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# The late-time expansion of the ejecta of SN 1987A11footnote 1Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and from the data archive at the STScI, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555

## 1 Introduction

The remnant of SN 1987A and its surroundings have been extensively monitored with the *Hubble Space Telescope* (*HST*) since its commissioning, first with the aberated telescope, later with WFPC2 and the COSTAR-corrected FOC, and most recently using STIS. While much attention has been devoted to the study of the inner circumstellar ring (e.g., Panagia et al. 1991; Luo, McCray, & Slavin 1994; Plait et al. 1995; Crotts et al. 1995) and its interaction with the SN blast wave (e.g., Sonneborn et al. 1998; Crotts & Heathcote 2000; Michael et al. 2000), the evolution of the spatially resolved SN ejecta itself is also of considerable interest in its own right.

Jakobsen et al. (1991) demonstrated that the expanding envelope of SN 1987A was spatially resolved by *HST* already in the first FOC images taken 1278 days after the explosion. These data combined with subsequent FOC observations made on days 1754, 2511 and 2533 showed that the outer envelope of SN 1987A was expanding linearly with time in a self-similar fashion (Jakobsen et al. 1994).

The early FOC observations also revealed that the size of the SN debris varies significantly with wavelength, appearing twice as large in the near-UV (F275W filter) compared to the visible (F501N \[O iii\] filter). Jakobsen et al. (1993) suggested that this difference in apparent size is likely due to an opacity effect, with optical depth unity in the near-UV being reached further out in the expanding ejecta compared to the optically thin \[O iii\] line which probes deeper into the expanding envelope. This interpretation was further refined based upon FOS observations obtained by Wang et al. (1996) and Chugai et al. (1997), who showed that the near-UV ($`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$2350-2900) spectrum of SN 1987A spanned by the FOC F275W filter is dominated by a dense grouping of resonance lines containing Mg i $`\lambda `$2852 and Mg ii $`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$2795,2802 and several multiplets of Fe ii. These authors also showed that the velocity-widths of the Mg i $`\lambda `$2852 and Mg ii $`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$2795,2802 lines are in good agreement with the expansion velocities inferred from the FOC near-UV images, and considerably broader than those of the forbidden and semi-forbidden lines which dominate the visible spectrum.

In this paper we present previously unpublished FOC objective prism observations of SN 1987A taken on day 3043 which, by bringing together both imaging and spectroscopic information serve to further explore the cause of the wavelength dependence of the apparant size of SN 1987A. Our main finding is that the largest extent of the ejecta is indeed confined to the above grouping of high opacity near-UV resonance lines, thereby confirming this explanation for the change in apparent size with wavelength. We also compare these new FOC angular diameter measurements to matching measurements derived from archival WFPC-2 and STIS data spanning up to day 4336. We show that, provided care is taken to put the different measures onto a common system by taking the non-zero ellipticity of the SN 1987A envelope into account, the data show good agreement and are consistent with linear expansion of the SN 1987A envelope over the entire $``$8 year time span probed by the publicly available *HST* observations.

At the time of writing, some 14 years after the explosion, the afterglow of SN 1987A proper has faded beyond the reach of *HST* – and is likely to remain so even when the Advanced Camera for Surveys is installed. This paper is therefore an attempt at summarizing the available *HST* data on the shape and expansion of the SN 1987 debris.

## 2 Data

### 2.1 Day 3043 FOC Observations

Low resolution spectra of the remnant of SN 1987A were obtained using the COSTAR-corrected FOC on board *HST* on 1995 June 24 (JD 2,449,892; day 3043). The FOC was used in filterless mode with the F/96 near-UV objective prism inserted. A total exposure of 16683 s was obtained, divided over 12 exposures of 1221.5–1432.5 s each, with pointings dithered in a $`0\stackrel{}{.}2`$ pattern for optimal removal of reseau marks and flatfield features not taken out by the standard “pipeline” procedures.

With the $`512\times 1024`$ pixel detector format used, non-linearity in extended objects sets in at a count rate of 0.08 counts sec-1 pix-1 and saturation at 0.37 counts sec-1 pix-1. The count rates in the spectrum of the SN remnant are within the linear regime even at $`\text{H}\alpha `$ and \[O iii\], but the optical portions of companion stars 2 and 3 (in the enumeration of West et al. 1987) are severely saturated due to the low dispersion of the objective prism at the longer wavelengths. The *HST* roll-angle (V3 position angle) during these observations was 15.2 degrees, causing the spectrum of companion star 2 to overlap the circumstellar ring at the position of the faint foreground star (Plait, Chevalier & Kirshner 1992).

The individual exposures were reduced using the standard *HST* postprocessing software and subsequently combined, weighted by exposure time. To reduce the contamination of the SN remnant spectrum by the near-UV light of star 2, located $`2\stackrel{}{.}9`$ NW of SN 1987A, we used a matched (in wavelength) portion of the spectrum of star 3, located $`1\stackrel{}{.}6`$ to the SE, as a PSF template. None of the stars in the field of view for which we observe the optical portion of the spectrum aproximates the brightness of star 3. For subtraction of star 3 we therefore had to use a fainter star, located $`7\stackrel{}{.}9`$ S of SN 1987A as a template. Although the wings of the optical PSF in the template are not sampled to sufficiently faint levels to provide a good match, subtraction of this scaled-up template does significantly reduce the contamination from star 3 at the position of the SN remnant spectrum. In the following analysis, residual light from star 3 is the dominant source of error in the SN remnant spectrum for wavelengths shortward of 3000Å.

The portion of the co-added and partially subtracted FOC image showing the (slitless) near-UV prism spectrum of SN 1987A is shown in Figure 1. In this exposure, the circumstellar ring appears bright in the light of \[O iii\] and is faintly discernable in $`\text{H}\alpha `$+\[N ii\]. The optical portion of the SN spectrum shows clear features, roughly located at \[O iii\] and $`\text{H}\alpha `$+\[N ii\], but resulting from blends of the lines of Mg i\], Fe ii, $`\text{H}\gamma `$, $`\text{H}\beta `$, and \[O iii\] in the former and Na i, \[O i\] and $`\text{H}\alpha `$+\[N ii\] in the latter case. The SN spectrum is traceable down to a wavelength of $``$$`\lambda `$2200 Å in the near-UV. Moreover, consistent with the previous FOC imaging observations, the near-UV spectrum is noticeably more spatially extended than the visible spectrum.

In order to explore this quantitatively we selected two pixel regions centered on the SN remnant spectrum in the spatial direction and on wavelengths 2625Å and 4850Å in the dispersion direction. Along the dispersion direction we averaged the pixel values in 93 lines and 26 lines, corresponding to 550Å and 1300Å wavelength intervals, respectively. This choice was a compromise between encompassing the respective Mg ii/Mg i/Fe ii and Mg i\]/$`\text{H}\beta `$/Fe ii/\[O iii\] features (see below), and gathering enough signal to reduce the noise while avoiding contamination from the underlying image of the ring. The resulting radial intensity profiles are presented in Figs. 2*a* and 2*b*. The FOC PSF at 2625Å and 4850Å is overlayed in each figure. The apparent size of the SN debris as measured by the FWHM of the radial intensity profiles is 301$`\pm `$7 mas at 2625Å and 201$`\pm `$10 mas at 4850Å. These values are corrected for the PSF. We also selected a third, 20 pixel (700Å) wide region centered at 4350Å, chosen to match a grouping of Fe ii lines and the semi-forbidden Mg i\] line (see Sect. 2.2.1). By sampling the same species (Mg and Fe), a comparison between the NUV and 4350Å line groupings is likely to be cleaner than a comparison with the 4850Å band, or even with the \[O iii\] line. The apparent size (FWHM) of the debris measured in the radial intensity profile at 4350Å (Fig. 2*c*) is 188$`\pm `$13 mas, smallest of any wavelength sampled in these data.

### 2.2 Archival HST data

The data on SN 1987A contained in the public *HST* archive consists of a large number of multifilter WFPC2 images, as well as STIS and FOS near-UV and optical spectra, and the earlier FOC imaging observations. The available data are summarized in Table 1. References to published observations are given in the final column of the table. A large portion of these data were obtained as part of the Supernova INtensive Study (SINS) project. Of the WFPC2 data, we only use the Planetary Camera chip (in the following referred to as PC2) which contains the image of the SN remnant itself.

#### 2.2.1 Spectroscopic observations and line identification

In Fig. 3 we reproduce the 1995 January 7 (Day 2875) FOS spectrum presented in Chugai et al. (1997). The bandpasses of selected *HST* filters are overlayed to show which spectral features contribute most to the total signal in imaging observations through these filters. The identifications of the emission features were taken from Wang et al. (1996) and Chugai et al. (1997).

In the day 3880 STIS observations (1997, October 8) the 2250–3000Å wavelength region is very similar in appearance to the corresponding portion of the 1995 January 7 FOS spectrum of Fig. 3. The NUV features seen in these higher resolution spectra can also be gleaned in the dispersed 1995 June 24 FOC near-UV prism image (Fig. 1).

The 2350–2900Å interval used to extract the radial intensity profile of Fig 2*a* selects the strong NUV resonance lines of Mg ii, Mg i and Fe ii. The F255W (PC2) and F275W (FOC) filters are a good match to this ensemble of lines, although the latter places slightly more weight on the Mg lines. The narrow band filters F501N (FOC) and F502N (PC2) sample emission from \[O iii\] and Fe ii $`\lambda `$5018Å. The F555W (PC2) filter samples a multitude of lines: Mg i\], $`\text{H}\beta `$, \[O iii\], Fe ii, Na i, \[O i\], and $`\text{H}\alpha `$+\[N ii\] in its red tail. Nonetheless, comparisons of F501N and F502N filter data with data in this filter are still meaningful, since the dominant lines spanned by the F555W filter are all low opacity forbidden and semi-forbidden transitions.

In the following we will treat the FOC F275W and PC2 F255W data as equivalent and sampling the resonance line dominated near-UV emission of SN 1987A. The FOC F501N and PC2 F502N, F555W and F547M imaging data are grouped in a similar manner as sampling the forbidden and semi-forbidden visible line emission from SN 1987A.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Ellipticity of the SN debris

The FOC and PC2 imagery reveal that the shape of the SN debris in the visible became noticeably elongated after about day 2500. The later day 3792 F502N and the day 4336 F555W data show apparent axis ratios close to 0.7, whereas the earliest day 1278 and 1754 FOC data were consistent with negligible elongation (Jakobsen et al. 1993). We limit ourselves in the present discussion to the large scale structure of the SN debris. To first order the shape of the debris can be described as elliptical. It is obvious from the best S/N images, especially in the narrow-band filters, that there is fine-structure in the debris. Pun & Kirshner (1996) tentatively described the debris shape as a dumbell-shaped structure. Accurate description of these features and monitoring of their evolution over time, however, would have required excessively long exposure times to obtain the necessary signal.

We derived ellipticities from the 2nd order image moments measured in a small image section centered on the SN remnant. If we denote the 2nd order image moments by $`M_{xx}`$, $`M_{yy}`$ and $`M_{xy}`$ then the ellipticity is given by:

$$ϵ=1b/a=\frac{\sqrt{\left(M_{xx}M_{yy}\right)^2+\left(2M_{xy}\right)^2}}{\left(M_{xx}+M_{yy}\right)}.$$

Initial measurements of the FWHM of the debris (see also Sect. 3.2) and the error thereon were used to define the minimum and maximum size of the image region in which to measure the ellipticities. The ellipticity was measured in a set of nested image sections with halfsizes that grow between FWHM$``$$`\sigma _{\text{FWHM}}`$ and FWHM$`+`$$`\sigma _{\text{FWHM}}`$ with increments of 1 pixel. The adopted ellipticities used in the analysis below are the weighted average of the individual measurements. These tend to be conservative in the sense that in the smaller image sections the measured ellipticity tends to be systematically higher than in the larger sections.

Fig. 4*a* shows that the ellipticity in the \[O iii\] narrow-band filters (FOC/F501N and PC2/F502N) increases approximately linearly with time. A weighted linear least-squares fit gives a rate of change $`dϵ/dt`$ of $`(7.8\pm 1.9)\times 10^5`$ day-1 and onset of the elongation at day $`(600\pm 400)`$. The large errors on the PC2 F502N measurements are due in part to the larger plate scale of the PC2 CCD (compared to the FOC camera), and in part to the low signal levels in the SN debris, as these data were obtained primarily for the purpose of studying the inner circumstellar ring.

The debris shape is dramatically less elongated in the near-UV (FOC/F275W and PC2/F255W) filters compared to the \[O iii\] filter (Fig. 4*b*). It is possible that in the near-UV the ellipticity increases slowly with time, but low surface brightness, low-signal, exposures preclude a definite measure. A small constant ellipticity $`ϵ=1b/a0.05_{0.02}^{+0.03}`$ is consistent with the available data.

### 3.2 Expansion of the SN Debris

In order to quantify the expansion of the envelope of the SN debris in a consistent manner, we have to take its systematic change in elongation at the later stages into account. Also, considering the dimming and hence lower S/N ratios of the more recent data, it is necessary to characterize the size by as robust an estimator as possible. We adopt the FWHM of the intensity profile of the debris, but calculated in terms of an elliptical or equivalent radius. If the semi-major and semi-minor axes at a given surface brightness level are denoted by $`a`$ and $`b`$, respectively, then the elliptical radius $`r`$ corresponding to that isophote is given by $`r=\sqrt{ab}`$. Given an ellipticity $`ϵ=1b/a`$ the elliptical radius is related to the semi-major axis radius by $`r=a\sqrt{1ϵ}`$.

For each epoch of observation and each filter, we performed aperture photometry in a set of nested circular apertures and constructed radial intensity profiles by differencing the signal in consecutive apertures. The FWHM measured in these radial intensity profiles was expressed in terms of elliptical radii by multiplication with the geometric correction term $`\sqrt{1ϵ_\lambda (t)}`$. For $`ϵ_\lambda (t)`$ we adopted the empirical least-squares fits shown for F501N/F502N and F255W/F275W filters in Figs. 4, and similar fits for the other available filters. Using a simple geometric correction was possible because the spatial extent of the debris is much larger than the PSF, and the distribution of the light is fairly smooth and not very concentrated.

In Figs. 5*a* and *b* we present the resulting measures of the size of the SN debris as a function of time for both the visible (F501N, F502N, F547M and F555W) and near-UV (F255W and F275W) data sets. Also plotted are the equivalent “two dimensional” spectroscopic measures derived from the day 3043 FOC near-UV prism data shown in Fig. 2, and a high-quality near-UV point derived in the same way from the day 3880 STIS G230L-grating spectrum. In the case of the spectroscopic measures we also applied a (small) geometric correction to account for the mismatch of the position angles of the dispersion axis and the major axis of the SN debris.

The best-fit linear expansion rates are (10.34$`\pm `$0.84) mas yr-1 for the combined visible, and (16.27$`\pm `$0.83) mas yr-1 for the combined near-UV data. For a distance to SN 1987A of 51 kpc (Panagia et al. 1991) this corresponds to effective expansion velocities of $``$2500 and $``$3930 km s-1, respectively. These values match the earlier results obtained by Jakobsen et al. (1994) from the FOC data of days 1278, 1754 and 2522 to within the respective errors.

#### 3.2.1 Deviations from linear expansion?

The FOC objective prism observations presented above leave little doubt that the larger apparent size of the SN 1987A envelope in the near-UV is due to the emission at these wavelengths being subjected to multiple scattering and reprocessing in the optically thick resonance transitions of Mg i/Mg ii/Fe ii ions located in the outer, faster moving regions of the ejecta as suggested by Wang et al. (1996) and Chugai et al. (1997).

However, as pointed out by the latter authors, in this case one does not expect the outermost regions of the ejecta to grow in a strictly linear fashion. Specifically, in the case of conservative scattering in a linearly expanding envelope displaying a power-law density profile $`\rho (r)r^k`$, the radius at which optical depth unity is reached is expected to increase with time as $`r(t)t^{\frac{k3}{k1}}`$.

As discussed by Chugai et al. (1997), optical depth unity in the Mg ii line is reached in the very outmost regions of the ejecta corresponding to expansion velocities of order $`9000`$ km s-1, where most models assume a very steep density gradient corresponding to $`k9`$. Hence Chugai et al. predicted that outer boundary of the envelope of SN 1987A should expand more slowly than linearly; i.e., as $`r(t)t^{0.75}`$ in the near-UV.

As is evident from Fig. 5, the growth of the size of the SN1987A debris – when defined in terms of the FWHM of the images – remains consistent with linear expansion out to the last available data point (day 4336; 1999 Jan 7) in both the visible and the near-UV. However, these measures probe velocities in the range $``$2500–4000 km s-1. To see the effect predicted by Chugai et al. we need to go 2–3 times further out in the images, corresponding to angular radii of order $`300`$ mas and brightness levels $`10`$% of peak and fainter.

For $`k9`$ the anticipated deviation from linearity at these large radii is only of order $`11\%`$ between day $`2500`$ (and the last high-quality FOC F275W imaging data) and day $`4000`$ (and the last PC2 F255W images). Unfortunately, the available late-time *HST* data on SN 1987A do not allow us to detect such a relatively subtle effect. As is clear from Fig. 2, the outer regions of interest beyond $`200`$ mas radius in the FOC prism data are seriously hampered by contamination from the dispersed images of star 3 and the circumstellar ring. Likewise, as is evident from Fig. 5(b) the S/N ratio of the later day PC2 and STIS data are too low to permit a measure of the image sizes at, say, 10% peak at the required accuracy.

We conclude that there is unfortunately no chance of detecting the effect predicted by Chugai et al. in the late-time HST data – and that the apparent linear expansion displayed in Fig. 5 therefore does not challenge the resonance scattering explanation for the wavelength dependence of the size of the SN 1987A debris.

## 4 Conclusions

We have presented *HST* FOC near-UV objective prism observations of the ejecta of SN 1987A taken on 1995 June 24 (3043 days after the SN outburst). We have combined these data with available archival FOC, WFPC2, and STIS data to study the late-time expansion of the SN debris over a period of $``$8 years. Our main findings are:

1) Provided the pronounced ellipticity of the SN image seen in the visible data is taken into account, the available data are consistent with the SN envelope having expanded linearly in time at all wavelengths out to the last data point sampled (1999 January 7; day 4336).

2) Throughout this expansion, the apparent size of the ejecta, expressed in terms of the FWHM of the radial intensity profile, remained some $``$50% larger in the near-UV than in the visible.

3) The FOC near-UV prism spectrum reveals that the large spatial extent of the SN 1987A image is confined to the 2350-2900 Å wavelength region containing the resonance lines of Mg i, Mg ii and Fe ii, thereby confirming the suggestion of Wang et al. (1996) and Chugai et al. (1997) that the larger apparent size of the SN 1987A envelope in the near-UV is due to multiple scattering and reprocessing in these transitions in the outer regions of the envelope.


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# High Magnetic Field Microwave Conductivity of 2D Electrons in an Array of Antidots

## Abstract

We measure the high magnetic field ($`B`$) microwave conductivity, $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$, of a high mobility 2D electron system containing an antidot array. $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs frequency ($`f`$) increases strongly in the regime of the fractional quantum Hall effect series, with Landau filling $`1/3<\nu <2/3`$. At microwave $`f`$, $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ exhibits a broad peak centered around $`\nu =1/2`$. On the peak, the 10 GHz $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ can exceed its dc-limit value by a factor of 5. This enhanced microwave conductivity is unobservable for temperature $`T0.5`$ K, and grows more pronounced as $`T`$ is decreased. The effect may be due to excitations supported by the antidot edges, but different from the well-known edge magnetoplasmons.

Collective excitations of a two dimensional electron system (2DES) patterned with arrays of microscopic, artificial structures, have long been of particular interest since they can be richer than those of unpatterned 2DES, whose long-wavelength dipolar excitations are constrained by Kohn’s theoremkohnref  to show no effect of electron-electron interaction. One role of the artificial structures is to couple electromagnetic radiation to the 2DES at enhanced wavevector, $`q`$, resulting for example in the observation of 2D plasmonsallentsui  in far infrared (FIR) optical experiments. In other cases the artificial structures support excitations not easily understood as finite-$`q`$ plane wave modes of the free 2DES. An array of antidots (small regions from which electrons are excluded) applied to a 2DES exhibits such an excitationfirantidot , an edge magnetoplasmon encircling the antidots, at much lower frequency than the cyclotron resonance. We now report a microwave-frequency excitation of antidot arrays that occurs only in the low temperature ($`T`$), high magnetic field ($`B`$) regime of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE)fqheorig .

Patterning 2DES with antidot or other nanostructure arrays has also resulted in striking effects in dc transport. Best known are the commensurability oscillationsweissantidot  in low $`B`$, which result from semiclassical ballistic scattering of electrons off the array structures. In an antidot lattice, such “geometric resonance” oscillations appear as resistance peaks at $`B`$’s where the cyclotron orbit of radius $`R_c`$ encircles an antidot or group of antidots. In a development of consequence for the understanding of the FQHE, commensurability oscillations have also been observedkang ; smet  in high $`B`$, near Landau filling $`\nu =1/2`$. These high-$`B`$ oscillations are naturally described by composite fermions (CF’s)hcfreview ; cfreview , exotic particles that contain the electron-electron interaction responsible for the FQHE, and that can (for $`\nu 1/2`$) be thought of as an electron bound up with two flux quanta. Near $`\nu =1/2`$ the CF’s move in an effective magnetic field, $`B_{eff}=BB_{\nu =1/2}`$, and the resulting CF cyclotron orbits of radius $`R_c=\mathrm{}(4\pi n_s^{1/2})/eB_{eff}`$, where $`n_s`$ is the 2DES carrier density, can encircle one antidot or more, resulting in geometric resonance resistance peaks.

This paper presents high $`B`$, finite-frequency measurements of 2DES patterned with nanostructure antidot lattices. The frequency ($`f`$) is varied between 0.1 and 10 GHz, for temperature $`T100`$mK, to cover a previously unexplored regime between the dc and FIR experiments. For $`f`$ above about 2 GHz, over a broad range of $`\nu `$, centered around 1/2, we find that the measured diagonal conductivity of the array, $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$, increases with $`f`$—by as much as a factor of five at 10 GHz. Surprisingly, the antidot array in this regime has microwave conductivity increasing with $`f`$ while decreasing with $`T`$. The enhanced microwave conductivity (1) is present only in the FQHE regime $`\nu <1`$, and at high $`f`$ appears in $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ as a striking broad peak roughly symmetric around $`\nu =1/2`$ and (2) requires $`T<0.5`$ K, and increases as $`T`$ is reduced down to 100 mK. In contrast, the $`\nu 1/2`$ dc-limit conductivity in the same sample is essentially $`T`$-independent below 1 K. Since the enhanced microwave conductivity is produced by the antidots, and has $`T`$ dependence so unlike the dc conductivity, we attribute it to states at the antidot edges which are driven directly by the microwave field.

Our samples were prepared from GaAs-AlGaAs heterojunctions where the 2DES was located approximately 120 nm underneath the sample surface. With the antidots, after low $`T`$ red LED illumination, carrier density, $`n_s`$, was $`1.1\times 10^{11}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. We also measured a reference sample from the same wafer, but without antidots. Without antidots, this wafer had typical, 0.3 K electron mobility of around $`\mu 3.6\times 10^6\mathrm{cm}^2/\mathrm{Vs}`$.

Fig. 1(a) shows a sketch of the sample with antidots. On its top surface, 200 Å Ti and 3500 Å Au were patterned to form a 2 mm long planar transmission line, consisting of a 30 $`\mu `$m wide center strip separated from side planes by 20 $`\mu `$m-wide slots. These slots contain the antidot array, a square lattice with period $`a=`$500 nm. Holes with diameter 50 nm were defined by electron beam lithography and reactive-ion-beam etchingvawter . We report on a sample etched to 50 nm depth; 30 and 70 nm depths gave comparable results. The depleted region around an antidot is much larger than the lithographically defined hole in the wafer; we estimate the depletion region diameter to be 150 to 250 nm. The 2DES in the areas enclosed by the dashed lines in Fig.1(a) was removed by wet etching.

The microwave measurement methods used here are similar to those described in earlier publications engel . $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ is calculated from the effect of the 2DES on microwave propagation through the transmission line which couples capacitively to the 2DES. In the present work, a room-temperature source and receiver are connected to the transmission line by cryogenic coaxial cables. $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$, the real part of the diagonal conductivity of the 2DES, is related to the transmitted power, $`P`$, $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})=W|\mathrm{ln}(P/P_0)|/2Z_0d`$, where $`d=2`$ mm is the total length of the transmission line, $`W=20\mu `$m is the width of a slot, $`P_0`$ is the transmitted power for $`\sigma _{xx}=0`$, and $`Z_0`$ is 50 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, which is the characteristic impedance for the $`\sigma _{xx}=0`$ case. Detailed analysis of the system in the quasi-TEM approximation (including reflections, distributed capacitive coupling, and the effect of the 2DES on the true characteristic impedance of the line) shows an $`f`$ (but not $`T`$ or $`B`$) dependent systematic error of about $`\pm `$ 15 percent in the $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ taken from this formula. The determination of $`P_0`$ produces an additional experimental uncertainty in $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ for $`f>2`$ GHz. This “normalization error” varies strongly with $`f`$ but is independent of $`B`$ and $`T`$. We estimate it as to $`\pm 0.4\mu `$S for $`f>2`$ GHz. The in-plane microwave electric field is largely confined to the slots, so $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ characterizes the 2DES in the slots, where the antidot pattern exists.

At low $`B`$, both microwave transmission and dc magnetoresistance show the well-known commensurability oscillations weissantidot , between the electron cyclotron radius and the period of the antidot array. Fig. 1(b) shows 1 GHz microwave power, $`P`$, sent through the transmission line, vs $`B`$ in the low magnetic field range. Electron geometric resonances appear for cyclotron orbits circling one and four antidots, indicating that in between the antidots there is low-disorder 2DES, characterized by mean free path $`3\mu `$m.

We now focus on high magnetic fields, especially the range $`2/3<\nu <1/3`$, for which we obtained our main results. Fig. 2(a) shows traces $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ for several frequencies $`f`$. At the lowest $`f`$ of 0.1 GHz, the trace shows features well-known from dc transport, with several dips in $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ coming from the FQHE, including the 3/7 and 4/7 FQH states. Around $`\nu =1/2`$ ($`B=8.5`$ T), this trace exhibits a small peak which is marked “CF” in the figure, since it is likely an effect of the CF Fermi surface. This peak is absent in the sample without the antidots. We ascribe this small peak to the antidots or to residual disorder induced by the antidot lithography. $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ shows no geometric resonances corresponding to CF cyclotron orbits around antidots; observationkang ; smet  of these resonances requires lower disorder samples.

Our main result appears in the successively higher-$`f`$ traces of Fig. 2(a). Around 8.5 T, where $`\nu =1/2`$, $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ develops a broad maximum, which dominates the conductivity at high $`f`$. $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ clearly increases monotonically with $`f`$ in the $`B`$ range of this maximum from $`B`$ just above the 2/3 FQHE minimum up to our highest $`B`$ just below the 1/3 effect. The $`f`$ dependence is more complicated for $`B`$ just above the $`\nu =1`$ integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE), where $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ apparently decreases with $`f`$ between 0.1 and $``$ 4 GHz. The data in Fig. 2(b) show that the strong frequency response of the conductivity only exists for $`T<0.5`$ K. Fig. 2(b) shows $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ for $`f=8`$ GHz, measured at several temperatures. The broad $`\nu 1/2`$ maximum in $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$ disappears gradually as the temperature is increased; the peak height is roughly halved at 200 mK, and the peak is unobservable at 600 mK.

In Fig. 2(a), the normalization error is small for the 0.1 GHz trace, and can only shift the other traces by $`B`$-independent constants, estimated to be within $`\pm 0.4\mu `$S. Normalization error, which is independent of $`T`$ as well as of $`B`$ could uniformly shift all the curves together in Fig. 2(b) by $`\pm 0.4\mu `$S.

Fig. 3 summarizes the trends evident from Fig. 2. $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`f`$ at $`T`$ 100 mK is plotted in Fig. 3(a) for $`\nu =1/2,2/3,3/5`$ and $`2/5`$. For the reference sample lacking antidots (open symbols, dotted line), the error bars shown are mainly due to normalization error, and $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`f`$ is constant within this error. The strong $`f`$-dependence is clearly associated with the antidots. Both the reference sample and the antidot sample have some $`f`$ sensitivity at the edges of and around transitions between QHE minima, but only the antidot sample shows the increasing $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`f`$ in the $`1/3<\nu <2/3`$ regime. The strong $`T`$ dependence of the high $`f`$ conductivity is summarized in Fig. 3(b). $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`T`$ is shown at $`\nu =1/2`$ ($`B=8.5`$ T ) for $`f=`$0.1, 4, 8 GHz. For $`T>0.5K`$, the conductivity is nearly the same at microwave frequencies and at 0.1 GHz. As $`T`$ is decreased below 0.5 K, the contrast between low-$`f`$ and microwave conductivity is striking: $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ is nearly $`T`$-independent at low $`f`$, but at higher $`f`$ increases strongly with decreasing $`T`$.

The $`f`$ dependent conductivity of CF’s or magnetically scattered electrons may be described with a Drude model, with characteristic scattering time $`\tau `$. At $`\nu =1/2`$, the observed complex conductivity $`\sigma _{xx}`$ is related to the CF conductivity $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{xx}`$ by $`\sigma _{xx}=\sigma _{1/2}^2/\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{xx}`$hcfreview , where $`\sigma _{1/2}=2e^2/h`$. The Drude model gives $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{xx}=\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{dc}/(1+i\omega \tau )`$, where $`\omega =2\pi f`$, so observed $`\sigma _{xx}=(1+i\omega \tau )\sigma _{dc}`$. Thus, $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ constant with $`f`$ is called for by the Drude model for CFs, contrary to our experimental results on antidot lattices. Recent theoretical work wilke  applicable to $`\nu =1/2`$ CF transport and to magnetic scattering of electrons in a disorder potential, points out corrections to the Drude model. For $`\omega \tau <<1`$, and weak random potentials, that theory predicts increasing $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`f`$ at $`\nu =1/2`$.

Delocalized CF’s must exist between the antidots to cause the dc-limit conductivity, but cannot explain the $`T`$-dependence of the high-$`f`$ peak in $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ vs $`B`$. As shown in Fig. 3(b), the low $`f`$, $`\nu =1/2`$ conductivity is essentially $`T`$ independent for $`T1`$ K. Hence scattering that leads to dc resistance at $`\nu =1/2`$ is not causing the increase of $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$ at high $`f`$, which is strongly reduced even at 200 mK.

Since the enhanced microwave absorption is produced by the antidots, it is reasonable to assume it arises from states at the antidot edges. These states would couple to the microwave field, to contribute to transport at microwave frequencies, but not at dc. Changes in the configuration of the edge states, or in their ability to dissipate microwave power would then be responsible for the $`T`$ dependence of the observed high $`f`$ $`\text{Re}(\sigma _{xx})`$. No peak in the spectrum is observed, so the measurement can be interpreted as a lossy dielectric response, effectively accessing just the low $`f`$ tail of edge modes.

The present experiment operates in a different regime than previous edge spectroscopyfirantidot ; firdots ; rfemp ; ashoori ; ernstfqh , and may access edge modes of novel type. The microwave frequency and temperature are lower than in FIRfirantidot ; firdots  investigations, and the antidot edges are much shorter than the edges looked at in rfrfemp  or pulsed experimentsashoori ; ernstfqh  on large QHE samples. Besides accessing large wavevectors, the smallness of the antidots can make the present measurement sensitive to modes that would be completely damped out on macroscopic edges.

The states at the edges of quantum Hall systems depend on the softness of the edge potential profile. The edge potential of the etched antidots in our sample must vary slowly on the scale of the magnetic length, $`(\mathrm{}/eB)^{1/2}`$, and so is expected to undergo reconstruction into alternating compressible and incompressible stripschklovskii . Because we observe well-defined FQHE states there are apparently regions between the antidots that are well-characterized by bulk states. The antidot depletion diameter (150-250 nm) and lattice constant (500nm) then constrain the length over which strips could develop.

While much is not understood about quantum-Hall edges, tunneling experimentschang ; grayson  have revealed behavior of fractional-regime edges that matches the chiral Luttinger liquid description of FQHE edgeswen , and distinct, non-interacting Fermi liquid behavior of IQHE edges. Tunneling experiments measure I-V curves for tunneling into edges of QHE systems; the I-V curves contain a power law regime, in which $`IV^\alpha `$. Two features of the tunneling results may correlate with the present microwave data. First, like the microwave absorption the tunneling behaves differently in the fractional regime, $`\nu <1`$, than it does higher $`\nu `$. With $`\nu <1`$, $`\alpha `$ takes the value $`(\nu ^11)`$, and as had been predicted for a chiral Luttinger liquid based theorywen , while $`\alpha `$ is roughly unity for $`\nu >1`$ chang . Second, $`\alpha `$ has been observed to vary continuously according to this formula as $`\nu `$ is sweptgrayson . This tunneling behavior holds continuously for a range of $`\nu `$, including $`1/2`$, that is essentially the same as that for which we observe enhanced microwave absorption.

Finally, we cannot rule out more exotic states of the antidot edges as explanations of the low $`T`$ microwave absorption. Edge modes coupled with phonons in the host semiconductor have been predicted theoreticallyheinonenphonon , and would likely be quite sensitive to $`T`$. Edge charge density waves (Wigner crystal) wcrefs  have been predicted to develop at QHE edges, and could be $`T`$ sensitive. Coupling between edges of neighboring antidots could play a role in modes of an antidot array like that studied here.

In conclusion, we observe an anomalous microwave response vs $`f`$ on antidot patterned 2DES at high magnetic fields. The observed $`T`$-dependence suggests that the effect is associated with the edges of the antidots.

We thank N. Bonesteel and Kun Yang for valuable discussions, and Jian Wang and Jie Yao for assistance. This work is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Science Foundation.


text:
# The nuclear equation of state probed by 𝐾⁺ production in heavy ion collisions *footnote **footnote *Proceedings to the XXXIX Interantional Winter Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Bormio, Italy, 2001

## I Introduction

From the very beginning kaons have been considered as one of the best probes to study dense and hot nuclear matter formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions . In particular at incident energies below the corresponding production thresholds in free space $`K^+`$ mesons are created in the early and high density phase of such reactions and – due to strangeness conservation – are not reabsorbed by the nuclear environment. Furthermore, there exist strong evidences that kaons change their properties inside the nuclear medium as predicted by effective chiral models . The investigation of a partial restoration of chiral symmetry in dense matter probed by $`K`$ mesons has strongly stimulated both experimental and theoretical efforts in the recent years .

The original motivation to study the kaon production in heavy ion reactions at intermediate energies, namely to extract information on the nuclear equation of state (EOS) at high densities is a matter of current debate. Already in the first theoretical investigations by transport models it was noticed that the $`K^+`$ yield reacts sensitive on the nuclear equation of state , i.e. it was found to be about a factor 2–3 larger when a soft EOS was applied compared to a hard EOS. At that time the available data  already favoured a soft equation of state. However, calculations as well as the experimental data were still burdened with large uncertainties. It was further noticed  that the influence of the repulsive momentum dependent part of the nuclear interaction leads to a strong suppression of the kaon abundances. An underprediction of $`K^+`$ yields using more realistic momentum dependent forces was due to the fact that the production mechanism is twofold: baryon induced processes $`BBBYK^+`$ where the kaon is created via binary baryon–baryon collisions ($`B`$ stands either for a nucleon or a $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$–resonance and $`Y`$ for a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ or a $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ hyperon, respectively) and processes $`\pi BYK^+`$ induced by pion absorption. In the early studies on subthreshold $`K^+`$ production only the baryon induced channels have been considered . As shown in  the pionic channel plays an important role, particular in heavy systems. Taking this fact into account the kaon yield could be explained adopting realistic momentum dependent nuclear interactions . However, the dependence of the kaon production on the nuclear EOS turned now out to be too small for definite conclusions.

The a recent work  we studied the question if in the meantime decisive information on the nuclear EOS can be extracted from subthreshold kaon production in heavy ion collisions. There are several reasons why it appears worthwhile to do this: Firstly, there has been significant progress in the recent years towards a more precise determination of the elementary kaon production cross sections , based also on new data points form the COSY-11 for the reactions $`pppK^+X`$ very close to threshold . Secondly, the KaoS Collaboration has performed systematic measurements of the $`K^+`$ production far below threshold in heavy ($`Au+Au`$) and light ($`C+C`$) systems . Looking at the ratios built from heavy and light systems possible uncertainties which might still exist in the theoretical calculations should cancel out to a large extent which allows to draw reliable conclusions. Furthermore, far below threshold the kaon production is a highly collective process and a particular sensitivity to the compression of the participant matter is expected.

## II The Model

The present investigations are based on the Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) transport model . For the nuclear EOS we adopt soft and hard Skyrme forces corresponding to a compression modulus of K=200 MeV and 380 MeV, respectively, and with a momentum dependence adjusted to the empirical optical nucleon-nucleus potential . The saturation point of nuclear matter is thereby fixed at $`E_B=16`$ MeV and $`\rho _{\mathrm{sat}}=0.17\mathrm{fm}^3`$ . The calculations include $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`N^{}(1440)`$ resonances with . The QMD approach with Skyrme interactions is well tested, contains a controlled momentum dependence and provides a reliable description of the reaction dynamics in the SIS energy range, expressed e.g. by collective nucleon flow observables as well as particle production. Also the EOS predicted by microscopic approaches (G-matrix)  is similar to the soft version of the Skyrme interaction for densities up to $`2\rho _{\mathrm{sat}}`$.

We further consider the influence of an in-medium kaon potential based on effective chiral models . The $`K^+`$ mean field consists of a repulsive vector part $`V_\mu =3/8f_\pi ^2j_\mu `$ and an attractive scalar part $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_S=m_\mathrm{K}m_\mathrm{K}^{}=m_\mathrm{K}\sqrt{m_\mathrm{K}^2\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{KN}}}{f_\pi ^2}\rho _\mathrm{s}+V_\mu V^\mu }`$. Here $`j_\mu `$ is the baryon vector current and $`\rho _\mathrm{s}`$ the scalar baryon density and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{KN}}=450`$ MeV. Following  in the vector field the pion decay constant in the medium $`f_\pi ^2=0.6f_\pi ^2`$ is used. However, the enhancement of the scalar part using $`f_\pi ^2`$ is compensated by higher order contributions in the chiral expansion , and therefore here the bare value is used, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{KN}}\rho _\mathrm{s}/f_\pi ^2`$. Compared to other chiral approaches  the resulting kaon dispersion relation shows a relatively strong density dependence. The increase of the in-medium $`K^+`$ mass $`\stackrel{~}{m}_\mathrm{K}`$, Eq. (2), with this parameterisation is still consistent with the empirical knowledge of kaon-nucleus scattering and allows to explore in-medium effects on the production mechanism arising from zero temperature kaon potentials. For the kaon production via pion absorption $`\pi BYK^+`$ the elementary cross section of  are used. For the $`NNBYK^+`$ channels we apply the cross sections of Ref.  which give a good fit to the COSY-data close to threshold. For the case of $`N\mathrm{\Delta }BYK^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Delta }BYK^+`$ reactions experimental are rare. Thus we rely on the model calculation of ref. . In the case that a $`N^{}`$ resonance is involved in the reaction we used the same cross section as for nucleons. In the presence of scalar and vector fields the kaon optical potential in nuclear matter has the same structure as the corresponding Schroedinger equivalent optical potential for nucleons

$$U_{\mathrm{opt}}(\rho ,𝐤)=\mathrm{\Sigma }_S+\frac{1}{m_\mathrm{K}}k_\mu V^\mu +\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_S^2V_\mu ^2}{2m_\mathrm{K}}.$$
(1)
and leads to a shift of the thresholds conditions inside the medium. To fulfil energy-momentum conservation the optical potential is absorbed into an newly defined effective mass

$$\stackrel{~}{m}_\mathrm{K}(\rho ,𝐤)=\sqrt{m_\mathrm{K}^2+2m_\mathrm{K}U_{\mathrm{opt}}(\rho ,𝐤)}$$
(2)
which is a Lorentz scalar and sets the canonical momenta on the mass-shell $`0=k_\mu ^2\stackrel{~}{m}_\mathrm{K}^2`$. Thus, e.g., the threshold condition for $`K^+`$ production in baryon induced reactions reads $`\sqrt{s}\stackrel{~}{m}_B+\stackrel{~}{m}_Y+\stackrel{~}{m}_K`$ with $`\sqrt{s}`$ the centre–of–mass energy of the colliding baryons. For a consistent treatment of the thresholds the scalar and vector baryon mean fields entering into eq. (2) are determined from two versions of the non-linear Walecka model with K=200/380 MeV, respectively . The hyperon field is thereby scaled by 2/3 which yields also a good description of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ flow . Since the parameterisations chosen for the non-linear Walecka model yield the same EOS as the Skyrme ones, the overall energy is conserved. The kaon production is treated perturbatively and does generally not affect the reaction dynamics .

## III EOS dependence of $`K^+`$ production

In Fig. 1 the $`K^+`$ excitation function for $`Au+Au`$ and $`C+C`$ reactions starting from 0.8 A$``$GeV which is far below threshold ($`E_{thr}=`$ 1.58 GeV) are shown. The calculations are performed for a soft/hard EOS including the in-medium kaon potential. For both systems the agreement with the KaoS data  is very good when a soft EOS is used. In the large system there is a visible EOS effect which is absent in the light system. To estimate the influence of the in-medium kaon potential for $`C+C`$ also calculations without potential are shown. Already in the light system the $`K^+`$ yield is reduced by about $`50\%`$ by the influence of the potential which is essential to reproduce the data .

To extract more clear information on the nuclear EOS next we consider the ratio $`R`$ of the kaon multiplicities obtained in $`Au+Au`$ over $`C+C`$ reactions, normalised to the corresponding mass numbers. In Fig. 2 central (b=0 fm) collisions are analysed. Going far below threshold $`R`$ strongly increases when a soft EOS is applied whereas the increase of $`R`$ is much less pronounced using the stiff EOS and $`R`$ even slightly drops at the lowest energy.

Hence, this ratio reflects the higher compression achieved in the heavy system. The $`C+C`$ system, on the other hand, is too small to develop a significantly larger compression in the case of a soft EOS compared to the hard EOS. Moreover, in the latter case the slightly more energetic binary collisions lead even to a higher $`K^+`$ yield in the case of a hard EOS at 0.8 A$``$GeV. Remarkably, this behaviour is seen despite of the presence of an in-medium kaon potential which acts opposite to the EOS effect: a higher compression increases the kaon yield but also the value of the in-medium kaon mass which, on the other hand, tends to lower the yield again. However, the increase of the in-medium mass goes linear with density whereas the collision rate per volume increases approximately with $`\rho ^2`$. E.g. in central $`Au+Au`$ reactions at 0.8 A$``$GeV the average density $`<\rho >`$ at kaon production is enhanced from 1.47 to 1.57 $`\rho _{\mathrm{sat}}`$ switching from the hard to the soft EOS. This leads to an average shift of the in-medium mass (2) compared to the vacuum value of 55/61 MeV using the hard/soft EOS, i.e. a relative shift of 6 MeV between soft and hard. However, collective effects like the accumulation of energy by multiple scattering show a higher sensitivity on the compression resulting in an enhancement of the available energy $`<\sqrt{s}>=90`$ MeV applying the soft EOS. For $`C+C`$ this effect is reverse ($`<\sqrt{s}>=45`$ MeV) since the system is too small to develop a significant difference in compression and more repulsive collisions enhance the $`K^+`$ yield at low energies. This effect disappears above 1.0 A$``$GeV. There exists thus a visuable EOS dependence of the kaon multiplicities.

The comparison to the KaoS data  is finally made in Fig. 3. Here only calculations including the kaon potential are shown since it is already clear from Fig. 1 that without the potential one is not able to reproduce the experimental yields. The calculations are performed under minimal bias conditions with $`b_{\mathrm{max}}=11`$ fm for $`Au+Au`$ and $`b_{\mathrm{max}}=5`$ fm for $`C+C`$ and normalised to the experimental reaction cross sections . Both calculations show an increase of $`R`$ with decreasing incident energy down to 1.0 A$``$GeV. As already seen for the central collisions this increase is much less pronounced using the stiff EOS. In the latter case $`R`$ even drops for 0.8 A$``$GeV whereas the soft EOS leads to an unrelieved increase of $`R`$. At 1.5 A$``$GeV which is already very close to threshold the differences between the two models tend to disappear. The overall behaviour of $`R`$ is found to be quite independent of the various production channels with initial states $`i=NN,\pi N,N\mathrm{\Delta },\pi \mathrm{\Delta },\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Ratios $`R_i`$ built separately for the individual channels show in both cases (soft or hard) a similar energy dependence as the total $`R`$ (except of $`R_{\pi \mathrm{\Delta }}`$ which tends to remain large also at high energies). The transport calculations further demonstrate that the increase of $`R`$ is not is not caused by a trivial, i.e. EOS independent limitation of phase space at low energy in the small system. This is supported by the fact that the number of collisions which the involved particles encountered prior to the production of a kaon and which is a measure of the collectivity provided by the system does not reach a sharp limit for $`C+C`$ at low energies. The strong increase of $`R`$ can be directly related to higher compressible nuclear matter. The comparison to the experimental data from KaoS  where the increase of $`R`$ is even more pronounced strongly favours a soft equation of state.

## IV Phase space for $`K^+`$ production

To obtain a quantitative picture of the explored density effects in Fig. 4 the baryon densities are shown at which the kaons are created. The energy is chosen most below threshold, i.e. at 0.8 A$``$GeV and only central collisions are considered where the effects are maximal. $`dM_{K^+}/d\rho `$ is defined as

$$dM_{K^+}/d\rho =\underset{i}{\overset{N_{K^+}}{}}\frac{dP_i}{d\rho _B(𝐱_i,t_i)}$$
(3)
where $`\rho _B`$ is the baryon density at which the kaon $`i`$ was created and $`P_i`$ is the corresponding production probability. For the comparison of the two systems the curves are normalised to the corresponding mass numbers.

Fig.4 illustrates several features: Only in the case of a soft EOS the mean densities at which kaons are created differ significantly for the two different reaction systems, i.e. $`<\rho /\rho _{\mathrm{sat}}>`$=1.46/1.40 ($`C+C`$) and 1.47/1.57 ($`Au+Au`$) using the hard/soft EOS. Generally, in $`C+C`$ densities above $`2\rho _{\mathrm{sat}}`$ are rarely reached whereas in $`Au+Au`$ the kaons are created at densities up to three times saturation density. Furthermore, for $`C+C`$ the density distributions are weakly dependent on the nuclear EOS. The situation changes completely in $`Au+Au`$. Here the densities profile shows a pronounced EOS dependence . Moreover, the excess of kaons obtained with the soft EOS originates almost exclusively from high density matter which demonstrates that compression effects are probed.

Similar to the desnsity shown before a quantitative impression of the importance of collective and phase space effects can be obtained. Thus in Fig. 5 the average number of collisions for those hadrons ($`N,\mathrm{\Delta },\pi `$) which were involved in the $`K^+`$ production are displayed. Again only central collisions are considered where the effects are maximal. $`<N_C>`$ is defined as

$$<N_C>=\underset{i}{\overset{N_{K^+}}{}}\frac{1}{2}(N_{C_1}^i+N_{C_2}^i)P_i/\underset{i}{\overset{N_{K^+}}{}}P_i$$
(4)
with $`N_C^i`$ being the number of collisions which particles ($`1,2`$) experienced before they produced kaon $`i`$, and $`P_i`$ is the corresponding production probability. It is seen that in average the particles undergo about twice as much relevant collisions in the heavy compared to the light system. Furthermore, the collectivity, i.e. the accumulation of energy by multiple scattering, increases with decreasing incident energy. This feature is found to be independent of the system size. Thus one can conclude that the increase of $`R`$ is not due to a trivial phase space effect, namely the fact that far below threshold the $`C+C`$ system is simply too small to provide enough collectivity for kaon production. If such a scenario - which could model independently as well explain the rise of $`R`$ seen in the KaoS data - would be true, $`<N_C>`$ would have to saturate for $`C+C`$ at low energies. This is obviously not the case. Moreover, building also here the ratio (lower panel of Fig. 5) it seems that the relative enhancement of available phase space for $`K^+`$ production in the large system is decreasing at low energies. In the last figure we show $`<N_C>`$ (b=0 fm, SMD, with kaon pot.) for an even smaller system $`Li^6`$. Also here the number of NN-collisions involved in the production of a $`K^+`$ increases going far below threshold. This demonstrates that $`K^+`$ production far below threshold always requires a certain amount of collectivity which can be provided also in a very small colliding system, though such processes are extremely rare. There is, however, no sharp limit were such collision histories become impossible. Thus trivial phase space effects can be excluded for an explanation of the increase of $`R`$.

In  a similar argument was based on the measurement of high energy pions which can test the phase space available for paricle production. Astonishingly, the corresponding ratio buildt from high energy pions does not show any energy dependence but the excitation function remains almost constant. This feature contradicts a thermal interpretation where one expects particle abundances to be exclusively governed by phase space, independent from the fact if the necessary energy goes into mass or momentum. Above threshold $`K^+`$ production shows $`m_t`$ scaling according to available phase space, even if the particles are not produced from an equilibrated source . However, even if one assumes a thermal picture (which is, we believe that is does not hold for kaons at SIS energies since it is in contradiction to the knowledge from transport calculations) kaons and high $`p_t`$ pions should behave different below and around threshold. As shown in  a thermal description at SIS energies must account for strangeness conservation in the $`K^+`$ production mechanism which, via the associated hyperons, introduces a dependence on the baryon chemical potential which is absent for the thermal pion yield. Thus $`K^+`$ production is coupled to the baryon density whereas high energy pions depend only the temperature. This simple consideration illustrates that it can not a priori be excpected that high energy pions behave like kaons. However, the constant pion ratio supports our phase space arguments given above and the fact that non-trivial, i.e. EOS effects, are responsible for the strong increase of $`R`$ seen for the kaons.

## V Summary

To summarise, we find that at incident energies far below the free threshold $`K^+`$ production is a suitable tool to study the dependence on the nuclear equation of state. Using a light system as reference frame there is a visible sensitivity on the EOS when ratios of heavy ($`Au+Au`$) over light ($`C+C`$) systems are considered. Transport calculations indicate that the $`K^+`$ production gets hardly affected by compressional effects in $`C+C`$ but is highly sensitive to the high density matter ($`1\rho /\rho _{\mathrm{sat}}3`$) created in $`Au+Au`$ reactions. Results for the $`K^+`$ excitation function in $`Au+Au`$ over $`C+C`$ reactions as measured by the KaoS Collaboration, strongly support the scenario with a soft EOS. This statement is also valid when an enhancement of the in-medium kaon mass as predicted by chiral models is taken into account.

The authors would like to acknowledge valuable discussions with J. Aichelin, H. Oeschler, P. Senger and C. Sturm.


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# FUSE Observations of Capella

## 1 Introduction

The *Capella* system ($`\alpha `$ Aurigae = HR 1708 = HD 34029), consisting principally of two nearby cool giant stars (G1 III + G8 III) forming a spectroscopic binary, has long been a popular object because it is a bright target at virtually all energies. In the far ultraviolet (900–1200 Å), *Capella* was first observed with Copernicus in H Ly$`\alpha `$ and O vi $`\lambda `$1032 (Dupree 1975), and subsequently with HUT (Kruk et al. 1999) and the Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometers (*ORFEUS I*). High resolution data with the *International Ultraviolet Explorer* (*IUE*; Ayres 1988) and the *Hubble Space Telescope* Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (*HST*/GHRS; Linsky et al. 1995) spectroscopically resolves the two giants through velocity separation. Direct UV image separation of the chromospheric and transition region emissions has also been achieved with *HST* (Young & Dupree 2001). *Capella* is a target of the PI team on *FUSE*, forming a part of the cool star survey and local D/H program.

## 2 FUSE Observations and Spectra

*FUSE* is described in detail by Moos et al. (2000). Four individual telescopes cover the wavelength range 905–1187 Å and they are denoted by the coatings on their optical elements: LiF1, LiF2, SiC1 and SiC2. Spectra from each channel are imaged onto two detector segments, labelled A and B so that the eight individual spectra are termed LiF1A, LiF1B, SiC1A, etc. Three apertures are available for observing: in order of decreasing size these are the LWRS, the MDRS and the HIRS. For the two smaller apertures, there is a risk of losing the target in the aperture during the observation, but they have the advantage of lower airglow contamination compared to the LWRS and so are preferred for, e.g., the study of the hydrogen Lyman series lines.

Within a single spectrum, the relative wavelength calibration is good to 5–10 km/s, but the absolute wavelength calibration of *FUSE* is not well determined as there is no onboard calibration lamp. The wavelength scale can be fixed, however, by making use of interstellar absorption lines which have a velocity known from other methods. For emission line sources such as cool stars, the lack of a continuum means that such absorption lines are not common. The two most commonly observed are C iii 977.020 Å and C ii 1036.337 Å which are superimposed upon the corresponding stellar emission lines. They potentially allow the wavelength scale to be set for all channels except LiF2A and LiF1B. Caution must be exercised, however, as the $`\lambda `$977 absorption may be intrinsic to the star in some cases.

*Capella* was observed on 5 and 7 Nov. 2000 with the LWRS aperture (program IDs P1041301 and P1041302) for 14.2 and 12.3 ksec. A further observation of 21.2 ksec was obtained on 11 Jan. 2001 in the MDRS aperture (program ID P1041303). A loss of flux occurred in all channels in the latter observation as the target moved in the aperture making emission line fluxes unreliable. The data were processed with v.1.8.7 of the *FUSE* calibration pipeline. The ephemeris of Hummel et al. (1994) and the radial velocity measurements of Barlow et al. (1993) indicate that the heliocentric radial velocities of the stars during the three observations are: +7.1, +8.1, +32.8 km s-1 (G8 giant), and +52.4, +51.3 and +25.4 km s-1 (G1 giant).

Fig. 1 shows spectra from observation P1041301 that cover the entire *FUSE* spectral range together with a solar spectrum. Identifications are based on the solar spectrum and predictions from CHIANTI (Dere et al. 2001) using the emission measure distribution and densities from UV and EUV observations of *Capella* (Brickhouse et al. 2000). The *Capella* spectrum is strikingly similar to the solar spectrum both in terms of the relative strengths of the stronger lines and the strengths of the numerous weaker features. The central differences lie in the broader line profiles and the presence of Fe xviii $`\lambda `$974 (discussed later) in *Capella*. Some lines are proportionately weaker or stronger in the *Capella* spectrum, for example the N iv lines at 922–924 Å are stronger which may indicate abundance anomalies in the G8 giant as suggested in Linsky et al. (1995). The broader lines found in *Capella* are due both to the combined emission from the two giants and the intrinsically larger broadening of the G1 lines. We draw attention to the C i recombination continuum extending below $`1100`$ Å to $`1000`$ Å which is seen clearly in both spectra. Several absorption lines can be seen superimposed on this continuum and these, together with the interstellar absorption lines, will be discussed in a later paper (S. Redfield et al., in preparation).

Table 1 presents fluxes and total counts in selected emission lines. A complete line list for the spectrum is available at http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/analysis/cool\_stars/capella\_linelist.html. Although dominated by the resonance lines of C iii and O vi, the spectrum exhibits a wealth of weaker lines. Elements represented include H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Si, S and Fe. We discuss features of individual lines below.

## 3 O VI Emission

The O vi $`\lambda `$1032 line is unblended and displays broad wings that extend out to $``$$`\pm 600`$ km s-1 from line center, which could represent microflaring activity (Wood et al. 1997) or emission from regions extending well above the stars’ surfaces. Use of the C ii $`\lambda `$1036 absorption line to fix the wavelength of the $`\lambda `$1032 line shows that the G1 star dominates the $`\lambda `$1032 emission, consistent with lower temperature transition region lines observed with *IUE* and GHRS (Ayres 1988; Linsky et al. 1995). The O vi $`\lambda `$1038 line is partially blended with the C ii 1037.018 Å emission line, but the $`\lambda `$1038/$`\lambda `$1032 ratio is $``$ 1:2, indicating that the plasma is optically thin at these wavelengths.

## 4 C III and Chromospheric Density

The ratio of the C iii $`\lambda `$977 and $`\lambda `$1176 lines provides an excellent electron density diagnostic between $`10^8`$ and $`10^{11}`$ cm-3 for optically thin plasmas (Dupree et al. 1976). The observed flux ratio (erg units) $`\lambda `$1176/$`\lambda `$977 from observation P1041301 equals 0.51$`\pm `$0.01 which translates to an electron density of 2$`\times `$1010 cm-3 using atomic data from CHIANTI. The drop in the $`\lambda `$977 flux in the second LWRS observation (Sect. 7) leads to a higher density of 8$`\times `$1010 cm-3. The corresponding electron pressures are $``$ 2–8$`\times 10^{15}`$ K cm-3, values consistent with the C v pressure obtained by Ness et al. (2001) from *Chandra* spectra and would indicate constant pressure through the *Capella* giants’ transition regions. Much higher pressures are found at higher temperatures, based on EUV density diagnostics of Fe xix and Fe xxi which yield densities of $``$1012 cm-3 (Dupree et al. 1993; Brickhouse 1996), indicating inhomogeneous structures.

The derived density from the C iii lines must be treated with caution as they show evidence of optical depth effects. Fig. 2 compares the *Capella* $`\lambda `$1176 profile with a simulated optically thin profile calculated using CHIANTI and assuming a cool-to-hot giant ratio of 1/5. The $`\lambda `$1176 feature comprises six individual transitions spread over 1.5 Å and although the lower levels of the transitions belong to an excited configuration, they can have populations comparable to the ground 1S level at electron densities $`10^{10}`$ cm-3, allowing the possibility of photoabsorption from these levels. Clearly the strong peak expected from the 1175.711 Å transition (the strongest of the multiplet) is much weaker in *Capella*. This reduction in the observed strength of the 1175.711 Å line compared to the optically thin case has been observed in solar spectra taken near the limb which indicate that the $`\lambda `$1175.711/$`\lambda `$1174.933 ratio can fall to 50% of the optically thin value (Doyle & McWhirter 1980). Further work is required to model radiative transfer in the C iii lines.

## 5 The Lyman Series of Hydrogen

The H i Ly$`\alpha `$ line of *Capella* has been extensively studied in the past from *Copernicus*, *IUE*, and GHRS data. A key feature is that the red peak of the line is stronger than the blue peak at all orbital phases (Ayres 1993), suggesting that there is an outflow leading to preferential weakening of the blue wing of the line (Dupree 1975; Ayres 1993). The *FUSE* MDRS observation of *Capella* reveals, for the first time, this structure in the higher Lyman series. A possible explanation for the asymmetry is an acceleration throughout the chromosphere. Fig. 3 compares the *FUSE* H i Ly$`\beta `$ and H i Ly$`\gamma `$ lines with the Ly$`\alpha `$ line obtained in Sep. 1999 by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the *HST*.

## 6 Coronal Ions: Fe XVIII

For stars with coronae extending to temperatures of $``$$`10^7`$ K, emission lines from highly-ionized ions arising from forbidden transitions within the ground configurations of the ions are expected at UV wavelengths. One of the strongest is Fe xxi 1354.064 Å, which has been observed with the GHRS in *Capella* (Linsky et al. 1998), and another is Fe xviii 974.85 Å which has been seen previously in solar flare spectra (Feldman & Doschek 1991) and is now accessible with *FUSE*. Fig. 1 shows the presence of a weak line between H i Ly$`\gamma `$ and C iii $`\lambda `$977. By comparing both CHIANTI and APEC (Smith et al. 2001) models of the Fe xviii ion with the *FUSE* flux, other Fe xviii lines at 15.625 Å and 93.92 Å in *Chandra* (Canizares et al. 2000), and *Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer* spectra (Brickhouse et al. 2000), we find that the *FUSE* $`\lambda `$974 flux is consistent, within a factor of 2, with the X-ray lines, confirming the Fe xviii identification.

The $`\lambda `$974 line is narrow compared to cooler emission lines in the spectrum (Table 1) with a FWHM of 92 km s-1. (The thermal width of the line is expected to be 79 km s-1 which becomes 82 km s-1 when broadened by the instrumental profile taken as 20 km s-1.) This narrow width indicates that the emission originates principally from only one of the two giants. If the nearby C iii $`\lambda `$977 interstellar line (expected at a heliocentric radial velocity of $``$$`+22`$ km s-1, Linsky et al. 1993) is used to determine the absolute wavelength scale, then Fig. 4 shows that a stronger contribution (about 75% of the flux) arises from the G8 giant. To confirm this result, the centroids of the C iii $`\lambda `$977 and S vi $`\lambda `$933, $`\lambda `$944 lines were measured and found to be redshifted by between 44 and 51 km s-1, relative to the Fe xviii line, in the LWRS data. C iii and S vi would be expected to be formed in the G1 atmosphere and so this confirms both the association of Fe xviii with the G8 giant and the interstellar origin of the C iii $`\lambda `$977 absorption. This Fe xviii result contrasts with a GHRS observation obtained in September 1995 where Linsky et al. (1998) found almost equal contributions to the Fe xxi $`\lambda `$1354 line from both stars. Further, the STIS spectrum obtained in Sep. 1999 suggests a smaller G8 contribution to the $`\lambda `$1354 line. This result together with a discussion of these apparently conflicting GHRS, STIS and *FUSE* results for the relative contributions of the two giants to *Capella*’s high temperature emission will be presented in O.J. Johnson et al. (in preparation).

## 7 Variability

Monitoring of *Capella* with *IUE* revealed that chromospheric and transition region fluxes of *Capella* are variable only on the 5–10% level (Ayres 1991). However the higher temperature coronal emissions observed in the EUV region are constant to $``$30% except for species formed above 6$`\times `$106 K which can vary by a factor of 3 to 4 (Dupree & Brickhouse 1995; Brickhouse et al. 2000). The *FUSE* fluxes can be compared with those from the *ORFEUS I* spectrum obtained in 1993, where we find $`\lambda `$977 and $`\lambda `$1032 fluxes of $`2.52\times 10^{11}`$ and $`1.11\times 10^{11}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, respectively, with measurement uncertainties of around 5%. These values are in reasonable agreement with the *FUSE* measurements (Table 1), although the $``$ 30% difference for the $`\lambda `$1032 line is larger than the expected absolute flux accuracy of both instruments ($``$ 10%). The $`\lambda `$1176 line has been measured in both *IUE* and GHRS spectra, with values given in Linsky et al. (1995), and consistency is found to within 20%. As the time of arrival of each photon was recorded during the *Capella* observations, variability can be sought during each observation; however, no significant variations in the $`\lambda `$977, $`\lambda `$1032 and $`\lambda `$1176 fluxes were found down to timescales of 30 s, consistent with a lack of flaring activity. In addition no significant change occurred in the flux of the Fe xviii $`\lambda `$974 during the *FUSE* observations.

## 8 Summary

The *FUSE* spectra of *Capella* illustrate the diagnostic opportunties available for cool star research with *FUSE*. Line profiles and velocities can be measured accurately, while the large number of emission lines, many from species unavailable from *IUE* or *HST* spectra, allow the temperature structure from the chromosphere through to the upper transition region to be determined. The Fe xviii $`\lambda `$974 line extends the *FUSE* temperature coverage for active stars and provides crucial velocity information unavailable from EUV and X-ray data. A future paper (P.R. Young et al., in preparation) will discuss the *Capella* spectrum in greater detail.

This work is based on data obtained for the Guaranteed Time Team by the NASA-CNES-CSA *FUSE* mission operated by Johns Hopkins University. Financial support to US participants has been provided by NASA contract NAS5-32985.