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# Sato-Crutchfield formulation for some Evolutionary Games

## 1 Introduction

Evolutionary game theory  is one of the important topics in Mathematics. Also it has many applications in Biology, Sociology and Economics. Generally a game consists of a group of players (of which two players at each game) are interacting with each other obtaining payoffs. Every player is allowed to choose some strategies, according to some rules. There are many different types of games. Each of them has its own rules, strategies, properties and applications.

Evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS)  is an important concept in population dynamics. Consider a population in which each individual adopts one of $`k`$ possible strategies ($`I^j,j=1,2,\mathrm{},k`$). A strategy $`I^{}`$ is ESS if for all $`I^jI^{}`$ (yet close to it), then

1. $`A(I^{},I^{})>A(I^j,I^{})`$; or
2. If $`A(I^{},I^{})=A(I^j,I^{})`$, then $`A(I^{},I^j)>A(I^j,I^j)`$,

where $`A`$ is the $`k\times k`$ payoff matrix.

Recently, Sato and Crutchfield  have introduced a new formulation that is corresponding to mistakes or losing memory.

Our aim is to study Sato-Crutchfield formulation both analytically and numerically. Stability and persistence of the solutions are studied. The persistence of a dynamical system  is defined as follows:
Definition 1: A dynamical system is persistent if all cases where all $`u_i(0)>0`$ lead to

$$\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}infu_i(t)>0i=1,2,\mathrm{},n.$$
(1)
Also, we study the Sato-Crutchfield formulation for some different types of two-player games including hawk-dove (HD), prisoner’s dilemma (PD) and the battle of the sexes games . The Sato-Crutchfield formulation is shown not to affect the ESS of the ordinary games. But in some limit, choosing a strategy becomes random independent of the rules of the game and the initial conditions.

The paper is organized as follow: In section 2, the Sato-Crutchfield formulation is explained. Both analytical and numerical results are added. The Sato-Crutchfield equations is applied to HD game in section 3. Also the effect on ESS is studied. Section 4 is devoted for studying the Sato-Crutchfield for PD game and some of its modifications. In section 5, the Sato-Crutchfield equations are introduced to the battle of the sexes. Some conclusions are summarized in section 6.

## 2 Sato-Crutchfield formulation

Recently Sato and Crutchfield  have studied the dynamics of learning in multiagent systems, where the agents use reinforcement learning. They showed that, although the agents are not directly interacting with each other, a collective game arises between them through their interaction with environment. Such interactions can be modelled via replicator type equations.

Consider two agents $`u`$ and $`v`$ with $`n`$ possible actions, let $`u_j(t)(v_j(t))`$ be a measure of the probability that the agent $`u(v)`$ will take action $`j`$ at time $`t`$. Sato and Crutchfield have shown that $`u_j(t),v_j(t)`$ satisfy the following equations

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{\mathrm{d}u_i}{\mathrm{d}t}=u_i\beta _1\left[(Av)_iuAv\right]+\alpha _1u_i_ju_j\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{u_j}{u_i}\right),\hfill \\ \frac{\mathrm{d}v_i}{\mathrm{d}t}=v_i\beta _2\left[(Bu)_ivBu\right]+\alpha _2v_i_jv_j\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{v_j}{v_i}\right),\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
where $`A`$ and $`B`$ are payoff (reward) matrices for $`u`$ and $`v`$, respectively, and $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\beta _1,\beta _2`$ are nonnegative constants. If $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=0`$, then one regains the standard asymmetric replicator equations .

We will comment on the case $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=\alpha >0`$. For simplicity only the symmetric case will be considered $`(A=B=\mathrm{diag}(a_1,a_2),u_1=v_1,u_2=v_2)`$. Rescaling time to set $`\beta _1=1`$, the system becomes

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{\mathrm{d}u_1}{\mathrm{d}t}=u_1\left(a_1u_1a_1u_1^2a_2u_2^2\right)+\alpha u_1u_2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{u_2}{u_1}\right),\hfill \\ \frac{\mathrm{d}u_2}{\mathrm{d}t}=u_2\left(a_2u_2a_1u_1^2a_2u_2^2\right)+\alpha u_2u_1\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{u_1}{u_2}\right).\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
Restricting to the region $`u_i0,i=1,2`$, then
Corollary 1: Bounded solutions of the system (3) are persistent.
This means that even bad strategies will be adopted by some agents. To study this analytically assume $`a_2>a_1>0`$. In the case that $`\alpha =0`$, it is known that the best strategy is $`u_2=1,u_1=0`$ so for small $`\alpha `$, we find

$$u_1=\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{a_2}{\alpha }\right),u_2=1u_1.$$
(4)
The solution (4) is asymptotically stable if

$$\alpha >\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{a_2}{\alpha }\right)\left(2a_1+4a_2\right).$$
(5)
The persistence of all strategies can be understood intuitively by realizing that $`\alpha >0`$ means memory decay . This implies that some individuals may not know which is the best strategy hence they choose the bad strategy. Furthermore as $`\alpha `$ increases, $`u_1,u_2`$ become close to each other, since more agents lose their memory. This agrees with the numerical simulations shown in Fig. (1). Both $`u_1`$ and $`u_2`$ go to $`0.5`$ for large $`\alpha `$. At this point agents chose their strategies randomly without any regard to previous experiences.

## 3 Sato-Crutchfield formulation for hawk-dove game

The hawk-dove game  is a two-player game, where each player is allowed to use the hawk strategy (H) or the dove strategy (D). It has many biological and economic applications. The payoff matrix is given as follows

$$A=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{2}\left(gc\right)& g\\ 0& \frac{g}{2}\end{array}\right],$$
(6)
where $`g`$ is the value of gain and $`c`$ is the cost of fight. The max-min solution of von Neumann et al.  is to follow the D strategy for $`0<g<c`$. If $`0<cg`$, then the max-min solution is to follow the H policy. But this solution is not evolutionary stable, since a mutant adopting H strategy will gain much, this will encourage others to adopt the H policy. This will continue till the fraction of adopting the H policy ($`u_1`$) becomes large enough to make the payoffs of both strategies equal, thus

$$u_1=\frac{g}{c}.$$
(7)
Applying the Sato-Crutchfield equations to HD game, the replicator equation becomes

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}u_1}{\mathrm{d}t}=\frac{u_1}{2}\left[(gc)u_1u_2+gu_2^2\right]+\alpha u_1u_2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{u_2}{u_1}\right),$$
(8)
where $`u_2=1u_1`$ is the D density. This case is numerically investigated for various values for $`g`$ and $`c`$, see Fig. (2) for $`g=1`$ and $`c=4`$. The system is updated for $`10^5`$ time steps. The behavior of $`u_1`$ is studied versus $`\alpha `$. As shown in Fig. (2), at $`\alpha =0`$, $`u_1=1/4`$ in agreement with its ordinary value Eq. (7). As $`\alpha `$ increases, $`u_1`$ increases rapidly and becomes close to $`0.5`$. Therefore, for large $`\alpha `$, agents choose their strategies (H or D) randomly with equal probabilities. This behavior is independent on the initial conditions.

Sato-Crutchfield formulation does not affect the ESS. For example, consider the hawk(H)-dove(D)-retaliate(R) game, where the payoff matrix is given by

$$A=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{1}{2}(gc)& g& \frac{1}{2}(gc)\\ 0& \frac{g}{2}& \frac{g}{2}\\ \frac{1}{2}(gc)& \frac{g}{2}& \frac{g}{2}\end{array}\right],c>v>0.$$
(9)
Let $`u_1(u_2)`$ be the fraction of population adopting H (D) strategy, and $`u_3=1u_1u_2`$ is the R-density. Then Sato-Crutchfield equations for the HDR game become

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}u_1}{\mathrm{d}t}}`$ $`=`$ $`u_1\left[{\displaystyle \frac{c}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{u_1}{2\left(c\frac{g}{2}\right)}}+{\displaystyle \frac{u_2(g+c)}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{u_1^2c}{2}}cu_1u_2\right]`$ (10)
$`+\alpha u_1\left[u_2\mathrm{ln}({\displaystyle \frac{u_2}{u_1}})+u_3\mathrm{ln}({\displaystyle \frac{u_3}{u_1}})\right],`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}u_2}{\mathrm{d}t}}`$ $`=`$ $`u_2\left[u_1\left(c{\displaystyle \frac{g}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{u_1^2c}{2}}cu_1u_2+\alpha \left[u_1\mathrm{ln}({\displaystyle \frac{u_1}{u_2}})+u_3\mathrm{ln}({\displaystyle \frac{u_3}{u_2}})\right]\right].`$
It is known that for $`\alpha =0`$, the ESS is R. This means the solution $`u_1=u_2=0`$ is asymptotically stable. Also, for $`\alpha >0`$, the ESS is R, and the solution $`(u_1=u_2=0,u_3=1)`$ is asymptotically stable. Beginning from nonzero values for $`u_1,u_2`$ and $`u_3`$, and for $`\alpha >0`$, the system always evolves to a state at which $`u_1=u_2=u_3=1/3`$. At this point, selecting a strategy becomes random with equal probabilities. But beginning from a zero value for the density of a strategy, it will not grow through the population.

## 4 Losing memory and the prisoner’s dilemma game

The existence of cooperation in a group of selfish individuals is an interesting problem in mathematics and social sciences. One of the models of this phenomenon is the Prisoner’s dilemma (PD) game . In this case the available strategies are to cooperate (C) or to defect (D). The payoff matrix $`A`$ is $`[(R,S),(T,P)]`$, where $`T>R>P>S`$ and $`2R>T+S`$. For simplicity we take $`A=`$ $`[(2,0),(3,1)]`$.

The standard solution gives the unrealistic conclusion that players should not cooperate. However cooperation has been shown to be a solution if the game is modified into iterated PD, or PD on the lattice, or memory PD . Recently another modification is given , where a third strategy is introduced so the allowed strategies are C, D and loner (L). In this case, the payoff matrix is given as

$$A=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}0\hfill & b\hfill & \sigma \hfill \\ 0\hfill & 1\hfill & \sigma \hfill \\ \sigma \hfill & \sigma \hfill & \sigma \hfill \end{array}\right]$$
(11)
where $`2>b>1`$ and $`1>\sigma >0`$. We call this game PDL game.

The Sato-Crutchfield equations for the PD game are

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}u_1}{\mathrm{d}t}=u_1\left(2u_12u_1^2u_2^23u_1u_2\right)+\alpha u_1u_2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{u_2}{u_1}\right),$$
(12)
where $`u_1`$ is the defectors density and $`u_2=1u_1`$ is the cooperators density. It is known that for $`\alpha =0`$, the asymptotically stable strategy is (D) i.e. $`u_1=0,u_2=1`$. This has caused the following question to arise: How can cooperation exist in a population of defectors (selfish population)? Sato-Crutchfield equations propose a new answer. Cooperation may arise due to memory loss which is equivalent to mistakes. But starting from a small number of cooperators in a defectors population what is the asymptotic ratio of cooperators? For very small positive $`\alpha `$ e.g. $`O(0.01)`$ it is straightforward to see that the equilibrium solution is $`u_1=\mathrm{exp}(1/\alpha ),u_2=1u_1`$. This solution is asymptotically stable for very small $`\alpha `$. But as $`\alpha `$ increases the solution approaches $`u_1=u_2=0.5`$(as we have argued before). Thus in Sato-Crutchfield equations a small number of cooperators in a population of defectors will increase to reach $`50\%`$ of the population for $`\alpha `$ not too large, as shown in Fig. (3). This is not the case for $`\alpha =0`$ where it is known that cooperation will eventually tend to zero. This shows the significant change between Sato-Crutchfield system and the corresponding replicator one.

Applying Sato-Crutchfield equations to the PDL game, one gets

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{1}{u_1}\frac{\mathrm{d}u_1}{\mathrm{d}t}=u_2(1u_1)\sigma (1u_1u_2)(u_1+u_2)u_2^2\\ +\alpha \left[u_2\mathrm{ln}(\frac{u_2}{u_1})+u_3\mathrm{ln}(\frac{u_3}{u_1})\right],\\ \frac{1}{u_2}\frac{\mathrm{d}u_2}{\mathrm{d}t}=u_2(1u_2)\sigma (1u_1u_2)(u_1+u_2)bu_1u_2\\ +\alpha \left[u_1\mathrm{ln}(\frac{u_1}{u_2})+u_3\mathrm{ln}(\frac{u_3}{u_2})\right],\end{array}$$
(13)
where $`u_1`$ is the fraction of cooperators, $`u_2`$ is the fraction of defectors and $`u_3=1u_1u_2`$ is the fraction of loners. For $`\alpha =0`$, it is direct to see that $`u_1=u_2=0`$ is a neutral equilibrium for the system (13). For $`\alpha >0`$, all strategies coexist. Solving the system (13) numerically for $`\alpha =0.1`$, we get the fixed point $`(0.266,0.155,0.579)`$. This confirms our conclusion that Sato-Crutchfield equations is an interesting approach to introduce cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma type games. As $`\alpha `$ increases, the choice between the three strategies becomes random with equal probabilities. Therefore $`u_1`$, $`u_2`$ and $`u_3`$ tend to $`1/3`$.

## 5 Sato-Crutchfield equations for the battle of the sexes

Recently, the war between the sexes was emphasizes as being important . The battle of the sexes  is an asymmetric game that simulates the conflict between males and females concerning their respective shares in their parental investment. The female has two strategies coy or willing (fast) while the male can be either faithful or philanderer. The male (female) payoff matrix $`A(B)`$ is gives as

$$A=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 10\\ 2& 0\end{array}\right],B=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 5\\ 3& 0\end{array}\right].$$

Here we are applying the Sato-Crutchfield formulation to the battle of the sexes. The Sato-Crutchfield equations for the battle of the sexes are

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{u}{t}=u(1u)(10+12v)+\alpha _1u(1u)\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1u}{u}\right),\\ \frac{v}{t}=v(1v)(58u)+\alpha _2v(1v)\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1v}{v}\right).\end{array}$$
(14)
There is a unique internal homogeneous equilibrium solution $`E=(5/8,5/6)`$ which is stable; but not asymptotically stable. Therefore in the case $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=0`$, one gets oscillations. For the case $`\alpha _1>0,\alpha _2>0`$, we get
Proposition (1): The equilibrium solution of the system (14) is $`u=5/8(\alpha _2/8)\mathrm{ln}5`$$`v=5/6+(\alpha _1/12)\mathrm{ln}(5/3)`$, and it is asymptotically stable $`\alpha _1>0,\alpha _2>0`$.
This shows that in this case there is a significant change between Sato-Crutchfield system and the corresponding replicator one.

## 6 Conclusions

Although the Sato-Crutchfield formulation does not affect the ESS for a game, there is a significant change between Sato-Crutchfield formulation and the other formulations of games. Sato-Crutchfield formulation is corresponding to losing memory. In some limit, choosing a strategy becomes purely random independent on the previous experiences, initial conditions, and the rules of the game itself. This behavior is observed in all the studied systems. Sato-Crutchfield formulation can be considered as a theoretical explanation for some aspects in game theory, like the existence of cooperation in a population of defectors.

## Acknowledgments

We thank D. Stauffer for his helpful comments.


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# Resonant nonstationary amplification of polychromatic laser pulses and conical emission in an optically dense ensemble of neon metastable atoms

## I Introduction

We present a systematical experimental study of resonant interaction between broadband pulsed-laser radiation and an optically dense extended two-level medium. In our experiments, the pump-probe configuration was used and probe beam amplification and/or attenuation were studied in detail. Single pump beam propagation was investigated as well, and some off-axis radiation, which is usually referred to as conical emission, was observed. A theoretical model is based on the solution of the semiclassical Maxwell-Bloch equations taking into account propagation effects of the electromagnetic field.

Investigation of resonant interactions in optically dense media is of particular interest. In the case where the density of resonant particles is high enough that a sufficient part of the external field can be coherently absorbed and reemitted by the medium, a strongly coupled system of photons and medium excitations, polaritons, is effectively created, and collective phenomena play a key role in the interaction processes Zheleznyakov et al. (1989). Some specific amplitude and phase (dispersive) characteristics that arise under this regime lead to the appearance of coherent phenomena, which significantly affect and enlarge the interaction picture. Particularly, many-atom vacuum Rabi oscillations Kaluzny et al. (1983); Zhu et al. (1990) and optical ringing Prasad and Glauber (2000) reflect the coherent beating of two normal modes of the coupled field-matter systems, which can be described as a splitting of polariton dispersion curve into two branches. Such nonlinear effects as polariton parametric amplification in semiconductor microcavities Huynh et al. (2002); Messin et al. (2001); Savvidis et al. (2000) and a phenomenon of spectrum condensation in atomic and molecular media Meyer (1979); Vasil’ev et al. (1994) were observed in intracavity experiments under the large vacuum Rabi splitting.

The pump-probe experiments with gaseous resonantly absorbing media have been reported in numerous publications. When the pump beam carrier frequency $`\omega _{\mathrm{pump}}`$ is fixed and the probe beam frequency $`\omega _{\mathrm{probe}}`$ is scanned near the frequency of an atomic transition $`\omega _0`$, the probe-beam transmission has a form of the well-known Mollow-Boyd spectrum Rautian and Sobel’man (1961); Mollow (1972); Boyd et al. (1981). Its spectral features are determined by a value of the generalized Rabi frequency of the strong field applied. Although the theory Rautian and Sobel’man (1961); Mollow (1972); Boyd et al. (1981) is developed for the steady-state regime, it describes the pulsed-laser experiments Harter et al. (1981); Chalupczak et al. (1994) as well as experiments with cw lasers Wu et al. (1977). Recently, the steady-state theory was generalized for nonstationary processes using numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch equations Weisman et al. (2000). In all of these experiments, the generalized Rabi frequency of the pump beam is much greater than the spectral widths of the atomic transition, $`\gamma _2`$, and both laser pulses $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{probe}}`$. Besides that, a medium coherently absorbs and reemits a small portion of the laser pulse energy, hence the field of the medium response can be neglected with respect to the strong external field. In this case, the theory of light-matter interaction is reduced to the consideration of a single atom driven by the strong electromagnetic field.

Conical emission (CE) in gaseous atomic media was discovered by Grischkowsky in 1970 Grischkowsky (1970) and investigated in detail by many researchers. A comprehensive review can be found in Ref. Paul et al. (2002). CE is usually observed when intense laser radiation (cw or pulsed), detuned to the blue side from an atomic resonance, propagates in a dense resonant medium. The spectrum of CE is usually much broader than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$ and shifted to the red side of an absorption line. Despite all efforts, only CE under cw pumping has received a complete theoretical explanation Valley et al. (1990). Moreover, several different types of CE were observed in some experiments Meyer (1980); Hart et al. (1994), suggesting that several possible mechanisms of CE generation exist. Influence of collective effects on the conical emission was discussed in Refs. Chalupczak et al. (1994); Ben-Aryeh (1997).

In cw experiments, spectral width of the laser radiation is usually much less than both homogeneous $`\gamma _2`$ and inhomogeneous (Doppler) $`\gamma _D`$ widths of an atomic transition. In all pulsed experiments discussed above, laser radiation has a form of smooth bell-shaped pulses with spectral width, determined by the pulse duration such that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}},\gamma _{\mathrm{probe}}>\gamma _2`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}},\gamma _{\mathrm{probe}}`$ are of the same order of magnitude as $`\gamma _D`$. In the present work, we consider quite a different situation: the spectral width of laser pulses is determined by the number of longitudinal modes (more than 100) of a multimode dye laser and is much greater than the inverse pulse duration and both $`\gamma _2`$ and $`\gamma _D`$. This enables us to study interaction of radiation with both red and blue polariton branches simultaneously. The envelope of such a broadband polychromatic pulse consists of a great number of very short irregular peaks. Detunings of the pump and probe pulses from the transition frequency, defined as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=\omega _{\mathrm{pump}}\omega _0`$, $`\delta _0=\omega _{\mathrm{probe}}\omega _0`$, are much smaller than the spectral widths of both lasers, $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{probe}}`$ (here $`\omega _{\mathrm{pump}}`$ and $`\omega _{\mathrm{probe}}`$ correspond to mean frequencies of the pump and probe spectra). The pump beam intensity $`J_{\mathrm{pump}}`$ was scanned in the range that corresponds to the Rabi frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }<\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$. The relation between values of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$, $`\gamma _D`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ considered in the present paper characterizes a system, which up to now was not investigated systematically. Resonant interaction of atomic media and broadband pulses was considered only in some works on self-induced transparency (SIT) in the sharp line limit Ranka et al. (1998); Schupper et al. (1999) (see also Ref. Egorov et al. ) and in intracavity experiments, where the phenomenon of self-frequency-locking, or spectrum condensation, was studied Meyer (1979); Vasil’ev et al. (1994).

The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, our experimental setup is described. In Sec. III, the experimental results are presented, being divided into three parts: probe-beam transmission under extremely broadband pump, probe-beam transmission under relatively narrow-band pump, and conical emission measurements. Section IV is devoted to the theoretical model, numerical simulation, and discussion of the experimental data. Main results are summarized in Sec. V.

## II Experimental setup

The scheme of our experimental setup is presented in Fig. 1. We used two pulsed multimode dye lasers (1, 2) pumped by the same Nd:YAG (where YAG stands for yttrium aluminium garnet) laser (3) for the pump-probe experiments. The pulse duration of both dye lasers was about 7 ns, the probe-beam spectral width was about 1 nm. The dye laser (1) producing the pump beam has two operation modes with different spectral widths: “broadband” mode $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}/2\pi 300`$ GHz (with a prism inside the cavity) and “narrowband” mode $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}/2\pi 10`$ GHz (with a diffraction grating inside the cavity). The pump beam intensity $`J_{\mathrm{pump}}`$ was scanned in a range of $`10^4`$ \- $`10^6`$ W/cm2 (measured pulse energies 1-100 $`\mu `$J) by rotation of a polarizer P2. The pump and probe beams were intersected at the angle of about 1 inside a discharge tube (4) containing a resonant medium. The probe beam spectrum was analyzed by means of a high-resolution spectrograph constructed on the optical table. The spectral resolution was about 12 GHz. The spectra were recorded by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera (8) with 100 ns exposure time. Because of great fluctuations of the multimode dye-laser intensity, we averaged recorded probe beam spectrum over 500 pulses. To control wavelength tuning of the dye laser (1), part of its radiation was directed to the same high-resolution spectrograph by a beam splitter (5) and a system of mirrors.

The wavelengths of both dye lasers were tuned to a transition of neon 1s5 \- 2p9 in Paschen notation ($`\lambda `$=640.2 nm) with a metastable lower state. This is the strongest red line of neon spectrum. A pulsed neon discharge was used to produce sufficient amount of metastable neon atoms. The discharge tube has a diameter of 10 mm and the length $`L=12`$ cm. The amplitude of the discharge current was $`I=4.0`$ \- 4.5 A, pulse duration $`t_p=80`$ \- 100 $`\mu `$s, neon pressure $`P=9`$ \- 14 Torr. Under these conditions in the discharge afterglow, the metastable atom density $`n_0`$ reaches great values up to $`10^{13}`$ cm-3. The optical density was scanned in a range of $`\alpha _0L20`$ \- 200 by changing the time delay $`\tau _d`$ between the discharge current and the laser pulse. Here $`\alpha _0`$ is the absorption coefficient at the center of Doppler-broadened absorption line. Experiment was also performed with a dc discharge in neon in the same discharge tube under the conditions of $`I=2`$ \- 50 mA and $`P=0.5`$ \- 3.5 Torr. In a dc discharge, metastable atom density was about $`10^{12}`$ cm-3. We controlled this value by measuring the resonant absorption across the discharge tube. A well-known technique with a mirror behind the discharge tube was used (mirror M9 in Fig. 1). In this configuration the same discharge tube serves as an absorber and a light source. A spectrograph (10) with a CCD camera (11) was used for these measurements.

## III Experimental results

### III.1 Pump-probe experiment with broadband pump

The results of our pump-probe experiments with broadband pump beam are presented in Figs. 2 \- 7. In Fig. 2(a), typical spectra of the pump beam with discharge switched off (curve A) and on (curve B) are plotted. The absorption line contour is partially resolved and shows the position of the atomic resonance. Here the pump pulse energy $`W`$ is about 30 $`\mu `$J. At greater power there is no absorption because of the medium saturation. Figure 2(b) shows the probe beam spectra under the same conditions with pump beam switched on (the pump pulse energy $`W80`$ $`\mu `$J).

We observed significant (up to six times) amplification of some spectral components of the probe beam. In Figs. 3 \- 6, the most characteristic probe transmission spectra $`K(\delta )`$ are presented, where $`K(\delta )=J(\delta )/J^0(\delta )`$, $`\delta =\omega \omega _0`$ is the detuning from the atomic resonance, $`J(\delta )`$ is the probe beam spectrum after its interaction with the medium, and $`J^0(\delta )`$ is the original probe beam spectrum. Systematical investigation of these spectra has shown that there exist four amplification modes with different characteristic shapes of the amplification spectrum: (i) spectrum with a single peak at the resonance frequency (curve A in Fig. 3); (ii) doublet centered at the resonance frequency with partially saturated absorption line (curve C in Fig. 3, Fig. 4); (iii) spectrum of dispersionlike shape (Fig. 5); and (iv) spectrum with a resonant peak and a broad “pedestal” (Fig. 6). Four separate series of measurements are presented below to clarify how the shape of the spectrum depends on the main parameters of our experiment: $`J_{\mathrm{pump}}`$, $`J_{\mathrm{probe}}`$, $`n_0`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. The latter dependence was performed under the narrowband pumping and is presented in Sec. III B.

#### III.1.1 Scanning of the pump intensity

Transmission spectra of the probe beam at different pump powers under fixed $`J_{\mathrm{probe}}`$ are presented in Fig. 3. Curve A in Fig. 3 corresponds to the pair of spectra in Fig. 2(b) and represents amplification spectrum of the first type, with a single resonant peak. It appeared under significant pump beam intensities ($`W>30`$ $`\mu `$J). The dependence of the transmission at the resonance frequency $`K_0`$ on the pump pulse energy $`W`$ is shown in Fig. 7.

Decrease in the pump beam power below $`W=30`$ $`\mu `$J leads to the splitting of this peak into a doublet, i.e., spectrum of the second type, as it is shown by curves B and C in Fig. 3. Spectra of the second type were investigated in detail by means of a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer with 500 MHz spectral resolution (cf. Refs. Bagaev et al. (2002a); Bagayev et al. (2002b)). For this experiment both the pump and probe beams were obtained from the same dye laser with the spectral width $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}/2\pi 30`$ GHz. Different transition with the same metastable lower state was used ($`\lambda `$=588.2 nm). One can find a more detailed description of the experimental setup and the results obtained in Refs. Bagaev et al. (2002a); Bagayev et al. (2002b). Typical transmission spectra are presented in Fig. 4. As it is shown, the components of the doublet are symmetrically detuned from the resonance frequency. There is significant absorption near the resonance. Both components of the doublet decrease, with pump beam power decreasing and completely disappearing when light-matter interaction becomes linear.

#### III.1.2 Strong probe beam

Increase in the probe beam power results in transmission spectra of the third type (Fig. 5). Some asymmetry in transmission spectrum appears under greater probe beam power even without the pump beam. This is clearly seen in Fig. 5 (curve B), where the single probe beam transmission is shown. For the case of the weak probe beam, there is no such asymmetry, as one can see in Fig. 3 (curve D) and Fig. 4 (curve B). With the pump switched on, this asymmetry becomes much more pronounced. There is strong amplification in the blue wing of the absorption line and attenuation in the red wing. Antisymmetrical spectrum, shown by curve A in Fig. 5, was observed under moderate pumping ($`W=2030`$ $`\mu `$J). Decrease in the pump beam power under fixed probe power leads to the decrease in the amplification coefficient at blue detunings, while at higher pump intensities the amplification increases. In the latter case the probe-beam energy integrated over the whole spectrum is amplified, which evidenced the existence of energy transfer from the pump beam.

#### III.1.3 Increase of the optical density

Spectra of the first, second and third type were observed in a broad range of metastable atom densities $`n_0`$: from $`5`$x$`10^{11}`$ cm-3 (in a dc discharge), up to $`10^{13}`$ cm-3 (in a pulsed discharge afterglow). Increase in the $`n_0`$ value leads to higher efficiency of the probe amplification in both the first and second amplification regimes. In the case of the strong probe beam (third regime), evolution of the transmission spectrum is more complicated. The increase in $`n_0`$ resulted in (i) broadening of the dispersionlike feature, (ii) increase in the absorption at the resonance frequency, and (iii) increase in the amplification at the wing of the absorption line.

Moreover, at maximum atomic density, another, fourth type of the amplification spectrum was observed (Fig. 6). In the pulsed discharge experiment, the metastable atom density rapidly increases in the afterglow, when the discharge current is switched off, reaches its maximum value (about $`10^{13}`$ cm-3), and then slowly decreases (the time interval between the discharge pulses was much greater than the characteristic decay time of $`n_0`$). Curves A - C in Fig. 6 show how the spectrum of the fourth type varies with the time delay between the discharge and laser pulses. Amplification reaches its maximum at the delay of 80 $`\mu `$s, when $`n_0`$ has a maximum. The transmission spectrum of this type is a superposition of the resonant peak, described above as the first-type spectrum, and the broadband amplification at the red side of the absorption line. The spectral width of this band is extremely large, up to 350 GHz.

### III.2 Pump-probe experiment with narrowband pump

The dependence of the probe transmission spectrum on the pump detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ was studied under the “narrowband” pumping. For these measurements the dye laser (1), producing the pump beam, was switched to the narrowband mode (see Sec. II) with the spectral width \[full width at half maximum (FWHM)\] $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}/2\pi =10`$ GHz. Here, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ corresponds to the detuning between the center of the pump spectrum and the atomic transition. Typical pump spectrum is shown by the curve C in Fig. 8. Comparison of this curve with Fig. 2(a) explains the difference between the broadband and narrowband mode.

An earlier version of our experiment was presented in Ref. Bagaev et al. (2003). Amplification spectra, observed in Ref. Bagaev et al. (2003) under narrowband pumping, were similar to the first and third types described above. The main disadvantage of our earlier experiments Bagaev et al. (2002a); Bagayev et al. (2002b); Bagaev et al. (2003) was that both the probe and pump beam were obtained from the same dye laser. Scanning the frequency of the laser in Ref. Bagaev et al. (2003) revealed some interesting behavior of the amplification coefficient value, while the shape of the transmission spectrum was not affected. In the first amplification regime with the “resonant peak” spectrum, amplification is the most effective under resonant pumping $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=0`$, while in the third regime with the dispersionlike spectrum, amplification reaches its maximum, when the pump is detuned to the blue side from the resonance at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=7`$ GHz. The present experimental setup allows us to scan the pump frequency keeping the probe spectrum fixed. The results of the present study are in general agreement with the data reported in Ref. Bagaev et al. (2003). Typical result of this experiment is presented in Fig. 8 demonstrating the dispersionlike amplification contour.

### III.3 Conical emission

In the series of measurements with metastable atom density of about $`10^{13}`$ cm-3 (in pulsed discharge afterglow) and great pump beam intensity ($`W50100`$ $`\mu `$J in a “broadband” mode, or about 10 $`\mu `$J in a “narrowband” mode), we observed the amplification of radiation in the periphery of the pump beam, appeared independently on the probe-beam presence. This radiation propagates at the angle of $`\theta =10`$ \- 15 mrad with respect to the pump beam and forms a cone around it. In the literature, this phenomenon is usually referred to as conical emission. It should be emphasized that in this domain, all known experiments were carried out in vapors of alkali and rare-earth elements. Here we present the first conical emission observed in a noble gas.

The transverse profile of the radiation after its passage through the discharge tube was recorded by the same CCD camera that was used for the probe-beam spectrum investigation. For this experiment the camera was installed at a distance of 1 m behind the discharge tube. The central and the most intense part of the pump beam was blocked to avoid damage of the camera. In Fig. 9, a typical image taken by the camera is shown. The inner ring in this picture corresponds to the periphery of the pump beam, whereas the outer one represents the conical emission. In a range of parameters explored, we did not find any dependence of the cone angle $`\theta `$ on $`J_{\mathrm{pump}}`$ or $`n_0`$. Increase in the time delay $`\tau _d`$ leads to the decreasing medium density and cone intensity.

We also observed conical emission in the experiments with narrowband pump. In this regime, the cone intensity depends on the pump detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$: it has two maxima on the wings of the absorption line and disappears at the large detunings $`|\mathrm{\Delta }_0/2\pi |>10`$ GHz. This dependence is plotted in Fig. 10.

The conical emission spectra were recorded together with the probe-beam spectra under the same conditions. We observed spectra with shapes very similar to the probe-beam amplification spectra (except for the dispersionlike contour). One example of the conical emission spectrum under broadband pumping is shown in Fig. 11. The single peak is situated near the atomic resonance and is shifted to the red side. This fact is in agreement with other conical emission experiments, although the width of the peak and its detuning are different.

## IV Theoretical model and discussion

### IV.1 Equations of the model

Theoretical model is based on the solution of the semiclassical Maxwell-Bloch equations in the two-level approximation Allen and Eberly (1975). Using the rotating wave approximation, the system of Bloch equations can be written as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{p}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }D\gamma _2p,`$ (1a)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{D}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Omega }p^{}+\mathrm{\Omega }^{}p\right)\gamma _1\left(DD^{eq}\right),`$ (1b)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }=2dE/\mathrm{}`$ is the complex Rabi frequency of the electromagnetic field ($`d`$ is the electric dipole moment of the atomic transition), $`p`$ and $`D`$ are the complex polarization and population difference of atoms, and $`D^{eq}`$ is the value of $`D`$ in the absence of external field (the value $`D=1`$ corresponds to an atom in the ground state). The relaxation rates $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _2`$ determine the homogeneous broadening of a spectral line. Here $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`p`$ are the functions slowly varying in time but having arbitrary spatial dependence.

The problem of the interaction between two intersected plane linearly polarized waves was considered. In this case, the amplitude of the field is given by

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }_0(t,z)e^{ik_0z}+\mathrm{\Omega }_1(t,z)e^{i𝐤_1𝐫},$$
(2)
with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ slowly varying in space. The field $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ with a wave vector $`𝐤_0`$ parallel to the $`z`$ axis corresponds to the strong pump wave, whereas $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ with $`𝐤_1`$ wave vector is assumed to be a weak probe field propagating at a small angle of $`\phi `$ with respect to $`z`$ direction. Nonlinear interaction of the intersected waves leads to the appearance of spatial polarization harmonics with wave vectors $`𝐤_0+m\mathrm{\Delta }𝐤`$ ($`m=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,..`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝐤=𝐤_1𝐤_0`$) and harmonics of the population difference with $`m\mathrm{\Delta }𝐤`$ wave vectors:

$`p={\displaystyle \underset{m=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}p_m(t,z)e^{i(𝐤_0𝐫+m\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{𝐤𝐫})},`$ (3a)
$`D={\displaystyle \underset{m=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}D_m(t,z)e^{im\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}},D_m=D_m^{}.`$ (3b)
The emission of the $`p_0`$ and $`p_1`$ polarizations corresponds to the pump and probe fields, respectively. The emission of higher harmonics is considered to be suppressed in a thick medium, due to mismatch in dispersion relation, which is in agreement with our experimental conditions. Substituting expansions (2) and (3) into Eq. (1), and using the first-order perturbation theory in respect of the small amplitude of the probe field, one can get a system of the Maxwell-Bloch equations, describing propagation of the strong pump field,

$`c{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_0}{z}}`$ $`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_0}{t}}=\omega _c^2p_0,`$ (4a)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{p_0}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0D_0\gamma _2p_0,`$ (4b)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{D_0}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Omega }_0p_0^{}+\mathrm{\Omega }_0^{}p_0\right)\gamma _1\left(D_0D^{eq}\right),`$ (4c)
and a weak probe,

$`c\mathrm{cos}\phi {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_1}{z}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_1}{t}}=\omega _c^2p_1,`$ (5a)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{p_1}{t}}=\mathrm{\Omega }_1D_0+\mathrm{\Omega }_0D_1\gamma _2p_1,`$ (5b)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{D_1}{t}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Omega }_1p_0^{}+\mathrm{\Omega }_0^{}p_1+\mathrm{\Omega }_0p_1^{}\right)\gamma _1D_1,`$ (5c)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{p_1^{}}{t}}=\mathrm{\Omega }_0^{}D_1\gamma _2p_1^{},`$ (5d)
where

$$\omega _c=\sqrt{\frac{2\pi d^2\omega _0n_0}{\mathrm{}}}$$
(6)
is the cooperative frequency of the medium, which plays a role of the coupling coefficient between field and matter, and $`n_0`$ is the density of atoms in the ground state.

The character of resonant coherent interaction between laser field and an ensemble of two-level atoms is determined by the atomic density and particular characteristics of laser pulse, such as the area and energy. Temporal features of propagating pulse strongly depend on the condition whether the field reemitted by the medium is comparable to the field that has been externally applied. In the limiting case, where reemission field is negligible in comparison to the strong externally applied one, the model of single driven atom is usually used. Atomic response is calculated on the basis of Bloch equations, whereas Maxwell equations are not taken into account. Thus, the dynamics of the system is fully determined by the strong external field. In this context, phenomena such as Rabi sideband generation due to stationary probe-pump Mollow-Boyd effect Rautian and Sobel’man (1961); Mollow (1972); Boyd et al. (1981) or to transient Rabi flopping Allen and Eberly (1975) can be mentioned.

In a system, where the field of medium reaction plays an essential role, Bloch and Maxwell equations are considered self-consistently. In the case of a single (pump) field propagation, under the simplest conditions of an amplitude modulated signal, and in the limit of coherent interaction $`\gamma _{1,2}=0`$, Eqs. (4) can be reduced to the nonlinear evolution sine-Gordon equation, which describes the coherent breakup of a laser pulse into solitons ($`2\pi `$ pulses or breathers) Lamb (1971) and a nonsolitonic solution in the form of the so-called optical ringing Crisp (1970). $`2\pi `$ solitons of self-induced transparency represent the pulses, where the coherently absorbed and reemitted fields are balanced. Nevertheless, in this case, the field applied is still strong enough to invert a part of a medium (area of the external field is greater than $`\pi `$).

In accordance with the area theorem Allen and Eberly (1975), if the area of the input field takes the value less than $`\pi `$, the nonstationary dynamics of the pulse breakup into $`2\pi `$ solitons cannot be realized. On the other hand, in an optically dense coherent medium, another type of field oscillations, optical ringing, appears. This oscillating response has a superradiant character Prasad and Glauber (2000) and appears in the system of strongly coupled field and matter, where the high density of resonant atoms provides the atomic system to be able to coherently absorb and reradiate whole energy of the weak external electromagnetic field. The oscillations display the process of fast excitation interchanges between field and a two-level atomic ensemble in an extended resonant medium and the formation of a $`0\pi `$ pulse. Such cooperative interactions are the transient phenomena and can be observed when the frequency of the photon interchanges between field and matter greatly exceeds relaxation rates of a medium.

The collective oscillations can be treated as beating between two normal modes of coupled linear oscillators, which correspond to splitting of the polariton (coupled matter photons) dispersion curve into two branches. Thus, contrary to nonlinear strong-field effects, the coherent dynamics of strongly coupled field-matter system originates from linear (weak-field) dispersion, where field and polarization components are represented by equal contributions, and reemission field plays an essential role in the light-matter interaction. Vacuum Rabi oscillations (both single- and many-atom oscillations) Kaluzny et al. (1983); Zhu et al. (1990) are cavity analogs of such processes. In the simplest case of a single-mode cavity, the frequency of field and polarization oscillations is equal to the cooperative frequency of the medium, $`\omega _c`$, when the condition of strong-coupling regime $`\omega _c\gamma _2`$ is fulfilled. Under free-space interactions, the frequency of field-matter photon interchanges is also determined by the coupling coefficient (6). To observe coherent beating of two (red and blue) polariton branches, they should be excited by the laser field simultaneously. In our experiment, this condition is fulfilled due to resonant broadband (much broader than the Doppler linewidth) spectrum of the radiation used.

### IV.2 Numerical results

We studied numerically interaction of polychromatic broadband quasistochastic laser pulses in a dense medium without population inversion. The parameters of numerical simulations were similar to the experimental conditions. Input pump field was chosen to have the following form:

$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(t,0)=C(t){\displaystyle \underset{k=N}{\overset{k=N}{}}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{0k}e^{i\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_0t+\omega _kt+\alpha _k\right)},`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_{0k}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{00}e^{4\mathrm{ln}2(\omega _k/\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}})^2},`$
$`C(t)={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}e^{(tt_0)/a}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}+\mathrm{arctan}\left({\displaystyle \frac{tt_0}{b}}\right)\right],`$ (7)
where $`\omega _k=k\mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$ ($`k=0,\pm 1,\mathrm{},\pm N`$) are the modes of the input spectrum, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$ is the intermode distance, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is the detuning between the central frequency of the field and that of the atomic resonance, and $`\alpha _k`$ are the mode phases. The phases are random numbers, which leads to the quasistochastic temporal dependence of the electric field. The duration of this signal does not depend on the width of the spectrum $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$, but is determined by the duration of the envelope, $`C(t)`$.

Modeling one of the experimental realizations, we used the following parameters of the input signal: $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega /2\pi =0.37`$ GHz, $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}/2\pi =20.0`$ GHz (thus, the number of modes was about 100), the duration of the envelope, $`C(t)`$, was equal to 3.5 ns ($`a=2.4`$ ns, $`b=0.3`$ ns). The amplitude of the probe field has the form $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1(t,0)=\mathrm{\Omega }_0(t\tau _0,0)/g`$, where $`g1`$, and a short (about 10 ps) time delay $`\tau _0`$ between the fields was taken into account. The atomic transition with $`\gamma _1/2\pi =8.4`$ MHz and $`\gamma _2/2\pi =5.4`$ MHz was considered. The cooperative frequency of the medium was equal to $`\omega _c/2\pi =2.6`$ GHz and the length of the medium $`L=15`$ cm. Since correlation time of the field was much smaller than the pulse duration, and great number of modes were considered, main spectral features of the output field were not sensitive to the certain realization of random phases and a small time delay $`\tau _0`$ existing in the experiment.

A typical example of the temporal behavior of the single (pump) field at the output of the extended medium is presented in Fig. 12. The figure shows that during the propagation of the multimode radiation (IV.2) through a resonant extended medium, smooth slow solitons separate from the quasistochastic part, that forms the initial stage of the signal. The optical ringing accompanies the creation of a soliton and forms the tail of the light pulse. If the area of the input pulse takes the value less than $`\pi `$, $`2\pi `$ solitons are not created and the optical ringing signal can be the only and dominant part at the pulse tail. Thus, Fig. 12 shows the transformation of the quasistochastic signal with correlation time determined by the width of the input spectrum, $`\gamma _{\mathrm{pump}}`$ (IV.2), into the coherent response of the dense resonant medium, determined mainly by the field-matter coupling coefficient $`\omega _c`$ (6) and by the length of the medium, $`L`$.

The numerical study was based on the joint solution of Eqs. (4) and (5). In Fig. 13, spectra of the probe field at the input and output of the medium are displayed. The spectra presented were obtained by convoluting the calculated spectra with a smooth Gaussian function, modeling the transmission of the signal through a device with finite resolution, so single modes of the polychromatic signal are not resolved. Depending on the pump intensity, two types of the probe amplification were obtained.

If the pump field is strong enough to produce nonstationary population inversion in a two-level extended medium, the probe is significantly amplified at the resonance frequency \[Fig. 13(b)\]. The most essential growth of the probe field is obtained in the space and time areas, where a smooth $`2\pi `$ soliton has formed in the pump beam, which leads to the slow rotation of the Bloch vector and smooth variation of the population difference between $`1`$ and $`1`$ values, which corresponds to transitions of the atoms from the ground state to the excited one and back through the coherent superposition states.

In the case of relatively small pumping intensity, the pump pulse can propagate without producing a soliton. This condition leads to oscillations of the Bloch vector near the equilibrium point $`D=1`$. Here, the amplification spectrum obtained corresponds to the spectral doublet presented in Fig. 13(a). Moreover, a slow soliton separated from the main fast part of the signal can be absorbed in the medium during the propagation. As a result, even in this case, amplification is formed by the fast part of the signal (quasistochastic and ringing), which has the area equal to zero, which, again, corresponds to the doublet in the amplification spectrum. As was shown in Refs. Bagaev et al. (2002a); Bagayev et al. (2002b) (see also Ref. Egorov et al. ), under some conditions, the interaction of $`0\pi `$ pulses in a dense medium results in amplification of the coherent optical ringing. Besides that, two maxima in the amplification spectrum can be parametrically coupled due to the modulation of the population difference by the pump field.

The doublet and single-maximum characters of the probe amplification under the weak and strong pumping, respectively, qualitatively correspond to our experimental observations presented in Figs. 3 and 4. The origin of such spectral behavior of the probe field can be traced to the dynamics of the pump. If the pump pulse has the zero area, according to the area theorem, its output spectrum has a form of a doublet, whereas for stronger pulses with the areas greater than $`\pi `$, the resonant spectral component (which is equal to the area) takes a nonzero value.

The single-maximum amplification that is obtained from the numerical simulations can be greater than the one observed in the experiments. The discrepancy can be explained by the fact, that this type of amplification appears very close to the resonance frequency, since the spectral width of a smooth soliton is much narrower than that of the broadband polychromatic part (cf. Fig. 12). So, the amplification maximum can be sufficiently reduced by the Doppler broadening of the spectral line, which was not taken into account in the theoretical model presented. On the other hand, the width of the doublet amplification, which appears due to the fast oscillations, can take a value greater than the Doppler linewidth.

### IV.3 Strong probe beam and conical emission

Our numerical model describes the interaction of two intersected plane waves. Therefore it does not account for some transverse effects, such as self-focusing of a beam and conical emission. Besides that, since the probe field was treated only in the first order, the model does not describe nonlinear effects in the probe beam.

In the experiment, increase in the probe beam power leads to some asymmetry in the transmission spectrum. In this case, even without the pump beam, the probe beam intensity is sufficient to induce nonlinear effects, which was stressed is Sec. III A. As the pulse duration is shorter than the homogeneous relaxation times, self-induced transparency can dramatically modify the absorption spectrum. It has been shown numerically Diels and Hahn (1973); Miklaszewski (1995) and proved experimentally Ranka et al. (1998) that presence of a nonzero detuning $`\delta _0`$ such that $`\gamma _D<\delta _0<\gamma _{\mathrm{probe}}/2`$ results in the appearance of a dispersionlike feature centered at the transition frequency. The spectral components with detunings of the same sign as $`\delta _0`$ are amplified, and those with opposite sign are attenuated. We suppose that a transmission spectrum plotted in Fig. 5 (curve B) is related to that effect. In our experiment with pulsed discharge, the evolution of the dispersionlike feature under the increase in the metastable atom density, which was described in Sec. III A (measurements were carried out in the presence of the pump beam, its effect is discussed below) is in agreement with numerical results of Ref. Miklaszewski (1995). More complicated spectral structure, obtained in Refs. Ranka et al. (1998); Miklaszewski (1995) under great optical densities, was unresolved by our apparatus.

Applying a strong pump causes the probe-beam amplification and increases the nonlinear features in its spectrum. It leads to the increase in the probe intensity integrated over the whole spectrum and increases the asymmetry of the transmission spectrum. This effect is clearly seen in Fig. 5.

With a single probe beam, we observed dispersionlike spectra of both “left” and “right” orientations, in agreement with Refs. Diels and Hahn (1973); Miklaszewski (1995). In the presence of the pump beam, a structure with amplification at the blue wing certainly prevails over the opposite one. This fact may be understood, taking into account the effect of resonant self-focusing of the pump beam, which is well pronounced under these experimental conditions. The problem of resonant and near resonant self-focusing and its influence on the propagation of SIT pulses was discussed mostly for relatively narrowband pulses ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{pulse}}\gamma _D`$). It has been shown numerically Mattar and Newstein (1977) and experimentally Gibbs et al. (1977) that during propagation in an extended medium, resonant and slightly blue-detuned SIT pulses become self-focused, while red-detuned pulses experience self-defocusing. This effect strongly modifies transverse profile of the pump beam as well as the profile of the probe, when its intensity becomes sufficiently high. Self-focusing leads to an increase in the axial intensity of the blue components of the probe that increases the effective detuning $`\delta _0`$ of the central, the most intense part of the beam, and results in more pronounced asymmetry of the transmission spectrum. The interplay between parametric amplification, self- and pump-induced focusing of the probe beam, and propagation effects creates very complex picture, which may be quantitatively described only by numerical modeling.

Conical emission observed in the present experiment appeared under the conditions that are significantly different from other CE experiments. We obtain CE under the metastable atom density of about $`10^{13}`$ cm-3 and the pump detunings $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ (see Fig. 10) comparable to the Doppler width of the transition, whereas “normal” CE is observed under much greater detunings and mostly under higher medium densities. Besides that, CE observed in the present work is insensitive to the sign of the pump detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$, whereas “normal” CE appears under blue-detuned pump only. The model of Cherenkov-type emission from steady-state self-trapped filaments Paul et al. (2002), as well as the steady-state four-wave mixing model Valley et al. (1990), seem to be unsuitable under conditions of our experiment. As a nonstationary coherent phenomenon, CE was considered in Refs. Gawlik et al. (2001); Crenshaw and Cantrell (1989); Starostin et al. (1977). In these works dealing with transform limited pulses, CE was obtained under the breaking up of a laser pulse, which at least qualitatively may also correspond to our results. The shape of CE spectrum presented here is similar to the amplified probe-beam spectrum observed under the same conditions. We suppose that the mechanisms of these two phenomena are closely related.

## V Conclusion

The detailed investigation of changes in the spectrum of a polychromatic probe field, which arise during its propagation in a dense resonant medium, is presented. The spectral width of the radiation considered greatly exceeds both the homogeneous and inhomogeneous widths of the spectral line. In the simplest case of a single-beam propagation, the dispersionlike asymmetry of the transmission spectrum was observed, which was treated as a feature of near resonant self-induced transparency in the so-called sharp line limit. When two laser beams are intersected in a medium, we observed dramatic changes in the probe-beam spectrum: pump-induced amplification and attenuation. The shape of the transmission spectrum depends on the pump and probe intensities, pump detuning, and atomic density. Under relatively weak pumping and high medium density, when the condition of strong coupling between field and resonant matter is fulfilled, the probe amplification spectrum has a form of spectral doublet. Stronger pumping leads to the appearance of a single peak of the probe beam amplification at the transition frequency, manifesting that strong-field effects prevail over effects in a strongly coupled field-matter system. The greater probe intensity results in an asymmetrical transmission spectrum with amplification at the blue wing of the absorption line and attenuation at the red one. Under high medium density, a broad band of amplification appears. Since, in the situation considered, the field of medium reaction plays an important role and forms a significant part of the coherent collective response of a dense medium, the amplification spectra observed differ from the well-known Mollow-Boyd spectra, which are determined by characteristics of the strong external field. The theoretical model presented is based on the numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch equations for two plane waves propagating in a dense extended medium. It is shown that the characteristic features of the probe amplification could be determined by the coherent nonstationary dynamics of the pump field, particularly by the formation of solitons and optical ringing. In some cases, the pump-beam transverse profile also should be taken into account. Under the certain conditions, the periphery area of the pump beam becomes amplified and produces a conical emission. Some parameters of CE obtained in the present work differ from usually observed CE. It should be pointed out that amplified probe-beam spectra reproduce the most characteristic features of generation spectrum of a broadband laser with an intracavity absorbing cell, when the self-frequency-locking effect, i.e., spectrum condensation, takes place Meyer (1979); Vasil’ev et al. (1994).

###### Acknowledgements.

The work was partially supported by the INTAS, Project No. 99-1366.


text:
# Ionised, Atomic, and Molecular Gas around the Twin Radio Jets of NGC 1052

### 1.

In the slightly curved bi-symmetric jets (e.g., Fig. 1), multiple sub-parsec scale features have been traced in ten 15 GHz VLBA epochs over five years. They move outward, reasonably linearly, at typically $`v_{\mathrm{app}}0.26c`$ on both sides. Given their symmetry, the jets must be oriented near the plane of the sky.

### 2.

Nearly simultaneous VLBA observations were made at up to seven frequencies; some of the images are displayed in Figure 1. They show a central gap in the radio emission, which widens at lower radio frequencies. Detailed spectra demonstrate that it is due to free-free absorption. The western jet is covered more extensively, showing partial obscuration along at least 1 pc; this must be the receding jet. But the eastern jet is also partially covered, along approximately 0.3 pc, and so the free-free absorber is probably geometrically thick, and oriented roughly orthogonal to the jets. The ionised gas near the core, if distributed uniformly along a path-length of 0.5 pc, would have a volume density of $`n_\mathrm{e}10^5`$ cm-3. The opacity globally decreases away from the centre, but the variability of moving components, acting as “probes behind the screen”, suggests considerable patchiness, and the wide range of component spectral shapes suggests that synchrotron self-absorption and free-free absorption both play a role in the inner parsecs of the jets.

### 3.

VLBI observations show that H i absorbing atomic gas is distributed in front of the approaching as well as the receding jet, and has sub-pc scale structure. This is illustrated in Figure 2. We distinguish three absorption systems with different characteristics. From their substructure, at least two of them are situated close to the AGN rather than in the galaxy as a whole. The most prominent absorption system, with a peak optical depth of 20–25%, is at “high velocity”, receding by 125–200 km s-1 with respect to the systemic velocity. Under the uncertain assumptions that this atomic gas has a spin temperature $`T_{\mathrm{sp}}=100`$ K, and uniformly fills a path-length of 0.5 pc, we derive a column depth of $`N_\mathrm{H}10^{21}`$ cm-2, and a density of $`n_\mathrm{H}1000`$ cm-3. This absorber may have a continuous velocity gradient of some 10 km s-1 pc-1 across the nucleus, but while it is seen at a distance of 1–1.5 pc on both sides of the centre, there is a deficit in the innermost parsec; this “central hole” in atomic gas may be largely ionised.

### 4.

WSRT observations show, from 1667 and 1665 MHz OH main lines seen in absorption, that molecular gas exists along the full velocity span found also in atomic gas, roughly $`30`$ to 200 km s-1. The peak absorption depth, about 0.4%, occurs in the “high velocity” system, and indicates a column depth of order $`10^{14}`$ cm-2. The ratio between the OH 1667 and 1665 MHz lines is about 2 in the “high velocity” system, but closer to 1 at lower velocities. In the “high velocity” system, the 1612 and 1720 MHz OH satellite lines have also been detected, both with a peak strength near 0.25%, but with conjugate profiles, in absorption and emission, respectively. The profiles of the OH main lines and the integrated H i line are remarkably similar in the “high velocity” system, which suggests co-location of the atomic and molecular gas at these velocities. But H2O masers, which cover the same velocity range, were found very close to the nucleus, at 0.1–0.2 pc along the receding jet (Claussen et al. 1998) We have no satisfactory model to explain this, in light of the central hole in H i, the OH and H i profile similarity, the velocity gradient across the core (suggestive of rotation), and the substantial overall velocity offset compared to systemic (suggestive of infall).

## References

Claussen, M. J., et al. 1998, ApJ, 500, L129

de Vries, W.H., Barthel, P.D., & O’Dea, C.P. 1997, A&A, 321, 105

Gabel, J. R., et al. 2000, ApJ, 532, 883

Kellermann, K. I., Vermeulen, R. C., Zensus, J. A., & Cohen, M. H. 1998, AJ, 115, 1295

Kellermann, K. I., Vermeulen, R. C., Cohen, M. H., & Zensus, J. A. 1999, BAAS, 31, 856

Sargent, W. L. W., Schechter, P. L., Boksenberg, A., & Shortridge, K. 1977, ApJ, 212, 326

Vermeulen, R. C., et al. 2003, A&A, 401, 113

Wrobel, J. M. 1984, ApJ, 284, 531

## Index

* NGC 1052 Ionised, Atomic, and Molecular Gas around the Twin Radio Jets of NGC 1052, Ionised, Atomic, and Molecular Gas around the Twin Radio Jets of NGC 1052, Ionised, Atomic, and Molecular Gas around the Twin Radio Jets of NGC 1052, Figure 1, Figure 2


text:
# Dynamics of magnetic flux tubes in close binary stars

## 1 Introduction

Observational results indicate that in close, fast-rotating binaries like RS CVn and BY Dra systems magnetic activity is usually much more vigorous than in the case of the Sun (see, e.g., Strassmeier et al. 1993, and references therein). Data sets covering time periods much longer than the rotation period of a system reveal non-uniform longitudinal spot distributions (with respect to the direction of the companion star), which indicate the existence of long-lasting spot conglomerations at *preferred longitudes* where starspots persist longer or flux eruption is more frequent than at other surface regions (Henry et al. 1995; Jetsu 1996). The preferred longitudes are frequently about $`180\mathrm{°}`$ apart on opposite sides of the stellar hemisphere (e.g., Berdyugina & Tuominen 1998; Berdyugina et al. 1998) and their dependence on rotation period, i.e., essentially on the distance between the two components, suggests that they are related to the proximity of the companion star (Heckert & Ordway 1995).

In analogy to the ‘solar paradigm’ for magnetic activity, it is assumed that starspots at the stellar surface are generated by erupting magnetic flux tubes which originate from the lower part of the outer convection zone of the star. By using non-linear numerical simulations we investigate the influence of tidal effects on the dynamics and evolution of magnetic flux tubes inside the convection zone until they erupt at the stellar surface. Particular attention is paid to the non-uniformities in the resulting surface distributions of erupting flux tubes and their dependence on initial conditions. This work complements our previous studies of the equilibrium and linear stability properties of magnetic flux tubes in the overshoot region at the lower boundary of the convection zone (Holzwarth & Schüssler 2000, 2003, hereafter HSI).

Sect. 2 contains a brief summary of the magnetic flux tube model and the analytical approximation of the close binary model. In Sect. 3 we explain the accomplishment of the numerical simulations as well as the implementation of initial conditions. Sect. 4 shows the resulting latitudinal, longitudinal and surface distributions of erupting flux tubes in the case of a binary systems with an orbital period of two days as well as a study concerning the dependence of non-uniformities on the orbital period. Sect. 5 contains a discussion of our results and Sect. 6 gives our conclusions.

## 2 Model assumptions

### 2.1 The flux tube model

We study the spot distribution on active binary stars by applying the ‘solar paradigm’ for magnetic activity, assuming that starspots are due to erupting magnetic flux tubes (e.g., Schüssler et al. 1996). In this model, the magnetic field is stored in the form of toroidal flux tubes inside the subadiabatic overshoot-region below the convection zone at the interface to the radiative core. Once a critical magnetic field strength is exceeded, perturbations initiate the onset of an undulatory (Parker-type) instability and the growth of flux loops, which rise through the convection zone and lead to the formation of bipolar active regions and starspots upon emergence at the stellar surface.

The numerical code we have used for the non-linear simulations is explicated in Moreno-Insertis (1986) and Caligari et al. (1995). All calculations are carried out in the framework of the ‘thin flux tube approximation’ (Spruit 1981) describing the evolution of an isolated magnetic flux tube embedded in a field-free environment. The surrounding convection zone is treated as an ideal plasma with vanishing viscosity and infinite conductivity, implying the concept of frozen-in magnetic fields. The dynamical interaction between the flux tube and its environment is taken into account by an hydrodynamic drag force acting upon a tube with circular cross-section which moves relative to its environment. The radius of the cross-section is determined according to the amount of magnetic flux and the lateral balance between the external gas pressure and the internal total (gas and magnetic) pressure. Since the radiative time scale in the convection zone typically exceeds the rising time of flux tubes, we assume the adiabatic evolution of flux tubes.

### 2.2 The binary model

We consider a detached binary system with two solar-type components, which move on circular orbits with an orbital period of two days. For the active star we assume synchronised, solid-body rotation, with the spin axis orientated perpendicular to the orbital plane. Its internal structure is described by a tidally deformed solar model, whereas the companion star is considered as a point mass. The model includes both the tidal force and the deviation of the stellar structure from spherical shape, which are sufficiently small to be treated in lowest-order perturbation theory (see HSI, Sect. 2.2).

Using spherical coordinates (radius $`r`$, azimuth $`\varphi `$, latitude $`\lambda `$; $`\varphi =0`$ is the direction toward the companion star), the dominating term of, e.g., the azimuthal component of the effective gravitation, $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, can be written as

$$\frac{g_{\mathrm{eff},\varphi }}{g_{}}ϵ^3q\mathrm{sin}2\varphi ,$$
(1)
where $`g_{}`$ is the gravitation in the unperturbed case, $`q`$ is the mass ratio between the two components, $`ϵ=(r/a)`$ the expansion parameter of the approximation and $`a`$ the distance between the two components. For a weakly deformed star it can be assumed that the value of any stellar quantity, $`f`$, (pressure, density,…) is still only a function of the effective potential, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{}+\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{tide}}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{}`$ is the gravitational potential of the star and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{tide}}`$ the potential of the tidal perturbation \[see Eq. (2) in HSI\]. Following Eq. (5) in HSI, the (Eulerian) perturbation of the stellar structure, $`\mathrm{\Delta }f`$, can be written as

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }f}{f_{}}\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{tide}}}{\mathrm{\Psi }_{}}ϵ^3q\frac{r}{H_f}\mathrm{cos}2\varphi ,$$
(2)
where the undisturbed value, $`f_{}`$, and its local scale height, $`H_f`$, are determined from an unperturbed stellar model. The leading orders of the tidal effects given in Eqs. (1) and (2), respectively, both show a $`\pi `$-periodicity in the azimuthal direction $`\varphi `$.

Using Kepler’s third law, the order of magnitude of tidal effects becomes

$$ϵ^3q10^2\frac{q}{1+q}\left(\frac{r}{R_{\mathrm{}}}\right)^3\left(\frac{M_{}}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)^1\left(\frac{T}{\mathrm{d}}\right)^2,$$
(3)
while owing to the ratio $`r/H_f`$ in Eq. (2), the perturbation of the stellar structure also depends on the scale height of the considered quantity. It is enhanced if $`f`$ changes in a relative small stellar layer, like the superadiabaticity, $`\delta =_{\mathrm{ad}}`$, inside the thin overshoot region below the convection zone. For the system considered here ($`T=2\mathrm{d},M_{}=M_{\mathrm{}},q=1`$ and $`rR_{\mathrm{}}`$), Eq. (3) yields $`ϵ^3q10^3`$ (with $`a8R_{\mathrm{}}`$).

## 3 Simulations

The linear stability analysis in HSI describes the response of a toroidal equilibrium flux tube to small perturbations inside the overshoot region and its evolution prior to its penetration to the convection zone above. In the evolution of rapidly rising flux loops in the superadiabatical region non-linear effects of the tube dynamics become important, which have to be followed by numerical simulations. According to the results in HSI, we consider flux tubes with initial magnetic field strengths between $`710^4\mathrm{G}B_\mathrm{s}210^5\mathrm{G}`$. The initial flux rings are located in the middle of the overshoot region at latitudes between $`0\mathrm{°}\lambda _\mathrm{s}80\mathrm{°}`$ parallel to the equatorial plane and liable to an undulatory (Parker-type) instability (e.g., Ferriz-Mas & Schüssler 1995). The simulations start with a perturbation of a flux ring and cover up to $`32\mathrm{yrs}`$ of its evolution in the convection zone. In order to sample the influence of tidal effects on rising flux tubes, we carry out a large number of simulations in which each tube is subject to a perturbation *localised around a different longitude*, $`\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$. This is realised by an in-phase superposition of sinusoidal displacements, $`\mathrm{sin}m\varphi `$, with azimuthal wave numbers $`m=1\mathrm{}5`$ and amplitudes of one percent of the local pressure scale height (Fig. 1).

For simulations pertaining to a given $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ configuration, this specific perturbation is successively shifted in longitude; the interval $`0\varphi _\mathrm{s}<180\mathrm{°}`$ is sampled with 20 simulations, each separated by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _\mathrm{s}=9\mathrm{°}`$. Owing to the azimuthal $`\pi `$-periodicity of the underlying problem, the resulting pattern of flux tube emergence is then extended to the interval $`180\mathrm{°}\varphi _\mathrm{s}<360\mathrm{°}`$. The regularly distributed positions $`(\lambda _\mathrm{s},\varphi _\mathrm{s})`$ of the localised perturbations are shown as points in the polar projection of the overshoot region in the left panel of Fig. 2.

The evolution of rising flux tubes is followed close to their eruption at the stellar surface, resulting in spot distributions $`(\lambda _\mathrm{e},\varphi _\mathrm{e})`$ like the example shown in the right panel of Fig. 2. A complete set of simulations represents a non-linear mapping from the bottom of the convection zone to the top, assuming uniform distributions for the perturbations over longitude and for the flux rings over latitude in the overshoot region. The simulations stop at about $`0.98R_{\mathrm{}}`$, where the ‘thin flux tube approximation’ ceases to be valid. Since the rise of the tube’s crest through the uppermost parts of the convection zone is very fast and nearly radial, there is hardly a difference between its final position in the simulation and the position of eruption at the stellar surface.

A toroidal isentropic flux tube embedded in the tidally distorted stratification of a binary star actually represents a non-equilibrium configuration, since it exhibits a density contrast along the tube axis which entails a small deviation from mechanical equilibrium. Following the linear stability analysis in HSI, the dynamical tube evolution due to this azimuthal density variation proceeds on very long time scales of several thousand days, which are not relevant for the eruption of magnetic flux at the stellar surface.. Since the perturbation of the flux ring due to the density variation along the tube is much smaller than the perturbation arising from the superimposed displacement (described above) and furthermore identical for all simulations at a given latitude, its effect, if any, on the longitudinal distribution of erupting flux tubes is expected to be neglectable.

## 4 Results

### 4.1 Eruption times

The eruption times, $`t_\mathrm{e}`$, defined as the elapsed time between the initial perturbation of a flux tube and its emergence at the stellar surface, are found to be of the order of several months to years, in a few cases (near the instability boundaries) up to decades. Their dependence on the initial $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ configurations (Fig. 3) is roughly proportional to the respective growth times of the linear instability in the overshoot region, which are, according to the analysis in HSI, dominated by Parker-type instabilities with azimuthal wave numbers $`m=1`$ and $`2`$.

On the other hand, flux tubes in linearly stable initial configurations, e.g., at $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}65\mathrm{}75\mathrm{°}`$ or in the stability island at intermediate latitudes and high field strengths, are found to become unstable by another mechanism, which we ascribe to the interaction of a flux tubes with the environment due to its hydrodynamic drag once the relative tangential flow velocity exceeds the phase velocity of a perturbation; a detailed description of this flow instability will be given in a subsequent paper. This second-order effect is not included in the framework of the linear stability analysis in HSI, but nevertheless appears in the course of non-linear simulations and leads to the formation of rising flux tubes on time scales comparable to those of the Parker-type instability. At high magnetic field strengths this instability mechanism contributes a substantial fraction to the total number of erupting flux tubes. In contrast, simulations with initial configurations in the instability islands at low field strengths and $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}20\mathrm{°}`$ result in eruption times of several hundred years and thus are probably irrelevant.

The simulated rise of flux tubes through the convection zone does not always proceed in a continuous manner. Some flux tubes become unstable and form rising loops in the overshoot region, but then pass through a dynamical stage of quasi-stability where their radial rise temporarily comes to a halt before they resume after some several hundred days their ascent through the convection zone toward the surface.

### 4.2 Latitudinal distributions

Whereas sunspots exclusively appear in an equatorial belt between about $`\pm 35\mathrm{°}`$ latitude, fast-rotating stars frequently show spots also at intermediate, high, and even polar latitudes. In the framework of the magnetic flux tube model, this behaviour is explained by the influence of the Coriolis force, which acts on the internal gas flow along the tube axis and causes a poleward deflection of the tube (Schüssler & Solanki 1992). Figure 4 shows the latitude excursion, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =\lambda _\mathrm{e}\lambda _\mathrm{s}`$, i.e., the difference between the latitude of emergence, $`\lambda _\mathrm{e}`$, and the starting latitude in the overshoot region, for flux tubes with different initial magnetic field strengths, $`B_\mathrm{s}`$.

The deflection is largest for flux tubes starting at low latitudes. It decreases considerably with increasing $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}`$ and eventually drops to zero at high latitudes. Flux tubes starting above $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}60\mathrm{°}`$ essentially do not show any deflection. The poleward deflection depends only marginally on the initial magnetic field strength. At moderate latitudes, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ becomes somewhat smaller for increasing $`B_\mathrm{s}`$, because the larger buoyancy force leads to a more radial rise through the convection zone.

### 4.3 Longitudinal distributions

Figure 5 shows examples of longitudinal distributions of erupting flux tubes in a binary star. Owing to the wave-like character of the instability, the longitude of emergence, $`\varphi _\mathrm{e}`$, differs from the formation longitude of a rising loop in the overshoot region. In a single star, an azimuthal shift of the localised perturbation by an offset $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$ yields the same offset in the longitude of emergence.

Under the action of tidal forces in a deformed binary star, however, the dynamics and evolution of a flux tube depend on the value of $`\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$. The longitudes of emergence thus exhibit a deviation from the uniform distribution for a single star, with the amplitude of the $`\pi `$-periodic deviation depending on the $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ values of the initial flux ring. This results in a non-uniform longitudinal distribution of erupting flux tubes (represented in Fig. 5 by the histograms at the left side of each panel), which show clear indications for preferred longitude ranges of flux eruption: beside cases with only marginal, if any, longitudinal non-uniformity, there are cases of highly peaked distributions as well as distributions where a broad longitudinal interval is preferred.

#### 4.3.1 High latitudes ($`\lambda _\mathrm{s}=65\mathrm{}80\mathrm{°}`$)

Figure 6 shows the longitudinal patterns of emergence for high initial latitudes, based on the corresponding histogram for each $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ configuration.

The shading indicates the amount of longitudinal clustering of erupting flux tubes. For $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}80\mathrm{°}`$ we have Parker-type instabilities with the azimuthal wave number $`m=1`$ and almost flat distributions in longitude. For latitudes between $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}65\mathrm{}75\mathrm{°}`$ and moderate field strengths considerable asymmetries appear in the form of highly peaked distributions or broad preferred intervals. In some cases, up to $`45\%`$ of all flux tubes of a $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ configuration emerge within a longitude interval of only $`9\mathrm{°}`$ width. Apart from a decreasing tendency for clustering with increasing field strength, there is no concise systematic dependency of the longitude distribution of these features on the initial $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ parameters.

#### 4.3.2 Intermediate latitudes ($`\lambda _\mathrm{s}=30\mathrm{}60\mathrm{°}`$)

The evolution of flux tubes starting at intermediate latitudes are significantly affected by tidal effects. Figure 7 shows longitudinal distributions of erupting flux tubes starting between $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}=30\mathrm{}60\mathrm{°}`$ in the overshoot region.

In the domain of Parker-type instabilities with the azimuthal wave number $`m=2`$ (left to the vertical black lines), the concentration and orientation of clusters of emerging flux tubes depends systematically on the initial values $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$. The most prominent clusters occur for $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}35\mathrm{}40\mathrm{°}`$ and $`B_\mathrm{s}8\mathrm{}1410^4\mathrm{G}`$. An important aspect is the orientation of preferred longitudes with respect to the direction of the companion star at $`\varphi =0`$. Figure 7 shows that clusters basically show up at all orientations depending on the initial configuration. Since there is no unique orientation for all configurations we use the term *preferred longitude* in relation to the clustering of erupting tubes for an individual $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ configuration. For increasing magnetic field strength near the instability threshold, the clusters are shifted toward smaller longitudes (retrograde with respect to the rotation of the system), whereas for high $`B_\mathrm{s}`$ this trend reverses and the clusters shift toward larger longitudes (prograde). The slope of this longitudinal shift as a function of field strength depends on the starting latitude of the tube. At small $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}`$, the slope is rather large and an increase of $`B_\mathrm{s}`$ by about $`510^3\mathrm{G}`$ can result in an azimuthal shift of the cluster by $`90\mathrm{°}`$. The slope decreases considerably with increasing starting latitude and approaches zero at $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}55\mathrm{°}`$. Here the orientation of clusters is apparently independent of the magnetic field strength, thus representing a kind of *fixed* preferred longitudes. However, in this case the clustering is rather weak. The shift rate seems to be related to the amount of clustering, with more concentrated clusters showing larger shift rates.

#### 4.3.3 Low latitudes ($`\lambda _\mathrm{s}=0\mathrm{}25\mathrm{°}`$)

Longitudinal distributions of erupting flux tubes starting at equatorial latitudes ($`\lambda _\mathrm{s}10\mathrm{°}`$) and liable to the Parker-type instability with wave number $`m=1`$ do not show significant non-uniformities. For $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}=15\mathrm{}25\mathrm{°}`$, flux tubes become unstable above $`B_\mathrm{s}1.410^5\mathrm{G}`$ with the dominating wave mode $`m=2`$. This domain of initial configurations is characterised by a particular evolutionary behaviour: flux tubes with the same $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ do not exhibit a systematic continuous dependence of the emergence longitude on $`\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$ like in Fig. 5, but an irregular distribution. This aspect of the simulation results is discussed in more detail in Sect. 5.

### 4.4 Surface distributions

Figure 8 shows polar projections of the surface distributions of erupting flux tubes with different initial field strengths, $`B_\mathrm{s}`$, combining both longitudinal and latitudinal information with the grid of simulations $`(\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _\mathrm{s},\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _\mathrm{s})=(9\mathrm{°},5\mathrm{°})`$ shown in the left panel of Fig. 2.

Owing to the poleward deflection and the azimuthal non-uniformities induced by tidal effects, the surface distributions deviate considerably form the uniform distribution of initial flux tubes at the bottom of the convection zone and typically show features on opposite sides of the stellar hemisphere resulting from the dominating $`\pi `$-periodicity of tidal effects. While some parts of the surface are avoided by erupting flux tubes, like the equatorial belt below about $`25\mathrm{°}`$, they gather in other regions to form clusters of flux eruption. For low magnetic field strengths, only a few flux tubes starting from intermediate latitudes reach the surface, whereas the majority of tubes at other latitudes does not leave the overshoot region owing to their stable initial configuration. For increasing field strengths more flux tubes become unstable and contribute to the overall surface pattern erupting particularly at moderate and high latitudes. The flux eruption at high latitudes is mainly due to the flow instability, which results in clusters, if any, covering broad longitudinal intervals. Flux tubes erupting at moderate latitudes are due to Parker-type instabilities with wave number $`m=1`$ starting at low initial latitudes. These configurations hardly show longitudinal asymmetries. However, flux tubes starting at somewhat higher latitudes with $`m=2`$ experience a smaller poleward deflection and emerge at moderate latitudes, too, showing considerably non-uniform longitudinal distributions. At intermediate latitudes and high field strengths the extended and less pronounced clusters are due to the flow instability. The systematic dependence of preferred longitudes, which is discernible in the distributions shown in Fig. 7, is less evident in the surface patterns, because, owing to the variable poleward deflection, flux tubes from different initial latitudes emerge in the same surface area. Since the orientation of clusters in distributions with the same field strength $`B_\mathrm{s}`$ but different latitudes $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}`$ are usually not the same, their superposition in the surface pattern sometimes leads to broader emergence patterns. However, particularly at low field strengths, the existence of considerable clusters at preferred longitudes remain, while for higher field strengths significant non-uniformities are still discernible in the overall surface patterns.

### 4.5 Dependence on system period

We have investigated the influence of the magnitude of the tidal effects by considering systems with orbital periods $`T=1\mathrm{d}`$ and $`5\mathrm{d}`$, which correspond to binary separations $`a=5.3R_{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`15.5R_{\mathrm{}}`$, respectively. Figure 9 shows a comparison of longitudinal distributions of eruption for flux tubes with intermediate initial latitudes and field strengths $`B_\mathrm{s}=1\mathrm{}1.510^5\mathrm{G}`$.

In the case $`T=5\mathrm{d}`$, most longitudinal distributions show hardly any significant clusters of eruption. Merely for $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}=60\mathrm{°}`$ there are some non-uniformities, which indicate that tidal effects can still be effective for some initial tube configurations. The case $`T=2\mathrm{d}`$, the reference case discussed in detail above, shows the existence of considerable emergence clusters and the systematic dependence of their orientation on the initial tube configuration. For the shorter orbital period $`T=1\mathrm{d}`$ the degree of clustering increases. However, for some initial tube configurations there is a transition from highly peaked distributions toward more extended preferred intervals. In contrast to highly peaked clusters these patterns of eruption are rather characterised by an avoidance of certain longitudinal intervals.

## 5 Discussion

Our results show that the presence of the companion star in a close binary system can considerably alter the evolution and surface distribution of erupting magnetic flux tubes. The actual influence of tidal effects on a rising flux tube depends on its initial magnetic field strength, $`B_\mathrm{s}`$, and latitude, $`\lambda _\mathrm{s}`$. This includes the stability properties of the initial flux ring in the overshoot region, i.e., the instability mechanism and the azimuthal wave number, $`m`$, of the dominating unstable eigenmode, which governs the character of the subsequent non-linear evolution. In our range of parameters, only single-loop tubes (with $`m=1`$) and double-loop tubes (with $`m=2`$) appear.

The properties of erupting flux tubes can roughly be classified according to their linear instability mechanism as determined in HSI. In the domain of Parker-type instabilities, erupting single-loop tubes starting at either low or very high latitudes tend to form uniform longitudinal patterns of eruption, whereas double-loop tubes result in clusters of eruption concentrated in narrow longitudinal intervals. This specific behaviour is presumably due to the congruency between the double-loop geometry of the rising tube and the $`\pi `$-periodicity of the tidal effects, which enables a *resonant* interaction. Although there is no globally unique orientation for the clusters of eruption, the longitudinal shift of the clusters (usually prograde with increasing $`B_\mathrm{s}`$) can become very small and even vanish leading to *fixed* preferred longitudes at a certain latitude. Tubes erupting due to the flow instability show a strong susceptibility to tidal effects leading to extended preferred intervals. In contrast to the domain of the Parker-type instability with $`m=2`$, the orientations of the preferred intervals in this case lack a systematic dependence on initial tube parameters. Particularly at high latitudes and high field strengths the flow instability is responsible for the majority of erupting flux tubes. The dependence of the evolution of flux tubes on the instability mechanism (with similar initial configurations otherwise) indicates that the formation of non-uniformities at the surface is not only a matter of the tidal forces acting during the non-linear rise of the flux tubes through the convection zone, but also affected by stability properties in the overshoot region. While the Parker-type instability is basically a buoyancy-driven mechanism and thus susceptible to perturbations of gravity and stellar structure, the flow instability is more related to the tube parameters, namely its diameter and the relative velocity perpendicular to the environment.

For some $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ combinations the set of erupting flux tubes does not yield a continuous function $`\varphi _\mathrm{e}(\varphi _\mathrm{s})`$ like the ones shown in Fig. 5. Instead, they yield either piecewise steady functions, which frequently alternate between two branches or irregular distributions, which show no obvious relation to the original shift of perturbation longitudes, $`\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$. These particular configurations with irregular distributions are limited to $`B_\mathrm{s}1.510^5\mathrm{G},\lambda _\mathrm{s}15\mathrm{}35\mathrm{°}`$, a parameter domain mainly showing a Parker-type instability with $`m=2`$, which roughly coincides with the region of retarded flux eruption described in Sect. 4.1. Because of the dominating unstable wave mode with $`m=2`$, two loops of similar size form at opposite sides of the initially toroidal flux tube in the overshoot region and enter the convection zone, whereby the wave-like character of the instability causes a longitudinal propagation. Non-linearities lead to slightly different evolutions of the two loops, so that the early stage of the development is characterised by consecutive changes of the dominance between both loops until one of them prevails and eventually emerges. In this stage, the time delays of rising flux loops described above entail longitudinal offsets owing to their wave-like propagation. Flux tubes starting with different values $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$ may suffer different time delays before they resume their rise and emerge at the surface. The originally continuous phase shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _\mathrm{s}`$ imprinted on a set of flux tubes is thus annihilated and the resulting longitudinal distribution irregular. Since for any $`(B_\mathrm{s},\lambda _\mathrm{s})`$ configuration only twenty simulations (per semi-hemisphere) are accomplished, the irregular distributions can however exhibit non-uniformities due to the small statistical sample. For a large number of simulations we would expect a rather uniform distribution.

The trajectories of rising flux tubes exhibit the poleward deflection typical for fast rotators, which is caused by the dominance of the Coriolis force over the buoyancy force (Schüssler & Solanki 1992). The latitudinal deflection leads to an overlap of patterns of erupting flux tubes with different initial latitudes, which results in a superposition of clusters at different longitudes thus broadening the range of preferred longitudes in the surface distributions. The deflection is largest for flux tubes starting at equatorial and low latitudes and decreases for intermediate and high initial latitudes. An explanation for the observed high-latitude and polar spots in the framework of the present erupting flux tube model thus requires large amounts of magnetic flux at high latitudes in the overshoot region, either generated by a suitable dynamo mechanism or transported by large-scale motions inside the convection zone. Alternatively, flux erupting at lower latitudes may be transported toward the pole by meridional motions (Schrijver & Title 2001).

The investigation of binary systems with different orbital periods, i.e., distance between the components, shows that the non-uniformities become more pronounced with stronger tidal effects. The orbital period of about $`T5\mathrm{d}`$ for the onset of clustering is in agreement with the results from Heckert & Ordway (1995). In general, the non-uniformities increase for smaller orbital periods, but this trend is accompanied by a transition from clusters localised in narrow longitudinal intervals to broader intervals, up to major fractions of the stellar circumference. The number of cases with irregular longitudinal distributions increases for smaller orbital periods. This is in accordance with our interpretation that, with a closer proximity of the companion star, the resonant interaction between the tube and the tidal effects becomes more efficient and eventually ends up in an analogy to the ‘resonant catastrophe’ of a driven oscillator.

The action of tidal effects on the dynamics of magnetic flux tubes is basically a *cumulative* effect, which proceeds and adds up during the entire rise from the overshoot region up to the surface. During this time, an individual flux tube is subject to further interactions with, e.g., turbulent convective motions, differential rotation, meridional flows, and with other concentrations of magnetic flux. Although these additional interactions may modify the evolution and alter the final location of eruption to some extent, we do not expect them to severely diminish the characteristic *non*-axisymmetric influence of the companion star since they are presumably axisymmetric on average. However, it should be kept in mind that the applied thin flux tube model represents a rough simplification of the magnetic field structure in convective stellar envelopes.

The distributions of flux eruption shown above allow *statistical* predictions, which apply to large numbers of erupting flux tubes with similar initial configurations. Our simulations are based on flux tubes evenly distributed in latitude as well as on perturbations evenly distributed in longitude. A changing situation in the overshoot region, e.g., a dependence of the amount of magnetic flux on latitude due to a particular dynamo mechanism or a dependence of tube perturbations on longitude due to a dependence of convective motions on tidal effects, could, in principle, be taken into account by folding the specific initial condition with the present non-linear mapping of rising flux tubes from the bottom of the convection zone to the top. Although the frequently observed occurrence of spot clusters at opposite sides of stellar hemispheres can consistently be explained by the dominance of the $`\pi `$-periodic contributions of tidal effects, our time-independent patterns of emergence do not immediately allow a description of the frequently observed azimuthal migration of spot clusters in time (Strassmeier 1994; Rodonò et al. 1995, 2000; Berdyugina & Tuominen 1998). However, a non-stationary dynamo mechanism with latitudinal propagation of a dynamo wave would lead to a time- and latitude-dependent field strength and magnetic flux, so that the systematic dependence of the cluster longitudes on field strength shown in Fig. 7 could transform into a longitudinal migration of the spot clusters in time.

We considered a binary system with two solar-type main sequence components to investigate the basic effects of tidal interaction on the evolution of erupting flux tubes. Although the results shown here are consistent with some observations, there are observed spot properties which are not explained by our results, like spots at very low latitudes or fixed spot clusters around the substellar point (Lanza et al. 2001, 2002; Oláh et al. 2002). RS CVn systems, however, typically consist of at least one (sub-)giant component with a much deeper convective envelope than the Sun, leading to the assumption that the formation and orientation of spot clusters are not exclusively dependent on the binary separation alone, but also in a more complicated way on the type and structure of the star. The deep convection zone of a giant, for example, will probably modify the properties of patterns of eruption owing to the cumulative character of the interaction between the rising flux tube and the companion star.

## 6 Conclusion

Erupting flux tubes in binary stars are considerably affected by the tidal influence of the companion star. Although the magnitude of tidal effects – the tidal force and the deviation of the stellar structure from spherical symmetry – are rather small for the systems considered here, they are capable to alter the surface distributions of erupting flux tubes. This results in clusters of emerging flux tubes at preferred longitudes and in the formation of spot clusters on opposite sides of the active component. We consider two main reasons for this behaviour:

1. Contrary to single-loop tubes, which are not strongly affected, the geometry of double-loop tubes (with azimuthal wave number $`m=2`$) allows of an efficient *resonant interaction* with the congruent $`\pi `$-periodic structure of the dominating tidal effects.
2. Since the rise of magnetic flux tubes from the bottom of the convection zone until eruption at the surface takes about several months or years, the *cumulation of the tidal effects* leads to a strong influence on the resulting emergence pattern.

The distributions of erupting flux tubes shown here are based on uniformly distributed initial conditions (distributions of flux tubes and their localised perturbation inside the overshoot-region). More realistic spot distributions require the application of a dynamo model, which determines the spatial and temporal distribution of magnetic flux at the bottom of the convection zone. Furthermore, calculated surface distributions for one system cannot easily be used for other systems with different stellar or orbital parameters since changes of these quantities alter the tube evolution and patterns of emergence; individual studies have to be carried out for each system.

###### Acknowledgements.

Volkmar Holzwarth thanks Prof. S. K. Solanki and Prof. F. Moreno-Insertis for valuable discussions and the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie in Katlenburg-Lindau and the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik in Freiburg/Brsg. for financial support during the accomplishment of this work.