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# Large frequency drifts during Type I X-ray bursts

## 1 Introduction

It is believed that thermonuclear flashes in pure helium or mixed hydrogen/helium layers on the surface of weakly-magnetic ($`B10^{10}`$ G) accreting (at rate $`10^{11}M_{}`$ yr-1 $`<\dot{M}<10^8M_{}`$ yr-1) neutron stars cause the observed Type X-ray bursts in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) (Hansen & Van Horn, 1975; Maraschi & Cavaliere, 1977; Lewin, van Paradijs, & Taam, 1995; Woosley & Taam, 1976; Bildsten, 1998). The accumulated hydrogen and helium on the surface of the neutron star by accretion ignites and burns periodically. General observed features of Type I X-ray bursts, such as burst fluorescences ($`10^{39}`$ erg), burst recurrence times ($``$ few hours), and burst durations ($`10100`$ s); are successfully explained by spherically symmetric thermonuclear runaway models (Lewin, van Paradijs, & Taam, 1995; Bildsten, 1998). Recent observations from ten LMXBs with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer have revealed nearly-coherent oscillations during Type I X-ray bursts with frequencies in the range $`\nu _0270620`$ Hz (van der Klis, 2000; Strohmayer, 2001). Such highly coherent oscillations are interpreted as rotational modulation of surface brightness asymmetries: burning starts locally at some points, creates a brightness asymmetry, and spreads over the entire stellar surface as the star rotates. This can be understood by noting that the timescales for accretion between bursts is much longer than the burst duration, so the existence of identical conditions over the whole surface of the star for the burning instability to start simultaneously is very unlikely. Therefore, these oscillations provide a direct measurement of the neutron star spin frequency (Strohmayer et al., 1996). Further, observing such oscillations supports the idea that the neutron stars in LMXBs are the progenitors of the millisecond radio pulsars, see Bhattacharya (1995) for a review.

The discovery of such high coherence, large modulation amplitudes, and stable frequency oscillations while providing the convincing evidence that the burst oscillation frequency is related to the neutron star spin frequency (Strohmayer, 2001), however, has brought many new puzzles. An initial puzzle seen in the observations was that the oscillation frequency increases by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ a few Hz during the burst. Strohmayer et al. (1997) firstly proposed that this frequency shift is due to the conservation of angular momentum of the decoupled burning shell from the neutron star in which the shell undergoes spin changes as it expands and contracts during the Type I X-ray bursts. Motivated by this proposal, Strohmayer & Markwardt (1999) and Miller (1999, 2000) modeled the observed frequency evolution and found that the oscillations are coherent, as expected if rotation is the cause. But the first theoretical investigations on understanding the problem was done by Cumming & Bildsten (2000) who studied the rotational evolution of the neutron star atmosphere during a thermonuclear burst by considering one-dimensional vertical hydrostatic expansion. Since the nuclear burning time scale ($`>`$ fraction of a second) is much bigger than the vertical sound crossing time scale through the burning layer ($``$ microseconds), the outer layers of the neutron star atmosphere are always in hydrostatic balance. So by assuming conservation of the angular momentum of the shell, a hot burning layer expands hydrostatically by $`\mathrm{\Delta }R20`$ m (Ayasli & Joss, 1982; Hanawa & Fulimoto, 1984; Bildsten, 1998), and lags behind the neutron star by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu \nu _s(2\mathrm{\Delta }R/R)1\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}(\nu _s/300\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z})(\mathrm{\Delta }R/20\mathrm{m})(10\mathrm{k}\mathrm{m}/R)`$ where $`\nu _s`$ is neutron star spin frequency and $`R`$ the radius. As the layer cools down and contracts, the rising oscillations due to a temperature inhomogeneity, drifts upward as we seen by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ of few Hertz. By assuming that the burning shell rotates rigidly, they found rough agreement with the observed values with fractional frequency shifts $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu _00.8`$%.

However, recent observations suggested that purely radial hydrostatic expansion and angular momentum conservation alone cannot account for explaining rather large frequency drifts ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu _01.3`$%) observed in some bursts (Galloway et al., 2001; Wijnands et al., 2001). As pointed out by Galloway et al. (2001), the required expansion by these frequency drifts is 4-5 times larger than the one predicted by Cumming & Bildsten (2000), see Table 1. In order to achieve the rather large frequency shift, Cumming et al. (2001) improved the calculations done by Cumming & Bildsten (2000) by including the general relativistic corrections for either slowly or rapidly rotating star. In agreement with Abramowicz et al. (2001), they found that the general relativity has small effect on the angular momentum conservation law ($`510\%`$). Comparing with the data, for a rigidly rotating atmosphere, they obtained that the expected spin-down is a factor of two or three less than the actual observed values. In another attempt, Spitkovsky et al. (2001) considered a two-dimensional hydrodynamics model that the burning spots can spread over the neutron star surface. Due to the combination of the radial expansion of the burning shell and rotation of the star, they proposed that horizontal hydrodynamics flows may arise in the neutron star burning ocean during the Type I X-ray burst. By taking into account the action of the Coriolis force due to the rapid rotation of the star, they showed that the horizontal flows may explain many features of observed bursts such as the very short rise time of X-ray bursts and the lack of burst oscillations in several bursts. Further, they argued that during cooling the hot ashes left by burning front, there is temperature gradient between equator and pole, increasing toward the pole, which drives a zonal thermal wind directed backward to the neutron star rotation. 111 Actually they showed that due to the hydrostatic balance the material will likely ignite sooner at the equator rather than the pole. As a result, one would expect the burning front cools down at the equator firstly. They found that only if the frequency drift due to the radial expansion is combined with the geostrophic drift caused by backward zonal flows, one may expect to observe the rather large frequency drifts of burst oscillations in tails of some bursts.

Previous models are based on the angular momentum conservation of the expanding/contracting neutron star atmosphere during the Type I X-ray burst. Although these models are mostly successful in explaining the many features of Type I bursts, the rather large frequency drifts observed in some bursts are still unresolved (Strohmayer & Bildsten, 2003).

Because of no coherent pulsations seen in persistent emission from the majority of neutron stars in LMXBs, it is believed that they are weakly magnetized ($`B10^9`$ G). So, in previous studies the effect of magnetic field of the neutron star was ignored in the rotational evolution of burning atmosphere during the X-ray bursts. In this paper we study the change in the angular momentum of the burning shell during the Type I X-ray burst. This study is based on polar cap particle acceleration models in the pulsar polar cap regions. Due to the star’s rotation and magnetic field an electric field must be induced in magnetosphere, i.e. $`𝐄=(𝛀_s\times 𝐫)\times 𝐁/c`$, that has non-zero component along the magnetic field lines ($`E_{||}=𝐄𝐁`$) (see for recent review Mestel, 1998). $`𝛀_s`$ is the angular velocity of the star, and $`r`$ is a distance outside of the star. The parallel electric field accelerates charged particles along the open magnetic field lines above the polar caps up to ultrarelativistic energies toward the star’s light cylinder ($`r_{lc}\mathrm{\Omega }=c`$). Here, we argue that, for typical magnetic field $`B10^8`$ G, the net charged particles flowing from star surface to infinity in the pulsar polar caps, would exert a stellar wind torque on the burning shell that may cause the angular momentum of the shell to change during the burst. We show that the net change in the angular momentum of the shell during the burst can account for rather large frequency drifts of burst oscillations.

## 2 The model

The theory of particle acceleration in pulsar magnetosphere has been studied for three decades, after pioneering work by Goldreich & Julian (1969) on pulsar electrodynamics. The charged particles accelerated by the parallel electric field (relative to the magnetic field lines) escape from the surface along the open field lines which extended beyond the star’s light cylinder (of radius $`r_{lc}5\times 10^9/\nu _s`$ cm, where $`\nu _s`$ in Hertz), and form a relativistic stellar wind. Several kind of acceleration mechanisms has been developed (Mestel, 1998), however, the one proposed by Arons (1979, 1981) may apply likely to X-ray burst pulsars that we will consider here. Arons assumed that charged particles (electrons and ions) flow freely from the neutron star surface due to the thermal activities. Freely escaping particles from the neutron star surface depends on the binding energy (referred as the cohesive energy for ions and as the work function for electrons) and the surface temperature. For typical magnetic field of a neutron star in LMXBs ($`10^8`$ G), the threshold temperature for thermionic emission of electrons is $`T_e10^4`$ K and for ions is $`T_i10^3`$ K (Luo, Shibata & Melrose, 2000) that are $`10^410^5`$ lower that surface temperature of the neutron star in LMXBs. Further, due to the thermonuclear activities on the surface of the star during the X-ray burst, the particles’ kinetic energy would increase significantly. Therefore, freely flowing particles is very likely from the surface of such a pulsar.

Outward flowing charged particles above the pulsar polar caps along the open magnetic field lines causes the Goldreich-Julian (corotation) charge density $`\rho _{\mathrm{GJ}}𝛀_s𝐁/2\pi c`$ cannot be kept balanced (Harding & Muslimov, 1998). As a result, a strong electric field develops along the magnetic field, $`E_{||}`$, above the magnetic poles due to the departure of total charge density $`\rho _e`$ from the Goldreich-Julian charge density, starts from zero at the surface and grows with distance above the surface. Even though $`\rho _e=\rho _{\mathrm{GJ}}`$, and therefore $`E_{||}=0`$ at the surface, the curvature of the field lines causes the area of the open-field region to increase, so that $`\rho _e`$ increases faster than $`\rho _{\mathrm{GJ}}`$, and then a charge deficit grows with distance (Harding & Muslimov, 1998). Calculation of the parallel electric field is so complicated and depends on several mechanisms that work to enhance or screen the field. In a series of papers Harding & Muslimov (1998, 2001, 2002); and Harding, Muslimov & Zhang (1998) have extensively studied the influence of pair production, inertial frame-dragging effect, curvature radiation, and inverse Compton scattering on the $`E_{||}`$. They showed that for the unsaturated region with altitude in range $`0<z(\mathrm{\Omega }_sR/c)^{1/2}0.1`$ (for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_s=600\pi (\nu _s/300\mathrm{Hz})`$ rad/s and $`R10^6`$ cm) above the stellar surface, the parallel electric field grows linearly with height as $`E_{||}(\theta ,\varphi ,z)=E_0(\theta ,\varphi )z`$, while for the saturated region with $`z>(\mathrm{\Omega }_sR/c)^{1/2}`$, the parallel electric field that is nearly constant respect to the altitude, drops by three order of magnitudes. Here $`\theta `$ and $`\varphi `$ are spherical polar and azimuthal angles, and $`z`$ is the altitude in units of stellar radius. The amplitude $`E_0(\theta ,\varphi )`$ depends on magnetic field strength $`B`$, spin frequency $`\nu _s`$, and orientation of the magnetic field symmetric axis relative to the star spin axis $`\chi `$. In a simple form, one can estimate $`E_{||}`$ when the charged particles flow freely from the neutron star surface (see Arons, 1981; Usov & Melrose, 1995; Harding & Muslimov, 2001) as

$`E_{||}8.2\times 10^5\mathrm{V}/\mathrm{m}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu _s}{300\mathrm{Hz}}}\right)^{5/2}\left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{10^6\mathrm{cm}}}\right)^{5/2}\times `$
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{B}{10^8\mathrm{G}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{z}{10^4}}\right).`$ (1)
Note we calculated $`E_{||}`$ here for a typical neutron star in LMXBs with nearly perpendicular field orientation relative to the spin axis. The relative fraction of electric force to the gravity force above the burning front during the burst, ie. $`z10^3`$, for electrons and protons are $`8\times 10^4`$ and $`42`$, respectively. As a result, electrons, protons, and even ionized helium atoms can be accelerated easily along the magnetic field lines by parallel electric field presented in the polar caps of neutron stars in LMXBs. Since the magnetic field lines in the polar cap regions are not closed and extended beyond the star’s light cylinder, the accelerated particles in these regions may leave the neutron star magnetosphere. The resulting flow of particles from the polar caps to infinity produces a relativistic “stellar wind”, that exerts a “stellar wind torque” (Michel, 1991) on the shell, and then causes the net angular momentum of the shell to change during the burst. The net wind torque exerted on the shell due to the out flowing charged particles from the star polar caps is estimated by Michel (1991) for the Goldreich-Julian charge density to be

$$T_W=I^2/4c\mathrm{\Omega }_s$$
(2)
where $`I=\eta n_{\mathrm{GJ}}evA_{\mathrm{pc}}`$ is the total current of the charged particles flowing from the polar caps with the area $`A_{\mathrm{pc}}1.6\pi R^3/R_c`$ that is $`10`$% of total star’s area ($`4\pi R^2`$). Here $`n_{\mathrm{GJ}}0.36\mathrm{\Omega }_sB/2\pi ec2.25\times 10^{18}(\nu _s/300\mathrm{Hz})(B/10^8\mathrm{G})`$ cm-3 is the Goldreich-Julian charge number density, $`e=1.6\times 10^{19}`$ C, $`R_c=(GM_s/\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2)^{1/3}`$ is the corotation distance for a star with mass $`M_s`$, and $`v0.1c`$ is average speed of particles at $`z10^3`$. The velocity of particle grows up quickly to $`c`$ at $`z0.1`$ as it is accelerated by $`E_{||}`$. $`\eta 1`$ is a dimensionless factor (free parameter of the model) such that the quantity $`\eta n_{\mathrm{GJ}}`$ represents the actual number density of particles that accelerated and left the star due to the parallel electric field. The value of $`\eta 1`$ for old and isolated neutron stars (with no observed bursts), i.e. the space charge density is nearly Goldreich-Julian charge density for these stars. But in neutron stars in LMXBs with an ocean of accumulated hot matters, the value of $`\eta `$ must be greater than $`1`$, due to the free ejection of particles from the front surface of the ocean. Further, during bursting the accumulated materials with $`T10^8`$ K on the neutron star surface , the kinetic energy of particles inside the ocean abruptly increases and then, the space charge density would increase significantly in regions with non-zero parallel electric field. As a result, one would expect that the number particles that may leave the shell would increase during the burst.

It is necessary to note that for neutron stars in LMXBs with accretion rate, $`10^{11}M_{}`$ yr$`{}_{}{}^{1}<\dot{M}<10^8M_{}`$ yr-1, the existence of pulsar wind torque might not be consistent with accretion. One would expect the motion of the accreting material to oppose and shut off the radio pulsar wind, and contribute to the angular momentum of the system. This scenario is unlikely “during the X-ray burst” due to the following reasons: huge thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the star causes expolsive eruption the accumulated materials from the surface during the burst with a mass bulk velocity close to the speed of light. As a result, one would expect the action of accretion to more or less shut off in this period, e.g by evacuation of part of the inner accretion disk during radius expansion. Furthermore, it has been suggested the action of accretion torque is balanced by the gravitational radiation torque in neutron stars in LMXBs, see Bildsten (1998a, 2002) for details. Therefore, the increased angular momentum due to accretion is lost to gravitational radiation. The latter mechanism provides a natural explanation for the rotation of stars in a narrow range of frequencies, $`\nu _s300`$ Hz. Finally, the magnitude of accretion torque $`T_a\dot{M}(GM_sR)^{1/2}8.6\times 10^{32}\mathrm{dyne}\mathrm{cm}(\dot{M}/10^9M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)`$ (for $`M_s=1.4M_{}`$ and $`R=10`$ km) is one order of magnitude smaller than that of the wind torque $`T_w9.32\times 10^{33}`$ dyn cm for $`\eta 1000`$ and $`B10^8`$ G, see Eq. (2) and the discussion below Eq. (9).

By replacing $`I`$ in Eq. (2) we obtain

$`T_w9.32\times 10^{27}\mathrm{dyne}\mathrm{cm}\eta ^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{M_s}{1.4M_{}}}\right)^{2/3}\times `$
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu _s}{300\mathrm{Hz}}}\right)^{7/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{10\mathrm{km}}}\right)^6\left({\displaystyle \frac{B}{10^8\mathrm{G}}}\right)^2.`$ (3)
Equation (2) gives the exerted torque on the neutron star surface due to the flowing charged particles from the pulsar polar caps. Therefore, the burning shell of the neutron star will experience this torque as it expands during the burst. The angular momentum of the shell at a distance $`R`$ from the center of the star in Newtonian dynamics can be written as

$$\mathrm{}=\kappa MR^2\mathrm{\Omega },$$
(4)
where constant $`\kappa =(I/MR^2)_{\mathrm{shell}}`$ depends on the equation of state and $`\kappa 2/3`$ (an uniform spherical shell). Here $`M`$ and $`I`$ are the mass and moment inertia of the shell. Equation (4) may be corrected by $`\mathrm{}=\kappa MR^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{\Omega }_s/(12GM_s/R)^{1/2}`$ for a relativistic spherical star and by $`\mathrm{}=\kappa MR^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta (\mathrm{\Omega }_s\omega )/(12GM_s/R)^{1/2}`$ for a rotating relativistic star (see Cumming et al., 2001). Here $`\omega =J_s/R^3`$ where $`J_s`$ is the total angular momentum of the star. However, as shown by Cumming et al. (2001), the relativistic corrections have small contributions to the final results, and so we ignore them. The time evolution of the angular momentum of the shell will be

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{\mathrm{\Delta }t}(R^2\mathrm{\Omega })_{\mathrm{shell}}=T_w/\kappa M,$$
(5)
or

$$(R^2\mathrm{\Omega })_{\mathrm{shell}}(2\mathrm{\Delta }R/R+\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Omega })_{\mathrm{shell}}=(T_w/\kappa M)\mathrm{\Delta }t.$$
(6)
Therefore, the change in the angular velocity of the burning shell will be

$$(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Omega })_{\mathrm{shell}}=2\mathrm{\Delta }R/R(T_w/\kappa MR^2\mathrm{\Omega })\mathrm{\Delta }t.$$
(7)
Here we assumed that the change in the mass of the shell is order of or less than $`(\mathrm{\Delta }R/R)^2`$ and then we neglect it (see Cumming et al., 2001). Equation (7) represent the change in angular velocity of the shell during the burst. Now we discuss the change in angular velocity in three stages, before the X-ray burst or the recurrence period, the rising period, and after the burst.

### 2.1 Before the X-ray burst

In this period the star accumulates materials in the ocean that more or less rigidly corotates with the star (Cumming et al., 2001). The parallel electric field inside the ocean is nearly neutralized due to redistribution of charge particles of the ocean. So in this period, the electric field more or less start from zero above the front surface of the shell and increase by height due to the charge deficit caused by free emission of charged particles from the front surface. The space charge density above the front surface would be bigger than but not to far from the Goldreich-Julian charge density and increases by time due to the thermonuclear activities in the oceans. So we expect that $`\eta 10100`$.

However, the polar cap acceleration is more or less suppressed due to strongly accreting plasma in this period. As a result, the pulsar wind torque would be negligible.

Furthermore, because of nearly rigid rotation of the ocean with star the net wind torque during this period will be acted more or less on the star itself. Therefore, Eq. (7) should be corrected for this period as

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}\right)_{\mathrm{shell}}`$ $`=`$ $`(T_w/\kappa ^{}M_sR^2\mathrm{\Omega })\mathrm{\Delta }t,`$ (8)
$``$ $`4.44\times 10^{17}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{100}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{M_s}{1.4M_{}}}\right)^{5/3}`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{10\mathrm{km}}}\right)^4\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu _s}{300\mathrm{Hz}}}\right)^{4/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B}{10^7\mathrm{G}}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }t_{\mathrm{rec}}}{10^4\mathrm{s}}}\right),`$
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{\mathrm{rec}}`$ is the burst recurrence time and $`\kappa ^{}=2/5`$. As is clear, the net wind torque on the shell/star in this period and so the change in angular velocity of the shell/star is negligible.

### 2.2 The rising time

This period starts with abruptly thermonuclear ignition of the accumulated hydrogens and heliums during the recurrence time. The burning layers expand in less than $`1`$ second up to $`z2\times 10^3`$ (Ayasli & Joss, 1982; Hanawa & Fulimoto, 1984; Bildsten, 1998). In this period, as in the hydrostatic models, we assume that the rotational evolution of the expanding shell is nearly independent of the star itself.

As we mentioned before, in this period due to the huge thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the star, the accumulated materials are explosively erupted out of the star with a mass bulk velocity close to the speed of light. The outgoing plasma density within period of time $`\mathrm{\Delta }t1`$ second, is $`[(A_{\mathrm{pc}}/4\pi R^2)M_{\mathrm{shell}}]/A_{\mathrm{pc}}`$ that is $`10`$ times (or more) larger than in-falling plasma density $`m_{\mathrm{acc}}/A_{\mathrm{pc}}`$ due to the accretion flow at the same period of time. Here $`m_{\mathrm{acc}}=\dot{M}\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ is the average mass of accreting materials during $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$. As a result, one would expect the action of accretion to more or less shut off during this period.

The parallel electric force at height $`z2\times 10^3`$ is $`80`$ times bigger than gravitational force for hydrogen atoms, see Eq. (2). Therefore, the charged particles that rise with the expanding layers will be accelerated toward the outside of light cylinder by the strong parallel electric field along the open magnetic field lines. Further, the sudden thermonuclear explosion of the accumulated materials in the ocean causes the thermal energy of the charged particles to increase. Consequently, we expect that the number density of particles that may leave the magnetosphere $`\eta n_{\mathrm{GJ}}`$ in this period increases significantly. The resulting wind torque for $`\eta 10^3`$ will give a net change in angular velocity of the shell as

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}\right)_{\mathrm{shell}}`$ $`=`$ $`2|\mathrm{\Delta }R|/R(T_w/\kappa MR^2\mathrm{\Omega })\mathrm{\Delta }t,`$ (9)
$``$ $`2\times 10^3\left({\displaystyle \frac{z}{10^3}}\right)`$
$`7.42\times 10^3\left({\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{10^3}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{M_s}{1.4M_{}}}\right)^{2/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{10^{21}\mathrm{g}}}\right)^1`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{R}{10\mathrm{km}}}\right)^4\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu _s}{300\mathrm{Hz}}}\right)^{4/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B}{10^8\mathrm{G}}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }t_{\mathrm{rise}}}{1\mathrm{s}}}\right),`$
where $`\kappa =2/3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }R10`$ m is the average change in thickness of the burning layers during a burst. For $`\eta 10^3`$ and $`B10^8`$ G, the net change in angular velocity of the shell given by Eq. (9) is in good agreement with large frequency shifts seen in observations. We note that for $`\eta 10^3`$, the number of particles that left the star $`\mathrm{\Delta }N4\pi \eta n_{\mathrm{GJ}}R^2\mathrm{\Delta }R`$ is much smaller than total number of particles in the ocean $`NM/m_p`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }N/N4\times 10^7`$. As expected, the change in mass of the shell is order of $`(\mathrm{\Delta }R/R)^210^6`$. In Table 1 we calculate the quantity $`\eta B`$ for both $`300`$ Hz and $`600`$ Hz spin frequencies (for those which applicable), to produce the frequency shifts observed in various systems. As a result, the suggested magnetic fields are in range $`110\times 10^7`$ G for $`\eta 1001000`$. This is consistent with other observational evidences about the magnetic field of neutron stars in LMXBs.

### 2.3 After the X-ray burst

At final stage, after the thermonuclear flash, the expansion will be stopped by the star’s gravity force, and then the expanded layers start to contract as they cool down. Because of the charge redistributions during the expansion, the original induced electric field is neutralized inside the expanded shell. So the magnitude of the parallel electric field inside the ocean will drop to zero, and then the electrostatic acceleration will cease inside the ocean. Due to the lack of outward electrostatic acceleration, the ocean’s particles are mostly accelerated downward by strong gravity. Furthermore, the action of accretion plasma is starting to recover, and as a result, the polar cap acceleration will shut down in this period. Although, because of new charge distribution, a new parallel electric field may develop above the burned front we expect that the polar cap particle acceleration mechanism is more or less unlikely after the burst. As a result, the number of particles that may leave the star will decrease as well, i.e. $`\eta 10`$. Further as the shell cools down, it gets closer and closer to the star, and then its coupling to the star gets stronger and stronger. This can be understood by noting the magnetic field near the star’s surface opposes the differential rotation arising between shell’s layers and surface of the star during the burst. Therefore, the net wind torque will be acting more and more on the whole star again rather than shell itself, and so we neglect it, see Sect. 2.1.

The magnetic recoupling of the shell forces the shell to spin up until it achieves the star’s spin frequency. The shell gains its angular momentum deficit $`(MR^2\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega })_{\mathrm{shell}}`$, from the star, and then it reduces the angular velocity of the star by $`\delta \mathrm{\Omega }_s=(M/M_s)\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }10^{12}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }`$ which is negligible. As a result, one would expect that the oscillations’ frequency will increase as the shell spins up by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu _0\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Omega }`$. In Fig. 1, we compare the corresponding changes suggested by previous studies (Strohmayer et al., 1997; Cumming et al., 2001) and the one we discussed here. As is clear, due to the exerted torque by the particle wind in the polar cap regions, the shell’s spin frequency, and then the oscillations’ frequency decrease more than in the calculation by Cumming et al. (2001) during the rising time. Therefore, we expect to observe larger change in oscillations’ frequency during the burst tail.

## 3 Discussion

Among the $`50`$ known Galactic LMXBs, the highly coherent burst oscillations with large modulation amplitudes and stable frequencies in range $`\nu _0270620`$ Hz are seen in ten LMXBs during Type I X-ray bursts. These oscillations are most commonly seen during tails of bursts, when the burning is thought to have spread over the whole surface and obviously asymmetry is no longer present, are not observed in all Type I X-ray bursts from the same source. While it is believed that the oscillation frequency is closely related to the neutron star spin frequency due to the observation of the kHz quasi-periodic oscillations in the persistent emission (van der Klis, 2000), there is still an ambiguity that whether the oscillation frequency is the spin frequency or twice the spin frequency. Further, as seen in observations, the oscillation frequency increases by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ a few Hz during the burst. This frequency shift is firstly explained by Strohmayer et al. (1997) that the burning shell decouples from the star, and undergoes spin changes due to the conservation of angular momentum of the shell as it expands and contracts during the Type I X-ray bursts. Further observations and studies suggested that purely radial hydrostatic expansion and angular momentum conservation alone cannot explain rather large frequency drifts ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu 1.3`$%) observed in some bursts (Cumming et al., 2001; Galloway et al., 2001; Wijnands et al., 2001). For recent review on the thermonuclear bursts and their properties see Strohmayer & Bildsten (2003).

In this paper, we addressed the latter problem by studying the evolution of angular momentum of the burning shell during the Type I X-ray bursts in LMXBs. Based on particle acceleration models near a pulsar polar cap region (Mestel, 1998), we studied the change in the angular momentum of the burning shell during the Type I X-ray burst. The net charged particles that accelerated by parallel electric field in star’s polar caps, flow from the star surface to infinity through open magnetic field lines, would exert a torque on the burning shell (called wind torque) and cause the angular momentum of the shell changes during the burst. We introduced a dimensionless factor $`\eta `$ that the quantity $`\eta n_{\mathrm{GJ}}`$ represent the number density of the ejected particles from the burning layers above the pulsar polar caps. We showed that for $`\eta 1001000`$ (during X-ray bursts) and a typical magnetic field $`B110\times 10^7`$ G in the pulsar polar caps, the rather large observed frequency drifts of burst oscillations can be explained by the resulting wind torque exerted on the burning shell. In Table 1, we obtained the values for $`\eta B`$ for both $`300`$ Hz and $`600`$ Hz spin frequencies that causes the corresponding frequency drift observed in each burst. As is clear, the resulting magnetic fields’ strength is in a good agreement with other observations from the neutron stars in LMXBs, such as the lack of coherence pulsations in persistent emission.

Above the neutron star’s polar caps particles flow outward along the open magnetic field lines and a steady charge density cannot be maintained at the Goldreich-Julian density everywhere. Consequently, a strong electric field develops along the magnetic field, extracts the ‘primary’ charged particles with density $`nn_{\mathrm{GJ}}`$ (for a star with no burst activity, see Sect. 2) from the surface and accelerate them to high Lorentz factor ($`10^7`$). According to the polar cap models, the predicted radiation luminosity for a typical millisecond pulsar would be $`10^{33}(\nu _s/300\mathrm{Hz})^{5/28}(B/10^8\mathrm{G})^{1/7}`$ ergs/s that is comparable to $`\gamma `$-ray luminosities. So, one may expect to observe $`\gamma `$-rays in millisecond pulsars that has been detected only in PSR J0218+4232 by EGRET (Kui et. al., 2000). However, polar cap particle acceleration is limited by various energy loss mechanisms such as curvature radiation, resonant and nonresonant inverse Compton scattering, and pair production. The accelerated particles along the magnetic field lines suffer energy loss and emit photons through the curvature radiation. Further, these particles scattered by soft thermal X-ray photons emitted from the hot surface and loss energy via inverse Compton scattering. In addition, the high energy photons resulted from the curvature radiation and/or inverse Compton scattering produce a cascade of ‘secondary’ $`e^\pm `$ pair particles with a number density $`n_{e^\pm }10^5n`$ above polar cap region that change the charge distributions and screen the electric field (see for more detail Harding & Muslimov, 2001). In millisecond pulsars (with no burst activities) the polar cap particle acceleration mechanism was studied by Luo, Shibata & Melrose (2000). They showed that in these pulsars this mechanism, which is relatively efficient in accelerating charged particles in the star’s polar caps, mostly suffers energy loss from the radiation of accelerated particles along the field lines ( curvature radiation). So the maximum energy attainable by the particle is limited by energy loss through the radiation reaction. They found that the maximum Lorentz factor that might be achieved by an individual particle at $`z0.1`$ is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=(6\pi \epsilon _0E_{||}\rho _c^2/e)^{1/4}10^7`$, however, the Lorentz factor for the bulk pair plasma is much smaller $`100`$. The latter may explain the lack of detection of high energy $`\gamma `$-rays in these stars. Here $`E_{||}`$ is given by Eq. (2) and $`\rho _c(4/3)(cR/2\pi \nu _s)^{1/2}5\times 10^4(300\mathrm{Hz}/\nu _s)^{1/2}(R/10^6\mathrm{cm})`$ m is the curvature radius of the field lines.

For neutron stars in LMXBs with intermediate accretion rate $`10^{11}M_{}`$ yr$`{}_{}{}^{1}<\dot{M}<10^8M_{}`$ yr-1, however, the polar cap acceleration mechanism mostly suffers from the action of accretion plasma. Because of the large plasma density ($`m_{\mathrm{acc}}/A_{\mathrm{pc}}`$) of the accretion flow toward star’s polar caps, the parallel electric field in the polar cap regions would be shorted out and the polar cap acceleration mechanism would be suppressed. We note that, this scenario is not likely during X-ray bursts due to the explosively erupting materials from the surface and possible evacuation of part of inner disk. In this period with $`\mathrm{\Delta }t1`$ second, the eruptive plasma density is $`10`$ times larger that the accreting plasma density, ie. $`[(A_{\mathrm{pc}}/4\pi R^2)M_{\mathrm{shell}}]/A_{\mathrm{pc}}10m_{\mathrm{acc}}/A_{\mathrm{pc}}`$.

###### Acknowledgements.

The author is grateful to Sharon M. Morsink and Supratim Sengupta for reading the manuscript and stimulating discussions during the course of this work. I would like also thank to the referee for his/her valuable comments. This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Table Captions:

* Table 1: In this table we obtain the lowest radius expansion $`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$ (based on hydrostatic expansion models) and the scaled magnetic field $`\eta B`$ (based on the polar cap particle acceleration models) for some X-ray bursts in LMXBs. We calculate these quantities for two chosen values of the star spin frequency, $`\nu _s=300`$ Hz and $`\nu _s=600`$ Hz, such that the corresponding frequency shift is comparable with observations. $`\nu _0`$ is the oscillation frequency and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ its corresponding shift seen during the burst. The value of $`\eta B`$ is based on the assumed value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }R20`$ m for both spin frequencies, see Eq. (9).

Table 1

| Object | Time | $`\nu _0`$ | $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu _0`$ | $`\mathrm{\Delta }R_{300}`$ | $`\mathrm{\Delta }R_{600}`$ | $`(\eta B)_{300}`$ | $`(\eta B)_{600}`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | (UT) | (Hz) | ($`10^3`$) | (m) | (m) | ($`10^{10}`$ G) | ($`10^{10}`$ G) |
| 4U 1636-54 | 1996 Dec 28 (22:39:22)1,2 | 580.5 | $``$ 2-4 | $``$ 40 | $``$ 20 | $``$ 3 | $``$ 1 |
|  | 1996 Dec 29 (23:26:46)2,3 | 581.5 | $``$ 3 | $``$ 40 | $``$ 20 | $``$ 2 | $``$ 0.01 |
|  | 1996 Dec 31 (17:36:52)2,3 | 581. | $``$ 3 | $``$ 40 | $``$ 20 | $``$ 2 | $``$ 0.01 |
| 4U 1702-43 | 1997 Jul 26 (14:04:19)$`^4`$ | 329.85 $`\pm `$ 0.1 | 7.7 $`\pm `$ 0.3 | $``$ 50 | - | $``$ 6 | - |
|  | 1997 Jul 30 (12:11:58)$`^4`$ | 330.55 $`\pm `$ 0.02 | 4.8 $`\pm `$ 0.3 | $``$ 30 | - | $``$ 2 | - |
| 4U 1728-34 | 1996 Feb 16 (10:00:45)4,5 | 364.23 $`\pm `$ 0.05 | 6.6 $`\pm `$ 0.1 | $``$ 50 | - | $``$ 5 | - |
|  | 1997 Sep 9 (06:42:56)$`^4`$ | 364.10 $`\pm `$ 0.05 | 5.9 $`\pm `$ 0.2 | $``$ 45 | - | $``$ 4 | - |
| Aql X-1 | 1997 Mar 1 (23:27:39)$`^{6,7}`$ | 549.76 $`\pm `$ 0.04 | 4.3 | $``$ 50 | $``$ 25 | $``$ 3 | $``$ 1 |
| 4U 1916-053 | 1998 Aug 1 (18:23:45)$`^8`$ | 269-272 | 13.0 | $``$ 70 | - | $``$ 12.5 | - |
| MXB 1658-298 | 1999 Apr 14 (11:44:52)$`^9`$ | 567 | 9.0 | $``$ 100 | $``$ 50 | $``$ 10 | $``$ 7.5 |

References: (1) Strohmayer et al. (1998); (2) Miller (2000); (3) Strohmayer (1999); (4) Strohmayer & Markwardt (1999); (5) Strohmayer et al. (1996); (6) Zhang et al. (1998); (7) Fox et al. (2000); (8) Galloway et al. (2001); (9) Wijnands et al. (2001)


text:
# Topology of Singular Algebraic Varieties

## 1. Introduction

The most useful fact about singular complex algebraic varieties is Hironaka’s theorem that there is always a resolution of singularities . It has long been clear that the non-uniqueness of resolutions poses a difficulty in many applications. Many different methods have been used to get around this difficulty so as to define invariants of singular varieties. One approach is to try to describe the relation between any two resolutions, leading to ideas such as cubical hyperresolutions  and the weak factorization theorem (, ). Another idea, coming from minimal model theory, is to insist on the special importance of crepant resolutions, and more generally to emphasize the role of the canonical bundle. Recently the interplay between these two approaches has been very successful, as I will describe.

The recent methods tend to be more roundabout than the direct topological definition of intersection homology groups. It is tempting to try to define suitable generalizations of intersection homology groups in order to “explain” various results below (3.2, 3.4, 4.1, 5.2).

## 2. The weight filtration

Deligne discovered a remarkable structure on the rational cohomology of any complex algebraic variety, not necessarily smooth or compact: the weight filtration . This filtration expresses the way in which the cohomology of any variety is related to the cohomology of smooth compact varieties. It is a deep fact that the resulting filtration is well-defined. For example, an immediate consequence of the well-definedness of the weight filtration on cohomology with compact support is the following fact, originally conjectured by Serre (, , , p. 92).

Theorem 2.1. For any complex algebraic variety $`X`$, not necessarily smooth or compact, one can define “virtual Betti numbers” $`a_iX\text{Z}`$ for $`i0`$ such that

(1) if $`X`$ is smooth and compact, then the numbers $`a_iX`$ are the Betti numbers $`b_iX=dim_\text{Q}H^i(X,\text{Q})`$;

(2) for any Zariski-closed subset $`YX`$, $`a_iX=a_iY+a_i(XY)`$.

Using resolution of singularities, it is clear that the numbers $`a_iX`$ are uniquely characterized by these properties. What is less clear is the existence of such numbers. It follows, for example, that if two smooth compact varieties $`X`$ and $`Y`$ can be written as finite disjoint unions of locally closed subsets, $`X=X_i`$ and $`Y=Y_i`$, with isomorphisms $`X_iY_i`$ for all $`i`$, then $`X`$ and $`Y`$ have the same Betti numbers. This is a topological property of algebraic varieties which has no obvious analogue in a purely topological context.

The existence of the weight filtration, and consequently of the virtual Betti numbers $`a_iX`$, was originally suggested by Grothendieck’s approach to the Weil conjectures on counting rational points on varieties over finite fields. Indeed, the number of $`\text{F}_q`$-points of a variety clearly has an additive property analogous to property (2) above. One proof of the existence of the weight filtration for complex varieties reduces the problem to the full Weil conjecture for varieties over finite fields, proved by Deligne . Around the same time, Deligne gave a more direct proof of the existence of the weight filtration for complex varieties, using Hodge theory . This is a classic example of the philosophy that the deepest properties of algebraic varieties can often be proved using either number theory or analysis, while they have no “purely geometric” proof.

In 1995, however, Gillet and Soulé gave a new proof of the existence of the weight filtration . They used “only” resolution of singularities and algebraic $`K`$-theory, specifically the Gersten resolution. As a result of their more geometric proof, they were able to define the weight filtration on the integral cohomology or $`\text{F}_l`$-cohomology of a complex algebraic variety, not only on rational cohomology.

To understand what this means, let me describe the weight filtration for a smooth complex variety $`U`$, not necessarily compact. Using resolution of singularities, we can write $`U`$ as the complement of a divisor with normal crossings $`D`$ in some smooth compact variety $`X`$. For $`i0`$, let $`X^{(i)}`$ be the disjoint union of the $`i`$-fold intersections of divisors. Then there is a spectral sequence

$$E_1=H^j(X^{(i)},k)H_c^{i+j}(U,k)$$

for any coefficient ring $`k`$. The weight filtration on the compactly supported cohomology of $`U`$ is defined as the filtration associated to this spectral sequence. Gillet and Soulé show that for any coefficient ring $`k`$, this filtration is an invariant of $`U`$, independent of the choice of compactification $`U`$. This is not at all clear from the known invariance of this filtration for $`k=\text{Q}`$.

In fact, Gillet and Soulé proved more: for any coefficient ring $`k`$, the spectral sequence is an invariant of $`U`$ from the $`E_2`$ term on. For $`k=\text{Q}`$, the spectral sequence degenerates at $`E_2`$, but this is not true with coefficients in Z or $`\text{F}_l`$. As a result, for general coefficients $`k`$, the groups in the $`E_2`$ term are interesting new invariants of $`U`$ which are not simply the associated graded groups to the weight filtration. They satisfy Mayer-Vietoris sequences, and so can be considered as a cohomology theory on algebraic varieties.

I can now explain a new application of the geometric proof that the weight filtration is well-defined. Namely, one can try to define the weight filtration not only for algebraic varieties. The point is that resolution of singularities holds more generally, for complex analytic spaces, and even for real analytic spaces. Gillet and Soulé’s construction of the weight filtration uses algebraic $`K`$-theory as well as resolution of singularities, and it is not clear how to adapt the argument to an analytic setting. But Guillen and Navarro Aznar improved Gillet and Soulé’s argument so as to construct the weight filtration using only resolution of singularities . The details of their argument use their idea of “cubical hyperresolutions” .

Using the method of Guillen and Navarro Aznar, I have been able to define the weight filtration for complex and real analytic spaces. In more detail, let us define a compactification of a complex analytic space $`X`$ to be a compact complex analytic space $`\overline{X}`$ containing $`X`$ as the complement of a closed analytic subset. Of course, not every complex analytic space has a compactification in this sense. We say that two compactifications of $`X`$ are equivalent if there is a third which lies over both of them.

Theorem 2.2. Let $`k`$ be any commutative ring. Then the compactly supported cohomology $`H_c^{}(X,k)`$ has a well-defined weight filtration for every complex analytic space $`X`$ with an equivalence class of compactifications.

Any algebraic variety comes with a natural equivalence class of compactifications, but in the analytic setting this has to be considered as an extra piece of structure. On the other hand, the theorem says that the weight filtration is well-defined on all compact complex analytic spaces, with no extra structure needed.

For real analytic spaces, one has the difficulty that there is no natural orientation, unlike the complex analytic situation. This is not a problem if one uses $`\text{F}_2`$-coefficients, and therefore one can prove:

Theorem 2.3. For every real analytic space $`X`$ with an equivalence class of compactifications, the compactly supported cohomology of the space $`X(\text{R})`$ of real points with $`\text{F}_2`$ coefficients has a well-defined weight filtration.

In particular, one can define virtual Betti numbers $`a_iX`$ for a real analytic space $`X`$ with an equivalence class of compactifications, the integers $`a_iX`$ being the usual $`\text{F}_2`$-Betti numbers in the case of a closed real analytic manifold.

Example. Let $`X`$ be the compact real analytic space obtained by identifying two copies at the circle at a point, and let $`Y`$ be the compact real analytic space obtained by identifying two points on a single circle (the figure eight). It is immediate to compute that $`a_0X=1`$ and $`a_1X=2`$, whereas $`a_0Y=0`$ and $`a_1=Y`$. The interesting point here is that the spaces $`X(\text{R})`$ and $`Y(\text{R})`$ of real points are homeomorphic. Thus the numbers $`a_i`$ for a compact real analytic space are not topological invariants of the space of real points. In a similar vein, Steenbrink showed that the weight filtration on the rational cohomology of complex algebraic varieties is not a topological invariant, using 3-folds .

Nonetheless, it seems fair to say that extending the weight filtration and the virtual Betti numbers to complex and real analytic spaces helps to bring out more of the topological meaning of these invariants of algebraic varieties. A real analytic space has in some ways a weak structure; for example, the classification of closed real analytic manifolds up to isomorphism is the same as the classification of closed differentiable manifolds up to diffeomorphism. From this point of view, it is surprising that compactified real analytic spaces have the extra structure of the weight filtration on their $`\text{F}_2`$-cohomology. It seems natural to ask for an $`\text{F}_2`$-linear abelian category of “mixed motives” associated to compactified real analytic spaces $`X`$, such that the $`\text{F}_2`$-cohomology groups of $`X`$ with their weight filtration are determined by the mixed motive of $`X`$. On Beilinson’s conjectured abelian category of mixed motives in algebraic geometry, see for example Jannsen , 11.3, and ; on various approximations to this category, see the triangulated categories defined by Hanamura , Levine , and Voevodsky , and the abelian category defined by Nori.

It should be much easier to define mixed motives for real analytic spaces than to do so for algebraic varieties. In particular, one might speculate that the mixed motive of a real analytic space should not involve much more information than the weight spectral sequence converging to its $`\text{F}_2`$-cohomology (starting at $`E_2`$), perhaps considered together with an action of the Steenrod algebra. In low dimensions, one could hope for precise classifications of mixed motives along these lines.

## 3. Stringy Betti numbers

The following result of Batyrev’s  is related to his famous result that two birational Calabi-Yau manifolds have the same Betti numbers. The proof uses Kontsevich’s idea of motivic integration , as developed by Denef and Loeser . To be precise, Batyrev’s statement involves Hodge numbers, but I will only state what it gives about Betti numbers.

Theorem 3.1. Let $`Y`$ be a complex projective variety with log-terminal singularities. Then one can define the “stringy Poincaré function” $`p_{\text{str}}(Y)`$, which is a rational function, such that for any crepant resolution of singularities $`\pi :XY`$, the stringy Poincaré function of $`Y`$ is the usual Poincaré polynomial of $`X`$.

We recall Reid’s important definitions which are used here. First, let $`Y`$ be any normal complex variety such that the canonical divisor $`K_Y`$ is Q-Cartier. By Hironaka, $`Y`$ has a resolution of singularities $`\pi :XY`$ such that the exceptional divisors $`E_i`$, $`iI`$, are smooth with normal crossings. The discrepancies $`a_i`$ of $`E_i`$ are defined by

$$K_X=\pi ^{}K_Y+a_iE_i.$$

The variety $`Y`$ is defined to have log-terminal singularities if and only if $`a_i>1`$ for all $`i`$. A resolution $`XY`$ is said to be crepant if $`K_X=\pi ^{}K_Y`$.

Batyrev defines the stringy Poincaré function of $`Y`$ by the formula:

$$p_{\text{str}}(Y)=\underset{JI}{}p(E_J^0)\underset{jJ}{}\frac{q1}{q^{a_j+1}1}.$$

Here $`E_J^0`$ is the open stratum of $`E_J:=_{jJ}E_j`$, and $`p(E_J^0)`$ denotes the virtual Poincaré polynomial of $`E_J^0`$, written as a polynomial in $`q^{1/2}`$. Thus $`p_{\text{str}}(Y)`$ is a rational function in $`q^{1/2}`$ for $`Y`$ Gorenstein, and in $`q^{1/n}`$ for some $`n`$ in general.

Batyrev’s proof that the stringy Poincaré function of $`Y`$ is independent of the choice of resolution, using motivic integration, rests on the additivity properties of the virtual Poincaré polynomial. Using our extension of virtual Betti numbers to complex analytic spaces, we find:

Theorem 3.2. The stringy Poincaré function can be defined as a rational function for any compactified complex analytic space with log-terminal singularities. For any crepant resolution $`XY`$ with $`Y`$ compact, the stringy Poincaré function of $`Y`$ is the usual Poincaré polynomial of $`X`$.

Likewise for real analytic spaces:

Theorem 3.3. An $`\text{F}_2`$-analogue of the stringy Poincaré function can be defined as a rational function for compactified real analytic spaces with log-terminal singularities. For any crepant resolution $`XY`$ with $`Y`$ compact, the stringy Poincaré function of $`Y`$ is the usual Poincaré polynomial of the $`\text{F}_2`$-cohomology of $`X`$.

In particular, this answers part of Goresky and MacPherson’s Problem 7 in :

Corollary 3.4. Given a compact real algebraic variety $`Y`$, the $`\text{F}_2`$-Betti numbers of any two projective IH-small resolutions of $`Y`$ are the same.

This uses the relation between IH-small resolutions and crepant resolutions, which I worked out in  using results of Kawamata  and Wisniewski . In the complex situation, the corollary (for Betti numbers with any coefficients) has a more direct proof, since the Betti numbers of any small resolution of $`Y`$ are equal to the dimensions of the intersection homology groups of $`Y`$. It is not yet known whether one can define a new version of intersection homology groups with $`\text{F}_2`$-coefficients which would be self-dual for all compact real analytic spaces. A possible framework for defining such a theory has been set up by Banagl .

## 4. The elliptic genus of a singular variety

I found that any characteristic number which can be extended from smooth compact complex varieties to singular varieties, compatibly with small resolutions, must be a specialization of the elliptic genus . It was then an important problem to define the elliptic genus for singular varieties. This was solved in a completely satisfying way by Borisov and Libgober :

Theorem 4.1. Let $`Y`$ be a projective variety with log-terminal singularities. Then one can define the elliptic genus of $`Y`$, $`\phi (Y)`$, such that for any crepant resolution $`XY`$, we have $`\phi (Y)=\phi (X)`$.

Here is Borisov and Libgober’s definition of $`\phi (Y)`$. Let $`\pi :XY`$ be a resolution whose exceptional divisors $`E_k`$ have simple normal crossings, and let $`a_k`$ be the discrepancies as in section 3. Formally, let $`y_l`$ denote the Chern roots of $`X`$ so that $`c(TX)=_l(1+y_l)`$, and let $`e_k`$ be the cohomology classes on $`X`$ of the divisors $`E_k`$. Then $`\phi (Y)`$ is the analytic function of variables $`z`$ and $`\tau `$ defined by

$$\phi (Y)=_Y(\underset{l}{}\frac{(\frac{y_l}{2\pi i})\theta (\frac{y_l}{2\pi i}z)\theta ^{}(0)}{\theta (z)\theta (\frac{y_l}{2\pi i})})\times (\underset{k}{}\frac{\theta (\frac{e_k}{2\pi i}(\alpha _k+1)z)\theta (z)}{\theta (\frac{e_k}{2\pi i}z)\theta ((\alpha _k+1)z)}),$$

where $`\theta (z,\tau )`$ is the Jacobi theta function. The proof that $`\phi (Y)`$ is independent of the choice of resolution for log-terminal $`Y`$ uses the weak factorization theorem of Abramovich, Karu, Matsuki, and Wlodarczyk (, ).

In the spirit of earlier sections, the singular elliptic genus extends to compact complex analytic spaces with log-terminal singularities. But it remains a mystery how to define the elliptic genus for some topologically defined class of singular spaces that would include singular analytic spaces with log-terminal singularities.

## 5. Possible characteristic numbers for real analytic spaces

In my paper , in trying to define characteristic numbers for singular complex varieties, it was very helpful to require that these numbers are compatible with IH-small resolutions, as Goresky and MacPherson had suggested (, Problem 10). The problem thereby becomes more precise: it may be possible to show that some characteristic numbers extend to singular varieties and some do not. This can help to suggest valuable invariants for singular varieties, such as Borisov and Libgober’s elliptic genus for singular varieties, even if one is not a priori interested in IH-small resolutions. (The same comments apply to crepant resolutions.)

With this in mind, we here begin to analyze which characteristic numbers can be defined for real analytic spaces, or for topological spaces with similar singularities, compatibly with IH-small resolutions. In the complex situation, the fundamental example of a singularity with two different IH-small resolutions is the 3-fold node; one says that the two IH-small resolutions are related by the simplest type of “flop.” Likewise, in the real situation, the real 3-fold node has two different IH-small resolutions. For convenience, let us say that two closed $`n`$-manifolds are related by a “real flop” if they are the two different IH-small resolutions $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ of a singular space with singular set of real codimension 3 that is locally isomorphic to the product of the 3-fold node with an $`(n3)`$-manifold.

Let us first consider characteristic numbers for unoriented spaces. By Thom, the bordism ring $`MO_{}`$ for unoriented manifolds is detected by Stiefel-Whitney numbers. Therefore we can ask which Stiefel-Whitney numbers (meaning $`\text{F}_2`$-linear combinations of Stiefel-Whitney monomials) are unchanged under real flops. Or, more or less equivalently: what is the quotient of the bordism ring $`MO_{}`$ by the ideal of real flops $`X_1X_2`$, for $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ as above? There is a good answer:

Theorem 5.1. The $`\text{F}_2`$-vector space of Stiefel-Whitney numbers which are invariant under real flops of $`n`$-manifolds is spanned by the numbers $`w_1^iw_{ni}`$ for $`0in`$, or equivalently by the numbers $`w_1^{n2i}v_i^2`$ for $`0in/2`$, modulo those Stiefel-Whitney numbers which vanish for all $`n`$-manifolds. Here $`v_i=v_i(w_1,w_2,\mathrm{})`$ denotes the Wu class. The dimension of this space of invariant Stiefel-Whitney numbers, modulo those which vanish for all $`n`$-manifolds, is 0 for $`n`$ odd and $`n/2+1`$ for $`n`$ even. The quotient ring of $`MO_{}`$ by the ideal of real flops is isomorphic to:

$$\text{F}_2[\text{R}\text{P}^2,\text{R}\text{P}^4,\text{R}\text{P}^8,\mathrm{}]/((\text{R}\text{P}^{2^a})^2=(\text{R}\text{P}^2)^{2^a}\text{ for all }a2).$$

This class of Stiefel-Whitney numbers has occurred before, in Goresky and Pardon’s calculation of the bordism ring of locally orientable $`\text{F}_2`$-Witt spaces . To be precise, the latter ring coincides with the above ring in even dimensions but is also nonzero in odd dimensions. Goresky defined a Wu class $`v_i`$ in intersection homology for $`\text{F}_2`$-Witt spaces , so that the square $`v_i^2`$ lives in ordinary homology, and the characteristic numbers for locally orientable $`\text{F}_2`$-Witt spaces $`Y`$ are obtained by multiplying these homology classes by powers of the cohomology class $`w_1`$.

This does not explain the invariance of these Stiefel-Whitney numbers for real flops, however. The problem is that the 3-fold node is not an $`\text{F}_2`$-Witt space. (Topologically, it is the cone over $`S^1\times S^1`$, whereas the cone over an even-dimensional manifold is a Witt space if and only if the homology in the middle dimension is zero.) That is, the standard definition of intersection homology is not self-dual on a space with 3-fold node singularities. This again points to the problem of defining a new version of intersection homology with $`\text{F}_2`$ coefficients which is self-dual on real analytic spaces. That should yield an $`L`$-class in the $`\text{F}_2`$-homology of such a space, which we can also identify with the square of the Wu class, and which therefore should allow the above characteristic numbers to be defined for a large class of real analytic spaces. There are related results by Banagl , for spaces which admit an extra “Lagrangian” structure.

We now ask the analogous question for oriented singular spaces: what characteristic numbers can be defined, compatibly with IH-small resolutions? We could begin by asking for the quotient ring of the oriented bordism ring $`MSO_{}`$ by oriented real flops $`X_1X_2`$, defined exactly as in the unoriented case ($`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ are the two small resolutions of a family of real 3-fold nodes), except that we require $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ to be compatibly oriented. It turns out that this is not enough: all Pontrjagin numbers are invariant under oriented real flops, whereas they can change under other changes from one IH-small resolution to another, such as complex flops (between the two small resolutions of a complex family of complex 3-fold nodes). By considering both real and complex flops, we get a reasonable answer:

Theorem 5.2. The quotient ring of $`MSO_{}`$ by the ideal generated by oriented real flops and complex flops is:

$$\text{Z}[\delta ,2\gamma ,2\gamma ^2,2\gamma ^4,\mathrm{}],$$

where $`\text{C}\text{P}^2`$ maps to $`\delta `$ and $`\text{C}\text{P}^4`$ maps to $`2\gamma +\delta ^2`$. This quotient ring is exactly the image of $`MSO_{}`$ under the Ochanine elliptic genus (, p. 63).

This result suggests that it should be possible to define the Ochanine genus for a large class of compact oriented real analytic spaces, or even more general singular spaces.


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# Tangent Bundles Dynamics and ItsConsequencesPartially supported by FAPERJ-Brazil and Guggenheim Foundation.

## 1. Introduction

A long time goal in the theory of dynamical systems is to describe the dynamics of “big sets” (generic or residual, dense, etc) in the space of all dynamical systems.

It was thought in the sixties that this could be realized by the so called hyperbolic ones: systems with the assumption that the tangent bundle over the Limit set ($`L(f)`$, the accumulation points of any orbit) splits into two complementary subbundles that are uniformly forward (respectively backward) contracted by the tangent map by. The richness of this description would follow from the fact that the hyperbolic dynamic on the tangent bundle characterizes the dynamic over the manifold from a geometrical and topological point of view.

Nevertheless, uniform hyperbolicity were soon realized to be a property less universal than it was initially thought: there are open sets in the space of dynamics which are non-hyperbolic. After some initial examples of non-density of the hyperbolic systems in the universe of all systems (see \[S, AS\]), two key aspects were focused in these examples. On one hand, open sets of non-hyperbolic diffeomorphisms which remain transitive under perturbation (existence of a dense orbit for any system). On the other, residual sets of non-hyperbolic diffeomorphisms, each one exhibiting infinitely many transitive sets. Roughly speaking, it was showed that two kind of different phenomena can appear in the complement of the hyperbolic systems: a) dynamics that robustly can be decomposed into a finite number of closed transitive sets; b) dynamics that generically exhibit infinitely many disjoint transitive sets.

The first kind of phenomena occurs in dimension higher or equal than $`3`$ and although the examples are not hyperbolic they exhibit some kind of decomposition of the tangent bundle into invariant subbundles. The second one, was obtained by Newhouse (see \[N1\], \[N2\], \[N3\]), who following an early work of the non-density of hyperbolicity for $`C^2`$ surface maps, showed that the unfolding of a homoclinic bifurcation (non transversal intersection of stable and unstable manifolds of periodic points) leads to a very rich dynamics: residual subsets of open sets of diffeomorphisms whose elements display infinitely many sinks.

These new results naturally pushed some aspects of the theory on dynamical systems in different directions:

1. The study of the dynamical phenomena obtained from homoclinic bifurcations;
2. The characterization of universal mechanisms that could yield to robustly non-hyperbolic behavior;
3. The study and characterization of isolated transitive sets that remain transitive for all nearby system (robust transitivity);
4. The dynamical consequences that follows from some kind of the dynamics over the tangent bundle, weaker than the hyperbolic one.

As we will show, these problems are related and they indeed constitute different aspects of the same phenomena. In many cases, such relations provide a conceptual framework, as the hyperbolic theory did for the case of transverse homoclinic orbits.

In the next section, we will discuss the previous aspects for the case of surfaces maps, and in particular we will consider a dynamics in the tangent bundle weaker than hyperbolicity, called dominated splitting. In section 3. we will discuss the problems about the robust transitivity and its relation with other dynamics on the tangent bundle. Finally, in the last section, we will consider the equivalent problems for flows taking into account their intrinsic characteristic that leads to further questions and difficulties do the presence of singularities. We point out that in this survey we will focus more into topological and geometrical aspects of the dynamic rather on the ergodic ones.

Many of the issues discussed here are consequences of works and talks with Martin Sambarino. I also want to thanks Maria J. Pacifico for her help to improve this article.

## 2. Surfaces maps, homoclinic tangencies and “non-critical” behaviors

After the seminal works of Newhouse, many others were developed in the direction to understand the phenomena that could appear after a bifurcation of homoclinic tangencies (tangent intersection of stable and unstable manifolds of periodic points). In fact, other fundamental dynamic prototype were found in this context, namely the so called cascade of bifurcations, the Hénon-like strange attractor (\[BC\], \[MV\]) (even infinitely many coexisting ones \[C\]), and superexponential growth of periodic points (\[K\]). Even before these last results, Palis (\[PT\], \[P1\]) conjectured that the presence of a homoclinic tangency is a very common phenomenon in the complement of the closure of the hyperbolic ones. In fact, if the conjecture is true, then homoclinic bifurcation could play a central role in the global understanding of the space of dynamics for it would imply that each of these bifurcation phenomena is dense in the complement of the closure of the hyperbolic ones. More precisely, he conjectured that Every $`fDiff^r(M^2),r1,`$ can be $`C^r`$-approximated by a diffeomorphism exhibiting either a homoclinic tangency or by one which is hyperbolic.

The presence of homoclinic tangencies have many analogies with the presence of critical points for one-dimensional endomorphisms. Homoclinic tangecies correspond in the one dimensional setting to preperiodic critical points and it is known that its bifurcation leads to complex dynamics. On the other hand, Mañé (see \[M1\])showed that for regular and generic one-dimensional endomorphisms, the absence of critical points is enough to guarantee hyperbolicity. This result raises the question about the dynamical properties of surface maps exhibiting no homoclinic tangencies. In this direction, first it is proved in that some kind of dynamic over the tangent bundle (weaker than the hyperbolic one) can be obtained in the robust lack of homoclinic tangencies. And later, it is showed that this dynamic on the tangent bundle is rich enough to describe the dynamic on the manifold. More precisely:

Theorem 1 (\[PS1\]):  Surface diffeomorphisms that can not be $`C^1`$-approximated by another exhibiting homoclinic tangencies, has the property that its Limit set has dominated splitting. An $`f`$-invariant set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has dominated splitting if the tangent bundle can be decomposed into two invariant subbundles $`T_\mathrm{\Lambda }M=EF,`$ such that:

$$Df_{/E(x)}^nDf_{/F(f^n(x))}^nC\lambda ^n,\text{ for all }x\mathrm{\Lambda },n0,$$

with $`C>0`$ and $`0<\lambda <1.`$

As, dominated splitting prevents the presence of tangencies, we could say that domination plays for surface diffeomorphisms the role that the non-critical behavior does for one dimensional endomorphisms.

To have a satisfactory description for this non-critical behavior (existence of a dominated splitting), we should describe its dynamical consequences. A natural question arises: is it possible to describe the dynamics of a system having dominated splitting?

The next result gives a positive answer (as satisfactory as in hyperbolic case) when $`M`$ is a compact surface. More precisely, we give a complete description of the topological dynamics of a $`C^2`$ system having a dominated splitting. Actually, first, the dominated decomposition is understood under a generic assumption.

Theorem 2 (\[PS1\]) :  Let $`fDiff^2(M^2)`$ and assume that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }L(f)`$ is a compact invariant set exhibiting a dominated splitting such that any periodic point is a hyperbolic periodic point. Then, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ is hyperbolic and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ consists of a finite union of periodic simple closed curves $`𝒞_1,\mathrm{}𝒞_n`$, normally hyperbolic, and such that $`f^{m_i}:𝒞_i𝒞_i`$ is conjugated to an irrational rotation ($`m_i`$ denotes the period of $`𝒞_i`$).

Using this Theorem and understanding the obstruction for the hyperbolicity assuming domination, we can characterize $`L(f)`$ without any generic assumption.

Theorem 3 (\[PS2\]) : Let $`fDiff^2(M^2)`$ and assume that $`L(f)`$ has a dominated splitting. Then $`L(f)`$ can be decomposed into $`L(f)=\stackrel{~}{}(f)`$ such that:

$`1.`$ $``$ is contained in a finite union of normally hyperbolic periodic arcs.

$`2.`$ $``$ is a finite union of normally hyperbolic periodic simple closed curves supporting an irrational rotation.

$`3.`$ $`f/\stackrel{~}{}(f)`$ is expansive and admits a spectral decomposition (into finitely many homoclinic classes).

Roughly speaking, the above theorem says that the dynamics of a $`C^2`$ diffeomorphism having a dominated splitting can be decomposed into two parts: one where the dynamic consists on periodic and almost periodic motions ($`,)`$ with the diffeomorphism acting equicontinuously, and another one where the dynamics is expansive and similar to the hyperbolic case. Moreover, given a set having dominated decomposition, it is characterized its stable and unstable set, its continuation by perturbation, and their basic pieces (see \[PS2\]). Let us say also, that in solving the above problem, another kind of differentiable dynamical problem arose: how is affected the dynamics of a system, when its smoothness is improved?

Putting theorem $`1`$ and $`2`$ together, we prove the conjecture of Palis for surface diffeomorphisms in the $`C^1`$topology:

Theorem 4 (\[PS1\]):  Let $`M^2`$ be a two dimensional compact manifold and let $`fDiff^1(M^2).`$ Then, $`f`$ can be $`C^1`$-approximated either by a diffeomorphism exhibiting a homoclinic tangency or by an Axiom A diffeomorphism.

Similar arguments, prove that the variation of the topological entropy leads to the unfolding of homoclinic tangencies. Moreover the presence of infinitely many sinks with unbounded period also implies the unfolding of tangencies (see \[PS2\], \[PS4\]).

We want to emphasize that theorem $`4`$ and the previous comments are strictly $`C^1`$ (on the other hand, theorem $`2`$, and $`3`$ assume that the map is $`C^2`$), and nothing is known in the $`C^2`$topology. We would like to understand what happens in the $`C^2`$topology, since many rich dynamical phenomena take place for smooth maps. About this problem we would like to make some remarks.

Recall that for smooth one-dimensional endomorphisms, the absence of critical points was enough to guarantee hyperbolicity. But for surface maps (and due to the lack of understanding) we required $`C^1`$-robust absence of tangencies. Many of the tools used in the $`C^1`$ case ($`C^1`$-closing Lema, perturbation of the tangent map along finite orbits) are unknown in higher topology and even in same particular situation they are also false (see \[G\], \[PS2\]). So, taking in mind the scenario for one-dimensional dynamics, instead of ask about the $`C^r`$robust absence of tangencies (for $`r2`$), we could try to know what is the two dimensional phenomena whose presence breaks the domination and whose absence guarantee it? In other words, what are two dimensional critical points?

To address these problems we should consider previously some other weaker questions. Observe that any dominated splitting is a continuous one. Is it true the converse, at least generically? To answer this question we would face the following: if there is a continuous invariant splitting over the Limit set for an smooth map (or even assuming an stronger hypothesis: existence of two continuous invariant foliations) can we describe the dynamic of $`f`$? It is clear that are dyanmics exhibiting continuous splitting which are not dominated, for instance, maps exhibiting some kind of saddle connection and maps on the torus obtained as $`(x,y)(x+\alpha ,y+\beta )`$. Are those dynamics the unique ones that do not exhibit domination?

On the other hand, splitting dealing with critical behaviors (tangencies or ”almost tangencies”) are well known in the measure-theoretical setting. This is the case of the non-uniform hyperbolicity (or Pesin theory), where the tangent bundle splits for points a.e. with respect to some invariant measure, and vectors are asymptotically contracted or expanded in a rate that may depend on the base point. Are the invariant measures for smooth maps on surfaces with one non zero Lyapunov exponents, non-uniformly hyperbolic? In other words, one non-zero lyapunov exponent implies that the other is also non-zero? This is not true in general, since there exist ergodic invariant measures with only one non zero Lyapunov exponent: measure supported on invariant circle normally hyperbolic; measure over a non-hyperbolic periodic point; time one map of a Cherry flows; two dimensional version of one dimension phenomena like infinitely renormalizable and absorbing cantor sets. Are those dynamics the unique counterexamples?

Now we would like to say a few words about the proof of Theorem $`2`$. First, it is showed that the local unstable (stable) sets are one dimensional manifolds tangent to the direction $`F`$ ($`E`$ respectively). This is achieved by, given an explicit characterization of the Lyapunov stable sets under the hypothesis of domination (latter we will give a precise statement). After that, it is proved that the length of the negative iterates of the local unstable (positive for the local stable) manifolds are sumable, and using arguments of distortion hyperbolicity is concluded.

We say that the point $`x`$ is Lyapunov stable (in the future) if given $`ϵ>0`$ there exists $`\delta >0`$ such that $`f^n(B_\delta (x))B_ϵ(f^n(x))`$ for any positive integer $`n.`$ Its characterization is done in any dimension whit the solely assumption that one of the subbundles is one dimensional. To avoid confusion, we call such splitting codimension one dominated splitting.

Theorem 5: Let $`f:MM`$ be a $`C^2`$-diffeomorphism of a finite dimensional compact riemannian manifold $`M`$ and let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a set having a codimension one dominated splitting. Then there exists a neighborhood $`V`$ of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ such that if $`f^n(x)V`$ for any positive integer $`n`$ and $`x`$ is Lyapunov stable, one of the following holds:

$`1.`$ $`\omega (x)`$ is a periodic orbit,

$`2.`$ $`\omega (x)`$ is a periodic curve normally attractive supporting and irrational rotation.

As we said before, this theorem have important consequences related to the direction $`F`$. Its local invariant tangent manifold either is dynamically defined (it is a subset of the local unstable set) or there are well understood phenomena: either there are periodic curves normally contractive $`\gamma `$ with small length, or there are semi-attracting periodic points, or there are closed invariant curves normally hyperbolic with dynamics conjugated to an irrational rotation. With this characterization in mind, and assuming domination over the whole manifold, it is proved that $`F`$ is also uniquely integrable.

## 3. Robust transitivity

As we said in the beginning, in dimension higher or equal than $`3`$, there exist $`C^r`$open set of diffeomorphisms which are transitive and non-hyperbolic ($`r1`$). Observe that this phenomena take place in the $`C^1`$-topology, fact that it is unknown for one of the dynamics phenomena that we consider in the previous section: the residual sets of infinitely many sinks for surface maps.

The first examples of robust non-hyperbolic systems (examples of robust transitive systems which are not Anosov) were given by M. Shub (see \[Sh\]), who considered on the $`4`$-torus, skew-products of an Anosov with a Derived of Anosov diffeomorphisms. Then, R. Mañé (see \[M\]) reduced the dimension of such examples by showing that certain Derived of Anosov diffeomorphisms on the $`3`$-torus are robust transitive. Later, L. Díaz, (see \[D1\]) constructed examples obtained as a bifurcation of an heteroclinic cycle (cycle involving points of different indices). This last ideas was pushed in \[BD\] where it was showed a general geometric construction of robust transitive attractors.

All these systems show a partial hyperbolic splitting, which allows the tangent bundle to split into $`Df`$-invariant subbundles $`TM=E^sE^cE^u,`$ where the behavior of vectors in $`E^s,E^u`$ under iterates of the tangent map is similar to the hyperbolic case, but vectors in $`E^c`$ may be neutral for the action of the tangent map. On the other hand, recently, it was proved by C. Bonatti and M. Viana that there are opens sets of transitive diffeomorphisms exhibiting a dominated splitting which do not fall into the category of partially hyperbolic ones (see \[BV\]).

These new situations lead to ask two natural questions: Is there a characterization of robust transitive sets that also gives dynamical information about them? Can we describe the dynamics under the assumption of either partial hyperbolicity or dominated decomposition?

The next result shows that this two questions are extremely related. In fact, some kind of dynamics on the tangent bundle is implied by the robust transitivity (see \[M\] for surfaces, \[DPU\] for three dimensional manifolds , and \[BDP\] for the $`n.`$dimensional case):

Theorem 6: Every robustly transitive set of a $`C^1`$-diffeomorphism has dominated splitting whose extremal bundles are uniformly volume contracting or expanding.

The central idea in this theorem is to show that, in the lack of domination, the eigenspaces of a linear map (obtained by multiplying many bounded linear maps) are very unstable: by small perturbation of each of the factors, one can mix the eigenvalues in order to get a homothety, which will correspond to the creation of either a sink or a source, situation not allowed in the case of the robust transitivity. This last theorem also can be formulated in the following way:

Theorem 7 \[BDP\]) : There is a residual subset of $`C^1`$-diffeomorphisms such that that for any diffeomorphism in the residual set, it is verified that for any homoclinic class of a periodic point (the closure of the intersection of the stable and unstable manifold of it) either has dominated splitting or it is contained in the closure of infinitely many sources or sinks.

What about the converse of theorem $`6`$? Is it true that generically a transitive system exhibiting some kind of splitting is robust transitive? On the other hand, all the examples of robust transitivity are based in either a property of the initial system or in a geometrical construction. But, does exist a necessary and sufficient condition among the partial hyperbolic system such that transitivity is equivalent to robust transitivity? Can this property be characterized in terms of the dynamic of the tangent map? This is clear for Anosov maps, where transitivity implies robust transitivity, but what about for the non-hyperbolic?. In the direction to understand this problem, in \[PS5\] was introduced a dynamic on the tangent bundle enough to guarantee robustness of transitivity.

Theorem 8: Let $`fDiff^r(M)`$ be a transitive partial hyperbolic system verifying that there is $`n_0>0`$ such that for any $`xM`$ there are $`y^u(x)W_1^{uu}(x)`$ and $`y^s(x)W_1^{ss}(x)`$ with:

$`1.`$$`|Df_{|E^c(f^m(y^u(x)))}^{n_0}|>2`$ for any $`m>0`$,

$`2.`$ $`|Df_{|E^c(f^m(y^s(x)))}^{n_0}|>2`$ for any $`m>0`$,

then, $`f`$ is a non-hyperbolic robust transitive system.

Is this property generically necessary?

All these questions naturally push in the direction to understand the dynamic induced by either a partial hyperbolic system or a dominated splitting. In particular, do they exhibit (generically) spectral decomposition, as was showed for a hyperbolic system and for domination on surfaces? Observe that the non-hyperbolicity of these systems is related with the presence of points of different index. Is this (generically) a necessary condition for non-hyperbolicity? In other words, assuming that there are only points of the same index, can one conclude (generically) hyperbolicity? For the case of domination, it is possible to show that if the extremal directions are one-dimensional, then they behave topologically as a hyperbolic one (see \[PS4\]). Moreover, it is showed that homoclinic classes with codimension one dominated splitting and contractive bundle are generically hyperbolic. But, what happens if the external directions are one-dimensional? And what about the central directions? Of course, this question can be considered in a simpler situation: a partial hyperbolic splitting with only one dimensional central direction. Does the dynamic over the central direction characterize the kind of partial hyperbolic systems?

Many of the questions done for partial hyperbolic systems can be formulated for Iterated Function Systems. In same sense, these systems works as a model of partial hyperbolic ones. And its solution, could give an indication how to deal in the general case.

In dimension higher than two, another kind of homoclinic bifurcation breaks the hyperbolicity: the so called heteroclinic cycles (intersection of the stable and unstable manifolds of points of different indices, see \[D1\] and \[D2\]). In particular, the unfold of these cycles imply the existence of striking dynamics being the more important, the appearance of non-hyperbolic robust transitive sets (see \[KP\] also for superexponential growth of periodic point associated to the unfolding of heteoclinic cycles). Moreover, any non-hyperbolic robust transitive sets exhibits generically heteroclinic cycles. In same sense, these cycles play the role for the partial hyperbolic theory as transversal intersection play for the hyperbolic theory.

A similar conjecture as the one for surfaces, was formulated by Palis in any dimension: Every $`fDiff^r(M),r1,`$ can be $`C^r`$-approximated by a diffeomorphism exhibiting either a homoclinic tangency, a heteroclinic cycle or by one which is hyperbolic.

A similar approach as the one done in dimension $`2`$ could be done: first, try to find the dynamic on the tangent bundle for systems $`C^1`$ far from tangencies. About this, in \[LW\] it was proved a similar result as the one for surfaces: far from tangencies implies domination. Does far from heteroclinic cycles imply hyperbolicity? Does this imply that sets with periodic points of different index can not accumulate one on the other? And as we asked before: sets showing dominated decomposition exhibiting points of the same index are generically hyperbolic? These problems are also related with the problems involving tangencies and sinks: can a systems showing infinitely many sinks be approximated by another one showing tangencies? It was showed that this is true for surfaces maps (see \[PS3\]), and in the case of higher dimension in \[PS4\] is given a positive answer assuming that the sinks accumulate on a sectional dissipative homoclinic class.

On the other hand, there is a vast works about conservative partial hyperbolic systems describing, in same particular cases, their ergodic properties. The description of the dynamics strongly use the invariance of the volume measure, information that it is not available in the general case that we would like describe. For references about it see the complete review on this subject done by Burns, Pugh , Shub and Wilkinson (\[BPSW\]). Moreover it is showed in \[Bo\] and \[BoV\] some kind of dichotomy (as the one done in theorem $`8`$) for conservative maps in terms of Lyapunov exponents and domination. Also I would like to mention a recent and remarkable work of F. Rodriguez Hertz (\[R\]) where is proved that many Linear automorphisms on $`T^4`$ are stable ergodic, using different kinds of techniques that even if only work in the conservative case, they could be useful to understand the general case.

## 4. Flows

For flows, a striking example is the Lorenz attractor \[Lo\], given by the solutions of the polynomial vector field in $`R^3`$:

$$X(x,y,z)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\dot{x}=\alpha x+\alpha y\hfill & \\ \dot{y}=\beta xyxz\hfill & \\ \dot{z}=\gamma z+xy,\hfill & \end{array}$$
(1)
where $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma `$ are real parameters. Numerical experiments performed by Lorenz (for $`\alpha =10,\beta =28\text{ and }\gamma =8/3`$ ) suggested the existence, in a robust way, of a strange attractor toward which tends a full neighborhood of positive trajectories of the above system. That is, the strange attractor could not be destroyed by any perturbation of the parameters. Most important, the attractor contains an equilibrium point $`(0,0,0)`$, and periodic points accumulating on it, and hence can not be hyperbolic. Notably, only now, three and a half decades after this remarkable work, was it proved \[Tu\] that the solutions of (1) satisfy such a property for values $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma `$ near the ones considered by Lorenz.

However, already in the mid-seventies, the existence of robust non-hyperbolic attractors was proved for flows introduced in \[ABS\] and \[Gu\], which we now call geometric models for Lorenz attractors. In particular, they exhibit, in a robust way, an attracting transitive set with an equilibrium (singularity). Moreover, the properties of this geometrical models, allow one to extract very complete dynamical information. A natural question raises, is such features present for any robust transitive set?

In \[MPP\] a positive answer for this question is given:

Theorem 9 : $`C^1`$ robust transitive sets with singularities on closed $`3`$-manifolds verifies:

$`1.`$ there are either proper attractors or proper repellers;

$`2.`$ the eigenvalues at the singularities satisfy the same inequalities as the corresponding ones at the singularity in a Lorenz geometrical model;

$`3.`$ there are partially hyperbolic with a volume expanding central direction.

The presence of a singularity prevents these attractors from being hyperbolic. But they exhibit a weaker form of hyperbolicity singular hyperbolic splitting. This class of vector fields contains the Axiom A systems, the geometric Lorenz attractors and the singular horseshoes in (\[LP\]), among other systems. Currently, there is a rather satisfactory and complete description of singular hyperbolic vector fields defined on 3-dimensional manifolds (but the panorama in higher dimensions remains open). More precisely, it is proved in a sequel of works that a singular hyperbolic set for flow is $`K^{}.`$expansive, the periodic orbits are dense in its limit set, and it has a spectral decomposition (see \[PP\], \[K\]).

On the other hand, for the case of flows, appears a new kind of bifurcation that leads to a new dynamics distinct from the ones for diffeomorphism: the so called singular cycles (cycles involving singularities and periodic orbits, see \[BLMP\], \[Mo\], \[MP\] and \[MPP1\] for examples of dynamics in the sequel of the unfolding of it). Systems exhibiting this cycles are dense among open set of systems exhibiting a singular hyperbolic splitting. Moreover, recently A. Arroyo and F. Rodriguez Hertz (see \[AR\]) studying the dynamical consequences of the dominated splitting for the Linear Poincare flow, proved that any three dimensional flow can be $`C^1`$approximated either by a flow exhibiting tangency or singular cycle, or by a hyperbolic one.


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# Untitled Document

CMB Power Spectrum from Noncommutative Spacetime

Qing Guo Huang1 and Miao Li1,2

1Institute of Theoretical Physics

Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 2735

Beijing 100080

2Department of Physics

National Taiwan University

Taipei 10764, Taiwan

huangqg@itp.ac.cn

mli@itp.ac.cn

Very recent CMB data of WMAP offers an opportunity to test inflation models, in particular, the running of spectral index is quite new and can be used to rule out some models. We show that an noncommutative spacetime inflation model gives a good explanation of these new results. In fitting the data, we also obtain a relationship between the noncommutative parameter (string scale) and the ending time of inflation.

April, 2003

Recent results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe \[1--3\] give further determination of cosmological parameters and constrain properties of inflationary models tightly. Some analysis was done in , and in particular, the new data on the running of the spectral index of the power spectrum of CMB provide good constraints on inflationary models, and some models were analyzed in . In general, models satisfying the slow roll conditions naturally predict too small running of the spectral index. In this note we analyze the model of  in which spacetime noncommutativity is taken into account, and find that it is rather easy to accommodate WMAP data in this model. It is quite remarkable that the two parameters in this model can be used to fit four data of the spectral index. We determine these two parameters, and the string scale is in turn determined once the termination time of inflation is known. For a typical termination time of inflation $`t_{}=10^{32}\text{s}`$ , the string scale is $`l_s=10^{25}`$cm, or $`M_s=10^{11}`$ Gev.

Spacetime in general is noncommutative in string theory, this manifests in a general relation $`\mathrm{\Delta }X\mathrm{\Delta }Tl_s^2`$ . However it is hard to formulate string theory in a fashion to incorporate this relation directly. On a general ground, if inflation reflects physics at a scale close to string scale or a related scale, one expects that spacetime uncertainty must have effects in the CMB power spectrum, observable or to be observable (implications of space-space noncommutativity for inflation were considered in ). Lacking a manifest formulation of noncommutativity, we shall be content with a scheme proposed in , in which spacetime noncommutativity is put in by hand for a scalar field (inflaton). Skipping the detailed discussions leading to their action, we copy the free scalar action here

$$S=V𝑑\eta d^3kz_k^2(\eta )(\varphi _k^{}\varphi _k^{}k^2\varphi _k\varphi _k),$$

where

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill z_k^2& =a(\eta )^2y_k^2(\eta ),y_k^2=(\beta _k^+\beta _k^{})^{\frac{1}{2}},\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{d\eta }{d\tau }& =\left(\frac{\beta _k^{}}{\beta _k^+}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}},\beta _k^\pm =\frac{1}{2}(a^{\pm 2}(\tau +ł_s^2k)+a^{\pm 2}(\tau l_s^2k),\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`l_s`$ is the string length scale, $`a(\tau )`$ is the scale factor in the metric, and time $`\tau `$ is defined such that

$$ds^2=a^2(\tau )d\tau ^2+a^2(\tau )dx^2.$$

Unlike in the commuting spacetime, the all important scale factor $`z_k`$ in our case depends on the comoving wave number $`k`$.

We shall consider the power-law inflation, and this can be generated by a scalar potential assuming an exponential form. Let $`t`$ be the cosmological time, so $`a(t)=a_0t^n`$, $`n>1`$. In terms of $`\tau =\frac{a_0}{n+1}t^{n+1}`$, $`a=\alpha _0\tau ^{\frac{n}{n+1}}`$ with

$$\alpha _0=a_0^{\frac{1}{n+1}}(n+1)^{\frac{n}{n+1}}.$$

To simplify relations that will follow, we define a scale $`l`$ so that $`a(\tau )=(\tau /l)^{\frac{n}{n+1}}`$ and $`a(t)=(\frac{t}{(n+1)l})^n`$. We shall estimate the relationship between the scale $`l`$ and the termination time $`t_{}`$ later.

The scalar power spectrum can be computed in the usual way, and is given by

$$P(k)=\frac{k^2}{4\pi ^2z_k^2(\eta _k)},$$

and $`\eta _k`$ is determined by the condition

$$k^2=\frac{z_k^{\prime \prime }}{z_k}.$$

Two extremal limits were considered in , namely the UV limit and the IR limit. However, the observed results must lie in between, so we need to calculate the power spectrum again. The interested region is actually UV in terms of the time when the perturbation is created, but this was not discussed in . What we need to compute is

$$n_s=1+\frac{d\mathrm{ln}P(k)}{d\mathrm{ln}k},\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}.$$

Define

$$k_c=\left(\frac{(n+1)^2}{n(2n1)}\right)^{\frac{n+1}{4}}(\frac{l_s}{l})^{n1}l^1.$$

Naively, $`k_c`$ is determined by two microscopic scales $`l`$ and $`l_s`$, one would expect that $`k_c`$ is also at the microscopic scale. This is wrong, due to the large exponent $`n`$. To achieve sufficient number of e-folds, $`n`$ ought to be large enough, and indeed we will determine it be around 13. Thus, if $`l_s`$ is smaller than $`l`$ by a few order, the characteristic wave length $`1/k_c`$ is macroscopic. The interesting range of $`k`$ is between $`(0.002,0.05)\text{Mpc}^1`$, and we assume these length scales be smaller than $`1/k_c`$, so $`k_c/k1`$. In solving the crossing horizon condition (1), we will expand everything in $`k_c/k`$.

Without the string spacetime uncertainty, or let $`l_s=0`$, the crossing horizon time is

$$\tau _k^0=l_s^2k\left(\frac{k}{k_c}\right)^{\frac{2}{n1}},$$

the dependence on $`l_s`$ is fictitious, since a factor in $`k_c`$ cancels $`l_s^2`$. Since string uncertainty introduces a uncertainty in time $`\sigma =l_s^2k`$, this ought to be smaller than the time when the perturbation is created, namely, $`\sigma /\tau _k^0`$ must be small. This ratio is nothing but

$$\frac{\sigma }{\tau _k^0}=\left(\frac{k_c}{k}\right)^{\frac{2}{n1}}1.$$

For a large enough $`n`$, $`k_c`$ is small enough so that the above assumption will be valid.

In solving (1), not only we need to modify $`z_k`$ according to (1), but also we need to modify the definition of the conformal time according to (1). For instance

$$\frac{d}{d\eta }=\alpha _0^2\tau ^{\frac{2n}{n+1}}(1\frac{n}{n+1}\frac{\sigma ^2}{\tau ^2})\frac{d}{d\tau },$$

where we have truncated to the first nontrivial order in $`\sigma /\tau `$. After a lengthy but straightforward calculation, we find

$$\frac{z_k^{\prime \prime }}{z_k}=\frac{n(2n1)}{(n+1)^2}\alpha _0^4\tau ^{\frac{2(n1)}{n+1}}\left(1\frac{2n(n+1)(2n5)}{(2n1)(n+1)^2}\frac{\sigma ^2}{\tau ^2}\right).$$

Solving (1) using (1), we obtain

$$\tau _k=l_s^2k(\frac{k}{k_c})^{\frac{2}{n1}}\left(1+\frac{n(2n5)}{(n1)(2n1)}(\frac{k_c}{k})^{\frac{4}{n1}}\right).$$

The power spectrum is readily calculated to be

$$P(k)k^{\frac{2}{n1}}\left(1\frac{4n^2(n2)(2n+1)}{(n+1)^2(n1)(2n1)}(\frac{k_c}{k})^{\frac{4}{n1}}\right).$$

Denote the coefficient in the front of $`(k_c/k)^{\frac{4}{n1}}`$ in the above formula by $`x`$ (the positive one), we compute the spectral index and the running of the index

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill n_s1& =\frac{2}{n1}+\frac{4x}{n1}(\frac{k_c}{k})^{\frac{4}{n1}},\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}& =\frac{16x}{(n1)^2}(\frac{k_c}{k})^{\frac{4}{n1}}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Since $`x`$ is positive, $`n_s`$ is larger for smaller $`k`$, the expected behavior. Now, use the WMAP data

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill n_s& =0.93\pm 0.03,\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}=0.031_{0.017}^{+0.016}\text{at}k=0.05\text{Mpc}^1,\hfill \\ \hfill n_s& =1.10_{0.06}^{+0.07},\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}=0.042_{0.020}^{+0.021}\text{at}k=0.002\text{Mpc}^1\hfill \end{array}$$

to see whether the main formulas in (1) can fit these. There are only two parameters in (1), namely $`n`$ and $`k_c`$, but there are four independent results from the WMAP. We will adopt the following strategy: we first use the two results at $`k=0.05\text{Mpc}^1`$ to determine the two parameters, and make a prediction about $`n_s`$ and its running at $`k=0.002\text{Mpc}^1`$. Later, we use the results about $`n_s`$ at two different scales to make a prediction about the running of $`n_s`$ at the two scales.

Using the results at $`k=0.05\text{Mpc}^1`$, we find

$$n=13.171_{2.772}^{+6.198},k_c=1.65_{1.64}^{+6.84}\times 10^5\text{Mpc}^1.$$

Indeed, $`k_c/k`$ is a small number, and $`(k_c/k)^{\frac{4}{n1}}`$ is also small enough so the approximation used in deriving (1) is valid. These parameters together with (1) predict

$$n_s=1.11_{0.13}^{+0.14},\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}=0.089_{0.100}^{+0.059}\text{at}k=0.002\text{Mpc}^1.$$

The central value of the predicted $`n_s`$ is quite good compared to that in (1), the central value of the predicted running is larger than that in (1), but within the error bar, we notice that the tendency of the predicted running is good, it is larger at a larger scale. For $`k=0.002\text{Mpc}^1`$, it is possible that higher orders in $`k_c/k`$ are not negligible, and may improve our result. We also notice that in  the central value of the running is estimated to be $`0.077`$, much closer to our prediction.

Next, using the values of $`n_s`$ at two different scales in (1), we determine

$$n=13.336_{2.412}^{+5.204},k_c=1.43_{1.42}^{+3.81}\times 10^5\text{Mpc}^1,$$

and the running of the spectral index

$$\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}(k=0.05\text{Mpc}^1)=0.030_{0.011}^{+0.013},\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}(k=0.002\text{Mpc}^1)=0.085_{0.065}^{+0.050}.$$

We show the spectral index and the running as functions of $`\mathrm{ln}k`$ in fig.1 and fig.2.

We have used the WMAP data to determine two parameters $`n`$ and $`k_c`$ in the noncommutative inflation model. Next, we want to determine the relation between the ending time of inflation and the string scale. To do so, note that the comoving wave numbers are measured at the present time, so the normalization of the scale factor $`a(t)`$ at the present $`t_0`$ is 1. Since the termination of inflation, our universe underwent a radiation dominated epoch and matter dominated epoch (for simplicity we ignore the observed dark energy), so the scale factor was enhanced twice:

$$a(t_{})(\frac{10^4\times 365\times 24\times 60^2}{t_{}})^{\frac{1}{2}}(\frac{13.7\times 10^9}{10^4})^{\frac{2}{3}}=1,$$

where $`t_{}`$ is the termination time of inflation and its unit is second. Using $`a(t_{})=a_0t_{}^n`$, we find the parameter $`l`$

$$l=\frac{t_{}}{n+1}(\frac{4.8\times 10^9}{t_{}})^{\frac{1}{2n}}.$$

$`l`$ is larger than $`t_{}`$. Next, using the definition of $`k_c`$ in (1), we get

$$l_s=\left[k_cl^n\left(\frac{(n+1)^2}{n(2n1)}\right)^{\frac{n+1}{4}}\right]^{\frac{1}{n1}}.$$

In the end, $`l`$ and $`l_s`$ are expressed in terms of $`t_{}`$

$$l=dt_{}^{\frac{2n1}{2n}},l_s=ct_{}^{\frac{2n1}{2n2}},$$

where in defining $`d`$ and $`c`$, we have turned $`l`$ and $`l_s`$ in the unit cm.

For parameters in (1), we have

$$d=1.18_{0.71}^{+1.15}\times 10^{10},c=2.70_{0.35}^{+0.15}\times 10^8.$$

Thus for $`t_{}=10^{32}`$s, $`l10^{21}`$cm, $`l_s10^{25}`$cm. $`l_s`$ is larger than the Planck scale by 8 orders. For $`t_{}=10^{38}`$s, the earliest possibility , $`l_s10^{31}`$cm, larger than the Planck scale only by two orders. For parameters in (1),

$$d=1.14_{0.62}^{+0.86}\times 10^{10},c=2.70_{0.31}^{+0.21}\times 10^8,$$

not much different from those in (1).

Figure 1. $`n_s`$ as a function of $`\mathrm{ln}k`$. Parameters are determined using data at $`k=0.05\text{Mpc}^1`$.

Figure 2. $`\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}`$ as a function of $`\mathrm{ln}k`$. Parameters are determined using data at $`k=0.05\text{Mpc}^1`$.

To summarize, we have found that the noncommutative inflation model accommodates the recent WMAP data nicely, and if this model possesses any truth about string theory, string theory can already be tested in the observational cosmology, this is very exciting. Although the WMAP results on the spectral index and its running are obtained by combining other experiments and are not yet very conclusive, we believe that future refined results will offer better opportunity for testing whether spacetime uncertainty is a viable physical model for inflation.

Acknowledgments. This work was supported by a grant of NSC, and by a “Hundred People Project” grant of Academia Sinica and an outstanding young investigator award of NSF of China. This work was done during a string workshop organized by ICTS (Interdisciplinary Center of Theoretical Sciences), its hospitality is gratefully acknowledged.

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