}\chi _X\left(\dot{g}\right)BC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,BC\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _X}TC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)\text{,}`$
where

$$T:=B^{}B$$

is a positive trace class trace one operator on $``$.

Conversely, assume that $`\pi `$ is square integrable and let $`T`$ be a positive trace class trace one operator on $``$. Then

$$B:=\sqrt{T}$$

is a (positive) operator belonging to $`^{}`$ such that $`B^{}B=T`$ and $`B_{^{}}=1`$. The operator $`W`$ defined by

$$Wv:=\left(\mathrm{\Sigma }I_{}\right)\left(vB\right)v$$

is an isometry intertwining $`(\pi ,)`$ with the representation $`(\lambda ^\sigma ,^\sigma )`$, where

$$\sigma =\gamma I_{}\text{.}$$

Define $`Q_T`$ by

$$Q_T\left(X\right)=W^{}P^\sigma \left(X\right)WX(G/Z)\text{.}$$

With the same computation as above, one has that

$$Q_T\left(X\right)u,v_{}=_XTC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)$$

for all $`u,vdomC`$.

Finally, we show that the correspondence $`TQ_T`$ is injective. Let $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$ be positive trace one operators on $``$, with $`Q_{T_1}=Q_{T_2}`$. Set $`T=T_1T_2`$. Since $`\pi `$ is strongly continuous, for all $`u,vdomC`$ the map

$`G/Z\dot{g}TC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}`$
$`=\mathrm{\Delta }(\dot{g})^1T\pi \left(g^1\right)Cv,\pi \left(g^1\right)Cu_{}`$
is continuous. Since

$$_XTC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)=\left[Q_{T_1}\left(X\right)Q_{T_2}\left(X\right)\right]v,u_{}=0$$

for all $`X\left(G/Z\right)`$, we have

$$TC\pi \left(g^1\right)v,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}=0\dot{g}G/Z\text{.}$$

In particular,

$$TCv,Cu_{}=0\text{,}$$

so that, since $`C`$ has dense range, $`T=0`$.

###### Remark 3

Scutaru shows in Ref.  that there exists a one-to-one correspondence between positive trace one operators on $``$ and covariant POVMs $`Q`$ based on $`G/Z`$ with the property

$$trQ\left(K\right)<+\mathrm{}$$
(3)
for all compact sets $`KG/Z`$. Theorem 2 shows that *every* covariant POVM $`Q`$ based on $`G/Z`$ shares property $`(\text{3})`$.

###### Remark 4

If $`G`$ is unimodular, then $`K=\lambda I`$, with $`\lambda >0`$, and one can normalize $`\mu _{G/Z}`$ so that $`\lambda =1`$. Hence,

$$Q_T\left(X\right)=_X\pi \left(g\right)T\pi \left(g^1\right)\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)X\left(G/Z\right)\text{,}$$

the integral being understood in the weak sense.

###### Remark 5

If $`T=\eta ^{}\eta `$, with $`\eta domC`$ and $`\eta _{}=1`$, we observe that

$`Q_T\left(X\right)v,u_{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _X}C\pi \left(g^1\right)v,\eta _{}\eta ,C\pi \left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _X}v,\pi \left(g\right)C\eta _{}\pi \left(g\right)C\eta ,u_{}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _X}\left(W_{C\eta }v\right)\left(g\right)\overline{\left(W_{C\eta }u\right)\left(g\right)}\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}\left(\dot{g}\right)`$
for all $`u,vdomC`$, where $`W_{C\eta }:^\gamma `$ is the wavelet operator associated to the vector $`C\eta `$. In particular,

$$Q_T\left(X\right)=W_{C\eta }^{}P^\gamma \left(X\right)W_{C\eta }\text{.}$$

## 3 Two examples

### 3.1 The Heisenberg group

The Heisenberg group $`H`$ is $`^3`$ with composition law

$$(p,q,t)(p^{},q^{},t^{})=(p+p^{},q+q^{},t+t^{}+\frac{pq^{}qp^{}}{2})\text{.}$$

The centre of $`H`$ is

$$Z=\{(0,0,t)t\}\text{,}$$

and the quotient group $`G/Z`$ is isomorphic to the Abelian group $`^2`$, with projection

$$q(p,q,t)=(p,q)\text{.}$$

The Heisenberg group is unimodular with Haar measure

$$\text{d}\mu _{G/Z}(p,q)=\frac{1}{2\pi }\text{d}p\text{d}q\text{.}$$

Given an infinite dimensional Hilbert space $``$ and an orthonormal basis $`(e_n)_{n1}`$, let $`a`$, $`a^{}`$ be the corresponding ladder operators. Define

$`Q`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}(a+a^{})`$
$`P`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}i}}(aa^{})`$
It is known  that the representation

$$\pi (p,q,t)=e^{i(t+pQ+qP)}$$

is square-integrable modulo $`Z`$ and $`C=1`$.

It follows from Theorem 2 that *any* $`\pi `$ -covariant POVM $`Q`$ based on $`^2`$ is of the form

$$Q\left(X\right)=\frac{1}{2\pi }_Xe^{i(pQ+qP)}Te^{i(pQ+qP)}\text{d}p\text{d}qX\left(^2\right)$$

for some positive trace one operator on $``$. Up to our knowledge, the complete classification of the POVMs on $`^2`$ covariant with respect to the Heisenberg group has been an open problem till now.

### 3.2 The $`ax+b`$ group

The $`ax+b`$ group is the semidirect product $`G=\times ^{}_+`$, where we regard $``$ as additive group and $`_+`$ as multiplicative group. The composition law is

$$(b,a)(b^{},a^{})=(b+ab^{},aa^{})\text{.}$$

The group $`G`$ is nonunimodular with left Haar measure

$$\text{d}\mu _G(b,a)=a^2\text{d}b\text{d}a$$

and modular function

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(b,a)=\frac{1}{a}\text{.}$$

Let $`=L^2((0,+\mathrm{}),\text{d}x)`$ and $`(\pi ^+,)`$ be the representation of $`G`$ given by

$$\left[\pi ^+(b,a)f\right]\left(x\right)=a^{\frac{1}{2}}e^{2\pi ibx}f\left(ax\right)x(0,+\mathrm{})\text{.}$$

It is known  that $`\pi `$ is square-integrable, and the square root of its formal degree is

$$\left(Cf\right)\left(x\right)=\mathrm{\Delta }(0,x)^{\frac{1}{2}}f\left(x\right)=x^{\frac{1}{2}}f\left(x\right)x(0,+\mathrm{})$$

acting on its natural domain.

By means of Theorem 2 every POVM based on $`G`$ and covariant with respect to $`\pi ^+`$ is described by a positive trace one operator $`T`$ according to Eq. 2. Explicitely, let $`\left(e_i\right)_{i1}`$ be an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors of $`T`$ and $`\lambda _i0`$ be the corresponding eigenvalues. If $`uL^2((0,+\mathrm{}),\text{d}x)`$ is such that $`x^{\frac{1}{2}}uL^2((0,+\mathrm{}),\text{d}x)`$, the $`\pi ^+`$-covariant POVM corresponding to $`T`$ is given by

$`Q_T\left(X\right)u,u_{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _X}TC\pi ^+\left(g^1\right)u,C\pi ^+\left(g^1\right)u_{}\text{d}\mu _G\left(g\right)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _X}{\displaystyle _i}\lambda _i\left|C\pi ^+\left(g^1\right)u,e_i_{}\right|^2\text{d}\mu _G\left(g\right)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _i}\lambda _i{\displaystyle _X}\left|{\displaystyle __+}x^{\frac{1}{2}}a^{\frac{1}{2}}e^{\frac{2\pi ibx}{a}}u\left({\displaystyle \frac{x}{a}}\right)\overline{e_i\left(x\right)}\text{d}x\right|^2a^2\text{d}b\text{d}a\text{.}`$