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# Dilaton spacetimes with a Liouville potential

## I Introduction

The dimensional nature of the manifold we live in has been an intriguing question for mathematicians and physicists alike in the past century. Minkowski made the first crucial step  in this direction introducing time as part of a 4 dimensional space-time manifold. Of course time, at every day low velocities, is not perceived as a coordinate, however, at accelerator velocities close to the speed of light, time and length can vary, the prefactor $`c^2`$ acting as a dimensional ‘warp-like’ factor in Einstein’s theory of special relativity. Furthermore, with the introduction of timelike coordinates in general relativity, dynamics are encoded in spacetime geometry. This geometrical idea, embodied in Mach’s principle, was taken further by Kaluza and Klein who obtained electromagnetism as part of the geometry of a vacuum 5-dimensional spacetime rather than a source term of the 4 dimensional Einstein equations (see for example  for a general discussion on Kaluza-Klein gravity).

In recent years string theory has been the main advocate of higher dimensional theories but also independently in the early 80’s brane Universe models were introduced , and also simple models where the 5th dimension was dynamically compactified by a time-like contraction of the 5th dimension in a 5 dimensional Kasner vacuum solution . The subject was revived with Hörawa-Witten  cosmology, related works , ,  and in the last two years with the brane-Universe models proposed in , .

It is reasonable to argue from the point of view of Unified theories that any additional dimensions of spacetime must in some way be connected with string theory where gravity is unified with the fundamental elementary interactions. One would like to ultimately bridge our knowledge of standard cosmology and the Standard Model to the theoretical realm of string theory. However on going to higher dimensions one does not want to violate rather precise experimental data of standard model physics and furthermore lose the unique characteristics of a 4 dimensional spacetime. Renormalisability of gauge interaction and non-trivial gravity, with the graviton acquiring two polarization degrees of freedom, agree only for a 4 dimensional spacetime (for a discussion see ). Indeed the former constraint is often partially embodied in the assumption that the Standard Model fields do not see the extra dimensions, being strictly confined on a 4 dimensional ’braneworld’. Of course any fields weakly interacting with the Standard Model have no reason to obey such a restriction. Gravity or closed strings in particular see the extra dimensions by definition. Fermionic matter such as sterile neutrinos can also propagate in the extra dimensions and models  have been introduced to explain experimental data of neutrino mass oscillations (see  for a recent review on neutrino physics). Note however that a unique sterile neutrino is less favored by the recent experimental data . Furthermore cold dark matter particles such as axions or WIMPS, which in some cases can be modeled by a scalar field and a self-interaction potential, could also constitute such bulk matter. These rather general and speculative observations are dictated to us by TeV scale physics.

At the theoretical realm of beyond the standard model physics, bulk scalar matter originates naturally from string theory in the guise of the dilaton field. It is such scalar matter, as a source to the Einstein equations that we shall be considering here. In supersymmetric string theories the dilaton potential is ‘protected’ by supersymmetry. Hence a dilaton field as matter source corresponds to the rather unphysical case of a stiff perfect fluid, where pressure is equal to energy density and the velocity of sound is the velocity of light. The breaking of spacetime supersymmetry in 10 dimensions however, results in the appearance of a dilaton tadpole, which boils down quite generically to a Liouville type potential in the field content of the classical low energy theory. Furthermore as a result spacetime does not admit solutions of maximal symmetry in particular a Minkowski, de-Sitter or AdS background. Solutions of lesser, $`SO(9)`$ symmetry, have to be found  and rather interestingly spacetime can have a maximally symmetric 9-dimensional behavior, the 10th dimension being compact. Furthermore from a cosmology induced perspective the energy-momentum tensor in the presence of the potential and a homogeneous time-dependent scalar field can be treated as a perfect fluid source with energy-density $`\rho `$ and pressure $`P`$ given by,

$$\rho =\frac{1}{4}_\mu \varphi _\nu \varphi g^{\mu \nu }+V(\varphi )P=\frac{1}{4}_\mu \varphi _\nu \varphi g^{\mu \nu }V(\varphi )$$

Unlike the free scalar field case no equation of state is now a priori specified for $`V0`$ (see however in this context ).

In this paper we shall find solutions to the Einstein equations coupled with a scalar field and a self-interaction Liouville potential, namely we shall consider a classical action of the form,

$$S_E=\frac{1}{2k^2}d^Dx\sqrt{G}[R\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{\Phi })^22\alpha e^{\gamma \mathrm{\Phi }}],$$
(1)
We shall carry out our analysis in an arbitrary number of dimensions $`D`$. We shall consider spacetimes admitting $`D2`$ planar spacelike surfaces. This is the cosmological setting for a planar dilatonic domain wall brane Universe in $`D=5`$ first discussed in  (see also , , ). Here we shall be applying our $`SO(8)`$ solutions in $`D=10`$ tachyon free, 10 dimensional non-supersymmetric string theories. The possibility of having anomaly free non supersymmetric string theories was noted in . Tachyon free non-supersymmetric models were constructed in  and more recently in  and  (for a recent discussion on anomaly related issues see ). We shall consider solutions to the open type I string with gauge group $`USp(32)`$  and the $`SO(16)\times SO(16)`$ closed heterotic string  with cosmological constant. The dilaton tadpole is portrayed by the Liouville potential in (1) which yields $`\gamma =3/2`$ for the open string and $`\gamma =5/2`$ for the heterotic string to leading order in the string coupling expansion.

On considering solutions with $`SO(9)`$ symmetry it is found that the presence of the dilaton induces naked singularities of spacetime where the low energy classical theory breaks down . One can question the persistence of this singularity if the symmetry of spacetime is relaxed to 8-dimensional Poincaré symmetry. Indeed topological defect solutions such as domain walls ,  are not singular (away from the distributional source of course) once spacetime is allowed to be time dependent. In complete analogy planar thick domain walls where matter is described by a real stationary scalar field in a typical double well potential are everywhere smooth and space-time is non-static (see  and references within). Global vortices  are in analogy non-singular once we allow the spacetime metric to be time dependent. We will see a similar property arising here (see also in this context the recent work of Lidsey ).

Also the question of asymptotic flatness is an important issue. As we noted no maximally symmetric solutions exist for these models. However one would expect that the dilaton would roll down the “potential well”, assuming its vacuum value for $`\varphi `$ going to minus infinity. It is precisely the fact that the dilaton potential acquires its minimum value at a non-finite value for the scalar (minus infinity) which yields all solutions not asymptotically flat or of constant curvature. This is a characteristic of exponential potentials investigated in  for the case of spherically symmetric black holes (for a more general discussion on properties of massive dilatonic black holes see ).

Furthermore in a more mathematical frame of mind another question arises : Does a generalization of Birkhoff’s theorem hold in the presence of a scalar field source with a Liouville potential? Hence does spacetime admit an extra timelike or spacelike Killing vector reducing all possible $`SO(D2)`$ solutions to being locally static or time-dependent? We will see here that this is not the case where a simple concrete example was provided recently in  (see also ). On analyzing the two dimensional solutions we will see exactly how Birkhoff’s theorem breaks down in the case of a scalar field.

In what follows we shall find the general static or time dependent solutions i.e. solutions where our fields depend on a unique spacelike or timelike independent variable. We call these solutions one dimensional solutions. We shall also give implicitly some two-dimensional solutions analyzing a simple example of these  and analyze in detail the field equations in the presence or not of a Liouville potential.

Three classes of one dimensional solutions emerge, distinguished by the discriminant of a second degree polynomial $`f(p)`$ and depending essentially on two integration numerical constants $`c`$ and $`d`$. The constant $`c`$ will take three values $`\pm 1,0`$ and will characterize the topology of the solutions. The constant $`d`$ will be associated to the Weyl curvature of spacetime and in the presence of a black hole horizon will represent the quasilocal mass (see for example  and references within). In turn vanishing $`d`$ and hence Weyl tensor, will yield the general $`SO(9)`$ symmetric solutions which will be the maximal symmetry solutions for our field set-up.

The roots of the polynomial $`f(p)`$ will always yield coordinate or naked singularities of spacetime. Class I solutions for example, the two distinct root case, will admit timelike and spacelike solutions, as for example for $`d=0`$ the general $`SO(9)`$ solutions for the heterotic string: we will find that there exist three spacelike solutions including the static  solution and one timelike solution, the $`D=10`$ dimensional version of scalar field cosmology solutions in $`D=4`$ . Such solutions have been recently revived in the context of quintessence (see for example , ) and also multidimensional cosmological models (see  and references within). For Class II exactly half of the solutions will be compact in the $`p`$ direction and regular for finite $`p`$. The other half will be singular at the origin and non-compact. Class III solutions will be always compact. In particular we will find that the Type I open string holds a particular singular position and will have to be treated separately yielding completely different results.

A general characteristic of all static solutions is that they are of finite proper distance i.e. of $`M^9\times S^1/Z_2`$ topology if and only if the curvature tensor is singular at the endpoints of the interval.

We start in the next section by setting up the field equations we shall study. We then in section III extend the method of  and discuss black hole type solutions. In section IV and V we give the general static or time dependent solutions for an $`SO(D2)`$ symmetric spacetime. We analyze in detail the full equations in section VI, giving implicit 2-dimensional solutions and also give a sketch of the general two dimensional solution in the absence of the potential ($`\alpha =0`$). We summarize our results and conclude in section VII.

## II General set-up

In this section we shall give the formal setup of the field equations for an arbitrary number of spacetime dimensions $`D`$. Consider the classical theory described by the following effective action (written in the Einstein frame),

$$S_E=\frac{1}{2k^2}d^Dx\sqrt{g}[R\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{\Phi })^22\alpha e^{\gamma \mathrm{\Phi }}],$$
(2)
where $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$ are positive constants of our theory. For string theory in $`D=10`$ they are related to the string tension and the leading coefficient in the string coupling expansion respectively. For example for the $`USp(32)`$ Type I string $`\alpha =64k^2T_9`$ where $`T_9`$ is the positive tension of the space filling $`\overline{D}_9`$ brane and $`\gamma =3/2`$ is derived by the disc and projective plane amplitudes of the open string theoryNote that in principle we could be including the next order contribution ($`\gamma =5/2`$) originating from the torus in the string coupling constant expansion. We shall comment on such a possibility in our conclusions.

Let us consider a space-time metric admitting a $`(D2)`$-dimensional planar spacelike surface. A general metric admitting this symmetry can be written ,

$$ds^2=e^{2\nu }B^{\frac{D3}{D2}}(dt^2+dz^2)+B^{\frac{2}{D2}}dx_{D2}^2$$
(3)
where $`\nu `$ and $`B`$ are functions of a timelike coordinate $`t`$ and spacelike coordinate $`z`$. Note that metric (3) is the typical bulk setup for brane Universe cosmology . Our source is a scalar field $`\varphi =\varphi (t,z)`$ with a Liouville self-interaction potential given by the matter Lagrangian and energy-momentum tensor read off from (2)

$`_{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}_\lambda \varphi ^\lambda \varphi 2\alpha e^{\gamma \varphi }`$ (5)
$`T_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}_a\varphi _b\varphi +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{ab}_{}`$ (6)
We shall seek solutions to the coupled Einstein and scalar field equations for metric (3) and dilaton field matter (3) in $`D`$ dimensions,

$`R_a^b`$ $`=`$ $`T_a^b{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _a^b}{D2}}T`$ (7)
$`\mathrm{}\varphi 2\alpha \gamma e^{\gamma \varphi }`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (8)
After some reshuffling the field equations take the form,

$`B_{tt}B_{zz}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha B^{\frac{1}{D2}}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }`$ (10)
$`\nu _{tt}\nu _{zz}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{D2}}B^{\frac{D3}{D2}}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(\varphi _z^2\varphi _t^2)`$ (11)
$`\varphi _{tt}\varphi _{zz}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha \gamma B^{\frac{D3}{D2}}e^{\gamma \varphi +2\nu }+\varphi _z{\displaystyle \frac{B_z}{B}}\varphi _t{\displaystyle \frac{B_t}{B}}`$ (12)
$`2\nu _zB_t+2\nu _tB_z2B_{tz}`$ $`=`$ $`B\varphi _t\varphi _z`$ (13)
$`2\nu _zB_z+2\nu _tB_tB_{tt}B_{zz}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2}}(\varphi _t^2+\varphi _z^2)`$ (14)
The metric components (3) are expressed in such a way so that equations (10), (11) and (12) are non-homogeneous wave equations with respect to $`B`$, $`\nu `$ and $`\varphi `$ for all $`D`$ whereas (13) and (14) are interpreted as integrability equations for these. If $`\gamma =0`$ and the scalar field is constant throughout spacetime, then the field equations reduce to the Einstein equations in the presence of a cosmological constant $`\alpha `$. The general solution for this case has been found and treated in detail in . In the same frame of mind it is useful to transform to light cone coordinates,

$$u=\frac{tz}{2},v=\frac{t+z}{2}$$
(15)
upon which the field equations reduce to,

$`B_{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha B^{\frac{1}{D2}}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }`$ (17)
$`\nu _{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{D2}}B^{\frac{(D3)}{(D2)}}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\varphi _u\varphi _v`$ (18)
$`\varphi _{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha \gamma B^{\frac{D3}{D2}}e^{\gamma \varphi +2\nu }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2B}}(\varphi _uB_v+\varphi _vB_u)`$ (19)
$`2\nu _u\left[ln(B_u)\right]_u`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2B_u}}\varphi _u^2`$ (20)
$`2\nu _v\left[ln(B_v)\right]_v`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2B_v}}\varphi _v^2`$ (21)
a system of 3 non-homogeneous wave equations for $`B`$, $`\nu `$ and $`\varphi `$ constrained by the ordinary differential equations (20), (21). It can be shown that (18) is redundant resulting from the remaining equations, however, its form can be instructive and we keep it.

Before proceeding into the search for solutions to (15), let us note the two dimensional (in the $`tz`$ plane) conformal symmetries,

$$uf(u)vg(v)$$
(22)
where $`f`$ and $`g`$ are arbitrary functions which leave (3) invariant. This is an essential symmetry of the problem in the metric Anzatz we have chosen, which will be seen to reduce seemingly two-dimensional solutions, to solutions which are in fact one-dimensional. Also the form of the metric (3) dictates that with little effort from a static one-dimensional solution we can obtain a time dependent one dimensional solution. We shall call one-dimensional solutions the ones that after a suitable coordinate transformation can be seen to depend (locally) only on a timelike or a spacelike coordinate. Two dimensional solutions will be those depending on a timelike and spacelike coordinate such that there exists no coordinate transformation or equivelantly no timelike or spacelike Killing vector reducing them to a one-dimensional solution.

## III Dilaton black holes

As a first approach let us construct solutions using the method of  which extend the topological black hole solutions . The topological black hole solutions have been extensively studied in string theory (see  and references within) and also in brane Universe cosmology  the earliest application dating  in the context of the Randall-Sundrum  model. We will see in the next section how the dilatonic version of these solutions are part of a more general class of solutions.

The starting point are conditions (20) and (21) which are not integrable equations as they stand. This is the mathematical difficulty we will have to face throughout our analysis and will lead to the breakdown of Birkhoff’s unicity theorem. So choose a simple Anzatz that makes (20) and (21) integrable equations,

$$e^\varphi =B^ce^{\varphi _0}$$
(23)
with c and $`\varphi _0`$ real constants. On doing so, constraints (20) and (21) yield,

$$B=B(U(u)+V(v)),e^{2\nu }=U^{}(u)V^{}(v)B^{}B^{c^2/2}$$
(24)
where $`U`$ and $`V`$ are arbitrary functions of a single variable and  will always denote the derivative with respect to the unique argument of the function. On inputing (23), (24) in the wave equations of (15) we find that they are consistent for $`\gamma 0`$ if and only if $`c=\gamma `$. In order to simplify notation let us set

$$s=\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}\frac{D1}{D2}.$$
(25)
We will see that the sign of $`s`$ plays a particularly important role, often determining the nature of the solutions. The case $`c=\gamma =0`$ corresponds to the cosmological constant solution . The wave equation (17) for component $`B`$ reduces to,

$$B^{}=\frac{2\alpha }{s}B^se^{\gamma \varphi _0}d/2$$
(26)
and in particular for $`s=0`$

$$B^{}=2\alpha e^{\gamma \varphi _0}\mathrm{ln}Bd/2$$
(27)
with $`d`$ an arbitrary integration constant. Hence (3) admits the particular solution,

$$ds^2=B^{}B^{\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}\frac{D3}{D2}}U^{}V^{}(dt^2+dz^2)+B^{\frac{2}{D2}}dx_{D2}^2$$
(28)
for $`s0`$, with $`B^{}`$ given by (26) and similarly for $`s=0`$ with $`B^{}`$ given by (27).

Now the important point is that this solution is a one dimensional solution. Indeed $`U`$ and $`V`$ reflect the conformal rescaling freedom (22) and are not physical degrees of freedom. To see this we fix (22) setting,

$$U=\frac{1}{2}(\overline{z}\overline{t}),V=\frac{1}{2}(\overline{z}+\overline{t})$$
(29)
and hence $`B=B(\overline{z})`$ i.e. the solution is static for $`\overline{z}`$ spacelike and vice-versa§§§Alternatively take, $`U=\frac{1}{2}(\overline{z}+\overline{t}),V=\frac{1}{2}(\overline{z}+\overline{t})`$ upon which $`B=B(\overline{t})`$.. Noting then that $`d\overline{z}=\frac{dB}{B^{}}`$ we get,

$$ds^2=B^{}B^{\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}\frac{D3}{D2}}(d\overline{t}^2)+\frac{B^{\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}\frac{D3}{D2}}}{B^{}}dB^2+B^{\frac{2}{D2}}dx_{D2}^2$$
(30)
for $`s0`$, with $`B^{}`$ given by (26) as a function For the $`\overline{t}`$-case simply replace $`B^{}`$ by $`B^{}`$ in (30) of $`B`$ and accordingly for $`s=0`$ using (27). The dilaton field is given by,

$$\varphi =\varphi _0\gamma \mathrm{ln}B$$

for all values of $`s`$. The form of these solutions, which are singular at $`B=0`$, depends on the sign and zeros of $`B^{}`$. In fact as we can see from (26) and (27) depending on the sign of $`d`$ and $`s`$, we will have black hole solutions or time dependent solutions with a cosmological horizon or again solutions with a naked singularity at $`B=0`$. These solutions have been found and analyzed in a different coordinate system by Chan et al  for the spherical case and by Cai et al  for planar and hyperbolic spatial $`D2`$ geometry (see also recent work  for a general class of solutions). As backgrounds for the motion of dilatonic domain wall type Universes they were analyzed by Chamblin and Reall  and more recently in . Since we are interested in the context of non-supersymmetric string theories we examine these solutions for $`D=10`$ referring the reader to the above papers for further applications and properties of these solutions.

First of all we note that $`\gamma =3/2`$ i.e. (25) yields $`s=0`$, the critical value for the gravitational field (but not for the dilaton field), and corresponds to the Type I $`USp(32)`$ string. Hence whatever spacetime solutions we find for non-supersymmetric heterotic string theories, $`\gamma =5/2`$, the Type I string solutions will be inherently different.

Let us start with the case of $`\gamma =5/2`$ ($`s=2`$), the non-supersymmetric heterotic string case. Then using (26), solutions (30) simplify to,

$$ds^2=\eta (\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}B^2d/2)B^{9/4}(d\overline{t}^2)+\frac{B^{9/4}dB^2}{\eta (\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}B^2d/2)}+B^{1/4}dx_8^2$$
(31)
where $`\eta =\pm 1`$, with

$$\varphi =\varphi _0\frac{5}{2}\mathrm{ln}B$$

Solutions (31) can be written in the string frame by the Weyl rescaling, $`g_{\mu \nu }^{(S)}=e^{\varphi /2}g_{\mu \nu }`$. The $`\eta =1`$ corresponds to (30) and the $`\eta =1`$ to its counterpart. Hence for $`\eta =1`$ if $`d<0`$ then $`B_H^{}=\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}B_H^2+d/2=0`$ corresponds to a cosmological horizon $`B_H`$ and hence for the horizon exterior, $`B`$ is a timelike coordinate with $`B=0`$ a timelike singularity. For $`d>0`$, $`B`$ is spacelike, and $`B=0`$ is a naked timelike singularity. Alternatively for $`\eta =1`$ if $`d<0`$ then $`B_H^{}=0`$ corresponds to a black hole horizon and hence for $`B>B_H`$, $`B`$ is a spacelike coordinate and $`B=0`$ is now a spacelike singularity. The parameter $`d`$ in this case is related to the quasilocal mass (see for example  and references within) of the black hole. For $`d>0`$, $`B`$ is timelike with $`B=0`$ a naked spacelike singularity.

Let us now turn to the asymptotic behavior. Calculation of the Ricci scalar gives, $`R=\frac{5}{8}(9\alpha +5d/2B^2)B^{25/4}`$ which ties in with the form of the dilaton potential. Note then that spacetime geometry coupled to matter is well behaved for large $`B`$, the Ricci scalar asymptoting zero. On the other hand note now the bizarre property of these solutions; their asymptotic behavior depends on the “mass” parameter $`d`$. Indeed for large $`B`$ the solution asymptotes,

$$ds^2\eta dB^{9/4}(d\overline{t}^2)+\frac{2B^{9/4}dB^2}{\eta d}+B^{1/4}dx_8^2$$

and spacetime is not asymptotically flat although matter is vanishing at that region. Indeed as our coordinate $`B`$ goes to infinity the dilaton field goes to minus infinity, the dilaton potential acquiring thus its “global” minimum. Hence even though the scalar field rolls down the potential well spacetime is not of trivial curvature. The (partial) resolution of this discrepancy lies in the physical interpretation of $`d`$ which is related to the Weyl tensor. Indeed setting $`d=0`$ one can show that the Weyl tensor is identically zero. Hence we can deduce that although matter tends to the vacuum (and the Ricci tensor with it) the Weyl tensor i.e. pure curvature controls the large $`B`$ region where spacetime exhibits purely gravitational tidal forces depending on the magnitude of $`d`$. So a far away observer for the dilatonic black hole is subject to gravitational tidal forces dependent on the quasilocal mass $`d`$, quite in contrast to the standard situation of a Schwarzschild black hole which is asymptotically flat regardless of its ADM mass.

Setting $`d=0`$ we get solutions of maximal $`SO(9)`$ symmetry for the heterotic string, $`\gamma =5/2`$ which were first discussed in . The solution reads,

$$ds^2=B^{1/4}[\eta d\overline{t}^2+dx_8^2+\frac{\eta B^4dB^2}{\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}]$$
(32)
and exhibits a naked singularity at $`B=0`$. Furthermore as we pointed out for $`d=0`$ spacetime is conformally flat, $`ds^2w^{1/12}(\eta _{ab}dx^adx^b)`$ where $`w=B^3`$. Note that even now the solution is not asymptotically flat. This following the works of Poletti and Wiltshire  for spherically symmetric scalar black holes is due to the fact that the potential attains its minimum value only at an infinite value for the scalar field $`\varphi `$. The only cases where asymptotic flatness or constant curvature is obtained is $`\gamma =0`$ and also by considering $`\gamma =1/2`$ in the string frame.

For the particular case of $`\gamma =3/2`$ i.e. the Type I string we obtain,

$$ds^2=B^{1/4}\left[\eta (2\alpha e^{3\varphi _0/2}\mathrm{ln}Bd/2)(dt^2)+\frac{dB^2}{\eta (2\alpha e^{3\varphi _0/2}\mathrm{ln}Bd/2)}+dx_8^2\right]$$
(33)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0\frac{3}{2}\mathrm{ln}B$$

In this case the sign of $`d`$ does not affect the solution. We will always get a black hole horizon with $`\eta =1`$ and a cosmological horizon with $`\eta =1`$ situated at $`B_H^{}=0`$. Spacetime is singular at $`B=0`$ as the Ricci scalar is given by,

$$R=\pm \frac{1}{8}\frac{20\alpha +18\alpha \mathrm{ln}(B)+9d/2}{B^{9/4}}$$

Again for large $`B`$ the curvature scalar $`R`$ vanishes signaling the good behavior of the spacetime geometry coupled to matter. However the Weyl curvature now turns out to be dependent on $`\alpha `$. Since $`\alpha 0`$ solutions cannot be conformally flat. Hence again the dilaton potential rolls down to its vacuum value at minus infinity but spacetime is not asymptotically flat or of constant curvature.

## IV General one-dimensional Solutions

The above is only one subset of the static solutions one can find. In this section, we shall extract the general one dimensional static or time-dependent solutions to (7). Since we are looking for 1-dimensional solutions we will either have $`𝒜_u=𝒜_v`$ for time dependent or $`𝒜_u=𝒜_v`$ for static solutions, where $`𝒜`$ stands for $`B`$, $`\nu `$ and $`\varphi `$. It suffices in view of the form of our metric to find the static solutions, so let us concentrate on this case. The field equations are written,

$`B^{\prime \prime }`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha B^{1/(D2)}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }`$ (35)
$`\nu ^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\varphi ^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{D2}}B^{(D3)/(D2)}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }`$ (36)
$`\varphi ^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{B^{}}{B}}\varphi ^{}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha \gamma B^{(D3)/(D2)}e^{2\nu +\gamma \varphi }`$ (37)
$`2B^{}\nu ^{}B^{\prime \prime }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2}}\varphi ^2`$ (38)
where  denotes the derivative with respect to z. Note the sign ambiguity of the field equations in that the t-dependent equations are obtained by simply replacing $`\alpha `$ by $`\alpha `$ in (IV). Now we make use of the similar form of the non-homogeneous terms in the wave equations i.e. using (35) we can integrate (37),

$$\varphi ^{}=\frac{1}{B}(c\gamma B^{})$$
(39)
and then in turn, (35), (38) in (36) yield after direct integration,

$$2\nu ^{}=\frac{1}{B}(d+\frac{D1}{D2}B^{})$$
(40)
with $`c`$ and $`d`$ arbitrary integration constants. From (39) we see that $`c=0`$ corresponds to the dilaton solution discussed in the previous section and hence $`d`$ is again the Weyl parameter. Replacing now the above expressions for $`\varphi ^{}`$ and $`\nu ^{}`$ in (38) we get a second order differential equation for $`B`$,

$$(d+\gamma c)\frac{B^{}}{B}s\frac{B^2}{B}B^{\prime \prime }\frac{c^2}{2B}=0$$
(41)
where $`s`$ is given by (25). This equation is consistent modulo a constant with the remaining equation (35) and this can be shown by differentiating both and comparing. We will make use of this fact later on to fix our constants and eventually determine if our solution is timelike or spacelike. All we need to do now is solve (41) and then find $`\varphi `$ and $`\nu `$ by direct integration in some adequate coordinate system. Equation (41) is autonomous hence we coordinate transform our metric setting $`B^{}=p`$ and hence $`B^{\prime \prime }=\frac{dp}{dB}p`$. The above equation then boils down to,

$$p\frac{dp}{dB}B=sp^2+(d+\gamma c)p\frac{c^2}{2}$$
(42)
and hence for $`s0`$

$$slnB(p)=\frac{pdp}{f(p)}$$
(43)
where $`f(p)`$ is a second degree polynomial of $`p`$ given by,

$$f(p)=p^2\frac{d+\gamma c}{s}p+\frac{c^2}{2s}$$
(44)
Depending on the type of roots of this polynomial we shall obtain different solutions. The roots of the polynomial will generically correspond to candidate singularities of spacetime. For example we will see that for $`c=0`$ one of the roots is merely a coordinate singularity whereas the second root is a curvature singularity, hence the black hole solutions of the previous section.

Furthermore noting that $`dz=dB/p`$ the fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\nu `$ are directly integrated as functions of $`p`$ to give,

$`\varphi (p)`$ $`=`$ $`lnB^\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{c}{s}}{\displaystyle \frac{dp^{}}{f(p^{})}}`$ (46)
$`2\nu (p)`$ $`=`$ $`lnB^{(D1)/(D2)}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{s}}{\displaystyle \frac{dp^{}}{f(p^{})}}`$ (47)
Since all our fields are given as functions of $`p`$ we coordinate transform using (42) whereby $`dz^2=\frac{B^2dp^2}{s^2f(p)^2}`$ and hence,

$$ds^2=e^{2\nu }B^{\frac{D3}{D2}}(dt^2+\frac{B^2dp^2}{s^2f(p)^2})+B^{\frac{2}{D2}}dx_{D2}^2$$
(48)
We start by analyzing the roots of the polynomial $`f(p)`$. Its discriminant is given by,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{1}{s^2}[(d+\gamma c)^22c^2s]$$

Two possibilities arise according to the sign of $`s`$. If $`s>0`$ then we can have two distinct real roots $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$, one double root and no real roots. For $`s<0`$ we always have $`\mathrm{\Delta }0`$. For $`D=10`$ we note again the particular role played by $`\gamma =3/2`$, mapping $`s`$ to the origin. Indeed from (42), if $`s=0`$ then we have a first degree polynomial. For $`\gamma <3/2`$ we will always have 2 real roots. For $`\gamma >3/2`$ and hence for the heterotic string, $`\gamma =5/2`$, the whole spectrum of possible solutions will be permitted. So depending on the nature of the discriminant $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ we classify our solutions to Class I (two distinct real roots), Class II (double root) and Class III (imaginary roots) solutions. We also have to examine the case $`s=0`$ separately.

### A Class I solutions

In this case the two distinct real roots of $`f(p)`$ are given by, $`p_{1,2}=\frac{d+\gamma c}{2s}\pm \frac{p_0}{2}`$ with $`p_0=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }}>0`$ and we choose $`p_2<p_1`$. The Class I fields are obtained directly from (43) and then in turn from (IV),

$$B(p)=B_0\frac{q(p)^{p_1}}{|pp_2|^{\frac{1}{s}}},e^{2\nu }=e^{2\nu _0}\frac{q(p)^{d+p_1\frac{D1}{D2}}}{|pp_2|^{\frac{D1}{s(D2)}}},e^\varphi =e^{\varphi _0}q(p)^{c\gamma p_1}|pp_2|^{\frac{\gamma }{s}}$$

where $`B_0`$, $`\nu _0`$ and $`\varphi _0`$ are constants of integration and,

$$q(p)=\left|\frac{pp_2}{pp_1}\right|^{\frac{1}{sp_0}}$$

The next step is to relate $`\alpha `$ to the integration constants: noting from (41) that $`B^{\prime \prime }B=sf(p)`$ and replacing the above solutions into (35) we get

$$f(p)s=2\eta \alpha e^{2\nu _0+\gamma \varphi _0}B_0^{\frac{D1}{D2}}|f(p)|$$
(49)
Here $`\eta =1`$ means that $`p`$ is spacelike and $`\eta =1`$ that $`p`$ is timelike taking care of the sign ambiguity of the field equations (IV). Therefore for $`s>0`$ we will have spacelike solutions for $`p>p_1`$ or $`p<p_2`$ whereas timelike solutions will be obtained in the finite interval $`p_2<p<p_1`$. For $`s<0`$ the situation is interchanged. Once the sign, and hence the signature required, is determined the integration constants are related by,

$$|s|=2\alpha e^{2\nu _0+\gamma \varphi _0}B_0^{\frac{D1}{D2}}$$
(50)
Let us explicitly write and analyze the solution for $`D=10`$ and $`\gamma =5/2`$ ($`s=2`$). All $`s>0`$ solutions will have the same behavior. The solutions then are backgrounds to the non-supersymmetric heterotic string.

Now $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$ are singular points for the fields and they either stand for curvature singularities or coordinate singularities. For spacelike $`p`$ such that $`p>p_1`$ we perform a change of origin, $`pp_1p`$ and use (50) to fix the constants. After some algebra the solution is written,

$$ds^2=\frac{(p+p_0)^{\frac{p_1p_0}{8p_0}}}{p^{\frac{p_1}{8p_0}}}\left[\left(\frac{p+p_0}{p}\right)^{\frac{d}{2p_0}}dt^2+dx_8^2+\left(\frac{p+p_0}{p}\right)^{\frac{d}{2p_0}+\frac{p_1}{p_0}}\frac{dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}(p+p_0)^3p^2}\right]$$
(51)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\left(\frac{c}{2p_0}\frac{5p_1}{4p_0}+\frac{5}{4}\right)\mathrm{ln}(p+p_0)+\left(\frac{5p_1}{4p_0}\frac{c}{2p_0}\right)\mathrm{ln}p$$
(52)
where $`p>0`$.The spacelike solutions with $`p<p_2`$ are obtained from (51) by interchanging $`p`$ by $`p+p_0`$. and therefore the $`p=p_0`$ singularity is never attained for a positive $`p`$. As it stands now Class I solutions depend on two integration parameters $`c`$ and $`d`$. The case $`c=0`$ was treated in the previous section where upon making the coordinate transformation $`p=\alpha B^2+d/2`$ we obtain the dilaton black hole solutions solutions (31). What is noteworthy here is that $`p=0`$ is no longer a singular point of spacetime, it is now a horizon screening the singularity at the second root of the polynomial $`f(p)`$. Indeed the singular part of the dilaton in (52) drops out for $`c=0`$. Alternatively we can gauge away the $`c`$-dependence modulo the sign. The constant $`c`$ plays then the role of a topological index characterizing the dilaton field and we shall obtain different solutions for $`c=0,\pm 1`$.

So let us now suppose that $`c0`$. Then consider $`pp_0p`$ relabel $`d`$ by $`d/c`$ and set $`\eta =|c|/c`$,

$$ds^2=[p(p+1)]^{1/16}\left(\frac{p+1}{p}\right)^{\frac{\eta (d+5/2)}{16\chi }}\left[\left(\frac{p+1}{p}\right)^{\frac{\eta d}{\chi }}dt^2+dx_8^2+\frac{\left(\frac{p+1}{p}\right)^{\frac{\eta (3d+5/2)}{2\chi }}dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}[(p+1)p]^{5/2}}\right]$$
(53)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{8}\mathrm{ln}[p(p+1)]+\frac{5\eta (d+9/10)}{8\chi }\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{p}{p+1}\right]$$
(54)
where $`\eta =\pm 1`$, $`\chi =[(d+9/2)(d+1/2)]^{1/2}`$ and from positivity of the discriminant we have $`d(\mathrm{},9/2)(1/2,+\mathrm{})`$. Notice how (53), (54) are symmetric under $`pp+1`$ and $`\eta =1\eta =1`$. We can portray (53) in the string frame via the conformal rescaling $`g^{(S)}=e^{\varphi /2}g`$ and it turns out that they share the same features as the Einstein solutions (53).

We now determine the nature of the singularity for $`p=0`$ in (53). A direct calculation of the Ricci scalar gives,

$$R[p(p+1)]^{9/16}\left[\frac{p}{p+1}\right]^{\frac{25\eta (d+9/10)}{16\chi }}$$
(55)
and hence $`R`$ blows up at $`p=0`$ if and only if $`\eta (d+9/10)<0`$ (calculation of $`R_{ab}R^{ab}`$ and $`R_{abcd}R^{abcd}`$ yields the same result). Note from (54) that the dilaton potential exhibits the same behavior and furthermore the Ricci scalar is always singular for large $`p`$. The behavior of the curvature tensor is related to the topology of the solution. Indeed consider the proper distance in the $`p`$ direction defined as,

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑p\sqrt{g_{pp}}$$

It is easy to see from (53) that proper distance is finite if and only if, $`\eta (d+9/10)<0`$ i.e. given the interval $`d(\mathrm{},9/2)(1/2,+\mathrm{})`$ we have that $`d<9/2`$ for $`\eta =1`$, and $`d>1/2`$ for $`\eta =1`$ yield a compact $`p`$ direction. Hence we deduce that the $`p`$-direction is compact and our solution has the topology of an interval times a 9-dimensional manifold if and only if the Ricci tensor blows up at $`p=0`$. Hence compactness in the $`p`$-direction yields a singular behavior of spacetime with two naked singularities at $`p=0`$ and at $`p\mathrm{}`$ (the singularity at infinity is now at a finite proper distance). For large $`p`$ spacetime takes the approximate form,

$$ds^2p^{1/8}[\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu +p^5\frac{dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}]$$

and the dilaton

$$\varphi \varphi _0+\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}p$$

which is just the $`SO(9)`$ solution (32).

Alternatively if proper distance is infinite then $`p=0`$ is a coordinate singularity. It turns out that this solution (unlike the case $`c=0`$) cannot be extended in the timelike region so we make a coordinate transformation making $`p=0`$ spatial infinity, $`p=1/u`$. Then again we find that the solution is not asymptotically flat. From (54) we get,

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{8}\mathrm{ln}\frac{1+u}{u^2}+\frac{5\eta (d+9/10)}{8\chi }\mathrm{ln}\frac{1}{1+u}$$

and we see that the dilaton approaches minus infinity for large $`u`$ rolling down the potential well given that $`\eta (d+9/10)>0`$ (see fig 1 for a plot of the Ricci scalar\**\**\**We have set $`\varphi _0=0`$, $`\alpha =1`$ for all the subsequent figures.).

Let us now turn to the time-dependent solutions. As we mentioned above (49) in this case we have $`f(p)<0`$ and therefore $`p_2<p<p_1`$ varies in a finite interval. Choosing $`p_2`$ as our origin we note that $`dt^2=\frac{B^2dp^2}{s^2f^2(p)}`$. The time dependent solution is effectively obtained by considering solution (51) and replacing, $`p+p_0p`$ and $`dt^2dz^2`$. Then proceeding as for the spacelike case the timelike solutions for $`c0`$ simplify to,

$$ds^2=[p(1p)]^{1/16}\left(\frac{p}{1p}\right)^{\frac{\eta (d+5/2)}{16\chi }}\left[\frac{\left(\frac{p}{1p}\right)^{\frac{\eta (3d+5/2)}{2\chi }}dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}[(1p)p]^{5/2}}+\left(\frac{p}{1p}\right)^{\frac{\eta d}{\chi }}dz^2+dx_8^2\right]$$
(56)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{8}\mathrm{ln}[p(1p)]+\frac{5\eta (d+9/10)}{8\chi }\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1p}{p}\right)$$
(57)
where $`p`$ is now a timelike coordinate and $`0<p<1`$ ††††††To pass to an infinite timelike coordinate set for instance $`\stackrel{~}{t}=\frac{p}{1p}`$. The Ricci scalar, obtained by (55) with $`p+1p`$ is singular at one of the two extremities of the interval $`p=0`$ or $`p=1`$. Indeed for $`\eta =1`$ say, $`p=1`$ is a coordinate singularity and $`p=0`$ is a naked singularity. Changing the sign of $`\eta `$ does not produce a new solution but merely changes the direction of time. The direction of time is determined by demanding that the scalar field tends asymptotically to minus infinity. We should also note that proper time is always infinite although our coordinate interval for $`p`$ is finite.

The form of the metric (53) dictates that for $`d=0`$ i.e. for vanishing Weyl tensor we will get the general solution with $`SO(9)`$ symmetry.

d=0: Under this assumption we have, two distinct cases depending on the sign of $`\eta `$. For $`\eta =1`$ we will have finite proper distance in the $`p`$ direction and two naked singularities at $`p=0`$ and at coordinate infinity whereas for $`\eta =1`$ the proper distance is infinite with $`p=0`$ merely a coordinate singularity. Explicitly for $`\eta =1`$ we obtain from (53) and (54) the solution,

$$ds^2=(p+1)^{1/6}p^{1/24}\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu +(p+1)^{7/2}p^{13/8}\frac{dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\mathrm{ln}p^{1/4}+\mathrm{ln}(p+1)$$

This is the $`SO(16)\times SO(16)`$  solution as can be seen by considering $`p=ch^2(\sqrt{\alpha }y)`$, where it was noted that the solution has an effective 9-dimensional behavior with the 9 dimensional Planck and Yang-Mills couplings finite.

The case $`\eta =1`$ can be obtained explicitly by replacing $`p`$ by $`p+1`$ and vice-versa. In this case spacetime is well behaved at $`p=0`$ the point in question portraying a coordinate singularity and hence as before we take $`u=1/p`$,

$$ds^2=u^{1/8}(u+1)^{1/24}\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu +(u+1)^{13/8}u^{9/8}\frac{dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}u+\mathrm{ln}(u+1)$$

We now have a naked singularity at $`u=0`$ and dilaton matter tends to 0 for $`u`$ large with $`\varphi `$ going to minus infinity.

The unique timelike solution in the Einstein frame is,

$$ds^2=(1p)^{7/2}p^{13/8}\frac{dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}+(1p)^{1/6}p^{1/24}\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu $$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\mathrm{ln}(1p)+\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{ln}p$$

with $`0<p<1`$ where $`\eta `$ is gauged away since it only interchanges $`p1p`$. In the case of $`SO(9)`$ symmetry we have a homogeneous and isotropic perfect fluid generated by the dilaton field. The energy density and pressure give,

$$\rho (p)=\frac{1}{16}\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}\frac{(3p+1)^2(1p)^{5/2}}{p^{3/8}}$$

$$P(\rho )=\frac{1}{16}\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}(41p^226p+1)(1p)^{3/2}p^{3/8}$$

Note then how the fluid is concentrated in the region of the initial cosmological singularity (figure 2).

We see that pressure changes sign accordingly to the scalar curvature of spacetime. This behavior is reminiscent of cosmological models with scalar fields  in 4 dimensional standard cosmology and in extension to quintessence models which strive into explaining the present acceleration ,  of our Universe. Note that as $`p1`$ the dilaton field approaches minus infinity and therefore rolls down the potential well with the dilatonic matter dissipating in that region. However not surprisingly spacetime is not asymptotically flat.

The last solution of $`SO(9)`$ symmetry is simply obtained by imposing $`c=d=0`$ (32). Strictly speaking it belongs to Class II solutions but we include it here for completeness. This solution exhibits the asymptotic behavior of all Class I solutions of compact proper distance. It reads,

$$ds^2=p^{1/8}\left(\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu +\frac{dp^2}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}p^5}\right)$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}p$$

The above three static solutions are the unique $`SO(9)`$ solutions in the non-supersymmetric heterotic theory. The important point is that these solutions are not asymptotically, flat or of constant curvature, even though the scalar field rolls down to a global minimum.

### B Class II solutions

This case is defined by $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ which implies that $`d=c(\gamma \pm \sqrt{2s})`$, $`s>0`$ and the double root of $`f(p)`$ is given by $`p_1=\pm \frac{c}{\sqrt{2s}}`$. Then we use (41) and (IV) and performing a change of origin,

$$ds^2=p^{\frac{2}{(D2)s}}e^{\frac{2p_1}{(D2)ps}}\left[e^{\frac{d}{sp}}\left(dt^2+\frac{e^{\frac{2p_1}{ps}}dp^2}{e^{\gamma \varphi _0}2\alpha sp^{4+\frac{2}{s}}}\right)+dx_{D2}^2\right]$$
(58)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{\gamma }{s}\mathrm{ln}p+\frac{c\gamma p_1}{sp}$$
(59)
for $`p>0`$. Note then that the metric (58) is singular and has one candidate singularity at the shifted location of the root.

Consider now the 10-dimensional heterotic case where $`\gamma =5/2`$ i.e. $`s=2`$. We have two static solutions characterized by the roots, $`p_1=\pm c/2`$ and $`d=c/2`$, $`d=9c/2`$ respectively. Consider first the couple $`p_1=c/2`$, $`d=c/2`$. By setting $`p\frac{|c|p}{4}`$ and taking $`dd/c`$ the solution is given by,

$$ds^2=p^{1/8}e^{\frac{\eta }{4p}}\left(e^{\frac{\eta }{p}}dt^2+e^{\frac{\eta }{p}}\frac{dp^2}{p^5e^{5\varphi _0/2}4\alpha }+dx_8^2\right)$$
(60)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}p\frac{\eta }{2p}$$
(61)
where as before $`\eta =c/|c|=\pm 1`$. Not surprisingly for large $`p`$ (60) asymptotes the $`c=d=0`$ solution (32). In the string frame the solution is,

$$ds^2=p^{1/2}(e^{\frac{\eta }{p}}dt^2+e^{\frac{\eta }{p}}\frac{dp^2}{p^5e^{5\varphi _0/2}4\alpha }+dx_8^2)$$

As for Class I solutions (60) has a totally different behavior depending on the sign of $`\eta `$. Indeed for $`\eta =1`$ the proper distance in the $`p`$ direction is finite.

Hence spacetime is spontaneously compactified in the $`p`$ direction both in the Einstein and in the string frame. Furthermore calculation of the Ricci scalar shows that for $`\eta =1`$ (60) has two naked singularities at $`p=0`$ and at coordinate infinity,

$$R=\frac{\alpha e^{\frac{5\varphi _0}{2}}}{8}p^{\frac{9}{8}}e^{\frac{5\eta }{4p}}(45p^2+20\eta p+4)$$

The dilaton potential (and the Ricci scalar) have a global minimum at finite non-zero $`p`$ where the exponential term takes over the power law (see figure 3).

However for $`\eta =1`$ proper distance is infinite in $`p`$ and accordingly $`p=0`$ is only a coordinate singularity with spacetime diverging at spatial infinity. We coordinate transform (60) bringing $`p=0`$ to infinity, $`u=1/p`$, and (60) gives,

$$ds^2=u^{1/8}e^{\frac{u}{4}}\left(e^udt^2+ue^u\frac{du^2}{e^{5\varphi _0/2}4\alpha }+dx_8^2\right)$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}\frac{1}{u}\frac{u}{2}$$

Hence now we have a naked singularity at $`u=0`$ and at large $`u`$ dilaton matter tends to $`0`$. Note in figure 4 how the absolute minimum of $`\varphi `$ at minus infinity is attained for $`u\mathrm{}`$ with the curvature scalar going accordingly to $`0`$.

When $`p_1=c/2`$ and $`d=9c/2`$ we get in a similar fashion,

$$ds^2=p^{1/8}e^{\frac{\eta }{4p}}\left(e^{\frac{9\eta }{p}}dt^2+e^{\frac{11\eta }{p}}\frac{dp^2}{p^5e^{5\varphi _0/2}4\alpha }+dx_8^2\right)$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}p+\frac{9\eta }{2p}$$

Again for $`\eta =1`$ the $`p`$-direction is compact with the according behavior of the curvature tensor whereas $`\eta =1`$ yields infinite proper length.

We note again the similar topological role played by the integration constant $`c`$ and the persisting property, proper distance is compact iff curvature diverges at the endpoints of the proper interval.

### C Class III solutions

In this case we have that $`f(p)>0`$ for all $`p`$. We can therefore anticipate that there will not be any singular points for finite values of coordinate $`p`$ which can therefore vary on the entire real line. This class of solutions is only attained for $`s>0`$ and the negative discriminant is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{c^2\psi ^2}{s^2}`$ where we have set $`\psi ^2=2s(d/c+\gamma )^2`$ a positive real number. We proceed as before using (41) and then (IV) to find $`B`$, $`\nu `$ and $`\varphi `$. Performing a change of origin, $`p\frac{d+\gamma c}{2s}p`$ to simplify notation we find the $`D`$-dimensional Class III metric,

$$ds^2=\frac{e^{\frac{2(d+\gamma c)}{s\psi (D2)}q(p)}}{[p^2+\frac{\psi ^2}{4s^2}]^{\frac{1}{(D2)s}}}\left[e^{\frac{2d}{\psi }q(p)}\left(dt^2+\frac{e^{\frac{2(d+\gamma c)}{s\psi }q(p)}dp^2}{2\alpha se^{5\varphi _0/2}[p^2+\frac{\psi ^2}{4s^2}]^{4+\frac{1}{s}}}\right)+dx_{D2}^2\right]$$
(62)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{\gamma }{2s}\mathrm{ln}\left(p^2+\frac{\psi ^2}{4s^2}\right)+\frac{\gamma (d+\gamma c)2cs}{s\psi }q(p)$$

where $`p(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})`$ and we have set $`q(p)=`$Arctan$`(\frac{2ps}{\psi })`$.

We now examine the $`D=10`$, heterotic $`\gamma =5/2`$ background, whereby we set $`pp\psi /4`$, we relabel $`d/c`$ by $`d`$ and therefore $`9/2<d<1/2`$ for positive $`\psi `$. We perform the coordinate transformation $`\mathrm{tan}q=\frac{4p}{\psi }`$ bringing spatial infinity to a finite value with $`q(\pi /2,\pi /2)`$. After some algebra and using (50) we obtain

$$ds^2=(\mathrm{cos}q)^{1/8}e^{\frac{d+5/2}{8\psi }q}\left(e^{\frac{2dq}{\psi }}dt^2+\frac{\mathrm{cos}qe^{\frac{3d+5}{\psi }q}}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}dq^2+dx_8^2\right)$$

$$\varphi (q)=\varphi _0\frac{5}{4}\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{cos}q)+5\frac{d+9/10}{4\psi }q$$

Now it is obvious that given the finite interval at which our spacelike coordinate $`q`$ varies that the proper distance in the $`q`$-direction will always be finite. Hence Class III solutions are always compact in the $`q`$ direction. Furthermore from the dilaton field we see that spacetime curvature diverges as $`q`$ approaches $`\pm \pi /2`$. In the string frame the Class III solution reads,

$$ds^2=(\mathrm{cos}q)^{1/2}e^{\frac{2d+1}{4\psi }q}\left(e^{\frac{2dq}{\psi }}dt^2+\frac{e^{\frac{3d+5}{\psi }q}}{4\alpha e^{5\varphi _0/2}}\mathrm{cos}qdq^2+dx_8^2\right)$$

and the above characteristics remain true.

The dilaton potential has a unique local minimum for positive $`q`$ and diverges at the ends of the interval. The Ricci scalar is well behaved up until we reach $`q=\pm \pi /2`$ where it explodes exponentially fast. Note the particular value $`d=9/10`$ which was the value that separated compact from infinite proper distance for the class I solutions. Here it yields an even function for the dilaton. For $`9/2<d<9/10`$ we have a local minimum which approaches $`\pi /2`$ as $`d9/2`$ (see figure 5) and conversely for $`9/10<d<1/2`$ the minimum approaches $`\pi /2`$. To summarize, although Class III solutions do not have candidate singularities at finite values of $`p`$, however, the proper distance in the $`p`$ direction is finite with spacetime exploding at finite proper distance at the endpoints of the proper interval. Therefore Class III solutions are also singular.

## V The critical case and the open string

When $`s=0`$ the critical value of $`\gamma `$ is given (25) by $`\gamma =\sqrt{\frac{2(D1)}{(D2)}}`$ and one has to start from (42) to obtain

$$lnB=(d+\gamma c)^1\frac{pdp}{f(p)}$$

where $`f(p)`$ is now a first degree polynomial,

$$f(p)=p\frac{c^2}{2(d+\gamma c)}$$
(63)
We label the unique root by, $`p_1=\frac{c^2}{2(d+\gamma c)}`$ and we anticipate a spacetime singularity at this point. The components are easily integrated from (42), (39) and (40) yielding,

$$B(p)=B_0e^{\frac{p}{d+3c/2}}|pp_1|^{\frac{c^2}{2(d+3c/2)^2}},e^{2\nu }=e^{2\nu _0}B^{\frac{(D1)}{(D2)}}|pp_1|^{\frac{d}{d+3c/2}},e^\varphi =e^{\varphi _0}B^\gamma |pp_1|^{\frac{c}{d+3c/2}}$$

Using (41) and (35) we see that the integration constants are related by,

$$(d+\gamma c)f(p)=2\alpha e^{2\nu _0+\gamma \varphi _0}|f(p)|$$
(64)
which states in particular that $`d+\gamma c<0`$ for static solutions and $`d+\gamma c>0`$ for time-dependent solutions‡‡‡‡‡‡Note that $`c=d=0`$ implies from (64) that $`\alpha =0`$ and is thus excluded. Let us start with the former case. Performing a change of origin $`pp_1p`$ and considering $`p>0`$ we obtain the following static solution,

$$ds^2=e^{\frac{2p}{(D2)(d+\gamma c)}}p^{\frac{2p_1}{(D2)(d+\gamma c)}}\left[p^{\frac{d}{d+\gamma c}}\left(dt^2+\frac{e^{\frac{2p}{d+\gamma c}}p^{\frac{2p_1}{d+\gamma c}2}dp^2}{(d+\gamma c)^2e^{\gamma \varphi _0}}\right)+dx_{D2}^2\right]$$
(65)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0\frac{\gamma }{d+\gamma c}p+\frac{c\gamma p_1}{d+\gamma c}\mathrm{ln}p$$
(66)
Let us now examine the case $`D=10`$, $`\gamma =3/2`$ which corresponds to $`SO(8)`$ backgrounds for the Type I string. As before we can absorb the constant $`c`$ modulo a sign by setting $`pp|c|`$, putting $`\eta =|c|/c`$ and relabeling $`dd/c`$. The case of $`c=0`$ was examined in section III. For $`p>0`$ we have from (64) that $`d+3/2<0`$ for $`\eta =1`$ (or $`d+3/2>0`$ for $`\eta =1`$) for a spacelike solution whereas we have $`d+3/2<0`$ and $`\eta =1`$ (or $`d+3/2>0`$ for $`\eta =1`$) for timelike solutions.

The $`USp(32)`$ spacelike solution ($`c0`$) written in the Einstein frame is,

$$ds^2=e^{\frac{\eta p}{4(d+3/2)}}p^{\frac{1}{8(d+3/2)^2}}\left[p^{\frac{d}{d+3/2}}\left(dt^2+\frac{e^{\frac{2p\eta }{d+3/2}}p^{\frac{1}{(d+3/2)^2}2}dp^2}{(d+3/2)(\eta )e^{3\varphi _0/2}2\alpha }\right)+dx_8^2\right]$$
(67)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0\frac{3\eta }{2d+3}p+\frac{d+3/4}{(d+3/2)^2}\mathrm{ln}p$$

where $`p>0`$ and we have $`\eta (d+3/2)<0`$. Quite generically the behavior of solutions (67) near $`p=0`$ is controlled by the powers of $`p`$ whereas the asymptotic large $`p`$ behavior is controlled by the exponentials. A simple calculation shows that the spacelike solutions are always compact in the $`p`$ direction. Then as before we have two naked singularities, one at $`p=0`$ and one at finite proper distance (but at coordinate infinity). So once more we see that proper distance is compact iff the curvature diverges at the endpoints of the $`p`$-interval. In the string frame $`g_s=e^{\varphi /2}g`$ all the properties discussed go through as in the Einstein frame solution (67). To illustrate the above results let us consider the explicit example where $`d=5/2`$. In this case the curvature scalar reads,

$$R=\frac{\eta }{16}e^{3\varphi _0/2}\alpha e^{9p\eta /4}\frac{36p^244\eta p+49}{p^{29/8}}$$
(68)
Now notice when $`\eta =1`$ (spacelike case) curvature diverges at both ends with the dilaton field acquiring a global minimum at the root of the polynomial for finite $`p`$ (figure 6).

Proceeding from (64) the timelike solution reads,

$$ds^2=e^{\frac{\eta p}{4(d+3/2)}}p^{\frac{1}{8(d+3/2)^2}}\left[p^{\frac{d}{d+3/2}}\left(\frac{e^{\frac{2p\eta }{d+3/2}}p^{\frac{1}{(d+3/2)^2}2}dp^2}{\eta (d+3/2)e^{3\varphi _0/2}2\alpha }+dz^2\right)+dx_8^2\right]$$

where $`p`$ is a positive timelike coordinate and now $`(d+3/2)\eta >0`$. The change of signature totally changes the asymptotic behavior of the time-dependent solutions. To illustrate this take again $`d=5/2`$, and note the change in the Ricci scalar (68) for $`\eta =1`$. Proper time is always infinite iff $`\eta =1`$ and now dilaton matter is concentrated around $`p=0`$ whereas it is exponentially damped for larger $`p`$. Accordingly the dilaton scalar rolls down the potential well with $`\varphi \mathrm{}`$ as $`p+\mathrm{}`$, however, spacetime is not asymptotically flat. Weyl curvature (depending on parameter $`d`$) takes over at large $`p`$ inducing purely gravitational forces. Although the dilaton rolls down the potential well, spacetime is not trivial as one could have naively expected.

It is now instructive to look at some asymptotic values of $`c`$ and $`d`$. The first case we consider is $`d=3/2`$, since for this value the polynomial $`f(p)=c^2/2`$ is just a non-zero constant. The solution reads,

$$ds^2=e^{\frac{p^2}{4}+3p}(dt^2+e^{2p^2}\frac{dp^2}{e^{3\varphi _0/2}4\alpha })+e^{p^2/4}dx_8^2$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0+\frac{3p^2}{2}2p$$

with $`pR`$. Proper distance is again finite and this solution explodes at the tips of the proper interval.

d=0: This case gives maximal $`SO(9)`$ symmetry solutions of vanishing Weyl curvature,

$$ds^2=e^{\frac{p\eta }{6}}p^{\frac{1}{18}}(\frac{dt^2}{\eta }+dx_8^2)+\frac{e^{3\varphi _0/2}}{3\alpha \eta }e^{\frac{3p\eta }{2}}p^{\frac{3}{2}}dp^2$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0\eta p+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{ln}p$$

For $`\eta =1`$ we get the unique spacelike solution of compact proper distance in $`p`$ and upon making the coordinate transformation $`p=\frac{3}{4}\alpha y^2`$ and relabeling the constants we recognize the  solution with $`SO(9)`$ symmetry. For $`\eta =1`$ we obtain the unique timelike solution,

$$ds^2=\frac{e^{3\varphi _0/2}}{3\alpha }e^{\frac{3p}{2}}p^{\frac{3}{2}}dp^2+e^{\frac{p}{6}}p^{\frac{1}{18}}dx_9^2$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0p+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{ln}p$$

This solution (see figure 8) is reminiscent of scalar field cosmologies studied in . As time tends to infinity the dilaton field rolls down the potential hill obtaining its vacuum expectation value. The energy density and pressure of the homogeneous and isotropic dilaton fluid read,

$$\rho (p)=\alpha e^{3\varphi _0/2}\left(\frac{3}{4}p^2+\frac{1}{2}p+\frac{1}{12}\right)e^{3p/2}p^{1/2}$$

$$P(p)=\alpha e^{3\varphi _0/2}\left(\frac{3}{4}p^2\frac{1}{2}p+\frac{1}{12}\right)e^{3p/2}p^{1/2}$$

and fall exponentially fast to a constant value for large time $`p`$. Accordingly the Ricci scalar has a naked singularity at $`p=0`$ and for large $`p`$ tends to a finite value. Again we do not have asymptotic flatness however.

To summarize we saw that the static type I string solutions of $`SO(8)`$ or indeed of higher symmetry are always of compact proper distance in $`p`$ and are hence singular at the endpoints of the interval. The timelike solutions exhibit a rather interesting behavior, namely matter is heavily concentrated around the origin and is exponentially dumped as we move away with the dilaton field rolling down the potential hill.

## VI Treating the general problem

Let us now go back to the general problem of solving (15) under the light of the one-dimensional solutions. The question we are tackling in this section is the existence of 2-dimensional solutions of (15). Put in a different way we are asking if the general one-dimensional solutions we obtained are the unique solutions of (15)\**\**\**Discussions with David Langlois and Maria Rodriguez-Martinez have considerably improved our understanding of this section. If this were the case we would obtain an extension of Birkhoff’s theorem, in the sense that there would exist a local timelike or spacelike extra Killing vector for our two dimensional system making thus solutions 1-dimensional.

Let us start by analyzing the field equations. We note using (17) in (19) that we obtain the linear-like equation,

$$B\varphi _{uv}+\frac{1}{2}(B_u\varphi _v+B_v\varphi _u)+\gamma B_{uv}=0$$
(69)
We hence set without loss of generality,

$$\varphi =\stackrel{~}{\varphi }\gamma lnB$$
(70)
and (69) simplifies to,

$$(B\stackrel{~}{\varphi _u})_v=(B\stackrel{~}{\varphi _v})_u$$
(71)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ is now the unknown field. Furthermore let us define,

$$2\chi =2\nu +\gamma \stackrel{~}{\varphi }\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}lnB$$
(72)
upon which the system (15) simplifies to,

$`B_{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha B^{(s+1)}e^{2\chi }`$ (74)
$`(2\chi )_{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`2\alpha (s+1)B^{(s+2)}e^{2\chi }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v`$ (75)
$`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2B}}(\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_uB_v+\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_vB_u)`$ (76)
$`(2\chi )_u\left[ln(B_u)\right]_u`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2B_u}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u^2`$ (77)
$`(2\chi )_v\left[ln(B_v)\right]_v`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B}{2B_v}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v^2`$ (78)
The independent variables are now $`B`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ and $`\chi `$. Note that $`\alpha `$, $`\gamma `$ and $`D`$ appear only in the wave equations (74) and (75) where we remind the reader that $`s=\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}\frac{D1}{D2}`$. Furthermore since (75) results from the other field equations, (74) is the only equation depending on the parameters of the problem. Note also that as long as $`\alpha 0`$ we have $`B_{uv}0`$ as can be seen from (74) and therefore the $`B`$ field cannot be trivial. By the redefinition of the field components we have effectively absorbed the dilaton potential in our new variables. The system (72) corresponds to an energy-momentum tensor consisting of a scalar field with cosmological constant $`\alpha `$.\*†\*†\*†For $`\gamma =1/6`$ and $`D=10`$ we get from $`1/(D2)\gamma ^2/2=1/(n2)`$ an $`n=11`$-dimensional spacetime as one would expect from KK type compactification

Now from (74) we can read off,

$$e^{2\chi }=\frac{1}{2\alpha }B_{uv}B^{s+1}$$
(79)
and then replace it in the integrability conditions (77) and (78),

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u^2=2\frac{B_uB_{uvu}}{BB_{uv}}+2(s+1)\frac{B_u^2}{B^2}2\frac{B_{uu}}{B}$$
(80)
$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v^2=2\frac{B_vB_{vvu}}{BB_{uv}}+2(s+1)\frac{B_v^2}{B^2}2\frac{B_{vv}}{B}$$
(81)
Now in principle we have two unknown functions $`B`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ and four equations to solve. Which of these equations are independent? Suppose we make use only of (80) and (81); can we obtain (75) and (76)? Differentiating (80) and (81) with respect to $`v`$ and $`u`$ respectively we obtain,

$$2B\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{uv}+B_v\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u2\frac{B_u}{\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u}𝒜=0$$

$$2B\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{uv}+B_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v2\frac{B_v}{\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v}𝒜=0$$

which are symmetric under $`uv`$. The functional,

$$𝒜=(lnB_{uv})_{uv}+(s+1)\left(2\frac{B_{uv}}{B}\frac{B_uB_v}{B^2}\right)$$

is symmetric in $`u`$ and $`v`$. Combining these two equations we get,

$$\left(1\frac{B_v\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u}{B_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v}\right)(2B\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{uv}+B_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v+B_v\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u)=0$$

and

$$\left(1\frac{B_v\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u}{B_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v}\right)\left((2\chi )_{uv}2\alpha (s+1)B^{(s+2)}e^{2\chi }\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v\right)=0$$

We recognize as factors (76) and (75) which therefore result from (80) and (81) as long as we don’t have,

$$B_v\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u=B_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v$$
(82)
Now to what extend is (82) a relevant equation? Using (76) and (82) results to $`B=B(U(u)+V(v))`$ which leads to a one dimensional solution studied in the previous section. Indeed we remind the reader that any function of $`U+V`$ can be reduced to a $`z`$-dependent function using coordinate transformations (29). This is due to the fact that we have imposed $`SO(D2)`$ symmetry hence the two remaining dimensions admit $`2`$-dimensional conformal invariance (22). Therefore any strictly two-dimensional solutions will not obey (82) and hence we deduce that (80), (81) yield the wave equations (75) and (76). Conversely the argument follows through in exactly the same way. Hence we deduce the following: Equations (80), (81) are equivalent to equations (75) and (76) for two-dimensional solutions.

Hence given $`B`$ we can evaluate $`\chi `$ from (79). Then from (80), (81) evaluate $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v`$. Two conditions have then to be met in order to obtain a two-dimensional solution. First of all we must not have (82) for then the solution can be coordinate transformed to a 1-dimensional solution. Secondly $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v`$ have to be differentiated with respect to $`v`$ and $`u`$ respectively and must yield the same result (equivelantly $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ is a 0-form).

So finding two-dimensional solutions seems a difficult task. However there is a way which gets around this difficulty. Indeed note that integrability conditions (80) and (81) involve the square of the derivatives of $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ in $`u`$ and $`v`$. Hence a way to circumvent (82) is to take $`\varphi _u`$ and $`\varphi _v`$ effectively constant\*‡\*‡\*‡i.e. $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }UV`$ but of opposite sign.

Indeed let us apply the above algorithm with $`B=e^{A(U(u)+V(v))}`$ which again represents a general functional of $`U+V`$. From (79) we obtain the $`\chi `$ field,

$$e^{2\chi }=\frac{1}{2\alpha }(A^{\prime \prime }+A^2)U^{}V^{}B^{s+2}$$

and from (80),

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi _u}^2=\frac{2U^2}{A^{\prime \prime }+A^2}[A^{}A^{\prime \prime \prime }+(2+s)A^{\prime \prime }A^2+(s+1)A^4A^{\prime \prime 2}]$$
(83)
((81) yields the analogous equation for “$`v`$”) and prime stands for the derivative with respect to $`U+V`$. A simple example to consider is $`A=U+V`$, . Then it is straightforward to get,

$$e^{2\chi }=\frac{1}{2\alpha }U^{}V^{}e^{(s+2)(U+V)}$$

and

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }=\pm \sqrt{2(s+1)}(UV)$$

Note then the $`UV`$ dependence of $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ and consequently that (82) is not true and that the solutions are two dimensional. Had we taken the same sign for the derivatives of $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ we would have got a static solution. This sign ambiguity in (80) and (81) breaks the unicity argument of Birkhoff’s theorem. Obviously if $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ were a constant this sign ambiguity would not have been possible. The breakdown of Birkhoff’s theorem in this context was mentioned in  where the authors refer to a forthcoming publication (see references within) discussing this.

In the generic case of arbitrary $`A(U+V)`$ other 2-dimensional solutions can be obtained in the following way. From (83) it is clear that we must not have $`\varphi _u`$ be a function of $`A(U+V)`$. Again using (29) this would just imply staticity. Therefore $`A`$ is constrained by the following differential equation,

$$k^2=2\frac{A^{}A^{\prime \prime \prime }+(2+s)A^{\prime \prime }A^2+(s+1)A^4A^{\prime \prime 2}}{A^{\prime \prime }+A^2}$$
(84)
where $`k`$ is an arbitrary constant. Obviously for such $`A^{}`$ we get implicitly a 2-dimensional solution with $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }=\pm k(UV)`$. Let us analyze here for simplicity the example $`A=U+V`$ . With the coordinate transformation (29) the solution simplifies to,

$$ds^2=\frac{1}{2\alpha }e^{\gamma ^2z}e^{\gamma \eta \sqrt{2(s+1)}t}(dt^2+dz^2)+e^{\frac{2z}{D2}}dx_{D2}^2$$

$$\varphi =\varphi _0\eta \sqrt{2(s+1)}t\gamma z$$

The first thing to note is that this solution is valid as long as $`\gamma ^2>\frac{2}{D2}`$. Hence in $`D=10`$ the critical point is $`\gamma =1/2`$ where the solution is again static and belongs to Class I. For our cases of interest the solution is then well defined. Furthermore and most importantly this solution is everywhere regular. Just like the case of thick domain walls  or global vortices  we see that the solution is regular once we relax the staticity requirement. Indeed the above solution has the same general form as a thick planar domain wall solution  by taking the coordinate transformation,

$$U=\frac{1}{2(\gamma \eta \sqrt{2(s+1)})}(zt),V=\frac{1}{2(\gamma +\eta \sqrt{2(s+1)})}(z+t)$$

where we have kept the labels for our coordinates as $`z`$ and $`t`$. The solution reads,

$$ds^2=e^{\gamma z}(dt^2+dz^2)+e^{\frac{2\eta t\sqrt{2(s+1)}}{D2}}e^{\gamma z}dx_{D2}^2$$
(85)
$$\varphi =\varphi _0z$$

We see that the scalar field is now static but spacetime is not. Note however the absence of the event horizon which caracterises the fact that the scalar field  is a topological soliton.

There is the case of $`\alpha =0`$ we can study completely following the work of Tabensky and Taub . The integrability of the free scalar field case yields useful insight for the unicity of the solutions we have been discussing here.

### A The SUSY limit $`\alpha =0`$

The case of $`\alpha =0`$ amounts to switching off the Liouville potential in our action (2). This case was studied in 4 dimensions by Tabensky and Taub  for a stiff perfect fluid source (where pressure is equal to energy density). We sketch the extension to $`D`$ dimensions here which is trivial once we have taken the metric in the form (15). Explicit examples can be found in the original paper as well as more recently in  for a T-dual version of the Sugimoto model .

The B equation (74) with $`\alpha =0`$ is just the two-dimensional wave equation which has general solution,

$$B=F(u)+G(v)$$

with $`F`$ and $`G`$ arbitrary functions. Substituting the solution of $`B`$ into (72) yields,

$`(2\chi )_{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v`$ (87)
$`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{uv}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2(F+G)}}(\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_uG^{}+\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_vF^{})`$ (88)
$`(2\chi )_u{\displaystyle \frac{F^{\prime \prime }}{F^{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{F+G}{2F^{}}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_u^2`$ (89)
$`(2\chi )_v{\displaystyle \frac{G^{\prime \prime }}{G^{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{F+G}{2G^{}}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_v^2`$ (90)
Upon making the coordinate transformation,

$$(u,v)(F(u),G(v))$$

the wave equation for $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ reduces to,

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{FG}=\frac{1}{2(F+G)}(\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_F+\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_G)$$
(91)
Now (91) is recognised as an Euler-Poisson-Darboux equation (see for instance )

$$u_{xy}+\frac{N}{x+y}(u_x+u_y)=0$$
(92)
which has general solution,

$$u(x,y)=\frac{^{N1}}{(x+y)^{N1}}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }(x)+\mathrm{\Psi }(y)}{(x+y)^N}\right)$$

when $`N`$ is a positive integer. In our case of interest, where $`N=1/2`$, the equation can be interpreted as a 2 dimensional wave equation in cylindrical coordinates. This can be achieved by restoring time and space-like coordinatesIn the original analysis , the authors used the Riemmann-Voltera method involving hypergeometric functions,

$$F=rt,G=t+r$$

to get,

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{rr}+\frac{1}{r}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_r\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_t=0$$
(93)
The general solution is given by means of a variety of integral representations (see Copson  for a beautiful derivation using complex analysis) here we choose Poisson’s original formula,

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }(t,r)=_0^\pi \mathrm{\Phi }(t+r\mathrm{cos}\psi )𝑑\psi +_0^\pi \mathrm{\Psi }(t+r\mathrm{cos}\psi )\mathrm{log}(r\mathrm{sin}^2\psi )𝑑\psi $$

with $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ arbitrary $`C^2`$ functions.

Hence given $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ we can find $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ and then integrate once (89) and (90) in order to find the $`\chi `$ field.

Let us now consider the question of unicity of the field equations (15). The following argument based on the above analysis leads us to postulate that the one dimensional solutions (section III and IV) along with the 2 dimensional solutions (84) constitute the general solution to the field equations (15). From the general solution for the case of $`\alpha =0`$ above we saw that component $`B`$ verifies a two dimensional wave equation hence $`B=U+V`$. Note then that the Taub planar solutions in the vacuum  i.e. in the absence of a scalar field, also admit as general solution $`B=U+V`$ in the same coordinate system. On the other hand in the case of a bulk of constant curvature, a cosmological constant , the $`B`$ component verifies a non-homogeneous wave equation and it turns out that $`B=B(U+V)`$. We remind the reader that under (29) this simply means that $`B`$ is a static field. In the case under consideration we showed that the field equations (15) could be transformed into (72), the case of a cosmological constant with a scalar field. Therefore by symmetry one is tempted to postulate that the general solution for $`B`$ is likewise $`B=B(U+V)`$ just like in the presence of a cosmological constant. Under this assumption and noting coordinate transformations (29) we saw that either we would get the one dimensional solutions described in sections III, IV and V or the 2-dimensional solutions implicitely given by (84) in this section.

## VII Conclusions

Starting from a $`D`$ dimensional spacetime admitting $`D2`$ planar symmetry we derived in section IV, V the general static or time-dependant solutions. Furthermore in section VI we analysed the field equations and found implicitely a class of two dimensional solutions given by (84). An example of these has recently been given in . Having generalised to $`D`$ dimensions the general solution for $`\alpha =0`$ (no Liouville potential)  we conjectured in the end of section VI that the solutions we found constitute the unique solutions to (15).

For the 1-dimensional case i.e. where the fields are locally static or time dependant we found three classes of solutions classified by the type of roots of a second degree polynomial ($`s0`$). Hence Class I solutions involved two distinct roots for $`f(p)`$, Class II one double root etc. The locations of the roots of $`f(p)`$ stood for candidate singularities of spacetime. We applied these solutions as gravitating backgrounds to $`D=10`$ non-supersymmetric string theories, in particular the open Type I theory with gauge group $`USp(32)`$ and the heterotic theory with cosmological constant and gauge group $`SO(16)\times SO(16)`$. On passing we obtained the general $`SO(9)`$ maximal symmetry solutions recently discussed in . We saw how the type I theory backgrounds, $`s=0`$, involved a critical value for the gravitational field which restricted considerably the possible solutions since then $`f(p)`$ was linear. For example whereas the heterotic string admits 3 static and 1 time dependent solutions of maximal $`SO(9)`$ symmetry the open string admits solely 1 static and 1 time dependent solution.

All one dimensional solutions depended on two integration constants $`c=0,1,1`$ and $`d`$. The former originated from the scalar field and was of a topological nature whereas the latter was related to Weyl curvature and $`d=0`$ simply meant that we had a conformally flat spacetime. In the table above we have gathered our results for the static heterotic string solutions.

| Static backgrounds for the non-susy heterotic string, $`\gamma =5/2`$, $`D=10`$ | | | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | $`𝐝`$ | $`0`$ | $`d9/2`$ | $`9/2<d<1/2`$ | $`1/2d<0`$ | $`d>0`$ |
|  |  | Class I | Class I, II |  | Class I, II | Class I |
| $`𝐜`$ |  | $`\mathrm{𝐒𝐎}(\mathrm{𝟗})`$ | $`\mathrm{𝐒𝐎}(\mathrm{𝟖})`$ | | | |
|  | Sect. | Asymptotic | Black | | | Naked |
| $`0`$ | III | Solution | Hole | | | Singularity |
|  |  |  | $`\mathrm{}R0`$ | | | $`\mathrm{}R0`$ |
|  | Sect. | infinite | compact | compact | infinite | |
| $`1`$ | IV | proper dist. | proper dist. | proper dist. | proper distance | |
|  |  | $`\mathrm{}R0`$ | $`\mathrm{}R\mathrm{}`$ | Class | $`\mathrm{}R0`$ | |
|  | Sect. | compact | infinite | III | Compact | |
| $`1`$ | IV | proper dist. | proper dist. |  | proper dist. | |
|  |  | $`\mathrm{}R\mathrm{}`$ | $`\mathrm{}R0`$ | $`\mathrm{}R\mathrm{}`$ | $`\mathrm{}R\mathrm{}`$ | |

The general characteristics of the 1-dimensional solutions are as follows: Firstly they are all singular. When $`c=0`$ the singularity could sometimes be censored by a horizon yielding in the static case black hole solutions first studied by . For $`c=\pm 1`$ in certain cases we found that proper distance in the independent spacelike variable was actually finite in agreement with the $`SO(9)`$ solutions of . Then the topology of spacetime is an interval times a nine dimensional manifold. Furthermore we found that compactness was equivelantly related to singular behavior of the curvature tensor. Indeed spacetime is always singular at the endpoints of the compact proper interval. On the contrary when proper distance is infinite then we had a naked singularity at the origin with dilaton matter smoothly going to zero at large distances or late times. Hence when proper distance is infinite the dilaton field will always roll down the potential well towards minus infinity where the Liouville potential acquires its global minimum. We can actually assert that if the dilaton does not roll to its vacuum then proper distance has to be compact. Interestingly the compact $`SO(9)`$ solutions discussed in detail in  have effectively not only a 9-dimensional behavior but also the dilaton rolls to minus infinity at one of the endpoints of the interval. Hence one anticipates that this solution should be classically stable against one of the remaining $`SO(9)`$ solutions. Another argument in favor of its stability is that the same type of solution appears for the Type I string and there it is the unique static $`SO(9)`$ solution .

We should also stress the fact that none of the solutions we found are asymptotically flat or of constant curvature. This seems surprising. Indeed as we noted above the scalar field typically will roll to the global minimum of the potential. However following the works of Poletti and Wiltshire for dilatonic black holes  the non-asymptotic flatness is related to the fact that the potential under question does not acquire its minimum at a finite value for $`\varphi `$. Hence even if we allow the dilaton to reach its vacuum value, Minkowsky or constant curvature spacetime is not a gravitational background for non-supersymmetric string theories at least at the classical level we are considering.

Let us now turn to the singular nature of the 1-dimensional solutions. It is known from studies of gravitating topological defects ,  that the singular nature of a thick domain wall  or of a global vortex  is due to the fact that we impose a static spacetime. Indeed on allowing spacetime to be space and time dependent global vortex and thick domain wall spacetimes are everywhere regular. Exactly the same thing occurs here. We saw that a two dimensional solution  is everywhere regular and can be transformed in such a way to acquire the form of a thick domain wall solution (85). By this we mean that the scalar field is static with the spacetime metric having an exponential time dependence and a conformal space dependent factor. However here we have no horizon since the potential is not of a domain wall type, acquiring a non degenerate discrete set of minima.

The solutions we have obtained can be used as background solutions incorporating the motion of brane Universe type wall much in a generalized context of  (for a recent discussion with a two dimensional background see ). Indeed these solutions are relevant to cosmological perturbations, brane cosmology in a non-constant curvature background and also to the radion related issues . This setup is a generalization of a constant curvature spacetime since a Liouville potential closely resembles a cosmological constant. In this case we can indeed picture the bulk as a fluid of dark matter flowing through the brane Universe. Thus comes about the question of Birkhoff’s theorem and its relevance to brane cosmology. It was proven recently that Birkhoff’s theorem applies in the case of a spacetime of constant curvature admitting a $`D2`$ spherical planar or hyperboloidal symmetry . The unicity then implies Kottler’s solution (topological black hole)  as the unique brane cosmology background. To understand the essence of this let us step back to usual 4-dimensional cosmology. On solving the FLRW equations one finds one physical degree of freedom, the expansion rate of the Universe which is related to energy density and pressure. When one considers brane cosmology in 5 dimensions our Universe is a timelike hypersurface evolving in a 5-dimensional spacetime. With the addition of one dimension one would naively expect that we would obtain another physical degree of freedom from the field equations. However Birkhoff’s theorem does not allow this. Indeed two dimensional conformal symmetries ensure that we have an extra Killing vector which then implies only one physical degree of freedom, the wall trajectory, alias the expansion rate as witnessed by a four dimensional observer. However as we saw scalar field matter breaks this unicity theorem and two dimensional solutions exist. This fact is independent of the presence of the potential; indeed it would seem that a potential rather restricts the possible solutions rather than enhances them. Could there exist potentials so that an extension to Birkhoff’s theorem would hold? This seems unlikely since a Liouville type potential is a natural generalization of a cosmological constant.

Let us end on higher order corrections from the coupling constant expansion. For instance in the case of the Sugimoto model  and also for the Sagnotti  non supersymmetric string model the potential to consider at one loop and in the Einstein frame is $`V(\varphi )=\alpha _1e^{3\varphi /2}+\alpha _2e^{5\varphi /2}`$ with $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2`$ positive constants. Note now the interplay between the critical value $`\gamma =3/2`$ and $`\gamma =5/2`$. Firstly it is simple to show that for $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2`$ positive no maximally symmetric solution exists. Secondly on a brief analysis of the field equations it is not evident that even $`SO(9)`$ solutions exist with such a potential. We hope to be reporting progress on this and further issues in the near future.

## VIII Acknowledgments

During the course of this work it has been very instructive to discuss with my colleagues in the IFT. I would like to thank David Fairlie for his encouragement and motivation during his visit in Florida. Special thanks go to Peter Bowcock and Ruth Gregory for continuous support and fruitful discussions. It is also a great pleasure to thank Emilian Dudas and Jihad Mourad for discussions. Furthermore it was a great pleasure to discuss with Michael Joyce, David Langlois, Maria Rodriguez-Martinez during my visit in France and Cedric Deffayet during the PASCOS meeting. I finally thank Emilian Dudas, Ruth Gregory and Jihad Mourad for comments on the manuscript. CC is supported by the DOE grant number DE-FG02-97ER41209.


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# Intrinsic Tunneling in Cuprates and Manganites

## I Introduction

It is well established that the most anisotropic high temperature superconductors form superconducting multilayers where the superconducting unit (single layers, bi- or trilayers of CuO2) are separated by insulating barrier layers. Examples are Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO) or Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10. Interlayer transport occurs via sequential tunneling of charge carriers, and consequently suitably patterned structures can be considered as a stack of intrinsic Josephson tunnel junctions (cf. Fig. 1a). The intrinsic Josephson effect  has been intensively investigated within the last decade for a number of reasons. For example, the gap voltage limiting the high frequency properties of intrinsic Josephson junctions is in the range of 30 mV allowing ac Josephson currents at frequencies of several THz . Thus, such junctions are highly promising for THz applications like oscillators or mixers. Second, a number of fundamental phenomena can be investigated like nonequilibrium effects due to charge imbalance in the superconducting layers  or collective effects like Josephson plasma oscillations involving the stack as a whole , the collective dynamics of Josephson fluxons , or the formation of charge solitons . A third issue is to use intrinsic Josephson junctions for tunneling spectroscopy. Their advantage over artificial tunnel junctions is to probe not only the surface layer but all layers within the stack. The prize, however, is that always a number of layers are measured in series. Thus the information provided is essentially the average over several layers. Using this method phonons in Bi- and Tl- based cuprates have been detected . Recently, the method has been used to investigate the quasiparticle density of states in both the superconducting and normal regime .

A system very similar to the high temperature superconductors are the layered manganites like (La,Sr)3Mn2O7 . Here, MnO2 bilayers are separated by thin layers consisting of La and Sr ions. In La1.4Sr1.6Mn2O7 (LSMO) the MnO2 bilayers undergo a metal-insulator transition near 90 K while the intervening layers remain insulating. Within each MnO2 sheet magnetic moments are ferromagnetically ordered. As revealed by neutron diffraction measurements  adjacent sheets become antiferromagnetically arranged below 70 K with magnetization vector perpendicular to the layers. Interlayer transport of the spin-polarized charge carriers occurs via tunneling processes , leading to a low temperature tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in addition to the effect of Colossal Magnetoresistance (CMR) observed near the metal-insulator transition (cf. Fig. 1b). Thus, at low temperatures, adjacent MnO2 bilayers can be considered as a natural TMR element or spin valve switching from large to small tunneling resistance upon application of an external magnetic field. Consequently, a suitably patterned single crystal acts as an intrinsic stack of spin valves .

What is a suitable size of an intrinsic Josephson junction stack or an intrinsic spin valve stack to be investigated? In terms of intrinsic Josephson junctions in BSCCO there are two limitations. First, the Josephson length $`\lambda _J`$ determining, e.g., the size of a Josephson fluxon is in the order of 0.2 - 0.5 $`\mu `$m . If the formation of such fluxons is to be avoided all lateral dimensions of the stack should not exceed $`\lambda _J`$. In case of a ”long” Josephson stack still the smaller side of the stack should be below $`\lambda _J`$. The second requirement is that the stack should not contain too many junctions. For many fundamental investigations stacks of well below some tens of junctions are desirable in order to produce interpretable results. Also, for stacks containing a large number of junctions ohmic heating becomes severe. The thickness of the stack thus should be below some 10 nm. In terms of the layered manganites hall probe measurements  and magneto-optical investigations  have revealed that LSMO single crystals exhibit a large number of magnetic domains typically some 10 $`\mu `$m in size. In order to observe clear spin valve effects, structures smaller than the size of such domains are desirable. For the same reasons as for intrinsic Josephson junctions also here the stacks should consist of only a few unit cells.

## II Samples and Measurements

BSCCO single crystals were grown from a stoichiometric mixture of the oxides and carbonates . Epoxy was used to glue approximately $`1\times 1\times 0.1\mu `$m2 large crystals to a sapphire substrate. To obtain a sufficiently small contact resistance the crystals were cleaved immediately before mounting them into the vacuum chamber and the crystal surface was covered with silver. The contact resistance was typically $`10^5\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm2. Subsequently, rectangular mesa structures with minimal lateral dimensions of 0.5 $`\mu `$m were patterned using electron beam lithography and argon-ion milling. For electrical insulation of the lead contacting the top of the mesa a 250 nm thick SiO layer was evaporated. The top contact was provided by a 300-400 nm thick gold or silver layer. Currents were extracted from the base crystal using large pads contacting its top surface. The leads and contact pads were patterned by photolithography and argon-ion milling. The LSMO single crystals of roughly 1 mm3 in size were grown using a floating zone technique . Mesa structures were patterned using the same techniques as for the BSCCO single crystals. The only difference was that the crystal surface was initially polished mechanically instead of being cleaved. The mesa size ranged from $`5\times 5`$ to $`10\times 10\mu `$m2. Their thickness was about 20 nm corresponding to a stack of 20 spin valves. For both systems transport measurements were performed in a two-terminal configuration. Low pass filters were used to reduce external noise and the bias current was provided by a battery powered current source.

## III Results

### A Intrinsic Josephson junctions in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8

In this section we will discuss some results obtained for intrinsic Josephson junction stacks. The main focus will be on quasiparticle tunneling in both the superconducting and the normal state.

Fig. 2 shows a typical current voltage ($`I`$-$`U`$) characteristic of $`1\times 1\mu `$m2 large mesa SH149 patterned on a slightly overdoped BSCCO single crystal with $`T_c=86`$K, as determined from the onset of interplane superconductivity. The mesa consisted of N = 5 junctions. Below the critical currents of these junctions the $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristic exhibits 5 branches in the resistive state differing by the number of resistive junctions (lower inset of Fig. 2). On the large current scale all junctions are resistive. The upper inset in Fig. 2 shows the conductance $`dI/dU`$. A clear gap structure is visible with a total gap value $`2N\mathrm{\Delta }=0.25`$ V (the sum of the gap voltages of all junctions) corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Delta }=25`$ meV. Below the gap the conductance is U-shaped. Also note the dip and hump feature above $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ typical for BSCCO tunneling spectra . In Fig. 3 we show conductance curves of the same mesa at various temperatures. While the amplitude of the gap peak strongly decreases and the dip and hump features disappear when approaching $`T_c`$, the voltage position of the gap changes only weakly and almost continuously transits into the pseudogap regime.

This can be seen more clearly in Fig. 4 where we plot $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ vs. $`T`$ for mesa SH149 as well as for 6 junction $`0.8\times 0.8\mu `$m2 mesa SH146. Also this mesa was slightly overdoped with a $`T_c`$ of 81 K. For both mesas $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ exhibits a minimum near $`T_c`$. While in the superconducting state $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is almost identical for both mesas they differ strongly in both magnitude and temperature dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ above $`T_c`$. When applying a magnetic field perpendicular to the layers we found that $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ decreases in the superconducting state while it is almost field independent or even increases slightly with field in the pseudogap regime.

Fig. 5 illustrates this via curves $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ of mesa SH146 for various values of magnetic field up to 14.6 T. Particularly, the minimum in $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ near $`T_c`$ is levelled out. The insets of this figure show a series of conductance curves for fields between 0 and 14.6 T in the superconducting state at $`T=65`$ K (left inset) and in the normal state at $`T=90`$ K (right inset). Vertical arrows mark the field dependent shift of the conductance maxima.

An important question is to what extent the two phenomena gap and pseudogap are related. To our opinion, the intrinsic tunneling data suggest they are not for several reasons. In contrast to the gap in the superconducting state the pseudogap is strongly material dependent. The dip in $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ near $`T_c`$ even gives the feeling that two phenomena compete with each other. In terms of magnetic field dependence gap and pseudogap clearly behave differently. We also investigated slightly underdoped samples where we found that $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ almost goes to zero at $`T_c`$. For these samples gap and pseudogap were observable simultaneously in the superconducting state. Although the above features - similar observations have also been made by other groups investigating intrinsic tunneling in BSCCO  \- are certainly not a proof of the independence or even competition of two unrelated phenomena, they at least raise doubts of a common mechanism leading to the superconducting gap and to the pseudogap.

### B Intrinsic spin valves in La1.4Sr1.6Mn2O7

Next we turn to the properties of mesa structures patterned on LSMO single crystals. In contrast to (transport) measurements on bulk single crystals the mesa technique provides the possibility to probe a small region well below the size of a magnetic domain. We will show that such mesas indeed exhibit the properties expected for a stack of intrinsic spin valves.

Fig. 6 shows field dependent 4. K $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristics of the $`5\times 5\mu `$m2 large mesa DDA4/4 having a thickness of about 20 nm. The resistance is clearly lowered with increasing magnetic field. The inset shows the conductance $`dI/dU`$ for $`B=0`$ and $`B=0.7`$ T. There is a conductance maximum at 1.4 V for $`B=0`$, corresponding to roughly 75 mV per spin valve (with a 50 % error margin, since we do not know the number of layers in the mesa precisely) slightly shifting to 1.3 V for $`B=0.7`$ T. The overall conductance curves look strikingly similar to the low temperature tunneling spectra of BSCCO mesas (cf. Fig. 2) although the similarities might be accidental. A possible reason for the dip structure in the LSMO mesa might be the excitation of spin waves . We also note that similar conductance curves as in Fig. 6 are obtained for temperatures up to the metal-insulator transition, with a slight ($`1020\%`$) decrease in the conductance maximum.

What can be expected for the low temperature magnetoresistance of a mesa probing a single magnetic domain? In zero field, the magnetization vectors of adjacent MnO2 bilayers are aligned antiparallel (cf. Fig. 1). In magnetic fields parallel to the layers the magnetization will tilt continuously towards parallel orientation leading to a continuous decrease of tunneling resistance. In perpendicular fields there should be a spin flop from antiparallel to parallel for a field where the Zeeman energy ($`HM`$) overcomes the interlayer coupling energy ($`M^2`$). Consequently, there should be a discontinuous jump in magnetoresistance for perpendicular fields.

Fig. 7 shows data for the $`10\times 10\mu `$m2 large mesa QU10/6 for both field orientations. In parallel fields $`R(B)`$ indeed decreases continuously while in perpendicular fields one jump near 0.3 T is observed with a small hysteresis of about 30 mT for increasing/decreasing fields. We observed similar data for in total 10 mesas. In perpendicular fields the jump in magnetoresistance was observed in fields between 50 mT and 0.4 T, without apparent correlation to mesa size or thickness. The observed range of switching fields corresponds nicely to magnetooptical measurements on LSMO single crystals where first order spin flop transitions have been observed between 0.11 and 0.48 T. From the fact that only one single switching event is visible in $`R`$ for perpendicular fields we conclude that all spin valves within the stack switch collectively (i.e. the magnetization vectors of all MnO2 bilayers flip simultaneously). Note, for comparison, that intrinsic Josephson junctions in BSCCO can be switched to the resistive state one by one. For a more detailed discussion of the magnetoresistance observed for our mesa structures, see .

We finally return to the $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristics of the LSMO mesa structures. While the $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristics shown in Fig. 6 were single-valued and the voltage changed continuously with bias current multiple hysteresis were observed when the bias current was increased above some threshold. Here, very similar to the $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristics of intrinsic Josephson junction stacks, hysteretic branches appeared. We observed such behavior for all 10 mesa structures investigated so far.

As an example, Fig. 8 shows an $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristic of the $`10\times 10\mu `$m2 mesa Qu4/1 showing the multiple hysteresis in a very pronounced way. Increasing the current $`I`$ from zero one observes for $`I<10\mu `$A a continuous branch which stays stable as long as the current does not increase about $`+10\mu `$A or, at negative bias, the voltage does not exceed $`3.5`$ V. Increasing the current above $`+10\mu `$A leads to a jump towards larger voltage, and a new continuous branch is observed. For negative bias a jump towards smaller voltage occurs when the voltage across the stack is below $`3.5`$ V. Sweeping the current between jumps at positive and negative bias many times yielded the $`I`$-$`U`$ characteristic shown in Fig. 8. Arrows in this figure denote one possible sweep yielding parts of the innermost and outermost branches. We observed this behavior in fields up to 7 T and also for temperatures up to at least 90 K where the branches started to become instable. Since at tesla fields the magnetization of the crystal has already fully saturated we consider it unlikely that the observed hysteresis are due to switching of individual spin valves. We may observe some layer by layer charge ordering effects known to exist in layered manganites. However, a clear explanation of the multiple hysteresis still needs to be found.

## IV Conclusions

The above data may have shown that there are a number of similarities between the cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO) and the layered manganite La1.4Sr1.6Mn2O7 (LSMO). In both systems interplane transport occurs via sequential tunneling of charge carriers. Suitably prepared mesa structures on BSCCO and LSMO single crystals act as stacks of intrinsic Josephson tunnel junctions and spin valves, respectively. Both systems allow the investigation of a number of electrodynamic effects like Josephson fluxon dynamics or the collective switching of spin valves.

From a microscopic point of view there is a striking similarity between the tunneling spectra of both systems at low temperatures. Further investigations will show to what extent a comparison between the two materials will lead to an improved understanding of both the high temperature superconductors and the manganites.

## V Acknowledgments

Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Bayrische Forschungsstiftung is gratefully acknowledged.