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# Search for Magnetic Field Induced Gap in a High-𝑇_𝑐 Superconductor

## Abstract

Break junctions made of the optimally doped high temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2Ca2CuO8 with $`T_c`$ of 90 K has been investigated in magnetic fields up to 12 T, at temperatures from 4.2 K to $`T_c`$. The junction resistance varied between 1 k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and 300 k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. The differential conductance at low biases did not exhibit a significant magnetic field dependence, indicating that a magnetic-field-induced gap (Krishana et al., Science 277 83 (1997)), if exists, must be smaller than 0.25 meV.

Much of what we know about the electronic states in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors has been learned by using tunneling devices different from the metal-insulator-metal layer junctions so successful in exploring traditional superconductivity . Superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) tunneling on break junctions provided one of the first clear indications for the failure of a fully gapped $`s`$-wave density of states (DOS) in these materials . Optimally doped samples were studied by tunneling in great detail . More recently, the oxygen doping dependence of the gap has been investigated on SIS junctions created by proper manipulation of a normal metal point contact . Superconductor-insulator-normal metal (SIN) junctions were used very successfully in scanning tunneling spectroscopy studies , and in point contact measurements . Although many of these junctions are much less controlled than the traditional metal oxide layer junctions, there is a reasonable level of consistency between the various techniques, indicating that the features observed are intrinsic to the materials.

The present study was motivated by a recent report of Krishana et al. on the magnetic field dependence of the thermal conductivity , and by theoretical arguments about the behavior of $`d`$-wave superconductors in magnetic field . The apparent non-analytical behavior reported by Krishana et al. raised the intriguing possibility of a magnetic field induced instability of the $`d`$-wave superconducting state with the appearance of a complete gap at temperatures below 20 K and magnetic fields of the order of 1 T. Theoretical foundations in terms of mixing a (complex) $`d_{xy}`$ component to the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ state were suggested by Balatsky  and Laughlin .

We performed break junction tunneling measurements in magnetic fields, with the goal of testing these conjectures directly. The tunneling device used in this work is an advanced version of an earlier one , used most recently in the study of the superconducting gap of Rb3C60 . In short, a very thin optimally doped Bi2Sr2Ca2CuO8 (BSCCO) single crystal of $`T_c=90`$ K was mounted on a flexible support, and contacted with gold wires. The sample was cooled in He atmosphere, and a break junction was created in situ by bending the support. (A similar method has been employed for Al and Nb point contacts by Scheer et al.  and Muller et al. , respectively.) A piezoelectric rod was used for fine tuning of the junction. The tunneling current was parallel, and the magnetic field was perpendicular to the copper oxide planes. Early reports of point contact spectroscopy  and break-junction tunneling on BSCCO superconductor in magnetic field by Vedeneev et al.  did not address the same issue, they did not have sufficient resolution to investigate the effect of the magnetic field on the shape of the low bias region of the conductance curves and furthermore their data were interpreted within a thermally broadened $`s`$-wave symmetry BCS gap.

In zero field and at low temperatures earlier results of ours  and others  have been reproduced. At low temperatures the zero bias conductance of the junctions was close to zero. At finite bias voltages the differential conductance followed an approximately quadratic bias dependence at low voltages and exhibited peaks around $`\pm `$60 mV. The corresponding peak-position in the density of states of the $`d`$-wave superconductor (the $`d`$-wave gap) is at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=40`$ meV . This is in general agreement with the values reported for an optimally doped sample .

If the magnetic field induces a gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ in the density of states, then the differential conductance is expected to change: in the low temperature limit a fully gapped DOS results in vanishing tunneling conductivity for voltages up to $`2\mathrm{\Delta }^{}/e`$. Numerous junctions were measured in search of this effect. In Figs. 1 and 2 two examples are shown, representing high and low resistance junctions, respectively. In the upper pannel of Fig. 1 the $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics at $`B=0`$ and 12 T fields are shown in the $`\pm 200`$ mV range. The middle pannel displays the corresponding condunctace curves normalized to the value at 200 mV in zero magnetic field. The low bias part of the conductance curve is blown up in the lower panel of Fig. 1. The curves at $`B=1`$, 2 and 12 T are shifted in respect to the zero field value for the sake of a better view. The same parabola (corresponding to a linear density of state) is drawn as an eyeguide over the experimental points for scans at differenet magnetic fields. It is evident from these curves that no change was found in the shape of the tunneling characteristic in the temperature and magnetic field range where the thermal conductivity anomaly was observed by Krishana et al. . The absence of magnetic field dependence of the tunneling conductance at 4.2 K is illustrated in Fig. 2 for the case of a low resistance junction. Similar conclusions were reached for temperatures up to 30 K on all the samples investigated.

It should be mentioned that the finite size of the junctions averages the physical properties on the involved area. For a $`d`$-wave superconductor, a full gap should be expected only for pure tunneling along $`a`$-$`a`$ or $`b`$-$`b`$ directions (on a microscopic scale). In these junctions the tunneling averages the density of states for many $`k`$-values, and we always see a quadratic voltage dependence of the conductance at low biases. Nevertheless, if the magnetic field would suppress the nodes in the gap, the conductance would be zero below the lowest gap value on the Fermi surface, no matter how is the average done in different $`k`$-directions.

Josephson current is observed in low resistance junctions. In the differential conductance, calculated from the measured currents and voltages, this feature shows up as a sharp peak, centered at zero voltage. Ideally, the peak should be very narrow. The width of the peak is a good measure of our experimental resolution - an example is shown in the inset of Fig. 2. From the half width of the curve we deduce a voltage resolution of about $`1`$ mV from these measurements. Combining the results illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 with the resolution deduced from the Josephson current measurements, a magnetic field induced gap of $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}>0.25`$ meV is excluded by the present study. (Note that a gap of $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ produces a conductivity change over the voltage range of $`4\mathrm{\Delta }^{}/e`$).

From a purely experimental perspective, the thermal conductivity ($`\kappa `$) data of the Princeton group  places a lower limit on $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$. According to the interpretation favored by the authors, the absence of all field dependence in $`\kappa `$ is due to an exponentially vanishing quasiparticle population - in other words it is due to a gap that is significantly larger than the temperature. For example, at $`B=2`$ T and $`T=10`$ K the gap should be $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}1`$ meV, and it is expected to increase at higher magnetic fields and decreasing temperatures. This is not compatible with our observations, in particular with the 4.2 K data shown on the Figures.

The review of current theories reveals several of possibilities for introducing a new energy scale to the problem. We will use a representative magnetic field of $`B=10`$ T for quantitative comparison. The cyclotron energy, in the order of $`\mathrm{}\omega _cav_F\frac{eB}{c}`$ is about 1 meV at this field (using reasonable values of the lattice spacing $`a`$ and Fermi velocity $`v_F`$). A fine structure on this scale is close the limit of the voltage resolution in the present experiment, and it can not be entirely excluded. Janko  describes the states in the Abrikosov vortices, obtaining characteristic energies in the order of magnitude of the geometric mean of the superconducting gap and the cyclotron frequency, $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}\omega _c}`$. The energy is in the order of 15 meV, clearly excluded by our measurement. Finally, Laughlin  describes a mechanism where the new gap is $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}=\mathrm{}v\sqrt{2\frac{eB}{\mathrm{}c}}=5`$ meV (here $`\mathrm{}v=4.5^6`$ cm sec-1 was used for the root mean square velocity of the $`d`$-wave node). A fully gapped DOS of $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}=5`$ meV should result in reduced conductivity over a 20 mV wide voltage range, that is clearly contradicted by the experimental results shown in Figs. 1 (lower panel) and 2.

In conclusion, our tunneling measurements on break junctions place an upper limit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}0.25`$ meV on the magnetic field induced gap in BSCCO. The field induced anomaly in the thermal conductivity must have some other explanation, possibly along the lines suggested by Aubin et al. .

We thank E. Tutiś and B. Janko for valuable discussions. LM is indebted to L. Zuppiroli for his hospitality. This project was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and by OTKA T026327.

$`\mathrm{\#}`$Permanent address: Technical University of Budapest, Hungary

$``$Permanent address: Department of Physics, SUNY @ Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA


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# Bunching of fluxons by the Cherenkov radiation in Josephson multilayers

## I Introduction

In the recent years, a great deal of attention was attracted to different kinds of solid state multilayered systems, e.g., artificial Josephson and magnetic multilayers, high-temperature superconductors (HTS) and perovskites, to name just a few. Multilayers are attractive because it is often possible to multiply a physical effect achieved in one layer by $`N`$ (and sometimes by $`N^2`$), where $`N`$ is the number of layers. This can be exploited for fabrication of novel solid-state devices. In addition, multilayered solid state systems show a variety of new physical phenomena which result from the interaction between individual layers.

In this article we focus on Josephson multilayer, the simplest example of which is a stack consisting of just two long Josephson junctions (LJJs). The results of our consideration can be applied to intrinsically layered HTS materials , since the Josephson-stack model has proved to be appropriate for these structures .

In earlier papers  it was shown that, in some cases, a fluxon (Josephson vortex) moving in one of the layers of the stack may emit electromagnetic (plasma) waves by means of the Cherenkov mechanism. The fluxon together with its Cherenkov radiation have a profile of a traveling wave, $`\varphi (xut)`$, having an oscillating gradually decaying tail. Such a wave profile generates an effective potential for another fluxon which can be added into the system. If the second fluxon is trapped in one of the minima of this traveling potential, we can get a bunched state of two fluxons. In such a state, two fluxons can stably move at a small constant distance one from another, which is not possible otherwise. Fluxons of the same polarity usually repel each other, even being located in different layers.

Similar bunched states were already found in a discrete Josephson transmission lines, as well as in long Josephson junctions with the so-called $`\beta `$-term due to the surface impedance of the superconductor . The dynamics of conventional LJJ is described by the sine- Gordon equation which does not allow the fluxon to move faster than the Swihart velocity and, therefore, the Cherenkov radiation never appears. In both cases mentioned above (the discrete system or the system with the $`\beta `$-term), the perturbation of the sine-Gordon equation results in a modified dispersion relation for Josephson plasma waves and appearance of an oscillating tail. This tail, in turn, results in an attractive interaction between fluxons, i.e., bunching. Nevertheless, the mere presence of an oscillating tail is not a sufficient condition for bunching.

In this paper, we investigate the problem of fluxon bunching in a system of two and three inductively coupled junctions with a primary state $`[1|0]`$ (one fluxon in the top junction and no fluxon in the bottom one) or $`[0|1|0]`$ (a fluxon only in the middle junction of a 3-fold stack). We show that bunching is possible for some fluxon configurations and specific range of parameters of the system. In addition, it is found that the bunched states radiate less than single-fluxon states, and therefore can move with a higher velocity. Section II presents the results of numerical simulations, in section III we discuss the obtained results and a feasibility of experimental observation of bunched states. We also derive a simple analytical expression which show the possibility of the existence of bunched states. Section IV concludes the work.

## II Numerical Simulations

The system of equations which describes the dynamics of Josephson phases $`\varphi ^{A,B}`$ in two coupled LJJA and LJJB is :

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _{xx}^A}{1S^2}}\varphi _{tt}^A\mathrm{sin}\varphi ^A{\displaystyle \frac{S}{1S^2}}\varphi _{xx}^B`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha \varphi _t^A\gamma ;`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _{xx}^B}{1S^2}}\varphi _{tt}^B{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}\varphi ^B}{J}}{\displaystyle \frac{S}{1S^2}}\varphi _{xx}^A`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha \varphi _t^B\gamma ,`$ (2)
where $`S`$ ($`1<S<0`$) is a dimensionless coupling constant, $`J=j_c^A/j_c^B`$ is the ratio of the critical currents, while $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma =j/j_c^A`$ are the damping coefficient and normalized bias current, respectively, that are assumed to be the same in both LJJs. It is also assumed that other parameters of the junctions, such as the effective magnetic thicknesses and capacitances, are the same. As has been shown earlier, the Cherenkov radiation in a two-fold stack may take place only if the fluxon is moving in the junction with smaller $`j_c`$. We suppose in the following that the fluxon moves in LJJA, that implies $`J<1`$.

In the case $`N=3`$, we impose the symmetry condition $`\varphi ^A\varphi ^C`$, which is natural when the fluxon moves in the middle layer, and, thus, we can rewrite equations from Ref. \[\] in the form

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _{xx}^A}{12S^2}}\varphi _{tt}^A\mathrm{sin}\varphi ^A{\displaystyle \frac{S\varphi _{xx}^B}{12S^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha \varphi _t^A\gamma ;`$ (3)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _{xx}^B}{12S^2}}\varphi _{tt}^B\mathrm{sin}\varphi ^B{\displaystyle \frac{2S\varphi _{xx}^A}{12S^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha \varphi _t^B\gamma .`$ (4)
Note the factor 2 in the last term on the l.h.s. of Eq. (4). In the case of three coupled LJJs, we assume $`J=1`$, since for more than two coupled junctions the Cherenkov radiation can be obtained for a uniform stack with equal critical currents

### A Numerical technique

The numerical procedure works as follows. For a given set of the LJJs parameters, we compute the current-voltage characteristic (IVC) of the system, i.e., $`\overline{V}^{A,B}(\gamma )`$. To calculate the voltages $`\overline{V}^{A,B}`$ for fixed values of $`\gamma `$, we simulate the dynamics of the phases $`\varphi ^{A,B}(x,t)`$ by solving Eqs. (1) and (2) for $`N=2`$ or Eqs. (3) and (4) for $`N=3`$, using the periodic boundary conditions:

$`\varphi ^{A,B}(x=L)`$ $`=`$ $`\varphi ^{A,B}(x=0)+2\pi N^{A,B};`$ (5)
$`\varphi _x^{A,B}(x=L)`$ $`=`$ $`\varphi _x^{A,B}(x=0),`$ (6)
where $`N^{A,B}`$ is the number of fluxons trapped in LJJA,B. In order to simulate a quasi-infinite system, we have chosen annular geometry with the length (circumference) of the junction $`L=100`$.

To solve the differential equations, we use an explicit method \[expressing $`\varphi ^{A,B}(t+\mathrm{\Delta }t)`$ as a function of $`\varphi ^{A,B}(t)`$ and $`\varphi ^{A,B}(t\mathrm{\Delta }t)`$\], treating $`\varphi _{xx}`$ with a five-point, $`\varphi _{tt}`$ with a three-point, and $`\varphi _t`$ with a two-point symmetric finite-difference scheme. The spatial and time steps used for the simulations were $`\delta x=0.025`$, $`\delta t=0.00625`$. After the simulation of the phase dynamics for $`T=10`$ time units, we calculate the average dc voltages $`\overline{V}^{A,B}`$ for this time interval as

$$\overline{V}^{A,B}=\frac{1}{T}_0^T\varphi _t^{A,B}(t)𝑑t=\frac{\varphi ^{A,B}(T)\varphi ^{A,B}(0)}{T}.$$
(7)
The dc voltage at point $`x`$ can be defined as average number of fluxons (the flux) passed through the junction at this point. Since the average fluxon density is not singular in any point of the junction (otherwise the energy will grow infinitely), we conclude that average dc voltage is the same for any point $`x`$. Therefore, for faster convergence of our averaging procedure, we can additionally average the phases $`\varphi ^{A,B}`$ in (7) over the length of the stack.

After the values of $`\overline{V}^{A,B}`$ were found as per Eq. (7), the evolution of the phases $`\varphi ^{A,B}(x,t)`$ is simulated further during $`1.1T`$ time units, the dc voltages $`\overline{V}^{A,B}`$ are calculated for this new time interval and compared with the previously calculated values. We repeat such iterations further, increasing the time interval by a factor 1.1 until the difference in dc voltages $`|\overline{V}(1.1^{n+1}T)\overline{V}(1.1^nT)|`$ obtained in two subsequent iterations becomes less than an accuracy $`\delta V=10^4`$. The particular factor $`1.1`$ was found to be quite optimal and to provide for fast convergence, as well as more efficient averaging of low harmonics on each subsequent step. Very small value of this factor, e.g., $`1.01`$ (recall that only the values greater than 1 have meaning), may result in a very slow convergence in the case when $`\varphi (t)`$ contains harmonics with the period $`T`$. Large values of the factor, e.g., $`2`$, would consume a lot of CPU time already during the second or third iteration and, hence, are not good for practical use.

Once the voltage averaging for current $`\gamma `$ is complete, the current $`\gamma `$ is increased by a small amount $`\delta \gamma =0.005`$ to calculate the voltages at the next point of the IVC. We use a distribution of the phases (and their derivatives) achieved in the previous point of the IVC as the initial distribution for the following point.

Further description of the software used for simulation can be found in Ref. .

### B Two coupled junctions

For simulation we chose the following parameters of the system: $`S=0.5`$ to be close to the limit of intrinsically layered HTS, $`J=0.5`$ to let the fluxon accelerate above the $`\overline{c}_{}`$ and develop Cherenkov radiation tail. The velocity $`\overline{c}_{}`$ is the smallest of Swihart velocities of the system. It characterizes the propagation of the out-of-phase mode of Josephson plasma waves. The value of $`\alpha =0.04`$ is chosen somewhat higher than, e.g., in (Nb-Al-AlOx)N-Nb stacks. This choice is dictated by the need to keep the quasi-infinite approximation valid and satisfy the condition $`\alpha L1`$. Smaller $`\alpha `$ requires very large $`L`$ and, therefore, unaffordably long simulation times. So, we made a compromise and chose the above $`\alpha `$ value.

First, we simulated the IVC $`u(\gamma )`$ in the $`[1|0]`$ state, by sweeping $`\gamma `$ from 0 up to 1 and making snapshots of phase gradients at every point of the IVC. This IVC is shown in Fig. 1(a), and the snapshot of the phase gradient at $`\gamma =0.3`$ is presented in Fig. 1(b). As one can see, the Cherenkov radiation tail, which is present for $`u>\overline{c}_{}`$, has a sequence of minima where the second fluxon may be trapped.

#### 1 $`[1+1|0]`$ state

In order to create a two-fluxon bunched state and check its stability, we used the following “solution-engineering” procedure. By taking a snapshot of the phase profiles $`\varphi _{A,B}(x)`$ at the bias value $`\gamma _0=0.3`$, we constructed an ansatz for the bunched solution in the form

$$\varphi _{A,B}^{\mathrm{new}}(x)=\varphi _{A,B}(x)+\varphi _{A,B}(x+\mathrm{\Delta }x),$$
(8)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ is chosen so that the center of the trailing fluxon is placed at one of the minima of the Cherenkov tail. For example, to trap the trailing fluxon in the first, second and third well, we used $`\mathrm{\Delta }x=0.9`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x=2.4`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }x=3.9`$, respectively. The phase distribution (and derivatives), constructed in this way, were used as the initial condition for solving Eqs. (1) and (2) numerically. As the system relaxed to the desired state $`[1+1|0]`$, we further traced $`u(\gamma )`$ curve, varying $`\gamma _0`$ down to $`0`$ and up to $`1`$.

We accomplished this procedure for a set of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ values, trying to trap the second fluxon in every well. Fig. 1(c) shows that a stable, tightly bunched state of two fluxons is indeed possible. Actually, all the $`[1+1|0]`$ states obtained this way have been found to be stable, and we were able to trace their IVCs up and down, starting from the initial value of the bias current $`\gamma =0.3`$. For the case when the trailing fluxon is trapped in the first, second and third minima, such IVCs are shown in Fig. 2.

The most interesting feature of these curves is that they correspond to the velocity of the bunched state that is higher than that of the $`[1|0]`$ state, at the same value of the bias current. Comparing solutions shown in Figs. 1(b) and 1(c), we see that the amplitude of the trailing tail is smaller for the bunched state. This circumstance suggests the following explanation to the fact that the observed velocity is higher in the state $`[1+1|0]`$ than in the single-fluxon one. Because the driving forces acting on two fluxons in the bunched and unbunched states are the same, the difference in their velocities can be attributed only to the difference in the friction forces. The friction force acting on the fluxon in one junction is

$$F_\alpha =\alpha _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}\varphi _x\varphi _t𝑑x,$$
(9)
and the same holds for the other junction. By just looking at Fig. 1(b) and (c) it is rather difficult to tell in which case the friction force is larger, but accurate calculations using Eq. (9) and profiles from Fig. 1(b) and (c) show that the friction force acting on two fluxons with the tails shown in Fig. 1(b) is somewhat higher than that for Fig. 1(c). This result is not surprising if one recalls that, to create the bunched state, we have shifted the $`[1|0]`$ state by about half of the tail oscillation period relative to the other single-fluxon state. Due to this, the tails of the two fluxons add up out of phase and partly cancel each other, making the tail’s amplitude behind the fluxon in the bunched state lower than that in the $`[1|0]`$ state.

From Fig. 2 it is seen that every bunched state exists in a certain range of values of the bias current. If the current is decreased below some threshold value, fluxons dissociate and start moving apart, so that the interaction between them becomes exponentially small. When the trailing fluxon sits in a minimum of the Cherenkov tail sufficiently far from the leading fluxon, the IVC corresponding to this bunched state is almost undistinguishable from that of the $`[1|0]`$ state, as the two fluxons approach the limit when they do not interact. We have found that IVCs for $`M>3`$, where $`M`$ is the potential well’s number, is indeed almost identical to that of the $`[1|0]`$ state. In contrast to bunching of fluxons in discrete LJJ, the transitions from one bunched state to another with different $`M`$ do *n*ot take place in our system. Thus, we can say that the current range of a bunched state with smaller $`M`$ “eclipses” the bunched states with larger $`M`$.

The profiles of solutions found for various values of the bias current are shown in Fig. 3. We notice that at the bottom of the step corresponding to the bunched state the radiation tail is much weaker and fluxons are bunched tighter. This is a direct consequence of the fact that at lower velocities the radiation wavelength and the distance between minima becomes smaller, and so does the distance between the two fluxons. At a low bias current, the radiation wavelength and, hence, width of the potential wells become very small and incommensurable with the fluxon’s width. Therefore, the fluxon does not fit into the well and the bunched states virtually disappear.

#### 2 $`[1|1]`$ state

The initial condition for this state was constructed in a similar fashion to the $`[1+1|0]`$ one, but now using a cross-sum of the shifted and unshifted solutions:

$$\varphi _{A,B}^{\mathrm{new}}(x)=\varphi _{A,B}(x)+\varphi _{B,A}(x+\mathrm{\Delta }x).$$
(10)
If for the $`[1+1|0]`$ state, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ was $`(\lambda \frac{1}{2})M`$, $`M=1,2\mathrm{}`$, then in the $`[1|1]`$ state we have to take $`\mathrm{\Delta }x\lambda M`$. We can also take $`M=0`$ i.e., $`\mathrm{\Delta }x=0`$, which corresponds to the degenerate case of the in-phase $`[1|1]`$ state. The stability of this state was investigated in detail analytically by Grønbech-Jensen and co-authors, and is outside the scope of this paper.

Our efforts to create a bound state $`[1|1]`$ using the phase in the form (10) with $`M=1,2\mathrm{}`$ have not lead to any stable configuration of bunched fluxons with $`\mathrm{\Delta }x0`$.

#### 3 Higher-order states

Looking at the phase gradient profiles shown in Fig. 3, one notes that these profiles are qualitatively very similar to the original profile of the soliton with a radiation tail behind it \[see Fig. 1(b)\], with the only difference that there are two bunched solitons with a tail. So, we can try to construct two pairs of bunched fluxons moving together, i.e., get a $`[2+2|0]`$ bunched state. As before, the trapping of the trailing pair is possible in one of the minima of the tail generated by the leading pair. To construct such a double-bunched state we employ the initial conditions obtained using Eq. (8) at the bias point $`\gamma _0=0.3`$, using the steady phase distribution obtained for the $`[2|0]`$ state at $`\gamma _0=0.3`$. The shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ was chosen in such a way that a pair of fluxons fits into one of the minima of the tail. We note that in this case we needed to vary $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ a little bit before we have achieved trapping of the trailing pair in a desired well.

Simulations show that the obtained $`[2+2|0]`$ states are stable and demonstrate an even higher velocity of the whole four-fluxon aggregate. The corresponding IVCs and profiles are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b), respectively. Note that at $`\gamma <0.22`$ the bunched state $`[2+2|0]`$ splits first into $`[1+1_2+1_3+1_3|0]`$ state (the subscripts denote the well’s number $`M`$, counting from the previous fluxon), and at still lower bias current, $`\gamma <0.2`$, they split into two independent $`[1+1_2|0]`$ and $`[1+1_5|0]`$ states. This two states move with slightly different velocities and can collide with each other due to the periodic nature of the system. As a result of collisions, these states ultimately undergo a transformation into two independent $`[1+1_5|0]`$ states. As the bias decreases below $`0.1`$, the velocity $`u`$ becomes smaller than $`\overline{c}_{}`$ and the Cherenkov radiation tails disappear. At this point, each of the $`[1+1_5|0]`$ states smoothly transforms into two independent $`[1|0]`$ states. The interaction between these states is exponentially small, with a characteristic length $`1`$ (or, $`\lambda _J`$ in physical units). We note that the interaction between kinks in the region $`u>\overline{c}_{}`$, where they have tails, also decreases exponentially, but with a larger characteristic length $`\alpha ^1`$.

The procedure of constructing higher-order bunched states can be performed using different states as “building blocks”. In particular, we also tried to form the $`[2+1|0]`$ bunched state. Note that if two different states are taken as building blocks, we need to match their velocities, and, hence, the wave lengths of the tail. Thus, we have to combine two states at the same velocity, rather than at the same bias current. Since different states have their own velocity ranges, it is not always possible. As an example, we have constructed a $`[2+1|0]`$ state out of $`[2|0]`$ state at $`\gamma =0.15`$ and $`[1|0]`$ state at $`\gamma =0.45`$ using an ansatz similar to (8). These states have approximately the same velocity $`u0.95`$ (see to Fig. 2). The constructed state was simulated, starting from the points $`\gamma =0.3`$ and $`\gamma =0.35`$, tracing IVC up and down as before. Depending on the bias current the system ends up in different states, namely in the state $`[1+1_1+1_2|0]`$ for $`\gamma _0=0.3`$, or in the state $`[1+1_1+1_1|0]=[3|0]`$ for $`\gamma _0=0.35`$. The IVCs of both states are shown in Fig. 4. The profiles of the phase gradients are shown in Fig. 4(c).

Our attempts to construct the states with a higher number of bunched fluxons, e.g., $`[4+4|0]`$, have failed since four fluxons do not fit into one well. We have concluded that such states immediately get converted into one of the lower-order states.

### C Three coupled junctions

We have performed numerical simulation of Eqs. (3) and (4), using the same technique as described in the previous section. Our intention here is to study the 3-junction case in which the fluxon is put in the middle junction ($`[0|1|0]`$ state). All other parameters were the same as in the case of the two-junction system, except for the ratio of the critical currents $`J`$, which was taken equal to one. This simplest choice is made because in a system of $`N>2`$ coupled identical junctions the Cherenkov radiation appears in a $`[0|\mathrm{}|0|1|0|\mathrm{}|0]`$ state for $`u>\overline{c}_{}0.765`$ (this pertains to $`S=0.5`$).

Fig. 5 shows the IVCs of the original state $`[0|1|0]`$, as well as IVCs of the bunched state $`[0|1+1|0]`$ for $`M=1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}2},\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}`$. The profiles of the phase gradients at points A through D are shown in Fig. 6. Qualitatively, the bunching in the 3-fold system takes place in a similar fashion as that in the 2-fold system. Nevertheless, we did not succeed in creating a stable fluxon configuration with $`M=3`$, although the stable states with other $`M`$ were obtained. We would like to mention, that when the second fluxon was put in the second minimum of the potential to get the state with $`M=2`$, the state with $`M=1`$ has been finally established as a result of relaxation. The same behavior was observed when we put the fluxon initially in the third minimum, the system ended up in the state $`[1+1_2|0]`$. For $`M4`$, the behavior was as usual. We tried to vary $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ smoothly, so that the center of the trailing fluxon would correspond to different positions between the second and fourth well, but in this case we did not succeed to get $`[1+1_2|0]`$ state.

Following the same way as for two coupled junctions, we tried to construct $`[0+1|1|0+1]`$ states. As in the case $`N=2`$, these states were found unstable for any $`M>0`$, e.g., they would split into $`[0|1+1_2|0]`$ and $`[1|1|1]`$. The state $`[0|2+2|0]`$ was not stable either for $`M=1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}2},\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}`$ and the bias currents $`\gamma _0=0.20`$, 0.30, 0.35.

The state $`[0|2+1|0]=[0|3|0]`$, constructed by combining the solutions for the $`[0|1|0]`$ and $`[0|2|0]`$ states moving with equal velocities was found to be stable when starting at $`\gamma =0.25`$ and sweeping bias current up and down. The dependence $`u(\gamma )`$ is shown in Fig. 5. One may note, that for the states $`[0|2|0]`$ and $`[0|3|0]`$ the dependence is not smooth. Indeed, for these states the Cherenkov radiation tail is so long ($`L`$), that our annular system cannot simulate an infinitely long system, resulting in Cherenkov resonances which inevitably appear in the system with a finite perimeter.

## III Analysis and Discussion

Because of the non-linear nature of the bunching problem, it is hardly tractable analytically. Therefore, we here present an approach in which we analyze the asymptotic behavior of the fluxon’s front and trailing tails in the linear approximation. This technique is similar to that employed in Ref. . We assume that, at distances which are large enough in comparison with the fluxon’s size, the fluxon’s profile is exponentially decaying,

$$\varphi (x,t)\mathrm{exp}[p(xut)],$$
(11)
where $`p`$ is a complex number which can be found by substituting this expression into Eqs. (1) and (2). As a result we arrive at an equation

$$\left|\begin{array}{cc}\frac{p^2}{1S^2}p^2u^21\alpha pu& \frac{Sp^2}{1S^2}\\ \frac{Sp^2}{1S^2}& \frac{p^2}{1S^2}p^2u^2\frac{1}{J}\alpha pu\end{array}\right|=0,$$
(12)
In general, this yields a 4-th order algebraic equation which always has 4 roots. If we want to describe a soliton moving from left to right with a radiation tail behind it, we have to find the values $`p`$ among the four roots which adequately describe the front and rear parts of the soliton. Because the front (right) part of the soliton is not oscillating, it is described by Eq. (11) with real $`p<0`$. The rear (left) part of the soliton is the oscillating tail, consequently it should be described by Eq. (11) with complex $`p`$ having $`\mathrm{Re}(p)>0`$, the period of oscillations being determined by the imaginary part of $`p`$. Analyzing the 4-th order equation, we conclude that the two necessary types of the roots coexist only for $`u>\overline{c}_{}`$, which is quite an obvious result.

To analyze the possibility of bunched state formation, we consider two fluxons situated at some distance from each other. We propose the following two conditions for the two fluxons to form a bunched state:

1. Since non-oscillating tails result only in repulsion between fluxons, while the oscillating tail leads to mutual trapping, the condition

$$\mathrm{Re}(p_l)<|p_r|,$$
(13)
can be imposed to secure bunching. Here $`p_l`$ is the root of Eq. (12) which describes the left (oscillating) tail of the leading (right) fluxon, and $`p_r`$ is the root of Eq. (12) which describes the right (non-oscillating) tail of the trailing (left) fluxon.
2. The relativistically contracted fluxon must fit into the minimum of the tail, i.e.,

$$\frac{\pi }{\mathrm{Im}(p)}>\sqrt{\frac{u^2}{\overline{c}_{}^2}1},$$
(14)
where $`\pi /\mathrm{Im}(p)`$ is half of the wavelength of the tail-forming radiation (the well’s width), and the expression on the r.h.s. of Eq. (14) approximately corresponds to the contraction of the fluxon at the trans-Swihart velocities. Although our system is not Lorentz invariant, numerical simulations show that the fluxon indeed shrinks (not up to zero) when approaching the Swihart velocity $`\overline{c}_{}`$ from both sides.

Following this approach, we have found that the second condition (14) is always satisfied. The first condition (13) gives the following result. Bunching is possible at $`u>u_b>\overline{c}_{}`$. The value of $`u_b`$ can be calculated numerically and for $`S=0.5`$, $`J=0.5`$, $`\alpha =0.04`$ it is $`u_b=0.837`$. Looking at Fig. 2, we see that this velocity corresponds to the bias point where the $`[1+1_M|0]`$ states cease to exist. Thus, our crude approximation reasonably predicts the velocity range where the bunching is possible.

## IV Conclusion

In this work we have shown by means of numerical simulations that:

* The emission of the Cherenkov plasma waves by a fluxon moving with high velocity creates an effective potential with many wells, where other fluxons can be trapped. This mechanism leads to bunching between fluxons of the same polarity.
* We have proved numerically that in the system of two and three coupled junctions the bunched states for the fluxons in the same junction such as $`[1+1|0]`$, $`[1+2|0]`$, $`[2+2|0]`$, $`[0|1+1|0]`$ are stable. The states with fluxons in different junctions like $`[1|0+1]`$ and $`[0+1|1|0+1]`$ are numerically found unstable (except for the degenerated case $`M=0`$, when $`[1|1]`$ is a simple in- phase state).
* Bunched fluxons propagate at a substantially higher velocity than the corresponding free ones at the same bias current, because of lower losses per fluxon.
* When decreasing the bias current, transitions between the bunched states with different separations between fluxons were not found. This behavior differs from what is known for the bunched states in a discrete system. In addition, a splitting of multi-fluxon states into the states with smaller numbers of bunched fluxons is observed.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported by a grant no. G0464-247.07/95 from the German-Israeli Foundation.


text:
# Beyond Octonions

(February 2000)

## Abstract

We investigate Clifford Algebras structure over non-ring division algebras. We show how projection over the real field produces the standard Attiyah-Bott-Shapiro classification.

Quaternions and octonions may be presented as a linear algebra over the field of real numbers $``$ with a general element of the form

$$Y=y_0e_0+y_ie_i,y_0,y_i$$
(1)
where $`i=1,2,3`$ for quaternions $``$ and $`i=\mathrm{1..7}`$ for octonions $`𝕆`$. We always use Einstein’s summation convention. The $`e_i`$ are imaginary units, for quaternions

$`e_ie_j`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{ij}+ϵ_{ijk}e_k,`$ (2)
$`e_ie_0`$ $`=`$ $`e_0e_i=e_i,`$ (3)
$`e_0e_0`$ $`=`$ $`e_0,`$ (4)
where $`\delta _{ij}`$ is the Kronecker delta and $`ϵ_{ijk}`$ is the three dimensional Levi–Cevita tensor, as $`e_0=1`$ when there is no confusion we omit it. Octonions have the same structure, only we must replace $`ϵ_{ijk}`$ by the octonionic structure constant $`f_{ijk}`$ which is completely antisymmetric and equal to one for any of the following three cycles

$$123,\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}145},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}176},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}246},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}257},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}347},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}365}.$$
(5)
The important feature of real, complex, quaternions and octonions is the existence of an inverse for any non-zero element. For the generic quaternionic or octonionic element given in (1), we define the conjugate $`Y^{}`$ as an involution $`\left(Y^{}\right)^{}=Y`$, such that

$$Y^{}=y_0e_0y_ie_i,$$
(6)
introducing the norm as $`N\left(Y\right)Y=YY^{}=Y^{}Y`$ then the inverse is

$$Y^1=\frac{Y^{}}{Y}.$$
(7)
The Norm is nondegenerate and positively definite. We have the decomposition property

$$XY=XY$$
(8)
$`N\left(xy\right)`$ being nondegenerate and positive definite obeys the axioms of the scalar product.

Going to higher dimensions, we define “hexagonions” ($`𝕏`$) by introducing a new element $`e_8`$ such that

$$\begin{array}{cccc}𝕏\hfill & =\hfill & 𝕆_1+𝕆_2e_8\hfill & \\ & =\hfill & x_0e_0+\mathrm{}+x_{16}e_{16}.\hfill & x_\mu \hfill \end{array}$$
(9)
and

$$e_ie_j=\delta _{ij}+C_{ijk}e_k.$$
(10)
Now, we have to find a suitable form of the completely antisymmetric tensor $`C_{ijk}`$. Recalling how the structure constant is written for octonions

$`𝕆`$ $`=`$ $`_1+_2e_4`$ (11)
$`=`$ $`x_0e_0+\mathrm{}+x_7e_7,`$
where $``$ are quaternions, we have already chosen the convention $`e_1e_2=e_3`$ which is extendable to (11). We set $`e_1e_4=e_5`$, $`e_2e_4=e_6`$ and $`e_3e_4=e_7`$, but we still lack the relationships between the remaining possible triplets, $`\{e_1,e_6,e_7\};`$ $`\{e_2,e_5,e_7\};`$ $`\{e_3,e_5,e_6\}`$ which can be fixed by using

$$\begin{array}{c}e_1e_6=e_1(e_2e_4)=(e_1e_2)e_4=e_3e_4=e_7,\\ e_2e_5=e_2(e_1e_4)=(e_2e_1)e_4=+e_3e_4=+e_7,\\ e_3e_5=e_3(e_1e_4)=(e_3e_1)e_4=e_2e_4=e_6.\end{array}$$

These cycles define all the structure constants for octonions. Returning to $`𝕏`$, we have the seven octonionic conditions, and the decomposition (9). We set $`e_1e_8=e_9,e_2e_8=e_A,e_3e_8=e_B,e_4e_8=e_C,e_5e_8=e_D,e_6e_8=e_E,e_7e_8=e_F`$ where $`A=10,B=11,C=12,D=13,E=14`$ and $`F=15`$. The other elements of the multiplication table may be chosen in analogy with (11). Explicitly, the 35 hexagonionic triplets are

$$\begin{array}{ccccccc}(123),& (145),& (246),& (347),& (257),& (176),& (365),\\ (189),& (28A),& (38B),& (48C),& (58D),& (68E),& (78F),\\ (1BA),& (1DC),& (1EF),& (29B),& (2EC),& (2FD),& (3A9),\\ (49D),& (4AE),& (4BF),& (3FC),& (3DE),& (5C9),& (5AF),\\ (5EB),& (6FD),& (6CA),& (6BD),& (79E),& (7DA),& (7CB).\end{array}$$

This can be extended for any generic higher dimensional $`𝔽^n`$.

It can be shown by using some combinatorics that the number of such triplets $`N`$ for a general $`𝔽^n`$ algebra is ($`n>1`$)

$$N=\frac{\left(2^n1\right)!}{\left(2^n3\right)!3!},$$
(12)
giving

$$\begin{array}{cccc}𝔽^n& n& dim& N\\ & 2& 4& 1\\ 𝕆& 3& 8& 7\\ 𝕏& 4& 16& 35\\ & & andsoon.& \end{array}$$

One may notice that for any non-ring division algebra $`\left(𝔽,n>3\right)`$$`N>dim(𝔽^n)`$ except when dim = $`\mathrm{},`$ i.e. a functional Hilbert space with a Cliff(0,$`\mathrm{}`$) structure.

It is clear that for any ring or non–ring division algebras, $`e_i,e_j𝔽^n`$, we have

$$\{e_i,e_j\}=2\delta _{ij}.$$
(13)
As we explained in  and , treating quaternions and octonions as elements of $`R^4`$ and $`R^8`$ respectively, we can find the full set of matrices $`R\left(4\right)`$ and $`R\left(8\right)`$ that corresponds to any elements $`e_i`$ explicitly

$`\begin{array}{cccc}forquaternions\hfill & e_i\hfill & \hfill & (𝔼_i)_{\alpha \beta }=\delta _{i\alpha }\delta _{\beta 0}\delta _{i\beta }\delta _{\alpha 0}+ϵ_{i\alpha \beta },\hfill \\ \{E_i,E_j\}=2\delta _{ij}\hfill & & i,j=\mathrm{1..3},\hfill & \alpha ,\beta =\mathrm{1..4},\hfill \\ foroctonions\hfill & e_i\hfill & \hfill & (𝔼_i)_{\alpha \beta }=\delta _{i\alpha }\delta _{\beta 0}\delta _{i\beta }\delta _{\alpha 0}+f_{i\alpha \beta },\hfill \\ \{E_i,E_j\}=2\delta _{ij}\hfill & & i,j=\mathrm{1..7},\hfill & \alpha ,\beta =\mathrm{1..8}\hfill \end{array}`$ (18)
(19)
Following, the same translation idea projecting our algebra $`𝕏`$ over $`^{16}`$, any $`𝔼_i`$ is given by a relation similar to that given in (19),

$$(𝔼_i)_{\alpha \beta }=\delta _{i\alpha }\delta _{\beta 0}\delta _{i\beta }\delta _{\alpha 0}+C_{i\alpha \beta }.$$
(20)
But contrary to quaternions and octonions, the Clifford algebra (over the real field $`R^{16}`$)closes only for a subset of these $`E_i`$’s, namely

$$\{𝔼_i,𝔼_j\}=2\delta _{ij}\text{for}i,j,k=1\mathrm{}8not\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}\mathrm{}15.$$
(21)
Because we have lost the ring division structure. We can find easily that another ninth $`𝔼_i`$ can be constructed, in agreement with the Clifford algebra classification . There is no standard333Look to  for a non standard representation. 16 dimensional representation for $`Cliff\left(15\right)`$. Following this procedure, we can give a simple way to write real Clifford algebras over any arbitrary Euclidean dimensions.

Sometimes, a specific multiplication table may be favored. For example in soliton theory, the existence of a symplectic structure related to the bihamiltonian formulation of integrable models is welcome. It is known from the Darboux theorem, that locally a symplectic structure is given up to a minus sign by

$$𝒥_{dim\times dim}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& \mathrm{𝟏}_{\frac{dim}{2}}\\ \mathrm{𝟏}_{\frac{dim}{2}}& 0\end{array}\right),$$
(22)
this fixes the following structure constants

$`C_{\left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)1\left(\frac{dim}{2}+1\right)}=1,`$ (23)
$`C_{\left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)2\left(\frac{dim}{2}+2\right)}=1,`$ (24)
$`\mathrm{}`$ (25)
$`C_{\left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)\left(\frac{dim}{2}1\right)\left(dim1\right)}=1,`$ (26)
which is the decomposition that we have chosen in (11) for octonions

$$C_{415}=C_{426}=C_{437}=1.$$
(27)
Generally our symplectic structure is

$$\left(1|𝔼_{\left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)}\right)_{\alpha \beta }=\delta _{0\alpha }\delta _{\beta \left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)}\delta _{0\beta }\delta _{\alpha \left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)}ϵ_{\alpha \beta \left(\frac{dim}{2}\right)}.$$
(28)
Moreover some other choices may exhibit a relation with number theory and Galois fields . It is highly non-trivial how Clifford algebraic language can be used to unify many distinct mathematical notions such as Grassmanian , complex, quaternionic and symplectic structures.

The main result of this section, the non-existence of standard associative 16 dimensional representation of $`Cliff(0,15)`$ is in agreement with the Atiyah–Bott–Shapiro classification of real Clifford algebras . In this context, the importance of ring division algebras can also be deduced from the Bott periodicity .

I would like to thank P. Rotelli for some useful comments.


text:
# Detection of very small neutrino masses in double-beta decay using laser tagging

## 1 Introduction

Recent results from a number of independent experiments  can be interpreted as due to finite neutrino masses and, in particular, high statistics measurements of atmospheric neutrinos by the Super-Kamiokande experiment are regarded by most as firm evidence that neutrinos have non-zero masses.
While these measurements, based on oscillations, have set the stage for a systematic study of the intrinsic neutrino properties, only upper-limits exist on the absolute magnitude of neutrino masses. Indeed, theoretical models span a large range of scenarios, from the degenerate case where mass differences among flavors are small with respect to the absolute mass scale , to the hierarchical, where mass differences are of the same order as the mass themselves. However, while the neutrino mass scale is unknown, the present data on oscillations lead rather naturally to masses in the range $`0.01<m_\nu <1`$ eV, as shown recently, e.g. in .
It is unlikely that direct neutrino mass measurements, most notably with tritium , will be able to reach sensitivities substantially below 1 eV in the near future. In contrast, we will show that a large double-$`\beta `$ decay experiment using isotopically enriched $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$can reach a sensitivity corresponding to neutrino masses as low as $``$0.01 eV. A xenon detector offers the unique possibility of identifying the final state, thus providing an essentially background-free measurement of unprecedented sensitivity for the neutrino mass.

It is well known that neutrinoless double beta decay, $`0\nu \beta \beta `$, can proceed only if neutrinos are massive Majorana particles. If the $`0\nu \beta \beta `$occurs, the effective Majorana neutrino mass $`m_\nu `$ is related to the half-life $`T_{1/2}^{0\nu \beta \beta }`$ as:

$$m_\nu ^2=(T_{1/2}^{0\nu \beta \beta }G^{0\nu \beta \beta }(E_0,Z)|M_{GT}^{0\nu \beta \beta }\frac{g_V^2}{g_A^2}M_F^{0\nu \beta \beta }|^2)^1$$
(1)
where $`G^{0\nu \beta \beta }(E_0,Z)`$ is a known phase space factor depending on the end-point energy $`E_0`$ and the nuclear charge $`Z`$, and $`M_{GT}^{0\nu \beta \beta }`$ and $`M_F^{0\nu \beta \beta }`$ are the Gamow-Teller and Fermi nuclear matrix elements for the process. Here we have defined $`m_\nu =_im_iU_{ei}^2`$ with $`U`$ being the mixing matrix in the lepton sector, and $`m_i`$ the masses of the individual Majorana neutrinos. Hence, although difficulties in the nuclear models used to calculate the matrix elements give some uncertainty on the value of $`m_\nu `$ (see, e.g. ), $`0\nu \beta \beta `$decay is sensitive to the masses of all neutrino flavors, provided that the mixing angles are non-negligible.

## 2 Backgrounds and Experimental Limitations

At present the best sensitivities to $`0\nu \beta \beta `$decay have been reached with $`{}_{}{}^{76}\mathrm{Ge}`$ diode ionization counters with an exposure of 24.16 kg yr  and with a $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$ time projection chamber (TPC) with an exposure of 4.87 kg yr . The measured half-life limits of $`5.7\times 10^{25}`$ yrs for germanium and $`4.4\times 10^{23}`$ yrs for xenon can be interpreted as neutrino mass limits of, respectively, $`m_\nu <0.2(0.6)`$ eV and $`m_\nu <2.2(5.2)`$ eV using the Quasi-Particle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA)  (Shell Model (NSM) ) for the nuclear matrix element calculation.

The germanium detector rejects background on the basis of its excellent energy resolution and of pulse-shape discrimination  and has recently reported a specific background as low as 0.3 kg-1 yr-1 FWHM-1. The relatively inferior energy resolution in TPCs have been complemented by superior tracking capabilities that allow the xenon experiment to partially reconstruct the two-electron topology of $`\beta \beta `$-decay, obtaining a specific background of 2.5 kg-1 yr-1 FWHM-1 . None of these backgrounds is sufficient for a decisive experiment in the interesting region discussed above. For that, it is essential to find a reliable way to drastically increase the size of the detectors while, simultaneously, reducing the backgrounds. This dual requirement stems from the fact that in a background-free experiment the neutrino mass sensitivity scales as $`m_\nu 1/\sqrt{T_{1/2}^{0\nu \beta \beta }}1/\sqrt{Nt}`$, where $`t`$ is the measurement time and $`N`$ the number of nuclei under study. In the opposite extreme, when the background scales with $`Nt`$, the neutrino mass sensitivity would scale only as $`m_\nu 1/(Nt)^{1/4}`$. Obviously, the backgrounds observed in all current experiments will become the true limiting factor of any kind of future large experiment, hampering the full utilization of very large masses of $`\beta \beta `$ emitters. Unlike other isotopes, however, $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$allows for direct tagging of the Ba-ion final state using optical spectroscopy, as pointed-out for the first time in . While this technique cannot discriminate between $`0\nu \beta \beta `$and $`2\nu \beta \beta `$-decays, this second process is not the dominant background at the sensitivities sought here and can be eliminated by kinematical reconstruction in a xenon TPC. Moreover, xenon is one of the easiest isotopes to enrich, and like argon can be used as active medium in ionization chambers. Hence, an experiment with xenon can use an entirely new variable in order to drastically reduce the backgrounds and explore the range of interesting neutrino masses.

## 3 Barium detection in xenon

The $`\beta \beta `$-decay of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$produces a Ba++ ion in the final state that can be readily neutralized to Ba+ by an appropriate secondary gas in the TPC. The barium ion can then be individually detected through its laser-induced fluorescence. Single Ba+ ions were first observed in 1978  using a radio frequency quadrupole trap and laser cooling.

The level structure of the alkali-like Ba+ ion is shown in Figure 1. Due to the strong 493 nm allowed transition ground-state ions can be optically excited to the $`6^2\mathrm{P}_{1/2}`$ state from where they have substantial branching ratio (30%) to decay into the meta-stable $`5^4\mathrm{D}_{3/2}`$ state. Specific Ba+ detection is then achieved by exciting the system back into the $`6^2\mathrm{P}_{1/2}`$ state with 650 nm radiation and observing the blue photon from the decay to the ground state (70% branching ratio). This transition has a spontaneous lifetime of 8 ns and when saturated will radiate $`6\times 10^7`$ photons/s. A pair of lasers tuned onto the appropriate frequencies and simultaneously steered to the place where the $`\beta \beta `$-decay candidate event is found can provide a very selective validation, effectively providing a new independent constraint to be used in $`\beta \beta `$-decay background subtraction. The light from the P to S transition conveniently lays in the region of maximum quantum efficiency of bialkali photocathodes so that an array of conventional large-area photomultipliers can be used for the detection. The very large saturation rate makes the experiment possible even with modest photocathode angular coverage. While it is possible in principle to steer the lasers anywhere inside the TPC, the very large volume and the need for light baffling may favor a scheme in which the Ba+ drift in the large electric field is used to bring the ion in specific laser detection regions.

The primary difference between the single atom work done previously and this experiment is that here the $`\mathrm{Ba}^+`$ ion is not in vacuum but rather in a buffer gas (Xe) at a pressure of several atmospheres. The high pressure xenon has two effects: first, it effectively traps the barium since diffusion in the dense gas is sufficient to confine the atoms for long enough time to obtain a signal; second, it pressure broadens the optical transitions increasing the laser power required. We calculate that at 5 atm the barium ion will diffuse only $`0.7`$ mm in 1 s, and during this time it can be cycled over $`10^7`$ times through the three-level scheme of Figure 1, emitting more than $`10^7`$ 493 nm photons. The ion drift in the electric field of the TPC can be accurately measured and corrected for in the process of steering the lasers. For the moment we notice that drift velocities of Tl+ in Xe have been measured  and are low enough to make the correction possible. We also find from preliminary calculations that at the same pressure the broadened line-width is $`20`$ GHz, 1000 times greater than the natural line-width. This results in a saturation intensity of $`5`$ W/cm2. Ba+ lifetime, together with pressure broadening of the lines involved, and the lifetime of the $`5^4\mathrm{D}_{3/2}`$ state, will have to be measured in xenon before the detection system can be fully optimized. However, measurements on the corresponding neutral Ba states at 0.5 atm in He and Ar  show that operations at 5 to 10 atm should be possible.

## 4 A large xenon gas TPC with barium tagging

Among the different gas ionization detectors known, a TPC is the ideal detector for $`\beta \beta `$-decay as it has no wires or other materials in the detection volume hence reducing the background internal to the detector and simplifying the laser scanning. The requirements of size, efficiency for contained events, energy, and spatial resolution can be achieved with a large (40 m3) gas-phase TPC with xenon. TPCs of similar size at atmospheric pressure are successfully in operation , in one case with some 10 kg of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$ . A 5 to 10 atm, 40 m3 chamber would contain 1 to 2 tons of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$and is within the reach of current state-of-the-art technology.

The ultimate sensitivity of the technique is probably limited by the practical availability of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$that represents 8.9% of natural xenon and has to be extracted by isotopic separation. While the isotopic separation is indeed one of the main challenges of the experiment, in the case of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$this operation is simplified by the fact that xenon is a gas at standard conditions, and essentially any known separation technology can be used. Relatively large amounts of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$have been obtained in the past by ultracentrifugation  with purities sufficient for the experiment described . $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$handling is simplified by its inert character that allows for the extraction of cosmogenically produced elements with distillation and chemical filtering that can be carried-on in the underground laboratory prior (and during) the operation of the experiment. An experiment with up to 10 tons of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$is consistent with the availability of xenon on the world market  and can be setup by assembling a few TPC modules inside a single pressure vessel or, possibly, by increasing the pressure and/or volume of a single chamber.

The use of liquid-xenon (LXe) in a TPC would result in a very compact detector with considerable advantages. However the range of 1.2 MeV electrons from the $`0\nu \beta \beta `$-decay in LXe is only of 2.4 mm so that, given any conceivable spatial resolution, the topological information, essential for background rejection, would be lost. In contrast, at room temperature 5 atm of xenon gas correspond to a density of 30 g/l and an electron range of 21.6 cm at 1.2 MeV. In Figure 2 we show a possible scheme for the $`\beta \beta `$-decay detector.
It is known  that it is quite difficult to obtain electron multiplication and stable operation in xenon chambers. This is due to the far UV scintillation light ($`\lambda _{\mathrm{scint}}178`$ nm corresponding to 6.93 eV), copiously produced with the multiplication process, that in turn ionizes the gas and extracts electrons from the metallic surfaces. In our case this particular requirement is greatly relaxed by the use of gas micropattern detector  planes instead of a more conventional anode wire array for the chamber readout, drastically limiting the solid angle available for the UV radiation . In addition, the chamber will also use a quencher gas, able to absorb the xenon scintillation UV and re-emit light in the blue or green so that timing information can be recovered using the photomultipliers and the event can be localized also in the third (time) coordinate. A field of $``$1 kV/cm will be needed in order to achieve high drift velocity for electrons in xenon. While this field strength is not sufficient to neutralize Ba++ to Ba+, an appropriate choice of ionization potential (IP) for the quencher gas can achieve this purpose. IPs between 5.2 eV (Ba) and 10.001 eV (Ba+) are found in several organic molecules that would provide a stable environment for Ba+. Molecules like TMA ($`(\mathrm{CH}_3)_3\mathrm{N}`$), TEA ($`(\mathrm{C}_2\mathrm{H}_5)_3\mathrm{N}`$), TMG ($`(\mathrm{CH}_3)_4\mathrm{Ge}`$) and TMS ($`(\mathrm{CH}_3)_4\mathrm{Si}`$) are candidates fulfilling the above requirements.

An underground site with an overburden of $`2000`$ mwe (meter water equivalent) will reduce the cosmic ray muon flux to $`<10^2\mathrm{m}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$, corresponding to less than 0.1 Hz through the detector. Muons recorded in the TPC have a distinctive signature and indeed were observed and rejected by the Gotthard group  based on track length, lack of scattering (high energy), and specific ionization. The last two features provide good discrimination even for tracks that clip a small corner of the chamber. The online trigger processor will be able to analyze and reject most muon tracks without activating the laser Ba-tagging system. Based on simple geometrical considerations we expect the laser system to be activated by muon tracks less than once per hour. Some background will be produced by neutrons produced by muon spallation in the structures (rock and other materials) outside the detector. These fast neutrons enter the detector with some efficiency and produce spallation reactions on the xenon, carbon and hydrogen nuclei contained in the TPC. While the original muon and the neutron trail go undetected, the spallation processes provide very distinct high ionization, short tracks and can be distinguished and rejected even at trigger level. Hence at the depth considered the detector does not need an active veto counter, as already found by the Gotthard group.
More serious are the $`\gamma `$-ray backgrounds from natural radioactivity, either produced outside the TPC (mainly by the rock or concrete), or inside (mainly 222Rn and, possibly, 85Kr and 42Ar). External $`\gamma `$-ray backgrounds from the rock and concrete can be attenuated by a $``$25 cm thick lead or steel enclosure and by the 1 cm thick pressure vessel that will be built out of low-activity steel. Additionally, cleaner shielding could be provided, if needed. In the following we conservatively assume that the TPC itself (without Ba-tagging system) will have the same specific rate of mis-identified background as the Gotthard experiment, and we rely on Ba-tagging for the final step of reduction. This hypothesis is conservative since the larger volume of our TPC provides better self shielding for the radiation produced externally.

## 5 Discussion

We estimate the position and energy resolution of our chamber from an extrapolation using the Gotthard TPC. Assuming a drift velocity similar to the one in Gotthard and a drift distance of 250 cm (3.6 times larger than the Gotthard case) we obtain transverse and longitudinal position resolutions ($`\sigma `$) of better than 5 mm. This figure should give us roughly the same background suppression factor as obtained at Gotthard, since the electron range is 21 cm. Furthermore, unlike in the case of the Gotthard experiment, the knowledge of the time of occurrence will provide longitudinal localization of each event, improving the understanding of external backgrounds and allowing for a longitudinal fiducial volume cut.
Energy resolution should be no worse than the $`\sigma _E/E=2.5\%`$ (at 1.592 MeV) obtained at Gotthard, since in addition to the total charge, also the scintillation light will be collected . The possibility of using the laser tagging system with a small spot-size in a “raster scan” mode around the event location, will localize the decay vertex with mm precision and allow a full kinematical fit including energy, angular correlation and range for each of the electrons. It is expected that substantial improvement in energy resolution and background rejection will be possible in this way.
While the quantitative advantage of each of the techniques discussed will be better understood after extensive laboratory tests and a full Monte Carlo simulation, here we simply assume that the above methods, together with the Ba+ identification, will reduce the sum of all radioactivity backgrounds by at least three orders of magnitude with respect to the Gotthard case, making a 10-ton $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$experiment essentially background free. From the size and geometry of the chamber we obtain an efficiency for fully contained events of 70%. In Table 1 we compare the projected sensitivity of this experiment with the present limits on $`0\nu \beta \beta `$decay.

It is interesting to note that for the very large isotopic masses contemplated here, the background on $`0\nu \beta \beta `$decay from the well known $`2\nu \beta \beta `$mode has to be carefully estimated. As already remarked this “background” is not directly suppressed by the laser tagging methods. However, the energy spectra of the electrons that represent the only distinctive feature of this background will be better measured thanks to the better knowledge of the event kinematics. In the following we will conservatively disregard this additional information and suppress the $`2\nu \beta \beta `$mode using total energy information, with the resolution mentioned above. In order to understand the role of the resolution we select events in the two intervals $`I_{sym}=[Q_{\beta \beta }2\sigma _E,Q_{\beta \beta }+2\sigma _E]`$ and $`I_+=[Q_{\beta \beta },Q_{\beta \beta }+2\sigma _E]`$. We then compute the number of $`2\nu \beta \beta `$decay events  left in each case. For $`\sigma _E/E=2.8\%`$ we have 23 $`\mathrm{events}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{ton}^1`$ left in $`I_{sym}`$ and 0.36 $`\mathrm{events}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{ton}^1`$ left in $`I_+`$. A better resolution of $`\sigma _E/E=2\%`$ is used in the 10 ton - 10 yr exposure in Table 1. The loss in efficiency due to the asymmetric cut (and to the tails beyond $`2\sigma `$) are taken into account in the table as appropriate. It is clear, however, that our estimate is quite conservative as the $`2\nu \beta \beta `$decay background will be further suppressed by the kinematic fitting.

The projected neutrino mass sensitivity of 10 - 50 meV would make the discussed experiment competitive with other large scale double beta searches which have been proposed. NEMO3 is scheduled to start data taking in 2001 with initially 7 kg of 100Mo and 1 kg of 82Se in form of passive source foils in a gas tracking detector utilizing a magnetic field and a scintillator calorimeter . A neutrino mass sensitivity of 0.1 eV is expected after 5 years. The ultimate goal is to run with 20 kg of 82Se, 100Mo or 150Nd in order to measure an effective neutrino mass below 0.1 eV. A large cryogenic detector (CUORE), able to operate 600 kg of TeO2 crystals, could be used to search for the $`0\nu \beta \beta `$decay of $`{}_{}{}^{130}\mathrm{Te}`$. A neutrino mass sensitivity of around 0.1 eV has been quoted for this device . The proponents of the GENIUS project propose to use up to one ton of isotopically enriched 76Ge suspended in a large tank of liquid nitrogen . The goal is to reach a mass sensitivity of around 0.01 eV. The latter two are calorimetric approaches. However, it has to be pointed out that the experiment discussed in this paper is the only one among those third generation projects which plans to utilize a novel technique for background suppression in the form of Ba tagging.

In summary, we have described an advanced $`\beta \beta `$ detector system that uses a hybrid of atomic and particle physics techniques to qualitatively improve background suppression. Such detector opens new possibilities in using massive amounts of $`{}_{}{}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}`$for an advanced $`\beta \beta `$-decay experiment that would explore neutrino masses in the range 10 - 50 meV, providing a unique opportunity for discoveries in particle physics and cosmology.

## 6 Acknowledgments

We would like to specially thank F. Boehm for the help and guidance received in formulating much of this paper. We also owe gratitude to U. Becker, S. Chu, H. Henrikson, L. Ropelewski, T. Thurston and R. Zare for many useful discussions. Finally we would like to thank R.G.H. Robertson for pointing out an inconsistency in the original version of Table 1.


text:
# 1 Energy vs 𝜏 at packing fractions ϕ=0.05 (upper) and 0.4 (lower) at different inelasticities. The dotted lines represent the short time behavior (Haff’s law), and the dashed-dotted lines the theory of [1].

Replacement cond-mat/0002383
Asymptotic Energy Decay in Inelastic Fluids
J.A.G. Orza, R. Brito and M.H. Ernst
Dpto. de Física Aplicada I, Universidad Complutense
28040 Madrid, Spain.

The goal of the present publication is the comparison of the two existing theoretical predictions  for the long time behavior of the total energy $`E(t)`$ in a large system of freely evolving inelastic hard spheres (IHS) with computer simulations of $`N=\mathrm{50\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ hard disks.

(i) The first theory, a mode coupling theory by Brito and Ernst , predicts that $`EA\tau ^{d/2}`$ for $`d2`$, where $`\tau (t)`$ is the average number of collisions suffered by a particle in time $`t`$ ($`\tau `$ is a nonlinear function of $`t`$, whose analytic form is unknown at large $`t`$) and $`A`$ is a known coefficient, which depends on the coefficient of restitution, $`r`$, and on the density, $`\varphi `$.

Computer simulations of $`\mathrm{ln}E(\tau )/E(0)`$ are shown in Fig. 1, where we have chosen units such that $`E(0)=1`$. These plots confirm that the small fluctuation theory of  gives at fixed $`\varphi `$ quantitative predictions inside an $`r`$window of width $`\mathrm{\Delta }r0.1`$, centered around $`r_00.6,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.75},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.8},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.85}`$ at densities $`\varphi 0.05,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.11},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.245},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.4}`$ respectively. At larger/smaller $`r`$values, $`E(\tau )`$ decays faster/slower than the prediction of . The location $`r_0`$ is determined by two balancing effects: sufficiently high density to suppress large relative density fluctuations which increase the mean overall collision frequency $`d\tau /dt`$ (compression of $`\tau `$axis), competing with sufficiently high inelasticity, which favors local inelastic collapses (a finite number of collisions in an infinitesimal time). Such collisions merely increase the $`\tau `$value (stretching of $`\tau `$axis) at fixed $`t`$ without advancing the $`N`$ particle dynamics. At small density the relative density fluctuations become very large, as the clusters keep growing and compactifying, which invalidates the linear theory of .

(ii) Ben-Naim et al.  show that the behavior of a fluid of inelastic hard rods is described by the totally inelastic (sticky) gas. Consequently, the energy decays at long times as $`t^{2/3}`$ in 1-D, and is independent of the coefficient of restitution. Moreover, they conjecture that the total energy $`E`$ for $`2d4`$ decays as $`Bt^{d/2}`$ with an unknown coefficient $`B`$, independent of inelasticity. The results of  are only valid at asymptotically large times.

Our goal is to test this conjecture against simulations of inelastic hard disks. The energy decay when plotted as $`\mathrm{log}E`$ versus $`\mathrm{log}t`$ (see Fig. 2), gives the misleading impression that our simulations have reached their asymptotic time dependence, and suggests that $`ECt^a`$ decays algebraically with a density-dependent exponent $`a`$, but with $`a`$ and $`C`$ independent  of the dissipation, possibly corresponding to a sticky hard sphere fluid. At small densities (Fig. 2a), $`a1`$, which offers partial support for the conjecture, while at higher densities (Fig. 2b) the analysis seems to show a smaller exponent.

However, a more sensitive test is to plot $`E(0)/E(t)`$ versus $`t`$, and test whether the curves for different values of the restitution coefficient $`r`$ become linear in $`t`$, and tend to coincide for large times, i.e. become independent of $`r`$. This is done in Fig. 3 for three different packing fractions $`\varphi =0.05,0.245,0.4`$, each for a range of $`r`$–values over a long time interval far beyond where Haff’s law is valid. The results at low density can hardly be considered as evidence for the conjecture. The curves at intermediate density, $`\varphi =0.245`$ show behavior that might be linear in $`t`$, but depends strongly on the degree of inelasticity. Simulations at density $`\varphi =0.11`$ show behavior similar to the ones for $`\varphi =0.245`$. The behavior at the highest density, at $`\varphi =0.4`$, in the time interval considered, looks roughly independent of the degree of inelasticity, but the curves show a tendency to diverge at later times.

In general, the curves in Fig. 3 do not seem to have reached their asymptotic form, and are not conclusive enough to support or refute conjectures about the asymptotic $`t`$-dependence being independent of the degree of inelasticity.

Finally we observe that at asymptotically large times there is an important distinction between small and thermodynamically large systems, for the following reason. The growth of patterns, i.e. vortices and density clusters, is controlled by diffusive modes , and typical diameters, $`L_v(\tau )`$ of these patterns grow as $`\sqrt{\tau }`$. As soon as the system size $`LL_v(\tau )`$, patterns start to interfere with their periodic images, and there occurs crossover to a steady state, which is fully determined by the (unphysical) periodic bounday conditions. This is the case for asymptotically large times in small systems. In thermodynamically large systems this crossover is never reached.

In small systems we have observed that the energy decays as, $`E(t)C(N,r)/t^2`$ for $`t\mathrm{}`$, with a coefficient $`C`$ that depends on $`N`$ and $`r`$, and that differs in general from Haff’s law. The law $`E(t)t^2`$ seems to hold for small systems in any dimension larger than 1 (see also ).


text:
# References

IITB-TPH-0001

Baryogenesis through axion domain wall

S.N. Nayak and U.A.Yajnik

Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai- 400076, India

Abstract

Generic axion models give rise to axion domain walls in the early Universe and they have to disappear not to overclose the universe, thus limiting the nature of discrete symmetry allowed in these type of models. Through QCD sphalerons, net chiral charge can be created by these collapsing walls which in turn can result the observed baryon assymetry.

nayaks@phy.iitb.ernet.in

yajnik@phy.iitb.ernet.in

The explanation of observed baryon asymmetry of the universe is still a hunting problem in the realm of cosmology and particle physics, thus generating lots of diverse ideas and activity. The earlier scenario to produce the asymmetry via the decay of heavy gauge bosons and scalar  in GUTS cannot survive the sphaleron wash out at the electroweak scale, unless B-L is an exact symmetry . The scenario of electroweak baryogenesis through sphaleron transition also runs into problem because of inadequete CP violation in Higgs sector and more importantly, it is not clear that the electroweak phase transition is strongly first order to realise the out of equilibrium condition through bubble dynamics. In this background it was suggested to generate baryon asymmetry through topological defects (the remnants of some earlier symmetry breaking) at the electroweak scale . In this scenario the baryogenesis takes place inside the core of the defects where the sphaleron transition takes place. Here we discuss the issue in the context of axion domain wall and show that we can produce sufficient amount of baryons at the scale much below the weak scale. Similar situation has been considered recently by Brandenberger et al .

Many axion models  also have discrete Z(N) symmetry which is spontaneously broken at $`T=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}`$. This is generic for any axion models where the Pecci-Quinn symmetry $`U_{PQ}(1)`$ is broken only by QCD gluon anomaly. In the above N is the number of quark flavours that rotate under $`U_{PQ}(1)`$. Because of this discrete symmetry, there exist N degenerate and distinct $`CP`$ conserving minima of the axion potential which is of the form

$$V(a)=m_{a}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}(v_{PQ}/N)^2[1f(aN/v_{PQ})],$$
(1)
where $`f`$ is a periodic function of period $`2\pi `$ and $`v_{PQ}`$ is the Pecci-Quinn scale. These disconnected and degenerate vacuum states gives rise to axion domain walls at $`T=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}`$, when the discrete symmetry is spontaneously broken. The resulting domain walls have thickness $`\mathrm{\Delta }=m_a^1`$ and surface energy density $`\eta =m_av_{}^{2}{}_{PQ}{}^{}`$, where $`m_a`$ is the mass of axion.

These domain walls are disastrous cosmologically  and has to disappear so that they do not over close the universe, unless N=1. One way to achieve this is to introduce a soft breaking term of the form $`\mu ^3\mathrm{\Phi }`$ . Here we are considering DFSZ axion model and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the singlet under standard gauge group . This would produce an effective value of $`\theta _{QCD}`$ of order $`\mu ^3/m_{a}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}v_{PQ}`$. For this to be consistent with the upper limit on the electric dipole moment of neutron we get

$$\mu ^310^9\frac{f_{\pi }^{}{}_{}{}^{2}m_{\pi }^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{v_{PQ}}.$$
(2)
This soft breaking term would produce a shift in energy density among the degenerate vacuum, hence a pressure towards the domain with highest vacuum energy leading to annihilation of walls. It is also possible that the domain walls created may not survive the QCD phase transition since $`Z(N)`$ symmetry may be dynamically broken.

In this letter we argue that even for the brief period that they exist they can produce sufficient amount of baryons. The important ingredient that goes in to our argument is the existence of the sphaleron like configuration in QCD and the rate of this topological transition is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_S=\kappa \alpha _{s}^{}{}_{}{}^{4}T^4.$$
(3)
In the above $`\alpha _s`$ is the strong coupling constant and the proportionality constant $`\kappa `$ can be of the order thousand . This is the transition rate over the potential energy barrier separating vacua of different Chern-Simons number. But unlike the electoweak case where the sphaleron transition is the source of baryon number violation; the QCD sphaleron does not induce any baryon number violation since it has only parity conserving vector couplings. So as it is, this scenario will create some chiral charge separation mechanism. Baryogenesis will be achieved if additionally we have a nonvanishing chemical potential induced by other mechanism. For instance it could be a background field effect as in spontaneous baryogenesis scenario and its variants .

The CP violating phase that is needed for baryogensis is nothing but the strong CP violating parameter $`\theta _{QCD}`$ which need not be zero at high temperature. The value of $`\theta `$ has to be decided by some stocastic process in a given horizon volume. The model we are discussing where the domain wall has to disapear due to the explicit soft breaking term has an effective $`\theta `$ that is consistent with above experimental constraint and also ensures that the walls do not overclose the universe . We take the CP violating phase to be of order $`10^{10}`$.

The final ingredient for the baryogensis is the departure from thermal equlibrium. In our scenario this is automatically achieved when the walls annihilate due to difference in vacuum energy. The situation is similar to the model independent pictures of defect mediated baryogenesis. Whereas mere translational motion or long lived defects cannot induce any net assymmetry, collapse and mutual annihilation can lead to creation of net assymmetry . Let $`V_{BG}`$ be the effective three dimensional volume in which the time irreversible processes occur during the disappearance of walls. Then the net baryon number density is then given by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }n_B=\frac{1}{V}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_S}{T}V_{BG}\mathrm{\Delta }\theta ,$$
(4)
with V as the total volume.

As discussed earlier, the above formula needs to be supplemented by the contribution from a mechanism that converts the net chiral charge into baryonic charge. For example, one can consider an extra factor $`m_f/T`$ with $`m_f`$ as the fermion mass , in evaluating the baryon number density. In the baryogenesis scenario where electroweak sphaleron transitions takes place in the core of topological defects, this factor turns out to be order one. In our case this factor can enhance the rate of baryon production since the temperature we are interested is of QCD scale. But at present we are not considering this factor, as we are presenting our picture in a qualitative way and one has to see whether it enters in our calculation or not. Then the baryon to entropy ratio in volume V is

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }n_B}{s}=g_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}\alpha _{s}^{}{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }\theta \frac{V_{BG}}{V}.$$
(5)
To evaluate the volume suppression factor, let us take the average separation of the domain walls as $`\xi (t)`$, which from kibble mechanism is

$$\xi (t)=T_{c}^{}{}_{}{}^{1},$$
(6)
where $`T_c`$ is the temperature where Z(N) symmetry is spontaneously broken and is equal to $`(m_av_{PQ})^{1/2}`$. Then the volume occupied by the domain walls in a horizon size $`d_H(t)`$ is

$$V_{BG}=\xi (t)^2m_{a}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}(\frac{d_{H(t)}}{\xi (t)})^3.$$
(7)
The last factor is the number of domains in the horizon volume. With this the volume suppression factor turns out to be

$$\frac{V_{BG}}{V}=(m_\pi f_\pi )^{1/2}/m_a.$$
(8)
In the above we have used $`T_c=(m_av_{PQ})^{1/2}=(f_\pi m_\pi )^{1/2}`$. Since at QCD scale the pion mass can go to zero the above volume suppression factor can be of order unity for suitable value of the axion mass. This aspect of the problem requires detailed calculation in the specific axion model. But qualitatively, the thickness of the axion wall goes inversly proportional to the axion mass. The mass of the axion due to instanton effect at QCD scale is

$$m_a(T)=0.1m_a(T=0)(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}/T)^{3.7}.$$
(9)
So it is possible that at temperature just around QCD scale the thickness of the wall is only a few order of magnitude smaller than the horizon size and $`V_{BG}/V`$ need not be a serious suppression factor.

Another crucial criteria that our picture satisfies, is the fitting of QCD sphaleron inside the axion domain wall, hence requiring no modification in the bulk value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_S`$. The size of QCD sphaleron will be of order $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{1}{}_{QCD}{}^{}`$ which is smaller than the wall thickness that is $`m_{a}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ for allowed value of axion mass. So with $`\kappa `$ of order thousand, the CP violating phase of the order $`10^{10}`$ and $`g_{}`$ is of the order $`10`$ we can produce sufficient amount of baryons at the QCD scale.

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out as a part of a Department of Science and Technology project SP/S2/K-08/97.


text:
# Further Search for the Decay 𝐾⁺→𝜋⁺𝜈𝜈̄

## Abstract

A search for additional evidence for the rare kaon decay $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$ has been made with a new data set comparable in sensitivity to the previous exposure that produced a single event. No new events were found in the pion momentum region examined, $`211<P<229`$ MeV/$`c`$. Including a reanalysis of the original data set, the backgrounds were estimated to contribute $`0.08\pm 0.02`$ events. Based on one observed event, the new branching ratio is $`B`$($`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$)$`=1.5_{1.2}^{+3.4}\times 10^{10}`$.

Evidence for the decay $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$ at a branching ratio of $`B`$($`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$) $`=4.2_{3.5}^{+9.7}\times 10^{10}`$ based on the observation of a single event has been reported by our group. In the Standard Model (SM) calculation of $`B`$($`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$), the dominant effects of the top quark in second order weak loops make this flavor-changing neutral current decay very sensitive to $`V_{td}`$, the coupling of the top to down quarks in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark mixing matrix. A fit based on the current phenomenology gives a prediction of $`(0.82\pm 0.32)\times 10^{10}`$ for this branching ratio . If constraints from $`|V_{ub}/V_{cb}|`$ and $`ϵ_K`$ are not imposed, a limit $`B(K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu })<1.67\times 10^{10}`$ can be extracted that is almost entirely free of theoretical uncertainties. Although our initial observation is consistent with the SM prediction, the possibility of a larger-than-expected branching ratio gives further impetus for additional measurements. In this paper, we present results of a combined analysis of the 1995 sample  and a new data sample of comparable sensitivity. All data were taken with the E787 apparatus  at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) of Brookhaven National Laboratory.

In the decay $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$ at rest, the $`\pi ^+`$ momentum endpoint is $`227`$ MeV/$`c`$. Definitive recognition of this signal requires that no other observable activity is present in the detector and all backgrounds are suppressed below the sensitivity for the signal. Major background sources include the two-body decays $`K^+\mu ^+\nu _\mu `$ ($`K_{\mu 2}`$) and $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ ($`K_{\pi 2}`$), scattered pions in the beam, and $`K^+`$ charge exchange (CEX) reactions resulting in decays $`K_L^0\pi ^+l^{}\overline{\nu }_l`$, where $`l=e`$ or $`\mu `$. The E787 detector was designed to effectively distinguish these backgrounds from the signal.

In the new data sets, taken during the 1996 and 1997 runs of the AGS, kaons of about 700 MeV/$`c`$ were incident on the apparatus at a rate of $`(47)\times 10^6`$ per 1.6-s spill. The kaons were detected and identified by Čerenkov, tracking, and energy loss ($`dE/dx`$) counters. About 25% of the incident kaons reached an active target, primarily consisting of 413 5-mm square scintillating fibers which were used for kaon and pion tracking. Measurements of the momentum ($`P`$), range ($`R`$) and kinetic energy ($`E`$) of charged decay products were made using the target, a central drift chamber, and a cylindrical range stack with 21 layers of plastic scintillator and two layers of straw chambers (RSSC’s), all confined within a 1-T solenoidal magnetic field. The $`\pi ^+\mu ^+e^+`$ decay sequence of the decay products in the range stack was observed using 500-MHz transient digitizers. Photons were detected in a $`4\pi `$-sr calorimeter consisting of a 14-radiation-length-thick barrel detector made of lead/scintillator sandwich and 13.5-radiation-length-thick endcaps of undoped CsI crystals. In comparison with Ref. , the newer data were taken at a lower $`K^+`$ momentum to reduce accidental hits, and improvements were made to the trigger and data acquisition systems to take data more efficiently.

The data were analyzed with the goal of reducing the total expected background to significantly less than one event in the combined data sample. A decay particle was positively identified as a $`\pi ^+`$ using $`P`$, $`R`$ and $`E`$, and by the $`\pi ^+\mu ^+e^+`$ decay sequence. Events associated with any other decay products including photons or with beam particles were efficiently eliminated by utilizing the detector’s full coverage of the $`4\pi `$ solid angle. The requirements of a clean hit pattern in the target and a delayed decay at least 2 ns after an identified $`K^+`$ suppressed background events due to CEX and scattered beam $`\pi ^+`$. In this work, the search for $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$ events was restricted to the measured momentum region $`211<P_{\pi ^+}<229`$ MeV/$`c`$, between the $`K_{\mu 2}`$ and $`K_{\pi 2}`$ peaks, to further limit backgrounds.

Compared to the analysis of Ref. , improvements in the kinematic reconstruction routines were made to reduce the tails of the $`P`$, $`R`$ and $`E`$ resolution functions. In the new analysis, the position of the incident kaon at the last beam counter was used to aid in the determination of the correct stopping position of the kaon in the target, and thus to reduce the uncertainty in the pion range masked by the kaon track. Accidental hits that might have been included in the pion energy measurements were identified and removed more efficiently. The measurement of the $`z`$ component (the direction of the symmetry axis of the detector) of the pion track in the range stack was improved by using only the projection of the drift chamber fit and the end-to-end timing in the range stack scintillators, but excluding the $`z`$ information from the RSSC’s, which had a long resolution tail. These changes resulted in some shifts in the kinematic values found for individual events, but the average quantities stayed the same. In addition, improvements were made in the particle identification criteria, particularly in the measurements of the $`\pi ^+\mu ^+e^+`$ decay sequence.

Overall optimization of the signal selection and background rejection criteria resulted in roughly a factor of two reduction of the expected backgrounds per kaon decay and an increase of 25% in the acceptance for $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$ in the 1995 sample. For the entire 1995–1997 exposure, the numbers of background events expected from the sources mentioned above were $`b_{K_{\mu 2}}=0.03\pm 0.01`$, $`b_{K_{\pi 2}}=0.02\pm 0.01`$, $`b_{Beam}=0.02\pm 0.02`$ and $`b_{CEX}=0.01\pm 0.01`$. In total, the background level anticipated with the final analysis cuts was $`b=0.08\pm 0.02`$ events. Tests of the background estimates near the signal region confirmed the expectations. The acceptance for $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$, $`A=0.0021\pm 0.0001^{stat}\pm 0.0002^{syst}`$, was derived from the factors given in Table I . The estimated systematic uncertainty in the acceptance of about $`10\%`$ was due mostly to the uncertainty in pion-nucleus interactions.

Analysis of the full data set yielded only the single event previously reported. This result is shown in Fig. 1, the range (in equivalent cm of scintillator) vs. kinetic energy plot of events surviving all other cuts. The revised kinematic values of the observed event are $`P=218.2\pm 2.7`$ MeV/$`c`$, $`R=34.7\pm 1.2`$ cm and $`E=117.7\pm 3.5`$ MeV . Based on one observed event, the acceptance $`A`$ and the total exposure of $`N_{K^+}=3.2\times 10^{12}`$ kaons entering the target, the new value for the branching ratio is $`B(K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu })=1.5_{1.2}^{+3.4}\times 10^{10}`$.

Using the relations given in Ref. and varying each of the input parameters with the limits given therein, the present result provides a constraint, $`0.002<|V_{td}|<0.04`$. The extraction of these limits requires knowledge of $`V_{cb}`$ and the assumption of CKM unitarity. Alternatively, one can extract corresponding limits on the quantity $`|\lambda _t|`$ ($`\lambda _tV_{ts}^{}V_{td}`$): $`1.07\times 10^4<|\lambda _t|<1.39\times 10^3`$, without reference to the $`B`$-decay system. In addition, the limits $`1.10\times 10^3<`$ Re$`(\lambda _t)<1.39\times 10^3`$ and Im$`(\lambda _t)<1.22\times 10^3`$ can be obtained from our result. The latter is of particular interest because Im($`\lambda _t`$) is proportional to the Jarlskog invariant and thus to the area of the unitarity triangle. Our result bounds this quantity without reference to the $`B`$-decay system or to measurements of CP violation in $`K_L^0\pi \pi `$ decays.

The limit found in the search for decays of the form $`K^+\pi ^+X^0`$, where $`X^0`$ is a neutral weakly interacting massless particle , is $`B(K^+\pi ^+X^0)<1.1\times 10^{10}`$ (90% CL), based on zero events observed in a $`\pm 2\sigma `$ region around the pion kinematic endpoint.

###### Acknowledgements.

We gratefully acknowledge the dedicated effort of the technical staff supporting this experiment and of the Brookhaven AGS Department. We thank A. J. Buras for useful discussions. This research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contracts No. DE-AC02-98CH10886, W-7405-ENG-36, and grant DE-FG02-91ER40671, by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan through the Japan-U.S. Cooperative Research Program in High Energy Physics and under the Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research, for Encouragement of Young Scientists and for JSPS Fellows, and by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the National Research Council of Canada.