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# Quasar Elemental Abundances at High Redshifts

## 1 Introduction

Quasars at high redshift are excellent tools to investigate the formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes in the early universe, and to probe the physical state of their galactic environment up to early cosmic epochs. In recent years there is growing evidence that quasar activity and the formation of their host galaxies, in particular of massive spheroidal systems, are closely related.

The presence of dark massive objects (DMOs) in the center of nearly every galaxy with a significant spheroidal component supports models that connect the formation and evolution of galaxies with quasar activity. It has been shown that the mass of the DMOs, generally regarded as super-massive black holes, is closely correlated with the spheroidal mass of the host-galaxy (e.g., Kormendy & Richstone 1995; Magorrian et al. 1998; Richstone et al. 1998; Gebhardt et al. 2000; Merritt & Ferrarese 2001; Tremaine et al. 2002). In the context of galaxy evolution, the conditions that give rise to quasars and massive black holes will also yield solar or super-solar metallicities on time scales shorter than $`1`$ Gyr (Arimoto & Yoshii 1987; Hamann & Ferland 1993; Gnedin & Ostriker 1997; Friaça & Terlevich 1998; Cen & Ostriker 1999; Romano et al. 2002). Additional strong evidence for the relationship between quasar activity, host galaxy formation, and intense star formation episodes is provided by the detection of large amounts of dust ($`10^8`$ M) and molecular gas ($`10^{10}`$ M) measured in high redshift quasars (Andreani, La Franca, & Cristiani 1993; Isaak et al. 1994; Omont et al. 1996, 2001; Carilli et al. 2000, 2001). The co-moving number density of quasars and the cosmic star formation rate are both at least one order of magnitude larger for epochs with $`z1`$ than in the local universe (e.g., Gallego et al. 1995; Lilly et al. 1996; Connolly et al. 1997; Tresse & Maddox 1998; Steidel et al. 1999; Lanzetta et al. 2002). The evolution of the space densities of quasars and galaxies with starburst activity are also very similar. Finally, there may be a relation between the luminosity functions of normal galaxies and quasars (e.g., Dickinson 1998; Pettini et al. 1998; Boyle & Terlevich 1998).

Quasars at high redshift are therefore of interest as valuable probes to date the beginning of the first star formation episodes in the early universe (Hamann & Ferland 1992, 1993, 1999; Dietrich et al. 1999, 2000). Currently, about 350 quasars with redshifts $`z4`$ are known (e.g., Schneider et al. 1991a, b; Storrie-Lombardi et al. 1996; Anderson et al. 2001; Djorgovski 2002), and several quasars with $`z5`$ and even $`z>6`$ have been recently discovered (Fan et al. 1999, 2000a, b, 2001; Stern et al. 2000; Zheng et al. 2000; Sharp et al. 2001; Becker et al. 2001). The redshift range $`z4`$ corresponds to an epoch when the universe was less than $`10`$ % of its current age (H$`{}_{o}{}^{}=65`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$; Carroll, Press, & Turner 1992).

The chemical composition of the gas associated with quasars can be estimated using the broad emission lines in the ultraviolet spectral range (for a review, see Hamann & Ferland 1999). Unfortunately, the strengths of prominent metal lines, such as C iv$`\lambda 1549`$, relative to Ly$`\alpha `$ are not sensitive to the overall metallicity for $`Z0.1Z_{}`$ (Hamann & Ferland 1999). Shields (1976) proposed that the relative nitrogen abundance could be used as an indirect metallicity indicator. Assuming that the secondary nitrogen production, i.e., the synthesis of nitrogen from existing carbon and oxygen via CNO burning in intermediate mass stars (Tinsley 1980; Henry et al. 2000), is the dominant source for nitrogen, this results in $`N/OO/H`$ and hence $`N/H(O/H)^2Z^2`$. Observations of HII regions indicate that secondary nitrogen production and the $`N/OO/H`$ scaling dominate when the metallicity is above $`1/3`$ to $`1/2`$ solar (Shields 1976; Pagel & Edmunds 1981; van Zee et al. 1998; Izotov & Thuan 1999; Pettini et al. 2002). It has been noted (Henry et al. 2000; Kobulnicky & Skillman 1996) that departures from the simple $`N/OO/H`$ relationship can occur if the enrichment is dominated by star formation in discrete bursts. This situation leads to time-dependent fluctuations in the N/O ratio because of different delays in the stellar release of N and O (and C). However, the overall trend for increasing N/O with O/H remains. Moreover, there are no reports, to our knowledge, of large N/O ratios in metal poor interstellar gas. Large N/O abundances are an indicator of high metallicities in any scenario that involves a well-mixed interstellar medium.

Early investigations of the abundances in broad emission-line region (BELR) gas were based on several generally weak inter-combination lines like N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$, O iii\]$`\lambda 1663`$, N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$, and C iii\]$`\lambda 1909`$ (Shields 1976; Davidson 1977; Baldwin & Netzer 1978; Osmer 1980; Gaskell et al. 1981; Uomoto 1984). The results of these studies already indicated larger than solar metallicity for the BELR gas. Recent studies of high-redshift quasars ($`z3`$) provide evidence for significantly enhanced metallicities up to several times solar. These results obtained by studying the emission line properties of quasars (Hamann & Ferland 1992, 1993; Ferland et al. 1996; Dietrich et al. 1999, 2002a; Dietrich & Wilhelm-Erkens 2000; Hamann et al. 2002; Warner et al. 2002) have been corroborated by studies of the intrinsic absorption lines (Petitjean et al. 1994; Møller et al. 1994; Hamann 1997; Pettini 1999). The derived high chemical abundances require an era of major star formation at some earlier epoch.111 The high metallicities cannot be caused by contamination by single stars or small star clusters. Substantial stellar populations must be involved in the enrichment because the large masses of gas estimated for the BELR require a large mass of heavy elements (Baldwin et al. 2002).

Hamann & Ferland (1992, 1993) and Ferland et al. (1996) show that emission line ratios involving N v$`\lambda 1240`$ are particularly valuable. Generally, it is observed that N v$`\lambda 1240`$ is stronger than expected in the spectra of high redshift quasars compared to standard photoionization models with solar abundance. Assuming nitrogen scales roughly as $`Z^2`$ at solar and higher metallicities Hamann & Ferland (1992, 1993) suggest N v$`\lambda 1240`$/C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ and N v$`\lambda 1240`$/He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ as valuable metallicity indicators. Recently, Hamann et al. (2002) presented results of a detailed investigation on the influence of the photoionizing continuum flux and spectral shape, density, and metallicity on emission line ratios. They further quantified the metallicity and $`N/HZ^2`$ dependence of various line ratios, including several weak inter-combination lines. They favor N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$/O iii\]$`\lambda 1663`$ and N v$`\lambda 1240`$/(O vi$`\lambda 1034+`$ C iv$`\lambda 1549`$) line ratios as the most robust indicators to measure the gas chemical composition.

In section 2 we describe the sample of the $`z3.5`$ quasars studied here. In section 3 the results of the analysis of the emission line spectra are presented. We estimate the elemental abundance of the line emitting gas based on several diagnostic emission line ratios (Hamann et al. 2002). Using these emission-line ratios, the mean metallicity is $`Z/Z_{}4\mathrm{to}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}`$ for the BELR gas of the quasar sample we observed. The results are discussed and compared with previous studies (e.g., Ferland et al. 1996; Hamann & Ferland 1999; Dietrich et al. 1999, 2002a; Dietrich & Wilhelm-Erkens 2000; Hamann et al. 2002; Warner et al. 2002) in section 4. The chemical composition of the BELR gas provides further evidence that the first episodes of major star formation started at a redshift of $`z_f6\mathrm{to}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}8}`$, corresponding to an age of the universe of several $`10^8`$ years. This result is in good agreement with recent model predictions relating quasar activity with the formation of massive spheroidal systems, e.g., the progenitors of early type galaxies. In the following we assume $`H_o=65`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$.

## 2 High-Redshift Quasar Sample

We have compiled spectra for a sample of 70 high redshift quasars ($`3.5z5.0`$) to study the chemical composition of the BELR gas and its implications on the star formation history in quasar host galaxies in the early universe.

Most of the quasars at redshift $`z4`$ were observed by Constantin et al. (2002). They recorded high signal-to-noise moderate resolution spectra over multiple observing runs at the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory (MMT) and the W.M. Keck Observatory. The spectral wavelength range was chosen to cover the redshifted Ly$`\alpha `$ to He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ emission lines. Dietrich et al. (1999, 2002a) observed a small sample of 11 quasars with $`z4`$ using FORS 1 at the VLT unit telescope Antu in 1998 and 1999. These spectra cover a rest-frame wavelength range of $`8502100`$ Å. This wide range allows measurements of not only Ly$`\alpha `$ up to the He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ emission line, but also O vi$`\lambda 1034`$, N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$, and in some cases even C iii\]$`\lambda 1909`$. The high redshift quasar sample was complemented by observations which were kindly provided by Sargent et al. (1988, 1989), Schneider et al. (1991a,b), Storrie-Lombardi et al. (1996), and Steidel & Sargent (unpublished). In particular, the quasar spectra obtained by Storrie-Lombardi et al. (1996) cover the wavelength range containing O vi$`\lambda 1034`$ for many of the sources observed by Constantin et al. (2002). Multiple spectra of the same object were combined whenever possible.

Broad-absorption line quasars (BAL QSOs) were excluded from this study, although there are indications that their emission line properties do not differ from non-BAL quasars (Weymann et al. 1991). In Table 1, we list the quasars used in this study together with their redshifts, intrinsic continuum luminosity $`L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })`$ (corrected for galactic extinction; Dietrich et al. 2002b), the covered restframe wavelength range, and the references for the observations.

## 3 Analysis

Comparing mean spectra of the $`z4`$ quasars with those at $`z2`$ Constantin et al. (2002) found evidence for enhanced N v$`\lambda 1240`$ emission strength in the high-z quasar spectra indicating high metallicities. In the following we present quantitative metallicity estimates for each individual quasar based on several measured emission line ratios.

The quasar spectra were transformed to their restframe using the redshifts listed in Table 1. To determine the redshift for each quasar we fit a Gaussian profile to the upper part of the C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ emission line ($`I_\lambda 50`$ % of the peak intensity).

To measure integrated emission line fluxes, we corrected each quasar spectrum for Fe emission and the weak contribution of Balmer continuum emission while simultaneously obtaining a power-law fit representing the quasar continuum. The power-law fit, F$`{}_{\nu }{}^{}\nu ^\alpha `$, was calculated using small spectral regions, each 10 to 20 Å wide, which are free of detectable emission lines, at $`\lambda 1290`$ Å, 1340 Å, 1450 Å, 1700 Å, 1830 Å, and 1960 Å, respectively. To estimate the contribution of the Balmer continuum and Fe line emission, we used our results from the analysis of quasar composite spectra based on a large quasar sample of about 750 quasars (Dietrich et al. 2002b). For the Balmer continuum emission, we calculated a template spectrum with T$`{}_{e}{}^{}=\mathrm{15\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K, $`\tau _{BaC}=1.0`$, and n$`{}_{e}{}^{}=10^8`$ cm-3 following Grandi (1982) and Storey & Hummer (1995). The Fe emission was defined by an empirical template spectrum (Vestergaard & Wilkes 2001) and the results of detailed model calculations (Verner et al. 1999). The empirical emission template accounts for both Fe ii and Fe iii emission. The spectral width of the Fe emission features was adjusted to the FWHM of the C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ emission line profile of each quasar. We found that the strength of the Balmer continuum emission and of the Fe line emission can be estimated as a fraction of the integrated pseudo continuum flux in the wavelength range $`14201470`$ Å. The Balmer continuum emission contributes approximately $`1.6\pm 0.7`$ % and the Fe emission amounts to $`1.7\pm 0.4`$ % (Dietrich et al. 2002b). In spite of this small contributions, the estimate of the Fe line emission improves especially the measurements of N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$ and lines such as He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ near the $`\lambda 1600`$ Å feature (Laor et al. 1994; Vestergaard & Wilkes 2001).

The C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ line profile was fitted with a broad and narrow Gaussian component. The approach to reconstruct the emission line profiles with two Gaussian components was chosen to measure the integrated line flux; however, each individual component has no physical meaning by itself. These components have been used as a template to measure the other emission line fluxes. In using this approach to fit other emission lines, the widths of the broad and narrow component were fixed in velocity space while their strengths were allowed to vary independently. Furthermore, shifts in velocity space of each component were restricted to a range of less than a few 100 km s-1 with respect to C iv$`\lambda 1549`$. Using the components of the C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ emission line as templates is particularly important for measuring N v$`\lambda 1240`$ and He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ because they are blended with other emission lines. Furthermore, employing the C iv line profile as a template provides measurements of important weak lines like N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$ and N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ which are usually difficult to measure. This template-fitting approach is well justified because C iv$`\lambda 1549`$, N v$`\lambda 1240`$, and He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ are all high ionization lines (HIL). Figure 1 show typical examples of the deblending of the Ly$`\alpha 1216`$ \- N v$`\lambda 1240`$, C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ \- He ii$`\lambda 1640`$ \- O iii\]$`\lambda 1663`$, and N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$ emission line profile complexes, respectively.

The measurement of the N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ emission line flux is severely affected by the blue wing of the broad C iv component. Particularly, for quasars with broad emission line profiles, the N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ line tends to show a low contrast to the outer part of the C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ line profile (see Dietrich & Hamann 2003, in prep. for further discussion). The O vi$`\lambda 1034`$ emission line flux has been corrected for Ly$`\alpha `$ forest absorption shortward of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line. For this correction we assumed that the quasars show an intrinsic unabsorbed continuum slope of $`\alpha =1.76`$ ($`F_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$) for $`\lambda 1200`$ Å, following Telfer et al. (2002). Provided that the same fraction of the continuum and O vi$`\lambda 1034`$ emission line flux were absorbed, we estimated a corresponding correction factor. The integrated O vi$`\lambda 1034`$ flux was corrected by this factor, which varied from 1.17 to 2.77, with an average of $`1.75\pm 0.42`$.

The uncertainties of the flux measurements were estimated from the multi-component line fit using the scaled C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ line profile to obtain a minimum $`\chi ^2`$ of the fit. For the stronger lines like Ly$`\alpha 1216`$, N v$`\lambda 1240`$, Si iv$`\lambda 1402`$, C iv$`\lambda 1549`$, and C iii\]$`\lambda 1909`$ the errors are of the order of $`10`$ %; for the weaker lines, they are $`2040`$ %. These errors do not take into account the uncertainties introduced by the placement of the continuum. While the strength of strong emission lines like C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ is not changed significantly, the emission line flux of weaker lines like N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ can be underestimated by a factor of as much as $`2`$ (Dietrich & Hamann 2003, in prep.).

## 4 Results

We calculated emission line ratios relating nitrogen lines with lines of helium, oxygen, and carbon to derive the chemical composition of the BELR gas at high redshifts. These line ratios are used to estimate the chemical abundances employing the results of Hamann et al. (2002). They studied in detail the dependence of emission line ratios from the gas metallicity and the shape of the ionizing continuum. For several metallicities and continuum shapes, they calculated grids of photoionization models spanning a wide range of density, $`n_e`$, and continuum strength, $`\varphi _H`$, using CLOUDY (Ferland et al. 1998). The metallicity was varied from $`Z/Z_{}=0.2`$ to $`10`$ with all of the metals scaled in solar ratios, except $`N/OZ`$. Three different input continua were used — a broken power-law continuum with an UV bump (Mathews & Ferland 1987), a single power-law continuum with $`\alpha =1`$, and a segmented power-law that provides the best match to recent observations (Zheng et al. 1997; Laor et al. 1997). For more details of the model calculations, see Hamann et al. (2002).

The gas metallicity as provided by each of the emission line ratios is presented in Figure 2, assuming a segmented power-law continuum. The uncertainties of the emission line flux measurements are propagated for each line ratio and are used to infer an error of each metallicity estimate. The most reliable line ratios are N iii\]/O iii\] and N v/(O vi$`+`$C iv). In particular, N iii\]/O iii\], N v/(O vi$`+`$C iv), and N v/C iv provide reasonably consistent results. In spite of some differences, the individual metallicities of all line ratios indicate several times solar metallicity for the line emitting gas close to the quasars at $`z3.5`$.222Recent investigations of the photospheric solar abundance indicate that carbon and oxygen are about 30 % lower (Holweger 2001; Allende Prieto et al. 2001, 2002) than the values hitherto generally used as solar abundance (Grevesse & Sauval 1998), while the nitrogen abundance remains nearly unchanged within the errors. Hence, this would reduce the derived abundances for the high redshift quasars by $`30`$ %.

Generally, the estimates of the metallicity based on these ratios are nearly independent of the shape of the photoionizing continuum (Hamann et al. 2002). For comparison, we also estimated metallicities, using each line ratio, which were calculated with a hard power-law continuum ($`\alpha =1.0`$) and a SED of the ionizing continuum as suggested by Mathews & Ferland (1987). The derived metallicities differ by less than $`25`$ % in most cases. The strongest influence of the input continuum shape is for N v/He ii, which amounts to a factor of $`2`$ between the two most different continuum shapes. However, Hamann & Ferland (1993) and Ferland et al. (1996) noted that this line ratio provides a firm lower limit on $`N/He`$ when adopting BELR parameters that maximize the predicted N v/He ii line ratio, e.g., a hard power-law continuum ($`\alpha =1.0`$).

### 4.1 Comparison of N iii\], N iv\], and N v Metallicity Estimates

Table 2 lists the mean and median metallicities which we derived for each of the individual emission line ratios. To estimate the uncertainty of the mean metallicities inferred for each line ratio, we used the errors of the line ratios which are implied by the individual line flux measurements, $`\sigma _{obs}`$ (see section 3). In addition, the width of the distribution of the metallicities based on the corresponding line ratio for each quasar was taken into account using the rms of the mean, i.e., $`\sigma _{mean}`$ (Bevington 1969). These both contribution are used in quadrature, i.e., $`\sigma =\sqrt{\sigma _{obs}^2+\sigma _{mean}^2}`$, to estimate the errors of the mean metallicities in Table 2.

For 35 of the 70 high-redshift quasars we could compare the chemical abundance based on N iii\]/O iii\] and the ratios involving N v$`\lambda 1240`$ (Figure 3). Although N v/C iv, as well as N v/O vi tend to yield higher metallicities than N iii\]/O iii\], even this latter line ratio indicates several times solar metallicity. The mean metallicities inferred by N v/C iv, N v/O vi and N v/(O vi$`+`$C iv) are only larger by a factor of $`1.7`$, $`1.6`$, and $`1.6`$, respectively, than those derived from N iii\]/O iii\] (Table 2). Only a few high redshift quasars differ significantly from the shown trend (Figs. 3a, 3b, and 3c). Hence, emission line ratios involving N iii\] and N v provide reasonably consistent estimates of the gas metallicity for quasars. The line ratio N v/He ii shows the largest difference in the metallicity estimates in comparison with N iii\]/O iii\] (Fig. 3d). However, this ratio is particularly sensitive to the uncertain ionizing continuum shape (Hamann et al. 2002). The metallicities we obtained for N v/He ii using a hard power-law continuum agree better with the values provided by N iii\]/O iii\]. The average metallicity based on N iii\]/O iii\] (segmented power-law) and N v/He ii based on a hard power-law ($`\alpha =1`$) are very similar ($`Z/Z_{}=3.6\pm 0.3`$ and $`2.9\pm 0.4`$, respectively).

The N iii\]/C iii\] ratio tends to indicate lower chemical composition than the other line ratios (Fig. 2), i.e., solar to two times solar metallicity. However, this line ratio is known to be more dependent on the temperature of the gas than N iii\]/O iii\], and the critical densities of N iii\] and C iii\] differ by a factor of $`2`$. Hence, N iii\]/C iii\] is not as robust as N iii\]/O iii\]; emission in N iii\] and C iii\] may also occur in spatially different parts of the line emitting region with different physical conditions (Hamann et al. 2002). In addition, the $`C/O`$ abundance may exhibit a secondary-like behavior at large $`O/H`$, similar to, but not as sharply rising as, $`N/OO/H`$ (Henry et al. 2000). We estimate that, if this $`C/O`$ behavior was folded into the calculations of Hamann et al. (2002), the metallicities inferred from N iii\]/C iii\] would be $`2`$ times larger, while the result based on N v/C iv and N v/(O vi$`+`$C iv) would be unchanged (because C iv is already thermalized and a dominant coolant; see Hamann & Ferland 1999), suggesting this effect is probably operating.

Figures 4 and 5 compare the metallicities we calculated based on the remaining line ratios. The metallicities derived from the N v ratios agree reasonably well with each other. For several quasars we could also compare the metallicities inferred by N iv\]/O iii\] with the results obtained using flux ratios including N iii\] and N v. In Figure 4d the metallicities given by N iv\]/O iii\] are plotted versus those derived from N v/C iv. Although the scatter is quite large, the average metallicities indicated by each line ratio are consistent with $`5`$ % with each other. The comparison of the metallicities calculated using N iv\]/O iii\] and N iii\]/O iii\] are displayed in Figure 5c. The chemical composition indicated by these line ratios is consistent within a factor of $`1.7`$.

The N iv\]/C iv line ratio indicates in general lower metallicities than the other ratios (Figures 2, 5a, 5b, and Table 2). The tendency toward a significantly lower metallicity based on N iv\]/C iv was also noted by Shemmer & Netzer (2002). The average metallicity indicated by N iv\]/C iv is a factor of $`2.5`$ lower than those given by N v/(O vi$`+`$C iv). The physical reason for this difference is hitherto not understood. The metallicity estimates based on N iv\]/C iv may appear low in part due to the difficulty in measuring the line flux of the weak N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ emission line. In particular, for quasars with broad emission line profiles the N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ line is located in the outer wing of the C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ profile. With a typical strength of about $`5`$ % of the C iv$`\lambda 1549`$ line flux for solar metallicity, this line can be well hidden in the outer blue wing of C iv. However, a close inspection of the quasar spectra already indicates that not enough flux can be assigned to N iv\]$`\lambda 1486`$ to achieve a N iv\]/C iv line ratio that is consistent with the high metallicities indicated by the other emission line ratios. Another problem with this emission line ratio is that it compares an inter-combination (semi-forbidden) line to a strong permitted line, whose optical depths differ by several orders of magnitude. The ratio, therefore, is strongly sensitive to ambiguities in the radiative transfer, e.g., turbulent line broadening.

In Figures 6a and 6b, the mean metallicity based on the N v line ratios is compared with those obtained from line ratios involving inter-combination lines. The average metallicity based on N v line ratios indicates higher abundances than those inferred from inter-combination line ratios ($`Z/Z_{}=6.2\pm 0.4`$ and $`3.6\pm 0.4`$, respectively).

Although a nitrogen overabundance is commonly assumed as the cause of N v enhancement, scattered Ly$`\alpha `$ and continuum emission by outflowing broad absorption line (BAL) gas clouds would tend to bring the N v and intercombination estimates into better agreement. However, it is still an open question whether all quasars have BAL type outflow that results in absorption lines visible only from certain viewing angles. Several models of an outflowing BAL wind have been studied (Surdej & Hutsemeker 1987; Hamann, Korista, & Morris 1993; Krolik & Voit 1998). Hamann & Korista (1996) found that only a fraction of the N v$`\lambda 1240`$ emission can be ascribed to scattering in the BAL region. They estimate upper limits of $`30`$ % for N v$`\lambda 1240`$ and $`10`$ % for C iv$`\lambda 1549`$. We used these upper limits to recalculate the emission line ratios involving N v and C iv. The scattered light corrected line ratios indicate chemical compositions which are in better agreement with N iii\]$`\lambda 1750`$/O iii\]$`\lambda 1663`$ (Table 2). Hence, the main result is still valid that the metallicity of the gas closely related to quasars at high redshift is several times solar.

In addition to the mean metallicity based on the individual ratios (Table 2), we calculated the overall mean metallicity of the high-$`z`$ quasar sample. For each quasar an average metallicity was calculated using the estimates from the line ratios measured in the individual spectra. Furthermore, we have calculated average metallicities for each quasar based on the inter-combinations lines, as well as on the N v line ratios, only. Table 2 lists the average metallicity calculated using all line ratios available for each quasar. These average overall abundances are plotted as a function of redshift in Figure 7. The overall metallicity for the 70 high redshift quasars is 4 to 5 times solar ($`Z/Z_{}=5.3\pm 0.3`$). It should be kept in mind that all of the metallicity estimates given in this paper would be $`30`$ % lower if we used the new solar abundances from Holweger (2001) and Allende Prieto, Lambert, & Asplund (2001, 2002).

### 4.2 The Metallicity – Luminosity Relationship

We used our quasar sample to test the potential existence of such a $`L`$$`Z`$ relation at high redshifts. We calculated the rest-frame continuum luminosity for each quasar in our sample, L$`{}_{\lambda }{}^{}(1450\mathrm{\AA })`$, at $`\lambda =1450`$ Å. The investigated high redshift quasars cover a range of $`10^{42}L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })10^{45}`$ erg s-1 Å-1. Most of the quasars show a luminosity of log$`L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })43\mathrm{to}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}44}`$. In Figure 8, the average metallicity calculated from all ratios in each quasar, is shown as a function of intrinsic continuum luminosity $`L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })`$ for the quasars of our sample. A weak trend of increasing $`Z/Z_{}`$ toward higher luminosity is visible. We calculated a least square fit to the luminosity – $`Z/Z_{}`$ distribution shown in Figure 8 (dashed line). The correlation, which shows considerable scatter and spans a small range in luminosity, is marginally significant, with a 6 % probability of arising by chance (70 measurements and correlation coefficient $`+0.23`$; Bevington 1969). Although the correlation is not very significant, it provides an additional indication for a luminosity – metallicity (L – $`Z/Z_{}`$) relation for quasars (Hamann & Ferland 1993, 1999). We are currently in the process of analyzing a sample of $`750`$ quasars in order to study the evolution of their properties, and find for these objects a trend of increasing metallicity with increasing luminosity (Dietrich & Hamann 2003).

## 5 Discussion

The high metallicities we derived for the BELR gas of the quasars at $`z4`$ provide important information about the preceding star formation epoch that is required to enrich the gas. This star formation epoch might also mark the time of the formation of the quasar host galaxies. Several groups have noted that the observed elemental abundances near quasars are consistent with normal chemical enrichment in the cores of massive galaxies. In particular, one-zone chemical evolution models using with a relatively flat IMF (compared to the solar neighborhood) typically achieve supersolar gas-phase metallicities in less than $`1`$ Gyr (e.g., Hamann & Ferland 1992, 1993; Matteucci 1992; Matteucci & Padovani 1993; Padovani & Matteucci 1993). Comparable short times scales for attaining metal rich gas are predicted by more recent multi-zone models that follow the dynamical and chemical evolution of forming galaxies (e.g., Friaça & Terlevich 1998; Granato et al. 2001; Romano et al. 2002). In the multi-zone models, intense star formation on short time scales occurs only in the central region of the quasar host galaxy ($`r1`$ kpc) and the predicted luminosities of the evolving galaxies are an order of magnitude lower luminosities than the obtained with single-zone models. Super-solar metallicities are predicted to occur within $`\tau _{evol}0.50.8`$ Gyrs for these central regions (Friaça & Terlevich 1998; Romano et al. 2002).

Based on the timescale for enriching the BELR gas of the high-redshift quasars in this study, the beginning of the first star formation epoch can be estimated. A redshift $`z4`$ corresponds to an age of the universe of less than $`1.3`$ Gyrs ($`H_o=65`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$). Assuming $`\tau _{evol}0.50.8`$ Gyrs for the star formation needed to enrich the gas, the first major star formation epoch started at $`z_f68`$ for observed quasars at $`z4.5`$. It is interesting to note that this is comparable to the epoch of re-ionization of the universe (Haiman & Loeb 1998; Becker et al. 2001; Fan et al. 2002). These results are also consistent with cosmic structure formation models (Gnedin & Ostriker 1997) which are suggesting that the rapid assembly of (at least some) massive spheroidal systems, accompanied by intense star formation, started at $`z_f6\mathrm{to}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}8}`$. Assuming that at the end of the major star formation episode in the early phase of galaxy evolution, quasar activity starts in a chemical highly enriched environment (e.g., Granato et al. 2001; Romano et al. 2002) the formation of spheroidal systems might continue until $`z2`$ (Madau et al. 1996; Friaça & Terlevich 1998; Steidel 1999).

The metallicities presented here and by Dietrich et al. (2002a) based on the emission lines in quasars at $`z4`$ are consistent with previous emission line studies of $`2z4`$ quasar samples. In particular, there is no evidence for a decline in the metallicity from $`z2`$ to $`z>4`$ (see also Dietrich & Hamann 2003).

In the context of galaxy evolution models, higher metallicities and shorter evolution timescales are expected for more massive stellar systems (Gnedin & Ostriker 1997; Cen & Ostriker 1999; Kauffmann & Haehnelt 2000; Nolan et al. 2001). The close connection of quasars and the formation of massive galaxies is supported by the relation of the black hole mass and the mass of the spheroidal galaxy component (e.g., Gebhardt et al. 2000; Ferrarese & Merritt 2001). For elliptical galaxies, a mass – metallicity relation has been well known for several decades (Sandage 1972; Faber 1973; Bica et al. 1988). Hence, a similar mass – metallicity relation can be expected for quasars. Indeed, there is some evidence for a correlation of metallicity and luminosity, i.e., with the black hole mass of quasars, based on broad emission line studies similar to the analysis we present in this paper (Hamann & Ferland 1993; Shemmer & Netzer 2002; Warner et al. 2003).

## 6 Conclusion

We investigated rest-frame ultraviolet spectra with moderate spectral resolution of a sample of $`70`$ high redshift quasars with $`z3.5`$. We used emission-line flux ratios involving carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and helium to estimate the metallicity of the line-emitting gas. To transform the observed line ratios into metallicities, we used the results of detailed photoionization calculations as described by Hamann et al. (2002).

A comparison of the gas chemical composition derived from emission line ratios involving N iii\] and N v indicates reasonable consistent estimates of the gas metallicity. The estimates of the chemical abundances based on N iii\]/O iii\] and N v/O vi, N v/(O vi$`+`$C iv), and N v/C iv differ by $`50`$ %. Based on eight individual emission line ratios we estimated an average overall metallicity for the 70 high redshift quasars of roughly $`Z/Z_{}4\mathrm{to}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}`$. Assuming an upper limit contribution of scattered Ly$`\alpha `$ emission of $`30`$ % to the observed N v$`\lambda 1240`$ emission (Hamann & Korista 1996), the average metallicity of the BELR gas at high redshifts is still super-solar, within $`20`$ % of the estimate above. Compared to previous studies, we find no evidence for an evolutionary trend in quasar metallicities from $`z2`$ to $`z4`$.

We analyze the derived elemental abundances within the context of models presented by Hamann & Ferland (1993) and Friaça & Terlevich (1998). With an evolution time scale of approximately $`\tau _{evol}0.5\mathrm{to}0.8`$ Gyrs, the epoch of the first intense star formation is estimated to begin as early as at a redshift of $`z_f6\mathrm{to}8`$, i.e., less than 1 Gyr of the age of the universe (H$`{}_{o}{}^{}65`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$).

We find a weak trend of a $`L`$$`Z/Z_{}`$ relation for the high redshift quasars. Due to the scatter in metallicity and the small range of covered luminosity the probability for a correlation by chance is $`6`$ % . However, the trend is in good agreement with results obtained for quasars at lower redshift (Hamann & Ferland 1999) and for composite spectra based on a large quasar sample, which we are currently investigating (Dietrich et al. 2002b; Warner et al. 2003).

We are grateful to our colleagues J.A. Baldwin, G.J. Ferland, and K.T. Korista for helpful discussions. We thank Fred Chaffee and Craig Foltz for support and help with the MMT observations. MD thanks Katherine L. Wu for comments on the manuscript. MD and FH acknowledge support from NASA grant NAG 5-3234 and NSF grant AST-99-84040 (University of Florida). MV gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Columbus Fellowship.


text:
# 1 In this Figure 𝑓=𝛿𝛼(𝑧)/𝛼 and z is the cosmological redshift.

There exists a lot of analysis about the observational constraints on possible variation of the fine structure constant $`\alpha `$  in time. A number of absorption systems in the spectra of distant quasars suggests a smaller value of $`\alpha `$ in the past, with a favored value of the change $`\frac{\delta \alpha }{\alpha }(0.72\pm 0.18)\times 10^5`$ over the red-shift range $`0.5z3.5`$ . And the analysis of the isotope abundances in the Oklo natural reactor operated $`1.8`$ Gyr ago gives a new constraint, $`\frac{|\delta \alpha |}{\alpha }10^7`$ . Some theoretical issues of a varying $`\alpha `$ are discussed in .

There are two scenarios to explain the variation of $`\alpha `$. One possibility is that there was a first order phase transition between the time at which the quasar light was emitted and the present. But if the Oklo natural reactor confirms the above data which indicates that $`\alpha `$ at the red-shift $`z0.13`$ is different from its present value, it is most possible that $`\alpha `$ varied with time continuously. On the other hand, in string or M-theory, the couplings in the effective field theory depend on the expectation values of some dynamical scalar fields such as the dilation and other string moduli, then the coupling “constants” in general vary with time, if they are not trapped in the minimum of a potential in an early time. Naturally the fine structure constant varies continuously in this scenario.

In a four dimensional effective field theory, the change of the fine structure constant is controlled by a dynamical scalar field $`\varphi `$, which may be a combination of several canonically normalized moduli scalars . The change in $`\alpha `$ during the last Hubble time requires that the scalar field $`\varphi `$ should be extraordinarily light, with a mass comparable to the present Hubble scale $`H_010^{33}eV`$ . It is usually difficult to find a candidate for this scalar field in a fundamental theory.

However it was found that one can describe the present state of quasi-exponential expansion of the universe in a broad class of models based on four dimensional $`N=8`$ extended supergravity . And it is important that there are scalars whose masses in $`N2`$ supergravity are quantized in units of the Hubble constant $`H_0`$ corresponding to DS solutions: $`\frac{m^2}{H_0^2}=n`$, where n are some positive integers of the order 1. The minus sign says that the scalar fields are tachyonic, consistent with the fact that $`\alpha `$ becomes larger and larger. In particular, there is a scalar whose mass square of the scalar field $`m^2=6H^2`$ in $`N=8`$ supergravity . And we know N=8 supergravity with de Sitter maximim and one scalar field has only non-Abelian gauge fields $`SO(3)\times SO(5)`$ or $`SO(4)\times SO(4)`$. But in our real world the supersymmetry must be broken and then the Abelian gauge field will appear in our toy model.

In an effective field theory or M-theory, the photon kinetic term reads

$$f(\varphi )F_{\mu \nu }F^{\mu \nu }$$
(1)
where $`f(\varphi )`$ is a function of $`\varphi `$. The most general expansion of the function $`\alpha (\varphi )`$ about its present day value $`\alpha _0=\alpha (\varphi _0)`$ is

$$\alpha (\varphi )=\alpha _0+\lambda _\varphi \frac{\delta \varphi }{M}+\mathrm{}$$
(2)
where M is a typical scale over which $`\varphi `$ varies. The variation of $`\alpha `$ with $`\varphi `$ is generally written to the leading order in $`\varphi `$ as

$$\frac{\delta \alpha }{\alpha }\frac{\lambda _\varphi \delta \varphi }{\alpha _0M}$$
(3)
where $`\delta \alpha =\alpha (z)\alpha _0`$, $`\delta \varphi =\varphi (z)\varphi _0`$ and z is cosmological red-shift.

For simplicity, we take $`\varphi `$ to be governed by the Lagrangian $`=(\varphi )^2m^2\varphi ^2+\mathrm{}`$, namely $`\varphi `$ is a canonical scalar field. As usual, we assume the scalar field $`\varphi `$ be homogeneous and the equation of motion for $`\varphi `$ reads

$$\ddot{\varphi }+3H_0\dot{\varphi }+m^2\varphi ^2+\mathrm{}=0$$
(4)
We take $`m^2`$ to be negative, or simply switch to the notion $`m^2m^2`$ with positive $`m^2`$.

We consider in general the case when $`m^2`$ is the same order as $`H^2`$, which means the scalar field is not slow rolling. Firstly we assume the Hubble constant is a constant and assume $`\varphi `$ has the form as $`\varphi (t)=\varphi _0e^{i\omega (tt_0)}`$. Equation (4) leads to

$$\omega =iH(\frac{3}{2}\pm \sqrt{\frac{9}{4}+\frac{m^2}{H^2}})$$
(5)
Choose the solution with the minus sign corresponding to the exponentially growing solution

$$\varphi (z)=\varphi (t)=\varphi _0exp[H(tt_0)F(\frac{m^2}{H^2})]=\varphi _0exp[zF(\frac{m^2}{H^2})]$$
(6)
with

$$F(\frac{m^2}{H^2})=\sqrt{\frac{9}{4}+\frac{m^2}{H^2}}\frac{3}{2}.$$
(7)
Since we are interested only in the range $`0z1`$, we can set $`H(t_0t)=z`$. Substitute this result to the equation (3), we find

$$\frac{\delta \alpha (z)}{\alpha }\mathrm{\Lambda }(exp[zF(\frac{m^2}{H^2})]1)$$
(8)
here $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a constant which can be fixed by experiment. As an example, in $`N=8`$ supergravity, the mass square of the scalar field is $`6H^2`$ in order to get a DS solution, so $`m^2=6H^2`$ in equation (8) and $`F(\frac{m^2}{H^2})=1.37`$. Using the data of  $`\frac{\delta \alpha (z=1)}{\alpha }=0.7\times 10^5`$ fixes $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=9.38\times 10^6`$. Thus

$$\frac{\delta \alpha (z)}{\alpha }9.38\times 10^6(e^{1.37z}1)$$
(9)
Putting $`z=0.13`$ into formula (9), we get $`\frac{\delta \alpha (z=0.13)}{\alpha }1.5\times 10^610^7`$. It is slightly off the constraints of the Oklo experiment. To better satisfy all constraints (assuming they are all reliable), we can increase $`m^2`$ and decrease $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and still keep $`m^2`$ reasonably close to $`H^2`$.

In fact the Hubble parameter is not a constant during this stage. To be more precise, we can numerically solve the equations which Linde et. suggested in . We also assume that the universe is spatially flat. Thus we have

$$\ddot{\varphi }+3H\dot{\varphi }+V,_\varphi =0$$
(10)
$$H^2=\frac{1}{3}(\rho _M+\frac{1}{2}\dot{\varphi }^2+V(\varphi ))$$
(11)
$$\rho _{total}=\rho _M+\frac{1}{2}\dot{\varphi }^2+V(\varphi )$$
(12)
where we consider the extended $`N=8`$ supergravity which tells us $`V(\varphi )=3H_0^2(2cosh(\sqrt{2}\varphi ))`$ and we use the method of  (in units $`M_p=1`$ and the present Hubble parameter $`H_0=1`$). Here we assume that the Hubble parameter in de Sitter regime approximately equals the present Hubble parameter $`H_0`$. In our calculations we shall also assume that initially the matter energy density $`\rho _M`$ is much greater than the energy density of the scalar field $`\varphi `$. Thus the scalar field $`\varphi `$ freezes and its initial velocity can be set to zero resonablely, since at that moment the friction term in (10) is very large. According to equation (10),the scalar field $`\varphi `$ will not change if its initial value is zero. In our case we choose the iniatial value of $`\varphi `$ leading to the dark energy $`\mathrm{\Omega }_D=0.73`$ today . We show the numerical solution in Figure 1 (here we take equation (3) into account and describe the variation of $`\alpha `$ with time directly).

In Figure 1 we fit the data $`\frac{\delta \alpha (z=1)}{\alpha }=0.7\times 10^5`$. According to this figure we can read out $`\frac{\delta \alpha (z)}{\alpha }1\times 10^5`$, which is consistent with . And  also requires $`\frac{\dot{\alpha }}{\alpha }=(2.2\pm 5.1)\times 10^{16}yr^1`$ over the red-shift range $`0.6z1.0`$. Using $`H_0=71kms^1Mpc^1`$ we predict $`\frac{\dot{\alpha }}{\alpha }=5\times 10^{16}yr^1`$ around $`z=1`$.

In short, in this paper we suggest that scalar fields in some supergravity theory with a mass comparable to the Hubble scale can be a candidate for describing the variation of the fine structure constant. Linde et al. have discussed some possibilities for describing our universe with a tiny positive cosmological constant in extended $`N=2,4,8`$ supergravity theories, and suggested that some scalar fields in these supergravity theories can be used to describe the present stage of our universe, but not the early universe.

The authors of  pointed out that in an effective field theory with a cut-off, such as a theory accommodating SUSY breaking, a varying fine structure constant is always accompanied by a variation in the vacuum energy or the cosmological constant, which in general is too large. We do not know how the resolve this problem.

Other theoretical attempts on explaining a varying fine structure constant can be found in .

Acknowledgments

We would are grateful to Yun-Song Piao for useful discussions.


text:
# Anomalous Frequency Shift in Photoassociation of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

## Abstract

We theoretically investigate the effect of anomalous quantum correlations on the light-induced frequency shift in the photoassociation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Anomalous quantum correlations arise because, although formed from a pair of zero-momentum condensate atoms, a condensate molecule need not dissociate back to the BEC, but may just as well form a noncondensate atom pair with equal and opposite momentum, i.e., due to rogue photodissociation. The uncorrelated frequency shift of the photoassociation spectrum is to the red and linearly dependent on the laser intensity $`I`$. In contrast, anomalous correlations due to rogue dissociation lead to a blueshifted photoassociation spectrum. For sufficiently low light intensities, the rogue blueshift is dominant and proportional to $`\sqrt{I}`$.

PACS number(s): 03.75.Nt,03.75.Mn,05.30.Jp

Photoassociation occurs when two free atoms absorb a laser photon, thereby jumping from the two-atom continuum to a bound molecular state. If the atoms form a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), then the molecules will too. While evidence for the photoassociative formation of quantum degenerate molecules has yet to emerge, the quest has led to the observation of strongly enhanced molecule formation, precise measurements of the light-induced shift of the photoassociation spectrum, and tests of a fundamental (non-unitary) limit to the atom-molecule conversion rate.

In coherent photoassociation, the initial atoms belong to a Bose-Einstein condensate, and therefore so will the molecules. However, transitions to the continuum of noncondensate atomic modes can occur because photodissociation of a zero-momentum ($`𝐤=0`$) condensate molecule need not take the atoms back to the $`𝐤=0`$ atomic condensate, but may just as well end up with two atoms with opposite momenta ($`\pm 𝐤`$), i.e., due to rogue  or unwanted  photodissociation. Rogue dissociation to noncondensate modes ultimately leads to anomalous quantum correlations, which are the bosonic equivalent of the Cooper pairs responsible for superconductivity. An immediate consequence of said pairing is the above-mentioned non-unitary limit on the rate of conversion from an atomic to a molecular condensate; additionally, there is the possibility of creating strongly-correlated twin atomic beams.

The purpose of this Letter is to reveal the effect of anomalous quantum correlations on the light-induced shift of the photoassociation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Uncorrelated free-bound couplings necessarily introduce a redshift to the photoassociation spectrum which, to lowest nontrivial order, is linear in laser intensity . In contrast, we find that anomalous correlations lead to a blueshifted photoassociation spectrum. To lowest nontrivial order, the rogue frequency shift is dominant and proportional to the squareroot of the photoassociation laser intensity.

Our description starts with a plane-wave laser field with photon momentum $`𝐪`$ to drive photoassociation and photodissociation. Initially there is only a condensate of $`N`$ zero-momentum atoms present, and these are characterized by the boson operator $`aa_0`$. By momentum conservation, only molecules with momentum $`𝐪`$ will be generated in the primary photoassociation process, and these are characterized by the boson operator $`bb_𝐪`$. Upon photodissociation, the molecules break up into pairs of atoms with equal and opposite momenta, and these atoms are characterized by the boson operators $`a_{\pm 𝐤}`$. The Hamiltonian for this system is given by

$`\mathrm{}^1H`$ $`=`$ $`\delta b^{}b+\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}ϵ_ka_𝐤^{}a_𝐤+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{\sqrt{N}}}(b^{}aa+a^{}a^{}b),`$ (2)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{\sqrt{N}}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤0}{}}f(ϵ_k)\left[b^{}a_𝐤a_𝐤+a_𝐤^{}a_𝐤^{}b\right].`$
Here the quantity $`\delta `$ is the detuning of the laser above the photodissociation threshold of the molecules, which is corrected for photon recoil effects, and which is a measure of the molecular binding energy. The atom-molecule Rabi coupling $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is given by the expression

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\underset{ϵ_k0}{lim}\sqrt{\frac{\sqrt{2}\pi \mathrm{}^{3/2}n}{\mu ^{3/2}}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0(ϵ_k)}{\sqrt{ϵ_k}}},$$
(3)
where $`n=n_A+2n_M`$ is an invariant condensate density, derived from the densities of atoms and molecules, $`\mu =m/2`$ is the reduced mass of an atom pair, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ is the rate of photodissociation to an atom pair of energy $`\mathrm{}ϵ_k=\mathrm{}^2k^2/2\mu `$. In order for Eq. (3) to give a finite atom-molecule coupling, for low energies $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\sqrt{ϵ_k}`$ must hold true, which is just another way of stating the Wigner threshold law. Lastly, the coupling of the molecular condensate mode to noncondensate atomic modes is $`\mathrm{\Omega }f(ϵ_k)/\sqrt{N}`$, which is a measure of the coupling strength for photodissociation of a molecule to an atom pair of energy $`\mathrm{}ϵ_k`$, with $`f(ϵ_k)`$ describing the energy (wavenumber) dependence of the coupling.

Next we describe rogue dissociation in the language of system-reservoir interactions . The intracondensate coupling term is neglected, since it is not necessary to the main point, and since it can be re-introduced later anyway. The focus is now on a molecular condensate coupled to a bath of dissociated atom pairs. Switching to the interaction picture, the system-reservoir Hamiltonian is

$$\mathrm{}^1H_I(t)=b^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)e^{i\delta t}+\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}(t)be^{i\delta t}$$
(4)
with the reservoir operator $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)`$ defined as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{\sqrt{N}}\underset{𝐤0}{}f(ϵ_k)a_𝐤a_𝐤e^{iϵ_kt}.$$
(5)
The equation of motion for the total density matrix is then $`\dot{\rho }_T=i\mathrm{}^1[H_I(t),\rho _T(t)]`$. The reduced density matrix for the system is obtained by integrating out (tracing over) the reservoir degrees of freedom: $`\rho (t)=\text{Tr}\left\{\rho _T(t)\right\}_R=\rho _T(t)_R`$. It is assumed that, initially, there are no correlations between the system and reservoir: $`\rho (0)=\rho _T(0)_R=\rho (0)\rho _R_R`$. The so-called master equation is then the equation of motion for the reduced density matrix. To second order in perturbation theory, the master equation for rogue dissociation is

$$\dot{\rho }(t)=U(t)\rho (t),$$
(6)
with the generator of time evolution given as

$`U(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\mathrm{}}}[H_I(t),\rho _R()]_R`$ (9)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}^2}}{\displaystyle _0^t}𝑑t^{}[H_I(t^{}),\rho _R[H_I(t^{}),\rho _R()]_R]_R`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}^2}}{\displaystyle _0^t}𝑑t^{}[H_I(t),[H_I(t^{}),\rho _R()]]_R.`$
The departure from a textbook treatment  lies in the rogue dissociation paradigm $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)0`$, meaning that $`[H_I(t),\rho _R\rho ]_R`$ is nonvanishing and first order terms are not absent from the master equation (6) for the reduced density matrix. For small couplings, only terms $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(t)_R`$ will contribute, and the generator of time evolution simplifies to

$`U(t)=[b^{},()]^{}[b,()],`$ (11)
$`=i{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}{\displaystyle _0^t}𝑑t^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }(t^{})_Re^{i\delta t^{}}.`$ (12)
The quantum-correlated shift of the molecular binding energy is buried in the integral $``$, and we now proceed with its extraction. Substitution of Eq. (5) yields

$$=i\frac{d}{dt}_0^t𝑑t^{}\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{\sqrt{N}}\underset{𝐤0}{}f(k)a_𝐤a_𝐤_Re^{i(ϵ_k\delta )t^{}}.$$
(13)
The summation of momentum states is converted to an integral over frequency according to

$$\frac{1}{N}\underset{𝐤0}{}G(k)\frac{1}{4\pi ^2\omega _\rho ^{3/2}}_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ϵ\sqrt{ϵ}G(ϵ),$$
(14)
where $`\omega _r=\mathrm{}n^{2/3}/2\mu `$ is our usual density-dependent frequency parameter. Next we recall that $`f(ϵ)`$ contains the wavenumber dependence of the system-reservoir coupling, and choose a Wigner threshold coupling, $`f(ϵ)=1`$, for all energies. Also, as was implicit to Ref., the rogue pair correlation function is written $`C(ϵ)=a_𝐤a_𝐤\sqrt[4]{ϵ}/\left(2\sqrt{\pi }\omega _r^{3/4}\right)`$, which has units of $`(\mathrm{frequency})^{1/2}`$. Lastly, the system-reservoir Rabi coupling is redefined as $`\xi =\mathrm{\Omega }/(2\sqrt{\pi }\omega _r^{3/4})`$, which is related to the on-shell photodissociation rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=\xi ^2\sqrt{\delta }`$.

For $`\delta =|\delta |ϵ_b`$, with the molecular binding energy $`ϵ_b`$ taken as the largest frequency in the problem, the integral $``$ then becomes

$$=\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{N\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}\dot{\phi }(ϵ_b)\left|C(ϵ_b)\right|i\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b,$$
(16)
$$\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b=\frac{\sqrt{N}\xi }{2\pi }\text{P}_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ϵ\frac{1}{ϵ}\sqrt[4]{ϵ+ϵ_b}\dot{\phi }(ϵ+ϵ_b)\left|C(ϵ+ϵ_b)\right|,$$
(17)
where P denotes the Cauchy principle value and we have assumed $`C(ϵ;t)=|C(ϵ)|\mathrm{exp}[i\phi (ϵ;t)/2]`$ with $`\ddot{\phi }0`$. The sought-after shift appears explicity from time evolution of the mean-field MBEC amplitude $`\dot{\beta }=b\dot{\rho }=^{}\beta `$, which has a Schrödinger-picture solution

$$\beta (t)=\beta (0)e^{i(ϵ_b+\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b)t}e^{\gamma t/2},$$
(18)
with $`\gamma =\sqrt{N\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}\dot{\phi }(ϵ_b)|C(ϵ_b)|`$. From the expression (18), the frequency shift due to rogue quantum correlations is clearly to the blue and it is proprtional to $`\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}\sqrt{I}`$. Note the collective enhancement factor $`\sqrt{N}`$, which would play a role if the system were initially a Bose condensate of molecules, as opposed to a BEC of atoms.

For contrast, we briefly describe the uncorrelated redshift, borrowing the Ref.  account of the Bohn-Julienne theory . This shift is a consequence of the light-induced coupling between the free-atom continuum and the discrete bound molecular state. Based on Fano theory, valid for any discrete level coupled to any continuum, the molecular binding energy is shifted by an amount

$$\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b^{(u)}𝑑ϵ^{}\frac{D(ϵ^{})}{(ϵϵ^{})},$$
(19)
where $`D(ϵ^{})`$ is the density of continuum states at the energy $`\mathrm{}ϵ^{}`$. The integrand in Eq. (19) is of course positive (negative) for $`ϵ^{}<ϵ`$ ($`ϵ^{}>ϵ`$), and the density of states increases with increasing $`ϵ^{}`$. The negative part of the integrand therefore contributes more strongly, and the continuum shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b`$ is always to the red. This redshift is linearly proportional to the square of the free-bound coupling, and thus linearly proportional to intensity.

In order for the rogue blueshift to dominate the uncorrelated redshift (19), lowest-order perturbation theory must be valid. According to our previous work , the photon recoil frequency, $`ϵ_R=\mathrm{}/2m\mathrm{\lambda ̄}^2`$, is expected to set the scale for the coupling strength:

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{ϵ_R}=\sqrt{n\mathrm{\lambda ̄}^3}\sqrt{\frac{I}{I_0}},$$
(20)
where $`2\pi \mathrm{\lambda ̄}`$ is the wavelength of the photoassociation laser; also, $`I_0=v\lambda _D^3/(32\pi \mathrm{\lambda ̄}\stackrel{~}{K})`$ is the characteristic intensity of photoassociation to a given molecular level, with $`v`$ the relative velocity of the colliding atoms, $`\lambda _D`$ the deBroglie wavelength (in terms of the reduced mass), and $`\stackrel{~}{K}=dK/dI`$ the photoassociation rate coefficient. The rogue master equation (6) is thereby written in dimensionless form, and first order perturbation theory is expected to be valid for $`\mathrm{\Omega }/ϵ_R1`$, which translates into intensities satisfying $`[(n\mathrm{\lambda ̄}^3)(I/I_0)]^{1/2}1`$.

In photoassociation of an atomic BEC, i.e., absent a macroscopic number of molecules, the size of the rogue blueshift should be given roughly by $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b\gamma /\sqrt{N}\mathrm{\Omega }ϵ_b^{1/2}ϵ_R/4\pi \omega _r^{3/2}`$, where we have taken $`\dot{\phi }ϵ_R`$ and $`|C|\sqrt[4]{ϵ_b}/(2\sqrt{\pi }\omega _r^{3/4})`$. Inserting Eq. (20), the magnitude of the blueshift becomes

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b}{ϵ_R}\frac{1}{4\pi }\sqrt{n\mathrm{\lambda ̄}^3}\sqrt{\frac{I}{I_0}\frac{ϵ_bϵ_R^2}{\omega _r^3}}.$$
(21)
To make the density dependence explicit, we write the shift in terms of the photodissociation rate, $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_b\mathrm{\Gamma }_0/[(n\mathrm{\lambda ̄}^3)(I/I_0)]^{1/2}`$. Besides being proportional to $`\sqrt{I}`$, the magnitude of the shift is proportional to $`1/\sqrt{n}`$, so that smaller condensates will give larger blueshifts.

Note that second-order perturbation theory is required when $`\mathrm{\Omega }/ϵ_r1`$, which is the regime of experiments performed so far. In this case, terms such as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ will contribute blueshifts as well. These terms will add to the usual uncorrelated redshift (19), which arises here from terms like $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. A quantitative analysis of the higher-order contributions to the frequency shift is given elsewhere.

In conclusion, low-intensity rogue photodissociation should result in a blueshift of the molecular binding energy, proportional to $`\sqrt{I}`$, that dominates the usual redhshift. The magnitude of this blueshift is proprortional to $`1/\sqrt{n}`$, so that smaller condensates will yield more significant shifts. If the systems starts out as a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate, then the frequency shift, correlated or not, should reveal the effects of collective enhancement. Realizing that the anamolous pair correlations herein are the bosonic equivalent of Cooper pairs provides an intuitive understanding of the rogue blueshift: analogous to the superfluid gap, there is a finite amount of energy required to form (break) a correlated pair, leading to an increase in the amount of energy required to excite the system, in the present case, to destroy (create) a molecule. With this idea in mind, the rogue blueshift could serve as a signature for the presence of Cooper pairing in a Fermi degenerate gas.

The author acknowledges Jyrki Piilo and Kalle-Antti Suominen for helpful discussions, as well the Acadamy of Finland for support (project 50314).


text:
# Properties

## 1 Introduction

It has been well known since early days of string theory that the covariant quantization of the free Nambu-Goto string  leads in non-critical dimensions ($`1<d<25`$) to free quantum models with longitudinal excitations. However, in spite of numerous attempts no consistent theory of the longitudinal dynamics has been found. Recently the problem was reconsidered in . It was shown that if a consistent theory of the longitudinal dynamics exists it does not satisfy all the axioms of the standard CFT. This explains the failure of previous approaches and makes it difficult to construct a viable alternative.

In the present paper we analyze whether the existing models of quantum Liouville theory provide an adequate description of the longitudinal dynamics. We restrict ourselves to non-critical strings with the space of asymptotic free states coinciding with the space of states of the free non-critical Nambu-Goto string ($`1<d<25`$ ). Although the model is inconsistent due to the presence of a tachyon it is still a good starting point for the analysis of the longitudinal dynamics. The experience with the critical string shows that the tachyon problem is to large extend independent of the consistency of the string perturbation expansion, the covariance and the unitarity issues. Moreover, the standard GSO mechanism  can be used to remove the tachyon in the free non-critical RNS string ($`1<d<9`$) . We may hope therefore that the basic properties of the longitudinal dynamics derived in the context of the noncritical Nambu-Goto string should hold in more realistic models as well.

The relevance of the quantum Liouville theory for the proper description of the longitudinal string excitations has been known since the celebrated papers by A. Polyakov on conformal anomaly . It was conjectured some time ago by A. and Al. Zamolodchikov  that the continuum spectrum along with the 3-point functions proposed by Otto and Dorn  satisfy the bootstrap consistency conditions of standard (in the sense of BPZ ) CFT. In the weak coupling regime $`c>25`$ this conjecture was recently proved by Ponsot and Teschner . It is believed to hold in the strong coupling regime $`1<c<25`$ by the analytic continuation argument . Among many recent applications of this elegant solution let us only mention the 1+1 dimensional string models  (where its predictions are confirmed by the matrix model results ), quantization of the Teichmüller space of Riemann surfaces , relations with WZNW models,  and string theory on the $`AdS_3`$ space .

The continuous spectrum plays an essential role in all the applications mentioned above. On the other hand it is the main obstacle in applying the theory to the non-critical Nambu-Goto string where the longituinal sector consists of a single conformal family. The straightforward application of the DOZZ theory yields consistent perturbation expansion and unitarity. The price one has to pay is the extension of the spectrum of external string states far beyond the spectrum of the free non-critical Nambu-Goto. This leads to the continuous family of intercepts and is not acceptable on physical grounds. A possible way out is to restrict ourselves to the external states from the single conformal family of the longitudinal sector. In this case however the tree amplitudes exhibit cut singularities.

There exist another approach to the quantum Liouville theory originally proposed by A. Polyakov  and developed by Takhtajan . In this geometric approach the correlation functions are defined in terms of path integral over conformal class of Riemannian metrics with prescribed singularities at the punctures. The semi-classical results obtained in the case of parabolic singularities  are in perfect agreement with the general properties of the longitudinal dynamics derived in . An additional support for the geometrical approach comes from the fact that some of its geometric predictions can be rigorously proved (, and references therein). In spite of considerable achievements the geometric approach is not yet capable to produce the puncture correlators. For this reason both the relation to the DOZZ theory  and the application to longitudinal dynamics remain open problems.

As a step toward calculation of puncture correlators we propose to suplement the geometric approach by a new dynamical principle - the geometric bootstrap equation. We are not able to prove that structure constants satisfying this equation exist. However assuming their analytic dependence on the conformal weights one can show that the 4-point correlator leads to the cut singularities of string amplitudes which coincides with the result obtained from the DOZZ solution.

With the standard structure of the string perturbation expansion  assumed, the cut singularities of tree amplitudes indicate the continuous spectrum of intercepts. This is a strong evidence that either the consistent non-critical Nambu-Goto string does not exist at all or the existing Liouville models does not provide an adequate description of the longitudinal dynamics. The third possibility that the perturbation expansion of non-critical string does not have the structure known from the critical string theory is a difficult open problem going beyond the scope of the present paper.

The paper is organized as follows. In Sect.2 we summarize those properties of the longitudinal dynamics which are necessary for the Lorentz covariance of the tree light-cone amplitudes of non-critical Nambu-Goto string. In Sect.3 we demonstrate that the solution provided by the DOZZ theory leads to the tree non-critical strings with cut singularities. In Sect.4, using general properties of the geometric approach to the Liouville theory we formulate the geometric bootstrap equation. Using the results of Wolf and Wolpert on the asymptotic behaviour of the geodesic length  we show that the singularities of string amplitude are of the same type as in the case of the DOZZ solution. Finally Sect.5 contains conclusions and brief discussion of open problems.

## 2 General properties of the longitudinal dynamics

In the light-cone formulation string amplitudes are constructed in terms of 2-dim field theory on light-cone diagrams describing time ordered sequences of elementary splitting and joining processes . The problem of introducing interactions can be seen as a problem of extending the theory from the cylinder, where it is completely determined by the free string theory at hand, to an arbitrary light-cone diagram. In the case of the Nambu–Goto non-critical string the extension in the transverse sector is given by the tensor product of $`d2`$ copies of the scalar CFT.

According to our assumptions concerning the free theory the space of states in the longitudinal sector is a tensor product of single left and single right Verma module $`𝒱_h\overline{𝒱}_{\overline{h}}`$. The central charges $`c=\overline{c}`$ and the highest weights $`h=\overline{h}`$ are related to the dimension of the target space by  :

$$c=1+6Q^2=\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}26}d,h=\frac{Q^2}{4}=\frac{25d}{24}.$$

The only ground state $`|\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}=\omega \overline{\omega }`$ is not $`PSL(2,)`$-invariant and the energy momentum-tensor333The antyholomorphic counterparts of the formulae are assumed.

$`T(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}L_nz^{n2}`$ (2.1)
is singular in the limit $`z0,`$

$$T(z)|\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}=\frac{Q^2}{4z^2}|\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}+\frac{1}{z}L_1|\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}+\mathrm{regular}\mathrm{terms}.$$

The ground state applied to the free end of a semi-infinite cylinder thus corresponds to a puncture on the complex plane with prescribed singularity structure of the energy–momentum tensor at it.

In the case of tree light-cone diagrams with $`N`$ arbitrary external states the longitudinal sector is described by correlation functions of appropriate number of the energy–momentum tensor insertions on the Riemann sphere $`S^2(z_1,\mathrm{},z_N)`$ with $`N`$ punctures:

$$\underset{j}{}T(w_j)\underset{k}{}\stackrel{~}{T}(\overline{w}_k)_{S^2(z_1,\mathrm{},z_N)}.$$
(2.2)
Such formulation may seem strange from the point of view of the standard CFT. Indeed if we had assumed the operator–state correspondence we could have replaced the correlation functions on $`N`$-punctured sphere by correlation functions on the sphere with no punctures but with additional local operator insertions. As we shall see the space of states in the longitudinal sector is “too small” to accommodate such construction. Even though the operator–state correspondence is not assumed it is convenient to replace the adequate but clumsy notation (2.2) by

$$\underset{j}{}T(w_j)\underset{k}{}\stackrel{~}{T}(\overline{w}_k)\underset{r=1}{\overset{N}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r).$$
(2.3)
The properties of the longitudinal sector which are necessary for the Lorentz covariance of tree string amplitudes can be summarized as follows

I The conformal anomaly has its universal form given by the (regularized) Liouville action on the punctured sphere and depends on the central charge $`c=1+6Q^2`$ in the standard way.

II For all correlation functions on $`N`$-punctured spheres the operator–operator product expansion (OOPE) and the operator–puncture product expansion (OPPE) hold:

$`T(w)T(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1+6Q^2}{2(wz)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{(wz)^2}}T(z)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{wz}}T(z)+\mathrm{},`$ (2.4)
$`T(w)P(z,\overline{z})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{4(wz)^2}}P(z,\overline{z})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{wz}}P(z,\overline{z})+\mathrm{}.`$ (2.5)
III The conformal transformations of the correlation functions (2.3) are generated by the energy–momentum tensor:

$`\delta _ϵT^\mathrm{L}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle 𝑑wϵ(w)T^\mathrm{L}(w)T^\mathrm{L}(z)},`$ (2.6)
$`\delta _{ϵ,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}}P(z,\overline{z})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle 𝑑wϵ(w)T^L(w)P(z,\overline{z})}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\overline{w}\stackrel{~}{ϵ}(\overline{w})\stackrel{~}{T}^L(\overline{w})P(z,\overline{z})}.`$
Using (2.4) and (2.5) they can be cast in the form of the conformal Ward identities (CWI):

$`T(w){\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{4(wz_r)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{wz_r}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{z_r}}\right){\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L},`$ (2.8)
$`T^\mathrm{L}(u)T(w){\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1+6Q^2}{2(uw)^4}}{\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L}`$
$`+`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{2}{(uw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{uw}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{w}}\right)T(w){\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L}`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{4(uz_r)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{uz_r}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{z_r}}\right)T(w){\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L}.`$
Apart from the complications related with the non-invariant vacuum and the lack of operator–state correspondence the conditions listed above are exact counterparts of almost all fundamental properties of standard CFT. So are their consequences. Using CWI one can for instance reduce an arbitrary correlation function to the correlation function of punctures alone. As in the standard CFT the form of three puncture correlator is determined up to a constant

$$P(z_1,\overline{z}_1)P(z_2,\overline{z}_2)P(z_3,\overline{z}_3)=\frac{C}{|z_1z_2|^{\frac{Q^2}{2}}|z_1z_3|^{\frac{Q^2}{2}}|z_2z_3|^{\frac{Q^2}{2}}}.$$
(2.10)
The familiar state–operator correspondence can be replaced by the state–puncture correspondence defined by

$`L_{n_1}\mathrm{}L_{n_N}|\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}^\mathrm{L}`$ $``$ $`_{n_1}\mathrm{}_{n_N}P(z,\overline{z})`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(2\pi i)^N}}{\displaystyle _{C_1}}𝑑z_1{\displaystyle \frac{T(z_1)}{(z_1z)^{n_11}}}\mathrm{}{\displaystyle _{C_N}}𝑑z_N{\displaystyle \frac{T(z_N)}{(z_Nz)^{n_N1}}}P(z,\overline{z})`$
where the contours of integration are chosen such that $`C_i`$ surrounds $`C_{i+1}`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},N1`$, and $`C_N`$ surrounds the point $`z`$. Using this prescription one can associate to each state $`\xi \overline{\xi }𝒱_h\overline{𝒱}_h`$ ($`h=\frac{Q^2}{4}`$) a uniquely determined object $`V_0(\xi ,\overline{\xi }|z,\overline{z})`$ which we shall call the vertex puncture corresponding to $`\xi \overline{\xi }`$.

The only fundamental property of standard CFT we have not yet required is the puncture–puncture product expansion (PPPE). With our choice of the space of states there is only one conformal family of vertex punctures and the PPPE would be necessarily of the form

$$P(x,\overline{x})P(0,0)=Cx^h\overline{x}^{\overline{h}}\left[P(0,0)+\beta _1x_1P(0,0)+\overline{\beta }_1\overline{x}\overline{}_1^\mathrm{L}P(0,0)+\mathrm{}\right],$$
(2.12)
where $`C`$ is the constant appearing in the three puncture partition function (2.10) and the descendant vertex punctures $`_1P(0,0),`$ $`\overline{}_1^\mathrm{L}P(0,0),`$ etc. are defined by (2). Using PPPE one could in principle reduce all $`N`$-puncture correlators to the 3-puncture functions. The consistency conditions of this procedure yields in the case of 4-puncture functions the bootstrap equation . One of its consequences in standard CFT is the restriction on possible central charge, conformal dimensions, and fusion rules known as Vafa’s condition . Using Lewellen’s derivation of this condition  one can show that the PPPE (2.12) cannot be satisfied.

According to the properties of the longitudinal sector derived so far the theory is completely determined once all $`N`$-puncture correlators are known

$$\underset{r=1}{\overset{N}{}}P(z_r,\overline{z}_r)^\mathrm{L}.$$
(2.13)
It should be stressed that the correlation functions (2.13) can not be expressed as the vacuum expectation values of some chronological product of local operators acting in the Hilbert space $`𝒱_h\overline{𝒱}_h`$ ($`h=\frac{Q^2}{4}`$) of the free theory. Indeed if it were possible it would imply the PPPE which is excluded by Vafa’s condition. This may rise the question on the quantum mechanical meaning of the functions (2.13). In the present paper we adopt the interpretation advocated in the geometric approach to the Liouville theory  where the $`N`$-puncture correlators are understood as partition functions on $`N`$-punctured spheres (or in general on higher genus punctured surfaces). The theory we are looking for can then be seen as a theory of only one local field (the energy–momentum tensor) in different noncompact 2-dim geometries.

Concluding this section let us briefly comment on the unitarity problem. The light-cone approach used in  to derive the properties discussed above incorporates the idea of joining–splitting interactions by the assumption that there exists a well defined 2-dimensional theory on light-cone diagrams. The standard proof of unitarity in this formulation is based on the identification of the light-cone amplitudes as terms of a Dyson perturbative expansion in the space of multi-string states . In order to interpret the integration over moduli of punctured sphere as the integration over interaction times one uses the Mandelstam map to transform the theory back onto an appropriate family of light-cone diagrams. If the string degrees of freedom are described by standard CFT (as they are in the transverse sector) one can use the OPE to factorize the light-cone amplitude on the free spectrum at any moment between interactions. This in order allows to interpret the amplitude in terms of interaction vertices and free propagation yielding the required Dyson expansion structure . Since in the longitudinal sector the PPPE does not hold such interpretation is not possible and the standard proof of unitarity breaks down.

## 3 DOZZ solution

The correlators of operators from the $`(\frac{Q^2}{4},\frac{Q^2}{4})`$ conformal family calculated in the DOZZ theory provide a set of functions satisfying all the requirements listed in the previous section. We shall demonstrate that this solution leads to the cut singularities in the non-critical string amplitudes. The DOZZ structure constants $`C(\alpha _3,\alpha _2,\alpha _1),`$ which determine the three point correlation function

$$G_{\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\alpha _3}^\mathrm{L}(z_1,z_2,z_3)=|z_{12}|^{2\gamma _3}|z_{32}|^{2\gamma _1}|z_{31}|^{2\gamma _2}C(\alpha _3,\alpha _2,\alpha _1)$$

where $`\gamma _1=\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _1}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _2}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _3},\gamma _2=\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _2}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _3}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _1},\gamma _3=\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _3}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _1}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _2},`$ are given by

$`C(\alpha _3,\alpha _2,\alpha _1)=\left(\left[\pi ^2\mu \stackrel{~}{\mu }\gamma \left(b^2\right)\gamma \left(1/b^2\right)\right]^{Q/2}\left(b^2\right)^{\frac{1}{b}b}\right)^{Q\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3}`$ (3.1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(2\alpha _1)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(2\alpha _2)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(2\alpha _3)}{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3Q)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(\alpha _1+\alpha _2\alpha _3)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(\alpha _1+\alpha _3\alpha _2)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(\alpha _2+\alpha _3\alpha _1)}}.`$
The special function $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(x)`$ has an integral representation convergent in the strip $`0<\mathrm{}x<Q`$

$`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(x)={\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{t}}\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q}{2}}x\right)^2e^t{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sinh}^2(\frac{Q}{2}x)\frac{t}{2}}{\mathrm{sinh}\frac{bt}{2}\mathrm{sinh}\frac{t}{2b}}}\right],`$
$`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0=\mathrm{res}_{x=0}\frac{d\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_b(x)}{dx},`$ $`\gamma (x)=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(x)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1x)}`$ and the “dual” cosmological constant $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }`$ is related to $`\mu `$ by

$$\left[\pi \stackrel{~}{\mu }\gamma \left(1/b^2\right)\right]^b=\left[\pi \mu \gamma \left(b^2\right)\right]^{1/b}.$$
(3.2)
Eq. (3.1) is self-dual: it remains unchanged under $`b1/b.`$ Its form agrees with the three-point coupling constant proposed in  in the weak coupling region of $`b.`$ If one assumes that the product $`\mu \stackrel{~}{\mu }`$ remains real and positive in the strong coupling region, $`b=\mathrm{e}^{i\theta },`$ $`\theta ,`$ (it is straightforward to check that (3.2) admits such solution), then (3.1) defines analytic continuation of the coupling constant to this region respecting the self-duality condition, which is sufficient for $`C`$ to be real there.

The four-point function for primary fields can be written as the $`s`$-channel integral

$`G_{\alpha _4,\alpha _3,\alpha _2,\alpha _1}^\mathrm{L}(z,\overline{z})={\displaystyle _𝒟}d\alpha C(\alpha _4,\alpha _3,\alpha )C(\overline{\alpha },\alpha _2,\alpha _1)|_\alpha [{}_{\alpha _4\alpha _1}{}^{\alpha _3\alpha _2}](z)|^2`$ (3.3)
where the conformal block $`_\alpha [{}_{\alpha _4\alpha _1}{}^{\alpha _3\alpha _2}](z)`$ is represented by power series of the form

$`_\alpha [{}_{\alpha _4\alpha _1}{}^{\alpha _3\alpha _2}](z)=z^{\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _1}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha _2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}z^n_\alpha [{}_{\alpha _4\alpha _1}{}^{\alpha _3\alpha _2}](n).`$ (3.4)
For $`\alpha _i=\frac{Q}{2}`$ the set $`𝒟`$ coincides with the spectrum $`𝕊=\frac{Q}{2}+i^+`$ which we shall parameterize with $`\frac{Q}{2}+iP.`$ The coefficients $`_\alpha [{}_{\alpha _4\alpha _1}{}^{\alpha _3\alpha _2}](n)`$ are rational functions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha =\frac{Q^2}{4}+P^2`$ with poles located (for $`1<c<25`$) outside $`𝕊.`$ For $`b=\mathrm{e}^{i\theta }`$ the formula (3.1) implies

$$C(Q/2,Q/2,Q/2+iP)C(Q/2iP,Q/2,Q/2)=q\mathrm{e}^{2H_\theta (P)},$$
(3.5)
where $`q`$ does not depend on $`P`$ and

$$H_\theta (P)=\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{dt}{t}\left[\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \mathrm{e}^t+\frac{18\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{Pt}{2}\mathrm{cos}(2Pt)\mathrm{cosh}\left(t\mathrm{cos}\theta \right)}{\mathrm{cosh}\left(t\mathrm{cos}\theta \right)\mathrm{cos}\left(t\mathrm{sin}\theta \right)}\right]P^2$$

for $`P^20.`$ The 4-string amplitude for the tachionic external states can be written as

$$A=(2\pi )^{\frac{d}{2}}[\alpha ]^{\frac{1}{2}}\underset{\mu =0}{\overset{d1}{}}\delta \left(\underset{r=1}{\overset{4}{}}p_r^\mu \right)\underset{}{}d^2x|z|^{\frac{p_1p_2}{2\alpha }}|1z|^{\frac{p_2p_3}{2\alpha }}G^L(z,\overline{z}),$$
(3.6)
where $`G^L(z,\overline{z})=G_{\frac{Q}{2},\frac{Q}{2},\frac{Q}{2},\frac{Q}{2}}^\mathrm{L}(z,\overline{z})`$ and $`p_r`$ denote external momenta satisfying the on-mass-shell condition $`\frac{p^2}{4\alpha }=\frac{d1}{12}.`$ Using (3.5) we write

$``$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{}{}}d^2z|z|^{\frac{p_1p_2}{2\alpha }}|1z|^{\frac{p_2p_3}{2\alpha }}G^L(z,\overline{z})`$ (3.7)
$`=`$ $`q{\displaystyle \underset{}{}}d^2z|z|^{\frac{p_1p_2}{2\alpha }}|1z|^{\frac{p_2p_3}{2\alpha }}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}dP\mathrm{e}^{2H_\theta (P)}|_{\frac{Q}{2}+iP}[{}_{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}{}^{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}](z)|^2.`$
If one can change the order of integration, then — expanding the integrand in the power series of $`z,\overline{z}`$ and integrating in the vicinity of $`z=0`$ one gets

$$\underset{n}{}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑P\frac{d_{n,n}(P)}{\frac{s}{4\alpha }+\frac{Q^2}{2}+2n+2P^22}\mathrm{e}^{2H_\theta (P)}$$
(3.8)
up to terms analytic in the Mandelstam variable $`s=(p_1+p_2)^2`$ at the finite part of the complex plane. $`d_{n,n}(P)`$ are rational functions of $`P`$ without poles on the real axis. The presence of poles on the integration contour for $`s<4\alpha \left(\frac{Q^2}{2}+2P^22\right)`$ leads to cuts in $``$ in this region.

The cut structure of the scattering amplitude can be confirmed by choosing a different route in calculating (3.7). Taking into account the convergence of the series (3.4), the properties of its coefficients $`_{\frac{Q}{2}+iP}[{}_{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}{}^{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}](n)`$ and of $`H_\theta (P)`$ one can change the order of integration and summation in calculating the four-point function $`G^L(z,\overline{z})`$ in the vicinity of $`z=0`$. Integrals of the form

$$\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}dP|z|^{2P^2}\mathrm{e}^{2H_\theta (P)}_{\frac{Q}{2}+iP}[{}_{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}{}^{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}](m)_{\frac{Q}{2}iP}[{}_{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}{}^{\frac{Q}{2}\frac{Q}{2}}](n)$$

that arise in this procedure contain terms which for $`z0`$ behave like powers of $`1/\mathrm{log}|z|.`$ Inserted into (3.7) they produce cuts in the complex $`s`$ plane.

## 4 Geometric bootstrap hypothesis

We shall start with some remarks on the spectrum of conformal weights. In the weak coupling regime $`c>25`$ we are interested in correlators of local operators with conformal weights satisfying the Seiberg bound $`\mathrm{\Delta }<\frac{Q^2}{4}`$. If the theory is coupled to conformal matter such operators are necessary for the gravitational dressing. They are supposed to correspond to microscopic, non-normalizable states with imaginary Liouville momenta . In the geometric approach they are described by conical (elliptic) singularities with the opening angle $`\nu `$ related to the imaginary Liouville momentum $`P`$ by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{Q^2}{4}+P^2=\frac{Q^2}{4}\left(1\left(\frac{\nu }{2\pi }\right)^2\right)$$

These operators do not appear when the Liouville theory is regarded as the model for the longitudinal string excitations in physical dimensions $`1<c<25`$. Indeed the derivation of the light-cone amplitudes shows that only the parabolic singularities (limiting case of the conical singularity with the opening angle $`\nu =0`$) are relevant for the description of external states. The states with imaginary Liouville momenta are also not expected in factorization of puncture correlators .

In order to describe the factorization one has to extend the geometric approach to surfaces with finite holes. We assume that the Liouville action and the space of metrics in the path integral are chosen in such a way that the classical solution corresponds to the hyperbolic metric with the curvature $`\mu <0`$ and the geodesic boundary. We also assume that the conformal weight of the hole is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{}}=\frac{Q^2}{4}\left(1+\frac{\mu \mathrm{}^2}{8\pi ^2}\right)$$

where $`\mathrm{}`$ is the length of the hole circumference measured with respect to the metric with constant negative curvature $`R=\mu `$. It depends only on the conformal class of metrics over which the path integral is taken. This assumption is motivated by the properties of the energy–momentum tensor of the classical hyperbolic solutions on the cylinder and on sphere with holes (black-hole solutions in 3-dim gravity). The puncture corresponds to the limiting case of the hole with zero circumference. Since in the case of puncture the classical conformal dimension does not receive quantum corrections one may expect that this is so for the holes as well (up to the renormalization of the cosmological constant $`\mu `$).

Let us now consider the simplest case of 4-puncture correlator. In the geometric approach it is given by the path integral over the conformal class of metrics with parabolic singularities at puncture locations. Since the conformal weight of the puncture is fixed the space of metric fluctuations at each puncture is completely described by $`_n`$ operators defined in (2) and coincides with the space of longitudinal excitations of the free string. The Liouville action and the space of metrics in the path integral are chosen in such a way that for each configuration of punctures one gets a unique classical solution corresponding to the hyperbolic metric with scalar curvature $`1.`$ There are three closed geodesics $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s,\mathrm{\Gamma }_t,\mathrm{\Gamma }_u`$ in this geometry separating the punctures into pairs (12,34), (13,24), (14,23), respectively. Let us cut the path integral open along the geodesic $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s`$ dividing $`S`$ into the spheres $`S_{12},S_{34}`$ with one hole and two punctures ($`S=S_{12}S_{34},`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s=S_{12}S_{34}`$). The classical solution $`g`$ on $`S`$ determines classical solutions $`g_{12}`$ on $`S_{12}`$ and $`g_{34}`$ on $`S_{34}.`$ The initial path integral factorizes into a path integral over the conformal class of $`g_{12}`$, a path integral over the conformal class of $`g_{34}`$ and the integration over all possible intermediate states. According to our assumptions the holes on $`S_{12}`$ and $`S_{34}`$ have the same conformal dimension $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s=\frac{Q^2}{4}\left(1+\frac{\mu \mathrm{}_s^2}{8\pi ^2}\right)`$ uniquely determined by the length $`\mathrm{}_s`$ of the common boundary. It follows that factorization in each channel involves exactly one conformal family. Its conformal weight depends on the channel and the moduli of the surface. This is in contrast with the DOZZ description of the weak coupling regime where the factorization is independent both of the channel and of the moduli and involves integration over continuous spectrum of conformal families.

Before we formulate the consistency conditions of the geometric factorization introduced above some comments on the hole-state correspondence are in order. First of all since the length of the geodesic boundary can assume any positive value one needs a continuous spectrum of conformal weights $`\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{Q^2}{4}`$ of intermediate states. This however does not necessary mean that the space of states has to be extended. The crucial observation is that the geometric factorizaton on exactly one conformal family allows to interpret the conformal weight as a characteristic of the energy–momentum tensor behavior around the hole rather than a characteristic of intermediate states attached to its boundary. Such interpretation is consistent with our choice of the space of free string states. Indeed for the central charge in the range $`1c25`$, the left Verma module $`𝒱_{\frac{Q^2}{4}}`$ can be realized as the Fock space $`^\mathrm{L}`$ generated out of the vacuum state $`\omega `$ by the oscillators

$$\begin{array}{cccccc}\hfill [c_m,c_n]& =\hfill & m\delta _{m,n},\hfill & m,n\{0\}\hfill & & \end{array}$$

with the Virasoro generators given by

$`L_n`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle \underset{k0,n}{}}:c_kc_{n+k}:+i{\displaystyle \frac{Q}{\sqrt{2}}}nc_n+{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{4}}\delta _{n,0}.`$
For any real positive number $`P`$ (the Liouville momentum) one can construct on $`^\mathrm{L}`$ the local operator

$$T_P(z)=\underset{n}{}L_n^Pz^{n2},L_n^P=\{\begin{array}{ccc}L_n^L+2Pc_n\hfill & \mathrm{for}\hfill & n0\hfill \\ L_0^L+P^2\hfill & \mathrm{for}\hfill & n=0\hfill \end{array}$$

satisfying

$`T_P(w)T_P(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\frac{1}{2}(1+6Q^2)}{(wz)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{(wz)^2}}T_P(z)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{wz}}T_P(z)+\mathrm{},`$
$`T_P(z)\mathrm{\Omega }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{z^2}}\mathrm{\Omega }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z}}L_1^P\mathrm{\Omega }+\mathrm{regular}\mathrm{terms}.`$ (4.1)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{Q^2}{4}+P^2`$. With an appropriate choice of the coordinates around the hole, the state-hole correspondence takes the form

$`L_{n_1}^\mathrm{P}\mathrm{}L_{n_N}^\mathrm{P}|\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}^\mathrm{L}`$ $``$ $`_{n_1}\mathrm{}_{n_N}H_{\mathrm{}}(z,\overline{z})`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(2\pi i)^N}}{\displaystyle _{C_1}}𝑑z_1{\displaystyle \frac{T(z_1)}{(z_1z)^{n_11}}}\mathrm{}{\displaystyle _{C_N}}𝑑z_N{\displaystyle \frac{T(z_N)}{(z_Nz)^{n_N1}}}H_{\mathrm{}}(z,\overline{z}).`$
As in the case of punctures one can associate to each state $`\xi \overline{\xi }^\mathrm{L}\overline{}^\mathrm{L}`$ a uniquely determined object $`V_{\mathrm{}}^\mathrm{L}(\xi ,\overline{\xi }|z,\overline{z})`$ which we shall call the vertex corresponding to to the state $`\xi \overline{\xi }`$ applied at the hole of the circumference $`\mathrm{}`$. We have assumed that the location of the hole can be defined as a point at which the analytic continuation of the energy–momentum tensor is singular.

Although the correlators of punctures, holes, and in general, vertexes are not realized as vacuum expectation values of local operators all their conformal properties are exactly the same as in the standard CFT. In particular an arbitrary three vertex correlator is determined up to the structure constant $`C(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_3)`$. It takes the form

$`V_\mathrm{}_1^\mathrm{L}(\xi _1,\overline{\xi }_1|z_1,\overline{z}_1)V_\mathrm{}_2^\mathrm{L}(\xi _2,\overline{\xi }_2|z_2,\overline{z}_2)V_\mathrm{}_3^\mathrm{L}(\xi _3,\overline{\xi }_3|z_3,\overline{z}_3)=C(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_3)`$
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho ^{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{}_3}(\xi _1,\xi _2,\xi _3)}{(z_1z_2)^{\mathrm{\Delta }_1+\mathrm{\Delta }_2\mathrm{\Delta }_3}(z_1z_3)^{\mathrm{\Delta }_1+\mathrm{\Delta }_3\mathrm{\Delta }_2}(z_2z_3)^{\mathrm{\Delta }_2+\mathrm{\Delta }_3\mathrm{\Delta }_1}}}`$
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho ^{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{}_3}(\overline{\xi }_1,\overline{\xi }_2,\overline{\xi }_3)}{(\overline{z}_1\overline{z}_2)^{\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1+\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_2\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_3}(\overline{z}_1\overline{z}_3)^{\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1+\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_3\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_2}(\overline{z}_2\overline{z}_3)^{\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_2+\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_3\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1}}}`$
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i=\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{}_i+|\xi _i|`$, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_i=\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{}_i+|\overline{\xi }_i|`$. The trilinear forms $`\rho ^{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{}_3}(\xi _1,\xi _2,\xi _3)`$, universal for all CFT, are uniquely determined by CWI . Also the notion of the conformal block remains unchanged

$`_{Q,\mathrm{}}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_1}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}](z)`$ $`=`$ $`z^{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{}_1}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}z^n_{Q,\mathrm{}}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_1}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}](n)`$
$`_{Q,\mathrm{}}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_1}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}](n)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{I,J_n}{}}\rho ^{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}}(\omega ,\omega ,\xi _I)B_{Q,\mathrm{}}^{IJ}(n)\rho ^{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{}_1}(\xi _J,\omega ,\omega ).`$
(In the formulae above $`\omega `$ denotes the vacuum state in $`^L,`$ $`\left\{\xi _I\right\}_{I_n}`$ is a basis on the level $`n`$ in $`^L`$, and $`B_{Q,\mathrm{}}^{IJ}(n)`$ is the inverse to the Gram matrix on the level $`n`$ in the Verma module with the central charge $`c=1+6Q^2`$ and the highest weight $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{}}=\frac{Q^2}{4}\left(1+\frac{\mu \mathrm{}^2}{8\pi ^2}\right)`$.)

In the simplest case of the four puncture correlator,

$$G^L(x,\overline{x})=\underset{z,\overline{z}\mathrm{}}{lim}z^{\frac{Q^2}{2}}\overline{z}{}_{}{}^{\frac{Q^2}{2}}P(z,\overline{z})P(1,1)P(x,\overline{x})P(0,0),$$

the geometric factorization in the $`s`$-channel reads

$$G^L(x,\overline{x})=C(0,0,\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x}))C(\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x}),0,0)|_{Q,\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x})}[{}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0\hspace{0.33em}0}}{}^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0\hspace{0.33em}0}}](x)|^2,$$
(4.3)
where $`\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x})`$ is the length of the closed geodesic $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s`$. Let us note that the amplitude does not factorizes into a holomorphic and an anti-holomorphic part.

The formula (4.3) involves the length of closed geodesic in the $`s`$-channel as a function of the fourth puncture location $`x`$. In the vicinity of $`x=0`$ it can be expanded in powers of $`1/\mathrm{log}|x|`$ . If we assume that the structure constants are real analytic at $`\mathrm{}_i=0`$ then the geometric factorization (4.3) yields the same behavior of the Liouville correlator and the same analytic structure of the string amplitude as in the case of the DOZZ solution.

The basic consistency condition of the presented approach is the obvious requirement that the geometric factorization in each channel yields the same result. In the slightly more general case of the four hole correlator it leads to the geometric bootstrap equations:

$`C(\mathrm{}_4,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{}_s)C(\mathrm{}_s,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_1)|_{Q,\mathrm{}_s}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_1}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}](x)|^2`$
$`=`$ $`C(\mathrm{}_4,\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_t)C(\mathrm{}_t,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_3)|_{Q,\mathrm{}_t}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_3}{}^{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}](1x)|^2`$
$`=`$ $`|x|^{4\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{}_2}C(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{}_u)C(\mathrm{}_u,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_4)|_{Q,\mathrm{}_u}[{}_{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_4}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}]\left(\frac{1}{x}\right)|^2`$
where $`\mathrm{}_s,\mathrm{}_t,\mathrm{}_s`$ are the lengths of the closed geodesics in corresponding channels. As in the standard CFT one can promote the geometric bootstrap equations to the basic dynamical principle of the theory.

## 5 Discussion and conclusions

Whether the geometric bootstrap equations provides a plausible solution of the Liouville theory depends on our ability to calculate the structure constants. Due to the complicated non-linear nature of the equations a direct analysis of this problem is prohibitively difficult. It seems that the only strategy available is to construct a candidate for the structure constants and then to verify whether it satisfies the geometric bootstrap equations.

The simplest possibility is to consider the DOZZ structure constant. This proposal might be motivated by the existence of the analytic continuation of the 3-point function from the weak to the strong coupling region and from the elliptic to the hyperbolic weights. Another problem is to verify a slightly stronger hypothesis that not only the structure constants but also the correlators of the geometric approach and of the DOZZ theory are identical. In the case of 4-point correlators it takes the form of the following equation

$`C(\mathrm{}_4,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x}))C(\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x}),\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_1)|_{Q,\mathrm{}_s(x,\overline{x})}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_1}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}](x)|^2`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}d\mathrm{}C(\mathrm{}_4,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{})C(\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_1)|_{Q,\mathrm{}}[{}_{\mathrm{}_4\mathrm{}_1}{}^{\mathrm{}_3\mathrm{}_2}](x)|^2`$ $`.`$
The second possible way to find the structure constants is to analyze a path integral representation of the 3-point function. It requires an appropriate generalization of the Liouville action of the geometric approach from the conical and the puncture singularities to finite holes. It involves in particular the open problem of auxiliary parameters and Polyakov’s conjecture in the case of hyperbolic singularities. This topic seems to be especially interesting as it would provide a way for the semi-classical analysis of the theory by methods analogous to that developed by L. Takhtajan in the case of the puncture singularities.

Even if the structure constants were known, the verification of the geometric bootstrap equations would still be a challenging task. First of all the equations involve the lengths of closed geodesics in each channel as functions of the locations of punctures. Up to our knowledge even in the simplest case of 4-punctured sphere such functions are not known . Secondly the conformal block function is also not known in this case and can be studied only by the numerical methods developed in . Both problems are of their own interest going beyond the present context.

Let us finally comment on the problem of consistent interactions of non-critical Nambu-Goto string. As one could expect from the continuous spectrum the DOZZ approach leads to the tree string amplitudes with cut singularities. The same result was obtained in a more speculative way in the geometric approach. It follows that the Liouville theory description of the longitudinal dynamics applied in the framework of the standard string perturbation expansion does not lead to a consistent interacting non-critical Nambu-Goto string. This leaves almost no room to maneuver for constructing such a theory.

## Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jörg Teschner and Bénédicte Ponsot for discussion. Z.J. is grateful to Michael Wolf for the correspondence and bringing to our attention the reference . The work of L.H. was supported by the EC IHP network HPRN-CT-1999-000161. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique is Unité Mixte du CNRS UMR 8627.