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# Short time decay of the Loschmidt echo

## I INTRODUCTION

Quantum irreversibility studies have become a very active research topic due to a direct connection with quantum computers and mesoscopics physics qcomputer ; mesos . The natural quantity for these investigations has been introduced by Peres in his seminal paper of 1984 peres . Called later as Loschmidt echo (LE) or fidelity, it measures the ability of a system to return to an initial state $`|\varphi `$ after a forward evolution with a Hamiltonian $`H_0`$ followed by an imperfect reversal evolution with a perturbed Hamiltonian $`H=H_0+\delta xH^{}`$ ($`\delta x`$ parameterize the strength of the perturbation). Thus, it is given by

$$M(t)=|\varphi \left|\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{i}Ht]\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{i}H_0t]\right|\varphi |^2$$
(1)
(throughout the paper $`\mathrm{}`$ is set equal to 1). The LE compares the evolution of an initial state with slightly different Hamiltonians and can distinguish regular and chaotic classical dynamics peres ; jalabert ; jaquod1 .

The LE was recently studied in various chaotic systems using several approaches jalabert ; jaquod2 ; tomsovic ; fernando1 ; prosen ; wisniacki1 ; fernando2 ; wisniacki2 . However, few types of decay were discussed in the literature. For a very short time, it is straightforward to show that the LE has a parabolic behavior $`M(t)=1\delta x^2(\mathrm{\Delta }H^{})^2t^2`$, with $`(\mathrm{\Delta }H^{})^2=[\varphi |H^2|\varphi \varphi |H^{}|\varphi ^2]`$. This decay is better resembled by the Gaussian function $`\mathrm{exp}[(t/\tau )^2]`$, with characteristic time $`\tau =1/(\mathrm{\Delta }H^{}\delta x)`$. Though this regime has experimental relevance LEexp , it has not been extensively taken into account.

After this short time decay, a crossover to a perturbation dependent regime was predicted and numerically observed jalabert ; tomsovic ; jaquod2 ; fernando1 ; wisniacki1 . For very small $`\delta x`$, in which a typical matrix element $`U`$ of the perturbation is smaller than the mean level spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, the decay is always Gaussian until $`M(t)`$ reaches its asymptotic values $`M(t\mathrm{})M_{\mathrm{}}`$. If $`U>\mathrm{\Delta }`$, this regime has an exponential decay $`\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Gamma }t)`$, with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the width of the local density of states (LDOS). This is usually called Fermi golden rule regime (FGR). When $`\mathrm{\Gamma }>\lambda `$, with $`\lambda `$ the mean Lyapunov exponent of the classical system, a perturbation independent regime is observed. In this case, the decay rate is given by $`\lambda `$. Finally, if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ exceeds the bandwidth of the perturbation, the LE has a Gaussian decay.

The properties of the initial state play an important role in the behavior of the LE jaquod2 ; wisniacki2 . This point can be relevant to observe the mentioned regimes. For example, the Lyapunov regime is not displayed if the initial state is an eigenfunction of the unperturbed/perturbed Hamiltonian wisniacki2 . Localized wave packets are needed to observe this regime. On the other hand, Zurek has recently stated that dynamical evolution causes that these states develop a sub-Planck structures in phase space, and he predicts that these structures enhance their sensitivity to perturbations zurek .

In this article we are mainly interested in the short time decay of the LE. Disregarding system specific features and the correlations imposed by the characteristics of initial state, we show via perturbation theory that $`\tau ^1`$ is given by the width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of the LDOS. In order to see the validity of this result in a realistic model, we study the characteristic time $`\tau `$ in a paradigmatic model of quantum chaos, a 2-D chaotic billiard perturbed by a contour deformation. We regard the influences of the characteristics of the perturbation and the initial condition to this important regime. Therefore, we consider different perturbations and various types of initial conditions in our numerical study. We find that some perturbations, which we call generic, destroy correlations imposed by the initial condition giving that $`\tau ^1=\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Nevetheless, other perturbations do not act in that way and this fact produces a slower decay with $`\tau ^1<\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. In this context, we discuss the influence of an initial time evolution of the wave packet and the corresponding developed structures in phase space in the short time decay of the LE. In fact, it is shown that an initial dynamical evolution helps to erase the mentioned correlations, with the effect of increasing $`\tau ^1`$. If the initial evolved time is smaller than the Ehrenfest time, the enhanced decay is described entirely by the classical streaching arround the unstable manifold given by the Lyapunov exponent jaquodsubplanck . But for greater evolved times, the quantum interference lead a developed sub-planck structure in phase space and this yield that the decay continuos growing. That is, the sensitivity to perturbations is also enhanced in this case (as stated in Ref. zurek ). However , if the perturbation produces a decay with $`\tau ^1=\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the developed structures in phase space do not influence the short time decay.

The paper has the following structure. Sec. II is devoted to describe the model system and the various shape deformations that we have considered. The paper is self-contained with the inclusion of the shape parameter Hamiltonian expansion for a 2-D quantum billiards developed in Ref. wisniacki3 . In Sec. III, the characteristic time $`\tau `$ is related to the width of the LDOS using perturbation theory. Then, in Sec. IV we present the numerical results. We study the LE for several types of initial condition. Starting with the simplest case when the initial state is an eigenfunction of $`H_0`$, we follow with Gaussian wave packets. Finally the initial conditions are the evolved Gaussian wave packets in order to study the prediction of Ref. zurek . In Sec. V we make some final remarks.

## II MODEL SYSTEM: DEFORMED STADIUM BILLIARDS

We use the desymmetrized Bunimovich stadium billiard as a model system to explore the behavior of the LE wisniacki1 . This paradigmatic system is fully chaotic and has great theoretical and experimental relevance cit-bunimovich ; cit-marcus-dephas-dot ; cit-marcus-def-dot . It consists of a free particle inside a 2-dimensional planar region whose boundary $`𝒞`$ is shown in Fig. 1 with dashed lines. The radius $`r`$ is taken equal to unity and the enclosed area is $`1+\pi /4`$.

The system is perturbed by boundary deformations which preserves the area of the billiard. Deformations with different characteristics are chosen in order to understand their influences in the short time decay of the LE. Fig. 1 shows the shape deformations that have been considered. The changes of the boundary are parameterized by

$$𝐫(s,\delta x)=𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎}(s)+z(s,\delta x)𝐧,$$
(2)
with $`s`$ along $`𝒞`$, $`𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎}(s)`$ the parametric equation for $`𝒞`$, and $`𝐧`$ the outward normal unit vector to $`𝒞`$ at $`𝐫_0(s)`$ (see Fig. 1(a)). Case (a), shown in Fig. 1, is well described in Ref. wisniacki3 . For deformation (b)-(d), $`z(s,\delta x)=\alpha \delta x\mathrm{cos}(\pi Ns/P)`$ with $`\alpha =0.42`$, $`P=1+\pi /2`$ and N=3, 5 and 10. $`\alpha `$ is chosen in order that the width of the LDOS of all deformations are aproximately equal in the studied range of $`\delta x`$ . As we shall see in the next section, the width of the LDOS is a measure of the magnitude of a perturbation.

To solve Eq. (1), eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of perturbed and unperturbed system are needed. They are obtained using a Hamiltonian expansion of deformed billiards which has been recently developed wisniacki3 . For $`\delta x1/k_0`$ ($`k_0`$ the mean wave number of the region under study), the eigenenergies and eigenfunctions of the deformed billiard, are connected to the ones of the stadium by the linearized Hamiltonian expressed in the basis of eigenstates at $`\delta x=0`$ (from now on we will call $`\varphi _\mu `$ to these eigenstates and $`E_\mu `$ the respective eigenenergies) ,

$$H_{\mu \nu }(\delta x)H_{\mu \nu }(0)+\delta xH_{\mu \nu }^{},$$
(3)
with $`H_{\mu \nu }(0)=E_\mu \delta _{\mu \nu }`$ and

$$H_{\mu \nu }^{}=\mathrm{Cf}_{\mu \nu }A_{\mu \nu }_\zeta z^{}(s)\frac{\varphi _\mu }{𝐧}\frac{\varphi _\nu }{𝐧}𝑑s.$$

The eigenfunctions and eigenenergies at $`\delta x=0`$ are obtained using the scaling method cit-Vergini-Saraceno . The integral above could be viewed as an inner product among the wave functions $`\frac{\varphi _\mu }{𝐧}`$ defined over $`𝒞`$. This relation defines an effective Hilbert space in a window $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ Perimeter/Area wisniacki3 . The cut-off function $`\mathrm{Cf}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{exp}\left[2(k_\mu ^2k_\nu ^2)^2/(k_0\mathrm{\Delta }k)^2\right]`$ restricts the effect of the perturbation to states in this energy shell of width $`k_0\mathrm{\Delta }k`$. It allows to deal with a basis of finite dimension with wave numbers around the mean value $`k_0`$, restricting to a particular region $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ of interest. We are considering $`k_0=100`$ and $`2m=1`$ ($`m`$ the mass of the particle) in all the numerical calculations presented above.

## III SHORT TIME DECAY AND THE LOCAL DENSITY OF STATES

Our aim is to characterize the short time decay of the LE. As mentioned in the introduction, a simple calculation led the short time decay to depend on the initial state and on the perturbation peres . We want to relate the characteristic time $`\tau `$ of the short time decay with some general properties of the perturbation.

The influence of a perturbation over a quantum system could be described by the local density of states (LDOS). The LDOS of an unperturbed eigenstate $`\varphi _\mu `$ is defined as

$$\rho _\mu (E,\delta x)=\underset{\nu }{}|\varphi _\nu (\delta x)|\varphi _\mu |^2\delta [E(E_\nu (\delta x)E_\mu )],$$
(4)
with $`E_\nu (\delta x)`$ and $`\varphi _\nu (\delta x)`$ the energy and eigenfunction of the perturbed Hamiltonian \[Eq. (3)\]. This function shows how the unperturbed states are coupled to the perturbed ones. Because we are not interested in a particular state, an implicit average over the unperturbed state $`\mu `$ is considered from now on. We have chosen the width (dispersion)

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)=\sqrt{\underset{\nu }{}\rho _\mu (E_\nu (\delta x)E_\mu ,\delta x)(E_\nu (\delta x)E_\mu )^2},$$
(5)
as a practical measure of this distribution .

The LDOS exhibits various regimes as a function of the strength $`\delta x`$ dcohenannal ; dcohenpara . As we shall see, the perturbative regime is relevant for our study. Perturbation theory (PT) gives the following first order expression for the LDOS

$$\rho _{\mathrm{PT}}(E,\delta x)=\delta (E)+\frac{|H_{\mu \nu }^{}|^2\delta x^2}{[E_\nu (\delta x)E_\mu )]^2}\delta [E(E_\nu (\delta x)E_\mu )].$$
(6)
Using the definition of the width \[Eq. (5)\] and Eq. (6) it is straightforward to show

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{PT}}(\delta x)=\delta x\sqrt{\underset{\nu }{}|H_{\mu \nu }^{}|^2}.$$

This expression works very well for all the perturbations of Fig 1 with strength $`\delta x1/k_0`$.

With these ingredients in mind, let us consider the short time decay of the LE. As pointed out previously, it is given by $`M(t)=\mathrm{exp}[(t/\tau )^2]`$ with $`\tau ^2=(\varphi |H^2|\varphi \varphi |H^{}|\varphi ^2)\delta x^2`$. Let be $`|\varphi =a_\mu \varphi _\mu `$ the initial state , so

$$\tau ^2=[a_\mu H_{\mu i}^{}H_{i\nu }^{}a_\nu (a_\mu H_{\mu \nu }^{}a_\nu )^2]\delta x^2$$
(7)
The perturbation matrix $`H_{\nu \mu }^{}`$ is a banded matrix due to the cut-off function $`\mathrm{Cf}_{\mu \nu }`$ (see the insets of Fig. 2). This band structure is quite generic in realistic systems due to the finite range interaction of unperturbed states band1 ; band2 . Inside the band, the matrix elements $`H_{\mu \nu }^{}`$ are highly fluctuating numbers. At first sight if we ignore the system specific features, we can do the diagonal approximation of Eq. 7, resulting

$$\tau ^2=[|a_\mu |^2H_{\mu \nu }^2]\delta x^2.$$
(8)
This approximation is also valid for the case in which the complex numbers $`a_\mu `$ behave randomly. Finally, if we consider that the $`|a_\mu |^2`$ are nearly constant inside the band,

$$\tau ^2[H_{\mu \nu }^2]\delta x^2=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{PT}}^2(\delta x).$$
(9)
This result is also valid if $`a_\mu =\delta _{\mu \nu }`$, assuming that we are averaging over several initial conditions. Note that we have obtained Eq. (9) throwing out all the correlations imposed by the perturbation and the wave amplitudes. In the next section we will see in what manner these correlations influence the decay.

Each perturbation is characterized by the structure and correlations of the matrix elements $`H_{\mu \nu }^{}`$. As an example, Fig. 2 shows the behavior of the mean value of $`H_{\mu \nu }^2`$ as a function of the distance $`r=\nu \mu `$ for perturbations (a) and (d). This function is usually called band profile. The cases (b) and (c) are not plotted because their band profile are qualitative equal to case (d). Note that perturbation (a) is clearly non-generic due to the two important peaks at $`|r|25`$. This non-universality is introduced by the fact that perturbation (a) does not connect the bouncing ball states with generic states. In the insets of Fig. 2 a density plot of these matrix are shown for deformations (a) and (d). We will see in the next section that there are correlations between the matrix elements of the perturbation which are not exposed in the band profile but have an important influence to the short time decay.

## IV NUMERICAL RESULTS

In this section we study numerically the behavior of the short time decay of the LE in the Bunimovich stadium billiard perturbed by the contour deformation presented in Sec. 1. We consider different types of initial conditions: Eigenfuction of $`H_0`$, Gaussian wave packets and evolved Gaussian wave packets . We would like to see the range of validity of Eq. 9 for our particular system.

### IV.1 Eigenfuctions of $`H_0`$

The simplest case of the LE is when the initial state of Eq. 1 is an eigenstate of $`_0`$. In this case, the LE is directly related with the Fourier transform (FT) of the LDOS. Then, $`M(t)`$ is the so called survival probability wisniacki2 ; Cohen-Heller , defined as

$$P(t)=|\varphi _\mu \left|\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{i}Ht]\right|\varphi _\mu |^2=|FT[\rho _\mu (E,\delta x)]|^2$$
(10)
As we saw in the previous section, we expect that $`\tau `$ for $`\overline{P}(t)`$ is well described by Eq. 9. $`\overline{P}(t)`$ is the mean value of the survival probability over several initial states. We have numerically observed that this is the case for the perturbations (b-d). These results are shown in Fig. 3. Note that $`\tau ^1`$ for perturbations (c) and (d) are not plotted because the results are the same as (b). The widths $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{PT}(\delta x)`$ are equal for all the perturbations. For perturbation (a), $`\tau ^10.85\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$ which is directly related to the structure of the perturbation matrix (see Fig. 2) imposed by the bouncing ball states wisniacki1 . Similar attenuation was observed in Ref. wisniacki1  for perturbation (a) in the FGR regime. In this case, the decay rate is given by $`0.5\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$ insted of the expected value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$.

Fig. 4 summarizes the behavior of $`\overline{P}(t)`$ in the desymmetrized stadium billiard. We have taken an average over 100 initial states. In this figure, the results for perturbation (d) of Fig. 1 are shown. Other perturbations led to the same qualitative results. For a small perturbation strength (top curve of Fig. 4) we observe the Gaussian short time decay and after that an exponential decay with a decay rate given by the width of the LDOS jaquod1 ; wisniacki1 . For large perturbation strength (bottom curve of Fig. 4) the exponential decay with decay rate given by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$ is not observed . This is due to the constraint imposed by the asymptotic value $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$. In this case the decay is completely Gaussian. An important point is that the asymtotic $`M_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Delta }/\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$.

### IV.2 Localized Gaussian wave packets

The decay of the LE for localized Gaussian wave packets has been widely studied in the literature. Most of the previous works consider this case jalabert ; jaquod2 ; wisniacki1 ; fernando1 ; fernando2 . The predicted crossover from a perturbation dependent regime to the Lyapunov regime has been shown for these classically adapted initial conditions.

We discuss here the short time decay of the LE for this particular type initial conditions in the stadium billiard perturbed by deformations presented in Fig. 1. We compute $`M(t)`$ for initial Gaussian wave packets,

$$\varphi (\stackrel{}{r})=(\pi \sigma ^2)^{1/2}\mathrm{exp}[i\stackrel{}{p}_0.(\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r}_0)i|\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r}_0|^2/\sigma ^2]$$
(11)
with $`|p_0|=k_0=100`$ and $`\sigma =0.16`$. An average over 50 initial states was taken. The direction of the momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}_0/|\stackrel{}{p}_0|`$ and the center of the wave packet $`\stackrel{}{r}_0`$ are chosen randomly. As expected, the short-time decay is well described by a Gaussian function $`\mathrm{exp}[(t/\tau )^2]`$. Fig. 5 shows the behavior of $`\tau ^1`$ as a function of the strength $`\delta x`$ for all the perturbations under study. This type of initial conditions imposes correlations so that the second sum of right hand side of Eq. (7) does not vanish. The non-universalities of each perturbation are clearly exposed in $`\tau `$. Note that these differences are not seen in the width of the LDOS nor in band profile of the matrix $`H_{\mu \nu }^{}`$. We have considered perturbations with greater number of oscillations of the boundary ($`N>10`$) and we find $`\tau =1/\mathrm{\Gamma }(\delta x)`$ for all of them wisniacki4 .

### IV.3 Evolved Gaussian wave packets

In a recent paper zurek , Zurek shows that dynamical evolution of initial Gaussian wave packets in classically chaotic systems, produces finer and finer phase space structures which saturates after the Ehrenfest time with a sub-Planck scale. More important, he predict that this sub-Planck structures enhances the sensitivity of a quantum state to an external perturbation. A numerical study in a time dependent one dimensional model agreed with this assertion karkuszewski , but other studies reached opposite conclusions jaquodsubplanck ; jordan . In Ref. jaquodsubplanck  it is showed an enhanced decay of the LE of evolved wave packets but this acceleration is fully described by the classical Lyapunov exponent and it is not due to the sub-Planck structures. More specifically, it is pointed out that the characteristic time $`\tau (T_0)`$ of the short time decay for a wave packet that has been evolved a time $`T_0`$ is given by

$$\tau ^1(T_0)=\tau ^1(0)\mathrm{exp}(\frac{\lambda (T_0T_c)}{2}),$$
(12)
with $`\tau (0)`$ the characteristic time of the short time decay for initial states that have not been evolved, $`\lambda `$ the Lyapunov exponent and $`T_c`$ the mean time for the first collision with the boundary.

We consider the influence of the developed structures in phase space in the short time decay of the LE. So, $`M(t)`$ is computed for the same initial conditions \[Eq. (11)\] of the previous section but an unperturbed initial evolution during a time $`T_0`$ is applied. Fig. 6 shows $`\tau ^1(T_0)`$ as a function of the strength $`\delta x`$ for perturbation (a) and with $`T_0=0,0.025,0.05,`$ and 1. Note that $`\tau ^1(T_0)`$ increases with larger $`T_0`$, for all perturbation strenghts. This fact clearly points out that an initial evolution enhances the sensitivity to this particular perturbation. We have observed that for $`T_0>0.4`$, $`\tau ^1`$ converges to the width of the LDOS. Same behavior is shown when the system is perturbed by deformations (b) and (c). However, when the perturbation destroys the correlations imposed by the initial wave packet which implies that $`\tau =1/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, the short time decay is not affected by an initial evolution.

In order to see if these increments are fully described by Eq. 12 and due to that has classical nature, in Fig.7 it is showed the behavior of $`\tau ^1(T_0)/\tau ^1(0)`$ for several preparation time $`T_0`$ for perturbation (a) with strenght $`\delta x=0.04`$. It is clearly observed that Eq. 12 works well for $`T_0<0.025`$. Note that the Ehrenfest time $`T_E=0.025`$. So, the enhacement of the short time decay is fully explained with the classical inestability given by the Lyapunov exponent for evolved times $`T_0`$ smaller than the Ehrenfest time. However, for larger times $`\tau ^1(T_0)`$ is also growing.

A qualitative picture of acceleration of the short time decay for evolved states is the following. Before the Ehrenfest time the wave packet is streaching around an unstable manifold and just after that times starts the quantum interference which lead a sub-Planck structures. At that times a small part of the Wigner function presents a sub-Planck structure. This region grows with time and it seems to be the reason of the accelerating decay. Note that for the saturation times the sub-Planck structure is all arround the available phase space.

## V FINAL REMARKS

We have studied the short time decay of the LE in a 2-D chaotic billiard. The system was perturbed by a contour deformation. Different perturbations were considered in order to develop the influences of their characteristics in the behavior of the LE. Moreover, several types of initial conditions have been used and how they affect the LE have been examined.

Our findings are the following. For non-localized initial states and if the system is perturbed by a generic deformation, the characteristic time $`\tau `$ of the short time Gaussian decay is given by the inverse of the width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of the LDOS. If semiclassical features are exposed in the matrix elements of the perturbation, we have obtained that $`\tau ^1<\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. For highly localized initial states, cross correlation between wave amplitudes are important and this is exposed with the fact that $`\tau ^1<\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. When the perturbation destroys such correlations, the characteristic time $`\tau ^1`$ exhibits its maximum value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

We have discussed the prediction of Zurek zurek  which stated that an initial dynamical evolution of semiclassical wave packets lead a sub-Planck structures in phase space and this enhances its sensitivity to perturbation. We found that in the cases in which the perturbation does not destroy the correlation mentioned before an accelerated decay is observed. As a function of the preparation time $`T_0`$, we have observed two regimes. For $`T_0`$ smaller than the Ehrenfest time, the enhanced decay is described entirely by the classical Lyapunov exponent as pointed out in Ref. jaquodsubplanck . However, for larger $`T_0`$ in which the quantum interference lead the sub-Planck structures the enhancement of decay is also observed.

A final point is worth commenting. We have shown that the short time decay of the LE has a Gaussian behavior and for certain perturbations the characteristic time is given by the width of the LDOS. The LDOS of some systems Cohen-Heller ; dcohenpara ; wisniacki2 ; note  presents a region in which its width is independent of the perturbation. We note that these results could be of importance for the understanding of the measure of the LE in recent NMR experiments LEexp . Although that system consists of many interacting nuclear spins, the results are in accordance with the former. That is, due to imperfections in the reversed evolution the LE in the MNR experiment shown a Gaussian attenuation, $`M(t)=\mathrm{exp}[(t/\tau )^2]`$, with $`\tau `$ depending on the small non-inverted interaction (which corresponds to the perturbation $`\delta xH^{}`$ of Eq. 1), and in a range of small perturbation, the characteristic time $`\tau `$ do not depend on it.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was partially supported by CONICET and ECOS-SeTCIP. I want to thank Fernando Cucchietti, Philippe Jacquod, Horacio Pastawski, Juan Pablo Paz, Fabricio Toscano and Eduardo Vergini for very useful discussions and comments.


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# VLT observations of metal-rich extra galactic HII regions. I. Massive star populations and the upper end of the IMF Based on observations ESO/VLT service observations (65.N-0308 and 67.B-0197)

## 1 Introduction

Wolf-Rayet stars (WR) are the descendants of the most massive stars. Although they live during a short time (Maeder & Conti 1994) these stars have been detected in young stellar systems, such as extragalactic HII regions (Kunth & Schild 1986) and the so-called WR galaxies (Conti 1991, Schaerer et al. 1999b). They are recognized by the presence of broad stellar emission lines at optical wavelengths, mainly at 4680 Å (known as the blue WR bump) and at 5808 Å (red WR bump). The blue bump is a blend of N v $`\lambda \lambda `$4604,4620, N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$4634,4641, C iii/iv $`\lambda \lambda `$4650,4658 and He ii $`\lambda `$4686 lines, that are produced in WR stars of the nitrogen (WN) and carbon (WC) sequences. In contrast, the red bump is formed only by C iv $`\lambda `$5808 and it is mainly produced by WC stars. The detection of these features in the integrated spectrum of a stellar system provides a powerful tool to date the onset of the burst, and it constitutes the best direct measure of the upper end of the initial mass function (IMF). Thus, if WR features are found in the spectra of star forming systems, stars more massive than $`M_{\mathrm{WR}}`$, where $`M_{\mathrm{WR}}`$ 25 M for solar metallicity, must be formed in the burst.

The IMF is one of the fundamental ingredients for studies of stellar populations, which has an important bearing on many astrophysical studies ranging from cosmology to the understanding of the local Universe. In particular the value of the IMF slope and the upper mass cut-off (Mup) strongly influences the mechanical, radiative, and chemical feedback from massive stars to the ISM such as the UV light, the ionizing radiation field, and the production of heavy elements.

A picture of a universal IMF has emerged from numerous works performed in the last few years (e.g. Gilmore & Howell 1998 and references therein). Indeed, these studies derive a slope of the IMF close to the Salpeter value for a mass range between 5 and 60 M. This result seems to hold for a variety of objects and metallicities from very metal poor up to the solar metallicity, with the possible exception of a steeper field IMF (Massey et al. 1995, Tremonti et al. 2002). However, the IMF in high metallicity (12+log (O/H) $``$ (O/H)$`{}_{}{}^{}`$ 8.92) systems is much less well constrained. Different indirect methods to derive the slope and Mup give contradictory results.

The detection of strong wind resonance UV lines in the integrated spectrum of high metallicity nuclear starbursts clearly indicate the formation of massive stars (Leitherer 1998; Schaerer 2000; González Delgado 2001). In contrast, the analysis of the nebular optical and infrared lines of IR-luminous galaxies and high metallicity H ii regions indicates a softness of the ionizing radiation field that has beeninterpreted as due to the lack of stars more massive than $``$ 30 M (Goldader et al. 1997; Bresolin et al. 1999; Thornley et al. 2000; Coziol et al. 2001). However, the interpretation of these indirect probes relies strongly on a combination of models for stellar atmospheres and interiors, evolutionary synthesis, and photoionisation, each with several potential shortcomings/difficulties (cf. García-Vargas 1996, Schaerer 2000, Stasińska 2002). For example, recently González Delgado et al. (2002) have shown that the above conclusion could be an artifact of the failure of WR stellar atmospheres models to correctly predict the ionizing radiation field of high metallicity starbursts (see also Castellanos 2001, Castellanos et al. 2002b).

A more direct investigation of the stellar content of metal-rich nuclear starbursts has been performed by Schaerer et al. (2000, hereafter SGIT00), using the detection of WR features to constrain Mup. They found that the observational data are compatible with a Salpeter IMF extending to masses Mup $``$ 40 M. Most recently, a similar conclusion has been obtained by Bresolin & Kennicutt (2002, hereafter BK02) from observations of high-metallicity HII regions in M83, NGC 3351 and NGC 6384.

Here, we present a direct attempt to determine Mup based on the detection of WR features in metal-rich H ii regions of a sample of spiral galaxies. To obtain statistically significant conclusions about Mup and the slope of the IMF, a large sample of H ii regions needs to be observed. For coeval star formation with a Salpeter IMF and Mup=120 M at metallicities above solar, $``$ 60 to 80 % (depending on the evolutionary scenario and age of the region) of the H ii regions are expected to exhibit WR signatures (Meynet 1995; Schaerer & Vacca 1998, hereafter SV98). Thus, to find $``$ 40 regions with WR stars (our initial aim) a sample of at least 5-7 galaxies with $``$ 10 H ii regions per galaxy needs to be observed. Spectra of high S/N (at least 30) in the continuum are also required to obtain an accurate measure of the WR features. For this propose, we have selected the nearby spiral galaxies NGC 3351, NGC 3521, NGC 4254, NGC 4303 and NGC4321, which have have sufficient number of disk H ii regions of high-metallicity, as known from earlier studies.

Our observations have indeed allowed to find a large number of metal-rich WR H ii regions. The analysis of their massive star content is the main aim of the present paper. Quite independently of the detailed modeling undertaken below, our sample combined with additional WR regions from Bresolin & Kennicutt (2002) allow us to derive a fairly robust lower limit on the upper mass cut-off of the IMF in these metal-rich environments (see Sect. 6).

The structure of the paper is as follows: The sample selection, observations and data reduction are described in Sect. 2. The properties of the H ii regions are derived in Sect. 3. Section 4 discusses the trends of the WR populations with metallicity. Detailed comparisons of the observed WR features with the evolutionary synthesis models are presented in Sect. 5. More model independent constraints on Mup are derived in Sect. 6. Our main results and conclusions are summarised in Sect. 7.

## 2 Sample selection, observations and reduction

### 2.1 Selection of the HII regions

Our target galaxies (see Table 1) are selected among nearby spiral galaxies where a sufficient number of disk H ii regions of high metallicity are known from the previous studies of Shields et al. (1991), Oey & Kennicutt (1993), and Zaritsky et al. (1994). Inspection of spectra from the two latter studies kindly made available to us showed that the vast majority of their spectra are not deep enough to allow the detection of WR or other stellar signatures in the continuum.

Metallicities $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ of all known regions were estimated from the published \[O ii\] $`\lambda `$3727 and \[O iii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959,5007 intensities using the standard $`R_{23}`$ “strong line” method and various empirical calibrations. For the FORS1 multi-object spectroscopic observations described below H ii regions with metallicities above solar ($`\mathrm{log}R_{23}`$ 0.6) were given first priority. Secondary criteria taken into account in the choice of the known H ii regions were a large H$`\beta `$ equivalent width, and bright continuum flux at $``$ 4650 Å as determined from inspection of the spectra. This procedure lead to a first selection of 4 to 7 H ii regions per galaxy. Other regions with lower metallicities and/or lower H$`\beta `$ equivalent widths were retained as secondary targets.

Up to 19 slitlets per exposure can be used for spectroscopy with FORS1. Our primary targets were first positioned using the R-band images (see below) and the remaining slitlets were filled whenever possible with secondary targets. If a slitlet was left without any of our selected regions, we attempted to target other H ii regions selected from the H$`\alpha `$ images of Hodge & Kennicutt (1983). For each galaxy a nuclear spectrum, to be reported upon later, was also obtained.

### 2.2 Observations

R band imaging was obtained with FORS1/VLT in april 2000, and was used to determine the positions of our targeted regions with sufficient accuracy. Subtracting a local average emission from the host galaxy the R band magnitudes of our target H ii regions were determined; typical magnitudes of $`m_R`$ 19–21 are found.

The spectroscopic observations of our sample of H ii regions were carried out with FORS1/VLT in the second 2001 trimester. Table 2 gives informations about the exact dates and meteorological conditions during the observations.

The spectral range from 3600 Å to 1 $`\mu `$m was covered with a “blue” spectrum from 3600 to 6500 Å with grism 300V+10, and a “red” spectrum from 6000 to 10000 Å with grism 300I+11. The use of a 1″ slit width allowed to get medium spectral resolution of around 6 Å in the blue and 12 Å in the red. Due to the limited slit size, a fraction of the total nebular emission of the regions may be lost. This effect is acounted for in our interpretation of the data (Sect. 5). Unless WR stars follow systematically a different spatial distribution than other stars responsible for the continuum emission, a possible loss of continuum light does not alter our analysis.

Exposure times for each galaxy (see Table 2) were adapted to obtain in the continuum S/N $``$ 30 in the blue, (needed for a precise measure of the WR bump) and $``$ 10 in the red (needed to measure the \[S iii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$9069,9532 lines). Spectrophotometric standard stars data were also acquired.

### 2.3 Data reduction and analysis

Reduction was carried out using the IRAF and MIDAS packages. The first steps consisted in the usual bias subtraction, flatfield division, and 2D wavelength calibration. Flux calibration was done using a standard atmospheric extinction curve and spectrophotometric standard stars. Given that the spectrophotometric standards were not always obtained during the night of the observations, we estimate an absolute flux accuracy of $``$ 10 %. In addition, due to the optimisation for a maximum multiplex, the observations were not taken at parallactic angle, leading to a slight mismatch between the blue and red spectra. A quantitative analysis of the effetcs of differential refraction has not been undertaken here. As the main diagnostics used in the present paper lie in a limited wavelength range, and the observations have been taken at small airmass, this should represent a negligible source of uncertainty.

For each H ii region, a background including sky emission and underlying emission from the galaxy was extracted from the slitlet sub-image. This procedure was non-trivial as this background spectrum had in most cases to be determined near the edges of the sub-image, where the wavelength calibration may slightly deviate from the one of the H ii region. Special care has been taken for the red spectra, since the sky emission was often several times brighter than the H ii region emission. We thus re-calibrated the background emission spectrum according to the H ii region by comparing the position (and sometimes the intensity) of the sky emission lines. This time-consuming operation gave very satisfying results and useable spectra up to 1 $`\mu `$m for almost all H ii regions. The final 1D spectra were generally extracted with a 4 ″ wide aperture.

Line intensities and equivalent width were obtained by visually placing a continuum on both sides of the line and then integrating all over this range. Errors were estimated by moving the continuum upwards by half the value of the noise near the line position and re-computing the intensity and equivalent width.

Where possible the following nebular emission lines were measured: \[O ii$`\lambda `$3727, the H Balmer line series including H$`\alpha `$ to H9, He i $`\lambda `$4471, \[O iii$`\lambda `$4959,5007, \[N ii$`\lambda `$5201, He i $`\lambda `$5876, \[O i$`\lambda `$6300, \[N ii$`\lambda `$6548,6584, He i $`\lambda `$6678, \[S ii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6717,6731, He i $`\lambda `$7065, \[Ar iii\] $`\lambda `$7136, \[O ii$`\lambda `$7325, and \[S iii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$9069,9532. If present, broad emission lines at $`\lambda `$ 4680 Å (referred to subsequently as the (blue) WR bump), C iii $`\lambda `$5696, and C iv $`\lambda `$5808 indicative of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars were also measured. The spectra were also inspected for the presence of stellar absorption lines like the Ca ii triplet, the CH G band at $``$ 4300 Å, Mg lines at $``$ 5200 Å, or TiO bands.

The spectra were deredened using the Whitford et al. (1958) extinction law as parametrised by Izotov et al. (1994) assuming an underlying absorption of $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )=`$ 2 Å and an intrinsinc Balmer decrement ratio of $`I(\mathrm{H}\alpha )/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )=2.86`$.

All detailed results including finding charts, line measurements, and a detailed analysis of the nebular properties will be published in a forthcoming paper.

## 3 Properties of the HII region sample

The properties of our galaxy sample as given by the NED database and the adopted distances, are summarised in Table 1. For NGC 3351 and the Virgo cluster member NGC 4321 we adopt the Cepheid distances from Freedman et al. (2001). The other two Virgo galaxies (NGC 4254, NGC 4303) are member of the same subgroup as NGC 4321 (Boselli, private communication). We therefore adopt an identical, approximate distance of 16 Mpc. The distance of NGC 3521 is taken from Tully’s (1998) Nearby Galaxy Catalog.

A total of 121 spectra were extracted from the 95 slitlets. Nebular emission lines were detected in 88 spectra; 85 correspond to extra-nuclear regions.

### 3.1 Metallicities

The metallicity O/H of the H ii regions has been estimated using the following empirical calibrations: the calibrations of Kobulnicky et al. (1999, hereafter KKP) using \[O iii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959,5007/\[O ii\] $`\lambda `$3727 and (\[O iii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959,5007+\[O ii\] $`\lambda `$3727)/H$`\beta `$ (=$`R_{23}`$) based on the photoionisation model grid of McGaugh (1994), the similar $`P`$-method of Pilyugin (1991), and the older $`R_{23}`$ calibrations of Edmunds & Pagel (1984) and Zaritsky et al. (1994).

The O/H abundances obtained from these methods are compared in Fig. 1. Unsurprisingly rather large differences are obtained. As well known, at abundances $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ 8.5–8.6 the various $`R_{23}`$ methods yield similar results, while the differences increase towards higher metallicities (see e.g. comparison in Pilyugin 2001). Systematically lower values are found from the $`P`$-method of Pilyugin (2001). Although calibrated only for regions with $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8.6`$, this could indicate a systematic overestimate of the absolute metallicities using the other methods. To ease comparisons with the recent study of BK02 of metal-rich H ii regions we subsequently adopt the KKP calibration by default except otherwise stated.

The metallicity distribution of our entire sample is shown in Fig. 2. The mean metallicity is $`<12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})>=8.88\pm 0.22`$ (8.57 $`\pm `$ 0.24) using the KKP (Pilyugin’s $`P`$) calibration. The vertical dashed line indicates the solar value ($`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$=8.92) adopted in McGaugh’s calculations used for the calibration of KKP.

#### 3.1.1 Regions with direct $`T_e`$ determinations

The transauroral \[O ii\] $`\lambda `$7325 line has been detected in 11 H ii regions allowing thus a direct determination of the electron temperature from \[O ii\] $`\lambda `$7325/\[O ii\] $`\lambda `$3727. Other potential electron temperature indicators, e.g. \[S iii\] $`\lambda `$6312, \[N ii\] $`\lambda `$5755, are too weak or could not be measured due to the limited spectral reolution. Electron densities are determined from \[S ii\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6717,6731. $`T_e(`$ii$`)`$ and the resulting ionic abundance ratios of O++/H+ and O+/H+ were derived using this temperature for both ions (the atomic data are those listed in Stasińska & Leitherer (1996).

As shown in Fig. 3 the resulting O/H abundances (assuming O/H $`=`$ O++/H++O+/H+) are on average found to be lower than those derived from the KKP calibration, the largest metallicity being closer to solar. However, the O/H derived here are lower limits, due to the strong temperature gradients expected at high metallicities (see Stasińska 2002). A deeper discussion of the abundances in our objects taking into account the observational constraints from the entire emission line spectrum is deferred to a forthcoming publication. For the purpose of the present paper, it is sufficient to note that the bulk of our H ii region sample with low values of $`R_{23}`$ have metallicities close to and above solar.

### 3.2 H$`\alpha `$ luminosities, WR and O star populations

The histogram of the H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of the H ii regions, as measured from our spectra, is shown in the upper panel of Fig. 4. As seen from this figure, $``$ 75 % of the H ii regions correspond to giant extra-galactic H ii regions characterised by $`L(\mathrm{H}\alpha )10^{38}`$ erg s-1 (Kennicutt 1984, 1991), while the remainder are less luminous objects similar to normal Galactic H ii regions. The corresponding number of equivalent O7V stars 111 We compute $`N_{\mathrm{O7V}}=Q_0/10^{49.12}=L(\mathrm{H}\alpha )/(\mathrm{1.36\hspace{0.17em}10}^{12}\times 10^{49.12}`$ taking the Lyman continuum flux $`Q_0`$ of an O7V star from Vacca et al. (1996) and assuming case B recombination for $`T_e=`$ 10000 K and $`n_e=`$ 100 cm-3., $`N_{\mathrm{O7V}}`$ plotted in the lower panel of Fig. 4, ranges from $``$ 0.15 O7V stars (i.e. presumably corresponding to $``$ 1 late O or early B stars) to $``$ 400 O7V stars for the brightest region.

Our search for WR features in metal-rich H ii regios proved quite successful yielding with 27 WR detections a sample of unprecedented size (cf. Castellanos 2001, Bresolin & Kennicutt 2002). The number of regions where different WR features were detected (hereafter called “WR regions”) at various levels of confidence are listed in Table 3. The certain WR detections (defined as $`2\sigma `$ detections) are listed in columns 2-4; “candidate” WR regions with emission line detections 1.1 $`\sigma <`$ 2 are given in cols. 5-7. Visual inspection of the spectra yield essentially the same detection of the “certain” WR regions. To illustrate the quality of our data sample spectra of a secure WR region and a candidate region are shown in Fig. 5.

As also clear from Table 3, a large fraction of the WR regions shows signatures of WR stars of both WN and WC types as anticipated from theoretical expectations (Meynet 1995, SV98) and earlier studies of WR galaxies (Schaerer et al. 1997, 1999ab, Guseva et al. 2000). In our sample $``$ 50 % of WR regions show WC signatures; predictions from the Meynet (1995) and SV98 models yield $``$ 30–77 % at metallicities $`Z`$ 0.008 – 0.040. At least 1/3 of the WR regions harbour WC stars of late subtypes (WCL), characterised by their strong C iii $`\lambda `$5696 emission222It can be seen that C iv $`\lambda `$5808 is not formally detected in all regions with C iii $`\lambda `$5696 detections. However, in most of these cases (2 exceptions), C iv $`\lambda `$5808 is weak, but likely present.. The C iii $`\lambda `$5696/C iv $`\lambda `$5808 ratio indicates subtypes WC7 or WC8 assuming that the contribution of WN stars to C iv $`\lambda `$5808 is negligible; if this were not the case the mean spectral type could be of later subtype. So far relatively few WR “galaxies” (true starbursts or extra-galactic giant H ii regions) with WCL stars are known (cf. Schaerer et al. 1999b). However, as late WC types are expected to occur preferentially in metal-rich environments (Smith & Maeder 1991, Maeder 1991, Philipps & Conti 1992) the high detection rate of C iii $`\lambda `$5696 is not surprising.

The H$`\alpha `$ luminosity distribution of the WR regions is shown in Fig. 4 (upper panel, dashed line). Clearly, WR stars are only detected in the brightest regions. This is not due to the flux limit of our observations as can easily be seen by comparison of the smallest WRbump fluxes ($`F(\mathrm{WR})_{2\sigma }4.10^{16}`$ erg s-1 cm-2) with the detection limit of the faintest emission lines ($`F_{\mathrm{lim}}(\mathrm{H}\beta )10^{16}`$ erg s-1 cm-2). In fact our observations are essentially deep enough to allow in all galaxies 333The few remaining “candidate” WR regions at high $`L(\mathrm{H}\alpha )`$ are all located in NGC 4321, have formally a WR detection at $`1.4\sigma 2`$, and appear as rather clear WR detections at visual inspection. The observations of NGC 4321 may be of less good quality due to limited seeing conditions. the detection of the blue WR bump of just $``$ 2–3 WNL stars, assuming the average 4650-4686 Å bump luminosity of a WN7 stars of $`10^{36.5}`$ erg s-1 (cf. Smith 1991, Schaerer & Vacca 1998). The number of WNL stars derived in this way is plotted in the lower panel of Fig. 4 for regions with certain WR detections (filled squares) and “candidate” WR regions (open circles).

As our detection limit allows for the detection of few ($``$ 2–3) average WNL stars, the subsample of the brightest regions with $`F(\mathrm{H}\beta )5.10^{15}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 could therefore represent a fairly complete sample of H ii regions “massive”/bright enough to allow a meaningful comparison between WR detections and non-detections. However, a possible bias against regions with small $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ may exist (Sect. 2).

In this subsample containing a total of 47 regions we find 20 objects without WR signatures, or a fraction of $``$ 57 % regions with WR signatures. Such a high fraction of WR detections compares fairly well with the predictions of 60–80 % by Meynet (1995) and Schaerer & Vacca (1998) using the high mass loss stellar evolution tracks at metallicities $`1/2.5Z/Z_{}2`$ for bursts with a standard Salpeter IMF and an upper mass cut-off Mup=120 M. Given the fact that very young regions (ages 0 to $``$ 1.5–2 Myr) with large expected H$`\beta `$ equivalent widths are notoriously absent (in the present sample and other samples of H ii regions and galaxies) it is, however, not clear how significant this finding is.

## 4 Trends of WR populations with metallicity

### 4.1 Behaviour of the “WR bump”

Figure 6 shows the WR bump intensities and equivalent widths as a function of metallicity for our metal-rich H ii regions (large filled triangles) and the 11 WR regions in spiral galaxies recently reported by Bresolin & Kennicutt (2002, large filled squares), together with data compiled by Schaerer (1999, small crosses) and Schaerer et al. (2000).

Our new measurements at high O/H are found to fill in the range from the previously observed maximum intensities/equivalent widths down to lower values. Physically the maxima of $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ and $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ are expected to reflect the maximum WR/O star ratio achieved in bursts. No lower limit is expected; if present in a given sample, such a lower limit presumably reflects the detection limit of the WR features.

The increase of the upper envelope of $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ with metallicity is known since the work of Arnault et al. (1989) and has been reviewed by Schaerer (1999). With few exceptions, max($`W(\mathrm{WR})`$) also seems to show an increase with O/H as shown here for the first time. The increase of max($`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$) is naturally interpreted as due to the increase of stellar wind mass loss with metallicity leading to lower minimum mass limit for the formation of WR stars, $`M_{\mathrm{WR}}`$, thereby favouring the presence of WR stars at high metallicity (cf. Maeder et al. 1981, Arnault et al. 1989, Maeder 1991). Other effects, e.g. a lowering of the H$`\beta `$ flux due to a) increasing amounts of dust absorbing ionising radiation or b) lower average stellar temperatures at high O/H due to modified stellar evolution, could also play a role (cf. Schaerer 1999), but are likely secondary.

The maxima of the predicted WRbump intensities and equivalent widths computed with the code of SV98 with a “standard” Salpeter IMF for instantaneous bursts (solid line), and extended bursts of duration $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ = 2 Myr (dotted), and 4 Myr (long dashed) are overplotted on Fig. 6. As already shown earlier (cf. Schaerer 1996, 1999, Mas-Hesse & Kunth 1999, Guseva et al. 2000) the range of observations at subsolar metallicities ($`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ $``$ 8.6) is fairly well reproduced by the models, when accounting for the various uncertainties (e.g. missing H$`\beta `$ flux in slit observations, some objects with small numbers of WR stars, some poor spectra; cf. discussion in Guseva et al.). The new sample of metal-rich objects plotted here shows WRbump strengths smaller than the maxima predicted by the “standard” models. The possible reasons for this behaviour are discussed in Sect. 5 where detailed model comparisons are undertaken.

### 4.2 WC/WN ratio

We have estimated the relative number ratio of WC and WN stars, shown in Fig. 7, in several ways. First the number of WN stars, $`N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ assuming late WN subtypes dominate, is derived from the luminosity of the blue WR bump, as described above. The number of WC stars, $`N(\mathrm{WC})`$, is estimated from the C iv $`\lambda `$5808 or C iii $`\lambda `$5696 luminosity where measured, again assuming that WN stars do not contribute to these lines. As the observed average luminosity of WC stars in these lines varies strongly with subtype (see SV98), the estimated $`N(\mathrm{WC})`$ depends on the assumption of the dominant WC subtype. As the observations (see above, Guseva et al. 2000, Schaerer et al. 1999a) indicate that early types ($``$ WC4) dominate at low metallicity, while WC7-8 dominate at high $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$, we assume these mean WC subtypes for the sample of Guseva et al. (2000). For our high metallicity sample, the estimated $`N(\mathrm{WC})/N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ ratios is estimated adopting different assumptions on the WC subtype and using C iv $`\lambda `$5808 or C iii $`\lambda `$5696 (see Fig. 7).

The resulting estimates show a fairly clear trend of an increasing upper envelope for $`N(\mathrm{WC})/N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ with metallicity. Furthermore, and in contrast with the limited sample of Guseva et al. (2000), we now find at the high metallicity end a number of objects with $`N(\mathrm{WC})/N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ 0.5–1. and a WC/WN number ratio larger than the observed trend in Local Group galaxies by Massey & Johnson (1998), indicated by the dash-dotted line in Fig. 7. Indeed, while the regions observed by these authors are thought to correspond to averages large enough to represent the equilibrium $`N(\mathrm{WC})/N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ value at constant star formation, larger (and obviously also smaller) values should be found in regions with fairly short bursts.

A more quantitative interpretation of the observed WC to WN ratio appears difficult for the following reasons. First the uncertainties in the estimated $`N(\mathrm{WC})/N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ are quite large (cf. above); second, detailed evolutionary synthesis model predictions of $`N(\mathrm{WC})/N(\mathrm{WNL})`$ depend quite strongly on the adopted interpolation techniques (cf. SV98, comparison between results from SV98 models and Starburst99 (Leitherer et al. 1999), also Massey 2002); third, other comparisons with synthesis models reveal potential difficulties (cf. below). In any case the SV98 models predict the maximum WC/WN number ratios indicated in Fig. 7 by the solid line for instantaneous bursts, and burst durations of $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=`$ 2 Myr (dotted) and 4 Myr (dashed) respectively.

## 5 Detailed comparison of WR populations with synthesis models

### 5.1 Procedure

To interpret quantitatively the observational data we use evolutionary synthesis models and proceed essentially as in SGIT00. The following main observational constraints are used:

1. H$`\beta `$ and H$`\alpha `$ equivalent widths. The former is used as a primary age indicator; once $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ is reproduced $`W(\mathrm{H}\alpha )`$ may serve as an independent consistency test for the predicted spectral energy distribution (SED) in the red (cf. SGIT00).
2. Nebular line intensities. $`F`$(H$`\alpha `$)/$`F`$(H$`\beta `$) determines the extinction of the gas. The use of other line intensities requires detailed photoionization modeling which is beyond the scope of this paper.
3. Intensities and equivalent widths of the main WR features. The blue bump and C iv $`\lambda `$5808 (red bump) serve as main constraints on the WR population. To avoid uncertainties in deblending individual contributions of the blue bump we prefer to use measurements for the entire bump. In contrast to the spectra of metallicity objects our spectra show no evident contamination from nebular lines (e.g. \[Fe iii\] $`\lambda `$ 4658, nebular He ii).

To potentially disentangle between various effects (underlying “non-ionizing” population, loss of photons, differential extinction between gas and stars) it is important to use both equivalent widths and relative $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ intensities (cf. Schaerer et al. 1999a).

For the model comparisons we use calculations based on the evolutionary synthesis code of SV98, which in particular includes the most recent calibration of WR line luminosities used to synthesize the WR features, up-to-date stellar tracks, CoStar stellar atmospheres for O stars, pure H-He models for WR stars and Kurucz models for cooler stars (see SV98 for a full description). Except for the improved O star atmospheres used by SV98 the Starburst99 synthesis models (Leitherer et al. 1999) use the same basic input physics. New generation stellar atmosphere models for O and WR stars including a full treatment of non-LTE line blanketing and stellar winds have just now become available for the use in synthesis models (Smith et al. 2002). However, as the quantities of interest here depend only on the total number of Lyman continuum photons which is not altered, the use of these more sophisticated atmosphere models does not affect our results.

It is important to stress that in all cases the high-mass loss stellar tracks of Meynet et al. (1994) are used. It is thought that this adjustment of mass-loss, treated like a free parameter, will become ultimately obsolete when a proper treatment of the various effects of stellar rotation is made in the stellar evolution models. First results tend to indicate that this may indeed be the case (Meynet 1999). The Meynet et al. (1994) tracks are chosen as they reproduce a large number of properties of individual WR stars and WR populations (including especially relative WR/O ratios for a standard Salpeter IMF) in Local Group galaxies (Maeder & Meynet 1994). The use of other tracks (e.g. the “normal” mass loss tracks) which are known to disagree with these basic constraints on WR and O star populations, would imply a strong inconsistency with the Local Group data.

The basic model parameters we consider are:

1. Metallicity. Stellar tracks covering metallicities $`Z=`$, 0.008, 0.02 (solar), and 0.04.
2. IMF slope and upper mass cut-off (Mup). We adopt a Salpeter IMF (slope $`\alpha `$=2.35), and Mup=120 M as our standard model.
3. Star formation history (SFH). Models for instantaneous bursts (coeval population), extended burst durations (constant SF during period $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$; in this case age=0 is defined at the onset of SF, i.e. corresponds to that of the oldest stars present), and constant SF are considered.
4. Fraction of ionizing Lyman continuum photons ($`f_\gamma `$). $`f_\gamma `$ indicates the fraction of ionizing photons absorbed by the gas. Our standard value is $`f_\gamma =1`$. Values $`f_\gamma <1`$ are used to simulate various effects (e.g. dust absorption, photon leakage outside regions, etc.) leading to a reduction of photons available for photoionization.

Unless stated otherwise our models are calculated assuming an IMF fully sampled over the entire mass range (as in SV98). For some cases we have also done model calculations based on a Monte Carlo sampling of the IMF, in order to quantify the effects of statistical fluctuations due to the finite number of massive stars. We have verified our calculations by comparison with the Monte Carlo models and analytical results of Cerviño et al. (2000, 2002).

### 5.2 Results

A comparison of the observed equivalent widths and relative intensity of the WR bump with standard model predictions at different metallicities is presented in Fig. 8. The following points can be seen from this Figure:

* The observed trends of decreasing (increasing) equivalent width (line intensities) of the WR features with decreasing H$`\beta `$ equivalent width agree with the instantaneous burst model predictions over the same $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ range. Though shorter, part of the initial phase of increasing (decreasing) $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ ($`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$) corresponding to the onset of the WR rich phase does not seem to be detected.
* Most importantly, essentially all the observed WR features are weaker than the predictions of our standard models for instantaneous bursts at solar or higher metallicity. Very similar observational trends are also found in the metal-rich H ii region samle of BK02 and the metal-rich starbursts of Schaerer et al. (2000). This is in stark contrast with observations at lower metallicity where generally an good agreement is found with short burst models (e.g. Schaerer et al. 1999a, Guseva et al. 2000).
* The above result is found independently from the observed WR equivalent widths and relative line intensities WRbump/H$`\beta `$. This indicates that the discrepancy between models and observations is not related to the possible presence of an underlying older stellar population, which would dilute (reduce) equivalent widths but not alter the relative line intensities.

The following possibilities (one or a combination thereof) could be invoked to explain the discrepancy between our observations and models:

1. The metallicities of our HII regions are overestimated. Indeed the observations could be reconciled with burst models with a “standard” IMF for metallicities $`Z`$ (1/2.5–1) Z, as shown in the left panel of Fig. 8 (short dashed line). However, despite the uncertainties in the O/H determinations (cf. Sect. 3) such low average metallicities seem very implausible.
2. Extended bursts. Such a scenario has been invoked by SGIT00 for the sample of metal-rich starbursts based on the finding of red supergiant features in their spectra and the fact that these distant objects are mostly nuclear starbursts observed through apertures corresponding to relatively large spatial scales. In this case all observed properties could quite well be fitted with “standard” solar metallicity models for burst durations $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ 4–10 Myr. However, in view of the different nature (disk H ii regions) of the present sample, indications of relatively short formation time scales of H ii regions (e.g. Massey et al. 1995), and the lack of direct signatures of older/red supergiant populations (cf. below) it seems quite unjustified to appeal to extended burst to solve the observed discrepancy.
3. A modified IMF (upper mass cut-off and/or slope). In a plot like Fig. 8, a Salpeter IMF with a lower upper mass cut-off simply implies that the curve plotted here (for Mup=120M) is joined at lower $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ as the WR stars from the most massive stars are absent. This is illustrated for the cases of Mup $`=`$ 30 and 60 M by the shaded domains in Fig. 9. The shape of the predicted WR equivalent width or line intensity remains, however, unchanged. Therefore the observed discrepancy cannot be resolved with an IMF of Salpeter slope and a lower value of Mup (see also Sect. 6).

Models with steeper, variable IMF slopes ($`2.35<\alpha 3.3`$) and Mup $``$ 60–120 M could reproduce most of the objects, with the exception of the lowest $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ objects (see Fig. 9). As the least metal-poor objects in our sample are probably of similar nature as young clusters or H ii regions in our Galaxy whose stellar content has been studied in detail, we may presume that their IMF (slope and Mup) should be similar. Since none of the Galactic regions have shown convincing evidence of a strong deviation of the IMF slope from the Salpeter value (see Massey 1998 and references therein), we think that such a steeper slope is an unlikely explanation.
4. Incorrect stellar evolution models and/or “calibration data”: Although the adopted tracks (Meynet et al. 1994) compare fairly well with various observations, several failures of the non-rotating stellar models are also known (see e.g. Maeder 1999). However, the used tracks have essentially been calibrated/adjusted to fit the observed WR/O ratio in various regions of our Galaxy and Local Group objects which are though to be at equilibrium, i.e. showing relative populations corresponding to constant star formation (see compilation in Maeder & Meynet 1994). The relative WR/O star ratio is the one most directly related to our (time resolved) observables. As this calibration yields a fairly good agreement over a large metallicity range ($`1/10Z/Z_{}2`$) there seems little room for changes in the tracks which could reduce the predicted WRbump by the required factor of $``$ 2 without violating the WR/O constraints in the Local Group.

One could argue that the calibration data, the observed WR/O number ratio at solar metallicity and above could be incorrect due to possible incompleteness or biases in the stellar counts (see e.g. related discussions in Massey & Johnson 1998). However, to reconcile our WR observations in H ii regions with the corresponding counts for our Galaxy and M31 would require a downward revision of the relative WR/O ratio by up to a factor of 2, which seems highly unlikely.
5. Uncertainties in synthesis of the WR bump: Presently the calculation of observables related to WR stars is simply done in the following way in evolutionary synthesis models. The different emission line strengths are computed by multiplying the predicted number of WR stars (grouped in different types and/or subtypes) with their average line luminosity as derived from observations of a sample of WR stars (see SV98). Interestingly the intrinsic line luminosity of the strongest line of the WR bump, He ii $`\lambda `$4686, shows a rather large scatter, namely $`L_{4686}=(1.6\pm 1.5)\times 10^{36}`$ erg s-1 in the Galactic and LMC WNL calibration sample of SV98 with a possible increase of $`L_{4686}`$ with the stellar bolometric luminosity $`L`$ (see Fig. 1 of SV98). Such a luminosity dependence of $`L_{4686}`$ with $`L`$ could in fact (partly or fully) explain the observed discrepancy as we will now show.

Splitting the WNL calibration in two domains with luminosities above/below $`\mathrm{log}L/L_{}=6`$, SV98 found average line luminosities $`L_{4686}=5.6\times 10^{35}`$ ($`\mathrm{log}L<6`$) and $`L_{4686}=3.1\times 10^{36}`$ ($`\mathrm{log}L>6`$). Replacing in the synthesis models the overall average for WNL stars by these quantities leads to an important reduction of $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ in solar metallicity bursts with $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ $``$ 60–70 Å, as shown in Fig. 10444At $`Z=`$0.04 one has a reduction of $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ both in the early burst phase (ages $``$ 3.5 Myr) at $`\mathrm{log}W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ 1.8 Å and after $``$ 6 Myr ($`\mathrm{log}W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ 1.35), while in between the models predict that WC stars dominate the bump (cf. SV98, Figs. 2 and 11).. At larger H$`\beta `$ equivalent widths (corresponding to ages $``$ 4–5 Myr for $`Z=`$0.02) the WRbump predictions are less modified, since a) WC stars contribute more importantly to the bump and b) only the youngest bursts with very high $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ are dominated by very luminous WNL stars showing thus larger $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$.

The last option (5) seems the most likely explanation to explain the surprisingly low WR equivalent widths and intensities in our sample of metal-rich H ii regions. Implications on earlier studies of WR galaxies are briefly discussed in Sect. 5.3.

In contrast, the following hypothesis or effects altering observed equivalent widths and/or relative line intensities cannot be the cause of the discrepancy:

* Underlying (old) populations diluting the $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ measurements. The line intensities are unaffected by underlying populations and show the same discrepancy as $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ (cf. above). Furthermore, inspection of our spectra show little or no indication of signatures of older stellar populations.
* Differential extinction between gas and stars as frequently observed in H ii galaxies and starbursts (cf. Fanelli et al. 1988, Calzetti 1997, Mas-Hesse & Kunth 1999, SGIT00). If present such an effect alters $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ and $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ but not $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$. To bring the observations to agreement with standard models would require that the gas suffered a lower extinction than the stars (implying thus lower corrected $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ and larger $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$), opposite to what is found empirically.
* Leakage of ionising photons outside the observed regions, dust absorption of ionising photons, or other mechanisms reducing the fraction $`f_\gamma `$ of Lyman continuum photons used for photoionisation. Correcting the observations for such an effect would increase the observed $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ and decrease $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$, which does not reconcile observations and theory (see Fig. 8).
* Effects due to varying seeing conditions and limited slit widths could lead to a loss of nebular emission in the aperture or a fraction of the stellar light. The former was just discussed (“leakage”). If the WR distribution were systematically more extended than the other stars responsible of the continuum, this effect could lead to reduced WR bump equivalent widths. No such trend between $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ and the seeing conditions is found.
* Stochastical fluctuations of the IMF due to small number statistics of the massive stars, as invoked by Bresolin & Kennicutt (2002). Although indeed expected to introduce some scatter (see Cerviño et al. 2000, 2002) this effect cannot explain the discrepancy for several reasons. First, the sample discussed here is sufficiently large and shows clear observational trends with relatively small scatter. In addition, no systematic trend of $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ (and $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$) with absolute scale, such as measured by the continuum luminosity or H$`\alpha `$ luminosity, is observed in our sample as shown in Fig. 11. Second, Monte Carlo simulations we have undertaken for cluster sizes corresponding roughly to the observed average continuum luminosity of $`<\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{cont}}>36.8\pm 0.4`$ 555The model $`L_{\mathrm{cont}}`$ at young ages ($``$ 1 Myr) is scaled to the observed value, implying a stellar mass of $`5.(3.3)\times 10^4`$ M for a Salpeter IMF between 0.8 (2.) and 120 M. Accounting for somewhat older ages would yield a slightly larger mass. predict a typical relative scatter of $`\sigma (W(\mathrm{WRbump}))/W(\mathrm{WR})`$ 25 % (cf. Cerviño et al. 2002) – too small to account for the discrepancy – and no significant bias towards lower values as illustrated in Fig. 12.
* The use of different stellar tracks, such as e.g. the Geneva tracks with standard mass loss tracks adopted by Bresolin & Kennicutt (2002) for the Monte Carlo models, which do not reproduce basic constraints of massive stars and stellar populations in Local Group objects cannot be a solution as they would lead to important inconsistencies (cf. discussion in Sect. 5.1).

### 5.3 Discussion

In Section 5.2 we have argued that, compared to the normal prescription used in our SV98 synthesis models, a different prescription should preferrably be adopted to predict more accurately the He ii $`\lambda `$4686 emission from WN stars. As several earlier studies including ours (e.g. Schaerer 1996, 1999, Schaerer et al. 1999a, Guseva et al. 2000, SGIT00) are based on the use of the simple average He ii $`\lambda `$4686 line luminosity of SV98 for WNL stars, it is important to assess if or to what extent the use of a luminosity dependent prescription would affect the results from previous studies.

To verify this we have recomputed several sets of models for sub-solar metallicities. The maxima of the WRbump intensity and $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ (cf. Fig. 6) are only slightly modified (increased at $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ $``$ 8.5, and decreased above) and lead to a somewhat smaller increase with O/H, improving the agreement with the observations. For metallicities $`Z`$ 1/2 Z the predicted WR bump is found to be larger at all ages (as the bulk of WN stars are of high luminosity), whereas for higher metallicities both larger/smaller WRbump strengths are predicted depending on the burst age ($`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$), as for the cases shown in Fig. 10. These changes improve the comparison with observations at low $`Z`$ (see e.g. Fig. 7 of Guseva et al. 2000). No clear statement can be made for intermediate metallicities. A better understanding of the dependence of the WR emission lines on the stellar parameters appears necessary to improve the accuracy of the predictions of WR features in evolutionary synthesis models. The impact of newly available stellar evolution models including the effects of rotation on interior mixing and mass loss on massive star populations remains also to be explored.

## 6 Constraining the upper end of the IMF

As shown above, and in contrast to previous studies considering WR populations in objects with sub-solar metallicities, the quantitative modeling of the WR features in metal-rich H ii regions is not straightforward. The reliability of constraints on the IMF obtained from modeling of the WR features appears thus unclear at present and other constraints are therefore desirable.

The maximum observed equivalent width of hydrogen recombination lines (e.g. $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$) of a large sample of star forming regions provide in principal a constraint on the upper mass cut-off of the IMF (e.g Kennicutt 1983, Leitherer et al. 1999). In practice, however, as well known but not understood to date, there is a notable absence of regions with $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ as large as predicted for very young bursts with ages between $``$ 0 to 1.5–2 Myr. As the onset of the WR phase is expected after $``$ 2–3 Myr quite independently of the exact adopted stellar tracks (e.g. different mass loss scenarios) this sets a new clock, and therefore the H$`\beta `$ equivalent width of the youngest observed WR region also contains information on the value of Mup.

In Fig. 13 we show the dependence of the predicted $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ at the beginning of the WR phase (i.e. the maximum of $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ during this phase) on the upper mass cut-off for different IMF slopes in instantaneous bursts. The maximum $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ depends little on metallicity (see the dotted lines) and on the choice of stellar tracks (not shown here). Overplotted are the observed $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ in our WR region sample (triangles) and the sample of BK02 (squares) drawn at arbitrary Mup. The observed max($`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$) ($`\mathrm{log}W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ 2.2–2.4) indicates an upper mass cut-off of $``$ 80–90 M for a Salpeter IMF or $`M_{\mathrm{up}}`$ 120 M for a steeper IMF with $`\alpha =`$3.3. From all the above considerations (Sect. 5) flatter slopes seem excluded. If the bulk of the regions were forming stars in extended bursts the deduced value of Mup has to be lower; for the example illustrated here (burst duration $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=`$ 4 Myr) this would correspond to $`M_{\mathrm{up}}`$ 60 M for the Salpeter IMF.

It is important to note that the value of Mup derived in this way represents a lower limit. This is the case since all observational effects known to affect potentially the H$`\beta `$ equivalent width (loss of photons in slit or leakage, dust inside H ii regions, differential extinction, underlying population) can only reduce the observed $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$. The observed $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ represent therefore lower limits when compared to evolutionary synthesis models. We thus conclude that the available $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ measurements in metal-rich H ii regions with WR stars yield a lower limit of $`M_{\mathrm{up}}`$ 60–90 M for the upper mass-cut off of the IMF. Larger values of Mup are not excluded. This result is also compatible with our favoured models presented in Sect. 5 (see Fig. 10). Our new estimate of Mup, based only on a sample of WR regions, provides a more stringent limit than previous studies (SGIT00, BK02).

## 7 Conclusions

We have obtained high quality FORS1/VLT optical spectra of 85 disk H ii regions in the nearby spiral galaxies NGC 3351, NGC 3521, NGC 4254, NGC 4303, and NGC 4321. This sample, consisting in particular of a good fraction of objects with oxygen abundances presumably above solar (as estimated from $`R_{23}`$ using the calibration reported by Kobulnicky et al. 1999), provides an unprecedented opportunity to study stellar populations, nebular properties and ISM abundances in H ii regions at the high metallicity end. In this first paper we have presented the observational findings on spectral signatures from massive stars, and compared these with evolutionary synthesis models with the main aim of constraining the upper part of the IMF.

The average metallicity of our H ii region sample is $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ $`8.9\pm 0.2`$ using the calibration of Kobulnicky et al. (1999). For 12 regions we are able to determine the electron temperature from the transauroral \[O ii$`\lambda `$7325 line, yielding lower limits on O/H (Sect. 3). For 6 regions we have been able to confirm a high metallicity ($`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ $``$ 8.8–8.9). Detailed photoionisation modeling will be undertaken in the future to improve our abundance determinations and to include the full sample of H ii regions.

The spectra of a large number (27) of regions show clear signatures of the presence of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars as indicated by broad emission in the blue WR bump ($``$ 4680 Å). Including previous studies (Castellanos 2001, Bresolin & Kennicutt 2002, Castellanos et al. 2002b) our observations now nearly quadrupel the number of metal-rich H ii regions where WR stars are known. Approximately half (14) of the WR regions also show broad C iv $`\lambda `$5808 emission attributed to WR stars of the WC subtype. The simultaneous detection of C iii $`\lambda `$5696 emission in 8 of them allows us to determine an average late WC subtype ($``$ WC7-WC8) compatible with expectations for high metallicities (Sect. 3).

Combined with existing observations of WR regions and WR galaxies at sub-solar our data confirm the continuation of previously known trends of increasing WRbump/H$`\beta `$ intensity with metallicity, establish also such a trend for $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$, and allow us to estimate the trend of the WC/WN ratio with $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ in extra-galactic H ii regions (Sect. 3)

The observed strength of the blue WR bump (relative line intensities and equivalent widths) shows quite clear trends with $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$. Both $`W(\mathrm{WR})`$ and $`I(\mathrm{WR})/I(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$ are found to be smaller than “standard” predictions from state-of-the-art evolutionary synthesis models (Schaerer & Vacca 1998) at corresponding metallicities. Various possibilities (including deviations of the IMF from a Salpeter slope and a “normal” high upper mass cut-off) which could explain this discrepancy have been discussed. The most likely solution is found with an improved prescription to predict the line emission from WN stars in synthesis models (Sect. 5). Using this new prescription the observed WR features are found to be broadly consistent with short bursts and a “standard” Salpeter IMF extending to high masses, as indicated by earlier studies at sub-solar metallicities.

Independently of the difficulties encountered to model the WR features in detail, the availability of a fairly large sample of metal-rich WR regions allows us to improve existing estimates (Schaerer et al. 2000, Bresolin & Kennicutt 2002) of the upper mass cut-off of the IMF. Independently of the exact tracks and metallicity we derive a lower limit for Mup of 60–90 M in the case of a Salpeter slope, and larger values for steeper IMF slopes, from the observed maximum H$`\beta `$ equivalent width of the WR regions. This constitutes a lower limit on Mup as all observational effects known to affect potentially the H$`\beta `$ equivalent width (loss of photons in slit or leakage, dust inside H ii regions, differential extinction, underlying population) can only reduce the observed $`W(\mathrm{H}\beta )`$. From our probe of the massive star content we therefore conclude that there is at present no direct evidence for systematic variations of the upper mass cut-off of the IMF in metal-rich environments, in contrast to some claims based on indirect nebular diagnostics (e.g. Goldader et al. 1997, Bresolin et al. 1999, Coziol et al. 2001). What the origin of this “universality” of the IMF is, remains an open question.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Paranal staff for assistance and carrying out of the service observations. DS is pleased to thank Miguel Cerviño, Thierry Contini, Jean-Francois Le Borgne, and David Valls-Gabaud for various interesting discussions, and Alessandro Boselli for comments on the Virgo structure.


text:
# Quantum bits and superpositions displaced Fock states of the cavity field

## I introduction

The Jaynes-Cummings model (JCM) Knight  is a very simplified version of a much more complex problem, the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and atoms. It models this interaction using the rotating wave approximation (RWA) that allows it to be fully solvable. Its simplicity allows physicists to apply the fundamental laws of quantum electrodynamics to it and still be able to solve it analytically. In the early days of its existence, the JCM was regarded as a theoretical curiosity because of the inherent difficulties in its experimental realization. Over the past few years, however, there have been a number of experiments exp  that can be modeled by the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian or generalizations of it Dav . Therefore, the JCM has been a subject of great interest because it enables one to study, in a realistic way, not only the coherent properties of the quantized field, but also its influence on atoms. Collapses and revivals san , squeezing kuk , generation of Schödinger cat states gea , etc. have been predicted with this model, and recent developments in Cavity QED techniques have made it possible to observe those phenomena exp . Moreover, there has been a revival of the JCM because its Hamiltonian can be used to model some other systems, such as the interaction of a trapped ion with a laser field. On this topic, multiphonon and anti JCM may be produced win1 ; kis ; mato ; moyac ; winl , giving rise to a variety of phenomena thought technologically difficult to realize in cavity QED. Recent advances in quantum information processing have given importance to quantum state engineering, as one needs to produce and control quantum bits or qubits (superpositions of the ground and first excited level) of the system (see for instance moyac ). However, quantum noise, that destroys quantum coherences very fast, can be very difficult to overcome, and ways of protecting states have been published eke . Here we would like to treat the problem of a two-level atom interacting with a quantized field but not considering the RWA, because a state produced by the JCM (with RWA) could be thought as if it had some noise (because a small correction with a further evolution can mislead a desired result). Therefore, it is important to give the most exact possible solution to the problem of interaction of a two-level atom with a quantized field. Recently some eigenstates for the complete Hamiltonian have been found moy3 . However, as they do not form a complete basis, exact solutions may be found only for those (eigen) states (that of course may be regarded as trapping states).

Former studies on the effects of counter rotating zah ; zah1  terms have used the path integral technique in coherent state representation (the coherent state propagator) and have shown that even under conditions in which the RWA is considered to be justified, there is significant contribution to the atomic inversion due to counter rotating terms zah1 . They obtained results to first order for the atomic inversion zah1  and the average number of photons zah , however, there is no explicit result for the wave function. We believe that it is important to have expressions that are easy to manipulate, specifically of the wave function, because of the possibility of generating non-classical states of light, which in the past has open the field of quantum state engineering. Therefore, we reconsider the problem in this manuscript, and show that non-classical states, namely, qubits and superpositions of displaced number states cessa  of the quantized electromagnetic field may be produced.

We study the problem from the point of view of the small rotations method proposed recently by Klimov and Sánchez-Soto kli , to obtain a first order correction to the wave function. The RWA breaks down as the atomic frequency and the field frequency are detuned, and we consider this (detuned) case. With the expression for the evolved wave function, we show what initial state has to be used in order to obtain a qubit of the quantized field with arbitrary amplitudes. In Section II we transform the Hamiltonian for the atom-filed interaction by applying the method of small rotations to have an effective Hamiltonian that can be fully solved. In section III we apply it to an initial wave function in order to obtain qubits, and displaced superpositions of Fock states and section IV is devoted to conclusions.

## II Introduction

The Hamiltoninan for the system of a single two-level atom interacting with a single-mode quantized field in the dipole approximation is given by (we have set $`\mathrm{}=1`$) Knight

$$\widehat{H}=\omega \widehat{n}+\frac{\omega _0}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_z+\lambda (\widehat{\sigma }_++\widehat{\sigma }_{})(\widehat{a}+\widehat{a}^{}).$$
(1)
where $`\widehat{a}^{}`$ and $`\widehat{a}`$ are the creation and annihilation operators for the field mode, respectively, obeying $`[\widehat{a},\widehat{a}^{}]=1`$, $`\widehat{n}=\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{a}`$ and $`\widehat{\sigma }_+=|eg|`$ and $`\widehat{\sigma }_{}=|ge|`$ are the raising and lowering atomic operators, respectively, $`|e`$ being the excited state and $`|g`$ the ground state of the two-level atom. The atomic operators obey the commutation relation $`[\widehat{\sigma }_+,\widehat{\sigma }_{}]=\widehat{\sigma }_z`$. $`\omega `$ is the field frequency, $`\omega _0`$ the atomic frequency and $`\lambda `$ is the interaction constant.

We apply the transformation

$$\widehat{T}=e^{\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})(\widehat{\sigma }_++\widehat{\sigma }_{})},$$
(2)
to equation (1) to obtain

$`\widehat{}`$ $`=`$ $`\omega (\widehat{n}\delta (\widehat{a}+\widehat{a}^{})(\widehat{\sigma }_{}+\widehat{\sigma }_+)+\delta ^2)`$ (3)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0}{2}}\left(\sigma _z\mathrm{cosh}[2\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})](\sigma _{}\sigma _+)\mathrm{sinh}[2\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})]\right)`$
$`+\lambda (\widehat{a}+\widehat{a}^{})(\widehat{\sigma }_{}+\widehat{\sigma }_+)2\lambda \delta `$
by considering the quantity $`\delta `$ much smaller than one, we can approximate (3) to first order

$`\widehat{}`$ $``$ $`\omega \left(\widehat{n}\delta (\widehat{a}+\widehat{a}^{})(\widehat{\sigma }_{}+\widehat{\sigma }_+)\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0}{2}}\left(\sigma _z+2\delta (\sigma _+\sigma _{})(\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})\right)`$ (4)
$`+\lambda (\widehat{a}+\widehat{a}^{})(\widehat{\sigma }_{}+\widehat{\sigma }_+),`$
where we dropped constant terms that contribute to a shift of the overall energy. By setting

$$\delta =\frac{\lambda }{\omega +\omega _0},$$
(5)
we finally obtain a Hamiltonian similar to the one obtained when the RWA is applied

$$\widehat{}=\omega \widehat{n}+\frac{\omega _0}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_z+ϵ(\widehat{\sigma }_+\widehat{a}+\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{\sigma }_{}).$$
(6)
However it should be noticed that the new  interaction constant $`ϵ`$ has changed from the initial one ($`\lambda `$), something that does not occur when the RWA is applied. The new interaction constant is now

$$ϵ=\lambda \frac{2\omega _0}{\omega _0+\omega }.$$
(7)
The expression for $`\delta `$ is exactly equal to the expression for the first order approximation used in zah ; zah1  using path integral approach to the problem in the $`\omega =\omega _0`$. Note that both methods give first order approximations and the expansion parameter here agrees with reference zah ; zah1 . We would like however to stress that the present method allows visualization of the form that the evolved wave function that allows the generation of some non-classical states.

The evolved wave function may be found now by applying the transformed unitary evolution operator to an initial wave function:

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }(t)=\widehat{T}^{}\widehat{U}\widehat{T}|\mathrm{\Psi }(0),$$
(8)
where $`\widehat{U}`$ is given by

$$\widehat{U}=e^{it(\omega \widehat{n}+\frac{1}{2}\omega _0\widehat{\sigma }_z)}e^{it[\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_z+ϵ(\widehat{a}\widehat{\sigma }_++\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{\sigma }_{})]},$$
(9)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\omega _0\omega `$. Equation (9) may be re-written as

$$\widehat{U}=e^{it(\omega \widehat{n}+\frac{1}{2}\omega _0\widehat{\sigma }_z)}\left(\frac{1}{2}[\widehat{U}_{11}+\widehat{U}_{22}]\widehat{I}+\frac{1}{2}[\widehat{U}_{11}\widehat{U}_{22}]\widehat{\sigma }_z+\widehat{U}_{21}\sigma _{}+\widehat{U}_{12}\sigma _+\right),$$
(10)
where

$$\widehat{U}_{11}(t;\widehat{n})=\mathrm{cos}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}ti\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{2}\frac{\mathrm{sin}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}t}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}},$$
(11)
$$\widehat{U}_{12}(t;\widehat{n})=iϵ\widehat{a}\frac{\mathrm{sin}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}}t}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}}},$$
(12)
$$\widehat{U}_{21}(t;\widehat{n})=iϵ\widehat{a}^{}\frac{\mathrm{sin}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}t}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}},$$
(13)
and

$$\widehat{U}_{22}(t;\widehat{n})=\mathrm{cos}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}}t+i\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{2}\frac{\mathrm{sin}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}}t}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}}},$$
(14)
with

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}}=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^2}{4}+ϵ^2\widehat{n}}.$$
(15)
## III qubits of the quantized field

If the cavity field is initially prepared in the coherent state $`|\delta `$,

$$|\delta =\widehat{D}(\delta )|0=e^{\frac{\delta ^2}{2}}\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(\delta )^n}{\sqrt{n!}}|n$$
(16)
where $`\widehat{D}(\delta )=\mathrm{exp}[\delta (\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{a})]`$ and $`|n`$ is the Fock number state of the cavity field, and the atom is prepared in a superposition of the excited and ground states, the initial (total) wave function may be written as

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }(0)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|g+|e)|\delta .$$
(17)
By inserting (17) in (8) we obtain the entangled state

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }(t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|\psi _e|e+|\psi _g|g),$$
(18)
with

$`|\psi _e`$ $`=`$ $`(U_{11}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}\mathrm{cosh}[\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})]+U_{22}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}\mathrm{sinh}[\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})])|0`$ (19)
$`+\stackrel{~}{U}_{21}(t;0)e^{i(\omega \frac{\omega _0}{2})t}\mathrm{sinh}[\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})]|1,`$
and

$`|\psi _g`$ $`=`$ $`(U_{11}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}\mathrm{sinh}[\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})]+U_{22}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}\mathrm{cosh}[\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})])|0`$ (20)
$`+\stackrel{~}{U}_{21}(t;0)e^{i(\omega \frac{\omega _0}{2})t}\mathrm{cosh}[\delta (\widehat{a}\widehat{a}^{})]|1,`$
and where the U’s are defined as the (vacuum) expectation values

$$U_{ij}(t;0)=0|\widehat{U}_{ij}(t;\widehat{n})|0,i=j=1,2,$$
(21)
and

$$\stackrel{~}{U}_{21}(t;0)=iϵ0|\frac{\mathrm{sin}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}t}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\widehat{n}+1}}|0.$$
(22)
By measuring the atom when it leaves the cavity in the state

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{atom}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|g+|e),$$
(23)
we end up with a wave function describing the cavity field that reads

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{field}=[U_{11}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}+U_{22}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}]|\delta +\stackrel{~}{U}_{21}(t;0)e^{i(\omega \frac{\omega _0}{2})t}|\delta ,1,$$
(24)
where $`|\delta ,k=\widehat{D}(\delta )|k`$ is a displaced number state Oli . Therefore, we have constructed a superpositions of displaced number states cessa  and by displacing the cavity field by $`\delta `$, i.e. by injecting a field that displaces the cavity field by that effective amplitude we can generate a qubit (in reconstruction processes is a common technique the displacement of a given wave function moya ).

## IV conclusions

We have studied the first order contributions of the counter rotating terms present in the interaction between a two-level atom and a cavity field by using a technique recently introduced in kli . We have been able to write down the wave function in this case, and to point out an initial state of the atom and the field that would lead, to the generation of a quantum bit and superpositions of displaced number states of the electromagnetic field.

Besides the solution given here, that allows manipulation of parameters to engineer a given state, we have looked for the initial states to construct superpositions of displaced number states and qubits of the electromagnetic field which are considered highly non-classical.

It is worth to note that the qubit generated (after displacement of the cavity field) has arbitrary amplitudes, as the coefficients for the ground and first excited states can be varied arbitrarily. The final qubit state reads

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{dis}=[U_{11}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}+U_{22}(t;0)e^{i\frac{\omega _0t}{2}}]|0+\stackrel{~}{U}_{21}(t;0)e^{i(\omega \frac{\omega _0}{2})t}|1).$$
(25)
In zah  it was considered a ratio $`\lambda /\omega 0.1`$. Although efforts to have such ratios (that would allow the interaction with environments to be negligible exp ), considering the same ratio here, and not considering the correction we have found would indeed mislead the final result.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank CONACYT for support.