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# 1 Sketch of the principle of the experiment to detect radiative neutrino decays during a solar eclipse (the emission angles of the photon and of the neutrino are enlarged).

DFUB 2000/19
Bologna,

Limits on radiative decays of solar neutrinos from a measurement during a solar eclipse.

S. Cecchini1,2, G. Giacomelli1,4, R. Giacomelli1, D. Haşegan3, O. Mariş3, V. Popa1,3, R. Serra4,5, M. Serrazanetti6, L. Ştefanov3, L. Tasca5 and V. Văleanu3

1Sezione INFN, 40127 Bologna, Italy
2Istituto TESRE del CNR, 40129 Bologna, Italy
3Institute of Space Sciences, Bucharest R-76900, Romania
4Dip. di Fisica, Università degli Studi, 40126 Bologna, Italy
5Dip. di Astronomia, Università degli Studi, 40127 Bologna, Italy
6Osservatorio Astronomico, 40017 San Giovanni in Persiceto (BO), Italy

ABSTRACT

A search for possible radiative decays of solar neutrinos with emission of photons in the visible range was performed during the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999. Due to very bad weather conditions our two telescopes were unable to collect useful data; fortunately we obtained several video camera images from a local TV station. An analysis of the digitised images is presented and limits on the lifetime for radiative decay are discussed.

1. Introduction

It is generally agreed that most probably neutrinos have non–zero masses. This belief is based primarely on the evidence/indication for neutrino oscillations from data on solar and atmospheric neutrinos.

Neutrino oscillations are possible if the flavour eigenstates are not pure mass eigenstates, e.g.:

$$|\nu _e>=|\nu _1>\mathrm{cos}\theta +|\nu _2>\mathrm{sin}\theta $$
(1)
where $`m_{\nu _2}>m_{\nu _1}`$ and $`\theta `$ is the mixing angle.

Since few years there is evidence that the number of solar neutrinos arriving on Earth is considerably smaller than what is expected on the basis of the “Standard Solar Model” and of the “Standard Model” of particle physics, where neutrinos are massless (see e.g. ). One possible explanation of these experimental results involves neutrino oscillations, either in vacuum with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{sun}^2=m_{\nu _2}^2m_{\nu _1}^210^{10}`$ eV2 (as originally discussed in ) or resonant matter oscillations $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{MSW}^210^5`$ eV2 .

Recent results from Super-Kamiokande , MACRO  and Soudan2  experiments on atmospheric neutrinos support the hypothesis of neutrino oscillations (in particular $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$) with large mixing ($`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta >0.8`$) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{atm}^23\times 10^3`$ eV2.

Another indication in favor of neutrino oscillations with a third energy scale $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{LSND}^21`$ eV2 is reported in .

The above observations appear to be the first indications for new physics beyond the ”Standard Model”, and any model that generates neutrino masses must contain a natural mechanism that explains their values and the relation to the masses of their corresponding charged leptons.

Different scenarios have been proposed to explain all the observations, including the results with neutrinos from reactors and accelerators .

If neutrinos do have masses, then the heavier neutrinos could decay into the lighter ones. For neutrinos with masses of few eV the only decay modes kinematically allowed are radiative decays of the type $`\nu _i\nu _j+\gamma `$ (where lepton flavour would be violated).

Upper bounds on the lifetimes of such decays are based on astrophysical non–observation of the final state $`\gamma `$ rays. Limits were obtained from measurements of $`X`$ and $`\gamma `$ ray fluxes from the Sun  and SN 1987A .

In the case of neutrinos with nearly degenerated masses, of the order of the eV, the emitted photon can be in the visible or ultraviolet bands . A first tentative to detect such photons, using the Sun as a source, was made during the total solar eclipse of October 24, 1995 .

Direct visible photons from the Sun come at a rate of some $`10^{17}`$ cm-2 s-1; this makes a direct search for photons from solar neutrino decays impossible. To perform a measurement one must take advantage of a total solar eclipse, which cuts by at least 8 orders of magnitude the direct photon flux. By looking with a telescope at the dark disk of the Moon one can search for photons emitted by neutrinos decaying during their 380000 km flight path from the Moon to the Earth, Fig. 1.

In this paper we describe the methodology employed for such a search and give limits obtained from a preliminary measurement performed during the total solar eclipse of 11 August, 1999.

2. Kinematics of radiative decays

We assume the existence of a possible neutrino radiative decay, $`\nu _2\nu _1+\gamma `$, where $`m_{\nu _2}>m_{\nu _1}`$ and $`\nu _1`$, $`\nu _2`$ are neutrino mass eigenstates.

The energy of the emitted photon in the earth reference laboratory system is

$$E_{lab}=E_{cm}\gamma _\nu \left(1+\beta _\nu \mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}\right)$$
(2)
where $`E_\nu `$ and $`\gamma _\nu =\frac{E_\nu }{m_{\nu _2}}=\left(1\beta _\nu ^2\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ are in the lab. frame, and $`\theta ^{}`$ and $`E_{cm}`$ are the photon emission angle and the energy of the emitted photon in the decaying neutrino rest frame.

For radiative neutrino decays the general expression for the angular distribution of the emitted photons in the rest frame of the parent neutrino is

$$\frac{dN}{d\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}}=\frac{1}{2}\left(1\alpha \mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}\right)$$
(3)
where the $`\alpha `$ parameter is equal to -1, +1, for left–handed and right–handed Dirac neutrinos, respectively, and 0 for Majorana neutrinos.

In order to estimate the expected number of photons in the visible range and the maximum angle of emission of visible photons from radiative solar neutrino decays we performed Monte Carlo simulations for neutrino masses in the range $`0.14`$ eV and two different scenarios of solar neutrino oscillations ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2=2\times 10^4`$ eV2 and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta =0.71`$; $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2=6\times 10^6`$ eV2 and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta =3.98\times 10^3`$). We used the following procedure:

* randomly generate the quadrimomentum of $`\nu _2`$ with reference to the solar neutrino energy spectra ;
* randomly generate $`\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}`$ by using Eq. 3 with $`\alpha =1`$, in agreement with the Standard Model; the angular distributions in the lab. (earth) frame were found to be essentially insensitive to the choice of the $`\alpha `$ parameter ;
* associate to each photon a quadrimomentum from the energy–momentum conservation;
* transform the computed values to the laboratory (earth) reference system.

Fig. 2 is the result of $`5\times 10^8`$ simulated radiative decays, for each ($`m_{\nu _1}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$) set of values.

3. The experiment

We implemented an experiment designed to make observations during the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 (NOTTE, Neutrino Oscillations with Telescope during the Total Eclipse) . The aim was to exploit the possible visible photons emitted in $`\nu _2\nu _1+\gamma `$ decays, during the solar neutrino flight from the Moon to the Earth and the shielding of the direct solar light by the Moon disk.

We intended to use two optical telescopes: a 25 cm Newtonian installed in the Parâng Massif in Romania, close to the point of maximum eclipse; and a smaller one (12.5 cm Cassagrain) mounted on an automatic pointing device in a MIG–29 supersonic fighter of the Romanian Air Force. The airborne telescope would have had the advantages, compared to the ground one, of longer observation times  and of reduced light absorption and diffusion in the atmosphere, thus enlarging the detectable photon energy range.

The telescopes were equipped with CCD’s and co–axial digital TV cameras for the control of the alignment. The expected overall integrated acceptance ($`1.3\times 10^5`$ cm2s)  could allow an improvement of factor at least 20 relative to previous trial .

The extremely bad weather conditions made the observations impossible. We only had the possibility to use a SVHS video record offered to us by the television of Râmnicu Vâlcea; we obtained 2750 frames that allowed us to test our procedure for the extraction of a possible signal in the digitized frames.

The SVHS video was obtained with a Panasonic M9000 camera with a focal length of 200 mm and a diameter of 49 mm. The video was digitized using a 450 MHz Pentium II with 256 MByte RAM and a video card Marvel G200 with complex video imput and a CoDec (Compression/Decompression) hardware MJPEG which allowed a maximum resolution of $`704\times 576`$, with compression of the frames. The used video player was a Panasonic NVHS1000 (standard SVHS) with all the connections in Y/C. The maximum resolution we were able to obtain without compressing the frames was $`352\times 288`$ pixels.

We selected images of $`32\times 32`$ pixels centered in the center of the Moon; the final image was the sum of the reduced 2747 available frames (in the following we shall refer to it as the measured image).

4. The analysis procedure

We used the measured image to test our data reduction software. The measured image is dominated by the image of the Moon in the solar light reflected by the Earth. In order to test this hypothesis we calculated the linear correlation coefficient between our measured image and a CCD image of the full Moon (obtained by a group of the Pises observatory ), from which we selected the same central region; we used the formula

$$C(x,y)=\frac{_{i,j}(x_{i,j}\overline{x})(y_{i,j}\overline{y})}{\sqrt{_{i,j}\left(x_{i,j}\overline{x}\right)^2_{i,j}\left(y_{i,j}\overline{y}\right)^2}},$$
(4)
where the matrix elements $`x_{i,j}`$ and $`y_{i,j}`$ are the luminosities in each pixel of the two images.

We obtained a value $`C(x,y)0.6`$, which implies that the two images are positively correlated and that we can thus substract one from the other (in the following we shall refer to this as the image after subtraction).

We tested this result by repeating the correlation analysis using the Moon image  and $`10^6`$ images randomly generated in accordance with the light distribution in our measured TV image; the $`10^6`$ images were generated via a Monte Carlo simulation using the HBOOK routine HRNDM . We found that the linear correlation coefficient distribution is narrowly centered around zero, indicating that the correlation between our measured image and the Pises image of the Moon is not accidental.

We performed an intensity and contrast normalization, by imposing that the pixels average intensity and the lowest and the maximum pixel intensity values were the same for the two images. This procedure was independently applyed in all (red, green, blue and white) channels.

On the image after subtraction we made a fourth order wavelet decomposition. Fig. 3 illustrates our procedure in the white light; this procedure was performed in all color channels. In this way we atenuated any signal component (zodiacal light, corona light, etc. diffused by the atmosphere) on a scale greater than $`2\times 2`$ pixels.

The expected signal from neutrino radiative decays is concentrated in the central pixel of about 20 arcsec. Neutrinos produced through thermonuclear reactions in the inner region of the Sun come from a relative small spatial volume corresponding in angular size to about 0.6% of the Sun diameter ($`12`$ arcsec); the maximum emission angles for visible photons, with respect to the initial neutrino flight direction, would always be limited to few arcsec (see Fig. 2).

5. Estimate of the lifetime sensitivity

In order to estimate the lifetime of $`\nu _2`$ (see Eq. 5) we need to determine the flux of visible photons from $`\nu _2\nu _1+\gamma `$ decay. We performed a wavelet decomposition on the image after subtraction in all color channels.

The wavelet analysis is generally used in order to restore the image and to eliminate spurious signals. We were interested in what is usually considered as “noise”; thus we did not use the terms of wavelet decomposition but we used the residues; in particular we used the fourth order residuals of a wavelet decomposition in the Haar basis ; the fourth order is the highest usable order because the subtracted image has dimensions $`32\times 32`$ pixels 111We recall that if the original image has $`32\times 32`$ pixels, the 1th order image has $`2\times 2`$ pixels, …, the 4th order image has $`16\times 16`$ pixels..

Fig. 4 shows the residuals light signal $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$, after wavelet decomposition, in the red, green, blue and white channels as a function of the distance from the center of the Moon disk. At the beginning of our analysis the $`4^{th}`$ order residual flux of the wavelet decomposition was expressed in Acquisition Digital Units (ADU). We made a conversion from ADU to photon flux units using the intensity profile of the solar corona. We used as calibration curve the intensity profile of the solar corona taken by a team from the Pises Observatory  during the same total solar eclipse. It presents two landmarks: the intensity of a lunar sea (12100 ADU) and of the Tycho crater (38800 ADU). We constructed the intensity profile of the solar corona for our measured image of the eclipse of August 11, 1999 in the red, green, blue and white channels as a function of the angular distance from the center of the Sun.

Note that the intensity profiles differ one from the other in the ordinate scale because the ADU is a unit which depends on the instrumental characteristics.

In order to estimate the conversion factor between the two ADU scales we interpolated the solar corona intensity profiles, both in our measured image and in the Pises image, with a cubic polynomial, and then we integrated them from 1.1 $`R_{}`$ to 1.5 $`R_{}`$. We obtained a ratio of conversion, f=(Pises ADU)/(our ADU)= 8.25.

The brightness of the full Moon, observed outside the atmosphere, when the Moon is at its apogee and the Earth is at its mean distance from the Sun, is $`B=(0.34\pm 0.01)`$ lux. It corresponds to $`N_\gamma =(140.0\pm 4.4)\times 10^9`$ photons cm-2 s-1 at an average wavelength of 5500 $`\AA `$. We assigned to this luminosity the intermediate value between the two reported on the Pises intensity profile; we estimate an error of about 25% on the conversion factor.

Fig. 4 shows that after the moon image removal and the wavelet decomposition of the remaining signal, a peak survived in the central pixel only. A conventional optical phenomenon that could lead to such a signal is the so called “Poisson spot” (a consequence of the Fresnel diffraction).

The diffraction occurs if the distance from the light source (the Sun) to an opaque disk (the Moon) or from a disk to a screen is much larger than the disk diameter and if the disk is much larger than the wavelength; it consists in the appearance of a luminous spot in the centre of the shadow (Poisson spot).

For a point source the intensity of the Poisson spot should be the same as the intensity that would be induced by the source at the distance of the screen; for plane waves the intensity of the spot is a quarter of that value. In our case it is difficult to estimate the expected intensity of the Poisson spot, as the Sun is an extended light source. Considering the light along a line perpendicular to an opaque circular disc, we expect to see darkness immediately behind the disc; the relative intensity should increase with increasing distance between the disc and the point of observation.

The contribution of the Poisson spot to the peaks in Fig. 4 can be estimated using the property that the intensity of the Poisson spot should not depend on the wavelength. Thus the ratios between the different Poisson intensities in different color channels should be the same as the ratios between the intensity recorded in similar conditions in the same channels of the solar spectrum.

Later we recorded the solar spectrum with a TV–camera similar to the Râmnicu Vâlcea one, and digitized the image in the same way as the measured eclipse image.

The TV–camera was equipped with a CCD, which had three different physical pixels for every pixel of the image: the first pixel is without filter while the others have red and blue filters. The green channel is obtained from a subtraction from the white signal of the summed red and blue ones; so it is in fact useless for the analysis described below.

From the solar spectrum frames we obtained a maximum signal of 56 ADU in the red field and of 88 ADU in the blue field; both with a background of 14 ADU. Fig. 4 gives in the central pixel a flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\gamma ^r=7.4\times 10^6`$ cm-2 s-1 in the red channel and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\gamma ^b=1.4\times 10^7`$ cm-2 s-1 in the blue one.

We ascribe to the Poisson spot all the signal in the red channel; thus in the blue channel we obtain a residual photon flux of about $`7\%`$ of the signal.

We assume that the relative contribution to the overall decay signal in the white light may be taken as the average of the signals at the two extremities of the visible spectrum, that is 3.5% of the white maximum, thus $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\gamma ^w=7.4\times 10^5`$ cm-2 s-1.

Preliminary results on the limits of the $`\nu _2`$ lifetime, with respect to its radiative decay in the earth reference system, may be computed from

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_\gamma ^w=ϵ\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu \mathrm{sin}^22\theta \left(1e^{\frac{t_{ME}}{\tau }}\right)e^{\frac{t_{SM}}{\tau }}$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu =8.56\times 10^{10}`$ cm2 s-1 is the solar neutrino flux at the Earth computed from the Solar Standard Model, $`ϵ`$ is the Monte Carlo branching fraction of visible photons produced in the radiative decay (see Fig. 2), $`\theta `$ is the neutrino mixing angle, $`t_{SM}`$ and $`t_{ME}`$ are the average flight times of solar neutrinos (assuming an average energy of about 325 eV) from the Sun to the Moon and from the Moon to the Earth, respectively.

The obtained preliminary lifetime lower limits on a possible radiative decay of solar neutrinos are given in Table 1. The limits are given as function of $`m_1`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$.

The data did not allow to obtain lifetime limits for all mass–$`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ combinations. This suggests an underestimation of the contribution of the Poisson spot and of other background sources; thus the lifetime limits in Tab. 1 are conservative lower limits.

6. Conclusions

The analysis of the digitised images measured by a video camera used during the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 gave us the opportunity to test our data reduction software and also lead to some interesting results:

* we evidenced the presence in our data of the Moon image in the light reflected from the Earth;
* after the Moon image removal and the wavelet decomposition of the remaining signal we obtained a correlation function (luminosity versus distance from the center of the Moon) consistent with Fresnel diffraction (Poisson spot);
* after removal of the Poisson spot contribution we obtain preliminary results on the limits of the $`\nu _2`$ lifetime, see Tab. 1.
Experimental data of higher quality are needed to obtain more stringents limits.

8. Acknowledgments

The NOTTE experiment was partially supported by NATO Grant CRG.LG 972840. Special thanks are due to the Romanian Air Force for their co-operation. We gratefully acknowledge the Romanian Television of Râmnicu Vâlcea for providing us with their TV recording. We are indebted to many colleagues for discussions and advises. We acknowledge T. Franceschini of ITeSRE/CNR for help with the electronics.


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# Why am I me? and why is my world so classical?

## Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge the inspiration I drew from Tom Baldwin’s inaugural lecture, *Inside Out or Outside In?* Professor Baldwin should not, of course, be held responsible for the amateurishness of the philosophising that his lecture inspired in an amateur. I am also grateful to James Ladyman, Harvey Brown and Charles Francis for helpful comments and for directing me to some relevant literature.


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# Stretched exponential relaxation in the mode-coupling theory for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation

## Abstract

We study the mode-coupling theory for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation in the strong-coupling regime, focusing on the long time properties. By a saddle point analysis of the mode-coupling equations, we derive exact results for the correlation function in the long time limit – a limit which is hard to study using simulations. The correlation function at wavevector $`𝐤`$ in dimension $`d`$ is found to behave asymptotically at time $`t`$ as $`C(𝐤,t)\frac{A}{k^{d+42z}}(Btk^z)^{\gamma /z}e^{(Btk^z)^{1/z}}`$, with $`\gamma =(d1)/2`$, $`A`$ a determined constant and $`B`$ a scale factor.

preprint: XXXX

The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ)  equation is a simple non-linear Langevin equation, proposed in 1986 as a coarse grained description of a growing interface. Probably due to the fact that is the simplest generalization of the diffusion equation which includes a relevant nonlinear term, the KPZ equation also arises in connection with many other important physical problems (the Burgers equation for one-dimensional turbulence , directed polymers in a random medium  etc.).

The KPZ equation for a growing interface, described by a single valued height function $`h(𝐱,t)`$ on a $`d`$-dimensional substrate $`𝐱\mathrm{}^d`$ is:

$$_th(𝐱,t)=\nu ^2h+\frac{\lambda }{2}(h)^2+\eta (𝐱,t).$$
(1)
The first term represents the surface tension forces which tend to smooth the interface, the second describes the nonlinear growth locally normal to the surface, and the last is a noise which mimics the stochastic nature of the growth process . We choose the noise to be Gaussian, with zero mean and second moment $`\eta (𝐱,t)\eta (𝐱^{},t^{})=2D\delta ^d(𝐱𝐱^{})\delta (tt^{}).`$ The steady state interface profile is usually described in terms of the roughness: $`w=h^2(𝐱,t)h(𝐱,t)^2`$ which for a system of size $`L`$ behaves like $`L^\chi f(t/L^z)`$, where $`f(x)const`$ as $`x\mathrm{}`$ and $`f(x)x^{\chi /z}`$ as $`x0`$, so that $`w`$ grows with time like $`t^{\chi /z}`$ until it saturate to $`L^\chi `$ when $`tL^z`$. $`\chi `$ and $`z`$ are the roughness and dynamic exponent respectively.

The phenomenology of the KPZ is well known: above two dimensions, there are two distinct regimes, separated by a critical value $`\lambda _c`$ of the non-linearity coefficient. In the weak coupling regime ($`\lambda <\lambda _c`$) the non-linear term is irrelevant and the behavior is governed by the Gaussian ($`\lambda =0`$) fixed point. The KPZ in this regime is equivalent to the linear Edward Wilkinson equation, for which the exponents are known exactly $`\chi =(2d)/2`$ and $`z=2`$. The more challenging strong coupling regime ($`\lambda >\lambda _c`$), where the non-linearity is relevant is characterised by anomalous exponents, which are not known exactly in general dimension $`d`$. From the Galilean invariance  (invariance of Eq. (1) under an infinitesimal tilting of the surface) one can derive the relation $`\chi +z=2`$, which leaves just one independent exponent. For the special case when $`d=1`$, the existence of a fluctuation-dissipation theorem gives the exact results $`\chi =1/2`$, $`z=3/2`$.

We take a self-consistent approach, the mode-coupling (MC) approximation , in which in the diagrammatic expansion for the correlation and response function only diagrams which do not renormalise the three point vertex $`\lambda `$ are retained. The MC approximation has been remarkably successful in other areas of condensed matter physics, for example in the study of structural glass transitions , binary mixtures  and critical dynamics of magnets . KPZ mode-coupling reproduces the exact values of the exponents in $`d=1`$. Furthermore MC equations have been shown to arise from the large $`N`$-limit of an generalised $`N`$-component KPZ equation , which allows in principle a systematic approach to the theory beyond mode coupling, by expanding in $`1/N`$.

Our study focuses on the large time properties of the KPZ equation: we predict a stretched exponential decay for the correlation function at large times. A phenomenological stretched exponential law was used as long ago as 1854 to fit electronic relaxation data for a Leiden jar capacitor , and then been rediscovered many times: fitting functions involving stretched exponentials are nowadays widely used in phenomenogical analysis of relaxation data (examples are dielectric relaxation  and glassy relaxation ). However, only a few analytical arguments  are able to reproduce stretched exponential relaxation in complex systems. Our prediction is in principle amenable of numerical verification, even though usual numerical techniques, mainly based on simulations  of discrete microscopical models which belong to the KPZ universality class , are hard in the long time asymptotic region.

Mode-coupling equations are coupled equation for the correlations and response function. The correlation and response function are defined in Fourier space by

$`C(𝐤,\omega )=h(𝐤,\omega )h^{}(𝐤,\omega ),`$ (2)
$`G(𝐤,\omega )=\delta ^d(𝐤𝐤^{^{}})\delta ^1(\omega \omega ^{^{}}){\displaystyle \frac{h(𝐤,\omega )}{\eta (𝐤^{^{}},\omega ^{^{}})}},`$ (3)
where $``$ indicate an average over $`\eta `$. In the mode-coupling approximation, the correlation and response functions are the solutions of two coupled equations,

$`G^1(𝐤,\omega )=G_0^1(𝐤,\omega )+\lambda ^2{\displaystyle \frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }}{2\pi }\frac{d^dq}{(2\pi )^d}\left[𝐪(𝐤𝐪)\right]\left[𝐪𝐤\right]G(𝐤𝐪,\omega \mathrm{\Omega })C(𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega })},`$ (4)
$`C(𝐤,\omega )=C_0(𝐤,\omega )+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^2}{2}}G(𝐤,\omega )^2{\displaystyle \frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }}{2\pi }\frac{d^dq}{(2\pi )^d}\left[𝐪(𝐤𝐪)\right]^2C(𝐤𝐪,\omega \mathrm{\Omega })C(𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega })},`$ (5)
where $`G_0(𝐤,\omega )=(\nu k^2i\omega )^1`$ is the bare response function, and $`C_0(𝐤,\omega )=2DG(𝐤,\omega )^2`$. In the strong coupling limit, $`G(𝐤,\omega )`$ and $`C(𝐤,\omega )`$ take the following scaling forms

$`G(𝐤,\omega )=k^zg\left(\omega /k^z\right),`$ (6)
$`C(𝐤,\omega )=k^{(2\chi +d+z)}n\left(\omega /k^z\right),`$ (7)
and Eqs. (4) and (5) translate into the following coupled equations for the scaling functions $`n(x)`$ and $`g(x)`$:

$`g^1(x)=ix+I_1(x),`$ (8)
$`n(x)=g(x)^2I_2(x),`$ (9)
where $`x=\omega /k^z`$ and $`I_1(x)`$ and $`I_2(x)`$ are given by

$`I_1(x)=P{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta {\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑q\mathrm{cos}\theta (\mathrm{cos}\theta q)q^{2z3}r^z{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑yg\left({\displaystyle \frac{xq^zy}{r^z}}\right)n(y),`$ (10)
$`I_2(x)={\displaystyle \frac{P}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta {\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑q(\mathrm{cos}\theta q)^2q^{2z3}r^{(d+4z)}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑yn\left({\displaystyle \frac{xq^zy}{r^z}}\right)n(y),`$ (11)
with $`P=\lambda ^2/(2^d\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{d1}{2})\pi ^{(d+3)/2})`$, $`r^2=1+q^22q\mathrm{cos}\theta `$. It will be convenient to write Eqs. (8,9) as a function of time $`t`$, by Fourier transforming them:

$$\widehat{\frac{g_R}{g^2}}(t)=\widehat{I_1}(t)$$
(12)
$$\widehat{\frac{n}{g^2}}(t)=\widehat{I_2}(t)$$
(13)
where $`\widehat{I_1}`$ is the Fourier transform of the real part of $`I_1`$ and $`\widehat{I_2}`$ is the Fourier transform of $`I_2`$

$`\widehat{I_1}(t)=2\pi P{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta {\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑q\mathrm{cos}\theta (\mathrm{cos}\theta q)q^{2z3}\widehat{g_R}\left(tr^z\right)\widehat{n}(tq^z),`$ (14)
$`\widehat{I_2}(t)=\pi P{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta {\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑q(\mathrm{cos}\theta q)^2q^{2z3}r^{(d+42z)}\widehat{n}\left(tr^z\right)\widehat{n}(tq^z).`$ (15)
Assuming an exponential, or stretched exponential decay for $`\widehat{n}(t)`$, we look for an asymptotic solution for $`t\mathrm{}`$ of Eq. (13) in the form

$$\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(t)=A(Bt)^{\frac{\gamma }{z}}e^{Bt^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}}.$$
(16)
We will show that such a solution exists and we will determine the exponents $`\gamma =(d1)/2`$ and $`\alpha =1`$. Even though the scaling part of the correlation and response function are coupled in the two Eqs. (12) and (13), we will see that the specific form of $`\widehat{g}(t)`$ is not relevant to the large $`t`$ behaviour of $`\widehat{n}(t)`$. We will proceed as follows: we evaluate the right hand side of Eq. (13) in the large $`t`$ limit by saddle point methods. The result of this analysis shows that any $`\alpha 1`$ allows to reproduce the exponential factor. For $`\alpha z`$, we can then assume that the left hand side of Eq. (13) is dominated by $`g(0)^2\widehat{n}(t)`$ (see below), thus the asymptotic form of $`I_2(t)`$ has to be matched with $`g(0)^2\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(t)`$. The exponential factor can be matched by any $`\alpha 1`$, but we will see that the only value of $`\alpha `$ that allows also to match the power law factor $`t^{\gamma /z}`$ is $`\alpha =1`$. We can then proceed with $`\alpha =1`$ to get $`\gamma =\frac{d1}{2z}`$ and

$$A=\frac{g(0)^24\mathrm{\Gamma }(4z4)}{P2^{(d1)/2}\mathrm{\Gamma }((d1)/2)\mathrm{\Gamma }(2z2)^2}.$$
(17)
Let us start with the evaluation of the left hand side of Eq. (13). Expanding $`g(x)^2`$ in even powers of $`x`$ around $`x=0`$, we can write $`\widehat{(n/g^2)}(t)=a_0\widehat{n}(t)+a_1d^2\widehat{n}(t)/dt^2+..`$ where $`a_0=g(0)^2`$. For $`\widehat{n}(t)`$ of the form (16) with $`\alpha z`$, the first term of the series will dominate at large $`t`$, we can therefore assume that the left hand side of Eq. (13) has the asymptotic behaviour $`\widehat{(n/g^2)}(t)g(0)^2\widehat{n}(t)`$. Let us now turn to the asymptotic analysis of $`\widehat{I_2}(t)`$. First note that the integral $`\widehat{I_2}(t)`$, is symmetric in the exchange $`qr`$, $`\theta \varphi `$, where $`r\mathrm{sin}\varphi =q\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ (see Fig 1). This allows us to rewrite $`\widehat{I_2}(t)`$ as twice the integral restricted to the region $`q\mathrm{cos}\theta <1/2`$:

$$\widehat{I_2}(t)=2\pi P_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑q_{\overline{\theta }}^\pi 𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta _0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑q(\mathrm{cos}\theta q)^2q^{2z3}r^{(d+42z)}\widehat{n}\left(tr^z\right)\widehat{n}(tq^z),$$
(18)
where $`\mathrm{cos}\overline{\theta }=\mathrm{max}[1/2q,1]`$. In $`\widehat{I_2}(t)`$ the function $`\widehat{n}(t)`$ appears in the integrand with the arguments $`tq^z`$, $`tr^z`$. For large enough $`t`$, we can always safely replace $`\widehat{n}(tr^z)`$ with its asymptotic form $`\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(tr^z)`$, since in the new region of integration $`r1/2`$. We have to use more care with $`\widehat{n}(tq^z)`$, since such replacement is not allowed for all $`q`$, but only for $`q>C/t^{1/z}`$, where $`C`$ is a large constant. We then have $`\widehat{I_2}(t)\widehat{I_2^{\mathrm{}}}(t)=J_1(t)+J_2(t)`$, where

$`J_1(t)=2\pi P{\displaystyle _0^{C/t^{1/z}}}𝑑q{\displaystyle _{\overline{\theta }}^\pi }𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta (\mathrm{cos}\theta q)^2q^{2z3}r^{(d+42z)}\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}\left(tr^z\right)\widehat{n}(tq^z),`$ (19)
$`J_2(t)=2\pi P{\displaystyle _{C/t^{1/z}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑q{\displaystyle _{\overline{\theta }}^\pi }𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta (\mathrm{cos}\theta q)^2q^{2z3}r^{(d+42z)}\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}\left(tr^z\right)\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(tq^z).`$ (20)
The contribution from $`J_1`$ is negligible with respect to $`J_2`$ as $`t\mathrm{}`$. Let us evaluate an asymptotic expression for $`J_2`$ and postpone the discussion of $`J_1`$ to the end. Inserting $`\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(t)=A(Bt)^{\gamma /z}\mathrm{exp}(Bt^{\alpha /z})`$ in $`J_2(t)`$ gives

$$J_2(t)=2\pi PA^2(Bt)^{\frac{2\gamma }{z}}_{C/t^{1/z}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑q_{\overline{\theta }}^\pi 𝑑\theta \mathrm{sin}^{d2}\theta (\mathrm{cos}\theta q)^2q^{2z3+\gamma }r^{(d+42z)+\gamma }e^{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}(q^\alpha +r^\alpha )}.$$
(21)
It is immediately clear that the main contribution to this integral will come from the region where $`f(q,\theta )=q^\alpha +r(q,\theta )^\alpha `$ has its minimum, i.e. from the segment $`\theta =0`$, $`C/t^{1/z}<q<1/2`$ (for large enough $`t`$, $`C/t^{1/z}<1/2`$). The value of $`q`$ which minimises $`f`$ will depend on $`\alpha `$: for $`\alpha <1`$, $`f`$ reaches its minimum at $`q_0=C/t^{1/z}`$, where $`f(q_0,0)=C^\alpha /t^{\alpha /z}+(1C/t^{1/z})^\alpha 1+(C/t^{1/z})^\alpha +O(C/t^{1/z})`$. For $`\alpha >1`$, the minimum is realized at $`q=1/2`$, where $`f(1/2,0)=1/2^{\alpha 1}`$. For $`\alpha =1`$, all $`q`$ in the region $`C/t^{1/z}<q<1/2`$ contribute equally, giving $`f(q,0)=1`$. The saddle point approximation in the angular integral gives:

$$J_2(t)2\pi PA^2(Bt)^{\frac{2\gamma }{z}}_{C/t^{1/z}}^{1/2}𝑑qe^{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}(q^\alpha +1q^\alpha )}1q^{2(d+42z)+\gamma }q^{2z3+\gamma }_0^\pi 𝑑\theta \theta ^{d2}e^{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}\frac{\alpha }{2}q1q^{\alpha 1}\theta ^2}.$$
(22)
Performing the integral over $`\theta `$ in the large $`t`$ limit:

$$J_2(t)\pi PA^2\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{d1}{2}\right)\left(\frac{2}{\alpha }\right)^{\frac{d1}{2}}(Bt)^{\frac{2\gamma }{z}\frac{d1}{2z}}_{C/t^{1/z}}^{1/2}𝑑qe^{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}(q^\alpha +1q^\alpha )}1q^\varphi q^\psi ,$$
(23)
where $`\varphi =2zd2+\gamma +(1\alpha )\frac{d1}{2}`$ and $`\psi =2z3+\gamma \frac{d1}{2}`$. The leading contribution for large $`t`$ is then given by

$$J_2(t)\pi PA^2\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{d1}{2}\right)\left(\frac{2}{\alpha }\right)^{\frac{d1}{2}}(Bt)^{\frac{2\gamma }{z}\frac{d1}{2z}}\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{\psi +1}{\alpha }\right)}{\alpha }e^{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}}(Bt)^{\frac{\psi +1}{z}}\hfill & \alpha <1\hfill \\ Ie^{(Bt)^{\frac{1}{z}}}\hfill & \alpha =1\hfill \\ \sqrt{\pi }2^{(\varphi +\psi )}e^{\frac{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}}{2^{\alpha 1}}}(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{2z}}\hfill & \alpha >1\hfill \end{array}$$
(24)
where $`I=_0^{1/2}𝑑qq^\psi (1q)^\varphi `$. For $`\alpha 1`$, the left hand side of Eq. (13) will be dominated by a term of the form $`g(0)^2\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(t)`$, thus $`\widehat{I_2(t)}J_2(t)`$ must be proportional to $`\widehat{n_{\mathrm{}}}(t)`$. This can only be achieved with $`\alpha =1`$ and $`\gamma =\frac{d1}{2}`$. For $`\alpha <1`$, the stretched exponential factor is recovered, but trying to match the power of $`t`$ leads to $`\gamma =\frac{d1}{2}+\psi +1`$, which can only be satisfied by the unphysical value $`z=1`$. For $`1<\alpha <z`$, the the left hand side of Eq. (13) cannot be matched by $`J_2`$. We then conclude that $`\alpha `$ must be equal to $`1`$, and the asymptotic solution is then given by Eq. (16). The coefficient $`A`$ can be determined as well by observing that $`\gamma =\frac{d1}{2}`$ gives $`\psi =\varphi =2z3`$, and thus $`I=\mathrm{\Gamma }(2z2)^2/2\mathrm{\Gamma }(4z4)`$ which leads to Eq. (17).

Let us now go back to the integral $`J_1`$. The argument of $`\widehat{n}(tq^z)`$ in $`J_1`$ runs between $`0`$ and $`C^z`$. Thus we can obtain an upper bound on $`J_1`$ by replacing $`\widehat{n}(tq^z)`$ by its maximum in this region (which is given by $`\widehat{n}(0)`$ if $`\widehat{n}(t)`$ is a monotonically decreasing function). An analysis similarly to the one done for $`J_2`$, can then be performed for $`J_1`$, leading to $`J_1(Bt)^{\frac{\gamma }{z}\frac{d1}{2z}}e^{(Bt)^{\frac{\alpha }{z}}}`$. Thus the contribution to $`\widehat{I_2^{\mathrm{}}}`$ from $`J_1`$ is down by a factor $`(Bt)^{\frac{\gamma }{z}}`$.

The scale parameter $`B`$ is just that, and remains unfixed in terms of the parameters of the KPZ equation. In a recent work , we proposed a scaling ansatz for the correlation function as $`z2`$. If such an ansatz is correct, in a parametrization where $`g(0)`$ is finite the scale $`B^1`$ on which $`t`$ varies would go to zero as $`z`$ approaches $`2`$: $`B^1(2z)`$. Thus the asymptotic solution that we have found here could be read as an asymptotic solution for all $`t`$ as $`z`$ approaches $`2`$.

In summary, we have presented an analytical derivation of an asymptotic solution of the mode-coupling equations for the strong coupling regime of the KPZ equation in the large $`t`$ limit. We predict a stretched exponential relaxation for the correlation function, with a power law prefactor. We hope that this prediction will stimulate numerical investigations of long-time limits generally.

The authors acknowledge the support of EPSRC under grants GR/L38578 and GR/L97698.


text:
# Topological Phases in Graphitic Cones

(August 24, 2000)

## Abstract

The electronic structure of graphitic cones exhibits distinctive topological features associated with the apical disclinations. Aharonov-Bohm magnetoconductance oscillations (period $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$) are completely absent in rings fabricated from cones with a single pentagonal disclination. Close to the apex, the local density of states changes qualitatively, either developing a cusp which drops to zero at the Fermi energy, or forming a region of nonzero density across EF, a local metalization of graphene.
©2000, The American Physical Society

If one or more sectors are excised from a single layer of graphite (hereafter, graphene) as illustrated in Figure 1, and the remainder is joined seamlessly, a cone results. Researchers discovered how to produce such graphitic cones in 1997cones . We show that the topological nature of the apical defect profoundly modifies the low-energy electronic structure, with remarkable consequences for nonlocal transport properties in this new class of nanoscale carbon. Rings made from cones exhibit an anomalous Aharonov-Bohm effect. In some cones, the fundamental period is completely absent. Also, the Fermi-level density of states near the apex is enhanced and shows distinctive energy dependence.

We classify a cone by its opening angle, or equivalently the number $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$ of sectors removed. All possible angles have been observed experimentally; we concentrate on $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ and $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$, which reveal the essential physics. Since pentagonal defects are expected to predominate in real cones, $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is also typically equal to the number of defects, which must be tightly clustered to produce a conical shape.

The gap of a semiconducting tube arises from frustrationsaito ; hamada ; dunlap  in the phase of the graphitic Fermi-level states as they pass around the tube circumference. In this sense, the semiconducting nanotube is a translational phase defect. A cone forms a rotational defect which also frustrates electronic phase. In nanotubes, the frustration affects states at the two graphene Fermi points in precisely the same way. In contrast, the topological phase in a cone of odd $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$ entwines the two Fermi points. Although most of a large cone is just a gently curved graphene surface, the global electronic properties are significantly disturbed.

Before presenting the new results, we briefly recall the continuum theorydivincenzo-mele ; kane-mele ; geo-pert  of graphene, as it forms the framework for this understanding. We require a flexible real-space continuum formulation to handle structures which are locally graphitic but contain non-contractible closed loops, i.e., those surrounding the waist of a nanotube or the apex of a cone. We think of the entire cone as having a perfect graphene-like structure locally, by considering a pentagonal defect not as a five-membered ring, but as a hole in a graphene structure. In the continuum picture this makes sense and the hole can be shrunk to a point. We can then represent defects as pure gauge fields. Our continuum description is ideally suited to bringing out topological aspects, so long as one exercises care in handling phenomena on atomic length scales.

Graphene’s Fermi surface comprises only two points. Figure 2 depicts the Fermi point states in a tight-binding language. The states are labelled by the direction of a wave-vector $`𝑲`$ and a sublattice index $`A`$ or $`B`$. The figure illustrates $`|𝑲A`$ and $`|𝑲B`$, where $`𝑲`$ points up the page. The Fermi level space is four-dimensional, and we choose $`|𝑲_\pm A`$ and $`|𝑲_\pm B`$ as our basis, with $`𝑲_{}=𝑲_+`$. Under rotation counterclockwise about any hexagon center by 120, implemented by $`R_{6}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$, these states pick up simple phases: $`R_{6}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}|𝑲A=\eta |𝑲A`$, and $`R_{6}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}|𝑲B=\overline{\eta }|𝑲B`$, where $`\eta =\mathrm{exp}(2\pi i/3)`$.

We avoid momentum space notions because they are not available in systems such as cones, which lack translational invariance. $`𝑲`$ is only a label for the orientation of the pattern of amplitudes. However, whether in a flat graphene sheet, a nanotube, a cone, or any other graphitic structure, the states near the Fermi level must look like the four we have constructed, at least locally. Globally, low-energy states consist of slowly-varying envelope functions multiplying these four patterns. We collect the envelopes into a four-component wavefunction

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(x)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi __A\\ \psi __B\end{array}\right),\psi _{_{A,B}}(x)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _{_{A,B+}}\\ \psi _{_{A,B}}\end{array}\right),$$
(1)
where the $`\pm `$ subscripts refer to $`𝑲_+`$ and $`𝑲_{}`$. This is very similar to an effective mass description. We discuss obstructions to a globally consistent choice of $`𝑲_+`$ later. If that choice is successfully made, $`𝑲_{}`$, $`A`$ and $`B`$ present no further difficulty.

To complete the picture, we need a Hamiltonian. To avoid complicating distractions, we first consider simple graphene wherein crystal momentum is a good quantum number and we can work with just the $`𝑲_+`$ components. In that case, the Hamiltonian isdivincenzo-mele ; kane-mele ; geo-pert

$$H_0=iv__\mathrm{F}(\sigma _1_x+\sigma _2_y)=iv__\mathrm{F}𝝈\mathbf{}.$$
(2)
The $`\sigma `$’s are Pauli spin matrices operating in the $`A/B`$ indices; $`A`$ is ‘up,’ $`B`$ is ‘down,’ and the $`x`$ axis is along $`𝑲_+`$. For the $`𝑲_{}`$ components of the wavefunction, the appropriate frame ($`x`$ and $`y`$ axes) is rotated through 180 relative to that for $`𝑲_+`$. However, by an appropriate change of phases ($`\pm \pi /2`$), the $`𝑲_+`$ frame may be used for all components. The frame need not be locked to the underlying lattice, however, a fact which is very useful on nontrivial surfaces such as cones. If the coordinate frame $`\{\widehat{𝒆}_x,\widehat{𝒆}_y\}`$ in Eq. (2) is rotated by $`\theta `$ counterclockwise, and the wavefunction simultaneously transformed by multiplication by $`\mathrm{exp}(i\theta \sigma _3/2)`$, the form of the Hamiltonian is preserved. This invariance is made local, by introducing a gauge field, replacing $`\mathbf{}`$ by $`\mathbf{}i𝜶`$, where $`\alpha =\sigma _3\mathbf{}\theta /2`$.

We imagine taking the sheet in Fig. 1 with wedge $`\beta \alpha \gamma `$ missing and wrapping it up to form a cone. The edge $`\alpha \gamma `$ is then labelled by azimuthal angle $`\varphi =0`$ and $`\alpha \beta `$ by $`\varphi =2\pi `$. What are the appropriate boundary conditions? Using the four Fermi point patterns described above, one can see that, up to phases, $`|𝑲_+A;\varphi =0`$ is the same thing as $`|𝑲_{}A;\varphi =2\pi `$, and $`|𝑲_{}B;\varphi =0`$ the same as $`|𝑲_+B;\varphi =2\pi `$. There is no globally coherent distinction between $`𝑲_+`$ and $`𝑲_{}`$, a remarkable conclusion. In a sense, just as a Möbius strip has only one side, cones with odd $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$ have only one Fermi point!

Before dealing with the awkward boundary conditions, notice that the local frames $`\{\widehat{𝒆}_x,\widehat{𝒆}_y\}`$ are discontinuous across the seam. Using the local rotation invariance mentioned earlier, we orient our frames so that $`\widehat{𝒆}_x=\widehat{𝒆}_\varphi `$ points tangentially, and $`\widehat{𝒆}_y=\widehat{𝒆}_r`$ toward the apex. This change introduces a gauge fieldstrings  (now for general $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$)

$$𝜶=\frac{2\pi \widehat{𝒆}_\varphi }{\mathrm{}}\left(\frac{1}{2}\frac{n__\mathrm{\Omega }}{12}\right)\sigma _3,$$

where $`\mathrm{}=[1n__\mathrm{\Omega }/6]2\pi r`$ is the circumference of the cone at distance $`r`$ from the apex. The adjustment of the frames makes an additional contribution to the boundary conditions. The various ingredients combine to give $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\varphi =2\pi )=T(n__\mathrm{\Omega })\mathrm{\Psi }(\varphi =0)`$, where the operator $`T`$ (a holonomy) is

$$T(n__\mathrm{\Omega })=(1)\mathrm{exp}\left[2\pi i\frac{n__\mathrm{\Omega }}{4}\tau _2\right].$$
(3)
$`\tau _2`$ is the standard ($`2y`$) Pauli matrix acting on the Fermi point indices $`\pm `$. For odd $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$, the exponential factor is eliminated by a singular gauge transformation, $`\mathbf{}i𝜶\mathbf{}i𝜶i𝜷`$ with

$$𝜷=\frac{2\pi \widehat{𝒆}_\varphi }{\mathrm{}}\frac{n__\mathrm{\Omega }}{4}\tau _2.$$

Recall that in solving the ordinary Schrödinger equation on a flux-threaded ring, the vector potential can be eliminated by imposing a discontinuous boundary condition $`\psi (\theta =2\pi )=\mathrm{exp}[ie𝑨𝑑𝒍]\psi (0)`$. Here we perform essentially the reverse procedure, but our gauge field is proportional to a Pauli matrix. For even $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$, the two Fermi points are not mixed and the exponential factor is just $`1`$. So the gauge transformation need not involve $`\tau `$-matrices, but merely introduces half a flux quantum of fake magnetic flux. We deal with the first factor of $`1`$ in Eq. (3) by using anti-periodic boundary conditions.

With the rotational symmetry more manifest, we can now make a partial-wave decomposition of a general spinor as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(r,\varphi )=\underset{j}{}\chi ^{(j)}(r)e^{ij\varphi },$$
(4)
and a similar decomposition of the Hamiltonian as $`H=_jh^{(j)}`$. The total angular momentum takes on all half-integer values, $`j=\mathrm{},3/2,1/2,1/2,\mathrm{}`$. We work with a finite cone, so that the radial wavefunction $`\chi ^{(j)}`$ is in the Hilbert space of functions on $`(0,R]`$ which are square integrable with respect to $`rdr`$, and the radial Hamiltonian $`h^{(j)}`$ is of the form

$$h_\nu =v__\mathrm{F}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& _r+\left(\nu +\frac{1}{2}\right)\frac{1}{r}\\ _r+\left(\nu \frac{1}{2}\right)\frac{1}{r}& 0\end{array}\right).$$
(5)
The value of $`\nu `$ depends on $`j`$ and the type of cone involved:

$$\nu =\{\begin{array}{cc}j+\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }_0},\hfill & n__\mathrm{\Omega }=0;\hfill \\ \frac{6}{5}\left(j+\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}+\frac{\tau _2}{4}\right),\hfill & n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1;\hfill \\ \frac{3}{2}\left(j\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}\right),\hfill & n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2.\hfill \end{array}$$
(6)
We include the flat sheet ($`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=0`$, no disclination) as a ‘control,’ and also introduce a magnetic flux $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ through the disclination in order to study magnetoconductance ($`\mathrm{\Phi }_0=h/e`$ is the normal flux quantum). Notice $`\tau _2`$ in the $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ expression — energy eigenstates are superpositions of the two $`𝑲`$.

Comparing the eigenvalue equation for $`h_\nu `$ to standard recursion relations for cylinder functionsBessel ; gradshteyn  reveals the solutions to be ordinary Bessel functions:

$$\chi _{\nu ,1}^\pm (r)=\left(\begin{array}{c}J_{\nu \frac{1}{2}}(kr)\\ \pm J_{\nu +\frac{1}{2}}(kr)\end{array}\right),\nu 0$$
(7)
and

$$\chi _{\nu ,2}^\pm (r)=\left(\begin{array}{c}J_{\nu +\frac{1}{2}}(kr)\\ \pm J_{\nu \frac{1}{2}}(kr)\end{array}\right),\nu 0.$$
(8)
Thus,

$$h_\nu \chi _{\nu ,i}^\pm (r)=(\pm v__\mathrm{F}k)\chi _{\nu ,i}^\pm (r),i=1,2.$$

The indicated restrictions on $`\nu `$ involve a subtlety. It is insufficient simply to ask that $`\chi `$ and $`h_\nu \chi `$ be square integrable. That requirement says that $`\chi _{\nu ,1}`$ is acceptable for $`1/2\nu `$ and $`\chi _{\nu ,2}`$ for $`\nu 1/2`$. Also requiring that the radial Hamiltonian $`h_\nu `$ be self-adjoint, as it must, forbids both $`\chi _{\nu ,1}`$ and $`\chi _{\nu ,2}`$ in the domain of $`h_\nu `$ at the same time, except for the special case $`\nu =0`$.

Now we turn to observable consequences. The energy density of states near the apex of a cone shows a remarkable dependence on the opening angle of the cone. In fact, the strictly local density of states diverges as $`r0`$ for most cones, so we investigate instead the total density of states on a patch $`0<r\delta `$ for small $`\delta `$. This quantity is more relevant anyway for comparison to both experiments and tight-binding computations. The result is

$$D(E,\delta )\{\begin{array}{cc}E\delta ^2,\hfill & n__\mathrm{\Omega }=0;\hfill \\ E^{3/5}\delta ^{8/5},\hfill & n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1;\hfill \\ \delta ,\hfill & n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2;\hfill \end{array}$$
(9)
as illustrated schematically in figure 3.

Eq. (9) is derived as follows. From the large-$`x`$ asymptotic formula $`J_n(x)\left(2/\pi x\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{cos}\left[x\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)\frac{\pi }{2}\right]`$, we deduce a normalization factor of $`c=\left(\pi k/2R\right)^{1/2}`$ for our $`\chi _{\nu ,i}^\pm `$ functions. The only values of $`j`$ which contribute significantly to the density of states near $`r=0`$ are $`j=\pm 1/2`$ for $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=0,1`$ and $`j=1/2`$ for $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$, and the leading order behavior of $`J_n`$ is used to integrate over a small disk. Finally, the spacing of $`k`$ values is $`\mathrm{\Delta }k=\pi /R`$ ($`2\pi /R`$ for $`j=1/2`$ and $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$). Thus, the total density of states in the $`\delta `$-disk contributed by states associated with Bessel function order $`n`$ is

$$D(k,\delta ,n)c^2\frac{|k\delta |^{2n}\delta ^2}{v__\mathrm{F}\mathrm{\Delta }k}|E|^{2n+1}\delta ^{2(n+1)}.$$

Inserting appropriate values for $`n`$, we get Eq. (9).

Strikingly, the low-energy density of states for the $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ cone has a cusp at $`E_F`$, and the cone with two sectors missing has a non-zero density of states near the Fermi level. An actual cone with the $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$ opening angle probably actually has a pair of $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ defects. However, if the two pentagons are very near each other, we expect this conclusion to remain valid. These remarkable results should be observable in STM spectroscopy, so long as they are distinguished from the local effect of bond strain in the pentagonal defect(s).

Although the continuum description lacks atomistic detail, the qualitative conclusions agree well with an earlier atomistic computationjapanese  of (apical) local densities of states using a one-orbital tight-binding model for similar structures. Direct comparison with our Eq. (9) can be made, bearing in mind the low-energy restriction on our calculations. In references japanese, , it was suggested that the states contributing to the non-zero density of states at $`E__\mathrm{F}`$ for $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$ are (power-law) localized. Our calculations show that they are extended states which are enhanced in the vicinity of the apex.

A mesoscopic normal metal ring in a perpendicular magnetic field exhibits oscillations as the flux through the ring is variedAronov-Sharvin . The longest period of oscillation is one normal flux quantum $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0=h/e`$, corresponding essentially to the Aharonov-Bohm effect, and first observed in this context in the mid-1980’swebb . Manufacturing such a ring from a graphitic cone seems possible. The apex could be etched away with acid, or cut off with an STM. Such manipulation does not change $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }`$ because it measures a topological property — the number of missing sectors, or equivalently, the opening angle.

The magnetoconductance of such conical rings also shows profound sensitivity to the opening angle. Although we could argue directly from the holonomies, it is perhaps simpler to appeal to Eq. (6). These expressions are still valid for a ring, even though the subsequent analysis was specific to a cone with only the apical point removed. For $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=0`$ and $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$, the Hamiltonian is $`SU(2)_K`$ invariant (the $`SU(2)`$ group acts on the $`𝑲_\pm `$ indices), so that the two Fermi points produce two independent branches of excitations which respond identically to a magnetic flux. Each branch exhibits its own magnetoconductance, which has period $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$, just as in an ordinary metal, and the phases are identical. The total response therefore also has fundamental period $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$.

In an $`n__\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ ring, on the other hand, the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ component of the oscillations is extinguished. From Eq. (6), we see that the $`\tau _2=+1`$ ($`\tau _2=1`$) branch behaves as though it were subjected to a flux of $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/4`$ ($`\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/4`$). This relative shift of the magnetoconductance curves causes cancellation of the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ periodic component. Cones with intact apices will also show novel magnetic phenomena, including the prospect for field-tuneable radial charge density waves.

Our neglect of disorder and inelastic scattering in this discussion should be permissible up to the micron length scale. The elastic scattering length, $`\mathrm{}_p`$, in single-wall nanotubesballistic  is believed to range up to many microns and there is direct evidence that the phase coherence length ($`\mathrm{}_\varphi `$) at room temperature is also that longcoherent . A graphitic ring would be expected to have a somewhat reduced $`\mathrm{}_p`$, due to rough edges, but $`\mathrm{}_\varphi `$ is likely comparable to that in the tube.

In conclusion, we demonstrate that graphene cones, which have been experimentally produced, but not yet adequately studied, comprise a new class of nanoscale carbon wherein phase frustration induces profound modulations of the low-energy electronic properties. These rotational phase defects (induced by topological lattice defects) leave distinctive and non-trivial local and global imprints on the electronic structure of graphitic cones. We predict two specific phenomena flowing from this observation: apical enhancement of density of states and an anomalous magnetoconductance.

We gratefully acknowledge the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the National Science Foundation through grant DMR–9876232.


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# Ultra - High Energy Cosmic Rays from decay of the Super Heavy Dark Matter Relics.

## I Introduction

The origin of Ultra – High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) with energy above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK)  cutoff, $`E_{GZK}10^{20}`$ eV, is one of the most intriguing mysteries of the modern physics and astrophysics. After the pioneering papers  and recent observations of the UHECR energy power spectra by AGASA , Fly’s Eye  and Haverah Park , several possible mechanisms of the UHECR production were discussed (see reviews ).

In this paper we consider the so-called Top-Down scenario of the UHECR creation which is associated with decays of Super Heavy Dark Matter (SHDM) particles with masses $`m_{SHDM}>10^{12}`$ GeV. This mechanism was for the first time suggested by Berezinsky, Kachelrie$`ß`$ and Vilenkin  (see also ) and now it seems to be a natural way of explaining the origin of UHECR with energies above the GZK cutoff.

Several kinds of SHDM particles which could be created in the early Universe are discussed in literature. Particles with masses of about one to two orders of magnitude larger than the typical mass of inflaton, $`m_\varphi 10^{13}`$ GeV, could be very efficiently created at the preheating phase of inflation . SHDM particles can also be related to topological defects, such as strings , magnetic monopoles , necklaces  and vortons .

The possible contribution of primordial black hole relics (PBHs) to the dark matter (DM) were discussed already in  and . Recently Dolgov, Naselsky and Novikov  considered PBHs with masses $`M_{PBH}10^6`$ g as possible sources of the baryonic asymmetry and the high entropy of the Universe. They assume that remnants of such black holes with masses of about Planck mass survive up to now and form the SHDM relics. Mergers of these remnants within high density clumps creates more massive black holes, stimulates their explosive evaporation and could produce ultra–high energy particles observed as rare UHECRs.

This discussion shows that, in the framework of the Top-Down scenario, the UHECR can be related to various kinds of SHDM particles with masses $`10^{12}m_X10^{19}`$GeV. (Below by $`X`$ we denote all possible types of SHDM).

Now the possible energy losses of the UHECR are well established  and observational predictions of the Top-Down scenario of the UHECR creation crucially depend upon unknown factors such as the mass of the SHDM particles, energy spectrum and composition of decay products. It is commonly believed, that the observed UHECR spectrum at both $`EE_{GZK}`$ and $`EE_{GZK}`$ is dominated mainly by local sources and it simply reproduces the spectra of injected protons. However, at energies $`EE_{GZK}`$, the complex shape of observed UHECR fluxes shows that it can be more sensitive to extragalactic component of high energy protons and, so, can depend upon the unknown factors mentioned above. Detailed investigation of the spectrum and anisotropy of UHECR in the range $`E/E_{GZK}`$ 0.1 can discriminate between discussed versions of the Top-Down models and restrict some parameters of the SHDM particles and the process of proton creation.

As is commonly believed, decays of SHDM particles into the high energy protons, photons, electron-positron pairs and neutrinos occurs through the production of quark-antiquark pairs ($`Xq,\overline{q}`$), which rapidly hadronize and generate two jets and transform the energy into pions ($``$95%) and hadrons ($``$ 5%) . It can be expected that later most of that energy is transformed into high energy photons and neutrinos with the energy spectrum $`S(E)E^{1.5}`$, at $`EM_X`$ . Similar spectrum for the hadronic component is also expected. This means that, for such decays of SHDM particles with $`10^{12}<m_X<10^{19}`$ GeV, the UHECR with energies $`E>10^{20}`$ eV are dominated by photons and neutrinos . This conclusion can be tested with further observations of the UHECR fluxes at $`E>10^{20}`$eV.

Other spectra of protons generated by decays of SHDM particles are also discussed. In particular, such spectrum can be similar to Gaussian or $`\delta `$-function centered at $`E_Xm_X10^{20}`$eV. In this case the spectrum of protons created by nearby sources will be also similar to the same $`\delta `$-function while the spectrum of the extragalactic component is $`E^1`$ at both $`E<E_{GZK}`$ and $`E>E_{GZK}`$ and is consistent with the observed one at $`EE_{GZK}`$.

Recently Berezinsky and Kachelrie$`ß`$  discussed Monte Carlo simulations of the jet fragmentation in SUSY- QCD. They found that the spectrum of injected protons can be well fitted to log-normal distribution. Farrar and Piran  discussed the spectrum of injected protons $`S(E)E^\alpha `$, with $`0<\alpha `$ 1 in the Top-Down model of the UHECR origin. We show that, for such spectra, the flux of extragalactic protons at $`EE_{GZK}`$ is also consistent with the observed one.

Another important factor is the observed anisotropy of the UHECR distribution over the sky. As was discussed by Berezinsky et al. , both CDM and SHDM particles are clustered within galactic halos and their decays inevitably generate some anisotropy. In particular, if the contribution of Galactic sources dominates we will see an anisotropy of the UHECR due to our asymmetric position in the Galaxy. In contrast, the extragalactic component of UHECRs is averaged over the volume with a size $``$ 50 Mpc and its angular distribution is almost isotropic. The contributions of closest galaxies and the Local Supercluster of galaxies could also be observed.

The relative contributions of Galactic and extragalactic UHECRs sources depend upon many unknown factors such as the size of galactic halo, overdensity and spatial distribution of SHDM particles within the halo . However, for larger energy of injection, $`E_{inj}10^410^5E_{GZK}`$, and for Gaussian, log-normal and power spectra of injected protons with $`\alpha `$ 0.6, the contribution of extragalactic UHECRs dominates at $`EE_{GZK}`$, whereas at both less and larger energies the contribution of galactic sources becomes more important. This means that the anisotropy of angular distribution of UHECRs depends upon their energy and, for the Top-Down model with spectra under discussion, it is minimal at $`EE_{GZK}`$.

In this paper we recalculate the contribution of the extragalactic component of UHECR for different life – time, masses of the SHDM particles $`10^{12}`$GeV$`m_X10^{19}`$GeV, and spectra of injected proton. We show that the relative contributions of galactic and extragalactic components of high energy protons depend upon these factors. For the most interesting models, the extragalactic component is found to be dominant at $`EE_{GZK}`$ and the expected flux is well consistent with observations. The expected angular distribution on the sky of observed UHECR flux depends upon the energy of protons near the GZK cutoff and its variations should be considered as an important test for the Top–Down models.

Some cosmological manifestations of decays of SHDM particles can also be observed. In particular, decays of SHDM particles with masses $`m_X10^{19}`$ GeV can delay the recombination of hydrogen at redshifts $`z`$ 1000. This inference is especially important for discussion of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy and polarization power spectra. The same decays can increase the hydrogen ionization at smaller redshifts and accelerate the formation of first population of stars and galaxies. These manifestations can be tested with both available and future measurements of the CMB anisotropy and polarization.

The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we discuss the spectra of extragalactic protons for different spectra of injected protons, in section 3 the combined flux of galactic and extragalactic sources is compared with observations. In section 4 we discuss the possible delay of hydrogen recombination due to decays of the SHDM particles. Main results are discussed in section 4.

## II Expected spectrum of high energy protons

In this paper we use the continual energy loss (CEL) approximation and describe the evolution of the number density of high energy extragalactic protons by the following equation:

$$\frac{N(E,t)}{t}+3H(t)N+\frac{}{E}\left(N\frac{dE}{dt}\right)=I(E,t),$$
(1)
$$\frac{1}{E}\frac{dE}{dt}=H+H_0\beta (E),\beta (E)=\beta _\gamma (E)+\beta _\pi (E),$$
(2)
$$I=\omega _p\frac{n_0}{\tau _0}(1+z)^3S(E),H=\frac{1}{1+z}\frac{dz}{dt}=H_0(1+z)^{3/2},$$

where $`E`$ and $`N(E,t)`$ are the energy and number density of protons per unit of energy, $`H(t)`$ is the Hubble constant, $`H_0=100h`$ km/s/Mpc = 75 km/s/Mpc, $`z`$ is a redshift, the functions $`I(E,t)`$ and $`S(E)`$ characterize the intensity and spectrum of injected protons, $`\omega _pn_0/\tau _0`$ is the intensity of proton production at $`z=0`$ , functions $`\beta _\gamma (E)`$ and $`\beta _\pi (E)`$ describe the proton energy losses due to electron – positron pairs and photo-pions production and $`\omega _p0.05`$ is the fraction of protons in the SHDM particles decay.

The general solution of equation (1) is

$$N_{ex}(E_0,t_0)=_1^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dx}{x^4}\frac{E}{E_0}\frac{x^1+\beta (E)}{1+\beta (E_0)}\frac{I(E,x)}{H(x)}=$$

$$\frac{\omega _pn_0}{H_0\tau _0}_1^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dx}{x^{5/2}}\frac{E}{E_0}\frac{x^1+\beta (E)}{1+\beta (E_0)}S(E(x)),$$
(3)
where $`E=E(x)`$, $`E_0=E(z=0)`$, $`t_0=t(z=0)`$. This means that, in fact, the observed flux of extragalactic UHECRs depends upon the functions $`\beta (E)`$ and $`S(E)`$.

### A Energy losses of protons

For protons with $`EE_{GZK}(1+z)^1`$, the free path, $`D(E)`$, is determined by photo-pion production on CMB photons. Following  we approximate this energy loss by the function:

$$\beta _\pi =(1+z)^3\kappa _\pi ,(1+z)ϵ1,$$
(4)
$$\beta _\pi =(1+z)^3\kappa _\pi ϵ^{p_1},1(1+z)ϵϵ_1,$$
(5)
$$\beta _\pi =(1+z)^3\kappa _\pi ϵ^{p_2}ϵ_1^{p_1p_2},ϵ_1(1+z)ϵϵ_2,$$
(6)
$$\beta _\pi =(1+z)^3\kappa _\pi ϵ^{p_3}ϵ_1^{p_1p_2}ϵ_2^{p_2p_3},ϵ_2(1+z)ϵ,$$
(7)
$$ϵ_10.6,ϵ_20.27,p_11.3,p_24,p_30.3,$$

$$ϵ=E/E_{GZK},E_{GZK}1.510^{20}eV,$$

$$\kappa _\pi =\frac{cH_0^1}{D(E_{GZK})}160,D(E_{GZK})=25\mathrm{M}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c}.$$

where the redshift dependence of density and temperature of CMB is taken into account. The function $`\beta (E_{GZK})/\beta (E)=D(E)/D(E_{GZK})`$ is plotted in Fig. 1.

For $`EE_{GZK}`$, the energy losses due to $`e^+e^{}`$ pair production dominates (for review, see ) and

$$\beta _\gamma 0.005(1+z)^3\kappa _\pi .$$
(8)
For these functions $`\beta (E)`$, the redshifts variations of the proton energy can be found analytically as follows:

$$E(z_2)=E(z_1)\frac{1+z_2}{1+z_1}G_e(z_1,z_2),\beta (E)=\kappa =const,$$
(9)
$$G_e(z_1,z_2)=\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{2}{3}\kappa [(1+z_2)^{3/2}(1+z_1)^{3/2}]\right),$$

$$E(z_2)=E(z_1)\frac{1+z_2}{1+z_1}G_p(z_1,z_2),\beta (E)=\kappa ϵ^p,$$
(10)
$$G_p^p(z_1,z_2)=1\kappa \frac{pϵ^p(z_1)}{p+3/2}(1+z_1)^{3/2}\left[\left(\frac{1+z_2}{1+z_1}\right)^{p+3/2}1\right].$$

For $`p0`$, $`G_p(z_1,z_2)G_e(z_1,z_2)`$ and the expression (10) becomes identical to (9).

### B Galactic and extragalactic protons

The high concentration of the SHDM particles within the halo of Galaxy generates the galactic component of UHECRs, $`N_{gal}`$. Its spectrum reproduces the spectrum of generated protons. For the popular King’s profile of density distribution in halo,

$$\rho (r)=\rho _c(1+r^2/r_g^2)^{3/2},$$
(11)
with the size of the core $`r_g10`$kpc (see, e.g., ), the relative contribution of galactic and extragalactic components can be roughly estimated as follows:

$$N_{gal}(E)=\omega _p\frac{n_0}{\tau _0}\frac{r_g}{c}\delta _gS(E)=\zeta _{gal}\frac{\omega _pn_0}{H_0\tau _0}S(E),$$
(12)
$$\zeta _{gal}\frac{H_0r_g}{c}\delta _g=0.3\frac{r_g}{10\mathrm{k}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c}}\frac{\delta _g}{10^5}.$$
(13)
where $`\delta _g`$ is the overdensity of the core above the mean density of DM component. More detailed analysis  extends the range of possible ratio of galactic to extragalactic components up to $`\zeta _{gal}`$30 – 50. Further on for comparison of galactic and extragalactic fluxes, we will take $`\zeta _{gal}`$ 10.

#### 1 Spectra of extragalactic protons

Both the observed fluxes and relative contributions of galactic and extragalactic components depend upon the spectrum of injected protons, $`S(E)`$. To illustrate this dependence we consider the normalized power spectra with exponents $`\alpha `$ 1 and $`\alpha `$ 1 and the log-normal spectrum proposed in .

Spectrum with $`\alpha =1.5>1`$ and $`E_{min}EE_{inj}`$,

$$S_{pw}(E)=\frac{\alpha 1}{E_{min}}\left(\frac{E}{E_{min}}\right)^\alpha \left(1\frac{E}{E_{inj}}\right)^2,$$
(14)
is usually used to describe the decay of particles with moderate masses. It is model dependent and its applicability to the decay of extremely massive X-particles is in question (see, e.g., discussion in ). For such spectrum, using (3), we obtain

$$N_{ex}=\frac{\omega _pn_0}{H_0\tau _0}\frac{\alpha 1}{E_{min}}\left(\frac{E_0}{E_{min}}\right)^\alpha \nu (E_0,\alpha ).$$
(15)
The dimensionless function $`\nu (E_0,\alpha )`$ weakly depends upon $`\alpha `$ and describes how the flux of extragalactic protons varies with energy at $`E_0E_{GZK}`$. Numerically, $`\nu (E_{GZK},1.5)10^2`$.

As is seen from (15) in this case both spectra of extragalactic and galactic protons are similar and the contribution of extragalactic component to the observed fluxes of UHECR is small, because $`\nu \zeta _{gal}`$.

Spectra of injected protons with $`\alpha 1`$,

$$S_{pw}(E)=\frac{c(\alpha )}{E_{inj}}\left(\frac{E}{E_{inj}}\right)^\alpha \left(1\frac{E}{E_{inj}}\right)^2,$$
(16)
$$c(\alpha )=0.5(1\alpha )(2\alpha )(3\alpha ),$$

seem to be more promising. For such spectra with $`\alpha `$ 0.6 and $`E_{inj}10^2E_{GZK}`$, we have almost universal spectrum of extragalactic protons,

$$N_{ex}(E_0)=\frac{\omega _pn_0}{H_0\tau _0}E_0^1\mu (E_0,E_{inj},\alpha ),$$
(17)
$$\mu (E_{GZK},E_{inj},\alpha )(0.51.5)10^2.$$
(18)
for models with large and short life – time of the SHDM particles, respectively. Dimensionless function $`\mu (E_0,\alpha )`$ weakly depends upon $`E_{inj}`$ and $`\alpha `$ and describes variations of the flux of extragalactic protons with energy at $`E_0E_{GZK}`$. For such spectra of injected protons galactic component dominates only at high energy when

$$\left(\frac{E_0}{E_{inj}}\right)^{1\alpha }\frac{\mu (E_0,E_{inj},\alpha )}{c(\alpha )\zeta _{gal}}.$$
(19)
We consider also the log-normal spectra of injected protons recently proposed in  ( see also ) ,

$$S_{ln}(E)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi }E\sigma _{inj}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{\mathrm{ln}^2(E/E_{inj})}{2\sigma _{inj}^2}\right),$$
(20)
with $`\sigma _{inj}=`$3 – 7 and the same two energies of injection as above. In this case the spectrum of extragalactic protons is also almost universal and similar to (17) with a similar function $`\mu (E_0,E_{inj},\sigma _{inj})`$. For such spectrum, the contribution of galactic sources is shifted to energy $`E_0E_{inj}\mathrm{exp}(\sigma _{inj})`$ and dominates only at high energy when

$$\mathrm{ln}^2\left(\frac{E_0}{E_{inj}}\right)2\sigma _{inj}^2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{\zeta _{gal}}{\sqrt{2\pi }\mu \sigma _{inj}}\right).$$
(21)
#### 2 Cumulative fluxes of galactic and extragalactic protons

As is seen from (15) for the spectra of injected protons with $`\alpha `$ 1 the contribution of galactic protons dominates at all energies for $`\zeta _{gal}\nu (E_{GZK},\alpha )10^2`$. In contrast, for both spectra with power index $`\alpha `$ 1 and log– normal spectra of injected protons, the galactic component dominates only at higher energies as is given by (19) and (21).

Comparison of the cumulative fluxes of these components shows that, for both spectra (16) and (20), the extragalactic component dominates when

$$\zeta _{gal}\mu (E_{GZK})\mathrm{ln}(E_{inj}/E_{GZK}).$$
(22)
Due to the universal spectrum of extragalactic protons (17), this estimate does not depend upon detailed characteristics of spectra of injected protons and shows that even for $`E_{inj}10^8E_{GZK}`$ the cumulative extragalactic component dominates only for $`\zeta _{gal}`$ 0.1 – 0.3, for large and short life – time of the SHDM particles. These values are close to the estimate (13) but are less then those discussed in . This means that, for both spectra (16) and (20), the domination of galactic component could be expected at $`EE_{inj}E_{GZK}`$.

## III Expected flux of protons for Top–Down models

Here we consider the Top–Down models for two injection energy, $`E_{inj}=10^2E_{GZK}`$ and $`E_{inj}=10^8E_{GZK}`$. The first model is related to decays of SHDM particles with moderate masses often discussed in literature (see, e.g., ). The second model describes the decay of ultra massive particles such as, for example, explosive evaporation of black hole remnants discussed in Dolgov, Naselsky & Novikov .

To illustrate the influence of the life – time of the SHDM particles, $`\tau _0`$, we consider two models, one with $`\tau _0`$ larger than the age of the Universe, $`T_UH_0^1`$, and other with $`\tau _00.1T_U`$.

The normalized expected fluxes of UHE protons,

$$F(ϵ_0)=\frac{dJ(E_0)}{dE_0}\frac{E_0^3}{10^{24}eV^2m^2ster^1s^1}$$
(23)
are plotted in Figs. 2 – 5 versus $`ϵ_0=E_0/E_{GZK}`$ together with available observational data. We show the fluxes of extragalactic component alone and combined fluxes for extragalactic and galactic components for $`\zeta _{gal}`$=10.

### A Models with power spectra of injected protons

As was noted above, for power spectra (14) with larger exponent $`\alpha =1.51`$, the contribution of extragalactic component, $`N_{ex}(E_0)`$, weakly depends upon the energy of injection and is negligible in comparison with the contribution of the galactic component. These results are a natural consequence of predominant generation of lower energy protons in such models. Of course, for suitable choice of decay rate, $`n_0/\tau _0`$, the galactic component can explain the observed growth of flux at $`EE_{GZK}`$.

#### 1 Models with $`\alpha `$ 1 and larger life–time of the SHDM particles, $`\tau _0T_U`$

For models with smaller exponents, $`\alpha =`$0.5 and 0.25, and moderate energy of injection, $`E_{inj}=10^2E_{GZK}`$, plotted in Fig. 2, the resulting flux is sensitive to the contribution of galactic component and, for the most interesting energies $`E_00.20.3E_{GZK}`$, the impact of extragalactic component becomes noticeable only for $`\zeta _{loc}`$ 1. These results agree with approximate estimates (19).

For models with high energy of injection, $`E_{inj}=10^8E_{GZK}`$, and with smaller exponents, $`\alpha =`$0.5 and 0.25, the expected spectrum of extragalactic component is similar to (17), and the resulting flux is weakly sensitive to the contribution of the galactic component. For the most interesting energies, $`E_0E_{GZK}`$, the extragalactic component dominates, at least for $`\zeta _{gal}`$30.

Results plotted in Fig. 3 show that, for suitable decay rate,

$$\omega _pn_0/\tau _010^{46}cm^3s^1,$$
(24)
such models reproduce quite well the observed fluxes of UHECR with energies $`E0.1E_{GZK}`$.

#### 2 Models with shorter life-time of the SHDM particles

In models with shorter life – time of the SHDM particles, $`\tau _00.125T_U`$, the number density of SHDM particles rapidly decreases with time due to their progressive decays what, in turn, increases the contribution of extragalactic component for 0.1 $`E_0/E_{GZK}`$ 1. In spite of this, for models with moderate energy of injection, $`E_{inj}=10^2E_{GZK}`$, this factor cannot essentially amplify the contribution of extragalactic component and it becomes noticeable only for $`\zeta _{gal}<`$10.

However, for models with ultra – high energy of injection, $`E_{inj}=10^8E_{GZK}`$, and smaller exponents, $`\alpha =0.5`$ and $`\alpha =0.25`$, results plotted in Fig. 4 for $`\tau _0=0.125T_U`$, demonstrate that, for $`E_00.06E_{GZK}`$, the extragalactic component dominates. For the decay rate

$$\frac{\omega _pn_0}{\tau _0}0.310^{46}cm^3s^1,n_0\omega _p^110^{30}cm^3,$$
(25)
it reproduces quite well the observed flux of UHECR for energy $`E0.06E_{GZK}`$. If SHDMs are identified with primordial black holes with $`M_{pbh}10^5g`$ then the mean densities of SHDMs at $`z=0`$ and at $`z`$ 1 are

$$\rho (0)\omega _p^110^{35}gcm^3,$$
(26)
$$\frac{\rho (z)}{(1+z)^3}\omega _p^1\left(10^{31}10^{32}\right)gcm^3\rho _{cr},$$
(27)
respectively.

### B Models with log-normal spectra of injected protons

For log-normal spectra of injected protons, $`S_{ln}`$, (20), with moderate dispersions $`\sigma _{inj}=5`$ and energies of decays $`E_{inj}=10^2E_{GZK}`$ and $`E_{inj}=10^8E_{GZK}`$, the resulting fluxes of UHECRs, for $`\zeta _{gal}=10`$, are plotted in Fig. 5. For models with larger $`E_{inj}`$, the expected flux at $`E_0E_{GZK}`$ is dominated by the extragalactic component and reproduces the observed flux variations. In contrast, for models with smaller $`E_{inj}`$ the expected flux is dominated by the galactic component and is far from the observed one. The contribution of galactic sources at $`E_0E_{GZK}`$ depends upon $`\zeta _{gal}`$ and rapidly decreases for larger $`E_{inj}`$ and smaller $`\sigma _{inj}`$.

At $`EE_{GZK}`$ the extragalactic flux is more sensitive to the life – time of SHDM particles. As is seen from Fig. 5 for the decay rate of SHDM particles (24) and longer life – time, $`\tau _0T_U`$, the resulting fluxes, for $`E_00.3E_{GZK}`$, describe quite well the observations. For shorter life – time, $`\tau _00.1T_U`$, and the decay rate of SHDM particles (25), this fluxes reproduce well the observations up to $`E_00.06E_{GZK}`$.

## IV Some cosmological manifestations of decays of SHDM particles

The injection of energy due to decays of SHDM particles during the ”dark ages”, at redshifts $`10^3z10`$, leads also to interesting consequences some of which can be tested with available and/or future observations. Such consequences were recently discussed by Peebles, Seager and Hu () in the framework of a simple toy model. Here we repeat this analysis using results obtained above.

The decays of SHDM particles produce, among others, many high energy photons and electron – positron pairs which, after reduction of their energy in electromagnetic cascades, are converted into $`Ly\alpha `$ and $`Lyc`$ photons with energies $`E_\alpha =10.2`$eV and $`E_c=13.6`$eV, respectively. The efficiency of such conversion is small due to high complexity of these cascades. To avoid many assumptions required for discussion of the final intensity and spectrum of photons at energy of interest we will assume, following , that the decays of SHDM particles lead to creation of $`Lyc`$ and $`Ly\alpha `$ photons with a rate

$$\frac{dn_{ph}}{dt}\epsilon _{ph}\frac{E_{inj}}{E_\alpha }\frac{n_0}{\tau _0}\left(\frac{1+z}{1000}\right)^310^{10}\frac{\epsilon _{ph}}{cm^3s},$$
(28)
where, for numerical estimates, we use $`E_{inj}=10^8E_{GZK}10^{28}`$ eV, the decay rate $`n_0/\tau _0=10^{46}cm^3s^1`$, and $`\epsilon _{ph}`$ 1 characterizes the unknown efficiency of energy transformation to $`Lyc`$ and $`Ly\alpha `$ photons.

Comparing the rate of photons creation (28) with the rates discussed in ,

$$\frac{dn_\alpha }{dt}=\epsilon _\alpha n_HH2.510^{14}\left(\frac{1+z}{1000}\right)^{9/2}\frac{\epsilon _\alpha }{cm^3s},$$
(29)
we see that, for $`\epsilon _\alpha `$ 1 – 10 and correspondingly for

$$\epsilon _{ph}310^4\epsilon _\alpha 10^410^3,$$
(30)
the impact of discussed decays of SHDM particles effectively delays the recombination of hydrogen and leads to measurable distortions of the observed spectra of CMB fluctuations at angular wave numbers $`l100200`$ (see detailed discussion in ).

For shorter life – time of SHDM particles, $`\tau _00.125T_U`$, the decay rate at redshifts $`z`$ 10 increases by about a factor of $`10^3`$ in comparison with (28) and wider range of $`E_{inj}`$ and $`\epsilon _{ph}`$ can also be considered. The impact of the factor $`\omega _p`$ omitted in (28) will also reinforce these estimates.

At smaller redshifts, $`z`$ 500, generated Ly–c photons partly ionize neutral hydrogen. For small ionization degree of hydrogen, $`x_H`$ 1, all Ly–c photons are rapidly absorbed and $`x_H`$ can be found from the equilibrium equation which describes the conservation of number of electrons and Ly–c photons together,

$$\frac{dn_{ph}}{dt}=\alpha _{rec}^{}n_en_p=\alpha _{rec}^{}n_b^2x_H^2$$
(31)
where $`\alpha _{rec}^{}210^{13}(T/10^4K)`$ is the recombination coefficient for states with the principle quantum number $`n`$2, $`T/10^4K0.03[(1+z)/100]^2`$ is the temperature of hydrogen under the condition of small ionization, $`n_b0.24(\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2/0.02)[(1+z)/100]^3`$ is the mean number density of baryons, and $`n_p=n_e=x_Hn_b`$. For simplicity, we neglected here the contribution of helium.

As follows from Eqs. (28) and (31), the expected degree of hydrogen ionization is

$$x_H\sqrt{\epsilon _{ph}}\left(\frac{1+z}{100}\right)^{3/4}.$$
(32)
For $`\epsilon _{ph}10^6`$, this degree is higher than the degree of remaining hydrogen ionization after recombination, $`x_H10^3`$. For shorter life – time of SHDM particles, $`\tau _00.125T_U`$, the decay rate at redshifts of interest grows by about a factor of $`10^3`$ and increases the ionization degree up to

$$x_H\sqrt{10^3\epsilon _{ph}}\left(\frac{1+z}{100}\right)^{3/4},$$
(33)
that again essentially extends the range of acceptable $`E_{inj}`$ and $`\epsilon _{ph}`$.

The considered growth of $`x_H`$, at redshifts $`z`$ 500, does not increase significantly the optical depth for Thompson scattering, $`\tau _T`$, because

$$\frac{d\tau _T}{dz}x_H(1+z)^{3/2}.$$

So, it does not amplify perturbations of the observed spectra of CMB fluctuations as compared with distortions generated at redshifts $`z`$ 1000. But this growth essentially accelerates the creation of molecules $`H_2`$ and therefore formation and cooling of first galaxies.

These results were obtained when the extragalactic component of UHECR, discussed in Sec. III, dominates. These estimates can be also repeated for decays of more massive SHDM particles and usually discussed spectra of injected protons, with $`\alpha =1.5`$ and $`n_0/\tau _010^{46}cm^3s^1`$.

## V Summary and discussion

Available information about possible properties of SHDM particles and, in particular, about their life – time, energy and spectra of injected protons is now very limited, and, in fact, the analysis of UHECR can be considered as an experimental test for particle interactions at ultra – high energy. Results obtained in previous Sections show that under quite natural assumptions about the energy, life–time and spectrum of injected protons, a reasonable explanation of the observed fluxes of UHECR can be achieved. The CEL approximation used in this paper describes quite well the expected fluxes at $`EE_{GZK}`$ but, for larger energies, the observed fluxes can be essentially distorted due to random character of energy losses above the GZK cutoff .

For both log-normal and power spectra of injected protons, $`S_{ln}`$ (20) and $`S_{pw}`$ (16), with $`E_{inj}10^5E_{GZK}`$ and $`\alpha `$1, and for suitable intensity of proton creation and life – time of SHDM particles, our results are consistent with the observed fluxes for $`E_00.06E_{GZK}`$. They demonstrate that, for $`E_0E_{GZK}`$, the observed flux of UHECR can be mainly related to the extragalactic component. For such spectra of injected protons, the expected flux is found to be moderately sensitive to assumptions about the galactic sources, the energy of injection for $`E_{inj}10^5E_{GZK}`$ and to values of $`\alpha `$ 0.6 and $`\sigma _{inj}`$ 10 for power and log-normal spectra, respectively. In contrast, for the models with power spectra and $`\alpha `$ 1 (14), and for models with smaller energy of injection, $`E_{inj}10^210^3E_{GZK}`$, the contribution of extragalactic component of UHECR is small, the galactic component dominates and the observed fluxes cannot be reproduced.

### A Anisotropy of UHECRs

For models under consideration with ultra – high energy of injection, the observed fluxes for $`E_0`$ 0.1 – 10$`E_{GZK}`$ are mainly related to the almost isotropic extragalactic component generated at redshifts $`z`$ 0.1– 0.2. At smaller and larger energies domination of the galactic component leads to an essential growth of anisotropy. This means that the anisotropy of angular distribution of observed UHECR is expected to be minimal for the energy range $`E_0`$ 0.1 – 10$`E_{GZK}`$.

To illustrate this statement we plot in Fig.6 the galactic and extragalactic fluxes separately for log–normal spectrum of injected protons for three values of $`\zeta _{gal}`$. As is seen from this Fig., for $`\zeta _{gal}`$ 30 more isotropic extragalactic component dominates at $`E`$ 1– 10$`E_{GZK}`$ while for $`\zeta _{gal}`$ 30 stronger anisotropy will be generated for all energies by the dominant galactic component. These variations of the anisotropy allow to test these versions of the Top – Down models. The composition of extragalactic component of UHECR and, in particular, the possible contribution of high energy photons can also be considered as an important test of the model under discussion.

For simplicity and due to qualitative character of our analysis, we consider the CDM dominated flat cosmological model only. Evidently, these results can be recalculated in the same manner for other cosmological models and, in particular, for the most popular $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM flat model. Of course, for such cosmological models some of the parameters used here will be changed. However, even for such models the main qualitative results concerning the influence of the life – time, mass and spectra of injected protons will remain.

### B Cosmological manifestations of decays of SHDM particles

The discussed cosmological manifestations of the Top-Down model of UHECR generation provide an indirect test of this model. As is seen from evaluations given in Sec. IV for the high masses of SHDM particles and energy of injection $`E_{inj}/E_{GZK}10^8`$, the effective delay of the cosmological recombination is possible for reasonable values of efficiency of creation of Layman photons. For models with decays of vortons, necklaces and other particles with $`E_{inj}/E_{GZK}10^8`$ these cosmological manifestations are negligible.

The expected distortions of CMB fluctuations due to delayed recombination can be directly tested with the available modern balloon-born experiments (MAXIMA-1  and BOOMERANG ) and future – MAP and PLANCK satellite missions – by measuring the CMB anisotropy and polarization power spectra. These problems will be discussed elsewhere.

### C Expected composition of UHECR and restrictions of the Top–Down models

Special problem is the composition of expected UHECRs. As is well known, decay products are dominated by pions, photons and neutrinos while high energy protons make up only small part of these products. Therefore in the Top–Down models the observed flux of protons is accompanied by noticeable flux of high energy photons, electron - positron pairs and neutrinos. Probable energy losses of neutrinos are small , they are concentrated at $`EE_{inj}E_{GZK}`$ and could be responsible only for relatively rare observed events. But the comparison of expected and observed fluxes of high energy photons restricts some properties of SHDM particles and the Top–Down model as a whole ().

The models under consideration predict the creation of high energy photons with $`EE_{inj}E_{GZK}`$. The possible evolution of such photons is quite uncertain as it depends upon unknown factors such as the extragalactic magnetic field and properties of radio background. For photons with $`E_\gamma E_{GZK}`$, the free path, $`D_\gamma 100(1+z)^3`$Mpc, is, probably, defined by the process of double pair production in the CMB photons, $`\gamma \gamma _be^+e^{}e^+e^{}`$ , which leads to formation of less energy photons in electromagnetic cascades. For photons with $`E_\gamma E_{GZK}`$, the free path, $`D_\gamma `$ 1 Mpc$`(E/E_{GZK})`$ , is defined in main by their interaction with a badly known radio background.

The flux and spectrum of the extragalactic component of photons differ from those expected for the protons. They depend upon the adopted life-time of the SHDM particles, properties of the electromagnetic cascades and radio background, and other factors. This complicated problem requires special detailed discussion.

However, estimates of the photon free–path show that, for decays of the SHDM particles, the galactic component is dominated by photons with the spectrum of injection. The cumulative contribution of the photons is more then the cumulative contribution of the protons by a factor of $`\omega _p^1`$ 1. This means that even for models under consideration the cumulative observed flux of UHECRs at energy $`EE_{GZK}`$ is also dominated by galactic component of photons with $`EE_{inj}E_{GZK}`$. This conclusion follows from quite general arguments and, in fact, the discrimination of high energy photon component of UHECRs can be considered as the crucial test for the Top–Down models.

Of course, the registration of such photons and the discrimination between photons with $`EE_{GZK}`$ and protons with $`EE_{GZK}`$ is special observational problem (see, e.g., ). Thus, recently published restrictions  of photon contribution relate to energy $`E10^{20}`$eV.

Some factors can allow to suppress the expected flux of high energy photons. For example, this flux will be essentially suppressed if the photon free – path within the Galaxy is $``$ 10 kpc or less. This means, however, that the radio background within the Galaxy must be more then that adopted in  for the intergalactic space by a factor of $``$100 or more.

Other important factor is the distribution of the SHDM particles within the halo of Galaxy. Thus, if the SHDM particles compose only relatively small fraction of the mean DM density of the universe then their possible segregation within halos also suppresses the isotropic flux of both galactic protons and photons. But such segregation increases the expected anisotropy of UHECRs with an essential excess of events from the centrum of Galaxy. Other versions of the improved Top – Down models can be related to possible variations of composition of decay products and processes of proton creation at $`EE_{GZK}`$ .

If sources of high energy protons are associated with observed galaxies as was recently discussed by Blanton, Blasi and Olinto () for spectra of injected protons $`S(E)E^2`$ then restrictions related to the contribution of galactic components of high energy protons and photons become less important but more strong anisotropy of UHECRs is expected. It can be also expected that for such models with $`S(E)E^{0.5}`$ or log–normal spectrum of injected protons the resulting flux of UHECRs will be also similar to observed one.

Available observational data do not yet allow to discriminate various explanations of creation of UHECRs with $`EE_{GZK}`$ but further observations can give valuable information about particle interactions at ultra – high energy, properties and spatial distribution of SHDM particles and some characteristics of the Galaxy and the universe at both small and high redshifts.

## Acknowledgment

Authors are grateful to P. Blasi, P. Chardonet, M. Demianski, I. Novikov and I. Tkachev for discussions and help during the preparation of the paper. This paper was supported in part by Danmarks Grundforskningsfond through its support for the establishment of the Theoretical Astrophysics Center, by grants RFBR 17625 and INTAS 97-1192.