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# Observation of 𝐵^±→𝑝𝑝̄𝐾^±

## Abstract

We report the observation of the decay mode $`B^\pm p\overline{p}K^\pm `$ based on an analysis of $`29.4`$ fb-1 of data collected by the Belle detector at KEKB. This is the first example of a $`bs`$ transition with baryons in the final state. The $`p\overline{p}`$ mass spectrum in this decay is inconsistent with phase space and is peaked at low mass. The branching fraction for this decay is measured to be $`(B^\pm p\overline{p}K^\pm )=(4.3_{0.9}^{+1.1}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.5(\mathrm{syst}))\times 10^6.`$ We also report upper limits for the decays $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$ and $`B^\pm p\overline{p}\pi ^\pm `$.

K. Abe9, K. Abe40, R. Abe30, T. Abe41, I. Adachi9, Byoung Sup Ahn17, H. Aihara42, M. Akatsu23, Y. Asano47, T. Aso46, V. Aulchenko2, T. Aushev14, A. M. Bakich37, Y. Ban34, E. Banas28, S. Behari9, P. K. Behera48, A. Bondar2, A. Bozek28, M. Bračko21,15, J. Brodzicka28, T. E. Browder8, B. C. K. Casey8, P. Chang27, Y. Chao27, K.-F. Chen27, B. G. Cheon36, R. Chistov14, S.-K. Choi7, Y. Choi36, M. Danilov14, L. Y. Dong12, J. Dragic22, A. Drutskoy14, S. Eidelman2, V. Eiges14, Y. Enari23, C. W. Everton22, F. Fang8, H. Fujii9, C. Fukunaga44, M. Fukushima11, N. Gabyshev9, A. Garmash2,9, T. Gershon9, K. Gotow49, R. Guo25, J. Haba9, H. Hamasaki9, F. Handa41, K. Hara32, T. Hara32, H. Hayashii24, M. Hazumi9, E. M. Heenan22, I. Higuchi41, T. Higuchi42, T. Hojo32, T. Hokuue23, Y. Hoshi40, S. R. Hou27, W.-S. Hou27, H.-C. Huang27, T. Igaki23, Y. Igarashi9, H. Ikeda9, K. Inami23, A. Ishikawa23, H. Ishino43, R. Itoh9, H. Iwasaki9, Y. Iwasaki9, P. Jalocha28, H. K. Jang35, J. H. Kang50, J. S. Kang17, P. Kapusta28, N. Katayama9, H. Kawai3, H. Kawai42, Y. Kawakami23, N. Kawamura1, T. Kawasaki30, H. Kichimi9, D. W. Kim36, H. J. Kim50, H. O. Kim36, Hyunwoo Kim17, S. K. Kim35, K. Kinoshita5, H. Konishi45, S. Korpar21,15, P. Križan20,15, P. Krokovny2, S. Kumar33, A. Kuzmin2, Y.-J. Kwon50, J. S. Lange6, G. Leder13, S. H. Lee35, A. Limosani22, D. Liventsev14, R.-S. Lu27, J. MacNaughton13, G. Majumder38, F. Mandl13, T. Matsuishi23, S. Matsumoto4, Y. Mikami41, W. Mitaroff13, K. Miyabayashi24, Y. Miyabayashi23, H. Miyake32, H. Miyata30, G. R. Moloney22, T. Nagamine41, Y. Nagasaka10, Y. Nagashima32, M. Nakao9, J. W. Nam36, Z. Natkaniec28, S. Nishida18, O. Nitoh45, S. Noguchi24, T. Nozaki9, S. Ogawa39, T. Ohshima23, T. Okabe23, S. Okuno16, S. L. Olsen8, W. Ostrowicz28, H. Ozaki9, P. Pakhlov14, H. Palka28, C. S. Park35, C. W. Park17, K. S. Park36, L. S. Peak37, J.-P. Perroud19, M. Peters8, L. E. Piilonen49, F. Ronga19, N. Root2, K. Rybicki28, H. Sagawa9, Y. Sakai9, H. Sakamoto18, M. Satapathy48, A. Satpathy9,5, O. Schneider19, S. Schrenk5, C. Schwanda9,13, S. Semenov14, K. Senyo23, H. Shibuya39, B. Shwartz2, V. Sidorov2, J. B. Singh33, S. Stanič47, A. Sugi23, A. Sugiyama23, K. Sumisawa9, K. Suzuki9, S. Y. Suzuki9, T. Takahashi31, F. Takasaki9, M. Takita32, K. Tamai9, N. Tamura30, J. Tanaka42, G. N. Taylor22, Y. Teramoto31, S. Tokuda23, T. Tomura42, S. N. Tovey22, K. Trabelsi8, T. Tsuboyama9, T. Tsukamoto9, S. Uehara9, K. Ueno27, Y. Unno3, S. Uno9, K. E. Varvell37, C. C. Wang27, C. H. Wang26, J. G. Wang49, M.-Z. Wang27, Y. Watanabe43, E. Won35, B. D. Yabsley9, Y. Yamada9, M. Yamaga41, A. Yamaguchi41, H. Yamamoto41, Y. Yamashita29, M. Yamauchi9, S. Yanaka43, P. Yeh27, M. Yokoyama42, Y. Yuan12, J. Zhang47, Y. Zheng8, and D. Žontar47
(Belle Collaboration)

1Aomori University, Aomori

2Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk

3Chiba University, Chiba

4Chuo University, Tokyo

5University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH

6University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt

7Gyeongsang National University, Chinju

8University of Hawaii, Honolulu HI

9High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba

10Hiroshima Institute of Technology, Hiroshima

11Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Tokyo

12Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

13Institute of High Energy Physics, Vienna

14Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow

15J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana

16Kanagawa University, Yokohama

17Korea University, Seoul

18Kyoto University, Kyoto

19IPHE, University of Lausanne, Lausanne

20University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana

21University of Maribor, Maribor

22University of Melbourne, Victoria

23Nagoya University, Nagoya

24Nara Women’s University, Nara

25National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung

26National Lien-Ho Institute of Technology, Miao Li

27National Taiwan University, Taipei

28H. Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Krakow

29Nihon Dental College, Niigata

30Niigata University, Niigata

31Osaka City University, Osaka

32Osaka University, Osaka

33Panjab University, Chandigarh

34Peking University, Beijing

35Seoul National University, Seoul

36Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon

37University of Sydney, Sydney NSW

38Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay

39Toho University, Funabashi

40Tohoku Gakuin University, Tagajo

41Tohoku University, Sendai

42University of Tokyo, Tokyo

43Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo

44Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo

45Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo

46Toyama National College of Maritime Technology, Toyama

47University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba

48Utkal University, Bhubaneswer

49Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg VA

50Yonsei University, Seoul

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\]

We report the results of searches for the decay modes $`B^+p\overline{p}K^+`$ and $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$. These modes are expected to proceed mainly via $`bs`$ penguin diagrams. We also search for $`B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+`$ which is expected to occur primarily via a $`bu`$ tree process. Once they are established, these baryonic modes may be used to either constrain or observe direct $`CP`$ violation in $`B`$ decay.

In contrast to charm meson decay, final states with baryons are allowed in $`B`$ meson decay. To date, a few low multiplicity $`B`$ decay modes with baryons in the final state from $`bc`$ transitions have been observed. Rare $`B`$ decays due to charmless $`bs`$ and $`bu`$ transitions should also lead to final states with baryons. A number of searches for such modes have been carried out by CLEO, ARGUS, and LEP but only upper limits were obtained. Stringent upper limits for two-body modes such as $`B^0p\overline{p}`$, $`B^+\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p`$ and $`B^0\mathrm{\Lambda }\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ have recently been reported by Belle.

We use a $`29.4\mathrm{fb}^1`$ data sample, which contains 31.9 million produced $`B\overline{B}`$ pairs, collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $`e^+e^{}`$ (3.5 on 8 GeV) collider . KEKB operates at the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ resonance ($`\sqrt{s}=10.58`$ GeV) with a peak luminosity that exceeds $`5\times 10^{33}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$. The Belle detector is a large-solid-angle magnetic spectrometer that consists of a three-layer silicon vertex detector (SVD), a 50-layer central drift chamber (CDC), a mosaic of aerogel threshold Čerenkov counters (ACC), time-of-flight scintillation counters (TOF), and an array of CsI(Tl) crystals (ECL) located inside a superconducting solenoid coil that provides a 1.5 T magnetic field. An iron flux-return located outside of the coil is instrumented to identify $`K_L`$ and muons (KLM). The detector is described in detail elsewhere .

We select well measured charged tracks with impact parameters with respect to the interaction point of less than 0.3 cm in the radial direction and less than 3 cm in the beam direction ($`z`$). These tracks are required to have $`p_T>50`$ MeV/$`c`$.

Particle identification likelihoods for each particle hypothesis are calculated by combining information from the TOF, ACC system with $`dE/dx`$ measurements in the CDC. Protons and anti-protons are identified using all particle ID systems and are required to have proton likelihood ratios ($`L_p/(L_p+L_K)`$ and $`L_p/(L_p+L_\pi )`$) greater than 0.6. Proton candidates that are electron-like according to the information recorded by the CsI(Tl) calorimeter are vetoed. This selection is $`89\%`$ efficient for protons with a $`7\%`$ kaon misidentification rate. To identify kaons (pions), we require the kaon (pion) likelihood ratio to be greater than 0.6. This requirement is 88% efficient for kaons with a $`8.5\%`$ misidentification rate for pions. In addition, we remove kaon candidates that are consistent with being protons.

For the $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$ mode, we select $`K_S`$ candidates from $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ candidates that lie within the mass window $`0.482\mathrm{GeV}/c^2<M(\pi ^+\pi ^{})<0.514`$ GeV/$`c^2`$ ($`\pm 4\sigma `$). The distance of closest approach between the two daughter tracks is required to be less than $`2.4`$ cm. The impact parameter of each track in the radial direction should have magnitude greater than $`0.02`$ cm, and the flight length should be greater than 0.22 cm. The difference in the angle between the vertex direction and the $`K_S`$ flight direction in the $`xy`$ plane is required to satisfy $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi <0.03`$ rad.

To reconstruct signal candidates in the $`B^+p\overline{p}K^+`$ mode, we form combinations of a kaon, proton and anti-proton that are inconsistent with the following $`bc\overline{c}s`$ transitions: $`B^+J/\psi K^+`$, $`J/\psi p\overline{p}`$; $`B^+\eta _cK^+`$, $`\eta _cp\overline{p}`$; $`B^+\psi ^{}K^+`$, $`\psi ^{}p\overline{p}`$ and $`B^+\chi _{c[0,1]}K^+`$, $`\chi _{c[0,1]}p\overline{p}`$. This set of requirements is referred to as the charm veto. Similar charm vetoes are applied in the analysis of the other decay modes. In the case of $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$, events with $`pK_S`$ or $`\overline{p}K_S`$ masses consistent with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ are rejected.

To isolate the signal, we form the beam-constrained mass, $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}=\sqrt{E_{\mathrm{beam}}^2\stackrel{}{P}_{\mathrm{recon}}^2}`$, and energy difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=E_{\mathrm{recon}}E_{\mathrm{beam}}`$ in the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ center of mass frame. Here $`E_{\mathrm{beam}}`$, $`E_{\mathrm{recon}}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{P}_{\mathrm{recon}}`$ are the beam energy, the reconstructed energy and the reconstructed momentum of the signal candidate, respectively. The signal region for $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is $`\pm 50`$ MeV which corresponds to $`\pm 5\sigma `$ where $`\sigma `$ is the resolution determined from a Gaussian fit to the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The signal region for $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ is $`5.270\mathrm{GeV}/c^2<M_{\mathrm{bc}}<5.290`$ GeV/$`c^2`$. The resolution in beam-constrained mass is 2.8 MeV/$`c^2`$ and is dominated by the beam energy spread of KEKB.

Several event topology variables provide discrimination between the large continuum ($`e^+e^{}q\overline{q}`$, where $`q=u,d,s,c`$) background, which tends to be collimated along the original quark direction, and more spherical $`B\overline{B}`$ events. We form a likelihood ratio using two variables. Six modified Fox-Wolfram moments and the cosine of the thrust angle are combined into a Fisher discriminant. For signal MC and continuum data, we then form probability density functions for this Fisher discriminant, and the cosine of the $`B`$ decay angle with respect to the $`z`$ axis ($`\mathrm{cos}\theta _B`$). The signal (background) probability density functions are multiplied together to form a signal (background) likelihood $`_S`$ ($`_{BG})`$. The likelihood ratio $`_S/(_S+_{BG})`$ is then required to be greater than 0.6. The event topology requirements retain 78% of the signal while removing 87% of the continuum background.

In Fig. 1, we show the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and beam-constrained mass distributions for the signal candidates. We fit the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution with a double Gaussian for signal and a linear background function with slope determined from the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ sideband. The mean of the Gaussian is determined from $`\overline{B}^0\mathrm{\Lambda }_c\overline{p}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_cpK^{}\pi ^+`$ decays. The fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution gives a yield of $`42.8_{9.6}^{+10.8}`$ with a significance of $`5.6`$ standard deviations. In the fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution, the region with $`\mathrm{\Delta }E<120`$ MeV is excluded to avoid feed-downs from modes such as $`Bp\overline{p}K^{}`$. As a consistency check, we fit the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distribution to the sum of a signal Gaussian and a background function with kinematic threshold. The width of the Gaussian is fixed from MC simulation while the mean is determined from $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$ data. The shape parameter of the background function is determined from $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sideband data. In the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distribution, we observe a signal of $`42.9_{9.1}^{+9.8}`$ events. The signal yields and the branching fractions are determined from fits to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution rather than $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ to minimize possible biases from $`B\overline{B}`$ background which tends to peak in $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ but not in $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$.

The background in these modes is predominantly due to continuum events. To check for $`B\overline{B}`$ backgrounds that might peak in the signal region, we used two large $`B\overline{B}`$ MC samples that correspond to an integrated luminosity that is about twice the size of the data sample. The estimated background is of order one event and no backgrounds that peak in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal region were found. We also examined dedicated MC samples of $`bc`$ decay modes with baryons in the final state. We restricted our attention to low multiplicity decay modes. We generated samples of $`\overline{B^0}\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+\overline{p}`$, $`B^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+\overline{p}\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }_c^+\overline{p}e^{}\overline{\nu }_e`$ that correspond to an integrated luminosity about a factor of ten larger than the data sample used here. The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ charmed baryon was allowed to decay into all measured decay modes that contain a proton. Again no peaking backgrounds were observed.

We also examine the $`M(p\overline{p})`$ mass distributions for events in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E,M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ signal region. The signal yield as a function of $`p\overline{p}`$ mass is shown in Fig. 2. These yields were determined by fits to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution in bins of $`p\overline{p}`$ invariant mass. The distribution from a three-body phase space MC normalized to the area of the signal is superimposed. It is clear that the observed mass distribution is not consistent with three-body phase space but instead is peaked at low $`p\overline{p}`$ mass. We also examine the $`pK^{}`$ mass distribution but do not observe any obvious narrow structures such as the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)`$.

To avoid model dependence in the determination of the branching fraction for $`p\overline{p}K^+`$, we fit the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal yield in bins of $`M(p\overline{p})`$ and correct for the detection efficiency in each bin using a three-body phase space $`B^+p\overline{p}K^+`$ MC model. The results of the fits are given in Table II. We then sum the partial branching fractions in each bin to obtain

$$(B^+p\overline{p}K^+)=(4.3_{0.9}^{+1.1}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.5(\mathrm{syst}))\times 10^6.$$

For $`M(p\overline{p})<3.4`$ GeV/$`c^2`$, the mass region below the $`\chi _c`$ and $`\psi ^{}`$ resonances, $`(B^+p\overline{p}K^+)=(4.4_{0.8}^{+1.0}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.5(\mathrm{syst}))\times 10^6`$ with the charm veto applied. For $`M(p\overline{p})<2.8`$ GeV/$`c^2`$, the region below charm threshold, we obtain $`(B^+p\overline{p}K^+)=(3.9_{0.7}^{+0.9}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.4(\mathrm{syst}))\times 10^6`$.

The contributions to the systematic error for the $`B^+p\overline{p}K^+`$ mode are the uncertainties due to the tracking efficiency (6%), particle identification efficiency (8%) and the modeling of the likelihood ratio cut (2.6%). The particle identification systematic includes contributions of 3% for the proton and anti-proton and 2% for the charged kaon. The error in proton/anti-proton identification is determined using $`\mathrm{\Lambda }/\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ samples, while the error in kaon identification efficiency is obtained from kinematically selected $`D^+D^0\pi ^+,D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$ in the data. The systematic error due to the modeling of the likelihood ratio cut is determined using $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$ events reconstructed in data. The systematic error in the yield of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ fit (3.8%) was determined by varying the mean and $`\sigma `$ of the signal and the shape parameter of the background. The sources of systematic error are combined in quadrature to obtain the final systematic error of 11.0%.

For events in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ signal region we examine the proton, anti-proton and kaon particle identification likelihood distributions and compare to signal MC simulation. No discrepancy is observed. We also verify that the ECL shower width distribution is consistent with MC expectations for the proton and anti-proton candidates. In addition, we check the branching fraction as the cuts on the proton and anti-proton probabilities and likelihood ratio are varied. We do not observe any systematic trends beyond statistics.

To verify the analysis procedure and branching fraction determination, we remove the $`J/\psi `$ veto and examine the decay chain $`B^+J/\psi K^+`$, $`J/\psi p\overline{p}`$. A clear signal of $`26.4\pm 5.2`$ events is then observed in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ spectrum. We also observe $`25.9\pm 5.1`$ events in the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distribution. The $`p\overline{p}`$ invariant mass spectrum for $`J/\psi K^+`$ signal candidates is shown as an inset in Fig. 2. We use the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ yield and the MC detection efficiency of 0.30 to determine the branching fraction $`(B^+J/\psi K^+)=(13.1\pm 2.6)\times 10^4`$. This is in good agreement with the PDG world average, $`(B^+J/\psi K^+)=(10.0\pm 1.0)\times 10^4`$, which was obtained by experiments that reconstruct the $`J/\psi `$ in dilepton modes.

We also examined two related decay modes $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$ and $`B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+`$ that may help clarify the interpretation of the signal. Measurement of $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$ will help to determine the role of the spectator quark in $`bs`$ decays with baryons, while observation of $`B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+`$ will constrain the ratio of the $`bu`$ tree and $`bs`$ penguin diagrams in decays with baryons.

For $`B^0p\overline{p}K_S`$, after the application of the charm and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ vetoes, no significant signal is observed in either the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ or $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distribution. A fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution gives $`6.4_{3.7}^{+4.4}`$ events. Applying the Feldman-Cousins procedure, we obtain an upper limit of less than 16 events at the 90% confidence level (C.L.). After reducing the detection efficiency by the systematic error, we obtain an upper limit at 90% C.L. of $`(B^0p\overline{p}K^0)<7.2\times 10^6`$.

In the $`B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+`$ mode, after the application of the charm veto we perform a fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution that allows for $`B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+`$ signal and a reflection from misidentified $`B^+p\overline{p}K^+`$ decays. This fit gives a signal yield of $`16.2_{8.0}^{+8.6}`$ events and a significance of $`2.1\sigma `$. The excess in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ fit corresponds to a branching fraction $`(B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+)=(1.9_{0.9}^{+1.0}\pm 0.3)\times 10^6`$ or an upper limit of $`(B^+p\overline{p}\pi ^+)<3.7\times 10^6`$ at 90% C.L. after taking into account the systematic error.

We have observed a significant signal (5.6$`\sigma `$) for the decay $`B^+p\overline{p}K^+`$. This is the first $`bs`$ decay mode with baryons in the final state. In the future, this mode can be used to search for direct $`CP`$ violation. We find that its $`p\overline{p}`$ mass spectrum is inconsistent with phase space and is peaked toward low mass. This feature is suggestive of quasi two-body decay. It is also possible that the decay is a genuine three-body process and that this feature of the $`M(p\overline{p})`$ spectrum is a baryon form factor effect.

We wish to thank the KEKB accelerator group for the excellent operation of the KEKB accelerator. We acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; the Australian Research Council and the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources; the National Science Foundation of China under contract No. 10175071; the Department of Science and Technology of India; the BK21 program of the Ministry of Education of Korea and the CHEP SRC program of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation; the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research under contract No. 2P03B 17017; the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation; the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia; the National Science Council and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan; and the U.S. Department of Energy.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Scalar and metric (gravitational waves) perturbations have been extensively investigated recently  in the framework of alternative theories of gravity such as Brans-Dicke and Einstein-Cartan  theories. Metric perturbations have also proved very useful in the investigation of the stability of solutions of higher-order string gravity against de Sitter spacetime . In this case de Sitter metric was proved to be unstable but as pointed out by Maroto and Shapiro by a proper choice of parameters stable solutions could become unstable and vice-versa. Also recently stability of Gödel spacetime have been investigated in the context of Einstein-Cartan cosmology  by considering different stabilities along different axis. In this paper we consider the investigation of de Sitter metric stability and Einstein solution stability of EC field equations of gravity in its simplest form namely without dilatons and magnetic fields. Recently several types of anisotropic solutions have been considered by Lu et al. . They basically considered Bianchi type $`IVII_0`$ and Bianchi type V spacetime solutions of EC field equations with magnetic moments. In this paper we also show that de Sitter and Einstein solutions of EC gravity can be obtained from strong constraints in the spin, mass and pressure densities. This is the first step to compute metric perturbations against the original background anisotropic EC solutions. A anisotropic metric is obtained which is de Sitter only along one direction while the others are not de Sitter. It is also shown that the metric perturbation obeys a forced oscilator equation which lead to simple interpretation that the gravitational waves maybe triggered by perturbations. It is also suggested that primordial torsion could be detected as imprints in gravitational waves or in CMBR in future. This is in agreement with the idea that torsion plays an important role in the Early Universe. Recently we noticed that Cappozziello et al have worked in density perturbations within the context of torsion theories of gravity . D.Palle  has also computed density perturbations and show that the Einstein-Cartan cosmology fits well within COBE data. Later on we extend Palle’s work to deal with inflaton fields and torsion . Cappoziello et al approach is very interesting since it is gauge invariant. The investigation of metric perturbations is important in other direction which is in the investigation of the CMBR. Since as we shall demonstrate metric perturbations depend upon spin-torsion in second order (though can be first order in the presence of magnetic fields) the temperature anisotropy depends on torsion indirectly . This is in agreement with recently suggestions that torsion could be detected as a relic imprint in CMBR. Einstein-Cartan cosmology and metric perturbations may together also be useful in the investigation of neutrinos and torsion waves in the Universe. This paper follows a series of previous papers on the study of physical aspects of ECC such as the thermodynamics in ECC  and in the investigation of cosmological rotational perturbations (vector perturbations) in ECC . The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we provide a brief review of EC gravity and spinning fluids. Section 3 we deal with the stability of de Sitter metric in ECC and the Einstein static universe solution of EC field equations with the respective perturbation. In both examples we show that the Einstein and de Sitter metric are stable in this framework.

## 2 Weyssenhoff fluids in Einstein-Cartan cosmology

Since we are not interested here in magnetized fluids we consider the energy-momentum tensor in the form

$$T_j^i=p\delta _j^i+u^iu_j(\rho +p)+kS_j^i+2u^p_kS_{lj}^k$$
(1)
where $`(i,j=0,1,2,3)`$ and $`_i`$ denotes the Riemann-Cartan covariant derivative and $`\rho `$ and p are respectively the matter density and pressure of the spinning fluid and $`k`$ is the coupling constant between matter and spin. Here the tensor $`S_{jk}^i`$ is the spin density tensor which obeys the Frenkel condition $`S_{jk}^i=u^iS_{jk}`$ where $`u^i`$ is the four-velocity. Here $`S_{ij}`$ is the spin angular momentum tensor.

## 3 De Sitter and Einstein universes perturbations in EC cosmology

The line element describing the anisotropic spacetime is given by

$$ds^2=dt^2A^2(t)dx^2B^2(t)dy^2C^2(t)dz^2$$
(2)
which describes a Bianchi type I Universe. We shall addopt here the constraint that $`S^{12}=S^{13}=S^{23}=\frac{S(t)\sqrt{3}}{3}`$. Before we consider the metric perturbations around de Sitter background we need to demonstrate that de Sitter metric itself satisfies the Einstein-Cartan equation. This can easily be proved by substitution of de Sitter metric into EC equations which reduce EC field equations to just two equations

$$3H_0^2=(pS^2)$$
(3)
$$3H_0^2=(\rho S^2)$$
(4)
which together imply the following constraint

$$\rho +p=2S^2$$
(5)
Note that for example the vacuum inflationary constraint $`\rho +p=0`$ would imply the vanishing of the scalar spin density $`S^2`$ is forced to vanish. However one should note that this constraint does not apply to the perturbed solution around the background de Sitter metric. To investigate the metric perturbations let us consider the following line element

$$ds^2=dt^2a^2(t)(\delta _{\alpha \beta }h_{\alpha \beta })dx^\alpha dx^\beta $$
(6)
where $`h_{\alpha \beta }`$ is the metric perturbation and $`\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$ is the three-dimensional kronecker delta where $`(\alpha ,\beta =1,2,3)`$. Here $`a^2`$ represents the background metric. Let us now consider the de Sitter background metric in the form $`a^2=e^{2H_0t}`$ where $`H_0=\frac{\dot{a}}{a}`$ is the de Sitter factor. To cast the new perturbed matric into a anisotropic form we chooseTo further simplify computations we shall consider that the metric (2) shall be written the form

$$A^2=a^2(t)(1h_{11})dx^idx^j$$
(7)
$$B^2=a^2(t)(1h_{22})dx^idx^j$$
(8)
$$C^2=a^2(t)(1h_{33})dx^idx^j$$
(9)
To further simplify computations we shall consider the following choice

$$h_{33}=0$$
(10)
and

$$h=h_{11}=h_{22}$$
(11)
Note that this perturbations would be isotropic only in two directions and greatly simplify our computations since in this case the $`A(t)`$ and $`B(t)`$ metric coefficients coincide and besides $`C^2=a^2`$ is the de Sitter coefficient of the background metric. These choices allows us to write the Einstein-Cartan equations in the form

$$\frac{2\ddot{B}}{B}+(\frac{\dot{B}}{B})^2=S^2p$$
(12)
$$\frac{\ddot{B}}{B}\frac{\ddot{a}}{a}\frac{\dot{B}}{B}\frac{\ddot{a}}{a}\frac{\dot{B}}{B}=pS^2$$
(13)
$$3(\frac{\dot{B}}{B})^2=\rho S^2$$
(14)
Addition of expressions (13) and (14) yields

$$\frac{\ddot{B}}{B}\frac{\ddot{a}}{a}\frac{\dot{B}}{B}\frac{\ddot{a}}{a}+(\frac{\dot{B}}{B})^2=0$$
(15)
Substitution of (12) into (15) yields

$$\ddot{B}H_0\dot{B}+\omega _{0}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}B=0$$
(16)
where $`\omega _{0}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}=\frac{1}{3}[\rho S^2H_0^2]`$. Now let us substitute the values of $`\rho =\frac{M}{B^2a}`$ and $`S^2=\frac{L^2}{B^4a^2}`$ obtained from the conservation equations for spin and matter density. Substitution of the B factor in terms of the metric perturbation h yields finally the metric perturbation equation

$$\ddot{h}2H_0\dot{h}+\omega ^2h=\frac{8}{3}L^2[1\frac{3}{4}H_0t]$$
(17)
where $`\omega ^2=\frac{3}{2}L^2`$ where $`L^2`$ represents the spin density strenght of the model. Solution of this equation yields

$$h(t)=\frac{2}{3}\frac{(4\omega ^2+6H_0^2+3H_0\omega ^2t)}{\omega ^4}+c_\pm e^{(H_0\pm \sqrt{H_0^2\omega ^2}t}$$
(18)
Note from this expression that the first term is an unstable mode while the last two terms maybe stable or unstable depending on the relation between $`H^2`$ and $`\omega ^2`$. In the case of Einstein static universe or even in the Minkowskian case  one obtains the simple forced oscillator relation for the metric perturbation

$$\ddot{h}+\omega ^2h=\frac{8}{3}L^2$$
(19)
which yields the following solution

$$h(t)=\frac{8}{3\omega ^2}+c_\pm e^{(\pm i\omega t)}$$
(20)
which reveals an acoustic oscillatory behaviour for the metric perturbation. This aspect is also present in the de Sitter case since h there also possess complex functions modes. Since as it is well known from the Sachs-Wolfe formula the CMBR is proportional to the metric perturbation one must conclude that CMBR background anisotropy must have a second order contribution due to torsion. The shear can be easily seem to be given by $`\sigma ^2=\frac{Q^2e^{2H_0t}}{B^2}`$ which shows that shear decays quickly as the universe suffers rapid expansion. Gravitational waves around de Sitter backgrounds in EC cosmology may also be found from the study presented here.

## Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Prof. P.S. Letelier and Prof. I. L. Shapiro for helpful discussions on the subject of this paper. I would like to thank CNPq. (Brazil) for partial financial support.


text:
# CURRENT HIGH ENERGY EMISSION FROM BLACK HOLES

## 1 Introduction

I would like to take literally the title of this meeting and summarize two, related, theories of how black holes (and, to some extent, magnetised neutron stars) behave. The first, which draws upon research carried out with Mitch Begelman, is a particular viewpoint on how accretion proceeds at rates that range from low to high. The second, which is summarised in greater depth elsewhere$`^\mathrm{?}`$, involves collaboration with Max Lyutikov. It contains some new approaches to describing how electromagnetic Poynting flux is released by a black hole (or indeed any compact spinning, magnetised body) and how it propagates to a remote site from which observable radiation is emitted. I should caution the reader that these are both active and controversial research areas and there are many other points of view that I shall not review. However, I will try to highlight one or two areas where I think that the differences between models are sharply delineated and where I anticipate that progress is imminent.

## 2 Ondol Dynamics

### 2.1 Modes of Accretion

Accretion aaaOndol is a special Korean system of underfloor heating. onto a black hole is approximately scale-free, in the sense that the mode of the accretion is most strongly determined by the ratio of the mass supply rate to the Eddington rate ($`\dot{M}_\mathrm{E}=4\pi GM/\kappa _Tc`$) and the product of the angular velocity of the hole, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, with its mass $`M`$ \[Ferrarese; henceforth, other contributors to these proceedings will be designated using square brackets\]. (It is assumed that the gas has sufficient angular momentum to form a disk.) There will be some sensitivity to the mass through the effective temperature. The mass supply rate is usually estimated by the Bondi rate $`\dot{M}_B\pi r_B^2\rho _Bs_B\dot{M}_E\tau _Bc/s_B`$, where $`\rho _B,s_B,\tau _B`$ are the density, sound speed and Thomson optical depth at the Bondi radius, $`r_B2GM/s_B^2`$. This should be true for black holes with masses that range from stellar values $`5`$ M to the many billion solar masses that characterize the holes that are thought to power quasars $`^\mathrm{?}`$ $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

Four accretion states can be distinguished, although it is hard to be quantitative without a better understanding of the underlying fluid mechanics and plasma physics.

* Drought ($`\dot{M}<<\dot{M}_E`$) The accreting gas is adiabatic. That is to say it is unable to cool and radiate away its binding energy within some transition radius $`r_{\mathrm{trans}}`$. This requires that the internal energy be carried mostly by hot ions which do not heat the electrons enough to enable them to radiate efficiently on the inflow timescale $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Instead, the surplus energy, which is transported outward by magnetic stress, is carried off in an outflow. This may account for most of the mass supply so that the hole accretion rate is very much less than the mass supply $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

Possible examples include low power, galactic nuclei, (including Sgr A), AGN with powerful radio sources (including quasars) and binary X-ray sources in their low hard states \[Menou, Mineshige\].
* Rain ($`\dot{M}\dot{M}_E`$) The gas can radiate efficiently all the way down to the marginally stable circular orbit $`r_{\mathrm{ms}}`$. The flow is conservative so that the accretion rate is similar to $`\dot{M}`$ $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Most of the radiation will be emitted quasi-thermally by the disk, although there is likely to be considerable, nonthermal, coronal activity as well. The inner disk is radiation- and electron scattering-dominated with thickness $`H\dot{M}\kappa _T/4\pi c`$. These disks are expected and observed to be unstable and are probably quite inhomogeneous. bbbThis may permit radiation to escape with a luminosity in excess of the Eddington limit$`^\mathrm{?}`$. The high gas density and the intense radiation field may prevent the formation of relativistic jets.

Possible examples include Seyfert galaxies, radio-quiet quasars and binary X-ray sources in their high, soft states.
* Deluge ($`\dot{M}_E<\dot{M}<\dot{M}_E(c/s_B)^2`$) Radiation is trapped within the trapping radius $`r_{\mathrm{trap}}\dot{M}\kappa _T/4\pi c`$ within which the accreting gas flows faster than the photons can diffuse. The flow is again adiabatic and the energy that is released is carried off by a mildly relativistic, radiation-dominated wind $`^\mathrm{?}`$ \[Park\]. The hole accretes at the roughly the Eddington rate.

Possible examples include broad absorption line quasars and Galactic superluminal sources like GRS1915+105.
* Inundation ($`\dot{M}>\dot{M}_E(c/s_B)^2`$) The trapping radius lies beyond $`r_B`$. Strongly super-Eddington accretion is possible because outflows from the inner disk are unable to escape.

Possible examples include massive black holes during their rapid growth phases and some GRB models.

The reason why outflows are inevitable when the flow is adiabatic is that the torque $`G`$ in the disk automatically transports energy radially outward at a rate $`G\mathrm{\Omega }`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the angular velcocity $`^\mathrm{?}`$. There is a local heating rate $`G\mathrm{\Omega }`$ which can unbind gas in a nearly Keplerian disk. cccThis is not necessarily true for a disk that extends beyond $`r_B`$ where the potential is much softer. The energy liberated by each proton that (altruistically) cross the horizon drives a powerful wind from larger radii which allows many (up to $`10^5`$) other protons to escape. dddIt is possible that the energy is carried off hydromagnetically, in which case, there need be little mass loss.

### 2.2 The Importance of Magnetic Field

Early models of accretion disks $`^\mathrm{?}`$ were non-specific about the nature of the viscous torque allowing it to be either fluid or hydromagnetic in character. We now know that, under almost all circumstances, the latter is correct. The magnetorotational instability $`^\mathrm{?}`$ ensures that magnetic fields grow to dynamically important strength on the orbital timescale \[Vishniac\]. The nonlinear evolution of this instability is still far from clear. However, it is likely that it involves coronal heating, jet formation, and possibly emission line cloud dynamics.

What is clear is that we are still quite ignorant of the true laws of MHD. The global evolution of magnetic field, as witnessed much closer to home in the terrestrial magnetosphere and the solar corona, is controlled by principles of global stability and physical processes like reconnection, conduction and equilibration, which we do not understand well enough to generalize to astrophysical environments. However, the prospects are generally quite good for improving our understanding of these matters through more detailed space physical observation, terrestrial experiments using giant pinches, lasers and particle beams as well as numerical simulation.

### 2.3 Two Dimensional Adiabatic Disks

Despite these remarks it is still instructive (and easier) to consider fluid disks. These are inevitably at least two dimensional \[Lee\]. A useful approximation is that the viscosity is small enough that they can be treated as being in approximate hydrostatic equilibrium. This requires specifying how the density varies along isobars which, in turn, depends upon the manner in which energy, mass and angular momentum are transported through the disk.

Two dimensional adiabatic disks are likely to become linearly unstable according to the Høiland criterion, which is a linear combination of the more familiar Schwarzschild and Rayleigh prescriptions for instability and appropriate for hot, rotating flows. There are actually two criteria. Most accretion disks are quite stable to the first of these which essentially refers to radial interchanges. It is the second criterion that is more relevant. It essentially states that fluid disks are marginally unstable to the interchange of slender rings when they are gyrentropic; that is to say when the surfaces of constant entropy and specific angular momentum coincide. (In fact this implies that the surfaces of constant Bernoulli function are also coincident.) Furthermore, the nature of the unstable modes is such that if a disk is only slightly unstable, the motions of fluid elements will transport mass, angular momentum and energy along these gyrentropes to the disk surface where they can be transferred to an outflow.

The precise properties of the outflow depend upon the detailed nature of the dissipation and momentum transfer that takes place at the disk surface and these processes are not even understood in the case of the sun. If the wind is thermally driven, then there must be an entropy jump at its base as the gas in the disk changes from being bound to unbound. However it also possible that the gas remains relatively cold and that magnetic stress create a momentum-driven wind as appears to happens in the case of the solar wind, where two million degree gas can acquire a velocity at infinity of $`800`$ km s-1. In addition, there is the possibility of launching a cold, magnetocentrifugal wind from a near Keplerian accretion disk – a possibility that does not exist in the case of the sun. The key conclusion is that the structure of adiabatic, accretion disks depends upon the unknown physics of mass outflow.

However, even this is not the whole story. The gas that remains in the disk must flow inward on a viscous timescale and the manner in which this happens depends upon the prescription for the viscosity. Indeed, in the presence of convective motion, there is a natural quadrupolar circulation in the disk which will be established and this must be superposed upon the net flow to the disk surface and smaller radii. Just as is the case with Eddington-Sweet circulation, the flow adjusts to ensure that there is no local accumulation of mass angular momentum and energy. eeeIf we do not admit the possibility of an outflow from the disk surface, then the global circulation will transport heat from small radii, where it is mostly liberated, to $`r_{\mathrm{trans}}`$ where it must either be radiated away or continually inflate the disk so that the flow becomes unsteady.

It is possible to construct self-consistent, self-similar models that exhibit convection, inflow, outflow and circulation after specifying a functional form for the viscous torque and outflow launching mechanism$`^\mathrm{?}`$. These models are generic and their general features are displayed by some numerical simulations of two dimensional disks$`^\mathrm{?}`$. Self-similar disks are subject to the criticism that they cannot describe the flow close to the hole, where most of the energy is released. This criticism can be met by constructing an explicit non self-similar, relativistic torus model around $`r_{\mathrm{ms}}`$. The physical assumptions that must be introduced to create such a model are necessarily arbitrary but they suffice to demonstrate that there is no difficulty of principle associated with terminating a self-similar solution at small radius. Similar concerns have been raised concerning the outer radius. Understanding this transition has turned out to be a much harder problem.

### 2.4 Magnetized Disks

We have just argued that fluid disks are gyrentropic. However, this is unlikely to be true of magnetised disks. The dynamics is clearly complex \[Krolik\]. For example, if it turns out that the magnetic flux preferentially settles into isorotational surfaces and distributes the angular momentum rapidly on these surfaces, then the disk structure will be barytropic. This prescription has some numerical support $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Whatever the correct prescription, the self-similar models described above can be modifed with only minor changes. It is the prescription for generating the outflow at the disk surface that is more important for determining the disk structure.

## 3 Seungmu Dynamics

### 3.1 Ultrarelativistic Jets

Ultrarelativistic fffSeungmu dancers are able to beat a drum and, simultaneously, spin long tassles attached to their hats. jets are found in a variety of locales. They were first seen in extragalactic radio sources \[Celotti, Sikora\]. Indirect arguments, together with direct measurement of superluminal expansion show that the emitting material can move with a Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }10`$ and be collimated into a cone with opening angle $`5^{}`$. There is now evidence that their sources are spinning, massive black holes with their attendant accretion disks and that they are collimated within $`100m`$. Most jets appear to be associated with accretion disks that radiate well below their Eddington limits and carry as much, or even more, power than is radiated by the disk. gggIt is well worth searching for the stellar counterparts of ultrarelativistic jets - Galactic blazars that are beamed towards us.

The second example of ultrarelativistic jets is provided by plerions. These are supernova remnants, exempified by the Crab Nebula, with central, rapidly spinning, magnetised, neutron stars. The rotational energy of the neutron star appears to be carried off by a relativistic outflow. Recent, observations by the Chandra Observatory (now replicated in other plerions) show a pair of jet-like features, together with an equatorial disk of X-ray emission. This was surprising because it was thought that jets required an accretion disk to form. The region, that is observed directly, is clearly not moving with ultrarelativistic speed as they would then be beamed away from us. However, it is a reasonable supposition that they contain invisible, ultrarelativistic cores.

The third example is provided by GRBs which are known to be cosmologically distant and, consequently, extremely energetic. It has been inferred that the outflow is ultrarelativistic, with Lorentz factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }300`$ as $`\gamma `$-rays with energy in excess of $`0.5`$ MeV have to escape without creating pairs $`^\mathrm{?}`$. They are popularly associated with stellar compact objects and it was guessed that they might be beamed, in order that the burst energies not be unreasonably large. Reports of achromatic breaks in afterglow spectra from some long duration bursts, which can be formed when $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ decreases to of order the reciprocal of the jet opening angle, support this view.

### 3.2 Magnetic Rotators

A reasonable guess is that all of these ultrarelativistic outflows (if not the more general class of cosmic jets) are due to similar physical processes. However, although popular models of AGN and plerionic jets are essentially electro- or hydromagnetic, most GRB models invoke a “hot big bang” that produces a fireball with a very high entropy per baryon, just like the early universe. I would like to explore the alternative hypothesis that all three types of source are really quite similar and derive their power from the continuous extraction of rotational energy from a compact object by electromagnetic stress - a “cold, steady state” model instead of a hot, big bang! hhhIt is amusing that, if we are correct in identifying long duration GRBs with compact objects of size $`10`$ km, then their sources are observed to be active for a million light crossing times – an order of magnitude greater than the number of crossing times that we have observed a typical quasar! Furthermore, I suppose that the energy remains mostly in an electromagnetic form as it is transported into the emission region.

This magnetic rotator model is best developed in the case of plerions, where it is supposed that the central spinning neutron star possesses an inclined dipole moment and that it is surrounded by a force-free magnetosphere through which currents flow and space charge is maintained \[Hirotani\]. The complete electrodynamical description of this magnetosphere remains an unsolved problem. However, it seems likely that somewhere beyond the light cylinder, the electromagnetic field becomes essentially axisymmetric and that variation on the scale of a wavelength dies away. There are at least three ways by which this can occur. There can be steady reconnection in the outflowing, “striped” wind. Alternatively, the waves can decay through parametric instability into higher frequency waves. These two processes are essentially dissipative. Finally, the minority of magnetic field lines that emanate from the neutron star’s southern magnetic pole, and which can be traced into the northern hemisphere, may gradually be pulled by magnetic tension across the equatorial plane back into the southern hemisphere (and vice versa). This can happen non-dissipatively near the light cylinder. In summary, I will presume that only the DC, not the AC component of the electromagnetic field survives.

If this simplification of the magnetic geometry actually takes place, we will be left with a relativistic wind containing a predominantly toroidal magnetic field spun off by the central body. Associated with this toroidal magnetic field will be a poloidal electrical field that is almost equal in magnitude. (Many authors have argued that this wind quickly becomes plasma-dominated and terminates in a relativistic, fluid shock front in the inner nebula. However, it is very hard to see how the DC magnetic field can be erased so quickly and, although there are moving “wisp” features, these appear to lie in the equatorial plane. There is really no evidence for a relativistic shock in tne nebula.)

There are several suggestions as to how the jets associated with extragalactic radio sources are launched. One of the simplest is that the power for the ultrarelativistic outflow is extracted as Poynting flux from the spin of the hole by magnetic field lines that are supported by external currents flowing in the disk. It is also possible to extract energy electromagnetically from a surrounding accretion disk assuming that enough of its area is threaded by open magnetic field. However, this is most likely to produce a hydromagnetic outflow where the terminal velocity is no more than mildly relativistic although it may be responsible for collimating the much faster flow from the black hole.

When we consider electromagnetic models of GRBs, we find several advantages. The most fundamental is that the electromagnetic stress tensor, is anisotropic, in contrast to an isotropic fluid pressure tensor. This, implies that electromagnetic outflows can be naturally self-collimating. In addition, the presence of a dominant electromagnetic field implies that the effective internal sound speed is that of the fast mode which is close to the speed of light. Electromagnetic jets, in contrast to fluid jets are no more than mildly hypersonic. iiiContrast this with the hypernova model of GRBs $`^\mathrm{?}`$ \[Maeda, Lee\] where it is supposed that a high entropy per baryon fluid is collimated by a vortex inside a star so that the pairs and $`\gamma `$-rays eventually transfer their energy to protons and the ratio of the momentum flux to the pressure is $`>3\mathrm{\Gamma }^23\times 10^5`$. This seems very unlikely to be true of a naturally occuring explosion, especially in the region where internal shocks are supposed to be operating.

They are few direct clues as to the prime movers of GRBs $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The closest model to that of AGN jets has a spinning, stellar black hole surrounding by a stellar mass torus - possibly a tidally destroyed neutron star - that confines a $`10^{14}`$ G magnetic field \[van Putten\]. The emission lasts as long as the torus survives. The model that is closest to plerions involves a rapidly-spinning magnetar that has just been formed by accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf. Alternatively, it might be possible for an accreting magnetised neutron star that is collapsing under rotational support to form a black hole or for two merging pulsars to act as magnetic rotators jjjIn principle, it is possible that an electromagnetic jet can be formed inside a collapsing star, though the star is not needed to provide the collimation and it seems hard to believe that plasma can be excluded from the outflow as efficiently as required.

The common feature of all of these putative sources is that they spin off a toroidal magnetic field and an associated, electromagnetic Poynting flux that is unburdened by baryons.

### 3.3 Electromagnetic Black Holes

The idea that the spin energy of a black hole can be extracted electromagnetically has received an observational boost from the discovery that black holes are commonplace on both the stellar and the massive scale (as well as, perhaps, on the intermediate scale) and that the second parameter, the spin is large so as to allow gas to orbit close to the horizon and to form strongly redshifted emission lines $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

There are several ways through which the rotational energy associated with the spinning spacetime can be tapped electromagnetically $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The particular choice that I have emphasised, because I believe that it represents the dominant energy channel, is that the horizon is threaded by a large flux of open magnetic field \[Park\]. A continuous, electromagnetic Penrose process operates in the ergosphere of the black hole which results in Poynting flux flowing inward across the horizon and, simultaneously, propagating away from the hole to infinity. kkkThe energy flow is conserved in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates and so power appears to emerge from the horizon in the Boyer-Lindquist frame. However, physical observers must orbit with respect to this coordinate system. Doppler boosting the energy flux into a frame moving with a physical observer produces an inwardly directed energy flux. The source of the power is ultimately the reducible mass of the hole, from which the electromagnetic field in the ergosphere is extracting work.

However, not all the field lines that thread the horizon need connect with the outflow. Some low latitude field lines may connect directly to the accretion disk and provide a supplementary power source for the disk as well as a possible driving torque for exciting quasi-periodic oscillations \[Dotani\]. This energy channel could be important, especially if the disk is thick. However, it is unlikely to lead to an ultrarelativistic outflow. lllThe magnetic connection of the disk to the plunging gas seems to be a less promising source of power because the magnetic field lines quickly reconnect leaving the gas effectively disconnected from the disk $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

The process that I have just described is distinct from (though can operate simultaneously with) an alternative process, the extraction of binding energy by open field lines from the accreting gas both in the disk and in the plunging region between the inner edge of the disk and the horizon $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The extra power that this process produces can be charged to the spin energy of the hole, which increases at a slower rate than it would do so in the absence of magnetic stress. However the intermediate working substance that effects this transformation is the inertia of the plasma not the electromagnetic field.

There are three reasons for emphasising direct extraction of energy from the hole to extraction from the infalling gas at least for a rapidly spinning hole. The first is that the event horizon has a larger effective area than the annular ring between the hole and the disk. The second is that any gas-driven outflow is likely to be contaminated with baryons and consequently is unlikely to achieve an ultrarelativistic outflow velocity required. The third is that holes probably rotate much faster than orbiting gas, except quite close to the horizon, from where the extraction of energy will be quite inefficient.

### 3.4 Electromagnetic Shells

Suppose that a magnetic rotator spins off magnetic flux into the far field for a time $`t_{\mathrm{source}}`$ and that this creates a relativistically expanding shell of electromagnetic field, of thickness $`ct_{\mathrm{source}}`$ that drives a blast wave into the surrounding medium (Fig. 1). The blast wave is supposed to be bounded on its outside by a strong shock front that moves with Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and, on its inside, by a contact discontinuity, separating it from the shell, that moves with Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_c`$. Suppose further, for simplicity, that the current well beyond the light cylinder flows along the axes, then along the contact discontinuity and finally returns to it source through the equatorial plane.

If we ignore the poloidal component of the magnetic field, (and consequently the flux of angular momentum), then the relevant solution of the force-free equations \[Park\] associated with this current flow has the form

$`B_\varphi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{f_+(tr)+f_{}(t+r)}{r\mathrm{sin}\theta }}`$ (1)
$`E_\theta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{f_+(tr)f_{}(t+r)}{r\mathrm{sin}\theta }}`$ (2)
The two terms in each expression are fast modes propagating outward and inward. The charge and current density vanish in the interior of the shell. We can determine the functions $`f_+,f_{}`$ by specifying the electromagnetic field at some small radius beyond the light surface and by matching to an ultrarelativistic blast wave expanding into the surrounding medium. This last requires that the outer surface of the shell move at the same speed as the inner surface of the blast wave and that the magnetic stress normal to this surface match the pressure in the blast wave.

The simplest assumption to make is that the strength of the magnetic rotator is constant, ($`f_+=\mathrm{const}`$) for a time $`t_{\mathrm{source}}`$ and that the external density is constant in radius. These assumptions imply that the Lorentz factor of the blast wave’s outer shock front varies with radius $`R`$ according to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{csc}\theta R^{1/2}`$ $`^\mathrm{?}`$. (The Lorentz factor of the contact discontinuity, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_c`$, exhibits a similar variation.) The electromagnetic velocity (the velocity of the frame in which the electric field vanishes) in the body of the shell $`\stackrel{}{\beta }=\stackrel{}{E}\times \stackrel{}{B}/B^2`$ is radial and equal in magnitude to $`(f_+f_{})/(f_++f_{})`$ and the magnetic stress in a frame moving with this velocity is $`f_+f_{}\mathrm{csc}^2\theta `$. The expansion of the blast wave is anisotropic, being faster along the poles, giving an electromagnetic power per steradian $`L_\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{csc}^2\theta `$. Note that information is propagated inward by the fast mode which does modify the solution and allows it to react to changes in the load including changes in its effective impedance. Note also that it takes a very long time for a wave to be reflected by the blast wave and return to the origin. This is generally true of ultrarelativistic flows and stationary solutions, which take a long time to be established can be quite misleading.

A comparison with a non-relativistic plerion like the Crab Nebula, is instructive. The magnetic bubble expands with speed of $`\dot{R}<<c`$ and, consequently, the pulsar must be producing magnetic flux at a rate that is roughly $`(c/\dot{R})^{1/2}`$ times too large to account for the strength of the magnetic field in the nebula. Therefore, most (95 percent in the case of the Crab Nebula) of the flux must be destroyed. On topological grounds, the natural places for this destruction to occur are on the axis and the equatorial plane. These regions are, in any case, formally unstable to pinch and tearing mode instabilities mmmThe contact discontinuity should be formally Kruskal-Schwarzschild stable. respectively $`^\mathrm{?}`$. nnnIf we were to prevent this dissipation, in a thought experiment, through having the current flow along rigid, perfect conductors, then the reflected electromagnetic waves would react back on the source and shut down the power supply. The X-ray emission from the Crab Nebula, observed by Chandra $`^\mathrm{?}`$ , may well be a consequence of particle acceleration associated with electrical resistance / flux destruction / generation of electromagnetic turbulence / particle acceleration tracing out the current flow in the inner part of the nebula. If we consider the flow of electromagnetic field in the nebula, we find that there must be a steady flow of magnetic flux towards the rotation axis and the equatorial plane $`^\mathrm{?}`$. In addition, there will be a compensatory backflow of relativistic electrons and positrons into the interior of the plerion. Of course there must be some matter in the nebula – it has been observed evaporating off filaments through its polarisation behaviour – but in this model, it has a very minor role in the dynamics.

By contrast, the contact discontinuity of an electromagnetic shell expands at a relativistic speed, and the reflected wave has a much smaller amplitude than the incident wave. Consequently, there is no necessity to destroy a lot of magnetic flux. Stated another way, there need be little resistance in the circuit. The effective load consists of the performance of work on the expanding blast wave. This is where most of the power that is generated by the central magnetic rotator ends up. (The distinction between this inertial load and a dissipative load is quite unimportant for the behavior of the black hole magnetosphere.)

The simple electromagnetic solution will only remain valid until the end of the outward-propagating, electromagnetic pulse catches up with the blast wave. This occurs at some radius $`R_{\mathrm{free}}\mathrm{\Gamma }(R_{\mathrm{free}})^2ct_{\mathrm{source}}`$. Thereafter, the surrounding blast wave which, by now, has acquired almost all of the energy in the explosion, will expand freely with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }R^{3/2}`$.

This elementary model of a relativistic electromagnetic shell can be easily generalized to accommodate different assumptions about the variation of the flux supply with time and latitude and the density variation in the external medium.

### 3.5 Gamma Ray Bursts

As well as bring out some formal points, the electromagnetic solution just described provides a possible model for GRB $`^\mathrm{?}`$ $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Suppose that a magnetic rotator spins off toroidal magnetic field as it slows down and that this magnetic field fills an anisotropic, relativistically expanding shell in a uniform medium. Suppose, further, that the flux distribution near the light cylinder is consistent with the current being concentrated along the axis and in the equatorial plane, as described above. The current density is most intense on the axis and, although there is no requirement that flux be destroyed as long as the expansion is relativistic, in practice the magnetic pinch will become hydromagnetically unstable to sausage and kink modes (in the comoving frame) after expansion beyond a radius where the stabilising, poloidal field becomes insignificant $`^\mathrm{?}`$. These global instabilities, which should have a longitudinal wavelength comparable in size to the width of the current distribution, may sustain an electromagnetic turbulence spectrum which should ultimately be responsible for particle acceleration and the excitation of transverse gyrational motion $`^\mathrm{?}`$. oooThis turbulence may have already been seen in the measured fluctuation power spectrum \[Chang\]. The reason why particles are accelerated is that, when the power cascades down to short enough wavelengths, there are too few charged particles to carry the electrical current and field-parallel electric fields will develop. This is the microscopic source of the dissipation. These particles will emit $`\gamma `$-rays, primarily through the synchrotron process, though inverse Compton scattering may also be important. $`\gamma `$-rays, in excess of threshold will create fresh pairs. All of this will take place in a frame moving with the electromagnetic velocity and the emission will be strongly beamed outward. As well as create electrical resistance, the global pinch instabilities can also provide a plausible explanation for the large $`110`$ ms fluctuations in the observed $`\gamma `$-ray flux that are observed. pppAttributing this variation to internal shocks tied to the source, as in the fluid model, implies that the $`\gamma `$-rays originate at much smaller radii than expected on the electromagnetic model.

The afterglow is formed after the blast wave becomes free of its electromagnetic driver. Now, in most afterglow models, including those involving jets, it is supposed that the expansion velocity does not vary with latitude. However, an electromagnetically-driven blast wave necessarily creates an anisotropic explosion and this has important consequences for observations of the afterglow, especially in the ultrarelativistic phase of expansion. If we continue to use our simple model, we find that the afterglow expansion varies most rapidly, and remains relativistic for longest, closest to the symmetry axis. As $`L_\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{csc}^2\theta `$ the energy contained in each octave of $`\theta `$ is roughly constant This means that the most intense bursts and afterglows in a flux-limited sample will be seen pole-on and should exhibit achromatic breaks, which might be mistaken for jets. The inferred explosion energy will be roughly independent of $`\theta `$ and characteristic of the total energy. When the expansion becomes non-relativistic, the remnant will have a prolate shape which might be measurable. qqqIt is tempting to associate some of the barrel-shaped supernova remnants observed in our Galaxy with the remnants of electromagnetic explosions.

This electromagnetic model provides a solution to the puzzle of how to launch a blast wave that extends over an angular scale $`>>\mathrm{\Gamma }^1`$ and where the individual parts are out of causal contact. In the electromagnetic model, the energy is transferred to the blast wave by a magnetic shell that pushes (unevenly) on the surrounding gas all the way out to $`R_{\mathrm{free}}`$. It also supplies an origin for the magnetic flux in the blast wave, for which the alternative origin in the bounding shock front seems very hard to explain. In the present model, magnetic field can simply be mixed into the blast wave (and the shock-accelerated relativistic electrons) at the contact discontinuity through instabilities, much like what seems to happen in regular supernova remnants.

### 3.6 Some Numbers

Let us give some illustrative orders of magnitude for a model of a long duration GRB. The electromagnetic energy flux near the pole is $`L_\mathrm{\Omega }10^{50}`$ erg s-1 sterad-1 and lasts for a time $`t_{\mathrm{source}}100`$ s. The associated EMF in the electrical circuit $`10^{22}`$ V rrrA potential difference this large, made available along the contact discontinuity, provides one of the few astrophysical options for accounting for UHE cosmic rays. and the current is $`10^{20}`$ A. sssFor comparison the values are $`3\times 10^{14}`$ A, $`3\times 10^{16}`$ V for the Crab Nebula and $`10^{18}`$ A, $`10^{20}`$ V for Cygnus A. The external density is uniform $`n1`$ cm-3. The blast wave is driven by the electromagnetic shell with Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }R^{1/2}`$ until $`RR_{\mathrm{free}}10^{17}`$ cm, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{free}}100`$. Thereafter there is a freely expanding blast wave with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }R^{3/2}`$ until the expansion becomes non-relativistic when $`RR_{\mathrm{NR}}3\times 10^{18}`$ cm.

Most of the GRB emission (around $`1`$ MeV) is produced when $`R<R_{\mathrm{free}}`$ as synchrotron emission by $`100`$ GeV electrons in a co-moving magnetic field of strength $`B>30`$ G. The comoving cooling time of these electrons is $`3`$ s, a fraction $`<10^4`$ of the expansion timescale and so if the $`100`$ GeV pair energy density is maintained at a significant fraction of the equipartition energy density, then the magnetic energy can be efficiently transformed into $`\gamma `$-rays. The opacity to pair production for a $`\gamma `$-ray of energy $`E`$ is $`0.1(E/1\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V})`$. The Thomson optical depth depends upon the details of the particle acceleration but is plausibly much smaller than unity so that the observed $`\gamma `$-rays can freely escape without erasing the variability.

### 3.7 AGN Jets

Having briefly discussed electromagnetic models of plerions and GRBs, it remains to re-consider extragalactic jets in this context \[Fletcher\]. Although electromagnetic/hydromagnetic models of the energy release have been quite widely discussed for a long while, it has generally been supposed that this electromagnetic energy is transformed into a particle-dominated flow at a safe distance from the black hole and that the observed emission is from a high $`\beta `$ plasma.

How plausible is it that the entire radio source is an electromagnetic structure, that the observed emission trace out unstable currents rather than strong shock fronts? tttOf course, under force-free conditions, the currents also trace out the magnetic field in the frame in which the electric field vanishes. One of the merits of this hypothesis is that it may provide a dynamical rationalisation of the doctrine of equipartition. Pinched currents, on all scales, may continue to become unstable until their stresses are balanced by pressure. Another merit is that it provides a natural explanation for the helical structures that are often seen in VLBI maps. A third advantage is that currents can account for distributed particle acceleration in well-resolved jets, as spectral studies suggest may be required. However, if the extended lobes associated with the powerful FRII sources, like Cygnus A, are filled with unstable though fundamentally toroidal and force- free magnetic field, then this could present a quite strong signal in the Faraday rotation maps which has not really been seen. Similarly the polarisation structure of FRII radio sources does look like a shear flow and there are some features, in radio maps, like the knots in M87, which are naturally interpreted as strong shocks.

## 4 Summary and Prospects

In these impressionistic sketches, I have outlined two principles, which although not completely new, are now not commonly discussed – that most accreting black holes (excluding those where the mass supply is within an order of magnitude or so of the Eddington rate) swallow only a tiny fraction of the gas supplied at the Bondi radius and that ultrarelativistic, high energy phenomena are fundamentally electromagnetic not gas dynamical. The link between these two principles may be that carrying off the binding energy of the accreting gas in a fluid outflow, rather than radiation, is a necessary condition for extracting energy electromagnetically from a spinning black hole. At least this is the story in the case of AGN jets. This condition is also satisfied by pulsars. GRBs, which may be either accreting black holes or neutron stars, would be similar to either. An extension of this line of argument is that AGN jets may be essentially electromagnetic all the way to their hot spots.

There are many possible discriminatory observations. For the most interesting and immediate case of GRBs, it is not predicted that there will be an accompanying neutrino signal. By contrast, a gravitational wave signal is expected in some, though not all, models and would be strongly diagnostic if detected. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that GRBs will be associated with Type II supernovae. More immediate but less specific diagnostics include relating the duration and character of the GRB with the inferred observation angle of the burst – higher inclination should be associated with longer and less intense bursts. The spectrum and polarisation of the afterglow emission might also contain some clues, though the lack of a usable theory of particle acceleration uuuRecent, promising progress on understanding relativistic shocks predicts a power law distribution function with a logarithmic slope of 2.2 $`^\mathrm{?}`$, provided that the scattering is essentially normal to the shock front. What is not yet clear is whether these scattering conditions are present. and magnetic field amplification at ultrarelativistic shocks makes this a bit problematic. A more detailed discussion of the GRB emission, than presented here should account for the MeV breaks observed in $`\gamma `$-ray spectra.

From a more theoretical perspective, there is much to be learned about the properties of force-free electromagnetic fields and especially their stablity. The possible relationship of the GRB fluctuation power spectrum to an underlying turbulence spectrum is especially tantalising. Undoubtedly, numerical simulations will be crucial as the problem is essentially three dimensional. Force-free electromagnetism is easier to study than relativistic MHD and may well be a very good approximation in many of these sources.

Turning to plerions, the most direct, observational challenge is to see if there really is a strong, dissipating shock as expected with a fluid wind or a flow of electromagnetic energy towards the axis and the equatorial plane as predicted by the electromagnetic model and as appears to be exhibited by the Crab Nebula.

Finally, for AGN, we would like to detect and understand the mass outflows predicted above for low mass supply rates. (We already know that rapidly accreting stellar and massive holes drive dense, high speed outflows.) In addition, we need to see if the very well-observed radio jets and their lobes can be re-interpreted in terms of an unstable Z-pinch. A good place to start is through mapping the magnetic field using polarisation measurements and the internal mass density through internal depolarisation data. In addition, detailed imaging spectra from radio to X-ray energies can be used to determine where the particles are being accelerated – at shock surfaces or in volumes containing strong, unstable currents – and how they propagate away from these acceleration sites at different energies.

The conjunction of recent, impressive discoveries, upcoming observational facilities and powerful computing capability makes this a propitious time to be studying current high energy emission from black holes.

## Acknowledgments

I thank the organisers of this workshop for their gracious and generous hospitality, my colleagues Mitch Begelman and Max Lyutikov for their collaboration on the above and several of the conference participants for discussion which helped to clarify some of the arguments I have presented. Support under NASA grant 5-2837 is gratefully acknowledged.

## References