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# Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks

## 1 Introduction

The optical and ultraviolet emission from middle-aged supernova remnants (SNRs) arises mainly in shock excited gas. The shocks are driven by the supernova blastwave into surrounding interstellar clouds. Several lines from a range of ionization states are seen in the spectra of these shocks. The line strengths can be used to obtain properties such as the shock velocity, the pre-shock density and the elemental abundances (e.g., Raymond (1991)).

A standard method of interpreting SNR spectra is to compare observed line fluxes with shock model predictions, and thereby derive the shock properties. Raymond et al. (1980) pointed out that radiative transfer in resonance lines (permitted lines to the ground state) was a potential problem in comparing observations with model calculations. Their models showed that the optical depths of resonance lines are of order unity in the flow direction and much higher along the line of sight when the shock is viewed edge-on. They found that models which correctly predicted the observed intensities of intercombination lines in an International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) spectrum of a filament in the Cygnus Loop SNR severely underpredicted the observed resonance line intensities. They ascribed this discrepancy to resonance line scattering in the filament. The same discrepancy between observed and predicted strengths of resonance lines, relative to non-resonance lines was found in other studies of SNR shocks as well (Raymond et al. (1981), Raymond et al. (1988), Raymond et al. (1997)). Resonance line scattering effects were directly observed by Cornett et al. (1992). In images of a large field in the Cygnus Loop taken with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), they found that the C IV $`\lambda `$1549 emission was significantly reduced near sharp optical filaments, which are the locations where the shock is viewed close to edge-on (Hester (1987)).

Thus, it has been known for some time that the observed fluxes of resonance lines have to be corrected for optical depth effects when analyzing SNR shock spectra. The approach towards this problem has been, for the most part, to obtain shock velocities and pre-shock densities based on non-resonance lines and then to calculate the effects of resonance line scattering by comparing the observed fluxes with the fluxes predicted by a “best-fit” model. That is, the resonance line strengths themselves were not used in the analysis. In one study of filaments in Vela and in the Cygnus Loop, Raymond et al. (1981) calculated line optical depths from column densities predicted by shock models. Having assumed a thin sheet geometry viewed edge-on, and single scattering, they found attenuation factors for several resonance lines. These values, as they point out, are extreme because of the assumed geometry. Raymond et al. (1981) further state that quantitative interpretation of the resonance line strengths is extremely difficult because they depend on details of the geometry as well as the shock properties.

Resonance line scattering also affects the ratio between the line strengths of the components of a resonance doublet such as O VI $`\lambda \lambda `$1032,1038. If the emission is optically thin, then the observed ratio, $`I_{1038}`$/$`I_{1032}`$ should be 0.5. For higher optical depth, the ratio will increase and in the optically thick case, will be equal to 1.0. The O VI doublet was partly resolved in a Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) spectrum of a non-radiative filament in the Cygnus Loop (Long et al. (1992)). The observed ratio $`I_{1038}`$/$`I_{1032}`$ was 0.6, indicating an optical depth of about 1 for the 1032 Å line, and a reduction of the total O VI flux by a factor of 1.4. The use of this method depends on having sufficient spectral resolution to resolve the doublet components. Furthermore, it has long been known from numerical models that the emission from SNR shocks is highly stratified. The O VI emission does not trace lower ionization species such as N V and C IV. Therefore the O VI $`\lambda \lambda `$1032,1038 optical depth cannot be used to derive the optical depths of lines such as N V $`\lambda `$1240 and C IV $`\lambda `$1549.

In this paper, we introduce a method using a Monte Carlo transfer code to calculate the effect of resonance line scattering in SNR shocks. The effort has been motivated in part by the spatially resolved ultraviolet spectra of SNRs that can be obtained by new instruments such as the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). An example of such spectra are those of a non-radiative shock in the Cygnus Loop obtained with STIS. (This is the same filament observed by Long et al. (1992), referred to above.) One spectrum, taken with the spatial axis of the spectrograph slit placed perpendicular to the shock front, shows the ionization stratification of the post-shock gas (Sankrit et al. 2000; henceforth SBRL ). The other spectra have been taken with the slit placed parallel to the shock front at different positions, providing a map of the C IV and N V emission in the post-shock flow. These two lines are the only strong lines seen in the STIS spectra. In order to interpret the data, it is necessary to treat resonance line scattering more accurately than has so far been done.

We base the shock model on a well studied non-radiative shock in the north east region of the Cygnus Loop. The shock is assumed to have a rippled, thin sheet geometry as seen in a WFPC2 H$`\alpha `$ image (Blair et al. (1999)). The properties of the gas in the post shock flow are specified using shock model predictions (SBRL). The shock model is calculated in one dimension and applied at every point on the rippled surface to generate the three dimensional density distribution. In §2 we describe the Monte Carlo code and then details of the model filament. The results from the scattering calculations are presented in §3. Finally, In §4 we discuss the implications of our work, and we suggest ways in which the method can be used in future studies of SNR shocks.

## 2 Model Description

The Monte Carlo code we use for our simulations is based on the one described by Code & Whitney (1995) and has been modified to run on a three dimensional Cartesian grid (Wood & Reynolds (1999)). The code tracks energy packets as they are scattered within a density grid. For a total luminosity $`L`$ of the grid, N energy packets are tracked over a time interval $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$; so each packet has an energy, Eγ = $`L\mathrm{\Delta }t`$/N. Hereafter, we refer to an energy packet as a “photon”. The emissivity of a given line and the number density of the species that emits the line are provided as functions of position. The code calculates the surface brightness as seen from a specified viewing direction. The code does not treat radiative transfer within the line, instead it considers all photons to be emitted and resonantly scattered at a single wavelength. This approximation is valid for moderate optical depths where photons are not scattered out of the doppler core of the line. The code includes forced first scattering (Witt (1977)) and a “peeling off” procedure (Yusef-Zadeh, Morris & White (1984)) which allows us to construct model images of three dimensional structures from any specified viewing angle very efficiently.

We use the non-radiative shock in the northeast limb of the Cygnus Loop studied most recently by Blair et al. (1999) and SBRL as the physical basis for our model. The H$`\alpha `$ emission from a non-radiative shock is due to collisional excitation of neutrals in a narrow zone ($`2\times 10^{14}`$ cm) behind the shock front. Therefore, the WFPC2 H$`\alpha `$ image presented by Blair et al. (1999) shows us the morphology of the shock front. The essential morphological features of the shock front can be captured by modeling the rippled sheet geometry with a simple superposition of sine waves. We obtained the equation for the shock front geometry by trial and error, visually comparing with the WFPC2 H$`\alpha `$ image. With lengths in code units ($`R_0=10^{15}`$ cm), the equation used is:

$$z=3.5\times (2\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi (x200)}{1000}+\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi x}{500})\times (2\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi y}{1000}+\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi y}{500})$$
(1)
Thus, the shock front lies approximately in the $`xy`$ plane. The physical dimensions of the grid used for the calculations are $`6\times 10^{17}`$ cm along each of the $`x`$ and $`y`$ axes and $`6\times 10^{16}`$ cm along the $`z`$ axis (the direction of the shock flow). The grid has $`301\times 301\times 301`$ points, so the structure of the post-shock gas ($`z`$ direction) is resolved at a scale of $`2\times 10^{14}`$ cm. (At a distance of 440 pc to the Cygnus Loop, this corresponds to 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$03.)

The lines we are primarily interested in are C IV $`\lambda `$1549 and N V $`\lambda `$1240, both of which are strong resonance lines detected in the STIS spectrum presented by SBRL. We specify the emissivities of these lines and the number density of C3+ and N4+ based on the fiducial model for the non-radiative shock presented by SBRL. The shock has a velocity of 180 km s-1 and the pre-shock hydrogen number density is 2 cm-3. The carbon and nitrogen abundances are 8.40 and 7.90 on a logarithmic scale where the Hydrogen abundance is 12.00. The shock model is truncated at a swept up hydrogen column of $`10^{17}`$ cm-2. The shock model predictions are combined with the sine wave sheet to produce three dimensional maps of the line emissivities and number densities of the relevant ionic species. The opacities are derived from average cross sections for thermally broadened profiles. The post-shock gas temperature for a 180 km s-1 shock is about $`4.2\times 10^5`$ K, assuming that electrons, protons and ions are in thermal equilibrium. Using this temperature, and oscillator strengths of 0.191 and 0.156 for C IV $`\lambda `$1549 and N V $`\lambda `$1240, respectively (Morton (1991)), the cross sections are $`\sigma _{CIV}\times R_0=32.50`$ cm3 and $`\sigma _{NV}\times R_0=22.94`$ cm3 (note: $`R_0=10^{15}`$ cm).

The approximation made in the simulations that photons are scattered at a single frequency is valid for moderate line optical depths. For N V and C IV, scattering outside the doppler core becomes important at optical depths of about 10,000. We now estimate the line optical depths, $`\tau _i\sigma _in_il`$, where $`\sigma _i`$ is the cross-section (given above), $`n_i`$ is the ion density and $`l`$ is the path length through the emitting region. For the filament viewed edge on, $`l6\times 10^{17}`$ cm. The shock models predict that the maximum density of C3+ is 0.0017 cm-3 and of N5+ is 0.0006 cm-3 in the post-shock flow. For these maximum densities, $`\tau _{CIV}30`$ and $`\tau _{NV}13`$. Note that the typical optical depths through the filament will be smaller than these values, since the average ion densities are much lower. Scattering out of the doppler core of the lines is not important at these optical depths. Furthermore, the optical depths perpendicular to the sheet are much smaller. We find from the shock model that $`N_{CIV}=2.7\times 10^{12}`$ cm-2 and $`N_{NV}=3.6\times 10^{12}`$ cm-2 perpendicular to the shock front. These column densities correspond to optical depths $`0.1`$ for both lines. Photons can escape quite easily from the sheet in the perpendicular direction, making scattering in the wings even less of an issue. Velocity gradients along the line of sight through the emitting gas can also lead to scattering in frequency. In our model filament, the shock is moving perpendicular to the line of sight. The velocity spread due to the rippled geometry is of order the thermal velocity width — there are no velocity gradients that would make escape of line photons in the wings significant. In summary, we have constructed a model filament where the assumption of scattering at a single wavelength is valid.

The model neglects extinction by dust. To see if this is justified, we estimate the dust opacity along the line of sight through the filament. We assume a standard ISM dust to gas ratio in the filament because the non-radiative shock has not yet had time to destroy grains. Equation 7-23 of Spitzer (1978) gives the relationship between the projected area of dust grains per H atom, whence we obtain $`\tau _{dust}=10^{21}\times n_\mathrm{H}\times l\times Q_e`$. The post shock hydrogen density, $`n_\mathrm{H}10`$ cm-3 is predicted by the shock model. The path length through the filament, $`l=6\times 10^{17}`$ cm, as above. $`Q_e`$ is the extinction efficiency factor which is about 2 in the far-ultraviolet (Figure 7.1 of Spitzer (1978)). For these values we obtain $`\tau _{dust}0.01`$ for a line of sight through the filament. Even if a line photon were to traverse the length of the filament several times, the dust opacity is so low that extinction by grains within the filament can indeed be neglected.

## 3 Results

In Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks we present model images of the shock as seen in H$`\alpha `$, C IV $`\lambda `$1549 and N V $`\lambda `$1240 emission. Each model has been constructed with $`10^7`$ photons emitted towards the observer (see Appendix in Wood & Reynolds (1999) for details of the photon weighting scheme). The models are calculated for a viewing angle of $`\theta `$=90°, $`\varphi `$=20° in standard polar coordinates (i.e. tangential to the shock front and 20° from the $`x`$-axis). In these images the value at each point is the number of photons detected along that line of sight. The H$`\alpha `$ model assumes uniform emission over a very narrow zone ($`2\times 10^{14}`$ cm) behind the shock front and, since it is not a resonance line, includes no scattering. The H$`\alpha `$ model image (Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocksa) shows the morphology of the shock front. The C IV $`\lambda `$1549 image shown in Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocksb is what would be observed if there was no scattering. Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocksc is the C IV image with scattering taken into account. Figures Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocksd and Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shockse show the same for N V $`\lambda `$1240. We use the terminology “thin” and “thick” for the two images shown for each line. The thin image is produced by running the code, while assuming no scattering. This gives a map of the intrinsic emission from the filament. The thick image includes scattering and is a map of the observed emission. (Note that the term thick is used for convenience and is not a statement about the optical depth of the filament. The line optical depth along any given line of sight through the filament can be low even in the thick image.) The results that we present in this section apply only to the model filament described in §2, and only for the specific input photon number and viewing geometry given above.

Each pair of thin and thick images have been scaled logarithmically between the same minimum and maximum values so they can be visually compared. (All the whitespace outside of the filament have values identically equal to zero.) An inspection of the thick and thin images for each line shows that scattering decreases the intensity significantly along the bright edges of the shock structure. The images also show that the N V emission is more extended than the C IV emission all along the front as expected from shock models (e.g. Figure 5 of SBRL). Note that because the N V emission is so extended, a small segment (at the trailing edge on the right) has been truncated in the models. Less than 2% of the total photons are lost because of the truncation and our results are not compromised.

For the selected viewing angle, the model filament is $`6\times 10^{17}`$ cm long (parallel to the shock front) and $`5\times 10^{16}`$ cm wide (crest to trough). The total intensity of the C IV and N V thick images are $`4.8\times 10^6`$ photons and $`5.6\times 10^6`$ photons, respectively. The ratio Ithin/Ithick is the factor by which the observed intensity of a line has to be multiplied to correct for resonance scattering. Ithin is 107 for both C IV and N V, so the correction factors for emission from the entire filament are 2.1 and 1.8, respectively. Note that if the sheet were viewed from above (or below) rather than edge-on, then Ithick would be greater than Ithin for both lines. This is because the scattered flux preferentially escapes in the vertical, optically thin direction.

The C IV and N V emission from the filament has small scale structure due to the geometry of the shock front and the stratification of the post-shock gas. Therefore, we expect the correction factors to depend both on position and on the size of the region included. We first consider regions of the filament that are $`5\times 10^{16}`$ cm along its length and that span its width. The top panel of Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks shows these regions overlaid on the H$`\alpha `$ model image. The middle panel shows plots of the C IV intensities of each region, and the bottom panel shows plots of the N V intensities of each region. The intrinsic (thin) and observed (thick) intensities are shown for both lines. The position index (along the $`x`$-axes) corresponds to the region number as labeled in the H$`\alpha `$ image. The intrinsic intensity of both lines is fairly constant for regions 3 through 10. In each of these regions, the C IV intensity is about $`10.6\times 10^5`$ photons and the N V intensity is about $`10.5\times 10^5`$ photons. The observed intensities, which take into account resonant scattering, are significantly lower. The C IV correction factor is higher than the N V correction factor for every region. The correction factors in regions 3 through 10 range between 1.8 and 3.2 for C IV and between 1.6 and 2.5 for N V. For both the lines, resonance scattering has its maximum effect (i.e., the correction factor is highest) in region 6, where the filament is the narrowest.

We now consider narrow regions lying parallel to the shock. In the top panel of Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks the N V thick image is shown overlaid with these regions. Each region is 100 pixels ($`10^{17}`$ cm) along the length of the filament and 6 pixels ($`6\times 10^{15}`$ cm) wide. The regions are numbered, and these numbers are used along the $`x`$-axis in the plots. The middle panel shows plots of the C IV intensities of each region and the bottom panel shows plots of the N V intensities. The intrinsic (thin) and observed (thick) intensities are shown in each case. Of the five selected regions, four are along bright shock tangencies; the exception is region 2, where the emission is more diffuse. This region has the lowest correction factors for both C IV and N V. The ratio of Ithin to Ithick for each line is 1.4 in region 2. Region 4 lies along the narrowest and brightest part of the filament. As expected, the correction factors are highest for this region. The correction factor is 3.6 for C IV and 2.9 for N V. The N V emission from regions 3 and 5 are very similar - $`3.0\times 10^5`$ and $`3.1\times 10^5`$ observed photons, respectively and correction factors of 2.0 and 2.1. The C IV emission from these regions are quite different. There are $`1.3\times 10^5`$ observed photons from region 3 and $`2.5\times 10^5`$ observed photons from region 5; the correction factors are 2.8 and 2.0 for regions 3 and 5, respectively.

The intensities and correction factors presented so far are for regions of different sizes with no regard to spatial variations within a region. We now consider the spatial structure of the emission across the filament. In the top panel of Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks, the H$`\alpha `$ model is shown, overlaid with three boxes representing spectrograph slits. Each box is 3 pixels ($`3\times 10^{15}`$ cm) wide and 45 pixels long. The left panels are plots of C IV intensities and the right panels are plots of N V intensities. Thin and thick intensities have been plotted as functions of position along the slit. The bright tangencies seen in the H$`\alpha `$ image have corresponding peaks in the intrinsic (thin) C IV and N V intensities. The leading and trailing edges of the filament structure are clearly seen for all the slits. Additionally, for slit $`b`$, there is a peak at $`x23`$. As expected from the shock model used (§2; see also Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks), the emission peaks are more pronounced and narrower in C IV than in N V. The effect of resonance scattering is to level these peaks and produce more uniform emission along the slit. This is evident from the plots in Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks. For both lines and all three positions, the variation in the thick intensity across the slit is less than a factor of 2 (excluding the ends where the intensity is dropping off to zero). In contrast, the maximum thin intensities along the slit are factors of between 3 and 7 higher than the minimum (again excluding the ends).

The correction factors for C IV and N V depend upon location within the slit. They also depend upon the number of spatial points that are binned together. Summing up all the emission in the slit, the correction factors are as follows: (a) 1.9 for C IV; 1.7 for N V, (b) 2.3 for C IV; 1.9 for N V, and (c) 2.4 for C IV; 2.0 for N V. The correction factors do not differ by much among the three slit positions. Also, as in the regions considered earlier, the C IV correction factor is higher than the N V correction factor in each case. In Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks, the correction factors are plotted as functions of position along the slit for each of the three slit positions. (Although the information here is available in the plots of Figure Resonance Line Scattering in Supernova Remnant Shocks, we present it separately for clarity.) The correction factors for C IV and N V are most different from each other at the bright edges of the filament. When the edge is more or less straight, the correction factors are the highest. For instance, at $`x30`$ in slit $`a`$ and at $`x15`$ in slit $`c`$, the C IV correction factor is $`6`$, and the N V correction factor is $`3`$. The correction factors are lower, and the contrast between C IV and N V is smaller on curved edges ($`x7`$ in $`a`$, $`x12`$ in $`b`$, and $`x16`$ in $`c`$).

## 4 Discussion

The C IV and N V line fluxes are important diagnostics of shock properties. In a non-radiative shock, the post-shock gas is in the process of reaching the highest ionization state it can, and so the C IV to N V flux ratio is very sensitive to both the shock velocity and the column swept up by the shock. For instance, in the shock model that we have used for this paper ($`v_s`$ = 180 km s-1; n0 = 2 cm-3), the C IV to N V flux is 2:1 when the swept up column is $`8\times 10^{15}`$ cm-2 and is 1:1 when the swept up column is $`1.6\times 10^{16}`$ cm-2. (The C IV and N V fluxes are also linearly dependent on the carbon and nitrogen abundances, respectively.) The results of the radiative transfer simulation (presented in §3 above) have shown that resonance scattering decreases the C IV and N V fluxes significantly. The correction factors for these lines, which we have defined as the ratio of intrinsic to observed flux, depend upon the location and the size of the region being observed. These correction factors vary between about 1.5 and 6 for the cases we have considered.

We can apply our current results to the HUT spectrum of the filament presented by Long et al. (1992) (this is the same filament on which we have based our model). The spectrum was obtained through an aperture 9$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$$`\times `$ 116″, which corresponds to a linear size about that of the model filament. Therefore the correction factors for emission from the entire filament, 2.1 for C IV and 1.8 for N V (§3), are applicable to the respective line strengths measured in the HUT spectrum. Since the detailed morphology of the filament was unknown, Long et al. (1992) underestimated the C IV and N V optical depth and did not correct for resonance line scattering. It is not our purpose here to re-analyze the HUT data. It is, in any case, not possible to do so based on just two correction factors since there are several resonance lines in the spectrum. Furthermore most of the results in Long et al. (1992) were based on flux ratios rather than fluxes, and would not change drastically. Our aim is to underscore the point that high spatial resolution data have made it worthwhile, and even necessary, to calculate the effect of resonance line scattering accurately.

Even though we have considered radiative transfer models for only one set of parameters and a single shock geometry, we can infer some general results for non-radiative shocks. For instance, when regions large enough to average over the shock structure are considered, the C IV correction factor is larger than the N V correction factor, but it is less than twice as large. Also, the correction factors for both lines are highest at places where the filament is narrowest. The contrast between C IV and N V correction factors is a maximum at the filament edges. We expect these results to hold for sheet-like shock geometries for a range of shock conditions where the extent of the C IV and N V zones are comparable to those in the models presented here. In order to interpret spatially resolved spectra where different regions of a single filament are sampled, a model using just one set of input parameters is insufficient. Even for a fixed shock geometry (say, using H$`\alpha `$ imaging as in the case of the Cygnus Loop filament), the influence of resonance scattering on line fluxes would depend on the post-shock structure, and a grid of models for a range of shock parameters would need to be calculated.

We have been able to specify the geometry of the non-radiative filament in a straightforward way, since the shock front is smooth. In contrast, most of the bright optical filaments in SNRs are associated with radiative shocks (e.g. Raymond et al. (1981), Blair et al. (1992)) and have complex morphologies. These shocks are subjected to thermal instabilities and the material in the post-shock flow is often knotty and fragmented. The Monte Carlo radiative transfer models can be applied to these shocks only if the density structure of the emitting gas is prescribed. The physically correct way to do this would be to calculate hydrodynamical simulations of the shock interaction. A realistic simulation would need to be done in at least two dimensions to capture the instabilities, and it would have to include cooling, which plays an essential role in the shock dynamics.

We thank the referee for a careful reading of the paper and constructive comments. We also thank John Raymond, with whom we had helpful discussions. This work has been supported by STScI grant GO-07289.01-96A to the Johns Hopkins University and by NASA grant NAG5-6039.


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# Requirement of optical coherence for continuous–variable quantum teleportation

## Abstract

We show that the sender (Alice) and the receiver (Bob) each require coherent devices in order to achieve unconditional continuous variable quantum teleportation (CVQT), and this requirement cannot be achieved with conventional laser sources, linear optics, ideal photon detectors, and perfect Fock state sources. The appearance of successful CVQT in recent experiments is due to interpreting the measurement record fallaciously in terms of one preferred ensemble (or decomposition) of the correct density matrix describing the state. Our analysis is unrelated to technical problems such as laser phase drift or finite squeezing bandwidth.

Quantum teleportation, first proposed as a method for teleporting an unknown spin–$`1/2`$ quantum state from a sender, “Alice”, to a receiver, “Bob”, has been extended to continuous–variable quantum teleportation (CVQT). In this variant of quantum teleportation, Alice and Bob share a nonlocal entangled two–mode field which, ideally, should have perfect correlations between in–phase quadrature (‘position’ $`x`$) and out–of–phase quadrature (‘momentum’ $`p`$), although the requirement of perfect correlations can be relaxed somewhat. Unconditional teleportation of coherent states was recently claimed to have been experimentally demonstrated, with two–mode squeezed light providing the nonlocal entangled resource shared between Alice and Bob. Although experimental advances towards CVQT have been achieved, we show that genuine CVQT cannot be achieved using conventional laser sources, due to an absence of intrinsic optical coherence. This incoherence is not due to phase drift but is rather a consequence of entanglement between the laser medium and the output field. Herein we exclusively use the term coherence to refer to coherent superpositions of Fock states. In this letter, we establish that optical coherence is *required* for true CVQT to succeed, that conventional lasers do not meet this criterion, and therefore that unconditional CVQT is not possible with conventional lasers.

Clear criteria for evaluating the success of a teleportation experiment have been established, and we emphasize three relevant criteria for determining whether CVQT is possible at all with conventional laser sources: (a) the states to be teleported should be unknown to Alice and Bob and supplied by an actual third party Victor; (b) Alice and Bob share only a nonlocal entangled resource and a classical channel through which Alice transmits her measurement results to Bob; and (c) entanglement should be a verifiable resource. In particular we will show that the experiment of Ref.  does not satisfy any of these criteria and establish that any scheme based on conventional laser sources cannot simultaneously satisfy all three criteria.

The ideal scheme for CVQT is explained in Fig. 1(a), and a schematic and explanation of the experimental simulation of CVQT is provided in Fig. 1(b). We emphasize that the scheme of Fig. 1(a) presupposes the availability of large amplitude coherent states to serve as local oscillators (LOs) for both Alice and Bob, and as a pump to produce the two-mode squeezed state. One should also assume that Victor has the ability to produce truly coherent states. In the experimental simulation of CVQT , the same laser source is used for (i) producing Victor’s state for teleportation, (ii) pumping the nonlinear crystal that produces a two–mode squeezed light field serving as the shared Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) state, (iii) supplying the LO fields for both of Alice’s homodyne measurements, and (iv) providing Bob with a coherent field to mix with his portion of the EPR beam to reconstruct Victor’s state, as depicted in Fig. 1(b).

In all discussions relating to optical CVQT, lasers have been presumed sources of (Gaussian) coherent states  $`|\alpha e^{i\varphi }=\mathrm{exp}(\alpha ^2/2)_{n=0}^{\mathrm{}}(\alpha ^ne^{in\varphi }/\sqrt{n!})|n`$. In quantum optics it is, in fact, standard to assume that the output of an ideal single–mode laser operating well above threshold is given by a coherent state. However, it is also well known that the phase $`\varphi `$ of this laser field is completely unknown (not to be confused with the physically irrelevant global phase of a wavefunction). As such, the state of the laser output field $`\rho _L`$ *must* be represented by a density matrix with phase eliminated by integrating over the distribution representing this lack of classical information. The resulting density matrix,

$`\rho _L`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{d\varphi }{2\pi }}|\alpha e^{i\varphi }\alpha e^{i\varphi }|`$ (2)
$`=`$ $`e^{\alpha ^2}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha ^{2n}}{n!}}|nn|,`$ (3)
is the correct quantum mechanical description of an ideal laser mode output. As $`\rho _L`$ is diagonal in the energy eigenstate (Fock) basis it is, in our precise terminology, not coherent.

It is common in quantum optics to assume that the single–mode laser field is in a coherent state $`|\alpha e^{i\varphi }`$ to a good approximation. From Eq. (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportationa) it is clear why this works so well: this particular decomposition (or ensemble) of the reduced density matrix for the laser light corresponds to a mixture of coherent states with equally likely phase, and the success or failure of experiments in quantum optics is never dependent on knowing the presumed initial phase of the laser. More precisely, conventional measurements on optical fields, such as homodyne detection using lasers, involve mixing of different incoherent fields and subsequent detection by energy absorption in photodetectors: all such measurements are completely insensitive to any optical coherences.

We have mentioned the entanglement between the laser field and the state of the lasing medium as the source of the laser field phase indeterminacy. In  Mølmer explains carefully the absence of optical coherence for conventional lasers and produces a convincing analysis that shows optical coherence is a “convenient fiction” in quantum optics experiments. His analysis proceeds as follows. The gain medium of a laser consists of distinguishable dipoles (e.g. atoms), which are initially in a thermal distribution of their energy eigenstates and, therefore, initially possess a mean dipole moment of zero. This gain medium is incoherently pumped (the pumping field too is in a classical distribution of energy eigenstates and therefore has a zero mean electric field), and the standard interaction between the atoms and this field produces a large entangled state of the laser mode, pumping modes, gain medium and so on (with of course the build up of a large number of photons in the laser mode by stimulated emission). However, we are generally interested only in the light in the laser mode, and the correct description of this field state is via the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing out all other degrees of freedom. All processes involved are energy conserving, and the initial states of all participating physical systems (gain medium, pump modes, etc.) begin with no coherence: they are initially described by diagonal density matrices in their energy eigenstate bases. Evidently, tracing out the gain medium, pump modes, etc. of the large entangled state produced under these conditions cannot leave the laser mode in a state with any non-zero off-diagonal elements in its density matrix, let alone in a pure coherent state. More concisely, one cannot obtain states with quantum uncertainty in energy (coherent superpositions of Fock states) via physical processes which have only classical uncertainty in energy (that is, are diagonal in the Fock basis).

The intrinsic indeterminacy of the laser phase is unrelated to the technical issue of phase drift: phase stabilization methods via mixing of laser beams do *not* establish the existence of a phase for the laser. The importance of controlling phase drift is that *relative* phases of laser beams, generally (but not exclusively) spawned from the same source as in Fig. 1(b), have reduced drifts. This amounts to stabilization of the mode under consideration and is important because quantum optical interference experiments rely on *indistinguishability* (not coherence) for their success. Stabilizing this phase drift cannot introduce coherences into the overall density matrix.

The decomposition (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportationa) to coherent states notwithstanding, selecting one coherent state as the de facto state of the laser is clearly a commission of the “partition ensemble fallacy” (PEF) . Within the framework of standard quantum mechanics, the density matrix is the complete description of the quantum state , and there is no reason to accord preferential treatment to one particular decomposition of the infinite number of equivalent decompositions for any mixed state. Avoiding preferential decompositions is clearly important for quantum information processing, which should be formulated operationally. We emphasize that the interpretation of experimental data under the assumption that the “real” state of the laser is actually one element of one decomposition of $`\rho _L`$ yields a fallacious interpretation of the measurement record in terms of “what really happened”.

Tomographic reconstruction of Gaussian states with well–defined phase provides a simple example of how a failure to formulate operationally can lead to incorrect retrodiction of results. Such experiments generally rely on autocorrelation measurements in which the reconstructed state and the LO used for the homodyne measurements are derived from the same laser source, similar to the CVQT case considered in Fig 1(b). As the a priori assumption is that the laser produces a coherent state, the experimental data is interpreted in this context, and the tomographically reconstructed state is, therefore, interpreted as a coherent state. Since decomposition (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportationa) of $`\rho _L`$ allows one to describe the initial laser state as a coherent state, and the experiment relies only on phase differences and not the overall initial phase of the laser, clearly no contradiction with this partitioning assumption can be achieved. It is convenient to assume that the laser field is in a coherent state, but such tomographic reconstruction does not “prove” this.

We are of course *not* asserting that production of coherent states of light is impossible: basic quantum electrodynamics shows that a classical oscillating current can produce coherent states. As a classical current can be fully measured without disturbance, it provides the classical information necessary to specify a unique coherent state. Production of true coherent states is also possible if coherent measurements can be performed on one component of an entangled system. For example, a measurement on a two-level atom (with energy eigenstates $`|g,|e`$), coupled to a single photon cavity mode (with energy eigenstates $`|0,|1`$) in the entangled state $`(|g,1+|e,0)/\sqrt{2}`$, can be used to project the photon into a state with coherence, e.g. $`(|0+|1)/\sqrt{2}`$. However, such a measurement cannot be in the energy eigenstate basis of the atom, it necessarily requires coherence. Similarly, a coherent measurement on the gain medium of the laser, while technically challenging, could in principle project the laser output into a coherent state. However, processing the output of the conventional laser via linear optics, ideal photon detectors and perfect Fock state photon sources *cannot* be used to project the laser mode into a coherent state. CVQT as envisioned in all optical proposals thus far has been teleportation of phase and amplitude information of a coherent field. We therefore assert that genuine CVQT requires coherent devices, that is, devices capable of generating true coherence, and these are not a feature of current CVQT experiments.

We address the three criteria for successful CVQT, beginning with criterion (a). Splitting a coherent state $`|\alpha e^{i\varphi }`$ at a lossless beam splitter with reflectivity $`r`$ and transmissivity $`t`$ yields a product state $`|ir\alpha e^{i\varphi }|t\alpha e^{i\varphi }`$, and the two output modes are, therefore, independent; one mode could be used by Victor. However, if the input to the beamsplitter is $`\rho _L`$, the resultant state is not of the form $`\rho _1\rho _2`$ but rather

$`\rho _{\mathrm{BS}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{d\varphi }{2\pi }}|ir\alpha e^{i\varphi }ir\alpha e^{i\varphi }||t\alpha e^{i\varphi }t\alpha e^{i\varphi }|`$ (4)
$`=`$ $`e^{\alpha ^2}{\displaystyle \underset{m,n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}i^{nm}{\displaystyle \frac{(r\alpha )^{n+m}}{\sqrt{n!m!}}}{\displaystyle \underset{r,s=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(t\alpha )^{r+s}}{\sqrt{r!s!}}}`$ (6)
$`\times \delta _{m+r,n+s}|mn||rs|,`$
with significant correlation between the two output modes. This clearly violates criterion (a). Decomposing state (4) to a specific product coherent state, with one of these two coherent states to be teleported, commits, once again, the PEF.

Criterion (b) stipulates that Alice and Bob should share only a nonlocal entangled resource and a classical communication channel. As the laser phase is indeterminate (more precisely it is a property whose “existence” depends on ascribing reality to one ensemble of $`\rho _L`$), Alice cannot include information on the phase of her laser source in the classical information she transmits to Bob, using linear optics, ideal photon detectors, and perfect Fock state sources. In the existing experiment Alice shares with Bob a laser beam split from the same source. He uses this beam to apply a unitary displacement operation (determined by Alice’s transmitted classical information) to reproduce Victor’s state. Without sharing this beam (or something similar but equally incoherent such as two slave beams locked to one master laser), Alice’s and Bob’s operations are completely uncorrelated. We maintain therefore that the absence of intrinsic optical coherence in a conventional laser necessitates the existence of this manifestly quantum channel. A classical channel cannot replace this because, although from the first decomposition of Eq. (4) $`\rho _{BS}`$ is separable, it is locally preparable *only if* Alice and Bob each have independent coherent sources. To see this, note that if Alice and Bob each have only non–coherent devices (as defined earlier), classical communication only permits them to prepare mixed states (in the Fock basis), of the form $`\rho =_{ij}c_{ij}|ii||jj|\rho _{BS}`$. In the experiment of Ref. , the majority of photons in the teleported state that Bob supplies to Victor (for verification) actually arrive from this extra quantum state shared between Alice and Bob. Without this shared field, the “convenient fiction” of coherence cannot be maintained. This quantum channel is in fact necessarily capable of transmitting the state Victor provided to Alice on its own; Victor would certainly be entitled to be suspicious of such a scheme. Teleportation as envisioned in  clearly requires that the only shared quantum state is the entangled state and Bob applying a unitary operation with only a classical device. In effect, without truly coherent devices the analogue of the single qubit rotations in cannot be performed on arbitrary single mode states of light.

We now consider criterion (c). Conventionally in quantum optics, it is assumed that the nonlinear crystals used to produce squeezed states are pumped by a strong, pure coherent state. This results in a two–mode squeezed field,

$$|\eta e^{i\varphi }=\sqrt{1\eta ^2}\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\eta ^ne^{in\varphi }|nn,$$
(7)
with $`\varphi `$ the phase of the pump field. However, the pump field actually originates from $`\rho _L`$ of Eq. (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportation); hence, the two–mode output state from the nonlinear crystal is given by

$$\rho _S=_0^{2\pi }\frac{d\varphi }{2\pi }|\eta e^{i\varphi }\eta e^{i\varphi }|=\left(1\eta ^2\right)\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\eta ^{2n}|nnnn|$$
(8)
which is clearly diagonal in the Fock state basis. It is therefore separable; Alice and Bob can prepare the state locally and consequently violate criterion (c). That $`\rho _S`$ is diagonal arises because the pump field is diagonal in the Fock basis (i.e., $`\rho _P=\varrho _n|n_Pn|`$), and thus has a classical energy spread or uncertainty. A nonlinear crystal pumped by a state with no energy uncertainty (i.e. $`\rho _P=|N_PN|`$) transforms the pure state input $`|N_P|\mathrm{0\hspace{0.17em}0}`$, with the two EPR fields in a vacuum state, into a superposition of states $`\{|Nm_P|mm\}`$. Tracing over the pump field state $`\rho _P`$ destroys coherences in the reduced density matrix for the two squeezed modes, and results in the separable state (8). A two–mode squeezed state may *appear* to be pure, for example in tomographic reconstructions using balanced homodyne detection. However, such reconstruction of a two–mode Gaussian (squeezed) state is another example of an invalid retrodiction by not properly applying the operational formulation, as discussed earlier. Thus, the pure state representation of the two–mode field as an entangled state is, in Mølmer’s terminology, “a convenient fiction”.

While we have focused here on homodyne type experiments such as, Molmer’s argument applies equally well to systems of independent lasers interacting through conventional quantum optics devices. Such experiments cannot create nor demonstrate single mode coherence . We assert, therefore, that genuine CVQT will require either new proposals not based on an assumption of coherence or new sources of optical radiation.

We conclude by describing how aspects of the experiment of  would be viewed if, instead of ascribing reality to the first decomposition (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportationa) of $`\rho _L`$, we equally fallaciously ascribe reality to the second decomposition (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportationb). We would then assert that the laser is in a pure number state $`|N`$ (although we are unsure exactly which one). When a pure number state encounters a beam splitter it produces an entangled state. Thus we would conclude that Victor’s state is entangled with both Alice’s and Bob’s LOs. These in turn are entangled with the downconversion pump beam (as described above), and this is entangled with the two squeezed modes. The experiment could now be claimed as a demonstration of an assortment of entanglement effects, although certainly not CVQT. Since the two decompositions of (Requirement of optical coherence for  continuous–variable quantum teleportation) describe exactly the same density matrix this description cannot be contradicted by the measurement record. Our view of course is that both this and the claimed interpretation are equally incorrect.

In summary, we have established that unconditional CVQT as claimed in Ref.  is not possible using conventional lasers because these are not genuine coherent sources. CVQT as envisioned in all optical proposals thus far has been teleportation of phase and amplitude information of a coherent field. The requirement of true optical coherence is our central result. We have shown that the experimental simulation of CVQT in  cannot be readily considered “unconditional teleportation” without committing the partition ensemble fallacy (PEF). Three criteria for claiming unconditional CVQT have been shown to be violated for experiments using conventional laser sources.

We acknowledge useful discussions with S. D. Bartlett, C. Simon, J. Sipe, R. Spekkens, and T. Tyc. This research has been partially supported by an Australian Research Council Large Grant.


text:
# Imperfect Homoclinic Bifurcations

## I Introduction

The rôle of symmetries in determining the behaviour of nonlinear physical systems can be crucial. Reflection (or $`𝐙_2`$) symmetry is relevant to a wide range of experiments, and in such a system a pair of stable solutions may be created by a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation as a parameter is varied. These new states break the original symmetry, but are symmetric images of each other. Of course, perfect symmetry is never achievable in any physical system so in practice the bifurcation may become disconnected having one branch which varies monotonically with the parameter and a second which arises by a saddle–node bifurcation. This is most easily modelled by adding an imperfection term as a constant in the model normal form and this appears to work well in describing the local bifurcation structure. However, a physical system will typically contain many sources for this imperfection and some of them may be high–dimensional in nature. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask whether a model with a single imperfection term provides a good representation of the system far from the bifurcation point. Specifically, we are interested here in the effects of this local modelling on the global dynamics which result from homoclinic bifurcations.

Our investigation is concerned with a class of global bifurcations involving homoclinic orbits, i.e. orbits which tend to a stationary point of the model flow in both forwards and backwards time. Typically, the existence of a homoclinic orbit is not a persistent property of a differential equation, but they occur on lines in two-parameter families (technically, they are codimension one bifurcations). In the absence of symmetry, the net effect of such bifurcations is to create or destroy a periodic orbit, whose period tend to infinity at the bifurcation point. This may happen in one of two ways: one-sided or two-sided. In the one-sided case, the orbit apporaches the bifurcation point from one side of the bifurcation point as its period tends to infinity. In the two-sided case, such as the Shil’nikov case Shil , the locus of the orbit in parameter space oscillates about the bifurcation value creating the so–called ‘Shil’nikov wiggle’ as the period of the orbit tends to infinity. Moreover, there are period-doubling and reverse period-doubling bifurcations of the orbit together with more complicated homoclinic bifucations. This sequence of events has been reported previously He  in an experimental and theoretical study of a modified van der Pol oscillator, and in a wide variety of other experiments including Taylor–Couette flows mull ; pfist , optics, arrec ; herr , chemical oscillators haus ; arne  and liquid crystal flows peac .

In the presence of simple symmetries, homoclinic bifurcations may involve two or more homoclinic orbits. In the simplest cases the net effect is to destroy a pair of periodic orbits which are the image of each other under the symmetry and create a single symmetric branch of periodic orbits. These symmetric periodic orbits cannot undergo period-doubling bifurcations in the two sided case. The period-doubling and reverse period-doubling bifurcations on branches of the symmetric orbit are replaced by an initial symmetry-breaking (or reverse symmetry-breaking) bifurcation. The asymmetric orbits created in this way may, of course, be involved in period-doubling bifurcations. This distinction will be useful in the interpretation of the bifurcations observed below.

Whilst the effect of small symmetry-breaking terms on the bifurcations of stationary solutions has a long history (the imperfection theory of Golubitsky and Schaeffer GSh1 ; GSh2 ; Sch ) there appears to have been no systematic attempt to describe the equivalent modifications of global bifurcations (although see C ; gl  for a special case). Our aim here is to provide the foundations for such an approach. We reconsider the experimental electronic oscillator He  which exhibits a variety of almost symmetric global bifurcations and show how many features observed in the experiments may be explained by reinterpreting some results on codimension two homoclinic bifurcations so as to obtain a general imperfection theory for homoclinic bifurcations. These results necessarily involve non-stationary solutions, and so are likely to be applicable and observable in many more interesting situtations.

The experiments were carried out using a van der Pol oscillator. The bifurcation structure of this system has been investigated in detail previously He  but with the implicit assumption of symmetry. It is the aim of the present study to investigate the global dynamics of the circuit and relate the observations to modern ideas on gluing bifurcations where the mathematical abstraction of perfect symmetry is relaxed.

## II Experiment I

### II.1 The electronic oscillator

The experimental study was performed using a van der Pol oscillator circuit, the details of which are given in Healey et al. He . It comprises an autonomous LCR oscillator with two nonlinear conductances in the feedback circuit. Precise variation of the two parameters which control the behaviour of the system was provided by switchable decades resistance boxes. By this means determination of the bifurcation structure to a relative accuracy of better than $`0.1\%`$ was possible. The two parameters are denoted by $`\alpha _1,\beta _1`$ and they are nondimensionalised forms of the resistances $`R_1,R_2`$ which control the nonlinear elements. Details of the nondimensionalisation are given in Healey et al. He .

The principle set of observations were made using an oscilloscope. Steady bifurcations were observed as changes in the level of the d.c. output. On the other hand dynamical states were best monitored as Lissajous figures formed from a combination of signals measured over the nonlinear elements. In this way, limit cycles, period doubling sequences, chaos etc. were readily displayed. Time-series were also recorded and stored on a computer via a 12-bit A/D for further processing. This included phase portrait analysis using the method of delay coordinates.

The inductor used in the present circuit is 1.5269H compared with 1.78H used by Healey et al. He . This causes a shift of the bifurcation points relative to those previously reported, though the bifurcation structure remains qualitatively the same. The imperfections in the circuit are tiny and the resulting disconnections are equally small. They arise from a variety of sources but we will refer to them throughout as a single imperfection.

### II.2 Bifurcation set

The stability diagram for the electronic circuit is shown in Figure 1. The overall structure shows lines of steady and dynamic bifurcations all meeting at the top right hand corner of the figure which is a codimension–2 point. The dynamic bifurcations (Hopf and homoclinic) are pairs of lines superposed and separated by the imperfections in the circuit. This effect is very small and cannot be resolved on the scale of the figure but, as we will show below, it has a significant effect on the global dynamics.

In the parameter range of interest, a perfectly symmetric system would have a trivial zero volts fixed point which would lose stability to a pair of non–zero d.c. states at a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. As expected, in the experiment we see that this bifurcation is disconnected to form a continuously connected state and a separate solution branch which is terminated at its lower end by a saddle–node bifurcation denoted by SN in Figure 1. The stable non-trivial asymmetric d.c. states both become time-dependent via Hopf bifurcations; one on each branch. The imperfection in the circuit is very small, so the loci of these bifurcations almost coincide and are marked ’Hopf’ in Figure 1. The two asymmetric limit cycles which arise at the Hopf bifurcations appear to glue together leading to a large symmetric periodic orbit. This transition is denoted by the line marked ‘Hom’ in Figure 1 and will be discussed in detail below. This symmetric limit cycle undergoes different types of bifurcation including symmetry-breaking and period doubling and may also become chaotic. Finally, within the oscillatory regime forward and reverse period doubling sequences have been observed and these can be related to the Shil’nikov wiggle as shown by Healey et al He . The boundaries of this region are denoted by P2 in Figure 1.

### II.3 Imperfect gluing bifurcation

We first examine the influence of the imperfection on the gluing bifurcation which occurs when the two asymmetric limit cycles join without the presence of complicated dynamics. We chose $`\beta _1`$ sufficiently large ($`\beta _10.59`$ approximately) and $`\alpha _1`$ close to $`\beta _1`$ so that the chaos which arises from period-doubling sequences on a Shil’nikov wiggle is avoided and the dynamics is almost planar. We present a ‘typical’ set of results for the orbit structure of the oscillator in this regime in Figures 2 and 3 which were taken at $`\beta _1=0.6000`$. Figure 2 shows the period of the various simple orbits observed as a function of the parameter $`\alpha _1`$, and Figure 3 shows the form of the corresponding orbits – the two small asymmetric orbits are labelled by ‘1’ and ‘0’ respectively, and the large amplitude orbit is labelled by ‘10’, for reasons which will be explained below.

If the electronic oscillator were symmetric then the development of the orbits shown in Figure 3 for $`\alpha _1=0.6041`$ would have a simple explanation in terms of gluing bifurcations CGT : two periodic orbits which are the symmetric image of each other approach a stationary point and are ‘glued together’ to form the single symmetric orbit with code ‘10’. At the bifurcation the two smaller periodic orbits touch at the stationary point, i.e. they are no longer periodic (their period has diverged to infinity) and they form two homoclinic orbits, biasymptotic to the stationary point.

As is clear from Figure 2, and as should be expected of a real physical system, the oscillator is not perfectly symmetric. Hence it is not surprising that the pair of homoclinic orbits which exist at a single parameter value in the symmetric system seem to occur at different parameter values in the oscillator. The results shown in Figure 2 also suggest that there is a third homoclinic bifurcation – the bifurcation which creates the large amplitude ‘10’ periodic orbit.

It can be seen in Figure 2 that the period of both the small asymmetric orbits ‘1’ and ‘0’ increases as $`\alpha _1`$ increases and they finally lose stability and jump to the ‘10’ orbit at $`\alpha _10.6045`$ i.e. where the graphs of the variation of period are almost vertical. Moreover, the ‘0’ orbit remains stable for slightly higher values of $`\alpha _1`$ than the ‘1’ orbit, emphasising that the two orbits are not the images of each other under the symmetry. It should be noted that the ‘1’ orbit results from a Hopf bifurcation on the monotonic branch of the disconnected pitchfork bifurcation. Therefore it loses stability before the ‘0’ orbit. This is precisely what is predicted by the addition of a constant term to the normal form. The orbits shown in Figure 3 all coexist at $`\alpha _1=0.6041`$ and are typical examples of the limit cycles involved in this gluing bifurcation. The fact that they can all coexist explains why hysteresis can be observed in the experiments.

There are three features in Figure 2 which we will seek to explain theoretically in the next section: the break up of the gluing bifurcation, hysteresis, and also the extra bifurcations evident at larger values of $`\alpha _1`$. Before describing the theory we shall look at this latter sequence of bifurcations in more detail.

### II.4 Symmetry-breaking bifurcation of large periodic orbit

It is known that symmetric systems cannot undergo period–doubling sequences directly swift  but must first break their symmetry. Hence, we would expect the large symmetric orbit formed by the gluing of the two asymmetric ones will suffer a symmetry breaking bifurcation, as predicted for the symmetric Shil’nikov wiggle Gl . This was observed at $`\beta _1=0.6000`$ for $`\alpha _1`$ just above $`0.6059`$. The bifurcation was detected by measuring the mean voltage averaged over $`150`$ periods of the oscillation and plotting this as a function of $`\alpha _1`$. The resulting bifurcation diagram is shown in Figure 4 where we see that it has the form of a disconnected pitchfork. This diagram explains the creation of the orbit labelled ‘01’ in Figure 2. Note that the original ‘10’ orbit has a larger period but smaller $`<V_1>`$ than the newly created ‘01’ orbit and so the branches in Figures 2 and 4 are apparently reversed. Two typical asymmetric orbits on respective branches are shown in Figure 5 for $`(\alpha _1,\beta _1)=(0.6067,06000)`$. It is evident that the ‘10’ orbit on the connected branch displays strong variation in period for $`\alpha _1>0.6065`$ and then instability. However, the ‘01’ orbit is virtually constant over this range. Both orbits then show reduction in period for high $`\alpha _1`$ values. Each orbit undergoes period doubling sequences to chaos for $`\alpha _1`$ values greater than the range displayed in Figure 2. The extra complications of period doubling and instability are topics for future research.

## III Theory

It is natural to think of the bifurcations observed in the system in terms of two parameters. One of these, $`\mu `$ say, is the parameter of the (fictional) symmetric system which has a gluing bifurcation as described in section II.3. The second parameter, $`ϵ`$ say, is a measure of how far the oscillator is from being perfectly symmetric, i.e. it is some measure of imperfection with $`ϵ=0`$ corresponding to the perfectly symmetric system. Just as the standard imperfection theory for the bifurcations of stationary points Sch  allows one to describe the effect of asymmetry in terms of $`\mu `$ and $`ϵ`$, our aim here is to give an analogous description for general global bifurcations. We note that this is in the spirit of the work of Glendinning gl  and Cox C  for the particular case of Lorenz-like bifurcations.

### III.1 The basic picture

Suppose that $`(\mu ,ϵ)=(0,0)`$ denotes the point in parameter space at which there are two symmetrically related homoclinic orbits. Consider either one of these orbits. Since the existence of homoclinic orbits is codimension one, there will be a curve in parameter space through $`(0,0)`$ on which systems have a homoclinic orbit which is a continuation of the given orbit. Thus, for typical two-parameter families of systems, there will be two curves of homoclinic orbits in parameter space, $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ say, which intersect at the origin and which do not intersect the line $`ϵ=0`$ again locally. The curve $`G_0`$ (respectively $`G_1`$) is the locus of a homoclinic bifurcation which creates or destroys the periodic orbit with code 0 (respectively, 1). The one-parameter families of nearly symmetric systems such as the example considered in the previous section would then correspond to some curve in this two parameter space which has, for example, $`ϵ>0`$ and which passes close to $`(\mu ,ϵ)=(0,0)`$. Such a curve will intersect both $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$, but at different parameter values, so there will be two simple homoclinic bifurcations at nearby parameter values on such a path.

The intersection of the loci of two homoclinic bifurcations (each to the same stationary point) is a codimension two phenomenon which has been studied by a number of authorsCGT ; Ga ; GGT3 ; GGT4 ; GGT2 ; GGT1 ; Lyu ; Tur . The most important feature which all these bifurcations have in common is that at least two other curves of homoclinic orbits emanate from the intersection of $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$, one in $`ϵ>0`$, labelled $`G_{10}`$, and the other in $`ϵ<0`$ labelled $`G_{01}`$. The labelling describes the order (in time) that the orbit passes through neighbourhoods of the basic homoclinic orbits. These homoclinic orbits are precisely the bifurcations needed to destroy or create (asymmetric) periodic orbits with code ‘10’ or ‘01’. Thus a typical path close to $`ϵ=0`$ will intersect $`G_0`$, $`G_1`$ and one of the curves $`G_{01}`$ or $`G_{10}`$. This explains the third homoclinic bifurcation observed in Figure 2. Roughly speaking, the difference between orbits created by paths crossing $`G_{10}`$ and those created by crossing $`G_{01}`$ is the difference between the orbits shown in Figure 5.

The details of the two-parameter bifurcation plane close to the intersection of $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ depends upon the nature of the stationary point, the configuration of the homoclinic orbits and a measure of the amount of twisting of solutions about these orbits. The nature of the stationary point is determined by the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix of the flow which are closest to the imaginary axis. If, up to complex conjugation, these are $`\lambda _1`$ and $`\lambda _2`$ with $`\mathrm{Re}\lambda _1<0<\mathrm{Re}\lambda _2`$ then the saddle index, $`\delta `$, defined by

$$\delta =\mathrm{Re}\lambda _1/\mathrm{Re}\lambda _2$$
(1)
plays an important role. The two-parameter space near the intersection of $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ in the planar case is shown in Figure 6 ($`\lambda _1`$ and $`\lambda _2`$ are real), where the symmetry is a point symmetry about the stationary point and the direction of time may be chosen so that $`\delta >1`$. Each simple homoclinic bifurcation creates a periodic orbit in the direction indicated by the arrow on the bifurcation curve. The parameter plane is divided into six regions by the curves of bifurcations, and the periodic orbits (from the local theory) which exist in each region are indicated by their codes. The bifurcations observed on the one-parameter path $`S`$ in Figure 6 are shown in Figure 7, which is the more conventional representation.

### III.2 Relationship with the experiment

The curves sketched in Figure 7 are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental ones in Figure 2 except for the extra complications at larger parameter values described in section II.4. Also the fact, mentioned at the end of section II.3, that all three of the orbits labelled ‘0’, ‘1’ and ‘10’ coexist for some values of $`\alpha _1`$. However, even these aspects can be incorporated into our picture of imperfect global bifurcations. For smaller values of $`\beta _1`$ Shil’nikov wiggles are observed, suggesting that $`\delta <1`$ (and $`\lambda _1`$ is complex) in this parameter regime. In this case, as earlier, there may be symmetry-breaking and reverse symmetry-breaking bifurcations of the symmetric orbit (in the perfectly symmetric system) Gl . The bifurcations observed in Figure 2 and described in more detail in Figure 4 are not in the asymptotic region of applicability of the homoclinic theory (large period, close to homoclinic bifurcation) and so we invoke an extra pair of assumptions on the underlying symmetric system for our model: that there is a symmetry-breaking and reverse-symmetry breaking bifurcation on the symmetric orbit and that $`\delta <1`$.

If $`\delta <1`$ then the curves of homoclinic bifurcations are essentially as in Figure 6 but the direction of the bifurcations is reversed (more precisely, the diagram is reflected about the $`ϵ`$axis) and the orbits created are saddles (rather than stable, as would be the case if $`\delta >1`$). This now suggests the new interpretation of Figure 2 which is shown in Figure 8. The major new feature is that since the orbits are created in the opposite direction to the case with $`\delta >1`$ in Figure 6 and are unstable, the points at which the orbits cannot be followed further ($`\alpha _1=0.6041`$ for the ‘10’ orbit and $`\alpha _1=0.6025`$ for the ‘0’ and ‘1’ orbits in Figure 2) are now assumed to be saddle–node bifurcations. There are a number of possible interpretations for the disconnected symmetry–breaking bifurcations, and one of these is shown in Figure 8, although we make no claim that it is the most likely. Note that the new arrangement of the homoclinic bifurcations does provide a region of parameters where the orbits ‘0’, ‘1’, and ‘10’ coexist and are stable, as seen in the experiment.

The important feature of the analysis above is that two assumptions about the underlying mathematical model are sufficient to explain the orbits observed in the experiment. It is worth emphasising that this can be done without constructing the model equations explicitly, simply be suggesting that any model equation must have various dynamical features.

### III.3 Other cases

In the literature, codimension two global bifurcations are generally described with $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ as the coordinate axes of the bifurcation analysis. In this case the symmetric system may be assumed to lie on the diagonal of the parameter space, with the asymmetry parameter perpendicular to the diagonal (just tilt the diagrams by $`45^{}`$ to get an impression of the locus of bifurcations). It is, however, important to bear in mind that the curves $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ appear to intersect with a very small angle of intersection in asymmetric perturbations of symmetric systems, whereas the standard analysis depicts the intersection angle to be at right angles. Provided the intersection is transversal the analysis is not affected, although it does mean that the true picture for the asymmetric perturbation will be a very skewed version of the standard pictures.

The basic feature common to all the relevant types of bifurcation we consider is that as the bifurcation parameter $`\mu `$ is varied, a (more or less complicated) sequence of bifurcation is observed with the net effect that a pair of periodic orbits (those we have labelled ‘0’ and ‘1’) is destroyed, and a single large periodic orbit is created. The precise details of the bifurcations depends on the system, but it is still possible to make a number of general statements.

#### III.3.1 The one-sided case

If the direction of time can be chosen so that $`\lambda _2`$ is real and $`\delta >1`$ (cf. (1)) then the codimension one bifurcations on $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ are one-sided and fairly general statements about the bifurcations involved in the range of validity of the rigorous argument: large period and parameters close to the intersection of $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ are possible GGT1 . First, there are at most two periodic orbits, and second, any periodic orbit has a very particular description in terms of the symbols ‘0’ and ‘1’ introduced above. Technically, the sequences are rotation compatible sequences GGT1 , but in practice a simple consequence is that periodic orbits have codes of the form

$$01^{n_1}01^{n_2}01^{n_3}01^{n_4}01^{n_5}\mathrm{}$$
(2)
where for all $`i`$, $`n_i\{m,m+1\}`$ for some $`m>0`$ (or the same with the roles of $`0`$ and $`1`$ exchanged). Moreover, the limit, $`\rho `$, of the number of $`1s`$ in the sequence to the length of the sequence exists and is called the rotation number of the orbit. In one case (the so-called stable orientable Lorenz-like case, see GGT2 ), there is an infinite set of bifurcations along a typical path and at any one parameter after crossing the first bifurcation curve, there is at most one periodic orbit. Moreover, the rotation number varies continuously along the bifurcation path, implying the existence of parameter values with non-periodic (but non-chaotic) attractors.

If $`\lambda _1`$ is complex then the range of bifurcations is more complicated and depends on the precise path taken through the parameter space. Here there are regions of coexistence of certain periodic orbits – those whose rotation numbers $`\frac{p_1}{q_1}`$ and $`\frac{p_2}{q_2}`$ are Farey neighbours, i.e. $`|p_1q_2q_1p_2|=1`$ – but typical curves in parameter space do not intersect most of these regions. A more complete list of the possibilities can be found in Gl ; Ga ; GGT2 .

All the bifurcations of the rigorous analysis involve one-sided global bifurcations, and there are no local bifurcations on the branches of each periodic orbit. If these occur it is necessary to appeal to effects outside the rigorous region of validity of the mathematical results – this is made much easier by an understanding of the two-sided bifurcations.

#### III.3.2 The two-sided case: Shil’nikov’s wiggle

The symmetric bifurcation diagram of the Shil’nikov case ($`\lambda _1`$ complex, $`\lambda _2`$ real and $`\delta <1`$) is given in Gl . The locus of the pair of orbits (‘0’ and ‘1’) in parameter-period space oscillates as the period increases to infinity, with period-doubling and reverse period-doubling bifurcations on every other branch. The symmetric orbit oscillates in a similar way, but with symmetry-breaking bifurcations on every other branch. Breaking the symmetry of the system will have two effects – the global bifurcations which coincide in the symmetric system will be split apart and the symmetry-breaking bifurcations will typically become disconnected as described above. In the two–parameter diagram close to the intersection of $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$, curves of more complicated bifurcations ($`G_{01}`$ and $`G_{10}`$) oscillate rapidly and intersect each other (there are infinitely many other curves of homoclinic bifurcations to complicate matters further). For a typical asymmetric path there will be a single intersection with $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$, but potentially several intersections with $`G_{10}`$ and $`G_{01}`$. The orbits created in the bifurcations involving $`G_0`$ and $`G_1`$ will lie on the usual Shil’nikov wiggle in the parameter–period plane as observed experimentally (see Figure 9). The symmetric orbit, ‘10’, can also be followed experimentally (see Figure 10); there are multiple intersections of the parameter path with $`G_{10}`$, i.e. extra bifurcations which create and destroy the orbits labelled ‘10\*’. Between the conjectured intersection of the parameter path with $`G_0`$ and $`G_{10}`$ it is possible to observe a stable orbit with code ‘100’. Such an orbit can be created from homoclinic orbits obtained from the gluing of the orbits ‘10’ and ‘0’. These bifurcations are expected due to the intersection of $`G_0`$ and $`G_{10}`$ in the two parameter analysis (cf. the $`\delta >1`$ case in GGT1 ) which create extra curves of homoclinic orbits $`G_{010}`$ and $`G_{100}`$.

## IV Experiment II

The gluing process in the non–planar region of parameter space involves complicated orbits which evolve on a Shil’nikov wiggle. A pair of these wiggles are shown in Figure 9 where the period is plotted as a function of $`\alpha _1`$ at fixed $`\beta _1=0.5317`$. Here the period of the orbit approaches infinity through a sequence of folds where alternate branches are unstable and indicated by dashed schematic lines in the figure. The stable solutions undergo forward and reverse period–doubling sequences on the first two folds whereas the highest period orbits only exist over a tiny range of the parameter.In a perfectly symmetric system these two wiggles would overlap completely. The effect of the imperfection in the circuit is to displace the two curves from one another.

A Shil’nikov wiggle has also been observed on the symmetric orbit and the results are shown in Figure 10. There we can see three levels of the wiggle with period doubling sequences. The ‘10’ orbits in this case were asymmetric but we were unable to find the mirror image pairs of solutions in this case. We were, however, able to observe them at smaller values of $`\beta _1`$. The gluing process takes place on the third level with intervening sequences of chaos and a stable ‘100’ orbit; as expected from the discussion at the end of section III.3. Note we also observed the ‘$`10^{}`$’ which is an integral part of the gluing process as discussed in section III.3 above. A set of time–series and phase portraits are displayed in Figure 11. The ‘0’ orbit on the disconnected branch glues to the ‘10’ large scale orbit via two chaotic phases with an intermediate period–3 ‘100’ sequence.

## V Conclusion

Although symmetric equations are frequently used to model almost symmetric systems, we have shown that a more careful examination of experiments can reveal features which do not appear in the symmetric models. In particular, we have focussed here on global bifurcations which involve periodic states of the system, and we have shown how a number of complicated bifurcation diagrams observed in the experiments can be interpreted by appealing to a theory of imperfect homoclinic bifurcations.

A standard approach to the modelling of physical phenomena is to construct a mathematical model of the experiment, and use this to either predict or explain features of the experiment. This entails both the construction of the model and the analysis of the model constructed. It is noticeable that in the approach taken here we have appealed to properties of a model without having to either construct or analyse the model. We have simply said that any mathematical model of the experiments must have certain features, and that these features lead to certain conclusions by the application of global bifurcation theory.

Bifurcation diagrams consistent with those of section III have now been observed in more physically interesting systems. Abshagen Abs  has found bifurcation diagrams with a striking similarity to Figure 6 in experimental data from fluid flow. We believe that the approach taken here will find application in a broad variety of experiments in which symmetry, or rather, almost-symmetry, plays a role.


text:
# The 2dF gravitational lens survey

## 1 Introduction

It is possible to discover gravitational lenses spectroscopically by searching for quasar emission lines in the spectra of local galaxies. This is the only way to find lenses with low-redshift deflectors; these are particularly valuable as the lens galaxies can be studied in great detail and the timescales for microlensing are short enough to permit a range of interesting measurements (Mortlock & Webster 2000 and references therein). Kochanek (1992) and Mortlock & Webster (2000) calculated the expected event rate, and several tens of spectroscopic lenses should be forthcoming from the current generation of galaxy redshift surveys (GRSs).111The use of existing spectra is critical to the efficiency of this method; this is discussed elsewhere in this issue by Mortlock & Drinkwater (2001).

The first large GRS, the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) survey (Geller & Huchra 1989), resulted in the discovery of the lens Q 2237+0305 (Huchra et al. 1985), although it was an essentially serendipitous event. There have been no other quasar lenses discovered in this manner, but several searches for lensed emission line galaxies have been undertaken. The only confirmed spectroscopic discoveries were the two Einstein rings found by Warren et al. (1996) and Hewett et al. (1999) in their sample of large elliptical galaxies. Even though there are only several hundred galaxies in the survey, the regularity of their spectra is such that a very sensitive search for discrepant emission lines is possible (Willis et al. 2001); several more candidates have been identified and are awaiting re-observation. Hall et al. (2000) also announced the identification of several candidate lenses in the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology (CNOC) GRS (Yee et al. 2000), although these too are yet to be confirmed. The next generation of galaxy survey is exemplified by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al. 2000) which, with $`10^6`$ galaxy spectra, should yield at least 50 spectroscopic lenses (not to mention the several hundred lenses expected to be resolved in the imaging survey). The SDSS has only recently got under way, but, at the time of writing, over $`5\times 10^4`$ spectra have been obtained, and the pipeline reduction software should be able to select lens candidates with some reliability, although none have been announced so far.

This paper details the beginnings of a lens survey based on the spectra taken as part of the largest existing galaxy sample, the 2 degree Field (2dF) GRS (Section 2). After a brief discussion of the lens statistics (Section 3), the possible spectral analysis methods are examined (Section 4). These points are summarised in Section 5.

## 2 The 2dF galaxy redshift survey

The 2dF GRS (e.g., Folkes et al. 1999; Cole et al. 2001) is, formally, a spectroscopic survey of $`2.5\times 10^5`$ extended images, all of which have isophotal magnitudes brighter than $`B_\mathrm{J}=19.45`$. The data are obtained using the 2dF instrument, an automatically-configurable multi-fibre spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). The $`10^5`$ spectra obtained so far have a resolution of about 10 Å, and cover the range from $`3700`$ Å to $`8100`$ Å. Whilst the wavelength calibration is excellent, there have been some problems with the flux calibration, and so continuum levels remain quite uncertain. The spectra are typically the result of 45-min integrations, and so the signal-to-noise ratio in each pixel is between $`10`$ and $`20`$ for an object at the survey limit.

It is expected that $`95`$ per cent of the objects selected for the survey will be local galaxies, with the remainder being mainly misidentified Galactic stars. However a few of the survey galaxies will be multiply-imaging background quasars, and, if the quasars are sufficiently bright, should be identifiable as gravitational lenses. Two main questions present themselves at this point: how many lenses might be detectable in these spectra, and what is the best way to find any lenses that might be present? The answers are related, in so far as any given search method is linked to the effective “depth” of the lens survey, but it is possible to obtain an estimate of the number of lenses without fully understanding how to find them.

## 3 Lens statistics

Kochanek (1992) and Mortlock & Webster (2000) applied standard techniques to determine the rate of lensed quasars expected in a generic GRS, and a more detailed calculation verified these results for the 2dF survey (Mortlock & Webster 2001). The number of lenses depends principally on two factors: the depth of the survey and the quality of the spectra. The latter, potentially a somewhat ambiguous notion, can be characterised in terms of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}`$, which is defined as follows (Kochanek 1992): for a lens in which the galaxy has magnitude $`m_\mathrm{g}`$ and the quasar images have total magnitude $`m_\mathrm{q}`$, the presence of the quasar emission lines is detectable if $`m_\mathrm{q}m_\mathrm{g}+\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}`$, but the quasar is undetectable if it is fainter than this. The value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ clearly increases with the integration time of the observations, but is also critically dependent on the properties of galaxy and quasar spectra. Kochanek (1992) estimated $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}4`$ for the SDSS spectra, and Mortlock & Webster (2000) used $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}2`$ for the lower quality 2dF spectra. These figures then led to the estimate that the 2dF GRS should yield about 10 lensed quasars (Mortlock & Webster 2000), although it could be as low as $`5`$ (if $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}1`$) or as high as $`20`$ (if $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}3`$). Fortunately the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ appropriate to a given search technique can be evaluated by analysing simulated composite lens spectra.

## 4 The 2dF gravitational lens survey

The process of finding lensed quasars in the 2dF galaxy spectra can be split into three quite distinct phases. The first of these is the identification of candidate lenses on purely spectroscopic grounds. The vast majority of the spectra should be uninteresting, at least in the present application, but a small fraction should stand out as having either unusual continua, or, more likely, what may be broad emission lines. This set of (probably) several thousand spectra will include white dwarfs; unlensed quasars misidentified by the APM software; and, with luck, several lensed quasars. The second phase of the analysis is to examine each spectrum in detail (possibly by eye) with a view to removing all those objects which are clearly not quasars. This step could also profitably include using any other data which is already available, such as images from the Digitized Sky Survey or the Schmidt plates from which the 2dF objects were selected. Finally, the (hopefully) small set of strong lens candidates would have to be imaged at high resolution ($`<1`$ arcsec) with a view to determining their nature morphologically. In terms of quantifiable resources this last step is by far the most expensive, as the automatic spectral analysis should take less than a second per object. However the opposite is true when intellectual effort is considered, as the manual inspection of the initial candidate list and (especially) the imaging observations are conceptually straight-forward. The complex task is determining how best to find a subset of the survey spectra that contains all the lenses and not too much else.

One approach to this problem would be to work backwards – if it is assumed that all the detectable lenses will primarily have broad quasar emission lines then the task reduces to that of identifying the spectra that have emission line-like features. Cross-correlation techniques, combined with continuum removal, could certainly detect some such objects. Unfortunately many galaxy spectra also have features that could be confused with the broad lines of a fainter, superimposed spectrum. Further, this is clearly an inefficient procedure, as much of the available information remains unused. Finally, such a method becomes increasingly difficult once any attempt is made to include non-Gaussian effects such as variation in the continuum levels and the presence of sky lines.

The method that has been adopted is based on Monte Carlo simulations of a large number of lenses. Using the formalism described in Mortlock & Webster (2000) it is possible to generate deflector-source pairs that reflect the variation in lensing likelihood with source redshift and deflector properties. A galaxy-quasar pair generated in this way is a composite object with only one degree of freedom: the relative contribution of the two components to the resultant spectrum. This is very sensitive to the properties of the lens, but such details need not be treated explicitly as the range of possible weightings can be analysed without knowing the actual image configurations. The most important aspect of this method is that, for a given galaxy-quasar pair, a very realistic composite spectrum can be generated by simply combining real 2dF galaxy and quasar spectra. The noise properties of the spectra are certainly correct provided both spectra are kept in their observed frame; the one possible important omission is reddening of the background quasar by dust in the lens. This too can be included in the simulations, but it would incur the penalty of parameterisation; this process is otherwise model-independent. A promising candidate for the analysis method is principal components analysis (PCA; Murtagh & Hecht 1987), which is already being used extensively within the 2dF collaboration, and is well suited to the task at hand. The survey galaxies cover a definite region in the multi-dimensional space of component coefficients (e.g., Folkes et al. 1999) and the lenses should inhabit a contiguous region, with the distance from the galactic locus increasing with the brightness of the quasar component. Unfortunately this process has not yet been implemented; the central ideas are quite clear, but quantitative estimates of the completeness and efficiency of the lens survey cannot yet be made.

## 5 Conclusions

It should be possible to find $`10`$ gravitationally-lensed quasars in the 2dF GRS spectra. Cross-correlation techniques can be used to search for quasars’ emission lines, but a more powerful (and more simply implemented) scheme is to generate large numbers of simulated lens spectra and to then analyse them using existing software. If the quasar and galaxy spectra used are taken from the 2dF samples this method has the enormous advantage of automatically including various subtleties of the survey data, without the need for detailed modelling. By identifying the regions of parameter space inhabited by these spectra, it is possible to characterise the sensitivity of the lens search (effectively measuring the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ parameter discussed in Section 3). More importantly, the real spectra that fall into the same regions of parameter space are immediately identifiable as candidate lenses. Implementation of these techniques should bring the first positive results within the next year.

## Acknowledgements

Thanks to Rachel Webster for first suggesting this avenue of investigation, and also to the entire 2dF survey team; their support will be critical to the success of this project. DJM is funded by PPARC.

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