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# Clustering in stable and unstable nuclei in 𝑝-shell and 𝑠𝑑-shell regions

## I Introduction

Clustering is one of the essential features in nuclear dynamics, as already seen in light stable nuclei, where various cluster structure has been known even in the low-energy region. Also in the physics of unstable nuclei, the cluster feature is one of the center subjects. In fact, the recent experimental and theoretical studies of neutron-rich Be isotopes  revealed that cluster states exist also in light unstable nuclei. On the other hand, needless to say, the mean-field nature is the other essential aspect, which become more important in heavier nuclei. These facts imply that a variety of structure appears in stable and unstable nuclei. In the $`p`$-shell region, both the cluster and mean-field aspects coexist in a nucleus such as 12C . However, it is an open question whether or not the cluster features survive and are still essential in heavier nuclei. Concerning cluster aspect in stable $`sd`$-shell nuclei, remarkable phenomena are the molecular resonances, which have been observed in highly excited states of such nuclei as 24Mg, 28Si and 32S . When we ascertain the possible coexistence of cluster and mean-field natures in $`sd`$-shell or heavier nuclei, one of the key issues is to connect the molecular resonances with the low-lying deformed states.

Our aim is to make a systematic study covering such a variety of structure in the wide mass number region, while focusing on the cluster features. The important thing in theoretical models is describing both the cluster structure and mean-field-type structure. We apply microscopic methods based on antisymmetrized molecular dynamics(AMD), which meet the requirement because of the flexibility of the AMD wave functions. In this paper, the excited states of 12Be, the shape coexistence and molecular resonances in 28Si and 40Ca are studied. In 36Ar and 24Mg, possible molecular states in highly excited states are suggested.

## II Formulation

The formulation of AMD for nuclear structure study of the ground and excited states is explained in Refs.. The wave function of a nucleus is written by AMD wave functions, $`\mathrm{\Phi }=c\mathrm{\Phi }_{AMD}+c^{}\mathrm{\Phi }_{AMD}^{}+\mathrm{}`$. An AMD wave function is a Slater determinant of Gaussian wave packets;

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_{AMD}(𝐙)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{A!}}}𝒜\{\phi _1,\phi _2,\mathrm{},\phi _A\},`$ (1)
$`\phi _i=\varphi _{𝐗_i}\chi _{\xi _i}\tau _i,\mathrm{where}\varphi _{𝐗_i}(𝐫_j)\mathrm{exp}\left[\nu \left(𝐫_j{\displaystyle \frac{𝐗_i}{\sqrt{\nu }}}\right)^2\right]\mathrm{and}\chi _{\xi _i}=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{1}{2}+\xi _i\hfill \\ \frac{1}{2}\xi _i\hfill \end{array}\right).`$ (4)
$`\chi _{\xi _i}`$ is the intrinsic spin function and $`\tau _i`$ is the iso-spin function. An AMD wave function is given by a set of complex variational parameters $`𝐙=\{𝐗_1,𝐗_2,\mathrm{},𝐗_A,\xi _1,\mathrm{},\xi _A\}`$, where $`𝐗_i`$ is the center of Gaussian and $`\xi _i`$ defines the orientation of the intrinsic spin for the $`i`$-th single particle wave function. The model space of AMD wave function covers various cluster structure and also shell-model-like states. We perform energy variation by the frictional cooling method with respect to the complex variational parameters to obtain an energy minimum state in the model space. For the excited states of 12Be isotopes, we performed energy variation after spin-parity projection(VAP). In case of $`sd`$-shell nuclei, we applied a generator coordinate method in the AMD framework(AMD+GCM). Harmonic-oscillator quanta of the system, $`_{i=1}^A𝐩_i^2/2m\mathrm{}\omega +m\omega 𝐫_i^2/2\mathrm{}`$, is adopted as the generator coordinate in the present paper.

## III Excited states of 12Be

12Be is an interesting nucleus where the vanishing of magic number $`N=8`$ occurs. Recently, many excited states of 12Be have been experimentally measured. We applied the VAP method to the excited states of Be isotopes by using effective interactions, MV1 force(case 1, $`m=0.65`$)+G3RS-type LS force ($`u_1=u_2=3700`$ MeV)+Coulomb. In Fig.1, the postivie-parity rotational bands are diplayed in comparison with the experimental data of the spin-assigned positive-parity states. The highly excited states measured by He-He breakup reactions  are candidates of molecular-like states. Theoretical results obtained by the VAP calculation well fit to the experimental data. We found three rotational bands $`K^\pi =0_1^+,0_2^+`$ and $`0_3^+`$ in the positive-parity states. The ground band consists of the intruder states ($`2\mathrm{}\omega `$ excited configurations), which are well-deformed states with 2$`\alpha `$ core in the surrounding neutrons. On the other hand, the normal neutron-shell-closed states belong to the second band. It means that the vanishing of neutron magic number $`N=8`$ occurs in 12Be. As a result of the inversion between the cluster states and the normal $`p`$-shell closed states, the calculation consistently agrees with the data of the $`\beta `$ decay strength from the ground state into 12B . The other interesting point in the results is the prediction of the 6He+6He molecule-like structure in the third $`0^+`$ band. The experimentally measured $`4^+`$ and $`6^+`$ states are the candidates of these 6He+6He states in the $`K^\pi =0_3^+`$ band. Thus we found a variety of structures in the excited states of 12Be. We make a point of the coexistence of cluster and mean-field natures in this light neutron-rich nucleus. In the ground states, the valence neutrons move around the 2$`\alpha `$ core. In other words, they show the deformed-mean-field behaviour, which causes an enhancement of the 2$`\alpha `$ clustering. On the other hand, the shell-model-like states belong to the $`K^\pi =0_2^+`$ band, while the developed 6He-6He molecular structure was found in the $`K^\pi =0_3^+`$ band.

## IV $`sd`$-shell nuclei

In the study of cluster features in $`sd`$-shell nuclei, the subject of molecular resonances is one of the key problems. Molecular resonances have been experimentally measured in such $`Z=N`$ nuclei as 24Mg, 28Si and 32S. It is a long standing issue what is the connection between the molecular resonances in the high energy region and the low-lying deformed states. In present paper, we applied AMD+GCM method for the study of $`sd`$-shell nuclei.

The first subject is 28Si, where we have already known various experimental suggestions on the shape coexistence and the molecular resonances. In the low-energy region, the oblate ground band and a prolate excited band are known, while exotic shapes in the negative parity states are expected from the $`\gamma `$-ray transition strengths . In the highly excited states, 16O-12C molecular resonances were experimentally observed . Moreover, $`\alpha `$-cluster states are suggested. There were many theoretical efforts by mean-field approaches and cluster approaches, but one did not yet catch a total understanding of overall these phenomena. We studied the structure of the ground, excited states of 28Si and investigated the molecular resonant behaviour with AMD+GCM method(fixed intrinsic spins version). First, we obtain energy curves as a function of the generator coordinate(GC) $`_{i=1}^A𝐩_i^2/2m\mathrm{}\omega +m\omega 𝐫_i^2/2\mathrm{}`$, harmonic oscillator quanta. In case of 28Si, two local minimum states are found in each value of GC. The lower one corresponds to the oblate deformed state and the higher one is the prolate deformation. In the small GC region, these states compose the oblate ground band and the prolate excited band. With the increase of the GC value, the oblate deformation varies into $`\alpha `$-cluster($`\alpha +^{24}`$Mg) states, while from the prolate deformation the 16O+12C clustering enlarges. After the superposition of the obtained basis, O-C molecular states and $`\alpha `$-cluster states appear from the prolate band and the oblate ground band, respectively. In the final results, we chose 23 AMD wave functions as base states in the diagonalization. By analysing the amplitudes of the base states in the final states, we can classify many of the excited states into two groups. The first group principally consists of the prolate states, while the second group is a family based on the oblate states.

In the positive-parity states of the former group(prolately deformed states), we found three $`K^\pi =0^+`$ bands dominated by O+C cluster states. We demonstrate in Fig.2(a) the excitation energy of the three O+C cluster bands and the oblate ground band. The lowest band of the three is consistent with the normal prolately deformed band in the experimental data. In order to discuss the molecular resonant behaviour of the higher bands, we give in Fig.2(b) the extracted inter-cluster wave functions between the $`O_{g.s.}`$ and $`C_{g.s.}`$($`SU_3`$ limit g.s.) clusters. It is found that the lowest band has the minimum node number $`n_0=8`$ in Pauli allowed states, while the second and third bands are the higher nodal O-C molecular states with larger node numbers of the inter-cluster wave functions as $`n_0=9`$ and $`n_0=10`$, respectively. In the energy region near the third bands, there exist many experimentally observed O-C molecular resonances. It is interesting that the low-lying prolate band of 28Si is regarded as the lowest O+C cluster state and the higher nodal molecular bands appear due to the excitation of the inter-cluster motion. In fact, the molecular resonances in 28si were often discussed in the connection with the low-lying prolate deformation in the studies with two-body cluster models . Here we remark the importance of the present work that we did confirm the appearance of O-C molecular states without assuming the existence of any clusters.

In the family of the oblate states, we obtain an excited band consisting of $`\alpha `$-cluster states in addition to the oblate ground band(Fig.2(c)). The $`\alpha `$-cluster band is about 10 MeV higher than the ground band in the present results. There are experimental levels observed in $`\alpha `$-transfer reactions  in the corresponding energy region. In the negative parity states, the calculated results indicate that exotic shapes compose $`K^\pi =3^{}`$ and $`K^\pi =5^{}`$ bands(Fig.2(d)). For example, $`K^\pi =5^{}`$ band is described by a pentagon shape given by 7$`\alpha `$-like structure. The results agree to the experimental data of the energy levels and the in-band $`E2`$ transition strengths of the $`K^\pi =3^{}`$ and $`K^\pi =5^{}`$ bands.

The second subject is 40Ca, where, the rotational band of the superdeformation has been recently observed in the experimental data of $`\gamma `$-ray measurements . It is very surprising that many-particle many-hole states lie in such a low-energy region as the excitation energy of the band-head state of this superdeformation is only 5.2 MeV. The low-lying excited states of 40Ca were studied by the AMD+GCM method in Ref., where many low-lying rotational bands were found in the results. By analysing the single-particle orbits of the positive-parity states, it was found that the ground band, the normal deformation and the superdeformation are dominated by $`0p`$-$`0h`$, $`4p`$-$`4h`$ and $`8p`$-$`8h`$ configurations, respectively. It is consistent with the analysis based on shell-model calculations. What is exciting in our results is that superdeformation has a parity-asymmetric shape which is composed by the 28Si+12C-like cluster core. It is unique that, in the superdeformation, the parity-asymmetric shape like a pear arises keeping the $`8p`$-$`8h`$ configurations dominant. With respect to the parity-asymmetric shape, we predicted the parity-doublet states in the negative parity states, which contain the mixing of $`7h`$-$`7p`$ and $`5h`$-$`5p`$ configurations . Moreover, it is naturally expected that the 28Si-12C molecular states may arise from the superdeformation. From this point of view, we studied the highly excited states of 40Ca in the present paper. As we increase the generator coordinate (harmonic oscillator of the system) from the superdeformed state, the 28Si+12C clustering enhances. After the diagonalization, we found the higher rotational bands with the remarkable 28Si-12C molecular states. Namely, the 28Si-12C molecular states appear due to the excitation of inter-cluster motion based on the superdeformation. In the other words, the low-lying superdeformation is regarded as the lower member of the 28Si-12C molecular states. This is a similar situation to the 28Si system, where the low-lying deformed states are connected with the O-C molecular resonances. In the present work, the energy intervals between the superdeformed and the second bands, the second and the third bands are predicted to be about 10 MeV. It is concluded that we suggested the possible 28Si-12C molecular resonances and their connection with the low-lying superdefomation in 40Ca.

As mentioned above, the molecular states in the highly excited states in 28Si and 40C were discussed in the connection with the low-lying deformed states. Here, we briefly report the possibility of molecular states in other $`sd`$-shell nuclei. With the same framework of AMD+GCM, we study the excited states of 36Ar and 28Mg. In the highly excited states of 36Ar, we predict an eccentric cluster states with the 3-carbon-like linear structure. To our surprise, the main component of the 3-12C linear-chain state is a $`8p`$-$`12h`$ configuration. It means that the linear-chain state is explained also by the many-particle many-hole state in the picture of single-particle orbits. It is similar to the case of the pear-like shape of the superdeformation of 40Ca, which is dominated by the $`8p`$-$`8h`$ configuration. The linear-chain structure in 36Ar is understood also by the two-body cluster picture. Considering that two of the three C clusters compose a 24Mg cluster, the linear-chain is regarded as the excited 12C+24Mg cluster states, where the C cluster contacts to the 24Mg from the longitudinal direction. The rotational band of the linear structure is predicted in the energy region $`E_x`$30 MeV in the present calculations. Concerning 28Mg nucleus, various cluster channels may appear due to the valence neutrons and they interplay to each other. A superdeformation with $`2\mathrm{}\omega `$ configuration is theoretically obtained in the highly excited states of 28Mg. The results imply the possibility of 14C-14C and 18O-10Be molecular states and $`\alpha `$-cluster states above the superdeformation. The coupling of the different channels, the fragmentation and the widths of the states should be investigated in detail.

## V Summary

Based on microscopic calculations with the AMD method, we discussed the excited states of 12Be, 28Si, 40Ca, 36Ar and 28Mg while focusing on the cluster features. Both the cluster aspect and mean-field aspect are essential in the systematic study of these nuclei. These two natures coexist, compete, interplay or overlap to each other even in $`sd`$-shell nuclei as well as $`p`$-shell nuclei. The largely deformed states are described by many-particle many-hole configurations, while the exotic shapes in the deformed states arise from the cluster structure. We succeeded to connect the high-lying molecular states with the low-lying deformed states. Namely, the low-lying deformed states are regarded as lower members of the high-lying molecular states. In other words, the molecular states arise due to the excitation of inter-cluster motion and the higher molecular states start from the low-lying deformed states.

Various molecular states were suggested in $`sd`$-shell nuclei. To our impression, the carbon is the key cluster in $`sd`$-shell region because the carbon clusters are often found in the present results. Needless to say, the $`\alpha `$ cluster is the most important cluster. In addition to the $`\alpha `$ cluster we propose that the second key cluster is carbon at least in $`sd`$-shell nuclei.

The coexistence of the cluster and mean-field natures may become increasingly important in unstable nuclei. The further studies on unstable $`sd`$-shell nuceli, 20Ne and 32S were done by Kimura et al. with the extended version of AMD method(Ref.).


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# Heisenberg–Fisher thermal uncertainty measure

## I Introduction

We will here explore some features of an information-theoretic uncertainty measure, the Wehrl entropy wehrl  $`I_W`$. As shown by Lieb lieb , $`I_W1`$, and this bound represents a strengthened version of the uncertainty principle. In the case of a harmonic oscillator in a thermal state, $`I_W`$ coincides with the logarithmic information measure of Shannon’s in the high temperature regime. However, it does not vanish at zero temperature, thus supplying a nontrivial measure of uncertainty due to both thermal and quantum fluctuations PRD2753\_93 . It will be here shown that intriguing connections link $`I_W`$ to Fisher’s information measure $`I`$. As far as possible, we will use the notation of Anderson and Halliwell PRD2753\_93 .

The present endeavor is motivated by the fact that much interesting work has recently been devoted to the physical applications of Fisher’s information measure (FIM) (see, for instance, Frieden ; roybook ; Renyi ; FPPS ; Incerteza ). Frieden and Soffer Frieden  have shown that Fisher’s information measure provides one with a powerful variational principle, the extreme physical information one, that yields most of the canonical Lagrangians of theoretical physics Frieden ; roybook . Additionally, $`I`$ has been shown to provide an interesting characterization of the “arrow of time”, alternative to the one associated with Boltzmann’s entropy pla2 ; pla4 . Thus, unravelling the multiple FIM facets and their links to physics should be of general interest. The Legendre transform structure of thermodynamics can be replicated as well, without any change, if one replaces the Boltzmann-Gibbs-Shannon entropy $`S`$ by Fisher’s information measure $`I`$, In particular, i) $`I`$ possesses the all important concavity property FPPS , and ii) use of the Fisher’s measure allows for the development of a thermodynamics that seems to be able to treat equilibrium and none-equilibrium situations in a manner entirely similar to the conventional one FPPS . Here, the focus of our attention will be, following PRD2753\_93 , the thermal description of harmonic oscillator (HO).

For the convenience of the reader, in Sec. II we review some fundamental aspects of the HO canonical-ensemble description from a coherent states’ viewpoint PRD2753\_93 . We also discuss some ideas related to Fisher’s information measure, the protagonist of the present effort, in Sec. III. In IV we explore its properties with regards to temperature’s estimation while, in Sec. V, we establish some new results concerning uncertainty relations. Finally, we draw some conclusions in Sec. VI.

## II Background notions

In PRD2753\_93  the authors discuss quantum-mechanical phase-space distributions expressed in terms the celebrated coherent states $`|z`$ of the harmonic oscillator, eigenstates of the annihilation operator $`\widehat{a}`$ klauder ; Schnack

$`\widehat{H}_o`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{}\omega [\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{a}+1/2];\widehat{a}=i(2\mathrm{}\omega m)^{1/2}\widehat{p}+(m\omega /2\mathrm{})^{1/2}\widehat{x}`$ (1)
$`2z`$ $`=`$ $`\left(x/\sigma _x+ip/\sigma _p\right)`$ (2)
$`z`$ $`=`$ $`(m\omega /2\mathrm{})^{1/2}x+i(2\mathrm{}\omega m)^{1/2}p`$ (3)
$``$ $`x^{}+ip^{},\mathrm{with}x^{}=x/2\sigma _x;p^{}=p/2\sigma _p`$ (4)
$`\sigma _x`$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{}/2m\omega )^{1/2};\sigma _p=(\mathrm{}m\omega /2)^{1/2};\sigma _x\sigma _p=\mathrm{}/2.`$ (5)
Variances $`\sigma `$ are evaluated for the HO ground state. Coherent states span Hilbert’s space, constitute an over-complete basis and obey the completeness rule (use“natural variables” $`x^{},y^{}`$) klauder

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}^2z}{\pi }|zz|}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x}{2\pi \mathrm{}}|p,xp,x|}=1`$ (6)
$`\mathrm{d}^2z`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{d}\mathrm{}(z)\mathrm{d}\mathrm{}(z)`$ (7)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x}{2\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{d}p^{}\mathrm{d}x^{}.`$ (8)
Variances $`\sigma `$ are evaluated for the HO ground state. The Wehrl entropy wehrl  is defined as

$$I_W=\frac{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x}{2\pi \mathrm{}}\mu (p,x)\mathrm{ln}\mu (p,x),$$
(9)
where $`\mu (p,x)=z|\widehat{\rho }|z`$ is the “classical” distribution function associated to the density matrix $`\widehat{\rho }`$ of the system. The function $`\mu (p,x)`$ is normalized in the fashion $`(\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x/2\pi \mathrm{})\mu (p,x)(\mathrm{d}p^{}\mathrm{d}x^{}/\pi )\mu (p^{},x^{})=1,`$ and is often referred to as the Husimi distribution husimi . It is of particular interest to discuss the equilibrium case, as represented by Gibbs’ canonical distribution, where the “thermal” density matrix is given by $`\widehat{\rho }=Z^1e^{\beta \widehat{H}}`$. $`Z=Tr(e^{\beta \widehat{H}})`$ is the partition function, and $`\beta =1/kT`$, being $`T`$ the temperature, with $`k`$ the Boltzmann constant, to be set equal to unity hereafter. Specializing things for the HO, with eigenstates $`|n`$ associated to the eigen-energies $`E_n=\mathrm{}\omega \left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)`$, one has $`z|\widehat{\rho }|z=\frac{1}{Z}_ne^{\beta \widehat{H}}|z|n|^2`$ with $`|z|n|^2=\frac{|z|^{2n}}{n!}e^{|z|^2},`$ so that the distribution $`\mu `$ reads PRD2753\_93

$$\mu (p,x)=z|\widehat{\rho }|z=(1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega })e^{(1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega })|z|^2},$$
(10)
and the Wehrl information (9), after integration over all phase space, turns out to be

$$I_W=1\mathrm{ln}(1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }).$$
(11)
Notice that $`x^{},y^{}`$ in (1) have been chosen so as to obtain the following result. First define (1) $`e_{|z|}^2(\beta ,\omega )e_{|z|}^2,`$
(2) $`J_2=(1/\pi )dp^{}dx^{}\mu (p^{},x^{})|z|^2`$, and
(3) $`J=(1/\pi )dp^{}dx^{}\mu (p^{},x^{})|z|`$. Then:

$$e_{|z|}^2=J_2J^2=|z|^2_\mu |z|_\mu ^2=\frac{\mathrm{d}p^{}\mathrm{d}x^{}}{\pi }\mu (p^{},x^{})(p^2+x^2)=(1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega })^1.$$
(12)
We write down now, for future reference, well-known HO-expressions for, respectively, the entropy $`S`$, the mean energy $`U`$, the specific heat $`C_V`$, and $`Z`$ pathria1993 ; Cohen

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`\beta {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}}\mathrm{ln}\{1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }\}`$ (13)
$`U`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{}\omega \left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}}\right]`$ (14)
$`C_V`$ $`=`$ $`\beta ^2\left(U/\beta \right)_V=\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\omega \beta }{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}}\right]^2e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }`$ (15)
$`\mathrm{ln}Z`$ $`=`$ $`\beta {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2}}\mathrm{ln}\{1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }\}.`$ (16)
## III Fisher’s Information measure

One important information measure is that advanced by R. A. Fisher in the twenties (a detailed study can be found in references Frieden ; roybook ). Let us consider a system that is specified by a physical parameter $`\theta `$, while x is a stochastic variable $`(𝐱\mathrm{}^N)`$ and $`f_\theta (𝐱)`$ the probability density for $`𝐱`$, which depends on the parameter $`\theta `$. An observer makes a measurement of $`𝐱`$ and has to best infer $`\theta `$ from this measurement, calling the resulting estimate $`\stackrel{~}{\theta }=\stackrel{~}{\theta }(𝐱)`$. One wonders how well $`\theta `$ can be determined. Estimation theory cramer  asserts that the best possible estimator $`\stackrel{~}{\theta }(𝐱)`$, after a very large number of $`𝐱`$-samples is examined, suffers a mean-square error $`e^2`$ from $`\theta `$ that obeys a relationship involving Fisher’s $`I`$, namely, $`Ie^2=1`$, where the Fisher information measure $`I`$ is of the form

$$I(\theta )=d𝐱f_\theta (𝐱)\left\{\frac{\mathrm{ln}f_\theta (𝐱)}{\theta }\right\}^2.$$
(17)
This “best” estimator is called the efficient estimator. Any other estimator must have a larger mean-square error. The only proviso to the above result is that all estimators be unbiased, i.e., satisfy $`\stackrel{~}{\theta }(𝐱)=\theta `$. Thus, Fisher’s information measure has a lower bound, in the sense that, no matter what parameter of the system we choose to measure, $`I`$ has to be larger or equal than the inverse of the mean-square error associated with the concomitant experiment. This result, $`Ie^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},`$ is referred to as the Cramer–Rao bound roybook . A particular $`I`$-case is of great importance: that of translation families roybook ; Renyi , i.e., distribution functions (DF) whose form does not change under $`\theta `$-displacements. These DF are shift-invariant (à la Mach, no absolute origin for $`\theta `$), and for them Fisher’s information measure adopts the somewhat simpler appearance roybook

$$I(shiftinvariant)=d𝐱f(𝐱)\left\{\frac{\mathrm{ln}f(𝐱)}{𝐱}\right\}^2.$$
(18)
Fisher’s measure is additive roybook : If $`x\mathrm{and}p`$ are independent, variables, $`I(p+x)=I(p)+I(x)`$. Notice that, for $`\theta \tau =(p,x)`$ (a point in pase-space), we face a shift-invariance situation. Since in defining $`z`$ in terms of the variables $`x`$ and $`p`$, these are scaled by their respective variances (Cf. above the definition of $`|z`$), the Fisher measure associated to the probability distribution $`\mu (p,x)\mu (\tau )`$ will be of the form Renyi

$$I_\tau =\frac{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x}{2\pi \mathrm{}}\mu (p,x)𝒜,$$
(19)
with

$$𝒜=\sigma _x^2\left[\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mu (p,x)}{x}\right]^2+\sigma _p^2\left[\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mu (p,x)}{p}\right]^2.$$
(20)
Given the $`\mu `$-expression (10), $`I_\tau `$ becomes

$$I_\tau =1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega },$$
(21)
which, in view of (12) immediately yields

$$I_\tau e_{|z|}^2(\beta ,\omega )=1;(CRboundreached!).$$
(22)
We realize at this point that the Fisher measure built up with Husimi distributions is to be best employed to estimate “phase-space position” $`|z|`$. Further, efficient estimation is possible for all temperatures, a rather significant result. Comparison with Eq. (11) allows one now to write

$$I_W=1\mathrm{ln}[I_\tau ]I_W+\mathrm{ln}[I_\tau ]=1.$$
(23)
Since both $`I_W`$ and $`I_\tau `$ are positive-definite quantities, (23) tells us that they are complementary informational quantities, what one of them gains, the other loses. Following Anderson et al. PRD2753\_93  let us analyze now the high and low temperatures limits. When the temperature goes to zero $`(\beta \mathrm{})`$, $`I_\tau 1`$, its maximum possible value, since we know that the ground state will be the only one to be populated. If, on the other hand, the temperature tends to infinity $`(\beta 0)`$, then $`I_\tau \beta \mathrm{}\omega `$ and tends to zero, because we know before-hand that, in the limit, all energy levels will be populated in uniform fashion. The uniform distribution is that of maximum ignorance katz . The range of $`I_\tau `$ is $`[0,1]`$, that of $`I_W`$ is $`[1,\mathrm{}]`$. Replacing $`I_\tau `$ into Eq. (13) we notice that

$$I_\tau =\frac{e^{\frac{1}{2}\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}{Z},$$
(24)
so that it coincides with the canonical ensemble probability for finding the system in its ground state.

## IV Fisher, inverse temperature, and thermodynamics’ third law

Consider now the general definition (17) of Fisher’s information measure in terms of the DF $`\mu (p,x)`$

$$I_\beta =\frac{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x}{2\pi \mathrm{}}\mu (p,x)\left(\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mu (p,x)}{\beta }\right)^2,$$
(25)
with $`\beta \theta `$ is the parameter to be estimated. Since

$$\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mu (p,x)}{\beta }=\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}[1(1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega })|z|^2],$$
(26)
one readily ascertains that i) the $`\mu `$-mean value of (26) vanishes and ii)

$$I_\beta =\left[\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}\right]^2\left(T=[0,\mathrm{}]I_\beta =[0,\mathrm{}]\right),$$
(27)
which, in view of (13), entails

$$I_\beta =\frac{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}{\beta ^2}C_V.$$
(28)
Reflection upon the $`I_\beta `$-range (27) might led one to conclude that it constitutes a Fisher manifestation of thermodynamics’ third law. Not only Shannon’s measure, but also Fisher’s (for the HO, at least) vanishes at zero temperature. Replacing now (21) and (27) into the entropy expression (Cf. (13)) we immediately arrive at the relation

$$S=\beta \sqrt{I_\beta }\mathrm{ln}I_\tau .$$
(29)
The HO entropy can be expressed as the sum of two terms: one associated with the Fisher information $`I_\beta `$ and the other with the Fisher information for translation families $`I_\tau `$ corresponding to the phase-space variables $`(p,x)`$. Using Eq. (13) we also have

$$\mathrm{ln}I_\tau =\beta \frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2}\mathrm{ln}Z=[\beta E_{gs}+\mathrm{ln}Z]$$
(30)
with $`E_{gs}`$ denoting the ground state energy. Thus,

$$S=\beta \left[\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2}+\sqrt{I_\beta }\right]+\mathrm{ln}Z,$$
(31)
which is to be compared to the well known canonical ensemble general expression connecting $`S`$ and the mean energy $`U`$ pathria1993

$$S=\mathrm{ln}Z+\beta U,$$
(32)
we see that $`I_\beta `$ is related to the excited spectrum contribution to $`U`$ while $`I_\tau `$ is to be linked to the partition function. We will look now for a new connection between Fisher’s measures $`I_\tau `$ and $`I_\beta `$. From (27) it is possible to rewrite $`I_\beta `$ in the form

$$I_\beta \left(\frac{\mathrm{}\omega e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}{1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}\right)^2,$$
(33)
and therefore

$$I_\tau \sqrt{I_\beta }=\mathrm{}\omega e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }=\frac{}{\beta }(e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }),$$
(34)
i.e, the product on the left-hand-side is the $`\beta `$-derivative of the Boltzmann factor (constant energy-wise) at the inverse temperature $`\beta `$. In other words, $`I_\tau \sqrt{I_\beta }`$ measures the $`\beta `$-gradient of the Boltzmann factor.

## V Uncertainties

We focus attention now on the actual phase-space variables $`x,p`$ (not on $`x^{},p^{}`$), and start with the obvious results $`x_\mu =p_\mu =0`$. We immediately find

$$(\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu x)^2=x^2_\mu =\frac{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}x}{2\pi \mathrm{}}x^2\mu (p,x)=\frac{2\sigma _x^2}{1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}.$$
(35)
In a similar vein

$$(\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu p)^2=p^2_\mu =\frac{2\sigma _p^2}{1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }},$$
(36)
which entails

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu \mathrm{\Delta }_\mu x\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu p=\frac{\mathrm{}}{1e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}=\frac{\mathrm{}}{I_\tau }I_\tau \mathrm{\Delta }_\mu =\mathrm{}.$$
(37)
We reconfirm thus the already mentioned fact that phase space “location” is possible, with Husimi distributions (HPDF’s), only up to $`\mathrm{}`$. This is to be compared to the uncertainties evaluated in a purely quantal fashion, without using HPDF’s. This is made by recourse to the virial theorem pathria1993 , that entails both i) $`U=m\omega ^2x^2,`$ and ii) $`U=p^2/m`$ (Cf. Eq. (13)). From these we easily deduce

$$x^2=\sigma _x^2\frac{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }+1}{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}x^2_\mu =\frac{2x^2}{1+e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }},\mathrm{and}$$
(38)
$$p^2=\sigma _p^2\frac{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }+1}{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}p^2_\mu =\frac{2p^2}{1+e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}.$$
(39)
Consequently,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }x\mathrm{\Delta }p=\frac{\mathrm{}}{2}\frac{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }+1}{e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }1}\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu =\frac{2\mathrm{\Delta }x\mathrm{\Delta }p}{1+e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega }}.$$
(40)
As $`\beta \mathrm{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu `$ is twice the minimum quantum value for $`\mathrm{\Delta }x\mathrm{\Delta }p`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu \mathrm{}`$, the “minimal” phase-space cell. The quantum and semi-classical results do coincide at very high temperature, though. Finally, with the help of (33) and (34), one readily can recast Heisenberg’s uncertainty relation as a function of both frequency and temperature in the fashion

$$F(\beta ,\omega )=\mathrm{\Delta }x\mathrm{\Delta }p=\frac{\mathrm{}}{2I_\tau }(1+e^{\beta \mathrm{}\omega })=\frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\mathrm{}}{I_\tau }+\frac{\sqrt{I_\beta }}{\omega }\right],$$
(41)
so that, for $`T`$ varying in $`[0,\mathrm{}]`$, the range of possible $`\mathrm{\Delta }x\mathrm{\Delta }p`$-values is $`[\mathrm{}/2,\mathrm{}].`$ Eq. (41) is a “Heisenberg–Fisher” thermal uncertainty (TU) relation (for a discussion of the TU concept see, for instance, mandelbrot ; flang ). $`F(\beta ,\omega )`$ grows with $`I_\beta `$ and diminishes with $`I_\tau `$. Note that, for fixed uncertainty $`F(\beta ,\omega )=`$ constant, $`I_\tau `$ and $`I_\beta `$ play “parallel” roles: improving temperature-estimation’ performance (in the sense that $`I_\beta `$ grows) also enhances that of phase-space location ($`I_\tau `$ has to grow as well), and viceversa.

## VI Conclusions

We have explored in this work connections between canonical ensemble quantities and two Fisher information measures (FIM), associated to the estimation of, respectively, i) phase-space location ($`I_\tau `$) and temperature ($`I_\beta `$). Our most important result is, perhaps, to have shown that there exists a “Fisher-associated” third law of thermodynamics (at least for the HO). From a pure information-theoretic viewpoint, we have, in addition, advanced several new results, namely,
(1) a connection between Wehrl’s entropy and $`I_\tau `$ (Cf. Eq. (23)),
(2) an interpretation of $`I_\tau `$ as the HO’s ground state occupation probability (Cf. Eq. (24)),
(3) an interpretation of $`I_\beta `$ proportional to the HO’s specific heat (Cf. Eq. (28)),
(4) the possibility of expressing the HO’s entropy as a sum of two terms, one for each of the above FIM realizations (Cf. Eq. (29)),
(5) a new form of Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations in Fisher terms (Cf. Eq. (41)).
(6) that efficient $`|z|`$-estimation can be achieved with $`I_\tau `$ at all temperatures, as the minimum Cramer–Rao value is always reached (Cf. Eq. (22)).

These results are, of course, restricted to the harmonic oscillator. However, this is such an important system that HO insights usually have a wide impact, as the HO constitutes much more than a mere example. Nowadays it is of particular interest for the dynamics of bosonic or fermionic atoms contained in magnetic traps anderson ; davis ; bradley  as well as for any system that exhibits an equidistant level spacing in the vicinity of the ground state, like nuclei or Luttinger liquids.


text:
# Variations in the spin period of the radio-quiet pulsar 1E 1207.4–5209

## 1 Introduction

X-ray observations of supernova remnants (SNRs) have revealed a number of radio-quiet central compact objects (CCOs — see Pavlov et al. 2002a, 2004 for a review) whose nature remains enigmatic. They are characterized by soft, apparently thermal, X-ray spectra and a lack of manifestations of pulsar activity (e.g., radio and/or $`\gamma `$-ray emission, compact synchrotron nebulae). Most likely, CCOs are neutron stars (NSs) formed in supernova explosions.

One of the best investigated CCOs is 1E 1207.4–5209 (1E1207 hereafter) in the G296.5+10.0 (= PKS 1209–51/52) SNR. It was discovered by Helfand & Becker (1984) with the Einstein observatory. Mereghetti, Bignami & Caraveo (1996) and Vasisht et al. (1997) interpreted the ROSAT and ASCA spectra of 1E1207 as blackbody emission of a (redshifted) temperature $`kT^{\mathrm{}}0.25`$ keV from an area with radius $`R^{\mathrm{}}1.5`$ km at $`d=2`$ kpc. Mereghetti et al. (1996) put upper limits of $`0.1`$ mJy for 4.8 GHz radio flux, $`10^7`$ photons cm-2 s-1 for $`E>100`$ MeV $`\gamma `$-rays, and $`V>25`$ for an optical counterpart. Zavlin, Pavlov & Trümper (1998) showed that the ROSAT and ASCA spectra are consistent with hydrogen or helium NS atmosphere models. For a NS of mass $`1.4M_{}`$ and radius 10 km, they obtained a NS surface temperature $`kT_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{}}kT(1+z)^1=0.12`$–0.16 keV, where $`z`$ is the gravitational redshift at the NS surface, and a distance 1.6–3.3 kpc, compatible with the distance to the SNR, $`d=2.1_{0.8}^{+1.8}`$ kpc (Giacani et al. 2000).

First Chandra observation of 1E1207 in January 2000 with a 30 ks exposure allowed us to detect a period $`P_1=0.4241296`$ s (frequency $`f_1=2.357770`$ Hz), which proved that the source is indeed a NS, with a period typical for an ordinary radio pulsar (Zavlin et al. 2000; Paper I hereafter). The pulsar was again observed with Chandra for 30 ks in January 2002. This observation showed a longer period, $`P_2=0.4241309`$ s ($`f_2=2.357763`$ Hz), corresponding to the period derivative $`\dot{P}2\times 10^{14}`$ s s-1 (Pavlov et al. 2002b; Paper II hereafter). Such a period derivative implies a characteristic age, $`\tau _cP/(2\dot{P})300`$ kyr, much larger than the 3–20 kyr age of the SNR (Roger et al. 1988), which suggests that the pulsar was born with a period only slightly faster than its current value. The conventional magnetic field, $`B3\times 10^{12}`$ G, and the spin-down energy loss rate, $`\dot{E}1\times 10^{34}`$ erg s-1, inferred from the $`P`$, $`\dot{P}`$ values, are typical for radio pulsars.

Even more surprising finding from the two Chandra observations was the discovery of absorption lines, first lines detected in the spectrum of an isolated NS (Sanwal et al. 2002a). Two firmly detected lines, at 0.7 keV and 1.4 keV, could be interpreted as absorption lines of once-ionized helium in a very strong magnetic field, about $`1.5\times 10^{14}`$ G, which requires a gravitational redshift $`z=1.12`$–1.23 (Sanwal et al. 2002a). Another interpretation, that the lines could be associated with transitions in He-like oxygen ions in a magnetic field $`B10^{11}`$ G, was discussed by Hailey & Mori (2002). A possible third line, at about 2 keV (Sanwal et al. 2002a), unfortunately coincides with the Ir M line from the telescope mirror coating, where the calibration is inaccurate. If this line is due to the source, then the three lines might be the fundamental and two harmonics of the electron cyclotron absorption in a magnetic field $`0.6(1+z)\times 10^{11}`$ G. Sanwal et al. (2002a) discussed this possibility and concluded that it is difficult to reconcile this interpretation with the much higher magnetic field estimated from $`P`$ and $`\dot{P}`$, and with the very low oscillator strengths of cyclotron harmonics.

First observation of 1E1207 with XMM-Newton (27 ks exposure) was performed in December 2001. Mereghetti et al. (2002) confirmed the absorption lines and reported on their pulse phase variations. The period value was in agreement with that measured in the second Chandra observation, taken 13 days later.

1E1207 was again observed with XMM-Newton in August 2002 (258 ks of total exposure). Based on this very deep observation, Bignami et al. (2003) reported positive detection of the 2.1 keV absorption line and marginal detection of a 2.8 keV line in the source spectrum. The detection of three (possibly four) evenly spaced lines argues for the above-mentioned cyclotron interpretation, although it remains unclear how the cyclotron harmonics can form in the relatively cold plasma with the low magnetic field. Timing analysis of these data (described below) provides a highly accurate period that is shorter than the period measured in the first XMM-Newton observation, indicating that the pulsar is not spinning down steadily.

Finally, Chandra observed this puzzling pulsar two times in June 2003 for 280 ks of total exposure. These observations were primarily designed to measure the phase-dependent spectrum with a high energy resolution. However, they also provided timing information that we use to assess the evolution of the pulsar’s period. We describe the XMM-Newton and Chandra observations and present results of our timing analysis in § 2. Possible interpretations are discussed in § 3. The results are summarized in § 4.

## 2 Observations and timing analysis

### 2.1 XMM-Newton observation of December 2001

The timing analysis of the first (2000 January 6–7) and second (2002 January 5–6) Chandra observations has been described in detail in Papers I and II. First timing results for the XMM-Newton observation of December 2001 have been presented by Mereghetti et al. (2002). To evaluate the most plausible frequency and its uncertainty in a statistically rigorous way, and for the sake of uniformity, we reanalyzed these data with the same approach as in Papers I and II, using the method of Gregory & Loredo (1996) based on the Bayesian formalism. While this method yields frequency estimates consistent with those given by other techniques (e. g., the simple epoch-folding $`\chi ^2`$ and Rayleigh $`Z_1^2`$ tests), it has several important advantages. It is free of any assumption on pulse shape, that results in more accurate determination of signal frequency and its uncertainty. The Bayesian approach implements the phase-averaged epoch-folding algorithm to calculate the frequency-dependent odds-ratio $`O(f)`$ that allows one to find the corresponding probability distribution $`p(f)O(f)`$, which in turn is very useful for the interpretation of the results (see Gregory & Loredo 1996 and Papers I and II for more details). In the following, we count all frequencies from a reference value $`f_{\mathrm{ref}}=2.3577`$ Hz. For each of the epochs, we measure the mean frequency $`f_{\mathrm{mean}}`$ with the standard deviation $`\sigma `$ and provide them in the form $`\overline{f}=f_{\mathrm{mean}}\pm \sigma `$ (e.g., $`\overline{f}_1^{\mathrm{ch}}=69.9\pm 1.3`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`\overline{f}_2^{\mathrm{ch}}=62.5\pm 3.7`$ $`\mu `$Hz for the first and second Chandra observations — see Paper II). We also measure the median frequency $`f_{\mathrm{med}}`$ with the 68% and 90% uncertainties, $`\sigma _{68}^\pm `$ and $`\sigma _{90}^\pm `$, below and above $`f_{\mathrm{med}}`$, and provide them in the form $`f=f_{\mathrm{med}}(\sigma _{68}^{},+\sigma _{68}^+;\sigma _{90}^{},+\sigma _{90}^+)`$ \[e.g., $`f_1^{\mathrm{ch}}=69.9(1.4,+1.2;2.5,+1.8)`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`f_2^{\mathrm{ch}}=62.5(3.2,+4.5;4.2,+8.0)`$ $`\mu `$Hz\].

First observation of 1E1207 with XMM-Newton was performed on 2001 December 23–24 (orbit 374). For the timing analysis, we used the data taken with the European Photon Imaging Camera based on the ‘p-n’ CCD technology (EPIC-pn) operated in Small Window mode, which provides a $`4\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}4\times 4\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}4`$ sky image and a 5.7 ms time resolution. The total observation time span was 27.0 ks, corresponding to an effective exposure of 18.9 ks (because of about 30% time loss during the CCD readout). The data were processed with the most recent version of the “oal” library (v. 3.108)111To be implemented in the SAS-6.0 software (see http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/); the previously known problems with the EPIC-pn timing are fixed in this version (Kirsch et al. 2003).. We used 26 778 counts extracted from a $`30^{\prime \prime }`$-radius circle centered at the source position in the 0.2–5.0 keV energy range. We estimated that about 88% of those counts belong to the source. The photon arrival times were transformed to the Solar System Barycenter with the “barycen” task. The $`Z_n^2`$ test (see Papers I and II for details) gives the most significant peak, $`Z_1^2=90.9`$, at the frequency of 63.1 $`\mu `$Hz, very close to $`63.0\pm 2.6`$ $`\mu `$Hz found by Mereghetti et al. (2002) from the $`\chi ^2`$ test assuming that the signal has a sinusoidal shape. Implementing the Bayesian approach results in the probability density distribution $`p(f)`$ shown in Figure 1. The mean and median frequencies of the corresponding probability distribution are $`\overline{f}_1^{\mathrm{xmm}}=59.2\pm 1.3`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`f_1^{\mathrm{xmm}}=59.3(1.4,+0.9;2.5,+1.5)`$ $`\mu `$Hz. These values are in agreement with the frequencies obtained from the $`Z_1^2`$ and $`\chi ^2`$ tests. They do not show statistically significant differences with the frequency $`f_2^{\mathrm{ch}}`$ (see above) found from the second Chandra observation 13 days later.

### 2.2 XMM-Newton observations of August 2002

XMM-Newton observed 1E1207 again on 2002 August 4–5 (orbit 486) and 6–7 (orbit 487) with the same instrumental setup as in the observation on orbit 374. We excluded intervals of strong background flares at the beginning and at the end of each observation and used uninterrupted spans of 107.0 and 111.0 ks from the data taken on orbits 486 and 487, respectively (the total effective exposure of EPIC-pn is 152.6 ks). The time gap between these two intervals is 73.0 ks. Applying the same extraction radius and energy range as for the orbit 374 observation, we obtained 108 945 and 113 720 counts from the two data sets for the timing analysis (background contamination is about 11%). The frequency distributions of the odds-ratios give mean frequencies $`\overline{f}_{2a}^{\mathrm{xmm}}=63.31\pm 0.48`$ and $`\overline{f}_{2b}^{\mathrm{xmm}}=64.18\pm 0.33`$ $`\mu `$Hz, and median frequencies $`f_{2a}^{\mathrm{xmm}}=63.19(0.26,+0.78;0.58,+0.14)`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`f_{2b}^{\mathrm{xmm}}=64.30(0.53,+1.08;0.71,+0.39)`$ $`\mu `$Hz for the orbits 486 and 487, respectively. These estimates yield the frequency shift between the two orbits, $`\mathrm{\Delta }=+0.88\pm 0.59`$ $`\mu `$Hz (calculated from the probability distribution for the frequency difference — see Paper II). The probability that the shift is positive is $`P(\mathrm{\Delta }>0)=0.932`$.

This shift, albeit of low statistical significance, indicates a positive frequency derivative, $`\dot{f}10^{12}`$$`10^{11}`$ s-2, in the joint data set ($`T_{\mathrm{span}}=291.0`$ ks). To examine the possible frequency change, we calculate the odds-ratio $`O(f,\dot{f})`$ and the Rayleigh statistic $`Z_1^2(f,\dot{f})`$ on a two-dimensional $`(f,\dot{f})`$ grid, assuming a linear change of the spin frequency within this observation and choosing the middle of the total observation time span as the reference epoch to minimize the $`f`$-$`\dot{f}`$ correlation. The Rayleigh test gives $`Z_{1,\mathrm{max}}^2=448.1`$ at $`f=63.41`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}=+1.7\times 10^{12}`$ s-2. To estimate the mean and median parameters and their uncertainties, we used the probability density distribution $`q(f,\dot{f})=AO(f,\dot{f})`$, where $`A`$ is the normalization constant, and obtained $`\overline{f}_2^{\mathrm{xmm}}=63.49\pm 0.08\mu \mathrm{Hz}`$, $`\overline{\dot{f}}_2^{\mathrm{xmm}}=(+2.1\pm 2.0)\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^2`$,

$`f_2^{\mathrm{xmm}}`$ $`=`$ $`63.51(0.09,+0.06;0.16,+0.10)\mu \mathrm{Hz},`$
$`\dot{f}_2^{\mathrm{xmm}}`$ $`=`$ $`+2.0(1.8,+2.2;2.4,+2.6)\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^2.`$ (1)
These estimates suggest that the frequency was indeed increasing during that observation \[$`P(\dot{f}_2^{\mathrm{xmm}}>0)=0.908`$\], but the uncertainties are too high to conclude this firmly. The probability density distribution for frequency, $`p(f)=q(f,\dot{f})d\dot{f}`$, is shown in Figure 1.

The probability distribution for the frequency difference between the XMM-Newton observations of August 2002 and December 2001 is shown in the upper panel of Figure 2. The mean and median values for the difference are $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}=+4.30\pm 1.28`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`\mathrm{\Delta }=+4.26`$ ($``$0.81, +1.08; $``$1.69, +2.31) $`\mu `$Hz. The probability that the pulsar has spun up in about 7.5 months since the first XMM-Newton observation is $`P(\mathrm{\Delta }>0)=0.992`$. If the frequency were increasing monotonously during this period ($`1.9\times 10^7`$ s), then its derivative would be in the range $`\dot{f}=(1.43.4)\times 10^{13}`$ s-2 (at a 90% confidence level).

### 2.3 Chandra observations of June 2003

1E1207 was observed with the Low Energy Transmission Grating in combination with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer operated in Continuous Clocking mode on 2003 June 10–12 (155.7 ks) and June 18–19 (115.2 ks). This observational mode provides a 2.9 ms time resolution by means of sacrificing spatial resolution in one dimension. For the timing analysis, we used 11 909 and 8 804 counts (for the first and second data sets, respectively) extracted from segments of a 7-pixel (3$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$44) width in the zero-order images, in the energy range of 0.2–5.0 keV. The times of arrival were corrected for the dither and the Science Instrument Module motion as described in Paper I and transformed to the Solar System Barycenter using the “axBary” tool of the CIAO package222 http://asc.harvard.edu/ciao/.

The mean and median frequencies, as given by odds-ratios, are $`\overline{f}_{3a}^{\mathrm{ch}}=64.11\pm 0.96`$, $`\overline{f}_{3b}^{\mathrm{ch}}=62.47\pm 1.36`$ $`\mu `$Hz, and $`f_{3a}^{\mathrm{ch}}=64.35`$ (–1.40, +0.64; –1.93, +1.00) $`\mu `$Hz, $`f_{3b}^{\mathrm{ch}}=62.09`$ (–0.59, +1.78; –1.04, +3.23) $`\mu `$Hz (the subscripts ‘3a’ and ‘3b’ are related to the observations performed on June 10–12 and 18–19, respectively). The frequencies of the $`Z_1^2`$ peaks, 64.0 $`\mu `$Hz ($`Z_{1,\mathrm{max}}^2=27.5`$) and 63.5 $`\mu `$Hz ($`Z_{1,\mathrm{max}}^2=25.4`$), are within the uncertainties of the mean and median frequencies. The mean and median values of the frequency difference between the two observations are $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}=1.67\pm 1.62`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1.98`$ (–1.10, +1.84) $`\mu `$Hz. The probability that the pulsar has spun down in a week between the two observations is $`P(\mathrm{\Delta }<0)=0.853`$.

We also performed the timing analysis of the combined data set ($`T_{\mathrm{span}}=799.9`$ ks) on a two-dimensional grid of $`f`$ and $`\dot{f}`$, using the same approach as in § 2.2. The maximum value of the Rayleigh statistic is $`Z_{1,\mathrm{max}}^2=52.7`$, at $`f=63.61`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}=1.0\times 10^{12}`$ s-2. Because of the large time gap, $`T_{\mathrm{gap}}=529.1`$ ks, the phase coherence between the two data sets was lost, that resulted in a number of peaks (frequency aliases) in the frequency dependences of $`O`$ and $`Z_1^2`$, separated by $`1.4`$–1.5 $`\mu `$Hz. Three most significant peaks (we denote them as A, B, and C) are seen in the probability density distribution $`p(f)`$ in the bottom panel of Figure 1. The mean and median parameters as estimated from the the multi-peak two-dimensional distribution are $`\overline{f}_3^{\mathrm{ch}}=63.37\pm 0.74`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\overline{\dot{f}}_3^{\mathrm{ch}}=(3.0\pm 2.1)\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^2`$, and $`f_3^{\mathrm{ch}}=63.58(0.10,+0.07;1.37,+0.42)`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}_3^{\mathrm{ch}}=3.5(1.6,+2.5;2.7,+3.9)\times 10^{12}\mathrm{s}^2`$. Considering $`(f,\dot{f})`$ domains around the peaks A, B and C separately results in the following mean and median frequencies: $`\overline{f}_A=62.10\pm 0.05\mu \mathrm{Hz}`$, $`\overline{f}_B=63.59\pm 0.05\mu \mathrm{Hz}`$, $`\overline{f}_C=64.96\pm 0.07\mu \mathrm{Hz}`$,

$`f_A`$ $`=`$ $`62.09(0.03,+0.04;0.08,+0.10)\mu \mathrm{Hz},`$
$`f_B`$ $`=`$ $`63.60(0.06,+0.04;0.16,+0.11)\mu \mathrm{Hz},`$
$`f_C`$ $`=`$ $`65.02(0.06,+0.09;0.12,+0.17)\mu \mathrm{Hz},`$ (2)
and frequency derivatives: $`\overline{\dot{f}}_{A,12}=1.6\pm 1.4`$, $`\overline{\dot{f}}_{B,12}=3.6\pm 1.8`$, $`\overline{\dot{f}}_{C,12}=+0.4\pm 1.6`$,

$`\dot{f}_{A,12}`$ $`=`$ $`1.4(1.2,+0.9;2.0,+1.7),`$
$`\dot{f}_{B,12}`$ $`=`$ $`3.8(1.2,+1.6;1.8,+2.6),`$
$`\dot{f}_{C,12}`$ $`=`$ $`+0.5(1.5,+1.1;2.5,+1.7),`$ (3)
where $`\dot{f}_{12}=\dot{f}/(10^{12}\mathrm{s}^2)`$. The relative contributions of the peaks A, B, C into the probability distribution (i.e., the probabilities that the true frequency and its derivative are associated with a given peak) are $`P_A=0.207`$, $`P_B=0.734`$, $`P_C=0.059`$. Therefore, although the parameters related to peak B are more probable, none of the two other parameter sets can be ruled out on statistical grounds.

The probability distribution of the frequency difference between June 2003 and August 2002, plotted in the lower panel of Figure 2, also has 3 discernible peaks. The mean frequency shift in the 10 month period is only $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}=+0.06\pm 0.61`$ $`\mu `$Hz; the median frequency difference is $`\mathrm{\Delta }=+0.09`$ (–0.12,+0.10; –1.46, +0.14) $`\mu `$Hz. If we assume that peak A (or B or C) corresponds to the true frequency in June 2003, then the shifts are $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_A=1.36\pm 0.10`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_A=1.37`$ (–0.07,+0.09; –0.10,+0.16) $`\mu `$Hz, or $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_B=+0.10\pm 0.07`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_B=+0.11`$ (–0.05,+0.07; –0.09,+0.12) $`\mu `$Hz, or $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_C=+1.47\pm 0.09`$ $`\mu `$Hz and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_C=+1.48`$ (–0.08,+0.07; –0.14,+0.18) $`\mu `$Hz. Assuming a linear time dependence of frequency during this period ($`2.7\times 10^7`$ s), we can constrain the frequency derivative, $`5.5\times 10^{14}<\dot{f}<+6.0\times 10^{14}`$ s-2, at a 90% confidence level.

## 3 Discussion

It is easy to check that the time dependence of the pulsation frequency in the 3.45 yr interval cannot be satisfactorily fitted by a straight line, $`f(t)=f_0+\dot{f}(tt_0)`$, for any of the three possible frequency values obtained in the third Chandra observation. The best fit, with $`f_0=68.0`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}=5.2\times 10^{14}`$ s-2 ($`t_0=\mathrm{51\hspace{0.17em}500.0}`$ MJD), is obtained assuming the correct frequency in June 2003 is given by peak A (see the dotted line in Fig. 3); the fit corresponds to $`\chi _{\mathrm{min}}^2=22.6`$ (for 3 degrees of freedom) and can be rejected at a 4.1$`\sigma `$ level (if one assumes the frequency of peak B for the third Chandra observation, then the rejection level is 5.6$`\sigma `$). This means that 1E1207 is not spinning down steadily, as most radio pulsars do. We discuss possible explanations below.

### 3.1 A glitching pulsar?

Some radio pulsars and AXPs occasionally show sudden increases in pulsation frequency, commonly known as “glitches”, with various patterns of post-glitch behavior (e.g., Lyne, Shemar & Graham-Smith 2000; Gavriil & Kaspi 2002). The relative frequency jumps, $`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f`$, vary from $`10^9`$ to $`10^5`$ in different pulsars. Obviously, the non-monotonous behavior of $`f(t)`$, inferred from the above-described timing of 1E1207, may suggest that the pulsar experienced a number of glitches during the 3.45 yr time span. Assuming the glitches are not associated with a substantial change of frequency derivative $`\dot{f}`$, at least two glitches are required, between January and August 2002 (212 days interval), and between August 2002 and June 2003 (313 days interval). The values of the frequency jumps depend on the value of $`\dot{f}`$ assumed, which in turn depends on the cumulative frequency change in glitches that might occur in the 716 days interval between January 2000 and December 2001. For instance, if there were no glitches in that interval, then $`\dot{f}1.6\times 10^{13}`$ s-2, and the two frequency jumps, of about 7 $`\mu `$Hz and 5 $`\mu `$Hz, are required to fit the data (the latter value assumes that the correct frequency in 2003 June 10–19 is given by the central peak B of the probability distribution — see Fig. 3). The larger of these jumps ($`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f3\times 10^6`$), is similar to the strong glitches observed in the Vela pulsar (Dodson, McGulloch & Lewis 2002) and the AXP 1E 2259+586 (Kaspi et al. 2003), and it is a factor of 5 smaller than the giant glitch recently observed in PSR J1806$``$2125 (Hobbs et al. 2002).

Given that at least two glitches are required in the 525 day interval, it seems reasonable to assume that the pulsar was also glitching in the 717 day interval between the first two observations, which would correspond to a larger $`|\dot{f}|`$ and stronger glitches. For instance, if the cumulative frequency increase due to glitches was 30 $`\mu `$Hz in 717 days, then $`\dot{f}6.6\times 10^{13}`$ s-2, and the two frequency jumps (in 525 days after January 2002) are about 16 $`\mu `$Hz and 18 $`\mu `$Hz ($`\mathrm{\Delta }f/f7\times 10^6`$). Although the relative frequency jumps of the separate glitches are smaller than for the largest glitch observed (Hobbs et al. 2002), the integrated amplitude of the glitches is a factor of 30–60 greater then the typical value, $`\mathrm{\Delta }f0.02|\dot{f}|T`$ ($`T`$ is the total time span, equal to 3.45 yr in our case) observed for glitching radio pulsars (Lyne et al. 2000). Therefore, although we cannot formally rule out the possibility that 1E1207 experiences glitches of $`\mathrm{\Delta }f5\mu `$Hz, with a characteristic rate of $``$0.5–1 glitches per year, such a hypothesis implies that the nature of the glitches in this unusual object is different from that observed in radio pulsars. In addition, to explain the probable increase of frequency between the two orbits in the XMM-Newton observation of August 2002 (see §2.2), we have to assume that a small glitch of $`1\mu `$Hz occurred in the short 73 ks gap, which looks artificial. It is worth mentioning that the glitch hypothesis implies a smaller characteristic age (e.g., $`\tau 60`$ kyr in the last example), bringing it closer to the SNR age, and larger magnetic field ($`B|\dot{f}|^{1/2}`$) and spin-down energy loss ($`\dot{E}|\dot{f}|`$).

### 3.2 Accretion as the source of the spin frequency variations?

The spin evolution of a NS can also be affected by a flow of material streaming to the NS from an accretion disk. The analysis presented in §3.3 below rules out an accreting close binary, but the accreting material could be supplied from a “fossil” accretion disk formed from ejecta produced in the supernova explosion (see Marsden, Lingenfelter & Rotschild 2001 for references). The accretion can proceed in two regimes (e.g., Frank, King, & Raine 2002), depending on the relation between the corotation radius

$$r_c=(GM)^{1/3}(2\pi f)^{2/3}=0.1\times 10^9\mathrm{cm},$$
(4)
(here $`f2.36`$ Hz is the spin frequency) and magnetospheric radius

$$r_m0.5(8GM)^{1/7}\mu ^{4/7}\dot{m}^{2/7}0.9\times 10^9\dot{m}_{14}^{2/7}\mu _{30}^{4/7}\mathrm{cm}$$
(5)
(here $`\dot{m}=10^{14}\dot{m}_{14}`$ g s-1 is the accretion rate, $`\mu =10^{30}\mu _{30}`$ G cm3 is the NS magnetic moment, and the NS mass is assumed to be $`M=1.4M_{}`$). If the accretion rate is so high that $`r_m<r_c`$, the accreting matter can overcome the centrifugal barrier and reach the NS surface. In this “accretor regime” the torque exerted on the magnetosphere spins the NS up ($`\dot{f}>0`$). At $`r_m>r_c`$, the centrifugal force at $`r=r_m`$ exceeds the gravitational force, so that accretion onto the NS surface is inhibited. In this “propeller regime” the infalling material is accelerated away from the magnetosphere reducing the angular momentum of the NS ($`\dot{f}<0`$). At even lower $`\dot{m}`$, $`r_m`$ approaches the light cylinder radius, $`r_{\mathrm{lc}}=c/(2\pi f)=2.0\times 10^9`$ cm, where the pressure of the magneto-dipole radiation of the rotating NS takes over the accretion pressure and prevents any accretion (“ejector regime”).

The torque caused by accretion in both the propeller and accretor regimes can be conveniently approximated, at $`r_mr_{\mathrm{lc}}`$, as

$$K4\pi \dot{m}r_m^2(f_{\mathrm{eq}}f)$$
(6)
(e.g., Menou et al. 1999), where $`f_{\mathrm{eq}}=(2\pi )^1(GM)^{1/2}r_m^{3/2}=8.0\times 10^2\dot{m}_{14}^{3/7}\mu _{30}^{6/7}`$ Hz is the spin frequency at which the propeller-accretor transition occurs ($`f=f_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ at $`r_m=r_c`$). The corresponding frequency derivative, $`\dot{f}=K(2\pi I)^1`$, is

$$\dot{f}1.6\times 10^{13}\dot{m}_{14}^{3/7}\mu _{30}^{8/7}(f_{\mathrm{eq}}f)\mathrm{s}^2,$$
(7)
for the NS moment of inertia $`I=10^{45}`$ g cm2. The curves of constant $`\dot{f}`$ values in different regimes are shown in Figure 4.

If the observed variations of $`\dot{f}`$ are due to accretion, the accretion rate should vary with time. Moreover, to explain the very plausible spin-up between December 2001 and August 2002 (see §2.2), we have to assume, in the framework of this simple model, that 1E1207 was in the accretor regime during at least part of that time interval. Figure 4 shows that in order to provide the corresponding $`\dot{f}+10^{13}`$ s-2, the accretion rate should be high enough, $`\dot{m}_a10^{16}`$ g s-1 ($`\dot{m}_a`$ \[$`\dot{m}`$\] is the rate of accretion onto the NS surface). Because accretion onto the NS surface provides an additional luminosity $`\mathrm{\Delta }LGM\dot{m}_aR^11.9\times 10^{36}\dot{m}_{a,16}`$ erg s-1, which substantially exceeds the observed X-ray luminosity, $`L_X1.5\times 10^{33}d_{2.1}^2`$ erg s-1 in the 0.3–5 keV range ($`d_{2.1}=d/[2.1\mathrm{kpc}]`$), we have to assume that 1E1207 was in the propeller stage during all the available X-ray observations, while it perhaps was in the accretion stage (accompanied by an unnoticed outburst) between January and August of 2002. (This outburst plays the same role as the 7 $`\mu `$Hz glitch assumed in the glitching interpretation.)

Assuming no other accretion outbursts occurred in the 3.45 yr of the Chandra and XMM-Newton observations, typical spin-down rates are in the range of $`|\dot{f}|10^{14}`$$`10^{13}`$ s-2. According to Figure 4, in the propeller regime they correspond to $`\dot{m}10^{12}`$$`10^{16}`$ g s-1 and $`\mu 10^{29}`$$`10^{30}`$ G cm3 (or $`B10^{11}`$$`10^{12}`$ G for a centered magnetic dipole). The higher values of $`\dot{m}`$ from the above range are hardly plausible because such strong accretion onto the magnetosphere should be accompanied by emission (presumably, optically thin bremsstrahlung – see Wang & Robertson 1985) with a luminosity $`LGM\dot{m}r_m^110^{34}\dot{m}_{16}^{9/7}\mu _{30}^{4/7}`$ erg s-1. The lack of such emission in the observed data means that $`\dot{m}10^{14}`$$`10^{15}`$ g s-1. At lower $`\dot{m}`$ ($`10^{13}`$ g s-1), the X-ray pulsar approaches the propeller-ejector boundary, where the propeller spin-down becomes less efficient but the radio pulsar can turn on. If $`\dot{m}`$ varies around this boundary, 1E1207 can occasionally manifest radio-pulsar activity.

In the propeller regime, we can expect variations of the accretion rate comparable with its average value, to explain the variations of $`\dot{f}`$. If a fraction of $`\dot{m}`$ accretes onto the NS surface (which is possible even in the propeller regime — e.g., Menou et al. 1999), it could contribute to the observed X-ray luminosity and lead to its variations. The fact that the observations of 1E1207 at different epochs do not reveal significant changes in its X-ray flux allows one to constrain this fraction. For instance, the difference between the fluxes derived from the two XMM-Newton observations does not exceed 1%, which corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Delta }L_X<1.5\times 10^{31}d_{2.1}^2`$ erg s-1 and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{m}_a\dot{m}_a<10^{11}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1\dot{m}`$. Observations of 1E1207 with different X-ray observatories show flux differences of up to 30%, but they can likely be explained by systematic uncertainties in instrument calibrations.

Strong constraints on the properties of the putative accretion disk can be obtained from optical observations of 1E1207. Using a standard approach (e.g., Frank et al. 2002), we can estimate the effective temperature of a geometrically thin, optically thick disk as

$$T(r)=(3GM\dot{m})^{1/4}(8\pi r^3\sigma )^{1/4}=T_{\mathrm{in}}(r_{\mathrm{in}}/r)^{3/4},$$
(8)
where

$$T_{\mathrm{in}}=1.5\times 10^4\dot{m}_{14}^{13/28}\mu _{30}^{3/7}\mathrm{K}$$
(9)
is the temperature at the inner edge of disk, at $`r_{\mathrm{in}}r_m`$. The spectrum of such a disk, in the blackbody approximation, is

$$F_\nu =\frac{4\pi h\nu ^3\mathrm{cos}i}{c^2d^2}_{r_{\mathrm{in}}}^{r_{\mathrm{out}}}\frac{r\mathrm{d}r}{\mathrm{exp}[h\nu /kT(r)]1},$$
(10)
where $`i`$ is the disk inclination. We calculated the spectral flux $`F_\nu `$ and the corresponding $`V`$ magnitude on a $`\mu `$-$`\dot{m}`$ grid and plotted the lines of constant $`V`$ in Figure 4 for $`\mathrm{cos}i=1`$, $`d=2.1`$ kpc, adding a plausible extinction $`A_V=0.7`$. The results are insensitive to the value of the outer radius $`r_{\mathrm{out}}`$ when it exceeds $`10^{11}`$ cm (we used $`r_{\mathrm{out}}=10^{14}`$ cm in this calculation).

Figure 4 shows that, for the face-on disk, expected magnitudes in the accretor and propeller regimes are $`V17`$–19 and $`V20`$–23, respectively. To reconcile the magnitude estimates with the reported limit, $`V>25`$, we have to assume inclinations close to $`90^{}`$, which looks rather artificial. On the other hand, the inclination should not be too close to $`90^{}`$ in order the disk periphery not to obscure the X-ray source: $`\mathrm{cos}i>H(r_{\mathrm{out}})/r_{\mathrm{out}}10^2\dot{m}_{14}^{3/20}r_{\mathrm{out},12}^{1/8}`$, where $`H(r)r^{9/8}`$ is the vertical scale-height of the disk, in the thin disk model.

To conclude, the accretion hypothesis can, in principle, explain the observed variations of pulsation frequency and give some constraints on the magnetic field, but it implies that 1E1207 is a transient X-ray source, which has not been observed, and requires extreme inclinations of the accretion disk.

### 3.3 A binary with a low-mass companion?

Another plausible explanation for the observed frequency variation is that 1E1207 resides in a binary system. The orbital motion would result in a periodic modulation of the observed frequency due to the Doppler shift. We can put some limits on the nature of the binary system and the companion of 1E1207 from the available X-ray and optical observations.

Using our timing results, we can constrain the amplitude $`f_a`$ of the orbital modulation and the orbital period $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$. The observed deviations from a steady spin-down imply $`2f_a20`$ $`\mu `$Hz (larger $`f_a`$ values cannot be formally excluded but seem hardly plausible, given the range of the measured frequencies). To see a significant deviation from the steady spin-down over the 3.45 yr time span, the orbital period should not be larger than about 6 years, for $`f_a<20`$ $`\mu `$Hz. On the other hand, the orbital period should substantially exceed the time spans of the long observations of August 2002 ($`T_{\mathrm{span}}=3.4`$ d) and June 2003 ($`T_{\mathrm{span}}=9.3`$ d) that do not show frequency variations except for the linear term, $`\dot{f}t`$. To estimate a lower limit on $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$, we repeated the timing analysis of these two observations for a large number of models with sinusoidally modulated $`f(t)`$. The lower limit, naturally, grows with increasing $`f_a`$, and it strongly depends on the assumed orbital phase. For example, we obtained $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}>(250)T_{\mathrm{span}}`$ for $`f_a=2`$ $`\mu `$Hz. This gives the lowest possible period of $`20`$ d, for a special choice of orbital phase, while the lower limit is significantly larger, $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}50`$–100 d, for a broad range of orbital phases. We also attempted to constrain the lower limit on $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$ fitting the time dependence

$$f(t)=f_0+\dot{f}_0t+f_a\mathrm{sin}[2\pi (tt_p)/P_{\mathrm{orb}}]$$
(11)
(which assumes a circular orbit) to all five timing points shown in Figure 3 and requiring the model to be consistent with the timing data in each individual data set. This resulted in a ‘global lower limit’ $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}60`$ d.

Within the possible period boundaries, multiple combinations of orbital parameters can give “perfect fits” to the scarce timing observations. We present three representative solutions in Figure 5. These solutions correspond the following parameters in equation (11): $`f_0=65.4`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}_0=1.8\times 10^{14}`$ s-2, $`f_a=4.8`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=201.4`$ d and $`t_p=12.5`$ d (Model I), $`f_0=69.3`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}_0=8.0\times 10^{14}`$ s-2, $`f_a=4.6`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=937.8`$ d and $`t_p=18.8`$ d (Model II), and $`f_0=65.6`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`\dot{f}_0=1.6\times 10^{14}`$ s-2, $`f_a=6.0`$ $`\mu `$Hz, $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=595.2`$ d and $`t_p=111.0`$ d (Model III), with time $`t`$ counted from MJD 51 500.0. Model I assumes that the correct frequency in the observation of June 2003 is given by peak A (see § 2.3 and Fig. 1), whereas the more probable frequency of peak B is chosen for the two other models. We note that in these examples the characteristic pulsar age, $`\tau _c=f/(2\dot{f})`$, ranges from 466 to 2 335 kyr; it is still significantly larger than the 20-kyr upper limit on the age of the SNR. To reconcile the ages in the framework of this simple model, one would need a very large, and rather implausible, orbital modulation $`f_a120`$ $`\mu `$Hz.

The above estimates show that 1E1207 could be a wide binary with a long period, $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}0.2`$–6 yr, and the component separation, $`a(0.33)(m_1+m_2)^{1/3}`$ AU, where $`M_1=m_1M_{}`$ and $`M_2=m_2M_{}`$ are masses of the NS and its companion, respectively. The plausible amplitudes of $`f_a`$ correspond to rather small amplitudes of radial velocity, $`v_{1r}=0.64(f_a/5\mu \mathrm{Hz})`$ km s-1. The mass function of the binary can be estimated as $`(m_2\mathrm{sin}i)^3(m_1+m_2)^2=(P_{\mathrm{orb}}/2\pi G)v_{1r}^3M_{}^1=1.0\times 10^5(P_{\mathrm{orb}}/1\mathrm{yr})(f_a/5\mu \mathrm{Hz})^3`$. For $`\mathrm{sin}i0.03`$, this gives $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i=0.027(P_{\mathrm{orb}}/1\mathrm{yr})^{1/3}(f_a/5\mu \mathrm{Hz})(m_1/1.4)^{2/3}`$. We see that for reasonably large inclinations the secondary star should have a very low mass, in the range of brown dwarf or M-dwarf masses, with a lower limit as small as 6 Jupiter masses. The upper limit on $`m_2`$ can be estimated from optical observations. For instance, the limiting magnitude $`V>25`$ (Mereghetti et al. 1996) implies the absolute $`V`$ magnitude $`M_V>12.7`$ (for $`d=2.1`$ kpc and a plausible extinction $`A_V=0.7`$), corresponding to an M dwarf later than M3–M4 (mass $`m_20.25`$$`0.3`$) or a white dwarf (of any allowed white dwarf mass, $`m_21.4`$).

Thus, we conclude that the timing results can be explained by the binary hypothesis if either the mass of the secondary is very low or the inclination is very small. Similar to the case of glitches, the intrinsic $`\dot{f}`$ (hence the characteristic age, spin-down energy loss, and magnetic field) can be quite different from the values inferred in Paper II from two Chandra observations. It should be noted that a low mass of the secondary implies that the pre-supernova binary had a very eccentric orbit, with the secondary close to aphelion at the moment of explosion, in order for the binary to survive. Therefore, such low-mass binaries in SNRs should be a very rare case. The only potential low-mass binary with a young NS is the central object of the SNR RCW 103, but likely it is a short-period ($`P_{\mathrm{orb}}6.4`$ hr), accreting binary (Sanwal et al. 2002b). We note also that if 1E1207 is indeed in a wide binary system, we would not see manifestations of binarity other than the timing properties.

## 4 Conclusions

Our timing analysis of the Chandra and XMM-Newton observations, spread over a 3.45 yr time span, has shown a non-monotonous frequency evolution of 1E1207. To explain the observed deviations from the steady spin-down, we have discussed three hypotheses. The first one, that the neutron star is a glitching pulsator, requires an unusually large time-integrated amplitude of glitches to explain the observed variations in the spin frequency. The second hypothesis assumes variable accretion from a dim fossil (residual) disk around the pulsar and implies that 1E1207 is a transient X-ray source that can occasionally increase its brightness by at least three orders of magnitudes, which has never been observed. The deep limit on optical emission from 1E1207 implies that such a disk is seen almost edge-on. The third hypothesis is that 1E1207 resides in a wide binary system with a low-mass companion that has not yet been detected. A binary with such a companion could survive the supernova explosion only at very special conditions. Thus, all three hypotheses imply rather exotic properties of 1E1207, but none of them can be firmly ruled out. We consider the binary hypothesis as somewhat more plausible than the other two, but only further observations can tell us which (if any) of these interpretations is correct. The most direct way to understand the true nature of 1E1207 is to monitor its timing behavior in a dedicated Chandra or XMM-Newton program. Additional useful constraints on the nature of the putative low-mass companion or accretion disk can be obtained from extremely deep optical/IR observations. Finally, it would be worthwhile to carry out a series of very deep radio observations to look for a possible transient radio pulsar.

We are thankful to Michael Freyberg and Uwe Lammers for their help with issues concerning the EPIC-pn timing. We also thank the anonymous referee for useful remarks. Support for this work was provided by the NASA through Chandra Award GO3-4091X, issued by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of NASA under contract NAS8-39073. This work was also partially supported by NASA grant NAG5-10865.


text:
# The Cauchy atlas on the manifold of all complete ODE solutions

## 1. Introduction

In Section 2, we introduce the first-order ordinary differential equation and the Cauchy atlas on a manifold of complete solutions. Four necessary conditions for a mapping to be the coordinates transformation of the Cauchy atlas are given.

In Section 3, we also prove the sufficient conditions (5) for a system $`F=\{F_{\tau \sigma }\}_{\tau ,\sigma }`$ of functions to be the Cauchy atlas coordinates transformations. The necessary conditions are well-known and included in many papers and monographs (see, e.g., , ), whereas the sufficient conditions are presented here, as far as the authors know, for the first time. These conditions are in the form of the composition of iterations in the non-autonomous dynamical systems theory (see, e.g., ).

Sections 4, 5 and 6 contain special cases of the first-order ordinary differential equations. More precisely, we discuss here autonomous equations and linear inhomogeneous equations. Section 7 contains a simple example.

## 2. The Cauchy atlas

Let $`M`$ be a set, $`n`$ a natural number, $`I`$ an index set. A coordinates chart is a bijection; its domain is a subset of $`M`$ and its codomain is a subset of $`^n`$. A system of coordinates charts $`\{\phi _\tau \}_{\tau I}`$ is an atlas if and only if the union of domains of all coordinates charts is equal to $`M`$. A manifold is a set endowed with an atlas. By coordinates transformation on a manifold we mean the mapping

(1)
$$\begin{array}{c}F_{\tau \rho }:\phi _\rho (\text{Dom}(\phi _\tau )\text{Dom}(\phi _\rho ))a\\ \phi _\tau (\phi _{\rho }^{}{}_{}{}^{1}(a))\phi _\tau (\text{Dom}(\phi _\tau )\text{Dom}(\phi _\rho )),\end{array}$$

where $`\phi _\tau `$ and $`\phi _\rho `$ are coordinates charts. In the definition of the coordinates transformation we admit the empty mapping, i.e. $`\text{Dom}(\phi _\tau )\text{Dom}(\phi _\rho )=\mathrm{}`$.

Let $`f`$ be a $`C^1`$-mapping, where $`\text{Dom}(f)`$ is a non-empty open subset of $`\times ^n`$ and $`\text{Codom}(f)=^n`$. Consider the first-order ordinary differential equation

(2)
$$\dot{x}=f(\tau ,x)$$

and the Cauchy initial condition

(3)
$$x(\rho )=a,$$

where $`(\rho ,a)\text{Dom}(f)`$.

Let $`M`$ be the set of all complete solutions of $`C^1`$ equation (2). For each $`\tau `$ we define mapping $`\phi _\tau `$, where $`\text{Dom}(\phi _\tau )=\{xM\tau \text{Dom}(x)\},\text{Codom}(\phi _\tau )=\{a^n(\tau ,a)\text{Dom}(f)\}`$ and $`\phi _\tau `$ maps a complete solution $`x`$ to the value $`x(\tau )`$. From the existence and the uniqueness of the complete solution of the equation (2), (3) (see, e.g., \[3, chapter V\]) the bijectivity of $`\phi _\tau `$ follows. Hence $`\phi _\tau `$ is a coordinates chart on $`M`$. The system $`\{\phi _\tau \}_\tau `$ forms a Cauchy atlas on $`M`$.

###### Lemma.

Let $`F=\{F_{\tau \rho }\}_{\tau ,\rho }`$ be the coordinates transformations system of the Cauchy atlas on the set $`M`$ of all complete solutions of $`C^1`$ equation $`(\text{2})`$. Then

$`1.`$ $`K=\{(\tau ,\rho ,a)\times \times ^naDom(F_{\tau \rho })\}`$ is a non-empty

open set,

$`2.`$ each function from $`F`$ is bijection,

$`3.`$ mapping $`K(\tau ,\rho ,a)F_{\tau \rho }(a)/\tau ^n`$ is $`C^1`$,

$`4.`$ $`J(\rho ,a)=\{\tau aDom(F_{\tau \rho })\}`$ is an open interval for each

$`\rho `$, $`a^n`$.

Proof. From (1) the mapping

(4)
$$x:J(\rho ,a)\tau F_{\tau \rho }(a)^n$$

is the complete solution of (2) satisfying (3). The dependence of the solution on the Cauchy condition has an open domain (see \[7, Chapter 4, $`\mathrm{\S }23`$\]). The statement 1 follows from this and from the non-emptiness of $`Dom(f)`$. The statement 2 is obtained from the definition of coordinates transformations. It follows from \[2, Chapter 4, $`\mathrm{\S }32`$\] that the mapping $`K(\tau ,\rho ,a)F_{\tau \rho }(a)^n`$ is $`C^1`$. The mapping $`f`$ is $`C^1`$ by assumptions. Therefore $`(\tau ,\rho ,a)f(\tau ,F_{\tau \rho }(a))`$ is $`C^1`$. The statement 3 follows from (2), (4). Since $`J(\rho ,a)`$ is the domain of the complete solution (4), we get the statement 4 from the openness of $`Dom(f)`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 3. Transformations

Let $`F=\{F_{\tau \rho }\}_{\tau ,\rho }`$ be a system of functions, where domain and codomain of each function from $`F`$ are subsets of $`^n`$. The following Theorem gives the necessary and sufficient conditions for $`F`$ to be a system of the Cauchy atlas transformations.

###### Theorem.

The functions from the system $`F=\{F_{\tau \sigma }\}_{\tau ,\sigma }`$ are coordinates transformations of the Cauchy atlas on a manifold $`M`$ of the complete solutions of some $`C^1`$ equation $`(\text{2})`$ if and only if the statements $`1`$, $`2`$, $`3`$, $`4`$ from Lemma are satisfied and the condition

(5)
$$F_{\tau \sigma }(F_{\sigma \rho }(a))=F_{\tau \rho }(a)$$

holds for each $`\tau ,\sigma ,\rho `$ and for each $`aF_{\sigma \rho }^{}{}_{}{}^{1}(Codom(F_{\sigma \rho })Codom(F_{\sigma \tau }))`$.

Proof. Assume that $`F`$ is a system of coordinates transformations of the Cauchy atlas on $`M`$. According to Lemma, the statements 1, 2, 3, 4 are satisfied. From the definition of the coordinates transformation we have the condition (5) immediately.

Let us suppose the condition (5) and the statements 1, 2, 3, 4 from Lemma hold. From (5) we get $`F_{\sigma \rho }(F_{\rho \sigma }(a))=F_{\sigma \sigma }(a)`$ for each $`a\text{Dom}(F_{\rho \sigma })`$. If we put $`\rho =\sigma `$, then from the statement 2 of Lemma we obtain $`a=F_{\sigma \sigma }(a)`$ for each $`a\text{Dom}(F_{\sigma \sigma })`$. From above

(6)
$$\text{Dom}(F_{\rho \sigma })\text{Dom}(F_{\sigma \sigma }),$$

(7)
$$F_{\rho \sigma }=F_{\sigma \rho }^{}{}_{}{}^{1}$$

for each $`\rho ,\sigma `$.

Consider the equation (2), where

(8)
$$f(\tau ,a)=\frac{F_{\tau \sigma }(a)}{\tau }|_{\sigma =\tau }.$$

From the statement 3 of Lemma we see that $`f`$ is $`C^1`$. Let $`(\rho ,a)Dom(f)`$ be fixed. Then $`a\text{Dom}(F_{\rho \rho })`$. Moreover, $`J(\rho ,a)`$ is non-empty according to the statement 4 of Lemma. Let $`\sigma J(\rho ,a)`$. Then $`a\text{Dom}(F_{\sigma \rho })`$. Let $`\tau J(\sigma ,F_{\sigma \rho }(a))`$. This set is non-empty, since from (6), (7) we have $`\sigma J(\sigma ,F_{\sigma \rho }(a))`$. From (7) $`aF_{\sigma \rho }^{}{}_{}{}^{1}(Codom(F_{\sigma \rho })Codom(F_{\sigma \tau }))`$. Therefore the condition (5) holds for such $`a`$. Differentiating (5) with respect to $`\tau `$, putting $`\sigma =\tau `$ and using (8) we get

$$\frac{F_{\tau \rho }(a)}{\tau }=f(\tau ,F_{\tau \rho }(a)).$$

Then the mapping $`x`$ defined by (4) is the solution of the equation (2), (8). We will check that $`x`$ is a complete solution. Let us suppose $`x`$ is not complete. Then there exists a complete solution $`\overline{x}`$ such that $`x=\overline{x}|_{J(\rho ,a)}`$. At least one of the values $`\text{sup}(J(\rho ,a)),\text{inf}(J(\rho ,a))`$ is an element of $`\text{Dom}(\overline{x})`$. Let us suppose $`\omega =\text{sup}(J(\rho ,a))\text{Dom}(\overline{x})`$ (the case $`\text{inf}(J(\rho ,a))\text{Dom}(\overline{x})`$ is analogous). Then $`(\omega ,\overline{x}(\omega ))\text{Dom}(f)`$. Further from (8) $`\overline{x}(\omega )\text{Dom}(F_{\omega \omega })`$. Therefore $`(\omega ,\omega ,\overline{x}(\omega ))K`$. By the statement 1 of Lemma, there exists $`\epsilon >0`$ such that for each $`\sigma `$ from an open interval $`(\omega \epsilon ,\omega )`$ we have $`(\omega ,\sigma ,\overline{x}(\sigma ))=(\omega ,\sigma ,x(\sigma ))=(\omega ,\sigma ,F_{\sigma \rho }(a))K`$. By using (7) we get $`aF_{\sigma \rho }^{}{}_{}{}^{1}(\text{Codom}(F_{\sigma \rho })\text{Codom}(F_{\sigma \omega }))`$. From (5) we obtain $`F_{\omega \sigma }(F_{\sigma \rho }(a))=F_{\omega \rho }(a)`$. Therefore $`\text{sup}(J(\rho ,a))=\omega J(\rho ,a)`$. Nevertheless from the statement 4 of Lemma $`J(\rho ,a)`$ is an open set. This contradiction proves that $`x`$ is the complete solution. Thus for any Cauchy condition (3), where $`(\rho ,a)\text{Dom}(f)`$, we have the complete solution (4). Since $`f`$ is $`C^1`$, any other complete solution does not exist. Then we can construct the Cauchy atlas. From (4), (7) and from the statement 4 of Lemma the condition (1) holds. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 4. The autonomous case

Let $`U^n`$ be an open set. Let (2) be a $`C^1`$ equation with $`Dom(f)=\times U`$, where $`f:(\tau ,a)\xi (a)`$ and $`\xi :U^n`$. Then the mapping $`J(\rho ,a)\tau F_{\tau \rho ,0}(a)^n`$ is the complete solution of this equation satisfying the same Cauchy condition as the solution (4). Hence we can put

(9)
$$F_{\tau \rho }=G_{\tau \rho },$$

where $`G_\tau =F_{\tau 0}`$. From (5), (9) we have

$$G_\alpha (G_\beta (a))=G_{\alpha +\beta }(a)$$

for each $`aG_\beta ^1(Codom(G_\beta )Codom(G_\alpha ))`$. The mapping $`G:(\alpha ,a)G_\alpha (a)`$, where $`Dom(G)=\{(\alpha ,a)\times ^naDom(G_\alpha )\}`$, is the maximal flow of the vector field $`\xi `$ (see, e.g., \[5, Chapter 17\]). The mappings $`G_\tau `$ form a local one-parameter group of transformations (for $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ case see, e.g., \[6, Section 1.2\]). If $`Dom(G_\tau )=U`$ for each $`\tau `$, then $`G_\tau `$’s form a group of transformations of $`U`$.

## 5. The linear case

Let $`I`$ be an open interval. Let us consider the linear inhomogeneous functions $`F_{\tau \sigma }`$, where

$$Dom(F_{\tau \sigma })=\{\begin{array}{cc}^n\hfill & \text{for }\tau ,\sigma I,\hfill \\ \mathrm{}\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$

The condition (5) can be rewritten as Sincov’s functional equation (see \[1, section 8.1\])

$$F_{\tau \sigma }F_{\sigma \rho }=F_{\tau \rho }$$

for each $`\tau `$, $`\sigma `$, $`\rho I`$. Its general solution has the following form

$$F_{\tau \sigma }(a)=W_\tau (W_\sigma ^1(a)+h_\tau h_\sigma ),$$

where $`W_\tau :^n^n`$ is an arbitrary linear automorphism and $`h_\tau `$ is an arbitrary term of $`^n`$ for each $`\tau I`$. If the conditions from Theorem are satisfied, then the differential equation (2), (8) is also linear inhomogeneous and $`Dom(f)=I\times ^n`$. Moreover, $`\tau W_\tau `$ is the Wronski matrix and $`\tau W_\tau h_\tau `$ is the particular solution of this equation.

## 6. The linear autonomous case

Let the mapping $`G_\tau :^n^n`$ defined by (9) be linear inhomogeneous for each $`\tau `$. We can rewrite the condition (5) as

(10)
$$G_\alpha G_\beta =G_{\alpha +\beta }.$$

Therefore $`G_\tau `$’s form the group of affine transformations of $`^n`$. Let us suppose the mapping $`\beta G_\beta `$ is continuous. We define a mapping

$$H:\epsilon \frac{1}{2\epsilon }\underset{\epsilon }{\overset{\epsilon }{}}G_\beta 𝑑\beta .$$

Since $`lim_{\epsilon 0}H_\epsilon =\text{id}_^n`$, from continuity, there exists $`\epsilon >0`$ such that $`H_\epsilon `$ is invertible. By integrating (10) and substituting $`\gamma =\alpha +\beta `$ we obtain

$$G_\alpha =\frac{1}{2\epsilon }\underset{\alpha \epsilon }{\overset{\alpha +\epsilon }{}}G_\gamma H_\epsilon ^1𝑑\gamma .$$

From this and from (9) we have the statement 3 of Lemma. From (10) and from Theorem we can see that functions from the system $`F=\{G_{\tau \sigma }\}_{\tau ,\sigma }`$ are the coordinates transformations of the Cauchy atlas on a manifold $`M`$ of the complete solutions of some $`C^1`$ equation $`(\text{2})`$. From (8), (9) the equation (2) is linear inhomogeneous with constant coefficients.

## 7. Example

Example. Let us consider the equation (2), where $`f:^2(\tau ,a)a^2`$. It is easy to see that for this equation we have

$$F_{\tau \sigma }(a)=\frac{a}{1+(\sigma \tau )a},$$

where $`Dom(F_{\tau \sigma })=\{a(\tau \sigma )a<1\}`$, $`Codom(F_{\tau \sigma })=\{a(\tau \sigma )a>1\}`$. The mapping $`G:(\tau ,a)a/(1\tau a)`$ is the maximal flow of $`\xi :aa^2`$.

Acknowledgment. The first author was supported by the grant MSM 192400002 from the Czech Ministry of Education.