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# KMS states on C*-algebras associated to expansive maps

## 1. Introduction

In the C\*-algebraic formulation of quantum statistical mechanics KMS states are equilibrium states associated to the one-parameter group of automorphisms of time evolution (see \[BR, §5.3\]). This association mirrors that of a faithful normal state on a von Neumann algebra to its modular automorphism group. Our main result concerns the C\*-algebra associated to a positively expansive exact local homeomorphism $`T`$ defined on a compact metric space $`X`$ (see \[D, R3\]). A continuous real-valued function $`\phi `$ on $`X`$ gives rise to a one-parameter group of automorphisms on the C\*-algebra. We apply Walters’ version of the Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius Theorem and groupoid techniques to establish existence and uniqueness of KMS states under mild hypotheses on $`\phi `$; in particular, if $`\phi `$ is positive and Hölder continuous there is a unique KMS state (this generalizes recent work of Exel, cf. \[Ex3\]).

When a C-algebra $`A`$ is written as the C-algebra of a groupoid $`G`$ (by the construction of \[R1\]), a natural problem is to describe its structure in terms of $`G`$. For example, positive results about the ideal structure (see \[R2\]) or the K-theory (see \[T\]) of groupoid C-algebras have been obtained, especially in the amenable case. The scope of this paper is more limited. Let $`G`$ be a locally compact groupoid with Haar system (for convenience, we assume that $`G`$ is étale and Hausdorff) and let $`C^{}(G)`$ be its C-algebra. Every continuous cocycle $`cZ^1(G,𝐑)`$ defines a one-parameter automorphism group $`\alpha _c`$ of $`C^{}(G)`$ as in \[R1, Section II.5\]. First, we show in Proposition 3.2 that if $`c^1(0)`$ is principal, then the KMS states of $`\alpha _c`$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ are exactly the quasi-invariant probability measures which admit $`e^{\beta c}`$ as Radon-Nikodym derivative. This extends \[R1, Proposition II.5.4\], which gave a complete answer only when $`G`$ itself is principal. There certainly exist improvements of this result (see Remark 3.4), but it suffices for our purpose. Then, we apply this result to the Cuntz-like C-algebras of \[D, R3\]. These algebras are of the form $`C^{}(G)`$, where $`G=G(X,T)`$ and $`(X,T)`$ is a dynamical system where $`X`$ is a compact space and $`T`$ is a surjective local homeomorphism (see below). Proposition 3.2 reduces the KMS problem to a Radon-Nikodym problem which fits the framework of the thermodynamical formalism. Under classical assumptions on the dynamical system $`(X,T)`$ and on the potential $`\phi C(X,𝐑)`$ defining the cocycle $`c_\phi Z^1(G,𝐑)`$, Ruelle’s Perron-Frobenius theorem can be applied to obtain existence and uniqueness results. Theorem 3.5 summarizes our results about KMS states of these automorphism groups. We assume that $`T`$ is positively expansive and exact (see Proposition 2.1). We first give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of KMS states at inverse temperature $`\beta `$, namely the equation $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$, where $`P`$ is the pressure. Under the assumption that $`\phi `$ satisfies the Walters condition, we give a necessary condition ($`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal) for the existence of KMS states. If $`\phi `$ satisfies the Bowen condition and has constant sign, then we have the existence and the uniqueness of the KMS inverse temperature and state. Our results, which complete \[R4, Section 4.2\], strictly cover previous results about KMS states of gauge one-parameter automorphism groups of Cuntz and Cuntz-Krieger algebras obtained by a number of authors (e.g. \[OP, Ev, EFW, Z, KP, Ex2\]); although they do not use groupoid techniques as we do, Kerr-Pinzari in \[KP\] and Exel in \[Ex2\] also make essential use of Ruelle’s transfer operator.

Our work is organized as follows. In Section 2, we recall the definition of the groupoid $`G(X,T)`$ and some facts pertaining to the dynamics of a positively expansive map on a compact metrice space. Section 3 contains our results about KMS states and a list of examples. Besides the cases previously studied, we give an example of a unique KMS state for a potential which does not have a constant sign. Section 4 gives some properties of the associated crossed product C-algebras.

The first author wishes to thank the Université d’Orléans for its support.

## 2. Preliminaries

For $`X`$ a locally compact space and $`T:XX`$ a local homeomorphism, we let $`G=G(X,T)`$ denote the associated groupoid (see \[D, R3\]) where

$$G(X,T)=\{(x,mn,y):T^mx=T^ny\}.$$

This is an étale groupoid (a topological groupoid with structure maps that are local homeomorphisms); note that the unit space $`G^0`$ may be identified with $`X`$ via the map $`x(x,0,x)`$. The subgroupoid for which $`m=n`$, denoted $`R=R(X,T)`$, is an approximately proper equivalence relation (see \[R4, R5\]). Note that $`R=_nR_n`$ where $`(x,y)R_n`$ if $`T^mx=T^ny`$ and $`C^{}(R_n)`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C_0(X)`$.

Let $`X`$ be a compact metric space with metric $`\rho `$ which is fixed throughout and assumed to contain infinitely many points. A continuous surjection $`T:XX`$ is said to be positively expansive if there is an $`ϵ>0`$ such that if $`xy`$ then $`\rho (T^nx,T^ny)ϵ`$ for some $`n0`$. Note that this property does not depend on the choice of the metric and can be expressed topologically as follows: there is an open subset $`U`$ of $`X\times X`$ which contains the diagonal such that for all $`xy`$ there is an $`n𝐍`$ with $`(T^nx,T^ny)U`$. Observe that $`T`$ is not a homeomorphism, for we have assumed that $`X`$ is not finite (see \[AH, 2.2.12\]).

Let $`T:XX`$ be positively expansive. By \[Rd\] there are an equivalent metric $`\rho ^{}`$ and constants $`\tau >0`$, $`\kappa >1`$ such that if $`\rho ^{}(x,y)<\tau `$ then $`\rho (Tx,Ty)\kappa \rho ^{}(x,y)`$. If $`T`$ is open then it is a local homeomorphism (such a map is called expanding in \[AH\]); see \[AH, 2.2.21\] for an example due to Rosenholtz of a positively expansive map which is not open and therefore not a local homeomorphism.

Then Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism. Then $`T`$ is said to be exact if for every non-empty open set $`UX`$ there is an $`n>0`$ such that $`T^n(U)=X`$ (this property is called mixing in \[FJ, §2\]). We say that $`T`$ satisfies the weak specification condition if for every $`ϵ>0`$ there is $`n>0`$ such that for all $`xX`$, $`T^nx`$ is $`ϵ`$-dense, that is, we have

$$X=\underset{yT^nx}{}B(y,ϵ),$$

where $`T^nx=\{yXT^ny=x\}`$ and $`B(y,ϵ)`$ is the open ball of radius $`ϵ`$ centered at $`y`$ (cf. \[W3, 1.2\] where this is listed as one of four equivalent conditions for a positively expansive local homeomorphism).

###### Proposition 2.1.

Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism. Then the following conditions are equivalent:

* $`R`$ is minimal.
* $`T`$ is exact.
* $`T`$ satisfies the weak specification condition.

###### Proof.

The equivalence of (i) and (ii) follows by the compactness of $`X`$. For the minimality of $`R`$ is equivalent to the condition that the saturation of any non-empty open set is all of $`X`$. Now suppose that (ii) holds and fix $`ϵ>0`$. By compactness there are $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_mX`$ such that $`X_iB(x_i,ϵ/2)`$. By (ii) there is $`n>0`$ such that $`T^n(B(x_i,ϵ/2))=X`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},m`$. To show that $`T`$ satisfies the weak specification condition, we verify that $`T^nx`$ is $`ϵ`$-dense for every $`xX`$. Given $`x,zX`$ there is an $`i`$ such that $`\rho (z,x_i)<ϵ/2`$. Since $`T^n(B(x_i,ϵ/2))=X`$, $`B(x_i,ϵ/2)T^nx\mathrm{}`$. Choose an element $`y`$ in this set; then we have

$$\rho (z,y)\rho (z,x_i)+\rho (x_i,y)<ϵ$$

and $`T^nx`$ is $`ϵ`$-dense as required. Now suppose that $`T`$ satisfies the weak specification condition. We verify that $`R`$ is minimal, that is, every orbit under $`R`$ is dense. Given $`xX`$, the orbit of $`x`$ is given by $`_nT^n(T^nx)`$; for $`ϵ>0`$, there is $`n>0`$ so that $`T^n(T^nx)`$ is $`ϵ`$-dense by weak specification. Hence, the orbit of $`x`$ is dense. ∎

###### Example 2.2.

Fix $`n𝐍`$, $`n>1`$, and let $`X=\{(x_0,x_1,\mathrm{})x_i=1,2,\mathrm{},n\}`$. For $`x,yX`$ with $`xy`$, set $`\rho (x,y)=2^j`$ where $`j=\mathrm{min}\{ix_iy_i\}`$ and define $`T:XX`$ by $`T(x_0,x_1,\mathrm{})=(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{})`$. Then $`X`$ is a compact metric space and $`T`$ is a positively expansive local homeomorphism which satisfies the weak specification condition. The map $`T`$ is often called the Bernoulli shift on $`n`$ letters. Note that $`C^{}(G)`$ is the Cuntz algebra $`𝒪_n`$ (see \[Cu\]), which is generated by $`n`$ isometries $`S_1,\mathrm{},S_n`$ subject to the relation

$$1=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}S_jS_j^{}.$$

###### Example 2.3.

(see \[CK\]) Let $`A`$ be an irreducible $`n\times n`$ zero-one matrix $`A=(A(i,j))_{1i,jn}`$. Then $`A`$ defines a closed subset $`X_A`$ of $`X`$ above

$$X_A=\{xX:A(x_i,x_{i+1})=1\}.$$

Note that $`TX_AX_A`$ and let $`T_A:X_AX_A`$ denote the restriction. Such a map is called a subshift of finite type. Note that $`T_A`$ is a positively expansive local homeomorphism; but it does not necessarily satisfy the weak specification condition unless $`A`$ is primitive (i.e. there is a positive integer $`k`$ such that all entries of $`A^k`$ are nonzero). Note, $`C^{}(G)𝒪_A`$, where $`𝒪_A`$ is the Cuntz-Krieger algebra associated to the matrix $`A`$; $`𝒪_A`$ is also generated by $`n`$ isometries.

###### Example 2.4.

Fix $`n>1`$; let $`X=𝐓=𝐑/𝐙`$ and define $`T:XX`$ by $`Tx=nx`$. We endow $`X`$ with the arclength metric. Then $`T`$ is a positively expansive local homeomorphism which satisfies the weak specification condition. More generally an integer $`k\times k`$ matrix, all of whose eigenvalues exceed one in absolute value, defines a positively expansive local homeomorphism on $`X=𝐓^k=𝐑^k/𝐙^k`$ (see \[AH\]).

Let $`C(X;𝐑)`$ denote the space of continuous real-valued functions on $`𝐑`$. Then for $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ we define the transfer operator $`_\phi :C(X;𝐑)C(X;𝐑)`$ by the formula

$$(_\phi f)(x)=\underset{yT^1x}{}e^{\phi (y)}f(y).$$

The following proposition is an easy consequence of Theorem 1.3 and Corollary 2.3 of \[W3\]. The pressure $`P(T,\phi )`$ of $`T`$ at $`\phi `$ is defined in \[W2, §9.1\].

###### Proposition 2.5.

Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism which is positively expansive and exact and let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$. There is a unique $`\lambda >0`$ such that

$$_\phi ^{}\mu =\lambda \mu $$

for some probability measure $`\mu `$ on $`X`$. Moreover, $`\mathrm{log}\lambda =P(T,\phi )`$ and the sequence $`\frac{1}{n}\mathrm{log}(_\phi ^n1)`$ converges uniformly to the constant $`P(T,\phi )`$.

Note that $`P(T,0)=h(T)`$, the topological entropy of $`T`$ (see \[W2, 9.7i\]).

###### Corollary 2.6.

Let $`T:XX`$ be as above. Then $`h(T)>0`$.

###### Proof.

Apply the above proposition with $`\phi =0`$. Then there is a probability measure $`\mu `$ on $`X`$ such that

$$_0^{}\mu =e^{h(T)}\mu .$$

Arguing as in \[R3, Corollary 4.3\] we may deduce that $`\mu `$ is quasi-invariant under $`G`$. By Proposition 2.1, $`R`$ is minimal and therefore $`\mu `$ must be faithful. We have $`_0(1)>1`$. Hence

$$e^{h(T)}=_0^{}\mu (1)=\mu (_0(1))>\mu (1)=1.$$

Thus $`h(T)>0`$ as required. ∎

To ensure that the measure $`\mu `$ is unique we will need to impose a condition on the function $`\phi `$.

###### Definition 2.7.

(see \[W3, §1\], \[Ru\]) A function $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ is said to satisfy the Bowen condition with respect to $`T:XX`$ if there are $`\delta ,C>0`$ such that

$$\underset{i=0}{\overset{n1}{}}\phi (T^ix)\phi (T^iy)C$$

for all $`x,yX`$ and $`n>0`$ such that $`d(T^ix,T^iy)\delta `$ for $`0in1`$.

The Walters condition introduced in \[W1\] by P. Walters requires that $`C`$ can be chosen arbitrarily small (then $`\delta `$ depends on $`C`$). Recall that a real-valued function $`\phi `$ defined on a compact metric space $`(X,\rho )`$ is said to be Hölder continuous if there are constants $`r,K>0`$ such that $`|\phi (x)\phi (y)|K\rho (x,y)^r`$ for all $`x,yX`$. Observe that a Hölder continuous function satisfies the Walters condition. To show this we may assume that we are dealing with a Reddy metric; if $`\delta \tau `$, then the above sum is not greater than $`C=K\delta ^r\kappa ^r/(\kappa ^r1)`$. If $`X`$ is a smooth manifold, then differentiability implies Hölder continuity.

By Walters’ version of the Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius Theorem (cf. \[W3, Theorem 2.16\] and \[W1, Theorem 8\]) we have:

###### Theorem 2.8.

Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism which is positively expansive and exact and let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$.

* Assume that $`\phi `$ satisfies the Bowen condition. Then there are unique $`\lambda >0`$ and $`\mu M(X)`$ such that

$$_\phi ^{}\mu =\lambda \mu .$$
* Assume that $`\phi `$ satisfies the Walters condition. Then there is also $`hC(X,𝐑)`$, $`h>0`$ such that

$$_\phi h=\lambda h.$$

A proof of the assertion $`(i)`$ of this theorem is given in \[R5, Theorem 6.1 and Proposition 7.2\].

## 3. KMS states

Our main result on existence and uniqueness of KMS states is contained in Theorem 3.5 below. If $`G`$ is an étale groupoid we let $`C^{}(G)`$ denote the full C-algebra of $`G`$ as defined in \[R1, Chapter II\]. Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism which is positively expansive and exact. Then if $`G=G(X,T)`$ is the groupoid constructed above, $`C^{}(G)`$ is purely infinite and simple (see \[An\]). We shall mainly be concerned with KMS states on such C-algebras.

###### Definition 3.1.

Let $`A`$ be a C\*-algebra, $`\beta 𝐑`$ and let $`\alpha :𝐑\mathrm{Aut}(A)`$ be a strongly continuous action. Then a state $`\omega `$ on $`A`$ is said to satisfy the KMS condition for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ if

$$\omega (b\alpha _{i\beta }(a))=\omega (ab)$$

for all $`a,bA`$ with $`a`$ entire for $`\alpha `$ (see \[BEK\], \[P, §8.12\], \[BR, §5.3\]).

Let $`G`$ be an étale groupoid and let $`cZ^1(G,𝐑)`$ be a continuous real-valued one-cocycle. Let $`\alpha ^c:𝐑\mathrm{Aut}(C^{}(G))`$ denote the associated action on $`C^{}(G)`$ defined for $`fC_c(G)`$ by $`(\alpha _t^c(f))(\gamma )=e^{itc(\gamma )}f(\gamma )`$ for $`\gamma G`$ and $`t𝐑`$. Let $`\mu `$ be a quasi-invariant probability measure on the unit space $`G^{(0)}`$ and $`\beta 𝐑`$; then $`\mu `$ is said to satisfy the $`(c,\beta )`$-KMS condition if the modular function of $`\mu `$ (i.e. the Radon-Nikodym derivative $`dr^{}\mu /ds^{}\mu `$) is $`e^{\beta c}`$ (see \[R1, Def. I.3.15\]). The associated state on $`C^{}(G)`$ defined by $`\omega _\mu (f)=_{G^{(0)}}f(x)𝑑\mu (x)`$ for $`fC_c(G)`$ satisfies the KMS condition for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$. It is shown in \[R1, Prop. II.5.4\] that if $`G`$ is principal then every KMS state arises in this fashion. Since a groupoid associated to a local homeomorphism need not be principal, we need an extension of this result. For the sake of simplicity, we only consider the case of a locally compact groupoid which is étale and Hausdorff.

###### Proposition 3.2.

Let $`G`$ be an étale and Hausdorff groupoid. Let $`cZ^1(G,𝐑)`$ be a continuous real-valued one-cocycle and let $`\alpha `$ denote the associated action. Assume that $`c^1(0)`$ is principal. Then every KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ is of the form $`\omega _\mu `$ for some quasi-invariant probability measure $`\mu `$ on $`G^{(0)}`$ with Radon-Nikodym derivative $`dr^{}\mu /ds^{}\mu =e^{\beta c_\phi }`$.

###### Proof.

Our assumption means that $`c^1(0)G^{}X`$, where $`G^{}`$ is the isotropy bundle $`\{\gamma G:r(\gamma )=s(\gamma )\}`$ and $`X=G^{(0)}`$. Replacing $`c`$ by $`\beta c`$, we may assume that $`\beta =1`$. Thus, let $`\omega `$ be a KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`1`$. Then the restriction of $`\omega `$ to $`C_0(X)`$ defines a probability measure $`\mu `$ on $`X`$. It is shown in \[R1, II.5.4\] that $`\mu `$ is quasi-invariant with the requisite modular function.

The restriction of $`\omega `$ to $`C_c(G)`$ is a complex Radon measure and defines a complex measure $`\nu `$ on $`G`$ ($`\mu `$ is the restriction of $`\nu `$ to $`X`$). We show just as in \[R1, II.5.4\] that the support of $`\nu `$ is contained in the closed set $`G^{}`$. Because of the KMS condition, we have $`\omega ((hr)f)=\omega (f(hs))`$ for all $`fC_c(G),hC_c(X)`$. Suppose that the support of $`gC_c(G)`$ does not meet $`G^{}`$. Then there exist open sets $`U_i,V_iX`$, $`iI`$ finite, such that $`\{G_{U_i}^{V_i},iI\}`$ covers the support of $`g`$ and $`U_iV_i=\mathrm{}`$ for all $`iI`$. Using a partition of unity, we can write $`g=_Ig_i`$ where the support of $`g_i`$ contained in $`G_{U_i}^{V_i}`$. For all $`iI`$, there exist $`h_iC_c(X)`$ such that $`(hr)g_i=g_i`$ and $`g_i(hs)=0`$. This implies $`\omega (g_i)=0`$ and $`\omega (g)=0`$. Next we note that $`\omega `$ is invariant under $`\alpha `$. This implies that for all $`fC_c(G)`$ and all $`t𝐑`$, we have $`\omega (e^{itc}f)=\omega (f)`$. This implies that for all $`t𝐑`$, $`e^{itc}1`$ on the support of $`\nu `$. Therefore the support of $`\nu `$ is contained in $`c^1(0)`$. Thus under our assumption that $`c^1(0)G^{}`$ is contained in $`G^{(0)}`$, the measures $`\nu `$ and $`\mu `$ agree. Then $`\omega `$ and $`\omega _\mu `$ agree on $`C_c(G)`$, hence on $`C^{}(G)`$. ∎

Given a local homeomorphism $`T:XX`$ and $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$, we construct the groupoid $`G=G(X,T)`$ as above. Every $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ defines a continuous one-cocycle $`c=c_\phi Z^1(G,𝐑)`$ by the formula

$$c_\phi (x,mn,y)=\underset{i=0}{\overset{m1}{}}\phi (T^ix)\underset{j=0}{\overset{n1}{}}\phi (T^jy).$$

Moreover every element of $`Z^1(G,𝐑)`$ is of this form (see \[DKM\]). In that case, the condition $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal means that

$$T^n(x)=x\text{and}n1\phi _n(x)\phi (x)+\phi (Tx)+\mathrm{}+\phi (T^{n1}x)0.$$

It implies that $`\phi `$ is not of the form $`\psi T\psi `$. This condition is trivially satisfied when $`\phi `$ is strictly positive (or strictly negative).

###### Corollary 3.3.

Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism and let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$. Let $`\alpha `$ denote the action associated to the cocycle $`c_\phi Z^1(G,𝐑)`$. If $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal, then every KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ is of the form $`\omega _\mu `$ for some quasi-invariant probability measure $`\mu `$ with Radon-Nikodym derivative $`dr^{}\mu /ds^{}\mu =e^{\beta c_\phi }`$.

###### Remark 3.4.

In some cases, one can reach the same conclusion without any assumption on $`\phi `$. For example, if the restriction of the KMS state to $`C(X)`$ induces a probability measure on $`X`$ with no atoms and if $`T`$ is a local homeomorphism which is positively expansive and exact, one also obtains that every KMS state is of the form $`\omega _\mu `$ (using the fact that periodic points of a given period are also isolated).

We are now ready to state the main result concerning the existence and uniqueness of KMS states for the action associated to the cocycle $`c_\phi `$; a key step is to show that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$ has a unique solution (see Corollary 4.3 of \[R3\] and following remarks).

###### Theorem 3.5.

Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism which is positively expansive and exact. Let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ and let $`\alpha `$ be the automorphism group associated to the cocycle $`c_\phi Z^1(G,𝐑)`$.

* There is a KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta 𝐑`$ if and only if $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$.
* Let $`\beta 𝐑`$ such that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$. If $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal and $`\phi `$ satisfies the Bowen condition, then the KMS state at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ is unique.
* Assume that $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is not principal and that $`\phi `$ satisfies the Walters condition. Then, for all $`\beta 𝐑`$, $`P(T,\beta \phi )>0`$. In particular, $`\alpha `$ has no KMS state.
* If $`\phi `$ is strictly positive (resp. strictly negative), there is a unique $`\beta `$ such that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$ and therefore a unique inverse temperature $`\beta `$ at which KMS states exist; moreover, $`\beta >0`$ (resp. $`\beta <0`$): indeed we have

$$\frac{h(T)}{sup\phi }\beta \frac{h(T)}{inf\phi }.$$

If furthermore $`\phi `$ satisfies the Bowen condition, the KMS state at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ is unique.

###### Proof.

For $`(i)`$, we note that if $`\omega `$ is a KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$, the measure $`\mu `$ on $`X`$ given by its restriction to $`C(X)`$ is quasi-invariant with Radon-Nikodym derivative $`e^{\beta c_\phi }`$. This implies (\[R3, Proposition 4.2\]) that $`_{\beta \phi }^{}\mu =\mu `$ and therefore, according to Proposition 2.5, that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$. Conversely, if $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$, the same proposition gives the existence of a quasi-invariant probability measure $`\mu `$ with Radon-Nikodym derivative $`e^{\beta c_\phi }`$. Then, $`\omega _\mu `$ is a KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$. For $`(ii)`$, we note that the assumption that $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal guarantees that every KMS state is of the form $`\omega _\mu `$, where $`\mu `$ is a Perron-Frobenius eigenvector $`_{\beta \phi }^{}\mu =\mu `$ and the second assumption guarantees the uniqueness of this Perron-Frobenius eigenvector. For $`(iii)`$, we assume that $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is not principal and that $`\phi `$ satisfies the Walters condition. According to $`(ii)`$ of Theorem 2.8, there is $`hC(X,𝐑)`$, $`h>0`$, such that $`_\phi h=\lambda h`$, where $`\mathrm{log}\lambda =P(T,\phi )`$. Since $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is not principal, there exists $`n1`$ and $`xX`$ such that $`T^nx=x`$ and $`\phi _n(x)=0`$. Then,

$$\lambda ^nh(x)=_\phi ^nh(x)=\underset{T^ny=x}{}e^{\phi _n(y)}h(y)>h(x).$$

Therefore $`\lambda >1`$ and $`P(T,\phi )>0`$. Similarly $`P(T,\beta \phi )>0`$ for all $`\beta 𝐑`$. According to $`(i)`$, this implies that $`\alpha `$ has no KMS states. For $`(iv)`$, assume that $`\phi `$ is strictly positive. Then, the uniqueness of $`\beta `$ such that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$ follows by the properties of pressure enumerated in \[W2, Theorem 9.7\]. We have $`P(T,0)=h(T)>0`$ (by Corollary 2.6) and $`P(T,\beta \phi )h(T)\beta inf\phi <0`$ for $`\beta `$ sufficiently large. The continuity of $`\beta P(T,\beta \phi )`$ and the intermediate value theorem give the existence of $`\beta >0`$ such that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$. The convexity of this function implies the uniqueness of the solution. The case for strictly negative $`\phi `$ is handled similarly. The inequality follows immediately from \[W2, Theorem 9.7(ii)\]. Since the strict positivity (or negativity) of $`\phi `$ implies that $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal, we can apply $`(ii)`$ to obtain the uniqueness when $`\phi `$ also satisfies the Bowen condition. ∎

###### Remark 3.6.

If $`\phi `$ is chosen to be the constant function $`0`$, then $`\alpha `$ is the identity automorphism group and $`(iii)`$ says that $`C^{}(X,T)`$ has no tracial state. As noted above it is well known that this C-algebra is simple and purely infinite (see \[An\]). If $`\phi `$ is chosen to be the constant function $`1`$, then $`\beta =h(T)`$ the topological entropy (see 3.5(iv)). Since $`\phi `$ trivially satisfies the Bowen condition, there is a unique KMS state; this restricts to a trace on $`C^{}(R)`$. The associated action $`\alpha `$ is the usual gauge action extended to $`𝐑`$. This generalizes results of Olesen and Pedersen (see \[OP\]).

KMS states may fail to exist if $`\phi `$ is not strictly positive (or negative) as the next example shows. But this is not a necessary condition (see Example 3.10).

###### Example 3.7.

Let $`X`$ and $`T`$ be as in Example 2.2 above; recall that $`C^{}(G)𝒪_n`$ is generated by $`n`$ isometries $`S_1,\mathrm{},S_n`$. Given real numbers $`\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n`$ there is a (unique) one-parameter automorphism group $`\alpha :𝐑\mathrm{Aut}(𝒪_n)`$ such that $`\alpha _t(S_j)=e^{it\lambda _j}S_j`$ for $`j=1,2,\mathrm{},n`$. By \[Ev, Prop. 2.2\] there is a KMS state for $`\alpha `$ at inverse temperature $`\beta `$ iff

$$1=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}e^{\beta \lambda _j};$$

in this case the KMS state is unique. This condition holds for some $`\beta `$ exactly when $`\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n`$ all have the same sign (i.e. all are positive or all are negative). Let us deduce these results from Theorem 3.5. We define $`\phi :X𝐑`$ by $`\phi (x)=\lambda _{x_0}`$; then $`\phi `$ is Hölder continuous and $`\alpha `$ is the one-parameter automorphism group associated to the cocycle $`c_\phi `$. Note that we have

$$_{\beta \phi }1_X=(\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}e^{\beta \lambda _j})1_X.$$

Therefore, according to Proposition 2.5, $`_{j=1}^ne^{\beta \lambda _j}`$ is the exponential of the pressure $`P(T,\beta \phi )`$ and Evans’ equation is equivalent to $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$. Thus, for a function $`\phi `$ of that form, a KMS state exists if and only if $`\phi `$ is strictly positive or strictly negative. Theorem 3.5 applies to give uniqueness. Note that there exist $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ of the above form which do not have a constant sign but such that $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal. This shows that the condition that $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal is not sufficient for the existence of KMS states.

###### Example 3.8.

Evans’ example has been generalized to Cuntz-Krieger algebras by J. Zacharias in \[Z\]. Let $`A`$ be an irreducible $`n\times n`$ zero-one matrix $`A=(A(i,j))_{1i,jn}`$ and let $`X_A`$ and $`T_A`$ as in Example 2.3. There are $`n`$ partial isometries $`S_1,\mathrm{},S_n`$ generating $`C^{}(G)𝒪_A`$ and one can define $`\alpha :𝐑\mathrm{Aut}(𝒪_A)`$ just as above. Zacharias has shown in \[Z, Prop. 4.3\] that there is a KMS state for $`\alpha `$ if and only all the $`\lambda _i`$ have the same sign and in this case the KMS state is unique; the inverse temperature $`\beta `$ satisfies the condition that the spectral radius of $`D_\beta A`$ is $`1`$, where $`D_\beta `$ is the diagonal matrix with entries $`e^{\beta \lambda _i}`$. This can be deduced from Theorem 3.5 just as above. We define $`\phi `$ as previously. We find that the pressure $`P(T,\beta \phi )`$ is the logarithm of the the spectral radius of $`D_\beta A`$ and that it can take the value $`0`$ if and only if all the $`\lambda _i`$ have the same sign. Then, we can apply the part $`(iv)`$ of the theorem.

###### Remark 3.9.

KMS states with respect to gauge automorphism groups on Cuntz-Krieger algebras have also been studied by D. Kerr and C. Pinzari in \[KP, Section 7\] and by R. Exel in \[Ex2\]. Given a primitive $`n\times n`$ matrix $`A`$ with zero-one elements, we define $`X=X_A`$ and $`T=T_A`$ as in Example 2.3 and $`𝒪_AC^{}(G(X_A,T_A))`$. The automorphism group $`\alpha ^{b,a}`$, where $`b𝐑`$ and $`aC(X,𝐑)`$, considered in \[KP\] is our automorphism group $`\alpha `$ for $`\phi =ba`$. They consider the KMS problem for $`\alpha ^{b,a}`$ at inverse temperature $`1`$. Our necessary and sufficient condition for existence $`P(T_A,\phi )=0`$ becomes $`b=P(T_A,a)`$. In order to obtain the uniqueness of the KMS state, they assume that the variation of $`a`$ is strictly less than the entropy $`P(T_A,0)`$; since this condition implies the strict positivity of $`\phi =ba`$, their results are covered by Theorem 3.5 . The existence and uniqueness of KMS states in the case where $`(X,T)=(X_A,T_A)`$ and $`\phi `$ is Hölder continuous and strictly positive also appears in \[Ex2, Theorem 4.4\].

###### Example 3.10.

Here is an example where the KMS state is unique but the potential $`\phi `$ does not have a constant sign. Let $`X`$ and $`T`$ be as in Example 2.2 with $`n=2`$. Let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ be defined by

$$\phi (x)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{log}(4/3)\hfill & \text{ if }x_0=0\text{ and }x_1=1\hfill \\ \mathrm{log}3\hfill & \text{ otherwise}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Then we claim that $`\alpha `$ as defined above has a unique KMS state which occurs at inverse temperature $`\beta =1`$. We write $`(X,T)`$ as the shift associated to the stationary Bratteli diagram given by the matrix

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right).$$

Then $`c_\phi `$ is the stationary quasi-product cocycle given by the matrix

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{log}3& \mathrm{log}(4/3)\\ \mathrm{log}3& \mathrm{log}3\end{array}\right).$$

According to Proposition 2.5 and \[R3, Section 3.2\], the pressure $`P(T,\beta \phi )`$ is the logarithm of the spectral radius of the matrix

$$B_\beta =3^\beta \left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 4^\beta \\ 1& 1\end{array}\right).$$

It is a strictly increasing function from $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$ and it takes the value $`0`$ at $`\beta =1`$. In this example, $`c_\phi ^1(0)`$ is principal, $`\phi `$ does not have a constant sign and $`\alpha `$ has a unique KMS state.

###### Remark 3.11.

Let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism, let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ and let $`\alpha `$ denote the action associated to the cocycle $`c_\phi Z^1(G,𝐑)`$. Then the subalgebra $`C^{}(R_n)`$ is invariant under $`\alpha `$ and the restriction of $`\alpha `$ to $`C^{}(R_n)`$ is inner (this is because the restriction of $`c_\phi `$ to $`R_n`$ is a coboundary). It follows then that the restriction of $`\alpha `$ to $`C^{}(R)`$ is approximately inner. It follows by \[P, Proposition 8.12.9\] that $`C^{}(R)`$ has a ground state. Moreover, one may use the methods of \[R5\] to show that KMS states for the restriction of $`\alpha `$ to $`C^{}(R)`$ exist at every inverse temperature $`\beta 𝐑`$. This generalizes Propositions III.1.5 and III.2.9 of \[R1\].

## 4. The crossed product

We collect here some facts concerning the crossed product $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$. If $`T:XX`$ is a local homeomorphism and $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$, then $`\stackrel{~}{T}:X\times 𝐑X\times 𝐑`$ defined by $`\stackrel{~}{T}(x,t)=(x,t+\phi (x))`$ is a local homeomorphism. Moreover, $`G(X\times 𝐑,\stackrel{~}{T})`$ may be identified with the skew product groupoid $`G(c_\phi )`$ and so $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑C^{}(G(X\times 𝐑,\stackrel{~}{T}))`$ (see \[DKM, Example 4\]).

Note that $`G`$ is minimal but $`G(X\times 𝐑,\stackrel{~}{T})`$ may well not be. We consider a necessary and sufficient condition for the minimality of $`G(X\times 𝐑,\stackrel{~}{T})`$: For every $`xX`$, open set $`Ux`$, $`t𝐑`$ and $`ϵ>0`$, there exist $`yU`$, $`m,n𝐍`$ such that $`T^mx=T^ny`$ and $`|c_\phi (x,mn,y)t|<ϵ`$. This condition is equivalent to the requirement that $`R_{\mathrm{}}^x(c_\phi )=𝐑`$ for all $`xX`$ (see \[R1, Definition I.4.3\]). Hence, $`G(X\times 𝐑,\stackrel{~}{T})`$ is minimal and thus $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$ is simple if and only if this condition is satisfied (see \[R1, Proposition I.4.14\]). This condition may be difficult to check but see the examples below. But simplicity of the crossed product also has interesting consequences. The following proposition is a restatement of some earlier results appropriate to the current context:

###### Proposition 4.1.

Let $`X`$ be a compact metric space and let $`T:XX`$ be a local homeomorphism which is positively expansive and exact. Let $`\phi C(X;𝐑)`$ and let $`\alpha `$ be the one-parameter automorphism group associated to the cocycle $`c_\phi Z^1(G,𝐑)`$. Then

* If $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$ is simple, then it is stable and either infinite or projectionless.
* If $`\phi `$ is strictly positive (or strictly negative) there is a faithful lower semicontinuous trace $`\tau `$ on the crossed product $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$ which satisfies the scaling property with respect to the dual automorphism, i.e. $`\tau \widehat{\alpha }_s=e^{\beta s}\tau `$ for all $`s\widehat{𝐑}`$. It follows that the crossed product is stably projectionless.

###### Proof.

Assertion (i) follows from \[KK2, Props. 3, 4\] and the fact that $`C^{}(G)`$ is a unital simple purely infinite C\*-algebra (see \[An\]). Assertion (ii) follows from the existence of KMS states (see Theorem 3.5iv), \[KK1, Theorem 3.2\] and \[KK1, Corollary 3.4\]. ∎

###### Remark 4.2.

In the setting of part (ii) of the above proposition it may be worthwhile to find an explicit formula for the trace on the crossed product constructed from a measure resulting from Proposition 2.5; note that by arguing as in the proof of Theorem 3.5 there is a $`\beta >0`$ such that $`P(T,\beta \phi )=0`$. Let $`\mu `$ be a measure on $`X`$ such that

$$_{\beta \phi }^{}\mu =\mu $$

(see the proof of Theorem 3.5); note that $`\mu `$ has full support. The measure $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }=\mu \times e^{\beta t}dt`$ on $`X\times 𝐑`$ is invariant under the groupoid $`G(X\times 𝐑,\stackrel{~}{T})`$ and therefore defines a faithful lower semicontinuous trace $`\tau _\omega `$ on the crossed product: it is easy to check that it satisfies the scaling property (see \[KK1, Theorem 3.2\]):

$$\tau _\omega \widehat{\alpha }_s=e^{\beta s}\tau _\omega .$$

It follows that $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$ is stably projectionless.

###### Examples 4.3.

In the case of Example 3.7 with $`\lambda _i`$ all of the same sign, Kishimoto has shown that $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$ is simple if and only if the subgroup generated by the $`\lambda _i`$ is dense in $`𝐑`$ (see \[Ks\]); in this case it is also stably projectionless (see \[KK1, Th. 4.1\]). In the case of Example 3.8 with $`A`$ primitive and $`\lambda _i`$ all of the same sign, Zacharias has shown that $`C^{}(G)_\alpha 𝐑`$ is simple and stably projectionless if the $`\lambda _i`$ are linearly independent over $`𝐙`$ (see \[Z, Prop. 4.6\]).


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# Discovery of a dust cloud next to 𝜎 Orionis

## 1 Introduction

### 1.1 Proto-planetary disks

The conservation of angular momentum in a collapsing and fragmenting molecular cloud naturally leads to the presence of circumstellar disks around young stellar objects. It is believed that by way of co-agulation of dust and subsequent accretion of gas planets may form in these disks — whence their name “proto-planetary disk”.

The evolution of a proto-planetary disk into a planetary system must compete with a multitude of disk-dispersal mechanisms: accretion, stellar wind and photo-evaporation by the central star depletes the disk from the inside, whilst nearby hot, massive O- and B-type stars photo-evaporate the disk from the outside. Censuses of circumstellar disks in several young stellar clusters, though prone to observational bias, suggest that most disks disappear in $`6`$ Myr (Haisch, Lada & Lada 2001).

Photo-evaporation of disks by external stars has been observed to happen in the Orion Nebula (O’Dell, Wen & Hu 1993) and in the massive star forming region NGC 3603 (Brandner et al. 2000). In these harsh environments, the effect of the intense UV radiation is expected to disperse the disks on timescales of only $`10^5`$ yr, which is much quicker than the ages of the young clusters in the Orion Nebula (1–2 Myr: McCaughrean & Stauffer 1994) and NGC 3603 (3 Myr: Hofmann, Seggewiss & Weigelt 1995).

### 1.2 $`\sigma `$ Orionis and the $`\sigma `$ Orionis cluster

At a Hipparcos distance of 352 pc, the bright ($`m_\mathrm{V}=3.8`$ mag) O9.5 V star $`\sigma `$ Orionis is the primary component of a quintuple system of O and B stars (ADS 4241). ADS 4241 AB sits at the heart of the most massive visual binary known, with estimated masses of $`M_\mathrm{A}25`$ M and $`M_\mathrm{B}15`$ M, an orbital period $`P=158`$ yr, semi-major axis $`a=0.265^{\prime \prime }`$, eccentricity $`e=0.06`$ and inclination $`i=153^{}`$ (Heintz 1997). The early B-type companions C and D are much farther away, at projected distances of $`d11^{\prime \prime }`$ to the West and $`d13^{\prime \prime }`$ to the East, respectively. At $`d42^{\prime \prime }`$ to the East-Northeast, the helium-rich B2 Vp star $`\sigma `$ Ori E is the most remote companion.

This massive multiple system is part of the Orion OB1 association (Brown, de Geus & de Zeeuw 1994) and forms the core of a recently discovered (Walter, Wolk & Sherry 1997) young cluster of stars, brown dwarfs and isolated planetary mass objects (Zapatero Osorio et al. 2000), with an age of $`4`$ Myr (Oliveira et al. 2002). Its immediate vicinity is largely free of dust and molecular material. This cluster is in a crucial phase in terms of disk dispersal, and we have obtained IR data (L- and N-band) to detect and characterize circumstellar disks around cluster members across the entire mass range (Oliveira et al. 2003).

One of the peculiarities of $`\sigma `$ Orionis that so far has received little attention is its association with a bright source of mid-IR emission, IRAS 05362$``$0237. One might try to attribute it to free-free emission from the boundary between the colliding winds of ADS 4241 A and B, but this interpretation is not supported by the shape of the IR spectral energy distribution, and its X-ray luminosity is typical for the relatively weak stellar wind of $`\sigma `$ Orionis with a mass-loss rate of $`\dot{M}<10^8`$ M yr-1 (Chlebowski & Garmany 1991). Nevertheless, when radio emission was detected from a position 2–3′′ to the North of $`\sigma `$ Orionis it was again attributed to (probably non-thermal) emission from ADS 4241 AB, with the positional mismatch between the accurate radio position and the USNO optical position of $`\sigma `$ Orionis deemed insignificant (Drake 1990).

## 2 Sub-arcsecond mid-IR observations of $`\sigma `$ Orionis

The mid-IR imager and spectrograph TIMMI-2 at the ESO 3.6m telescope at La Silla, Chile, was used on the night of 15/16 December, 2002. Images of $`\sigma `$ Orionis were obtained through the N1-band filter ($`\lambda _0=8.6`$ $`\mu `$m, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =1.2`$ $`\mu `$m for Full-Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =1.7`$ $`\mu `$m between blue and red cut-off) and through the Q1-band filter ($`\lambda _0=17.75`$ $`\mu `$m, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =0.8`$ $`\mu `$m for FWHM and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =1.4`$ $`\mu `$m between blue and red cut-off). The pixel scale was $`0.2^{\prime \prime }`$ pixel-1, resulting in a $`64^{\prime \prime }\times 48^{\prime \prime }`$ (RA$`\times `$Dec) field-of-view. We used a chop throw of $`10^{\prime \prime }`$ in the N-S direction and a nod offset of $`10^{\prime \prime }`$ in the E-W direction. The resulting stellar images had a FWHM of 0.7–0.8′′. Photometry was performed on the shift-added images, using a circular software aperture with a $`2^{\prime \prime }`$ diameter, and calibrated against HD 4128 and HD 32887.

TIMMI-2 was used on the same night for spectroscopy. With a slit of $`3^{\prime \prime }`$ wide and $`50^{\prime \prime }`$ long, the spectral resolving power, limited by the pixel scale of 0.02 $`\mu `$m pixel-1, was $`R200`$–300 across a useful window of $`\lambda =8`$ to 13 $`\mu `$m. The spectrum was flux-calibrated against HD 4128 and HD 32887 as well as the N1-band photometry.

## 3 Discovery of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1

### 3.1 Imagery

The discovery of another bright mid-IR source (Fig. 1) — which we designate $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 — next to $`\sigma `$ Orionis came totally unexpected. The new object has a compact core at only $`3.3^{\prime \prime }`$ to the North-Northeast from $`\sigma `$ Orionis, and also exhibits extended emission in a fan-shaped morphology, pointing away from $`\sigma `$ Orionis. The image in Fig. 1 was obtained after one iteration of a deconvolution algorithm (Lucy 1974) within the ESO software package midas, using $`\sigma `$ Orionis as a model for the Point Spread Function.

The close proximity of IRS1 to the mag 4 star $`\sigma `$ Orionis is the main reason why this object has so far eluded discovery, and it is only thanks to the greatly reduced brightness contrast in the mid-IR that it was found. In fact, the core of IRS1 is with an N1-band flux density of $`N_{\mathrm{core}}=0.573\pm 0.029`$ Jy (circular aperture of $`2^{\prime \prime }`$ diameter) nearly equally bright as $`\sigma `$ Orionis, which has $`N=0.617\pm 0.031`$ Jy. The core of IRS1 is marginally resolved in the N1-band: its FWHM is $`1.1^{\prime \prime }`$, about $`1.5`$ times greater than the FWHM of $`\sigma `$ Orionis.

To estimate the contribution of the extended emission to the total integrated emission from IRS1, we also measured the brightness of IRS1 within a rectangular box of $`4.4^{\prime \prime }\times 3.2^{\prime \prime }`$ (comparing with the brightness of the standard stars within an identical area), and found $`N_{\mathrm{core}+\mathrm{extended}}=0.901\pm 0.045`$ Jy. The IRAS 12 $`\mu `$m flux density is $`S_{12}=4.5\pm 0.2`$ Jy111The IRAS flux densities were redetermined from the original scans on the IRAS data server in Groningen., the Q1-band brightness of the core of IRS1 is $`Q_{\mathrm{core}}=2.38\pm 0.24`$ Jy, and the IRAS 25 $`\mu `$m flux density is $`S_{25}=15\pm 2`$ Jy.

### 3.2 Spectroscopy

N-band spectra were obtained simultaneously for $`\sigma `$ Orionis and the core of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 (Fig. 2). The spectrum of $`\sigma `$ Orionis follows the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of the photospheric emission of this hot star, $`\lambda F_\lambda \lambda ^3`$. The spectrum of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1, however, is dominated by a strong and broad emission feature, which we attribute to silicate dust. The silicate feature has weak shoulders at $`\lambda 8.6`$ and 11.7 $`\mu `$m and, although the spectral region between $`\lambda =9`$ and 9.9 $`\mu `$m was useless due to a defunct channel in the TIMMI-2 array, it appears to peak around $`\lambda 11`$ to 11.3 $`\mu `$m. The underlying continuum is very red, with a flux ratio between $`\lambda =13`$ and 8 $`\mu `$m of $`F_{13}/F_810`$.

## 4 Analysis

### 4.1 Gas properties

The fan-shaped morphology of the extended mid-IR emission from $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 suggests that it is acted upon by the intense radiation field of $`\sigma `$ Orionis, either through radiation pressure on dust grains or through photo-evaporation of gas interspersed with the dust. The projected distance beween $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 and $`\sigma `$ Orionis is only $`d1200`$ AU! The stellar wind of the main-sequence star $`\sigma `$ Orionis, however, is too weak to have a significant impact.

The radio emission is consistent with optically thin free-free emission at wavelengths of $`\lambda =2`$ and 6 cm, possibly becoming optically thick around a wavelength of $`\lambda 15`$ cm (Fig. 3). The latter can be used to estimate the electron density in the emission region (Osterbrock 1974): $`\tau =8.24\times 10^2T_\mathrm{e}^{1.35}\nu ^{2.1}n_+n_\mathrm{e}ds`$. For $`\tau =1`$, with an electron temperature $`T_\mathrm{e}=10,000`$ K, frequency $`\nu =2`$ GHz and pathlength $`\mathrm{d}s10^3`$ pc, the electron density is estimated to be $`n_\mathrm{e}=n_+10^6`$ cm-3, which is indicative of a relatively dense, ionized region. The radio position (Drake 1990) is located $`2.63^{\prime \prime }`$ North and $`0.18^{\prime \prime }`$ East from $`\sigma `$ Orionis, at the rim of the extended mid-IR emission facing $`\sigma `$ Orionis. This suggests that the free-free emission arises from a photo-ionized region at the interface between the radiation field of $`\sigma `$ Orionis and the dust region in $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1.

If the ionizing radiation from $`\sigma `$ Orionis is absorbed in a layer with a thickness comparable to the radius $`r`$ of the ionization front, then, following Bally & Reipurth (2001), the electron density is $`n_\mathrm{e}(L_\mathrm{H}/4\pi \alpha _\mathrm{B}r)^{\frac{1}{2}}d^1`$. With a Lyman continuum photon rate from $`\sigma `$ Orionis of $`L_\mathrm{H}10^{48}`$ s-1 (Peimbert, Rayo & Torres-Peimbert 1975), recombination coefficient $`\alpha _\mathrm{B}=2.6\times 10^{13}`$ cm3 s-1 (Osterbrock 1974), distance $`d1200`$ AU from $`\sigma `$ Orionis and size $`r300`$ AU, we obtain $`n_\mathrm{e}0.5\times 10^6`$ cm-3. This is consistent with the value estimated from the radio emission, which implies that IRS1 cannot be much further away from $`\sigma `$ Orionis than the projected $`d1200`$ AU.

Photo-evaporation of the gas drives a mass-loss rate of $`\dot{M}`$\[M yr-1\]$`7.5\times 10^6(L_\mathrm{H}/10^{49})^{\frac{1}{2}}(d/1\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c})^1(r/0.1\mathrm{pc})^{\frac{3}{2}}`$ (Bally & Reipurth 2001), which for $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 results in a mass-loss rate of $`\dot{M}7\times 10^7`$ M yr-1. If the estimated ion density of $`n10^6`$ cm-3 is representative for a uniform gas density in a region of $`r300`$ AU, then the total gas mass is of order $`M_{\mathrm{gas}}10^3`$ M. The photo-evaporation timescale is thus much shorter than the age of $`\sigma `$ Orionis. Therefore, there must be a reservoir of neutral material feeding the ionization front. As the radial density profile is expected to rise towards the centre of IRS1, the gas mass estimate should be regarded as a lower limit to the total amount of gas contained within the object.

The H$`\alpha `$ surface brightness of the ionization front is $`I`$\[erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2\]$`2.0\times 10^{18}n_\mathrm{e}^2(r/1\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c})`$ (Spitzer 1978), where we have assumed that the line-of-sight depth of the region is approximately $`r`$. We thus obtain $`I3\times 10^9`$ erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2. For $`\sigma `$ Orionis, the flux density around H$`\alpha `$ is $`F1.3\times 10^9`$ erg s-1 cm-2 nm-1. Through a narrow-band H$`\alpha `$ filter with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ of a few nm, the (surface) brightness of the ionized region in IRS1 would appear very similar to that of $`\sigma `$ Orionis at a seeing of $`1^{\prime \prime }`$, and at $`>2^{\prime \prime }`$ distance it would be easily resolved.

### 4.2 Dust properties

The IRAS position is $`5^{\prime \prime }`$ North and $`12^{\prime \prime }`$ East from $`\sigma `$ Orionis, with an error ellipse of $`18^{\prime \prime }\times 5^{\prime \prime }`$ under an angle of $`87^{}`$ from North to East. This is more consistent with the location of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 than $`\sigma `$ Orionis. Indeed, whilst the spectral energy distribution of $`\sigma `$ Orionis follows the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of its photospheric continuum emission, the continuum of the mid-IR spectrum and photometry of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 can be modelled by a Planck curve with a (dust) temperature of $`T_{\mathrm{dust}}=130\pm 10`$ K (Fig. 3).

The structure in the dust emission feature of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 shows clear evidence for the dust to have been processed compared to interstellar dust. The latter is dominated by small amorphous silicate grains, with a typical radius of $`a0.1`$ $`\mu `$m, of which the emission feature peaks sharply at $`\lambda =9.8`$ $`\mu `$m and has a gradual downward slope towards $`\lambda 12`$ $`\mu `$m. The observed feature in the spectrum of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 is much broader, and peaks at a significantly longer wavelength. Bouwman et al. (2001) show that the overall breath of the feature may be reproduced by larger grains, with a radius $`a1`$ $`\mu `$m, that the peak at $`\lambda 11.2`$ $`\mu `$m indicates the presence of Mg-rich crystalline silicate (forsterite), and that the shoulder at $`\lambda 8.6`$ $`\mu `$m can be explained by silica (SiO2). Such a mixture is often seen in environments in which the dust is expected to have been processed by co-agulation, leading to grain growth, and thermal annealing, producing crystalline grains and silica. Indeed, the spectrum of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 resembles that of $`\beta `$ Pictoris and comet Hale-Bopp (Bouwman et al. 2001).

An estimate of the total dust mass may be obtained by assuming that the dust emission is optically thin at mid-IR wavelengths. For an ensemble of $`N`$ dust grains of radius $`a`$, at a distance $`d_{}`$ from Earth, the observed flux density is $`F_\lambda =N(a/d_{})^2\pi B_\lambda `$. The dust emission can be described by a Planck curve with a single dust temperature $`T_{\mathrm{dust}}=130`$ K, and it therefore does not matter at which wavelength we evaluate the flux density. At $`\lambda =25`$ $`\mu `$m, $`F_\lambda =15`$ Jy, and with $`a=1`$ $`\mu `$m and $`d_{}=352`$ pc we obtain $`N2\times 10^{37}`$ dust grains. At a typical density of $`\rho =2.5`$ g cm-3, this corresponds to a total dust mass of (only) $`M_{\mathrm{dust}}10^7`$ M. We note, however, that much more mass may be hidden in larger grains, rocks and planetesimals without being observable. From the estimated gas mass of $`M_{\mathrm{gas}}>10^3`$ M, for a reasonable gas-to-dust mass ratio of order $`10^2`$, a dust mass of $`M_{\mathrm{dust}}>10^5`$ M would be expected — which indeed suggests that most of the dust is locked up in larger pockets than the 1 $`\mu `$m grains that dominate the mid-IR radiation.

A certain fraction of the light from $`\sigma `$ Orionis AB within a solid angle $`\omega `$, subtended by IRS1 as seen from $`\sigma `$ Orionis, is absorbed by the dust and re-radiated isotropically: $`N4\pi a^2\sigma T_{\mathrm{dust}}^4<(\omega /4\pi )L_{}`$. With $`L_{}100,000`$ L, we obtain a solid angle of $`\omega >0.0013`$ sterad. With a radius $`R300`$ AU, this corresponds to an upper limit to the distance from $`\sigma `$ Orionis of $`d<15,000`$ AU. This agrees with the morphology of IRS1, the location of the radio source, and the estimates for the electron density in the ionization front, which all suggest that we have a (roughly) side-view of the IRS1-$`\sigma `$ Orionis couple, with a separation close to the projected distance of $`d1200`$ AU.

## 5 The nature of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1

The dust cloud $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 measures $`10^3`$ AU across and contains $`>10^3`$ M of gas and dust, the latter of which shows signs of co-agulation. This suggests that IRS1 may be a proto-planetary disk. Indeed, circumstellar disks have been detected around several T Tauri stars in the $`\sigma `$ Orionis cluster (Oliveira et al. 2003). As expected, the close proximity of IRS1 to $`\sigma `$ Orionis gives rise to an ionization front at the side of IRS1 facing the O star, and it thus resembles the photo-evaporating proto-planetary disks seen in H ii regions such as the Orion Nebula, otherwise known as “proplyds” (O’Dell et al. 1993). The rapid photo-destruction timescale is a problem though, unless the total mass contained within the disk of $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 amounts to at least one solar mass or the object has been (much) further away during most of its past lifetime.

However, there is no evidence yet that $`\sigma `$ Ori IRS1 hosts a central star. Hence the possibility remains that IRS1 is instead a dense knot of interstellar material — albeit processed — perhaps similar to the starless small clouds discovered recently in the Carina Nebula, a 3 Myr old massive star forming region (Smith, Bally & Morse 2003). The proximity of IRS1 to $`\sigma `$ Orionis may well be only temporary, alleviating the problem of the rapid photo-destruction. This would imply that such clouds must be rather common around $`\sigma `$ Orionis, something which can be tested by means of a deep survey of the entire $`\sigma `$ Orionis cluster at mid/far-IR or (sub)mm wavelengths.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Dr. Michael Sterzik for support at the telescope, Prof. Rens Waters for discussion on the dust species, and Prof. O’Dell for his constructive referee report. The IRAS data base server of the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON) and the Dutch Experise Centre for Astronomical Data Processing is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The IRAS data base server project was also partly funded through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, grants AFOSR 86-0140 and AFOSR 89-0320. JMO acknowledges support of the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.


text:
# D’yakonov-Perel’ spin relaxation under electron-electron collisions in n-type QWs

## Abstract

The D’yakonov-Perel’ spin relaxation mechanism in n-doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs) has been studied both theoretically and experimentally. The temperature dependence of the spin relaxation time has been calculated for arbitrary degeneracy of the 2D electron gas. The comparison between theory and experiment shows that, in high-mobility $`n`$-doped QWs, the studied spin decoherence is controlled by electron-electron collisions.

At present it is widely accepted that in zinc-blende-lattice n-doped quantum well structures the spin-relaxation of conduction electrons is dominated by the D’yakonov-Perel’ (DP) mechanism. In this mechanism the spin splitting of electronic states acts as an effective magnetic field with the Larmor frequency $`𝛀_𝐤`$ dependent on the value and direction of the electron wave vector $`𝐤`$. The related spin relaxation time is given by dk

$$\frac{1}{\tau _s}\mathrm{\Omega }^2\tau ,$$

where $`\tau `$ is the microscopic relaxation time controlling spin decoherence. Recently we have shown gi  that the inverse time $`\tau ^1`$ has contributions not only from electron momentum scattering processes responsible for the conductivity but also by electron-electron collisions which do not affect the electron mobility. Experimentally, the effect of electron-electron collisions on the spin dynamics has been recently demonstrated by Brand et al. harley1 . In Ref. gi  only the case of a nondegenerate 2D electron gas is treated quantitatively while the data harley1  are obtained on a degenerate high-mobility gas. The purpose of this work is to extend the theory gi  to arbitrary electron degeneracy and compare the temperature dependence of $`\tau _s`$ with the experiment harley1 .

A convenient form to represent temperature dependence of the spin relaxation time is to write $`\tau _s`$ as

$$\tau _s^1=\mathrm{\Omega }_0^2\tau ^{},$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ is the effective Larmor frequency at the Fermi energy at zero temperature and $`\tau ^{}`$ is a temperature-dependent parameter which can be compared with the momentum relaxation time $`\tau _p`$ obtained from measurement of the Hall mobility. The representation (1) is usefully applied in the scattering-dominated regime, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0\tau ^1`$, realized at $`T10`$ K and higher. At the low temperature $`T=1.8`$ K, the electron spin polarization evolves as heavily damped oscillations of frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_00.19`$ ps-1 and $`\tau ^{}`$ is found from the exponential decay of these oscillations. Thus, instead of $`\tau _s`$, we present in Fig. 1 the temperature dependence of the above defined time $`\tau ^{}`$.

Values of $`\tau ^{}`$ extracted from the experiment are plotted in Fig.1 by crosses together with the momentum relaxation time $`\tau _p`$ (full circles). The spin polarization was monitored by time-resolved optical response of a sample in which the 2D gas was confined in a $`(001)`$-oriented $`10`$-nm n-doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure. Electron concentration was estimated to be $`N_s=1.86\times 10^{11}`$ cm-2 and Hall measurements showed $`N_s`$ to be approximately constant at $`T`$ below $`100`$ K. The transport relaxation time $`\tau _p`$ was extracted from the Hall mobility.

The inverse electron spin relaxation time in the symmetric GaAs QW is given by book

$$\frac{1}{\tau _{zz}^s}=(\mathrm{\Omega }_{1𝐤}^2+\mathrm{\Omega }_{3𝐤}^2)\tau _p,$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }_{1𝐤}=2\beta k(k_z^2k^2/4)`$, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }_{3𝐤}=\beta k^3/2`$, $`\beta `$ is the constant describing spin-orbit splitting of the conduction band in bulk GaAs and $`k_z^2`$ is the quantum mechanical average of the squared electron wave vector along the growth axis. In Eq. (2) electron-electron collisions are neglected. The dotted line in Fig. 1 presents $`\tau ^{}`$ calculated from (2) with $`\tau _p`$ given by the full circles. Definitely, this line does not fit experimental points (crosses) and, therefore, one can conclude that the account for momentum scattering processes only is not sufficient to explain the experimental results. The next step is to include electron-electron collisions into consideration and calculate the times $`\tau _s`$ and $`\tau ^{}`$ with allowance for both electron-electron and momentum scattering.

In the frame of kinetic theory, the electron distribution in the wave vector and spin spaces is described by a $`2\times 2`$ spin-density matrix $`\rho _𝐤=f_𝐤+𝐬_𝐤\stackrel{}{\sigma }`$, where $`\sigma _\alpha `$ are the Pauli matrices. Here $`f_𝐤=\text{Tr}(\rho _𝐤/2)`$ is the distribution function of electrons in the $`𝐤`$-space, and $`𝐬_𝐤=\text{Tr}[\rho _𝐤(\stackrel{}{\sigma }/2)]`$ is the average spin in the $`𝐤`$ state. If we neglect the spin splitting then, for arbitrary degeneracy of an electron gas with non-equilibrium spin-state occupation but equilibrium energy distribution within each spin branch, the electron spin-density matrix is the Fermi-Dirac distribution function with different chemical potentials for the spin $`\pm 1/2`$. If the spin splitting is non-zero but small as compared to $`\mathrm{}/\tau ^{}`$, the distribution function $`\text{Tr}[\rho _𝐤/2]`$ does not change, whereas the spin vector acquires a correction $`\delta 𝐬_𝐤`$ proportional to the spin splitting.

The quantum kinetic equation for the spin pseudovector taking into account both electron-electron collisions and elastic (or quasi-elastic) momentum scattering has the form

$$\frac{𝐬_𝐤}{t}+𝛀_𝐤\times 𝐬_𝐤+\frac{\delta 𝐬_𝐤}{\tau _p}+𝐐_𝐤\{\delta 𝐬,f\}=0,$$
(3)
where $`𝐐_𝐤\{𝐬,f\}`$ is the electron-electron collision integral and $`\tau _p`$ is the momentum scattering time. In the particular case of low spin polarization the electron-electron scattering rate has the form gi\_nato

$$𝐐_𝐤\{𝐬,f\}=\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{}}\underset{𝐤^{},𝐩,𝐩^{}}{}\delta _{𝐤+𝐤^{},𝐩+𝐩^{}}\delta (E_k+E_k^{}E_pE_p^{})$$
(4)
$$\times \left\{2V_{𝐤𝐩}^2M(𝐤,𝐤^{},𝐩,𝐩^{})V_{𝐤𝐩}V_{𝐤𝐩^{}}[M(𝐤,𝐤^{},𝐩,𝐩^{})+M(𝐤^{},𝐤,𝐩,𝐩^{})]\right\}.$$

Here $`V_𝐪`$ is the Fourier transform of the electron-electron interaction potential,

$$M(𝐤,𝐤^{},𝐩,𝐩^{})=𝐬_𝐤F(𝐤^{};𝐩,𝐩^{})𝐬_𝐩F(𝐩^{};𝐤,𝐤^{}),$$

$`F(𝐤_1;𝐤_2,𝐤_3)=f_{𝐤_1}(1f_{𝐤_2}f_{𝐤_3})+f_{𝐤_2}f_{𝐤_3}`$ and $`f_𝐤`$ is the equilibrium Fermi-Dirac distribution function. The term proportional to $`2V_{𝐤𝐩}^2`$ is due to the direct Coulomb interaction whereas the term proportional to $`V_{𝐤𝐩}V_{𝐤𝐩^{}}`$ comes from the exchange interaction.

The spin-relaxation time governed by electron-electron collisions was calculated allowing only for the linear-$`𝐤`$ term in $`𝛀_𝐤`$ and using a fixed value of $`\tau _p`$. We used statically screened 2D Coulomb potential for $`V_𝐪`$. The solid line in Fig. 1 shows temperature dependence of $`\tau ^{}=\tau _s^1\mathrm{\Omega }_0^2`$ calculated taking into account electron-electron collisions only ($`\tau _p=\mathrm{}`$). A non-monotonous behavior of this time can be understood as follows. In the limit of low temperatures, for the degenerate two-dimensional electron gas, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_𝐤^2`$ tends to a constant value $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0^2`$ while the electron-electron scattering rate $`\tau _{ee}^1`$ vanishes as $`T^2\mathrm{ln}T`$. Therefore, if momentum scattering is neglected the scattering time $`\tau ^{}\mathrm{}`$. The allowance for electron momentum scattering stabilizes both $`\tau _s^1`$ and $`\tau ^{}`$ at $`T=0`$. With rising temperature the role of electron-electron collisions increases resulting in a decrease of $`\tau ^{}`$. In the opposite limit of high temperatures the electron gas becomes nondegenerate in which case $`\tau _{ee}T`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_𝐤^2T`$ and the spin relaxation rate due to electron-electron collisions increases with temperature according the $`T^2`$ law gi . The dependence $`\tau ^{}(T)`$ exhibits a minimum near the transition from degenerate to nondegenerate statistics when the chemical potential of electron gas reaches the conduction band bottom.

Some discrepancy between the theoretical curve (dashed) and experimental points (crosses) can probably be eliminated by taking into account that, in the $`10`$-nm GaAs/AlGaAs QW, the electron wave function has a quasi-2D character owing to its spread within the well and electron tunnelling into the barriers glazov .

In conclusion, we have shown both experimentally and theoretically that the D’yakonov-Perel’ spin relaxation may be controlled by electron-electron collisions which do not affect the mobility in the same way as by any other carrier scattering process.

This work is financially supported by the RFBR and by the Programmes of Russian Ministry of Science and Presidium of RAS. One of the authors (M.M.G.) is grateful to the Dynasty Foundation and ICFPM for financial support.


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# Topological oscillations of the magnetoconductance in disordered GaAs layers.

## Abstract

Oscillatory variations of the diagonal ($`G_{xx}`$) and Hall ($`G_{xy}`$) magnetoconductances are discussed in view of topological scaling effects giving rise to the quantum Hall effect. They occur in a field range without oscillations of the density of states due to Landau quantization, and are, therefore, totally different from the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. Such oscillations are experimentally observed in disordered GaAs layers in the extreme quantum limit of applied magnetic field with a good description by the unified scaling theory of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect.

The integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) is usually observed at high magnetic fields, $`\omega _c\tau 1`$ ($`\omega _c=eB/m`$ is the cyclotron frequency, $`\tau `$ is the transport relaxation time), and its appearance develops from the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations based on the Landau quantization of the two-dimensional (2D) electron system. However, the scaling treatment of the integer QHE Pr83  predicts the existence of the QHE without the Landau quantization of the electron spectrum. It could exist even at low magnetic field $`\omega _c\tau 1`$ Khm  in the absence of magnetoquantum oscillations of the density of states. The QHE at low magnetic fields $`\omega _c\tau 1`$ has not been observed so far, probably because extremely low temperatures are required Huck . In addition, the QHE could exist in a layer whose thickness $`d`$ is much larger than the electron transport mean free path $`l`$, i.e. $`dl`$, in the extreme quantum limit (EQL) of applied magnetic field, where only the lowest Landau level is occupied. Such a layer has a three-dimensional (3D) ”bare” (non-renormalized) electron spectrum without oscillations of the density of states in the EQL. In this situation the QHE has been observed in heavily Si-doped n-type GaAs layers MJL ; MCJ .

Here, we address the problem of the arising of the QHE in the absence of magnetoquantum oscillations of the density of states. In this case the variation with temperature of the diagonal conductance per square ($`G_{xx}`$) and Hall conductance ($`G_{xy}`$) is due to diffusive interference effects (below $`G_{xx}`$ and $`G_{xy}`$ are taken in units $`e^2/h`$), which in a scaling approach can be described by the renormalization-group equations. For comparison, according to the conventional theory, the temperature dependence of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations preceding the QHE is due to thermal broadening of the Fermi distribution Ando . At the moment, two theories give explicit expressions for the renormalization-group equations. The first theory has been derived for both integer and fractional QHE and for any value of $`G_{xx}`$ Dolan . It is based on the assumption that a certain symmetry group unifies the structure of the integer and fractional quantum Hall states Lut ; Dolan ; Bur . This so-called unified scaling (US) theory describes well the shape of the scaling flow diagram depicting the coupled evolution of $`G_{xx}`$ and $`G_{xy}`$ for decreasing temperatures in heavily Si-doped n-type GaAs layers with different thickness for a wide range of $`G_{xx}`$ values fl . The second theory has been developed in the ”dilute instanton gas” approximation (DIGA), firstly for non-interacting Pr87  and then for interacting electrons PB95 . Both theories are developed for a totally spin-polarized electron system. For $`2\pi G_{xx}1`$ they predict an oscillating topological term in the scaling $`\beta `$-function with the same periodicity. However, they differ in predictions on the oscillation amplitude. The oscillating topological term in the $`\beta `$-function should lead to oscillations in the magnetic-field dependence of $`G_{xx}`$ and $`G_{xy}`$ which are not related to oscillations in the density of states like, e.g., for the case of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations.

In the presented work we derive explicit expressions for the topological oscillations of the Hall conductivity $`G_{xy}`$ for both theories, and compare them with experiment for thick ($`dl`$) disordered heavily Si-doped GaAs layers with rather large $`G_{xx}`$ and $`G_{xy}`$ compared to unity. The layers studied before in Ref.MJL ; MCJ  have a 3D ”bare” electron spectrum. However, below 4 K the characteristic diffusion lengths, $`L_\phi =(D_{zz}\tau _\phi )^{1/2}`$ and $`L_T=(D_{zz}\mathrm{}/k_BT)^{1/2}`$, for coherent diffusive transport increase to values larger than $`d`$, and the system becomes 2D for coherent diffusive phenomena ($`D_{zz}`$ is the diffusion coefficient of electrons along the magnetic field, $`\tau _\phi `$ is the phase breaking time).

The US theory describes the renormalization group flow of the conductances by the equation Dolan ,

$$ss_0=\mathrm{ln}\left(f/f_0\right),$$
(1)
for a real parameter $`s`$ monotonically depending on temperature, where $`GG_{xy}+iG_{xx}`$, $`f_0=f(s_0)`$ and

$$f=\frac{\left(_{n=\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}q^{n^2}\right)^4\left(_{n=\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}(1)^nq^{n^2}\right)^4}{\left(2_{n=0}^{\mathrm{}}q^{\left(n+1/2\right)^2}\right)^8},$$
(2)
with $`q=\mathrm{exp}(i\pi G)`$. For $`|q|^2=\mathrm{exp}(2\pi G_{xx})1`$, the function $`f=1/(256q^2)+3/32+O(q^2)`$ and Eq.(1) is reduced to

$$ss_0i2\pi \left(GG^0\right)+24\left(e^{i2\pi G}e^{i2\pi G^0}\right)$$
(3)
In the first-order approximation by ignoring the last oscillating term in Eq.(3), this equation has the solution

$$G_{xx}^1=G_{xx}^0(ss_0)/2\pi ,G_{xy}^1=G_{xy}^0.$$
(4)
In the second-order approximation, the solution looks like

$`G_{xx}`$ $`=`$ $`G_{xx}^1+{\displaystyle \frac{12}{\pi }}\left[e^{2\pi G_{xx}^1}e^{2\pi G_{xx}^0}\right]\mathrm{cos}(2\pi G_{xy}^0)`$ (5)
$`G_{xy}`$ $`=`$ $`G_{xy}^0{\displaystyle \frac{12}{\pi }}\left[e^{2\pi G_{xx}^1}e^{2\pi G_{xx}^0}\right]\mathrm{sin}(2\pi G_{xy}^0).`$ (6)
This is a solution of Eq.(3) for fixed $`s`$. However, for our experiment we are interested in the solution for fixed temperature $`T`$. In the first-order approximation it should coincide with the result of the first-order perturbation theory for the electron-electron interaction in coherent diffusive transport leading to logarithmic temperature-dependent corrections in the diagonal conductance

$$G_{xx}^T=G_{xx}^0+\lambda /2\pi \mathrm{ln}\left(T/T_0\right),$$
(7)
without any temperature dependence in the Hall conductance AA . Therefore, $`s=\lambda \mathrm{ln}(T)`$ in this approximation. For totally spin-polarized electron system $`\lambda =1`$ Fin .

In second order, $`s`$ will oscillate as a function of $`G_{xy}^0`$ at fixed temperature $`T`$ and will give additional oscillating term in Eq.(5), but the relation between $`s`$ and $`T`$ is unknown and the amplitude of the $`G_{xx}`$ oscillations can not be found. In this respect we note, that the last term in Eq.(5) shows maxima at integer $`G_{xy}^0`$ as opposed to the expected minima for the integer QHE. The difference between $`G_{xx}^1`$ and $`G_{xx}^T`$ can be ignored in the exponents of Eq.(6). Therefore the Hall conductivity $`G_{xy}`$ oscillates as a function of the ”bare” Hall conductance $`G_{xy}^0`$ and hence as a function of the magnetic field $`B`$, with amplitude

$`A_{xy}^{US}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{12}{\pi }}\left[e^{2\pi G_{xx}^T}e^{2\pi G_{xx}^0}\right]`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{12}{\pi }}e^{2\pi G_{xx}^0}\left[\left(T_0/T\right)^\lambda 1\right],`$
as found by substituting $`G_{xx}^T`$ (Eq.(7)) for $`G_{xx}^1`$ in Eq.(6). This dependence is totally different from the exponential variation with temperature of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations.

In the ”dilute instanton gas” approximation for the case of interacting electrons PB95

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dG_{xx}}{d\mathrm{ln}L}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\pi }}D_1G_{xx}^2e^{2\pi G_{xx}}\mathrm{cos}(2\pi G_{xy})`$ (9)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dG_{xy}}{d\mathrm{ln}L}}`$ $`=`$ $`D_1G_{xx}^2e^{2\pi G_{xx}}\mathrm{sin}(2\pi G_{xy}).`$ (10)
Here $`L(\mathrm{}D_{xx}/k_BT)^{1/2}`$ and $`D_1=64\pi /e74.0`$. Solving the quotient of these equations by ignoring terms of order $`\mathrm{exp}(4\pi G_{xx})`$ one obtains

$$G_{xy}=G_{xy}^0\frac{\pi D_1}{\lambda }\left[F(G_{xx}^T)F(G_{xx}^0)\right]\mathrm{sin}(2\pi G_{xy}^0)$$
(11)
where $`F(x)=1/4\pi ^3\left(2\pi ^2x^2+2\pi x+1\right)\mathrm{exp}(2\pi x)`$.

Both theories have been developed for a totally spin-polarized electron system. However, in a real system electrons can have two different spin projections. For the case of non-interacting electrons, the electrons can be described in terms of two independent, totally spin polarized systems in the absence of spin-flip scattering. This approach remains valid for interacting electrons as well, if the triplet part of the constant of interaction is much smaller than the singlet one AA ; Fin , because only the interaction between electrons with the same spin leads to a renormalization of the conductance in this case. For the small spin-splitting in strongly disordered GaAs, the conductances of the electron systems with different spin projection ($`G_{ij}^{}`$ and $`G_{ij}^{}`$) are approximately equal to half the measured conductance, i.e. $`G_{ij}^{}G_{ij}^{}G_{ij}/2`$. It allows us to compare quantitatively the experimental results with the theories. For large spin-splitting this is impossible, because $`G_{ij}^{}`$ and $`G_{ij}^{}`$ are different, and only the sum $`G_{ij}^{}+G_{ij}^{}`$ can be measured.

The investigated heavily Si-doped n-type GaAs layers sandwiched between undoped GaAs were prepared by molecular-beam epitaxy. The nominal thickness $`d`$ equals 100 nm for the layers 2, 3, 6, and 140 nm for layer 7. The Si-donor bulk concentration $`n`$ equals 1.8, 2.5, 1.6, and $`3\times 10^{17}`$ cm-3 for samples 2, 3, 6, and 7 as derived from the period of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations at $`B<5`$ T. The mobilities of the samples at $`T=4.2`$ K are 2400, 2500, 2600 and $`2600`$ cm2/Vs, and the electron densities per square $`N_s`$ as derived from the slope of the Hall resistance $`R_{xy}`$ in weak magnetic fields ($`0.53`$ T) at $`T=4.2`$ K are 1.26, 2, 2.08 and $`2.86\times 10^{12}`$ cm-2 for samples 2, 3, 6 and 7, respectively. For all samples the electron transport mean free path $`l`$ is around 30 nm at zero magnetic field. The detailed structure of the samples is described in Ref.MJL .

In Fig.1 the magnetotransport data of the diagonal ($`R_{xx}`$, per square) and Hall ($`R_{xy}`$) resistance (both given in units of $`h/e^2`$), and of the diagonal ($`G_{xx}`$) and Hall ($`G_{xy}`$) conductance are plotted for sample 2. At 4.2 K, the magnetoresistance shows the typical behavior of bulk material with weak Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations for increasing field $`B`$ and a strong monotonous upturn in the extreme quantum limit (EQL) where only the lowest Landau level is occupied. At lower temperatures $`R_{xy}`$, $`R_{xx}`$,$`G_{xy}`$, and $`G_{xx}`$ start to oscillate. Minima of $`G_{xx}`$ and of $`\left|G_{xy}/B\right|`$ arise at magnetic fields where $`G_{xy}`$ at 4 K attains even-integer values, in accordance with both theories mentioned above. These oscillatory structures develop into the QHE at the lowest temperatures where $`R_{xy}`$ and $`G_{xy}`$ reveal remarkable steps near the values $`R_{xy}=1/2`$ and 1/4, and $`G_{xx}=2`$, and 4. In the corresponding fields pronounced minima are observed in $`R_{xx}`$ and $`G_{xx}`$. Note that, contrary to the QHE structures, the amplitude of the weak Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations below the EQL does not depend on temperature because the thermal damping factor $`2\pi ^2k_BT/[\mathrm{}\omega _c\mathrm{sinh}(2\pi ^2k_BT/\mathrm{}\omega _c)]=0.994`$ is close to 1 for $`B=5`$ T at $`T=1`$ K. Similar but less pronounced structures are observed for the other samples investigated. Moreover, for samples 3 and 7 additional minima of $`G_{xx}`$ and of $`\left|G_{xy}/B\right|`$ are observed, at fields where $`G_{xy}=6`$ at $`T=4`$ K.

The size quantization could result in oscillatory structures in the magnetotransport data in the EQL in a pure layer with ballistic motion across the layer when $`l/d1`$. In our case, however, $`l/d0.2÷0.3`$ in zero magnetic field, which ratio even decreases in the EQL for the mean free path along the field. The 3D character of the ”bare” electron spectrum of the samples has been confirmed in experiments in a tilted magnetic field MCJ . Note that the absence of oscillations at $`T=4.2`$ K can not be explained by temperature broadening of the oscillatory structures, because disorder broadening dominates largely with $`\mathrm{}/\tau k_BT`$ (for our samples $`\mathrm{}/\tau k_B>80`$ K).

In Fig.2 we plot the residual variation $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xx}(T)=G_{xx}(T)G_{xx}^0`$ as a function of $`G_{xy}^0`$ for sample 6 at different temperatures, $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xy}=G_{xy}(T)G_{xy}^0`$ at $`T=0.46`$ K for sample 6, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xx}`$ at $`T=0.1`$ K for the thickest sample 7. Here $`G_{ij}^0`$ is the conductance at $`T=4.2`$ K taken as the ”bare” conductance (see below). Both $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xx}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xy}`$ oscillate with comparable amplitudes under the same conditions of applied field and temperature. The minima of $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xx}`$ are at even integer values of $`G_{xy}^0`$ (slightly shifted in case of a superimposed smooth variation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xx}`$) and the minima of $`\mathrm{\Delta }G_{xy}`$ are shifted on $`+0.5`$ unit in the $`G_{xy}^0`$ scale, in accordance with theory Dolan .

The smoothly varying part of $`G_{xx}`$, by ignoring the oscillatory part, decreases for decreasing temperature while that of $`G_{xy}`$ does not change. The temperature dependence of the smooth part $`G_{xx}^{sm}`$ of the diagonal conductance, taken as the midpoint value of the arrow in Fig.2, is well described by the first-order electron-electron-interaction correction (Eq.(7)) with $`\lambda =1.9`$ for samples 2, 3, and 6, and $`\lambda =2`$ for sample 7 in the temperature range from 0.15 to 1 K followed by a saturation around 4.2 K. These values are close to the theoretical upper limit $`\lambda =2`$ for a system with two spins AA ; Fin , corresponding to a negligibly small triplet part of the electron-electron interaction. The choice of the 4.2 K value for the ”bare” conductance $`G_{xx}^0`$ agrees with the saturation of $`G_{xx}^{sm}`$ around $`T=4.2`$ K.

The amplitudes $`A_{ij}`$ of the oscillations of $`G_{xx}`$, and $`G_{xy}`$, conductances are very similar as shown in Fig.3 where the sum $`A_{ij}+\mathrm{\Delta }_U`$ is plotted as a function of the smooth part of the diagonal conductance $`G_{xx}^{sm}`$ for all our samples with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_U=24/\pi \mathrm{exp}(\pi G_{xx}^0)`$. The values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_U=0.044`$, 0.009, 0.02, and 0.002 for samples 2, 3, 6, and 7, respectively, are smaller than the corresponding values of $`A_{ij}`$. The experimental data are rather well described by the result of the US theory for $`A_{xy}`$ (Eq. Topological oscillations of the magnetoconductance in disordered GaAs layers.) applied to the total conductance of two independent electron systems of opposite spin. Although showing a very similar dependence, $`A_{xx}`$ can not be deduced in frame of this theory. The DIGA theory predicts much larger amplitudes than experimentally observed, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig.3 for $`A_{xy}^{DIGA}+\mathrm{\Delta }_U`$ according DIGA theory for samples 3 and 7.

In summary, due to topological scaling effects oscillations of the diagonal and Hall magnetoconductances can exist when there are no oscillations of the density of states due to Landau quantization. The oscillations observed in the extreme quantum limit of the applied magnetic field in disordered GaAs layers, with thickness larger than the electron transport mean free path, fall into this category. The oscillations of $`G_{xy}`$ are quantitatively well described by the unified scaling theory for the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect Dolan . Their amplitude is much smaller than the ”dilute instanton gas” approximation PB95  predicts.

We would like to thank I. S. Burmistrov for helpful discussions, and N. T. Moshegov, A. I. Toropov, K. Eberl, and B. Lemke for their help in the preparation of the samples. This work is supported by RFBR and INTAS.