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# Effective mass enhancement in two-dimensional electron systems: the role of interaction and disorder effects

## Abstract

Recent experiments on two-dimensional (2D) electron systems have found a sharp increase in the effective mass of electrons with decreasing electron density. In an effort to understand this behavior we employ the many-body theory to calculate the quasiparticle effective mass in 2D electron systems. Because the low density regime is explored in the experiments we use the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation where the vertex correction $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ describes the correlation effects to calculate the self-energy from which the effective mass is obtained. We find that the quasiparticle effective mass shows a sharp increase with decreasing electron density. Disorder effects due to charged impurity scattering plays a crucial role in density dependence of effective mass.

preprint: APS/\*!\*!\*

There has been a large amount of experimental and theoretical activity in recent years to understand the ground state properties of homogeneous two-dimensional (2D) electron systems. Advances in fabrication techniques have made it possible to probe various quantities of interest in high quality and very low density samples. Most notably, the observation of a metal-insulator transition1  in these systems provides a major motivation to study the various physical properties. In recent experiments the spin susceptibility, Lande $`g`$-factor, and effective mass are measured for 2D electron systems made of Si-MOSFETS and GaAs quantum-well structures.2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7  In particular, Shashkin et al.3 ; 4  reported a sharp increase of effective mass near the critical density at which the system starts to show deviations from the metallic behavior. On the other hand, Pudalov et al.2  have found only moderate enhancement of the spin susceptibility and effective mass in their samples.

There has been a number of calculations of the quasiparticle properties including the effective mass of 2D electron gas employing a variety of approximations.8  More recent theoretical calculations of the effective mass of 2D electrons concentrated on the density, spin polarization and temperature dependence.9 ; 10 ; 11 ; 12 ; 13

In view of the different experimental results and their controversial interpretation we have addressed in this work the density dependence of the effective mass in an interacting electron system at $`T=0`$ in the presence of charged impurities. We employ the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation14  which includes the vertex corrections in an approximate way to calculate the quasiparticle effective mass. The local-field factor describing the correlation effects which enters the vertex function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is obtained within the memory function formalism and the self-consistent field method. We had previously shown15  that such an approach correctly describes the anomalous behavior of the thermodynamic compressibility of 2D electron systems as reported experimentally.16  In the present work, we extend our earlier considerations to calculate the effective mass. We find that the quasiparticle effective mass is greatly enhanced at low density in the same region when the compressibility diverges.

In the following we first outline the theoretical framework with which we calculate the quasiparticle effective mass of 2D electron system. We next present our results within various levels of approximations. We discuss the results of our calculations in view of other theoretical approaches and experimental findings. We conclude with a brief summary.

We consider a 2D electron system interacting via the long range Coulomb interaction $`V_q=2\pi e^2/(ϵ_0q)`$ where $`ϵ_0`$ is the background dielectric constant. The system is characterized by the dimensionless interaction strength $`r_s=1/(\pi na_{B}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})^{1/2}`$, where $`n`$ is the 2D electron density and $`a_B^{}=\mathrm{}^2ϵ_0/(me^2)`$ is the effective Bohr radius defined in terms of the band mass $`m`$ of electrons in the semiconductor structure.

We use the theoretical framework developed by Thakur et al.17  employing the memory-function formalism and the self-consistent field method to calculate the density-density response function of a disordered electron system. The effect of disorder is to dampen the charge-density fluctuations and modify the response function. In a number-conserving approximation the density-density response function for noninteracting electrons is given by

$$\chi _0(q,\omega ;\gamma )=\frac{\chi _0(q,\omega +i\gamma )}{1\frac{i\gamma }{\omega +i\gamma }\left[1\frac{\chi _0(q,\omega +i\gamma )}{\chi _0(q)}\right]}$$
(1)
where $`\gamma `$ is the scattering rate. The correlation effects are described by the generalized random-phase approximation (RPA) for the interacting system density-density correlation function

$$\chi (q,\omega ;\gamma )=\frac{\chi _0(q,\omega ;\gamma )}{1V_q[1G(q)]\chi _0(q,\omega ;\gamma )}$$
(2)
in which the static local-field factor $`G(q)`$ embodies the correlation effects. In this work we use the self-consistent field method of Singwi et al.18  to calculate $`G(q)`$. As a simplified model we also consider the Hubbard local-field factor given as $`G(q)=q/2\sqrt{q^2+k_F^2}`$.

Within the memory function formalism the scattering rate is expressed in terms of the screened disorder potential and the relaxation function as17 ; 19

$$i\gamma =\frac{n_i}{2mn}\underset{q}{}q^2\frac{|U_{\mathrm{imp}}(q)|^2}{\epsilon ^2(q)}\frac{\varphi _0(q,i\gamma )}{1+i\gamma \frac{\varphi _0(q,i\gamma )}{\chi _0(q)}}$$
(3)
where $`U_{\mathrm{imp}}(q)=V_qe^{qd}`$ is the impurity potential for charged impurities located at a distance $`d`$ away from the 2D electron layer, and $`n_i`$ is the impurity concentration. The relaxation function is given by17 ; 19  $`\varphi _0(q,i\gamma )=[\chi (q,i\gamma )\chi _0(q)]/(i\gamma )`$ and $`\epsilon (q)=1V_q[1G(q)]\chi _0(q)`$ is the static screening function. Because the scattering rate $`\gamma `$ depends on the screening function $`\epsilon (q)`$ which itself is determined by the disorder included response function the above set of equations are solved self-consistently.

The quasiparticle properties of the 2D electron system are obtained from the self-energy function14  $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(k,\omega )`$ which we calculate at zero temperature. Since we are interested in exploring the interaction effects we include the vertex corrections to the self-energy and employ the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation.14  The self-energy in the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation is written as a sum of two terms $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(k,\omega )=\mathrm{\Sigma }^{\mathrm{line}}(k,\omega )+\mathrm{\Sigma }^{\mathrm{pole}}(k,\omega )`$ where

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }^{\mathrm{line}}(k,\omega )=\underset{q}{}V_q_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{d\omega ^{}}{2\pi }\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(q,i\omega ^{})}{\epsilon (q,i\omega ^{})}\frac{1}{\omega +i\omega ^{}\xi _{k+q}}$$
(4)
and

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }^{\mathrm{pole}}(k,\omega )=\underset{q}{}V_q[\theta (\omega \xi _{k+q})\theta (\xi _{k+q})]\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(q,\xi _{k+q}\omega )}{\epsilon (q,\xi _{k+q}\omega )}$$
(5)
in which $`\xi _k=k^2/2mE_F`$ is the single-particle energy measured relative to the Fermi energy. The vertex function in the local-approximation is given as14

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(q,\omega )=\frac{1}{1+V_qG(q)\chi _0(q,\omega ;\gamma )}$$
(6)
in terms of the local-field factor $`G(q)`$ describing correlation effects beyond the RPA. The dielectric function appearing in Eqs. (4) and (5) is given by $`\epsilon (q,\omega )=1V_q\chi _o(q,\omega ;\gamma )\mathrm{\Gamma }(q,\omega )`$. The above expressions for the self-energy reduce to the $`GW`$-RPA results when we set $`G(q)=0`$. Furthermore, taking $`\gamma =0`$, we recover the results for a clean system.

We use the on-shell approximation to the self-energy in the single particle spectrum $`E_k=\xi _k+\mathrm{\Sigma }(k,\xi _k)`$ to obtain the effective mass perturbatively8 ; 11 ; 14

$$\frac{m^{}}{m}=\left[1+\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{\omega }+\frac{m}{k}\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{k}\right]^1,$$
(7)
where the frequency and momentum derivatives of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(k,\omega )`$ are evaluated at the Fermi surface. Such an approach is argued to be more appropriate over solving the full Dyson’s equation $`E_k=\xi _k+\mathrm{\Sigma }(k,E_k)`$, since the self-energy is calculated using the noninteracting Green function. The resulting scheme incorporates the higher order diagram contributions better.8 ; 11 ; 14

In the numerical calculations we specialize to GaAs systems for which some measurements of the effective mass are undertaken.6  Since the dominant scattering mechanism is known to be that due to the charged impurities we take $`d=250`$ Å for the setback distance in $`U_{\mathrm{imp}}(q)`$, and consider $`n_i`$ to be of the order of $`10^{10}`$ cm<sup>-2</sup>. We first solve the self-consistent equations for the scattering rate $`\gamma `$ and the local-field factor $`G(q)`$ as a function of $`r_s`$ and impurity density $`n_i`$. These quantities determine the dynamic screening function $`\epsilon (q,\omega )`$ and the vertex function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(q,\omega )`$. Afterward the self-energy and its derivatives are evaluated to find the effective mass $`m^{}/m`$.

In Fig. 1 we show the effective mass $`m^{}/m`$ as a function of $`r_s`$ calculated in various theoretical approaches. We observe that even at these relatively higher densities there are notable differences between the $`GW`$ and $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximations indicating the importance of vertex corrections. It appears that the correlation effects suppress the effective mass renormalization. The disorder effects due to charged impurity scattering tend to increase the effective mass with respect to the clean system. There is still a significant reduction in $`m^{}/m`$, however, compared to the $`GW`$-RPA result.

We next display the quasiparticle effective mass at much lower densities. Strictly speaking, $`GW`$ approximation is valid only in the high density limit, inclusion of the vertex corrections in $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation improves the regime of validity. In any case, we wish to explore the effective mass trends in the low density, strongly interacting region. Figure 2 shows $`m^{}/m`$ calculated in various theoretical approaches. $`GW`$-RPA yields a modest enhancement for the whole density range. The suppression found in Fig. 1 for the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation reverses its behavior around $`r_s4`$ and shows an enhancement relative to the $`GW`$-RPA results at lower densities. Qualitatively similar behavior is obtained when we use the simple Hubbard local-field factor within the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation. A notable feature of the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation results is that effective mass exhibits a sharp increase around $`r_s8`$. That the strong interaction effects would lead to a large enhancement in $`m^{}/m`$ is also evident when the Hubbard local-field factor is used within the $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation. Finally, when charged impurity scattering effects are included in the calculation we find that a similar sharp increase in $`m^{}/m`$ occurs at a smaller $`r_s`$ value. We have also calculated the effect of impurity scattering for different parameter values of $`d`$ and $`n_i`$ and found qualitatively similar results.

Although the results of $`GW`$ and $`GW\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximations at large $`r_s`$ are should be taken in with caution, the low density trends of $`m^{}/m`$ should be indicative. In this perspective our calculations indicate that the effective mass enhancement in 2D electron systems can be accommodated within the Fermi liquid theory when the vertex corrections describing the strong correlation effects are taken into account. In particular, a sharp increase in $`m^{}/m`$ as shown in Fig. 2 is quite suggestive in view of the recent experimental findings.3 ; 4  Effective mass enhancement is also observed in 2D neutral Fermi systems20  and represented by a $`GW`$-type calculation.21  Our calculations also show that the $`r_s`$ value at which $`m^{}/m`$ exhibits a sharp increase can be controlled by disorder effects. In a self-consistent scheme where remote charged impurities are taken into account we find that the large enhancement in $`m^{}/m`$ occurs at a higher density compared to the strongly interacting clean system.

Recent theoretical approaches9 ; 10  have modeled the low density electron liquid as close to the Wigner crystallization to obtain a strong increase in the effective mass. On the other hand, Morawetz12  found a divergent behavior in $`m^{}/m`$ at the metal-insulator transition by considering the scattering from heavy impurity ions, and Galitski and Khodel13  attribute divergence of the effective mass to the density wave instability. Our theoretical scheme considers the metallic regime, therefore we cannot distinguish the nature of the possible new state beyond the critical $`r_s`$ value. However, our earlier calculations15  of the anomalous behavior of the compressibility at around the same range of $`r_s`$ values points to a possible metal-insulator transition approaching from the metallic side. A related quantity of interest would be the spin susceptibility or the $`g`$ factor for which experimental results are available. These quantities require the calculation of density-density response function and the local-field factor as functions of the spin polarization which were not undertaken in this work.

Our calculations were performed at $`T=0`$ and for zero thickness 2D electron layers. It would be interesting to extend our work to finite temperatures and to finite width quantum wells to make better contact with experiments. As the Coulomb interaction effects will be less strong in quantum wells, it is expected that the enhancement of $`m^{}/m`$ will be less marked.

In summary, within a many-body approach which takes the electron-electron and electron-impurity interaction effects into account we have calculated the effective mass of a 2D electron system at zero temperature. We have found within the commonly used on-shell approximation that $`m^{}/m`$ is highly enhanced at larger values of the density parameter $`r_s`$ as a result mainly of the correlation effects. The interplay between the correlation effects and the impurity scattering influences qualitative changes in this behavior. Our comparative results should provide insight into the workings of many-body methods in the strong interaction regime.

This work was partially supported by MIUR under the PRIN2001 Initiative. B. T. acknowledges the support by TUBITAK, NATO-SfP, MSB-KOBRA001, and TUBA.


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# Interplay between exchange interactions and charging effects in metallic grains.

## Abstract

We study the effect of the exchange interactions in small superconducting grains near the Coulomb blockade regime. We extend the standard description of the grain in terms of a single collective variable, the charge and its conjugated phase, to include the spin degree of freedom. The suppression of spin fluctuations enhances the tendency towards Coulomb blockade. The effective charging energy and conductance are calculated numerically in the regime of large grain-lead coupling.

Introduction. Coulomb blockade in metallic grains is a well studied phenomenon Averin and Likharev (1991); Grabert and Devoret (1992). The transport through a grain in the Coulomb blockade regime can be studied using rate equations when the coupling to the leads is weak Averin and Likharev (1991); Schön and Zaikin (1990). The renormalization of the charging energy when the coupling to the leads is large is also well understood Schön and Zaikin (1990); Guinea and Schön (1986); Panyukov and Zaikin (1991); Herrero et al. (1999). The strongly coupled regime is best studied by introducing a single collective degree of freedom, the phase, conjugated to the total number of electrons in the grain $`Q/e`$ Ambegaokar et al. (1982); Ho (1983); Ben-Jacob et al. (1983). The use of this variable is justified when the separation between the electronic levels within the grain can be neglected, or, alternatively, when the conductance of the grain is large. In this limit, the interaction effects within the grain can be described by a simple hamiltonian Kurland et al. (2000), expressed in terms of the total charge ($`E_C(\widehat{Q}Q_0)^2`$), the total spin ($`J_S\stackrel{}{S}^2`$) and the individual electronic degrees of freedom. In the presence of attractive interactions in the grain a pairing term ($`\lambda _{BCS}\widehat{T}^+\widehat{T}`$) should also be included Aleiner and Glazman (2002) that will drive the system towards superconducting state with energy gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. In such case both the pairing $`\lambda _{BCS}`$ and the exchange $`J_S`$ will grow under renormalization group (integration of energies down from Thouless energy) to a scale much larger than the bare one, which is initially of the order of the level spacing. Moreover due to the attractive character of interaction the spin susceptibility due to exchange will be positive, so that spin fluctuations get suppressed much in the same way as charge fluctuations do due to the charging energy. The essential distinction between the two will stem from the topological differences between spin group SU(2) and charge group U(1) in which their conjugate phases exist.

In the following, we will generalize the usual description of a small grain in the Coulomb blockade regime in terms of phase dynamics Ambegaokar et al. (1982). We include also the dynamics of the total spin of the grain in SU(2), on the same footing as the total charge. We assume that the grain has a negligible level spacing and a finite positive renormalized susceptibility according to the arguments above.

The coupling between the grain and an external (normal) electrode leads to single electron tunnelling. We describe it as usually done, in terms of a long range interaction, in time, between the phase and spin variables of the grain Eckern et al. (1984). In most of the calculations, we neglect the long time cutoff in the kernel describing these interactions imposed by the superconducting gap. This approximation is reasonable when the bare charging energy is larger than the gap, and its renormalization arises from virtual tunnelling processes of high energy. The effects arising from the suppression of the subgap conductance due to the superconducting state can be incorporated into our calculations in a straightforward way. Finally, our method can be used to study superconducting junctions with subgap leakage currents Iansiti et al. (1989), although we will not consider this case in detail.

The effects of a constant exchange term on the transport properties of a quantum dot has already been studied in the limit where the coupling to the leads is weak, using rate equations Alhassid et al. (2002); Alhassid and Rupp (2003); Usaj and Baranger (2003). The present formalism goes one step beyond this by summing all processes up to cotunneling level.However we do not consider here the changes in the grain susceptibility induced by the spin-orbit coupling which has been considered by other authors Matveev et al. (2000).

The model. As mentioned above, we will focus on the case in which the superconducting gap is smaller or of similar order as the renormalized charging energy, $`E_C^{}`$, and analyze how this renormalization of the bare charging energy, $`E_C`$, depends on the exchange J. These constraints are satisfied, for instance, by Al superconducting grains with radii below $`100`$ nm.

The hamiltonian that we study is: $`=_{\mathrm{grain}}+_{\mathrm{lead}}+_{\mathrm{hop}}`$, where

$`_{\mathrm{grain}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i,s}{}}ϵ_i^{}d_{i,s}^{}d_{i,s}+E_C\widehat{N}^2+J_S\stackrel{}{S}^2`$
$`_{\mathrm{lead}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k,s}{}}ϵ_k^{}c_{k,s}^{}c_{k,s}^{}`$
$`_{\mathrm{hop}}`$ $`=`$ $`t{\displaystyle \underset{i,k,s}{}}c_{i,s}^{}d_{k,s}^{}+h.c.`$ (1)
and $`\widehat{N}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{S}`$ are the total number of electrons and the total spin of the grain, $`\widehat{N}=_{i,s}d_{i,s}^{}d_{i,s}^{}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{S}=\frac{1}{2}_{i,s,s^{}}d_{i,s}^{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_{s,s^{}}^{}d_{i,s^{}}^{}`$, where $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }`$ denotes the Pauli matrices. The grain-dot conductance, in dimensionless units, can be approximated by $`\alpha t^2\rho _{\mathrm{grain}}(ϵ_\mathrm{F})\rho _{\mathrm{lead}}(ϵ_\mathrm{F})`$, where $`\rho _{\mathrm{grain}/\mathrm{lead}}(ϵ_\mathrm{F})`$ is the density of states at the Fermi level of the grain and the lead. As mentioned above, we neglect the energy dependence of the density of states of the grain. The only interactions included in eq.(1) are through the total spin and charge of the grain.

Path integral formulation. We can integrate out the fermionic degrees of freedom and obtain a description in terms of collective variables only by using the path integral formalism. The action is $`S=S_{\mathrm{grain}}^0+S_{\mathrm{lead}}+S_{\mathrm{hop}}+S_{\mathrm{int}}`$, where

$`S_{\mathrm{grain}}^0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\beta }𝑑\tau {\displaystyle \underset{i,s}{}}\overline{d}_{i,s}(_\tau +ϵ_i\mu _{\mathrm{grain}})d_{i,s}`$
$`S_{\mathrm{lead}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\beta }𝑑\tau {\displaystyle \underset{k,s}{}}\overline{c}_{k,s}(_\tau +ϵ_k\mu _{\mathrm{lead}})c_{k,s}`$
$`S_{\mathrm{hop}}`$ $`=`$ $`t{\displaystyle _0^\beta }𝑑\tau {\displaystyle \underset{i,k,s}{}}\overline{d}_{i,s}c_{k,s}+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.`$
$`S_{\mathrm{int}}`$ $`=`$ $`E_C(\widehat{N}N_{\text{ext}})^2+J_S(\stackrel{}{S}\stackrel{}{S}_{\text{ext}})^2`$ (2)
We have included an offset electron number $`N_{\text{ext}}=V_{\mathrm{gate}}/eC_g`$ induced by a gate voltage $`V_{\mathrm{gate}}`$ and an offset spin $`\stackrel{}{S}_{\text{ext}}=\stackrel{}{H}_{\text{ext}}/2J_S`$ induced by an external magnetic field $`\stackrel{}{H}_{\text{ext}}`$, that couples to the total spin.

We can now decouple the quartic interaction term $`S_{\text{int}}`$ by means of a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation $`e^{Ec(NN_{\text{ext}})^2}𝒟Ve^{V^2/4E_\text{C}iV(NN_{\text{ext}})}`$, and similarly for $`\stackrel{}{S}`$, which introduces a new scalar field $`V`$ for the total charge and a *vector* field $`\stackrel{}{H}`$ for the total spin. We then have $`𝒮_{\mathrm{int}}=S_0+S_1`$, with

$`S_0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\beta }𝑑\tau \left({\displaystyle \frac{V^2}{4E_C}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{H}^2}{4J_S}}iVN_{\text{ext}}i\stackrel{}{H}\stackrel{}{S}_{\text{ext}}\right)`$
$`S_1`$ $`=`$ $`i{\displaystyle _0^\beta }𝑑\tau \left(V\widehat{N}+\stackrel{}{H}\stackrel{}{S}\right).`$ (3)
We now perform a time dependent canonical transformation (a phase and spin rotation) on the electronic wavefunctions, in order to cancel the term $`S_1`$ in eq.(Interplay between exchange interactions and charging effects in metallic grains.). This $`U(1)\times SU(2)`$ transformation can be written as:

$`d_{ks}(\tau )`$ $``$ $`U_{ss^{}}(\tau )d_{ks^{}}(\tau )`$
$`U(\tau )`$ $`=`$ $`e^{i\varphi (\tau )}e^{\frac{i}{2}\xi (\tau )\widehat{n}(\tau )\stackrel{}{\sigma }}`$ (4)
The transformation is parametrized by the angles $`\varphi (\tau )`$ and $`\xi (\tau )`$, and by the three dimensional unitary vector $`\widehat{n}(\tau )`$. The requirement that $`S_1`$ in (Interplay between exchange interactions and charging effects in metallic grains.) is cancelled implies:

$$(_\tau U)U^{}=iV+\frac{i}{2}\stackrel{}{H}\stackrel{}{\sigma }$$
(5)
so that $`V=\dot{\varphi }`$ and

$$\stackrel{}{H}=\dot{\xi }\widehat{n}+\mathrm{sin}\xi \dot{\widehat{n}}+(1\mathrm{cos}\xi )\dot{\widehat{n}}\times \widehat{n}$$
(6)
These identities provide an alternative and convenient parametrization of the auxiliary fields $`V`$ and $`\stackrel{}{H}`$, represented now by the $`\varphi ,\xi ,\widehat{n}`$ fields, which will be used in the following. Note that the $`U(1)`$ gauge transformation needed to replace $`V`$ by the phase $`\varphi `$ leads to the standard description of charging effects in terms of phase fluctuations. It is interesting to note that eq.(6) implies that $`\stackrel{}{H}`$ is proportional to the angular momentum of a *sphere*, considered as a rigid body Landau and Lifschitz (1977). The periodicity in imaginary time of the arguments in the action implies that $`U(0)=U(\beta )`$. This constraint implies the usual quantization of the charge in the grain, and also of the spin (see below), due to the discreteness of transport events.

A more compact notation for the transformation in eq.(4) can be given in terms of the following, $`\tau `$ dependent, two- and four-dimensional unit vectors:

$`\widehat{u}_\tau `$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{sin}\varphi _\tau ,\mathrm{cos}\varphi _\tau )`$
$`\widehat{v}_\tau `$ $`=`$ $`(\widehat{n}_\tau \mathrm{sin}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\xi _\tau ,\mathrm{cos}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\xi _\tau )`$ (7)
We can use these vectors to write $`S_0`$ as:

$`S_0={\displaystyle _0^\beta }𝑑\tau \left\{{\displaystyle \frac{(_\tau \widehat{u})^2}{4E_C}}+{\displaystyle \frac{(_\tau \widehat{v})^2}{4J_S}}\right\}`$ (8)
where external gates and fields have been taken as zero for the moment. The transformation in eq.(4) modifies also the lead-grain coupling, $`S_{\mathrm{hop}}`$:

$$S_{\mathrm{hop}}=t_0^\beta 𝑑\tau \underset{i,k,s,s^{}}{}\overline{c}_{i,s}U_{s,s^{}}d_{k,s^{}}+\text{H.c.}$$
(9)
A final step to obtain the effective action for the rotor fields is to integrate out the fermionic fields to order $`t^2`$, using $`e^{S_{\text{hop}}}_0=e^{\frac{1}{2}S_{\text{hop}}^2_0+𝒪(t^4)}`$. One obtains the following dissipation term:

$$S_{\mathrm{diss}}=\frac{\alpha }{4}_0^\beta 𝑑\tau _0^\beta 𝑑\tau ^{}K(\tau \tau ^{})\text{Tr}\left[U_\tau ^{}U_\tau ^{}^{}+U_\tau ^{}^{}U_\tau ^{}\right]$$

where $`K(\tau )=[G_{\mathrm{lead}}(\tau )G_{\mathrm{grain}}(\tau )]/[\rho _{\mathrm{lead}}(ϵ_\mathrm{F})\rho _{\mathrm{grain}}(ϵ_\mathrm{F})]=(\pi T)^2/\mathrm{sin}^2(\pi T\tau )`$, $`G_{\mathrm{lead}}`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{grain}}`$ being the lead and grain unperturbed Green’s functions in imaginary time. Recall here the that the finite range that the superconducting gap could bring in is assumed larger than the decay time of the phase correlators which is of order $`E_C^{}`$, so that the gapless $`K(\tau \tau ^{})`$ of the normal state yields equivalent results. $`S_{\mathrm{diss}}`$ may be finally recast as

$$S_{\mathrm{diss}}=\alpha _0^\beta 𝑑\tau _0^\beta 𝑑\tau ^{}K(\tau \tau ^{})\left[1(\widehat{u}_\tau \widehat{u}_\tau ^{})(\widehat{v}_\tau \widehat{v}_\tau ^{})\right]$$
(10)
This term is sufficient to account for second order tunnelling processes, and in particular it can describe cotunnelling features. The derivation is valid when the conductance between the grain and the electrode per channel is small, and it can be used even if the total value is large.

The method leading to eq.(10) can be easily generalized to the case when the density of states in the grains or in the leads is spin dependent. The effective action will contain terms involving $`\mathrm{sin}(\xi _\tau +\xi _\tau ^{})`$ which break the symmetry between the four components of the vector $`\widehat{v}_\tau `$. These terms are analogous to the Josephson term which arises in the charge dynamics when the leads, or the grain are superconductors Ambegaokar et al. (1982).

The final action is $`S_{\mathrm{eff}}=S_0+S_{\mathrm{diss}}`$,written in terms of the dynamical variables $`\widehat{u}_\tau `$ and $`\widehat{v}_\tau `$ only. In the limit $`J_S=0`$, the field $`\widehat{v}_\tau `$ can be taken as a constant, and the model reduces to the standard phase only model.

Results. It is instructive to analyze first the decoupled grain, described by $`S_0`$ in eq.(8), to see where this spherical rotor description of the total spin comes from. As mentioned above, $`S_0`$ contains the usual phase term, which leads to the quantization of the charge, and a contribution which is equivalent to that of a rigid rotor, and which leads to the conservation of spin. The eigenvalues associated to $`S_0`$ can be written as $`E_{N,S,S_z,K}=E_CN^2+J_SS(S+1)`$, where $`N=0,1,2\mathrm{}`$, $`S=0,1,2\mathrm{}`$, $`SS_zS`$ and $`SKS`$. The degeneracy of a given state is $`(2S+1)^2`$ Landau and Lifschitz (1977). This degeneracy can be understood by noting that, in the limit studied here, the level spacing within the grain can be neglected. The grain energy is solely determined by the total charge and the total spin. Let us assume that, in the neutral dot, there are $`N_0`$ spin 1/2 electrons which contribute to the total spin. The number of states of total spin $`S`$ (each with degeneracy $`2S+1`$) is:

$$C_S^{N_0}=\left(\begin{array}{c}N_0\\ \frac{N_0}{2}S\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}N_0\\ \frac{N_0}{2}S1\end{array}\right)$$
(11)
In the limit of many electrons $`N_0\mathrm{}`$, one obtains $`lim_{N_0/S\mathrm{}}C_S^{N_0}=(2S+1)C_{N_0}`$, where $`C_{N_0}=\frac{2^{N_0+3/2}}{\sqrt{\pi }N_0^{3/2}}`$ is a constant independent of $`S`$. This means that the total degeneracy of a state composed of many $`1/2`$ spins and given value of the total spin momentum $`\widehat{S}^2=S(S+1)`$ is $`C_{N_0}(2S+1)^2`$, just as $`C_{N_0}`$ rigid rotors with total angular momentum $`S`$. The existence of this degeneracy leads to a prefactor in the free energy which is independent of the angular momentum. This multiplicity, like similar degeneracies in the case of ordinary Coulomb blockade, does not affect the effects associated to the spin gap discussed in this paper.

The following calculations including the full action $`S_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ have been done by averaging over all paths in the unit circle parameterized by $`\widehat{u}`$ and the four-dimensional sphere which defines $`\widehat{v}`$, using an extension of the Monte Carlo code developed earlier for related problems Herrero et al. (1999); Bascones et al. (2000). The effective charging energy is calculated by summing over winding numbers of the phase. The conductance between the grain and the electrode has been approximated by the expression $`G(\beta /2)`$ Zwerger and Scharpf (1991); Bascones et al. (2000), valid at low temperatures, where $`G`$ is the correlation function, in imaginary time, of the variable $`\widehat{v}_\tau \widehat{u}_\tau `$. The latter combination describes the transfer of a full electron to the grain. We calculate, separately, the correlations $`G_u=\widehat{u}_\tau \widehat{u}_\tau ^{}`$ and $`G_v=\widehat{v}_\tau \widehat{v}_\tau ^{}`$ which correspond to charge only and spin only currents.

The current correlation functions are shown in Fig.. It is interesting to note that both $`\widehat{u}_\tau \widehat{u}_\tau ^{}`$ and $`\widehat{v}_\tau \widehat{v}_\tau ^{}`$ decay exponentially, while the composite correlation $`\widehat{u}_\tau \widehat{u}_\tau ^{}\widehat{v}_\tau \widehat{v}_\tau ^{}`$ decays as $`(\tau \tau ^{})^2`$, as required by Griffith’s inequality Griffiths (1967). The differences between the phase-phase, “rotation-rotation” and current-current correlations is reminiscent of the behavior of a Luttinger liquid. It implies that the electron current cannot be factorized into its spin and charge components. The exponential decay of the correlations associated with the collective charge and spin degrees of freedom can be understood as the effect of a charge and spin gap in the grain. It can be obtained by making a mean field decoupling of the variables, in a similar way to the calculation for charging effects in coupled grains Arovas et al. (2003). The $`(\tau \tau ^{})^2`$ decay of the current-current correlation describes the cotunnelling processes at low temperatures.

The effective charging energies, as functions of $`\alpha `$ and $`J_S`$, are shown in Figs. and . The effect of a finite $`J_S`$ on the renormalized charging energy is significant, even for small values of $`J_S`$. We can estimate analytically this effect, by assumming that when $`J_S0`$ the fluctuations in the variable $`\widehat{v}_\tau `$ are small. The effect of these fluctuations on the variable $`\widehat{u}_\tau `$ can be approximated by replacing $`\alpha `$ in eq.(10) by $`\alpha |\widehat{v}|^2`$. Assuming that the fluctuations of $`\widehat{v}_\tau `$ are harmonic, we find:

$$|\widehat{v}|^21_{E_C}^\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{d\omega }{\omega ^2/2J_S}1\frac{J_S}{E_C}$$
(12)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a high energy cutoff, comparable to the electronic bandwidth. Then, using the well known expression for the renormalized charging energy for large values of $`\alpha `$ Guinea and Schön (1986); Schön and Zaikin (1990): $`E_C^{}E_C^{}\mathrm{exp}\left\{2\pi ^2\alpha \left(1\frac{J_S}{E_C}\right)\right\}`$. This enhancement of the effective charging energy by a spin gap is another manifestation of the non-separability of charge and spin.

Conclusions – We have analyzed the influence of the exchange term in a small superconducting grain on the charging effects in the regime where the superconducting gap is smaller or comparable to the charging energy. The suppression of the spin susceptibility reduces large fluctuations in the spin of the grain, and enhances the tendency towards Coulomb blockade. Our analysis integrates out the electronic degrees of freedom in the grain and in the external leads, and provides a simple description in terms of the charge and spin degrees of freedom of the grain only.

The effects of the exchange term have been analyzed for closed quantum dots, which are almost decoupled from the leads Alhassid et al. (2002); Alhassid and Rupp (2003); Usaj and Baranger (2003). Our scheme provides a generalization which is non-perturbative in the coupling strength in the sense that one can recover exponential effects in the coupling, such as the renormalization of the charging energy, which cannot be derived from the addition of sequential processes.

A statistical approximation to the electron-electron interactions in a small dot predicts that the bare exchange term is negative and of the order of the separation between electronic levels Kurland et al. (2000); Aleiner et al. (2002). Our analysis, on the other hand, is valid only when the exchange term is positive and larger than the level spacing. This regime corresponds to systems with an attractive electron-electron interaction near a superconducting transition, when the exchange $`J`$ is significantly enhanced Mühlschlegel et al. (1972). Spin fluctuations in a superconducting grain at low temperatures can therefore have a strong influence on charge fluctuations, restoring the system to a Coulomb blockade regime even when the coupling to the leads is strong.

Acknowledgements – Two of us (P. S. J. and F. G.) are thankful to MCyT (Spain) for financial support through grant MAT2002-0495-C02-01.


text:
# Modulations in the radio light curve of the Type IIb Supernova 2001ig: Evidence for a Wolf-Rayet binary progenitor?

## 1 Introduction

Radio studies of supernovae (SNe) can provide valuable information about the density structure of the circumstellar medium, the late stages of stellar mass-loss, and independent distance estimates for the host galaxies (Weiler et al., 2002). Furthermore, with the growing realisation that some Gamma-Ray Bursts may be intimately linked with SNe \[e.g., GRB980425 and SN 1998bw (Kulkarni et al., 1998); GRB011121 and SN 2001ke (Garnavich et al., 2003); GRB030329 and SN 2003dh (Stanek et al., 2003)\], such studies are crucial to understanding GRB environments. To date, radio emission has only ever been detected from core-collapse SNe of Type II and Type Ib/c \[for a recent review of supernova taxonomy, see Turatto (2003)\], and not at all from thermonuclear Type Ia SNe.

Supernova 2001ig was discovered visually by Evans (2001) on 2001 Dec 10.43 UT in the outskirts of the nearby late-type spiral galaxy NGC 7424 ($`D=11.5`$ Mpc; Tully (1988)). No supernovae have been recorded previously in this galaxy. Initial optical spectroscopy of SN 2001ig from Las Campanas Observatory (Matheson & Jha, 2001) revealed similarities to the Type IIb SN 1987K (Filippenko, 1988), while spectra from the European Southern Observatory over the following month (Clocchiatti & Prieto, 2001; Clocchiatti, 2002) showed a similar behaviour to that of the Type IIb SN 1993J, by transitioning from Type II to Type Ib/c as the H recombination lines weakened. By October 2002, the transition to a Type Ib/c in the nebular phase was well and truly complete (Filippenko & Chornock, 2002). SN 2001ig was also detected by the ACIS-S instrument on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory on 2002 May 22 UT with a 0.2-10.0 keV luminosity $`10^{38}`$ erg s-1 (Schlegel & Ryder, 2002). A second observation three weeks later showed that the X-ray luminosity had halved in that time (Schlegel, 2003).

Radio monitoring of SN 2001ig with the Australia Telescope Compact Array111The Australia Telescope is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. (ATCA) commenced within a week of its discovery, and has continued on a regular basis. In Section 2, we present multi-frequency radio flux data from the first 700 days. We describe our attempts to fit the radio ‘light curves’ with a circumstellar interaction model in Section 4, and discuss the deviations from this model in more detail in Section 5. Our conclusions are presented in Section 6.

## 2 Radio monitoring

Table 1 contains the complete log of radio flux measurements from the ATCA. Column 2 lists the days elapsed since explosion, which is derived from the model fitting in Section 4. Total time on-source ranged from as little as 2 hours, up to a full 12 hour synthesis, but was typically 4–6 hours. Since the ATCA is capable of observing in 2 frequency bands simultaneously, determining fluxes in 4 frequency bands on the same day required time-sharing. Dual-frequency observations centered on 18.75 and 18.88 GHz and bandwidths of 128 MHz were carried out using a prototype receiver system on just three ATCA antennas. The central frequencies of the other bands are 8.640, 4.790, 2.496, and 1.376 GHz, and the bandwidth is 128 MHz. From 2002 July 11 onwards, the S-band central frequency was changed from 2.496 to 2.368 GHz, to reduce the amount of in-band interference. The ATCA primary flux calibrator, PKS B1934-638 has been observed once per run, while observations of the nearby source PKS B2310-417 allow us to monitor and correct for variations in gain and phase during each run.

The data for each observation and frequency have been edited and calibrated using the miriad software package. Rather than image the visibility datasets, then clean them to some arbitrary level, the UVFIT task is used instead in the visibility domain to fit simultaneously a point source at the known location of SN 2001ig, as well as a background source fortuitously located just 18.5 arcsec to the southwest (Figure 1). This source, located at $`\alpha =22^\mathrm{h}57^\mathrm{m}29.6^\mathrm{s}`$, $`\delta =41^{}02^{}40^{\prime \prime }`$ (J2000) does not appear in any radio source catalogue, but was found to have the following fluxes as at 2001 Dec 15 UT: $`S(8.640\mathrm{GHz})=5.8`$ mJy, $`S(4.790\mathrm{GHz})=12.9`$ mJy, $`S(2.496\mathrm{GHz})=26.4`$ mJy, and $`S(1.376\mathrm{GHz})=47.0`$ mJy. After scaling the background source to these values at each epoch, the SN 2001ig fluxes have been scaled accordingly. The uncertainties in Table 1 include both the formal fitting errors, and the possibility that this background source is intrinsically variable (as is quite likely at the higher frequencies). This technique of fitting the SN flux density in the visibility domain, then bootstrapping to the flux of the adjacent source, was crucial to recovering valid flux measurements from observations with poor phase stability and/or limited hour-angle coverage.

The ATCA observations have been supplemented by a few early observations with the Very Large Array (VLA)333The VLA telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The observing and data analysis procedure follows that described in Weiler et al. (1986), and the results are listed separately in Table 2. Owing to the low elevation of SN 2001ig as observed from the VLA, and the compact configuration of the VLA at the time, both the sensitivity and the resolution are relatively poor. Nevertheless, these data prove to be important in constraining the early evolution of SN 2001ig, particularly at the very highest frequencies.

## 3 Radio light curves

The ATCA and VLA radio data is plotted in Figure 2. The data at 15.0 GHz are not shown here, to reduce confusion with the other high-frequency points, but is incorporated in the model fitting of Section 4. The time evolution of the spectral index $`\alpha `$ (where flux $`S\nu ^{+\alpha }`$) between simultaneous positive detections at 1.4 and 4.8/4.9 GHz, and between 4.8/4.9 and 8.6 GHz, is plotted in Figure 3.

The radio “light curve” of a Type II supernova can be broadly divided into three phases: first, there is a rapid turn-on with a steep spectral index ($`\alpha >2`$, so the SN is brightest at the higher frequencies), due to a decrease in the line-of-sight absorption. After some weeks or months have elapsed, the flux reaches a peak, turning over first at the highest frequencies. Eventually, the SN begins to fade steadily, and at the same rate at all frequencies, in the optically-thin phase.

Although broadly consistent with this picture, the radio light curve of SN 2001ig displays significant departures from a smooth turnover and decline, which are most pronounced at 8.64 and 4.79 GHz. At around day 80, the flux at these frequencies reversed its initial decline, and by day 130 had almost doubled. The flux remained almost constant for a period of $`50`$ days, before resuming its decline at close to the original rate. Near day 250, the decline was again temporarily interrupted for another 50 days. There are indications of perhaps one more bump after day 450, but by this stage the SN has faded to the milli-Jansky level where any variations are comparable to the measurement uncertainties. The deviations are less pronounced, but still evident at 2.50 and 1.38 GHz.

## 4 Model fits

The general properties of supernova radio light curves as outlined above are quite well represented by a modified version of the “minishell” model of Chevalier (1982), and have been successfully parameterised for more than a dozen RSNe (see Table 2 of Weiler et al. (2002)). Radio synchrotron emission is produced when the SN shock wave ploughs into an unusually dense circumstellar medium (CSM). Following the notation of Weiler et al. (2002) and Sramek & Weiler (2003), we model the multi-frequency evolution as:

$`S(\mathrm{mJy})=K_1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{5\mathrm{GHz}}}\right)^\alpha \left({\displaystyle \frac{tt_0}{1\mathrm{day}}}\right)^\beta e^{\tau _{\mathrm{external}}}`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{1e^{\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{clumps}}}}}{\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{clumps}}}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{1e^{\tau _{\mathrm{internal}}}}{\tau _{\mathrm{internal}}}}\right)`$ (1)
with

$$\tau _{\mathrm{external}}=\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{homog}}}+\tau _{\mathrm{distant}}$$
(2)
where

$$\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{homog}}}=K_2\left(\frac{\nu }{5\mathrm{GHz}}\right)^{2.1}\left(\frac{tt_0}{1\mathrm{day}}\right)^\delta ,$$
(3)
$$\tau _{\mathrm{distant}}=K_4\left(\frac{\nu }{5\mathrm{GHz}}\right)^{2.1},$$
(4)
and

$$\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{clumps}}}=K_3\left(\frac{\nu }{5\mathrm{GHz}}\right)^{2.1}\left(\frac{tt_0}{1\mathrm{day}}\right)^\delta ^{},$$
(5)
with the various $`K`$ terms representing the flux density ($`K_1`$), the attenuation by a homogeneous absorbing medium ($`K_2`$, $`K_4`$), and by a clumpy/filamentary medium ($`K_3`$), at a frequency of 5 GHz one day after the explosion date $`t_0`$. The $`\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{homog}}}`$ and $`\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{clumps}}}`$ absorption arises in the circumstellar medium external to the blast wave, while $`\tau _{\mathrm{distant}}`$ is a time-independent absorption produced by e.g., a foreground H ii region or more distant parts of the CSM unaffected by the shock wave. The spectral index is $`\alpha `$; $`\beta `$ gives the rate of decline in the optically-thin phase; and $`\delta `$ and $`\delta ^{}`$ describe the time dependence of the optical depths in the local homogeneous, and clumpy/filamentary CSM, respectively (see Weiler et al. (2002) and Sramek & Weiler (2003) for a detailed account of how these parameters are related). For lack of sufficient high-frequency data prior to the turnover to constrain it, we adopt $`\tau _{\mathrm{internal}}=0`$.

In order to assess the gross properties of SN 2001ig in comparison with other Type IIb RSNe, we have fit this standard model to the data in Tables 1 and 2, but excluding days 48–70, and days 110–190. Thus, the model fit is constrained primarily by the rise at early times, the region of the high-frequency turnover, and by the late-time decay. The actual date of explosion $`t_0`$ is found to be 2001 Dec 3 UT, one week prior to discovery. The full set of model parameters which yields the minimum reduced $`\chi ^2`$ is given in Table 3, and the model curves are plotted in Fig. 2. For comparison, we show in Table 3 the equivalent parameters for two other well-sampled Type IIb RSNe: SN 1993J (Van Dyk et al., 2004) in M81, and SN 2001gd (Stockdale et al., 2003) in NGC 5033. Note that we have fixed the value of $`\delta `$ to be $`(\alpha \beta 3)`$, as in the Chevalier (1982) model for expansion into a CSM with density decreasing as $`r^2`$.

The spectral index $`\alpha `$ of SN 2001ig is virtually identical to SN 1993J, but less steep than SN 2001gd. However, the rate of decline $`\beta `$ is much steeper in SN 2001ig than in either of the other Type IIb’s, and the time to reach peak 5 GHz flux is also much shorter. In this respect, SN 2001ig has behaved more like a Type Ib/c SN than most “normal” Type II SNe. The interpolated peak 5 GHz luminosity would be about twice that attained by SN 1993J, though in practice SN 2001ig was near a local minimum in the flux at that time, and the actual peak was not reached for another 40 days.

Using the methodology outlined in Weiler et al. (2002) and Sramek & Weiler (2003), we can derive an estimate of the progenitor’s mass-loss rate, based on its radio absorption properties. Substituting our model fit results above into their equation 11, and assuming both $`\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{homog}}}`$ and $`\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{clumps}}}`$ contribute to the absorption444Case 2 in the notation of Weiler et al. (2002). Note that there is a misprint in that section, namely that in the limit of $`\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{clumps}}}0`$, then $`\tau _{\mathrm{eff}}^{0.5}\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{homog}}}^{0.5}`$ in equation 13, and not $`\tau _{\mathrm{CSM}_{\mathrm{homog}}}`$. We prefer the term “homogeneous” here over “uniform”, since the latter could give the misleading impression of no density gradient at all, whereas an $`r^2`$ dependence of density is implicit., we find that

$$\frac{\dot{\mathrm{M}}/(\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)}{w/(10\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1)}=(2.2\pm 0.5)\times 10^5$$

where $`w`$ is the mass-loss wind velocity, and the ejecta velocity as measured from the earliest optical spectra (Clocchiatti & Prieto, 2001; Clocchiatti, 2002) is in the range 15,000 – 20,000 km s-1. Clearly, this is only an average value, subject to major variations discussed in the next section, but is in the same domain as the mass-loss rates derived similarly for SN 1993J and SN 2001gd (Table 3). Though generally less well-constrained, mass-loss rates may also be estimated directly from the radio emission properties, relying only on the peak 5 GHz luminosity, and the time taken to reach that peak. Equations 17 and 18 of Weiler et al. (2002) give $`\dot{\mathrm{M}}/w=1.5\times 10^5`$ and $`3.5\times 10^5`$ for the average Type Ib/c SN and Type II SN, respectively. Thus, the mass-loss rate calculations are in good agreement, with SN 2001ig intermediate between the expected rates for Type Ib/c and Type II SNe, consistent with its Type IIb classification.

## 5 Discussion

In Figure 4 we have plotted the deviations of the observed flux density, from the best-fit model curves as shown in Figure 2. The solid line in this figure is a 4-point boxcar average of the mean deviation over all frequencies at each epoch, which serves to emphasise the quasi-damped harmonic nature of the deviations, having a period near 150 days, and peak intensity declining with time (i.e., with increasing distance from the star). The r.m.s. deviation of the actual data from the smoothed interpolation is less than 1/3 of the amplitude of the observed modulation. Since the fractional amplitude of these deviations is virtually identical at each frequency, the evolution of the spectral index (Fig 3) in the optically-thin phase appears relatively unaffected. We take this as evidence that the bumps and dips in the radio light curve primarily reflect abrupt modulations in the CSM density structure, rather than optical depth effects (though optical depth is tied to CSM density to some degree). We now consider ways in which such a structured CSM may have been laid down late in the life of the progenitor of SN 2001ig.

Before doing so, we need to examine the effects of a change in CSM density on the velocity of the expansion, as well as on the radio emission. The blastwave radius increases with time as $`rt^m`$, where $`m=1`$ for no deceleration. Since $`m=\delta /3`$ in the Chevalier (1982) model, then $`m=0.85`$ for SN 2001ig, implying significant deceleration in the surrounding CSM. The radio luminosity is related to the average CSM density ($`\rho _{\mathrm{CSM}}\dot{\mathrm{M}}/w`$) via

$$L\left(\frac{\dot{\mathrm{M}}}{w}\right)^{(\gamma 7+12m)/4}$$
(6)
(Chevalier, 1982) so that for SN 2001ig, $`L(\dot{\mathrm{M}}/w)^{1.6}`$. Consequently, a doubling in the CSM density will cause the radio emission to rise by a factor of three.

### 5.1 Episodic mass-loss from a single progenitor

The observed transition in SN 2001ig from a Type II optical spectrum with H lines, to a Type Ib/c spectrum without, argues for the ejection of a significant fraction of the red-giant envelope. Fig. 4 indicates strong excesses of observed flux at $`t150`$ days, and $`t300`$ days (with a net flux excess still at 500–600 days), hinting at a possible periodicity of 150 days in CSM density enhancements. If these density enhancements (by factors of 30% and 15% respectively) correspond to discrete shells of material expelled by the red supergiant, then the spacing between these shells is given by $`R_{\mathrm{sh}}=v_{\mathrm{exp}}t^m`$. Given an initial ejecta expansion velocity $`v_{\mathrm{exp}}`$ of 15,000 – 20,000 km s-1 (Clocchiatti & Prieto, 2001; Clocchiatti, 2002), an elapsed time $`t`$ of 150 days, and deceleration given above, then $`R_{\mathrm{sh}}=(6.3\pm 0.9)\times 10^4`$ pc. Assuming the shells have been expanding at the wind velocity $`w=1020`$ km s-1, then the period between successive mass-loss episodes is $`T2060`$ years.

This is significantly longer than the timescales normally associated with stellar pulsations ($`T`$ few hundred days) in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, but is comparable with the expected $`10^210^3`$ yr intervals between thermal pulses (C/He shell flashes) in $`510`$ M AGB stars (Iben & Renzini, 1983). Computations by Paczyński (1975) predict an interflash period of 40 yrs when the (hydrogen-exhausted) core mass is nearly 1.3 M. This is close to the maximum core mass possible (depending on composition; Becker & Iben (1980)) in stars which will finish up as a white dwarf, rather than undergo a supernova explosion. Put another way, SN 2001ig may span the gap between the most extreme mass-losing AGB stars, and the least-massive supernova progenitors. Such a massive AGB star would also be expected to undergo multiple convective “dredge-up” phases leading to modified surface abundances, with N enhanced primarily at the expense of C (Becker & Iben, 1979). Such changes may be apparent in the optical spectra (Mattila et al., 2004).

There are already several good examples within our own Galaxy for this type of quasi-periodic mass-loss from AGB and post-AGB/proto-planetary nebula objects. The nearby carbon star IRC$`+10216`$ shows multiple nested shells spaced $`520`$ arcsec apart, corresponding to ejection timescales of $`200800`$ years (Mauron & Huggins, 2000). The “Egg Nebula” (CRL2688; Sahai et al. 1998) and IRAS 1710–3224 (Kwok, Su & Hrivnak, 1998) are two bipolar proto-planetary nebulae which display concentric arcs with spacings on similar timescales.

### 5.2 Binary model

Among the other RSNe studied to date, only SN 1979C shows anywhere near as much systematic variation in its optically-thin decline phase as SN 2001ig. Indeed, for the first decade or so, the late-time radio light curve of SN 1979C could be quite well represented by a sinusoidal modulation of the flux, with a period of 1575 days (Weiler et al., 1992). More recently however, these regular variations in SN 1979C have ceased, and the light curve has flattened out (Montes et al., 2000). The implied modulation period of the mass-loss rate is $`T4000`$ years, a factor of 100 longer than that computed above for SN 2001ig. On the basis of evidence that the progenitor of SN 1979C had an initial mass of at least 16 M, Weiler et al. (1992) argued against the thermal pulse scenario described in Section 5.1, as the interflash period for such a massive star and its resulting core would be $`4000`$ years. Instead, they proposed modulation of the progenitor wind due to eccentric orbital motion about a massive binary companion as the cause of the periodicity in the radio light curve of SN 1979C.

The particular binary scenario they presented had the red supergiant progenitor and a 10 M B1 dwarf orbiting their common barycentre, with a 4000 year period. For a purely circular orbit, the progenitor’s orbital motion is a sizable fraction of the wind velocity, resulting in a spiral (or pinwheel-like) density structure being imprinted on the (otherwise uniform) mass-loss CSM in the orbital plane. This by itself would not lead to any periodic variation in the CSM density swept up by the SN shock wave. If instead the orbit was eccentric ($`e=0.5`$ say), the acceleration of the progenitor near periastron every 4000 years would cause an additional pile-up of wind material which may then account for the observed periodicity in the radio emission. Schwarz & Pringle (1996) performed full hydrodynamical simulations of this, taking into account shocks generated in the wind, the gravitational influence of the companion on the wind, and light-travel time effects. Their simulations produced pronounced, but asymmetric spiral shock patterns, particularly when a polytropic equation of state is assumed. They also demonstrated that the amplitude of the modulations in the radio light curve tend to decrease as our view of the orbital plane goes from edge-on, to face-on. This may partly explain why such periodic variations as seen in SN 1979C and in SN 2001ig are comparatively rare, since not only must the mass-loss rate be modulated by the right kind of binary orbit parameters, but we must also then be fortunate enough to view it from close to edge-on.

Similar hydrodynamical simulations, but in three dimensions, of detached binary systems comprising a 1.5 M AGB star and a secondary of $`0.252.0`$ M were presented by Mastrodemos & Morris (1999), specifically targeted at reproducing the observed structures in IRC$`+10216`$, CRL2688, etc., mentioned in Section 5.1. Interestingly, for sufficiently large binary separations ($`>`$10 AU) and wind velocities ($`w>15`$ km s-1), the spiral shock structure extends to high latitudes, and the resulting “spiral onion shell” structure seen in cross-section could resemble the shells seen in PPNe, and implied in SN 2001ig. In an alternative binary scenario, Harpaz, Rappaport & Soker (1997) postulate that it is the close passage of the secondary star effectively “choking off” uniform mass-loss from an AGB star having an extended atmosphere, rather than any enhancements in the mass-loss rate itself, which gives rise to these shells.

Perhaps the best direct evidence for the existence of binary-generated spiral shocks comes from high-resolution observations of dusty Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars. Tuthill, Monnier & Danchi (1999) and Monnier, Tuthill & Danchi (1999) used the technique of aperture-masking interferometry on the Keck I telescope to image structure at better than 50 mas resolution in the $`K`$-band around WR 104 and WR 98a. In both cases, they found pinwheel-shaped nebulae wrapping almost entirely around the central source out to distances of 150–300 AU. Their model has an OB-type companion orbiting the W-R star, with dust formation taking place in the wake of the interface region between their colliding stellar winds. The combination of orbital motion and wind-driven radial motion results in a “lawn sprinkler” effect, and the resultant dusty spirals. Hydrodynamic models in 3D of these colliding wind binary systems by Walder & Folini (2003) show the effects of varying the orbital eccentricity.

Remarkably, the characteristic radial scale for density enhancements implied by SN 2001ig’s radio light curve ($`R_{\mathrm{sh}}=0.0006`$ pc; Sect. 5.1) is an almost perfect match to the typical scale of one full rotation of these pinwheel nebulae: 50–100 milliarcsec at $`D2\mathrm{kpc}R=0.00050.001`$ pc. Thus, SN 2001ig may represent the obliteration of just such a pinwheel nebula. Further support for this scenario comes from the flux excess (at least 60%, though this is a lower limit due to optical depth effects) in the first 50 days over that expected from a simple $`r^2`$ CSM density profile, as shown in Fig. 4. Coupled with the deceleration mentioned previously, this would tend to favour a centrally-condensed additional CSM component such as a pinwheel nebula, rather than concentric mass-loss shells.

### 5.3 SN 2001ig and the link between Type II and Type Ib/c SNe

It is interesting to note that the apparent requirements to produce such a pinwheel nebula, i.e., a close binary system composed of two massive stars in which the primary is a W-R star, are similar to those invoked by stellar evolution theory to explain the origin of Type Ib/c SNe. The peculiar spectral evolution and optical light curve behaviour of SN 1993J and SN 1987K (Sect. 1) has been attributed to the explosion of a hydrogen-poor, helium-rich progenitor (Swartz et al., 1993). A large fraction of the progenitor’s original hydrogen envelope must have been shed prior to core collapse, either through a strong stellar wind from a single massive (25–30 M) star (Höflich, Langer & Duschinger, 1993); or more likely, via mass transfer from an intermediate-mass (10–15 M) star in a binary system (Nomoto et al., 1993; Podsiadlowski et al., 1993; Utrobin, 1994; Van Dyk et al., 1996). Models for the evolution of massive stars in close binaries (e.g., Podsiadlowski, Joss & Hsu 1992; Woosley, Langer & Weaver 1995) produce helium stars. The suggestion is that stars which have lost some or all of their hydrogen would be the WN class of W-R stars, and explode as Type Ib SNe; while those which lose their helium layer as well would be the WC or WO classes of W-R stars, and explode as Type Ic SNe (Harkness et al. 1987, Filippenko, Matheson & Ho 1993).

At least 40% of solar neighbourhood W-R stars are in binary systems with hot companions (Moffat et al., 1986; van der Hucht et al., 1988), and the fraction may be even higher in low-metallicity environments (Dalton & Sarazin, 1995), such as the outskirts of NGC 7424. The extent of mass transfer, and thus the end-products of the binary system, depends on the evolutionary stage of the primary at the time mass transfer commences. As shown by Podsiadlowski et al. (1992) and Pols & Nomoto (1997), Case C mass transfer (which takes place after the core helium-burning phase) in systems with large eccentricity and orbital periods of a few years can be episodic, occurring mainly near periastron, just as outlined in Sect. 5.2. We propose that SN 2001ig may well have undergone just such a phase, without actually sharing a common envelope with a companion. The implied orbital period is given by one complete winding of the pinwheel nebula, which is simply the ratio of $`R_{\mathrm{sh}}0.0006`$ pc divided by the terminal wind velocity of a WN star ($`2000`$ km s-1; Abbott & Conti 1987), or $`T100`$ days, consistent with this scenario.

In this context, the highly-modulated radio light curves for SN 2001ig may represent some of the best evidence yet for a link between SNe of Type IIb and Type Ib/c, in that SN 2001ig evolved optically like a Type IIb, but has the radio characteristics that should be expected for a Type Ib/c SN originating in a W-R + OB binary system viewed nearly edge-on. A testable prediction from this scenario is that the companion star (which by virtue of mass accretion may be even brighter than the W-R progenitor of SN 2001ig) should eventually become visible against the fading optical remnant, as has been postulated but not yet observed for SN 1993J (Podsiadlowski et al., 1993; Filippenko et al., 1993).

Besides its apparent association with the gamma-ray burst GRB 980425, SN 1998bw is also notable for showing bumps and dips in its radio light curves not dissimilar to those seen in SN 2001ig (Weiler, Panagia & Montes, 2001). These deviations, while exhibiting no clear periodicity in the first 1000 days, were less conspicuous at low frequencies, just as in SN 2001ig. This kind of behaviour is likely due to the CSM still being optically thick to low frequencies at relatively late times, and therefore only emission originating in the near-side of the CSM can be seen; whereas at high frequencies, emission from the entire CSM is visible. SN 1998bw had the spectral characteristics primarily of a Type Ic event, with a probable W-R progenitor (Iwamoto et al., 1998). Unfortunately, barely a half-dozen Type Ib/c SNe have been detected or studied in the radio, so it is too early to tell whether such modulated radio light curves may be the clue to a common massive-binary origin for Type IIb and Type Ib/c SNe, and possibly some GRBs.

## 6 Conclusions

By compiling one of the most complete multi-frequency radio datasets ever collected for any supernova, we have been fortunate to witness regular modulations in the radio light curves of the Type IIb Supernova 2001ig. The time taken to reach peak luminosity at 5 GHz, the rate of decline since then, and the derived mass-loss rates prior to explosion are all intermediate between those of Type Ib/c and “normal” Type II SNe. We find the light curve modulations to recur on a timescale of $`150`$ days, and have shown them to be true density modulations in the CSM, and not optical depth effects. Allowing for the deceleration of the ejecta, these density enhancements are spaced 0.6 milli-parsecs (or 130 AU) apart.

While we cannot totally exclude the possibility that these density enhancements represent mass-loss shells from the thermal-pulsing phase of a single AGB star progenitor, we find the weight of evidence supports a stellar wind, modulated by motion in an eccentric binary system, as their source. As had been suggested previously for SN 1979C, the combination of a massive binary companion causing a pile-up of mass-loss during periastron, and a favourable viewing angle, can result in just the kind of periodic density variations observed in SN 2001ig. Recent near-IR interferometric observations of the anticipated “pinwheel” dust nebulae in systems comprising a Wolf-Rayet star and a hot massive companion lend weight to this scenario, especially as the observed size scales match those required for SN 2001ig. Finally, as optical spectroscopy has recently been leading to the conclusion that Type Ib/c SNe are the product of a core-collapse event in the W-R component of such systems (and Type IIb SNe being those caught early enough to reveal the last traces of their lost hydrogen envelope), we believe these radio observations of SN 2001ig provide the “missing link” between the pinwheel nebulae observed in Galactic W-R binary systems, and their eventual fate in Type IIb or Type Ib/c supernovae.

## Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the staff of the Paul Wild Observatory, including numerous volunteer Duty Astronomers, for assisting us in carrying out the majority of these observations remotely from ATNF Epping. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services (ADS), as well as the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We acknowledge fruitful discussions with Tim Gledhill and Roger Chevalier. KWW wishes to thank the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for the 6.1 funding supporting his research.