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# Turbulent Comptonization in Black Hole Accretion Disks

## 1. Introduction

The thin accretion disk is the model most commonly employed in explaining gravitational energy release in active galactic nuclei (AGN) and X-ray binaries. In the original formulation (Shakura & Sunyaev 1973, Novikov & Thorne 1973 NT73), both the mechanical structure of the disk and the thermal spectrum which it radiates were solved together, self consistently. More recently, the nature of the anomalous “$`\alpha `$-viscosity”, required for angular momentum transport, has been revealed to be MHD turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI, Balbus & Hawley 1991). Spectral models taking into account reprocessing of nonthermal X-ray photons, along with the implied reflection features (Lightman & White 1988, Guilbert & Rees 1988), have proven to be very useful tools in diagnosing the variability and geometrical properties of such flows. Further, the idea that the broad-band X-ray power-law continuum results from thermal Comptonization of soft seed disk photons by a hot diffuse corona (Haardt & Maraschi 1991) qualitatively reproduces the observed X-ray continuum in both AGN and X-ray binaries.

Despite these advances, progress towards our understanding of the mechanics and radiative processes of accretion flows have occurred separately with little quantitative connection between the two. We propose that bulk Comptonization of soft thermal disk photons by the turbulent motions themselves, in other words turbulent Comptonization, may substantially alter the dynamics and the emitted spectrum concurrently. Thus, turbulent Comptonization allows for a direct concrete link between the details of the disk dynamics and the observed spectrum.

Turbulent Comptonization is not an entirely new idea.Zel’dovich, Illarionov, and Sunyaev (1972) derived a general formulation in which turbulent Comptonization could be applied within a cosmological context. Thompson (1994) considered Alfvénic reconnection-limited turbulent Comptonization while calculating the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a $`\gamma `$-ray burst fireball model. At the same time, Thompson conjectured that this effect may be responsible for producing the Comptonized power-law continuum in AGN and X-ray binaries. Rather than in a corona, we consider here the possibility that turbulent Comptonization occurs above the effective photosphere, within the body of the disk itself.

The organization of this paper is as follows. In section 2 we outline the basic hydrodynamic principles governing turbulent Comptonization in accretion disks while defining and estimating important spectral parameters such as the turbulent wave temperature and $`y`$-parameter. In section 3, we estimate a characteristic timescale for turbulent Comptonization from the Kompan’eets equation in terms of fundamental thin disk parameters. We show the results of Monte Carlo calculations in section 4 in order to demonstrate how turbulent Comptonization alters the emergent disk spectrum. We consider how turbulent Comptonization may observationally manifest itself in AGN and X-ray binaries in section 5 and we summarize our conclusions in section 6.

## 2. Turbulent Wave Temperature and $`y`$-parameter

In black hole accretion disks, the turbulent velocity of the flow may be larger than the thermal velocity of the electrons in the inner-most regions. As a result, electrons moving at the turbulent velocity will be able to Compton up-scatter soft photons to higher energy, potentially deforming the observed spectrum. Here, we parameterize the turbulent motions in terms of a wave temperature $`T_w`$, which should be compared to the local electron thermal temperature of the disk $`T_e`$ in order to see whether turbulent or thermal Comptonization determines the radiative transfer. At the same time, we deduce an effective turbulent $`y`$-parameter, allowing us to estimate the contribution to the resulting non-thermal spectrum.

### 2.1. Initial Estimates

MRI turbulence is fundamentally magnetic in behavior with a characteristic velocity given by the Alfvén speed $`v_A`$ which is less than the local sound speed $`c_s`$. Close to the hole, where the radiation pressure is dominant, $`c_s`$ is given by the radiation sound speed, which is larger than the sound speed of the gas. Thus, it is possible for the MRI turbulence to be highly supersonic relative to the gas.

We propose that supersonic MRI eddies in the inner radiation pressure dominated region of thin accretion disks Compton up-scatter soft thermal photons arising from viscous dissipation. In order for this to take place, the electron bulk velocity which corresponds to the turbulent velocity must be greater than the local electron thermal velocity.

To show this, it is convenient to define a turbulent wave temperature $`T_w`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{k_BT_w}{m_e}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}v_w^2.`$ (1)
MRI turbulence is “strong” on the outer scale such that $`v_wv_A`$. That is, the kinetic energy density of the turbulence is roughly equal to the magnetic energy density (Hawley, Gammie, & Balbus 1996). If $`P_w`$ is the magnetic wave pressure given by

$`P_w={\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{8\pi }}`$ (2)
we then have a means of relating the turbulent velocities of electrons to the total (gas+radiation) pressure of the disk. Recalling the fundamental assumption of thin disks, namely the viscous stress $`\tau _{r\varphi }`$ is related to the total pressure $`P`$ by the proportionality relation $`\tau _{R\varphi }\alpha P`$, we may write for MRI turbulence

$`\tau _{R\varphi }=\rho v_Rv_\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{B_RB_\varphi }{4\pi }}=\alpha P.`$ (3)
That is, the viscous stress is the sum of both the spatially correlated Reynolds and Maxwell stress of the turbulence. In every numerical simulation of accretion disk turbulence, the Maxwell stress $`B_RB_\varphi /4\pi `$ exceeds the Reynolds stresses $`\rho v_Rv_\varphi `$ by at least a factor of a few. Also as a result of shear, rotation, and its magnetic nature, accretion disk turbulence is highly anisotropic such that the components of the Alfvén velocity obey$`v_{A\varphi }^2v_{AR}^2v_{Az}^2.`$ This implies $`\tau _{R\varphi }P_w`$, though they are of comparable magnitudes. To quantitatively compare $`\tau _{R\varphi }`$ and $`P_w`$, we introduce a parameter of proportionality $`\psi `$ such that

$`{\displaystyle \frac{B^2}{8\pi }}=P_w=\psi \tau _{R\varphi }=\psi \rho v_Rv_\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{B_RB_\varphi }{4\pi }}.`$ (4)
$`\psi `$ is a detailed function of the turbulence itself, as it measures the level of anisotropy of the flow. Now, we may write the square of the Alfvén velocity as

$`v_A^2`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2P_w}{\rho }}2\alpha \psi {\displaystyle \frac{P}{\rho }}`$
$`\mathrm{or}`$
$`v_w^2`$ $``$ $`v_A^22\alpha \psi c_s^2.`$ (5)
where we have defined $`P/\rho c_s^2`$. The turbulent wave temperature is tied to the sound speed and thus the Alfvén speed in much the same way as the gas temperature is tied to the electron thermal velocity. In terms of thin disk parameters, the turbulent wave temperature may be written as

$`T_w`$ $``$ $`\alpha \psi {\displaystyle \frac{3m_ec^2}{2k_B}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{m}^2}{ϵ^2}}r^3{\displaystyle \frac{𝒟^2}{𝒞}}\mathrm{K}`$
$`T_w`$ $``$ $`9.0\times 10^9\alpha \psi {\displaystyle \frac{\dot{m}^2}{ϵ^2}}r^3{\displaystyle \frac{𝒟^2}{𝒞}}\mathrm{K}.`$ (6)
Here, $`\dot{m}`$ is the accretion rate in units of the Eddington accretion rate $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{edd}}`$, $`ϵ`$ is the radiative efficiency, $`r`$ is the cylindrical radius in units of gravitational radii $`r_g=GM/c^2`$, and $`𝒜𝒟`$ are the general relativistic correction factors (Riffert & Herold 1995).

We emphasize that the wave temperature defined above describes only the outer scale of the turbulence. Turbulent flows may possess power for many decades of wavelength, as is thought to be the case with MRI turbulence (Hawley, Gammie, & Balbus 1996). The general picture of MRI turbulence is that the MRI continuously injects energy into the flow at the outer scale $`\lambda _0`$ which is somewhat smaller than the local disk scale height $`H`$. Smaller scale modes then remove energy from the MRI near the outer scale via mode couplings where the eddy turnover time is roughly the dynamical time on the outer scale given by the Keplerian orbital frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$. When considering a scale $`\lambda `$ smaller than the MRI stirring scale, mode amplitudes will most likely be reduced - a point which we shall consider later.

The turbulent wave temperature is independent of black hole mass and approaches the electron rest mass value $`m_ec^2/k_B6\times 10^9`$K near the hole for large values of $`\dot{m},\alpha `$, and for $`\psi 1`$. Clearly, we see that the RMS bulk motion of the eddies can be much larger than the RMS electron thermal motion. For a black hole mass of $`M10^1`$ and $`10^8M_{}`$, the gas temperature at the inner-edge of the disk is $`T_e10^7`$ and $`10^5\mathrm{K}`$, respectively. The turbulent wave temperature, which is independent of black hole mass, can be as high as $`T_w10^810^9\mathrm{K}`$. This is not surprising since the turbulent stresses, which scale like $`\alpha P`$, may be up to $`10^610^7`$ times greater than the gas pressure at the inner edge of black hole accretion disks. Clearly, while modeling a thin $`\alpha `$disk the effects of bulk electron motion due to vigorous MRI turbulence cannot be ignored in terms of spectral formation. That is, the contribution to the kinetic energy of the electrons originating from random turbulent motions can be much larger than the contribution given by random thermal motions from which a roughly thermal black body spectrum is presumably formed . Notice that $`T_wr^3`$ while the thermal black body temperature $`T_{\mathrm{th}}r^{3/4}`$. Thus, not only will $`T_w`$ be greatest in magnitude close to the inner edge, but the ratio $`T_w/T_{\mathrm{th}}`$ will also be largest near the hole. Therefore, effects due to large turbulent velocities and wave temperatures will operate most dramatically deep within the gravitational potential of the hole, where a large fraction of the gravitational power is released. Also, disks which extend inward closer to the hole possess higher values of $`T_w`$, leading one to believe that disks around rapidly spinning Kerr holes are more prone to turbulent Comptonization than say, a disk surrounding a Schwarzschild hole.

### 2.2. Effects Due to Finite Mean Free Path: Optically Thick Reduction

If the local photon mean free path $`\lambda _p`$ is smaller than an eddy with characteristic size $`\lambda `$, the photons are effectively trapped by the eddies on that scale. Thus, they will be advected back and forth with the flow, not being able to “sample” the turbulent velocities on the scale $`\lambda `$. However, if we presume that MRI turbulence possesses power down to the scale of the photon mean free path $`\lambda _p`$, then the radiation may interact with the turbulent eddies on scales $`\lambda \lambda _p`$, whose velocity amplitudes will be reduced with respect to those on the outer scale $`\lambda _0`$ by some amount. This situation is similar to the case of acoustic radiation in stars where it is approximated that sound waves only interact with convective eddies of similar dimension (Goldreich & Keeley 1977).

Consider in particular the example of isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence. In this case, the power spectrum of the turbulence $`E(\lambda )\lambda ^{5/3}`$, which implies

$`v_w(\lambda )v_w(\lambda _0)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\lambda _0}}\right)^n`$ (7)
where $`n=1/3`$. To calculate the turbulent wave temperature $`T_w`$ on the scale of a the photon mean free path, we make note that $`T_wv_w^2`$ giving us

$`T_w(\lambda _p)T_w(\lambda _0)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p}{\lambda _0}}\right)^{2/3}`$ (8)
where $`T_w(\lambda _0)`$ is the wave temperature of the outer scale of the turbulence given by eq. (6).

As previously mentioned, accretion disk MRI turbulence is anisotropic. In fact, MRI turbulence is completely anisotropic such that an eddy of a given velocity amplitude $`v_\lambda `$ possesses a spatial extent $`(\lambda _R,\lambda _\varphi ,\lambda _z)`$ where $`\lambda _R\lambda _\varphi \lambda _z`$. In order to proceed without a theory of accretion disk turbulence, we assume that an inertial range for the turbulence exists such that the properties of the turbulence possess a scale-free behavior. This allows us to parameterize the velocity amplitude by

$`v_w(\lambda )=v(\lambda _R,\lambda _\varphi ,\lambda _z)v_A\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _R}{L_R}}\right)^r\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _\varphi }{L_\varphi }}\right)^s\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _\varphi }{L_z}}\right)^t,`$ (9)
with $`L_i`$ being the dimension of the outer scale eddies in the $`i^{\mathrm{th}}`$ direction. In the isotropic limit, $`L_R=L_\varphi =L_z`$ and $`r=s=t`$. We must note that accretion disks are Thomson optically thick and the diffusion approximation for the radiation transfer is reasonably accurate within the disk. Thus, a photon scatters $`\tau ^2`$ times before exiting the disk. Since the photon field is roughly isotropic, we assume a given photon random walks a distance $`\lambda _p`$ in each direction at a given depth. As a result, photons will interact with eddies whose velocities are given by

$`v_w(\lambda _p)v_A\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p}{L_R}}\right)^r\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p}{L_\varphi }}\right)^s\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p}{L_z}}\right)^t=v_A{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p^{\left(r+s+t\right)}}{L_R^rL_\varphi ^sL_z^t}}.`$ (10)
We will find it convenient to define

$`\eta _RL_R/L_z\mathrm{and}\eta _\varphi L_\varphi /L_z`$ (11)
which allows us to write

$`v_w(\lambda _p){\displaystyle \frac{v_A}{\eta _R^r\eta _\varphi ^s}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p}{L_z}}\right)^n`$ (12)
where $`\eta _{R,\varphi }1`$ for accretion disk MRI turbulence and $`n=r+s+t`$. The corresponding wave temperature evaluated at the photon mean free path is then given by

$`T_w\left(\lambda _p\right){\displaystyle \frac{T_w\left(\lambda _0\right)}{\eta _R^{2r}\eta _\varphi ^{2s}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _p}{L_z}}\right)^{2n}.`$ (13)
### 2.3. Vertical Structure and $`y`$Parameter

The vertical structure of accretion disks is one of the biggest uncertainties in accretion disk theory. In order to accurately model turbulent Comptonization in thin disks, the vertical structure must be accounted for. If a soft photon is produced at some optical depth $`\tau _0`$ within the disk, it samples eddies of different scales as it climbs out of the disk, since its mean free path changes with density and thus with height. We know neither the velocity amplitude of the turbulence nor the density profile as a function of depth for accretion disks. In order to move forward, we must utilize an ad hoc prescription that takes the vertical structure into account in a manner suitable for modeling turbulent Comptonization while not over-constraining the disk atmosphere in any particular way.

One way of dealing with this uncertainty is to vertically average the turbulent stresses and the radiative transfer. That is, we use the vertically averaged $`\lambda _p`$ while evaluating the wave temperature at all depths in the disk. By doing so, we relate $`\lambda _p`$ to the total optical depth $`\tau `$ since $`\lambda _p(\kappa _{es}\rho )^1`$ and $`\tau H/\lambda _p`$. Effectively, we are modeling the disk to have a vertically constant density and turbulent stress.

We may relate the outer vertical scale of the turbulence $`L_z`$ to the height of the disk $`H`$ by introducing yet another parameter

$`L_z=\eta _zH`$ (14)
where $`\eta _z<1`$. Recalling that $`H/\lambda _p\tau `$, the wave temperature becomes

$`T_w(\lambda _p){\displaystyle \frac{T_w\left(\lambda _0\right)}{\eta _R^{2r}\eta _\varphi ^{2s}\eta _z^{2n}}}\tau ^{2n}.`$ (15)
Now, we may write the turbulent $`y`$-parameter as

$`y_w\left(\lambda _p\right)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4k_BT_w\left(\lambda _p\right)}{m_ec^2}}\tau ^2`$
$`y_w\left(\lambda _p\right)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4k_BT_w\left(\lambda _0\right)}{m_ec^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\tau ^{2\left(1n\right)}}{\eta _R^{2r}\eta _\varphi ^{2s}\eta _z^{2n}}}`$ (16)
where $`\eta _R^{2r}\eta _\varphi ^{2s}\eta _z^{2n}1`$ and $`\tau ^2`$ was chosen since $`\tau >1`$ for thin disks.

Interestingly, eq. (15) tells us that $`T_w(\lambda _p)T_w(\lambda _0)`$ if

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\tau ^{2n}}{\eta _R^{2r}\eta _\varphi ^{2s}\eta _z^{2n}}}1.`$ (17)
This is only possible near the inner-edge since

$`\tau {\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{3\alpha }}{\displaystyle \frac{ϵr^{3/2}}{\dot{m}}}{\displaystyle \frac{𝒞}{𝒜𝒟}}`$ (18)
for thin disks. Close to the hole, where a large fraction of the disk’s power is released, $`\lambda _p`$ approaches $`\lambda _0`$ as long as $`\dot{m}`$ and $`\alpha `$ are sufficiently large. When this is the case, $`y_w`$ is roughly given by the product of the wave temperature on the outer scale $`T_w(\lambda _0)`$ and the square of the optical depth

$`y_w{\displaystyle \frac{4k_BT_w(\lambda _0)}{m_ec^2}}\tau ^2.`$ (19)
Equations (6) and (18) then allow us to write

$`y_w{\displaystyle \frac{\psi }{\alpha }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{3}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{C}{𝒜^2}}.`$ (20)
That is, when $`\lambda _p\lambda _0`$, the turbulent $`y`$-parameter is approximately independent of mass and radius.

Figure 1 shows turbulent wave temperatures for maximally spinning black holes of varying $`\dot{m}`$ and $`\alpha `$. The radius at which $`T_w`$ reaches its maximum value coincides with the most luminous radius of the disk, a consequence of $`T_w`$ directly scaling with the accretion stress. The curves shown in Figure 1 are independent of black hole mass, a result of $`c_s`$ and $`\tau `$ being independent of black hole mass. The curve labeled “c” depicts turbulent wave temperatures for $`\dot{m}`$ and $`\alpha `$ = 0.1. For this particular case, the turbulence was confined to the upper-most 1/10 of the disk. Confinement of the turbulence to a thin upper layer may be possible since regions of large magnetic pressure will be relatively buoyant. Identical wave temperatures and $`y`$-parameters may be attained for a given $`\dot{m}`$ by reducing $`\alpha `$ by a factor $`f`$ while confining the turbulence to a narrow upper layer whose optical thickness is $`\tau /f`$, implying that the local turbulent stresses are $`f`$ times larger than the vertically averaged value. Of course, this only applies for our constant density disk atmosphere model where each optical depth occupies an equal amount of height.

The turbulent $`y`$-parameters corresponding to the wave temperatures of figure 1 are shown in Figure 2. For our choice of $`n`$, $`y_w1/r`$ for radii substantially far away from the inner edge. Yet, close to the inner edge, and in particular where $`T_w`$ and $`y_w`$ find their largest values, the dependence of $`y_w`$ on radius is weak which agrees with the estimate given by eq. (20).

## 3. Compton Cooling of MRI Turbulence

If soft seed photons created by viscous dissipation with energy $`h\nu k_BT_e`$ are produced within the disk, they have a chance to “resonantly” interact with electrons belonging to eddies of spatial scale $`\lambda \lambda _p`$. If we assume that the radiation field is roughly isotropic, its evolution may be given by the Kompan’eets equation (1957) generalized for bulk motion (Hu, Scott, & Silk 1994, Thompson 1994, and Psaltis & Lamb 1997)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{n_\nu }{t_c}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{k_BT_e}{m_ec^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{v_w^2}{3c^2}}\right)\left[4\nu {\displaystyle \frac{n_\nu }{\nu }}+\nu ^2{\displaystyle \frac{^2n_\nu }{^2\nu }}\right]`$ (21)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{h\nu }{m_ec^2}}\left[4n_\nu +\nu {\displaystyle \frac{n_\nu }{\nu }}\right].`$
$`n_\nu `$ is the photon occupation number and $`t_c`$ is the dimensionless Compton time where $`dt_cn_e\sigma _Tcdt`$. Terms only quadratic in the turbulent velocity are retained since first order contributions vanish when a turbulent eddy is averaged over the domain of the flow. It is clear that bulk electron motion produces spectral deformations in much the same way as thermal motion and when $`v_w^2>3h\nu /m_e`$ on the scale $`\lambda _p`$, photons stand to gain energy.

Equation (21) allows us to estimate a characteristic timescale $`t_{c,w}`$ for photons to thermally equilibrate with the turbulent motions.

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}t_{c,w}^1\kappa _{es}\rho c{\displaystyle \frac{v_w^2}{3c^2}}=\kappa _{es}\rho c{\displaystyle \frac{k_BT_w}{m_ec^2}}.`$ (22)
$`t_{c,w}^1`$ may also be thought of as the rate in which the eddies cool via Compton scattering. In terms of physical disk quantities,

$`t_{c,w}^1`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _{es}\rho }{c}}v_w^2{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _{es}\rho }{c}}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha P}{\rho }}`$
$`t_{c,w}^1`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\tau }{c}}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha P}{H\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha \tau }{c}}\mathrm{\Omega }^2H.`$ (23)
Where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the Keplerian orbital frequency. Further simplification is achieved by realizing that for thin disks

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }\tau H}{c}}𝒪(1),`$ (24)
which is merely a statement that the disk removes thermal energy in the vertical direction by means of radiative diffusion at a rate given by $`\left(\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }\right)^1`$. We are left with

$`t_{c,w}^1{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha \tau }{c}}\mathrm{\Omega }^2H\mathrm{\Omega }.`$ (25)
Note that in the expression above, only eddies on the outer scale were addressed and the cascade parameters $`\psi `$ and $`\eta _i`$ were discarded. As mentioned in section 2.3, $`\lambda _p`$ approaches $`\lambda _0`$ near the inner-edge for sufficiently large values of $`\dot{m}`$ and $`\alpha `$. When this is the case for unsaturated turbulent Comptonization, the photon spectral index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and the turbulent wave temperature cut-off will vary with the turbulence on the dynamical time $`\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$ . If the turbulent Comptonization is saturated, the photons will be able stay in thermal equilibrium with the turbulence, adjusting their own “temperature” to match that of the turbulence on the local dynamical time of the disk.

Turbulent Comptonization removes energy from the cascade most effectively on the scale $`\lambda _p`$, while directly placing that same amount of energy into the radiation field. The mechanical energy flux which proceeds down to smaller wavelengths is diminished for scales $`<\lambda _p`$.

## 4. Monte Carlo Calculation

To estimate the effects of turbulent Comptonization on accretion disk spectra, we use Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations to generate models of integrated emission from the innermost radii. The Monte Carlo calculations make use of the methods described in Pozdnyakov, Sobol’, and Sunyaev (1983). We consider a maximally spinning Kerr black hole with emission extending to the innermost stable circular orbit where the stress is assumed to vanish. Since much of the emission then comes from material moving at high velocities deep within the gravitational potential, we must also account for the effects of special and general relativity. To properly model the photon geodesics, we use a relativistic transfer code (Agol 1997).

We calculate the specific intensity emerging from $`15`$ logarithmically spaced annuli within $`20r_g`$ of the black hole. For each radius we model the turbulent region of the disk as a homogeneous plane-parallel slab. Photons drawn from a Planck distribution at the local disk effective temperature $`T_{eff}`$ are injected at the base of the slab and Compton scatter until they reach the surface. There is no emission or absorption within the slab. For convenience, the scattering electron population is drawn from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution with temperature $`T_w(\lambda _p)`$. MRI turbulence is anisotropic such that electrons in an accretion disk will not be well represented by this distribution. However if the radiation field is nearly isotropic, the Kompan’eets equation (21) indicates that the effects of turbulent Comptonization depend only on the magnitude of the electron velocity, not its direction. The resulting spectra are not very sensitive to this assumption since the disk is optically thick, implying a highly isotropic photon field. Similarly, any velocity distribution with the same second moment will likely produce a similar photon spectrum, so our choice of a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is not restrictive. Further, the luminosity of a given annulus is normalized to the locally available gravitational power. To calculate the total spectrum we integrate over the first 20 $`R_g`$ using the relativistic transfer code to interpolate on our radial grid. For radii where $`T_{eff}>T_w(\lambda _p)`$ we assume blackbody emission at $`T_{eff}`$.

Our Monte Carlo calculations are limited by the uncertainties that plague vertical structure models of accretion disks. We neglect distributed emission and absorption and choose a Planck distribution with $`T_{eff}`$ for our soft input since it is difficult to determine how turbulent Comptonization will alter the vertical temperature and density profile of the disk. In all cases we have calculated, the turbulent slab is effectively thin at the photon frequencies of interest, at least at radii at which turbulent Comptonization affects the spectrum, so our neglect of absorption is justified. Though our model of the disk atmosphere is crude, we believe it gives a reasonable estimate of the magnitude and shape of the resulting spectral deformation.

Figures 3 and 4 show computed spectra for a $`10^8M_{}`$ black hole with different radial profiles of wave temperature and $`y`$-parameter viewed from an inclination of $`25^{}`$. Figure 3 displays unsaturated turbulent Comptonization since $`y_w<1`$ for the entire disk while Figure 4 shows saturated turbulent Comptonization due to this particular disk model’s large values of $`y_w`$. Since $`y_w`$ is roughly uniform where most of the X-rays are formed via turbulent Comptonization i.e., near the inner-edge, the total X-ray spectrum has a well defined slope and spectral index.

Standard thin disk models predict an effective optical depth $`<1`$ for large values of $`\dot{m}`$ and $`\alpha `$ near the inner edge. As a result, the gas must reach very high temperatures in order to produce sufficient photon flux to balance the turbulent dissipation. Turbulent Comptonization might alter this picture, because it will itself amplify the available soft photon flux as well as prevent energy from flowing down to the microscopic dissipation scale. The gas temperature may therefore be cooler than would be expected in models that only include bremsstrahlung and thermal Comptonization.

## 5. Observational Implications

If large turbulent stresses exist in radiation pressure supported accretion disks, then bulk Comptonization from the turbulent eddies may provide a large fraction of the far-UV and X-ray power in black hole or even neutron star sources. The exact role turbulent Comptonization will play within a detailed spectral model is a difficult question to address. The amount of power which escapes down to the dissipation scale $`\lambda _D`$ of the flow depends on the details of the turbulence on larger scales. At the same time, the properties of the flow on relatively large scales are presumably determined by the vertical structure of the disk, which in turn is affected by the amount of mechanical energy being converted into thermal energy at $`\lambda _D`$.

In the last decade, paradigms for the broad-band continuum spectra for both AGN and X-ray binaries have begun to solidify. Most spectral models of black hole accretion disks assume a hot diffuse ($`\tau 1`$) population of thermal electrons above the disk (in other words, a corona) in order to reproduce the apparent Comptonized spectrum observed in the X-ray band. Two-phase models of this sort (e.g. Haardt & Maraschi 1991, 1993) reproduce the hard power law tail with the correct spectral index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.7`$ with a Compton reflection hump as long as nearly all the gravitational power is locally released in the corona, perhaps due to buoyancy and magnetic reconnections of MRI turbulence (Haardt, Maraschi, & Ghisellini 1994).

However, none of the current models take into account the details of the accretion flow in a predictive manner. If turbulent Comptonization substantially contributes to the total output of the accretion flow, it then becomes possible to perform both spectral and hydrodynamic modeling concurrently since both the hydrodynamic and radiative processes are co-dependent. In other words, the accretion disk spectrum directly measures both the flow, thermal structure, and geometry simultaneously.

We now discuss how turbulent Comptonization may help explain some observations in both galactic and massive black hole sources. Our purpose is not to offer definite conclusions, but to merely show how this effect may change (or complicate) the interpretation of accretion disk spectra.

### 5.1. Active Galactic Nuclei

In many Seyfert 1 galaxies, a powerful extreme ultraviolet/soft X-ray feature exists above the extrapolated hard (2-10 keV) power law. This component, known as the soft-excess (Walter & Fink 1993), is commonly thought to arise from Comptonization with yet another thermal population of electrons resulting in a power law that is steeper than that of the 2-10 keV continuum. Current disk-corona models cannot account for the soft excess in a robust fashion. If the soft excess results from Comptonization, it is difficult to explain how and where a “second” corona comes about. A slim disk model (Abramowicz et al. 1988) has the ability to produce thermal soft X-rays, but the inclination angle of the disk has to be restricted to small values. An alternative way of explaining the soft-excess is by assuming that it originates from turbulent Comptonization. For large accretion rates $`\dot{m}1`$ and turbulent stresses $`\alpha 0.1`$, turbulent wave temperatures approach $`T_w10^7`$K. Lowering $`\dot{m}`$ and/or $`\alpha `$ may yield similar wave temperatures if the turbulent stresses are contained within a relatively small number of optical depths. Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1) tend to have significant soft excesses which are rapidly varying (Boller, Brandt, & Fink 1996). This implies that the production of soft X-rays takes place close to the hole for these presumably high Eddington sources. Turbulent Comptonization may very well be the mechanism which produces the soft excesses in NLS1’s since larger wave temperatures are possible for disks with high values of $`\dot{m}`$ while the majority of the power originates close to the hole where variability is expected to be most rapid. For example, Figure 3 depicts turbulent Comptonization for a $`10^8M_{}`$ black hole accreting at a rate $`\dot{m}=0.1`$, typical of NLS1 sources. The spectral index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is greater than two and the thermal cut-off is $`1`$keV.

Studying the variability properties of NGC 3516, Edelson et al. (2000) sampled the optical, UV, soft, and hard X-ray bands continuously for nearly three days. They found that the modulations of the non-thermal X-ray flux and optical/UV thermal flux where not correlated. Either up-scattering or reflection models require soft thermal photons originating from the optically thick disk to either lead or follow variations in the hard optically thin component, which apparently is not the case for NGC 3516. However, this may be reconciled if a special, source-dependent, geometry is invoked (Zdziarski, Lubiński, & Smith 1999 and Chiang & Blaes 2001 in particular, for the case of NGC 3516) or if the corona consists of separate discrete blobs moving at mildly relativistic speeds away from the disk (Beloborodov 1999).

A different way of explaining the broad-band variability of NGC 3516 is by assuming the X-rays are produced in the inner-portions of the disk by turbulent Comptonization. As long as the disk is thin, the hard output will not substantially interact with the cooler outer parts of the disk thus temporally disconnecting the hard from the soft output. If the turbulent $`y`$\- parameter is large, then very little UV/optical output emanates from the region of the disk that yields hard photons due to the large Compton amplification. On the other hand, if $`y_w1`$, then UV output which corresponds to the inner X-ray region will vary on the thermal timescale $`t_{\mathrm{th}}(\alpha \mathrm{\Omega })^1`$. From eq. (25), we see that the X-ray power in a given band can undergo fluctuations on timescale of order $`\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$, which can be much shorter than $`t_{\mathrm{th}}`$ depending on the magnitude of $`\alpha `$ and the details of the MRI cascade. Another possibility is that the soft output from the turbulent Comptonizing region may contribute relatively little to the optical/UV luminosity compared to regions of the disk of larger radius as a result of the smaller emitting area.

In the case of NGC 7469 (Nandra et al. 1998), the lack of correlation between the UV and 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity suggests that neither an up-scattering model nor a reflection model can explain the time lags and correlations (or lack thereof) between the X-ray and UV output. More recently however, Nandra et al. (2000) modeled the RXTE spectral data of NGC 7469 and found that the UV power of the source was correlated with the inferred spectral index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, rather than the amplitude, of the 2-10 keV band. This implies that the overall X-ray spectral feature became softer while the total X-ray luminosity increased. Their interpretation of the UV-$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ correlation was that an increase in the UV flux led to enhanced cooling of the hot X-ray source which is a direct outcome of Compton up-scattering models (see also Chiang 2002). Alternatively, the steepening of the X-ray component, along with its increase in power, may result from turbulent Comptonization. That is, changes in $`\dot{m}`$ proportionally lead to changes in both the thermal UV luminosity and $`T_w`$. For values of $`T_w10^610^7`$K, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ will roughly increase with $`\dot{m}`$ as will the soft X-ray luminosity. Further, one would expect the thermal cutoff of the high energy X-ray power-law to remain approximately fixed if turbulent Comptonization is responsible for the enhanced soft X-ray power as along as there is no direct physical correlation between the the parameters of the turbulent Comptonizing region ($`T_w`$, $`y_w`$) and the electron temperature of the hot corona. Coronal up-scattering models however, would predict the thermal cut-off to decrease in energy. Future missions which have enough sensitivity to detect changes in the cut-off energy may therefore be able to distinguish between these models.

The Fe K$`\alpha `$ line emissivity of MGC-6-30-15 may be another observational signature of turbulent Comptonization. A significant red tail in the line profile indicates a Kerr geometry (Iwasawa et al. 1996) where the effects of turbulent Comptonization are potentially at their greatest. Wilms et al. (2001) fit the Fe K$`\alpha `$ line emissivity to a radially-dependent power law $`r^\beta `$ with $`\beta 45`$. To account for such a steep profile, they required a powerful centrally located hard X-ray source with incident flux irradiating only the very innermost regions of the disk. Those authors as well as others (Ballantyne, Vaughan, & Fabian 2003) speculate that the steep emissivity profile may result from the extraction of spin energy via magnetic torques from the black hole itself (Blandford & Znajek 1977). Perhaps a milder way of interpreting the steep X-ray emissivity is by invoking turbulent Comptonization. Figure 5 shows the radial dependence of the X-ray flux in the $`77.5`$ keV band due to turbulent Comptonization within a relativistic thin disk. This is consistent with a power-law dependency of $`\beta 5`$. The eddies that have the ability to ionize the K-shell of iron are solely located close to the hole, near the marginally stable orbit. This provides a natural explanation for concentrating energy release in the form of X-rays near the central object. If the Fe K$`\alpha `$ line emission originates from within the optically thick disk via turbulent Comptonization, then the ionization and thermal structure of the disk must be carefully modeled in order to determine whether or not this effect reproduces the observed equivalent widths.

### 5.2. Galactic Black Holes

Cyg X-1 is the most highly studied galactic black hole (GBH) source. Like other GBH, it is observed in both the hard (low) and soft (high) spectral states (Done 2002) while mostly spending its time in the low state. For GBH in general, the soft spectral state is dominated by a cool optically thick black body while a steep Comptonized power law extends deep into the hard X-ray/soft $`\gamma `$-ray region of the spectrum. In the hard state, the photon output is dominated by a somewhat flat hard Comptonized power law with a moderate thermal contribution from the cool optically thick disk. The measured luminosities of GBH in the hard state are typically lower than the soft state, implying a smaller $`\dot{m}`$ and/or smaller radiative efficiency compared to sources in the soft state.

Gierliński et al. (1997, hereafter G97) found that in the low state, the SED of Cyg X-1 could not be modeled with a standard disk-corona geometry. In order to fit the observed spectra, they required a hot 50 keV optically thick ($`\tau 6`$) Wien-like spectral component in addition to cool thermal disk emission and a hard relatively optically thin ($`\tau 12`$) 100 keV power law, presumably from thermal Comptonization. They concluded that the observed photon-starved spectrum may be explained by a geometry similar to the one proposed by Shapiro, Lightman, & Eardley (1976) i.e., a geometrically thick hot central corona surrounded by a cool optically thick disk.

In a later study, Gierliński et al. (1999, hereafter G99) modeled Cyg X-1 in the soft state during a hard to soft state transition (Zhang et al. 1997). The hard power law extended to $`600`$ keV with a spectral index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }2.5`$ implying a very optically thin plasma with $`\tau 10^2`$. If thermal Comptonization were responsible for the hard continuum, bumps would appear in the X-ray spectrum due to the distinct scattering orders. However, these features are not present. As a solution, G99 proposed that the Comptonizing corona was composed of a hybrid thermal/non thermal plasma whose distribution function was roughly the sum of a relatively cool $`50`$ keV Maxwellian and a power law.

Zhang et al. (1997) noted that during the state transition, the bolometric luminosity of Cyg X-1 changed very little. From this fact, Poutanen, Krolik, and Ryde (1997) PKR97 put forth the proposition that the observed state transition of Cyg X-1 corresponded to a change in the mechanical state of the disk characterized by the inner edge moving inward as the spectral state changed from hard to soft. This claim was supported by the fact that the temperature of the thermal disk component increased as Cyg X-1 evolved into the soft state. The increase in the number of soft photons then has the ability to cool the corona, thus steepening the hard continuum.

Adopting this general picture, further details regarding the accretion flow of Cyg X-1 can be inferred if the $`50`$keV spectral component fitted by G97 and G99 is assumed to result from turbulent Comptonization. If we approximate that the bolometric luminosity $`L=ϵ\dot{M}c^2`$ and $`T_w`$ are constants during the state transition, then $`y_w`$ is the relevant parameter which is allowed to change. In the hard state, the 50 keV component was fit with a Wien-law, implying saturated Comptonization while in the soft state, the 50 keV component was fit with a steep power law, typical of unsaturated Comptonization. Thus, during the transition from the hard to soft spectral state, $`y_w`$ decreased. As previously discussed, the outer scale of the turbulence $`\lambda _0`$ may approach the photon mean free path $`\lambda _p`$ near the inner edge of the disk, where the spectral contribution from turbulent Comptonization is greatest. With this, eq. (20) shows us that $`y_w\alpha ^1`$. Thus, $`\alpha `$ increased as $`y_w`$ decreased during the hard to soft transition. This is consistent with the constant luminosity and wave temperature condition by noting the dependencies of the wave temperature on the outer scale given by eq. (6). That is, the quantity $`\dot{m}^2/ϵ^2r^3`$ must decrease during the transition. A constant luminosity requires $`\dot{m}ϵ^1`$ which constrains $`1/ϵ^4r^3`$ to decrease. But, $`ϵr^1`$ yielding the result that $`r`$ must have decreased, which is consistent with the hypothesis of PKR97.

To summarize, by making the assumption that the 50 keV component in both the hard and soft spectral state of Cyg X-1 is due to turbulent Comptonization we may then determine further details of the accretion flow. If the proposition of PKR97 is utilized to explain the spectral evolution of Cyg X-1, the basic model dependencies of turbulent Comptonization necessarily require that $`\alpha `$ increased while $`\dot{m}`$ decreased during the spectral transition.

## 6. Summary and Conclusions

Turbulent Comptonization may prove to be an important mediator of gravitational energy release in accretion disks. If so, simultaneously modeling both the mechanics and radiative processes of the flow not only becomes possible, but necessary in order to accurately fit the data. We have shown that the amplitude and shape of the spectral feature resulting from turbulent Comptonization coincides with observed components in both AGN and X-ray binaries. If turbulent Comptonization does not manifest itself spectrally, then its absence in the SED of accretion flows constrains values of fundamental disk parameters such as $`\alpha ,\dot{m},\mathrm{and}ϵ`$.

We emphasize that throughout this paper, we have assumed that turbulent accretion stresses may greatly exceed the gas pressure. It is this fact that allows turbulent Comptonization to operate as an important process. It has been argued that in radiation pressure supported disks, buoyancy limits the turbulent magnetic pressure to values below that of the gas (Sakimoto & Coroniti 1981, 1989; Stella & Rosner 1984). Further, we assumed that large turbulent stresses exist down to the scale of the photon mean free path. However, there may be other dissipation mechanisms acting on scales larger than $`\lambda _p`$. One such example is Silk damping of compressive motions in the turbulence (Agol & Krolik 1998). Recent numerical simulations of un-stratified radiation pressure supported disks show that Silk damping may be responsible for a significant (but not dominant) fraction of energy release (Turner et al. 2003). Such simulations performed in a vertically stratified medium will address both Silk damping and buoyancy effects simultaneously.

Another uncertainty in determining the relative importance of turbulent Comptonization is the vertical structure of the disk. The presence of turbulent Comptonization provides a directmeans of turning turbulent mechanical energy into photon power without requiring a cascade down to a microscopic dissipation scale. How this affects the structure and dynamics of the flow in a time-averaged fashion is difficult to predict. In terms of making detailed comparisons between theory and observations, these questions must be answered before any quantitative progress can be achieved.

The authors would like to thank Phil Arras, Philip Chang, and Neal Turner for many helpful conversations. This work was supported by NASA grant NAGS-13228 and UCSB/LANL CARE grant SBB-001A.


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# Fluctuation and localization of acoustic waves in bubbly water

(July 1, 2003)

## Abstract

Here the fluctuation properties of acoustic localization in bubbly water is explored. We show that the strong localization can occur in such a system for a certain frequency range and sufficient filling fractions of air-bubbles. Two fluctuating quantities are considered, that is, the fluctuation of transmission and the fluctuation of the phase of acoustic wave fields. When localization occurs, these fluctuations tend to vanish, a feature able to uniquely identify the phenomenon of wave localization.

Among many unsolved problems in condensed matter physicsRama , the phenomenon of Anderson localization is perhaps most intriguing. The concept of localization was first proposed about 50 years ago for possible disorder-induced metal-insulator transitionAnderson . That is, the electronic mobility in a conducting solid could completely come to a halt when the solid is implanted with a sufficient amount of randomness or impurities, in the absence of the electron-electron interaction. As a result, the electrons tend to stay around the initial site of release, i. e. localized, and the envelop of their wave functions decays exponentially from this site Lee . The physical mechanism behind is suggested to be the multiple scattering of electronic waves by the disorders.

Ever since the inception of this concept, considerable efforts have been devoted to observing localization or phenomena possibly related to localization, as reviewed in, for instance, Ref. Lee ; Thouless ; loc . By analogy with electronic waves, the concept of localization has also been extended to classical systems ranging from acoustic and electromagnetic waves to seismological waves in randomly scattering media, yielding a vast body of literature (Refer to the reviews and textbooks Refs. John ; Sheng ; Lagen ; Seis ). In spite of these efforts, the phenomenon of localization has remained as a conceptual conjecture rather than a reality that has been observed conclusively.

The difficulty in observing electronic localization may be obvious. In actual measurements, the Coulomb interaction between electrons is hard to be excluded. With this in mind, it has been suggested that localization might be easier to observe for classical waves as wave-wave interactions are often negligible in these systems. However, classical wave localization may yet suffer from effects of absorption, leading to uncertainties in data interpretation. Indeed, up to date, a definite experimental evidence of localization is still lacking. Significant debates on reported experimental results remain McCall ; Meade ; Wiersma . How to unambiguously isolate localization effects from other effects therefore stays on the task list of top priority, and poses an compelling issue to our concern.

In this Letter, we wish to continue previous efforts in exploring acoustic localization in water having many air-filled bubbles, i. e. bubbly water Alberto ; APL . We attempt to identify some unique features associated with localization. In particular, we will study the behavior of the phase of the acoustic wave fields in bubbly water. The fluctuation of the phase and the acoustic transmission will be studied. The method is based upon the standard multiple scattering theory which has been detailed in Ken .

Consider the acoustic emission from a bubble cloud in water. For simplicity, the shape of the cloud is taken as spherical. Such a model eliminates irrelevant edge effects, and is useful to separate phenomena pertinent to discussion. Total $`N`$ bubbles of the same radius $`a`$ are randomly distributed within the cloud. The volume fraction, the space occupied by bubbles per unit volume, is taken as $`\beta `$; thus the numerical density of bubbles is $`n=3\beta /(4\pi a^3)`$, and the radius of the bubble cloud is $`R=(N/\beta )^{1/3}a`$. A monochromatic acoustic source is located at the center of the cloud. Adaptation of such a model for other geometries and situations is straightforward. The wave transmitted from the source propagates through the bubble layer, where multiple scattering incurs, and then it reaches a receiver located at some distance from the cloud. The multiple scattering in the bubbly layer is described by a set of self-consistent equations. The energy transmission and the acoustic wave field can be solved numerically in a rigorous fashion Alberto ; Ken .

Denoting the total acoustic wave at a spatial point as $`p(\stackrel{}{r})`$, which includes the contributions from the wave directed from the source ($`p_0`$) and the scattered waves from all bubbles. To eliminate the unnecessary geometrical spreading factor, we normalize the wave field as $`T=p/p_0`$; therefore $`T`$ is dimensionless. The total transmission is defined as $`I=|T|^2`$. The average is $`I`$ and its coherent portion $`I_c=|T|^2`$; here $``$ denotes the ensemble average over the random configuration of bubble clouds.

For the acoustic wave field, we write $`p=|p|\mathrm{exp}(i\theta )`$ with $`i=\sqrt{1}`$ here; the modulus $`|p|`$ represents the strength, whereas $`\theta _i`$ the phase of the secondary source. We assign a two dimensional unit vector $`\stackrel{}{u}_i`$, hereafter termed phase vector, to each phase $`\theta _i`$, and these vectors are represented on a phase diagram parallel to the $`xy`$ plane. That is, the starting point of each phase vector is positioned at the center of individual scatterers with an angle with respect to the positive $`x`$-axis equal to the phase, $`\stackrel{}{u}_i=\mathrm{cos}\theta _i\widehat{x}+\mathrm{sin}\theta _i\widehat{y}`$. Letting the phase of the initiative emitting source be zero, i. e. the phase vector of the source is pointing to the positive $`x`$-direction, numerical experiments are carried out to study the behavior of the phases of the bubbles and the spatial distribution of the acoustic wave modulus.

A general aspect of localization is as follows. The acoustic energy flow is conventionally $`\stackrel{}{J}\text{Re}[p^{}(i)p].`$ Taking the field as $`|p|e^{i\theta }`$, the current becomes $`|p|^2\theta `$. Therefore when $`\theta `$ is constant while $`|p|0`$, the flow stops and energy will be localized or stored in space. This general picture is absent from previous considerations.

A set of numerical experiments has been carried out. In the simulation, we parameterize the relevant physical quantities as follows. The frequency is scaled by the radius of bubbles, i. e. $`ka`$. In this way, it turns out that all the simulation is dimensionless when no absorption is included Alberto . The fluctuation of the phase of the acoustic field at the bubble sites is defined as $`\delta \theta ^2=\left(\frac{1}{N}_i^N\theta _i^2(\frac{1}{N}_i^N\theta _i)^2\right)`$. It is conceivable that this fluctuation actually reflects the fluctuation of the acoustic wave fields in general. Similarly, the fluctuation of the transmission is $`\delta I^2=I^2I^2`$. The volume fraction is taken as $`\beta =0.001`$.

First we identify the regimes of localization. Following Alberto , we plot the averaged transmissions ($`I`$ and $`I_c`$) versus frequency $`ka`$ in Fig. 1. Here $`N=800`$ and totally 100 averages haven used. The receiver is located at the distance $`2R`$ from the source. It is clearly suggested in the figure that there is a region in which the transmission is virtually forbidden. This ranges from about $`ka=0.014`$ to 0.060. And for most frequencies, the coherent transmission is the major portion in the transmission.

To examine the fluctuation behavior of the phase $`\theta `$ and the transmission and for the convenience of the reader, in Fig. 2, we purposely repeat the earlier effortAPL  to plot the phase diagrams of the phase vectors (left column) and the averaged wave transmission as a function of distance from the source (right column). Here it is clearly shown that the exponential decay of the transmission, i. e. the phenomenon of localization, is indeed associated with an in-phase coherence or ‘ordering’ among the phase vectors, i. e. nearly all the phase vectors point to the same direction, in the complete agreement with the general prescription of localization stated above.

In actual experiments such as acoustic scintillation in turbulent media, it is the variability of signal that is often easier to analysis. As such, we wish to investigate the fluctuation behavior of wave transmission. In Fig. 3, we plot the fluctuation of the phase of the acoustic wave fields at the bubble sites in terms of per scatterer. Two sizes of bubble clouds are taken, corresponding to $`N=800`$ and $`1600`$ respectively. Here we see that within the localization range, the fluctuation tends to zero and is insensitive to the sample size. At around the localization transition edges, significant peaks in the fluctuation appear. The peak position at the low frequency end does not depend on the sample size whereas at the high frequency side, the peak position moves as the sample size increases. These results imply that there are perhaps two types of transition mechanisms at the low and high frequency edges respectively.

In the present model we may also be able to include dissipation effects either manually or through calculation of thermal exchange and viscosity effects Ken . It can be shown that the dissipation will not be able to give rise to the picture depicted by Fig. 3. Therefore these fluctuation behaviors may help in discerning localization. We also note here that we have carried out two types of averaging. One has been defined above. The second is to look at the phase fluctuation of the wave field at a fixed spatial point, likely being the case in experiments, we found that the two approaches nearly produce the same results.

The corresponding fluctuation of wave transmission per scatterer $`\delta I^2/N`$ and the relative fluctuation $`\delta I^2/I^2`$ are plotted against frequency in Fig. 4. Again two sample sizes are considered. Fig. 4(a) shows that the fluctuation per scatterer behaves similarly as the phase fluctuation, thereby providing a further check point in discerning localization effects. However, the relative fluctuation in Fig. 4(b) behaves rather differently. There is no significant reduction within the localization regime, compared to the outside. Except near the transition edges, the magnitude of the relative fluctuation is nearly the same for all frequencies within or outside the localization range and for different sample sizes, a result in contrast to the discussion for one dimensional systems JPC . We note that at the zero frequency limit, all the fluctuation approaches zero. This is because at this limit, the scattering effect is nearly zero, and therefore the bubbles give no effects.

In short, some fluctuation behaviors in acoustic localization in bubbly water have been studied. The results suggest that proper analysis of these behaviors may help discern the phenomenon of localization in a unique manner.

We thank NSC and NCU for supports.


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# Evidence of spontaneous spin polarized transport in magnetic nanowires

## Abstract

The exploitation of the spin in charge-based systems is opening revolutionary opportunities for device architecture. Surprisingly, room temperature electrical transport through magnetic nanowires is still an unresolved issue. Here, we show that ferromagnetic (Co) suspended atom chains spontaneously display an electron transport of half a conductance quantum, as expected for a fully polarized conduction channel. Similar behavior has been observed for Pd (a quasi-magnetic 4d metal) and Pt (a non-magnetic 5d metal). These results suggest that the nanowire low dimensionality reinforces or induces magnetic behavior, lifting off spin degeneracy even at room temperature and zero external magnetic field.

It is expected that the new generation of devices will exploit spin dependent effects, what has been called ”spintronics” 1 . In this sense, the role of low dimensionality in the magnetic properties of materials will become a fundamental issue for combining the standard miniaturization of microelectronics and spin phenomena. From a practical point of view, spintronic devices must exploit different quantum properties without the need of cryogenic temperatures. This fact immediately renders metal nanowires (NW’s) a very attractive system because they show quantum conductance effects at room temperature 2 . From a experimental point of view, NW’s can be easily generated by putting in contact two metal surfaces, which are subsequently pulled apart; during the elongation, the conductance ($`G`$) displays flat plateaus and abrupt jumps of approximately a conductance quantum $`G_0=2e^2/h`$, where $`e`$ is the electron charge and $`h`$ is Planck’s constant 2 ; the factor 2 is due to the spin degeneracy. Recently, this kind of studies has lead to the discovery that the ultimate NW’s show a structure of suspended linear chain of atoms (LCA) 3 ; 4 ; 5 , whose conductance is equal to 1 $`G_0`$ for monovalent metals such as Au 3 ; 4 ; 6  or Ag 7 . On the other side, magnetic materials have not yet been studied in detail and the possible lift of spin degeneracy in magnetic NW’s represents still an open question 2 ; 8 .

Here, we have analyzed the room temperature electronic transport properties of atom-size metallic wires made of magnetic and non-magnetic metals using an ultra-high-vacuum (UHV, pressure $``$ 10-8 Pa) mechanically controllable break junction system (MCBJ) 2 ; 6 ; 7 , which is a well established technique to study the conductance of nanostructures. In this approach, a macroscopic wire is glued in a flexible substrate in two points; then it is rendered fragile between the two fixing parts by an incomplete cut. By bending the substrate in situ in UHV, we break the wire and produce two clean metal surfaces. Using the same bending movement, the fresh tips are put together and separated repeatedly to generate and elongate NW’s. It must be emphasized that the extreme cleanness of the environment and the sample itself are essential to get reliable and reproducible conductance data from atomic-size contacts 6 ; 7 .

In a MCBJ, the electrical transport of the metal NW’s is measured using a two-point configuration; this implies that the conductance measurement probes the NW itself (the narrowest region of the contact) and the two leads (apexes). Although, the NW should show conductance quantization ($`G=\alpha G_0`$, where $`\alpha `$ is an integer), the electron reservoir-apex-NW coupling may act as an additional serial resistance, diminishing the conductance. Experimentally, $`\alpha `$ is frequently close to integer values but slightly lower.

In these experiments, an additional difficulty arises from the fact that a variety of conductance evolutions are observed. In fact, the structure of the NW or relative crystallographic orientation of the apexes cannot be controlled; then, each conductance measurement corresponds to a new NW with a different atomic arrangement. To overcome this difficulty, most NW studies rely on the analysis of average behaviors of many conductance curves. The most frequently used procedure consists in building histograms from each individual electrical transport measurement, where occurrence of each conductance value is plotted (in this way a conductance plateau becomes an histogram peak). Subsequently, the so-called global histogram is constructed by the linear addition of individual histograms from a series of measurements. The presence of peaks close to integer multiples of the conductance quantum has been considered as the proof of quantized conductance in metal NW’s 2 .

The atomic structure of NW’s generated by mechanical stretching has been studied using independent experiments based on time-resolved high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), where the NW’s were generated and elongated inside the microscope following the method reported by Kondo and Takanayagi 9 . NW’s are generated by the following procedure: the microscope electron beam is increased to a current density of $``$ 120 A/cm2 and focussed on a self-supported metal film to perforate and grow neighboring holes. When two holes are very close, a nanometric bridge is formed between them. When these bridges are very thin (1-2 nm) and close to rupture, the electron beam intensity is reduced to its conventional value (10-30 A/cm2) in order to perform the real-time imaging with atomic resolution. When the beam current is too high (as during the hole generation step), the film vibrates and no atomic imaging can be performed. The procedure described above has allowed us to generate NW’s with a remarkable stability. In fact, the NW, its apexes and the surrounding regions are all parts of a unique metal film and form a monolithic block. NW’s formed by a few atomic layers usually show a long lifetime in the range of minutes. Although this stability, the NW’s elongate spontaneously, get thinner and, then break due to the relative slow movement of the NW apexes. This apex displacement is probably due to a film deformation induced by thermal gradients or just by low frequency vibration of the thin metallic film membrane, as usually observed in TEM thin film work 6 ; 7 .

The metal films (thickness 15 nm for Co, 5-6 nm for Pd and Pt) have been obtained by thermal or electron beam evaporation of pure metal on a substrate (usually NaCl crystals or freshly cleaved mica). Subsequently, the films are detached from the substrate by floating them in water; next, the sample is collected on a TEM holey carbon grid, remaining self-supported on the regions hanging over the holes. All images were acquired close to Scherzer defocus 10  using a high sensitivity TV camera (Gatan 622SC, 30 frame/s) associated with a conventional video recorder. The images were obtained by digitizing the video film a posteriori; in order to enhance signal-to-noise ratio, several frames (3-5) are usually added. This procedure has shown to be very efficient and, has enabled us to register the NW real-time formation, evolution and rupture, even for low atomic number metals as for example Co.

The steps mentioned above constitute the basic procedure for in situ NW observation. However, we must emphasize that the study of NW’s has demonstrated to be a new challenge for each metal. Each material has required a particular setting, from the sample preparation (thin film thickness, etc.) to the NW generation and imaging. For this kind of experiments, noble metals seem to be a well-behaved case; on the other side, metals such as Co are more complicated, mainly because they are very reactive. We have prevented sample oxidation by evaporating sequentially carbon-metal-carbon layers on a substrate. This ”metal sandwich” is detached from the substrate and collected on the TEM grid, as described above. Inside the TEM, the carbon layers are removed from a sample region using an intense electron irradiation, what can be very time consuming (6-8 hs.).

Figure 1 shows typical behaviors of the conductance during elongation and thinning of Co NW’s; also a histogram of occurrence of each conductance value (global histogram 2 ) during a series of measurements is displayed in order to derive a statistical analysis of NW behavior. A quick analysis shows a major difference with previously studied metals (Au 2 ; 6 , Ag 2 ; 7 , Cu 2 , Na 11 , etc.): the last conductance plateau (or the lowest conductance peak of the global histogram) attributed to the thinnest Co wire is observed at $``$ 0.5 $`G_0`$ instead of $``$ 1 $`G_0`$.

In order to understand the origin of the 0.5 $`G_0`$ conductance, it is essential to determine the atomic arrangement of the thinnest possible Co NW. HRTEM imaging has shown that just before rupture, Co wires adopt a LCA configuration (see Fig. 2a), which must be associated to the last conductance plateau at 0.5 $`G_0`$. It must be noted that the global histogram, in Fig. 1b, does not display a 1 $`G_0`$ peak, as could be expected by the addition of 0.5 $`G_0`$ steps. However, this is not surprising because it is already well understood that conductance curves are a signature of the structural evolution during the NW stretching 6 . Then, some conductance values may not be observed in a transport experiment, if there is not a stable atomic structure sustaining that particular conductance value 7 ; 12 .

Conductance plateaus and jumps of 0.5 $`G_0`$ are observed for constrictions generated in bi-dimensional electron gazes when a strong magnetic field is used to lift the spin degeneracy; in fact, features at 0.5 $`G_0`$ are considered a signature of a spin polarized current generation 1 ; 2 ; 13 ; 14 ; 15 . Our results enable us to deduce that this phenomenon occurs spontaneously for one-atom-thick ferromagnetic wires in zero magnetic field and at room temperature. The polarized current can be originated either from a wide spin gap at the narrowest wire region, or from the fact that the apexes contacting the atom chain have identical magnetic orientation (in other terms, magnetic domain walls may be expelled from the nanometric constriction). Further studies involving temperature or magnetic field dependence are in progress to elucidate this point. This behavior was not only observed in Co wires, but also in NW’s made of other ferromagnetic 3d transition metals such as Fe and Ni (not shown here). In contrast, it was not verified in similar experiments on Cu, a very close non-magnetic 3d transition metal 2 ; 16 . This kind of analysis can only be applied to the last conductance plateau (0.5 $`G_0`$) and, we are not able to derive further insights on the existence of polarized current in thicker NW’s (or higher conductance), because the superposition of possible spin polarized and unpolarized conduction channels cannot be discriminated from the conductance value.

One-atom-thick wires represent the smallest achievable 1D system; then, they should be expected to show new and unexpected physical behaviors. For example, magnetic ordering may occur in low-dimensional systems of nonmagnetic materials 17 . It has been theoretically predicted that infinite 1D spin systems would not display magnetism 18 , nevertheless Gambardella et al 19  have recently revealed magnetic ordering in chains of Co atoms deposed on Pt and spin blocks of 15 atoms at 45 K were reported. Certainly in this case, the Pt substrate must play an non-negligible role, but these results suggest that ferromagnetism could be expected in the short suspended chains analyzed in this work. On the other hand, it is surprising that the magnetic ordering seem to occur even at room temperature. In this sense, it will be very interesting to check if LCA’s of quasi-magnetic metals become magnetic and, may show spin polarized conductance channels. The obvious test case would be the 4d transition metal Pd (\[Kr\] 4d10), where 2-D thin films and 0-D clusters have already been reported to become magnetic 20 ; 21 . Firstly, we have used HRTEM to show that the thinnest Pd nanowire displays a LCA structure (see Fig. 2b). Subsequently, UHV-MCBJ experiments revealed that the global histogram shows the lowest conductance peak (associated to the LCA structure) at 0.5 $`G_0`$ (see Fig. 3a), as expected when a spin polarized current is allowed to travel through the Pd LCA’s.

An extension of the previous studies to the 5d transition metals leads to Pt as a test metal candidate. For that row, Pt shows a stronger localization of the d wave function, although 5d metals have a very small exchange integral 22 . Concerning atomic structure, Pt NW’s have already been shown to form LCA’s 2 ; 23 , see example in Fig 2c. The results of conductance measurements of Pt NW’s are shown in Fig. 3b, where a well-defined peak at 0.5 $`G_0`$ can be easily recognized in the global histogram. The formation of a spin polarized current in Pt atom chains may seem surprising because the possible occurrence of magnetism in 5d transition metals has usually been neglected 22 . However, molecular beam photo-detachment studies of very small (2-3 atoms) Pt clusters have shown an anomalous behavior, somewhat following the tendency observed for magnetic clusters (Ni or Pd) 20 . Also, we must keep in mind that in this size regime metal clusters adopt a linear structure 24 , very close to the atomic arrangement in LCA’s. In addition, recent ab-initio calculations have predicted the generation of a magnetic state in highly elongated linear Pt chains 25 ; 26 ; the need of significant bond elongation could explain why the 0.5 $`G_0`$ peak is rather small for Pt, while dominant for Co and Pd.

In summary, we have shown that suspended chains of atoms made of ferromagnetic 3d transition metals display a conductance compatible with a fully polarized conduction channel (0.5 $`G_0`$) at room temperature and without the need of external magnetic field. The 1D nature of LCA’s also induces a similar conductance behavior in suspended chains of the quasi-magnetic 4d metal Pd and, a non-magnetic 5d metal as Pt. These results open a wealth of new opportunities to get a deeper understanding of spin dynamics or spin control in nanostructures and, will have important implications for the development of future spintronic devices. Although, the practical application of linear chain of atoms will be rather hard to achieve, their atomic structure provides a very good insight for designing and synthesizing new organometallic molecules containing magnetic atoms for applications in molecular electronics exploiting spin effects.

We thank M. Knobel for stimulating discussions. This work was supported LNLS, CNPq and FAPESP.


text:
# The colored flux tube

## 1 Introduction

The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) describes the forces between quarks which are elementary blocks of hadrons. In contrast with quantum electrodynamics QCD has a very strong interaction between quanta of gauge fields. Probably the consequences of such nonlinearity is the appearance of a flux tube filled with a longitudinal color electric field between interacting quark and antiquark. The existence of such tube leads to a confinement of quarks: quark and antiquark are connected with the flux tube which gives a constant force between these particles. The quarks are the sources of a color electric field filling the flux tube. Therefore the derivation of the flux tube solutions in QCD is very important problem. Evidently this problem is quantum not classical one as many years of the attempts to obtain such solutions in the classical gauge theories have not any success. Altough it is well known that in dual theories exist so-called Nielsen-Olesen flux tube solutions  which are filled with an Abelian magnetic field and BPS strings . Mathematically these solutions are identical to the flux tubes in a superconductor where the magnetic field is pushed out from the superconductor. Such correspondence between color flux tube in QCD and magnetic flux tube in superconductor allows us to suppose that the QCD flux tube in some sense is a dual picture of a Meissner effect in the superconductivity ,  : magnetic field is changed on electric one and a condensate of Cooper pairs on a condensate of (probably) magnetic monopoles.

In Ref.  it was shown that in the Euclidean spacetime there is a flux tube solution (colored flux tube) of the SU(2) Yang - Mills - Higgs gauge theory with broken gauge symmetry. The derived solution is filled with a color longitudinal SU(2) electric field. The analysis shows that the symmetry breakdown is necessary for the existence of colored flux tube as this solution is regular only for a discrete spectrum of mass $`m0`$ which describes the gauge symmetry breakdown. In this letter we would like to show that the same mechanism is in the action for the Lorentzian spacetime, too.

## 2 Flux tube equations

We will start from the SU(2) Yang - Mills - Higgs field equations with broken gauge symmetry

$`𝒟_\nu F^{a\mu \nu }`$ $`=`$ $`gϵ^{abc}\varphi ^b𝒟^\mu \varphi ^c\left(m^2\right)^{ab}A^{b\mu },`$ (1)
$`𝒟_\mu 𝒟^\mu \varphi ^a`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda \varphi ^a\left(\varphi ^b\varphi ^b\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^2\right)`$ (2)
here $`F_{a\mu \nu }=_\mu A_\nu ^a_\nu A_\mu ^a+gϵ^{abc}A_\mu ^bA_\nu ^c`$ is the field tensor for the SU(2) gauge potential $`A_\mu ^a`$; $`a,b,c=1,2,3`$ are the color indices; $`D_\nu [\mathrm{}]^a=_\nu [\mathrm{}]^a+gϵ^{abc}A_\mu ^b[\mathrm{}]^c`$ is the gauge derivative; $`\varphi ^a`$ is the Higgs field; $`\lambda ,g`$ and $`\varphi _{\mathrm{}}`$ are some constants; $`\left(m^2\right)^{ab}`$ is a masses matrix which destroys the gauge invariance of the Yang - Mills - Higgs theory, here we choose $`\left(m^2\right)^{ab}=diag\{m_1^2,m_2^2,0\}`$.

The solution we search in the following form

$$A_t^1(\rho )=\frac{f(\rho )}{g};A_z^2(\rho )=\frac{v(\rho )}{g};\varphi ^3(\rho )=\frac{\varphi (\rho )}{g}$$
(3)
here $`z,\rho ,\phi `$ are cylindrical coordinate system. The substitution into the Yang - Mills - Higgs equations (1) (2) gives us

$`f^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{f^{}}{x}}`$ $`=`$ $`f\left(\varphi ^2+v^2m_1^2\right),`$ (4)
$`v^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{v^{}}{x}}`$ $`=`$ $`v\left(\varphi ^2f^2m_2^2\right),`$ (5)
$`\varphi ^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi ^{}}{x}}`$ $`=`$ $`\varphi \left[f^2+v^2+\lambda \left(\varphi ^2\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^2\right)\right]`$ (6)
here we redefined $`\varphi /\alpha \varphi `$, $`f/\alpha f`$, $`v/\alpha v`$, $`\varphi _{\mathrm{}}/\alpha \varphi _{\mathrm{}}`$, $`m_{1,2}/\alpha m_{1,2}`$, $`\rho \alpha x`$; the constant $`\alpha `$ will be defined later. The similar equations with the presence of $`A_\phi ^a`$ and without masses $`m_{1,2}`$ was investigated in Ref’s   where it was shown that the corresponding solutions becomes singular either on a finite distance from the axis $`\rho =0`$ or on the infinity. The solutions with the masses $`m_{1,2}`$ and a magnetic field $`H_z`$ were obtained in Ref.  and the result is that the following versions of the flux tube exist: (1) the flux tube filled with electric/magnetic fields on the background of an external constant magnetic/electric field; (2) the Nielsen-Olesen flux tube dressed with transversal color electric and magnetic fields.

## 3 Numerical algorithm

We will solve the equations set (4)-(6) with an iterative procedure which is described in Ref. . Eq. (5) on the $`i`$ step has the following form

$$v_i^{\prime \prime }+\frac{v_i^{}}{x}=v_i\left(\varphi _{i1}^2f_{i1}^2m_{2,i}^2\right),$$
(7)
here the functions $`f_{i1}`$ and $`\varphi _{i1}`$ was defined on $`(i1)`$ step and the null approximation for the functions $`f(x)`$ and $`\varphi (x)`$ is $`\varphi _0(x)=1.30.3/\mathrm{cosh}^2(x/4)`$ and $`f_0(x)=0.2/\mathrm{cosh}^2(x)`$. The numerical investigation for Eq. (7) shows that there is a number $`m_{2,i}^{}`$ for which: for $`m_{2,i}>m_{2,i}^{}`$ the solution is singular $`v_i(x)\mathrm{}`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$ and for $`m_{2,i}<m_{2,i}^{}`$ the solution is also singular $`v_i(x)+\mathrm{}`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$. It means that there is such number $`m_{2,i}=m_{2,i}^{}`$ for which the solution $`v_i(x)`$ is regular one. The number $`m_{2,i}^{}`$ is defined with the method of the iterative approximation. Here is necessary that the functions $`f_{i1}(x)0`$ and $`\varphi _{i1}(x)\varphi _{\mathrm{},i1}^{}`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$.

Eq. (4) on this step has the following form

$$f_i^{\prime \prime }+\frac{f_i^{}}{x}=f_i\left(\varphi _{i1}^2+v_i^2m_{1,i}^2\right),$$
(8)
here the function $`\varphi _{i1}`$ was defined on $`(i1)`$ step and the function $`v_i`$ is the solution of Eq. (7). The numerical investigation for Eq. (8) shows that there is a number $`m_{1,i}^{}`$ for which: for $`m_{1,i}>m_{1,i}^{}`$ the solution is singular $`f_i(x)\mathrm{}`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$ and for $`m_{1,i}<m_{1,i}^{}`$ the solution is also singular $`f_i(x)+\mathrm{}`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$. It means that exists such number $`m_{1,i}=m_{1,i}^{}`$ for which the solution $`f_i(x)`$ is regular one. The number $`m_{1,i}^{}`$ is defined with the method of iterative approximation. It is necessary that the functions $`v_i(x)0`$ and $`\varphi _{i1}(x)\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^{}`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$.

The next step on the $`i`$ iteration is solving of Eq. (6)

$$\varphi _i^{\prime \prime }+\frac{\varphi _i^{}}{x}=\varphi _i\left[f_i^2+v_i^2+\lambda \left(\varphi _i^2\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^2\right)\right]$$
(9)
here the functions $`f_i`$ and $`v_i`$ are the solutions of Eq’s (7) (8). The numerical investigation for this equation shows that there is a number $`\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^{}`$ for which: for $`\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}>\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^{}`$ the function $`\varphi _i(x)`$ oscillates with decreasing amplitude, for $`\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}<\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^{}`$ the function $`\varphi _i(x)+\mathrm{}`$ by $`xx_0`$. The number $`\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^{}`$ defines a regular solution $`\varphi _i(x)`$. It is necessary that the functions $`v_i(x)0`$ and $`f_i(x)0`$ by $`x\mathrm{}`$.

The value $`f(0)`$ can be arbitrary but we choose them by such a way that $`f(0)/\alpha =0.2`$, the other initial conditions are $`v(0)=0.5`$ and $`\varphi (0)=1.0`$. Thus in the equations set (4)-(6) we have three independent parameters $`\lambda ,v(0)`$ and $`\varphi (0)`$. In the calculations presented here we take $`\lambda =0.1`$.

The iterative process described above gives us the $`m_{(1,2),i}^{}`$ and $`\varphi _{\mathrm{},i}^{}`$ presented on Table 1.

The functions $`f_i(x),v_i(x)`$ and $`\varphi _i(x)`$ for $`i=1,2,3`$ are presented on Fig’s 1, 2 and 3.

By the definition the color electric and magnetic fields are

$`E_z^3(x)`$ $`=`$ $`F_{tz}^3={\displaystyle \frac{f(x)v(x)}{g}},`$ (10)
$`E_\rho ^1(x)`$ $`=`$ $`F_{t\rho }^1={\displaystyle \frac{f^{}(x)}{g}},`$ (11)
$`H_\phi ^2(x)`$ $`=`$ $`xϵ_{\phi \rho z}F^{2\rho z}=x{\displaystyle \frac{v^{}(x)}{g}}.`$ (12)
These fields are presented on Fig. 4.

From Eq’s (4)-(6) it is easy to see that the symptotical behaviour of the regular solutions $`f^{}(x)`$, $`v^{}(x)`$ and $`\varphi ^{}(x)`$ is

$`f^{}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`f_0{\displaystyle \frac{e^{x\sqrt{\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^2m_1^2}}}{\sqrt{x}}}+\mathrm{},`$ (13)
$`v^{}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`v_0{\displaystyle \frac{e^{x\sqrt{\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^2m_2^2}}}{\sqrt{x}}}+\mathrm{},`$ (14)
$`\varphi ^{}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^{}\varphi _0{\displaystyle \frac{e^{x\sqrt{2\lambda \varphi _{\mathrm{}}^2}}}{\sqrt{x}}}+\mathrm{}`$ (15)
where $`f_0,v_0`$ and $`\varphi _0`$ are some constants.

The energy density is

$`2g^2ϵ(x)=f_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}(x)+v_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}(x)+\varphi _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}(x)+v^2(x)f^2(x)+v^2(x)\varphi ^2(x)+f^2(x)\varphi ^2(x)+`$
$`m_1^{}f^2(x)m_2^{}v^2(x)+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}}\left(\varphi ^2\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^2\right)^2`$ (16)
and presented in Fig. 5. The linear energy density will be finite as all terms in (16) have exponential decreasing at the infinity.

The flux of the longitudinal electric field is

$$\mathrm{\Phi }=E_z^3𝑑s=2\pi _0^{\mathrm{}}\rho \frac{f(\rho )v(\rho )}{g}𝑑\rho =\frac{2\pi }{g}_0^{\mathrm{}}xf(x)v(x)𝑑x<\mathrm{}.$$
(17)
We see that the flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ depends on the parameters $`\lambda ,v(0)`$ and $`\varphi (0)`$ as the solution $`f(x)`$ and $`v(x)`$ depend on these parameters which is in contrast with such topological solutions as ’t Hooft-Ployakov monopole and Nielsen-Olesen flux tube. It is the indication of the fact that the colored flux tube solution is not the consequence of any differential equations of the first order as it is for the topological solutions. In other words the colored flux tube is a dynamical object not topological one.

## 4 Colored flux tube as a pure quantum object

In Ref.  was presented some arguments that the obtained there colored flux tube has a pure quantum origin. The arguments are that the SU(3) quantum Yang - Mills theory in some approximation can be reduced to the classical SU(2) Yang - Mills - Higgs theory plus some extra term which is zero for the ansatz (3). We will describe this $`SU(3)SU(2)`$ reduction following to Ref. . At first the SU(3) gauge potential on ordered and disordered phases should be decomposed:

1. The gauge field components $`A_\mu ^aSU(2),a=1,2,3`$ belonging to the small subgroup $`SU(2)SU(3)`$ are in an ordered phase:

$$A_\mu ^a(x)(A_\mu ^a(x))_{cl}.$$
(18)
The subscript $`(\mathrm{})_{cl}`$ means that the SU(2) components of the SU(3) gauge field can be considered as almost a classical field. $`\mathrm{}`$ is a quantum average.
2. The gauge field components $`A_\mu ^m`$ (m=4,5, … , 8) and $`A_\mu ^mSU(3)/SU(2)`$) belonging to the coset SU(3)/SU(2) are in a disordered phase. i.e. they are a condensate of the coset components of the SU(3) gauge field. It means that

$$A_\mu ^m(x)=0,\text{but}A_\mu ^m(x)A_\nu ^n(x)0.$$
(19)
These degrees of freedom are pure quantum degrees and are involved in the equations for the ordered phase as an averaged field distribution of coset components.

In order to simplify the 2 and 4-points Green’s functions the following assumptions and simplifications was made:

1. The correlation between coset components $`A_\mu ^m(y)`$ and $`A_\nu ^n(x)`$ in two points $`x^\mu `$ and $`y^\mu `$ is

$$A_\mu ^m(y)A_\nu ^n(x)=\frac{1}{3}f^{mpb}f^{npc}\eta _{\mu \nu }\varphi ^b(y)\varphi ^c(x).$$
(20)
where $`f^{abc}`$ is the structural constants of the SU(3) group. Here we have to indicate that it is correct only for static fields, i.e. $`x^0=y^0`$.
2. There is not any correlation between ordered (classical) and disordered (quantum) phases

$$f(a_\mu ^a)g(A_\nu ^m)=f(a_\mu ^a)g(A_\mu ^m)$$
(21)
where $`f`$ and $`g`$ are arbitrary functions.
3. The 4-point Green’s function can be approximated as

$`A_\alpha ^m(x)A_\beta ^n(y)A_\mu ^p(z)A_\nu ^q(u)=`$
$`\left(E_{1,abcd}^{mnpq}\eta _{\alpha \beta }\eta _{\mu \nu }+E_{2,abcd}^{mpnq}\eta _{\alpha \mu }\eta _{\beta \nu }+E_{3,abcd}^{mqnp}\eta _{\alpha \nu }\eta _{\beta \mu }\right)\varphi ^a(x)\varphi ^b(y)\varphi ^c(z)\varphi ^d(u)`$ (22)
here $`E_{1,abcd}^{mnpq},E_{2,abcd}^{mpnq},E_{3,abcd}^{mqnp}`$ are some constants and this approximation is also valid for the static fields.

Eq’s (20) and (22) tell us that this approach can be called “one function approximation“.

The final result of Ref. is that the initial SU(3) Lagrangian

$$_{SU(3)}=\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu \nu }^AF^{A\mu \nu },A=1,2,\mathrm{}8$$
(23)
with these assumptions and simplifications can be reduced to the SU(2) Yang - Mills - Higgs Lagrangian

$$_{SU(2)}=\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu \nu }^aF^{a\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{2}\left(_\mu \varphi ^a+\frac{g}{2}ϵ^{abc}A_\mu ^b\varphi ^c\right)^2+\frac{m_\varphi ^2}{2}(\varphi ^a\varphi ^a)\lambda \left(\varphi ^a\varphi ^a\right)^2+\frac{g^2}{2}a_\mu ^b\varphi ^ba^{c\mu }\varphi ^c.$$
(24)
It is necessary to note that the term $`\frac{m_\varphi ^2}{2}(\varphi ^a\varphi ^a)`$ here also presents the assumed gauge symmetry breakdown. We see that the first term $`F_{\mu \nu }^aF^{a\mu \nu }`$ is the SU(2) Lagrangian for the ordered phase $`A_\mu ^a`$ and the Higgs Lagrangian is presented with the next three terms. Let us note that there is an additional gauge noninvariant term $`\frac{g^2}{2}a_\mu ^b\varphi ^ba^{c\mu }\varphi ^c`$ but for the ansätz (3) the corresponding terms in field equations are zero.

Finally, in the context of offered here $`SU(3)SU(2)`$ reduction the colored flux tube obtained above is a pure quantum object in the SU(3) Yang - Mills theory.

## 5 Discussion

The main result of this letter is that the confinement problem in QCD and the gauge symmetry breakdown can be closely connected. In our calculations the symmetry breaking term is presented by the mass term $`(m^2)^{ab}A_\mu ^b`$. Of course this term is inserted by hand. The problem for the derivation of this term from the first principles is the absence of non-perturbative technique for the calculations in quantum field theories with strong interactions. Although some calculations  show us that such terms can be obtained in quantum gauge theories on the perturbative level. One can indicate the probable connection of our problem with a Coleman - Weinberg mechanism  in $`\lambda \varphi ^4`$-theory. This mechanism gives us an additional term which changes an initial potential term and makes from its something like a Higgs potential (Mexico hat). The origin of this phenomenon is the presence of the nonlinear potential $`\lambda \varphi ^4`$ in the theory. One can suppose that the similar mechanism will work in the quantum gauge theories where there is the potential term like to $`(A)^4`$, but of course that here we have to use a non-perturbative technique which probably will be similar to the quantization method applied by Heisenberg to a non-linear spinor field .

Another interesting property of the colored flux tube solution is the discreteness of masses $`m_{1,2}^{}`$ and $`\varphi _{\mathrm{}}^{}`$ which gives the finitiness of the corresponding solution. We can make an assumption that it is connected with the fact that these parameters are quantum corrections and as it takes place in any quantum theory something should be quantized.

In conclusion we would like to note that the derived here the longitudinal electric filed is essentially nonlinear: it is not the gradient of some function but it appears from the nonlinear term $`gϵ^{abc}A_\mu ^bA_\nu ^c`$ of the non-Abelian tensor $`F_{\mu \nu }^a`$, i.e. the Maxwell eletrodynamics can not have such flux tube solutions even with broken gauge symmetry. One can say that the nonlinearity and symmetry breakdown of non-Abelian gauge theories probably are the key ingredients of confinement problem in QCD.

## 6 Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt foundation for the financial support of this work and H.-J- Schmidt for the invitation to research in Potsdam University.