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# Equation of state for pure SU(3) gauge theory on anisotropic latticesTalk presented by Y. Namekawa

## 1 Introduction

The study of lattice QCD at finite temperatures is important to clarify the dynamics of the quark gluon plasma . In order to extract predictions for the real world from lattice data, we have to extrapolate them to the continuum limit. However the continuum limit of the equation of state (EOS) has not been obtained in full QCD because of large lattice spacing dependence .

We have proposed using anisotropic lattices to solve this problem. As a first test, we have applied them for calculations of the EOS in pure SU(3) gauge theory and studied their efficiency . We report a summary of our results in this article.

## 2 Simulation

We employ the plaquette action given by

$$S=\beta (\frac{1}{\xi _0}\underset{n,ij}{}\left(1P_{ij}(n)\right)+\xi _0\underset{n,i}{}\left(1P_{i4}(n)\right))$$
(1)
where $`\xi _0`$ is the bare anisotropy and $`\beta =6/g_0^2`$. We use the values of the renormalization factor $`\eta (\beta ,\xi )\xi /\xi _0(\beta ,\xi )`$ obtained by Klassen , where $`\xi a_s/a_t`$.

Our study in the Stephan-Boltzmann limit shows that $`\xi =2`$ is the optimal choice to reduce discretization errors in the EOS . Therefore we use $`\xi =2`$ anisotropic lattices with sizes $`N_s^3\times N_t=16^3\times 8`$, $`20^3\times 10`$ and $`24^3\times 12`$. For $`N_t=8`$, we make additional runs on $`12^3\times 8`$ and $`24^3\times 8`$ lattices to examine finite size effects. The zero-temperature runs are made on $`N_s^3\times \xi N_s`$ lattices with $`\xi =2`$. After thermalization, we perform 20,000 to 100,000 iterations on finite-temperature lattices and 5,000 to 25,000 iterations on zero-temperature lattices.

## 3 Scale and critical temperature

We determine the physical scale of our lattices from the string tension. The string tension $`\sigma `$ is extracted from the static potential $`V(R)`$ at zero temperature assuming a form ,

$$V(R)=V_0+\sigma Re\frac{1}{R}+l\left(\frac{1}{R}\left[\frac{1}{R}\right]\right),$$
(2)
where $`[1/R]`$ is the lattice Coulomb term from one gluon exchange. Then we fit the string tension in $`\beta `$ using an ansatz proposed by Allton ,

$$a_s\sqrt{\sigma }=f(\beta )(1+c_2\widehat{a}(\beta )^2+c_4\widehat{a}(\beta )^4)/c_0,$$
(3)
where $`f(\beta )`$ is the two-loop scaling function of SU(3) gauge theory and $`\widehat{a}(\beta )f(\beta )/f(\beta =6.0)`$.

We define the critical coupling $`\beta _c(N_t,N_s)`$ from
the peak location of the susceptibility for a Z(3)-rotated Polyakov loop. We extrapolate $`\beta _c(N_t,N_s)`$ to the thermodynamic limit assuming a finite-size scaling law,

$$\beta _c(N_t,N_s)=\beta _c(N_t,\mathrm{})h\left(N_t/(\xi N_s)\right)^3.$$
(4)
From $`\beta _c`$ on anisotropic $`12^3\times 8`$, $`16^3\times 8`$ and $`24^3\times 8`$ lattices with $`\xi =2`$, we find $`h=0.031(16)`$ for $`N_t/\xi =4`$. We adopt this value for all $`N_t`$. The critical temperature in units of the string tension is given by $`T_c/\sqrt{\sigma }=\xi /N_ta_s\sqrt{\sigma }\left(\beta _c(N_t,\mathrm{})\right)`$.

We extrapolate results for $`F=T_c/\sqrt{\sigma }`$ to the continuum limit with the leading scaling form,

$$F|_{N_t}=F|_{\mathrm{continuum}}+c_F/N_t^2.$$
(5)
In the continuum limit, we obtain $`T_c/\sqrt{\sigma }=0.635(10)`$ from the $`\xi =2`$ plaquette action.

Fig. 1 shows our results of $`T_c/\sqrt{\sigma }`$. In Fig. 1, we also plot the results obtained on isotropic lattices using the plaquette action  and the RG-improved action . Our value of $`T_c/\sqrt{\sigma }`$ in the continuum limit is consistent with that from the $`\xi =1`$ plaquette action within the error of about 2%, but slightly smaller than that from the $`\xi =1`$ RG-improved action. This may be caused by the difference in the details of the potential fit.

## 4 Equation of state

We calculate the pressure $`p`$ and energy density $`ϵ`$ using the integral method,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{p}{T^4}}|_{\beta _0}^\beta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\beta _0}^\beta }𝑑\beta ^{}\mathrm{\Delta }S,`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ3p}{T^4}}`$ $`=`$ $`a_s{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{a_s}}|_{\xi =2}\mathrm{\Delta }S,`$ (7)
where

$$\mathrm{\Delta }S\left(\frac{N_t^4}{\xi ^3}\right)\frac{1}{N_s^3N_t}\frac{\mathrm{log}Z}{\beta }|_{\xi =2}(T=0).$$
(8)
The beta function $`\beta /a_s|_{\xi =2}`$ is determined through the string tension parametrized by Eq. (3). We extrapolate the EOS to the continuum limit with Eq. (5).

Figs. 2 and 3 show the pressure and energy density at $`T/T_c=2.5`$, as a function of $`(\xi /N_t)^2`$ (filled circles). For comparison, results from isotropic lattices using the plaquette action  (open circles) and the RG-improved action  (open squares) are also plotted.

The advantage of anisotropic lattices is clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3. On the coarsest lattice $`N_t/\xi =4`$, the cutoff errors at $`\xi =2`$ are much smaller than those at $`\xi =1`$ with the same plaquette action. Comparing the computational cost to achieve comparable systematic and statistical errors on isotropic and $`\xi =2`$ anisotropic lattices, we find that the anisotropic calculation has a factor of approximately 5 gain. Furthermore, since the $`\xi =2`$ data satisfy the $`1/N_t^2`$ scaling from $`N_t/\xi =4`$ (the right-most point), we can reliably perform an extrapolation to the continuum limit using three data points. Results at other temperatures are similar.

Our results for the EOS in the continuum limit are shown in Fig. 4. The EOS from $`\xi =2`$ is consistent with that from the $`\xi =1`$ plaquette action within the error of about 5%. Notice that our $`\xi =2`$ results have smaller and more reliable errors of 2–3%. On the other hand, the EOS from the $`\xi =1`$ RG-improved action is larger by 7–10% (about 2$`\sigma `$). than that from our $`\xi =2`$ results in the continuum limit. A possible origin of this discrepancy is the use of the $`N_t/\xi =4`$ data of the RG-improved action, which show a large (about 20%) deviation from the continuum limit.

## 5 Conclusion

We have studied the continuum limit of the EOS in pure SU(3) gauge theory on $`\xi =2`$ anisotropic lattices, using the plaquette action. Anisotropic lattices are shown to be efficient in reducing the cutoff dependence of the EOS. As a result, we can perform continuum extrapolations from our coarsest lattice $`N_t/\xi =4`$. The EOS in the continuum limit agrees with that obtained on isotropic lattices using the same action, but has much smaller and better controlled errors.

Anisotropic lattices may help us extract the continuum limit of the EOS in full QCD.

This work is supported in part by Grants-in-Aid of the Ministry of Education (Nos. 10640246, 10640248, 11640250, 11640294, 12014202, 12304011, 12640253, 12740133, 13640260 ). M. Okamoto is JSPS Research Fellows. VL is supported by the Research for Future Program of JSPS (No. JSPS-RFTF 97P01102). Simulations were performed on CP-PACS at the Center for Computational Physics, University of Tsukuba.


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# Lie symmetry, discrete symmetry and supersymmetry of the Pauli Hamiltonian

## 1 Introduction

The motion of electron in the magnetic field is an example of the quantum mechanical problem where supersymmetry (SUSY) is natural symmetry of the considered systems (see review ). It was shown that $`N=2`$ SUSY is realized in the case of an arbitrary two-dimensional magnetic field $`B_x=B_y=0`$, $`B_z=B_z(x,y)`$ and the three-dimensional one which possesses the following symmetry with respect to the inversion of coordinates $`𝐁(𝐫)=\pm 𝐁(𝐫)`$ . The field of the magnetic monopole is one of the examples where SUSY is realized in the three-dimensional case . It was also shown that the electron motion on the surface orthogonal to the magnetic field possesses $`N=2`$ SUSY . In recent papers ,  new three-dimensional magnetic fields in which the motion of the electron is supersymmetrical were found. Another novel aspect lies in the fact that in the magnetic fields considered the SUSY with two, three and four supercharges is realized. It was shown that discrete symmetry such as inversion provide the possibility to construct the extended SUSY of the Pauli and Dirac Hamiltonians .

In the present paper we study the relation between Lie symmetry, discrete symmetry and supersymmetry of the Pauli Hamiltonian.

## 2 Supersymmetric quantum mechanics

Let us consider the extended algebra of SUSY quantum mechanics with $`N=n+1`$ supercharges defined by the following relations

$`\{Q_i,Q_j\}=2\delta _{ij}H,i,j=0,1,\mathrm{},n,`$ (1)
$`[H,Q_i]=0.`$ (2)
where $`Q_i`$ are supercharges, $`H`$ is the Hamiltonian. The supersymmetry leads to the degeneracy of non-zero energy levels. In the case of the $`N`$ SUSY the degeneracy is equal to $`2^{[N/2]}`$, where square brackets mean an integer part of the number.

This algebra can be constructed in the following way. Suppose that Hamiltonian $`H`$ can be written in the form

$$H=Q_0^2,$$
(3)
where $`Q_0`$ is a self-adjoint operator called supercharge. In addition let us postulate the existence of n self-adjoint operators $`T_i`$ that anticommute with the supercharge

$$\{Q_0,T_i\}=0,i=1,\mathrm{},n,$$
(4)
and also fulfill the Clifford algebra

$$\{T_i,T_j\}=2\delta _{ij}.$$
(5)
As a result of (3) and (4) $`T_i`$ commutes with the Hamiltonian

$$[H,T_i]=0.$$
(6)
Using the introduced operators we may construct supercharges

$$Q_j=iT_jQ_0,j=1,\mathrm{},n.$$
(7)
These supercharges together with $`Q_0`$ fulfill $`N`$-extended superalgebra (1)

Operators $`T_i`$ are useful for the study of SUSY in real quantum mechanical systems. Note that $`T_i`$ are the integrals of motion. Therefore these operators can be found using symmetry properties of the Hamiltonian. In the next sections we will find operators $`T_i`$ and construct SUSY for the Pauli Hamiltonian using its symmetry group.

## 3 Discrete symmetries and Clifford algebra

In this section we shall consider symmetry transformations of the Hamiltonian of the Pauli type and select from them a discrete subset of elements which yields the Clifford algebra of the operators $`T_i`$ generating new supercharges.

For the Pauli type Hamiltonian arbitrary operator $`T_i`$ will be defined in the product form

$$T=\sigma G,$$
(8)
where $`\sigma =\stackrel{}{m}𝝈`$ is an element of the Clifford algebra generated by Pauli matrices and $`G`$ is a symmetry transformation of the Hamiltonian. The Clifford algebra relations imposed on operators $`T`$, $`T^{}`$ now mean that

$$\{\sigma ,\sigma ^{}\}=0\text{for }\sigma \sigma ^{},[G,G^{}]=0\text{for }GG^{}$$
(9)
and

$$\{\sigma ,\sigma \}=2id,G^2=Id,$$
(10)
where $`id`$ and $`Id`$ denote respective identity mappings. Firstly let us solve constraints on the group elements. In our case $`GO(3)`$, therefore

$$G=I_\stackrel{}{n}\text{or}G=R_\stackrel{}{n}(\pi ),$$
(11)
where $`I_\stackrel{}{n}`$ denotes reflection with respect to the plane perpendicular to the vector $`\stackrel{}{n}`$ and $`R_\stackrel{}{n}(\pi )`$ is a rotation by angle $`\pi `$ along the $`\stackrel{}{n}`$-axis. Let us note that the general reflection in three dimensions can be expressed in the form

$$I_\stackrel{}{n}=R_\stackrel{}{n}(\pi )I,$$
(12)
where $`I`$ is the so called full reflection i.e. $`I\stackrel{}{x}=\stackrel{}{x}`$ and it is a central element in the $`O(3)`$ group. Hence let us denote an involutive element in $`O(3)`$ by $`G_\stackrel{}{n}`$. Now, two involutions of this form commute

$$[G_\stackrel{}{n},G_\stackrel{}{n}^{}]=0,\stackrel{}{n}\stackrel{}{n}^{},$$
(13)
if $`\stackrel{}{n}\stackrel{}{n}^{}`$. Therefore, for $`T_{\stackrel{}{m},\stackrel{}{n}}=\sigma G_\stackrel{}{n}`$ we have

$$\{T_{\stackrel{}{m},\stackrel{}{n}},T_{\stackrel{}{m}^{},\stackrel{}{n}^{}}\}=\{\sigma ,\sigma ^{}\}G_\stackrel{}{n}G_\stackrel{}{n}^{}.$$
(14)
This again means that $`\stackrel{}{m}\stackrel{}{m}^{}`$, for $`\stackrel{}{m}\stackrel{}{m}^{}`$. From the above arguments we finally get that operators $`T`$ are parametrized by labels of vectors from an orthonormal basis

$$T_{ij}\sigma _iG_j$$
(15)
Not all $`T_{ij}`$ are allowed, however further restriction comes from the condition (4) what for the Pauli supercharge $`Q_0`$ means that only the ”diagonal” sub-family $`T_iT_{ii}`$ enters the final construction of the new extended superalgebra. Let us note that supercharge $`Q_0`$ is always related to the special involution - so called grading operator which is also present in the Grassmannian version of the supersymmetric mechanics .

## 4 Supercharges for the Pauli Hamiltonian

For the electron the gyro-magnetic ratio only slightly differs from $`2`$, namely, $`g=2,0023`$. We suppose that $`g=2`$. Then the Pauli Hamiltonian can be written in the form

$$H=Q_0^2,$$
(16)
where

$$Q_0=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2m}}𝝈\left(𝐩\frac{e}{c}𝐀\right).$$
(17)
The operator $`Q_0`$ can be treated as the supercharge. Thus, for an arbitrary vector potential $`𝐀(x,y,z)`$ the Pauli Hamiltonian possesses the supersymmetry with one supercharge. In the special cases of the vector potentials the Pauli Hamiltonian has additional supercharges.

Initially let us consider a free electron with the zero vector potential $`𝐀=0`$. To find new supercharges we must find such operators (15) which anticommute with $`Q_0`$. Therefore the anticommutator reads

$$\{T_{ij},Q_0\}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2m}}\{\sigma _iG_j,𝝈𝐩\}.$$
(18)
It should vanish. We can satisfy this condition choosing $`i=j`$ and $`G_i=I_i`$. The inversion operator $`I_i`$ anticommutes with $`p_i`$ and commutes with $`p_k`$ for $`ki`$. Thus, we have found three operators

$$T_i=\sigma _iI_i,i=1,2,3$$
(19)
which satisfy the Clifford algebra and anticommute with $`Q_0`$. As a result the free electron described by the Pauli Hamiltonian possesses $`N=4`$ SUSY with supercharges

$$Q_0,Q_j=iT_jQ_0,j=1,2,3.$$
(20)
Evidently that $`N=4`$ SUSY also takes place for a non zero vector potential which satisfies with respect to inversion the same relations as momentum operators. Namely,

$$I_kA_j=(1)^{\delta _{jk}}A_jI_k.$$
(21)
The vector potentials satisfying (21) and corresponding SUSY of the electron in such fields were found in . In particular, an example of magnetic field in which the SUSY with two supercharges is realized is the field of a solenoid oriented along the axis $`z`$ and symmetric with respect to the inversion of $`z`$. The SUSY with three supercharges is realized in the magnetic field of straight current directed along the fixed axis. And finally, as an example of the SUSY system with $`N=4`$ supercharges we can adduce the electron moving in the field of magnetic octopole which can be constructed using four magnetic moments oriented along the axis $`z`$ and placed at vertices of the square in the $`XY`$ plane, the two neighbouring ones being directed oppositely.

## 5 Conclusion

In the present paper we have shown the way in which the symmetry of the Pauli Hamiltonian can be used for construction of the extended SUSY. Starting from the full group we obtain the discrete set of the involutive elements which generate operators satisfying the Clifford algebra relations and allow to construct extended SUSY for the Pauli Hamiltonian.


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# Acoustic properties of colloidal crystals

## I Introduction

Colloidal suspensions of monodisperse spherical particles, with a diameter between 1 nm and 1 $`\mu `$m, in liquids or gases self assemble onto three-dimensional simple lattices whose lattice parameter can be easily tailored, providing new opportunities for fundamental as well as for applied research (see, e.g., Ref. colpbg,  and references therein). The optical properties of these colloidal crystals are being investigated by many research groups because they seem to be good photonic band-gap materials; but they have interesting acoustic properties as well. Sprik ; Psheng1 ; Psheng2 ; Psheng3  Moreover, experiments relating to the reflection, transmission and absorption of ultrasonic waves by colloidal crystals can be very useful for the characterization of such systems, provided the means exist for a proper theoretical analysis of the experimental data. Finally, theoretical results for colloidal crystals offer a starting point for the understanding, at a semiquantitative level, of the propagation of acoustic waves in corresponding random media consisting of monodispersed spherical particles in a fluid. Psheng1 ; Psheng2 ; Psheng3

The vibration modes (normal modes of the elastic field) of a phononic crystal, by which we mean a composite material whose density $`\rho (𝐫)`$ and Lamé coefficients $`\lambda (𝐫)`$ and $`\mu (𝐫)`$ vary periodically in space, are Bloch waves with a corresponding frequency band structure which is analogous to that of electrons in ordinary crystals and electromagnetic waves in photonic crystals. Sig ; Kushw ; Kushw2 ; Kafesaki ; Sig2 ; ipsarob1 ; CT1  With an appropriate choice of the parameters involved one may obtain phononic crystals with absolute (omnidirectional) frequency gaps (phononic gaps) in selected regions of frequency. An elastic wave, whose frequency lies within an absolute frequency gap of a phononic crystal, incident on a slab of the crystal of certain thickness will be reflected by it, the slab operating as a perfect nonabsorbing mirror of elastic waves in the frequency region of the gap. Nature ; CT2  It may be possible, for example, to construct in this way vibration-free cavities which might be very useful in high-precision mechanical systems operating in a given frequency range.

In this paper we investigate in detail the acoustic properties of fcc colloidal crystals of polystyrene spheres in water and of close-packed silica spheres in air (opals). Given that these systems have a characteristic length scale of the order of 1 $`\mu `$m, they should exhibit interesting acoustic properties at ultrasonic frequencies of a few hundred MHz to a few GHz. It should be noted, however, that our results apply to different regions of frequency of the acoustic field provided that the size of the spheres and of the unit cell are scaled accordingly, and provided the elastic coefficients can be taken as constants independent of frequency over the said regions. The calculations of the frequency band structure and of the transmission coefficient of acoustic waves through a slab of the material were done using the layer-multiple-scattering formalism we have developed for this purpose. ipsarob1  A formalism along the same lines has also been published by Liu et al.CT1  We have already demonstrated the efficiency of this method in relation to solid-solid composites. ipsarob2  The present paper shows that the method applies equally well to phononic crystals consisting of nonoverlapping solid spheres in a fluid host; it appears that the plane-wave method for calculating the frequency band structure of such systems has convergence problems. Kafesaki  Besides, we shall pay particular attention to the physical origin of the different modes of the acoustic field in the systems under consideration.

## II Polystyrene spheres in water

We consider a model colloidal crystal consisting of polystyrene spheres in water. The mass density and the sound velocities for polystyrene are: $`\rho _p=1050\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3`$, $`c_{lp}=2400\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$, $`c_{tp}=1150\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$. For water we have: $`\rho _w=1000\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3`$, $`c_w=1480\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$. We begin by considering the scattering of a harmonic plane acoustic wave (a longitudinal wave) of angular frequency $`\omega `$, by a single polystyrene sphere of radius $`S`$ in water; the water extends over all space. The incident plane wave can be written as a sum of spherical waves associated with the spherical harmonics $`Y_{lm}`$, where $`l=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ and $`m=l,\mathrm{},0,\mathrm{},l`$, as usual. ipsarob1

A spherical wave of given $`(l,m)`$ scatters independently of the others, of different ($`l,m`$), because of the spherical symmetry of the scatterer; therefore the total scattering cross section is the sum of partial $`(l,m)`$ cross sections, with $`l`$ up to a maximum $`l_{max}`$ depending on the size parameter, $`\omega S/c_w`$, of the sphere. We assume that waves with $`l>l_{max}`$ do not scatter from the sphere and do not contribute to the total scattering cross section. Of course partial cross sections of different $`m`$ (but of the same $`l`$) are equal because of the spherical symmetry of the system. In Fig. 1 we show the total scattering cross section for a plane wave scattered by a polystyrene sphere in water as a function of $`\omega S/c_w`$. The peaks correspond to resonant modes of the acoustic field about the sphere with an angular distribution of the displacement field at the surface of the sphere determined by the spherical waves which contribute to these modes. We find that the resonance at $`\omega S/c_w=1.49`$ is an $`l=2`$ resonance: the displacement field associated with it is made up almost entirely (98%) from $`l=2`$ spherical waves; the one at $`\omega S/c_w=2.19`$ is an $`l=3`$ resonance: the corresponding displacement field is made up mostly (90%) from $`l=3`$ spherical waves; finally the field associated with the resonance at $`\omega S/c_w=2.83`$ is made up mostly from $`l=4`$ waves (65%) and $`l=1`$ waves (22%). And we remember that there will be ($`2l+1`$) resonant modes of the displacement field corresponding to $`m=l,\mathrm{},0,\mathrm{},l`$ of the same frequency $`\omega _l`$, i.e. $`\omega _l`$ is ($`2l+1`$)-degenerate.

We now consider a fcc crystal, with lattice constant $`a`$, of nonoverlapping polystyrene spheres in water.

We view the crystal as a sequence of (111) planes of spheres. The spheres of a plane are arranged on a hexagonal lattice of lattice constant $`a_0=a\sqrt{2}/2`$, defined by the primitive vectors $`𝐚_1=a_0(1,0)`$ and $`𝐚_2=a_0(1/2,\sqrt{3}/2)`$, in the $`xy`$ plane (plane of the spheres). The ($`n+1`$)th plane along the $`z`$ axis is obtained from the $`n`$th plane by a primitive translation, $`𝐚_3`$, of the crystal. The planes are separated along the $`z`$ direction by a distance $`d=a\sqrt{3}/3`$.

Fig. 2(a) shows the frequency band structure of acoustic waves in this crystal normal to the (111) surface, obtained by the method of Ref. ipsarob1, , when the fractional volume occupied by the spheres is $`f=30\%`$. In this case, the component of the reduced wavevector within the surface Brillouin zone (SBZ) of the fcc (111) surface, $`𝐤_{}`$, equals zero. The symmetry of the bands $`k_z(\omega ;𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎})`$ is determined by the symmetry group for this direction (the $`C_{3v}`$ group) and the corresponding propagating modes (Bloch waves) of the acoustic field belong to the different irreducible representations of this group, denoted by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ (see, e.g., Ref. GroupTheory, ); $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ are one-dimensional: the corresponding frequency bands are non-degenerate, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ is two-dimensional: the corresponding frequency bands are doubly degenerate. At the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ point ($`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, $`k_z=0`$) the modes of the acoustic field belong to the irreducible representations of the $`O_h`$ group associated with this point, as shown in Fig. 2(a). We see that the frequency bands of Fig. 2(a) appear in pairs: $`k_z(\omega ;𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎})`$, $`k_z(\omega ;𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎})`$. However, this symmetry property is not valid for an arbitrary value of $`𝐤_{}`$, because the crystal under consideration, described by the $`O_h`$ group, does not have a plane of mirror symmetry parallel to the (111) surface which would transform $`(k_x,k_y,k_z)`$ to $`(k_x,k_y,k_z)`$. The above symmetry property holds only for $`𝐤_{}`$ on the $`x`$ axis \[$`𝐤_{}=(k_x,0)`$\], because a rotation through $`\pi `$ about the $`x`$ axis is a symmetry operation of $`O_h`$ and it transforms $`(k_x,0,k_z)`$ to $`(k_x,0,k_z)`$.

The (longitudinal) wavefield, of given $`\omega `$ and $`𝐤_{}`$, in the host region between the $`n`$th and the ($`n+1`$)th planes of spheres, can be expanded into plane waves propagating (or decaying) to the left and to the right as follows

$`𝐮(\omega ;𝐤_{})={\displaystyle \underset{𝐠}{}}\left\{𝐮_{𝐠n}^+\mathrm{exp}\left[i𝐊_{𝐠l}^+(𝐫𝐀_n)\right]+𝐮_{𝐠n}^{}\mathrm{exp}\left[i𝐊_{𝐠l}^{}(𝐫𝐀_n)\right]\right\},`$ (1)
with

$$𝐊_𝐠^\pm =(𝐤_{}+𝐠,\pm \left[(\omega /c_w)^2(𝐤_{}+𝐠)^2\right]^{1/2}),$$
(2)
where $`𝐠`$ are the two-dimensional reciprocal vectors corresponding to the lattice defined by $`𝐚_1`$ and $`𝐚_2`$ above, and $`𝐀_n`$ is a point between the $`n`$th and $`(n+1)`$th planes. A generalized Bloch wave satisfies the equation

$$𝐮_{𝐠n+1}^\pm =\mathrm{exp}\left(i𝐤𝐚_3\right)𝐮_{𝐠n}^\pm ,$$
(3)
where $`𝐚_3=𝐀_{n+1}𝐀_n`$ and $`𝐤=(𝐤_{},k_z(\omega ;𝐤_{}))`$. We note that, although both longitudinal and transverse modes of the elastic field are considered within the (solid) spheres, only longitudinal modes exist in the (fluid) host region in the absence of viscosity. Therefore, in a binary composite of nonoverlapping solid spheres in a fluid host, where the solid component does not form a continuous network, there cannot be propagating transverse waves. Consequently, at the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ point ($`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎},`$ $`k_z=0`$) the dispersion curves \[Fig. 2(a) and also Figs. 35, and 7(a) below\], show only one (longitudinal) branch starting from zero frequency, instead of the three (corresponding to both longitudinal and transverse modes) appearing in solid-solid composites. Sprik ; Sig ; Sig2 ; ipsarob1 ; CT1 ; CT2 ; ipsarob2

One can easily show that when $`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, the $`𝐠=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ component of the wavefield, described by Eq. (1), vanishes ($`𝐮_{𝐠=\mathrm{𝟎}}^\pm =\mathrm{𝟎}`$) for the modes of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ or the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ symmetry; only the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ symmetry allows a non-vanishing $`𝐠=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ component of the wavefield. Now assume that we have a slab of the crystal of finite thickness, i.e. $`N`$ fcc (111) planes of polystyrene spheres; between the spheres and to the left and right of the slab, extending to infinity, we have water. There, and for the frequency range which interests us here, the acoustic wavefield has only the one component $`𝐠=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. And therefore the external field couples with the field inside the slab essentially only through the $`𝐠=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ component of the latter. Therefore an acoustic wave of given frequency, incident normally on the (111) slab of the crystal, will excite essentially only $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ modes of the crystal. If such a band does not exist at the given frequency the wave will be totally reflected by the slab. There will be no transmitted wave. The reader will see that this is indeed the case in the present instance: we show in Fig. 2(b), opposite the frequency band structure, the transmission coefficient of an acoustic plane wave incident normally on a slab of the crystal consisting of 32 planes of polystyrene spheres in water. The transmission coefficient opposite the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ bands exhibits the well-known Fabry-Perot-like oscillations due to multiple scattering between the surfaces of the slab; elsewhere it practically vanishes, and this includes regions of frequency where only bands of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ and/or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ symmetry exist. Of course the above argument holds for normal incidence; off this direction the symmetry argument does not apply, and there will be some transmission if there are any propagating modes of the acoustic field at the given frequency (see below, Fig. 4).

From a practical point of view, once the frequency band structure and, if required, the transmission coefficient have been calculated, one has all that is necessary for a comparison with relevant experimental data. However, it is worthwhile to look at the physics behind the band structure of Fig. 2. We note that the five narrow bands about $`\omega S/c_w1.5`$ (we remember that the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ band is doubly degenerate) derive from the $`l=2`$ resonances on the individual spheres, which interact weakly between them. The five-fold degeneracy of the resonance of the single sphere is split by this interaction in accordance with the lower (cubic) symmetry of the crystal field. Similarly the seven narrow bands about $`\omega S/c_w2.2`$ derive from the $`l=3`$ resonances on the individual spheres. We observe the small hybridization gaps opening up about $`\omega S/c_w1.5`$ and about $`\omega S/c_w2.2`$, between bands of the same symmetry.

There is also a mode of propagation of acoustic waves corresponding to almost free propagation in an effective homogeneous medium. In the absence of the resonances associated with the spheres, this mode of propagation, which has the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ symmetry, would dominate the frequency band structure of the acoustic field as shown in Fig. 3(a). It was calculated by suppressing the $`l>1`$ resonances, i.e. cutting off the $`l>1`$ spherical waves, which give rise to these resonances, from the spherical-wave expansion of the wavefield (see Ref. ipsarob1, ). In the long-wavelength limit ($`\omega 0`$) we obtain a linear dispersion curve, the slope of which gives an effective velocity of sound for the composite medium, $`\overline{c}=1589\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$, which is in very good agreement with the result, $`\overline{c}=1566\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$, of the effective-medium approximation. Gaunaurd  The small gap about $`\omega S/c_w1.5`$ in Fig. 3(a), is a Bragg gap; it is analogous to the small gaps one obtains at the edges of the Brillouin zone in the electronic band structure of free-electron-like metals. When the resonances on the spheres are allowed in, one obtains the band structure shown in Fig. 3(b), with apparent hybridization gaps between the continuum band \[of Fig. 3(a)\] and resonance bands of the same symmetry ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$).

We believe that the disorder that is naturally there in a colloidal solution, does not eradicate the essential characteristics of the acoustic modes as calculated here, which are determined by the local environment about a sphere and less so by long range order. We would expect the fine features associated with narrow bands to be smoothed out by disorder, but bands of modes separated by gaps could remain. This would be in accordance with the results of Brillouin-scattering experiments on disordered colloidal suspensions of monodispersed polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) spheres in transparent oil. It has been shown that in these colloidal suspensions different longitudinal modes of propagation of the acoustic field exist which are separated by frequency gaps about the resonance frequencies of an individual PMMA sphere, Psheng1 ; Psheng2 ; Psheng3  which agrees, at a semiquantitative level, with the hybridization-induced gaps discussed above.

In Fig. 4(a) we show an example of the band structure for a $`𝐤_{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, and next to it, in Fig. 4(b), the transmission coefficient of an acoustic wave, with the same $`𝐤_{}`$, incident on a slab of the material consisting of 32 fcc (111) planes of polystyrene spheres. The thing to note is that all bands are active in this case, although the transmission coefficient is not always unity \[compare with Fig. 2(a)\]. We remember that the incident wave cannot have a frequency smaller than $`\omega _{inf}=c_w\left|𝐤_{}\right|`$. Finally, it can be seen that now the frequency bands do not have the reflection symmetry found in the case of $`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ \[Fig. 2(a)\], for the reasons given above.

We calculated the frequency band structure for a sufficient number of $`𝐤_{}`$ points within the SBZ. There is a near-omnidirectional gap about $`\omega S/c_w1.3`$; we tried to turn this gap into a proper omnidirectional gap by changing some of the parameters, but we did not succeed.

In Fig. 5 we look at the dependence of the frequency band structure on the fractional volume occupied by the spheres. We see in particular that the width of the resonance bands increases with $`f`$, apparently because the spatial overlap of the wavefield associated with resonances on neighboring spheres increases with $`f`$.

## III Opals

In this section we consider a phononic crystal, an artificial opal, consisting of two media (silica spheres in air) with density and velocity contrasts much higher than was the case in the crystal (polystyrene spheres in water) studied in the preceding section. Opalescent structures (usually referred to as synthetic or artificial opals) can be obtained from monodispersed silica colloids, e.g. by sedimentation in the gravitational field. In this way, fcc arrays of silica microspheres in air, near the close-packing density ($`74\%`$), similar to a natural opal, have been obtained. colpbg  Here we present some results on the acoustic properties of such an opal. The mass density and the sound velocities for silica are: $`\rho _s=2200\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3`$, $`c_{ls}=5970\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$, $`c_{ts}=3760\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$. For air we have: $`\rho _a=1.23\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3`$, $`c_a=340\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}`$.

Proceeding as in Section II, we first consider the scattering of a harmonic plane acoustic wave, of angular frequency $`\omega `$, by a single silica sphere of radius $`S`$ in air. In this case the total scattering cross section is a slowly increasing function of $`\omega S/c_a`$ (see Fig. 6).

However, the partial cross sections, corresponding to different values of $`l`$, exhibit well defined resonance peaks, of some width, as can be seen from Fig. 6. At $`\omega S/c_a=2.22`$ we obtain an $`l=0`$ resonance, at $`\omega S/c_a=3.88`$ an $`l=1`$ resonance, and at $`\omega S/c_a=5.25`$ an $`l=2`$ resonance.

We consider then an fcc crystal of nonoverlapping silica spheres in air with $`f=74\%`$ and view it as a sequence of (111) planes of spheres. Fig. 7(a) shows the frequency band structure of the infinite crystal, for $`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. The physical origin of the bands shown in Fig. 7(a), other than the flat band about $`\omega S/c_a=3.426`$, can be understood in much the same way as for the bands of Fig. 2(a). In the absence of hybridization we would have, extending practically over the entire frequency range, a mode corresponding to almost free propagation in an effective homogeneous medium, with Bragg gaps opening up about $`\omega S/c_a1.5`$ at the edges of the Brillouin zone and about $`\omega S/c_a3.5`$ at the center of the Brillouin zone; and we would have also resonance bands developing about the $`l=0`$ and $`l=1`$ resonances of the individual spheres. From Fig. 6, we expect a single $`l=0`$ resonance band of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ symmetry about $`\omega S/c_a2.2`$; and three $`l=1`$ bands about $`\omega S/c_a3.9`$, of which one should be non-degenerate ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ symmetry) and one doubly degenerate ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ symmetry). We expect a degree of hybridization between bands of the same ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$) symmetry, and this naturally leads to the bands shown in Fig. 7(a), except for the one flat band, a doubly degenerate band of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ symmetry, about $`\omega S/c_a=3.426`$, which appears to have a very different physical origin (see below).

In the long-wavelength limit ($`\omega 0`$) we obtain a linear dispersion curve, the slope of which gives an effective velocity of sound in the composite medium, $`\overline{c}=278`$ m/s, which is in very good agreement with result, $`\overline{c}=291`$ m/s, of the effective-medium approximation. Gaunaurd  We note that this agreement is greatly improved at lower values of the volume-filling fraction $`f`$. It is worth noting, also, that the effective velocity of sound in a system of silica spheres in air is smaller than in air because of the high density contrast between silica and air. Indeed, in the limit $`\rho _a<<\rho _s`$, the effective-medium approximation gives practically identical results with the simple expression $`\overline{c}/c_a=[2/(2+f)]^{1/2}`$, which gives $`\overline{c}<c_a`$ at any value of $`f`$.

It seems that the modes corresponding to the flat band about $`\omega S/c_a=3.426`$, which are deaf modes, are those of a wavefield highly concentrated between consecutive planes of spheres, with very little interaction between neighbor regions of high concentration. In order to demonstrate the above, we looked for the eigenmodes of the acoustic field, for $`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, in a slab of $`N=2,4,8,16`$ planes of spheres, in the manner described for the corresponding problem of the electromagnetic field, Karathanos  over a frequency range about the said flat band of Fig. 7(a). Because of the two-dimensional translation symmetry of the slab, the wavefield, in the air regions, can be expanded \[as in Eq. (1)\] in a series of plane waves with wavevectors $`𝐊_𝐠^\pm =(𝐠,\pm \left[(\omega /c_a)^2𝐠\right]^{1/2})`$; now, as it turns out, for the eigenmodes in question the term corresponding to $`𝐠=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ in the above plane-wave expansion vanishes, which implies that the wavefield decreases exponentially on both sides out of the slab, since $`\omega /c_a<|𝐠|`$ for $`𝐠\mathrm{𝟎}`$. We can say that these eigenmodes correspond to bound (in the $`z`$ direction) states of the acoustic field. Our results are shown in Fig. 8.

For a single pair of planes ($`N=2`$) we obtain a pair of such modes corresponding to a doubly degenerate eigenfrequency. For three pairs of planes ($`N=4`$) we obtain three pairs of doubly degenerate eigenfrequencies, and similarly in each case we obtain a pair of doubly degenerate eigenfrequencies for every pair of planes in the slab. The eigenfrequencies corresponding to the bound states of the different slabs in Fig. 8, have been plotted against values of the reduced wavenumber $`k_{zi}=\pi i/Nd`$, $`i=1,2,\mathrm{}N1`$, for the slab consisting of $`N`$ planes, to show how this band of states develops with increasing $`N`$. In every case, $`d`$ equals the separation of two consecutive fcc (111) planes in the infinite crystal, so that $`Nd`$ equals the thickness of the slab. We note that the eigenfrequencies of the finite slabs coincide with the corresponding eigenfrequencies on the dispersion curves (solid lines in Fig. 8) of the infinite crystal. The question now arises as to whether one can see experimentally this band. The corresponding modes do not couple to an incident wave. This is demonstrated quite clearly in Fig. 7(b), which shows the transmission coefficient of a wave incident normally on a slab of the material consisting of 32 planes of spheres. We can see that the transmission coefficient vanishes at and about $`\omega S/c_a=3.426`$ where the band under consideration exists. However, we have verified that the said band survives for $`𝐤_{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ (at least in the neighborhood of $`𝐤_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$) where it couples with an incident wave of the same $`𝐤_{}`$ leading to measurable transmittance.

In Fig. 9, we present the projection of the frequency band structure of the acoustic field of the phononic crystal under consideration, on the symmetry lines of the SBZ of the fcc (111) surface. The shaded regions extend over the frequency bands of the acoustic field: at any one frequency within a shaded region, for a given $`𝐤_{}`$, there exists at least one propagating acoustic mode in the infinite crystal. The blank areas correspond to frequency gaps. We note that knowing the modes with $`𝐤_{}`$ in the shaded area ($`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\overline{\mathrm{K}}\overline{\mathrm{M}}`$) of the SBZ and $`\pi /d<k_z\pi /d`$ is sufficient for a complete description of all the modes in the infinite crystal. The modes in the remaining of the reduced $`𝐤`$ space are obtained through symmetry. One clearly sees that for the opal under consideration, and unlike the colloidal crystal studied in Section II, one obtains an omnidirectional frequency gap extending from $`\omega S/c_a=1.59`$ to $`\omega S/c_a=1.95`$. We verified that this is indeed so by calculating the band structure at a sufficient number of $`𝐤_{}`$ points in the SBZ. Finally, we should note the existence of a very narrow omnidirectional gap at higher frequencies, extending from $`\omega S/c_a=3.30`$ to $`\omega S/c_a=3.34`$.

This work has been supported by the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) of the National Technical University of Athens. Partial support from the University of Athens is also acknowledged. R. Sainidou is supported by the State Foundation (I.K.Y.) of Greece.


text:
# Gauge potential singularities and the gluon condensate at finite temperatures

## 1 INTRODUCTION

A precise definition of a Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is provided by the critical limit of a lattice model. Thereby, the QFT is solely specified by the number of space-time dimensions and symmetries. Here, we will critically re-investigate the lattice gauge theory with Wilson action which is assumed to reduce to continuum $`SU(2)`$ Yang-Mills theory in the critical limit.

It is usually assumed that all $`SU(2)`$ link variables $`U_\mu (x)`$ can be expanded in the vicinity of the unit element for sufficiently small lattice spacing $`a`$, i.e. $`U_\mu (x)=\mathrm{exp}\{iW_\mu (x)a\}`$, such that the Wilson action density reduces to the Yang-Mills Lagrangian

$$\frac{\beta }{2}\text{tr}\{1P_{\mu \nu }[U]\}\frac{a^4}{2g^2}F_{\mu \nu }^b[W](x)F_{\mu \nu }^b[W],$$
(1)
where $`\beta =4/g^2`$, $`P_{\mu \nu }[U](x)`$ is the plaquette calculated in terms of the link elements $`U_\mu (x)`$ and $`F_{\mu \nu }^b[W]`$ is the usual field strength tensor. We will find that this Taylor expansion is not always justified. We will propose to relate the action density of the corresponding singularities to the gluon condensate.

## 2  THE LATTICE THEORY OF GAUGE POTENTIAL SINGULARITIES

Before we can localize the links where the above expansion eventually fails, we must bring the link elements as close as possible to the unit element by exploiting the gauge freedom $`\mathrm{\Omega }=_x\omega _x`$. We are thus led to implement an algorithm which puts the Monte Carlo configurations into the Landau gauge, accomplishing $`_{x,\mu }\text{tr}U_\mu ^\mathrm{\Omega }(x)\mathrm{max},`$ which is most suitable for our purpose. We have used an improved simulated annealing algorithm in order to find the maximum of the gauge fixing functional (details will be presented elsewhere). We then decompose the appropriately gauged link elements $`U^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ into a center part and a coset part

$$U_\mu ^\mathrm{\Omega }(x)=Z_\mu (x)\mathrm{exp}\left\{iA_\mu ^b(x)t^ba\right\},$$
(2)
with $`Z_\mu (x)=\mathrm{sign}\text{tr}U_\mu ^\mathrm{\Omega }(x)`$, and interpret $`A_\mu ^b(x)`$ as the Yang-Mills gauge field in the continuum limit . An expansion in powers of $`aW_\mu `$ (1) is uniformly justified only if the embedded $`Z_2`$ gauge theory spanned by the link elements $`Z_\mu (x)`$ is trivial, i.e. if $`Z_\mu (x)=1`$, $`x,\mu `$. For a numerical check how many links $`U_\mu (x)`$ violate this condition it is possible directly to use the center action as singularity counter

$$c:=1\frac{1}{2}\text{tr}P_{\mu \nu }[Z](x),$$
(3)
with the plaquettes $`P_{\mu \nu }[Z](x)`$ expressed in terms of the center projected configuration. For the Landau gauge, one expects that the non-trivial center elements $`Z_\mu (x)=1`$ are sufficiently dilute close to the continuum limit. An isolated non-trivial center element generates $`6`$ negative plaquettes each contributing $`2`$ units to the center action in (3). In this dilute gas approximation, we therefore find $`c12\rho a^4`$, where $`\rho `$ is the density of links carrying non-trivial center elements.

Our numerical result for $`c`$ as function of $`\beta `$ is shown in figure 1. As expected, the singularity counter $`c`$ rapidly decreases with increasing $`\beta `$. Note, however, that the density $`\rho `$ of non-trivial center elements in physical units scales towards the continuum limit and is non-vanishing in the limiting case.

## 3  THE FINITE TEMPERATURE GLUON CONDENSATE

The Operator Product Expansion (OPE) somewhat artificially distinguishes between contributions from perturbative gluons and ”other” contributions to Greenfunctions, which are not further specified. In lattice regularization, the perturbative gluon contribution is recovered by expanding the link variables (in Landau gauge) around the unit elements. Thus, the singular component, originating from the non-trivial center elements, contributes to the ”other parts” which are parameterized by the condensates of the OPE. In particular, the gluon condensate is defined as the expectation value of the action density where the (divergent) perturbative gluon contribution has been subtracted. In practice, this subtraction uses the result of a high order calculation in lattice perturbation theory . Alternatively, the gluon contribution can be removed by a cooling procedure which reduces the action of the coset (gluon) fields $`A_\mu (x)`$ . The latter approach suggests that the gluon condensate $`G`$ gets contributions from the energy density stored in the underlying $`Z_2`$ fields, which are revealed by the coset cooling mechanism. We therefore find

$$Ga^4c=\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}12}\rho a^4.$$
(4)
It was already observed above (see figure 1) that $`G`$ is lattice spacing independent and non-vanishing close to the continuum limit.

Let us now study the temperature dependence of the gluon condensate $`G`$ which is defined by (4) and (3). Temperature is introduced by varying the number $`N_t`$ of grid points in time direction, $`T=1/N_ta(\beta )`$. We used the one loop formula for $`a(\beta )`$ and the string tension $`\sigma =(440\mathrm{MeV})^2`$ as the reference scale. Simulations were performed on $`16^3\times N_t`$, $`N_t=4\mathrm{}16`$ lattices for $`\beta =2.3,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2.4},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2.5}`$. Due to the space-time asymmetry induced by the finite temperature, it is convenient to independently measure the spatial and the time-like parts of the gluon condensate, i.e. $`G_s`$ and $`G_t`$. These condensates are calculated from (4) where $`c`$ (3) is separately evaluated with spatial-spatial and spatial-timelike plaquettes, respectively. The result is shown in figure 2. Below the deconfinement temperature for $`SU(2)`$ gluondynamics, $`T_c\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}300}`$MeV, the condensates $`G_s`$ and $`G_t`$ are weakly temperature dependent. Above $`T_c`$, the time-like component $`G_t`$ is rapidly increasing with $`T`$ while the variations of $`G_s`$ with $`T`$ are still moderate.

We interpret this behavior as follows: at zero temperature, the vacuum energy density of the underlying $`Z_2`$ gauge fields generates the gluon condensate. In the deconfined phase at high temperatures, these fields start thermally fluctuating in addition to the fluctuations of the coset (gluon) fields. The thermal energy density stored in the $`Z_2`$ system induces the rise of the gluon condensate with temperature while the gluonic black body radiation does not contribute by definition.

## 4  DO WE HAVE TO REVISE THE CONTINUUM FORMULATION?

The ab initio continuum formulation is based on the functional integral over gluon fields. A choice of the boundary conditions for gluon fields $`A_\mu ^b(x)`$ is included in the definition of the QFT. If we wish to consider singularities of the gauge potential, the positions of these singularities are cut out from the space-time manifold. This procedure generates new boundaries at which we must specify appropriate conditions for the gauge potential. Different choices of the singularities might generate theories with different physical contents.

Let us illustrate this point in the familiar case of QED. A base manifold which is punctured at a closed line of space time can support a smooth gauge field which describes a magnetic monopole world line (Wu-Yang construction). Choosing several ”singular lines” which are cut out from the base manifold, providing boundary conditions at all cuts and solving the QED partition function would result in a theory of photons moving in a background of given monopole world lines, but does not serve as a theory of monopoles. By contrast, the continuum limit of lattice compact QED represents a complete theory of photons and monopoles .

## 5 CONCLUSIONS

Landau gauge fixing of $`SU(2)`$ lattice gauge theory reveals a $`Z_2`$ vacuum texture. In the continuum limit, this texture consists of point-like gauge potential singularities with a density of $`\rho 0.7/fm^4`$. The action density which is stored in the embedded $`Z_2`$ gauge system is identified with (part of) the gluon condensate. At temperatures above the deconfinement transition we observed that the $`Z_2`$ system carries thermal energy density leading to a gluon condensate which increases with temperature.


text:
# Dual Superconductivity and Chiral Symmetry in Full QCD

## 1 Introduction

Confinement is experimentally a well established property of strong interactions. In the quenched approximation a phase transition driven by temperature from a confined to a deconfined phase has been observed by lattice simulations, an order parameter being the v.e.v. of the Polyakov line, which is zero in the confined (low temperature) phase and nonzero in the deconfined (high temperature) phase, thus signalling the spontaneuous breaking of the $`Z_3`$ centre symmetry. The situation is different in full QCD, where the presence of dynamical quarks makes the $`Z_3`$ centre symmetry explicitely broken, so that the v.e.v. of the Polyakov line ceases to be an order parameter. One speaks instead of a phase transition from a spontaneously broken to a restored chiral symmetry, the chiral condensate being the order parameter. Anyway, at the chiral phase transition a peak in the Polyakov line susceptibility is still observed, indicating a sort of deconfining crossover. However up to now the relation between chiral symmetry and confinement is still not well understood.

On the other hand, confinement in the quenched theory is now well understood in terms of an order/disorder phase transition , with the QCD vacuum behaving like a dual superconductor at low temperatures and undergoing a phase transition to a normal conducting state at the critical temperature $`T_c`$. A disorder parameter which is the v.e.v. of a magnetically charged operator has been developed and used to demonstrate dual superconductivity of the vacuum for U(1), SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills theory . Contrary to the v.e.v. of the Polyakov line, the definition of the disorder parameter detecting dual superconductivity can be extended to full QCD. It is then possible to test whether there is any transition from a dual superconducting to an ordinary vacuum also in presence of dynamical fermions and how it is related to the chiral phase transition. This is the aim of our study and we will present some preliminary results in this paper.

## 2 The disorder parameter in full QCD

The definition of the disorder parameter in pure gauge theories has been discussed in , so we will only recall here the main points. It is the v.e.v. of a gauge invariant operator, $`\mu `$, which carries magnetic charge. The $`U(1)`$ magnetic subgroup is selected by the so called abelian projection. A gauge fixing is performed, usually by diagonalizing a local operator in the adjoint representation, which leaves a U(1)$`\times `$U(1) gauge freedom (for SU(3)), corresponding to two possible definitions of the magnetic charge. It has been proved in  that the dual superconductivity mechanism for confinement works independently of the abelian projection chosen, as already suggested in .

On the lattice $`\mu `$ can be written as

$$\mu \mathrm{exp}\frac{\beta }{3}\underset{i,\stackrel{}{x}}{}\mathrm{ReTr}\left(\stackrel{~}{U}_{0i}(\stackrel{}{x},t_0)U_{0i}(\stackrel{}{x},t_0)\right),$$
(1)
where the sum in the exponential is extended only to the temporal plaquettes $`U_{0i}`$ in the time slice $`t=t_0`$ where the magnetic monopole is created, and $`\stackrel{~}{U}_{0i}(\stackrel{}{x},t_0)`$ indicates a plaquette modified by the insertion of a monopole field, defined as an abelian field in the abelian projected gauge. The disorder parameter is then defined as

$$\mu =\frac{\left(𝒟U\right)\mu e^{S_G}}{\left(𝒟U\right)e^{S_G}}=\frac{\left(𝒟U\right)e^{S_M}}{\left(𝒟U\right)e^{S_G}},$$
(2)
where $`S_G`$ is the standard Wilson action and $`S_M`$ is a modified action obtained by inserting the monopole field in the temporal plaquettes on time slice $`t_0`$. It can be shown , by a change of integration variables, that the insertion of $`\mu `$ in the functional integral corresponds to creating a monopole at $`t_0`$ which then propagates at all times $`t>t_0`$. For this reason, periodic boundary conditions in time direction are not consistent with the definition of $`\mu `$, and $`C^{}`$-periodic boundary conditions have to be used instead:

$$U_\mu (\stackrel{}{x},t=N_t)=U_\mu ^{}(\stackrel{}{x},t=0),$$
(3)
$`N_t`$ being the temporal extension of the lattice and $`U_\mu ^{}`$ being the complex conjugated of $`U_\mu `$.

A lattice determination of $`\mu `$ is difficult, since it is the average of a quantity which fluctuates exponentially with the square root of the physical volume. It is much more convenient to study

$$\rho =\frac{}{\beta }\mathrm{log}\mu =S_G_{S_G}S_M_{S_M},$$
(4)
where $`_S`$ indicates the v.e.v. obtained using the action $`S`$ to weight configurations. From the knowledge of $`\rho `$ the relevant physical information on $`\mu `$ can be extracted. The result in pure gauge theory is that $`\mu 0`$ in the confined, low temperature phase, while it goes to zero at $`T_c`$, with critical indices which can be extracted from the finite size scaling behaviour of $`\rho `$.

In full QCD the definitions of $`\mu `$ and $`\rho `$ are modified in a very simple way:

$$\mu =\frac{\left(𝒟\overline{\psi }𝒟\psi 𝒟U\right)e^{S_MS_F}}{\left(𝒟\overline{\psi }𝒟\psi 𝒟U\right)e^{S_GS_F}},$$
(5)
where $`S_F`$ is the fermionic action, and

$$\rho =S_G_{S_G+S_F}S_M_{S_M+S_F}.$$
(6)
Unlike the $`Z_3`$ centre symmetry, the $`U(1)`$ magnetic symmetry defined after abelian projection is still a good symmetry also in presence of dynamical fermions. Therefore $`\mu `$ can be a correct disorder parameter for the dual superconductivity transition also in full QCD.

## 3 Algorithm implementation and simulation details

We have used two flavours of staggered fermions and the R version of the HMC algorithm for our simulations. Some technical complications arise in the computation of the second member on the right hand side of Eq. (6). In the evaluation of $`S_M_{S_M+S_F}`$, the use of $`C^{}`$-periodic boundary conditions in time direction for the gauge fields requires $`C^{}`$ boundary conditions in temporal direction also for fermionic variables (in addition to the usual antiperiodic ones), in order to ensure gauge invariance of the fermionic determinant. This implies relevant changes in the formulation and implementation of the HMC algorithm which are explained in detail in Ref. .

We have chosen the Polyakov line as the local adjoint operator which defines the abelian projection. Actually, calling $`L(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$ the Polyakov line starting at point $`(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$, the abelian projection is defined by the operator $`L(\stackrel{}{x},t)L^{}(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$, which transforms in the adjoint representation when using $`C^{}`$ boundary conditions.

The use of a modified gauge action also implies changes in the molecular dynamics equations. One has to maintain constant the modified hamiltonian containing $`S_M`$. A change in any temporal link indeed induces a change in $`L(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$ and hence in the abelian projection defining the monopole field. Therefore the dependence of $`S_M`$ on temporal links is non trivial and the equations of motion for the temporal momenta become more complicated. Details of the changes necessary in the molecular dynamics equations will be published in a forthcoming paper .

We have used a temporal lattice extent $`N_t=4`$ and spatial extents $`N_s=16,32`$. We have chosen to vary the temperature, $`T=1/(N_ta(\beta ,m_q))`$, moving in the $`(\beta ,m_q)`$ plane while keeping a fixed value of $`m_\pi /m_\rho `$. To do this and to extract the physical scale we have used fits to the $`m_\rho `$ and $`m_\pi `$ masses published in . In particular we present here results obtained at $`m_\pi /m_\rho 0.505`$.

## 4 Results and Outlook

Results obtained for $`\rho `$ on the $`16^3\times 4`$ and $`32^3\times 4`$ lattices are shown in Fig. 1. A clear peak is present in both cases and, as can be seen in Fig. 2, it is located exactly at the chiral phase transition, at a critical temperature $`T_c150`$ MeV. Moreover, as is visible in Fig. 1, the peak scales roughly by a factor of eight when going from $`N_s=16`$ to $`N_s=32`$, i.e. $`N_s^3`$. Previous studies of full QCD at a similar set of physical parameters  have found a crossover rather than a phase transition at $`T_c`$.

From our present results we can draw the following conclusions: i) the disorder parameter shows a behaviour very similar to that observed in pure Yang-Mills theories, thus indicating the presence of a transition from a dual superconducting to an ordinary vacuum state also for full QCD. This transition clearly happens in correspondence of the chiral phase transition; ii) our results seem to scale roughly with a critical index $`\nu 1/3`$. Of course we still need to collect more data near the critical point and at different values of $`N_s`$ in order to draw more precise conclusions about the critical behaviour of $`\rho `$ at $`T_c`$.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

One of the LHC supergoals is the discovery of the supersymmetry. In ref. (see, also references ) the LHC(CMS) SUSY discovery potential has been investigated within the minimal SUGRA-MSSM model  where all sparticle masses are determined mainly by two parameters: $`m_0`$ (common squark and slepton mass at GUT scale) and $`m_{\frac{1}{2}}`$ (common gaugino mass at GUT scale). The signature used for the search for squarks and gluino at LHC is $`(m0)`$ leptons + $`(n2)jets+E_T^{miss}`$ events. The conclusion of ref.  is that LHC(CMS) is able to detect squarks and gluino with masses up to (2 - 2.5) TeV.

Despite the simplicity of the SUGRA-MSSM model it is a very particular model and we can expect that real sparticle masses can differ in a drastic way from sparticle masses pattern of SUGRA-MSSM model due to many reasons, see for instance refs. . Therefore, it is more appropriate to investigate the LHC SUSY discovery potential in a model-independent way.

## 2 Results

This talk is based on our papers  where the reader can find additional information. Our main conclusion is that LHC SUSY discovery potential depends rather strongly on the relation between squark, gluino and LSP masses and it decreases with the increase of the LSP mass. For LSP mass close to squark or gluino masses it is possible to detect SUSY at LHC for squark and gluino masses up to $`(11.5)TeV`$. Our results on LHC(CMS) SUSY discovery potential are presented in Figs.1-2.

## Acknowledgments

We are indebted to the participants of Daniel Denegri working group on physics simulations at LHC for useful comments. This work has been supported by INTAS-CERN 377 and RFFI grant 99-01-00091.


text:
# Stiff-Glass Approximation of Mode-Coupling Theory

## I Introduction

In a recent paper, Götze and Mayr Götze and Mayr (2000) demonstrated that the mode-coupling theory for the glass transition (MCT) applied to a model of the hard-sphere system (HSS) at relatively high packing fractions yields spectra for the density correlation functions, that display a broad asymmetric peak as well as a sound-like mode at rather high wave vectors. Similar observations have been made in real glass formers and are known as the Boson Peak (BP) and high-frequency sound (HFS), respectively. To investigate these phenomena in detail, a large number of experiments has been performed, using various techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, x-ray spectroscopy, neutron scattering, or molecular-dynamics simulations. For an account of the literature, the reader is referred to the papers cited in Götze and Mayr (2000). This work also contains a summary of the features signifying both the HFS and the BP.

The mentioned aspects of the full numerical MCT solutions can be understood on the basis of two additional approximations; one being the generalized hydrodynamic (GHD) approximation, the other being the so-called stiff-glass approximation (SGA). Performing these two approximations, one arrives at an equation that, while it still has to be solved numerically, provides physical insight on the origin of the BP- and HFS-like features of the HSS model. Especially the SGA can be understood on physical grounds as a description of phonon scattering from the frozen-in amorphous structure, neglecting two-phonon processes. In Götze and Mayr (2000) a further simplification was carried out. It amounts to dropping the remaining wave-vector dependence of the microscopic frequencies in the GHD-SGA formula. As it leads to an equation that has been discussed earlier as a “schematic” toy model of the MCT, we shall call it the schematic-model description in the following. One obtains an analytically solvable expression that, despite its simplicity, gives a good description of the memory kernel responsible for the BP-like spectra.

The aim of this paper is to drop this last simplification and to consider the SGA equations directly. This way, all of the additional simplifications applied on top of MCT can be investigated independently. We shall also compare with the analytic solution of Götze and Mayr (2000) to understand its range of applicability. The discussion is meant to enlighten the physical mechanism behind the MCT boson peak, since the SGA is connected with a clear-cut physical picture.

The paper is organized as follows: Section II will present a summary of the basic equations and approximations outlined above. In Sec. III, the solutions of the SGA equations with the full $`q`$ dependence taken into account will be presented. Section IV examines the effect of the GHD and schematic approximations, and Sec. V offers some conclusions.

## II Equations of Motion

### II.1 Mode-Coupling Theory

The mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT) describes the dynamics of a glass-forming liquid in terms of the density correlators $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q(t)=\varrho _\stackrel{}{q}^{}(t)\varrho _\stackrel{}{q}`$. Here, $`\varrho _\stackrel{}{q}=_j\mathrm{exp}(i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}_j)/\sqrt{N}`$ are the density fluctuations of wave vector $`\stackrel{}{q}`$, for a system of $`N`$ particles at density $`\rho `$. $`\mathrm{}`$ denotes canonical averaging. For amorphous systems, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q(t)`$ depends on the wave-vector only through its modulus $`q=|\stackrel{}{q}|`$. At short times, one has $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q(t)=S_q\frac{1}{2}S_q\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2t^2+\mathrm{}`$, where $`S_q=|\varrho _\stackrel{}{q}|^2`$ is the static structure factor specifying the equilibrium structure of the system. $`\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2=v^2q^2/S_q`$ are the phonon frequencies. A system of hard spheres shall be considered. The units of time and length are chosen in accordance with Götze and Mayr (2000) such that the thermal velocity $`v=2.5`$ and the sphere diameter $`d=1`$.

The normalized density correlators $`\varphi _q(t)`$, given by $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q(t)=S_q\varphi _q(t)`$, obey the equations of motion obtained via a Mori-Zwanzig projection operator formalism,

$$\ddot{\varphi }_q(t)+\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2\varphi _q(t)+\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2_0^tm_q(tt^{})\dot{\varphi }_q(t^{})𝑑t^{}=0.$$
(1a)
Here $`m_q(t)`$ is the memory kernel, a correlation function of fluctuating forces. If one introduces Fourier-Laplace transformed quantities with the convention $`\varphi _q(z)=i_0^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{exp}(izt)\varphi _q(t)𝑑t`$, Eq. (1a) is equivalent to
$$\chi _q(z)/\chi _q^0=\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2/\left[z^2\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2+\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2zm_q(z)\right],$$
(1b)
where the fluctuation dissipation theorem has been used to connect $`\varphi _q(z)`$ to the dynamical susceptibility $`\chi _q(z)`$: $`\chi _q(z)/\chi _q^0=z\varphi _q(z)+1`$, with $`\chi _q^0`$ denoting the isothermal compressibility.

Within MCT, the memory kernel $`m_q(t)`$ is written as the sum of a regular contribution and a so-called mode-coupling contribution, the latter describing the slow dynamics important close to the glass transition. For details, the reader is referred to the original publications Bengtzelius et al. (1984); Leutheusser (1984) and standard literature Götze (1991). One gets for $`m_q(t)`$ a quadratic functional in $`\varphi (t)`$, $`m_q^{\text{MCT}}(t)=_q[\varphi ]`$,

$$m_q^{\text{MCT}}(t)=_{\stackrel{}{p}=\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}}\frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}V(\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{p})\varphi _k(t)\varphi _p(t),$$
(2a)
with coupling coefficients given by the equilibrium structure of the system,
$$V(\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{p})=\rho S_qS_kS_p[(\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k})c_k+(\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{p})c_p]^2/(2q^4).$$
(2b)
Here $`c_q`$ denotes the Ornstein-Zernike direct correlation function, connected to the static structure factor by $`S_q=1/(1\varrho c_q)`$. If one introduces a wave-vector grid and approximates the integral as a Riemann sum, the mode-coupling functional can be written as $`_q[f]=_{kp}V_{qkp}f_kf_p`$, where $`k`$ and $`p`$ run over the set of all grid points. The coefficients $`V_{qkp}`$ are trivially related to the $`V(\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{p})`$.
For the discussion of the MCT dynamics in the boson-peak region, Götze and Mayr Götze and Mayr (2000) chose a model of the hard-sphere system, given by evaluating $`S_q`$ in the Percus-Yevick approximation, introducing a grid of $`M=300`$ wave vectors $`q`$ with a cutoff of $`q^{}=40`$, and by neglecting the regular part of the memory kernel. The dependence of the solutions on these approximations will have to be investigated seperately. For the structure factor used, a cutoff dependence of the solutions cannot be neglected, as was already mentioned in Götze and Mayr (2000), and one is lead to the conclusion that the model described here is one of a soft-core fluid rather than true hard spheres. Even more so, the influence of the regular term is unclear at present. Recent calculations indicate that, at least in the white-noise approximation based on a generalized Enskog theory, the regular damping might be so large as to render the BP part of the spectrum nonexistent for a true hard-sphere system Sperl (2001). The question, however, remains unanswered still for regular potentials. Nevertheless, since the concern of this paper is a comparison with the results presented in Götze and Mayr (2000), we shall choose all numerical parameters the same. Equations (1) and (2) are closed then, and since $`S_q`$ for the hard-sphere system does not depend on temperature, the only control parameter is the density $`\rho `$, which shall be written as the packing fraction $`\phi =\pi \rho /6`$.

### II.2 Stiff-Glass Approximation

The starting point for a theoretical understanding of the MCT high-frequency dynamics is a reformulation of the equations of motion, Eqs. (1), within the glass state. One introduces new correlators $`\widehat{\varphi }_q(t)`$ that only deal with the decay relative to the frozen structure given by the nonergodicity parameter $`f_q`$, $`\varphi _q(t)=f_q+(1f_q)\widehat{\varphi }_q(t)`$. Equations (1) are covariant in the sense that the same equations hold for the new variables,

$$\chi _q(z)/\widehat{\chi }_q^0=\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2/\left[z^2\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2(1z\widehat{m}(z))\right],$$
(3)
provided one replaces the static susceptibility by $`\widehat{\chi }_q^0=\chi _q^0(1f_q)`$, the frequencies $`\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2`$ by

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2=\mathrm{\Omega }_q^2/(1f_q),$$
(4)
and the memory kernel by

$`\widehat{m}_q(t)`$ $`=\widehat{}_q^{(1)}[\widehat{\varphi }]=\widehat{}_q^{(1)}[\widehat{\varphi }]+\widehat{}_q^{(2)}[\widehat{\varphi }],`$ (5a)
$`\widehat{}_q^{(1)}[\widehat{f}]`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{k}{}}\widehat{V}_{qk}\widehat{f}_k,`$ (5b)
$`\widehat{}_q^{(2)}[\widehat{f}]`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{kp}{}}\widehat{V}_{qkp}\widehat{f}_k\widehat{f}_p,`$ (5c)
with new coupling coefficients given by

$`\widehat{V}_{qk}`$ $`=2(1f_q){\displaystyle \underset{p}{}}V_{qkp}f_p(1f_k),`$ (6a)
$`\widehat{V}_{qkp}`$ $`=(1f_q)V_{qkp}(1f_k)(1f_p).`$ (6b)
The new variables $`\widehat{\varphi }_q(t)`$ and $`\widehat{m}_q(t)`$ have the properties that their long-time limits vanish, thus the low-frequency limits of their Laplace transforms are regular.

To study BP phenomena, the limit of high packing fraction is of interest. There the original coupling coefficients become large, formally written $`V_{qkp}=𝒪(1/\eta )`$ with some small parameter $`\eta `$. The virtue of the covariant transformation now is that it implies $`1f_q=𝒪(\eta )`$, and thus

$`\widehat{V}_{qk}`$ $`=𝒪(\eta ),`$ $`\widehat{V}_{qkp}`$ $`=𝒪(\eta ^2),`$ (7)
i.e. the new coupling coefficients become small. This suggests to drop the second-order contribution to the memory kernel $`\widehat{m}_q(t)`$, such defining the stiff-glass approximation (SGA), cf. Eq. (14) of Götze and Mayr (2000):

$`\widehat{\varphi }_q^{(1)}(z)`$ $`=1/\left[z\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2/\left[z+\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2\widehat{m}_q^{(1)}(z)\right]\right],`$ (8a)
$`\widehat{m}_q^{(1)}(z)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{k}{}}\widehat{V}_{qk}\widehat{\varphi }_k^{(1)}(z).`$ (8b)
Equations similar to Eq. (8) were derived in a different context by other authors. Let us, for example, rewrite these equations in a notation closer to the conventions of field theory. The dynamical susceptibility can be rewritten for positive frequencies $`z=\omega ^2`$, $`\omega >0`$, into a propagator $`G(q,\omega )=\widehat{\chi }_q^{(1)}(\sqrt{z})/(\widehat{\chi }_q\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2)`$, depending on the bare dispersion relation $`ϵ(q)=\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2(1+_k\widehat{V}_{qk})`$, and on the complex self energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(p,\omega )`$, to give

$`G(q,\omega )`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\omega ϵ(q)\mathrm{\Sigma }(q,\omega )}}`$ (9a)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }(q,\omega )`$ $`={\displaystyle 𝑑k\stackrel{~}{V}_{qk}G(k,\omega )},`$ (9b)
where $`\stackrel{~}{V}_{qk}=\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2\widehat{V}_{qk}\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_k^2`$ are positive coupling constants. This is equivalent to the equations discussed by Martín-Mayor *et al.* Martín-Mayor et al. (2001) and Grigera *et al.* Grigera et al. (2001) in connection with Euclidean random matrix theory, cf. Eqs. (13) and (17) of the latter paper, where, however, the vertices $`\stackrel{~}{V}_{qk}`$ are different. Equations (9) can be viewed as a special case of the Dyson equation Economou (1983).

Equations (8) still have to be solved numerically. Thus, Götze and Mayr Götze and Mayr (2000) proposed two additional simplifications, the first of which is the Generalized Hydrodynamic (GHD) description. One replaces the memory kernel $`\widehat{m}_q^{(1)}(z)`$ by its $`(q0)`$ limit, $`K(z)=\widehat{m}_{q=0}^{(1)}(z)`$. If one is only interested in a description of sound modes at small $`q`$, one could also replace the frequencies by their leading-order contributions, $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q=v_{\mathrm{}}q+𝒪(q^2)`$, with the high-frequency sound velocity $`v_{\mathrm{}}=v/\sqrt{(1f_0)S_0}`$. In the following, we will only discuss the GHD-SGA obtained by keeping the full $`q`$-dependence of $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q`$,

$$\widehat{\chi }_q^{\text{GHD}}(z)/\widehat{\chi }_q=\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2/\left[z^2\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q^2(1zK(z))\right].$$
(10)
A further simplification was obtained in Götze and Mayr (2000) by replacing $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q`$ with some $`q`$-independent averaged value $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$. This was motivated by the observation that in the range around the first diffraction peak in the structure factor, a $`q`$ range known to constitute the dominant contribution to the mode-coupling kernel Bengtzelius et al. (1984), the variation of the renormalized values $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q`$ with $`q`$ is suppressed relative to that of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_q`$. As a result, one arrives at

$`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }(z)`$ $`=1/\left[z\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}^2/\left[z+\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}^2\stackrel{~}{K}(z)\right]\right],`$ (11a)
$`\stackrel{~}{K}(z)`$ $`=w_1\stackrel{~}{\varphi }(z),`$ (11b)
with $`w_1=𝑑k\widehat{V}_{0k}`$. The set of Eqs. (11a,11b) constitutes a well-known schematic model of MCT discussed earlier Götze and Sjögren (1984); Jacobs (1986); Götze (1991), the so-called $`\mathrm{F}_1`$ model.
It can be solved trivially for either $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }(z)`$ or $`\stackrel{~}{K}(z)`$. With the notation $`z=\omega +i0`$ we get

$$\stackrel{~}{K}(\omega )\left[\omega _+\omega _{}\stackrel{~}{\omega }^2+\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{\omega }^2\omega _{}^2}\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{\omega }^2\omega _+^2}\right]/(2\omega ),$$
(12)
with $`\omega _\pm =1\pm \sqrt{w_1}`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{\omega }^2=\omega ^2/\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}^2`$. The “semi-ellipse” spectrum $`\stackrel{~}{K}^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ thus obtained was demonstrated in Götze and Mayr (2000) to have striking similarities to the spectra of the full MCT solutions in the BP regime at $`\phi =0.6`$.

Eq. (12) implies a “gap” in the kernel spectrum for $`0<\omega <\omega _{}`$. The full solutions show a pseudo-gap for frequencies below the BP frequency resembling this finding. The smearing out of the gap due to two-phonon processes can be understood on the basis of the schematic model by including these processes in a perturbative manner, which amounts to replacing $`\stackrel{~}{K}(\omega )`$ in Eq. (11a) with $`\stackrel{~}{K}^{(2)}(\omega )=\stackrel{~}{K}(\omega )+K^{(2)}(\omega )`$, where the latter term reads Götze and Mayr (2000)

$$K^{(2)}(\omega )=\frac{1}{\pi }\frac{w_2}{w_1^2}\stackrel{~}{K}(\omega \omega ^{})\stackrel{~}{K}^{\prime \prime }(\omega ^{})𝑑\omega ^{},$$
(13)
with the integrated second-order coupling coefficient $`w_2=𝑑k\widehat{V}_{0kk}`$. $`\stackrel{~}{K}^{(2)}(\omega )`$ is then still given by Eq. (12), but one has to set $`\stackrel{~}{\omega }^2=\omega ^2/\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}^2+K^{(2)}(\omega )`$. Analytic solvability can be regained by evaluating this in the $`(\omega 0)`$ limit, $`K^{(2)}(\omega 0)=i\tau `$,

$$\tau =\frac{w_2}{\sqrt{w_1}}\frac{8}{3\pi \stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}.$$
(14)
Since arriving at Eq. (12) involved three subsequent approximations which, in principle, could be applied independently from one another, it seems worthwile to discuss the effects of each approximation by itself. Especially going over to the schematic model description of the memory kernel as a last step is, in contrast to the GHD-SGA, uncontrolled in the sense that its derivation is not based on a well-defined mathematical procedure.

The GHD approximation was shown in Götze and Mayr (2000) to be of very good quality, provided on does apply it to the transformed memory kernel $`\widehat{m}_q(z)`$. In other words, keeping the full $`q`$-dependence of the nonergodicity parameters $`f_q`$ is of vital importance for a description of the BP and HFS spectra. It can thus be expected to be of similar quality when applied together with the SGA.

While not leading to analytically solvable expressions, the SGA alone, Eqs. (8), has a clear-cut physical meaning: The first-order contribution to the memory kernel can be interpreted as an elastic scattering of phonons due to the frozen disorder in the glass, a mechanism thought to be dominant over two-phonon decay processes, which are represented by the second-order term and therefore ignored in the SGA. It should be noted, however, that this does not correspond to a harmonic approximation.

## III Solution of the SGA equations

To obtain numerical solutions of Eqs. (8), an algorithm adapted from the one used in Götze and Mayr (2000) was employed. It solves the initial-value problem for the coupled integro-differential equations corresponding to Eqs. (8) in the time domain. Regarding the stability of this method, proofs are available Götze and Sjögren (1995), which apply to the SGA as a special case. Here it merely is important that the mode-coupling vertices $`\widehat{V}_{qk}`$ are positive. The solutions were Fourier transformed to give the spectra $`\varphi _q^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ and $`m_q^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$.

Let us start the discussion by a comparison of the memory kernel spectra $`\widehat{m}_q^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$, obtained from the solution of the full MCT equations, Eq. (3), and of the SGA equations, Eq. (8). Figure 1 shows such a comparison for packing fraction $`\phi =0.6`$. One notes a dominant broad and asymmetric peak responsible for the BP features of the correlator spectra Götze and Mayr (2000). The SGA solutions still recover the shape of that peak reasonably well; an observation together with its form being reminiscent of the semi-ellipse known from the schematic model further justifying the analogy put forward by the schematic model description. At frequencies $`\omega 40`$, a pseudo-gap can be seen. As discussed in Götze and Mayr (2000), the SGA spectrum is not exactly zero within this gap; rather one obtains Rayleigh’s law, $`\widehat{m}_q^{(1)\prime \prime }(\omega )=R_q\omega ^2+𝒪(\omega ^4)`$. The prefactor of the Rayleigh contribution is, however, so small that it is invisible in the plot shown. Comparing with the full MCT solution, one clearly notes the filling of the gap due to the two-phonon modes.

On the high-frequency wing, the spectra obtained from the full solutions show a nontrivial decay to zero, including, for larger $`q`$ vectors, a second small peak at frequencies $`200\omega 250`$. Interestingly enough, this peak is also reproduced by the SGA memory kernels.

Since the SGA reproduces the memory kernel of the full MCT solutions resonably well in the frequency range of importance for the discussion of BP-like phenomena, it comes as no surprise that it also gives a basically correct description of the density correlator spectra $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$. Figure 2 compares these spectra to those of the full MCT equations. The BP spectra are, with some quantiative differences, largely correct within the SGA, and the same holds for the HFS modes for those $`q`$ vectors, where the sound damping is dominated by the BP background. At $`qq_\text{D}`$, where $`q_\text{D}4`$ is the Debye frequency Götze and Mayr (2000), the SGA sound-mode damping clearly is too small. This failure is to be expected from the above discussion of the memory kernel, since in this case the sound resonance maximum occurs at frequencies above the BP spectrum, where the SGA memory kernel spectrum is too small. Similarly, the pseudo-gap at low frequencies and the rapid decay at large $`\omega `$ within the SGA are a result of the same features of the memory kernel spectra.

The SGA is based on the two-mode contributions of order $`𝒪(\eta ^2)`$ being neglegible in comparison to one-mode contributions of order $`𝒪(\eta )`$. The quality of this approximation is expected to decrease with lowering the packing fraction, since $`\eta `$ increases with decreasing $`\phi `$. Figures 3 and 4 repeat the comparison made in Fig. 2, now for packing fractions $`\phi =0.5676`$ and $`\phi =0.54`$, respectively. One can identify the increasing intensity for low frequencies, eventually becoming so strong as to dominate over the BP background for $`\phi =0.54`$. Nevertheless, the SGA gives the qualitatively correct picture even for $`\phi =0.54`$ at frequencies $`\omega 25`$, the number depending somewhat on the wave vector. One also notices the shift of both the sound resonance and the BP maximum to lower frequencies as the packing fraction decreases. This further demonstrates two features typical for the BP and the HFS Götze and Mayr (2000).

One notes that for $`\phi =0.54`$ and $`\phi =0.5676`$ the true HFS maximum positions are higher than those read off the SGA solutions, especially for $`q`$ vectors where the SGA significantly underestimates the damping. This effect is also known as level repulsion. For a discussion of the effects of the SGA on the HFS modes, Figs. 5 and 6 show the maximum positions of the spectra $`\varphi _q^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ and the resonance widths versus wave vector $`q`$ for different packing fractions. Two maximum positions are noted whenever the BP background and the HFS mode could be identified as distinct, separated by a spectral minimum. The full widths at half maximum (FWHM) were obtained by marking the lowest and the highest frequency where the correlator spectrum reaches half the value of its global maximum.

For the HFS maxima as well as the BP maxima at $`\phi =0.6`$, Fig. 5, good agreement between the full solutions, reproduced from Götze and Mayr (2000), and the SGA solutions is found. This even holds in the low-$`q`$ regime, where only a damped sound mode can be seen in the spectra. Here the shift in the maximum position due to damping is still small, such that an underestimation of the damping by the SGA does not necessarily lead to a wrong description of the position. The agreement of the FWHM values also is good, with the reservation that the SGA values are too small in general. The lower frequency for which the spectrum reaches half the maximum intensity is described better than the higher one within the SGA, since here the pseudo-gap marks the dominant rise in the spectrum.

Comparing the maximum positions and FWHM at $`\phi =0.5676`$, one notes that for the BP maximum, the agreement between full MCT and SGA still is very good. Expectedly, the description of the FWHM is worse, mostly due to the appearance of the pseudo-gap and due to the underestimation of the sound-mode damping around $`q_\text{D}`$.

The sound damping in the regime of the HFS is illuminated in more detail in Fig. 7. Here, full width at half maximum values $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_q`$ obtained from the full solutions of Eq. (3) and from within the SGA, Eq. (8), are compared for the two packing fractions $`\phi =0.6`$ and $`\phi =0.5676`$. For $`q0.6`$ ($`0.467`$) at $`\phi =0.6`$ ($`0.5676`$), the SGA line widths could not be determined reliably. This reflects a limitation of the numerical procedure used, which is not adequate for very weakly damped oscillations, as occuring within the SGA. Nevertheless, the errors introduced by the numerical algorithm for low $`q`$ do not significantly affect the accuracy of the solutions for larger $`q`$, since the small-$`q`$ contribution to the memory kernel is neglegible Bengtzelius et al. (1984).

The dashed lines in Fig. 7 show the low-$`q`$ asymptote for the full MCT solutions, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_q=q^2\gamma `$, with $`\gamma =v_{\mathrm{}}^2\widehat{m}_{q=0}^{\prime \prime }(\omega 0)`$. One notices an enhancement above the asymptotic $`q^2`$ law for $`q0.6`$. At around $`q=1.4`$, the resonance width becomes of the same order of magnitude as its position, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_q^{\text{max}}`$, and thus a Ioffe-Regel limit is reached. Above this point, the line shapes differ significantly from a Lorentzian and hybridization with the BP modes becomes important. For $`\phi =0.5676`$, the maximum positions $`\mathrm{\Omega }_q^{\text{max}}`$ are smaller than for $`\phi =0.6`$, while the damping $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_q`$ changes only weakly in the regime of the enhancement over the asymptotic law, a behavior also found in experiment Masciovecchio et al. (1997); Monaco et al. (1998). Only for very small $`q`$ vectors, $`q0.6`$, one notices in the full MCT solutions the expected behavior of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_q`$.

In the $`q`$ range from $`q0.6`$ to $`q1.4`$, the data for $`\phi =0.6`$ can be approximately described by some power law, with its exponent being close to $`4`$. To demonstrate this, the dotted line was included in Fig. 7, representing a $`q^4`$ law. While in some investigations, no indication of such a $`q^4`$ law was found Ruocco et al. (2000), it has been argued that this is behaviour is connected to Rayleigh’s law Rat et al. (1999). In the present case, however, the approximate $`q^4`$ power law is not an indication for Rayleigh scattering. As already noted in Götze and Mayr (2000), the Rayleigh contribution $`R_q`$ is much lower. It is included in Fig. 7 as the dot-dashed line. Note that a magnification by a factor of $`1000`$ was necessary to make this contribution visible in the plot. Thus one concludes, that the $`q^4`$ law for the high-frequency sound is a mere numerical coincidence. The possible appearance of a pseudo-power law for the HFS line width can be seen even more clearly for $`\phi =0.5676`$, where an exponent between $`2`$ and $`4`$ would be obtained.

Fig. 7 again demonstrates the validity of the SGA. At and below $`q0.6`$, deviations are to be expected, since the SGA line widths do not obey the asymptotic $`q^2`$ law. Rather one expects the SGA damping for $`q0`$ to be given by Rayleigh’s law noted above. Despite this fact, the overall description of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_q`$ by the SGA is quite good.

## IV Effect of additional approximations

Having discussed the quality of the SGA in comparison to a full MCT solution, we shall now turn to a discussion of the additional simplifications outlined in the introduction. Since the $`q`$ dependence of the memory kernel spectra is weak, cf. Fig. 1, one is lead to the combination of both the GHD approximation and the SGA. Figure 8 shows a comparison of thus obtained density-correlator spectra with selected full-MCT and SGA spectra reproduced from Fig. 2. Indeed, good agreement is found for the experimentally relevant $`q`$-vector range at $`qq_\text{D}`$.

The GHD-SGA solution fails to produce reasonable sound modes for wave vectors where the position of the sound maximum is at about the upper cutoff for the BP memory kernel. This is due to the sensitivity of the shape of the memory kernel in this frequency region. As noted in connection with Fig. 1, the SGA still reproduces the nontrivial second peak in $`m_q^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ also seen in the full MCT solutions. Since this peak only evolves for higher $`q`$ vectors, the GHD approximation obviously misses this feature, resulting in only weakly damped sound modes there. Still, the GHD-SGA combination is valuable for a discussion of BP-like spectra and the hybridization effects occuring between HFS modes and the BP spectra. Note that the maximum positions obtained from the GHD-SGA description show a qualitatively correct behavior. This can be seen from Figs. 5 and 6. Within the hybridization regime, the FWHM values (not shown in the figures) also are almost quantitatively correct.

A comparison between the full solutions and those obtained by applying the GHD only, still including two-phonon modes, was given in Fig. 6 of Götze and Mayr (2000). There it can be seen that the GHD approximation is, for $`qq_\text{D}`$, at least as good as the SGA, at the expense of still requiring the computation of a nonlinear memory kernel. Only the combination of both SGA and GHD seems to be too crude to deal with high-frequency sound modes for all wave vectors. For higher $`q`$ vectors, the GHD-only approximation of Götze and Mayr (2000) and consequently also the GHD-SGA description somewhat miss the shape of the BP background spectra, as is evident from the lower panel of Fig. 8. On the other hand, the SGA discussed here regains better quality for those $`q`$-vector regions where the HFS mode again shows hybridization with the BP-like spectrum. This shows that in this region, one-mode contributions from higher $`q`$ vectors are important to fully explain the shape of the BP phenomena.

As a last step, one can also compare the memory kernel spectra resulting from the SGA in the $`q0`$ limit with the schematic model description proposed by Götze and Mayr, Eqs. (11). Fig. 13 of Götze and Mayr (2000) presented a comparison at $`\phi =0.6`$ between the schematic model semi-ellipse and the full-MCT kernel spectrum at $`q=0`$. Let us extend the discussion by adding the corresponding SGA spectrum. This is done in Fig. 9, while Figs. 10 and 11 carry the same comparison to lower packing fractions, $`\phi =0.5676`$ and $`\phi =0.54`$, respectively. The averaged frequency was chosen to be $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=120`$ for $`\phi =0.6`$, in accordance with Götze and Mayr (2000), and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=85`$ ($`60`$) for $`\phi =0.5676`$ ($`0.54`$). One could improve on these values, but this would not give further physical insight, nor would it significantly alter the results discussed below.

The success of the semi-ellipse description at $`\phi =0.6`$ is based largely on the fact, that in the relevant $`q`$ range, the variations of $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q`$ are suppressed as $`\eta `$ becomes small. For lower packing fractions, the relative variations in $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q`$ are larger. Together with the increasing two-mode contributions, this leads to stronger deviations of the full-MCT spectra from the schematic semi-ellipse form.

As explained above, the two-mode contributions can within the schematic description be accounted for approximately by including a frequency-independent damping term, Eq. (14). While this procedure works well for $`\phi =0.6`$, it does not lead to an satisfactory result at the two lower packing fractions investigated here, cf. Figs. 10 and 11. One needs to go beyond the white-noise approximation and include a frequency-dependent term, Eq. (13). Then the spectra are described fairly, but the advantage of analytic solvability is lost.

However, the SGA solutions include no second-order contributions and thus should be compared to the pure semi-ellipse of the schematic description. It is remarkable that the SGA on the other hand catches the nontrivial shape of the BP-like contribution to the memory kernel spectrum qualitatively correct even at lower packing fractions, albeit with an overall too low intensity. The “tail” of the spectrum as well as the evolving central peak is missing in the SGA solution due to the well-understood occurence of the pseudo-gap.

## V Conclusions

The stiff-glass approximation (SGA) to the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT) was discussed and shown to provide a good description of the spectra in the boson-peak regime. It holds valid even for packing fractions lower than $`\phi =0.6`$, where the analytical formula of Götze and Mayr Götze and Mayr (2000), Eq. (12), cannot describe the memory kernel any longer. This failure of Eq. (12) is due to increasing variations with $`q`$ in the phonon dispersion $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}_q`$, which in the schematic model is neglected. The shape of the SGA memory kernel shows more structure than a simple semi-ellipse form. This leads to a substantially correct description of high-frequency sound and sound damping in this approximation.

Even the combination of the SGA with the generalized hydrodynamic description (GHD) gives reasonable results for the memory kernels as well as for the density correlators, for $`q`$ vectors where the damping of the sound mode is dominated by contributions from the BP-like memory kernel. Outside this window, one gets weakly damped sound waves, an artifact introduced in the intermediate $`q`$ range mainly by the GHD, not the SGA. Nevertheless, the GHD-SGA gives a basically correct description of the BP spectra. This finding further corroborates the explanation of the HFS as a result of the BP spectra.

As a side effect, it was demonstrated, that equations of the form of Eqs. (8) can be solved relatively easy in the time domain. At first glance, this seems paradox, since in Eq. (8), both $`q`$ and frequency $`z`$ only appear as parameters, while in the time domain one has to solve a convolution integral.

###### Acknowledgements.

The author acknowledges stimulating and helpful discussions with T. Franosch, M. Fuchs, W. Götze, and M. Sperl. Financial support was partly provided through DFG grant No. Go.154/12-1.