format: text

text:
# Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of 𝑝-wave atomic states

## Abstract

We consider corrections to the Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states due to the finite nuclear size (FNS). In other words, these are radiative corrections to the atomic isotop shift related to FNS. It is shown that the structure of the corrections is qualitatively different from that for s-wave states. The perturbation theory expansion for the relative correction for a $`p_{1/2}`$-state starts from $`\alpha \mathrm{ln}(1/Z\alpha )`$-term, while for $`s_{1/2}`$-states it starts from $`Z\alpha ^2`$ term. Here $`\alpha `$ is the fine structure constant and $`Z`$ is the nuclear charge. In the present work we calculate the $`\alpha `$-terms for $`2p`$-states, the result for $`2p_{1/2}`$-state reads $`(8\alpha /9\pi )[\mathrm{ln}(1/(Z\alpha )^2)+0.710]`$. Even more interesting are $`p_{3/2}`$-states. In this case the “correction” is by several orders of magnitude larger than the “leading” FNS shift.

Experimental and theoretical investigation of the radiative shift (Lamb shift) of energy levels in heavy atoms is an important way to test Quantum Electrodynamics in presence of a strong external electric field. One of the effects related to this problem is a dependence of the Lamb shift on the finite nuclear size (FNS). One can also look at this effect from another point of view. It is well known that there is an isotop shift of atomic levels due to the FNS. The corrections we are talking about are the radiative corrections to the isotop shift.

The corrections for $`1s`$-, $`2s`$-, and $`2p`$-states have been calculated numerically, exactly in $`Z\alpha `$, in Refs.Blun92 ; CJS93 ; LPSY . The self-energy and the vertex corrections to the FNS effect for any $`s`$-wave state have been calculated analytically in order $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$ in Refs.Pach93 ; PG . However, the structure of the higher order $`Z\alpha `$ corrections and, in particular, their logarithmic dependence on the nuclear size has not been understood even for s-states. Our interest to FNS radiative corrections has been stimulated by our work on the radiative corrections to atomic parity nonconcervation Mil . Technically the parity nonconservation effect has some common features with that of the FNS radiative correction: in both cases the effective size of the perturbation source is much smaller than the Compton wavelength $`\lambda _C`$. In the paper Mil  we have elucidated the structure of higher order in $`Z\alpha `$ FNS radiative corrections for s-electrons, and have calculated analytically $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$ and $`\alpha (Z\alpha )^2\mathrm{ln}(\lambda _C/r_0)`$ self-energy and vertex FNS relative radiative corrections. Here $`r_0`$ is the nuclear radius. In the present work we calculate FNS radiative corrections for p-wave electrons. We demonstrate that the structure of the corrections for p-wave states is very much different from that for the s-wave states. Physically it happens because of different infrared behavior.

Due to the finite nuclear size, the electric potential $`V(r)`$ of the nucleus is different from that for a pointlike nucleus. The deviation is

$$\delta V(r)=V(r)\left(\frac{Z\alpha }{r}\right)$$
(1)
Throughout the paper we set $`\mathrm{}=c=1`$. The diagram that describe the FNS effect in the leading order is shown in Fig.1(a). The double line corresponds to the exact electron wave function in the Coulomb field, and the zigzag line with cross denotes the perturbation (1).

Diagrams Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(c) correspond to the contributions of the electron self-energy operator and the vertex operator, respectively. The diagram Fig.1(d) describes a modification of $`\delta V`$ (see eq. (1)) due to the vacuum polarization, and the diagram Fig.1(e) corresponds to a modification of the electron wave function due to the polarization of the vacuum by the Coulomb field (Uehling potential).

Technically the most complicated are the self-energy and the vertex FNS (SEVFNS) corrections given by diagrams in Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(c). According to our previous work Mil , the SEVFNS relative correction for an s-wave state is of the form

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha [(Z\alpha )({\displaystyle \frac{23}{4}}4\mathrm{ln}2)`$ (2)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}({\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{6}})\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)].`$
Here $`b=\mathrm{exp}(1/(2\gamma )C5/6)`$, $`C0.577`$ is the Euler constant, and $`r_0`$, as we already mentioned, is the nuclear radius. The total relative SEVFNS correction (2) is the ratio of the sum of diagrams Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(c) divided by the diagram Fig.1(a). Value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ is not proportional to the nuclear radius squared because it is a relative quantity. Plot of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ versus the nuclear charge $`Z`$ is shown in Fig.2 by the dashed line. Results of computations of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ for $`1s`$ and $`2s`$ states CJS93  are shown by squares and triangles, respectively.

The $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$ term in (2) comes from distances $`r\lambda _C`$, and the $`\alpha (Z\alpha )^2\mathrm{ln}(\lambda _C/r_0)`$ term comes from distances $`r_0r\lambda _C`$. An important point is that there is no contribution that comes from distances $`r\lambda _C`$. Because of this reason the correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ is exactly the same for 1s, 2s, 3s,… states com . Why there is no contribution of larger distances into $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$? The reason is very simple. In the leading order the correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ can be expressed in terms of the forward electron-nucleus scattering amplitude Mil . There is a rigorous QED theorem that claims that there is no an infrared divergence in the forward scattering amplitude, see e.g. Ref. BLP . Therefore, quantum fluctuations from distances $`r\lambda _C`$ cannot contribute to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ (see also Ref.LYE ). Let us look now at the p-wave SEVFNS correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$. From the point of view of the scattering problem it corresponds to scattering at finite angle. The finite-angle scattering amplitude is always infrared divergent. Therefore, one must expect a contribution to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ from quantum fluctuations at distances $`r\lambda _C`$. This is the contribution we calculate in the present work.

Formally we assume that $`Z\alpha 1`$. Therefore, at distances $`r\lambda _C/(Z\alpha )\lambda _C`$ dynamics of the electron is described by usual nonrelativistic Coulomb wave functions. However, the nucleus radius is small, $`r_0Z\alpha \lambda _C\lambda _C`$. At so small distances, generally speaking, one must use relativistic Dirac wave function even at $`Z=1`$. The electron Dirac wave function at $`rZ\alpha \lambda _C`$ is of the form

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(𝒓)=Nr^{\gamma 1}\left(\begin{array}{c}(\kappa \gamma )\mathrm{\Omega }\\ iZ\alpha \stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\end{array}\right),$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=(𝝈𝒏)\mathrm{\Omega }`$ are spherical spinors ; $`\kappa =1`$ for $`s_{1/2}`$-state, $`\kappa =1`$ for $`p_{1/2}`$-state, and $`\kappa =2`$ for $`p_{3/2}`$-state ; $`\gamma =\sqrt{\kappa ^2(Z\alpha )^2}`$ ; and $`N`$ is a constant known for each particular state, see Ref BLP . For $`s_{1/2}`$\- and $`p_{3/2}`$-states the upper component of the Dirac spinor (3) is much larger than the lower one. Hence, the upper component determines the FNS shift of such a state. On the other hand, for $`p_{1/2}`$-state the lower component and hence its contribution to the FNS shift is dominating. A straightforward calculation gives the following values for the FNS shifts of $`2s`$ and $`2p`$ states (diagram Fig.1(a))

$`\delta E^{(0)}(2s_{1/2})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}(Z\alpha )^4m^3<r^2>,`$
$`\delta E^{(0)}(2p_{1/2})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{64}}(Z\alpha )^6m^3<r^2>,`$
$`\delta E^{(0)}(2p_{3/2})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{480}}(Z\alpha )^6m^5<r^4>.`$ (4)
Here $`<r^2>`$ and $`<r^4>`$ are values of $`r^2`$ and $`r^4`$ averaged over charge density of the nucleus. The low-momentum expansion of the nuclear electric form factor is of the form

$$F(q^2)1\frac{q^2}{6}<r^2>+\frac{q^4}{120}<r^4>.$$
(5)
Modeling the nucleus as a uniformly charged ball one gets

$$<r^2>=\frac{3}{5}r_0^2,<r^4>=\frac{3}{7}r_0^4,$$
(6)
where $`r_0=1.1A^{1/3}fm`$ is the nucleus radius, and $`A`$ is the nucleus mass number. As one should expect the FNS corrections (Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states) obey the following inequalities $`\delta E^{(0)}(2s_{1/2})\delta E^{(0)}(2p_{1/2})\delta E^{(0)}(2p_{3/2})`$.

Let us calculate now the leading in $`Z\alpha `$ one loop SEVFNS radiative correction $`E^{(1)}`$ for $`p_{1/2}`$\- and $`p_{3/2}`$-states. This correction is given by diagrams in Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(c). Since we consider the leading correction, it is sufficient to use the nonrelativistic approximation for electron wave functions (two-component wave functions). It is sufficient also to use the effective FNS perturbation that reproduces FNS correction for s-wave states,

$$\delta V_{eff}(r)=g\delta (𝒓),g=\frac{2\pi Z\alpha }{3}<r^2>.$$
(7)
Rest of the calculation is very similar to the textbook calculation of the Lamb shift, see, e.g. Ref. BLP . We introduce the parameter $`\mu `$ such that $`m\mu m(Z\alpha )^2`$. Hence the correction $`E^{(1)}`$ can be represented as a sum of “high frequency” and “low frequency” contributions $`E^{(1)}=E_h+E_l`$, where “high” and “low” correspond to frequencies above and below $`\mu `$, respectively. In the momentum representation, the effective potential corresponding to the high frequency contribution is of the form BLP

$$\delta \mathrm{\Phi }(𝒒)=\left[\frac{\alpha 𝒒^2}{3\pi m^2}\left(\mathrm{ln}\frac{m}{2\mu }+\frac{11}{24}\right)+\frac{\alpha }{4\pi m}𝒒𝜸\right]\delta V_{eff}(𝒒),$$
(8)
where $`𝒒=𝒑_1𝒑_2`$ is momentum transfer, and $`𝜸`$ is the Dirac matrix. Taking the p-wave component of the potential (8) and transferring it to the coordinate representation, we get the following expression for the SEVFNS high frequency correction for a p-wave state $`|\psi `$

$`E_h`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g\alpha }{\pi m^2}}\psi |\{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mu }}+{\displaystyle \frac{11}{24}}](𝒑\delta (𝒓)𝒑)`$ (9)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(𝝈𝒑)\delta (𝒓)(𝝈𝒑)\}|\psi .`$
This gives the following values for 2p-states

$`E_h(2p_{1/2})`$ $`=`$ $`F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mu }}+{\displaystyle \frac{19}{12}}\right],`$
$`E_h(2p_{3/2})`$ $`=`$ $`F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mu }}+{\displaystyle \frac{11}{24}}\right],`$
$`whereF`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )^5gm^3}{48\pi ^2}}.`$ (10)
The contribution of the vacuum polarization, diagram Fig.1(d), can be taken into account in Eqs. (9),(Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states) by substitution $`\mathrm{ln}(m/2\mu )\mathrm{ln}(m/2\mu )1/5`$. The Uehling potential, diagram Fig.1(e), does not contribute in this order.

The low frequency contribution is given by the usual nonrelativistic quantum mechanics expression

$`E_l`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2g\alpha }{3\pi m^2}}\mathrm{}{\displaystyle _0^\mu }\omega 𝑑\omega \psi |𝒑{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega +i0}}\delta (𝒓)`$ (11)
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega +i0}}𝒑|\psi .`$
Here $`\mathrm{}`$ stays for real part, $`\omega `$ is frequency of the virtual photon, $`H=p^2/2mZ\alpha /r`$ is the nonrelativistic Hamiltonian, and $`E_{2p}^{(0)}=m(Z\alpha )^2/8`$ is the energy of $`2p`$-state. We have also taken into account that interaction with the photon is of the form $`e𝒑𝑨/m`$, where $`𝑨`$ is the vector potential of the photon. The contribution $`E_l`$ is the same for $`p_{1/2}`$\- and for $`p_{3/2}`$-state. Using explicit form of 2p wave function, one can represent (11) as

$`E_l`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2g\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{3\pi }}\mathrm{}{\displaystyle _0^\mu }\omega 𝑑\omega \varphi |{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega +i0}}\delta (𝒓)`$ (12)
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega +i0}}|\varphi ,`$
where

$`\varphi (r)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{32\pi }a^{3/2}}}(1r/6a)\mathrm{exp}(r/2a),`$
$`a`$ $`=`$ $`(mZ\alpha )^1.`$ (13)
Eigenvalues of $`H`$ are $`ϵ_n=m(Z\alpha )^2/2n^2`$. Therefore, the first impression is that the integrand in Eq. (12) is singular at $`\omega =0`$ and $`\omega =ϵ_2ϵ_1`$. However, the function $`\varphi (r)`$ is orthogonal to the wave function $`\psi _{2s}(r)`$, hence, there is no real singularity at $`\omega =0`$. There is a real singularity at $`\omega =ϵ_2ϵ_1`$ that is related to the possibility of emission of real photons, and this slightly complicates integration in (12). To overcome this technical problem, it is convenient to represent $`\varphi (r)`$ as $`\varphi (r)=\phi (r)+\beta \psi _{1s}(r)`$ with $`\beta =\sqrt{2/\pi }(2/3)^4`$. In this form $`\phi (r)`$ is orthogonal both to $`\psi _{2s}(r)`$ and $`\psi _{1s}(r)`$. Then (12) is transformed to

$`E_l`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2g\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{3\pi }}\mathrm{}{\displaystyle _0^\mu }\omega d\omega \{\left(\mathrm{𝟎}|{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega }}|\phi \right)^2`$ (14)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta ^2\psi _{1s}^2(0)}{(E_{2s}E_{1s}\omega +i0)^2}}`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\beta \psi _{1s}(0)}{(E_{2s}E_{1s}\omega +i0)}}\mathrm{𝟎}|{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega }}|\phi \},`$
where $`|\mathrm{𝟎}`$ denotes the electron localized at origin. In this form the matrix element $`\mathrm{𝟎}|\left(E_{2p}^{(0)}H\omega \right)^1|\phi `$ has no singularities. Using explicit expression for the nonrelativistic Coulomb Green’s function Meix

$`G(0,𝒓|E)=𝒓|{\displaystyle \frac{1}{EH}}|\mathrm{𝟎}`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\pi r}}\mathrm{\Gamma }(1\eta )W_{\eta ,1/2}(2pr),`$ (15)
where $`p=\sqrt{2mE}`$, $`\eta =mZ\alpha /p`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the gamma-function and $`W`$ is the Whittaker function, and taking the integral over $`r`$, and then over $`\omega `$, we obtain

$`E_l=F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{m(Z\alpha )^2}}+0.0198\right].`$ (16)
Combining (Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states) and (16), we finally obtain the total SEVFNS radiative corrections (diagrams Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(c)) in the leading order

$`E^{(1)}(2p_{1/2})=F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}+0.910\right],`$
$`E^{(1)}(2p_{3/2})=F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}0.215\right].`$ (17)
As one should expect, the result is independent of the parameter $`\mu `$. We have already mentioned that to account for the vacuum polarization (the diagram Fig.1(d)) one has to replace $`\mathrm{ln}(1/(Z\alpha )^2)\mathrm{ln}(1/(Z\alpha )^2)1/5`$. Therefore the total FNS radiative corrections (diagrams Fig.1(b), Fig.1(c), and Fig.1(d)) in the leading order are

$`E_{tot}^{(1)}(2p_{1/2})=F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}+0.710\right],`$
$`E_{tot}^{(1)}(2p_{3/2})=F\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}0.415\right].`$ (18)
Let us have a look now at the relative FNS radiative correction for $`2p_{3/2}`$ state. According to Eqs. (Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states) and (Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states) the relative correction is

$$\frac{E_{tot}^{(1)}(2p_{3/2})}{\delta E^{(0)}(2p_{3/2})}=\frac{20}{3\pi }\frac{\alpha <r^2>}{m^2<r^4>}\left[\mathrm{ln}\frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}0.415\right].$$
(19)
For example, for Hydrogen atom the radiative correction is by a factor $`\mathrm{2.6\; 10}^4`$ larger than the “leading” contribution.

According to the present calculation, the leading in powers of $`Z\alpha `$ SEVFNS relative radiative correction (diagrams Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(c)) for $`2p_{1/2}`$-state is equal to (see comment com1 )

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_p^{(0)}={\displaystyle \frac{E^{(1)}(2p_{1/2})}{\delta E^{(0)}(2p_{1/2})}}={\displaystyle \frac{8\alpha }{9\pi }}\left[\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}+0.910\right].`$ (20)
As we have already explained, the correction comes from quantum fluctuations at distances $`\lambda _c<r<\lambda _c/(Z\alpha )`$. There is also a contribution

$$\frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }\left(\frac{15}{4}\frac{\pi ^2}{6}\right)\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)$$

that comes from distances $`r_0r\lambda _C`$, this contribution has been calculated in our previous work Mil . The contribution $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$ that comes from $`r\lambda _C`$ has not been calculated yet. Therefore, altogether one gets the following formula for the relative correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$:

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha [{\displaystyle \frac{8}{9\pi }}(\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}+0.910)`$
$`+`$ $`a_1(Z\alpha )+{\displaystyle \frac{(Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}({\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{6}})\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)],`$
where $`a_1`$ is an unknown coefficient. To determine the coefficient $`a_1`$, we fit results of numerical calculation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ for $`2p_{1/2}`$-state CJS93 . As a result of the fit we find $`a_1=2.75`$. The correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ given by Eq. (Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of $`p`$-wave atomic states) is plotted in Fig.2 by the solid line. The results of computations CJS93  are shown by diamonds. Agreement is very good.

Concluding, we have shown that corrections to the Lamb shift of p-wave atomic states due to the finite nuclear size are qualitatively different from that for s-wave states. The difference is related to the infrared behavior of quantum fluctuations. As a result, the leading relative p-wave correction is proportional to $`\alpha \mathrm{ln}(1/Z\alpha )`$ while the leading s-wave correction is proportional to $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$. The leading p-wave correction has been calculated analytically.

O.P.S. thanks the Institute for Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington for its hospitality and the Department of Energy for partial support during the completion of this work.


text:
# Optical polarization and near IR photometry of the proto-planetary nebula Hen 3-14751footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations made at Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica/MCT, Brazil

## 1 Introduction

Hen 3-1475 (IRAS 17423-1755) is identified as a proto-planetary nebula (PPN), i.e., an object between the end of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and the planetary nebula (PN) phases. The classification and physical properties of Hen 3-1475 are supported by a broad base of observational data: radio emission (Knapp et al. 1995); OH masers (te Lintel Hekkert 1991; Zijlstra et al. 2001); optical imaging and spectroscopy (Riera et al. 1995; Bobrowski et al. 1995; Borkowski, Blondin, & Harrington 1997; Borkowski & Harrington 2001). Probably the strongest evidence in favor of its evolutionary stage is the high N abundance, typical of evolved objects, specifically of Type I PN (Riera et al. 1995). The radio continuum indicates the presence of a compact ionized region surrounding the central B star with an estimated dynamical age of only 15 years (Knapp et al. 1995. Recently, Borkowski & Harrington (2001) have obtained images and detailed spectroscopic observations and, among other results, they have derived a distance of 8 kpc, which implies a very high luminosity (25 000 L) for a AGB star at the Galactic Bulge. Analyzing H$`\alpha `$ spectra, Sánchez Contreras & Sahai (2001) could identify two winds, one of which is probably associated with the post-AGB wind before its interaction with the previous AGB wind.

High-resolution optical images of Hen 3-1475 show a very complex bipolar morphology (Borkowski et al. 1997; Bobrowski et al. 1995; Riera et al. 1995). The central region is dense, probably a dust disk, which may be responsible for the OH maser emission as well as for the CaII and FeII lines observed in its near-infrared spectrum. This structure has an angular size of about 2″. The high resolution image obtained by Borkowski et al. (1997) shows also dark patches probably associated with denser clumps of material in the disk. A complex structure of highly collimated optical jets with pairs of point-symmetrical shock-excited knots produces a characteristic S-shaped sequence, which is about 15″ in size oriented along PA 135o.

In the rapid evolutionary phase of PPN, dramatic changes in geometrical and physical properties of its central star and circumstellar material take place. An example is the development of non-symmetric geometries (eg., bipolar nebulae) in post-AGB objects. The interaction between an equatorial enhanced AGB wind and that from an early PN phase was suggested as a mechanism to produce the variety of geometries seen in PPNe and PNe (Kahn & West 1985). The status of this and other models is reviewed by Frank (2000). This enhanced equatorial wind - which we will call disk - can also play a role in collimating the jets seen in many objects. Recently, Frank, Lery, & Blackman (2002) have shown that a magnetic-centrifugal launching model can explain winds with velocities as high as those observed in Hen 3-1475. Therefore, a good representation of the disk properties is crucial to understand the changes occurring during the PPN phase.

Polarimetry is an useful tool in the study of PNe and PPNe because it is sensitive to the circumstellar geometry and composition. The polarization measured in PPNe is usually high due to the scattering in asymmetric circumstellar environments. Johnson & Jones (1991) have shown that, from red giants to PNe, the evolutionary stage of PPN is the one in which the polarization tends to be highest and that the transition from a spherically symmetric envelope (typical of red giants) to a non-spherical envelope seems to occur in early stages of the AGB phase. The wavelength dependence of the polarization in PPNe has various shapes and some objects present polarization-angle rotation (Trammell, Dinerstein, & Goodrich 1994). Many extended objects were observed using imaging polarimetry (e.g., Scarrot & Scarrot 1995; Gledhill et al. 2001). Far from the central source, the light is highly polarized and exhibits the centro-symmetric pattern typical of reflection nebulae. However, the polarization near the central object tends to be parallel to the optically thick disk originated in the AGB phase. This pattern is also observed in young stellar objects with bipolar geometries (see references in Bastien & Menard 1988 - Table 1).

In spite of the importance of grain size in the study of the temperature profile and, consequently, of the infrared (IR) luminosity (Stasińska & Szczerba 1999, 2001), few works have focused on the determination of the grain size distribution in PPNe and PNe. An example of model that considers the grain sizes as free parameters is found in Meixner et al. (2002). That work, however, modeled the observed spectral energy distribution (SED) alone. Recent results (Carciofi, Bjorkman, & Magalhães 2002; Li & Lunine 2002) show that the SED alone does not constrain the grain sizes. The spectral dependence of the polarization helps to restrict the models to the dust size distribution (Carciofi, Magalhães, & Bjorkman 2002). Heckert & Smith (1988) modeled the polarization of OH 0739-14 considering single scattering in an envelope composed by grains of a single size. Johnson & Jones (1991) have modeled the observed polarization of some PPNe, but they used a fixed MRN size distribution ranging from 0.005 to 0.10 $`\mu `$m. To our knowledge, there is no previous attempt to describe the polarization data of a PPN with a free distribution of grain sizes and multiple scattering.

In this work, we present data on broad band CCD aperture polarimetry as well as near-infrared (NIR) photometry of Hen 3-1475 (Section 2). In Section 3 the NIR photometry is analyzed in order to provide information on the interstellar (IS) and intrinsic reddening. The polarimetric observations are discussed and modeled in Section 4 providing some information about the Hen 3-1475 dusty envelope. In the last section, the main conclusions are listed.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 Optical Polarization

The polarimetric observations have been done with the 0.60-m Boller & Chivens telescope at Observatório do Pico dos Dias, Brazil, operated by the Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica (LNA), Brazil, using a CCD camera modified by the polarimetric module described in Magalhães et al. (1996). The CCD array used was a SITe back-illuminated, $`1024\times 1024`$ pixels. The above telescope and instrumentation gives a field-of-view of 10′.5 $`\times `$ 10′.5. The polarization in the V band was measured on 1999 April 11 and July 29; the observations in the (RI)C bands were also obtained on 1999 July 29 and in the B band, on 1999 July 30. In each night, we observed polarimetric standards stars (Serkowski, Mathewson, & Ford 1975; Bastien et al. 1988; Turnshek et al. 1990) in order to calibrate the system and estimate the instrumental polarization. The measured values of the unpolarized standard stars were consistent with zero within the errors: consequently no instrumental correction was applied. Measurements using a Glan filter were also performed to estimate the efficiency of the instrument. They indicate that no instrumental correction is needed.

The images have been reduced following the standard steps of differential photometry using the IRAF222IRAF is distributed by National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. facility. Counts were used to calculate the polarization using the method described in Magalhães, Benedetti, & Roland (1984). The measured polarization of Hen 3-1475 is shown in Table 1. The aperture radius that minimizes photometry errors is 4 pixels (corresponding to 2.44$`\mathrm{}`$ in the sky). It was kept constant for all bands. In the Discussion and Conclusion sections we will have in mind that the polarization measurements refer to an extended region in the vicinity of the central object in Hen 3-1475. The multicolor polarimetry was obtained in nights of poor photometric conditions with high sky counts. Although this does not have important consequences on polarization results, which are based on a differential technique, this precludes us from detecting the nebula surrounding the central object.

### 2.2 IR Photometry

Hen 3-1475 was observed with the CamIV NIR imager in the 1.6-m telescope of LNA on 1999 July 29. The detector is a HAWAII array, with 0.24″/pixel spatial resolution, covering 4′$`\times `$ 4′. J (1.25$`\mu `$m) and H (1.65$`\mu `$m) band images were obtained. This region is already available in the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) survey, which we used to calibrate our photometry. Our combined images have an effective exposure time of 210 s in J and 40 s in H and provide S/N $``$ 10 for H=17. This is deeper than the 2MASS photometry at the same S/N, also with a better spatial resolution, allowing us to discuss the gross features of the reddening in the line-of-sight to Hen 3-1475. The J and H magnitudes for the target were obtained from short exposure time images and are $`J=9.75\pm 0.01`$ and $`H=8.44\pm 0.01`$.

## 3 Inter- and Circumstellar Reddening of Hen 3-1475

We have obtained the magnitudes of 213 objects around Hen 3-1475. An examination of the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) H $`\times `$ (J-H) allows us to put limits on the total reddening to this line of sight, since the distribution of unreddened stars is relatively localized. Hen 3-1475 has $`l=9.8\mathrm{°},b=+5.3\mathrm{°}`$, corresponding to a line-of-sight that intercepts a relatively dense part of the bulge of the Galaxy. The objects we observe with H $`<`$ 14 and (J-H) $`+0.8`$ probably are red giants in the bulge. If they were not subject to reddening, the distribution of their color indices should have a maximum around J-H $`+0.5`$. This can be obtained by a simple implementation of the model of Wainscoat et al. (1992). Using the Cardelli, Clayton, & Mathis (1989) parametrization of the IS extinction curve, we obtain E(J-H) = 0.09 A(V), for R = 3.1. So we conclude that the reddening to the red giants of the bulge is A(V) $`3.2`$ mag in this line-of-sight. If R = 5, A(V) would change to 2.8 mag. These values are a bit larger than the previous estimate of Riera et al. (1995), A(V) $`<`$ 2.0 $`\pm `$ 0.4 mag.

The total reddening to Hen 3-1475 presents a much more complex problem, since the object is shrouded by circumstellar material. We assume an spectral type of B3 (Knapp et al. 1995). The object position in the CMD is not consistent with that of a dwarf, rather, a supergiant star is needed. Considering the color of a B3I (Tokunaga 2000), we can estimate a circumstellar E(J-H) of 0.84 after subtracting the interstellar value. Converting the derived E(J-H) to A(V) is not straightforward. A first guess could be made using a standard interstellar extinction law: this gives an intrinsic A(V) = 9.1 (7.9), if R = 3.1 (5.0). However, the spectral energy distribution of Hen 3-1475 may be quite different from that of a blue star attenuated by interstellar extinction law. At optical wavelengths the presence of scattered light - a blue component - may be important and at NIR wavelengths hot grains could have a non-negligible contribution to the spectrum. A model taking in account all these components will be explored in a forthcoming paper.

## 4 Discussion on polarimetric results

In this section, we present the estimates to the foreground and intrinsic polarization of Hen 3-1475. We also discuss a probable alignment between the intrinsic polarization of this object and the interstellar magnetic field. Finally, numerical modeling of Hen 3-1475 polarization is done assuming it is produced in a circumstellar disk.

### 4.1 Intrinsic polarization of Hen 3-1475

The observed polarization in astrophysical objects is usually the sum of two components: (i) the intrinsic one, produced in the object itself; (ii) the foreground component, which is produced in the interstellar medium (ISM) between the object and the Earth. The high polarization of Hen 3-1475 suggests that at least part of it may have an intrinsic origin because it is very unusual such a high value ($``$ 8% in V band) to be produced in the ISM. To obtain the intrinsic component, it is necessary to estimate the foreground polarization and subtract it from the observed one.

The foreground polarization in each band was estimated by the weighted average polarization of all stars in the field-of-view. The results are presented in Table 1. As the line-of-sight to Hen 3-1475 is near the Galactic center ($`l=9.8^o;b=+5.3^o`$), the images contain a large number of stars (see last column of Table 1). To illustrate the distribution of the polarization of the field stars we present histograms for their moduli and position angles in IC band (Fig. 1.a and Fig. 1.b): notice that the maximum of each histogram coincides with the estimated values of the foreground polarization (Table 1). The histograms show single-mode distributions consistent with a sample of stars coming from a singular population with regard to (interstellar) polarization properties. This may be interpreted as an evidence that the foreground dust shares the same properties all over this field. The histogram in Fig. 1.a also shows how large the polarization of Hen 3-1475 (arrow) is in comparison with the field stars. This reinforces the suspicion that this object has a large intrinsic component.

Another evidence to the intrinsic character of the Hen 3-1475 polarization comes from its wavelength dependence. We have fitted both the observed Hen 3-1475 polarization and that of the field stars with the Serkowski law (1973):

$$P(\lambda )=P_{max}\mathrm{exp}\left\{K\mathrm{ln}^2\frac{\lambda _{max}}{\lambda }\right\},$$
(1)
where: $`P_{max}`$ is the maximum value of the polarization; $`\lambda _{max}`$ is the wavelength where $`P_{max}`$ occurs; and $`K`$ is a parameter related to the curve width and dependent on $`\lambda _{max}`$ (Serkowski, Mathewson & Ford 1975; Codina-Landaberry & Magalhães 1976; Wilking, Lebofsky, & Rieke 1982). In the fits, we have used $`K=1.66\lambda _{max}+0.01`$ (Whittet et al. 1992).

The results are shown in Table 2 and Figure 2: the polarization was normalized to $`P_{max}`$ to allow an easier comparison between the curves. In this graph it is clear that the wavelength dependence of the polarization of Hen 3-1475 and the field stars are different. Also, $`\lambda _{max}`$ occurs at a short wavelength for Hen 3-1475 when compared to the behavior of the field stars. Such a short value would be quite unusual if its origin was interstellar.

Based on the discussion above, we are confident that Hen 3-1475 has an intrinsic polarization produced in its circumstellar region. It was estimated subtracting the average polarization of the field stars from that observed for Hen 3-1475. These values are presented in Table 1. If we estimate the foreground polarization from a Serkowski law fit with a constant position angle, the changes in the intrinsic polarization are negligible. Hereafter, the term “Hen 3-1475 polarization” refers to its intrinsic value.

### 4.2 Geometry of Hen 3-1475 and its relation with the ISM

The Hen 3-1475 jets are aligned at approximately PA 135o (Riera et al. 1995; Bobrowski et al. 1995). The PA of the polarization, $`42.1^o`$ (in V band), is consistent with the observed bipolar geometry: it is perpendicular to the jets and parallel to the dust torus. This behavior was already observed in young stellar objects with bipolar geometry (Hodapp 1984; Sato et al. 1985). The mechanism causing this polarization will be discussed in the Section 4.3: in this section we would like to discuss a possible correlation of the geometry of Hen 3-1475 with the orientation of the magnetic field of the surrounding ISM.

Curiously, the intrinsic polarization of Hen 3-1475 is nearly parallel to the polarization of the field stars ($`48.3^o`$ in V band). The latter effect is usually attributed to the transport of starlight through a dichroic medium. This dichroism is caused by non-spherical grains aligned by the interstellar magnetic field. Considering the standard model for grain alignment in the ISM, the polarization angle is parallel to the component of the magnetic field in the plane of the sky (Davis & Greenstein 1951; but see also Lazarian 2000). The foreground polarization direction in the field of Hen 3-1475 is almost parallel to the Galactic plane, which is at PA 33o. This result is consistent with those from maps of optical polarization that indicate that the direction of the magnetic field in the Galaxy follows the Galactic plane (Mathewson & Ford 1970; Axon & Ellis 1976).

The alignment between Hen 3-1475 geometry and field stars polarization can be interpreted as: (i) a chance effect; (ii) the foreground polarization is caused by a cloud physically near Hen 3-1475 and in this case the IS magnetic field aligning the grains is also present in the Hen 3-1475 environment; (iii) the cloud producing the polarization of field stars is far from Hen 3-1475 but its magnetic field is aligned with the Galactic plane, so the alignment of Hen 3-1475 may be regarded as relative to the Galactic plane.

Considering objects of similar evolutionary status, it is not clear if there is a correlation between the nebula axis and the Galactic plane. Recent results indicate that the symmetry axis of PNe are randomly distributed (Corradi, Aznar, & Mampaso 1998). However, this work excluded PNe with small scale structures as the point symmetrical knots seen in Hen 3-1475, for instance. On the other hand, previous works had suggested some correlation between PNe axis and the Galactic plane (Melnick & Harwit 1975; Phillips 1997). Nebulae ejected by massive stars and bilateral supernova remnants seem to have their axis of symmetry along the Galactic plane (Hutsemekers 1999; Gaensler 1998). Possible mechanisms that could cause such a correlation are discussed in Melnick & Harwit (1975) and Phillips (1997).

Another possibility is that the axis of symmetry of Hen 3-1475 is determined by the IS magnetic field. The dust disk of Hen 3-1475 is probably a remnant of the AGB wind. It is quite unlikely that the IS magnetic field could have an important role in causing the asymmetry of the dense AGB wind333Dgani (1998) has done some calculations showing that filamentary structures seen in old (=low density) PN can be explained on basis of their interaction with the magnetic field of the ISM.. Alternatively, the connection between an AGB stellar wind asymmetry and ISM might be a fossil from the star formation phase. Massive stars can indeed easily retain the main-sequence angular momentum (Garcia-Segura et al. 2001). We briefly present some results in the literature concerning the alignment of young stellar objects geometry with the IS magnetic field. This is still a mostly open subject in which studies using different techniques provide discordant results. Dyck & Lonsdale (1979) are among the first authors to notice a possible alignment between the direction of the IR polarization of protostellar sources and the IS magnetic field. Heckert & Zeilik (1981) show that IR polarization of YSOs tends to be parallel or perpendicular to the IS magnetic field. The large scale molecular outflow tends to be aligned with the IS magnetic field (Snell, Loren, & Plambeck 1980; Hodapp 1984; Cohen, Rowland & Blair, 1984; Vrba et al. 1986). Recent sub- and millimetric polarimetric studies of prestellar objects are not yet conclusive whether there is (or not) a correlation between the core elongation/outflow and the magnetic field of the containing filament (Ward-Thompson et al. 2000; Matthews & Wilson 2000; Glen, Walker, & Young 1999).

### 4.3 Modeling the circumstellar environment of Hen 3-1475

To model the spectral dependence of the polarization in Hen 3-1475, we have used a three dimensional Monte Carlo code for radiative transfer in stellar envelopes (Rodrigues 1997; Rodrigues & Magalhães 2000). It includes scattering and absorption by dust particles, but their emission is neglected: therefore all the photons are originated in the central source. As we are modeling optical emission this can be considered as a reasonable approximation. The grains are considered spherical and homogeneous. We have used three optical constants in the models: astronomical silicate (Draine & Lee 1984 - DL94); O-rich silicate from Ossenkopf, Henning, & Mathis (1992 - O92); and amorphous carbon from Zubko et al. (1996 - Z96). The phase function considered is not the Henyey-Greenstein approximation, but the analytical function obtained from the Mie theory. The density, $`\rho (r)`$, was assumed to depend on the distance as $`r^2`$.

The diameter of the Hen 3-1475 disk torus is about 2$`\mathrm{}`$ (Borkoswki et al. 1997). It was suggested that the jets are collimated near the first pair of knots, which is located around 3$`\mathrm{}`$ from the central object (Borkowski et al. 1997). Therefore the aperture radius used in the polarization measurements includes the disk, but not the jets. So, the intrinsic polarization, as obtained in this work, should originate mainly by processing of the central source light in the optically thick disk torus. This configuration can indeed produce a polarization parallel to the disk as observed in objects with bipolar geometry (Bastien & Menard 1988; Hodapp 1984; Sato et al. 1985). This can be explained by multiple scattering in an optically thick disk (Bastien & Menard 1988, 1990; Whitney & Hartmann 1993; Fischer, Henning, & Yorke 1994). We have adopted a cylindrical geometry to represent the Hen 3-1475 disk.

The models have a relatively large number of input parameters (Table 3). In order to minimize the number of degrees of freedom, we have fixed a given parameter if it has a reasonable good published estimate - see in Table 3 whether a parameter was considered fixed, its value and the reference to the estimate. If Hen 3-1475 is at 8 kpc (Borkowski & Harrington 2001), 1$`\mathrm{}`$ corresponds to a physical size of 0.04 pc ($`1.7\times 10^6`$ $`R_{}`$). This value was used for the external radius of the disk. Its inner radius was estimated to be about 0.01 pc = 4 $`\times 10^5R_{}`$ according to the IRAS fluxes (Bobrowski et al. 1995). This is consistent with simulations of formation of PN envelopes (Mellema & Frank 1995). To estimate the stellar radius we have considered a spectral type B3 (Knapp et al. 1995) and a luminosity of 25 000 L (Borkowski & Harrington 2001), which results in a value of 20 R. In a cylindrical geometry, there is one more parameter: the disk height, $`h`$, which we varied. We may notice that the results are invariant if all lengths are multiplied by a given factor and if the optical depth, $`\tau `$, is kept constant. We can also fix the disk inclination, adopting the inclination angle of the bipolar outflow obtained from Borkowski & Harrington (2001), which is 40$`\mathrm{°}`$.

Before analyzing the quantitative results for Hen 3-1475, we discuss how each parameter affects the polarization curve. In the optically thick regime, the optical depth controls basically the polarization degree and slightly the shape of the spectral polarization curve. The polarization curve obtained by a model with a distribution of grain sizes has a maximum at a wavelength related to the average grain size. The width of that curve is related to the width of the grain size distribution. In Hen 3-1475 we do not see the polarization maximum, but it may occur at smaller wavelengths than those covered by our observations. The cylinder height, $`h`$, plays a role that is not so obvious. For the present case, when we consider a fixed line of sight (= inclination), the height defines whether the central source light is blocked or not by the envelope: the more direct starlight, the smaller the polarization degree. Also, a thicker cylinder contains more matter, which also contributes to increase the polarization. Hence, the cylinder height strongly affects the polarization degree. Concerning the Hen 3-1475 polarization model, a small height allows the central object to be seen directly, producing a polarization that is not high enough. We conclude that the minimum cylinder height that is needed to fit the polarization is $`h_{min}7.\times 10^5R_{}`$.

We have initially tried to fit the wavelength dependence of the Hen 3-1475 polarization using a single grain size but the width of the obtained curves were too narrow, so a size distribution had to be introduced. We have used the recipe of Mathis, Rumpl, & Nordsieck (1977 - MRN), the standard model for the interstellar medium grains. It is represented by a power-law, $`a^q`$, with adjustable limits, $`a_{min}`$ and $`a_{max}`$.

In order to fit the Hen 3-1475 polarization data, we have proceeded in the following way: we fixed the parameters related to the envelope geometry and the index of the grain-size power-law distribution, q. Then, we let the the grain size distribution limits and the optical depth vary in order to find the best model in a weighted chi-square sense. The best fits are shown in Table 4.

Let’s initially suppose a grain size distribution that has an exponent, q, of -3.5. In spite of having an oxygen-rich envelope (Knapp et al. 2000), the optical properties of amorphous carbon provide a better fit to Hen 3-1475 polarization data than the silicate ones. This is illustrated in Table 4 (see models 1, 5 and 7) and also in Fig. 3. This graph also shows that all models tend to produce polarization curves narrower than the observed. An improvement could be in principle obtained using less steep power-law grain size distributions. Varying the $`q`$ index for an amorphous carbon model (see models 1, 2 and 3 and also Fig. 4), we could improve the chi-square (best fit for $`q`$ = -3.0), but the shape of the polarization spectral curve was not well described yet. An improvement could also be achieved by decreasing the cylinder height (see model 4 and Fig. 5). The grain sizes of the models in Table 4 do not differ significantly, in spite of being obtained using models with different values of $`q`$ and $`h`$: so the dust sizes are relatively well-constrained. Considering the best fit (model 4), the polarization of Hen 3-1475 can be fitted by amorphous carbon grains with size in the range 0.063 - 0.22 $`\mu `$m following a -3.0 power-law. We notice, however, that silicate is not discarded as a possible dust composition. A more refined model should be used to better constrain the chemical composition (see below). Table 4 shows that the grain sizes are moderately affected by the optical constants.

As mentioned above the measured polarization of Hen 3-1475 is parallel to the dust torus (see Table 1). Fig. 6 shows the degree and the position angle of the polarization obtained with the model 4. In the position angle panel a value of 90° corresponds to a polarization parallel to the disk: this means that the BVRI observations are reproduced. However, the optical depth decreases to the red and in some point the envelope becomes optically thin, so the polarization could become perpendicular to the disk. This would produce a behavior similar to the Type 1c objects from Trammell et al. (1994): a rotation of 90° and a decreasing polarization from small (optically thick) to large wavelengths (optically thin). To check that possibility, we have calculated the JHK polarization produced by model 4, which is also shown in Fig. 6444The position angle in the K band obtained using a Monte Carlo code has a very large statistical error (see error bars) because the polarization modulus is small.. We see that the polarization decreases rapidly in the IR and remains parallel to the disk. Therefore the rotation is not observed in model 4. The same result is seen for amorphous carbon models of Carciofi, Magalhães, & Bjorkman (2002). The polarization modulus in NIR provided by the code must be seen with caution because the model does not include the dust (re)emission, which may be important at those wavelengths.

The absence of angle rotation in model 4 is caused by the large absorption of the amorphous carbon. If a less absorptive material was used (as silicate), the rotation could be produced. So the polarization angle restricts the envelope optical depth and also the index of refraction of the dust. This means that JHK polarization measurements would be useful to better determine the grain composition in the envelope of Hen 3-1475.

A more complete study of the dust torus of Hen 3-1475 using a code that includes the radiative transfer and the thermal equilibrium is being carried on (C. V. Rodrigues & A. C. Carciofi, in preparation). The flux from optical to IR wavelengths, as well as the polarization, will be modeled. This will put more constraints on the physical properties of the dust envelope of Hen 3-1475.

## 5 Conclusions

In this work we analyze BVRI polarization and IR photometry of the proto-planetary nebula Hen 3-1475. The main results are summarized below:

* the optical broad band fluxes of Hen 3-1475 are highly polarized. A large fraction of this polarization may be produced in the circumstellar environment of this object;
* the BVRI polarization position angle is perpendicular to the axis of the bipolar structure seen in optical images. As the aperture used to measure the polarization is small and therefore does not include the jets, that implies that the central disk must be optically thick in all the bands observed or the dust must be composed of a highly absorptive material;
* the wavelength dependence of the polarization of Hen 3-1475 was modeled using a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code. We could find a good fit using an index -3.0 for the power-law grain-size distribution, whose limits are 0.063 and 0.22 $`\mu `$m. In spite of the claim for an oxygen chemistry envelope (Knapp et al. 2000), the optical constants of amorphous carbon produce a better fit to the optical polarization than those of silicates. However, the simple model used here does not allow to discard silicate dust in the Hen 3-1475 circumstellar envelope;
* our CCD images provide us with polarimetric data of a large number of stars in the Hen 3-1475 field. So we could reliably estimate the foreground polarization in this direction. Curiously, the foreground polarization has the same direction of the intrinsic polarization of Hen 3-1475. This might be interpreted as an interplay between the IS magnetic field and the Hen 3-1475 geometry;
* the IR colors of Hen 3-1475 suggests an interstellar reddening in the V band of around 3.2 mag in the line of sight. The circumstellar extinction was estimated as A(V) $``$ 9.0 mag.

We are grateful to A. Damineli for lending us observational time and to Alex C. Carciofi for suggestions to the manuscript. We also acknowledge the referee for the suggested improvements. JGH thanks FAPESP Proc. No. 2001/09018-2. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. This research has also made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services and of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

With the Standard Model being so well established the major theoretical effort of today’s theoretical and experimental investigations goes into a precise determination of the parameters of the model. An important example is the determination of the CKM matrix elements and their relative phases in current B-physics experiments. A better knowledge of these parameters will lead to a better understanding of the structure of weak interaction including CP violation, and possibly the discovery of ”new physics”. For an analysis of most of the experiments in the B-sector a precise value of the bottom quark mass is essential.

In the last few years, there has been increased activity with the aim of determining the bottom quark mass $`[110]`$ to higher accuracy. The most popular method was the one based global duality in QCD. In so-called inverse moment sum rules derivatives of the two point correlation function of the b quark vector current are compared with experimental information from electron-positron annihilation into hadrons . These sum rules seem to be a suitable method since it is very sensitive to the heavy (b-quark) quark mass. Recent analysis using inverse moments involving 10 to 20 inverse powers of the squared energy can be found in  and, using a lower power inverse moments, in . Non relativistic QCD, potential models (for a review see ) and lattice techniques  have also been considered in order to determine the heavy quark masses. However, in the case of the lattice techniques and potential models, there exist problems with the choice of the mass definition (running-, pole-, threshold mass) and the size of non-perturbative effects. So far, the available experimental information relies mainly on the knowledge of the masses and widths of six upsilon resonances, three of them lying below the continuum threshold of the $`B\overline{B}`$ meson production.

The method we propose here is somewhat orthogonal and complementary to the one based on the inverse moment sum rules: we employ on the theoretical side the large momentum expansion of QCD, i.e. an expansion in m$`{}_{b}{}^{2}/s`$, where s is the square of the CM energy. Such an expansion makes sense as long as $`s`$ is far enough away from the continuum threshold. We will consider the perturbative expansion up to second order in the strong coupling constant and twelve powers of the b-mass over energy ratio using the results of the reference . An expansion to the third order in the strong coupling but with only four powers in the mass-energy ratio is also known , which we will not make use of for reasons of consistency. On the phenomenological side of the sum rule we will consider the six upsilon resonances. In addition, our method should be sensitive to the poorly known continuum data. We circumvent this problem by a judicious use of quark-hadron duality. Above the resonance region, where experimental data are poorly known, we incorporate a real polynomial in the sum rule  or, what is the same, a suitable combination of positive moments, in such a way that the contribution of the data in the region above the resonances can be practically eliminated. The method has been successfully checked in the charm sector , where the charm quark mass was predicted by using the experimental data and the polynomial insertion in the intermediate region. The result for the charm mass was found in good agreement with the ones obtained using other methods. Of course, in the b-sector one is in a truly heavy quark regime and it is not clear that the same approach may lead to a result for the b-mass of competitive accuracy. We will show that this is actually the case.

The plan of this note is the following: in the second section we briefly review the theoretical method used here which is based on weighted finite energy sum rules, in the third section we discuss the theoretical and experimental inputs used in the calculation and present our results for the bottom quark mass with a discussion of the errors. We finish the paper giving the conclusions.

## 2 The calculation

In order to write down the sum rule relevant to our case, we apply Cauchy’s theorem to the two point correlation function $`\mathrm{\Pi }(s)`$, with the appropriate flavor content in the quark currents, and weight the integration with a polynomial $`P(s)`$. The integration path extends along a circle of radius $`\left|s\right|=s_R`$, and along both sides of the physical cut $`[s_0,s_R]`$. The polynomial $`P(s)`$ does not change the analytical properties of $`\mathrm{\Pi }(s)`$ in the integration region, so we obtain the following sum rule

$$\frac{1}{\pi }_{s_0}^{s_R}P(s)\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }(s)𝑑s=\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{\left|s\right|=s_R}P(s)\mathrm{\Pi }(s)𝑑s,$$
(1)
where $`s_0`$ is the physical threshold of the $`b\overline{b}`$ channel, starting at the first $`b\overline{b}`$ resonance below the continuum threshold $`s_Cs_0`$. The integration radius $`s_R`$ is chosen in such a way that on the circle the asymptotic expansion of QCD, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mathrm{QCD}}(s)`$, constitutes a good approximation to the two point correlator. The left hand side of equation (1), is related to the experimental $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation cross section via the unitarity relation,

$$R(s;e^+e^{}\mathrm{hadrons})=12\pi \underset{\mathrm{flavors}}{}Q_f^2\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }(s).$$
(2)
In order to perform analytically the contour integration in (1) we take, as a matter of convenience, the two point correlation function $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mathrm{QCD}}(q^2)`$ which has been calculated in  as an expansion up to second order (three loops) in the strong coupling constant $`\alpha _s`$ and as a power series of $`m^2/q^2`$ up to the sixth order,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mathrm{QCD}}(q^2)=\mathrm{\Pi }^{(0)}(q^2)+\left(\frac{\alpha _s(\mu )}{\pi }\right)\mathrm{\Pi }^{(1)}(q^2)+\left(\frac{\alpha _s(\mu )}{\pi }\right)^2\mathrm{\Pi }^{(2)}(q^2),$$
(3)
where the different terms of the expansion in $`\alpha _s`$ have the form:

$$\mathrm{\Pi }^{(i)}(q^2)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{6}{}}\underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}A_{j,k}^{(i)}(m,\mu )\left(\mathrm{ln}\frac{q^2}{\mu ^2}\right)^k\left(\frac{m^2}{q^2}\right)^j.$$
(4)
In equations (3,4) $`\mu `$ is the renormalization scale of the perturbative calculation, $`m`$ is the running quark mass and $`A_{j,k}^{(i)}(m,\mu )`$ are the coefficients of the QCD perturbative expansion which depend on $`m`$ and $`\mu `$ through powers of $`\mathrm{ln}m^2/\mu ^2`$ . In the asymptotic expansion of equation (4) one should include the non-perturbative terms due to the quark and gluon condensates, which are known up to order $`\alpha _s`$ . Their contribution, however, is completely negligible in the range of energies of interest to us. For this reason we will discard them from now on.

As commented in the introduction, the experimental side of the sum rule is dominated by the six well established $`b\overline{b}`$ upsilon resonances. With this experimental information in the narrow width approximation we have the hadron cross section of equation (2) given by

$$R(s)=\frac{9\pi }{\alpha _{em}^2}\underset{\mathrm{res}}{}M_{\mathrm{res}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{res}}\delta (sM_{\mathrm{res}}^2),$$

where $`M_{\mathrm{res}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{res}}`$ are respectively the masses and electronic widths of the six resonances, and $`\alpha _{em}=1/131.8`$ is the electromagnetic coupling constant taken at the typical scale of $`10`$ GeV, where the resonances are produced.

Furthermore, in the theoretical side of the sum rule, equation (1), $`P(s)`$ is taken to be a third degree polynomial

$$P(s)=a_0+a_1s+a_2s^2+a_3s^3,$$

whose coefficients are fixed by imposing a normalization condition $`P(s_0)=1`$, and requiring that it should minimize the contribution of the continuum $`[s_C,s_R]`$ in a least square sense, i.e.,

$$_{s_C}^{s_R}s^nP(s)𝑑s=0\mathrm{for}n=0,1,2,$$

where $`s_C`$ is the value of the continuum physical threshold for the $`B\overline{B}`$ meson production. The choice of this polynomial guarantees that the contribution of the experimental data in the continuum region (which is experimentally poorly known) will be negligible in the sum rule as compared to the contribution of the lower resonances below the continuum threshold. In fact, a smooth continuum contribution which can be described by a second order polynomial vanishes identically. In this way, we avoid the inaccurate experimental information in the $`b\overline{b}`$ continuum region. This approximation procedure was checked in the $`c\overline{c}`$ channel, where there is good experimental information on the continuum due to recent results from the BES II collaboration . Accurate and consistent results for the charm mass have been obtained, by either incorporating the continuum or eliminating it by the procedure above .

Notice also that the dependence on the method, which relies on the choice of the polynomial (2), is very weak. To check that fact we have performed the same calculation using polynomials of different degrees as well as changing the boundary conditions of the third degree polynomial (2), although keeping the same philosophy as commented in the paragraph above. For instance for a two degree polynomial we find a difference of .01 Gev in the bottom mass but the experimental error coming from the uncertainties in the resonance data is double than the one we find with a degree three polynomial. On the other hand a polynomial of three degree changing slightly the boundary conditions gives just the same result.

Higher order polynomials, as well as the inclusion of the incomplete order $`\alpha _s^3`$ in equation (3) can be considered as well. However, before doing so, a detailed study of the different moments involved in equation (1) should be performed. We defer this study to a further publication.

With our study we conclude that our selection for the polynomial do not preclude the results found nor the errors presented in this work.

The integrals that we have to calculate on the right hand side of the sum rule, equation (1), are

$$J(p,k)=\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{\left|s\right|=s_R}s^p\left(\mathrm{ln}\frac{s}{\mu ^2}\right)^k𝑑s,$$

for $`k=0,1,2,3`$ and $`p=6,5,..,3`$. Their analytic evaluation can be found in reference . After integration, equation (1) can be cast into the form

$`9\pi (131.8)^2{\displaystyle \underset{res}{}}M_{res}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{res}P(M_{res}^2)`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi ^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=0}{\overset{2}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{j=0}{\overset{6}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}}a_n\left({\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _s}{\pi }}\right)^iA_{j,k}^{(i)}(m,\mu )\left(m^2\right)^jJ(nj,k),`$
giving a non-linear equation with the quark mass ($`m`$) as the only unknown. To proceed further and solve this equation we have to choose a suitable value of $`s_R`$ for which perturbative QCD gives a good approximation for the correlation function. Furthermore, the scale $`\mu `$ can be chosen arbitrarily to give a prediction of the quark running mass at this scale. For calculational convenience, we take $`\mu ^2=s_R`$ since most of the logarithmic terms vanish after integration. Then, after solving equation (5), we run the quark mass from that scale to the mass scale itself, $`m(\mu =m)`$, by means of the corresponding renormalization group equations at the appropriate loop order in the strong coupling constant .

As far as the theoretical input matches the experimental data within the error bars, the results should be independent of the choice for $`s_R`$. Nevertheless, the lack of experimental data in the continuum region of the $`b\overline{b}`$ channel makes sensible in our method to study the $`s_R`$ dependence of the quark mass results. Although this dependence is going to be very small, due to the choice of our polynomial in the sum rule, we will take the quark mass prediction at the most stable value with $`s_R`$.

## 3 Results

The experimental inputs in our calculation are as follows:

Firstly, the physical threshold $`s_0`$ is the squared mass of the first low lying resonances in the $`b\overline{b}`$ channel, $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(9460)`$,

$$s_0=m_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^2=9.46^2\mathrm{GeV}^2,$$

whereas the continuum threshold $`s_C`$ is taken at the squared energy of the $`B\overline{B}`$ meson production

$$s_C=(2m_B)^2=(10.58)^2\mathrm{GeV}^2.$$

Secondly, the absorptive part of the two point correlation function is obtained from the six known $`b\overline{b}`$ vector resonances $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(1S)`$,..,$`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(6S)`$ with the following masses and electromagnetic widths .

| $`M(1S)=(9460.30\pm 0.26)\mathrm{MeV}`$, |
| --- |
| $`M(2S)=(10023.26\pm 0.31)\mathrm{MeV}`$, |
| $`M(3S)=(10355.2\pm 0.5)\mathrm{MeV}`$, |
| $`M(4S)=(10580.0\pm 3.5)\mathrm{MeV}`$, |
| $`M(5S)=(10865\pm 8)\mathrm{MeV}`$, |
| $`M(6S)=(11019\pm 8)\mathrm{MeV}`$, |

| $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(1S)=(1.32\pm 0.05)\mathrm{keV}`$, |
| --- |
| $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(2S)=(0.520\pm 0.032)\mathrm{keV}`$, |
| $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(3S)=(0.48\pm 0.04)\mathrm{keV}`$, |
| $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(4S)=(0.248\pm 0.031)\mathrm{keV}`$, |
| $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(5S)=(0.31\pm 0.07)\mathrm{keV}`$, |
| $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(6S)=(0.130\pm 0.030)\mathrm{keV}`$. |

(6)
Finally, for the strong coupling constant we take the input value at the mass of the electroweak $`Z`$ boson

$$\alpha _s(M_Z)=0.118\pm 0.003$$
(7)
and run down to the scale of the contour radius $`s_R`$ using the four loop formulae of reference .

Now we proceed as follows. For $`\mu ^2=s_R`$ with $`s_R`$ in the range $`[150,350]\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ we determine $`m_b^{(i)}(\mu )`$ by solving equation (5) keeping terms in the perturbative expansion up to order $`(\alpha _s/\pi )^i`$ for $`i=0,1,2`$. Then we run the results from $`\mu ^2=s_R`$ to $`\mu =m_b`$ with the appropriate renormalization group equations . Finally, we choose the value of $`s_R`$ which is most stable in the range of energies considered. In this way we find stability at $`s_R=240\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ and the following results for the bottom mass:

$`m_b^{(0)}(m_b)`$ $`=`$ $`4.09\mathrm{GeV},`$
$`m_b^{(1)}(m_b)`$ $`=`$ $`4.23\mathrm{GeV},`$ (8)
$`m_b^{(2)}(m_b)`$ $`=`$ $`4.19\mathrm{GeV}.`$
To estimate the various errors arising in the calculation of the $`b`$ quark mass we consider first the uncertainties in the masses and widths of the resonances in equation (6). This gives an experimental error for the mass $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{EXP}}=0.02\mathrm{GeV}`$222Recently, it has been claimed an enhancement of the experimental data in the $`4S`$ and $`5S`$ resonance region . This could change the final value of the bottom mass by less than $`0.01`$ GeV, which is within the exprimental errors of the method.. Secondly, we consider the uncertainty in the strong coupling constant, equation (7), which leads to $`\epsilon _\alpha =0.01\mathrm{GeV}`$. Finally, we include a conservative asymptotic error originating from the higher orders in expansion of equation (8). To estimate this error we consider the difference between the second and first order results which gives $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{ASY}}=0.04\mathrm{GeV}`$. Adding the errors quadratically, we find for the b-quark mass

$$m_b(m_b)=(4.19\pm 0.05)\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(9)
Before going on, a comment on the non perturbative contributions to the two point correlation function is in order. Using accepted values for the condensates, we find that their contribution to the b-quark mass for the considered range of $`s_R`$ is always of the order of $`0.001\mathrm{GeV}`$ and, therefore, negligible in comparison to the errors obtained before. We have also checked that the convergence of the result (9) with respect to the power series expansion in $`m^2/s`$ has no influence to the error bars in the $`s_R`$ stability domain.

To have a flavor of the whole procedure, we include two figures which summarize the main steps followed in the calculation of the bottom quark mass.

As a sample calculation, we have plotted in figure 1 the results of $`m_b^{(1,2)}(m_b)`$ as function of the radius $`s_R`$. The upper (lower) curve corresponds to the first (second) order in the strong coupling constant. We find the most stable result for $`s_R=240\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ . The difference between second and first order results is $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{ASY}}=0.04\mathrm{GeV}`$. The $`s_R`$ dependence is so tiny that all the values for the mass in the whole range $`[150,350]\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ lie within the relatively small asymptotic error bar.

In figure 2 we have plotted the right hand side of the mass equation (5) as a function of $`m_b(\mu )`$ with the renormalization point taken at the value of $`s_R`$ and the latter in the stability point ($`\mu ^2=s_R=240\mathrm{GeV}^2`$). The thin curve includes only the calculation to one loop, whereas the medium and thick curves include calculations to two and three loops, respectively. The straight strip corresponds to the contribution of the experimental data to the left hand side of equation (5) including experimental error bars. Hence, the crossing of the straight strip with the three curves gives the solution of equation (5), i.e. the results for the running mass $`m_b^{(0,1,2)}(240\mathrm{GeV}^2)`$. Running this results to $`\mu =m_b`$ we find the values quoted in equation (8). Notice the very good convergence of the perturbative series at the energies relevant to this process.

## 4 Conclusions

The bottom quarks mass has been determined in an unconventional fashion by employing finite energy QCD sum rules with positive moments. By applying Cauchy’s theorem to the $`b\overline{b}`$ vector current correlator weighted with a real polynomial, it was possible to virtually eliminate the contribution of the yet unknown experimental data in the continuum region from just above the resonances to the beginning of the asymptotic region where QCD is valid. The experimental input needed is only the resonance masses and couplings.

The method we use is quite independent of the more popular one based on inverse moment sum rules. The result we obtain, $`m_b(m_b)=(4.19\pm 0.05)\mathrm{GeV}`$, agrees with most of the recent calculations , especially with references  and  that study high and low inverse moment sum rules, respectively. The errors of our calculation are comparable to the ones quoted in these references. Such independent determinations of the same quantity serves as a probe of the validity of the concept of duality which are at the basis of most calculations in the b-sector. We find nice convergence of our result with respect to QCD perturbation theory and negligible non-perturbative contributions.