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# Simple method for excitation of a Bose-Einstein condensate

## I Introduction

Soon after the first spectacular realizations of the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in cooled and trapped atomic gases , investigations of possible new effects involving the condensate appeared. The BEC allows us to study several typical quantum mechanical phenomena on a macroscopic level – because the macroscopic sample of atoms is described by a single wavefunction. A standard example is the splitting of the condensate into two spatially separated parts  followed by a superposition of the parts. The observation of the interference fringes  is a manifestation of the quantum coherence between two macroscopic parts of the condensate. By leaking the atoms from the condensate (typically downwards – due to gravity) one may prepare an “atom laser” .

It has been also realized that collisions between spatially separated condensates may be used to create collective excitations in the condensate . Assume a standard mean field single particle description of the gas of weakly interacting bosons in the limit of vanishing temperature (for reviews see ). The time-dependent equation governing the state of the BEC is then the celebrated Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE). Its solutions may describe either solitary waves or vortices as is typical for the nonlinear equation. For characterization of solitons the language of nonlinear optics  is quite useful. One may consider then bright solitons (bell shaped structures propagating without dispersion), dark solitons (with a node in the middle – an analog of the first excited state in the non-interacting particles picture) or the intermediate grey solitons.

Not only collisions may be used to create excitations of the BEC. In fact several schemes have been proposed, some of them being successfully applied in experiments. It has been suggested that a resonant Raman excitation scheme may be utilized to excite vortex states. However, the resonance is modified appreciably during the process of transferring the population from the ground state to the vortex state due to the nonlinearity of the GPE. An apparently more robust approach is the adiabatic scheme of  which takes full account of the nonlinearity. It utilizes a controlled laser induced adiabatic transfer, populating solitonic or vortex solutions of GPE, depending on the details of the excitation. The adiabatic transfer uses internal atomic transitions combined with appropriate states of the condensate. A phase imprinting method, originally proposed in , produces a phase shift between two parts of the condensate. This method in fact has been applied experimentally to create dark solitons both in cigar shaped BEC  and in the spherically symmetric condensate .

Another technique based on laser stirring of the condensate allows the production of several different vortex states . Recently the method has been applied to create lattices containing over 100 vortices .

The aim of this paper is to discuss in detail yet another method which, in our opinion, may serve to generate collective excitations in a BEC. It allows for the creation of grey (or even dark) solitons as well as vortices. The method which we propose resembles to a certain extent the adiabatic passage scheme of . In the latter, the transfer of population between two internal atomic states is accompanied by an appropriate change of the condensate wavefunction into a dark soliton, two-soliton or vortex solution of the GPE . Our method originally proposed for non-interacting particles  and extended to weakly attractive interaction assumes a fast sweep of the laser beam across the trap. In this way the trapping potential varies with time enabling a transfer of population to excited BEC states. Under appropriate conditions this approach allows for an efficient creation of collective excitations in the condensate as explained below.

In Section II we present the method for a non-interacting particles model. We discuss both the excitation of solitons in the one dimensional (1D) case  as well as the possibility of vortex creation in the effective two-dimensional (2D) example. In the next sections we extend the approach to interacting particles. In Section III we apply it to particles with repulsive atom-atom interactions (positive scattering length $`a_0`$) in 1D model case. In this way we complement our earlier study for attractive interactions  for the case most often met in experiments with a BEC . Extending the treatment to 2D, we also consider the excitation of vortices for interacting particles. In Section IV we show some related observations on behavior of GPE energy levels while changing a parameter of the potential.

## II Non-interacting particles

Let us first consider the simplest situation: The case of non-interacting particles. A BEC of non-interacting particles is not realized in nature, yet it may serve as a good model to describe the basic idea underlying the scheme we proposed. For an excitation of solitons propagating along a given direction 1D model is clearly sufficient. For excitation of vortices, though, at least a 2D model is required. Such low-dimensionality models may be fully justified for non-interacting particles, assuming separability of the trapping potential. For interacting particles such simplified models may be of value for appropriately prepared (cigar shaped or flat disc shaped, respectively) condensates .

Let us discuss the excitation of solitons first. Consider the condensate which occupies the ground state of the harmonic trap. Let us now sweep the region where the condensate is located with an additional laser beam, whose frequency is appropriately tuned close to the resonance of some internal atomic transition. By an adiabatic elimination of the upper atomic state (possible if the laser is detuned from the exact resonance) one may show  that such a laser beam creates an effective additional potential well (or a barrier, depending on the sign of the detuning with respect to the atomic transition) for the motion in the external atomic degree of freedom. The laser intensity is typically Gaussian-shaped in the direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation. The atoms experience a potential proportional to the intensity which may be represented as

$$V(x)=\frac{x^2}{2}+U_0\mathrm{arctan}(x_0)\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{(xx_0)^2}{2\sigma ^2}\right).$$
(1)
We use the trapping harmonic oscillator units, i.e. $`\omega t`$ for time and $`\sqrt{\mathrm{}/m\omega }`$ for length, where $`\omega `$ is harmonic oscillator frequency while $`m`$ stands for atomic mass. (These units are also used through the rest of the paper). A similar modification of the potential has been used already in experiments to split the condensate into two parts . We propose modifying the trapping potential in a different way. Assume that the local Gaussian well is created on the very edge of the harmonic potential well thus not affecting the condensate. Then we change the laser beam direction slowly, in effect sweeping the well across the trapping potential. At the same time we gradually decrease the laser intensity, thereby decreasing the depth of the well. Such a procedure is equivalent to a change of $`x_0`$ from some negative value to zero in (1) assuming $`U_0`$ positive.

The procedure proposed has a clear quantum mechanical meaning. For a sufficiently slow change of the potential the system adiabatically follows its quantum energy levels except in the vicinity of avoided crossings. The energy gap of crossings may be controlled by choosing appropriate values of $`U_0`$ and $`\sigma `$ in (1). In particular it is easy to arrange that the avoided crossing between the ground and the first excited state of the potential occurs during the sweep of the local potential well (see Fig. 1). Moreover such an avoided crossing may be made sufficiently narrow to be passed diabatically during the potential sweep. Then, when the local potential well disappears the particle, originally in the ground state of the harmonic trap, is left with a high probability, $`p_1`$, in a first excited state (the Landau-Zener transition). The efficiency of the process depends on the size of the avoided crossing (which should be much smaller than the mean splitting between levels) and how quickly the potential is modified.

As discussed in the earlier report , numerical simulations fully confirm the proposed scheme. Without any special optimization attempt, choosing the parameters of the potential (1) as $`U_0=13.4`$, $`\sigma =0.2`$ and changing $`x_0`$ from $`7`$ to 0 with the velocity $`\dot{x}_0=0.02`$ yields $`p_1=0.99`$. Similar values of $`p_1`$ are obtained for different values of $`U_0`$ and $`\sigma `$. The method is also robust with respect to the functional form of the potential well. We have checked that similar $`p_1`$ values are obtained if instead of the $`\mathrm{arctan}(x_0)`$ we use other smooth monotonically changing functions of $`x_0`$.

Looking at the level dynamics as a function of $`x_0`$ (compare Fig. 1) one readily realizes that it is easy to generalize the excitation mechanism to obtain higher excitations of the condensate. It is sufficient to sweep the local potential well twice in order to get a highly efficient transfer of population from the ground state to the second excited state of the potential. This extension is easily tested numerically in the model with non-interacting particles. Keeping the same parameters as in the single excitation case but merely repeating the potential sweep the second time we get $`p_2=0.99`$ as the squared overlap between the final wavefunction and the second excited state of the trap. A third consecutive sweep yields a “triply” exited state with the probability $`p_3=0.99`$ again without any modification of the parameters of the sweeping potential.

All these tests of single as well as multiple excitations indicate that, while we propose to excite the condensate by sweeping the trapping potential using the local potential well, the excitation may in fact be realized in a number of different ways. The key feature necessary for our method is the presence a narrow isolated avoided crossing between the ground and excited states.

Our method to create vortices in a 2D model system is a natural extension of the former approach. It consists of diabatic transition through an isolated avoided crossing. Now we consider a BEC in a cylindrically symmetric 2D harmonic trap. An additional laser beam producing a local potential well is now rotating with frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ around the symmetry axis of the trapping potential. However, the energy is not conserved: Looking at the system in the frame rotating with a frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ we may consider the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian operator

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{^2}{x^2}+\frac{^2}{y^2}\right)+U(x,y)\mathrm{\Omega }L_z,$$
(2)
where

$`U(x,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{x^2+y^2}{2}}`$ (4)
$`U_0\sqrt{\mathrm{arctan}(|x_0|)}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{(xx_0)^2+y^2}{2\sigma ^2}}\right).`$
For different distances $`|x_0|`$ of the laser beam from the center of the trapping potential we can calculate energy levels of the Hamiltonian (2). For appropriate values of $`U_0`$, $`\sigma `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, when changing $`x_0`$ from some negative value to zero, one can observe a narrow avoided crossing between the ground and first excited states (see Fig. 2). The latter corresponds, for vanishing laser beam, to the first excited state of the harmonic potential with $`L_z=1`$.

For the same parameters as used in Fig. 2, we perform a time dependent numerical simulation. Starting from a ground state of the condensate and changing $`x_0`$ from $`5`$ to 0 with a velocity $`\dot{x}_0=0.036`$, we obtain the first excited state with $`L_z=1`$ with more than 99% accuracy. One may envision that after a single sweep we illuminate a condensate second time with a similar sweep. This, via a second avoided crossing (compare Fig. 2) yields $`L_z=2`$ state with high efficiency (more than 99%).

Provided, therefore, that the resulting picture is not modified strongly by the interaction of particles constituting a BEC the proposed method should be able to produce both solitons and vortices with quite high efficiency. The next sections describe the effect of the interactions on the proposed mechanism.

## III Collective excitations in BEC of interacting particles

While the proposed method seems to be quite robust for non-interacting particles model its applicability to a BEC of interacting particles is far from clear. After all, the particle interaction necessarily changes the energy levels of the system. The proposed method relies on narrow avoided crossings between levels when changing the parameter of the system – it is thus sensitive to the details of level dynamics. It is not obvious whether the presence of the interaction between the particles will not destroy the proposed mechanism of the excitation.

The partial preliminary answer has been given already in , where we considered the effect of attractive atom-atom interactions present in a BEC of Li atoms  on the creation of solitons in a 1D model. For such a condensate the number of particles is not too big and the effect of atom-atom interactions on the behavior of the system is rather small. By a direct integration of the time-dependent GPE in 1D

$$i\frac{\psi }{t}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{^2\psi }{x^2}+V(x)\psi +g|\psi |^2\psi ,$$
(5)
(starting with the ground state of the condensate in the harmonic trap for $`g=5`$) we were able to get a 97.5% population transfer into a collective state corresponding to the first excited state in the independent particle model. In (5) $`g`$ is a measure of nonlinearity and is proportional to number of particles $`N`$ in the BEC. The value $`g=5`$ taken for numerical simulation corresponds, for a trap used in , to $`N=900`$ atoms in the condensate fraction – a typical number in Li condensate .

Clearly this is not the full story. The 1D approach for interacting atoms is not exact, since nonlinearity couples different degrees of freedom. Still, a one-dimensional approach based on the GPE is often used and may be justified for asymmetric traps . More importantly most of the condensates realized in laboratories consist of particles with repulsive atom-atom interactions. Such condensates can easily hold about $`N=10^5`$ particles . Consequently the nonlinear term in (5) becomes much more important than for the attractive interaction. Thus the true test of our method requires a simulation for large positive $`g`$ values.

Fig. 3a shows the final wavefunction obtained for the $`g=50`$ case by a numerical integration of Eq. (5), taking as the initial state the ground state of the condensate for the same value of $`g`$. The parameters of the potential are $`U_0=13.4`$ and $`\sigma =0.2`$, and the velocity of the sweep is $`\dot{x}_0=0.6`$. The overlap of the wavefunction depicted in Fig. 3a with the ideal “excited” state of the condensate is $`p_1=0.98`$ at the end of the potential sweeping.

Similarly successful is a double application of the potential sweep in order to obtain a “two-node” collective state of the condensate. We use the same parameters as above. In fact for a second sweep we start from the wavefunction shown in Fig. 3a and make the second sweep identical to the first one. The results are depicted in Fig. 3b. The overlap of the wavefunction at the end of the sweeping with the exact solution of the time-independent GPE is $`p_2=0.82`$.

Consider now the excitation of vortices in the 2D model. The time dependent GPE in rotating $`x,y`$ coordinates reads

$$i\frac{\psi }{t}=H\psi +g|\psi |^2\psi ,$$
(6)
where $`H`$ is given by Eq. (2). We get the time independent version by substituting $`\psi (x,y,t)=\mathrm{exp}(i\mu t)\phi (x,y)`$ with $`\mu `$ being the chemical potential. The resulting time-independent equation

$$H\phi +g|\phi |^2\phi =\mu \phi $$
(7)
can be solved by the method of self-consistent field or by using the imaginary time propagation approach. The former is quite robust for the 1D GPE but for 2D case it does not work efficiently. The latter is extremely effective for the “ground state” of the condensate, however, its application to “excited” states becomes difficult (especially for a trap without rotational symmetry) since for $`g0`$ the stationary solutions are no longer orthogonal. The third possibility is to find the solution of Eq. (7) by minimizing $`\varphi |\varphi `$, where

$$\varphi =H\stackrel{~}{\phi }+g|\stackrel{~}{\phi }|^2\stackrel{~}{\phi }\stackrel{~}{\mu }\stackrel{~}{\phi },$$
(8)
with

$$\stackrel{~}{\mu }=\stackrel{~}{\phi }|H+g|\stackrel{~}{\phi }|^2|\stackrel{~}{\phi }.$$
(9)
Indeed, starting with some initial function $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ decomposed in a given basis, standard procedures of minimizing of multidimensional functions can lead to a desired solution provided the initial guess function $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ is sufficiently close to the exact solution $`\phi `$.

With solutions of the time-independent GPE at hand, we may prepare a BEC in its ground state, integrate the time-dependent GPE with the spiral-like potential sweep (given by (4) in the rotating frame), and compare the final wavefunction with the excited vortex-like solutions of the time-independent GPE. The resulting wavefunctions are presented in Fig. 4 for $`g=100`$ and $`g=500`$. Their overlaps with the excited state corresponding to one quantum of the angular momentum (per particle) are 0.99 and 0.98 respectively. The non-ideal population transfer is responsible for a slightly asymmetric shape of the final wavefunctions. However, the method may be quite effective in generating vortex-like excitations in a BEC. Let us note that our approach resembles to some extent the stirring approach to vortex creation . In that method the potential as a whole is rotated with a certain frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. In our approach a static, cylindrically symmetric potential is supplemented, by an additional laser beam, with a narrow (with respect to the BEC dimension) structure moving along the spiral. Thus the physical picture of transferring the angular momentum to the condensate is a bit different in both cases. Naturally it differs also from the phase imprinting technique .

## IV Behavior of levels for interacting particles

The original physical picture of the excitation scheme, as discussed in Section II for the non-interacting particles model, is based on the diabatic transitions between levels via narrow avoided crossings. The actual implementation for interacting particles has been tested by numerical integration of the time-dependent GPE without resorting to the explicit changes of GPE levels with respect to a modification of the potential. To see whether the same picture may be invoked for the interacting particles we have solved the 1D time-independent GPE not only for the harmonic potential but also in the presence of the laser beam. Obtained energy levels  are shown in Fig. 5 as a function of the position of the center of the laser beam. Observe the presence of loop-like structures. Such a behavior is impossible in the case of a linear Schrödinger equation. Actually, it can be shown that the changes of levels’ energies may be considered as a true Hamiltonian classical dynamics where the energies of levels play the role of positions of fictitious particles while the changing parameter corresponds to a fictitious time .

To explain the appearance of the loops let us consider solutions of the time-independent GPE for weak attractive particle interactions. Figure 6 shows the lowest energy levels for both the non-interacting and interacting case with $`g=1`$ \[see (7)\].

In the non-interacting case avoided crossings result from changing the shape of the double well potential. To approximately predict energy levels in a double well one may consider each well separately. Then for an asymmetric potential, the resulting energies in each well are usually considerably different. However, for certain shapes, the energies become degenerate. Taking the tunneling between the wells into account, the level crossing changes into an avoided crossing (see Fig. 6). In the $`g=0`$ case, the change of the ground state energy (when going from the left to the right in Fig. 6) corresponds to the transfer of probability density from the harmonic well to the local well created by a laser. At the point of the avoided crossing both wells are equally populated i.e. the ground state consists of equally weighted symmetric superposition of eigenstates of the right and left well.

Analyzing the interacting particle case we may consider a solution of the GPE as if it is a solution of the Schrödinger equation with an effective potential

$$V_{eff}(x)=V(x)+g|\phi (x)|^2.$$
(10)
For $`g<0`$, the interaction term deepens a potential well in which the probability density is localized (see Fig. 7). Consider the ground state of the harmonic trap and suppose that the laser beam approaches the center of this trap. At each position of the beam $`x_0`$, we can calculate approximate energies considering each well of the effective potential (10) separately. The resulting energy in the left well is higher than the one in the right well when the probability density is situated in the right well (compare Fig. 7). This holds up to the point indicated as A in Fig. 6, where the lowest eigenenergy of left well treated alone approaches the energy of the condensate in the harmonic trap. At that point we can start populating the left well. However, transferring particles from the right to the left well breaks the energy balance between the two because of the density term in the effective potential (10). The only way to restore balance is to lift the left well a little, i.e. to shift the center of the laser beam back to the left.

Transfer of particles from the harmonic trap to the dip accompanied by shifting of the laser to the left can be carried on until nothing is left in the former. When this stage is reached (point B in Fig. 6), all particles are localized in the left dip. Now this dip can be lowered without populating the right well. This will decrease the energy of the condensate which at some point matches the value of the starting energy with all particles in the right well. This is indicated by C in Fig.6. The situation where it is possible to have the same values of a chemical potential for states with all particles in the left or right well is in fact a necessary condition for loop-like structure to be present. Recall that in the non-interacting case, matching of corresponding energy levels is responsible for an avoided crossing.

For $`g>0`$ it is possible to have a similar scenario to the attractive particles case. The only exception is that the ground energy level does not reveal any loop (see Fig. 5). Indeed, to transfer the probability density of the ground state from the harmonic well to the well created by the laser beam we have to move the beam further and further towards the center because, contrary to the attractive particles case, taking the density from the right well leads to a deepening of the effective potential (10) at that place.

Considering the strange shapes of levels in Fig. 5 one may wonder why we have been so successful with time-dependent numerical approach. At the beginning of the excitation process, the parameter of the system is changed sufficiently slowly to follow “adiabatically” a single level far from a loop (“avoided crossing”) region. In that region, on the other hand, we are diabatic in a sense that there is insufficient time for the wavefunction to change its shape appreciably. Thus for non-interacting particles we make a diabatic jump from one branch of the avoided crossing to the other (following the wavefunction). Similarly, for interacting particles, loops are passed quickly in a way which locally minimizes any significant change of the wavefunction shape.

To express this more quantitatively we can employ the Hellman-Feynman theorem. For the linear Schrödinger equation, the slope of the level with respect to a change of a parameter, say $`x_0`$, is simply the expectation value (calculated with the help of the corresponding wavefunction) of the derivative of the Hamiltonian with respect to $`x_0`$. A diabatic passage does not significantly change the wavefunction, so the change of the slope is minimized. For the GPE, an analog of the Hellman-Feynman theorem can be written as

$$\frac{d\mu }{dx_0}=\phi |\frac{dV}{dx_0}+g\frac{d\phi }{dx_0}\phi ^{}+g\phi \frac{d\phi ^{}}{dx_0}|\phi ,$$
(11)
and again if the change of the potential is so quick that the wavefunction does not react significantly, the slope of the level remains the same.

## V Summary and conclusions

The proposed method of efficient collective excitation of a BEC seems to be quite robust and allows preparing both solitonic and vortex-like excitations of the condensate. Although the method is complementary to other schemes, some of which have been already implemented experimentally, still it may be advantageous in some cases. As we have discussed already in  our approach is somehow closest in spirit to the adiabatic scheme proposed in . That approach seems also to be quite robust and allows various excitations to be created. The method of  effectively uses two atomic internal states, and thus involves a “two-component” condensate. Our approach does not entangle internal and external excitations – this may be advantageous in some applications. More importantly our diabatic (or rather “generalized diabatic”) method takes necessarily a short time – typically of the order of a few periods of the trap in our runs. This has to be compared with several hundreds of periods necessary for the excitation using the adiabatic process .

Needless to say while one may argue about the advantages of the proposed scheme a most straightforward way to test it would be an experimental approach. It seems that both the linear potential sweep for cigar shaped BEC or the spiral like excitation for disc shaped quasi 2D condensates require relatively minor changes in the already existing laboratory set-ups.

We have found that “dynamics” of chemical potential in the time-independent GPE reveals interesting loop-like structures. This prevents us from interpreting the changes of the chemical potential levels, with respect to the parameter, as some form of level dynamics known from the linear Schrödinger equation. The observed “hysteresis-like” behavior has its origin in the nonlinearity of the GPE as explained in the text. Its relation to the linear quantum mechanics of multiparticle theory is being currently investigated.

To summarize, we have proposed a simple scheme which enables us to create collective excitations (both solitons and vortices) of the Bose-Einstein condensate. This scheme may serve, we believe, as an alternative to other proposed methods already utilized experimentally.

Note added in proof: The scheme considered by us, similarly to other works on this subject , is based on the applicability of the GPE to the description of collectively excited states of the BEC. That has been questioned very recently .

## VI ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We are grateful to Maciek Lewenstein and Kazik Rza̧żewski for encouragement. Special thanks are due to Mariusz Gajda for suggesting the imaginary time method to get stationary solutions of the GPE, and to Andrzej Ostruszka for the help in solving computer problems. Support of KBN under project 5 P03B 088 21 is acknowledged.


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# Electrical Conductivity of Lithium at Mbar Pressures

\[

## Abstract

We report measurements of the electrical conductivity of a liquid alkali metal - lithium - at pressures up to 1.8 Mbar and 4-fold compression, achieved through shock compression experiments. We find that the results are consistent with a departure of the electronic properties of lithium from the nearly free electron approximation at high pressures.

\] At one atmosphere lithium is the archetype of a “simple” metal, i.e. one in which the electronic valence states are well separated energetically from the tightly bound core states. It has been known for a long time that its electronic properties at these ambient conditions are well described within the nearly free electron picture , which is a cornerstone of the theory of simple metals. While it has been generally assumed that increased pressure would only improve the accuracy of this description, in recent years theoretical calculations suggested that the opposite may be true . This has culminated very recently with the striking prediction that lithium, long viewed as the simplest of all metals, exhibits at Mbar pressures a paired ground state with a semiconducting or insulating character . The ensuing experimental work has provided results on the decrease of optical reflectivity upon compression , on the increase of the electrical resistivity  with pressure up to 0.6 Mbar, and on the existence of symmetry-breaking structural transitions around 0.5 Mbar , all in broad agreement with this prediction. It is perhaps worth noting that even before the nearly free electron model was proposed, Bridgman’s high pressure experimental work showed that the resistivity of lithium increases with pressure, both in the solid and in the liquid . Here we report measurements of the electrical resistivity of lithium at pressures up to 1.8 Mbar, achieved through shock compression experiments. The results are consistent with a departure of the electronic properties of lithium from the nearly free electron approximation at high pressures, and with ionic pairing correlations in the Mbar regime ($`1Mbar=100GPa`$).

We measured the electrical resistance of high purity $`99.995\%`$ lithium samples quasi-isentropically compressed starting from the solid with density $`d_0=.531g/cm^3`$ at room temperature and $`P_0=1bar`$. The quasi-isentropic compression was achieved through multiple reflections of a shock wave  between two sapphire single-crystals which encapsulate the lithium sample. The initial shock wave was generated by the impact of Al or Cu projectiles moving at $`3`$ to $`7km/s`$ onto the experimental cell (target) containing the samples. The targets were specifically designed to create and maintain steady state conditions at the final pressure for time durations exceeding $`100ns`$, during which the measurements were taken.

Due to the extreme reactivity of lithium, the experimental cells were assembled inside an Ar atmosphere glove-box, and designed to be hermetically sealed after assembly. Pre-shock sample resistances were within $`5\%`$ of the ideal room temperature values and were monitored continuously after the targets were removed from the controlled environment to ensure that the sample quality did not degrade. In order to increase the electrical resistance and better control current flow, we used parallelipipedic samples with dimensions $`length\times width=20mm\times 3mm`$ and thicknesses varying between $`.2mm`$ and $`.3mm`$. The $`10:1`$ and bigger aspect ratios used insured that lateral rarefaction effects were minimal.

The electrical resistance of the lithium samples was measured using a four probe technique, which virtually eliminates the need for the contact resistance correction. The electrodes were gold-plated, oxygen-free Cu wires, inserted through the back sapphire anvil, see Fig.1. The diameter and positioning of the outer electrodes were optimized in order to provide uniform current injection into the lithium sample, and to minimize the contact resistance and distortions of the pressure profile in the measurement region. The voltage probes - inner electrodes - were very thin and placed $`36mm`$ apart as needed to maximize the sample resistance and the accuracy of the voltage measurements. Special attention was given to the soldering process and shielding of the electrodes in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratios. Triggering of the data acquisition system was provided by time-of-arrival shock sensors placed outside the sample space in order to eliminate any interference with the measurements. The details of the electronic circuitry used in these experiments are similar with the ones described in .

The sample pressures at final, steady-state conditions were determined with $`1\%`$ accuracy from the measured projectile velocity using the shock impedance matching technique . The time dependence of the pressure during compression was calculated using a one-dimensional hydrodynamic code in which the projectile and shock-anvils were modeled by Mie-Gruneisen equations of state (EOS) . The EOS for the lithium sample was obtained by least-squares fits of a ratio of polynomials to tabular data based on extensive shockwave and static compression experimental results . We note that all the conductivity results reported in this paper are in the liquid region of the phase diagram. The densities and temperatures attained in the experiments range approximately from 2 to 4 times the normal density, and from $`2000K`$ to $`7000K`$.

In the experiment we monitored the voltage drop across the lithium sample as the pressure increased and a known constant current was passed through, see Fig. 2. The accuracy in the current and voltage measurements was higher than $`1\%`$ and $`5\%`$, respectively. The lithium electrical resistivity was determined from the sample resistance using $`R=\rho \times l/S`$, where the distance $`l`$ between the voltage probes was measured to $`0.1\%`$ precision. The cross-section of the sample, $`S=w\times th`$, was determined by the known width $`w`$ and calculated thickness $`th`$, with a conservatively estimated precision of $`10\%`$ arising mainly from density uncertainties.

The measured electrical resistivity exhibits three main regimes as a function of pressure, see Fig. 3. Up to approximately $`1Mbar`$ and $`3fold`$ compression the electrical conductivity of lithium decreases steeply from its $`10^5(\mathrm{\Omega }cm)^1`$ value at normal pressure to about $`3.6\times 10^3(\mathrm{\Omega }cm)^1`$ at $`1Mbar`$, which is consistent with increased scattering of the charge carriers in the compressed material. This regime is followed by a much slower variation of the conductivity with pressure, which extends to $`1.6Mbar`$ and almost $`4fold`$ compression. At even higher pressures, although the error bars overlap, the electrical conductivity appears to depart from the previous slow varying behavior.

In order to interpret the results we turn to the general framework provided by the electron-ion pseudopotential formalism and the Ziman conductivity theory . The pseudopotential concept takes into account the near cancellation of the Coulombic interaction between the valence electrons and ions inside the core, due to orthogonality and exclusion effects. While generally non-local and energy dependent, in its most intuitive representation it is just a local potential . Under the assumption of a weak pseudopotential the linear response theory applied to the uniform electron gas yields the total energy of the system and defines effective ion-ion and electron-ion interactions .

The effective ion-ion pair potential is the sum of a direct Coulombic interaction, and an indirect contribution due to the polarization of the electrons,

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(r)=\frac{Z^2e^2}{r}+v_{ind}(r)$$
(1)
$$v_{ind}(k)=\chi (k)|w(k)|^2$$
(2)
$$\chi (k)=\frac{\chi _0(k)}{1\frac{4\pi e^2}{k^2}[1G(k)]\chi _0(k)}$$
(3)
and the screened electron-ion potential is,

$$v(k)=\frac{w(k)}{ϵ(k)}$$
(4)
$$ϵ(k)=1\frac{4\pi e^2}{k^2}[1G(k)]\chi _0(k)$$
(5)
where $`Z`$ is the number of valence electrons per atom, $`\chi (k)`$ is the static response function, $`w(k)`$ is the bare electron-ion pseudopotential, $`\chi _0(k)`$ is the Lindhard polarizability, $`ϵ(k)`$ is the static dielectric function and $`G(k)`$ is the local field factor of the electron gas, accounting for the exchange and correlation effects between the electrons .

The electrical resistivity follows from the assumption of a degenerate electron gas and weak electron-ion scattering, yielding the Ziman formula :

$$\rho =\left(\frac{m^{}}{m}\right)^2\frac{a_0\mathrm{}}{e^2}\frac{4\pi ^3Z}{a_0k_F}_0^1v^2(y)S(y)y^3𝑑y$$
(6)
The deviations of the electronic density of states from the free electron values, due to the pseudopotential, are accounted for through the effective mass $`m^{}`$ ; $`S`$ is the liquid-structure factor, $`y=k/2k_F`$, $`k_F`$ is the Fermi wavevector and $`a_0`$ is the Bohr radius.

As remarked in  the strongly non-local character of the pseudopotential generates significant deviations of the electronic structure from the free electron form at high densities, reflected in part in the decrease of the occupied bandwidth, i.e. increase of the effective mass. We note that, under suitable assumptions, Eq. 6 allows us to estimate the effective mass $`m^{}`$, by comparing with the measured experimental results. For the sake of simplicity and to gain additional insight (see below), we use the local empty core potential of Ashcroft , $`w(r)=0`$ for $`r<R_c`$ and $`Ze^2/r`$ above $`R_c`$. However, we do not expect that the use of a non-local potential for the calculation of the scattering integral will qualitatively alter the results . Values of $`R_c`$ typical for lithium range from $`1.06a.u.`$  to $`1.44a.u.`$ , depending on the local field correction employed. We use the homogeneous electron gas local field factor $`G(k)`$ determined by diffusion Monte Carlo simulations , and find that $`R_c=1.26a.u.`$ reproduces the experimental values of the conductivity of liquid lithium close to its triple point  with an effective mass only slightly bigger than unity . We also note that the normal pressure effective ion-ion potential so obtained compares favorably with other potentials that have been used to model liquid lithium . The liquid-structure factor $`S(k)`$ of liquid metals has been usually assumed to be well reproduced by the hard-sphere model with some appropriate packing fraction . Here we determine $`S(k)`$ numerically based on the effective ion-ion interaction $`\mathrm{\Phi }(r)`$, using the perturbative hypernetted-chain equation (PHNC) . PHNC has been successfully applied to various model systems, including liquid metals , and should be particularly appropriate at high densities. We note here that the temperature dependence of the scattering integral is embedded in $`S(k)`$. We calculate for example that a $`20\%`$ increase in temperature yields a $`4\%`$ decrease in the scattering integral at 2-fold compression, and only about $`2\%`$ at 4-fold compression. This is due to the fact that at high densities the liquid structure is determined mainly by the ion-ion repulsions , whose role only increases with increased compression.

The results of the effective mass calculations based on the Ziman theory with $`R_c=1.26a.u.`$ are summarized in Fig. 4. We note that the initial steep decrease in conductivity with pressure corresponds to an increase of $`m^{}`$ to values similar with the ones found in , as lithium becomes less free-electron like upon compression. In this pressure range the reduction in conductivity is driven mostly by increased scattering due to decreased interatomic spacing, although the core electronic states appear to already come into play as evidenced by changes

in the effective mass. In the next regime the slow variation of the conductivity, see Fig. 3, is accompanied by a decrease of the Ziman estimated effective mass, Fig. 4. It is very likely in fact that the actual effective mass  increases monotonically under compression past the predicted pairing instability . This is the behavior observed in LDA calculations of a dense lithium monolayer, which is believed to behave similarly with bulk lithium . We note therefore that the slow variation of the conductivity, along with the decrease of the Ziman estimated effective mass, point to a shrinking ionic core, which balances the increase in scattering due to increased density. In the final regime, as the conductivity appears to drop, the effective mass increases again. In the framework of an empty core model this suggests that the exclusionary effects of the ions on the scattering of the valence electrons become dominant over the density driven core decrease. To make these observations more quantitative, we extrapolate the lower density effective mass to the high density value reported in , and determine the core radius $`R_c`$ that reproduces this trend - see inset to Fig. 4.

As discussed in  in connection to several alkali metals, the importance of the core electronic states increases at high pressures, and along with it the magnitude of the pseudopotential. As a result, in the solid, symmetry-breaking distortions leading to ionic pairing may become energetically favorable . In the liquid, a rising pseudopotential, i.e. a decreasing effective ionic core, see Fig. 4, should also mediate a strengthening of pairing correlations. Due to the strong exclusionary effects of the ions on the valence electrons at high densities, such correlations maximize in turn the spaces available for the electrons in the interstitial regions, away from the areas of strong core overlap in-between the ions, with beneficial effects on the energy. This exclusion of the valence electrons by the ions seems to be consistent with the behavior of the conductivity at high compressions. Given the expected small effect of the temperature on the conductivity at high densities, the apparent conductivity drop and the behavior of the ionic core at the highest pressures could be interpreted as a decrease of the overall volume available for the electrons.

It may be interesting to see if the exclusionary effects mentioned above, that lead to a very non-uniform distribution of the valence electrons, translate into the analog of classical depletion forces , enhancing the ionic pairing correlations in a mixture, e.g. LiH. Higher temperatures would ultimately destroy pairing correlations in the liquid. Estimates of the temperatures required should be possible, but need to rely on more detailed calculations, that could be tested against the experimental results presented here.

We thank N. Ashcroft, J. Neaton, G. Galli and R. Cauble for useful discussions, and D. Young for the lithium EOS table. M.B. warmly thanks A. Mitchell for sharing his life-long experience on shockwave experiments. We gratefully acknowledge the LDRD office for financial support. We also thank S. Caldwell, W.P. Hall, N.Hinsey, K. Stickle, L. Raper and T. Uphaus for assistance at the gas-gun facility, and L. Walkley for help with the set-up of the glove-box. This work was performed under the auspices of the U. S. Department of Energy by University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.


text:
# Structural properties of spiral galaxies with and without an AGN: morphology and kinematics

## 1. Introduction

AGN activity in galaxies is a highly energetic phenomenon that takes place in a very small spatial extension located at the very center of some galaxies, and that results to be more frequent in the Early Universe. The connection between AGN activity and gravitational interaction was already claimed in the 70’s and is still nowadays a matter of debate. In any case, galaxies with AGNs are found in interacting systems, from nearby Seyferts to quasars. Gravitational interaction is also assumed to increase the percentage of systems hosting starburst activity. AGN and violent star formation (SF) activity very often appear simultaneously, but the physical connection between both phenomena still have to be elucidated.

## 2. AGNs and bars

Interestingly, the morphology of the host galaxies seems to play a role in determining what galaxies are susceptible of harboring an AGN, in the sense that AGNs more probably reside in early type spirals (Balick & Heckman 1982; Márquez & Moles 1994; Moles, Márquez & Pérez 1995; Ho et al. 1997; Knapen et al. 2000). This is specially important for active galaxies that can be considered as isolated objects, and therefore the effect of the interaction cannot be invoked to explain the presence of AGN activity; the presence of a bar appears as a natural explanation, since it can produce an effective loss of angular momentum and therefore be the first step in feeding the central parts with fresh gas coming from the disk (Simkim, Su & Schwarz 1980). However, the general result is that the bar percentage is similar for active and non-active galaxies (Moles et al. 1995; McLeod &Rieke 1995; Ho et al. 1997; Mulchaey & Regan 1997). Hunt & Malkan (1999) reach the same conclusion, and also claim that the incidence of outer and inner rings seem to be different for the various activity classes (a result that they explain as an evolutionary sequence from LINERS, which have more inner rings to Seyferts which have more outer rings). Only Knapen et al. (2000) obtain a slightly higher fraction of barred galaxies among Seyferts. Note that when only isolated galaxies are considered, barred and unbarred galaxies are equally found among active and non-active galaxies (see Márquez et al. 2000).

An additional step is required to transport the material eventually feeding the AGN close enough to the center. With this respect, nested bars supply such a mechanism, nuclear bars producing the same effect as large scale ones, but at smaller distances to the center (Norman & Silk 1983; Shlosman et al. 1989; Wozniak et al. 1995; Friedli et al. 1996). Following this reasoning, nuclear bars have been looked for, but only found for much fewer cases than expected if they have to be directly connected with the presence of nuclear activity (Regan & Mulchaey 1999; Martini & Pogee 1999; Márquez et al. 1999, 2000); even if the percentage of nuclear bars could increase when the identification of a nuclear bar is properly done, other mechanisms that can also explain the funneling to the center seem to occur, as nuclear spirals or nuclear warps.

## 3. The DEGAS’ contribution

The DEGAS (Dynamics and nuclear Engine of GAlaxies of Spiral type) project is aimed at studying the connection between the galactic structure of spiral galaxies and their AGN activity. We have only selected isolated objects in order to avoid any bias from the inclusion of interacting objects, the central properties of which could have been modified by interactions. The active galaxies have been chosen with the following criteria: (a) Seyfert 1 or 2 from the Véron-Cetty & Véron (1993) catalogue; (b) with morphological information in the RC3 Catalogue; (c) isolated, in the sense of not having a companion within 0.4 Mpc (H0=75 km/s/Mpc) and cz$`<`$500 km/s, or companions catalogued by Nilson without known redshift; (d) nearby, cz$`<`$6000 km/s; and (e) intermediate inclination (30 to 65). The non active sample galaxies have been selected among spirals verifying the same conditions (b), (c), (d) and (e), and with morphologies (given by the complete de Vaucouleurs coding, not just the Hubble type, so they also match in bar types) similar to those of the active spirals. We already stressed that these non active galaxies are well suited to be used as a control sample. Based on previous work (Moles et al. 1995), we search for detailed morphological and kinematical differences between active and non active galaxies of similar global morphology. We particularly pay attention to those that could facilitate the transport of gas towards the very central regions and the nucleus. For this purpose, we are obtaining optical and near-infrared images and long slit spectroscopy with the best possible spatial resolution.

### 3.1. Near-infrared morphology

Infrared imaging is particularly important because it allows to trace the old stellar population, and to separate the various components (the bulge, disk, bar(s) and spiral arms) with the smallest contribution of the active nucleus and less contamination by dust absorption. We have analysed the morphological and photometric properties of a sample of isolated spirals with (18) and without (11) an active nucleus, based on J and K’ imaging (Márquez et al. 1999, 2000).

The mean resolution of our images is about 1 arcsecond, corresponding to a physical resolution between 100 and 300 parsecs for the closest and the more distant galaxy respectively. This resolution implies that we are able to map the region where the dynamical resonances are expected to occur (see for instance Pérez et al. 2000) and is therefore well suited for our purposes.

We have found that four (one) active (control) galaxies previously classified as non-barred turn out to have bars when observed in the near-infrared. One of these four galaxies (UGC 1395) also harbours a secondary bar. For 15 (9 active, 6 control) out of 24 (14 active, 10 control) of the optically classified barred galaxies (SB or SX) we find that a secondary bar (or a disk, a lense or an elongated ring) is present. Our study shows that both sets of galaxies are similar in their global properties: they define the same Kormendy relation, their disk components share the same properties, the bulge and disk scale lengths are correlated in a similar way, bar strengths and lengths are similar for primary bars. Our results therefore indicate that hosts of isolated Seyfert galaxies have bulge and disk properties comparable to those of isolated non active spirals. Central colors (the innermost 200 pc) of active galaxies are redder than the centers of non active spirals, most probably due to AGN light being re-emitted by the hot dust and/or due to circumnuclear SF, through the contribution of giants/supergiants.

Central to our analysis is the study of the possible connection between bars and similar non axisymmetric structures with the nuclear fuelling. We notice that only one of the Seyfert galaxies in our sample, namely ESO 139-12, does not present a primary bar. But bars are equally present in active and control objects. The same applies to secondary bars. Not all the active galaxies we have observed have them, and some control galaxies also present such central structures. Secondary central elongations (associated with secondary bars, lenses, rings or disks) may be somewhat different, but this result should be confirmed with larger samples. We note that numerical models indicate that such secondary bars are not strictly necessary to feed the central engine when a primary bar is present. Our results show that down to scales of 100-300 pc, there are no evident differences between active and non active spiral galaxies. The details of the data description and analysis are given in Márquez et al. (1999, 2000).

### 3.2. Gas and stellar kinematics: the case of NGC 6951

Nuclear activity needs to be fueled with a supply of gas, the reservoir of which can be provided by the disk of spiral galaxies. The existence of gas to fuel the circumnuclear activity is necessary but not sufficient (e.g., Moles et al. 1995; Mulchaey & Regan 1997). The right dynamical and physical conditions must exist for this gas to be used effectively in either infalling on to the nucleus itself and feeding the AGN or nuclear starburst, or collapsing by self-gravity in the circumnuclear region in the form of intense SF. To understand what are the conditions and mechanisms for the onset of nuclear activity in spiral galaxies, a detailed characterisation of morphological and kinematical components in galaxies of different morphology and activity level is needed. We have already proceeded with such an analysis for the active SAB(rs)bc galaxy NGC 6951, by means of broad band B’IJK images and high resolution high dispersion longslit spectroscopy, together with archival HST WFPC2 V and NICMOS2 J and H images (Pérez et al. 2000). We found that:

a) There is little ongoing SF inside the bar dominated region of the galaxy, except for the circumnuclear ring at 5′′radius. This SF occurs in two modes, in bursts and continuously, along the ring and inwards towards the nucleus. The equivalent width of the CaII triplet absorption lines show that in the metal rich central region of this galaxy, within 5′′radius, the continuum light is dominated by a population of red supergiant stars, while outside the circumnuclear ring the stellar population is that of giants.

b) We suggest that the gaseous and stellar kinematics along the three slit position angles can be interpreted as the existence of a hierachy of disks within disks, with dynamics decoupled at the two ILRs, that we find to be located at 180 pc and at 1100 pc. This would be supported by the nuclear spiral structure seen in the high resolution HST images (see Fig. 1). Outside the iILR the stellar CaT velocity profile can be partly resolved into two different components that seem to be associated with the bar and a disk (see Fig. 2).

c) We discuss the possibility that the kinematic component inside the iILR could be due to a nuclear disk, as in the disk within disk scenario suggested above, or to a nuclear outflow produced by the combined effects of SN and SN remnants. Several clues indicate that this is a dynamically old system: (i) there is little SF ongoing inside the bar dominated part of the galaxy (except for the circumnuclear ring), (ii) the relative amount of molecular to total mass within the inner 6 arcsec radius is very large $``$ 25%, and (iii) the geometry of the circumnuclear ring leading at a position angle greater than 90 from the stellar bar. It is thus possible that a nuclear bar has existed in NGC 6951 that drove the gas towards the nucleus, as in the bars within bars scenario, but that this bar has already dissolved due to the accumulation of the gas within the circumnuclear region (Pérez et al. 2000).

A detailed kinematical and morphological analysis for a number of galaxies in our sample is in progress. Intermediate resolution data for the gas kinematics have already been obtained for the great majority of the galaxies. High spatial and spectral resolution spectroscopy for the gas and stars have been obtained for about ten galaxies and will be analysed as for NGC 6951.

## 4. Conclusions and further considerations

We have shown that isolated spiral galaxies with or without an AGN are equivalent in the sense of hosting similar large scale components (bulges, disks, bars). To analyse the processes taking place in the central regions, both detailed morphology and high resolution spectroscopy of gas and stars are needed, together with detailed models for the interpretation, as it is the case for example for the double stellar component in NGC 6951.

Bars are dynamically active, so it is relevant to consider that different time scales are involved in the processes of bar creation and evolution, SF and AGN activity, and hence the observable connection between bars and AGNs may be more complex. With respect to the availability of fuel, it has been found that CO is more concentrated in barred galaxies, with no difference for active and non-active ones (Sakamoto 1999). Similar rotation curves (Sofue & Rubin 2001) and environments have also been reported for active and non-active galaxies. The masses of the central compact objects (black holes) seem to be comparable (Ferrarese & Merritt 2000; McLure & Dunlop 2000; Laor 2001), with Mbh/Mbulge $``$ 0.005%, with a maximum of $``$ 0.025% (we stress that numerical simulations show that the bar is destroyed when the central mass is about 1-10% the total mass – see Combes 2001–, so this could explain the limit in BH masses). Therefore, if galaxies hosting AGN have no properties differing from those with of galaxies without an AGN, it could be that the AGN is an episode of the life of a galaxy, providing that the fuel is available and the accumulation mechanisms are at work. Such accumulations would also help to trigger SF processes (competitive or not) that seem to coexist with AGN activity.

## References

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text:
# A SPACE FOR THE QUANTUM WORLD

## 1 INTRODUCTION

This article presents a new concept of physical space. Section 2 shows that the behavior of electrons in two-slit experiments is inconsistent with the notion that physical space is an intrinsically partitioned expanse. Section 3 explains why epistemic interpretations of quantum mechanics (QM) fail to address the puzzle posed by the occurrence of probabilities in a fundamental physical theory. This is a puzzle about the physical world, not a puzzle about our relation to the physical world. However, it is by examining how the mind and the brain construct the phenomenal world that we come to understand why we are prone to think about space in ways that are inadequate to the physical world. The concept of an intrinsically partitioned space stands in the way of a consistent ontological interpretation of QM. In epistemic interpretations the continuous extension and the spatial multiplicity of the world are phenomenologically grounded. In an ontological interpretation these features have to be understood as aspects of a strongly objective world. How this may be done is discussed in Sec. 4. Section 5 addresses the relation of the theory to the actual physical world. The key to this core interpretational issue is the objective indefiniteness that contributes to “fluff out” matter. It entails the extrinsic nature of the values of quantum-mechanical observables, which implies the contingent reality of spatial distinctions and the finite spatial differentiation of the physical world. Owing to the latter, the field-theoretic notion of an intrinsically and infinitely differentiated space is as inconsistent with QM as the notion of absolute simultaneity is with special relativity. Section 6 contains concluding remarks.

## 2 THE TWO-SLIT EXPERIMENT REVISITED

The strange behavior of electrons in two-slit experiments  has led David Albert to the conclusion that “\[e\]lectrons seem to have modes of being, or modes of moving, available to them which are quite unlike what we know how to think about” . Albert arrives at this conclusion after considering what he claims to be “all of the logical possibilities that we have any notion whatever of how to entertain.” Each of the considered possibilities finds expression in a conjunction of two propositions, and thus is equivalent to the affirmation of two truth values, one for the proposition ”The electron went through the left slit” (symbolically, $`eL`$, or $``$ for short) and one for the proposition ”The electron went through the right slit” ($`eR`$ or $``$):

(1) $`eL`$ & $`e\to ̸R`$,

(2) $`e\to ̸L`$ & $`eR`$,

(3) $`e\to ̸L`$ & $`e\to ̸R`$,

(4) $`eL`$ & $`eR`$.

In the quantum domain, the sufficient and necessary condition for the existence of a truth value is a fact (an actual event or an actual state of affairs) from which a truth value can be inferred) . If nothing indicates the truth value of $``$ then $``$ is neither true nor false but meaningless. In this case neither the property “through $`L`$” (represented by a subspace $`𝐋`$ of a Hilbert space $``$) nor the property “through $`R`$” (represented by the orthocomplement of $`𝐋`$ in $``$) can be attributed to the electron, nor does the corresponding binary observable (represented by the projector onto $`𝐋`$) have a value. No property is a possessed property unless it is an indicated property. In other words, the values of quantum-mechanical observables are extrinsic (possessed because they are indicated) rather than intrinsic (indicated because they are possessed). They supervene on property-indicating facts.

If any of the above four conjunctions is true, no interference is observed. (The fourth conjunction is of course never true.) Albert’s conclusion that electrons can move in ways that we do not know how to think about is nevertheless unfounded, for his list is incomplete. There is another logical possibility:

(5) $`eL\&R`$.

$`L\&R`$ stands for the two slits considered as a whole. If the electron originates in front of the slit plate, and if $`L`$ and $`R`$ are the only openings in the slit plate, then (5) is true if and only if the electron is detected behind the slit plate. As the following section will show, the reason we tend to miss this possibility lies in our neurobiological make-up. This predisposes us to conceive of space as an intrinsically partitioned expanse—to believe that, no matter how we conceptually partition a spatial region, the individual partitions have an objective reality and are objectively distinct. This leads to the notion that space is intrinsically (“by itself”) partitioned into infinitesimal regions, and this notion, if it were correct, would justify the customary mathematical representation of space by the set $`IR^3`$ of triplets of real numbers. But if every region of space were intrinsically and infinitely partitioned, proposition (5) would imply that either proposition (1) or proposition (2) is true. If $`L`$ and $`R`$ exist by themselves as distinct “parts of space” then nothing goes through $`L\&R`$ without going through either $`L`$ or $`R`$ and without being divided into parts that go through different slits—the distinctness of the regions would imply the existence of distinct parts.

What the interference fringes are trying to tell us is that an electron is quite capable of going through $`L\&R`$ without going through either $`L`$ or $`R`$ and without being divided into parts. Proposition (5) does not imply that either proposition (1) or proposition (2) is true. The reason this is so is the extrinsic nature of possessed positions. Only indicated positions are possessed, and the only indicated positions are the finite sensitive regions of detectors. If the truth of proposition (5) is indicated then proposition (5) is true. If at the same time nothing indicates truth values for the propositions $``$ and $``$ then the electron’s position at the time of its passing the slit plate is $`L\&R`$, and it is not any smaller region inside $`L\&R`$. The individual regions $`L`$ and $`R`$ do not exist for the electron, and therefore they cannot “force the electron to chose between them.” A region $`V`$ exists for an object $`O`$ at a time $`t`$ if and only if the proposition ($`𝒫`$) “$`O`$ is in $`V`$ at $`t`$” has an (indicated) truth value. Space is not an intrinsically partitioned expanse. Partitions of space are contingent. A partition may be real for one object and not for another, at one time and not at another, depending on which propositions of the form $`𝒫`$ possess (indicated) truth values.

Most readers will have seen pictures of hydrogen orbitals. As is well known, the “electron cloud” represents a probability density $`|\psi _{nlm}(r,\theta ,\varphi )|^2`$ rather than some “kind of bizarre real jelly” . It is impossible to form a realistic image of an atom. The reason this is so is that nothing in the physical world corresponds to the intrinsically differentiated canvas of our mental images. We cannot help perceiving, and conceiving of, the space over which the electron cloud is extended as being divided into mutually disjoint regions. We may not actually imagine any particular partition of that space, but the idea that disjoint regions are individually existing and mutually distinct “parts of space” underlies our theoretical dealings with the world .

If $`|\psi _{nlm}(r,\theta ,\varphi )|^2`$ is the right density for assigning probabilities to regions in the space of the hydrogen atom’s internal relative position $`𝐑`$, these regions exist solely in our imagination; they have no counterparts in the physical world. For this reason all we can say about $`𝐑`$ is counterfactual and probabilistic . Although we know very well that no physical detector (consisting necessarily of a large number of atoms) can monitor a region of space smaller than the size of an individual atom, we need to assume the existence of an array of detectors monitoring a set $`\{R_i\}`$ of such regions, and we need to assume that exactly one detector clicks. If these conditions are fulfilled (which they never are) the integral of $`|\psi |^2`$ over each region $`R_i`$ gives the probability that the corresponding detector is the one that clicks. The detectors are needed to realize (make real) the mutually disjoint regions, if only counterfactually, for a region $`R_i`$ is real if and only if a truth value exists for the proposition “The value of $`𝐑`$ is in $`R_i`$.” (To be precise, the existence of a truth value is equivalent to the reality of $`R_i`$ for $`𝐑`$. But if $`R_i`$ is not real for the electron’s position relative to the proton, it is not likely to be real for the position of any object relative to the proton. And if a region is not real for any object, it is not real at all.)

## 3 THE MIND, THE BRAIN, AND THE WORLD

As early as 1923, the year in which Louis de Broglie introduced electron waves and explained the quantization of orbital angular momentum postulated by Niels Bohr, Bohr wrote, “It is my personal opinion that these difficulties are of such a nature that they hardly allow us to hope that we shall be able, within the world of the atom, to carry through a description in space and time that corresponds to our ordinary sensory perceptions” . Bohr did not say that a spatiotemporal description is impossible but only that such a description cannot be modeled after our ordinary sensory perceptions. This distinction seems to have been lost on his contemporaries, who instead of looking for an adequate spatiotemporal description discovered or re-invented Kant’s theory of science. Like Kant, they believed that space and time lie in the mind of the beholder. Science, accordingly, does not deal with the unperceived world; it deals with how the world appears to us, on the 3+1-dimensional canvas of mental space and time. Hence their insistence on the epistemic nature of QM .

As I see it, the key to a major puzzle posed by QM lies in the careful distinction between phenomenal space and physical space. Phenomenal space is the spatial aspect of the phenomenal world, of which we are directly aware. Physical space is the spatial aspect of the physical world (the world investigated by physical science) whose properties we need to discover or infer since we are not directly aware of them. The Kantian stance is appropriate for dealing with the phenomenal world. It is appropriate for classical physics because classical physics is consistent with the Kantian idea that the objective world is the totality of what appears (on the mental canvas of space and time). It is inappropriate for quantum physics because quantum physics is inconsistent with this idea, inasmuch as electrons never appear on the mental canvas.

Supporters of epistemic interpretations might counter that this is so because there are no electrons. According to Ole Ulfbeck and Aage Bohr , there are no electrons or neutrons; there are only electron clicks and neutron clicks. This point of view is founded on the claim that space and time have no mind-independent existence. If electrons do not appear (on our mental canvas), and if spatiotemporal concepts cannot be applied to what does not appear, then we can have no knowledge of the properties of electrons. And if we cannot know their properties, we cannot know that they exist. Yet we do—how else could we talk about electron clicks and neutron clicks?—and for this reason we must reject the claim that spatiotemporal concepts are applicable only to what appears.

The antithetical claim has also been made that QM affords us a glimpse of the “veiled reality”  beyond the domain of experienced facts, and that this compels us to acknowledge something like the Kantian dichotomy between the world-as-we-know-it and the world-in-itself, and hence the merely intersubjective (weakly objective) reality of facts. However, as Kant’s idealistic successors were quick to point out, a reality that is by definition beyond our ken can play no role in our theoretical accounts of the world. Whereof we cannot say what it is thereof we must remain silent. Contrariwise, if we can meaningfully speak of what lies behind the “veil of appearances,” this forms part of the empirically known world. There is a dichotomy that is essential to QM, namely the dichotomy between a “classical domain” of property-indicating facts and a “quantum domain” of properties indicated by facts, but this is a dichotomy within the empirically known world. It has nothing to do with the Kantian dichotomy . Only if it is decided beforehand that there are no spatiotemporal concepts appropriate to the quantum domain, does the quantum domain become unknowable like Kant’s world-in-itself.

Under the influence of quantum information theory something like the Kantian dichotomy is nonetheless gaining renewed popularity. (See, for instance, the correspondence of Christopher Fuchs with several distinguished physicists .) The idea seems to be that QM is necessarily about information because the information it is concerned with is about an unknowable reality. Quantum information, however, is not about anything unknowable. It is about possibilities and conditional probabilities: On condition that the values of a given set of observables $`Q_1,\mathrm{},Q_n`$ are indicated at the given times $`t_1,\mathrm{},t_n`$, QM assigns a joint probability to each set of possible values, on the basis of some chosen set of relevant facts . It is therefore gratuitous to portray QM as being fundamentally about information. Since quantum information concerns probabilities, QM concerns probabilities rather than information.

The puzzle posed by the occurrence of probabilities in a fundamental physical theory is solved neither by invoking a reality beyond our ken nor by invoking the subjective aspect of our existence. It is a puzzle about the empirically known world, not a puzzle about our relation as conscious subjects either to the known world or to whatever lies beyond it . However, while such words as “consciousness,” “experience,” or “information” have no legitimate place in interpretations of QM, an examination of the processes by which the mind and the brain co-produce the phenomenal world, can take us a long way toward understanding why we find it so hard to make sense of the physical world.

Consider the disparate ways in which we think about (i) a position or region of space and (ii) any other feature of the phenomenal world. We readily agree that the color of a ripe tomato or the shape of a sphere cannot exist by itself (not, at least, in the material world) without the existence of a material object of which it is the color or the shape. Yet we continually behave (mentally) as if a position or a region of space were something that exists by itself, whether or not there is a material object to which it can be attributed. What is ultimately responsible for the disparateness between our (conceptual) handling of positional information and our handling of other sensory data is the process by which the mind/brain system integrates into phenomenal objects such phenomenal variables as hue, lightness, shape, and motion. This integration is based on positional information. Phenomenal variables that occur in the same place are perceived as features of the same object, while phenomenal variables that occur in different places are perceived as features of different objects. Positional information thus plays a unique role in the process of feature integration. This uniqueness is reflected in the functional organization of the brain, where feature maps seem to be everywhere. (A feature map is a layer of the neocortex in which cells map a particular phenomenal variable in such a way that adjacent cells generally correspond to adjacent locations in the visual field. In the macaque monkey as many as 32 distinct visual feature maps have been identified.) While every phenomenal variable except location has at least one separate map, locations are present in all maps as the integrating factors .

While the features of each perceived object share the same phenomenal location, their neural correlates are scattered across a good many locations in the neocortex, and these different physical locations do not project (via neural pathways) on any single physical location: The brain lacks an “object map.” There is a master map where “it all comes together,” but this is not physical; it is the spatial aspect of our mental canvas—phenomenal space. This suggests to me that Kant was right in his insistence that space is primarily a subjective expanse, and that, epistemologically speaking, physical space is a projection or objectification of this subjective expanse. This, however, leaves open the question as to whether physical space is nothing but such a projection, or whether it is a mind-independent, strongly objective expanse, of which this subjective expanse is a more or less faithful reproduction. We ought not to anticipate the answer to this question by assuming beforehand that physical space is nothing but such a projection. Instead we should allow for the strong objectivity of physical space and deduce from this its actual properties. The question to be addressed, then, is this: Which of the properties of phenomenal space can be attributed to (a strongly objective) physical space, under which conditions, and to what extent? The answer to this question is not an all-or-nothing affair, as those implicitly assume who conclude that only the classical domain admits of a spatiotemporal description.

Recall the special role played by positional information in the construction (by the mind/brain system) of the phenomenal world. If we accord a mind-independent reality to the physical world, positional information cannot play an analogous role in the creation of the physical world. (If there are no neural correlates of the physical world, its creation cannot involve anything like neural feature maps.) The expanse of phenomenal space and a multiplicity of distinct phenomenal locations exist independently of what appears, for this expanse is a feature of our mental canvas, and the multiplicity of locations is rooted in our neuroanatomy—in the distinct physical locations of the neurons in each feature map. There is no corresponding foundation for the independent existence of physical space—independent of material objects—nor for the independent existence of a multiplicity of physical locations. The belief in the independent existence of an intrinsically differentiated physical space is therefore unwarranted. Not only is it unwarranted but it also prevents us from understanding QM. The fact that this belief is, as it were, “hard-wired,” explains why we find it so hard to beat sense into QM.

## 4 THE NATURE OF PHYSICAL SPACE

If the continuous extension of physical space and the spatial multiplicity of the physical world do not exist by courtesy of the mind/brain system, then how shall we conceive of them? The answer, in brief, is this : Physical space is the totality of spatial relations, or relative positions, that exist between material objects. The spatial multiplicity of the physical world, accordingly, consists in the (discrete) multiplicity of existing spatial relations. These relations have a qualitative as well as a quantitative aspect. The former consists in the quality of spatial extension; it constitutes the spatial character of each relation and does not connote any kind of multiplicity. The phenomenal world owes its spatial extension to the mental canvas on which it appears. If we accord a mind-independent reality to the physical world, we cannot attribute its spatial extension to an independently existing expanse on which material things are “displayed.” Instead we must attribute it to each spatial relation. The spatial extension of the physical world is a quality that all spatial relations share.

It is worth noting, in passing, that the concept of an intrinsically partitioned physical space makes it impossible to understand the spatial unity of the physical world—except in weakly objective terms, as the projected unity of our mental canvas. Assume that physical space is a thing with parts and you are confronted with the task of explaining what holds together the parts of space. To my way of thinking, the proper way to cope with this task is not to take refuge in the secure haven of weak objectivity but to acknowledge the neural basis of the special treatment we accord to locations, to restrict this special treatment to the phenomenal world, and to treat physical locations in the same way as we treat the color of a ripe tomato or the shape of a sphere—as existing only if possessed. The task then reduces itself to explaining what holds together the parts of a material object. The purpose of this paragraph was to demonstrate that the concept of an intrinsically partitioned physical space is all that is needed to forestall any strongly objective conception of the physical world. This, however, should prompt us to look for a different concept of physical space, rather than to the rejection of strong objectivity.

There is mounting evidence from neuroscience that visual perception and visual imagination share the same processing mechanisms . It is therefore to be expected that the inherent graininess of phenomenal space also conditions our non-sensory visual images, including the images we form of hydrogen orbitals. Once we realize that the graininess originates in the neural constitution of our feature maps, we should find it easier to see that the parts of such an image do not represent material parts. Where there are material parts there are as many positions as there are material parts. Since the electron cloud represents a single (relative) position, such an image represents a single partless object. The parts of the image have a counterfactual reality, as was explained in Sec. 2. What about the extension of the electron cloud? Remarkably, this does represent an actual property of the hydrogen atom’s internal spatial relation, namely its quality of being spatial or extended. This shows that physical space, qua extension, can exist where spatial parts do not exist.

## 5 OBJECTIVE INDEFINITENESS AND THE FACTUALITY PROBLEM

It is well known that the objective indefiniteness of relative positions is crucial for the existence of stable, extended material objects . Together with the exclusion principle this is what “fluffs out” matter. Hence it would seem that finding a satisfactory formal expression of objective indefiniteness should be of paramount importance. The proper way of dealing with objectively indefinite values is to make counterfactual probability assignments . If a quantity is said to have an “indefinite value,” what is really intended is that it does not actually have a value (inasmuch as the value is not measured) but that it would have a value if this were indicated, and that at least two possible values are associated with positive probabilities.

Since an observable may or may not have a value, we need a criterion for deciding when it has a value, and this criterion consists in the existence of a value-indicating fact. The extrinsic nature of the values of quantum-mechanical observables (Sec. 2)—a rephrasing of the well-known necessity of describing quantum phenomena in terms of the experimental arrangements in which they are displayed —is therefore a straightforward consequence of their objective indefiniteness. Objective indefiniteness entails the possible lack of a value, which entails the need for a criterion, which consists in the existence of a value-indicating fact.

The problem of understanding QM is sometimes portrayed as the problem of explaining the emergence of facts (“classicality”) , but this cannot be taken literally. QM is concerned with correlations between property-indicating facts—diachronic correlations between results of measurements performed on the same system and synchronic correlations between results of measurements performed on entangled systems. QM presupposes facts, and therefore it cannot account for their existence. Nor can any other theory. Accounting for the existence of facts is the same as explaining why there is anything at all, rather than nothing—an impossible task.

In this regard quantum physics is no different from classical physics. Classical physics deals with nomologically possible worlds (worlds consistent with physical theory). It does not tell us which of all possible worlds corresponds to the actual world. Much the same is true of quantum physics. The main difference is that in classical physics the actual course of events is in principle fully determined by the actual initial conditions (or the actual initial and final conditions), while in quantum physics it also depends on unpredictable facts at later (or intermediate) times. There are just many more possible worlds, and there are many more extra-theoretical conditions to be satisfied by a possible world if it is to correspond to the actual world.

In order to solve the solid core of the measurement problem one must show that certain properties can be regarded as intrinsic—as factual per se—not only for all practical purposes but for all quantitative ones . The proof proceeds in three steps.

(1) Since no position is possessed unless it is indicated, and since nothing ever indicates an exact position, nothing ever has an exact position. Hence there exists some finite limit to the sharpness of the positions of material objects, and there exists some finite limit to the spatial resolution of actual detectors. Consequently there are objects that never evince their positional indefiniteness through unpredictable position-indicating facts—objects that evolve predictably in the sense that every time the position of such an object is indicated, its value is consistent with all predictions that can be made on the basis of (i) past indicated properties and (ii) classical laws of motion. This follows from the fact that evidence of departures from the pertinent classical laws requires detectors with sensitive regions that are small and localized enough to probe the range of values over which a position is distributed. If there is a finite limit to the sharpness of the positions of material objects, there are objects that have the sharpest positions in existence. The positions of such objects, which deserve to be called “macroscopic,” cannot but evolve predictably. We cannot be certain that a given object qualifies as macroscopic, inasmuch as not all relevant position-indicating facts are accessible to us, but we can be certain that macroscopic objects exist.

(2) If the positional indefiniteness of a macroscopic object never evinces itself through unpredictable position-indicating facts—the occasional unpredictability of the position of a macroscopic pointer is an indication of the indefiniteness of a different observable—then what kind of reality does the positional indefiniteness of a macroscopic object possess? If we make the assumption that macroscopic objects follow definite trajectories, we will never see this assumption contradicted by facts. If instead we think of the position of a macroscopic object—a “macroscopic position” for short—as a “wave packet,” this is distributed over regions of space that are never objectively distinct. Such regions exist only in our imagination. They are the sensitive regions of detectors that do not exist in the physical world. They represent an unrealized degree of spatial differentiation. But if the position of an object is distributed over regions that do not exist, it is not actually distributed. The indefiniteness of a macroscopic position therefore has never more than a counterfactual reality.

(3) Now recall that the objective indefiniteness of the values of quantum-mechanical observables is the reason why they are extrinsic. Since the indefiniteness of a macroscopic position never evinces itself in the realm of facts, we can think of macroscopic positions as forming a self-contained system of positions that “dangle” causally from each other, rather than ontologically from position-indicating facts. We can ignore their extrinsic nature, consider them as intrinsic, and thus as factual per se. We can then attribute the possession of value, by a quantum-mechanical observable, to the value’s being indicated by at least one macroscopic position.

## 6 CONCLUSIONS

The transition from positions that supervene on facts to positions that form a self-contained causal nexus is quantitatively impeccable, inasmuch as the statistical correlations between indicated macroscopic positions are completely dispersion-free. Conceptually the transition is of the same nature as the transition from a purely correlative interpretation of the classical laws of motion (that is, from causality qua regularity) to an efficient interpretation that posits causal links responsible for the regularity. The latter transition is at bottom nothing but the projection, into the time-symmetric world of classical physics, of our own time-asymmetric agent causality .

Classical physics is concerned with deterministic correlations that admit of a causal interpretation; quantum physics is concerned with probabilistic correlations that don’t, except in the classical domain. This is where the quest for meaning really begins, not where it ends. For the probabilistic correlations are trying to tell us something, something that concerns the nature of physical space.

While the whereabouts of macroscopic objects are abundantly indicated, they are never indicated with absolute precision. Hence even for macroscopic objects the world at any given time $`t`$ is only finitely differentiated spacewise. That is, no finite region $`R`$ is differentiated into infinitely many regions $`R_i`$ such that truth values exist for all propositions of the form “$`O`$ is inside $`R_i`$ at the time $`t`$,” where $`O`$ is any macroscopic object. And this—the finite spatial differentiation of the physical world—is arguably the single most significant ontological implication of QM . The world is created top-down, by a finite process of differentiation, rather than built bottom-up, on an infinitely differentiated space, out of locally instantiated physical properties. The field-theoretic notion of an intrinsically and infinitely differentiated space is therefore as inconsistent with QM as the notion of absolute simultaneity is with special relativity. Spatial distinctions are not intrinsic to space. They supervene on the facts. These constitute a domain whose indefiniteness exists only in relation to an unrealized degree of spatial differentiation (that is, only in relation to an imaginary backdrop that is more differentiated spacewise than is the physical world). Atoms exist beyond the realized degree of spatial differentiation, and this is what makes them so decidedly…alien.

To recapitulate, the indefiniteness of relative positions contributes to “fluff out” matter. The indefiniteness of the values of quantum-mechanical observables entails their extrinsic nature: No value is a possessed value unless it is an indicated value. This implies the contingent reality of spatial distinctions, and combined with a dynamical equation such as the Schrödinger equation, it implies the finite spatial differentiation of the physical world. This makes it possible to rigorously distinguish between the classical and the quantum domains, and to understand their mutual dependence. While macroscopic objects, like all composite objects, owe their finite volumes to the indefiniteness of their internal spatial relations and the exclusion principle, the properties of the quantum domain owe their existence to the classical domain: A position-indicating fact is necessary for the possession of a position, and a macroscopic detector is necessary for the existence of an attributable position—it realizes this position, counterfactually if not in actual fact.

The solution of a major puzzle posed by QM thus stands and falls with the finite spatial differentiation of the physical world. It cannot be found unless we relinquish our psychologically and neurobiologically sustained belief in an intrinsically (and therefore infinitely) differentiated space. It is this deep-seated but physically unwarranted belief that is responsible for our failure, so far, to find a sensible ontological interpretation of QM, and for our tendency to take refuge in epistemic interpretations.

Abstract (German translation): Epistemische Deutungen der Quantenmechanik lösen nicht das Rätsel, vor das uns das Vorkommen von Wahrscheinlichkeiten in einer grundlegenden physikalischen Theorie stellt. Dieses Rätsel betrifft nicht unsere Beziehung zur physischen Welt, sondern die physische Welt selbst. Seine Lösung erfordert einen neuen Raumbegriff, der in diesem Artikel vorgestellt wird. Eine Untersuchung der geistigen und neurobiologischen Wurzeln der Erscheinungswelt klärt, warum unser Denken über den Raum der physischen Welt nicht gerecht wird. Die diesem Denken zugrunde liegende Idee, dass der Raum innerlich zerteilt ist, stand einer konsequenten ontologischen Deutung bisher im Wege.