format: text

text:
# Phase transitions in the antiferromagnetic XY model with a kagomé lattice

## I Introduction

The antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model can be defined by the Hamiltonian

$$H=J_1\underset{NN}{}\mathrm{cos}(\phi _i\phi _j),$$
(1)
where $`J_1>0`$ is the coupling constant, $`\phi _i`$ describes the orientation of the classical planar spin $`𝐬_i=(\mathrm{cos}\phi _i,\mathrm{sin}\phi _i)`$, belonging to the site $`i`$ of some regular lattice, and the summuation is performed over the pairs of nearest neighbors (NN) on this lattice. The ground state of such model on a kagomé lattice (Fig. 1) is known to have a huge accidental (that is not related to the symmetry of the Hamiltonian) degeneracy .

For $`J_1>0`$ the minimum of the energy of each triangular plaquette is achieved when the three spins belonging to it form the angles $`\pm 2\pi /3`$ with each other. In addition to the possibility of a simultaneous rotation of all three spins such arrangement is also characterized by the two-fold discrete degeneracy. When on going clockwise around the plaquette the spins rotate clockwise (anticlockwise), the plaquette can be ascribed the positive (negative) chirality $`\sigma =\pm 1`$. In the ground state of the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with triangular lattice the plaquettes with positive and negative chiralities regularly alternate with each other .

In any ground state on a kagomé lattice the variables $`\phi _i`$ analogously acquire only three values which differ from each other by $`2\pi /3`$. However, the requirements for the arrangement of chiralities are less rigid than on triangular lattice and accordingly the ground state in addition to the continuous $`U(1)`$ degeneracy (related with an arbitrary simultaneous rotation of all spins) is characterized by a well developed discrete degeneracy (of the same type as in the 3-state antiferromagnetic Potts model) leading to a finite residual entropy per site .

The accidental degeneracy persists if the interaction function in Eq. (1) differs from the pure cosine (remaining even), but is removed by the presence of interactions with more distant neighbors. In particular, for the ferromagnetic sign ($`J_2<0`$) of the next-to-nearest neighbors (NNN) interaction the minimum of

$$H_2=J_1\underset{NN}{}\mathrm{cos}(\phi _i\phi _j)+J_2\underset{NNN}{}\mathrm{cos}(\phi _i\phi _j)$$
(2)
is achieved in one of the so-called $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states  with a regular alternation of positive and negative chiralities. An example of such state is shown in Fig. 2(a). Here and further on we use the letters A, B and C to denote three values of $`\phi _i`$ which differ from each other by $`\pm 2\pi /3`$ (for definiteness let us assume $`\phi _\mathrm{B}=\phi _\mathrm{A}+2\pi /3`$, $`\phi _\mathrm{C}=\phi _\mathrm{A}+4\pi /3`$). This state has the same structure as the ground state of a planar antiferromagnet with triangular lattice (or, to put it more accurately, can be obtained by the natural truncation of it). On the other hand the NNN interaction of the opposite sign ($`J_2>0`$) favors the ferromagnetic arrangements of chiralities, which is achieved in the so-called $`𝐪=0`$ states , see Fig. 2(b).

For both signs of the NNN interaction the degeneracy of the ground state is reduced to $`U(1)\times Z_2`$ . This suggests the possibility of the two phase transitions, one of which is associated with unbinding of vortex pairs \[the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition \] and the other with proliferation of the Ising type domain walls. The number of the systems with the same degeneracy of the ground state includes, in particular, the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with triangular lattice  and the fully frustrated $`XY`$ model with square lattice .

For the case of weak NNN interactin ($`|J_2|J_1`$) the energy of a domain wall (per unit length) is proportional to $`|J_2|`$ and the logarithmical interaction of vortices to $`J_1`$. If domain walls and vortices were completely independent one would then expect the phase transition related with breaking of the discrete symmetry group to take place at lower temperature than the BKT transition.

In the present work we analyse the mutual influence between different classes of topological excitations in the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with a kagomé lattice and weak NNN interaction and demostrate that the phase transition related with the domain walls proliferation (i) can happen as a separate phase transition only for extremely weak NNN interaction, (ii) is not of the Ising type and (iii) the temperature of this transition is not proportional to the strength of the NNN interaction as one could naively expect. We also show that at very low temperatures the free energy of spin waves leads to stabilization of the antiferromagnetic ordering of chiralities even in absence of the NNN interaction.

The results can be of interest in relation with possible presence of weak easy-plane anisotropy in Heisenberg kagomé antiferromagnets , which is indirectly confirmed by recent investigations of susceptibility  in (H3O)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 . The other class of physical systems, which allows for experimental realization of the considered model, consists of Josephson junction arrays  and two-dimensional superconducting wire networks  in perpendicular magnetic field. In such systems the role of $`\phi _i`$ is played by the phase of the superconducting order parameter, and equivalence with the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model is achieved when the magnitude of the magnetic field corresponds to half-integer number of superconducting flux quanta per each triangular plaquette. A superconducting array, which can be described by the same model in absence of the external magnetic field, can be constructed with the help of so-called $`\pi `$-junctions .

## II Zero temperature: the equivalent solid-on-solid model

It has been already mentioned in the Introduction that the set of the ground states of the Hamiltonian (1) is equivalent (up to a simultaneous rotation of all spins) to that of the 3-state antiferromagnetic Potts model . Any triangular plaquette of a kagomé lattice has to contain some permutation of the three values of $`\phi _i`$ ($`\phi _\mathrm{A}`$, $`\phi _\mathrm{B}`$ and $`\phi _\mathrm{C}`$), which can be identified with the three states ($`\alpha =1,2,3`$) of the antiferromagnetic Potts model.

The degeneracy of such set of ground states can be discussed in terms of the zero-energy domain walls. If one consideres a $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ ground state \[Fig. 2(a)\], it turnes out possible to construct the state with the same energy by permutation (for example) of the form $`\phi _\mathrm{B}\phi _\mathrm{C}`$ inside any closed loop formed by the sites with $`\phi _i=\phi _\mathrm{A}`$, etc. Such closed loop \[a simplest example of which is shown in Fig. 3(a)\] can be considered as the zero-energy domain wall separating two different $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states with the opposite signs of staggered chirality. Any domain wall with zero energy is formed by elementary links which have to join each other at the angles of $`\pm 2\pi /3`$ \[Fig. 3(b)\]. Each link separates two triangular plaquettes with the same chirality, that is with the opposite signs of staggered chirality. The states with infinite (unclosed) domain walls are also possible.

There exists  the exact mapping of the set of the ground states of the 3-state antiferromagnetic Potts model onto the states of the solid-on-solid (SOS) model in which the ”height” variables $`𝐮(𝐫)`$ are defined on the sites $`𝐫`$ situated at the centres of hexagonal plaquettes of a kagomé lattice. These cites are shown in Fig. 1 by empty circles. They form the triangular lattice we shall denote $`𝒯`$. Each site of the kagomé lattice can be associated with some bond $`\mathrm{𝐫𝐫}^{}`$ of $`𝒯`$ and each variable $`\phi _i=\phi _\mathrm{A},\phi _\mathrm{B},\phi _\mathrm{C}`$ with the Potts variable $`\alpha (\mathrm{𝐫𝐫}^{})\alpha (𝐫^{}𝐫)`$ defined on this bond.

Since each triangular plaquette of a kagomé lattice should always contain three different variables $`\phi _\mathrm{A}`$, $`\phi _\mathrm{B}`$ and $`\phi _\mathrm{C}`$, one can associate them with three basic vectors $`𝐚_\alpha `$ ($`𝐚_1+𝐚_2+𝐚_3=0`$, see Fig. 4) of some auxilary triangular lattice, which we shall denote $`𝒯_a`$ ($`a=|𝐚_\alpha |`$ being its lattice constant). The height variables $`𝐮(𝐫)`$, which acquire the values $`𝐮𝒯_a`$, can be then introduced following the rule

$$𝐮(𝐫^{})=\{\begin{array}{cc}𝐮(𝐫)+𝐚_{\alpha (\mathrm{𝐫𝐫}^{})}\hfill & \text{for }𝐫^{}=𝐫+𝐞_\alpha \hfill \\ 𝐮(𝐫)𝐚_{\alpha (\mathrm{𝐫𝐫}^{})}\hfill & \text{for }𝐫^{}=𝐫𝐞_\alpha ,\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
where $`𝐞_\alpha `$ are the three basic vectors of $`𝒯`$ ($`𝐞_1+𝐞_2+𝐞_3=0`$), as soon as the value of $`𝐮(𝐫_0)`$ is chosen for an arbitrary site $`𝐫_0`$ .

This defines the correspondence between the states of the antiferromagnetic Potts model and of the ”vector” SOS model, in which the height variables $`𝐮(𝐫)𝒯_a`$ have to satisfy the constraint

$$|𝐮(𝐫)𝐮(𝐫^{})|=a$$
(4)
on all pairs of neighboring sites of $`𝒯`$. By using the known properties of the exact solution  of the 3-state antiferromagnetic Potts model with external field coupled to staggered chirality Huse and Rutenberg  have demonstrated (and also have confirmed this conclusion by numerical calculation) that such vector SOS model, in the partition function of which all allowed configurations of heights are counted with the same weight, is situated exactly at the point of the roughening transition, where (for $`|𝐫_1𝐫_2|1`$)

$$[𝐮(𝐫_1)𝐮(𝐫_2)]^2\frac{3a^2}{\pi ^2}\mathrm{ln}|𝐮(𝐫_1)𝐮(𝐫_2)|.$$
(5)
Therefore any additional perturbation supressing the fluctuations will lead to transition of the system into the flat phase, in which the fluctuations of $`𝐮`$ are convergent.

According to constraint (4) the variables $`𝐮(𝐫)`$ on neighboring sites have to be different from each other, so that even the most flat state is formed by the regular alternation of three different values of $`𝐮`$. The transition into the flat phase can be more transparently discussed in terms of the variables

$$𝐧(𝐑)\frac{𝐮(𝐫)+𝐮(𝐫^{})+𝐮(𝐫^{\prime \prime })}{3}$$
(6)
describing the average height at each of the plaquettes of $`𝒯`$. The variables $`𝐧(𝐑)`$ are defined at the sites $`𝐑`$ of the honeycomb lattice $``$, which is dual to $`𝒯`$, and acquire the values $`𝐧(𝐑)_a`$, where $`_a`$ is the honeycomb lattice which is dual to $`𝒯_a`$ (Fig. 4). In terms of the original spin variables the flat states \[in which all variables $`𝐧(𝐑)`$ are equal to each other\] correspond to $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states, and zero-energy steps, the presence of which leads to their roughening, to the zero-energy domain walls separating different $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states.

The large scale properties of the vector SOS model introduced above (and of its further generalizations) can be analysed with the help of the multi-component sine-Gordon model with the same symmetry. The (dimensionless) Hamiltonian of such sine-Gordon model can be chosen in the form

$$H_{SG}=d^2𝐑\left\{\frac{KQ^2}{2}[𝐧(𝐑)]^2+y\underset{\alpha =1}{\overset{3}{}}\mathrm{cos}[𝐐_\alpha 𝐧(𝐑)]\right\}.$$
(7)
The first term in Eq. (7) describes the effective stiffness (of entropic origin) which can be associated with the fluctuations of $`𝐧(𝐑)`$, whereas the second term favors the values of $`𝐧(𝐑)`$ which belong to $`_a`$. Here $`𝐐_\alpha `$ are the three basic vectors of the triangular lattice reciprocal to $`T_a`$, so

$`𝐐_\alpha ^2={\displaystyle \frac{16\pi ^2}{3a^2}};𝐐_1+𝐐_2+𝐐_3=0.`$

Analogous Hamiltonian (with the opposite sign of the second term) and equivalent vector Coulomb gas have been investigated by Nelson in relation with dislocation mediated melting in two-dimensional crystals . Alternatively the Hamiltonian of the form (7) can be interpreted as a simplified model for pinning of a two-dimensional crystal by a periodic substrate (cf. with Ref. ). Note, however, that in contrast to real two-dimensional crystals, the accurate description of which requires to distinguish between compression and shear moduli, in our system the displacement $`𝐧`$ takes place in some auxilary space (and not in the real space) and, therefore, only one elastic modulus can be introduced.

The renormalization group equations of Ref. , describing the evolution of $`K`$ and $`y`$ with the change of the length scale $`L`$, in our notation can be rewritten as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dK}{dl}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3\pi }{8}}y^2`$ ()
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dy}{dl}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi K}}\right)y\pi y^2,`$ ()
where $`l=\mathrm{ln}L`$. The corresponding flow diagram is schematically shown in Fig. 5, where $`K_c1/(8\pi )`$. It suggests that the roughening transition takes place when the renormalized value of the effective stiffness $`K`$ is equal to $`K_c`$. The vector SOS model described above (which is known to be at the point of its roughening transition ) can therefore be associated with some point belonging to the left separatrix.

## III Phase transition(s) associated with vortex pairs unbinding

At finite temperature T other types of fluctuations (requiring finite energy) become possible, in particular formation of vortex pairs. Vortices are point-like topological excitations (the local minima of the Hamiltonian), the existence of which is related with the multivaluedness of the field $`\phi `$. On going around each vortex $`\phi `$ experiences a continuous twist which adds to $`\pm 2\pi `$. At low temperatures all vortices are bound in neutral pairs by their logarithmical interaction .

With increase in temperature this interaction becomes renormalized due to mutual influence of different vortex pairs and becomes screened at the temperature $`T_{\mathrm{BKT}}`$ of the BKT transition , which leads to dissociation of vortex pairs and exponential decay of correlations of $`\mathrm{exp}(i\phi )`$ (in contrast to algebraic decay  at $`T<T_{\mathrm{BKT}}`$). The value of the helicity modulus $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, describing the effective stiffness of spin system with respect to infinitely small twist, at the temperature of vortex pairs dissociation is known to satisfy the universal relation :

$$T_{\mathrm{BKT}}=\frac{\pi }{2}\mathrm{\Gamma }(T_{\mathrm{BKT}}).$$
(9)
Huse and Rutenberg  have argued that since at $`T=0`$ the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with kagomé lattice is characterized by the long range order in $`\mathrm{exp}(i3\phi )`$ rather than in $`\mathrm{exp}(i\phi )`$, the phase transition in this system should consist in unbinding of pairs of fractional vortices with topological charges $`\pm 1/3`$ and not of the ordinary (integer) vortices. The strength of the logarithmical interaction of fractional vortices is decreased by the factor of 9 in comparison with that of integer vortices , therefore relation (9) should be replaced by

$$T_{\mathrm{FV}}=\frac{\pi }{18}\mathrm{\Gamma }(T_{\mathrm{FV}}),$$
(10)
where $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ is the temperature of the phase transition, associated with unbinding of pairs of fractional vortices.

The value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in any ground state of the antiferomagnetic $`XY`$ model with kagomé lattice is equal to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=(\sqrt{3}/4)J_1`$. Substitution of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ into Eq. (10) \[instead of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(T_{\mathrm{FV}})`$\] allows to obtain for $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ the estimate (from above) of the form

$$T_{\mathrm{FV}}\frac{\pi \sqrt{3}}{72}J_10.075J_1,$$
(11)
which turns out to be in reasonable agreement with the results of numerical simulations by Rzchowski , who by using two different criteria has found $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}0.070`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}0.076`$. In Ref.  the same estimate for $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ has been obtained in a less straightforward way with the help of the duality transformation .

The fractional vortices cannot exist by themselves (in absence of domain walls). A fractional vortex appears at every point where elementary links forming a domain wall meet each other at a wrong angle ($`\pi /3`$ or $`\pi `$ instead of $`2\pi /3`$). The same happens in the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with triangular lattice , the ground state of which also has $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ structure. Fig. 6(a) shows an example of a domain wall containing one such special point. It separates the domain wall into two segments, one of which is formed by the sites with $`\phi _i=\phi _\mathrm{C}`$ and the other by the sites with $`\phi _i=\phi _\mathrm{B}`$.

When crossing the first segment the state to the right of the wall should be obtained from the state to the left by the permutation of A and B, whereas for the second segment the state to the right should be obtained by the permutation of A and C. This introduces the descrepancy of $`2\pi /3`$ which can be localized on a semi-infinite line terminating at the special point (for example on the line X-Y-Z). In order to locally minimize the energy X, Y and Z should be replaced by A, B and C respectively when going from above, and by B, C and A when going from below. The misfit of $`2\pi /3`$ has to be compensated by a continuous twist of $`\phi `$, which is equivalent to the fractional vortex with the topological charge $`1/3`$.

In terms of the vector SOS model each fractional vortex corresponds to the point on going around which the height variable $`𝐧`$ changes by $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝐧`$ with $`|\mathrm{\Delta }𝐧|=a`$. That means that at each fractional vortex a step with the height $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝐧`$ (or, to put it more presicely, a set of steps with the total height $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝐧`$) terminates or begins. Accordingly the fluctuations of the SOS model provide the additional contribution to the interaction of the fractional vortices related with the difference in entropy between the configurations with different positions of step termination points. At the point of roughening transition of the SOS model, as well as in the rough phase, this additional interaction (which can be expressed in terms of the correlation function of the dual $`XY`$ model ) is also logarithmic. Its presence shifts $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ upwards and diminishes the mutual influence between fractional and integer vortices. It is known  that such mechanism in principle can lead to appearance of the separate phase transition, associated with unbinding of pairs of integer vortices, at temperatures above $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$.

On the other hand at finite temperatures the equivalence with the SOS model is no longer exact. One has to remember that the whole multitude of what we describe as flat states of the vector SOS model in terms of the original spin variables corresponds (for given $`\phi _\mathrm{A}`$) to only six different $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states, which can be obtained from the state shown in Fig. 2(a) by all possible permutations of A, B and C. In Fig. 4 the sites of $`_a`$, which correspond to equivalent states in terms of $`\phi _i`$, are designated by the same numbers. In the zero-temperature partition function of the vector SOS model the properties of the zero-energy domain walls separting such states (in particular, two closed loops formed by such walls cannot cross each other but can be situated inside each other or touch each other) allow to count them as different states of the SOS model . At finite temperature it becomes possible for a set of steps separating two physically equivalent states to terminate at the point where all these steps merge together . The energy $`E_D`$ of such defect is finite and proportinal to $`J_1`$: $`E_D=c_DJ_1`$, where $`c_D`$ is of the order of one.

In terms of the multi-component sine-Gordon model (7) such defects correspond to dislocations of the field $`𝐧`$, the (elementary) Burgers vectors of which $`𝐛_\alpha `$ ($`\alpha =1,2,3`$) are given, as can be seen from Fig. 4, by

$$𝐛_1=𝐚_3𝐚_2,𝐛_2=𝐚_1𝐚_3,𝐛_3=𝐚_2𝐚_1.$$
(12)
An example of a dislocation is schematically shown in Fig. 6(b). It is formed by a neutral pair of fractional vortices that are sitting on two domain walls which cannot be transformed into a single domain wall. The letter X denotes the site on which $`\phi _i(\phi _\mathrm{A}+\phi _\mathrm{B})/2`$. In the vicinity of this site the values of $`\phi _i`$ slightly deviate from those implied by the letters A, B and C. Successive application of the rule (3) along the perimeter of any closed loop surrounding point X sums up to $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝐧=𝐚_2𝐚_1`$.

The renormalization of the dislocation fugacity $`z=\mathrm{exp}(c_DJ_1/T)`$ with the change of the length scale can be described  by

$$\frac{dz}{dl}=\lambda _zz+2\pi z^2$$
(13)
where

$$\lambda _z=2\frac{KQ^2b^2}{4\pi }24\pi K$$
(14)
In the vicinity of the roughening transition ($`KK_c`$) the exponent $`\lambda _z`$, describing the renormalization of $`z`$, is close to $`\lambda _z^0=3/2`$, which corresponds to the fast growth of $`z`$. Comparison of $`\lambda _z`$ with $`\lambda _y=21/(4\pi K)`$ shows that $`y`$ and $`z`$ are never simultaneously irrelevant. In that respect the situation is quite analogous to what is encountered when considering the conventional (ferromagnetic) $`XY`$ model with weak but relevant (low-order) anisotropy .

The presence of dislocations (or, to put it more accurately, of dislocation pairs) leads also to appearance in the right-hand side of Eq. (8a) of the additional (negative) term proportional to $`z^2`$. The presence of this term shifts the flow (see Fig. 5) from the separatrix to the area which corresponds to the rough phase of the SOS model.

On the other hand the unrestricted growth of $`z`$ under the renormalisation means that the system will contain the finite concentration of free dislocations, which transforms the rough phase of the SOS model into the disordered phase of the six-state model. The decay of correlations in this phase can be characterized by a finite correlation radius $`\xi _z`$, which can be found as the length-scale at which $`z_\mathrm{R}`$ (the renormalized value of $`z`$) becomes of the order of one. $`\xi _z`$ defines the scale at which the additional (entropic) interaction of the fractional vortices induced by the fluctuation of the domain walls is screened. The finiteness of $`\xi _z`$ closes even the hypothetical possibility for dissociation of pairs of integer vortices to take place as a separate phase transition at $`T>T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$.

## IV The case of the ferromagnetic NNN interaction

Inclusion into consideration of the interaction with more distant neighbors leads to removal of the accidental degeneracy and stabilizes the states with either ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic ordering of chiralities of triangular plaquettes.

In the case of the ferromagnetic NNN interaction ($`J_2<0`$) the energy is minimal in one of the $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states with uniform staggered chirality \[Fig. 2(a)\]. Fig. 3 shows two examples of a domain wall separating two different $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ states with opposite signs of staggered chirality. In the case of only NN interaction such domain wall (consisting of elementary links making angles of $`2\pi /3`$ with each other) simply costs no energy. The presence of a weak ferrromagnetic NNN interaction makes the energy of such domain wall (per elementary link) $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}`$ equal to $`3J_2>0`$. Here and further on we are interested only in the case $`|J_2|J_1`$, when the values of the variables $`\phi _i`$ remain close to those shown in Fig. 3 not only away from the wall, but also in the vicinity of the wall.

Note that such wall can fluctuate (make turnes, form kinks, etc.) without having to pay the energy proportional to $`J_1`$ and, therefore, naively one could expect that the temperature of the phase transition, related with proliferation of such walls and leading to destruction of the long-range order in staggered chirality, should be determined entirely by $`J_2`$. Such conclusion, implicitely based on the comparison of the energy of an infinite domain wall with the negative entropic contribution to its free energy (the Peierls argument ), does not take into account that the presence of an infinite domain wall leads also to supression of the entropy (because it decreases the possibilities for formation of closed domain wall loops) and in some cases does not work.

In Sec. II we have discussed the properties of the vector SOS model to which the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$-model with kagomé lattice is equivalent at $`T=0`$. In the partition function of this model all allowed configurations of heights are counted with the same weight. In the case of the analogous model with a finite positive energy of a step (which corresponds to $`J_2<0`$) the same partition function is reproduced in the limit of $`T\mathrm{}`$. For any small but finite ratio $`J_2/T>0`$ the SOS model is shifted from the point of roughening transition into the ordered (flat) phase. On the other hand we also know that at finite temperatures the possibility of dislocation creartion tends to shift the same system into the disordered phase. One has to consider the competition of these two effects.

In the vicinity of $`K=K_c`$ the renormalization equations (8) can be rewritten as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dX}{dl}}`$ $`=`$ $`Y^2`$ ()
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dY}{dl}}`$ $`=`$ $`XY+\alpha Y^2,`$ ()
where

$$X=2\left(1\frac{K_c}{K}\right),Y=\frac{1}{\pi \alpha },\alpha =\frac{1}{\sqrt{6}}.$$
(16)
The solution of Eqs. (15) for arbitrary $`\alpha `$ allows one to find that the critical behavior of the correlation radius $`\xi `$ in the vicinity of the transition is given  by

$$\mathrm{ln}\xi \left(\frac{K_c}{\mathrm{\Delta }K}\right)^{\overline{\nu }},$$
(17)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }K`$ is the deviation from the phase transition. In our problem for $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}T`$ the ratio $`\mathrm{\Delta }K/K_c`$ is proportional to $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}/T`$.

The case of $`\alpha =0`$ corresponds to Kosterlitz renormalization group equations  for the standard BKT transition, which give $`\overline{\nu }=1/2`$. The case of $`\alpha =+1/\sqrt{6}`$ has been considered by Nelson , who has found $`\overline{\nu }=2/5`$. The solution of the same equations for $`\alpha =1/\sqrt{6}`$ gives $`\overline{\nu }=3/5`$.

If the fugacity of dislocations $`z`$ is so small that even when growing under renormalization it remains much smaller than one up to $`L\xi `$ \[where the renormalization following Eqs. (15) stops anyway and fluctuations of $`𝐧`$ are frozen\], the system remains in the ordered (flat) phase of the SOS model, that is in the phase with long range order in staggered chirality. On the other hand if $`z_R`$ (the renormalized value of $`z`$) manages to become of the order of one when the renormalized value of $`y`$ is still small, the system finds itself in the disordered phase. The estimate for the temperature $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}`$ of the phase transition separating these two regimes (and associated with the proliferation of domain walls) can be obtained from the relation $`z_R(\xi )1`$, which is equivalent to

$$\mathrm{ln}(1/z)\lambda _z^0\mathrm{ln}\xi .$$
(18)
In our problem

$$\mathrm{ln}(1/z)=c_DJ_1/T$$
(19)
and

$$\mathrm{ln}\xi \left(\frac{T}{E_{\mathrm{DW}}}\right)^{\overline{\nu }},$$
(20)
which leads to

$$T_{\mathrm{DW}}\left(\frac{E_{\mathrm{DW}}}{J_1}\right)^{\frac{\overline{\nu }}{1+\overline{\nu }}}J_1J_2^{3/8}J_1^{5/8},$$
(21)
Away from the critical region the behaviour of $`\xi `$ can be described with the help of the self-consistent harmonic approximation , which gives $`\overline{\nu }=\overline{\nu }_0=1`$. That means that with increase of $`J_2/J_1`$ the dependence (21) is replaced by $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}(J_2J_1)^{1/2}`$.

Note that the analysis which has led to Eq. (21) has been based on the assumption that all fractional vortices are bound in pairs, and, accordingly, is valid only for $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}<T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$. On the other hand the pairs of fractional vortices cannot dissociate at temperatures lower than $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}`$, because for $`T<T_{\mathrm{DW}}`$ the fractional vortices in addition to their logarithmical interaction are bound also by domain walls (with a finite free energy per unit length) which connect them with each other.

Therefore the two available possibilities are $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}<T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ and a single phase transition, whereas the scenario with $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}>T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ is impossible. Analogous conclusions have been earlier achieved in relation with hypothetical unbinding of fractional vortices in planar antiferromagnet with triangular lattice . It is hardly surprising that the same conclusions are valid for the system, the ground state of which is practically identical to that of the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with triangular lattice, the only difference being that one quarter of sites is absent.

The proliferation of the low energy domain walls \[of the type shown in Fig. 3(b)\] leads to intermixing of six different states \[which can be obtained from the state shown in Fig. 2(a) by arbitrary permutation of A, B, and C\] and therefore should not be expected to be of the Ising type. Note that the domain walls are possible only between the states with the different signs of staggered chirality. The six-state model with analogous statistics of domain walls can be defined  by the partition function

$$Z_{6\mathrm{s}\mathrm{t}}=\left(\underset{𝐑}{}\underset{t_𝐑=1}{\overset{6}{}}\right)\underset{NN}{}W(t_𝐑t_𝐑^{})$$
(22)
where

$$W(t)=\{\begin{array}{ccc}1\hfill & \text{ for }t=0\hfill & (mod6)\hfill \\ w\hfill & \text{ for }t=1,3,5\hfill & (mod6)\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ for }t=2,4\hfill & (mod6).\hfill \end{array}$$
(23)
The last line of Eq. (23) implies that the domain wall between the states with the same parity of $`t_𝐑`$ is impossible.

Application of the duality transformation  to the partition function (22) transforms it into analogous partition function with $`W(t)`$ replaced by

$$\stackrel{~}{W}(t)=\{\begin{array}{ccc}1+3w\hfill & \text{ for }t=0\hfill & (mod6)\hfill \\ 1\hfill & \text{ for }t=1,2,4,5\hfill & (mod6)\hfill \\ 13w\hfill & \text{ for }t=3\hfill & (mod6).\hfill \end{array}$$
(24)
The symmetry of $`\stackrel{~}{W}(t)`$ corresponds to the so-called cubic model, the phase transition in the six-state version of which for $`\stackrel{~}{W}(1)>\stackrel{~}{W}(3)`$ is known to be of the first order . The phase transition at $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}`$ in our system (at least when it happens at $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}<T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$) therefore also can be expected to be of the first order.

Comparison of the estimate (21) with Eq. (11) shows that the fulfillment of the relation $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}<T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ requires $`0<J_2<J_{\mathrm{max}}`$, where $`J_{\mathrm{max}}`$ can be estimated to be of the order of $`10^3J_1`$. For $`J_2>J_{\mathrm{max}}`$ there should be only one phase transition in the system, at which the proliferation of domain walls is accompanied by the unbinding of all types of vortices. A detailed description of how it happens still remains to be constructed, but when the dissociation of pairs of fractional vortices is forced by the dissapearance of their linear interaction (mediated by the domain walls which connect them) at temperatures, for which their logarithmic interaction is already too weak, one can expect the value of the helicity modulus at $`T_c`$ to be nonuniversal:

$$\frac{2}{\pi }<\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(T_c)}{T_c}<\frac{18}{\pi }$$
(25)
Note that the estimate for $`J_{\mathrm{max}}`$ has been found by taking the estimate (21) on its face value, that is without the unknown numerical coefficient, and therefore should be considered with great caution.

## V The case of the antiferromagnetic NNN interaction

For the antiferromagnetic sign ($`J_2>0`$) of the NNN interaction the minimum of the Hamiltonian (2) is achieved in one of the states with the ferromagnetic ordering of chiralites \[Fig. 2(b)\]. Such state also allows for construction of a domain wall, the energy of which (per elementary link) $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}`$ is proportional to the strength of second neighbor coupling: $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}3J_2`$, see Fig. 7(a). However, comparison of Fig. 7(a) with Fig. 7(b) shows that (in contrast to the case considered in Sec. IV) for $`J_2>0`$ the form of the state on the other side of the wall is uniquely defined by the orientation of the wall and is different for different orientations of the wall. The descrepancy in $`\phi `$ that appears when crossing domain walls of different orientations should be taken care of by the fractional vortices which have to appear on all corners of domain walls (the same happens in the fully-frustrated $`XY`$ model with square lattice ). This makes impossible the construction of a closed domain wall the energy of which is determined entirely by $`J_2`$ and does not depend on $`J_1`$.

For $`J_2J_1`$ a typical thermally excited defect (leading to the change of the sign of chirality) has the form of a long strip formed by two low energy domain walls \[Fig. 7(c)\]. Like in Fig. 6 the letter X designates the sites with $`\phi (\phi _\mathrm{A}+\phi _\mathrm{B})/2`$. In the vicinity of these sites the values of other variables $`\phi _i`$ slightly deviate from that shown in the figure. Analogous strip defects are dominant at low temperatures in the frustrated $`XY`$-model with triangular lattice and $`f=1/4`$ or $`f=1/3`$ .

The energy of such defect is given by $`2E_0+2E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}L`$, where $`E_0=c_0J_1`$ ($`c_00.55`$) is the energy of its termination point and $`L`$ its length. For $`J_2TJ_1`$ the average length $`L`$ of such defects is given by the ratio $`T/(2E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+})1`$, whereas their concentration $`c`$ is proportional to $`L\mathrm{exp}(2E_0/T)`$. The relation $`cL^21`$ defines the temperature

$$T_{}\frac{2}{3}\frac{E_0}{\mathrm{ln}(T_{}/E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+})}$$
(26)
above which such defects no longer can be considered as independent. The same temperature can serve as the (lower bound) estimate for the temperature $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}`$ of the phase transition associated with proliferation of the domain walls and leading to destruction of the long range order in chirality. For $`J_2/J_10`$

$$T_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}T_{}J_1/\mathrm{ln}(J_1/J_2)$$
(27)
Analogous estimate can be obtained by comparison of the domain wall energy $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}`$ with its entropy $`S_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}2\mathrm{exp}(E_K/T)`$ due to possibility of formation of kinks \[Fig. 7(d)\]. The energy of a kink $`E_K`$ is very close to $`E_0`$. The requirement $`F_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}TS_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}=0`$  gives

$$T_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}E_K/\mathrm{ln}(2T_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}/E_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+})$$
(28)
which is again the estimate from below.

Like in the previous case (of the antiferromagnetic ordering of chiralities) the proliferation of domain walls can take place as the independent phase transition only at temperatures lower than $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$. Comparison of Eq. (28) with Eq. (11) shows that the fulfillment of relation $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}^\text{+}<T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ requires $`J_2<J_{\mathrm{max}}^\text{+}`$, where $`J_{\mathrm{max}^{}}^\text{+}`$ can be estimated as $`(10^4÷10^5)J_1`$. Also like in the previous case, the proliferation of domain walls is related with intermixing of six different states and therfore can hardly be expected to demonstrate the Ising type behavior.

## VI Spin wave fluctuations

Another mechanism for removal of accidental degeneracy (which is traditionally refered to as ”ordering due to disorder” ) is related with the free energy of continuous fluctuations (spin waves) . Expansion of the Hamiltonian (1) up to the second order in deviations $`\psi _i\phi _i\phi _i^{(0)}`$ of the variables $`\phi _i`$ from their values $`\phi _i^{(0)}`$ in some ground state gives the same answer

$$H^{(2)}=\frac{J_1}{4}\underset{NN}{}[1+(\psi _i\psi _j)^2]$$
(29)
for all possible ground states, which means that the difference in the free energy between them can appear only in the second order in temperature . That is believed to be not sufficient for stabilization of a true long-range order related with chiralities. This conclusion does not take into account the percularities of the statistical mechanics of the considered system and has to be corrected.

With the help of the numerical calculation (see Appendix) we have found that the lowest order contribution to the effective interaction of chiralities of neighboring triangular plaquettes is of the antiferromagnetic sign (that is favors $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ state) and corresponds to

$$E_{\mathrm{DW}}^{(0)}=\gamma \frac{T^2}{J_1}$$
(30)
where $`\gamma 210^3`$. Quantum and thermal anharmonic fluctuations in Heisenberg kagomé antiferromagnet are also known to favour (at least locally) a planar state with $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ structure . The same can be said about the fluctuations of the order parameter amplitude in superconducting wire networks .

Although $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}^{(0)}`$ defined by Eq. (30) is always much smaller than the temperature and in the case of (for example) Ising model would be insufficient for appearance of the long-range order, in the considered system the situation is qualitatively different. Substitution of Eq. (30) into Eq. (21) gives a finite value of $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}`$ induced by spin wave fluctuations:

$$T_{\mathrm{DW}}^{(0)}\gamma ^{3/2}J_1$$
(31)
which means that for $`\gamma 1`$ the long range order in staggered chirality would survive even up to $`TJ_1`$. However substitution of the numerically calculated value of $`\gamma `$ cited above produces an extremely low estimate: $`T_{\mathrm{DW}}^{(0)}10^4J_1`$.

Note that the ordering in staggered chirality is noticable only at length-scales larger than the correlation radius $`\xi `$. Substitution of Eq. (30) into Eq. (20) shows that for $`TT_{\mathrm{DW}}^{(0)}`$ the behavior of $`\xi (T)`$ is given by $`\mathrm{ln}\xi (J_1/\gamma T)^{\overline{\nu }}`$. That means that at $`T0`$ there takes place a continuous reentrant phase transition into the phase without true long-range order in staggered chirality.

## VII Conclusion

This work has been devoted to investigation of the phase transitions in the antiferomagnetic $`XY`$ model on a kagomé lattice with the special emphasis on accurate consideration of mutual influence between different classes of topological excitations (fractional vortices and domain walls). In particular, we have shown that in the model with only NN interaction the additional interaction of fractional vortices related with the entropic contribution from zero-energy domain walls at finite temperatures becomes short-ranged. Therefore it can not interfere with the BKT dissociation of fractional vortex pairs proposed in Refs.  and .

For the case of a finite NNN coupling (leading to removal of the accidental degeneracy) we have demonstrated that the phase transition related with proliferation of the domain walls can happen as a separate phase transition below $`T_{\mathrm{FV}}`$ only for very weak NNN interaction, and have found how the temperature of this transition depends on $`J_1`$ and $`J_2`$. These dependences are essentially different for different signs of the NNN coupling. The same results are also applicable for other mechanisms of removal of the accidental degeneracy, which lead to a finite $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}`$. Note that our analysis has been restricted to the case $`|J_2|J_1`$, so we have not considered the possibility of the domain wall proliferation happening above the temperature of the ordinary BKT transition, associated with appearance of free integer vortices (like it happens in the case of triangular lattice ).

Our conclusions are compatible with the results of the numerical simulations of Geht and Bondarenko , who have found (for not too weak NNN interaction, $`|J_2|0.1J_1`$) that the disordering of all degrees of freedom in the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with kagomé lattice takes place at the same temperature, the singularities of the thermodynamic quantities being of the Ising type. Recently it has been shown  (for the case of triangular lattice) that when the domain wall proliferation happens as a continuous phase transition \[at $`T/\mathrm{\Gamma }(T)>2T_{\mathrm{FV}}/\mathrm{\Gamma }(T_{\mathrm{FV}})`$\], the dissociation of pairs of integer vortices has to take place at $`T<T_{\mathrm{DW}}`$. Since the same arguments are also applicable for a kagomé antiferromagnet with $`J_2<0`$, it may be of interest to check the results of Ref.  with better accuracy.

The long-range order in staggered chirality is favored also by the spin-wave fluctuations. Our analysis suggests that the antiferromagnetic $`XY`$ model with kagomé lattice and only NN interaction presents a unique example of a model without free parameter in which one of the phase transitions can be expected to happen at dimensionless temperature of the order of $`10^4`$. Therefore one can conclude that the numerical simulations of Rzchowskii  have demonstrated no evidence for selection of a single ground state down to $`T/J_110^3`$ not because $`E_{\mathrm{DW}}T^2/J_1`$ is not sufficient for that, but simply because the temperature was not low enough. Comparison with Eq. (27) shows that if the effective interaction of chiralities, induced by the free energy of spin waves, would be of the opposite sign, the long range order in chirality would persist up to much higher temperatures.

Experimentally the phase transitions discussed in this work can be observed in superconducting wire networks or Josephson junction arrays in the external magnetic field providing one-half of the superconducting flux quantum $`\varphi _0=hc/2e`$ per each triangular plaquette of a kagomé lattice. In such systems the removal of the accidental degeneracy is related with the magnetic interaction of the currents and a finite width of the wires . The former of these mechanisms favors the ferromagnetic ordering of chiralities, whereas for the latter the effect depends on the width of the wires.

Recent experimental investigation of the aluminum wire network with kagomé structure  has demonstrated for $`\varphi =\varphi _0/2`$ the presence on the current-volatage curve of the regions corresponding to different mechanisms of dissipation, one of which (with an algebraic behavior) can be associated with unbinding of vortex pairs and the other with spreading of domains with inversed chiralities . The authors of Ref.  have interpreted this as an evidence for the presence of two phase transitions.

## Acknowledgments

This work has been supported in part by the Program ”Statistical Physics” of the Russian Ministry of Science, by the Program ”Scientific Schools of the Russian Federation” (grant No. 00-15-96747), by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in the framework of Russian-Dutch Cooperation Program. The author is greatful to A. V. Kashuba for useful discussion and to I. V. Andronov for assistance in preparation of the figures.

##

The lowest order contribution to the interaction of chiralities of neighboring triangular plaquettes induced by the spin wave free energy appears when the partition function of the Hamiltonian (1) is expanded up to the second order in

$$H^{(3)}=\frac{J_1}{6}\underset{NN}{}[\mathrm{sin}(\phi _i\phi _j)](\psi _i\psi _j)^3,$$
(32)
and then is averaged with the help of $`H^{(2)}`$. The fourth-order term is the same for all the ground states and therefore of no importance.

The parameter $`K_\sigma `$ describing the effective interaction of chiralities of neighboring triangular plaquettes ($`a`$ and $`b`$):

$$E(\sigma _a,\sigma _b)=K_\sigma \sigma _a\sigma _b$$
(33)
can be then found by calculating the average of

$$V=\frac{H_a^{(3)}H_b^{(3)}}{T}$$
(34)
where

$$H_a^{(3)}=\frac{\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}}{6}J_1[(\psi _1\psi _0)^3+(\psi _2\psi _1)^3+(\psi _0\psi _2)^3]$$
(35)
and expression for $`H_b^{(3)}`$ can be obtained by replacing in Eq. (35) $`\psi _1`$ by $`\psi _3`$ and $`\psi _2`$ by $`\psi _4`$. The indices from $`0`$ to $`4`$ are used here to denote the five sites belonging to a pair of neighboring triangular plaquettes as shown in Fig. 8.

With the help of the Wick’s theorem and symmetry arguments the average of $`V`$ can be reduced to the form

$$V=\frac{3J_1^2}{4T}(G_4^32G_4^2G_3+2G_4G_3^2G_3^3)$$
(36)
where

$$G_3=g_{01}\frac{1}{2}g_{13},G_4=g_{01}\frac{1}{2}g_{14}$$
(37)
and

$$g_{ij}(\phi _i\phi _j)^2$$
(38)
describes the amplitude of flutuations of $`\phi _i\phi _j`$ calculated with the help of the harmonic Hamiltonian (29).

The value of $`g_{ij}`$ for the nearest neighbors ($`g_{01}`$) can be calculated exactly:

$$g_{01}=\frac{T}{J_1}$$
(39)
whereas numerical calculation of the integrals over Brillouin zone defining $`g_{13}`$ and $`g_{14}`$ gives

$$g_{13}=\left(\frac{3}{2}+\delta \right)\frac{T}{J_1},g_{14}=\left(\frac{3}{2}\delta \right)\frac{T}{J_1},$$
(40)
where $`\delta 0.0213`$.

Substitution of Eqs. (39)-(40) into Eqs. (36)-(37) then gives

$$K_\sigma =\frac{\gamma T^2}{2J_1}$$
(41)
where

$$\gamma =\frac{3}{32}\delta (1+12\delta ^2)2.0110^3$$
(42)
which leads to Eq. (30).


text:
# Photometric redshifts from reconstructed QSO templates

## 1 Introduction

In recent years, with new multicolor surveys coming on-line, the application of photometric redshifts to the analysis of the physical properties of galaxies has become increasingly popular, (see Weymann et al. (1999) for recent works). Photometric redshift estimation techniques rely on detecting the passage of continuum features within the spectral energy distribution (SED) of sources (e.g. for galaxies, the 4000Å break) across a series of photometric passbands. For objects with featureless spectra, the photometric redshift estimation is extremely difficult or impossible as the colors of these objects vary slowly (if at all) with redshift. Emission lines may, however, help if they are strong enough relative to the continuum flux to be detectable within the broadband photometry. As quasar emission lines carry a significant amount of flux (Francis et al., 1991; Richards et al., 2001a), we expect that they will provide sufficient leverage to help in the redshift prediction for lower redshift objects. In addition, it may be easier to estimate redshifts for high-redshift objects ($`z3`$) due to the blanketing of the Ly $`\alpha `$ forest (e.g. Madau (1995)). In the astronomical literature, there are a number of different approaches for estimating photometric redshifts. Most techniques can be categorized into two basic classes; those which use spectral energy distributions as spectral templates derived from models or observations (Koo, 1985; Gwyn & Hartwick, 1996; Sawicki, Lin & Yee, 1997; Connolly et al., 1999; Fernández-Soto et al., 1999; Benítez, 2000; Budavári et al., 1999, 2000; Csabai et al., 2000) and those which establish a direct empirical relation between colors and redshift (Connolly et al., 1995a; Wang, Bahcall & Turner, 1998; Brunner, Connolly & Szalay, 1999) using a training set.

In this paper and the companion paper by Richards et al. (2001b), we investigate these techniques and determine how successfully they may be applied to the question of the estimation of the redshifts of QSOs. In this study, we put more emphasis on the so-called template fitting method and quasar template reconstruction. In the companion paper, we discuss an empirical method that essentially assumes that quasar colors are alike at a given redshift. We use a set of $`2600`$ known QSOs with five band ($`u^{},g^{},r^{},i^{},z^{}`$; Fukugita et al., 1996; Lupton et al., 2001) Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al., 2000) photometry and redshifts in the $`0<z<5`$ range. In the Richards et al. (2001b) paper, we study the effects caused by reddened quasars and extended objects concerning redshift outliers, and also present more examples of science that will benefit from QSO photometric redshifts. Observational and target selection details are also given there.

In Section 2, this study considers empirical methods to estimate redshift. In Section 3, we apply the standard template fitting technique using composite spectra, and in Section 4 and 5, we extend our analysis to include SEDs reconstructed from photometric information.

## 2 Empirical approach

The simplest way of getting photometric redshifts is empirical fitting. We assume the redshift, $`z`$, to be a simple function of the magnitudes or colors. Connolly et al. (1995a) used low order polynomial functions for galaxies. The fitting formula (redshift vs. colors) is derived by using a training set of photometric data and spectroscopic redshifts. After the calibration, this simple analytic function can predict redshifts for objects directly from photometric observations. While this approach has proven successful for studies of the photometric redshifts of galaxies, the spectral energy distributions of quasars differ from galaxies in many ways. In the optical and ultraviolet, a quasar spectrum consists of an approximately power law continuum together with strong emission and absorption lines. Thus quasar colors can change drastically over the space of a small interval in redshift (as an emission line passes from one passband to the next) or can remain constant with redshift due to the power-law dependency of the continuum. Given this situation, we would not expect polynomial fitting to yield accurate and reliable photometric redshifts for QSOs due to the fact that the polynomial functions used vary slowly with redshift. This preconception is borne out by the SDSS data. Fitting both quadratic and cubic relations between the colors of the quasars and their redshifts gave almost no correlation between prediction and spectroscopic redshifts.

A more adaptive technique than polynomial fitting is that of nearest neighbor (NN) mapping. This technique assigns the redshift of a source to that of the closest object in color space (with a known redshift). This approach is, essentially, a piecewise constant function. Although, as we stated above, the polynomial technique does not work, a combination of the polynomial technique and the NN fitting technique can also be applied where we find the nearest neighbors and locally fit the polynomial relation over objects within a given radius. This method can suppress any unwanted effect due to possible erroneous nearest neighbors, but would require more data. A similar empirical method is developed in the companion paper (Richards et al., 2001b), that implements an NN estimator where the reference points are derived from colors averaged over redshift bins.

Figure 1 shows the correlation between the photometric and spectroscopic redshifts from applying the NN estimator. Most of the predicted redshifts ($``$70%) match well the spectroscopic measurements. There are, however, a significant number of outliers (i.e. the distribution of the prediction error is clearly non-Gaussian). This is due to the color degeneracy, i.e. within the photometric uncertainties identical objects (in colors $`u^{}g^{}`$, $`g^{}r^{}`$, $`r^{}i^{}`$, $`i^{}z^{}`$) have significantly different spectroscopic redshifts. For this reason, for this figure and for all of the following spectroscopic redshift ($`z_{\mathrm{spec}}`$) vs. photometric redshift ($`z_{\mathrm{phot}}`$) comparison figures we calculate two rms values: one for all of the objects ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{all}}`$) and one for the objects that have $`|z_{\mathrm{spec}}z_{\mathrm{phot}}|<0.3`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_{0.3}`$). The former of these measures is used to estimate the effect of the contamination of a QSO photometric-redshift sample by catastrophic failures and the latter statistic is to measure the intrinsic accuracy of the photometric redshift relation for different analysis techniques. For the NN estimator these values are $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{all}}=0.64`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{0.3}=0.116`$. Because of the degeneracy, the number of outliers ($`\mathrm{\Delta }z>0.3`$) is quite large, approximately 30%. We also note that these results are for a sample of objects already known to be quasars. If the input sample includes objects that turn out not to be quasars, then this will dilute our results.

To determine whether the magnitude of a QSO might alleviate the degeneracy between the colors of QSOs as a function of redshift, we applied the nearest neighbor method in magnitude space. We find that this degeneracy is also present when using magnitudes. One hope for removing this effect may come from extending the photometric observations to longer or shorter wavelengths, e.g. using UV or IR data. Plausible reasons for the large number of redshift outliers are discussed in Richards et al. (2001b). We note that the behavior of the estimation error seems to change around $`z3`$ with the outliers almost completely disappearing. This is the redshift where the Lyman-break passes out of the $`u^{}`$ filter, which introduces a strong continuum feature into the quasar SED, and at higher redshifts, the continuum blanketing of the Ly $`\alpha `$ forest has even more significant effect on the observed spectrum. This attenuation enhances the quality of the redshift estimation (as is the case for high redshift galaxies). It is also important to note that these empirical methods seriously break down outside the redshift range that the training set is in. Extrapolation is impossible, for example, to higher redshifts. The method also assumes that the set of objects used for training is representative of the objects studied. Finally, transformation to other filter systems is extremely hard, if not impossible, without using spectral templates.

## 3 Template fitting

Template fitting photometric-redshift methods have the advantage of not requiring a training set (we assume that the physics of the QSO SEDs is fully encoded within our distribution of templates). We do, however, require a complete spectral library that has spectral templates that cover all of the spectral types of sources within our sample and that extend over the restframe wavelength ranges that our photometric observations occupy (for high and low redshift sources). In its simplest form this template library could be the mean spectrum of a sample of SEDs. For galaxies this is not a realistic option since the continuum shape of different spectral types of galaxies varies drastically. For quasars, there are no well-defined classes of continuum spectral features, mostly because previous observations have indicated that quasars have SEDs with similar power law continua.

In an attempt to construct such a composite mean QSO spectrum, we consider those available within the astronomical literature. We tested the method with the LBQS composite (Francis et al., 1991) spectrum. In the meantime the SDSS composite spectrum (Vanden Berk et al., 2001) became available; in this study, we present results using this composite. In Figure 2 we plot photometric redshifts from template fitting against spectroscopic redshifts, where template colors are derived by convolving the SDSS filter functions with the SDSS composite spectrum as well as by convolving the filter functions with our reconstructed template (Figure 3; see later). The figure is similar to that found in Figure 1: the outliers are more stratified in the template fitting case and the dispersion in photometric vs. spectroscopic redshift is somewhat larger than in the NN case ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{all}}=0.89`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{0.3}=0.123`$). Of course direct empirical methods give less astrophysical information — as opposed to template fitting that provides consistent spectral type and luminosity besides redshift — and are hard to apply to different sets of observations, e.g. a sample with a different filter set.

The template fitting estimator does not seem to be superior when compared to NN estimators (see above and also Richards et al. (2001b)) if we use a single composite SED. In some sense it can be considered worse; there are approximately 20% more outliers. It is likely, therefore, that the composite template assumed for the photometric redshift estimation is not representative of the full QSO sample, and that we might need to introduce additional quasar spectral types (e.g. corresponding to BALs, Fe ii emission objects, etc.) to our analysis. Empirical estimators, like the NN method or the one discussed in the companion paper, do not assume that QSOs at all redshifts have similar restframe spectra as opposed to the template fitting technique using a composite SED. Thus the fact that the empirical estimators yield better redshifts than a single composite may also imply that restframe QSO spectra correlate with redshift. We explore these ideas in the following section.

## 4 Template reconstruction

Without having access to a complete quasar template library, we adopt a hybrid method developed by Budavári et al. (1999, 2000) and Csabai et al. (2000) to bring together the advantages of empirical and template fitting techniques. This method requires a training set of objects with spectroscopic redshifts and multicolor photometry to establish a statistical representation of the underlying QSO SEDs. The templates are created to yield simulated colors in the best possible agreement with the photometry, and using them for photometric redshift estimation is just one application. The method is also suitable for detecting possible differences between the spectroscopic and photometric flux calibrations and to detect whether the introduction of different QSO spectral types are needed.

We propose a novel technique, similar to what is known as learning vector quantization (Kohonen, 1995) in the neural network literature, that reconstructs discrete SEDs in an iterative way. The procedure called adaptive spectrum quantization (hereafter ASQ) is so robust that it can develop a set of template spectra from scratch, i.e. from one single constant function. The idea here is to separate quasars into coherent classes of spectral templates based on their photometry and spectroscopic redshifts. The algorithm improves the templates step by step to increase the agreement with the photometric observations. Since the method is capable of adding and removing classes, it can be started from a single class. One loop of our iterative procedure consists of four steps:

* All objects in the training set are categorized into classes of the most likely templates.
* The estimated SEDs of the objects are repaired.
* The reference templates are replaced with the mean of the repaired spectra.
* The templates are dynamically duplicated or removed if statistically desired.

Let $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\left\{\psi _i(\lambda )\right\}_{i=1}^N`$ represent the initial set of spectral templates, where $`N`$ is the number of templates and $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$. Given the spectroscopic redshift and multicolor photometry of an object, the most likely template can be selected from a $`\chi ^2`$ optimization. Unfortunately, in general, even the best fitting template $`\psi _k(\lambda )`$ is not perfect in the sense that it cannot reproduce the measured colors if convolved with the throughput of the filters and instrument response. So the $`\psi _k(\lambda )`$ spectrum must be “repaired” according to the observational constraints (i.e. the multicolor photometry) as described in Budavári et al. (2000). The adjusted spectrum

$$\psi _k^{}(\lambda )=\psi _k(\lambda )+\delta \psi _k(\lambda )$$
(1)
will be in better agreement with the measurements, but may be affected by some irregularity of the object. So instead of replacing the original $`\psi _k(\lambda )`$ with $`\psi _k^{}(\lambda )`$ or adding the repaired SED to the original $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ set, one can collect all the adjusted spectra assigned to the $`k`$th template and replace $`\psi _k(\lambda )`$ with the average of these repaired template spectra. A similar reparation can be applied to all templates used in the analysis.

$$\psi _k(\lambda )\psi _k^{}(\lambda )=\psi _k(\lambda )+\delta \psi _k(\lambda )$$
(2)
Introducing additional reference templates requires more deliberation. One can think of several conditions when a class of objects should be split into two (e.g. based on the number of assigned objects etc.) but when the observed training set is limited in size, the choice of this condition may be crucial. When the iteration converges with a fixed number of templates (relaxation), a new reference spectral template can be added to the set if deemed necessary due to a large intrinsic scatter around the mean repaired spectrum $`\psi _k^{}(\lambda )`$ or due to an excess of member objects within a particular spectral class. To split a class one can make a copy of the corresponding template and perturb it slightly by shifting its spectral shape towards that of the modulated spectrum of a random member within its spectral class. A more elaborate discussion of the method will be described elsewhere (Budavári et al., 2001).

We tested the above method for galaxies — where the photometric redshift estimation techniques are well established — and it provides photometric redshifts for galaxies, that are in good agreement with those estimates based on eigentemplates. Quasar redshifts can also be predicted with accuracy. Starting from a featureless constant SED, we develop an average template that is very similar to the empirical SDSS composite spectrum (Vanden Berk et al., 2001) as seen in Figure 3. Our reconstructed template (derived purely from the photometric data) tracks the power-law continuum of the high-resolution spectrum to a remarkable degree of accuracy. The good correspondence between the continuum shapes shows not only the strength of the reconstruction algorithm, but also that the efforts the SDSS team made for the correct spectrophotometric calibration were fruitful.

The strongest spectral lines, such as Ly $`\alpha `$ (at 1216Å, merged with N v at 1240Å), C iv (1548Å), Mg ii (2798Å) are clearly visible. The H $`\beta `$ (4861Å) and the \[O iii\] (4959Å, 5007Å) lines are merged into a single feature and the blurred H $`\alpha `$ (at 6563Å) line is also present. The sharpness of these lines is quite surprising, given that only the broadband photometric information (a typical filter width is 1500Å) and the value of the spectroscopic redshift were used as input parameters in the reconstruction algorithm.

For a given redshift, the photometric observation gives constraints on the possible underlying SED, since we expect to get back the measured photometric values by redshifting the SED and convolving it with the filter response function. This constraint obviously depends on the photometric system, and also the redshift of the object as the restframe spectrum is sampled at different wavelengths. Adding up the filter curves, shifted to the restframe, for all objects provides a smooth curve as a function of wavelength, shown with dashed line in Figure 3, that is proportional to the amount of information available for the determination of the shape of the composite. This is similar to what is typically shown for composites derived from spectrophotometric observations, but computed from the shape of the photometric transmission curves. The more objects at different redshifts we use to constrain the spectrum, the finer details could be recovered, e.g. the smaller can be the width of the reconstructed line. An additional effect is that short wavelength lines are constrained by higher redshift objects so that when they are transformed back to the restframe their linewidths get narrower. In Figure 3 one can see that reconstructed lines at shorter wavelength are narrower than the ones at longer wavelength.

The difference between the composite and reconstructed spectrum below $`1200`$Å is due to the fact that the composite spectrum is not corrected for inter-galactic attenuation. Comparing the photometric redshift estimations with the composite and the reconstructed spectrum in Figures 2a and 2b, we find little difference except at high redshifts which is due to the effect of a different handling of the inter-galactic attenuation.

## 5 QSO spectral types

Now we arrive at the last step of the ASQ algorithm where we consider whether there is evidence for more than just one spectral template. The optimal number of templates is partly determined by the size of the training set. If we divide a sample into too many subsets, there will not be sufficient objects within any one subset to constrain the reconstructed SEDs. On the other hand, the more spectral types we allow, the closer will be our resulting template library to the SEDs of the quasars for which we wish to predict a redshift. Our experiments show that, for the current training set, a QSO template library with 4 templates is the optimal choice. Introducing further templates does not improve the agreement of synthetic and measured colors significantly ($`\chi ^2`$ decreases less than 10%) and the photometric redshifts do not become significantly better.

Compared to Figure 2, in Figure 4, the number of outliers at $`z_{\mathrm{phot}}0`$ and 3.5 is greatly reduced and the redshift estimation improves by increasing the number of templates from one to four. Using the four ASQ templates gives $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{all}}=0.77`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{0.3}=0.120`$, which is still above the results of empirical methods. The algorithm can be started from a single constant function or from the empirical composite SED. Both starting points lead to templates with approximately the same continuum features (see Figure 5). The only difference is that the emission lines remain sharper in the latter case. The match between the two sets is even more interesting if we remember that the two template libraries were created using significantly different initial spectra. This shows that the spectral classification of quasars into these spectral types is robust.

During the photometric redshift estimation with the template fitting method each object is assigned uniquely to a spectral template derived earlier by the ASQ algorithm. To test if there is any correlation between the redshift of the objects and their spectral class, we plot the redshift distributions of the 4 ASQ classes in Figure 6. We see a relation between type and redshift, which may have several reasons. Among other possibilities, it can be related to the different mean absolute luminosity of the classes, different mixture of BAL and other quasar types, sampling issues or may be a sign of QSO spectral evolution. It is also important to note that at different redshifts the photometric passbands sample different portions of the templates, and this can be accounted for having low redshift objects in class 3 and 4, where the highest redshift quasars are. Detailed analysis of this is subject of a future work.

We created composites for each ASQ spectral class using SDSS spectrophotometric observations. In Figure 7, we compare the resulting composites to the 4 ASQ templates. The order of the templates here and also in Figure 5 corresponds to the increasing mean redshift value of quasars in the classes. Comparing the continuum shape of the ASQ SEDs (the same power law $`f_\lambda \lambda ^{1.5}`$ is plotted with dashed lines to help the comparison) suggests a trend with redshift.

Aside from the apparent redshift dependence of each class, there are at least two other distinct types of quasars which seem to be at least partially segregated into the different classes: broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs), and low-redshift, low-luminosity quasars with host galaxy contamination.

Broad absorption features are evident in the class 1 composite spectrum, and also to a lesser extent in the class 2 composite spectrum. The BALQSOs in the quasar sample have been identified, and the majority ($`71\%`$) fall into either class 1 or class 2. The fraction of quasars that have BAL features in their spectra for each class (1,2,3,4) is $`11\%,6\%,1.9\%`$ and $`3\%`$ respectively. The colors of BALQSOs tend to be redder than non-BAL quasars (Menou et al. 2001; Sprayberry & Foltz 1992; Brotherton et al. 2000; Weymann et al. 1991), which probably accounts for their unequal separation here into the different classes.

The evidence for host galaxy contamination comes from the presence of stellar absorption lines in the composite spectra. For example, the Ca ii H and K lines (insets in Figure 7) are clearly present in the class 4 composite, and weakly present in the class 3 composite. There is no evidence for them in either the class 1 or class 2 composites. Host galaxy contamination is likely to be a significant contributor to the reddening of quasars and other AGN at wavelengths beyond about $`5000`$Å (Vanden Berk et al., 2001). For redshifts less than 1, the quasars in classes 3 and 4 are significantly less luminous than their counterparts in classes 1 and 2, and the quasars with the lowest redshifts tend to belong to classes 3 and 4. This points to host galaxy contamination in the spectral light of the low-redshift quasars in classes 3 and 4, and is likely the cause of their being preferentially separated into those classes.

Now we return to the problem of the photometric degeneracy (i.e. quasars with the same photometric colors can have significantly different redshifts). Signs of the photometric degeneracy of quasars is visible in the photometric redshift prediction process. The $`\chi ^2`$, roughly the weighted distance of the observed and estimated flux as a function of redshift $`z`$ has multiple minima due to the degeneracy in photometry. Two outliers from the photometric redshift relation are shown in Figure 8. Both have significant minima at the spectroscopic redshift.

In Figure 9 we plot what one would get if one could break this degeneracy by using further observations (e.g. UV) or through the use of priors that can crudely constrain the possible redshift of an object. The photometric redshift estimation algorithm can find all the local minima of the $`\chi ^2`$ curve, hence we could have more redshift candidates for an object to choose from. Given the best 3 local minima for each object, we selected the one having the closest value to the spectroscopic redshift; this somewhat idealized case is plotted in the figure.

## 6 Conclusions

The success of our attempt to determine redshifts of quasars from SDSS multicolor photometry, along with the companion Richards et al. (2001b) paper, is encouraging. We can obtain redshift estimates for 70% of the QSOs with accuracy $`\mathrm{\Delta }z_{\mathrm{rms}}0.1`$. The method discussed in this paper is not only able to obtain redshifts, but also to estimate luminosities and SEDs for QSO candidates without spectroscopy. Photometric redshifts are ideally suited for many astrophysical and astronomical studies, such as the luminosity function or gravitational lensing.

Our spectral template reconstruction appears to be very robust, the algorithm yields similar sets of spectral templates whether started from a constant function or from a composite spectrum of spectrophotometric measurements. Individual spectral lines have significant effects on quasar colors. These narrow (compared to photometric bands) features contribute to photometric observations sufficiently that they can be recovered by our reconstruction technique. It is quite reassuring that the spectral templates reconstructed from the very low resolution photometric data show the well known emission lines of quasars. This high resolution is possible because of the large number of SDSS objects used in the template reconstruction process. Detailed analysis of the templates can give interesting information on quasar spectral features. We found that the use of multiple templates in the redshift estimation improves the photometric redshift relation and the resulting spectral types correlate with redshift.

The significance of the spectral lines in broadband photometry also means that potential errors in the boundary of the assumed passbands may result in more serious problems in the photometric redshift estimation than is the case for galaxies where broadband spectral features dominate. If the edge of a photometric filter were off just by the width of a spectral line, then the colors, hence the estimated photometric redshifts, would change substantially. The fact that the reconstructed spectral lines match well the location of the actual features is an indication that the filter curves are indeed accurately calibrated. For surveys with both photometric and spectroscopic observations (like SDSS), our method is well suited to cross-check calibration (e.g. to photometrically calibrate spectroscopic observations) or may be used to detect systematic drifts in annual, seasonal, etc. data sets.

The template reconstruction method can be extended to derive photometrically calibrated SEDs for objects fainter than the limit where spectrophotometric observations are available. Rough photometric redshift estimates can be also used in the algorithm as long as there are no systematic deviations, only scatter around the true value. An iterative process could be developed to fine tune the templates. It could be especially useful for faint high redshift QSOs, where spectroscopy is not available, but the Ly $`\alpha `$ attenuation could give a fairly good redshift estimate.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC). Funding for the project has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/. I.C. and T.B. acknowledge partial support from the MTA-NSF grant no. 124 and the Hungarian National Scientific Research Foundation (OTKA) grant no. T030836. A.S. acknowledges support from NSF (AST9802980) and a NASA LTSA (NAG53503). A.J.C. acknowledges partial support from NSF grants AST0096060 and AST9984924 and an NASA LTSA grant NAG5 8546.


text:
# Observation of Convergent Oscillations of the Flux Line Lattice as a Result of Magnetic Flux Jumping in Hard Superconductors

## Abstract

We have monitored new peculiarities of the dynamics of catastrophic avalanches of the magnetic flux in superconducting Nb, Nb-Ti, and YBaCuO samples: i) convergent oscillations of the magnetic flux; ii) a threshold for entering the huge flux avalanches in the shielding experiments; iii) a threshold for the exit of a residual flux in the trapping experiments. The observed phenomena are interpreted in terms of a theoretical model which takes into account the inertial properties of the vortex matter.

Recent studies of the marginally stable Bean critical state determined by a balance between intervortex repulsion and pinning by defects in type II superconductors have brought out a number of astonishing phenomena associated with spatiotemporal dynamic properties, vortex avalanches of many scales, self-organized criticality and memory effects in vortex matter (for example, Field ).

Our experiments identify flux avalanches as nonlocal processes propagating rapidly over the distance comparable with the size of the sample. Earlier thermal effects in massive rods of niobium caused by giant flux jumps were observed in Zebouni . Some observations of the behavior of the flux jumps and its structure were presented in Leblank . These data show that there exists the exact correlation between the jumps in the resistivity and the collapse of magnetizaton. One of the recent investigations Geim  of magnetic field screening by the superconductors in the vortex state revealed ”negative vortices” whose penetration leads to the expulsion of a magnetic field.

In this paper we report about the observation of two distinct magnetic phenomena in the vortex state of superconductors: i) a threshold for entering the huge flux avalanches in the shielding experiments (in other words, the increase in the screening properties of a superconductor before the flux jump). We have also found a threshold for the exit of a residual flux in the trapping experiments; ii) convergent oscillations of the magnetic flux arising from flux jumping.

The latter result is of a particular interest since collective modes in a fluxoid system are very difficult to observe Suhl . In addition, due to a large vortex viscosity, the displacement waves in a vortex lattice do not propagate.

The observed oscillations in the vortex system can be interpreted as a result of the existence of a definite value of the effective vortex mass, i.e. this phenomenon can be considered as displaying the inertial property of the vortex matter.

We have studied the structure of the flux jumps by means of a miniature Hall probe sensor. It was placed in the center of the sample (Fig. 1) and measured the surface induction $`B_0`$. We have examined the Hall sensor voltage directly by the transient recorder (model TCC-1000, Riken Denshi Co., LTD). In our experiment a flux avalanches are detected in real time ($`t_{real}>10^6`$ s) without distortion. In the shielding experiments, the zero field cool mode (ZFC) was used. The trap field mode was implemented by increasing the external magnetic field up to the values exceeding the critical magnetic field $`H_{c2}`$. The data presented in this study were obtained from Nb-Ti(at% 50) samples, polycrystalline Nb plates, and melt-textured YBaCuO slabs. The sizes ($`\mathrm{L}\times \mathrm{l}\times 2\mathrm{R}\mathrm{mm}^3`$, see Fig. 1) of the samples were as follows: for Nb-Ti, $`15\times 2.8\times 3.1\mathrm{mm}^3`$; for Nb, $`11\times 3.5\times 5\mathrm{mm}^3`$; for YBaCuO, $`6\times 2\times 3.5\mathrm{mm}^3`$.

Fig. 1(a-c) shows the temperature and temporal dependence of the surface magnetic induction $`B_0`$ for the first and the second flux jumps in a shielding mode for the Nb-Ti sample. The structure of the jump essentially differs from a simple step. Some of the principal differences are clearly seen in Fig. 2(a).

The development of the thermomagnetic instability can be divided into three stages (see Fig. 1(b) and Fig. 2(a)). The flux jump is preceded by a certain phenomenon under which the field on a superconductor surface decreases (see Fig. 2(a) for Nb-Ti, Fig. 3(a) for Nb, and Fig. 4 for YBaCuO). The value of the negative peak in the experiment with Nb is 16% of the total value of the flux jump. This is the first stage of the process. The second stage is in fact the avalanche-like penetration of the flux. Finally, at the last stage the relaxation of thermal and conductive properties of the superconductor occurs. In the most cases, this is a nonmonotonic process. Let us analyze it for the Nb-Ti sample.

As is shown in Fig. 2(a), after the avalanche had penetrated the sample, the induction $`B_0(t)`$ in the center of the sample was higher than that of the external magnetic field by $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_{comp}`$. Recently it was found by Nowak Nowak , that the large avalanches are most likely system spanning; as a result after avalanche a significant fraction of the Nb film has magnetic induction large than the applied field. Apparently, Coffey Coffey  observed such a compression of the vortex lattice by measuring the distribution of the induction inside the sample after the flux jump. Next, in the background of a relaxation curve the damped oscillations with a characteristic frequency $`\nu 2.5`$ kHz were observed.

The effect of the compression of the magnetic flux caused by avalanche passing is particularly pronounced in the YBaCuO samples as well. In order to check this effect we measured the difference $`B_0\mu _0H`$ using two Hall probes where $`H`$ is the external magnetic field, $`\mu _0`$ is the permeability of vacuum. Fig. 4 shows that this difference changes its sign after the avalanche has passed. The difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_{comp}`$ is about the value of the penetration field $`H_p`$.

Now, let us consider peculiarities of the structure of the thermomagnetic avalanche for the case of magnetic flux trapping. For Nb, (Fig. 3(b)) a positive peak $`B_0(t)`$ is observed which precedes the development of the instability. It is of the same origin as the negative peak $`B_0(t)`$ in the case of the shielding mode (Fig. 3(a)).

The above-described peculiarities of the flux jumps are not sensitive to the change in the rate $`\mathrm{d}H/\mathrm{d}t`$ of the external magnetic field sweeping in the range of $`0.052`$ T/s.

Now we would like to scrutinize the observed phenomena. In our opinion the most striking effect is the compression of the magnetic flux after the avalanche has passed through the sample. It is very important to emphasize that the magnetic induction in the middle of the sample can exceed the value of the external magnetic field. In this case, some of the vortices move in the direction from the area with low vortex density towards the area with the vortex surplus, against the total repulsion force. This means that these vortices move in spite of all the forces acting in the direction opposite to this motion. Such a motion is possible only due to the existence of some effective vortex mass. There are plenty of papers dealing with the theoretical attempts to estimate the mass of the Abrikosov vortex Suhl ; Kopnin . Experimental data on microwave field attenuation contain information on the inertial properties of a vortex Rose .

To explain the observed oscillatory phenomena, we suggest the following mechanism which takes into account the inertial properties of the vortex system. Prior to the jump, the mixed state of superconductors is characterized by nonuniformly distributed magnetic induction localized near the surface. As a result of the avalanche, the flux rushes from either sides of the sample towards the center. Two fronts of the penetrating flux collide in the center of the sample and, owing to the existing vortex mass, give rise to the local surplus density of the magnetic flux that exceeds the value of the external magnetic field. The repulsion force in the vortex structure at the center of the sample that have resulted from its compaction, initiates the wave of the vortex density of the inverse direction of propagation. Upon reaching the surface, this wave is reflected from it. This results in the oscillations in the vortex system. The limitation of the number of oscillations observed is caused by the existence of damping. One succeeds in observing the oscillation of the vortex density only owing to a strong compression of the vortex structure as a result of the giant avalanche-flux. But for the second jump (Fig. 1(c)), a smooth descending slope in the curve $`B_0(t)`$ is noted and the oscillatory mode is not observed.

The observed process of damping oscillations can be described in terms of the following theoretical model. We use the continuity equation for the dimensionless variables,

$$\dot{b}+(bv)^{}=0$$
(1)
where $`b=B/H_p=Bc/2\pi J_c(0)d`$ is the normalized magnetic induction, $`d`$ is the sample thickness, $`J_c(0)`$ is the critical current density at the initial temperature (before the avalanche has passed), the dot denotes the derivative with respect to the time $`\tau =t/t_0=t\mathrm{\Phi }_0H_p/4\pi d^2\eta `$, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is the flux quantum, $`\eta `$ is the viscosity coefficient, the sign prime denotes the derivative with respect to the coordinate $`\xi =x/d`$, $`v=V/V_0=Vt_0/d`$ is the hydrodynamic vortex velocity. The second equation of the model describes the motion of the vortex system under the action of the Lorentz, pinning, and viscosity forces,

$$\mu v^{}v+\mu \dot{v}=b^{}2\mathrm{s}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{n}(\mathrm{v})\mathrm{f}(\theta )\mathrm{v}.$$
(2)
Here $`\mu =m/m_0=m\mathrm{\Phi }_0H_p/4\pi d^2\eta ^2`$ is the normalized vortex mass, $`\theta =4\pi C\mathrm{\Delta }T/H_p^2`$, $`C`$ is the specific heat, $`\mathrm{\Delta }T=TT_0`$ is the deviation of the temperature from its initial value $`T_0`$ before the flux jump, the function $`f(\theta )`$ describes the temperature dependence of the critical current, $`J_c(\theta )=J_c(0)f(\theta )`$, $`f(\theta )=1`$ at $`\theta =0`$ and $`f(\theta )=0`$ at $`\theta =T_cT_0`$ ($`T_c`$ is the critical temperature). The temperature change occurs due to the Joule losses. Neglecting the process of thermal conductivity, we can use the following equation of the energy balance:

$$\dot{\theta }=bv^2+2|v|bf(\theta ).$$
(3)
This set of equations should be solved within the spatial interval $`1/2<\xi <1/2`$ together with the boundary and initial conditions, $`b(1/2,\tau )=b(1/2,\tau )=H/H_p=\alpha ,b(\xi ,0)=\alpha (1+2(\beta /\alpha )(|\xi |1/2)),\theta (\xi ,0)=0,v(\xi ,0)=0.`$ Here $`\beta =J_0/J_c`$, $`J_0`$ is the critical current density at the initial time moment. We assume that this value exceeds slightly the value $`J_c(0)`$, i.e. $`\beta >1`$. This supposition is introduced to initiate the onset of an avalanche.

The results of the simulation for $`\alpha =1`$, $`\beta =1.01`$, $`f(\theta )=1\kappa \theta `$, $`\kappa =H_p^2/4\pi C(T_cT_0)=12`$ are presented in Fig. 2(b). It is seen that the curves in this figure describe qualitatively well the behavior of the experimental ones (see Fig. 2(a)).

The suggested mechanism of the oscillations which takes into account the inertial properties of the vortices allows one to interpret the surprising behavior of the vortex system just before the avalanche passage when the magnetic flux near the middle of the sample unexpectedly moves in the opposite-to-avalanche direction (see Figs. 3(a),(b)). The mechanism of this effect may be as follows. Due to the vortex mass, the frozen profile of the magnetic induction after some avalanche has passed can contain a smooth peak in the middle of the sample (see, for example, Coffey ). This local maximum remains on hand while the external field increases and exists in the initial profile for the subsequent avalanche. The new avalanche can destroy this peak due to the heating effect before the new vortices arrive there. This tends to decrease the vortex density in the middle of the sample.

Finally, we remark that very interesting oscillating phenomena originated by the thermomagnetic avalanches are observed in the vortex matter for both low-$`T_c`$ and high-$`T_c`$ hard superconductors. These phenomena can be qualitatively interpreted in terms of the theoretical model which takes into account the inertial properties of the vortex system. However, new experimental and theoretical in-depth studies are necessary to elucidate the situation.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are greateful to V. Vinokur, J. Kolachek, A.E. Filippov, V.A. Shklovskij, Yu. Genenko, A.I. D’yachenko, and A. Abal’oshev for the discussions of this problem. The work was partly supported by the Polish Committee for Scientific Research (grants No 8 T11B 038 17).