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# Helium white dwarf in PSR J0751+1807; too cool, in PSR J1012+5307; too hot?

## 1 Introduction

It is accepted that formation of a binary millisecond (or recycled) pulsar with a low–mass companion may be explained as the end–point of close binary evolution in which an old pulsar is spun–up by accretion from the red giant (secondary) (see Bhattacharaya & van den Heuvel 1991, for review). Once the secondary overflows its Roche lobe, it starts transferring mass and angular momentum to the neutron star. During the long term accretion phase the neutron star is generally assumed to be spun–up to the equilibrium period ($`P_{eq}`$). The equilibrium period can be written as (Bhattacharaya & van den Heuvel 1991):

$$P_{eq}=1.9msB_9^{6/7}\left(\frac{M_{ns}}{1.4M_{}}\right)^{5/7}\left(\frac{\dot{M}}{\dot{M}_{Edd}}\right)^{3/7}R_6^{16/7},$$
(1)
where $`B_9`$ = B/$`10^9`$ G, $`R_6`$= $`R_{ns}`$/$`10^6`$ cm and $`M_{ns}`$ are the magnetic field strength, radius and mass of the neutron star respectively and $`\dot{M}_{Edd}`$ is the Eddington mass accretion rate. After the whole envelope of the red giant has been transferred, the binary consists of a low–mass star with a helium core (progenitor of a low–mass helium white dwarf) and a fast rotating neutron star (millisecond pulsar). At this point the pulsar spin period starts to change due to magneto–dipole radiation, with a characteristic time t elapsed from this epoch

$$t=\tau \times [\frac{2}{n1}][1(\frac{P_0}{P})^{n1}],$$
(2)
where $`\tau `$=P/(2$`\dot{P}`$), $`P_0`$ and P are the initial and current spin periods, and $`\dot{P}`$ is the spin period derivative. n is the braking index (=3) and if $`P_0`$P then t=$`\tau `$. It is possible to estimate the age t from the cooling age of the white dwarf. The latter can be calculated from the observed parameters of the ($`T_{eff}`$, $`\mathrm{log}g`$). This gives a unique opportunity for determination of neutron star age which is independently of the spin–down theory of pulsars.

In this short note we shall discuss cooling properties of helium white dwarfs in short period binary systems with millisecond pulsars, PSR J0751+1807 and PSR J1012+5307.

## 2 Observational data for millisecond pulsars

For both systems, the characteristic time t (eq (2)), to be compared with the cooling age of the white dwarf, is assumed to be equal to the spin–down age $`\tau `$ of the neutron star. This requires $`P_0P_{eq}P`$. The last restriction will be relaxed in the discussion section (par. 6).

### 2.1 PSR J0751+1807

This system consists of a 3.5 ms pulsar in a 6 h orbit with a $``$ 0.15 $`M_{}`$ companion (Lundgren, Zepka & Cordes 1995). We estimate the magnetic field strength of neutron star from the relation

$$B=3\times 10^{19}(P\dot{P})^{1/2}.$$
(3)
For the observed $`P`$ and $`\dot{P}`$ ($`8\times 10^{21}ss^1`$) we have B $``$ 1.7$`\times 10^8`$ G, and the spin–down age of the neutron star, $`\tau `$ $``$8 Gyr. For this age and $`M_{wd}0.15`$ $`M_{}`$ a simple white dwarf cooling model by Mestel (1952) gives L $`10^{4.3}L_{}`$. Lundgren at al. (1996) estimated a lower bound for the visual magnitude, $`m_\mathrm{v}>`$23.5, which requires $`T_{eff}<`$ 9000 K and an age greater than $`7.94\times 10^8`$ years. From their data a main-sequence companion is ruled out down to an M5 star ($`M`$ 0.10 $`M_{}`$), since such a star would have been detected at the distance of the pulsar. Therefore the pulsar companion in this system is clearly a white dwarf.

### 2.2 PSR J1012+5307

PSR J1012+5307 consists of a millisecond pulsar (with $`P`$= 5.256 ms) in a 14.52 h orbit with a $``$ 0.15 $`M_{}`$ companion ($`M_{ns}`$=1.4 $`M_{}`$, $`i=60^0`$). $`\dot{P}`$=1.46$`\times 10^{20}ss^1`$ leads to the spin–down age, $`\tau `$ 7.0 Gyr (Nicastro et al. 1995, Lorimer et al. 1995), and B $``$ 2.6 $`\times 10^8`$ G. Van Kerwijk et al. (1996) and Callanan et al. (1998) estimated the mass of the helium white dwarf to be 0.16 $`\pm `$ 0.02 $`M_{}`$. Taking the observationaly determined gravity and effective temperature for the white dwarf, and adopting the cooling model of Iben & Tutukov (1986), the cooling age has been estimated as 0.3 Gyr (Lorimer et al. 1995). The discrepancy between these two age estimations is solved if, in the white dwarf cooling models, a thick hydrogen envelope with stationary hydrogen shell burning is taken into account (Alberts et al. 1996, Driebe et al. 1998), rising the cooling age to several Gyr.

## 3 The evolutionary code

The evolutionary sequences we have calculated consist of three main phases:

(i) detached evolution lasting until the companion fills its Roche lobe,

(ii) semi–detached evolution,

(iii) a cooling phase of the white dwarf (the final phase during which a system with a ms pulsar + low–mass helium white dwarf is left behind).

### 3.1 Detached phase

The duration of the detached phase is somewhat uncertain; it may be determined either by the nuclear time–scale or by the much shorter time–scale of the orbital angular momentum loss owing to the magnetized stellar wind.

### 3.2 Semi–detached phase

In our calculations we assume that the semi–detached evolution of a binary system is non–conservative, i.e. the total mass and angular momentum of the system are not conserved. The formalism which we have adopted is described in Muslimov & Sarna (1993). We introduce the parameter, $`f_1`$, characterizing the loss of mass from the binary system and defined by the relations,

$$\dot{M}=\dot{M}_2f_1and\dot{M}_1=\dot{M}_2(1f_1),$$
(4)
where $`\dot{M}`$ is the mass–loss rate from the system, $`\dot{M}_2`$ is the rate of mass–loss from the secondary star, and $`\dot{M}_1`$ is the accretion rate onto the neutron star (primary). The matter leaving the system will remove angular momentum according to the formula

$$\frac{\dot{J}}{J}|_{ML}=f_2\frac{M_1\dot{M}}{M_2M}yr^1,$$
(5)
where $`M=M_1`$+$`M_2`$, $`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$ are the masses of the neutron star and secondary star respectively. Here we have introduced an additional parameter, $`f_2`$, which describes the efficiency of the orbital angular momentum loss from the system due to a stellar wind (Tout & Hall 1991). In our calculations we assume $`f_1`$=1 and $`f_2`$=1.

We also assume that the secondary star, possessing a convective envelope, experiences magnetic braking (Mestel 1968; Mestel & Spruit 1987; Muslimov & Sarna 1995), and as a consequence of this, the system loses its orbital angular momentum. For magnetic stellar wind we used the formula for the orbital angular momentum loss

$$\frac{\dot{J}}{J}|_{MSW}=3\times 10^7\frac{M^2R_2^2}{M_1M_2a^5}yr^1,$$
(6)
where $`a`$ and $`R_2`$ are the separation of the components and the radius of the secondary star in solar units.

In the semi–detached phase we have also included the effect of illumination of the secondary star by the millisecond pulsar. In our calculations we assume that the atmosphere of the secondary star is heated by the hard (X–ray and $`\gamma `$–ray) radiation from the pulsar (Muslimov & Sarna 1993). The effective temperature, $`T_{eff}`$, of the companion during the illumination stage is determined from the relation

$$L_{in}+P_{ill}=4\pi \sigma R_2^2T_{eff}^4,$$
(7)
where $`L_{in}`$ is the intrinsic luminosity corresponding to the radiation flux coming from the stellar interior, $`\sigma `$ is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and $`R_2`$ is the radius of the secondary. $`P_{ill}`$ is the millisecond pulsar radiation that heats the photosphere, given by

$$P_{ill}=f_3\left(\frac{R_2}{2a}\right)^2L_{rot},$$
(8)
where $`L_{rot}`$ is “rotational luminosity” of the neutron star due to magneto–dipole radiation (plus a wind of relativistic particles)

$$L_{rot}=\frac{2}{3c^3}B^2R_{ns}^6\left(\frac{2\pi }{P}\right)^4$$
(9)
in the above formula $`R_{ns}`$ is the neutron star radius, $`f_3`$ is a factor introduced to account for the efficiency of transformation of the irradiation flux into thermal energy (in our case we take $`f_3=2\times 10^3`$ Muslimov & Sarna (1993)). Note that in our calculations the effect of irradiation is formally treated by means of modification of the outer boundary condition, according to the above relation.

### 3.3 Cooling phase

For systems in the white dwarf cooling phase, we take into account two processes:

(i) the loss of orbital angular momentum due to the emission of gravitational radiation (Landau & Lifshitz 1971),

(ii) an irradiation induced stellar wind, with corresponding loss of orbital angular momentum estimated as

$$\frac{\dot{J}}{J}|_{wind}=\frac{q}{1+q}\frac{\dot{M}_{wind}}{M_2},$$
(10)
where $`q`$ is the mass ratio ($`q=M_1`$/$`M_2`$) and $`\dot{M}_{wind}`$ is a mass loss of an irradiation induced stellar wind defined by the simple van den Heuvel & van Paradijs (1988) model

$$\dot{M}_{wind}=f\frac{R_2}{GM_2}\left(\frac{R_2}{2a}\right)^2\frac{2R_{ns}^6}{3c^3}B^2\left(\frac{2\pi }{P}\right)^4,$$
(11)
where $`f`$ is efficiency factor (from 0 to 1) and $`a`$ is the separation between the stars in solar units. In our calculations we assume three values of $`f`$: 0, 0.1 and 0.5 (very efficient irradiation).

### 3.4 The code

The models of the stars filling their Roche lobes were computed using a standard stellar evolution code based on the Henyey–type code of Paczyński (1970), which has been adapted to low–mass stars. Convection is treated with the mixing–length algorithm proposed by Paczyński (1969). We solve the problem of radiative transport by employing the opacity tables of Iglesias & Rogers (1996). Where the Iglesias & Rogers (1996) tables are incomplete, we switch to opacity tables of Heubner et al. (1977). For temperatures less than 6000 K we use opacities calculated by Alexander & Ferguson (1994) and Alexander (private communication). Finally, we assume a Population I chemical composition for the secondary (X=0.7, Z=0.02).

## 4 Evolutionary considerations

To produce short orbital period systems composed of a low–mass helium white dwarf and a millisecond pulsar, it is necessary that the low–mass secondary (red giant) fills its Roche lobe below the so called bifurcation period, and above the boundary period (Ergma & Sarna 1996, Ergma, Sarna & Antipova 1998). Ergma et al. (1998) and recent calculations by Sarna, Ergma & Antipova (2000) have shown that after detachment of the secondary star from its Roche lobe, a rather thick hydrogen layer is left on the top of the helium core. The same result has been obtained by Driebe et al. (1998). This thick hydrogen layer will greatly influence the cooling history of the very low–mass helium white dwarf ($`<0.25M_{}`$). Alberts et al. (1996) were the first to argue that because white dwarfs with $`M_{wd}`$$`<`$0.20 $`M_{}`$ do not show thermal flashes (as found by Webbink, 1975), the amount of hydrogen in the envelopes must remain high, resulting in a much longer phase of significant hydrogen burning. Thus cooling times for these objects are considerably extended. This removes the discrepancy between the cooling and spin–down ages for the millisecond binary systems PSR J1012+5307 (Alberts et al. 1996, Driebe et al. 1998, Sarna et al. 1999,2000).

But now the question arises for the PSR J0751+1807. The evolutionary history for both pulsar systems are very similar, as argued by Ergma & Sarna (1996). This means that in PSR J0751+1807 the helium white dwarf must also be in the stable, long–lasting hydrogen–burning phase, which leads to long cooling times. However, observations show that the white dwarf in this system is undetectable, and really very old.

To solve this discrepancy, we propose that irradiation of the secondary star by the millisecond pulsar PSR J0751+1807 causes mass loss after detachment from the Roche lobe. After detachment the star with a hydrogen burning shell evolves from the red giant region towards higher effective temperatures. If we accept the simple irradiation driven mass loss model proposed by van den Heuvel & van Paradijs (1988), then using eq. 11, for $`R_2`$= 0.56$`R_{}`$ (see point 2 on Fig. 1), $`a=2R_{}`$, $`M_2`$=0.15$`M_{}`$, $`R_{ns}=10km`$ and $`f=0.1`$ (efficiency factor), we have $`\dot{M}_{wind}`$ 4$`\times 10^{10}M_{}yr^1`$. Since the evolutionary time–scale to evolve is rather long (at least several hundred million years), about 0.01$`M_{}`$ of the hydrogen envelope will be lost. As a result, the hydrogen burning shell will switch off, and the white dwarf may cool down very quickly.

## 5 Simple cooling model for the white dwarf in PSR J0751+1807

To illustrate how the mass loss due to irradiation will influence the cooling evolution of the pre–white dwarf (after detachment from Roche lobe), we computed the evolutionary sequence for a system of 1.5 + 1.4 $`M_{}`$, with $`P_{orb,i}`$ (RLOF)=1.07 d (RLOF – Roche lobe overflow) and Z=0.02 (Fig. 1). After detachment from the Roche lobe, mass loss at a rate estimated from eq. 11 has been included (Fig. 2).

The mass loss phase leads to a change of the orbital angular momentum, which leads to significant changes in the orbital period evolution (Fig.3). Figure 4 shows the evolution of the visual magnitude ($`m_V`$) of the progenitor of the white dwarf during the cooling phase, with wind mass loss included.

In the H–R diagram (Fig. 1) the evolution of this system is presented with and without mass loss. The decrease of the mass of the hydrogen envelope leads to a significant decrease of the hydrogen shell burning efficiency. Therefore, if compared to the evolution of a white dwarf with stationary hydrogen shell burning, the cooling time is decreased. For example, when log L/$`L_{}`$ = –2.0, the cooling age without mass loss is 8.4$`\times 10^9`$yrs, with moderate mass loss (f=0.1) is 5.07$`\times 10^9`$yrs, and with very efficient mass loss (f=0.5) is 2.17$`\times 10^9`$yrs. Due to angular momentum loss by the irradiation induced wind, the orbital period and separation of the system (after detachment of the secondary from the Roche lobe) initially increases (Fig. 3). Because of this increase in the separation, and shrinking of the white dwarf (see eq. 11) the mass loss rate (Fig. 2) decreases by two orders of magnitude, making this mechanism of orbital angular momentum loss insignificant. The orbital period starts to decay due to emission of gravitational waves.

Figure 4 gives the limit for acceptable $`m_V`$ from theoretical cooling tracks. We can exclude normal cooling (with shell hydrogen burning) due to a too low $`m_V`$. Two other cases of cooling with irradiation induced wind give the right range of visual magnitude. For the upper limit of pulsar age (spin–down age $``$8 Gyrs) $`m_V`$ and $`T_{eff}`$ are (22.4, 7200K) for $`f=0.1`$ and (24.7, 4700K) for $`f=0.5`$.

One can ask why we do not observe circumbinary matter inside PSR J0751+1807, as we do in PSR 1957+20 or PSR 1744–24A (Lyne 1995). We propose that after having lost most of its hydrogen envelope (during the high mass loss phase),the star hydrogen burning stops and relaxes to a low–mass helium white dwarf. Irradiation of the white dwarf by the pulsar may be significant, but it does not lead to change in the internal structure of the envelope (as it does for a low–mass star with a convective envelope and shell nuclear burning). Therefore, no hot extended envelope is created and no mass loss induced.

## 6 Discussion

The first question is what is the real value of the initial pulsar period $`P_0`$ for both systems? Is it equal to $`P_{eq}`$? To explain the discrepancy between the cooling and spin–down ages of PSR J1012+5307 Burderi et al. (1996) have accepted the so called accretion–induced magnetic field decay model (see Bhattacharya & Srinivasan 1995 for review). In this case, at the end of the accretion phase, field decay takes place on a shorter time–scale than spin–up, and spin equilibrium is no longer achieved.

The second point is connected with the discussion of Webbink’s (1975) results, who found that there is a hydrogen burning in the thick envelope (of a few $`\times 10^3`$$`M_{}`$) of low–mass helium white dwarfs ($`<0.2M_{}`$). Recently three different groups, Albert et al. (1996, using Eggleton evolutionary program), Driebe et al. 1998 (Kippenhahn program) and we (Sarna et al. 1999,2000, Paczyński program) have obtained the same results: small mass helium white dwarfs ($`<`$ 0.2$`M_{}`$), after detachment from the Roche lobe, have a massive hydrogen layer (a few $`\times 10^2M_{}`$) in which stationary hydrogen burning continues. This keeps these low–mass helium white dwarfs hot and prolongs their cooling time.

However, there is a difference between Alberts et al. and our+Driebe’s results, since we and Driebe found hydrogen flashes for M$`>`$ 0.2 $`M_{}`$ and Alberts et al. did not. We show that the transition from a cooling white dwarf with a temporarily stable hydrogen–burning shell to a cooling white dwarf in which almost all residual hydrogen is lost in a few thermal flashes (via Roche–lobe overflow) occurs between 0.183–0.213 $`M_{}`$, which well agrees with the cooling scenario proposed by Burderi et al. (1998).

Therefore we may accept that PSR J1012+5307 is in a long term hydrogen shell burning stage and this may be the reason why the white dwarf is too hot (accepting that spin–down age of 7 Gyr, which value could be even larger if the pulsar has a significant transverse velocity (Hansen & Phinney 1998), is almost equal to the cooling age). For PSR J0751+1807 the irradiation driven mass loss reduces the hydrogen envelope mass, the hydrogen burning deceases and the white dwarf is quickly cooled.

Taking into account the effect of illumination, $`P_{eq}`$ is $`1.6\times 10^3`$s (Ergma & Sarna 1996). Therefore, if the pulsar in PSR J1012+5307 has been spun up to $`P_{eq}`$, it also has suffered irradiation driven mass loss. If we do not include illumination then $`P_{eq}`$ is longer, since at the beginning of RLOF mass transfer is proceeding on the thermal time–scale at a rather high mass accretion rate, and the neutron star spins–up to millisecond periods. After about 0.2 $`M_{}`$ have been lost, the mass transfer rate decreases and the neutron star enters a “propeller phase” during which the fast rotating neutron star will slow down. To avoid irradiation–driven mass loss from this system the external irradiation flux must be less than critical flux $`1.6\times 10^{10}`$ erg$`s^1cm^2`$ (Podsiadlowski 1991). Let us estimate the value of the initial pulsar period $`P_0`$ to allow such a flux. Simple estimates show that $`P_0`$ must be longer than 3.85$`\times 10^3`$s, and the time elapsed from detachment of the Roche lobe is $`3.2\times 10^9`$ yrs. If $`P_0`$ $`>`$ 3.85$`\times 10^3`$s then there is no irradiation driven mass loss and the hydrogen burning is stationary, prolonging the cooling time. Since both systems are in many parameters very similar to each other, only the white dwarf cooling time–scale is very different and there must be something which leads to the different cooling histories for the helium white dwarfs in these systems. Different irradiation fluxes ($`F_x`$(J0751+1807) $`10\times F_x`$(J1012+5307)) may explain the discrepancy.

We would like to point to an important issue neglected in many papers. Usually the comparison with observed system is made for one or several parameters (for example the cooling age of the white dwarf, $`T_{eff}`$ and so on) but not with all available data. For binary systems we must build a selfconsistent picture with the right orbital parameters (which may be a very hard task, as in the case of the two systems discussed here), masses (if known) and cooling parameters of the white dwarf.

The effect of irradiation on the secular evolution of binaries containing a millisecond pulsar has been discussed in a recent review paper by D’Antona (1996). She has pointed out that one needs to distinguish the two main effects of irradiation with following terms; i) illumination: structural changes in the whole stellar structure due to irradiation, which may cause the secondary to fill its Roche lobe again, ii) evaporation: direct driving of mass loss from the secondary. Both cases give the same final result – the decrease of the mass of the hydrogen envelope.

We propose that for PSR J0751+1807 the irradiation by the pulsar causes irradiation–driven mass loss from secondary, resulting in exhaustion of the hydrogen envelope, and as a consequence of this, a hydrogen shell burning stops. The irradiation–driven wind influences also the cooling phase, decreasing the cooling time–scale by a factor 1.7–4 (depending on how efficient this process is).

For the PSR J1012+5307 system the irradiative flux may be too small to cause significant mass loss, and hydrogen shell burning will be maintained for a long enough time to keep the white dwarf hot.

## Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. M. Różyczka for help in improving the form and text of the paper. We would like to thank referee Dr. F. D’Antona for constractive comments. This work was supported in part by the Polish National Committee for Scientific Research under grant 2–P03D–005–16 and 2–P03D–014–07, and by the Estonian SF grant 4338.


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# Formation of a magnetic soliton lattice in copper metaborate

## Abstract

The magnetic ground-state of copper metaborate is investigated by means of elastic neutron scattering. The magnetic structure of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ is incommensurate with respect to the chemical lattice at T=1.8K and undergoes a continuous phase transition to a non-collinear commensurate antiferromagnetic state which is realized at T=10K. Close to the phase transition higher-order magnetic satellites are observed. Coexistence of long-range and short-range magnetic order is observed in both magnetic phases. This suggests that the association of the Dzyialoshinskii-Moriya interaction, lattice symmetry and tetragonal anisotropy leads to the formation of a three-dimensional magnetic soliton lattice.

Incommensurate magnetic structures are characterized by modulations of their spin arrangements over periods which are long compared to the size of the chemical cell and not commensurate with the underlying lattice . The existence of such magnetic structures in compounds with localized spin densities is either due to competitions between exchange interactions or relativistic effects like spin-orbit coupling. While the former effects can be found accidentally, the latter mechanism depends on lattice symmetry. Relativistic interactions were first considered by Dzyaloshinskii  and given a microscopic description by Moriya . The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction is usually written as the cross-product of interacting spins $`H_{DM}=𝐃(𝐒_\mathrm{𝟏}\times 𝐒_\mathrm{𝟐})`$ where D is the DM-vector. The direction of the DM-vector is determined by the bond symmetry and its scalar by the strength of the spin-orbit coupling . The antisymmetric DM-interaction in antiferromagnets favors a canted arrangement of the magnetic moments which results in a weak spontaneous magnetization. Spiral structures arise from the presence of a term linear in the gradient of the magnetization (Lifshitz invariant ) in the thermo-dynamical potential. Dzyaloshinskii has shown that a Lifshitz invariant is naturally obtained from relativistic interactions in chemical structures belonging to the space groups $`D_2,D_{2d},C_{3h},D_3,D_{3h},S_4,D_4,D_6,T,T_d,O`$ (Schoenflies notation). The presence of an additional crystal anisotropy distorts the simple helicoidal spin arrangement and the angle evolution of the magnetic moments is described by the solution of the sine-Gordon equation for a soliton lattice . It should be recognized that a soliton corresponds to localized or topological dislocations of a periodic structure which arise when non-linear forces are present. In a magnetically ordered crystal, a soliton is a deformation of a regular spiral resulting in a non-uniform rotation of the magnetic moments along the pitch of the helix. In that case, Dzyialoshinskii has shown that a second order phase transition from the incommensurate to a commensurate structure occurs either at a given temperature $`T^{}`$ or equivalently in the presence of a large magnetic field. While the formation of an incommensurate chemical lattice has been often observed in condensed matter physics , and more recently in the spin-Peierls compounds TTF-CuBDT  and $`\mathrm{CuGeO}_3`$ , the presence of solitons in a three-dimensional magnetic lattice is unusual. To our knowledge, a field-induced incommensurate-commensurate phase transition has been observed only for the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya helimagnet $`\mathrm{Ba}_2\mathrm{CuGe}_2\mathrm{O}_7`$ .
The bulk magnetic properties of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ were reported in ref. . The specific heat data show two magnetic phase transitions at $`\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{N}=21\mathrm{K}`$ and $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$=10K. From magnetization and susceptibility measurements it is concluded that copper metaborate is a weak ferromagnet for $`\mathrm{T}^{}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{N}`$ . In this letter we report elastic neutron scattering experiments in copper metaborate $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$. In the temperature range $`10\mathrm{K}\mathrm{T}21\mathrm{K}`$ the magnetic structure is commensurate. Upon lowering the temperature below $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$=10K, a commensurate to incommensurate magnetic phase transition of the copper sublattice occurs. In addition, strong diffuse scattering is observed at the magnetic Bragg positions indicating that within the time window accessible by neutrons spin fluctuations coexist with static moments. Together with the fact that Lifshitz invariant is allowed by the lattice symmetry, this suggests that copper metaborate forms a magnetic soliton lattice at low temperature.
The neutron measurements were performed at the neutron spallation source SINQ of the Paul-Scherrer Institut and at the high-flux neutron source of the Institut Laue-Langevin. The single crystal used in the present experiment was prepared using $`{}_{}{}^{11}\mathrm{B}`$ at the Institute of Physics Krasnoyarsk. The chemical structure was determined in the paramagnetic phase at T=25K. Due to the relatively large volume and low mosaic of the single crystal, it was necessary to correct the observed neutron intensities for extinction. To allow for a reliable correction, the neutron measurements were carried out at two wavelengths $`\lambda =2.4\mathrm{\AA }`$ and $`1.2\mathrm{\AA }`$, respectively. The refined parameters of the chemical structure were found to be in agreement with the X-ray results of Martinez et al. . $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ crystallizes in space group $`I\overline{4}2d`$ ($`D_{2d}^{12}`$) with lattice constants a=11.528 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$, c=5.607 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$. The unit cell contains 12 formula units. The $`\mathrm{Cu}^{2+}`$ ions occupy two inequivalent positions at Cu(A)=(site 4b, point symmetry $`\mathrm{S}_4`$, $`00\frac{1}{2}`$) and Cu(B)=(site 8d, point symmetry $`\mathrm{C}_2`$, $`\mathrm{x}\frac{1}{4}\frac{1}{8}`$, x=0.0815), respectively. Cu(A) is at the center of a square unit formed by four oxygen ions, while Cu(B) is surrounded by six oxygen ions located at the vertices of a distorted octahedron. From high-resolution neutron powder diffraction we conclude that $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ does not undergo any structural phase transition down to T=1.5K. Systematic scans in reciprocal space allowed magnetic reflections to be found at commensurate Bragg positions for T=12K. At this temperature, the observation of forbidden reflections like (1,1,0) or (0,0,2) shows that the magnetic structure is antiferromagnetic. The magnetic structure is accordingly described by the propagation vector $`\stackrel{}{k}=0`$, so that the magnetic and chemical cells coincide. As the lattice symmetry operation $`I`$ is also a magnetic translation when $`\stackrel{}{k}=0`$, the relevant irreducible representations of the magnetic structure are those of the point group $`\overline{4}2m`$. This point group contains eight elements and has five irreducible representations. Four of them are one-dimensional ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1,\mathrm{\Gamma }_2,\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_4`$) and one, labelled $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_5`$, is two-dimensional. The reduction of the induction representation gives $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{4\mathrm{b}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_3+\mathrm{\Gamma }_4+2\mathrm{\Gamma }_5`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{8\mathrm{d}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+2\mathrm{\Gamma }_2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_3+2\mathrm{\Gamma }_4+3\mathrm{\Gamma }_5`$, respectively. The magnetic modes $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_4`$ of the $`4\mathrm{b}`$ site correspond to a collinear ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering along the z-axis, respectively. The modes associated with the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_5`$ representation describe a non-collinear magnetic structure with the magnetic moments rotated by 90 from each other. Similar magnetic modes for site 8d can be deduced again with help of group theory. From a least-square refinement of a diffraction set consisting of 25 pure magnetic peaks ($`\mathrm{R}_\mathrm{F}=4\%`$), we find that the magnetic structure of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ can be described as a non-collinear arrangement of both the Cu(A) and Cu(B)-spins along the diagonals of the tetragonal plane. The Cu(A) magnetic moments possess a small component $`\mu _z=0.25\mu _B`$ parallel to the c-axis which corresponds to an angle of $`14^{}`$ out-of the tetragonal ab-plane. Symmetry analysis of the chemical structure of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ indicates that the DM-interaction is allowed between the Cu(A) nearest-neighbour spins. The DM-vector is perpendicular to the tetragonal ab-plane of the crystal and, accordingly, the DM-interaction favors the non-collinear spin arrangement which is actually observed. This indicates that the DM-interaction plays a significant role in forming the magnetic ground-state in $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$. From a simple scaling with the data taken in the paramagnetic phase, we obtain the value of the magnetic moment $`1\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ for the Cu(A) spins at T=12K. Within the precision of the present measurements, the Cu(B) spins are confined within the ab-plane and have a small magnetic moment $`\mu 0.25\mu _\mathrm{B}`$, as shown in Fig.1. As Cu(A) and Cu(B) magnetic moments do not compensate for each other, a spontaneous ferromagnetic moment equal to $`0.1\mu _B`$ per formula unit exists at T=12K.
As shown in Fig.2, the propagation vector $`\stackrel{}{k}`$ is temperature-dependent below T=10K and two magnetic satellites appear at symmetrical positions with respect to the commensurate reciprocal lattice-points. This shows that the magnetic structure of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ becomes incommensurate along the tetragonal axis. The period of the spin modulation continuously increases from $`\stackrel{}{k}=0`$ below $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$=10K to $`\stackrel{}{k}=(0,0,0.15)`$ at T=1.8K. At this temperature, the modulation of the spin structure has a period of $`\mathrm{c}/0.1540\mathrm{\AA }`$ along the crystallographic c-axis. The evolution of the satellite position with temperature is found to follow a power law

$$|\stackrel{}{k}(T)|(TT^{})^\nu $$
(1)
with $`\nu `$=0.48. As shown in Fig.2, Eq.1 describes the temperature dependence of the propagation vector in the incommensurate phase. As $`\stackrel{}{k}(T)`$ smoothly goes to zero with increasing temperature, the period of the helix growths to infinity at $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$=10K. In addition, considerable diffuse scattering superimposes on the resolution-limited Bragg peaks for neutron scattering vectors Q along the  crystallographic direction, as shown in Fig.3. The intensity of the diffuse scattering increases with increasing temperature and exhibits a critical divergence close to $`T^{}`$ (Fig.4), in accordance with the observation of susceptibility and specific heat peaks at this temperature . The line-shape of the diffuse scattering is well reproduced by the Fourier transform of the spin correlation function proposed by Ornstein and Zernicke . This function, which is a Lorentzian

$$S(\stackrel{}{Q})=\frac{A\kappa }{\kappa ^2+Q^2},$$
(2)
is valid only in the temperature range where magnetic fluctuations are large. The average correlation length $`\xi `$ obtained from the line-width $`\xi =\frac{1}{\kappa }`$ yields $`\xi 32\mathrm{\AA }`$ at $`T^{}`$. $`\kappa `$ decreases upon passing into the incommensurate magnetic phase and reflects that the correlation length increases with decreasing temperatures up to $`\xi 70\mathrm{\AA }`$ at T=1.8K. Diffuse scattering is unexpectedly observed at the lowest temperature reached in this experiment. Namely, for three-dimensionally ordered magnets, critical fluctuations are usually sizable only in a small temperature range below the magnetic phase-transition. On the contrary, for spiral structures caused by relativistic interactions, a continuous intensity distribution is expected in a large temperature range, due to perturbations in the simple helix structure. That diffuse scattering is observed at the lowest temperature reached in this experiment and diverges when $`TT^{}`$ demonstrates the validity of the soliton concept for $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$. In that context, the soliton width is given by the value of the parameter $`\xi `$.
Taking into account the crystalline anisotropy, the energy density in the presence of an external magnetic field can be written as

$`F`$ $`=`$ $`J𝐌_\mathrm{𝟏}𝐌_\mathrm{𝟐}𝐃(𝐌_\mathrm{𝟏}\times 𝐌_\mathrm{𝟐})_𝐳`$ (5)
$`K_2(cos^2\theta _1+cos^2\theta _2)K_4(cos^4\theta _1+cos^4\theta _2)`$
$`K_4^{perp.}(cos^4\varphi _1+cos^4\varphi _2)𝐇(𝐌_\mathrm{𝟏}+𝐌_\mathrm{𝟐}),`$
where J is the inter-sublattice exchange interaction; $`𝐌_\mathrm{𝟏}`$ and $`𝐌_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ are the magnetization vectors of the two sublattices; $`\mathrm{K}_2`$ and $`\mathrm{K}_4`$ correspond to the second and fourth order uniaxial anisotropy constants; $`\mathrm{K}_4^{\mathrm{perp}.}`$ represents the anisotropy in the tetragonal plane; $`\theta `$ and $`\varphi `$ are the polar and azimuthal angles of the sublattice magnetization, respectively. Exchange interactions and anisotropy values in copper metaborate are known from magnetization and antiferromagnetic resonance experiments, $`2\mathrm{M}_0=160\mathrm{G}`$, $`\mathrm{DM}_0=1900\mathrm{O}\mathrm{e}`$, $`\mathrm{H}_\mathrm{E}=\mathrm{JM}_0=2.9\times 10^4\mathrm{Oe}`$, $`\mathrm{K}_2/\mathrm{M}_0=21\mathrm{O}\mathrm{e}`$, $`\mathrm{K}_4/\mathrm{M}_0=8.4\mathrm{Oe}`$, and $`\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{perp}.}=|\mathrm{K}_4^{\mathrm{perp}.}|/\mathrm{M}_012\mathrm{O}\mathrm{e}`$ at T=4.2K . The energy functional (5) describes the appearance of weak ferromagnetism in $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ . However, as $`\stackrel{}{k}`$ decreases to zero when approaching $`T^{}`$ and diffuse scattering is observed in a large temperature range, and also as a phase transition is induced by applying a magnetic field in the tetragonal plane , competing exchange interactions do not appear to be the main driving mechanism of the incommensurate-commensurate phase transition in copper metaborate. To explain this phase transition, it is reasonable to consider the Lifshitz invariant in the energy density (5)

$$F_l=\sigma (M_{1,x}\frac{dM_{2,y}}{dz}M_{1,y}\frac{dM_{2,x}}{dz}),$$
(6)
where $`\sigma `$ is the Lifshitz parameter. We note that the presence of the Lifshitz invariant $`F_l`$ in the energy density of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ is ensured both by the presence of the DM-interactions and the $`D_{2d}`$ symmetry of the lattice. The Lifshitz invariant $`F_l`$ favors a magnetic ground-state given by the solution of the sine-Gordon equation. In the simplest case and in the absence of an external magnetic field, it corresponds to a simple helix. The helix structure can be distorted by the crystalline anisotropy which induces inhomogeneities in the magnetization density. The solution of the sine-Gordon equation results then in a magnetic soliton lattice . In that case, higher order satellites appear close the principal magnetic satellites. The amplitudes of these higher-order magnetic satellites increase with temperature and are largest close to the incommensurate-commensurate phase transition . Fig.5 shows a neutron scan along the (1,1,Q) direction at T=9K which reveals that when the temperature approaches $`T^{}`$, higher order satellites are produced. We point out that the overall shape of the neutron scattering data differs from the theoretical calculations based on the classical Ginzburg-Landau functional  for a simple lattice. This is probably due to the complexity of the chemical structure of copper metaborate. In any case, the presence of a multi-peak structure in the neutron spectrum is an indication that close to $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$, the magnetic structure of copper-metaborate can be viewed as a slightly distorted commensurate structure with domain walls.

As $`\mathrm{H}_\mathrm{E}\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{perp}.}`$, it is possible to estimate the strength of the Lifshitz parameter from the expression for the wave vector of the incommensurate structure , namely $`\sigma \mathrm{M}_0=\mathrm{kH}_\mathrm{E}4.3\times 10^3\mathrm{Oe}`$ at T=1.8K. The temperature dependence of the propagation vector $`|\stackrel{}{\mathrm{k}}(\mathrm{T})|`$ and hence of the magnetic soliton length can be understood on qualitative grounds by noting that the anisotropy parameter of order $`N`$ in Eq.(5) depends on the magnetization as $`\frac{K_N(T)}{K_N(0)}=[\frac{m(T)}{m(0)}]^{\frac{N(N+1)}{2}}`$ . As N is equal to 4 for tetragonal symmetry, a change in the magnetization curve by $``$10% results in a decrease of the anisotropy strength by a factor of $``$3 and hence in a corresponding increase of the helix vector.
In conclusion, we have shown that the magnetic structure of $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ is incommensurate at low temperature. The propagation vector of the magnetic structure smoothly decreases to zero with increasing temperature. A non-collinear magnetic state commensurate with the underlying chemical lattice is eventually formed at $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$=10K. Close to $`T^{}`$ higher-order magnetic satellites and coexistence of short-range and long-range order is observed. This indicates that copper metaborate forms a three-dimensional magnetic soliton lattice. The origin of the incommensurate magnetic ground-state in $`\mathrm{CuB}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ is probably caused by the presence of a Lifshitz invariant in the thermo-dynamical potential.


text:
# 1 Motivation

## 1 Motivation

The unprecedented beam currents and luminosities at the PEP-II accelerator make machine backgrounds a significant challenge to the BaBar experiment. Despite significant use of radiation hard technology, the Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) is the most radiation vulnerable sub-detector because of its proximity to the beamline. The SVT has established a rigorous program of radiation monitoring and protection (SVTRAD) to ensure the proposed lifespan, including the ability to automatically abort the beams in PEP-II when radiation exceeds programmable thresholds1.

## 2 Design

Reverse-biased large-area PIN photodiodes (Hamamatsu S3590-08) were selected to meet the multiple constraints of space, expense, and scalability. Signal current is generated from the deposition of energy from incident radiation that creates electron-hole pairs which flow under the applied field. (200 pC $``$ 1 mRad of absorbed dose) By continuously accumulating the the instantaneous dose rates, absorbed dose integrals can be formed with well-controlled fractional errors. Precision signal extraction depends largely on knowledge of the pedestal, which depends on temperature and absorbed dose (through radiation damage).

The SVTRAD system uses 2 rings of 6 radiation sensors at z=$`\pm `$ 20 cm from the interaction point at a radius of 3 cm. Each photodiode is accompanied by 2 closely neighboring thermistors. Shielded signal cables carry the diode currents and bias voltage from the sensors to the front-end electronics module within the SVT shielding scheme.

## 3 Implementation

The SVTRAD module is designed to be autonomous and robust2. It maintains configuration information between power-on resets and internally buffers messages for remote client retrieval. Each channel in the SVTRAD module can be configured to be used either for radiation monitoring or protection. Channels used in the protection circuit are passed back to the monitoring path, but resolution is degraded.

Each SVTRAD module handles three channels of current input. The monitoring circuit uses a set of three charge-integrating 20-bit Burr-Brown DDC101 ADCs, two sets of memory buffers, and a Xilinx 4013E FPGA. The ADCs are configured to average 4 on-chip 0.25 ms conversions to deliver data at 1 kHz. This data is split into two streams (“slow” and “fast”) which are directed into separate registers. The slow datastream is internally accumulated within the FPGA and rolled out to fill the 8K memory at 0.47 Hz. The fast memories implement a circular history buffer with two back-to-back 32K buffers, which can be read out at remote request. The fast history buffer provides an average history of 5.7 seconds at 1 kHz sampling.

The primary radiation concern for the SVT is integrated dose, and therefore the radiation protection algorithm focuses on placing a threshold on a minimum (integrated) dose absorbed over a minimum time. The algorithm enforces a chronic dose rate threshold (i.e. mR/s), but with a dose tolerance measured in mR. The tolerance parameter sets how much dose is integrated above the chronic dose rate threshold before the circuit trips. Short term departures over the chronic dose rate threshold are therefore allowed, so long as their integral is less than the tolerance.

Implementation uses a set of Analog Devices AD652s (so-called current-to-frequency converters) and an Orca 2C26A FPGA. The FPGA maintains a multi-input counter, whose inputs are the converted diode frequency, an internal programmable timer, and the thermistor current converted frequency. The diode and thermistor frequencies are oppositely signed and the programmable timer rate is chosen to enforce the desired threshold. When the count value exceeds the (programmable) depth of the counter, the circuit trips.

## 4 Performance

The SVTRAD module is supported over a local Controller Area Network by an application built using the EPICS toolkit. The EPICS database provides controls, monitoring processes, and client connections over TCP/IP for displays and archiving. The data retrieved from the SVTRAD module is processed by a set of custom EPICS records and subroutines The ADC samples are combined with temperature measurements from other modules in the common EPICS environment to form average dose rate measurements.

Performance of the SVTRAD system is best illustrated in Figure 1(a), showing the evolution of integrated doses for several of the diodes. In 1999 alone, there were over 4500 beam aborts caused by SVTRAD, and another 2500 in the year 2000 (see Figure 1(b)). Reviewing the fast history buffer after a trip has been an invaluable tool, providing validation of the protection thresholds.

Systematic errors from pedestal imprecision contribute less than 10% absolute error to the absorbed dose integrals, and instantaneous dose rates are measured with better than 0.25 mR/s accuracy in the monitoring circuit, and 5 mR/s for the protection diodes. Trip thresholds are accurate to 10 mR/s. These performance values will degrade as integrated radiation damage exceeds 1 MRad, however.

The radiation budget of the SVT must be measured against the constraints it places on general data-taking. The trip thresholds were optimized for minimizing overall radiation exposure to the SVT while guaranteeing headroom for the accelerator to reach their performance goals.

The SVTRAD system has proven effective in limiting radiation exposure of the SVT. The online dose rate information is used extensively by background remediation experts to identify background sources and locations3.

### Acknowledgments

We thank the PEP-II accelerator physicists and operators for many valuable discussions.


text:
# Envelope tomography of long-period variable starsBased on observations made at Observatoire de Haute Provence, operated by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France

## 1 Introduction

Long-period variable stars (LPVs) are cool giant stars showing more or less periodic light variations with amplitudes of several magnitudes in the visual and with periods of several hundred days. Depending on their visual amplitudes and on the regularity of their variability cycles, they appear in several flavours, namely Mira Ceti-type variables (Mira stars or Miras), Semi-Regular variables (of the SRa or SRb subtypes) or Irregular variables (of the Lb subtype). Mira and SR variables represent one of the latest stages in the evolution of stars with initial masses in the approximate range 1 to 9 M.

It is known since long that the brightness variations of LPVs go along with spectral changes: (i) hydrogen and some metallic lines turn from absorption to emission after minimum light (Merrill 1921), (ii) the velocity of the emission and absorption lines correlates with phase and excitation potential (Merrill 1923a; Adams 1941), (iii) several absorption lines appear double around maximum light (Adams 1941; Merrill & Greenstein 1958; Maehara 1968).

In a review on red stars, Merrill (1955) was the first to suggest that the bright emission lines sometimes appearing in LPVs may be explained by some kind of “hot front” moving outward. He further suggested that this running hot front may have the structure of a shock wave.

Although the shock wave scenario is nowadays quite widely accepted (see de la Reza 1986 and references therein), the lack of self-consistent pulsation models for LPV stars (due to the important role played by convection and the difficulty of modelling it) prevents from grasping exactly how, why and where emission and double absorption lines form. As a consequence, several (sometimes conflicting) theories aiming at explaining the spectral peculiarities of LPVs have appeared in the literature. Although the most popular models locate the formation of emission lines in the hot wake of the shock (e.g., Gillet 1988a), an alternative model proposed by Magnan & de Laverny (1997) associates emission lines with purely radiative non-LTE processes independently of any shock wave. In this model, the double-peak nature of the emission lines is not connected in any way with the velocity field, contrary to the shock-wave model.

Concerning the absorption lines, their doubling around maximum light is most easily seen in the rather clean near-infrared spectral domain (e.g., Gillet et al. 1985; Hinkle et al. 1997 and references therein). Long-term radial velocity measurements of the infrared rotation-vibration lines of CO have revealed well-defined variations with phase, regularly repeating from one cycle to the next and following a typical S-shaped curve (Hinkle et al. 1997). These radial-velocity variations are generally believed to reflect the differential bulk motions occurring in the large and tenuous atmosphere of LPVs and associated with its pulsation. Alternatively, the complex absorption profiles have also been explained without resorting to differential velocity fields: Gillet et al. (1985) have argued that the doubling of the metallic absorption lines results in fact from the development of an emission core in the line. This emission component is caused by the radiative release of the thermal energy dumped into the post-shock layer by the shock front. This model has the advantage of being able to account for the P Cygni line profiles sometimes observed in LPV spectra (and appearing when the emission core becomes brighter than the local continuum). A similar explanation in terms of the shock-induced temperature inversion has been proposed by Karp (1975) for the line doubling observed in Cepheid variables. Detailed radiative-transfer calculations have shown that the formation of double absorption lines does not necessarily require a velocity gradient, since a temperature inversion is in principle sufficient.

Recent studies have clearly validated theories accounting for the complex absorption line profiles observed in several kinds of pulsating stars (RR Lyrae: Chadid & Gillet 1996, Fokin & Gillet 1997; $`\beta `$ Cephei stars: Mathias et al. 1998; BL Herculis: Gillet et al. 1994, Fokin & Gillet 1994; RV Tauri: Gillet et al. 1989a) in terms of velocity fields. The validity of the Schwarzschild scenario accounting for double absorption lines in terms of a velocity gradient in the photosphere remains however to be demonstrated for LPV stars. The present paper presents the first clear observational evidence thereof.

## 2 The Schwarzschild scenario

A definitive way to conclude that double absorption lines are indeed the signature of a velocity gradient in the atmosphere rather than of a central emission core is to check whether the double absorption-line profiles behave as predicted by the Schwarzschild scenario. Although Schwarzschild (1952) proposed this scenario in relation with W Vir variables, it should be applicable to any kind of variable stars with a shock wave propagating through its photosphere. According to this scenario, the intensity of the blue and red components of a double line should follow (around maximum light) the temporal sequence illustrated in Fig. 1 (Note that this scenario implicitly assumes that the processes radiating away the thermal energy dumped into the post-shock layers by the shock front have a negligible impact on the line profile). The observation of such a temporal sequence for the absorption line profiles in Miras would definitely point towards the velocity stratification as the origin of the double absorption lines, and moreover would offer a way to directly probe the velocity field associated with the pulsation.

## 3 The cross-correlation technique

The extreme difficulty in testing whether the Schwarzschild scenario operates in LPV stars comes from (i) the need for an intensive mid-term (i.e., daily for about 2 months around maximum light) monitoring of LPV stars, (ii) the crowded nature of the spectra of Mira stars, particularly in the optical domain. The cross-correlation technique provides a powerful tool to overcome the second difficulty. Indeed, the information relating to the line doubling (velocity shift and line shape) is in fact distributed among a large number of spectral lines, and can be summed up into an average profile, or more precisely into a cross-correlation profile, by a cross-correlation algorithm. If the correlation of the stellar spectrum with a specially designed mask involves many lines, it is possible to extract the relevant information from very crowded and/or low signal-to-noise spectra (e.g., Queloz 1995). Examples of the use of the cross-correlation technique (with the CORAVEL spectrovelocimeter) to derive line profiles may be found in Gillet et al. (1989a, 1990) for RV Tauri stars and in Udry et al. (1998) for Mira stars.

## 4 Monitoring of the Mira variables RT Cyg and X Oph

### 4.1 The ELODIE spectrovelocimeter

A monitoring of two Mira-type stars, RT Cyg and X Oph, was performed with the fibre-fed echelle spectrograph ELODIE (Baranne et al. 1996) from 1999, August 3 to October 4, with an interruption between September, 3 and September, 16. Both stars were observed each night (weather-permitting), resulting in 32 spectra for both RT Cyg and X Oph. ELODIE is mounted on the 1.93-m telescope of the Observatoire de Haute Provence (France), and covers the full range from 3906 Å to 6811 Å in one exposure at a resolving power of 42 000. Cross-correlation functions (CCF) with the default K0 III mask have been computed directly in the (pixels,orders) space (i.e., without merging or rebinning the spectrum, in order not to lose accuracy) following the prescription of Baranne et al. (1996).

### 4.2 RT Cyg

In Fig. 2, the nightly sequence of CCF profiles obtained for RT Cyg is presented. RT Cyg is a M2e–M8.8e Mira star belonging to an old (extended/thick disk or halo) population (Alvarez et al. 1997), with a rather short period \[190.28 d according to the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS); Kholopov et al. 1988\], typical of old populations, and a visual amplitude of 7 mag. Its maximum light was reached around 1999, September 1 according to the AAVSO light curve (Mattei 1999, Observations from the AAVSO International Database, private communication). Due to the uncertainties on the epoch of maximum light (2–3 days) and since the period is not constant from one cycle to the other, the transformation from Julian Dates to phases carries some degree of arbitrariness. In the present paper, phases were computed assuming that RT Cyg reached maximum light on 1999 September, 1 and adopting the GCVS period. It is worth noting that the light curve of RT Cyg shows a bump on the rising branch. By analogy with RR Lyr variables, this may be a signature of a particularly strong shock wave running through the atmosphere (Hill 1972; Fokin 1992; Bessell et al. 1996).

It can be seen in Fig. 2 that the sequence of CCFs follows the Schwarzschild scenario sketched in Fig. 1: at phase $``$0.80, a single absorption peak is seen at $``$113 km s-1; then, coming closer to maximum light, the CCF becomes more and more asymmetric (phases 0.80–0.90), until the blue component becomes clearly visible around phase 0.90. The blue peak continues to strenghten and becomes even stronger than the red peak after phase 0.96. The intensity of the red component, that remained almost constant until this phase, then starts to fade away. A visual inspection of a few clean lines in the spectrum has confirmed that the doubling of the CCF is not an artefact of the method, but reflects the doubling of the spectral lines probed by the considered mask.

The CCFs have been fitted by gaussian or double gaussian functions in order to derive the corresponding radial velocity, with the results shown on Fig. 3. The single absorption peak with $``$113 km s-1 seen at phase 0.80 splits up into a blue component with $``$121 km s-1 and a red component with $``$109 km s-1. The blue component becomes more and more blueshifted until its velocity reaches $``$130 km s-1 around phase 0.0. After maximum light, the blue shift of the blue component slowly decreases. The radial velocity of the red component appears to be much more stable than that of the blue component. The monitoring stopped at phase 0.158 (see Lebzelter et al. 1999 for radial velocities from infrared CO and Ti lines covering a more extensive fraction of the light cycle).

Unfortunately, the center-of-mass (COM) velocity is not known for that star, as there are no submm CO observations available222Based on a theoretical relationship between the shock amplitude and the outward post-shock velocity, Willson et al. (1982) obtain $`119`$ km s-1 for the COM velocity if RT Cyg is pulsating in the fundamental mode, or $`123`$ km s-1 for a first-overtone pulsation. Since these values are strongly model-dependent, they will not be used here.. The chances of detecting CO lines in RT Cyg are weak, though, since its IRAS 12 $`\mu `$m flux (6.4 Jy) is more than 10 times smaller than in stars with detected CO lines. The unknown COM velocity prevents us from putting constraints on the strength of the shock (see, however, the analysis of Willson et al. 1982). For the classical Schwarzschild scenario to hold true, the COM velocity needs to fall in between the red and blue peaks (as it is the case for all the Mira variables monitored in the IR by Hinkle et al. 1997, as well as for the theoretical estimate of the COM velocity of RT Cyg by Willson et al. 1982; see also Lebzelter et al. 1999). In that case, a new shock wave appears at the bottom of the photospheric layers as they are already moving downwards on the ballistic motion induced by the previous shock (Chadid & Gillet 1996). The blue peak observed in RT Cyg would then correspond to ascending matter in the envelope, driven by the coming shock wave. If on the contrary the COM velocity would not fall in between the red and blue peaks but both peaks are ‘redshifted’ (a situation encountered at some phases in radial pulsators like RR Lyrae stars; see Chadid & Gillet 1996), this situation corresponds to a receding shock (in an Eulerian rest frame; in Lagrangian coordinates, the shock is obviously propagating outwards). Such a shock is not strong enough to oppose the infalling atmosphere.

In principle, the velocity variations of the blue peak convey information about the propagation of the matter just behind the shock. The shock may either accelerate as it encounters less and less resistance in an atmosphere of decreasing density, or decelerate as part of its energy is dissipated by radiative losses during its upward motion (Gillet et al. 1985). In RT Cyg (Fig. 3), the two trends are observed in succession: the ascending layer which is first accelerating (phases 0.87 to 0.98) decelerates after phase 0.08. The same trend may be observed for the layer where the red peak forms, which reacts with some delay to the motion of the underlying ‘blue’ layer. At phase 0.9, when the outward motion of the blue layer is the fastest, the inward motion of the red layer is decelerated (the slope changes from positive to negative on Fig. 3) as it is colliding with the rising shock. The outward acceleration stops at phase 0.0, and the red layer resumes its inward acceleration (on a possibly ballistic motion) as the force exerted by the blue layer has vanished (since the acceleration of the blue layer is now directed inwards).

However, the interpretation presented above is very crude as it neglects possible complications coming from optical-depth or geometrical effects. The line formed in an expanding atmosphere will be asymmetric even in the absence of a velocity gradient (e.g., Karp 1975), simply because the projection of the expansion velocity on the line of sight varies across the stellar disk. In the presence of velocity gradients, the problem is further complicated by the fact that different lines of sight across the stellar disk probe different geometrical depths (i.e., layers with different velocities) at any given wavelength. Moreover, in the presence of shocks, the matter gets compressed, leading to a steep increase in the optical depth. If the location of this steep optical-depth rise changes with respect to the velocity field, velocity variations unrelated to the shock acceleration or deceleration may be recorded. Dynamic models including radiative transfer are therefore ultimately needed to correctly interpret the results presented on Fig. 3.

The maximum velocity discontinuity (observed around phase 0.98) amounts to 20 km s-1, translating into 26 km s-1 after correction for limb darkening (Parsons 1972). Similar discontinuities are reported by Hinkle et al. (1997) for the two components of the double CO infrared lines observed in many Mira stars, which form however in different atmospheric layers than the optical lines sampled by the ELODIE mask. Willson et al. (1982) have performed a detailed analysis of the velocity structure of the atmosphere of RT Cyg, based on photographic spectra covering the optical domain as does ELODIE. These authors claim to have observed two shocks, the deeper one having an amplitude of about 30 km s-1, and the upper one about 13 km s-1 (see their Fig. 5). Denoting by $`v_A`$ and $`v_B`$ the post- and pre-shock velocities of the deeper shock, and by $`v_C`$ and $`v_D`$ the post- and pre-shock velocities of the upper shock, they obtain $`v_A=+10`$ km s-1, $`v_B=20`$ km s-1, $`v_C+6`$ km s-1 and $`v_D7`$ km s-1, relative to the inferred COM velocity. However, this structure relies on the ability to distinguish lines formed in regions A and C separated by only 4 km s-1, close to the resolution of the photographic spectrograms used, and moreover, lines formed at B tend to be weak and are not very numerous. Therefore, Willson et al. (1982) acknowledge that a single-shock structure is in principle possible as well. As weak lines are not sampled by the K0 III mask used by ELODIE, the presence of two shocks in the atmosphere of RT Cyg cannot be tested with this mask. The tomographic method, more appropriate to investigate this question as described in Sect. 5, provides however no evidence for a second shock from the mask sampling weak lines (see CCF on first line of Fig. 4).

### 4.3 X Oph

Quite interestingly, X Oph does not exhibit the same line-doubling phenomenon as RT Cyg. This star is classified as a M5e-M9e Mira star, with a mean period of 328.85 days and a visual amplitude of 3.3 mag ($`5.9V9.2`$) according to the GCVS. Its maximum light was reached on 1999 September, 16 (Mattei 1999, Observations from the AAVSO International Database, private communication). X Oph is a visual binary with a K1 giant companion (of magnitude $`V=8.9`$; Merrill 1923b) in an orbit of semi-major axis 0.”34 and of period about 500 y (Baize & Petit 1989). According to the AAVSO light curve, the faintest magnitude reached by X Oph during the survey was 7.7, so the presence of the companion did not disturb in any way our measurements.

The sequence of CCFs is presented in Fig. 2. The CCF remained single during the whole monitoring (a conclusion also reached by Hinkle et al. 1984 from infrared CO lines monitored over a large fraction of the light cycle), and the velocity stayed almost constant at $``$73 km s-1 (it varied between $``$72.8 and $``$73.4 km s-1). Nevertheless, Fig. 2 clearly reveals that the contrast of the CCF decreases with advancing phase.

From CO millimeter observations, Groenewegen et al. (1999) derive for X Oph a COM velocity of $`55\pm 1`$ km s-1 with respect to the local standard of rest, or $``$73.5 km s-1 with respect to the solar barycentre. This COM velocity is close to the radial velocity derived from the CCF profiles: surprisingly, the photospheric layers probed by the K0 III mask are almost at rest with respect to the COM.

### 4.4 Discussion

At this point, two important conclusions may be drawn: (i) for the first time, clear evidences have been obtained that the Schwarzschild mechanism operates in at least some LPV stars (such as RT Cyg), (ii) not all LPVs exhibit line doubling around maximum light though. The second conclusion is confirmed by a survey of 75 LPVs observed around maximum light, which reveals that about 48% of the observed stars did not exhibit the line doubling phenomenon with the K0 III mask (Alvarez et al., in preparation). Nevertheless, this result does not necessarily imply that shock waves are not present in the deep atmosphere of those stars. Indeed, Balmer emission lines, which are commonly believed to be formed in the hot wake of the shock, are observed, although not very intense, in the spectra of X Oph (see Sect. 6). The absence of Schwarzschild mechanism may either be due to the combined effects of a weak shock and an insufficient resolving power to resolve the small Doppler shift between the red and blue peaks (that possibility seems however unlikely in the case of X Oph as the width of the CCF does not change around maximum light; see Fig. 2), to optical-depth effects (the shock is either optically thin or propagates in optically-thick layers), or simply to the use of an inadequate template. The latter possibility will be investigated in a forthcoming paper of this series which will also attempt to identify the key stellar parameter(s) governing the appearance of the line doubling and/or the strength of the shock.

## 5 Tomography

The cross-correlation technique in the optical spectrum opens the possibility of much more detailed studies of pulsating atmospheres. We briefly describe here the method that we are currently developing to perform the tomography of the envelope of LPV stars. A more thorough description will be presented elsewhere (Alvarez et al., in preparation). The method rests on our ability to construct reliable synthetic spectra of late-type giant stars, which has made significant progress in recent years (Plez 1999). The starting point is the ‘depth function’ $`D=D(\lambda )`$, derived from models of late-type giant stars, and expressing the geometrical depth corresponding to optical depth 2/3 at the considered wavelength $`\lambda `$. The different masks $`M_i`$ are constructed from the collection of $`N`$ lines $`\lambda _{i,j}(1jN)`$ such that $`D_iD(\lambda _{i,j})<D_i+\mathrm{\Delta }D`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }D`$ is some constant optimized to keep enough lines in any given mask without losing too much resolution in terms of geometrical depth. Each mask $`M_i`$ should thus probe lines forming at (geometrical) depths in the range $`D_i,D_i+\mathrm{\Delta }D`$ in the atmosphere. These masks are then used as templates to correlate with the observed spectra of the LPV stars. This procedure should provide the velocity field as a function of depth in the atmosphere of the LPV stars. One crucial requirement of the method is that the masks constructed from static atmospheric models do not lose their ability to probe a layer of a given (geometrical) depth when applied to a dynamic atmosphere. This point will be discussed in more details in a forthcoming paper.

Fig. 4 displays a sequence of CCFs probing increasing depths in the atmosphere of RT Cyg at four phases. At phase 0.905, it can clearly be seen that the line doubling occurs only for the 3 deepest masks. At a later phase (0.953), the line doubling involves 3 more masks further out, translating the upward motion of the shock. At even later phases (0.000 and 0.147), the line doubling is seen up to the outermost mask. At phase 0.147, it is worth noting that the deepest mask displays a single blue peak, while the outermost mask displays a single red peak (though somewhat asymmetrical). In summary, the Schwarzschild scenario can be observed on both the temporal and spatial variations of the CCFs displayed in Fig. 4, thus clearly revealing the upward motion of the shock wave.

## 6 The Balmer lines

The Balmer lines are important diagnostics to which the temporal behaviour of the CCF of absorption lines may be compared. It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss thoroughly the different theories concerning the origin of the emission lines. Nevertheless, thanks to the two-month-long monitoring, the possibility is offered to present a high-quality temporal sequence of Balmer lines, which might later on be used to constrain the different existing models.

### 6.1 RT Cyg

Figure 5 displays the evolution of the H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$ profiles of RT Cyg during the monitoring. The abcissa scale is a velocity scale. Since the COM velocity is not known for RT Cyg, the zero point of the velocity scale has been taken equal to a heliocentric velocity of $``$110 km s-1 (corresponding to the mean velocity of the red component of the CCF profiles; see Fig. 3). When analyzing Fig. 5, it should thus be remembered that the zero point of the velocity scale has been adjusted so as to correspond to the velocity of the red component of the absorption lines, which is almost certainly different from the stellar COM velocity. The H$`\delta `$ profile is not shown for phase 0.079 because of the too low signal-to-noise ratio achieved in this order.

The H$`\alpha `$ profile is seen in emission during the whole monitoring, although weakly so on the first frame corresponding to phase 0.806. In the early development of the emission feature, it is obliterated by an absorption feature falling right on top of it. At later phases, a separate red component is very clearly present. Such a structure has been observed in several Mira stars (see Gillet 1988a; Woodsworth 1995). The H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ profiles are rather similar in the first half of the monitoring, but, at the latest phases, the H$`\beta `$ profile shows no red component but instead a very clear pedestal at the base of the line. The H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$ emissions are much more complex in the early stages of the monitoring. Mutilations of the H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$ profiles are expected to be less pronounced than in the case of H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ as molecular absorptions are weaker in their spectral domain (Gillet 1988b).

### 6.2 X Oph

Figure 6 displays the temporal evolution of the Balmer lines of X Oph during the monitoring. The COM velocity has been taken equal to $``$73.5 km s-1 (see Sect. 4.3). The vertical-axis scale is the same as in the case of RT Cyg to make the comparison with Fig. 5 easier. The H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$ profiles are not shown for phase 0.857 because of the too low signal-to-noise ratio achieved in the blue orders.

Although H$`\delta `$ is almost as strong in X Oph as in RT Cyg (but not quite so), H$`\gamma `$ is much weaker (by at least of factor of 2), and H$`\beta `$ and H$`\alpha `$ are only barely visible after phase 0.991. It is interesting to note that the relative intensities of the Balmer lines are similar in X Oph and RT Cyg. Therefore, it is not surprising that H$`\alpha `$ never gets very strong in X Oph, since a look at RT Cyg shows that, for H$`\alpha `$ to be clearly visible, the intensity of H$`\delta `$ needs to exceed 20 (relative to the local continuum) which is never the case in X Oph. This may indicate that the same (recombination?) mechanism is operating in both stars to produce the Balmer emission lines and that the variation of the underlying opacity with wavelength is the same as well.

The absence of Schwarzschild mechanism in X Oph and its occurrence in RT Cyg may similarly be related to their respective Balmer line intensities. The CCF profile starts becoming clearly asymmetric at phase 0.884 in RT Cyg (Fig. 2), when the relative intensity of H$`\alpha `$ amounts to 3. As such intensity levels are never reached in X Oph, it is thus not surprising that the CCF remains single, provided of course that the Schwarzschild mechanism and the Balmer line intensities are indeed somehow correlated. Whether or not this is systematically the case remains however to be confirmed on a larger sample. At this point, it may just be concluded that RT Cyg and X Oph differ by the presence/absence of the Schwarzschild mechanism and by the strength of the Balmer lines.

### 6.3 Comparing the velocities of the Balmer and absorption lines in RT Cyg

The comparison of the H$`\alpha `$ and absorption-line velocities illustrates the respective merits of the competing models accounting for the complex H$`\alpha `$ line profile. Two different models involving a single spherical shock wave have been proposed to explain the origin of the double H$`\alpha `$ emission structure observed in Mira stars (Gillet 1988b). The first one is the so-called ‘geometrical model’ (Willson 1976; Gillet et al. 1985) stating that, while the emission line is produced within the de-excitation zone behind the shock front, the redshifted component is emitted by the shock propagating far above the photosphere in the hemisphere opposite to the observer whereas the blueshifted component is emitted by the shock propagating in the hemisphere facing the observer. In that model, the two emission components should be almost centered on the stellar COM velocity. The second interpretation is the self-reversal model (Bidelman & Ratcliffe 1954; Gillet 1988a) stating that there is a true absorption obliterating the emission line, caused by the presence of cool hydrogen gas above the shock front. In the latter interpretation, the central absorption should have the velocity of the layers lying above the shock. In the framework of the Schwarzschild model, those layers are responsible for the red absorption-line component. As the velocity of those layers approximately corresponds to the adopted zero-point of the velocity scale for the Balmer features, the central absorption should have a velocity close to zero, which indeed appears to be the case, as indicated below in relation with Fig. 8.

An example of H$`\alpha `$ profile obtained during the monitoring (phase 0.953) of RT Cyg is shown in Fig. 7. To evaluate the merits of the above two models333It is worth mentioning that a third interpretation, not considered here, has been proposed by Woodsworth (1995) and involves three emission components., the complex line profile has been fitted by gaussian functions in two different ways. The ‘geometrical model’ requires to fit separately the blue and red emission components (case a on Fig. 7) whereas the self-reversal model requires to fit separately the broad emission line and the central absorption (case b on Fig. 7). Figure 8 displays the velocity structure of the H$`\alpha `$ line as a function of phase, for the two cases. It should also be remembered that there is an atomic or molecular absorption feature unrelated to H$`\alpha `$ falling right on top of it, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 7. Its velocity is also displayed in Fig. 8 for phases earlier than 0.01, since it is no more visible afterwards. Because these absorption features mutilate the still weak H$`\alpha `$ line during the early stages of the monitoring, the fit of the broad emission feature performed for case b is rather inaccurate and has therefore not been presented on Fig. 8 until phase 0.91 when the fit becomes more reliable.

Figure 8 offers the interesting possibility to compare the evolution of the structure of the H$`\alpha `$ line with the corresponding evolution of the absorption features (Fig. 3). The comparison of these two figures reveals interesting similarities in the framework of case b. First, the velocity of the central absorption feature overlying the broad H$`\alpha `$ line has a velocity similar to that of the red component of the absorption lines, as expected if both features form in the layers just above the shock. Second, the velocity difference between the broad emission line and the overlying absorption feature ($`1020`$ km s-1) is of the same order as the difference between the velocities of the red and blue peaks of the absorption lines. This is again consistent with the hypothesis that the broad H$`\alpha `$ emission and the blue absorption lines both form in the ascending, post-shock layers.

On the contrary, there is no clear correspondence between the absorption-line velocities and the velocities of the red and blue H$`\alpha `$ emission peaks defined in the framework of case a.

At this point, one should mention that the interpretation of the H$`\alpha `$ line profile according to case a or b also results in very different shock-front velocities (Gillet 1988a). The geometrical model (case a) yields rather large shock velocities (of the order of 60 km s-1), whereas the self-reversal model (case b) involves much smaller shock velocities ($`<`$30 km s-1; Gillet 1988a). On theoretical grounds, Gillet et al. (1989b) have shown that a shock velocity in excess of 60 km s-1 is required for the shock to be strong enough to first photodissociate H2 molecules and then photoionize the resulting hydrogen atoms, to produce the observed Balmer emission lines by recombination. This requirement is consistent with the velocities (50–70 km s-1) deduced from the observations of fluorescent lines in Miras (Willson 1976), and would also favour case a over case b.

In the above discussion, case a faced however the difficulty that there is no clear coincidence between the H$`\alpha `$ and absorption-line velocities, although one would naively expect some if those lines are formed in the vicinity of the same shock. The above conclusion of discrepant velocities has been reached assuming that both H$`\alpha `$ and absorption lines form in a thin layer, so that they can be assigned the velocity of the layer where they form. However, this assumption might not hold true for absorption lines which form over a broader region than H$`\alpha `$, so that the velocity of the absorption lines result from an average of the velocity field over the line-forming region. The discrepant H$`\alpha `$ and absorption-line velocities observed in the framework of case a may possibly be reconciled when such averaging effects are properly taken into account.

Detailed dynamic models coupled to radiative transfer are thus ultimately needed to answer the question of the origin of the complex H$`\alpha `$ line profile.

## 7 Conclusion

The origin of double-peaked emission and absorption lines in the complex LPV atmospheres is a long-standing problem. If the shock wave and the associated velocity gradient are generally believed to be at the origin of the complex line profiles of LPV stars (de la Reza 1986; Gillet 1988b; Hinkle et al. 1997), alternative models not resorting to differential atmospheric motions are sometimes invoked. They involve either purely non-LTE effects to account for the double-peaked Balmer emission (Magnan & de Laverny 1997), or a temperature inversion to account for the splitting of the absorption lines (Karp 1975; Gillet et al. 1985).

Thanks to the cross-correlation technique and a daily survey of the Mira star RT Cyg, the role of velocity fields in the formation of genuinely double absorption lines has been undoubtedly confirmed in the framework of the Schwarzschild mechanism. Evidence for the existence of strong shock waves in the outer layers of LPVs becomes compelling, although not all Mira stars exhibit the Schwarzschild scenario, as demonstrated by the observations of X Oph collected in the present paper. The origin of this distinct behaviour will be investigated in the next paper of this series.

A tomographic technique that opens new perspectives for the study of the dynamics of LPVs has been used to visualize the outward motion of the shock wave in the atmosphere of RT Cyg.

The evolution of the H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$ emission-line profiles during 35% (20%) of the cycle of RT Cyg (X Oph) around maximum light has also been discussed. The comparison of this data set with the temporal evolution of the profile of absorption lines offers interesting perspectives to identify the origin of the complex profile of the H$`\alpha `$ emission line.

The present paper had no other ambition than providing a description of the data collected with the ELODIE spectrograph around maximum light for RT Cyg and X Oph. These data may be used as constraints for future detailed models. Firm conclusions on the line-formation mechanisms in Mira variables should thus await the advent of such detailed dynamic models coupling hydrodynamics to radiative transfer.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to X. Delfosse, D. Erspamer, A. Gomez, M. Haywood, E. Josselin, M. Mayor, D. Naef, D. Segransan, E. Oblak and S. Udry for performing part of the observations, as well as to the staff of the Haute-Provence Observatory. Ephemeris and light curves provided by the AAVSO International Database were very helpful for planning the monitoring described in the present paper. R.A. benefits of a TMR “Marie Curie” Fellowship at ULB. A.J. is Research Associate from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium).


text:
# Superconducting Plasma Excitation at Microwave Frequencies in Parallel Magnetic Fields in 𝐁𝐢_𝟐𝐒𝐫_𝟐𝐂𝐚𝐂𝐮_𝟐𝐎_{𝟖+𝛿}

## I introduction

It has been well established that a sharp microwave absorption can be observed in high temperature superconductors with a strong superconducting anisotropy such as $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$. The phenomenon itself manifests the existence of plasma oscillation of the weak superconducting current through a stuck of seriesly connected intrinsic Josephson junctions associated with the layer structure of the material. The Josephson plasma frequecny can well be described as

$`\omega _p(0,T)={\displaystyle \frac{c}{\sqrt{ϵ}\lambda _c(T)}}={\displaystyle \frac{c}{\sqrt{ϵ}\gamma \lambda _{ab}(T)}},`$ (1)
where $`ϵ`$ is the dielectric constant at high frequencies of the mateiral, $`\gamma `$ is the anisotropy parameter and $`\lambda _{ab,c}`$(=$`(c\varphi _0/8\pi ^2\{j_{ab},j_c\}s)^{1/2}`$=$`(hc^2/16\pi ^2e\{j_{ab},j_c\}s)^{1/2}`$) denotes the penetration depths for the $`ab`$-plane and for the $`c`$-axis. $`j_{ab}`$ and $`j_c`$(=$`j_J`$) mean the critical current for the $`ab`$-plane and the Josephson critical current for the $`c`$-axis, respectively, $`s`$ the interlayer distance between two adjacent superconducting layers and $`\varphi _0`$=$`hc/2e`$ the flux quantum. This is essentially identical with the case of single junction worked out by Anderson and Josephson, and later Lawrence and Doniach.

In magnetic fields above $`H_{c1}`$ the vortices penetrate through the superconducting material and induce the relative shift of the gauge invariant phase $`\phi `$ of the superconducting order parameter between two adjacent layers. The phase shift is apparently caused by the Josephson current flow which depends on how vortices are arranged between two adjacent layers. When magnetic field is applied perpendicularly to the layers ($`c`$-axis) the plasma frequency $`\omega _p(H,T)`$ can be expressed as

$`\omega _p^2(H,T)=\omega _p^2(0,T)\mathrm{cos}\phi _{n,n+1}(H,T),`$ (2)
where

$`\phi _{n,n+1}=\phi _{n+1}\phi _n{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\varphi _0}}{\displaystyle _n^{n+1}}A_z𝑑z`$ (3)
means the gauge invariant phase difference between $`n`$-th and $`n+1`$-th layers, $`A_z`$ the vector potential and $`\mathrm{}`$ stands for the thermal and positional average. Recently, there have been a great deal of work on the Josephson plasma resonanace, especially on the vortex state of $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$ and all experimental results have been explained reasonably well along this line.

In our previous publications we have reported preliminary results of the angular dependence of Josephson plasma respnance: a sharp dip structure of the resonance field was observed, when the magnetic field orientation comes within $`\pm `$1.0  from the $`ab`$-plane. This implies that the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau(GL) scaling law is violated in this narrow angular region. Tsui et. al. reported a similar sharp dip behavior within $`\pm 5^{}`$, however, the angular dependence seems to follow a different function, resulting in the contradictory results. When magnetic field is applied exactly parallel to the layers (within accuracy of $`\pm `$0.2  from the $`ab`$-plane), no resonance has been reported previously. Although these experimental results have been argued by comparing currently available theories, agreement is far from satisfactory.

We have made continuous effort to obtain full description of the Josephson plasma resonance in a field near the $`ab`$-plane and found entirely new results, which have never been explored before. We discovered two resonance modes appearing in two different temperature regemes: the LT mode appearing at low temperatures and the HT mode at high temperatues. These two modes are separated by the temperature gap, which depends strongly on the microwave frequency. We believe that the LT mode is the Jpsephson plasma resonance coupled with the Josephson vortex kattice system, while the HT mode resembles the plasma mode modified by the periodic array of Josephson vortices.

Here we will give the comprehensive experimental results with emphasis on new discoveries so far we have obtained on the issue of the Josephson plasma in magnetic fields parallel to the $`ab`$-plane.

## II experiments

Josephson plasma resonance experiments have been performed at various fixed frequencies between 10 and 52 GHz either by sweeping temperature in a fixed magnetic field or by sweeping magnetic field at a fixed temperature. The signal generator HP83650B (Hewlett Packard Co.), the klystrons (Okaya Denki Co. Ltd.) and the gunn oscillators (Quinstar Co.) have been used depending on the frequencies. The cavity resonator coupled with the magic T bridge balance circuit was installed in a variable temperature insert and was rotated by a fine goniometer system in a 7 T split magnet. The precise field direction parallel to the $`ab`$-plane was determined from the symmetry of the Josephson plasma resonance position with respect to the angle near the $`ab`$-plane. The error of the angular setting can be as small as 0.01 . Temperature was controled better than 0.01 K during the magnetic field scan measurement.

The $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$ sample used in the present study was grown by the improved traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) method. After annealing in a reduced atmosphere an under-doped $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$ was obtained with $`T_c`$=70.2 K and the transition width of $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c`$1.5 K. The sample was cut into a rectangle with the dimension of 0.7 mm $`\times `$ 0.8 mm $`\times `$ 20 $`\mu `$m and was set at a position of a maximum microwave electric field in the cavity resonator of the $`\mathrm{TE}_{102}`$ mode.

## III results and discussion

The typical Josephson plasma resonance curves in $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$ in parallel magnetic fields is demonstrated in Fig. 1 as an example. Here, the direct record of the microwave absorption at 25.5 GHz and 34.30 GHz measured by the field sweep mode at various temperatures are presented. First of all, there are obviously two Josephson plasma modes(LT and HT modes) in two temperature regions separated by a temperature gap which strongly depends on the microwave frequency. The gap can only be observable between 20 and 32 GHz, which will be shown later more clearly in Fig. 4. Since a larger gap in temperature is found at higher frequencies and the LT mode shifts quickly to lower temperatures as the frequency is icreased, the LT mode cannot be observed above about 35 GHz in this under-doped sample. As will clearly be seen later in Fig. 4, both LT and HT resonances merge together below 10 GHz.

Secondly, the HT mode at a fixed temperature has two resonances as a function of magnetic fields. This feature has never been observed in the previous studies both in parallel to the c-axis and in tilted fields. Furthermore, the higher field resonance of the HT mode once tends to decrease but above about 0.8 kOe it turns to shift to a higher temperature side with increasing field. It does not shift back to zero field, exhibiting a strong contrast with the Josephson plasma resonance for the case in fields parallel to the c-axis. It is surprizing that the higher field resonance of the HT mode is stable even in temperatures where the zero field plasma resonance has already disappeared. This fact strongly suggests that the higher field resonance of the HT mode has higher plasma energy than $`\omega _p(0,T)`$ in zero field. Acording to Bulaevskii et. al. on the basis of single junction, it is only possible for the plasma oscillation mode coupled with the Josephson vortex system to possess higher energies in a magnetic field than $`\omega _p(0)`$ in zero filed. Fom this reason, we attribute the HT mode to the new Josephson plasma reosnance mode associated with the periodic array of the Josephson vortices. This mode perhaps corresponds to the plasma “oscillations” in the case of a single Josephson junction.

On the contrary to this HT mode, the LT mode shows a considerable hysteresis effect of the resonance position, the intensities as well as the resonance width on magnetic field sweeping conditions as seen in Fig. 1. This hysteresis effect becomes large especially below 25 K, suggesting existence of the different pinning state at low temperatures. This implies that the resonance occurs in non-equilibrium states of Josephson vortices during sweeping magnetic field.

In order to avoid the hysterisis behavior ovserved in the field sweep measurements the tempreature sweep mode is operated at a fixed magnetic field, whcih is applied above $`T_c`$. Figure 2 shows an example of the case for 25.5 and 30.1 GHz. The HT mode shifts from zero field resonance towards low temperatures in a finite field below about 0.8 kOe, but above this field it is surprising that it turns over towards higher temperatures. Although the intensity of the resonance after the turn-over becomes fainter and fainter, it is clearly seen that the resonance is sharp and it goes beyond the temperature where the zero field plasma resonance was observed. There is no resonance observed in-between the HT and LT resonances in this temperature sweep mode. As seen in Fig. 2, the LT mode is broad in temperature and shifts to lower temperatures in higher magnetic fields.

These overall behavior at 30.1 GHz is summerized in Fig. 3, where the results obtained from both field and temperature sweep measurments are plotted together. In the temperature gap region between LT and HT modes a faint absorption observed only in the field sweep measurements were also included. In the previous study sudden disappearance as well as entire absence of the plasma resonance were reported. However, it is apparent from the present results that the reason of disappearance of the resonance is due to the temperature gap existing in-between LT and HT modes, which expands quickly as a function of frequency as disclosed in Fig. 3. Therefore, at certain frequencies and temperature regions the resonance cannot be observed. We further comment on the resonance below about 25 K. It was not possible to find any meaningful absorption in the field sweep mode measurement because of broadening of the absorption as well as quick shift of the resonance field to zero. Therefore, we could not confirm the results by Tsui et. al.

In Fig. 4, the resonance field-temperature diagram similar to Fig. 3 is presented at seven different frequencies 9.80, 18.8, 25.5, 30.1, 34.5, 44.2 and 52.3 GHz. As seen in Fig. 4 the gap between LT and HT modes rapidly grows at higher frequencies. The LT resonance is no longer seen above about 30 GHz due to this fact. On the contrary to this, the HT mode tends to converge at about 3 kOe after the turn-over and disappears in higher fields. Although the Josephson plasma resonance at zero field nicely obeys the temperature dependence as described previously, the fact shown above indicates that the higher field resonance of the HT resonance should possess higher plasma frequency than the zero field plasma frequency.

The frequency-field diagram is summerized in Fig. 5. It is clearly seen the existence of two resonance modes: the LT mode frequency is suppressed by magnetic field, whereas the HT mode turns over at about 0.8 kOe then it goes up to higher frequencies. We note that in the low field region below 0.5 kOe the LT mode tends to shift to zero frequencies as indicated by the extrapolated lines in Fig. 5, indicating a gapless feature of the LT mode. Furthermore, the fact that this LT mode is only observable in fields suggests that the LT mode is related to the existence of the Josephson vortices in the system. At higher fields the LT mode monotonically decreases with increasing magnetic field. On the other hand, the field dependence of the HT mode cannot be understood by the presently available models for the Josephson plasma resonance in which a reduction of the Josephson current in magnetic fields simply is considered in reducing the resonance frequencies.

In order to better understand the unusual behabior of HT mode described above in Fig. 5, we first note that the Josephson vortex state in a parallel field is not yet well established. In general, it has been believed that several phases with complicated vortex structures may exit. A successive first order phase transitions were predicted by Bulaevskii, whereas occurrence of more complicated phases such as a floating and a waving solids, and smectic and supersolid are also theoretically proposed.

Recently, we have studied the transport properties of the vortex state in a parallel magnetic field in detail and found unexpectedly rich phenomena. One of them is a continuous phase transition at $`H_{SM}`$ from Josephson vortex liquid state to Josephson vortex solid state in optimally doped $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$. Non-linear behavior of the resistivity is also significant and characteristic in this region. Since the doping level of the sample used here is under-doped and different from the one, it seems that the resonance field $`H_{res}`$ in all temperatures are much smaller than $`H_0`$, where all layeres are filled by the Josephson vortices. This means that the Josephson plasma resonance observed here are perhaps all in the Josephson votex solid phase ($`H_{res}<H_0<H_{SM}`$), which is not fully explored yet.

Considering such a complicated phases in parallel magnetic fields it is furthermore expected that the plasma dispersion relation can be modified strongly from the one for the case of fields parallel to the $`c`$-axis by the periodic arrangement of Josephson vortices in-between superconducting layers in such a way that due to the periodic array of Josephson vortices it can be reduced at the zone boundary, resulting in the multi-band scheme similar to the electron bands in solids. In our experiemental conditions the plasma excited by microwave frequencies must be $`k`$ 0. Nevertheless, it may be possible to excite plasma with finite $`\pm 𝒌`$, leaving $`𝒌`$ behind with an aid of a reciprocal vector $`𝑮/2`$=$`𝒌`$ of the Josephson lattice. If this mechanism works efficiently, the higher field resonance may correspond to the higher energy modes associated with the occurence of multiple plasma bands due to the periodic array of the Josephson vorices.

## IV conclusion

We have studied Josephson plasma resonance in under-doped single crystalline $`\mathrm{Bi}_2\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{CaCu}_2\mathrm{O}_{8+\delta }`$ in parallel magnetic field configuration in detail. We discovered for the first time two well-separated resonance branches above 20 GHz in two different temperture regions. Both resonances behave the peculiar temperature, magnetic field and frequency dependeces unlike the resonance for the $`c`$-axis. In our experimental condition that the microwave $`𝑬`$-vector is perpendicular to the $`ab`$-plane, which selectively excite the longitudinal plasma mode, we point out that there must be a mechanism which converts the longitudinal plasma to the transverse plasma modes. It is proposed that the momentum transfer may be possible if the Josephson vortex lattice vibrational (translational) motion are involved in the fundamental processes. We infer that the HT mode may be the optical-like plasma mode modified by the motion of the periodic arrangement of Josephson vortices, whereas the LT mode may be the acoustic-like mode coupled with the Josephson vortex lattice vibration modes. Further studies are reqired in future in order to confirm the above mentioned conjectures.