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# Dielectric Response in Microscopically Heterogeneous Dielectrics: Example of KTaO3:Nb

## I Introduction

Solid solutions of quantum paraelectrics exhibit a variety of intriguing properties, which have been attracting scientists for a long period of time Huchli  but, in spite of this fact, some important questions remain still under discussion. For example, it is known that the substitution of Nb for Ta in KTaO3 results in the appearance of a strong temperature dielectric anomaly, which is regarded to a ferrolectric phase transition, but at the temperature of this anomaly and below manifestations of the glass-type behaviour have been often reported. We consider these effects in the framework of a random field approach combined with a percolation theory that includes zero-point quantum vibrations. New experimental data on the dielectric properties of the solid solution KTaO3:Nb (KTN) with $`x=0.018`$ (KTN 1.8) have been obtained and discussed in connection with this problem.

## II Quantum effects

The quantum effect results in the following contribution to the soft mode frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_c`$ at zero wave vector k Pros-Kleem

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Omega }_c^2=\omega _c^2+d(T)\\ \omega _c^2=\omega _{c0}^2+3\beta P^2+x\mathrm{\Xi }\\ d(T)=\frac{g_0V_c}{8\pi ^2}_{BZ}d^3k\frac{1}{\omega _𝐤}\left(\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _𝐤}{2k_BT}1\right)\end{array}$$
(1)
where $`\omega _{c0}`$ is the bare frequency at zero temperature and zero wave vector, $`P`$ is polarization, $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ is constant, $`x`$ is the impurity concentration, $`\omega _𝐤^2=\omega _c^2+ck^2+\mathrm{}`$, $`g_0`$ is a constant responsible for anharmonic interactions, $`V_c`$ is the unit cell volume, and $`k_B`$ is the Boltzmann constant. Just below the phase transition, one can neglect $`\omega _c^2`$ in $`\omega _𝐤^2`$, due to a large spatial dispersion of the soft mode in KTaO3, and, in this case, the integral in (1) is proportional to $`T^2`$. Thus the temperature dependence of $`\omega _c^2`$ at $`T_c`$ is: $`\omega _c^2T^2T_c^2`$, and at $`T\mathrm{}\omega _c`$ $`d(T)T^{3/2}\mathrm{exp}\left(\mathrm{}\omega _c^2/k_BT\right)`$. It is seen that the Currie-Weiss law is violated not only in a small vicinity above $`T_c`$ as stressed in earlier studies Rechester  but also below $`T_c`$.

Quantum effects can be observed in KTN 1.8 if one suppresses the contribution connected with heterogeneities by applying a field cooling procedure (see Fig 1). In this case a quadratic temperature decrease of $`\epsilon (T)`$ is obtained. Polarization in quantum ferroelectrics just below $`T_c`$ should behave as $`P\sqrt{T_c^2T^2}`$ but at lower temperatures polarization should saturate due to the zero-point quantum vibrations Salje . Thus the zero-point quantum vibrations result in the saturation of the host-lattice polarization and dielectric permittivity in ferroelectrics at low temperatures.

## III Locally heterogeneous solid solutions

### III.1  Percolation approach

The above analysis holds only for homogeneous ferroelectrics. In our opinion, KTN 1.8 is not microscopically uniform due to disorder in the impurity ion distribution over the corresponding crystallographic positions Kleem1 ; Kleem2 . Indeed, since the impurity concentration is very small, the average distance among the impurities is rather large (e.g. in KTN 1.8 it is about 15.3 A that is about 4 lattice parameters). In this case the fluctuations of the average distance can be rather large also that leads to percolative clustering of impurity ions and finally influences the phase diagram of the corresponding solid solutions Pros-Kleem ; EPJ ; Perc\_IF . Below we will discuss this behavior in terms of the theory of percolation.

The impurity ions being close each other are correlated at distances lower than $`R_{cutoff}\left(V_0+k_BT\right)^{1/3}`$ where $`V_0`$ is proportional to the sum of the energies of the dipole-dipole and elastic impurity–impurity interactions. At small impurity concentrations, which we consider in the present study, the impurity clusters can appear only at low temperatures where the cut-off radius is comparatively large. It explains the experiment performed with KTN under high pressure Samara . When the pressure is normal the phase transition occurs at large temperatures, at which the Nb clusters do not appear, and, as a result, a frequency dispersion of the dielectric permittivity is absent. When pressure is applied the soft mode frequency increases and the phase transition temperature is reduced to the region where the Nb clusters can already appear; as a result, there appears a frequency dispersion of the permittivity.

The average cluster size $`<s>`$ for interacting spheres with fixed radii is usually given by a critical dependence Aharony . We consider the case when the interaction radius is temperature dependent. In order to take this fact into account we introduce the following dependence:

$$<s>\frac{1}{|(R_{cutoff}/a)^3xc|^\gamma }$$
(2)
where $`\gamma `$ is a critical exponent; $`c`$ is constant and can be calculated on the basis of the percolation theory for different lattices Aharony  (it equals 0.35 in the continual percolation approach); the critical concentration can be found from:

$$x_c=\left(a/R_{cutoff}\right)^3c.$$
(3)
It is seen that the critical concentration can be very small if the cut-off radius is large enough. This finding corresponds to experimental data for dilute solid solutions of quantum paraelectrics according to which cluster phenomena appear in them already at a very small impurity concentrations EPJ ; Pros-Kleem  that is a consequence of a large cut-off radius. Note that the cut-off radius can increase not only due to a straight dipole-dipole and quadrupole-quadrupole interactions but also because of an indirect interaction over the soft mode. The latter interaction can even diverge if the soft mode frequency approaches zero but we do not consider this case here (see EPJ ).

It follows from (3) that when the cut-off radius increases this can be considered as an increase of the unit volume (at constant cut-off radius) and the effective concentration also increases: $`x_{eff}=(R_{cutoff}/a)^3x`$. For us it is easier to consider the percolation for spheres with the same (temperature independent) radius but with the concentration of the spheres effectively dependent on temperature instead of considering a fixed impurity concentration but varying the sphere radius. In this case a temperature decrease results in an  increase of the effective impurity concentration and due to this a percolation phase transition can happen at some temperature.

After the substitution of the temperature dependent cut-off radius value to (2) one can see that at the phase transition point the average cluster size behaves as $`\left|TT_{cp}\right|^\gamma `$(where $`T_{cp}x^{1/3}const`$ and $`T>T_{cp})`$. The most interesting result is that the critical exponent $`\gamma `$ known in the theory of percolation as the exponent for the critical concentration dependence coincides with the critical exponent for the critical temperature dependence. This exponent should be close to $`\gamma =1.8`$ as obtained in the theory of percolation that can be a key to decide if the percolation approach is suitable or not to describe concrete experimental data.

In reality expression (2) is invalid for finite-size heterogeneities. Unfortunately there is no analytical description of such a situation although computations showed that the singularity is diffused in this case Aharony . In the vicinity of the singularity one can try using the expression:

$$<s>\frac{1}{|(R_{cutoff}/a)^3xc|^\gamma +b^2}$$
(4)
This expression differs from (2) only in a vicinity of the percolation threshold where the critical dependence is replaced by a diffused anomaly.

### III.2 Heterogeneity size

Similar to (4) the dielectric permittivity has rather a rounding peak instead of a keen anomaly. It can be explained by reaching the correlation radius the heterogeneity size. The correlation radius, $`r_c`$, is the characteristic size of the polarization fluctuation in the lattice. In uniform ferroelectrics, when lowering temperature approaching $`T_c`$, this radius increases as $`r_c\sqrt{\epsilon }`$. We consider locally nonuniform ferroelectrics in the regime where the main contribution to the dielectric permittivity stems from local heterogeneities (for example in KTN these are regions enriched with Nb) and where these heterogeneities can be considered, at first glance, as independent. In this case the correlation radius is not able to exceed  the heterogeneity size, which can be defined as the maximal size of the polar regions . It implies that the correlation radius will saturate at lower temperatures. Such a reason for this saturation differs from the zero-point quantum vibrations:  it is connected with a finite heterogeneity size.

There are different possibilities to interpolate the temperature dependence of the correlation radius described above from the Curie-Weiss dependence at high temperatures to the constant behavior at low temperatures. Earlier we used the Barrett formula for this purpose Pros-Kleem ; Li-pairs .

It is important to notice that the considered saturation of the correlation radius is a general property of locally heterogeneous ferroelectrics: for example, we believe that it holds in relaxors like PMN. Indeed, at temperatures above the Burns temperature a Curie-Weiss behavior was evidenced but below the Burns temperature and above the $`T_m`$ dielectric permittivity maximum temperature rather a quadratic temperature dependence was observed. We have found the following form of the dielectric permittivity suitable in the whole temperature region Bokov

$$1/\chi =A(TT_0)^2/T+f$$
(5)
where $`f`$ is constant. At temperatures close to $`T_0`$ this expression gives a quadratic temperature dependence, which has zero derivative at $`T=T_0`$. At high temperatures this expression gives the Curie-Weiss behavior. It is interesting to notice that the same expression can be considered as a sum of a linear temperature term, $`A(T2T_0)`$, and an inverse temperature term, $`(AT_0^2+f)/T`$.

Hence there is a temperature interval where the correlation radius reaches the heterogeneity size and saturates thereafter (at lower temperatures). In this interval there is a deviation from the Curie-Weiss law due to the saturation of the correlation radius. Additional (hydrodynamic) fluctuations appear at these temperatures, which we consider in the next subsection.

### III.3 Orientable Polar Regions

The main difference of the dielectric response in a nonuniform dielectric media relative the uniform one, besides the appearance of precursors described above in subsection A, is the existence of added polarizability due to the polar microregions. This new feature of the nonuniform media manifests itself by a very peculiar temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity below $`T_c`$. In Fig. 2 we plot the temperature dependence of the inverse dielectric permittivity of KTN 1.8 obtained on heating. It is seen that the low-temperature behavior is given by a straight line, the inclination of which is noticeably lower than one for the high-temperature branch but according to the theory of ferroelectrics Levanjuk , below $`T_c`$, it should be two times larger than above $`T_c`$. This contradiction can be explained if one takes into account the saturation of the correlation radius at $`T_c`$ and a contribution of the polar microregions to the dielectric permittivity below $`T_c`$. The latter contribution can originate from ordering of the polar region dipole moments in external field and due to the interactions among the polar regions.

Indeed, consider random fields e (see for definitions and experimantal studies of the random fields Refs. Kleem3 ; Vugmeister-Glinchuk ) and merged to their directions local dipole moments $`\mu `$. In the field $`𝐄=𝐄_\mathrm{𝟎}+\eta 𝐏`$, where E0 is the external field and P being the polarization, the dipole moments are directed along E \+ e. It results in the following polarization

$$\begin{array}{c}P=n\mu g(E)=\frac{n\mu }{2}\underset{0}{\overset{\pi }{}}\mathrm{sin}\vartheta d\theta \left[\frac{E+e\mathrm{cos}\theta }{\sqrt{E^2+e^2+2Ee\mathrm{cos}\theta }}\mathrm{cos}\theta \right]=\hfill \\ \\ =\{\begin{array}{cccccccccccccccccccc}n\mu (1e^2/3E^2)& E>e& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\ 2n\mu E/3e& E<e& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$
(6)
where $`e=|𝐞|`$. It follows from this result that the susceptibility of nonineracting polar regions can be found from the expression (see Fig. 3):

$$\chi _0=\frac{1}{\epsilon _0}\frac{dP}{dE}|_{E=0}=\{\begin{array}{cccccccccccccccccccc}2n\mu /3e\epsilon _0& E<e& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\ 2n\mu e^2/3\epsilon _0E^3& E>e& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \end{array}$$
(7)
where $`n`$ is the dipole (heterogeneity) concentration. The temperature dependence of the dipole moment can be found from the expression: $`\mu =\mu _0\mathrm{tanh}\left[\left(\mu _0𝐞\right)/k_BT\right]`$ where $`\mu _0`$ is the dipole moment magnitude. This derivation explains the existence of the large contribution to the dielectric permittivity of KTN 1.8 below $`T_c`$ due to the Nb related heterogeneities.

In the presence of macroscopic polarization the linear susceptibility depends on the $`P_0`$ value, which can be found from: $`P_0=\mu g(P_0)`$ and it appears at the condition $`2n\mu \eta /3e=1`$, which provides $`T_{c2}\mu _0^2n\eta /k_B`$. At large $`E+\eta P_0`$ the contribution of the polar region dipole moments to the dielectric permittivity rapidly decreases, as $`\left(E+\eta P_0\right)^3`$. This explains the absence of this contribution in our experimental data when the sample was field cooled.

Obviously the macroscopic polarization obtained on field cooling is larger than one got on zero field cooling. Hence the appearance of macroscopic polarization suppresses the additional contribution connected with the polar microregions. It implies that the new phenomenon seen in the dielectric data of KTN 1.8 at low temperatures can be explained by a very low value of macroscopic polarization appeared on zero field cooling below $`T_c`$ because of clustering the Nb impurities but without the appearance of the connected cluster on the one hand and because of quantum effects leading to suppression of the polarization growth at low temperatures on the other hand. This peculiar situation results in a random distribution of the local polarization over the polar microregions merged to local random field directions and, as a consequence, in an additional contribution to the dielectric permittivity connected with the ordering of the polar region dipole moments.

Our experimental data show a hysteresis phenomenon at low temperatures, which can be explained within a Landau-type theory if one assumes the existence of strong electrostriction interaction in KTN 1.8 in agreement with experimental finding Toulouse . The final Hamiltonian can be written in the form

$$H=\left(\frac{2\mu _0n}{3e}\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mu _0e}{k_BT}\eta \right)\delta P^2+\frac{1}{4}\stackrel{~}{\beta }P^4+\frac{1}{6}\xi P^6+\upsilon \left(P\right)^2EP$$
(8)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }=\beta 4\lambda /\kappa `$, $`\lambda `$ is the electrostriction constant and $`\kappa `$ being the elastic constant. A large value of the electrostriction constant leads to negative values of the nonlinearity constant $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }`$ and, consequently, to the phase transition of the first order.

To take into account the scattering of the random field magnitude we used the following distribution function for a reorientable part of the random fields Vugmeister-Glinchuk

$$f(e)=\frac{1}{\left(\sqrt{\pi }a\right)^3}e^{\left|𝐞\eta 𝐏\right|^2/a^2}$$
(9)
By integrating (7) with this distribution function we obtained at $`E<e`$

$$\chi _0=\frac{4n\mu }{3\epsilon _0\eta P}erf\left(\eta P/a\right)\frac{4n\mu }{3\sqrt{\pi }\epsilon _0a}\left[1\frac{\eta ^2P^2}{3a^3}+\mathrm{}\right]$$
(10)
It is seen that the bare susceptibility (7) decreases with the width of the distribution function (9) and with polarization $`P`$.

The phase transition in the system consisting of polar regions can be whether of the glass-type or ferroelectric. In order to decide, which type of the phase transition will occur one can employ the percolation technique again but on the next, nanoscale level (see also a consideration in the framework of a Random-Field-Random-Bond model in Blinc ). One can introduce a cut-off interaction radius for interactions among the polar regions and obtain that if the polar region concentration exceeds a critical concentration then a connected cluster appears and the steady state is ferroelectric but in the reverse case only finite clusters made of polar regions exist and the steady state is of the glass nature.

Our experimental data show a strong frequency dependence of the dielectric permittivity at $`T_c`$. We regard this finding to potential barriers separating different positions of the random fields. For example for Li impurities a six-well model can be suitable to describe this situation six-well . This model considers dipoles embedded into elongated random fields having six possible directions, which provides a description of a phase transition when temperature or field are changed. In the electric field this model gives a critical point. One can consider the random fields coupled to the soft vibrations and these random fields can be polarized by external field according to the distribution function (9). The existence of the potential barriers for the local random fields results in the following frequency dependence of the dielectric permittivity Pros-Kleem ; Li-pairs :

$$\epsilon ^{}\frac{1}{\omega _c^2(T)\lambda ^2nF(\omega )}$$
(11)
where $`F(\omega )=\left[4k_BT\left(1i\left(\omega \tau \right)^{1\alpha }\right)\right]^1`$. We introduced here the Cole-Cole type frequency dependence bearing in mind a relaxation time distribution. Here $`\lambda `$ is a coupling constant. Expression (11) at large temperature above $`T_c`$ shows the Curie-Weiss behavior but at low temperatures there is frequency dependent contribution, which is sufficiently enlarged by the coupling of the local random fields with the soft modes.

Besides the Cole-Cole contribution to the dielectric permittivity dispersion we have found that even at large temperatures in KTN 1.8 there is universal dispersion of the form $`\chi _U^{}(f)f^{n1}`$ with the $`n`$ value only slightly less than 1 (Fig. 4). This frequency dependence can arise because of the existence of Nb related heterogeneities or noncentrality even at large temperatures. There can be also some influence of space charge on this dispersion.

## IV Conclusions

We showed that the striking dielectric properties of KTN 1.8 can be understood and described on the basis of assumption that in highly polarizable quantum paraelectrics even a small concentration of dipolar impurity centres can form nano-scale polar regions (clusters). The main addition to the dielectric permittivity at high temperatures originates from these local heterogeneities. At high temperatures, when the correlation radius is larger than the heterogeneity radius, the heterogeneities provide a Curie-Weiss law and an average over the bulk Curie temperature governs the temperature dependence of the total dielectric permittivity. When approaching the Curie temperature the correlation radius increases but it saturates when reaching the heterogeneity size. Together with quantum effects this leads to the appearance of an intermediate state, in which the dielectric permittivity is saturated. The orientation of the cluster dipole moments as well as local random fields in an external field results in the appearance of an additional contribution to the dielectric permittivity in the low temperature ferroelectric phase as it has been observed for KTN 1.8.

## V Acknowledgements

We thank NATO (PST. CLG.977348) 541, RFBR Grants 00-02-16875 and 01-02-16029. V.T. thanks DAAD for support.


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# 1 The radio inner jets

## 1 The radio inner jets

The radio inner jets resemble those in AGN in that the jet length is roughly inversely proportional to the frequency, and a “core-shift” is observed between 1.6 and 5 GHz — indicative of self-absorption . The differences are that the SS433 jet is ballistic, it contains protons, and a large fraction of the jet material is probably thermal.

The approaching and receding jet sides are separated by a radio gap, as was predicted by Stirling, Spencer & Watson . This is caused by free-free absorption due to a disk-like outflow from the central binary system. The brightness ratio of the two jet sides increases with frequency, and at 22 GHz the receding jet is almost completely absorbed (Fig. 1). The frequency dependence of the size of the mas-scale jet is demonstrated in Fig. 2. The Gaussian FWHM of the main jet feature on the approaching jet side is proportional to $`\nu ^{0.93}`$ at an epoch when the inner jets were detected up to 22 GHz. The apparent brightness temperature does not show a strong frequency dependence; it is $``$109 K on the approaching, and $``$108 K on the receding jet side. At 1.6 GHz the brightness ratio reflects only the Doppler-boosting effect and there seems to be no significant free-free absorption on scales larger than $``$50 AU (assuming a distance of 5 kpc).

During large flares the inner jet region might disappear, and pairs of plasmons are ejected from the system. There is indication for ongoing electron acceleration in these jet components (Paragi, Stirling & Fejes, these proceedings).

## 2 The equatorial outflow

We identified a radio emitting region perpendicular to the normal jets  which was confirmed in a 1998 experiment (Fig. 3). As there were indications from observations, numerical simulations  and theoretical works  that a significant fraction of the accreted matter leaves the system in its equatorial plane, we refer to this region as the Equatorial Outflow. We stress that the outflow is not constrained in a narrow plane, the term “equatorial” refering to the fact that the region is not related to the radio beams of SS433 that emanate from the poles of the central engine. An independent group also observed this outflow (Blundell et al., these proceedings).

Emission from the equatorial outflow has been detected in seven VLBI experiments. The region is sometimes smooth, but compact, brighter features appear frequently. One of these components was observed to move away from the centre at a projected speed of 1200$`\pm `$500 km/s (Paragi, Fejes & Szabó, these proceedings). This is significantly larger than the estimated terminal wind speed of $``$300 km/s . Fabrika suggested that the faster disk wind ($``$1500 km/s) could develop shock waves into the slow ($``$100 km/s) outflow from time to time, as the disk precesses. Another possibility is that the components are shocks resulting in a jet-ISM interaction. In Fig. 4 we see the emergence of a new equatorial feature from the central region, close to the approaching Eastern jet.

Based on IR measurements Fuchs et al. (these proceedings) estimated a mass-loss rate of $``$10-4 M/yr assuming spherical symmetry. This result indicates that most of the accreted matter leaves the system in this flow rather than the radio jets. There are at least two other HMXBs where observations indicate a large-scale outflow embedding the binary system . For this reason we suggest that equatorial outflows may be common in HMXB microquasars.

## Acknowledgments

The European VLBI Network is a joint facility of European and Chinese radio astronomy institutes funded by their national research councils. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc. under a Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation. We acknowledge partial financial support from the Hungarian Space Office (MŰI), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) (grant No. N31721 & T031723). This research was supported by the European Commission’s TMR Programme “Access to Large-scale Facilities”, under contract No. ERBFMGECT950012. We acknowledge the support of the European Community - Access to Research Infrastructure and Infrastructure Cooperation Networks (RADIONET, contract No. HPRI-CT-1999-40003) action of the Improving Human Potential Programme.

Proper motion detected in the equatorial outflow of SS433 (poster) Proper motion detected in the equatorial outflow of SS433 (poster) Proper motion detected in the equatorial outflow of SS433 (poster)

Z. Paragi1,2, I. Fejes2 & A. Szabó3
1 Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
2 FÖMI Satellite Geodetic Observatory, P.O. Box 546, H-1373 Budapest, Hungary
3 Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Astronomy, P.O. Box 32, H-1518 Budapest, Hungary

## 1 Introduction

Since the Very Long Baseline Array observed SS433 in a multi-frequency experiment in 1995, it has been known that microquasars may produce radio emission not only in the well-studied jets, but also in their equatorial region . Because the presence of an outflow had been suggested based on observations in the optical and in X-ray , the radio emission was naturally attributed to this equatorial flow. Recent works in the UV  and IR regimes (Fuchs et al., these proceedings) also support this scenario. We initiated VLBA and global VLBI (EVN+Hartebeesthoek+VLBA) observations to monitor changes in this region on milliarcsecond scales.

## 2 Detected proper motion

The existence of the equatorial emission region was confirmed by 1.6 GHz global VLBI observations (see Fig. 3 of Paragi et al., these proceedings) on 6 June 1998. There were two radio components (indicated by N1 and S1), as in 1995, but their separation and position angle were different. N1 had a brightness temperature of $`2\times 10^8`$ K, indicative of a non-thermal emission mechanism. It was also identified at 5 GHz on 22 May and 16 June 1998 (see Fig. 1).

Because the jets precess and there is no well-determined, compact feature in the centre on milliarcsecond (mas) scales, it is difficult to find a good reference point in the source. We assumed that the binary is located in the middle of the radio gap . The separation of N1 from this reference point increased significantly. By assigning a 1 mas error to the position measurements (including the uncertainty in the reference point), we determined an outward proper motion of $`\mu =0.14\pm 0.06`$ mas/day. If this is due to a bulk motion of matter, this corresponds to an outflow velocity of (1200$`\pm `$500)/$`\mathrm{sin}(i)`$ km/s.

Changes in the region were further monitored in 2000 with a global VLBI network (images not shown here). The results from these experiments can be found in .

## Acknowledgments

The European VLBI Network is a joint facility of European and Chinese radio astronomy institutes funded by their national research councils. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc. under a Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation. We acknowledge partial financial support from the Hungarian Space Office (MŰI), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) (grant No. N31721 & T031723). This research was supported by the European Commission’s TMR Programme “Access to Large-scale Facilities”, under contract No. ERBFMGECT950012. We acknowledge the support of the European Community - Access to Research Infrastructure and Infrastructure Cooperation Networks (RADIONET, contract No. HPRI-CT-1999-40003) action of the Improving Human Potential Programme.

Proper motion detected in the equatorial outflow of SS433 (poster) Proper motion detected in the equatorial outflow of SS433 (poster) Electron acceleration in SS433 jet components (poster)

Z. Paragi1,2, A. Stirling3 & I. Fejes2
1 Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
2 FÖMI Satellite Geodetic Observatory, P.O. Box 546, H-1373 Budapest, Hungary
3 CFA, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE, United Kingdom

## 1 Structural changes and spectral properties

We observed SS433 with the VLBA (5, 8.4, 15 and 22 GHz) on 18 April 1998 during a large flare. The core-jet region of the source disappeared in the flare. Instead we detected four pairs of plasmons ejected from the centre (Fig. 1). Most of these components (except E1) had a very steep spectrum between 5 and 8.4 GHz. Interestingly, the spectrum between 15 and 22 GHz was somewhat flatter. The spectral properties of the plasmons are shown in Fig. 2, on the colour–colour ($`\alpha _{1522}\alpha _{58.4})`$ diagram .

The components are already in the optically thin phase of their evolution at the observing frequencies. At this epoch the flare had not yet reached its maximum. The most straightforward explanation for an increasing flux density during the optically thin phase is that a new generation of electrons was accelerated in the plasmons. A similar conclusion was reached using single dish radio flux density measurements by Seaquist et al. .

## Acknowledgments

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc. under a Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation. We acknowledge partial financial support from the Hungarian Space Office (MŰI), Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) (grant No. N31721 & T031723). We acknowledge the support of the European Community - Access to Research Infrastructure and Infrastructure Cooperation Networks (RADIONET, contract No. HPRI-CT-1999-40003) action of the Improving Human Potential Programme.