text:
# Quasi-exact Solvability of Dirac-Pauli Equation and generalized Dirac oscillators

(1Department of Physics, Tamkang University, Tamsui 25137, Taiwan, R.O.C.
2Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta 700035, India)

## Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate that neutral Dirac particles in external electric fields, which are equivalent to generalized Dirac oscillators, are physical examples of quasi-exactly solvable systems. Electric field configurations permitting quasi-exact solvability of the system based on the $`sl(2)`$ symmetry are discussed separately in spherical, cylindrical, and Cartesian coordinates. Some exactly solvable field configurations are also exhibited.

PACS: 03.65.-w, 03.65.Pm, 02.30.Zz

Dec 5, 2003

I. Introduction

Search for exact solutions of wave equations, whether non relativistic or relativistic, has been there since the birth of quantum mechanics. In the case of non relativistic wave equations, i.e. Schrödinger equations, the class of potentials for which the complete spectrum or a part of the spectrum are known has grown over the years. However in the case of relativistic wave equations, in particular, the Dirac equation very few exactly solvable electromagnetic field configurations like homogeneous magnetic fields , homogeneous electrostatic fields , constant parallel magnetic fields  etc. are known.

It may be mentioned that while exact solvability is desirable, in practice it is not always possible to determine the whole spectrum. In non relativistic quantum mechanics a new class of potentials which are intermediate to exactly solvable ones and non solvable ones have been found recently. These are called quasi-exactly solvable (QES) problems for which it is possible to determine algebraically a part of the spectrum but not the whole spectrum \[-\]. Although there are exceptions, usually a QES problem admits a certain underlying Lie algebraic symmetry which is responsible for the quasi-exact solutions. For Dirac equations, it had been shown that Dirac equation with Coulomb interaction supplemented by a linear radial potential , and planar Dirac equation with Coulomb and homogeneous magnetic fields  are QES systems. More recently, the quasi-exact solvability of the Pauli equation was exhibited . This immediately implies that the Dirac equation coupled minimally to a vector potential is QES, since the square of the Dirac Hamiltonian in this form is proportional to the Pauli equation, up to an additive constant, namely, the square of the rest energy.

Interactions of spin-1/2 fermions with electromagnetic fields are usually introduced in the Dirac equation following the minimal coupling prescription. However, this prescription is not the only possibility. For instance, the interaction due to anomalous magnetic moment is incorporated via the non-minimal coupling procedure, the resulting equation being called the Dirac-Pauli equation . An interesting example is neutral fermions interacting with electromagnetic fields. There are a number of interesting phenomena involving non minimal coupling of neutral fermions to external electric fields. We recall that, the celebrated Aharonov-Casher effect , which has been observed experimentally  is an example of such an interaction. Another interesting system involving neutral fermions is the Dirac oscillator, which is of considerable interest in quantum chromodynamics . However, unlike the case with minimal coupling, studies in exact solutions of the Dirac equations with non-minimal couplings are rather scanty , not to mention studies in quasi-exact solutions of these systems. Only recently, efforts have been directed to exploring certain structure relating to such systems. For instance, the underlying supersymmetry (SUSY) of the Aharonov-Casher system , as well as that of a system of neutral fermions interacting with a central electric field were pointed out .

In the present paper we shall examine quasi-exact solvability of Dirac equation coupled non-minimally to external electric fields. In particular, based on the underlying $`sl(2)`$ symmetry we shall determine the forms of electric fields which give rise to QES Dirac-Pauli equations.

The organization of the paper is as follows. In Sect.II the Dirac-Pauli equation is presented, and its equivalence with the generalized Dirac oscillators demonstrated. Sect.III discusses the exact and quasi-exact solvability of the Dirac-Pauli equation with electric fields in the spherical coordinates. Sect.IV and V are devoted to the same problems with electric fields in the cylindrical and Cartesian coordinates, respectively. Sect.VI concludes the paper.

II. The Dirac-Pauli Equation for neutral Dirac particles

We consider the motion of a neutral fermion of spin-1/2 with mass $`m`$ and an anomalous magnetic moment $`\mu `$, in an external electromagnetic field described by the field strength $`F_{\mu \nu }`$. The fermion is described by a four-component spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ which obeys the Dirac–Pauli equation

$`(i\gamma ^\mu _\mu {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mu \sigma ^{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }m)\mathrm{\Psi }=0,`$ (1)
where $`\gamma ^\mu =(\gamma ^0,𝜸)`$ are the Dirac matrices satisfying

$`\{\gamma ^\mu ,\gamma ^\nu \}=2g^{\mu \nu }`$ (2)
with $`g^{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(1,1,1,1)`$, and

$`\sigma ^{\mu \nu }={\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}[\gamma ^\mu ,\gamma ^\nu ].`$ (3)
In terms of the external electric field E and magnetic field B, one can rewrite the second term in eq.(1) as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\sigma ^{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }=i𝜶𝐄𝚺𝐁,`$ (4)
where $`𝜶=\gamma ^0𝜸`$, and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^k=\frac{1}{2}ϵ^{kij}\sigma ^{ij}`$. Here $`ϵ^{kij}`$ is the totally anti-symmetric tensors with $`ϵ^{123}=1`$. For time-independent fields one may set

$`\mathrm{\Psi }(t,𝐫)=e^{it}\psi (𝐫),`$ (5)
and eq.(1) becomes

$`H\psi =\psi ,`$ (6)
with the Hamiltonian $`H`$ being given by

$`H=𝜶𝐩+i\mu 𝜸𝐄\mu \beta 𝚺𝐁+\beta m,`$ (7)
where $`𝐩=i`$ and $`\beta =\gamma ^0`$.

In this paper we shall consider cases with only electric fields described by the the Hamiltonian

$`H=𝜶𝐩+i\mu 𝜸𝐄+\beta m.`$ (8)
We choose the Dirac matrices in the standard representation

$`𝜶=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 𝝈\\ 𝝈& 0\end{array}\right),\beta =\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),`$ (13)
where $`𝝈`$ are the Pauli matrices. We also define $`\psi =(\chi ,\phi )^t`$, where $`t`$ denotes transpose, and both $`\chi `$ and $`\phi `$ are two-component spinors. Then the Dirac–Pauli equation becomes

$`𝝈(𝐩i\mu 𝐄)\chi `$ $`=`$ $`(+m)\phi ,`$
$`𝝈(𝐩+i\mu 𝐄)\phi `$ $`=`$ $`(m)\chi ,`$ (14)
In the next three sections, we will demonstrate the exact and quasi-exact solvability of this set of equations in the spherical, cylindrical, and Cartesian coordinates.

Relation with the Dirac oscillator

Here we show that the above system is equivalent to the generalized Dirac oscillators. Since its introduction by Moshinsky and Szczepaniak in 1989, the original Dirac oscillator has attracted much attention in recent years . It was introduced by replacing the momentum $`𝐩`$ in the field-free Dirac equation by $`𝐩im\omega \beta 𝐫`$, where $`m`$ is the mass of the particle and $`\omega `$ is the oscillation frequency. The Hamiltonian of this system is thus given by

$`H=𝜶(𝐩im\omega \beta 𝐫)+\beta m.`$ (15)
This system is exactly solvable.

Now if one compares eq.(15) with (8), one sees immediately that the Dirac oscillator is simply a special case of neutral Dirac particle in external electric field, if one makes the transformation

$`\mu 𝐄m\omega 𝐫.`$ (16)
That is, when the electric field $`𝐄`$ is proportional to the position vector $`𝐫`$. Hence, with a general $`𝐫`$-dependent electric field $`𝐄(𝐫)`$, the system described by the Hamiltonian (8) can be viewed as generalizations of the original Dirac oscillator. In the discussions below, we shall concentrate on the neutral Dirac particles. But all conclusions thus obtained are applicable directly to the generalized Dirac oscillators.

III. Electric fields in spherical coordinates

First let us consider central electric field $`𝐄=E_r\widehat{𝐫}`$. In this case, one can choose a complete set of observables to be $`(H,𝐉^2,J_z,𝐒^2=3/4,K)`$. Here $`𝐉`$ is the total angular momentum $`𝐉=𝐋+𝐒`$, where $`𝐋`$ is the orbital angular momentum, and $`𝐒=\frac{1}{2}𝚺`$ is the spin operator. The operator $`K`$ is defined as $`K=\gamma ^0(𝚺𝐋+1)`$, which commutes with both $`H`$ and J. Explicitly, we have

$`K`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{diag}(\widehat{k},\widehat{k}),`$
$`\widehat{k}`$ $`=`$ $`𝝈𝐋+1.`$ (17)
The common eigenstates can be written as

$`\psi ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}\left(\begin{array}{c}f_{}(r)𝒴_{jm_j}^k\\ if_+(r)𝒴_{jm_j}^k\end{array}\right)`$ (20)
here $`𝒴_{jm_j}^k(\theta ,\varphi )`$ are the spin harmonics satisfying

$`𝐉^2𝒴_{jm_j}^k`$ $`=`$ $`j(j+1)𝒴_{jm_j}^k,j={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}},{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}},\mathrm{},`$ (21)
$`J_z𝒴_{jm_j}^k`$ $`=`$ $`m_j𝒴_{jm_j}^k,|m_j|j,`$ (22)
$`\widehat{k}𝒴_{jm_j}^k`$ $`=`$ $`k𝒴_{jm_j}^k,k=\pm (j+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}),`$ (23)
and

$`(𝝈\widehat{𝐫})𝒴_{jm_j}^k=𝒴_{jm_j}^k,`$ (24)
where $`\widehat{𝐫}`$ is the unit radial vector. Using the identity

$`𝝈𝐩=i(𝝈\widehat{𝐫})\left(_r+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}(𝝈𝐋)\right),`$ (25)
one gets

$`𝝈(𝐩\pm 𝐢\mu 𝐄)=i(𝝈\widehat{𝐫})\left(_r+{\displaystyle \frac{K1}{r}}\pm \mu E_r\right).`$ (26)
With these, eq.(14) reduces to

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{d}{dr}}+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{r}}+\mu E_r\right)f_{}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(+m\right)f_+,`$ (27)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{d}{dr}}+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{r}}+\mu E_r\right)f_+`$ $`=`$ $`\left(m\right)f_{}.`$ (28)
This shows that $`f_{}`$ and $`f_+`$ forms a one-dimensional SUSY pairs . For if we write the superpotential $`W`$ as

$`W={\displaystyle \frac{k}{r}}+\mu E_r,`$ (29)
then eqs.(27) and (28) become

$`A^{}A^+f_{}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(^2m^2\right)f_{},`$ (30)
$`A^+A^{}f_+`$ $`=`$ $`\left(^2m^2\right)f_+,`$ (31)
with

$`A^\pm \pm {\displaystyle \frac{d}{dr}}+W.`$ (32)
Explicitly, the above equations read

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dr^2}}+W^2W^{}\right)f_{}=\left(^2m^2\right)f_{}.`$ (33)
Here and below the prime means differentiation with respect to the basic variable. Eq.(33) clearly exhibits the SUSY structure of the system. The operators acting on $`f_\pm `$ in eq.(33) are said to be factorizable, i.e. as products of $`A^{}`$ and $`A^+`$. The ground state, with $`^2=m^2`$, is given by one of the following two sets of equations:

$`A^+f_{}^{(0)}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`0,f_+^{(0)}(r)=0;`$ (34)
$`A^{}f_+^{(0)}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`0,f_{}^{(0)}(r)=0,`$ (35)
depending on which solution is normalizable. The solutions are generally given by

$`f_{}r^k\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle 𝑑r\mu E_r}\right).`$ (36)
We now classify the forms of the electric field $`E_r(r)`$ which allow exact and quasi-exact solutions. To be specific, we consider the situation where $`k<0`$ and $`𝑑r\mu E_r>0`$, so that $`f_{}^{(0)}`$ is normalizable, and $`f_+^{(0)}=0`$. The other situation can be discussed similarly. In this case, eq.(29) becomes

$`W={\displaystyle \frac{|k|}{r}}+\mu E_r.`$ (37)
We determine the forms of $`E_r`$ that give exact/quasi-exact energy $``$ and the corresponding function $`f_{}`$. The corresponding function $`f_+`$ is obtained using eq.(27).

A. Exactly solvable cases

Comparing the forms of the superpotential $`W`$ in eq.(37) with Table (4.1) in , one concludes that there are three forms of $`E_r`$ giving exact solutions of the problem :

i) oscillator-like : $`\mu E_r(r)r`$ ;

ii) Coulomb potential-like : $`\mu E_r(r)\mathrm{constant}`$ ;

iii) zero field-like : $`\mu E_r(r)1/r`$ .

Case (i) and (ii) had been considered in  and , and case (iii) in .

We mention here that the case with oscillator-like field, i.e. case (i), is none other than the spherical Dirac oscillator.

B. Quasi-exactly solvable cases

The form of the superpotential $`W`$ in eq.(37) fits into three classes, namely, Classes VII, VIII and IX, of $`sl(2)`$-based QES systems in . Electric field configurations permitting any number of solvable excited states in each of these classes can be constructed according to the general procedure given in . The procedure makes use of the connection between quasi-exact solvability and the SUSY structure (or, equivalently, the factorizability) of the systems. Below we describe the construction of QES $`E_r`$ for the simplest cases in Class VII. Other classes can be considered similarly.

An outline of the method of construction

Here we describe briefly the main ideas underlying the construction of QES systems as given in . As before, we shall concentrate only on solution of the upper component $`f_{}`$, which is assumed to have a normalizable zero energy state.

Eq.(33) shows that $`f_{}`$ satisfies the Schrödinger equation $`H_{}f_{}=ϵf_{}`$, with energy parameter $`ϵ^2m^2`$, and

$`H_{}`$ $`=`$ $`A^{}A^+`$ (38)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dr^2}}+V(r),`$
with

$`V(r)=W(r)^2W^{}(r).`$ (39)
We shall look for $`V(r)`$ such that the system is QES. According to the theory of QES models, one first makes an imaginary gauge transformation on the function $`f_{}`$

$`f_{}(r)=\varphi (r)e^{g(r)},`$ (40)
where $`g(r)`$ is called the gauge function. The function $`\varphi (r)`$ satisfies

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2\varphi (r)}{dr^2}}+2g^{}{\displaystyle \frac{d\varphi (r)}{dr}}+\left[V(r)+g^{\prime \prime }g^2\right]\varphi (r)=ϵ\varphi (r).`$ (41)
For physical systems which we are interested in, the phase factor $`\mathrm{exp}(g(r))`$ is responsible for the asymptotic behaviors of the wave function so as to ensure normalizability. The function $`\varphi (r)`$ satisfies a Schrödinger equation with a gauge transformed Hamiltonian

$`H_G={\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dr^2}}+2W_0(r){\displaystyle \frac{d}{dr}}+\left[V(r)+W_0^{}W_0^2\right],`$ (42)
where $`W_0(r)=g^{}(r)`$. Now if $`V(r)`$ is such that the quantal system is QES, that means the gauge transformed Hamiltonian $`H_G`$ can be written as a quadratic combination of the generators $`J^a`$ of some Lie algebra with a finite dimensional representation. Within this finite dimensional Hilbert space the Hamiltonian $`H_G`$ can be diagonalized, and therefore a finite number of eigenstates are solvable. For one-dimensional QES systems the most general Lie algebra is $`sl(2)`$ (-). Hence if eq.(42) is QES then it can be expressed as

$`H_G={\displaystyle C_{ab}J^aJ^b}+{\displaystyle C_aJ^a}+\mathrm{constant},`$ (43)
where $`C_{ab},C_a`$ are constant coefficients, and the $`J^a`$ are the generators of the Lie algebra $`sl(2)`$ given by

$`J^+`$ $`=`$ $`z^2{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dz}}Nz,`$ (44)
$`J^0`$ $`=`$ $`z{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dz}}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{2}},N=0,1,2\mathrm{}`$ (45)
$`J^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dz}}.`$ (46)
Here the variables $`r`$ and $`z`$ are related by $`z=h(r)`$, where $`h()`$ is some (explicit or implicit) function . The value $`j=N/2`$ is called the weight of the differential representation of $`sl(2)`$ algebra, and $`N`$ is the degree of the eigenfunctions $`\varphi `$, which are polynomials in a $`(N+1)`$-dimensional Hilbert space

$`\varphi =(zz_1)(zz_2)\mathrm{}(zz_N).`$ (47)
The requirement in eq.(43) fixes $`V(r)`$ and $`W_0(r)`$, and $`H_G`$ will have an algebraic sector with $`N+1`$ eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. For definiteness, we shall denote the potential $`V`$ admitting $`N+1`$ QES states by $`V_N`$. From eqs.(40) and (47), the function $`f_{}`$ in this sector has the general form

$`f_{}=(zz_1)(zz_2)\mathrm{}(zz_N)\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle ^z}W_0(r)𝑑r\right),`$ (48)
where $`z_i`$ ($`i=1,2,\mathrm{},N`$) are $`N`$ parameters that can be determined by plugging eq.(48) into eq.(41). The algebraic equations so obtained are called the Bethe ansatz equations corresponding to the QES problem . Now one can rewrite eq.(48) as

$`f_{}=\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle ^z}W_N(r,\{z_i\})𝑑r\right),`$ (49)
and

$`W_N(r,\{z_i\})=W_0(r){\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{h^{}(r)}{h(r)z_i}}.`$ (50)
There are $`N+1`$ possible functions $`W_N(r,\{z_i\})`$ for the $`N+1`$ sets of eigenfunctions $`\varphi `$. Inserting eq.(49) into $`H_{}f_{}=ϵf_{}`$, one sees that $`W_N`$ satisfies the Ricatti equation

$`W_N^2W_N^{}=V_Nϵ_N,`$ (51)
where $`ϵ_N`$ is the energy parameter corresponding to the eigenfunction $`f_{}`$ given in eq.(48) for a particular set of $`N`$ parameters $`\{z_i\}`$.

From eqs.(38), (39) and (51) it is clear how one should proceed to determine the electric fields so that the Dirac-Pauli equation becomes QES based on $`sl(2)`$: one needs only to determine the superpotentials $`W(r)`$ according to eq.(51) from the QES potentials $`V(r)`$ classified in . This is easily done by observing that the superpotential $`W_0`$ corresponding to $`N=0`$ is related to the gauge function $`g(r)`$ associated with a particular class of QES potential $`V(r)`$ by $`g^{}(r)=W_0(r)`$. Once $`W_0`$ is obtained, the corresponding electric field $`E^{(0)}`$ is obtained through eq.(37):

$`\mu E_r^{(0)}=W_0+|k|/r.`$ (52)
This is the required electric field that allows the weight zero ($`j=N=0`$) state, i.e. the ground state, to be known in that class. The more interesting task is to obtain higher weight states (i.e. $`j>0`$), which will include excited states. For weight $`j`$ ($`N=2j`$) states, this is achieved by forming the superpotential $`W_N(r,\{z_i\})`$ according to eq.(50). Of the $`N+1`$ possible sets of solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations, the set of roots $`\{z_1,z_2,\mathrm{},z_N\}`$ to be used in eq.(50) is chosen to be the set for which the energy parameter of the corresponding state is the lowest (usually it is the ground state). The required electric field which gives rise to the $`N+1`$ solvable states is then obtained as

$`\mu E_r^{(N)}=W_N+|k|/r.`$ (53)
For the spherically symmetric electric fields which we consider in this section, there are three possible types of $`sl(2)`$-based QES field configurations. They belong to Class VII, VIII, and IX in the classification listed in . Below we shall illustrate our construction of QES electric fields through Class VII QES systems.

Class VII

The general potential in Class VII has the form

$`V_N(r)=a^2r^6+2abr^4+\left[b^2a\left(4N+2\gamma +3\right)\right]r^2+\gamma \left(\gamma 1\right)r^2b\left(2\gamma +1\right),`$ (54)
where $`a,b`$ and $`\gamma `$ are constants. The gauge function is

$`g(r)={\displaystyle \frac{a}{4}}r^4+{\displaystyle \frac{b}{2}}r^2\gamma \mathrm{ln}r.`$ (55)
We must have $`a,\gamma >0`$ to ensure normalizability of the wave function. Eqs.(55) and (37), together with the relation $`W_0(r)=g^{}(r)`$, give us the electric field $`E_r^{(0)}`$:

$`\mu E_r^{(0)}(r)=ar^3+br.`$ (56)
The Dirac-Pauli equation with this field configuration admits a QES ground state with energy $`^2=m^2`$ ($`ϵ=0`$) and ground state function $`f_{}\mathrm{exp}(g_0(r))`$. Also, here we have $`\gamma =|k|`$. We retain the symbol $`\gamma `$ so that some general formulae in this section can be carried over in the next section simply with $`\gamma `$ redefined.

To determine electric field configurations admitting QES potentials $`V_N`$ with higher weight, we need to obtain the Bethe ansatz equations for $`\varphi `$. Letting $`z=h(r)=r^2`$, eq.(41) becomes

$`\left[4z{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dz^2}}+\left(4az^2+4bz2\left(2\gamma +1\right)\right){\displaystyle \frac{d}{dz}}\left(4aNz+ϵ\right)\right]\varphi (z)=0.`$ (57)
In terms of the $`sl(2)`$ generators $`J^+,J^{}`$ and $`J^0`$, the differential operator acting on $`\varphi (z)`$ in eq.(57) can be written as

$`T_{VII}=4J^0J^{}+4aJ^++4bJ^02\left(N+2\gamma +1\right)J^{}+\mathrm{constant}.`$ (58)
For $`N=0`$, the value of the $`ϵ`$ is $`ϵ=0`$. For higher $`N>0`$ and $`\varphi (r)=_{i=1}^N(zz_i)`$, the electric field $`E_r^{(N)}(r)`$ is obtained from eqs.(50) and (53):

$`\mu E_r^{(N)}(r)=\mu E_r^{(0)}(r){\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{h^{}(r)}{h(r)z_i}}.`$ (59)
For the present case, the roots $`z_i`$’s are found from the Bethe ansatz equations

$`2az_i^2+2bz_i\left(2\gamma +1\right){\displaystyle \underset{li}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{z_i}{z_iz_l}}=0,i=1,\mathrm{},N,`$ (60)
and $`ϵ`$ in terms of the roots $`z_i`$’s is

$`ϵ=2\left(2\gamma +1\right){\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z_i}}.`$ (61)
For $`N=1`$ the roots $`z_1`$ are

$`z_1^\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{b\pm \sqrt{b^2+2a(2\gamma +1)}}{2a}},`$ (62)
and the values of $`ϵ`$ are

$`ϵ^\pm =2\left(b\pm \sqrt{b^2+2a(2\gamma +1)}\right).`$ (63)
For $`a>0`$, the root $`z_1^{}=|z_1^{}|<0`$ gives the ground state. With this root, one gets the superpotential

$`W_1(r)=ar^3+br{\displaystyle \frac{2r}{r^2+|z_1^{}|}}{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{r}}.`$ (64)
From eq.(59), the corresponding electric field is

$`\mu E_r^{(1)}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`ar^3+br{\displaystyle \frac{2r}{r^2+|z_1^{}|}}.`$ (65)
The QES potential appropriate for the problem is

$`V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`W_1^2W_1^{},`$ (66)
$`=`$ $`V_1ϵ.`$ (67)
The one-dimensional SUSY always sets the energy parameter of ground state at $`ϵ=0`$. Hence, the ground state and the excited state have energy parameter $`ϵ=0`$ and $`ϵ=ϵ^+ϵ^{}=4\sqrt{b^2+2a(2\gamma +1)}`$, and wave function

$`f_{}e^{g_0(r)}\left(r^2z_1^{}\right)`$ (68)
and

$`f_{}e^{g_0(r)}\left(r^2z_1^+\right),`$ (69)
respectively.

QES potentials and electric fields for higher degree $`N`$ can be constructed in the same manner.

IV. Electric fields in cylindrical coordinates

We now treat the Dirac-Pauli equation in the cylindrical coordinates. In this case, it is easier to solve $`H^2\mathrm{\Phi }=^2\mathrm{\Phi }`$ instead of $`H\psi =\psi `$. Once $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is solved, the desired solution $`\psi `$ is given by $`\psi =(H+)\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Setting $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(f_{},f_+)^t`$, the equation $`(H^2^2)\mathrm{\Phi }=0`$ becomes

$`\left[p^2\mu 𝐄+\mu ^2E^2\pm i\mu 𝝈\left(2𝐄\times \times 𝐄\right)\right]f_{}=\left(^2m^2\right)f_{}.`$ (70)
We consider electric field configuration which has cylindrical symmetry, namely,

$`E_x=xf(\rho ),E_y=yf(\rho ),E_z=0,`$ (71)
where $`\rho =\sqrt{x^2+y^2}`$, and $`f(\rho )`$ is some function of $`\rho `$. It can be checked that the conserved quantities are $`p_z`$ and $`J_z=L_z+\mathrm{\Sigma }_3/2`$. Thus the eigenstates can be chosen as

$`f_{}={\displaystyle \frac{e^{ik_zz}}{\sqrt{\rho }}}\left(\begin{array}{c}R_1(\rho )e^{il\varphi }\\ R_2(\rho )e^{i(l+1)\varphi }\end{array}\right),f_+={\displaystyle \frac{e^{ik_zz}}{\sqrt{\rho }}}\left(\begin{array}{c}R_3(\rho )e^{il\varphi }\\ R_4(\rho )e^{i(l+1)\varphi }\end{array}\right).`$ (76)
$`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is an eigenstate of $`p_z`$ and $`J_z`$ with eigenvalues $`k_z`$ ($`k_z`$ real) and $`j_z=l+1/2`$ ($`l=0,\pm 1,\pm 2\mathrm{}`$), respectively. Eq.(70) reduce to four decoupled ones:

$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{d\rho ^2}}+\mu \rho ^2f^22\mu f\left(l+1\right)\mu \rho f^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{l^2\frac{1}{4}}{\rho ^2}}\right]R_1(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`ϵR_1(\rho ),`$ (77)
$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{d\rho ^2}}+\mu \rho ^2f^2+2\mu fl\mu \rho f^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{(l+1)^2\frac{1}{4}}{\rho ^2}}\right]R_2(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`ϵR_2(\rho ),`$ (78)
$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{d\rho ^2}}+\mu \rho ^2f^2+2\mu f\left(l+1\right)+\mu \rho f^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{l^2\frac{1}{4}}{\rho ^2}}\right]R_3(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`ϵR_3(\rho ),`$ (79)
$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{d\rho ^2}}+\mu \rho ^2f^22\mu fl+\mu \rho f^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{(l+1)^2\frac{1}{4}}{\rho ^2}}\right]R_4(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`ϵR_4(\rho ),`$ (80)
where $`ϵ^2m^2k_z^2`$. From the above equations it follows that eqs.(77) and (80) represent a pair of one-dimensional SUSY partners , with superpotential given by

$`W(\rho )=\mu \rho f(\rho ){\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{\rho }},\gamma =|l|+1/2.`$ (81)
Eqs.(78) and (79) form another pair of SUSY partners, obtainable from eqs.(80) and (77), respectively, by changing $`\mu `$ to $`\mu `$. Results in  can therefore be carried over directly with minor modifications.

To be specific, let us assume $`\mu f>0`$. For $`l0`$, we have $`R_2=R_3=0`$. The ground state is given by

$`R_1`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{exp}(g(\rho )),`$ (82)
$`g(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`\mu {\displaystyle ^\rho }\rho ^{}f(\rho ^{})𝑑\rho ^{}\gamma \mathrm{ln}\rho ,`$ (83)
and $`R_4=0`$. For excited states, the components $`R_1`$ and $`R_4`$ are related by $`R_4A^+R_1`$, where $`A^+`$ is defined by eq.(32) and (81). For $`l1`$, we simply interchange $`R_1`$ and $`R_2`$, and $`R_3`$ and $`R_4`$.

Comparing eq.(81) with (37), it is seen that all results in Sect. III can be carried over by changing $`r`$ , $`E_r`$ and $`\gamma =|k|`$ in eq.(37) to $`\rho `$, $`\rho f`$, and $`\gamma =|l|+1/2`$, respectively. Hence we will not discuss this case in details, but only quote some main results. For instance, the exactly solvable cases are:

i) oscillator-like : $`\mu f(\rho )\mathrm{constant}`$ ;

ii) Coulomb potential-like : $`\mu f(\rho )1/\rho `$ ;

iii) zero field-like : $`\mu f(\rho )1/\rho ^2`$ .

As in Sect III, the quasi-exactly solvable cases are Classes VII, VIII and IX of QES systems based on the $`sl(2)`$ algebra as classified by Turbiner . For the case of Class VII, the simplest two configurations of the electric fields are obtained from the function $`f(\rho )`$ as follows:

i) one-state case: $`\mu f^{(0)}(\rho )=a\rho ^2+b(a>0);`$

ii) two-state case: $`\mu f^{(1)}(\rho )=a\rho ^2+b2/(\rho ^2+|z_1^{}|),`$ where $`z_1^{}`$ is given by eq.(62).

V. Electric fields in Cartesian coordinates

Finally we consider electric field configurations in one dimension. For definiteness, we assume

$`E_x(x)=\overline{W}(x),E_y=E_z=0.`$ (84)
The conserved quantities in this case are $`p_y`$ and $`p_z`$, with eigenvalues $`k_y`$ and $`k_z`$, respectively. Eigenstate can be written as

$`\psi =e^{ik_yy+ik_zz}\left(\begin{array}{c}f_{}(x)\\ f_+(x)\end{array}\right).`$ (87)
Substituting eqs.(84) and (87) into (70), we get

$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dx^2}}+\left(\mu \overline{W}(x)\sigma _3k_y\right)^2\mu \overline{W}^{}\right]f_{}=\left(^2m^2k_z^2\right)f_{}.`$ (88)
Again, these equations are in the same form as eq.(3) in  and eq.(408) in . Similar to the case in Section IV, the four components of $`\psi `$ are related by two one-dimensional SUSY, namely, the 1st (2nd) component of $`f_{}`$ and the 2nd (1st) component of $`f_+`$ form a one-dimensional SUSY pair. As such, this system can be dealt with according to the general procedures outlined in the last section and in . Here we shall only give the classifications of the electric field configurations which permit exact and quasi-exact solutions.

A. Exactly solvable cases

The exactly solvable cases have been classified in . There are three types of exactly solvable field configurations, namely,

$`\mu \overline{W}k_y=\{\begin{array}{cc}\alpha x+c\hfill & \text{(shifted oscillator-like) ;}\hfill \\ c_1\mathrm{exp}(\alpha x)+c_2\hfill & \text{(Morse-potential) ;}\hfill \\ \mathrm{tanh}(\alpha x)+c\hfill & \text{(Rosen-Morse II) ;}\hfill \end{array}`$ (92)
Here $`c,c_1,c_2`$ and $`\alpha `$ are constants.

B. Quasi-exactly solvable cases

From the discussions given in , the system of eq.(88) are QES based on the $`sl(2)`$ algebra. In fact, six classes of QES electric field configurations can be constructed. These classes correspond to Class I to Class VI in Turbiner’s classification. One can follow the general procedures described in Sect. III to construct in each class the electric fields which admit different numbers of QES states, including excited states. Here we only present the main results for Class I, referring the readers to  for further details.

Class I

We concentrate on the first set of one-dimensional SUSY system in eq.(88), namely, the first component of $`f_{}`$ and the second component of $`f_+`$. The superpotential for the system is

$`W(x)\mu \overline{W}(x)k_y.`$ (93)
According to Turbiner’s classification, the QES potential belonging to Class I has the form

$`V_N(x)=a^2e^{2\alpha x}a\left[\alpha (2N+1)+2b\right]e^{\alpha x}+c\left(2b\alpha \right)e^{\alpha x}+c^2e^{2\alpha x}+b^22ac.`$ (94)
Without loss of generality, we assume $`\alpha ,a,c>0`$ for definiteness. The corresponding gauge function $`g(x)`$ is given by

$`g(x)={\displaystyle \frac{a}{\alpha }}e^{\alpha x}+{\displaystyle \frac{c}{\alpha }}e^{\alpha x}+bx.`$ (95)
One should always keep in mind that the parameters selected must ensure convergence of the function $`\mathrm{exp}(g(x))`$ in order to guarantee normalizability of the wave function . The potential $`V(x)`$ that gives the ground state, with energy parameter $`ϵ^2m^2k_z^2=0`$, is generated by

$`V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`V_0`$ (96)
$`=`$ $`W_0^2W_0^{},`$ (97)
with

$`W_0(x)`$ $`=`$ $`g^{}(x)`$ (98)
$`=`$ $`ae^{\alpha x}+ce^{\alpha x}+b.`$ (99)
The corresponding electric field is

$`\mu E_x^{(0)}=a\alpha e^{\alpha x}+c\alpha e^{\alpha x}+b+k_y.`$ (100)
To obtain electric fields and the corresponding potentials which admit solvable states with higher weights $`j`$, we must first derive the Bethe ansatz equations. To this end, let us perform the change of variable $`z=h(x)=\mathrm{exp}(\alpha x)`$. Eq.(41) then becomes

$`\left\{\alpha z^2{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dz^2}}+\left[2az^2(2b+\alpha )z2c\right]{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dz}}+\left[2aNz{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{\alpha }}\right]\right\}\varphi (z)=0.`$ (101)
The differential operator acting on $`\varphi (z)`$ can be written as a quadratic combination of the $`sl(2)`$ generators $`J^+,J^{}`$ and $`J^0`$ as

$`T_I=\alpha J^+J^{}+2aJ^+\left[\alpha (N+1)+2b\right]J^02cJ^{}+\mathrm{constant}.`$ (102)
For $`N>0`$, there are $`N+1`$ solutions which include excited states. Assuming $`\varphi (z)=_{i=1}^N(zz_i)`$ in eq.(101), one obtains the Bethe ansatz equations which determine the roots $`z_i`$’s

$`2az_i^2(2b+\alpha )z_i2c2\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{li}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{z_i^2}{z_iz_l}}=0,i=1,\mathrm{},N,`$ (103)
and the equation which gives the energy parameter in terms of the roots $`z_i`$’s

$`ϵ=2\alpha c{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z_i}}.`$ (104)
Each set of {$`z_i`$} determine a QES energy $`E`$ with the corresponding polynomial $`\varphi `$.

As an example, consider the $`j=1/2`$ case with $`N=1`$ and $`\varphi (z)=zz_1`$. There are two solutions. From eq.(103), one sees that the root $`z_1`$ satisfies

$`2az_1^2(2b+\alpha )z_12c=0,`$ (105)
which gives two solutions

$`z_1^\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{(2b+\alpha )\pm \sqrt{(2b+\alpha )^2+16ac}}{4a}}.`$ (106)
The corresponding energy parameters are

$`ϵ^\pm `$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha c{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z_1}}`$ (107)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2}}\left[(2b+\alpha )\sqrt{(2b+\alpha )^2+16ac}\right].`$ (108)
For the parameters assumed here, the solution with root $`z_1^{}=|z_1^{}|<0`$ gives the ground state, while that with root $`z_1^+>0`$ gives the first excited state. The superpotential $`W_1`$ is constructed according to eq.(50)

$`W_1(x)`$ $`=`$ $`W_0{\displaystyle \frac{h^{}(x)}{h(x)z_1^{}}}`$ (109)
$`=`$ $`ae^{\alpha x}+ce^{\alpha x}+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{1+|z_1^{}|e^{\alpha x}}}+b.`$ (110)
This gives the electric field

$`\mu E_x^{(1)}(x)=ae^{\alpha x}+ce^{\alpha x}+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{1+|z_1^{}|e^{\alpha x}}}+b+k_y.`$ (111)
The ground state and the excited state have energy $`^2=m^2+k_z^2`$ and $`^2=m^2+k_z^2+\alpha \sqrt{(2b+\alpha )^2+16ac}`$, respectively.

VI. Conclusions

In this paper we have shown that the Dirac-Pauli equation describing a neutral particle with anomalous magnetic moment in an external electric field is a QES system. Forms of electric field configurations permitting exact solutions, and QES states based on $`sl(2)`$ algebra are classified in the spherical, cylindrical, and Cartesian coordinates.

We have also demonstrated that the Dirac-Pauli equation with only electric fields are equivalent to generalized Dirac oscillators. Thus all the results obtained here are directly applicable to the later. Particularly, the exact solvability of the original Dirac oscillator is now recognized as one of the three exactly solvable cases of the Dirac-Pauli equation.

It has been shown that the two-dimensional Dirac-Pauli equation is equivalent to a two-dimensional Dirac equation minimally coupled to a vector potential by a duality transformation . However, as mentioned in Sect.I, the square of the Dirac Hamiltonian minimally coupled to a vector potential is proportional to the Pauli equation up to an additive constant. Hence the exact solvability discussed in  and the quasi-exactly solvability discussed in  of the Pauli equation can be straightforwardly applied to the two-dimensional Dirac-Pauli equation.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Republic of China through Grant No. NSC 92-2112-M-032-015. P.R. would like to thank the Department of Physics at Tamkang University for support during his visit.


format: text

text:
# Displacement of X-Ray Sources from Star Clusters in Starburst Galaxies

## 1 Introduction

Starburst galaxies contain prominent populations of X-ray sources \[Fabbiano 1989\] including unusually luminous ones \[Kaaret et al. 2001, Zezas & Fabbiano 2002\]. The young stellar ages within starbursts suggest that the associated X-ray sources are likely to be young objects \[Kilgard et al. 2002\]. Strong X-ray variability in many sources further suggests those sources are accreting compact objects \[Makishima et al. 2000, Kaaret et al. 2001, Fabbiano et al. 2003\].

In starburst galaxies, a substantial fraction of young stars are found in compact, luminous star clusters \[Meurer et al. 1995\]. Indeed, Tremonti et al. (2001) and Harris et al. (2001) find evidence that most high mass stars in starbursts could form in dense clusters which quickly dissolve to feed the surrounding field. Consistent with this, the young compact cluster R136a contains a rich population of massive stars, evidently following a standard Salpeter-like upper initial mass function \[Massey & Hunter 1998\]. However, there also are indications that some compact young massive clusters have either a flatter than normal upper mass function or a cutoff at low mass \[Sternberg 1998, Smith & Gallagher 2001, McCrady, Gilbert, & Graham 2003\]. The current data are insufficient to distinguish between these two possibilities \[Mengel et al. 2002\]. In either case, the clusters would contain relatively more massive stars, and thus potentially more massive X-ray binaries.

Star clusters in starburst regions usually are centrally concentrated, with as much as $`10^6M_{}`$ of stars within a half light radius of a few parsecs (e.g. Ho & Filippenko 1996a,b). Stellar encounters in such dense clusters may enhance the production of X-ray binaries \[Portegies Zwart et al. 1999\]. Interactions of binaries in clusters \[Phinney & Sigurdsson 1991\] and binary recoil following supernovae leading to compact object formation \[Nelemans, Tauris, & van den Heuvel 1999\] can lead to ejection of X-ray binaries from their point of origin. Therefore, if the X-ray sources are X-ray binaries, then they may be expected to be spread over a larger spatial area than the star clusters.

Here, we study the spatial offsets between X-ray point sources and star clusters in three starburst galaxies with dense clusters and deep, high-resolution X-ray observations. We describe our sample, the observations, and our analysis in § 2, the results in § 3, and discuss the implications in § 4.

## 2 Data

Our selected galaxies are: M82, NGC 1569, and NGC 5253. All three are relatively nearby, within 4 Mpc. Hence, relatively dim X-ray sources can be detected with modest exposures. NGC 5253 is a dwarf galaxy which has been undergoing a starburst for no more than 10 Myr \[Beck et al. 1996\] and the young star clusters have ages between 1 Myr and 8 Myr \[Calzetti et al. 1997, Tremonti et al. 2001\]. M82 is the prototypical starburst galaxy. The nuclear star burst has been active for roughly 10 Myr \[Satyapal et al. 1997\] and may consist of two events with ages of 5 Myr and 10 Myr \[McCrady, Gilbert, & Graham 2003\]. There is also a more spatially extended “fossil” starburst which occurred 0.6–1 Gyr ago \[de Grijs, O’Connell, & Gallagher 2001, de Grijs, Bastian, & Lamers 2003\]. NGC 1569 is a dwarf irregular galaxy which has been in a starburst phase for 10-20 Myr \[Hunter et al. 2000\].

### 2.1 Star clusters

For each galaxy, we require the positions of the star clusters. For NGC 1569, we used the list of star clusters compiled by Hunter et al. (2000) based on HST observations in the optical band. Because this galaxy has a relatively low gas/dust content and therefore low internal extinction, the optical data should provide a complete cluster list.

M82 is a larger galaxy and has high obscuration near its core, where most of the star clusters are located \[McLeod et al. 1993\]. Comparison of optical and IR images shows that many clusters are missed in the optical due to the high obscuration. We chose to derive a cluster list from IR observations obtained with NICMOS on HST. The observations and reduction of data to images are described in Alonso-Herrero et al. (2003). We used a sliding cell algorithm to detect compact sources within the images from the NIC2 camera using the F160W filter with a central wavelength 1.6 $`\mu `$m and covering a wavelength range of 1.4-1.8 $`\mu `$m, and the NIC3 camera using the F166N filter with a central wavelength 1.66 $`\mu `$m and a 1% bandpass (images in the F160W filter were not available with NIC3). The NIC2 images are higher resolution (75 mas pixels) and cover the inner regions of the galaxy. The NIC3 images extend the imaged field at lower resolution (200 mas pixels).

We found clusters in each image. Clusters found in multiple images were used to align the relative positions of the various NICMOS images. We determined the absolute astrometry of the NICMOS images using the positions of four clusters detected in the 2MASS survey which lie well outside the crowded central region of the galaxy. After applying one global shift to the NICMOS coordinates, the positions of all four clusters agree within $`0.5\mathrm{}`$ with the 2MASS source positions. A mosaic of the NICMOS data is shown in Fig. 1.

For NGC 5253, we also used NICMOS observations taken using the NIC2 camera and the F160W filter. The details of these observations, the analysis, and the cluster list will be presented elsewhere (Alonso-Herrero et al., in preparation). The NICMOS field of view is $`19\mathrm{}\times 19\mathrm{}`$ and covers the central region of the galaxy. The astrometry was set using the accurate position for the dominant 1.3 cm radio source \[Turner, Beck, & Ho 2000\] which is coincident with one of the IR clusters. Due to the small field of view, the roll angle uncertainty from the HST aspect solution leads to only small uncertainties in the cluster positions.

### 2.2 X-ray sources

We extracted the longest available observation of each galaxy from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory data archive. All observations employed the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer and the High-Resolution Mirror Assembly. The data for M82 \[Griffiths et al. 2000\] and NGC 1569 \[Martin, Kobulnicky, Heckman 2002\] have been published previously. We reanalyzed the data to have consistent results for all three galaxies.

For each galaxy, we extracted an image of X-rays in the 0.3–8 keV band. We calculated an exposure map for an assumed powerlaw spectrum with interstellar absorption. The powerlaw photon index was fixed to 1.8 in all cases, and the absorption column density set to the Galactic line-of-sight value for each galaxy. We detected sources using the routine wavdetect in CIAO version 2.3 requiring a source significance of $`3\sigma `$. We compared the resulting source list with optical images from the POSS2 to remove foreground stars and with the NED extragalactic object database to remove background AGN. We used X-ray sources with either AGN or optical star counterparts (from the USNO B catalog) to check the astrometry. The absolute X-ray source positions should be accurate to better than $`1\mathrm{}`$.

Because spectral fitting is not feasible except for the few brightest sources, we calculated an X-ray flux using the same spectrum assumed for the exposure map and correcting only for interstellar absorption within our Galaxy. If the sources have intrinsic absorption or there is absorption within the host galaxy, the true fluxes may be higher. We calculated a luminosity for each X-ray source assuming that it is at the distance to the corresponding galaxy which we take to be 3.6 Mpc for M82, 2.2 Mpc for NGC 1569, and 3.3 Mpc for NGC 5253 \[Gibson et al. 2000\]. Note that we calculate luminosities assuming isotropic emission. If the X-rays are beamed, then the luminosities would be lower. The luminosities are calculated for the 0.3–8 keV band. The weakest detected sources are $`3\times 10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for M82, $`5\times 10^{35}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for NGC 1569, and $`1\times 10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for NGC 5253.

While some of the X-ray sources may be supernova remnants (SNRs) or young supernovae, the fraction of such sources is likely to be small. Martin et al. (2002) identify only one Chandra X-ray source in NGC 1569 as a possible SNR. Griffiths et al. (2000) report three close coincidences (within $`1\mathrm{}`$) of Chandra X-ray sources with radio SNRs in M82. However, the sources have hard X-ray spectra rather the soft spectra which are found for SNRs \[Prestwich et al. 2003\] and young supernovae \[Kaaret 2001\].

## 3 Results

To investigate the relation between star clusters and X-ray sources, we found the nearest star cluster to each X-ray source. For X-ray sources born in clusters, this provides a lower bound on the displacement of the source from its parent cluster. The uncertainty in the relative alignment of the X-ray source and star cluster positions is $`1\mathrm{}`$ or less, corresponding to uncertainties in the displacements of about 10 pc. Displacements smaller than 10 pc have been set to 10 pc. Displacements smaller than about 20 pc should be considered as upper bounds. We examine only sources within 1 kpc of a star cluster. The distributions of the spatial displacements are shown in Fig. 2 and some statistics of the distributions are shown in Table 1.

Our cluster lists contains all of the most luminous clusters for each galaxy, but may be incomplete at low luminosities. To determine if our results are sensitive to the completeness of the sample, we varied the detection threshold for the clusters in M82 and found the distributions of the spatial displacements of X-ray sources from the clusters for the various cluster lists. We found no significant changes in the distribution for reasonable changes in the threshold. This may be because the lower luminosity clusters tend to be located near brighter clusters already in the list. Thus, the displacements are decreased only slightly.

To determine if the clustering of the X-ray sources near the star clusters is statistically significant, we generated random sets of uniformly distributed sources and found the spatial displacements from the star clusters following the same procedures used for the actual X-ray sources. The displacement distributions of the X-ray sources are inconsistent with that expected for a uniform distribution of sources. The probabilities of chance occurrence from a uniform distribution are $`2\times 10^6`$ for M82, $`5\times 10^5`$ for NGC 1569, and $`2\times 10^4`$ for NGC 5253. For each galaxy, the average displacement of X-ray sources from star clusters is significantly smaller than for the random source distribution, indicating that the X-ray sources are preferentially located near the star clusters.

The distributions of the spatial displacements are similar in all three galaxies, see Fig. 2. We compared the various distributions using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test and also by calculating the average source displacement. We applied both tests to both the full data sample and also restricting the source luminosities to the range $`10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1<L_X<10^{38}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. In all cases, the distributions of the spatial displacements for the X-ray sources in the three galaxies are consistent with being drawn from the same distribution. The median displacement for NGC 1569 appears somewhat smaller than for the other galaxies, but the difference is not statistically significant. The 90% confidence level error intervals for the median overlap for all three galaxies.

Fig. 3 shows the luminosity of each X-ray source plotted versus its spatial displacement from the nearest star cluster. The striking feature of the plot is that there are no high luminosity sources at large displacements from star clusters. Furthermore, there is an apparent trend of decreasing luminosity with increasing displacement from the nearest star cluster.

To evaluate if this trend is statistically significant, we performed a ‘boot-strap’ analysis. We used the set of displacements and luminosities shown in Fig. 3 and then randomly re-arranged the pairings. This corresponds to the null hypothesis in which luminosity and displacement are unrelated. In $`10^7`$ trials, we found 1920 cases in which no sources lay in the same region of the luminosity-displacement plot which is empty in Fig. 3. This corresponds to a chance probability of occurrence of $`1.9\times 10^4`$.

For M82 there is also an absence of dim sources at small displacements. This is likely due to the high level of diffuse X-ray emission in the central 200 pc of M82 \[Griffiths et al. 2000\] which precludes detection of dim sources in the central regions of M82. Dim sources are detected very near star clusters in NGC 1569.

## 4 Discussion

We have shown that X-ray sources in these three starburst galaxies are preferentially located near star clusters. Because the star clusters are very good tracers of current star formation activity in the galaxies, this confirms that the X-ray binaries are young objects associated with current star formation.

We also found significant displacements of the X-ray sources from the clusters. Because X-ray binaries, unlike other bright X-ray sources such as young supernovae, can exhibit high velocities, this suggests that much of the X-ray source population consists of X-ray binaries. Several mechanisms can put a binary in motion. For neutron star binaries, a ‘kick’ due to an asymmetric explosion in the formation of the neutron star can lead to high velocities \[Lyne & Lorimer 1994\]. Even in the absence of ‘kicks’ from supernova explosions, momentum conservation following a symmetric ejection of matter in the formation of the neutron star or black hole in a binary with a high mass companion can produce a runaway speed of $`50\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$; the ejected matter continues to move with the instantaneous orbital velocity of the compact object at the moment of ejection and the binary must move in the opposite direction to conserve momentum \[Nelemans, Tauris, & van den Heuvel 1999, van den Heuvel et al. 2000\]. For binaries in clusters, interactions with other stars and binaries in the cluster can eject the binary from the cluster \[Phinney & Sigurdsson 1991, Kulkarni, Hut, & McMillian 1993, Sigurdsson & Hernquist 1993\]. In young, dense star clusters such interactions can occur on time scales of a few Myr \[Portegies Zwart et al. 1999\]. Objects ejected via dynamical interactions tend to escape with close to the minimum energy needed to escape \[Joshi, Nave, & Rasio 2001\]. The runaway velocities (at infinity) should be of the same magnitude as the stellar velocity dispersions of the clusters, which are typically $`1015\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in these galaxies \[Smith & Gallagher 2001, McCrady, Gilbert, & Graham 2003\]. The displacements we observe in the starburst galaxies are likely due to motion of the X-ray sources caused by one or more of these mechanisms.

Furthermore, we found that there is an absence of bright X-ray sources with large displacements. This suggests that there is some correlation between the maximum possible brightness of an X-ray source and its motion. This correlation appears to hold only for (isotropic equivalent) luminosities above $`10^{38}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The excluded region appears to be bounded by a linear relation between (isotropic equivalent) source luminosity $`L_X`$ and source displacement from the nearest star cluster $`d`$, $`L_x<(1\times 10^{41}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1)/(d/\mathrm{pc})`$.

In discussing this correlation, we first consider the case where the X-ray sources emit isotropically. In this case, the systems producing such high luminosities likely contain black holes accreting via Roche lobe overflow because such high luminosities would be difficult to achieve in a wind accretor due to the low efficiency of wind capture and black holes and needed to not violate the Eddington limit \[Blondin, Stevens, & Kallman 1991, Petterson 1978\].

If the X-ray sources are ejected from the star clusters with speeds which are roughly independent of mass, then the inverse correlation between maximum X-ray source luminosity and displacement from the nearest star cluster would arise if the source lifetime varies inversely with luminosity. An upper bound on the source lifetime can be obtained from the time required to fully accrete the stellar companion. For a companion mass $`M`$ and an efficiency for the conversion of mass lost by the companion to luminosity of $`\eta `$, the source lifetime must be $`T\eta Mc^2/L`$ where $`L`$ is the average luminosity and $`c`$ is the speed of light. For sources traveling with a speed $`v`$ perpendicular to the line of sight, the displacement from the point of origin will then be $`dv\eta Mc^2/L`$. If the companion mass is independent of the compact object mass, then this would reproduce the required dependence of source lifetime on luminosity.

Given a typical runaway velocity $`v10\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, we must have $`\eta M0.2M_{}`$ to match the line plotted in Fig. 3 which bounds the region where X-ray sources are found. If Roche lobe overflow is occurring, then accretion onto the compact object may be efficient with little mass loss giving $`\eta 0.1`$. In this case, the companion mass would be $`M2M_{}`$. Such intermediate mass companions could be captured via dynamical interactions in the cluster. However, the capture must be directly into a Roche-lobe filling orbit or the binary must hardened into a Roche-lobe filling orbit via successive interactions in order to begin accretion promptly, since the evolutionary time scale of the companion is long. A better understanding of the IMF and the dynamical interactions within the clusters is needed to determine if this scenario is viable. Even with accretion via Roche lobe overflow, the efficiency $`\eta `$ may be less than $`0.1`$ since outflows are often observed in X-ray binaries. Super-Eddington mass transfer would also produce $`\eta <0.1`$. If $`\eta <0.1`$, then a higher companion mass may be compatible with the data shown in Fig. 3.

If the X-ray sources have high-mass companions and maximum speeds near $`50\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, then the absence of high luminosity source at large displacements implies a limit on the X-ray emitting lifetime of the sources. We find no sources at luminosities above $`10^{38}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ at displacements larger than 200 pc. At $`50\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, this would imply that the lifetimes of these luminous sources must be less than 4 Myr, corresponding to very massive stars. An alternative is that the luminosity of the sources decreases with age. This would require an evolutionary path for binaries which produces an accretion rate which decreases with age.

The X-ray binaries may also be beamed \[King et al. 2001, Körding et al. 2002, Kaaret et al. 2003\]. If the X-ray sources are high-mass systems with high velocities, then the observed correlation would imply that beaming only occurs when the binaries are quite young. King et al. (2001) suggest that the ULXs in starburst galaxies are high mass X-ray binaries with beamed X-ray emission in a phase of thermal-timescale mass transfer. The delay between the formation of the black hole (and, presumably, the start of the binary’s motion away from it point of origin) and the onset of the thermal-timescale mass transfer phase depends on the stellar evolution of the companion. The delay could be $``$ 20 Myr for a $`9M_{}`$ companion, which would imply that very bright X-ray sources should be visible out to 1 kpc. The data appear inconsistent with this, unless highly beamed X-ray emission occurs in the thermal-timescale mass transfer phase only for very massive companions. Large displacements of high flux sources, inconsistent with the data, also appear allowed in the relativistic beamed model of Kording et al. (2002).

## Acknowledgments

We thank the Aspen Center for Physics for its hospitality during the workshop where this work was begun. PK acknowledges partial support from NASA grant NAG5-7405 and Chandra grant GO2-3102X. JSG thanks the University of Wisconsin-Madison for support of this research.


text:
# Infrared probe of the electronic structure and charge dynamics in Na0.7CoO2

## Abstract

We present measurements of the optical spectra on Na0.7CoO2 single crystals. The optical conductivity shows two broad interband transition peaks at 1.6 eV and 3.1 eV, and a weak midinfrared peak at 0.4 eV. The intraband response of conducting carriers is different from that of a simple Drude metal. A peak at low but finite frequency is observed, which shifts to higher frequencies with increasing temperature, even though the dc resistivity is metallic. The origin of the interband transitions and the low-frequency charge dynamics have been discussed and compared with other experiments.

The recent discovery of superconductivity at $``$5 K in hydrated sodium cobaltate Takada  has attracted much attention, as it is a new system other than cuprates where a doped Mott insulator becomes a superconductor. The host compound NaxCoO2 consists of alternate stacking of Na and CoO2 layers in which edge sharing CoO6 octahedra lead to a two-dimensional (2D) triangular lattice of Co ions.Terasaki1 ; Terasaki2  Superconductivity occurs when Na content x is near 0.3 and sufficient water is intercalated between the CoO2 layers. This material provides a model system for studying the physics of correlated electrons in a 2D triangular lattice. It is also believed that the study of NaxCoO2 system may shed new light on high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates.

To understand the mechanism of superconductivity in this material, great effort has been paid to the investigation of its electronic structure. As the first step, attention has been given to the host compound. A detailed band structure calculation for x=0.5 compound has been performed by Singh.Singh1  Within the local density approximation (LDA), it was found that the O 2p bands are located well below the Fermi level and there is little hybridization between O 2p and Co 3d bands. The splitting between the Co 3d eg and t2g bands is very large. The conduction electrons are mainly from the t2g band and the eg band is about 2.5 eV above the Fermi level. In the rhombohedral crystal field, the t2g manifold is further split into two ag and four e$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{g}{}^{}`$ bands. The ag bands contribute a large cylindrical hole Fermi surface centered at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. This large Fermi surface was confirmed by the ARPES measurements Valla ; Hasan ; Yang . However, the six Fermi pockets from the e$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{g}{}^{}`$ bands, predicted by the LDA, were not observed by the ARPES. On the other hand, if the effects of spin polarization were included, an itinerant ferromagnetic state was predicted to exist for x=0.3 to 0.7.Singh1 ; Singh2 ; Kunes  There was no report on the existence of distinct magnetic order in this material, but a Curie-Weiss-like susceptibility $`\chi (T)`$ was found when x $``$ 0.7. This suggests that Co ions have local moments associated with the exchange splittingTakada ; Sakurai ; Lorenz , but strong quantum fluctuations suppress the long-range ferromagnetic ordering in NaxCoO2 .Singh2

In this work, we report the in-plane optical response over broad frequencies on single crystals with x=0.7. Our measurements yield two broad interband transition peaks at 1.6 eV and 3.1 eV. The interband transition energies are significantly different from the energy difference between the occupied t2g and empty eg bands ($``$2.5 eV) as predicted by the LDA. The physical origin for this difference will be discussed. Moreover, our experiments also revealed a weak midinfrared peak at 0.4 eV and unusual charge dynamics at low frequencies.

High-quality Na0.7CoO2 single crystals with size around 3mm$`\times `$3mm were grown using the flux method.Jin  Fig. 1 shows the in-plane dc resistivity $`\rho _{ab}`$ measured by four-contact method. The temperature dependence of $`\rho _{ab}`$ is typically metallic and agrees with those reported in Ref. Hasan ; Wang ; Foo  with similar Na concentration.

The crystals could be readily cleaved to obtain a fresh and shinny surface. The near-normal incident reflectance spectra were measured by a Bruker 66v/S spectrometer in the frequency range from 40 cm-1 to 29,000 cm-1 . The sample was mounted on an optically black cone in a cold-finger flow cryostat. An in situ overcoating technique was employed for reflectance measurements Homes . The optical conductivity spectra were obtained from a Kramers-Kronig transformation of R($`\omega `$). We use Hagen-Rubens’ relation for the low frequency extrapolation, and a constant extrapolation to 100,000 cm-1 followed by a well-known function of $`\omega ^4`$ in the higher-energy side.

Fig. 2 shows the in-plane reflectance spectra measured at different temperatures between 10 K and 300 K. In accord with the metallic dc resistivity behavior with a positive slope, we found that the low-frequency reflectance increases with decreasing temperature. However, the reflectance in the mid-infrared region decreases with decreasing temperature and $`R(\omega )`$ at different temperatures cross at about 1,300 cm-1 . The main spectral change caused by temperature variation is roughly below 4,000 cm-1 . The reflectance reaches a minimum (or an edge ) near 6,000 cm-1 . This frequency is close to the so-called screened plasma frequency. We note that this frequency is significantly lower than that of optimally doped cuprates like YBa2Cu3O7-δ and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ, suggesting that the conducting carrier density is lower in the present compound.

Fig. 3 shows the conductivity spectra over broad frequencies. Corresponding to the reflectance minimum, the optical conductivity also exhibits a minimum at similar frequency. The low-frequency part is mainly contributed by the conducting carriers. A sum of the spectral weight up to 6,000 cm-1 yields approximately the overall plasma frequency of $``$ 1.2$`\times `$104 cm-1 , which is apparently lower than the values for optimally doped cuprates obtained by the same method.Puchkov  At high frequency side, two prominent interband transition peaks centered at 25,000 cm-1 (3.1 eV) and 13,000 cm-1 (1.6 eV) are observed and labelled as $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$. A week shoulder is seen for the $`\beta `$ peak near 9,000 cm-1 . The peak strengths, especially the $`\alpha `$ one, could be affected by the high-frequency extrapolation in the Kramers-Kronig transformation, but their shapes and positions are less affected. In fact, as shown in the inset of Fig. 2, two interband transition peaks in the measured reflectance in the above mentioned energy scales can be clearly seen.

According to the band structure calculation,Singh1  the O 2p bands are much below the Fermi level, and the transition between the O 2p bands and Co 3d bands is beyond our measurement frequencies. A most probable interband transition relevant to our observation is from the occupied Co3d t2g to the empty Co3d eg bands due to the octahedral crystal field splitting. However, the LDA result for the energy difference between the t2g and eg bands is 2.5 eV,Singh1  which lies between those two peaks. We suggest that the difference could be due to the neglect of the spin polarization effect in the simple LDA calculation. Within spin-polarized local density approximation (LSDA), Na0.5CoO2 is expected to be a ferromagnetic half metal,Singh1  and the ferromagnetic instability is robust with respect to doping.Singh2 ; Kunes  It is predicted that the exchange splitting of the t2g states is about 1.5 eV for Na0.3CoO2.Kunes  Experimentally, although no long range ferromagnetic ordering was observed, a Curie-Weiss-like temperature dependence of susceptibility $`\chi (T)`$ was found for x near 0.7.Takada ; Sakurai ; Lorenz  Recent neutron inelastic scattering also indicated ferromagnetic spin fluctuations within the cobalt-oxygen layers for Na0.75CoO2.Boothroyd  Therefore, the exchange splittings for the spin-up and spin-down energy levels of t2g and eg are still expected to exist. This splitting will broaden the t2g and eg band widths. On one hand, it reduces the minimum excitation gap between the t2g and eg bands (leading to the $`\beta `$ peak); on the other hand, it leads to further increase of the largest energy separation between the t2g and eg bands ($`\alpha `$ transition). So, the two peaks resemble the respective transitions between spin minority and spin majority DOS as observed in ferromagnetic materials, such as CrO2.Singley ; Mazin

In addition to the interband transition, there is a weak absorption feature (labelled as $`\gamma `$ in fig. 3) in the mid-infrared region around $``$ 3,300 cm-1 (0.4 eV). This feature is already present at room temperature, but becomes more pronounced at low temperatures. There are several possibilities for the origin of this absorption feature. A simple explanation is that the weak peak is due to the interband transition between different t2g states. The ARPES experiments along the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-K direction revealed the existence of a nearly flat band at 0.16 - 0.2 eV below Fermi energy and an extended flat band just above EF. Yang  However, the transition between them is unlikely to be responsible for this feature, since the excitation energy is smaller than 0.4 eV. Thus it is more likely that this weak peak is dut to a transition from occupied e$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{g}{}^{}`$ bands to some partially filled ag bands within t2g manifold. An alternative explanation is that the weak mid-infrared feature is due to strong correlation effects. Recent theoretical study based on a fermion-spin theory of the t-J model on a triangular latticeLiu  shows that, besides a Drude-like peak at lower frequencies, a mid-infrared peak exists in this material. In this picture, the mid-infrared peak results from the competition between the kinetic and magnetic exchange energies. It is also possible that this peak results from spin polarons induced by magnetic fluctuations.

Fig. 4 shows the conductivity spectra below 1,500 cm-1 . The low frequency conductivity increases with decreasing temperature, consistent with the metallic behavior of the dc resistivity shown in Fig. 1. The increase of the spectral weight at low frequencies comes from the region below the mid-infrared peak. At room temperature, two in-plane phonons could be seen clearly at 525 and 553 cm-1 . With decreasing temperature, they shift slightly towards higher frequencies, and two additional phonons become visible at 505 and 575 cm-1 . In NaxCoO2, Na ions have two possible sites, leading to two kinds of structural geometries.Jorgensen  Symmetry analysis for each geometry reveals two infrared-active in-plane phonon modes 2E1u.Li  The respective mode frequencies are somewhat different for the two geometries. The observation of two in-plane phonon modes at room temperature, which are all close to the frequency of hard E1u mode, may indicate that the two structural geometries, or both Na sites occupations, are present in the sample. The appearance of additional phonon modes might be due to a structural change with temperature. However, a complete understanding of the infrared active phonons requires further efforts.

The most striking feature is that the intraband response of conducting carriers is rather different from the simple Drude behavior. The conductivity drops at very low frequencies, resulting in a low frequency peak. The peak shifts toward lower frequency with decreasing temperature. Such peak has been observed by Bernhard et al. on Na0.82CoO2 single crystals in a very recent report.Bernhard  Similar finite energy peaks that shift to lower energies with decreasing T are predicted for Raman scattering in correlated systems near metal-insulator transition on the metallic side.Freericks  Usually, the drop of optical conductivity at low frequency is considered as a signature of charge localization. For NaxCoO2 , however, this drop is unlikely to be due to the weak localization effect, since the dc resistivity is purely metallic and does not show any sign of localization in the whole temperature range measured.

More information about the low-frequency charge dynamics could be obtained by comparing the dc resistivity with infrared conductivity at zero frequency limit. We found that, at room temperature, the optical conductivity in the low frequency limit agrees well with the dc data within experimental errors. However, with decreasing temperature, the dc conductivity data appear to have higher values. In particular, at 10 K, the dc conductivity is as high as 15,600 $`(\mathrm{\Omega }cm)^1`$, four times higher than the low-frequency optical conductivity data. This implies that there should exist a sharp increase in the optical conductivity below the frequency limit of our measurements. In this case, the conductivity drop tends to disappear due to the emergence of the new component at extremely low frequencies.

We believe that the temperature dependent behavior of the low-lying excitations observed in optical conductivity has close relationship with the quasiparticle dynamics observed in ARPES experiments. For Na0.7CoO2 single crystals, a well defined quasiparticle was observed only at low temperature where the resistivity is linear in T.Hasan  The quasiparticle weight decreases to almost zero on raising temperature to above 100 K. In a study on Na0.5CoO2 crystals, Valla et al.Valla  also found that the in-plane quasiparticles exist only at low temperature where the c-axis transport becomes metallic. If we compare the infrared data with ARPES results, it becomes clear that the low-$`\omega `$ drop in optical conductivity of NaxCoO2 correlates with the incoherent electronic states in which the quasiparticle picture breaks down. It also turns out that the positive slope of dc transport does not necessarily mean the existence of well-defined quasiparticles. The high temperature transport in NaxCoO2 is incoherent in nature. It is worth pointing out that the finite-energy peak has also been observed in other strongly correlated systems.Takenaka  The coexistence of the ”metallic” dc resistivity with a finite-energy peak in optical conductivity and the absence of well-defined quasiparticles in ARPES is a great challenge to our understanding of the charge transport.

Our results also imply that the development of an extremely narrow and sharp Drude component at low temperature might correspond to the well-defined quasiparticles in ARPES. Note that the occurrence of a sharp and narrow resonance mode at $`\omega `$=0 in a broad spectral background at low temperature was widely observed in strongly correlated electron systems, which was explained in terms of the renormalizaton of both the effective mass and scattering time of quasiparticles in the many-body picture.Degiorgi  On this basis, this renormalized quasiparticle peak should be responsible for the moderate mass enhancement observed in the specific heat measurement for the material.Terasaki2  The very narrow Drude peak was also inferred in the very recent work by Bernhard et al.Bernhard  from the ellipsometry measurement on Na0.82CoO2. From the decrease of the real part of dielectric function at very low frequency, they estimated the plasma frequency for this narrow Drude carriers of roughly 1,300 cm-1 . This value is almost 10 times smaller than that the overall plasma frequency obtained from the sum rule in the present work. Such difference also reflects the enhanced effective mass of quasiparticle at low temperature.Degiorgi

To conclude, the electronic structure and charge dynamics have been investigated for Na0.7CoO2 by means of optical spectroscopy probe. The optical conductivity spectra show two broad interband transition peaks at 1.6 eV and 3.1 eV, and a weak midinfrared peak at 0.4 eV. The former two peaks were explained as transitions between occupied t2g to empty eg bands by invoking the effect of exchange splitting. The midinfrared peak is attributed either to the interband transition within the t2g manifold or to the electronic correlation effect. The intraband response of conducting carriers is different from that of a simple Drude metal. The optical conductivity exhibits a peak at finite frequency, which shifts slightly towards higher frequencies with increasing temperature. Our analysis suggests that the peak is not due to the carrier localization but represents the incoherent electronic states where the quasiparticle picture breaks down.

We acknowledge helpful discussions with Z. Fang, S. P. Feng, J. L. Luo, Y. Wang, L. Yu, and G. M. Zhang. This work is supported by National Science Foundation of China (No. 10025418, 10374109), the Knowledge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.


text:
# Dynamos, Super-pulsars and Gamma-ray bursts

## 1 Introduction

While there is mounting evidence that the long-soft variety GRBs are related directly to the death of massive stars and go along with supernova explosions, there is so far little evidence about the progenitor of short-hard GRBs. The most popular candidates are binary coalescences of either a double neutron star or a stellar mass black hole with a neutron star. Most often a ’unified picture’ for the GRB central engine, a new-born black hole plus a debris disk, is invoked. We will explore here the possibility that the central object of the merger remnant produces a GRB via magnetic processes before collapsing to a black hole. Further scenarios with ultra-magnetised neutron stars have been suggested, for example, by Usov (1992, 1994), Duncan and Thompson (1992), Thompson and Duncan (1994), Meszaroz and Rees (1997), Katz (1997) and Kluzniak and Ruderman (1998).
The merger of two neutron stars results in a massive central object, a thick, hot and dense torus of neutron star debris and some material on highly eccentric/unbound orbits ruffert96 ; ruffert97 ; rosswog99 . The central object of the remnant is rapidly differentially rotating rasio99 ; rosswog99 ; faber01 ; rosswog02a  with rotational periods ranging from $`0.4`$ to $`2`$ ms rosswog02a . Differential rotation is known to be very efficient in stabilising stars that are substantially more massive than their non-rotating maximum mass. For example, Ostriker and Bodenheimer (1968) constructed differentially rotating white dwarfs of 4.1 M. A recent investigation analysing differentially rotating polytropic neutron stars lyford02  finds it possible to stabilise systems even beyond twice the typical neutron star mass of $`2.8`$ M. The exact time scale of this stabilisation is difficult to determine, as all the poorly known high-density nuclear physics (“exotic” condensates etc.) could influence the results, but estimates of up to many seconds are not unrealistic.

## 2 Simulations

We have performed 3D simulations of the last inspiral stages and the subsequent coalescence for about 20 ms. We use a temperature and composition dependent nuclear equation of state that covers the whole relevant parameter space in density, temperature and composition shen98 ; rosswog02a . In addition, a detailed, multi-flavour neutrino treatment has been applied to account for energy losses and compositional changes due to neutrino processes. The neutrino treatment and the results concerning the neutrino emission have been described in detail in rosswog03a . To solve the hydrodynamic equations we use the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method (SPH), the simulations are performed with up to more than a million SPH particles. We use Newtonian self-gravity plus extra forces emerging from the emission of gravitational waves. The details of the production runs as well as those of several test runs can be found in rosswog02a ; rosswog03a ; rosswog03b . Results focusing particularly on gamma-ray bursts have been presented in rosswog02b ; rosswog03b ; rosswog03c .

## 3 Dynamo action in merger remnants

Before proceeding further with the argumentation, it is worth pointing out that the fluid flow never becomes axisymmetric during the simulation and therefore Cowlings anti-dynamo theorem does not apply here.
The central object of the merger remnant is differentially rapidly rotating with rotation periods below 1 ms over a large fraction of the central object’s radius, examples of rotation profiles can be found in rosswog02a . When the stellar surfaces come into contact, a vortex sheet forms between them across which the tangential velocities exhibit a discontinuity. This vortex sheet is Kelvin-Helmholtz-unstable with the shortest modes growing fastest. These fluid instabilities lead complex flow patterns inside the central object of the merger remnant. In the orbital plane they manifest themselves as strings of vortex rolls that may merge (see Fig. 8 in rosswog02a ). An example of the flow pattern perpendicular to the orbital plane is shown in Fig. 1. This pattern caused by fluid instabilities exhibits “cells” of size $`l_c`$ 1 km and velocities of $`v_c10^8`$ cm/s.
Moreover, the neutrino optical depth drops very steeply from $`10^4`$ at the centre to the edge of the central object (see Fig. 11 in rosswog03a ). For this reason the outer layers loose neutrino energy, entropy and lepton number at a much higher rate than the interior, this leads to a gradual build-up of a negative entropy and lepton number gradient which will drive vigorous convection epstein79 ; burrows88 . We expect this to set in after a substantial fraction of the neutrino cooling time (i.e. on time scales longer than our simulated time) when a lot of the thermal energy of the remnant has been radiated away. The situation is comparable to the convection in a new-born protoneutron star, but here we have around twice the mass and the matter is much more deleptonized ($`Y_e0.1`$). As both the fluid instabilities and the neutrino-driven convection have very similar properties, we will not further distinguish between them in this context. Assuming neutrinos to be the dominant source of viscosity thompson93  we estimate a viscous damping time scale of the order $`\tau _cl_c^2/\nu _\nu 60`$ s, where $`\nu _\nu `$ is the neutrino viscosity. In other words the fluid pattern will be damped out only on a time scale that is much longer that the time scales of interest here.
We expect an efficient $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$-dynamo to be at work in the merger remnant. The differential rotation will wind up initial poloidal into a strong toroidal field (“$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-effect”), the fluid instabilities/convection will transform toroidal fields into poloidal ones and vice versa (“$`\alpha `$effect”). Usually, the Rossby number, $`Ro\frac{\tau _{rot}}{\tau _{conv}}`$ is adopted as a measure of the efficiency of dynamo action in a star. In the central object we find Rossby numbers well below unity, $`0.4`$, and therefore expect an efficient amplification of initial seed magnetic fields. A convective dynamo amplifies initial fields exponentially with an e-folding time given approximately by the convective overturn time, $`\tau _c3`$ ms; the saturation field strength is thereby independent of the initial seed field (Nordlund et al. 1992).
Adopting the kinematic dynamo approximation we find that, if we start with a typical neutron star magnetic field, $`B_0=10^{12}`$ G, as seed, equipartition field strength in the central object will be reached (provided enough kinetic energy is available, see below) in only $`40`$ ms. The equipartition field strengths in the remnant are a few times $`10^{17}`$ G for the central object and around $`10^{15}`$ G for the surrounding torus (see Fig. 8 in rosswog03b ). To estimate the maximum obtainable magnetic field strength (averaged over the central object) we assume that all of the available kinetic energy can be transformed into magnetic field energy. Using the kinetic energy stored in the rotation of the central object, $`E_{\mathrm{kin}}=810^{52}`$ erg for our generic simulation, we find $`B_{co}=\sqrt{3E_{\mathrm{kin}}/R_{co}^3}310^{17}`$ G (note that if only a fraction of 0.1 of the equipartition pressure should be reached this would still correspond to $`10^{17}`$ G).

## 4 Gamma-ray Bursts

There are various ways how this huge field strength could be used to produce a GRB. The fields in the vortex rolls (see Fig. 8 in rosswog02a ) will wind up the magnetic field fastest. Once they reach field strengths close to the local equipartition value they will become buoyant, float up, break through the surface and possibly reconnect in an ultra-relativistic blast kluzniak98 . The time structure imprinted on the sequence of such blasts would then reflect the activity of the fluid instabilities inside the central object. The expected lightcurve of the GRB would therefore be an erratic sequence of sub-bursts with variations on millisecond time scales.

Simultaneously such an object can act as a scaled-up “super-pulsar” and drive out an ultra-relativistic wind. A similar configuration, a millisecond pulsar with a magnetic field of a few times $`10^{15}`$ G, formed for example in an accretion-induced collapse, has been suggested as a GRB-model by Usov (1992, 1994). The kinetic energy from the braking of the central object is mainly transformed into magnetic field energy that is frozen in the outflowing plasma. At some stage the plasma becomes transparent to its own photons producing a blackbody component. Further out from the remnant the MHD-approximation breaks down and intense electromagnetic waves of the rotation frequency of the central engine are produced. These will transfer their energy partly into accelerating outflowing particles to Lorentz-factors in excess of $`10^6`$ that can produce an afterglow via interaction with the external medium. The other part goes into non-thermal synchro-Compton radiation with typical energies of $`1`$ MeV usov94 .

## 5 Summary

We have discussed the possibility of dynamo action in the central object created in a neutron star merger, which is expected to be stabilised against gravitational collapse via differential rotation. If it remains so for a good fraction of a second then the initial neutron star magnetic fields are expected to be amplified by a low-Rossby number $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$-dynamo. In principle enough rotational energy is available to attain an average field strength in the central object of $`310^{17}`$ G. Locally the equipartition field strength (ranging from $`10^{16}`$ to a few times $`10^{17}`$ G depending on the exact position in the remnant) may be reached. This will cause the corresponding fluid parcels to float up and produce via reconnection an erratic sequence of ultra-relativistic blasts. In addition the central object can act as a “super-pulsar” of $`10^{17}`$ G that transforms most of its rotational energy into an ultra-relativistic wind with frozen-in magnetic field. As shown in usov94  such a wind will result in a black-body component plus synchro-Compton radiation. Such a super-pulsar will spin-down in $`0.2`$ s, just the typical duration of a short GRB.
We have only discussed magnetic processes in the central object of the remnant, but very similar processes are expected from the surrounding torus narayan92 . Here, however, longer time scales and lower magnetic field strengths are expected, the equipartition fields being around $`10^{15}`$ G.

The reported simulations have been performed using the UK Astrophysical Fluids Facility (UKAFF) and the supercomputer of the Mathematical Modelling Centre of the University of Leicester (HEX).