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# Entropy bounds for massive scalar field in positive curvature space

## 1 Introduction

According to recent astrophysical data our universe goes through (or will go through, sooner or later) a de Sitter phase. Moreover, according to the inflationary paradigm333Notice however that there is also the point of view due to Ellis and Maartens  which contemplates the possibility of an eternal inflationary universe without quantum gravity., the universe in the past was also a de Sitter space. Taking into consideration the fact that the early universe was thermal, one of the most promising candidates for modelling the early universe is the $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ space.

One of the fundamental issues about the early universe is the entropy issue, particularly, the occurence of the so called entropy bounds. One of the better known of these bounds involves the ratio of the entropy $`S`$ to the total energy $`E`$ of a closed physical system at high temperature, the Bekenstein bound . For $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ space the Bekenstein bound reads

$$\frac{S}{2\pi rE}1,$$
(1)
where $`r`$ is the radius associated with $`𝐒^3`$. Recently, however, a more restringent form of the above bound was proposed by Verlinde  (for further developments of the Verlinde formalism in four-dimensional de Sitter space see ). The Verlinde bound, which applies only to conformal field theories (CFTs) and admits an holographic interpretation, is given by

$$\frac{S}{2\pi rE}\frac{1}{3}.$$
(2)
The explicit verification of the Verlinde bound was performed for a number of CFTs, mainly in $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ space, via the calculation of the corresponding partition function . The corresponding quantum bounds are weaker than the Verlinde CFT bound. As it should be expected, entropy bounds occur only for high temperature; in the low temperature regime the corresponding entropy/energy ratio can be very large, in fact, it is limitless . For the early universe, however, only the high temperature regime matters. This being so, the fundamental question is: What is the most realistic entropy bound for the early universe?

So far, calculations of quantum versions of entropy bounds have been limited to CFT. For example, the cases of a conformally invariant massless scalar field in spacetime of dimension $`D=4`$, and of other types of massless fields in $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ space, were considered in  where the Casimir energies  at zero and finite temperature were exactly calculated. The purpose of the present paper is to address this question, in the framework of non-conformal field theory, by considering a simple example: the case of a massive scalar field with an arbitrary scalar-gravitational coupling in $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ space. It seems clear that this is a necessary step in the way towards the calculation of entropy bounds for more realistic quantum gravity theories (for a general introduction see ) in the early de Sitter universe, where gravitons are massive.

The paper is divided as follows. In Sect. 2 we briefly sketch a general zeta function formalism suitable for $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^d`$ geometries, which is fundamented in previous work. In Sect. 3, we apply this formalism to the special case of the $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ geometry and obtain the low and high temperature representations for the basic set of thermodynamical functions. In Sect. 4, the implication of the results for what concerns the entropy bounds is discussed. The last section contains a concluding summary.

Throughout the paper, purely thermal quantities are denoted with a tilde, thus $`\stackrel{~}{E}`$ stands for the thermal energy, while untilded quantities include zero point contributions. We also employ natural units, $`\mathrm{}=c=1`$, and set the Boltzmann constant equal to one.

## 2 Zeta function formalism

We begin by reviewing the generalised zeta function approach  for the construction of the logarithm of the partition function of the problem at hand. The eigenvalue equation in $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^d`$ reads

$$\left(_d^2+\xi R+m^2\right)\mathrm{\Phi }_\lambda (\tau ,\stackrel{}{x})=\lambda \mathrm{\Phi }_\lambda (\tau ,\stackrel{}{x}),$$
(3)
with $`_d^2^2/\tau ^2+\stackrel{}{}_d^2`$, where $`\tau :=it`$ is the euclidean time coordinate and $`\stackrel{}{}_d^2`$ the Laplace operator on $`𝐒^d`$. The parameter $`\xi `$ is the conformal parameter, whose value is a function of the spacetime dimensions $`D=d+1`$: $`\left(D2\right)/\left[4\left(D1\right)\right]`$; $`R`$ is the Ricci curvature scalar. Equation (3) splits into two eigenvalue equations. The first is

$$\left(\frac{^2}{\tau ^2}+m^2\right)\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau \right)=\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau \right),$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau \right)`$ satisfies periodic boundary conditions on $`𝐒^1`$, so that $`\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau \right)=\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau +\beta \right)`$, where $`\beta T^1`$, the reciprocal of the temperature $`T`$, is the periodicity length for the compactified euclidean time axis. Oscillating solutions of Eq. (4) are given by $`\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau \right)\mathrm{exp}\left(ik_\tau \tau \right)`$ with $`k_\tau =2n\pi /\beta `$, where $`n`$ is an integer. It then follows, that

$$\alpha \alpha _n=\left(\frac{2\pi n}{\beta }\right)^2+m^2,$$
(5)
and

$$\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\tau \right)\mathrm{\Omega }_n\left(\tau \right)\mathrm{exp}\left(i2n\pi /\beta \right),n=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}.$$
(6)
The second eigenvalue equation, steming from Eq. (3), for the Laplacian on $`S^d`$ is

$$\left(\stackrel{}{}_d^2+\xi R\right)\mathrm{\Psi }_\nu \left(\stackrel{}{x}\right)=\nu \mathrm{\Psi }_\nu \left(\stackrel{}{x}\right).$$
(7)
The eigenfunctions $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\nu \left(\stackrel{}{x}\right)`$ can be chosen as the spherical harmonics $`Y_\mathrm{}m(\theta _1,\theta _2,\mathrm{}\theta _{d1},\varphi )`$ on $`S^d`$, which satisfy

$$\stackrel{}{}_d^2Y_\mathrm{}m\left(\stackrel{}{x}\right)=\frac{M_{\mathrm{}}^2}{r^2}Y_\mathrm{}m\left(\stackrel{}{x}\right),$$
(8)
and it follows that

$$\nu \nu _{\mathrm{}}=\frac{M_{\mathrm{}}^2}{r^2}+\xi R.$$
(9)
The complete spectrum of eigenvalues defined by the eigenvalue problem in $`𝐒\times 𝐒^d`$, expressed by Eq. (3), is then

$$\lambda \lambda _n\mathrm{}=\alpha _n+\nu _{\mathrm{}}=\left(\frac{2\pi n}{\beta }\right)^2+m^2+\xi R+\frac{M_{\mathrm{}}^2}{r^2}.$$
(10)
The zeta function corresponding to the operator $`_d^2+\xi R+m^2`$ is given by

$$\zeta \left(s|\frac{_d^2+\xi R+m^2}{\sigma ^2}\right)=\sigma ^{2s}\underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\left(\frac{2\pi n}{\beta }\right)^2+\frac{M_{\mathrm{}}^2(\mu ,\chi )}{r^2}\right]^s,$$
(11)
where $`\sigma `$ is a regularization parameter with dimensions of mass  and $`M_{\mathrm{}}^2(\mu ,\chi )`$ is defined as

$$M_{\mathrm{}}^2(\mu ,\chi )M_{\mathrm{}}^2+\mu ^2+\chi ,$$
(12)
with $`\mu mr`$ and $`\chi =\xi Rr^2`$. For the bosonic scalar field we are dealing with, the partition function can be obtained from

$$\mathrm{log}Z\left(\beta \right)=\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{ds}\zeta \left(s=0|\frac{_d^2+\xi R+m^2}{\sigma ^2}\right).$$
(13)
Now, we proceed along the lines described in Ref. , i.e., we introduce the Mellin transform and make use of the Poisson sum formula (or the Jacobi theta function identity) to formally split the partition function into two separate contributions, one corresponding to the zero-temperature Casimir energy and one corresponding to its finite temperature correction. The final result is

$$\mathrm{log}Z\left(\beta \right)=\frac{\beta }{2r}\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}D_{\mathrm{}}M_{\mathrm{}}(\mu ,\chi )\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}D_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{log}\left(1e^{\beta M_{\mathrm{}}(\mu ,\chi )/r}\right),$$
(14)
Equation (14) holds generally for $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^d`$ geometries and contains all the relevant physical information we need at zero and finite temperature. The case of spatial dimension $`d=1`$, however, needs to be handled with special care: the formalism must be slightly modified in order to take into account the presence of a zero mode. In fact, it can be shown that the thermodynamics of the zero mode are internally inconsistent with the choice of a particular value for the scaling mass, they thus turn out to be unpredictive and, therefore, must be discarded from the formalism (see Ref.  for more details and Ref.  for an independent statistical mechanical discussion). The simplicity, together with the suggestive physical meaning of Eq. (14), which provides a neat formal separation of the logarithm of the partition function into non-thermal and thermal sectors, is a direct, remarkable consequence of the generalised zeta-function technique employed here.

## 3 The massive scalar field on $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$: Thermodynamical functions for the low- and high-T regimes

We now apply the formalism described above to our specific problem, i.e.: the evaluation of the Casimir zero point energy and the thermodynamics of a massive scalar field $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ in a $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ geometry, with an explicit conformal symmetry breaking due to mass, and deviations from the conformal value $`\xi =1/6`$. The eigenvalues of the Laplace operator on $`𝐒^3`$ are given by $`M_{\mathrm{}}^2=\mathrm{}\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)`$, with $`\mathrm{}=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$, and degeneracy $`D_{\mathrm{}}=\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)^2`$. Hence, we can write

$$M_{\mathrm{}}^2(\mu ,\chi )\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)^2+\mu _{eff}^2$$
(15)
where the dimensionless parameter $`\mu _{eff}^2`$ is defined by

$$\mu _{eff}^2\mu _{eff}^2(\mu ,\chi )=\mu ^2+\chi 1.$$
(16)
This parameter plays a role similar to an effective mass. Remark, however, that $`\mu _{eff}^2`$ and $`\chi `$ are real numbers and that $`\mu ^20`$. The standard conformal value ($`\xi =1/6`$) corresponds to $`\mu ^2=0`$ and $`\chi =1`$ ($`\mu _{eff}=0`$).

The Casimir energy at zero temperature, which can be formally read out from Eq. (14), is given by

$$E_0\left(\mu _{eff}^2\right)=\frac{1}{2r}\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)^2\sqrt{\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)^2+\mu _{eff}^2}.$$
(17)
In the conformal limit, we obtain

$$E_0\left(\mu _{eff}^2\left(\mu ^2=0,\chi =1\right)\right)=\frac{1}{2r}\zeta \left(3\right)=\frac{1}{240r}.$$
(18)
The Casimir energy for arbitrary $`\mu _{eff}^2`$ can be calculated following the analytical methods discussed in . In the following subsections we will consider, however, an alternative way.

### 3.1 Thermodynamical functions for low T

Let us now focus on the thermal sector, which is described by the second term on the r.h.s. of Eq. (14), and obtain the relevant thermodynamical functions. For convenience, we discuss the low and the high temperature regimes separately, and for the latter case, we distinguish between the open intervals $`0<\mu _{eff}^2<\mathrm{}`$ and $`1<\mu _{eff}^2<0`$. After a convenient shift of the summation index, Eq. (14) reads

$$\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)=\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{log}\left(1e^{\beta \sqrt{\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2}/r}\right).$$
(19)
The thermal energy is

$$\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)=\frac{d}{d\beta }\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)=\frac{1}{r}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\mathrm{}^2\left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}}{e^{\beta \left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r}1},$$
(20)
and the thermal part of the free energy

$$\stackrel{~}{F}\left(\beta \right)=\frac{1}{\beta }\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)=\frac{1}{\beta }\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{log}\left(1e^{\beta \sqrt{\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2}/r}\right).$$
(21)
The full set of thermodynamical functions read

$$E\left(\beta \right)=E_0+\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)=\frac{1}{2r}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{}^2\left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}+\frac{1}{r}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\mathrm{}^2\left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}}{e^{\beta \left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r}1},$$
(22)
$$F\left(\beta \right)=F_0+\stackrel{~}{F}\left(\beta \right)=\frac{1}{2r}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{}^2\left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}+\frac{1}{\beta }\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\beta \left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r}\right]$$
(23)
$$S\left(\beta \right)=\beta \left(EF\right)=\frac{\beta }{r}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\mathrm{}^2\left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}}{e^{\beta \left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r}1}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\beta \left(\mathrm{}^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r}\right].$$
(24)
Notice that when $`\beta \mathrm{}`$ the entropy goes to zero as it should. It is clear that the zeta function approach naturally leads to low-temperature representations for the fundamental thermodynamical quantities.

#### 3.1.1 The low-T approximation

In the low-T limit, $`\beta /r1`$, we can easily obtain, from the low-T representations above, the following expressions for $`\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)`$, $`\stackrel{~}{F}\left(\beta \right)`$, and $`S\left(\beta \right)`$

$$\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\left(1+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}}{r}e^{\beta \left(1+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r},$$
(25)
$$\stackrel{~}{F}\left(\beta \right)\frac{1}{\beta }e^{\beta \left(1+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r},$$
(26)
$$S\left(\beta \right)\frac{\beta \left(1+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}}{r}e^{\beta \left(1+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}/r}.$$
(27)
As we will see, these relations lead to simple entropy bounds, similar to those obtained in the conformal case.

### 3.2 Thermodynamical functions for the high-T regime

In order to construct high-temperature representations for the relevant thermodynamical functions, we can make use of one of the several well known summation formulae. The most convenient one here is the rescaled Abel-Plana formula

$$h\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}f\left(h\mathrm{}\right)=\frac{h}{2}f\left(0\right)+_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑xf\left(x\right)+i_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{f\left(iy\right)f\left(iy\right)}{e^{2\pi y/h}1},$$
(28)
where $`h`$ is a scale factor and $`f\left(x\right)`$ is such that $`f\left(\mathrm{}\right)=0`$. In the high temperature regime we must distinguish between two cases, to wit: $`0<\mu _{eff}^2<\mathrm{}`$ and $`1<\mu _{eff}^2<0`$. Let us begin with the first.

#### 3.2.1 Thermodynamical functions for $`0<\mu _{eff}^2<`$$`\mathrm{}`$

Consider the open interval $`0<\mu _{eff}^2<\mathrm{}`$ and the purely thermal part of the logarithm of the partition function, Eq. (19). The rescaled Abel-Plana formula with the identification $`h=\beta /r`$ and $`f\left(x\right)=\left(r/\beta \right)^3x^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(x^2+m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right]`$, where $`m_{eff}=\mu _{eff}/r`$ is the effective mass corresponding to the dimensionless parameter $`\mu _{eff}`$, reads

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{r}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}f\left({\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{r}}\mathrm{}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{\beta }}\right)^3{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑xx^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(x^2+m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right]`$ (29)
$`2\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{\beta }}\right)^3{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k}}{\displaystyle _{m_{eff}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑yy^2{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}\left[k\left(y^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}\right]}{e^{2\pi ry/\beta }1}}.`$
Let us consider the first term on the r.h.s. of Eq. (29). Introducing a new real, positive variable $`t`$, defined by $`t+\left(x^2+m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}`$, and expanding the logarithm, we readily obtain

$`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑xx^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(x^2+m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right]={\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}{\displaystyle _{m_{eff}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑tt\left(t^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}e^{nt}`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\lambda }}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^2}}{\displaystyle _{m_{eff}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t\left(t^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}e^{nt\lambda }|_{\lambda =1}.`$ (30)
The integral can be obtained with the help of (*cf.* Ref. , formula 3.887.6)

$$_{\mu _1}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑x\left(x^2\mu _1^2\right)^{\nu 1}e^{\mu _2x}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}\left(\frac{2\mu _1}{\mu _2}\right)^{\nu 1/2}\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu \right)K_{\nu \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mu _1\mu _2\right),$$
(31)
where $`K_\nu \left(z\right)`$ is the modified Bessel function of the third kind. This result holds for $`\mu _1>0;\mathrm{}\mu _2>0;\mathrm{}\nu >0`$. It follows that

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑xx^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(x^2+m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right]=m_{eff}\beta \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^3}\left[\frac{d}{d\lambda }\frac{1}{\lambda }K_1\left(m_{eff}\beta \lambda n\right)\right]_{\lambda =1}.$$
(32)
Now, we make use of the relation (*cf*. Ref. , formula 8.486.15)

$$\left(\frac{d}{zdz}\right)^m\left[z^\nu K_\nu \left(z\right)\right]=\left(1\right)^mz^{\nu m}K_{\nu +m}\left(z\right),$$
(33)
to obtain, after simple manipulations,

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑xx^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(x^2+m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right]=\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)^2\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}K_2\left(m_{eff}\beta n\right).$$
(34)
Let us now consider the second term in Eq. (29). Expanding the sine function in its integrand, according to

$$\mathrm{sin}\left[k\left(y^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}\right]=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\left(1\right)^{n1}}{\left(2n1\right)!}\left(y^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{n1/2}k^{2n1},$$
(35)
we obtain an infinite sum of convergent integrals which, after performing the sum over $`k`$, yields

$$i_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{f\left(iy\right)f\left(iy\right)}{e^{2\pi y/h}1}=2\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\left(1\right)^{n1}}{\left(2n1\right)!}\zeta \left(22n\right)G_n\left(m_{eff}\beta \right),$$
(36)
where we have defined

$$G_n\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)_{m_{eff}\beta }^{\mathrm{}}𝑑yy^2\frac{\left(y^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{n1/2}}{e^{2\pi ry/\beta }1}.$$
(37)
Since the Riemann zeta function is zero for all negative even integers, we have that $`\zeta \left(22n\right)=0`$ for all $`n`$, except for $`n=1`$. Therefore, only the first term of the sum in Eq. (36) survives and, after collecting all pieces, we obtain for the thermal part of the logarithm of the partition function, the result

$$\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)=\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)^2\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}K_2\left(m_{eff}\beta n\right)2\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\zeta \left(0\right)G_1\left(m_{eff}\beta \right).$$
(38)
We can check Eq. (38) out by setting $`m_{eff}=0`$; then, making use of the small $`z`$ approximation of $`K_\nu \left(z\right)\left(1/2\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu \right)\left(z/2\right)^\nu `$ and of (*cf*. , formula 3.411.1)

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑x\frac{x^{\nu 1}}{e^{ux}1}=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu \right)}{u^\nu }\zeta \left(\nu \right),$$
(39)
it follows that

$$\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{45}\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3+\frac{1}{240}\frac{\beta }{r},$$
(40)
which is in perfect agreement with Kutasov and Larsen  for the conformal limit. It is important to notice, however, that now this result can be extended to conformal symmetry breaking fields $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$, as long as their effective mass remains zero.

More progress can be made if we evaluate $`G_1\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)`$ for an arbitrary effective mass. This can be done by first expanding the denominator in $`G_1\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)`$ according to

$$\frac{1}{e^x1}=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}e^{nx},$$
(41)
which then allows us to write

$$G_1\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)=\left(\frac{\beta }{2\pi }\right)^2\frac{d^2}{d\lambda ^2}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}_{m_{eff}\beta }^{\mathrm{}}𝑑y\left(y^2m_{eff}^2\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}e^{2\pi nry\lambda /\beta },$$
(42)
where once more the derivative must be evaluated at $`\lambda =1`$. This integral can be calculated exactly, with the help of Eq. (31), the result being

$$G_1\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)=\left(\frac{\beta }{2\pi r}\right)^3m_{eff}\beta \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^3}\frac{d^2}{d\lambda ^2}\frac{1}{\lambda }K_1\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\lambda \right).$$
(43)
Now make use of Eq. (33) and of the recursion relation (see , formula 8.486.13)

$$z\frac{dK_\nu \left(z\right)}{dz}\nu K_\nu \left(z\right)=zK_\nu \left(z\right),$$
(44)
to obtain the useful formula

$$\frac{d^2}{d\lambda ^2}\left[\frac{1}{\lambda }K_1\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\lambda \right)\right]_{\lambda =1}=\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right)K_2\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right)+\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right)^2K_3\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right),$$
(45)
so that the second term in Eq. (38) reads

$$J_1(m_{eff},\beta )=\frac{\mu _{eff}^2\beta }{\left(2\pi \right)^2r}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}K_2\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right)+\frac{\mu _{eff}^3\beta }{2\pi r}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n}K_3\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right),$$
(46)
where we have made use of $`\zeta \left(0\right)=1/2`$.

Finally, collecting all pieces, we obtain

$`\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)={\displaystyle \frac{r\mu _{eff}^2}{\beta }}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^2}}K_2\left(m_{eff}\beta n\right){\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{eff}^2\beta }{\left(2\pi \right)^2r}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^2}}K_2\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{eff}^3\beta }{2\pi r}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}K_3\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right),`$ (47)
which is the result we were looking for. In order to obtain the full set of thermodynamical functions, to this result we must add the zero point contribution

$$\mathrm{log}Z\left(\mathrm{}\right)=\frac{\beta }{2r}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}n^2\left(n^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2},$$
(48)
Thus, the total free energy is given by

$`F\left(\beta \right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2r}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}n^2\left(n^2+\mu _{eff}^2\right)^{1/2}{\displaystyle \frac{r\mu _{eff}^2}{\beta ^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^2}}K_2\left(m_{eff}\beta n\right)`$ (49)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{\left(2\pi \right)^2r}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^2}}K_2\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\mu _{eff}^3}{2\pi r}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}K_3\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right).`$
Exact expressions for the total energy and entropy follow from the fundamental relations $`E=d\left(\beta F\right)/d\beta `$ and $`S=\beta \left[d\left(\beta F\right)/d\beta F\right]`$. The zero point contribution must, of course, be understood in terms of its analytical continuation . A shortcut that avoids analytical continuation is the realisation that the last two terms of Eq. (47) or Eq. (49), lead to minus the *renormalised* vacuum energy,$`E_0`$, that is, the exact renormalised expression for the Casimir energy reads

$$E_0=\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{\left(2\pi \right)^2}\underset{rn=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}K_2\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right)+\frac{\mu _{eff}^3}{2\pi }\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n}K_3\left(2\pi n\mu _{eff}\right).$$
(50)
For $`\mu _{eff}^21`$, for example, we obtain

$$E_0\frac{1}{240r}\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{48r}\frac{\mu _{eff}^4}{16r},$$
(51)
in agreement with the analytical method. Equation (50) is an instance of the approach to the Casimir energy proposed in .

#### 3.2.2 The high temperature approximation and small effective-mass corrections

In the high-T regime, $`m_{eff}\beta 1`$, with the effective mass in the interval $`0<m_{eff}<r^1`$, we can expand the modifed Bessel functions in Eq. (47) to obtain

$$\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{45}\frac{r^3}{\beta ^3}+\frac{\beta }{240r}\frac{\mu _{eff}^2r}{2\beta }\frac{\mu _{eff}^2\beta }{48r},$$
(52)
which is Kutasov and Larsen’s result  with the lowest-order effective-mass correction. Higher-order corrections can be easily evaluated. It follows that the thermal free energy can be written in scaled form as

$$r\stackrel{~}{F}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{45}\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^4\frac{1}{240}+\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{2}\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^2+\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{48}.$$
(53)
The scaled thermal energy is

$$r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{15}\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^4\frac{1}{240}\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{2}\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^2+\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{48},$$
(54)
and the entropy is

$$S\left(\beta \right)\frac{4\pi ^4}{45}\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\mu _{eff}^2\frac{r}{\beta }.$$
(55)
Again, if we set $`\mu _{eff}^2=0`$, we recover the standard results for the conformally invariant case .

#### 3.2.3 Thermodynamical functions for $`1<\mu _{eff}^2<0`$

The evaluation of the logarithm of the partition function in the open interval $`1<\mu _{eff}^2<0`$ is somewhat more envolved. First of all, we redefine $`f\left(h\mathrm{}\right)`$ according to

$$f\left(h\mathrm{}\right)\stackrel{~}{f}\left(h\mathrm{}\right)\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\left(h\mathrm{}\right)^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(h^2\mathrm{}^2\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right],$$
(56)
where, as before, the scale factor is $`h=\beta /r`$. With the replacement $`h\mathrm{}x`$ we also have

$$f\left(x\right)\stackrel{~}{f}\left(x\right)\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3x^2\mathrm{log}\left[1e^{\left(x^2\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}}\right],$$
(57)
which we will suppose to be real and hence defined in the interval $`\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta <x<\mathrm{}`$. After introducing the new variable $`t\sqrt{x^2\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2}`$, expanding the log and treating the integral term as before the rescaled Abel-Plana formula will read

$$\frac{\beta }{r}\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\stackrel{~}{f}\left(h\mathrm{}\right)=\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}\left[\frac{dI_n\left(\lambda \right)}{d\lambda }\right]_{\lambda =1}+H\left(m_{eff}\beta \right),$$
(58)
where we have defined

$$I_n\left(\lambda \right)_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑t\left(t^2+\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}e^{nt\lambda },$$
(59)
and

$$H\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)2\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{k}_{\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta }^{\mathrm{}}𝑑yy^2\frac{\mathrm{sin}\left[\left(y^2+\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}\right]}{e^{2\pi ry/\beta }1}.$$
(60)
From our previous experience we can anticipate that the first term in Eq. (58) contains the thermal corrections and the second one is related to the zero temperature vacuum energy.

The integral $`I_n\left(\lambda \right)`$ can be calculated with the help of (*cf*. , formula 3.387.7)

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑x\left(x^2+u^2\right)^{\nu 1}e^{px}=\frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}\left(\frac{2u}{p}\right)^{\nu \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu \right)\left[H_{\nu \frac{1}{2}}\left(up\right)N_{\nu \frac{1}{2}}\left(up\right)\right],$$
(61)
that holds for $`\left|\mathrm{arg}u\right|<\pi `$ and $`\mathrm{}p>0`$. The functions $`H_\nu \left(z\right)`$ are the Struve functions whose series representation is given by

$$H_\nu \left(z\right)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(1\right)^j\frac{\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)^{2j+\nu +1}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(j+\frac{3}{2}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu +j+\frac{3}{2}\right)},$$
(62)
and $`N_\nu \left(z\right)`$ are the Bessel function of the second kind (Neumann functions) . It follows that the first term of Eq. (29) can be rewritten as

$$\left(\frac{r}{\beta }\right)^3\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}\left[\frac{dI_n\left(\lambda \right)}{d\lambda }\right]_{\lambda =1}=\frac{\pi r^3\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}}{2\beta ^2}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^3}\left\{\frac{d}{d\lambda }\frac{1}{\lambda }\left[H_1\left(\alpha \lambda \right)N_1\left(\alpha \lambda \right)\right]\right\}_{\lambda =1},$$
(63)
where $`\alpha \left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta n`$.

The second term can be integrated just as we did before, that is, first we expand the sine function as in (35) and replace the denominator using (41), then we get

$$H\left(m_{eff}\beta \right)=\frac{r}{4\pi ^2\beta }\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^2}\left[\frac{d^2}{d\lambda ^2}_{\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta }^{\mathrm{}}𝑑y\left(y^2+\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}e^{2\pi rny\lambda /\beta }\right]_{\lambda =1}.$$
(64)
This integral can be also evaluated with the help of Eq. (61) and the result is

$$_{\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta }^{\mathrm{}}𝑑y\left(y^2+\left|m_{eff}^2\right|\beta ^2\right)^{1/2}e^{2\pi rny\lambda /\beta }=\frac{\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta ^2}{4\pi rn\lambda }\times \left[H_1\left(\eta \lambda \right)N_1\left(\eta \lambda \right)\right],$$
(65)
where $`\eta 2\pi \left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}rn`$. Hence, we can write

$`\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)={\displaystyle \frac{\pi r^3\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}}{2\beta ^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^3}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\lambda }}{\displaystyle \frac{1.}{\lambda }}\left[H_1\left(\alpha \lambda \right)N_1\left(\alpha \lambda \right)\right]\right\}_{\lambda =1}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta }{16\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^3}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{d\lambda ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\lambda }}\left[H_1\left(\eta \lambda \right)N_1\left(\eta \lambda \right)\right]\right\}_{\lambda =1}.`$ (66)
Equation (66) can be simplified by making use of a relation similar to Eq. (33) for the Neumann functions and of the relations

$$\frac{d}{dz}z^\nu H_\nu \left(z\right)=\frac{1}{2^\nu \pi ^{1/2}\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu +\frac{3}{2}\right)}z^\nu H_{\nu +1}\left(z\right),$$
(67)
and

$$2\frac{d}{dz}H_\nu \left(z\right)=H_{\nu 1}\left(z\right)H_{\nu +1}\left(z\right)+\frac{\left(\frac{1}{2}z\right)^\nu }{\pi ^{1/2}\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu +\frac{3}{2}\right)},$$
(68)
Using these relations, we can recast Eq. (66) into the form

$`\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)={\displaystyle \frac{\pi r^3\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}}{2\beta ^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^3}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha ^2}{3\pi }}\alpha H_2\left(\alpha \right)+\alpha N_2\left(\alpha \right)\right]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}\beta }{16\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^3}}\left\{\eta ^3\left[{\displaystyle \frac{H_1\left(\eta \right)}{2\eta }}{\displaystyle \frac{H_2\left(\eta \right)}{\eta ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{H_3\left(\eta \right)}{2\eta }}+{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{60\pi }}\right]+\eta N_2\left(\eta \right)\eta ^2N_3\left(\eta \right)\right\}_{\lambda =1}.`$ (69)
The first term in the first line on the r.h.s. of Eq. (69) leads to the divergent parcel $`\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|^{3/2}\zeta \left(1\right)/3`$, nevertheless, this contribution does not depend on $`\beta `$ or $`r`$, thus being physically unobservable. Therefore, we can discard it without too much ado, and with the deletion of this term, Eq. (69) is our final result. As a check consider again the massless limit. Since the parameters $`\alpha `$ and $`\eta `$ are proportional to $`\left|m_{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}`$, and the Struve functions are represented by ascending powers of $`\alpha `$ and $`\eta `$, their contribution in the massless limit is negligible. The same remark holds for the quartic term in $`\eta `$. Then, recalling that for small $`z`$ the limiting form of Neumann functions is $`N_\nu \left(z\right)\left(1/\pi \right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\nu \right)\left(z/2\right)^\nu `$, we actually obtain Kutasov and Larsen’s result .

The regularised vacuum energy for the open interval $`1<\mu _{eff}^2<0`$ can be inferred from Eq. (69) and reads

$$E_0=\frac{\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|^{1/2}}{16\pi ^2r}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n^3}\left\{\eta ^3\left[\frac{H_1\left(\eta \right)}{2\eta }\frac{H_2\left(\eta \right)}{\eta ^2}\frac{H_3\left(\eta \right)}{2\eta }+\frac{\eta }{60\pi }\right]\eta N_2\left(\eta \right)+\eta ^2N_3\left(\eta \right)\right\}_{\lambda =1}.$$
(70)
Effective mass corrections are, as before, easily obtainable. For example, to lowest order in $`\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|`$, the logarithm of the partition function is given by

$$\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{Z}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{45}\frac{r^3}{\beta ^3}+\frac{\beta }{240r}+\frac{\pi ^2\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{12}\frac{r}{\beta }+\frac{3\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{16}\frac{\beta }{r}.$$
(71)
The relevant thermodynamical functions in this approximation read

$$r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{15}\frac{r^4}{\beta ^4}\frac{1}{240}+\frac{\pi ^2\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{12}\frac{r^2}{\beta ^2}\frac{3\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{16},$$
(72)
$$r\stackrel{~}{F}\left(\beta \right)\frac{\pi ^4}{45}\frac{r^4}{\beta ^4}\frac{1}{240}\frac{\pi ^2\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{12}\frac{r^2}{\beta ^2}\frac{3\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{16},$$
(73)
$$S\left(\beta \right)\frac{4\pi ^4}{45}\frac{r^3}{\beta ^3}+\frac{\pi ^2\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{6}\frac{r}{\beta }.$$
(74)
Notice that the entropy is always positive, but that, owing to quantum effects, the energy can attain negative values. Higher order corrections include fractional powers of $`\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|`$. It is important, however, to realise once again that, in the thermodynamical sense, the conformal limit has in our approach a broader sense.

## 4 Entropy/energy ratios

Now we can evaluate the entropy/energy ratios. Though they are meaningful for the high-temperature regime only, for the sake of completness we will also evaluate them in the low-temperature limit. To start, in the low temperature regime the entropy/energy ratio is $`\mu _{eff}`$-independent. In fact, from Eqs. (27) and (25) we readily obtain

$$\frac{S\left(\beta \right)}{2\pi r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)}=\delta 1,$$
(75)
where, for comparison with known results, we have introduced the notation $`\delta \beta /\left(2\pi r\right)`$. This is the massless conformally invariant result .

The entropy/energy ratio in the high-temperature regime and for $`0<\mu _{eff}^2<1`$ is given by

$$\frac{S\left(\beta \right)}{2\pi r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)}\frac{\frac{\delta ^3}{180}\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{8\pi ^2}\delta ^1}{\left[\frac{1}{240}\left(\delta ^41\right)\frac{\mu _{eff}^2}{8\pi ^2}\left(\delta ^2\frac{\pi ^2}{6}\right)\right]},\delta 1.$$
(76)
Again, by setting $`\mu _{eff}^2=0`$ we recover the conformal case result , but this time extended to the non-conformal field.

The entropy/energy ratio in the high-temperature regime with $`1<\mu _{eff}^2<0`$, reads

$$\frac{S\left(\beta \right)}{2\pi r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)}\frac{\frac{\delta ^3}{180}+\frac{\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{24}\delta ^1}{\left[\frac{1}{240}\left(\delta ^41\right)+\frac{\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|}{48}\left(\delta ^29\right)\right]},\delta 1.$$
(77)
These ratios can be compared and visualised in the plot below (Fig. 1), where we also show the Bekenstein and the Verlinde ratios

The horizontal axis is $`\delta `$ and the vertical one is the ratio entropy/energy. The thicker line is the upper limit of Bekenstein’s ratio $`S\left(\beta \right)/2\pi r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)=1`$. The thinner of the thick lines is the Verlinde ratio $`S\left(\beta \right)/2\pi r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)=1/3`$. The thin full curve is the conformal result. The long-dashed curve plot is Eq. (76) and the short-dashed one Eq. (77); in both cases we have set $`\mu _{eff}^2=\left|\mu _{eff}^2\right|=0.5`$. For $`\delta 0`$ the plots corresponding to Eqs. (76), (77), and the conformal case all coalesce into the same straight line. Notice that for $`\delta 0.2`$ all entropy bounds exceed the Verlinde bound. The one corresponding to the conformal limit surpases quite soon the Bekenstein bound, at about $`\delta 0.6`$. Concerning our approach, it is very interesting to remark that, owing to the different algebraic signs of the effective mass corrections, the entropy bounds given by Eqs. (76) and (77) behave in a very different way. Indeed, with negative (tachyonic) effective mass, the entropy bound soon exceeds ($`\delta 0.4`$) the Bekenstein bound (as in the case of the conformal theory). Here, this is probably the manifestation of some tachyonic-related instability, that renders also another branch of negative values of the ratio. Notice the sudden jump for $`\delta 0.5`$. This behaviour also seems to be related to such tachyonic instabilituy and is due to the fact that the energy becomes negative. The entropy remains always positive, as remarked before. However, because we are on the verge of violating the validity of our approximation the behaviour for $`\delta >0.5`$ is suspicious and could be spurious. At the same time, for positive effective mass the entropy bound remains below the Bekenstein bound for all values of $`\delta `$, which is a remarkable result. What is more, the value seems to come back to fulfill Verlinde’s bound, for higher values of $`\delta `$, which is indeed very nice.

From Eq. (47) we can also obtain the entropy/energy ratio in the limit $`m_{eff}\beta 1`$. In fact, it is easy to show that in this limit the entropy/energy ratio does not depend on the effective mass $`m_{eff}`$ and reads

$$\frac{S\left(\beta \right)}{2\pi r\stackrel{~}{E}\left(\beta \right)}\frac{5}{3}\delta .$$
(78)
Therefore, in the high-temperature regime ($`\delta 0)`$, with $`m_{eff}T`$, the ratio entropy/energy remains bounded by the Bekenstein limit. It should be expected that a similar bound will hold for the de Sitter graviton in the early thermal universe.

## 5 Concluding remarks

In this work, we have considered the evaluation of of the Casimir energy at zero and finite temperature for the case of a massive scalar field in $`𝐒^1\times 𝐒^3`$ geometries allowing for an arbitrary conformal parameter $`\xi `$.

The evaluation of the corresponding thermodynamical functions through the rescaled Abel-Plana sum formula leads straightforwardly to the very high temperature regime (no exponential corrections), but then, it is there that the relevant physics lies. As stressed in Ref. , it is only in the high-T regime that we are allowed to make use of thermodynamical methods in the one-loop approximation  (for earlier studies of similar questions see Ref.  where a slightly different approach was employed). We have also shown that for $`\mu _{eff}^2=0`$, the zero temperature Casimir energy is degenerated in the sense that it is equal to the Casimir energy of the conformal case. We also have evaluated the relevant thermodynamical functions and extended the previous analysis of entropy bounds and entropy-energy ratios of the symmetrical conformal case to the present one. Interestingly enough, for $`\mu _{eff}^2=0`$, all previous results concerning Bekenstein-Verlinde ratios are valid. Also, dual symmetries, as for example the temperature inversion symmetry, are recovered.

Our results can be used in the calculation of the entropy/energy ratio for the graviton living in the same spacetime. Since the cosmological constant will play the role of the effective mass considered here, it follows that the entropy/energy ratio will depend on the cosmological constant. Moreover, since a ‘cosmological constant’ term coming from the vacuum fluctuations of some field (as predicted by several fashionable models) will depend on time, as the radius of the universe also does, this bound will become time-dependent. We can speculate then on the relation between the change of such a kind of cosmological constant and the evolution of the entropy bound.

As a final remark, notice that the free energy calculated here can be used in the analysis of the back reaction of a massive scalar field in the spacetime under discussion.

### Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted with Sergei Odintsov for important suggestions and very helpful comments. A. C. T. wishes to acknowledge the kind hospitality of the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC/CSIC) and the Universitat de Barcelona, Departament d’Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria. A. C. T. also acknowledges the financial support of Consejo Superior de Investigación Científica (CSIC, Spain), and of CAPES, the Brazilian agency for faculty improvement, Grant BExt 06832/01-2. The investigation of E.E. has been supported by DGI/SGPI (Spain), project BFM2000-0810, and by CIRIT (Generalitat de Catalunya), contracts 2002BEAI400019, 2001ACES00014 and 2001SGR-00427.


text:
# Detectability of Gravitational Waves from SN 1987A

## 1 Introduction

Middleditch et al.  (2000) have claimed the likely first detection of the compact remnant of supernova 1987A (hereafter SN 1987A). Through fast photometry of a small region around the supernova they were able to find a modulated signal with a main frequency of 467.5 Hz and a modulation period of about 1000 seconds. Assuming that this was the spin frequency of the presumed pulsar, and following the source between 1992 and 1996, they were able to determine the spindown of the pulsar and changes in the precession period. The observations were complicated by times when the pulsation or the modulation were not visible or not so evident. The pulsations seem to have disappeared completely since 1996. While astrophysically plausible explanations for the intermittency of the signal can be devised appealing to the very complex nature of the SN 1987A environment, the reality of a pulsar with the described characteristics is at best very suggestive.

In this paper we will simply assume that the pulsar interpretation is correct, adopt the parameters derived by Middleditch et al. at face value and derive some interesting implications for the detection of gravitational waves from this source. We base our discussion on simple free precessing neutron star models (Alpar & Pines, 1985; Cutler & Jones, 2000; Jones & Andersson, 2001).

The general problem of emission of gravitational waves from rotating and precessing neutron stars including pulsars and low-mass X-ray binaries has been recently reviewed by Jones (2001). For the particular case of SN 1987A, while other authors (Cutler & Jones, 2000; Jones & Andersson, 2001; Nagataki & Sato, 2001) have also examined some of the consequences of the results of Middleditch et al.  (2000), none of these papers provides a precise calculation of the intensity and detectability of gravitational waves from this source. The main aim of this paper is to provide these estimates and to discuss the likelihood of detection of gravitational waves from the hypoyhetical pulsar in SN 1987A by LIGO I and II. In Section 5 we estimate the time required to observe the signal with different types of detectors using coherent integration techniques. We show that, within a plausible range of values of the moment of inertia $`I_0,`$ the gravitational wave strain is big enough to be detectable by LIGO II within integration times ranging from days to months. Thus, if the interpretation of the periodicities in the optical observations is correct, 1987A should be a predictable source of gravity waves for ground based observatories. The computational requirements for the data analysis discussed in Section 6 are non-trivial but within the capabilities of modern computers.

## 2 Summary of the Observations

Middleditch et al.  (2000) discuss fast photometry observations of the remnant of the supernova 1987A carried out at different times over the period 1992–1996 from several observatories. During that time interval the pulsar was detected several times at slightly different frequencies. The power in the signal faded since 1993 and was last detected in February 1996. While they found “no clear evidence of any pulsar of constant intensity and stable timing,” they did find “emission with a complex period modulation near the frequency of 467.5 Hz - a 2.14 ms pulsar candidate”. They also point out that: “the frequency of the signals followed a consistent and predictable spin-down ( $``$2-3 x 10-10 Hz/s) over the several year timespan. They find evidence for “modulation of the 2.14 ms period with a $``$1,000 s period which complicates its detection.”

The observed modulation of the 2.14 ms period can be interpreted as the effect of precession due to some deformation or crustal density distribution which is not symmetric about the axis of rotation, including the case in which the precesing object itself possesses axial symmetry about a body axis which is not aligned with the axis of rotation. In the absence of any external torques, this situation is termed “free precession”. Classical mechanics tells us that the ratio between the precession frequency and the rotation frequency is proportional to the size of the deformation (e.g. Marion & Thornton (1995)). The size of the deformation and the frequency of rotation determine the rate of spin-down if the neutron star is assumed to lose energy mainly due to gravitational radiation.

A freely precessing neutron star emits gravitational waves (e.g. Zimmerman & Szedentis (1979), Zimmerman (1980)). Using the general relativistic energy loss equation and the classical mechanics relationship between ellipticity, rotation and precession frequency, we have that the spin down rate is proportional to the square of the precession frequency under the assumption that all the energy is lost due to gravitational back reaction. If an electromagnetic contribution to the spin down rate is also present, this term would be independent of ellipticity and would be approximately constant during the time span of the observations. The data shown on Fig. 9 of Middleditch et al.  (2000) are consistent with a linear correlation between spin down rate and the square of the precession frequency going straight through the origin, i.e. with zero contribution from magnetic dipole emission. Thus Middleditch et al.  (2000) conclude that the characteristics of the 2.14 ms signature and its $``$1,000 s modulation are consistent with precession and spindown via gravitational radiation of a neutron star with effective non-axisymmetric oblateness of $``$10-6. We re-examine some aspects of this problem in Section 3.

## 3 A Model for the Precessing Neutron Star

### 3.1 System Geometry

Rotating neutron stars are often mentioned as a possible continuous source of gravitational radiation. Usually what is envisioned is that the star has an axissymetric deformation perpendicular to the axis of rotation to allow for a changing mass quadrupole that will generate gravity waves. Such a prolate or oblate star, tumbling about an axis perpendicular to the axis of symmetry, will emit gravity waves at twice the rotation frequency.

If the star is deformed on a axis that is at any other angle with the rotation axis then it will precess as a spinning top, and will emit at both twice the rotation frequency and at the rotation frequency. The simplest situation is that the star is a rigid body and has just two non-equal principal moments of inertia. We have then $`I_1=I_2=I_0\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}/3,`$ $`I_3=I_0+2/3\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}`$, so that $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}=I_3I_1`$. $`I_0`$ is the average value of the moment of inertia and $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}I_0`$. A more complete and realistic model is considered further below but the simplest case remains the basis for the discussion of precessing neutron stars. The main equations are the same even in the more realistic case with minor modifications. Figure 1 shows our convention in the orientation of the important vectorial quantities involved in the problem.

We can define the total moment of inertia as:

$$𝐈=I_0𝜹+\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}\left(𝐧_\mathrm{d}𝐧_\mathrm{d}𝜹/3\right)$$
(1)
where $`𝐧_\mathrm{d}`$ is a unit vector pointing along the body symmetry axis and $`𝜹`$ is the unit tensor. Now define the “ellipticity” as a small quantity $`ϵ=\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}/I_0`$, then classical mechanics implies

$$ϵ=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}}{\omega _3}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}}{\omega \mathrm{cos}\gamma }\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}}{\omega \mathrm{cos}\theta }$$
(2)
where $`\theta `$ is the angle between the total angular momentum and the vector $`𝐧_\mathrm{d}`$, $`\gamma =\theta +\widehat{\theta }\theta .`$ The angle between the rotation axis and the angular momentum is a small quantity of order $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}/I_0.`$ The quantity $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ is the precession frequency and $`\omega `$ is the rotation frequency and $`\omega _3`$ its projection along the 3-axis that coincides in this case with the axis $`𝐧_\mathrm{d}.`$ We will proceed from the assumption that we know the parameters $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ and $`\omega `$ from the observations of SN 1987A by Middleditch et al.  (2000).

The observed modulation or precession period varied during the span of the observations in the range from approximately 935 s to 1430 s, while $`\omega `$ or the spin period varied measurably but relatively little. Consequently the observed variations in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ must be attributed to variations in $`ϵ`$ or $`\theta `$ or both. Note, however, that the correlation between $`\dot{\omega }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ claimed by Middleditch et al. requires that $`\theta `$ remain constant. Jones & Andersson (2001) and Jones (2001) have claimed that it is not easy to imagine how significant variations in ellipticity can occur without affecting the wobble angle. We shall return to this question in Section 3.3 and argue that it is in fact unlikely that variations in epsilon can significantly change the wobble angle.

### 3.2 Gravitational radiation caused by misalignment

To determine the size of deformation and consequently the strain carried by the gravitational radiation on earth we need to evaluate the wobble angle $`\theta `$. This can be done assuming that the star is losing energy solely through gravitational radiation. Then we can use the general relativistic equation for the rate of energy emission by gravitational waves (Zimmerman & Szedentis, 1979; Zimmerman, 1980):

$$\dot{E}=\frac{2}{5}\frac{G}{c^5}ϵ^2I_0^2\omega ^6\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \left(16\mathrm{sin}^2\theta +\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \right),$$
(3)
where the first and second terms in parenthesis represent the contributions at $`2\omega `$ and $`\omega `$ respectively.

If the only source of energy for this emission is the neutron star’s rotational energy reservoir $`E=1/2`$ $`I\omega ^2,`$ we have then $`\dot{E}=\omega \dot{\omega I},`$ so that

$$\dot{\omega }=\frac{2}{5}\frac{G}{c^5}ϵ^2I_0\omega ^5\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \left(16\mathrm{sin}^2\theta +\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \right).$$
(4)
Since the change in angular velocity $`\dot{\omega }`$ is known from observations, it is possible to solve equation (4) for the ellipticity as a function of the wobble angle for any given $`I_0`$. Figure 2 shows the relationship between the ellipticity $`ϵ`$ and the wobble angle $`\theta `$ derived from equation (2) for the observed range of precession periods between 935 s and 1430 s (monotonically increasing curves). Figure 2 also shows the result of solving (4) (monotonically decreasing curves), for the range of observed values of $`2\times 10^{10}<\dot{\nu }<3\times 10^{10}`$ Hz/s for an arbitrarily chosen representative value of $`I_0=10^{44}`$ g cm2 .

The relativistic equation (4) depends on the value $`I_0`$. This value is the average moment of the inertia of the part of the star that actually participates in the precession. If the star has a crust and a liquid interior then $`I_0`$ is the crust’s moment of inertia and that of any liquid coupled to the crust. In fact, part of the liquid should be stress free and not influenced by the precession. So we can take $`I_0`$ to be an arbitrary quantity equal or less than entire moment of inertia of the star $`I_{\mathrm{star}}=\frac{2}{5}MR^2=1.12\times 10^{45}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^2M_{1.4}R_6^2`$, where $`M_{1.4}`$ is the mass of the star in units of 1.4 solar masses and $`R_6`$ the radius in units of 106 cm. If just the crust participates in the precession then $`I_0`$ $`1/100`$ $`I_{\mathrm{star}}`$ according standard neutron star theory. Now, the classical mechanics equation (2) and the relativistic equation (4) have to be satisfied at the same time. This means that for given observed $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p},\omega `$, $`\dot{\omega }`$ and choice of $`I_0`$ the functions have to meet at a point in the parameter space $`ϵ\theta .`$ If we consider the moment of inertia the unknown parameter of our problem we can determine which wobble angle the star should have according the value of $`I_0`$. This is illustrated in Figure 3. It seems that the 1987A remnant had some relatively big and rapid changes in precession frequency during the first years of observation. The astrophysical explanation for this could be a very active dynamic environment in the young neutron star, that can bring abrupt changes in the density of the crust, fractures and re-arrangement of surrounding material. We already mentioned that Middleditch et al. find a power two relationship between the observed change in $`\dot{\omega }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}.`$ This relationship holds exactly if we substitute equation (2) into (4), namely:

$$\dot{\omega }=\frac{2}{5}\frac{G}{c^5}\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}^2}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta }I_0\omega ^3\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \left(16\mathrm{sin}^2\theta +\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \right),$$
(5)
and require that $`\theta `$ remain constant while $`ϵ`$ and hence $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ vary.

### 3.3 The constancy of the wobble angle

Middleditch et al.  (2000) display graphically the correlation between $`\dot{\omega }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}^2`$. By reading off the values of these variables and applying the method and equations of Section 3.2, it is possible to determine the values of the wobble angle $`\theta `$ required for each individual pair of values $`\dot{\omega }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ for any assumed moment of inertia involved in the precession. This exercise reveals that despite variations of $`ϵ`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ exceeding a factor of 1.5, the wobble angle does not change by more than a couple of degrees and appears consistent with remaining constant within experimental errors.

In the case of a freely precessing solid body, the wobble angle is largely determined by initial conditions: taking the principal axes introduced in Section 3.1, if the associated moments of inertia remain constant, then $`\omega _3=\omega \mathrm{cos}\gamma `$, also remains constant (see Fig. 1). It is easy to generalize Euler’s equations to the case in which the principal moments of inertia change due to unspecified internal forces while the external torques vanish and the total angular momentum is conserved:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}I_1\omega _1}{\mathrm{d}t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _2\omega _3(I_2I_3)`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}I_2\omega _1}{\mathrm{d}t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _3\omega _1(I_3I_1)`$ (7)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}I_3\omega _1}{\mathrm{d}t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _1\omega _2(I_1I_2).`$ (8)
When the principal moments of inertia are all of the form $`I_i=I_0+ϵ_i`$, then clearly all the time derivatives are of order $`ϵ_i`$ and even if the given $`ϵ_i`$ were to change by factors of a few, the result would be a small wobble of the tip of $`\omega `$ in the body frame. Therefore we conclude that while the variations probably detected by Middleditch et al.  (2000) in both $`ϵ`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ were significant, they do not imply any measurable change in $`\theta `$. Referring back to Fig. 1 we see that $`\widehat{\theta }`$ may indeed change by amounts comparable to itself, but the wobble angle $`\theta `$ would change very little. This conclusion is contrary to what Jones & Andersson (2001) and Jones (2001) have claimed regarding the wobble angle, and thus it makes more plausible that the remnant of SN 1987A is indeed freely precessing while undergoing changes in $`ϵ`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$.

### 3.4 A more realistic model: allowing for a elastic crust and presence of a fluid interior

The textbook discussion of a precessing body assumes that the object is perfectly rigid. A more realistic neutron star will have a more or less elastic shell, and a fluid interior. The fluid is supposed to be composed of a electron-proton plasma and a neutron superfluid. The plasma fluid interior can couple to the crust because of friction. Under these conditions the system is not simply described by the rigid body model.

Usually the approach taken to explore the properties of such more complicated systems is to understand the effect of one additional complication at the time. The paper of Cutler & Jones (2000) addresses these complications and shows how the more realistic model needs to be modified to account for these complications. In this section we summarize these results and apply them to the particular problem of the detection of the 1987A remnant.

#### 3.4.1 The elastic crust

In the case of an elastic crust’s shell we have to write the moment of inertia as:

$$𝐈=I_0𝜹+\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}\left(𝐧_\mathrm{d}𝐧_\mathrm{d}𝜹/3\right)+\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega \left(𝐧_\omega 𝐧_\omega 𝜹/3\right)$$
(9)
this is the sum of a spherical part and two small quadrupole contributions. The first term is the moment of the inertia of the undeformed shell, in the absence of rotation. The second term is a deformation due to Coulomb lattice forces and the third is the deformation due to centrifugal forces. The vector $`𝐧_\mathrm{d}`$ determines the axis of symmetry of the deformation $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}`$. The vector $`𝐧_\omega `$ lies along the axis of rotation and determines the direction the axis of symmetry of the centrifugal deformation $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega .`$

The quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega `$ is caused by the deformation due to the centrifugal force, its value is determined by:

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega }{I}=\frac{I_0^2\omega ^2}{4\left(A+B\right)}$$
(10)
where the constants $`A`$ and $`B`$ depend on the particular stellar equation of state. The constant $`A`$ is on the order of the gravitational binding energy and the constant $`B`$ is on the order of the total electrostatic binding energy of the ionic crustal lattice. The quantity $`B`$ is much smaller than $`A`$ so we can make the approximation:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega }{I}}{\displaystyle \frac{I_0^2\omega ^2}{4A}}{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2R^3}{GM}}`$
$`2.1\times 10^3\left({\displaystyle \frac{f}{100\mathrm{Hz}}}\right)^2R_6^3/M_{1.4}`$ (11)
where $`f`$ is simply $`\omega /2\pi `$.

In the general situation of non parallel $`𝐧_\mathrm{d}`$ and $`𝐧_\omega `$, the body will precess. As a consequence of $`𝐧_\omega `$ being in the direction of the rotation axis (at any given instant) the body will behave as a axysimmetric top even if the body has a triaxial shape (Cutler & Jones, 2000). The angular momentum of an arbitrary body $`𝐉=𝐈𝝎`$, with the inertia tensor $`𝐈`$ given by equation (9), can be rewritten as $`𝐉=𝐈_{\mathrm{eff}}𝝎`$, where $`𝐈_{\mathrm{eff}}=(I_0+2\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega /3)𝜹+\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}\left(𝐧_\mathrm{d}𝐧_\mathrm{d}𝜹/3\right)`$. Thus in this case the three moments of inertia in the original body axes are:

$`I_1`$ $`=`$ $`I_0\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}/3+2\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega /3`$
$`I_2`$ $`=`$ $`I_1`$ (12)
$`I_3`$ $`=`$ $`I_0+2\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}/3+2\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega /3`$
The main implication of this is that even in the case of a elastic crust the star will still behave for what concerns precession as a biaxial rigid object. The fundamental equation (2) holds for this situation (with the appropriate inertia moments given above) and this means that the only piece of the moment of inertia that contributes to precession is $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}=I_3I_1`$.

#### 3.4.2 The presence of a fluid interior

To further improve our model we consider the effects of the presence of a fluid interior. The shape of the cavity and the viscosity of the fluid contained are important parameters. If the cavity is spherical, the presence of the fluid in absence of viscosity has no influence on the precession. If the cavity is non-spherical, then there will be a reaction force that is generated by the tendency of the fluid to assume axial symmetry around the axis of rotation. The shell will be pushed by the fluid. This problem is solved in the literature (Lamb 1932; Jones & Andersson 2001) under the assumptions of uniform fluid vorticity, small cavity ellipticity, and small wobble angle. A small wobble angle is adopted in the treatment given by Lamb (1932) only for mathematical convenience, but this assumption can be safely relaxed as long as the ellipticity remains small without altering the result. The upshot is that the usual precession equations described above are still valid. The only modification to take into account is that $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}`$ refers to the difference in moment of inertia along the axis 1 and 3 of the whole star, and $`I_0`$ refers to the average moment of the inertia of the shell only.

In the presence of friction between the crust and a part of the interior fluid in contact with the crust we could have some coupling between the motion of the crust and the core. It can be shown that in the case of neutron stars the coupling is very weak and the core does not participate in the precession. If there are frictional forces at work in the interior of the star these will serve just to damp the free precession on time scales between 400 and 104 precession periods (Alpar & Pines, 1985).

#### 3.4.3 The problem of pinning

Jones & Andersson (2001) following and extending previous work by Shaham (1977) conclude that the presence of pinning of the superfluid to the crust, at least in the simplest possible configuration does not change the form of the equations that describe the precession. The main modification required is that the relevant effective ellipticity is generated by combination of the lattice deformation and the moment of the inertia $`I_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ of the pinned fluid, as in the following:

$$ϵ_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}}{I_0}+\frac{I_{\mathrm{SF}}}{I_0}$$
(13)
The most common theories on pulsar glitches give a precise prediction on the precession behavior in the presence of pinning in a neutron star. The theories require at least a few percent of the total moment of inertia of the star to be in the pinned superfluid. Current understanding of neutron star properties indicates that the moment of inertia of the crust is a few percent of the total moment of inertia of the star. These considerations imply that:

$$ϵ_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}}{\omega \mathrm{cos}\theta }=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}}{I_0}+\frac{I_{SF}}{I_0}1,$$
(14)
in the case of small deformations $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_\mathrm{d}.`$ The precession and rotation frequency should be close in value if there is a sizable quantity of superfluid that is pinned to the crust. These predictions are not confirmed by observations of the three strong cases of precession in neutron stars: PSR B1642-03 (Jones & Andersson, 2001), PSR B1828-11 (Stairs et al. , 2000) and the SN 1987A remnant, where the precession is on a time scale much longer than the rotation. The conclusion is that if the free precession interpretation of the modulation of the signal of these pulsars is correct, then there is almost no pinned superfluid in these stars (see Link & Cutler (2002) for further discussion of this issue).

## 4 The wobble angle and crust fracture

Precession will cause the rotation axis of the star to change its position relatively to the body frame. This means that the centrifugal force distribution will be a function of position and time with a timescale on the order of the precession period. If the star has an elastic crust, then it will change its shape in response to variations in the centrifugal force and cause time dependent stresses in the crust. A simple order of magnitude estimate of the strain on the crust $`\sigma `$ due to precession yields:

$$\sigma \left(\mathrm{\Delta }I_\omega /I\right)\mathrm{sin}\theta 0.046\mathrm{sin}\theta R_6^3/M_{1.4}.$$
(15)
Experiments with crystals suggest an upper limit for the maximum possible strain sustainable by the crust before breaking, i.e. $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}10^2.`$ This implies that the possible maximum wobble angle for our pulsar must satisfy:

$$\theta \mathrm{arcsin}(21.8\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}),$$

which would require $`\theta 13^{}`$ for $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}=0.01`$. Since all of our estimated wobble angles are larger than 30, either $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ is larger for the crust or the model is too simple to account for the observations or our interpretation of the observations is incorrect.

## 5 The strength of the radiation at earth

Zimmerman & Szedentis (1979) and Zimmerman (1980) treat the case of a body with two distinct moments of inertia and obtain the following expressions for the strain parameter $`h`$ of gravity waves from a neutron star at a distance $`r`$ from Earth and average moment of inertia $`I_0`$:

$`h_+={\displaystyle \frac{G}{c^4}}{\displaystyle \frac{2I_0\omega ^2\epsilon \mathrm{sin}\theta }{r}}\times `$
$`\left[(1+\mathrm{cos}^2i)\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}2\omega t+\mathrm{cos}i\mathrm{sin}i\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\omega t\right]`$
$`h_\times ={\displaystyle \frac{G}{c^4}}{\displaystyle \frac{2I_0\omega ^2\epsilon \mathrm{sin}\theta }{r}}\times `$
$`\left[2\mathrm{cos}i\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{sin}(2\omega t)+\mathrm{sin}i\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{sin}\omega t\right],`$
where $`i`$ is the unknown angle between the angular momentum vector $`𝐉`$ and the plane of the sky. It is important to notice that the time dependence of the wave forms is sinusoidal with two main frequencies at $`\omega `$ and $`2\omega .`$ If the object was rotating along its symmetry axis it will emit just at a frequency $`2\omega `$ (it will have also to be deformed along the axis perpendicular to the rotation axis).

We see that the frequency of rotation $`\omega `$ is one of the important parameters that determine the strength of the gravitational radiation on earth. We know from observation the value of the rotation frequency to be $`\omega =2\pi 467.5`$ Hz. To determine what is the strength of the radiation we need to know also the moment of inertia $`I_0`$ involved in the precession and the wobble angle $`\theta `$. We showed previously that $`\theta `$ depends on how much of the moment of inertia of the star is actually involved in the precession, as shown by the general relativistic energy loss equation (3). When this relationship between $`I_0`$ and $`\theta `$ is factored in the strain equations (17), we can determine the strength of the gravitational radiation on earth as a function of the parameter $`I_0.`$ The result is shown in Figure 4.

These small values for $`h`$ may appear to require an impossible level of sensitivity from the bar detectors or interferometers existing today or soon available. It is important to notice that the source is a continuous source of radiation, of which all the fundamental parameters (besides the phase of the signal) are known. So it possible, in principle, to integrate the detector data over a long period (even years) to extract the signal from the incoherent noise. A detailed calculation of the necessary integration time $`\tau `$ is required. To do so we use the following equation:

$$h_n=\sqrt{S_h(f_0)}\sqrt{BW},$$
(17)
This equation expresses the level of the strain $`h_n`$ of the noise in the data from a detector with characteristic noise spectrum $`S_h`$. The equation evaluates the value $`S_h(f_0)`$ of the spectrum at the precise frequency $`f_0`$ of the looked for gravitational wave signal. The quantity $`BW`$ is the bandwidth of the periodic signal. From Fourier Analysis theory in the case of a sinusoidal signal, the value of $`BW`$ =$`\frac{1}{\tau },`$ where $`\tau `$ is the observation or “integration” time. So the required integration time is:

$$\tau =\left(\frac{\sqrt{S_h(f_0)}}{h_n}\right)^2$$
(18)
Now we require that the noise level in the data from the detector be at least of the same size of the signal (it should less, 4 times less for a 4 $`\sigma `$ confidence level in the statistics, for example). A typical value for the noise strain $`h_\mathrm{d}=\sqrt{S_h(f_0)}`$ in the existing bar detectors such as the Louisiana State University’s ALLEGRO or first generation light interferometers as LIGO I, is currently of order $`10^{20}`$. The fully optimized LIGO I sensitivity is projected to attain a minimum noise strain $`h_\mathrm{d}10^{22}`$ in a couple of years (see Fig. 5). We see from Figure 4 that a typical value for the signal amplitude strain is approximately $`h_s=5\times 10^{27}.`$ So if $`h_n`$ is chosen to be $`1/4\times h_s=1.25\times 10^{27}`$ then we get that:

$`\tau =\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{S_h(f_0)}}{h_n}}\right)^2=\left({\displaystyle \frac{10^{20}}{1.25\times 10^{27}}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{h_\mathrm{d}}{10^{20}}}\right)^2\mathrm{s}`$
$`2\times 10^6\left({\displaystyle \frac{h_\mathrm{d}}{10^{20}}}\right)^2\mathrm{yr}.`$ (19)
This is a time obviously too long to be useful, even with a fully optimized LIGO I. Thus the remnant of supernova 1987A is undetectable by the existing gravitational wave detectors, but may be detectable if the sensitivity of the detectors planned for the near future reaches the estimated levels.

In fact preliminary estimates of the noise spectrum of the second generation Laser Interferometer, LIGO II are very promising (see Fig. 5). LIGO II will be built on the experience of the first LIGO and will be a much better gravitational wave observatory. It will be on line in 4 or 5 years from now. According to Fig. 5, there is a lowest point in the total strain-noise (the sum of different kind of expected noises). This point is about $`h(f_r)=`$1.5$`\times 10^{24}`$ /$`\sqrt{Hz}`$ at a frequency of 350 Hz. But the LIGO II detector will be able to use narrow banding to shift this lowest point in noise level to higher frequencies. For further discussion of noise levels expected in (Advanced) LIGO II, see Abbott et al.  (2002).

So we could take this as the level of noise at the frequency of emission of 1987A. Figure 6 shows the required time of integration for LIGO II as a function of the parameter $`I_0.`$ We can see that within a certain range of possible values of $`I_0`$ it will be possible to detect the signal from the 1987A remnant in reasonable time. This time is actually few days if most of the moment of the inertia participates in the precession.

## 6 Data analysis and templates

The simple estimates for integration times in the previous section assume that the signal is sinusoidal with constant frequency, which clearly is not the case if our interpretation of the properties of the observed optical signal is correct. This raises the question of how detectable would be the signal if one allows for the observed changes in the spin frequency, precession frequency and spin down rate. We show here that simple templates that describe the observed behavior can be constructed, and that the required number of such templates and the total computational effort needed to adequately keep track of the phase and to detect a signal with the presumed properties is within current computational capabilities as long as there is phase stability over a time series of length comparable or longer than the integration time. Since the required integration times are on the order of 10–30 days, and the phase stability in the Middleditch data was comparable or better than that, this requirement is likely to be satisfied.

Following standard treatments we write the time-dependent frequency as a Taylor series

$$\omega (t)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\omega _n(0)t^n}{n!},$$
(20)
where $`\omega _n(0)`$ indicates the $`n`$-th derivative at some arbitrary reference time taken to be zero without loss of generality. A given choice of the parameters $`\omega _n(0)`$ constitutes a particular choice of template. Then the phase difference between two different templates is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\phi (t)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _n(0)t^{n+1}}{(n+1)!}=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega (0)t+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\omega }(0)t^2+\mathrm{},$$
(21)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _n(0)`$ represents the difference between the $`n`$-th derivatives for a pair of templates.

During the observations a typical value for the spin-down was $`\dot{f}10^{10}\mathrm{s}^2`$ and showing a secular decreasing trend. Since the earliest opportunity for LIGO to observe this source is $`T`$ 10 years away, we take the uncertainty in the frequency to be on the order of $`\dot{f}T3\times 10^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ or a bandwith of $`BW=3\times 10^2`$ Hz. This is an estimate for the total range of frequencies to be explored. The standard phase stability requirement (Jaranowski & Krolak, 2000) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega \tau \mathrm{}<\pi /4`$ over the integration time, yields an estimate of how closely spaced the frequency templates have to be. For $`\tau 10\mathrm{d}10^6\mathrm{s}`$, this argument yields $`\mathrm{\Delta }f=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega /2\pi 10^7`$ Hz. Consequently the total number of frequencies to be sampled is on the order of $`BW/\mathrm{\Delta }f3\times 10^5(\tau /10\mathrm{d})`$.

To calculate how many frequency derivative values need to be considered, we estimate that the total range of values is comparable to $`\dot{f}`$ itself. The phase stability requirement then yields the spacing between spin-down values: $`\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{f}=\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\omega }/2\pi \mathrm{}<\tau ^2/42.5\times 10^{13}`$ Hz/s. And therefore the total number of values of $`\dot{f}`$ to be sampled is approximately $`\dot{f}/\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{f}400(\tau /10\mathrm{d})^2`$.

Finally, the total number of two-parameter templates $`N_f`$ we require is given by the simple product of the number of frequency values times the number of frequency derivative values: $`N_f1.2\times 10^8(\tau /10\mathrm{d})^3`$. The total number of floating-point operations required to carry out the search of these templates over an integration time $`\tau `$ is approximately given by the formula (Brady et al. , 1998)

$$N_{\mathrm{fpo}}=6fN_f\tau [\mathrm{log}_2(2f\tau )+1/2],$$
(22)
where $`f`$ is the maximum frequency to be searched (say 500 Hz). With the values derived above, this yields a total computational load of approximately $`1.1\times 10^{19}(\tau /10\mathrm{d})^4`$ floating-point operations, which would require 3 months of calculations for a Teraflop machine. While this load is not trivial, it can be achieved by either processing the data offline or using a machine clocking at least $`11(\tau /10\mathrm{d})^3`$ Teraflops for online processing. However, the above estimate is an upper limit that makes little use of our prior knowledge of the expected frequency and frequency range of the signal. We need only to search over the $`BW`$ of $`3\times 10^2`$ Hz, whereas the standard argument above assumes we are searching for signals over the entire band from 0 to 500 Hz. The computational task can be significantly reduced by first ‘demodulating’ or filtering the signal to the bandwith $`BW`$ estimated above and then ‘decimating’ or reducing the signal sampling rate to the bandwith. This technique cuts the processing rate essentially by a factor $`BW/f6\times 10^5`$ to approximately $`0.7(\tau /10\mathrm{d})^3`$ Gigaflops, well within the capabilities of current computers.

## 7 Conclusions

In this paper we discussed the implications of the observation of a precessing neutron star in the remnant of supernova 1987A for gravitational wave detection. We used the observed data on rotational velocity, spin down and precession rate to determine the value of the possible asymmetric deformation that causes the precession.

To estimate the size of deformation it is important also to determine the wobble angle between the axis perpendicular to the deformation and the rotation axis. General relativity gives us an equation of the loss of energy, trough gravity waves. Knowing the rate of spin down, the rotation frequency and the precession frequency allows us to find the wobble angle. This is possible under the assumption that the main mechanism for the loss of rotational energy is due to emission of gravitational radiation. Once we know the wobble angle, we can calculate the strength of the radiation on earth. In fact the value of the dimensionless strain parameter $`h`$ depends on the value of the wobble angle quite strongly.

Our discussion shows that even with a more a realistic model of a precessing neutron star that takes in consideration the presence of a crust, with a certain elasticity and the eventual presence of a fluid interior the precessional behavior is similar to that of the simple biaxial model. The ratio of precesion frequency and spin frequency determines the order of magnitude of the ellipticity, but a complete solution requires an estimate of the wobble angle. The preceding discussion shows that it is possible to obtain such self-conssitent models as a function of essentially one parameter: the moment of inertia $`I_0`$ that is involved in the precession. Given it, the observational data allow to determine the wobble angle, the size of deformation and consequently the strength of the radiation on earth.

We saw in the previous section that to avoid crust breaking the wobble angle has to be relatively small. In fact, formally, even the smallest wobble angle among the possible range of solutions violates the maximum crustal strain. Given the uncertainties in the model and in the interpretation of the data, we conclude that even if the limits on the maximum strain $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ are relaxed, any viable solution is likely to have a wobble angle near the small end of the range and consequently the moment of inertia must be near the high end of its range. In turn this means that a short integration time on the order of days is required to observe with confidence the gravity wave signal from SN1987A using advanced detectors as LIGO II. Unfortunately the presently generation of detectors such as the resonant bars and LIGO I would require observation times of the order of a million years to extract the signal from the noise. Thus if the precession interpretation is correct, the SN 1987A remnant would be among the best candidates for a search for a continuous source of gravitational waves. In any case, it is clear that a targeted search for gravitational waves from this source is worthwhile since both detection and absence of detection over a relatively short time will yield interesting constraints on models for precessing neutron stars.

This research was supported in part by NSF’s Experimental Gravity Program grant 9970742 and by grants AST9720771 and NAG5 8497 to LSU.