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# On the Degrees of Irreducible Representations of Hopf Algebras

## 1. Introduction

Let $`H`$ denote a semisimple Hopf algebra over an algebraically closed field $`k`$ of characteristic 0. According to a famous conjecture of Kaplansky \[K\], the degrees of the irreducible representations of $`H`$ are expected to be divisors of $`dim_kH`$. This has been confirmed under the additional hypothesis that $`H`$ is quasi-triangular \[EG\]; see \[S1\] for an elegant new proof.

In this note, we show by a very simple argument that the desired divisibility relation $`\frac{dimH}{dimV}`$ also holds for any irreducible $`H`$-module $`V`$ whose character $`\chi _V`$ belongs to the center $`Z(H^{})`$ of $`H^{}`$. Here, as usual, the *character* of $`V`$ is the linear form $`\chi _VH^{}`$ that is defined by $`\chi _V(h)=\mathrm{trace}_{V/k}(h_V)`$, where $`h_V\mathrm{End}_k(V)`$ is given by the action of $`hH`$. Thus:

###### Proposition.

Let $`H`$ denote a semisimple Hopf algebra over an algebraically closed field $`k`$ of characteristic 0. Then $`dim_kV`$ divides $`dim_kH`$ for any irreducible $`H`$-module $`V`$ such that $`\chi _VZ(H^{})`$.

The work presented here was inspired by Y. Sommerhäuser’s lecture “On central character rings”, delivered during the MSRI-workshop on Hopf algebras in October 1999.

The above notations will remain in effect throughout. In addition, $`\mathrm{Irr}(H)`$ will denote a fixed representative set of the isomorphism classes of irreducible (left) $`H`$-modules and $`C(H)`$ is the *character algebra*, that is, the $`k`$-span in $`H^{}`$ of all characters $`\chi _V`$ of $`H`$-modules $`V`$. In general, our notation for Hopf algebras follows \[Mo\].

## 2. Some Preliminaries

Our hypotheses entail that the dual Hopf algebra $`H^{}`$ is semisimple as well; see \[Mo\]. Recall that $`H`$ acts on $`H^{}`$ via $`h\phi ,h^{}=\phi ,h^{}h`$ for $`h,h^{}H`$ and $`\phi H^{}`$. Dually, $`H^{}`$ acts on $`H`$. Some particulars of these actions are explained in the following standard lemma originally due to Masuoka \[M\]; see also \[S2, p. 44\].

We let $`\lambda H^{}`$ denote the integral with $`\lambda ,1=1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }H`$ the integral with $`\lambda ,\mathrm{\Lambda }=1`$; cf. \[S2, p. 26\]. Moreover, $`S^{}`$ denotes the antipode of $`H^{}`$.

###### Lemma.

Let $`V\mathrm{Irr}(H)`$ and let $`e_VZ(H)`$ denote the corresponding centrally primitive idempotent of $`H`$, acting as $`\mathrm{Id}_V`$ on $`V`$ and as $`0_W`$ on all $`W\mathrm{Irr}(H)\{V\}`$. Then

$$\frac{dimH}{dimV}e_V=(S^{}\chi _V)\mathrm{\Lambda }\text{and}\frac{dimH}{dimV}e_V\lambda =\chi _V.$$

###### Proof.

The first formula is Corollary 4.6 in \[S2\] and the second one is established in the proof of \[M, Lemma (b)\]; cf. also \[S2, proof of Proposition 4.5\]. ∎

###### Corollary.

For every idempotent $`\delta =\delta ^2Z(H^{})`$, the element $`\delta \mathrm{\Lambda }C(H^{})H`$ is a character of some $`H^{}`$-module.

###### Proof.

We will apply the Lemma with the roles of $`H`$ and $`H^{}`$ interchanged. Since $`\epsilon ,\mathrm{\Lambda }=dimH`$ holds for the counit $`\epsilon =1_H^{}`$ (e.g., \[S2, Prop. 3.4\]), this requires replacing $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=\frac{1}{dimH}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

First assume that $`\delta =\delta _M`$ is the centrally primitive idempotent of $`H^{}`$ corresponding to some irreducible $`H^{}`$-module $`M`$. Then, by the Lemma, $`\frac{dimH^{}}{dimM}\delta _M\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=\chi _MC(H^{})`$. Thus,

$$\delta _M\mathrm{\Lambda }=(dimM)\chi _M=\chi _{M^{dimM}}.$$

In general, $`\delta =_M\delta _M`$ for certain irreducible $`H^{}`$-modules $`M`$, and so $`\delta \mathrm{\Lambda }=\chi _N`$ for the $`H^{}`$-module $`N=_MM^{dimM}`$. ∎

## 3. The Proof

We are now ready to give the proof of the Proposition. So let $`V\mathrm{Irr}(H)`$ be given with $`\chi _VZ(H^{})`$. Our goal is to show that $`\frac{dimH}{dimV}𝒪`$, where $`𝒪`$ denotes the ring of algebraic integers in $`k`$. Since $`\frac{dimH}{dimV}e_V=(S^{}\chi _V)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, by the Lemma, it suffices to show that $`(S^{}\chi _V)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is integral over $``$.

To this end, let $`\delta _1,\mathrm{},\delta _r`$ be the distinct primitive idempotents of $`Z(H^{})`$ and let $`f_i:Z(H^{})k`$ denote the corresponding characters; so $`\zeta =_if_i(\zeta )\delta _i`$ holds for all $`\zeta Z(H^{})`$. In particular, since $`S^{}\chi _VZ(H^{})`$, we have

$$(S^{}\chi _V)\mathrm{\Lambda }=\underset{i}{}f_i(S^{}\chi _V)\delta _i\mathrm{\Lambda }.$$

By the Corollary, each $`\delta _i\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the character of some (irreducible) $`H^{}`$-module; so $`\delta _i\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ belongs to the *Grothendieck ring* $`G_0(H^{})=_{M\mathrm{Irr}(H^{})}\chi _MC(H^{})`$. Every element of $`G_0(H^{})`$ satisfies a monic polynomial over $``$. Analogously, the character $`S^{}\chi _V=\chi _V^{}G_0(H)`$ satisfies a monic polynomial over $``$, and so $`f_i(S^{}\chi _V)𝒪`$ holds for all $`i`$. Consequently,

$$(S^{}\chi _V)\mathrm{\Lambda }G_0(H^{})𝒪C(H^{}),$$

which entails that $`(S^{}\chi _V)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is integral over $``$, as desired.

## 4. Concluding Remarks

Let $`(.)^{\mathrm{cl}}`$ denote the set of elements in the ring in question that are integral over $``$; e.g.,

$$Z(H)^{\mathrm{cl}}=\underset{V\mathrm{Irr}(H)}{}𝒪e_V.$$

Consider the isomorphism $`f:H^{}\stackrel{}{}H`$, $`f(\phi )=\phi \mathrm{\Lambda }`$. By the Lemma, $`f`$ restricts to isomorphisms $`C(H)\stackrel{}{}Z(H)`$ and $`Z(H^{})\stackrel{}{}C(H^{})`$. The essence of the above proof is that, in fact,

$$Z(H^{})^{\mathrm{cl}}\stackrel{f}{}G_0(H^{})𝒪C(H^{})^{\mathrm{cl}},$$

while Kaplansky’s conjecture is equivalent with

$$G_0(H)\stackrel{f}{}Z(H)^{\mathrm{cl}}.$$

It is tempting to try and consolidate the Etingof-Gelaki result for quasi-triangular Hopf algebras and our Proposition by at least showing that $`f`$ maps the *center* of $`G_0(H)`$ to $`Z(H)^{\mathrm{cl}}`$.

###### Acknowledgment.

The work on this note was started while I was attending the Noncommutative Algebra program at MSRI in the Fall of 1999. I would like to thank the organizers of this program, in particular S. Montgomery, and MSRI staff for their hospitality and support. I would also like to thank Temple University for granting me a research leave during the Fall Semester 1999.


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# Detection and Mapping of Decoupled Stellar and Ionized Gas Structures in the Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy IRAS 12112+03051

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), with bolometric luminosities $`L_{\mathrm{bol}}`$ $`L_{\mathrm{IR}}10^{12}`$ $`L_{}`$, are the most luminous galaxies in the local Universe. ULIRGs show signs of strong interactions and mergers (Melnick & Mirabel 1990, Clements et al. 1996, Borne et al. 2000a), or even multiple collisions (Borne et al. 2000b), and they have large amounts of gas and dust that significantly obscure the nuclear ionizing sources (Sanders & Mirabel 1996). ULIRGs appear to be the low-redshift analogs of the high-redshift submillimeter galaxies (SCUBA sources), which are responsible for the bulk of the far-infrared background radiation (see Sanders 1999 for a review).

Mid-infrared spectroscopy has shown that ULIRGs with optical H II- and LINER-like spectra are starbursts dominated (Lutz et al. 1998; Genzel et al. 1998; Lutz, Veilleux, & Genzel 1999). However, the increased fraction of optically classified Seyfert galaxies among the more luminous ULIRGs (log$`L_{\mathrm{IR}}12.3`$ $`L_{}`$) is taken as evidence for the presence of dust-enshrouded quasars powering these galaxies (Veilleux, Kim, & Sanders 1999).

The ionization structure of ULIRGs is extended and rather complex, and therefore narrow-slit ($``$ 2$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$) optical spectroscopy along a given position angle cannot adequately indicate the location, nature, and interplay of the different ionization mechanisms present in these galaxies. The spectral classification of some ULIRGs are already known to depend on the size of the aperture (Kim, Veilleux, & Sanders 1998). Two-dimensional optical spectroscopy using fiber-fed spectrographs is an ideal technique to study the complex stellar and ionized gas structure of the nuclear regions of galaxies in general (Arribas & Mediavilla 2000), and of ULIRGs in particular since it allows a simultaneous and complete mapping of the stellar populations and the ionized gas (e.g., see Colina, Arribas, & Borne 1999).

IRAS 12112+0305 is a low redshift (z= 0.0723) ULIRG (log$`L_{\mathrm{IR}}`$= 12.34 $`L_{}`$), classified in the optical as a LINER (Kim et al. 1998), and with no evidence for a hidden broad-line region (Veilleux, Sanders, & Kim 1999). Mid-infrared diagnostics classify this galaxy as starburst-dominated (Genzel et al. 1998). Near-infrared ground-based images revealed the presence of two nuclei (Carico et al. 1990), while HST optical and near-infrared images show a well defined compact point-like nucleus, as well as several much fainter condensations distributed in an arc-like structure (Borne et al. 2000a; Scoville et al. 2000).

In this letter we highlight new results for IRAS 12112+0305 obtained using integral field optical spectroscopy and HST imaging. Throughout the paper a Hubble constant of 70 km s-1 Mpc-1 is assumed.

## 2 OBSERVATIONS AND DATA REDUCTION

Integral field spectroscopy of IRAS 12112+0305 was obtained with the INTEGRAL system (Arribas et al. 1998), a fiber-fed spectrograph mounted at the Naysmith No. 1 platform of the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope. The bundle of fibers consisted of 219 fibers, each 0.9$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ in diameter and covering a 16.5$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ $`\times `$ 12.3$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ field-of-view. The spectra were taken using a 600 line/mm grating, covering the 5000$``$7900Å range, with an effective resolution of 4.8Å. The total integration time was 7500 sec, split into five separate integrations of 1500 sec each, with seeing $`1.0^{^{\prime \prime }}`$.

The reduction has been done following the standard procedures applied to spectra obtained with two-dimensional fiber spectrographs (Arribas et al. 1997 and references therein). The results are presented in Figure 1, together with the HST $`I`$-band image (Borne et al. 2000a) for comparison.

The derived astrophysical properties for the main continuum and line-emitting regions are presented in Table 1. Columns 2 and 3 give the relative positions. Column 4 presents the internal reddening values derived from the H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$ ratio, assuming case B recombination. Column 5 gives the apparent magnitude within an aperture of 0.5$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ radius using the HST $`I`$-band image, and column 6 gives the corresponding absolute magnitude after internal reddening correction assuming $`A_\mathrm{I}`$= 1.494 $`\times `$ E(B$``$V). Column 7 shows the observed H$`\alpha `$ flux obtained using an aperture of 2.1$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ diameter, while column 8 gives the reddening-corrected H$`\alpha `$ luminosity. The last four columns present the logarithm of the reddening-corrected emission line ratios and the corresponding activity classification.

## 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

### 3.1 Evidence for Decoupled Stellar and Ionized Gas Components

The stellar main body of IRAS 12112+0305 is concentrated in three dominant regions, each separated from each other by about 2$`{}_{}{}^{^{\prime \prime }}3^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ (see the H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ continuum images in Figure 1). Two of these regions (called Ns and Nn hereinafter; see Table 1 for relative positions) located along position angle PA45, were already detected in the near-infrared, and associated with the nuclei of two galaxies involved in the final stages of a merger (Carico et al. 1990). The INTEGRAL-generated continuum images extend the wavelength coverage towards the blue, clearly showing the presence of a large differential extinction towards the southern nucleus (Ns). The third region (called R2 hereinafter) is located 3$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ north of Ns at position angle PA20.

The HST $`I`$-band image (Figure 1) shows Ns as a high-surface brightness compact region which coincides with the K-band point-like nucleus (Scoville et al. 2000). Regions Nn and R2 are made of several fainter condensations distributed along an arc-like structure of about 5.4$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ (i.e., 8 kpc) extent and located 3$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ to 5$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ (i.e., 4.5 to 7.5 kpc) north$``$northeast of Ns. The brightest of these condensations, located 3$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ ($``$ 4.5 kpc) northeast from Ns, is most likely associated with the northern nucleus detected in the INTEGRAL-generated continuum images (Nn) and in the near-infrared (Carico et al. 1990; Scoville et al. 2000).

Although the overall structure of the ionized gas resembles that of the stellar light distribution, the dominant line-emitting regions do not coincide with the nuclei identified above but, on the contrary, are decoupled from them (see \[O III\] and H$`\alpha `$ maps in Figure 1). The brightest line-emitting region (called R1 hereinafter) is located 5$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ ($``$ 7.5 kpc) east of Ns along position angle PA80. This region is associated with a faint $`I`$-band continuum source ($`m_I`$= 20.4) outside the main body of the galaxy (see HST $`I`$-band image in Figure 1). The second-brightest H$`\alpha `$ line-emitting region is associated with region R2, and it is therefore composed of a filament of faint continuum condensations that are also detected in the H$`\beta `$ and \[O III\] maps (Figure 1). The optically dominant nucleus of the galaxy (Ns) is marginally detected in \[O III\] and appears as the faintest H$`\alpha `$ emission source. The arc-like structure seen in the HST $`I`$-band image corresponds to three well resolved H$`\alpha `$ line-emitting peaks, the faintest of which is associated with the northern nucleus (Nn) detected in the optical and near-infrared (see discussion above).

### 3.2 Massive Dust-Enshrouded Starbursts as Nuclear Ionizing Sources

The positions of the two apparently faint ionizing nuclei Nn and Ns coincide (within the HST absolute astrometry uncertainties of $`\pm `$0.7$`{}_{}{}^{^{\prime \prime }}`$1$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$) with the two bright compact starburst nuclei detected at radio frequencies (Condon et al. 1991), thus favoring dust-enshrouded nuclear starbursts as the energy sources in these nuclei.

The ionization sources in Ns and Nn are highly obscured, with visual extinctions ($`A_\mathrm{V}`$) of 8 and 3.5 magnitudes, respectively (see spectra in Figure 2). The two nuclei appear almost equally bright with $`I`$-band absolute magnitudes of $``$18.9 (Ns) and $``$18.5 (Nn). However, when reddening is taken into account, Ns is found to be ten times more luminous than Nn (i.e. $`M_I=`$22.8). These magnitudes are within the range of those measured for the nuclei of other luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (Surace et al. 1998).

The line ratios of the ionization sources associated with the nuclei Ns and Nn correspond to a mixture of weak-\[O I\] LINER and H II region spectra (see Table 1). The presence of weak-\[O I\] LINERs in the nucleus of galaxies has been taken as evidence for ionization by hot stars in a high-metallicity environment (Filippenko & Terlevich 1992; Shields 1992) or for ionization by a mixture of a low-luminosity AGN and hot stars (Ho et al. 1993). The integrated mid-infrared spectrum of IRAS 12112+0305 does not show any evidence for an AGN (Genzel et al 1998), further supporting the idea that the ionizing sources in the nuclei Ns and Nn are associated with dust-enshrouded starbursts. Although Ns and Nn are minor contributors to the observed H$`\alpha `$ emission, the reddening-corrected flux emanating from these nuclei dominates the overall H$`\alpha `$ luminosity with a value of 9.1 $`\times `$ 1042 erg s-1 (Table 1). If the H$`\alpha `$ flux emitted by the two nuclei were entirely due to stars, then the corresponding star formation rate would amount to about 80 $`M_{}`$ yr-1 for a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) with mass limits of 0.1 and 100 $`M_{}`$ (Leitherer et al. 1999).

### 3.3 Brightest Line-Emitting Region: A Tidally-Induced Giant H II Region?

The HST image (Figure 1) shows that the apparently more luminous line-emitting peak (R1) is associated with a faint ($`m_I`$= 20.35) region characterized by a physical size of about 600 parsecs ($``$ 0.4$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$), an $`I`$-band absolute magnitude of $``$17.7, an internal optical extinction of about one magnitude, and an H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of 8.7 $`\times `$ 1040 erg s-1 (see Table 1).

The size, H$`\alpha `$ luminosity and emission line ratios are typical of circumnuclear star-forming regions in nearby spirals (Gonzalez-Delgado & Pérez 1997; Planesas, Colina, & Pérez-Olea 1997), and of giant extragalactic H II regions like NGC 5471 in M101 (Shields 1990). The H$`\alpha `$ luminosity and the equivalent widths of the H$`\beta `$ (74 $`\pm `$ 3Å) and H$`\alpha `$ (450 $`\pm `$ 10 Å) emission lines correspond to that of a 5-Myr old ionizing cluster of 2 $`\times `$ 107 $`M_{}`$, assuming a Salpeter IMF with mass limits of 0.1 and 100 $`M_{}`$ (Leitherer et al. 1999). The mass of the ionizing cluster represents only a small fraction ($``$ 3%) of the dynamical mass of this region (upper limit of 7.5 $`\times `$ 108 $`M_{}`$), calculated assuming virialization and an instrument-corrected emission line width equivalent to a velocity dispersion of 60 km s-1 (derived from the line-width measurements of the H$`\beta `$ and \[O III\]5007Å lines).

In summary, the derived properties of this region are characteristic of young massive H II regions and could represent a case for a tidally-induced giant extranuclear self-gravitating star-forming region, or even a dwarf galaxy, decoupled from the much older stellar body of the parent galaxies (Duc & Mirabel 1994, 1998).

## 4 SUMMARY

Integral field optical spectroscopy and HST imaging have revealed the complex stellar and ionized gas structures in the ultraluminous infrared galaxy IRAS 12112+0305. The two nuclei detected in the optical coincide with previously known radio and near-infrared nuclei, but appear as the apparently two faintest line-emitting regions and are consistent with dust-enshrouded (AV= 3.5 and 8 mag) weak-\[O I\] LINERs. However, their reddening-corrected H$`\alpha `$ emission dominates the overall H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of the system and, if associated with nuclear starbursts, would correspond to a star formation of 80 $`M_{}`$ yr-1.

The observed structure of the ionized gas is decoupled from, and hence does not trace, the stellar light distribution. The brightest line-emitting peak is associated with a faint ($`m_I`$= 20.4) region located 7.5 kpc from the dominant optical nucleus (Ns), well outside the main stellar body of the system. This region appears to be a recent (tidally induced?) star-forming region containing a young (5 Myr), massive (2 $`\times `$ 107 $`M_{}`$) cluster of stars.

The results presented here for IRAS 12112+0305 stress the need for integral-field spectrographs in the study of the complex ionization and stellar light structure of ultraluminous infrared galaxies. Similar studies for high-redshift analogs of ULIRGs (i.e., the SCUBA sources), and for other morphologically complex high-redshift galaxies, will become feasible when integral-field spectrographs on giant telescopes become operational.

L. Colina thanks the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias for its hospitality and financial support. K. Borne thanks Raytheon for providing financial support during his Sabbatical Leave. Support for this work was provided by CICYT (Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología) through grants numbers PB98-0340-C02-01 and PB98-0340-C02-02, and by NASA through grant number GO-06346.01-95A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.


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# Circumnuclear Supernova Remnants and H II Regions in NGC 253

## 1 Introduction

The edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 253 is one of the two prototypical, nearby starburst galaxies (along with M82). Its distance of 2.5 Mpc (Turner & Ho, 1985) enables its starburst disk to be studied at very high linear resolution, since 1″ corresponds to only 12 pc. The galaxy contains an inner starburst disk roughly 15″–20″ (180–240 pc) in extent that has been studied in detail, especially by virtue of its emission in the infrared (Forbes, Ward, & DePoy, 1991; Piña et al., 1992; Keto et al., 1993; Forbes et al., 1993; Kalas & Wynn-Williams, 1994; Sams et al., 1994; Böker, Krabbe, & Storey, 1998; Keto et al., 1999) and in molecular lines (Canzian, Mundy, & Scoville, 1988; Israel, White, & Baas, 1995; Jackson et al., 1995; Paglione, Tosaki, & Jackson, 1995; Peng et al., 1996; Frayer, Seaquist, & Frail, 1998). Subarcsecond-resolution imaging at centimeter wavelengths reveals at least 64 compact radio sources in the inner disk (Turner & Ho, 1985; Antonucci & Ulvestad, 1988; Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1991, 1994, 1997); these are thought to be roughly equally divided between H II regions dominated by thermal emission, and supernova remnants dominated by nonthermal emission (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997). At the centimeter wavelengths where radio telescopes are most sensitive, the poorer resolution and the increasing strength of the more diffuse galaxy emission lead to confusion that prevents complete source identification in the inner 200-pc starburst.

The 200-pc region clearly dominates the current star formation in NGC 253, as shown by the infrared, millimeter, and centimeter observations. Centimeter imaging of this inner starburst indicates a supernova rate of $``$0.3 yr-1 (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997), which is consistent with results of 0.1–0.3 yr-1 inferred from models of the infrared emission of the entire galaxy (Rieke et al., 1980; Rieke, Lebofsky, & Walker, 1988). Near- and mid-infrared imaging at arcsecond resolution shows a number of emission peaks that do not generally line up with the radio sources (Keto et al., 1993; Sams et al., 1994; Kalas & Wynn-Williams, 1994), while Hubble Space Telescope images show at least four compact star clusters, which also do not coincide with individual compact radio sources (Watson et al., 1996). Thus, it is apparent that extinction and confusion play major roles in the inner disk at different wavebands, and it may be that only the centimeter and millimeter images reveal the regions of most recent star formation.

Outside the 200-pc starburst disk, NGC 253 may have a significant amount of star formation, as shown by the existence of larger-scale radio emission (Hummel, Smith, & van der Hulst, 1984; Carilli et al., 1992; Beck et al., 1994; Carilli, 1996). Since this part of the galaxy is much less affected by confusion and extinction, there is greater potential for identifying the strongest regions of star formation and studying them in multiple bands. However, recent high-resolution studies of the galaxy outside the inner few hundred parsecs are uncommon, since most of the imaging has been of small fields centered on the main starburst disk. One recent study on the larger scale is that of Vogler & Pietsch (1999), who used ROSAT to identify 73 X-ray sources in the bulge, disk, and halo of NGC 253, attributing most of them to X-ray binary stars. To study the population of compact radio sources on this large scale, we have reprocessed the high-resolution 6-cm and 20-cm Very Large Array (VLA) data obtained in 1987 (Antonucci & Ulvestad, 1988; Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997) in order to image the entire primary beam of the individual VLA antennas at high resolution; limited computing resources prevented this from being done at the time of the observations. In this paper, we report the locations of the compact radio sources outside the inner 200-pc starburst, compare these locations to images made in other wavebands, and estimate the supernova rate outside the inner disk.

## 2 Observations and Data Analysis

The observations of NGC 253 that we use here were made in 1987, using the VLA (Thompson et al., 1980) in its A configuration. Results from imaging the inner starburst at 6 cm (4860 MHz) were reported by Antonucci & Ulvestad (1988), while the 20-cm (1490 MHz) image of the same region was discussed briefly by Ulvestad & Antonucci (1997). Details of the observations were reported in those papers. Other 6-cm observations had much poorer (u,v) coverage than those made in 1987, so only the 1987 data are considered here.

For self-consistency, the data were re-calibrated and self-calibrated using the same procedures reported previously. We then made large-scale ($`4096\times 4096`$ pixels) images of the radio emission of NGC 253 to reveal the compact radio sources seen throughout the primary beam of the individual 25-m telescopes of the VLA. These images covered $`26^{}\times 26^{}`$ at 20 cm and $`8^{}\times 8^{}`$ at 6 cm. Outside the starburst disk, confusion was not a significant issue, but sensitivity was critical. We therefore used natural weighting of the data in the (u,v) plane (Sramek & Schwab, 1989; Briggs, Schwab, & Sramek, 1999); this scheme produces the maximum sensitivity, at the price of a modest loss in resolution. A zero-spacing (total) flux density was specified in the imaging, in order to partially compensate for the lack of short interferometer spacings. This reduced, but did not completely remove, systematic effects caused by diffuse emission that was not sampled well in our observations.

Table 1 gives the resolution and the r.m.s. noise achieved for the final images. Several effects contribute to reductions in the sensitivity far from the field center; each is discussed briefly here. First, the attenuation of the primary beam of the individual VLA antennas reduces the sensitivity by more than 10% at 6 cm and 20 cm for respective distances from the pointing direction of greater than $`1.^{}7`$ and $`5.^{}4`$. Corrections for this attenuation were made using the AIPS (van Moorsel, Kemball, & Greisen, 1996) software developed by NRAO, and were less than 10% except for several sources (see Section 4.1) far from the main area of radio emission. A second effect, chromatic aberration (“bandwidth smearing”) due to the non-zero observing bandwidth (Bridle & Schwab, 1999), is more deleterious. It reduces the peak flux density by more than a factor of two at distances greater than 2′ from the phase center, and is progressively worse farther out in the field. The actual phase center of the observations was $`10^{\prime \prime }`$ north of the apparent galaxy nucleus, at a B1950 position of $`(\alpha ,\delta )=(00^h45^m05.^s80,25^{}33^{}29.^{\prime \prime }0)`$; since most of the large-scale sources are north of the nucleus, this actually was slightly beneficial in the final data analysis. Compared to the chromatic aberration, the reduction in flux density due to delay smearing (Bridle & Schwab, 1999) over the observations’ 10-second averaging period is negligible. Finally, the lack of short interferometer spacings causes correlated positive or negative emission as high as 0.08–0.1 mJy over areas of $`50\times 50`$ pixels away from the center of the field. The final source detection threshold that was used was four times the quadrature sum of this systematic value and the r.m.s. noise, or approximately 0.4 mJy at each wavelength. However, this threshold rises substantially at distances more than a few arcminutes from the phase center.

## 3 Images and Source Identification

Figure 1 is a portion of the 20-cm image showing the circumnuclear region of NGC 253 at high resolution. The locations of compact X-ray sources detected by Vogler & Pietsch (1999), using the ROSAT High Resolution Imager, are shown as crosses whose sizes indicate the errors in the X-ray positions. We have identified all radio sources that have apparent peak flux densities of at least 0.4 mJy beam-1 at either 6 cm or 20 cm, outside the central 200-pc starburst. Figures 2a and 2b are respective enlargements of the 20-cm and 6-cm images showing the radio emission from the 200-pc starburst disk and its surroundings, including a number of the circumnuclear compact sources. Note that the 6-cm image shows little detail, due to the larger number of beam areas needed to cover the given region, but it does serve to illustrate the relative locations of the detected sources.

Table 2 lists the source identifications in the circumnuclear region at the two wavelengths. (Each source listed in this table can be seen in the region shown in Figure 1.) Included are the source positions, flux densities at 6 cm and 20 cm, measured sizes, and a few comments. When compact sources are identified at both wavelengths, the higher resolution 6-cm position is quoted; typical position accuracies are $`0.^{\prime \prime }1`$$`0.^{\prime \prime }2`$. At 6 cm, flux densities as low as 0.2 mJy are given for sources that meet the 0.4-mJy threshold at 20 cm, but these flux densities have very large fractional errors. Source flux densities and sizes have been derived by making Gaussian fits to the individual sources in the image plane, and confirmed by integrating over the region of significant emission. Most sources are unresolved in the full-resolution images at both 6 cm and 20 cm, as indicated by a “U” in the table. The sizes of resolved sources are derived from the 6-cm full-resolution image. The total 6-cm flux densities and approximate sizes found at full resolution generally are consistent with values found from a 6-cm image tapered to the 20-cm resolution.

We estimated flux density errors due to several causes. First, the areas of apparent systematic negative or positive flux near the main starburst disk, caused by undersampling in the aperture plane, average as much as 0.08 mJy beam-1 at 6 cm and 0.10 mJy beam-1 at 20 cm; this offset is denoted by $`\sigma _o`$. Second, there is a $`5`$% error in the absolute flux density scales of each of the two maps, so $`\sigma _{\mathrm{sc}}=0.05S`$, where $`S`$ is the source flux density. Third, there is a fitting error, $`\sigma _f`$, caused by confusion with underlying diffuse emission and uncertainties in the source fits. Since the newly identified sources reported here are outside the main starburst disk and fairly well isolated, we take the confusion error to be negligible, so $`\sigma _f`$ is simply the uncertainty reported by the least-squares fitting program. This value includes the r.m.s. noise given in Table 1, so the noise is not included separately. We combine these errors in quadrature to get the total flux-density error, $`\sigma `$, using

$$\sigma ^2=\sigma _{o}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}+(0.05S)^2+\sigma _{f}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}.$$
(1)
Thus, the total flux-density error for a 0.4-mJy source is typically 0.09 mJy at 6 cm and 0.11 mJy at 20 cm.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Are All Detected Sources Associated with NGC 253?

There are 22 sources above the 0.4-mJy limit at 20 cm, inside a box 4′ (2.8 kpc) on a side and centered on the nucleus of NGC 253. The density of background sources above this flux-density threshold is expected to be $`10^6`$ sr-1 (Windhorst et al., 1985). Therefore, we expect about one background source stronger than 0.4 mJy within a field of 16 square arcminutes, implying that almost all of the detected sources are associated with NGC 253. The apparent lack of weak sources at greater distances from the nucleus may be caused primarily by chromatic aberration (see Section 2); sources far from the phase center of the observation have their peak flux densities reduced substantially, and therefore may fall below the detection threshold. Observations using narrow spectral-line channels rather than a broadband continuum would be needed to determine whether other weak compact sources exist farther from the phase center.

Five additional sources were detected at 20 cm within an area 12′ on a side, centered on NGC 253, and are listed in Table 3. These are within the size of the optical galaxy, which has a measured diameter of 25′ to 25th magnitude (de Vaucouleurs et al., 1991). Images of these sources are not shown, since they are substantially degraded by chromatic aberration, which prevents measurement of the source sizes. Therefore, only the total flux densities are given in Table 3. The source locations are best seen in previous lower-resolution radio images of NGC 253, particularly that published by Anantharamaiah & Goss (1990), though none of those images resolves source B2 into the three components distinguished here. Only sources much stronger than 0.4 mJy can be detected in the large region due to the chromatic aberration. The expected density of sources stronger than 15 mJy at 20 cm is $`10^4`$ sr-1 (Windhorst et al., 1985), so we expect to detect less than one background source above this threshold. Source B3 appears to be associated with a “spur” noted by Carilli et al. (1992), and the three-component source B2 lies along the large-scale galaxy disk, making it probable that at least B2 and B3 are associated with NGC 253.

### 4.2 Circumnuclear Star Formation

The detected circumnuclear sources (Table 2) outside the central starburst have typical flux densities of 0.4–3 mJy at 6 cm and 20 cm, corresponding to radio powers of $`3\times 10^{17}`$ to $`2\times 10^{18}`$ W Hz-1. Most of them seem to have relatively steep spectra; for a source with a flux density of 0.4 mJy at 6 cm and a spectral index of $`0.7`$ (with $`S_\nu \nu ^{+\alpha }`$), the total luminosity between 10 MHz (or 100 MHz) and 100 GHz is $`1.1\times 10^{35}`$ erg s-1. This luminosity is a factor of 100–1000 lower than the luminosities of the point X-ray sources detected by Vogler & Pietsch (1999), which they generally attribute to X-ray binaries. Since none of the radio sources listed in Table 2 coincides with a compact X-ray source, the radio emission is probably not associated with evolved binaries.

In the main 200-pc starburst disk of NGC 253, Antonucci & Ulvestad (1988) deduced that $`100`$ compact radio sources exist. A supernova rate of $`0.3`$ yr-1 was estimated from the radio emission (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997), while supernova rates of 0.1–0.3 yr-1 have been derived on other grounds (Rieke et al., 1980; Rieke, Lebofsky, & Walker, 1988). Here, we report an additional 22 circumnuclear compact radio sources that lie outside the central 200-pc starburst, but within 2 kpc (170″) of the galaxy center. Since they do not coincide with X-ray binaries, and most are less than 5–10 pc ($`0.^{\prime \prime }4`$$`0.^{\prime \prime }8`$) in diameter, they most likely are due to supernova remnants and H II regions, as are the sources in the nuclear region. The sources can be compared to the galactic supernova remnant Cas A. For an assumed distance of 2.8 kpc (van den Bergh, 1971) and a flux density of $`500`$ Jy (Baars et al., 1977), Cas A has a 6-cm radio power of $`5\times 10^{17}`$ W Hz-1, comparable to the powers of the weaker circumnuclear sources in NGC 253.

There are 10–15 circumnuclear sources with steep radio spectra, likely to be supernova remnants. The number of steep-spectrum sources is uncertain because some are too weak for good spectral-index determination. In addition, since the (u,v) coverage at 6 cm is not matched to that at 20 cm, more flux density may be “resolved out” at 6 cm, which could lead to estimates of spectra that are overly steep. (This resolution effect is the primary reason that spectral indices are not quoted in Table 2.) By comparison, there are at least 32 steep-spectrum sources in the inner 200-pc starburst (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997); correcting for confusion would probably increase this number to 50 or more. If the circumnuclear radio sources have the same general character as those in the main starburst disk, a simple comparison with the analysis of Ulvestad & Antonucci (1997) indicates that the estimated circumnuclear supernova rate outside the central starburst is $`0.1`$ yr-1. (Of course, some sources outside the strong starburst could have been missed, due primarily to chromatic aberration.) In any case, based solely on the ratio of steep-spectrum sources inside and outside the 200-pc starburst, we infer that at least 20%–30% of the global star-formation and supernova remnants are outside that central starburst. No supernovae have been detected in the circumnuclear region during limited searches made at optical wavelengths in 1988–1991 (Richmond, Filippenko, & Galisky, 1998), and at near-infrared wavelengths in late 1993 (Grossan et al., 1999). However, such searches did not cover long enough time periods to expect supernova detections in NGC 253, and also could have been affected by obscuration and confusion.

Figure 3 shows a complex of sources to the west of the main starburst disk, roughly 800 pc from the galaxy nucleus. Figure 3a is the 20-cm image, showing four individual radio sources. These sources are numbered 4, 6, 7, and 8 in Table 2 and similarly labeled in the figure. Two 6-cm images also are shown. Figure 3b is an image for which the visibility data were tapered and then restored with a point-spread function identical to that at 20 cm, while Figure 3c is a full-resolution image. Inspection of Table 2 reveals that the two strongest 6-cm sources shown in Figure 3b have flat or inverted spectra. Summing the four individual compact sources gives a total 6-cm flux density of $`6.6\pm 0.4`$ mJy and a total 20-cm flux density of $`8.3\pm 0.4`$ mJy, while integration of the images over the region of Figure 3 yields a total 6-cm flux density of 7.7 mJy and a total 20-cm flux density of 9.0 mJy, slightly higher than the fits to the compact sources.

We take the somewhat simplistic step of making a two-component decomposition of the flux density in the radio sources shown in Figure 3. To do so, we assume the presence of a thermal, flat-spectrum component having $`\alpha =0.1`$, and a nonthermal, steep-spectrum component due to supernova remnants. The steep-spectrum sources in the inner starburst of NGC 253 have typical spectral indices of $`\alpha =0.7`$ (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997), while galactic supernova remnants have a median spectral index of $`\alpha =0.5`$ (Green, 1996), so there is some range in the estimates of the flat-spectrum component. The simple spectral decomposition gives thermal radio emission containing 5.3 to 5.9 mJy out of a total of 6.6 mJy at 6 cm, for a steep-spectrum component having a spectral index ranging from $`0.5`$ to $`0.7`$. Thus, 80% to 90% of the 6-cm flux density in the region shown in Figure 3 appears to be thermal in origin.

The natural conclusion is that the flat-spectrum radio component is thermal radiation from H II regions energized by young stars. Applying the analysis of the strongest flat-spectrum source in the starburst disk, which was described by Ulvestad & Antonucci (1997), we find that the equivalent of $`70`$ O5 stars is necessary to energize the radio emission within a region of about $`12^{\prime \prime }\times 10^{\prime \prime }`$ ($`144\times 120`$ pc). This is comparable to the number of young stars needed to account for the strongest thermal source in the inner starburst, but those stars are contained in a volume $`6\times 10^5`$ times higher. Therefore, the average thermal gas density in the 130-pc region shown in Figure 3 is $`20`$ cm-3, much lower than the values of $`10^4`$ cm-3 found in the dense part of the inner starburst of NGC 253 (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1997) and in NGC 5253 (Turner, Ho, & Beck, 1998), or of $`10^3`$ cm-3 for the typical thermal radio sources in NGC 4038/4039 (Neff & Ulvestad, 2000).

Few high-resolution observations at other wavelengths are available for the region shown in Figure 3. However, a moderate-resolution ($`9^{\prime \prime }\times 17^{\prime \prime }`$) VLA image (Carilli, 1996) shows a source at the same location, with an apparent 3.6-cm flux density between 5 and 6 mJy. This is entirely consistent with the value expected for for the flat-spectrum component deduced above. Near-infrared images shown in Figures 1 and 10 of Engelbracht et al. (1998) indicate a slight enhancement in K (2.2 $`\mu `$m) at the location of the complex of compact radio sources, apparently along an inner spiral arm. This infrared source may represent a highly reddened set of H II regions containing the numerous young stars that energize the local radio complex.

A similar argument can be made for source 15, which lies nearly 2 kpc from the galaxy nucleus, and also appears to have a thermal spectrum. Ionization of this radio source requires the equivalent of about 35 O5 stars in a region about 15–30 pc in diameter, and an average ionized density near 200 cm-3. Chromatic aberration makes these estimates somewhat uncertain, but they should be correct to 50% or better.

The relatively low average densities derived for the two strongest thermal-emitting complexes in the circumnuclear region imply that they contain more “normal” star formation, rather than the intense starbursts characteristic of the central 200 parsecs. The number and the density of massive young stars are significantly higher than in Orion and other nearby Galactic O-B associations (Blaauw, 1964), and may be comparable to the richest star-forming regions in our Galaxy, such as W49 (Welch, 1993; de Pree, Mehringer, & Goss, 1997). However, the intensity of massive star formation is considerably lower than in 30 Doradus (Hunter et al., 1995) or in the super star clusters seen in a number of starburst galaxies (O’Connell, Gallagher, & Hunter, 1994; Schweizer & Seitzer, 1998; Turner, Ho, & Beck, 1998; Whitmore et al., 1999; Kobulnicky & Johnson, 1999; Neff & Ulvestad, 2000).

## 5 Summary

We have used archival VLA data to image the circumnuclear region of NGC 253 at arcsecond resolution. Twenty-two compact radio sources have been found in the inner 2 kpc of the galaxy, but outside the well-known 200-pc disk, and most of these are probably associated with regions of recent star formation. The supernova rate inferred outside the central starburst is $``$0.1 yr-1; this may be a slight underestimate due to the decreasing sensitivity of the radio observations at distances more than $`2`$′ from the nucleus. Therefore, the region outside the well-studied inner starburst seems to account for a significant fraction of the recent star formation in NGC 253. A collection of sources located 800 pc to the west of the nucleus appears to be a complex of H II regions energized by the equivalent of 70 O5 stars, but with an average ionized gas density $`10^3`$ times lower than that found in the inner starburst of the galaxy.

I thank K. Anantharamaiah, R. Antonucci, N. Mohan, and W. Pietsch for useful discussions and for providing data in advance of publication. I especially thank the referee, Jean Turner, for some perceptive comments and for pointing out errors in Table 2. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In addition, this research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System.


text:
# Suppression of Magnetic State Decoherence Using Ultrafast Optical Pulses

## A Randomly-spaced pulses

The randomly spaced, radiative pulses act on this two-level system in a manner analogous to the way collisions modify atomic electronic-state coherence. In other word, the pulses do not affect the state populations, but do modify the coherence between the levels. The pulses can be treated in an impact approximation, such that during a collision, the time rate of change of density matrix elements resulting from the pulses is $`\dot{\rho }_{00}=\dot{\rho }_{11}=0`$ and

$$\dot{\rho }_{10}/\rho _{10}=\dot{\rho }_{01}/\rho _{01}=\mathrm{\Gamma }1e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_s(t_i)\tau _p}=\mathrm{\Gamma },$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=T^1`$ is the average pulse rate and we have used the fact that the pulse area is a random number between 0 and 2$`\pi `$. Taking into account the collisional coupling $`V_c(t,b)`$ between the levels, one obtains evolution equations for components of the Bloch vector $`w=\rho _{11}\rho _{00}=2\rho _{11}1`$, $`v=i(\rho _{10}\rho _{01})`$ as

$$dw/dx=U(y)v;\text{ }dv/dx=U(y)wn(y)v,$$
(3)
where $`x=t/\tau _c(b)`$ is a dimensionless time, $`y=b/b_0`$ is a relative impact parameter, and $`U(y)=y^5`$ and $`n(y)=n_0y`$ are dimensionless frequencies. These equations are solved subject to the initial condition $`w(0)=1;`$ $`v(0)=0`$, to obtain the value $`\rho _{11}(x=1,y,n_0)=[w(x=1,y)+1]/2.`$ The relative transition rate $`S`$ is given by

$$S(n_0)=2\pi Nub_0^2_0^{\mathrm{}}y𝑑y\rho _{11}(x=1,y,n_0)/2,$$
(4)
where $`N`$ is the perturber density. A coefficient, $`R(n_0),`$ which measures the suppression of decoherence, can be defined as

$$R(n_0)=_0^{\mathrm{}}y𝑑y\rho _{11}(x=1,y,n_0)/_0^{\mathrm{}}y𝑑y\rho _{11}(x=1,y,0)$$
(5)
Solving Eqs. (3), one finds

$`\rho _{11}(x`$ $`=`$ $`1,y,n_0)=[1{\displaystyle \frac{r_1}{r_2r_1}}(e^{r_1}{\displaystyle \frac{r_1}{r_2}}e^{r_2})]/2;`$ (7)
$`r_{1,2}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(n_0y\pm \sqrt{(n_0y)^24y^{10}}\right)/2.`$ (8)
It is now an easy matter to numerically integrate Eqs. (5) to obtain $`R(n_0)`$. Before presenting the numerical results, we can look at some limiting cases which provide insight into the physical origin of the suppression of decoherence.

A plot of $`\rho _{11}(x=1,y,n_0)`$ as a function of $`y=b/b_0`$ is shown in Fig. 2 for several values of $`n_0.`$ With decreasing $`y`$, $`\rho _{11}`$ increases monotonically to some maximum value $`\rho _{11}(y_m)`$ and then begins to oscillate about $`\rho _{11}=1/2`$ with increasing amplitude. One concludes from such plots that two effects contribute to the suppression of coherence. The first effect, important for large $`n_0`$, is a reduction in the value of $`y_m`$. The second effect, important for $`n_0`$ of order unity, is a decrease in the value of $`\rho _{11}(y_m)`$. Let us examine these two effects separately.

For very large $`n_0,`$ $`n_0^{5/66}1,`$ one can approximate $`\rho _{11}`$ over the range of $`y`$ contributing significantly to the integral (4) as $`\rho _{11}(x=1,y,n_0)\left(1e^{y^{11}/n_0}\right)/2.`$ By evaluating the integrals in (5), one finds a suppression of decoherence ratio given by

$$R(n_0)=0.95/n_0^{2/11}.$$
(9)
The $`n_0^{2/11}`$ dependence is a general result for a collisional interaction that varies as the interatomic separation to the minus 6th power. It can be understood rather easily. The pulses break up the collision into $`n_0y`$ segments, each having a (dimensionless) time duration $`x_b=1/(n_0y)`$. Each segment provides a perturbative contribution to $`\rho _{11}`$ of order $`y^{10}(n_0y)^2`$, provided $`y<y_w`$, where $`y_w`$ is to be determined below. The total population from the entire collision interval varies as $`\rho _{11}y^{10}(n_0y)^2n_0y=y^{11}/n_0`$. Of course, $`\rho _{11}`$ cannot exceed unity. One can define an effective relative Weisskopf radius, $`y_w,`$ as one for which $`\rho _{11}=1`$, namely $`y_w=b_w/b_0=n_0^{1/11}.`$ The total transition rate varies as $`y_w^2n_0^{2/11}`$, in agreement with (9). As $`n_0\mathrm{}`$, the atom is frozen in its initial state.

For values of $`n_0`$ of order unity, the dominant cause of the suppression of decoherence is a decrease in the value of $`\rho _{11}(y_m)`$, rather than the relatively small decrease in $`y_m`$ from its value when $`n_0=0`$. For values $`n_03,`$ approximately 45% of the contribution to the transition rate $`S(n_0)`$ originates from $`y>y_m,`$ and, for these values of $`n_0`$, $`y_m\pi ^{1/5}`$ and $`\rho _{11}(y_m)(1+e^{n_0/2\pi ^{1/5}})/2`$. This allows us to estimate the suppression of decoherence ratio as $`R(n_0)=[0.55+.45(1+e^{n_0/2\pi ^{1/5}})/2],`$ such that $`R(1)=0.93`$, $`R(2)=0.88`$, $`R(3)=0.84.`$ These values are approximately 70% of the corresponding numerical results, indicating that the decrease in $`\rho _{11}(y_m)`$ accounts for approximately 70% of the suppression at low $`n_0`$, with the remaining 30% coming from a decrease in $`y_m`$. The first few collisions are relatively efficient in suppressing decoherence. With increasing $`n_0`$, the suppression process slows, varying as $`n_0^{2/11}`$. In Fig. 3, the suppression of decoherence ratio $`R(n_0)`$, obtained by a numerical solution of Eq. (5), is plotted as a function of $`n_0`$.

## B Uniformly Spaced Pulses

We consider now the case of equally spaced pulses, having effective pulse areas that are randomly chosen, modulo 2$`\pi `$. The time between pulses is $`T`$, and $`n_0=\tau _c(b_0)/T`$. For a relative impact parameter $`y=b/b_0`$, with $`m`$ $`n(y)=n_0y`$ $`m+1`$, where $`m`$ is a positive integer or zero, exactly $`m`$ or $`m+1`$ pulses occur. The effect of the pulses is calculated easily using the Bloch vector. At $`x=0`$, $`w=1`$ and $`v=0`$. The Bloch vector then undergoes free evolution at frequency $`U(y)=`$ $`y^5`$ up until the (dimensionless) time of the first pulse, $`x_s=t_s/\tau _c(b)`$. The pulse randomizes the phase of the Bloch vector, so that the average Bloch vector following the pulse is projected onto the $`w`$ axis. From $`x=x_s`$ to $`x_s`$ $`+T/\tau _c(b)=x_s`$ $`+1/n(y)`$, the Bloch vector again precesses freely and acquires a phase $`UT=y^5/n(y)=y^6/n_0`$, at which time the next pulse projects it back onto the $`w`$ axis. Taking into account the periods of free precession and projection, and averaging over the time $`x_s`$ at which the first pulse occurs, one finds

$`w(y)`$ $`=`$ $`[1n(y)]\mathrm{cos}[y^5]`$ (11)
$`+n(y){\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑x_s\mathrm{cos}[y^5x_s]\mathrm{cos}[y^5(1x_s)];`$
$`0`$ $``$ $`y1/n_0,`$ (12)
$`w(y)`$ $`=`$ $`[m+1n(y)][(m+1)/n(y)1]^1`$ (18)
$`\times {\displaystyle _{1m/n(y)}^{1/n(y)}}dx_s\mathrm{cos}[y^5x_s]\mathrm{cos}^{m1}[y^6/n_0]`$
$`\times \mathrm{cos}[y^5\{1x_s(m1)/n(y)\}]`$
$`+[n(y)m]\left[1m/n(y)\right]^1`$
$`\times {\displaystyle _0^{1m/n(y)}}dx_s\mathrm{cos}[y^5x_s]\mathrm{cos}^m[y^6/n_0]`$
$`\times \mathrm{cos}[y^5\{1x_sm/n(y)\}];`$
$`\text{ }m/n_0`$ $``$ $`y(m+1)/n_0\text{ }\text{ for }m1.`$ (19)
In the limit that $`n_01`$, for all impact parameters that contribute significantly to the transition rate, approximately $`n(y)`$ pulses occur at relative impact parameter $`y`$, implying that $`w(y)\mathrm{cos}^{n(y)}[y^5/n(y)]`$ and

$`R(n_0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1\mathrm{cos}^{n_0y}[y^6/n_0]}{1\mathrm{cos}[y^5]}}`$ (20)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1[1y^{12}/2n_0^2]^{n_0y}}{1\mathrm{cos}[y^5]}}`$ (21)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1e^{y^{11}/2n_0}}{1\mathrm{cos}[y^5]}}={\displaystyle \frac{0.84}{n_0^{2/11}}},`$ (22)
which is the same functional dependence found for the randomly spaced pulses. Note that the form {$`1\mathrm{cos}^{n(y)}[y^{15}/n(y)]\}`$ is identical to that found in theories of the Zeno effect .

The suppression of decoherence ratio $`R(n_0)`$, obtained from Eqs. (5) and (19) \[using $`\rho _{11}=(1+w)/2]`$, is plotted in Fig. 3. The fact that it lies below that for randomly spaced pulses is connected with the difference in the average collisional phase shift acquired between radiation pulses for the two models. The oscillations in $`R(n_0)`$ appear to be an artifact of our square pulse collision model. In the absence of the pulses, the first maximum in the transition cross section occurs for $`y_{\mathrm{max}}=(\pi )^{1/5}`$, corresponding to a $`\pi `$ collision pulse. With increasing $`n_0`$, the pulses divide the collision duration into approximately $`n(y)`$ equal intervals. If these pulse intervals are odd or even multiples of $`\pi ,`$ one can enhance or suppress the contribution to the transition rate at specific impact parameters. Numerical calculations carried out for a smooth interatomic potential do not exhibit these oscillations.

## C Discussion

Although the collisional interaction has been modeled as a square pulse, the qualitative nature of the results is unchanged for a more realistic collisional interaction, including level shifts. In fact, for a smooth interatomic potential that allows for an increased number of radiation pulses over the duration of the collisional interaction, the suppression is slightly enhanced from the square pulse values. Although the pulses are assumed to drive only the $`J=1,m=0`$ $`J=0,`$ excited state transition, it is necessary only that the incident pulses produce different phase shifts on the $`J=1,m=0`$ and $`J=1,m=1`$ state amplitudes.

To observe the suppression of decoherence, one could use Yb as the active atom and Xe perturbers. The Weisskopf radius for magnetic decoherence is about 1.0 nm , yielding a decoherence rate of $`10^{10}`$ s-1 at 500 Torr of Xe pressure at 300$`{}_{}{}^{}C`$, and a collision duration $`\tau _c(b_0)`$ $`2.5`$ ps. Thus, by choosing a pulse train having pulses of duration $`\tau _p=`$100 fs, separated by 0.5 ps, it is possible to have 5 pulses per collision. If an experiment is carried out with an overall time of 100 ps (time from initial excitation to probing of the final state), one needs a train of about 200 pulses. To achieve a phase shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s\tau _p`$ of order $`2\pi `$ and maintain adiabaticity, one can take the detuning $`\delta =3\times `$1013 s-1 and the Rabi frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }1\times `$1014 s-1 on the $`J=1,m=0`$ $`J=0,`$ excited state transition . The corresponding, power density is $`1.5\times 10^{11}`$ W/cm2, and the power per pulse is $`150`$ $`\mu `$J (assuming a $`1`$ mm2 focal spot size). This is a rather modest power requirement. With 5 pulses/collision duration, one can expect a relative suppression of magnetic state decoherence of order 40%.

Finally, we should like to comment on whether or not the effect described in this work constitutes a Quantum Zeno effect. Normally, the Quantum Zeno effect is presented as a projection of a quantum system onto a given state as a result of a measurement on the system. In the experiment of Itano et al., this ”measurement” is reflected by the presence or absence of spontaneously emitted radiation during each uv ”measurement” pulse. The measurement pulse must be sufficiently long to produce a high likelihood of spontaneous emission whenever the atom is ”projected” into the initial state by the pulse. Following each measurement pulse, the off-diagonal density matrix element for the two states of the rf transition goes to zero. In our experiment involving off-resonant pulses, the number of Rayleigh photons scattered from the $`J=0`$ level during each applied pulse is much less than unity. As such, there is no Quantum Zeno effect, even if suppression of magnetic state decoherence occurs. On average, each pulse having random area destroys the coherence between the $`J=1,m=0`$ and $`J=1,m=\pm 1`$ state amplitudes, but does not kill this coherence for a single atom. With an increasing number of radiation pulses, $`n_0`$, however, both the average value and the standard deviation of the transition probability tends to zero as $`n_0^1`$ for each atom in the ensemble.

The experiment of Itano et al. could be modified to allow for a comparison with the theory presented herein, and to observe the transition into the Quantum Zeno regime. If the pulses that drive the strong transition are replaced by a sequence of off-resonant pulses, each pulse having a duration $`\tau _p`$ much less than the time, $`T_\pi `$, required for the pi pulse to drive the weak transition, and each pulse having an effective area, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s\tau _p=(\mathrm{\Omega }^2/4\delta )\tau _p`$, that is random in the domain \[0,2$`\pi ],`$ then the pulses will suppress the excitation of the weak transition (it is assumed that $`\mathrm{\Omega }/\delta 1)`$. If the upper state decay rate is $`\gamma `$, then the average number of Rayleigh photons scattered during each pulse is $`n=\left(\mathrm{\Omega }/4\delta \right)^2\gamma \tau _p.`$ For $`n<1`$, there is suppression of the transition rate as in our case, while, for $`n1`$, there is suppression and a Quantum Zeno effect. There is no average over impact parameter, since exactly $`[T_\pi /T`$\] or (\[$`T_\pi /T`$\]+1) pulses in each interval between the pulses, where \[$`x`$\] indicates the integer part of $`x`$.

## D Acknowledgments

PRB is pleased to acknowledge helpful discussions with R. Merlin, A. Rojo and J. Thomas. This research is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant PHY-9800981 and by the U. S. Army Research Office under grants DAAG55-97-0113 and DAAH04-96-0160.


text:
# Analysis of the experimental results from the EAS installation GAMMA at Mt. Aragats

## 1 111Corresponding author. E-mail: martir@lx2.yerphi.amIntroduction

The particle physics and astrophysics aspects of air shower studies are closely interlaced. The problems of sources and nature of the primary radiation and features of the high energy hadron interactions cannot be solved separately. The history of attempts to clarify the origin of the appreciable change in the index of the shower size spectrum (the $`knee)`$, which was found more than 40 years ago  and confirmed by other experiments, is the best manifestation of that. Many new experiments were born devoted to the observation of various components of EAS, including Cherenkov light in the atmosphere and experiments under water. However, up to now there is no unequivocal explanation of the reason of this phenomena. The most popular interpretation of the $`knee`$ is the existence of the $`knee`$ in the primary cosmic ray energy spectrum at energy about (3-5).10$`^\text{6}`$ GeV and, as a possible consequence, the change of the mass composition. There are different experimental analysis leading to opposite conclusions about primary composition after $`knee`$ (lighter , normal  or heavier ).

At the same time there is an alternative explanation of the $`knee`$, also based on some inconsistencies in the EAS data, connected with a modification in the hadronic interaction properties  to the change of the number and energy spectrum of the secondaries. The complex installations, which measure electromagnetic component as well as muon and hadron components of EAS have the best opportunities to explore the nature of the $`knee.`$ HADRON-2  on Tien-Shan and KASCADE  are installations of such a kind. The hadron component data obtained from these installations show the fast absorption of the high energy hadrons, which is impossible to be explained by the energy increase of the interaction cross-section only. At the same time, the electromagnetic component data are in an agreement with the QGSJET model and correspond to the mixed composition of primary with progressive changing of the mass composition. In the work  on the bases of the Tien-Shan data analysis it is supposed that there is no $`knee`$ in the primary spectrum and $`knee`$ in the EAS size spectrum is explained by the change of the hadronic interaction in the atmosphere. This explanation is based on the results of the EAS electromagnetic component study , according to which there is no $`knee`$ neither in the $`young`$ showers spectrum (showers with $`S<0.75,`$ generated by primary protons interacted in the depth of atmosphere), nor in the $`old`$ showers ($`S>1.05`$) one. And the existence of the $`knee`$ in the same spectra of other experiments could be explained by the missing of the young showers.

On the other hand it is not so clear situation with the so-called $`reverse`$ $`knee`$ in the EAS size spectrum at $`N_e(23)10^7`$, which was discovered in . Subsequently the same irregularity was obtained once again in Tien-Shan experiment .

At present, practically all experiments on research of the cosmic rays in the energy range 1014-1017 eV are pointed to investigate the nature of the $`knee`$. We have to point out that the KASCADE , CASA-MIA  and EAS-TOP  experiments present the basic advantage to have their data analyzed using multiparameter procedures. Only such an approach to study the EAS characteristics allows some advance in understanding of the reasons of the existence of the $`knee`$ in the spectrum on Ne. In this paper, we present the experimental results of the GAMMA installation of the experimental complex ANI also working in this field.

The GAMMA installation is located on hillside of the Mt. Aragats in Armenia (3200 m a.s.l.). In comparison with the other large scale experiments with the same goals, the high-altitude observation level of the GAMMA installation provides some advantages, in particular for minimizing the intrinsic fluctuations of the observables due to the stochastic character of the EAS development in atmosphere. This will add some new observations, which would clearly complement the data from KASCADE (near sea-level), CASA-MIA (1200 meters), and EAS-TOP (2000 meters). In the present work, showers are simulated using the CORSIKA code 5.20  in which the hadronic interactions are described by the VENUS model,. On the other hand, to compare the simulation data with experimental ones, the normal mixed composition was used, i.e. proton-40 $`\%`$, $`\alpha `$-21$`\%`$, light-nuclei ($`<`$A$`>`$=14)-14$`\%`$, medium-nuclei ($`<`$A$`>`$=26)-13$`\%`$ and heavy-nuclei ($`<`$A$`>`$=56)-12$`\%`$

## 2 Present status of the GAMMA EAS installation

The GAMMA installation  was realized as a part of the project ANI  in an attempt to continue experimental study of the hadronic interactions and the energy spectrum and mass composition of the primary cosmic radiation in the energy range of $`10^{14}10^{17}`$ eV.

After some years spent to enlarge the effective area of the muon underground detector, which was necessary to elaborate methodical studies of the detector parameters, to investigate carefully the array response and to determine the precision of the shower parameter estimation, the GAMMA experiment is, now, effectively running.

GAMMA is a central type array and consists of two main parts $`(figure\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1})`$:

(i) the surface part, for the registration of the EAS electromagnetic component;

(ii) the large muon underground detector, to register the EAS muon component.

#### 2.0.1 The surface scintillation array

The surface scintillation array constists of 25 groups of 3 scintillation detectors placed on concentric circles with radii of 17, 28, 50 and 70 $`m`$. Each of the detectors has 1 $`m^2`$ of effective area. They are distributed on the full area of $``$1.5$`10^4`$ $`m^2`$. An additional station with 20 detectors of the same type is placed at the 135 $`m`$ from the installation centre. The energy threshold for the registration of the electrons flux, $`E_e^{thres}9.5`$ MeV, is estimated taking into account the thickness and the specificities of the detectors and registration stations. The calibration of detectors has been carried out by periodical (each hour) registration of the cosmic ray background particles . It was taken into account that the most probable value of the registered particles differs from $`0^0`$ and depends on the observation level .

Each of the 25 registration stations is equipped with the timing channel which allows to determine the angular coordinates of the shower axis. The trigger condition for one EAS registration is that in each of four groups of detectors placed at 17 meters from the array centre, two detectors have to register a flux density with $`\rho 3part/m^2`$.

The main EAS parameters: coordinates and angles of the shower axis $`(X,Y,\theta ,\phi )`$, number of electrons $`(N_e)`$ and age parameter $`S_{NKG}`$ are obtained using the SPACE code  created on the basis of the statistical methods for the solution of the inverse problem . Taking into account the detector response, GAMMA array geometry and using Monte-Carlo procedure the data bank of pseudo experimental showers was created and treated by the same SPACE code.

As the result of this study, the following accuracies on the EAS parameter estimations are obtained: $`\mathrm{\Delta }X,\mathrm{\Delta }Y3m`$ $`(`$for $`R40m)`$, $`\sigma _\theta 1.5^0`$, $`\sigma _\phi 8^0`$, $`\sigma _{N_e}/<N_e>20\%`$.

Furthermore, the analysis of the shower registration efficiency shows that the showers with particle number $`N_e310^5`$ within 20 $`m`$ and $`N_e10^6`$ within 40 $`m`$ from the array centre are registered with 100% efficiency.

#### 2.0.2 Underground muon detector

The layout of the muon underground detector is shown in $`figure\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}`$. As for the GAMMA surface part identical scintillation detectors with $`S=1m^2`$ were used for the registration of the EAS muon component. It should be noted that the muon scintillation detectors are divided into 2 groups placed under different absorber thickness. This allows to study EAS muons with 2 different energy thresholds: $`E_\mu 5`$GeV (Hall) and $`E_\mu 2.5`$GeV (Tunnel). These thresholds were estimated experimentally using scintillation telescope with a small solid angle. The arrangement of the muon detectors gives the possibility to determine the muon lateral distribution up to $`60m`$ at $`E_\mu `$ 5 GeV and up to $`90m`$ at $`E_\mu `$2.5 GeV.

Some peculiarities of the GAMMA array geometry make necessary to pay attention on the azimuth angle symmetry of data. The surface detectors are placed on the hillside and sometimes the difference between $`Z`$ coordinates of the individual detectors is reaching $`18m`$. On the other hand, the position of muon detector is very asymmetric in regard to the geometric centre of our installation. In this case, the influence of azimuth angle $`\phi `$ could be strong. To check this effect we divided the observed showers into four groups with $`\phi [090]^0,[90180]^0,[180270]^0,[270360]^0`$. The comparison of the average muon lateral distributions for each of these groups by $`\phi `$ is shown in $`figure\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}(a,b)`$ for $`<N_e>=1.2810^6`$. It can be visible, that the difference of the muon lateral distributions for the different ranges of $`\phi `$ is quite negligible. Furthermore, it is necessary to point out that for the small distances (less than $`15m`$ for $`E_\mu `$2.5 GeV and $`8m`$ for $`E_\mu `$5 GeV) there is a significant influence of the punch through of particles (high energy electrons and hadrons) and these distances are excluded from the further analysis.

## 3 Results

We have used the experimental data obtained during 3300 hours operation time. The number of EAS with $`N_e10^5`$ and with zenith angle $`\theta 30^0`$ is $`260.000`$. The effective area for the selection of the EAS axis is $`5.000m^2`$.

### 3.1 Electromagnetic component characteristics

The main parameters of the EAS electromagnetic component at the given observation level are: the total number of the charge particles or shower size $`N_e`$ and the lateral shower age parameter $`S`$. In order to obtain the EAS size spectrum and to investigate its behaviour in the $`knee`$ region the correct estimation of these parameters is needed.

Usually in the energy region of $`10^510^7`$GeVthe scintillation detectors are used to register the EAS charged particles. However it is well known that such type of a detector registers not only the EAS charged particles, but also electrons generated in the absorber above as well as in the scintillator by EAS photons. This contribution to the measured charged particle density depends both on the scintillator thickness and the distance of detector from the shower axis.

The comparison of the charge particle densities seen by scintillation detectors and Geiger counters has been made for different distances from the shower core . In the same way, comparisons with other kind of detectors have been performed, (spark chamber , Geiger counter , neon flash tube , as well as with thin and thick scintillators ). But, up to now, there are not exact estimation of the photon contribution. In the energy range $`10^510^7`$GeV all these investigations show both a smooth rise and a noticeable decrease of the photon contribution to the measured shower size versus the distance to the shower core up to $`100m`$.

Recently the methodical experiment on the MAKET-ANI installation on the Mt. Aragats has been carried out . Comparing the densities measured by scintillators with different thicknesses ($`1.0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.5}`$ and $`5.0cm`$), up to $`100m`$, the ratio $`K_\gamma (r)`$ of the measured density $`\rho _{sc}(r)`$to the charged one $`\rho _{ch}(r)`$is described by $`K_\gamma (r)=\rho _{sc}(r)/\rho _{ch}(r)=(r/R_M)^{0.18}`$, where $`r`$ is the distance from the shower core and $`R_M=120m`$ is the Moliere radius for the observation level of $`700g.cm^2`$. According to this result the photon contribution to the charged particle density is $`17\%`$ at $`50m`$ from the shower axis and practically disappears at $`100m`$.

At the same time, simulations show  a significant increase of the ratio of the photon number to electrons one versus $`r`$. Calculations for the real conditions of the GAMMA installation have been performed taking into account the absorber and scintillator thicknesses . According to this work the photon contribution to the measured number of the charged particles is practically constant from $`5`$ to $`100m`$ and is $`K_\gamma 1.25`$. The processing of the GAMMA data considering these two results, $`K_\gamma (r)=(r/R_M)^{0.18}`$ and $`K_\gamma =1.25`$, , has been made to study the influence of this factor on the measured EAS features.

In $`figures`$ $`4`$ the experimental electron lateral distributions are shown for three EAS average size intervals $`<N_e>`$=$`2.310^5,`$ $`7.310^5`$ and $`22.810^5`$ as estimated for the two cases of the photon contribution. It can be seen that in both cases the electron lateral distribution can be very well approximated using the NKG function, but because of the different shape of $`K_\gamma `$ versus $`r`$, the average age parameter value $`<S>`$ is different by about 0.16.

The comparison between the measured and simulated electron lateral distributions is shown in $`figure\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}`$ for the same values of $`<N_e>`$. It can be seen a good agreement for the correction factor $`K_\gamma =1.25=const`$. This agreement improves with the increasing of $`<N_e>`$.

It has to be noticed that the age parameter only describes the shape of the charged particles lateral distribution and its values $`<S>`$ $`<1`$ do not contradict to the fact that the shower is over the longitudinal development maximum. $`Figure`$ $`6`$ shows the dependence of the age parameter $`<S>`$ versus the shower size $`<N_e>`$ from our experimental data processed with $`K_\gamma (r)=(r/R_M)^{0.18}`$ and $`K_\gamma =1.25`$ and the results from our simulation and the Tien-Shan experimental data . For $`<N_e>`$ $``$ $`(35)10^5`$, experimental data with $`K_\gamma =1.25`$ are in a good agreement with the simulation results which is not at all the same in the case of $`K_\gamma (r)=(r/R_M)^{0.18}`$ for which the disagreement is large.

For the both variants of processing, the differential size spectra are shown in $`figure`$ $`7a`$ for showers in the zenith angle interval $`\theta 30^0`$, (mean atmospheric depth : $`738g.cm^2`$). In both cases the $`knee`$ can be easily observed. Spectra are approximated in the whole $`N_e`$ interval by formula : $`I(N_e)=AN_e^{\gamma _1}(1+(N_e/N_e^{knee})^k)^{(\gamma _1\gamma _2)/k}`$. The spectra differ mainly at the beginning and the end of the size interval, (by no more than 20%). Spectral indexes difference for GAMMA for both cases is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma =0.36\pm 0.02`$. The $`knee`$ regions approximately coincide at $`N_e^{knee}(1.82.0)10^6`$. The integral intensity for the range of $`N_eN_e^{knee}`$ is $`(1.3\pm 0.4)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}10}^7m^2s^1sr^1`$. This result is in agreement with the data of other experiments .

In order to demonstrate the $`knee`$ region properties more visually spectra are given in $`figure`$ $`7b`$ multiplied by $`N_e^{2.5}`$. For the case of $`K_\gamma =1.25`$ spectral index is less by $`(0.07\pm 0.02)`$ in the whole $`N_e`$ region.

In the $`figure`$ $`8,`$ the size spectra for the two zenith angle intervals are shown at $`<\theta >=14^0`$ and $`<\theta >=31^0`$ to make the qualitative assessment of the behaviour of the spectra at different angles. They are practically parallel and coincide when data with $`<\theta >=31^0`$ are shifted. Such behaviour corresponds to the shower absorption lenght of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=(230\pm 25)gcm^2`$ below the knee and $`(230\pm 40)gcm^2`$ above up to $`Ne=510^6`$. The permanency of the attenuation length is one evidence of the constant charged particle composition of the showers below and above the $`knee`$ only and says nothing about the cause of the $`knee`$.

In $`figure`$ $`9`$ the spectra are shown with various cuts of the age parameter $`S`$. Relatively $`old`$ shower spectrum $`(S>0.85)`$ practically has no $`knee`$ and is steeper than all shower spectrum. On the other hand, the $`young`$ shower spectrum $`(S<0.75)`$ has the obvious $`knee`$ and is flatter, than the all shower spectrum below the $`knee`$ and is almost parallel to it above. These spectra may be explained with both hypothesises of the $`knee`$ origin noted in the introduction, because of the region of $`N_e(12)10^6`$ is transitional. The $`young`$ showers fraction does not arise above the $`knee`$ because of change of the mass composition to heavier one in the model of primary $`knee`$. In the case of change of the hadron interaction the fraction of the heavy-like events will rise among the showers generated by primary protons.

### 3.2 Muon component characteristics

As it was mentioned above, the underground muon detectors are placed in the hall and tunnel of the GAMMA underground part. Due to the different shieldings of concrete, iron and ground above detectors, muons with two energy thresholds $`E_\mu 5`$GeV (hall) and $`E_\mu 2.5`$GeV (tunnel) are detected. The muon lateral distributions for given thresholds and three $`<N_e>`$ intervals are shown in $`figure\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}a`$. These distributions are limited by the number of detectors and their disposition in the hall and tunnel. Moreover, close to the shower core the signal in the detectors are strongly affected by the contribution of other type of particles due to the punch through effect. So, the correct determination of the muon lateral distribution is available at distances $`[8`$ $``$ $`52]m`$ for $`E_\mu 5`$GeV and $`[2090]m`$ for $`E_\mu 2.5`$GeV. In the interval of $`[050]m`$, the shapes of lateral distribution are very similar for the both muon energy thresholds. This gives the possibility to find a transition coefficient from the density of muons with $`E_\mu 2.5`$GeV to the muon density with $`E_\mu 5`$GeV, which is $`\rho (2.5`$GeV$`)/\rho (5`$GeV$`)1.35`$, for all $`<N_e`$ $`>`$ intervals. In $`figure`$ $`10b`$, the muon lateral distribution with the energy threshold $`E_\mu 5`$GeV for the hall detectors and reconstructed one from the distribution of tunnel detectors are presented. These distributions are well approximated by the Hillas function, , $`\rho _\mu (N_e,r)=0.9(N_e/10^5)r^{(0.75+0.06\mathrm{ln}(N_e/10^5)}\mathrm{exp}(r/80).`$ This formula describes well the experimental data for $`N_e<2.10^6`$. Farther, the dependence of $`\rho _\mu `$ versus $`N_e`$becomes stronger but the shape of the distribution remains the same.

The approximations of the Tien-Shan data , for the same energy threshold $`E_\mu 5`$GeV and the same observation level $`700gcm^2`$ are presented by $`\rho _\mu (N_e,r)=0.95(N_e/10^5)^{0.8}r^{0.75}\mathrm{exp}(r/80)`$. This formula describes the GAMMA experimental data noticeably worse, especially for $`N_e>10^6`$.

As it was mentioned above, the lateral distribution of muons in our experiment,$`(E_\mu 5`$GeV), is studied for distances $`r52m`$ from the shower core where about $`33\%`$ of all muons are contained. Obtaining the total muon number, $`N_\mu ,`$by integration the muon lateral distribution function, the possible extrapolation errors for $`r>52m`$ will give an error in the $`N_\mu `$ estimation. On the other hand, closer to the shower axis, $`r8m,`$ other kinds of particles give a considerable contribution to muon lateral distribution. For this reason, we use the truncated muon number, $`N_\mu ^{trun}`$, which is the number of muons in the ring $`8m<r<52m`$. Experimentally, the truncated muon number is determined as $`N_\mu ^{trun}(r)=(\rho _i^{ex}/w_\mu ^{trun}(r))/K`$ , where:

$`K`$ is number of detectors in the given interval of $`r`$;

$`\rho _i^{ex}`$ is the experimental muon density in the $`i^{th}`$ detector and

$`w_\mu ^{trun}(r)`$ is the truncated muon probability distribution, determined by our muon lateral distribution approximation.

It should be noticed, that according to simulations, $`N_\mu ^{trun}`$($`>`$5 GeV) in our experiment depends on the primary particle mass. $`Figure`$ $`11`$ shows $`N_\mu ^{trun}`$ dependence on $`N_e`$. Up to $`N_e210^6`$ it can be fitted with the expression $`N_\mu ^{trun}N_e^{0.79}`$. For larger $`N_e`$ dependence becomes steeper. It should be noted that because of the shower size threshold $`N_e>10^5`$ the registration of the shower with fixed muon size and 100% efficiency is possible at $`N_\mu ^{trun}10^3`$.

The differential $`N_\mu ^{trun}`$ spectrum is plotted on $`figure`$ $`12`$. It can be seen that there is no obvious $`knee`$, but the data do not contradict to change of spectral index by (0.1-0.2) at $`N_\mu ^{trun}>510^3`$. Contrary to the case of fixed $`N_e`$ the showers at fixed $`N_\mu `$ are enriched by the showers generated by heavy primaries. If the proton spectrum has a $`knee`$ only then the $`N_\mu `$ spectrum will have feebly marked $`knee`$.  At energies above the possible $`knee`$ position of the primary iron spectrum, $`N_\mu `$ spectrum will obtain the final index different by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma 0.5`$ from present one. It is necessary to expand our measurements to this energy region.

Situation in the case of the change of hadron interactions for sufficientely high energies depends on details of the secondary spectra but the difference of indexes will be not bigger.

In order to interpret our experimental results the instrumental response has to be taken into account. For this purpose the detector simulation program ARES (ARagats Events Simulation)  based on the GEANT package. has been developed for the GAMMA installation. The data from CORSIKA simulated EAS are used as input for the ARES code.

To take into account the detector response to EAS muon component all secondary particles of EAS at the ground level are passed through the absorber and muon detectors. For each shower the deposited energy and the muon number in the individual detector are obtained (the methodical procedure of muon number estimation is described in ). The muon lateral distribution are derived using the CORSIKA simulation data in the primary energy range of 3\*105-107GeV for the different primary groups. $`Figure`$ $`13(a,b)`$ shows the muon lateral distributions in the shower size range 1.78$``$105$`<`$Ne$`<`$3.16$``$105 in the case of the normal mixed composition for the tunnel and hall detectors. The experimental distribution and the CORSIKA/ARES simulation results (with the corresponding muon thresholds) are in a good agreement.

## 4 Conclusions

The study of the EAS electrons and muons $`(E_\mu >5`$GeV and $`E_\mu >2.5`$GeV$`)`$ by the GAMMA array gives reliable information about EAS characteristics in the shower size range of 105-107. There are not noticeable contradictions of our data with other experiments. Using the contribution of the EAS gamma-quanta equal $`K_\gamma =1.25=const`$ an agreement between CORSIKA simulation and experimental data is obtained.

Permanency of the age parameter $`S`$ at $`N_e>210^6`$ and steepening of $`N_\mu ^{trun}`$ depending on $`N_e`$ at the same range by $`N_e`$ conform to the more rapid shower development. The data in the shower size interval $`N_e^{knee}÷10N_e^{knee}`$ are not decisive for the problem of the $`knee`$ origin and enlargement of the study range is necessary for the complex installations to make sure conclusion about the primary composition and spectra. With the object to extend a possibilities of the GAMMA installation it is expected to decrease the registration threshold by $`N_e`$ and to enlarge an effective area of the shower selection with $`N_e>10^6.`$

The present paper is based on the ANI collaboration data bank and express the point of view of the given group of co-authors.

### 4.1 Acknowledgments

The present investigations are embedded in a collaboration between the Moscow Lebedev Institute (Russia), the Yerevan Physics Institute (Armenia) and the Universite de Bordeaux 1 (France).

We give thanks to the Staff of the Aragats Research Station for the assistance during the longterm maintenance of the GAMMA installation.

We are grateful to all colleagues of the Moscow Lebedev Institute and Yerevan Physics Institute Cosmic Ray Divisions who were taking part in the development and creation of the GAMMA installation. We would like to express our special gratitude to prof. S.I. Nikolsky for very useful comments and N.M. Nikolskaya for the creation of the software.

We thank also prof. A.A. Chilingarian, prof. S. Ter-Antonyan and Dr. E.Mnatsakanyan for discussions and we do not forget P. Aguer from the CENBG, (CNRS-In2p3-France) whose help has been useful.

This work was supported by the grant 96-752 of the Armenian Ministry of Industry, by the Russian RFBR 96-02-18098 grant and by the Russian Energy Ministry.

## 5 Figures

Figure 1. Layout of the GAMMA installation

Figure 2. Schematic view of the muon underground detector

Figure 3. Muon lateral distributions at the different azimuth angles $`\phi `$:

a) hall, b) tunnel

Figure 4. Electron lateral distributions for two cases of the photon contribution

a) $`K_\gamma (r)=(r/R_M)^{0.18}`$, b) $`K_\gamma (r)=1.25=const`$

Figure 5. Electron lateral distribution in comparison with the CORSIKA simulation for two cases of the photon contribution

Figure 6. The average age parameter $`<S>`$ versus shower size $`<N_e>`$ at two cases of the photon contribution in comparison with CORSIKA simulation and Tien-Shan data

Figure 7. Differential size spectra at two cases of the photon contribution

Figure 8. Differential size spectra at different zenith angles

Figure 9. Differential size spectra at different interval by age parameter

Figure 10. Muon lateral distribution at different shower sizes in

a) hall, b) tunnel

Figure 11. Average truncated muon number $`<N_\mu ^{tun}>`$ versus number of electrons $`<N_e>`$

Figure 12. Differential spectrum of truncated muon number

Figure 13. Muon lateral distributions in comparison with CORSIKA and ARES simulation results:

a) hall, b) tunnel