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# Zn-doping effect on the magnetotransport properties of Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δ single crystals

## Abstract

We report the magnetotransport properties of Bi2Sr2-xLaxCu1-zZnzO6+δ (Zn-doped BSLCO) single crystals with $`z`$ of up to 2.2%. Besides the typical Zn-doping effects on the in-plane resistivity and the Hall angle, we demonstrate that the nature of the low-temperature normal state in the Zn-doped samples is significantly altered from that in the pristine samples under high magnetic fields. In particular, we observe nearly-isotropic negative magnetoresistance as well as an increase in the Hall coefficient at very low temperatures in non-superconducting Zn-doped samples, which we propose to be caused by the Kondo scattering from the local moments induced by Zn impurities.

Effects of nonmagnetic Zn impurities on the electronic properties of the high-$`T_c`$ cuprates have been intensively studied, employing almost all available experimental tools. However, well-controlled studies of the Zn-doping effects using high-quality single crystals have been mostly limited to the YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) system and the La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) system because of the availability of single crystals; for example, in the otherwise well-studied system of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212), high-quality single crystals can be grown with only up to $``$1% of Zn substitution, posing difficulties for systematic studies. Recently, high-quality single crystals of Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δ (BSLCO) have become available  in a wide range of hole concentrations. It is thus natural to investigate the Zn-doping effect in the BSLCO system to examine and expand our knowledge of the role of Zn impurities in the cuprates. Here we report that Zn-doping of up to 2.2% is possible in high-quality BSLCO crystals and present the effect of Zn impurities on the charge transport properties of this system.

One of the most peculiar charge transport properties of the cuprates is that two distinct scattering rates, $`\tau _{tr}^1`$ and $`\tau _H^1`$, possibly govern the in-plane resistivity $`\rho _{ab}`$ and the Hall angle $`\theta _H`$, respectively. Zn impurities have been believed to induce  residual terms in both $`\tau _{tr}^1`$ and $`\tau _H^1`$, which ultimately lead to charge localization ; these residual scattering rates may well be related  to the local moments induced by the nonmagnetic Zn impurities,  though the role of the local moments in the charge transport in cuprates is not well understood yet. It would thus be meaningful to look for some peculiar features that is clearly due to the local moments in the transport properties of the Zn-doped BSLCO crystals.

Perhaps the best-known effect of Zn-doping in cuprates is the rapid suppression of $`T_c`$. The rate of $`T_c`$ suppression has been known to be around 10–15 K/at.% upon Zn substitution. It has been suggested  that this rate can be enhanced to $``$20 K/at.% near the hole concentration per Cu, $`p`$, of 1/8, which was discussed to be due to the “pinning”  of the charge stripes  by Zn impurities. Since it was recently revealed  that the metal-to-insulator (M-I) crossover in the low-temperature normal state of BSLCO occurs at $`p1/8`$, it is particularly intriguing to look at the effect of Zn at $`p1/8`$ to elucidate the impact of the charge-stripes instability in BSLCO.

In this paper, we report the charge transport properties in Zn-doped BSLCO (Bi2Sr2-xLaxCu1-zZnzO6+δ) single crystals with $`z`$ of up to 2.2% for $`x`$ = 0.50 and 0.66. These La contents correspond to $`p`$ of $``$0.15 and $``$1/8, respectively, and 2.2%-Zn is enough to completely suppress superconductivity at $`x`$ = 0.66. We observe more or less standard Zn-doping effects in the in-plane resistivity, Hall angle, and $`T_c`$, without any noticeable “1/8 anomaly” in the Zn-doped samples. On the other hand, we found very peculiar negative magnetoresistance as well as an upturn in $`R_H`$ at low temperatures in non-superconducting samples, which is most likely to be related to the local moments induced by Zn.

The crystals are grown by a floating-zone technique as reported previously. We have demonstrated  that our crystals are among the best available BSLCO crystals in terms of optimum $`T_c`$ (which is as high as 38 K), residual resistivity, and the control of hole doping. The La concentrations in the crystals are determined by the electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA), and the actual Zn concentrations are measured by the inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) analysis; the errors in $`x`$ and $`z`$ are estimated to be $`\pm 0.01`$ and $`\pm 0.002`$, respectively. For the transport measurements, the crystals are cut into dimensions typically 1 $`\times `$ 0.5 $`\times `$ 0.02 mm3. The thickness of the samples are calculated from their weight (measured with 0.1-$`\mu `$g resolution) to accurately determine the absolute values of $`\rho _{ab}`$ and the Hall coefficient $`R_H`$. All the crystals are annealed in air at 650C for 48 h and quenched to room temperature to achieve uniform oxygen distribution. A standard ac six-probe method is employed to measure $`\rho _{ab}`$ and $`R_H`$. The magnetoresistance and $`R_H`$ are measured by sweeping the magnetic field to both plus and minus polarities at constant temperatures. For the non-superconducting samples with ($`x`$,$`z`$) = (0.66,0.022), we measure both the transverse and longitudinal magnetoresistance (MR) down to 450 mK in a 3He refrigerator where the temperature control during the magnetic-field sweep is done with a stability of $``$1 mK using a capacitance sensor embedded in the sample stage.

Figures 1(a) and 1(b) show temperature dependences of $`\rho _{ab}`$ for $`x`$ = 0.50 and 0.66 with various Zn concentrations. One can see that at both $`x`$ the $`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ curves are almost parallel-shifted upon Zn doping, indicating that the main effect of Zn impurities on $`\rho _{ab}`$ is to increase a temperature-independent residual term in $`\tau _{tr}^1`$. In the $`x`$ = 0.50 series \[Fig. 1(a)\], there is a reasonably wide region of $`T`$-linear resistivity at high temperatures, so that we can estimate the pseudogap temperature $`T^{}`$ for each Zn concentration from the downward deviation of the $`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ curves from the $`T`$-linear behavior. The inset of Fig. 1(a) shows the plots of $`[\rho _{ab}(T)\rho _0]/aT`$ vs. $`T`$ (where $`a`$ is the $`T`$-linear slope and $`\rho _0`$ is the zero-temperature intercept of the $`T`$-linear behavior), which make it clear that the deviation takes place at nearly the same temperature ($``$300 K) for all $`z`$. Thus, as was reported  for YBCO, $`T^{}`$ as determined from $`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ does not move with Zn doping in BSLCO.

In the $`x`$ = 0.66 series \[Fig. 1(b)\], it is notable that the superconductor-to-insulator (S-I) transition occurs around $`\rho _{ab}`$ of $``$400 $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm, which corresponds to the sheet resistance per CuO2 plane of $``$3.3 k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$; this is half the quantum value $`h/(2e)^2`$ ($``$6.5 k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$) and thus differs by a factor of 2 from the result of the critical sheet resistance obtained  for YBCO and LSCO, indicating that the “universal” critical sheet resistance for the S-I transition is not exactly universal for the cuprates. We emphasize that the uncertainty in the absolute value of $`\rho _{ab}`$ is less than 10% in our measurements.

The inset of Fig. 1(b) shows the suppression of $`T_c`$ upon Zn doping for the two $`x`$ values; the suppression rates are almost the same for the two cases and is about 13 K/at.%, which is typical for the cuprates. Note that there is no enhancement in the $`T_c`$-suppression rate for $`p1/8`$ ($`x`$ = 0.66), and thus the sort of amplification of the 1/8 anomaly suggested  for LSCO and Bi-2212 are not observed in BSLCO. This can be interpreted to mean that the charge-order instability at $`p1/8`$ is so weak  in BSLCO that the “pinning” by the Zn impurities are not effective, though this interpretation is highly speculative.

Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show the temperature dependences of $`R_H`$ for the two series. For each $`x`$, the magnitude of $`R_H`$ does not change with $`z`$ above 200 K, demonstrating that the Zn substitution does not change the hole concentration. At lower temperatures, $`R_H`$ becomes $`z`$ dependent and the peak in $`R_H(T)`$ shows a non-monotonic change upon Zn doping. As is the case with other systems, the complicated change in $`R_H(T)`$ can be simplified by looking at the Hall angle. Figures 2(c) and 2(d) show the plots of $`\mathrm{cot}\theta _H`$ vs. $`T^2`$ for the two series. All the data of $`\mathrm{cot}\theta _H`$ are almost linear in $`T^2`$ and appear to be parallel-shifted upon Zn doping, suggesting that the Zn impurities increase a temperature-independent residual term in $`\tau _H^1`$; this is actually the behavior that led to the two-scattering-rate scenario  and thus is typical for the cuprates. Upon closer look at the data in Figs. 2(c) and 2(d), one may notice that at low temperatures there is an upward deviation from the $`T^2`$ behavior in the Zn-doped samples. To make this point clear, Figs. 2(e) and 2(f) show the plots of $`(\mathrm{cot}\theta _Hc)/bT^2`$ vs. $`T`$, where $`b`$ is the $`T^2`$ slope and $`c`$ is the zero-temperature intercept of the linear-in-$`T^2`$ behavior. One can see that the deviation becomes systematically more pronounced as $`z`$ is increased; this behavior most likely reflects some localization effect in the Hall channel and is probably responsible for the weakening of the temperature dependence of $`R_H`$ upon Zn doping.

As already noted, the superconductivity is completely suppressed in the 2.2%-Zn-doped samples at $`x`$ = 0.66, in which we can measure the normal-state transport properties down to very low temperatures. Incidentally, the low-temperature normal-state transport has already been measured for pristine BSLCO crystals with $`x`$ = 0.66 under 60-T magnetic field, so we can directly compare the normal state brought about by Zn-doping to that brought about by high magnetic fields. As is shown in Fig. 3(a), $`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ increases with decreasing temperature below $``$30 K and the temperature dependence is quicker than $`\mathrm{log}(1/T)`$, which is inferred from a positive curvature in this semi-log plot; this behavior is contrasting to the “metallic” behavior found  in the pristine sample with $`x`$ = 0.66, where $`\rho _{ab}`$ becomes temperature independent below $``$10 K with $`\rho _{ab}190`$ $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm. Therefore, the localization behavior in the Zn-doped sample is clearly due to the additional scattering caused by the Zn impurities. Also, since the “insulating” behavior found  in more underdoped pristine samples ($`p<1/8`$) is consistent with $`\mathrm{log}(1/T)`$ (which is slower than the behavior of the Zn-doped samples), the nature of the charge-localized state in the Zn-doped sample is apparently different from that in the pristine sample under high magnetic field.

It is found that $`R_H`$ of the non-superconducting Zn-doped samples also shows an upturn at low temperatures \[Fig. 3(a)\]; this is again in contrast to the $`R_H(T)`$ behavior of the pristine samples  under 60 T, which becomes essentially temperature independent at low temperatures. The rather strong temperature dependence of $`R_H`$ below $``$3 K in the Zn-doped samples strongly suggests that the Zn-induced charge localization is not due to a simple weak localization effect.

We can obtain further insight into the Zn-induced localized state from the magnetoresistance (MR), which turns out to be negative at low temperatures and is very peculiar. Figure 3(b) shows the MR at 450 mK for three geometries; the sample was cut so that the current $`I`$ flows along the $`b`$-axis, and the magnetic field $`H`$ is applied along $`a`$, $`b`$ (longitudinal geometry), and $`c`$ (transverse geometry). There is essentially no anisotropy between $`Ha`$ and $`Hb`$. The anisotropy between $`Hb`$ and $`Hc`$ is less than a factor of 2 and the $`H`$ dependences for the two geometries are almost exactly the same. Therefore, we can conclude that the MR is essentially isotropic and thus is of spin origin. The $`H`$ dependence of this negative MR is not $`H^2`$ but is reminiscent of the $`H`$ dependence expected for Kondo scattering. Since the Kondo effect should yield isotropic MR, the main features of the MR observed here appears to be consistent, at least qualitatively, with what is expected for the Kondo effect. It is useful to note that a very anisotropic negative MR coming from weak localization has been observed  in non-superconducting samples of pristine Bi2Sr2CuO6+δ, which is contrasting to our observation in the Zn-doped samples.

The evolution of the MR with temperature is shown in Fig. 4 for $`Hc`$ and $`Hb`$. The MR becomes predominantly negative below $``$5 K, which is nearly the same as the onset temperature of the low-temperature upturn in $`R_H(T)`$, and therefore the negative MR and the increase in $`R_H`$ appear to have a common origin. It is useful to note that the Kondo scattering is expected to become effective simultaneously in the MR and in the Hall effect. Thus, all the above results of the low-temperature MR and $`R_H`$ seem to be most consistent with the Kondo effect, which may be caused  by the local moments  induced by the Zn impurities. The possibility that the Kondo effect is playing a major role in the Zn-doped samples also explains the various differences between the normal state in the Zn-doped samples and that in pristine samples under high magnetic fields. For more quantitative understanding of the possible Kondo effect in the cuprates, theoretical calculations for the Kondo scattering in the non-Fermi-liquid ground state of the cuprates would be required.

To summarize, in the BSLCO crystals we observed quite typical Zn-doping effects on $`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ and $`\mathrm{cot}\theta _H(T)`$, and found no 1/8 anomaly in the $`T_c`$ suppression rate. Comparison of the low-temperature normal state brought about by Zn-doping to that brought about by high magnetic field reveals significant difference between the two, which highlights the peculiar nature of the charge-localized state in the Zn-doped samples. The negative MR and the upturn in $`R_H`$ observed at low temperatures strongly suggest that the Kondo scattering due to the local moments induced by Zn is playing a key role.

We thank S. Uchida and A. N. Lavrov for helpful discussions and T. Murayama for technical assistance.


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# Multiband optical polarimetry of BL Lac objects with the Nordic Optical TelescopeBased on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.

## 1 Introduction

Synchrotron radiation from a relativistic jet pointing toward the observer is thought to produce the emission of BL Lac objects, from radio up to X-rays and sometimes soft gamma rays. The maximum power output of the synchrotron component is located at different energies in different objects. In particular, following Padovani and Giommi (Padovani95 (1995)), BL Lacs can be divided into two classes: Low energy cutoff BL Lacs (LBL) and High energy cutoff BL Lacs (HBL). In the former, the synchrotron peak, in a $`\nu F_\nu `$ representation, lies in the optical/infrared domain, while in the latter it occurs in the UV/X-ray band. A second, higher energy peak, occurring in the GeV/TeV domain for LBL/HBL, respectively, is due to inverse Compton radiation. The strongest observational evidence in favour of synchrotron radiation is the high polarization recorded in all the bands from radio to UV (Brindle et al. Brindle (1986); Saikia & Salter Saikia88 (1988); Allen et al. Allen (1993); Gabuzda et al. Gabuzda96 (1996)). This is related to the presence of a regular (at least in one of its components) magnetic field. The relativistic beaming amplifies the radiation from the nucleus with respect to the unpolarized light coming from the host galaxy and the polarization can be as high as 30%. Only a few objects have been observed up to now in search for polarization variability on intranight timescales (Puschell et al. Puschell79 (1979); Moore et al. Moore87 (1987); Impey et al. Impey00 (2000); Tommasi et al. Tommasi01 (2001)).

Data presented in this paper have been collected with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) during December 10-14, 1999, within a programme started some years ago and devoted to the optical polarization monitoring of BL Lac objects in both hemispheres, in a range of time scales from days down to less than an hour (Scaltriti et al. Scaltriti99 (1999); Treves et al. Treves99 (1999); Tommasi et al. Tommasi01 (2001)).

A description of the observations and data reduction is given in Sect. 2; the results of linear and circular polarimetry are reported in Sect. 3 and discussed in Sect. 4. Preliminary and partial results were presented in Tommasi et al. (TommasiTS (2001)).

## 2 Observations

We selected 11 northern BL Lacs among the brightest and most polarized objects observed by Impey & Tapia (Impey88 (1988)) and Takalo et al. (Takalo92 (1992)). During the first night of the run, we performed a brief photopolarimetric “survey” with short integration times on all the sources, to determine which of them were the brightest and most polarized at the epoch of observation, to be intensively monitored in the two following nights: 3C 66A and PKS 0735+178 were chosen. The total effective integration times on these two objects were 4.75 and 5.5 hours, respectively. Five more BL Lacs included in the list were observed sparsely during the run: 1Jy 0138$``$097 (only circular polarization), H 0414+009, PKS 0823$``$223, OJ 287, BL Lac. In Table 1 the list of the observed sources is reported along with some results and basic information (see following sections), together with three southern BL Lacs monitored by our team with the 2.15 m telescope of the Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito (CASLEO, Argentina; see Scaltriti et al. Scaltriti99 (1999); Tommasi et al. TommasiTS (2001); Treves et al. Treves99 (1999)).

The Turku polarimeter (Turpol) was used for the NOT observations. This is a double channel chopping photopolarimeter, designed by Piirola (Piirola (1973)). Although the instrument conception is rather old, it remains particularly suited to multifrequency observations, thanks to its capability of performing simultaneous photopolarimetry in five different bands. Polarization of the light collected by the telescope is determined by a half-wave or quarter-wave retarder plate (to measure linear or circular polarization, respectively, with the highest efficiency), rotated through 8 positions by 22.5 steps. Then a calcite slab splits the light into ordinary and extraordinary rays that pass through identical diaphragms. Both components of the diffuse background from adjacent sky patches enter both diaphragms, resulting in a cancellation of the polarization of sky light. Finally, the beam is split by four dichroic+bandpass filter combinations and sent to five photomultipliers. Each of these channels reproduces the spectral response of one of the $`UBVRI`$ Johnson-Cousins bands. In this way, truly simultaneous multiband observations can be performed. For all our observations, an integration time of 10 seconds was used for each position of the retarder plate, giving a polarimetric measurement every 3.5 minutes. In order to improve the signal to noise ratio, intranight measurements were then binned with four plate cycles (about 15 minutes). A 10 second sky background integration was normally performed every 15 minutes. High and null polarization standard stars from Schmidt et al. (Schmidt92 (1992)), observed several times per night, were used to determine the instrumental parameters: instrument induced polarization and orientation of the zero point of the retarder plate with respect to the North.

Data reduction was performed using dedicated routines. They allow calculation of polarization percentage ($`P`$) and position angle ($`PA`$) by fitting the counts recorded in the eight positions of the retarder plate with a suitable cosine function using a least-squares algorithm. Subtraction of an average sky value obtained by interpolating between the nearest sky background acquisitions taken close to the object is automatically performed and the instrumental Stokes parameters are subtracted to obtain the true polarization state from the measured one. Error estimates take into account both the uncertainty from photon statistics and from the least-squares fit. In particular, the larger of these two contributions is adopted. In this way the error cannot be underestimated, as it could be if only the fit uncertainty was used. Binned points and nightly means can be calculated too, by averaging Stokes parameters over single polarimetric measurements.

A summary of the results is reported in Table 2 with 1$`\sigma `$ errors in brackets. The uncertainties for 3C 66A and PKS 0735+178 during December 11 and 12 are the maximum between statistical errors associated with the individual points and standard deviations of intranight binned measurements. So, intrinsic variability of the objects during those nights is taken into account as a source of uncertainty on the nightly means.

Absolute flux measurements from the counts recorded by the photopolarimeter are much more sensitive than Stokes parameter measurements (involving differences between close count recordings) to sky background/transparency fluctuations and seeing effects, as well as to small pointing or guiding errors, especially if relatively low-brightness targets are observed. As a consequence, no useful simultaneous photometry could be extracted from our polarimetric data. Therefore, we used the best $`V`$-band images taken with the standby CCD camera (Stancam) during the pointing phase to each source to obtain information on the photometric state of the BL Lacs during our observations. Results are reported in Table 1. The magnitude differences measured between the standard stars included in the field of view are very similar to the standard $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ values reported in the literature (Smith & Sitko Smith91 (1991); Fiorucci & Tosti Fiorucci96 (1996); Fiorucci et al. Fiorucci98 (1998)). Differential photometry yielded a precision of about $`\pm `$0.02 mag, but the $`V`$ magnitudes of the comparison stars are known with a greater error (about $`\pm `$0.06 mag). Hence, the uncertainties reported in brackets are mainly due to the reduction to the standard photometric system.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Linear Polarization

#### 3.1.1 3C 66A

Our results on this source, showing an average polarization of 27.3% in $`U`$ band, confirm that it is one of the most strongly polarized BL Lacs (Takalo & Sillanpää Takalo93 (1993)). Some day-to-day variability of both $`P`$ and $`PA`$ is present (Fig. 1).

A simple $`\chi ^2`$ test shows significant variability of $`P`$ at a 95% confidence level or more in $`U`$, $`B`$ and $`R`$ filters and of $`PA`$ in $`U`$, $`V`$ and $`R`$. Moreover, variations in the five bands are well correlated. In Fig. 2 polarization and position angle during the night of December 11 in the $`R`$ filter are reported, with 15 minute binning.

Variations are detected both in polarization and position angle, with higher significance for $`PA`$. The sharp minimum in $`PA`$ is noticeably lasting for about half an hour in the first part of the night and recorded also in the other bands, while variations in $`P`$ are not significant in $`U`$, $`B`$, $`V`$ and $`I`$ filters.

A comparison of our results with the polarization measurements reported in the literature (Mead et al. Mead (1990); Sitko et al. Sitko85 (1985); Smith et al. Smith87 (1987); Takalo Takalo91 (1991); Takalo & Sillanpää Takalo93 (1993); Takalo et al. Takalo94 (1994); Valtaoja et al. Valtaoja91 (1991)) is given in Fig. 3.

All the collected data are reported with the same weight, even if observations do not uniformly cover the spanned time period; most of them have been performed in short campaigns separated by long intervals during which the source was not observed. The $`P`$ values are rather scattered, and seem to concentrate in two broad regions of the plot: one between 10% and 18%, the second between 25% and 31%. However, the number of available measurements is too low to claim a real bimodal distribution. $`PA`$ shows a strongly preferred value between 20 and 30. No correlation between $`P`$ and $`PA`$ was found.

#### 3.1.2 PKS 0735+178

Nightly averages of $`P`$ and $`PA`$ measurements for this source are reported in Fig. 4.

Little variability is recorded in polarization percentage (significance level greater than 95% only in the $`V`$ filter), and more significant variations in $`PA`$ are seen. In all bands, an increase in $`P`$ is seen in the last night, while the $`PA`$ simultaneously rotates significantly with respect to the previous nights. Also on intranight time scales, more significant variations are seen in position angle than in polarization percentage. For the two nights with longest monitoring, we report in Fig. 5 the $`P`$ and $`PA`$ curves in the filters where the variations are most apparent. Similar trends are seen also in the other bands.

Also for this BL Lac object, we searched the literature for previous polarimetric data (Brindle et al. Brindle (1986); Mead et al. Mead (1990); Puschell et al. Puschell83 (1983); Sitko et al. Sitko85 (1985); Smith et al. Smith87 (1987); Takalo Takalo91 (1991); Takalo et al. Takalo92 (1992); Valtaoja et al. Valtaoja91 (1991), Valtaoja93 (1993)) and reported them in histograms along with our data (Fig. 6) as done in the case of 3C 66A.

Data are more sparsely distributed with respect to those of that object, but also in this case a broad peak in $`PA`$ between 90 and 160 is suggested. The source showed very different levels of $`P`$ in the past years, covering the whole range from about 1% to more than 30%.

#### 3.1.3 Other BL Lac objects

Linear polarization measurements also were performed for four other BL Lac objects: H 0414+009, PKS 0823$``$223, OJ287 and BL Lac (see Table 2). PKS 0823$``$223 was observed twice and found to show different levels of polarization in December 10 and 14. While $`P`$ was basically constant, $`PA`$ rotated by about 3–8 in the different filters. The other listed sources were observed sparsely during the run for short intervals, so no variability analysis could be performed.

Comparison with literature data shows that the three sources H 0414+009 (Impey & Tapia Impey88 (1988); Mead et al. Mead (1990)), OJ 287 (e.g. Smith et al. Smith87 (1987); Sillanpää et al. Sillanpaa91 (1991); Takalo et al. Takalo92 (1992)) and BL Lac (e.g. Puschell et al. Puschell83 (1983); Moore et al. Moore87 (1987); Sillanpää et al. Sillanpaa93 (1993)) were found at polarization levels comparable to their historical values. In particular, the last two sources showed large variations in the past both in $`P`$ and $`PA`$ and our values lie well within the observed variability ranges. PKS 0823$``$223 was found at a different polarization level with respect to that recorded at previous epochs. It has been observed in the past with $`P`$ ranging from 4.0% to 12.7% at wavelengths around 5000 Å (Impey & Tapia Impey88 (1988); Wills et al. Wills92 (1992); Visvanathan & Wills Visvanathan98 (1998)), while during our campaign it was polarized up to 15.6% in $`V`$ band. However, only few past measurements are available, so the level of polarization detected by us may be not that rare.

### 3.2 Wavelength dependence of polarization

Wavelength dependence of polarization (WDP) was investigated. Following Smith & Sitko (Smith91 (1991)), we introduced the parameters

$$P_\nu =\frac{d\mathrm{log}P}{d\mathrm{log}\nu }$$
(1)
and

$$\mathrm{𝑃𝐴}_\nu =\frac{d\mathrm{𝑃𝐴}}{d\mathrm{log}\nu },$$
(2)
which describe the spectral shape of $`P`$ and $`PA`$. They were determined by fitting power-laws to the nightly means of the $`UBVRI`$ linear polarization percentages and position angles, considered as monochromatic measurements at the effective wavelength of the filters. In Table 3 we report the most statistically significant values of $`P_\nu `$ and $`\mathrm{𝑃𝐴}_\nu `$ obtained for some objects/nights, with their standard deviations resulting from the fit.

In most cases $`\mathrm{𝑃𝐴}_\nu `$ is poorly determined and has been omitted in the table. H 0414+009 does not show significant wavelength dependence of polarization. While most objects show the usual trend with $`P`$ decreasing with decreasing frequency ($`P_\nu >0`$), that can be partially due to dilution by the host galaxy light, noticeably two sources, namely BL Lac and OJ 287, show $`P_\nu <0`$. Similar results have been obtained for these two objects in past observations, see e.g. Sillanpää et al. (Sillanpaa91 (1991), Sillanpaa93 (1993)). For the sources observed more than once during the campaign, no significant variability of the WDP can be evidenced.

### 3.3 Circular polarization

Circular polarization was investigated during the night of December 13, 1999 on four BL Lac objects (1Jy 0138$``$097, 3C 66A, PKS 0735+178 and PKS 0823$``$223) and the results are reported in Table 2. Only in 3C 66A, the object with the smallest errors due to its relatively high brightness, was circular polarization marginally detected at the 2$`\sigma `$ level in $`V`$ and $`R`$ bands. A detection of non-null circular polarization in 3C 66A was claimed by Takalo & Sillanpää (Takalo93 (1993)), with larger values than found in our data. We conservatively put an upper limit of 0.4% with a 3$`\sigma `$ confidence level on the circular polarization of this BL Lac. In the case of PKS 0735+178, marginal detection of circular polarization $`P=0.24\%\pm 0.12`$% was reported by Valtaoja et al. (Valtaoja93 (1993)). However, no such polarization was recorded during our campaign, even if our uncertainty level is similar. Our data show an upper limit of about 0.4% at the 3$`\sigma `$ level for PKS 0735+178. No significant circular polarization was found for the two other observed BL Lacs. Upper limits can be fixed at 2.5% and 0.5% for 1Jy 0138$``$097 and PKS 0823$``$223, respectively.

## 4 Discussion

The two sources which have been intensively monitored within this programme, 3C 66A and PKS 0735+178, exhibit a modest internight variability, which is more apparent in the position angle. This occurs also on an intranight scale and the overall behaviour is similar to that observed in B2 1308+326 (Puschell et al. Puschell79 (1979)), BL Lac (Moore et al. Moore87 (1987)), S5 0716+174 (Impey et al. Impey00 (2000)) and PKS 2155$``$304 (Tommasi et al. Tommasi01 (2001)). In the last three cases, total integration times were larger by an order of magnitude and more extreme variability episodes were recorded. As discussed by Tommasi et al. (Tommasi01 (2001)), a possible interpretation is that the emitting region is a relativistic jet, containing substructures of different polarization, with variable intensities.

Our results confirm the finding of a preferred polarization level over a time scale of years, indicating an underlying stability of the jet structure, even if in the presence of variability of the single subcomponents. In particular, the existence of a preferred position angle (see e.g. Jannuzi, Smith & Elston Jannuzi94 (1994)) could be related to a regular large-scale component of the magnetic field (Tommasi et al. Tommasi01 (2001)).

A summary of the results of the present observations is reported in Table 1, together with data on some sources that have been observed previously by our team. We have also reported the core dominance ($`CD`$) parameter in the $`R`$ band, i.e. the ratio between the nuclear intensity to that of the host galaxy, collected from the literature (Wurtz et al. Wurtz96 (1996); Scarpa et al. Scarpa00 (2000)). It is apparent that the WDP is different for the various sources. Although the $`P_\nu `$ parameters should be corrected for dilution due to the host galaxy light (which in a first approximation can be considered as unpolarized), this difference holds also when comparing only the most core-dominated objects, for which the galaxy correction should be negligible. This may be ascribed to the different spectral appearance of LBL and HBL: with one exception (PKS 0301–243), the LBL in our sample have the lower values of $`P_\nu `$ (i.e., steeper polarized spectra) while the WDP for the HBL is flatter (although not significantly saw within the limited number statistics). This reflects the fact that, when the galaxy correction is negligible, the shape of the optical polarization should be that of “pure” synchrotron emission and therefore should depend on the position of the synchrotron peak (i.e., more HBL-like sources should have a flatter slope).

In two LBL in our sample, OJ 287 and BL Lac, the $`P_\nu `$ slope is negative, meaning that the polarization increases with wavelength. This is the opposite of what is expected for pure synchrotron radiation. Since the effect is significant, we argue that a source of thermal nature, like an accretion disk, may dilute the non-thermal emission of these objects and determine the observed wavelength dependence (see Wandel & Urry wanurr91 (1991); Smith & Sitko Smith91 (1991)). In BL Lac, an accretion disk has indeed been proposed by Corbett et al. (Corbett96 (1996)) and Corbett et al. (Corbett00 (2000)) as the powering source of the observed, variable H$`\alpha `$ emission line. The presence of an accretion disk in OJ 287 has been invoked to explain the observed flux and spectral variability (Sillanpää et al. sill88 (1988); Kidger et al. kidger91 (1991); Katz katz97 (1997)). However, the $`P_\nu `$ of OJ 287 in past polarimetric monitorings in optical bands has not been systematically negative (see e.g. Takalo et al. Takalo92 (1992)), and, overall, the source exhibited preferentially a WDP behavior opposite to the one observed by us, namely decreasing polarization with increasing wavelength (Takalo takalo94 (1994)). One may argue that, since the accretion disk component is presumably more modestly variable than the beamed non-thermal one, it emerges during phases of quiescent synchrotron emission, so that a negative $`P_\nu `$ value may be more often seen during low brightness states of the source, such as the one we have monitored in our campaign.

Following Wurtz et al. (Wurtz96 (1996)) we have plotted the average optical polarization in the $`V`$ band $`P_m`$ vs. $`CD`$ in Fig. 7.

At the lower values, say $`CD10`$, there may be a monotonic growth, which could result only in part from the effect of dilution by the host galaxy. It has been highlighted in the figure by tracing the line representing a linear regression over those points in logarithmic scales. The fact that 3C 66A (the object with the highest polarization recorded) lies on the line is noticeable and confirms that dilution is not the main cause of the observed dependence, since in this highly polarized and strongly core-dominated source, the host galaxy light should play little part. Even if the evidence of a $`P`$ vs. $`CD`$ correlation is based on few points, it interestingly confirms the suggestion of Wurtz et al. (Wurtz96 (1996)), who found a correlation between two quantities at a 99% probability level. The result is not easy to interpret, and could suggest a correlation between polarization and beaming properties, which may manifest itself in the observed CD. A dependence of the observed polarization percentage from the degree of jet collimation and radiation beaming is expected, based on recent speculation made in the context of polarized afterglow emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts (Gruzinov Gruzinov99 (1999); Gruzinov & Waxman gruzwax99 (1999); Covino et al. Covino99 (1999); Wijers et al. Wijers99 (1999)). On the other hand, we note that the CD parameter as defined here could reasonably be associated with the radio nuclear-to-extended emission, which is a clear tracer of beaming in BL Lacs (see Fig. 5 in Ghisellini et al. gg93 (1993)). Regrettably, we have insufficient statistics to prove the correlation of optical and radio CD in our sample (only 4 of our objects have a measured radio CD), and the issue is in any case sensitive to nuclear variability, which is stronger in optical than in radio. We have therefore considered a model of the overall spectrum of blazars from radio to gamma ray frequencies, where a plasma radiates mainly via synchrotron and inverse Compton mechanisms. The relativistic motion of the plasma toward the observer is characterized by the beaming factor $`\delta `$. Our sample contains only BL Lac objects, and therefore the scattering of the relativistic electrons should occur mainly on the synchrotron photons, and the spectrum should be represented by the so-called synchrotron self-Compton model (SSC). The observation of the overall spectrum and of its time variability allows us to constrain the various parameters which enter the model (e.g. Ghisellini et al. Ghisellini98 (1998)). In particular one can determine $`\delta `$ and the magnetic field intensity B, which a priori should correlate directly with polarization properties. Their values are reported in Table 1 (Ghisellini et al. Ghisellini98 (1998); Tagliaferri et al. Tagliaferri01 (2001)). Besides the well-known fact that LBL are more polarized than HBL (see e.g. Jannuzi et al. Jannuzi94 (1994); Ulrich et al. Ulrich97 (1997)), we notice that HBL appear to be associated with a stronger magnetic field in our sample. However, no clear direct dependence of $`P`$ on $`\delta `$ is apparent. Obviously, the objects under consideration are rather few. A search for a possible correlation of the circular polarization with $`B`$ or $`\delta `$ would be hazardous, because of the large uncertainties on $`P`$.

The investigation of polarization of BL Lac objects can give a large amount of information that could help to constrain jet models (Jones jones88 (1988); Björnsson bjorn93 (1993)). Coordinated polarimetric monitoring at optical, near-infrared and radio wavelengths has allowed several authors to elucidated the structure and distribution of the magnetic field, the interplay of different emission components and the location of emitting regions in blazars thanks to the variability of multiwavelength polarization percentage (e.g., Brindle et al. Brindle (1986); Kikuchi et al. kikuchi88 (1988); Cawthorne & Wardle cawthorne88 (1988); Sillanpää sill91 (1991); Gabuzda & Gómez Gabuzda01 (2001)). Therefore other intensive campaigns seem strongly needed. In particular, simultaneous observations of the optical polarization and X-ray flux could better investigate the physical environment of the inner part of the synchrotron source. Moreover, simultaneous polarimetric and photometric data in the optical, best obtained with CCD-based instruments, could help to clarify how the injection of relativistic particles correlates with variations in the magnetic field.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the NOT staff for technical support during the observations. Financial support from EC grant ERBFMRXCT 98-0195 and Italian MURST COFIN 98021541 are acknowledged.


text:
# Classical aspects of quantum fields far from equilibrium

\[

## Abstract

We consider the time evolution of nonequilibrium quantum scalar fields in the $`O(N)`$ model, using the next-to-leading order $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action. A comparison with exact numerical simulations in $`1+1`$ dimensions in the classical limit shows that the $`1/N`$ expansion gives quantitatively precise results already for moderate values of $`N`$. For sufficiently high initial occupation numbers the time evolution of quantum fields is shown to be accurately described by classical physics. Eventually the correspondence breaks down due to the difference between classical and quantum thermal equilibrium.

\]

In recent years we have witnessed an enormous increase of interest in the dynamics of quantum fields out of equilibrium. Much progress has been achieved for systems close to thermal equilibrium or with effective descriptions based on a separation of scales in the weak coupling limit . Current and upcoming relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments provide an important motivation to find controlled nonperturbative approximation schemes which yield a quantitative description of far-from-equilibrium phenomena from first principles.

Practicable nonperturbative approximations may be based on the two-particle irreducible ($`2PI`$) generating functional for Green’s functions . Recently, a systematic $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action has been proposed for a scalar $`O(N)`$ symmetric quantum field theory . This nonperturbative approach extends previous successful descriptions of the large-time behavior of quantum fields , which employ the loop expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action relevant at weak couplings . At next-to-leading order (NLO) the $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action has been solved for the quantum theory in $`1+1`$ dimensions . The approach overcomes the problem of a secular time evolution, which is encountered in the standard $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`1PI`$ effective action beyond leading order .

Our purpose in this Letter is to establish that the $`1/N`$ expansion at NLO gives quantitatively precise results already for moderate values of $`N`$. We therefore have a small nonperturbative expansion parameter at hand and a controlled description of far-from-equilibrium dynamics becomes possible. As an application we compare quantum and classical evolution and demonstrate that the nonequilibrium quantum field theory can be described by its classical field theory limit for sufficiently high initial occupation numbers. We show that eventually the correspondence breaks down due to the difference between classical and quantum thermal equilibrium.

Employing the classical statistical field theory limit, we compare the $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action at NLO with the exact result, which includes all orders in $`1/N`$. The time evolution of classical nonequilibrium Green’s functions can be calculated exactly, up to controlled numerical uncertainties, by integrating the microscopic field equations of motion. This allows one to obtain a direct comparison . Apart from benchmarking approximation schemes employed in quantum field theory, the importance of the classical field limit for the approximate description of nonequilibrium quantum fields is manifest.

$`2PI`$ effective action. We consider a real $`N`$-component scalar quantum field theory with a $`\lambda (\varphi _a\varphi _a)^2/(4!N)`$ interaction in the symmetric phase ($`a=1,\mathrm{},N`$). The $`2PI`$ generating functional for Green’s functions can be parametrized as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }[G]=\frac{i}{2}\text{Tr}\mathrm{ln}G^1+\frac{i}{2}\text{Tr}G_0^1G+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2[G]+\mathrm{const},$$
(1)
where $`G_0^1=i(\mathrm{}+m^2)`$ denotes the free inverse propagator. The $`2PI`$ contribution $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2[G]`$ can be computed from a systematic $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action . Writing $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2[G]=\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{\mathrm{LO}}[G]+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{\mathrm{NLO}}[G]+\mathrm{}`$ the LO and NLO contributions are given by

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{\mathrm{LO}}[G]={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{4!N}}{\displaystyle _𝒞}\mathrm{d}^{d+1}xG_{aa}(x,x)G_{bb}(x,x),`$ (2)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{\mathrm{NLO}}[G]={\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\text{Tr}_𝒞\mathrm{ln}[𝐁(G)].`$ (3)
Here $`𝒞`$ denotes the Schwinger-Keldysh contour along the real time axis  and

$$𝐁(x,y;G)=\delta _𝒞^{d+1}(xy)+i\frac{\lambda }{6N}G_{ab}(x,y)G_{ab}(x,y).$$
(4)
The nonlocal four-point vertex at NLO is given by $`\frac{\lambda }{6N}𝐁^1`$ . In absence of external sources the evolution equation for $`G`$ is determined by

$$\frac{\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }[G]}{\delta G_{ab}(x,y)}=0.$$
(5)
We consider the $`O(N)`$ symmetric case, such that $`G_{ab}(x,y)=G(x,y)\delta _{ab}`$. In the following we solve Eq. (5), using Eqs. (1)–(4) without further approximations numerically in $`1+1`$ dimensions . We compare the outcome with results in the classical field theory limit, using both the NLO classical approximation and the “exact” Monte Carlo calculation  as described below.

Nonequilibrium time evolution. To formulate the nonequilibrium dynamics as an initial-value problem, we decompose the full two-point function using the identity $`G(x,y)=F(x,y)(i/2)\rho (x,y)\mathrm{sign}_𝒞(x^0y^0)`$ where $`F`$ is the symmetric or statistical two-point function and $`\rho `$ denotes the spectral function . Following Refs. , Eq. (5) can be written as

$`\left[\mathrm{}_x+M^2(x)\right]F(x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{x^0}}dz^0{\displaystyle d𝐳\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho (x,z)F(z,y)}`$ (6)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{y^0}}dz^0{\displaystyle d𝐳\mathrm{\Sigma }_F(x,z)\rho (z,y)},`$ (7)
$`\left[\mathrm{}_x+M^2(x)\right]\rho (x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{y^0}^{x^0}}dz^0{\displaystyle d𝐳\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho (x,z)\rho (z,y)}.`$ (8)
At NLO in the $`1/N`$ expansion the effective mass term $`M^2(x)`$ is given by $`M^2(x)=m^2+\lambda \frac{N+2}{6N}F(x,x)`$ and the self energies are

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_F(x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3N}}\left[F(x,y)I_F(x,y){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\rho (x,y)I_\rho (x,y)\right],`$ (9)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho (x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3N}}\left[\rho (x,y)I_F(x,y)+F(x,y)I_\rho (x,y)\right].`$ (10)
Here the functions $`I_F`$ and $`I_\rho `$ resum an infinite chain of bubble diagrams,

$`I_F(x,y)={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3}}\mathrm{\Pi }_F(x,y)+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3}}{\displaystyle _0^{x^0}}dz^0{\displaystyle d𝐳I_\rho (x,z)\mathrm{\Pi }_F(z,y)}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3}}{\displaystyle _0^{y^0}}dz^0{\displaystyle d𝐳I_F(x,z)\mathrm{\Pi }_\rho (z,y)},`$
$`I_\rho (x,y)={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3}}\mathrm{\Pi }_\rho (x,y)+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3}}{\displaystyle _{y^0}^{x^0}}dz^0{\displaystyle d𝐳I_\rho (x,z)\mathrm{\Pi }_\rho (z,y)},`$
with

$`\mathrm{\Pi }_F(x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(F^2(x,y){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\rho ^2(x,y)\right),`$ (11)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_\rho (x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`F(x,y)\rho (x,y).`$ (12)
Classical field theory limit. The classical statistical field theory limit of a scalar quantum field theory has been studied extensively in the literature. An analysis along the lines of Refs.  shows that all equations (7)–(12) remain the same in the classical limit except for differing expressions for the statistical components of the self energy

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_F(x,y)`$ $`{\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\mathrm{classical}\mathrm{limit}}{}}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{3N}}F(x,y)I_F(x,y),`$ (13)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_F(x,y)`$ $`{\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\mathrm{classical}\mathrm{limit}}{}}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}F^2(x,y).`$ (14)
The latter expressions are given by Eqs. (9) and (11) in the quantum theory. One observes that the classical self energies are obtained from the expressions in the quantum theory by dropping terms with two spectral ($`\rho `$-type) components compared to two statistical ($`F`$-type) functions. This particular relationship has been studied in great detail in thermal equilibrium and corresponds to retaining only contributions that are of leading order in $`\mathrm{}`$. It has been systematized in terms of Feynman rules for classical and quantum theories using the Keldysh formulation with appropriate interaction vertices . Note that the classical spectral function is obtained from the quantum one by replacing $`i`$ times the commutator by the classical Poisson bracket. A comparison of the classical limit in the current approximation for $`N=1`$ has been studied in Ref. .

Monte Carlo approach. An “exact” nonperturbative solution of the evolution of classical correlation functions in the $`O(N)`$ model can be obtained numerically in a straightforward manner . Initial conditions are determined from a probability functional on classical phase-space. The subsequent time evolution is solved numerically using the classical equations of motion. In the figures presented below, we have sampled 50000-80000 independent initial conditions to approximate the exact evolution.

Far from equilibrium evolution. We consider a system that is invariant under space translations and work in momentum space. We choose a Gaussian initial state such that a specification of the initial two-point functions is sufficient. The quantum (classical) spectral function at initial time is completely determined from the equal-time commutation relations (Poisson brackets). For the symmetric two-point function we take $`F(0,0;p)=[n_0(p)+\frac{1}{2}]/\omega _p`$, with the initial particle number $`n_0(p)=n_{\mathrm{ts}}(p)+n_B(p)`$ representing a peaked “tsunami” $`n_{\mathrm{ts}}(p)=𝒜\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{1}{2\sigma ^2}(|p||p_{\mathrm{ts}}|)^2\right]`$ in a thermal background $`n_B(p)=[\mathrm{exp}(\omega _p/T_0)1]^1`$ . Such an initial state is reminiscent of two colliding wave packets  and provides a far-from-equilibrium initial condition. We emphasize that these initial conditions can be implemented both in a quantum and a classical theory. The initial mode energy is given by $`\omega _p=(p^2+M^2)^{1/2}`$ where $`M`$ is the one-loop renormalized mass in presence of the nonequilibrium medium, determined from the one-loop gap equation. As a renormalization condition we choose the one-loop renormalized mass in vacuum $`m_RM|_{n_0=0}=1`$ as our dimensionful scale. The results shown below are obtained using a fixed coupling constant $`\lambda /m_R^2=30`$.

Convergence of NLO and Monte Carlo results. In Fig. 1 we present the two-point function $`F(t,0;p=0)`$ in the classical field theory limit for three values of $`N`$. All other parameters are kept constant. The figure compares the time evolution using the $`1/N`$ expansion of the $`2PI`$ effective action to NLO and the Monte Carlo calculation that includes all orders in $`1/N`$. One observes that the approximate time evolution of the correlation function shows a rather good agreement with the exact result even for small values of $`N`$ (note that the effective four-point coupling is strong, $`\lambda /6N=2.5m_R^2`$ for $`N=2`$). For $`N=20`$ the exact and NLO evolution can hardly be distinguished. A very sensitive quantity to compare is the damping rate $`\gamma `$, which is obtained from an exponential fit to the envelope of $`F(t,0;p=0)`$. The systematic convergence of the NLO and the Monte Carlo result as a function of $`1/N`$ can be observed in Fig. 2. The quantitatively accurate description of far from equilibrium processes within the NLO approximation of the $`2PI`$ effective action is manifest.

Classical behavior of nonequilibrium quantum fields. In Fig. 2 we also show the damping rate from the quantum evolution, using the same initial conditions and parameters. We observe that the damping in the quantum theory differs and, in particular, is reduced compared to the classical result. In the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ damping of the unequal-time correlation function $`F(t,0;p)`$ goes to zero since the nonlocal part of the self energies (9)–(10) vanishes and scattering is absent. In this limit there is no difference between evolution in a quantum and classical statistical field theory.

For finite $`N`$ scattering is present and quantum and classical evolution differ in general. However, the classical field approximation may be expected to become a reliable description for the quantum theory if the number of field quanta in each field mode is sufficiently high. We observe that increasing the initial particle number density leads to a convergence of quantum and classical time evolution at not too late times. In Fig. 3 we present the time evolution of the equal-time correlation function $`F(t,t;p)`$ for several momenta $`p`$ and $`N=10`$. Here the particle density $`\frac{dp}{2\pi }n_0(p)/M=1.2`$ is six times as high as in Figs. 1,2 and, in contrast to the latter, quantum and classical evolution at NLO follow each other rather closely. For an estimate of the NLO truncation error we also give the MC result for $`N=10`$ showing a quantitative agreement with the classical NLO evolution both at early and later times.

Quantum versus classical equilibration. From Fig. 3 one observes that the initially highly occupied “tsunami” modes ($`p_{\mathrm{ts}}/m_R=2.5`$) “decay” as time proceeds and the low momentum modes become more and more populated. At late times the classical theory  and the quantum theory  approach their respective thermal equilibrium distribution. Since classical and quantum thermal equilibrium are distinct the classical and quantum time evolutions have to deviate at sufficiently late times, irrespective of the initial particle number density per mode. Differences in the particle number distribution can be conveniently discussed using the inverse slope parameter $`T(t,p)n(t,ϵ_p)[n(t,ϵ_p)+1](dn/dϵ)^1`$ for a given time-evolving particle number distribution $`n(t,ϵ_p)`$ and dispersion relation $`ϵ_p(t)`$ . Following Ref.  we define the effective particle number as $`n(t,ϵ_p)+\frac{1}{2}[F(t,t^{};p)_t_t^{}F(t,t^{};p)]^{1/2}|_{t=t^{}}`$ and mode energy by $`ϵ_p(t)[_t_t^{}F(t,t^{};p)/F(t,t^{};p)]^{1/2}|_{t=t^{}}`$, which coincide with the usual free-field definition for $`\lambda 0`$. For a Bose-Einstein distributed particle number the parameter $`T(t,p)`$ corresponds to the (momentum independent) temperature $`T(t,p)=T_{\mathrm{eq}}`$. In the classical limit the inverse slope $`T(t,p)`$ as defined above remains momentum dependent.

In Fig. 4 we plot the function $`T(t,p)`$ for $`p_{\mathrm{low}}0`$ and $`p_{\mathrm{high}}2p_{\mathrm{ts}}`$. Initially one observes a very different behavior of $`T(t,p)`$ for the low and high momentum modes, indicating that the system is far from equilibrium. Note that classical and quantum evolution agree very well for sufficiently high initial particle number density. However, at later times the difference between quantum and classical evolution becomes visible. The quantum evolution approaches quantum thermal equilibrium with a momentum independent inverse slope $`T=4.7m_R`$. In contrast, in the classical limit the slope parameter remains momentum dependent and the system relaxes towards classical thermal equilibrium .

We thank W. Wetzel for continuous support in computational resources. This work was supported by the TMR network Finite Temperature Phase Transitions in Particle Physics, EU contract no. FMRX-CT97-0122.


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# hep-th/0107039 DEFORMED BOOST TRANSFORMATIONS THAT SATURATE AT THE PLANCK SCALE

## I Introduction

Several approaches to the unification of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics have led to arguments in favour of the emergence of a minimum length and/or a maximum momentum, possibly connected with the Planck length ($`L_p10^{33}cm`$) and this has also motivated some authors (see, e.g., Refs. ) to argue that somehow boosts should saturate at the Planck scale. A framework that can be used to implement this type of concepts in consistent relativistic theories was recently proposed in Ref. , where, following a close analogy with our present description of fundamental physics (in which Galileo’s Relativity Principle coexists with the observer-independent scale $`c`$, the speed-of-light fundamental constant), it was shown that logically consistent relativistic theories can host both $`c`$ and a second scale, possibly connected with the Planck length, as observer-independent scales. One example of this new type of Relativity postulates, an example based on the introduction of a deformed dispersion relation, was analyzed in detail  obtaining various results in leading order in the second (Planck-scale related) observer-independent scale, including the nature of the transformation rules between different inertial observers and kinematic rules***Additional work on these kinematic rules was then reported in Ref. . for particle-production processes, emphasizing those aspects that lead to the emergence of a minimum length, a minimum length uncertainty and a maximum momentum (minimum wavelength). In particular, it was found (again within a leading-order analysis ) that consistency with the new postulates requires that (infinitesimal and finite) transformations between different inertial observers be described in terms of the generators of one of the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf albegras , and that the action of boosts saturates at momenta corresponding to the second observer-independent scale. This connection with $`\kappa `$-Poincaré was then exploited in Ref.  as a guiding principle for obtaining exact (all-order) results on the maximum, observer-independent, momentum scale, and on some asymptotic (infinite-energy) features of the new relativistic theory.

In this paper we intend to further exploit the connection with $`\kappa `$-Poincaré to obtain the exact (all-order) form of the finite boost transformations, generalizing one of the leading-order results of Ref. . The relevant properties of operators obtained by exponentiation of the generators of the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré algebra here of interest were not previously analyzed, but for another example of $`\kappa `$-Poincaré algebra a similar analysis was attempted , encountering several difficulties (in particular, the exponentiatied action of the generators could only be described through implicit formulas). We shall show that no such difficulties is encountered in the analysis of the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré algebra here of interest.

As additional motivation for the analysis reported in the following Sections we observe that, in addition to their significance for the logical consistency of the new type of relativistic theories, the possibility of deformed boosts has recently attracted interest also as a tool to address certain problems in phenomenology. In particular, puzzling observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and multi-TeV photons from Markarian 501 have been analyzed as an indication of boost deformation . Also some cosmological scenarios based on $`\kappa `$-Poincaré were analyzed, leading to encouraging preliminary results .

## II Finite boost transformations

The $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebra that is relevant for the example of new relativistic theory studied in Refs.  is the one proposed by Majid and Ruegg in Ref.  (the so-called “bicrossproduct basis”). For our analysis of finite boosts only the algebra sector of this Hopf algebra is relevant, and we note the commutation relations here for completeness:Since the second observer-independent scale appears several times in several of our formulas we find convenient to denote it with $`\lambda `$ rather than the more cumbersome notation $`\stackrel{~}{L}_p`$ adopted in Ref. . We of course maintain the intuition that this dimensionful parameter should be naturally identified with the Planck length, up to a numerical factor of order 1 and a possible sign difference. Also notice that in the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré literature the mass parameter $`\kappa `$ is used instead instead of the length parameter $`\lambda `$ ($`\kappa 1/\lambda `$).

$`[M_{\mu \nu },M_{\rho \tau }]=`$ $`i\left(\eta _{\mu \tau }M_{\nu \rho }\eta _{\nu \rho }M_{\nu \tau }+\eta _{\nu \rho }M_{\mu \tau }\eta _{\nu \tau }M_{\mu \rho }\right),`$ (1)
$`[M_i,k_j]=`$ $`iϵ_{ijk}k_k,[M_i,\omega ]=0,`$ (3)
$`[N_i,k_j]=`$ $`i\delta _{ij}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\lambda }}\left(1e^{2\omega \lambda }\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}}\stackrel{}{k}^2\right)i\lambda k_ik_j,`$ (5)
$`[N_i,\omega ]=`$ $`ik_i,`$ (7)
$`[P_\mu ,P_\nu ]=`$ $`0,`$ (9)
where $`P_\mu =(\omega ,k_i)`$ are the time and space components of the four-momentum generators and $`M_{\mu \nu }`$ are modified Lorentz generators with rotations $`M_k=\frac{1}{2}ϵ_{ijk}M_{ij}`$ and boosts $`N_i=M_{0i}`$. Also important for our analysis is the dispersion relation that follows from these $`\kappa `$-Poincaré algebraic relations

$$\frac{e^{\lambda \omega }+e^{\lambda \omega }2}{\lambda ^2}\stackrel{}{k}^2e^{\lambda \omega }=m^2,$$
(10)
which of course corresponds to a Casimir of (1) (just as the special-relativistic dispersion relation corresponds to a Casimir of the standard Lorentz algebra). The eigenvalues $`m^2`$ of the $`\kappa `$-deformed Casimir are related to the physical mass $`M`$ (rest energy) by

$$\frac{e^{\lambda M}+e^{\lambda M}2}{\lambda ^2}=m^2.$$
(11)
Clearly according to (1) the action of rotations is completely conventional (undeformed). The action of the boosts $`N_i`$ needs instead a deformation, to reflect the properties of the $`\lambda `$-dependent commutator $`[N_i,k_j]`$. As announced, we intend to construct finite deformed boosts transformations. This can be done in close analogy with the corresponding analysis of ordinary Lorentz boosts. A particle which, for a given first observer, has four-momentum $`(\omega ^0,\stackrel{}{k}^0)`$ will have four-momentum $`(\omega ,\stackrel{}{k})`$ for a second observer in relative motion, with boost/rapidity parameter $`\xi `$, with respect to the first observer. The starting point for obtaining the relation between $`(\omega ,\stackrel{}{k})`$ and $`(\omega ^0,\stackrel{}{k}^0)`$ is the differential representation of the deformed boost generators. From the algebra (1) one can easily derive this differential representation (of course, without loss of generality we can choose to focus on the boost that acts along the axis $`1`$)

$$N_1=ik_1\frac{}{\omega }+i\left(\frac{\lambda }{2}\stackrel{}{k}^2+\frac{1e^{2\lambda \omega }}{2\lambda }\right)\frac{}{k_1}i\lambda k_1\left(k_j\frac{}{k_j}\right),$$
(12)
and accordinglyHere we are making the implicit assumption that the action of the adjoint representation be described by exponentiation of the generators. This assumption is in fact justified  in the specific $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebra here of interest, differently from the case of the Lorentz sector of other $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebra . the differential equations to be satisfied by $`(\omega ,\stackrel{}{k})`$ are

$$\frac{d}{d\xi }k_1(\xi )+\frac{\lambda }{2}(k_1^2(\xi )k_2^2(\xi )k_3^2(\xi ))+\frac{e^{2\lambda \omega (\xi )}1}{2\lambda }=0$$
(13)
$$\frac{d}{d\xi }\omega (\xi )k_1(\xi )=0$$
(14)
$$\frac{d}{d\xi }k_2(\xi )+\lambda k_1(\xi )k_2(\xi )=0$$
(15)
$$\frac{d}{d\xi }k_3(\xi )+\lambda k_1(\xi )k_3(\xi )=0$$
(16)
Differentiating (13) and making use of the other equations one obtains a non-linear second-order equation for $`k_1(\xi )`$:

$$\frac{d^2}{d\xi ^2}k_1(\xi )+3\lambda k_1(\xi )\frac{d}{d\xi }k_1(\xi )+\lambda ^2k_1^3(\xi )k_1(\xi )=0.$$
(17)
We find that the solutions of this equation are of the form

$$k_1(\xi )=\frac{B}{\lambda }\frac{\mathrm{cosh}(\xi +\beta )}{(1B\mathrm{sinh}(\xi +\beta ))}$$
(18)
where $`B`$ and $`\beta `$ are integration constants.

Corresponding solutions for the other components of the four-momentum can be obtained by substituting Eq. (18) in Eqs. (1416). Our problem is therefore already reduced to the identification of a few integration constants.

We determine the integration constants $`B`$, $`\beta `$ by imposing the obvious requirement that $`(\omega ,\stackrel{}{k})=(\omega ^0,\stackrel{}{k}^0)`$ for $`\xi =0`$. From (18) one obtains

$$k_1(\xi =0)=k_1^0=\frac{B}{\lambda }\frac{\mathrm{cosh}(\beta )}{(1B\mathrm{sinh}(\beta ))}$$
(19)
and thus

$$B=\frac{\lambda k_1^0}{\mathrm{cosh}(\beta )\lambda k_1^0\mathrm{sinh}(\beta )}$$
(20)
Using this condition and introducing $`A=\mathrm{tanh}(\beta )`$ (simply replacing the unknown $`\beta `$ with the corresponding unknown $`A`$) we can obtain from (18) an expression of $`k_1(\xi )`$ with only one unknown:

$$k_1(\xi )=k_1^0\frac{\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )+A\mathrm{sinh}(\xi )}{1\lambda k_1^0(AA\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )\mathrm{sinh}(\xi ))}.$$
(21)
Corresponding expressions for $`\omega (\xi )`$,$`k_2(\xi )`$,$`k_3(\xi )`$ are easily obtained from Eqs. (14)–(16):

$$\omega (\xi )=\omega ^0\frac{1}{\lambda }\text{ln}\frac{1}{1\lambda k_1^0(AA\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )\mathrm{sinh}(\xi ))}$$
(22)
$$k_2(\xi )=\frac{k_2^0}{1\lambda k_1^0(AA\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )\mathrm{sinh}(\xi ))}$$
(23)
$$k_3(\xi )=\frac{k_3^0}{1\lambda k_1^0(AA\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )\mathrm{sinh}(\xi ))}$$
(24)
We are therefore left with the task of expressing $`A`$ in terms of $`\omega ^0`$,$`k_1^0`$,$`k_2^0`$,$`k_3^0`$. The sought condition is easily obtained combining (13) and (21)

$$k_1^0A\lambda k_{1}^{0}{}_{}{}^{2}=\frac{d}{d\xi }k_1(\xi )|_{\xi =0}=\frac{\lambda }{2}(k_{1}^{0}{}_{}{}^{2}k_{2}^{0}{}_{}{}^{2}k_{3}^{0}{}_{}{}^{2})+\frac{1e^{2\lambda \omega ^0}}{2\lambda },$$
(25)
from which it follows that

$$A=\mathrm{sinh}(\lambda \omega ^0)\frac{e^{\lambda \omega ^0}}{\lambda k_1^0}+\frac{\lambda }{2k_1^0}\stackrel{}{k_0}^2$$
(26)
The equations (21), (22), (23) and (24), with $`A`$ expressed in terms of $`\omega ^0`$,$`k_1^0`$,$`k_2^0`$,$`k_3^0`$ through (26), describe the exact $`\kappa `$-deformed boost transformations. It is easy to verify that they satisfy§§§In the new relativistic theory the deformed dispersion relation acquires  the status of an observer-independent property, and it must therefore be an invariant of boost transformations. At the mathematical level this is assured  by the fact that the deformed dispersion relation corresponds, as mentioned, to a Casimir of (1). the dispersion relation (10). It is also easy to verify that, of course, in the $`\lambda 0`$ limit our transformation rules reduce to ordinary Lorentz boost transformations, and the leading order in $`\lambda `$ reproduces the corresponding result obtained in Ref. .

## III Range of the boost parameter and maximum momentum

For ordinary Lorentz boosts the $`\xi `$ parameter can take any real value. In this Section we show that the same property holds for our deformed boosts for $`\lambda >0`$, while for $`\lambda <0`$ the $`\xi `$ parameter can vary only within a finite range. We also show that for $`\lambda >0`$ our deformed boosts saturate at a maximum value of momentum: $`|\stackrel{}{k}|=1/\lambda `$.

In preparation for the study of the range of $`\xi `$, let us start by analyzing some relevant properties of the integration constant $`A`$. For simplicity let us focus on the case $`k_2^0=k_3^0=0`$ and let us denote $`k_1^0`$ simply by $`k^0`$; then $`A`$ takes the form

$$A=\mathrm{sinh}(\lambda \omega ^0)\frac{e^{\lambda \omega ^0}}{\lambda k^0}+\frac{\lambda }{2}k^0.$$
(27)
Using the deformed dispersion relation (10), which allows to express $`k^0`$ as a function of $`\omega ^0`$

$$k^0=\pm \frac{\sqrt{1+e^{2\lambda \omega ^0}(2+m^2\lambda ^2)e^{\lambda \omega ^0}}}{|\lambda |},$$
(28)
and using (11) to express the Casimir eigenvalues $`m^2`$ in terms of the physical mass $`M`$, we obtain a useful formula for $`A`$

$$A=\text{sign}(k)\text{sign}(\lambda )\frac{1\mathrm{cosh}(\lambda M)x}{\sqrt{1+x^22\mathrm{cosh}(\lambda M)x}}$$
(29)
where we have also introduced $`xe^{\lambda \omega ^0}`$.

For $`\lambda >0`$, $`x(0,e^{\lambda M}]`$ and from (29) it follows that for positive $`k`$ the value of $`A`$ varies from $`1`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$ as $`x`$ varies from $`0`$ to $`e^{\lambda M}`$, while for negative $`k`$ the value of $`A`$ varies from $`1`$ to $`\mathrm{}`$ as $`x`$ varies from $`0`$ to $`e^{\lambda M}`$.

For $`\lambda <0`$, $`x[e^{|\lambda |M},+\mathrm{})`$ and from (29) it follows that for positive $`k`$ the value of $`A`$ varies from $`+\mathrm{}`$ to $`1`$ as $`x`$ varies from $`e^{|\lambda |M}`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$, while for negative $`k`$ the value of $`A`$ varies from $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`1`$ as $`x`$ varies from $`e^{|\lambda |M}`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$.

Using these properties of $`A`$ it is easy to establish the range of allowed values of the boost parameter $`\xi `$ and to establish the main characteristics of the dependence of momentum and energy on $`\xi `$.

For positive $`\lambda `$ it is possible to vary $`\xi `$ from $`0`$ toward both $`+\mathrm{}`$ and $`\mathrm{}`$ without ever encountering any singularities. (For positive $`\lambda `$ the denominator $`1\lambda k(AA\mathrm{cosh}\xi \mathrm{sinh}\xi )`$ in (21) and (22) never vanishes.) All real values of $`\xi `$ are therefore allowed for $`\lambda >0`$, just as in the case of ordinary Lorentz boosts ($`\lambda =0`$). The derivative $`dk/d\xi `$ vanishes only for one value of $`\xi `$ (a saddle point for $`k(\xi )`$) and in that point the momentum vanishes and the energy reaches its minimum value $`M`$. In the limit $`\xi +\mathrm{}`$ one finds $`\omega +\mathrm{}`$ while $`k1/\lambda `$, while in the limit $`\xi \mathrm{}`$ one finds $`\omega +\mathrm{}`$ while $`k1/\lambda `$. So energy is still unbounded from above, just like in the ordinary Lorentz-boost case, while for positive $`\lambda `$ the new boost transformations are such that momentum saturates at $`|k|=1/\lambda `$. Our result on the exact transfomation rules therefore extends the maximum-momentum analysis reported in Ref. , which was based on the form of the transformation rules in leading order in $`\lambda `$ and found that for positive $`\lambda `$ the action of boosts starts saturating as $`|k|`$ approaches $`1/\lambda `$ (the exact saturation result we obtained here was of course not within the grasp of the leading-order analysis). The maximum-momentum result that follows from our transformation rules also reflects the property of the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré dispersion relation (10), already emphasized in Ref. , that for positive $`\lambda `$ connects the infinite-energy limit with the limit $`|k|=1/\lambda `$.

The fact that the $`\xi `$ parameter can take any real value and that the new observer-independent scale $`\lambda `$ acquires the intuitive role of inverse of the maximum momentum renders the case $`\lambda >0`$ rather attractive for applications in quantum-gravity research.

The situation is significantly different and somewhat less intuitive in the case $`\lambda <0`$. For negative $`\lambda `$, increasing $`\xi `$ from $`0`$ the energy already diverges at

$$\xi _+=\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1\lambda kA+\sqrt{12\lambda kA+\lambda ^2k^2}}{\lambda kA\lambda k}\right),$$
(30)
and decreasing $`\xi `$ from $`0`$ the energy already diverges at

$$\xi _{}=\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1\lambda kA\sqrt{12\lambda kA+\lambda ^2k^2}}{\lambda kA\lambda k}\right).$$
(31)
(For negative $`\lambda `$ the denominator $`1\lambda k(AA\mathrm{cosh}\xi \mathrm{sinh}\xi )`$ in (21) and (22) vanishes at $`\xi =\xi _+`$ and $`\xi =\xi _{}`$.)

For the momentum one finds that for negative $`\lambda `$ the derivative $`dk/d\xi `$ vanishes only for one value of $`\xi `$ (again, a saddle point for $`k(\xi )`$) and in that point the momentum vanishes (and the energy reaches its minimum value $`M`$), then to the left and to the right of this saddle point the function $`k(\xi )`$ approaches singular asymptotes at $`\xi _{}`$ and $`\xi _+`$; in fact, $`k+\mathrm{}`$ for $`\xi \xi _+`$, while $`k\mathrm{}`$ for $`\xi \xi _{}`$.

The fact that it does not predict a maximum momentum and that $`\xi `$ is confined to the range $`\xi _{}<\xi <\xi _+`$ might render the case $`\lambda <0`$ less attractive for physics application, but this is still a very early in the development of the new relativistic theories  and our intuition might be changed by future studies.

## IV Conclusions

The interesting properties of the finite rules of transformation between different inertial observers here obtained provide additional insight in the new relativistic theory proposed in Ref.  and further developed in Refs.  and . The case $`\lambda >0`$ is particularly interesting since it corresponds to boosts that saturate when the momentum gets to $`|k|=1/\lambda `$. The fact that these deformed boosts act on small momenta ($`|k|1/\lambda `$) in a way that is basically identical to the one of ordinary Lorentz boosts but are then able to saturate at momenta $`1/\lambda `$ could lead to interesting conceptual and phenomenological developments. It is also reassuring (at least from the limited prospective we presently have on these new relativistic theories) that for this case $`\lambda >0`$ the range of the boost parameter is just the same as in ordinary Special Relativity.

Our results for negative $`\lambda `$ (no maximum momentum, finite range of the boost parameter) appear to be less encouraging. Although none of the results we obtained can be used to exclude the case $`\lambda <0`$ on physical grounds, it appears reasonable to focus future studies of this new relativistic framework on the case with positive $`\lambda `$.

Our analysis also changes the intuition that emerged in some previous studies, also based on $`\kappa `$-Poincaré mathematics. In particular, in Ref.  the action of operators obtained by exponentiation of the generators in the Lorentz sector of another $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebra was analyzed, encountering several difficulties and finally obtaining a description of these actions that could only be expressed very implicitly (through complicated integrals). The fact that in the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf albegra here of interest we did not encounter them might indicate that these difficulties are not a general characteristic of $`\kappa `$-Poincaré. It is reasonable to conjecture that this significant difference between the $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebra here analyzed and the one analyzed in Ref.  be due to the fact, already emphasized in Ref. , that, while indeed in the case we considered the exponentiation of the generators does correspond to the action of the adjoint representation, in the case considered in Ref.  by exponentiating the generators in the Lorentz sector one does not obtain the action of the adjoint representation. Another possible element for the understanding of this different behaviour of different $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebra appears to be provided by the type of duality emphasized in Ref. , which is enjoyed by the example here considered, but is not present in other $`\kappa `$-Poincaré Hopf algebras.

## Acknowledgements

NRB thanks the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (ICRA) at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” for hospitality during part of this work. GAC acknowledges conversations with J. Ng and H. Van Dam and would like to thank the Theoretical Physics Group of the University of North Carolina for hospitality during part of this work. JKG thanks the Department of Physics of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” for hospitality during part of this work. JKG research is partially supported by the KBN grant 5PO3B05620.


text:
# Photon Damping Caused by Electron-Positron Pair Production in a Strong Magnetic Field

## Abstract

Damping of an electromagnetic wave in a strong magnetic field is analyzed in the kinematic region near the threshold of electron-positron pair production. Damping of the electromagnetic field is shown to be noticeably nonexponential in this region. The resulting width of the photon $`\gamma e^+e^{}`$ decay is considerably smaller than previously known results.

PACS numbers: 13.40.Hq; 95.30.Cq

The problem of propagation of electromagnetic fields through an active medium is inherent in a variety of physical phenomena. The birth and evolution of supernova and neutron stars, where the matter density can be on the order of nuclear density $`\rho 10^{14}10^{15}g/cm^3`$ and the temperature can achieve several tens of MeVs, are the largest scale and the most interesting such phenomena. In addition to dense and hot matter, a strong magnetic field, which can be several orders of magnitude as high as so-called critical, or Schwinger, value $`B_e=m_e^2/e4.4110^{13}G`$ 111We use the system of units where $`\mathrm{}=c=1`$., can be generated in the above-mentioned objects . This strong magnetic field can induce new phenomena which can considerably affect the evolution of these astrophysical objects. Electromagnetic-field damping caused by electron-positron pair production in an external magnetic field is one of these phenomena. Recall that the $`\gamma e^+e^{}`$ process is kinematically forbidden in vacuum. The magnetic field changes the kinematics of charged particles, electrons and positrons, allowing the production of an electron-positron pair in the kinematic region $`q_{}^2=q_0^2q_3^24m_e^2`$, where $`q_0`$ is the photon energy and $`q_3`$ is the momentum component along the magnetic field 222Hereafter, we consider the magnetic field directed along the third axis.

In 1954, Klepikov  examined the production of an electron-positron pair by a photon in a magnetic field and obtained the amplitude and width of the $`\gamma e^+e^{}`$ decay in the semiclassical approximation. Later, the authors of  considered this process in the context of its astrophysical applications. It was pointed out in  that the use of the expression derived in  for the width considerably overestimates the result in the strong magnetic field limit. In this case, one should use an exact expression for the width of one-photon production of a pair when electrons and positrons occupy only the ground Landau level. However, it was found that the expression for the decay width in the limit of strong magnetic field has a root singularity at the point $`q_{}^2=4m_e^2`$. Shabad  emphasized that this behavior indicates that the decay width calculated in the perturbation theory cannot be treated as a damping coefficient. In this case, the damping coefficient is primarily determined from the time evolution of the photon wave function in the presence of a magnetic field. Shabad  suggested that this dependence be obtained by solving the dispersion equation with account taken of the vacuum polarization in a magnetic field with complex values of photon energy. In our opinion, this method has several disadvantages. First, it is well known but rarely mentioned that the dispersion equations with complex energies have no solutions in the physical sheet. Solutions are in the nonphysical Riemannian sheets (analyticity region of the polarization operator), which are generally infinite in number. As a result, the dispersion equation has the infinite number of solutions with both positive and negative imaginary parts of energy. The physical status of these solutions requires a separate investigation.

Shabad  used the asymptotic form of the polarization operator near the pair production threshold and erroneously treated it as a two-sheet complex function. This circumstance led to the existence of two complex conjugate solutions, one of which is physically meaningless because it has a positive imaginary part and, therefore, provides exponentially increasing amplitude of electromagnetic wave. Therefore, to obtain physically meaningful result, one should artificially discard the redundant solutions.

Second, this approach cannot correctly describe the substantially nonexponential damping in the near-threshold region in a strong field.

Thus, damped electromagnetic waves in a magnetic field cannot be completely described by solving the dispersion equation.

In this work, we use a method that is applied in the field theory at finite temperatures and in plasma physics (see, e.g., ). It consists of the determination of a retarded solution to the electromagnetic field equation that includes an external source and takes into account the vacuum polarization in a magnetic field. Time damping of the electromagnetic wave is analyzed in a uniform external magnetic field, whose intensity is the largest parameter of the problem, $`B_eq^2,m_e^2`$. To describe the time evolution of electromagnetic wave $`𝒜_\alpha (x)`$ \[$`x_\mu =(t,𝐱)`$\], we consider a linear response of the system ($`𝒜_\alpha (x)`$ and a vacuum polarized in magnetic field) to an external source, which is adiabatically turned on at $`t=\mathrm{}`$ and turned off at $`t=0`$. At $`t>0`$, the electromagnetic wave evolves independently. Thus, the source is necessary for creating an initial state. For simplicity, we consider the evolution of a monochromatic wave. In this case, the source function should be taken in the form

$`𝒥_\alpha (x)=j_\alpha e^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐱}}e^{\epsilon t}\theta (t),\epsilon 0^+.`$ (1)
The time dependence of $`𝒜_\alpha (x)`$ is determined by the equation

$`(g_{\alpha \beta }_\mu ^2_\alpha _\beta )𝒜_\beta (x)+{\displaystyle d^4x^{}𝒫_{\alpha \beta }(xx^{})𝒜_\beta (x^{})}=𝒥_\alpha (x),`$ (2)
where $`𝒫_{\alpha \beta }(xx^{})`$ is the photon polarization operator in a magnetic field. We note that, for the source on the right-hand side of Eq. (2) to be conserved, $`_\alpha 𝒥_\alpha =0`$, the current $`j_\alpha `$ must have the form $`j_\alpha =(0,𝐣),𝐣𝐤=0`$. The evolution of $`𝒜_\alpha (x)`$ is described by the retarded solution

$`𝒜_\alpha ^R(x)={\displaystyle d^4x^{}G_{\alpha \beta }^R(xx^{})𝒥_\beta (x^{})},`$ (3)
where $`G_{\alpha \beta }^R(xx^{})`$ is the retarded Green’s function, which is defined through the commutator of the Heisenberg operators of electromagnetic field as (see, e.g., )

$`G_{\alpha \beta }^R(xx^{})=i0|[\widehat{A}_\alpha (x),\widehat{A}_\beta (x^{})]|0\theta (tt^{}),`$ (4)
It is instructive to express this function in terms of the causal Green’s function

$`G_{\alpha \beta }^C(xx^{})=i0|𝐓\widehat{A}_\alpha (x)\widehat{A}_\beta (x^{})|0,`$ (5)
by using the relationship

$`G_{\alpha \beta }^R(xx^{})=2\mathrm{Re}G_{\alpha \beta }^C(xx^{})\theta (tt^{}).`$ (6)
In the presence of a magnetic field, it is convenient to decompose Green’s function (5) in the eigenvectors of polarization operator :

$`G_{\alpha \beta }^C(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d^4q}{(2\pi )^4}G_{\alpha \beta }^C(q)e^{iqx}}`$ (7)
$`G_{\alpha \beta }^C(q)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{b_\alpha ^{(\lambda )}b_\beta ^{(\lambda )}}{(b^{(\lambda )})^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{q^2𝒫^{(\lambda )}(q)}},`$ (8)
where $`𝒫^{(\lambda )}(q)`$ are the eigenvalues of polarization operator. The eigenvectors

$`b_\alpha ^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`(q\phi )_\alpha ,`$
$`b_\alpha ^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`(q\stackrel{~}{\phi })_\alpha ,`$ (9)
$`b_\alpha ^{(3)}`$ $`=`$ $`q^2(q\phi \phi )_\alpha (q\phi \phi q)q_\alpha ,`$ (10)
together with the 4-vector $`q_\alpha `$ form a complete orthogonal basis in the Minkowski 4-space. In Eqs. (10), $`\phi _{\alpha \beta }=F_{\alpha \beta }/B,\stackrel{~}{\phi }_{\alpha \beta }=\frac{1}{2}\epsilon _{\alpha \beta \mu \nu }\phi _{\mu \nu }`$ are dimensionless magnetic-field tensor and dual tensor, respectively, $`(q\phi )_\alpha =q_\sigma \phi _{\sigma \alpha }`$, $`(q\phi \phi q)=q_\alpha \phi _{\alpha \beta }\phi _{\beta \sigma }q_\sigma `$. Substituting Eqs. (1) and (6) into Eq. (3) and using Eqs. (7) and (8), we obtain after simple integration the following result at $`t>0`$:

$`𝒜_\alpha ^R(x)={\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =1}{\overset{3}{}}}V_\alpha ^{(\lambda )}(x)=2e^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐱}}\mathrm{Re}{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dq_0}{2\pi i}\frac{b_\alpha ^{(\lambda )}(b^{(\lambda )}j)/(b^{(\lambda )})^2e^{iq_0t}}{(q_0i\epsilon )(q_0^2𝐤^2𝒫^{(\lambda )}(q))}},`$ (11)
where $`q_\alpha =(q_0,𝐤)`$. Note that the definition of the integral in Eq. (11) should be completed because the integrand can include singularities, which are due, on the one hand, to zeros of its denominator and, on the other, to the domain of its definition. To analyze these singularities, it is necessary to know the explicit form and analytical properties of the eigenvalues $`𝒫^{(\lambda )}(q)`$ of the polarization operator, which was examined in detail in a number of works. In the limit of strong magnetic field, the functions $`𝒫^{(\lambda )}(q)`$, which we are interested in, can be borrowed, e.g., from  and represented as \[with the $`O(1/B)`$ accuracy\]

$`𝒫^{(1)}(q)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{3\pi }}q_{}^2q^2\mathrm{\Lambda }(B,q^2),`$ (12)
$`𝒫^{(3)}(q)`$ $``$ $`q^2\mathrm{\Lambda }(B,q^2),`$ (13)
$`𝒫^{(2)}(q)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha eB}{\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{z(1z)}}}\mathrm{arctan}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{z}{1z}}}1\right)q^2\mathrm{\Lambda }(B,q^2),`$ (14)
where

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }(B,q^2)=\frac{\alpha }{3\pi }\left[1.792\mathrm{ln}(B/B_e)\right]+\pi (q^2),$$

$$z=q_{}^2/4m_e^2,q_{}^2=q_1^2+q_2^2,$$

and $`q^2\pi (q^2)`$ is the photon polarization operator in the absence of a magnetic field. Note that the contribution from the pole $`q_{}^2=0`$ that results from the normalization of the basis vectors $`b_\alpha ^{(2)}`$ and $`b_\alpha ^{(3)}`$ is nonphysical and, taking into account explicit form (12)–(14) of the polarization operator, can be removed by gauge transformation after summation over polarizations. Thus, the contribution to the solution can be made only by the poles corresponding to the dispersion equation

$$q^2𝒫^{(\lambda )}(q)=0.$$
(15)
Using solution (11), one can demonstrate on the basis of Eqs. (12)–(14) that only two modes, $`\lambda =1`$ and $`\lambda =2`$ with the polarization vectors

$$\epsilon _\alpha ^{(1)}=\frac{b_\alpha ^{(1)}}{\sqrt{(b^{(1)})^2}}=\frac{(q\phi )_\alpha }{\sqrt{q_{}^2}};\epsilon _\alpha ^{(2)}=\frac{b_\alpha ^{(2)}}{\sqrt{(b^{(2)})^2}}=\frac{(q\stackrel{~}{\phi })_\alpha }{\sqrt{q_{}^2}}.$$
(16)
are physically meaningful for real photons 333 Modes with the polarizations $`\epsilon _\alpha ^{(1)}`$ and $`\epsilon _\alpha ^{(2)}`$ correspond to so-called parallel ($``$) and perpendicular ($``$) modes, respectively, in the Adler notation .

A photon of the third, $`\lambda =3`$, mode is nonphysical . Indeed, substitution of the expression for $`𝒫^{(3)}(q)`$ into Eq. (15) gives the equation that has the only solution $`q^2=0`$. Therefore, the contribution of the third mode to solution (11) is proportional to the total divergence and can be eliminated by the corresponding gauge transformation.

In the limit of strong magnetic field, only the mode with the polarization vector $`\epsilon _\mu ^{(2)}`$ can decay into an electron-positron pair, because only the eigenvalue of the polarization operator $`𝒫^{(2)}(q)`$ (14) has the imaginary part at $`q_{}^24m_e^2`$. Therefore, to analyze time damping of the electromagnetic field, it is sufficient to consider only the term with $`V_\alpha ^{(2)}(x)`$ in Eq. (11).

The further calculations can be simplified by going over to the reference frame, where $`𝐤=(k_1,k_2,0)`$, which can always be done without disturbing the properties of the external magnetic field. In this frame, $`q_{}^2=q_0^2`$ and the polarization vector of the second mode takes the form $`\epsilon _\alpha ^{(2)}=(0,0,0,1)`$. As a result, $`V_\alpha ^{(2)}(x)`$ is expressed as

$`V_\alpha ^{(2)}(x)=V_\alpha ^{(2)}(0,𝐱){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{Re}F(t)}{\mathrm{Re}F(0)}},`$ (17)
where

$`F(t)={\displaystyle \underset{C}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{dq_0}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle \frac{e^{iq_0t}}{(q_0i\epsilon )(q_0^2𝐤^2𝒫^{(2)}(q))}},`$ (18)
$$V_\alpha ^{(2)}(0,𝐱)=2\epsilon _\alpha ^{(2)}j_3e^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐱}}\mathrm{Re}F(0).$$

The path of integration $`C`$ in Eq. (18) is determined by the analytical properties of $`𝒫^{(2)}(q)`$ and is shown in Fig. 1. The function $`𝒫^{(2)}(q)`$ is analytical in the complex plane $`q_0`$ with cuts along the real axis (see Fig. 1). In the kinematic region $`|q_0|<2m_e`$, the eigenvalue $`𝒫^{(2)}(q)`$ is real and Eq. (15) has real solutions which govern the photon dispersion in this region.

For further analysis, it is convenient to transform the path of integration to the path shown in Fig. 2. In this case, the integral in Eq. (18) is represented as

$`F(t)=F_{pole}(t)+F_{cut}(t),`$ (19)
where the first term is determined by the residue at the point $`q_0=\omega `$, which is the solution to dispersion Eq. (15). This term corresponds to the undamped solution in the region $`\omega <2m_e`$ . The second term determines the time dependence of the electromagnetic field above the threshold of electron-positron pair production and has the form of the Fourier integral

$`F_{cut}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dq_0}{2\pi }}F_{cut}(q_0)e^{iq_0t},`$ (20)
$`F_{cut}(q_0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\theta (q_02m_e)I}{q_0([q_0^2𝐤^2R]^2+I^2)}},`$ (21)
where

$`R`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{Re}𝒫^{(2)}(q_0)={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{\pi }}eB\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{z(z1)}}}\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{z}+\sqrt{z1}}{\sqrt{z}\sqrt{z1}}}+2\right),`$ (22)
$`I`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{Im}𝒫^{(2)}(q_0+i\epsilon )={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha eB}{\sqrt{z(z1)}}},z={\displaystyle \frac{q_0^2}{4m_e^2}}.`$ (23)
Expressions (20)–(23) together with Eq. (17) determine the time evolution of the photon wave function above the pair production threshold in a strong magnetic field.

Strictly speaking, because of the threshold behavior of the Fourier transform $`F_{cut}(q_0)`$, time damping of the function $`F_{cut}(t)`$ and, therefore, of the wave function $`𝒜_\alpha (t)`$ is nonexponential. However, in some characteristic time interval (the inverse effective width of the $`\gamma e^+e^{}`$ decay can naturally be chosen as such an interval), the time dependence of the wave function can approximately be represented as exponentially damping harmonic oscillations:

$$𝒜_\mu (t)e^{\gamma _{\text{eff}}t/2}\mathrm{cos}(\omega _{\text{eff}}t+\varphi _0).$$
(24)
Here, $`\omega _{\text{eff}}`$ and $`\gamma _{\text{eff}}`$ are, respectively, the effective frequency and width of photon decay, which should be found by using Eqs. (20)–(23) for each value of momentum $`𝐤`$ to determine the effective photon dispersion law above the threshold of electron-positron pair production. The quantity $`\gamma _{\text{eff}}`$, which governs the intensity of photon absorption due to $`e^+e^{}`$ pair production in a magnetic field, is important for astrophysical applications. The absorption coefficient obtained from the $`\gamma e^+e^{}`$ decay probability and containing a root singularity is usually employed in astrophysics (see, e.g., ). Shabad  pointed out that this leads to the overestimation of the intensity of $`e^+e^{}`$-pair production. Our analysis demonstrates that the calculation of the absorption coefficient (decay width) by using the complex solution in the second Riemannian sheet  also leads to a considerable overestimation in the near-threshold region, as is seen from Figs. 3 and 4.

Nonexponential damping in the near-threshold region is known for the processes in vacuum and matter . However, as far as we know, it has not been considered in an external field so far. In contrast to vacuum or medium, the near-threshold effect in the magnetic field is kinematically enhanced due to the singular behavior of the polarization operator in this field. Therefore, this phenomenon is not only topical for astrophysical application but is of conceptual interest.

We are grateful to S.S. Gershtein, G.P. Pron’ko, V.V. Kiselev, and A.K. Likhoded for stimulating dis- cussion and useful remarks.

This work was supported in part by the Ministry for Education of the Russian Federation (project no. E00- 11.0-5) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 01-02-17334).