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# 1 Introduction and Conclusion

## 1 Introduction and Conclusion

Recently there has been a great deal of interest in field theories on non-commutative spaces and their classical soliton solutions . Examples include instantons, monopoles, vortices, CP(n) solitons, as well as novel solitons which only exist in non-commutative theories . While most recent studies have focused on the characteristics of the solitonic field configurations themselves, there have also been several works investigating the low energy dynamics and, in particular, the moduli spaces of these solitons. A key point is that the moduli spaces are ordinary Riemann spaces; they feel the effect of the non-commutivity of the underlying spacetime only through changes to their metric.

For example, the moduli space of a single instanton in a $`U(n)`$ gauge theory on non-commutative $`R^4`$ or $`R^3\times S^1`$ has been identified by one of us (K.L.), together with P.Yi in Ref. . For a single instanton on $`R^3\times S^1`$ \- otherwise known as a caloron - simplifications occur when a Wilson line on the circle breaks the gauge group to the maximal torus. In this case, the asymptotic form of the moduli space may be derived by considering the dynamics of constituent monopoles from which the caloron is constructed . The resulting metric includes several parameters corresponding to the radius, $`R`$, of the $`S^1`$ factor, the value of the Wilson line, as well as the non-commutivity parameter itself. For all values of these parameters, the metric is hyperKähler and complete and, in analogy with monopoles, is believed to be exact. Moreover, the metric has a smooth limit in the decompactification limit $`R\mathrm{}`$. After separating the center-of-mass motion, the remaining $`4(N1)`$-dimensional metric is known as the Calabi metric: as expected of the non-commutative $`U(N)`$ instanton moduli space, it has a tri-holomorphic $`SU(N)`$ isometry, together with a non tri-holomorphic $`U(1)`$ isometry. For the case of $`N=2`$, the Calabi metric coincides with the Eguchi-Hanson metric, which arises as the blow-up of $`R^4/Z_2`$.

In this paper, we further explore the moduli spaces of instantons. We firstly consider two instantons in a non-commutative $`U(1)`$ gauge theory. In the ordinary, commutative limit, the instantons become singular and their moduli space is simply the space of two unordered points on $`R^4`$. After separating the center-of-mass motion, this leaves the relative moduli space $`R^4/Z_2`$. The effect of the non-commutative spacetime is to resolve this singularity and the metric on the relative moduli space of two $`U(1)`$ instantons is again expected to be Eguchi-Hanson111This point was also made recently in .. In the first part of this paper, we confirm this conclusion by performing an explicit hyperKähler quotient construction of the metric using the ADHM method. Note that in this case, the quotient is performed with a non-abelian group. We also find that there exists a unique threshold bound state of these two U(1) instantons, in context of $`N=4`$ supersymmetric five dimensional theory. When six dimensional (1,1) supersymmetric theory is compactified on a circle, a single instanton can be regarded as a mode of winding number one. The threshold state can be regarded as a mode of winding number two.

For two $`U(1)`$ non-commutative instantons on $`R^3\times S^1`$, we derive the asymptotic form of the metric and observe that it coincides with the $`U(1)`$ hyperKähler quotient of the relative eight dimensional moduli space for one massless and two massive monopoles in $`SO(5)`$ gauge theory, whose metric was found explicitly sometime ago by one of us (K.L) and C. Lu . In addition, both metrics become flat as the deformation parameter vanishes. We conjecture that this correspondence extends to the full metric.

We further describe how these metrics appear as the quantum corrected Coulomb branches of certain $`𝒩=4`$ three dimensional gauge theories. In particular, we show that the Coulomb branch of $`SU(N)`$ with a single massive adjoint hypermultiplet222After submitting this paper we were informed that this observation was previously made by Kapustin and Sethi . is given by the moduli space of $`N`$ $`U(1)`$ instantons on $`R^3\times S^1`$. The gauge coupling constant determines the radius $`R`$ of the $`S^1`$. Moreover, we describe the gauge theories yielding the moduli space of calorons for all simply-laced gauge groups and explain how these results tie in with known ideas of mirror symmetry in three dimensional gauge theories.

The plan of this paper is as follows. In Sec.2, we briefly review the ADHM formalism . In Sec.3, the moduli space metric of two $`U(1)`$ instantons on non-commutative $`R^4`$ is obtained explicitly by a hyperKähler quotient construction. In section 4 we discuss the moduli space of two non-commutative calorons. In section 5, we discuss the vacuum moduli spaces of three dimensional gauge theories and their relationship to the moduli spaces of various classical solitons.

## 2 The ADHM Formalism

The ADHM approach to instanton physics arises naturally as the effective field theory describing $`k`$ D0 branes near $`n`$ parallel D4 branes in type IIA string theory. The low energy dynamics of the D4 branes is described by a $`U(n)`$ gauge theory in 4+1 dimensions with 16 supercharges. The D0 branes appear as instantons within the D4 branes. The dynamics of D0 branes is given by quantum mechanics model with 8 supersymmetries which can be obtained from the dimensional reduction of $`N=1`$ supersymmetric 6 dimensional gauge theory with gauge group $`U(k)`$, one adjoint hypermultiplet and $`n`$ fundamental hypermultiplets. The D-terms describing the Higgs branch of the D0-brane theory coincide with the ADHM constraints and, after modding out by the $`U(k)`$ gauge symmetry, give a hyperKähler quotient description of the instanton moduli space. We denote the moduli space of $`k`$ $`U(n)`$ instantons as $`_{k,U(n)}`$.

When a uniform external NS-NS $`B_{\mu \nu }`$ field is present, with non-vanishing components of both indices along the longitudinal directions of the D4 branes, the field theoretic limit is the five dimensional gauge theory with the same gauge group and supersymmetry, but with the spatial $`R^4`$ becoming non-commutative,

$$[x^\mu ,x^\nu ]=i\theta ^{\mu \nu },$$
(1)
where $`\mu ,\nu =1,\mathrm{},4`$ and $`B_{\mu \nu }^1\theta _{\mu \nu }`$. When $`B_{\mu \nu }`$ has a self-dual part, the D0 branes (which appear as anti-self-dual instantons) cannot escape the D4-branes, a fact which is reflected in the disappearance of the singularities in the instanton moduli space. From the perspective of the D0-brane gauge theory, the self-dual part of $`B_{\mu \nu }`$ induces a FI parameter. This modifies the classical Higgs branch metric, blowing up its singularities. We consider the selfdual case where nonvanshing components of $`\theta ^{\mu \nu }`$ are

$$\theta ^{12}=\theta ^{34}=\frac{\zeta }{4}.$$
(2)
Defining,

$$y^0=x^4+ix^3,y^1=i(x^1ix^2),$$
(3)
we have the non-vanishing commutation relations,

$$[y^0,\overline{y}^0]=[y^1,\overline{y}^1]=\frac{\zeta }{2}.$$
(4)
The instanton moduli space, whether deformed by FI term or not, is a hyperKähler space and the metric has three complex structures and corresponding Kahler forms. The ADHM construction provides the standard method to find the metric and Kahler forms, both of which arise from the kinetic terms for the matter hypermultiplets in the $`U(k)`$ theory of the D0 brane world-volume theory. To find the moduli space of $`k`$ instantons in $`U(n)`$ gauge theory, we start from two $`k`$ dimensional complex square matrices $`B_0,B_1`$ and two $`n`$ by $`k`$ complex matrices $`I^{}`$ and $`J`$. They form $`4k^2+4kn`$ dimensional flat hyperKähler space $`_0`$ with the metric

$$ds^2=2\mathrm{tr}_k(dB_0_sdB_0^{}+dB_1_sdB_1^{}+dIdI^{}+dJ^{}dJ),$$
(5)
where $`_s`$ is the symmetic direct product. In this space, there exist three constant complex structures $`_s`$ with $`s=1,2,3`$ such that $`_r_s=\delta _{rs}1_{4k^2+4kn}+ϵ_{rst}_r`$, and the corresponding Kähler forms,

$`w_3=i\mathrm{tr}_k(dB_0dB_0^{}+dB_1dB_1^{}+dIdI^{}dJ^{}dJ),`$
$`w_1iw_2=2i\mathrm{tr}_k(dB_0dB_1+dIdJ).`$ (6)
(For the given metric $`ds^2=g_{ab}dx^adx^b`$ and the covariantly constant complex structure $`I_{(s)b}^a`$, one constructs the Kahler form $`w_s=\frac{1}{2}I_{(s)ab}dx^adx^b`$.)

There is a gauge group $`U(k)`$ on this space, under which $`B_0,B_1`$ belong to the adjoint representation and $`I,J^{}`$ to the fundamental representation. There are also three natural moment maps

$`\mu _r=[B_0,B_0^{}]+[B_1,B_1^{}]+II^{}J^{}J,`$
$`\mu _c=[B_0,B_1]+IJ,`$ (7)
which map from $`_0`$ to the coadjoint orbit of $`U(k)`$. The moduli space of instantons on commutative space is given by the hyperKähler quotient, $`_1=\{\mu _r^1(0)\mu _c^1(0)\}/U(k)`$. This moduli space of dimension $`4kn`$ is singular at some points where some of instantons shrink to zero size. The moduli space of instantons on non-commutative space is a deformation of this moduli space due to the parameter $`\zeta >0`$ and is defined by the hyperKähler quotient

$$_{k,U(n)}=\{\mu _r^1(\zeta 1_k)\mu _c^1(0)\}/U(k).$$
(8)
This space is no longer singular, reflecting the fact that instantons cannot shrink to zero size. The metric and complex structures on the instanton moduli space are naturally induced from the original metric (5) and complex structures (6) by the hyperKähler quotient process. This is the structure we are interested in.

For a given set of matrices $`B_0,B_1,I,J`$, one can define a (n+2k) by 2k matrix

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(x)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}I^{}& J\\ B_0^{}\overline{y}_0& B_1y_1\\ B_1^{}+\overline{y}_1& B_0y_0\end{array}\right).$$
(9)
The equations $`\mu _r=\zeta ,\mu _c=0`$ are identical to the ADHM constraint

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^{}\mathrm{\Delta }=f^1(x)1_2,$$
(10)
where $`f`$ is a nonsingular k dimensional square matrix. For each solution to the ADHM constraint, one can find $`n+2k`$ by $`n`$ matrix $`v`$ satisfying the equation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^{}v(x)=0,$$
(11)
together with the normalization condition

$$v^{}v=1_n.$$
(12)
The selfdual gauge field configuration is then

$$A=v^{}dv.$$
(13)
The gauge field and field strength appear as operators defined on the Hilbert space specified by creation operators and annihilation operators made of spatial coordinate. Even though their moduli space is a hyperKähler space without any singularity in the sense of the Riemann geometry, the gauge field strength, which is an operator on the Hilbert space, is still singular and needs some sort of projection, or a modification of the underlying background space. We feel this issue is not settled and needs further study .

## 3 Two Instantons on Non-Commutative $`R^4`$

For a single instanton of the $`U(N)`$ gauge theory, the moduli space on $`R^4`$ is made of the center of mass $`R^4`$, together with the $`4(N1)`$ dimensional Calabi metric which describes the scaling and gauge symmetry . The next most simple example is that of two identical $`U(1)`$ instantons on non-commutative $`R^4`$. To find their moduli space metric, we start with finding the ADHM data satisfying the ADHM constraint,

$$\mu _r=\zeta 1_k,\mu _c=0,$$
(14)
for two instantons in U(1) gauge theory. The general solution for this equation with two instantons is known in another context . The step behind this is rather simple. First, one takes the trace of these equation to get constraints on $`I,J`$, which are $`JI=0`$ and $`I^{}IJJ^{}=2\zeta `$. One may use the $`U(2)`$ gauge symmetry to set $`I^{}=(\alpha ,0)`$ and $`J=(0,\beta )`$. These two equations show that the only consistent solution has $`J=0`$. This now restores the $`U(2)`$ symmetry and it may be employed once more, this time to simultaneously triangularize $`B_0,B_1`$. Solving the equations with triangularized $`B_0,B_1`$ and $`I`$ yields the ADHM data with satisfies (14), given by $`J=0`$ and

$`B_0=w_01_2+{\displaystyle \frac{z_0}{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& \sqrt{\frac{2b}{a}}\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),`$ (17)
$`B_1=w_11_2+{\displaystyle \frac{z_1}{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& \sqrt{\frac{2b}{a}}\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),`$ (20)
$`I=\sqrt{\zeta }\left(\begin{array}{c}\sqrt{1b}\\ \sqrt{1+b}\end{array}\right),`$ (23)
where we have chosen $`I`$ to be real using the remaining gauge transformation, and where the dimensionless parameter is given by

$`a={\displaystyle \frac{|z_0|^2+|z_1|^2}{2\zeta }}0,`$
$`b={\displaystyle \frac{1}{a+\sqrt{1+a^2}}}1.`$ (24)
The parameters $`w_0,w_1`$ represent the center of the mass coordinate of two instantons, and the parameters $`z_0,z_1`$ represent the relative position between two instantons. They are the coordinates of the eight dimensional moduli space for two instantons.

There are couple of comments to be made before we proceed to calculate the metric on the moduli space. First, in the limit of large separation, or large $`a`$, the matrices $`B_0`$ and $`B_1`$ become diagonal. Their eigenvalues $`w_i\pm z_i/2`$ are the positions of the two instantons. Second, we have not exhausted the gauge degrees of freedom by choosing the above solution. Under an SU(2) transformation

$$U=i\left(\begin{array}{cc}b& \sqrt{2ab}\\ \sqrt{2ab}& b\end{array}\right),$$
(25)
the relative coordinates $`z_0,z_1`$ change their sign and the matrix $`I`$ is invariant. Thus the exchange of the two instanton positions is a part of the gauge transformation, by which we want to mod out. This is expected as two instantons are identical solitons and so their relative moduli space should be $`R^4/Z_2`$ in large separation. Third, in the limit $`a=0`$ where the two instantons overlap, the relative parts of $`B_0`$ and $`B_1`$ have non-vanishing upper right corner, and $`I`$ has a nonzero lower component. Thus, under $`U(2)`$ transformation

$$U=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\beta }& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),$$
(26)
the relative data space becomes $`(z_0/\sqrt{a},z_1/\sqrt{a})e^{i\beta }(z_0/\sqrt{a},z_1/\sqrt{a})`$. This $`U(1)`$ gauge group makes the data space a two space, $`S^3/U(1)=S^2`$ .

The tangent vectors for this ADHM data are a sum of the differentials with eight parameters and infinitesimal gauge transformation,

$`\delta B_0=dB_0i[\alpha ,B_0],`$
$`\delta B_1=dB_1i[\alpha ,B_1]`$
$`\delta I=dIi\alpha I,`$
$`\delta J^{}=dJ^{}i\alpha J^{},`$ (27)
where $`\alpha `$ is a hermitian two by two matrix and the differential $`d`$ acts on all eight parameters. The tangent vectors satisfy the linearized ADHM constraints automatically. In addition, they are also required to satisfy the linearized Gauss law,

$$[\delta B_0,B_0^{}][B_0,\delta B_0^{}]+[\delta B_1,B_1^{}][B_1,\delta B_1^{}]+\delta II^{}I\delta I^{}\delta J^{}J+J^{}\delta J=0.$$
(28)
These equations can be put together into

$$[\delta B_0,B_0^{}]+[\delta B_1,B_1^{}]+\delta II^{}=0,$$
(29)
which fixes the matrix $`\alpha `$ uniquely,

$$\alpha =\frac{ib}{2\sqrt{1+a^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\overline{}aa}{1b}& \frac{\sqrt{2}\overline{}a}{\sqrt{ba}}\\ \frac{\sqrt{2}a}{\sqrt{ba}}& \frac{\overline{}aa}{1+b}\end{array}\right),$$

where $`a=(a/z_i)dz_i`$ and $`\overline{}a=(a/\overline{z}_i)d\overline{z}_i`$.

Now it is straightforward to write the explicit expression for the tangent vector. It turns out $`\delta I=0`$ in our case and so the metric of the moduli space for two instantons is,

$$ds^2=2\mathrm{t}\mathrm{r}(\delta B_0\delta B_0^{}+\delta B_1\delta B_1^{}).$$
(30)
The metric naturally splits into to the center of mass part and the relative motion part:

$$ds^2=ds_{\mathrm{cm}}^2+ds_{\mathrm{rel}}^2,$$
(31)
where

$$ds_{\mathrm{cm}}^2=2dw_id\overline{w}_i,$$
(32)
and

$$ds_{\mathrm{rel}}=\frac{\sqrt{1+a^2}}{a}dz_id\overline{z}_i\frac{1}{a^2\sqrt{1+a^2}}\frac{1}{2\zeta }\overline{z}_idz_iz_jd\overline{z}_j.$$
(33)
Under the change of variables to radial and angular coordinates $`r,\theta ,\phi `$ and $`\psi `$,

$`z_0=r\mathrm{cos}{\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2}}\mathrm{exp}{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}(\psi +\phi ),`$
$`z_1=r\mathrm{sin}{\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2}}\mathrm{exp}{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}(\psi \phi ),`$ (34)
the relative metric becomes

$$ds_{\mathrm{rel}}^2=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+\frac{4\zeta ^2}{r^4}}}(dr^2+\frac{1}{4}r^2\sigma _z^2)+\frac{1}{4}\sqrt{1+\frac{4\zeta ^2}{r^4}}r^2(\sigma _x^2+\sigma _y^2),$$
(35)
where $`\sigma _i`$ are the standard left SU(2) invariant one forms

$`\sigma _x=\mathrm{sin}\psi d\theta +\mathrm{cos}\psi \mathrm{sin}\theta d\phi ,`$
$`\sigma _y=\mathrm{cos}\psi d\theta +\mathrm{sin}\psi \mathrm{sin}\theta d\phi ,`$
$`\sigma _z=d\psi +\mathrm{cos}\theta d\phi ,`$ (36)
which satisfy $`d\sigma _z=\sigma _x\sigma _y`$ and cyclic permutations thereof. For the angular variables on $`S^3/Z_2`$, the ranges are given by,

$$0\theta \pi ,\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}\phi 2\pi ,\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}\psi 2\pi ,$$
(37)
in contrast to the $`S^3`$ case for which $`0\psi 4\pi `$.

Near the origin $`r0`$, the relative metric in new radial variable $`\rho =r^2`$ becomes

$$ds_{\mathrm{rel}}\frac{1}{8\zeta }(d\rho ^2+\rho ^2d\psi ^2)+\frac{\zeta }{2}(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2),$$
(38)
which is the metric for $`R^2\times S^2`$. As the range of $`\psi `$ is $`[0,2\pi ]`$, this metric is nonsingular. Thus the metric is smooth in the limit where two instantons are coming together.

As the relative space is hyperKähler, there exist three complex structures and corresponding Kahler forms. These three Kähler forms becomes

$`w_3={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a}{\sqrt{1+a^2}}}rdr\sigma _z+{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{1+a^2}}{2a}}r^2\sigma _x\sigma _y\right),`$
$`w_1iw_2={\displaystyle \frac{r}{2}}(dr+ir{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _z}{2}})(\sigma _x+i\sigma _y).`$ (39)
The $`SU(2)`$ transformations which leave one-forms $`\sigma _x,\sigma _y,\sigma _z`$ invariant, leave the metric and the Kähler forms invariant and are thus a triholomorphic isometry. In addition the $`U(1)`$ rotation, $`\psi \psi +ϵ`$ leaves the metric and the Kahler form $`w_3`$ invariant. However, it does not leave $`w_1iw_2`$ invariant and so its action is not a triholomorphic isometry. This $`U(1)`$ symmetry is the surviving symmetry of the SO(3) symmetry which rotates the three FI parameters $`\stackrel{}{\zeta }`$.

This symmetry consideration suggests that one could have guessed the metric of two U(1) instantons on non-commutative space should be Eguchi-Hanson : the moduli space should be hyperKähler and the relative part should be four dimensional. Moreover, asymptotically the relative metric should be $`R^4/Z_2`$. The rotational symmetry O(4) of $`R^4`$ should be broken to $`SO(3)\times U(1)`$ due to the FI term $`\stackrel{}{\zeta }`$. In addition the $`SO(3)`$ symmetry should be triholomorphic and the $`U(1)`$ homomorphic. There is only one such hyperKähler space, which is of course the Eguchi-Hanson metric.

With the change of coordinates,

$$u^4=r^4+4\zeta ^2,$$
(40)
we get the standard form of the Eguchi-Hanson metric

$$ds^2=\frac{du^2}{1\frac{4\zeta ^2}{u^4}}+\frac{u^2}{4}\left(\sigma _x^2+\sigma _y^2+(1\frac{4\zeta ^2}{u^4})\sigma _z^2\right).$$
(41)
In the five dimensional $`𝒩=2`$ Yang-Mills theory, the low-energy dynamics of instantons inherits $`N=8`$ supercharges. The ground state of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics is then given by a normalizable, self-dual harmonic form on the moduli space . On the Eguchi-Hanson metric, there exists a unique form with these properties,

$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ $`=`$ $`d\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _z}{u^2}}\right)`$ (42)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{u^3}}(2du\sigma _z+u\sigma _x\sigma _y)`$
modulo a constant factor. Moreover, this form is invariant under $`SO(3)\times U(1)`$; it can be interpreted as a threshold bound state of two $`U(1)`$ instantons on noncommutative space. The existence of this bound state has been advocated before in Ref. . The instantons of the 16 supersymmetric five dimensional Yang-Mills theory are identified with the Kaluza-Klein momentum modes of the six dimensional (2,0) supersymmetric theory compactified on a circle. Thus the threshold bound state of two $`U(1)`$ instantons corresponds to the state of two KK momenta. (In the similar vein, this threshold bound state can be also interpreted as the single particle state for a single $`U(2)`$ instanton on the noncommutative space, corresponding to the state of the KK mode of the $`(2,0)`$ theory with $`U(2)`$ gauge group.)

## 4 Two Instantons on non-commutative $`R^3\times S^1`$

In general, instantons, or calorons, on $`R^3\times S^1`$ with nontrivial Wilson loop along the circle can be interpreted as a charge neutral composite of constituent BPS monopoles . This construction for general simply-laced gauge group will be reviewed in the following section. While this interpretation in terms of monopoles is true for non-commutative $`U(n)`$ gauge theory with $`n2`$, there is a subtlety in the $`U(1)`$ gauge theory : rather than a magnetic monopole, the caloron now appears as a magnetic dipole. This is most simply seen in the T-dual version of the D0-D4 system, in which calorons appear as D-strings wrapping the dual circle, ending on D3-branes. In the presence of a background NS-NS $`B`$-field, the BPS D-string is no longer perpendicular to the D3-branes, but is tilted . The string therefore spirals around the circle and its two ends lie at different points on the D3-brane, where it appears as a dipole.

More specifically, let us compactify the $`x^4`$ direction with radius $`R`$; $`0x^42\pi R`$. The non-commutative ADHM equations then reduce to the non-commutative Nahm equation,

$$\frac{dT^i}{dt}i[T_4,Ti]=\frac{i}{2}ϵ_{ijk}[T^j,T^k]+\delta _{i3}\frac{\zeta }{2}+\mathrm{tr}_2(\tau _iaa^{})\delta (tv)$$
(43)
with $`t`$ in the interval $`[1/(2R),1/(2R)]`$. For a single caloron, the function $`T_i(t)`$ is the position of the D string, and $`T_3(t)`$ increases linearly in $`t`$ with slope $`\zeta /2`$. The end points where this D string meets D3 branes appear as the positive and negative monopoles, now with a finite separation of $`\zeta /2R`$ along the $`x^3`$ direction. Thus, a single caloron appears as a magnetic dipole. Now let us consider the dynamics of two dipoles: we denote the relative position between two positive charge as $`𝐫`$. This, of course, is identical to that between two negative charges. The relative positions between positive and negative charges are then $`𝐫\pm (\zeta /2R)\widehat{𝐳}`$. While it is not obvious how to get the asymptotic form of the metric for large separation of monopoles in the gauge theory on non-commutative space, let us calculate the asymptotic metric in most naive way. The asymptotic form of the metric is then determined just by their charge. From the T-dualized D3-D1 brane picture, the identical charges have magnetic repulsion and Higgs attraction, while the opposite charges with D1 strings coming out from D3 branes oppositely, have magnetic attraction and Higgs repulsion.

Thus, the metric in large separation obtained by the standard technique  becomes

$$ds^2=R\left(U(𝐫)d𝐫^2+U^1(𝐫)(d\psi +𝐖(𝐫)d𝐫)^2\right),$$
(44)
where

$$U(𝐫)=\frac{1}{R}\frac{2}{|𝐫|}+\frac{1}{|𝐫+(\zeta /2R)\widehat{𝐳}|}+\frac{1}{|𝐫(\zeta /2R)\widehat{𝐳}|}$$
(45)
up to overall constant.

A metric whose asymptotic form is identical to that of Eq.(44) has appeared previously in the discussion of the relative moduli space of one massless and two massive monopoles in SO(5) gauge theory, which is spontaneously broken to $`U(1)\times SO(3)`$ . The net magnetic charge is purely abelian and the relative moduli space is eight dimensional. One can take the hyperKähler quotient of this eight dimensional metric with the unbroken $`U(1)`$ triholomorphic gauge symmetry of unbroken $`SO(3)`$ to get a four dimensional metric. Physically one may think of this as holding the position of the massless monopole fixed relative to the center of mass. This four dimensional metric, found by one of us (K.L) and Lu, has the same asymptotic form as Eq. (44). We therefore conjecture that the full metric coincides with the relative moduli space of two U(1) calorons on non-commutative $`R^3\times S^1`$.

There are several pieces of evidence for this conjecture. Firstly, notice that both metrics become flat in the zero deformation parameter limit, which at least shows that our conjecture is consistent. Secondly, as shown in Ref. , the monopole moduli space of $`SO(5)`$ theory originates from that of two massive and two massless monopoles in $`SU(4)`$ gauge theory, whose symmetry is broken to $`SU(2)\times U(1)\times SU(2)`$. The identification of two massless monopoles in the $`SU(4)`$ case leads to the $`SO(5)`$ case. Thus one can get a two parameter family of four dimensional Hyperkähler spaces by independently holding fixed the two massless monopoles of the $`SU(4)`$ theory . For example, when one of the parameters is sent to infinity, one naturally gets Dancer’s metric , which describes two massive and one massless monopoles in $`SU(3)SU(2)\times U(1)`$. When the remaining parameter is sent to zero, this reduces to the double cover of the Atiyah-Hitchin. In contrast, when the two parameters coincide and are nonzero, one gets the four dimensional Lee-Lu metric that is of interest here.

The above discussion has a parallel in terms of three dimensional gauge theories. As Seiberg and Witten  have observed, the $`N=4`$ supersymmetric three dimensional gauge theory with $`SU(2)`$ gauge group and one massive fundamental hypermultiplet has a quantum corrected Coulomb branch given by the Dancer metric. The case of interest here however is that of two, identified, fundamental hypermultiplets or, equivalently, a single hypermultiplet in the symmetric representation. For $`SU(2)`$, this is equivalent to a single massive adjoint hypermultiplet. As will be discussed in the following section, the Coulomb branch of this theory indeed coincides with the moduli space of two $`U(1)`$ non-commutative calorons. Related studies ALF spaces with the blow up of ADE singularities with the asymptotic space $`R^3\times S^1/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the subgroup of $`SU(2)`$ can be found in .

One of the interesting questions is how many threshold bound states two U(1) calorons have. In the $`R^4`$ limit, there exists one as discussed in the previous section. It remains to be understood whether there are additional bound states which disappear in $`R^4`$ limit.

## 5 Calorons, Instantons and Three Dimensional Gauge Theories

We now turn to the construction of the moduli spaces of calorons and instantons as the quantum corrected Coulomb branch of three dimensional gauge theories. We will derive the gauge theories whose Coulomb branches yield the moduli space of calorons in $`A`$,$`D`$ and $`E`$ gauge groups. We will further show that in the case of $`A`$ gauge groups only, there exists a mass parameter which deforms the Coulomb branch into the moduli space of non-commutative calorons. The limit in which the caloron moduli space becomes the instanton moduli space is shown to be the strong coupling limit of the gauge theory.

Let us start by recalling a few facts about instantons on ordinary (commutative) $`R^3\times S^1`$. Specifically, we restrict attention to calorons in a simply-laced gauge group $`H`$ which is broken to the maximal torus by a Wilson line around $`S^1`$. It was shown in  that the resulting configurations are constructed of fundamental magnetic monopoles associated to the nodes of the extended Dynkin diagram of $`H`$. To each of the nodes of the Dynkin diagram, there is an associated root $`\stackrel{}{\beta }_i`$, $`i=0,\mathrm{},r=\mathrm{rank}(H)`$. For $`i=1,\mathrm{},r`$, these are the simple roots of $`H`$, while the lowest root of $`H`$, $`\stackrel{}{\beta }_0`$, is associated with the extended node. The topological charges of the caloron, which include both magnetic charge and Pontyagrin number, are determined by the choice of the number of monopoles of each type: these numbers are denoted by $`n_i>0`$, $`i=0,\mathrm{},r`$. In particular, the configurations which become the $`k`$-instanton solution in the decompactified $`R^4`$ limit are given by $`n_i=kd_i`$, where $`d_i`$ are the Dynkin indices of $`H`$ 333Recall that for $`A_r`$, $`d_i=1`$ for all $`i`$, for $`D_r`$, $`d_i=1`$ for $`i=0,1,r1,r`$ and $`d_i=2`$ for $`i=2,\mathrm{},r2`$. Finally, for $`E_6`$, $`d_i=1,1,1,2,2,2,3`$, for $`E_7`$, $`d_i=1,1,2,2,2,3,3,4`$ and for $`E_8`$, $`d_i=1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,6`$..

The three dimensional gauge theory which will reproduce the moduli space of calorons has $`𝒩=4`$ supersymmetry (8 supercharges). The gauge group $`𝒢`$ and and the hypermultiplet matter content is determined by a quiver diagram based on the extended Dynkin diagram of $`H`$,

$$𝒢=\underset{i=0}{\overset{r}{}}U(n_i).$$

The gauge coupling constant of the $`U(n_i)`$ factor is $`e_i`$. Whenever there exists a line joining the $`i^{\mathrm{th}}`$ and $`j^{\mathrm{th}}`$ node (i.e. whenever $`\stackrel{}{\beta }_i\stackrel{}{\beta }_j0`$ for $`ij`$), the three-dimensional gauge theory also includes a hypermultiplet transforming in the $`(𝐧_i,\overline{𝐧}_j)`$ bi-fundamental representation of $`U(n_i)\times U(n_j)𝒢`$.

For the case in which $`n_i=d_i`$, where $`d_i`$ are the Dynkin indices of $`H`$, the gauge theory above coincides with the Kronheimer gauge group which has been discussed in the context of mirror symmetry in three dimensional gauge theories in . For the case in which $`n_i=kd_i`$ for $`k>1`$, the gauge theory is very similar to those discussed in . We will comment on this at the end of this section. Further discussion on the relationship between caloron moduli spaces and the vacuum moduli spaces of gauge theories can be found in .

We are interested in computing the low-energy dynamics on the Coulomb branch of the theory. In such vacua the vacuum expectation values (VEVs) of the hypermultiplet scalars are set to zero, while the triplet of scalars, $`\mathit{\varphi }`$, that live in the vector multiplet acquire a VEV which, generically, breaks the gauge group $`𝒢`$ to its maximal torus. We assume such symmetry breaking does indeed occur. The massless fields on the Coulomb branch thus consist of $`3N`$ real scalars, $`\mathit{\varphi }^a`$, $`a=1,\mathrm{},N`$ and $`N`$ photons, where $`N=_{i=0}^rn_i`$. Dualising the photons into $`N`$ periodic scalars, $`\sigma ^a`$, which we take to have period $`2\pi `$, we are left with a sigma-model with a $`4N`$ dimensional target space. Supersymmetry requires the metric on this space to be hyperKähler. Although classically flat, this metric receives one-loop corrections, as well as non-perturbative corrections due to various instanton effects. While the latter are generally difficult to calculate, the former result in a toric hyperKähler metric given by,

$$ds^2=g_{ab}d\mathit{\varphi }^ad\mathit{\varphi }^b+(g^1)^{ab}\left(d\sigma _a+𝐖_{ac}d\mathit{\varphi }^c\right)\left(d\sigma _b+𝐖_{bd}d\mathit{\varphi }^d\right)$$
(46)
with

$`g_{aa}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{e}_a^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{ba}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b|}},`$
$`g_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b|}}(ab),`$
where $`\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a=\stackrel{}{\beta }_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{e}_a=e_i`$ if the corresponding massless fields $`\mathit{\varphi }^a`$ and $`\sigma ^a`$ arise from the $`U(n_i)`$ factor of the gauge group. Finally, $`\mathbf{}\times 𝐖_{ab}=\mathbf{}g_{ab}`$. When $`n_i=1`$ for all $`i`$, the metric is complete and exact. For $`n_i2`$, the metric has singularities which are resolved by instanton corrections. In this case, the resulting metric is no longer of the toric form (46) and, in particular, the tri-holomorphic isometries arising from constant shifts in $`\sigma ^a`$ are broken by the instanton corrections.

For the special case $`n_0=0`$, the gauge group $`𝒢`$ is based on the non-affine Dynkin diagram and the above metric coincides with the asymptotic metric on the moduli space of monopoles of gauge group $`H`$, with magnetic charge $`\stackrel{}{g}=_{i=1}^rn_i\stackrel{}{\beta }_i`$ . The generalisation of this result is that for $`n_00`$, Eq. (46) agrees with the asymptotic metric on the moduli space of calorons. For gauge theories built on $`A_r`$ Dynkin diagrams, this fact was pointed out some time ago . The gauge coupling constants are related to the masses of the monopoles which, in turn, are determined by the VEV of the Wilson line, together with the radius, R, of the $`S^1`$. In particular, we have

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi R}}={\displaystyle \underset{i=0}{\overset{r}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_i}{e_i^2}}.`$ (47)
(Here the dimension of both sides is matched by a reference scale needed for comparing two scales of the equation.) One may ask whether there is any natural deformation of the Coulomb branch metric (46) within the context of the three dimensional gauge theory. Such deformations arise through mass terms for the hypermultiplets and, as we shall see, lead to moduli spaces of calorons on non-commutative spaces. This observation has been previously made in . It is simple to see that for the $`D`$ and $`E`$ Dynkin diagrams, all such mass terms may be absorbed through shifts of the vector multiplet scalars $`\mathit{\varphi }`$. This appears to tie in with the fact that there is no known non-commutative version of $`SO(2r)`$ and $`E_r`$ gauge theories. Similarly, for $`A_r`$ Dynkin diagrams, no such mass term is allowed if, say, $`n_0=0`$. Again, this dove-tails nicely with the fact that the monopole moduli space remains unchanged in the non-commutative theory. However, if $`n_i0`$ for all $`i=0,\mathrm{},r`$, then we may use the freedom to shift $`\mathit{\varphi }`$ to ensure that all but one of the bi-fundamental hypermultiplets has zero mass. This final hypermultiplet which, for $`r2`$, we may choose to be the one transforming in the $`(𝐧_0,\overline{𝐧}_1)`$ representation, has a triplet of mass parameters $`𝐦`$. The Coulomb branch metric for $`r2`$ is then given by (46), with

$`g_{aa}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{e}_a^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{ba}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b+𝐦_{ab}|}},`$
$`g_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b+𝐦_{ab}|}}(ab),`$
with

$`𝐦_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`+𝐦\mathrm{if}\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a=\stackrel{}{\beta }_0\mathrm{and}\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b=\stackrel{}{\beta }_1,`$
$`𝐦_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`𝐦\mathrm{if}\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a=\stackrel{}{\beta }_1\mathrm{and}\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b=\stackrel{}{\beta }_0,`$
$`𝐦_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`0\mathrm{otherwise}.`$
This is the asymptotic metric on the moduli space of non-commutative calorons. Note that for the case of $`r=1`$ ($`SU(2)`$), the metric does not take the above form: there are now two hypermultiplets in the $`(𝐧_0,\overline{𝐧}_1)`$ representation, of which one is massless and one is of mass $`𝐦`$. The corresponding metric is given by,

$`g_{aa}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{e}_a^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{ba}{}}\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b+𝐦_{ab}|}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b|}}\right),`$
$`g_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{\alpha }_a\stackrel{}{\alpha }_b\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b+𝐦_{ab}|}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b|}}\right)(ab)`$
with $`𝐦_{ab}`$ given as above.

We now turn to the main focus of this paper: non-commutative calorons in the $`U(1)`$ gauge theory. Note that, while the above construction was for calorons in gauge group $`U(r+1)`$ for $`r1`$, it may be extended to the $`r=0`$ case. The gauge theory describing $`N`$ $`U(1)`$ calorons is a $`U(N)`$ gauge group with a single adjoint hypermultiplet of mass $`𝐦`$. The perturbative metric is this time given by,

$`g_{aa}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{e}^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{b>a}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b|}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b+𝐦|}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b𝐦|}}\right),`$
$`g_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b|}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\mathit{\varphi }^a\mathit{\varphi }^b+𝐦|}}\right)(ab).`$ (48)
The metric has a single $`U(1)`$ isometry which rotates $`\mathit{\varphi }`$ fixing $`𝐦`$. The isometry is holomorphic with respect to a preferred complex structure. Note that the tri-holomorphic $`U(1)`$ isometry of the perturbative metric that results from shifts of $`\sigma `$ is broken by instanton effects. For $`N=2`$, one may factor out the center-of-mass to find the metric (44) with the appropriate normalization of the coefficients and the identification $`𝐦(0,0,\zeta /2R)`$.

It is interesting to examine various limits of the above metric. For instance, as $`𝐦\mathrm{}`$, with $`e^2`$ held fixed, the $`U(1)`$ holomorphic isometry is enhanced to an $`SU(2)`$ isometry which rotates the three complex structures. In this limit, the metric becomes the moduli space of $`N`$ monopoles in $`SU(2)`$ gauge group which, for $`N=2`$ is the Atiyah-Hitchin manifold. This is the limit where two plus heads of two dipoles are close to each other and separated far from two negative heads of two dipoles, and so the moduli space becomes that of two indentical monopoles. In general, in the limit of large non-commutivity, the moduli space of $`N`$ non-commutative $`U(k)`$ calorons can take several different form. In the above metric (48) in the infinite $`𝐦`$ limit becomes the moduli space of $`(N,N,\mathrm{},N)`$ $`SU(k+1)`$ monopoles. This is the limit where dipoles are arranged so that one group negative heads of $`U(1)`$ charge is close to another group of positive heads of the same charge. One could take another limit where all positive heads are together. In this case the positive heads of different $`U(1)`$ would not interact and so one ends of $`k`$ copies of the $`N`$ moduli space of $`SU(2)`$ monopoles.

A less well understood limit is $`e^2\mathrm{}`$. In this regime, the non-perturbative instanton corrections are no longer sub-leading and we have little control over the metric. Nevertheless, using equation (47), we see that this is the decompactification limit in which the Coulomb branch becomes the moduli space of $`N`$ $`U(1)`$ instantons. From the results of section 3, we therefore find the result that the Coulomb branch of $`SU(2)`$ with a single massive adjoint hypermultiplet becomes Eguchi-Hanson in the strong coupling limit. It would be interesting re-derive this result using purely field theory methods. In particular, in this limit the metric develops an enhanced $`SU(2)`$ tri-holomorphic isometry. Such symmetry enhancement, while not at all uncommon , remains poorly understood from field theoretic considerations. It may be worth noting however that usually the symmetry group is enhanced from abelian factors to a non-abelian group of the same rank. In the present case, there is no tri-holomorphic isometry of the Coulomb branch metric for finite coupling constant.

Finally, let us discuss the caloron decompactification limit, $`R\mathrm{}`$, for general simply-laced gauge group $`H`$. As explained in , this leads to a finite action instanton solution of charge $`k`$ precisely if the magnetic charges are chosen such that $`n_i=kd_i`$. Using (47), the decompactification limit of the caloron moduli space coincides with the strong coupling limit of the three dimensional gauge theory, $`e_i\mathrm{}`$. In fact, the strong coupling limit of gauge theories very similar to these have been arisen previously in the study of mirror symmetry . In particular, the authors of  discuss the $`k=1`$ case. However, we find a subtle disagreement with the $`k2`$ generalisation discussed in , the resolution of which leads to a intriguing new prediction for the strong coupling dynamics of the gauge theory. Let us firstly restrict attention once more to the $`A_r`$ gauge groups. We will make a few comments on the $`D`$ and $`E`$ cases at the end. The general mirror pairs discussed in  are

Theory A: $`U(k)`$ gauge group with a $`N`$ fundamental hypermultiplets and a single adjoint hypermultiplet. There is a Fayet-Iliopoulos parameter (FI) $`\zeta `$, an adjoint mass parameter $`M`$ and fundamental mass parameters $`m_i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$, where we may choose $`_{i=1}^Nm_i=0`$. The gauge coupling constant is $`e`$.
Theory B: $`_{i=1}^NU(k_i)`$ gauge group where $`k_i=k`$ for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$. There is a bi-fundamental hypermultiplet in each $`(\overline{k}_i,k_{i+1})`$ representation for $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$ 444we set $`k_{N+1}=k_1`$. The gauge group $`U(k_1)`$ has a further fundamental hypermultiplet transforming in $`k_1`$. There is a single mass parameter $`\stackrel{~}{m}`$ for this additional hypermultiplet transforming in the $`(\overline{k}_N,k_1)`$ representation, while all remaining hypermultiplets have no mass parameters. There are also $`N`$ FI parameters, $`\stackrel{~}{\zeta }_i`$. The gauge coupling constants are $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$.

Note that Theory B is very similar to the theory that we introduced whose Coulomb branch coincides with the caloron moduli space if one chooses $`n_i=k_i=k`$. The two theories differ however by the presence of the fundamental hypermultiplet in Theory B. The Higgs branches of Theory A and Theory B, which arise as hyperkahler quotients, are both known in the mathematics literature. They exist fully only when $`M=m_i=\stackrel{~}{m}=0`$, so let us concentrate on the theories with this restriction. Firstly, as discussed in section 2, the Higgs branch of Theory A is the moduli space of $`k`$ instantons in a $`U(N)`$ gauge theory, $`_{k,U(N)}`$. Turning on the FI parameter $`\zeta `$ deforms this space to the moduli space of instantons in a non-commutative gauge theory.

In contrast, the Higgs branch of Theory B is the Hilbert scheme of $`k`$ points in the $`A_{N1}`$ ALE space. We denote this by $`Hilb^k(A_{N1})`$. This space is the smooth resolution of the symmetric product $`S^k(A_{N1})=A_{N1}^k/S_k`$. The differences in the FI parameters, $`\stackrel{~}{\zeta }_i\stackrel{~}{\zeta }_{i+1}`$, determine the size of the two-spheres which sit inside the blown-up $`A_{N1}`$ ALE. The sum of the FI parameters, $`_i\stackrel{~}{\zeta }_i`$ determines the blow-up of the quotient singularities.

To summarise,

$$\mathrm{Higgs}_A=_{k,U(N)},\mathrm{Higgs}_B=Hilb^k(A_{N1}).$$

The statement of mirror symmetry in these theories is that in the infra-red limit $`e\mathrm{}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i\mathrm{}`$, the Coulomb branches are also given by these spaces,

$`\mathrm{Coulomb}_A`$ $`=`$ $`Hilb^k(A_{N1}),`$ (49)
$`\mathrm{Coulomb}_B`$ $`=`$ $`_{k,U(N)},`$ (50)
where the mirror map between parameters is given by,

$$M=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\stackrel{~}{\zeta }_i,\zeta =\stackrel{~}{m},m_i=\stackrel{~}{\zeta }_iM/N.$$

Note in particular for $`N=1`$, the theory is self-mirror and the above statement reduces to $`_{k,U(1)}=Hilb^k(𝐑^4)`$

While much evidence was presented in  for the first of these claims (49), much less is known about the latter (50). In particular, explicit comparisons of the metrics are hard to perform as instanton corrections are no longer sub-leading in the strong coupling limit. Nevertheless, if we accept the mirror symmetry proposal of , we are left with a situation in which both Theory B and the caloron theory introduced at the beginning of this chapter both yield the instanton moduli space in the strong coupling limit. While it is obvious that at finite $`e_i`$, the two Coulomb branches differ, it appears that the presence of the additional fundamental hypermultiplet of Theory B plays no role in the strong coupling dynamics. While such statements are known to be true for abelian theories (see for example ), the correspondence here requires remarkable cancellations between the instanton expansion of the two theories.

In fact, evidence for this correspondence arises from the brane construction of these models . One can consider Theory A as the world-volume dynamics of $`k`$ D3-branes in directions 0126 with the $`x^6`$ direction compactified. There is a single NS5-brane in the 012345 direction and $`N`$ D5-branes in the 012789 directions. As usual, performing an S-duality results in Theory B. However, one could just as easily construct Theory A without the NS5-brane. S-duality then yields the caloron theory introduced at the beginning of this section. While the field content is unchanged, the removal of the NS5-brane does remove certain parameters. In Theory A, the adjoint mass parameter is not available once the NS5-brane is removed. From the mirror map, the sum of FI paramters of Theory B is unavailable in the dual picture.

While the above discussion was for the $`A_r`$ group of theories, a similar discussion holds for the $`D_r`$ group. For the $`E_r`$ series, the mirror theory (i.e the equivalent of Theory A) has no known Lagrangian description and the point is moot.

Finally we comment that in abelian theories, the possibility of adding a hypermultiplet without changing the strong coupling dynamics has been used in  to give an elegant formalism of mirror symmetry in these theories. It would be intriguing if the observation here would yield a similar construction for non-abelian theories.

### Acknowledgements

We would like to thank M. Aganagic, A. Hanany, K. Hori, A. Karch and P. Yi for useful discussions. K.L. is supported in part by KOSEF 1998 Interdisciplinary Research Grant 98-07-02-07-01-5. D.T. would like to thank KIAS for hospitality while this work was initiated, and CTP, MIT for hospitality while it was completed. D.T. is supported by an EPSRC fellowship. S.Y. is supported in part by the BK21 project of Education Ministry.


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# On the local structure of the Klein-Gordon field on curved spacetimes

## 1 Introduction

Since the canonical quantization procedure of fields requires a ”frequency splitting” with respect to the time, the absence of a timelike symmetry group in general curved spacetimes causes severe problems (see ) in the construction of quantum fields. The nature of these problems becomes particularly clear in the algebraic formulation of quantum field theory (), where an algebra of observables $`𝒜(𝒪)`$ is associated to each region $`𝒪`$ in spacetime. Specializing to the Klein-Gordon field the local $`C^{}`$-algebras $`𝒜(𝒪)`$ can be constructed in a similar manner as in Minkowski spacetime (see ) and the problem reduces to finding the class of physical states. This is usually achieved by choosing a physically preferred state, the vacuum. The construction then gives a net of local von Neumann algebras the normal states being the physical ones. We favour the $`C^{}`$-algebraic approach since our result is most easily stated using the local von Neumann algebras. It is also common to use $``$-algebras or the Borchers-Uhlmann-algebra of test functions () to define Quantum fields on curved spacetimes (e.g. ). One may pass from these approaches to the $`C^{}`$-algebraic in the same manner as in Minkowski spacetime.
For Wightman-fields in Minkowski spacetime it is known that the field algebra of a timelike tube is equal to the field algebra of the causal completion of this tube (). This may be derived (see ) from a mean value theorem by Asgeirsson () and one of its consequences, namely that a solution to the wave equation vanishing in such a tube, vanishes in the causal completion of this tube (see ). As far as more general spacetimes are concerned the author showed recently that a similar result holds for stationary spacetimes and quite general free fields (). Namely the field algebra associated with a non-void open set which is invariant under the time translation is equal to the quasilocal algebra. This result was used there to prove the Reeh-Schlieder property of vacuum-like states. The question arises whether such a result holds for more general spacetimes. As we will see this question is strongly related to the timelike Cauchy problem for second order hyperbolic partial differential equations. In the case of analytic coefficients on an analytic manifold Holmgrens’ uniqueness theorem (see e.g. ) states that there is unique continuation of solutions across any non-characteristic hypersurface. Relaxing however the condition of analyticity, counterexamples show that the Cauchy problem for timelike surfaces is ill posed in the general case of partial differential equations with smooth coefficients (see e.g.  and references therein). Even for the wave operator $`\mathrm{}=\frac{^2}{t^2}\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in Minkowski spacetime it is known (see ) that there exists a smooth function $`u`$ such that there is a solution $`\varphi `$ to the equation

$$\mathrm{}\varphi +u\varphi =0$$

which has support equal to a half-space with timelike boundary. It was quite recently shown by Tataru in  and further generalized by Hörmander in  (see also ) that under partial analyticity assumptions one still has unique continuation of solutions across non-characteristic surfaces. We give some global consequences of these unique continuation results. After defining an envelope of uniqueness $`(𝒪)`$ of an open subset $`𝒪`$ of the spacetime we show that a solution to a wave equation vanishing in $`𝒪`$ vanishes in $`(𝒪)`$. This envelope may be considerably larger than the original set and in particular in the case of small open neighbourhoods of inextendible timelike curves the envelope may coincide with the whole space. We investigate the consequences of these results for the real scalar field on curved spacetimes and show that the field algebra associated with the open set coincides with the field algebra associated with its envelope. The class of spacetimes considered here includes a large variety of physically relevant spacetimes, like cosmologically interesting Robertson-Walker spacetimes. We give an example of how the algebras associated with timelike curves can be explicitly given in curved spacetimes.

## 2 Causal structure of spacetimes

In the next two subsections we review the most important definitions and results about the causal structure of spacetimes. Details can be found in ,  and references therein. In the last two subsections we define what we mean by the “envelope” of an open set. To do this we need to introduce the space of timelike curve-segments endowed with an appropriate topology.

### 2.1 Spacetimes and Causality

We assume we are given a smooth connected manifold $`M`$ (Hausdorff and second countable) of dimension $`n2`$ with a smooth metric $`g`$ of Lorentzian signature. We assume in addition that $`M`$ is oriented and time-oriented. In this case we say that $`M`$ is a spacetime. For a subset $`𝒮`$ we define the chronological future/past $`I^\pm (𝒮)`$ of $`𝒮`$ to be the set of points in $`M`$ that can be reached by future/past directed timelike curves 111by curves we always mean maps from open intervals in $``$ into $`M`$.. We define the future/past domain of dependence $`D^\pm (𝒮)`$ of a subset $`𝒮M`$ as the set of points $`p`$ in $`M`$ such that every past/future inextendible causal curve through p intersects $`𝒮`$. The domain of dependence $`D(𝒮)`$ is the union $`D^+(𝒮)D^{}(𝒮)`$ (see  for a review). The causal complement $`𝒪^{}`$ of an open set $`𝒪`$ is the set of points which cannot be reached by causal curves from $`𝒪`$. The causal completion of $`𝒪`$ is $`𝒪^{}`$.

### 2.2 Globally hyperbolic manifolds

A set $`𝒮`$ is called achronal if every timelike curve intersects $`𝒮`$ at most once. A spacelike hypersurface $`𝒞`$ is called Cauchy surface if it is achronal and $`D(𝒞)=M`$. In case there exists a Cauchy surface the manifold $`M`$ is said to be globally hyperbolic. An open subset $`𝒪M`$ is said to be globally hyperbolic if $`(𝒪,g|_𝒪)`$ is globally hyperbolic as a spacetime in its own right. Note that for an achronal set $`𝒮`$ the open set $`\text{int}(D(𝒮))`$ (if non-empty) is globally hyperbolic.

### 2.3 Space of timelike curve-segments

We define curve-segments to be maps from compact intervals in $``$ into $`M`$ which are restrictions of curves defined on a larger interval. We say a curve-segment is timelike if it is the restriction of a timelike curve. For two points $`p,qM`$ let $`C(p,q)`$ the set of all smooth timelike curve-segments $`\gamma :[0,1]M`$ with $`\gamma (0)=p`$ and $`\gamma (1)=q`$. These sets are commonly used to investigate properties of globally hyperbolic spacetimes (see e.g. ). Curve-segments in different parametrizations are identified. We introduce on $`C(p,q)`$ a $`C^1`$-topology in the following way: First we endow $`M`$ and $`TM`$ with complete Riemannian metrics. We parameterize all curve-segments proportionally to their arc-length in the metric on $`M`$. The derivation of a curve-segment $`\gamma `$ with respect to this parameter gives a curve-segment $`\dot{\gamma }`$ in $`TM`$. We now define a metric on $`C(p,q)`$ in the following way

$$d(\gamma _1,\gamma _2)=\underset{t[0,1]}{sup}\text{dist}(\dot{\gamma }_1(t),\dot{\gamma }_2(t)),$$
(1)
where $`\text{dist}(x,y)`$ denotes the Riemannian distance between the points $`x`$ and $`y`$ in $`TM`$. One checks that the corresponding topology is independent of the Riemannian metrics chosen on $`M`$ and $`TM`$.
Given a smooth timelike curve-segment $`\gamma `$ joining $`p`$ and $`q`$ we denote by $`C_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ the connected component of $`\gamma `$ in $`C(p,q)`$. We define the two sets

$`I(p,q):={\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{~}{\gamma }C(p,q)}{}}\stackrel{~}{\gamma }((0,1)),`$ (2)
$`I_0(p,q,\gamma ):={\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{~}{\gamma }C_0(p,q,\gamma )}{}}\stackrel{~}{\gamma }((0,1)),`$ (3)
i.e. the set of points which are met by the curves $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }|_{(0,1)}`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ in $`C(p,q)`$ or $`C_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ respectively. One has the following properties

###### Proposition 2.1.

1. $`I(p,q)`$ coincides with $`I^+(q)I^{}(p)`$ in case $`p`$ is in the future of $`q`$.
2. $`I(p,q)`$ and $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ are open subsets of $`M`$.
3. $`I(p,q)`$ and $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ are invariant under conformal transformations of the metric.

Sketch of Proof. The definitions of $`I(p,q)`$ and $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ depend only on the causal structure of the spacetime. Therefore, the sets are invariant under conformal transformations of the metric. The fact that $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ and $`I(p,q)`$ are open follows from the causality properties of the tangent space and the properties of the exponential map (see in particular , Lemma 33). If $`p`$ is in the future of $`q`$ and $`xI^+(q)I^{}(p)`$ then one can again use the exponential map $`\text{exp}_x:T_xM𝒪M`$ to construct a smooth timelike curve through $`x`$ joining $`p`$ and $`q`$. $`\mathrm{}`$
In Minkowski space $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ and $`I(p,q)`$ coincide, this need not be the case however in general, even if one restricts the class of spacetimes to the globally hyperbolic ones. A simple expample is given by the 2-dimensional cylinder $`\times S^1`$ with metric $`dt^2d\varphi ^2`$.

The curves $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _2`$ (see figure 1) cannot be deformed continuously into one another and the set $`I_0(p,q,\gamma _1)`$ (the shaded region) is different from $`I(p,q)`$ since it does not contain $`\gamma _2`$.

For later considerations we need the following lemma.

###### Lemma 2.2.

Let $`M`$ be an n-dimensional spacetime and $`p,qM`$. Given a curve-segment $`\gamma C(p,q)`$ there is an open neighbourhood $`𝒪`$ of $`\gamma ([0,1])`$ such that the following holds

* There is a surjective local diffeomorphism222We say a map $`f:MN`$ is a local diffeomorphism if for each point $`xM`$ there is a neighbourhood $`𝒪x`$ such that $`f|_𝒪:𝒪f(𝒪)`$ is a diffeomorphism. $`f:X\times B^{n1}𝒪`$, where $`B^{n1}`$ is the open unit-ball in $`^{n1}`$ and $`X`$ a finite open interval.
* for each point $`xB^{n1}`$ the curve $`XM,tf(t,x)`$ is timelike.

If $`\gamma _1C(p,q)`$ is sufficiently close to $`\gamma `$ in the $`C^1`$-topology we can choose $`𝒪`$ and $`f`$ in such a way that the curve $`XM,tf(t,0)`$ is an extension of $`\gamma _1`$.

Sketch of Proof. We extend the curve-segment $`\gamma `$ to a timelike curve $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }:IM`$, where $`I`$ is an open interval containing $`[0,1]`$. We choose another open interval $`X`$ in $`I`$ which is relatively compact and still contains $`[0,1]`$. Note that $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ is an immersion. This means that locally $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ is an imbedding and we can form the conormal bundle $`T_N^{}I`$ over $`I`$ together with a natural immersion $`\zeta `$ from $`T_N^{}I`$ into $`T^{}M`$. We use an arbitrary Riemannian metric on $`M`$ to identify $`TM`$ and $`T^{}M`$. Then the exponential map defines a smooth map $`T^{}M𝒪_0M`$, where $`𝒪_0`$ is an open neighbourhood of the zero section. The map $`j=\text{exp}\zeta `$ is well defined in a neighbourhood of the zero section in $`T_N^{}II\times ^{n1}`$. Moreover it has full rank at the zero section and the curve $`tj(t,0)`$ is timelike. Hence, there exists a neighbourhood $`𝒪_1T_N^{}I`$ of the zero section such that $`j|_{𝒪_1}`$ is a local diffeomorphism and such that for all points $`p𝒪_1`$ the push-forward $`j_{}(_t)(p)`$ is timelike, if $`t`$ is a coordinate for $`I`$. Since $`XI`$ is relatively compact in $`I`$ there is an $`ϵ>0`$ such that the bundle of open balls in $`T_N^{}XT_N^{}I`$ with radius $`ϵ`$ is contained in $`𝒪_1`$ and is relatively compact in $`𝒪_1`$. Hence, $`j`$ restricts to a map $`f`$ from a set of the form $`X\times B^{n1}`$ onto some open neighbourhood of $`\gamma ([0,1])`$. This map is a local diffeomorphism and moreover, by relative compactness of $`X\times B^{n1}`$, the Lorentzian length of the tangent vectors of the curves $`\gamma _x:tf(t,x)`$ is uniformly bounded from below by some $`\delta >0`$.
One shows that for a curve-segment $`\alpha `$ sufficiently close to $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }|_X`$ there is a unique curve-segment $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }:X\frac{1}{2}B^{n1}`$, such that $`\alpha =f\widehat{\alpha }`$, where $`\widehat{\alpha }`$ is the curve-segment $`XX\times B^{n1},t(t,\stackrel{~}{\alpha })`$. Given $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }`$ we can define a map

$$h:X\times B^{n1}X\times B^{n1},(t,x)(t,\frac{1}{2}x+\stackrel{~}{\alpha }(t))$$

and it is clear that $`f_1:=fh`$ is an immersion. It is easy to check that the differential $`df_1|_p`$ depends continuously on the choice of $`\alpha `$ and the point $`pX\times B^{n1}`$. Remember that we had the length of the tangent vectors of the curves $`\gamma _x`$ uniformly bounded from below by a $`\delta >0`$. Therefore, for $`\alpha `$ sufficiently close to $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }|_X`$, the curves $`\gamma _{x,1}:tf_1(t,x)`$ are timelike for all $`xB^{n1}`$. We can choose $`\alpha `$ as an extension of $`\gamma _1`$. One checks that the open set $`𝒪:=\text{Im}(f_1)`$ and the local diffeomorphism $`f_1:X\times B^{n1}𝒪`$ have all the desired properties. $`\mathrm{}`$

### 2.4 The envelope of an open set

Suppose now we are given an open subset $`𝒪`$ of $`M`$. We define the envelope $`(𝒪)`$ of $`𝒪`$ to be the smallest set containing $`𝒪`$ with the following properties:

1. If an open subset $`𝒰M`$ is globally hyperbolic and $`𝒮`$ is a Cauchy surface for $`𝒰`$ which is contained in $`(𝒪)`$ then $`𝒰(𝒪)`$.
2. For each timelike curve-segment $`\gamma C(p,q)`$ such that $`\gamma ([0,1])`$ is contained in $`(𝒪)`$ the set $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ is contained in $`(𝒪)`$.

Our definition follows  and , where such an envelope was defined for open sets in Minkowski spacetime, instead of lines we use however arbitrary timelike curves. Note that the envelope is well defined, since the intersection of two sets with the listed properties has again these properties. One checks that the causal completion $`𝒪^{}`$ always fulfills 1 and 2 and hence, $`(𝒪)𝒪^{}`$. Furthermore $`(𝒪)`$ is open, since if a set satisfies 1 and 2 this is true for the interior of this set as well.

## 3 Unique continuation and the envelope of uniqueness

In this section $`(M,g)`$ will be an $`n`$-dimensional spacetime.

###### Definition 3.1.

We say a family of tensors $`(f_i)`$ is locally analytic in the time if for each point $`pM`$ there is an open neighbourhood $`𝒪`$ and a chart $`u:𝒪𝒰^n`$ with coordinates $`(x_0,x_1,\mathrm{},x_{n1})`$ mapping $`p`$ to $`0`$ such that

* in coordinates the local vectorfield $`_{x_0}`$ is timelike.
* the components of the tensors $`f_i`$ in the coordinate basis viewed as functions on $`𝒰`$ are analytic in $`x_0`$ in a neighbourhood of 0. Hence, they are defined on $`\{(z,x)\times ^{n1};|z|<r,|x|<r\}`$ for some $`r>0`$.

If $`H`$ is a hypersurface defined as the zero set of a smooth local function $`h:M𝒰`$ we say there is unique continuation for a class of distributions $`𝒯`$ across that hypersurface $`H`$ if the following is true for each point $`xH`$: if there is a neighbourhood $`𝒪`$ of $`x`$ in $`𝒰`$ such that $`g𝒯`$ is zero in the open set $`\{y𝒪;h(y)<0\}`$ then $`x`$ is not in the support of $`g`$. Specializing the results in  and in particular in  (the theorem and the remark in section 5) to the case of second order differential equation with metric principal part, we get that as soon as the coefficients of such a differential equation are locally analytic in the time there is unique continuation of distributional solutions across any non-characteristic hypersurface. This result is local and we will study now the global consequences.

Denoting by $``$ the Levi-Civita connection, the wave operator $`\mathrm{}_g`$ is given by $`g^{ik}_i_k`$. The Klein-Gordon equation with mass $`m0`$ and coupling $`\kappa `$ reads

$$(\mathrm{}_g+m^2+\kappa R)\psi =0,$$
(4)
where $`R`$ is the scalar curvature. We treat a more general form of equation and show the following.

###### Theorem 3.2.

Let $`\psi 𝒟^{}(M)`$ be a solution to the wave equation

$$(\mathrm{}_g+a^k(x)_k+V(x))\psi =0,$$

where $`a`$ is a smooth vector field and $`V`$ a smooth potential. Assume that the family of tensors $`(g,a,V)`$ is locally analytic in the time. If $`\psi `$ vanishes in an open set $`𝒪`$, then it vanishes in the envelope $`(𝒪)`$ of this set.

###### Proof.

A distributional solution on a globally hyperbolic manifold $`𝒰`$ vanishing in a neighbourhood of a Cauchy surface $`𝒮`$ vanishes in $`𝒰`$. This is a general property of hyperbolic wave equations (see e.g. ). We will show, that if a solution vanishes in a neighbourhood $`\widehat{𝒪}`$ of $`\gamma ([0,1])`$ for some $`\gamma C(p,q),p,qM`$ then it vanishes in the set $`I_0(p,q,\gamma )`$. Let $`𝒱`$ be the open subset of $`C_0(p,q,\gamma )`$ consisting of curves $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ such that $`\text{supp}(\psi )`$ is disjoint from some open neighbourhood of $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }([0,1])`$. We show that the boundary $`𝒱`$ of $`𝒱`$ is empty. Thus $`𝒱`$ is open and closed and therefore coincides with $`C_0(p,q,\gamma )`$. Suppose the boundary $`𝒱`$ of $`𝒱`$ were non-empty and let $`\gamma _1`$ be a curve-segment in $`𝒱`$. This implies that there is a point $`x\text{supp}(\psi )`$ which is met by $`\gamma _1`$ (see also figure 2).

Since $`\gamma _1𝒱`$ there is a curve-segment $`\gamma _2𝒱`$ which is sufficiently close to $`\gamma _1`$, so that we can choose an open neighbourhood $`𝒪_1`$ of $`\gamma _1([0,1])`$ and a local diffeomorphism $`f:X\times B^{n1}𝒪_1`$ with the properties listed in lemma 2.2, in particular such that $`\gamma _2([0,1])f(X\times \{0\})`$. We may even choose $`f`$ and $`𝒪_1`$ such that $`f`$ has a continuous extension $`\overline{f}`$ to $`\overline{X\times B^{n1}}`$ with $`\overline{f}(X\times B^{n1})\widehat{𝒪}`$. Then there exists an open ball $`B_r^{n1}`$ with radius $`0<r<1`$ such that $`X\times B_r^{n1}f^1(\text{supp}(\psi ))=\mathrm{}`$ and $`Y:=S_rf^1(\text{supp}(\psi ))\mathrm{}`$ with $`S_r:=X\times B_r^{n1}`$. We take a point $`yY`$ and a neighbourhood $`\stackrel{~}{𝒪}`$ of $`y`$ such that $`f|_{\stackrel{~}{𝒪}}`$ is a diffeomorphism onto an open neighbourhood of $`f(y)`$. Because $`f`$ has the properties listed in lemma 2.2 (in particular the second property), the smooth hypersurface $`f(S_r\stackrel{~}{𝒪})`$ is timelike and hence non-characteristic. Therefore there is unique continuation for solutions across this surface. The solution $`\psi `$ vanishes on $`f((X\times B_r^{n1})\stackrel{~}{𝒪})`$ and by unique continuation the point $`f(y)`$ cannot be in $`\text{supp}(\psi )`$ which is a contradiction. Hence, $`𝒱`$ is empty.
Since the envelope $`(𝒪)`$ is the smallest set containing $`𝒪`$ with the properties that have now been shown for the complement of $`\text{supp}(\psi )`$, it follows that $`\psi `$ vanishes on $`(𝒪)`$. ∎

In case the metric tensor is locally analytic in the time the Klein-Gordon equation for mass $`m`$ and coupling $`\kappa `$ satisfies the assumptions of the above theorem.

###### Example 3.3.

If $`(S,h)`$ is a complete connected Riemannian manifold and $`f:I^+`$ is a smooth positive function on an interval $`I`$ then the manifold $`M:=I\times S`$ with metric $`g:=dtdtf(t)h`$ is a globally hyperbolic spacetime. In case $`S`$ has constant curvature such spacetimes are called Robertson-Walker spacetimes. If $`f`$ is analytic the metric tensor is locally analytic in the time. Examples are the Friedmann models (see e.g.  for details).

## 4 The real scalar field on a globally hyperbolic spacetime

In this section we recall the construction of the real scalar field on a globally hyperbolic spacetime $`M`$. The Klein-Gordon operator for mass $`m0`$ and coupling $`\kappa `$ is:

$$P:=\mathrm{}_g+m^2+\kappa R.$$
(5)
This operator acts on the real-valued smooth functions with compact support $`C_0^{\mathrm{}}(M,)`$. It has unique advanced and retarded fundamental solutions (see ) $`\mathrm{\Delta }^\pm :C_0^{\mathrm{}}(M,)C^{\mathrm{}}(M,)`$ satisfying

$$P\mathrm{\Delta }^\pm =\mathrm{\Delta }^\pm P=\mathrm{id}\text{on}C_0^{\mathrm{}}(M,),$$

$$\text{supp}(\mathrm{\Delta }^\pm f)J^\pm (\text{supp}(f)).$$

With $`\mathrm{\Delta }:=\mathrm{\Delta }^+\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$, $`\widehat{\sigma }(f_1,f_2):=_Mf_1\mathrm{\Delta }(f_2)w`$ defines an antisymmetric bilinear form on $`C_0^{\mathrm{}}(M,)\times C_0^{\mathrm{}}(M,)`$, where $`w`$ is the pseudo-Riemannian volume form on $`M`$. Defining $`𝒲:=C_0^{\mathrm{}}(M,)/\text{ker}(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ with quotient map $`\eta `$, the bilinear form $`\sigma (\eta (f_1),\eta (f_2)):=\widehat{\sigma }(f_1,f_2)`$ on $`𝒲`$ is symplectic. The field algebra $``$ is defined to be the CCR-algebra $`\text{CCR}(𝒲,\sigma )`$ (see ). This is the $`C^{}`$-algebra generated by symbols $`W(v)`$ with $`v𝒲`$ and the relations

$`W(v)=W(v)^{},`$ (6)
$`W(v_1)W(v_2)=e^{i\sigma (v_1,v_2)/2}W(v_1+v_2).`$ (7)
We define for each open subset $`𝒪M`$ the local field algebra $`(𝒪)`$ to be the closed $``$-subalgebra generated by the symbols $`W(\eta (f))`$ with $`fC_0^{\mathrm{}}(𝒪,)`$.
It was shown in  that there is a canonical representation $`\tau `$ of the group of isometries $`G`$ of $`M`$ by Bogoliubov automorphisms of $``$ and the net $`𝒪(𝒪)`$ has the following properties:

1. Isotony: $`𝒪_1𝒪_2`$ implies $`(𝒪_1)(𝒪_2)`$.
2. Causality: if $`𝒪_1𝒪_2^{}`$, then $`[(𝒪_1),(𝒪_2)]=\{0\}`$.
3. Covariance: $`\tau (q)(𝒪)=(q𝒪)qG`$.

Moreover, $``$ is the quasilocal algebra of the net $`𝒪(𝒪)`$.
Assume that we are given a scalar product $`\mu `$ on $`𝒲`$ which dominates $`\sigma `$, i.e. satisfies the estimate

$$|\sigma (v_1,v_2)|^24\mu (v_1,v_1)\mu (v_2,v_2)v_1,v_2𝒲.$$
(8)
In this case the linear functional $`\omega _\mu :`$, defined by

$$\omega _\mu (W(v)):=e^{\mu (v,v)/2}v𝒲,$$
(9)
is a state (see ). The states over $``$ which can be realized in this way are called quasifree states. A quasifree state $`\omega _\mu `$ gives rise to a one particle structure (Proposition 3.1 in ), that is a map $`K_\mu :𝒲H_\mu `$ to some complex Hilbert space $`H_\mu `$, such that

1. the complexified range of $`K_\mu `$, (i.e. $`K_\mu 𝒲+iK_\mu 𝒲`$), is dense in $`H_\mu `$,
2. $`K_\mu v_1,K_\mu v_2=\mu (v_1,v_2)+\frac{i}{2}\sigma (v_1,v_2)`$.

This structure is unique up to equivalence. A one particle structure $`(K_\mu ,H_\mu )`$ for a quasifree state allows one to construct the GNS-triple $`(\pi _{\omega _\mu },_{\omega _\mu },\mathrm{\Omega }_{\omega _\mu })`$ explicitly (see ). Namely, one takes $`_{\omega _\mu }`$ to be the bosonic Fock space over $`H_\mu `$ with Fock vacuum $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\omega _\mu }`$, and defines the representation by $`\pi _{\omega _\mu }(W(v))=\text{exp}((\overline{\widehat{a}^{}(K_\mu v)\widehat{a}(K_\mu v)}))`$, where $`\widehat{a}^{}()`$ and $`\widehat{a}()`$ are the usual creation and annihilation operators. One has the following (see e.g. , Proposition 3.4 (iii)):

###### Proposition 4.1.

Let $`\omega _\mu `$ be a quasifree state over the $`C^{}`$-algebra $`=\text{CCR}(𝒲,\sigma )`$ and let $`(\pi _{\omega _\mu },_{\omega _\mu },\mathrm{\Omega }_{\omega _\mu })`$ be its GNS-triple. If $`V𝒲`$ is a subspace which is dense in $`𝒲`$ in the topology defined by $`\mu `$, then the $``$-algebra generated by the set

$$\{\pi _{\omega _\mu }(W(v)),vV\}\pi _{\omega _\mu }()$$

is strongly dense in the von Neumann algebra $`\pi _{\omega _\mu }()^{\prime \prime }`$.

###### Definition 4.2.

Let $``$ be the field algebra of the real scalar field with mass $`m0`$ and coupling $`\kappa `$. We call a quasifree state $`\omega _\mu `$ over $``$ continuous if the 2-point function $`w_2(,):=K_\mu \eta (),K_\mu \eta ()`$ is a distribution in $`𝒟^{}(M\times M)`$.

Given a continuous quasifree state $`\omega _\mu `$ we can construct the net of von Neumann algebras $`𝒪\widehat{}(𝒪):=\pi _{\omega _\mu }((𝒪))^{\prime \prime }`$. This assignment is isotone, causal and covariant, and there is a unique $`\sigma `$-weakly-continuous representation $`\widehat{\tau }`$ of $`G`$ on $`\widehat{}=\pi _{\omega _\mu }()^{\prime \prime }`$ which extends $`\tau `$. The net gives rise to a quantum field theory on $`M`$.

## 5 The local structure of the real scalar field

###### Theorem 5.1.

Let $`M`$ be a globally hyperbolic spacetime with a metric which is locally analytic in the time. Let $`𝒪(𝒪)`$ be the net of $`C^{}`$-algebras for the real scalar field on $`M`$ with mass $`m0`$ and coupling $`\kappa `$. If $`\omega `$ is a continuous quasifree state over the quasilocal algebra $``$, then for each open set $`𝒪`$ the von Neumann algebra $`\widehat{}(𝒪)=\pi _\omega ((𝒪))^{\prime \prime }`$ is equal to the von Neumann algebra $`\widehat{}((𝒪))=\pi _\omega (((𝒪)))^{\prime \prime }`$, i.e. the local field algebras of an open set and its envelope coincide.

###### Proof.

Let $`\mu `$ be the scalar product on $`𝒲`$ inducing the state $`\omega `$. By proposition 4.1 it is sufficient to show that $`\eta (C_0^{\mathrm{}}(𝒪,))`$ is $`\mu `$-dense in $`\eta (C_0^{\mathrm{}}((𝒪),))`$. We show that a $`\mu `$-continuous linear form $`\widehat{\psi }`$ on $`𝒲`$ vanishing on $`\eta (C_0^{\mathrm{}}(𝒪,))`$ vanishes on the set $`\eta (C_0^{\mathrm{}}((𝒪),))`$. Note that $`\psi :=\widehat{\psi }(\eta ())`$ is a real-valued distribution in $`𝒟^{}`$ and a solution to the Klein-Gordon equation. By assumption $`\psi `$ vanishes in $`𝒪`$ and by theorem 3.2 it vanishes in $`(𝒪)`$. Hence, the theorem is proved. ∎

###### Remark 5.2.

Of course the same conclusion holds on general spacetimes with metric locally analytic in the time as soon as the field operator satisfies the Klein-Gordon equation. Here we specialized to the case of a globally hyperbolic spacetime since we gave the construction of the field only in this case.

Given a local net of von Neumann algebras $`𝒪\widehat{}(𝒪)`$ on a spacetime $`M`$ one may define the local algebras associated to curves (see ). For a curve $`\gamma :IM`$ which is contained in a compact subset $`𝒦M`$ we define the algebra of the curve to be the von Neumann algebra

$$\widehat{}(\gamma ):=\underset{𝒪\gamma (I)}{}\widehat{}(𝒪).$$
(10)
An immediate consequence of our theorem is

###### Corollary 5.3.

Let the assumptions of theorem 5.1 be fulfilled. Let $`𝒪\widehat{}(𝒪)`$ be the corresponding net of von Neumann algebras (see the end of the previous section). If $`\gamma :(0,1)M`$ is a timelike curve which can be continued to a curve segment $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }:[0,1]M`$ with endpoints $`p`$ and $`q`$. Then the algebra $`\widehat{}(\gamma )`$ coincides with $`\widehat{}(I_0(p,q,\stackrel{~}{\gamma }))`$.

This shows that the algebra of a timelike curve coincides with the algebra of a neighbourhood of this curve. This was conjectured in , p.239 to hold for globally hyperbolic spacetimes and our result may be seen as a partial positive answer. Another application is

###### Example 5.4.

If $`(S,h)`$ is a complete connected Riemannian manifold the manifold $`M:=\times S`$ with metric $`g:=dtdth`$ is a globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifold. Such manifolds are called ultrastatic. If $`𝒪S`$ is non-void, then one can show that the envelope of the set $`\times 𝒪`$ coincides with $`M`$. The same holds for any metric that is conformally equivalent to $`g`$. If $`f`$ is a positive function on $`M`$ which is locally analytic in $`t`$ and $`(M,\stackrel{~}{g})`$ is the Lorentzian manifold with metric $`\stackrel{~}{g}:=fg`$ then the local algebra $`\widehat{}(\times 𝒪)`$ of the real scalar field on $`(M,\stackrel{~}{g})`$ coincides with the quasilocal algebra $`\widehat{}`$ whenever $`𝒪`$ is non-void.

## 6 Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Prof. M. Wollenberg, Dr. R. Verch and Prof. H.J. Borchers for useful discussions and comments. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the scope of the postgraduate scholarship programme “Graduiertenkolleg Quantenfeldtheorie” at the University of Leipzig.


text:
# Phase diffusion as a model for coherent suppression of tunneling in the presence of noise

## I Introduction

Coherent suppression of tunneling is a localization effect that occurs when a potential with multiple minima is exposed to a periodic drive in a specific parameter regime Dun86 ; Gro91 ; Hol92 . In their original paper, Grossman et. al. Gro91  examined this phenomena in the context of a quartic double-well potential driven by a strong cosinusoidal force. It was later shown that the essence of this effect could be described by the two lowest energy eigenstates corresponding to the symmetric $`|S`$, and antisymmetric $`|A`$, states of the ground state doublet. This approximation is valid if the drive strength, drive frequency and energy splitting are small compared to the energy spacing between the average energy of the ground doublet and the higher energy levels Llo92 . The two level approximate Hamiltonian for this system written in a basis of left and right states, $`|L,R=(|S|A)/\sqrt{2}`$, is described by a bare tunneling system with an energy splitting $`A_x`$ and a cosine driving force with amplitude $`A_z`$ and frequency $`\omega _d`$,

$$\widehat{H}(t)=\frac{A_x}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_x+\frac{A_z}{2}\mathrm{cos}(\omega _dt)\widehat{\sigma }_z.$$
(1)
A complete suppression of tunneling occurs when the drive amplitude is much larger than the energy splitting ($`A_zA_x`$) and the ratio of the drive amplitude to the drive frequency is equal to a root of the zero order Bessel function Llo92 . This absence of coherent oscillation is due to the two Floquet states of the driven system becoming exactly degenerate Gro93 .

A counterintuitive effect Gro93 ; Dit93 ; Koh98  occurs when dissipation is added to this system. This can be modeled by the addition of a stochastic $`\delta `$-function kick, which is applied periodically Gro93 . When the ratio of the amplitude to the frequency of the periodic driving field is near but not equal to the Bessel root condition in the absence of noise, coherent oscillations between the left and right wells proceed at a modified tunneling rate corresponding to the quasienergy splitting (See Fig. 1). At first, the effect of noise is to destroy coherent oscillations causing the system to evolve into a 50/50 mixture of left and right wells. However, increasing the noise strength appears to have a stabilizing effect on coherent suppression of tunneling Gro93 ; Dit93  causing the system to remain in the well corresponding to its initial state. This seems surprising because the condition for coherent suppression of tunneling depends on the state of the system being in a stationary superposition of the two degenerate Floquet states for all times whereas dissipation generally tends to destroy quantum coherence. However, we will demostrate that this localization effect can be understood intuitively as arising from strong damping of the phase of oscillation. This has been previously pointed out by Makarov Mak93  using a semiclassical quantization scheme to establish a correspondence between a classically driven two-level system and the spin-boson problem. Standard treatments of dissipation based on the master equation of a reduced density operator after tracing over a large reservoir Dit93 ; Mak93 ; Mak95  can obscure the physical content of this localization phenomena. Our treatment uses a simplified model based on a damping due to phase diffusion from random classical kicks. This model corresponds to the regime of weak coupling to a classical noise reservoir Leg87 ; Mak93 ; Mak95 . From this we derive a detailed and exact expression for the tunneling oscillations that gives a clear interpretation of this phenomena that excludes any cooperative effects between the noise and the driving field.

Dissipation in driven two level systems has been extensively studied Gro93 ; Dit93 ; Koh98 ; Mak93 ; Mak95 ; Wei99 ; Dak94 ; Gri95 ; Gri96a ; Mak97 ; Neu97 ; Gri97 ; For99 ; Sto99  because this model provides a realistic paradigm for understanding a variety of physical systems. For example this model can be used to describe charge oscillations in semiconductor double wells Bav92 ; Dak93a ; Dak93b , magnetic flux dynamics in superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) Han91 , condensed phase electron and proton reactions Mor93 ; Fle90 ; Ben94  and strong field spectroscopy Cuk98 ; Mor99 . Recently, quantum tunneling over mesoscopic distances and the generation of mesoscopic superposition states has been realized in an optical lattice of double wells Hay00 . This system is ideally suited for the study of the driven double well in the presence of dissipation given the large degree of experimental control one has over the system Deu98 . For example the energy barrier and energy assymmetry can be dynamically controlled through laser beam configuration and externally applied magnetic fields. Furthermore, this system can operate in an essentially dissipation free environment when the lattice lasers are sufficiently far detuned from the atomic resonance. Dissipation can then be reintroduced into the system in the form of well-controlled fluctuations in the potential Deu98 ; Deu00 .

In this paper we replace the cosine drive field with a periodic square wave drive field. Our Hamiltonian reads,

$`\widehat{H}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{A_x}{2}}\widehat{\sigma }_x+{\displaystyle \frac{A_z}{2}}\mathrm{\Lambda }(\omega _dt)\widehat{\sigma }_z,`$
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }(\omega _dt)`$ $`=`$ $`\{\begin{array}{cc}+1\hfill & \text{ for }0\text{mod}_{\tau _d}(t)<\frac{\tau _d}{2}\hfill \\ 1\hfill & \text{ for }\frac{\tau _d}{2}\text{mod}_{\tau _d}(t)<\tau _d,\hfill \end{array}`$ (5)
where $`\tau _d=\frac{2\pi }{\omega _d}`$ is the drive period. This drive has similar qualitative features to the sinusoidal force. For instance, the condition for coherent suppression of tunneling occurs when the ratio of the amplitude to the frequency of the drive is equal to an integer rather than a root of the zero order Bessel function. However, this Hamiltonian has the advantage that one can derive analytic results without making approximations that are common when analyzing sinusoidal drives. The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II we present an effective magnetic field formalism in the Floquet basis showing how one can describe the tunneling system with a set of Bloch equations associated with spin precession about a fictitous static magnetic field. In Sec. III we show how one can use a phase diffusion model to describe the dissipation in terms of dephasing terms added to the Bloch equations and we present results that compare numerical simulations to analytic expressions. In Sec. IV we summarize our results.

## II The effective magnetic field in the Floquet basis

As discussed above, we simplify the problem of a tunneling wave packet in a double well by considering the problem restricted to the two lowest energy eigenstates. Because this is a two-level system one can visualize the dynamics geometrically on the Bloch sphere with spin up and spin down along the quantization axis $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ corresponding to the localized $`|L`$ and $`|R`$ states respectively. According to the bare Hamiltonian, the first term in Eq. (2), tunneling on the Bloch sphere is pictured as the Larmour precession of a Bloch vector, $`𝐬`$, about a static magnetic field in the $`\widehat{𝐱}`$ direction with a frequency $`\omega _L=A_x`$ ($`\mathrm{}=1`$). When a drive is added to the tunneling system, such as the square wave drive given in Eq. (2), the Hamiltonian becomes time dependent. In general, a drive term causes trajectories to explore the entire Bloch sphere in a complicated fashion (See Fig. 2a). However, when the ratio of the amplitude to the frequency of the drive is an integer and $`A_zA_x`$, one finds that the trajectories on the Bloch sphere form closed “loops” near the top (or bottom) of the Bloch sphere which correspond to the quantum system remaining localized in the $`|L`$ (or $`|R`$) state (See Fig. 2b). This is the coherent suppression of tunneling. Note that if the condition $`A_zA_x`$ (typically $`A_z/A_x5`$) is not satisfied then the system can still form closed trajectories but they do not stay “near” the top or bottom of the Bloch sphere and hence are not localizing.

According to the Floquet theorem Shi65 ; Gri98 , a system with a Hamiltonian that is periodic in time, $`\widehat{H}(t+\tau _d)=\widehat{H}(t)`$, has solutions to the Schrödinger equation, $`|\epsilon _j`$, which are eigenfunctions of the single period time propagator or Floquet operator, ($`\mathrm{}=1`$)

$$\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0)=\widehat{𝒯}\mathrm{exp}\left(i_0^{\tau _d}𝑑t\widehat{H}(t)\right)$$
(6)
where $`\widehat{𝒯}`$ denotes the time-ordering operator. The eigenvalues of this propagator are given by

$$\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0)|\epsilon _j=\mathrm{exp}(i\epsilon _j\tau _d)|\epsilon _j,$$
(7)
where $`\epsilon _j`$ is a quasienergy which belongs to a family of quasienergies such that $`\epsilon _j+k\omega _d`$ (where $`k`$ is an integer) belongs to the same physical state. Quasienergies can be uniquely defined by requiring them to continuously approach the energies of the time independent Hamiltonian as the periodic part vanishes. Because the Floquet states are stationary states at integer multiples of $`\tau _d`$, we restrict time to these discrete values. In this stroboscopic picture of the dynamics, the Floquet states evolve like energy eigenstates for a time-independent Hamiltonian with the quasienergies playing the role of energies.

For a two-level system we denote the Floquet states $`\{|\epsilon _{},|\epsilon _+\}`$. Writing the single period time propagator in the Floquet basis and neglecting global phase factors gives,

$$\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0)=\widehat{1}\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \tau _d}{2}\right)i(\widehat{\stackrel{}{\sigma }}\widehat{𝐞}_F)\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \tau _d}{2}\right),$$
(8)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon =\epsilon _+\epsilon _{}`$ is the quasienergy splitting and the quantization direction, $`\widehat{𝐞}_F`$, is chosen along $`|\epsilon _+`$. We see that the application of the single period time propagator can be thought of as a rotation about an effective magnetic field, $`𝐁_F=\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \widehat{𝐞}_F`$. Because the single period time propagator commutes with itself at integer multiples of the drive period, the unitary time propagator after $`\mathrm{}`$ drive periods is found from $`\mathrm{}`$ applications of the single period time propagator, $`\widehat{U}(\mathrm{}\tau _d,0)=\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0)^{\mathrm{}}`$ ($`\mathrm{}=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$). The end result of utilizing this representation is that one can replace the continuous dynamics of a time dependent Hamiltonian with a discrete dynamics associated with a time independent Hamiltonian described by spin precession about a fictitous static magnetic field (See Fig 3). This transformation is not an approximation, like the well known rotating wave approximation; the two pictures are in exact agreement at these discrete times. However, the time resolution of the Bloch trajectories is fundamentally limited by the drive period because this quasistatic picture does not contain information about time scales shorter than the drive period.

For the specific case of the square wave drive the time dependent Hamiltonian can be decomposed into two time independent Hamiltonians, $`\widehat{H}_\pm =\frac{A_x}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_x\pm \frac{A_z}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_z`$. According to Eq. (2), the single period unitary operator can be easily contructed by multiplying the two half period unitaries,

$`\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left(i\widehat{H}_{}{\displaystyle \frac{\tau _d}{2}}\right)\mathrm{exp}\left(i\widehat{H}_+{\displaystyle \frac{\tau _d}{2}}\right)`$ (9b)
$`=`$ $`\left(12\mathrm{sin}^2({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{2}})\mathrm{sin}^2(\theta )\right)\widehat{1}`$
$`\left(2i\mathrm{sin}({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{2}})\mathrm{cos}({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{2}})\mathrm{sin}(\theta )\right)\widehat{\sigma }_x`$
$`+\left(2i\mathrm{sin}^2({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{2}})\mathrm{sin}(\theta )\mathrm{cos}(\theta )\right)\widehat{\sigma }_y,`$
where $`\varphi =\sqrt{A_x^2+A_z^2}\tau _d`$ and $`\mathrm{tan}(\theta )=A_z/A_x`$. The effective magnetic field for the square wave drive can be found analytically by comparing Eq. (6b) to

$$\mathrm{exp}\left(i(\widehat{\stackrel{}{\sigma }}\widehat{𝐧})\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \tau _d}{2}\right)=\widehat{1}\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \tau _d}{2}\right)i(\widehat{\stackrel{}{\sigma }}\widehat{𝐧})\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \tau _d}{2}\right),$$
(10)
and solving for the four quantities $`\{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ,n_x,n_y,n_z\}`$. With a proper coordinate transformation, we find that the effective magnetic field for a square wave drive can always be viewed to be in the $`\widehat{𝐱}`$ direction, $`\{n_x=1,n_y=0,n_z=0\}`$, and the quasienergy splitting is given by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon =\frac{2}{\tau _d}\mathrm{cos}^1\left(12\mathrm{sin}^2(\varphi /2)\mathrm{sin}^2(\theta )\right).$$
(11)
One can verify that the effective magnetic field vanishes (Bloch vector trajectories form closed “loops” on the Bloch sphere) when the second term in Eq. (8) vanishes $`\left(\mathrm{sin}(\varphi /2)=0\right)`$ giving the condition $`\sqrt{A_x^2+A_z^2}/\omega _d=j`$ ($`j`$ is an integer). When $`A_zA_x`$ this reduces to the condition, $`A_z/\omega _d=j`$, the same condition stated in Sec. I for coherent suppression of tunneling by a square wave drive.

## III Dissipation

We next add dissipation to the system with stochastic periodic $`\delta `$-function kicks Gro93 . Equation (2) is modified to read,

$$\widehat{H}(t)=\frac{A_x}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_x+\left(\frac{A_z}{2}\mathrm{\Lambda }(\omega _dt)+\underset{\mathrm{}}{}\xi _{\mathrm{}}\delta (t\mathrm{}\tau _d)\right)\widehat{\sigma }_z,$$
(12)
where $`\xi _{\mathrm{}}`$ is a discrete random variable governed by a distribution, $`P(\xi )`$, defined by a mean, $`\xi `$, and variance, $`\xi ^2=\sigma ^2`$. This model can be related to the widely studied spin-boson model in the weak coupling limit where dissipation is accomplished through coupling to a reservoir of harmonic oscillators at temperature $`T`$. We identify the variance with $`\sigma ^2=4\mathrm{}^1J(\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon )\mathrm{coth}(\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon /2k_bT)`$, where $`J(\omega )`$ is the “spectral function” of the reservoir Leg87 ; Mak93 .

Without loss of generality we take $`\xi =0`$ since a non-zero mean can be removed by an appropriate redefinition of the single period time propagator

$$\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0)\mathrm{exp}\left(i(\widehat{\stackrel{}{\sigma }}\widehat{𝐳})\frac{\xi }{2}\right)\widehat{U}(\tau _d,0).$$
(13)
The average dynamics are essentially independent of the specific shape of the distribution, $`P(\xi )`$, because of the central limit theorem. On the Bloch sphere, the dynamics can be viewed as single period time rotation about the effective magnetic field followed by a stochastic rotation about the $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ axis by an angle $`\xi _{\mathrm{}}`$,

$$\stackrel{}{𝐬}(t)=\left(_{\widehat{𝐳}}(\xi _{\mathrm{}})_{\widehat{𝐅}}(\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon \tau _d)\right)^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{𝐬}(0).$$
(14)
Taking the rotations about $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ is completely general; kicks about other directions can be implemented with an approprate unitary transformation. The mean trajectory is computed by averaging over many realizations of the stochastic evolution. To see how the averaging effects the dynamics, consider the average $`x`$ and $`y`$ components of the Bloch vector, $`s_j(t)`$ ($`j=x,y`$). After $`\mathrm{}`$ periods of the drive, the random rotations about $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ cause the components to execute a random walk in the $`\widehat{𝐱}\widehat{𝐲}`$ plane. Accordingly, the angle in the $`\widehat{𝐱}\widehat{𝐲}`$ plane obeys a diffusion equation and the mean $`x`$ and $`y`$ components decay as $`s_j(\mathrm{}\tau _d)=\mathrm{exp}(\frac{\mathrm{}\tau _d}{T_2})`$, where the characteristic dephasing time is $`T_2=2/\sigma ^2`$ Ste84 . These decay terms due to dephasing can be included in the Bloch equations,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\dot{s_x}\hfill & =\hfill & \left(B_ys_zB_zs_y\right)\frac{1}{T_2}s_x\hfill \\ \dot{s_y}\hfill & =\hfill & \left(B_xs_z+B_zs_x\right)\frac{1}{T_2}s_y\hfill \\ \dot{s_z}\hfill & =\hfill & \left(B_xs_yB_ys_x\right).\hfill \end{array}$$
(15)
Even though these are differential equations associated with a continuous time variable, there is an implicit understanding that the solution to these equations agree with the real system only at multiple integers of the drive period, $`t=\mathrm{}\tau _d`$.

As an example, we show how these Bloch equations can be used to derive the localization effect of dissipation caused by stochastic rotations about $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ that was discussed in Sec. I. We take the initial state to be localized in the left well. Because the effective magnetic field for the periodic square drive is only in the $`\widehat{𝐱}`$ direction, the dynamics take place completely in the $`\widehat{𝐲}\widehat{𝐳}`$ plane. This reduces the number of differential equations that need to be solved to two which can be written as a single second order differntial equation,

$$\ddot{s_z}+\frac{1}{T_2}\dot{s_z}+(\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon )^2s_z=0$$
(16)
with the initial conditions, $`\{s_z(0)=1,\dot{s_z}(0)=0\}`$. The solution to this equation is the familiar damped harmonic oscillator which can be solved in three regions: underdamped ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2>\beta ^2`$), critically damped ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2=\beta ^2`$), and overdamped ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2<\beta ^2`$), where $`\beta =1/2T_2`$,

$$s_z(t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{\mathrm{cos}(\delta )}e^{\beta t}\mathrm{cos}\left(\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2\beta ^2}t\delta \right),\hfill & \hfill \mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2>\beta ^2\\ e^{\beta t}(1+\beta t),\hfill & \hfill \mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2=\beta ^2\\ e^{\beta t}\left(\frac{\sqrt{\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2}+\beta }{2\sqrt{\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\sqrt{\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2}t\right)+\frac{\sqrt{\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2}\beta }{2\sqrt{\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\sqrt{\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2}t\right)\right),\hfill & \hfill \mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2<\beta ^2,\end{array}$$
(17)
where $`\mathrm{tan}(\delta )=\beta /\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2\beta ^2}`$.

For a particle intially in the $`|L`$ state and for parameters of the Hamiltonian, $`A_x=0.1`$, $`A_z=1.1`$, and $`\omega _d=1`$, we perform numerical simulations according to the procedure described by Eq. (11) and average over 500 Bloch trajectories. We compare plots of the probability $`P_L`$ to be in the $`|L`$ state vs. time for these simulations with results obtained from Eq. (14) and find very good agreement (Fig. 4 a–c). However, the model eventually breaks down when $`T_2<\tau _d`$ (Fig. 4 d). In this regime the system is decaying faster than the oscillation frequency of the drive, the fundamental time resolution for working in the Floquet basis as discussed in Sec. II.

We are now in a position to explain the localization effect of dissipation that was presented in Sec. I. For small $`\sigma `$, dissipation causes the quantum oscillations to decay on a time scale $`T_2`$. Increasing $`\sigma `$ (decreasing $`T_2`$) causes the oscillations to decay on a shorter time scale until they reach a critical damping where the coherent oscillations are completely destroyed. Increasing $`\sigma `$ further causes the system to be overdamped with a dephasing time given approximately by $`1/(T_2\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon ^2)`$. In this regime increasing $`\sigma `$ (decreasing $`T_2`$) causes the system to decay on a longer time scale. The classical noise localizes the state by destroying the phase coherence necessary for transitions between the left and right wells and not by any cooperative effect between the noise and the driving field. This can be seen from the fact that this localization effect would still occur, for a small enough bare tunneling splitting, even if the drive were completely eliminated! The reason this localization effect is stronger “near” the condition for coherent suppression of tunneling is because the dephasing time for this overdamping is longer at smaller quasienergy splittings. This explains why dissipation appears to “stabilize” coherent suppression of tunneling. We have performed simulations for the two-level system driven by a cosine drive and have found similar results, the only difference being that one must compute the effective magnetic field numerically.

## IV Conclusion

In this article we studied the localization effect of dissipation caused by random periodic $`\delta `$-function “kicks” on a driven two-level system. Utilizing a Floquet formalism we found that this type of dissipation could be modeled with a set of Bloch equations including phase damping terms. For dephasing times longer than the drive period, these equations yield dynamics that agree with the periodically kicked system at discrete times. We considered a square wave drive in this article because it gives the same qualtative results as the widely studied cosine drive, but it is simpler to study. We found that the tunneling oscillations obey the equations of a damped harmonic oscillator and that this localization effect corresponds to overdamped tunneling oscillations. Thus, this stabilization of coherent suppression of tunneling is due simply to strong phase damping of tunneling oscillations, which effectively projects the system into the pointer-basis set by the interaction of the system with the noisy environment Zur82 , rather than a cooperative effect between the noise and the driven system. The simplified model studied in this article allowed one to gain physical intuition about the stabilization of coherent suppression of tunneling in the presense of noise and may prove useful in the study of other driven dissipative quantum systems in the weak coupling limit such as dynamical localization in a lattice Dun86 ; Hol92 ; Bha99  or quantum stochastic resonance Gri96b ; Lof94 . The utility of the square wave drive over the commonly studied sinusoidal drives may find wider application in more general treatments of driven quantum dissipative systems.

###### Acknowledgements.

This research was supported by NSF Grant No. PHY-9732456.

Fig. 1: The probability to be in the left well, $`P_L`$, vs. time, $`t/\tau _d`$. For the central cosinusoidal curve (solid line) $`\sigma =0`$, where $`\sigma `$ is the root mean variance of the probability distribution which governs the discrete random variable, we have coherent oscillations between the $`|L`$ and $`|R`$ states at a modified tunneling rate corresponding to the quasienergy splitting. In the central rapidly decaying curve (dashed), $`\sigma =0.25`$, stochastic $`\delta `$-function kicks rapidly destroy coherent oscillations. In the upper, slowly decaying curve (dash-dotted), $`\sigma =2.5`$, the coherent suppression of tunneling has been partially restored by the increased noise strength. Compare this to Fig. 7 b on pg. 243 in Ref. Gro93  and Fig. 2 on pg. 9 in Ref. Dit93 .

Fig. 2: The representation of coherent suppression of tunneling on the Bloch sphere for a two-level system initally in the $`|L`$ state: a) Trajectories off the condition of coherent suppression of tunneling wind up and down the Bloch sphere. b) When the condition for coherent suppression of tunneling is met trajectories form closed “loops” near the top ($`|L`$) of the Bloch sphere.

Fig. 3: Analyzing the system in a Floquet basis allows one to replace the (a) complicated continuous dynamics associated with a time dependent Hamiltonian with a (b) simple discrete dynamics associated with Larmour precession about a fictitous static magnetic field, $`𝐁_F`$. The two pictures agree exactly at these discrete times corresponding to integer multiples of the drive period.

Fig. 4: Comparison of numerical simulations (dotted line) to analytic expression (solid line). Each graph plots the probability $`P_L`$ to be in the left well vs. time, $`t/\tau _d`$, for the parameters $`A_x=0.1,A_z=1.1`$, and $`\omega _d=1`$. There is excellent agreement for cases: a) underdamped, ($`\sigma =0.20,T_2=50\tau _d`$), b) critically damped ($`\sigma =0.68,T_2=4.28\tau _d`$), and c) overdamped ($`\sigma =1.41,T_2=1\tau _d`$). The model breaks down: d) ($`\sigma =2.5,T_2=.32\tau _d`$) when $`T_2<\tau _d`$.