text:
# Polymer depletion interaction between two parallel repulsive walls

## I Introduction

In polymer solutions the overlap of depletion zones for monomers due to repulsive confining walls or mesoscopic particles dissolved in the solution induces an important and tunable effective interaction potential . For example, this depletion interaction explains successfully phase diagrams of colloid-polymer mixtures . Recent experimental techniques facilitate even the measurement of the depletion force between a wall and a single colloidal particle . In the context of such solutions confined to thin films and porous materials the geometry of two parallel walls has been extensively studied as a paradigmatic case .

For strongly overlapping chains as realized in a semidilute polymer solution, chain flexibility is taken into account within self-consistent field theory or within the framework of phenomenological scaling theory . On the other hand, in a dilute polymer solution different chains do not overlap so that the behavior of the polymer solution is determined by the behavior of a single chain. To a certain extent and under certain circumstances, a single chain can be modeled by a random walk without self-avoidance (ideal chain). In three dimensions this situation is closely realized in a so-called $`\theta `$-solvent . If the solvent temperature is below the $`\theta `$-point (poor solvent) the polymer coils tend to collapse . However, in the common case that the solvent temperature is above the $`\theta `$-point (good solvent) the excluded volume (EV) interaction between chain monomers becomes relevant so that the polymer coils are less compact than the corresponding ideal chains. The emphasis in this work is on the latter situation and we investigate the effect of the EV interaction on the depletion interaction between two parallel walls as compared to the case of confined ideal chains.

By focusing on long flexible chains in a system of mesoscopic size we obtain mostly universal results which are independent of microscopic details . Due to the universality of the corresponding properties it is sufficient to choose a simple model for calculating these results. For our investigations we use an Edwards-type model  for the polymer chain which allows for an expansion in terms of the EV interaction and which is amenable to a field-theoretical treatment via the polymer magnet analogy. The basic elements in this expansion are partition functions $`𝒵_{\mathrm{seg}}^{[0]}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ for chain segments which have no EV interaction (as indicated by the superscript $`[0]`$) and with the two ends of the segment fixed at $`𝐫`$ and $`𝐫^{}`$. This perturbative treatment has to be carried out in presence of confining geometries. We consider two structureless parallel walls in $`d`$ dimensions and a distance $`D`$ apart so that in coordinates $`𝐫=(𝐫_{},z)`$ the surface of the bottom wall is located at $`z=0`$ and $`𝐫_{}`$ comprises the $`d1`$ components of $`𝐫`$ parallel to the walls. The surface of the upper wall is located at $`z=D`$. The interaction of the polymer with the non-adsorbing walls is implemented by the boundary condition that the segment partition function and thus the partition function for the whole chain vanishes as any segment approaches the surface of the walls , i.e.,

$`𝒵_{\mathrm{seg}}^{[0]}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ $``$ $`0,z,z^{}0,D.`$ (1)
For the present purpose the only relevant property which characterizes one of the polymer chains is its mean square end-to-end distance in the bulk solution which we denote by $`d_x^2`$ ; for convenience we include the spatial dimension $`d`$ as a prefactor. The results presented in the following are obtained for $`d=3`$ both for ideal chains and for chains with EV interaction. In Sec. II we present our results for the interaction potential and the force between two parallel walls. We note that for chains with EV interaction these results are only valid in the limit $`D_x`$ because our theoretical approach is not capable to describe the dimensional crossover to the behavior of a quasi $`d1`$ dimensional system which arises for $`D_x`$. In Sec. III we compare these results with the simulation data of Milchev and Binder . In Sec. IV we apply the Derjaguin approximation in order to obtain from the results in Sec. II the depletion interaction between a spherical particle and a wall in a dilute polymer solution and compare it with the corresponding experimental results of Rudhardt, Bechinger, and Leiderer .

In view of the complexity of the actual experimental systems involving spatially confined colloidal suspensions dissolved in a solution containing polymers, in the past the corresponding theoretical descriptions relied on suitable coarse-grained, effective models and on integrating out less relevant degrees of freedom. The gross features of these systems can be obtained by mapping the polymers onto effective hard spheres as pioneered by Asakura and Oosawa . In a more refined description Louis et al.  derived effective interaction potentials between polymer coils such that they behave like soft spheres. This approach allows one to capture the crossover in structural properties to semidilute and dense polymer solutions. Based on such a model Louis et al.  have calculated, inter alia, the corresponding depletion energy between two parallel repulsive plates. Besides presenting the depletion energy for ideal chains in terms of an expansion introduced by Asakura and Oosawa, they find the occurrence of repulsive depletion forces in an intermediate regime of $`D`$ upon significantly increasing the polymer density. In our present completely analytic study we focus on dilute polymer solutions, for which the depletion forces turn out to be always attractive, by fully taking into account the flexibility of the polymer chains and the self-avoidance of the polymer segments with a particular emphasis on long chains. This complementary point of view allows us to make contact to the Monte Carlo simulation data in Ref.  and with the experimental data in Ref. ; both these comparisons have not been carried out before.

## II Effective interaction between parallel walls

### A Grand canonical ensemble

In a dilute polymer solution the interaction between $`N`$ different chains can be neglected so that the total free energy of the system is $`N`$ times the free energy of a single chain. We consider the polymer solution within the slit to be in equilibrium contact with an equivalent polymer solution in a reservoir outside the slit so that there is exchange of polymer coils between the slit and the reservoir. The free energy of interaction between the walls in such a grand canonical ensemble is given by

$`\delta F`$ $`=`$ $`k_BTN\left\{\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{𝒵_{||}(D)}{𝒵}}\right)\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{𝒵_{||}(D=\mathrm{})}{𝒵}}\right)\right\},`$ (2)
where $`𝒵_{||}(D)`$ is the partition function of one polymer chain in a large volume $`𝒱`$ containing the walls and $`𝒵`$ is the corresponding partition function of one polymer chain in the volume $`𝒱`$ without the walls. In the thermodynamic limit $`𝒱^d`$ one has

$`𝒵`$ $``$ $`𝒱\widehat{𝒵}_b`$ (4)
with $`\widehat{𝒵}_b=_^dd^dr^{}𝒵_b(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ and where $`𝒵_b(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ denotes the partition function of one polymer chain in the unbounded solution with its ends fixed at $`𝐫`$ and $`𝐫^{}`$. Correspondingly $`𝒵_{||}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ denotes the partition function of one polymer chain within the volume $`𝒱`$ containing the parallel walls and with its ends fixed at $`𝐫`$ and $`𝐫^{}`$. The volume $`𝒱=𝒱_I+𝒱_O`$ can be divided into the volume $`𝒱_I`$ within the slit and the volume $`𝒱_O`$ outside the slit. Since the polymer chain cannot penetrate the walls, whose lateral extensions are large, $`𝒵_{||}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ is nonzero only if both $`𝐫`$ and $`𝐫^{}`$ are in $`𝒱_I`$ or in $`𝒱_O`$ so that

$`𝒵_{||}(D)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _𝒱}d^dr{\displaystyle _𝒱}d^dr^{}𝒵_{||}(𝐫,𝐫^{})={\displaystyle _{𝒱_O}}d^dr\widehat{𝒵}_O(z)+{\displaystyle _{𝒱_I}}d^dr\widehat{𝒵}_I(z),`$ (5)
with $`\widehat{𝒵}_{O,I}(z)=_{𝒱_{O,I}}d^dr^{}𝒵_{||}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$. In the thermodynamic limit $`𝒱^d`$ the logarithm $`\mathrm{ln}(𝒵_{||}/𝒵)`$ in Eq. (LABEL:felog) can be expanded using Eqs. (4) and (5), i.e.,

$`\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{𝒵_{||}(D)}{𝒵}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{ln}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{𝒵_{||}(D)𝒵}{𝒵}}\right)`$ (6)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{𝒱}}{\displaystyle \frac{𝒵_{||}(D)𝒱\widehat{𝒵}_b}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{𝒱}}\left[{\displaystyle _{𝒱_O}}d^dr\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_O(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}1\right)+{\displaystyle _{𝒱_I}}d^dr\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_I(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}1\right)\right],`$ (7)
where the ratio $`\frac{𝒵_{||}(D)𝒵}{𝒵}`$ is of the order $`𝒱_I/𝒱`$ which tends to zero because the slit width $`D`$ is fixed. Since in the thermodynamic limit the leading contribution to the first integral of Eq. (6) is independent of the slit width $`D`$ we find for Eq. (LABEL:felog)

$`\delta F=n_pk_bT`$ $`\left\{{\displaystyle _{𝒱_I}}d^dr\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_I(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}1\right){\displaystyle _{𝒱_I}}d^dr\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_I(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}1\right)|_{D=\mathrm{}}\right\},`$ (8)
with the number density $`n_p=N/𝒱`$ of the polymer chains in the bulk solution. The second integral in Eq. (8) reduces to the sum of two half-space $`(HS)`$ integrals which yield contributions proportional to the area $`A`$ of the walls:

$`{\displaystyle _{𝒱_I}}d^dr\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_I(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}1\right)|_{D=\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle _{HS}}d^dr\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_{HS}(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}}1\right)=2A{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma }{n_pk_BT}},`$ (9)
where we have introduced the surface tension $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$ between the polymer solution and the confining wall \[compare Eqs. (1.7) and (2.41) in Ref. \]. Note that the mean polymer density within the slit is determined by the bulk density $`n_p`$, i.e., in the grand canonical ensemble the chemical potential $`\mu `$ of the polymer coils is fixed instead of the number $`N_I`$ of polymer coils in the slit (see Subsec. II B).

According to Eqs. (8) and (9) the total grand canonical free energy $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ of the polymer solution within the slit,

$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ $`=`$ $`n_pk_BTAD\omega `$ (10)
with the dimensionless quantity

$`\omega `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{D}}{\displaystyle _0^D}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝒵}_I(z)}{\widehat{𝒵}_b}},`$ (11)
can be decomposed as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{n_pk_BTA}}`$ $`=`$ $`Df_b+2f_s+\delta f.`$ (13)
On the rhs of Eq. (13) appear the reduced bulk free energy per unit volume

$`f_b`$ $`=`$ $`1,`$ (14)
the reduced surface free energy per unit area

$`f_s`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma }{n_pk_BT}},`$ (15)
and the reduced free energy of interaction

$`\delta f`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta F}{n_pk_BTA}}.`$ (16)
### B Canonical ensemble

If instead of the chemical potential $`\mu `$ the number $`N_I`$ of polymer coils in the slit is used as independent variable, the total free energy $`F`$ of the polymer solution within the slit in the canonical ensemble follows from $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ as the Legendre transform

$`F(N_I)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }(\mu (N_I))+\mu (N_I)N_I,`$ (17)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is given by Eq. (10). The chemical potential $`\mu `$ is related to $`n_p`$ via

$`\mu `$ $`=`$ $`k_BT\mathrm{ln}(n_p\mathrm{\Lambda }^d),`$ (18)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the thermal de Broglie wave length of the particles, i.e., polymer coils. Equation (10) implies for dilute solutions

$`N_I`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }(\mu )}{\mu }}={\displaystyle \frac{n_p}{k_BT}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{n_p}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{k_BT}}.`$ (19)
Thus $`F(N_I)`$ is given by

$`F(N_I)`$ $`=`$ $`k_BTN_I+k_BTN_I\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_I}{AD\omega }}\mathrm{\Lambda }^d\right),`$ (20)
with $`\omega `$ from Eq. (11).

### C Free energy of interaction and mean force

We employ the polymer magnet analogy  in order to calculate the partition functions $`\widehat{𝒵}_{HS}(z)`$, $`\widehat{𝒵}_I(z)`$, and $`\widehat{𝒵}_b`$ as needed in Eqs. (8), (9), and (11) for a single chain with EV interaction. They are functions of the parameter $`u_0`$ which characterizes the strength of the EV interaction and $`L_0`$ which determines the number of monomers of the chain such that $`L_0`$ equals $`_g^2=_x^2/\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}`$ for an ideal chain in the bulk, i.e., for $`u_0=0`$. The well-known arguments of the polymer magnet analogy  imply for the present case the correspondence

$`𝒵_{||}(𝐫,𝐫^{};L_0,D,u_0)`$ $`=`$ $`_{t_0L_0}\mathrm{\Phi }_1(𝐫)\mathrm{\Phi }_1(𝐫^{})|_{𝒩=0}`$ (21)
between $`𝒵_{||}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ and the two-point correlation function $`\mathrm{\Phi }_1(𝐫)\mathrm{\Phi }_1(𝐫^{})`$ in a $`𝒪(𝒩)`$ symmetric field theory for an $`𝒩`$-component order parameter field $`𝚽=(\mathrm{\Phi }_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Phi }_𝒩)`$ in the restricted volume $`𝒱_I`$. In Eq. (21) the operator

$`_{t_0L_0}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _𝒞}𝑑t_0e^{L_0t_0}`$ (22)
acting on the correlation function is an inverse Laplace transform with $`𝒞`$ a path in the complex $`t_0`$-plane to the right of all singularities of the integrand. The Laplace-conjugate $`t_0`$ of $`L_0`$ and the excluded volume strength $`u_0`$ appear, respectively, as the ‘temperature’ parameter and as the prefactor of the $`(𝚽^2)^2`$-term in the Ginzburg-Landau Hamiltonian

$`\{𝚽\}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _V}d^dr\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(𝚽)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{t_0}{2}}𝚽^2+{\displaystyle \frac{u_0}{24}}(𝚽^2)^2\right\}`$ (23)
which provides the statistical weight $`\mathrm{exp}(\{𝚽\})`$ for the field theory. The requirement in Eq. (1) describing the repulsive character of the walls imposes the Dirichlet condition

$$𝚽(𝐫)=0,z=0,D,$$
(24)
on both walls. This corresponds to the fixed point boundary condition of the so-called ordinary transition  for the field theory. For the renormalization group improved perturbative investigations we use a dimensionally regularized continuum version of the field theory which we shall renormalize by minimal subtraction of poles in $`\epsilon =4d`$ . The basic element of the perturbation expansion is the Gaussian two-point correlation function (or propagator) $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i(𝐫)\mathrm{\Phi }_j(𝐫^{})_{[0]}`$ where the subscript $`[0]`$ denotes $`u_0=0`$ \[see Eq. (A1) in Appendix A\].

The loop expansion to first order in $`u_0`$ and the renormalization of $`\omega `$ in Eq. (11) is completely analogous to that outlined in Subsec. II A of Ref. . Some key results of this procedure relevant for the present case are given in Appendix A. The final result for $`f_s`$ and $`\delta f`$ on the rhs of Eq. (13) are given by Eqs. (A15) and (A16) in Appendix A, where $`𝒩=0`$ for the present polymer case and $`\epsilon =1`$ in $`d=3`$.

Figure 1 shows the universal scaling function for the free energy of interaction

$`\mathrm{\Theta }(y)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{_x}}\delta f`$ (25)
with $`\delta f`$ from Eq. (16) and the corresponding scaling function for the force

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\text{d}\mathrm{\Theta }(y)}{\text{d}y}}`$ (26)
in terms of the scaling variable

$$y=D/_x.$$
(27)
Figure 1 shows both the behavior for ideal chains and for chains with EV interaction. For chains with EV interaction the present theoretical approach is only amenable to capture the behavior for $`D/_x`$ large, i.e., $`y1`$. As expected the depletion potential and the resulting force is weaker for chains with EV interaction than for ideal chains, because the EV interaction effectively reduces the depletion effect of the walls. The inset of Fig. 1 shows both $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for ideal chains. The narrow slit limits read

$`\mathrm{\Theta }(y0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi }}}+y`$ (28)
and

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(y0)`$ $`=`$ $`1.`$ (29)
Deviations from the linear behavior in Eq. (28) become visible only for $`y\frac{1}{2}`$. In the opposite limit $`y\mathrm{}`$ the leading behavior for ideal chains is given by

$`\mathrm{\Theta }(y\mathrm{})`$ $`=`$ $`4\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{y^2}}e^{y^2/2}`$ (30)
and

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(y\mathrm{})`$ $`=`$ $`4\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{y}}e^{y^2/2}.`$ (31)
The depletion potential in terms of the scaling function $`\mathrm{\Theta }(y)`$ is attractive. But whether the bulk contribution $`Df_b`$ has to be taken into account in addition depends on the ’experimental’ setup. In the case that the force is measured between plates immersed in a container filled with the dilute polymer solution such that solvent and polymer coils can freely enter the slit from the reservoir, only the scaling functions $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are relevant. This is also true for the particle wall geometry discussed in Sec. IV. But if no exchange is allowed as for the Monte Carlo simulation discussed in Sec. III the force $`𝒦`$ defined in Eq. (33) is needed.

## III Comparison with Monte Carlo simulations

Monte Carlo simulations of polymers are well established both for ideal chains and for chains with self-avoidance. In this section we compare our results with the simulation of a polymer chain between two repulsive walls by Milchev and Binder  which corresponds to the case studied theoretically here. These authors use a bead spring model for the self-avoiding polymer chain with a short-ranged repulsive interaction between the beads.

In Refs.  and  (see in particular Fig.$`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}`$ in Ref. ) it is stated that the total force $`𝒦`$ between the two walls is repulsive and diverges in the narrow slit limit, i.e.,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{D𝒦}{k_BT}}`$ $``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{D}{_g}}\right)^{1/\nu },`$ (32)
where $`\nu =\frac{1}{2}`$ for ideal chains and $`\nu =0.588`$ for chains with EV interaction and $`_g`$ is the radius of gyration of the polymer chain in unbounded space . \[For the definition of $`_g`$ see Eqs. (35) and (36) in Sec. IV.\] The qualitative difference to the scaling function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(y)`$ presented for the force in Subsec. II C is explained by the following arguments. (a) The total force between the walls is repulsive due to the contribution from the cost in free energy caused by the loss of the total available space for the polymer chains within the slit, i.e., the bulk pressure $`f_b`$ contributes to the total force. (b) The total force $`𝒦`$ diverges due to the change from the grand canonical to the canonical ensemble (see Subsec. II B). In the simulation in Ref.  the number $`N_I`$ of polymers in the slit is given by one polymer in the slit volume. Therefore we obtain the total force $`𝒦`$ by differentiating Eq. (20) with respect to the slit width $`D`$ and by setting $`N_I=1`$, i.e.,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{D𝒦}{k_BT}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\omega }}{\displaystyle \frac{\text{d}}{\text{d}D}}(D\omega ),`$ (33)
where $`D\omega =\mathrm{\Omega }/(n_pk_BTA)`$ is given by the rhs of Eq. (13) in conjunction with Eqs. (A15) and (A16) in Appendix A. The lhs of Eq. (33) corresponds to the quantity $`Df`$ in Ref. .

Figure 2 shows the comparison of the simulation data of Ref.  and the corresponding theoretical result from Eq. (33), the latter both for ideal chains and chains with EV interaction. Note that the theoretical curve for chains with EV interaction is only valid for large $`D/_g`$. The curve for chains with EV interaction is closer to the simulation data than the curve for ideal chains, in agreement with the fact that the polymer chain in the simulation is a self-avoiding one. One possible reason for the remaining deviation might be that the chain in the simulation is too short to be fully described by the present field-theoretical approach. The deviation of the Monte Carlo simulation data at large values of $`D/_g`$ from the power-law behavior at small values of $`D/_g`$ (dashed line) occurs because $`\frac{D𝒦}{k_BT}`$ tends to $`1`$ for large $`D/_g`$, which is not captured by Eq. (32).

Figures $`59`$ of Ref.  show density profiles for the simulated chains with EV interaction, including a comparison with the analytical result for the profile of ideal chains in the slit (Fig. 9 in Ref. ). We want to mention here that the field-theoretical treatment of the monomer density for chains with EV interaction requires a perturbation expansion involving integrals over $`GGGG`$ instead of $`GGG`$ (see Appendix A) and thus in view of the technical challenges is beyond the scope of the present study. Alternative information about the monomer density profiles beyond the ideal behavior can be found in Ref.  in which a self-consistent mean-field approximation is used to obtain the monomer density profiles for a single polymer chain between two repulsive walls.

## IV Comparison with experiment

Rudhardt, Bechinger, and Leiderer  have measured the depletion interaction between a wall and a colloidal particle immersed in a dilute solution of nonionic polymer chains in a good solvent by means of total internal reflection microscopy (TIRM). They monitored the fluctuations of the relative distance of the colloid particle from the wall induced by Brownian motion. From the resulting Boltzmann distribution one can infer the corresponding effective depletion potential between the repulsive wall and the particle.

In order to compare these experimental data with our results we apply the Derjaguin approximation . In the limit that the radius $`R`$ of the spherical particle is much larger than both $`_x`$ and the distance $`a`$ of closest approach surface-to-surface between the particle and the wall, the particle can be regarded as composed of a pile of fringes. Each fringe builds a fringe-like slit with distance $`D=a+r_{||}^2/(2R)`$, where $`r_{||}`$ is the radius of the fringe. Thus the interaction between the particle and the wall is given by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}(a)}{n_pk_BT}}`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi R_x^2{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑\upsilon \upsilon \mathrm{\Theta }\left({\displaystyle \frac{a}{_x}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\upsilon ^2}{2}}\right),`$ (34)
where $`\upsilon `$ is a dimensionless variable and $`\mathrm{\Theta }(y)`$ is the scaling function for the free energy of interaction for the slit geometry \[see Eq. (25)\].

In Ref.  the interaction potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}(a)`$ is measured for nonionic polymer chains in a good solvent for polymer number densities $`n_p=0`$, $`7.6`$, $`10.2`$, $`12.7`$, and $`25.5\mu \text{m}^3`$. All these polymer number densities represent a dilute polymer solution so that $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}(a)`$ is a linear function of $`n_p`$ \[see Eq. (LABEL:felog)\]. Therefore our results are applicable and Fig. 3 shows $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}/n_p`$ as a function of $`a`$. The crosses in Fig. 3 correspond to those values of $`a`$ for which the above mentioned linear behavior $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}n_p`$ (not shown) is in good agreement with the experimental data. Deviations from the linear behavior $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}n_p`$ for small and large particle-wall distances $`a`$ (not shown) can be explained by the experimental method TIRM used in Ref. : a higher interaction potential implies a lower probability to find the particle at the corresponding distance causing lower accuracy. It turns out that the total interaction potential as the sum of depletion potential, electrostatic repulsion, and gravity is highest for short and large distances, which are those where the linear relationship $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}n_p`$ is not confirmed experimentally. Figure 3 also shows the corresponding theoretical predictions for the experimental data, both for ideal polymer chains and chains with EV interaction, i.e., chains in a good solvent as realized in the experiment. Note that all parameters entering these theoretical predictions are fixed by available experimental data for $`n_p`$, $`a`$, and $`_g`$, i.e., there are no freely adjustable parameters. In particular, the radius of gyration $`_g`$ of the polymer chains used in Ref.  has been measured fairly accurately by means of small angle scattering of x-rays , resulting in $`_g=0.101\mu \text{m}`$. According to the definition of $`_g`$ as measured in small angle scattering experiments , i.e.,

$$_g^2=\frac{d^3rd^3r^{}\rho (𝐫)\rho (𝐫^{})|𝐫𝐫^{}|^2}{2d^3rd^3r^{}\rho (𝐫)\rho (𝐫^{})},$$
(35)
where $`\rho (𝐫)`$ is the monomer density, in $`d=3`$ one has

$$_g=0.6927_x,d=3.$$
(36)
Figure 3 shows that the experimental data of Ref.  deviate from the theoretical result derived here. Note that this deviation is not visible if the polymer size is used as a freely adjustable parameter in order to gain agreement between the experimental and theoretical data. The theoretical curve for chains with EV interaction, as realized in the experiment, is even further away from the experimental data than the theoretical curve for ideal chains. The latter observation confirms the necessity of reinterpreting of the experimental data, e.g., by adjusting the radius of gyration. This can be done such that agreement with the theoretical data for chains with EV interaction is gained for the intermediate values of the distance where the linear relationship $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{depl}}n_p`$ allows for a direct comparison with the theory. \[The remaining differences outside this intermediate regime ($``$) pose a separate issue as discussed in the paragraph following Eq. (34).\] However the difference between the two theoretical curves for ideal chains and chains with EV interaction is small compared to the deviation from the experimental data.

Any attempt to use the Monte Carlo data obtained in Ref.  for predicting the depletion interaction between a colloidal particle and a wall would require two integrations of $`𝒦`$ and a change to the grand canonical ensemble, which poses prohibitive accuracy problems. Nonetheless a qualitative statement can be given easily. Figure 2 shows that the force obtained in the Monte Carlo simulation is weaker than the force calculated for chains with EV interaction. This is also expected to hold for the depletion interaction between a particle and the wall.

## V Concluding remarks and summary

Based on field-theoretical techniques we have determined the effective depletion interaction between two non-adsorbing walls confining a dilute solution of long flexible polymer chains. Our main results are:

1. The field-theoretical calculation yields the universal scaling functions of the depletion interaction potential and the corresponding force for ideal chains and for chains with excluded volume interaction in the limit $`y=D/_x1`$ , where $`D`$ is the separation between the walls and $`_x`$ is the projected end-to-end distance of the chains \[see Eqs. (25), (26), and (36) and Fig. 1\]. The depletion potential is weaker for chains in a good solvent than for ideal chains.
2. For $`y1`$ we find fair agreement with corresponding Monte Carlo simulation data  if the excluded volume interaction is taken into account (see Fig. 2). We surmise that remaining discrepancies are due to higher order terms in the field-theoretical calculation which are not yet taken into account and due to the possibility that the length of the simulated polymer chain has not yet reached the scaling limit for which the field theory is valid.
3. Using the Derjaguin approximation we have compared our theoretical results with the experimental data  for the depletion potential between a spherical colloidal particle and a wall (see Fig. 3). We obtain a fair agreement only if the radius of gyration $`_g`$ of the polymers is used as a fit parameter. This value, however, differs from independently determined values for $`_g`$. The reasons for these differences are not yet understood. The excluded volume interaction between the monomers of the polymer chain plays only a minor role for reaching agreement between theory and experiment.

## Acknowledgments

We thank A. Milchev and K. Binder for a helpful discussion of their simulation data and C. Bechinger for providing the experimental data. This work has been supported by the German Science Foundation both through Sonderforschungsbereich 237 Unordnung und große Fluktuationen and the graduate college Feldtheoretische und numerische Methoden der Elementarteilchen- und Statistischen Physik.

## A

The Gaussian two-point correlation function in the slit of width $`D`$ reads

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_i(𝐫)\mathrm{\Phi }_j(𝐫^{})_{[0]}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{ij}G(𝐫,𝐫^{};t_0,D)=\delta _{ij}\widehat{G}(|𝐫_{}𝐫_{}^{}|,z,z^{};t_0,D)`$ (A1)
$`=`$ $`\delta _{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{d^{d1}p}{(2\pi )^{d1}}\mathrm{exp}[i𝐩(𝐫_{}𝐫_{}^{})]\stackrel{~}{G}(𝐩,z,z^{};t_0,D)},`$ (A2)
with the Gaussian propagator $`\stackrel{~}{G}(𝐩,z,z^{};t_0,D)`$ in $`p`$-$`z`$ representation given by

$`\stackrel{~}{G}(𝐩,z,z^{};t_0,D)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2b}}[e^{b|zz^{}|}e^{b(z+z^{})}`$ (A4)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{e^{b(zz^{})}+e^{b(z^{}z)}e^{b(z+z^{})}e^{b(z+z^{})}}{e^{2bD}1}}],`$
where $`b=\sqrt{p^2+t_0}`$. The loop expansion of the total susceptibility reads

$`\chi (t_0,D,u_0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^D}𝑑z𝑑z^{}\stackrel{~}{G}(\mathrm{𝟎},z,z^{})`$ (A8)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{u_0}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{𝒩+2}{3}}{\displaystyle _0^D}𝑑z𝑑z^{}𝑑z^{\prime \prime }{\displaystyle \frac{d^{d1}p}{(2\pi )^{d1}}\stackrel{~}{G}(\mathrm{𝟎},z,z^{\prime \prime })\stackrel{~}{G}(𝐩,z^{\prime \prime },z^{\prime \prime })\stackrel{~}{G}(\mathrm{𝟎},z^{\prime \prime },z^{})}`$
$`+O(u_0^2).`$
The procedure outlined in Subsec. II A of Ref.  yields the renormalized total susceptibility in one loop order as (see also Appendix B of Ref. )

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\chi _{\mathrm{ren}}(\tau =(D\mu )^2t,D,u)}{D^3}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\tau }}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\tau ^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1e^\sqrt{\tau }}{1+e^\sqrt{\tau }}}`$ (A14)
$`+u{\displaystyle \frac{𝒩+2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\tau ^{3/2}}}\{[\sqrt{\tau }+2\sqrt{\tau }{\displaystyle \frac{e^\sqrt{\tau }}{(1+e^\sqrt{\tau })^2}}3{\displaystyle \frac{1e^\sqrt{\tau }}{1+e^\sqrt{\tau }}}]`$
$`\times \left[2f_1+2\mathrm{ln}(D\mu )\mathrm{ln}\tau +\mathrm{ln}(4\pi )+1C_E\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}8}{\displaystyle _1^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑s{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{s^21}}{e^{2\sqrt{\tau }s}1}}\right]`$
$`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}\pi {\displaystyle \frac{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}+e^\sqrt{\tau }(2\sqrt{3})+e^{2\sqrt{\tau }}(\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}})}{(1+e^\sqrt{\tau })^2}}`$
$`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}{\displaystyle \frac{1e^\sqrt{\tau }}{1+e^\sqrt{\tau }}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}ds{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{s^21}}{e^{2\sqrt{\tau }s}1}}({\displaystyle \frac{2}{s+\frac{1}{2}}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{s\frac{1}{2}}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s1}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s+1}})\}`$
$`+O(u^2).`$
Here $`\mu `$ is the inverse length scale which determines the renormalization group flow; $`t`$ and $`u`$ are the renormalized and dimensionless counterparts of $`t_0`$ and $`u_0`$, respectively; $`C_E`$ is Euler’s constant and for the definition of the constant $`f_1`$ we refer to Ref. .

The free energy is obtained via the inverse Laplace transform of $`\chi _{\mathrm{ren}}(D)`$ and normalization by the transformed renormalized total susceptibility for the unbounded space $`\chi _{\mathrm{ren},b}`$. The decomposition into bulk, surface, and finite-size contributions is carried out by the analysis of the scaling behavior of these parts of the free energy. The surface and finite-size parts of the free energy \[see Eq. (II A)\] at the fixed point of the renormalization group and for $`𝒩=0`$ with the scaling variable $`y=D/_x`$ are given by

$`f_s`$ $`=`$ $`_x\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}\left\{1{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{4}}\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{3\mathrm{ln}2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{\sqrt{3}}}\right]\right\},`$ (A15)
and

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta f}{D}}=4\text{Erfc}\left({\displaystyle \frac{y}{\sqrt{2}}}\right)4\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{y}}e^{y^2/2}`$ (A16)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{4}}[{\displaystyle \frac{e^{y^2/2}}{y\sqrt{2\pi }}}(4+{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\sqrt{3}}}4\pi +6\mathrm{ln}(2y^2)6C_E)+\text{Erfc}\left({\displaystyle \frac{y}{\sqrt{2}}}\right)(2\pi {\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\sqrt{3}}}2\mathrm{ln}(2y^2)+2C_E)`$ (A17)
$`_{\tau \frac{1}{2y^2}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{e^\sqrt{\tau }\mathrm{ln}\tau }{\tau }}\right\}3_{\tau \frac{1}{2y^2}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{e^\sqrt{\tau }\mathrm{ln}\tau }{\tau ^{3/2}}}\right\}]+O(\epsilon ^2),`$ (A18)
where $`\chi _{\mathrm{ren}}`$ in Eq. (A14) is expanded for large plate separations $`D`$ up to order $`O(e^{\sqrt{D^2t}})`$, because for small distances the correct behavior including the dimensional crossover cannot be obtained even for the full expression. But using the expansion has the additional benefit to yield partly analytical results for the separations $`D`$ of interest here. For $`d=3`$, $`R_x`$ is related to the radius of gyration $`_g`$ by Eq. (36). The full result for ideal chains for $`\delta f`$ is given by Eq. (A14) for $`u=0`$, i.e.,

$`\delta f`$ $`=`$ $`D_{\tau \frac{1}{2y^2}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{4}{\tau ^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+e^\sqrt{\tau }}}\right\},`$ (A19)
which is valid for all $`y`$.


format: text

text:
# HI line observations of luminous infrared galaxy mergers

## 1 Introduction

Most luminous infrared galaxies (LIGs), with infrared luminosities $`L_{\mathrm{IR}}\stackrel{>}{}2\times 10^{11}L_{}`$, for $`H_0=75`$  km s-1 Mpc-1, are gas-rich, closely interacting/merging systems (e.g., van den Broek et al. 1991; Sanders 1992; Murphy et al. 1996) with high star formation rates and efficiencies. They represent the dominant population among objects with $`L_{\mathrm{bol}}\stackrel{>}{}2\times 10^{11}L_{}`$ in the local universe (Sanders & Mirabel 1996).

Most of the LIGs’ luminosity is radiated by dust in the far-infrared. Evidence in favor of a starburst origin for the high IR luminosity is clearly mounting (e.g., from molecular gas content, Downes & Solomon 1998; Solomon et al. 1997; radio continuum imaging, Condon et al. 1991; Smith et al. 1998; ISO mid-IR spectroscopy, Genzel et al. 1998; and ground based mid-IR and HST/NICMOS near-IR imaging, Soifer et al. 2000; Scoville et al. 2000). Although an AGN might also contribute to the high IR luminosity of a small fraction LIGs (e.g., Sanders et al. 1988; Veilleux et al. 1997; 1999; Sanders 1999), the observed abundant supply of dense molecular gas traced by high dipole moment molecules like HCN, usually found only in star formation cores (Solomon et al. 1992; Gao 1996; Gao & Solomon 2000a, b) indicates that almost all LIGs are ideal stellar nurseries.

A clear correlation between the CO(1-0) luminosity (a measure of molecular gas mass M(H2)) and the projected separation of merger nuclei (an indicator of merging stages) has been shown for a sample of 50 LIG mergers (Gao & Solomon 1999), indicating that the molecular gas content decreases as merging advances. This suggests that the molecular gas content is being rapidly depleted due to the starbursts as merging progresses. This was the first evidence connecting the depletion of molecular gas with starbursts in interacting galaxies. The question arises if a similar relationship exists between the H i gas mass and the merger interaction stages.

Only loose correlations were found between the H i gas mass and $`L_{IR}`$ in previous H i line studies of LIGs samples of LIGs (Garwood et al. 1987; Jackson et al. 1989; Martin et al. 1991; Mirabel & Sanders 1988; Young et al. 1986), unlike the tight correlation found between $`L_{IR}`$ and the CO gas mass. A tighter correlation was found (Kennicutt 1998) between the $`L_{FIR}`$/area and $`M_{HI}`$/area, however. This may imply that the more diffuse H i gas is being depleted as well, like the molecular gas component, as merging advances.

The M(H2)/M(H i) ratio also increases with $`L_{IR}`$ for LIGs (Mirabel & Sanders 1989). However, whether this ratio increases or not as the merging progresses through different stages has not yet been explored. With new H i data accumulated for a statistically significant sample of LIGs arranged along a starburst merger sequence (e.g., by the degree of nuclear separation and the merging morphology compared with numerical simulations for mergers), we can ultimately examine how the M(H2)/M(H i) ratio changes as the merger-induced starburst proceeds in mergers of different stages, since the molecular gas contents of our sample galaxies are already known.

Just over a dozen galaxies in the Gao & Solomon (1999) CO sample of LIG mergers have 21cm H i line measurements reported in the literature. In order to enlarge the sample available for a statistical study of the relationship between the H i gas mass and the evolution of the merging process as the starburst proceeds along a starburst merger sequence, we have conducted new H i observations. Here, we present the results of new Nançay and Arecibo 21cm observations of 19 LIGs in the sample (for the sample selection, see Sect. 2).

We will explore possible correlations with the global H i properties of LIGs in detail in another paper (Gao et al. in preparation). For this, we will use all H i observations available for LIGs in the CO survey of Gao & Solomon (1999), including spectra from an unpublished Arecibo H i survey of LIGs (I.F. Mirabel 1997, private communication).

## 2 Sample selection – luminous infrared galaxies along a starburst merger sequence

Although there have been extensive H i and CO observations of LIGs, including synthesis imaging (e.g., Mirabel & Sanders 1988; Martin et al. 1991; Scoville et al. 1991; Gao 1996; Gao et al. 1997; Lo, Gao & Gruendl 1997; Downes & Solomon 1998; Hibbard & Yun 1996, 1999a, 1999b; Gao & Solomon 1999; Gao et al. 1999, 2000a, b), there has been no systematic attempt to trace the gas properties (both atomic and molecular) during the galaxy-galaxy merger sequence starting with systems roughly separated by a galactic diameter; e.g., just 4 galaxies in the “Toomre Sequence” (Toomre & Toomre 1972; Toomre 1977), representing a merger sequence, were observed by Hibbard & van Gorkom (1996).

However, observations of only the atomic gas along the “Toomre Sequence” is not sufficient to trace the starburst processes occurring during a galaxy-galaxy merger, as stars are forming in molecular clouds which are probably embedded in the more diffuse atomic hydrogen gas, and H i itself is not a tracer of the star forming gas. Moreover, the galaxy mergers in the “Toomre Sequence” are optically selected and have large variations in their gas content and do not easily fit into a sequence of gas conversion into stars.

Although the “Toomre Sequence” nicely reflects the dynamical transformation of two spiral galaxies into a merged elliptical, no ultraluminous starburst is included in this sequence – the four most infrared luminous objects on the sequence are NGC 6621/2, NGC 7592, NGC 2623 and NGC 3256, with, respectively, log($`L_{IR}`$/$`L_{}`$)=11.26, 11.33, 11.55 and 11.57. Therefore, although the triggering of a starburst by the merging of two spiral galaxies is probably represented by the “Toomre Sequence”, it poorly samples the ultraluminous starburst phase of gas-rich mergers along the merger sequence. In short, the “Toomre Sequence” is most likely a morphological sequence, and it tells us little about the conversion of gas into stars during mergers. Indeed, there are many close mergers where the progenitors are not gas-rich galaxies and these may never become LIGs (e.g., Bushouse et al. 1988; Kennicutt et al. 1987).

The ideal sample to trace a merger sequence leading to the formation of an ultraluminous starburst would contain gas-rich galaxies of various merging stages that initially started with roughly comparably, large gas contents. Since this is impossible to ascertain, we selected LIGs where the 2 progenitors can be identified from CCD images. By measuring the H i content as a function of the merger separation for a sample with known molecular gas properties, the time dependence of the total (H i+CO) gas properties can then be traced statistically in a starburst merger sequence.

50 LIGs with $`L_{IR}\stackrel{>}{}2\times 10^{11}L_{},2^{\prime \prime }\stackrel{<}{}S_{sep}\stackrel{<}{}(D_1+D_2)/2`$ (where $`S_{sep}`$ is the separation between nuclei and $`D_1`$ and $`D_2`$ are the major axis diameters of the two galaxies) have been selected for the CO study of Gao & Solomon (1999), and we already have molecular gas measurements for all these galaxies. Here, we aim at establishing a large homogeneous sample of LIGs which have H i measurements as well. For observation at Nançay, we excluded all high redshift ($`cz>20,000\text{ km\hspace{0.17em}s}\text{-1}`$) sources, deemed a priori too weak in H i for a 100m-class telescope, and all southern sky ($`\delta <`$39) objects inaccessible from the site, thus reducing the sample to 30 LIGs. By further excluding sources around the Galactic Center’s right ascension, where the transit telescope is too heavily oversubscribed with high-priority targets, and by avoiding the repetition of previously well-detected sources, we ended up with a total sample of 19 LIGs from our CO sample (see Table 1). For all of these we obtained new global H i spectra.

## 3 Observations and data reduction

### 3.1 Nançay observations

The Nançay telescope is a meridian transit-type instrument of the Kraus/Ohio State design, consisting of a fixed spherical mirror, 300 m long and 35 m high, a tiltable flat mirror (200$`\times `$40 m), and a focal carriage moving along a 90 m long curved rail track, which allows the tracking of a source on the celestial equator for about 1 hour. Located in the centre of France, it can reach declinations as low as -39. It has an effective collecting area of about 7000 m2 (equivalent to a 94-m diameter parabolic dish). Due to the elongated mirror geometry, at 21-cm wavelength it has a half-power beam width of $`3^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.6}`$ E-W$`\times `$22 N-S for declinations below 20, increasing to 34 N-S at $`\delta `$=65, the highest declination in the present survey (E. Gérard, private comm.; see also Matthews & van Driel 2000). Typical system temperatures were $``$40 K for our project.

Our observations were made throughout the period December 1998 - October 1999, using a total of about 150 hours of telescope time. We obtained our observations in total power (position-switching) mode using consecutive pairs of two-minute on- and two-minute off-source integrations. Off-source integrations were taken at approximately 2m E of the target position. The autocorrelator was divided into two pairs of cross-polarized receiver banks, each with 512 channels and a 6.4 MHz bandpass. This yielded a channel spacing of 2.64  km s-1 and an effective velocity resolution of $``$3.3  km s-1, which was smoothed to a channel separation of 13.2 and a velocity resolution of 15.8  km s-1 during the data reduction, in order to search for faint features. The centre frequencies of the two banks were set to the known redshifted H i frequency of the target; all galaxies had existing optical and CO redshifts.

We reduced our H i spectra using the standard DAC and SIR spectral line reduction packages available at the Nançay site. With this software we subtracted baselines (generally third order polynomials) and averaged the two receiver polarizations. To convert from units of $`T_{sys}`$ to flux density in mJy we used the calibration procedure described in Matthews et al. (2001), see also Matthews et al. (1998) and Matthews & van Driel (2000). This procedure yields an internal calibration accuracy of about $`\pm `$15% near the rest frequency of the 21cm line, and $`\pm `$25% for the highest redshift source in the sample, at V=24,000  km s-1 (1300 MHz), as less standard calibration observations were made at these infrequently observed high velocities.

Another consequence of observing redshifted objects down to a frequency of 1300 MHz, far outside the protected 1400-1427 MHz frequency band allocated on a primary base to the Radio Astronomy Service (e.g., CRAF Handbook on Radio Astronomy 1997), is the occurrence of strong radio interference (RFI) signals, which were especially noticeable in the 10,000–12,000  km s-1 range (see, e.g., the remarks on Mrk 848 in Sect. 4.1).

### 3.2 Arecibo observations

During an observing run at Arecibo from 1 to 13 november, 2000, we obtained H i spectra of the 4 sample galaxies which could be observed within the declination range of the 305-m diameter telescope and the allocated sidereal time slots: IRAS 03359+1523, 04232+1436, 10565+2448 and II Zw 96. Data were taken with the $`L`$-narrow receiver, set to linear polarisation, with two polarisations, 4096 channel subcorrelators and nine channel sampling. Each subcorrelator had a 12.5 MHz bandpass, resulting in a 1.3  km s-1 resolution. Observations were taken in 3 minute ON/OFF pairs, followed by a 10 sec ON/OFF calibration pair. The data were reduced using the ANALYZ software package (Deich 1990). The two polarisations were combined, and corrections were applied for the variations in the gain and system temperature of the telescope with zenith angle. A 21-channel boxcar velocity smoothing was applied, resulting in a resolution of 27.0  km s-1. Baselines were then fitted to the data using the GALPAK package adapted by K. O’Neil, which was also used to correct the velocities to the heliocentric system and to determine the global H i line parameters.

## 4 Results and Discussion

The 19 Nançay and the 4 Arecibo H i spectra are shown in Fig. 2. Raw, measured radial velocities, $`V_{HI}`$ (in the optical convention) and their uncertainties, integrated line fluxes, $`I_{HI}`$, velocity widths at 50% and 20% of peak maximum, $`W_{50}`$ and $`W_{20}`$, and rms noise levels of our spectra were determined using the SIR data reduction package for the Nançay data and the adapted GALPAK package for the Arecibo data (see Matthews et al. 2001, and references therein).

No corrections have been applied to these values for, e.g., instrumental resolution or cosmological stretching (e.g., Matthews et al. 2001). We estimated the uncertainties, $`\sigma _{V_{HI}}`$, in the central H i velocities following Fouqué et al. (1990):

$$\sigma _{V_{HI}}=4R^{0.5}P_W^{0.5}X^1[km/s]$$
(1)
where R is the instrumental resolution in  km s-1, PW=(W20–W50)/2 $`[`$km/s$`]`$ and X is the signal-to-noise ratio of a spectrum, which we defined as the ratio of the peak flux density and the rms noise. According to Fouqué et al., the uncertainty in the linewidths is 2$`\sigma _{V_{HI}}`$ for W50 and 3$`\sigma _{V_{HI}}`$ for W20. These H i profile parameters are listed in Table 2, together with values found in the literature. For non-detections, the estimated upper limits to the integrated H i fluxes are 2$`\sigma `$ values for flat-topped profiles with a linewidth equal to those measured for the CO line emission of the objects, either FWHM or half of FWZI values (see Table 3, for the CO data references see Gao & Solomon 1999). Derived global properties of the 19 sample galaxies are listed in Table 3; the CO line luminosity values are from Gao & Solomon (1999).

Of these 19 luminous infrared mergers, 10 were observed here for the first time in the 21cm line (IC 2545; IRAS 02483+4302, 04232+1436, 08572+3915, 10035+4852, 13001-2339 and 20010-2352; Mrk 238 and 848; NGC 5256 - i.e., Nos. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16 and 18). For the 9 objects observed previously, our observations served to obtain new, independent H i profile parameters, as in many cases there were discrepancies between published data (see Table 2 and Sect. 4.1). Of the 6 objects in which we clearly detected line emission (II Zw 96; IC 1623, 2545 and 4395; UGC 9618; NGC 6090 - i.e., Nos. 1, 8, 14, 15, 17 and 19), one (IC 2545, No. 8) had not been detected before. The H i fluxes measured previously at Nançay by Martin et al. (1991) for 4 of these 6 objects are on average about 50% lower; we prefer to use our Nançay flux values, as they are based on recent external calibrations (see Sect. 3).

In all, 8 of the 19 galaxies observed have reliable H i emission line detections: the abovementioned 6 we detected, as well as Mrk 463 and UGC 2369 (i.e., Nos. 3 and 13). Two others show an H i line in absorption: IRAS 03359+1523 and 10565+2448 (Nos. 4 and 9), and for one (Mrk 848, no. 16) no conclusion could be drawn due to strong interference. Global H i profile parameters of (merging) galaxies can depend on the telescope used, though, as the different beam sizes (ranging from $`3^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.6}`$ diameter at Arecibo to 12 for the Green Bank 90m) may include extended gas structures, like tails (e.g., Hibbard & Yun 1999a), or nearby, confusing galaxies. And even observations made with the same instruments may, surprisingly enough, sometimes show significantly different profiles (e.g., for UGC 2369 and II Zw 96). See the notes on individual objects in Sect. 4.1. for details.

The derived H i masses listed in Table 3 are plotted as function of the projected linear separation between the two merger components in Figure 3. Concerning the adopted total H i masses for galaxies with more than one spectrum available: for the 5 galaxies detected by us we used our Nançay results, except for II Zw 96, where we used the average of all 3 available emission line fluxes; for UGC 2369, we used the Arecibo detection by Haynes et al. (1997) and for Mrk 463 we used the Arecibo detection by Hutchings et al. (1987) – see also Sect. 4.1.

Six out of the 9 detected objects have a log($`M_{HI}`$) exceeding 9.8, while 2 (UGC 2369 and Mrk 463 - i.e., Nos 3 and 13) have values $``$9.3. A similar plot for the H2 masses as function of projected separation, showing a clear correlation, can be found in Gao & Salomon (1999). The relation between the H i mass and separation will be examined further in Gao et al. (in preparation), using all available H i line data, both published and others, for a sample of about 30 objects.

### 4.1 Notes to individual galaxies

We searched the vicinity of the target objects for nearby spiral galaxies which could possibly give rise to confusion in those Nançay H i profiles where line emission was detected. We used the online NED and LEDA databases (see Webpages http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu and http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr/pages-html/single.html, repectively), in an area of $`5^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.5}`$$`\times `$30 ($`\alpha \times \delta `$) round the pointing centre, i.e. about 1.5 times the HPBW, as well as optical images extracted from the Digitized Sky Survey (see Fig. 1). For quoted NED values the original literature reference is given here (in brackets), while the LEDA data listed are weighted average values.

1. IC 1623 Just inside the Nançay search area, but outside the area shown in Fig. 1, lies Sb spiral IC 1622 at an E-W separation of $`2^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.5}`$, i.e. 1.4 times the E-W HPBW, SW of the center of the IC1623A/B pair; its $`V_{opt}`$=6343$`\pm `$60  km s-1, i.e. 285  km s-1 higher than the mean optical velocity of the pair, it has magnitude $`B_T`$=14.53, diameter $`D_{25}`$=$`0^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.7}`$ and an axial ratio of 0.78. Seen the separation in the sky and in velocity, we do not expect our Nançay spectrum to be contaminated by this galaxy, unless it has an exceptionally large H i envelope. Another nearby companion galaxy, nearly 5 NE of IC 1623 at only an E-W separation of $`1^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.5}`$, was detected in the VLA H i maps (for preliminary results, see Hibbard & Yun 1996; also for detailed maps, check http://www.cv.nrao.edu/ jhibbard/vv114/), which can only contribute less than 10% of our Nançay detected H i emission. Our Nançay data showed strong baseline curvature in the $`H`$ polarisation only, and we therefore used the unaffected $`V`$ polarisation data for the data reduction.

2. IRAS 02483+4302 In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 90441) is listed, while two are listed in the NED database: Anon 0248+43A, a 16.52 mag object at V=15576$`\pm `$46  km s-1 (Strauss et al. 1992), and Anon 0248+43B, a 17.36 mag object at V=15199  km s-1. We used the LEDA entries for PGC 90441 for Table 1. Our Nançay data showed stronger baseline curvature in the $`V`$ polarisation, where we therefore fitted a 5th order polyniomial to the data. The data were affected by strong, narrow radio interference in both $`H`$ and $`V`$ polarisation around 15,525  km s-1; this strong, spurious signal has been blanked out in Figure 1. At full velocity resolution, the narrow absorption feature seen at 15,365  km s-1 seems to be due to weaker interference, as it is much too narrow to be an absorption feature originating in the merger galaxy.

3. UGC 2369 Within the Arecibo beam ($`3^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.6}`$ HPBW) an H i absorption line profile (minimum flux density $``$-3 mJy) was reported centered at V=9406  km s-1 with a $`W_{20}`$ width of 274  km s-1 by Mirabel & Sanders (1988), while an emission line (of average flux density $``$2 mJy) was reported at V=9761  km s-1 with a $`W_{50}`$ width of 229:  km s-1 by Haynes et al. (1997), who note that the measured width of their profile is poor. The mean optical velocities of the 2 galaxies are 9463$`\pm `$152 and 9380$`\pm `$118  km s-1 (LEDA), respectively, corresponding very well to the velocity of the reported absorption line, but not incompatible with the reported emission line velocity either, given the uncertainties in the optical velocities. No line signal was noted in our Nançay spectrum, with an rms of 2.4 mJy. Mirabel & Sanders measured a 21 cm continuum flux density of 56 mJy. For the total H i mass, we used the Arecibo detection by Haynes et al. (1997), which may be a lower limit, however, given the broad CO linewidth (FWZI$``$900  km s-1, Gao & Solomon (1999)) and possible H i absorption at lower velocity.

4. IRAS 03359+1523 In our Nançay spectrum, with an rms of 1.7 mJy, no line signal was noted, neither in emission nor in absorption. Within the Arecibo beam ($`3^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.6}`$ HPBW) an H i absorption line profile (minimum flux density $``$-5 mJy) was detected by Mirabel & Sanders (1988) and in the present survey. The mean velocity of the absorption feature, 10721  km s-1, is 95  km s-1 higher than the optical systemic velocity, which has an uncertainty of 45  km s-1. Mirabel & Sanders measured a 21 cm continuum flux density of 27 mJy.

5. IRAS 04232+1436 Both our Nançay and Arecibo spectra show a quite narrow absorption line (FWHM=90  km s-1 at Arecibo, centered at V=23567  km s-1), reaching a minimum flux density of about 5 to 6 mJy. These are likely due to interference, however, as the mean velocities of these features are about 270  km s-1 different, and the measurements were made at 1308 MHz, far outside the protected 1400-1427 MHz band. The Arecibo spectrum also shows a broader ($`W_{20}`$=290  km s-1) absorption feature at the -2 mJy level, too faint for clear detection in Nançay, which may also be due to interference. In conclusion, the data do not provide sufficient evidence for the detection of an H i line.

6. IRAS 08572+3915 In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 25295) is listed, while two are listed in the NED database (IRAS 08572+3915NW and SE), based on near-infrared imaging observations (Zhou et al. 1993); as positions only are given for these two components in NED, we have used the LEDA entries for Table 1.

7. IRAS 10035+4852 Very close, interacting galaxy pair. In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 29385) is listed, while two are listed in the NED database: the E and W objects has optical redshifts of, respectively, 19371$`\pm `$42 and 19421$`\pm `$53  km s-1(Strauss et al. 1992). We have used the LEDA entries for Table 1.

8. IC 2545 Very close, interacting galaxy pair. In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 29334) is listed, while two are listed in the NED database, based on Lauberts & Valentijn (1989). Besides positions, for the NW object a radial velocity (10267$`\pm `$86  km s-1) and a B magnitude (15.27) are listed, and for the SE object only a B magnitude (16.83). We have used the LEDA entries for Table 1. Detected for the first time in H i.

9. IRAS 10565+2448 Two distinct, interacting galaxies can be seen on the Digital Sky Survey. In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 33083) is listed, while two are listed in the NED database; we used the latter for Table 1. The optical redshift references are Kim et al. (1995) for the W object and Strauss et al. (1992) for the NE object. Within the Arecibo beam ($`3^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.6}`$ HPBW) an H i line profile showing both emission and much stronger absorption (maximum/minimum flux density $``$+1/-5 mJy, respectively) was reported by Mirabel & Sanders (1988) - see the two entries in Table 2, where the emission line values are lower limits - who measured a 21 cm continuum flux density of 44 mJy. Our Arecibo observations show some structure in the base line, as they were taken after sunrise. The deepest and broadest negative feature in our data corresponds well to the one noted by Mirabel & Sanders. We lack the sensitivity, however, to verify their extremely faint ($``$-0.5 mJy), very broad absorption feature extending down to about 12,300  km s-1. We see no sign of their emission feature adjacent (at higher velocity) to the deeper absorption line.

11. IRAS 13001-2339 = ESO 507-G070 Our Nançay data, obtained over 12 days, showed baseline curvature in both $`H`$ and $`V`$ polarisation, and we therefore fitted a 5th order polyniomial to the data.

12. NGC 5256 Both the LEDA and NED databases have entries for 2 objects. In the LEDA database, a B magnitude is given for one object only (13.67), while in NED the same B magnitude (14.1) given for both objects.

13. Mrk 463 The Arecibo detection of Mrk 463 (Hutchings et al. 1987) at 0.2 Jy  km s-1 is at the 4$`\sigma `$ level, with a peak flux density of 1.6 mJy; the authors note that the profile was detected in both observing runs. Heckman et al. (1978) note that their Green Bank flux measurement is relatively uncertain, 6.0$`\pm `$2.3 Jy  km s-1, and that it would imply a very high $`M_{HI}`$/$`L_B`$ ratio for Mrk 463 if all gas detected resides in this galaxy. The reported Green Bank flux is 30 times higher than the Arecibo value, and the central velocities of these detections seem incompatible: 14702 and 15230  km s-1, respectively ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$V=528  km s-1), for a $`W_{20}`$ profile width of 200  km s-1 measured at Arecibo. Inside the Green Bank HPBW but well outside the Arecibo beam, the DSS shows only one other galaxy that might be a source of confusion in the Green Bank H i spectrum: CGCG 103-016, $`6^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.1}`$ to the SE of the target galaxy, a $`B_T`$ 15.5 object of $`0^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}.4}`$ diameter and unknown redshift. If it were the sole source of H i emission within the Green Bank beam, it would have an $`M_{HI}`$/$`L_B`$ ratio of 1.4 $`M_{}`$/$`L_{,B}`$, which is about 4 times the mean ratio for an Sc spiral (Roberts & Haynes 1994), but not unheard of for late-type galaxies. The morphology of CGCG 103-016 is hard to discern, however, as a relatively bright star is situated close to its centre. In conclusion, CGCG 103-016 may be the cause of the discrepant Green Bank flux. For the total H i mass, we used the Arecibo detection by Hutchings et al. (1987).

14. IC 4395 Freudling et al. (1988) note that the parameters of their Arecibo H i profile are uncertain, as it was detected at the edge of the band. Considerable flux may well have been missed within the Arecibo band, given the fact that our Nançay integrated line flux is considerably (factor 4) larger than the Arecibo flux and that our $`W_{50}`$ linewidth of 308  km s-1 is 1.5 times larger than the Arecibo value. Our Nançay data showed strong baseline curvature in the $`V`$ polarisation, and we therefore used only the unaffected $`H`$ polarisation data for the data reduction.

15. UGC 9618 All three available spectra (one from Arecibo and 2 from Nançay, see Table 2) show a clear emission line with a pronounced central depression. Only for the Arecibo spectrum, Mirabel & Sanders (1988) interpreted this as an absorption feature, see their two entries in Table 2; they report a 21 cm continuum flux density of 109 mJy.

16. Mrk 848 The Nançay data were heavily affected by radio interference, particularly in the $`H`$ but also in the $`V`$ polarisation, within the range where the H i line emission was expected. Though we used only the least affected data for the spectrum shown in Fig. 2, the remaining emission features appear to be due to RFI. We therefore do not consider this galaxy as detected in our survey, but we cannot give a proper upper limit to its integrated line flux, due to the remnant RFI occuring at its redshift.

17. NGC 6090 In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 57437) is listed, while two are listed in the NED database. We used the NED entries for Table 1; both optical redshifts are from Kim et al. (1995).

19. II Zw 96 In the LEDA database, only a single object (PGC 65779) is listed, while four are listed in the NED database; we used the NED entries of the first two for Table 1. Near-infrared imaging (Goldader et al. 1997) revealed 4 sources; one (1st in Table 1) seems to be a relatively quiescent spiral galaxy, another (2nd in Table 1) may be a galaxy nucleus, since it shows hints of a bar as well as powerful starburst activity, and the other two are most likely highly obscured, luminous starburst regions. Huge molecular gas concentrations were discovered recently around these two highly obscured starburst regions by Gao et al. (2000a). All published Arecibo, Green Bank and Nançay spectra show a clear emission feature. Only Mirabel & Sanders (1988) reported an absorption feature (minimum flux density -2.5 mJy) in their Arecibo profile, adjacent to the emission line (see Table 2), which does not occur in the Arecibo spectra taken by us or by Giovanelli & Haynes (1993); we therefore consider it to be spurious.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank Drs. K. O’Neil and T. Ghosh for their help with the Arecibo observations and data reduction and Ms. M. Gendre for her help with the Nançay data reduction. We have made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as the Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database (LEDA) supplied by the LEDA team at the CRAL-Observatoire de Lyon (France). The Unité Scientifique Nançay of the Observatoire de Paris is associated as Unité de Service et de Recherche USR No. B704 to the French Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). Nançay also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Département du Cher, the European Community, the FNADT and the Région Centre.


text:
# Kinematic Projecting of Pulsar Profiles

## 1 Introduction

There is no clear conception of the nature of pulsar electromagnetic radiation. We accept the well known point of view suggested by I.S. Shklovsky Shklovsky  that at least the high frequency part of radiation represents the incoherent synchrotron radiation.

There are different models of pulsar radiation based on various physical processes which are sometimes contradictory and insufficiently conditioned. We suggest a technique of kinematic projecting of synchrotron radiation Bagrov (1965) which gives the pulsar radiation profiles including the phase dependence of polarization characteristics Bagrov et al. (1972, 1974); Bordovitsyn . Then one can analyze the coherence effects and possible mechanisms of pulsar radiation.

The suggested technique of determination of the pulsar radiation profiles is as a matter of fact a kinematic projecting of relativistic radiation regardless to the specific source of the radiation. The role of such sources of radiation can play relativistic charged particles electrons, magnetic particles (neutrons) or even bunches of those particles. The main source of information in this technique is the highly directed indicatrix of the angular distribution of instantaneous power of relativistic radiation, which is specified by the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of the emitting object in every specific case. It is known Shklovsky ; Manchester and Taylor  that there are two models of radiation geometry. The first one is due to two beams of curvature radiation associated with the magnetic poles. The second one is associated with synchrotron radiation in a plane orthogonal to the magnetic axis of pulsar. We restrict our consideration with the second model of radiation, though it is possible to apply this technique in the first case too.

## 2 Transformation of angular distribution into the pulse profile

We start from the indicatrix of synchrotron radiation averaged over the period. Because of high energy main part of radiation is concentrated near the plane of symmetry which we call the light plane. Directions, assigned to radiation maximum, are situated in the light plane. Axis orthogonal to the light plane coincides with the direction of pulsar magnetic moment $`\mu `$. Vector $`\mu `$ is precessing around the pulsar axis of rotation $`M`$ with the angular velocity $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

We assume that the angular velocity $`\omega `$ of the emitting particles is much more than $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

$$\omega =\frac{eH}{m_0c\gamma }\mathrm{\Omega },$$
(1)
here $`e`$ is the charge, $`m_0`$ is the mass of rest, $`c`$ is the speed of light, $`\gamma =\sqrt{1\beta ^2}`$ is the relativistic Lorentz factor, $`\beta =u/c`$, $`u`$ is the particle velocity. It follows from the last inequality that

$$\gamma \frac{eH}{m_0c\mathrm{\Omega }}.$$
(2)
Let us estimate the order of $`\gamma `$-factor satisfying the last condition. It can be taken for pulsars that $`\mathrm{\Omega }10s^1`$, $`H10^{12}`$ Oe not far from the surface and $`H10^6`$ Oe in the periphery of magnetosphere (near the light cylinder). Then the condition 2 gives the value $`\gamma 10^{12}÷10^{18}`$, i.e. condition 2 is always satisfied in available relativistic and even ultrarelativistic case.

We introduce the coordinate system shown in Fig. 1. Direction of the angular velocity of pulsar is parallel to $`Z`$-axis. The pulsar magnetic axis defined by unit vector $`k`$ is specified by the angles $`\kappa `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }t`$. The unit vector of the observer’s direction is given by the angles $`\delta `$ and $`\lambda `$. We assume that vector $`k`$ is situated in the plane $`YZ`$ at the moment $`t=0`$.

We present the angular distribution of radiation averaged over the period of particle motion in a form

$$\overline{dW}=W\rho (\theta )\mathrm{sin}\theta d\theta ,$$

where $`W`$ is the total power of radiation, which is relativistic invariant, $`\rho (\theta )`$ is the function of the angular distribution of radiation normalized to unity

$$\underset{0}{\overset{\pi }{}}\rho (\theta )\mathrm{sin}\theta d\theta =1.$$

In the case of synchrotron radiation Bagrov et al. (1972)

$$W=\frac{2}{3}\frac{e^2}{c}\omega ^2\beta ^2\gamma ^4=W_{\text{SR}}$$

and

$$\rho (\theta )=\frac{3}{8}\gamma ^4\left\{\frac{2+\beta ^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{(1\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta )^{5/2}}\frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta (4+\beta ^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )}{4\gamma ^2(1\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta )^{7/2}}\right\}.$$
(3)
It is obvious that the angle $`theta`$ varies in the course of time, as the unit vector $`k`$ setting the position of light plane is precessing around the $`Z`$ axis. It is easy to show that

$$\mathrm{cos}\theta (t)=\mathrm{cos}\delta \mathrm{cos}\kappa +\mathrm{sin}\delta \mathrm{sin}\kappa \mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Omega }t\lambda ).$$
(4)
If we know $`\theta (t)`$, we determine the radiation profile $`\rho (t)`$ and the power $`\overline{dW}`$ emitted in the directions of the angle interval $`\mathrm{sin}\theta d\theta `$. The maximum of radiation will be observed at the moment of intersection of the observation direction by the light plane when $`\mathrm{cos}\theta =0`$, i.e. when

$$\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Omega }t\lambda )=\mathrm{cot}\delta \mathrm{cot}\kappa .$$
(5)
The latter equation has a solution when $`|\mathrm{cot}\delta \mathrm{cot}\kappa |1`$.

Equation (5) has two roots within the precession period which are equal at $`\delta =\pi /2\pm \kappa `$. In other words the light plane intersects the observation direction twice within the period, if the angle between the vector $`n`$ and plane $`XY`$ is less than $`\kappa `$.

If the light plane intersects the observation direction (or touches it), then the angle $`\lambda `$ can be chosen such that the observation direction has been situated in the light plane at $`t=0`$. Under this initial condition the radiation pulse takes on the maximum value $`\rho (\theta =\pi /2)`$ at $`t=0`$. Thereat it follows from the equation (5) that

$$\mathrm{sin}\lambda =\mathrm{cot}\delta \mathrm{cot}\kappa .$$
(6)
Another form of relation (6) is possible

$$\mathrm{sin}\kappa =\frac{\mathrm{cos}\delta }{\sqrt{\mathrm{cos}^2\delta +\mathrm{sin}^2\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\lambda }},0<\kappa ,\delta \pi /2.$$

It follows from equation (6)that for the same acute angles $`\kappa `$ and $`\delta \pi /2\kappa `$ the term $`\mathrm{sin}\lambda `$ takes equal values within the range $`0<\lambda <\pi `$, i.e. $`\lambda _1`$ and $`\lambda _2=\pi \lambda _1`$, which corresponds to two possible intersections of the observation direction and the light plane. At $`\lambda _1=\lambda _2=\pi /2`$ we have $`\kappa =\pi /2\delta `$. In this case the observation direction only touches the light plane. Note that equation (6) is symmetric relative to angles $`\kappa `$ and $`\delta `$. It means that the positions of the two peaks of profiles will not change if we swap $`\kappa `$ and $`\delta `$. The case of $`\kappa =0`$ is special. It follows from equation (4) that in this case $`\mathrm{cos}\theta =\mathrm{cos}\delta =`$const and pulsar is observed as a source of synchrotron radiation with constant luminosity and angular distribution of radiation defined by relation (3).

In the ultrarelativistic case of $`\gamma 1`$ the main part of radiation is concentrated near the light plane $`\theta \pi /2`$. Thereat duration of the radiation pulse is much less than $`\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$. It allows to expand the function $`\rho (\theta )`$ in a series in small angles $`\psi =\pi /2\theta `$, or small $`\mathrm{\Omega }t`$. To a first approximation in $`\mathrm{\Omega }t`$ we get

$$\psi =\mathrm{cos}\delta \mathrm{cos}\kappa +\mathrm{sin}\delta \mathrm{sin}\kappa (\mathrm{\Omega }t\mathrm{cos}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\lambda ).$$
(7)
Specifying the initial conditions in accordance with equation (6), we have

$$\psi =\mathrm{\Omega }t\mathrm{sin}\delta \mathrm{sin}\kappa \mathrm{cos}\lambda ,$$
(8)
or, with account of (6),

$$\psi =\pm \mathrm{\Omega }t\sqrt{\mathrm{sin}^2\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\kappa \mathrm{cos}^2\delta \mathrm{cos}^2\kappa }.$$

We introduce another angular variable

$$\chi =\gamma \psi =\gamma \overline{\omega }t,\overline{\omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{sin}\delta \mathrm{sin}\kappa \mathrm{sin}\lambda .$$
(9)
The variable $`\overline{\omega }`$ has a sense of angular velocity at which the observer’s direction intersects the light plane. The highest velocity corresponds to passage through the radiation maximum. In this case $`\delta `$ and $`\lambda `$ are associated with the direction in the light plane.

Substituting equations (8) and (9) into equation (3) we find the radiation profile in a form

$$\rho (t)=\frac{3}{32}\gamma \frac{7+12\chi ^2}{(1+\chi ^2)^{7/2}}.$$
(10)
If $`\delta =\pi /2\pm \kappa `$ or $`\psi =\kappa `$ then $`\overline{\omega }=0`$ and we have to take into account the terms of higher order in the expansion in $`\mathrm{\Omega }t`$.

Figs 2 display the synchrotron radiation profiles correspond to weakly relativistic electron at $`\beta =0.9`$ and at various values of angle $`\delta `$ and fixed $`\kappa `$. Fig. 2 a shows the case when the angle $`\kappa =90^{}`$ i.e. when vector $`k`$ is orthogonal to rotation axis. If the observer is situated in the direction of $`Z`$ axis ($`\delta =90^{}`$), radiation of constant intensity is registered. As the angle $`\delta `$ increases the radiation is modulated at the frequency of $`2\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and the effect of glimmer pulsar is observed. One can see that the greater is the angle $`\delta `$ the deeper is the glimmer modulation.

If the angle between pulsar magnetic axis and rotation axis is acute (see Fig. 2 b), then the distance between the peaks of radiation within a period decreases with increasing of angle $`\delta `$, and at $`\delta +\kappa =\pi /2`$ they merge in one maximum. At further decreasing of $`\delta `$ the light plane does not intersect the observer’s direction and the amplitude of splashes falls quickly off. When the angle between the pulsar magnetic axis and rotation axis is small, the light plane intersects the observation direction under a small angle (see Fig. 2 c). In consequence the splashes duration increases considerably and the depth of modulation falls off. Thereby the main part of radiation is concentrated near the plane orthogonal to the rotation axis ($`\delta 90^{}`$).

Fig. 3 shows the radiation profiles of ultrarelativistic particles ($`\beta =0.99`$). They are distinguished by deeper modulation and small pulse duration.

In Fig. 4 the light profiles calculated by use of approximated equation (10) (solid line) and exact equation (3) with account of (4) (dashed line) are shown for particles moving at the velocity $`\beta =0.999`$. We see that even for moderately relativistic particle these equation are in a good agreement.

## 3 Comparison with the observed profiles

We have considered a simple model of pulsar emission. Some of the obtained profiles are close in shape to really observed profiles. In this section we compare the profiles of $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars, the Crab, Vela and Geminga with the profiles obtained from synchrotron radiation indicatrix. As one can see from Figs. 3 and 4 the variation of angles $`\kappa `$ and $`\delta `$ gives a wide variety of profiles. But it does not mean that you can produce any profile in this way. In particular, profiles obtained by this method have a certain relationship between the width of peaks, phase position and the level of plato between them. Thus, not every observed profile can be built with help of used model. But if a calculated profile fits an observed one, it can mean that the suggested model is adequate and we obtain some information about angles $`\delta `$ and $`\kappa `$.

Figs 5 and 6 show calculated and observed profiles for three well known $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars. The energy interval for electrons (or positron) were chosen for following reason. Most pulsars exhibit two sharp peaks within a period if the energy of photons lies in the region $`E_\gamma 1`$ MeV. Knowing the critical frequency of synchrotron radiation $`\omega _\gamma eH\gamma ^2/mc`$ we can estimate the Lorentz-factor of particles $`\gamma ^2mcE_\gamma /eH\mathrm{}`$. For the magnetic field of order $`H10^{12}`$ Oe we obtain $`\gamma œ10`$ or for the particle velocity $`\beta 0.99`$. Specific values of $`\beta `$ for Figs 7 were selected in a way to obtain the best fit of peaks width. It is obvious that the greater is the particle energy the narrower are the peaks.

It is believed that the pulsar in the Crab Nebula has an inclination angle close to $`\pi /2`$. That is why we choose $`\kappa =85^{}`$. Then the best fit to the observed pulse profile measured by BATSE Fishman  gives the value $`\delta =15^{}`$ see Fig. 5. The next figure shows the Vela pulse profile for energy of photons above 100 MeV detected by EGRET Fierro et al.  along with calculated profile for angles $`\delta =10^{}`$, $`\kappa =88^{}`$ and $`\beta =0.999`$. The difference occurs in a bridge between the two pulses. It can be caused by the dispersion of particle orbits in the pulsar magnitosphere.

Next two figures show Geminga profiles. The first one of Fig 6 displays observed $`\gamma `$-profile for $`E_\gamma >100`$ MeV Daugherty and Harding  along with calculated one for $`\delta =89^{}`$, $`\kappa =10^{}`$ and $`\beta =0.992`$. Soft X-ray profile is plotted in the second of Fig. 6 in the 0.53–1.5 keV band measured by ROSAT Halpern and Ruderman  and a profile calculated for angles $`\delta =80^{}`$, $`\kappa =4^{}`$ and $`\beta =0.94`$. We see good agreement between the model and observed profile though it is thought that the soft X-ray radiation is due to thermal black body emission Halpern and Ruderman .

## 4 Discussion

The profiles shown on Figs 5 and 6 are calculated for moderately relativistic electrons. In doing this we tried to fit the shape of profiles. But all the calculations were made for a single particle. It is evident that in a real situation radiation is emitted by an ensemble of particles with a spread in energies and orbit orientation. It is evident that on averaging over this parameters the pulse width can grow significantly. But without regard on averaging we can obtain some information about the pulsar magnetic axis orientation from the relative position of pulses in the radiation profile. According to equation (5) the maximum of radiation occurs at $`t_{1,2}`$ given by

$$\mathrm{\Omega }t_{1,2}=\pm \mathrm{arccos}(\mathrm{cot}\delta \mathrm{cot}\kappa )$$
(11)
If we know the phase distance between the pulses, we will find the relationship between angles $`\delta `$ and $`\kappa `$ by use of equation (11). Here we suppose that $`\gamma `$-radiation of pulsars is a synchrotron radiation of particles with their orbits orthogonal to the magnetic axis of pulsar. The probability of detection of such pulsar in a $`\gamma `$-ray band according to this model is equal to $`p=\mathrm{sin}\kappa `$. Thus, with the most probability we can detect pulsars with its magnetic axis orthogonal to the axis of rotation. Thereby the gap between pules in $`\gamma `$-ray region should be close to 0.5 of period. That is what we see in most cases of detected $`\gamma `$-ray pulsars.

The discussed model does not pretend to give entire interpretation of the pulsar radiation. The main purpose of this paper is to show how to find the light profile of a rotating source with an indicatrix of radiation which is given in a rest frame. We chose the synchrotron radiation mechanism as an widely spread example. Considered method can be used for curvature radiation or more complicated source of radiation.

This work was supported by Ministry of General and Professional Education of Russia, Competitive Center of Fundamental Research.