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# Conjugacy in Artin Groups and Application to the Classification of Surfaces

## 1 Introduction and motivation

Let $`S`$ be a finite set and let $`M=(m_{s,t})_{s,tS}`$ be a Coxeter matrix, that is, a symmetric matrix for which $`m_{s,s}=1`$ for $`s`$ in $`S`$ and $`m_{s,t}`$ $`\{\mathrm{}\}\{0,1\}`$ where $`st`$. The *Artin-Tits system associated to $`M`$* is the pair $`(A,S)`$ where $`A`$ is the group with presentation:

$$A=S\underset{m_{s,t}letters}{\underset{}{sts\mathrm{}}}=\underset{m_{s,t}letters}{\underset{}{tst\mathrm{}}}fors,t\text{ in }S\text{ with }st\text{ and }m_{s,t}\mathrm{}$$
(1)
$`A`$ is called the *Artin group associated to $`M`$*. For instance, if $`S=\{s_1,\mathrm{},s_n\}`$ with $`m_{s_i,s_j}=3`$ for $`|ij|=1`$ and $`m_{s_i,s_j}=2`$ otherwise, then the associated Artin group is the braid group on $`n+1`$ strings, $`B_{n+1}`$. If we add the relations $`s^2=1`$ for every $`s`$ in $`S`$ to the presentation of $`A`$, we get the Coxeter group $`W_S`$ associated with $`A`$. When $`W_S`$ is finite, we say that $`A`$ is of *spherical type*. For instance, the braid group is of spherical type. The *Artin monoid $`A^+`$ associated to $`M`$* is the sub-monoid of $`A`$ generated by $`S`$. This monoid has the same presentation as $`A`$ but as monoid (see ). When $`A`$ is of spherical type, any element $`\beta `$ of $`A`$ can be written in a unique way as an irreducible fraction $`\beta =ab^1`$ with $`a`$ and $`b`$ in $`A^+`$ (see next section for precise definition). This fraction is called the *orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$*.

The main result of this paper is the following:

###### Theorem 1.1

Let $`(A,S)`$ be an Artin-Tits system where $`A`$ is of spherical type. If $`\beta `$ is in $`A`$ and is conjugated to a power of some element of $`S`$, then the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$ is $`\beta =bs^jb^1`$ with $`b`$ in $`A^+`$, $`s`$ in $`S`$ and $`j`$ in $``$.

We will derive from this theorem a quadratic (on the length of $`\beta `$) algorithm which detects these conjugated elements and returns $`b`$, $`s`$ and $`j`$ as above. Finding a fast algorithm which recognizes the conjugates of powers of the generators is useful both from a theoretic point of view (see  for instance) and from a practical point of view since the crypto-systems which use the braid group are based on the conjugacy problem. Also, following an idea suggested in  and in , it was proved in  that *braid monodromy factorization* can be used as a tool to classify surfaces up to diffeomorphism (see last section for more details). As an application of our current result, we deduce a second algorithm testing for a factorization to be a braid monodromy factorization of a cuspidal curve.

The paper is organized as follows: in Section $`2`$ we prove Theorem $`1.1`$, in Section $`3`$, we explain the quadratic algorithm and compute its complexity. Finally, Section $`4`$ is devoted to the application.

## 2 Proof of the Theorem 1.1

### 2.1 Preliminaries

In this part we recall some basic results on Artin groups which are needed in the proof of Theorem 1.1.

Let $`(A,S)`$ be an Artin-Tits system where $`A`$ is of spherical type, and let $`A^+`$ be the associated monoid of $`A`$. As both words in any relation of the presentation of $`A^+`$ have the same number of letters, we can define on $`A^+`$ a unique length function $`\mathrm{}:A^+`$ which is a morphism of monoids and such that the length of an element of $`S`$ is $`1`$. We say that $`\alpha `$ *right-divides* $`\beta `$ in $`A^+`$ if $`\beta =\gamma \alpha `$ for some $`\gamma `$ in $`A^+`$ ; in that case, we write $`\beta \alpha `$. We can define in the same way the left-divisibility and write $`\alpha \beta `$ when $`\alpha `$ *left-divides* $`\beta `$ in $`A^+`$. Recall also that a monoid $`G^+`$ is said to be cancellative if any equality $`\beta \alpha _1\gamma =\beta \alpha _2\gamma `$ in $`G^+`$ implies $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2`$.

###### Proposition 2.1 ()

Let $`(A,S)`$ be an Artin-Tits system where $`A`$ is of spherical type and $`A^+`$ be the associated monoid of $`A`$.
i) $`A^+`$ is cancellative.
ii) any two elements of $`A^+`$ have a right-*l.c.m.* $`\alpha _{}\beta `$ and a *right-g.c.d.* $`\alpha _{}\beta `$ in $`A^+`$ for right-divisibility.
The same is true if we replace right by left.
iii) The right-gcd and the left-gcd of all elements in $`S`$ are equal. We denoted by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ this element.
iv) if $`\alpha s=\beta t`$ in $`A^+`$ with $`s`$ and $`t`$ in $`S`$ distinct, then $`m_{s,t}\mathrm{}`$ and there exists $`\gamma `$ in $`A^+`$ such that $`\alpha =\gamma \underset{m_{s,t}1\text{ letters}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}tst}}`$ and $`\beta =\gamma \underset{m_{s,t}1\text{ letters}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}sts}}`$
v) $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ is quasi-central in $`A_S`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S^2`$ is in the center in $`A_S`$; in other words, there exists a permutation $`\sigma :SS`$ of order $`1`$ or $`2`$ such that $`s\mathrm{\Delta }_S=\mathrm{\Delta }_S\sigma (s)`$ for any $`s`$ of $`S`$.

The key property of Artin groups of spherical type is the existence of the element $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ which allows to describe the group using the monoid:

###### Proposition 2.2

Let $`(A,S)`$ be an Artin-Tits system where $`A`$ is of spherical type and let $`A^+`$ be the associated monoid of $`A`$.
i) ( Paragraph 4) Let $`\beta `$ be in $`A`$; then $`\beta `$ can be written $`\beta =\beta _1\mathrm{\Delta }_S^n`$ with $`\beta _1`$ in $`A^+`$, and $`n`$ in $``$.
ii) ( Theorem 2.6) Let $`\beta `$ be in $`A`$; then there exists a unique pair $`(a,b)`$ of elements of $`A^+`$ such that $`a_{}b=1`$ and $`\beta =ab^1`$.

We call the decomposition $`\beta =ab^1`$ of ii) the (right) orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$. In a similar way one can define the left orthogonal splitting $`\beta =c^1d`$ of $`\beta `$.

Of course, since $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ is quasi-central, we can also in i) write $`\beta =\mathrm{\Delta }_S^n\beta _2`$ with $`\beta _2`$ in $`A^+`$.

With this background, we are now ready to prove Theorem 1.1.

### 2.2 Proof of Theorem 1.1

We assume in the following that $`A_S`$ is an Artin group of spherical type, and we choose $`\beta `$ in $`A_S`$ which is conjugated to a power of some element of $`S`$, that is $`\beta =wt^jw^1`$ with $`w`$ in $`A_S`$, $`t`$ in $`S`$ and $`j`$ in $``$.
We will use the following easy result.

###### Lemma 2.3

let $`t`$ and $`u`$ be distinct in $`S`$, let $`\alpha `$ be in $`A^+`$ and $`k`$ in $`\{0\}`$ such that $`u`$ right-divides $`\alpha t^k`$. Then $`m_{t,u}`$ is finite and $`\underset{m_{t,u}1letters}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}utu}}`$ right-divides $`\alpha `$.

Proof: This lemma is a direct consequence of Lemma 3.1 and Lemma 3.2 of  and is true in any, not necessarily spherical type Artin monoid. It can also be seen as a consequence of Proposition 2.1 i) and iv).   $`\mathrm{}`$

Proof: (Theorem 1.1) If $`ab^1`$ is the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$ then the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta ^1=wt^jw^1`$ is $`ba^1`$. Hence it is enough to prove Theorem 1.1 when $`j`$ is positive (the case $`j=0`$ is obvious). So we assume $`j`$ positive in the following.
By Proposition 2.2 i), there exists $`w_1`$ in $`A^+`$ such that $`w=w_1\mathrm{\Delta }_S^k`$ with $`k`$ in $``$. Furthermore, Proposition 2.1 vi) states that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ is quasi-central. Thus $`\beta =wt^jw^1=w_1\mathrm{\Delta }_S^kt^j\mathrm{\Delta }_S^kw_1^1=w_1\left(\sigma ^k(t)\right)^jw_1^1`$ with $`\sigma ^k(t)`$ which is in $`S`$. Hence we can assume for the remaining of the proof that $`w=w_1`$ is in $`A^+`$. Let us prove that the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$ is $`bs^jb^1`$ for some $`b`$ in $`A^+`$ and some $`s`$ in $`S`$ by induction on $`\mathrm{}(w)`$. If $`wt^j_{}w=1`$ then $`wt^jw^1`$ is the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$ and we are done. This is, in particular, the case when $`w=1`$; so assume $`\mathrm{}(w)1`$ and $`wt^j_{}w1`$. Assume that the orthogonal splitting of $`w^{}s^jw_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ for any $`w^{}`$ in $`A^+`$ with $`\mathrm{}(w^{})<\mathrm{}(w)`$ and any $`s`$ in $`S`$ is of the required form. Since $`wt^j_{}w`$ is different from $`1`$, there exists $`u`$ in $`S`$ and $`w^{}`$ in $`A^+`$ such that $`w=w^{}u`$ and $`w^{}t^ju`$. If $`u=t`$ then $`\beta =w^{}t^jw_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ and we can apply the induction hypothesis since $`\mathrm{}(w^{})=\mathrm{}(w)1`$. Assume that $`u`$ is different from $`t`$, then by Lemma 2.3 we have $`w=w^{\prime \prime }\underset{m_{t,u}1letters}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}utu}}`$ and $`\beta =wt^jw^1=w^{\prime \prime }\underset{m_{t,u}1letters}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}utu}}t^j\underset{m_{t,u}1letters}{\underset{}{u^1t^1u^1\mathrm{}}}w_{}^{\prime \prime }{}_{}{}^{1}=w^{\prime \prime }s^jw_{}^{\prime \prime }{}_{}{}^{1}`$ with $`s`$ in $`\{u,t\}`$ such that $`\underset{m_{t,u}letters}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}tut}}=s\underset{m_{t,u}1letters}{\underset{}{\mathrm{}utu}}`$. Since $`\mathrm{}(w^{\prime \prime })=\mathrm{}(w)m_{t,u}+1<\mathrm{}(w)`$, we can apply the induction hypothesis to conclude.   $`\mathrm{}`$

Note that we can not expect to extend Theorem 1.1 to the family of Garside groups, which is a larger family than the one of Artin groups of spherical type (see ), since in $`a,baba=b^2`$ the normal form of $`ab^2a^1`$ is $`a^2b`$.

## 3 The algorithm

Before we describe our algorithm we note that an algorithm for solving the conjugacy problem in Garside groups was already given in . Their solution, although not polynomial in general is polynomial in the case of the conjugacy class of powers of the group’s generators. We present here a different approach, which is at least as efficient.

### 3.1 Description of the algorithm

We begin by recalling from  and  the details of the double reversing method proposed by Dehornoy to find the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$.

An Artin group of spherical type is a Garside group with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ as it’s Garside element(). In particular, $`M_S`$ the set of all left divisors of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$ is closed under right-lcm and under left-lcm, and includes $`S`$; the permutation $`\sigma `$ of Proposition 2.1 v) can be extended to a permutation $`\sigma `$ with order 2 of $`M_S`$ such that for any $`x`$ in $`M_S`$, one has $`\sigma (x)\mathrm{\Delta }_S=\mathrm{\Delta }_Sx`$. Furthermore, there exists a (right) *complement* function $`f:M_S\times M_SM_S`$ such that $`f(x,x)`$ is the empty word for every $`x`$ in $`M_S`$ and $`xf(y,x)=yf(x,y)=x_{}y`$ for any $`x,y`$ in $`M_S`$.

One has:

###### Proposition 3.1

Let $`(A,S)`$ be an Artin-Tits system where $`A`$ is of spherical type; Then, $`A`$ admits the following presentation:

$$M_S|xf(y,x)=yf(x,y)\text{ for all }x,yM_S$$

and $`A^+`$ admits the same presentation as a monoid.

In the following, we fix $`(A_S,S)`$ an Artin-Tits system where $`A_S`$ is of spherical type. If $`X`$ is a finite set, we denote by $`F^{}(X)`$ the free monoid with base $`X`$. For $`w`$ in $`F^{}(M_S)`$ or in $`F^{}(M_SM_S^1)`$ we write $`\overline{w}`$ to denote it’s corresponding element in $`A`$. The elements of these monoids are called words; we denote by $`ϵ`$ the empty word. If $`\beta `$ is in $`A`$ and $`w`$ is in $`F^{}(M_SM_S^1)`$, we say that $`w`$ represents $`\beta `$ when $`\beta =\overline{w}`$. The complexity of our algorithm is calculated regarding the length $`\mathrm{}`$ on $`F^{}(M_SM_S^1)`$. In particular, we assume that the $`f`$-reversing function is known. Note that $`S`$ is a subset of $`M_S`$.

###### Definition 3.2

Let $`w=x_1^{ϵ_1}\mathrm{}x_l^{ϵ_l}`$ be in $`F^{}(M_SM_S^1)`$ such that the $`x_i`$ are in $`M_S`$ and $`ϵ_i`$ are in $`\{1,1\}`$. Let $`w^{}=ab^1`$ be in $`F^{}(M_SM_S^1)`$ with $`a`$ and $`b`$ in $`F^{}(M_S)`$; hence $`w^{}`$ does not contain any pair $`x^1y`$ with $`x,y`$ in $`M_S`$. We say that $`w`$ is *$`f`$-reversible* into $`w^{}`$ if there exists a finite sequence of $`w=w_0,w_1,\mathrm{},w_n=w^{}`$ such that in step $`i`$ some subword $`x^1y`$ with $`x,y`$ in $`M_S`$ of $`w_{i1}`$ is replaced by $`f(y,x)f(x,y)^1`$ in order to get $`w_i`$.

###### Remark 3.3

The process of $`f`$-reversing (on the right) can be duplicated into $`g`$-reversing on the left using a left complement function. In this case, during step $`i`$ a subword $`xy^1`$ with $`x,y`$ in $`M_S`$ of $`w_{i1}`$ is replaced by $`g(y,x)^1g(x,y)`$ in order to get $`w_i`$, hence in $`w^{}`$ there will be no pairs $`xy^1`$ with $`x,y`$ in $`M_S`$. Note that for an Artin group of spherical type, it is the same to know the $`f`$-reversing function and the $`g`$-reversing function using the symmetry of the relations.

It is well known that every word $`w`$, that represents $`\beta `$ in $`A`$, is $`f`$-reversible on the right and $`g`$-reversible on the left. Therefore, given $`\beta `$ in $`A`$ and $`z`$ that represents $`\beta `$, one can use the $`g`$-reversing process on $`z`$ in order to write $`w=w_1^1w_2`$ with $`w_1,w_2`$ in $`F^{}(M_S)`$ which represents $`\beta `$, and then activate the $`f`$-reversing process on $`w`$ resulting with $`ab^1`$. By  Proposition 2.12 $`\overline{a}\overline{b}^1`$ is the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$.

So our algorithm to identify and compute the root of a generator in an Artin group of spherical type is as follows:

###### Algorithm 3.4

(Identify generator conjugation)
Input: An element $`\beta `$ of $`A`$ represented by $`w_0=s_1^{ϵ_1}\mathrm{}s_{\mathrm{}}^ϵ_{\mathrm{}}A`$ where the $`s_i`$ are in $`S`$ and the $`ϵ_i`$ are in $`\{1,1\}`$.
Output: True, if $`\beta =bs^jb^1`$ (for some element $`b`$ in $`A`$ and some $`j`$), $`b`$, $`s`$ and $`j`$; False otherwise.

1. Write $`w=ab^1`$ using the process described above such that $`\overline{a}\overline{b}^1`$ is the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$.
2. Repeat step $`(2)`$ on $`b^1a`$, getting its orthogonal splitting $`a_1b_1^1`$
3. If $`b_1=ϵ`$ and $`a_1=s^j`$ for some $`s`$ in $`S`$ and $`j`$ in $``$. Return *True*, $`j,b`$ and $`s`$;
If $`a_1=ϵ`$ and $`b_1=s^j`$ for some $`s`$ in $`S`$ and $`j`$ in $``$. Return *True*, $`j,a`$ and $`s`$;
Else return *False*.

### 3.2 Complexity

###### Proposition 3.5

The process of finding the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$ in $`A`$ represents by the word $`w=x_1^{ϵ_1}\mathrm{}x_{\mathrm{}}^ϵ_{\mathrm{}}`$ with $`x_i`$ in $`M_S`$ is bounded by $`N\mathrm{}^2/2`$ steps, where $`N`$ is an upper bound to the number of steps needed to compute the completion function $`f(x,y)`$. Moreover, the length (on $`M_S`$) of the word which represents $`\beta `$ is not greater than $`\mathrm{}`$.

Proof: Since the relations in an Artin group are symmetrical the upper bound is the same for both $`f(x,y)`$ and $`g(x,y)`$. Now, the First step in the process of computing the orthogonal splitting of $`\beta `$, is to write $`\beta `$ as $`w_1^1w_2`$ using the $`g`$-reversing process on the left. For Second step one activates the $`f`$-reversing process on the result of First step. Because in each step of the $`f`$-reversing process (and the $`g`$-reversing process) a subword $`x^1y`$ (resp. $`xy^1`$), where $`x`$ and $`y`$ are in $`M_S`$, is replaced by a word of length at most 2, the length of the word may decreases or stay the same, this shows that the length of the result is not greater than $`\mathrm{}`$. Moreover, since in Lemma 3.9 (ii) of , Dehornoy proved that the number of steps needed to $`f`$-reverse a word of the form $`u^1v`$ with $`u,vM_S`$ is bounded by $`\frac{1}{4}N\mathrm{}^2`$ steps, where $`N`$ is the upper bound to the number of steps needed to compute the $`f(x,y)`$, we end with a total upper bound for the number of steps which is $`2N\mathrm{}^2/4=N\mathrm{}^2/2`$.   $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Theorem 3.6

Activating Algorithm 3.4 takes at most $`O(N\mathrm{}^2)`$.

Proof: This is an immediate consequence of Proposition 3.5 when noticing that the length of the word before doing step $`(2)`$ of the Algorithm 3.4 may not increase.   $`\mathrm{}`$

## 4 Application

We finish the paper with an application for the above algorithm. Recall that braid monodromy is a homomorphism between the fundamental group of a punctured disk into the braid group, which is determined by a branch curve of a generic projection to $`^2`$ of a hypersurface in $`^n`$. It was suggested in  and in  to use the braid monodromy as a tool to compute the fundamental group of the complement of this branch curve, and thus to induce an invariant for the surfaces up to diffeomorphism.

The *braid monodromy factorization* was introduced in . It is a product form of the image of the braid monodromy homomorphism on an ordered generating set for fundamental group of the punctured disk. In  it is shown that the braid monodromy factorization of the branch curve can serve under certain conditions and a specific equivalence relation, as a tool to classify surfaces up to diffeomorphism. Moreover, in  \[Proposition 3.3\] it was proved that if the branch curve is cuspidal, then all factors of the braid monodromy factorization must be half-twists to some power. Since the set of all half-twists in the braid group is the conjugacy class of its generators one can apply the algorithm presented here to each of the factors in the factorization, and test its results. If the result of Algorithm 3.4 for at least one of the factors is *False*, then the factorization cannot be a braid monodromy factorization of a cuspidal branch curve.

This can be done in $`O(N\mathrm{}^2r)`$ where $`r`$ is the number of elements of the factorization, $`\mathrm{}`$ is the length of the longest of all factors and $`N`$ is as above.

Since in the braid group $`M_S`$ is actually the set of all positive braids in which no two strings cross more than once (*permutation braids*), the number of steps needed to compute $`f(x,y)`$ or $`g(x,y)`$ is bounded by $`O(nlogn)`$ where $`n`$ is the braid’s number of strings . Therefore, in this case we have a total of $`O(nlogn\mathrm{}^2r)`$ operations needed to test the validity of a factorization by this method. Finally, using the standard embeddings of the Coxeter groups of type $`B(n)`$ and $`D(n)`$ in the braid group on $`2n+1`$ strings (see  for instance), one can replace in Theorem 3.3 the constant $`N`$ by $`(2n+1)log(2n+1)`$ in these cases.

Godelle Eddy
Laboratoire de Mathématique Nicolas Oresme,
Université de Caen,
14032 Caen cedex, France
email: Eddy.Godelle@math.unicaen.fr

Kaplan Shmuel
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
email: kaplansh@macs.biu.ac.il

Teicher Mina
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
email: teicher@macs.biu.ac.il


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# Existence of Temperature on the Nanoscale

## Abstract

We consider a regular chain of quantum particles with nearest neighbour interactions in a canonical state with temperature $`T`$. We analyse the conditions under which the state factors into a product of canonical density matrices with respect to groups of $`n`$ particles each and under which these groups have the same temperature $`T`$. In quantum mechanics the minimum group size $`n_{min}`$ depends on the temperature $`T`$, contrary to the classical case. We apply our analysis to a harmonic chain and find that $`n_{min}=const.`$ for temperatures above the Debye temperature and $`n_{min}T^3`$ below.

Recent progress in the synthesis and processing of materials with structures on nanometer length scales calls for better understanding of thermal properties of nanoscale devices, individual nanostractures and nanostructured materials. Experimental techniques have improved to such an extent that the measurement of thermodynamic quantities like temperature with a spatial resolution on the nanometer scale seems within reach Gao and Bando (2002); Pothier et al. (2001); Aumentado et al. (2002); Cahill et al. (2003). These techniques have already been applied for a new type of scanning microscopy, using a temperature sensor Williams and Wickramasinghe (1986) that shows resolutions below 100nm.

To provide a basis for the interpretation of present day and future experiments in this field, it is indispensable to clarify the applicability of the concepts of thermodynamics to systems on small length scales. In this context, one question appears to be particularly important and interesting: Can temperature be meaningfully defined on nanometer length scales?

The standard procedure to show that the thermodynamical limit and therefore temperature exists are based on the idea that, as the spatial extension increases, the surface of a region in space grows slower than its volume Ruelle (1969). If the coupling potential is short-ranged enough, the interactions between one region and another become negligible in the limit of infinite size.

However, the full scaling behavior of these interactions with respect to the size of the parts has, to our knowledge, not been studied in detail yet Hill (1969); Allahverdyan et al. (2003); Hartmann et al. (2003).

For standard applications of thermodynamics this might not be very important since the number of particles is typically so large that deviations from infinite systems may safely be neglected. Nevertheless, these differences could become significant as the considered systems approach nanoscopic scales. Here it is of special interest to determine the “grain-size” needed to ensure the existence of local temperature.

Since a quantum description becomes imperative at nanoscopic scales, the following approach appears to be reasonable: Consider a large quantum system, brought into a thermal state via interaction with its environment, divide this system into subgroups and analyse for what subgroup-size the concept of temperature is applicable.

We adopt here the convention, that a local temperature exists, if the considered part of the system is in a canonical state, i.e. the distribution is an exponentially decaying function of energy characterised by one single parameter. This implies that there is a one to one mapping between temperature and the expectation values of those observables, by which temperature is usually measured. After proper calibration, such measurements thus all yield the same temperature, contrary to distributions with several parameters. If the distribution were not exponentially decaying, physical quantities like energy would not have “sharp” values.

Our results are thus obtained from calculations with canonical ensembles. Approaches based on different ensembles (e.g. microcanonical ones), which are beeing discussed Gross (2001), may yield significantly different results.

In this paper we study a chain of identical particles with next neighbour interactions which decomposes into $`N_G`$ identical subgroups of $`n`$ particles each. Assuming that the total system is in a thermal (canonical) state, we derive conditions on the interaction strength between the groups and the global temperature which ensure that the state of each group is approximately canonical. Finally, we apply these conditions to a harmonic chain and calculate the minimal group size $`n_{min}`$, which is found to depend on the global temperature and the desired accuracy of the local thermodynamical description.

We start by defining the Hamiltonian of our chain in the form,

$$H=\underset{i}{}H_i\text{with}H_i=\frac{p_i^2}{2m}+U(q_i)+V(q_i,q_{i+1}),$$
(1)
where the index $`i`$ labels the particles of mass $`m`$ and $`q_i`$ and $`p_i`$ are their positions and momenta, respectively. We assume periodic boundary conditions.

We now form $`N_G`$ groups of $`n`$ subsystems each(index $`i(\mu 1)n+j;\mu =1,\mathrm{},N_G;j=1,\mathrm{},n`$) and split this Hamiltonian into two parts,

$$H=H_0+I,$$
(2)
where $`H_0`$ is the sum of the Hamiltonians of the isolated groups and $`I`$ contains the interaction terms of each group with its neighbour group:

$`H_0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mu =1}{\overset{N_G}{}}}\left(_\mu V(q_{\mu n},q_{\mu n+1})\right);_\mu ={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}H_{n(\mu 1)+j}`$
$`I`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mu =1}{\overset{N_G}{}}}V(q_{\mu n},q_{\mu n+1}).`$ (3)
We label the eigenstates of the total Hamiltonian $`H`$ and their energies with the greek indices $`(\phi ,\psi )`$ and eigenstates and energies of the group Hamiltonian $`H_0`$ with latin indices $`(a,b)`$,

$$H|\phi =E_\phi |\phi \text{and}H_0|a=E_a|a.$$
(4)
Here, the states $`|a`$ are products of group eigenstates, with $`E_a=_{\mu =1}^{N_G}E_\mu `$, where $`E_\mu `$ is the energy of one subgroup only, $`\left(_\mu V(q_{\mu n},q_{\mu n+1})\right)|a=E_\mu |a`$.

We assume that the total system is in a thermal state with a density matrix, which reads

$$\phi |\widehat{\rho }|\psi =\frac{e^{\beta E_\phi }}{Z}\delta _{\phi \psi }$$
(5)
in the eigenbasis of $`H`$. Here, $`Z`$ is the partition sum and $`\beta =(k_BT)^1`$ the inverse temperature. Transforming the density matrix (5) into the eigenbasis of $`H_0`$ we obtain

$$a|\widehat{\rho }|a=_{E_0}^{\mathrm{}}w_a(E)\frac{e^{\beta E}}{Z}𝑑E$$
(6)
for the diagonal elements. Here, the sum over all states $`|a`$ has been replaced by an integral over the energy. The conditional probabilities $`w_a(E)`$ are given by$`w_a(E_\phi )=\eta (E_\phi )_{\{H|\phi =E_\phi |\phi \}}|a|\phi |^2`$ with $`\eta (E_\phi )`$ denoting the density of energy levels and the sum running over all states $`|\phi `$ with $`H|\phi =E_\phi |\phi `$. To compute the integral of equation (6) we need to know the distribution of the conditional probabilities $`w_a(E)`$.

In the limit of infinite number of groups $`N_G`$, $`w_a(E_\phi )`$ converges to a Gaussian normal distribution,

$$\underset{N_G\mathrm{}}{lim}w_a(E)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi }\sigma _a}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{\left(EE_a\epsilon _a\right)^2}{2\sigma _a^2}\right),$$
(7)
where the quantities $`\epsilon _a`$ and $`\sigma _a`$ are defined by

$`\epsilon _aa|H|aa|H_0|a,`$ (8)
$`\sigma _a^2a|H^2|aa|H|a^2.`$ (9)
Note that $`\epsilon _a`$ has a classical counterpart while $`\sigma _a`$ is purely quantum mechanical. It appears because the commutator $`[H,H_0]`$ is nonzero, and the distribution $`w_a(E)`$ therefore has nonzero width.

The rigorous proof of equation (7) is given in Hartmann, Mahler and Hess (2003) and is based on two assumptions: The energy of each group $`_\mu `$ as defined in equation (Existence of Temperature on the Nanoscale) has to be bounded, i. e.

$$\chi |_\mu |\chi C$$
(10)
for all normalised states $`|\chi `$ and some arbitrary constant $`C`$, and

$$\sigma _a^2N_GC^{}$$
(11)
for some constant $`C^{}>0`$.

If these conditions are met, equation (6) can be computed for $`N_G1`$:

$$a|\widehat{\rho }|a=\frac{\mathrm{exp}\left(\beta y_a+\frac{1}{2}\beta ^2\sigma _a^2\right)}{2Z}\text{erfc}\left(\frac{E_0y_a+\beta \sigma _a^2}{\sqrt{2}\sigma _a}\right),$$
(12)
where $`y_a=E_a+\epsilon _a`$ and $`\text{erfc}(x)`$ is the conjugate Gaussian error function. The second term appears because the energy is bounded from below and the integration extends from $`E_0`$ to $`\mathrm{}`$.

If the argument of the error function divided by $`\sqrt{N_G}`$ is finite (different from zero), the conjugate error function can be approximated by its asymptotic expansion for $`N_G1`$ Abramowitz (1970): $`\text{erfc}(x)\mathrm{exp}\left(x^2\right)/\sqrt{\pi }x`$ for $`x\mathrm{}`$ and $`\text{erfc}(x)2+\mathrm{exp}\left(x^2\right)/\sqrt{\pi }x`$ for $`x\mathrm{}`$.

The off diagonal elements $`a|\widehat{\rho }|b`$ vanish for$`|E_aE_b|>\sigma _a+\sigma _b`$ because the overlap of the two distributions of conditional probabilities becomes negligible. For $`|E_aE_b|<\sigma _a+\sigma _b`$, the transformation involves an integral over frequencies and thus these terms are significantly smaller than the entries on the diagonal.

We now test under what conditions the density matrix $`\widehat{\rho }`$ may be approximated by a product of canonical density matrices with temperature $`\beta _{loc}`$ for each subgroup$`\mu =1,2,\mathrm{},N_G`$. If we assume periodic boundary conditions, all reduced density matrices are equal and their product is of the form $`a|\widehat{\rho }|a\mathrm{exp}(\beta _{loc}E_a)`$. Since the trace of a matrix is invariant under basis transformations, it is sufficient to verify the correct energy dependence of the density matrix in the product basis. Thus the logarithm of the rhs of equation (12) must be a linear function of $`E_a`$ plus a possible constant. It follows from the asymptotic expansion of the conjugate error function, that this can only be the case for

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{N_G}}\frac{E_a+\epsilon _aE_0\beta \sigma _a^2}{\sqrt{2}\sigma _a}>0,$$
(13)
meaning the lhs should have a finite positive value, and

$$\epsilon _a+\frac{\beta }{2}\sigma _a^2c_1E_a+c_2,$$
(14)
where $`c_1`$ and $`c_2`$ are constants.

If $`|c_1|1`$ temperature becomes intensive:

$$\beta _{loc}=\beta .$$
(15)
Furthermore, to ensure, that the density matrix of each subgroup $`\mu `$ is approximately canonical, it must hold that

$$\frac{\epsilon _{\mu 1}+\epsilon _\mu }{2}+\frac{\beta }{4}\left(\sigma _{\mu 1}^2+\sigma _\mu ^2\right)+\frac{\beta }{6}\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_\mu ^2c_1E_\mu +c_2,$$
(16)
where $`\epsilon _\mu =a|V(q_{\mu n},q_{\mu n+1})|a`$, $`\sigma _\mu ^2=a|_\mu ^2|aa|_\mu |a^2`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_\mu ^2=_{\nu =\mu 1}^{\mu +1}a|_{\nu 1}_\nu +_\nu _{\nu 1}|a2a|_{\nu 1}|aa|_\nu |a`$.

For a model obeying equations (10) and (11), the two conditions (13) and (16), which constitute the general result of this letter, must both be satisfied. These fundamental criteria will now be applied to a concrete example.

Thermal properties of insulating solids are quite successfully described by harmonic lattice models. We therefore consider as an example a harmonic chain of $`N_Gn`$ sites with periodic boundary conditions. In this case, the potentials read

$$U(q_i)=\frac{m}{2}\omega _0^2q_i^2\text{and}V(q_i,q_{i+1})=m\omega _0^2q_iq_{i+1},$$
(17)
where $`q_i`$ is the displacement of the particle at site $`i`$ from its equilibrium position $`ia_0`$ with $`a_0`$ being the distance between neighbouring particles at equilibrium. We devide the chain into $`N_G`$ groups of $`n`$ particles each and thus get a partition of the type considered above. The Hamiltonian of one group is diagonalised by a Fourier transformation and reads in terms of creation and anihilation operators $`a_k^{}`$ and $`a_k`$ Rieder, Lebowitz and Lieb (1967),

$$_\mu V(q_{\mu n},q_{\mu n+1})=\underset{k}{}\omega _k\left(a_k^{}a_k+\frac{1}{2}\right)$$
(18)
with $`k=\pi l/(a_0(n+1))`$ $`(l=1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$ and$`\omega _k^2=4\omega _0^2\mathrm{sin}^2(ka/2)`$. We chose $`\mathrm{}=1`$.

We first check condition (11). Expressing the group interaction $`V(q_{\mu n},q_{\mu n+1})`$ also in terms of $`a_k^{}`$ and $`a_k`$, one sees that $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_\mu =0`$ for all $`\mu `$ and therefore $`\sigma _a^2=_{\mu =1}^{N_G}\sigma _\mu ^2`$, where $`\sigma _\mu `$ has a minimum value since $`[a_k,a_p^{}]=\delta _{kp}`$,($`\sigma _\mu ^24\omega _0n/3\pi `$). $`\sigma _a^2`$ thus fulfills condition (11).

To satisfy condition (10) we only consider states where the energy of every group, including the interactions with its neighbours, is bounded. Thus, our considerations do not apply to product states $`|a`$, for which all the energy was located in only one group or only a small number of groups. For $`N_G1`$, the number of such states is vanishingly small compared to the number of all product states.

To analyse conditions (13) and (16), we make use of the continuum or Debye approximation Kittel (1983), requiring $`n1`$ and $`a_0l`$, where $`l=na_0`$, the length of the chain, is finite. In this case we have $`\omega _kvk`$ with the constant velocity of sound $`v=\omega _0a_0`$ and $`\sigma _\mu ^2=4n^2E_\mu E_{\mu +1}`$.

It is sufficient to fulfill conditions (13) and (16) for some adequate energy range $`E_{min}E_\mu E_{max}`$. We therefore need to estimate $`E_{min}`$ and $`E_{max}`$. The total chain is in a thermal state. Let $`\overline{E}`$ be the expectation value of its energy without the ground state energy,

$$\overline{E}=N_Gnk_B\mathrm{\Theta }\left(\frac{T}{\mathrm{\Theta }}\right)^2_0^{\mathrm{\Theta }/T}\frac{x}{e^x1}𝑑x.$$
(19)
Here, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the Debye temperature, which is a characteristic constant of the material chosen and can be found tabulated Kittel (1983). We then choose

$$\frac{1}{\alpha }\frac{\overline{E}}{N_G}+\frac{E_0}{N_G}E_\mu \alpha \frac{\overline{E}}{N_G}+\frac{E_0}{N_G}$$
(20)
with $`\alpha 1`$. The product of the strongly growing density of states and the exponentially decaying occupation probability forms a sharp peak around $`\overline{E}`$. The above energy range has been chosen to be centered at this peak and to be significantly larger than its width.

We now analyse conditions (13) and (16) for the harmonic chain in Debye approximation. In this case, condition (13) translates into

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{N_G}}\frac{_{\mu =1}^{N_G}E_\mu E_04\beta n^2_{\mu =1}^{N_G}E_\mu E_{\mu +1}}{\sqrt{2}\sqrt{4n^2_{\mu =1}^{N_G}E_\mu E_{\mu +1}}}>0,$$
(21)
where $`\epsilon _\mu =0`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_\mu =0`$, $`n+1n`$ has been used. For $`\overline{E}>E_0`$, condition (16) turns out to be stronger and (21) becomes irrelevant. For $`\overline{E}<E_0`$, (21) is hardest to satisfy if all $`E_\mu `$ are equal to the lower boundary of the energy range (20). For $`n`$ one thus gets

$$n>4\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{T}\frac{\alpha }{\overline{e}}\left(\frac{\overline{e}}{\alpha }+\frac{1}{4}\right)^2,$$
(22)
where $`\overline{e}=\overline{E}/(nN_Gk_B\mathrm{\Theta })`$ and we have used$`E_0=nN_Gk_B\mathrm{\Theta }/4`$.

To investigate condition (16) we take the derivative with respect to $`E_\mu `$ on both sides,

$$\frac{\beta }{n^2}\left(E_{\mu 1}+E_{\mu +1}2\frac{E_0}{N_G}\right)+\frac{2\beta }{n^2}\frac{E_0}{N_G}c_1$$
(23)
where we have seperated the energy dependent and the constant part on the lhs. (23) is satisfied if the energy dependent part, the first term, is much smaller than one. Taking $`E_{\mu 1}`$ and $`E_{\mu +1}`$ equal to the upper bound in equation (20), this yields

$$n>\frac{2\alpha }{\delta }\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{T}\overline{e},$$
(24)
where the “accuracy” parameter $`\delta 1`$ quantifies the value of the energy dependent part in (23).

Since, by virtue of equations (22) and (24), the constant part in the lhs of (23) satisfies $`(2\beta /n^2)(E_0/N_G)<\sqrt{\delta }/(\sqrt{2}\alpha )\delta /\alpha ^21`$, temperature is intensive.

Inserting equation (19) into equation (22) and (24) one can now calculate the minimal $`n`$ for given $`\delta ,\alpha ,\mathrm{\Theta }`$ and $`T`$. Figure 1 shows $`n_{min}`$ for $`\alpha =10`$ and $`\delta =0.01`$ given by criterion (22) and (24), respectively, as a function of $`T/\mathrm{\Theta }`$.

For high (low) temperatures $`n_{min}`$ can thus be estimated by

$$n_{min}\{\begin{array}{ccc}2\alpha /\delta \hfill & \text{for}& \hfill T>\mathrm{\Theta }\\ \left(3\alpha /2\pi ^2\right)\left(\mathrm{\Theta }/T\right)^3\hfill & \text{for}& \hfill T<\mathrm{\Theta }\end{array}$$
(25)
The characteristics of figure 1 are determined by the energy dependence of $`\sigma _a`$. The low temperature behavior, in particular, is related to the fact that $`\sigma _a`$ has a nonzero minimal value. This fact does not only appear in the harmonic chain but is a general feature of interacting quantum particles. The commutator $`[H,H_0]`$ is nonzero and the ground state of the total system is energetically lower than the lowest product state, therefore $`\sigma _a`$ is nonzero, even at zero temperature Allahverdyan et al. (2003); Wang (2002).

Finally, the minimal length scale on which temperature exists according to our approach is given by

$$l_{min}=n_{min}a_0,$$
(26)
where $`a_0`$ is the lattice constant. Temperature measurements with a higher resolution should no longer be interpreted in a standard way.

Let us conclude with some numerical estimates: Chosing the “accuracy parameters” to be $`\alpha =10`$ and$`\delta =0.01`$, we get for hot iron ($`T\mathrm{\Theta }470`$K, $`a_02.5`$Å) $`l_{min}50\mu `$m, while for carbon ($`\mathrm{\Theta }2230`$K, $`a_01.5`$Å) at room temperature ($`270`$K) $`l_{min}10\mu `$m. The coarse-graining will experimentally be most relevant at very low temperatures, where $`l_{min}`$ may even become macroscopic. A pertinent example is silicon ($`\mathrm{\Theta }645`$K, $`a_02.4`$Å), which has $`l_{min}10`$cm at $`T1`$K (again with $`\alpha =10`$ and $`\delta =0.01`$).

In summary we have considered a linear chain of particles interacting with their nearest neighbours. We have partitioned the chain into identical groups of $`n`$ adjoining particles each. Taking the number of such groups to be very large and assuming the total system to be in a thermal state with temperature $`T`$ we have found conditions (equations (13) and (16)), which ensure that each group is approximately in a thermal state with the same temperature $`T`$, implying intensivity. In the quantum regime, these conditions depend on the temperature $`T`$, contrary to the classical case.

We have then applied our general method to a harmonic chain. Equations (25) and (26) provide a first estimate of the minimal length scale on which intensive temperatures exist. This length scale should also constrain the way one can meaningfully define temperature profiles in non-equilibrium scenarios Michel, Hartmann, Gemmer and Mahler (1998).

We thank J. Gemmer, M. Michel, H. Schmidt, M. Stollsteimer, F. Tonner, M. Henrich and C. Kostoglou for fruitful discussions.


text:
# DW Cancri: a magnetic VY Scl star with an orbital period of 86 minutes.

## 1 Introduction

Despite their name, a surprisingly large fraction of cataclysmic variables (CVs, see Warner (1995) for a review) do not display frequent and/or large amplitude brightness variations and may easily escape detection. DW Cnc (FBS 0756+164) is an example of such systems. It has been identified in the First Byurakan Survey, a spectroscopic galaxy survey, as a CV because of its noticeable Balmer emission lines. Stepanian (1982) reported brightness variations in the range $`V1517.5`$ and suggested that DW Cnc is a dwarf nova, a classification later supported by Kopylov et al. (1988).

Uemura et al. (2002) performed the first time-resolved photometric study of DW Cnc and found it at $`R=14.7`$. They also observed a variation with an amplitude of $`0.3`$ mag —which they explained as quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs)— and no outburst activity. Two possible periods (37.5 and 73.4 min) were reported. The authors attributed the variability to either permanent superhumps with the longest period or trapped disc oscillations in a 3-hour period nova-like system.

We recently noticed DW Cnc as a bright but poorly studied CV in the course of our ongoing large-scale spectroscopic survey for new CVs (e.g. Gänsicke et al. 2000; Gänsicke, Hagen & Engels 2002; Araujo-Betancor et al. 2003). In this paper we present the first time-resolved spectroscopic observations of DW Cnc, along with the analysis of new and archival photometry.

## 2 Observations and data reduction

### 2.1 Photometry

Differential CCD photometry of DW Cnc was obtained with the 1.0-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma (Isaac Newton Group archive data; 1999 February 24, 28) and the 0.82-m IAC80 telescope on Tenerife (2003 April 12). The JKT observations were performed in the $`V`$-band using the $`1024\times 1024`$ pixel2 Tek4 CCD detector, whilst unfiltered images were taken with the $`1024\times 1024`$ pixel2 Thomson CCD at the IAC80 (See Table 1). The raw images were debiased and flat-fielded in the standard way. After aligning all images, we measured the instrumental magnitudes of the target and two close comparison stars using the point spread function (PSF) packages within iraf111iraf is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.. Differential photometry of DW Cnc was then computed relative to each comparison star. The accuracy of the photometric measurements was $`0.07`$ mag and $`0.1`$ mag for the JKT and IAC80 data, respectively. A magnitude offset between the JKT $`V`$-band data and the IAC80 white-light data was calculated from the instrumental magnitudes of the same comparison stars measured in both image sets. The IAC80 light curve was then shifted by this offset in order to be consistent with the $`V`$-band data. The fact that the JKT and IAC80 light curves share approximately the same mean level indicates that the colour correction is negligible.

### 2.2 Spectroscopy

Time-resolved spectroscopy of DW Cnc was performed with the Calar Alto 2.2-m telescope (2003 April 7, 8, 9, 11) and the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) on La Palma (2003 March 13 and April 22, 26). At the 2.2-m telescope we used the Calar Alto Faint Object Spectrograph (cafos) along with the G-100 grism. This setup, together with a slit width of 1.2″, gave a spectral resolution of 5.7 Å (FWHM) and a useful wavelength range of $`\lambda \lambda 42558300`$ on the $`2048\times 2048`$ pixel2 SITe CCD. The Intermediate Dispersion Spectrograph (ids) on the INT, with the R632V grating and a slit width of 1.5″, provided a useful range of $`\lambda \lambda 44007150`$ at 2.3 Å (FWHM) resolution on the $`2048\times 4100`$ pixel2 EEV10a chip (April data). For the March run at the INT we used the R900V grating and a slit width of 1.2″. This setup gave a spectral range of $`\lambda \lambda 38005500`$ at a resolution of 1.6 Å (FWHM). Details on the spectroscopic observations are found in Table 2.

The $`V`$-band magnitude of DW Cnc was measured during the Calar Alto run from the cafos acquisition images with respect to the Hubble Space Telescope guide star GSC0136301286 ($`V=13.82`$). The values are $`V=13.98,14.14,14.35,\mathrm{and}14.25`$, for the four nights. The brightness of DW Cnc is therefore consistent with the mean magnitude measured over 8 years (see Fig. 1).

The individual spectra were corrected for the bias level and flat-field structure. After sky-subtraction, they were optimally extracted (Horne, 1986). For the wavelength calibration a low-order polynomial was fitted to the arc data, the rms being always less than a tenth of the spectral dispersion. The wavelength scale for each target spectrum was interpolated from the wavelength scales of two neighbouring arc spectra. These reduction processes were performed using the standard packages for long-slit spectra within iraf.

Only the cafos spectra —which have the widest wavelength coverage— were flux calibrated. The spectrophotometric standard BD +75 325 observed with the same setup in order to correct for the instrumental response. The flux calibration, as well as all subsequent analysis on the whole data set were performed using Tom Marsh’s molly package.

## 3 Photometric variability

### 3.1 Long-term behaviour

Fig. 1 shows the long-term light curve of DW Cnc. The photometric measurements were taken from the AFOEV archive222ftp://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/pub/afoev/ and the VSNET333http://www.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet. A mean magnitude of $`V14.3`$ is derived from the long-term light curve, with excursions of up to $`\pm 0.5`$ mag. This scatter is comparable with the short-term variation of the source (see below). No outburst has been recorded in the $`8`$-year monitoring of DW Cnc. However, the system occasionally displays faint states down to at least $`V16`$. This is confirmed by the USNO-A2.0 measurements, which caught DW Cnc at $`R=16.5`$ and $`B=16.6`$, whereas the DSS1 and DSS2 plates show DW Cnc at its typical brightness of $`V1415`$. The magnitude range covered by the long-term light curve in Fig. 1 is consistent with that given by Stepanian (1982). Taken at face value, the long-term behaviour of DW Cnc resembles that of the VY Scl stars, which have high mass accretion rates and are found above the period gap.

### 3.2 The JKT and IAC80 light curves

The JKT and IAC80 light curves of DW Cnc clearly show short time-scale variability with a peak-to-peak amplitude of $`0.30.4`$ mag (Fig. 2). Inspection of the light curves by eye suggests a separation between consecutive maxima of $`40`$ min.

To explore the presence of periodicities in the data we computed an analysis-of-variance (AOV, Schwarzenberg-Czerny, 1989) periodogram of the whole photometric data set, which is shown in Fig. 3. The strongest peak is centred at $`38`$ min. The very complex alias structure of the periodogram (due to the coarse sampling) prevents an unequivocal determination of the maximum peak frequency to be made. $`\chi ^2`$ sine fits to the entire data set folded over the alias signals contained in the range 35.37 to 39.38 cycles/day favour 37.39 cycles/day ($`=38.51\pm 0.02`$ min; the error being half the FWHM of the peak). The periodograms also show significant power at around $`77.37\pm 0.03`$ min. The ratio between the two strongest frequencies detected in the photometry is approximately 2 but, again, the inadequate sampling does not allow to address a definite conclusion as to whether the two frequencies are comensurate or not. Uemura et al. (2002) found two peaks in their power spectrum at 37.5 and 73.4 min, but their periodograms also display strong aliasing effects due to poor sampling. A more extensive photometric study is then fundamental to test in detail whether both periods are independent or not.

Fig. 4 shows all the photometric data folded on 38.51 min and averaged into 70 phase bins. The high degree of coherence in the photometric signal is remarkable, since it is detected at the same frequency (within the errors) in data spanning more than 4 years. This strongly suggests that its origin is closely related to a “stable clock” in the system, such as the orbital period or the spin period of the white dwarf.

Noticeably, the light curve exhibits a dip of $`0.4\mathrm{mag}`$ at approximately maximum brightness, appearing every 38.51 minutes. The dips can be easily seen in the IAC80 light curve (bottom panel of Fig. 2). The total duration of one of these events is $`5`$ min, which makes it unlikely to be an eclipse by the secondary star. If that was the case the orbital period of DW Cnc should be 38.51 min, very much shorter that the observed minimum orbital period of CVs with non-degenerate secondaries and inconsistent with our spectroscopic study described below.

## 4 The average spectrum and line profile variations

In Fig. 5 we show the average of the 20 cafos spectra. The spectrum of DW Cnc is dominated by Balmer and He i emission lines superimposed on a blue continuum. There is noticeable He ii $`\lambda `$4686 emission, which indicates the presence of a source of ionising photons in the system. The Bowen blend of C/N and several lines of Fe ii are also present. There are no obvious absorption features from either the secondary or the white dwarf. In Table 3 we show some line parameters as measured in the average spectrum.

We have extended the spectral energy distribution (SED) of DW Cnc into the infrared using its 2MASS magnitudes ($`J=14.65\pm 0.03`$, $`H=14.34\pm 0.05`$, $`K=14.03\pm 0.06`$). A fit to the combined optical/IR SED of DW Cnc (after converting the IR magnitudes into fluxes) gives $`F_\lambda \lambda ^{2.4}`$, which is exactly the spectral slope of a steady-state, optically thick accretion disc (Lynden-Bell, 1969).

The line profiles, with the exception of He ii $`\lambda `$4686, are clearly double-peaked ($`10`$ Å separation in H$`\alpha `$), indicating the presence of an accretion disc. Fig. 6 presents the evolution of the H$`\alpha `$ and He i $`\lambda `$5876 profiles for the night of 2003 April 22. The relative intensity of the two peaks clearly changes with time. At some phases the lines turn single-peaked, showing a nearly flat-topped profile. Furthermore, the profiles display asymmetric wings extending up to $`2000`$ km s-1. All of this suggests the presence of at least another component in the Balmer and He i lines such as an emission S-wave moving accross the double-peaked profile, as well as emission from material moving very close to the primary. To investigate this in more detail we constructed trailed spectrograms of the April 22 H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, He i $`\lambda `$5876 and He ii $`\lambda `$4686 lines after normalizing the spectra with a spline fit to the continuum (see Fig. 7). An emission S-wave with a semi-amplitude of $`200300`$ km s-1 is indeed detected with the same phasing in H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$ and He i $`\lambda `$5876. This value is consistent with the velocity semi-separation of the double peak ($`230`$ km s-1 in H$`\alpha `$), suggesting that the emission S-wave originates in the outer regions of the disc, possibly at the location of the bright spot.

Remarkably, the strength of the Balmer, He i and He ii $`\lambda `$4686 lines suffers a significant increase around spectra number 14 (see Fig. 7), which is probably caused by enhanced emission since the continuum is not seen to significantly drop in the non-normalized spectra. Similar enhancements seem to take place around spectra number $`12`$ and 7. These “flares” are more evident in the He ii $`\lambda `$4686 trailed spectra, which does not show the S-wave observed in the Balmer and He i lines. The flares repeat every $`40`$ min, a time scale comparable with the photometric variability. The same behaviour is observed in the spectra taken on April 26.

## 5 The orbital period of DW Cnc

### 5.1 Radial velocity variations

Visual inspection of our trailed spectrograms (Fig. 7) reveals an S-wave modulated at a a period of $`0.050.06\mathrm{d}=7286.4\mathrm{min}`$. If we identify, by analogy to most other CVs, the observed velocity variation of the S-wave with the orbital revolution of the system, the orbital period of DW Cnc is very close to the observed period minimum for hydrogen-rich CVs.

We have measured the radial velocities of H$`\alpha `$ and He i $`\lambda `$5876 for all the cafos and ids spectra. We first rebinned the normalized spectra to a constant velocity scale for each line. The radial velocities were then derived by correlating the individual profiles with a single Gaussian template. The FWHM of the Gaussian function was chosen either as the FWHM of the corresponding line measured in the average spectrum (see Table 3), or fixed to $`\mathrm{FWHM}=300`$ km s-1. We will refer to the two FWHM in the following as “broad” and “narrow”, respectively. The correlation with the narrow Gaussian is intended to follow the motion of the S-wave, which is much narrower than the double-peaked line profile. The resulting radial velocity curves are shown in Fig. 8.

The radial velocities obtained by correlating with the broad Gaussian display an unusual morphology, as maxima and minima do not have the same velocity. In the curves corresponding to the April 22 data high- and low-velocity maxima seem to alternate. The separation between consecutive maxima is $`0.03`$ d for all the lines, very close to the main photometric period. A different picture arises when the radial velocities are measured by correlation with the narrow Gaussian. Now, the radial velocity curves seem to trace the motion of the S-wave (especially in the April 22 data). They are modulated at a period of $`0.050.06`$ d, approximately twice the period obtained when using the broad Gaussian template, i.e. within the range in which we expect the orbital period of DW Cnc to be.

We computed AOV periodograms for all the H$`\alpha `$ and He i $`\lambda `$5876 radial velocity curves. These are shown in Fig. 9. The periodograms reflect the behaviour observed in the double- and single-humped radial velocity curves. The correlation with the broad Gaussian results in periodograms with most of the power around 36 cycles/day, whilst those measured using the narrow Gaussian have the strongest signal at about half this frequency. Unfortunately, the complex alias structure of the periodograms prevents us to select an unique value of the “best period”. Table 4 lists the periods of the strongest peaks and their neighbour aliases in order of decreasing power.

In view of the information extracted from the radial velocities we strongly favour an orbital period in the range $`0.0540.060`$ d. The unusual shape of the radial velocity curves obtained from the correlation with the broad Gaussian seems to point to the existence of at least another emission component which contaminates the radial velocity curves. Hence, the possibility of having the velocities modulated at two different periods can not be discarded.

### 5.2  V/R ratios

So far, the most reliable piece of information for the determination of the orbital period we have is the motion of the S-wave, which is especially prominent in He i $`\lambda `$5876 and is very like to come from the bright spot. The effect of the S-wave on the double-peaked line profiles is such that we expect the ratio between the blue and red peak intensities to be modulated at the orbital period. We have computed these $`V`$/$`R`$ ratios for the H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, and He i $`\lambda `$5876 profiles. The periodograms of the $`V`$/$`R`$ curves are displayed in Fig. 10.

The cleanest modulation is obtained when folding $`V`$/$`R`$ curves on $`86.10\pm 0.05`$ min. The quoted error represents an average value of half the FWHM of the corresponding peak in the periodograms. This period is consistent with one of the aliases seen in the periodograms of the radial velocity curves obtained by correlation with the narrow Gaussian template (see Table 4). The H$`\alpha `$ velocities showed the best smoothest modulation at 76.94 min, which is the second strongest alias observed in the H$`\alpha `$ $`V`$/$`R`$ ratios. Based on our spectroscopic data, we favour 86.1 min as the orbital period of DW Cnc, even though we can not exclude the $`1`$ d-1 and $`+1,+2`$ d-1 aliases.

Shortly before the submission of this paper, we became aware of a more extensive spectroscopic study carried out by J. Thorstensen (private communication). He finds two distinct periods in his radial velocity measurements which are very close to our best estimate of the orbital period (based on the $`V/R`$ ratios) and to the strongest peak detected in our photometry.

## 6 He ii $`\lambda `$4686 equivalent widths

The He ii $`\lambda `$4686 trailed spectra presented in Fig. 7 show that this line experiences flares which repeat in a periodic fashion. The separation between two consecutive flares is consistent with the photometric period, so we decided to compute the EW of the He ii $`\lambda `$4686 and perform a period analysis. The EW was measured in the line velocity interval $`(900,800)`$ km s-1 to avoid contamination by the nearby Bowen blend and He i $`\lambda `$4713 line. The AOV periodogram of the resulting EW curve is shown in Fig. 11. The strongest peak is located at $`38.58\pm 0.02`$ min, which is consistent with what is found in the photometry and Thorstensen’s radial velocities.

Our photometric and spectroscopic data then seem to reflect the presence of two independent modulations. The fact that they are also found in the radial velocities suggests that line emission is produced in different locations. A modulation of the radial velocities with the spin period of the white dwarf is observed in most intermediate polar (IP) CVs which suggests that the 38.58-min oscillation might represent (or might be related to) the spin period of the white dwarf.

## 7 Discussion

### 7.1 DW Cnc as a VY Scl star

We have shown that DW Cnc has a likely orbital period of 86.10 min, a value very close to the observed period minimum of hydrogen-rich CVs. This observed period minimum has been very early explained by (Paczyński, 1981) as the consequence of the secondary star turning from a (nearly) main-sequence star into a degenerate object and the corresponding change of its mass-radius relation. However, models including more detailed stellar physics notoriously predict the minimum period to be near 65 min, which is in strong disagreement with the observations. The mismatch between theory and observations can be resolved if an additional angular momentum loss mechanism besides gravitational is active in short period CVs (e.g. Patterson, 1998; King et al., 2002).

The orbital period range $`70120`$ min is populated primarily by SU UMa dwarf novae and by polars (CVs containing a strongly magnetic white dwarf which prevents the formation of a disc). A fair fraction ($``$ 15 per cent) of the dwarf novae belongs to the WZ Sge sub-class, showing infrequent but huge amplitude outbursts. As far as we are aware, no outburst of DW Cnc has ever been recorded (Section 3.1, Fig. 1). Combining the “normal” brightness of DW Cnc ($`V1415`$) with the large number of all-sky surveys and amateur observers scanning the sky it appears rather unlikely that possible outbursts of DW Cnc have been overlooked. On the contrary, there is multiple evidence that DW Cnc displays occassional low states, dropping by $`2`$ mag below its typical brightness. This behaviour is reminiscent of the VY Scl stars, which are high mass-transfer CVs found above the period gap, typically in the $`34`$ h period range. Combining the long-term behaviour of DW Cnc with the fact that the slope of its optical/IR spectral energy distribution is consistent with that of a steady-state accretion disc (Section 4), we suggest that the mass transfer rate in this system must be unusually high for its orbital period, keeping its accretion disc persistently in the hot, ionised state.

Recently, Hameury & Lasota (2002) have suggested that the absence of outbursts in the VY Scl stars during low state (when the mass transfer rate is believed to be sufficiently low for thermal disc instabilities to occur) could be due to the truncation of the accretion disc by the primary’s magnetic field. This hypothesis is compatible with the results presented in this paper, as DW Cnc clearly shows VY Scl-like low states and the coherent oscillations detected in its optical light curve are very likely due to the rotation of a magnetic white dwarf.

Other CVs commonly showing VY Scl-like low states are the SW Sex stars (see e.g. Martínez-Pais et al. 1999; Taylor et al. 1999; and Rodríguez-Gil & Martínez-Pais 2002 for an updated review of the properties of the SW Sex stars). These CVs have been recently proposed as magnetic accretors based on the detection of variable circular polarization and emission-line flaring (Rodríguez-Gil et al. 2001), which gives further support to the idea of the VY Scl states being caused by a combination of high mass-transfer rate and magnetic truncation of the inner disc.

### 7.2 A possible intermediate polar scenario

The optical spectrum of DW Cnc differs from those of other short-period dwarf novae by the presence of an unusually strong He ii $`\lambda `$4686 line, indicating the presence of high-energy photons in the system. Moreover, He ii $`\lambda `$4686 exhibits a remarkable behaviour. It does not display the S-wave seen in the Balmer and He i lines and its EW is modulated at a period of 38.58 min (see Fig. 11). If the 86.10-min modulation represents the actual orbital period (and there is strong evidence for that), the He ii $`\lambda `$4686 modulation is not likely to be related to the orbital motion. The same modulation is seen in the photometry which we have shown to be highly coherent. Hence, the 38.58-min period must be related to another stable clock in the system, most likely to the asynchronous rotation of a magnetic white dwarf.

It is interesting to note that the photometric and spectroscopic behaviour of DW Cnc is similar in many aspects to that of V1025 Cen (Buckley et al., 1998), a confirmed intermediate polar CV. This system has an orbital period of 84.6 min and a spin period of 35.8 min (nearly half the orbital period). The optical spectrum of V1025 Cen is nearly identical to that of DW Cnc, containing strong multi-component emission lines. The radial velocity curves of V1025 Cen reveal two periodicities, reflecting both the spin and the orbital motion. Our identification of two different periodicities in the radial velocity curves of DW Cnc at 38.58 and 86.10 minutes points to the same origin. Unfortunately, our photometric and spectroscopic data are not sufficient to unequivocally pinpoint the complex interplay between orbital, spin and sideband periods.

An important difference with V1025 Cen is that DW Cnc has not been detected in the ROSAT All Sky Survey (Voges et al. 2000). The galactic column density of neutral hydrogen in the direction of DW Cnc is not very high ($`2.9\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$), making it unlikely that the non-detection is due to absorption. It may, however, be that DW Cnc was in one of its low states during the ROSAT observation, and therefore too faint to be detected by the satellite. A detailed study aiming at the detection of X-rays modulated at the suspected white dwarf spin period is mandatory for the confirmation of DW Cnc as an IP.

## 8 Conclusions

In what follows we summarize our results:

* The emission lines of DW Cnc have a double-peaked profile, indicating the presence of a moderately-inclined accretion disc in the system. The Balmer and He i lines show an intense S-wave moving within the double peaks. None of the stellar components is detected.
* We have found the orbital period of DW Cnc to be most likely $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=86.10\pm 0.05`$ min, which places DW Cnc very close to the observed minimum period of hydrogen-rich CVs.
* The Balmer and He i radial velocity curves show a double-periodic morphology with modulations both at the orbital period and 38.58 min. In addition, the EW of the He ii $`\lambda `$4686 line is also modulated at the latter period .
* The photometric light curves also show a coherent modulation at 38.51 min, consistent with the short period found in the radial velocities and the He ii $`\lambda `$4686 EWs. We suggest that this variation is produced by the asynchronous rotation of a magnetic white dwarf.
* No dwarf nova outburst has ever been observed in DW Cnc. Instead, the system displays low states during which its brightness drop by $`2`$ mag, resembling the VY Scl stars. The optical/IR spectral energy distribution of DW Cnc is very similar to that of a steady-state accretion disc. Combining all evidences, DW Cnc appears to be a high-mass transfer system below the period gap.
* Despite the lack of significant X-ray emission from DW Cnc, the observed behaviour (both photometric and spectroscopic) is very similar to that of the IP V1025 Cen, and we suggest that DW Cnc is another short-period intermediate polar.

Despite its brightness, DW Cnc remains a poorly studied CV. Although we have provided evidence that points to a magnetic nature, it must be confirmed by means of more extensive photometry and higher-resolution spectroscopy. UV, X-ray, and polarimetric observations will also provide fundamental information.

## Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous referee for his/her valuable comments on the original manuscript. We are very grateful to John Thorstensen for sharing his results with us. PRG, BTG and SAB thank PPARC for support through a PDRA grant, an Advanced Fellowship, and a postgraduate studentship, respectively. The Isaac Newton Telescope and the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope are operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. The IAC80 telescope is operated on the island of Tenerife by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in the Spanish Observatorio del Teide of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Based in part on data obtained at the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre, Calar Alto, operated by the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, jointly with the Spanish National Commission for Astronomy. We acknowledge the use of data from the Isaac Newton Group archive. The use of the molly and trailer packages developed by Tom Marsh is also acknowledged.


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# Transmission of Quantum Images Through Long Distances

## I Introduction

The use of the quantum entanglement for practical applications consists in a formidable challenge. The twin photons produced in the parametric down-conversion, can be prepared in entangled states that can be used for instance, in quantum communication. Most of the projects related to the use of entangled photons for quantum communication, rely on the manipulation of the photon polarization as the entangled degree of freedom. In particular, the capability of reliably transmitting an entangled photon pair through a long distance have been pursued, with and without the use of optical fibers. Optical fibers are a very convenient and robust medium for transmitting optical signals. However, sometimes it is not possible to use it. One nice example is the project for transmitting entangled photon pairs via satellite. As a first approach, it has been demonstrated that it is possible to share an entangled photon pair through about 600m of free air. In all the cases mentioned, the entangled degree of freedom was the polarization. In this paper, we are going to show that it is also possible to share entangled photon pairs through long distances, manipulating other degree of freedom: the transverse momentum of the photon. Twin photons entangled in the transverse momentum give rise to the so called Quantum Images. The term quantum image has been used for the correlated images in optical fields. A discussion on the issue of the quantum character of these correlated images is actually in progress. In this work, we are going to deal with correlated images transferred from the pump to the correlated angular spectrum. In this case, it is possible to show that some correlated images, have transverse correlations that violate a classical inequality, leading to spatial photon anti-bunching. The present work is based in this kind of correlated images and we going to call them quantum images, even though there may have place for further discussion on the issue. We are going to demonstrate that it is possible to transmit a quantum image through the free air for long distances. The scheme consists in compensating the divergence of the signal and idler beams without loosing the spatial correlations between them. First, we show how the use of collimating lenses increase the coincidence counting rate spatial density and second we demonstrate the transmission of a correlated image through about 3m.

## II Theoretical Background

We are going to deal with quantum images that are prepared by manipulating the pump beam before the nonlinear crystal. In general, some transverse pattern can be measured by displacing signal and/or idler beam detector while performing coincidence detection. See Fig. 1. Signal and idler beams freely propagate from the crystal to the detection planes and the coincidence counting rate is given by

$$C(𝝆_𝒔,𝝆_𝒊)\left|W[(𝝆_i+𝝆_s),Z_{_{AD}}]\right|^2,$$
(1)
where $`𝝆_s,𝝆_i`$ are the transverse coordinates of the signal and idler detectors respectively, $`W`$ is the pump field amplitude distribution in a plane at the same distance from the crystal as the detectors(we have considered the same distance for both D1 and D2), $`Z_{_{AD}}`$ is the distance between crystal and detectors and the down-conversion was assumed to be degenerated. If one wants to send the information contained in the correlated image through long distances, there is a drawback in using this kind of system, because signal and idler beams are naturally diverging beams as they are generated by a cavity free finite source. The coincidence counting rate through fixed detection surfaces is reduced, depending on the pump laser spot size inside the crystal and on the crystal length. In some cases, even though the information in the correlated image is still preserved, the time for performing the measurement increases as the coincidence counting rate decreases. Finally, a limit is reached where the signal to noise ratio is too low and the information is lost. We have calculated the coincidence counting rate, analogous to Eq.1, taking into account the divergence of the signal and the idler beams:

$`C(𝝆_s,𝝆_i)\left({\displaystyle \frac{k_p}{Z_{_{AD}}}}\right)^2\left|W[(𝝆_i+𝝆_s),Z_{_{AD}}]\right|^2,`$ (2)
where, $`k_p`$ is the wavenumber of the pump beam. As expected, the image is still transmitted, but now there is a factor depending on the inverse of the distance from the crystal to the detection plane $`Z_{_{AD}}`$ multiplying the coincidence counting rate. This factor is usually ignored, because in general we are more interested in the spatial modulations of the coincidence profile than the absolute number of coincident pairs. The expression above is still defined unless a multiplicative factor, the difference from Eq.1 is that now the dependence on the distance $`Z_{_{AD}}`$ appears explicitly, showing the reduction of the number of coincident photons per unit area. In order to circumvent this problem, it is necessary to use collimating lenses for signal and idler beams, but without disturbing the image entanglement. The combination of actions on the pump beam and on the signal and idler beams for obtaining correlated images has been demonstrated in Ref. . It has been shown that a diffracting mask can be placed in the pump beam before the crystal, while one imaging lens is placed in the path of collinear twin beams for obtaining the correlated image. This means that the propagation of the correlated image was changed by the imaging lens in the signal and idler beams. The effect of this lens in the correlated image is the same effect of a lens placed in the pump beam, for its intensity image.

The coincidence counting rate in this case is given by

$`C(𝝆_s,𝝆_i)\left|W\left[{\displaystyle \frac{O}{I}}(𝝆_i+𝝆_s)\right]\right|^2,`$ (3)
where O is the distance between the diffracting mask and the lens (even if part of the path is in the pump and part in the signal-idler) and I is the distance between lens and image plane(detection plane).

Eq. 3 was obtained for the collinear and degenerate case. However, for technical reasons, we have used non-collinear and non-degenerate twin pairs. In Fig.2a it is shown a typical experimental set-up, where a diffracting mask is placed in the pump beam, before the crystal and similar lenses are placed in the signal and idler beams. As the experimental results are going to demonstrate, Eq. 3 is still valid for our set-up, because the non-degeneracy is small. The ratio between ki, ks and kp/2(the degenerate wavenumber) are respectively 0.95 and 1.05 and therefore the difference is not significant. The fact that they are non-collinear is not a problem neither, because even for the collinear case, signal and idler are already independent modes.

The relation between variables I(image) and O(object) in Eq. 3 and the set-up in Fig.2a is given by O = $`Z_{_{M1}}+Z__L`$ and I = $`Z__D`$(The distance between lens L2 and detector D2 in the idler beam is also $`Z__D`$). $`W`$ is the pump field amplitude distribution at the mask position, $`Z=0`$. Eq.3 shows that the information about the angular spectrum of the pump beam scattered through mask M1 is preserved in the correlation between signal and idler photons, after propagation through lenses L1 and L2.

If one wants to propagate the image through a long distance, the use of one lens in the signal and one in the idler may be a complication. For long distances, a good collimation is desired and it is necessary to place the crystal in the focal plane of the lenses. For lenses with small focal lengths there will be high amplification factors for the size of the image, if the detectors are very far. One solution would be the use of very long focal length lenses, but in this case they should be placed far from the crystal and the divergence from the crystal to the lens would cause losses for ordinary diameters of the lenses. A solution for this problem is to use two or more lenses in each beam. For example, lenses L1 and L2 can be designed for imaging (in coincidence) mask1 in an intermediate plane. A second pair of lenses L3 and L4 is placed in the signal and idler beams. They propagate the correlated image to the detection plane. See Fig.2b. If the distance is large, the image in the intermediate plane may have a large size, but we must remember that signal and idler beams are still collimated, therefore the image can be recovered and reduced by the second pair of lenses, back to its original size. It works like a telescope.

## III Experiment and Results

First, we demonstrate the effect of the divergence of the signal and idler beams in the coincidence counting rate, for a correlated image prepared in the pump beam. The experimental scheme is sketched in Fig.1. We use a femtosecond modelocked Ti-Safire laser, for obtaining pulses with the central wavelength around 850nm. Second harmonic generation is performed in a 2mm long type I BBO crystal, producing pulses with wavelength centered around 425nm.

These pulses are used to pump a 5mm long LiIO3 crystal, also type I phase matched. Non collinear and non degenerate twin beams are detected through a narrow band interference filter($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 10nm`$), centered around 890nm for the signal, and a wide band interference filter ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 40nm`$) centered around 800nm for the idler. The image to be transmitted is obtained from the diffracting mask M1. It consists in a thin wire. This is a very simple object and its image contains low frequency modulations. This is convenient, as in this case it is possible to work with relatively large apertures in the detection, in order to have considerable coincidence counting rates, and at the same time having resolution for measuring the image. If one wants to transmit images containing small details, higher pump power and/or higher down-conversion efficiency is required. M1 is imaged by lens L, with the pump beam passing through the crystal, in a plane situated about 70cm from the crystal. The image seen in the intensity distribution of the pump beam can be reconstructed in a correlated image by scanning signal detector, with the idler detector fixed(or vice-versa).

This image is shown in Fig.3a. Because of the divergence of the signal and idler beams, when the distance between the crystal and the detectors increase, the coincidence counting rate decreases for fixed detectors surfaces. This divergence can be compensated by placing collimating lenses L1 and L2 in the signal and idler beams, respectively, and withdrawing lens L in the pump beam. See Fig. 2a. These lenses image the quantum image in the detection plane, and at the same time they collimate signal and idler beams. The correlated image is measured exactly in the same way as before and the result is shown in Fig.3b. Note that the coincidence counting rate in each point is increased by a factor of about 10.

Second, we use the principle demonstrated above for detecting a correlated image in a plane situated about 3m from the crystal. In this case, it is difficult to obtain the correlated image without the use of lenses in the down-converted beams. One imaging lens placed in the pump beam, should have a focal length of the order of meters for giving rise to an image with the same size as the object. Therefore it should be placed far from the object and the diffraction would be a problem for lenses with the typical diameters of about 25mm. On the other hand, using collimating lenses in the signal and idler beams, the quantum image was transferred with a good coincidence counting rate, comparable to the previous measurements in Fig.3b. Besides the lenses L1 and L2, it was necessary to use other lenses, L3 and L4. See Fig.2b. They are necessary, in order to form a telescope with lenses L1 and L2 and to keep the image with its original size. The resulting coincidence transverse distribution is displayed in Fig.4.

## IV Conclusion

In conclusion, we have demonstrated how the natural divergence of the signal and idler beams produced in the spontaneous parametric down-conversion can be compensated with collimating lenses, without loosing the quantum correlation between their angular spectra. It is proposed that this scheme can be used for sending quantum images through long distances. The idea of using correlated images in cryptographic protocols have been raised in Ref. and that could be associated to this long distance transmission scheme.

Financial support was provided by Brazilian agencies CNPq, PRONEX, CAPES, FAPERJ, FUJB and the Milenium Institut for Quantum Information.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: phsr@if.ufrj.br