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# I Main idea

## I Main idea

It is well known that the Pomeron structure is one of the most challenging problem of QCD. We need soft Pomeron to describe the experimental data on soft processes but we have no idea why a Regge pole with the intercept close to unity, which we call soft Pomeron, could appear in our microscopic theory-QCD. Our main idea  is that soft Pomeron $``$ non-perturbative QCD but at sufficiently short distances.

Indeed, pQCD calculations lead to so called BFKL Pomeron which is not a Regge pole. On the other hand, perturbative approach for 1+2 dimensional QCD  gives a reggeon with the intercept larger than unity if we introduce a scale in our theory ( gluon mass ). For massless 1+2 QCD we still do not have a Pomeron. The lesson which we learned from this approach is that we have to find the origin of a violation of the scale invariance in QCD which leads to an appearance of a typical scale in massless QCD. This momentum scale should be large enough since our phenomenological Pomeron has sufficiently large typical momentum. Indeed, (i) the slope of the Pomeron trajectory $`\alpha _P(t)=1+\mathrm{\Delta }_P+\alpha _P^{}(0)t`$ is equal to $`\alpha _P^{}(0)=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.25}GeV^2\alpha _R^{}(0)=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}GeV^2`$, where $`\alpha _R^{}`$ is the slope of secondary trajectories; and (ii) the $`t`$ \- slope of the triple Pomeron vertex $`G_{3P}(t)`$ is very small.

Therefore, we have three principle questions to answer:(i) why we have a Pomeron in QCD; (ii) why the Pomeron intercept is so small ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_P0.08÷0.1`$ ) for non-perturbative QCD and (iii) why a typical momentum scale is so high ($`M_0\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/\alpha _P^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}2}GeV`$ ) for “soft” Pomeron.

## II  High momentum scale for Pomeron

The first question which we would like to answer is does sufficiently large mass scale $`M_0\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}2}GeV`$ appear in non-perturbative QCD?. Our answer is yes.

As have been mentioned, the key ingredient of our approach is the breakdown of the scale invariance in QCD, reflected in scale anomaly . QCD is scale invariant on the classical tree level in the chiral limit of the massless quarks. However, this invariance is broken due to scale dependence of the QCD coupling constant, which introduces a dimensionful scale ( $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ). On the formal level, the breakdown of scale invariance in the theory is reflected by non-conservation of scale current, and thus in the non-zero trace of the the energy - momentum tensor $`\theta _\mu ^\mu `$ . Scale anomaly leads to a set of powerful low energy theorems, from which we are going to use

$$i𝑑xT\left\{\mathrm{\Theta }(x)\mathrm{\Theta }(0)\right\}=\frac{dM^2}{M^2}[\rho _\mathrm{\Theta }^{\mathrm{phys}}(M^2)\rho _\mathrm{\Theta }^{\mathrm{pt}}(M^2)]=40|\mathrm{\Theta }|0=16ϵ_{vac}0$$
(1)
Let us make a simple estimate counting the number of coupling constant in Eq. (1). On the l.h.s. we have each term of the order of $`\alpha _S^2`$ while on the r.h.s. $`ϵ_{vac}\alpha _S`$. Therefore, Eq. (1) holds only because the range of integration over $`M^2`$ is of the order of $`1/\alpha _S`$ or, in other words, typical $`M^21/\alpha _S`$. This is a reason for large momentum scale in QCD. The real estimates for the value of $`M_0^2`$ has been performed using the chiral limit of QCD in which

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^\mu =_\mu \pi ^a^\mu \pi ^a+2m_\pi ^2\pi ^a\pi ^a+\mathrm{}\text{and}\pi ^+\pi ^{}|\theta _\mu ^\mu |0=M^2=(\alpha _S)^0.$$
(2)
Substituting Eq. (2) in Eq. (1) one can get the estimates for the value of typical mass, namely

$$M_0^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}32}\pi \left\{\frac{|ϵ_{\mathrm{vac}}|}{N_f^21}\right\}^{\frac{1}{2}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}4}÷\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}6}GeV^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}/\alpha _P^{}\mathrm{\Lambda },$$
(3)
for $`ϵ_{vac}(0.24GeV)^4`$ . The physical way of understanding the disappearance of the coupling constant in $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^\mu g^2F^2`$ is to assume that the non-perturbative QCD vacuum is dominated by the semi-classical fluctuations of the gluonic fields with $`F1/g`$.

## III Scale anomaly of QCD $``$ Soft Pomeron

Armed with this knowledge on QCD vacuum we can formulate our strategy for searching of non-perturbative Pomeron contribution.

It consists of two steps: (i) first is to find the $`(\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^\mu )^2`$ contribution to the next-to-leading order BFKL kernel  which is formally $`O(\alpha _S^2)`$; (ii) second to replace this contribution by the non-perturbative one which is of the order of $`\alpha _S^0`$ due to scale anomaly. These steps are shown in Fig.1

In doing so, we obtained that the total cross section is proportional to $`s^{\mathrm{\Delta }_P}`$ with

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_P=\frac{\pi ^2}{2}\left(\frac{8\pi }{b}\right)^2\frac{18}{32\pi ^2}\frac{dM^2}{M^6}\left(\rho _\theta ^{phys}(M^2)\rho _\theta ^{pQCD}(M^2)\right)=\frac{1}{48}\mathrm{ln}\frac{M_0^2}{4m_\pi ^2};$$
(4)
where we use Eq. (2) for the non-perturbative contribution to $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^\mu `$. Numerically, Eq. (4) gives $`\mathrm{\Delta }_P=0.08÷0.1`$ for $`M_0^2=4÷6GeV^2`$ in a good agreement with the experimental data .

Therefore, we obtained a soft Pomeron that we needed. All corrections to our approach are small since they are proportional to $`\alpha _S(M_0^2)1`$. However, we would like to stress that we cannot control all other contributions which stem from long distances $`r1/M_0`$. We believe that they are irrelevant to the Pomeron structure.

The physical interpretation is very simple: t - channel gluon scatters off semi-classical vacuum gluon fields (see Fig.2-a). This scattering leads to an excitation of the quark zero modes $``$ pion production. In general, This picture is very close to one that J. Bjorken has guessed .

## IV QCD instantons and the soft Pomeron

The picture, that has been discussed, suggests two key observation: (i) a soft Pomeron is a coherent state of strong semi-classical gluon field $`F_{\mu \nu }\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/g(M_0)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$; and (ii) the typical momentum scale for these fields is rather large $`M_01/g(M_0)`$. A natural candidate for such fields is an instanton contribution. It is well known that instantons are the only classical solutions of QCD which describe the transition between different QCD vacua . We found instructive to view a Pomeron as a process shown in Fig.2-b, in which t - channel gluon propagates through space inducing a chain of instanton transition between different vacua and producing more gluons in each transition. Practically, it means that we calculate a ladder digram of Fig.3-a with the vertices defined in Fig.3-b. Our main assumption is that interactions between instantons result in diluted gas of instantons with a definite size  $`\rho =\rho _0\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0.3}fm`$. We see a strong support of this hypothesis in lattice calculations (see Ref. and references therein). We can reduce the problem of high energy asymptotic to the ladder diagram of Fig.3-a using the following parameters:

$`\alpha _S(\rho _0)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ $`e^{\frac{2\pi }{\alpha _S(\rho _0)}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1};`$ (5)
$`e^{\frac{2\pi }{\alpha _S(\rho _0)}}\mathrm{ln}s\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _0M_0}{\alpha _S}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}.`$ (6)
The ladder diagram sums $`(e^{\frac{2\pi }{\alpha _S(\rho _0)}}\mathrm{ln}s)^n\left(\frac{\rho _0M_0}{\alpha _S}\right)^m`$ contributions.

Our hope is that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_P\rho _0^4ϵ_{vac}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0.016}`$ (see Fig.4).

Actually, the value of intercept $`\mathrm{\Delta }_P^{M_0^2}𝑑M^2\sigma (G+GInG)`$. We believe that $`M_0E_{sph}`$ and $`\sigma (G+GInG)\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha _S}F(\frac{M}{E_{sph}})\right)`$. The form of the “holy grail” function $`F(\frac{M}{E_{sph}})`$ is not known. In our calculation we just cut integral at $`M_0E_{sph}`$. The result strongly depends on the value of cutoff. However, out main idea is to find a relation between the value of the Pomeron intercept and the vacuum energy ( see Fig.4-a and Fig.4-b). We have not found such a relation yet and we just calculate the intercept using $`M_0=2.4GeV`$. Fig.5-a gives an answer to the question why the non-perturbative intercept is so small. One can see that the value of the intercept has a maximum as function of $`\alpha _S`$. As it has been mentioned we cannot guarantee the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_P`$ but our approach provides an explanation how this value could be small even for large $`\alpha _S`$. Fig.5-b shows the calculated Pomeron trajectory which turns out to be nonlinear. It is interesting to notice that the slope of the Pomeron trajectory $`\alpha _P^{}=\mathrm{\Delta }_P\times 2.0GeV^2`$ in a good agreement with the experimental data.

## V Resume

Concluding this talk I would like to repeat our point of view: the soft Pomeron has a close relation to the structure of QCD vacuum with typical semi-classical strong fields $`A_\mu \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}/g`$ and typical large momentum scale $`M_0=E_{sph}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}/\rho _0\alpha _S`$. We demonstrate that such strong field give rise to Reggeon with reasonable intercept. We believe that all other contributions are still small at scale $`M_0`$ since $`\alpha _S(M_0)1`$.

The difference of our approach from others on the market  is that there is no clear relation to property of QCD vacua in them, while we have such a relation in our approach.

We want to stress that our approach as well as other ones is based on the assumption that long distance physics which provides confinement of quark and gluons cannot lead to a Pomeron contribution. The reason for this assumption is the only one: our phenomenological Pomeron has a sufficiently large momentum scale.

We hope that our approach will trigger a return to theoretical discussion of the Pomeron structure with direct addressing to an achieved knowledge of non-perturbative QCD.

Acknowledgments:

I wish to thank Ia. Balitsky, E. Gotsman, D. Kharzeev,Yu. Kovchegov, U. Maor and C-I Tan for a pleasure to work with them and to discuss with them all problems of “soft” physics.

This research was supported by part by Israel Academy of Science and Humanities and by BSF grant # 98000276.


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# A fluctuation theorem in phase turbulence of chemical oscillatory waves

## Abstract

Through numerical simulations of the Kuramoto equation, which displays high-dimensional dissipative chaos, we find a quantity representing the cost for maintenance of a spatially non-uniform structure that appears in the phase turbulence of chemical oscillatory waves. We call this quantity the generalized entropy production and demonstrate that its distribution function possesses a symmetry expressed by a fluctuation theorem. We also report a numerical result which suggests a relation between this generalized entropy production rate and the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy.

When a system exists in a non-equilibrium steady state, the entropy produced in the system continuously flows into the environment. The amount of the entropy produced during a finite time interval is called the ’entropy production’. As stipulated by the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy production must be positive.

Entropy production can be interpreted as the cost for the maintenance of non-equilibrium steady states. This leads us to expect that we can find a quantity which can be regarded as a generalized entropy production characterizing non-thermodynamic as well as thermodynamic systems. With the hope of demonstrating this point, we study the phase turbulence of chemical oscillatory waves Kbook .

When a pacemaker is situated in a small region in a spatially uniform phase turbulent state, a spatially non-uniform state appears, as is easily understood. In this paper, through numerical experiments, we find an expression for a generalized entropy production characterizing such a spatially non-uniform state. We further attempt to relate this generalized entropy production with the Kolmogorov-Sinai (KS) entropy, which measures the rate of information loss in chaotic dynamical systems.

We first introduce a mathematical model describing phase turbulence. For simplicity, we consider reaction diffusion systems in a one-dimensional circuit. Such systems are considered as describing the behavior of the concentrations of chemical species. For a system of this type, when certain conditions are satisfied (see Kbook  for details), their concentrations oscillate at each position $`x`$, and the phase $`\varphi `$ of the oscillation varies slowly in time $`t`$. In the weakly unstable case, the time evolution of the phase $`\varphi (x,t)`$ is described by the Kuramoto equation Kbook ; K-T ,

$$\frac{\varphi }{t}+\frac{^2\varphi }{x^2}+\frac{^4\varphi }{x^4}+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{\varphi }{x}\right)^2=ϵ\omega (x),$$
(1)
where we have carried out appropriate scalings for $`x`$, $`t`$ and $`\varphi `$ so as to obtain the simplest form of the equation. The Kuramoto equation (1) is defined over the region $`0xL`$, with periodic boundary conditions. The right-hand side of (1) represents the effect of external oscillation introduced by the pacemaker: $`ϵ`$ corresponds to the pacemaker strength, and the form of $`\omega (x)`$ reflects its position. We assume that $`\omega (x)=1`$ in the region $`0xH`$ and $`\omega (x)=0`$ otherwise. In the analysis below, we study the case $`(L,H)=(128,10)`$.

We obtain an expression for the generalized entropy production by undertaking a numerical analysis of (1). In our numerical simulations, we discretized space with a unit size $`\delta x=1.0`$ and employed an explicit Euler method with time step $`\delta t=0.01`$. The nonlinear term was discretized as $`((p_{i+1}p_{i1})/2\delta x)^2/2`$, where $`p_i=\varphi (i\delta x,t)`$. We believe that this numerical scheme is sufficient to allow for investigation of the behavior of interest.

When there is no pacemaker ($`ϵ=0`$), (1) possesses spatio-temporal chaotic solutions for a rather wide class of initial conditions Kbook ; Y-K . (Precisely speaking, there is a very small basin for stable spatially periodic solutions Mann ; Fri ; Shr . However, we do not consider such solutions, because this basin is too small to be observed when initial conditions are assigned randomly Shr .) The statistical properties of this spatio-temporal chaos have been extensively studied both numerically Y-K ; Mann ; stat  and theoretically F-Y ; Yakhot .

When $`ϵ0`$, the system possesses spatially non-uniform statistical properties. As an example, in Fig. 1, we plot the long-time average of the phase profiles, each of which is shifted so as to satisfy $`\varphi (0,t)=0`$.

Now, let us consider the generalized entropy production which represents the cost for maintaining the spatially non-uniform state. It is important to note here that the generalized entropy production will not be expressed in terms of heat, in contrast to the usual entropy production of non-equilibrium steady states, because the phase turbulent state cannot be described by quantities characterizing thermodynamic equilibrium states. For this reason, we have no intention to base our analysis of the generalized entropy production on thermodynamic considerations. Instead, we consider a more abstract condition that we expect the generalized entropy production to satisfy.

As a recent development in the study of non-equilibrium steady states Evans ; G-C ; Kur ; Maes , an interesting relationship regarding the entropy production has been established. Defining $`\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau )`$ to be the probability density that the entropy production $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau `$ during a finite time interval $`\tau `$ takes the value $`z`$ in a given non-equilibrium steady state, it has been shown that this probability density possesses the symmetry

$$\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau )\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau )=z+o(\tau )$$
(2)
in the limit $`\tau \mathrm{}`$. This symmetry is referred to as a ’fluctuation theorem’. From (2), it is easily derived that the most probable value of the entropy production ratio $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau /\tau `$ in the large $`\tau `$ limit is positive. Considering the above result for entropy production in non-equilibrium steady states, we conjecture that a similar result can be obtained for a wider class of nonequilibrium states by appropriately defining a generalized entropy production and seeking a generalized fluctuation theorem it satisfies.

The problem we face is to find a generalized entropy production characterizing spatially non-uniform phase turbulent states, whose distribution function satisfies (2). By recalling that the entropy production in a non-equilibrium steady state can be expressed in the form \[force\]\[flux\]/\[temperature\], and by interpreting $`ϵ_x\omega `$ and $`_x\varphi `$ as corresponding to a force and a flux, we regard the following quantity as a candidate of the generalized entropy production:

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau ^\mathrm{K}=ϵ\beta _0^\tau 𝑑t_0^L𝑑x(\omega (x))\frac{^2\varphi }{x^2},$$
(3)
where we note that the integrand in (3) is rewritten as $`_x\omega _x\varphi `$. $`\beta `$ corresponds to the effective inverse temperature of the phase turbulence whose value is determined later so that the distribution function of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau ^\mathrm{K}`$ satisfies (2).

Through numerical experiments, we obtained the distribution function $`\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau ,\beta )`$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau ^\mathrm{K}`$ for a statistically steady state. Since the value of $`\beta `$ is not determined yet, we first considered an arbitrary value and calculated $`\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau ,1)`$. As seen from Fig. 2, it seems that the equality

$$\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau ,1)\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau ,1)=0.24z$$
(4)
holds approximately. Then, since the trivial identity

$$\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau ,\beta )=\mathrm{\Pi }(z/\beta ;\tau ,1)/\beta $$
(5)
holds, $`\mathrm{\Pi }(z;\tau ,\beta )`$ with $`\beta =0.24`$ satisfies the fluctuation theorem (2).

If we wish to characterize spatially non-uniform phase turbulence by a single quantity, the generalized entropy production ratio,

$$\sigma =\underset{\tau \mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau ^\mathrm{K}}{\tau },$$
(6)
may be most important. In Fig. 3, we plot $`\sigma `$ as a function of the pacemaker strength $`ϵ`$. As is true generally for non-equilibrium steady states, we see that $`\sigma `$ is proportional to $`ϵ^2`$ in the region of small $`ϵ`$.

We can formulate an argument to support our numerical result by considering the Yakhot conjecture Yakhot ; Zaleski ; Sne ; Chow  that the long time and large distance behavior of statistical properties of chaotic solutions to (1) are equivalent to that of solutions to the stochastic evolution equation (which is essentially the same as the Burgurs equation with noise)

$$\frac{\stackrel{~}{\varphi }}{t}\nu \frac{^2\stackrel{~}{\varphi }}{x^2}+\frac{\lambda }{2}\left(\frac{\stackrel{~}{\varphi }}{x}\right)^2=ϵ\omega (x)+\xi ,$$
(7)
where $`\xi `$ is a Gaussian white noise satisfying

$$\xi (x,t)\xi (x^{},t^{})=2D\delta (tt^{})\delta (xx^{}).$$
(8)
Here, $`\nu `$ and $`D`$ are positive constants. It is quite easy to demonstrate a fluctuation theorem for this stochastic system (See Refs. Kur ; Maes ). The result is the following: When we define the entropy production as

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau ^\mathrm{B}=ϵ\frac{\nu }{D}_0^\tau 𝑑t_0^L𝑑x(\omega (x))\frac{^2\stackrel{~}{\varphi }}{x^2},$$
(9)
the distribution function of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau ^\mathrm{B}`$ for a statistical steady state satisfies the fluctuation theorem (2). Therefore, if the Yakhot conjecture is valid and if this conjecture ensures the equality of the space-time inetegration in (3) with that in (9), the expression of (3) should hold with $`\beta =\nu /D`$.

We would like to consider the generalized entropy production from the dynamical system viewpoint. Until now, we have not succeeded in deriving the fluctuation theorem in a manner based on dynamical system considerations. However, we have obtained a numerical result concerning the relation between the generalized entropy production rate and the KS entropy, which can be calculated using the Lyapunov analysis. We now discuss this result.

Performing numerical integrations of the linearized equation corresponding to (1) for chaotic solutions and employing the Gram-Schmidt decomposition technique SN , we calculated the long time average of the expansion ratio, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(m)`$, for $`m`$-dimensional volume elements along chaotic trajectories Mann . In Fig. 4, the graph of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(m)`$ is plotted for the system without the pacemaker. The KS entropy is defined as the maximal value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(m)`$. Let $`h_{\mathrm{ks}}(ϵ)`$ be the KS entropy for the system with pacemaker strength $`ϵ`$. Since we naively expect that $`\sigma (ϵ)`$ is related to the quantity

$$\mathrm{\Delta }h_{\mathrm{ks}}(ϵ)=h_{\mathrm{ks}}(ϵ)h_{\mathrm{ks}}(0),$$
(10)
we plot points $`(\sigma ,\mathrm{\Delta }h_{\mathrm{ks}})`$ for different values of $`ϵ`$. As displayed in Fig. 5, the results indicate the relation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }h_{\mathrm{ks}}=\frac{1}{2}\sigma $$
(11)
for small $`ϵ`$. Note that we observed a greater deviation from (11) when $`ϵ`$ is increased.

We do not understand why the numerical factor $`1/2`$ appears in (11). However, the fact we have obtained such a simple relationship for the system we consider presently may suggest the existence of a universal relation between the generalized entropy production and some dynamical system quantity. (In the study of a time-dependent Hamiltonian system, the same factor appears in the relation between the Boltzmann entropy difference and the excess information loss found through Lyapunov analysis SK1 .) Further investigation is necessary to clarify this point.

We now make some remarks.

A fluctuation theorem was first demonstrated numerically Evans  and proved mathematically G-C  in the study of a deterministic Gaussian thermostatted model. In this model, the entropy production is given by the phase space contraction, and the fluctuation theorem is derived by exploiting the time-reversibility of the deterministic evolution equation. Indeed in many cases, including that of the stochastic model (7) with (8), the entropy production for a given trajectory has been related to the ratio of the measure of this trajectory to that of its time reversal trajectory. However, such an argument cannot be applied to (1), because it does not possess time-reversal symmetry.

On a more abstract level, as discussed by Maes Maes , fluctuation theorems can be associated with a transformation $`P`$, that acts on trajectories and satisfies $`P^2=1`$. In certain situations (e.g. for steady states), this transformation is equivalent to time reversal, but in general this is not the case. The problem is thus to determine the form that $`P`$ takes in the present case and to determine how to derive our fluctuation theorem from it.

Finally, we briefly discuss the size dependence for the system we have studied. It is known that the statistical properties of phase turbulence without a pacemaker depend on $`L`$ in an anomalous way F-Y ; Yakhot ; Zaleski ; Sne ; Chow . The system size in our numerical experiments is much smaller than the size representing cross-over to the region in which the anomalous behavior is observed. It is an interesting problem to extend our study to this anomalous scaling region.

In summary, we have demonstrated that the generalized entropy production (3), which has been obtained phenomenologically in the consideration of spatially non-uniform phase turbulent states, satisfies the fluctuation theorem (2). Unfortunately, there is no obvious way to derive this fluctuation theorem from the deterministic evolution equation in the present case, because we cannot employ an argument relying on time-reversibility. Nevertheless, using the Yakhot conjecture, we have formulated a reasonable explanation of the result. We have also obtained the numerical result (11), which suggests an interesting relation between the generalized entropy production ratio and the KS entropy. We believe that a deeper understanding of the problem considered here will allow for the study of dissipative high-dimensional systems, such as fluid turbulence and granular flow, from a new point of view.

The author acknowledges Y. Kuramoto for explaining the phenomenon considered presently fourteen years ago. He also thanks H. Kamai for collaboration on a preliminary part of the study, and G. C. Paquette for critical reading of the manuscript and for his comments. This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan, Nos. 12834005 and 11CE2006.


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# The Star Clusters in the Irregular Galaxy NGC 44491footnote 11footnote 1Based in part on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555

## 1 Introduction

NGC 4449 is a luminous and actively star-forming barred Magellanic-type irregular galaxy. It has an integrated MB of $``$18 and a star formation rate about twice that of the LMC. It has been well known for decades that NGC 4449 is unusual in having neutral hydrogen extending to six times its Holmberg radius (van Woerden, Bosma, & Mebold 1975; Bajaja, Huchtmeier, & Klein 1994). In addition the HI maps had revealed counter-rotating gas systems: The gas within a 2′ radius of the center is rotating in the opposite direction to the gas outside that radius. Recently, Hunter et al. (1998) reobserved the extended HI gas around NGC 4449 at higher resolution and resolved the extended gas into enormous streamers that wrap around the galaxy.

The enormous streamers suggest that NGC 4449 has undergone some type of interaction with another galaxy (Hunter et al. 1998, Theis 1999). A perturber could have passed by, with or without giving up mass to NGC 4449, and set up tidal tails and bridges or a perturber could have passed through the disk. Furthermore, the presence of counter-rotating systems is often interpreted in other galaxies as the signature of acquisition of external material as in a merger (Hernquist & Barnes 1991; Quinn & Binney 1992; Braun et al. 1994), so a small partner could have been absorbed into NGC 4449. In some scenarios the effects of the encounter could remain for timescales on the order of a Gyr, allowing the perturber to move out of the neighborhood or to have been digested by NGC 4449. NGC 4449 is a member of the CVnI “loose” cloud of galaxies and the small irregular DDO 125 is only 41 kpc away in the plane of the sky. So, there exist potential interaction partners.

In this paper we examine the nature of the system of star clusters in NGC 4449 and its clues to the galaxy’s evolution. The type of clusters, their ages, and distribution could potentially be affected by interaction with another galaxy. For example, if the clusters were all the same age, this might suggest that some short violent event, such as the interaction of galaxies, caused the formation of the clusters.

Additionally, if the galaxy contains a population of the relatively unusual super star clusters, we might argue that these clusters were formed in the interaction. Super star clusters are similar in compactness and luminosity to globular clusters when scaled to a common age. NGC 1569, for example, an Im galaxy that is undergoing a burst of star formation, has made two super star clusters in the recent starburst (see, for example, O’Connell, Gallagher, & Hunter 1994), and many other super star clusters have been found in galaxies that have undergone interactions. In addition to learning about NGC 4449, locating additional super star clusters would be interesting in helping to determine what conditions are necessary for the formation of super star clusters, and by inference globular clusters. Understanding the formation of globular clusters would help us better understand our own galaxy’s evolution as well as that of NGC 4449.

When one looks at the visible images of NGC 4449, an object in the center of the galaxy stands out because of both its brightness and its size. Its brightness suggests that it could be one of these super star clusters. Alternatively, it has informally been referred to by one of us as the nucleus of NGC 4449, but since Im galaxies do not have nuclei, this would be highly unusual. Here we are using the term “nucleus” to mean a centrally concentrated substructure of the galaxy that has been an integral part of the galaxy from the galaxy’s formation. One of our goals in this study was to determine the nature of the central object. One important piece of information is its age: a nucleus, by our definition, must be old; a star cluster that just happened to form near the center need not be old.

To answer these questions, we used broad-band images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to identify star clusters and determine integrated photometry. We compared the integrated photometry to star cluster evolutionary models to estimate ages. To further set a limit on the age of the central object, we obtained near-infrared spectra of the stellar 12CO(2,0) and 12CO(3,1) absorption features. The appearance of these features signals the presence of red supergiant (RSG) populations and hence can put a lower limit on the age of the cluster (Olofsson 1989). From the integrated magnitudes and sizes of the clusters we determined the nature of the star clusters, including the central object, and compared them to other clusters.

## 2 The Data

### 2.1 The HST Data

NGC 4449 was imaged with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on HST on 1995 October 5, 1997 July 28, and 1998 September 1, and we have obtained these data from the archives. The WFPC2 consists of four mosaiced CCDs: the PC has a resolution of 0.0456″ and observations taken in 1998 placed the center of the galaxy in the PC. The 1998 observations were offset from the position of the 1997 observations presumably in order to cover more of the galaxy. The 1995 observations placed the center of the galaxy in WF2. The three WF CCDs have a resolution of 0.0996″, which is 1.9 pc at the distance of the galaxy. In the 1995 observations exposures were taken through filter F606W. The 1997 and 1998 observations included exposures through F170W, F336W, F555W, and F814W. The F170W filter is a far-ultraviolet filter centered at $``$ 1700 Å, and F606W is a red optical filter centered $``$ 5900 Å. F336W, F555W, and F814W can be transformed to the Johnsons/Cousins UVI filter system. The footprints of the WFPC2 in these three sets of observations are shown superposed on a ground-based image of NGC 4449 in Figure 6, and the exposures are listed in Table 1. Multiple images of the same field through the same filter were combined to remove cosmic rays.

We calibrated photometry of the clusters using the synthetic zero points given by Holtzman et al. (1995a) in their Table 9. We also converted the F336W, F555W, and F814W photometry to the Johnson/Cousins UVI system using formulas presented in Holtzman et al. The instrumental magnitudes were corrected for reddening and the red leak in F336W, as discussed below, before converting to UVI, using the methods of Holtzman et al.

### 2.2 Near-IR Spectroscopy

We obtained longslit near-infrared spectra of the central object in order to examine the stellar CO absorption features, which are an age diagnostic because of their sensitivity to the presence of RSGs. The spectra were obtained on 1996 April 25 with the Ohio State Infrared Imager/Spectrometer (OSIRIS) on the 1.8 m Perkins telescope. They cover 21900 Å to 23900 Å at 8 Å per pixel. The cluster was observed in alternating positions on the slit about 10–20″ apart. One position was used as a sky observation for the other. The bright stars HR 4811 and HR 4785, close in airmass to NGC 4449, were observed before and after blocks of observation of NGC 4449 in order to remove absorption features due to the earth’s atmosphere.

We corrected the data for the fact that the number of detected electrons is a non-linear function of the incident photons using a series of observations of an illuminated white screen hanging in the dome. The sequence consisted of a series of observations of increasing exposure times interleaved with 1 second exposures; the 1 second exposures were used to remove drifts in the lamps’ intensities. Dark observations were subtracted from the data. Regular dome flats were also taken and the data were flat fielded using these. Sky frames were subtracted from object frames, one-dimensional spectra were extracted, and galaxy spectra sandwiched between each two star observations were combined. Night sky lines in spectra with the sky not subtracted were used to determine the wavelength scale and linearize along the dispersion axis. The night sky lines were identified using a line list provided by M. Hanson (private communication) which came originally from C. Kulesa (private communication to M. Hanson). The cluster spectra were divided by the nearest spectrum of either HR 4811 or HR 4785 in order to remove the telluric absorption. The cluster spectra from the blocks between the star observations were combined to produce a single, final cluster spectrum. The continuum was fit and the spectrum divided by the fit.

## 3 Data Analysis Issues

### 3.1 Reddening

The foreground reddening has been estimated by Burstein & Heiles (1984) to be zero. The internal reddening E(B$``$V) in HII regions in NGC 4449 is on average 0.1 magnitude (Hunter & Gallagher 1997). The bulk of the stars, however, are not likely to be as reddened as HII regions. Therefore, we adopted an E(B$``$V) of 0.05 magnitude for correcting the broad-band photometry for internal reddening. We did not consider spatial varitions in E(B$``$V).

Holtzman et al. (1995a) showed that the reddening correction for HST filters is a function of the spectrum of the object. Holtzman et al. gives the reddening corrections for an O6 and a K5 star in their Table 12. Since the spectral energy distributions of our clusters fall between these two extremes and since the corrections are small, we have simply used the average of the correction for an O6 and for a K5 star. Thus, we use extinction values of A336$`=`$0.24, A555$`=`$0.16, and A814$`=`$0.10. To correct the F336W filter, we first correct for its red leak, as described below.

### 3.2 Red-Leak in F336W

Because of the sizeable leak at red wavelengths, red photons can contribute significantly to the counts in the F336W filter. To determine the red leak as a function of the observed F555W$``$F814W color, we used the STSDAS software to simulate the HST throughput for various filters and for different incident blackbody spectra. With an E(B$``$V)$`=`$ 0.05 and the LMC reddening curve, appropriate for a modestly metal poor galaxy, we estimated the F336W magnitude through the actual filter and through the filter with a cutoff. The red leak was taken to be any flux contribution from $``$4000 Å, after the definition of Holtzman et al. (1995b). The correction to the F336W magnitude was 0.008 magnitude for an object with an F555W$``$F814W of 0.6 and increases to 0.05 magnitude for colors above 1.2. These corrections were applied to the integrated cluster magnitudes in F336W using the observed F555W$``$F814W cluster color.

### 3.3 Distance to the Galaxy

We assume a distance of 3.9 Mpc, determined from a Hubble constant of 65 km s-1 Mpc-1. Although this distance is uncertain, it is consistent with its being a member of the CVnI group of galaxies (de Vaucouleurs 1975). However, a distance of 5 Mpc has been used by some (Sandage & Tammann 1975, Aaronson & Mould 1983).

### 3.4 Metallicity

The oxygen abundance (12$`+`$log(O/H)) of HII regions in NGC 4449 is 8.3 (Talent 1980), which corresponds to a Z of about 0.005 or one-third solar. When we compare photometry of the star clusters to cluster evolutionary models below we will use both Z$`=`$0.004 and Z$`=`$0.008. The $`Z=0.004`$ models are closer to the metallicity of NGC 4449, but because of uncertainties in the models, we looked at both sets and found that the Z$`=`$0.008 models fit cluster colors better. This was also the case in fitting the star clusters in the irregular galaxy NGC 1569 (Hunter et al. 2000).

## 4 The Central Object

### 4.1 Age

The near-infrared spectrum of the central object is shown in Figure 6. We detected the 12CO(2,0) and 12CO(3,1) stellar absorption features around 2.3 microns, and the equivalent widths of these features are given in Table 2. For comparison we include individual stars in the Table that we measured as well as some observed by Hunter et al. (2000). The equivalent widths are comparable to those of cool stars. Thus, the central object contains a significant population of cool, luminous stars.

In a coeval stellar population, prior to the onset of the RSG phase, a young coeval cluster will exhibit no CO features. Then as the massive stars in the cluster evolve to the RSG phase, the CO features appear in the integrated cluster spectrum. For the metallicity of NGC 4449, this occurs at $``$7 Myrs (Mayya 1997, Origlia et al. 1999). The red supergiant peak only lasts $``$5–7 Myrs (Bica et al. 1990, Origlia et al. 1999), but after that other cool stars continue to contribute to the CO feature, including an AGB phase at $``$100 Myrs (Olofsson 1989, Bica et al. 1990). Thus, the CO features can be used to set an upper or lower limit on the age of the clusters depending on whether the features are present or not. We conclude that the central object in NGC 4449 is older than 7 Myrs.

To further explore the age of the central object, we measured its integrated UVI colors from the HST images. The structure of the central object, however, presented a problem in deciding what aperture size to use. The central object is a bright peak in an extended, higher surface brightness distribution of stars near the center of the galaxy. So, where does the object end? Is it just the core (radius 0.68″) or does it include the larger central region (radius 1.8″)? We opted to consider the central object as just the core of this central region. We felt that it was more likely that only the core was a gravitationally bound entity and, hence, star cluster. Therefore, we performed integrated photometry on the central object of NGC 4449 using an aperture of 0.68″ radius, and subtracting the surrounding background galaxy by determining the mode in an annular region just beyond that radius.

We compare the colors of the central object to cluster evolutionary models prepared by Leitherer et al. (1999) in Figure 6. We use the instantaneous star formation models appropriate to a star cluster, although we did examine the continuous star formation models. We used the metallicity $`Z=0.004`$ and $`Z=0.008`$ models and a Salpeter (1955) stellar initial mass function. The Z$`=`$0.008 model, in fact, appears to better fit the colors of the central object and other clusters in NGC 4449.

We see that the UVI colors of the central object are, in fact, those of a star cluster of age 8–15 Myrs. This age range is consistent with the age limit of $``$7 Myrs predicted by the appearance of the stellar CO absorption features in the near-infrared spectrum of the object. It also means that the central object, or cluster 1, as we will now refer to it, is in the RSG phase, meaning that the light is dominated by evolved massive stars entering this evolutionary phase.

### 4.2 Comparison to Super Star Clusters

From the HST data, we find that cluster 1 has a half-light radius R0.5 of 5 pc and an integrated MV of $``$12.6. How does this compare to properties of super star clusters? The four young superstar clusters in the LMC, NGC 1569, and NGC 1705 have R0.5 of 1.7–3.4 pc (Hunter et al. 1995; O’Connell et al. 1994). Thus, cluster 1 is not as compact as these. Globular clusters have an average R0.5 $``$3 pc, but with a range from 1–8 pc (van den Bergh et al. 1991). Thus, the central cluster is comparable in compactness to some globular clusters but larger than average. It may be comparable to the luminous clusters found in the interacting galaxies “The Antennae” by Whitmore et al. (1999). There the effective radii of many clusters that are luminous enough to be globular-like are larger than the typical globular cluster. Whitmore et al. suggest that in some cases the larger radii may be due to the fact that outer stars have not yet been stripped from the young clusters by the tidal actions of the host galaxies as they have in the old Milky Way globulars.

The integrated MV of the central cluster in NGC 4449 is $``$12.6. The clusters in NGC 1569 and NGC 1705 are close enough in age to cluster 1 to allow a direct comparison of MV. The two clusters in NGC 1569 have MV of $``$14.0 and $``$13.0, and that in NGC 1705 has an MV of $``$11.1. R136 in the LMC is much younger, 1–2 Myrs; the evolutionary models predict that R136 would fade 0.3 magnitude by the time it reaches 10 Myrs of age. Thus, R136 would be expected to have an MV of $``$10.8 when it is about the age of cluster 1. Therefore, we see that cluster 1 is well within the range of luminosities of the other super star clusters and is comparable to the brightest of these.

Using the Leitherer et al. (1999) models, we estimated a mass for the cluster based on the integrated brightness. In Figure 6 we plot the clusters, including cluster 1, with the cluster evolutionary models. The models can be slid up and down in MV to match any cluster and the mass is appropriately scaled from the model mass of 106 M$`_{\mathrm{}}`$. The models in Figure 6 have been dimmed 1.7 magnitudes in MV in order to match cluster 1. The central cluster, thus, has a mass of 2$`\times `$105 M$`_{\mathrm{}}`$. This mass is similar to that of the smaller globular clusters which have masses of 104–106 M $`_{\mathrm{}}`$ (Pryor & Meylan 1993).

Therefore, all indications are that the central cluster in NGC 4449 deserves to be considered a super star cluster. It is comparable to what a small globular cluster was probably like when globulars were only about 10 Myrs old if stars are present in normal proportions over the full range of stellar masses.

### 4.3 Surface Photometry

Because the central star cluster is relatively well resolved in the HST images, we have examined surface photometry of it. The results are shown in Figure 6. Photometric apertures ranged from 3 to 15 pixels in steps of 3 pixels. The choice of 3 pixels, which corresponds to 0.14″, was dictated by the desire to exceed the point-spread-function profile in the PC.

We have fit the V-band surface brightness profile of cluster 1 with a King model (King 1962) appropriate for globular clusters. We explored the parameter space of reasonable solutions, determining the best fit and the range of values that are reasonable for the three variables. The uncertainties are large and are determined from the range in reasonable fits. The best fit is shown as the solid line in Figure 6. The fit uses a $`\mu _0`$ of 13.5$`\pm `$0.3 magnitudes arcsec-2 and a core radius rc of 1.9$`\pm `$0.3 pc. The concentration index, $`c=\mathrm{log}(r_t/r_c)`$ where $`r_t`$ is the terminal radius, is roughly 1.5. An average core radius for globular clusters is 2.6$`\pm `$3.9 pc with a total range of 0.2–23 pc (Djorgovski 1993; Trager, Djorgovski, & King 1993). The core radii of one of the super star clusters in NGC 1569 is 0.6$`\pm `$0.1 pc (Hunter et al. 2000). For Milky Way globular clusters the average concentration index is 1.4$`\pm `$0.4, with a total range of 0.6–2.4. The concentration index of the clusters in NGC 1569 are 1.7–2.0. Thus, we see that cluster 1 in NGC 4449 has structural parameters comparable to other super star clusters and globular clusters.

In terms of radial trends, we see that cluster 1 appears to get redder by $``$0.15 magnitude in both V$``$I and U$``$V with increasing radius in the inner 0.4″. Beyond that the cluster gets bluer again. Some of this radial color variation could be due to contamination of the broad-band images by emission-lines. The region is known to contain nebular emission (see, for example, Hunter 1982; Hunter, Hawley, & Gallagher 1993). However, the spatial resolution of these ground-based images is too coarse compared to the HST broad-band images to be able to determine the contamination of the cluster photometry. Since the emission-lines would probably affect V more than I, their presence would make V$``$I bluer.

### 4.4 Structure

Up to this point, the properties of the central cluster seem to point to its being a normal super star cluster. However, closer inspection of the HST images reveals that this picture may be too simple. A shallow inspection of the cluster to look for very bright features, reveals what looks at first glance like a tiny barred spiral galaxy seen edge on at the center of the cluster. A contour plot of the cluster is shown in Figure 6. It shows a bright condensation 0.1″ (1.9 pc) in diameter sitting in the middle of an elongated, bar-like structure that is 0.5″ (9.5 pc) long. The minor to major axis ratio of the structure is 0.6, and the cluster itself is essentially round in the outer parts. In the rest of the HST field of view of the galaxy, there are no other images that look like this: all candidate background galaxies are spheroidal in appearance. It would be very unfortunate indeed if the only background disk galaxy occurred right behind the center of the central star cluster. Consequently, we assume that what we see is not a background galaxy, but rather structure in the cluster itself. Such structure is very unusual for a star cluster.

### 4.5 Nucleus, Star Cluster, or Cannabilism?

The evidence suggests that the central object in NGC 4449 is only $``$10 Myrs old. It is, therefore, not a nucleus of the galaxy in the traditional sense. Instead we have suggested that the central object is a super star cluster. But, given the tiny nucleated-bar structure in the center of the cluster discussed in the previous section, we would like to offer another twist to the interpretation: that this structure is the result of the interaction scenario that also produced the counter-rotating gas systems and extended gas filaments and streamers.

Models of a larger galaxy swallowing a smaller galaxy can produce counter-rotating cores and, for some mass ratios, they can produce a core within a core (Balcells & Quinn 1990). Furthermore, the most tightly bound debris can become a distinct subsystem in the nucleus of the disk (Quinn, Hernquist, & Fullagar 1993) and produce unusual nuclear features (Hernquist 1991). Alternatively, the interaction could have helped to channel gas to the center of NGC 4449 (Noguchi 1988). The in-falling gas could then account for the large complexes of gas forming a partial ring around the optical galaxy. In addition in-falling debris could have resulted in peculiar structures at the center of the galaxy.

We suggest that the peculiar structure at the center of cluster 1 in NGC 4449 is debris from cannibalism of a smaller companion that has fallen to the center of the galaxy. However, exactly how the bar structure and the enveloping star cluster fit together is not clear. In this scenario the material composing cluster 1 could have been stars accreted from the companion or gas that was accreted and then formed stars. Since the integrated colors of the cluster suggest a young age, in situ star formation seems more plausible. The appearance of the structure at the center of cluster 1 also suggests that it is a distinct sub-system that could be rotating in a different plane than the rest of the galaxy. The HI gas already suggests that there are other, larger, sub-systems at very different inclination angles to the optical galaxy (Hunter et al. 1999).

## 5 Other Star Clusters

### 5.1 Identification of Clusters

We identified additional star clusters on the basis of their visual appearance in the F555W image. We looked for bright, compact clusters that are resolved compared to an isolated star. Radial profiles yield FWHMs of the clusters, and we also performed integrated photometry. The limits of each of the clusters were taken as the radius where the cluster visually merged into the background, usually twice the FWHM. The contributions from the sky and background galaxy were measured as the mode in an annular region just beyond the cluster aperture. We list the star clusters and their integrated photometry in Table 6. The uncertainties are determined from Poisson statistics and read noise. The central cluster of the galaxy is labelled cluster 1 and the rest follow numerically in order of Right Ascension. In Table 6 we include the distance to the cluster in the plane of the galaxy using the center of the galaxy determined from the symmetry of the outer isophotes of the optical galaxy (Hunter, van Woerden, & Gallagher 1999).

### 5.2 Ages and Distribution

We show the integrated colors and magnitudes in color-color and color-magnitude diagrams in Figures 6 and 6. Cluster colors range from (V$``$I)0 of $``$0.3 to 1.05 and (U$``$V)0 of $``$1.2 to 0.9. We interpret the range in colors as due to a spread in ages of the clusters although metallicity must also be a parameter if age is. We see then that the clusters span the full age range of the models, from about 4 Myrs to 1 Gyr. Furthermore, there does not appear to have been an unusual peak in cluster production within the past 1 Gyr that we can use to help date an unusual event in the life of the galaxy.

In addition, there is no pattern in the spatial distribution of the clusters with respect to age. There tend to be younger clusters near regions that have previously been identified as star-forming regions – which is not unusual.

The exception is a group of 14 very red objects—seen in the lower, right of the plots in Figure 6, (V$``$I)0$`>`$0.8 and (U$``$V)0$`>`$0.2, including two that are just beyond the Figure boundaries. Two of these objects, clusters number 30 and 40, lie near the center of the galaxy, but the rest lie in the outer parts of the galaxy. These objects are redder in (V$``$I)0 than the models. They also lie in a region occupied by early-type galaxies (Poulain 1988) and some globular clusters (Reed 1985). They are also all round in shape. Therefore, while these objects could be bonifide old globular clusters in NGC 4449, we are suspicious that they are background elliptical galaxies. Without further data, we cannot tell whether these are galaxies or star clusters, and so we will not include them in the discussion that follows.

### 5.3 The Nature of the Clusters

To learn more about the clusters, we have corrected the observed MV to the MV the cluster would have had at an age of 10 Myrs. We used the colors obtained from our cluster photometry and comparison to the cluster evolution models to determine a rough age and luminosity correction for each cluster. A histogram of the MV is shown in Figure 6. The median MV is $``$9.

Figure 6 is a histogram of the FWHM’s of the clusters in the F555W filter. The FWHM range from 1 to 9 pc, with a median of 4 pc. For comparison, NGC 1569’s super star clusters have FWHM’s of 2.6 and 2.3 pc. Thus, some of the clusters are as compact as globulars or super star clusters, but others are not.

Three clusters have MV corrected to 10 Myrs that are quite luminous, $`11`$. In addition they are fairly compact, FWHM$``$4.5 pc. These characteristics place them in the realm of super star clusters. One of these is cluster 31, whose colors yield an age of about 20 Myrs. It is located just 21 pc from cluster 1, and is only a little bit older than cluster 1. The other two super star cluster candidates, clusters 27 and 47, have colors that correspond to an age of 0.75–1 Gyr. Cluster 27 is located fairly near clusters 1 and 31, while cluster 47 is located to the north near the regions of recent star formation.

There are also 14 star clusters with MV between $``$10 and $``$11. These clusters could be comparable to the populous clusters found in the LMC. They are intermediate between open clusters and globular clusters in terms of size and mass. One young populous cluster in the LMC, NGC 1818, for example, has an MV corrected to an age of 10 Myrs of $``$10, and its R0.5 is 3.2 pc (Hunter et al. 1997). The populous-like star clusters in NGC 4449 span ages from 10 Myrs to 0.75–1 Gyr.

## 6 Conclusions

We have examined the nature of the central object in the irregular galaxy NGC 4449 through a near-infrared spectrum of stellar CO features and broad-band HST images. The central object in NGC 4449 has many of the characteristics of a super star cluster. The broad-band colors and near-infrared spectrum are consistent with an age of 8–15 Myrs and with the cluster being in the phase dominated by RSGs. While not as compact as many super star clusters, it is still within the realm of globular cluster radii. In addition it is as luminous as many super star clusters. However, there is a peculiar nucleated-bar structure at its center that is not seen in star clusters. We suggest that this structure is related to the interaction that has produced the counter-rotating gas systems and extended gas streamers.

We have used the HST images to identify additional compact star clusters. We identified 61 cluster candidates in NGC 4449 but suspect that 14 of these may be background elliptical galaxies. The cluster ages deduced from integrated photometry and compared to cluster evolutinary models span the timescale of the models up to 1 Gyr. Apparently, NGC 4449 has been an actively star-forming galaxy for quite some time. Therefore, we did not find a “special time” when a large number of the star clusters in NGC 4449 formed, and so we cannot connect cluster formation to the date of an interaction. There are three other clusters that may be comparable to super star clusters and many more that may be comparable to the populous clusters found in the LMC. The rest are more modest groupings of stars. The formation of the more massive clusters, but not necessarily the super star clusters, may simply reflect the high level of star formation activity in NGC 4449 rather than its past interaction since NGC 4449 falls on the relationship found by Larsen & Richtler (2000) between the integrated properties of galaxies and their young massive star cluster content.

The Ohio State University provided access to their OSIRIS spectrograph when it was on the Perkins 1.8 m telescope at Lowell Observatory, and we would like to thank Mark Wagner for his efforts to support OSIRIS. AEG would like to thank the National Science Foundation for providing funding for the Research Experience for Undergraduates under grant number 9988007 to Northern Arizona University and Kathy Eastwood for directing the program. DAH is grateful for funding from grant AST-9616940 from the National Science Foundation.


text:
# On the linearity of certain mapping class groups

## 1. Introduction

One of the well-known open problem in the theory of mapping class groups is that whether these groups are linear or not (cf. , Problem $`30`$, p. $`220`$). A group is called linear if it has a faithful representation into $`GL(n,F)`$ for some field $`F`$ and for some integer $`n`$.

Recently, S. Bigelow  proved that the braid groups are linear. The braid group $`B_n`$ on $`n`$ strings divided out by its center is isomorphic to a finite index subgroup of the mapping class group of a sphere with $`n+1`$ marked points. Using this, we observe that the mapping class group of a sphere with marked points and that the hyperelliptic mapping class groups, which are defined below, are linear. In particular, the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus $`2`$ is linear. The linearity of the mapping class group of a surface of genus $`3`$ still remains open.

## 2. Preliminaries

We first set up the notations and state the theorems used in the proof of the results of this paper. Then we prove our results.

Let $`S`$ be a compact connected orientable surface of genus $`g`$ with $`r`$ marked points (also called punctures) contained in the interior of $`S`$ and with $`s`$ boundary components. The mapping class group $`_{g,r}^s`$ of $`S`$ is defined to be the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of $`S`$ which preserve the set of marked points and are the identity on the boundary. The isotopies are assumed to fix each marked point and each boundary point. We denote the group $`_{g,0}`$ simply by $`_g`$.

The braid group $`B_n`$ on $`n`$ strings is the group which admits a presentation with generators $`\sigma _1,\sigma _2,\mathrm{},\sigma _{n1}`$, and with the relations

$$\sigma _i\sigma _j=\sigma _j\sigma _i,\text{ if }|ij|2$$

and

$$\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1}\sigma _i=\sigma _{i+1}\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1}.$$

In fact, the group $`B_n`$ is isomorphic to $`_{0,n}^1`$, the mapping class group of a disc with $`n`$ marked points. The generator $`\sigma _i`$ is the isotopy class of a certain diffeomorphism of $`D_n`$ which interchanges $`i`$th and $`i+1`$st marked points so that its square is a Dehn twist.

S. Bigelow proved the following remarkable theorem in .

###### Theorem 1.

The braid groups are linear.

For a group $`G`$ and for a subset $`XG`$, the centralizer of $`X`$ in $`G`$ is defined to be

$$C_G(X)=\{yG:xy=yx\text{ for every }xX\}.$$

The center of $`G`$ is $`C_G(G)`$ and it is denoted by $`C(G)`$;

$$C(G)=\{xG:xy=yx\text{ for every }yG\}.$$

For a field $`F`$, let $`F_n`$ denote the space of $`n\times n`$ matrices with entries in $`F`$. As usual, $`GL(n,F)`$ denotes the group of invertible matrices.

###### Theorem 2 (, Theorem 6.2.).

Let $`G`$ be a subgroup of $`GL(n,F)F_n`$ and $`H`$ a normal subgroup of $`G`$ such that $`H=C_G(X)`$ for some subset $`X`$ of $`F_n`$. Then there exists a homomorphism of $`G`$ into $`GL(n^2,F)`$ with kernel $`H`$.

###### Corollary 3.

If $`G`$ is linear, then so is $`G/C(G)`$.

###### Proof.

Take $`X=G`$ in Theorem 2. ∎

The following theorem is probably well known to algebraists and can easily be proved by using the induced representation (cf. ).

###### Theorem 4.

Let $`G`$ be a group and $`H`$ be a subgroup of $`G`$ of finite index $`n`$. Then any injective homomorphism $`HGL(k,F)`$ gives rise to an injective homomorphism $`GGL(kn,F)`$. In particular, $`G`$ is linear if and only if $`H`$ is linear.

## 3. The results

We are now ready to state and prove our results of this note.

###### Theorem 5.

The mapping class group $`_{0,n}`$ of a sphere with $`n`$ marked points is linear for every $`n`$.

###### Proof.

If $`n3`$, then $`_{0,n}`$ is a finite group and hence it is linear. Hence, we assume that $`n4`$.

Recall that the braid group $`B_{n1}`$ is isomorphic to the mapping class group of a disc $`D_{n1}`$ with $`n1`$ marked points. The center of the braid group $`B_{n1}`$ is the infinite cyclic group generated by a Dehn twist about a simple closed curve isotopic to the boundary component of the disc $`D_{n1}`$ (cf. ). Let us glue a disc with one marked point $`x`$ to the boundary of $`D_{n1}`$ to get a sphere $`S`$ with $`n`$ marked points. Extending the diffeomorphisms of $`D_{n1}`$ to $`S`$ by the identity gives a homomorphism $`\phi `$ from $`B_{n1}`$ to $`_{0,n}`$. The image $`\phi (B_{n1})`$ of $`\phi `$ is precisely the stabilizer of $`x`$ under the action of $`_{0,n}`$ on the set of marked points, which is of index $`n`$, and the kernel of $`\phi `$ is the center $`C(B_{n1})`$ of $`B_{n1}`$.

The group $`\phi (B_{n1})`$ is isomorphic to the quotient group $`B_{n1}/C(B_{n1})`$. Since the group $`B_{n1}`$ is linear, so is $`\phi (B_{n1})`$ by Theorem 2. By Theorem 4 the group $`_{0.n}`$ is linear. ∎

Suppose that a closed connected orientable surface of genus $`g`$ is embedded in the $`xyz`$-space as in Figure 1 in such a way that it is invariant under the rotation $`J(x,y,z)=(x,y,z)`$ about the $`y`$-axis. Let us denote the isotopy class of $`J`$ by $`ȷ`$. The hyperelliptic mapping class group of genus $`g`$ is defined to be the centralizer $`C__g(ȷ)`$ of $`ȷ`$ in $`_g`$. If $`g=1`$ or $`2`$, then the hyperelliptic mapping class group is equal to the mapping class group.

###### Theorem 6.

Let $`S`$ be a closed connected orientable surface of genus $`g`$. Then the hyperelliptic mapping class group of $`S`$ is linear. In particular, the mapping class group of a closed connected orientable surface of genus $`2`$ is linear.

###### Proof.

Since the mapping class group of a torus is isomorphic to $`SL(2,)`$, which is linear, we can assume that $`g2`$.

There is a well known short exact sequence

$$1_2C__g(ȷ)\stackrel{p}{}_{0,2g+2}1,$$

where $`_2`$ is the subgroup generated by the involution $`ȷ`$ (cf. ). Let $`\rho :_gSp(2g,3)`$ the natural homomorphism from the mapping class group to the symplectic group over the finite field with three elements given by the action of $`_g`$ on the first homology group of $`S`$. Let us denote by $`H`$ the intersection of $`C__g(ȷ)`$ with the kernel of $`\rho `$. Hence, $`H`$ is a finite index subgroup of $`C__g(ȷ)`$. As $`ȷ`$ acts as the minus identity on the first homology, it is not contained in $`H`$. Hence, the restriction of $`p`$ to $`H`$ is injective. Since $`p(H)`$ is of finite index in $`_{0,2g+2}`$, $`H`$ is linear. Therefore, the group $`C__g(ȷ)`$ is linear by Theorem 4.

The second statement follows from the fact that $`_2=C__2(ȷ)`$. ∎

###### Remark 7.

Bigelow proves that the braid group $`B_n`$ can be embedded in $`GL(\frac{n(n1)}{2},[q^{\pm 1},t^{\pm 1}])`$. Since the ring $`[q^{\pm 1},t^{\pm 1}]`$ can be embedded in the field $``$ of real numbers by assigning to $`q,t`$ two algebraically independent nonzero real numbers, the group $`B_n`$ embeds into $`GL(\frac{n(n1)}{2},)`$. Using Theorems 2 and 4 and the fact that the order of the group $`Sp(2g,3)`$ is $`3^{g^2}_{i=1}^g(3^{2i}1)`$, it can be deduced from the proofs of Theorems 5 and 6 that

* $`_{0,n}`$ embeds into $`GL(\frac{n(n1)^2(n2)^2}{4},)`$,
* the hyperelliptic mapping class group of genus $`g`$ embeds into

$$GL(2(g+1)g^2(2g+1)^23^{g^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{g}{}}(3^{2i}1),).$$

In particular, $`_2`$ embeds into $`GL(2^{10}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}^5\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}^3,)`$.

Acknowledgement. The author would like to thank Mahmut Kuzucuoğlu for fruitful discussions.


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# A Note on Noncommutative and False Noncommutative spaces

## Discussions.

Let us summarise the results so far obtained. We considered the algebra of operators $`x^\mu `$ and $`p_\mu `$ satisfying commutator relations (1,2) and (7). We required this algebra to have irreducible representation on the Hilbert space $``$. We obtained that in the case when $`B=\theta ^1`$ this is representation of the $`D/2`$-dimensional Heisenberg algebra and this is “genuine” noncommutative space, while in the case when $`det(B\theta )0`$ it is one of $`D`$-dimensional Heisenberg algebra and it is reduced, although by nonlocal transformation, to the usual commutative space.

Using the equivalence of Heisenberg algebra representations in different dimensions , which falls in general context of background independence of noncommutative theories , one may conclude that gauge models based on these representations are also equivalent. We think that this equivalence should be provided by some analog of the Seiberg–Witten map  when the noncommutativity is treated dynamically as in .

## Acknowledgements.

I benefitted from useful discussions with A.A. Slavnov and F. Toppan.


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# Magnetic Fields in Young Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

The origin of large scale magnetic fields in disk galaxies is an unsettled issue. Proposed solutions to this problem fall in two categories. On the one hand, in-situ dynamo action has been invoked to exponentially amplify an initially weak, small scale, seed field (for recent reviews, see Beck et al. 1996; Kulsrud 1999). On the other hand, large scale pregalactic fields in the halos of forming galaxies might be compressed and stretched sufficiently during the formation and evolution of galactic disks to explain the observed large scale fields (see e.g. Howard & Kulsrud 1997).

Observations of $`\mu `$G level large scale fields in slowly rotating irregular galaxies (Chyży et al. 2000), high redshift objects (e.g. Perry et al. 1993), and in the intracluster medium (Eilek 1999; Colgate & Li 2000), pose fundamental problems for the classical $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$ galactic dynamo as a cornerstone for creating magnetic fields on galactic (and larger) scales. In addition, it seems difficult to attribute the strong vertical field found in the central molecular zone of our Galaxy to a galactic dynamo, which may be suggestive of a primordial origin for this component of the galactic magnetic field (Sofue & Fujimoto 1987; Chandran, Cowley, & Morris 2000).

The observational evidence for magnetic fields in cluster halos and the association between these fields and outflows from AGNs suggests that similar processes may seed protogalactic halos with large scale magnetic fields. The compression and stretching of the field during the galaxy formation process further amplifies the halo field and could possibly account for the observed fields in present day disk galaxies. The conventional criticism that this kind of scenarios will result in an incorrect parity with respect to the galactic plane may be shown to result from overly simplified assumptions about the initial field. Only in the case of a field that is both weakly inclined and initially located near the center of the potential well does it follow that the wound-up field is predominantly of odd parity.

This has prompted us to study the compression and wind-up of initial halo fields during the build-up of a disk galaxy in a cooling flow. By adopting a smooth background potential and by using sufficient numerical resolution (enhanced by grid stretching) we achieve that the disk forming at the bottom of the potential well has the characteristic size, mass, and specific angular momentum of a typical disk galaxy (the initial spin parameter $`\lambda =JE^{1/2}/GM^{5/2}`$ is equal to 0.056). The hot halo gas is threaded by a random magnetic field with approximately constant $`P_{\mathrm{mag}}/P_{\mathrm{gas}}`$, plus a large scale component of similar energy content that has a non-zero inclination and offset from the rotation axis.

## 2. Results and Discussion

If the initial field has a significant inclination and offset from the center, the resulting wound-up field has a reversal that is offset into the halo (see Fig. 1a). When observed face-on, in optically thin radio frequencies, the magnetic field would appear to be uni-directional, as is normally observed, because one of the winding directions dominates over the other. The reversal in the halo could be revealed by analyzing observations in different radio frequencies, as has indeed been done for M51 (Berkhuijsen et al. 1997). Note that, in the model presented here, there is no creation of “new” magnetic flux—the growth of magnetic energy (Fig. 1b) is purely a result of compression and winding of an (approximately conserved) amount of magnetic flux, initially threading the disk plane over a range of radii. With sufficient numerical resolution of the disk dynamics, there would of course be additional fine scale structure and enhancement of the magnetic energy, associated with turbulence in the disk.

The other common point of criticism against galactic magnetic fields originating from large scale, pre-galactic fields is the issue of pitch angle. Here it should be remarked that conventional mean field dynamos invoke a large amount of magnetic diffusion, particularly in spiral arms, together with a rapid regeneration of the radial magnetic field component, to maintain the pitch angle. The magnetic diffusion is assumed to arise, for example, from turbulence driven by star formation. If such a mechanism was allowed for in the current experiments, it would be equally effective in maintaining the pitch angle. Regeneration of the radial field component is not necessary; apart from vertical transport effects, its magnitude is determined by the (conserved) amount of wound-up magnetic flux and the pitch angle. It has also been argued that galactic winds, caused by the same SNe that drive the turbulence, could be a significant source of loss of magnetic field from galactic disks. However, as has been demonstrated by Gudiksen (1999), the hot wind emanates from the disc in “chimneys”, which are intermixed with much denser regions that are able to hold on to the magnetic field. Loss of magnetic flux is also counteracted by the incoming cooling flow.

In summary, the scenario adopted here is consistent both with current ideas about early AGNs as the origin of the observed, large scale magnetic fields in clusters, and with observed properties of galactic magnetic fields. Since the results were obtained by simply tracing the magnetic field evolution in a cooling flow that results in a disk galaxy which is in other respect consistent with observations, one may even turn the argument around and conclude that the initial $`P_{\mathrm{mag}}/P_{\mathrm{gas}}`$ of the halo gas would have to be much smaller than the $`P_{\mathrm{mag}}/P_{\mathrm{gas}}`$ typical of large scale cluster magnetic fields, in order not to give rise to galactic magnetic fields similar to the observed ones.