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# Nonlinear electrodynamics in Bianchi spacetimes

## I Introduction

Born and Infeld proposed their theory for nonlinear electrodynamics (NLE) in 1934 BI  with the aim of removing the point charge singularity in classical electrodynamics. However, soon it became clear that the Born-Infeld (BI) theory works as well as a phenomenological theory of quantum electrodynamics in the first approximation. The effective action for electrodynamics due to one-loop quantum corrections was calculated by Heisenberg and Euler HE , for the low frequency limit; the corresponding effective Lagrangian have quadratic terms in the electromagnetic field invariants like the BI Lagrangian. Moreover, actions of the BI type have recently been the subject of wide interest in relation to the result that the effective action for the open string ending on D-branes can be written in a BI form. In this respect, BI cosmological solutions could assist in the understanding of brane dynamics regarding the universe evolution.

These facts make NLE particularly interesting in general relativity, specially in cosmological theories, as a simple classical model that incorporates vacuum polarization processes -a possible influence on the mechanism of the evolution of the early universe; these processes are expressed in terms of a kind of electric permittivity and magnetic permeability of vacuum. From this point of view, the exact solutions of Einstein-Born-Infeld (EBI) equations are worth to study since they may indicate the physical relevance of nonlinear effects in strong gravitational and strong electromagnetic fields at early epochs of the universe. Moreover, in VMoniz  it was found that BI cosmological models can be compatible with the recently measured accelerated expansion of the universe.

One of the topics of interest is to dilucidate to what extent NLE favours or not an inflationary scenario. The cosmological inflationary scenario, as was proposed by Guth Guth , has been much favoured due to its troubleshooting capabilities. Furthermore, it has recently gained the support of observational evidence Bernardis . The conventional models use some special scalar fields with associated potential to give rise inflation. Another proposal to produce inflation is to use theories with unconventional dependence of the Lagrangian on field derivatives Altshuler . In this paper non-linear electrodynamics will be considered as the dynamical field which drives inflation.

On the other hand, there is no reason to assume that at the onset of inflation the universe was as isotropic as it seems to be today. It may be precisely an epoch of accelerated expansion that isotropized the universe. The most simple anisotropic models are the Bianchi ones. Inflation in Bianchi models have been addressed in the Einstein-Cartan theory and with a cosmological constant Arts87 . Inflation with a Brans-Dicke field in Bianchi V has been studied in Cervantes ; assisted inflation was investigated in Bianchi I in Juanma1  and in Bianchi $`VI_0`$ in Juanma2 .

In Gar-Bre  an exact solution of the coupled Einstein-Born-Infeld equations for anisotropic cosmological scenario was presented. Later, other cosmological models have been proposed with nonlinear electromagnetic sources: in othercos1  it was obtained a homogeneous and isotropic nonsingular Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW) solution considering a nonlinear generalization of Maxwell electrodynamics as the source; in othercos2  it was investigated a Yang-Mills cosmology with non-Abelian BI action.

Here we present a study of the effects produced by a BI type field in an anisotropic cosmology, based on the analysis of the behavior of the mean Hubble parameter and the deceleration as well as the energy conditions. It turns out that inflation is produced, and in fact, for certain values of the BI parameter, the inflation is enough to provide the desired e-folding number that corresponds to the expansion that solves the cosmological problem of inflation. The model isotropizes at large times, in such a way that the entry and exit of inflation arise naturally as a consequence of dynamics. We also present the study of the equations of state of the nonlinear radiation.

The plan of the paper is as follows: In Sec. II the nonlinear electrodynamics Lagrangian is introduced. In Sec. III the studied metric is presented; in Sec. IV it is given the corresponding group structure of the Killing vectors and it is shown that the studied space is conformal to the Bianchi spaces I, II, III, VII, VIII, IX, for particular values of the parameters. In section V the kinematical parameter are analyzed as functions of the synchronous time; comments are given on the e-folding number; in Sec. VI the effect produced by a linear electromagnetic field is analyzed. In Sec VII the pressure and energy density of the nonlinear electromagnetic matter is studied as well as the energy conditions. In Sec. VIII final remarks are given.

## II Nonlinear Electrodynamics Theory

The nonlinear electromagnetic theory proposed by Born and Infeld is self-consistent and satisfies all natural requirements. Its Lagrangian depends in nonlinear form on the invariants of the field,

$$L_{BI}=\frac{1}{2}P^{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }+(P,Q),$$
(1)
where $`(P,Q)`$ is the so called structural function; this function can vary from one version of nonlinear electrodynamics to other. $`P`$ and $`Q`$ are the invariants associated with the antisymmetric tensor $`P_{\mu \nu }`$ that is the generalization of the electromagnetic tensor $`F_{\mu \nu }`$. The structural function is constrained to satisfy some physical requirements: (i) the correspondence to the linear theory $`[(P,Q)=P+O(P^2,Q^2)]`$; (ii) the parity conservation $`[(P,Q)=(P,Q)]`$; (iii) the positive definiteness of the energy density ($`_{,P}>0`$) and the requirement of the timelike nature of the energy flux vector ($`P_{,P}+Q_{,Q}0`$). Condition (iii) amounts to the fulfilment of the dominant energy condition (DEC) stated as Hawk : $`T_{\mu \nu }u^\mu u^\nu >0`$ for every time direction $`u_\mu ,(u^\mu u_\mu <0)`$. The energy-momentum tensor is given by:

$$T_{\mu \nu }=_{,P}P_{\mu \alpha }P^\alpha {}_{\nu }{}^{}+g_{\mu \nu }[2P_{,P}+Q_{,Q}].$$
(2)
The structural function for the BI field is given by

$$=b^2\sqrt{b^42b^2P+Q^2},$$
(3)
where $`b`$ is the Born-Infeld constant that is the “absolute or maximum field”; this parameter (comparable to a coupling constant) distinguishes different theories. For the problem of the electron the value of the constant is found to be $`b=e/r_0^2=9.18\times 10^{15}`$ e.s.u., while for the Heisenberg-Euler theory $`b=14\alpha ^2/45m^4`$, where $`\alpha `$ is the fine structure constant and $`m`$ is the mass of the electron; in string theory, $`b=2\pi \alpha ^{}`$ where $`\alpha ^{}`$ is the string tension parameter. Here we shall consider that $`b`$ is a parameter that can vary in order to determine if Lagrangians of the type (1) are consistent with an inflationary behavior with a $`b`$ tuned for that purpose. The linear limit is obtained by taking $`b\mathrm{}`$, then $`=P`$ and $`P_{\mu \nu }=F_{\mu \nu }`$, coinciding with the Maxwell electromagnetism.

$`P_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`F_{\mu \nu }`$ are related through the material or constitutive equations:

$$F_{\mu \nu }=_{,P}P_{\mu \nu }+_{,Q}\stackrel{ˇ}{P}_{\mu \nu },$$
(4)
where $`\stackrel{ˇ}{P}_{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}ϵ_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta }P^{\alpha \beta }`$ is the dual of $`P_{\mu \nu }`$. An extensive treatment on nonlinear electrodynamics can be found in Pleban .

## III EBI solution in an anisotropic spacetime

We can think of a universe filled with radiation governed by non-linear dynamics. In Gar-Bre  it was presented an exact solution to the coupled system of EBI equations for an anisotropic cosmological model without further investigations on kinematical aspects nor inflation. The spacetime is given by the line element

$$ds^2=\frac{1}{\phi ^2}\{\frac{dz^2}{h}\frac{dt^2}{s}+hdy^2+s(dx+Mdy)^2\},$$
(5)
where $`x`$, $`y`$ are ignorable coordinates, $`h=\alpha +ϵz^2`$, $`ϵ,\alpha `$ and $`l`$ are constants, $`s=s(t)`$, $`\phi =\phi (t)`$ and $`M=2lz`$. The motivation to choose a metric of the form (5) is that it is a type D metric which for the stationary axisymmetric case (one spacelike Killing vector and one timelike Killing vector) solutions are known of coupled Einstein-Born-Infeld fields Pleban0 . We expected, on the other side, that metric (5) be related to $`G_2`$ cosmologies, however the analysis of the Killing vectors shows (see next Section) that metric (5) possesses four Killing vectors and that it is conformal to Bianchi metrics. The spacetime (5) is coupled to an NLE energy-momentum tensor given by Eqs. (2) and (3), such that the two nonvanishing components of the electromagnetic field have been aligned with the two double repeated directions of the Weyl tensor and parametrized by $`P_{12}=i\stackrel{˘}{H},P_{34}=D`$, where $`\stackrel{˘}{H}`$ is the magnetic field and $`D`$ is the electric displacement; the invariants of the BI field are then given by $`P=\frac{1}{2}(D^2\stackrel{˘}{H}^2)`$ and $`Q=i\stackrel{˘}{H}D`$. We introduce the function $`\nu (t)`$ defined by $`e^\nu =\sqrt{b^2\stackrel{˘}{H}^2}/\sqrt{b^2+D^2}`$.

The solution to the coupled EBI equations is given by the metric function $`s(t)`$ in terms of $`\phi (t)`$ (see Gar-Bre  for details),

$$s(t)=\phi ^3\dot{\phi }\{c_12b^2\frac{(e^\nu 1)}{\phi ^4\dot{\phi }^2}𝑑tϵ\frac{dt}{\phi ^2\dot{\phi }^2}\},$$
(6)
where dot simbolizes derivative with respect to $`t`$, $`c_1`$ is an integration constant related to the solution in vacuum, the second term corresponds to the BI contribution and the last term is related to the spatial curvature, being $`ϵ=1`$ for a closed universe, $`ϵ=0`$ for spatially flat universe and $`ϵ=1`$ for an open universe. Moreover, $`\phi (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$ must satisfy the equations $`\ddot{\phi }+l^2\phi =0`$ and $`\dot{\nu }\phi 2\dot{\phi }(1e^{2\nu })=0`$.

The system of EBI equations admits two possible solutions: $`e^\nu =\sqrt{1\pm \phi ^4}`$. The case $`e^\nu =\sqrt{1\phi ^4}`$ is the one that admits a cosmological interpretation, since in this case $`s(t)>0`$. The case $`e^\nu =\sqrt{1+\phi ^4}`$ corresponds to a metric function $`s(t)<0`$ which changes the signature of the metric (5) to a stationary axisymmetric one. In this work we restrict to the range of $`t`$ for which $`s(t)>0`$; otherwise the signature of the metric changes and another interpretation must be considered.

The condition that $`e^\nu `$ be real imposes the restriction that $`\phi ^4<1`$; in terms of the fields it amounts to $`\stackrel{˘}{H}<b`$ and $`D<b`$, that is, the fields must not reach the maximum field strenght $`b`$. Also this condition determines the range of the coordinate $`t`$ with $`0\phi (t)<1`$.

Moreover, the only nonvanishing Weyl scalar is given by

$$\psi _2=\frac{\phi ^2}{12}[\ddot{s}8sl^22\epsilon +6il\dot{s}].$$
(7)
The invariants of this spacetime are $`I=3\psi _2^2`$, $`J=\psi _2^3`$, in such a manner that if $`\psi _2`$ diverges, so do the invariants. For this solution, $`\psi _2`$ is well behaved and does not present divergences. Up to here these results were derived in Gar-Bre  and what follows is the contribution of the present paper.

## IV Characterization of the spacetime

In this section it is shown that the metric (5) is conformal to Bianchi spaces I, II, III, VII, VIII and IX.

The metric (5) possesses four Killing vectors:

$`\xi _1`$ $`=`$ $`[0,1,0,0],\xi _2=[0,0,1,0],`$
$`\xi _3`$ $`=`$ $`[\sqrt{h}S(\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }y),{\displaystyle \frac{2laC(\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }y)}{\sqrt{hϵ\alpha }}},{\displaystyle \frac{ϵzC(\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }y)}{\sqrt{hϵ\alpha }}},0],`$
$`\xi _4`$ $`=`$ $`[\sqrt{h}C(\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }y),{\displaystyle \frac{2laS(\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }y)}{\sqrt{hϵ\alpha }}},{\displaystyle \frac{ϵzS(\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }y)}{\sqrt{hϵ\alpha }}},0],`$ (8)
where $`S`$ stands for $`\mathrm{sinh}`$ and $`C`$ for $`\mathrm{cosh}`$. This set corresponds to a four-generator group with invariance subgroups of spatial rotations or boosts. From the above expressions is easy to show the commutation rules, $`[\xi _1,\xi _3]=\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }\xi _4;[\xi _1,\xi _4]=\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }\xi _3;[\xi _3,\xi _4]=\sqrt{ϵ\alpha }\xi _1.`$

The metric (5) is conformal to several Bianchi spaces, it is demonstrated by performing the transformation

$$\frac{dz^2}{h(z)}=dy^2,\frac{dt^2}{s(t)}=dT^2,y=z,x=x,$$
(9)
with this transformation the metric, Eq. (5), acquires the form

$$\phi ^2ds^2=dT^2+s(T)(\sigma ^1)^2+dy^2+h(y)dz^2,$$
(10)
where we named $`dx+M(y)dz=\sigma ^1`$. Bianchi types IX, II, III and VIII can be identified according to Table 1 (cf. Eq. (11.4) in Kramer ).

Furthermore, in the case $`M=0,(l=0)`$ the line element (5) becomes conformal to G3I or G3VII for $`ϵ=0`$ and G3III for $`ϵ=1`$.

Also, with a coordinate transformation, the metric (5) can be identified as a hypersurface-homogeneous spacetime with a four dimensional group of isometries, $`G_4`$, with three dimensional subgroups that can be of spatial rotations or boosts ($`S_3`$ or $`T_3`$),

$$\phi ^2ds^2=\frac{4d\zeta d\overline{\zeta }}{(1+ϵ\zeta \overline{\zeta })^2}\frac{dt^2}{s(t)}+s(t)\left(dx+2il\frac{\zeta d\overline{\zeta }\overline{\zeta }d\zeta }{(1+ϵ\zeta \overline{\zeta })}\right)^2,$$
(11)
The needed transformation to pass from Eq. (5) to Eq.(11) is (t remains the same):

$$z=a\frac{(1ϵ\zeta \overline{\zeta })}{(1+ϵ\zeta \overline{\zeta })},y=\frac{i}{2aϵ}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\overline{\zeta }}{\zeta },x=x+\frac{il}{ϵ}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\overline{\zeta }}{\zeta }.$$
(12)
In the form (11) it is manifest the existence of a two-dimensional submanifold of constant curvature.

## V Inflation produced by the BI field

In this section we study the kinematical behavior in the asymptoyic regimes of $`\phi 1`$ and $`\phi 0`$, that correspond to $`t0`$ and $`t\pi /2`$, respectively; in a synchronous reference system with synchronous time given by $`dT=\frac{dt}{\phi \sqrt{s}}`$, $`\phi 1`$ and $`\phi 0`$ correspond to $`T0`$ and $`T\mathrm{}`$, respectively. In this analysis we shall restrict to the effect produced by the BI field, meaning that in the metric function $`s(t)`$, Eq. (6), we choose $`c_1=0=ϵ`$, then

$$s(t)=2b^2\phi ^3\dot{\phi }\frac{(e^\nu 1)}{\phi ^4\dot{\phi }^2}𝑑t=b^2S_{BI}$$
(13)
Moreover, we approximate $`e^\nu 1=\sqrt{1\phi ^4}1\phi ^4(1+\phi ^4/4+\phi ^8/8)/2`$, approximation valid since $`\phi ^4<1`$. Then in the asymptotic regimes the limits for the metric function $`s(t)`$ and its derivative are

$`s(t0)11b^2/8;`$ $`\dot{s}(t0)0.`$
$`s(t\pi /2)0;`$ $`\dot{s}(t\pi /2)0.`$ (14)
We now proceed to analyze the Hubble, deceleration and shear parameters. In the synchronous reference system where $`g_{00}=1`$ and $`g_{0i}=0`$, we introduce a spatial metric tensor $`h_{ab}`$. The volume element in three space is $`\sqrt{h}=\phi ^3\sqrt{s}`$, ($`h=`$ det $`h_{ab}`$), while the volume expansion or mean Hubble parameter is given by

$$H=\frac{\phi \sqrt{s}}{6}(\frac{\dot{s}}{s}6\frac{\dot{\phi }}{\phi }),$$
(15)
The Hubble parameter has been calculated using the timelike unit vector, $`U^\alpha =\phi \sqrt{s(t)}\delta _t^\alpha `$, or in the null tetrad formalism, $`U^1=U^2=0`$ and $`U^3=U^4=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}`$. In Eq. (15) $`H`$ is a function of $`t`$. The role of the constant $`c_1`$ in the metric function $`s(t)`$, Eq.(6), when substituted in (15) is to shift the time for which the expansion becomes null. The instant when $`H=0`$ can be placed before, at or after $`t=0`$ by changing the value of $`c_1`$.

In Fig. 1 it is shown a parametric plot of the mean Hubble parameter $`H(T)`$ in terms of the synchronous time. $`H(T)`$ is plotted for several values of the Born-Infeld parameter $`b`$. It is clear that as greater is $`b`$, more expansion is produced. After some time $`H(T)`$ goes to a constant. To generate the graphics we have chosen $`\phi =A\mathrm{cos}(lt+\beta )`$ as the solution of $`\ddot{\phi }+l^2\phi =0`$ and we have put the phase to zero.

The expression of the Hubble parameter considering only the BI contribution clearly shows its $`b`$ dependence,

$$H_{BI}=b\frac{\phi \sqrt{S_{BI}}}{6}(\frac{\dot{S_{BI}}}{S_{BI}}6\frac{\dot{\phi }}{\phi }).$$
(16)
The analysis of $`H_{BI}`$ in the asymptotic regimes shows that both at $`t0`$ ($`T0`$) and at $`t\pi /2`$ ($`T\mathrm{}`$) $`H_{BI}0`$, so the expansion occurs during a limited period of time.

The behavior of the Hubble parameter is not enough to determine whether the model inflates or not, rather we must determine the sign of the deceleration parameter, and it must be negative if inflation is going to happen. The deceleration is $`q=\theta ^2(3\theta _\alpha U^\alpha +\theta ^2)`$, where $`\theta `$ is the expansion of a timelike vector; in terms of $`s(t)`$ and $`\phi (t)`$ the deceleration is given by

$$q=3\theta ^2(\dot{\phi }\phi \dot{s}+\phi ^2(\dot{s}^2/4s\ddot{s}/23l^2s))1.$$
(17)
Using the field equation $`2b^2(e^\nu 1)=\phi ^2\ddot{s}/22\dot{\phi }\phi \dot{s}+3s(\dot{\phi }^2+l^2\phi ^2)`$ and approximating $`e^\nu 1+\phi ^4/2+3\phi ^8/8`$, which is valid since $`\phi ^4<1`$ and considering only the BI effect we obtain

$$q=\frac{b^2}{\theta ^2}\{\frac{\phi ^2\dot{S_{BI}}^2}{2S_{BI}}3\phi ^4(1+\frac{3}{4}\phi ^4+\frac{5}{8}\phi ^8)\}.$$
(18)
The sign of the deceleration parameter is determined by the term in curly brackets, it is the second term, which can make $`q`$ to be negative, since $`S_{BI},\phi ^2`$ and $`\dot{S_{BI}}^2`$ are positive. It is also illustrative that the asymptotic behavior of $`q`$ as $`t`$ tends to zero is $`q(t0)\mathrm{}`$; the infinite is due to the fact that as $`t`$ tends to zero the expansion $`\theta `$ also tends to vanish; generically for the BI contribution we can say that $`q`$ is negative as the time tends to zero. Regarding the asymptotic regime of $`t\pi /2`$ ($`T\mathrm{}`$), $`q`$ tends to vanish, $`q(t\pi /2)0`$, with this showing that the deceleration stops as the synchronous time goes to infinity. Fig. 2 shows the behavior of $`q`$, the plot corresponds to $`q\theta ^2/b^2`$.

The behavior described above of the expansion and deceleration parameters is qualitatively the same for the cases $`ϵ=1,0,1`$ (different Bianchi spaces). For distinct values of $`ϵ`$ the inflationary period changes its duration: for $`ϵ=1`$, $`q`$ is negative but greater in absolute value during a shorter period. For $`ϵ=1`$, $`q`$ is negative but smaller in absolute value than for $`ϵ=1`$, but $`q`$ is negative during a longer period. The point where $`q`$ diverges to negative infinity is the same for which $`H=0`$, then in this respect the shifting in time also applies for $`q`$: by changing the value of $`c_1`$ in the function $`s(t)`$, the value of $`t`$ for which $`q`$ diverges is shifted.

It has been shown that there exists an accelerated expansion produced by the BI type field. How much does inflate a spacetime is specified by the e-folding number $`N`$. The cosmological problem of expansion is solved with a minimum e-folding number of about 70, that amounts to an expansion of $`10^{30}`$. The number of e-folds of growth in the scale factor that occurs from $`t_1`$ to $`t_2`$ is given by

$$N=_{t_1}^{t_2}H_{BI}𝑑t=b_{t_1}^{t_2}\frac{\phi \sqrt{S_{BI}}}{6}(\frac{\dot{S_{BI}}}{S_{BI}}6\frac{\dot{\phi }}{\phi })𝑑t,$$
(19)
Since the integrand is positive the number $`N70`$ can be reached by adjusting the parameter $`b`$; for $`b10^3`$ it is obtained the desired $`N`$.

In relation with the isotropy of the model, it has been shown within the framework of general relativity Col-Haw  that if the dominant energy conditions and positive pressure criterion are satisfied then the universe will isotropize starting from Bianchi I, V, VIIo, and VIIh models. The anisotropic character is given by the shear, $`\sigma `$, then the necessary condition for eventualy obtain a FRW cosmology is the vanishing of the shear. For our model the shear is given by $`\sigma ^2=\phi ^2\dot{s}^2/6s`$. Then a requirement for the model to isotropize is that the derivative of $`s(t)`$ goes to zero after some time. The tendency of the shear at the asymptotic regimes is such that it vanishes both as $`t`$ goes to zero and as $`t`$ approximates $`\pi /2`$, $`\sigma (t0)0`$ and $`\sigma (t\pi /2)0`$. Then the shear grows at early times in the model and as $`t\pi /2`$ ($`T\mathrm{}`$ in the synchronous time) it gradually decays reaching zero as the synchronous time goes to infinity. In Fig. 3 the shear is shown in terms of the synchronous time $`T`$, for several values of the BI field; the peak of $`\sigma `$ is greater as larger is the parameter $`b`$. This plot shows how these BI cosmologies isotropizes. Only the BI effect is considered in the graphics, meaning by this that the constants in $`s(t)`$, Eq (6), are $`c_1=0=ϵ`$.

## VI Inflation produced by a linear electromagnetic field

It is interesting to compare the effects produced by the BI field with those corresponding to the limit of linear electromagnetic field. This effect is obtained by taking $`b\mathrm{}`$. The process of taking this limit involves at the same time to take it in the function $`e^\nu =\sqrt{b^2\stackrel{˘}{H}^2}/\sqrt{b^2+D^2}`$, in such a manner that when $`b\mathrm{}`$ we have

$`2b^2(e^\nu 1)`$ $`D^2+\stackrel{˘}{H}^2,`$
$`2b^2(e^\nu 1)`$ $`D^2+\stackrel{˘}{H}^2.`$ (20)
Using this limits in the expressions for the metric function $`s(t)`$ as well as in the expansion and deceleration we obtain the corresponding quantities when a linear electromagnetic field is acting on the metric (5). They are:

$`s(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\phi ^3\dot{\phi }\{c_1+C^2{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{\phi ^4\dot{\phi }^2}}ϵ{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{\phi ^2\dot{\phi }^2}}\},`$ (21)
$`q`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\dot{s}^2\phi ^212sC^2}{(6s\dot{\phi }\dot{s}\phi )^2}},`$ (22)
where $`C^2=D^2+\stackrel{˘}{H}^2`$ is related with the energy density of the linear electromagnetic field; the expansion $`H`$ is given as in Eq. (15) with $`s(t)`$ from Eq. (21).

Under the influence of the linear electromagnetic field, the model can present a positive expansion and negative deceleration simultaneously, then producing inflation, however, the period of inflation is shorter than the corresponding to the BI field. Morever, the interpretation of the spacetime is not clearly cosmological for the periods when $`s<0`$ ($`t>0.5`$ in Fig. 4). The conclusion is that, for the same geometry, the linear field does not favour inflation as much as BI does. The effect is shown in Fig. 4.

## VII Equation of state and energy conditions

We can ask about the behavior of the nonlinear radiation or the relationship between the energy density and the pressure. Such relation can not be the equation of state of a perfect fluid because the algebraic structure of the energy momentum tensor $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ in our problem is not compatible with that of a perfect fluid. To correspond to a perfect fluid $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ should have three repeated eigenvalues. Rather, in the studied case, the energy momentum tensor possesses two double repeated eigenvalues that for an anisotropic space they can be interpreted as a different behavior of matter depending on the direction. The two double repeated eigenvalues of $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ are

$$T_{12}=2b^2(e^\nu 1),T_{34}=2b^2(e^\nu 1).$$
(23)
When the energy-momentum tensor has only one timelike eigenvector ($`E_4`$) one may express the components $`T^{ab}`$of the energy-momentum tensor at a point $`p^{}`$ with respect to an orthonormal basis in the canonical form $`T^{ab}=`$ diag\[$`p_1,p_2,p_3,\rho `$\], where $`\rho `$ represents the energy density measured by an observer whose world line at $`p^{}`$ has as unit tangent vector $`E_4`$; the eigenvalues $`p_\alpha `$ represent the pressures in the three spatial directions. The corresponding eigenvalues are $`\rho =p_1=T_{34}`$ and $`p_2=p_3=T_{12}`$, they are plotted in Fig. 5. One of the eigenvalues corresponds to the energy density and the pressure in one direction, while the other one corresponds to the pressure in the other two directions. The observer at $`p^{}`$ measures in one direction a stiff matter $`\rho =p_1>0`$ while in the other two directions the pressures are negative $`p_2=p_3=p<0`$. Fig 5 also shows that as the time $`T`$ grows, the eigenvalues tend to the same value but with negative signs, i. e. $`\rho +3p=0`$, it implies that the trace of the energy-momentum tensor becomes zero, and that the matter has the equation of state $`p=\frac{\rho }{3}`$. Note that it coincides with the equation of state of the gas of Nambu-Goto strings in three spatial dimensions.

The energy density is given by

$$\rho =\frac{2b^2}{8\pi }\{\sqrt{\frac{b^2+D^2}{b^2\stackrel{˘}{H}^2}}1\},$$
(24)
Eq. (24) shows that the growth of $`\rho `$ with the fields $`\stackrel{˘}{H},D`$ is slower than that in the Maxwell theory, where $`\rho \stackrel{˘}{H}^2+D^2`$. While the negative pressures are:

$$p_2=p_3=p=\frac{2b^2}{8\pi }\{\sqrt{\frac{b^2\stackrel{˘}{H}^2}{b^2+D^2}}1\},$$
(25)
or in terms of $`\rho `$, for these two directions and scaling $`\rho /b^2`$ and $`p/b^2`$, we have

$$p=\frac{\rho }{\rho +1},$$
(26)
The behavior of $`p(\rho )`$ is illustrated in Fig. 6. In these two directions the matter behaves as a “vacuum-like” state. The observer at $`p^{}`$ sees that there is a coexistence of an expanding-contracting asymmetry: for $`p=\rho /(\rho +1)`$ produces expansion in two directions (negative pressures) whereas contraction prevails in the third direction, $`p=\rho `$, producing together a global expansion shown in Fig.1.

In the two directions of negative pressure, the compressibility is negative, $`dp/d\rho <0`$; it is well known that negative compressibility leads to a strongly inhomogeneous mixture of different phases. From Eqs. (24) and (25), one has also that

$$\rho =2b^2p/(8\pi p+2b^2),$$
(27)
This equation indicates that for values of the pressure such that $`p=\frac{2b^2}{8\pi }`$ there occurs a critical point in the energy density, $`\rho `$ diverges for this value of the pressure. It corresponds to the values of the fields that superate the maximum field strenght, $`\stackrel{˘}{H}b`$. The instability in the energy density indicates a possible phase transition at $`\rho >\rho _{crit}`$. It is known that Born-Infeld theory for values of the invariants much greater that the limit field, $`P>>b^2`$, i.e. in the “super-quantum limit”, is equivalent to the theory of magnetic strings. Hence in spacetime regions of strong field the self-trapping of the field into condensate of closed Nambu strings should be expected Tze .

In Altshuler  Altshuler investigated nonlinear electrodynamics as an alternative way to inflation and the possibility of anti-inflation. Altshuler addressed the case of the Lagrangian depending in nonlinear way only on one of the invariants of the electromagnetic field; however some of the conclusions driften there applies to our case for the directions of observed negative pressures. One of the conclusions of his study is that for sufficiently high density the radiation, governed by nonlinear dynamics, has a tendency to condensation when the effective pressure is negative. This condensate state is the responsible for inflation. However, strictly speaking, to obtain an effective equation of state we should make a statistical approach, like a kind of average in the three directions.

### VII.1 Energy Conditions

In this subsection the energy conditions for the model are analyzed.

The dominant energy condition (DEC) states that for every timelike vector, $`W_a`$, $`T^{ab}W_aW_b0`$ and $`T^{ab}W_a`$ is a nonspacelike vector Hawk . This condition means that to any observer the local energy density appears nonnegative and the local energy flow vector is non-spacelike. In the case of the Born-Infeld energy momentum tensor DEC is a requirement of a physically reasonably nonlinear structural function and its fulfilment is guaranteed by condition (iii) in Sec. II. For the timelike unit vector $`U^\alpha `$ DEC amounts to

$$T_{ab}U^aU^b=2T_{34}U^3U^4=2b^2(e^\nu 1)0,$$
(28)
clearly DEC is fulfilled if $`e^\nu =\sqrt{1\phi ^4}<1`$, which in fact is the case we addressed in this work ($`\phi ^4<1`$).

The strong energy condition (SEC), as stated in Seno , says: A spacetime satisfies the strong energy condition if $`R_{ab}u^au^b0`$, for all causal vectors $`u^a`$. The same condition is called by Hawking as the timelike convergence condition Hawk .

In the studied case the traceless Ricci tensor $`R_{\mu \nu }`$ has two double repeated eigenvectors such that in the Segrè classification $`R_{\mu \nu }`$ corresponds to A1\[(11)(1,1)\]. Actually the two nonvanishing components of the traceless Ricci tensor are

$$R_{12}=2b^2(1e^\nu ),R_{34}=2b^2(1e^\nu ).$$
(29)
For the BI field SEC amounts to $`R_{ab}U^aU^b=R_{34}=2b^2(1e^\nu )<0`$, which clearly violates SEC and the reason is the existence of the negative pressures ($`p_2=p_3<0`$). This fact must not disturb us, since inflationary models driven by scalar inflaton fields violate SEC during the inflationary epoch. The minimally coupled scalar field violates SEC and indeed curvature-coupled scalar field theory also violates SEC. This point has been discussed recently in Seno  and Visser .

## VIII Final Remarks

In this paper we showed that the Born-Infeld nonlinear electromagnetic field induces inflation in anisotropic cosmological models that are conformal to several Bianchi spaces. Moreover, the e-folding number to obtain enough inflation to solve the horizon and flatness problems can be provided by nonlinear electrodynamics with a fine tunning of the parameter $`b`$. Note that changing the value of $`b`$ imply physically different nonlinear electrodynamic theories coupled to gravity, since the coupling constant is different. The asymptotic behavior of the kinematical parameters shows that the inflation occurs in a limited period of time and that the model isotropizes, since as the synchronous time goes to infinity the expansion, deceleration and shear tend to vanish.

In contrast, the linear electromagnetic field inflates the model in a very restricted period of time and the range of the coordinate $`t`$ valid for a cosmological interpretation is also reduced.

The analysis of the nonlinear electromagnetic radiation in the anisotropic space exhibites expansion in two directions, associated to negative pressures that could originate condensated states which allow inflation. In the third direction the equation of state corresponds to stiff matter, this fact could indicate compression in such direction.

We also analyzed the energy conditions and it turned out that the strong energy condition SEC is violated by the BI field. The violation of this condition could has as a consequence the absence of an initial singularity, since the fulfiling of SEC is related with the convergence of neighbouring geodesics. However, in Borde  it was obtained the result that inflationary spacetimes are not past complete, i.e. the corresponding geodesics are incomplete and then a singularity exists. Therefore we wonder if this spacetime is singular. It is work in progress if in the case we addessed the nonlinear electromagnetic field does prevent the existence of an initial singularity.

Being the nonlinear electromagnetic field consistent with an inflationary scenario, it might be that the BI field or another field with a Lagrangian of this type was present at early epochs of the universe, probably not alone, but accompanied with some scalar fields and that together, in a kind of “assisted inflation”, cooperate to produce the appropriate initial conditions for a FRW-type universe. However to address the standard picture of inflation the question arises on How can we consider quantum fluctuations of the BI field during inflation?, since in fact BI theory corresponds to an effective modification induced by quantum fluctuations. Also we must investigate if within the BI theory is it possible to have reheating in the universe; this lead us to the question of creation of particles and quantization of the BI field; this study was initiated by Born and Infeld themselves in 1935 and they showed that the commutation rules for the field components were very similar to the ones of quantum mechanics. Alternatively, one could adopt a squeme like the proposed in higher-derivative gravity theories and to look for a conformal equivalence between BI field coupled to gravity on one side and the Einstein theory with a scalar field on the other side, and then proceed as in the standard inflationary treatments. All these are speculations that have to be worked out.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors acknowledge one of the referees for a careful reading of our manuscript and for valuable suggestions. R. G-S. gratefully acknowledges fruitful discussions with J. M. M. Senovilla. R. G-S. was partially supported by FC-UAEMex. This work was partially supported by CONACyT (México) under project 40888A-1.


text:
# Memberships and CM Diagrams of the Open Cluster NGC 7243

## 1 Introduction

The open cluster NGC 7243 is located in the Lacerta constellation. It has the following coordinates: $`\mathrm{}=98\stackrel{}{.}9`$, $`b=5\stackrel{}{.}6`$, $`\alpha =22^\mathrm{h}15^\mathrm{m}`$, $`\delta =+49\mathrm{°}53\mathrm{}`$ (2000.0). In the Lyngå (1987) catalogue it is classified as Trümpler (1930) class II 2m with 40 cluster members and an angular diameter of $`21\mathrm{}`$. Early investigations of this cluster led Raab (1922) to the conclusion that, in fact, it consisted of two clusters, but a lack of sufficient observational data made it impossible to check this statement at that epoch. Zug (1933) was the first investigator to study the interstellar absorption in the cluster area. He denoted the brightest stars and these numbers are still used in some papers. Relative proper motions of 814 stars in the cluster area were for the first time obtained by Lengauer (1937) from plates taken with the Normal Astrograph of the Pulkovo Observatory with a 33 years mean epoch difference. As a result, 32 cluster members were selected. Later Rahmatov and Muminov (1985) determined proper motions of 1287 stars in the region of NGC 7243 using the plates of the Normal Astrograph in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) as the first epoch plates. Due to intensive urban light pollution, the second epoch plates had to be taken with the 40 cm Zeiss Astrograph of the Kitab Latitude Station (Uzbekistan). In the circle of $`40\mathrm{}`$ radius, 28 possible cluster members with a membership probability of more than $`50\%`$ were selected. van Schewick (1957) using only one pair of plates confirmed the existence of cluster members, previously found by Lengauer, but did not add any one new. Unfortunately, none of the above mentioned investigations, for one reason or another (absence of photometric data, small epoch difference, small number of plate pairs, etc.) permitted to select all probable members of the cluster NGC 7243 in the observed magnitude range and to estimate membership probabilities.

The Main Astronomical Observatory at Pulkovo has 19 first epoch plates (obtained from year 1897 to 1949). This allows to solve the astrometric part of the problem with a high degree of confidence. For a reliable segregation of the cluster members it is necessary to use photometric data based on the international photometric system.

Photometric plates of the NGC 7243 region in $`B`$ and $`V`$ passbands were obtained with the Schmidt Telescope (80/120/240) of the Latvian Radioastrophysical Observatory.

## 2 Observations

The observational material used for the determination of the relative proper motions in the field of NGC 7243 is shown in Table 1. All plates are from the Normal Astrograph Collection of Pulkovo Observatory. The Pulkovo Normal Astrograph has a diameter of 33 cm, and a scale of $`60\mathrm{}\mathrm{mm}^1`$. All plates are in the $`m_{pg}`$ passband and have been obtained with exposition times listed in Table 1. The plate and film material used for the $`BV`$ photometry is shown in Table 2.

## 3 Astrometry

The deepest plate (K 11) was measured by means of the semi-automatic coordinate measuring machine “Askorecord” with a precision of about 0.01 mm. Serial numbers from 1 up to 2623 were assigned to all stars in a square size of $`80\mathrm{}\times 80\mathrm{}`$ centered on the cluster. These positions were used as preliminary ones when all plates were scanned with the Observatório Nacional (Brazil) PDS 1010 microdensitometer. The stellar images were analyzed with a $`10\times 10\mu `$m diaphragm. The plates were scanned in two orientations with a 180 degrees rotation to eliminate possible errors of the image treatment and to minimize the influence of systematic errors of the PDS microdensitometer. The analysis and comparison of the direct and reverse measurements permitted to evaluate the random and systematic errors of measurements as $`\pm 1.5\mu `$m in both coordinates.

The star image positions were determined through two-dimensional elliptical Gaussian fits to the matrix of pixels of the image. These calculated positions of the stars do not depend on the orientation of the scanning.

The method used for proper motion determination traditionally suggests compiling of plate pairs. The combinations of plates that form such pairs, are listed in Table 3.

The mean epoch difference is 74 years. Some of the second epoch plates were used in the pairs twice. This was caused by unfavorable conditions of observation at Pulkovo Observatory due to urban lights. The plate $`17704`$ was excluded because of poor quality of measurements. Besides, nine plates of the first epoch being not deep enough were not used.

The positions of stars on all plates were related to one conventional center (star 898 in our catalogue). The plates of the second epoch were used as plates of comparison, therefore the coordinate axes on the plates were rotated so that the axis $`Y`$ was oriented along the sky meridian. For this purpose stars from the catalogue AGK 3 were used.

The reference stars were chosen in the $`B`$ magnitude interval between $`13.5`$ mag and $`14.5`$ mag. To avoid the so-called “cosmic” error, i.e. the position change of a system of reference stars because of their real movements, the following operation was applied. All the plates used were transferred on one - D 232, as far as its epoch is median for all others. Then for each reference star candidate, graphics were considered, where on abscissa the epoch of plates and on ordinate - coordinate $`X`$ or $`Y`$ of the star were plotted. Further, a straight line was drawn by least square fitting. The star was included in the reference stars list, only if this straight line was parallel to the coordinate axis, which testified the absence of an appreciable proper motion.

Thus, 99 reference stars (of average $`B`$ magnitude equal to 14.04) existing on all plates and uniformly distributed in the studied region, except the cluster area itself, were selected.

Quadratic polynomial approximations were used to match the position of the star on the the 1-st epoch plate to that of the 2-nd epoch:

$$ax+by+cxy+dx^2+ey^2+f=\mathrm{\Delta }x$$
$`(1)`$
$$a^{}x+b^{}y+c^{}xy+d^{}x^2+e^{}y^2+f^{}=\mathrm{\Delta }y$$

The mean errors of stars relative proper motions for each plate pair are given in Table 4.

In calculating average values of $`\mu _x`$ and $`\mu _y`$, weights of individual plate pairs were not taken into account since the difference between the mean and weighted mean do not exceed the accidental errors. Values of the estimated root-mean-square (rms) errors of the obtained proper motion errors do not depend on the position of a star in the studied field, but increase 1.5 times from bright to faint stars. The mean rms errors of the proper motion components for all observed magnitudes are the following:

$$\sigma _x=\pm 1.09\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1,\sigma _y=\pm 0.96\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1.$$

In the whole, relative proper motions were determined for 2165 stars in the investigated region.

## 4 Photometry

Photographic $`BV`$ photometry of the stars in the cluster area was made using the material described in Section 2. The measurements of the plates were performed by means of the microphotometer “Sartorius” with an iris diaphragm. The fluctuations of the zero-point of the scale of the device during the measurements were checked and introduced into instrumental magnitudes as correspondent corrections. The measured area is characterized by the existence of a large amount of weak stars forming a rather irregular background. For this reason, more than 10% of all stars of the catalogue are either blended or fall simultaneously in the field of view of the device. Besides this, in the diaphragm, together with a measured star, often enter one or several weak stars that are not numbered. Nevertheless, the measurements of such stars were done. Stellar magnitudes obtained this way are approximate as their errors are as high as $`0.5`$ mag. In the final catalogue they are denoted by an attribute “:”. Other doubtful cases, for example, the absence of a star on one of the plates and etc. are marked by colon too.

Usually in measurements with iris-photometers, the background of a plate is considered as regular and is not specially taken into account. But for the field of NGC 7243 it is not so, mainly in the neighbourhood of bright stars, of which, at the first sight, the cluster consists. That is why each plate was measured twice: with a consideration of the background and without it. The comparison of the results showed that consideration of the background improves a convergence of magnitude values obtained with different plates not more than for 0.02 mag, considerably less than the photometric error ($`0.05`$ mag). However, in the final catalogue photometry obtained with the accounting of the background is given using the well-known formula of Weaver (1962)

$$d^2=D^2\left(d_f^2d_{sf}^2\right),$$
$`(5)`$
where $`D`$ \- aperture reading at prompting on a star,

$`d_f`$ \- aperture reading for an average background near the star,

$`d_{sf}`$ \- aperture reading for an average standard background,

$`d`$ \- aperture reading for a star, related to an average standard background. The background near each star was measured from two up to four times with subsequent averaging.

The photometric calibration of every photometric plate was done using photoelectrically measured $`B`$ and $`V`$ magnitudes of stars in the region of NGC 7243, published in two works: Mianes & Daguillon (1956) and Hill & Barnes (1971) (hereafter referred to as MD and HB respectively). In the first work the number of stars is 39, in the second - 20, with 9 common stars. Since there is a systematic difference between these two sets of the standards, the work of MD was used as the principal and the values $`B`$ and $`V`$ from the work of HB were reduced to its system. Three stars from the GSC (Lasker et al. 1988) were added to this list. The full list of the photoelectric standards is given in Table 5.

About 30 stars spreading regularly in the whole range of magnitudes were used for plotting characteristic curves. Unfortunately, the number of photoelectric standards for faint stars is extremely low, and that results in an almost double increasing of the error. The characteristic curves for every photometric plate were fitted by polynomials. As an example of the calibration, a characteristic curve for the plate 19026 is presented in Fig. 1.

Instrumental magnitudes were transformed into $`B`$ and $`V`$ taking into account the colour equation (CE): $`V`$ magnitude varies on $`0.05`$ mag, while $`BV`$ changes from $`0.20`$ to 2.11, for the $`B`$ magnitude this variation reaches $`0.15`$ mag. These CEs were used for every $`B`$ or $`V`$ plate transformation. The resulting $`B`$ and $`V`$ magnitudes are free of CE.

The external rms errors of our photometry calculated relative to the corresponding photoelectric values for 39 stars are the following:

$$\sigma _V=\pm 0.05\mathrm{mag},\sigma _{BV}=\pm 0.07\mathrm{mag}.$$

The internal rms errors were calculated only for stars with reliable photometry. Blended stars or stars contacted with not denoted ones, as well as stars that had not been measured, for some reason or another, on all plates obtained in the same passband were excluded. Finally, photometric magnitudes $`B`$ and $`V`$ were obtained for 2110 and 2118 stars respectively. Photometry errors increase slightly from the center of the plate to its edges. The following values of the internal rms errors of the photometry were adopted: $`\sigma _V=\pm 0.04\mathrm{mag},\sigma _B=\pm 0.06\mathrm{mag},\sigma _{BV}=\pm 0.07\mathrm{mag}.`$

## 5 Members segregation

Proper motions used for open cluster membership segregation should be free of any systematic errors. The most important systematic error is the magnitude equation (ME) or the dependence of the observed star positions and the derived proper motions on stellar magnitudes.

If all observations were done with the same telescope and with a similar type of astroplates, under similar observational conditions (hour angles, zenith distances, coordinates of astroplate centers etc.) all star positions observed at different epochs would be contaminated with nearly the same systematic errors. The resulting proper motions, calculated as the difference of star positions at different epochs, would be free of the principal systematic errors.

The methods of ME estimation used in Pulkovo Observatory were described in details by Lavdovsky (1961). All proposed methods assume preliminary separation of cluster members from background stars and are based either on the analysis of proper motions of background stars only (first method), or of probable cluster members only (second method).

In the first method, if we exclude from consideration the most dense part of the VPD, we exclude the main part of probable cluster members. At the same time, stars with very high proper motions ($`>50\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1`$) should be eliminated too. The residual stars are (mostly) the background stars and their proper motions reflect the solar motion to the Apex. The background stars are distributed randomly in a space, so fainter stars are, on average, situated at larger distances from the Sun. Thus, the parallactic displacements caused by solar motion are smaller for fainter stars. These statistical parallactic displacements were calculated for different stellar magnitude range using the tables published by Zhukov (1966). When these statistical parallactic displacements are eliminated from the observed proper motions, the residual dependence on stellar magnitude presents the ME. The obvious disadvantage of this method is a very low precision of the secular parallaxes determined till now. At best, this method permits to estimate the linearity and the slope of ME for all observed stellar magnitudes.

In the second method, the estimation of the ME was based on the proper motions of cluster members preliminary selected by radial velocities. In Table 6 we collected all stars with known radial velocities in the cluster region. Data from HB and Barbier-Brossat & Figon (2000) were used. Firstly, we excluded from the consideration the stars known to be spectral binaries and determined the mean radial velocity ($`\overline{V}_{\mathrm{rad}}`$) and its standard deviation ($`\sigma `$). After that, all stars with the radial velocities $`V_{\mathrm{rad}}\overline{V}_{\mathrm{rad}}>\sigma `$ were excluded too. Thus, we obtained the mean cluster radial velocity of $`11.1\pm 1.2`$ km s<sup>-1</sup> for 22 stars marked with symbol $``$ in Table 6. This value was accepted as the mean radial velocity of the cluster. If we consider that these 22 stars are real cluster members, they should have the same values of proper motions. But, in reality, the dependence of the observed proper motions on stellar magnitude was found for these 22 stars which permitted us to estimate the ME as $`+0.59\pm 0.07\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _x`$, and $`0.00\pm 0.05\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _y`$. However, because radial velocities were determined for a small number of bright stars ($`B12.5`$ mag) only, the value of ME remains unclear as well as a possibility of linear extrapolation of ME for faint stars.

To clarify the matter, another method of cluster members preselection was used too. If we construct the CMD excluding stars with $`BV>1.0`$ and lying far from the most dense part of the VPD, we can obtain the first approximation of the cluster main sequence. Using this criterion, we selected 310 probable cluster members. They allowed to evaluate the ME as $`+0.51\pm 0.05\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _x`$, and $`0.35\pm 0.04\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _y`$. These values confirm the character of the previous magnitude restricted determination, but, and this is extremely important, they show the same character as the ME determined in the method of statistical parallaxes for all observed magnitude $`8.5\mathrm{mag}<B<15.5\mathrm{mag}`$.

Finally, we tried to estimate the ME by comparing the obtained proper motions with absolute ones obtained in the space projects HIPPARCOS and Tycho. However, it is difficult to determine the ME comparing our proper motions with these of HIPPARCOS. Our catalogue of more than 2000 stellar proper motion determinations in the region of NGC 7243 covering a small field of 6400 square arcminutes, contains only five stars common with HIPPARCOS. All of them are in the $`8.59.8`$ magnitude range and a comparison of the proper motions does not permit to make any significant conclusions about the ME.

The proper motions presented in Tycho-2 catalogue are derived using mainly photographically observed first epoch positions. However, a large number of stars common with HIPPARCOS in all observed magnitude range, permitted to correct the main part of the principal systematic errors, including ME, in Tycho-2. In the studied field of NGC 7243 we found 280 stars common with Tycho-2. The ME obtained as the result of comparison of proper motions with Tycho-2 can be presented as:

$`+0.52\pm 0.17\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _x`$,

$`0.53\pm 0.22\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _y`$.

The low relative precision of the obtained ME and, in principal, the narrow range of stellar magnitudes does not permit to apply them directly to correct the observed proper motions but permit to confirm the previously determined values of ME.

On the other hand, the realized comparison permits (taking into account the errors of our catalog) to estimate the accidental errors of Tycho-2 proper motions as:

$$\sigma _x=\pm 3.0\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1,\sigma _y=\pm 3.6\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1.$$

Finally, the ME obtained on the base of 310 preliminary photometrically selected cluster members was applied for every plate pair used for mean proper motion determinations. It was shown, that the same ME, within the error bars, may be used for all plate pairs. This circumstance gave us an opportunity to use this ME in our following investigations applying the corrections caused by the ME to all determined proper motions.

The procedure for a final selection of cluster members described below permitted to create the list of probable cluster members. The original (or observed) proper motions of these probable cluster members were studied for an eventual existence of ME. The ME obtained in the second approximation shows a linear character with the following regression coefficients (for the whole magnitude range):

$`+0.49\pm 0.05\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _x`$,

$`0.17\pm 0.06\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{mag}^1`$ for $`\mu _y`$.

All proper motions derived in our investigation, were corrected using this ME for all observed stellar magnitudes. The resulting ME is shown on Fig. 2. The third approximation, carried out following the same scheme, does not show any significant residual ME.

The cluster member selection was done based on VPD and CMD. For these purposes, a preliminary catalogue was constructed including all stars having originally determined proper motions and reliably determined $`B`$ and $`V`$ magnitudes (in the published version of the catalogue the values without symbol “:”). In every possible case, photographic photometric data were substituted by their photoelectric counterparts. The VPD and CM diagram were constructed for all 1688 stars of this preliminary catalogue (Figs. 3 and 4). Fig. 5 presents an enlarged central part of the VPD. No condensation corresponding to the cluster can be seen.

Probable “astrometric” cluster members were determined by the formula proposed by Vasilevskis et al. (1958) and Sanders (1971) based on the idea that proper motion distributions for cluster and field stars were bivariate Gaussian distributions, circular for the cluster and elliptical for the field. Thus, each point of the VPD takes part in two Gaussian distributions: that of the cluster $`\mathrm{\Phi }_c(\mu _x,\mu _y)`$ and that of the field $`\mathrm{\Phi }_f(\mu _x,\mu _y)`$:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(\mu _{x_i},\mu _{y_i})=\mathrm{\Phi }_c(\mu _{x_i},\mu _{y_i})+\mathrm{\Phi }_f(\mu _{x_i},\mu _{y_i}),$$

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_c(\mu _{x_i},\mu _{y_i})=\frac{N_c}{2\pi \sigma ^2}\times \mathrm{exp}\left\{\frac{1}{2}\left[\left(\frac{\mu _{x_i}\mu _{x_0c}}{\sigma }\right)^2+\left(\frac{\mu _{y_i}\mu _{y_0c}}{\sigma }\right)^2\right]\right\},$$
$`(2)`$
$$\mathrm{\Phi }_f(\mu _{x_i},\mu _{y_i})=\frac{N_f}{2\pi \mathrm{\Sigma }_x\mathrm{\Sigma }_y\sqrt{1r^2}}\times \mathrm{exp}\left\{\frac{1}{2\left(1r^2\right)}\left[\left(\frac{\mu _{x_i}\mu _{x_0f}}{\mathrm{\Sigma }_x}\right)^2+\left(\frac{\mu _{y_i}\mu _{y_0f}}{\mathrm{\Sigma }_y}\right)^22r\frac{\left(\mu _{x_i}\mu _{x_0f}\right)}{\mathrm{\Sigma }_x}\frac{\left(\mu _{y_i}\mu _{y_0f}\right)}{\mathrm{\Sigma }_y}\right]\right\}$$

where $`N_c`$ \- normalized number of cluster stars,

$`N_f`$ \- normalized number of field stars,

$`\sigma `$ \- standard deviations for stars of the cluster,

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_y`$ \- standard deviations for the field stars,

$`r`$ \- correlation coefficient, relating to the orientation of the ellipse describing the distribution of field stars,

$`\mu _{x_0c}`$, $`\mu _{y_0c}`$, $`\mu _{x_0f}`$, $`\mu _{y_0f}`$ \- coordinates of centers of distribution on the VPD of the cluster and field stars,

$`\mu _{x_i}`$, $`\mu _{y_i}`$ \- proper motion in $`x`$ and $`y`$ for the $`\text{i}^{th}`$ star.

Individual membership probability of a star is determined by its position on the VPD and is calculated by the following formula:

$$P(\mu _x,\mu _y)=\frac{N_c\mathrm{\Phi }_c(\mu _x,\mu _y)}{N_c\mathrm{\Phi }_c(\mu _x,\mu _y)+N_f\mathrm{\Phi }_f(\mu _x,\mu _y)}$$
$`(3)`$
For calculating the membership probabilities it is necessary to determine the parameters of each distribution. For this purpose, Sanders (1971) suggested to use a method of maximum likelihood. Thus, it is necessary to solve a system of nonlinear equations, the number of which corresponds to the number of unknown parameters.

In our study the Sanders’ method can not be used directly to fit all 8 unknown parameters of the Gaussian proper motion distributions due to a rather small ratio of cluster and field stars. The cluster NGC 7243 region of $`80\mathrm{}\times 80\mathrm{}`$ contains more than 2600 stars up to $`B=15.5`$ mag while according to previous investigations the cluster diameter is about $`21\mathrm{}`$ (Lyngå 1987) and the number of cluster members determined by Lengauer (1933) is only 32. That is why it was necessary to subject the VPD to preliminary pruning. The frequency distributions parameters for field and cluster stars were chosen iteratively. At the beginning, all originally determined proper motions were transformed to the new coordinate system ($`\mu _x^{},\mu _y^{}`$) by rotating the initial coordinate system so that the large axis of the ellipse coincides with the $`x`$ (Right Ascension) axis. The preliminary center of the cluster proper motion distribution was determined in this new coordinate frame. For a preliminary cluster members separation, a procedure similar to the case of ME determination was used.

The visual analysis of the CMD shows that the stars with $`BV>1.0`$ are improbable cluster members and might be excluded from consideration. So, the elimination of these stars will clean the central part of the VPD. On the other hand, stars with large proper motions ($`|\mu _x^{},\mu _y^{}|>50\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1`$) might be eliminated from consideration too.

Taking into account that the cluster diameter is $`21\mathrm{}`$ (Lyngå 1987), stars lying at distances more than $`25\mathrm{}`$ from the geometrical center of the cluster were eliminated.

We tried to find the center of the cluster proper motion distribution as the region of the highest density on cleaned VPD. For this purpose, we compared the proper motions of each star, $`\mu _{x_i^{}}`$ and $`\mu _{y_i^{}}`$, with the proper motions of all residual stars and counted the number of stars $`N_i`$ lying within the circle centered on $`\mu _{x_i^{}}`$ and $`\mu _{y_i^{}}`$ with the radius determined by errors of proper motion determination ($`\pm 1.1\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1`$). After that, the point with the coordinates ($`\mu _{x_i^{}}`$, $`\mu _{y_i^{}}`$) was assigned the weight $`W_i=N_i`$. When this comparison was made for all stars of the cleaned VPD we found the mean weight $`W_0`$. At the second step, all points on the VPD with $`W_i<W_0`$ were eliminated as corresponding to improbable cluster members. For all stars with $`W_i>W_0`$ the position of cluster center on the VPD was calculated as a barycenter:

$`\mu _{x_0^{}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mu _{x_i^{}}W_i}{\mathrm{\Sigma }W_i}`$, $`\mu _{y_0^{}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mu _{y_i^{}}W_i}{\mathrm{\Sigma }W_i}`$.

It is impossible to determine the center of the very noisy proper motion distribution of field stars using only VPD, so it was assumed that $`\mu _x^{}=0`$ and $`\mu _y^{}=0`$. The ellipse semi-axes or standard deviation of the field stars proper motion distribution were determined by VPD. The numbers of the cluster members $`N_c`$ and field stars $`N_f`$ as well as their ratio $`N_c/N_f=1.03`$ were determined from this first approximation. Using these values of the distribution parameters, individual membership probabilities ($`P`$) were calculated.

At the second approximation, only stars with $`P>80\%`$ were considered as astrometric cluster members. Fig. 6 shows the histogram of the membership probability.

Then, all stars with membership probabilities $`P>80\%`$ were excluded from previously selected field stars, and afterwards new values of the distribution parameters of field stars were obtained. In this case Sanders’ method was used independently to fit 5 unknowns using only $`\mu _x^{}=0`$ and $`\mu _y^{}=0`$ as the first approximation of parameters obtained from the first iteration. The resulting values ($`\mathrm{mas}\mathrm{yr}^1`$) of the fitted parameters of the field and the cluster star distributions are the following:

The fitted distributions are shown in Fig. 7 where they can be compared with histograms of the observed proper motion distributions.

The star position on the cluster CM diagram was accepted as a photometric criterion of the cluster membership. The shape of the diagram (see Fig. 8) clearly reflects the fact that $`\sigma _{BV}`$ of $`BV`$ determination increases with stellar magnitude. All stars with astrometric membership probabilities more than 80% and lying in a band of $`\pm 3\sigma _{BV}`$ were considered to be cluster members. The total number of such stars is 209. Two bright stars, 895 and 896, were added to our list of cluster members according to the results of previous determinations of their radial velocities and photoelectric $`UBV`$ magnitudes. Unfortunately, these stars form one non-distinguished image on our plates. So the total number of stars which are cluster members is 211.

The comparison of the cluster and the field magnitude functions (Fig. 9) shows that the obtained number of cluster members is restricted by the depth of the astrometric plates. From Fig. 10 presenting the XY positions of all the stars in the region of NGC 7243, we can see that the field stars are homogeneously distributed over the whole area.

## 6 CM diagram and cluster physical parameters

### a) Reddening and distance

The selective absorption in the region of the cluster was determined using 34 cluster members that satisfied the following conditions: 1) existence of the $`UBV`$ photoelectric magnitudes, and 2) luminosity classes IV and V. The best coincidence was achieved by overlapping the normal colours line and the position of stars on the colour-colour diagram at the value of $`E_{BV}=0.24`$ mag. The standard inclination of a reddening line, $`E_{UB}/E_{BV}=0.72`$, was taken. The results are shown in Fig. 11. The value of colour excess for $`BV`$ completely coincides with similar determinations in the works of MD and HB. The last authors applied also the data of the intermediate-band $`uvbyH\beta `$ photometry and showed that the absorption in the region of the cluster core can be considered as uniform. HB, based on their spectral MK classification, obtained a slightly different value of reddening: $`E_{BV}=0.19\pm 0.05`$ mag.

The visible distance modulus was obtained by a shift of ZAMS on the CM diagram along the axis $`V`$ at $`E_{BV}=0.24`$ mag up to its coincidence with the MS of the cluster. Despite a noticeable scattering of the points, the distance modulus can be determined due to the fact that the positions of ten stars, which are highly probable cluster members (based on their astrometric, photometric and radial velocities determinations) form a visible thickening on the diagram shown by a circle in Fig. 12, where the final CM diagram of 211 members of the open cluster NGC 7243 is plotted. Its middle point is: $`V=11.74`$ mag, $`BV=0.28`$ mag, and the corresponding value of the visible distance modulus is $`VM_V=9.94`$ mag, that at a general absorption of $`A_V=0.72`$ mag results in the true modulus of $`V_0M_V=9.22`$ mag. The points of the lines of normal colours and ZAMS were taken from the work of Mermilliod (1981) where they were determined using open clusters younger than Hyades. The determination of the average values of visible modulus for astrometric members by MK classification results in the value of $`VM_V=9.94\pm 0.37\mathrm{mag}`$ that corresponds to a distance of $`r=698_{}^{+130}{}_{109}{}^{}`$pc.

### b) Cluster age

The age of the cluster was estimated based on the $`(BV)_0`$ value of the turn-off point. This value for NGC 7243 is $`(BV)_0=0.11\mathrm{mag}`$. For such data the cluster age was estimated as $`(2.5\pm 0.5)10^8`$yr by the use of the isochrone grids computed by the Padova theoretical group (Bertelli et al. 1990). The main sequence and three isochrones corresponding to the ages of $`110^8`$, $`210^8`$, and $`310^8`$ yrs are shown in Fig. 13.

### c) Luminosity and mass functions. Cluster mass estimation

The cluster luminosity function, $`\varphi (M_V)`$, is determined by the following equation: $`dN=\varphi (M_V)dM`$, where $`dN`$ \- number of stars with absolute magnitudes in the limits $`M_V`$, $`M_V+dM_V`$. The normalized luminosity function for NGC 7243 based on our data is given in Fig. 14.

Star masses were derived from the “mass-luminosity” relations published by Straizys and Kuriliene (1981). Then, the empirical mass function for NGC 7243 was constructed. Salpeter (1955) was the first who showed that for the stars in the vicinity of the Sun the power law of the initial mass function (IMF) has the form of a power law $`dN/dM=(M/M_{})^\alpha `$, whith $`\alpha =2.35`$. Numerous recent investigations of star clusters and associations of the Milky Way and the LMC exhibit a large range of logarithmic slopes in any mass range. Scalo (1998), assembling and analyzing these data, proposed a three-segment power law IMF:

$$dN/dM=\{\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill 1.2\pm 0.3& \text{for}& 0.1<M/M_{}<1\hfill \\ \hfill 2.7\pm 0.5& \text{for}& 1<M/M_{}<10\hfill \\ \hfill 2.3\pm 0.5& \text{for}& 10<M/M_{}<100\hfill \end{array}$$

In our investigation the logarithmic mass function (Fig. 15) was obtained as rms fitting for stars in the mass range $`1<M/M_{}<6.5`$ in the form

$$\mathrm{lg}N=2.37\mathrm{lg}(M/M_{})+2.18.$$

Thus the inclination of the mass function of NGC 7243 $`(2.37\pm 0.27)`$ is in a good agreement with $`\alpha =2.3`$ recently obtained by Meusinger et al. (1996) for stars with $`1.1<M/M_{}<3.5`$ of the Pleiades cluster.

The estimation of the cluster mass was made on the following suggestions. The direct determinations of masses of each of its members based on the mass-luminosity correlation give a total value of $`348M_{}`$. Assuming that a half of them are double stars with a ratio of masses of components close to unity, we should increase this value in $`1.5`$ times. The resulting estimation of $`522M_{}`$ is still not final since it is possible that part of the faint cluster members has remained unrevealed because of the depth limit of the astrometric plates.

### d) Variable and peculiar stars in the region of the cluster

According to the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (1985) and the New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars (1982) there are 8 known and 3 suspected variable stars in the studied region. Four of them are identified in our catalogue (see Table 8, column of the notes) but none of them are cluster members. Among the suspected variables two are not members and the third - number 909 in our catalogue (number 480 in Lengauer one) - is one of the brightest stars of the NGC 7243, spectral binary with attributes of weak brightness fluctuations according to HB observations. Our photometry does not allow to prove or disprove this fact, so the issue remains open. On the other hand, three other stars from our catalogue (863, 1634 and 2278) have shown significant divergences in $`B`$ and $`V`$ magnitudes obtained with the different plates of Schmidt telescope. The star 863 has a high membership probability by proper motions - $`P=97\%`$. According to this criterion among the cluster members there are also two stars with unusual spectra: number 904 - A$`\mathrm{m}`$ with $`P=85\%`$ and 1078 - A0 V$`\mathrm{p}`$ with $`P=96\%`$.

## 7 Conclusions

We have carried out astrometric and photometric study of the young open cluster NGC 7243 poorly investigated before. The main cluster parameters obtained in this investigation are given in Table 7. The complete catalogue of 2623 stars in the region of the NGC 7243 containing positions, proper motions and their individual errors, $`B`$ and $`BV`$ magnitudes and individual membership probabilities (Table 8) is available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5.

###### Acknowledgements.

E.G.J. thanks CNPq and FAPERJ for financial support under contracts 300016/93-0 and E-26/152.221/2000 N.A.D. thanks FAPERJ for financial support under contracts E-26/151.172/98 and E-26/171.647/99.