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# Young Stars and Outflows in the globule IC 1396 W

## 1 Introduction

The H II region IC 1396 is situated in the Cep OB2 region at a distance of about 750 pc (Matthews m79 (1979)). It is excited by the O6.5V star HD 206267 (Walborn & Panek wp84 (1984)). Extensive studies of the structure and the content of embedded young stellar objects in this region were performed by Weikard et al. (wwcws96 (1996)) and Schwarz et al. (sgw91 (1991)). Osterbrock (o57 (1957)) has identified several dark globules in this region, while Sugitani et al. (sfo91 (1991)) proved the association of some of such globules with IRAS sources. This, and the observations of the IC 1396 N globule (e.g. Codella et al. (cbnst01 (2001)) and Nisini et al. (nmvgldc\_etal01 (2001))) give strong evidence for the assumption that these globules are sites of ongoing star formation.

The IC 1396 W globule lies about 1.75 WNW of the star HD 206267. In the centre of the small (about 6’) dark cloud, the IRAS source IRAS21246+5743 can be found. This source is not detected at 12 $`\mu `$m. Together with the very red IRAS colours and the extended appearance in 100 $`\mu `$m IRAS image, this suggests the existence of a young, deeply embedded source. Further investigations of this object with the photometer ISOPHOT confirmed this hypothesis (Froebrich et al. fshe03 (2003)). They find strong evidence for IRAS21246+5743 being a deeply embedded Class 0 source of 16 L that will reach about one solar mass on the main sequence. The ISOPHOT maps at 160 and 200 $`\mu `$m of Froebrich et al. (fshe03 (2003)) show two further cold objects (2.5′ SW and NE, respectively) in the vicinity of the central source. This might be an indication of other new forming stars or cold dust in the IC 1396 W globule. Such embedded objects or clusters can be revealed by NIR imaging in the J, H, and K bands. The resulting (J-H, H-K) colour-colour diagrams give then additional information about the extinction and the youngest members of such clusters.

Observations of the IC 1396 W cloud in low-excitation rotational CO lines (see e.g. Wouterloot & Brand (wb89 (1989)) and Schwartz et al. (sgw91 (1991))) indicate line wings on the profiles. This gives evidence for the presence of a mass outflow, connected to the central IRAS source. But no CO map, flow mass, or energetics were presented so far. Hodapp (h94 (1994)) imaged the region in the NIR K’ filter and describes a parabola-shaped nebula at the western end of the outflow, an indication of shock excited bow shaped H2 emission as found in many other protostellar outflows. NIR imaging in continuum and a narrow band filter centred at the 1 – 0 S(1) line of molecular hydrogen at 2.122 $`\mu `$m can provide a verification of this assumption. Such observations are a powerful tool to investigate the intensity and morphology of shocked H2 emission.

In Sec. 2 we present our data and describe the data reduction process. A special emphasis is placed on the calibration of the J, H, and K’ magnitudes. Our results are shown in Sec. 3. We describe the discovered outflows in detail and characterise the young stellar population of the IC 1396 W globule by means of a (H-K, J-H) colour-colour diagram.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

The NIR survey of IC 1396 W was carried out with MAGIC (Herbst et al. hbbhmmw93 (1993)) mounted at the 2.2-m telescope of the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre on Calar Alto. The camera possesses a $`256\times 256`$ NICMOS3 array with a pixel scale of 1.6″/pix in widefield mode. Using a $`3\times 3`$ dithering pattern, we observed a $`13.5\mathrm{}\times 13.5`$′ field centred on IRAS21246+5743. During a run from 16th to 19th of September 2002, we obtained images in the broadband filters J, H, K’, and the narrow band filter NB2122 with a central wavelength of 2.122 $`\mu `$m. The total exposure times were 192 s in J and H, 208 s in K’, and 3480 s in NB2122. In a photometric night, the 2MASS object 2MASSW J0036159+182110 (hereafter 2M0036+18; Kirkpatrick et al. k00 (2000)) was observed in the broadband filters J, H, and Kshort as photometric standard star.

Both, object and standard star frames were flatfielded using skyflats. The DIMSUM package in IRAF111IRAF is distributed by National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. was used for sky subtraction and co-addition of the single images. Co-centering of the single frames was done by using all detectable stars in the field to obtain a high relative astrometric accuracy (about 1″).

In order to generate a catalogue of all objects in the field (including the emission knots), we ran the SExtractor (Bertin & Arnouts ba96 (1996)) on the NB2122 mosaic. The relative offsets between the NB2122 and the three broadband images were determined by measuring the relative positions of some bright stars. Applying these offsets to the NB2122 pixel coordinates, we obtained object catalogues for the J, H, and K’ mosaics. We used the PHOT routine within the IRAF DAOPHOT package (Stetson s87 (1987)) to perform aperture photometry for all registered objects. The aperture radius of 4 pixels safely includes more than 99% of the object’s flux. The instrumental magnitudes of the calibration object 2M0036+18 were measured with the same parameters.

With the 2MASS magnitudes of 2M0036+18, we calculated accurate zeropoints for the J, H, and Kshort band. The K’ filter used for the IC 1396 W survey has a response function very similar to the Kshort filter: Essentially, both filters cover the K-band without the long wavelength end above 2300 nm. Compared with the K-band, this excludes a region with strong atmospheric absorption and, thus, improves the signal-to-noise ratio. The application of the derived zeropoints shifts the instrumental magnitudes of the IC 1396 W field into the photometric system of 2MASS. Since the standard star was observed nearly at the same airmass as the IC 1396 W field, this operation also corrects for the atmospheric extinction. The error caused by the airmass difference between standard and science observations is below 1%.

To distinguish between field stars in the back- or foreground and a possible young population, we need to compare the derived magnitudes with the main sequence, e.g. with the infrared colours given by Bessell & Brett (bb88 (1988), hereafter: BB). The referred empirical main sequence is well adapted for our purposes because it uses a specified homogenized JHK system. To calculate the zeropoint difference of this system with respect to the 2MASS system, we integrated the filter curves of both systems and scaled our magnitudes to the transmission of the BB bands.

However, one has to be careful comparing our colours with the main sequence of BB. The described transformation from 2MASS to BB magnitudes is only valid for objects with flat spectral energy distribution and, thus, colour zero. Since we do not a priori know the BB colours for our objects, it is not possible to perform a colour correction. As noted above, the long wavelength cutoff of the Kshort (and the K’) filter is $`100`$ nm below the end of the BB K-band. Hence, compared with the BB system, we will loose K-flux proportional to the colour of the target. As a consequence, our (H-K) colours will be too low. A similar effect must be expected for the J-band: In this case, the BB band excludes flux for $`\lambda >1360`$ nm, whereas the cutoff of the 2MASS J-filter (and the MAGIC J-filter as well) lies at 1420 nm. Hence, we measure too much flux in the J-band for red objects, leading to increased (J-H) colours. Recapitulating, all red objects will move down to right in the (H-K, J-H) colour-colour diagram. The interpretation of these colours (see Sect. 3.1) must account for this effect.

The K’ image was multiplied by the ratio of the NB2122/K’ band-passes and then subtracted from the NB2122 image. In the difference image stars possess zero flux and the H2 emission line objects can be identified easily. Flux calibration and conversion to W m-2 of this difference image was done using the zero-point of 673 Jy for the K-band as given by Wamsteker (w81 (1981)).

## 3 Results

### 3.1 JHK Photometry - Stellar population of the globule

Our colour-colour diagram for the central part of the observed field is shown in Fig. 1. Solid lines represent the main sequence for dwarfs and giants given by BB. The dotted lines indicate the reddening vector calculated with the extinction model of Mathis (m90 (1990)) and confine the area where developed stars should reside. Two dotted lines parallel to the main sequence show the main sequence position for $`A_V`$ = 10 and $`A_V`$ = 20 mag. From this diagram, we estimate a mean cloud extinction of $`A_V10`$ mag. As discussed above (see Sect. 2), our photometry gives too high J-H and too low H-K colours compared with the main sequence as a consequence of non-homogenuous colour systems. Thus, the objects with very high J-H can be expected to lie in fact below the extinction path.

Clearly, there is a population of young red objects right of the main sequence. We selected all objects on the right side of the dashed line as probable young stellar objects. H2 emission knots and obvious spurious detections were rejected. The remaining 10 objects are marked as triangles. The reddest objects will not be detected in J or even in H. We show the position of these candidates with arrows: Upper arrows represent lower limits in J-H for objects without detection in J, right arrows are lower limits in H-K for objects without detection in J and H, but in K’ and NB2122. In these cases, the J-H values are randomly. We summarise coordinates and photometry of the young stellar population in IC 1396 W in Table 1.

### 3.2 Outflow morphology and driving sources

In Fig. 2 we marked the positions of the red sources listed in Table 1 by crosses. The majority of these objects is situated in the south-east corner of the globule (marked by a circle). However, no signs of outflow activity are visible here. Exactly in this region, Froebrich et al. (fshe03 (2003)) discovered with ISOPHOT maps an extremely cold source, possibly cold dust. This dust might cause the red colours of the stars and the non-detection of H2 emission in this field. Still the possibility of other deeply embedded sources exists.

About 120″ south of outflow number 1, a bright nebulosity is visible. Westward of this object there is also a small group (ellipse) of red sources (including the reddest of our objects, #31 in Table 1). No signs of outflow activity is visible here also. The other red stars are distributed uniformely in the field of the globule.

In our continuum subtracted NB2122 images of the IC 1396 W globule we discovered a variety of emission line knots in the 1 – 0 S(1) line of molecular hydrogen. In Fig. 2 the whole observed field is shown in the NB2122 image. We marked and labelled the three detected outflows and regions with stars of extreme red colours. Fig. 3 shows a blow up of the inner part of our image. The continuum subtracted H2 image is overplotted in contours for clarification. Contour levels start at 4 $`\times `$ 10-20 W m-2 arcsec-2 and increase by a factor of two in each step. The detected H2 knots are labelled. Their positions and fluxes are listed in Table 2.

The positions of the emission knots strongly suggest that we see three different outflows, emanating from young stars in the IC 1396 W globule. The knots are named, as shown in Fig. 2, by the outflow (1, 2, or 3) and a knot number (a, b, c …). Three further knots (4, 5, and 6) could not be associated directly with one of the flows. Surprisingly all three outflows seem to be orientated from north-east to south-west. The individual position angles are 58, 60 and 61 for the three individual outflows. Such a close alignment of three flows (even if just in projection) is difficult to explain by coincidence (probability: 0.03 %). There are also other examples of aligned outflows in small ($`<`$ 1 pc) star forming clouds (e.g. $ρ$ Oph A, Kamazaki et al. (kshuk03 (2003)); L 1551, Saito et al. (skimhhk\_etal95 (1995)); IC 1396 N, Nisini et al. (nmvgldc\_etal01 (2001))). The authors state magnetic fields, density gradients or initial angular momentum of the molecular cloud as cause for the alignment. A consistent interpretion based on magnetic fields, however, is not possible for all these objects, since cases exist where fields and outflows are either parallel (L 1551, Saito et al. skimhhk\_etal95 (1995)) or perpendicular ($`\rho `$ Oph A, Kamazaki et al. kshuk03 (2003)). Thus, a determination of the real cause for the aligned outflows is yet not possible with the present data.

### Outflow 1

In a small extension at the north-eastern edge of the IC 1396 W globule a small flow with a projected length of about 90″ (0.3 pc) is detected. Along the outflow axis a red star (#9 in Table 1) is situated which possibly drives the flow. According to the K-band magnitude of 12.4 mag the object seems to be a late type Class 1 or a borderline Class 1/2 source (Aspin et al. asr94 (1994)). Southwest of this source a group of four (1-d .. 1-g) emission knots is observed. Their positions suggest that they might be part of a bow shock heading to south-west. About 20″ westward of this emission, another faint knot (1-h) is found. The north-eastern part of the flow is much fainter in the H2 emission. A careful inspection of the H2 image reveals that the emission indicates a cavity, created by a jet. A similar structure can be seen in other young outflows (e.g. HH 211; Mc Caughrean et al. mrz94 (1994)).

### Outflow 2

The most luminous and largest (240″ $`{}_{=}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$ 0.9 pc) outflow is situated right in the centre of the observed field. At the south-west end, a bow shock structure can be found. This part of the emission was already detected in the K’ image of Hodapp (h94 (1994)). Two further knots are visible in the prolongation (2-m, 2-n). In the north-east the flow shows both a cavity-like structure (2-f .. h) and further knots (2-a .. e), seeming to be part of a bow shock. Between the knots 2-g .. i, and right at the axis of the flow, the source IRAS21246+5743 is situated. No other red object can be found along the flow axis. If IRAS21246+5743 is the source of the flow, the south-west part is much less extended. This could be due to higher extinction in this direction, since more red stars and sub-mm emission (Froebrich et al. fshe03 (2003)) can be found in the prolongation of the flow (see Sec. 3.1). At least a 30 mag higher visual extinction would be necessary to avoid the detection of H2 knots of the same brightness as the north-east lobe of the flow. A more favourable possibility is that the flow enters at its south-western edge a more dense region. The resulting shock waves are stronger, causing the bright knot 2-j and the flow is prevented to extend more into this direction.

### Outflow 3

The third outflow is the faintest detected in the field. It is situated at the north-western edge of the globule. The emission knots show a jetlike structure, consisting of three knots on each side. The jet and counter-jet are misaligned by a projected angle of 25 . While the south-western part is more luminous, it is less extended (SW: 36″ $`{}_{=}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$ 0.13 pc; NE: 40″ $`{}_{=}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$ 0.15 pc). Similar to flow number 1, a red star (#2 in Table 1) possibly driving the jet, is found in the centre of the emission knots. The measured K-band brightness of 10.8 mag classifies this source as a Class 2 object (Aspin et al. asr94 (1994)). This would also explain the low luminosity of the outflow (see below).

### Other H2 emission and flow energetics

Three more emission knots are detected in the field that cannot be directly associated with one of the flows. Two of them (5 and 6) could possibly belong to the flow driven by IRAS21246+5743. Another possibility is the existence of a fourth outflow, also parallel to the others, consisting of these three knots. A possible driving source of the flow, confirming this hypothesis, is not detected in our NIR images.

The total flux in the 1 – 0 S(1) line of the three outflows is 96, 391 and 71 $`\times `$ 10-18 W m-2. Due to overlap effects in the knots, this number is not equal to the sum of the fluxes given in Table 2. The fluxes convert to 1.7, 6.8 and 1.2 $`\times `$ 10-3 solar luminosities, using a distance of 750 pc. Taking an average extinction of AV = 10 mag (read off the colour-colour diagram, Fig. 1) and AV/A2.1μm = 9 this converts to 5, 19 and 3 $`\times `$ 10-3 L total intrinsic H2 1 – 0 S(1) luminosity. According to the classification of the driving sources (flow 1: Class 1/2; flow 2: Class 0; flow 3: Class 2), these measurements fit well in the evolutionary picture of outflow and source luminosities (e.g. Smith s99 (1999, 2000, 2002)).

IRAS21246+5743, the driving source of outflow 2, is possibly of Class 0 (Froebrich et al. fshe03 (2003)) and has a luminosity of about 16 solar luminosities. Froebrich et al. (fshe03 (2003)) further estimate a final source mass of about one solar mass. In their Fig. 13 they present evolutionary tracks for the outflow and source luminosity. This leads to an estimate of the total shock luminosity of about 14 L, and thus (taking 10% of the emission in H2 lines, 10% of these in the 1 – 0 S(1) line and AV = 10 mag) to 12 $`\times `$ 10-3 L in the 1 – 0 S(1) line. Here we measure 19 $`\times `$ 10-3 L for the whole outflow. Taking into account the ’unusual’ conditions of the south-western lobe (see Sec. 3.2, Outflow 2) and calculating the luminosity by using twice the north-eastern lobe we get 14 $`\times `$ 10-3 L. This is in very good agreement with the model predictions, giving further strong evidence of IRAS21246+5743 being a Class 0 object.

## 4 Conclusions

We have observed the IC 1396 W globule in J, H, K’, and the NB2122 narrow band filter centred on the 1 – 0 S(1) line of molecular hydrogen. By means of the continuum subtracted NB2122 image we were able to detect three molecular outflows in the field. Two of them were not previously known. The flow axes are parallel within 3 degrees in projection. More and more such aligned outflows are discovered in small ($`<`$ 1 pc) star forming regions/globules. Magnetic fields cannot consistently explain all these cases. Thus, a parallel initial angular momentum of these objects, caused by the fragmentation of small clouds/globules, might be the reason for the alignment.

With our NIR photometry, IRAS and ISOPHOT observations we are able to identify the driving sources of the outflows. Two flows are driven by more evolved Class 1/2 objects. The brightest outflow is driven by the Class 0 source IRAS21246+5743. We measured an intrinsic H2 luminosity of 19 $`\times `$ 10-3 L which confirms the Class 0 nature of this object. The other outflow luminosities fit well into the evolutionary model of Smith (s99 (1999, 2000, 2002)) for the evolution of outflow and source luminosities.

The asymmetry in brightness and lenght of the main outflow, driven by IRAS21246+5743, can be well explained in consideration of the findings of Froebrich et al. (fshe03 (2003)). At the south-western end the flow enters a clump of denser material that causes stronger shocks with brighter H2 emission and at the same time decelerates the jet.

Our JHK photometry of the globule reveals a population of young stars. They are situated mainly in a dense embedded subcluster, about 2.5′ south-west of IRAS21246+5743. This cluster coincides with a clump of denser gas. The other young stars are almost uniformely distributed in the observed field. The spread of the red sources over almost the whole globule indicates that star formation takes place uniformely distributed. It is concentrated, nevertheless, in a region with strong FIR emission.

###### Acknowledgements.

It is a pleasure to thank A.P. Hatzes and J. Eislöffel for providing observing time within the framework of their campaign. We greatfully acknowledge the support from H. Linz and A. Sasse, as well as valuable comments from the anonymous referee. A. Scholz received travel fund from the DFG HA3279/2-1 project.


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# On the self-induced charge currents in electromagnetic materials and its effects in the torsion balance experiment†footnote ††footnote †This paper is concerned with the self-induced charge currents and some related physically interesting topics. It will be submitted nowhere else for the publication, just uploaded at the e-print archives.

## I Photon effective rest mass due to self-induced charge current

In is well known that in some simple electromagnetic media such as electron plasma, superconducting media and Lorentz dispersive materials (inside which the time-harmonic electromagnetic wave is propagating), the self-induced charge current density $`𝐉`$ is proportional to the magnetic vector potential $`𝐀`$. Thus the interaction term $`\mu _0𝐉𝐀`$ in the Lagrangian density is therefore transformed into an effective mass term $`\frac{1}{2}\frac{m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2c^2}{\mathrm{}^2}𝐀^2`$ of electromagnetic fields, which is analogous to the rest mass term in the Londons’ electromagnetics for superconductivity, Ginzberg-Landau superconductivity theory and Higgs mechanism. Note that in these media, the magnetic permeabilityNote that here for the magnetic properties in superconductors, we adopt the current viewpoint rather than the magnetic-charge viewpoint (where the permeability can be viewed as $`\mu =0`$). $`\mu =1`$, so it is easy for us to obtain $`𝐉`$ (and hence the effective rest mass of photon) by solving the equation of motion of charged particles acted upon by electromagnetic waves. However, for some artificial composite electromagnetic metamaterials, which are described by, e.g., the two time derivative Lorentz material (2TDLM) model (in which both the electric permittivity and the magnetic permeability are of frequency dependence and therefore of complicated form) and some uniaxially (or biaxially) anisotropic media with permittivity and permeability being tensors, the above formulation may be not helpful in obtaining the effective rest mass of electromagnetic fields. In these cases, however, we have shown that the following formula

$$\frac{m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2c^4}{\mathrm{}^2}=(1n^2)\omega ^2,$$
(1)
which arises from the Einstein-de Broglie relation, can be applicable to the above problem. In the expression (1), $`n`$, $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`c`$ denote the optical refractive index, Planck’s constant and speed of light in a vacuum, respectively.

The two time derivative Lorentz material (2TDLM) model first suggested by Ziolkowski and Auzanneau is a generalization of the standard Lorentz material model. Ziolkowski has shown that this type of 2TDLM medium can be designed so that it allows communication signals to propagate in the medium at speeds exceeding the speed of light in a vacuum without violating causality. For these artificial metamaterials, the model encompasses the permittivity and permeability material responses experimentally obtained. The x̂-directed polarization and ŷ-directed magnetization fields in such materials would have the following forms

$`{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}𝒫_x+\mathrm{\Gamma }{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}𝒫_x+\omega _0^2𝒫_x=ϵ_0\left(\omega _\mathrm{p}^2\chi _\alpha ^\mathrm{e}_x+\omega _\mathrm{p}\chi _\beta ^\mathrm{e}{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}_x+\chi _\gamma ^\mathrm{e}{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}_x\right),`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}_y+\mathrm{\Gamma }{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}_y+\omega _0^2_y=\omega _\mathrm{p}^2\chi _\alpha ^\mathrm{m}_y+\omega _\mathrm{p}\chi _\beta ^\mathrm{m}{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}_y+\chi _\gamma ^\mathrm{m}{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}_y,`$ (3)
where $`\chi _\alpha ^{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{m}}`$, $`\chi _\beta ^{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{m}}`$ and $`\chi _\gamma ^{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{m}}`$ represent, respectively, the coupling of the electric (magnetic) field and its first and second time derivatives to the local electric (magnetic) dipole moments. $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{e}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{m}`$ and $`\omega _0`$ can be viewed as the plasma frequency, damping frequency and resonance frequency of the electric (magnetic) dipole oscillators, respectively. Thus the frequency-domain electric and magnetic susceptibilities are given

$$\chi ^\mathrm{e}\left(\omega \right)=\frac{\left(\omega _\mathrm{p}^\mathrm{e}\right)^2\chi _\alpha ^\mathrm{e}+i\omega \omega _\mathrm{p}^\mathrm{e}\chi _\beta ^\mathrm{e}\omega ^2\chi _\gamma ^\mathrm{e}}{\omega ^2+i\omega \mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{e}+\left(\omega _0^\mathrm{e}\right)^2},\chi ^\mathrm{m}\left(\omega \right)=\frac{\left(\omega _\mathrm{p}^\mathrm{m}\right)^2\chi _\alpha ^\mathrm{m}+i\omega \omega _\mathrm{p}^\mathrm{m}\chi _\beta ^\mathrm{m}\omega ^2\chi _\gamma ^\mathrm{m}}{\omega ^2+i\omega \mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{m}+\left(\omega _0^\mathrm{m}\right)^2},$$
(4)
So, the refractive index squared in the 2TDLM model reads

$$n^2\left(\omega \right)=1+\chi ^\mathrm{e}\left(\omega \right)+\chi ^\mathrm{m}\left(\omega \right)+\chi ^\mathrm{e}\left(\omega \right)\chi ^\mathrm{m}\left(\omega \right).$$
(5)
Thus it follows from (1) that the photon effective rest mass squared in 2TDLM model is of the form

$$m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2=\frac{\mathrm{}^2\omega ^2}{c^4}\left[\chi ^\mathrm{e}\left(\omega \right)+\chi ^\mathrm{m}\left(\omega \right)+\chi ^\mathrm{e}\left(\omega \right)\chi ^\mathrm{m}\left(\omega \right)\right].$$
(6)
As an illustrative example, we apply Eq.(6) to the case of left-handed media, which is a kind of artificial composite metamaterials with negative refractive index in the microwave frequency region ($`10^9`$ Hz). More recently, this medium captured considerable attention in various fields such as condensed matter physics, materials science, applied electromagnetics and optics. The most characteristic features of left-handed media are: (i) both the electric permittivity $`ϵ`$ and the magnetic permeability $`\mu `$ are negative; (ii) the Poynting vector and wave vector of electromagnetic wave propagating inside it would be antiparallel, i.e., the wave vector k, the electric field E and the magnetic field H form a left-handed system; (iii) a number of peculiar electromagnetic and optical properties such as the reversal of both the Doppler shift and the Cherenkov radiation, anomalous refraction, modified spontaneous emission rates and even reversals of radiation pressure to radiation tension arise. All these dramatically different propagation characteristics stem from the sign change of the group velocity. In what follows we calculate the photon effective rest mass squared by making use of Eq.(6) and the expressions

$$ϵ\left(\omega \right)=1\frac{\omega _\mathrm{p}^2}{\omega \left(\omega +i\gamma \right)},\mu \left(\omega \right)=1\frac{F\omega ^2}{\omega ^2\omega _0^2+i\omega \mathrm{\Gamma }}$$
(7)
for the effective dielectric parameter and magnetic permeability, where the plasma frequency $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$ and the magnetic resonance frequency $`\omega _0`$ are in the GHz range (e.g., $`\omega _\mathrm{p}=10.0`$ GHz, $`\omega _0=4.0`$ GHz ), the damping parameters $`\gamma =0.03\omega _\mathrm{p}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.03\omega _0`$. The parameter $`F`$ may often be chosen $`0<F<1`$, for example, $`F=0.56`$. By using $`n^2\left(\omega \right)=ϵ\left(\omega \right)\mu \left(\omega \right)`$, we obtain

$$n^2\left(\omega \right)=1\frac{\omega _\mathrm{p}^2}{\omega ^2}\left(1+\frac{i\gamma }{\omega }\right)^1+\frac{F\omega _\mathrm{p}^2}{\omega ^2}\left(1+\frac{i\gamma }{\omega }\right)^1\left(1\frac{\omega _0^2}{\omega ^2}+\frac{i\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\omega }\right)^1F\left(1\frac{\omega _0^2}{\omega ^2}+\frac{i\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\omega }\right)^1.$$
(8)
It follows that the mass squared $`m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2`$ is obtained

$$m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{c^4}\left[\omega _\mathrm{p}^2\left(1+\frac{i\gamma }{\omega }\right)^1F\omega _\mathrm{p}^2\left(1+\frac{i\gamma }{\omega }\right)^1\left(1\frac{\omega _0^2}{\omega ^2}+\frac{i\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\omega }\right)^1+F\omega ^2\left(1\frac{\omega _0^2}{\omega ^2}+\frac{i\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\omega }\right)^1\right].$$
(9)
Note that for the electron-plasma medium, where the electromagnetic parameters $`\gamma =\mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$, $`F=0`$, one can arrive at the following familiar formula

$$m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2=\frac{\mathrm{}^2\omega _\mathrm{p}^2}{c^4}$$
(10)
with the plasma frequency squared $`\omega _\mathrm{p}^2=\frac{Ne^2}{ϵ_0m_\mathrm{e}}`$ (here $`e`$, $`m_\mathrm{e}`$ and $`N`$ respectively denote the electron charge, mass and electron number density in this electron plasma).

It should be emphasized that there is a difference in the definition of photon effective rest mass between two types of experimental schemes of testing photon mass§§§These two types of experimental schemes are as follows: one is based on the Hamiltonian density of electrodynamics and the other based on Maxwellian equations.. In the discussion of wave dispersion and potential variations of the speed of light with frequency, which are based on the Maxwellian equations (rather than the Hamiltonian or Lagrangian density of interacting electromagnetic system), the effective rest mass squared of photons is expressed by Eq.(10). Historically, this problem has been discussed by many investigators, e.g., Feinberg who considered the possibility of the variation of the speed of light with frequency in the sharply defined optical and radio pulses from pulsars and took into account in more detail the observed variation of arrival time with frequency for the radio waves attributed to the interaction with interstellar electrons. However, for those experimental schemes of testing photon rest mass, which are based on the Hamiltonian density (rather than the Maxwellian equations), the effective rest mass of photons due to media dispersion (i.e., the interaction of wave with charged particles in environmental dilute plasma such as the secondary cosmic rays) is two times that expressed in Eq.(10). The torsion balance experiment is just this type of schemes, which will be considered in what follows.

## II Effects of self-induced charge currents in the torsion balance experiment

In this section, we consider the potential effects of self-induced charge currents arising in the torsion balance experiments. The Lagrangian density of electrodynamics reads

$$=\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}\mu _\gamma ^2A_\mu A_\mu +\mu _0J_\mu A_\mu ,$$
(11)
where $`\mu _\gamma ^2=\left(\frac{m_\gamma c}{\mathrm{}}\right)^2`$ with $`m_\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`c`$ being the photon rest mass, Planck’s constant and speed of light in a free vacuum, respectively, and $`\mu _0`$ denotes the magnetic permeability in a vacuum. It follows from (11) that the canonical momentum density is written

$$\pi _\mu =\frac{}{\dot{A}_\mu },\stackrel{}{\pi }(x)=𝐄(x).$$
(12)
In the electron plasma, due to the conservation law of the canonical momentum density, i.e., $`\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}(m_\mathrm{e}𝐯+e𝐀)=0`$, we have $`𝐯=\frac{e}{m_\mathrm{e}}𝐀+𝐂`$ with $`𝐂`$ being a constant velocity. By using the formula $`=𝐄\dot{𝐀}`$ and electric current density $`𝐉=Ne𝐯=\frac{Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}𝐀+Ne𝐂`$, one can arrive at (in SI)

$$=\frac{1}{2\mu _0}\left[\frac{𝐄^2}{c^2}+𝐁^2+\mu _\gamma ^2𝐀^2+2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}𝐀^2+\frac{1}{\mu _\gamma ^2c^2}\left(𝐄\frac{𝐉_0}{ϵ_0}\right)^2\right]+𝐉_0𝐀_0Ne𝐂𝐀,$$
(13)
where $`𝐉_0=\rho `$ and $`𝐀_0=\varphi `$ are respectively the electric charge density and electric scalar potential, and $`ϵ_0`$ represents the electric permittivity in a vacuum and $`c=\frac{1}{\sqrt{ϵ_0\mu _0}}`$. Note that here $`\frac{1}{\mu _\gamma ^2c^2}\left(𝐄\frac{𝐉_0}{ϵ_0}\right)^2`$ results from both the mass term $`\frac{\mu _\gamma ^2}{c^2}𝐀_0^2`$ and the Gauss’s law $`𝐄=\mu _\gamma ^2𝐀_0+\frac{𝐉_0}{ϵ_0}`$.

It follows from (13) that the total effective rest mass squared of electromagnetic fields in electron plasma is given as follows

$$\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2=\mu _\gamma ^2+2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}.$$
(14)
It is worthwhile to point out that according to the Ampère-Maxwell-Proca equation $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0ϵ_0\frac{}{t}𝐄+\mu _0𝐉\mu _\gamma ^2𝐀`$ and the consequent $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0ϵ_0\frac{}{t}𝐄[\mu _\gamma ^2+\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}]𝐀+\mu _0Ne𝐂`$, the $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2`$ should be $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2=\mu _\gamma ^2+\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$ rather than that in (14). This minor difference between these two $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2`$ results from the derivative procedure applied to the Lagrangian density by using the Euler-Lagrange equation. Although it seems from the Ampère-Maxwell-Proca equation that $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2=\mu _\gamma ^2+\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$, the factor-$`2`$ in (14) cannot be ignored in calculating the torque acting on the torsion balance due to the photon effective rest mass, which will be confirmed in what follows. In the classical electromagnetics, the following familiar formulae are given

$$\times 𝐁=\mu _0𝐉,m_d=\pi r^2I,I=𝐉𝐒,\stackrel{}{\tau }=𝐦_d\times 𝐁$$
(15)
and

$$\times 𝐀=𝐁,a_d=\pi r^2\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mu _0},\mathrm{\Phi }=𝐁𝐒,$$
(16)
where $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0𝐉`$ holds when the electric field strength $`𝐄`$, electric current density $`𝐉`$ are vanishing in the Ampère-Maxwell equation. In Eq.(15), $`m_d=\pi r^2I`$ means that a current loop of radius $`r`$ carrying current $`I`$ gives rise to a magnetic dipole moment $`m_d`$; $`𝐒`$ in $`I=𝐉𝐒`$ denotes the area vector through which the electric current density vector $`𝐉`$ penetrates; $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=𝐦_d\times 𝐁`$ means that an electric-current loop with a magnetic dipole moment $`𝐦_d`$, immersed in a magnetic field $`𝐁`$, experiences a torque $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=𝐦_d\times 𝐁`$. Eqs.(16) means in the torsion balance experiment, a toroid coil contains a loop of magnetic flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ which acts as a dipole source $`a_d`$ of magnetic vector potential via $`\times 𝐀=𝐁`$ with the magnetic field $`𝐁`$ within the toroid as the source term.

It follows from (13) that in the Hamiltonian density $``$ of electromagnetic system, there are $`\frac{1}{2}𝐁^2`$ and $`\frac{1}{2}\left(\mu _\gamma ^2+2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}\right)𝐀^2`$ (i.e., $`\frac{1}{2}\left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)^2`$), which provide us with some useful insights into calculating the torque produced by the interaction of magnetic dipole vector potential moment $`𝐚_d`$ with the ambient cosmic magnetic vector potential acting upon the toroid in the torsion balance experiment. For convenience, the Equations (16) may be rewritten as follows

$$\times (\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀)=\mu _0\left(\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐁}{\mu _0}\right),\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}a_d=\pi r^2\left(\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mu _0}\right),\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mu _0}=\left(\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐁}{\mu _0}\right)𝐒.$$
(17)
In order to calculate the torque acting on the torsion balance, we compare the equations and expressions in (17) with those in (15) as follows:

|  |  | the familiar case | the case due to photon mass |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | in $``$ | $`\frac{1}{2}𝐁^2`$ | $`\frac{1}{2}\left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)^2`$ |
|  | Equations | $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0𝐉`$ | $`\times (\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀)=\mu _0\left(\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐁}{\mu _0}\right)`$ |
|  | dipole moment | $`m_d=\pi r^2I`$ | $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}a_d=\pi r^2\left(\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mu _0}\right)`$ |
|  | flux | $`I=𝐉𝐒`$ | $`\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mu _0}=\left(\frac{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐁}{\mu _0}\right)𝐒`$ |
|  | torque | $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=𝐦_d\times 𝐁`$ | $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=\mathrm{?}`$ |
| \*Table 1 | | | |

Thus it follows from the analogies in the above table that, $`\mathrm{?}=(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐚_d)\times (\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀)`$, i.e., the torque $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2𝐚_d\times 𝐀`$. Here the torque $`\stackrel{}{\tau }`$ arising from the interaction between the dipole field of magnetic potentials (resulting from the electric current $`I`$ in the toroid windings) with the ambient vector potential $`𝐀`$ acts on the torsion balance. It should be noted again that here $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2=\mu _\gamma ^2+2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$ rather than $`\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}^2=\mu _\gamma ^2+\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$.

Note that there exists a term $`\mu _0Ne𝐂`$ in the Ampère-Maxwell-Proca equation $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0ϵ_0\frac{}{t}𝐄[\mu _\gamma ^2+\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}]𝐀+\mu _0Ne𝐂`$. Does this term has influences on the torsion balance? In what follows we will discuss this problem.

In the similar fashion, we consider the familiar Hamiltonian density $`𝐌𝐁`$, which describes the interaction of the magnetic moments with the magnetic field $`𝐁`$. According to the Ampère-Maxwell-Proca equation with $`\mu _0ϵ_0\frac{}{t}𝐄`$ and $`\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}𝐀`$ being ignored, we have $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0Ne𝐂`$, which can be rewritten as $`\times 𝐁=\left(\mu _0\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\right)\left(\frac{Ne𝐂}{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}}\right)`$. In the meanwhile, $`=Ne𝐂𝐀`$ can also be rewritten as $`=\left(\frac{Ne𝐂}{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}}\right)\left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)`$.

It is known that in the sufficiently large space filled with homogeneous magnetic moments with volume density (magnetization) being $`𝐌`$, the interior magnetic field strength $`𝐁`$ produced by homogeneously distributed magnetic moments is just $`\mu _0𝐌`$This may be considered in two ways: (i) if the direction of $`𝐌`$ is assumed to be parallel to the third component of Cartesian coordinate system, then the potentially non-vanishing components of $`𝐁`$ and $`𝐇`$ are also the third ones. It follows from the Ampère’s law $`\times 𝐇=𝐉_{\mathrm{free}}`$ with $`𝐉_{\mathrm{free}}=0`$ that $`H_3`$ is constant, and $`H_3`$ can be viewed as zero. So, according to the expression $`𝐁=\mu _0(𝐇+𝐌)`$, we obtain $`𝐁=\mu _0𝐌`$; (ii) In accordance with Ampère’s circuital law, the magnetic induction $`B`$ inside a long solenoid with $`N`$ circular loops carrying a current $`I`$ in the region remote from the ends is axial, uniform and equal to $`\mu _0`$ times the number of Ampère-turns per meter $`nI`$, i.e., $`B=\mu _0nI`$, where $`n=\frac{N}{l}`$ with $`l`$ being the solenoid length. Let $`S`$ denote the cross-section area of this long solenoid. The volume density of magnetic moments $`IS`$ resulting from the carried current $`I`$ is $`M=\frac{(IS)nl}{V}`$ with the solenoid volume $`V=Sl`$. This, therefore, means that the volume density of magnetic moments just equals the number of Ampère-turns per meter $`nI`$, i.e., $`M=nI`$. So, we have $`B=\mu _0M`$., i.e., $`\times 𝐀=\mu _0𝐌`$ or $`\times \left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)=\left(\mu _0\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\right)𝐌`$.

Thus the comparisons between “the familiar case” and the case due to the constant $`𝐂`$ are illustrated in the following table,

|  |  | the familiar case | the case due to constant $`𝐂`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | in $``$ | $`\frac{1}{2}𝐁^2`$ | $`\frac{1}{2}\left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)^2`$ |
|  | interaction Hamiltonian density | $`=𝐌𝐁`$ | $`=\left(\frac{Ne𝐂}{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}}\right)\left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)`$ |
|  | Equations | $`\times \left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)=\left(\mu _0\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\right)𝐌`$ | $`\times 𝐁=\left(\mu _0\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}\right)\left(\frac{Ne𝐂}{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}}\right)`$ |
|  | torque | $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=𝐌\times 𝐁`$ | $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=\mathrm{?}`$ |
| \*Table 2 | | | |

It follows that $`\mathrm{?}=\left(\frac{Ne𝐂}{\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}}\right)\times \left(\mu _{\mathrm{tot}}𝐀\right)`$, i.e., $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=Ne𝐂\times 𝐀`$, which dose not act on the toroid in the torsion balance experiment.

Since we have discussed the related preliminary preparation for the effects of self-induced charge currents, we think the order of magnitude of its effects in experiments (e.g., the extra torque due to the photon effective mass acting on the toroid in the torsion balance experiment) deserves evaluation.

## III Discussion and remarks: self-induced charge currents in dilute plasma

Here we discuss the effective rest mass of photon resulting from the self-induced charge currents in the torsion balance experiments. The self-induced charge current arises mainly from the two sources around us: (i) muon ($`\mu `$) component and alpha-particles in cosmic rays; (ii) decay daughter (alpha-particles) of radioactive radon gas ($`{}_{86}{}^{222}\mathrm{Rn}`$, $`{}_{86}{}^{220}\mathrm{Rn}`$) in room environment.

It is known that at the sea level, the current density of muon component in secondary cosmic rays is about $`1\times 10^2\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$. Assuming that the muon velocity approaches speed of light, the volume density of muon can be derived and the result is $`N_\mu =0.3\times 10^6`$ $`\mathrm{m}^3`$. So, according to Eq.(14) (i.e., $`m_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{\mathrm{}}{c}\sqrt{\frac{2Ne^2}{ϵ_0m_\mu c^2}}`$), electromagnetic wave with wavelengthSince the mean distance of two muons in secondary cosmic rays at sea level is about 100 m, Lorentz’s mean-field formulation (Lorentz’s dispersion theory, Lorentz’s electron theory, 1895) is not applicable to the electromagnetic wave with wavelength $`\lambda 100`$ m. So, the above effective mass formula is no longer valid for this case (i.e., $`\lambda 100`$ m). In fact, the electromagnetic wave with wavelength $`\lambda 100`$ m dose not acquire this effective rest mass. But the ambient cosmic magnetic vector potentials (interstellar magnetic fields) with low (or zero) frequencies will truly acquire this effective rest mass. $`\lambda 100`$ m at the sea level acquires an effective rest mass about $`0.6\times 10^{53}`$ Kg. Note that the above-mentioned muon volume density ($`0.3\times 10^6\mathrm{m}^3`$) is the datum at the sea level. In the Luo’s rotating torsion balance experiment whose total apparatus is located in their cave laboratory, on which the least thickness of the cover is more than $`40`$ m, it is reasonably believed that the muon density of cosmic rays in the vacuum chamber of Luo’s experiment may be one or two orders of magnitude\**\**\**Readers may be referred to the following data of muon current density in underground cosmic rays: the muon current densities are $`10^4\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`10^6\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ at the equivalent water depth of $`100`$ m and $`1000`$ m under the ground, respectively. less than that at the sea level, and therefore the effective rest mass acquired by photons in the vacuum chamber of Luo’s torsion balance experiment may be about $`(0.62)\times 10^{54}`$ Kg.

It is believed that the air molecules in the vacuum chamber of torsion balance experiment cannot be ionized by the alpha-particles of cosmic rays, because the mean free path of alpha-particle moving at about $`10^7\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the dilute air with the pressure being only $`10^2`$ Pa is too large (more than $`10^6`$ m)††††††According to some handbooks, the free paths of alpha-particles in air (with pressure $`10^5`$ Pa) are 2.5, 3.5, 4.6, 5.9, 7.4, 8.9, 10.6 cm, corresponding respectively to the energy 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0 Mev. So, in the vacuum chamber with pressure $`10^2`$ Pa in Luo’s experiment, the free path of alpha-particles (with energy much more than 10 Mev, even perhaps more than 100 Mev) in secondary cosmic rays is more than $`10^7`$ times several cm, which means that the air molecules in the low-pressure vacuum chamber cannot be easily ionized by the alpha-particles of cosmic rays.. So, the air medium has nothing to contribute to the effective rest mass of photons. As far as the alpha-particle itself is concerned, it follows, from the fact that at the sea level the alpha-particle number density in secondary cosmic rays is about one order of magnitude less than that of muon, that the alpha-particle in cosmic rays itself contributes about $`10^{54}`$ Kg to photon rest mass.

Radon ($`{}_{86}{}^{}\mathrm{Rn}`$) possesses the $`\alpha `$-radioactivity. Generally speaking, the Rn density in room environment is $`10^8\mathrm{m}^3`$ or so, which may be the same order of magnitude as particle density in secondary cosmic rays‡‡‡‡‡‡The effective doses of cosmic rays and Rn humans suffer are respectively $`0.4`$ mSv (typical range: 0.3-1.0 mSv) and $`1.2`$ mSv (typical range: 0.2-10 mSv)., and the decay daughter (alpha-particles) will therefore give rise to a photon effective mass of about $`10^{54}`$ Kg.

Thus the effective rest mass induced by muons and alpha-particles in secondary cosmic rays and radon gas can be compared to the new upper limit ($`1.2\times 10^{54}`$ Kg) obtained by Luo et al. in their recent rotating torsion balance experiment. So, as far as the contribution of ions of cosmic rays to the photon rest mass is concerned, this upper limit ($`1.2\times 10^{54}`$ Kg) becomes just a critical value. We think Luo’s experimentally obtained upper limit is of much interest and therefore deserves further experimental investigation to get a more precise upper limit on photon mass.

## IV Conclusion

In this paper,

i) it is verified that the expression (1), i.e., $`\frac{m_{\mathrm{eff}}^2c^4}{\mathrm{}^2}=(1n^2)\omega ^2`$ can be applied to calculating the effective rest mass of photons in the artificial composite electromagnetic metamaterials with complicated permittivity and permeability.

ii) it is shown that the extra torque $`2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m}𝐚_d\times 𝐀`$ by the self-induced charge currents will also acts upon the toroid in the torsion balance experiment whose apparatus is immersed in the dilute plasma such as the cosmic rays and radon gas. Here the photon effective rest mass squared is $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2=2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$ rather than $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2=\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$.

The following difference between these two $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2`$ should be pointed out: the theoretical mechanism of torsion balance experiment lies in the Lagrangian or Hamiltonian (13) of interacting electromagnetic system, so, the effective rest mass squared of electromagnetic fields is $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2=2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$. However, for those experimental schemes of photon rest mass stemming from the Ampère-Maxwell-Proca equation $`\times 𝐁=\mu _0ϵ_0\frac{}{t}𝐄[\mu _\gamma ^2+\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}]𝐀+\mu _0Ne𝐂`$, the effective rest mass squared of electromagnetic fields is $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2=\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$ rather than $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2=2\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$. The so-called experimental realizations stemming from the Ampère-Maxwell-Proca equation are as follows: pulsar test of a variation of the speed of light with frequency; geomagnetic limit on photon mass based on the analysis of satellite measurements of the Earth’s field; experimental test of Ampère’s law at low temperature, etc.. In all these experimental schemes, the effective mass squared is $`\mu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2=\frac{\mu _0Ne^2}{m_\mathrm{e}}`$.

iii) the self-induced charge currents in dilute plasma presented above (i.e., muons and alpha-particles in secondary cosmic rays and radon gas) will give arise to an effective rest mass of about $`10^{54}`$ Kg, which can be compared to the new upper limit on photon rest mass obtained in Luo’s rotating torsion balance experiment.

Acknowledgements This project is supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the project No. $`90101024`$.


text:
# Ab initio calculation of the KRb dipole moments

## I Theory

The electronic potentials and dipole moments are calculated with the configuration-interaction (CI) valence bond method. Both nonrelativistic and relativistic implementations of the method are used. The basic idea behind the valence-bond method is that the electronic molecular wavefunction $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}`$ is constructed from wavefunctions, which are products of wavefunctions that describe the constituent atoms $`A`$ and $`B`$. In essence, the molecular wavefunction is given by

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}=\underset{\alpha }{}C_\alpha |det_\alpha ^{AB}$$
(1)
where each $`|det^{AB}`$ is an antisymmetrized ($`\widehat{A}`$) product of two atomic Slater determinants

$$|det_\alpha ^{AB}=\widehat{A}(|det_\alpha ^A|det_\alpha ^B).$$
(2)
The atomic Slater determinants $`|det_\alpha ^A`$ and $`|det_\alpha ^B`$ are constructed from one-electron functions centered on the nucleus of atom $`A`$ and $`B`$, respectively. The variational CI coefficients $`C_\alpha `$ in Eq. (1) are obtained by solving a generalized eigenvalue matrix problem, since in our approach the $`|det_\alpha ^{AB}`$ are not orthogonal.

The permanent molecular dipole moment of the molecular wavefunction $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}`$ is calculated from

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }=\underset{k=A,B}{}Z_k\stackrel{}{R_k}e\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}|\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\stackrel{}{r_i}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}$$
(3)
where $`N`$ is the total number of electrons in the molecule and $`e`$ is the electron charge. The first term of Eq. 3 depends on the position $`\stackrel{}{R}_k`$ and charge $`Z_k`$ of nuclei $`k=A`$ and $`B`$ and is zero by choosing an appropriate coordinate origin. The second term of Eq. 3 depends on the electronic molecular wavefunction and the electron positions $`\stackrel{}{r}_i`$. In the valence-bond method

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}|\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\stackrel{}{r_i}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AB}=N\underset{\kappa }{}𝑑\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r}\rho ^{AB}(\stackrel{}{x},\stackrel{}{x}),$$
(4)
where $`\stackrel{}{x}=(\stackrel{}{r},\kappa )`$ denotes both the single-electron coordinate $`r`$ and the variable $`\kappa `$. For a nonrelativistic or relativistic calculation $`\kappa `$ has two or four values, respectively. The single-electron density matrix is

$$\rho ^{AB}(\stackrel{}{x},\stackrel{}{x}^{})=\underset{\alpha ,\beta }{}C_\alpha ^{}C_\beta \rho ^{\alpha ,\beta }(\stackrel{}{x},\stackrel{}{x}^{}),$$
(5)
where the transition density matrix between determinants $`|det_\alpha ^{AB}`$ and $`|det_\beta ^{AB}`$ is defined by

$`\rho ^{\alpha ,\beta }(\stackrel{}{x},\stackrel{}{x}^{})=`$ (7)
$`(D_{\alpha \alpha }D_{\beta \beta })^{1/2}D_{\alpha \beta }{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{\overset{N}{}}}(S^1)_{i,j}^{\alpha ,\beta }\psi _i^{}(\stackrel{}{x})\phi _j(\stackrel{}{x}^{}),`$
$`D_{\alpha \beta }`$ is the determinant of the $`N\times N`$ overlap matrix $`S_{i,j}^{\alpha ,\beta }`$ = $`\psi _i|\phi _j`$, and the $`\psi _i(\stackrel{}{x})=\stackrel{}{x}|\psi _i`$ and $`\phi _i(\stackrel{}{x})=\stackrel{}{x}|\phi _j`$ denote the single-electron functions used in constructing the basis functions $`|det_\alpha ^{AB}`$ and $`|det_\beta ^{AB}`$, respectively. Moreover, $`D_{\alpha \alpha }`$ and $`D_{\beta \beta }`$ are the determinants of the matrices $`S_{i,j}^{\alpha ,\alpha }=\psi _i|\psi _j`$ and $`S_{i,j}^{\beta ,\beta }=\phi _i|\phi _j`$. The one-electron wavefunctions $`|\psi _i`$ and $`|\psi _j`$ are obtained by self-consistently solving Hartree-Fock and Sturmian equations for a nonrelativistic calculation and Dirac-Fock and Sturmian equations for a relativistic calculation . Transition dipole moments can be derived in a similar fashion by assuming different initial and final states in Eq. 3.

## II Ground state dipole moments

The atomic determinants for the KRb dimer are constructed from single-electron Hartree-Fock or Dirac-Fock functions/orbitals for electrons in closed and valence shells. Sturmian wavefunctions complement the basis functions and are used to describe virtual orbitals. One-electron functions are characterized by a main quantum number $`n=1,2,\mathrm{}`$ and orbital angular momentum $`l=s,p,\mathrm{}`$ for both nonrelativistic and relativistic calculations. In addition for relativistic calculations the one-electron orbital is labeled by the total electron spin $`j`$.

The closed shells $`1s^22s^22p^63s^2`$ of K and $`1s^22s^22p^63s^23p^63d^{10}4s^2`$ of Rb form the core of the heteronuclear molecule. The superscript denotes the number of electrons in shell $`nl`$. For relativistic calculations $`2p^6`$ is short for $`2p_{1/2}^22p_{3/2}^4`$ etcetera. In our calculations excitations from these closed shells to valence and virtual orbitals are not included, i.e. all atomic determinants in the molecular basis contain the same number of electrons in these orbitals. Single electron excitations from the closed $`3p^6`$ shell of K and $`4p^6`$ shell of Rb are allowed and introduce core-valence correlations in the CI. The $`4s`$, $`4p`$, and $`3d`$ valence orbitals of K and $`5s`$, $`5p`$, and $`4d`$ orbitals of Rb are allowed to contain at most two electrons. In addition, for the nonrelativistic calculation we allow at most two electrons in the $`4d`$, $`5p`$, and $`6p`$ virtual orbitals of potassium and the $`5d`$, $`6p`$, and $`7p`$ virtual orbitals of rubidium. For the relativistic calculation computational limitations restricted us to the $`4d`$ and $`5p`$ virtual orbitals of K and $`5d`$ and $`6p`$ virtual orbitals of Rb. Both covalent and ionic configurations are constructed. The CI expansions with these basis sets have 493 nonrelativistic and 1459 relativistic configurations.

The ground state potentials have equilibrium distances $`R_e`$ and dissociation energies $`D_e`$ that agree with experimental RKR values  and other theoretical potentials. Figure 1 shows the ground state $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potentials of the KRb dimer as a function of the internuclear separation $`R`$. The solid curves of Fig. 1 describe results of our relativistic ($`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ = 0) ab initio calculation whereas the dashed curves are the theoretical data of Ref. . The dotted line of Fig. 1 shows the singlet RKR potential of Ref. .

For the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state the difference between the two theoretical calculations shown in Fig. 1 is about 3% at $`R_e`$. A 20% difference exists at $`R_e`$ of the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potential. Our estimate of the $`C_6/R^6`$ Van-der-Waals coefficient for the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potential, obtained by fitting to the dispersion potential $`C_6/R^6+C_8/R^8+C_{10}/R^{10}`$, agrees to 2-3% with the value of Derevianko et. al.. The experimentally determined dissociation energy for the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potential  is 26 cm<sup>-1</sup> smaller than ours.

We performed calculations of the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state potentials and their permanent dipole moments in both nonrelativistic and relativistic approximation. For the same set of one-electron orbitals the influence of relativistic effects on the potential energy is very small whereas its influence on the dipole moments is large. At $`R_e`$ a relativistic calculation leads to a 30% increase in the absolute value of the dipole moment for the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state and a 50% decrease for the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state. Moreover, we find large correlation effects in the electric dipole moment in both nonrelativistic and relativistic calculations. The implementation of core polarization, for instance, leads a 50% of reduction in the absolute value of the dipole moment at the bottom of the singlet potential.

Figures 2 and 3 show the electric dipole moments of the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potentials of KRb as a function of internuclear separation, respectively. A negative dipole moment implies an excess electron charge on the potassium atom. The presented dipole moments are calculated with the relativistic and nonrelativistic Hamiltonian. Curve 1 in Figs. 2 and 3 is determined from the most accurate nonrelativistic calculation, which includes the two-electron occupation of all orbitals upto $`6p`$ for the K atom and $`7p`$ or the Rb atom. Curve 2 in Figs. 2 and 3 shows the $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0`$ relativistic calculation. The number of excited orbitals is smaller than in the nonrelativistic basis set and limited to excitations upto $`4d`$ and $`5p`$ for K atom and $`5d`$ and $`6p`$ for Rb atom. The difference between the dipole moments of the $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0`$ and 1 component of the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potential is much smaller than the uncertainties of our calculations. Tables I and II tabulate the permanent dipole moment of the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potentials shown in the figures.

Our calculation shows that the distribution of the charge density between K and Rb is very diffuse. It means that the dipole moment depends not only on the electron charge transfer from Rb to K atom but also on the induced polarization from the charge transfer, i.e. the electrons occupy excited $`p`$ and $`d`$ orbitals. Charge transfer and the induced polarization are of opposite sign. This is especially true for the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ state. We find that the excess charge is almost equal for the singlet and triplet states, but the latter has a smaller dipole moment.

The permanent dipole moments of the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state multiplied by $`R^7`$, based on a the relativistic calculation are shown in Fig. 4. It shows that the long-range behavior of the dipole moment of the two states are equal and proportional to $`1/R^7`$. This long-range behavior is due to the modification of the molecular wave function by the dipole-dipole and dipole-quadrupole multipole interactions .

We believe that our convergence with respect to correlation or the number of basis function is of the same order as the difference between nonrelativistic and relativistic calculation. Consequently, we feel that the most accurate dipole moment is obtained from averaging the nonrelativistic and relativistic calculation and assuming an one-standard deviation uncertainty equal to half the difference between the two calculations. For the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state the dipole moment is $``$0.30(2) $`ea_0`$ at $`R_e=7.7`$ $`a_0`$, while for the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state the dipole moment is $``$0.02(1) $`ea_0`$ at $`R_e`$=11.2 $`a_0`$.

## III Transition dipole moments

In this section we analyze the possibility of the creation of dipolar KRb molecules in an optical lattice. We assume that colliding atoms are initially in the doubly spin-polarized state, which only allow them to come together on the state $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potential. Thus photoassociation via an excited molecular $`{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ or $`{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{\Pi }`$ state produces $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ molecular levels. In principle this makes the production of molecules in the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state problematical, since one has to get from the triplet to singlet spin manifold. There is, however, a viable route from the doubly spin-polarized colliding ground state atoms to ground $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ levels via the excited state. When the detuning of the photoassociation laser from atomic resonance is small compared to the excited state spin-orbit splitting, as will be the case for most practical photoassociation schemes, then an excited $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ = 0 or 1 Hund’s case (c) state can have both singlet and triplet character. Thus, an excited molecular state can be formed from excitation from a $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state that can re-emit light in a transition to a $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state. This process is absent in homonuclear dimers, since the additional gerade- ungerade selection rule for electronic transitions prevents it.

Figure 5 shows the $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0^\pm `$ and $`1`$ relativistic excited state potentials as a function of internuclear separation. The excited state potentials are obtained with the basis described in Sec. II. At short internuclear separation the potentials are described by the $`{}_{}{}^{(2S+1)}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{\pm }`$ Hund’s case (a) labeling following Ref.  where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a projection of the electronic orbital angular momentum on the molecular axis and $`S`$ is the total electron spin. At longer $`R`$ the curves are better described by $`\mathrm{\Omega }^\pm `$ Hund’s case (c) labeling and relativistic effects are important. The potentials dissociate to the excited K(4s)+Rb(5p $`{}_{}{}^{2}P_{j}^{}`$) and K(4p $`{}_{}{}^{2}P_{j}^{}`$ )+Rb(5s) fine structure limits. The two lowest dissociation limits correspond to the two fine structure states of the excited Rb atom plus a ground state K atom. The long-range behavior of the relativistic potentials dissociating to these two limits is attractive. There are seven attractive potentials with $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0`$ and $`1`$. Our potentials agree with the calculations of Refs. .

The attractive excited-state potentials are the most likely candidates for use in two-color Raman photoassociation experiments. We calculate transition dipole moments relevant for transitions from the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(0^{},1)`$ state, through the attractive $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0^\pm `$ and 1 potentials, to the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(0^+)`$ state. Figures 6 and 7 show the nonzero transition dipole moments from the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ states, respectively. Curves with the same style in the two figures indicate the same intermediate excited state. Photon selection rules ensure that $`0^+`$ $``$ $`0^{}`$ transition are not allowed. At long-range the transition dipole moments become independent of $`R`$ and their absolute values approach the Rb 5s $``$ 5p($`{}_{}{}^{2}P_{j}^{}`$) transition dipole moment when the corresponding excited potential dissociates to the K(4s)+Rb(5p $`{}_{}{}^{2}P_{j}^{}`$) limit.

At short-range internuclear separation the dipole moments strongly depend on $`R`$. This behavior reflects the change from a Hund’s case (a) to a relativistic coupling scheme between 20 $`a_0`$ and 30 $`a_0`$. In Fig. 6 the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(\mathrm{\Omega }=1)`$ to $`2^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(0^+)`$ and in Fig. 7 the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(0^+)`$ to $`2^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(1)`$ transition dipole moments approach zero at short $`R`$ because singlet to triplet transitions are not allowed. In Fig. 6 both $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(1)`$ to $`2^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(1)`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(0^{})`$ to $`2^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+(1)`$ have a small dipole moment at small internuclear separation. This can be understood by noting that the structure of the ground and excited state potentials shown in Figs. 1 and 5 is similar to that of homonuclear alkali-metal dimers, where gerade/ungerade symmetry is valid. In homonuclear dimers electric dipole transitions between gerade and ungerade states are forbidden.

The sudden change in dipole moment in Fig. 7 near 13 $`a_0`$ is related to the avoided crossing indicated by the circle in Fig. 5 between the $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ components of 1$`{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{\Pi }`$ and 2$`{}_{}{}^{3}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}^{+}`$ potentials. We estimate that the uncertainty of the transition dipole moments is 0.1 $`ea_0`$ based on a comparison of the calculated dipole moments at $`R=100a_0`$ with the known 5s to 5p dipole moments of Rb.

## IV Conclusion

We determined the permanent dipole moments of the $`{}_{}{}^{1,3}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}^{+}`$ states of the ground configuration of the KRb heteronuclear molecule using a nonrelativistic and relativistic CI valence bond method. The KRb permanent dipole moments are small compared to “truly” polar molecules, such as NaCl. It might, however, be large enough for experiments that aim to confine KRb in optical traps. In addition we calculated the potential energy curves and transition dipole moments to excited states correlating to K(4s)+Rb(5p) atomic limits. We have shown that there exist allowed transitions starting from colliding doubly polarized K and Rb atoms via an exited state to the singlet X$`{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}^{+}`$ state.

The calculation of the electric dipole moments is a first step towards obtaining quantitative estimates of photoabsorption and molecular production rates in a gas of K and Rb atoms. In the future we plan to evaluate Frank-Condon factors between vibrational levels of ground and excited state potentials. In addition we need to investigate the effect of black-body radiation on the dipolar molecule by evaluating Frank-Condon factors between vibrational levels of the ground state.

## V Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge helpful discussions with Ilia Tupitsyn and Andrea Simoni.


text:
# Gravitational Lensing by Cosmic Strings in the Era of Wide-Field Surveys

## I Introduction

Cosmic strings are linear sources of energy-momentum, believed to have possibly been produced during a phase transition in the early universe. Many cosmological signatures of cosmic strings have been investigated over the past few decades Vil\_She\_94 ; Hin\_Kib\_95 , including large-scale structure formation, gravitational wave spectrum, effect on cosmic microwave background anisotropies, and gravitational lensing. Observations of the large-scale structure and the cosmic microwave background anisotropy show that strings are not solely responsible for either. This places a constraint on the linear energy density (or, tension) in a string, $`\mu 2\times 10^{22}`$ gm/cm Vil\_She\_94 ; Hin\_Kib\_95 , often written in the dimensionless combination $`G\mu /c^210^6`$ or equivalently $`\delta 8\pi G\mu /c^23\times 10^5`$, where $`c`$ is the speed of light and $`G`$ is Newton’s constant. Lighter strings do not have the virtue of explaining any major cosmological conundrum, yet are not ruled out, and would have profound implications for particle physics and early universe cosmology.

Strings lighter than $`\delta 3\times 10^5`$ can also be detected since they act as lineal gravitational lenses. Indeed, since the study of cosmic strings was first initiated, a few gravitational lensing events have been discovered that were suspected to have been sourced by a cosmic string Cowie\_Hu ; Turner\_86 . However the suspicion has not been confirmed (e.g. Hewitt ).

Our interest in string lensing was rekindled by the recent claim for a possible lensing by a string CSL1 , and further stoked by the advent of deep, wide-field surveys that will revolutionize the field of observational astrophysics. We build on previous work (e.g. Hog\_Nar\_84 ; Pac\_86 ; Vil\_87 ; Hin\_90 ; Lai\_Vac\_96 ; Lai\_Kra\_Vac\_97 ; Ber\_Uza\_01 ) and revisit estimates of probability of lensing by a cosmic string. In particular, we identify simple yet effective strategies for confirming or refuting the string hypothesis, given one putative lens.

## II Expected Number of Galaxies Lensed by a String

Let us consider lensing by a single open cosmic string. We assume that the string has correlation length $`\xi `$ and that its length from any reference point on it, $`\stackrel{}{r}`$, scales as

$$l=R\left(\frac{R}{\xi }\right)^a$$
(1)
where $`R=|\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r_1}|`$ and $`l`$ is the proper length of string between $`\stackrel{}{r}`$ and any other point $`\stackrel{}{r_1}`$. The parameter $`a`$ is equal to one for a pure random walk of the string (so that $`R\sqrt{l}`$), and zero for a perfectly straight string.

Cosmic strings do not introduce spacetime curvature, but simply produce a conical spacetime with deficit angle $`\delta `$ Vil\_84 ; Gott . Light propagation from a source in a conical spacetime leads to gravitational lensing with an angular separation between the images is given by Vil\_84

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha =\delta \frac{D_{ls}}{D_{os}}\mathrm{sin}\theta $$
(2)
where $`D_{os}`$ and $`D_{ls}`$ are angular diameter distances from observer to source and lens (string) to source respectively, and $`\theta [0,\pi ]`$ is the angle between the string direction and the line of sight111We ignore the string velocity factors in Eq. (2), since the string is expected to be at most mildly relativistic.. Note that the lensed object reported in Ref. CSL1  is located at redshift $`z_s=0.46`$ and its image splitting is reported to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha =2^{\prime \prime }`$; this, Eq. (2) and the bound $`\delta 3\times 10^5`$ imply that the putative string is located relatively close to us: $`z_l0.25`$. \[This result is roughly independent of cosmological parameters.\] The two similar images of the source in Ref. CSL1  also indicate that the string should be straight on scales, $`\xi \mathrm{\Delta }\alpha 2^{\prime \prime }`$; if this were not true, the images would be distorted as in Ref. Lai\_Kra\_Vac\_97 . Note that, here and in the rest of this paper, we quote distances (such as $`l`$, $`R`$ and $`\xi `$) as angles projected on the sky.

To start, we would like to calculate the number of galaxies lensed by a single straight string at redshift $`z_l`$. The probability for lensing for a single galaxy found in the survey at redshift $`z_s`$ due to the infinitely long string located at $`z_l`$ is

$`P(z_l,z_s)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha }{\pi }}\mathrm{\Theta }(\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{min}})`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\delta }{\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{D_{ls}}{D_{os}}}\mathrm{\Theta }(\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{min}})`$
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha `$ is the angular separation of images averaged over string directions on the sky, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{min}}`$ is the angular resolution of the survey, and $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the Heaviside step function. We have assumed that the string appears as a great circle on the sky. More realistically, there will be many ($`10`$ AlbTur ; AllShe ; BenBou ) long strings in our horizon, each of which does not cover a great circle on the sky. But we can expect the above estimate to be roughly correct, the greater number of strings compensating for the smaller extent of each of them.

The number of lenses expected is simply

$$N(z_l)=_{z_l}^{\mathrm{}}P(z_l,z_s)\frac{dN_{\mathrm{src}}}{dz}(z_s)𝑑z_s$$
(4)
where $`z_l`$ is redshift of the string and $`dN_{\mathrm{src}}/dz`$ is the number of observable galaxies at redshift $`z`$ in interval $`dz`$. By “observable galaxies” we mean those that are part of the source population imaged by the survey. We assume that the redshift dependence of the number density of these galaxies is given by $`dN_{\mathrm{src}}/dzz^2\mathrm{exp}((z/z_0)^2)`$ with $`z_0=1.13`$ (which corresponds to median redshift of 1.23) Refregier . The surface density of galaxies peaks at $`z1`$. If the string is located at $`z0.25`$, as indicated by the reported string lens candidate CSL1 , most ($`99\%`$) of galaxies along the line of sight are located behind the string; see Fig. 1.

Upcoming wide-field surveys from space, such as Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP; SNAP ) and ground, such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST; LSST ), will cover hundreds and tens of thousands of square degrees, perform deep imaging to about 28th and 26th magnitude in $`R`$ band, and find locations, photometric redshifts and shapes for about $`10^8`$ and $`10^{10}`$ galaxies, respectively. For $`\delta 10^5`$, this fact and Eq. (4) imply of order $`10^2`$$`10^5`$ galaxies lensed by the string. This sounds fantastic until we realize that the number of galaxies/quasars lensed by intervening large-scale structure will be at least two orders of magnitude higher, since the optical depth for lensing has been measured to be around in $`10^3`$ in the JVAS/CLASS survey CLASS . Further complication will be induced by the finite angular resolution of these surveys, as well as spurious candidates, such as binary systems. The signal we are looking for is likely to be dwarfed by the “noise” just described, and it is difficult to expect that future wide-field surveys will either detect cosmic strings through lensing or impose much better constraints on the string scale $`\delta `$. On a positive side, it is possible that we will get lucky with a serendipitous discovery, such as that reported in Ref. CSL1 , and chances for that are significantly enhanced with future wide-field surveys.

## III Confirming the lensing by a cosmic string hypothesis

Let us now consider a different problem. Given the observation of one lensing event by a cosmic string, how likely is it that we will find another such event, and what can we do to find it? The fact that the location of one lensing event is known is very helpful, since we know that the string passed through that angular location, and the orientation of the double image tells us the direction of passage projected on the sky.

In the following, we assume that future wide-field surveys, such as SNAP and LSST, will find about 100 galaxies/arcmin2, which corresponds roughly to 28th magnitude in the R color band. This estimate is conservative; for example, around 200 galaxies/arcmin2 are detectable in the Hubble Deep Field. These galaxies will be fully resolved and their shear will be measured for weak lensing studies.

The shape of the string is described by Eq. (1). There are two limiting cases:

1) $`a=0`$: the string is straight, static and perpendicular to the line of sight. In that case an obvious strategy is to look a distance $`L`$ along the axis of the observed lens (see Fig. 2, left drawing). From Eq. (2) it follows that the maximum angular splitting for experimentally allowed values of $`\delta `$ is about 5”, so a sensible strategy is to look 5” perpendicularly and symmetrically to the aforementioned axis; see Fig. 2. This guarantees that all galaxies lensed by this chunk of the string of length $`L`$ will be seen. The number of lensed galaxies depends on the string redshift, $`z_l`$, as

$`N_{\mathrm{obs}}(z_l)`$ $`=`$ $`L{\displaystyle _{z_l}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d(N_{\mathrm{src}}/A)}{dz_s}}\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha (z_l,z_s)`$ (5)
$`\times \mathrm{\Theta }\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha (z_l,z_s)\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{min}}\right)dz_s`$
where $`N_{\mathrm{src}}/A`$ is the surface density of source galaxies. The expected number of sources for $`L=1^{}`$ is shown in the top panel of Fig. 3. For a locally straight string and the lens redshift $`z0.5`$, it is sufficient to look about $`L=1^{}`$ along the axis passing between the images. In doing so we are guaranteed to see a few ($`2`$$`10`$) additional lensed galaxies. If by any chance the observed lens is suspected to be at higher redshift, we have to survey a longer strip, corresponding to $`L`$ of perhaps a few arcmin (see the bottom panel of Fig. 3). It is also clear that even a limited resolution of the survey of 1” will not significantly change the strategy (see dashed lines in Fig. 3) since most of the observed lensed sources will be far from the string and therefore sufficiently separated in angle.

2) $`a=1`$: the string exhibits a pure random walk. It is clear that the total length of the string that we need to encompass will be the same as in 1) in order to observe several additional lenses. Since the random walk extends in two directions from the observed lens, we need to make follow up observations in the circle of radius of $`R=\sqrt{L\xi /2}`$ away from the lens (see Fig. 2, right drawing)222Taking into account the projection of the random walk on the sky makes the actual required length $`L`$ larger by $`4/\pi `$, but we ignore this small correction.. This depends on the correlation length $`\xi `$. If $`\xi >L/2`$, the string is straight in the region of interest and the estimate in 1) holds. So we need only consider $`\xi <L/2`$. Therefore the largest diameter we need to cover will be for the case of $`\xi =L/2`$, giving $`2R=L`$ ($`1^{}`$ for the lens candidate of Ref. CSL1 ).

It is now clear that the sufficiently effective strategy for any value of $`0a1`$ should be the same as in case 2) above: following up candidates in the circle of diameter $`L`$ ($`1^{}`$ for $`z_l0.5`$) centered on the lens guarantees finding at least a few additional lenses, provided that the original lens was caused by the cosmic string. This statement is quite robust. One can of course imagine that the string conspires and its direction near the lens becomes nearly parallel to the line of sight, but the skeptical astronomer can decrease the odds of this happening by simply following up a larger area around the observed lens. Note also that lensing by conventional sources will not cause confusion, since only about 0.1 percent of galaxies are expected to be lensed by large-scale structure, which implies roughly 1 conventional lens for every 50 cosmic string lenses in the vicinity of the observed event.

A more serious potential problem is that of false positives — chance alignments of galaxies located nearby. It can be seen that this is not a problem for two reasons. First, the galaxies are on average spread apart by $`6^{\prime \prime }`$, only a small fraction will be closer to each other than $`2^{\prime \prime }`$, and those can be separated by photometric redshifts, which are nowadays quite accurate ($`\sigma _z0.05`$ Refregier ). Second, the very few galaxies that accidentally happen to be nearby both in angle and redshift will in general have different shapes while, recall, lensing by a cosmic string does not cause image distortions. Comparing the shapes of candidate lenses is another way of filtering out false positives.

The most serious concern are the binary galaxies, and they are the reason that careful follow up of the lens candidates is preferred.

## IV Conclusions

Cosmic strings can produce observable lensing signatures even if they are light enough to be irrelevant for structure formation in the universe. Previous reports of objects being lensed by a cosmic string have not been confirmed after follow up observations. It remains to be seen what further observations will tell us about the current candidate CSL1 .

Future wide-field surveys, such as SNAP and LSST, will be able to see thousands of lenses caused by a single infinite string with linear density $`G\mu /c^210^6`$. However, one cannot guarantee that these surveys will either find evidence for strings or else significantly improve limits on their abundance and energy density simply because the number of lenses caused by cosmic strings will be dwarfed by a much larger number of galaxies gravitationally lensed by large-scale structure in the universe.

Tackling a somewhat different problem, we have argued that confirming or refuting the hypothesis of lensing by the cosmic string, given one reported observation of such an event, is in principle straightforward. Regardless of what shape the string has, follow up observations in the circle of diameter $`L`$ centered on the observed lens will uncover at least a few galaxies with split images. For a string located at $`z_l0.5`$, $`L1^{}`$. Since the original observation will presumably report the source redshift $`z_s`$ and splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha `$, using Eq. (2) one can bound the value of the string redshift $`z_l`$ and, using Eq. (5), compute the required value of follow up diameter $`L`$ so that at least a few additional multiply imaged galaxies are guaranteed to be seen. Since there will be a total of about 100 galaxies per arcmin2, photometric redshifts have a sufficiently good accuracy ($`\sigma _z0.05`$) to select lensing candidates. Furthermore, lensing by large-scale structure will be subdominant in this region and will not cause confusion. The only serious complication is presence of binary systems which will require more careful follow up.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported by a Department of Energy grant to the particle astrophysics theory group at CWRU. DH thanks Chuck Keeton for useful conversations.