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# Vortex ordering in fully-frustrated superconducting systems with dice lattice

## I Introduction

De Gennes  and Alexander  have shown that the linearized Ginzburg-Landau equations for a superconducting wire network in external magnetic field can be mapped on the eigenvalue equations for a single electron hopping problem in the same geometry. Thus the dependence of a (mean-field) superconducting transition temperature on external field can be found by following the field dependence of the lowest eigen-value in single electron problem.

Recently it has been shown by Vidal et al  that the single electron hopping problem has very special features in the case of so-called  dice lattice (Fig. 1) if the value of the magnetic flux per plaquette $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is equal to one half of the flux quantum $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$. Namely, the spectrum of an electron lacks any dispersion and is reduced to three discrete levels.

This theoretical result has led to the interest in experimental investigation of superconducting networks with dice lattice geometry . It has been shown  that in contrast to the case of $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/3`$, for which vortex pattern in dice network is nicely ordered, at $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2`$ \[so-called fully-frustrated (FF) case\] the vortices do not form (presumably at the same temperature) any regular pattern. The authors of Ref.  have suggested that this absence of ordering is related with an infinite degeneracy and localized structure of the states corresponding to the lowest energy level in terms of a single electron problem (or to the lowest free energy in terms of a superconducting network).

Although this conjecture can be correct, it still has to be verified. A superconducting network problem reduces to a single electron hopping problem only at the mean-field transition point. Below it the non-linear terms in Ginzburg-Landau equation become important and may completely or partially remove the high degeneracy of the state with the lowest free energy.

In the present work we use a different approach for theoretical investigation of an ordering in a FF superconducting system with dice lattice. We consider another limit when the amplitude of the order parameter is well defined and uniform, but phase fluctuations are possible and can lead to destruction of an ordered state. In that limit a discrete superconducting system (a wire network or a junction array) in external magnetic field can be described by a frustrated $`XY`$-model introduced in Sec. 2.

In Sec. 3 we propose a highly symmetric state which due to simplicity of its structure may be a good candidate for the ground state of a FF $`XY`$-model with dice lattice. In Sec. 4 we show that this state has high additional degeneracy because it allows for formation of zero-energy domain walls. Sec. 5 is devoted to a brief discussion of possible consequences of this additional degeneracy for the disordering of vortex pattern in FF superconducting systems with dice lattice geometry.

## II The model

In the regime when only phase fluctuations are of importance an array of weakly coupled superconducting islands can be described by the Hamiltonian:

$$H=\underset{ij}{}V(\theta _{ij}),$$
(1)
where the sum is performed over all pairs of coupled islands and

$$\theta _{ij}=\phi _j\phi _i\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}_i^j𝑑𝐱𝐀(𝐱)\theta _{ji}$$
(2)
is the gauge-invariant phase difference which can be associated with the link $`ij`$. Here $`\phi _j`$ is the order parameter phase of $`j`$-th superconducting island and $`𝐀`$ is the vector potential. The phases $`\phi _j`$ are defined up to a shift by a multiple of $`2\pi `$, therefore the interaction function $`V(\theta )`$ has to be periodic in $`\theta `$. The form of $`V(\theta )`$ depends on the type of the coupling. For Josephson junction array

$$V(\theta )=J\mathrm{cos}\theta ,$$
(3)
where $`J`$ is the coupling constant of the junction.

Summation of Eq. (2) over a perimeter of a lattice plaquette imposes a constraint

$$\underset{\mathrm{}}{}\theta _{ij}=2\pi f,$$
(4)
where the frustration parameter $`f`$ is equal to $`\mathrm{\Phi }/\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the magnetic flux threading the plaquette. In the limit when screening effects can be neglected $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is determined by the external field and for the uniform field and flat geometry is proportional to the area of the plaquette. If all the plaquettes have equal areas the value of $`f`$ is the same for all plaquettes. In such case a system is called uniformly frustrated.

When interaction function $`V(\theta )`$ is periodic in $`\theta `$ it is convenient to consider variables $`\theta _{ij}`$ reduced to the interval $`[\pi ,\pi ]`$. That makes the description of any state in terms of $`\theta _{ij}`$ more transparent, but transforms the constraint (4) into

$$\underset{\mathrm{}}{}\theta _{ij}=2\pi M,Mmf;$$
(5)
where $`m`$ is an integer. The form of Eq. (5) shows that $`f`$ can be reduced to the interval $`1/2<f1/2`$, all other values of $`f`$ being equivalent to some value from that interval. If $`V(\theta )`$ is an even function $`f`$ is additionally equivalent to $`f`$. The case of $`f=1/2`$ is usually called a fully-frustrated (FF) $`XY`$-model.

Well below mean-field transition temperature a network of thin superconducting wires can be described by the same Hamiltonian (1) with the term $`\phi _j\phi _i`$ in the definition of $`\theta _{ij}`$ \[Eq. (2)\] now substituted by the integral $`_i^j𝑑x(d\phi /dx)`$ along the link $`ij`$ . In that case summation of Eq. (2) around a perimeter of a plaquette leads directly to Eq. (5). In the limit of long thin wires the interaction function is almost harmonic :

$$V(\theta )\theta ^2.$$
(6)
In this work we use the term ”frustrated $`XY`$-model” for a system defined by Eqs. (1) and (5) with a general form of the interaction function and not only for $`V(\theta )`$ of the form (3). Thus our approach is valid for the description both of junction arrays and wire networks.

## III The ground state

In a FF $`XY`$-model all variables $`M`$ are half-integer and different low-lying extrema of the Hamiltonian can be characterized by the distribution of positive and negative half-vortices ($`M=\pm 1/2`$) in the plaquettes of the lattice. The vortices of the same sign repeal each other, therefore in the ground state they can be expected to be situated as far from each other as possible. In particular, in the case of a FF $`XY`$-model with square lattice the positive and negative half-vortices form in the ground state a regular checkerboard pattern . Analogous pattern in which the nearest neighbors of each half-vortex are of the opposite sign is possible when they occupy the sites of a honeycomb lattice, that is in FF $`XY`$-model with triangular lattice .

A dice lattice is dual to a Kagomé lattice, therefore in a FF $`XY`$-model with dice lattice the half-vortices can be considered as occupying the sites of a Kagomé lattice. Since a Kagomé lattice is constructed from triangles it is impossible to distribute the half-vortices in it in such a way that all nearest neighbors are of the opposite sign. The half-vortices of the same sign will have to form clusters and the minimal size of such clusters which allow for covering of a Kagomé lattice turns out to be equal to three. The most symmetric example of a regular (periodic) arrangement of vortices on a Kagomé lattice in which half-vortices of the same sign form the clusters of the size three (triads) is shown in Fig. 2a.

This state has the 12-fold degeneracy and can be described as a regular lattice of vacancies (absent positive vortices) on the background of $`f=2/3`$ ground state or, equivalently, a regular lattice of extra positive vortices on the background of $`f=1/3`$ ground state (cf. with Ref. ). However symmetry considerations show that its structure in terms of gauge-invariant phase variables $`\theta _{ij}`$ (which is shown in Fig. 3a) is very simple and can be constructed by repetition (with rotation and reflection) of a simple three-link pattern shown in Fig. 3b. Although we can not rigorously prove that this state has the lowest possible energy (which is typical for $`XY`$-models with nontrivial frustration), we believe that the simplicity of its structure strongly supports this conjecture.

In the state depicted in Fig. 3a the variables $`\theta _{ij}`$ acquire only three different values which we denote $`\theta _a`$ ($`a=1,2,3`$; $`0<\theta _1<\theta _2<\theta _3<\pi `$) and show in figures as single, double and triple arrows. The half-vortices of the same sign are separated by single arrows, the central half-vortex of each triad is separated from its neighbors of the opposite sign by triple arrows and the lateral half-vortices of opposite sign are separated by double arrows. The same set of rules for extracting the distribution of $`\theta _{ij}`$ from the distribution of half-vortices applies also to all the other states with the same energy discussed below.

The energy of the considered state (calculated per triple site of dice lattice) is given by

$$E=V(\theta _1)+V(\theta _2)+V(\theta _3),$$
(7)
whereas general constraints (5) are reduced to

$$2\theta _1+2\theta _3=\pi $$
(8)
for the central half-vortex of each cluster and

$$\theta _1+2\theta _2+\theta _3=\pi $$
(9)
for all the other (lateral) half-vortices. Variation of Eq. (7) with constraints (8)-(9) gives

$$V^{}(\theta _1)+V^{}(\theta _2)=V^{}(\theta _3),$$
(10)
which (not unexpectedly) coincides with the condition of the current conservation for each of the triple sites. The current conservation at each of the six-link sites in the state of Fig. 3a is ensured automatically (by symmetry).

For $`V(\theta )`$ of the form (3) (corresponding to Josephson junction array) the solution of Eqs. (8)-(10) gives

$$\theta _1=\mathrm{arctan}\frac{\sqrt{2}1}{\sqrt{2}+1}10^{},\theta _2=\frac{\pi }{4}+\theta _155^{},\theta _3=\frac{\pi }{2}\theta _180^{};$$
(11)
whereas for $`V(\theta )\theta ^2`$ (the case of a thin wire network)

$$\theta _1=15^{},\theta _2=60^{},\theta _3=75^{}.$$
(12)
Thus the values of $`\theta _a`$ are only weakly sensitive to the type of superconducting system which manifests itself in the form of the current-phase relation.

## IV The additional degeneracy

The regular state depicted in Fig. 3a (Fig. 2a) allows for the construction of zero energy domain wall. Fig. 3c shows how one can rearrange the arrows in the lower half of Fig. 3a without invalidating constraints (5) or current conservation relations, obtaining in such way another extremum with the same energy. The same state is shown in Fig. 2b in terms of distribution of half-vortices. It looks like a domain wall separating the state (a) (i.e. the state shown in Fig. 2a) from another version of the same state in which the triads of negative half-vortices change their orientation by $`60^{}`$.

It is possible to construct such domain wall on each horizontal line similar to the line shown in Fig. 2b. This increases the degeneracy by the factor $`2^N`$ (where $`N`$ is the number of available positions of the domain walls) due to the binary possibility of having or not having a domain wall at each available position. The regular state constructed by inserting into the state of Fig. 2a a domain wall at each available position is shown in Fig. 2c. This state is also periodic, but has the higher (24-fold) degeneracy than the state (a).

Insofar we have discussed only the zero-energy domain walls which are parallel to the triads of positive half-vortices. It follows from the symmetry considerations that analogous domain walls can be also constructed in parallel to the triads of negative half-vortices. However, the energy remains the same only if all domain walls of this type have the same orientation, therefore the total increase of the degeneracy due to a possible creation of zero-energy domain walls of the type (b) is given by a factor $`2^{N+1}`$. Analogous restriction for the creation of zero-energy domain walls appears in the case of the frustrated $`XY`$-model with a triangular lattice and $`f=1/4`$ or $`f=1/3`$ .

In Fig. 3 the central half-vortex of each triad is marked by square brackets. It is not hard to notice that all the other (lateral) half-vortices form the rows of alternating pluses and minuses. These rows are straight for the regular state of Fig. 3a (Fig. 2a), but the presence of domain walls of the type (b) makes them bend (in parallel to each other).

It turns out possible to interchange pluses and minuses in any of these rows by interchanging the single and triple arrows on the links which separate the row from the neighboring central half-vortices and reversing the double arrows on all the links inside the row. This procedure does not invalidate current conservation at any site and does not change the energy of the system.

Such sign reversal in the rows of alternating lateral half-vortices allows to construct the zero-energy domain wall of different type shown in Fig. 2d which \[like the domain wall of the type (b)\] also separates two different versions of the state (a), but now with interchanged orientations of positive and negative triads. A regular repetition of such domain wall at each available position leads to the periodic state shown in Fig. 2e, which like the state (a) has the 12-fold degeneracy.

The zero-energy domain walls of different types can cross each other (as is shown in Fig. 2f) without increasing the energy of the system. Each time time the wall of type (d) crosses the wall of the type (b) it has to change its orientation by $`60^{}`$, all the walls of the type (d) being parallel to each other in each strip between the walls of the type (b).

Thus the system simultaneously with an arbitrary number of the walls of the type (b) can contain also an arbitrary number of the walls of type (d). The total additional degeneracy \[in comparison with our reference state (a)\] is given by the factor $`2^{N+M+1}`$, where $`M`$ is the number of positions available for domain walls of the type (d), that is the number of rows of the alternating lateral half-vortices. The most dense network of zero-energy domain walls of both types produces the periodic state shown in Fig. 2g, which like the state (c) is characterized by the 24-fold degeneracy.

## V Discussion

The zero-energy domain walls of the two types described above produce the contribution to residual (zero-temperature) entropy which grows with the increase of the system as $`(N+M)\mathrm{ln}2`$, that is slower than its area (which is proportional to $`NM`$). I. e. they do not lead to appearance of the extensive residual entropy in contrast to the case of the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$-model with a Kagomé lattice in which the manifold of the ground states allows for construction of zero-energy domain walls which can form independent closed loops of arbitrary length . This property of the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$-model with Kagomé lattice leads both to a finite extensive entropy  and to the presence of a hierarchical sequence of barriers  which may explain the experimentally observed glass-like dynamics of the antiferromagnet with such structure . The family of the states considered in this work demonstrates less developed degeneracy (analogous to that encountered in $`f=1/3`$ $`XY`$-model with triangular lattice ).

Since different values of $`\theta _a`$ correspond to different values of $`V^{\prime \prime }(\theta )`$, at finite temperatures the accidental degeneracy related to possible formation of zero-energy domain walls can be expected to be removed due to the difference in free energy of the small amplitude continuous fluctuations (spin waves) in the same way as it happens in the $`XY`$-model with triangular lattice and $`f=1/4`$ or $`f=1/3`$ . Most probably the spin wave contribution to free energy will be minimal for the one of the periodic states shown in Fig. 2, which therefore will be dominant in the low temperature limit.

The zero energy domain walls separating from each other the different versions of this state will then acquire a positive free energy, so the phase transition associated with their proliferation (and vortex pattern disordering) can be expected to happen only at finite temperatures. However in the thin wire networks with almost harmonic interaction function $`V(\theta )`$ the effects related with the differences in spin wave free energy will be extremely weak and therefore the disordering of vortex pattern due to proliferation of domain walls may happen already at rather low temperatures.

The strong disordering of vortex pattern observed in FF superconducting network with dice lattice geometry  can also have some relation to geometrical irregularities. Gupta and Teitel  have recently shown that in the case of the FF $`XY`$-model with square lattice the irregularities of so-called ”positional disorder” type (uncorrelated lattice sites displacements, etc.) produce an effective random field for the Ising-type variables $`M`$ (describing the signs of the half-vortices) and therefore induce the destruction of long-range order (at large enough scales) even if the disorder is small. In the system which allows for formation of the zero-energy domain walls the relevance of this mechanism may be strongly amplified.

## Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Program ”Scientific Schools of the Russian Federation” (grant No. 00-15-96747) and by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The author is greatful to P. Martinoli and B. Pannetier for introduction to the problem and discussion of the results.

(the first part of Figure 2)


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# Study of 𝐵 Decays to Charmonium States 𝐵→𝜂_𝑐𝐾 and 𝐵→𝜒_{𝑐0}𝐾

## Abstract

In a sample of $`9.66\times 10^6B\overline{B}`$ pairs collected with the CLEO detector we make the first observation of $`B`$ decays to an $`\eta _c`$ and a kaon. We measure branching fractions $`(B^+\eta _cK^+)=(0.69_{0.21}^{+0.26}\pm 0.08\pm 0.20)\times 10^3`$ and $`(B^{}\eta _cK^{})=(1.09_{0.42}^{+0.55}\pm 0.12\pm 0.31)\times 10^3`$, where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is from the $`\eta _c`$ branching fraction uncertainty. From these we extract the $`\eta _c`$ decay constant in the factorization approximation, $`f_{\eta _c}=335\pm 75`$ MeV. We also search for $`B`$ decays to a $`\chi _{c0}`$ and a kaon. No evidence for a signal is found and we set $`90\%`$ CL upper limits: $`(B^+\chi _{c0}K^+)<4.8\times 10^4`$ and $`(B^{}\chi _{c0}K^{})<5.0\times 10^4`$.

preprint:   CLNS 00-1680 CLEO 00-12

K. W. Edwards,1 R. Janicek,2 P. M. Patel,2 A. J. Sadoff,3 R. Ammar,4 A. Bean,4 D. Besson,4 R. Davis,4 N. Kwak,4 X. Zhao,4 S. Anderson,5 V. V. Frolov,5 Y. Kubota,5 S. J. Lee,5 R. Mahapatra,5 J. J. O’Neill,5 R. Poling,5 T. Riehle,5 A. Smith,5 C. J. Stepaniak,5 J. Urheim,5 S. Ahmed,6 M. S. Alam,6 S. B. Athar,6 L. Jian,6 L. Ling,6 M. Saleem,6 S. Timm,6 F. Wappler,6 A. Anastassov,7 J. E. Duboscq,7 E. Eckhart,7 K. K. Gan,7 C. Gwon,7 T. Hart,7 K. Honscheid,7 D. Hufnagel,7 H. Kagan,7 R. Kass,7 T. K. Pedlar,7 H. Schwarthoff,7 J. B. Thayer,7 E. von Toerne,7 M. M. Zoeller,7 S. J. Richichi,8 H. Severini,8 P. Skubic,8 A. Undrus,8 S. Chen,9 J. Fast,9 J. W. Hinson,9 J. Lee,9 D. H. Miller,9 E. I. Shibata,9 I. P. J. Shipsey,9 V. Pavlunin,9 D. Cronin-Hennessy,10 A.L. Lyon,10 E. H. Thorndike,10 C. P. Jessop,11 H. Marsiske,11 M. L. Perl,11 V. Savinov,11 D. Ugolini,11 X. Zhou,11 T. E. Coan,12 V. Fadeyev,12 Y. Maravin,12 I. Narsky,12 R. Stroynowski,12 J. Ye,12 T. Wlodek,12 M. Artuso,13 R. Ayad,13 C. Boulahouache,13 K. Bukin,13 E. Dambasuren,13 S. Karamov,13 G. Majumder,13 G. C. Moneti,13 R. Mountain,13 S. Schuh,13 T. Skwarnicki,13 S. Stone,13 G. Viehhauser,13 J.C. Wang,13 A. Wolf,13 J. Wu,13 S. Kopp,14 A. H. Mahmood,15 S. E. Csorna,16 I. Danko,16 K. W. McLean,16 Sz. Márka,16 Z. Xu,16 R. Godang,17 K. Kinoshita,17,***Permanent address: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 I. C. Lai,17 S. Schrenk,17 G. Bonvicini,18 D. Cinabro,18 S. McGee,18 L. P. Perera,18 G. J. Zhou,18 E. Lipeles,19 S. P. Pappas,19 M. Schmidtler,19 A. Shapiro,19 W. M. Sun,19 A. J. Weinstein,19 F. Würthwein,19,Permanent address: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. D. E. Jaffe,20 G. Masek,20 H. P. Paar,20 E. M. Potter,20 S. Prell,20 V. Sharma,20 D. M. Asner,21 A. Eppich,21 T. S. Hill,21 R. J. Morrison,21 R. A. Briere,22 B. H. Behrens,23 W. T. Ford,23 A. Gritsan,23 J. Roy,23 J. G. Smith,23 J. P. Alexander,24 R. Baker,24 C. Bebek,24 B. E. Berger,24 K. Berkelman,24 F. Blanc,24 V. Boisvert,24 D. G. Cassel,24 M. Dickson,24 P. S. Drell,24 K. M. Ecklund,24 R. Ehrlich,24 A. D. Foland,24 P. Gaidarev,24 L. Gibbons,24 B. Gittelman,24 S. W. Gray,24 D. L. Hartill,24 B. K. Heltsley,24 P. I. Hopman,24 C. D. Jones,24 D. L. Kreinick,24 M. Lohner,24 A. Magerkurth,24 T. O. Meyer,24 N. B. Mistry,24 E. Nordberg,24 J. R. Patterson,24 D. Peterson,24 D. Riley,24 J. G. Thayer,24 P. G. Thies,24 B. Valant-Spaight,24 A. Warburton,24 P. Avery,25 C. Prescott,25 A. I. Rubiera,25 J. Yelton,25 J. Zheng,25 G. Brandenburg,26 A. Ershov,26 Y. S. Gao,26 D. Y.-J. Kim,26 R. Wilson,26 T. E. Browder,27 Y. Li,27 J. L. Rodriguez,27 H. Yamamoto,27 T. Bergfeld,28 B. I. Eisenstein,28 J. Ernst,28 G. E. Gladding,28 G. D. Gollin,28 R. M. Hans,28 E. Johnson,28 I. Karliner,28 M. A. Marsh,28 M. Palmer,28 C. Plager,28 C. Sedlack,28 M. Selen,28 J. J. Thaler,28 and J. Williams28

1Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6

and the Institute of Particle Physics, Canada

2McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 2T8

and the Institute of Particle Physics, Canada

3Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York 14850

4University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045

5University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

6State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York 12222

7Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210

8University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

9Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907

10University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

11Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309

12Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275

13Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244

14University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712

15University of Texas - Pan American, Edinburg, TX 78539

16Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235

17Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061

18Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202

19California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125

20University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093

21University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

22Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213

23University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390

24Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

25University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

26Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

27University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822

28University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 61801

Two-body $`B`$ decays to a charmonium state and a kaon have recently received substantial attention because of their importance for studies of CP violation in determining the angles of the CKM unitarity triangles and because of the observation of the unexpectedly large $`B`$ decay rate to $`\eta ^{}X`$ . Among several theoretical explanations for the latter, a substantial intrinsic charm component of the $`\eta ^{}`$ has been proposed . If this is the case, the $`\eta ^{}`$ can be produced by the axial part of the $`bc\overline{c}s(d)`$ process, which also produces the $`\eta _c`$. Exclusive $`B`$ decays to charmonium states are also of theoretical interest as a testing ground for the QCD calculations of quark dynamics and factorization. In the absence of enhancing mechanisms, the $`B`$ decay rate to $`\eta _cX`$ is expected to be comparable to that for the $`B`$ decay to $`J/\psi X`$ . Experimentally, little is known about $`\eta _c`$ production in $`B`$ decays. The only published result is from a 1995 CLEO study , which used $`2.02fb^1`$ of data collected at $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ and obtained an upper limit on inclusive $`\eta _c`$ production: $`(B\eta _cX)<0.9\%`$ at $`90\%`$ CL.

The color-singlet production of $`\chi _{c0}`$ in $`B`$ decays vanishes in the factorization approximation as a consequence of spin-parity conservation. However, the color-octet mechanism  allows for the production of the $`\chi _{c0}`$ P-wave $`0^{++}`$ state via the emission of a soft gluon. No information on $`B`$ decays to $`\chi _{c0}`$ is available at present .

In this Letter we report results from the analysis of $`9.13fb^1`$ of $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation data collected with the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), taken at the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ energy, corresponding to $`9.66\times 10^6`$ produced $`B\overline{B}`$ pairs. In addition, $`4.35fb^1`$ of integrated luminosity were taken 60 MeV below the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ resonance in order to study backgrounds from light quark production (referred to as continuum).

The data were taken with two configurations of the CLEO detector, called CLEO II and CLEO II.V. In the CLEO II configuration of the detector , charged particle tracking is provided by three cylindrical drift chambers immersed in axial solenoidal magnetic field of 1.5 T. Charged particle identification (PID) is made possible by a time-of-flight system (TOF) outside of the outermost tracking chamber and by the measurement of specific ionization loss ($`dE/dX`$) in the tracking system. Photon and electron identification is provided by a high resolution electromagnetic CsI (Tl) calorimeter. The muon system is the outermost subdetector consisting of three superlayers of wire counters interspersed with steel at different absorption lengths. The CLEO II.V configuration differs from the CLEO II configuration in that the innermost drift chamber was replaced by a three layer double-sided silicon vertex detector  and that a helium-propane gas mixture, instead of argon-ethane, was used in the main drift chamber. These changes led to improved momentum and $`dE/dX`$ resolution.

We reconstruct the $`\eta _c`$ in the decay modes $`\eta _c\varphi \varphi K^+K^{}K^+K^{}`$ and $`\eta _cK_S^{}K^\pm \pi ^{}`$ ***Charge conjugation is implied throughout this Letter.. The $`\chi _{c0}`$ is searched for in its decay modes $`\chi _{c0}K^+K^{}`$ and $`\chi _{c0}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$. For calculation of efficiencies, we use the branching fractions $`(\chi _{c0}K^+K^{})=(0.586\pm 0.086)\%`$ and $`(\chi _{c0}\pi ^+\pi ^{})=(0.496\pm 0.066)\%`$ obtained by averaging the PDG values  with the recent BES results . The detector simulation is based upon GEANT 3 .

Candidate primary tracks must be well measured and come from the event vertex. Neutral kaons are identified as a $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ pair coming from a displaced vertex. The mass resolution is 3.6 MeV and we select events within 8 MeV of the $`K_S^{}`$ mass . A phi meson candidate is selected as a $`K^+K^{}`$ pair in the mass window $`1.00<M(K^+K^{})<1.04`$ GeV.

We reconstruct the $`B`$ mesons by combining an $`\eta _c`$ or a $`\chi _{c0}`$ with a charged or neutral kaon. The candidate events are identified by using the difference between the reconstructed and beam energies, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=E(B)E_{beam}`$, and the beam constrained mass, $`M(B)=\sqrt{E_{beam}^2|\stackrel{}{p}_B|^2}`$. The resolution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is about 17 (15) MeV for CLEO II (CLEO II.V). The uncertainty in $`M(B)`$ is about 2.6 MeV and is dominated by the beam energy spread. Events for which multiple combinations pass the selection criteria are assigned a weight equal to the inverse of the number of candidates passing the selection. The average number of candidates per event is about 1.3 for decays in the $`\eta _cK_S^{}K^\pm \pi ^{}`$ submode and is less than 1.1 for all other channels.

To minimize the combinatorial background coming from other $`B`$ decays and from continuum production we impose PID criteria. For the $`\eta _c\varphi \varphi `$ submode we require that the charged kaons have $`dE/dX`$ and TOF measurements within 3 standard deviations ($`\sigma `$) of the expected values, when such measurements are present. The $`\eta _cK_S^{}K^\pm \pi ^{}`$ submode has more background and the PID consistency requirements in this case are at a more stringent level of $`2\sigma `$, and at least one of the PID measurements has to be present for the charged kaon candidates. The secondary tracks from the $`\chi _{c0}`$ decay have momenta between 1.0 and 2.7 GeV, where there is little PID separation between kaons and pions, therefore, no PID requirements are imposed.

Most of the background comes from continuum production, which at CLEO has jet-like characteristics. We minimize this background by employing the ratio $`R2`$ of the second and zeroth Fox-Wolfram moments . For isotropic events, $`R2`$ is nearly zero and for jet-like events it is close to one. We select events with $`R2<0.25`$ for decays with $`\eta _c`$ and $`R2<0.3`$ for decays with $`\chi _{c0}`$. In addition, we impose a lepton veto on the bachelor kaon candidate to remove possible contamination due to $`B`$ semileptonic decays.

We extract the signal yield by using an unbinned extended maximum likelihood fit method described in Ref. . For the $`B\eta _cK`$ analysis, the fit variables are the beam constrained mass $`M(B)`$, the energy difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, the $`\eta _c`$ candidate mass and the cosine of the angle between the direction of the $`B`$ candidate and the beam axis $`\mathrm{cos}(\theta _B)`$. For the $`\eta _c\varphi \varphi `$ mode we also use the angle $`\chi `$ between the planes formed by the kaons from the $`\varphi `$ decays in the $`\eta _c`$ rest frame .

The signal $`M(B)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ probability density functions (PDFs) are parameterized by a Gaussian and a sum of two Gaussians with the same mean, respectively. The $`\eta _c`$ mass is represented by a Breit-Wigner function convolved with a sum of two Gaussians with the same mean. We use $`13.2_{3.2}^{+3.8}`$ MeV for the $`\eta _c`$ width . The signal shape is expected to vary as $`\mathrm{sin}^2(\theta _B)`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^2(\chi )`$. The background shape is represented by an end-point function (the product of a 2nd degree polynomial in $`\sqrt{1(M(B)/E)^2}`$ and a phase-space factor) in $`M(B)`$ and is linear or constant in all other fit variables. The parameters of the PDF shapes are extracted from the Monte Carlo simulation of the signal and backgrounds. We combine the yields from different data sets and from different $`\eta _c`$ submodes by adding the log-likelihood functions. The yields and efficiencies are given in Table I.

Systematic uncertainties from the modeling of the PDF shapes are included in the fit result by varying the shape parameters according to their covariance matrices and repeating the fit procedure. Systematic errors due to uncertainty in the reconstruction efficiency are quoted separately. An additional source of uncertainty is the $`\eta _c`$ branching fractions; $`(\eta _cK^{}K\pi )`$ has a relative error of 30.9% and $`(\eta _c\varphi \varphi )`$ has a relative error of 39.4%. Since the measurements of these branching fractions were made by experiments running at the $`J/\psi `$ mass, they have a common error of 28.3% due to the uncertainty of the branching fraction $`(J/\psi \gamma \eta _c)`$. We quote this common error on the combined result as coming from the $`\eta _c`$ branching fraction uncertainty. The remaining errors of 12.4% and 27.4% are included by smearing the likelihood functions for different sub-modes before they are combined.

Assuming equal production of charged and neutral $`B`$ mesons in $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ decay, the branching fractions are $`(B^+\eta _cK^+)=(0.69_{0.21}^{+0.26}\pm 0.08\pm 0.20)\times 10^3`$ and $`(B^{}\eta _cK^{})=(1.09_{0.42}^{+0.55}\pm 0.12\pm 0.31)\times 10^3`$, where the first error is statistical, the second error is from the uncertainty on the reconstruction efficiency and the third error is due to the uncertainty of $`(J/\psi \gamma \eta _c)`$. The statistical significances, with PDF shape uncertainties included, are 5.2 standard deviations for the charged $`B`$ decay and 4.8 for the neutral channel . The confidence level of the fits are 54% and 76% for the charged and neutral decay modes, respectively. The combined $`M(B)`$ projections and the log-likelihood functions of the branching fractions are shown in Fig. 1.

As a cross-check we have done a counting analysis using more stringent selection criteria $`|M(B)5.280|<0.007`$ GeV, $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.040`$ GeV and $`|M(\eta _c)2.9798|<0.025`$ GeV. The results are statistically consistent with those stated above. We have checked the sensitivity of our result to the large spread of the $`\eta _c`$ width measurements  by repeating the analysis using values of 10 and 24 MeV for the $`\eta _c`$ width. The central values of the branching fractions are $`0.64\times 10^3`$ and $`0.78\times 10^3`$ for the charged decay and $`1.02\times 10^3`$ and $`1.30\times 10^3`$ for the neutral decay, correspondingly.

The branching fraction for the decay $`B\eta _cK`$ can be related to that of $`BJ/\psi K`$  in the factorization approximation by taking into account the phase space difference and hadronic current dynamics . The ratio of decay rates is proportional to the ratio of the decay constants squared: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(B\eta _cK)/\mathrm{\Gamma }(BJ/\psi K)=D(f_{\eta _c}/f_{J/\psi })^2`$, where the coefficient $`D`$ expresses the evaluation of the decay dynamics. We calculate the ratio of the decay constants from the measured branching fractions using weighted averages of charged and neutral modes and the theoretical estimates of $`D`$. Our results are consistent with the phenomenological expectations given in Table II. Using the $`J/\psi `$ decay constant evaluated from dilepton rates, $`f_{J/\psi }=405\pm 14`$ MeV , and predictions of $`D`$ by Ahmady and Mendel , we obtain $`f_{\eta _c}=335\pm 52\pm 47\pm 12\pm 25`$ MeV, where the first error is due to the statistical and systematic errors on the exclusive branching fractions, the second error is due to the $`\eta _c`$ branching fractions, the third error reflects the uncertainty in the $`J/\psi `$ decay constant, $`f_{J/\psi }`$, and the last error is due to $`D`$.

To search for the decay $`B\chi _{c0}K`$ we follow the same procedure as described above. Part of the background comes from $`B`$ decays to $`J/\psi `$ or $`D`$ mesons, such as $`BD\pi ,DK\pi `$. In these cases the reconstructed $`B`$ momentum is close to that of the signal and the background peaks in $`M(B)`$. About one half of such background is removed by vetoing leptons and $`K\pi `$ combinations in the vicinity of charged and neutral $`D`$ mesons masses. We do not model the behavior of the remaining background. Instead, we make a $`\pm 7`$ MeV cut on $`M(B)`$. Only the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M(\chi _{c0})`$ variables are used to extract the signal. Mistaking pions from $`\chi _{c0}`$ decay as kaons shifts the $`B`$ energy upwards by 120 MeV. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ region is made asymmetric to keep event samples from different $`\chi _{c0}`$ decay channels from overlapping ($`150<\mathrm{\Delta }E<60`$ MeV for the $`\chi _{c0}K^+K^{}`$ submode and $`60<\mathrm{\Delta }E<150`$ MeV for the $`\chi _{c0}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ submode). In spite of the lepton veto some of the background due to $`\psi \mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ decays remains in the sample because of restricted muon system acceptance. This background contributes to the $`M(\chi _{c0})`$ sideband of $`\chi _{c0}K^+K^{}`$ submode, hence we restrict the signal plane to $`M(\chi _{c0})>3.28`$ GeV. We remove any possible contribution from $`\chi _{c2}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ or $`K^+K^{}`$ by imposing a skew veto cut $`\mathrm{\Delta }E>M(\chi _{c0})3.5`$ GeV.

The final results were extracted from the limited region of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M(\chi _{c0})`$. The same unbinned maximum likelihood procedure was used as for the $`B\eta _cK`$ analysis. The observed yields are not statistically significant and the resulting 90% confidence level upper limits are $`0.48\times 10^3`$ and $`0.50\times 10^3`$ for the charged and neutral modes, respectively .

In summary, we have observed the decay $`B\eta _cK`$ in both charged and neutral modes with branching fractions similar to those for $`BJ/\psi K`$. By comparing the rates of the decays with $`\eta _c`$ and $`J/\psi `$, we have extracted the $`\eta _c`$ decay constant. The channel $`B^{}\eta _cK^{}`$ can be used to extract the value of $`\mathrm{sin}(2\beta )`$ via measurement of time-dependent asymmetry. We have also set upper limits on $`B\chi _{c0}K`$ decays that restricts a possible enhancement of the $`\chi _{c0}`$ production due to the color octet mechanism.

We gratefully acknowledge the effort of the CESR staff in providing us with excellent luminosity and running conditions. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Research Corporation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the A.P. Sloan Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Texas Advanced Research Program, and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The purpose of this talk is to survey some of the recent progress in superstring theory that has occurred in the past few years in a way that is accessible to nonexperts. A great deal has happened, much more than can be covered in a 40-minute talk, so difficult choices needed to be made. Even for the topics that are included it is necessary to sacrifice depth for breadth. All I hope to achieve is to convey a general sense of the directions in which the subject is developing and the impressive achievements that have taken place.

The plan of this talk is as follows. First I will give a quick review of developments that took place prior to mid-1998. Then I will focus on three areas in which there has been important progress since then. The first of these concerns the classification of conserved charges for D-brane systems. As I will explain, the appropriate mathematical category for this purpose turns out to be K-theory. Next I will discuss unstable D-brane systems, which have one or more tachyon fields in the world-volume theory. We will describe the physics associated with “tachyon condensation” when the tachyon fields roll to a minimum of the appropriate potential energy function. Finally, I will introduce non-commutative geometry. This turns out to be relevant for D-brane systems that have a constant magnetic field in their world volume. Certain simplifying features associated with the strong noncommutativity limit and their implications for string theory will be discussed.

## 2 Survey of Prior Results

As of 1985, following some 15 years of development, five consistent superstring theories had been identified . Each of these requires ten dimensions (nine spatial and one time dimension), and each is supersymmetric. The five theories are shown in the table. The two type II theories have 32 conserved supersymmetry charges, whereas each of the other three theories have 16 conserved supercharges (corresponding to a Majorana–Weyl spinor).

|  | Gauge Group | Chiral? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Type I | $`SO(32)`$ | yes |
| Type IIA | $`U(1)`$ | no |
| Type IIB |  | yes |
| Heterotic | $`E_8\times E_8`$ | yes |
| Heterotic | $`SO(32)`$ | yes |

Table 1. The Five Superstring Theories

Following another 10 years of development, and the “second superstring revolution,” our understanding was significantly enhanced . An important ingredient was the discovery of various dualities that imply deep and subtle relationships among the five theories. In fact it became clear that they should best be viewed as five distinct quantum vacua of a single underlying theory.

Even though the underlying theory is still not fully formulated, it is clear that it is completely unique, with no adjustable dimensionless parameters. Any dimensionless numbers that characterize a particular quantum vacuum are determined by expectation values of scalar fields. In particular, the string coupling constant, $`g_s`$, is given by the expectation value of the dilaton field (which belongs to the supergravity multiplet). Each of the five theories has an interesting limit as $`g_s\mathrm{}`$. The two SO(32) theories are S-dual, which means that $`g_s`$ for one of them corresponds to $`1/g_s`$ for the other. Thus, when one theory is strongly coupled, it corresponds to the other one at weak coupling. The IIB theory is self-dual in this sense. Most remarkably, the remaining two theories — type IIA and $`E_8\times E_8`$ heterotic — turn out to have an 11th dimension whose size is proportional to $`g_s`$, and thus is invisible in perturbation theory. In the limit $`g_s\mathrm{}`$ each of them gives an 11-dimensional vacuum, which is called “M-theory.” Defined in this way, M-theory is neither more fundamental nor less fundamental than the five superstring theories — it is just one more special limit in the moduli space of consistent quantum vacua. There is some confusion on this point, because the term M-theory has also been used to refer to the underlying theory, which is more fundamental.

Another important lesson of the second superstring revolution was that in addition to the fundamental strings, the five superstring theories (and M-theory) also have various nonperturbative objects called $`p`$-branes. These are dynamical structures which have $`p`$ extended spatial dimensions and can be idealized in many situations as being infinitely thin in the $`9p`$ (or $`10p`$) normal directions. The basic examples of $`p`$-branes are ones that carry a conserved $`p`$-brane charge that couples to a $`(p+1)`$-form gauge field. Such a field can be regarded as a generalized Maxwell field with $`p+1`$ antisymmetrized indices and represented as a differential form

$$A^{(p+1)}=A_{\mu _1\mu _2\mathrm{}\mu _{p+1}}dx^{\mu _1}dx^{\mu _2}\mathrm{}dx^{\mu _{p+1}}.$$
(1)
The fact that the $`p`$-brane acts as a source for such a gauge field, with charge $`q`$, is represented by the interaction term

$$S_{int}=q_YA^{(p+1)}.$$
(2)
Here $`A^{(p+1)}`$ represents the pullback to the $`p`$-brane world-volume $`Y`$. Such a $`p`$-brane is supersymmetric, preserving half of the supersymmetry of the vacuum in which it is embedded, provided that the BPS condition,

$$q=T_p,$$
(3)
is satisfied. Here $`T_p`$ denotes the tension of the $`p`$-brane, which is its energy density.

Let me list the BPS $`p`$-branes of the type II theories. First of all, these theories contain a two-form gauge field $`B^{(2)}`$ (in the NS-NS sector). The fundamental string (F1) is an electrical source of this field. Its magnetic dual, which is a source for the dual six-form potential, is called an NS5-brane. In addition, the type II theories have a collection of gauge fields $`C^{(p+1)}`$ (in the $`RR`$ sector), for which a class of $`p`$-branes, called Dirichlet-branes (or D$`p`$-branes) are sources. The $`p`$ values that occur are even for the IIA theory and odd for the IIB theory.

The tensions of the various $`p`$-branes mentioned above are exactly determined by the BPS condition. Aside from a power of $`2\pi `$, the results (in string metric) are as follows:

$`T_{F1}`$ $`=`$ $`m_s^2`$
$`T_{Dp}`$ $`=`$ $`m_s^{p+1}/g_s`$
$`T_{NS5}`$ $`=`$ $`m_s^6/g_s^2.`$ (4)
Here, $`m_s`$ denotes the fundamental string mass scale. It is related to the fundamental string length scale $`\mathrm{}_s`$ and the universal Regge slope $`\alpha ^{}`$ by $`m_s=\mathrm{}_s^1`$ and $`\alpha ^{}=\mathrm{}_s^2`$. Note that the D-branes and the NS5-branes are both non-perturbative, but that the D$`p`$-branes are much lighter at weak coupling, so that their non-perturbative effects dominate in this limit. The D-branes have played a central role in superstring theory research ever since the appearance of the breakthrough paper by Polchinski .

The Dirichlet branes are called such because they are hypersurfaces $`YX`$ on which the fundamental string can end. ($`X`$ denotes the 10-dimensional spacetime.) Thus, at weak string coupling, their dynamics is determined by open-string field theory specialized to open strings that end on $`Y`$. In particular, let us consider the case of $`N`$ coincident D-branes and focus on the massless states of the open strings, which are the relevant ones at low energies. In this limit one finds $`N^2`$ massless vector bosons belonging to the adjoint representation of a $`U(N)`$ gauge group. Altogether, including their superpartners, one has a supersymmetric $`U(N)`$ gauge theory on $`Y`$.

The special case of coincident D$`3`$-branes in the type IIB theory is especially interesting, because the associated $`𝒩=4`$, $`U(N)`$ gauge theory that gives the dynamics is superconformal. This means, in particular, that the quantum theory is finite at each order of perturbation theory, with vanishing $`\beta `$ function. When $`N`$ is large the back reaction of the branes on the spacetime geometry becomes important, and one should consider the gravitational field of the D$`3`$-branes. This gives a higher-dimensional analog of a black hole with a horizon. In particular, one finds that the near-horizon geometry is that of $`AdS_5\times S^5`$, which is part of an exact solution of type IIB string theory.

These observations led Juan Maldacena in November 1997 to put forward his famous conjecture , which asserts that $`𝒩=4`$, $`d=4`$ $`U(N)`$ gauge theory is dual to type IIB superstring theory on $`AdS_5\times S^5`$ with the following identifications:

$$g_sg_{YM}^2$$

$$R(AdS_5)/\mathrm{}_s=R(S^5)/\mathrm{}_s(g_{YM}^2N)^{1/4}$$

$$_{S^5}F^{(5)}N.$$
(5)
Here I have omitted numerical factors. $`R(AdS_5)`$ and $`R(S^5)`$ denote the radii of the respective spaces, and $`F^{(5)}`$ is the self-dual RR 5-form field strength of the IIB theory. Altogether, one has an equivalence of a conformally invariant field theory (CFT) and string theory in an anti de Sitter geometry, so one speaks of AdS/CFT duality.

In his paper, Maldacena also proposed several other equivalences of the same general type: namely, conjectural equivalences between conformal field theories in $`p+1`$ dimensions, associated to coincident $`p`$-branes, and string theory or M-theory in a geometry that contains an $`AdS_{p+2}`$ factor. The way the duality relates CFT correlation functions to AdS amplitudes was explained in papers by Gubser, Klebanov, and Polyakov  and by Witten  a few months later. This has become an enormous, and very fruitful, subject. By now, the Maldacena paper has well over 1000 citations. There is little doubt that the conjectures are correct. I will not say more about them here other than to point you to an excellent review paper , in case you wish to learn more.

## 3 Classification of D-brane Charges

Consider, as before, a D-brane system with world volume $`Y`$ embedded in a spacetime manifold $`X`$ of dimension $`d=10`$ (superstrings) or $`d=26`$ (bosonic strings). The surface $`Y`$ will shrink to a minimal surface due to the brane tension (radiating away any excess energy). Even then, the D-brane may be unstable unless it is protected by a conserved charge. A signal of instability is when the open string spectrum on $`Y`$ contains one or more tachyonic modes. Such tachyonic modes occur for the following cases, in particular:

1. All D-branes in the $`d=26`$ bosonic string theory
2. Type II D$`p`$-branes with a “wrong” $`p`$ value (i.e., $`p`$ odd in IIA or $`p`$ even in IIB)
3. Type II D-brane $`+`$ anti-D-brane systems.

Lest the terminology cause confusion, let me emphasize that there never are physical tachyons. Their apparent presence simply means that the vacuum under consideration is unstable. As for the Higgs fields in the standard model, one should like for a stable minimum of the appropriate potential. In the remainder of this section I will discuss the classification of conserved D-brane charges, and in the next section I will discuss the fate of unstable D-brane systems when the tachyon rolls to the minimum of its effective potential.

Since, as we have already indicated, the RR gauge fields that couple to D-branes can be represented as differential forms, it would be natural to guess that D-brane charges are given by cohomology classes. In simple cases this is good enough, but for some topologies it can give wrong answers. The right answer, as I will explain, is given by K-theory classes . This is important, because K-theory and cohomology can have different torsion groups.

To understand the physics, and the relevance of K-theory, let us consider a system of $`m`$ D$`p`$-branes and $`n`$ anti-D$`p`$-branes all of which are coincident. The gauge field configuration of the D-branes is described by a rank $`m`$ vector bundle $`E`$ and that of the anti-D-branes by a rank $`n`$ vector bundle $`F`$. It is natural to postulate that complete annihilation of the branes and the anti-branes is possible if and only if $`E`$ is topologically equivalent to $`F`$. This requires that $`m=n`$, but that is not sufficient by itself.

To be specific, let us consider equal numbers of coincident D9-branes and anti-D9-branes in the IIB theory for a 10-dimensional spacetime $`X`$. Note that these are spacetime-filling branes so $`Y=X`$. We can represent the system by a pair $`(E,F)`$, where $`E`$ is the vector bundle of the D-branes and $`F`$ is the vector bundle of the anti-D-branes. Next, we define equivalence of pairs of bundles by

$$(E,F)(EH,FH).$$
(6)
Physically, this corresponds to adding brane-antibrane pairs with vector bundles $`(H,H)`$. These branes can completely annihilate, and therefore adding them does not change any of the charges carried by the D-brane system. The equivalence relation described above defines equivalence classes $`[(E,F)]`$. Such an equivalence class is a K-theory class, and they form an additive group, called the K-theory group $`K(X)`$. Thus we learn that the conserved charges of type IIB D-branes are classified by $`K(X)`$. The possible values of the conserved charges are in one-to-one correspondence with the K-theory classes.

There is a similar, but somewhat different, construction for the type IIA theory , which I will not review here. However, I would like to remind you that in the strong coupling limit the IIA theory becomes M theory, so all these objects should have suitable 11-dimensional counterparts. The precise way in which this works is a quite technical business, which was recently analyzed by Diaconescu, Moore, and Witten . The fact that everything works out properly provides additional nontrivial evidence for the consistency of the whole picture. The group $`E_8`$ enters the eleven-dimensional analysis in a surprising way, whose physical significance is unclear.

## 4 Tachyon Condensation

Consider a spacetime-filling D25-brane in the $`d=26`$ bosonic string theory. It has a tension $`T_{25}=C/g_s`$, where $`C`$ is a known constant. Its dynamics is described by the bosonic open string field theory that Witten constructed long ago . I won’t attempt to describe that theory here, but simply point out that it is cubic in the string field $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$, which is a functional of the string embedding functions $`x^\mu (\sigma )`$ and world-sheet ghost fields. The lowest mode of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is a tachyon $`t(x)`$, so the purely $`t`$-dependent part of the potential has the form $`V(t)=\alpha t^2+\beta t^3`$ with a local maximum at $`t=0`$ and a local minimum at $`t=t_0>0`$. Note that $`V(0)=0`$ and $`V(t_0)=V_{min}<0`$. The string field theory contains infinitely many other scalar fields besides $`t`$, and it is really the complete potential whose extremum $`V_{min}`$ is relevant. The calculation based on the cubic expression $`V(t)`$ only gives a first approximation to the exact result.

We can now state the basic conjecture, due to Sen : The minimum of the potential, where the tachyon has condensed and other scalar fields have also adjusted appropriately, corresponds to pure vacuum. Therefore

$$T_{25}+V_{min}=0.$$
(7)
This means that the D-brane has completely disappeared. One has a configuration identical to what one would have if the D-brane hadn’t been introduced in the first place!

Open string field theory is much too complicated to carry out analytic calculations. So, Sen and Zwiebach  tested Sen’s conjecture numerically using a level truncation approximation scheme introduced by Kostelecky and Samuel . At leading order (the approximation based on the cubic expression in $`t`$ described above) they found a value of $`V_{min}`$ that is roughly 70% of the predicted answer. At the level 2, where some additional scalars and interactions are taken into account, they obtained about 95% of the predicted answer, and at level 4 they found 98.6%. Following that, Moeller and Taylor  included fields up to level 10, and all the associated interaction terms that the approximation scheme calls for at this order, and found 99.91% of the expected answer. The results are convincing evidence for the correctness of the conjecture, even though it is not completely clear why this approximation scheme converges so well.

Berkovits, Sen, and Zwiebach have done the analogous calculation for the unstable D9-brane in the type IIA theory , which is predicted to disappear when the tachyon condenses in exactly the same way. They used a version of open NS-sector superstring field theory developed by Berkovits . (It avoids certain technical problems associated with picture-changing operators.) They obtained about 60% of the expected answer at leading order and 85% at the next order. So this seems to be working well, too. This calculation also applies to the annihilation of a D9 and an anti-D9-brane in type IIB .

This D-brane disappearance story raises some interesting questions. The basic ones are: what has happened to the original $`U(N)`$ gauge symmetry, and what has happened to the entire open string spectrum? The answer to both of these is that they are confined. What this means in terms of the string field theory calculation is that when all the scalar fields take the values corresponding to the minimum of the potential, the coefficients of all kinetic terms — both of the gauge fields and of all the massive string modes — become zero. This is how confinement is realized mathematically. There is some numerical evidence in support of this, but further studies would be desirable.

As an aside, let me remark that the $`d=26`$ bosonic string theory also has a closed string tachyon, so it is natural to speculate about its fate as well. However, it is not clear what is the right conjecture to test. Zwiebach has constructed a closed string field theory , which is much more complicated than open string field theory. (Zwiebach informs me that if there were a clear conjecture to test, he and his collaborators would find the energy to carry out the closed string field theory computations.) Moreover, it is not clear to me whether a classical computation should capture the physics correctly or if quantum effects would play an important role. The point is that extremizing the potential might also force the dilaton to a particular value. What are some possibilities? One possibility is that the effective potential has no minimum and there is no stable vacuum. Alternatively, if the effective potential does have a stable minimum, this would seem to imply that there is a negative cosmological constant of order string scale. One could also imagine more exotic possibilities. Even though the bosonic string theory is surely not relevant to the real world, it would be satisfying to understand the answer to this question.

## 5 Noncommutative Field Theory

A field theory with noncommutativity parameters $`\theta ^{\mu \nu }=\theta ^{\nu \mu }`$ can be defined as a deformation of an ordinary field theory in which field multiplication is replaced by a nonlocal star product:

$$A(x)B(x)AB(x),$$
(8)
where the definition of the star product is

$$AB(x)=e^{\frac{i}{2}\theta ^{\mu \nu }_\mu _\nu ^{}}A(x)B(x^{})|_{x^{}=x}.$$
(9)
The star product (also called a Moyal product) is associative but noncommutative. In particular,

$$x^\mu x^\nu x^\nu x^\mu =i\theta ^{\mu \nu }.$$
(10)
Thus one has a sort of Heisenberg uncertainty principle for spacetime coordinates, and one sometimes speaks of noncommutative geometry. Combining the two uncertainty principles gives a UV/IR connection, which is a frequent theme in modern string theory.

Following important earlier work by Connes, Douglas, and A. Schwarz , as well as others, Seiberg and Witten  gave a very clear description of how noncommutative gauge theory arises on D-branes when there is a nonvanishing constant $`B^{(2)}`$ field in the bulk. I will not present the formulas, but simply assert that there is a rule for getting from $`B_{\mu \nu }`$ in the bulk to $`\theta ^{\mu \nu }`$ on the brane. (In the limit that $`B`$ is large it is just the reciprocal matrix.)

On the brane, $`\theta ^{\mu \nu }`$ corresponds to a background Maxwell field strength. Thus, if it has only nonzero space-space components, this corresponds to a magnetic field on the D-brane and describes nonlocal behavior. The Hamiltonian still generates unitary, causal time evolution in the usual way. Such a theory may be useful for analyzing the quantum Hall effect.

If $`\theta ^{\mu \nu }`$ has nonzero space-time components this corresponds to an electric field on the brane. This results in a non-unitary (and hence inconsistent) field theory . In the string theory context various authors have argued that electric fields are okay provided they do not exceed a critical value $`E_{crit}`$. This has a simple intuitive explanation: The open string has opposite electric charges on its two ends, so when it is placed in an electric field it gets stretched. The critical field is reached when the stretching force balances the restoring force due to the string tension. Clearly, larger fields would lead to instability.

Let us now focus on the magnetic case, assuming that only $`\theta ^{12}=\theta `$ is nonzero. Then, following Gopakumar, Minwalla, and Strominger , let us consider a scalar field theory with this noncommutativity parameter. Letting $`z=x_1+ix_2`$, and assuming no dependence on any other coordinates, the energy of a configuration is proportional to

$$d^2z(_z\varphi _{\overline{z}}\varphi +V(\varphi )),$$
(11)
where

$$V(\varphi )=\frac{1}{2}m^2\varphi \varphi +\frac{1}{3}\lambda \varphi \varphi \varphi +\mathrm{}.$$
(12)
Rescaling $`zz\sqrt{\theta }`$ gives

$$d^2z(|\varphi |^2+\theta V(\varphi )),$$
(13)
where $``$ is now defined with $`\theta =1`$. Thus, for large $`\theta `$, the extrema are given simply by

$$\frac{dV}{d\varphi }=0.$$
(14)
Ordinarily, the solutions of $`\frac{dV}{d\varphi }=0`$ would just give the extrema of $`V`$. However, when $`V`$ is defined using star products, there can be nontrivial solitonic solutions. The reason for this is that the equation

$$\varphi _0\varphi _0(x)=\varphi _0(x),$$
(15)
has nontrivial solutions. For example, as one can readily verify, one solution is

$$\varphi _0(x)=2e^{(x_1^2+x_2^2)}.$$
(16)
This “wave function” corresponds to the ground-state projection operator $`|00|`$ of the harmonic oscillator algebra $`[z,\overline{z}]=1`$. Clearly, any projection operator would solve the same equation.

Using such a projection operator wave function $`\varphi _0`$ one can construct soliton solutions $`t=t_0\varphi _0(x)`$ to $`\frac{dV}{dt}=0`$, in the notation of the previous section. The intuitive idea is that the core of the soliton near $`x_1=x_2=0`$ is in the false vacuum $`t=0`$, whereas for large $`x_1^2+x_2^2`$ it approaches the true vacuum $`t=t_0`$. The amazing fact about this construction is that it only requires knowing the extrema of $`V(t)`$ and not the precise form of the function that interpolates between them. If one accepts Sen’s conjecture, this is precisely what we do know.

Harvey et al.  have applied these methods to bosonic open string field theory in the manner indicated above. (Related ideas for superstrings were discussed by Dasgupta et al. .) They demonstrated that the ground state $`\varphi _0`$ soliton on a D25-brane describes a D23-brane (concentrated near $`x_1=x_2=0`$) with exactly the correct tension. This construction can be iterated to give the D$`(252n)`$-brane. Moreover, these branes were shown to contain tachyons with exactly the correct (imaginary) mass. The constant $`B`$ field responsible for $`\theta `$ is pure gauge in the bulk, where the D25-brane has disappeared as a result of tachyon condensation. This suggests that even though the analysis was carried out in the limit of large $`\theta `$, the result should be valid for any value of $`\theta `$ including $`\theta =0`$. Harvey, et al. have found many other interesting results, and also Witten has made some clarifying remarks .

## 6 Concluding Remarks

We have shown that studies of D-branes have led to a deeper understanding of many issues in string theory. As you are probably aware, they have also had a big impact on subjects that I have not mentioned ranging from black hole entropy to nonperturbative properties of gauge theories.

One lesson we can learn from these developments is that open string field theory is important because it describes D-branes. When it was developed, this connection was not understood, and it was not clear what it is good for. There are some indications that to achieve background independence it will be necessary to consider it in the $`N\mathrm{}`$ limit . If a nice way to define such a limit is found, it might prove to be very important.

Noncommutative field theory is a deformation of ordinary field theory, which apparently does not destroy quantum consistency (in the magnetic case). This is a remarkable fact, which has spurred a lot of activity. Here I have focused on its use as a technical trick for analyzing certain issues associated to tachyon condensation on unstable D-brane systems.

As I hope to have convinced you, there have been many interesting and fruitful developments in recent years. I am confident that there are many more surprises to be uncovered in the coming years. We are still quite far from a complete understanding of this marvelous mathematical edifice.


text:
# Theoretical calculations of the primary defects induced by pions and protons in SiC

## 1 Introduction. General properties

Silicon carbide is a new interesting material for use in optoelectronic and electronic devices, detectors, for the use in nuclear waste technology or in fusion reactors. In all these applications, this semiconductor material could be exposed to extreme conditions of temperature, to chemical agents and to radiation fields.

SiC is not a simple semiconductor, it is a whole class of semiconductors because of its polytypism . Polytypism refers to one-dimensional polymorphism, i.e. the existence of different stackings of the basic structural elements along one direction. More than 200 polytypes have been reported . Only few of them have practical importance. These include the cubic form $`3C\left(\beta \right)`$, and the $`4H`$ and $`6H`$ hexagonal forms. For the cubic polytype, the symmetry group is $`T_d^2`$, while for the hexagonal ones this is $`C_{6v}^4`$.

Some material characteristics of different polytypes of SiC, useful for its utilisation in radiation fields, are presented in comparison with the corresponding ones of diamond, silicon and GaAs in Table 1. The compilation of data has been realised using Refs .

The listed material properties could explain why electronic devices made from SiC can operate at extremely high temperatures without suffering from intrinsic conduction effects due to its wide bandgap. Also, this characteristic allows to emit short wavelength light when fabricated into a light emitting diode structure.

The high breakdown electric field, approximately one order of magnitude higher than the silicon or GaAs ones, and the high thermal conductivity, enable the fabrication of very high-voltage, high-power devices that dissipate large amounts of the excess heat generated. Additionally, it allows the devices to be placed very close together, providing high device packing density for integrated circuits. SiC devices can also operate at high frequencies (microwave) because of the high saturation electron drift velocity in the material.

Some SiC material characteristics are useful for detection applications: its radiation length lies between the corresponding values of diamond and silicon; its relatively wide band gap ($`2.2÷3.3`$) eV and a relative dielectric constant of 7.04 allows the assembly of detectors with low noise. With low mobilities: 450 cm2V-1s-1 for electrons and 115 cm2V-1s-1 for holes respectively, SiC does not permit a fast signal development and therefore is not able to operate in high fluxes of particles.

The crystalline materials for semiconductor devices used in high fluences of particles are strongly affected by the effects of radiation. Up to now, in spite of the experimental and theoretical efforts, most of the problems related to the behaviour of semiconductor materials in radiation fields, the identification of the induced defects and their characterisation, as well as the explanation of the degradation mechanisms are still open problems.

Diamond has the reputation of being a radiation hard material and is considered as a competitor to silicon. It is supposed that the concentration of primary defects induced in SiC in radiation fields is between the corresponding ones in diamond and silicon respectively.

## 2 Mechanisms of degradation

At the passage of the incident charged particle in the semiconductor material same of its energy is deposited into the target. The charged particles interact with both nuclei and electrons in a solid. The total rate of energy loss, could, in general, be divided artificially into two components, the nuclear and the electronic part.

The energy lost due to interactions with the electrons of the target gives rise to material ionisation, while the energy lost in interactions with nuclei is the origin of defect creation. The primary radiation defects are vacancies and interstitials.

There is not one physical quantity dedicated to the global characterisation of the effects of radiation in the semiconductor material. A possible one is the concentration of primary radiation induced defects per unit particle fluence ($`CPD`$) . It is not proportional to the modifications of material parameters due to the irradiation because of the time evolution of vacancies and interstitials - see the discussion in reference . Due to the fact that it does not exist a theory describing these processes of interaction, phenomenological models are used.

In this paper, the mechanism considered in the study of the interaction between the incoming particle and the solid, by which bulk defects are produced, is the following: the particle, heavier than the electron, with electrical charge or not, interacts with the electrons and with the nuclei of the crystalline lattice. The nuclear interaction produces bulk defects. As a result of the interaction, depending on the energy and on the nature of the incident particle, one or more light particles are produced, and usually one or more heavy recoil nuclei. These nuclei have charge and mass numbers lower or at least equal with those of the medium . After the interaction process, the recoil nucleus or nuclei, if they have sufficient energy, are displaced from the lattice positions into interstitials. Then, the primary knock-on nucleus, if its energy is large enough, can produce the displacement of a new nucleus, and the process could continue as a cascade, until the energy of the nucleus becomes lower than the threshold for atomic displacements. Because of the regular nature of the crystalline lattice, the displacement energy is anisotropic. The primary interaction between the hadron and the nucleus of the lattice presents characteristics reflecting the peculiarities of the hadron, especially at relatively low energies. If the inelastic process is initiated by nucleons, the identity of the incoming projectile is lost, and the creation of secondary particles is associated with energy exchanges which are of the order of MeV or larger. For pion nucleus processes, the absorption, the process by which the pion disappears as a real particle, is also possible.

The energy dependence of cross sections, for proton and pion interaction with the nucleus, present very different behaviours: the proton-nucleus cross sections  decrease with the increase of the projectile energy, have a minimum at relatively low energies, in the range of 100 $`÷`$ 200 MeV, followed by a smooth increase, while the pion nucleus cross sections present for all processes a large maximum, at about 160 MeV, reflecting the resonant structure of interaction (the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{33}`$ resonance production), followed by other resonances, at higher energies, but with much less importance . Because of the multitude of inelastic channels, in the concrete evaluation of defect production, the nuclear interactions has been modelled previously in some simplifying hypothesis, see refs. .

The process of partitioning the energy of the recoil nuclei (produced due the interaction of the incident particle with the nucleus, placed in its lattice site) by new interaction processes, between electrons (ionisation) and atomic motion (displacements) is considered in the frame of the Lindhard theory .

## 3 Results and discussions

The concentration of the primary radiation induced defects per unit fluence in SiC has been calculated using the explicit formula:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill CPD\left(E\right)& =\frac{N_C}{2E_{d;C}}\underset{i}{}\left(\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}\right)_{i;C}L(E_{Ri})_{SiC}d\mathrm{\Omega }\hfill \\ & +\frac{N_{Si}}{2E_{d;Si}}\underset{i}{}\left(\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}\right)_{i;Si}L(E_{Ri})_{SiC}d\mathrm{\Omega }\hfill \\ & =\frac{1}{N_A}\left[\frac{N_CA_C}{2E_{d;C}}(NIEL)_{SiC}^{Cfamily}+\frac{N_CA_C}{2E_{d;Si}}(NIEL)_{SiC}^{Sifamily}\right]\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
where $`E`$ is the kinetic energy of the incident particle, $`N_{C(Si)}`$ is the atomic density of the $`C(Si)`$ in SiC, $`A_{C(Si)}`$ is the atomic number of the C (Si), $`E_{d;C(Si)}`$ \- the threshold energy for displacements in the C (Si) sublattice of SiC, $`E_{Ri}`$ \- the recoil energy of the residual nucleus produced in interaction $`i`$, $`L\left(E_{Ri}\right)`$ \- the Lindhard factor that describes the partition of the recoil energy between ionisation and displacements and $`d\sigma _i/d\mathrm{\Omega }`$ \- the differential cross section of the interaction between the incident particle and the nucleus of the lattice for the process or mechanism $`i`$, responsible in defect production. The atomic density $`N_{C(Si)}`$ in SiC is a material parameter which depends to the polytype through structural constants. The formula gives also the relation with the non ionising energy loss ($`NIEL`$). $`N_A`$ is the Avogadro number. It is important to observe that there exists a proportionality between the $`CPD`$ and $`NIEL`$ only for monoelement materials, and this proportionality can be extended only approximately for compounds with remote elements in the periodic table, e.g. for GaAs.

The $`CPD`$ allows the comparison of the effects produced by the same particle in different materials, while $`NIEL`$ is especially used for the comparison of the effects produced in the same material by different particles.

The partition of the energy of the incoming particle in the semiconductor material between ionisation and displacements has been calculated analytically, solving the general equations of the Lindhard theory in some physical approximations. Details about the hypothesis used could be found in reference . In the particular case of the SiC, a binary compound, the Lindhard curves have been calculated separately for each component, and the average weight Bragg additivity has been used. The energy spent into displacements is represented versus recoil energy for different recoils, characterised by their charge and mass numbers, in SiC, in Figure 1.

All curves start, at low energies, from the same curve; they have at low energies identical values of the energy spent into displacements, independent on the charge and mass number of the recoil. At higher energies, the curves start to detach from this main branch. This happens at lower energies if their charge and mass numbers are smaller. The maximum energy transferred into displacements corresponds to recoils of maximum possible charge and mass numbers (corresponding to the heaviest element, Si in this case). The curves present then a smooth increase with the energy. For the energy range considered here, the asymptotic limit of the displacement energy is not reached.

For the cross sections for proton and pion interactions with carbon and silicon, experimental data and theoretical extrapolations have been used - see references  and references cited therein. The cross sections for pion Ga and As nuclei are not available from experiment. Due to this fact, parametrisations of the energy dependence of the cross sections have been tried. Details about the procedure are given in reference .

As stated in Section 2, the minimum energy required to form a stable vacancy - interstitial pair is usually called the threshold energy for displacements ($`E_d`$). The regular nature of the crystalline lattice conduces to its anisotropy, atoms being more readily displaced along some directions than in others. This anisotropy is also the origin of differences in the rate production of defects as a function of orientation. In the literature, both calculated and experimental values for are reported for different crystals.

In principle, for SiC, the situation is even more complicated and a threshold for atomic displacements could be defined for each polytype, for each atomic species, and for each direction in the crystal.

Some calculations have been reported in the literature for $`E_d`$: in SiC, along some directions of interest, by classical molecular-dynamics simulations using empirical potentials , and also using modern first-principle methods .

Experimental values are obtained from high voltage electron microscopy , energetic ion beam spectroscopy , and Rutherford backscattering analysis along different channelling directions .

In the opinion of some authors , all these methods give consistent results, the recommended mean threshold energy for atomic displacements being of the order of 35 eV on the Si sublattice, and of the order of 20 eV on the C sublattice. These are the values we used in the calculations.

The energy dependence of the $`CPD`$ calculated (as stated above) for pions in SiC, together with the estimated values for proton irradiation is presented in Figure 2. In the same figure, for comparison, the $`CPD`$ produced by pions and protons in diamond , silicon and GaAs are also represented. The values corresponding to protons in silicon are averages from the calculations reported in references  and . The curve for protons in GaAs is obtained from the results reported in reference  and is estimated by extrapolation in the energy range of interest for the present study, while the curve for pions in GaAs is from reference . It could be observed that the degradations induced by pions and protons are very different and reflect the peculiarities of the interactions of the two particles with the nuclei of the semiconductor. For pions, the maximum of degradation is produced in the region of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{33}`$ resonance, corresponding to about 140 160 MeV kinetic energy. In comparison with this behaviour, the maximum of the degradation is produced, for protons, at low energies, and a smooth and slow decrease of the $`CPD`$ is calculated with the increase of the energy.

For the energy range considered in this paper, with the exception of the resonance region, the degradation induced by protons is higher than that for pions in SiC, but for both incident particles, the concentration of primary defects produced per unit fluence are closed between 30 and 40 cm-1. The degradation induced by hadrons in SiC is between the diamond and silicon degradations.

Also, it could be observed that the pion degradation becomes more important with the increase of the mass number of the material, in the whole range of energy investigated.

The $`CPD`$ for $`3C`$, $`4H`$ and $`6H`$ polytypes of SiC has been evaluated separately, considering the structural characteristics of each polytype, and the same displacement energies for all of them; no significant differences between their behaviour in radiation fields has been found. These theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental data reported in reference .

## 4 Summary

In the present paper the concentration of primary induced defects per unit particle fluence has been calculated for the case of pion and proton irradiation, and the effects of these particles have been found intermediate in SiC between the corresponding ones in Si and diamond.

Negligible differences have been found between the $`3C`$, $`4H`$ and $`6H`$ polytypes in what regards the effects of pion and proton irradiation.

The Lindhard curves characterising the partition of the recoils energy between ionisation and displacements have been calculated using analytical approximations.

The main properties of SiC useful for its utilisation in radiation fields have been reviewed.


text:
# 1 Problem

## 1 Problem

Consider a classical model of matter in which spectral lines are associated with oscillators. In particular, consider a gas with two closely spaced spectral lines, $`\omega _{1,2}=\omega _0\pm \mathrm{\Delta }/2`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _0`$. Each line has the same damping constant (and spectral width) $`\gamma `$, where $`\gamma \mathrm{\Delta }`$.

Classically, one might expect these oscillators to correspond to the “V” configuration of atomic levels sketched in Fig. 1a), in which both higher levels can decay to the ground state by emission of photons of frequencies $`\omega _1`$ and $`\omega _2`$. However, quantum mechanics also permits the “$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$” configuration sketched in Fig. 1b) in which the highest level can decay to the ground state via emission of a photon of frequency $`\omega _1`$ as well as to the intermediate level via emission at frequency $`\omega _2`$.

The present problem is based on a “$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$” configuration in which a laser of frequency $`\omega _2`$ pumps oscillator 2. But since the lower level of this oscillator is not the ground state, the pumping does not result in an inverted population. The physics of this system can be fairly well described by a classical model in which the damping constant of the second oscillator is taken to be negative: $`\gamma _2=\gamma `$. The strengths of both oscillators are positive.

Deduce an expression for the group velocity of a pulse of light centered on frequency $`\omega _0`$ in this medium. Show also that frequencies very near $`\omega _0`$ propagate without attenuation.

In a recent experiment , the group velocity of light was reduced to 38 mph (17 m/s) by this technique in a sodium vapor of density $`N=8\times 10^{13}`$ atoms/cm3 using a pair of lines for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }/2\pi 2\times 10^7`$/s.

## 2 Solution

In a medium of index of refraction $`n(\omega )`$, the dispersion relation can be written

$$k=\frac{\omega n}{c},$$
(1)
where $`k`$ is the wave number and $`c`$ is the speed of light. The group velocity is then given by

$$v_g=\frac{d\omega }{dk}=\frac{1}{dk/d\omega }=\frac{c}{n+\omega \frac{dn}{d\omega }}.$$
(2)
We next recall the classical oscillator model for the index of refraction. The index $`n`$ is the square root of the dielectric constant $`ϵ`$, which is in turn related to the atomic polarizability $`\alpha `$ according to (in Gaussian units)

$$D=ϵE=E+4\pi P=E(1+4\pi N\alpha ),$$
(3)
where $`D`$ is the the electric displacement, $`E`$ is the electric field, $`P`$ is the polarization density, and $`N`$ is the number density of atoms. Then,

$$n=\sqrt{ϵ}1+2\pi N\alpha ,$$
(4)
for a dilute gas with index near 1.

The polarizability $`\alpha `$ is obtained from the dipole moment $`p=ex=\alpha E`$ induced by electric field $`E`$. In the case of a single spectral line of frequency $`\omega _0`$, we say that the electron of charge $`e`$ and mass $`m`$ is bound to the (fixed) nucleus by a spring of constant $`K=m\omega _0^2`$, and the motion is subject to damping $`m\gamma \dot{x}`$ where the dot indicates differentiation with respect to time. The equation of motion in the presence of a wave of frequency $`\omega `$ is

$$\ddot{x}+\gamma \dot{x}+\omega _0^2x=\frac{eE}{m}=\frac{eE_0}{m}e^{i\omega t}.$$
(5)
Hence,

$$x=\frac{eE}{m}\frac{1}{\omega _0^2\omega ^2i\gamma \omega }=\frac{eE}{m}\frac{\omega _0^2\omega ^2+i\gamma \omega }{(\omega _0^2\omega ^2)^2+\gamma ^2\omega ^2},$$
(6)
and so the polarizability is

$$\alpha =\frac{e^2}{m}\frac{\omega _0^2\omega ^2+i\gamma \omega }{(\omega _0^2\omega ^2)^2+\gamma ^2\omega ^2}.$$
(7)
In the present problem, we have two spectral lines, $`\omega _{1,2}=\omega _0\pm \mathrm{\Delta }/2`$, both of unit oscillator strength, but line 2 is pumped so that $`\gamma _2=\gamma _1=\gamma `$. In this case, the polarizability is given by

$`\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\omega _0\mathrm{\Delta }/2)^2\omega ^2+i\gamma \omega }{((\omega _0\mathrm{\Delta }/2)^2\omega ^2)^2+\gamma ^2\omega ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\omega _0+\mathrm{\Delta }/2)^2\omega ^2i\gamma \omega }{((\omega _0+\mathrm{\Delta }/2)^2\omega ^2)^2+\gamma ^2\omega ^2}}`$ (8)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0^2\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _0\omega ^2+i\gamma \omega }{(\omega _0^2\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _0\omega ^2)^2+\gamma ^2\omega ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0^2+\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _0\omega ^2i\gamma \omega }{(\omega _0^2+\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _0\omega ^2)^2+\gamma ^2\omega ^2}},`$
where the approximation is obtained by the neglect of terms in $`\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$ compared to those in $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _0`$. The index of refraction (4) corresponding to polarizability (8) is shown in Fig. 2.

We next consider the issue of attenuation of a pulse of frequency $`\omega `$. Since $`k=\omega n/c\omega (1+2\pi N\alpha )/c`$, the spatial dependence $`e^{ikz}`$ of a pulse propagating in the $`z`$ direction includes attenuation if the imaginary part of the index $`n`$ is positive. However, the pumping described by $`\gamma _2=\gamma _1`$ leads to $`Im[\alpha (\omega _0)]=0`$. Hence, there is no attenuation of a probe pulse at frequency $`\omega _0`$. This phenomenon has been called electromagnetically induced transparency .

Since $`\alpha (\omega _0)=0`$, we have $`n(\omega _0)=1`$, and the phase velocity at $`\omega _0`$ is exactly $`c`$.

To obtain the group velocity at frequency $`\omega _0`$, we need the derivative

$$\frac{dRe(n)}{d\omega }|_{\omega _0}=2\pi N\frac{dRe(\alpha )}{d\omega }|_{\omega _0}=\frac{4\pi Ne^2(\mathrm{\Delta }^2\gamma ^2)}{m\omega _0(\mathrm{\Delta }^2+\gamma ^2)^2}\frac{4\pi Ne^2}{m\omega _0\mathrm{\Delta }^2},$$
(9)
where the approximation holds when $`\gamma \mathrm{\Delta }`$ as is the case here. For large density $`N`$, the group velocity (2) is given by

$$v_g\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^2}{4\pi Nr_0c},$$
(10)
where $`r_0=e^2/mc^23\times 10^{13}`$ cm is the classical electron radius. The group velocity is lower in a denser medium.

In the experiment of Hau et al., the medium was sodium vapor, cooled to less than 100 nK to increase the density. An additional increase in density by a factor of 16 was obtained when the vapor formed a Bose condensate. Plugging in the experimental parameters, $`N=8\times 10^{13}`$/cm3 and $`\mathrm{\Delta }1.2\times 10^8`$/s, we find $`v_g1700`$ cm/s as observed in the lab.