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# Quintessence from M-theory

## 1 Introduction

The current evidence for an accelerating early universe can be accomodated theoretically via a re-introduction of Einstein’s (positive) cosmological constant, which is equivalent to the introduction of tensile matter with equation of state $`P=\rho `$. More generally, and for general spacetime dimension $`D`$, tensile matter with equation of state

$$P=\kappa \rho $$
(1.1)
also yields a flat accelerating universe provided that

$$1\kappa <\left(\frac{D3}{D1}\right).$$
(1.2)
Note that111We choose units for which $`8\pi G=1`$.

$$R_{00}=\frac{\beta ^2}{2(D1)}\left[(D1)P+(D3)\rho \right]$$
(1.3)
where $`R_{00}`$ is the time-time component of the Ricci tensor, and

$$\beta =\sqrt{\frac{2(D1)}{(D2)}}.$$
(1.4)
Acceleration requires negative $`R_{00}`$, which implies a violation of the strong-energy condition.

One could just set $`D=4`$, as other more obvious evidence suggests, but the observations made in this paper are best understood in the context of $`D`$-dimensional supergravity theories for various $`D`$. The equation of state (1.1) can be realized in a model with a real scalar field $`\varphi `$ and Lagrangian density

$$=\sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}R(\varphi )^2V(\varphi )\right\},$$
(1.5)
provided that the scalar potential $`V`$ takes the form

$$V=\mathrm{\Lambda }e^{2\alpha \varphi },$$
(1.6)
for (positive) dimensionless constant $`\alpha `$ and positive cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ . As will be shown below, the relation between $`\alpha `$ and $`\kappa `$ in $`D`$ dimensions (in the conventions used here) is

$$\alpha =\beta \sqrt{(1+\kappa )/2}.$$
(1.7)
Thus $`\kappa =1`$ corresponds to $`\alpha =0`$, a pure cosmological constant. As we shall see later, the quantity

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha ^2\beta ^2$$
(1.8)
plays an important role in the supergravity context, and the condition (1.2) on $`\kappa `$ for acceleration translates to

$$\beta ^2\mathrm{\Delta }<2.$$
(1.9)
A scalar field with a positive potential that yields an accelerating universe has been called ‘quintessence’ ; the special case under discussion is ‘eternal quintessence’ because the fixed equation of state implies an eternal expansion, exactly as for the original cosmological constant but with an adjustable acceleration. From an observational standpoint there is no particular merit to eternal quintessence, and other scalar potentials may well be preferable. However, exponential potentials arise naturally in many supergravity models, and have some attractive phenomenological features . Moreover, consistent truncations to a single scalar $`\varphi `$ of more general potentials are usually sums of exponentials, in which case the potential $`V(\varphi )`$ will approach a pure exponential for large $`|\varphi |`$. A study of the cosmological implications of pure exponential potentials is therefore likely to be relevant in quite general circumstances. One aim of this paper is to examine the implications of supersymmetry for such potentials, in particular maximal supersymmetry, and to find models that realize either eternal quintessence or, in the case of potentials that are only asymptotically exponential, transient quintessence.

As cosmology must ultimately be founded on quantum gravity, and as quantum consistency appears to require string/M-theory, we would wish any promising cosmological scenario to be derivable from string/M-theory. In particular, we would wish to be able to embed any D=4 cosmological solution into some solution of D=11 supergravity or IIB D=10 supergravity. However, there is a ‘no-go’ theorem that, subject to certain premises, rules out the possibility of a positive potential, and hence an accelerating universe, in any effective D=4 supergravity theory obtained in this way . Consider the general case of (warped) compactification from $`D`$ to $`d<D`$ spacetime dimensions on some compact non-singular manifold of dimension $`n=Dd`$, and let $`R_{MN}`$ and $`r_{\mu \nu }`$ be the Ricci tensors in $`D`$ and $`d`$ dimensions respectively. The no-go theorem then follows from the observation that, for any non-singular D-dimensional metric of the form

$$ds_D^2=f(y)ds_d^2(x)+ds_n^2(y),$$
(1.10)
positivity of $`R_{00}`$ implies positivity of $`r_{00}`$. In other words, for compactifications of the assumed form the strong energy condition in spacetime dimension $`D`$ implies the strong energy condition in spacetime dimension $`d<D`$. The latter condition is equivalent to $`|g_{00}|V(d2)\dot{\varphi }^2`$, and hence $`V0`$ if initial conditions can be chosen such that $`\dot{\varphi }=0`$. More directly, as follows from (1.3) with $`Dd`$, the $`d`$-dimensional strong energy condition forbids an accelerating $`d`$-dimensional universe. As recently emphasized , this makes it difficult to embed accelerating cosmologies into string/M-theory because the strong energy condition is satisfied by both D=11 supergravity and IIB D=10 supergravity.

The strong energy condition in D-dimensions may be violated by a $`(D2)`$-form gauge potential . D=11 supergravity compactified on any Ricci flat $`7`$-manifold has such a field, and a modified $`T^7`$-compactification that exploits this was shown in  to yield a ‘massive’ D=4 N=8 supergravity with a positive exponential potential . However, this model has $`\mathrm{\Delta }=4`$ and so will not yield an accelerating universe. The strong energy condition may also be violated by scalar field potentials. This possibility is realized in some D=4 N=4 supergravity theories with de Sitter (dS) vacua ; these models are truncations of certain non-compact gaugings of N=8 supergravity  which are obtainable by ‘compactification’ of D=11 supergravity . The no-go theorem is evaded in this case  because the ‘compactifying’ space is actually non-compact (see  for another type of ‘non-compactification’ to de Sitter space). As shown in , similar ‘non-compactifications’ yield all the non-compact gauged maximal supergravity theories in D=4,5,7 .

Here it will be shown that a particular non-compact gauged N=8 D=4 supergravity has a positive exponential potential satisfying the condition (1.9) needed for an accelerating cosmology. This model provides a realization of eternal quintessence with equation of state $`P=(7/9)\rho `$; as will be explained later, it is obtainable from a warped ‘non-compactification’ of M-theory, but it can also be obtained from a similar ‘non-compactification’ of IIB superstring theory on $`H^{(3,3)}\times S^1`$, where $`H^{(p,q)}`$ are the $`(p+q1)`$-dimensional non-compact spaces described in . The $`H^{(3,3)}`$ ‘compactification’ yields the $`SO(3,3)`$ gauged D=5 maximal supergravity of , and the D=4 model is obtained by a further dimensional reduction on $`S^1`$. Moreover, the accelerating D=4 cosmology is the $`S^1`$ reduction of D=5 dS space; this has some implications for the non-conformal generalization of the dS/CFT correspondence  that will be mentioned in the concluding comments.

Of course, as long as the physical acceptability of ‘non-compactifications’ remains dubious, neither this example of eternal quintessence nor the dS cases discussed in  can settle the question of whether string/M-theory is compatible with an accelerating universe. This and other points arising from the results found here will be discussed in a final section. For the moment we turn to a study of the implications of quintessence for D-dimensional isotropic and homogeneous cosmologies.

## 2 D-dimensional Quintessence

Consider a D-dimensional FRW spacetime with scale factor $`a(t)`$ and metric

$$ds^2=dt^2+a(t)^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,$$
(2.11)
where $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ is the metric of the maximally-symmetric $`(D1)`$-space with curvature $`k^1`$, for $`k=1,0,1`$. If this spacetime is filled with a perfect fluid of mass density $`\rho `$ and pressure $`P`$ then the continuity equation for the fluid is

$$\dot{\rho }=(D1)(\rho +P)\left(\frac{\dot{a}}{a}\right),$$
(2.12)
while the Friedmann equation for the scale factor is

$$\left(\frac{\dot{a}}{a}\right)^2\frac{2\rho }{(D1)(D2)}=\frac{k}{a^2}.$$
(2.13)
These two equations imply that

$$(D1)(D2)\ddot{a}=a\left[(D3)\rho +(D1)P\right],$$
(2.14)
and hence an accelerating universe when

$$P<\frac{(D3)}{(D1)}\rho .$$
(2.15)
For the equation of state (1.1) this translates to the condition (1.2) on $`\kappa `$. Also, using (1.1) in (2.12) we deduce that

$$\rho a^{(D1)(1+\kappa )}.$$
(2.16)
Now consider a single scalar model with arbitrary potential $`V`$. The scalar equation is (see e.g. )

$$\ddot{\varphi }+(D1)\left(\frac{\dot{a}}{a}\right)\dot{\varphi }+\frac{1}{2}\frac{V}{\varphi }=0,$$
(2.17)
while the Friedmann equation is (2.13) with

$$\rho =\dot{\varphi }^2+V.$$
(2.18)
Consistency of these equations with the continuity equation (2.12) implies that

$$P=\dot{\varphi }^2V,$$
(2.19)
and hence that

$$\dot{\varphi }^2=\frac{1}{2}(\rho +P),V=\frac{1}{2}(\rho P).$$
(2.20)
Given the equation of state (1.1) we then have, in particular, that

$$V=\frac{1}{2}(1\kappa )\rho ,$$
(2.21)
and hence from (2.16) that

$$V(1\kappa )a^{(D1)(1+\kappa )},$$
(2.22)
with a positive constant of proportionality. Similarly, we also have that $`\dot{\varphi }^2=(1+\kappa )\rho /2`$ or, equivalently,

$$\rho =\frac{2\dot{\varphi }^2}{1+\kappa }.$$
(2.23)
Using this in (2.13), and setting $`k=0`$, we deduce that

$$a^{(D1)(1+\kappa )}e^{\beta \sqrt{2(1+\kappa )}\varphi },$$
(2.24)
and hence, from (2.22), that222Here we use $`(1\kappa )=2(\alpha ^2\beta ^2)/\beta ^2`$. The $`\alpha =\beta `$ case is special and must be dealt with separately; one finds that no power-law solutions are possible for any $`k`$.

$$V\mathrm{\Delta }e^{2\alpha \varphi },$$
(2.25)
with a positive constant of proportionality, and with $`\alpha `$ related to $`\kappa `$ by (1.7).

As a check, we look for power-law solutions of the scalar and Friedmann equations of the form

$$a=t^\gamma ,e^{\alpha \varphi }=t$$
(2.26)
for constant $`\gamma `$. The scalar equation (2.17) is solved for $`V`$ of the form (1.6) if

$$(D1)\gamma =(1+\alpha ^2\mathrm{\Lambda }/2).$$
(2.27)
Using this, the Friedmann equation is solved for $`k=0`$ if

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=2\alpha ^4\mathrm{\Delta },$$
(2.28)
in agreement with (2.25). It then follows that

$$\gamma =\frac{2}{\alpha ^2(D2)},$$
(2.29)
and the condition $`\gamma >1`$ for acceleration is thus seen to be equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$, as expected. For future purposes we remark that $`\gamma =3`$ for $`D=4`$ and $`\alpha =1/\sqrt{3}`$.

## 3 Quintessence in N=1 supergravity

Scalar fields of minimal D=4 supergravity models necessarily belong to chiral supermultiplets. As we are interested in a single scalar field we need consider only a single chiral multiplet, for which the physical bosonic fields consist of one scalar $`\varphi `$ and one pseudoscalar, although to get the general potential for $`\varphi `$ we will also need to include one vector multiplet. Given that the coupling of supergravity to one chiral supermultiplet and one vector supermultiplet preserves parity333If the superpotential is such as to violate parity then the truncation to the single scalar $`\varphi `$ may not be consistent, in which case the arguments to follow may require modification. See  for a discussion of ‘two-field’ quintessence models., we may consistently set to zero the pseuodoscalar in the chiral multiplet. Having done so, we arrive at the bosonic Lagrangian

$$=\sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}R\frac{1}{2}h^1(\varphi )F^2(\varphi )^2V(\varphi )\right\},$$
(3.30)
where the $`F^2`$ term is the kinetic term for the vector field of the vector multiplet, which is coupled to the scalar field through the real function $`h(\varphi )`$. The scalar potential $`V`$ takes the form

$$V=(w^{})^2\beta ^2w^2+\xi ^2h$$
(3.31)
where $`w(\varphi )`$ is a real superpotential444Initially $`w`$ is a complex function of the chiral superfield, but after the truncation of the pseodoscalar in the chiral multiplet no generality is lost by restricting it to be a real function. and $`\xi `$ is a Fayet-Illiopoulos (FI) constant. The superpotential terms are those derived in  for general spacetime dimension $`D`$ on the assumption of positive energy and the existence of an adS vacuum of a certain type. The latter condition can be relaxed, but the existence of the last term, the ‘D-term’ potential, of (3.31) shows that more general potentials for $`\varphi `$ are possible, at least in D=4; this is not immediately obvious because a given function $`h`$ might be equivalent to a modification of the superpotential $`w`$, but the examples to be considered below show that this is not so in general.

If we seek a pure exponential potential then we must choose

$$w=me^{\alpha \varphi },h=e^{2\alpha \varphi },$$
(3.32)
for mass parameter $`m`$. In this case

$$V=\mathrm{\Lambda }e^{2\alpha \varphi }$$
(3.33)
with

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=m^2(\alpha ^2\beta ^2)+\xi ^2.$$
(3.34)
When $`\xi =0`$ we have $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Delta }`$, so in this case the conditions $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ that are needed for an accelerating universe are incompatible . But if $`\xi 0`$ we can easily arrange for both these conditions to be satisfied . As we shall see later, this possibility is realized by both ‘massive’ and gauged versions of N=8 D=4 supergravity.

In the absence of the FI term the choice $`\alpha =\beta `$ is rather special because it leads to a vanishing potential despite a non-vanishing superpotential. This fact allows the following possibility. Consider the superpotential

$$w=m\left[e^{\beta \varphi }e^{\alpha \varphi }\right](0<\alpha <\beta ).$$
(3.35)
This yields the potential

$$V=(\beta \alpha )m^2\left[2\beta e^{(\alpha +\beta )\varphi }(\alpha +\beta )e^{2\alpha \varphi }\right].$$
(3.36)
As $`\alpha <\beta `$, the first term dominates as $`\varphi \mathrm{}`$, and we then have an accelerating universe if

$$\alpha <2\sqrt{\beta ^22}\beta .$$
(3.37)
In the $`\varphi \mathrm{}`$ limit the second term in the potential vanishes and we have

$$V(\beta ^2\alpha ^2)e^{2\alpha \varphi }.$$
(3.38)
As $`V`$ is now negative the universe is decelerating. We thus have a period of acceleration for large negative $`\varphi `$, with a transition to deceleration as $`\varphi `$ passes through zero; the universe then rolls towards $`V=0`$ from below.

## 4 Constraints from extended supersymmetry

As pointed out in , the variable $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\alpha ^2\beta ^2`$ has the property that it is unchanged by dimensional reduction, if after the reduction one then consistently truncates to a model with a single scalar field. For this reason it was used in  as the basis of a classification of exponential potentials in maximal and half-maximal supergravity theories; the values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ identified as occuring in some massive or gauged supergravity fall into the following four classes:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }<2,2\mathrm{\Delta }<0,\mathrm{\Delta }=0,\mathrm{\Delta }>0.$$
(4.39)
We shall comment on each of these cases in turn, updating the discussion of  where appropriate:

* $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$. This case, which was the focus of , is realized by toroidal reductions of the gauged maximal supergravity theories in D=3,4,5 and 7, and also of the gauged ‘F(4) supergravity’ in D=6. This is because these theories admit adS vacua and hence a truncation to a theory without scalars, or equivalently to a theory with a scalar having a constant negative potential, corresponding to $`\alpha =0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }<0`$. The values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ found this way are all such that $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$.

Of relevance here is the fact, not discussed in , that a very similar analysis can be made for those (D=4,5) non-compact gauged supergravity theories that admit dS vacua. For exactly the same reasons, these theories can be consistently truncated to a theory without scalars, and a subsequent toroidal reduction and consistent truncation again yields a single scalar model with $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$ but now with a positive cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. We will consider one such case in more detail in the following section.
* $`2\mathrm{\Delta }<0`$. This case is realized by several gauged supergravity theories without adS vacua, and probably by other truncations of those with adS vacua. All known examples have $`\mathrm{\Delta }=2`$, except the maximal gauged D=8 supergravity theory (and hence its toroidal reductions) for which the obvious single scalar truncation yields $`\mathrm{\Delta }=4/3`$.
* $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$. This was the ‘fourth type’ in the classification of ; as stated there, there are no known supergravity examples555The published version of this paper erroneously puts the massive N=8 supergravity of  into this category; for reasons explained below, it belongs to a separate category., which may be related to the fact that the formula (2.25) gives zero potential for $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$.
* $`\mathrm{\Delta }>0`$. These are the ‘massive’ supergravity theories with positive potential. The prototype is the massive IIA D=10 theory, for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }=4`$. Many massive $`D9`$ theories with $`\mathrm{\Delta }=4/N_c`$, for integer $`N_c`$, were obtained in  by non-trivial dimensional reduction from D=11 ($`N_c=1,2,3,4`$ for D=4). All these theories have supersymmetric domain wall ‘vacua’ in which the only singularity is a delta-function singularity in the curvature at the location of the walls.

The massive N=8 supergravity of  mentioned earlier could be put into the $`\mathrm{\Delta }>0`$ category but, for present purposes at least, it is better to consider it as belonging to a separate category. The general construction starts from a $`D`$-dimensional theory with Lagrangian density

$$_D=\sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}R\frac{1}{(p+2)!}F_{(p+2)}^2\right\},$$
(4.40)
where $`F_{(p+2)}=dA_{(p+1)}`$ is a (p+2)-form field strength for the (p+1)-form gauge potential $`A_{(p+1)}`$. Let us consider a compactification to (p+2) dimensions, with a reduction/truncation ansatz for which $`F_{(p+2)}`$ is restricted to the $`(p+2)`$-dimensional spacetime and the $`D`$-metric takes the form

$$ds_D^2=e^{2a\varphi }ds_{p+2}^2+e^{2b\varphi }ds^2(T^{Dp2}),$$

where $`(Dp2)b=pa`$. For the choice

$$a=\sqrt{\frac{2(Dp2)}{(D2)p}},$$
(4.41)
the Lagrangian density governing the dynamics of the $`(p+2)`$-dimensional fields is

$$_d=\sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}R(\varphi )^2\frac{1}{(p+2)!}e^{2(d1)a\varphi }F_{(p+2)}^2\right\}.$$
(4.42)
The $`A_{(p+1)}`$ field equation is almost trivial but its general solution introduces a mass parameter $`m`$ as an integration constant. Taking this into account, an equivalent Lagrangian density for the other fields is

$$_d=\sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}R(\varphi )^2m^2e^{2\alpha \varphi }\right\},$$
(4.43)
where $`\alpha =(d1)a`$. Using (4.41) and (1.4), one finds that

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\alpha ^2\beta ^2=\frac{2(p+1)(Dp3)}{D2}>0.$$
(4.44)
In particular $`\mathrm{\Delta }=4`$ for $`D=11`$ with $`p=2,5`$ (and for $`D=10`$ with $`p=3`$). However, the formula (2.25) implies a negative potential for $`\mathrm{\Delta }>0`$, whereas the potential of (4.43) is positive, for reasons explained in .

## 5 Eternal Quintessence from de Sitter spacetimes

Of all the cases enumerated above only the non-compact gauged supergravity theories with dS vacua, and their dimensional reductions, satisfy the two conditions, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$, required for an accelerating universe. There may be other possibilities in supergravity theories with fewer supersymmetries; we have seen that the condition for acceleration is not difficult to satisfy within N=1 D=4 supergravity, even for a pure exponential potential, and more general potentials are of course possible. However, it is unclear how these other cases would arise from M-theory, whereas it is known how all maximal supergravity theories are related to M-theory. The non-compact N=8 D=4 supergravity theories with dS vacua have been recently reviewed in the context of the issues discussed here; these provide accelerating cosmologies with equation of state $`P=\rho `$. Here we wish to show that another of the non-compact gaugings of N=8 supergravity provides a realization of eternal quintessence.

One way to obtain this model is to start from the D=5 $`SO(3,3)`$ gauged supergravity, which has a D=5 adS vacuum . Reduction to D=4 yields the $`CSO(3,3,2)`$ gauged N=8 supergravity (in the notation of ). As explained earlier, this model has a consistent truncation to a single scalar field with $`\mathrm{\Delta }=8/3`$ because this corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\beta ^2`$ in D=5, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is unchanged by dimensional reduction. This yields the equation of state

$$P=(7/9)\rho $$
(5.45)
and hence acceleration.

Some aspects of this model can be understood as follows. We saw that an accelerating universe can only be obtained from an exponential potential in N=1 supergravity by inclusion of a FI term. In this case, the coefficient $`\alpha `$ can be identified as the dilaton coupling constant. Now, the only values of the dilaton coupling constant that occur in consistent truncations of N=8 supergravity to a theory with a single scalar are such that $`\alpha ^2=0,\frac{1}{3},1,3`$ . Moreover, if we start from a theory in D=5 without scalars and reduce to D=4 then only the values $`1/3`$ and $`3`$ of $`\alpha ^2`$ occur; the first case corresponds precisely to $`\mathrm{\Delta }=8/3`$ and hence to $`\kappa =7/9`$ (the other case corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$, but then the potential is zero). The $`\alpha ^2=1`$ case corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Delta }=2`$ but this does not yield an accelerating universe. Note that if a dS vacuum were possible for $`D>5`$ it would yield other values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ corresponding to disallowed values of $`\alpha `$ in $`D=4`$; this provides another way to see why the non-compact gaugings of $`D6`$ supergravity theories do not admit dS vacua.

We will now verify that the accelerating D=4 universe with equation of state (5.45) lifts to D=5 de Sitter space. We start with the $`D=5`$ Lagrangian density

$$_5=\sqrt{detg^{(5)}}\left[R^{(5)}+\mathrm{\Lambda }\right].$$
(5.46)
If the 5-metric is written as

$$ds_5^2=e^{(2/\sqrt{3})\varphi (x)}ds_4^2(x)+e^{(4/\sqrt{3})\varphi (x)}dy^2,$$
(5.47)
where $`x`$ denotes the 4-space coordinates and $`y`$ parameterizes a circle, then the 4-metric and scalar $`\varphi `$ are governed by a $`D=4`$ Lagrangian density of the form (1.5) with

$$V=\mathrm{\Lambda }e^{(2/\sqrt{3})\varphi }$$
(5.48)
and hence $`\alpha =1/\sqrt{3}`$, as claimed earlier. The accelerating 4-dimensional universe was discussed in section 2 (where it was shown to have $`a=t^3`$); the 4-metric and dilaton are

$$ds_4^2=dt^2+t^6ds^2(\text{𝔼}^3),\varphi =\sqrt{3}\mathrm{log}t.$$
(5.49)
The corresponding 5-metric is

$$ds_5^2=(d\mathrm{log}t)^2+t^4ds^2(\text{𝔼}^4),$$
(5.50)
which is $`dS_5`$ space in planar-type coordinates; as such it is obviously a solution of the D=5 theory with Lagrangian density (5.46). It will also be a solution of the $`SO(3,3)`$ gauged maximal D=5 supergravity, but presumably one at a saddle point of the potential rather than a maximum. This will mean that the dS solution is unstable, but this instability may be a good thing in that it allows an escape from eternal acceleration.

What remains to be explained about the D=4 supergravity model with this accelerating cosmological solution is its relation to M-theory. As mentioned in the introduction, the D=5 $`SO(3,3)`$ gauged supergravity can be obtained from a warped ‘compactification’ of IIB supergravity on $`H^{(3,3)}`$. However, after the further reduction to $`D=4`$ on $`S^1`$, we may pass to the dual IIA supergravity (or, more accurately, superstring theory). As this is an $`S^1`$ compactification of M-theory we now have M-theory ‘compactified’ on $`H^{(3,3)}\times T^2`$, which yields  the non-compact gauging of N=8 D=4 supergravity with gauge group $`CSO(3,3,2)`$; this is the same theory as one obtains by reduction of the $`SO(3,3)`$ gauged D=5 supergravity.

## 6 Comments

One premise of the no-go theorem of  is the time-independence of the compactifying space. This condition is violated by the accelerating D=4 cosmological solution just discussed, so it was a priori possible for this solution to arise from a true compactification of D=11 supergravity. The fact that it does not (because of the non-compactness of the internal space) is evidently related to its 5-dimensional interpretation as periodically-identified de Sitter space.

One point that should be appreciated is that the conclusion of the no-go theorem that $`V0`$ does not mean that the function $`V(\varphi )`$ must be everywhere non-positive. It is typically the case that $`V`$ is both unbounded from below and from above in compactifications of D=11 supergravity that satisfy all the premises of the theorem. Rather, the theorem states that the value of $`V`$ in any solution of the assumed form is non-positive. Generically, there will be directions in field space for which $`V`$ is positive and exponentially increasing as one goes to infinity. There are power-law cosmological solutions associated with this limit, with positive $`V`$ (provided that $`\mathrm{\Delta }0`$). This does not contradict the no-go theorem because it says nothing about this type of cosmological compactification. Nevertheless, the only accelerating D=4 cosmological solution that the author has been able to find in this way is the one described above that is related to M-theory by a ‘non-compactification’.

It should also be borne in mind that string/M-theory actually goes beyond supergravity in that it involves branes sources. The equation of state for a gas of p-branes is

$$\kappa =\frac{p}{(D1)},$$
(6.51)
which leads to acceleration for $`pD2`$. The $`p=D1`$ case is a space-filling brane and its tension adds to the cosmological constant, but if the extra dimensions are compact then the sum over the tensions of all branes must vanish. The $`p=D1`$ case corresponds to a gas of domain walls for $`D=4`$ , although it is not clear whether this solves the problem.

Finally, it is instructive to compare the $`S^1`$ reduction of dS space to the $`S^1`$ reduction of anti de Sitter (adS) space considered in ; the latter results in a domain wall (DW) solution of the lower dimensional theory. The domain wall metric in the ‘dual frame’ is again adS but the dilaton resulting from the compactification breaks the adS group to the Poincaré group on the DW; the adS/CFT correspondence is therefore replaced with a DW/QFT correspondence . To apply these ideas to the reduction of $`dS_5`$ discussed above, we again introduce a new ‘dual-frame’ 4-metric

$$d\stackrel{~}{s}_4^2e^{(2/\sqrt{3})\varphi }ds_4^2=d(\mathrm{log}t)^2+t^4ds^2(\text{𝔼}^3).$$

This is $`dS_4`$ but the SO(4,1) invariance is broken to $`ISO(3)`$ by the dilaton. Thus, the dS/CFT correspondence  is replaced in the non-conformal case by a correspondence between a cosmology and a Euclidean field theory, with the p-brane of the DW/QFT correspondence being replaced by a Cauchy surface of the cosmological spacetime. A change in scale shifts the dilaton and hence moves the Cauchy surface in time.

###### Acknowledgments.

I thank Robert Brandenberger, Martin Bucher, Gary Gibbons, Chris Hull, Nemanja Kaloper, Carlos Nuñez and Fernando Quevedo for helpful conversations.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The dilepton spectrum is one of the key observables in the study of thermal properties of the hot and dense medium created in heavy ion collisions . Thermal modifications of the dilepton spectrum have been observed at large invariant masses where they reflect the suppression of heavy quark resonances . At low energies it is expected that non-perturbative in-medium modifications of the quark anti-quark interactions as well as quark anti-quark annihilation in the quark gluon plasma influence the thermal dilepton rate. Perturbative 2-loop  calculations as well as calculations based on hard thermal loop (HTL) resummed perturbation theory  lead to an enhancement of the spectrum at low energies, which dominates over the suppression arising from massive quasi-particle poles  or non-perturbative gluon condensates . Indeed, an enhancement of low mass dilepton production has been observed in heavy ion experiments .

The thermal dilepton rate describing the production of lepton pairs with energy $`\omega `$ and total momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ is related to the Euclidean correlation function of the vector current, $`J_V^\mu (\tau ,\stackrel{}{x})=\overline{\psi }(\tau ,\stackrel{}{x})\gamma _\mu \psi (\tau ,\stackrel{}{x})`$, which can be calculated numerically in the framework of lattice regularized QCD. This relation is established through the vector spectral function, $`\sigma _V(\omega ,\stackrel{}{p},T)`$, which directly gives the differential dilepton rate in two-flavor QCD,

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}W}{\mathrm{d}\omega \mathrm{d}^3p}=\frac{5\alpha ^2}{27\pi ^2}\frac{1}{\omega ^2(\mathrm{e}^{\omega /T}1)}\sigma _V(\omega ,\stackrel{}{p},T),$$
(1)
and at the same time is related to the Euclidean vector meson correlation function, $`G_V(\tau ,\stackrel{}{p},T)=\mathrm{d}^3x\mathrm{exp}(i\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{x})J_V^\mu (\tau ,\stackrel{}{x})J_{V\mu }^{}(0,\stackrel{}{0})`$, through an integral equation,

$$G_V(\tau ,\stackrel{}{p},T)=_0^{\mathrm{}}d\omega \sigma _V(\omega ,\stackrel{}{p},T)\frac{\mathrm{ch}(\omega (\tau 1/2T))}{\mathrm{sh}(\omega /2T)},$$
(2)
where the Euclidean time $`\tau `$ is restricted to the interval $`[0,1/T]`$. A direct calculation of the differential dilepton rate thus becomes possible, if the above integral equation can be inverted to determine $`\sigma _V(\omega ,\stackrel{}{p},T)`$. Although finite temperature lattice calculations, which are performed on lattices with finite temporal extent $`N_\tau `$, will generally provide information on $`G_V(\tau ,\stackrel{}{p},T)`$ only for a discrete and finite set of Euclidean times $`\tau T=k/N_\tau ,k=1,\mathrm{},N_\tau `$, this may be achieved through an application of the maximum entropy method (MEM) . We will present first results on such a calculation in this letter. However, even without invoking statistical tools like MEM accurate numerical results on $`G_V(\tau ,\stackrel{}{p},T)`$ will themselves provide stringent constraints on spectral functions calculated in other perturbative or non-perturbative approaches. This in turn will put constraints on the thermal dilepton rates.

We present here results of a calculation of vector current correlation functions and reconstructed spectral functions at two temperatures above $`T_c`$, i.e. $`T=1.5T_c`$ and $`3T_c`$. We will restrict our discussion to the zero momentum limit ($`\stackrel{}{p}=0`$) of these quantities and we will therefore suppress any explicit momentum dependence in the arguments of $`G_V`$ and $`\sigma _V`$ in the following.

## 2 Thermal correlation functions

The correlation functions $`G_V(\tau ,T)`$ have been calculated within the quenched approximation of QCD using non-perturbatively improved clover fermions . This eliminates the $`𝒪(a)`$ discretization errors in the fermion sector. Moreover, in order to explicitly control the cut-off dependence of the numerical results we have used lattices of size $`N_\sigma ^3\times N_\tau `$ with fixed ratio of spatial to temporal lattice extent, $`N_\sigma /N_\tau =4`$, and two different temporal lattice sizes, $`N_\tau =12`$ and 16, respectively. Due to the large temporal extent of the lattice, the lattice spacing is rather small already at the deconfinement transition and becomes even smaller for larger temperatures. Using $`T_c=265`$ MeV  to set a scale for the lattice spacing one finds, $`a=1/N_\tau T(0.75T_c/TN_\tau )`$ fm. For the two different temperatures and lattice sizes used here it ranges from $`a=0.015`$ fm to $`a=0.04`$ fm. The comparison of results obtained on lattices with different temporal extent and fixed $`T`$ indeed confirms that the results for $`G_V(\tau ,T)`$ are not significantly influenced by finite cut-off effects.

The thermal correlation functions have been constructed from quark propagators obtained from the inversion of the clover improved Wilson fermion matrix. As we have performed calculations in the high temperature, chirally symmetric phase of QCD there are no massless Goldstone modes which could interfere with the convergence of the iterative solvers for this matrix inversion. We thus could perform calculations directly in the limit of vanishing quark masses, i.e. directly at the critical values of the hopping parameter $`\kappa _c`$ given in Tab. 1. The values for $`c_{sw}`$ as well as critical $`\kappa `$ values were obtained from  and interpolation. Note that a finite temperature critical $`\kappa `$ defined by a vanishing quark mass might differ from the $`T=0`$ value $`\kappa _c`$ by finite lattice spacing and finite volume effects. Indeed, the values for the quark mass obtained from the PCAC relation  are very small but not exactly zero, see Tab. 1. However, since the correlation functions above $`T_c`$ are almost quark mass independent close to the chiral limit  it is not crucial to hit $`\kappa _c(T0)`$ precisely.

Some care has to be taken over the proper renormalization of the vector current $`J_{V\mu }`$ used in the lattice calculations. In order to be able to compare results obtained with different $`N_\tau `$ and $`T`$ as well as with calculations performed in different continuum regularization schemes we use the renormalized local current $`J_{V\mu }^{\mathrm{renorm}}(2\kappa Z_V)J_{V\mu }`$. Here $`Z_V(g^2)`$ is the current renormalization constant for which we use the non-perturbative values determined in . The overall error on the normalization , including the effect of the quark mass not being exactly zero has been estimated to be less than 1 %.

In the high temperature limit the ratio $`G_V/T^3`$ can be calculated perturbatively. The leading order result is obtained by using free, massless quark propagators in the calculation of the current-current correlation function. For vanishing momentum of the quark anti-quark pair ($`\stackrel{}{p}=0`$) the corresponding spectral function is given by $`\sigma _V(\omega ,T)=0.75\pi ^2\omega ^2\mathrm{tanh}(\omega /4T)`$. In this limit the differential dilepton rate reduces to the Born rate,

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}W^{\mathrm{Born}}}{\mathrm{d}\omega \mathrm{d}^3p}(\stackrel{}{p}=0)=\frac{5\alpha ^2}{36\pi ^4}\frac{1}{(\mathrm{e}^{\omega /2T}+1)^2}.$$
(3)
In Fig. 1a we show our numerical results for $`G_V/T^3`$ calculated at $`T/T_c=1.5`$ and 3. These results are compared to the lattice version of the free vector correlation function, $`G_V^{\mathrm{free},\mathrm{lat}}/T^3`$ . It is evident that the correlators obtained at two different temperatures agree with each other quite well and stay close to the leading order perturbative (free) vector correlation function already quite close to $`T_c`$. The deviations from $`G_V^{\mathrm{free},\mathrm{lat}}/T^3`$ are better visible in the ratio $`G_V/G_V^{\mathrm{free},\mathrm{lat}}`$ which is shown in Fig. 1b. It is noteworthy that $`G_V(\tau )/T^3`$ is definitely larger than the corresponding free correlator, $`G_V^{\mathrm{free},\mathrm{lat}}/T^3`$ for both temperatures and all Euclidean times $`0<\tau T<1`$. This is furthermore supported by a calculation of these ratios for different values of the cut-off, e.g. for $`N_\tau =12`$ and 16 at the same value of $`T/T_c`$. Results agree within statistical errors.

As is obvious from Eq. 2 the correlation function $`G_V(\tau ,T)`$ receives contributions from all energies $`\omega `$. Due to the presence of the integration kernel $`K(\tau ,\omega )=\mathrm{ch}(\omega (\tau 1/2T))/\mathrm{sh}(\omega /2T)`$ large energies are, however, exponentially suppressed. This suppression becomes more efficient with increasing Euclidean time $`\tau T`$. For $`\tau T1/2`$ the correlation function thus is most sensitive to the low energy part of $`\sigma _V(\omega ,T)`$. In fact, using the free spectral function in Eq. 2 we estimate that energies larger than $`\omega /T15`$ contribute only 2% to the central value $`G_V(1/2T,T)/T^3`$ whereas in the low energy regime, $`\omega /T<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}3}`$, the corresponding contribution still amounts to 12%. $`G_V(1/2T,T)/T^3`$ thus is sensitive to modifications of the vector spectral functions up to $`\omega /T15`$ and provides a stringent test of models and approximate calculations of the low energy part of the vector spectral function. We find

$$\frac{G_V(1/2T,T)}{T^3}=\{\begin{array}{cc}2.23\pm 0.05\hfill & \text{}T/T_c=1.5\hfill \\ 2.21\pm 0.05\hfill & \text{}T/T_c=3\hfill \end{array},$$
(4)
which is about 10% larger than the free, infinite volume value $`G_V^{\mathrm{free}}(1/2T,T)2`$ as well as the corresponding free value on a finite $`64^3\times 16`$ lattice, $`G_V^{\mathrm{free},\mathrm{lat}}(1/2T,T)2.0368`$. Our result thus suggests that at least for a significant range of energies the vector spectral function is enhanced over the free case. Such an increase cannot easily be incorporated in simple quasi-particle pictures, which only include massive quasi-particle poles in the quark spectral functions. They lead to a reduction of $`G_V(\tau ,T)`$ relative to $`G_V^{\mathrm{free}}(\tau ,T)`$ and in turn to a reduced differential dilepton rate . On the other hand, HTL-resummed perturbative calculations, which incorporate not only poles at non-zero quasi-particle masses but also additional contributions from cuts in the HTL-resummed quark spectral functions, show that both non-perturbative features of quarks propagating in a hot plasma play an important role for the low energy part of the meson spectral functions . The cut contributions in the HTL approach  as well as in 2-loop perturbative calculations  even lead to divergent vector spectral functions at small energies which also makes $`G_V(\tau ,T)`$ to diverge for all Euclidean times $`\tau `$. Assuming that at our aspect ratio of $`TV^{1/3}=4`$ finite volume effects do not play an important role, the mere fact that we do find a finite result for the vector correlator via Eq. 2 implies that $`\sigma _V(\omega ,T)`$ vanishes in the limit $`\omega 0`$.

## 3 Reconstructed spectral functions

The correlation functions $`G_V`$ shown in Fig. 1 clearly stay close to the leading order perturbative result. This suggests that also the spectral functions $`\sigma _V`$ are close to that of the free case. We have reconstructed $`\sigma _V`$ from $`G_V`$ using MEM, which has successfully been applied at $`T=0`$  and also has been tested at finite temperature . In order to take into account finite lattice cut-off effects in the reconstruction of the spectral function we introduce a lattice version, $`K_L(\tau ,\omega ,N_\tau )`$, of the continuum kernel $`K(\tau ,\omega )`$ which appears in Eq. 2. With the lattice kernel the spectral function $`\sigma _V`$ for vanishing momentum is defined through

$$G_V(\tau ,T)=_0^{\mathrm{}}d\omega \sigma _V(\omega ,T)K_L(\tau ,\omega ,N_\tau ),$$
(5)
where $`K_L(\tau ,\omega ,N_\tau )`$ is the finite lattice approximation of a kernel appropriate to describe the correlation function of a free boson at finite temperature,

$$K_L(\tau ,\omega ,N_\tau )=\frac{2\omega }{T}\underset{n=0}{\overset{N_\tau 1}{}}\frac{\mathrm{exp}(i2\pi n\tau T)}{(2N_\tau \mathrm{sin}(n\pi /N_\tau ))^2+(\omega /T)^2}.$$
(6)
This lattice kernel differs from the $`T=0`$ version used in  in so far as we have explicitly taken into account the finite temporal extent of the lattice. Of course, $`K_L`$ approaches $`K`$ in the limit of large $`N_\tau `$. Moreover, for the energy range important for the description of the correlation functions close to $`\tau T=1/2`$, i.e. for $`\omega /T<15`$, they differ by less than 2% already on lattices with temporal extent $`N_\tau =16`$. Using this lattice kernel we have checked that the MEM analysis of correlation functions constructed from given input spectral functions successfully reproduces these input functions. In particular, we find that the free vector spectral function for massless quarks can be reproduced already by using only 16 equally spaced points in the time interval $`[0,1/T]`$.

In Fig. 2a we show spectral functions reconstructed from the vector current correlation functions at $`T/T_c=1.5`$ and 3 on the $`64^3\times 16`$ lattices. In the MEM analysis we have taken into account energies up to $`\omega /T=4N_\tau `$ and we used the lowest order zero temperature perturbative result $`m(\omega )=0.75\pi ^2\omega ^2`$ as a default model. In order to test the statistical significance of our results we have split our total data sets in 8 jackknife blocks and performed a MEM analysis on each of these blocks. The resulting jackknife error, which is given as a band in the insertion of Fig. 2a, shows that our data sample is large enough to yield statistically significant results. We also have checked that a variation of the default model by 20% only leads to minor changes in the low energy part of $`\sigma _V`$, which stay within the error band shown in Fig. 2a. Another question is to what extent the spectral function obtained from the MEM analysis is unique. As the MEM analysis is based on a finite data set the reconstruction of the spectral function itself is not unique. This uncertainty is incorporated in the MEM-error, which is calculated from the covariance matrix of the spectral function  for four energy bins in the interval $`0\omega /T16`$. The resulting error on the average value of $`\sigma _V(\omega ,T)/\omega ^2`$ in these bins is also shown in Fig. 2a.

The reconstructed spectral functions show a broad enhancement over the free spectral function for $`\omega /T>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}16}`$, i.e. $`\omega a>\mathit{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}`$. This regime clearly is influenced by lattice cut-off effects. In fact, a similar enhancement is observed in $`T=0`$ spectral functions and has been attributed to unphysical contributions of the heavy fermion doublers present in the Wilson (and clover) lattice fermion action . As discussed above this regime of large energies does not contribute to the central values of the vector correlator for $`\tau T1/2`$. The relevant energy regime is given in the insertion of Fig. 2a. The enhancement observed for $`G_V(1/2T,T)`$ thus is due to the peak in $`\sigma _V(\omega ,T)/\omega ^2`$ found for $`\omega /T(56)`$. We furthermore note that for both temperatures the spectral functions have a sharp cut-off at small energies. They drop rapidly below $`\omega /T\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}5}`$ and vanish below $`\omega /T\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}3}`$. This is in contrast to perturbative calculations of $`\sigma _V(\omega ,T)`$, which lead to a divergent spectral function for small energies.

In Fig. 2b we show the differential dilepton rate calculated from Eq. 1 and the low energy part of $`\sigma _V`$ shown in Fig. 2a. The comparison with the Born rate shows that for all energies $`\omega /T>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}4}`$ the difference is less than a factor 2. For energies $`\omega /T<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}3}`$ the dilepton rate drops rapidly and reflects the sharp cut-off found in the reconstructed spectral functions. Of course, with our present analysis, which is based on rather small statistics, we cannot rule out the existence of sharp resonances like the van Hove singularities present in the HTL-resummed calculations. It also may well be that the broad peak found by us will sharpen with increasing statistics as it has been observed in related MEM studies of hadron correlation functions at zero temperature . Nonetheless, any further sharpening of resonance like peaks in a certain energy interval of the spectral function has to be compensated by an even closer agreement with the free spectral function in other energy intervals due to the constraint given by Eq. 4.

## 4 Conclusions

To conclude, we find that already close to the QCD phase transition temperature, i.e. for $`T=1.5T_c`$ and $`3T_c`$, the vector correlation function deviates only by less than 15% from the leading order perturbative result. This also is reflected in the reconstructed spectral function which deviates by less than a factor two from the leading order perturbative form for energies $`\omega >\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}4}T`$. The most pronounced feature of the spectral function and the resulting dilepton rate is the presence of a sharp cut-off at low energies, $`\omega (23)T`$. If a threshold of similar magnitude persist also closer to $`T_c`$, there will be no thermal contribution to the dilepton rate at energies $`\omega <\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2}T_c`$ during the entire expansion of the hot medium created in a heavy ion collision. This is consistent with present findings at SPS energies  and may become visible as a threshold in the dilepton rates for long-lived plasma states expected to be created at RHIC or LHC energies.

Acknowledgements: We thank R. Baier for very interesting discussions. The work has been supported by the TMR network ERBFMRX-CT-970122 and by the DFG under grant FOR 339/1-2. Numerical calculations have been performed on a Cray T3E at the NIC, Jülich and the APEmille at Bielefeld University.


text:
# Entropic Tightening of Vibrated Chains

\[

## Abstract

We investigate experimentally the distribution of configurations of a ring with an elementary topological constraint, a “figure-8” twist. Using vibrated granular chains, which permit controlled preparation and direct observation of such a constraint, we show that configurations where one of the loops is tight and the second is large are strongly preferred. This agrees with recent predictions for equilibrium properties of topologically-constrained polymers. However, the dynamics of the tightening process weakly violate detailed balance, a signature of the nonequilibrium nature of this system. PACS: 05.40.-a, 81.05.Rm, 83.10Nn

\]

Topological constraints such as knots and entanglements constantly form and relax in polymer systems and in biomolecules such as DNA. These constraints increase relaxation time scales and additionally restrict the phase space accessible by the macromolecule. Whereas the role entanglements play in chain dynamics is well appreciated , even more basic questions concerning effects of topological constraints on static properties such as the chain structure remain largely unanswered. Recent theoretical studies predict that in equilibrium, a knotted polymer will generally favor configurations where the knot is “tight”, i.e., localized to a small region of the chain. Numerical simulations and scaling analysis support this prediction , but direct experimental tests are difficult . In this study, we examine this interesting prediction experimentally using vertically vibrated granular chains.

Granular chains consist of spherical beads connected by rods, and their backbone enforces the same geometrical constraints as in a polymer system. A vibrating plate supplies the system with energy, balancing the energy dissipation due to inelastic collisions experienced by beads . This polymer system is well suited for studying topological constraints as it allows control of the chain size and the constraint type, as well as direct observations of the chain conformation in contrast with traditional polymer systems. Recent studies have successfully used vibrated chains to study diffusive relaxation  and spontaneous formation  of knots.

We considered the simplest possible topology, a “figure-8”: a once-twisted ring consisting of two loops, separated by a single crossing point, which functions as the topological constraint (see Fig. 1). Under appropriate vibration amplitude, the system is effectively two-dimensional and the crossing point hops along the chain without flipping open the figure-8. Surprisingly, despite the highly nonequilibrium drive applied to the system, we observed strong entropic tightening. The microscopic degrees of freedom, the beads, experience periodic drive and dissipative collisions with the plate, rods, and other beads, as well as frictional forces. Remarkably the macroscopic observable, the loop size, obeys a statistical mechanics. Detailed balance is only weakly violated and the empirical loop-size distribution is close to that conjectured on entropic grounds. This provides an opportunity for studying the role of entropy in nonequilibrium systems. We now review the equilibrium result for the loop-size distribution.

Tightening of knots in polymers can be understood by considering the simplest case, in which electrostatic interactions are perfectly screened. Suppose a knot in the polymer can be considered as located at a point, with several loops of lengths $`N_1,N_2,\mathrm{}`$ projecting from the knot. Ignoring hard-core interactions, each loop has a linear size of order $`N_i^{1/2}`$, so that the number of configurations in which the chain returns to itself and forms a loop is proportional to $`e^{cN}_iN_i^{d/2}`$, where $`d=2`$ is the spatial dimension, and $`c`$ is a constant. Therefore, assuming all microscopic configurations are equally likely, the probability of having a given $`N_1,N_2,\mathrm{}`$ is maximized when $`N_1N`$ and $`N_2,\mathrm{}`$ are all as short as possible. That is, the knot spontaneously tightens due to entropic effects.

A ring with a figure-8 constraint is natural for studying this effect as it simply contains two loops of sizes $`N_1`$, $`N_2`$ with the overall size $`N=N_1+N_2`$ fixed. The argument above predicts a power law divergence in the loop-size probability distribution

$$\rho (n)n^\alpha $$
(1)
with $`nN_1,N_2`$ for $`1nN`$. The exponent $`\alpha =43/162.7`$ can be obtained even when excluded volume interactions are taken into account . Although this is obtained from large $`n,N`$ asymptotics, an enumeration for smaller sizes only leads to small corrections to this form.

Our apparatus consists of an anodized aluminum plate, driven sinusoidally by an electromechanical vibrator. The bead and rod chains consist of hollow nickel-plated stainless steel spheres of radius $`1.18\pm 0.01`$ mm connected by thin rigid rods of radius $`0.26\pm 0.01`$ mm. The rods constrain both the bending and stretching of the chain. In particular, the rods must lie within a cone of a half-angle of roughly $`25^{}`$ about the axis of either of the two adjacent rods, and the separation $`b`$ between two adjacent beads lies in the range $`0b0.94`$ mm. The chains were connected end-to-end to form rings, and then twisted with a single crossing point thereby forming a figure-8. For the experiments reported here, the number of beads in the figure-8 ring was between $`69`$ and $`219`$, much larger than the tightest possible $`8`$-bead loop. The plate was oscillated harmonically at a frequency of $`16`$ Hz.

The dynamics of the crossing depend on the rms acceleration of the plate, $`\gamma `$ (this dimensionless quantity is in units of the gravitational acceleration $`g`$). For $`\gamma 1.35`$, the crossing does not move along the chain. For $`\gamma 1.55`$, the vertical motion of the chain is large enough that the number of crossings in the ring is not fixed: a loop of the figure-8 can easily flip, untwisting the ring, or creating additional crossings. We chose $`\gamma =1.5`$, for which flipping events remained rare, occurring every roughly $`10^4`$ oscillation cycles, while the crossing remained mobile, with approximately 50% chance of the loop size changing in a $`1/16`$-th second cycle. In Fig. 2 we show the distribution of change in loop size in one cycle. The acceleration was constant and uniform across the plate to better than $`1\%`$. The $`27.2`$ cm plate diameter, corresponding to approximately $`115`$ beads, was large enough so that collisions with the sloped acrylic wall were rare.

Digital images of the chain were obtained to determine the loop size distribution. Image analysis requires a two step procedure involving: (i) monomer recognition, and (ii) chain reconstruction. To obtain the monomer positions, images of resolution $`1000\times 1016`$ pixels were acquired. At this resolution, the reflected light from a bead appears in the images as a bright spot of about $`5\times 5`$ pixels, even though the bead has a diameter of just over $`8`$ pixels. The positions of the beads were determined by fitting the intensity pattern generated by each bead to a Gaussian, with the peak position taken as the bead position. We estimate the positional accuracy obtained using this procedure as $`0.05`$ bead diameters.

Given these positions, the order of the monomers along the chain was determined using an efficient greedy algorithm which requires only $`N^2`$ operations for an $`N`$-bead ring. This algorithm utilizes the aforementioned geometrical restrictions on stretching and bending imposed by the rods (given two connected beads, the third was searched only in a properly restricted neighborhood). Once the ring was reconstructed, the crossing point was identified, thereby determining the loop sizes.

We first sampled the loop size at a much slower rate of $`0.25`$ Hz. Starting with two equal-size loops at each run for a chain of size $`N=149`$, we obtained the loop-size distribution shown as the inset to Fig. 3. This distribution has a sharp peak located at the smallest possible loop size. Hence, the conjectured tightening is indeed observed. We repeated the experiments using larger beads, changing the driving frequency to $`13`$ Hz, and using chains of length 49, 69, 99, and 219, as well as using a plate with different roughness. Further, many sets of images at arbitrary phase with respect to the driving were analyzed. In all these cases, the same qualitative loop-size distribution emerged. There were, however, some quantitative differences with the peak height varying by about 20%. Since the number of hopping events before flipping is of the same order as $`N^2`$ ($`10^4`$), the flipping introduces a dependence on the initial conditions, which is more pronounced for the longer chains. Even worse, flipping events typically occur when the loops are small, leading to a reduction of the peak height. Therefore, we used an alternate method of determining the loop size distribution.

To find the true peak height, with flipping events removed, we measured the loop size at a much faster frame rate of $`16`$ Hz, and experimentally determined the transition probability $`t_{i,j}`$ from a loop of size $`i`$ to a loop of size $`j`$. To sample $`t_{i,j}`$ for all $`i`$, the twisted ring was started manually at various equally-spaced loop sizes, and then allowed to run for 200 cycles to let the chain equilibrate, after which 200 frames were taken to measure $`t_{i,j}`$. By taking 20,000 total frames over 100 separate runs, we obtained an accuracy of $`10`$% on individual $`t_{i,j}`$. After equilibration, correlations between successive transitions were negligible, implying a Markov process.

Given Markovian dynamics, it is possible to calculate the steady state probability, $`\rho _i`$, of the loop having size $`i`$, from the $`t_{i,j}`$ by performing a Monte Carlo simulation of the transition process. For a chain of length 149, we found the distribution shown as the solid line in Fig. 3. Compared to that measured directly, this histogram is characterized by a sharper peak and considerable curvature at the center because flipping events and dependence on initial conditions were eliminated, respectively. The dashed line shows the theoretical curve $`\rho _i\left[i^\alpha (Ni)^\alpha \right]`$, with $`\alpha =43/16`$. The two curves are consistent, although the peak is more sharply defined in the solid line. Making quantitative statements about the relation between the curves would require much larger chain lengths $`N`$ to obtain a sufficient scaling region. Further, the statistical error in $`\rho _i`$ is most pronounced in the center of the histogram where $`\rho _i`$ is small. Other chain lengths have similar histograms, in this case using $`0.25`$ Hz transition rates.

The transition rates enable us to check detailed balance, a sharp test of the nonequilibrium nature of the system. For a system in thermal equilibrium, detailed balance implies a vanishing net flux between any two microscopic states, namely $`\rho _it_{i,j}=\rho _jt_{j,i}`$, or $`f_j(i)\mathrm{ln}\left[(\rho _it_{i,i+j})/(\rho _{i+j}t_{i+j,i})\right]=0`$. Interestingly, we have found that $`f_1(i)>0`$ and $`f_2(i)<0`$, namely, short jumps tend to tighten the loop more than long jumps. This is shown in Fig. 4, where we plot a moving average of $`f_1(i)`$ as the solid line, and a moving average of $`f_2(i)`$ as the dashed line. The average of $`f_1(i)`$ is $`0.1\pm 0.02`$ for $`i>100`$.

As this is an important point, we have made several additional checks. We also considered $`f_1(i)+f_1(i+1)f_2(i+2)`$, which measures the flux around a three point neighborhood. This $`\rho `$-independent quantity was positive, demonstrating violation of detailed balance directly from the $`t_{i,j}`$. Furthermore, we tested detailed balance using $`0.25`$ Hz transition rates for other chain lengths, and again found that short jumps tighten the loop more than long jumps. As a final check, we have tested this procedure using surrogate data from a simulated process which satisfies detailed balance to verify that the violation is not an artifact of the reconstruction of $`\rho `$ from the $`t_{i,j}`$.

Since it is surprising that an argument based on counting of states should be relevant in a nonequilibrium system, we now consider a simplified model. We show that, even out of equilibrium, there are entropic tightening forces, despite violation of detailed balance and possible quantitative changes in the size distribution. We consider a chain with linear elastic interactions between neighboring beads and ignore self-avoidance. We will first consider the equilibrium case, with the chain subject to thermal forcing and damping, and then generalize to athermal drive. Number the beads from $`1`$ to $`N`$, and label the position of bead $`i`$ by $`\stackrel{}{x}(i)`$. Let the crossing occur at beads $`n_1,n_1+1`$ and $`n_2,n_2+1`$. We will compute the forces on the crossing, and from this derive an effective dynamics.

Assume $`n_1<n_2`$, and consider the loop formed by beads $`n_1+2,n_1+3,\mathrm{},n_22`$. This loop exerts a force on bead $`n_1+1`$ proportional to $`\stackrel{}{x}(n_1+2)\stackrel{}{x}(n_1+1)`$. This force tries to tighten the loop. Summing over normal modes of the loop, the average force of a loop of length $`n`$ is found to be $`kT(c1/n)`$, with $`c>0`$. The fluctuations in this force introduce an effective noise into the dynamics of $`n_1`$. There is also an effective dissipation: if the crossing moves to tighten a given loop, the force exerted by that loop temporarily increases (both these contributions are determined by short distance effects). We then make an approximation that $`n_1,n_2`$ can be treated as particles of mass $`M`$ subject to the above forces. The resulting dynamics for $`n=n_2n_1`$ when $`n<<N`$ is,

$$M_t^2n=\frac{kT}{n}\nu _tn+\eta (t),$$
(2)
where $`\nu `$ is the dissipation parameter and $`\eta `$ is the noise. By the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, noise and dissipation in (2) are such that $`n`$ also behaves as a thermal particle at temperature $`T`$, giving an equilibrium distribution $`\rho (n)n^{d/2}`$.

Suppose instead that the chain is subject to forcing which is athermal with large, non-Gaussian fluctuations at short distances, a reasonable assumption given the collisions with the plate. One can show that the average force remains proportional to $`1/n`$, but the noise in (2) also becomes athermal. The effect of this is most easily understood in the overdamped limit of (2). Then, $`n`$ executes a biased random walk with a drift of order $`1/n`$ , with additional random jumps of varying size due to noise. As a result, large jumps are relatively less biased compared with small jumps, and detailed balance is violated as in the experiment. At large $`n`$ this gives biased diffusion, with the diffusivity determined by the mean-square step size. This yields $`\rho n^\alpha `$, $`\alpha d/2`$. For smaller $`n`$, the probability distribution is determined only by the smaller jumps which are more biased, giving a sharpening of the peak in the distribution at a width of the order of the largest jump size, consistent with observations. This behavior is independent of the precise form of the noise, as confirmed by our numerical simulations of (2).

Finally, we consider the dynamics of constraints in linear chains instead of rings. In this case, knots can open at the ends of the chain. Consider a linear chain which crosses itself at one point, the analogue of the figure-8 considered here. Let the crossing occur at links $`n_1,n_2`$, with $`0<n_1<n_2<N`$. The points $`n_1,n_2`$ describe a random walk, with boundary conditions $`n_1<n_2`$, and a bias proportional to $`1/(n_2n_1)`$. For $`\alpha >1`$, the two walkers form a bound state, and the time for the knot to open will behave for large $`N`$ as for a single random walker. This contrasts with the behavior found in a larger acceleration regime, for which experimental measurements of knot opening times showed a purely diffusive behavior, with negligible entropic interaction between walkers. We speculate that the reason for the reduced interaction in the larger acceleration regime is that the increased drive takes the system further out of equilibrium.

In conclusion, we have observed a spontaneous tightening of topological constraints in vertically vibrated granular chains. The significance of this phenomenon is that it indicates that the presence of the constraint merely reduces the chain length by a fixed amount, rather then leading to an extensive size reduction. For equilibrium polymers the tightening arises from entropy. Here, due to the strongly nonequilibrium drive applied to the system, the bead dynamics is athermal and the crossing dynamics breaks detailed balance. However, the loop-size distribution remains close to equilibrium. This system provides further possibilities for experimental examination of the role of entropic forces in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. It is possible to probe fluctuation-dissipation relations by a quantitative comparison between the forces on the crossing point and the velocity fluctuations in the beads, namely the granular temperature.

We thank Charles Reichhardt for useful discussions. This work was supported by US DOE(W-7405-ENG-36) and by the Canadian NSERC.


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# Heavy Quark Production in Deep-Inelastic Scattering

## 1 Introduction

Deep inelastic scattering (DIS) at HERA offers unique opportunities to test and refine our understanding of heavy quark production in terms of perturbative QCD. The dominant mechanism here is boson-gluon fusion (BGF): a photon coupling to the scattered positron interacts with a gluon from the proton to form a quark-antiquark pair. A quantitative description of this process requires the gluon momentum distribution in the proton, a partonic matrix element and a fragmentation function. The gluon density is known to an accuracy of a few percent from the analyses of scaling violations of the proton structure function $`F_2`$ measured at HERA . The masses of the charm and, even more so, of the beauty quark ensure that a hard scale is present that renders QCD perturbation theory to be applicable to the calculation of the hard subprocess. Fragmentation functions, which account for the long-range effects binding the heavy quarks in observable hadrons, are extracted from $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation data, where the kinematics of the hard process is well determined; results with high precision appeared recently . Compared with the clean $`e^+e^{}`$ case, the complication in $`ep`$ collisions lies in the strongly interacting initial state. However, relative to other production environments like hadron-hadron collisions or two-photon interactions, uncertainties related to hadronic structure are reduced to a minimum.

QCD calculations have been performed up to fixed order $`\alpha _s^2`$ in the so-called massive scheme, where only gluons and light quarks are active partons in the initial state. They are available in the form of Monte Carlo integration programs , which, by using Peterson fragmentation functions , provide differential hadronic cross sections. Due to the higher quark mass, the QCD predictions are expected to be more reliable for beauty than for charm. However, we note that the NLO corrections to the predicted DIS cross section are around 40% of the LO result in both cases. At very high momentum transfers, a treatment in terms of heavy quark densities in the proton may be more adequate; but differences between these schemes are not yet significant in the range covered by HERA so far .

## 2 Charm

Most of the HERA results on charm make use of the “golden” decay channel $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ followed by $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$; ZEUS also uses semileptonic decays. The contribution of charmed final states to DIS is quantified as the ratio $`F_2^c/F_2`$, where $`F_2^c`$ is defined in an analogous way to the proton structure function $`F_2`$ by

$$\frac{d^2\sigma (epcX)}{dxdQ^2}=\frac{2\pi \alpha ^2}{xQ^4}(1+(1y)^2)F_2^c(x,Q^2);$$

$`x`$, $`y`$, and $`Q^2`$ are the standard DIS scaling variables. Measurements of $`F_2^c`$ by both experiments  and by using different channels yield consistent results. The charm contribution $`F_2^c/F_2`$ is found to be about 20 to 30 % in most of the kinematic region at HERA. It is large where gluon-induced reactions dominate, and decreases only as $`Q^2`$ becomes smaller than $``$10 GeV2, or at higher $`x`$ values $`\stackrel{>}{_{}}0.01`$, where the quark content in the proton takes over. Figure 1 displays the measured values of $`F_2^c`$. The $`Q^2`$ dependence, for fixed values of $`x`$, is steeper than for the inclusive structure function. The NLO QCD calculation , with a gluon distribution extracted from H1 $`F_2`$ data, agrees well with the data, which demonstrates the overall consistency of the boson-gluon-fusion picture. At low $`x`$, the data tend to be somewhat higher and to vary stronger with $`Q^2`$ than the prediction.

The available statistics makes more detailed investigations possible. It was observed earlier that the NLO QCD calculations with Peterson fragmentation (HVQDIS) do not reproduce the rapidity ($`\eta `$) distribution of the produced charm meson well in the forward region (the outgoing proton direction) . The double differential $`D^{}`$ cross section  displayed in Figure 2 reveals that in the H1 data this is predominantly a feature of the low $`p_T(D^{})`$ region. The measurement is also compared with the CASCADE Monte Carlo program , based on the CCFM evolution equation , which resums higher order contributions at low $`x`$. Using an unintegrated gluon distribution extracted from inclusive H1 data, it reproduces the data in the low $`p_T`$ region well, but overshoots at higher $`p_T`$. Such shape differences imply that the extrapolated result for $`F_2^c`$ is model-dependent, but also the $`F_2^c`$ prediction depends on the evolution scheme. H1 has performed a consistent extraction and comparison in the CCFM scheme and found somewhat better agreement in the low $`x`$ region than in the standard Altarelli-Parisi scheme.

A possibility to include higher order processes in the modeling of heavy quark production is to use the concept of photon structure also at non-zero virtuality. One can classify events as “direct” or “resolved” according to the measured value of $`x_\gamma ^{OBS}=(Ep_z)_{2jets}/(Ep_z)_{allhadrons}`$ in dijet events. Keeping the LO photoproduction language, this corresponds to the momentum fraction of the incoming parton in the photon, but more generally, $`x_\gamma ^{OBS}`$ is sensitive to any kind of non-collinear radiation in the event. The ratio of resolved vs. direct cross sections has been determined in this approach by ZEUS  and is displayed as a function of virtuality in Figure 3. In contrast to the situation for light quarks, the ratio in the DIS regime is very similar to that at $`Q^20`$; as expected, using e.g. the virtual photon structure function set SaS1D  implemented in the HERWIG program . The CASCADE model, with gluon emissions ordered in angle rather than in $`k_T`$, effectively incorporates the perturbative, anomalous part of the photon structure and reproduces the data well at all $`Q^2`$, but not the AROMA Monte Carlo program , which does not include such contributions.

Charm production has also been measured separately in $`e^{}p`$ and $`e^+p`$ DIS by ZEUS . The data are shown in Figure 4 as a function of $`Q^2`$. The $`e^{}p`$ and $`e^+p`$ results are only barely consistent with each other; for $`Q^2>20`$ GeV2, the discrepancy amounts to 3 standard deviations. However, both measurements are compatible with the theoretical expectation, in which no mechanism exists to generate an asymmetry with respect to the lepton beam charge at such low four-momentum transfers.

In summary, the BGF concept at NLO works well for charm in DIS, up to high $`Q^2`$. The HERA data reach the precision to identify regions (e.g. at low $`x`$), where refinements are becoming necessary.

## 3 Beauty

Beauty production at HERA is suppressed by two orders of magnitude with respect to charm. All HERA measurements of $`b`$ production so far rely on inclusive semi-leptonic decays, using identified muons or electrons in dijet events. Two observables have been used to discriminate the $`b`$ signal from background sources. The high mass of the $`b`$ quark gives rise to large transverse momenta $`p_T^{rel}`$ of the lepton relative to the direction of the associated jet. Using this method, both collaborations have published photoproduction cross section measurements , which are higher than NLO QCD expectations.

More recently, with the precision offered by the H1 vertex detector , it has become possible to observe tracks from secondary $`b`$ vertices and to exploit the long lifetime as a $`b`$ tag, using e.g. the impact parameter $`\delta `$. This improves the photoproduction result  and provides a first measurement in DIS , where resolved contributions involving the non-perturbative hadronic structure of the photon are expected to be suppressed . The DIS case is therefore complementary and theoretically simpler. The sensitivity to determine the beauty component is maximized by combining both variables in a likelihood fit to the two-dimensional distribution in $`\delta `$ and $`p_T^{rel}`$. The consistency of the two observables has been established with the larger statistics available in the photoproduction regime The $`\delta `$ distribution for muons in dijet DIS events selected from a dataset corresponding to 10.5 pb-1, is shown in Figure 5 together with the decomposition from the two-dimensional fit, which yields a $`b\overline{b}`$ fraction of $`f_b=(43\pm 8)\%`$.

A DIS cross section of $`\sigma _{epb\overline{b}X\mu X}^{vis}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}39}\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}8}\pm 10\mathrm{pb}`$ is extracted in the kinematic range given by $`2<Q^2<100`$ GeV2, $`0.05<y<0.7`$, $`p_T(\mu )>2`$ GeV and $`35^{}<\theta (\mu )<130^{}`$. This can be directly compared to NLO QCD calculations implemented in the HVQDIS  program, after folding the predicted $`b`$ hadron distributions with a decay lepton spectrum. The result, $`11\pm 2`$ pb, is much lower than the H1 measurements. The data have also been compared with the CASCADE Monte Carlo simulation; the result of 15 pb also falls considerably below the measurements.

We summarize the HERA $`b`$ results  as a function of $`Q^2`$ in Figure 6, where the ratio of the measured cross sections to theoretical expectations based on the NLO QCD calculations  is displayed. It is consistent with being independent of $`Q^2`$. The discrepancy between data and theory is similar to the situation observed in $`\overline{p}p`$ and, more recently, $`\gamma \gamma `$ interactions . The first measurement in DIS indicates that in $`ep`$ collisions this is not a feature of hadron-hadron like scattering alone.


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# hep-lat/0110143October 2001 Hadron Spectrum for Quenched Domain-Wall Fermions with DBW2 Gauge ActionTalk presented at Lattice 2001, Berlin, Germany.

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Domain wall fermion (DWF) is a promising tool to calculate hadronic quantities where chiral symmetry is important. Precise calculation of kaon mixing parameter $`B_K`$ is one success of this formulation. More challenging calculations of kaon weak matrix element for $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ show a first reliable determination within lowest order chiral perturbation theory. Attempt to calculate nucleon matrix elements is also underway.

The good chiral property of DWF comes at an obvious cost, which is a substantial increase of computational effort associated with the size of the fifth dimension $`L_s`$. This makes taking the continuum limit by performing lattice finer than $`a^12`$ GeV difficult. Going to a coarser lattice to have another point for the continuum extrapolation could be a better strategy. However, results on coarser lattices show that an incredibly large size for the fifth dimension is required to keep the residual chiral symmetry breaking small.

Motivated by the fact that improving the gauge action reduces the residual chiral symmetry breaking at finite $`L_s`$ significantly at $`a^12`$ GeV, we found the DBW2 action, which is a non-perturbatively determined Iwasaki-type action, gave much more improvement for the chiral properties. Here we investigate basic physical quantities for the DBW2 gauge action for quenched DWF to see the viability of this approach down to $`a^11.3`$ GeV.

We perform the simulation on a $`16^3\times 32`$ lattice with DBW2 action at $`\beta =0.87`$ and $`1.04`$ in Iwasaki type parameterization, which corresponds to $`a^11.3`$ and $`2`$ GeV respectively. The domain wall hight $`M_5`$ is tuned in the first decimal place so that it minimizes the residual quark mass $`m_{res}`$, although it is not necessary that it be done to this accuracy.

## 2 RESULTS FOR $`a^11.3`$ GeV

The residual quark mass $`m_{res}`$ is defined through the ratio

$$R(t)=J_{5q}(t)P(t)/P(t)P(0)$$
(1)
at $`ta`$, where $`J_{5q}`$ represents explicit breaking of chiral symmetry in the the divergence of “conserved current” $`𝒜_\mu `$, and $`P`$ is the pseudoscalar density operator. We list the value of $`m_{res}`$ in Table 1. For $`a^11.3`$ GeV unrenormalized value of $`m_{res}0.7`$ MeV, which is smaller than that obtained for the Wilson gauge action at finer lattice, $`a^12`$ GeV and the same $`L_s`$, $`m_{res}2.4`$ MeV.

The pion mass can be extracted from a two point function constructed from pion interpolating operators. We consider two different two-point functions. One is the pseudoscalar – pseudoscalar, $`PP`$, the other is the local axial – axial correlator, $`A_0A_0`$. The former has a $`1/m^2`$ and $`1/m`$ pole from zero modes in finite volume, while the later has only $`1/m`$. Figure 1 shows the pion masses from those different two point functions are consistent with each other down to $`m_f=0.02`$. The difference begins to show up at the lightest mass $`m_fa=0.01`$, however it is quite small compared to the value of mass itself.

A linear fit of the $`A_0A_0`$ correlator for $`0.01m_f0.06`$ is quite good ($`\chi ^2/dof=0.03/3`$). However, x-intercept is $`m_f=1.3(4)10^3`$, so it overshoots $`m_f=m_{res}`$, where the pion mass should vanish. This location of the intercept is guaranteed with accuracy of $`O(a^2)`$ by the Ward-Takahashi identity when all possible finite size effects have been removed. With this constraint one can fit to a quenched chiral log formulae,

$`(m_\pi a)^2`$ $`=`$ $`a_0m\left(1+a_1\mathrm{log}m\right)+a_2m^2`$ (2)
$`m`$ $``$ $`m_fa+m_{res}a.`$ (3)
Results are listed in the Table 2. Both fits with or without quadratic term give reasonable value of $`a_1`$.

We determine the pseudoscalar decay constant using two methods. One is an estimate from the $`A_0A_0`$ correlator with the renormalization factor $`Z_A`$ nonperturbatively determined from the ratio of $`𝒜_0P`$ and $`A_0P`$. The other uses the $`PP`$ correlator with the equation $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu 𝒜_\mu 2(m_f+m_{res})P`$ from the Ward-Takahashi identity. As seen in the Figure 2 the two methods give consistent results, indicating the effect of chiral symmetry breaking can be absorbed in the shift of $`m_f`$. Also the possible zero mode effects, which influence the two correlators differently, appear to be small, which is a confirmation of what we saw for the pion mass down to $`m_f=0.02`$.

## 3 SCALING PROPERTIES

Figure 3 plots the rho meson mass extrapolated to the chiral limit as a function of lattice spacing. Both axes are normalized by $`r_0`$ calculated from the heavy quark potential. Together with the data of this work, results with Wilson gauge action are shown. Those data show that the scales determined by different methods agree very well for both the DBW2 and the Wilson gauge action for DWF. This good scaling is also seen in the nucleon mass and $`K^{}`$ mass normalized by rho meson mass. This also holds when one chooses $`r_0`$ for the input of scale, which is obvious from above discussion.

Scaling of the pseudoscalar decay constant (Fig. 5) is also good. $`f_\pi `$ is in good agreement with the experimental value. $`f_K`$ appears to be smaller than the experimental value, which could be caused by the effects of quenching.

## 4 CONCLUSION

We have attempted to use the DBW2 gauge action in a quenched domain wall fermion simulation. Good chiral properties for $`a^11.3`$ GeV has been observed. We have investigated scaling of hadronic observables, which also turned out to be good. We have also confirmed that the values were consistent with those obtained with the Wilson gauge action.

The statistics presented here is not sufficient for the precision measurement for those observables calculated here. However, we can argue that there is no evidence for any difficulty with this choice of gauge action, rather it has lots of good features.

An important benefit from the use of this gauge action is that residual chiral symmetry breaking is quite small even for a coarse lattice with $`a^11.3`$ GeV. Therefore it may be suitable for demanding calculation like $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$. Once we have the results for $`a^11.3`$ GeV and finer lattices, we will be able to discuss the scaling property for those quantities.


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# Electronic density of states derived from thermodynamic critical field curves for underdoped 𝐿𝑎_{2-𝑥}𝑆𝑟_𝑥𝐶𝑢𝑂_{4+𝛿}

## I Introduction

In the study of superconductivity in the cuprate materials, the density of states at the Fermi surface, $`N(0)`$, is a key variable in the determination of the transition temperature. The $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ system is a doped insulator for $`x=0`$ and the carrier concentration can be increased in an orderly way by holding the oxygen concentration constant and increasing the Sr content. Numerous specific heat measurements have been carried out to gain insight into the changes in the density of states. The determination of $`N(0)`$ from specific heat data, however, is made difficult because the lattice specific heat is large and because the upper critical field is above the reach of the magnets available. Another approach to the changes in $`N(0)`$ is through the study of optical conductivity. By assuming a Drude like absorption and integrating over all frequencies, it was found that $`N(0)`$ rises in the underdoped region and levels off in the overdoped region.

The purpose of this work is to measure the thermodynamic critical field curves, $`H_cvs.T`$, for the $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ system over the entire range of superconductivity. Thermodynamic critical field data are important in their own right because they give the free energy difference between the superconducting and normal state and a good starting place for theory. In addition, we wish to compare the thermodynamic critical fields of $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ with those of classical superconductors and with the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) picture. Within the BCS model and succeeding strong coupling modifications, the ratio of the critical field at $`T=0`$ to the critical temperature, $`H_o/k_BT_c`$ is related to $`N(0)`$ and the curvature of the $`H_cvs.T`$ curve is related to the ratio of the energy gap at $`T=0`$ to transition temperature, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$. The goal is to measure these changes in $`N(0)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$ as the $`Sr`$ content changes.

There is a vocabulary problem in the discussion of these data in that the thermodynamic critical field curve and the free energy difference are most closely related to the condensation energy per Cooper pair rather than the energy gap. In BCS, the two quantities are equivalent, and we have used the terms interchangeably in the discussion here because we are comparing the results to BCS.

A preliminary single crystal study recently published illustrates the success and difficulties of measuring thermodynamic critical fields in this system. Extensive measurements of a high quality single crystal of $`La_{1.90}Sr_{0.10}CuO_{4+\delta }`$ have shown that the superconducting magnetization curves, $`M_{sc}vs.H`$, of this moderately underdoped high temperature superconductor obeys the Hao-Clem model over a wide range of temperature, $`T`$, and magnetic fields, $`H`$. The Hao-Clem model is a variational calculation developed originally for the $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ system and it was shown to describe the magnetization curves, well for both $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ and $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ system. In the $`La_{1.90}Sr_{0.10}CuO_{4+\delta }`$ studies, it also was found that the normal state background magnetization follows a 2D Heisenberg model for the $`Cu`$ spins with values close to those measured previously by Nakano and coworkers. In addition, this $`x=0.10`$ sample showed a vortex fluctuation contribution to the magnetization close to $`T_c`$. The presence of these fluctuations limits the temperature range of applicability of Hao-Clem because they introduce a new term in the free energy. We only use Hao-Clem in regions where these fluctuations do not contribute significantly. At low temperature irreversibility of the magnetization prevents equilibrium magnetization measurements and close to $`T_c`$, fluctuations make Hao-Clem inapplicable. Even so, there is a window for each x-value where Hao-Clem works well and thermodynamic critical fields can be measured.

## II Experiment

Both single crystals and grain-aligned-powders are used in this work. In the early part of the experiment, it was thought that it would be easier to control the oxygen content in grain-aligned-powders than in single crystals because the diffusion distance for oxygen would be less. Single crystals from three different sources, however, have given essentially the same result as the powders. Magnetically aligned samples were prepared by grinding appropriate amounts of $`La_2O_3`$, $`SrCO_3`$ and $`CuO`$ in an agate mortar and pestle. Mixed and ground powders were pressed into pellets, placed in an alumina boat, and initially fired for $`24h`$ at $`750^{}C`$. This was followed by grinding, pelletizing, and firing several times at $`850^{}`$C and $`970^{}`$C for $`48`$ and $`72h`$ respectively. After several cycles at these temperatures, the grinding, pelletizing and sintering was done at successively higher temperatures of $`1000^{}`$C, $`1050^{}`$C, and $`1100^{}`$C in a tube with oxygen flowing at $`2.5cm^3/min`$ for $`24h`$ each time. Measurements of $`T_c`$ and zero-field-cooled Meissner screening fraction at $`1.0mT`$ were carried out as the first test for sample quality. The final pellet was ground to a particle size of about $`20\mu m`$, mixed with a low viscosity epoxy (Epotek 301), oriented in a magnetic field of $`8.0T`$, and then the epoxy was allowed to harden. X-ray diffraction patterns showed only $`(00\mathrm{})`$ peaks. The full width at half maximum of the $`(008)`$ peak was $`5^{}`$. Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) measurements were used to determine the $`Sr`$ content or x-value.

Magnetization data were taken with $`Hc`$ in a Quantum Designs magnetometer with a $`3cm`$ scan for the $`x=0.13`$ single crystal and a $`6cm`$ scan for all others. In this magnetometer, the sample is moved through a series of three pick-up coils, and the length of scan determines the uniformity of magnetic field seen by the sample during the scan. We selected the sample that has the highest $`T_c`$ for any given x-value and this corresponded well with literature values in all cases. In the region of $`x=1/8`$, the superconducting transition widths are about double the width away from this region. In this work, the magnetization is taken to be thermodynamically reversible if the difference in the field increasing and field decreasing magnetization is less than one percent of the average magnetization. The range of temperatures was $`1.4K`$ to $`300K`$, and the range of magnetic fields was $`0`$ to $`7T`$.

## III Results and discussion

The superconducting transition temperature, $`T_c`$, for both the single crystals (solid triangles) and the grain aligned powders (solid circles) are rather close to the literature values as shown in Fig. 1. There is a very clear dip in the curve near $`x=1/8`$ similar to that found by others and in $`La_{2x}Ba_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$. The $`T_c`$ values for the grain aligned samples agree well with the single crystals published here as well as those reported in the literature.

### A Normal State Magnetization

There is a very predictable and regular background magnetization, $`M_b`$, that appears to arise primarily from the Cu spin system. Measurements of $`M_b`$ in the normal state were made between $`60K`$ and $`200K`$ and found to fit the relation,

$$M_b=CH+M_stanh(\beta H),$$
$`(1)`$
where the dominant term is the linear $`CH`$ term. In Eq.1, $`C`$, $`M_s`$, and $`\beta `$ are fit constants. Figure 2 shows that the magnitude of this magnetization is on the order of $`10^5to10^3\mu _B/Cuatom`$. As reported earlier for the $`x=0.10`$ single crystal, the $`M_stanh(\beta H)`$ term saturates at about $`0.1T`$ and the value of $`M_s`$ ranges between $`36\times 10^5\mu _B/Cuatom`$. The $`M_stanh(\beta H)`$ term is small and both $`M_s`$ and $`\beta `$ are nearly independent of temperature and x-value in the range measured. The value of the slope of the linear term, C, is rather close to the values reported by Nakano and coworkers as shown by Fig. 3. The solid lines are from Ref. 5 for $`x=0.10,0.14,0.16,0.20,0.26`$ running from bottom to top. To determine the normal state magnetization at temperatures below $`T_c`$, the value of $`C`$ is linearly extrapolated from the $`60K`$ to $`200K`$ data to the desired temperature and $`M_b`$ is determined from Eq. 1. Because the constants, $`M_s`$ and $`\beta `$ do not change with temperature, they are taken to be the average of the values determined from $`60200K`$.

### B Irreversibility field

In the over-doped region, the irreversibility field, $`H_{irr}`$, has essentially the same values as the optimum doped sample as shown in the reduced temperature, $`T/T_c`$ plot of Fig. 4. In the underdoped region, the flux pinning is much weaker and $`H_{irr}`$ drops to lower values. As Janossy and coworkers showed for $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$, as charge carriers are removed from the cuprate superconductor, the material becomes more anisotropic and the pinning is reduced.

### C Thermodynamic critical field curves

To determine the magnetization of the superconducting charge carriers, $`M_{sc}`$, the background magnetization is subtracted from the total measured magnetization, $`M_t`$, by, $`M_{sc}=M_tM_b`$. To illustrate the results, Fig. 5 shows superconducting magnetization data as a function of magnetic field for the interval between $`H_{irr}`$ and the field where vortex fluctuations become important. In the first attempt to fit these data to the Hao-Clem model, both $`H_c`$ and $`\kappa _c`$ are used as adjustable parameters. Here, $`\kappa _c=H_{c2}/\sqrt{2}H_c`$ is approximately the ratio of the penetration depth to the coherence distance. Usually the data do not extend very close to $`H_{c2}`$, so the fit is not very sensitive to $`\kappa _c`$. Hence, the average of $`\kappa _c`$ for any given $`x`$-value is used and $`H_c`$ is adjusted slightly for the best fit. For the optimum-doped and overdoped range, $`\kappa _c`$ ranges from 80 to 120. The maximum value of $`\kappa _c`$ is about $`200`$ for $`x=0.10`$ and it falls to about $`120`$ again in the $`x`$ equal to $`0.070.08`$ range. The fits to Hao-Clem and the resulting $`H_cvs.T`$ curve are shown in Fig.6.

The critical field curve data for samples in the overdoped regime are shown in Fig. 7a, and the data for the underdoped regime are shown in Fig. 7b. The solid lines through the data are best fit parabolas of the form $`H_c=H_o[1(T/T_c)^2]`$. In the overdoped data of Fig. 7a, the ratio of $`H_o/T_c`$ remains relatively constant, and in the underdoped regime, the ratio of $`H_o/T_c`$ drops quickly as the x-value or charge carrier concentration is reduced.

### D Comparison of data with BCS theory

The BCS theory has been very successful describing the thermodynamic critical field curves of classical superconductors. Within the theory, the $`H_c`$ value at any given temperature can be calculated from two microscopic variables, the ratio of the energy gap to the thermal energy, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)/k_BT`$ at that temperature and the value of the density of states, $`N(0)`$. Modifications of BCS to include strong-coupling effects show that the ratio of the energy gap at $`T=0`$ to $`k_BT_c`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$ rises above the weak-coupling BCS value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c=1.76`$ to values above $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c=2`$ for strong-coupling superconductors like $`Pb`$ and $`Hg`$. For these materials, the temperature dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)/\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ has approximately the same shape as the original BCS form.

To compare and contrast these $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ superconductors with classical superconductors, we assume that strong-coupling BCS theory applies to both classes of material and do a two parameter fit of the thermodynamic critical field curves using $`N(0)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$ as fitting variables. In this fitting, $`N(0)`$ controls the magnitude of $`H_c`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$ controls the curvature of the $`H_cvs.T`$ plot. The results are shown in Fig. 8a and 8b. The value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$ is consistently in the $`1.9`$ to $`2.1`$ range with the underdoped samples being very similar to the overdoped samples. The specific heat $`\gamma `$, which is related to $`N(0)`$ by $`\gamma =2/3\pi ^2k_B^2N(0)`$, is relatively constant at $`3.0mJ/molK^2`$ in the optimum and overdoped region. The value of $`\gamma `$ then drops quickly to a minimum at the $`x=1/8`$ region, rises to a maximum at $`x=0.010`$, and falls quickly as $`x`$ falls in the underdoped regime. Measured values of $`T_c`$ are also shown in Fig. 8b for comparison with the trajectory of $`\gamma vs.x`$. A much more detailed discussion of the data and the analysis is given elsewhere.

## IV Conclusions

There is a reasonable window of thermodynamic reversibility where equilibrium magnetization curves can be measured in the $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ system. The superconducting magnetization curves obey Hao-Clem rather well, even in the underdoped region as long as data are taken in the range of applicability of the model. As the x-value drops, $`H_{irr}`$ drops giving a wider region of the $`HT`$ plane. The range of vortex fluctuations, however, also increases so that the temperature interval where Hao-Clem can be used remains roughly constant over the x-values measured.

Thermodynamic critical field curves for $`La_{2x}Sr_xCuO_{4+\delta }`$ are rather similar to those of classical superconductors. From the curvature of the $`H_cvs.T`$ plots, one can derive a $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/k_BT_c`$ value that is roughly independent of $`x`$ and equal to about 2.0. From the magnitude of the $`H_cvs.T`$ plot, the specific heat $`\gamma `$ remains nearly constant at $`3.0mJ/molK^2`$ in the overdoped region. In the underdoped region, $`\gamma `$ falls to a minimum at the $`x=1/8`$ value, rises to a maximum at $`x=0.10`$, and then falls quickly toward zero as $`x`$ approaches $`0.06`$. In the broad picture, $`N(0)`$ is roughly constant in the overdoped regime, and $`N(0)`$ falls quickly in the underdoped regime. In this broad feature, the data are similar to the change in the density of states found by integrating optical absorption data over all frequencies.

## V Acknowledgments

Ames Laboratory is operated for the U. S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under contract No. W-7405-ENG-82 and supported by the DOE, the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.