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# Vacuum properties in the presence of quantum fluctuations of the quark condensate.Talk delivered at the workshop on Few-Quark Problems in Bled, Slovenia, July 8-16, 2000.

## 1
Introduction.

This lecture discusses the modifications of vacuum properties which could arise due to quantum fluctuations of the chiral field, more specifically, due to the quantum fluctuations of the quark condensate. The latter is found to be surprisingly large, the root mean square deviation of the quark condensate attaining and exceeding 50% of the condensate itself. We shall discuss two distinct modifications of the vacuum: restoration of chiral symmetry due to quantum fluctuations of the chiral field, as heralded by Kleinert and Van den Boosche , and a vacuum instability not related to chiral symmetry restoration .

## 2 Chiral symmetry restoration due to quantum fluctuations of the chiral field.

### 2.1 The linear sigma model argument.

The physical vacuum with a spontaneously broken chiral symmetry is often described by the linear sigma model, which, in the chiral limit $`\left(m_\pi =0\right)`$, has a euclidean action of the form:

$$I=d_4x\left(\frac{1}{2}\left(_\mu \sigma \right)^2+\frac{1}{2}\left(_\mu \pi _i\right)^2+\frac{\kappa ^2}{8}\left(\sigma ^2+\pi _i^2f_\pi ^2\right)^2\right)$$
(1)
Classically, we have (for translationally invariant fields):

$$\sigma ^2+\pi _i^2=f_\pi ^2$$
(2)
and the vacuum stationary point is:

$$\sigma =f_\pi \pi _i=0$$
(3)
We assume that $`\kappa ^2`$ is large enough (and the $`\sigma `$-meson is heavy enough) not to have to worry about the quantum fluctuations of the $`\sigma `$ field. So we quantize the pion field while the $`\sigma `$ field remains classical. We may then say that: $`\sigma ^2=f_\pi ^2\pi _i^2`$. Classically, $`\pi _i^2=0`$ but the quantum fluctuations of the pion field make $`\pi _i^2>0`$ and therefore $`\sigma ^2<f_\pi ^2`$.

Let us estimate the fluctuation $`\pi _i^2`$ of the pion field. A system of free pions of mass $`m_\pi `$ is described by the partition function:

$$Z=D\left(\pi \right)e^{\frac{1}{2}{\scriptscriptstyle d_4x\pi _i\left(_\mu ^2+m_\pi ^2\right)\pi _i}}=e^{\frac{1}{2}tr\mathrm{ln}\left(_\mu ^2+m_\pi ^2\right)}$$
(4)
It follows that:

$$\frac{1}{2}d_4x\pi _i^2\left(x\right)=\frac{\mathrm{ln}Z}{m_\pi ^2}=\frac{}{m_\pi ^2}\frac{1}{2}tr\mathrm{ln}\left(_\mu ^2+m_\pi ^2\right)=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Omega }\left(N_f^21\right)\underset{k<\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\frac{1}{k^2+m_\pi ^2}$$
(5)
where the sum is regularized using a 4-momentum cut-off and where $`\mathrm{\Omega }=d_4x`$.is the euclidean space-time volume. In the chiral limit $`m_\pi =0`$, we have:

$$\pi _i^2\left(x\right)=\frac{1}{2\mathrm{\Omega }}\left(N_f^21\right)\underset{k<\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\frac{1}{k^2}=\left(N_f^21\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{16\pi ^2}$$
(6)
so that:

$$\sigma ^2=f_\pi ^2\left(N_f^21\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{16\pi ^2}$$
(7)
If we had evaluated this quantity with a 3-momentum cut-off, we would have obtained $`\pi _i^2=\left(N_f^21\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{8\pi ^2}`$. Let us pursue with a 4-momentum cut-off. We have:

$$\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}=\left(N_f^21\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{16\pi ^2f_\pi ^2}$$
(8)
We deduce that chiral symmetry restoration will occur when $`\sigma =0`$, that is, when $`\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}>1`$:

$$\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}=\left(N_f^21\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{16\pi ^2f_\pi ^2}>1$$
(9)
With $`f_\pi =93MeV`$ and with $`N_f^21=3`$ pions, the condition reads:

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^2>\frac{1}{2.20\times 10^6}\mathrm{\Lambda }>674MeV$$
(10)
In most calculations which use the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model, this condition is fulfilled. We conclude that the quantum fluctuations of the pion do indeed restore chiral symmetry. If we had used a 3-momentum cut-off, chiral symmetry would be restored when $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>477MeV`$.

### 2.2 The non-linear sigma model argument.

We now argue that this is precisely what is claimed by Kleinert and Van den Boosche , although it is said in a considerably different language. They argue as follows. If $`\kappa ^2`$ (and therefore the $`\sigma `$ mass) is large enough, the action can be thought of as the action of the non-linear sigma model, which in turn can be viewed as an action with $`N_f^2`$ fields, namely $`(\sigma ,\pi _i)`$, subject to the constraint:

$$\sigma ^2+\pi _i^2=f_\pi ^2$$
(11)
The way to treat the non-linear sigma model is in the textbooks . We work with the action:

$$I_\lambda (\sigma ,\pi )=d_4x\left(\frac{1}{2}\left(_\mu \sigma \right)^2+\frac{1}{2}\left(_\mu \pi _i\right)^2+\lambda \left(\sigma ^2+\pi _i^2f_\pi ^2\right)\right)$$
(12)
in which we add a constraining parameter $`\lambda `$. The action is made stationary with respect to variations of $`\lambda `$. We integrate out the $`\pi `$ field, to get the effective action:

$$I_\lambda \left(\sigma \right)=d_4x\left(\frac{1}{2}\left(_\mu \sigma \right)^2+\lambda \left(\sigma ^2f_\pi ^2\right)\right)+\frac{1}{2}tr\mathrm{ln}\left(_\mu ^2+\lambda \right)$$
(13)
The action is stationary with respect to variations of $`\lambda `$ and $`\sigma `$ if:

$$\lambda \sigma =0\sigma ^2=f_\pi ^2\frac{1}{2}\left(N_f^21\right)\underset{k}{}\frac{1}{k^2+\lambda }$$
(14)
So either $`\lambda =0`$ and $`\sigma 0`$, in which case we have:

$$\sigma ^2=f_\pi ^2\frac{1}{2}\left(N_f^21\right)\underset{k}{}\frac{1}{k^2}$$
(15)
or $`\lambda 0`$ and $`\sigma =0`$.

The condition (15) is exactly the same as the condition (7). Thus, the ”stifness factor”, discussed in Ref., is nothing but a measure of $`\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}`$.

## 3 Quantum fluctuations of the quark condensate calculated in the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model.

We now show that the quantum fluctuations of the chiral field are indeed large in the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model, but that chiral symmetry is far from being restored. The regularized Nambu Jona-Lasinio model is defined in section 4. We begin by giving some results.

In the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model, the chiral field is composed of a scalar field $`S`$ and $`N_f^21`$ pseudoscalar fields $`P_i`$. They are related to the quark bilinears:

$$S=V\left(\overline{\psi }\psi \right)P_i=V\left(\overline{\psi }i\gamma _5\tau _i\psi \right)$$
(16)
where $`V=\frac{g^2}{N_c}`$ is the 4-quark interaction strength. The quark propagator in the vacuum is:

$$\frac{1}{k_\mu \gamma _\mu +M_0r_k^2}$$
(17)
and the model is regularized using either a sharp 4-momentum cut-off or a soft gaussian cut-off function:

$`r_k`$ $`=`$ $`1ifk^2<\mathrm{\Lambda }^2r_k=0ifk>\mathrm{\Lambda }\left(sharpcutoff\right)`$ (18)
$`r_k`$ $`=`$ $`e^{\frac{k^2}{2\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}}\left(gaussianregulator\right)`$ (19)
. Let $`\phi _0=M_0`$ be the strength of the scalar field in the physical vacuum. We shall show results obtained with typical parameters. If we choose $`M_0=300MeV`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=750MeV`$, then $`\frac{M_0}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=0.4`$. We then obtain $`f_\pi =94.6MeV`$ with a sharp cut-off and $`f_\pi =92.4MeV`$ with a gaussian cut-off (in the chiral limit). The interaction strengths are:

$$V=9.53\mathrm{\Lambda }^2\left(sharpcutoff\right)V=18.4\mathrm{\Lambda }^2\left(gaussiancutoff\right)$$
(20)
and the squared pseudo-scalar field has the expection value

$$P_i^2=V^2\left(\overline{\psi }i\gamma _5\tau _i\psi \right)^2$$
(21)
At low $`q`$ we identify the pion field as:

$$\pi _i=\sqrt{Z_\pi }P_if_\pi =\sqrt{Z_\pi }M_0$$
(22)
so that, in the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model:

$$\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}=\frac{V^2\left(\overline{\psi }i\gamma _5\tau _i\psi \right)^2}{M_0^2}$$
(23)
where $`\left(\overline{\psi }i\gamma _5\tau _i\psi \right)^2`$ is the pion contribution to the squared condensate.

### 3.1 Results obtained for the quark condensate and for the quantum fluctuations of the chiral field.

Let us examine the values of the quark condensates and of the quantum fluctuations of the chiral field calculated in the chiral limit.

* The quark condensate calculated with a sharp cut off is:

$$\overline{\psi }\psi ^{\frac{1}{3}}=0.352\times \mathrm{\Lambda }=263MeV\left(sharpcutoff\right)$$
(24)
is about 25 % smaller when it is calculated with a soft gaussian regulator:

$$\overline{\psi }\psi ^{\frac{1}{2}}=0.280\times \mathrm{\Lambda }=210MeV\left(gaussianregulator\right)$$
(25)
* The magnitude of the quantum fluctuations of the pion field can be measured by the mean square deviation $`\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$ of the condenstate from its classical value:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^2=\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2\overline{\psi }\psi ^2$$
(26)
The relative root mean square fluctuation of the condensate $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is:

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{\left|\overline{\psi }\psi \right|}=0.41\left(sharpcutoff\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{\overline{\psi }\psi }=0.77\left(gaussianregulator\right)$$
(27)
These are surprisingly large numbers, certainly larger than $`1/N_c`$. The linear sigma model estimate did give us a fair warning that this might occur.
* This feature also applies to the ratio $`\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}`$ $`=\frac{V^2\left(\overline{\psi }i\gamma _5\tau _i\psi \right)^2}{M_0^2}`$ which was so crucial for the linear sigma model estimate of the restoration of chiral symmetry. We find:

$$\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}=0.38\left(sharpcutoff\right)\frac{\pi _i^2}{f_\pi ^2}=0.85\left(gaussianregulator\right)$$
(28)
* In spite of these large quantum fluctuations of the chiral field, the quark condensates change by barely a few percent. This is shown in tables 1 and 2 where various contributions to the quark condensate are given in units of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^3`$. The change in the quark condensate is much smaller than $`1/N_c`$.

### 3.2
The effect and meaning of the exchange terms.

The tables 1 and 2 show that, among the $`1/N_c`$ corrections, the exchange terms dominate. The exchange and ring graphs are illustrated on figures 1 and 2. The way in which they arise is explained in section 4.1. The exchange graphs contribute 2-3 times more than the remaining ring graphs. Furthermore, the pion contributes about three times more to the condensate than the sigma, so that the sigma field contributes about as much to the exchange term as any one of the pions. However, the exchange term in the pion channel enhances the quark condensate instead of reducing it. As a result of this there is a very strong cancellation between the exchange terms and the ring graphs. This is why the sigma and pion loops contribute so little to the quark condensate. They increase the condensate by 4% when a sharp cut-off is used, and by 1% when a gaussian regulator is used. This is about ten times less than $`1/N_c`$.

The ring graphs reduce the condensate (in absolute value) in both the sigma and pion channels. This can be expected. Indeed, the ring graphs promote quarks from the Dirac sea negative energy orbits (which contribute negative values to the condensate) to the positive energy orbits (which contribute positive values to the condensate). The net result is a positive contribution to the condensate which reduces the negative classical value.

What then is the meaning of the exchange terms? The exchange terms have the special feature of belonging to first order perturbation theory (see figures 1 and 2). Their contribution to the energy is not due to a modification of the Dirac sea. It is simply the exchange term arising in the expectation value of the quark-quark interaction in the Dirac sea.

However, the contribution of the exchange term to the quark condensate does involve $`q\overline{q}`$ excitations. These excitations are due to a modification of the constituent quark mass which is expressed in terms of quark-antiquark excitations of the Dirac sea. The exchange term is modifying (increasing in fact) the constituent quark mass and therefore the value of $`f_\pi `$.

These results suggest that, in order to reduce the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model to an equivalent sigma model, it might be better to include the exchange term in the constituent quark mass, which is another way of saying that, in spite of the $`1/N_c`$ counting rule, it may be better to do Hartree-Fock theory than Hartree theory. The exchange (Fock) term should be included in the gap equation. The direct (Hartree) term is, of course, included in the classical bosonized action.

In the equivalent sigma model, $`f_\pi `$ is proportional to the constituent quark mass. Failure to notice that that the constituent quark mass is altered by the exchange term is what lead Kleinert and Van den Boosche to conclude erronously in Ref. that chiral symmetry would be restored in the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model. They were right however in expecting large quantum fluctuations of the quark condensate.

## 4 The regularized Nambu Jona-Lasinio model.

The condensates quoted in section 3.1 were calculated with a regularized Nambu Jona-Lasinio model which is defined by the euclidean action:

$$I_m(q,\overline{q})=d_4x\left[\overline{q}\left(i_\mu \gamma _\mu \right)q+m\overline{\psi }\psi \left(\frac{g^2}{2N_c}+j\right)\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2\right]$$
(29)
The euclidean Dirac matrices are $`\gamma _\mu =\gamma ^\mu =(i\beta ,\stackrel{}{\gamma })`$. The matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_a=(1,i\gamma _5\stackrel{}{\tau })`$ are defined in terms of the $`N_f^21`$ generators $`\stackrel{}{\tau }`$ of flavor rotations. Results are given for $`N_f=2`$ flavors. The coupling constant $`\frac{g^2}{N_c}`$ is taken to be inversely proportional to $`N_c`$ in order to reproduce the $`N_c`$ counting rules. The current quark mass $`m`$ is introduced as a source term used to calculate the regularized quark condensate $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$. We have also introduced a source term $`\frac{1}{2}j\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$ which is used to calculate the squared quark condensate $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$.

The quark field is $`q\left(x\right)`$ and the $`\psi \left(x\right)`$ fields are *delocalized* quark fields, which are defined in terms of a *regulator* $`r`$ as follows:

$$\psi \left(x\right)=d_4xx\left|r\right|yq\left(y\right)$$
(30)
The regulator $`r`$ is diagonal in $`k`$-space: $`k\left|r\right|k^{}=\delta _{kk^{}}r\left(k\right)`$ and its explicit form in given in Eq.(18). The use of a sharp cut-off function is tantamount to the calculation of Feynman graphs in which the quark propagators are cut off at a 4-momentum $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ \- a most usual practise. The regulator $`r`$, introduced by the delocalized fields, makes all the Feynman graphs converge. A regularization of this type results when quarks propagate in a vacuum described by in the instanton liquid model of the QCD (see Ref. and further references therein). A Nambu Jona-Lasinio model regulated in this manner with a gaussian regulator was first used in Ref., and further elaborated and applied in both the meson and the soliton sectors ,,,, ,. Its properties are also discussed in .

With one exception. In this work, as in Ref., the regulator multiplies the current quark mass. The introduction of the regulator in the current quark mass term $`m\overline{\psi }\psi =m\overline{q}r^2q`$ requires some explanation. The current quark mass $`m`$ is used as a source term to calculate the quark condensate $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$ which, admittedly, would be finite (by reason of symmetry) even in the absence of a regulator - and, indeed, values of quark condensates are usually calculated with an unregularized source term in the Nambu Jona-Lasinio action. However, when we calculate the *fluctuation*  $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2\overline{\psi }\psi ^2`$ of the quark condensate, the expectation value $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$ diverges. It would be inconsistent and difficult to interpret the fluctuation $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2\overline{\psi }\psi ^2`$ if $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$ were evaluated using a bare source term and $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$ using a regulator. When a regularized source term $`m\overline{\psi }\psi =m\overline{q}r^2q`$ is used, the current quark mass $`m`$ can no longer be identified with the current quark mass term appearing in the QCD lagrangian. Of course, when a sharp cut-off is used, it makes no difference if the current quark mass term is multiplied by the regulator or not. We have seen in section 3.1 that the leading order contribution to the quark condensate $`\overline{\psi }\psi ^{1/3}`$ diminishes by only 20% when the sharp cut-off is replaced by a gaussian regulator. (This statement may be misleading because when the sharp cut-off is replaced by a gaussian regulator, the interaction strength $`V`$ is also modified so as to fit $`f_\pi `$. If we use a gaussian regulator, the quark condensate calculated with a regulated source term $`mr^2`$ is $`\overline{\psi }\psi =0.0218\mathrm{\Lambda }^3`$ whereas the quark condensate calculated with a bare source term $`m`$ is $`\overline{\psi }\psi =0.0505\mathrm{\Lambda }^3`$.)

The way in which the current quark mass of the QCD lagrangian appears in the low energy effective theory is model dependent and it has been studied in some detail in Ref. within the instanton liquid model of the QCD vacuum ,,.

An equivalent bosonized form of the Nambu Jona-Lasinio action (29) is$`:`$

$$I_{j,m}\left(\phi \right)=Tr\mathrm{ln}\left(i_\mu \gamma _\mu +r\phi _a\mathrm{\Gamma }_ar\right)\frac{1}{2}\left(\phi m\right)\left(Vj\right)^1\left(\phi m\right)$$
(31)
The first term is the quark loop expressed in terms of the chiral field $`\phi `$, which is a chiral 4-vector $`\phi _a=(S,P_i)`$ so that $`\phi _a\mathrm{\Gamma }_a=S+i\gamma _5\tau _iP_i`$. In the second term, the chiral 4-vector $`m_a(m,0,0,0)`$ is the current quark mass and $`V`$ is the local interaction:

$$xa\left|V\right|yb=\frac{g^2}{N_c}\delta _{ab}\delta \left(xy\right)$$
(32)
The partition function of the system, in the presence of the sources $`j`$ and $`m`$ is given by the expression:

$$e^{W(j,m)}=D\left(\phi \right)e^{I_{j,m}\left(\phi \right)\frac{1}{2}tr\mathrm{ln}\left(Vj\right)}$$
(33)
The quark condensate $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$ and the squared quark condensates $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$ can be calculated from the partition function $`W(j,m)`$ using the expressions:

$$\overline{\psi }\psi =\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\frac{W(j,m)}{m}\frac{1}{2}\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\frac{W(j,m)}{j}$$
(34)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the space-time volume $`d_4x=\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

The stationary point $`\phi _a=(M,0,0,0)`$ of the action is given by the gap equation:

$$\left(Vj\right)^1=4N_cN_f\frac{M}{Mm}g_M$$
(35)
This equation relates the constituent quark mass $`M`$ to the interaction strength $`Vj`$.

### 4.1 The exchange and ring contributions.

The second order expansion of the action $`I_{jm}\left(\phi \right)`$ around the stationary point reads:

$$I_{jm}\left(\phi \right)=I_{jm}\left(M\right)+\frac{1}{2}\phi \left(\mathrm{\Pi }+\left(Vj\right)^1\right)\phi $$
(36)
where $`I_{jm}\left(M\right)`$ is the action calculated at the stationary point $`\phi =(M,0,0,0)`$ and where $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is the polarization function (often referred to as the Lindhardt function):

$$xa\left|\mathrm{\Pi }\right|yb=\frac{\delta }{\delta \phi _a\left(x\right)\delta \phi _b\left(y\right)}Tr\mathrm{ln}\left(i_\mu \gamma _\mu +r\phi _a\mathrm{\Gamma }_ar\right)$$
(37)
Substituting this expansion into the partition function (33), we can calculate the partition function $`W(j,m)`$ using gaussian integration with the result:

$$W(j,m)=I_{jm}\left(M\right)+\frac{1}{2}tr\mathrm{ln}\left(1\mathrm{\Pi }\left(Vj\right)\right)$$
(38)
The first term of the action (38) is what we refer to as the ”classical” action. The values labelled ”classical” in the tables displayed in section 3.1 are obtained by calculating the condensates (34) while retaining only the term $`I_{jm}`$ in the partition function (38). The logarithm in (38) is what we refer to as the loop contribution. The expansion of the logarithm expresses the loop contribution in terms of the Feynman graphs shown on figure 1.

The first term of the loop expansion is what we call the ”exchange term”, also referred to as the Fock term:111The direct (Hartree) term is included in the ”classical” action $`I_{j,m}`$.:

$$W_{exch}=\frac{1}{2}tr\mathrm{\Pi }\left(Vj\right)$$
(39)
The remaining terms are what we call the ring graphs.

stop here

It is simple to show that the inverse meson propagators are given by:

$$K^1=\mathrm{\Pi }+\left(Vj\right)^1$$
(40)
They are diagonal in momentum and flavor space: $`qa\left|K^1\right|k^{}q=\delta _{ab}\delta _{kk^{}}K_a\left(q\right)`$ and a straighforward calculation yields the following explicit expressions for the $`S`$ (sigma) and $`P`$ (pion) inverse propagators:

$`K_S^1\left(q\right)`$ $`=`$ $`4N_cN_f\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}q^2f_M^{22}\left(q\right)+M^2\left(f_M^{26}\left(q\right)+f_M^{44}\left(q\right)\right)g_M\left(q\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{Mm}}g_M\right)`$ (41)
$`K_P^1\left(q\right)`$ $`=`$ $`4N_cN_f\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}q^2f_M^{22}\left(q\right)+M^2\left(f_M^{26}\left(q\right)f_M^{44}\left(q\right)\right)g_M\left(q\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{Mm}}g_M\right)`$ (42)
where the loop integrals are:

$$f_M^{np}\left(q\right)=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\underset{k}{}\frac{r_{k\frac{q}{2}}^nr_{k+\frac{q}{2}}^p}{\left(\left(k\frac{q}{2}\right)^2+r_{k\frac{q}{2}}^4M^2\right)\left(\left(k+\frac{q}{2}\right)^2+r_{k+\frac{q}{2}}^4M^2\right)}$$
(43)
and:

$$g_M\left(q\right)=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\underset{k}{}\frac{r_{k\frac{q}{2}}^2}{\left(k\frac{q}{2}\right)^2+r_{k\frac{q}{2}}^4M^2}r_{k+\frac{q}{2}}^2g_Mg_M\left(q=0\right)$$
(44)
These are the expressions which are obtained from the second order expansion of the action (31) retaining the regulators from the outset and throughout.

Innumerable papers have been published (including some of my own) in which the meson propagators are derived from the unregulated Nambu Jona-Lasinio action:

$$I_{j,m}\left(\phi \right)=Tr\mathrm{ln}\left(i_\mu \gamma _\mu +\phi _a\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\right)\frac{1}{2}\left(\phi m\right)\left(Vj\right)^1\left(\phi m\right)$$
(45)
The expressions obtained for the propagators are then:

$`K_S^1\left(q\right)`$ $`=`$ $`4N_cN_f\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(q^2+4M^2\right)f_M\left(q\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{m}{Mm}}g_M\right)`$ (46)
$`K_P^1\left(q\right)`$ $`=`$ $`4N_cN_f\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}q^2f_M\left(q\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{m}{Mm}}g_M\right)`$ (47)
where the loop integrals are:

$$f_M\left(q\right)=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\underset{k<\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\frac{1}{\left(\left(k\frac{q}{2}\right)^2+M^2\right)\left(\left(k+\frac{q}{2}\right)^2+M^2\right)}$$
(48)
and:

$$g_M=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\underset{k<\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\frac{1}{\left(k\frac{q}{2}\right)^2+M^2}$$
(49)
The table 3 shows the low $`q`$ behaviour of the $`S`$ and $`P`$ inverse propagators in various approximations. They are calculated in the chiral limit.

## 5 An instability of the vacuum.

The partition function (38) can also be used to calculate the effective potential:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=W(j,m)j\frac{W(j,m)}{j}=W(j,m)+\frac{1}{2}j\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2$$
(50)
As we vary $`j`$, the squared condensate $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$ changes. Thus, when we plot the effective potential against $`j`$, we discover how the energy of the system varies when the system is forced to modify the squared condensate $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$. The effective potential has a stationary point at $`j=0`$, that is, in the absence of a constraint. If the stationary point of the effective potential is a minimum, the system is (at least locally) stable against fluctuations of $`\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2`$. If it is an inflection point, it is unstable and we shall indeed find that this can easily occur when a sharp cut-off is used.

When $`j`$ is varied, the constituent quark mass $`M`$ also changes, according to the gap equation (35). One finds that $`M`$ is a monotonically increasing function of $`j`$ so that the effective potential can be plotted against $`M`$ equally well. The vacuum constituent quark mass is the mass $`M_0`$ obtained with $`j=0`$. The contribution of each Feynman graph to the effective potential is stationary at the point $`M=M_0`$ and this is why plots of the the effective potential against $`M`$ are nicer to look at than plots against $`j`$. The vacuum constituent quark mass $`M_0`$ is a measure of the interaction strength $`V`$, to which it is related by the gap equation. For a given shape of the regulator, the occurrence of an instability depends on only one parameter, namely $`M_0/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

Figure 3 shows the effective potential calculated with a gaussian cut-off for various values of $`M_0/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The ground state appears to be stable within the range of reasonable values of $`M_0/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

Figure 4 shows the effective potential plotted against $`M`$ when a sharp cut-off is used. When $`M_0/\mathrm{\Lambda }>0.74`$ the ground state develops an instability with respect to increasing values of $`M`$. This instability is not related to the restoration of chiral symmetry and, indeed, the pion remains a Goldstone boson for all values of $`M.`$ As shown on Fig.5, the instability is due to the classical action and the meson loop contributions do not modify it.

Figure 6 shows the effective potential calculated with a sharp 3-momentum cut-off. No instability appears. This provides a clue as to the cause of the instability which arises when a sharp 4-momentum cut-off is used. Indeed, when a 3-momentum cut-off is used, the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model defines a time-independent hamiltonian and the 3-momentum cut-off simply restricts the Hilbert space available to the quarks. This allows a quantum mechanical interpretation of the results. If $`H`$ is the Nambu Jona-Lasinio hamiltonian, then the ground state wavefunction $`|j`$ is calculated with the hamiltonian

$$\overline{H}_j=Hjd_3x\left(\overline{\psi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\psi \right)^2$$
(51)
containing the constraint proportional to $`j`$. The effective potential $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is then equal to the energy $`E\left(j\right)=j\left|H\right|j`$ of the system and it displays a stationary point when $`j=0`$ or, equivalently, when $`M=M_0`$. The Nambu Jona-Lasinio model, regularized with a 3-momentum cut-off, has been used in Refs. and  for example.

The use of a 3-momentum cut-off has another important feature. The meson propagators have only poles on the imaginary axis where they should. When a 4-momentum cut-off is used, unphysical poles appear in the complex energy plane, as they do when proper-time regularization is used for the quark loop .

The fact that the instability occurs when the model is regularized with a 4-momentum cut-off and not when a 3-momentum cut-off is used, strongly suggests that the instability is due to the unphysical poles introduced by the regulator. This conclusion is corroborated by the observation that the instability also occurs when a gaussian cut-off is used, but at the much higher values $`M_0/\mathrm{\Lambda }2.93`$ where the cut-off is too small to be physically meaningful. With a gaussian regulator and in the relevant range of parameters $`0.4<M_0/\mathrm{\Lambda }<0.8`$, one needs to probe the system with values as high as $`M/\mathrm{\Lambda }>4`$ before it becomes apparent that the energy is not bounded from below. The instability is an unpleasant feature of effective theories which use relatively low cut-offs. However, the low value of the cut-off is dictated by the vacuum properties and we need to learn to work with it. Further details are found in Ref..

We conclude from this analysis that it is much safer to use a soft regulator, such as a gaussian, than a sharp cut-off.


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# Optical study of the electronic phase transition of strongly correlated YbInCu4

\[

## Abstract

Infrared, visible and near-UV reflectivity measurements are used to obtain conductivity as a function of temperature and frequency in YbInCu4, which exhibits an isostructural phase-transition into a mixed-valent phase below $`T_v42K.`$ In addition to a gradual loss of spectral weight with decreasing temperature extending up to 1.5 eV, a sharp resonance appears at 0.25 eV in the mixed-valent phase. This feature can be described in terms of excitations into the Kondo (Abrikosov-Suhl) resonance, and, like the sudden reduction of resistivity, provides a direct reflection of the onset of coherence in this strongly correlated electron system.

\]

Phenomena in the field of strongly correlated electron systems can often be described in terms of either a Mott-Hubbard model or a periodic Anderson model (PAM). YbInCu4 is difficult to classify in this manner. Its low temperature properties appear to be consistent with a PAM approach–it is mixed-valent with an enhanced carrier mass and a correspondingly enhanced electronic specific heat and Pauli spin susceptibility. However, it exhibits a phase transition at 42 K to a high-temperature state with integer valence and conventional electronic mass. This transition is beyond the scope of the periodic Anderson model, which generally exhibits gradual changes (crossovers) in its temperature dependence. It is, however, reminiscent of Mott-Hubbard physics, in which a phase transition associated with a strong coulomb repulsion term in the Hamiltonian can occur. In this paper we present spectroscopic studies of the phase transition and the low-temperature state of YbInCu4 which show the emergence below the transition of a well-defined mode at an energy of about 0.25 eV. Possible interpretations of this electronic excitation, and the question of what Hamiltonian is required to capture the essential physics of YbInCu4 are discussed.

The presence of local magnetic moments in metallic systems is associated with a variety of interesting phenomena, including the Kondo effect, heavy-fermion physics and mixed-valence. In certain cases, an isostructural first-order transition occurs at which a discontinuous change in valence and volume is accompanied by an abrupt disappearance of the local moment. The transition to such a state provides an opportunity to explore fundamental phenomena associated with magnetic moments in metals, moment compensation, Kondo singlet formation, and mixed-valence.

At the $`\gamma \alpha `$ transition of Ce a valence change from about 3 to 3.2 occurs in concert with a volume reduction of about 15% at $`T_v`$$``$200 K . This transition has been discussed in terms of a Kondo-volume-collapse model. In that model, a reduced lattice constant in the low-temperature phase is associated with an increase in the hybridization interaction between local moment and conduction electron states, which leads to moment disappearance due to the formation of a Kondo-singlet state in which the f-level moments are compensated due to a Kondo-like screening by conduction electrons.

YbInCu4 exhibits an isostructural transition to a mixed-valent ground state at which the volume change is almost negligible ($`0.5\%`$) . At this transition the Yb valence decreases from $``$3 to $``$2.85, and the local moment, present in the high-temperature state, vanishes abruptly. The Kondo scale, $`T_K`$, which is a measure of the strength of the hybridization interaction, increase abruptly from $`T_K25K`$ above the transition to $`T_K400K`$ below the transition for reasons which are not at all clear.

In this letter, we focus on changes in the infrared conductivity of YbInCu4 associated with the transition to the mixed-valent state. The abrupt increase of the Kondo scale below $`T_v`$ can allow us to identify key features of the Kondo state, and thus shed light on fundamental phenomena of Anderson lattice systems. This work is complementary to previous optical work which addressed the relationship between spectral features and band-structure calculations. It is also possible that the very high purity of present samples allows features to be observed that could not be readily discerned in earlier work.

The samples used in these experiments are high-quality single crystals grown from an In-Cu flux. For these samples a sharp transition occurs at about 42 K in the absence of strain. At the transition the volume increases by about 0.5 % as the sample is cooled, and the susceptibility and resistivity drop abruptly by an order of magnitude. Thermal cycling tends to induce strain in the samples, which can broaden the transition and move it to higher temperature. Infrared and optical measurements are performed using a combination of Fourier transform and grating spectrometers to cover the range from 50 to 50,000 $`cm^1`$. In these measurements we have gone to great efforts to measure in all ranges before going through the transition to avoid disorder effects influencing the infrared data significantly. The conductivity as a function of frequency is obtained from a Kramers-Kronig transform of the reflectivity data. For the purpose of performing this transform, the measured reflectivity is extended from 50,000 to 200,000 $`cm^1`$ as a constant, and above that it is made to decrease like 1/$`\omega ^2`$. At low frequency a Hagen-Rubens termination is attached to the data. In the region of the actual data, the conductivity is insensitive to the details of these terminations.

Figure 1 shows reflectivity and conductivity up to 15,000 $`cm^1`$. These data show the emergence of a prominent resonance in the mixed-valent (low-T) state near 2,000 $`cm^1`$($`1/4eV`$). The spectral sharpness and the abrupt appearance of this feature as a function of temperature are striking.

In addition, the data indicate the persistence of significant temperature dependence to relatively high frequency (compared to T or $`T_K`$) in YbInCu4. In the frequency range from about 5,000 to 12,000 $`cm^1`$ , $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ decreases substantially as T is reduced both above and below $`T_v`$ . Recent theoretical and experimental work has explored the phenomenology and possible origins of such high energy spectral weight shifts in strongly correlated systems (involving energies vastly larger than $`k_BT`$ and $`k_BT_K`$).

Figure 2 shows spectral weight, which is the indefinite integral of $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ , $`n(\omega )=\frac{m}{\pi e^2}_0^\omega \sigma _1(\omega ^{})d\omega ^{}`$, as a function of frequency. In this figure (and figure 1) we see that there is a net loss of spectral weight as the temperature is lowered from 250 K to 55 K. The loss amounts to about 10% of the strength of the broad mode centered around 12,000 $`cm^1`$, and corresponds to $`1.5`$ carriers/Yb atom with the reasonable assumption of a band mass of 4 times the free-electron mass. Since spectral weight is ultimately conserved (if one integrates to high enough frequency), these data imply that it must be displaced to still higher frequency (above 16,000 $`cm^1`$$`2`$ eV) as T is reduced from 250 to 55 K.

On the other hand, the coalescence of the 20 and 55 K curves at the high frequency end of figure 2 indicates that spectral weight is conserved within the frequency range from 0 to 15,000 $`cm^1`$ as the sample goes through the transition. In particular, the increase in spectral weight associated with the appearance below $`T_v`$ of the resonance at $`2000`$ $`cm^1`$, which corresponds to about 1.5 carriers/Yb, is balanced by a general reduction of $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ up to $`15,000`$ $`cm^1`$.

Both the starting Hamiltonian and the mechanism that drives the transition to the mixed-valent state remain areas of active research for YbInCu4 . With regard to the mechanism, it has been argued that the lattice expansion is clearly too small to directly account for the large change in Kondo temperature at the transition (from $`T_K`$25 K to 400 K). The Falikov-Kimball model is capable of producing a quasi Hubbard-like first-order transition, and may be relevant to high-temperature properties of YbInCu4, however it ignores hybridization, which is certainly important in the low-T state. In the mixed-valent state, where the Kondo scale is large, the dynamics of the periodic Anderson model (PAM) are expected to be relevant.

Within the PAM context, the 1/4 eV excitation can be associated with a quasiparticle interband transition involving Kondo resonance states near $`E_f`$ , as illustrated in figure 3, which exist only for $`T_KT`$. The abrupt change of $`T_K`$ at the transition and the abrupt appearance of the resonance are consistent with this interpretation. Note that just above the transition $`T_K/T1/2,`$ whereas just below the transition $`T_K/T10.`$ The study of the phase transition of YbInCu4 , at which $`T_K`$ changes abruptly by an order of magnitude, can thus allow the first clear identification of this fundamental excitation.

According to model calculations, the energy scale for this excitation involving dynamically generated quasi-particle states at $`E_f`$ (the Kondo, or Abrikosov-Suhl, resonance) is expected to be $`\sqrt{T_KB}`$. Here B is the conduction bandwidth, which appears because of its connection to how rapidly the conduction band disperses across $`E_f`$ (c.f. figure 3). $`T_K`$ is a measure of the strength of the dynamical hybridization that splits the bands at $`E_f`$.

Since $`T_K\stackrel{~}{V}^2/B`$, the infrared determination of this excitation energy provides a measure of the renormalized hybridization, $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$. Using the value $`\stackrel{~}{V}1/4`$ eV from our infrared data, along with $`T_K400`$ K ($`35`$ meV), implies a bandwidth of $`B1.8`$ eV, which is reasonable. One can estimate the hybridization broadening, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, using its relationship to $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$, to be $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0.25`$ eV. Further, one can use $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in NCA formulae involving $`n_f(T)`$ along with $`L_{III}`$ edge measurements of valence to infer that the f-level($`ϵ_f`$) is about 0.5 eV away from the chemical potential. These values are all quite reasonable for this mixed-valent system.

Figures 1 and 2 show that the growth of the 0.25 eV mode is associated with a reduction of spectral weight at frequencies up to about 12,000 $`cm^1`$ (1.5 eV). This observation–that the growth of the resonance at $``$1/4 eV comes from a redistribution of spectral weight from essentially the entire bandwidth–may have implications for questions related to exhaustion and the time scales relevant to screening in Kondo lattice systems. Does it suggest that conduction electrons further than $`k_BT_K`$ from the chemical potential are significantly involved in screening in the Kondo lattice? Further work can be expected to address such questions. It is also intriguing to note that an excitation of similar frequency is present in YbB12 , for which $`T_K300`$ K, and that related features may also be present in spectra from mixed-valent Ce compounds.

In conclusion, we have examined the infrared conductivity of YbInCu4, which exhibits an electronic phase-transition (from a magnetic state to a non-magnetic, mixed-valent state) at $`T_v`$ 42 K. The most striking feature of the data is the emergence of an electronic excitation at $``$0.25 eV in the low-temperature state, which we discuss in terms of excitations into the dynamically generated Kondo (Abrikosov-Suhl) resonance at the Fermi surface. Like the sudden reduction of resistivity and loss of local moment susceptibility, the emergence of this feature appears to provide a direct signal of the onset of coherence in this strongly correlated electron system.

Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge valuable conversations with D. L. Cox, J. W. Allen, J. K. Freericks, S.A. Kivelson, D. H. Lee and A. P. Young, and technical assistance from T. Lorey, S.L. Hoobler, and P.J. Kostic. Work at UCSC supported by the NSF through grant# DMR-97-05442. and DMR-00-71949. Work at Los Alamos is performed under the auspice of the U.S. Dept. of Energy. NHMFL is supported by the NSF and the state of Florida. ZF and JLS also acknowledge partial support from the NSF under grant # DMR-9501529. YWR acknowledges support from the “Marilyn C. Davis Endowment for Re-entry Women in Science.”


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# Study of FK Comae Berenices

## 1 Introduction

FK Com (HD117555) is the prototype of the small group of rapidly rotating single G-K giants, the FK Com-type stars (Bopp & Rucinski bopp2 (1981); Bopp & Stencel bopp3 (1981); Bopp bopp1 (1982)). FK Com itself is classified as a single G5 II-G8 III giant with a $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ of $`162.5\pm 3.5`$ km s-1(Huenemoerder et al. hue (1993)). Our recent study gives spectral type G5 III and $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$=155 km s-1(Korhonen et al. kor (1999), hereafter referred to as Paper I).

Small variations in the visual magnitude of FK Com of $`0\stackrel{m}{.}1`$ with a period of $`2\stackrel{d}{.}412`$ were first reported by Chugainov (chu1 (1966)). These variations were later interpreted to be caused by asymmetrically distributed spots (Bopp & Rucinski bopp2 (1981)). Dorren et al. (dor (1984)) determined the temperature of these spots to be $`600800`$ K cooler than the unspotted surface.

Jetsu et al. (jetsu2 (1993)) determined a photometric period of 2.4002466 $`\pm 0^\mathrm{d}.0000056`$ and discovered a switch of activity between two active longitudes 180 degrees apart (“flip-flop”). A summary of all available photometry up to 1996 was presented by Strassmeier et al. (1997a ). Four months of phase resolved and continuous photometry from 1996 was presented in Strassmeier et al. (1997b ) and further data and rotation periods can be found in Strassmeier et al. (str:ser (1999)) from the 1996/97 observing season.

FK Com also shows spectral peculiarities, of which some were first reported by Merrill (mer (1948)). The peculiarities include a strong and variable H$`\alpha `$ emission (e.g. Ramsey et al. ram (1981)), strong chromospheric UV emission (Bopp & Stencel bopp3 (1981)) and high X-ray luminosity (Walter wal (1981)). Similar spectral characteristics as in the H$`\alpha `$-line can also be seen in the other Balmer lines, the effects are just less extreme. Based on the H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ fluxes, Huenemoerder et al. (hue (1993)) have proposed that the emission seen in the spectra of FK Com arises from structures similar to the solar prominences. The work by Oliveira & Foing (oliv (1999)) supports this interpretation.

The stellar surface structures can be studied in more detail by using surface (Doppler) imaging techniques. The main idea in surface imaging is to trace distortions appearing in the observed line profiles due to the presence of spots on the stellar disk and moving due to stellar rotation. This is an ill-posed inversion problem and there are several methods developed for solving these problems, for example the Maximum Entropy Method (Vogt et al. vogt2 (1987)), Tikhonov Regularization (Goncharsky et al. gon (1977); Piskunov pisk1 (1991)) and the Occamian Approach (Berdyugina ber2 (1998)).

Tikhonov regularization has previously been used for mapping the surface temperature of FK Com for the years 1989 (Piskunov et al. pisk3 (1994)) and 1994 & 1995 (Paper I). The images for the years 1994 and 1995 show an active region with two spots with very similar substructures and surface temperatures. In both cases the photometric minimum was caused by two different groups of spots, not only one spot or one spot group. In the current paper new surface temperature maps are presented for June-July 1996, July-August 1996, April 1997 and June 1997 and compared with the previously obtained maps for the summers of 1994 and 1995. The consecutive maps are cross-correlated to obtain the possible spot movement and the effects of differential rotation. In the case of the June 1997 map the position of the surface structures is also compared with the observations of the chromospheric activity analysed by Oliveira & Foing (oliv (1999)).

## 2 Observations

A summary of the new spectroscopic observations used can be found in Table 1. The spectroscopic and photometric observations for the years 1994 and 1995 were described in Paper I.

High-resolution spectral observations of FK Com were obtained with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT, La Palma) and the SOFIN échelle spectrograph with the medium resolution camera during the summers 1996 and 1997. Typically, the échelle spectra consisted of 14 orders and were centred at 6427 Å. In 1996, the slit width was 123 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, providing a resolution ($`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$) of 51 000. The observations consist of 12 spectra taken during different nights between the 28th of July and the 3rd of August. The observations taken during the same night were averaged to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the individual phases. In 1997, the slit width was 81 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, providing a resolution ($`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$) of 76 000. The observations consist of 32 spectra taken during different nights between the 17th and the 27th of June. Some of the consecutive observations were averaged. The observations were combined only when they were obtained immediately after each other and the total time spent was between 40 and 90 minutes. This does not cause any significant phase smearing.

For the year 1996 another set of observations was obtained at the National Observatory in Rozhen, Bulgaria with the coudé spectrograph at the 2m RCC-telescope. For these observations, the resolution ($`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$) was $`\mathrm{30\; 000}`$. The observations consist of 10 spectra taken during different nights between the 29th of June and the 3rd of July. The spectra taken during the same night have been averaged.

All the spectroscopic observations obtained at NOT and Rozhen were reduced using the 3A reduction package (Ilyin ilyin (1996)). The reductions included bias subtraction, flat fielding, scattered light removal and order extraction. The wavelength scale was calibrated using Th-Ar comparison spectra obtained immediately before and after the stellar exposures. The zero point of the wavelength scale was adjusted with atmospheric lines. This was done in order to remove small shifts between stellar and comparison spectrum images.

FK Com was also observed in April 1997 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) with the 0.9-m coudé feed telescope during 10 consecutive nights from April 4–14. The Ford 3k-CCD detector was employed together with grating A, camera 5, the long collimator, and a 280-$`\mu `$m slit to give a resolving power of 27,000 at 6500 Å, i.e. 0.25 Å as judged from the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of unblended Th-Ar comparison-lamp lines. The useful wavelength range was 300 Å and the exposure time was set to 4000 sec. The analog-to-digital units of 20,000 in the continuum correspond to a signal-to-noise ratio of around 300:1 (see Table 1). Forty nightly flat fields were co-added and used to remove the pixel-to-pixel variations in the stellar spectra. The Ford CCD shows no signs of fringing around 6400–6700 Å and no attempts were made to correct for it other than the standard flat-field division. Continuum fitting with a very low-order polynomial was sufficient to find an excellent continuum solution. The velocity zero point was obtained by observing radial-velocity standard stars at least once per night. The KPNO reductions were done with the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) distributed by KPNO/NOAO.

For all the spectroscopic observations taken during the years 1996 and 1997, we also have simultaneous or nearly simultaneous photometric observations in B and V from the Automatic Photometric Telescope (APT), Phoenix 10, Arizona. For 1996, we have used 23 observations taken between the 27th of May and the 30th of June. For April 1997 we have used 39 observations taken between the 28th of March and the 27th of April, and for June 1997 30 observations obtained between the 1st of June and the 6th of July. Observations with mean errors larger than $`0\stackrel{m}{.}02`$ were automatically excluded from the data set.

For the phase calculation in this work we have used the ephemeris obtained from 25 years of photometric observations:

$$HJD=2,439,252.895+(2\stackrel{d}{.}4002466\pm 0\stackrel{d}{.}0000056)E,$$
(1)
referring to a photometric minimum calculated by Jetsu et al. (jetsu2 (1993), jetsu3 (1994)).

## 3 Temperature mapping

The stellar parameters adopted for surface imaging can be found in Table 2. More details on the selection of the parameters are given in Paper I. For this work the value of the microturbulence and the effective temperature were slightly changed from the values mentioned in Paper I to better fit the line profiles and the B-V colour.

For FK Com, $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ =155 km s-1 was determined from the 1995 data using Fourier transforms, as described in Paper I. For the present work more tests for finding the best $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ were done. When calculating temperature images for the June 1997 observations, the smallest deviation between the model and the observations was achieved with $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$=159 km s-1(the difference between deviations obtained with these two $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ values was 0.09%). Values larger than this also gave a small deviation, but then a belt of cool spots appeared on the equator in the map, indicating a too large a value of $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$. The tests also showed that with such rapid rotation lowering $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ by 4 km s-1 does not have significant effects on the temperature maps themselves. For this reason and for the consistency, it was decided to use $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 155 km s-1 also in the inversions for the years 1996–1997, it being the value originally used for the 1994 and 1995 maps.

In the inversion procedure the observed line profiles are compared to the model line profiles. Local line profiles were calculated with the code by Berdyugina (ber1 (1991)), which includes calculations of opacities in the continuum and in atomic and molecular lines. Number densities of atoms and molecules were calculated under the assumption of dissociative equilibrium. Atomic line parameters were obtained from VALD (Piskunov et al. pisk4 (1995); Kupka et al. kupka (1999)), while molecular line parameters were calculated as was described by Berdyugina et al. (ber3 (1998)). LTE stellar model atmospheres from Kurucz (kur (1993)) were used.

The spectral line parameters for the calculations used in this work were slightly changed from the ones used in Paper I. This was due to the constant development of the VALD database. The new model fits the observed spectra without any changes in the $`\mathrm{log}(gf)`$ values, except for the Ca i 6439 Å line, where the value was changed to $`\mathrm{log}(gf)=+0.250`$.

The local line profiles were calculated for 20 values of $`\mu =\mathrm{cos}\theta `$ from the disk centre to the limb. Spectra were calculated for temperatures ranging from 3500 K to 6000 K in steps of 250 K and with solar abundances.

## 4 New temperature maps

The inversions were done for all the lines in the spectral region between 6416 Å and 6444 Å using the Tikhonov Regularization method code, INVERS7, written by N. Piskunov and modified by T. Hackman (Hackman et al. hack (2000)).

### 4.1 June-July 1996

The surface image and the fits to the observations of June-July 1996 are shown in Fig. 1. The mean deviation of the spectroscopic observations from the model is 0.509 %, which corresponds to an average S/N ratio of 196. The temperature range in the map is from 4294 K to 5792 K. The main feature in the map is an extended cool area centered on phases $`0.40.5`$ in the latitude interval $`45^{}62^{}`$. This feature has a temperature of $`600800`$ K below the unspotted surface.

Photometric observations and the photometry calculated from the map are also shown in Fig. 1. As can be seen, the B-V curve calculated from the map fits the simultaneous photometric observations quite well. For the V-curve the correlation is not as good. Nevertheless, the position of the light curve minimum at phase 0.5 is approximately reproduced. The poor correlation of the observed and calculated V-curves can be explained by the poor phase coverage and the small number of spectroscopic phases in the observations. Our tests show that removing the small cool spots at the phases 0.0–0.3 from the image makes the calculated light curve follow the observations better. These small spots are most likely artifacts caused by the noise in the observations and by the fact that only one spectrum has been taken during these phases. The noisy data and the poor phase coverage also explain the noisiness of the map and the higher spot temperatures than in the other maps. Due to the reasonable reproduction of the shape and position of the light curve minimum, as shown in our test, the surface position of the main feature in the map is considered reliable. The details of the shape of the spot, however, might not be exactly correct.

### 4.2 July-August 1996

The surface image and the fits to the observations of July-August 1996 are shown in Fig. 2. The mean deviation of the spectroscopic observations from the model is 0.440 %, which corresponds to an average S/N ratio of 227. The temperature range in the map is from 4021 K to 5605 K and the coolest feature has a temperature of $`1000`$ K below that of the unspotted surface. The feature consists of two separate spots at phases 0.4 and 0.5 within the latitude interval $`52^{}62^{}`$ and a tail extending to lower latitudes.

The photometric observations used in the comparison are the same as in the case of the June-July 1996 map. Photometric observations and the photometry calculated from the map are also shown in Fig. 2. As can be seen, the V and B-V curves calculated from the map fit the nearly simultaneous photometric observations very well. The light curve minimum is at phase 0.5. Light curves calculated from the map reproduce this minimum and the shapes of the observed light and colour curves. This implies that the average temperature of each phase is basically correct.

### 4.3 April 1997

The surface image and the fits to the observations of April 1997 are shown in Fig. 3. The mean deviation of the spectroscopic observations from the model is 0.436 %, which corresponds to an average S/N ratio of 229. The temperature range in the map is from 3689 K to 5518 K. Three cool features can be seen. The strongest ones are at phases 0.0 and 0.6 in the latitude interval $`56^{}73^{}`$. These features are $`1100`$ K cooler than the unspotted surface. The third cool area is much weaker than the other two. It is situated at the phase 0.75 in the latitude interval $`56^{}68^{}`$ and it is $`500`$ K cooler than the unspotted surface.

V and B-V curves calculated from the map and the observations are also shown in Fig. 3. The light curve minimum for this period is very broad and it spans almost 0.5 in phase, the minimum being approximately at the phase 0.75. Again, the photometry calculated from the map is supported by the observations. Some small differences in the position and the shape of the maximum can be seen in both V and B-V. The amplitude of the V curve has decreased significantly since July 1996.

### 4.4 June 1997

The surface image and the fits to the observations of June 1997 are shown in Fig. 4. The mean deviation of the spectroscopic observations from the model is 0.463 %, which corresponds to an average S/N ratio of 216. The temperature range in the map is from 3709 K to 5640 K. The coolest feature in the map consist of two spots: the cooler one near phase 0.75 in the latitude interval of $`40^{}55^{}`$ has a temperature $`1100`$ K below the unspotted surface and the weaker spot at phase 0.9 in the latitude interval $`62^{}73^{}`$ is $`600`$ K cooler than the unspotted surface.

Photometry calculated from the map is compared with the simultaneous V and B-V observations. The light curves are also shown in Fig. 4. Also in this case the observed photometry is well reproduced by the calculations from the map. The light curve minimum is at phase 0.75. The amplitude of the V curve has decreased further.

## 5 Discussion

It seems that in the case of FK Com the light curve minimum is always caused by several spots located in an extended active region. Our new surface maps allow us now to study the spot evolution and possible differential rotation in more detail.

### 5.1 Spot evolution in 1994-1997

Fig. 5 shows the temperature maps for the years 1994-1997 and the results from a cross-correlation between consecutive images. All the temperature maps show an extended active region, which can be resolved into two strong spots. The latitude range of the spots is quite stable from year to year, $`45^{}70^{}`$. On the other hand, the longitude of the active region seems to move about 0.2 in phase within a year.

The cross-correlation maps have been obtained by calculating the cross-correlation function for each individual latitude strip and then plotting them together as a map. As can be seen in the Fig. 5, the maximum of the cross-correlation function is obtained at the latitudes where the main spot features are located. In the cross-correlation procedure, each strip is individually normalized to the average fluctuations of that strip to get the proper value of the cross-correlation function. Due to this normalization in some images very small scale temperature variations are correlated and result in quite high values of cross-correlation function. This phenomenon is seen in some images as strong features at very low latitudes (between latitudes $`60^{}`$ and $`30^{}`$).

The cross-correlation confirms the migration rate to be on average $`0.22\pm 0.03`$ in phase during one year. When calculating the average shift, the average of the cross-correlation function over all the latitudes with spots ($`45^{}`$$`77^{}`$) was used. A 2nd order polynomial fit is then applied to determine the phase of the maximum of the cross-correlation function. The cross-correlation between April 1997 and June 1997 was excluded from the measurements, because it lead to a much larger error in the result, $`0.24\pm 0.09`$. This is most likely due to a short-term rapid evolution of the active region during spring 1997. Our photometry from the end of 1997 shows a very different light-curve shape and behaviour than in early 1997 (Korhonen kor2 (2000)). This might be caused by the so-called ’flip-flop’ phenomenon, where the longitude of the active region switches by $`180^{}`$ (cf. Jetsu jetsu4 (1996)). The rapid evolution during spring 1997 might indicate the start of a new ’flip-flop’.

The spot evolution on the shorter time scales can be studied with the four maps obtained in 1996 and 1997. In the cross-correlation between the June-July 1996 and July-August 1996 maps it can be seen that these two maps are similar and no significant differences between them is revealed. The only difference is the small phase shift of the active region. This phase shift is about 0.016 during the 30 day period. The shift has been determined from all the latitudes between $`45^{}`$ and $`77^{}`$ using a 2nd order polynomial fit to the values of the cross-correlation function. The shift obtained is in good agreement with the migration predicted from the shift of the active region during the four year period (0.019 in phase in 30 days). Similarly, the cross-correlation between April and June 1997 maps shows a phase shift of 0.063, which is to be compared with the predicted shift of 0.045 within 72 days.

The detected migration of the active region is probably caused by a difference between the adopted rotation period and the real period. If this is true then the real period is $`2\stackrel{d}{.}4037\pm 0.0005`$ (using additionally the cross-correlation between April 1997 and June 1997 gives $`2\stackrel{d}{.}4040\pm 0.0014`$). Due to the solid body rotation of the stellar surface within the spotted latitudes (see Sect. 5.2), this value can be taken to be representative of the stellar rotation. The stability of the active region during a four year period and the very similar substructures within it indicate that the inversion method used in this work is quite reliable and that the active regions in FK Com are stable between the anticipated flip-flop’s.

### 5.2 Differential rotation

The results from the cross-correlation were also used for checking the possibility of surface differential rotation. Measurements from all the maps and all the latitudes with spots ($`45^{}77^{}`$) were used to determine the possible differential rotation described by the parameter $`\alpha `$ as follows:

$$\alpha =\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_0},$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{p}`$ are the equatorial and polar angular velocities, respectively. Unfortunately, there are no spots near the equator. So, a comparison latitude ($`\psi _{}`$) other than the equator must be used. With a $`\mathrm{sin}^2\psi `$ law the angular velocity at any latitude can be expressed as:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }_0+\beta \mathrm{sin}^2\psi ,$$
(3)
where $`\psi `$ is the latitude and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ the angular velocity at this latitude. The polar angular velocity can be obtained from Eq. 3 and $`\alpha `$ can then be represented as:

$$\alpha =\frac{\beta }{\mathrm{\Omega }_0}.$$
(4)
The value of $`\beta `$ can be determined from the measurements of the longitudinal shifts at different latitudes. These are expressed in phases and are plotted in the upper panel of Fig. 6. The shifts comprise the annual migration plus a possible differential rotation. To remove the annual migration, we have chosen the lowest latitude which always has spots in our maps as the comparison latitude ($`\psi _{}=51.75^{}`$) and subtracted the average shift at this latitude (dashed line in the plot) from the measurements.

Then, the residual shift in degrees per day for each latitude can be expressed as:

$$f(\psi )=\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi )\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi _{})=\beta (\mathrm{sin}^2(\psi )\mathrm{sin}^2(\psi _{})).$$
(5)
They are plotted in the lower panel of Fig. 6. In the plot the standard deviations are shown as error bars. Then $`\beta `$ can be determined by using a first order polynomial fit with the inverse of the variance of the average in each point as the weight. The fit resulted in $`\beta =0.01\pm 0.03`$. For the calculation of $`\alpha `$ the angular velocity at the equator is still needed. That can be calculated from Eq. (3), after the velocity at the comparison latitude is known. For $`\psi _{}=51.75^{}`$ we get $`P=2\stackrel{d}{.}4037\pm 0.0009`$, which gives $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{}=149.769^{}/\mathrm{day}`$. Together with $`\beta `$ this yields $`\alpha =0.0001\pm 0.0002`$. This result is consistent with solid body rotation of the stellar surface. For further pinpointing differential rotation, more maps extending the time span would be needed.

### 5.3 Chromospheric activity and the spots

Oliveira & Foing (oliv (1999)) analysed the chromospheric activity of FK Com for May-June 1997, covering partly the same period as our June 1997 temperature map. At two phases a flare had been identified by Oliveira & Foing (oliv (1999)). H$`\alpha `$ observations at these phases were not used when comparing with the June 1997 map.

To search for a correlation of the chromospheric activity with the photospheric spots, we use the measurements of residual emission in the blue and red wings of H$`\alpha `$-line (at radial velocities of $`\pm 200`$ km s-1). The measurements are plotted in Figs. 7a and 7b together with a 1st degree harmonic fit. Fig. 7c shows the average temperature distribution in the June 1997 map calculated from the spotted latitudes, $`36^{}`$$`72^{}`$, and a 2nd degree harmonic fit. From the comparison we see that the emission in the blue wing is the strongest at the phase of the photospheric active region, while the maximum of the emission in the red wing is shifted by approximately 0.5 in phase from that. We also note that the maximum and the amplitude of the H$`\alpha `$ emission has the same value in both wings. These observations can be interpreted with a simple model of constant emission from the chromosphere, seen during the minimum of the emission, and matter flowing up from the active region and resulting in variable rotationally modulated emission. When the spots are at the centre of the disk the flow is strongest towards the Earth, so the largest emission is seen in the blue wing. Half a rotation later the flow is pointed away and the strongest emission is seen in the red wing. This model suggests hot active plages in the chromosphere in the vicinity of the spots with outflows of about 200 km s-1. The similar amount of emission in the blue and red wings during the minima implies a more-or-less constant emission from the chromosphere.

The limited number of H$`\alpha `$ observations makes these results very preliminary. Having obtained observations simultaneously in H$`\alpha `$ and the spectral region used for surface imaging for the years 1998–1999, we intend to study this possible correlation in more detail later.

## 6 Conclusions

We have obtained four new temperature maps of FK Com for the years 1996 and 1997. These new maps are compared with the previously published maps for 1994 and 1995. The following conclusions can be drawn:

1. The active region is stable for at least 4 years.
2. The active region moves on average $`0.22\pm 0.03`$ in phase within a year. This migration is probably caused by a difference between the adopted rotation period and the real period; if this is true then the real rotation period is $`2\stackrel{d}{.}4037\pm 0.0005`$.
3. No evidence for surface differential rotation could be found from temperature maps separated by 30 days, 72 days and about a year. Assuming a $`\mathrm{sin}^2\psi `$ law, measurements from latitudes between $`45^{}`$ and $`77^{}`$ give $`\alpha =0.0001\pm 0.0002`$, where $`\alpha `$ is the difference between polar and equatorial angular velocities relative to the equatorial angular velocity. This result indicates a solid body rotation of the stellar surface.
4. Comparison between our June 1997 temperature map and the chromospheric activity observed in H$`\alpha `$ suggests the presence of hot plages in the chromosphere in the vicinity of the spots with outflows of about 200 km s-1. More observations of chromospheric lines, simultaneous with the photospheric lines used for surface imaging, would be needed to confirm the model.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank I. Ilyin and R. Duemmler for their help in obtaining the observations from NOT and Rozhen. We thank R. Duemmler also for his careful reading of this manuscript. We would also like to thank our referee J.B. Rice for his comments. This research was partly supported by the EC Human Capital and Mobility (Network) grant “Late type stars: activity, magnetism, turbulence” No. ER-BCHRXCT940483. This project has been supported by the European Commission through the Activity ”Access to Large-Scale Facilities” within the Programme ”Training and Mobility of Researchers” awarded to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias to fund European Astronomers’ access to its Roque de Los Muchachos and Teide Observatories (European Northern Observatory), in the Canary Islands. The work of HK was supported by the Finnish graduate school in Astronomy and Space Physics and by grants from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation, the Vilho, Yrjö and Kalle Väisälä foundation and the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association. TH was supported by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation and by Helsinki University research funds for the project “Time series analysis in astronomy” (No. 974/62/98). KGS acknowledges the receipt of FWF grants S7301 and S7302 from the Austrian Science Foundation. The calculations for the inversions were carried out on the Cray C94/128 supercomputer at the Centre for Scientific Computing (Espoo, Finland). Nordic Optical Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.


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# Untitled Document

25 January 2000  revised 22 June 2000  quant-ph/0007070

SOPHISTICATED QUANTUM SEARCH

WITHOUT ENTANGLEMENT

David A. Meyer

Project in Geometry and Physics

Department of Mathematics

University of California/San Diego

La Jolla, CA 92093-0112

dmeyer@chonji.ucsd.edu

and Institute for Physical Sciences

Los Alamos, NM

ABSTRACT

Although entanglement is widely considered to be necessary for quantum algorithms to improve on classical ones, Lloyd has observed recently that Grover’s quantum search algorithm can be implemented without entanglement, by replacing multiple particles with a single particle having exponentially many states. We explain that this maneuver removes entanglement from any quantum algorithm. But all physical resources must be accounted for to quantify algorithm complexity, and this scheme typically incurs exponential costs in some other resource(s). In particular, we demonstrate that a recent experimental realization requires exponentially increasing precision. There is, however, a quantum algorithm which searches a ‘sophisticated’ database (not unlike a Web search engine) with a single query, but which we show does not require entanglement even for multiparticle implementations.

1999 Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme: 03.67.Lx, 32.80.Rm.

2000 American Mathematical Society Subject Classification: 81P68, 68Q15.

Key Words: quantum algorithms, entanglement, query complexity.

Quantum algorithms must exploit some physical resource unavailable to classical computers in order to solve problems in fewer steps . Entanglement, which seems the “spookiest”  to many people, has been argued to be the crucial quantum mechanical resource . This belief informs, for example, the criticism that NMR experiments performed to date  have not actually realized quantum algorithms because at each timestep the state of the system can be described as a probabilistic ensemble of unentangled quantum states . Lloyd  and Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum  have recently suggested, however, that entanglement is not necessary for Grover’s quantum search algorithm . In this Letter we clarify the situation by demonstrating that, contrary to their claims, the experimental realization of Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum  requires an exponentially increasing amount of a resource—precision—replacing entanglement. But we do not conclude from this that entanglement (or some replacement resource) is required. Rather, we make the new and surprising observation that efficient quantum search of a ‘sophisticated’ database (not unlike a Web search engine) requires no entanglement at any timestep: a quantum-over-classical reduction in the number of queries is achieved using only interference, not entanglement, within the usual model of quantum computation.

The problem which forms the context for our discussion is database search—identifying a specific record in a large database. Formally, label the records $`\{0,1,\mathrm{},N1\}`$, where, for convenience when we write the numbers in binary, we take $`N=2^n`$ for $`n`$ a positive integer. Grover considered databases which when queried about a specific number, respond only that the guess is correct or not . On a classical reversible computer we can implement a query by a pair of registers $`(x,b)`$ where $`x`$ is an $`n`$-bit string representing the guess, and $`b`$ is a single bit which the database will use to respond to the query. If the guess is correct, the database responds by adding 1 (mod 2) to $`b`$; if it is incorrect, it adds 0 to $`b`$. That is, the response of the database is the operation: $`(x,b)(x,bf_a(x))`$, where $``$ denotes addition mod 2 and $`f_a(x)=1`$ when $`x=a`$ and 0 otherwise. Thus if $`b`$ changes, we know that the quess is correct. Classically, it takes $`N1`$ queries to solve this problem with probability 1.

Quantum algorithms work by supposing they will be realized in a quantum system, such as those described by Lloyd  and Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum , which can be in a superposition of ‘classical’ states. These states form a basis for the Hilbert space whose elements represent states of the quantum system. The simplest such system is a qubit , which can be in a superposition of the states of a classical bit, i.e., 0 and 1. More generally, Grover’s algorithm works with quantum queries which are linear combinations $`c_{x,b}|x,b`$, where the $`c_{x,b}`$ are complex numbers satisfying $`|c_{x,b}|^2=1`$ and $`|x,b`$ is Dirac notation  for the quantum state which represents the classical state $`(x,b)`$ of the two registers. The operations in quantum algorithms are unitary transformations, the quantum mechanical generalization of reversible classical operations. Thus the operation of the database Grover considered is implemented on superpositions of queries by a unitary transformation ($`f_a`$-controlled-NOT), which takes $`|x,b`$ to $`|x,bf_a(x)`$. Fig. 1 illustrates a quantum circuit implementation  of Grover’s algorithm . Using $`\frac{\pi }{4}\sqrt{N}`$ quantum queries it identifies the answer with probability close to 1: the final vectors for the $`N`$ possible answers $`a`$ are nearly orthogonal.

Figure 1. A (schematic) quantum circuit implementing Grover’s algorithm. Each horizontal line represents a single qubit, which is initialized (on the left) in state $`|0`$. The portion of the circuit enclosed in the grey square is repeated $`\frac{\pi }{4}\sqrt{N}`$ times and then the top $`n`$ qubits are measured. $`H`$ is the Hadamard transformation $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{1}{1}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{1}{1}\right)/\sqrt{2}`$, $`X`$ is the Pauli matrix $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{0}{1}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{1}{0}\right)`$, and the ‘gates’ acting on all $`n+1`$ qubits are $`f_a`$\- and $`f_0`$-controlled-NOT transformations, respectively. As was first noted by Brassard & Høyer, and subsequently by Grover, the $`H^n`$ ($`I_2`$) transformation conjugating the $`f_0`$-controlled-NOT gate can be replaced by almost any unitary transformation . Our discussion is independent of this choice.  This quantum circuit acts on an initial state $`\psi _0=|0\mathrm{}|0|0=|0\mathrm{}0,0`$. The first set of gates transforms the state to $`\psi _1=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|0+|1)\mathrm{}\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|0+|1)\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|0|1)=_{x=0}^{N1}|x(|0|1)/\sqrt{2N}`$. Both these states, $`\psi _0`$ and $`\psi _1`$, are tensor products of the states of the individual qubits, so they are unentangled . This is no longer true for subsequent states of the system (except when $`N=2`$). The last qubit, however, is never entangled with the others—after the first timestep it remains in state $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|0|1)`$. Lloyd’s observation , which is exploited by Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum , is that the absence of entanglement in the $`N=2`$ case of Grover’s algorithm (for which the guess register consists of a single qubit), generalizes to arbitrary $`N`$ if the guess register is realized by one $`N`$ state particle rather than by $`n`$ qubits. In fact, Jozsa and Ekert  made exactly this observation several years ago: they wrote, “The state of $`n`$ qubits is a $`2^n`$ dimensional space and can be isomorphically viewed as the state space of a single particle with $`2^n`$ levels. Thus we simply view certain states of a single $`2^n`$ level particle as ‘entangled’ via their correspondence under a chosen isomorphism between $`^n_2`$ and $`_{2^n}`$ (where $`_k`$ denotes a Hilbert space of dimension $`k`$.)”. So despite the implication of Lloyd’s  and Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum’s  papers, there is nothing special about Grover’s algorithm: reformulating any quantum algorithm this way, i.e., disregarding the tensor product structure of Hilbert space implicit in the use of qubits, removes entanglement from the system by definition. Nevertheless, one might hope that if a quantum algorithm—like Grover’s—can be implemented naturally with a single particle, as Lloyd suggests  and as Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum realized experimentally with $`N`$ Rydberg levels of a cesium atom , there is some physical advantage to be gained.

But Jozsa and Ekert  continue, “However the physical implementation of this correspondence appears always to involve an exponential overhead in some physical resource so that the isomorphism is not a valid correspondence for considerations of complexity.”, again anticipating Lloyd’s discussion . Although their data indicate that increasing $`N`$ requires more repetitions of the experiment to extract the answer , Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum neglect the exponential overhead required for measurement and for realization of $`N\times N`$ unitary transformations: They claim that extrapolation from their $`N=8`$ experiments to $`N=20`$ is straightforward and suggest that ultrafast shaped terahertz pulses  might realize more general unitary transformations than those used in their implementation of Grover’s algorithm. But because the difference (detuning) between adjacent Rydberg energy levels converges to 0 polynomially in $`1/N`$ (for $`N`$ labelling the energy levels) , both the laser pulses and the final measurements must be specified with exponentially increasing precision in $`n`$, the size of the problem . This should be contrasted with the standard model for quantum computation using poly-local transformations implemented by polynomially many bounded size gates on Hilbert spaces with a tensor product decomposition ;

The tensor factors need not be two dimensional, i.e., qubits. Higher dimensional factors have been considered in the context of error correction  and fault tolerance . But in every case the dimension is bounded and scaling to larger problems is achieved using polynomially many tensor factors. Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum have demonstrated single factor operations ; gate operations analogous to controlled-NOT on two Rydberg atoms would be required for such an atomic system to realize quantum computation. these require specification of only polynomially many nontrivial amplitudes with constant precision. As Bernstein & Vazirani  and Shor  already emphasized in their original analyses of quantum models for computing, all physical resources must be accounted for to quantify algorithm complexity; it is a mistake to ignore some because the requirements for them do not overwhelm small $`N`$ experiments.

Having identified an exponential cost associated with Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum’s realization  of Lloyd’s suggestion for entanglement removal , we are now ready to demonstrate that it is also a mistake to infer, as Lloyd’s presentation might lead one to , that quantum algorithms require entanglement—or an exponential amount of some resource replacing it—to improve on classical algorithms. Rather than Grover’s ‘naïve’ database, let us consider a ‘sophisticated’ database which when queried about a specific number, responds with information about how close the guess is to the answer. This kind of response is more like that returned by, for example, Web search engines, which typically order pages by relevance . A simple measure of relevance comes from the vector space model of information retrieval : the records in the database and the guess are represented by vectors; then (the cosine of) the angle between a guess and any record measures their similarity and can be computed from the dot product of their vectors. In our setting the ‘sophisticated’ database acts on a query $`(x,b)`$ by computing the dot product of the $`n`$-dimensional binary vectors $`xa`$ and adding it to $`b`$ (mod 2). Thus $`(x,b)(x,bg_a(x))`$, where $`g_a(x)=xa`$. Classically $`n`$ queries suffice to identify $`a`$ with probability 1.

Quantum mechanically, an underappreciated algorithm of Bernstein & Vazirani , rediscovered by Terhal & Smolin , searches this ‘sophisticated’ database with only a single quantum query.

It should be noted that the algorithm realized by Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum  is not Grover’s first  which requires $`O\left(\sqrt{N}\right)`$ queries, but rather, something like his second  which implements a single query on $`O\left(N\mathrm{log}N\right)`$ databases in parallel. This number of databases is required to achieve sufficient statistical power to identify the solution, and is reflected in the increasing number of times (commented on above) Ahn, Weinacht & Bucksbaum need to repeat their experiment to extract the answer as $`N`$ increases . This algorithm actually scales worse than the classical algorithm. The operation of the database is implemented by the unitary transformation ($`g_a`$-controlled-NOT) which takes $`|x,b`$ to $`|x,bg_a(x)`$. A quantum circuit for their algorithm (slightly improved ) is shown in Fig. 2. The first set of gates is the same as

Figure 2. A (schematic) quantum circuit implementing Bernstein & Vazirani’s algorithm. Each horizontal line again represents a qubit, which is initialized (on the left) in state $`|0`$. $`H`$ and $`X`$ are as in Fig. 1 and the “gate” acting on all $`n+1`$ qubits is the $`g_a`$-controlled-NOT transformation of the ‘sophisticated’ database. The top $`n`$ qubits are measured at the end of the circuit.  in Fig. 1, and takes $`\psi _0=|0\mathrm{}0,0`$ to $`\psi _1=_{x=0}^{N1}|x(|0|1)/\sqrt{2N}`$. After the database responds to this quantum query, the state is $`\psi _2=_{x=0}^{N1}(1)^{xa}|x(|0|1)/\sqrt{2N}`$. The final set of gates outputs $`\psi _3=|a\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|0|1)`$, whereupon measuring the first ($`n`$-qubit) register identifies $`a`$ with probability 1 (the output states for different $`a`$s are orthogonal). Comparing with Grover’s algorithm, we recognize that the last qubit still remains unentangled with the first register, so that we could again implement the latter with a single $`2^n`$ state particle and have no entanglement at any timestep. But this would be redundant: there is no entanglement in Bernstein & Vazirani’s algorithm. To see this, observe that just as in Grover’s algorithm there is no entanglement in $`\psi _0`$ or $`\psi _1`$, and there is none in $`\psi _3`$, since $`|a`$ is simply a tensor product of qubits each in state $`|0`$ or $`|1`$. But $`\psi _3`$ was obtained from $`\psi _2`$ by a unitary transformation acting on each of the $`n+1`$ qubits separately. Such a unitary transformation cannot change the entanglement of a state, so $`\psi _2`$ must also be unentangled.

To summarize: any quantum algorithm in the usual poly-local model for quantum computing can be rewritten to have no entanglement at any timestep, simply by disregarding the tensor product structure of the Hilbert space. Doing so physically incurs some exponential cost: in energy, in measurement precision, or in specification of the required unitary transformations. But one should not conclude that entanglement is required for quantum-over-classical complexity reduction. Without entanglement at any timestep, Bernstein & Vazirani’s quantum algorithm for ‘sophisticated’ database search does not just reduce the number of queries required classically by a square root factor, but all the way from $`n`$ to 1. Furthermore, we have shown for the first time that quantum interference alone suffices to reduce the query complexity of a problem within the standard model for quantum computation. Since implementing the $`g_a`$-controlled-NOT ‘gate’ with a subcircuit of local gates would introduce entanglement at intermediate timesteps, however, one might conclude that counting queries (or, more generally, nonlocal function calls) is a poor way to study the power of quantum algorithms . But it was Simon’s algorithm  (which exponentially reduces the number of nonlocal evaluations required to determine the period of a function) that led to Shor’s quantum factoring algorithm , so it seems more productive to understand quantum search of a ‘sophisticated’ database as demonstrating the importance of interference and orthogonality, rather than entanglement, in quantum algorithms. This perspective may contribute to discovering the new algorithms necessary for quantum computing to become more generally useful.

Acknowledgements

I thank Thad Brown, Mike Freedman, Raymond Laflamme, Melanie Quong, John Smolin and Nolan Wallach for useful discussions. This work has been partially supported by Microsoft Research and the National Security Agency (NSA) and Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) under Army Research Office (ARO) contract number DAAG55-98-1-0376.

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