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# Exploring the high pressure phase diagram of La1-xCaxMnO3

## I Introduction

Manganese oxides with perovskite structure form solid solutions of the type: (*Re*MnO3)1-x(*Me*MnO3)x, in which trivalent rare earth ions (*Re* = La, Pr, Y) are progressively substituted with divalent metal ions (*Me* = Ca, Ba, Sr). This substitution produces a mixed-valence state of Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions giving rise to a phase diagram rich in interesting transitions and phenomena such as metal to insulator transition (MI), magnetoresistance (MR) and charge ordering (CO) effects. Some of these oxides, in a range of composition, are ferromagnetic metals at low temperatures and become insulator above the Curie temperature (Tc). Crossing Tc is often associated with a large magnetoresistance effect that stimulated the research interest since the early 1950’s Zener (1951). In the last decade the discovery of huge magnetoresistance in some of these compounds, named Colossal Magnetoresistance (CMR), renewed intense attention on these materials; besides their potential applications, these compounds are intriguing from a fundamental point of view in the field of strongly correlated systems.

The special features of manganese oxide perovskites originate from a delicate balance among structural, magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom whose main ingredients are: the double exchange (DE) and super-exchange (SE) interactions between Mn ions, plus the coupling between charge carrier and lattice distortions driven by the Jahn-Teller effect on Mn3+ ions. The concept of DE was introduced Zener (1951); Anderson and Hasegawa (1955); de Gennes (1960) long ago to describe the essential interactions among Mn ions giving rise to the MR effect: the DE, in fact, is dependent on the electron hopping probability *t*, between Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions. The *t* is affected by the relative alignment of Mn4+/Mn3+ core spin ($`t_{2g}`$) owing to the strong Hund coupling between $`t_{2g}`$ and $`e_g`$ electron spins. Thus, an external magnetic field which aligns the $`t_{2g}`$ spins, promotes the $`e_g`$ charge hopping, producing a negative MR effect. The relevance of charge to lattice coupling (e-p), driven by the Jahn-Teller effect on Mn3+ ions, has been recognized only recentlyMillis et al. (1995, 1996): it provides the localization energy to drive the metallic state to an insulator below the room temperature and is essential to explain the huge MR effect. Finally the SE coupling, that is responsible for antiferromagnetic (AFM) interaction between the $`t_{2g}^3`$ states at neighboring sites, is a fundamental ingredient stabilizing charge ordered phases in the $`x0.5`$ compounds.

The La1-xCaxMnO3 series of solid solutions is the prototype of mixed-valence perovskites, with similar ionic sizes of Ca and La allowing one to obtain solid solution over the entire concentration range. The phase diagram of La1-xCaxMnO3, in terms of magnetic, electronic and structural properties as a function of temperature and composition appears complex Schiffer et al. (1995): around (and above) room temperature (RT) all the compounds are paramagnetic insulators (PM-I). Ca doped compounds, in the $`0.2x<0.5`$ composition range, exhibit a paramagnetic-insulator (PM-I) to ferromagnetic-metallic (FM-M) phase transition upon cooling. The transition temperatures (Tc-TMI) can be tuned by applying a magnetic field and this gives rise to the so called CMR effect. In the La doped compounds (that is in the $`0.5x<0.85`$ range) the prevalence of the AFM super-exchange coupling among Mn ions results in low temperature charge ordered (CO) phases that are insulating due to the reduced DE couplingFernández-Díaz and et al. (1999). In a narrow region of composition around $`x=0.5`$ the competition between the FM double exchange and the AFM super-exchange coupling makes the magnetic, electronic and structural phase diagram highly intricate with the appearance of complex charge ordered superstructures Ohsawa and Inoue (2001).

It is well-known that the atomic structure of these systems influences the electronic and magnetic structures in diverse ways. From the structural point of view LaMnO3 (Mn3+ ions) is only made of Jahn-Teller (JT) distorted MnO6 octahedra while, in the CaMnO3 (Mn4+ ions), the MnO6 octahedra are undistorted. The doped compounds show a complex behaviour as a function of temperature and doping: large JT effect is observed in the high temperature PM-I phase, whose amplitude decreases with increasing the Ca content Booth et al. (1998); Radaelli et al. (1996a); Louca and Egami (1999); Louca et al. (2001). A sudden drop of MnO6 JT distortions accompanies the insulator to metal transition on cooling the sample ($`0.2x<0.5`$) across Tc-TMI Booth et al. (1998); Lanzara et al. (1998); Meneghini et al. (2002); Subías et al. (2002). The low temperature CO phases observed in La doped oxides (x $``$ 0.5) are characterized by large cooperative JT effect enhancing the MnO6 coherent distortions Bardelli et al. (2003). Not only the long range geometric structure, but also the local structural aspects over the short and medium ranges have profound influence on the physical properties of Mn perovskites, as they determine the relative strengths of various interactions involved. Thus, structural deformation, which modifies the distance between Mn ions, the Mn-O-Mn bond angle and the cell volume, strongly affects the physical properties of the compound such as the electrical conductibility, the magnetic response, Tc, TMI and so onHwang et al. (1995a); Yoshizawa et al. (1997).

Relevant information on the physics of these materials can be derived from studies under high pressure Hwang et al. (1995b); Nossov et al. (1998); Neumeier et al. (1995); Tokura et al. (1996); Laukhin et al. (1997); Senis et al. (1998) since squeezing the structure is a way to alter the scale of the interactions involved. Studies as a function of hydrostatic pressure, in the relatively low pressure region (up to 2-3 GPa) reported the increase of charge delocalization Hwang et al. (1995b); Laukhin et al. (1997) and suggested, in accordance with chemical pressure results, a progressive metallization of the system in the higher pressure region. However, recently, complementary observations from RamanCongeduti et al. (2001a) and IRCongeduti et al. (2001b) spectroscopy, as well as electrical conductibility and X-ray diffraction (XRD)Meneghini et al. (2001) on La0.75Ca0.25MnO3 under higher pressures (up to about 12 GPa) have reported the occurrence of a competing mechanism which is activated raising the pressure above 6-7 GPa. This mechanism appears to compete with the charge delocalization preventing the metallization of the system raising the pressure at least till 12 GPa. These recent findings strongly suggest the need for a systematic investigation of the high pressure properties of these compounds.

In this work we describe the structural phase diagram of La1-xCaxMnO3 compounds as a function of pressure up to about 40 GPa and composition ($`0x1`$), thereby providing a complete description of this interesting class of systems. The crystallographic structure of the samples has been studied by synchrotron radiation XRD technique.

## II Experimental and data analysis

La1-xCaxMnO3 samples were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method using La2O3, CaCO3 and Mn3O4 precursors mixed in stoichiometric proportions. Soft chemistry procedures have been employed to prepare the stoichiometric LaMnO3 and CaMnO3 oxides. Stoichiometric amounts of analytical grade La2O3, Ca(NO3)2 and MnCO3 were dissolved in citric acid. The citrate solutions were slowly evaporated, leading to organic resins containing a random distribution of the involved cations at an atomic level. All the organic materials were eliminated in a treatment at 700C in air, for 12 hours. This treatment gave rise to highly reactive precursor materials, amorphous to X-ray diffraction (XRD). LaMnO3 precursor was then treated at 1100C in a N2 flow for 12 hours: inert-atmosphere annealing was required to avoid the formation of oxidized LaMnO3+δ phases (rhombohedral in symmetry), thus minimizing the unwanted presence of Mn4+. CaMnO3 precursor was annealed in air at 1100C for 12 h. All the compounds appear single phase at standard X-ray diffraction analysis.

High pressure X-ray Diffraction experiments were performed at the high pressure beam line (ID9) of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France). Powder diffraction patterns were collected using an angle dispersed set-up based on a MAR345 imaging plate detector. The monochromatic beam ($`\lambda =.41436`$ Å) was focussed to $`30\times 30\mu m^2`$ spot using a Pt-coated mirror (vertical focus) and an asymmetrically cut bent Si (111) Laue monochromator (horizontal focus) Schulze et al. (1998). Hydrostatic compression was achieved in a ”Le Toullec” type diamond anvil cell (DAC). The diameter of the diamond culet was 300 $`\mu m`$, smaller than in our previous experiment (Meneghini et al. (2001)) but it is mandatory in order to reach higher pressures. A stainless steel gasket with a 125 $`\mu m`$ hole diameter was used. Finely ground sample powder was placed in the gasket hole using nitrogen as pressure transmitting media. The diamonds, mounted with a thrust axis parallel to the incident beam, allowed collecting a diffraction cone of about $`25^{}`$ in $`2\theta `$. The collection time was fixed to 5 s for each sample. The DAC oscillates in between $`\pm 3^{}`$. during acquisition in order to improve the statistics over the sample orientations. The pressure on the sample was determined before and after each imaging, by monitoring the fluorescence line shift of a small ruby pellet enclosed in the DAC with the sample. Mao et al. (1986) XRD patterns were collected at room temperature in the pressure range 0-40 GPa with steps of about 1 GPa. 2D-XRD patterns were collected on a MAR345 Imaging Plate (IP) with a pixel dimension of $`100\times 100`$ $`\mu m^2`$ placed about 300 mm from the sample. With this set-up, the angular resolution calibrated on Si-NBS, was of about 0.04 FWHM in 2$`\theta `$. The images were treated using the FIT2D package Hammersley et al. (1996) in order to have standard intensity vs. $`2\theta `$ patterns, corrected for geometrical effects. Structural refinement of integrated profile patterns was achieved through the Rietveld method as implemented in the GSAS package. Larsson and von Dreele (1999) Pseudo-Voigt profile function proved to be appropriate to fit the experimental pattern without asymmetry correction. The background was modelled using a 12 term expansion of the Chebychev polynomial function.

In figure 1, a raw 2D XRD pattern image as collected from a perovskite sample is presented. The very reduced sample volume probed by the XRD beam (being $`10^9cm^3`$) produces large orientational effect as shown by the inhomogeneous intensity distribution along the Debye rings. It is clear that the angular dispersed set-up and the 2D detector are mandatory for such a kind of experiments since it represents the only way to recover the preferred orientation effect and obtain a reliable pattern intensity. In addition the MAR345 detector allows collecting data of high quality thanks to the high count statistics, to its linearity and to the rapid acquisition time avoiding for pressure gradients during collection. It is important to note that this detector allows reading in situ the 2D patterns, this avoids incertitude in the experimental geometry calibration (beam center, sample to detector distances, detector tilts) that, on the contrary, may cause larger problems using ex-situ IP read-out devices.

Before we proceed to the data presentation and to the discussion of the results it is worth while to notice that though the absolute accuracy of XRD pattern analysis can be affected by the calibration procedure (beam wavelength, sample to detector distance and so on), the relative modifications of XRD patterns induced by the pressure is reliable being largely independent of such factors. Thus, structural evolution under pressure and, more in general, relative changes in structural features, can be followed with very high accuracy with this set up, arising from the exceptional statistics and the integration over the whole Debye rings allowing also weak pattern modifications to be recognized.

The equation of state has been quantitatively analyzed by fitting the V *vs.* P curves with the Birch-Murnaghan (B-M) equation of state Birch (1947). The B-M equation is based on the assumption that the strain energy can be expressed as a Taylor series in the finite strain *f*. There are several alternative definitions for *f* corresponding to different equation of state, each one leading to a different relationship between P and V. The B-M equation is based on the so called Eulerian definition of *f* that is:

$`f_E={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[(V_0/V)^{2/3}1\right]`$ (1)
and the expansion to the fourth order in the strain yields:

$`P=3B_0f_E(1+2f_E)^{5/2}[1+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}(B^{}4)f_E+`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}(B_0B^{\prime \prime }+(B^{}4)(B^{}3)+{\displaystyle \frac{35}{9}})f_E^2]`$ (2)
The bulk modulus at the zero pressure ($`B_0=VP/V`$) and its pressure derivatives ($`B^{}=B/P`$ and $`B^{\prime \prime }=^2B/P^2`$) characterize the stiffness of the solid. If the equation is truncated at the second order in the energy, then the coefficient of $`f_E`$ must be identical to zero, thus $`B^{}=4`$. The truncation to the third order, that implies the coefficient of $`f_E^2`$ equals zero, gives a three parameters equation: $`V_0`$, $`B_0`$ and $`B^{}`$, and implies $`B_0^{\prime \prime }=1/B_0[(3B^{})(4B^{})+35/9]`$. Within this formalism the normalized pressure is defined as: $`F_E=P[3f_E(1+2f_E)^{5/2}]^1`$ so that the plot $`F_E`$ *vs.* $`f_E`$ gives an intuitive way to determine the order of the B-M equation: a constant $`F_E(f_E)`$ implies a second order B-M equation of state, a linear trend requires a third order B-M equation and quadratic trend justifies the fitting with a fourth order equation of state.

## III Results

The figure 2 reports examples of low and high pressure XRD patterns for the investigated samples as a function of composition. Despite the Ca doping, $`0x1`$, all the members of the family, at low pressure, represent an orthorhombic structure described by the P$`nma`$ space group. Such a structure is derived from the ideal cubic perovskite structure in which the MnO6 octahedra, are located on the cube corners, while the La/Ca ions occupy the cube centers. However, since the La/Ca ions are too small to fill the free space inside the cube (size mismatch), the space filling is achieved mainly by tilting the MnO6 octahedra with respect to the crystallographic planes, thus deforming the cube and doubling the unit cell along the b axis (figure 3a). Within the P$`nma`$ space group description, the lattice parameters (a, b, c) are related to the edge of the ideal perovskite cubic cell $`a_p`$, by $`a=c\sqrt{2}a_p`$ and $`b=2a_p`$. The two inequivalent oxygen sites in the $`Pnma`$ structure also allow taking into account the JT distortion of MnO6 octahedra observed for $`x<1`$. High pressure structures are found to depend on the Ca doping: the structure of LaMnO3 remains orthorhombic, but the space group changes from P$`nma`$ to I$`mma`$ characterized by alternate rotation of the octahedra around the  direction (figure 3b). The high pressure phase in doped compounds ($`0<x<1`$) is tetragonal (I$`4/mcm`$), characterized by alternate rotation of the octahedra around the  axis (figure 3c). The structure of CaMnO3 remains orthorhombic in the P$`nma`$ space group in the whole pressure range investigated.

The structural evolution of the samples as a function of pressure and composition is detailed in the following sections.

### III.1 LaMnO3

Typical diffraction patterns of LaMnO3 in the pressure range 1-32 GPa are shown in figure 4 and an example of the profile fitting (P=11.7 GPa) is reported in figure 5. The good data quality allows a satisfactory refinement up to P = 32 GPa yielding reliable lattice parameters and atomic positions.

The figure 6(0.0-a) reports the evolution of LaMnO3 lattice edges as a function of pressure. The $`b`$-axis values reported in the figure are normalized by a factor $`1/\sqrt{2}`$, corresponding to a pseudo-cubic representation of the lattice. The compressibility is different along the three axes and evolves differently as a function of the applied pressure as shown by the data reported in figure 6(0.0-a): the LaMnO3 $`a`$-axis represents the soft compressibility direction up to about 16 GPa, thus the $`a`$-axis compressibility decreases. The $`b`$-axis compressibility changes (slightly decreases) above $`20`$ GPa. Along the $`c`$-axis, the compressibility decreases smoothly till about 14 GPa and then it abruptly increases above $`14`$ GPa. This trend is in qualitative agreement with that reported recentlyLoa et al. (2001). The structure of LaMnO3 remains orthorhombic up to 35 GPa.

However the changes of compressibility along the three axes in the region 10-20 GPa, are indicative of a phase transition and the progressive decrease of intensity of the (1 1 1) reflection (see figure 4) is suggestive of a $`I`$ space group, since the reflections with *h+k+l* odd are forbidden by this symmetry. This qualitative hypothesis is further confirmed by the impossibility to achieve satisfactory structural refinement convergence within the P$`nma`$ space group above $``$ 15 GPa. The refinements of XRD profiles demonstrate a change of space group from $`Pnma`$ to $`Imma`$ above $`15`$ GPa, as evidenced by the volume compressibility change visible in figure 6(0.0-b). The $`Imma`$ space group is derived from the ideal cubic perovskite structure by a single rotation of the octahedra around the \[1 0 1\] cubic direction (figure 3). This phase has been already observed in manganese oxide perovskites containing cations with a large ionic radius, such as La0.70Ba0.30MnO3 Radaelli et al. (1996b), as a result of chemical substitution effect. However, P$`nma`$-I$`mma`$ transition in the present case of physical pressure does not involve any intermediate trigonal phase that is observed in studies performed as a function of the chemical pressureRadaelli et al. (1996b). The smoothness in the evolution of the cell parameters and cell volume as a function of applied pressure (figure 6(0.0-a,b)) demonstrate the continuous (second order) nature of this phase transition. The V *vs.* P curve is well described by a third order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state Birch (1986), yielding the values reported in table 3 for the bulk moduli, $`B_o`$ and $`B^{}`$. These values are in agreement with those reported in literatureLoa et al. (2001). The values of $`B^{}`$ (that is 9.5 in the P$`nma`$ phase and 12 in the I$`mma`$ phase) are large in comparison to those typical of crystals with nearly isotropic compression that ranges in between 4-6. These large values found here must be related to the anisotropic compressibility along the three axes, as already suggested in ref.Loa et al. (2001). The bulk modulus and its derivative increase through the P$`nma`$ to I$`mma`$ transition pointing out the increasing stiffness of the structure. The P$`nma`$ to I$`mma`$ transition increases the stiffness of the structure with the doubling of the bulk modulus, from about 100 GPa to 200 GPa.

We can clearly notice from fig. 6a that $`a`$ and $`c`$ axes lengths approach each other raising the pressure toward the maximum value (32 GPa). This trend, in analogy with the results obtained on the other samples (see below), may suggest an impending orthorhombic to tetragonal phase transition which might be reached at somewhat higher pressure.

The good quality of the patterns allows reliable refinement of the atomic positions from which the Mn-O bond distances are calculated, as reported in figure 6(0.0-c). In the P$`nma`$ phase, the three Mn-O distances remain distinguishable, above the statistical uncertainty, till about 14 GPa. This finding, in agreement with recent neutron diffraction results Gaudart et al. (2001), demonstrates the stability of JT effect even in the high pressure region. The P$`nma`$ to I$`mma`$ transition provokes the collapse of the three Mn-O distances into one single value, representing removal of the coherent JT distortion.

The orthorhombic strains in the $`ac`$ plane, $`\mathrm{Os}_{}=2(\mathrm{a}\mathrm{c})/(\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{c})`$, and along the $`b`$ axis with respect to the $`ac`$ plane, $`\mathrm{Os}_{}=2(\mathrm{b}/\sqrt{(}2)(\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{c})/2)/(\mathrm{b}/\sqrt{(}2)+(\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{c})/2)`$, are reported in figure 6(0.0-d). They represent the deviation of the structure from an ideal cubic cell. $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ is quite large ($``$2%) at low pressures decreases to zero ($`a=b`$) around 10 GPa. Thus it increases in absolute value reaching the -2% in between 15 and 25 GPa. The decreasing trend (in absolute value) of $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ raising the pressure above 25 GPa is one other finding suggesting an incoming tetragonal transition to be reached at higher pressure (see the panel 0.25-d in figure 6). The effect of pressure on the $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ is weaker: in the P$`nma`$ phase it decreases (in absolute value) from -2.8% to about -2%, and remains quite unchanged in the high pressure I$`mma`$ phase.

### III.2 La0.75Ca0.25MnO3

The high pressure structural behavior of La0.75Ca0.25MnO3 was investigated by some of us in a recent workMeneghini et al. (2001) extending the pressure range up to about 12 GPa. In this experiment we have been able to extend the pressure range up to about 40 GPa by using a smaller diamond culet in the DAC cell. Unfortunately, the quality of the data collected in this sample is slightly poorer than in the previous experiment. This is partially due to the smaller sample volume that reduces the statistics in XRD patterns. For this reason we have a slightly larger uncertainty refining the the lattice parameters and, in particular, refining the Mn and O atomic positions. Notice, however, that the new values are in agreement with those previously reported in the overlapping range (figure 6(0.25)).

The lattice parameters reported in figure 6(0.25-a) depict a decreasing trend as a function of the applied pressure till about 20 GPa. The easy compressibility axis above 10 GPa is the $`b`$axis. The evolution of the $`b`$-axis as a function of the applied pressure is quite smooth till about 27 GPa. On the contrary, we notice a smooth change of slope in the $`a`$ and $`c`$-axes *vs.* P curves above $`10`$ GPa. Changes in $`a`$\- and $`c`$-axes compressibility become more accentuated on raising the pressure above $`20`$ GPa, causing the convergence of $`a`$ and $`c`$ lattice parameters in the region preceding to the orthorhombic (P$`nma`$) to tetragonal (I$`4/mcm`$) phase transition occurring around 27 GPa. We must notice that the intensity of the (1 1 1) reflection in the XRD patterns becomes progressively weaker on raising the pressure as we already observed in LaMnO3. This trend and the change of compressibility along the $`a`$\- and $`c`$-axes are compatible with a sluggish P$`nma`$ to I$`mma`$ phase transition starting around 17-20 GPa. This hypothesis is in agreement with the reported P$`nma`$ to I$`4/mcm`$ through I$`mma`$ phase transition as a function of average cation sizeWoodward et al. (1998). We must notice, in addition, that we found a progressive increase of the $`\chi ^2`$ factor refining our XRD patterns above 10-13 GPa. This suggests that the progressive appearance of other crystallographic phases, together with the P$`nma`$ one, may even be starting at lower pressures. The hypothesis of parasitic phases above $`10`$ GPa is also in agreement with the quadratic trend observed in the plot of the normalized pressure, $`F_E`$, as a function of the Eulerian strain $`f_E`$ (see below).

The V(P) curve reported in figure 6(0.25-b) depicts an evident change of slope around 27 GPa, in correspondence of the orthorhombic to tetragonal phase transition. The fitting with a third order B-M equation of state Birch (1986) in the P less than as well as above 27 GPa allows extracting the values of the bulk moduli in the P$`nma`$ and I$`4/mcm`$ phases, respectively. We found $`B_0`$=136 GPa and $`B^{}10`$ in the orthorhombic phase, and $`B_0300`$ GPa and $`B^{}7`$ in the high pressure tetragonal phase (table 3). The values of B0 and $`B^{}`$ are respectively smaller and larger in the P$`nma`$ phase than those previously reported Meneghini et al. (2001), namely $`B_0`$=178 GPa and $`B^{}4`$. The $`B^{}`$ value is anomalously high, similar to that previously observed in the LaMnO3 sample, even if, in this sample the compressibility anisotropy along the three axes is less evident. The figure 8 shows the plot of the normalized pressure, $`F_E`$, as a function of the Eulerian strain $`f_E`$ for La0.75Ca0.25MnO3 sample. In this plot, a non linear trend in the $`F_E(f_E)`$ curve is evident, suggesting the fitting with a fourth order B-M equation. In this case the best fit gives the following values for the bulk modulus and its derivatives: $`B_0=176`$ GPa , $`B^{}=3.3`$ and $`B^{\prime \prime }=0.9`$ GPa-1. Notice that in this case the values found for $`B_0`$ and $`B^{}`$ are in agreement with our previous findings obtained over a restricted pressure range, and the $`B^{}`$ is consistent with the more isotropic compressibility of the structure. The quadratic trend found in the $`F_E`$ *vs.* $`f_E`$ curve could suggest the growing of parasitic phases already around 10 GPa.

Around 25 GPa the orthorhombic structure becomes unstable and the system evolves towards a tetragonal structure (I$`4/mcm`$). This phase transition is characterized, below the critical pressure, by a sort of plateau of the V(P) curve. The smoothness of the phase transition is characterized by a progressive decrease of $`c`$, which “fuses” with $`a`$. One may wonder why $`b`$ increases with pressure, since the compression has commonly a squeezing effect on the lattice parameters. This anomalous effect must stem from a change in the tilt of the octahedra in the new phase. In fact the effect of pressure on the structure is twofold: on one hand, the pressure acts on the size of the Mn octahedra taking it closer to a more symmetric structure characterized by one Mn-O distance. On the other hand, the pressure induced phase transition modifies the tilting of the octahedra (figure 3). The P$`nma`$ phase is characterized by a three-tilt system of the MnO6 octhaedra Glazer (1972) while in the tetragonal structure the octahedra are aligned along the $`b`$ axis (Mn-O-Mn bond angle along $`b`$ is 180) thus the cell must expand in this direction in order to accommodate the two Mn-O bonds along $`b`$.

Even if the quality of the data makes the refinement of atomic positions more uncertain with respect to the previous results, we notice that the evolution of Mn-O bond lengths matches well our previous results: at low pressures (P$`<`$5-6 GPa) the Mn-O bond lengths appear indistinguishable within the statistical uncertainty. Above 5-6 GPa three Mn-O distances are recognizable, pointing out a larger coherent JT effect. The Mn-O bond lengths collapse raising the pressure above $``$ 15 GPa, as the structure evolves from the orthorhombic to the tetragonal phase. The Mn-O bonds remain indistinguishable in the high pressure orthorhombic region and in the tetragonal phase demonstrating the absence of any coherent JT effect.

The orthorhombic strains (figure 6(0.25-d)) are sensibly lower than in the LaMnO3 sample. Consistently with our previous results both $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ decreases (increases in absolute value) as a function of the applied pressure. Raising the pressure above 20 GPa causes $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ to approach zero before the transition to the tetragonal phase. In the I$`4/mcm`$ phase $`a=b`$ causes $`\mathrm{Os}_{}=0`$. The $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ increases (in absolute value) as a function of pressure in the whole range investigated. The change of symmetry causes the change of sign $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ but its modulus evolves smoothly across the phase transition.

### III.3 La0.5Ca0.5MnO3

The structural refinement of La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 diffraction pattern as a function of applied pressure shows that the samples are metrically orthorhombic in the low pressure region and the structure belongs within the P$`nma`$ space group up to 18 GPa. Above this pressure new peaks appear that cannot be indexed within the P$`nma`$ space group. Similar to the case of x=0.25 sample, the high pressure phase turns out to be tetragonal with I4/$`mcm`$ space group. The transition is well evident from the evolution of lattice parameters (Fig. 6(0.5-a)). The two phases, P$`nma`$ and I$`{}_{4}{}^{}/mcm`$, coexist in a reduced region around the transition. Before the transition, we do not observe the sluggish evolution seen for the x=0.25 sample and also the quality of the structural refinement ($`\chi ^2`$) remains good in the whole range allowing to exclude the presence of other phase transitions between the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal one.

Fitting the V(P) curve with the B-M equationBirch (1986) in the P$`nma`$ (I$`4/mcm`$) phase results in a bulk modulus $`B_0`$=172 GPa ($`B_0`$=253 GPa) and its pressure derivative $`B^{}`$=5.7 ($`B^{}`$=6.4) (table 3). As for x=0.25 sample, the bulk modulus for x=0.5 sample is larger in the I4/$`mcm`$ phase pointing out the reinforcement of stiffness through the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition.

La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 has three independent Mn-O distances in the orthorhombic phase reported in figure 6(0.5-c). At low pressures, the MnO6 octahedron has six almost equal distances. As the pressure increases above $`6`$ GPa we observe the progressive splitting of the three Mn-O distances till about 10 GPa where the JT effect reaches the maximum distortion value of about 0.07 Å. At still higher pressures, the Mn-O distances approach each other reducing the JT distortion (figure 6(0.5-c)) just before the orthorhombic to tetragonal transition. Nevertheless, in contrast to the x=0.25 sample, structural refinement gives two distinct Mn-O distances in the I$`4/mcm`$ phase pointing out the stability of the coherent JT effect in that phase.

The $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ (figure 6(0.5-d)) are negative and decreases (increases in absolute value) raising the pressure toward the orthorhombic to tetragonal transition. Differently from x=0 and x=0.25 samples $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ present very similar values as a function of pressure in the orthorhombic phase. The P$`nma`$ to I$`4/mcm`$ phase transition provokes the drop of $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ and the change of sign of $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ which absolute values increases steeply from $`1`$% to about 3-4 %.

### III.4  La0.33Ca0.67MnO3

The structural evolution of La0.33Ca0.67MnO3 as a function of the applied pressure (figure 6(0.67-a,b)) closely resemble that of La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 with a first order P$`nma`$ to I$`4/mcm`$ phase transition. However, this transition occurs at a lower pressure, that is around 13 GPa, for x=0.67 sample. The two phases coexist till about 19 GPa. As for the x=0.5 sample, we do not have evidences of a pre-transition effect below the orthorhombic to tetragonal phase transition. Fitting of the V(P) curve with a third order Birch-Murnaghan equationBirch (1986) gives the bulk modulus $`B_0`$=210 GPa and its pressure derivative at zero pressure $`B^{}`$=2 (table 3) in the P$`nma`$ phase. In the I$`4/mcm`$ phase, the bulk modulus slightly decreases to $`B_0190`$ GPa. The refinement of the atomic positions point to three different Mn-O distances in the P$`nma`$ phase (figure 6(0.67-c)), distinguishable over the statistical uncertainty raising the pressure above $``$ 3GPa. The maximum differences between the three Mn-O distances is achieved at around 8-10 GPa where the JT distortion reach about 0.08Å. At higher pressures, the differences become progressively smaller. In the region of coexistence of orthorhombic and tetragonal phases it is difficult to achieve a good refinement of atomic positions, however two distinct Mn-O distances are observed in the high pressure tetragonal phase suggesting the stability of the coherent JT effect in that high pressure phase.

As for the other samples the $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ (figure 6(0.67-d)) are negative and decreases (increases in absolute value) raising the pressure toward the orthorhombic to tetragonal transition. We notice that $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ are similar in the P$`nma`$ phase, and have similar trend, as already found in x=0.5 sample and differently from x=0 and x=0.25 samples. The orthorhombic to tetragonal phase transition is characterized by a a large discontinuity in $`\mathrm{Os}_{}`$ increasing from $`1\%`$ to more than 4%.

### III.5 CaMnO3

In CaMnO3, unlike all the other compounds along in this series, no phase transition was detected up to 45 GPa (figure 7). As described before, there are only Mn4+ manganese ions in this compound, which adopt a low spin configuration and no Jahn-Teller distortion. The stability of the CaMnO3 structure under applied pressure demonstrates that Mn3+ doping is essential in stabilizing the high pressure tetragonal phase.

The V(P) curve in CaMnO3 sample has been fitted with a third order Birch-Murnagan equation giving $`B_0`$=171 GPa and $`B^{}`$ = 5.9. In this sample, $`B_0`$ slightly decreases with respect to the value found in x=0.67. This decreasing trend contrasts the increasing of $`B_0`$ as a function of x found in the other samples. This effect is partially due to the neglect of fourth order terms in the B-M fitting that, in addition, gives a quite large $`B^{}`$ that contrasts with the isotropic compressibility of this structure. The fourth order fit (table 3) gives indeed a larger $`B_0`$195 GPa and a lower $`B^{}`$2.9.

## IV discussion

The plots in figure 6 describe the structural phase diagram of La1-xCaxMnO3 as a function of composition and applied pressure. The extreme compounds remain orthorhombic in the whole pressure range investigated. Nevertheless the LaMnO3 depicts a complex evolution of the cell edges and a P$`nma`$ to I$`mma`$ phase transition that are absent in the CaMnO3 sample, where the only effect of pressure is the isotropic squeezing of the unit cell. This difference must be related to the JT nature of Mn3+ ions, in x=0 samples, opposite to the undistorted MnO6 octahedra in x=1 samples.

All the doped compounds, at low pressure, are in the orthorhombic phase and evolve toward a tetragonal one on raising the pressure. This phase transition is closely related to the Ca doping: the onset of orthorhombic to tetragonal transition moves to a lower pressure as the Ca content increases. Moreover, the nature of this transition is different in the hole doped ($`x<0.5`$) and in the electron doped ($`x0.5`$) composition regions: in x=0.25 the transition appears smooth and the presence of intermediate parasitic phases can be hypothesized on the basis of the reduced refinement accuracy (larger $`\chi ^2`$). On the contrary the x=0.5 and x=0.67 samples depict first order P$`nma`$ to I$`4/mcm`$ transition.

The increasing of Ca content has a clear effect on the energetic cost for the orthorhombic to tetragonal transition ($`\mathrm{\Delta }E=P\mathrm{\Delta }V`$). For x=0.75 the P$`nma`$-I$`4/mcm`$ phase transition is very smooth and we found $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ =V(tetra)-V(ortho)=-0.53 Å3 at P = 26.4 GPa, giving to $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=8.4`$ KJ/mole. For x=0.50 $`\mathrm{\Delta }V=1.07\AA ^3`$ at P=19.5 GPa corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=12.56`$ KJ/mole and, for x=0.33 $`\mathrm{\Delta }V=2.33\AA ^3`$ at P=17.33 GPa, corresponding to a $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=24.33`$ KJ/mole. This means that on increasing the Ca doping the tetragonal phase needs more energy to be stable and this is confirmed by the progressive widening of the coexistence region of the two phases in figure 6. To explain this finding, we notice that the P$`nma`$ structure responds to the hydrostatic compression not only by squeezing the MnO6 octahedra but also by acting on their relative orientation, i.e. changing the Mn-O-Mn bond angle, that is less expensive for the energetic balance. In the I$`mma`$ and I$`4/mcm`$ phases, the tilting mode changes and the octahedra are aligned along one direction: along the  direction in the I$`mma`$ phase (figure 3b) and along the b axis in the I$`4/mcm`$ phase (figure 3c). Moreover, the coordination for the cation (La/Ca) changes from 8 (P$`nma`$) to 10-12 in the I$`4/mcm`$-I$`mma`$ phase. These changes make the structure more rigid as confirmed by the overall increasing of the lattice stiffness across the P$`nma`$-I$`4/mcm`$ phase transition (table 3).

All the doped compounds, in a range of the high pressure region, exhibit an evident splitting of Mn-O distances signalling the enhancement of coherent JT distortions. The analogous trend has been already reported for x=0.25 sample Meneghini et al. (2001). Moreover in x=0.5 and x=0.67 samples two Mn-O distances remains well distinct even in the high pressure tetragonal phase. These findings, together with previous high pressure resistivity Meneghini et al. (2001), Raman Congeduti et al. (2001b) and infra red Congeduti et al. (2001a) spectroscopy results, demonstrate that, at high pressures, a mechanism competes with the pressure induced reduction of the distortions and charge delocalization, as observed at the low pressures Laukhin et al. (1997); Hwang et al. (1995b). This mechanism is largely unexpected on the basis of a model involving only DE and e-p interactions. In fact squeezing the structure raises eg electron hopping integral; thus, increased pressure is expected to enhance the charge mobility. In addition, since the polaron stability is inversely proportional to the charge mobility, the squeezing of the structure is expected to bring the system in a less distorted-metallic phase, in contrast to the experimental result, at least in some regions of the high pressure-concentration phase diagram.

To explain these findings, other mechanisms must be taken into account, and these could be the cooperative JT effect and the SE coupling. The stability of JT distortion is related to the difference between the energy gained by the on-site distortion and the energy spent by the lattice to bring about such a distortion. In case of cooperative JT effect, the ordered orbital allow for alternating elongated and compressed Mn-O bonds, reducing the net lattice distortion, thus making the JT polaron energetically more stable. This effect has been invoked Tokura et al. (1996) to explain the pressure induced stabilization of a low temperature CO phase to the detriment of FM phase in (Nd,Sm)0.5Sr0.5MnO3 perovskites. On the other side the SE coupling, being fundamental in stabilizing the CO phases in x $`0.5`$ compounds, must also play a role. Theoretical simulations have indeed suggested the possibility of FM to CO phase transition as a function of the SE coupling strengthYunoki et al. (2000); Fratini et al. (2001).

We have studied structural the high pressure phase diagram of La1-xCaxMnO3 perovskites. Our findings detail the peculiar structural evolution of sample structure as a function of pressure and composition and suggest that squeezing the structure under hydrostatic pressure has a profound effect on the relative strength of the involved interactions, namely DE, SE and charge to lattice coupling.


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# Distance and mass of pulsating stars from multicolour photometry and atmospheric models

## 1 Introduction

The availability of ATLAS stellar atmospheric models (Kurucz, kuru1 (1997)) made it possible to account for the monochromatic flux of non-variable stars with a formerly unprecedented accuracy. As a function of the parameters effective temperature $`T_e`$, surface gravity $`g`$, chemical composition, etc, large grids of models are now available for different physical assumptions on convection and turbulence. Ab initio knowledge or reconstruction of photometric filter functions made it possible to compute absolute fluxes in a variety of photometric bands and to fit them to stellar magnitudes and colours by an appropriate choice of zero points. The comparison of observed colours of stars with computed colours of model atmospheres made it possible to determine the physical parameters of a star. These new possibilities opened the way to explore the atmospheric parameters of variable stars which pulsate in such a manner that quasi-static approximation (QSA, Buonaura et al. buona (1985)) is valid.

The synthetic colours $`UBVRIJK`$ of new and more sophisticated versions of the ATLAS models with increased microturbulence were used by Liu & Janes (liuj1 (1989), liuj2 (1990)) to determine fundamental parameters of RR Lyrae stars using the Baade-Wesselink (BW) technique. There are, however, many problems with the BW method: a theoretical overview of these was given by Gautschy (gaut1 (1987)) while practical questions and the application for RR Lyrae stars were discussed in detail by e.g. Liu & Janes (liuj2 (1990)), Jones et al. (jone1 (1992)).

The present paper will approach the determination of distance and mass of pulsating stars, especially RR Lyrae stars, from a modified point of view compared to a conventional the BW analysis. The synthetic colours and fluxes in different photometric bands of ATLAS models (Castelli, cast1 (1999)) will be used to determine the variation of stellar angular diameter by a similar, slightly extended method as in the BW analysis. However, the angular diameters and values of the effective gravity $`g_e`$ will be introduced in the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equation averaged over the continuum-forming layers: the distance and mass of the star will be determined from the momentum balance of the variable atmosphere . In this manner the most time consuming radial velocity observations are not necessary, their problematic conversion to radius changes becomes unnecessary, and the fundamental parameters distance and mass will be obtained simultaneously by a procedure which is different from the BW technique.

Section 2 describes the method generally and its adaptation to $`UBVR_\mathrm{C}`$ photometry which is a compromise between the number of available observations and the efficiency in determining physical parameters of a pulsating stellar atmosphere. Sect. 3 summarizes the light and colour curves of SU Dra (=BD $+67^∘652$) from $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ observations and the results from the method as an example. In Sect. 4 the results are discussed and compared with those from BW analysis. The conclusions are given in Sect. 5.

Spherical symmetry of the pulsation (excitation of radial modes) will be assumed. Cgs units will be used throughout; departures from them will be indicated. $`r,\theta ,\varphi `$ will denote spherical coordinates with their origin in the stellar centre of mass.

## 2 The method

Four steps are involved.

* The observed magnitudes are converted to fluxes at zero air mass and corrected for interstellar extinction.
* The observed colour indices are converted to physical quantities of the theoretical atmospheric models: i.e. to $`T_e`$, $`g_e`$, and surface flux in physical units for the different photometric bands including bolometric flux. In this step the bolometric flux is obtained from $`T_e`$ by the Stefan-Boltzmann law while in the photometric bands the zero point of the magnitude scale must be determined to obtain the flux in physical units.
* From the combination of observed and model fluxes the variable angular diameter is obtained which is introduced in the N-S equation together with the values $`g_e`$.
* At a fixed phase (time interval) the N-S equation is an algebraic equation for the unknown quantities distance and mass. It must be written out for two phases at least, from which the unknowns are obtained by elementary operations.

### 2.1 Selection of the photometric system

A photometric system with colour indices $`C_i`$ is appropriate for the present method if the physical quantities are single-valued functions $`T_e(C_1,C_2)`$, $`\mathrm{lg}g(C_1,C_2)`$,… and they change slowly, i.e. the finite differences $`|\mathrm{\Delta }T_e/\mathrm{\Delta }C_i|`$, $`|\mathrm{\Delta }g/\mathrm{\Delta }C_i|`$, $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{surface}\mathrm{brightness}/\mathrm{\Delta }C_i|`$ are small for one of the indices $`C_i`$ at least. E.g. in the ranges $`6000<T_e<8000`$K, $`2<\mathrm{lg}g_e<4`$ of an RR Lyrae star for $`UBV`$ photometry

$`\mathrm{\Delta }T_e/\mathrm{\Delta }(BV)|_{UB=\mathrm{const}}10^4\mathrm{K}/\mathrm{mag},`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{lg}g_e/\mathrm{\Delta }(UB)|_{BV=\mathrm{const}}10\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}/\mathrm{mag}`$ (1)
which result in errors $`100`$ K, $`0.1`$dex for a typical error $`0.01`$ mag in the colour index. For $`BVR_\mathrm{C}`$ photometry

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{lg}g_e/\mathrm{\Delta }(BV)|_{VR_\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{const}}70\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}/\mathrm{mag},`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{lg}g_e/\mathrm{\Delta }(VR_\mathrm{C})|_{BV=\mathrm{const}}70\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}/\mathrm{mag}`$ (2)
which make this photometry unfit to determine $`g_e`$. The final result is that $`T_e`$, $`\mathrm{lg}g_e`$ and the flux $``$ in different photometric bands are found with reasonable accuracy from a pair of the colour indices. The conversion $`C_iT_e`$ etc can be made conveniently using the Kurucz tables (kuru1 (1997)) in which the interstellar reddening is included.

### 2.2 The photometric half angular diameter

We list some useful relations for convenience. At a phase $`\phi `$ in the photometric band $`x`$ the luminosity of the star is

$$L_x(\phi )=4\pi R_0^2(\phi )_x(\phi )$$
(3)
where the radius $`R_0`$ belongs to zero optical depth in the reference frame with origin in the stellar centre of mass,

$$_x=_0^{\mathrm{}}d\lambda S_x(\lambda )_0^{\mathrm{}}d\tau _\lambda \underset{i=1}{\overset{6}{}}c_iB_\lambda (\tau _{\lambda _i})$$
(4)
is the physical flux (Kurucz kuru2 (1979)) on the stellar surface in the photometric band $`x`$ where $`S_x(\lambda )`$ is the filter function defining the colour system. The monochromatic flux on the stellar surface was approximated in Eq. (4) by a sum, where $`c_1,\mathrm{},c_6`$ and $`\tau _{\lambda _1},\mathrm{},\tau _{\lambda _6}`$ are 0.1615, 0.1346, 0.2973, 0.1872, 0.1906, 0.0288, and 0.038, 0.154, 0.335, 0.793, 1.476, 3.89 respectively (Traving et al. trav1 (1966)), $`B_\lambda `$ is the Planck function which accounts well for the source function if the stellar continuum is considered. The meaning of Eq. (4) is that the monochromatic flux originates roughly from six layers between $`R_{\tau _\lambda 3.89}rR_{\tau _\lambda 0.038}`$ and the main contribution comes from the neighbourhood of $`R_{\tau _\lambda 0.335}`$. These (wavelength dependent) radii are defined e.g. by

$$\tau _\lambda =0.335=_{R_0}^{R_{\tau _\lambda =0.335}}\kappa _\lambda (r)dr,$$
(5)
$`\kappa _\lambda `$ is the monochromatic absorption coefficient. If $`\kappa _\lambda (r)`$ is a smooth and moderately changing function of $`\lambda `$ we can assume that $`R_1=\overline{R_{\tau _\lambda =0.038}}`$, $`R=\overline{R_{\tau _\lambda =0.335}}`$, $`R_2=\overline{R_{\tau _\lambda =3.89}}`$ are independent of wavelength (overlining denotes averaging over $`\lambda `$). If $`x`$ represents bolometric or an optical band the Rosseland optical depth can be substituted for $`\tau _\lambda `$ to estimate $`R_1,R,R_2`$, which are now automatically independent of the wavelength. $`R_0`$ is the top of the atmosphere, $`R_1`$, $`R_2`$ can be regarded as the top and bottom of the continuum-forming atmospheric region. $`(R_1R_2)/R_0`$, $`R/R_0`$ vary with $`\phi `$, $`R_2<R<R_1`$. These variations reflect the change of $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$.

At distance $`d`$ the observed stellar flux $`_x`$ will be

$$_x(\phi )=10^{A_x/2.5}L_x(\phi )/4\pi d^2$$
(6)
where $`A_x`$ is the interstellar extinction in magnitudes. The half angular diameter of the star is obtained for zero optical depth by

$$\vartheta _0(\phi )=R_0(\phi )/d=[10^{A_x/2.5}_x(\phi )/_x(\phi )]^{1/2}.$$
(7)
$`_x`$ must be derived from observed magnitudes and compared with the tabulated value $`_x`$ of the theoretical models which are found by a comparison of observed colour indices with those of computed models.

The conventional way to determine $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ is to introduce $`A_x`$, $`_x(\phi )=S_010^{[m_x(\phi )+\mathrm{BC}_x(\phi )]/2.5}`$, and $`_{\mathrm{bol}}(\phi )=aT_e^4(\phi )`$ in Eq. (7) where $`a`$ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and the zero points of the magnitude scales $`m_x`$, $`\mathrm{BC}_x`$ are merged in the constant $`S_0`$ (e.g. Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990), $`x=V`$), i.e. two parameters of theoretical models ($`\mathrm{BC}_V`$, $`T_e`$) belonging to a pair of observed colour indices are needed. This procedure was applied in the present paper as well; the actual form was

$$\vartheta _0=0.636\times 10^{(V+\mathrm{BC}_V2A_V)/5}T_e^2$$
(8)
in radians. To check Eq. (8) a single parameter determination of $`\vartheta _0`$ was used by the following formulae in Eq. (7). An apparent magnitude $`X`$ is equivalent to a physical flux

$$_X=10^{7+(X_{\mathrm{Vega}}X)/2.5}\iota _X^{(\mathrm{Vega})}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{sec}^1\mathrm{cm}^2,$$
(9)
where $`X_{\mathrm{Vega}}=0.03,0.039`$ mag, $`\iota _X^{(\mathrm{Vega})}=1.82,1.04`$ if $`X=V,R_\mathrm{C}`$, respectively. In the band $`X`$ the physical flux of a model is

$$_X=10^{(X_\mathrm{K}4.495)/2.5}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{sec}^1\mathrm{cm}^2$$
(10)
where $`X_\mathrm{K}`$ is the tabulated magnitude of the Kurucz (kuru1 (1997)) tables for $`U,B,V,R_\mathrm{C},I_\mathrm{C}`$. The derivation of Eqs. (9), (10) is given in Appendix A.

### 2.3 The momentum balance of a radially pulsating atmosphere

For a non-rotating star the $`r`$ component of the N-S equation is

$`{\displaystyle \frac{v_r(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)}{t}}+v_r{\displaystyle \frac{v_r}{r}}+a_1(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{G}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho (r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)}}{\displaystyle \frac{p(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)}{r}}+a_2(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)`$ (11)
(Landau & Lifshitz lali1 (1980)) where $`v_r`$ is the $`r`$ component of the velocity, $`G`$ is the gravitational constant, $``$ is the stellar mass, $`\rho `$ is the density. $`a_1=[v_\theta (r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)v_r/\theta +\mathrm{sin}^1\theta v_\varphi (r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)v_r/\varphi v_\theta ^2(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)v_\varphi ^2(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)]/r`$ is the rest of the terms from $`(v,)v_r`$. The sum of the terms from the molecular viscosity is $`a_2`$. Setting the sound velocity (about $`10^6`$ $`\mathrm{cm}/\mathrm{sec}`$) for the components $`v_\theta `$, $`v_\varphi `$ as an upper limit, the order of magnitude of $`a_1`$ will be $`10`$ $`\mathrm{cm}/\mathrm{sec}^2`$; therefore, except for phases of stationary flow (i.e. $`v_r/t0`$) this term is negligible in comparison with the explicitly written terms. Estimations are not available for $`a_2`$, however, it can be assumed to be negligible in comparison with the other terms, especially at phases of standstill (i.e. $`v_r0`$).

For a static stratification the acceleration

$$g_e=\frac{1}{\rho }\frac{p}{r}$$
(12)
is constant within few percents in the domain $`R_2<r<R_1`$. On the right hand side of Eq. (2.3) the second term can be approximated by a constant $`g_e`$ which is obtained from the colour-colour diagram. To take all dynamical corrections into account the term $`a_d(r,\theta ,\varphi ,t)=a_1+v_rv_r/r+\mathrm{}`$ will be introduced; ‘$`\mathrm{}`$’ represents the terms which were not listed here, e.g. a dynamical correction in Eq. (12). However, the spatial average $`g_d`$ of $`a_d`$ is expected to be small in the phases of standstill in comparison to the acceleration $`v_r/t`$.

Perfect spherical symmetry of the velocity field will be assumed; the terms describing eventual non-radial modes are assumed to be zero:

$$v_r(r,t)=v_r^{(0)}(t)+\frac{v_r}{r}|_{r=R}(Rr)+\mathrm{}=\dot{R}(t)+\mathrm{},$$
(13)
the homogeneous velocity $`\dot{R}`$ is a good first approximation, the next term would account for the compression or expansion of the atmosphere, i.e. for a change of $`R_1R_2`$. By introducing Eqs. (12), (13) in Eq. (2.3) and averaging over the interval $`R_2rR_1`$ (i.e. multiplying by $`r^2\mathrm{sin}\theta `$, dividing by $`4\pi (R_1^3R_2^3)/3`$, integrating over $`r,\theta ,\varphi `$) the equation

$$\frac{\overline{v}_r(R,t)}{t}=\frac{G}{R^2(t)}+g_e(t)+g_d(R,t)$$
(14)
is obtained.

Now all terms are neglected in Eq. (13) except for $`\dot{R}`$ and an apparent angular change $`\vartheta _a=R_a/d`$ is introduced such that

$$R_0(t)=R(t)+R_a(t)=[\vartheta (t)+\vartheta _a(t)]d,$$
(15)
$`R_aR`$ accounts for the angular change by opacity as a consequence of the variation of $`g_e`$. In a turning point of $`\vartheta _0`$, i.e. at standstill of the atmosphere, $`\dot{\vartheta }_00`$, $`\dot{\vartheta }_a0`$, $`|v_r/t||v_rv_r/r|`$, thus, Eq. (14) takes the form

$$[\ddot{\vartheta }_0(t)\ddot{\vartheta }_a(t)]d=G\frac{}{\vartheta ^2(t)d^2}+g_e(t)+g_d(t)$$
(16)
and $`g_d`$ is expected to be small.

The functions $`\vartheta _0(t)`$ and $`g_e(t)`$ can be determined from the observed colour indices and brightness, $`\ddot{\vartheta }_0`$ can be obtained by numerical differentiation. $`R_a`$ can be estimated by interpolation from the Kurucz tables (kuru2 (1979)); compared to $`R_0`$ it is negligible if $`\mathrm{lg}g_e>2.5`$. $`\ddot{R}_a`$ can be estimated by numerical differentiation; it is negligible during the pulsation except for the phases in which $`g_e`$ changes strongly. From continuity of $`\vartheta _0(t)`$ it follows that there exist two turning points at least: $`t_1`$, $`t_2`$. Writing Eq. (16) for $`t=t_1`$ and $`t_2`$, neglecting $`g_d`$, and solving the two equations leads to:

$$d=\frac{g_e(t_1)+\ddot{R}_a(t_1)[g_e(t_2)+\ddot{R}_a(t_2)][\vartheta (t_2)/\vartheta (t_1)]^2}{\ddot{\vartheta }_0(t_1)\ddot{\vartheta }_0(t_2)[\vartheta (t_2)/\vartheta (t_1)]^2},$$
(17)
$$=[g_e(t)\ddot{\vartheta }(t)d]\vartheta ^2(t)d^2/G.$$
(18)
Since $`\vartheta _a`$ is a small correction to $`\vartheta _0`$ Eqs. (17) and (18) were solved while neglecting the apparent change of radius ($`R_a=0`$, $`\ddot{R}_a=0`$, i.e. $`\vartheta \vartheta _0`$) and taking into account $`R_a0`$, $`\ddot{R}_a0`$, $`\vartheta _a=R_a/d`$.

## 3 Distance and mass of SU Dra, some physical parameters of its atmosphere

As an example some parameters of the RR Lyrae variable SU Dra will be determined. This star has a stable light curve without Blazhko effect; however, the analysis of the photometric observations left some ambiguity whether secondary variations of some 10 mmag do exist (Barcza barc1 (2002), Paper I). SU Dra is a metal-deficient Population II star: $`[M]=1.6\mathrm{dex}`$. Its galactic coordinates are $`l=133.45`$, $`b=+48.27`$ i.e. it lies high above the disk, the interstellar reddening is small in that direction: $`E(BV)=0.015`$ mag (Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990)). Its photometric behaviour was described in Paper I; from this observational material the segments $`k=2551`$ were used to compile an average $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ light curve because these observations were performed using two comparison stars. To improve the phase coverage a new segment $`k=52`$ was added containing 19 $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ observations on $`\mathrm{JD}=2452054`$ with the Wright camera attached to the 1m Ritchey-Chretien telescope of the Konkoly Observatory, Table 1 reports these results. Technical details of the observations and reduction were the same as in segments $`k=4251`$ (Paper I).

### 3.1 Observed $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ light and colour curves

The observed magnitudes $`U,B,R_\mathrm{C}`$ were linearly interpolated to the epoch of the $`V`$ observations to avoid systematic errors of colour indices $`UB`$, $`BV`$, $`VR_\mathrm{C}`$ in the rising branch. A comparison with the colour indices of Liu & Janes (liuj1 (1989)) indicated small systematic differences between the colour systems at Konkoly Observatory and Kitt Peak. Since it is of primary importance to have the same filter functions in the observations and computation of synthetic colours of the atmospheric models, the colours of the Konkoly observations have been shifted by $`\mathrm{\Delta }(BV)=+0.029`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(UB)=+0.026`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(VR_\mathrm{C})=+0.019`$ mag. By these shifts the brightness $`V`$ and the colour indices of one of the comparison stars, BD $+67^∘708$, became identical in the Konkoly and Kitt Peak colour systems as is obvious from Table 3 of Paper I, and the systematic differences of the Konkoly and Kitt Peak curves disappeared. Fig. 1 is a plot of the observed magnitudes $`V`$ and the colour indices, the phase was computed according to Paper I taking into account the secular change of period and phase noise. The curves drawn in Fig. 1 were obtained by high-order spline functions, they were fitted to the shifted colour curves. These curves are the basis for deriving $`T_e(\phi )`$, $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$, $`_X(\phi )`$, $`_X(\phi )`$ with $`X=V,R_\mathrm{C},\mathrm{BC}_V`$, and $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ according to Sect. 2.

The colour curves $`VI_\mathrm{C}`$ were determined as well; however, they were omitted from the analysis because the CCD realization of $`I_\mathrm{C}`$ was not free of systematic errors; these originated from the red cut off which is considerably different from that of a GaAs cathode and of the improved $`S_{I_\mathrm{C}}(\lambda )`$ of Bessell (bess1 (1990)).

The fitted curves show definite structure around $`\phi 0.4,\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}0.7}`$ in addition to the ascending branch which is their main feature. If only 60-70 points are observed (e.g. Liu & Janes liuj1 (1989)) the fine structure of the light and colour curves remains hidden. It could be revealed by the 674 observed points in the present study.

### 3.2 Effective temperature, gravity, angular diameter

The synthetic colours from the Kurucz (kuru1 (1997)) tables (Castelli cast1 (1999)) were interpolated linearly to $`[M]=1.6`$ dex and $`E(BV)=0.015`$. $`T_e(\phi )`$, $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$, tabular magnitudes $`V`$, $`R_\mathrm{C}`$, $`\mathrm{BC}_V`$ were interpolated to a pair of colour indices $`(UB,BV),(UB,VR_\mathrm{C}),(UV,VR_\mathrm{C})`$. $`V`$, $`R_\mathrm{C}`$ were converted to surface flux $`_V`$, $`_{R_\mathrm{C}}`$ by Eq. (10).

Panel (a) of Fig. 2 shows the theoretical isogravity curves $`\mathrm{lg}g(UB,BV)=2,3,4`$ for different values of $`T_e`$, the isotherm curves $`T_e(UB,BV)=6,7,8\times 10^3`$K for different values of $`\mathrm{lg}g`$, and the observed colour loop $`(UB,BV)`$ as a function of $`\phi `$. Panels (b)-(d) are a plot of $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$, $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$, $`T_e(\phi )`$ for the colour loop. $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ was determined from Eq. (8) and from $`(_V,_V)`$, $`(_{R_\mathrm{C}},_{R_\mathrm{C}})`$ by Eqs. (7), (9), (10): it is remarkable that the curves are congruent within 2 percent. This finding demonstrates that in the range $`\mathrm{lg}g_e`$, $`T_e`$ of an RR Lyrae star the simultaneous use of $`BV`$ and $`UB`$ estimates $`T_e`$ well. Therefore, the infrared photometry can be dropped; it is more complicated from an observational point of view and was expected to give $`T_e`$ correctly by observing the slope of the continuum over a larger wavelength interval (Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990)).

The procedure was performed with the colour-colour curves $`(UB,VR_\mathrm{C}),(UV,VR_\mathrm{C})`$. The congruence of the curves from Eqs. (8) and (7), (9), (10) was within 2 percent confirming that $`T_e`$ can be determined well by simultaneous use of $`UB`$ or $`UV`$ and $`VR_\mathrm{C}`$. The curves $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$ etc. were of similar form with those from $`(UB,BV)`$, the differences did not exceed 0.1dex, 100 K in the descending branch while in the ascending branch upper limits of 0.4dex, 200 K were found for the differences. The curves $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ were coincident to within 10 percent. The differences were attributed to non-perfect filter functions, and to the fitting procedure when the averaged colour curves were constructed. Among $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ from $`(UB,BV)`$ and $`(UB,VR_\mathrm{C})`$, $`(UV,VR_\mathrm{C})`$ the largest differences were in the phase interval $`0.87<\phi <1`$; however, the cause for this seems to be that the curves based on $`BV`$ and $`VR_\mathrm{C}`$ respectively are asynchronous. The differences could have been removed by a phase shift; nevertheless, averaging seemed more appropriate. Therefore, at the points $`\phi `$ the values $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$, $`T_e(\phi )`$, $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ were averaged from the three combinations of colour-colour indices of $`UBVR_\mathrm{C}`$. The result is plotted in Fig. 3.

The values of $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$, $`T_e(\phi )`$ agree well with those Siegel (sieg1 (1982)) and Liu & Janes (liuj2 (1990)) determined from Strömgren and $`UBVRIJK`$ photometry respectively. The averaged values are $`\overline{\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )}=2.41`$ and $`\overline{T_e(\phi )}=6490`$ K (this study) while $`2.69`$, $`6400`$ K, and $`2.72`$, $`6433`$ K are given by Siegel (sieg1 (1982)) and Liu & Janes (liuj2 (1990)) respectively.

The agreement between the present $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ curves and those of Liu & Janes (liuj2 (1990)) is satisfactory. The main difference lies in the undulation of the present curve amounting to some 5 percent which was provided by ten times more photometric observations. The wavy structure of $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ is remarkable: at about $`\phi 0.45,\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}0.7}`$ local minima of $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ are clearly visible. This suggests that a sub-oscillation exists which is synchronized with the main pulsation. In the phase intervals $`0.8<\phi <0.9`$, $`0.1<\phi <0.4`$ the change of $`\vartheta _a`$ and eventual dynamical effects from the strong shock hamper us in getting a clear picture of the sub-oscillation; however, a periodic undulation with $`P/5`$ is clearly visible in $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ and $`V(\phi )`$ where $`P=5.71\times 10^4`$ sec is the period of SU Dra. To check the reality of the undulations, the 674 $`V`$ observations were analysed by the string length minimization described in Paper I since they can be regarded as the most reliable because of the use of two comparison stars. The period $`P/5`$ has been found only with a very shallow minimum of the string length.

The averaged curve $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ was differentiated by midpoint formulae with a phase span of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi =0.02(20`$ minutes) which was found to be an appropriate compromise between the noise and the accuracy of $`\ddot{\vartheta }_0`$. This choice is in agreement with the present simplified hydrodynamic model: a description of more rapid structures cannot be expected. The angular acceleration $`\ddot{\vartheta }_0`$ is plotted in the lower left panel of Fig. 3.

To estimate the apparent radius change $`R_a(\phi )`$ the geometrical depth of $`\tau _{\mathrm{Ross}}=0.335`$ was interpolated to $`\mathrm{lg}g_e(\phi )`$, $`T_e(\phi )`$ from the Kurucz (kuru2 (1979)) tables. $`R_0(\phi )=1.99\times 10^{16}\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ km, $`R(\phi )`$, and $`R_1(\phi )R_2(\phi )`$ as error bars are plotted in Fig. 4a. From the point of view of apparent diameter change and acceleration the critical phase intervals are $`0.8<\phi <0.9`$, $`0.1<\phi <0.4`$. The break of the slope of $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ at $`\phi 0.25`$ can be interpreted by the peak of $`R_a`$ which is superimposed on the true atmospheric motion $`R_0(\phi )`$. $`\ddot{R}_a`$ was obtained from differentiating polynomial fits to $`R_a`$. Three points are noteworthy:

* The secondary peak of $`\vartheta _0`$ at $`\phi 0.55`$ coincides just with the fall of the infrared brightness $`K`$ which begins at phase delay $`0.6`$ from the visual maximum (Liu & Janes liuj1 (1989)).
* Double standstill exists at minimal radius with differences $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi =0.031`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\vartheta _0=\vartheta _0(0.947)\vartheta _0(0.978)10^{12}`$ (i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }R_02\times 10^4`$km).
* The most prominent features of $`\ddot{\vartheta }_0`$ are produced by a strong variation of $`R_a=R_0R`$.

### 3.3 Distance and mass

At both turning phases the fine structure of $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ shows two standstills with roughly equal $`\vartheta _0`$, the averaged values of the quantities for Eqs. (17), (18) are listed in Table 2. Selection criteria were for these phases that the atmosphere must be in standstill to have the smallest $`g_d`$ in Eq. (14), the effective gravity must be constant to avoid strong variation of $`R_a`$, and the interval of the averaging must be long enough to smooth out scatter and eventual rapid variations for which the present hydrodynamic model is oversimplified. The errors of $`\mathrm{lg}g_e`$ and $`\vartheta _0`$ are less than 3 percent; the errors of $`\ddot{\vartheta }_0`$ and $`\ddot{R}_a`$ dominate the error of $`d`$, $``$. In the phase intervals A and B the atmosphere is falling freely, in C and D it is in the state of maximal compression by the shock(s?) from the deeper layers.

In the intervals A,B,C,D it can be assumed that the terms of $`g_d`$ with a factor $`v`$ are negligible, i.e. $`g_e`$ of the static atmosphere accounts well for the outward acceleration via Eq. (14). The values $`g_e`$ etc of the pairs AC, AD, BC, BD, CD were introduced in Eqs. (17) and (18), $`d`$ and $``$ are listed in Table 3, columns 2,3 and 4,5 refer to $`R_a=0`$, $`\ddot{R}_a=0`$ and $`R_a`$, $`\ddot{R}_a`$ from Table 2, respectively. The pair AB was omitted because the errors in $`g_e`$, $`\ddot{\vartheta }_0`$, $`\ddot{R}_a`$ made $`d`$ and $``$ unrealistic. After averaging columns 2,3 $`d=(564\pm 31)`$pc, $`=(0.51\pm .06)_{\mathrm{}}`$ were found as a first approximation; the errors represent 68 percent confidence level.

Columns 4,5 are more surprising: they suggest

$`d=(647\pm 16)\mathrm{pc}`$
$`=(0.66\pm .03)_{\mathrm{}}.`$
The values using A were excluded from these averaged $`d`$, $``$ on the following arguments. The atmosphere is very extended in the interval $`0.15<\phi <0.4`$ i.e. its optical scale height increases to $`R_0R_23\times 10^5\mathrm{km}0.1R_0`$ at $`\phi =0.225`$, plane parallel approximation (used in ATLAS models for radiative transfer) is questionable (Baschek et al. basch (1992)). The apparent acceleration exceeds the effective gravity ($`\ddot{R}_a2g_e`$), $`g_d0`$ is presumably not satisfied, and it begins just a strong apparent (linear rather than accelerating?) contraction; furthermore, $`\ddot{R}_a`$ can be estimated with large uncertainty. In Table 2 $`\ddot{R}_a(\phi =0.31)=2.27\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{sec}^2`$ is probably an overestimation, e.g. an ad hoc correction to $`\ddot{R}_a(\phi =0.31)=0.10\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{sec}^2`$ would result in $`d=587,559`$pc and $`=0.81,0.70_{\mathrm{}}`$ which are somewhat closer to the values from combining B,C,D. Therefore, the data from AC, AD have a very low weight; however, to give a formal standard error to the unequivocal $`d`$ and $``$ from BC,BD,CD they were used but omitted in the averaging.

### 3.4 Luminosity, radius, velocity, acceleration

The distance modulus is

$`mM=(9.05\pm .05)\mathrm{mag}.`$
Using $`R_0(\phi )`$ and $`T_e(\phi )`$ the intensity averaged luminosity is $`L=(1.68\pm .08)\times 10^{35}\mathrm{ergs}/\mathrm{sec}=(42.4\pm 2.1)L_{\mathrm{}}`$; the errors were derived from the error of $`d`$. The mean radius is $`\overline{R_0}=3.54\times 10^6`$km. The intensity and magnitude averaged visual absolute magnitudes are $`M_V^{\mathrm{int}}=0.74\pm .05`$ and $`M_V^{\mathrm{mag}}=0.78\pm .05`$ respectively.

Fig. 4b-d are plots of different physical quantities derived with $`d=1.99\times 10^{16}`$ km, the data were averaged for intervals $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi =0.01`$. Note that the velocity $`\dot{\vartheta }_0(\phi )d`$ shows a correlation with $`p[v_\gamma v_{\mathrm{radial}}(\phi )]`$ only if it is averaged over a longer time. ($`v_\gamma =166.9`$km/sec (Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990)) is the barycentric velocity, $`p=1.32`$ is the conversion factor.) The phase difference between bolometric and visual maximum is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi 0.015`$.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Appraisal of the method, comparison with the BW technique

The surface brightness method to determine stellar angular diameters is known in two variants. One of them (Barnes et al. barne (1978)) uses the empirically determined surface brightness of non-variable stars and applies it to variables. The other variant is bound to static theoretical atmospheric models which are the sources of surface brightness and effective gravity. When applying them to variable stars a reliable surface brightness can be determined in the phases where a strong deviation from QSA is not expected. In the present paper the theoretical variant was used: the half angular diameter and the effective gravity were obtained from ATLAS atmospheric models as a function of phase. Concerning RR Lyrae stars arguments for the applicability of QSA were discussed in detail by Buonaura et al. (buona (1985)). Step 1 is identical in the present and BW methods. Step 2 is nearly the same in both methods, the difference is only that here the values $`\vartheta _0`$ from effective temperature and bolometric correction to $`V`$ are checked by a direct comparison of fluxes in $`V`$ and $`R_\mathrm{C}`$.

Steps 3 and 4 are principally different from the BW technique: all the data $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$, $`g_e(\phi )`$ are used in a dynamical equation, i.e. in the $`r`$ component of the N-S equation averaged over the continuum-forming layers. Some terms could be neglected and the pressure-density stratification of atmospheric models with QSA was introduced. An essential assumption is that the function $`g_e=g_e(C_1,\mathrm{})`$ gives the uniform outward acceleration in $`R_1rR_2`$, and the sum $`g_e`$ plus gravity determines the motion of the atmosphere at $`R`$. A term $`g_d`$ was defined to account for the dynamical corrections to the stratification of QSA. In the range $`T_e`$, $`\mathrm{lg}g_e`$ of RR Lyrae stars the ATLAS models are convective. Its presumably small effect on the momentum balance of the pulsation could be incorporated in $`g_d`$; however, it was neglected by the use of Eq. (12). In standstills of the atmosphere $`g_d`$ is expected to be negligible and the averaged N-S equation is simplified to algebraic equations for the unknown quantities distance and mass. In the present method the mass plays an inherent role; it is determined simultaneously with the distance.

In the BW method the mass of a pulsating star plays an indirect role: in an equation of type Eq. (14) with $`g_d0`$ an assumed mass is introduced to derive $`g_e(\phi )`$ by differentiating the curve $`pv_{\mathrm{radial}}(\phi )`$ numerically. This effective gravity is then used to select the atmospheric models from which the effective temperature is determined by a relation of type $`T_e(C_i)`$, and the variation of angular diameter is determined. The kinematic equation

$`[\vartheta _0(\phi _2)\vartheta _0(\phi _1)]d`$ $`=`$ $`R_0(\phi _2)R_0(\phi _1)`$ (19)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\phi _1}^{\phi _2}}p[v_\gamma v_{\mathrm{radial}}(\phi )]Pd\phi `$
is solved for $`d`$ by various techniques (e.g. Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990), Cohen cohe1 (1992), Jones et al. jone1 (1992)), in the interval $`[\phi _1,\phi _2]`$ the atmospheres must be free of shocks. The primary error sources are $`v_\gamma `$ and $`p`$; it is obvious that their uncertainty can result in a considerable error in $`d`$ (Sabbey et al. sabb1 (1995), Fernley fern1 (1994)). The undulations reported in the present paper have a negligible effect on $`d`$ if $`|\phi _2\phi _1|`$ is sufficiently large. Another small correction comes from the fact that $`R(\phi )`$ would be more appropriate than $`R_0(\phi )`$ if the radius change is determined by using radial velocities from CORAVEL (e.g. Liu & Janes liuj1 (1989)) or from weak metallic lines (e.g. Oke et al. oke1 (1962)).

In the present method $`v_{\mathrm{radial}}(\phi )`$, $`v_\gamma `$, $`p`$, and an eventual arbitrary phase shift of the radius change from photometry and radial velocity (e.g. $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi =0.02`$ for SU Dra, Siegel sieg1 (1982)) do not enter at all, the observation of radial velocities is not needed. However, a colour must observed, e.g. $`U`$ in Johnson system, which is a good indicator for gravity. In the BW method $`g_d0`$ can result in a negligible error, in the present method at selected phases $`g_d=0`$, i.e. the unconditional use of Eq. (12), and the simplification of the velocity field to Eq. (13) with a single constant term can be assumed as a source of more uncertainty than in the BW method which involves the assumption $`v_r(r,t)=\dot{R}(t)`$ as well. Problems arising from the difference $`S_x(\lambda )S_x^\mathrm{o}(\lambda )0`$ were discussed by Bessell (bess1 (1990)) where $`S_x^\mathrm{o}(\lambda )`$ represents the filter functions of an observatory. They are common both in the present method and in the BW method. This eventual systematic error is phase dependent.

### 4.2 The results for SU Dra

The distance derived in the present study agrees very well with its value $`d=640`$ pc from the BW analysis (Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990)) if the subtle changes of $`R_a(\phi )`$ are taken into account. It is in accordance with the low absolute brightness of an RR Lyrae star if it is determined from a direct analysis. The higher absolute brightness of an RR Lyrae star from cluster properties is not bolstered by the present value of $`d`$. Concerning the short and long extragalactic distance scale (Gratton grat1 (1998)) the discrepancy has been strengthened and an additional independent argument has been given for the short scale. If the change of $`R_a(\phi )`$ is neglected the discrepancy gets worse by $`d=564\pm 31`$pc. Furthermore, Eq. (19) has been verified: $`p=1.32`$ and $`v_\gamma =166.9`$ km/sec (Liu & Janes liuj2 (1990)) must essentially be correct since e.g. for $`\phi _2=0.8`$, $`\phi _1=0.4`$ an error $`\mathrm{\Delta }v_\gamma =1`$ km/sec would result in an error

$$\mathrm{\Delta }d/d=[(\phi _2\phi _1)pP\mathrm{\Delta }v_\gamma ]/[R(\phi _2)R(\phi _1)]0.04$$
(20)
i.e. roughly $`0.09`$ mag in $`M_V`$. (It must be noted that Oke et al. (oke1 (1962)) argue for $`v_\gamma =161`$ km/sec). In the BW method the secondary error sources undulation and use of $`R`$ for $`R_0`$ result in $`|\mathrm{\Delta }d/d|<0.005`$.

Liu & Janes (liuj2 (1990)) assumed $`=0.550.65`$ to get $`\mathrm{lg}g_e`$ for the interval $`0.4\phi 0.8`$; they remarked that their $`d`$ was insensitive to the actual value ($`0.6_{\mathrm{}}`$). The basic pulsation equation of van Albada & Baker (vana1 (1971)) gives $`_{\mathrm{SU}\mathrm{Dra}}=0.47_{\mathrm{}}`$, from which the present value $`0.66\pm .03_{\mathrm{}}`$ differs significantly, however, its acceptance must be supported by a smaller uncertainty in input physics.

The observed $`pv_{\mathrm{radial}}(\phi )`$ (Liu & Janes liuj1 (1989), Oke et al. oke1 (1962)) does not show the undulation of $`\dot{\vartheta }_0d`$, and the assumption of an eventually phase dependent conversion factor (Sabbey et al sabb1 (1995)) cannot bring the curves to congruence. For a few variables in M5 and M92 a similar undulation of $`\vartheta _0(\phi )`$ was shown graphically by Cohen (cohe1 (1992)); however, it was not discussed. On a speculation level the most probable cause of this inconsistency is the non-negligible velocity gradient coupled with undulation of $`\vartheta _0`$. The radial velocities (especially those from CORAVEL) reflect the averaged velocity from the deep layers $`\tau _{\mathrm{Ross}}0.335`$ while $`\dot{\vartheta }_0d`$ is the averaged velocity over the layers $`0\tau <\tau _{\mathrm{Ross}}=0.038`$. At phase $`\phi 0.75`$ a weak hump is discernible on the CORAVEL curve which is correlated with the local maximum $`\vartheta _0(0.78)`$. It is, however, puzzling why there is such a loose correlation of $`\dot{\vartheta }_0(\phi )d`$ with $`p[v_\gamma v_{\mathrm{radial}}(\phi )]`$.

## 5 Conclusions

In the frame of quasi-static approximation for the atmosphere a new method has been described to determine distance and mass of pulsating stars. In elaborating the photometry there have been minor improvements compared to the conventional way in the BW analysis: the use of bolometric magnitudes from $`T_e`$ minus the bolometric correction was supplemented with a comparison of physical fluxes from models and observations in a single filter band. It was postulated that at the phases of standstill the static ATLAS models give the effective outward acceleration in the atmosphere correctly. The effective gravities, the half angular diameters and their second derivatives with respect to time were introduced in the $`r`$ component of the Navier-Stokes equation from which we found distance and mass while neglecting dynamical corrections in the standstills of the atmosphere and making a small correction for the apparent radius changes. The method presented is purely photometric; radial velocity observations and their sophisticated interpretation are not needed.

As an example the light and colour curves of SU Dra have been interpreted. The agreement of the photometric angular diameters of different origin was within the expected error of a few percent. The distance we found is in excellent agreement with that from the BW analysis. A higher mass was found than that from pulsation equations; however, it is well reconcilable with the general mass values of RR Lyrae stars. An undulation of angular diameter has been found which can originate from a surface wave, restricted to the outermost parts of the atmosphere. It is synchronized with the main pulsation.

The results are encouraging for an application to distant RR Lyrae stars, e.g. for members of globular clusters or nearby galaxies. The necessary photometric observations are simple and can be done for large samples of these faint stars by moderate efforts. Distance derivations based on the BW method are available for some 30 field and a few cluster RR Lyrae variables (Gratton et al. grat2 (1997)). These limited numbers could easily be increased by an order of magnitude if the present method were applied.

###### Acknowledgements.

The author is grateful to J. M. Benkő, Z. Kolláth, L. Szabados for comments on the manuscript, to Fiorella Castelli for communicating her unpublished colours of Vega computed with the revised filters, and to J. Katgert for improving English presentation.

## Appendix A The zero point of the magnitudes $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ of the Kurucz tables

Tüg et al. (tugh (1977)) measured the physical flux $`_\lambda ^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ of Vega at 90 wavelength in the interval $`3295\text{ Å}\lambda 9090\text{ Å}`$ (Flagstaff flux calibration for $`\alpha `$ Lyr); this is $`_\lambda `$ for Eq. (7) in units $`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{sec}^1\mathrm{cm}^2\text{ Å}^1`$. The theoretical Eddington flux of Kurucz (kuru1 (1997), file fvega.pck belonging to $`T_e=9550`$K, $`\mathrm{lg}g=3.95`$, $`[\mathrm{metallicity}]=0.5\mathrm{dex}`$, $`v_{\mathrm{turb}}=2`$km/s) was multiplied by $`4\pi `$, converted to the same units and interpolated to the 90 wavelengths: this is $`_\lambda ^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ for Eq. (7). $`A_\lambda `$ was set to $`=0`$, $`\vartheta _0^{(\mathrm{Vega})}=(7.95\pm .02)\times 10^9`$ was found which agrees well with the interferometric value $`(7.85\pm .17)\times 10^9`$ (Hanbury Brown et al. hanb1 (1974)). Having $`\mathrm{BC}_V=0.310,T_e=9550\mathrm{K}`$ from the theoretical model and $`V=0.03`$ mag from the observations the constant $`0.636`$ is obtained in Eq. (8). (The parameters differ slightly from the observational values of Code et al. (code1 (1976)): $`\mathrm{BC}_V=0.250,T_e=9660\mathrm{K}`$.)

The observed flux $`_\lambda ^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ and the theoretical flux $`\vartheta _0^{(\mathrm{Vega})}_\lambda ^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ were integrated with the filter functions for the system $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ (Bessell bess1 (1990)) normalized to unity to obtain the physical fluxes belonging to the magnitudes of Vega. Table 4 shows the results. $`_U`$ could not be computed from the Tüg et al. (tugh (1977)) calibration because of a lack of data in the ultraviolet. The difference of $`_X^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ and $`\vartheta _0^{(\mathrm{Vega})}_X^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ originates from lines: $`_\lambda ^{(\mathrm{Vega})}`$ was not measured at the strong lines and Balmer jump; it was interpolated linearly.

For computing the observed flux of a star at zero air mass the lower row of Table 4 must be used, an apparent magnitude $`X`$ is equivalent to a physical flux

$$_X=10^{(X_{\mathrm{Vega}}X)/2.5}\vartheta _0^{(\mathrm{Vega})}_X^{(\mathrm{Vega})}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{sec}^1\mathrm{cm}^2.$$
(21)
The monochromatic Eddington flux $`H_\lambda `$ of Vega (Kurucz kuru1 (1997), fvega.pck) was integrated with the same normalized filter functions $`UBV(RI)_\mathrm{C}`$ of Bessell (bess1 (1990)); $`2.5\mathrm{lg}_X=`$ $`23.835`$, $`24.250`$, $`23.645`$, $`23.083`$, $`22.370`$ were found for $`X=U,B,V,R_\mathrm{C},I_\mathrm{C}`$ respectively. On the other hand the tabular Vega surface magnitudes are $`X_\mathrm{K}=19.339`$, $`19.755`$, $`19.151`$, $`18.590`$, $`17.875`$ if the improved filter functions of Bessell (bess1 (1990)) are used (Castelli cast2 (2002)). The difference in these magnitudes is $`4.495`$ i.e. the physical flux of the model is

$$_X=10^{(X_\mathrm{K}4.495)/2.5}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{sec}^1\mathrm{cm}^2$$
(22)
where $`X_\mathrm{K}`$ is the tabulated magnitude $`U,B,V,R_\mathrm{C},I_\mathrm{C}`$ (Kurucz kuru1 (1997)).


text:
# QCD Results from the CDF Experiment at √𝑠=1.96 TeV

## 1 Introduction

Hadronic jets are one of the key signatures in hadron collider physics and, at the Tevatron collider, probe the highest momentum transfer region currently accessible. Since the start of Run II the CDF experiment has collected millions of jet events.

The CDF detector has been upgraded during many years of dedicated efforts. The upgraded detector is almost all new. Several improvements to the Run I detector have been implemented including a new tracking volume, a more compact plug calorimeter, an improved muon coverage, and a system of forward detectors to allow studies up to very large rapidity regions.

Run II proton-antiproton collisions started in March 2001 with a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, approximately 10% higher than in the previous Run I. After one year dedicated to its commissioning, the CDF detector has been in stable operation mode since February 2002 for most of its components. Since then, data have been collected copiously and some of the analyses are reported here.

## 2 Inclusive Jet Cross Section

The measurement of the inclusive jet cross section provides a powerful test of perturbative QCD and provides a sensitive probe of quark substructure down to a scale of $`10^{17}`$cm. Run I data exhibited an excess in jet cross section for events with high $`E_T`$ jets, when compared to the then current Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs). The increase in center-of-mass energy from 1.80 to 1.96 TeV and the increased luminosity expected in Run II will result in a larger kinematic range for measuring jet production. With a data sample of comparable size to Run I, jet production can already be measured at transverse energies far beyond those of Run I.

Calorimeters are the elements of the detector used in this measurement and are segmented in pseudo-rapidity $`\eta `$ and azimuth $`\varphi `$ with a projective tower geometry. Jets are here reconstructed in the central region ($`0.1<|\eta |<0.7`$) in order to be well measured. Forward rapidity regions will be explored in future analyses and can be used as a powerful discriminant to select new physics processes $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Jet energies are reconstructed using the Run I cone algorithm, with a radius $`R=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }\eta ^2+\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi ^2}=0.7`$. The energy from the collision, not associated with the hard scattering (underlying event energy), is subtracted from the total jet energy. The jet energy scale, which constitutes the largest source of systematic uncertainty (estimated to be 5%), was set by using the balancing of the photon energy with the jet $`p_T`$ in $`\gamma `$+jet events. Further understanding of the energy scale will reduce this uncertainty.

Events were collected using different $`E_T`$ trigger thresholds with approriate prescale factors to balance the number of events in the different $`E_T`$ bins. Data are used only when jet energies are well above the trigger thresholds and jets are fully efficient. After accounting for the proper prescale factors, data are combined in a continuous $`E_T`$ spectrum, spanning more than eight orders of magnitude. The first preliminary measurement of the inclusive jet cross section is shown in Fig. 1 and compared to the NLO QCD expectation determined using the CTEQ 6.1 parameterization $`^\mathrm{?}`$ of the parton density functions. The fit reproduces well the distribution of the data points. The data cover the $`E_T`$ range from 44 up to 550 GeV, extending the upper limit by almost 150 GeV from Run I. The measured inclusive jet $`E_T`$ distribution is shown for the Run I and Run II data set. The jet cross section in Run II is larger than that in Run I due to the higher center-of-mass energy. This effect is especially prominent for high $`E_T`$ jets.

## 3 Dijet Mass Distribution

Many classes of new particles can decay into two partons. The large dijet sample available allows searching for new particles decaying into two jets with a narrow resonance, significantly smaller than the measured dijet mass resolution. The two jets with the highest transverse momentum in the event are used to define the dijet mass $`m=\sqrt{(E_1+E_2)^2+(\stackrel{}{p_1}+\stackrel{}{p_2})^2}`$. The differential cross section of the dijet mass spectrum is plotted versus the mean dijet mass (Fig. 2, left), where the bin width approximately equals the dijet mass resolution. The distribution begins at 180 GeV and falls steeply up to the highest mass event with a dijet mass of $`1400`$GeV. The Run II cross section is everywhere above the Run I spectrum. The requirement of $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}|<2/3`$ is used to reduce the QCD background, which peaks at $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}|=1`$.

To search for new particles, a fit to the data points is performed with a simple background parameterization plus a narrow resonance. A search for bumps comparable with our mass resolution can be achieved. We set 95% C.L. upper limits on the cross section times branching ratio for narrow dijet resonances and compare them with predictions from various models (axigluons, flavor universal colorons, excited quarks, color octet technirhos, E6 diquarks, W’, Z’, etc.). Data above the fit in more than two consecutive bins will mimic the shape of a new particle and increase the limit on the cross section. Around 230 GeV there are three consecutive points above the fit, and around 470 GeV there are two consecutive points above the fit. These excesses can be observed in Fig. 2 (right). There is no significant evidence for new particles.

## 4 Diffractive Dijet Events

The diffractive dijet events studied are characterized by the presence of two jets resulting from a hard scattering and a leading antiproton, which escapes the collision intact. The Forward Detectors $`^\mathrm{?}`$, which are designed to enhance the capabilities for studies of diffractive physics, include the Roman Pot (RP) fiber tracker to detect leading antiprotons, a set of Beam Shower Counters (BSCs) to tag rapidity gaps, and two forward MiniPlug calorimeters $`^\mathrm{?}`$. In addition, the BSCs help vetoing events with multiple interactions. The leading antiproton is scattered with a small momentum transfer and loses a fraction $`\xi _{\overline{p}}`$ of its initial momentum. The associated dijets are detected in the Central and Plug calorimeters.

The full circles in Fig. 3 (left) indicate the $`\xi _{\overline{p}}`$ distribution of the entire data sample. Diffractive events (SD) have a small $`\xi _{\overline{p}}`$ value, whereas non-diffractive events (ND) have $`\xi _{\overline{p}}1`$, as the antiproton breaks up and loses entirely its initial momentum. The smearing of the distribution around $`\xi _{\overline{p}}1`$ results mainly from the energy resolution measurement. The shaded $`\xi `$ regions at small and large values indicate the chosen SD and ND sub-samples, respectively. The ratio ($``$) of SD to ND dijet production rates is studied as a function of the Bjorken scaling variable $`x_{Bj}`$ of the struck parton in the antiproton (Fig. 3, right). In Leading Order QCD, $``$ is the ratio of the diffractive to ND parton densities of the antiproton in dijet production. The $`x_{Bj}`$ dependence of the production rate of SD events is steeper than that of the ND. Results for the entire SD interval are consistent with Run I data. Results are also shown for two separate $`\xi `$ bins, showing no dependance on the chosen $`\xi `$ region used. Furthermore, preliminary results indicate that the ratio does not depend on $`E{}_{T}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}Q^2`$, in the range from $`Q^2=100`$ GeV2 up to 1600 GeV2, indicating that the $`Q^2`$ evolution of the Pomeron is similar to that of the proton.

Dijet production of Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) events$`^\mathrm{?}`$ occur when both proton and antiproton escape intact the collision. These events are characterized by rapidity gaps on both sides of the interaction point. Using a dedicated trigger, approximately 17,000 events have already been selected during Run II ($``$100 events were found in Run I). The jet $`E_T`$ distribution indicates a similar behavior for both SD and DPE events. The exclusive dijet production rate of these DPE events will be of great interest to resolve the exclusive Higgs production debate $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

## 5 Conclusions

After one year of data-taking, the first physics results from Run II presented here re-established the CDF measurements from Run I and stepped beyond, allowing optimism for a bright future of exciting measurements.

## Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the organizers of the Moriond conference and to all CDF collaborators who worked hard for many years in order to accomplish the results presented here.

## References