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# The complete 𝑍-diagram of LMC X–2

## 1 Introduction

Accreting low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) have been divided into two groups based on their broadband spectral and timing properties. The six currently-known $`Z`$-sources, named for the three-branched shape they describe on a diagram of ’hard’ color versus ’soft’ color, are Sco X–1, GX 17$`+`$2, GX 349$`+`$2 (=Sco X–2), Cyg X–2, GX 340$`+`$0, and GX 5$``$1 (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989). From the top down, the three branches of the $`Z`$ are known as the horizontal branch (HB), normal branch (NB), and flaring branch (FB), and the power spectra of these sources generally show several types of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and noise components (e.g. van der Klis 1995) based on the position of the source on the $`Z`$. When bright, Cir X–1 also shows $`Z`$-source characteristics (Shirey et al. 1998; Shirey, Bradt & Levine 1999). The mass accretion rate is generally thought to increase as the source passes from the HB, through the NB, to the FB. Motion along the $`Z`$ is continuous, with no jumps from branch to branch.

The remainder of the bright Galactic LMXBs are known as ’atoll’ sources and describe a simpler curved shape on a color-color diagram, generally consisting of a band of points, plus one or more ’islands’. Atoll sources that display a range of intensities approaching two orders of magnitude may reveal a three-band shape (Muno, Remillard & Chakrabarty 2002), but on much longer timescales ($``$weeks–months) than the $`Z`$-source tracks ($``$hours–days). The difference in their nature implies that $`Z`$\- and atoll-sources differ in their evolutionary history (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989).

A previous RXTE observation of LMC X–2 in 1997 December showed timing and spectral characteristics more typical of a $`Z`$-source in its flaring branch than of an atoll source in any intensity state (Smale & Kuulkers 2000). Based on these findings and the high intrinsic luminosity of LMC X–2, which historically spans 0.4–2.0$`L_{Edd}`$ for reasonable estimates of the neutron star mass, we then provisionally reclassified LMC X–2 as a $`Z`$-source, the seventh known and the first to be detected beyond our Galaxy. Here we present extensive additional RXTE data from LMC X–2 in which the source convincingly traces out all three branches in its hardness-intensity and color-color diagrams, confirming its $`Z`$-source identification.

## 2 Observations and Analysis

LMC X–2 was observed using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) (Bradt, Rothschild, & Swank 1993) on four occasions during 2001–2002 (Table 1), for a total on-source good time of 600 ksec. The data presented here were collected by the proportional counter array (PCA) instrument using the Standard 2 and Good Xenon configurations, with time resolutions of 16 s and 0.95 $`\mu `$s respectively. The PCA consists of five Xe proportional counter units (PCUs) numbered 0–4, with a combined total effective area of about 6500 cm2 (Jahoda et al. 1996). PCUs 0 and 2 were reliably on during all observations, and for consistency across the whole dataset we utilized data from just these PCUs for the generation of light curves and color-color diagrams. To maximize the statistics, for our timing analysis we used data from all available PCUs.

The background-subtracted light curves for each observation presented in Figure 1 include LMC X–2 data from the energy range 2.5–18.5 keV. To construct the hardness-intensity diagrams (HID) and color-color (CD) diagrams also shown, we followed conventional practice in the field and defined several “colors”, representing the ratios of count rates in two different energy bands. The “overall” color is the ratio of the 6.5–18.5 keV band to the 2.5–6.5 keV band, and the HID are plots of this overall color against the 2.5–18.5 keV source intensity. CD are plots of the “hard” color \[(9.8–18.5 keV)/(6.5–9.8 keV\] against the “soft” color \[(4.5–6.5 keV)/(2.5–4.5 keV)\].

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Light curves and colors

In Figure 1a we show the background-subtracted light curve for the 2001 February observation. Two episodes of major flaring are observed, during which the source intensity almost doubles. Preceding this flaring behavior are two sections of low-level variability, and following the second series of flares the source settles into an interval of slightly higher, almost constant count rate.

Figure 1a also shows the HID and CD derived for these data using the colors defined in the previous section. These diagrams bear a remarkable resemblance to those seen in e.g. GX 17$`+`$2 (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989, Kuulkers et al. 1997, Homan et al. 2002) and show very little similarity with those seen from atoll sources (e.g. Hasinger & van der Klis 1989, Prins & van der Klis 1997, Wijnands et al. 1998). Dividing the data into sections of a few hundred seconds each and examining the correlated variability in each section we can identify the three characteristic branches of the $`Z`$; during the 83-hr span of the observation, LMC X–2 moves in turn through the NB, FB, NB, FB, NB, and HB.

Subsequent panels of Figure 1 show the light curves, HIDs, and CDs for the 2001 August, 2001 December, and 2002 February observations of LMC X–2. The source spends almost all of the second observation on the FB, with some data defining the NB/FB vertex. The third observation contains data from the NB and part of the HB, while the fourth observation provides evidence for strong evolution along the HB, with a swift ($``$few thousand second) excursion through the NB and a brief flare lasting $``$10,000s. Examination of the hardness-intensity and color-color information for each observation on a point by point basis shows that the source moves along each branch in a continuous progression. No bursts were detected during any of the observations.

In Figure 2 we present the HID and CD for all four LMC X–2 observations combined. The combined CD (Fig. 2b) is a simple superposition of the data from all four of the individual CDs in Figure 1. However, a small secular shift in the position of the HB/NB and NB/FB vertices is evident in the individual HIDs, and we thus subtracted constants of 0.045 and 0.01 from the colors given in Fig. 1b and Fig. 1d respectively, prior to the superposition. (Failure to do this results in a combined HID with an unrealistically broad and skewed Normal branch, and the appearance of two FBs.)

To assess whether these shifts were intrinsic to the source or to the RXTE PCA detectors, we analyzed data from the Crab obtained close in time to our LMC X–2 observations. Extraction of the Crab CD and HID, using the same channels as those used for LMC X–2, showed that the gradual gain change of the PCA detectors over the span of our observations could account for a variation of less than 1% in the derived colors. The secular shifts in the HIDs of LMC X–2 amount to 10% and 2.5% changes, greatly in excess of this. We thus conclude that the source itself displayed intrinsic shifts, similar to the secular shifts seen in other $`Z`$-sources (see Discussion).

### 3.2 Variability analysis

For our power spectral analysis data were divided into three selections representing the HB, NB, and FB, based on their position along the Z-track in the CD and HID. Power spectra were created from the high-time-resolution Good Xenon mode data covering 2–21 keV, using standard Fast Fourier Transform techniques over the frequency range 1/128–512 Hz. No narrow features were present in the power density spectra, and each could be well fit ($`\chi _\nu ^2`$=1.06–1.21) with a single power law with shape P $``$ $`\nu ^\gamma `$, representing very low frequency noise (VLFN). The low count rate of the source does not allow us to parameterize high-frequency noise (HFN) or perform a sensitive search for QPOs.

The horizontal branch spectrum (Figure 3a) was constructed using 170 ksec of data, and the VLFN component has a power law index of $`\gamma `$=0.60$`\pm `$0.05 and an rms amplitude of 1.9$`\pm `$0.1% (0.01–1 Hz). For the normal branch spectrum (Fig. 3b) 229 ksec of data were used, and the power law component has $`\gamma `$=0.90$`\pm `$0.05, rms=1.8$`\pm `$0.1%. The flaring branch spectrum uses 161 ksec of data, and has $`\gamma `$=1.33$`\pm `$0.03, rms=3.20$`\pm `$0.05%. Sections of data totaling 40 ksec were excluded from the analysis due to ambiguity about which branch they fell into; datapoints obtained around the NB/FB vertex are particularly difficult to assign.

For the data obtained on the NB we detected no QPOs, and and derive upper limits of 1% rms for oscillations with parameters typical of $`Z`$-sources (e.g. centroid position of $``$6 Hz, FWHM 2 Hz). For the FB data we detected a peak at 13.2$`\pm `$0.2 Hz with width 4.9$`\pm `$0.3 Hz and rms 1.9$`\pm `$0.5%, but its low (2$`\sigma `$) significance was not compelling.

## 4 Discussion

Using 600 ksec of new data from the bright LMC binary LMC X–2, we have shown that the source traces out $`Z`$-like tracks in the HID and CD, moving continuously along three branches and not jumping instantaneously from one to the next. The pattern, width, and extent of the tracks show particular similarity with those observed from GX 17$`+`$2 (e.g. Homan et al. 2002), Sco X–1 (e.g. Dieters & van der Klis 2000), and GX 349$`+`$2 (e.g. O’Neill et al. 2002), and have little in common with the simpler atoll source tracks.

By convention, position on the $`Z`$ is parameterized using the $`S_z`$ rank number, in which the HB/NB and NB/FB vertices are defined as $`S_z`$=1 and $`S_z`$=2 respectively, and the rest of the track is scaled according to the length of the NB (e.g. Hasinger et al. 1990; Hertz et al. 1992; Dieters & van der Klis 2000). Adopting this parameterization, we have obtained data from LMC X–2 covering the range $`S_z=`$1.0–4.6, a full span equivalent to that seen in the other $`Z`$-sources. Our observations show good coverage of all three branches; LMC X–2 spent roughly 30%, 40%, and 30% of the total observing time in the HB ($`S_z1`$), NB ($`1<S_z2`$), and FB ($`S_z>2`$) respectively.

The power density spectra derived from the three branches of LMC X–2 appear rather featureless when compared to those of the $`Z`$ sources, or indeed to those of the atoll sources. The spectra are dominated by VLFN, with little significant evidence for either peaked low frequency noise (LFN) at 10–100 Hz, or NBO/FBO. The power law indices and rms amplitudes measured for the VLFN in LMC X–2, and the overall steepening trend of the VLFN when moving from the HB to the FB, are similar to those observed in the $`Z`$ sources GX 349$`+`$2, Sco X–1, and GX 17$`+`$2, with a particularly close match to the relatively flat VLFN indices of $`\gamma `$=0.6–2.0 measured in GX 17$`+`$2 data (Kuulkers et al. 1997; Dieters & van der Klis 2000; O’Neill et al. 2001, 2002; Homan et al. 2002). Of course, the power law indices we measure may be artificially low, due to the possibility of ’contamination’ by unresolved LFN and HFN components.

On the basis of their timing and spectral behavior, the Galactic $`Z`$-sources have been divided into two categories (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989; Penninx et al. 1991; Kuulkers et al. 1994). It has been proposed that the ’Cyg-like’ sources, Cyg X–2, GX 5–1, and GX 340$`+`$0, have either a higher inclination (Kuulkers, van der Klis & Vaughan 1996) or a higher magnetic field strength (Psaltis, Lamb & Miller 1995) than the ’Sco-like’ sources, Sco X–1, GX 17$`+`$2, and GX 349$`+`$2. Based on the shapes of its HID and CD, and the observation of intensity flares rather than dips in its FB, LMC X–2 falls squarely into the Sco-like category. However, the Cyg-like sources typically show secular variations in the position of the $`Z`$ of $``$5–10% (GX 5–1 – Kuulkers et al. 1994; Cyg X–2 – Kuulkers et al. 1996, Wijnands et al. 1997b; GX340$`+`$0 – Kuulkers & van der Klis 1996), while in the Sco-like sources secular changes in the $`Z`$ are rare, seen only occasionally in one source, GX 17$`+`$2 (Wijnands et al 1997a; Homan et al 2002). In this context, the secular shifts of 2.5–10% we observe from LMC X–2 over the course of a year become intriguing. A series of RXTE observations is currently under way to provide medium-term monitoring of LMC X–2 to further study the degree and timescale of these secular variations, and perform additional sensitive searches for QPOs.


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# Reply to Ryff’s Comment on “Experimental Nonlocality Proof of Quantum Teleportation and Entanglement Swapping”

## Abstract

Ryff’s Comment raises the question of the meaning of the quantum state. We argue that the quantum state is just the representative of information available to a given observer. Then Ryff’s interpretation of one of our experiments and our original one are both admissible.

Ryff’s criticism 1  of our interpretation of part of our recent experiment 2  on the teleportation of entanglement gives us the opportunity to present our position in more detail. The basic issue is the role of relative time order of various detection events on the one hand and the meaning of a quantum state on the other hand.

In the experiment two pairs of entangled photons are produced and one photon from each pair is sent to Alice. The other photon from each pair is sent to Bob (this might actually be two - even spacelike -separated places). Bob is free to choose which polarizations to measure on his two photons separately. Likewise Alice is free to choose whether she wants to project her two photons onto an entangled state and thus effect quantum teleportation or measure them individually. Most importantly, each one of them decides which measurement to perform and registers the results without being aware at all what kind of measurement the other performs at which time. Both Alice’s data and Bob’s data are completely independent of whatever the other decides to measure.

Then they ask themselves how their data are to be interpreted. Obviously both Alice’s and Bob’s interpretations depend critically on the information they have. It is assumed they both know the initial entangled states. Alice then, on the basis of her measurement result can make certain statements about Bob’s possible results. These can be collected into expectation catalogs that give lists of results Bob may obtain for the specific observables he might choose to measure. The quantum state is no more than a most compact representative of such expectation catalogs 3 . If Alice decides to perform a Bell-state analysis she will use an entangled state for her prediction of Bob’s results. If she measures the polarizations of the two photons separately, she will use an unentangled product state. In both cases she will be able to arrive at a correct (maximal and in general probabilistic) set of predictions in both being compatible with Bob’s results. In the first case she concludes, certainly correctly, that Bob’s two photons are entangled and teleportation has succeeded. In the second case she will conclude that there is no entanglement between Bob’s two photons and that no teleportation has happened. But, as stressed above, the data obtained by Bob are independent of Alice’s actions. Indeed his data set taken alone is completely random.

Likewise Bob will always use a product state based on his measurement results and he thus will be able to predict Alice’s results both for the case when she performs a Bell state measurement and when she does not.

It is now important to analyze what we mean by ”prediction”. As the relative time ordering of Alice’s and Bob’s events is irrelevant, ”prediction” cannot refer to the time order of the measurements. It is helpful to remember that the quantum state is just an expectation catalog. Its purpose is to make predictions about possible measurement results a specific observer does not know yet. Thus which state is to be used depends on which information Alice and Bob have and ”prediction” means prediction about measurement results they will learn in the future independent of whether these measurements have already been performed by someone or not. Also, in our point of view it is irrelevant whether Alice performs her measurement earlier in any reference frame than Bob’s or later or even if they are spacelike separated when the seemingly paradoxical situation arises that different observers are spacelike separated. In all these cases Alice will use the same quantum state to predict the results she will learn from Bob.

In short, we don’t see any problem with Alice using her results to predict which kind of results she will learn from Bob even if he might already have obtained these results. There is no action into the past since the events observed by Bob are independent of which measurements Alice performs and at which time.

Thus we have no disagreement with Ryff’s way to interpret our experiment. But we certainly disagree with his position that his way of looking at the situation is the only possible one. Yet we would still agree with Peres 4  that there is a possible paradox here. But this paradox does not arise if the quantum state is viewed to be no more than just a representative of information.


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# The X-ray Afterglows of GRB 020813 and GRB 021004 with Chandra HETGS: Possible Evidence for a Supernova Prior to GRB 020813

## 1 Introduction

Much evidence has accumulated in recent years connecting long-duration $`\gamma `$-ray bursts (GRBs) (Kouveliotou et al., 1993) to supernovae (SNe). The detection of SN 1998bw in association with GRB 980425 (Galama et al., 1998) and the detection of late-time SN “bumps” in several afterglow light curves (Bloom et al. (1999), Reichart (2001) and references therein), the observed positional coincidences between star-forming regions and long-duration GRB afterglows (e.g. Sahu et al. (1997), Kulkarni et al. (1998), Kulkarni et al. (1999)), and the evidence for dust extinction in some GRB afterglows all point toward this association. In this context, X-ray spectroscopic observations of early GRB afterglows are tremendously interesting, because they potentially allow us to view directly the effects of the GRB on the progenitor stellar material and possibly on metals freshly synthesized in the SN.

Several authors have claimed detection of Fe lines in GRB X-ray afterglows (Piro et al. (1999), Piro et al. (2000), Antonelli et al. (2002)). Beyond very weak evidence in Piro et al. (2000) for an emission line from H-like S in GRB 991216, Reeves et al. (2002) (hereafter R02) are the first to strongly assert evidence for emission from low-Z, multiple-$`\alpha `$ elements in a GRB X-ray afterglow. If valid, this claim has broad implications for GRB emission models and it would strongly link GRBs to SNe. The reduction of these data and the statistical significance of the results has been called into question by Borozdin & Trudoyubov (2002) and Rutledge & Sako (2002), respectively. In a follow-up paper (Reeves et al., 2002b), the XMM-Newton ((Jansen et al., 2001)) observers address those concerns. Physical interpretations aside, the R02 results are controversial largely due to the small number of observed counts and the low spectral resolution of the EPIC-pn instrument, which would blur some fraction of the line emission into the continuum. These hinder an accurate measurement of the continuum emission and make it difficult to gauge the significance of discrete spectral features.

We find possible evidence for Si and S emission in the Chandra X-ray Observatory (Weisskopf et al., 2002) High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) spectrum of the GRB 020813 afterglow. We detect a Ni-K line at very low significance, and we find a strikingly low upper limit to the Fe-K line equivalent width. The emitting material is blue-shifted with velocity $`0.1c`$ relative to the GRB host galaxy. These results add weight to the detections claimed by R02 and Watson et al. (2002). With the HETGS’s high spectral resolution, we are able to resolve the line widths, and we are able to accurately separate the line and continuum emission. Because the lines we associate with S and Si are detected in the full data set, we have $`5`$ times more counts to work with than R02, where the line emission is observed during only a short period of time. Moreover, the continuum is an order of magnitude stronger than that reported by R02, possibly indicating, in the case of thermal emission, that a power-law component is also present. This may alternatively be a sign that the lines are produced under reflection.

## 2 Observations

Using Directors Discretionary Time, two afterglows of GRBs detected and localized by the High-Energy Transient Explorer (HETE) satellite (Ricker et al., 2003) were observed with the Chandra HETGS, approximately 1 day after each burst, and lasting for approximately 1 day. Both bursts were long-duration GRBs, with $`\gamma `$ray durations $`>`$100s. The $`\gamma `$ray peak flux from GRB 020813 (Villasenor et al., 2002) was quite high ($`10^5`$ erg cm-2 s-1), while the peak flux from GRB 021004 (Shirasaki et al., 2002) was approximately two orders of magnitude lower.

Chandra began observing the GRB 020813 afterglow with the HETGS on August 13.990 ($`t_{burst}`$ \+ 21.02 hrs) and continued until August 14.892 ($`t_{burst}`$ \+ 42.67 hrs), with a total livetime of 76.8 ksec. The mean count rate from the HEG and MEG gratings and the 0th-order image was 0.12 counts/s (0.06 counts/s for the gratings alone). The afterglow candidate reported by Fox (2002a) was detected and was observed to fade in brightness with time according to a power-law of index $`\alpha =1.38\pm 0.06`$ ($`\chi _\nu ^2=36.4/24`$), consistent with the value reported by Vanderspek et al. (2002) and consistent with measured values in the optical (Malesani et al., 2002). Between 0.6 and 6 keV, we measure a time-averaged flux of $`2.2\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1.

As first reported by Sako & Harrison (2002), Chandra began observing the afterglow of GRB 021004 on October 5.358 ($`t_{burst}`$ \+ 20.49 hrs) and continued until October 6.400 ($`t_{burst}`$ \+ 45.50 hrs), with a total livetime of 86.7 ksec. The mean count rate from the HEG and MEG gratings and the 0th-order image was 0.04 counts/s (0.02 counts/s in the gratings alone). The afterglow candidate reported by Fox (2002b) was detected and was observed to fade in brightness with time. The X-ray light curve appears variable. (Similar variability has been reported in the optical for this afterglow; see e.g. Halpern et al. (2002)). The temporal fade in flux can be described by a power-law with index $`\alpha =0.9\pm 0.1`$ ($`\chi _\nu ^2=83.8/27`$), consistent with the values reported by Sako & Harrison (2002) and Holland et al. (2002). The time-averaged flux between 0.6 and 6 keV is measured to be $`6.3\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1.

The total number of counts detected by Chandra in the case of GRB 020813 (GRB 021004) is $`6.5`$ times (2 times) the number of counts detected for GRB 991216 (Piro et al., 2000). We perform a parallel spectral/temporal analysis below for the X-ray afterglow spectra of GRB 020813 and GRB 021004.

## 3 Spectral Fitting

We reduce the HETGS spectral data from the standard L2 event lists using IDL and custom scripts, described in Marshall et al. (2002). For the 0th-order spectral data, we use the CIAO111http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao/ processing exclusively. Each data set is corrected for QE degradation222http://asc.harvard.edu/cal/Acis/Cal\_prods/qeDeg/ due to contamination in the ACIS chips, prior to spectral fitting. We also destreak the S4 chip333http://asc.harvard.edu/ciao/threads/spectra\_hetgacis/. Spectral fitting and analysis is performed with ISIS444http://space.mit.edu/CXC/ISIS/. For each observation, we fit the HETGS HEG and HETGS MEG 1st-order data for the entire observation jointly. The +1 and -1 orders are combined for each grating. The data are then binned to a S/N $`5`$ per bin, with the bin width restricted to $`\delta E/E0.1`$. We define S/N as the background-subtracted number of counts divided by the square root of the sum of the signal counts and the variance in the background. Bins of the maximal width with S/N $`<3`$ are rejected, due to lack of signal. For GRB 020813, this selects an HEG energy range of $`0.87.6`$ keV and and MEG energy range of $`0.65.2`$ keV. For GRB 021004, this selects an HEG energy range of $`1.04.6`$ keV and and MEG energy range of $`0.64.7`$ keV. We fit each model by minimizing $`\chi ^2`$. Unless otherwise noted, all quoted errors are 90% confidence.

### 3.1 GRB 020813

As reported by Vanderspek et al. (2002), we find that an absorbed power-law fit to the 1st-order spectra requires no absorption column in excess of Galactic value. Therefore, in each model that we consider, we include absorption with $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ frozen to $`7.5\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2.

The data are moderately well fit by a power-law (Figure 1, $`\chi _\nu ^2=176.0/154`$), with photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.85\pm 0.04`$ and normalization $`(5.5\pm 0.2)\times 10^4`$ photons/keV/cm2/s at 1 keV. A thermal bremsstrahlung fit is a much poorer fit to the data ($`\chi _\nu ^2=196.7/154`$, rejectable at 99% confidence), with $`kT=4.6\pm 0.5`$ keV. We find consistent fits using the 0th-order data. Of note, a large fraction of the contribution to $`\chi ^2`$ in the case of the HETGS power-law fit arises between $`1.2`$ and $`1.5`$ keV. The addition of a Gaussian component in this energy range improves the $`\chi ^2`$ ($`\chi _\nu ^2=160.5/151`$). This improvement is at the 99.9% confidence level according the the likelihood ratio test ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2=15.5`$ for 3 additional degrees of freedom). However, this method for determining significance is deprecated (see Protassov et al. (2002)), and we present Monte Carlo calculations for the significance below. The line energy is $`1.31\pm 0.01`$ keV, with a width of $`8\pm 4`$ eV (1$`\sigma `$). The rest-frame equivalent width is $`67\pm 32`$ eV, and the flux is $`(1.6\pm 0.8)\times 10^{14}`$ erg cm-2 s-1. Given the optically measured GRB host galaxy absorption redshift $`z1.254`$ (Price et al., 2002), a likely association for this line is S XVI K$`\alpha `$, blue-shifted by $`0.12c`$ from $`z=1.254`$. The $`\chi ^2`$ is marginally improved ($`\chi _\nu ^2=155.7/150`$) with the inclusion of an additional Gaussian component of the same width, constrained to lie at predicted energy of Si XIV K$`\alpha `$ ($`1.01`$ keV at $`z=0.99\pm 0.01`$). From the likelihood ratio test, the confidence for the pair can be estimated as 99.96% ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2=20.3`$ for 4 additional degrees of freedom). Allowing the widths to vary jointly, the best fit width value is $`10\pm 9`$ eV.

In gauging the significance of these features, we must take into account the number of trials performed (i.e. line widths and line energies searched). Figure 2 displays the power-law model found above over-plotted on the summed HEG+MEG counts, at three binnings. The finest binning is chosen so that each bin between 1.5 and 16.0 Å contains one or more counts. We rebin twice by a factor of approximately two in order to look for broader features. The $`1.31`$ keV (9.4 Å) feature is seen in both the top and middle plots at $`4.0\sigma `$. This significance describes the Poisson probability that the signal plus background counts could reach a value greater than or equal to the observed values, with the Poisson mean fixed to the number of counts predicted by the model plus the background. The probability for a chance fluctuation of this or greater significance in one or more of the 235 bins shown in Figure 2 is approximately 1.5%, calculated as $`P_N1(1P_1)^N`$. From Monte Carlo simulations of $`10^4`$ spectra using the best fit power-law model above, we find $`P_N=1.4\%`$. From the simulations, we find that the probability for getting two or more 4$`\sigma `$ fluctuations (as observed) is 0.1%. Thus the line is detected at $`3.3\sigma `$ significance. A broad feature corresponding to the $`1.01`$ keV line mentioned above is observed in the third panel (and also in the 1st panel) of Figure 2 at $``$ 12.2 Å, with a significance of $`2.9\sigma `$. We estimate a 58% probability that a $`2.9\sigma `$ or greater fluctuation would occur by chance in one or more of the trials. From the Monte Carlo simulations, the probability for getting two or more $`2.9\sigma `$ fluctuations is 23%. Thus the line is detected at very low ($`1.2\sigma `$) significance in a blind search, and it is potentially meaningful only if the line location is constrained as in the preceding paragraph. No additional features at or above $`2.9\sigma `$ are present in the HETGS spectrum at the binnings searched. Finally, we derive a $`3\sigma `$ upper limit of 20 eV for the equivalent widths of any lines unresolved in this search (FWHM $``$ 0.11 Å) between 6 and 16 Å. This figure grows $`\lambda ^3`$ shortward of 6 Å.

We also attempt to fit these data using a collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE) plasma model, as has been done previously in the case of several recent GRB afterglows observed with XMM-Newton (R02, Watson et al. (2002)). We form the model using the Astrophysical Plasma Emission Database (APED) accessible through ISIS, with the redshift fixed at $`z=0.99`$. We utilize a turbulence velocity $`v_\mathrm{T}`$, fixed at $`2000`$ km/s, and thermal line profiles to produce the best-fit line widths above. We fix the abundance of metals lighter than Mg to solar. We tie the Si abundance to the S abundance, and allow Ni to vary freely. All other metals are frozen to zero abundance. The CIE plasma fit (Figure 3, $`\chi _\nu ^2=177.8/152`$) is slightly poorer than the pure power-law fit. Allowing the APED metal abundances previously set to zero to vary does not improve the fit. The best fit plasma temperature is $`9.2\pm 1.2`$ keV. The best fit S,Si abundance is 2.9 times solar, and the linked abundance is greater than solar at 98% confidence ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2=5.5`$ for 1 additional parameter). The best fit Ni abundance is 1.8 times solar. There is a low ($`1.6\sigma `$) significance detection of a Ni-K line in the MEG spectrum. This features appears as two bins modestly over the power-law fit in Figures 1, 3 near 4 keV. The APED model fits these bins with a blend of K lines from H and He-like Ni. The APED model with an abundance of Fe comparable to the Si and S abundances would produce a very strong and easily detectable Fe-K feature (Figure 3 Inset). In Table 1, we report 1-parameter 90% confidence upper limits to the abundances of several elements, with upper limits to the line fluxes and rest-frame equivalent widths of H-like K lines in each species. In Figures 4, 5, and 6 we compare the abundances, line luminosities, and rest-frame equivalent widths, respectively, to those reported for other GRB X-ray afterglows.

Since, the abundances of $`\alpha `$-particle nuclei produced by core-collapse SNe are expected to be approximately the same (see e.g. Rauscher et al. (2002)), relative to solar, the low relative upper limits we find for the abundances of Ar and Ca possibly indicate that the Si and S lines are not the result of thermal emission from a hot plasma. After radioactive decay, we would expect an Fe abundance similar to the low-Z, multiple-$`\alpha `$ metal abundances. This implies that the line fluxes from one or more of the Fe group elements (Fe, Ni, Co) should be higher than we observe. We discuss below the possibility that the lines are due to reflection. An alternative possibility, suggested in part by the APED model’s apparent tendency to under-fit the continuum below $``$ 1.5 keV (Figure 1), is that we must also include a power-law component. It is then possible to use the APED model with a lower temperature ($`2`$ keV), and this weakens the high energy continuum and the lines from Ar, Ca, and the Fe group elements relative to the Si and S lines. We find models with a single abundance for the $`\alpha `$-particle nuclei and Fe which improve upon the power-law fit but do not appear to be as good as the power-law plus two Gaussian fit. Finally, we note that the abundances quoted in Table 1 lose meaning if a power-law component is also present.

### 3.2 GRB 021004

An absorbed power-law fit to the 1st-order spectra does not require an absorption column in excess of the Galactic value, as reported by Sako & Harrison (2002). Therefore, in each model that we consider, we include absorption with $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ frozen to $`4.24\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2.

The data are very well fit by a power-law (Figure 7, $`\chi _\nu ^2=39.5/55`$), with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.01\pm 0.08`$ and normalization $`(1.7\pm 0.1)\times 10^4`$ photons/keV/cm2/s at 1 keV, consistent with the values found by Sako & Harrison (2002) and Holland et al. (2002). A thermal bremsstrahlung fit is a somewhat poorer, though still very acceptable, fit ($`\chi _\nu ^2=47.2/55`$), with kT $`=3.2\pm 0.4`$ keV. We find consistent fits using the 0th-order data.

We plot the combined HEG/MEG data in count space with the power-law model over-plotted in Figure 8, for the same binnings as in Figure 2. No significant features are observed. The largest fluctuation occurs in the middle panel, where one of the $`70`$ bins reaches $`2.6\sigma `$. There is approximately an 89% chance that this would happen by chance in one or more of the bins in that plot. At the $`3\sigma `$ level, this search is sensitive to moderately broad (FWHM $``$ $`\delta \lambda `$) emission and absorption lines between 6 and 16 Å with equivalent widths greater than 50 eV. Over this same wavelength interval, we derive a $`3\sigma `$ upper limit of 35 eV to the equivalent widths of any narrow lines (FWHM $``$ 0.11 Å). These figures grow $`\lambda ^3`$ shortward of 6 Å. Considering the GRB redshift of 2.328 determined in the optical by Mirabel et al. (2002), several K-lines from S, Ar, Ca, Fe, Co, and Ni would have been detected were their equivalent widths larger than these estimated limits.

## 4 Temporal Analysis

As displayed in Figure 9, the afterglow continua, though moderately variable in the case of GRB 021004, do not appear to evolve spectrally. To search for time-variable discrete features, we divide the summed HEG+MEG data sets into 2, 4, or 8 portions of equal numbers of counts. For each time section, we examine the counts data at 3 binnings: 0.11, 0.21, and 0.42 Å (as in Figures 2, 8). For each GRB afterglow, we fit absorbed power-law’s to each of these 42 data sets by minimizing the Cash statistic (Cash, 1979). We then search the bins between 1 and 16 Å for deviations from the best fit model, interpreting the deviations using Poisson statistics as in Section 3. We set a limiting detection threshold of $`3.7\sigma `$ so that fewer than one chance detection is expected in $`15\times 235`$ bins searched. The search yields no emission or absorption line detections in the case of GRB 021004, while for GRB 020813 only the Si and S lines (Section 3) are detected. The Si XIV K$`\alpha `$ line is detected at $`3.7\sigma `$ ($`P_N53\%`$) in the second quarter (12-28.5 ksec) of data, while the S XVI K$`\alpha `$ line (3 detections) peaks at $`4.3\sigma `$ ($`P_N6\%`$) in the first quarter (12 ksec) of data. In Figure 10, we plot the S XVI K$`\alpha `$ line flux (measured with Gaussian fits of fixed width and location) and the continuum flux versus time. Using the likelihood ratio test, we find evidence for a decrease in equivalent width between the first 28.5 ksec of data and the remainder of the observation at 97% confidence ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2=4.7`$ for 1 additional parameter).

## 5 Discussion

The most significant discrete feature we observe in afterglow spectrum of GRB 020813 is clearly the line we associate with S, which we detect at $`3.3\sigma `$ significance. This is a somewhat marginal detection. However, the reality of the line is supported by the presence of line counts in various times slices throughout the observation and in each of the four independent 1st-order spectra (MEG/HEG $`\pm 1`$ orders). For the full observation no detector anomalies (e.g. flares, flickering pixels) are observed in the ACIS-S CCD regions yielding the HETGS MEG/HEG $`\pm 1`$ order counts from this line. The background is negligible between 0.6 and 6 keV, contributing only 3% of the total counts. Pileup in the grating spectrum is not a concern for this observation due to the very low count rate. Excess counts corresponding to the line are detected in each independent spectrum, and the numbers are consistent at the $`1.5\sigma `$ level. The combined 1st-order spectra (MEG/HEG) show a consistent number of excess counts at the $`1\sigma `$ level. The validity of this line detection is possibly strengthened by an association with S XVI K$`\alpha `$ and by a marginal detection of a line at the expected energy for Si XIV K$`\alpha `$. We have performed a parallel reduction for the GRB 021004 afterglow data, and this has yielded no convincing evidence for discrete spectral features.

Although we find possible evidence for temporal variability in the line emission for GRB 020813 (Section 4), the lines are detected in the full 76.8 ksec observation, and the full data set is moderately well fit by a plasma in collisional ionization equilibrium (Section 3). Figures 4-6 show the line and metallicity parameters we derive in relation to those reported for other GRBs in the literature. Our required abundances are only modestly super-solar (Section 3), in contrast to those reported for several other GRBs. The line luminosities are quite low, and the rest-frame equivalent widths are an order of magnitude smaller than those reported for any other GRB. Figure 10 shows the GRB 020813 continuum and S XVI line fluxes versus time alongside the data for GRB 011211 from R02. In comparison to GRB 011211, it appears that the longevity of the line emission (and also the narrowness of the lines) was critical to their detection, whereas the 10 times stronger continuum could easily have hidden less persistent emission.

We can interpret the longer duration and later onset of the lines for GRB 020813 relative to GRB 011211 (Figure 10) as a purely geometrical effect due to observing emitting material residing at a larger radius $`R`$ from the GRB. For radially expanding emitting material heated by GRB photons or by the GRB shock, the narrowness of the lines requires that the emission comes from only a small solid angle ($`\mathrm{\Omega }<0.4`$), as viewed from the GRB, consistent with GRB beaming models (Frail et al., 2001). The line duration ($`t_{\mathrm{line}}>76.8`$ ksec) can be attributed to time delays across a thin shell, and this leads to the requirement $`R=\frac{ct_{\mathrm{line}}}{1+z}\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{\Omega }}>10^{16}`$ cm. An estimate $`R<10^{18}`$ cm for the maximum likely $`R`$ is determined using the smallest solid angle found for a GRB jet in Frail et al. (2001). For the reprocessing material to lie this far out from the GRB, it must have gotten there prior to the GRB. The line identifications we have made (Section 3) require a blue-shift $`0.1c`$, and this high outflow velocity implicates expanding SN ejecta rather than a stellar wind. The SN would have gone off 0.1 to 10 years prior to the GRB. The need for a precursor SN can be avoided if the GRB host (absorption) redshift is taken as a lower limit on the redshift, rather than the actual redshift. In that case, an identification of the S XVI and Si XIV lines with Ar XVIII and S XVI ($`z=1.53`$, no blue-shift), respectively, could be made.

In the case of GRB 011211, R02 assert that a shell of thermal plasma at $`R10^{15}`$ cm can account for the afterglow spectrum and for the duration of the reported emission lines. Taking into account radiation transfer across the shell, Lazzati (2002) argues that a larger radius is required ($`R>10^{17}`$ cm), because the large afterglow luminosity implies a high density, which implies a cooling time much shorter than the observed line duration. Following Lazzati (2002), we find that a thermal model for GRB 020813 also implies $`R>10^{17}`$ cm, except for the case (discussed below) where the luminosity of the thermal component is actually overwhelmed by a ($`10`$ times brighter) power-law continuum component. In this case, a solution with $`R10^{16}`$ cm is possible. The density is low ($`n10^8`$ cm-3), and this implies a shell with thickness $`dRR/10`$ for $`\tau _\mathrm{T}=0.1`$. At larger radii, the shell must be either very thin or very clumped for the contained mass to be similar to that expected from SNe ($`M_{\mathrm{ejecta}}<20M_{}`$, Woosely & Weaver (1995)).

We see three reasons, which arise from complexities in our modeling, to be cautious in interpreting our results as evidence for a persistent thermal component. First, we observe lines with best fit widths an order of magnitude larger than the thermal line widths. We account for this in the thermal model by introducing a turbulence velocity of $`2000`$ km/s. It is also possible that this broadening is kinematical. Second, the best-fit CIE plasma model has marginally dissimilar abundances for the multiple-$`\alpha `$ elements (Figure 4) and very low abundances for the Fe group elements relative to the multiple-$`\alpha `$ elements (Figure 4, Figure 3 Inset). This would require an unusual chemical composition for the emitting medium, a mechanism beyond the APED model for suppressing emission from metals other than Si and S, or the addition of a power-law continuum component to the model as discussed in Section 3. Third, the data do not tightly constrain the relative contributions to the continuum from the CIE plasma and from this possible power-law component. Indeed, the continuum appears non-thermal, as would be expected for the X-ray afterglow of the burst.

Though these considerations do not rule out a thermal model, reflection models may more naturally describe a spectrum with broad lines superposed on a power-law continuum (see e.g. Ballantyne et al. (2001), Vietri et al. (2001)). In these models, the line broadening is due to Compton scattering. If the electron temperature is similar to the line energy, we expect $`\sigma _E/E(kT/m_ec^2)^{1/2}0.05`$ (at $`1.3`$ keV) for a single scattering. Because this is already a factor $`5`$ times larger than the observed widths, we require the reflector to not be highly ionized. Consulting Figure 2 of Lazzati, Ramirez-Ruiz, & Rees (2002), it appears that our observed dissimilarity in line luminosities (Table 1, Figure 5) may further reinforce this conclusion. Their reflection models with ionization parameter $`\xi `$ in the range $`10<\xi <100`$ can produce Si and S line luminosities which are an order of magnitude greater than luminosities of lines from Ar, Ca, and Fe. In the case of GRB 011211, Lazzati et al. (2002) argue that the large line equivalent widths rule out nearby reprocessor models. This is not the case for GRB 020813, and the line duration may be set by a delayed energy injection rather than by the geometry of the reprocessing material (see Rees & Meszaros (2000), Meszaros & Rees (2001)). In this case, we would not need a two-step (SN then GRB) explosion.

In conclusion, we detect lines from an over-abundance of light metals characteristically produced in massive stars during pre-supernova nucleosynthesis in the X-ray afterglow of GRB 020813. The long S XVI line duration and narrow line widths can be explained via the geometry of the emitting material, and this would likely require a two-step explosion as in the supranova (Vietri & Stella, 1998) scenario. The time delay between the SN and GRB is $`>2`$ months in this picture. In contrast, our weak detection of a Ni feature, with no detection of Fe (or Co), suggests a very short time delay ($`<`$ 1 week) between the SN and the GRB. As discussed in Woosely, Zhang & Heger (2002), it is not likely possible to observe a GRB through a supernova remnant this young; the Ni feature may indicate that the geometric picture is wrong. A thermal model adequately fits the full data set. A bright Fe (or Ni or Co) feature is not observed, however, and this is perhaps the strongest reason to favor a reflection model, where an Fe line can be quenched by Auger auto-ionization (Lazzati et al. 2002).

We thank Harvey Tananbaum for his generous allocation of Director’s Discretion Time for these observations. This research was supported in part by NASA contract NASW-4690.


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# Nitrogen local electronic structure in Ga(In)AsN alloys by soft-X-ray absorption and emission: Implications for optical properties

## I Introduction

Ga(In)AsN semiconductor alloys are new promising optoelectronic materials, whose potential applications range from efficient solar cells to laser diodes operating in the long wavelength range ($`\lambda `$1.3 $`\mu `$m) which fits the transparency window ofoptofibers used in local networks. A remarkable property of the Ga(In)AsN alloys is an extremely strong dependence of the band gap width $`E_g`$ on the N content, characterized by a giant bowing coefficient with $`dE_g/dx`$=15-20 eV (see, e.g., Ref.). This figure is more than one order of magnitude larger compared to the conventional III-V alloys, which suggests that physical mechanisms to narrow the band gap are quite different. A disadvantage of the Ga(In)AsN alloys is however their low optical efficiency compared to conventional III-V alloys such as GaAs and AlAs.

Physics of Ga(In)AsN and related alloys has been under intense study during the last few years (see Refs. and references therein). Due to a strong difference in the N and As scattering potentials, insertion of N atoms into the host lattice results in a giant perturbation of the electronic structure and formation of fundamentally new electronic states such as resonant impurity states. Their hybridization with the host states in the conduction band strongly perturbs and shifts these states to lower energies, which narrows the band gap. Different local environments of N atoms such as isolated impurities, N-N pairs and various clusters form different states hybridizing with each other. Because of the immense complexity of such a system no exhaustive theoretical treatment exists up to now. Different approaches such as the empirical pseudopotential supercell method, first-principles pseudopotential method and band anticrossing model often give conflicting predictions. Moreover, their experimental verification is complicated by significant scatter in the experimental results depending on the sample preparation. Despite significant advances in understanding of the band gap narrowing in Ga(In)AsN alloys, mechanisms responsible for degradation of their optical efficiency are still not completely clear.

A vast amount of the experimental data on the Ga(In)AsN and similar alloys has been obtained using optical spectroscopies such as photoluminescence (PL) and electroreflectance (see, e.g., a compilation of references in Ref.). However, they are largely restricted to the band gap region, and give in general only bare positions of the energy levels without any direct information about spatial localization or orbital character of wavefunctions. Such an information can be achieved by soft-X-ray emission (SXE) and absorption (SXA) spectroscopies with their specificity on the chemical element and orbital character (see, e.g., a recent review in Ref.). Although their energy resolution, intrinsically limited by the core hole lifetime, never matches that of the optical spectroscopies, they give an overall picture of the electronic structure on the energy scale of the whole valence band (VB) and condiction band (CB). Moreover, as the orbital selection rules involve the core state and thus engage the VB and CB states different from those engaged in optical transitions, the soft-X-ray spectroscopies give a complementary view of the electronic structure. Because of the small atomic concentrations in diluted alloys such as Ga(In)AsN, and small crossection of the SXA and SXE processes, these experiments require the use of 3-generation synchrotron radiation sources, providing soft X-rays at high intensity and brilliance, and high-resolution SXE spectrometers with multichannel detection.

Extending our pilot work, we here present experimental SXE and SXA data on Ga(In)AsN diluted alloys, which unveil the local electronic structure of N impurities through the whole VB and CB. This yields new fundamental physics of Ga(In)AsN and related alloys, in particular, electronic structure origins of their limited optical efficiency, effect of In on the N local environments and electronic structure, and k-character of some VB and CB states coupled by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS).

## II Experimental procedure and results

### A Sample growth

The Ga(In)AsN samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at an EP-1203 machine (Russia) equipped by solid-phase Ga, In and As sources and a radio-frequency plasma N source. Details of the growth procedure and sample characterization are given elsewhere. Briefly, the growth was performed on a GaAs(001) substrate at 430C in As-rich conditions. The active layer in our GaAsN and GaInAsN samples was grown, respectively, as GaAs0.97N0.03 with a thickness of 200 Å, and In0.07Ga0.93As0.97N0.03 with a thickness of 240 Å (growth of thicker layers was hindered by phase segregation). The concentrations of In and N were checked by high-resolution X-ray rocking curves. A buffer layer between the substrate and the Ga(In)AsN active layer, and a cap layer on top of it were grown each as a 50 Å thick AlAs layer sandwiched between two 50 Å thick GaAs layers. Such an insertion of wide band gap AlAs is a usual method to increase the PL intensity by confining the carriers in the Ga(In)AsN layer. Moreover, a high-temperature annealing of the grown structure can be performed after deposition of AlAs in the cap layer without desorption of GaAs. Such an annealing lasts about 10 minutes at 700-750C. The resulting improvement of the Ga(In)AsN layer crystal quality typically increases the PL intensity by a factor of 10-20.

The annealing effect on the local environments of N atoms is less clear. The N impurities are known to interact with each other due to long-range lattice relaxation and long tails of their wavefunctions down to N concentrations of 0.1%, which translates to a characteristic interaction length of 60 Å. We expect that on this length scale the annealing can promote energetically favourable N local environments. In GaAsN such envoronments are, for example, (100)-oriented N pairs. In the GaInAsN quaternary alloy the situation is more complicated: whereas as-grown samples have nearly random distributions of In and N atoms with a significant fraction of InAs clusters having small chemical bond energy, the annealing should promote formation of In-N bonds, providing better lattice match to the GaAs substrate and thus mimimizing the strain energy. In any case, on a length scale larger than the N interaction length the annealing should improve homogeneity of the N concentration. This is of paramount importance, in particular, for our experiment because due to the giant bowing coefficient of Ga(In)AsN any fluctuations of the N concentration should result in significant fluctuations of the electronic structure and therefore in smearing of spectral structures.

### B SXE/SXA measurements

The SXE/SXA experiments were performed in MAX-lab, Sweden, at the undulator beamline I511-3 equipped with a modified SX-700 plane grating monochromator and a high-resolution Rowland-mount grazing incidence spectrometer. SXE/SXA measurements employed the N 1$`s`$ core level at approximately 400 eV.

The SXA spectra were recorded in the fluorescence yield (FY), because due to the thick cap layer the electron yield did not show any N 1$`s`$ absorption structure. The measurements were performed in partial FY using the SXE spectrometer operated slitless. It was adjusted at a photon energy window centered at the N $`K`$-emission line and covering an interval, in the 1st order of diffraction, from some 320 to 470 eV. The signal was detected with the spectrometer position-sensitive detector as the integral fluorescence within this energy window. Interestingly, usual measurements in the total FY (detected with a microchannel plate detector in front of the sample) returned considerably different spectra. This is possibly because the total FY is more susceptible to irrelevant contributions due to higher-order incident light and low-energy photoelectron bremsstrahlung fluorescence, significant with our low N concentrations in the host material. As the partial FY measurements are characterized by significant intensity loss due to smaller acceptance angle of the spectrometer, we operated the monochromator at an energy resolution of 0.45 eV FWHM (the N 1$`s`$ lifetime broadening is about 0.1 eV).

The synchrotron radiation excited SXE spectra were measured, in view of the low crossection of the SXE process and small N concentration, with the monochromator resolution lowered to $``$1.5 eV and to $``$0.5 eV for the off-resonance and resonant spectra, respectively. The spectrometer was operated with a spherical grating of 5 m radius and 400 lines/mm groove density in the 1st order of diffraction, providing a resolution of $``$1.2 eV. The signal from the position-sensitive detector was aberration corrected using 3rd-order polynomial fitting and normalized to the total illuminated area in each channel on the detector. Normal data acquisition time was 2-5 hours per spectrum. Despite the cap layer we could also see a N signal under 3.5 keV electron beam excitation, although on top of strong bremsstrahlung background, but this was not suitable for resonant measurements.

Energy calibration of the spectrometer was performed in absolute photon energies employing the Ni $`L_l`$, $`L_{\alpha _{1,2}}`$ and $`L_{\beta _1}`$ lines seen in the 2nd order of diffraction. Abberations in the dispersion direction of the position-sensitive detector were corrected by setting an energy scale as a function of the channel number using 2nd order polynomial fitting. Based on the elastic peaks in SXE spectra, the monochromator was then calibrated in the same absolute energy scale with an accuracy about $`\pm `$0.15 eV.

### C Experimental results

Our experimental N 1$`s`$ SXA spectra (measured in the partial FY) and off-resonant SXE spectra (excitation energy of 420 eV, well above the absorption threshold) of the GaAs0.97N0.03 and Ga0.93In0.07As0.97N0.03 samples are shown in Fig.1 (upper panel). The binding energy scale is set relative to the VB maximum (VBM) determined, roughly, by linear extrapolation of the SXE spectral leading edge. We intentionally give the spectra without denoising to facilitate judgement the significance of the spectral structures compared to the noise level. Recent supercell calculations by Persson and Zunger are in good agreement with our experimental results.

Recent SXA data on GaAs0.97N0.03 by Lordi et al, which appeared after initial submission of this paper, are consistent with our results (apart from some energy shift which is presumably because their energy scale was affected by the monochromator calibration). Previous SXA data by Soo et al suffer from worse experimental resolution and sample quality.

Local environments of the N atoms in Ga(In)AsN are polymorphic, corresponding to isolated impurities and various clusters. Applying random statistics, the concentration ratio of the pair and higher-order N clusters to the total number of N atoms is given by 1-(1-$`x`$)m, where $`x`$ is the N concentration and $`m`$=4 the number of the nearest anions in the zinc-blende lattice. With our N concentrations of 3% this ratio is only 11.5%. Therefore, our SXE/SXA spectra characterize mainly the isolated N impurities.

## III Discussion

### A Overall picture of the electronic structure

The experimental SXA and off-resonance SXE spectra in Fig.1 reflect, by the dipole selection rules requiring that the orbital quantum number $`l`$ is changed by $`\pm 1`$, the $`p`$-component of the DOS locally in the N core region. The $`p`$-component, by analogy with crystalline GaN, should in fact dominate the total DOS through the whole VB and CB region. Core excitonic effects are presumably less significant because the direct recombination peak does not show up in our SXE spectra. Splitting of the VBM into the light and heavy hole subbands due to a strain imposed by the GaAs substrate, being about a few tenths of eV, is below our experimental resolution.

It is instructive to compare our Ga(In)AsN spectra to the corresponding spectra of crystalline GaN. They are reproduced in Fig.1 (lower panel) in the binding energy scale determined in the same way as for Ga(In)AsN. The spectra of GaN in the metastable zinc-blende structure, which has the same N coordination as Ga(In)AsN, were measured by Lawniczak et al, and those of wurtzite GaN by Stagarescu et al. Apart from the CB shift, the spectra of the two crystalline forms are similar in overall shape. They are well understood in terms of the local orbital-projected DOS and band structure.

Comparison of the SXE/SXA data on Ga(In)AsN to those on the two GaN crystalline structures shows:

(1) In the VB, the overall shape of the SXE signal for Ga(In)AsN is similar to crystalline GaN. However, the spectral maximum is strongly shifted towards the VB interior, with the leading edge at the VBM being much less steep (which has important implications for optical efficiency, see below). This is not a resolution effect, because the reference spectra of crystalline GaN were taken at close resolution figures (around 0.8 eV for zinc-blende GaN and 1.1 eV for wurtzite GaN). Our experimental data demonstrate thus that the VB electronic structure undergoes, contrary to the common point of view, significant changes upon incorporation of N atoms into GaAs. Interestingly, our SXE spectrum did not show any structure due to hybridization with the Ga 3d states at $``$19 eV below the VBM, found in wurtzite GaN;

(2) In the CB, the differences are radical. The leading peak of the SXA spectrum for Ga(In)AsN rises immediately at the CB minimum (CBM) and has much larger amplitude compared to the leading shoulder-like structure in the spectra of crystalline GaN. The energy separation between the VB and CB states for Ga(In)AsN is much smaller, which correlates with smaller fundamental band gap.

On the whole, the observed differences of the Ga(In)AsN spectra to crystalline GaN manifest that the local electronic structure of the N atoms in the Ga(In)AsN random alloy is radically different from that in the regular GaN lattice.

Although further theoretical analysis is required to interpret our experimental data in detail, we can tentatively assign the leading SXA peak to the $`t_2(L_{1c})`$ derived perturbed host state which, according to the calculations by Kent and Zunger on GaAsN, has the strongest N localization in the CBM region. This assignment is corroborated by the resonant SXE data (see below) which reveals the $`L`$-character of the leading SXA peak.

It should be noted that the dipole selection rules in SXE/SXA, inherently involving transitions from and to the core level, project out the states from the VB and CB, which can differ from those projected out by the optical transitions between the VB and CB states themselves. For example, delocalized states can give only a small contribution to the SXE/SXA signal due to relatively small overlap with the core state, but they can strongly overlap with each other and give a strong PL signal. Our SXA data give explicit examples of this: The $`a_1(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1c})`$ derived states near the CBM (see Ref.) are not seen in the SXA spectrum due to the weaker N localization compared to the $`t_2(L_{1c})`$ states, but in optical spectroscopies they manifest themselves as the intense $`E^{}`$ transitions. On the other hand, the $`t_2(L_{1c})`$ states are not seen in the optical spectra due to unfavorable matrix elements, but show up as a prominent SXA peak. Moreover, the energy separation between the VB and CB states in the SXE/SXA spectra gives only an upper estimate for the fundamental band gap, because weakly localized N states as well as Ga and As derived states are not seen. Therefore, the SXE/SXA spectroscopies give a view of the VB and CB complementary to that by optical spectroscopies.

### B Charge depletion in the VBM: Origin of reduced optical efficiency

The vast body of optical spectroscopy data on Ga(In)AsN evidences that the optical efficiency sharply drops upon incorporation of the smallest N concentrations into GaAs, and then decreases further with increase of the N molar fraction (see, e.g., a compilation in Ref. ). This is most pronounced for GaAsN, where the PL intensity loss towards N concentrations of 5% is at least 50 times as compared to GaAs. Exact origins of such a dramatic efficiency degradation are not completely clear. Supercell calculations in Ref. suggest that about 30% of the GaAs efficiency is lost due to gradual smearing of VBM and CBM in their $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-character, which results in reduction of the optical transition matrix element. However, this effect is by far weaker compared to the experimental degradation. Another known origin is relatively poor structural quality of Ga(In)AsN layers epitaxially grown on GaAs. This is due to, firstly, low growth temperatures which are used with large N concentrations to promote high N uptake and, secondly, some lattice mismatch between Ga(In)AsN and GaAs. However, the first problem can be alleviated by post-growth high-temperature annealing, and the second by tuning the In concentration in GaInAsN which allows matching the GaAs lattice constant. Althought the PL intensity from lattice-matched GaInAsN layers does increase by a factor about 5 compared to GaAsN, this still remains by far low compared to GaAs. Moreover, the structural quality does not explain the efficiency drop at the smallest N concentrations.

Our SXE/SXA results unveil another origin of the optical efficiency degradation in the very electronic structure. By virtue of the N localization of the CBM wavefunction the N impurities act as the main recombination centers in Ga(In)AsN. At the same time, the local valence charge at the N impurities is shifted off the VBM. This appears immediately from comparison of our experimental SXE spectra of Ga(In)AsN with those of crystalline GaN, which are in fact representative of GaAs by virtue of qualitatively similar valence DOS of these materials (direct measurements on GaAs are hindered by very low fluorescence yield of As in the soft-X-ray region). Such a charge depletion in the VBM, equivalent to reduction of the VBM wavefunction amplitude, results in a weak overlap of the CBM and VBM wavefunctions at the N impurities, which immediately reduces efficiency of the N impurities as radiative recombination centers. This VBM depletion effect, characteristic of isolated N impurities, is one of fundamental origins of the reduced optical efficiency of Ga(In)AsN. Being in play already at the smallest N concentrations, it immediately explains the initial efficiency drop, whereas further efficiency degradation with increase of N concentration is presumably through the structural quality effects.

To explain the observed VBM charge depletion, in Ref. we suggested a VBM charge transfer off the N atoms in Ga(In)AsN compared to GaN (in Ref. this our statement was misinterpreted as a charge transfer to As, but N has larger electronegativity). In fact, the charge transfer is more likely to take place not in space but in energy towards deeper valence states, which is supported by recent computational analysis of Persson and Zunger. Physically, the local electronic structure of the N impurities in the GaAs lattice appears somewhere in between that of the crystalline state, and that of isolated atoms. The observed DOS peaked near the VB center can therefore be viewed as a transitional case between the DOS of extended band states piling up near the band edges, and the singularity-like DOS of isolated atoms at the VB center.

Formation of N local environments different from the isolated impurities can be suggested as a way to increase the optical efficiency of Ga(In)AsN. For example, in multiatomic N local environments such as clusters of Ga-separated N atoms the wavefunctions may become closer to crystalline GaN with its DOS piling up at the VBM. Based on the random statistics, the cluster concentration should increase with the total N concentration. Alternatively, the N local environments can be changed by replacing some neighbour Ga atoms by different cations.

### C Effect of In

Quaternary GaInAsN alloys, where some Ga atoms are replaced by In, allow improvement of the optical efficiency by a factor about 5. This is predominantly due to two factors: a better lattice match of GaInAsN layers to the GaAs substrate, which improves their structural quality, and electron confinement effects connected with concentration fluctuations. We here endevoured investigation whether the incorporation of In also causes any favourable changes in the electronic structure.

At relatively low In concentrations, evolution of the N local electronic structure is evidenced by comparison of the Ga0.93In0.07As0.97N0.03 and GaAs0.97N0.03 experimental spectra in Fig.1. The SXE spectra zoomed in the VB region are also shown in Fig.2. Surprisingly, the comparison shows no notable changes within the experimental statistics, nor in the spectral shapes, neither in energies of the spectral structures. This evidences that despite the high-temperature annealing the N atoms reside mostly in In-depleted local environments such as Ga4N and possibly In1Ga3N where the presence of only one In atom in 4 nearest neighbours should not change the N local electronic structure dramatically. This experimental finding seriously questions results of recent Monte Carlo simulations which predict predominance of In-rich N local environments such as Ga1In3N and In4N, at least with low In concentrations. Any effects connected with insufficient annealing of our samples can be ruled out, as evidenced by stabilization of PL spectra already after 5 min of annealing. The absence of any significant electronic structure changes in Ga0.93In0.07As0.97N0.03 compared to GaAs0.97N0.03 suggests that at low In concentrations the optical efficiency improvement is exclusively due to the structural and electron confinement effects.

To force formation of In-rich N local environments, we have grown a sample of Ga0.69In0.31As0.98N0.02 (170 Å thick active layer) where the In/N concentration ratio is much increased (the decrease in bare N concentration is presumably less important because interaction of the isolated N impurities in such diluted alloys should be weak). The experimental SXE spectrum of Ga0.69In0.31As0.98N0.02, measured under the same off-resonance conditions as in Fig.1, is also shown in Fig.2. Now the spectral maximum is shifted by some 0.25 eV to higher energies compared to GaAs0.97N0.03, indicating changes in the N local electronic structure caused by In-rich N environments. Interestingly, the XAS data for Ga0.7In0.3As0.97N0.03 from Ref. demonstrates the CBM simultaneously shifts to lower energies.

The observed VB and CB shifts towards each other suggest that the In-rich N environments become the main recombination centers in GaInAsN. Moreover, both holes and electrons become confined in In-reach regions formed by statistical fluctuations of In concentration on $`\mu m`$-scale. This effect increases the optical efficiency of GaInAsN.

To see whether the observed changes in the VB affect the optical efficiency within the above VBM depletion mechanism, we examined closely the VBM region (insert in Fig.2). The shift of the spectral maximum is definitely larger than that of the VBM (although its exact location requires better statistics). This indicates certain charge accumulation at the VBM compared to GaAs0.97N0.03, and thus increase of the optical efficiency of In-rich N local environments compared to Ga4N. The observed accumulation seems though rather subtle to explain the increase in GaInAsN wholly, and the most of it still resides with the structural and electron confinement effects.

### D k-conservation in the RIXS process

Resonant phenomena were investigated on the GaAsN prototype alloy. Fig.3 shows resonant SXE spectra measured with excitation energies near the two dominant SXA structures in Fig.1 compared to that measured well above the absorption threshold. The spectra are normalized to the integral excitation flux, which was registered from the photocurrent at a gold mesh inserted after the refocussing mirror.

Intriguingly, not only does the intensity of the resonant spectra increase in this RIXS process, but also the shoulder at the VB bottom scales up and becomes a distinct narrow peak at a binding energy of $``$7.4 eV. Such a behavior reveals states near the VB bottom which effectively overlap with states near the CB bottom into which the core electron is excited.

Despite the random alloy nature of Ga(In)AsN, the observed effect can be interpreted in terms of momentum conservation which appears in the RIXS process due to coupling of absorption and emission in one single event (see, e.g., Refs. and references therein). At first glance, this should not occur in a random alloy, because the very concept of momentum, strictly speaking, collapses due to the lack of translational invariance. However, the description in terms of wavevectors k can be revived using a spectral decomposition

$`\psi ^N(𝐫)={\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}C_𝐤\varphi _𝐤^{GaAs}(𝐫)`$

of the N-localized wavefunction $`\psi ^N(𝐫)`$ over the Bloch waves $`\varphi _𝐤^{GaAs}(𝐫)`$ of the unperturbed GaAs lattice, each having a well-defined k. Then the first SXA peak is due to the $`t_2(L_{1c})`$ state, whose decomposition is dominated by k from the $`L`$-point in the Brillouin zone of GaAs. The VB bottom, by analogy with the zinc-blende GaN band structure, should be dominated by the same $`L`$-point. The RIXS process will then couple these points in the CB and VB, blowing up the SXE signal in the VB bottom as observed in the experiment. Our resonant data demonstrate thus, to our knowledge for the first time, a possibility for the k-conserving RIXS phenomenon in random alloys.

## IV Conclusion

Local electronic structure of N atoms in Ga(In)AsN diluted semiconductor alloys (N concentrations about 3%) has been determined using SXE/SXA spectroscopies with their elemental specificity. The experimental N 1$`s`$ off-resonance SXE spectra and SXA spectra yield the local $`p`$-DOS of N impurities through the whole VB and CB, complementing information about the band gap region achieved by optical spectroscopies. The experimental results demonstrate dramatic differences of the N local electronic structure in Ga(In)AsN from that in the crystalline GaN state. A few peculiarities have immediate implications for optical properties: (1) The N impurities are characterized by depletion of the the local charge in the VBM due to charge transfer towards deeper valence states, which reduces overlap with the CBM states. This is one of the fundamental origins of the reduced optical efficiency of Ga(In)AsN. Formation of different N local environments can improve the efficiency; (2) Whereas incorporation of In in small concentrations has an insignificant effect on the N local electronic structure, large In concentrations result in formation of In-rich N local environments whose electronic structure evolves towards improved optical efficiency. Furthermore, the experimental resonant SXE spectra reveal, despite the random alloy nature of Ga(In)AsN, a k-conserving RIXS process which couples valence and conduction states having the same $`L`$-character.

## V Acknowledgements

We are grateful to A. Zunger and C. Persson for valuable comments and communicating their computational results before publication. We thank S. Butorin for his advise on SXE data processing, J. Guo for help with preliminary experiments, and G. Cirlin for valuable discussions. The work in the Ioffe institute is supported by the NATO Science for Peace Program (SfP-972484) and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 02-02-17677).


text:
# Newtonian Collapse of Scalar Field Dark Matter

## Abstract

In this letter, we develop a Newtonian approach to the collapse of galaxy fluctuations of scalar field dark matter under initial conditions inferred from simple assumptions. The full relativistic system, the so called Einstein-Klein-Gordon, is reduced to the Schrödinger-Newton one in the weak field limit. The scaling symmetries of the SN equations are exploited to track the non-linear collapse of single scalar matter fluctuations. The results can be applied to both real and complex scalar fields.

preprint: astro-ph/xxxx

The most recent cosmological observations max  support the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) as the standard model of cosmological structure formation. So far, the CDM model agrees reasonably well with many observations at large and galactic scales primack ; prada , though its predictions at subgalactic scales are still a matter of intense debate dekel . However, the nature of CDM remains one of the most intriguing problems in modern cosmology. It is amazing that CDM can be so predictive and survive the confrontation with cosmological data just by assuming general features of dark matter such like, for instance, that it is made of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS). On the other hand, with CDM becoming a reliable paradigm of structure formation and its nature still uncertain, it is possible to test models of dark matter as alternatives to the WIMP hypothesis; models in which the physical processes can be much more under control.

One of such alternative models is the scalar field dark matter (SFDM), in which dark matter should be comprised of ultra-light scalar field particles lee ; sin ; arbey ; peebles ; miguel ; fuzzy ; mielke . On the one hand, the cosmological evolution of SFDM and its linear fluctuations can match those of CDM. On the other hand, self-gravitating scalar configurations can reproduce some general properties of galaxy halos as observed today. Going further, it is possible to study the non-linear evolution of SFDM fluctuations to form gravitationally bound objects, as it was first shown in miguel . This is done by numerically evolving the coupled Einstein-Klein-Gordon (EKG) equations for scalar field configurations miguel ; seidel90 ; seidel91 ; miguel1 .

In this letter, our main aim is to study the collapse of scalar field dark matter under realistic conditions. In this sense, we will try to complete the picture of structure formation with scalar field dark matter, from the growing of primordial fluctuations up to its non-linear collapse. Also, our intention is to draw a guideline as simple as possible, for which we will only take into account the simplest assumptions; a more detailed picture will be presented elsewhere.

First of all, we consider that SFDM is comprised of a minimally coupled real scalar field $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ endowed with a scalar field potential $`V(\mathrm{\Phi })`$, which accounts for the self-interactions of the scalar field. Even though the general form of the scalar potential can be complicated, we are interested only in those potentials that behave as $`V(\mathrm{\Phi })=(m^2/2)\mathrm{\Phi }^2`$ at late times lee ; sin ; arbey ; peebles ; miguel . Such a quadratic scalar potential is preferred because, in a homogeneous and isotropic Universe, the scalar field oscillates coherently around the minimum of the potential and then the scalar energy density $`\rho _\mathrm{\Phi }m^2\mathrm{\Phi }^2`$ scales much the same as CDM. Moreover, the scalar field fluctuations in the linear regime also grow in the same manner as CDM fluctuations. Most of the works suggest that a realistic model of structure formation should consider a very light mass for the boson particles lee ; sin ; arbey ; peebles ; miguel ; fuzzy . We will use here the value $`m=10^{23}\mathrm{eV}=(2.09\mathrm{yr})^1=(0.64\mathrm{pc})^1`$ (we are taking units such that $`c=\mathrm{}=1`$; also $`G=m_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2`$ with $`m_{\mathrm{Pl}}`$ is the Planck mass), which is also a natural scale for time and distance within SFDM.

Due to the similarities of scalar field dark matter with the CDM model, it is reasonable to take as a guideline for the non-linear regime of structure formation the standard spherical collapse model liddle . According to this, a spherical overdense fluctuation slowly separates out from the cosmological expansion, reaches a maximum expansion and then collapses under the influence of its own gravity only. The important instant here is that of maximum expansion, which is called the time of turnaround.

Before turnaround, we do not expect violent processes occurring to the matter fluctuation, and that is why we consider the spherical collapse model as a good approximation for scalar fields. However, we indeed expect the gravitational collapse of the matter fluctuation to be determined by the intrinsic nature of the scalar fields. Hence, the conditions at turnaround will be our initial conditions for the gravitational collapse of scalar field dark matter.

According to the spherical collapse model, the non-linear density contrast at turnaround is $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{turn}}[\delta \rho _\mathrm{\Phi }/\rho _\mathrm{\Phi }]^{(\mathrm{turn})}=4.55`$. As we said before, the homogeneous scalar energy density evolves as the standard cold dark matter does, and then the local value of the scalar energy density at turnaround is approximately given by

$$8\pi G\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{turn}}^213.55\mathrm{\Omega }_{0,\mathrm{CDM}}\left(1+z_{\mathrm{turn}}\right)^3H_0^2/m^2,$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{0,\mathrm{CDM}}0.25`$, $`H_0=70\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$ is the current value of the Hubble parameter, and $`z_{\mathrm{turn}}\mathrm{few}`$ is the redshift at turnaround. Thus, the local value of the scalar field at turnaround is quite small, of the order $`\sqrt{\kappa _0}\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{turn}}^{(\mathrm{local})}5.06\times 10^{10}`$.

With this in mind, we proceed now to describe the gravitational collapse of a fluctuation. As it has been shown in miguel ; seidel90 ; seidel91 ; miguel1 , the problem is well defined within General Relativity, of which we give here a brief description. Assuming spherical symmetry, the metric is written in the form

$$ds^2=\alpha ^2dt^2+a^2dr^2+r^2\left(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2\right),$$
(2)
where $`\alpha (t,r),a(t,r)`$ are functions determined by the matter distribution through the coupled Einstein-Klein-Gordon (EKG) equations,

$`G_{\mu \nu }=8\pi GT_{\mu \nu }(\mathrm{\Phi }),`$ $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Phi }=m^2\mathrm{\Phi }.`$ (3)
Here, $`G_{\mu \nu }`$ is the Einstein tensor corresponding to the metric (2), and $`T_{\mu \nu }(\mathrm{\Phi })`$ is the scalar energy-momentum tensor. The KG equation arises from the Bianchi identities, and $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Phi }=\frac{1}{\sqrt{g}}_\mu [\sqrt{g}g^{\mu \nu }_\nu \mathrm{\Phi }]`$.

In principle, we should just numerically evolve Eqs. (3), but as we have to deal with weak gravity we find more appropriate to evolve the weak field limit of such system of equations, which by the way provides important technical simplifications that let us to have more physical insight. In our case, that limit arises when $`\alpha ^21,a^21,\sqrt{8\pi G}\mathrm{\Phi }<10^3`$ seidel90 ; luis .

As it was shown in seidel90 , such limit is found for complex scalar fields through a standard post-Newtonian treatment, and we now show how a similar procedure can also be applied to real scalar fields. We begin by writing such real scalar field and the metric coefficients in terms of the Newtonian fields $`\psi ,U,U_2,A,A_2`$ as

$`\sqrt{8\pi G}\mathrm{\Phi }`$ $`=`$ $`e^{i\tau }\psi (\tau ,x)+\mathrm{C}.\mathrm{C}.,`$ (4)
$`\alpha ^2`$ $`=`$ $`1+2U(\tau ,x)+e^{2i\tau }U_2(\tau ,x)+\mathrm{C}.\mathrm{C}.,`$ (5)
$`a^2`$ $`=`$ $`1+2A(\tau ,x)+e^{2i\tau }A_2(\tau ,x)+\mathrm{C}.\mathrm{C}.,`$ (6)
where we have also introduced the dimensionless quantities $`\tau =mt,x=mr`$. Notice that only $`U,A`$ are real fields. Next, we assume that all the new fields are of order $`𝒪(ϵ^2)1`$, and that their derivatives obey the standard post-Newtonian rules $`_\tau ϵ_x𝒪(ϵ^4)`$. Therefore, considering the leading order terms only, the EKG equations now read

$`i_\tau \psi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2x}}_x^2(x\psi )+U\psi ,`$ (7)
$`_x^2(xU)`$ $`=`$ $`x\psi \psi ^{},`$ (8)
$`_xU_2`$ $`=`$ $`x\psi ^2.`$ (9)
In addition, $`A(\tau ,x)=x_xU`$ and $`A_2𝒪(ϵ^4)`$, that is, the metric coefficient $`g_{rr}`$ can be taken plainly as time-independent.

That the complete system (7), (8) and (9) is really the weak-field manifestation of Eqs. (3) is easily verified since the former admits stationary solutions for $`\psi =e^{i\omega \tau }\varphi (x)`$. Under appropriate boundary conditions, such solutions are in turn the so-called Newtonian oscillatons luis . Indeed, Eq. (9) only arises for real scalar fields and represents the particular oscillatory behavior of the metric for oscillatonsseidel91 ; miguel1 ; luis .

It should be stressed here that the whole dynamics of the EKG system is contained in Eqs. (7) and (8), which are the so-called Schrödinger–Newton (SN) equations lee ; pang ; arbey ; seidel90 ; luis ; which also stands for the post-Newtonian expansion with complex scalar fieldsseidel90 .

Before proceeding further, we need to determine the initial scalar field profile. As we said before, prior to turnaround, the scalar profile is not determined by its own gravity only. In other words, the gravitational potential $`U(\tau _{\mathrm{turn}},x)`$ is not determined by Eq. (8)fuzzy . But, $`\psi `$ should still obey the Schrödinger equation (7), i.e., the initial condition should be in accord with the scalar nature of the matter fluctuation.

Thus, the initial condition problem can be solved by finding the initial gravitational potential $`U(0,r)=U(t_{\mathrm{turn}},r)`$. The simplest assumption we can make is to approximate the gravitational potential by a spherical square well of the form seidel90

$`U(0,r<R_0)=U_0,`$ $`U(0,r>R_0)=0,`$ (10)
where $`U_0=GM_0/R_0`$ is the depth of the gravitational well and $`R_0`$ is taken as the radius containing the total initial mass $`M_0`$. Next, we look for stationary solutions of Eq. (7) in the form $`\psi =e^{i\omega t}\varphi (r)`$, which is a common textbook problem on Quantum Mechanicsquantum . The initial scalar profile is then of the form (in dimensionless coordinates)

$`\psi _i(0,x<x_0)`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _0{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}(x/\sigma )}{(x/\sigma )}},`$ (11)
$`\psi _i(0,x>x_0)`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _1{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{exp}\left[\sqrt{2|U_0|\sigma ^21}(x/\sigma )\right]}{x}}.`$
The eigenvalues of $`\sigma `$ are found by imposing the continuity of the radial function $`\varphi (r)`$ and its first derivative at the discontinuity of the potential, and then are given by the solutions to the equation $`\mathrm{cot}(x_0/\sigma )=\sqrt{2|U_0|\sigma ^21}`$, with $`x_0=mR_0`$. Hence, $`\sigma `$ can be estimated from the argument of the cotangent function as $`(x_0/\sigma )(n+1)\pi <\sqrt{2|U_0|}x_0`$, where $`n=0,1,2,..`$ labels the number of nodes of the initial profile. $`\psi _1`$ is evaluated from the continuity condition of the radial function at $`x=x_0`$. Finally, the initial mass according to (11) is

$$M_0=4\pi m^2_0^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Phi }^2r^2𝑑r\frac{1}{2}\frac{m_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2}{m}x_0\sigma ^2\psi _0^2,$$
(12)
which becomes an equation that helps to determine $`\psi _0`$ for fixed $`n,R_0,M_0`$; a procedure rather convenient since the latter are the physical (input) parameters of the system.

We mention here an additional major simplification we can make use of for the SN equations, but not for the EKG ones. It is easily seen that Eqs. (7), (8) and (9) are invariant under the scaling transformation

$$\{\tau ,x,U,U_2,\psi \}\{\lambda ^2\widehat{\tau },\lambda ^1\widehat{x},\lambda ^2\widehat{U},\lambda ^2\widehat{U}_2,\lambda ^2\widehat{\psi }\}$$
(13)
where $`\lambda `$ is an arbitrary parameter. A similar scaling property was noticed before for the stationary solutions of the SN equations, from which one realizes that all stationary solutions (for a fixed number of nodes of the field $`\psi `$) are related to each other by a scaling transformation pang ; luis .

By means of (13) and an appropriate $`\lambda `$, the collapse of our fluctuation can be reduced to the study of a conveniently sized configuration concerning hat-quantities only. Once the hat-configuration has been evolved, we apply the inverse transformation to recover the physical (no-hat) quantities.

We focus now on the numerical solution to the SN equations. Once the initial profile $`\psi _i(0,x)`$ is given, the Poisson equation (8) is integrated with a second order accurate upwind method inwards under the boundary condition $`U(\tau ,x_f)=GM(\tau ,x_f)/x_f`$ (being $`x_f`$ the last point of our spherical grid), which is valid at each time slice according to the Newton theorems regarding spherical objects. The next scalar configuration is determined by solving the Schrödinger equation (7) using a second order finite differences fully implicit Cranck-Nicholson method nr . The procedure is then repeated forward in time.

To measure the accuracy of our solutions, we use the $`\{t,r\}`$ component of the Einstein’s equations, which rephrases the conservation of probability for the Newtonian field $`\psi `$,

$$\beta :=_t(\psi \psi ^{})\frac{i}{2x}\left[\psi ^{}_x^2(x\psi )\psi _x^2(x\psi ^{})\right],$$
(14)
where $`\beta `$ is zero for an exact solution. The accuracy depends on the time step $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau `$ and the grid resolution $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$, which should be chosen appropriately to assure that $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\psi |/|\psi |1`$ in a time step. Thus, we should comply with both $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau /(\mathrm{\Delta }x)^21`$ and $`[\mathrm{\Delta }\tau /(\mathrm{\Delta }x)^2]|1+U(\mathrm{\Delta }x)^2|<1`$. The former is the condition applied to a free wave function, and the latter takes into account the presence of a potential in Eq. (7).

In Fig. 1 we show the runs of an initial $`5`$ $`(14)`$-node scalar fluctuation for a single scalar halo, whose initial physical parameters are $`M_0=10^{11}(1.7\times 10^{14})M_{}`$ and $`R_0=70\mathrm{kpc}(7.3\mathrm{Mpc})`$. The corresponding scale parameter is $`\lambda ^2=6.38(0.6)\times 10^6`$, and then $`\widehat{\sigma }=14.6(190)`$. The grid spacing is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{x}=0.25(4.0)`$ with the boundary at $`\widehat{x}_f=1250(4\times 10^4)`$. The time step is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\tau }=3(0.125)\times 10^2`$, and the runs were followed up to a physical time of $`T_0=30\mathrm{Gyr}`$. In all cases, $`\beta _2<10^7`$.

We see in Fig. 1 that the initial rotation curve profile of both evolved configurations is almost flat, but such flatness is lost at late times during the collapse. The smallest configuration, which is supposed to have started collapsing earlier within the cosmological picture, rapidly virializes and forms a giant Newtonian boson star, though not as large as a realistic (dwarf) galaxy. According to Eq. (13), the same fate is expected for the largest configuration, which roughly corresponds to a cluster of galaxies fluctuation, but within a time scale much larger than the actual age of the universe.

Some final comments are in turn. The first one is about the initial profile (11). It is well known that the self-gravitating equilibrium configuration of the SN equations (the so-called Newtonian boson starspang  and Newtonian oscillatons luis ) are reached by the system after the scalar field has had enough time to modify the gravitational potential. We assume that such condition is not achieved before turnaround because there are other factors involved in determining the scalar profile. Therefore, one does not expect the initial profile to be a Newtonian oscillaton, but the latter will rather be the final configuration of the evolutions shown here. Indeed, Fig. 1 confirms the expectations and shows how, in some cases, a scalar field fluctuation can virialize and form a Newtonian oscillaton. Second, we have seen that a model of structure formation within the scalar field hypothesis could imply an initial configuration with nodes. The latter can be naturally expected since the Compton length of the scalar particles is, typically, much smaller than the size of the initial configuration, $`\lambda _C=m^1R_0`$. Then, the wave function can be confined and wrinkled by the gravitational well potential (which remains fixed in time, see liddle ; coles ; bagla ) before the non-linear collapse of the fluctuation.

On the other hand, the scale invariance of the SN equations (13) suggests that all galaxies should look similar; in particular, some of them could be related just through a scaling transformation. This argument can be extended to larger and more massive fluctuations, and then it predicts that the latter should have similar properties as galaxies.

The SN equations were derived under the assumption of spherical symmetry, but we really expect the EKG equations to have a tractable non-spherical weak-limit too. This would suggest that the full SN equations without symmetries should be used to explore the realization of a realistic non-spherical collapse and to track the collapse of many scalar fluctuations. Also, the arguments about the initial configurations which lead us to (11) can be extended to the cases of non-zero angular momentum (see for instance widrow ; coles ).

Another advantage of the SN system is that the scalar field galaxy halo can be, in an easy manner, gravitationally coupled to baryons; the latter would only enter on the r.h.s. of the Poisson equation (8) arbey . Results on this issue and others, like more realistic initial conditions and the study of rotation curves profiles, will be reported elsewhere.

Finally, all the results shown here are also valid for complex scalar fields, since the dynamics of both type of scalar fields is determined by the SN system only, though real scalar fields would be preferred from the cosmological point of view peebles ; arbey .

Summarizing, we have shown how to track the non-linear collapse of a matter fluctuation made of real scalar fields using the Schrödinger-Newton system, and the kind of properties it should have before and after separating from the cosmological expansion.

###### Acknowledgements.

We want to thank Miguel Alcubierre, Ricardo Becerril, Andrew Liddle, Tonatiuh Matos, Darío Núñez and Ed Seidel for a lot of important insight, Erasmo Gómez and Aurelio Espíritu for technical support. The runs were carried out on machines of the Laboratorio de Supercómputo Astrofísico at CINVESTAV. This research was partly supported by CONACyT, México under grant 010385 (L.A.U.-L.), and by a bilateral project DFG-CONACyT 444 MEX-13/17/0-1.