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# Critical Currents and Order-Disorder Phase Transition in the Vortex States of YBa2Cu4O8 with Chemically Introduced Disorder

## I Introduction

The vortex matter of cuprate superconductors has a rich phase diagram in the $`H`$-$`T`$ plane (see e.g. Ref. Blatter94, ). Not long after the discovery of the cuprate superconductors it has been established that there are at least two phases, a fluid (liquid or gas)Sasagawa98  phase at high temperatures and fields and a solid (lattice or glass) phase at low temperatures and fields. It was shown that the transition between these two phases is of first order, at least in low fields up to a critical point. Safar92 ; Cubitt93 ; Schilling96  Recently, it has been shownKhaykovich96 ; Khaykovich97 ; Deligiannis97 ; Giller97 ; Nishizaki98 ; Giller99 ; Nishizaki00 ; Radzyner00  that there are two distinct solid phases. In low fields the vortices form a quasi-ordered lattice in a so-called Bragg glass,Nattermann90 ; Giamarchi94  which is stable against the formation of dislocations. In higher fields they form a highly disordered, entangledBlatter94  solid. The nature of the high field phase is not well understood. It could be anything from a highly viscous fluid to a vortex glass with unbounded barriers against vortex movement.Fisher89 ; Reichhardt00  We will simply term it “glass” henceforth.

The high-field glass phase is caused by weak, random and uncorrelated disorder due to point-like defects, such as oxygen vacancies.Blatter94  This type of disorder is present even in the most pure crystals of cuprate superconductors. Strong, correlated disorder due to extended defects, such as twin boundaries or columnar irradiation defects, has got a different influence on the vortex matter and can lead to additional phases, e.g. a “Bose glass” phaseNelson92  located at low fields.Kwok00  Correlated disorder may not be present in all crystals. In the following, when we simply speak of “disorder”, we are referring to weak random point-like disorder.

The pinning induced by the disorder has two effects on the vortex lattice.Vinokur98  Firstly, it localizes vortices by trapping them in low-lying metastable states, hardening the solid. Secondly, it promotes transverse wandering of vortices from their ideal lattice positions. The mechanism of the destruction of the lattice, triggering the transition to the glass phase,Giamarchi94 ; Vinokur98 ; Ertas96 ; Giamarchi97 ; Koshelev98  is very similar to the mechanism of melting at higher temperature. Similar to the way the lattice looses translational order and melts into a fluid, when thermal fluctuations become of the order of the lattice spacing, it looses translational order and “melts” into a glass, when the disorder-induced line wandering becomes of the order of the lattice spacing. In both cases the stability against the formation of topological defects, such as dislocations, is lost. The massive proliferation of dislocations accompanying the destruction of translational order leads to an entangled configuration of vortices, i.e. topological order is lost as well. In highly anisotropic superconductors, the lattice-glass transition may fall together with a decoupling between the layers,Giamarchi97 ; Koshelev98  of which there is some evidence in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (BSCCO).Gaifullin00  This is not expected in less anisotropic systems, like YBa2Cu3O7-δ (Y123).Giamarchi97 ; Koshelev98  There is considerable evidence that the phase transition between lattice and glass, like the melting transition between lattice and fluid, is of first orderRadzyner00 ; Gaifullin00 ; Giller00 ; Paltiel00  and is even a continuation of the melting line.Avraham01

Since the solid-solid transition is an order to disorder transition with the disordered phase located at high fields, the transition line $`H_{\text{ss}}(T)`$ can be expected to shift to lower fields with the introduction of additional disorder in the crystal structure. CalculationsVinokur98 ; Ertas96 ; Giamarchi97 ; Koshelev98  of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$, based on a Lindemann criterion, confirm this expectation. Indeed, there seems to be a correlation between the position of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ and the purity of a sample, as can be seen by comparing different measurements on Y123 crystals. Also, studies of the effect of electron irradiation on the transition between lattice and glass have found a systematic decrease of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ with increasing irradiation dose.Khaykovich97 ; Nishizaki00

An alternative way to introduce structural disorder into a system is to partially substitute an element of the compound. However, the generally varying level of oxygen within samples, which is difficult to measure and control, constitutes a serious problem. YBa2Cu4O8 (Y124) is a compound very well suited for studying the dependence of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ on chemically introduced disorder, because in this compound the oxygen content is fixed to 8 per unit cell. Another advantage of Y124 is that twinning, which leads to strong correlated disorder, does not exist in this compound.Karpinski99  Finally, Y124 has got an intermediate anisotropy $`\gamma 12`$,Karpinski99  which, as compared to Y123, shifts the glass phase down to fields more easily attainable experimentally. To exclude or at least to minimize concurrent sources of disorder in the system it is advisable to use single crystals for any measurements.

If vortices are not ordered in a lattice, they can better adapt to the local pinning potential. Therefore, critical current densities can be expected to be higher in the glass phase. High critical currents in high magnetic fields are desirable for many applications. Investigations of the disordered solid state and it’s boundaries are thus very important in view of practical applications. Many irradiation studies found that critical current densities can increase by orders of magnitude upon irradiating a sample.Dover89  Studies on compounds with chemical disorder have also found increases of $`j_\text{c}`$ and even the development of a second peak.Murakami94

In this work, we study the influence of a substitution of isovalent Sr for Ba in YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 on the lattice to glass transition line $`H_{\text{ss}}(T)`$, the irreversibility line $`H_{\text{irr}}(T)`$ and the critical current densities $`j_\text{c}`$. In the paper, we are going to give evidence of an enhancement of the maximum critical current density in the glass phase $`j_\text{c}^{\text{max}}`$ by more than an order of magnitude due to structural disorder introduced by Sr substitution. The change of the vortex matter phase diagram due to the influence of relatively strong quenched disorder will be presented.

## II Experimental

Single crystals of Y124, with and without Sr substitution, were grown using a high-pressure technique, the details of crystal growth are reported elsewhere.Karpinski00a  Single crystals of YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 with Sr content up to $`x=0.64`$ or 32% were obtained. The crystals were checked with EDX and their structure analyzed with Single Crystal x-ray analysis.Karpinski00a  The transition temperatures $`T_\text{c}`$ of the crystals were determined with a SQUID magnetometer by temperature sweeps (both zero field and field cooled) in an applied field of $`1\text{Oe}`$. All samples chosen for further magnetic measurements had a well-resolved transition with a transition width (10% to 90%) smaller than $`2\text{K}`$ (see Fig. 1).

Measurements of the dc magnetization were performed with a Quantum Design MPMS5 SQUID magnetometer, additional measurements were performed with a non-commercial SQUID magnetometer with a sensitivity better than $`10^6\text{emu}`$. All measurements were done with the magnetic field applied parallel to the $`c`$-axis of the crystal and generally the magnetization was measured at fixed temperatures as a function of the external field being swept up and down. After each change of the field, we waited for a time of $`5\text{min}`$ before measuring the magnetic moment four times using a scan length of $`2\text{cm}`$. The relatively short scan length was chosen to ensure maximum homogeneity of the applied field and was necessary to ensure a sufficient resolution of all features of interest discussed below. The wait time of $`5\text{min}`$ was chosen to avoid effects of the initial relaxation of the field of the superconducting magnet without extending the time of measurements too much. Throughout the paper $`H`$ denotes the applied field, i.e. no correction of the demagnetization was made. This is not a problem, however, since the magnetization is always much smaller than the external field except in the low field range, which is not the particular interest in this paper.

The critical current density $`j_\text{c}`$notejcjs  was calculated from the width of the hysteresis loop using an extended Bean model.Wiesinger92  The irreversibility field $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ was determined as the field where increasing and decreasing field branches of the $`M(H)`$ hysteresis loop meet, or equivalently as the field where the critical current density vanishes. A uniform criterion of $`j_\text{c}=50\text{Acm}^2`$ was used. For the crystals studied it corresponds to a criterion of in between $`4.4\mu \text{emu}`$ and $`26\mu \text{emu}`$, which is not far from the accuracy limit of our experimental setup.

## III Results and Discussion

In the following we will discuss the influence of Sr substitution on disorder and structure, critical current densities, the irreversibility line, and the transition from lattice to glass.

### III.1 Disorder and Structure

Sr substitution increases the disorder in the structure, evidenced for example by a dramatically increased NQR line width.Karpinski00a  No evidence for an introduction of correlated disorder was found and since twin boundaries are absent in YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 the assumption of the disorder in our crystals to be purely random and point-like seems justified.

The Sr substitution also induces a variation of structural parameters, causing a charge redistribution. Bond valence sum calculations and nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements indicate a transfer of holes from oxygen to copper atoms in the CuO2 planes and from copper to oxygen in the chains.Karpinski00a  The charge redistribution can explain the increase of $`T_\text{c}`$ upon substituting more than 10% Sr for Ba. The initial decrease of $`T_\text{c}`$ may be due to the increased site disorder.Attfield98

An important structural modification due to Sr substitution is a decrease of the thickness of the blocking layer $`d_\text{b}`$ separating the superconducting CuO2 planes, linear with Sr content. A substitution of 32% Sr for Ba causes the blocking layer to shrink by about 1%,Karpinski00a  which leads to an improved coupling between the superconducting planes. Torque measurements indeed indicate a corresponding decrease of the anisotropy $`\gamma `$.ownfutur

### III.2 Critical Current Densities

Figure 2a) shows one of the half hysteresis loops measured. The second peak is clearly discernible and dominates $`M(H)`$. In all crystals, the second peak was observed over the whole temperature range measured, even just $`1\text{K}`$ below $`T_\text{c}`$. The form of the hysteresis loop and thus of $`j_\text{c}(H)`$ can be linked to the different phases of vortex matter. In low fields hysteresis is small and the hysteresis loop is rather anisotropic, which indicates that the major source of hysteresis in low fields is not of bulk origin (see also Sec. III.3). The origin of the low bulk hysteresis is probably that the vortices are in the lattice phase in small $`H`$. Weak random point disorder is not effective in pinning an ordered dislocation-free lattice of vortices. The magnitude of the critical current density in low fields gives an indication of the degree of disorder in the system. For our samples, measurements of the critical current density at reduced temperatures of $`T/T_\text{c}=0.4`$ and $`0.7`$ in fields of $`1`$ and $`2\text{kOe}`$ suggest that the disorder is increased monotonically up to the highest substitution level measured, with the biggest rate between $`x=0.4`$ and $`x=0.64`$.

When, upon rising the field, the lattice is destroyed in the glass state and the vortex system has an additional “dislocation degree of freedom”,Giamarchi97  individual vortices can much better adapt to local minima in the pinning potential. This results in a higher effective pinning force and thus a higher critical current density $`j_\text{c}`$ and relaxation barrier.Koshelev98  Additionally, the entanglement itself was also suggested to increase critical current densities, due to an increased intervortex viscosity,Marchetti91  provided the barriers to flux cutting are high enough.Ertas96 ; Giamarchi97  In our case, a steep rise of the magnetization occurs just below the kink field, denoted $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ in Fig. 2a) (see also Sec. III.4). Local magnetic measurements on a BSCCO crystal revealed a sharp increase in $`|M(H)|`$, followed by a monotonic decrease afterwards.Khaykovich96  The so-called “second peak” (or “fishtail”) effect in BSCCO can thus be accounted for by the order-disorder transition. On untwinned Y123 crystals, a similar sharp increase in $`|M(H)|`$ was observed by local magnetic measurements,Giller99  but contrary to the situation for BSCCO, $`|M(H)|`$ continues to increase upon increasing field, although with a slower rate, which leads to a sharp kink in $`M(H)`$. Only in even higher fields the magnetization starts to decrease with increasing field.

Independently of vortex matter phase transitions, the second peak or fishtail effect in Y123 was attributed to a crossover from elastic to dislocation-mediated plastic creep.Deligiannis97 ; Abulafia96  This mechanism is closely connected to the lattice-glass transition though, since in the lattice phase dislocations are strongly suppressed while in the glass phase dislocations proliferate, as mentioned above.note2pbelowHm  From collective creep theory a rise of the experimentally observable critical current density with the field is expected,Blatter94 ; Abulafia96  as long as elastic creep can be assumed and the bulk pinning is relevant. From the shape of the hysteresis loops shown in Fig. 2 follows that in YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 the situation is similar to the one in Y123. After rising the field even more, above $`H_{\text{irr}}`$, the vortex matter finally enters the fluid phase, where critical current densities are zero.

The dependence of the hysteresis loop of an unsubstituted Y124 single crystal on defects created by fast neutron irradiation was studied in Ref. Werner00, . Fast neutron irradiation leads to improved pinning properties due to collision cascades (strongly pinning extended defects of spherical shape) and agglomerates of smaller defects. A clearly discernible second peak was observed in the untreated crystal. In the weakly irradiated crystal the second peak was less pronounced and after irradiation to a fluence of $`10^{17}\text{cm}^2`$ it disappeared. At the same time, $`j_\text{c}`$ drastically increased in low to medium fields and the hysteresis loops became more symmetrical.

The effect of fast neutron irradiation to remove the second peak may be understood from the different defect structure. The disorder resulting from the collision cascades is to some extent correlated and fast neutron irradiation can therefore create a Bose glass phase in low fields. Bulk pinning is also strong in the Bose glass phase, and if the irradiation induced correlated disorder is strong enough, the Bose glass phase may well destroy all of the Bragg glass phase. In high fields fast neutron irradiation is not as effective in enhancing $`j_\text{c}`$ and the irreversibility fields $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ are not increased.

In our case of Sr substitution the significant fields shift, but the qualitative form of the hysteresis loop remains the same. As with fast neutron irradiation, Sr substitution increases $`j_\text{c}`$, but most pronounced in medium fields, in the second peak region. The maximum critical current densities there, $`j_\text{c}^{\text{max}}(T)j_\text{c}(H=H_{\text{2p}},T)`$, increase dramatically upon Sr substitution, as can be seen in Fig. 3. At the temperature of $`60\text{K}`$, the critical current density reaches almost the values of critical current densities for Y123: For the crystal with 32% Sr substitution $`j_\text{c}^{\text{max}}(T=60\text{K})=6\times 10^4\text{Acm}^2`$, while for a Y123 single crystal $`j_\text{c}^{\text{max}}(T=60\text{K})=6.3\times 10^4\text{Acm}^2`$.Werner98  This is not the case, however, at the lower temperature of $`50\text{K}`$, where Y123 crystals have a maximum critical current density roughly three times higherWerner00  than the one measured on Sr substituted YBa2-xSrxCu4O8. The main panel of Fig. 4 shows the dependence on Sr content of the maximum pinning force density $`F_{\text{pin}}^{\text{max}}=H_{\text{2p}}j_\text{c}(H_{\text{2p}})`$ corresponding to the critical current densities measured at $`T=65\text{K}`$. It can be seen that $`F_{\text{pin}}^{\text{max}}`$ increases by more than an order of magnitude upon Sr substitution. The lower right inset of Fig. 4 shows the Sr dependence of $`F_{\text{pin}}^{\text{max}}`$ at a fixed reduced temperature. The initially approximately linear rise of the maximum pinning force density saturates for $`x0.4`$ indicating that increasing the substitution level to $`x=0.64`$ does not increase the pinning drastically any more. The critical current density itself also shows saturation behaviour, but for lower Sr content (see inset of Fig. 3). The difference is due to the substitution dependence of the second peak field, shown in the upper left inset of Fig. 4. The dependence $`H_{\text{2p}}(x)`$ is similar to the substitution dependence of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$, discussed in Sec. III.4

### III.3 Irreversibility Fields

The irreversibility fields $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ as a function of temperature are, for different Sr substitution levels, presented in Fig. 5. The theoretical meaning of the irreversibility field is not very clear, often parts of it are controlled by surface or geometrical barriers (see below). In high fields, it was often found to be located near the transition from glass to fluid (see e.g. Refs. Nishizaki98, ; Nishizaki00, ). However, whether a true phase transition between a glass and a fluid phase even exists, is not a settled question. Not much is known about the properties of the highly disordered entangled solid located above $`H_{\text{ss}}`$, apart from properties that distinguish it from the lattice phase. The feature differentiating the phase from the liquid phase is a rapid freezing of the dynamics, but it is not sure whether this freezing of the dynamics is a proper phase transition or merely a crossover. The existence of a separate so-called vortex glass (VG) phase, distinguished by an unbounded distribution of the heights of barriers between metastable states, was proposed early after the discovery of high $`T_\text{c}`$ superconductivity.Fisher89  Vortex glass scaling of current voltage relations was used to determine the vortex glass transition line $`H_\text{g}`$ experimentally, and also provided strong support for the VG theory (see e.g. Refs. Safar92, ; Nishizaki98, ). However, later experiments and numerical calculations found discrepancies (see Ref. Reichhardt00,  and references therein), and suggest a glass phase more akin to window glass. Despite these uncertainties, $`H_{\text{irr}}(T)`$ is certainly important from a more practical point of view, as it limits the field range for applications.

It is hard to see a clear trend in the Sr substitution dependence of the measured irreversibility fields. Differences between $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ of the different samples measured are relatively small, and the details depend on the temperature as well. Now it is important to remember that bulk pinning is not the only source of magnetic hysteresis. There are additional contributions due to Bean-Livingston surface barriersBean\_Livingston64 ; Burlachkov94  and due to geometrical barriers.Zeldov94  The significance of surface and geometrical barriers depends on several factors. One of them is the strength of the bulk pinning - the smaller the (bulk) critical current density the bigger the relative importance of barriers. In YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 the critical current densities depend, as discussed above, strongly on $`x`$, and are very low for the unsubstituted crystal. Indeed, while the hysteresis loops of substituted crystals are generally rather symmetric, this is not the case for the unsubstituted crystal, which is an indication that barrier hysteresis is more important than bulk hysteresis.Burlachkov94  Another factor is the sample shape - bulk hysteresis depends linearly on the sample diameter, while the barrier hysteresis scales with the ratio of thickness to diameter. Thus, barrier effects are more important for thicker and smaller (in diameter) crystals. The thickness to diameter ratio varies from $`0.1`$ to $`0.3`$ for the crystals used in this study. Finally, an important factor is the temperature, since the bulk hysteresis is depressed by thermal depinning, while the one due to geometrical barriers is less affected by temperature.Doyle98  In the second peak region, the main part of the hysteresis is clearly of bulk origin, as follows from the shape of the hysteresis loops (see Fig. 2). However, since the total hysteresis observed is simply the sum of bulk and barrier hysteresis, the irreversibility field may still be determined by surface or geometrical barriers, since the bulk hysteresis goes to $`0`$ faster at higher fields.Burlachkov94 ; Zeldov95b\_Dewhurst96  In high fields, bulk critical current densities were found to go to zero exponentially.Yamauchi98  A linear relationship between $`j_\text{c}`$ and $`\mathrm{ln}(H)`$ is indeed followed in the crystals we measured. Figure 6 shows this relationship for YBa1.8Sr0.2Cu4O8. The figure shows also, however, that there are systematic deviations below a certain temperature dependent threshold of critical current densities. For higher temperatures the deviation appears at larger critical current densities. This may indicate that the irreversibility lines are indeed influenced considerably by barrier hysteresis at higher temperatures.

On the other hand, measurements of the influence of fast neutron irradiation on the high temperature part of the irreversibility field on a Y124 single crystal found a slight decrease of $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ upon irradiating the crystal.Werner97  Irradiation may reduce Bean-Livingston type surface barriers, but those are, like bulk pinning, strongly temperature dependent and were generally not found to be important near $`T_\text{c}`$. Geometrical barriers, on the other hand, should not change upon irradiation. As the irradiation did change the irreversibility field at high temperatures, it would indicate that $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ at high temperatures can not be due to Bean-Livingston or geometrical barrier hysteresis.

However, as mentioned above, the importance of barriers strongly depends on the sample shape and we cannot be completely sure to what extent barriers influence $`H_{\text{irr}}`$, especially in the case of the unsubstituted crystal, where bulk pinning is very weak. In order to explain the effect of the Sr substitution on the bulk properties, it is therefore advisable to compare $`H_{\text{irr}}(T)`$ at not too high reduced temperatures. A comparison of $`H_{\text{irr}}(T)`$ at $`T=0.7T_\text{c}`$ is shown in Fig. 7. The position of the irreversibility field is not changed much, but the general trend that $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ rises with $`x`$ is consistent with the also rising maximum critical current density. The only irreversibility field that does not fit into this trend is the one of the unsubstituted crystal, which may be attributed to barrier effects that still are not negligible at this temperature for this weakly pinned compound.

An increasing glass to liquid transition field can be justified theoretically in a similar way as the decrease of the lattice to glass transition field. Since the glass to liquid transition line depends on the relation between the pinning energy and the thermal energy, and because the pinning energy is increased upon introducing more disorder into the system, it would seem natural that the transition occurs at higher temperatures.

The dependence of the glass to fluid transition on disorder was studied, for electron irradiated Y123, by Nishizaki et al..Nishizaki00  They measured both the glass transition temperature $`T_\text{g}`$ resistively, and the irreversibility field $`H_{\text{irr}}`$, and found the two lines $`T_\text{g}(H)`$ and $`H_{\text{irr}}(T)`$ to coincide. Nishizaki et al. find the opposite disorder dependence of the glass to fluid transition, in their case $`H_\text{g}`$ and $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ decrease with increasing fluence of electron irradiation.

There are different possible explanations for the opposite behaviour of the glass to liquid transition line when the disorder is increased between the present measurements and those of Nishizaki et al..

Firstly, the disorder introduced by substituting 10% or more Sr for Ba in Y124 is much stronger than the disorder introduced by an irradiation of $`2.5\text{MeV}`$ electrons with a fluence of up to $`2\times 10^{18}\text{electrons/cm}^2`$ in untwinned Y123. This can be seen by comparing the phase diagrams. The irradiated Y123 crystals show a first order melting transition in fields up to $`50100\text{kOe}`$, while all of our Sr substituted Y124 crystals show no first order melting transition at all up to temperatures very near $`T_\text{c}`$. Nishizaki et al. note that the decrease of $`H_\text{g}`$ upon increasing disorder they measured is consistent with a theoretical prediction made for systems with weak pinning.Ikeda96  The disorder in our substituted crystals may be too big for this to be applicable.

Secondly, the rise of $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ with Sr substitution could also be explained by a decreased anisotropy of the substituted crystals, since $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ was found to scale with $`\gamma ^2s^1`$, where $`s`$ is the distance between two adjacent superconducting planes.Sasagawa98  If the rise of $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ in YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 with $`x`$ for $`x>0.2`$ is due to a decreased anisotropy caused by the decreased blocking layer thickness, the initial drop for $`x<0.2`$ may be due to the disorder, in which case the dependence of $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ on disorder would be qualitatively the same as the one found by Nishizaki et al..

### III.4 Transition from Lattice to Glass

As noted in Sec. III.2, a kink in $`M(H)`$ (denoted $`H_{\text{ss}}`$) is visible between onset and maximum of the second peak of the hysteresis loop shown in Fig. 2. According to previous studies performed on Y123,Nishizaki98 ; Giller99 ; Nishizaki00  it is likely that the kink corresponds to the transition line from the lattice to the glass state of vortices. In Ref. Radzyner00,  it was argued that the equilibrium phase transition corresponds to the kink in $`M(H)`$ in decreasing field, while the kink in increasing field corresponds to the upper limit of metastability of the lattice phase. However, since the pinning is much stronger in the glass phase, the equilibrium transition can be expected to be located quite close to the upper limit of metastability. This was indeed found from the measurements of Ref. Radzyner00, . Also in our case, while we have more data on the field increasing branch, the kink in $`H`$ decreasing was checked at representative temperatures and the difference in the two kinks was found to be rather small indeed (see Fig. 2). We should mention that the actual equilibrium transition is a little bit lower than the field of the kink in $`M(H^{})`$, which we call $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ (see Fig. 10). It is interesting to note that generally the kink positions (for both directions of field changes) do not depend on the waiting time (we tested between $`30\text{s}`$ and $`10\text{min}`$) after changing the the field. Additionally the kink field location does not depend on the field change step size and not on the small inhomogeneities of the magnetic fields ($`0.02\%`$) tested by using different scan lengths, but the shape of the $`M(H)`$ curve around the kink does depend on step size and scan length. On the other hand, the onset fields $`H_{\text{on}}`$, defined as the fields where the absolute value of the magnetization has a minimum, have a slight tendency to shift to lower fields upon increasing waiting time, while the absolute value of the magnetization at the onset is decreased significantly upon increasing waiting time. Additionally the onset measured in decreasing fields can be much lower (up to 50% at low temperatures) than the onset measured in increasing field. Figure 8 shows a selection of magnetization curves measured, in the region where the kink is located. The sharpness of the kink varies with temperature and depends on the sample as well. The inset of Fig. 8 shows the onset region of one of the curves enlarged and the derivative of the magnetization (average of the four scans), which can help to locate $`H_{\text{ss}}`$. Within a range of a few Kelvin below $`T_\text{c}`$ the unambiguous determination of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ becomes difficult nonetheless.

The increase of the absolute value of the magnetization around $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ observed in our measurements is hardly sharp enough to be called a “jump”. One reason for this is the spatial averaging of the inhomogeneous induction inside the sample. Additionally, the difference between the onset of the second peak in increasing fields $`H_{\text{on}}^{}`$, defined as the minimum of the absolute value of the magnetization before the second peak, and the kink field $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ can be explained by the existence of a region of metastability around the phase transition.Radzyner00  Recent experimentsGiller00 ; Paltiel00  indicate that an abrupt change of the field injects a transient disordered vortex phase at the sample edges. If the thermodynamically stable phase is the lattice phase, the transient disordered vortex phase then decays. This decay happens with a rate decreasing to 0 as the field reaches $`H_{\text{ss}}`$. In our measurements, the fields $`H_{\text{on}}^{}`$, $`H_{\text{on}}^{}`$ and $`H_{\text{ss}}^{}`$ was found to follow the same dependence on temperature and Sr content as $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ ($`H_{\text{ss}}^{}`$). Below the onset, both the magnitude of the critical current density and the average value of the magnetization for the two branches of the hysteresis loop suggest that in this region surface and geometrical barriers are more important than bulk pinning in our samples, i.e. bulk pinning seems to be relevant only if the vortex matter is in the glass phase.

The $`H_{\text{ss}}(T)`$ lines, as determined by the kink in the $`M(H^{})`$ curves for the measured samples, are also shown in Fig. 5. For all samples, $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ decreases monotonically with increasing temperature. A monotonically decreasing $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ was also found on Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4-δ,Giller97  but measurements on Y123Nishizaki98 ; Giller99 ; Nishizaki00 ; Radzyner00  showed an $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ increasing with temperature. The position of the phase transition between quasi-ordered lattice and highly disordered glass is determined by the interplay between elastic and pinning energy. For the case of weak, random disorder due to point-like defects the theory of collective pinning was developed by Larkin et al..Larkin72  The defects can interact with the vortices in two ways.Blatter94  They can cause a spatial variation of the transition temperature ($`\delta T_\text{c}`$-pinning), described by a modulation of the linear term of the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional. Alternatively, they can cause a spatial modulation of the mean free path ($`\delta \mathrm{}`$-pinning), described by a modulation of the gradient term of the free energy functional. In both cases, the influence of disorder is described by a disorder parameter $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$, proportional to the defect density. However, the temperature dependence of $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ is different for the two cases. For $`\delta T_\text{c}`$-pinning, $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }1/\lambda ^4`$, while for $`\delta \mathrm{}`$-pinning, $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }1/(\lambda \xi )^4`$, where $`\lambda `$ and $`\xi `$ are the penetration depth and the coherence length.Blatter94  The order-disorder transition position was calculated analytically by using a Lindemann criterion.Vinokur98 ; Ertas96  For the case of not too big anisotropy and disorder, following the calculation of Ref. Vinokur98, , we get

$$H_{\text{ss}}=H_{}\left(\frac{U_{}}{U_\text{c}}\right)^3,$$
(1)
with $`H_{}=2c_\text{L}^2\mathrm{\Phi }_{}/\xi ^2`$, $`U_{}=\mathrm{\Phi }_{}^2c_\text{L}\xi /(16\sqrt{2}\pi ^2\lambda ^2\gamma )`$ and the collective pinning energy $`U_\text{c}=((\stackrel{~}{\gamma }\mathrm{\Phi }_{}^2\xi ^4)/(16\pi ^2\lambda ^2\gamma ^2))^{1/3}`$. Here, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{}`$ is the flux quantum and $`c_\text{L}0.10.2`$ the Lindemann number. $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ is inversely proportional to both the anisotropy $`\gamma `$ and the disorder parameter $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$. Concerning the temperature dependence, as long as we are below the depinning temperature $`T_{\text{dp}}U_\text{c}/k_\text{B}`$, we get

$$H_{\text{ss}}\xi ^3(1(T/T_\text{c})^4)^{3/2}$$
(2)
in the case of $`\delta T_\text{c}`$-pinning and

$$H_{\text{ss}}\xi (1(T/T_\text{c})^4)^{1/2}$$
(3)
in the case of $`\delta \mathrm{}`$-pinning.Twofluid  The calculation of Ref. Ertas96,  leads to qualitatively the same results. Since $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ decreases with temperature in our case, the pinning in YBa2-xSrxCu4O8 cannot be $`\delta \mathrm{}`$ pinning. The temperature dependence of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ of the unsubstituted crystal agrees satisfactorily with the formula proposed for $`\delta T_\text{c}`$ pinning. In the case of the substituted crystals, however, the agreement is limited to values of $`T/T_\text{c}`$ between about $`0.65`$ and $`0.9`$ (see Fig. 5, the full bold lines are fits to Eq. (2)). The lowered $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ in the vicinity of $`T_\text{c}`$ may be attributed to the finite transition width.

However, at low temperatures, the temperature dependence is rather exponential in the case of the substituted crystals, as indicated by dashed lines in Fig. 5, with some indications of a flattening at the lowest temperatures measured. This behaviour is clearly at odds with Eq. (2) and to the best knowledge of the authors is not predicted by any present theory of the order-disorder transition. An exponential upturn in the onset field $`H_{\text{on}}^{}`$ at low temperatures was also found on a Nd2-xCexCuO4-x single crystal by Andrade et al.,Andrade98  who attributed it to Bean-Livingston surface barriers. However, since the observed magnetic hysteresis is the sum of bulk and barrier hysteresis, it is difficult to imagine why the kink in $`M(H)`$ at $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ should be influenced by surface or geometrical barriers, and in our case a clear kink is observable at low temperatures where $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ has already clearly departed from the $`(1(T/T_\text{c})^4)^{3/2}`$ dependence observed at higher temperatures.

A possible cause for a changed temperature dependence is a dimensional crossover. Due to the layered structure of the cuprate superconductors, vortex lines should be thought of being composed of stacks of “pancake” vortices.Blatter94  Only below the 2D/3D crossover field $`H_{\text{2D}}\mathrm{\Phi }_{}/(\gamma ^2s^2)`$, where $`s`$ is the distance between two adjacent layers, is the interlayer interaction between pancake vortices larger than their intralayer interaction and the pancakes form well defined vortex lines. For all our crystals, $`H_{\text{2D}}77\text{kOe}`$ is estimated well above the upper limit of the fields attainable in our magnetometers. Also, $`H_{\text{ss}}\xi ^{5/2}(\xi ^{5/2})`$ for 2D and $`\delta T_\text{c}(\delta \mathrm{})`$ pinning,Vinokur98  i.e. the temperature dependence should be even flatter in the 2D regime. A dimensional crossover can therefore not be responsible for the observed upturn of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ at low temperatures. In principle a second pinning mechanism, which is very effective at low temperatures, could be overlaid. However, point-like disorder should rather (additionally) suppress $`H_{\text{ss}}`$, while the influence of correlated disorder should be more visible at high temperatures or low fields.Kwok00  Figure 9 shows $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ and $`H_{\text{irr}}`$ of two of the substituted crystals in the vicinity of the transition temperature. No sign of a tricritical point, where the two lines would meet, can be seen. A tricritical point would have to be located very near $`T_\text{c}`$, where reliable measurements become increasingly difficult.

It can be seen in Fig. 5 that any substitution of Sr lowers $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ very significantly. For two values of $`T/T_\text{c}`$, $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ vs. strontium content $`x`$ is shown in Fig. 7. After a substitution of just 10% Sr for Ba, $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ drops roughly by a factor of 5, at both temperatures. A further increase of Sr substitution, however, does not reduce the magnitude of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ any more. Rather, $`H_{\text{ss}}(x)`$ remains essentially constant. We do not consider the peak at $`x0.4`$ as big enough to be significant.

The initial decrease of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ upon Sr substitution does not come unexpected. It follows from Eq. (1) that $`H_{\text{ss}}(\gamma \stackrel{~}{\gamma })^1`$. Sr substitution increases the disorder parameter and decreases the anisotropy (see Sec. III.1). The large decrease of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ upon substituting 10% of Sr indicates that the influence of the Sr substitution on disorder is much bigger than it’s influence on the anisotropy.

What is more surprising is the apparent saturation of the influence of the additional disorder for a substitution level $`x0.2`$, while the maximum pinning force is still linearly increasing up to $`x0.4`$. In the case of weak point-like pinning $`H_{\text{ss}}\stackrel{~}{\gamma }^1n_{\text{dis}}^1`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ is the disorder parameter and $`n_{\text{dis}}`$ the defect density, is expected.Blatter94  It would seem natural to assume the defect density to be proportional to the Sr substitution level $`x`$. The blocking layer thickness on the other hand, which is the structural factor with the biggest influence on the anisotropy, decreases linearly with $`x`$.Karpinski00a  A large initial decrease of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ followed by an almost independence on $`x`$ is therefore difficult to explain.

A downward shift of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ upon introducing more disorder was also found in electron irradiated crystals of BSCCOKhaykovich97  and Y123.Nishizaki00  The notable difference between both of these irradiation experiments and Sr substitution in Y124 is that in both cases of electron irradiation there is no sign of any saturation of the disorder induced lowering of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$. As discussed above, the disorder induced by Sr substitution is probably, even for the lowest substitution level of $`x0.2`$, already much higher than the disorder induced by the electron irradiation with the largest fluence measured in Refs. Khaykovich97,  and Nishizaki00, . It may be that in our substituted crystals the disorder is already too big for the applicability of formulas derived for weak disorder.

The resulting phase diagrams for YBa2Cu4O8 and YBa1.36Sr0.64Cu4O8 are contrasted in Fig. 10. The glass phase of YBa1.36Sr0.64Cu4O8 has, as compared to YBa2Cu4O8, expanded dramatically from a rather small part of the easily experimentally accessible phase diagram to the phase covering the biggest area in fields $`H55\text{kOe}`$. The most dramatic shift is the lowering of $`H_{\text{ss}}`$, which is to be expected as the (quasi-)ordered phase should become smaller upon introducing more disorder into the system. The region of metastability is much smaller for the substituted crystal, indicating that strong disorder tends to reduce over-heating and especially under-cooling effects. We speculate that this may be connected to our observation that for unsubstituted Y124 with very weak disorder $`H_{\text{ss}}`$ depends strongly on the exact amount of disorder, while for substituted Y124 with rather strong disorder it almost does not depend on the exact level of disorder. In real crystals, the disorder density depends on the position on a mesoscopic scale. Soibel et al.Soibel00  observed that for melting supercooling exists only at local maxima of the transition field. In a first approximation the width of metastability can be linked to the difference between maximal and minimal transition fields within the sample. In our case the same spatial variation of disorder should produce a much bigger variation of the local transition field for the unsubstituted crystal than for the substituted ones.

## IV Conclusions

We investigated the influence of structural disorder, introduced by a substitution of Sr for Ba in YBa2Cu4O8, on the critical current density at elevated fields and on the borders of the glass phase of vortices. We stress that the disorder introduced chemically by means of Sr substitution is random and point-like, rather than disorder due to extended defects. This is shown by the hysteresis loops keeping their general form, similar to the case of electron irradiation and unlike the case of neutron irradiation, where at least partially the effect is to introduce extended defects.

Our main conclusion is that the introduction of even a small amount of disorder into very clean systems changes the phase diagram drastically by lowering the order-disorder transition line $`H_{\text{ss}}(T)`$ and also changing it’s temperature dependence. When the disorder reaches a certain threshold, however, introducing additional disorder does not continue this tendency. With other words, in highly disordered systems (including probably most systems with partial chemical substitutions), the vortex matter phase diagram is relatively robust with respect to variations in the exact degree of disorder.

This conclusion is supported by the rather small variation of the measured kink location as an indication of the order-disorder transition at fixed reduced temperature for any Sr substitution level $`x0.2`$, especially as compared to the corresponding transition in a clean, unsubstituted crystal. That the disorder is still increasing with increasing substitution level for $`x>0.2`$ is indicated both by an increasing NQR line widthKarpinski00a  and increasing critical current densities at low fields and the maximum pinning force density.

In strongly disordered systems, metastability is less important than in very clean systems and especially the region of undercooling of the glass phase is much smaller. This might be linked to the observation that the position of the transition line does not depend much on the exact amount of disorder in strongly disordered systems, since variations of the disorder density on a mesoscopic scale do not produce large positional differences of the local transition field in this case.

Similar to the robustness of the phase diagram above a disorder threshold, both the maximum pinning force density and the maximum critical current density in the glass phase increase initially with increasing disorder, the critical current density increases by an order of magnitude upon substituting 10% Sr. But they then show saturation behaviour, i.e. the pinning force density and critical current densities can be raised only up to a certain point by introducing random point-like disorder. This may be relevant for possible applications where high critical current densities are required.

It should be noted that current detailed theories of the order-disorder transition generally assume the disorder to be very weak. Our measurements indicate that in systems with a high amount of disorder, the phase diagram and in particular the order-disorder transition differ qualitatively from the weak disorder case. Theoretical investigations beyond the weak disorder limit would be very helpful.

Both the pinning of unsubstituted Y124 and Sr substituted Y124 is likely to be of $`\delta T_\text{c}`$, rather than $`\delta \mathrm{}`$ type, indicated by the temperature dependence of the order-disorder transition at intermediate temperatures. For the substituted crystals this can be expected, since there are variations of $`T_\text{c}`$ upon Sr substitution. However, the exponential-like temperature dependence of the order-disorder transition of substituted crystals at low temperatures is also emphasized. The dependence cannot be linked to the influence of surface barriers, at least not in any straightforward way, the same dependence of all significant fields (onsets and clearly discernible kinks for both field directions) suggests it is a true bulk property of the transition. We stress that the observed temperature dependence is at odds with currently published theoretical formulas.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, by the European Community (program ICA1-CT-2000-70018, Centre of Excellence CELDIS) and by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN, contract No. 5 P03B 12421).


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The interrelation between discrete and differential integrable hierarchies plays crucial role in obtaining solutions to the discrete multi-matrix models , , . At a level of KP-type differential hierarchies the discrete structure of multi-matrix models is captured by the Darboux–Bäcklund (DB) transformations. In turn partition functions of multi-matrix models turns out to be $`\tau `$-functions of differential hierarchies and are constructed as DB orbits of certain simple initial conditions . The well known discrete KP (1-Toda lattice) hierarchy  together with its reductions can be viewed as a container for a set of KP-type differential hierarchies whose solutions are generated by DB transformations.

This paper is designed to exhibit certain class of discrete hierarchies which generalize discrete KP and show the relationship with general (unconstrained) differential KP. This relationship yields bi-infinite sequences of differential KP equipped with two compatible gauge transformations. We believe that these results would be of potential interest from the physical point of view.

## 2 $`n`$th discrete KP

Given the shift operator $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=(\delta _{i,j1})_{i,j𝐙}`$ one considers the Lie algebra of pseudo-difference operators

$$𝒟=\left\{\underset{\mathrm{}<k\mathrm{}}{}\mathrm{}_k\mathrm{\Lambda }^k\right\}=𝒟_{}+𝒟_+$$

with usual splitting into “negative” and “positive” parts:

$$𝒟_{}=\left\{\underset{\mathrm{}<k1}{}\mathrm{}_k\mathrm{\Lambda }^k\right\}\mathrm{and}𝒟_+=\left\{\underset{0<k\mathrm{}}{}\mathrm{}_k\mathrm{\Lambda }^k\right\}.$$

We assume that entries of bi-infinite diagonal matrices $`\mathrm{}_k(\mathrm{}_k(i))_{i𝐙}`$ may depend on “spectral” parameter $`z`$ and multi-time $`t(t_1x,t_2,t_3,\mathrm{})`$. In what follows $`/x`$ and $`_p/t_p`$.

Let us define111where $`z`$ acts as component-wise multiplication.

$$Q=\mathrm{\Lambda }+a_0z^{n1}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{1n}+a_1z^{2(n1)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{12n}+\mathrm{}𝒟,n𝐍$$
(1)
with $`a_k=(a_k(i))_{i𝐙}`$ being functions on $`t`$ only.

Proposition 1. Lax equations of $`Q`$-deformations

$$z^{p(n1)}_pQ=[Q_+^{pn},Q],p=1,2,\mathrm{}$$
(2)
make sense.

Proof. One needs to use standard simple arguments to prove correctness of Eqs. (2). It is enough to show that $`[Q_+^{pn},Q]=[Q_{}^{pn},Q]`$ is of the same form as l.h.s. of (2). $`\mathrm{}`$

We will refer to (2) as $`n`$th discrete KP hierarchy. Let us represent $`Q`$ as a dressing up of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ by a “wave” operator

$$W=I+w_1z^{n1}\mathrm{\Lambda }^n+w_2z^{2(n1)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{2n}+w_3z^{3(n1)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{3n}+\mathrm{}I+𝒟_{}.$$

Then $`Q`$-deformations are induced by $`W`$-deformations

$$\begin{array}{c}z^{p(n1)}_pW=Q_+^{pn}WW\mathrm{\Lambda }^{pn},\\ z^{p(n1)}_p(W^1)^T=(W^1)^T\mathrm{\Lambda }^{pn}(Q_+^{pn})^T(W^1)^T.\end{array}$$
(3)
Define $`\chi (t,z)=(z^ie^{\xi (t,z)})_{i𝐙}`$, $`\chi ^{}(t,z)=(z^ie^{\xi (t,z)})_{i𝐙}`$ with $`\xi (t,z)_{p=1}^{\mathrm{}}t_pz^p`$ and wave vectors

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(t,z)=W\chi (t,z),\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(t,z)=(W^1)^T\chi ^{}(t,z).$$
(4)
Discrete linear system

$$\begin{array}{c}Q\mathrm{\Psi }(t,z)=z\mathrm{\Psi }(t,z),Q^T\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(t,z)=z\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(t,z),\\ z^{p(n1)}_p\mathrm{\Psi }=Q_+^{pn}\mathrm{\Psi },z^{p(n1)}_p\mathrm{\Psi }^{}=(Q_+^{pn})^T\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\end{array}$$
(5)
are evident consequence of (3) and (4). Making use of obvious relations $`z\chi =\mathrm{\Lambda }\chi `$ and $`\chi _i=^{ij}\chi _j`$ with $`i`$ and $`j`$ being arbitrary integers, we deduce

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_i(t,z)=z^i(1+w_1(i)z^1+w_2(i)z^2+\mathrm{})e^{\xi (t,z)}$$

$$=z^i(1+w_1(i)^1+w_2(i)^2+\mathrm{})e^{\xi (t,z)}z^i\widehat{w}_i()e^{\xi (t,z)}z^i\psi _i(t,z).$$

What we are going to do next is to establish equivalence of $`n`$th discrete KP to bi-infinite sequence of differential KP copies “glued” together by two compatible gauge transformations one of which can be recognized as DB transformation mapping $`𝒬_i\widehat{w}_i\widehat{w}_i^1`$ to $`𝒬_{i+n}\widehat{w}_{i+n}\widehat{w}_{i+n}^1`$. By straightforward calculations one can prove

Proposition 2. The following three statements are equivalent

(i) The wave vector $`\mathrm{\Psi }(t,z)`$ satisfies discrete linear system

$$Q\mathrm{\Psi }(t,z)=z\mathrm{\Psi }(t,z),z^{n1}\mathrm{\Psi }=Q_+^n\mathrm{\Psi };$$
(6)
(ii) The components $`\psi _i`$ of a vector $`\psi (\psi _i=z^i\mathrm{\Psi }_i)_{i𝐙}`$ satisfy

$$G_i\psi _i(t,z)=z\psi _{i+n1}(t,z),H_i\psi _i(t,z)=z\psi _{i+n}(t,z)$$
(7)
with $`H_i_{s=1}^na_0(i+s1)`$ and

$$G_i\underset{s=1}{\overset{n1}{}}a_0(i+s1)+a_1(i+n1)H_{in}^1+a_2(i+n1)H_{i2n}^1H_{in}^1+\mathrm{};$$

(iii) For sequence of dressing operators $`\widehat{w}_i`$ following equations

$$G_i\widehat{w}_i=\widehat{w}_{i+n1},H_i\widehat{w}_i=\widehat{w}_{i+n}$$
(8)
hold.

Consistency condition of (6) is given by Lax equation

$$z^{n1}Q=[Q_+^n,Q]$$
(9)
which in explicit form looks as

$$\begin{array}{c}a_k(i)=a_{k+1}(i+n)a_{k+1}(i)\\ +a_k(i)\left(\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_0(i+s1)\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_0(i+s(k+1)n)\right),k0.\end{array}$$
(10)
Remark. One-field reductions of the systems (10) lead to Bogoyavlenskii lattices

$$r_i=r_i\left(\underset{s=1}{\overset{n1}{}}r_{i+s}\underset{s=1}{\overset{n1}{}}r_{is}\right),r_ia_0(i)$$

including well known Volterra lattice $`r_i=r_i(r_{i+1}r_{i1})`$ in the case $`n=2`$.

Consistency condition of (8) is given by relations

$$G_{i+n}H_i=H_{i+n1}G_i,i𝐙$$
(11)
which in fact are equivalent to (9).

Proposition 3. By virtue of (8) and its consistency condition, Lax operators $`𝒬_i`$ are connected with each other by two invertible compatible gauge transformations

$$𝒬_{i+n1}=G_i𝒬_iG_i^1,𝒬_{i+n}=H_i𝒬_iH_i^1.$$
(12)
Proof. By virtue of (8), we have

$$𝒬_{i+n1}=\widehat{w}_{i+n1}\widehat{w}_{i+n1}^1=(G_i\widehat{w}_i^1)(\widehat{w}_i^1G_i^1)$$

$$=G_i\widehat{w}_i\widehat{w}_i^1G_i^1=G_i𝒬_iG_i^1.$$

The similar arguments are applied to show second relation in (12). The mapping $`𝒬_i\stackrel{~}{𝒬}_i=𝒬_{i+n1}`$ we denote as $`s_1`$, while $`s_2`$ stands for transformation $`𝒬_i\overline{𝒬}_i=𝒬_{i+n}`$. As for compatibility of $`s_1`$ and $`s_2`$, by virtue of (11), we have

$$𝒬_{i+2n1}=G_{i+n}𝒬_{i+n}G_{i+n}^1=G_{i+n}H_i𝒬_iH_i^1G_{i+n}^1$$

$$=H_{i+n1}G_i𝒬_iG_i^1H_{i+n1}^1=H_{i+n1}𝒬_{i+n1}H_{i+n1}^1.$$

So we can write $`s_1s_2=s_2s_1`$. The inverse maps $`s_1^1`$ and $`s_2^1`$ are well defined by the formulas $`𝒬_{in+1}=G_{in+1}^1𝒬_iG_{in+1}`$ and $`𝒬_{in}=H_{in}^1𝒬_iH_{in}`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

It is obvious that relation $`s_1^n=s_2^{n1}`$ holds. Indeed the l.h.s. and r.h.s. of this relation correspond to the same mapping $`𝒬_i𝒬_{i+n(n1)}`$. The abelian group generated by $`s_1`$ and $`s_2`$ we denote by symbol $`𝒢`$.

Rewrite second equation in (7) as $`z^{n1}H_i\mathrm{\Psi }_i(t,z)=\mathrm{\Psi }_{i+n}(t,z)=(\mathrm{\Lambda }^n\mathrm{\Psi })_i.`$ ¿From this we derive

$$z^{k(1n)}(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{kn}\mathrm{\Psi })_i=H_{i+(k1)n}\mathrm{}H_{i+n}H_i\mathrm{\Psi }_i,$$

$$z^{k(n1)}(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{kn}\mathrm{\Psi })_i=H_{ikn}^1\mathrm{}H_{i2n}^1H_{in}^1\mathrm{\Psi }_i.$$

These relations make connection between matrices of the form

$$P=\underset{k𝐙}{}z^{k(1n)}p_k(t)\mathrm{\Lambda }^{kn}$$

and sequences of pseudo-differential operators $`\{𝒫_i,i𝐙\}`$ mapping the upper triangular part of given matrix (including main diagonal) into the differential parts of $`𝒫_i`$’s and the lower triangular part of the matrix to the purely pseudo-differential parts. More exactly, we have $`(P\mathrm{\Psi })_i=𝒫_i\mathrm{\Psi }_i`$, $`(P_{}\mathrm{\Psi })_i=(𝒫_i)_{}\mathrm{\Psi }_i`$ and $`(P_+\mathrm{\Psi })_i=(𝒫_i)_+\mathrm{\Psi }_i`$, where

$$𝒫_i=\underset{k>0}{}p_k(i,t)H_{ikn}^1\mathrm{}H_{i2n}^1H_{in}^1+\underset{k0}{}p_k(i,t)H_{i+(k1)n}\mathrm{}H_{i+n}H_i=(𝒫_i)_{}+(𝒫_i)_+.$$

Proposition 4. Equations $`z^{p(n1)}_p\mathrm{\Psi }=Q_+^{pn}\mathrm{\Psi },p=2,3,\mathrm{}`$ lead to $`_p\psi _i=(𝒬_i^p)_+\psi _i,p=2,3,\mathrm{}`$.

Proof. We have

$$z^{p(1n)}(Q^{pn}\mathrm{\Psi })_i=z^p\mathrm{\Psi }_i=z^{i+p}\widehat{w}_ie^{\xi (t,z)}=z^i\widehat{w}_i^pe^{\xi (t,z)}$$

$$=z^i\widehat{w}_i^p\widehat{w}_i^1\psi _i=z^i𝒬_i^p\psi _i=𝒬_i^p\mathrm{\Psi }_i.$$

Thus

$$z^{p(n1)}_p\mathrm{\Psi }_i=z^{i+p(n1)}_p\psi _i=(Q_+^{pn}\mathrm{\Psi })_i=z^{p(n1)}(𝒬_i^p)_+\mathrm{\Psi }_i=z^{i+p(n1)}(𝒬_i^p)_+\psi _i.$$

The latter proves proposition. $`\mathrm{}`$

Let us establish equations managing $`G_i`$\- and $`H_i`$-evolutions with respect to KP flows. Differentiating l.h.s. and r.h.s. of (8) by virtue of Sato–Wilson equations $`_p\widehat{w}_i=(𝒬_i^p)_+\widehat{w}_i\widehat{w}_i^p`$ formally leads to evolution equations

$$\begin{array}{c}_pG_i=(𝒬_{i+n1}^p)_+G_iG_i(𝒬_i^p)_+,\\ _pH_i=(𝒬_{i+n}^p)_+H_iH_i(𝒬_i^p)_+.\end{array}$$
(13)
Standard arguments can be used to show that Eqs. (13) are properly defined individually. Let us show that permutation relations (11) are invariant under the flows given by equations (13). We have

$$_p(H_{i+n1}G_i)$$

$$=\{(𝒬_{i+2n1}^p)_+H_{i+n1}H_{i+n1}(𝒬_{i+n1}^p)_+\}G_i+H_{i+n1}\{(𝒬_{i+n1}^p)_+G_iG_i(𝒬_i^p)_+\}$$

$$=(𝒬_{i+2n1}^p)_+H_{i+n1}G_iH_{i+n1}G_i(𝒬_i^p)_+=(𝒬_{i+2n1}^p)_+G_{i+n}H_iG_{i+n}H_i(𝒬_i^p)_+$$

$$=\{(𝒬_{i+2n1}^p)_+G_{i+n}G_{i+n}(𝒬_{i+n}^p)_+\}H_i+G_{i+n}\{(𝒬_{i+n}^p)_+H_iH_i(𝒬_i^p)_+\}=_p(G_{i+n}H_i).$$

Hence we proved that evolution equations (13) are consistent.

Define $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i=\mathrm{\Phi }_i(t)`$ via $`H_i\mathrm{\Phi }_i=0`$ or equivalently through equation

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_i=\mathrm{\Phi }_i\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_0(i+s1).$$

Takig into consideration second equation in (13), we have

$$_p(H_i\mathrm{\Phi }_i)=(𝒬_{i+n}^p)_+H_i\mathrm{\Phi }_iH_i(𝒬_i^p)_+\mathrm{\Phi }_i+H_i_p\mathrm{\Phi }_i=0.$$

¿From this we derive $`_p\mathrm{\Phi }_i=(𝒬_i^p)_+\mathrm{\Phi }_i+\alpha _i\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ where $`\alpha _i`$’s are some constants. Commutativity condition $`_p_q\mathrm{\Phi }_i=_q_p\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ leads to evolution equations for KP eigenfunctions $`_p\mathrm{\Phi }_i=(𝒬_i^p)_+\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$, i.e. $`\alpha _i=0`$. Thus the relations $`𝒬_{i+n}=H_i𝒬_iH_i^1`$ defines DB transformations with eigenfunctions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i=\tau _{i+n}/\tau _i`$. It should perhaps to recall that arbitrary eigenfunction of Lax operator $`𝒬`$ contains information about DB transformation $`\tau \overline{\tau }=\mathrm{\Phi }\tau `$ while the identity 222here conventional notations $`\{f,g\}=fggf`$ and $`[z^1]=(1/z,1/(2z^2),\mathrm{})`$ are used.

$$\{\tau (t[z^1]),\overline{\tau }(t)\}+z(\tau (t[z^1])\overline{\tau }(t)\overline{\tau }(t[z^1])\tau (t))=0$$

holds

So, we have shown that $`n`$th discrete KP is equivalent to sequence of differential KP linked with each other by two compatible gauge transformations one of which, namely, $`s_2:𝒬_i𝒬_{i+n}`$ are nothing but Darboux–Bäcklund transformation. The problem which can be addressed is to describe $`n`$th discrete KP in the language of bilinear identities by analogy as was done for ordinary discrete KP .

### Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the organizers for the invitation to participate Fourth Conference “Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics”.

This research has been partially supported by INTAS grant 2000-15.


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# Leptogenesis and Neutrinos at a TeV

## Abstract

We consider a model for leptogenesis in which all the relevant physics is accessible in collider experiments. This requires a moderate extension of the standard model which generates small neutrino masses via TeV scale right-handed neutrinos. The necessary Sakharov criteria are satisfied in such a way that all existing experimental constraints are satisfied. We demonstrate how the requisite baryon to entropy ratio is generated, and discuss some possible experimental signatures of the model.

preprint: SU-GP-01/7-1
July 2001

The discovery of neutrino masses and mixing, reported by the Super-Kamiokande  and SNO  experiments, is an exciting example of the symbiosis between particle physics and cosmology. One interesting consequence of this discovery for cosmology is the possibility of generating the baryon asymmetry of the universe through leptogenesis via the decays of right-handed neutrinos (for reviews see ). However, one drawback of this approach is its inaccessibility to independent collider tests. This is because, in typical models, the masses of the right-handed neutrinos must be of order $`10^{10}`$ GeV in order that realistic Majorana masses for left-handed neutrinos be generated by the seesaw mechanism . In this letter we describe a realistic model in which leptogenesis is efficient, and the required right-handed neutrinos need only have TeV-scale masses. This model is therefore a candidate for generating the baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU), which may be directly tested in upcoming experiments.

Leptogenesis as a precursor to baryogenesis works because the $`SU(2)_L`$ sphaleron configurations which violate both baryon number (B) and lepton number (L), nevertheless conserve the combination $`BL`$. Thus, the baryon asymmetry may be generated from an existing lepton asymmetry. Indeed, an analysis , (see also ) of the chemical potentials in the standard model yields a relation between the baryon asymmetry

$$\eta _B=\frac{n_bn_{\overline{b}}}{n_s},$$
(1)
where $`n_{b(\overline{b})}`$ is the number density of (anti)baryons and $`n_s`$ is the entropy density, and the corresponding B-L asymmetry, $`\eta _{BL}`$ given by

$$\eta _B=\frac{28}{79}\eta _{(BL)_P},$$
(2)
where $`(BL)_P`$ is the primordial lepton asymmetry generated above the electroweak scale. It is the baryon asymmetry that is constrained by primordial nucleosynthesis to be $`\eta _B10^{10}`$.

One important way in which leptons may be produced is by the out of equilibrium decay of heavy right handed Majorana neutrinos $`N_R`$. Once this asymmetry is produced it is then partially converted to a baryonic one.

In order that such an asymmetry survive, it is essential that $`BL`$ violating processes be out of equilibrium after the leptons are produced. This yields a constraint on the masses of the right handed Majorana neutrinos, and hence on the left-handed neutrino masses. Consider the $`\mathrm{\Delta }L=2`$ process

$$\nu _L+\nu _L\mathrm{\Phi }_{SM}+\mathrm{\Phi }_{SM},$$
(3)
where $`\nu _L`$ are left-handed neutrinos and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{SM}`$ is the standard model Higgs field, occurring at the temperature $`T100`$ GeV. By imposing the out of equilibrium condition we obtain the constraint

$$m_\nu <50keV.$$
(4)
A stronger bound is obtained by requiring that the rate of the lepton violating interactions, for example

$$W^\pm +W^\pm e^\pm +e^\pm ,$$
(5)
mediated by virtual left handed Majorana neutrino exchange, be smaller that the expansion rate of the universe at temperature $`T=M_W`$. This yields the constraint $`m_\nu <20`$ keV .

Note that this constraint is independent of the existence of right handed neutrinos or triplet higgs fields. It is a result of the effective interaction after integrating out the heavy fields, and it applies to every element of the mass matrix.

In this paper, we discuss the possibility of generating the baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) via leptogenesis at the TeV scale. We utilize a recently proposed model  for neutrino masses, in which the right handed Majorana masses are of order $`10`$ TeV. We extend the standard model by adding three right handed neutrinos $`N_{R_\alpha }`$ and two new charged higgs fields $`S_1^+`$ and $`S_2^+`$, which are singlets under $`SU(2)_L`$. The interaction of $`S_1`$ and $`S_2`$ with the standard model fermions is given by:

$$_{int}=f_{\alpha \beta }L_\alpha ^TCi\tau _2L_\beta S_1^++g_{\alpha \beta }l_{R_\alpha }^TCN_{R_\beta }S_2^++\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c},$$
(6)
where $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ denote generation indices. Here $`L`$ is the left-handed lepton doublet, $`l_{R_\alpha }`$ are the right-handed charged leptons and $`C`$ is the charge-conjugation matrix. The Yukawa couplings $`f_{\alpha \beta }`$ are antisymmetric in $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$, while $`g_{\alpha \beta }`$ are arbitrary. We will demand that both $`S_1^+`$ and $`S_2^+`$ carry lepton number $`L=2`$ so that the above interactions conserve lepton number. The standard model higgs doublet $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{SM}`$ couples to the right handed neutrino and lepton doublets, which leads to a tree level neutrino Dirac mass. In this case unnatural fine tuning is needed. To forbid such coupling we impose a discrete symmetry $`Z_2`$ acting as

$`(L_\alpha ,\mathrm{\Phi }_{SM},S_1^+)`$ $``$ $`(L_\alpha ,\mathrm{\Phi }_{SM},S_1^+)`$ (7)
$`(N_{R_\alpha },S_2^+)`$ $``$ $`(N_{R_\alpha },S_2^+).`$ (8)
If this $`Z_2`$ symmetry is exact, the neutrinos will be massless. We therefore introduce the soft symmetry-breaking term

$$\delta V=\kappa S_1S_2^++\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.$$
(9)
This term is crucial for generating a calculable Dirac mass term at one loop level (see Fig 1).

The induced Yukawa coupling is given by:

$$\lambda _{\alpha \beta }=\frac{1}{64\pi ^2}g_{\alpha \gamma }\frac{m_\gamma }{v}f_{\gamma \beta }\mathrm{sin}(2\theta )\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{M_{S_2}}{M_{S_1}}\right)$$
(10)
where $`m_\gamma `$ are the charged lepton masses, $`v`$ is the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of the standard model higgs doublet, $`M_{S_1}`$ and $`M_{S_2}`$ are the masses of the physical charged higgs fields, and $`\mathrm{sin}(2\theta )`$ is the mixing angle between $`S_1`$ and $`S_2`$ given by:

$$\mathrm{sin}(2\theta )=\frac{2\kappa }{\sqrt{4\kappa ^2+(M_{S_2}M_{S_1})}}$$
(11)
Note that the Yukawa couplings in this model are naturally small. Without any fine tuning of the parameters $`f_{\alpha \beta }`$, $`g_{\alpha \beta }`$ it is simple to obtain $`\lambda 10^5`$. For right-handed neutrino masses $`M_{R_\alpha }10`$ TeV note also that Majorana masses for the left-handed neutrinos $`m_\nu 0.1`$ eV are generated via the seesaw mechanism. A detailed analysis of the neutrino masses and mixing in this model can be found in ref. .

Now let us turn to the issue of baryogenesis. As we mentioned above, the baryon asymmetry may be generated by a lepton asymmetry. The first step in demonstrating how this occurs is to identify the lepton number violating decays. It is usual to consider the decay of the heavy right handed neutrinos $`N_{R_\alpha }`$ or of at least two heavy higgs triplets (denoted by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1,2}`$).

In most leptogenesis models $`N_{R_\alpha }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{1,2}`$ are constrained to be heavy in order to suppress the masses of the physical neutrinos, since the Dirac neutrino masses are of the order charged lepton or quark masses. In our model the situation is very different. Here the Yukawa couplings between the left-handed and the right-handed neutrinos vanish at tree level, and are instead induced at one loop. This ensures that they are naturally small and as a result $`N_{R_\alpha }`$ need not be particularly heavy.

The relevant decays are (see fig 2)

$`N_{R_\alpha }`$ $``$ $`l_{\alpha _L}+\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$ (12)
$`N_{R_\alpha }`$ $``$ $`l_{\alpha _L}^C+\mathrm{\Phi },`$ (13)
which lead to a violation of lepton number by two units.

We now move on to the origin of CP violation in our model. The couplings $`f_{\alpha \beta }`$ can be made real by making a phase redefinition on the left handed fields. This is the same freedom that ensures CP-conservation in the leptonic sector of the Zee model . However in our model the couplings $`g_{\alpha \beta }`$ may be complex, and therefore the last term in (6) is generically a source of CP violation in the leptonic sector. Despite this, it is well-known that CPT-invariance implies that the asymmetry in the decay rates vanishes at tree level.

Nevertheless, a non-zero asymmetry is generated through the interference between the tree level diagram and the one loop diagrams. Let us first consider the vertex correction and the wave function renormalization of $`N_{R_1}`$ as in fig (3). The CP asymmetry generated from the interference of these diagrams may be estimated as

$$ϵ\lambda ^2\left(\frac{M_{R_1}}{M_{R_2}}\right),$$
(14)
where $`M_{R_1}`$ is the mass of the lightest right-handed neutrino, and $`M_{R_2}`$ is the mass of the next heaviest. In this case the lepton asymmetry generated is

$$\eta _L<10^{13}\left(\frac{\lambda }{10^5}\right)^2,$$
(15)
which implies that the baryon asymmetry of the universe is highly suppressed for $`\lambda 10^5`$.

However, consider the self-energy diagram in which, instead of the standard model higgs field and the left-handed lepton, we have the charged higgs singlet $`S_2`$. In this case the right-handed charged lepton is the most dominant contribution in the interference with the tree level diagram because the couplings $`g_{\alpha \beta }`$ can be much larger than the Yukawa couplings $`\lambda _{\alpha \beta }`$.

Let us assume that the the Yukawa couplings in (6) are all of the same order, and that the two right handed neutrinos are almost degenerate. The CP asymmetry generated from the decays (13) results from the interference between the tree level diagrams and the one loop diagrams and is given by

$$ϵ\frac{1}{16\pi }g^2xy^2\mathrm{sin}\delta ,$$
(16)
where g is the Yukawa coupling of the right handed neutrinos with the charged singlet higgs $`S_2`$ and $`\delta =\mathrm{arg}(g^2)`$. The parameters $`x`$ and $`y`$ are defined by:

$`x`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{M_{R_1}}{M_{R_2}M_{R_1}}}`$ (17)
$`y`$ $`=`$ $`1\left({\displaystyle \frac{M_{S_2}}{M_{R_1}}}\right)^2`$ (18)
Note that the CP asymmetry gets enhanced when the right handed neutrinos are almost degenerate . Of course if they are exactly degenerate the CP asymmetry vanishes, because in this case the relative phase between the degenerate states can be rotated away. This is why we need at least two non-degenerate right handed neutrino states. The same considerations apply for leptogenesis via the decay of the higgs triplet .

The parameter $`y`$ can lead to a suppression when $`M_{S_2}M_{R_1}`$. Indeed one needs y to be tiny in order to suppress the decay $`S_2l_{R_\alpha }+N_{R_\alpha }`$, otherwise it will be rapid enough to wash out the baryon asymmetry generated at $`TM_{R_1}`$.

Now consider the required departure from thermal equilibrium in this model. The relevant quantity parameterizing this is the ratio

$$K=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N_R}}{H},$$
(19)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N_R}`$ is the decay rate of $`N_{R_1}`$, and $`H=\sqrt{1.7}g_{}T^2/M_P`$ is the expansion rate of the universe, with $`M_P10^{19}GeV`$ the Planck mass. If $`K<<1`$, then the system is far from equilibrium and the lepton asymmetry will be $`\eta _L\frac{ϵ}{g_{}}`$. However if $`K>>1`$, then the baryon asymmetry will be suppressed by a factor ,

$$D\{\begin{array}{cc}\sqrt{0.1K}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{4}{3}(0.1K)^{\frac{1}{4}}\right]\hfill & \text{for }K10^6\hfill \\ \frac{1}{K(\mathrm{ln}K)^{0.6}}\hfill & \text{for }10<K10^6\hfill \\ \frac{1}{2K}\hfill & \text{for }1<K<10\hfill \end{array}.$$
(20)
In our case

$$K=\frac{\lambda \lambda ^+}{16\pi }\frac{M_P}{1.7\sqrt{g_{}}M}$$
(21)
and for $`M_{R_1}10TeV`$ the dilution factor is $`D3\times 10^3`$. Taking this into account, the baryon asymmetry generated by our model may be estimated as

$$\eta 10^6xyg^2\mathrm{sin}\delta .$$
(22)
Although we may choose $`x`$ to be as large as $`10^5`$, over a wide range of Yukawa couplings $`f_{\alpha \beta }`$ and $`g_{\alpha \beta }`$ reasonable values of the parameters involved are $`x10^4`$, $`y5.10^5`$ and $`g^2\mathrm{sin}\delta 1`$. Using these values we obtain $`\eta 10^{11}10^{10}`$, which is in the range required for successful primordial nucleosynthesis.

Now, as we have advertised, a very attractive feature of this model is its accessibility to experimental tests. As a specific example, consider the scattering of polarized beams of right-handed electrons. One observable outcome of this would be the production of charged singlet fields $`S_2^{}`$, mediated by the right-handed neutrinos

$$e_R+e_RS_2^{}+S_2^{}.$$
(23)
This prediction depends crucially on how low the mass of the right-handed neutrino is allowed to be in this model, since the Majorana mass insertion appears explicitly in the relevant Feynman diagram (see fig 5).

In this letter we have described how leptogenesis, and hence baryogenesis, can occur quite naturally in an existing particle physics model. The model involves a modest extension of the standard electroweak theory, required to generate naturally low Dirac masses for the left-handed neutrinos. In this sense, the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the universe is natural in this model. Leptogenesis is traditionally thought to occur at the relatively high scale of $`10^{10}`$ GeV. However, a very attractive feature of the model presented here is that only scales of less than or of order $`10`$ TeV are required. This means that it is feasible to test this model in collider experiments, perhaps at a high-center of mass energy $`e^+,e^{}`$ machine.

The authors would like to thank T. Hambye for useful remarks on and an important numerical correction to an earlier version of the manuscript. This work was supported by NSF grant PHY-0094122 to MT, and by the DOE (SN).