text:
# Two twistor descriptions of the isomonodromy problem

## 1 Introduction

Twistor theory was first explored by Penrose in his investigation of the role of holomorphicity and conformal symmetry in relativistic quantum field theory. The primary aim, to find a new route to the quantization of gravity, has yet to be fully achieved; but through the work of Ward, Hitchin, Mason, and others, the underlying geometry has provided a unifying framework for the study of integrable systems (see  for a review). It sheds light on the connections between

* integrable systems of partial differential equations;
* real and complex geometries with symmetry; and
* isomonodromic families of ordinary differential equations.

In this note, I shall concentrate on the third of these, and will explain the connections between two different twistor representations of isomonodromy, due, respectively, to Hitchin and Mason. The former construction links isomonodromy to problems in differential geometry; the latter gives a tool for the the systematic study of the way in which the isomonodromic deformation equations arise from the dimensional reduction of integrable systems. The route from the first construction to the second has not appeared elsewhere.

## 2 Conformal reductions of the self-dual Yang-Mills equations

Ward showed  that there is a correspondence between, on the one hand, anti-self-dual solutions to the Yang-Mills equations on a suitable region of complex space-time and, on the other, holomorphic vector bundles over a corresponding subset $`U_3`$ (complex projective 3-space). The Yang-Mills field is a connection $`D`$ on a trivial bundle and the anti-self-duality condition is that its curvature should vanish on a special three-dimensional family of null 2-planes ($`\alpha `$-planes). The set of $`\alpha `$-planes is the twistor space of complex space-time—it is identified with a subset of $`_3`$, in a way that is natural in the sense that the action of the proper conformal group in space-time corresponds to the action of the isomorphic group $`\mathrm{PGL}(4,)`$ on $`_3`$. Ward’s construction maps $`D`$ to the vector bundle $`EU`$ whose fibres are the spaces of solutions to the linear equations $`Ds=0`$ over the $`\alpha `$-planes. The remarkable and non-trivial fact is that the construction is reversible: $`D`$ can be uniquely recovered from $`E`$, with no other data required—a beautiful example of Penrose’s idea that relativistic field equations should reduce to holomorphicity conditions in twistor space.

The anti-self-duality condition is preserved by proper conformal transformation, and so it makes sense to look for solutions that are invariant under subgroups of the conformal group. The twistor construction then gives a correspondence between conformal reductions of the anti-self-duality condition and equivariant vector bundles on twistor space—that is, holomorphic bundles that are unchanged by the action of the corresponding subgroup of $`\mathrm{PGL}(4,)`$. If the subgroup is $`m`$-dimensional and acts freely on an open subset of $`_3`$, then the reduced system has $`4m`$ independent variables. The one-dimensional examples give various monopole equations and the two-dimensional ones lead to a variety of familiar and widely-studied intergable systems—the KdV equation, the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, the Ernst equation, and many others. The three-dimensional ones give systems of ODEs with the Painlevé property. One thus sees in the twistor geometry a very direct connection between integrability of systems of partial differential equations and the Painlevé property of the systems of ODEs derived from them by dimensional reduction.

The Yang-Mills twistor construction encompasses only one special class of integrable systems. But the general ideas extend to include others—whether or not they can be taken far enough to include all integrable systems is an open question, and one that is unlikely to be answered so long as ‘integrability’ and ‘twistor’ retain their current elasticity of meaning. Whatever form the extension takes, however, one expects to see systems of ODEs with the Painlevé property at the foot of any chain of dimensional reductions. One reason for this is the connection between the Painlevé property and isomonodromy, and the existence of a very general geometric construction for isomonodromic families of ODEs.

## 3 Equivariant bundles and isomonodromy

Suppose that we are given

* a complex manifold $`𝒵`$ and a complex Lie algebra $`𝔤`$ of the same dimension that acts on $`𝒵`$, with the action being free on the complement of a hypersurface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }𝒵`$;
* a $`𝔤`$-equivariant holomorphic principal bundle $`P𝒵`$ with structure group $`\widehat{G}`$;
* an embedded copy $`X𝒵`$ of $`_1`$ which intersects $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ transversally, and which has the properties that $`P|_X`$ is trivial and that

$$H^0(N,X)0,H^1(N,X)=0,$$

where $`N`$ is the normal bundle of $`X`$ in $`𝒵`$. An action of $`𝔤`$ on $`𝒵`$ is a Lie algebra homomorphism into the holomorphic vector fields on $`𝒵`$; the action is free at a point $`z`$ if corresponding map $`𝔤T_z𝒵`$ is injective, and therefore, on dimensional grounds, an isomorphism. Each element of $`𝔤`$ determines a holomorphic vector field $`Y`$ on $`𝒵`$. When $`P`$ is equivariant, then these vector fields in turn lift to vector fields on $`P`$ that are preserved by the action of $`\widehat{G}`$. In a local trivialization, the lift is given by a linear map $`Y\theta _Y`$, where $`\theta _Y`$ is a function on $`𝒵`$ with values in the Lie algebra $`\widehat{𝔤}`$, with the property

$$Y(\theta _Y^{})+Y^{}(\theta _Y)+[\theta _Y,\theta _Y^{}]=0$$

for every pair of generators $`Y,Y^{}`$ of the $`𝔤`$ action. Under gauge transformations of the local trivialiation, $`\theta _Yh^1\theta _Yh+h^1Y(h)`$, where $`h`$ takes values in $`\widehat{G}`$.

By Kodaira’s theorem , $`X`$ is one of family of curves $`X_m𝒵`$ that intersect $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ transversally, labelled by a parameter space $`M`$ of dimension $`H^0(X,N)`$; for almost every $`mM`$, the restricted bundle $`P|_{X_m}`$ is trivial—although this does not imply that $`P`$ itself is trivial. The jumping lines are the isolated members of the family for which $`P|_{X_m}`$ is nontrivial.

Given these, we construct an isomonodromic family of ODEs as follows. First, we note that the action of $`𝔤`$ on $`P`$ determines a flat $`P`$-connection $`D`$ on the complement of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, characterized by $`D_Y=\mathrm{d}+\theta _Y`$ for each generator $`Y`$. Next, $`P`$ and the connection are pulled back to the correspondence space $`𝒞`$. This is the space whose points are pairs $`(z,X_m)`$, with $`X_m`$ one of the family of curves and $`zX_m`$. If we exclude the jumping lines from $`M`$, then the pull-back of $`P`$ is the trivial bundle, and the pull-back of the connection is flat and meromorphic: it is singular where $`z\mathrm{\Sigma }`$.

The correspondence space is fibred over $`𝒵`$ by $`(z,X_m)z`$, and over $`M`$ by $`(z,X_m)m`$; the fibres of the second fibration are the curves $`(z,X_m)`$, with $`m`$ fixed, which are all copies of $`_1`$. In the global trivialization of the pulled-back bundle over $`𝒞`$, the restriction of the connection to one of these fibres is of the form

$$\mathrm{d}A(\zeta )\mathrm{d}\zeta $$

where $`\zeta `$ is a stereographic coordinate and $`A`$ is a rational function on $`_1`$ with values in $`\widehat{𝔤}`$—the Lie algebra of $`\widehat{G}`$. It has poles at the points where $`X_m`$ meets $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ . Thus we have a family of linear ODEs, labelled by points of $`M`$

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}y}{\mathrm{d}\zeta }=Ay$$

Here $`y`$ takes values in a representation space of $`\widehat{G}`$. The ODEs are uniquely determined by the data up to conjugation of $`A`$ by a holomorphic map $`h:M\widehat{G}`$.

If the coordinate is chosen so that $`\zeta =\mathrm{}`$ is not an intersection point with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, then $`A`$ has a zero of order 2 at infinity. A pole of order $`r+1`$ in $`A`$ is a singularity of rank $`r`$ in the linear system.

The solutions to the ODE are parallel sections of the associated vector bundle over the lines $`X_m`$—although these exist only locally and are not single-valued in the large. Isomonodromy follows more or less directly from the fact that $`D`$ is the restriction of a flat meromorphic connection. If all the poles of $`A`$ are simple, then ‘isomonodromic’ means no more than that the monodromy representation is constant up to conjugacy as $`m`$ varies; if there are poles of higher order, then it involves in addition the preservation of other data assocatied with the ODEs. In either case, the monodromy representation coincides with the holonomy of the flat connection on $`P`$.

The archetypical example is the sixth Painlevé equation . This we obtain by taking $`𝒵`$ to be a neighbourhood of a line in $`_3`$ and $`𝔤`$ to be the diagonal subalgebra of the Lie algebra of the projective gneral linear group $`\mathrm{PGL}(4,)`$. The solutions to $`P_{VI}`$ correspond to the equivariant $`\mathrm{SL}(2,)`$-bundles over $`𝒵`$.

## 4 Local form of the connection

In a local trivialization of $`P`$,

$$D=\mathrm{d}\alpha $$
(1)
where $`\alpha `$ is a meromorphic 1-form on $`𝒵`$ with values in the $`\widehat{g}`$. It is nonsingular on the complement of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and satisfies the flatness condition

$$\mathrm{d}\alpha [\alpha ,\alpha ]=0.$$

Its restriction to a curve $`X_m`$ is gauge-equivalent to $`A\mathrm{d}\zeta `$.

We shall make two ‘genericity’ assumptions. The first is that there is an abelian subalgebra $`𝔱\widehat{g}`$ such the leading coefficient in $`A`$ is conjugate to an element of $`\widehat{g}`$ at each pole. When $`\widehat{G}`$ is the general linear group and $`𝔱`$ is the diagonal subalgebra, this is a consequence of the the standard genericity asumption that the eigenvalues of the leading coefficients are distinct. The second assumption is that there is a curve in the family through every point of $`𝒵`$.

Let $`a\mathrm{\Sigma }X`$. By the second assumption, we can identify a neigbourhood of $`a`$ in $`𝒵`$ with a neighbourhood of $`(a,0)`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\times `$ the curves $`\zeta (z,\zeta )`$, with $`z`$ fixed, are parts of curves in the family. Suppose that $`A`$ has a pole of order $`r+1`$ at $`a`$. Then, by the first assumption and the flatness condition,

$$h\alpha h^1=\frac{a\mathrm{d}\zeta +\zeta \beta }{\zeta ^{r+1}}+\gamma ,$$

where $`h`$ takes values in $`\widehat{G}`$ and is holomorphic, $`a`$ takes values in $`𝔱`$, $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ are holomorphic at $`\zeta =0`$, $`\beta `$ has no $`\mathrm{d}\zeta `$ component, and

$$\mathrm{d}_za=r\beta +O(\zeta ^{r+1}),$$

where $`\mathrm{d}_z`$ denotes the exterior derivative with $`\zeta `$ held fixed. By expanding $`a`$ in powers of $`\zeta `$, we deduce that

$$h\alpha h^1=\mathrm{d}\tau +m\mathrm{d}\mathrm{log}\zeta +\gamma ^{},$$
(2)
where $`\tau =p/\zeta ^r`$, $`p`$ a $`𝔱`$-vlaued polynomial in $`\zeta `$, $`m`$ is a constant element of $`𝔱`$, and $`\gamma ^{}`$ is holomorphic at $`\zeta =0`$. The constant $`m`$ is the ‘exponent of formal monodromy’, and the restriction of $`\tau +m\mathrm{log}\zeta `$ to a one of the curves of the family is the diagonal exponent in the formal soultion of the linear system in .

If $`Y`$ is one of the generatiors of the action of $`𝔤`$, then $`i_Y\alpha `$ is constant and $`Y(\zeta )=0`$ on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. So, despite the fact that $`\tau `$ blows up as $`\zeta ^r`$, its derivative $`Y(\tau )`$ is holomorphic at $`\zeta =0`$.

## 5 Two constructions

In general, the information contained in the linear system of ODEs and its deformations is contained in the action of $`𝔤`$ on both the base space $`𝒵`$ and the bundle $`P`$. At the extremes are two special constructions.

### First construction

In the first, due to Hitchin , $`P`$ is trivial and all the data are encoded in the geometry of $`𝒵`$ and $`𝔤`$. Hitchin’s construction has been exploited to generate interesting geometries by using Penrose’s nonlinear graviton construction, and its variants. With $`𝔤=\mathrm{sl}(2,)`$, for example, $`𝒵`$ is the twistor space of a four-dimensional complex Riemannian manifold with anti-self-dual confromal structure and $`SL(2,)`$ symmetry (a ‘Bianchi IX’ geometry). It is shown in  that if $`𝔤`$ is the Lie algebra of the general linear group and if $`A`$ satisfies the standard condition that its leading coefficients at its irregular singlarities have distinct eigenvalues, then the corresponding isomonodromic family can be obtained from such a twistor space.

### Second construction

At the other extreme, $`𝒵`$ is a standard space that carries only information about the number of singularities in the linear system and their ranks. The particular isomonodromic family is encoded in the bundle $`P𝒵`$. Such a standard twistor space can be constructed as follows. Let $`𝔱`$ be an abelian subalgebra of $`\widehat{𝔤}`$—we shall keep in mind the main example in which $`𝔱`$ is the Lie algebra of the diagonal subgroup of the complex general linear group. Let $`r`$ be a nonnegative integer. If $`r=0`$, let $`H_r`$ denote the abelian group $`^{}`$ (the multiplicative group of complex numbers ); if $`r>0`$, let $`H_r=^{}\times 𝔱`$, with the group law

$$(\lambda ,t).(\lambda ^{},t^{})=(\lambda \lambda ^{},\lambda ^rt^{}+\lambda ^rt).$$

For $`r>0`$, this acts linearly on the vector space $`V_r=𝔱`$ by

$$(Z,W)𝔱(\lambda Z,\lambda ^rW+tZ^r).$$

For $`r=0`$, we take $`V_0=`$.

Denote by $`H`$ the quotient group $`(H_{r_0}\times \mathrm{}\times H_{r_n})/^{}`$. The standard twistor space $`𝒵_S`$ associated with $`H`$ is constructed from the linear action of the $`H_r`$s on

$$𝕍=V_{r_0}\mathrm{}V_{r_n},$$

where the $`r_i`$s are the ranks of the singularities of the linear system. By picking out the $`Z`$s in each summand, we have a projection $`\pi :𝕍^{n+1}`$. We define $`𝒵_S`$ to be the quotient of

$$𝕍\pi ^1(0)$$

by the action of $`^{}`$, and take $`G=H`$.

As a complex manifold, $`𝒵_S`$ is the total space of copies of the line bundles $`𝒪(r_i)`$ over $`_n`$, with the projection onto $`_n`$ given by $`\pi `$; in the Fuchsian case, in which all the ranks are zero, $`𝒵_S=_n`$. The action of the $`H_r`$s on the $`V_r`$s gives an action of $`H`$ on $`𝒵_S`$ which is transitive and free on the complement of the

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }=\pi ^1(\mathrm{\Pi }_i)/C^{},$$

where the $`\mathrm{\Pi }_i`$s are the coordinate hyperplanes in $`^{n+1}`$, and the curves $`X_m`$ are the sections of $`𝒵_S`$ over lines in $`_n`$.

Consider the form of $`\alpha `$ in a neighbourhood of a point on $`\mathrm{\Pi }_i`$. If $`r_i>0`$, then the generators of the $`H`$-action are nonzero in the neighbourhood, except for those in the Lie algebra of the $`𝔱`$ factor of $`H_{r_i}`$. Denote by $`Z_i,W_i`$ the corresponding homogeneous coordinates on $`𝒵_S`$. By choosing the local trivialization of $`P`$ to be invariant along the non-vanishing generators, we can ensure that $`\tau `$ in depends only on $`Z_i,W_i`$. Moreove, since it is constant along the non-vanishing generator of $`H_{r_i}`$, it depends on these variables only through the combinations $`W_i/Z_i^r`$. Consequently $`\tau =p/Z_i^r`$, where $`p`$ is a linear function of $`W_i`$. By constant linear transformation of the variables $`W_i`$, therefore, we can ensure that $`\tau =W_i/Z_i^r`$. This relates the coordinates homogeneous $`W,Z`$ on $`𝒵_S`$ to the deformation parameters in .

It is shown in  that if $`\widehat{G}`$ is the general linear group and if $`A`$ satisfies the standard condition that its leading coefficients at its irregular singularities have distinct eigenvalues, then the corresponding isomonodromic family can be obtained from an equivariant bundle $`P𝒵_S`$, at least locally, that is, by restricting $`𝒵_S`$ to an open neighbourhood of one of the curves $`X_m`$. The ranks of the singularities are the integers $`r_i`$.

The second twistor construction allows one to see, in a systematic way, how the different isomonodromic deformation equations fit into the hierarchies associated with standard integrable systems. In the archetypical example, $`n=3`$ and all the ranks are zero, so $`𝒵_S=_3`$.

## 6 From the second construction to the first

Suppose that we are given $`P𝒵`$ as in the first constrcution. The passage from the second construction to the first is the ‘switch map’ in , which interchanges the roles of $`𝔤`$ and $`\widehat{𝔤}`$. The total space of the principal bundle $`P𝒵`$ carries actions of the $`\widehat{g}`$ (the Lie algebra of its structure group) and of $`𝔤`$ (since it is equivariant). The two actions commute and their orbits are transverse except over $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. The curves in $`𝒵`$ lift to $`P`$ by the triviality condition. If we take a neighbourhodd of such a lifted curve, and quotient by the action $`\widehat{𝔤}`$, then we obtain the twistor space of the second cosnstruction; the projections from $`P`$ of the lifts of the curves in $`𝒵`$ are the twistor curves in the new twsitor space.

## 7 From the first construction to the second

To go in the other direction, we start with $`𝒵`$ and the $`𝔤`$-action of the first construction, with $`P`$ is trivial. Then $`D`$ is globally of the form (1).

The hypersurface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is made up of a number of connected components, each intersecting a twistor curve $`X`$ at one of the singularities of the linear system. Let us concentrate for the moment on one component $`S`$ on which $`\zeta =0`$. We shall construct an equivariant bundle $`B_r𝒵`$ from $`S`$ and an action of $`𝔤`$ on $`B_r`$ that together encode the position of the corresponding pole of $`A`$ along with information about the singular part of $`A`$. First we define $`L_r`$ to be the line bundle with $`S`$. This is equivariant because $`S`$ is invariant. It has fibre coordinate $`z`$ away from $`S`$, and fibre coordinate $`z^{}`$ in a neigbourhood of $`S`$, with transition rule

$$z^{}=z/\zeta ,$$

and a $`𝔤`$-invariant section over the complement of $`S`$ given by $`z=1`$. This section determines the action $`𝔤`$ on the whole of $`B_r`$ since $`Y(\zeta )/\zeta `$ is nonsingular on $`S`$.

When $`r>0`$, we also introduce an equivariant affine bundle $`T_r𝒵`$ with fibre $`𝔱`$ and transition rule

$$w=w^{}\tau $$

$`w,w^{}𝔱`$ are fibre coordinates. The action of $`𝔤`$ is determined away from $`S`$ by the condition that $`z`$ and $`w`$ should be invariant. It extends holomorphically over $`S`$ since if $`Y`$ is one of the generating vector fields of the action of $`𝔤`$ on $`𝒵`$, then

$$\frac{Y(\zeta )}{\zeta }\text{and}Y(\tau )$$

are nonsingular at $`\zeta 0`$.

In both cases, the action of $`𝔤`$ on $`L_r`$ and on $`T_r`$ commutes with the natural action of $`H_r`$ given by

$$z\lambda z,ww+t.$$

We construct such a line bundle $`L_{r_i}`$ for each component of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, and affine bundle $`T𝒵`$ by taking the product of the $`T_r`$s for each component of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ for which $`r>0`$. We use a subscript $`i`$ to denote the quantities associated with the $`i`$th component of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ Put

$$P=T\times (L_{r_0}\mathrm{}L_{r_n})/^{},$$

where $`^{}`$ acts by $`z_i\lambda z_i`$. The fibres of $`P`$ are products of $`_n`$, with homogeneous coordinates $`z_i`$, with $`n+1`$ copies of the affine space modelled on $`𝔱`$. We can lift a twistor curve $`X𝒵`$ to $`P`$ by choosing a stereographic coordinate $`\lambda `$ on $`X`$, and putting $`z_i:z_j=(\lambda \lambda _i):(\lambda \lambda _j)`$, where the points $`\lambda =\lambda _i`$ are the intersection points of $`X`$ with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$; and by picking out the unique section of $`T|_X`$ for which $`w_i\tau _i`$ is holomorphic at the intersection with $`S_i`$.

We then commuting actions of $`𝔤`$ and $`H`$ on $`P`$. We also have a projection $`P𝒵_S`$ given by

$$(z_i,w_i)(Z_i,W_i)=(z_i,z_i^rw_i)$$

which extends holomorphically to the fibres of $`P`$ over $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ since $`z=\zeta z^{}`$ and $`z^rw=z^r\zeta ^r(w^{}\tau )`$ are holomorphic at $`\zeta =0`$. Moreover, if we lift a twistor curve to $`P`$ and then project it into $`𝒵_S`$, then we obtain one of the twistor curves in $`𝒵_S`$.

The quotient $`P=B/^{}`$ by the subgroup $`^{}H`$ is part of the total space of a principal bundle with structure group $`H/^{}`$ over a neigbourhood $`U`$ of a twistor curves in the standard twistor space. From it, we recover the whole of $`P`$ over $`U`$, and thus the second description of the isomonodromic family.


format: text

text:
# Three Lyman-𝛼 Emitters at 𝑧≈6: Early GMOS/Gemini Data from the GLARE Project

## 1. Introduction

The detection and analysis of objects at very high redshift is a challenging but rapidly advancing field. In recent months increasing numbers of galaxies have been found at redshifts of $`z6`$, as a result both of narrow-band selection (e.g. Rhoads et al. 2003, Taniguchi et al. 2003, Hu et al. 2003) and the use of Lyman break methods (e.g. Dickinson et al. 2003, Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003 hereafter SBM03). However, until now, spectroscopic confirmation of very high redshift candidates has only been possible for objects at the bright end of the galaxy luminosity function.

Spectroscopic surveys for fainter objects are essential to shape our understanding of the universe at these redshifts and, with modern instrumentation and new techniques for faint-object spectroscopy, such surveys are now possible. The Gemini Lyman-$`\alpha `$ at Reionisation Era (GLARE) survey, described in this paper, aims to obtain extremely deep spectra of very faint high redshift starforming galaxies, selected via $`iz`$ color from the HST/ACS Ultra Deep Field (UDF, Beckwith et al. 2003) and Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS, Giavalisco et al. 2003) data, using the GMOS spectrograph on Gemini South.

In this Letter we present spectra and fluxes111We adopt the following cosmology: a flat Universe with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$ and $`H_0=70h_{70}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. All magnitudes are quoted in the AB system (Oke & Gunn 1983). of three Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emitters, two of which are new, identified in the early observation data of the GLARE project.

## 2. Gemini GMOS Observations

The spectra described in this paper were obtained as part of the Gemini South program GS–2003B-Q-7 using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS, Hook et al. 2003) targeting sources in the region of the Hubble UDF (Beckwith et al., 2003).

The goal of program GS–2003B-Q-7 was to obtain a total of 100 hours exposure on this UDF mask. This letter concerns the first 7.5 hours of data. Observations were made with the R150 grating at 9000Å central wavelength and a custom made 7800Å longpass filter (‘RG780’) giving a spectral range from 7800Å up to the CCD cutoff (about 10,000Å) and a spectroscopic resolution of 15Å (4 pixels FWHM at 3.5 Å/pix) with 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$7 wide slits, a resolving power of $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{\mathrm{FWHM}}550`$. As the seeing disk ($`<0`$$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 FWHM) was smaller than the slit width (0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$7), the true resolution is somewhat better for a source which does not fill the slit.

The data was taken using the ‘nod & shuffle’ (N&S) observing mode (Cuillandre et al. 1994, Glazebrook & Bland-Hawthorne 2001, Abraham et al. 2004 - hereafter GDDS1). Our N&S setup and observational scheme follows that in GDDS1 except that the slits were 2$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 long with a 1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 nod. Data reduction also follows GDDS1 (Appendix B and C). Fifteen 1800 s frames were obtained in queue observing during November 2003 (19th, 24th, 28th and 30th) during conditions of 0.4–0.5 arcsec seeing and high transparency. Relative flux calibration was performed using observations of a standard star, the absolute flux calibration was done by normalizing the spectra of the mask alignment stars to their $`z^{}`$-band photometric fluxes. Sky lines were used for wavelength calibration.

1D and 2D sky-subtracted spectra were inspected for the presence of emission lines. An advantage of the N&S data reduction technique is that lines appear in a positive-negative dipole pattern in the 2D images making them easy to distinguish from residual CCD defects and other non-astrophysical effects.

## 3. HST/ACS Photometry and Candidate Selection

Spectroscopic candidates for this program were selected using the $`i`$-drop Lyman break technique (see SBM03 or Dickinson et al. 2003). This photometric selection method has been used by a number of authors to identify $`z>5`$ galaxies (e.g. Bremer et al. 2004, Lehnert & Bremer 2003 at $`z5`$, Dickinson et al. 2003, SBM03 at $`z6`$). In each of these surveys the Lyman break spectral feature is detected by means of a colour-cut criterion. At $`z6`$ the lyman break passes through the $`z^{}`$ filter and hence a cut is usually placed in the range $`1.3<i^{}z^{}<1.5`$ with the exact value affecting the survey redshift range and low redshift contamination.

Within the UDF itself, 19 candidates were drawn from the catalogue of the reddest ($`i^{}z^{}`$) objects, pre-released by the UDF team222http://www.stsci.edu/hst/udf/ in order to facilitate ground-based spectroscopic follow up and satisfy $`(i^{}z^{})_{\mathrm{AB}}>1.5`$. The 5.5′ GMOS field is bigger than the UDF, so in the outlying region we selected objects from the GOODS-S field. The GOODS v1.0 data release333available from ftp://archive.stsci.edu/pub/hlsp/goods/v1/ comprises coadded imaging from 5 ‘epochs’ of observations, reaching $`3\sigma `$ magnitude limits $`v_{\mathrm{lim}}=29.44`$, $`i_{\mathrm{lim}}^{}=28.83`$ and $`z_{\mathrm{lim}}^{}=28.52`$. We selected candidates using $`(i^{}z^{})_{\mathrm{AB}}>1.3`$ and $`z_{\mathrm{AB}}^{}<27.5`$ mag and identified 18 objects in the slitmask area of which 10 were placed on the mask. The faint end of this selection reaches the magnitude limit in the $`i`$-band. The rest of the mask area was used for a blank sky survey. Of the objects presented in this paper #1042 was identified as a candidate in both catalogs, while #3001 and #3011 lie outside the UDF field and were selected from the GOODS v1.0 data.

Table 1 presents the broadband photometric properties of these objects. Magnitudes are measured in a 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$3 diameter aperture and an aperture correction of -0.32mag (measured from point sources on the images) is applied to obtain a total magnitude for these compact sources. Postage stamp images in the $`v`$, $`i^{}`$ and $`z^{}`$ bands are shown in figure 1. Since #1042 lies within the UDF more accurate photometry and morphological information should soon be available for this object. All three objects are spatially resolved with half-light radii in the range 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$09-0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$14 (cf. stellar value of 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$05), well detected in the $`z^{}`$ band, faintly detected (or in the case of #3011 undetected at $`3\sigma `$) in $`i^{}`$ and undetected at 3$`\sigma `$ in the $`v`$ band.

## 4. Results

Single isolated emission lines have been identified for each of three objects. GLARE#1042 (J2000 3h32m40$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$0 $``$27°48′15$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$0), is an $`i`$-drop initially selected by SBM03 and already confirmed as a z=5.83 Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emitter (Stanway et al. 2003, Dickinson et al. 2003). GLARE#3001 (3h32m46$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$0 $``$27°49′29$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$7) and #3011 (3h32m43$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$2 $``$27°45′17$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$6) are new. Their properties are given in table 1. All three lines are almost unresolved given our dispersion, although #1042 is known to be highly asymmetric from published spectra (Stanway et al. 2003, Dickinson et al. 2003).

We also detect the continuum break in the spectrum of GLARE#1042 although at low signal-to-noise (Flux density $`0.6\times 10^{19}`$ ergs cm-2 s-1 Å-1). This is consistent with the level of continuum reported in the low-resolution ACS slitless spectrum of Dickinson et al. and also with the broadband colours of this object. A good continuum spectrum of this object should be obtained if GLARE does achieve a 100 hour total exposure. The spectra of the candidates are shown in figure 2.

## 5. Interpretation

### 5.1. The Redshifts of GLARE#1042, #3001 and #3011

The most plausible line identifications given the red $`iz`$ selection are Lyman-$`\alpha `$ at $`z=5.83`$, $`z=5.79`$ and $`z=5.94`$ for #1042, #3001 and #3011 respectively. H$`\beta `$$`\lambda `$ 4861.3 Å or \[O III\] $`\lambda \lambda `$ 5006.8,4958.9 Å at $`z0.7`$ or H$`\alpha `$$`\lambda `$ 6562.8 Å at $`z0.25`$ are ruled out be the absence of nearby lines and because galaxies at these redshifts do not have strong $`iz`$ continuum breaks.

An unresolved \[O II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$ 3726.1,3728.9 Å doublet at redshifts $`z1.2`$ is a possibility for #3001 and #3011 (#1042 is already known to be strongly asymmetric ruling this out, Stanway et al. 2003). The best evidence against this is the red $`iz`$ color. The reddest possible color from an early-type SED at $`z=1.2`$ is $`i^{}z^{}=1.2`$ (SBM03) and our two new objects are redder than this at 95% confidence. An \[O II\] identification would also imply rest-frame equivalent widths of 50–250Å (see Section 5.2) higher than is normally seen in $`z1`$ \[O II\] emitters (Hammer et al. 1997).

### 5.2. Equivalent Widths

The emission line equivalent widths can be calculated from their $`z^{}`$ band photometry and line fluxes. However, a subtlety arises as the emission lines for these objects contribute significantly to their continuum flux in both the $`z^{}`$ and $`i^{}`$ filters; the calculated equivalent widths are sensitive to the detailed shape of the filter transmission curve. Accounting for these effects, we calculate equivalent widths $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }=[20,30,100]\pm 10`$Å for \[#1042, #3001, #3011\] respectively, assuming that there is negligible flux short-ward of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line due to absorption by the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest. From stellar synthesis models of star-forming regions (e.g., Charlot & Fall 1993), the theoretical Lyman-$`\alpha `$ equivalent width for a young region of active star formation is $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }100200`$ Å. However, observed Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission from star-forming galaxies is generally weaker in continuum-selected samples at lower redshifts, which typically have $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}=530`$ Å (e.g., Steidel et al. 1996), or even in absorption. Our $`z6`$ sample has a comparable selection but the equivalent widths of #3011 is notably larger. We note that $`z6`$ narrow-band selected samples also produce higher equivalent widths with a median of 200Å (Malhotra & Rhoads 2002, Hu et al. 2003).

### 5.3. AGN or Starburst?

Careful inspection of the spectra reveal no other lines. The only other significant line in our range is the high-ionization rest-UV N V$`\lambda \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1240}`$ Å, which is usually prominent in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Our flux limits at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}1240`$ Å are $`f<[2.3,2.3,1.8]\times 10^{18}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ ($`3\sigma `$), for a 15Å FWHM (unresolved) line. This gives lower limits of $`f(\mathrm{Ly}\alpha )/f(\mathrm{N}\mathrm{V})>[4.3,3.5,5.6]`$ ($`3\sigma `$). Typical line ratios from composite QSO spectra are $`f(\mathrm{Ly}\alpha )/f(\mathrm{N}\mathrm{V})=4.0`$ (Osterbrock 1989). Although our constraints are admittedly weak, the non-detection of N V 1240 Å favours the interpretation that the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ arises from the Lyman continuum flux produced by OB stars, rather than the harder UV spectrum of a QSO.

None of the objects in this paper correspond to X-ray sources in the Chandra Deep Field South 1Ms catalog which covers this region (Giacconi et al. 2003). This allows us to place a limit on their X-ray fluxes in the $`0.52`$ keV (soft) and $`28`$ keV (hard) bands at $`5.5\times 10^{17}`$ and $`4.5\times 10^{16}h_{70}^2`$ ergs cm-2 s-1 respectively. The hard X-ray flux limits rule out a type II QSO like CDF-S 202 (Norman et al 2002) but not CXO-52 (Stern et al. 2002). The soft X-ray limits would permit low-luminosity Seyferts and QSOs (Malhotra et al. 2003), but the line emission we see is not broad.

Given that an AGN interpretation for the observed emission lines is unlikely, the rest frame-UV spectra of these objects is likely to be dominated by star formation. The relation between the flux density in the rest-UV around 1500 Å and the star formation rate ($`\mathrm{SFR}`$ in $`M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$) is given by $`L_{\mathrm{UV}}=8\times 10^{27}\mathrm{SFR}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Hz}^1`$ (Madau, Pozzetti & Dickinson 1998) for a Salpeter (1955) stellar initial mass function (IMF) with $`0.1M_{}<M^{}<125M_{}`$. The rest frame-UV at $`z6`$ is redshifted into the $`z^{}`$ photometric band. The inferred SFR for the objects in this paper, given their $`z^{}`$ magnitudes, line contamination and identified redshifts, are shown in table 1.

### 5.4. Overdensity at z=5.8?

The redshift of new Lyman-alpha emitter GLARE#3001 is very similar to that of Lyman-alpha emitter SBM03#3 reported by Bunker et al. (2003), and is also close to that of the re-confirmed $`z=5.83`$ object (variously GLARE#1042, SBM03#1, SiD002, reported in this paper, Stanway et al. 2003, Dickinson et al. 2003). The $`i`$-drop selection procedure used to identify candidate objects for spectroscopy is in principle sensitive to objects in the redshift range $`5.6<z<7.0`$ although the sharp fall off in transmission of the $`z^{}`$ filter effectively restricts detection of objects to a smaller redshift range which varies with absolute magnitude ($`5.8<z<6.5`$ for an $`L_{z=3}^{}`$ Lyman Break galaxy, see SBM03). The line centers of three of the four Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emitters detected in the GOODS-S field are separated by 2000 km s-1 (only $`5`$% of the survey redshift range). The maximum angular separation of the the three objects (GLARE#1042, #3001, SBM03#3) is less than 11.5 arcmin, corresponding to a projected separation of only $`4.0h_{70}^1`$ Mpc. This suggests the interesting possibility of an overdensity of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emitters at $`z=5.8`$ in this field, perhaps similar to that observed at $`z=3.1`$ in SSA22 by Steidel et al. (2001).

To quantify the statistical likelihood of this happening by chance we undertook a Monte-Carlo simulation. A population uniformly distributed in redshift between $`5.6<z<7.0`$ was considered and the effects of GMOS throughput (including the RG780 filter) and increased noise due to skylines on spectroscopic detection, and IGM absorption leading to incomplete $`z^{}`$ filter coverage on Lyman break photometric selection, were modelled. The effects of an apparent magnitude limit on the photometric selection were also calculated, using the measured luminosity function for Lyman break galaxies at $`z=3`$ (Steidel et al. 1999) as an approximation for the currently unknown $`z=6`$ luminosity function. Although each of these effects bias detection probability towards the lower end of the accessible redshift range, the probability of selecting 3 or more out of 4 galaxies within $`\pm `$2000 km s-1 of $`z=5.80`$ was still small ($`2.1\%`$). This suggests that we have statistical evidence for a redshift spike at $`z=5.8`$ in this field, which augurs well for the future UDF observations.

### 5.5. Comparison with Previous Work

The spectroscopic properties of the three galaxies presented in this work are similar to those of other confirmed high redshift Lyman break galaxies. Lehnert & Bremer (2003) report Ly-$`\alpha `$ luminosities of $`10^{42}10^{43}`$ ergs s-1 for 6 $`z=5`$ line emitters in a sample of 12 Lyman break candidates. The fluxes for our $`z=6`$ Ly-$`\alpha `$ emitters fall comfortably into this range of luminosities and probe to a comparable depth. The emission lines equivalent widths of the GLARE candidates are also comparable to those of other spectroscopically confirmed Lyman break galaxies, e.g. at $`z=5.8`$ $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }=20`$Å (Bunker et al. 2003) and $`z=6.17`$ $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }=50`$Å (Cuby et al. 2003).

## 6. Conclusions

In this paper we have presented photometry and spectra for three objects with extreme $`i^{}z^{}`$ colors and line emission which may be Lyman-$`\alpha `$ at $`z5.8`$, observed as part of the GLARE project. Our main conclusions can be summarized as follows:

1) The GLARE project has detected three very high redshift objects ($`z=5.83,5.79,5.94`$) in the first 7.5 hours of integration time on Gemini/GMOS-S. To the best of our knowledge the two new Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emitters are fainter in $`z^{}`$ than any previous Lyman break selected objects with a spectroscopic redshift.

2) $`i^{}z^{}`$ color selection can successfully identify objects lying at these redshifts and magnitudes and the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function at $`z=6`$ is now within the reach of 8m telescopes.

3) We have evidence for an overdensity of $`z=5.8`$ objects in a narrow redshift spike in the GOODS-S field; further observations, for example narrow-band imaging, would be invaluable in confirming the existence of such a structure.

Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by AURA under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: NSF (U.S.), PPARC (U.K.), NRC (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), ARC (Australia), CNPq (Brazil) and CONICET (Argentina). KG & SS acknowledge generous funding from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. Also based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the STScI, which is operated by AURA, under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.


text:
# Control of Raman lasing in the non-impulsive regime

## Abstract

We explore coherent control of stimulated Raman scattering in the non-impulsive regime. Optical pulse shaping of the coherent pump field leads to control over the stimulated Raman output. A model of the control mechanism is investigated.

Since the advent of pulsed lasers, there has been extensive experimental and theoretical work on stimulated Raman scattering. More recently there has been a resurgence of interest in impulsive Raman scatteringYan et al. (1985); Weiner et al. (1990); Nazarkin and Korn (1998); Bartels et al. (2002) due in part to the development of the field of learning coherent controlJudson and Rabitz (1992); Warren et al. (1993); Rabitz et al. (2000), along with advances in ultrafast laser technologyBackus et al. (1998) and programmable pulse shapingWefers and Nelson (1995); Tull et al. (1997). In the impulsive regime, the laser bandwidth is large compared to the frequency of the Raman mode (typically a molecular vibration). In the time domain the pulse duration is short compared to the vibrational period, and one can shape the optical pulse to drive molecular mode(s) on resonanceWeinacht et al. (2001). Alternatively, if the laser bandwidth contains photon pairs separated by the Stokes frequency, then the Raman gain can be seeded by the pump laser. Control of the Raman gain can be achieved by appropriately phasing colors in the pump pulse.

For the case of two-photon atomic absorption, this control mechanism has been described as shaping of the nonlinear power spectrum of the driving fieldMeshulach and Silberberg (1998); Bucksbaum (1998); Meshulach and Silberberg (1999). The idea has since been extended to multi-photon absorption in molecules Walowicz et al. (2002); Lozovoy et al. (2003), as well as vibrational Raman excitation in multi-mode molecular systemsWeinacht et al. (2001). Here again analysis leads to an explanation of the control via the nonlinear power spectrum of the pump pulse.

In the non-impulsive regime, the laser bandwidth is small compared to the frequency of the mode. Since there are no photon pairs separated by Stokes frequency in the pump pulse, the Stokes field must build up from spontaneous Raman scattering. This produces a Stokes field whose phase is random and cannot be controlled. Control may still be possible over the stimulated output spectrum or the final state populations in the presence of multiple Raman modes. Non-impulsive control of the stimulated Raman spectrum in liquid methanol has been reported in experiments that used learning algorithms to discover the optimal driving field Pearson et al. (2001, 2002). Here we demonstrate a possible mechanism for this control.

The details of our adaptive learning technique and laser system have been described previously Pearson et al. (2001). In learning control experiments, the physical system is used to find the optimal driving field (pulse shapes) without prior knowledge of the Hamiltonian Judson and Rabitz (1992). These solutions can be analyzed later to learn about the underlying quantum dynamics. Briefly, our experiments use a shaped, ultrafast Ti:Sapphire laser system as the excitation source. The laser pulses are shaped in an acousto-optic Fourier filter Tull et al. (1997) interfaced with a computer. Our spectral bandwidth ($`45`$ THz) and pulse shaping characteristics provide temporal control over the pulses ranging from $`100`$ fs to $`5`$ ps in duration. Our adaptive learning algorithm determines the pulse shapes by optimizing a feedback signal derived from the Raman spectrum.

The system under investigation in these experiments is liquid phase methanol (CH3OH). We focus on the two C-H stretch vibrational modes labelled S ($`2834`$ cm-1) and A ($`2946`$ cm-1) Shimanouchi (1972). The experiments are performed in a $`10`$ cm liquid cell, and the forward scattered Raman spectrum is collected and fed back to the algorithm. The learning algorithm is able to channel the gain into either of the two Raman modes. Although the algorithm finds a variety of pulse shapes that produce the desired effect, one class of solutions stands out. Figure 1 (inset) shows a representative pulse shape of this class of solutions in the form of an optical Husimi distributionHillery et al. (1984). The Husimi plot is a two-dimension convolution of the Wigner functionHillery et al. (1984); Cohen (1989); Paye (1992) of the pulse shape that approximates the intensity distribution in both time and frequency. The optimal pulse shapes found by the algorithm consist of a pair of nearly transform-limited “blobs” that are separated by approximately $`3.3`$ THz. This energy splitting matches the S-A mode spacing. Figure 1 shows the resulting Raman spectrum after excitation by the pulse shown in the inset of Fig. 1. The pulse produces strong selective excitation of the S vibrational mode.

These two-blob solutions suggest a quasi-impulsive model for the interaction, where the pump field directs the Raman gain through a coherent coupling between the two modes Pearson et al. (2001). This coherence modulates the intensity envelope of the pulse. The modulation is apparent in the Wigner distribution, but has only a minimal effect on the Husimi distribution (Fig. $`2`$).

In order to study the effect of the phase offset, we excite the molecules with the original pulse shape shown in Fig. 2. We then collect the stimulated Raman spectra as the phase offset between the two blobs is varied from $`0`$ to $`\pi `$.

Figure 3 shows the stimulated Raman output spectrum for several different phase offsets. As the offset is varied, the Raman gain oscillates between the two different Stokes modes. As is to be expected, this single parameter control is not as effective at mode selection as the full learning algorithm (see Fig. 1). Nevertheless, control is achieved by varying only the phase offset. Care was taken to adjust the laser intensity to avoid saturation of the Raman gain, since this leads to significant changes in the observed control.

A simple model that predicts the observed effect can be constructed by expanding on previous work on single mode Raman scattering. The theory governing stimulated Raman gain of a single active mode under excitation by an off-resonant pump pulse has been developed both semi-classically Carman et al. (1970) and quantum mechanically Raymer and Mostowski (1981); Raymer and Walmsley (1990). In the quantum case, the Stokes field in the non-impulsive regime is generated by spontaneous fluctuations of the Raman polarizability. A number of approximations can be made to reveal the underlying physics. In the standard treatment, one assumes one-dimension, plane-wave pulse propagation in the slowly-varying envelope approximation (SVEA), and the calculation is performed in the transient regime where damping can be neglected. The pulse durations ($`0.1`$ to $`1`$ ps) imply that the SVEA is valid. The assumption of transient scattering may be an oversimplification because the pulse lengths approach the decoherence times of the C-H vibrationsIwaki and Dlott (2000). With these simplifications, the interaction can be reduced to a set of coupled differential equations describing the propagation along $`\widehat{z}`$ of three fields inside the medium Lewenstein (1984):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}\epsilon _L=q\epsilon _S,`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}\epsilon _S=q^{}\epsilon _L,`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\tau }}q={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\epsilon _L\epsilon _S^{}.`$ (3)
In these equations, $`\epsilon _L`$ is the pump laser field, $`\epsilon _S`$ is the Stokes field, and $`q`$ is the molecular polarizability. The independent variables $`xz`$ and $`\tau (tz/c)`$ are the reduced space-time coordinates.

We have extended this treatment to include two vibrational Raman modes which, in addition to the original coupling to the same ground state, are Raman coupled to each other through two-photon transitions driven by the applied pump field or the generated Stokes fields. The relevant energy levels are shown in Fig. 4, where $`|e1`$ and $`|e2`$ are the first excited levels of the two vibrational modes. Equations 4 through 9 are the modified equations governing the optical fields and molecular polarizabilities in the case of two modes,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}\epsilon _L`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon _{S1}q_1\epsilon _{S2}q_2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\epsilon _Lq_3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\epsilon _Lq_3^{},`$ (4)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}\epsilon _{S1}`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon _Lq_1^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\epsilon _{S2}q_3^{},`$ (5)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}\epsilon _{S2}`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon _Lq_2^{}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\epsilon _{S1}q_3,`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\tau }}q_1`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon _L\epsilon _{S1}^{}w_1ı\alpha \epsilon _L\epsilon _L^{}q_2`$ (7)
$`ı\epsilon _L\epsilon _{S2}^{}q_3ı\epsilon _{S2}\epsilon _{S1}^{}q_2,`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\tau }}q_2`$ $`=`$ $`\epsilon _L\epsilon _{S2}^{}w_2+ı\alpha \epsilon _L\epsilon _L^{}q_1`$ (8)
$`ı\epsilon _L\epsilon _{S1}^{}q_3^{}+ı\epsilon _{S1}\epsilon _{S2}^{}q_1,`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\tau }}q_3`$ $`=`$ $`ı\epsilon _{S2}\epsilon _L^{}q_1+ı\epsilon _L\epsilon _{S1}^{}q_2^{}`$ (9)
$`\epsilon _L\epsilon _L^{}(w_1w_2)`$
$`\epsilon _{S2}\epsilon _{S1}^{}(w_1w_2).`$
In these equations, the $`q_i`$’s are the molecular coherences for the Raman-active transitions, the $`w_i`$’s represent the population inversion in each of the two modes, and $`\alpha `$ is a constant that describes the relative strength of the additional Raman coupling. Specifically, we include the quasi-impulsive pump-pump coupling, where the relative phase, $`\varphi _L`$, appears implicitly in the terms containing $`\epsilon _L\epsilon _L^{}`$. Finally, although substantial energy conversion between pump and Stokes fields is possible, the populations of the excited states in our experiments are always much less than the ground state, so terms in the calculation involving the off-diagonal coupling between the two excited states ($`q_3`$) may be suppressed.

In order to compare our model to the experimental results, we numerically integrate the set of coupled differential equations that describe the propagation of the fields inside the medium (see Eqs. 4 through 9). We set the amplitudes of the initial coherences ($`q_1`$ and $`q_2`$) to be small random numbers, which in turn determine the initial values of the Stokes phases $`\varphi _{S1}`$ and $`\varphi _{S2}`$. The equations are integrated over an interaction region comparable to the experimental conditions. At the end of the interaction length we calculate the total energy contained in each of the Raman fields as we vary the phase offset $`\varphi _L`$ in our model pump pulse.

We expect the initial phases of the Stokes fields to be random because they buildup from spontaneous scattering. The stimulated Stokes field emerging from the methanol cell is clearly multimode, based on its angular divergence and far field appearance. When the excitation volume corresponds to a large value of the Fresnel number ($`F=A/\lambda _SL`$), such multiple spatial modes are excited, leading to a large number of independent SRS processes in each laser shotRaymer et al. (1985); Scalora and Haus (1992).

The high number of spatial modes implies multiple sets of initial phases for the two different Stokes frequencies on every laser pulse. Therefore we perform the integration over many trials of random initial amplitudes of the coherences $`q_1`$ and $`q_2`$ (using a white Gaussian noise about zero). The control comes from the $`\epsilon _L\epsilon _L^{}`$ terms in the equations for the temporal derivatives of $`q_i`$. The physical picture is that the pump pulse drives the coherences $`q_i`$, which in turn drive the Stokes modes $`\epsilon _{S1}`$ and $`\epsilon _{S2}`$. Changing the value of $`\varphi _L`$ in the equations changes which mode receives a positive contribution and which receives a negative. When the phase offset $`\varphi _L`$ goes through $`\pi /2`$, the role of the two modes switches.

We define the mode asymmetry as the ratio of the difference in energy between the two modes divided by the sum of the energy in the two modes. Although for a given initial pair ($`q_1`$,$`q_2`$) the mode asymmetry can take on any value between $`\pm 1`$, on average one of the modes is preferentially excited at each value of $`\varphi _L`$. Figure 5 shows the effect of mode switching for the results from both the experiment and simulation. The mode asymmetry is plotted along the vertical axis. We find that both the experiment and simulation show a variation in mode excitation with similar periods. The simulation results have been adjusted to the data using two parameters: the pump-pump Raman coupling strength ($`\alpha `$) and the initial phase offset $`\varphi _L`$. The depth of modulation in the asymmetry increases as the Raman coupling strength increases (the plot shows the result with $`\alpha =7`$). Changing the phase offset $`\varphi _L`$ simply shifts the phase of the modulation. The phase offset in the experiment is unknown due to pulse propagation effects within the liquid. The mode control was relatively insensitive to the other parameters of the model, which were set to approximate experimental values of the Raman threshold.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated mode selection in stimulated Raman scattering in liquid methanol through control of the coherence of the pump laser. Control is possible even though the pump laser bandwidth is insufficient to seed the Stokes waves. Using our feedback control results as a starting point, we have constructed a simple model of the process that could explain the effect. The control in our model comes from the Raman coupling of the two excited modes by the pump laser.

We would like to acknowledge Chitra Rangan, Paul Berman, and Bruce Shore for helpful discussions regarding the simulations. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. $`9987916`$.


text:
# Expansion of a Fermi gas interacting with a Bose-Einstein condensate

## Abstract

We study the expansion of an atomic Fermi gas interacting attractively with a Bose-Einstein condensate. We find that the interspecies interaction affects dramatically both the expansion of the Fermi gas and the spatial distribution of the cloud in trap. We observe indeed a slower evolution of the radial-to-axial aspect ratio which reveals the importance of the mutual attraction between the two samples during the first phase of the expansion. For large atom numbers, we also observe a bimodal momentum distribution of the Fermi gas, which reflects directly the distribution of the mixture in trap. This effect allows us to extract information on the dynamics of the system at the collapse.

The dynamics of dilute quantum gases released from a trapping potential, has provided crucial information on the interaction properties of such systems. For instance, the anisotropic expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) gave the first direct evidence of the role of the boson-boson interaction and provided an important test of the validity of the hydrodynamic equations for a collisionless superfluid exp95 ; report . Also two-component Fermi gases at Feshbach resonances have been recently found to exhibit a large anisotropic expansion hoara ; feshb  which can be described by hydrodynamic equations menotti ; pedri . This has confirmed the achievement of a strongly interacting Fermi gas, which is one of the requisites for fermionic superfluidity. So far the experimental study of the expansion of quantum gases has been focused essentially on systems composed by one- or two-component gases of either bosonic or fermionic nature. Here we extend the study to a Fermi-Bose system in the collisionless regime. We use a two-species mixture composed by potassium and rubidium atoms which exhibits a large interspecies attraction ($`a_{BF}=`$-410$`{}_{80}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+80}`$ $`a_0`$ Simoni ). We have already found a modified expansion of the condensate in the mixture roati . We now study in detail the behavior of the Fermi gas and we observe an anisotropic expansion in the presence of a BEC. In particular, we find a slower evolution of the radial-to-axial aspect ratio, which is mainly due to a dynamical trapping potential produced by the bosons during the early stage of the expansion. We also observe an enhancement of the effect increasing the overlap of the two clouds in trap and, for a large number of condensed atoms, we find a bimodal momentum distribution of the expanded fermions which reflects directly their initial spatial distribution in trap. Finally, we perform a study of the expansion at the onset of the collapse of the Fermi gas collapse , which is reached for even larger atom numbers in the mixture. This provides information on the new equilibrium state reached by the fermions after the collapse and on the timescale for the equilibration.

The procedure for creating an ultracold Fermi-Bose mixture of 40K-87Rb atoms has been described in detail in Ref. roati . We cool typically a few $`10^4`$ fermions and up to $`10^5`$ bosons to the quantum degenerate regime. Both species are trapped in their stretched spin states, $`|F=9/2,m_F=9/2`$ for K and $`|2,2`$ for Rb. These states experience the same trapping potential, with axial and radial harmonic frequencies $`\omega _a=2\pi \times 24`$s-1 and $`\omega _r=2\pi \times 317`$s-1 for K, while those for Rb are a factor $`(M_{Rb}/M_K)^{1/2}1.47`$ smaller. For our experimental parameters, the Fermi temperature for K is of the order of $`T_F=300`$nK and the critical temperature for BEC of Rb is $`T_c=150`$ nK. The experiments described here have been performed at the lowest detectable temperature of the mixture, corresponding to $`0.2T_F`$ for fermions and $`0.65T_c`$ for bosons. To study the expansion of the two species we suddenly switch off the magnetic confinement and we detect the mixture at different expansion times $`t_{exp}`$ by means of two-color absorption imaging. From the imaging, we determine simultaneously the radial-to axial aspect ratio of both samples.

In a first experiment, we have studied the time evolution of the aspect ratio of the Fermi gas interacting with a BEC. As shown in Fig. 1, during the expansion the aspect ratio is always smaller than that measured for a Fermi gas coexisting with a dilute thermal cloud of bosons. The condensate, on the contrary, inverts its aspect ratio more rapidly in presence of the Fermi gas. As we have already discussed roati , the expansion of bosons reveals an enhancement of density of the two gases in trap due to the interspecies attraction, which results in a effective tighter confinement. Indeed, if one assumes that also the interaction is switched off at the release from the trap, this would lead to a faster evolution of the aspect ratio. On the contrary, the observed behavior of the Fermi gas gives now evidence that the mutual attraction felt by the two species after the magnetic confinement is switched off, plays a crucial role in the expansion dynamics. Indeed, during the early stage of the expansion, each of the two gases experiences a time-dependent trapping potential produced by the other species. In this phase the negative interaction energy is converted into kinetic energy which, in general, can be unevenly distributed between the two samples. Fig. 1 shows that, in this system, the Fermi gas is taking a large part of the interaction energy, which results in a largely reduced kinetic energy in the radial direction, and therefore in the slower evolution of the aspect ratio. This interpretation is confirmed by a comparison with the theoretical study of the expansion of a Fermi-Bose mixture presented in Ref. liu . As shown in Fig. 1, the observed evolution of the aspect ratio of the Fermi gas is qualitatively well reproduced by the theoretical prediction (solid line) calculated in the collisionless regime. Note that this is actually the regime of our system, for which we measure a collisional rate smaller than the trap frequencies kdamping .
We stress that our results reveal that the two species experience differently the interspecies attraction due to their different density distributions and energy scales. Indeed, the Fermi gas is dominated by the attraction during the early phase of the expansion while the evolution of the condensate is mostly affected by the modification of the in-trap profile. This kind of phenomenology is clearly not accessible in a two-component mixture with a single density distribution. The numerical analysis of Ref. liu  and our experimental results suggest that the interspecies interaction affects not only the expansion velocity of the Fermi gas but also the asymptotic value of its aspect ratio. To understand the general behavior, we derive an analytic expression of the asymptotic value of the aspect ratio using a scaling approach spazio . Following Ref. liu  and to first order in $`ϵ=\omega _a/\omega _r`$, we assume that the radii of the bosonic cloud evolve in the radial direction according to $`R_r^b(t)=R_r^b(0)\sqrt{1+(\beta \omega _r^b)^2t^2}`$, where $`\beta `$ is an effective renormalization of the bosons trap frequency $`\omega _r^b`$, and in the axial direction like $`R_a^b(t)R_a^b(0)`$. For our cigar shaped harmonic trap, we find that the aspect ratio approaches an asymptotic value

$$\frac{R_r}{R_a}\frac{\alpha }{\sqrt{1\frac{3}{2}\chi _a}},$$
(1)
where $`\omega _r^{}=\alpha \omega _r`$ is the effective trap frequency of the fermions in the radial direction, with $`\alpha ^2=(\beta ^4/3\lambda ^4\chi _r)(1\sqrt{1(6\chi _r9\chi _r^2)\lambda ^4/\beta ^4})`$ and $`\lambda =\omega _r/\omega _r^b`$. The coupling function $`\chi _{i=\{a,r\}}`$ characterizes the interspecies interaction:

$$\chi _i=\frac{E_{int}}{E_{ho}}+\frac{g_{bf}}{E_{ho}}d^3x\frac{n_f}{x_i}x_in_b,$$
(2)
with $`E_{int}=g_{fb}d^3xn_fn_b`$, $`E_{ho}=d^3xV_{ho}n_f`$, and $`V_{ho}`$ the harmonic confinement. Eq. (1) shows that the expansion of the fermions is directly coupled to the one of bosons via the parameter $`\beta `$. The aspect ratio reaches a value which depends only on the interaction with the condensate in trap and on $`\beta `$. Note that Eq. (1) reduces to the one found in Ref. menotti  for two coupled clouds with the same density distribution ($`n_b=n_f`$). In this case, the coupling function takes the simpler form $`E_{int}/E_{hoi}`$ and, for an attractive interaction, the aspect ratio of the two clouds approaches always a value smaller than one. In a Fermi-Bose mixture, this result is no longer true and the asymptotic value for the Fermi gas can be smaller or larger than one, depending on the bosons expansion and on the coupling function $`\chi `$. For our specific parameters, we find that $`R_r/R_a0.8`$, which is smaller than one, in accordance with our experimental results Michele . Note that Eq. (1) indicates that in general it is not possible to extract the sign of the interspecies interaction just from the asymptotic value of the aspect ratio.

We have investigated how the expansion of the Fermi gas depends on the atom numbers in the mixture. We find that the aspect ratio decreases reducing the number of fermions at a constant number of bosons, as shown in Fig. 2(a). This behavior is not surprising because a decrease on $`N_F`$ corresponds on the one hand to a reduction of the overall density and therefore of the interaction energy. On the other hand it leads to a decrease of the Fermi radius ($`R_F(N_F)^{1/6}`$), resulting in a better spatial overlap of the two samples. An alternative way to increase the extension of the overlap region is to increase $`N_B`$ at constant $`N_F`$ which also leads to a larger density in the overlap region. In this case, we observe the appearance of a double distribution in the radial profile of fermions with a narrow peak surrounded by a broader distribution, as illustrated in Fig. 3. This double distribution gives the first direct evidence of the enhancement of the fermions density in trap arising from the attraction with bosons. We attribute indeed the narrow distribution to the fermions trapped into the condensate while the broader distribution is occupied by the more energetic atoms outside the overlap volume. Only the central component experiences the trapping potential produced by the bosons during the first phase of the expansion and its expansion is slowed down accordingly. The other component instead expands normally. The momentum distribution therefore reflects the spatial distribution in the trap. Note that, in absence of an interspecies attraction during the expansion, the effect in trap would vanish in a characteristic time of the order of $`1/\omega _r`$ and one could detect the enhancement of density only studying the spatial distribution in trap, which is not experimentally accessible. We observe the bimodal distribution only in the radial direction, confirming that the interaction energy between the two clouds is exchanged mainly in the more tightly confined direction exp95 ; hoara .
In Fig. 2(b), we show a quantitative study of the aspect ratio of fermions in the regime of large boson number. For low $`N_B`$, where we are not able to distinguish the two distributions, the aspect ratio is only moderately affected by the Bose-Fermi interaction. For sufficiently large $`N_B`$, the two different distributions become visible and we can measure the aspect ratio of just the fraction of fermions interacting with the bosons. In this case, we detect a reduction of the aspect ratio down to one half of the non-interacting value.
Finally, by further increasing the atom numbers in the mixture, we study the aspect ratio of the Fermi gas at the occurrence of the collapse. We recall that an instability of the Fermi gas appears in this system when the interspecies attraction is no longer balanced by the Pauli repulsion collapse . In our system, the collapse is detected as a sudden drop of $`N_F`$ to typically less than half its original value. We now observe that, after the collapse, the remaining fermions exhibit a radial distribution usually narrower than the non-interacting one, as shown in Fig. 3(c). Actually, the aspect ratio of the fermions in this condition is up to $`30\%`$ lower than the one expected for a pure Fermi gas and of the same order of the one measured for a stable mixture with comparable atom numbers. This suggests that after the collapse the system has reached a new equilibrium distribution in which most of the fermions are immersed in the condensate feeling a large interspecies interaction during the expansion from the trap. Our observation is somehow surprising, since one could expect that during the collapse exactly the fermions in the high density region within the condensate are lost through inelastic processes while the remaining fermions are mostly located in the outer region. This would correspond either to a faster expansion with a larger aspect ratio, or to an oscillating Fermi gas strongly out of the equilibrium which we do not observe in the experiment. To investigate the timescale of the equilibration process of the Fermi gas, we have analyzed the evolution of the aspect ratio of the fermions across the collapse for the measurements already reported in Ref. collapse . As shown in Fig. 4, increasing $`N_B`$ we first observe a small decrease of the aspect ratio followed by a jump to a lower value just in correspondence to the collapse. The aspect ratio then slowly tends to the unperturbed value as the BEC is completely evaporated. Since we invariably see a smaller aspect ratio just after the collapse, we can conclude that the system finds a new equilibrium distribution in a time scale smaller than $`50`$ms, which is our effective time resolution in the experiment.

In conclusion, we have studied the effect of the attractive interaction with a BEC on the expansion of a Fermi gas. We observe an anisotropic expansion of the cloud which consists in a slower evolution of the aspect ratio which approaches an asymptotic value smaller than the unity. The opposite behavior that we find for the BEC and, most of all, the observation of a bimodal momentum distribution of the Fermi gas confirm that the phenomenology of a system composed by two species with different spatial distribution is much richer of than that expected for a one-distribution gas menotti . Here we also show that the peculiar expansion of the Fermi gas can be used to extract information on the atoms which are overlapped with the BEC in trap. In future experiment it would be interesting to study the expansion of the mixture at the crossover from the collisionless to the hydrodynamics regime by tuning the interaction via Feshbach resonances. These study on strongly interacting Fermi-Bose mixture can be relevant also for the recently observed mixtures of fermionic atoms and condensed bosonic molecules becMolecolare .
We are grateful to X. J. Liu, H. Hu, M. Modugno and H. Ott for fruitful discussions and to F. Riboli for contributions to the experiment. This work was supported by MIUR, by EU under the Contract HPRICT1999-00111, and by INFM, PRA “Photonmatter”.