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# A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Often one would like to create beam-matched maps of IRAS images in order to study the properties of the emitting grains and the incident radiation field. For example, the ratio between the IRAS 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m bands provides a measure of the equilibrium dust temperature and is often used as a proxy for the intensity of the radiation field (Helou et al., 1991). The 12/100 $`\mu `$m ratio and 12/25 $`\mu `$m ratio can be used to trace abundance variations in different grain populations (e.g., Boulanger et al. 1990; Ryter, Puget, & Pérault 1987). In order to use any such ratio image for quantitative purposes it is important that the beam shape of the two images be well matched. The most commonly used IRAS image data product for such studies is the IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) (Wheelock et al., 1994). With the ISSA the construction of ratio maps does not pose a significant problem since all four IRAS bands have been brought to a common resolution of $`4^{}\times 5^{}`$. Drawbacks to using these images include the presence of striping and the relatively low resolution.

HIRES processing111HIRES images and ancillary files are available as single fields ($`1\mathrm{°}2\mathrm{°}`$ in size) through the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) (Aumann, Fowler, & Melnyk 1990) can yield much higher spatial resolution and, with the addition of new destriping and zodiacal subtraction algorithms (Cao et al., 1996), superior image quality. However, there are a number of characteristics of the resulting images that make the creation of an accurate ratio map non-trivial: the achieved resolution is different in each band for a given number of iterations, the beam shape varies between bands primarily because of the difference in the detector sizes, and within each band the beam shape also varies as a function of position because of the varying IRAS scan pattern on the sky (Cao et al., 1997; Kerton & Martin, 2000). These image characteristics mean that a simple ratioing of the HIRES images is not satisfactory in the majority of cases.

Various techniques have been developed to create accurate high resolution ratio maps with HIRES data. As will be discussed, most existing techniques for creating HIRES ratio maps tend to be time consuming, and in some cases also require access to the raw IRAS data. The creation of a new fast technique is primarily motivated by the existence of two very large HIRES data sets that cover parts of the Galactic plane. The IRAS Galaxy Atlas (IGA222IGA images are available at http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/applications/IGA/; Cao et al. 1997) consists of 1st and 20th iteration far-infrared (60 and 100 $`\mu `$m) images and ancillary files covering the entire Galactic plane between $`b=\pm `$4.7$`\mathrm{°}`$. The Mid-Infrared Galaxy Atlas (MIGA333MIGA images are available at http://www.cita.utoronto.ca; Kerton & Martin 2000) is the equivalent mid-infrared data set (12 and 25 $`\mu `$m) covering $`l=74\mathrm{°}`$$`148\mathrm{°}`$; $`b=\pm 6.5\mathrm{°}`$. Both of these data sets have been incorporated as large $`5.12\mathrm{°}\times 5.12\mathrm{°}`$ mosaics into the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS444CGPS data are available at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC; http://cadcwww.hia.nrc.ca); Taylor 1999) an international project that is conducting a multiwavelength (21-cm HI line, 1420 and 408 MHz continuum, CO (J$`=10`$), and infrared) survey of the Galactic plane at a common spatial resolution of $`1^{}`$. The existence of this large uniform data set means that high-resolution studies of dust in the ISM can now be easily done over very large spatial scales.

In Section 2 we review the various techniques that have been used to create ratio maps of HIRES images. A new technique developed specifically for the fast creation of large-scale HIRES ratio maps is presented in Section 3 and the resulting ratio maps are examined in Section 4. Section 5 presents some sample applications of the new technique, and conclusions are given in Section 6.

## 2 PREVIOUS RATIO MAP CREATION TECHNIQUES

### 2.1 Simple Division

The similarity in the size and layout of the 12 and 25 $`\mu `$m detectors in the focal plane array of IRAS (IRAS Explanatory Supplement 1988) means that the resulting beam shapes are very similar and two-dimensional Gaussian fits to the beams will often agree to within the fitting errors. Beam maps showing the HIRES beam shape at various locations in the image and tables of two-dimensional Gaussian fits to the beam shape are available as part of the HIRES service at IPAC and are also included in the IGA and MIGA releases. This similarity in beam shape means that, with care, high resolution ratio maps can be created by simply dividing the 12 and 25 $`\mu `$m images. Care is required because, although the beam shapes are very close, the actual beam shapes are not two-dimensional Gaussians and can vary in detail because of differences in the ratio between the point source flux and the background level during HIRES processing between the two images (see Section 4.1 of Kerton & Martin 2000 for details). As an example, Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows two ratio maps of the region around the HII region Sh 2-151, chosen because of the unusual irregular cross-shaped beam pattern caused by the significant difference in the scan angle between the two IRAS coverages of the region (this effect is most noticeable at high ecliptic latitudes). The top image was constructed by simply dividing a 12 $`\mu `$m image from the MIGA by the corresponding 25 $`\mu `$m MIGA image, while the bottom image was constructed using the cross-band simulation technique (see Section 2.4 for details) to bring the two images to a common beam shape. In general the structure shown in each image is the same, but note that the point sources are more clearly defined in the bottom image because of the matching beam shapes. For example, the feature associated with Sh 2-151 is more clearly shown to be a point source in the beam-matched image than in the simple ratio image. The lower image also has a less mottled background due to the matched beams and the slightly lower resolution. The beneficial effect of bringing the two images to the same beam shape is seen in the way that the cross-shaped beam pattern of the point sources seen in Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images is undistorted in the cross-band simulator ratio image while in the simple ratio map the point sources show some non-physical structure. Most of the point sources (stars) in the ratio image saturate and appear as black structures since they are brighter at 12 $`\mu `$m than at 25 $`\mu `$m. The two noticeable exceptions are the point source associated with Sh 2-151 at $`l=108.5\mathrm{°}`$, $`b=2.8\mathrm{°}`$ and the point source at $`l=107.6\mathrm{°}`$, $`b=2.24\mathrm{°}`$ (the planetary nebula PK 107$``$2.1).

For some purposes a simple 12/25 $`\mu `$m ratio map, such as that shown in Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images, may suffice. The user needs to closely inspect the associated beam maps to determine if the beam shapes are close enough for their purposes. If so, the similar beam shape and resolution of the mid-infrared bands provides a quick and easy way to obtain high resolution mid-infrared ratio maps. Note that any simple ratio map involving the 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m bands will not be satisfactory because of the large difference in beam resolution and shape, and some form of beam matching will be desirable. This is the focus of the rest of this paper.

### 2.2 Convolving to Common Lower Resolution

One simple technique that is often used is to smooth the HIRES images to a common lower resolution. For example, Xu & Helou (1996), in their study of M31, convolve their HIRES images to a common $`1.7^{}`$ circular beam (their lowest original HIRES resolution) in order to construct ratio images. This technique is fast and does not require access to the original IRAS data (just the HIRES beam tables), but suffers from the disadvantage that one is losing much of the resolution gained by the HIRES processing. This can especially be a concern for the mid-infrared bands where one can achieve very high resolution (the original resolution of the 12 and 25 $`\mu `$m images from Xu & Helou (1996) was $`0.5^{}\times 0.9^{}`$). Over very large areas, where the beam properties are expected to change significantly, one also has to take care to use the correct convolving kernel to smooth the beams correctly. If the smoothing is very large, this is not a major concern, but again one loses some of the advantage of using HIRES in the first place.

### 2.3 Variable HIRES Iteration

This technique takes advantage of the fact that the resolution achieved by HIRES processing improves as the number of iterations increases. By stopping the HIRES processing at different iterations for data at different wavelengths one can obtain approximately matching resolution in different bands (e.g., see the Wang 1994 study of the supernova remnant IC 443). The exact beam shape can still be slightly different so the final images are often convolved to a circular beam to reduce this effect (Wang, 1994). Since this technique requires some degree of trial and error to match the beam resolution in the different bands it is really only suitable for mapping small areas and for users that have easy access to both the raw IRAS archive and the HIRES processing software (YORIC)555The archive and software are available at IPAC and at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA).

### 2.4 Cross-Band Simulation

The most accurate technique for matching the various HIRES beams is called cross-band simulation (Fowler & Aumann, 1994). This technique makes use of the HIRES IRAS simulator that is part of the YORIC software package. Using this technique, if one wanted to create a ratio map of a 12 and 60 $`\mu `$m image, the simulator would be used to scan the 12 $`\mu `$m HIRES image with the 60 $`\mu `$m detector pattern to create simulated data for the 12 $`\mu `$m sky. These “observations” would then be HIRES processed as if 60 $`\mu `$m data to create a somewhat lower resolution version of the 12 $`\mu `$m image. The same process is followed for the 60 $`\mu `$m data. The final result is two images at the same resolution (in this example, each slightly poorer than the original 60 $`\mu `$m HIRES resolution). The major advantage of this technique is that because the resulting beams are very well matched at every location in the image, spurious results are not introduced into the ratio maps. This technique is very time consuming since the HIRES algorithm is essentially run twice for each field that needs to be processed. Simulator images can be requested from IPAC for single fields so a user in principle does not need direct access to the YORIC software or the IRAS data archive for single field images. If one is interested in creating large scale images (such as the large mosaics that can be created with the IGA and MIGA data) then access to the YORIC software and the IRAS data archive is essential since large scale mosaics cannot be created by simply patching together smaller images obtained from IPAC because of the local destriping algorithms that are used. Both the MIGA and IGA are on a common grid and were created using a special pre-processing technique that allows the easy creation of high-quality large-scale mosaics (e.g., see Cao et al. 1997 or Kerton & Martin 2000).

## 3 NEW ALGORITHM

Since the typical user of the MIGA, IGA, and/or CGPS data will not have access to either YORIC or the raw IRAS data it is important to have a robust technique that users can apply to the data that they do have in order to construct ratio maps. The criteria used in the development of this new technique are that it should make use of only those data available to the typical user, it should be fast, and it should result in images that are close to what the cross-band simulator technique would produce.

As mentioned above, the resolution and position angle of the HIRES beam varies as a function of position over an image. As part of the standard MIGA and IGA releases two-dimensional Gaussian fits were made to the beam shape and recorded in accompanying files. This information is also available for individual HIRES processing requests. The basic assumption underlying the new ratio map technique is that the HIRES beam is well described by the two-dimensional Gaussian at the various points in the images. Clearly this assumption works best in those regions where the beam shape is “well-behaved”. In the worst case, in regions of high ecliptic latitude, the beam shape can even have X-shaped wings due to very large variations in the scan angle of the IRAS satellite. At these locations, while the assumption is clearly dubious, the resulting ratio maps turn out to still be useful. This is because the central part of the X-shaped beam is still well described by the Gaussian approximation.

We describe the operation of the algorithm on a single standard HIRES field that one would obtain from either the IGA or the MIGA. In order to build up a large scale image, one would repeat the technique for a number of fields then mosaic the images together. In a standard $`1.4\mathrm{°}\times 1.4\mathrm{°}`$ field, beam information is reported in a $`7\times 7`$ array of points spread evenly over the image. This sampling interval does greatly undersample the beam variation across the image, but finer sampling was not possible because of the way the beam maps are constructed. The algorithm assumes that the beam information describes the beam shape over the $`0.2\mathrm{°}\times 0.2\mathrm{°}`$ region surrounding each beam. The validity of this assumption depends upon how little the scan pattern changes over the $`0.2\mathrm{°}\times 0.2\mathrm{°}`$. Users can determine this by either looking at the beam maps or the detector track maps that are included in the standard MIGA and IGA releases and in a typical HIRES request.

The algorithm runs as follows. To start, one has two images, image 1 and image 2, at IRAS band 1 and band 2 respectively. The major and minor FWHM and orientation for the beams in image 2 is read from a file the user has prepared from the HIRES beam tables. For each beam a two-dimensional Gaussian kernel is created and convolved with a $`0.4\mathrm{°}\times 0.4\mathrm{°}`$ region centered on that beam that has been clipped out of image 1. The size of the area clipped out was chosen to provide ample room to avoid edge effects when doing the convolution. The $`0.2\mathrm{°}\times 0.2\mathrm{°}`$ center of the convolved region is clipped out and placed in the final convolved image. The procedure is repeated until all 25 beams in the 1 center of the image have been processed and the $`1\mathrm{°}\times 1\mathrm{°}`$ convolved image has been built up. Beams centered 0.1$`\mathrm{°}`$ from the outer edge of the image are ignored since they correspond to a 0.2 border that should be clipped off the final images before mosaicing, or making ratio maps (this buffer zone was included in the HIRES processing to avoid problems with artificially low detector coverage). The entire procedure is then repeated using image 2 and the beam data for image 1.

Essentially the new algorithm is a combination of the smoothing technique discussed in Section 2.2 and the cross-band simulator technique described in Section 2.4. However, instead of scanning the image with the IRAS beam shape and detector scan pattern it uses a two-dimensional Gaussian convolution to match the beam shapes based upon the information provided in the beam maps and tables. Also, instead of smoothing to a markedly lower resolution it convolves the image only to the degree necessary to match the two images. The algorithm was implemented using IDL because of its matrix manipulation capability, but could easily be modified to any computer language666IDL code is available from C.R.K. upon request.

While this algorithm was developed for and initially applied to IRAS HIRES data there is nothing about it that restricts its use solely to infrared data. The algorithm could be easily applied to, for example, an infrared and a radio data set provided sufficient information about the beam shapes was available (see Section 5). Large-scale radio spectral index maps can also be created using the algorithm. A specialized version of the algorithm (called MOSCONV, for MOSaic CONVolve) has been developed independently by L. Higgs at DRAO to create large-scale ($`5\mathrm{°}\times 5\mathrm{°}`$) spectral index maps using the 1420 MHz and 408 MHz data and ancillary files contained in the CGPS.

## 4 TESTS & COMPARISONS

The algorithm was tested on two regions with markedly different HIRES beam shapes. In each case three sets of images and beam maps were created: regular HIRES, cross-band simulated HIRES, and HIRES processed with the new algorithm. The images allowed us to compare the relative quality of the resulting ratio maps while the beam maps allowed us to compare in more detail how the beam shape changes in each case. For the beam comparisons we focused on the 12 and 100 $`\mu `$m HIRES beams since they have the greatest difference in resolution and beam shape.

First we looked at a field (centered at $`l=189.0\mathrm{°}`$, $`b=3.0\mathrm{°}`$ near IC 443, see Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images) where the HIRES beam is “regular”, i.e. it is very close to a two-dimensional Gaussian.

Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows one-dimensional cuts through the minor axis (at the same position angle) of the 12 and 100 $`\mu `$m beams located at $`l=189.0\mathrm{°}`$, $`b=3.0\mathrm{°}`$ along with the absolute value of the difference between the two beams. The beam profiles have been normalized to the same central intensity so that differences in the beam shapes can be highlighted. Notice the large difference in the beam shapes in the raw images (top profile in Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images). Negative rings are evident in the 100 $`\mu `$m beam; this is a well known artifact of HIRES processing (Cao et al., 1997). The middle profiles show the beams that are created using the algorithm presented in this paper. The match between the beams is greatly improved from the original images. Finally the lower cuts show the beams that are formed in the cross-band simulation process. There is a significant improvement over the regular HIRES beams and even the ringing around the center of the beam is well matched in this case.

To illustrate the quality of the match in two dimensions, the upper row of Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows surface plots of the absolute difference between the 12 and 100 $`\mu `$m beams for the regular HIRES, convolution, and cross-band simulation processes for this region. Again there is a substantial, comparable improvement in the match between the beams evident in the convolution and cross-band simulation plots. The differences between the two beams for the cross-band simulation and convolution beams are of the same (small) magnitude.

The same tests were repeated in another field (centered at $`l=93.0\mathrm{°}`$, $`b=4.0\mathrm{°}`$, see Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images) where the HIRES beam has X-shaped wings (especially evident at 12 $`\mu `$m). The one-dimensional cuts through the various beams are shown in Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images. Again we see a significant comparable improvement in the agreement between the beam shapes both in the cross-band simulation and our new technique. The bottom row of Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows the surface plots of the difference in the beam shape. These plots show that the convolution and cross-band simulation technique will provide similar degrees of improvement to the quality of the beam match.

Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows the sum of the absolute difference between the 12 $`\mu `$m and 100 $`\mu `$m beams for all of the beams in the two areas we tested. The beam that has been discussed in detail is indicated on the figure, and clearly is a representative result. In all cases we see that the convolution algorithm yields a substantial improvement in the match between the two beams that is comparable to the results obtained using the cross-band simulation technique.

The resulting ratio maps created using our convolution technique and the cross-band simulation technique are shown in the bottom two frames of Figures A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images and A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images. The only major difference between the two results is the detailed structure close to the point sources. The convolution map is much faster to create than the cross-band simulation map and results in a final ratio map that is comparable in achieved resolution and overall image quality.

In order to compare the various ratio maps the rms fractional difference between the cross-band simulated and the unprocessed HIRES or convolution ratio image was calculated. This was also carried out for four subregions corresponding to various features in each image. Results from the comparison are presented in Tables 1 and 2 for various IRAS band combinations. As would be expected the convolved ratio map is a much better match to the simulated ratio map as indicated by the lowering of the rms fractional difference for all of the various IRAS band combinations. This quantitative assessment was combined with a visual inspection of the convolved ratio images and the simulated ratio images to make sure they were comparable overall.

## 5 SAMPLE APPLICATIONS

In Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images we show an example of how this technique can be applied to the creation of large-scale infrared ratio maps. The upper image is the 12/100 $`\mu `$m ratio map of the W5 HII region created using ISSA images. The poor resolution and image quality (striping) referred to in Section 1 are apparent. The lower image is the same image constructed using HIRES data from the IGA and MIGA processed using our algorithm to match the 12 and 100 $`\mu `$m beam shape at all locations in the image. Clearly this image is more useful for any scientific investigation.

The region with a low 12/100 $`\mu `$m ratio that dominates the center of the map corresponds to the ionized gas in W5. The drop in this ratio relates to the destruction of PAH dust grains in the ionized regions which in turn causes a reduction in the 12 $`\mu `$m emission. The various dark points visible in this map are all HII regions as confirmed by inspection of the 1420 MHz continuum images in the CGPS database. Maps like this one can be easily compared with large scale data products at other wavelengths in order to investigate the properties of interstellar dust in different environments. Note that whenever anything unusual is found in a HIRES color map, no matter how the map was created, a detailed examination of the separate-band images is called for (e.g., aperture photometry, checking the noise and coverage maps, etc.).

Although we have focused on the construction of infrared ratio maps in this paper, another application of the new algorithm is the comparison of multiwavelength data sets using difference images or multi-colour imaging. In these applications the two datasets are first scaled and then either subtracted or displayed as different colours. This allows the relative distribution of the emission to be easily studied.

Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows two of the typical $`5.12\mathrm{°}\times 5.12\mathrm{°}`$ mosaics from the CGPS database in the infrared (12 $`\mu `$m HIRES; left panel) and in 1420 MHz continuum (right panel). The object that dominates the center of the mosaic is LBN $`140.771.42`$. Comparison with CO and HI images of this region in the CGPS data base show that this region is an edge-on view of an HII-HI-molecular gas interface (a photodissociation region or PDR). We were interested in investigating the relative position of the 12 $`\mu `$m emission and the 1420 MHz continuum emission at this interface. The beam shape in the 1420 MHz mosaic is also variable across the mosaic, so we created beam-matched images using the beam information provided in the CGPS database and the algorithm presented in this paper. Lower and upper data limits (peak 95% of image histogram) were selected that resulted in similar visual contrast in each image (as shown in Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images). Each image was then rescaled from 0 to 256 and the 12 $`\mu `$m image was subtracted from the 1420 MHz continuum image. The center panel of Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows the resulting difference map. Dark areas are regions where the IR emission dominates, light areas are where 1420 MHz continuum emission dominates. Instead of subtracting the images one could also construct a two-colour image with the infrared data in the red channel and radio in the blue channel (for example). In this case we see that the intense 12 $`\mu `$m emission is coming mostly from a region just to the east of the intense continuum emission with a very slight overlap area. The PDR nature of the object is best seen by examining a cut through the region from east to west. Figure A Fast Technique for the Creation of Large-Scale High-Resolution IRAS (HIRES) Beam-matched Images shows a cut (background subtracted and normalized) from $`l=141.255\mathrm{°}`$, $`b=0.860\mathrm{°}`$ to $`l=140.130\mathrm{°}`$ , $`b=0.965\mathrm{°}`$. The 12 $`\mu `$m emission peaks just inside of the 1420 MHz emission and then falls off in intensity as one moves farther into the neutral/molecular material to the east. This rapid increase in infrared emission at the ionized-neutral interface followed by a slow decline in emission as one moves into the neutral/molecular material is what one expects to see in a cross-section of a PDR (Teilens et al., 1993).

## 6 CONCLUSIONS

Beam-matched maps of HIRES IRAS data products have been shown to be useful both in studies of dust properties and in multiwavelength analyses of the dust and gas phases of the interstellar medium.

For images in any of the IRAS bands, simple ratio maps are seldom sufficient for any application beyond superficial inspection. For quantitative studies involving HIRES data some degree of extra processing is required.

To create high-resolution infrared beam-matched maps a simple, fast, convolution technique that makes full use of the beam shape information reported in the MIGA and IGA releases and also available as part of the standard HIRES request output has been developed. The algorithm provides a good match of the HIRES beams combined with a minimal loss of the resolution gained from using the HIRES processing technique.

We expect that this technique will be quite useful for the creation of very large scale (over many square degrees) infrared ratio maps for studies of the properties of dust in the ISM. The technique is also useful for the construction of multiwavelength difference or multi-colour images, and large-scale radio spectral index maps.

C.R.K. would like to thank the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program for financial support during part of this study. The research of P.G.M. is supported through grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).


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# FUSE Observations of Molecular Hydrogen in Translucent Interstellar Clouds: II. The Line of Sight Toward HD 110432

## 1 Introduction

The wavelength coverage and sensitivity of the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) opens new windows for the study of interstellar material toward fainter stars with more extinction than have been studied previously in the far-UV (Moos et al. 2000). In particular, this wavelength range gives access to the numerous transitions of molecular hydrogen (H2) and deuterated molecular hydrogen (HD) below 1130 Å that cannot be studied with other existing instruments. In addition, the sensitivity is much greater than previous instruments capable of observations at similar wavelengths such as Copernicus and ORFEUS.

In Snow et al. (2000; hereafter Paper I) we presented an analysis of H2 for HD 73882, the first translucent cloud line of sight observed with FUSE. For this line of sight, with $`A_V`$ = 2.44, we found an H2 total column density, log N(H2) = 21.08, about 3 times as great as that found for lines of sight with $`A_V`$ $``$ 1. The hydrogen molecular fraction, $`f_{\mathrm{H2}}`$, for HD 73882 was comparable to the largest values found for diffuse cloud lines of sight. In a companion paper, Ferlet et al. (2000) presented an analysis of HD for the same line of sight, finding log N(HD) = 16.1, but with large uncertainty. Again, this value is considerably larger than that found for $`\zeta `$ Oph-like lines of sight.

The FUSE translucent cloud survey program involves 36 lines of sight with $`A_V`$ = 1–5, and is described in more detail in Paper I. In the current paper we present our second analysis of H2 and HD from this program, for the line of sight toward HD 110432. With $`A_V`$ = 1.32, this line of sight represents the transition between diffuse clouds like those along the line of sight toward $`\zeta `$ Oph, and the translucent cloud lines of sight with larger extinction such as HD 73882. Given that some of the material that contributes to the extinction may not be co-spatial with the molecular gas, a larger $`A_V`$ does not guarantee that the H2 and HD measurements are sampling a different environment. Good-quality data exist for HD 110432 for the entire wavelength range covered by FUSE (912–1187 Å), and this is the most complete study to date of H2 for a line of sight with significant reddening.

In § 2 we discuss previous measurements along this line of sight. In § 3 we present a detailed description of our analysis procedures. In § 4, 5, and 6 we present, discuss, and summarize our results, respectively.

## 2 The line of sight toward HD 110432

HD 110432 lies beyond the southern Coalsack at a distance of 300 $`\pm `$ 50 pc (Hipparcos; ESA 1997). At $`V`$ = 5.24, HD 110432 is one of the brightest stars lying behind substantial interstellar material with substantial UV flux not observed by Copernicus.

### 2.1 Spatial distribution of IS material along the line of sight

While considering the material between us and the star, we must carefully consider the star itself. HD 110432 is a Be star with a somewhat uncertain spectral type. Literature values derived from photometry and spectroscopy range in subtype from O9 to B2, and in luminosity class from III to V. The ionized circumstellar material that gives rise to the emission-line behavior also contaminates determinations of interstellar color excess and extinction, fundamental parameters for the comparison of lines of sight.

Codina et al. (1984) derived $`E(BV)`$ = 0.40 and a spectral type of B0.5 IIIe from IUE spectra. However, they also derive a distance of 430 $`\pm `$ 60 pc, somewhat larger than the Hipparcos distance. Seidensticker (1989) performed a comprehensive analysis of stars in the Coalsack region, deriving $`E(BV)`$ = 0.52 for HD 110432, a photometric spectral type of O9 Ve, and a distance of 400 $`\pm `$ 120 pc. However, the color excess was anomalously high for its distance relative to other stars in the immediate region. Most interestingly, Dachs, Engels, & Kiehling (1988) derived $`E(BV)`$ = 0.49, but attributed 0.09 magnitudes of this color excess to the circumstellar material. The remaining color excess is identical to that of Codina et al. (1984) which was unaffected by the circumstellar material at such short wavelengths, and should reliably characterize the material producing the interstellar absorption lines. At the same time the total color excess agrees well with the value from Seidensticker (1989), whose method would have included the circumstellar component. We thus adopt $`E(BV)`$ = 0.40 to represent the interstellar material containing the H2 and HD.

The UV photometric extinction curve for HD 110432 was classified as “peculiar” by Meyer & Savage (1981). The normalized extinction, $`E(\lambda V)/E(BV)`$, for this line of sight is much smaller than the Galactic average, particularly for the shortest wavelength measurements at 1550 and 1800 Å. This result suggests a much above-average value of total-to-selective extinction, $`R_V`$. However, as we have already noted, the Be nature of this star must be considered. Meyer & Savage (1981) used $`E(BV)`$ = 0.51, but with our preferred interstellar value of $`E(BV)`$ = 0.40, the interstellar extinction curve appears much closer to the Galactic average. Part of this correction may be offset by adjustment of $`V`$ in the calculation of $`E(\lambda V)`$, but even this effect is fractionally smaller for a fixed $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ at the shorter wavelengths due to the larger color excesses at those wavelengths.

The wavelength of maximum polarization, $`\lambda _{\mathrm{max}}`$, has been shown to be linearly correlated with $`R_V`$ (Serkowski, Mathewson, & Ford 1975). In addition, while the observed polarization towards Be stars may be influenced by local polarization of circumstellar material, this effect is small in the face of substantial interstellar material, and should not affect $`\lambda _{\mathrm{max}}`$ (Whittet & van Breda 1978). Serkowski et al. (1975) found $`\lambda _{\mathrm{max}}`$ = 0.59 $`\mu `$m, corresponding to $`R_V`$ = 3.3, slightly larger than the Galactic average of 3.1. Combined with our adopted color excess, we obtain $`A_V`$ = 1.32, consistent with the value from Seidensticker (1989) minus the effects of the circumstellar material.

The absorption along this line of sight is dominated by the Coalsack, a prominent dark nebula centered near the same RA and Dec as HD 110432. The distance to the nebula has been derived by photometric analysis of stars in the field by many authors. The value of 174 $`\pm `$ 14 pc from the early photographic study of Rodgers (1960) has held up well. Franco (1989) derived 180 $`\pm `$ 26 pc from photoelectric data. Seidensticker & Schmidt-Kaler (1989) considered more stars and found evidence for two sub-clouds at distances of 188 $`\pm `$ 4 and 243 $`\pm `$ 14 pc with the latter cloud providing somewhat greater extinction than the former. The morphology of the extinction map agrees well with the CO emission map of Nyman et al. (1989). No matter what the true distribution of material may be, at 300 pc HD 110432 lies behind all of this material with very little extinction between the Coalsack and the star. In addition, foreground material represents a small fraction of total absorption along the line of sight ($`A_V`$ $``$ 0.1 mag; Seidensticker & Schmidt-Kaler 1989).

### 2.2 Cloud velocity structure

An accurate assessment of the H2 velocity structure is crucial for the interpretation of the high-$`J`$ lines, and the resolution of the FUSE spectra is generally insufficient for this purpose. Since individual components typically have velocity spread parameters, $`b`$ $``$ 1–2 km s-1, resolution of comparable magnitude is preferred. Fortunately, HD 110432 has been observed at ultra high resolution ($`\mathrm{\Delta }v`$ = 0.3 km s-1), at optical wavelengths (Crawford 1995). These observations provided velocity structures for CH, CH+, Ca II, and K I. Of most relevance to H2 are CH and K I.

The CH observations reveal a simple velocity structure with just two components separated by 4.0 km s-1. The K I profile is somewhat more complex, with five components, dominated by two strong components separated by 1.3 km s-1. The combined profile of the two closely-spaced strong K I components plus one of the weak components rather closely matches the overall shape of the strong CH component. Further, the profile of the remaining two weak K I components spans the same velocity range as the weaker CH component, albeit this latter component did not appear to be double. Since the overall line profiles are generally similar, the “effective” $`b`$-values for the two profiles are also similar, 2.4 km s-1 for CH and 2.1 km s-1 for K I. Given the low molecular hydrogen kinetic temperature we derive (63 K; § 4), the velocity dispersion is dominated by turbulent motion and not thermal motion. Thus, scaling the CH $`b`$-values to H2 according to mass only increases the effective $`b`$-values by about 10%, and these scaled values were used to generate the adopted component structure given in Table 1. While we use the CH structure to model the H2 structure, the K I structure would give similar results. In § 4 we describe two tests which support this choice of velocity structure for H2.

Other species have been observed in absorption at resolutions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }v`$ $``$ 3 km s-1, and Table 2 gives a summary of the column densities of previously observed molecules and atoms. As van Dishoeck & Black (1989) first pointed out, the column densities of molecules such as C2, CH, and CN are more typical of diffuse cloud lines of sight such as $`\zeta `$ Oph, than translucent clouds. The value of N(CO) from Codina et al. (1984) is very uncertain, and in § 5 we derive a more precise value based on additional IUE spectra unavailable to those authors, and revised oscillator strengths.

Millimeter-wave CO measurements with a 43$`\mathrm{}`$ beam show little if any emission at the velocities of the previously mentioned absorption features (Gredel et al. 1994), but do show a strong component at $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}`$ = 5.1 km s-1 ($`v_{\mathrm{helio}}`$ = $``$2.5 km s-1), about 5 km s-1 blue-shifted from the bluest absorption components. As pointed out by Crawford (1991), the absorption line data support the conclusion of Nyman et al. (1989) that the CO emission at this velocity near HD 110432 represents background material.

## 3 FUSE Observations and Data Analysis

HD 110432 was observed by FUSE on 2000 Apr 4–5 for a total of 3631 seconds spread across 5 short integrations. Due to the relatively large UV-flux, the data were recorded in spectral image mode (Moos et al. 2000). In this mode, integration times are kept short to prevent detector and spacecraft motion from degrading the spectral resolution. Excellent data were recorded on all 8 detector segments, with stellar signal recorded essentially down to the Lyman limit as Figure 1 indicates. The data were processed with version 1.6.9 of the CALFUSE pipeline, but we have used a later, improved version of the wavelength solution. We have co-added the 5 integrations for each segment, propagating the pixel-by-pixel uncertainties through the co-additions. Given the differences in the wavelength scales and line-spread functions of the different detector segments, we have not combined data from different segments even though the wavelength ranges overlap. We emphasize that while the spectrum depicted in Figure 1 was formed by combining all detector segments, this spectrum is primarily useful for display purposes and is not suitable for precise measurements.

With the full wavelength coverage of FUSE available for this target, a wealth of information on H2 is available. The spectrum is dominated by the heavily damped and blended $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1 lines from the Lyman series (B–X) vibrational bands from (0,0) through (18,0), and the Werner series (C–X) vibrational bands from (0,0) through (4,0). At shorter wavelengths, the strongly damped Lyman series H I lines become progressively more important. The H2 lines for $`J`$ = 2 also show damping wings, while the progressively weaker $`J`$ = 3 through $`J`$ = 7 line profiles are dominated by the apparently Gaussian line spread function. Given the various H2 line profiles encountered, we use multiple techniques to derive column densities, and we describe those techniques in detail as they will be used in the analysis of all additional targets in this program.

At total H2 column densities greater than $``$ 1020 cm-2 the overlapping profiles from adjacent bands conspire to create a spectrum where the true continuum level is never reached. Figure 2 shows a normalized model spectrum for H2 corresponding to the $`J`$ = 0 through $`J`$ = 5 column densities we derive for HD 110432. The effect of the overlapping bands is smallest for the longest wavelength vibrational bands due to the combination of having fewer contributing bands on the red side, and smaller oscillator strengths for these bands. Shortward of 1010 Å, the effect is magnified by overlapping Lyman and Werner bands. Most of our program stars have even larger column densities with correspondingly greater effect. An important consideration then is that the continuum can not be located a priori.

Thus, to determine the column densities for $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1, we must perform profile fits to as many vibrational bands as is practical, with the continuum being a fit parameter. However, there are several complicating factors. First, the saturated cores of $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1 blends provide no leverage in the continuum determination. Second, the H2 lines with $`J`$ $``$ 2, as well as lines from other species must be included in the fit. Third, some H2 profiles are contaminated by stellar lines, as well as idiosyncrasies in the large-scale response of the detectors. Fourth, the effects of $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1 line wings from adjacent bands cannot be ignored. Finally, blends between the Lyman and Werner series H2 lines, and blends of H2 and H I lines limit the number of H2 bands that can be fitted with the highest accuracy.

To overcome the first factor, we must include a significant wavelength range in the fits, typically about 10 Å per band. For the second factor, we include all H2 lines up to $`J`$ = 5, as well as identifiable lines of other atomic and molecular species. The weaker lines carry little weight in the overall fits, and they are not always modeled as accurately as if they were treated individually, but do allow for accurate continuum placement. To alleviate the other continuum problems, we removed the obvious stellar lines by dividing by an appropriate Gaussian profile. Also, we only fit one band at a time such that we can model the local continuum with a low-order polynomial. To overcome the fourth factor, we explicitly include the effects of all the $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1 lines within 30 Å of the region we are fitting. As for the selection of H2 bands to fit, the Lyman bands from (0,0) through (4,0) are clean of Werner bands and H I lines. Each of these bands occurs in 2, 3, or 4 detector segments.

In the particular case of HD 110432, we were unable to obtain good fits for the (0,0) band, presumably due to stellar contamination in the lower portions of the wings, or at the narrow “bump” between the R(0) and R(1) lines. Without resorting to unverifiable guesses as to the nature of contamination, or a full non-LTE modeling of the stellar spectrum, we could not use this band for this line of sight. However, in other program stars with different (generally earlier) spectral types, this effect may not be important. Even without the (0,0) band, we still have a total of 13 profiles from which to derive the low-$`J`$ column densities. Figure 3 shows a sample fit of the (2,0) band covering the 1072–1082 Å region.

For $`J`$ $``$ 2, the lines are weak enough that one can measure individual equivalent widths by fitting Gaussian profiles to each line, or resolved blends of lines. These measurements are relative to the observed background level; i.e. the $`J`$=0–1 line wings. We were able to measure at least one individual H2 line of $`J`$ $``$ 2 from each Lyman-series vibrational band from (0,0) through (18,0), and from each Werner-series vibrational band from (0,0) through (4,0). In total, we obtained 249 equivalent width measurements for 99 H2 transitions. In 22 cases, we were able to measure a transition in the maximum possible 4 detector segments, and for all but 15 transitions we measured the line in at least 2 segments, allowing us to check the data for self-consistency.

The lines of HD behave much like the high-$`J`$ lines of H2. Typically, the equivalent widths of the $`J`$ = 0 lines of HD are similar to those of the $`J`$ = 4 and $`J`$ = 5 lines of H2. The $`J`$ = 1 lines of HD are considerably weaker, and conclusive detection of such lines in our FUSE spectra will generally be difficult. For HD 110432, we obtained 24 equivalent width measurements for 8 $`J`$ = 0 lines, and none for $`J`$ = 1.

We determine an error estimate for each line measurement based on the formal uncertainty of the Gaussian fit parameters, combined in quadrature with a formal estimate of the uncertainty in continuum placement. In combining measurements of the same line from different detector segments, we must be careful how we treat systematic differences. A simple weighted mean of the individual measurements will provide encouragingly small uncertainties when several measurements are combined, but if the actual values cover a large range, this reported uncertainty is not useful. However, the standard deviation is not useful considering the small number of measurements. The procedure we have adopted takes the largest of the three following numbers: one-half of the total range of measurements for a particular line (a proxy for the standard deviation), the error we derive from a weighted mean, and 10 per cent of the weighted mean itself. The latter limit provides a conservative estimate of any systematic errors that we may not have considered. There are six pairs of detector segments whose wavelength coverage overlap. In comparing equivalent widths for the same line in these pairs of segments, we find excellent agreement with an exact one-to-one relationship. The only possible exception is for the SiC 1A and SiC 1B segments where the strongest lines were consistently measured to be 10–15% stronger than in other segments. However, this only involves a half-dozen lines, mostly from $`J`$ = 2 where we used profile fitting for the final column densities, as discussed below.

From the final equivalent width measurements, and the assumed velocity structure, we construct a multi-component curve of growth. Using the uncertainties of the individual lines, we perform a least-squares fit for each $`J`$ to determine N($`J`$) for H2 and HD.

The $`J`$ = 2 lines of H2 represent a special case. They are strong enough to have noticeable damping wings, yet the surrounding continuum is frequently not clean enough to allow accurate fitting of those wings with an individual damped Voigt profile. The Gaussian profile fitting, used in the measurement of the weaker lines, underestimates the equivalent widths of the strongest $`J`$ = 2 lines by as much as 10–15% for HD 110432, which corresponds to a 0.1–0.2 dex underestimate of the column density. However, the profiles of these damped lines are fitted well along with the $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1 profiles, which gives us slightly better results than the curve of growth analysis for this particular line of sight.

The confusion between the H2 bands and the H I lines makes a determination of N(H I) somewhat difficult using FUSE data. However, this method may eventually produce accurate column densities, especially for cases where N(H I) $`>>`$ N(H2); i.e. where the hydrogen molecular fraction is small. In the case of HD 110432, we have used IUE spectra of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ to determine N(H I). We co-added all 13 available SWP spectra from the IUE archive to improve the S/N. We used the technique of Bohlin (1975) to determine the best column density by matching a pure damping profile to the observed line wings. The primary uncertainty in this method beyond the noise in the data is the presence of stellar lines in the wings of Lyman-$`\alpha `$, particularly the blue wing. As we discuss in § 4, the actual component structure can only have a small effect on the derived N(H I).

## 4 Results

We begin with the results of the band-by-band profile fits. Table 3 summarizes these results. Fits of the same band in different detector segments show exceptional agreement. However, band-to-band differences exist. In all segments, the (3,0) band yields larger column densities for $`J`$ = 0. The mean of the (3,0) values is about 0.15 dex larger than the mean from the other bands. The $`J`$ = 2 column densities are also slightly larger than those from the other bands, but the $`J`$ = 1 columns are not significantly larger. A visual inspection of the (3,0) band fits does not reveal an clear explanation for the differences, although one or more stellar lines may be the culprit. We have included these values in the final averages given in Tables 3 and 4 although it may be appropriate to exclude this band in future studies. The reported uncertainties for $`J`$ = 0–2 are simply the sample standard deviation of the 13 individual values. If we exclude the (3,0) results, the uncertainty is cut in half for $`J`$ = 0, while the average value decreases by 0.04 dex.

Figure 4 shows the 2-component curve of growth along with our averaged measurements of 99 H2 transitions and 8 HD transitions. Since the uncertainties in N($`J`$) for H2 lines of $`J`$ $``$ 3 and the HD lines are affected by the shape of the curve of growth, we have given two-sided 1-$`\sigma `$ error bars to these values in Table 4. For HD 110432, most of the error bars do not show much asymmetry. We emphasize that the uncertainties in these values of N($`J`$) only apply to the assumption that we have a perfect description of the component structure. Changes in the component structure can produce changes in column densities when the lines lie on or near the flat portion of the curve of growth. For instance, if we had used the K I structure, our derived column densities for $`J`$ = 3–6 would be increased by 0.10, 0.20, 0.25, and 0.10 dex, respectively. While these changes are modest, if we have seriously misjudged the H2 velocity structure, the changes could be much greater.

With this point in mind, we performed two additional tests of the validity of our assumed velocity structure. First, given the H2 equivalent width data, we fitted a single-component curve of growth, allowing both the column densities and the $`b`$-value to vary. The best-fit $`b`$-value, and in turn the column densities, were consistent with the “effective” $`b`$-value and column densities of the two-component model. Second, we performed profile fits to several bands assuming a two-component structure with velocity separation given by the CH data, but allowing the $`b`$-values and relative strengths of the components to vary. Again, the derived component parameters were consistent with the CH structure. Both tests indicate that the changes in the column densities due to possible uncertainty in the component structure are not larger than the differences between the CH and K I structure indicated in the previous paragraph .

Our best curve-of-growth column density for $`J`$ = 2 is 18.55, or 0.13 dex smaller than our profile fits, consistent with our previous discussion of the fitting of the $`J`$ = 2 lines. The column density for $`J`$ = 7 is based on only one very weak line. Also, N($`J`$=6) is based on just 4 weak lines with very little spread in $`\lambda f`$. The small observed uncertainty thus may not be reliable.

Our fit of the H I Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line gives log N(H I) = 20.85 $`\pm `$ 0.15 cm-2. We note that if instead of assuming a pure damping profile, we use the CH velocity structure and scale the b-values according to mass, log N would be about 0.05 dex smaller. However, even a slight increase in the complexity of the H I component structure relative to CH could decrease this difference to near zero.

Given the H2 column densities (particularly for $`J`$ = 0–5), and the H I column density, we can explore the physical conditions of the absorbing gas. When combined with log N(H I) = 20.85 $`\pm `$ 0.15 cm-2, our total H2 column density of log N(H2) = 20.68 $`\pm `$ 0.05 cm-2 gives a molecular fraction $`f_{\mathrm{H2}}`$ = 0.58 $`\pm `$ 0.11; i.e. between one-half and two-thirds of the observed hydrogen atoms exist in H2 molecules. At the relatively high densities assumed to exist in these H2 cloud(s), the ratio of N($`J`$=1) to N($`J`$=0) is considered an indicator of the kinetic temperature of the gas, and we derive $`T_{\mathrm{kin}}`$ = 63 $`\pm `$ 6 K.

The excitation diagram in Figure 5 shows the enhanced populations for $`J2`$ relative to the kinetic temperature of the gas. This non-thermal excitation is usually interpreted as pumping by UV photons, followed by cascading transitions down through the various rotational states (Black & Dalgarno 1973). The high-$`J`$ lines in many lines of sight can be fitted by a single excitation temperature, i.e. a straight line in the excitation plot (Spitzer & Cochran 1973). For HD 110432 such a fit for $`J`$ = 2–5 seriously overestimates N($`J`$=3), and in general the even-$`J`$ lines (para-hydrogen) appear slightly enhanced relative to the odd-$`J`$ lines (ortho-hydrogen). However, good linear relationships do appear for $`J`$ = 1–3 and $`J`$ = 3–5. For the former levels, we derive a temperature T13 = 110 $`\pm `$ 5 K, and for the latter, we derive T35 = 240 $`\pm `$ 40 K. An even less certain fit for $`J`$ = 3–7 corresponds to T $``$ 350 K.

## 5 Discussion

Several lines of sight with $`A_V`$ $``$ 1 were observed with Copernicus, $`\zeta `$ Oph being the prototype. We will present a detailed comparison of all lines of sight with $`A_V`$ $``$ 1, including more than a dozen of our FUSE translucent cloud program stars in a future work (B. L. Rachford et al. 2001, in preparation). In the current paper, we will generally limit our comparisons to $`\zeta `$ Oph (Morton 1975; Savage et al. 1977), HD 73882 (Paper I), and HD 110432, with only brief references to the larger survey. Relevant data for these lines of sight appear in Table 5. The lines of sight have similar total-to-selective extinction ratios, but cover a range of more than a factor of 2 in color excess and thus visual extinction.

The kinetic temperatures of the three lines of sight are statistically identical. In addition, our preliminary survey of FUSE translucent cloud program stars indicates H2 kinetic temperatures of $``$60 K are typical for such lines of sight. The ratio N(H2)/$`A_V`$ lies within the range 3.5–5 $`\times `$ 1020 cm-2 mag-1 for all three lines of sight, and the molecular fractions are nearly identical as well. However, these latter two ratios do not hold up in the larger survey. In particular, we see a large range in $`f_{\mathrm{H2}}`$ with a possible upper limit near 0.7. If verified, this upper limit may provide important information on formation and destruction mechanisms at H2 column densities near 1021 cm-2.

The combination of line saturation and the relatively limited range of log $`f\lambda `$ produces a very uncertain curve-of-growth value of N(HD) that falls squarely between the values for $`\zeta `$ Oph on the low side, and HD 73882 on the high side. The HD/H2 ratio of 3 $`\times `$ 10-6 falls well below the expected value of 2$`\times `$D/H that would be observed if HD represents the primary reservoir of deuterium. However, if HD occurs primarily in the cores of the clouds(s) along this line of sight, the H2 component structure may not be appropriate. Fits of the HD lines assuming a 2-component model that allow the strengths and $`b`$-values to vary, support this view. The best fits yield log N(HD) = 16.0$`{}_{0.3}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.2}`$ cm-2, with b-values of 1.4 and 1.2 km s-1 for the blue and red components, respectively, and a much weaker blue component than for H2. This result gives an overall HD/H2 ratio slightly smaller than typical values of 2$`\times `$D/H. The HD/H2 ratio for the red component would be $``$4 $`\times `$ 10-5, quite similar to 2$`\times `$D/H. However, we emphasize that the uncertainty is about a factor of 2.

As depicted in Figure 6, the excitation of the high-$`J`$ levels of H2 is similar to, but slightly larger than that of $`\zeta `$ Oph; yet is much smaller than HD 73882. Two factors control this excitation, the UV interstellar radiation field (ISRF) and the number density.

HD 110432 itself is an early enough star to excite H2, and with the two-cloud structure of the Coalsack proposed by Seidensticker (1989), the star lies 60 $`\pm `$ 50 pc beyond the cloud at $``$240 pc. The other cloud, at $``$190 pc, would then lie 110 $`\pm `$ 50 pc from the star. To estimate the effects of HD 110432 on the Coalsack, we have taken fluxes at 1000 Å from an appropriate Kurucz (1979) model for a B0.5 III star (Teff = 25000 K, log $`g`$ = 3.5, solar metallicity), a stellar radius of 15R, and then compared the resultant radiation field at various distances from the star to the average ISRF (Mathis, Mezger, & Panagia 1983). Assuming no dimunition of the stellar radiation field between the star and the cloud(s), we find that at about 40 pc from the star the stellar field is equal to the average ISRF111If HD 110432 is actually of spectral type B2 Ve, this distance drops to around 10-15 pc.. We can then safely assume that HD 110432 does not contribute significantly to the radiation field of the cloud at 190 pc, but we cannot make the same assumption about the other cloud. Even if the material is more uniformly distributed between 180 and 250 pc, the same conclusion holds; the material more distant from Earth may be affected by the radiation field from HD 110432 while the material nearest to Earth is not.

We have searched the Hipparcos catalog for other O and B stars in the region. In Figure 7, we present distances and spectral types for stars within about 6 degrees of HD 110432. There are many stars much closer than the Coalsack, and many more beyond the nebula, but few at the appropriate distances to be exciting the cloud(s) along this line of sight. At 174 pc, HD 110737 (302.2,$``$1.8) may lie within the nearest portion of the Coalsack, and is just 6 pc from the line of sight to HD 110432. However, at spectral type B9.5, this star has many orders of magnitude less UV flux than HD 110432, and little power to excite H2. Two early B stars, HD 103884 at (296.6,0.7) and HD 104841 at (297.6,$``$0.5), lie at the same distance from Earth as the Coalsack, but lie 20 pc from the line of sight, well outside the boundaries of the cloud(s). Given the uncertainties in the Hipparcos distances, the uncertainties in the precise structure of the Coalsack, and the weaker UV output as compared with HD 110432, these stars may not provide much enhancement to the overall radiation field. For comparison, the ISRF impinging on the cloud(s) containing H2 along the line of sight to $`\zeta `$ Oph is thought to be no more than twice the average field (Federman et al. 1995).

Through observations of weak, rotationally excited C2 lines, van Dishoeck & Black (1989) estimated the number density of the material toward HD 110432, and find an uncertain value of $`n`$ $``$ 200 cm-3. A similar analysis for $`\zeta `$ Oph (van Dishoeck & Black 1986) gives an uncertain value $`n`$ $``$ 200 cm-3.

We have taken advantage of the amount of observational knowledge to run chemical models of translucent clouds. The basic assumptions are described in Le Bourlot et al. (1993). The model solves the radiative transfer as well as the chemical molecular formation/destruction mechanisms of a cloud containing H, C, N, O, and S species and a metal, illuminated by the ISRF. The thermal balance can be solved in parallel to the chemical equilibrium. The original model, which was devoted to study the envelopes of molecular clouds, consists of a semi-infinite planar slab where the radiation field is impinging on one side of the cloud. The photodissociation of H2 is taking place through absorption in the discrete ultraviolet Lyman and Werner band transitions followed by continuous fluorescence. The photodissociation probabilities and the basic molecular properties of the Lyman and Werner band systems are accurately known from previous experimental and theoretical studies (cf. Roueff et al. 1999; Abgrall, Roueff, & Drira 2000). Such a model is very similar to other models of so-called Photon Dominated Regions (PDR) (see Hollenbach & Tielens 1999 for a recent review). It has been recognized recently (Le Bourlot 2000) that ortho to para conversion of molecular hydrogen may occur on grains. Moreover, the grain temperature depends critically on the photoelectric effect, i.e. on the actual value of the radiation field impinging on the grains at a certain location in the cloud . The models presented here follow the prescription of Le Bourlot (2000) and take into account the effect of the size distribution of the grains in the formation of H2 on the grains (Le Bourlot et al. 1995) as well as in the determination of their charge following Bakes & Tielens (1994).

In order to apply the model to a diffuse cloud line of sight such as HD 110432, we have additionally introduced the deuterium chemistry and the detailed mechanisms implied in the formation and destruction of HD (Le Petit, Roueff, & Le Bourlot 2001; in preparation) and we consider the cloud as a finite slab of constant density submitted to the same radiation field on both sides. The elemental abundances are the mean interstellar values given by Savage and Sembach (1999). The cosmic ray ionization rate is chosen to be 5 $`\times `$ 10-17 s-1, a mean value deduced from OH observations (Federman, Weber, & Lambert 1996).

We assign model parameters to reproduce several observational constraints; namely, the hydrogen molecular fraction, the temperature-sensitive H2 column densities in $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1, and the total visual extinction. The ratio between the total hydrogen column density and $`A_V`$ we have derived, 1.26 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 mag-1, is slightly smaller than average. The ISRF may be somewhat larger than the mean standard value taken from Draine (1978) but its actual value is not known. The peculiar character of the extinction curve in the ultraviolet is taken into account via the RV value of 3.3.

Within the series of models we have run, we find that the two main constraints are fulfilled for a ratio of about 100 between the proton density $`n_H`$ and the multiplicative factor $`G_0`$ of the ISRF in Draine’s units. Indeed, the molecular fraction is directly proportional to $`n`$/$`G_0`$. However, this agreement is obtained *only* when the minimum radius of the grains is larger than about 10-6 cm. This fact should be compared with the peculiarity of the extinction curve: the larger than normal value of $`R_V`$ implies a far UV extinction lower than the mean value, in agreement with the absence of very small grains. This cut-off in the grain size distribution has two major effects, one on the formation rate of H2 and thus on the value of the molecular fraction, and the other on the temperature governing the ratio between the $`J`$ = 1 and $`J`$ = 0 column densities. Table 6 gives the results of some typical models.

The actual value of the ISRF is not known but should not be larger than a few; so a density of about 200 cm-3 and a radiation field of about twice the standard ISRF provides a reasonable compromise, in agreement with the density found from the study of the excitation of C2. With these parameters, a column density of deuterated molecular hydrogen of 1.1 $`\times `$ 1016 cm-2 is obtained, in agreement with the observations.

In contrast, none of the models reproduces the column densities of the rotational levels of molecular hydrogen with $`J`$ $``$ 2 as shown in Table 7. This not surprising due to the simplified geometry assumed. However, we feel that we address here a more fundamental failure of the chemical model. Indeed, the presence of the CH+ molecular ion can not be reproduced by any PDR model and another chemical component is needed. This puzzle has been addressed by the presence of shocks (Pineau des Forêts et al. 1986) or by the occurrence of dissipative structures due to interstellar turbulence (Falgarone, Pineau des Forêts, & Roueff 1995; Joulain et al. 1998). The presence of an intense far ultraviolet radiation field may also lead to an efficient formation mechanism of CH+ as suggested by Snow (1993). However, no obvious candidate for the production of intense ultraviolet radiation is available in the environment of HD 110432. Such a tiny component, whatever its origin, will enhance the populations of excited molecular hydrogen without modifying the populations of $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1. Further modeling is beyond the scope of the present paper and will be performed subsequently. This modeling may also reveal the significance, if any, of the slightly enhanced column densities of para-hydrogen relative to ortho-hydrogen.

For comparison, it appears that the density in the clouds toward HD 73882 is larger than for the lines of sight toward $`\zeta `$ Oph and HD 110432. An analysis of C2 gives $`n`$ = 350$`{}_{100}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+300}`$ cm-3 (Gredel, van Dishoeck, & Black 1993). In addition, the column densities of $`J`$ = 4 and $`J`$ = 5 are the largest yet observed for any diffuse or translucent line of sight. This may suggest a very strong UV field, a distinct possibility considering that HD 73882 has a spectral type of O8.5, even earlier than $`\zeta `$ Oph. As noted above, the current models are unable to reproduce the observed high-$`J`$ excitation, and thus an interpretation of the extreme excitation seen toward HD 73882 will require further work.

The column densities of carbon-containing molecules along the line of sight toward HD 110432, such as CH, CH+, and C2, more closely match those of diffuse clouds rather than translucent clouds. However, the CO column density is rather poorly known and represents most of the carbon locked up in diatomic molecules. The millimeter wave observations of Gredel et al. (1994) reveal little if any CO emission at the velocities of the absorption lines of CH, etc. Codina et al. (1984) observed several of the CO absorption bands from the A–X series with IUE and derived log N(CO) = 14.60 cm-2 from a curve-of-growth analysis. This value was quite uncertain and depended on the then poorly-known velocity structure, and there have been subsequent revisions in the oscillator strengths for these bands.

In principle, N(CO) can be determined from FUSE data. Easily visible CO bands within the FUSE wavelength range include B–X (0,0) at 1150 Å, C–X (0,0) at 1088 Å, and E–X (0,0) at 1076 Å. The C–X (1,0) band at 1063 Å , E–X (1,0) band at 1052 Å, and F–X (0,0) band at 1003 Å have $`f`$-values large enough to be visible, but are lost in or near the cores of strong H2 $`J`$ = 0 and $`J`$ = 1 lines.

The C–X (0,0) band is contaminated by interstellar atomic lines (Cl I $`\lambda `$1088.06 and others). Several weak lines lie slightly blueward and redward of the B–X (0,0) band but reasonable fits can be obtained in HD 110432. In the spectrum of HD 110432, the E–X (0,0) band lies in the blue wing of the $`J`$ = 0 line of the Lyman (2,0) band of H2, but is clean of narrow lines from other species. However, in lines of sight with much larger H2 column densities (i.e. HD 73882), this band is not visible.

We performed profile fits of the B-X (0,0) and E-X (0,0) bands including all lines of 12C16O and 13C16O with $`J4`$ using the CH component structure. We assumed a 12C16O to 13C16O ratio of 70, a uniform rotational excitation temperature (Trot) for all levels, and used line parameters from Zhong, et al. (1997). These fits yielded log N(CO) = 14.4 $`\pm `$ 0.4 cm-2 and Trot = 3.5 $`\pm `$ 1.3 K. The velocity shift between the models and the spectra only differed from the shift derived from the H2 fits in this region by $``$0.5 km s-1, implying that most or all of the CO is co-spatial with those molecules.

The CH component structure may not accurately represent the CO component structure, similar to the situation for the HD molecule described earlier in this section. In fact, fits with a variable $`b`$-value did suggest a smaller velocity dispersion and somewhat larger column density. An extreme case would be if all the CO lies within a single velocity component. Thus, we performed fits assuming that the stronger CH component contains all the CO. In this case, we derive log N(CO) = 15.0 $`\pm `$ 0.5 cm-2.

The measurements of the A-X bands given by Codina, et al. (1984) were based on a single IUE integration. As with our H I measurement, we have co-added the available IUE spectrum to improve the S/N. This co-added spectrum allows us to much more precisely measure the equivalent widths of the A-X bands, and these measurements, along with 1-$`\sigma `$ uncertaintines, are given in Table 8. With the 2-component CH model, we derive log N(CO) = 14.35 $`\pm `$ 0.15 cm-2. Despite our use of smaller f-values (Morton & Noreau 1994), in several cases our equivalent widths were considerable smaller than derived by Codina, et al. (1984), and thus our column density is smaller than given by those authors. As with our profile fits, we also performed a curve-of-growth analysis assuming that only the stronger CH component contains CO, and this analysis yields log N(CO) = 14.70 $`\pm `$ 0.20 cm-2.

Despite nearly identical values of N(H2), N(CO) for HD 110432 is considerable smaller than for $`\zeta `$ Oph. The latter value was derived from high-resolution, high S/N spectra of the A–X bands with HST (Lambert et al. 1994), and is a more precise measurement. However, even our less certain value for HD 110432 is clearly smaller than that for $`\zeta `$ Oph assuming the CH structure toward the former star. Given the other similarities between the two lines of sight, this difference may indicate that indeed nearly all the CO lies within a single velocity component, supporting the larger set of column densities we derived.

The column density of the CH radical has been shown to correlate well with N(H2) in diffuse clouds (Danks, Federman, & Lambert 1984) and the data point for HD 110432 falls very near the best-fit relationship. Interestingly, an extrapolation of this relationship into the realm of the translucent clouds provides an excellent match for HD 73882 as well.

## 6 Summary

We have presented the first measurements of far-UV lines of molecular hydrogen for the line of sight toward HD 110432 ($`A_V`$ = 1.32). We derive a total H2 column density of log N(H2) = 20.68 $`\pm `$ 0.05 cm-2. Combined with log N(H I) = 20.85 $`\pm `$ 0.15 cm-2, we derive a molecular fraction for hydrogen of $`f_{\mathrm{H2}}`$ = 0.58 $`\pm `$ 0.12. This value is similar to that found for the diffuse cloud line of sight toward $`\zeta `$ Oph and the translucent cloud line of sight toward HD 73882. We find an H2 kinetic temperature of Tkin = 63 $`\pm `$ 6 K. This temperature is in agreement with those found for diffuse and translucent cloud lines of sight with log N(H2) $``$ 20.5 cm-2.

The excitation of the high-$`J`$ levels cannot be well-represented by a single temperature model. A two-component model, with T13 = 110 $`\pm `$ 5 K, and T35 = 240 $`\pm `$ 40 K can account for the data, but does not necessarily have a physical significance. The even-$`J`$ (para-hydrogen) column densities appear slightly enhanced relative to the odd-$`J`$ (ortho-hydrogen) column densities. The column densities in each of the rotational states are statistically identical to those from $`\zeta `$ Oph.

Preliminary chemical modeling of the line of sight toward HD 110432 indicates that physical conditions are quite similar to that in the cloud(s) toward $`\zeta `$ Oph. We derive an incident radiation field of about twice the interstellar average, and a density of $``$200 cm-3.

The FUSE spectra allow us to investigate the diatomic molecules HD and CO. We obtain N(HD) = 15.2$`{}_{0.4}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.7}`$ cm-2 from a curve-of-growth analysis of 8 $`J`$ = 0 lines, yielding an HD/H2 ratio of 3 $`\times `$ 10-6. This lies between that found for $`\zeta `$ Oph and HD 73882, and is much smaller than the value implied by the D/H ratio, suggesting that most deuterium exists outside of HD molecules in the cloud(s) toward HD 110432. However, if HD and CO follow component structures with smaller $`b`$-values than H2, the column densities could be an order of magnitude larger. In particular, profile fits of the HD lines suggest smaller $`b`$-values as compared with H2, and a column density log N(HD) = 16.0$`{}_{0.3}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.2}`$ cm-2. The stronger of the two HD components then gives an HD/H2 ratio very similar to 2$`\times `$D/H. Based on both a curve-of-growth analysis and profile fitting, we find log N(CO) $``$ 14.3 cm-2 if CO follows the same component structure at CH, and log N(CO) $``$ 14.8 cm-2 if all the CO is co-spatial with the stronger of the two CH components.

Overall, in terms of H2, H I, carbon-containing molecules, and physical conditions, the line of sight toward HD 110432 appears very similar to that of $`\zeta `$ Oph, which has slightly less visual extinction. On the other hand, it does not closely resemble the line of sight toward HD 73882, whose much greater extinction and molecular abundances places it firmly within the realm of translucent clouds. However, preliminary measurements of FUSE observations of other translucent cloud lines of sight suggest that the HD 73882 line of sight may not be representative. Many questions regarding the nature of diffuse and translucent clouds may be answered in upcoming studies of such environments with FUSE.

This work is based on data obtained for the Guaranteed Time Team by the NASA-CNES-CSA FUSE mission operated by the Johns Hopkins University. Financial support to U.S. participants has been provided by NASA contract NAS5-32985. The referee provided much helpful criticism. We also thank W. Blair for helpful comments. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France.


text:
# Spontaneous CPT Violation in Confined QED

## Abstract

Symmetry breaking induced by untwisted fermions in QED in a nonsimply connected spacetime with topology $`S^1\times R^3`$ is investigated. It is found that the discrete CPT symmetry of the theory is spontaneously broken by the appearance of a constant vacuum expectation value of the electromagnetic potential along the direction of space periodicity. The constant potential is shown to be gauge nonequivalent to zero in the nonsimply connected spacetime under consideration. Due to the symmetry breaking, one of the electromagnetic modes of propagation is massive with a mass that depends on the inverse of the compactification length. As a result, the system exhibits a sort of topological directional superconductivity.

Symmetry breaking in non-trivial spacetime, where the curvature, as well as the topology, can play an important role, has received much attention in the last years because of its possible relevance for cosmology in the early universe.

It is well known that the global properties of the spacetime, even if it is locally flat, can give rise to new physics. The seminal discovery in this direction is the so called Casimir effect , that is, the existence of an attractive force between neutral parallel perfectly conducting plates. In this phenomenon the attractive force appearing between the plates is mediated by the zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field in vacuum. Thus, the Casimir force is interpreted as a macroscopic manifestation of the vacuum structure of the quantized fields in the presence of domains restricted by boundaries or nontrivial topologies.

A characteristic of quantum field theory in spacetime with non-trivial topology is the possible existence of nonequivalent types of fields with the same spin. In particular, for a fermion system in a space-time which is locally flat but with topology represented by the domain $`S^1\times R^3`$ (i.e. a Minkowskian space with one of the spatial dimensions compactified in a circle $`S^1`$ of finite length $`a`$), the non-trivial topology is transferred into periodic boundary conditions for untwisted fermions or antiperiodic boundary conditions for twisted fermions

$$\psi (t,x,y,za/2)=\pm \psi (t,x,y,z+a/2)$$
(1)
In (1) the compactified dimension with length $`a`$ has been taken along the $`𝒪𝒵`$-direction.

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) with photons coupled to untwisted fermions or to a combination of twisted and untwisted fermions is an unstable theory,. The instability arises due to polarization effects of untwisted electrons that change the propagation of electromagnetic waves giving rise to tachyonic electromagnetic modes,. In Ref.  it was speculated that such instability might indicate that a stable vacuum configuration with nonzero expectation value of the strength tensor $`F_{\mu \nu }`$ could appear.

For self-interacting scalar fields the space periodicity can also produce instabilities causing a massless field to become massive,. The acquired mass depends on the periodicity length, so the phenomenon is called topological mass generation.

Our main goal in this paper is to investigate the symmetry breaking induced by the non-trivial topology $`S^1\times R^3`$ in the case of QED with untwisted fermions. We will show that the stable vacuum configuration is given by a constant electromagnetic potential $`A_3`$ along the compactified dimension. As discussed below, even though such a vacuum configuration has $`F_{\mu \nu }=0`$, it cannot be gauged to zero, because the gauge transformation that would be needed does not respect the periodicity of the function space in the $`S^1\times R^3`$ domain. This is a sort of Aharonov-Bohm effect which takes place due to the non-simply connected topological structure of the considered spacetime. The nonzero vev of the electromagnetic potential spontaneously breaks the discrete CPT symmetry of the theory. Accordingly, the $`A_3`$ field acquires a topological mass and no tachyonic mode remains. The results here reported can be of interest for theories with extra dimensions on which some of them are compactified, and for condensed matter quasi-planar systems.

The existence of constant gauge potentials with physical meaning are known in statistics, where $`A_0`$ cannot be gauged away by reasons similar to those pointed out above. The physical relevance of constant condensates of zero-components of gauge fields has been investigated in the context of many-particle electroweak theory in Refs. ,.

Let us consider the QED action in a spacetime domain with compactified dimension of length $`a`$ in the $`𝒪𝒵`$-direction

$$𝒮=\underset{a/2}{\overset{a/2}{}}𝑑x_3\underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑x_0d^2x_{}\left[\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu \nu }^2+\overline{\psi }(i\text{/}eA\text{/}m)\psi \right],$$
(2)
The action (2), together with the boundary conditions (1), represents a system of photons and electrons confined between two infinite parallel planes perpendicular to the $`𝒪𝒵`$-direction.

When this confined QED action is considered for untwisted fermions, the effect of vacuum polarization upon photon propagation yields a tachyonic mass for the third component of the photon field . Tachyonic modes in a quantum theory are an indication that the vacuum under consideration is not really the physical one. A tachyonic mode is therefore related to some symmetry breaking mechanism which leads to the true physical vacuum. It follows that some symmetry breaking should then occur in the unstable theory (2) of photons interacting with untwisted fermions.

Henceforth we restrict our analysis to this unstable case. To find the physical vacuum that stabilizes the untwisted fermion theory, we propose the following ansatz***This is a natural ansatz given that the $`𝒪𝒵`$-direction is the only distinguished direction in the $`S^1\times R^3`$ space under consideration, and that the $`A_\mu `$ field obeys periodic boundary conditions along the $`𝒪𝒵`$-direction.

$$\overline{A}_\nu =\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _{\nu 3}$$
(3)
for the vacuum solution, with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ an arbitrary constant that will be determined from the minimum equation of the effective potential. Notice that a constant electromagnetic potential in the direction of the periodicity ($`\nu =3`$ in our case), although seemingly physically equivalent to the pure vacuum $`\overline{A}_\nu =0`$, since both have $`F_{\mu \nu }=0`$, cannot be gauged to zero. The reason is that due to the periodicity of the fields in the $`S^1\times R^3`$ space, the gauge transformations $`A_\mu A_\mu \frac{1}{e}_\mu \alpha `$ are restricted to those satisfying $`\alpha (x_3+a)=`$ $`\alpha (x_3)+2l\pi ,`$ $`l\mathrm{Z}`$. However, the gauge transformation $`\alpha (x)=(xn)e\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ connecting the constant field configuration (3) with zero does not satisfy the required periodicity condition unless $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ satisfies

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{2l\pi }{ea},l\mathrm{Z}$$
(4)
Let us consider then the one-loop effective potential of the theory (2) around the vacuum configuration (3)

$$V=\frac{1}{2}a^1\mathrm{ln}\left(Det\overline{G}^1\right)$$
(5)
Here $`Det\overline{G}^1=`$ $`d^4pdet\overline{G}^1=\underset{p_3}{}d^3pdet\overline{G}^1,`$ with $`p_3=2n\pi /a,`$ $`(n=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{})`$ being the discrete frequencies associated with periodic fermions. The fermion inverse Green’s function in the background $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is

$$\overline{G}^1=\gamma \overline{p}+m$$
(6)
with $`\overline{p}_\mu =(p_0,𝐩_{},p_3e\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. After summing in $`p_3`$ we obtain

$$V(\mathrm{\Lambda })=\underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{d^3\widehat{p}}{\left(2\pi \right)^3}\left[\epsilon _p+2a^1Re\mathrm{ln}\left(1e^{a\left(\epsilon _pie\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)}\right)\right].$$
(7)
The extremum of the effective potential (7) satisfies

$$\frac{V(\mathrm{\Lambda })}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}|_{\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}}}=\underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{d^3\widehat{p}}{\left(2\pi \right)^3}\frac{2e^{a\epsilon _p}\mathrm{sin}\left(ae\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)}{1+e^{2a\epsilon _p}2e^{a\epsilon _p}\mathrm{cos}\left(ae\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)}=0,$$
(8)
The solution to (8) is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{l\pi }{ea}`$, $`l\mathrm{Z}`$. Nevertheless, the minimum condition $`^2V(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}})/^2\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ is only satisfied by the subset

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}}=\frac{\left(2l+1\right)\pi }{ea},l\mathrm{Z}$$
(9)
The elements in the set of minimum solutions (9), are gauge equivalent since they are all connected by allowed gauge transformations ($`\alpha (x_3+a)=`$ $`\alpha (x_3)+2l\pi `$). It should be pointed out, however, that the solutions (9) are gauge nonequivalent to the trivial vacuum $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0,`$ since none of them satisfies (4).

Substituting with the minimum solution (9) in Eq. (7) we obtain in the $`am1`$ approximation that the effective potential of untwisted fermions reduces to

$$V(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}})=\frac{7\pi ^2}{360a^4}$$
(10)
which coincides with the result reported for twisted fermions in Ref. . Thus, the vacuum energy of both classes of fermions coincides if the corresponding correct vacuum solution is used.

As discussed above, the appearance of the constant vacuum solution $`\overline{A}_\nu =\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}}\delta _{\nu 3}`$ at the one-loop level must be associated with symmetry breaking. It is easy to corroborate that if the gauge field in the action (2) is shifted by $`A_\mu (x)A_\mu (x)\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}}\delta _{\mu 3}`$, a new term $`e\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}}\psi \gamma _3\overline{\psi }`$ emerges violating the CPT symmetry

$$x_\mu =x_\mu ,A_\mu (x)=A_\mu (x),\psi (x)=i\psi (x)\gamma _5\gamma _0$$
(11)
of the original action. We stress that the vacuum solution (9) breaks the CPT invariance by breaking each discrete symmetry separately, while maintaining CP or any other product of two symmetries intact.

We conclude that the spatial compactification leads to spontaneous CPT symmetry breaking with vacuum configuration given by a constant electromagnetic potential whose amplitude increases with the decreasing of the compactification radius as $`1/a`$.

Let us find the electromagnetic modes’ masses in the background of the new vacuum (9). With this end, the general structure of the electromagnetic field Green’s function in the $`S^1\times R^3`$ space should be considered

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mu \nu }(k)=P(g_{\mu \nu }\frac{k_\mu k_\nu }{k^2})+Q[\frac{k_\mu k_\nu }{k^2}\frac{k_\mu n_\nu +n_\mu k_\nu }{(kn)}+\frac{k^2n_\mu n_\nu }{(kn)^2}]+\frac{\alpha }{k^4}k_\mu k_\nu ,$$
(12)
Here, due to the breaking of Lorentz invariance, in addition to the usual tensor structures $`k_\mu `$ and $`g_{\mu \nu }`$, a spacelike unit vector $`n^\mu =(0,0,0,1)`$, pointing in the direction of the periodicity, must be introduced. In Eq. (12) $`\alpha `$ is a gauge fixing parameter corresponding to the gauge condition $`\frac{1}{\alpha }_\mu A_\mu =0`$, and the coefficients $`P`$ and $`Q`$ are given by

$$P=\frac{1}{k^2+\mathrm{\Pi }_0},Q=\frac{\mathrm{\Pi }_1}{(k^2+\mathrm{\Pi }_0)\left\{k^2+\mathrm{\Pi }_0\mathrm{\Pi }_1[k^2/(kn)^2+1]\right\}},$$
(13)
The parameters $`\mathrm{\Pi }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1`$, are the coefficients of the polarization operator $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }`$, whose general structure is

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }(k)=\mathrm{\Pi }_0(g_{\mu \nu }\frac{k_\mu k_\nu }{k^2})+\mathrm{\Pi }_1[\frac{k_\mu k_\nu }{k^2}\frac{k_\mu n_\nu +n_\mu k_\nu }{(kn)}+\frac{k^2n_\mu n_\nu }{(kn)^2}]$$
(14)
The coefficient $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1`$ is absent in the usual flat space case with trivial topology. It arises here because of the explicit breaking of the Lorentz invariance in the $`S^1\times R^3`$ spacetime. The situation is similar to that in statistical quantum field theory, where the presence of a medium breaks the Lorentz invariance giving rise to the compactification of the time variable. The role of $`n_\mu `$ in the finite temperature case is played by the four-velocity of the medium $`u_\mu `$.

From (14) it is easy to see that the polarization operator coefficients can be expressed in terms of the two independent tensor components $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}`$ through the relations

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_0=\frac{k^2}{\kappa }\left[k_3^2k_0^2\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}\widehat{k}^4\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}\right]$$
(15)
$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1=\frac{k^2k_3^2}{\kappa }\left[𝐤^2\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}\widehat{k}^2\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}\right]$$
(16)
where we are using the notation $`\widehat{k}_\mu (k_0,𝐤_{},0)`$ and $`\kappa =\widehat{k}^2(𝐤^2\widehat{k}^2k_0^2k_3^2)`$.

The electromagnetic modes’ masses are found from the poles of the Green’s function (12). From (13), (15) and (16) we have that for photons propagating in a direction perpendicular to the direction of periodicity ($`k_3=0`$) the dispersion relations are

$$k_0^2𝐤_{}^2\frac{\widehat{k}^2}{𝐤_{}^2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}=0$$
(17)
$$k_0^2𝐤_{}^2\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}=0$$
(18)
From Eqs. (17)-(18) we see that the values of the $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}`$ polarization operator components in the limit $`k_3=0`$, $`\left|\widehat{k}\right|0`$ are crucial for the properties of the electromagnetic field propagation in this non-trivial space, since they play the role of the square masses of the electromagnetic modes ($`M_1^2=(\widehat{k}^2/𝐤_{}^2)\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}`$, $`M_2^2=\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}`$). The appearance of the electromagnetic tachyonic mass for untwisted electrons comes precisely from the fact that in the $`a\left|\widehat{k}\right|am1`$ limit, those polarization operator components, calculated on the trivial electromagnetic vacuum ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$), are given by

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}(k_3=0,\widehat{k})\frac{8e^2}{a^2}\left[\frac{1}{12}\frac{\xi }{4}+𝒪(\xi ^2)\right]+𝒪(\widehat{k}^2)$$
(19)
$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}(k_3=0,\widehat{k})\frac{e^2}{3\pi ^2}𝐤_{}^2\left[\frac{1}{4\xi }+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}\xi +𝒪(\xi ^0)\right]+𝒪(k_{}^4)$$
(20)
where $`\xi =am/2\pi 1`$ . The leading term in Eq. (19) coincides with the one reported in Ref. , after a factor correctionThe result in Eq. (4.9) of Ref.  should be multiplied by 2. previously pointed out in Ref. . From (19) and (20) we have that in the $`k_3=0`$,$`\left|\widehat{k}\right|0`$ limit the electromagnetic modes’ masses in the trivial vacuum are $`M_1^2=0`$ and $`M_2^2<0`$ (tachyonic mass) respectively.

To investigate the modification produced in the dispersion equations (17)-(18) by the nontrivial vacuum (9) the polarization operator components $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}`$, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}`$ must be calculated in the background of the non-trivial vacuum state. With this aim, we start from the free-fermion propagator for untwisted fermions in the non-trivial vacuum

$$G(xx^{})=\frac{1}{(2\pi )^3a}d^4p\mathrm{exp}[ip(xx^{})]G(\stackrel{~}{p})$$
(21)
with

$$G(\stackrel{~}{p})=\frac{\stackrel{~}{p}\text{/}m}{\stackrel{~}{p}^2m^2+iϵ},\stackrel{~}{p}_\mu =(p_0,𝐩_{},p_3e\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}})$$
(22)
The polarization operator components corresponding to the Green’s functions (21) can be found to order-$`e^2`$ in the coupling constant from

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }(k)=\frac{4ie^2}{(2\pi )^3a}d^4p\frac{\stackrel{~}{p}_\mu (\stackrel{~}{p}_\nu k_\nu )+\stackrel{~}{p}_\nu (\stackrel{~}{p}_\mu k_\mu )\stackrel{~}{p}(\stackrel{~}{p}k)g_{\mu \nu }+m^2g_{\mu \nu }}{(\stackrel{~}{p}^2m^2)\left[(\stackrel{~}{p}k)^2m^2\right]}$$
(23)
After summation in $`p_3`$ we find for the polarization operator components entering in the dispersion relations (17)-(18)

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}^\mathrm{\Lambda }(k_3=0,\widehat{k})=\frac{e^2}{\pi ^3}𝑑\widehat{p}\frac{2\epsilon _p^2\widehat{p}\widehat{k}}{\epsilon _p\left(\epsilon _{pk}^2\epsilon _p^2\right)}n(p)$$
(24)
$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}^\mathrm{\Lambda }(k_3=0,\widehat{k})=\frac{e^2}{\pi ^3}𝑑\widehat{p}\frac{2p_4\left(p_4k_4\right)+\widehat{p}\widehat{k}}{\epsilon _p\left(\epsilon _{pk}^2\epsilon _p^2\right)}n(p)$$
(25)
where $`\epsilon _p=\sqrt{\widehat{p}^2+m^2}`$, $`\epsilon _{pk}=\sqrt{(\widehat{p}\widehat{k})^2+m^2}`$, and $`n(p)=[1\mathrm{exp}a(\epsilon _p\pm ie\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{min}})]^1=(1+\mathrm{exp}a\epsilon _p)^1`$. Finally, evaluating the integrals in (24), (25) and considering the $`a\left|\widehat{k}\right|am1`$ limit, we obtain

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{33}^\mathrm{\Lambda }(k_3=0,\widehat{k})\frac{e^2}{a^2}\left[\frac{1}{3}+𝒪(\xi ^2)\right]+𝒪(\widehat{k}^2)$$
(26)
$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{00}^\mathrm{\Lambda }(k_3=0,\widehat{k})\frac{e^2}{3\pi ^2}k_{}^2\left[\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}\xi +𝒪(\xi ^0)\right]+𝒪(k_{}^4)$$
(27)
It can be seen that (26) coincides with the result reported for twisted fermions in trivial vacuum in Ref. . Using the results (26) and (27) in the dispersion equations (17)-(18) we find that the electromagnetic modes propagate on the nontrivial vacuum with new masses $`M_1^2\left[\mathrm{\Lambda }\right]=0`$ and $`M_2^2\left[\mathrm{\Lambda }\right]=e^2/3a^2>0`$. It is interesting to notice that if we make the change $`a\beta `$ ($`\beta `$ the inverse temperature) in $`M_2^2\left[\mathrm{\Lambda }\right]`$, then we would formally obtain the well known result in statistical QED  of a Debye screening mass.

Then, we conclude that in the new vacuum state no tachyon is present. Instead, a massive electromagnetic mode, with a mass that depends on the inverse of the compactification radius $`a`$, arises. When the compactification length is taken to infinity ($`a\mathrm{}`$), the flat-space QED theory is regained with zero photon mass. Moreover, the polarization of photons in the presence of twisted or untwisted fermions will be equivalent at least up to the one-loop level. However, they take place in different vacuums, the trivial one for twisted fermions and the nontrivial $`\overline{A}_3=\frac{\pi }{ea}`$ for untwisted ones.

The existence of a massive electromagnetic mode in confined QED for both untwisted and twisted fermions has also implications for the magnetic response of the system. To understand this, let us consider the modified Maxwell equation in linear response theory

$$\left[\mathrm{}\delta _{\mu \nu }\lambda _M^2\delta _{3\mu }\delta _{3\nu }\right]A_\nu =eJ_\mu ,$$
(28)
taken in the Lorentz gauge $`_\mu A^\mu =0.`$ In Eq. (28), we introduced the magnetic length $`\lambda _M=1/M_2\left[\mathrm{\Lambda }\right]`$. Considering an external static and constant current $`I`$ flowing inside the confined space along the $`𝒪𝒵`$-axis, the current density in Eq. (28) becomes $`eJ_3(x)=I\delta ^2(𝐱_{})`$. Then, the induced potential, which is a solution of (28) with periodic boundary conditions in the $`𝒪𝒵`$-direction, will be

$$A_3(x)=\frac{I}{2\pi }K_0\left[\left|𝐱_{}\right|/\lambda _M\right],$$
(29)
where $`K_0`$ denotes a modified Bessel function of the third kind. In the $`\left|𝐱_{}\right|\lambda _M`$ limit we obtain for the corresponding magnetic field

$$𝐁(r)=\frac{I}{2\sqrt{2\pi }}\frac{\mathrm{exp}\left(r/\lambda _M\right)}{\sqrt{r\lambda _M}}\widehat{\theta }$$
(30)
with $`r=\left|𝐱_{}\right|`$ and $`\widehat{\theta }`$ denoting the azimuth-angle unit vector in cylindrical coordinates. From (30) we see that an azimuthal magnetic field will be screened along the radial direction, in a distance equal to the inverse of the topological mass $`M_2\left[\mathrm{\Lambda }\right]`$. When the separation between the two infinite parallel plates decreases, the screening effect increases.

Our results indicate that confined QED exhibits a sort of topological directional superconducting behavior, with a Meissner effect taking place for magnetic fields induced by electric currents flowing in the direction of the compactified dimension. This result could find applications in high-TC superconductivity where, as it is well known, the system is confined to a quasi-two-dimensional space.

Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure for two of the authors (EJF and VI) to express their gratitude to the Institute for Spatial Studies of Catalonia and to the University of Barcelona for the warm hospitality extended to them during the time this work was completed. This work has been supported in part by NSF grant PHY-9722059 (EJF and VI), NSF POWRE grant PHY-9973708 (VI).