text:
# Perturbative QCD with Quark and Gluon CondensatesThis paper is published only in the hep-ph archive. Comments are welcome.

## 1 Perturbing in the presence of parton pairs

We wish to call attention to the interesting properties of a Perturbative QCD (PQCD) expansion where the free, massless quark and gluon propagators have an extra term at vanishing four-momentum. In Feynman gauge,

$`S_q^{AB}(p)`$ $`=`$ δAB[i

p

/
p2+iε+Cq(2π)4δ4(p)]superscript𝛿𝐴𝐵delimited-[]𝑖

p

/
superscript𝑝2𝑖𝜀subscript𝐶𝑞superscript2𝜋4superscript𝛿4𝑝\displaystyle\delta^{AB}\left[\frac{i\parbox[b]{6.00006pt}{$p$}\parbox[b]{5.50003pt}{ \raisebox{-0.86108pt}{$/$}}}{p^{2}+i\varepsilon}+C_{q}(2\pi)^{4}\delta^{4}(p)\right] (1)
$`D_g^{ab,\mu \nu }(p)`$ $`=`$ $`g^{\mu \nu }\delta ^{ab}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{i}{p^2+i\epsilon }}+C_g(2\pi )^4\delta ^4(p)\right]`$ (2)
A corresponding modification of the ghost propagator is irrelevant since the ghost-gluon vertex is proportional to the ghost momentum.

The gluon propagator modification (2) was proposed in , motivated by a Lorentz and gauge invariant formulation of QCD vacuum effects. In later work it was shown that such a modification would arise if gluon pairs are present in the asymptotic wave function , and some of its phenomenological consequences were studied . Independently, it was noted in  that perturbative expansions using different $`i\epsilon `$ prescriptions at the poles of the free gluon propagator are equivalent to standard expansions with gluons added to the in- and out-states. This was inspired by earlier studies  of the relation between modifications of the on-shell propagators and boundary conditions.

It should be emphasized that a perturbative expansion using propagators such as (1) and (2) is formally as justified as the standard expansion. Standard perturbation theory uses empty, perturbative vacua as in- and out-states at asymptotic times ($`t=\pm \mathrm{}`$). In the infinite time separating the empty states from the scattering event they will relax to the true QCD ground state (assuming the overlap to be non-vanishing). At finite orders of PQCD one sees, however, only the beginning of this relaxation. Thus if the true ground state differs essentially from the perturbative vacuum, e.g., by containing quark and gluon condensates , the perturbative expansion will not capture this physics. This is a likely reason for the failure of standard PQCD at long distances, where soft condensate partons have important effects.

It is thus natural to consider PQCD with asymptotic states that contain (free) quark and gluon pairs. Assuming again an overlap of those states with the true ground state the resulting expansion will be a priori as justified as standard PQCD. The addition of quark and gluon pairs to the asymptotic states implies no change in the QCD lagrangian nor in the short distance properties of the theory (including renormalizability). Such asymptotic states may on the other hand give rise to non-vanishing quark and gluon condensates, ‘constituent’ parton masses and a spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry.

There are phenomenological indications that perturbative methods are relevant for long distance QCD physics. Constituent quarks are effective degrees of freedom in hadrons. The transition from short distance (quark and gluon) to long-distance (hadron) physics is smooth . This suggests that the strong coupling freezes, $`\alpha _s(Q^2=0)0.5`$, and that confinement and chiral symmetry breaking is due to quark and gluon ‘condensates’ in the QCD vacuum , rather than to a strong coupling regime.

The abstract contains a detailed study of how gaussian wave functions of fermion and scalar fields at asymptotic times $`t=\pm T\pm \mathrm{}`$ imply free propagators of the form (1) and (2). The coefficient of the zero-momentum contribution is determined by the gaussian, and vanishes when the wave function is that of the ground (empty) state. In general the gaussian may be expanded to reveal an indeterminate number of particle pairs.

## 2 Vacuum expectation values and constituent masses

The consequences of the modifications (1) and (2) to the quark and gluon propagators are profound. Due to the infinite number of pairs the modified expansion is non-perturbatively related to standard PQCD.

We find that the propagator modifications give rise to non-vanishing $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$ and $`F_{\mu \nu }F^{\mu \nu }`$ expectation values. Thus chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. Quarks gain a constituent mass whereas gluons become tachyonic due to interactions with the condensates. We verify (at lowest non-trivial order) that the altered boundary conditions do not affect the conservation of the vector and axial currents, $`_\mu J^\mu =_\mu J_5^\mu =0`$, which follows from the symmetries of the lagrangian. Thus the pion is massless, despite the masses of its constituent quarks.

### 2.1 Quark and gluon condensates

The quark propagator (1) leads to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking already at zeroth order in perturbation theory,

$$\overline{\psi }(x)\psi (x)=\underset{\alpha ,A}{}\frac{\delta }{\delta \zeta _\alpha ^A(x)}\frac{\delta }{\delta \overline{\zeta }_\alpha ^A(x)}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{d^4p}{(2\pi )^4}\overline{\zeta }^A(p)S_q^{AB}\zeta ^B(p)\right]=4NC_q$$
(3)
where $`N`$ is the number of colors. In effect, the divergently large number $`1/m`$ of zero-momentum quark pairs implied by Eq. (A.2) compensates the factor $`m`$ in the numerator of the propagator, giving a finite result in the $`m0`$ limit. Thus chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken by the asymptotic state.

In the case of the $`F_{\mu \nu }F^{\mu \nu }`$ expectation value the $`𝒪\left(g^0\right)`$ contribution vanishes since the free part of $`F_{\mu \nu }=_\mu A_\nu _\nu A_\mu gf_{abc}A_\mu ^bA_\nu ^c`$ is proportional to the gluon momentum. Furthermore, at $`𝒪\left(g^2\right)`$ the gluon loop integrals vanish (when dimensionally regularized) due to the absence of a mass or momentum scale. This leaves only the two-loop diagram involving a 4-gluon coupling (Fig. 1a), with the $`C_g`$ part of the propagator taken in both loops. The result is

$`F_{\mu \nu }(x)F^{\mu \nu }(x)`$ $`=`$ $`g^2f_{abc}f_{ade}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^4}{\delta J_\mu ^b\delta J_\nu ^c\delta J_d^\mu \delta J_e^\nu }}\mathrm{exp}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^4p}{(2\pi )^4}J(p)D_gJ(p)}\right]`$ (4)
$`=`$ $`12g^2N(N^21)C_g^2`$
The gluon condensate thus arises specifically from the non-abelian 4-gluon interaction.

### 2.2 Quark constituent mass

The quark propagator correction $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(p)`$ shown in Fig. 1b gets a contribution from both the quark condensate term $`C_q`$ in (1) ($`k=0`$) and from the gluon propagator modification $`C_g`$ of (2) ($`k=p`$). Only the former generates a proper mass term, making $`\mathrm{Tr}S_q(p)0`$, where (for $`p0`$)

Sq(p)=i

p

/
+Σ+iεsubscript𝑆𝑞𝑝𝑖

p

/
Σ𝑖𝜀S_{q}(p)=\frac{i}{\parbox[b]{6.00006pt}{$p$}\parbox[b]{5.50003pt}{ \raisebox{-0.86108pt}{$/$}}+\Sigma+i\varepsilon} (5)
It is straightforward to write down the quark condensate contribution to the diagram of Fig. 1b,

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_q^{AB}(p)=4g^2C_FC_q\frac{\delta _{AB}}{p^2+i\epsilon }$$
(6)
where $`C_F=(N^21)/2N`$. As expected, it is suppressed in the short distance $`(p^2\mathrm{})`$ limit. The pole in the propagator (5) is at the ‘constituent’ quark mass $`p^2=M_q^2`$, with

$$M_q=\left(4g^2C_F|C_q|\right)^{1/3}$$
(7)
The gluon condensate correction to the quark propagator is similarly ,

ΣgAB(p)=2g2CFCg

p

/
p2+iεδABsuperscriptsubscriptΣ𝑔𝐴𝐵𝑝2superscript𝑔2subscript𝐶𝐹subscript𝐶𝑔

p

/
superscript𝑝2𝑖𝜀superscript𝛿𝐴𝐵\Sigma_{g}^{AB}(p)=-2g^{2}C_{F}C_{g}\frac{\parbox[b]{6.00006pt}{$p$}\parbox[b]{5.50003pt}{ \raisebox{-0.86108pt}{$/$}}}{p^{2}+i\varepsilon}\delta^{AB} (8)
and influences the quark constituent mass $`M_q`$, which is now is obtained as the solution of the cubic equation,

$$M_q^32g^2C_FC_gM_q=\pm 4g^2C_FC_q$$
(9)
### 2.3 A tachyonic gluon

The gluon propagator corrections shown in Figs. 1c,d were evaluated in Ref. . The sum of the two diagrams has the transverse structure required by gauge invariance. The resummed propagator thus has the form (for $`p0`$)

$$D_g^{ab,\mu \nu }(p)=i\delta ^{ab}\frac{g^{\mu \nu }+p^\mu p^\nu /p^2}{p^2+\mathrm{\Pi }_g+i\epsilon }i\delta ^{ab}\frac{p^\mu p^\nu }{p^4}$$
(10)
where the gluon condensate contribution is

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_g(p)=2g^2NC_g$$
(11)
There is no contribution to the gluon propagator from the quark condensate term $`C_q`$ at $`𝒪\left(g^2\right)`$. The insertion of this term in the quark loop correction gives a vanishing trace due to an odd number of $`\gamma `$ matrices.

A modification of the ghost propagator at $`p=0`$ also does not contribute to $`\mathrm{\Pi }_g`$ since the ghost-gluon vertex vanishes at zero ghost momentum. In Ref. , where asymptotic states of gluons with $`p0`$ were considered, the ghost contribution was non-vanishing and essential for gauge invariance.

As was found also in , the gluon propagator has a pole at negative $`p^2`$, corresponding to a ‘tachyonic’ gluon mass,

$$M_g^2=2g^2NC_g$$
(12)
provided $`C_g>0`$ . This is likely to have important consequences. A quark or gluon can acquire an absorptive part by emitting a spacelike gluon with $`p^2M_g^2<0`$. Thus colored partons cannot propagate long distances due to their interactions with the quarks and gluons in the asymptotic state. Any stable eigenmodes of propagation are likely to be color singlets, which do not emit soft gluons.

### 2.4 Conservation of vector and axial vector currents

The breaking of chiral symmetry (3) resulted from our modification of the asymptotic states. The QCD lagrangian is unchanged and remains chirally symmetric. Consequently the symmetry is broken spontaneously and there must be a massless goldstone boson, the pion, which is annihilated by the axial current,

$$0|J_5^\mu (x)|\pi (p)=ip^\mu f_\pi \mathrm{exp}(ipx)$$
(13)
The symmetry of the lagrangian implies $`_\mu J_5^\mu =0`$, i.e., $`m_\pi =0`$. Current conservation should hold order by order in the modified perturbative expansion. We shall verify it for the diagrams of Fig. 2.

The quark condensate term $`C_q`$ of (1) must be used in two of the four quark propagators in Fig. 2 to have an even number of $`\gamma `$ matrices in the quark loop. Consequently the two-loop integral reduces to a number, and we find, for a vector $`(ie\gamma ^\mu )`$ coupling of the current,

$$A_q^{\mu \nu }(p)=16e^2g^2(N^21)\frac{C_q^2}{p^4}\left(g^{\mu \nu }\frac{p^\mu p^\nu }{p^2}\right)$$
(14)
The transverse structure ensures vector current conservation and gauge invariance. The result for an axial vector current coupling $`(ie\gamma _5\gamma ^\mu )`$ is the same, up to a sign.

The contribution of the gluon propagator modification (2) on the gluon line in Fig. 2 reduces the two loop integrals to a single (regular) integral. For a vector coupling we find

$$A_g^{\mu \nu }(p)=\frac{e^2g^2}{\pi ^2}(N^21)C_g\left(g^{\mu \nu }\frac{p^\mu p^\nu }{p^2}\right)$$
(15)
We have again $`p_\mu A_g^{\mu \nu }(p)=0`$ as required by current conservation. The result is the same for an axial vector current.

## 3 Concluding remarks

The perturbative expansion is a powerful tool in field theory. It is specified by the lagrangian and by the state which one chooses to expand around. The sum is formally independent of this state provided it is taken at asymptotic times ($`t\pm \mathrm{}`$) and has an overlap with the true vacuum. Hence it is interesting to consider the properties of perturbative QCD expansions with non-empty asymptotic states.

A PQCD expansion can be phenomenologically useful provided quarks and gluons are relevant degrees of freedom for the physics being studied. In the short distance regime this is clearly so, and PQCD has been impressively successful. While hadrons in many respects are good degrees of freedom at long distances, there are indications that partons maintain their identity even in this regime. Thus hadrons can be characterized as loosely bound states of constituent quarks, which differ from current quarks only in their mass. It has also been noted that the transition from the short distance to the ‘confining’ regime is smooth . This is consistent with a picture where the strong coupling freezes at a perturbative value $`\alpha _s(Q^2=0)0.5`$ and the novel long distance effects result from interactions with quark and gluon condensates in the physical ground state.

We previously studied  the effects of including finite momentum quarks and gluons in the asymptotic states. Such states are not boost invariant and Lorentz invariance is thus implicit, i.e., the convergence of the expansion is frame dependent. This may not be a disadvantage when a choice of frame is anyway implied, as in the calculation of bound states wave functions. However, the possibility of retaining explicit Lorentz invariance by including only massless partons with vanishing momenta  is attractive. This is also similar to the framework of the QCD sum rules , where no momentum is exchanged with the vacuum condensates.

The modification of the gluon propagator (2) in Feynman gauge implies a corresponding modification of the ghost propagator. This was shown to give a gauge invariant result in a one-loop calculation of the static potential . However, since the ghost gluon vertex is proportional to the ghost momentum a modification of the ghost propagator at $`p=0`$ is irrelevant. The results obtained here and in Ref.  without ghost modifications are indeed consistent with gauge invariance.

In this paper we extended the considerations of Refs.  to quarks and found that chiral symmetry breaks spontaneously. We made non-trivial checks that identities following from symmetries of the lagrangian are respected by the condensate contributions. In particular, we saw how the pion can stay massless despite the finite mass of its constituent quarks. The quark mass contribution (Fig. 2a) is exactly cancelled by the interaction between the quarks in (Fig. 2b).

The fact that the gluon propagator acquires a pole for $`p^2<0`$ (a tachyonic gluon mass)  is likely to have important consequences. It implies that quarks and gluons can propagate only over a limited range in the condensate, as the emission of long wavelength spacelike gluons generates an absorptive part. Since the colored condensate will be more transparent to color singlet bound states it is not farfetched to speculate that hadrons are the only stable eigenmodes of propagation.

###### Acknowledgments.

I am grateful for discussions with Stéphane Peigné and Johan Rathsman.
APPENDIX

## Appendix A Influence of the asymptotic state on the free propagator

The generating functional $`Z[J]`$ of Green functions in (scalar) field theory can be expressed in the form

$$Z_{int}[J]=\mathrm{exp}\left[iS_{int}\left(\frac{\delta }{\delta J}\right)\right]Z[J]$$
(16)
where $`J`$ is the source of the field $`\varphi `$, $`S_{int}(\varphi )`$ is the interaction part of the action and the free functional is explicitly given by the free propagator $`D(p)`$,

$`Z[J]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝒟[\varphi ]\mathrm{exp}\left\{id^4x\left[_0(\varphi )+J(x)\varphi (x)\right]\right\}}`$ (17)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^4p}{(2\pi )^4}J(p)D(p)J(p)}\right]`$ (18)
The boundary condition at $`x^0=\pm \mathrm{}`$ of the path integral (17) is usually specified implicitly by tilting the $`x^0`$ integration path to the real axis, giving the Feynman propagator

$$D_F(p)=\frac{i}{p^2m^2+i\epsilon }$$
(19)
In the operator formalism this propagator is obtained by requiring the perturbative vacuum to be empty, $`a|0=0`$.

We wish to show how the inclusion of parton pairs in the asymptotic state modifies the prescription at the $`p^2=m^2`$ pole of the free propagator. We consider first the case of a scalar field and then that of a fermion, making use of the results in . The generalization to the free gluon and quark propagators of QCD is straightforward. The full QCD generating functional is given by the free one as in Eq. (16). The standard Feynman rules of PQCD are thus modified only through the change in the free propagators.

### A.1 Free scalar field

The space part of the gaussian path integral in (17) is diagonalized in 3-momentum space. The following analysis is thus independent of $`\stackrel{}{p}`$. For simplicity, and since we shall be interested in zero momentum pairs, we assume $`\stackrel{}{p}=0`$ and treat only the time/energy dimension explicitly.

To see the influence of the asymptotic states on the free propagator we need to first calculate the path integral over a finite time interval, $`TtT`$, and then take $`T\mathrm{}`$. We define (17) to be

$`Z[J]={\displaystyle }𝒟[\varphi (t)]\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}{\displaystyle _T^T}dt\varphi (t)[{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}`$ $`+`$ $`m^2]\varphi (t)+i{\displaystyle }_T^TdtJ(t)\varphi (t)`$ (20)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{C_s}{2}}[\varphi ^2(T)+\varphi ^2(T)]\}`$
Here $`C_s>0`$ parametrizes the gaussian wave functions at $`t=\pm T`$. Since the free scalar lagrangian describes a set of harmonic oscillators we expect that the ground state is obtained for $`C_s=m`$. We find below that precisely this value of $`C_s`$ gives the Feynman propagator. Other values of $`C_s`$ correspond to a superposition of wave functions containing particle pairs.

Describing the field through its Fourier components,

$$\varphi (t)=\frac{1}{2T}\underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\varphi _p\mathrm{exp}(i\pi pt/T)$$
(21)
implies a periodic boundary condition,

$$\varphi (T)=\varphi (T)=\frac{1}{2T}\underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}(1)^p\varphi _p$$
(22)
Introducing this relation via a $`\delta `$-function constraint gives (up to an overall normalization),

$`Z[J]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}d\alpha d\varphi (T){\displaystyle \underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}d\varphi _p\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p}{}}\varphi _p({\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}}m^2)\varphi _p`$ (23)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p}{}}[J_p(1)^p\alpha ]\varphi _pC_s\varphi ^2(T)+i\alpha \varphi (T)\}`$
The result of the gaussian integration is

$`Z[J]=\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{J_pJ_p}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{C_s}}+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}}\right]^1\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1)^pJ_p}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}}\right]^2\right\}`$
This is a well-defined expression if $`mT\pi p`$ for any integer $`p`$. In order for the $`T\mathrm{}`$ limit to be smooth we take

$$mT=\left(N+\frac{1}{2}\right)\pi $$
(25)
which ensures that the denominators vanish in the middle of a discrete momentum interval, and then let $`N\mathrm{}`$.

Using

$$\underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{p^2\alpha ^2}=\mathrm{cos}(\pi \alpha )\underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(1)^p}{p^2\alpha ^2}=\frac{\pi \mathrm{cos}(\pi \alpha )}{\alpha \mathrm{sin}(\pi \alpha )}$$
(26)
implies with (25) that

$$\underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}=0$$
(27)
in Eq. (A.1). In the continuum $`(N\mathrm{})`$ limit the source $`J_p`$ is slowly varying compared to $`(1)^p`$ in the last term of (A.1). Hence that term only contributes for $`pmT/\pi `$, where the denominator is rapidly varying. Thus, using again (26),

$$\underset{N\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{2T}\underset{p}{}\frac{(1)^pJ_p}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}=\frac{J(m)}{2T}\underset{p}{}\frac{(1)^p}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}=\frac{J(m)}{2m}(1)^{N+1}$$
(28)
where according to (21) we indicate the continuum energy $`E`$ as $`J_p=J(E=\pi p/T)`$. Similarly we note that the continuum limit of the first term in (A.1) is

$`\underset{N\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{J_pJ_p}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}𝒫{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{J(E)J(E)}{E^2m^2}}`$
$``$ $`i{\displaystyle \frac{J(m)J(m)}{4T}}{\displaystyle \underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\frac{\pi ^2p^2}{T^2}m^2}}`$
where $`𝒫`$ denotes the principal value. The second term represents the contribution close to the pole of the propagator where the sum may not be approximated by the integral. This term vanishes due to (25) and (26). Collecting the above results gives

$`Z[J]`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}𝒫{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{J(E)J(E)}{E^2m^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{C_s}{4m^2}}J^2(m)\right\}`$
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{2\pi }}J(E)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{i}{E^2m^2+i\epsilon }}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2m}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{C_s}{m}}1\right)2\pi \delta (Em)\right]J(E)\right\}`$
Note that $`J(m)=J(m)`$, since only the combination $`J_p+J_p`$ enters in the pole contribution (28). This is a consequence of the periodic boundary condition (22). In general $`\varphi (t)`$ is related to $`\varphi (t)`$ through $`\varphi _p\varphi _p`$, hence the asymptotic momentum space field $`\varphi (m)`$ is real.

Eq. (A.1) shows that the Feynman propagator is modified for $`C_sm`$, analogously to the gluon propagator in Eq. (2). As we noted above, $`C_s=m`$ corresponds to imposing the ground state wave function as boundary condition at $`t=\pm T\pm \mathrm{}`$. For $`C_sm`$ the gaussian wave function may be expanded in powers of $`(C_sm)\varphi ^2(\pm T)`$ and interpreted as a state with additional particle pairs.

It is straightforward to extend this analysis to fields $`\varphi _\lambda (t,\stackrel{}{p})`$ having non-vanishing 3-momenta $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ and several spin components $`\lambda `$. If the argument of the gaussian wave function is of the form $`_\lambda \varphi _\lambda (\pm T,\stackrel{}{p})\varphi _\lambda (\pm T,\stackrel{}{p})`$ it will represent spin zero pairs with vanishing total 3-momentum.

An application to the gluon propagator (2) is more subtle due to gauge invariance. In the limit of vanishing mass $`m`$ we must let $`C_sm`$ in (A.1). The sign of $`C_g`$ in (2) then depends on whether $`C_s`$ approaches $`m`$ from below or above. In the QCD analysis of Ref.  it was found that $`C_g>0`$. We use Feynman gauge as in . Gauge independence was explicitly verified  for Feynman and Coulomb gauge in a one-loop calculation of the static potential with boundary conditions modified at $`\stackrel{}{p}0`$. In that case a modification of the ghost propagator analogous to (2) was essential in Feynman gauge. It is, however, irrelevant in our present ($`\stackrel{}{p}=0`$) analysis since the ghost-gluon vertex is proportional to the ghost momentum.

### A.2 Spin $`\frac{1}{2}`$ field

We take the finite time, free generating functional analogous to (20) for a spin $`{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ field to be

$`Z[\overline{\zeta },\zeta ]={\displaystyle 𝒟[\overline{\psi },\psi ]\mathrm{exp}}`$ $`\{`$ $`{\displaystyle _T^T}𝑑t\left[i\overline{\psi }(t)(i\gamma ^0_tm)\psi (t)+\overline{\zeta }\psi +\overline{\psi }\zeta \right]`$ (31)
$``$ $`C_f[\overline{\psi }(T)\psi (T)+\overline{\psi }(T)\psi (T)]\}`$
where the fields $`\psi ,\overline{\psi }`$ and sources $`\zeta ,\overline{\zeta }`$ are Grassmann valued Dirac spinors, and the wave functions at $`t=\pm T`$ are parametrized by the constant $`C_f`$. For notational simplicity we do not indicate the 3-momentum (and take $`\stackrel{}{p}=0`$). The Dirac algebra is diagonalized using fields $`\chi _{\sigma ,\lambda },\overline{\chi }_{\sigma ,\lambda }`$ where $`\sigma =+()`$ is an (anti)particle label and $`\lambda =,`$ indicates spin component,

$$\psi (t)=\underset{\lambda }{}\left[u(\lambda )\chi _{+,\lambda }(t)+v(\lambda )\chi _{,\lambda }(t)\right]$$
(32)
Here $`u^{}()=(1,0,0,0),u^{}()=(0,1,0,0)`$, and similarly in terms of the lower components for $`v(\lambda )`$.

Defining the source $`\eta _{\sigma ,\lambda }`$ correspondingly,

$$\zeta (t)=\gamma ^0\underset{\lambda }{}\left[u(\lambda )\eta _{+,\lambda }(t)+v(\lambda )\eta _{,\lambda }(t)\right]$$
(33)
the free fermion functional (31) becomes

$`Z[\overline{\eta },\eta ]={\displaystyle 𝒟[\overline{\chi },\chi ]\mathrm{exp}}`$ $`\{`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma ,\lambda }{}}{\displaystyle _T^T}𝑑t\left[i\overline{\chi }_{\sigma ,\lambda }(t)(i_t\sigma m)\chi _{\sigma ,\lambda }(t)+\overline{\eta }_{\sigma ,\lambda }\chi _{\sigma ,\lambda }+\overline{\chi }_{\sigma ,\lambda }\eta _{\sigma ,\lambda }\right]`$ (34)
$``$ $`C_f{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma ,\lambda }{}}\sigma [\overline{\chi }_{\sigma ,\lambda }(T)\chi _{\sigma ,\lambda }(T)+\overline{\chi }_{\sigma ,\lambda }(T)\chi _{\sigma ,\lambda }(T)]\}`$
In terms of the Fourier components defined as in (21) we get,

$`Z[\overline{\eta },\eta ]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{p}{}d\overline{\chi }_pd\chi _p\mathrm{exp}\left[\underset{p,q}{}\overline{\chi }_pA_{pq}\chi _q+\frac{1}{2T}\underset{p}{}(\overline{\eta }_p\chi _p+\overline{\chi }_p\eta _p)\right]}`$ (35)
$`=`$ $`det(A)\mathrm{exp}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(2T)^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{p,q}{}}\overline{\eta }_pA_{pq}^1\eta _q\right]`$
where we suppressed (the sum over) $`\sigma ,\lambda `$ in the exponent. The inverse of the matrix

$$A_{pq}=\frac{i}{2T}\left(\frac{\pi p}{T}\sigma m\right)\delta _{pq}+\frac{\sigma C_f}{2T^2}(1)^{p+q}$$
(36)
can be readily guessed from the corresponding result (A.1) for scalar fields. Imposing again (25) and using (26) we find (for each $`\sigma ,\lambda `$ and ignoring the overall normalization)

$$Z[\overline{\eta },\eta ]=\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{i}{2\pi }\underset{p=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\overline{\eta }_p\eta _p}{p\sigma mT/\pi }+\frac{\sigma C_f}{2\pi ^2}\underset{p,q}{}(1)^{p+q}\frac{\overline{\eta }_p\eta _q}{(p\sigma mT/\pi )(q\sigma mT/\pi )}\right]$$
(37)
In the continuum $`(N\mathrm{})`$ limit we get, similarly to the scalar case above,

$`Z[\overline{\eta },\eta ]`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma ,\lambda }{}}\left[i𝒫{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{\overline{\eta }_{\sigma ,\lambda }(E)\eta _{\sigma ,\lambda }(E)}{E\sigma m}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma C_f}{2}}\overline{\eta }_{\sigma ,\lambda }(\sigma m)\eta _{\sigma ,\lambda }(\sigma m)\right]\right\}`$
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{2\pi }}\overline{\zeta }(E)(E\gamma ^0+m)\left[𝒫{\displaystyle \frac{i}{E^2m^2}}+C_f\pi \delta (E^2m^2)\right]\zeta (E)\right\}`$
where $`C_f=1`$ gives the Feynman propagator. In the $`m0`$ limit $`\zeta (\pm m)\zeta (0)`$ and the $`E\gamma ^0`$ term cancels in the sum of the $`E=\pm m`$ pole contributions. Thus

$$Z[\overline{\eta },\eta ]\stackrel{m0}{=}\mathrm{exp}\left\{𝒫_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dE}{2\pi }\overline{\zeta }(E)\frac{iE\gamma ^0}{E^2}\zeta (E)+\frac{1}{2}C_f\overline{\zeta }(0)\zeta (0)\right\}$$
(39)
which gives a free fermion propagator of the form (1).


format: text

text:
# Resonant x-ray emission spectra of Mn based Heusler alloys.

## I Introduction

The interest to Mn based Heusler alloys Heusler1  is connected with the problem of half-metallic ferromagnets (HMF) GrootHMFShreder7 . These materials have an energy gap for one of the spin projections at the Fermi level and represent a separate class of strong itinerant magnetic substances. The ”classical” alloys of this type are PtMnSb and NiMnSb mostly known as half-metallic ferromagnets with the lattice structure $`C1_b`$. Searching the substances with similar properties it was found the X2MnZ Heusler alloys with the crystal lattice $`L2_1`$ where X is for example Fe, Co, Ni, Pd, Rh and Z is Al, Ga, Si, Sn, Sb, In are proposed to be also promising for magnetic applications GrootHMFShreder7 . Mn-based Heusler alloys are particularly interesting because of their compatibility with existing semiconductor technology. The remarkable feature is a high magnetic moment (3-4.6 $`\mu _B`$), that is mainly being formed by Mn atoms webster1967 -IshidaHFM . So, the electronic structure of the half-metallic ferromagnets and related materials allows them to be efficiently applied as a source of spin-polarized charge carriers HMFGroot2001 .

In case of the X2MnZ the $`L2_1`$ structure is slightly modified comparing to $`C1_b`$, that, however, affects the electronic structure i.e. of of Mn atoms in a different ways depending on the type of X and Z elements. The influence to the type of the magnetic ordering has been predicted and explained mainly because of changes in intra-atomic distances between the atoms. In particular that effects the minority-spin electrons to make them lose their semiconducting character, while the majority-spin electrons keep to stay metallic Kublercalc . Thereby it is important to understand the interplay between the electronic structure of Mn and magnetic characteristics of Heusler alloys searching for relation between the formation of the strong, almost 100% spin-polarized structure of the conduction electrons and the chemical type of the X and Z element. The chance to study topic has been given by x-ray emission spectroscopy technique using the ability to extract the element selective information about the valence structure and detecting the x-ray transitions localized to the first coordination sphere. We applied the method to study of the Mn $`L_2,L_3`$ x-ray emission spectra excited by linearly polarized monochromatic syncrotron radiation studying $`2p_{1/2}3d_{3/2}`$ and $`2p_{3/2}3d_{3/2},_{5/2}`$ photon emission transitions respectively for the line of alloys Cu2MnAl, Co2MnZ (Z=Al, Ga, Sn, Sb) in order to investigate the interplay between the local magnetic moment at Mn site, alterations in the Mn 3d band structure and the experimental Mn $`L_{2,3}`$ x-ray emission spectra.

## II Experimental setup

The samples investigated are polycrystallines used before at the series of experiments both by x-ray photoelectron Yarmoshenko1 ; PReB60-6428  and x-ray emission spectroscopy OurMCDPR . The present experiment was performed at the bulk branch line of beamlne I511 at MAX II (MAX-lab National Laboratory, Sweden). The x-ray absorption (XA) spectra were measured by recording the total electron yield (TEY) using the scanning the photon energy of the incident monochromatized synchrotron radiation. TEY absorption spectra were recorded by measuring sample drain current. The XA spectra were normalized to the photo current from a clean gold mesh introduced into the synchrotron radiation beam in order to correct for intensity variations of the incident x-ray beam. The soft x-ray emission (XE) spectra were recorded with a high-resolution Rowland-mount grazing-incidence grating spectrometer ND1  with a two-dimensional detector. The monochromator energy band pass used for all XA spectra and for the excitation of the RXE spectra was approximately 0.15 eV and 0.25 eV respectively. At beam line I511 (MAX II) refocusing optics situated in front of the measurement chamber and focusing the beam down to a vertical beam size of below 20 $`\mu `$ is being used. The angle of the incident photon beam was about 5, while spectrometer had been set perpendicularly in a horizontal plane. The selected grating and the entrance slit value lead to the 1.0 eV resolution of the spectra detected. The vacuum was below $`2310^9`$ Torr.

## III Results

The measured XA spectra are displayed at the Fig.1. They are been looking almost identical to each other. We found the such spectra are typical of divalent Mn, that indicated the metallic character of the chemical bonding. Presented XA spectra are seems to be almost similar to each other. Contradictory to that the dependence of the XE spectra for every excitation energy has some differences from each other. First let pay attention to spectra at the Fig.2(a) excited with $`L_3`$ absorbtion edge excitation energy $`E_{exc}`$=641 eV. The only Mn $`L_3`$ x-ray emission line is to be excited at that case. One can easily distinguish two-peak structure at the region 635-642 eV, where the heights position in the energy scale have been selected as A and B.

For the case of excitation energy $`E_{exc}`$=644 eV displayed at the Fig.2(b) the two-peak structure is observed also. The energy position of them is the same like in case Fig.2(a). The intensity of the peak B relative to peak A $`I(B)/I(A)`$ is to be the same for Cu2MnAl and Co2MnAl but is being increased in line Co2MnZ from Z=Al to Z=Sb. The dependence is valid both for all cases presented at the Fig.2 for both excitation energies $`a`$ and $`b`$ selected below the $`L_2`$ absorbtion edge. The elastic peak with half-width about 0.3 eV is not crossed with the energy region of the peak $`B`$ with position at 641 eV in photon energy scale. Note the $`I(B)/I(A)`$ ratio is growing up in line of alloys for the case $`a`$, Fig.2(a), so we still have $`I(B)/I(A)`$ dependence in a line Co2MnAl, Co2MnZ from Z=Al to Z=Sb.

Next we will pay attention to the spectra excited with energies near the Mn $`L_2`$ absorption edge, Fig.3(a),(b). The non-resonant spectra excited with $`E_{exc}`$=670 eV are shown at the Fig.3(c). The dependence of the $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ ratio in line of alloys Cu2MnAl, Co2MnAl and to Co2MnSb is observed, which is similar for $`I(B)/I(A)`$ ratio. The two-peak structure of the $`L_3`$ line can not be distinguished because of the excitation energy selected far enough from the $`L_3`$ absorbtion edge. The dependencies of the $`I(B)/I(A)`$ and $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ from the alloy type are summarized at the Fig.4.

The electronic structure calculations in the local-spin-density approximation have been performed using the linear muffin-tin orbital method.LMTO  The atomic spheres radii for X, Mn and Z were choosen from the charge neutrality condition inside the spheres, and using the experimental lattice parameters. The Brillouin zone integration was performed using the linear tetrahedron method and 172 nonequivalent $`𝐤`$-points (corresponding to the 14:14:14 devisions of the reciprocal lattice vectors for the face-centered cubic structure). State densities are given at Fig.5 for X2MnAl (X=Co and Cu) and at Fig.6 for Co2MnZ (Z=Ga, Sn, Sb). Here $``$ designates the majority-spin electrons and $``$ the minority-spin electrons. The minority-spin state densities at the Fermi energy for Mn in Co2MnZ are nearly vanished. Estimated magnetic moments (Table.1) are in a good agreement with experimental ones.

## IV Discussion

First the general terms using for the spectroscopy data will be briefly mentioned. At the second, the attention will be given to the calculations and conclusions related. Finally we will finish with the explanation of the experimental results, considering the task to not exactly identify the mechanism of the forming Mn $`L_2,_3`$ spectra in Heusler alloys, but to find out and describe the correlation between magnetic properties of the materials, electronic structure of the Mn 3d in alloys and respective x-ray emission spectra.

The shape of the $`L_3`$ emission line $`2p_{3/2}3d_{5/2},_{3/2}`$ reflects 3d DOS only indirectly, first because of the general nature of the process of resonant/non-resonant photon scattering. In order to understand the complication of the principal ability of the spectra formation exactly for Mn $`L_{3,2}`$ one can look into recent work by F. Borgatti et.al. Borgatti . In order to avoid the point of discussion from the general discussion of the elastic and inelastic x-ray scattering in soft x-ray region that is supposed to be the separate branch of studies, we will focus mostly at the relative changes at x-ray spectra.

Relating to the experience of x-ray emission studies already been done for the Mn $`L_2,3`$ of the Co2MnSb, NiMnSb using the magnetic circular dichroism the terms of ”normal” emission and ”re-emission” has to be only briefly introduced. By ”normal” emission one can understand the $`2p3d`$ transition created by the radiative relaxation of the 3d electron from the occupied part of DOS to the 2p core hole. By ”re-emission” the same radiative relaxation of the 3d electron excited to the unoccupied part of DOS is defined. Looking at the Figs.2 one can distinguish these impacts to the Mn $`L_3`$ spectra: the peak A corresponds to ”normal” emission impact and the peak B corresponds to the ”re-emission” of the Mn 3d electron from unoccupied to the Mn $`2p_{3/2}`$ core hole.

At the Fig.5 calculations of the Cu2MnAl and Co2MnAl are presented. The Me 3d majority-spin electrons in case of Co are more delocalized then in Cu case. The value of the Mn 3d density of states $`N(E_F)_{}`$ for Mn minority-spin projection is significantly lower in case of Co2MnAl comparing to Cu2MnAl, see Table1. In line of the Co2MnZ where Z is being changed from Z=Al to Z=Sb, the the $`Co`$ $`3d`$ and Mn $`3d`$ DOS structures are similar to each other for the current alloy, see Fig.6. The value of the $`N(E_F)_{}`$ is diminished in line Z=Al, Ga, Sn, Sb, that means the Mn 3d DOS becomes close to the half-metallic state following the line mentioned.

It is not possible to pass over the systematic calculations performed for Fe2MnZ ($`Z=Al,Si,P`$)Fe2MnZCalc . The option discovered for this line tells about the ability to make Mn 3d DOS structure half-metallic, changing the $`Z`$ element. That shows principal ability to reach the half-metallic state of the DOS changing the chemical type of the third element in X2MnZ. The similar role of Z atom was also demonstrated experimentally webster33 ; webster81 . That is in a good agreement with results performed for the Cu2MnAl and Co2MnZ (Z=Al, Ga, Sn) Kublercalc  and with presented calculations.

Now we will focus on the explanation of the dependencies presented at the Fig.4 for the Co- Heusler alloys. Let us pay attention to the Fig.4 and data from the Table 1. In line Co2MnZ (Z=Al,Ga, Sn, Sb) where the dependence of the $`I(B)/I(A)`$ intensity ratio for the each excitation energy at and above the $`L_3`$ Mn absorbtion edge exists. The re-emission peak intensity grows with the decrease of the $`N(E_F)_{}`$. The conclusion coming proposes the re-emission as an indicator of the closeness of the Mn 3d band to the half-metallic state.

The $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ ratio is also growing in the same line of Co-alloys with Z=Al,Ga, Sn, Sb comparing to that one in pure Mn. We have no such a transparent explanation of that. The promising way seems to consider Coster-Kronig impact in the redistribution of the $`L_3`$, $`L_2`$ intensities. The Coster-Kronig is supposed to be suppressed for the Mn in Heusler alloys that is found to be opposite for the case of pure Mn PReB60-6428 , but we cannot estimate the actual impact of the process in current case.

One can not also exclude the possibility of the re-emission to be involved in the formation of Mn $`L_2`$ x-ray spectra, that here is the radiative relaxation of the 3d electron from unoccupied part of Mn 3d DOS to the Mn $`2p_{1/2}`$ core hole. The conclusion one can make in this case is the connection between the growth of the $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ ratio and the degression of the $`N(E_F)_{}`$ value for the Z changing from Al to Sb in line of Co- alloys. We hope that experimental fact to be explained lately and be accepted as a observed.

The numerical values at the graph at Fig.4 make us believe in the existing correlation of the $`I(B)/I(A)`$ and the $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ ratios with the value of the magnetic moment $`\mu _{Mn}`$ in line of Co2MnZ, where Z is changing in order Al, Ga, Sn, Sb.

The situation becomes more complicated with the consideration of the Mn $`L_{2,3}`$ XE-spectra of Cu2MnAl in connection with data for Co- Heusler alloys. The numerical values of the $`I(B)/I(A)`$ and the $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ for X2MnAl alloys are almost the same. Due to the suggested mechanism of the $`L_3`$ spectra formation $`I(B)/I(A)`$ should be much smaller for Cu2MnAl, because of the $`N(E_F)_{}`$ is much higher for Cu2MnAl then for Co2MnAl. There is also no correlation between the intensity ratios $`I(B)/I(A)`$, $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ and $`\mu _{Mn}`$ for the Cu2MnAl, Co2MnAl group having different both $`\mu _{Mn}`$ and $`a`$ lattice parameter, Fig.4, Table.1. The same $`\mu _{Mn}`$ and $`a`$ values had been measured for the Cu2MnAl, Co2MnSb, but the $`I(B)/I(A)`$ and $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ parameters are different for alloys.

According to that it is difficult to declare the transparent correlation between the dependence of the $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$, $`I(B)/I(A)`$ with both values of the $`\mu _{Mn}`$ and the $`N(E_F)_{}`$ values for the X2MnZ where Z is constant element. The strong difference of Me 3d and Mn 3d band in case of Co- alloys and Cu- alloy could be a reason for that. The correlation is to be valid in the case X2MnZ alloys, where Z is changing with the constant metal X.

## V Conclusion

There are several leads to be expressed. It was found the relative intensity of re-emission channel to be intensive and dependent on the value of the density of states at the Fermi level for the minority spin states in the half-metallic alloys of X2MnZ type, where X metal is to be constant. Both the growth of the re-emission impact in forming Mn $`L_3`$ spectrum and $`I(L_2)/I(L_3)`$ ratio are connected with the decrease of the $`N(E_F)_{}`$ value.

Having an example of the Cu2MnAl and Co2MnAl one can suggest that such an simple experimental approach of the estimation the gap value to be not functional in case of the replacement of the $`X`$ \- metal in $`X`$2MnZ Heusler alloys. That is connected with a strong hybridization impact from Me $`3d`$ and Mn $`3d`$ states.

The result being shown could be used as a basis to continue the experiments with linearly or circularly polarized synchrotron radiation defining not only energy distribution of the scattered photons, but the overall intensity for the different excitation energies.

## VI Acknowledgment

Support from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for cooperation between Sweden and the former Soviet Union is gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank M. Katsnelson for the fruitful discussion and MAX-Lab National Laboratory staff for experimental support.


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# On The Origin of HI in Galaxies: The Sizes and Masses of HI Photodissociation Regions

## 1. Introduction

Most observers view the clouds of HI we see in galaxies as the raw material out of which the stars were formed. These clouds are thought to form higher-density complexes of gas and dust, turn molecular (H2), and then form stars. In this context, the observed correlation between the star formation rate in galaxy disks and the HI content (often called the Schmidt Law) is generally viewed as being at the basis of an understanding of the global star formation process in galaxies. However, after many years of work to elucidate the specific physics of this process, we have a complicated and still rather rudimentary picture of just how all this might happen.

I want to propose a different view for a part of this “star-formation” story. This view is contrary to the conventional wisdom, but it has the virtue of being physically much simpler. I hope to convince you that this view is supported both qualitatively, by the detailed morphology of the HI observed in galaxy disks, as well as quantitatively, by the theory of photodissociation of H2. In this view, the basic star construction material in galaxies is gas which is already mostly molecular, and out of which the stars form directly. HI appears in the region when the leftover H2 is illuminated with UV photons from nearby young stars. The physics of photodissociation regions provides a natural and quantitative explanation for the appearance of HI envelopes around the clouds, and for the CO(1-0) emission which is sometimes seen emanating from the warmer, higher-density parts of their surfaces. The rather surprising new result is that the total amount of Far-UV emission produced in galaxy disks by run-of-the-mill, non-ionizing B stars is actually sufficient to account for most, and perhaps even all, of the HI present.

## 2. Background

For me, the first example of failure of the conventional wisdom about HI being the precursor to star formation appeared in the early VLA-HI synthesis images of the relatively nearby galaxy M83, which I first saw at an afternoon seminar given by Mark Ondrechen at the Kapteyn Laboratory in Groningen in 1985. The morphology of the HI in the spiral arms of this galaxy did not fit the expected picture; rather than coinciding with the dust lanes as markers of the highest gas column density, the HI ridges appeared to be shifted to larger galactocentric distances and to correspond better with the line of HII regions marking the locus of the youngest stars in the spiral arm. The density wave picture for spiral structure introduced by Lin & Shu (1964) led to a simple explanation (Roberts 1969) for the separation of the arm of maximum gas column density (located upstream in the flow) and the HII regions (downstream) in terms of the flow velocities and the time to convert the H2 in GMCs into stars. But if the HI was a precursor to the H2 in GMCs, this picture did not explain why the HI ridge also appeared downstream with the HII regions. The explanation we offered (Allen, Atherton, & Tilanus 1986) was that the ISM was changing its physical state as it moved along, and doing so in a big way. Primarily molecular to start with, the residual gas after star formation becomes atomic as it is bathed in UV photons from the most massive of the nearby newly-formed stars. It later returns to the molecular form after the young stars die off and the UV flux decreases.

Other studies have followed on M83 and on other nearby spirals (M51, M100) and have generally reached the same conclusions; a list of relevant references is given in the introduction to the paper on photodissociation in M101 by Smith et al. (2000); that introduction also summarizes the basic physics and provides many additional references to the literature on the physics of Photo-Dissociation Regions (PDRs).

With the exception of the most recent work on M101, the studies referenced above have been carried out on relatively coarse linear scales, typically 500 - 1000 pc. This is too coarse to even begin to resolve the morphology of individual PDRs, which form “blankets” and “blisters” on the surfaces of GMCs with the largest scales of $`100`$ pc. Such structures were first identified in M81 with a resolution of $`150`$ pc (Allen et al. 1997) and in M101 with a resolution of $`220`$ pc (Smith et al. 2000).

In this paper I want to start from the “other” end, at length scales of $`1`$ pc, and explore the nature of the HI structures associated with GMCs in the Galaxy. These structures can also be explained with the photodissociation model, and provide new information on how to quantify the relation between UV-producing B stars and HI. To give the story some structure I will describe the examples on scales of a factor of 10 from 1 to 1000 pc, providing overlap with the studies described above and showing the continuity and ubiquity of the photodissociation process in the ISM of galaxies.

## 3. HI associated with H2 on the $`1`$ pc scale

On the scale of $`1`$ pc the radio – HI resolution is too poor to look for HI – H2 associations anywhere except in the Galaxy, and there, confusion along the line of sight usually makes the identification of HI features with specific stars and GMCs very difficult. Nevertheless, new all-sky HI surveys at high resolution have revealed several cases of discrete HI features associated with young stars deeply embedded in dense molecular clouds.

### 3.1. Deeply-embedded young stars

The prototype of this class is IRAS 23545+6508 (Dewdney et al. 1991). This object is a strong IR source and a weak radio continuum source, and also has a faint reflection nebula apparently associated with it. The HI source is compact, $`0.6`$ pc in diameter, with M(HI) $`1.4`$ M. The star is B3 or B4 but behind $`A_V11`$ mag of extinction, embedded in a dense GMC at $`1`$ kpc distance.

Several other examples like IRAS 23545+6508 have been found (Purton, private communication), including an object associated with the star BD +65 1638 in the star-forming region around NGC 7129 (Matthews et al., in preparation), IRAS 01312+6545 found in the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey, and IRAS 06084-0611 associated with BD +30 549. These are all examples of ”dissociating stars” with several M of HI and a very small amount of ionized gas (1/1000 of the HI) surrounding B stars of types ranging from 0.5 to 5. Charles Kerton (private communication) has recently provided a list of additional candidates (Table 1). These objects all have HI masses of a few M.

The identification of these objects on HI maps of the Galactic plane is facilitated by the very compact character of their HI emission. Presently the search criterion involves a correspondence of an HI concentration with a compact source of IR emission, but the best way to find these objects in the Galaxy is still under discussion. Figure 1 shows the HI and CO(1-0) emission identified with IRAS 01431+6232.

Table 1 is likely to be affected by observational selection. For instance, the HI emission from such objects which are closer to us will be larger in angular size and more diffuse, and therefore increasingly difficult to discern in the HI maps; on the other hand, at distances of a few kpc, these objects are barely resolved, so more distant HI objects will be fainter and offer less contrast with the ambient HI. The concentration to mid-B spectral types may also be a selection effect; later-type stars produce too little dissociating radiation, so not enough HI is produced, whereas the ionizing flux from earlier-type stars destroys the HI, creating a substantial HII region instead.

### 3.2. The dissociated HI mass; a simple calculation

The central star e.g. in IRAS 23545+6508 has T$`{}_{\mathrm{eff}}{}^{}`$ 17,000 \- 18,000 K, so the rate of production of ionizing photons is $`_{\mathrm{LYC}}10^{43.3}`$ photons/sec. But the rate of production of dissociating photons is much higher, $`_{\mathrm{FUV}}10^{46.5}`$ photons/sec (e.g. Puxley et al. 1990) in the range $`912<\lambda <1108`$ Å.

According to Dewdney et al. (1991) the GMC density $`n_2900`$ molecules cm-3, so the 2 $`\times `$ HI $``$ H2 reformation time on grains $`\tau _{\mathrm{rec}}3.3\times 10^8/n_H`$ years is $`1.8\times 10^5`$ yr for $`n_H=n_1+2n_2`$, significantly longer than the estimated present age of the B star of $`\tau _{\mathrm{B3V}}10^4`$ yr. In this case a simple calculation can be made of the total mass of dissociated HI around the star. Assuming that 100% of the dissociating photons produced are used inside the GMC, and taking the efficiency $`\eta 0.15`$ for the dissociation of an H2 molecule into two HI atoms, the number $`𝒩`$ of HI atoms produced by the star up to the present time is:

$`𝒩(\mathrm{HI})`$ $`=`$ $`2\times \eta \times _{\mathrm{FUV}}\times \tau _{\mathrm{B3V}},`$
$``$ $`3\times 10^{57}\mathrm{HI}\mathrm{atoms},`$
$`\mathrm{M}`$ $``$ $`2.5\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{HI}.`$
The excellent agreement with the observed value of 1.4 M must be fortuitous, considering the approximations. Dewdney et al. (1991) used a more complete, time-dependent model of HI production they developed themselves (Roger & Dewdney 1992) to arrive at a value of 2 – 3 M of HI, again assuming a lifetime of $`10^4`$ yr for the star.

Note that if the volume density of the molecular ISM in which these stars are embedded was lower, say $`n_2100`$ cm-3 (the typical GMC), the HI sources would be $`10`$ pc in size (with the same HI mass of a few M), and would begin to merge into the generally-lumpy distribution of Galactic HI, making them even more difficult to identify.

## 4. HI associated with H2 on the $``$ 10 pc scale

On the $`10`$ pc scale in the Galaxy, confusion is a major problem, and specific associations of HI and H2 have been made only in cases where the geometry is particularly simple, or the region is not confused by other features along the line of sight (e.g. at high Galactic latitude).

### 4.1. HI and H2 in interstellar cirrus clouds

A study of the HI, CO, and IR emission from a sample of 26 isolated, high-Galactic-latitude cirrus clouds (Reach, Koo, & Heiles 1994) with typical sizes 1 - 10 pc shows that the H2 content of these clouds is of the same order as the HI mass, in spite of their location above the Galactic plane where we might expect the UV flux from the Galaxy to have destroyed all the H2. In one well-studied case (G236+39) the inferred mass of H2 is 70 M, compared to an HI mass of 90 M.

### 4.2. Warm HI “envelopes” around Galactic GMCs

An analysis of observations of several Galactic GMCs (Andersson & Wannier 1993 and references there) reveals warmed HI surface layers with characteristic depths of $`2`$ pc and maximal extents of $`10`$ pc. The HI production is ascribed to photodissociation. In one well-studied case (Andersson, Roger, & Wannier 1992) the envelope around the GMC called “B5” in the Per OB2 association has 350 M of HI in an envelope which is moderately dense, $`35`$ cm-3, and warm, $`70`$ K, and is expanding away from the cloud at approximately the escape velocity. Blitz & Terndrup (quoted in Blitz 1993) have reported on about a dozen cases of HI envelopes surrounding Galactic GMCs in or near well-known star-forming regions (NGC 7023, S140, Per OB2, Orion, …). The HI masses range from $`500`$ to 500,000 M.

### 4.3. Another simple calculation

How much HI could be produced by photodissociation around a typical GMC embedded in the mean interstellar radiation field (ISRF)? For this estimate our initial approach assuming a very young PDR and neglecting re-formation of H2 will not be adequate. We need a steady-state calculation, where the HI production rate by photodissociation of H2 is balanced by the 2 $`\times `$ HI $``$ H2 reformation rate on grain surfaces. We use the model developed by Sternberg (1988) to determine the steady-state column density of HI. For standard values of ISM parameters in the solar neighborhood we have:

$$\mathrm{N}(HI)5\times 10^{20}\times \mathrm{ln}(90\chi /n_\mathrm{H}+1)$$

where:

| N(HI) | = | the HI column density in atoms cm-2, |
| --- | --- | --- |
| $`\chi `$ | = | the FUV intensity relative to the local ISRF, and |
| $`n_\mathrm{H}`$ | = | the total proton volume density of the gas. |

The standard GMC has a diameter of 50 pc, an average H2 volume density $`n_2100`$ and a total mass of $`10^{56}`$ M (Blitz 1993). The ISRF therefore creates a “skin” of HI on the surface of this cloud with N(HI) $`3.5\times 10^{20}`$ atoms cm-2. Assuming the cloud is spherical, its surface area is $`7\times 10^{40}`$ cm2, so the warm HI envelope around the GMC will contain:

| $`𝒩`$(HI) | $``$ | $`3.5\times 10^{20}\times 7\times 10^{40}`$ HI atoms, which is |
| --- | --- | --- |
| M(HI) | $``$ | $`2.1\times 10^4`$ M of HI, |

…close to the average observed HI mass in the GMC sample of Blitz & Terndrup. Such GMCs are apparently about 10% HI and 90 % H2.

## 5. HI associated with H2 on the $``$ 100 pc scale

On the $`100`$ pc scale in the Galaxy, confusion remains a big problem. Unusual morphologies, correspondences in several tracers, and careful isolation of features along the line of sight are necessary.

### 5.1. HI “tails” and “cones”

The Canadian Galactic Plane Survey in HI and radio continuum, coupled with a similar coverage in CO emission with the FCRAO radio telescope, has revealed many features in the Galaxy which bear the signature of the destruction of GMCs by photodissociation (e.g. Wallace & Knee 1999). The object WK-7 is a typical example (Figure 2), with CO emission at the apex of an HI structure that fans out away from the CO. For many of these associations B stars have been found nearby.

### 5.2. Maddelena’s cloud

A careful separation of features in radial velocity has permitted the identification of a large ($`50\times 200`$ pc), “blanket” of HI located in the Galaxy and associated with CO emission from the GMC G216-2.5 (Williams & Maddelena 1996) and two nearby young stars (at least one of which is surely a B star). This structure is especially important to the discussion now because it is large enough to be identified in high-resolution HI studies of nearby galaxies, and shows us the morphology we ought to be seeking in that case. An interesting point with this object is that both the HI and the CO emission from this structure appear roughly to fit into the PDR picture. The observations give the “excess” HI associated with the PDR as $`2\times 10^{20}`$ atoms cm-2 and the average CO(1-0) intensity as $`6`$ K km s-1. These two points are in rough agreement with the combined predicted CO(1-0) (Kaufman et al. 1999) and HI intensity (equation given above) for an H2 density of $`100`$ cm-3, typical for GMCs in the Galaxy (Blitz 1993), and for an incident FUV flux of $`\chi 1`$, which is just the estimated “excess” value coming from the nearby B stars according to Williams & Maddelena. A more refined model is under construction (Allen, Heaton, & Kaufman, in preparation).

### 5.3. The step to nearby galaxies

With its $`100`$ pc size scale, Maddalena’s Cloud provides a vital link between the structures we have so far been discussing in the Galaxy and the structures we can discern in the nearby galaxies with current instrumentation. HI “blankets” and “blisters” similar in structure to Maddalena’s Cloud and characteristic of large-scale PDR morphology have now been found all over the disks of two nearby galaxies, M81 and M101, thanks to the availability of FUV imaging from the ASTRO/UIT missions and high-resolution HI images from the VLA. The combination permits a comparison of the FUV and HI morphologies on a $`100200`$ pc scale. Although even better linear resolution would be highly desirable, there are three important advantages of working on nearby galaxies:

* The line-of-sight confusion problem which plagues the Galactic work is now virtually absent, so the features are more easily identified.
* The distances to different structures are all very nearly the same, so we do not have to contend with widely varying angular scales on the sky for what are basically the same physical structures just seen at very different distances (e.g. a given physical structure in the Local arm of the Galaxy can be 10 or more times the angular size of the same structure in the Perseus arm). The observational selection effects are therefore more nearly the same over the whole of the galaxy disk.
* Observational selection effects act to enhance the utility of HI for detecting the PDRs arising when low-density GMCs are illuminated by modest FUV radiation fields…the HI features in this case are generally larger, so the telescope beam filling factors are larger, and the HI is therefore easier to detect on the 21-cm VLA maps.

#### FUV and HI in the Sb I-II spiral M 81

HI “blisters” and “shells” are common in M 81 (Allen et al. 1997) and are clearly associated with nearby clusters of young stars. These clusters sometimes also emit H$`\alpha `$, but not always, whereas the association with HI is common; B stars dominate the FUV morphology at $`\lambda 150`$ nm. In addition to the association of discrete HI and FUV features in M 81, the general FUV brightness correlates well with the HI brightness in spiral arms (more on this later), indicating that HI production by a general, scattered distribution of dissociating stars is important.

#### FUV and HI in the Sc I spiral M 101

In the first really detailed, quantitative study of the HI – FUV association, Smith et al. (2000) have developed a method using the equations given earlier in this paper to discover a new probe for the molecular gas in galaxies. They conclude that GMCs in M 101 have volume densities in the range of 30 – 1000 cm-3 with no clear trend from the inner to the outer parts of the galaxy. The large-scale and well-known decrease in N(HI) in the inner parts of M 101 is explained in the context of their PDR model as a result of the increasing dust/gas ratio there.

## 6. HI associated with H2 on the $``$ 1 kpc scale

On the $`1`$ kpc scale in nearby galaxies the individual PDRs can not be resolved, and we must make do with trying to interpret the general surface brightness distributions of FUV and HI. A recent result in the outer parts of M31 bridges the gap, providing a clear association between a general distribution of identified B stars and the associated (low-resolution) HI surface brightness.

### 6.1. Gas, dust, and young stars in the outer disk of M 31

Cuillandre et al. (2001) have studied a field in the far outer parts of M 31, beyond the De Vaucouleurs radius along the major axis of the galaxy to the south-west. Besides other results in that paper we note the following points of interest here:

* There is dust mixed in with the HI on the large scale, so we may expect that H2 is also present.
* Young stars are distributed generally with the HI. These stars have the signatures (V mag, V-I colors) of B stars in the outer parts of M31.
* These B stars are found at radial distances of 23 to 33 kpc (4 to 5.7 times the disk scale length in B) in areas where the galaxy optical surface brightness is $`\mu _B>27`$ mag arcsec-2. This is approaching the range of a low-surface-brightness galaxy.
* Faint H$`\alpha `$ emission has very recently been detected from some of the richest concentrations of bright MS stars, confirming the interpretation that these are mostly B stars (Cuillandre, private communication).
* Computations of the FUV output from the census of observed B stars and a fit of the data to PDR models is under way; preliminary results are encouraging and give reasonable values for the densities of the GMCs which must be the antecedents of the B stars.

### 6.2. FUV and HI surface brightness correlations in M 81

A general correlation of VLA-HI and UIT-FUV surface brightness on the $`1`$ kpc scale has very recently been shown in M81 (Emonts et al., in preparation). Figure 3 shows this correlation when the data is smoothed to $`1^{}`$. The results are consistent with a photodissociation model, although the precise parameters (e.g. the H2 volume density) are uncertain owing to the averaging procedure on the model. The correlation is closely similar to that determined for a sample of nearby galaxies from the FAUST Far-UV survey (Deharveng et al. 1994), although the interpretation is quite different; this particular result and its relation to the subject of the global star formation rate in galaxies is discussed in more detail by Allen (2002).

### 6.3. Yet another simple calculation

What fraction of the total HI in a galaxy is maintained by the photodissociation process we have been discussing here? As an example, let’s take the case of NGC 4152, an Sc galaxy at D $`19.5`$ Mpc in Virgo. The FAUST Far-UV flux is $`6.3\times 10^{14}`$ ergs/cm2/sec/Å (Deharveng et al. 1994) at $`\lambda 1500`$ Å. This corresponds to about 1 photon/cm2/sec at earth, or $`4\times 10^{52}`$ Far-UV photons/sec at the galaxy. Let us take the fraction trapped in the galaxy to be $`f_t`$. What is the appropriate time scale? This depends of course on the reformation time for the process 2 $`\times `$ HI $``$ H2 on grains, which we mentioned briefly earlier in this talk. If we take a typical GMC volume density to be $`n_2550`$ H2 molecules cm-3, the reformation time is typically $`3\times 10^{67}`$ yr for standard dust parameters. The Far-UV photon production rate in NGC 4152 then accounts for:

$$2\times 0.15\times f_t\times 4\times 10^{52}\times 3\times 10^{67}\times 3\times 10^7f_t\times 10^{6667}\mathrm{HI}\mathrm{atoms}.$$

A typical value for $`f_t0.5`$, and this galaxy contains $`2.08\times 10^9`$ M of HI, or $`2.5\times 10^{66}`$ HI atoms. So from 20% – 200% of the HI present could be accounted for by photodissociation! This result is startling, and perhaps even a bit outrageous; a more precise calculation is now clearly required.

## 7. Conclusions

* The morphology of HI features near Far-UV sources in disk galaxies is consistent with that expected for (low-density) PDRs.
* The quantity of HI in these features can be calculated using simple photodissociation physics.
* The distribution of HI, even at faint levels, can be explained for the most part as a steady-state photodissociation – reformation process of H$`{}_{2}{}^{}2\times `$ HI, where the Far-UV photons come mainly from non- or only weakly-ionizing B stars, and the reformation occurs on the surfaces of dust grains.

These conclusions raise two very important questions, still unanswered:

1. Just how much H2 does a typical galaxy contain?
2. How much of the HI in these galaxies is primordial?

The hints at answers provided by the work reviewed in this talk suggest that significantly more H2 is present than we currently suspect, and that the HI clouds in the ISM of galaxies may be mostly “processed” gas.

##### Acknowledgments.

I am grateful to my colleagues at STScI for discussions on the topics covered in this paper, and for the invigorating research atmosphere they have helped to create at the Institute. Through his annual visits to STScI, Ken has contributed very directly to that atmosphere. It is a special pleasure to acknowledge the intellectual stimulation and the personal friendship which Ken has provided to me over the years.

## References

Allen, R.J. 2002, in Seeing Through The Dust – The Detection of HI and the Exploration of the ISM of Galaxies, eds. A.R. Taylor, T.L. Landecker, & A. Willis (ASP Conference Series # TBD), in press.

Allen, R.J., Atherton, P.D., & Tilanus, R.P.J. 1986, Nature, 319, 296

Allen, R.J., Knapen, J.H., Bohlin, R., & Stecher, T.P. 1997, ApJ, 487, 171

Andersson, B.-G., & Wannier, P.G. 1993, ApJ, 402, 585

Andersson, B.-G., Roger, R.S., & Wannier, P.G. 1992, A&A, 260, 355

Blitz, L. 1993, in Protostars & Planets III, eds. E.H. Levy & J.I. Lunine (Tucson; Univ. Arizona Press), 125

Cuillandre, J.-C., Lequeux, J., Allen, R.J., Mellier, Y., & Bertin, E. 2001, ApJ, 554, 190

Deharveng, J.-M., Sasseen, T.P., Buat, V., Bowyer, S., Lampton, M., & Wu, X. 1994, A&A, 289, 715

Dewdney, P.E., Roger, R.S., Purton, C.R., & McCutcheon, W.H. 1991, ApJ, 370, 243

Kaufman, M.J., Wolfire, M.G., Hollenbach, D.J., & Luhman, M.L. 1999, ApJ, 527, 795

Lin, C.C., & Shu, F.H. 1964, ApJ, 140, 646

Puxley, P.J., Hawarden, T.G., & Mountain, C.M. 1990, ApJ, 364, 77

Reach, W.T., Koo, B.-C., & Heiles, C. 1994, ApJ, 429, 672

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## Discussion

Silk:  Your account of the origin of the HI by photodissociation should scale to Low Surface Brightness (LSB) galaxies. What is the status of searching for the evidence for your ideas in these systems?

Allen:  The basic idea here is that B stars ought to always accompany HI, so they ought to be present even in the LSB disks. In general, one needs HST to detect upper-main-sequence stars, and only a small number of LSB galaxies are nearby enough to make this feasible. In fact Ken and I have tried to obtain HST time for such work, but we have not been successful. However, I understand that the classic LSB galaxy NGC 2915 is on the program for HST observations in guaranteed time with the new Advanced Camera; this galaxy is near enough, and there is enough known about the detailed distribution of HI, that the results ought to be clear.

Harding:  What is the source of the primordial H2 if it is the source of gas for star formation and for HI production?

Allen:  This question is in the realm of cosmology and galaxy formation, and I don’t really know much about those subjects. I hear that some of the latest work on galaxy formation shows that H2 could be formed at an early epoch from primordial HI and H+ by reactions that do not require dust. The reaction rates are slow, but on the other hand there is lots of time.

Bosma:  There is a lot of HI around the galaxy NGC 3077 in the M81 group. According to your ideas, there should be UV emission associated with it. Did you look for this, and did you detect anything?

Allen:  The UIT field containing M81 does not extend out to NGC 3077, so we can not do the check you describe. However, the field does indeed include some of the HI “streamers” located in the far outer parts of M81 to the east, in the general direction of NGC3077. My student Mr. Emonts has recently produced 1 smoothed versions of the HI and FUV images, and there is indeed detectible FUV emission associated with this “bridge” HI. We are looking more closely at this result, but at first sight the correlation between HI and FUV emission seems to agree with the general trend shown in Figure 3 of my talk.

King:  There’s an implication here that you didn’t state outright. There’s got to be a reservoir from which future stars will be made; are you saying this is H2 rather than HI?

Allen:  I think the conventional wisdom is that star formation, at least for stars of masses less than a few M, requires “processed” gas containing heavy elements and dust as the raw material. Such “stuff” turns molecular relatively quickly compared, for example, to the rotation time of a galaxy. So indeed it is likely that the reservoir of gas required for future generations of star formation will be molecular, and the HI we see is a photodissociation product of the star formation process itself. This suggests that galaxies have a larger reservoir of H2 than we think they do, but unfortunately I don’t yet know how to calculate how much!


text:
# A system for fast time-resolved measurements of c-axis quasiparticle conductivity in intrinsic Josephson junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ

\[

## Abstract

A wide-band cryogenic amplifier measurement system for time-resolved four-point IV-characteristic measurements on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ mesa structures is described. We present measurements which demonstrate the importance of self-heating on $``$ 50 ns time scales. Such heating is likely to have been very significant in many previously published measurements, where the reported nonlinear IV characteristics have been used to derive superconducting energy gaps.

06.60.Jn, 74.50.+r, 74.72.Hs, 74.80.Dm, 74.25.Fy

\]

Highly anisotropic high-temperature superconductors, such as Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (2212-BSCCO), can be considered as a linear array of intrinsic Josephson junctions formed by almost insulating layers between the superconducting copper-oxide planes.  To investigate conduction across such junctions, many groups have published measurements on mesa structures containing typically 5–20 such junctions. \[2–10\] The mesas are lithographically patterned  on the surface of almost ideally atomically flat cleaved surfaces of single crystals of 2212-BSCCO. The aim of such experiments is to investigate intrinsic conduction across the junctions and hence deduce the magnitude and temperature dependence of the assumed d-wave superconducting gap.

In practice, one observes hysteretic multi-branched characteristics, corresponding to the expected irreversible characteristics of each junction in the measured array. In all previously published measurements, marked deviations from linearity in the resistive branches have been reported, as indeed predicted by Josephson tunnelling theory. In principle, the shape of the characteristics can be used to determine the superconducting energy gap.  However, in many circumstances one also observes re-entrant and even S-shaped characteristics, which cannot be described by simple theory. In the past, pulsed measurements on 200–500 ns time scales have been used in an attempt to circumvent possible problems from sample heating. \[6–10\]

In this letter, we describe a four-channel cryogenic amplifier with better than 50 ns resolution (shown schematically in Fig. 1), which demonstrates the importance of heating even on sub-$`\mu `$s time scales. We report four-point current-voltage (IV) measurements on a stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions in a mesa structure of 2212-BSCCO. The mesa structure is described in more detail elsewhere.  We show that the characteristics and voltage at which dI/dV becomes infinite are strongly dependent on the time after the application of a pulsed current, consistent with heating. This casts serious doubt on earlier deductions of energy gaps from such measurements.

Four source-follower buffer amplifiers with high input-impedance were used. These were based on the CF739 dual-gate n-channel depletion-mode field-effect transistor, which has a wide bandwidth and operates at cryogenic temperatures. To monitor the output signals, the amplifier-outputs were connected to a Tektronix TDS224 100 MHz eight-bit four-channel digital storage oscilloscope via 50 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ cryogenic coaxial lines. To retain the large-offset facility of the oscilloscope without significant loss in resolution, the amplifiers were designed to have a gain of $``$ 1/5. The 100 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ resistor in series with the input eliminates high-frequency parasitic oscillations. The response of the amplifier was linear and almost temperature-independent for inputs up to 3 V. The small dc offset voltage $``$ 0.2 V was unimportant, since we measured differences in voltage levels before and during the application of a current pulse. The amplifiers were fabricated on two circuit boards on either side of a common earthing plate. These were situated at the low-temperature end of a continuous-flow cryostat. Short connections were made to the mesa contacts.

The inputs to the buffer amplifiers were connected to the mesa structure as illustrated schematically in the insert of Fig. 2. The voltage difference V$`{}_{4}{}^{}`$V1 across the 200 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ series resistor monitors the current into the mesa. The voltage difference V$`{}_{2}{}^{}`$V3 corresponds to the voltage across the shaded region, which for this sample involved 30 intrinsic junctions.

Square-wave current pulses were obtained from a TTi TG1304 50 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ output-impedance function generator connected to the sample via a 50 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ coaxial line. An initial triangular spike of duration $``$ 100 ns could be added at the start of the pulse to briefly exceed the critical currents of the junctions in the stack so that the irreversible part of IV characteristics at low current-bias could be mapped out. However, the data we present here correspond to the characteristics above the critical currents of the individual junctions. In practice, V4 was measured by a 10x probe at the output of the signal generator because, for large inputs, it exceeded the maximum buffer-amplifier input voltage of 3 V. This introduced a measurable time lag of 1–2 ns between V1 and V4, which we correct for in our analysis of data.

Measurements on short time scales can be affected by impedance mismatching, leading to unwanted reflections, as observed by Suzuki et al..  We have avoided such problems by the use of a function generator matched to the input line and by terminating the coaxial output lines by 50 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ connectors at the inputs to the oscilloscope. A particular advantage of using cryogenic amplifiers is that the wires between the sample and amplifier-inputs are short enough for time constants associated with mismatching there to have a negligible effect on measurements.

Short-time-scale measurements can also be affected by time constants associated with the resistance and capacitance of the sample and circuit. For example, temperature-dependent sample-related rise times $``$ 300 ns are evident in several previous measurements.  We have been able to achieve circuit rise times less than $``$ 10 ns, significantly less than the rise time of the pulse generator.

Typical measured voltages are shown in Fig. 2. The finite rise time and slight overshoot in the voltage reflect the “square” pulse shape from the signal generator and are almost identical to those measured across a 50 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ resistor connected directly to the output of the signal generator. Any changes in the initial rise time and pulse shape can therefore be associated with sample properties.

In Fig. 3, we show the current through the sample and the voltage across the sample on three different time scales after the application of a square current pulse. We note the very significant (10%) drop in voltage after only 500 ns. We identify the drop in voltage with sample heating and the associated increase in conductivity with temperature. This increase is shown in the inset of Fig. 4, obtained from the linear term in fits to a functional form I = AV+BV3 for measurements at very short times (50 ns). These measurements are in excellent agreement with earlier dc measurements of Thomas et al.  on the same sample, in which the mesa temperature was measured directly, allowing corrections for heating in the measured IV characteristics to be evaluated. We believe the 50 ns characteristics to be a close representation of the intrinsic sample properties.

Figure 4 illustrates a series of IV measurements at a sample base-temperature of 33 K, taken at various times after the switching-on of square current pulses of different

amplitudes. At short times, the IV characteristics show little curvature but become increasingly nonlinear at higher bias. At the highest bias levels currently achievable, the slope approaches infinity only 200 ns after the start of the pulse and significant backbending is observed 1.5 $`\mu `$s after the start of the pulse. S-shaped IV characteristics are observed 25 $`\mu `$s after the start of the pulse, and the 0.3 s characteristics are indistinguishable from dc measurements. The strong time-dependence of the shape of the characteristics makes it clear that the infinite slope and onset of the backbending feature is not an intrinsic feature associated with the gap voltage at 33 K.

We deduce the temperature at points on the heated curves by comparison with the 50 ns quasi-intrinsic characteristics at higher base temperatures. For example, for a current of 15 mA, the sample temperature rises from 33 K to above Tc in around 10 $`\mu `$s, and to above room temperature in about 500 $`\mu `$s.

Note also that the backbending feature does not correspond to the sample being heated through Tc. Neither does it correspond to any feature that might be associated with the gap at the higher temperature to which the mesa is heated. This is illustrated by the onset of infinite slope at around 0.5 V in the 500 ns data, intersecting with the relatively featureless quasi-intrinsic 51 K characteristics. At this temperature, any marked feature associated with the gap parameter clearly lies at larger voltages and larger current bias than those currently available in our measurements. Other than immediately following the application of a pulse, any identification of the energy gap with the voltage at which dI/dV becomes infinite is therefore very unsafe; such values will seriously underestimate the true gap when heating is significant.

Backbending is a consequence of significant heating and the steep increase in electrical conductivity with temperature. The S-shaped curves arise because, once the mesa is heated to a high temperature, any further rise in temperature with increasing current has only a small influence on the electrical conductivity (see inset, Fig. 4).

The problem of self-heating in the steady state in such measurements has been modelled by Krasnov et al..  Indeed, when a temperature-independent thermal diffusivity D is assumed and dissipation in the contacts is neglected, it is straightforward to show that, for a mesa structure of area L2 containing N intrinsic junctions, the temperature of the mesa will rise above the base temperature by an amount $``$ NL for a given voltage across individual junctions in the stack. Heating can be significantly reduced by using thinner mesa structures containing a smaller number of junctions, though potential problems of heating from contact resistances remain. For our sample, the contact resistance is comparable to that of the mesa stack.

Smaller-area junctions can also be used to reduce heating. However, the initial rate of rise in temperature is essentially a one-dimensional problem, since the volume of the crystal initially heated by the mesa is $``$ L$`{}_{}{}^{2}\sqrt{\text{Dt}}`$. This gives a temperature rise which is proportional to t1/2 and to the input power density, but which is independent of the mesa area for a given voltage across individual junctions. Therefore, on time scales t $``$ L2/D, self-heating is not reduced by using smaller-area mesas. Using published data for the thermal conductivity and heat capacity, we estimate that at 4 K, L2/D $``$ 1 $`\mu `$s, while at 40 K, L2/D $``$ 500 $`\mu `$s.

Our measurements on (30 $`\mu `$m)2 devices already demonstrate the need to make measurements on $`<`$ 100 ns time scales, if one wishes to measure the intrinsic characteristics at higher bias levels. It is interesting to note that, in Ref. , Suzuki et al. made their measurements on similar-size samples to our own. They derived characteristics from measurements made 500 ns after the application of a current pulse, using electronics with a settling time of $``$ 300 ns. However, if they had derived characteristics from measurements at 800 ns (see Fig. 5 in Ref. ), a backbending feature at around 0.5 V would have been observed. This suggests that heating may well also have been significant in their 500 ns measurements.

In summary, a system has been developed to allow measurements to be made on BSCCO multi-junction array mesa structures within 50 ns of the start of the current pulse. This enables us to monitor and largely circumvent problems of self-heating, and thereby to estimate the intrinsic superconducting tunnelling properties between the atomic planes, even when dc measurements would heat the sample to temperatures well above Tc. Our measurements demonstrate that backbending and S-shaped features can be explained by heating without invoking nonequilibrium effects.  We suggest that, in most previously reported measurements, the voltage at which backbending was first observed was almost certainly associated with self-heating and not the gap voltage.

This work was supported by the UK EPSRC, grant number GR/L65581.