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# Random Packings of Frictionless Particles

## Abstract

We study random packings of frictionless particles at $`T=0`$. The packing fraction where the pressure becomes nonzero is the same as the jamming threshold, where the static shear modulus becomes nonzero. The distribution of threshold packing fractions narrows and its peak approaches random close-packing as the system size increases. For packing fractions within the peak, there is no self-averaging, leading to exponential decay of the interparticle force distribution.

A system jams when it develops a yield stress or extremely long stress relaxation time in a disordered state. Different control parameters can be varied to induce jamming, such as the temperature $`T`$, the applied shear stress $`\sigma `$, or the packing fraction $`\varphi `$, as shown in the phase diagram inset to Fig. 1(a) . Such a phase diagram might apply e.g. to supercooled liquids, granular materials, foams and suspensions. For the diagram to be useful, there should be a common physical origin for jamming independent of the control parameter varied. Previously, it was shown  that a peak in the distribution of interparticle normal forces, $`P(F)`$, signifies the development of a yield stress in a variety of systems, implying that the jamming phase diagram is a useful concept.

There is a special point on the jamming phase diagram, marked $`\mathrm{J}`$ in Fig. 1(a), for repulsive, finite-range potentials. This point, at zero temperature and zero shear stress, represents the onset of jamming with increasing packing fraction. Static granular packings must necessarily lie near this point because they are effectively at $`T=0`$ (the thermal energy is much smaller than the energy needed to lift a grain by its own diameter) and the particles are hard, so it is difficult to compress packings further into the jammed region. Experimentally, $`P(F)`$ for granular packings has a remarkably robust form; not only does it have a peak, but it also has an exponentially decreasing tail at large $`F`$. Numerous simulations find the same form for $`P(F)`$. The persistence of the exponential tail, independent of the potential used, is surprising.

In this letter, we examine configurations created by quenching systems from high temperature to $`T=0`$ (and also $`\sigma =0`$) near the onset of jamming (point $`\mathrm{J}`$ in the jamming diagram). We find that different configurations have different properties, even for arbitrarily large system sizes, so that self-averaging is not observed. However, the range of packing fractions over which self-averaging is not observed narrows with increasing system size. We will show that one consequence of non-self-averaging is an exponential decay of $`P(F)`$ at large $`F`$.

To create configurations near point $`\mathrm{J}`$ we start with random configurations (i.e. $`T=\mathrm{}`$) and, as with inherent structures, quench infinitely rapidly to $`T=0`$ at fixed $`\varphi `$ using conjugate gradient (CG) energy minimization. We study $`50:50`$ binary mixtures of $`N`$ frictionless particles with a diameter ratio $`1.4`$  that interact pairwise via repulsive potentials: $`v_{ab}(r)=(ϵ/\alpha )(1r/\sigma _{ab})^\alpha `$ for $`r<\sigma _{ab}`$ and $`v_{ab}(r)=0`$ for $`r>\sigma _{ab}`$, where $`a,b`$ label particles and $`\sigma _{ab}=(\sigma _a+\sigma _b)/2`$. We study harmonic ($`\alpha =2`$) and Hertzian ($`\alpha =5/2`$) potentials in $`2D`$ and $`3D`$. The total potential energy is $`V=0`$ if no particles overlap. Energy is measured in units of $`ϵ`$ and length in units of the small particle diameter $`\sigma _1`$.

We classify each final configuration as either overlapped ($`V0`$) or non-overlapped ($`V=0`$). Overlapping configurations must have a nonzero pressure, $`p`$, while non-overlapping ones have $`p=0`$. Is a configuration that has $`p>0`$ necessarily jammed with a zero-frequency shear modulus $`G>0`$? To answer this question, we study states close to overlap threshold as a function of packing fraction. We find the overlap threshold, $`\varphi _c`$, for each configuration by compressing a non-overlapped state while measuring $`p`$. Throughout the compression, after each small increment in $`\varphi `$ ($`\delta \varphi 10^4`$), we use CG to bring the state to the lowest energy attainable without crossing any barriers. (To check that no barriers were crossed, we reproduced our results using ten times smaller increments in $`\varphi `$). This procedure allows us to measure zero-frequency properties of the system.

Different states have different values of the overlap threshold, $`\varphi _c`$. Nevertheless, when we plot pressure $`p`$ versus $`\varphi \varphi _c`$ (Fig. 1(a)), the results for different configurations collapse on a single curve. This holds for both harmonic ($`\alpha =2`$) and Hertzian ($`\alpha =5/2`$) potentials in $`2D`$ and $`3D`$. We find $`p=p_0(\varphi \varphi _c)^\beta `$, where $`p_0`$ is only weakly dependent on dimension and $`\beta =1.0`$ for harmonic and $`\beta =1.5`$ for Hertzian potentials, independent of dimension. This is consistent with previous results at larger $`\varphi \varphi _c`$ . To see if states with $`p>0`$ are jammed, we calculate the shear modulus, $`G`$, by applying a small step strain and measuring the infinite-time response by minimizing the energy using CG. The response is linear for sufficiently small strains. Fig. 1(b) shows that $`G=G_0(\varphi \varphi _c)^\gamma `$, where $`\gamma =0.5`$ for $`\alpha =2`$, and $`\gamma =1.0`$ for $`\alpha =5/2`$, in $`2D`$ and $`3D`$. To our resolution, which is better than $`10^4`$, we find that $`G`$ and $`p`$ vanish at the same packing fraction $`\varphi _c`$. This implies that the onset of jamming, as defined in the first paragraph, coincides with the onset of overlap.

When a configuration jams at $`\varphi _c`$, the number of overlaps per particle, $`Z`$, jumps from zero to a threshold value $`Z_c`$. Above $`\varphi _c`$, $`Z`$ increases as $`ZZ_c=Z_0(\varphi \varphi _c)^\zeta `$, as shown in Fig. 1(c). For both harmonic and Hertzian potentials, we find $`\zeta =0.5`$ in both $`2D`$ and $`3D`$. (If there are no zero-energy modes, $`Z_c=2d`$ for frictionless spheres in $`d`$ dimensions. Usually $`5\%`$ of particles are “rattlers” that do not overlap with any neighbors. If we remove these, we find $`Z_c=2d`$.)

By studying the onset of jamming in repulsive systems at $`T=0`$, we have a criterion for whether a state is jammed or not (i.e. $`V>0`$ or $`V=0`$). If there is a packing with $`V=0`$, then it is an equilibrium configuration. The state that maintains $`V=0`$ up to the highest $`\varphi `$ is therefore the one that, when compressed infinitesimally above this point, becomes the zero-temperature equivalent to the ideal glass. We have found that the properties shown in Fig. 1 depend only on $`\varphi \varphi _c`$. This suggests that this behavior is the same as for the ideal glass.

Although Fig. 1 shows scaling behavior above $`\varphi _c`$, the value of $`\varphi _c`$ varies from state to state. How much can $`\varphi _c`$ vary? Our protocol, of starting with random configurations and quenching infinitely rapidly to $`T=0`$ should, in principle, allow us to sample all of phase space. For each $`\varphi `$, we measure the fraction of initial states that lead to jammed states at $`T=0`$. Fig. 2(a) shows the probability, $`f_\mathrm{j}(\varphi )`$, of finding a jammed state for different system sizes in $`3D`$ for the harmonic potential. For each $`N`$, we have differentiated $`f_\mathrm{j}`$ with respect to $`\varphi `$ to obtain the probability distribution $`P_\mathrm{j}(\varphi _c)`$ of finding a jamming threshold of $`\varphi _c`$ (see Fig. 2(b)). System size has a large effect. For each $`N`$, we characterize $`P_\mathrm{j}(\varphi _c)`$ by its full width at half maximum, $`w`$, and its peak position, $`\varphi _0`$. Fig. 2(c) shows that for $`N>10`$, $`wN^\omega `$, where $`\omega 0.55`$. Similarly, Fig. 2(d) shows that $`\varphi _0`$ approaches its asymptotic value $`\varphi ^{}`$ as $`\varphi ^{}\varphi _0N^\theta `$, where $`\theta 0.7`$ for $`2D`$ and $`\theta 0.5`$ for $`3D`$. We find $`\varphi ^{}=0.842`$ in $`2D`$ and $`\varphi ^{}=0.648`$ in $`3D`$, close to well-known values of random close-packing.

For finite $`N`$, the peak $`\varphi _0`$ of the distribution $`P_\mathrm{j}(\varphi _c)`$ corresponds to the largest number of initial states that lead to final jammed configurations (not the largest number of distinct final jammed states). As such, $`\varphi _0`$ is a measure of the largest fraction of phase space that leads to the onset of jamming for a given $`N`$. $`\varphi ^{}`$ thus represents where the jamming threshold is maximally random in the $`N\mathrm{}`$ limit. We find the same limiting value of $`\varphi ^{}`$ for Hertzian and harmonic potentials, suggesting that $`\varphi ^{}`$ is not sensitive to the potential. We can approach jammed hard-sphere packings by noting that states up to the jamming threshold are accessible to hard spheres. If we repeat the measurement of $`\varphi ^{}`$ for potentials with progressively harder repulsions, we can approach (but not attain) the hard-sphere limit. This suggests a way to measure the maximally random jammed packing fraction for hard spheres.

It is well known that spherical granular materials can exist over a 15% spread of packing fractions ranging from 0.55 to 0.64 . The width of our distribution $`P_j(\varphi _c)`$ for isotropic packings of frictionless soft spheres is a maximum near $`N=10`$ and becomes arbitrarily small in the $`N\mathrm{}`$ limit. Only for $`N10`$ can we find states that are jammed at packing fractions as low as 0.55. Thus, the experimental difference between loose- and close-packing cannot be explained simply by considering allowed configurations of frictionless spheres; the value of loose-packing is not a purely geometrical quantity.

We note that there are other protocols for finding the jamming threshold at $`T=0`$. We have also generated configurations by cooling slowly from equilibrium thermal states to $`T=0`$. In that case, we find that $`P_j(\varphi _c)`$ is shifted to higher values of $`\varphi _c`$, with values of $`\varphi _0`$ that are less than 1% higher than for the first protocol, but it is difficult to determine whether the difference persists when $`N\mathrm{}`$.

We have shown that as $`N\mathrm{}`$, the range of packing fractions over which systems can jam becomes arbitrarily narrow. Therefore, one might suppose that the fact that different configurations jam at different packing fractions might become irrelevant in the large $`N`$ limit. This is not the case because within the range over which both jammed and unjammed configurations exist, there is no self-averaging. For example, if a configuration is unjammed, with $`V=0`$, every subset of that configuration has $`V=0`$, as well. Less obvious is that for jammed configurations, all subsets of more than a few particles will likely also contain overlaps. This is found numerically, and stems from the fact that on average, each jammed particle must have at least $`2d`$ overlapping contacts, each of which also has $`2d`$ contacts. This constraint makes it unlikely that a jammed system can exist with pockets containing more than a few rattlers.

The distribution of interparticle normal forces, $`P(F)`$, illustrates the absence of self-averaging. Simulations of static packings have shown that at large $`F`$, $`P(F)`$ falls off exponentially even for harmonic and Hertzian potentials. An argument based on equilibrium liquids, however, suggests that the distribution should fall off differently for different potentials: the large force tail depends on the pair-distribution function at small $`r`$, which in equilibrium varies approximately as $`\mathrm{exp}(V(r)/kT)`$. By this reasoning, one would predict a Gaussian tail for $`P(F)`$ for a harmonic potential. Indeed, we do find a Gaussian tail except at $`T=0`$ near $`\varphi _0`$ (the peak of $`P_j(\varphi _c)`$), where both jammed and unjammed configurations can exist. In this region, we obtain a different result for $`P(F)`$, depending on whether we scale $`F`$ by its average value before or after taking the configurational average. If, for each configuration, the forces $`F`$ are scaled by the average value for that configuration, $`F`$, and the resulting distribution $`P(F/F)`$ is then averaged over all configurations, the result is as shown in Fig. 3(a). On the other hand, if the forces are scaled by the average over all configurations, $`F`$, the resulting $`P(F/F)`$ is as shown in Fig. 3(b). We see that at $`\varphi =0.644`$, near the peak of $`P_j(\varphi _c)`$ for $`N=1024`$, the high force tail falls off much more slowly in this latter case than in the former, where each configuration is averaged separately. As the packing fraction is increased above $`\varphi _c`$, there is less difference between the curves $`P(F/F)`$ and $`P(F/F)`$. This trend can be explained since near $`\varphi _c`$, $`F`$ varies dramatically from configuration to configuration. The relative size of fluctuations in $`F`$ decreases with increasing $`\varphi `$, and the exponential decay of $`P(F)`$ thus disappears. As the size of the system increases, the width of the region in $`\varphi `$ over which the high-force tail is exponential will decrease. However, one can always tune $`\varphi `$ close enough to $`\varphi _0`$ to observe the exponential tail.

The shape of the tail of $`P(F/F)`$ can be computed analytically, given a few simple assumptions. We have found that the average force in a configuration, $`F`$, is proportional to the pressure $`p`$ at $`T=0`$ near the onset of jamming. So from Fig. 1(a), we know that $`F=F_0(\varphi \varphi _c)`$ for the harmonic potential. We assume that the jamming threshold, $`\varphi _c`$, is distributed as a Gaussian centered at $`\varphi _0`$ with width $`w`$ as found in Fig. 2(b). Finally, we assume (as shown in Fig. 3(a)) that the tail of $`P(F/F)`$ for individual configurations is given by the equilibrium argument, which implies a Gaussian tail centered at $`F/F=0`$ with width $`\sigma _F`$. (Here, $`F_0`$, $`\sigma _F`$, $`\varphi _0`$, and $`w`$ are parameters that can be obtained from the simulation data.) In the large $`F`$ limit, we find

$`P(F)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\varphi }𝑑\varphi _c{\displaystyle \frac{1}{F}}e^{F^2/(2F^2\sigma _F^2)}e^{(\varphi _c\varphi _0)^2/(2w^2)}`$ (1)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{exp}(F/F)}{\sqrt{F/F}}}.`$ (2)
We have also studied Hertzian potentials and find results similar to those for the harmonic potential shown in Fig. 3 and Eq. 2. In experimental granular systems, where the interparticle potential is expected to be Hertzian at contact, $`P(F)`$ has an exponential tail even for a single configuration. We speculate that this is due to friction in the laboratory system, which allows heterogeneities from region to region within a single sample.

We have shown that for a finite-size system the jamming phase diagram looks somewhat different from the one sketched in the inset to Fig. 1(a). Instead of a well-defined point $`\mathrm{J}`$, we find that there is a region of $`\varphi `$, centered around $`\varphi _0`$ with width $`w`$, in which both jammed and unjammed states can exist. As the size of the system increases, this region shrinks to the point $`\mathrm{J}`$. Effects not included in our simulations, such as the presence of friction, non-spherically symmetric potentials, or anisotropic packing (such as sequential packing under gravity) may prevent this region from disappearing.

In some ways, point $`\mathrm{J}`$ in the phase diagram resembles a critical point: there is power-law scaling (Fig. 1), $`P(F/F)`$ has a robust exponential tail independent of potential, and configurations are not self-averaging. In the context of foam, it has also been speculated that point $`\mathrm{J}`$ corresponds to rigidity percolation. However, near $`\mathrm{J}`$ the behavior differs from ordinary critical behavior, where configurations are not self-averaging once the correlation length exceeds the system size. There are no fluctuations near $`\mathrm{J}`$; that is, an unjammed (jammed) configuration will be unjammed (jammed) everywhere. This, as well as the fact that no bonds exist at packing fractions below $`\mathrm{J}`$, makes this transition also different from rigidity percolation. Moreover, even though we find power-laws near $`\mathrm{J}`$, there is a jump from $`Z=0`$ to $`Z=Z_c`$ and the exponents depend on the potential but not on dimension. Thus, point $`\mathrm{J}`$ has rather special properties.

We thank J.-P. Bouchaud, P. Chaikin, D. Durian, G. Grest, D. Levine, J. Socolar, and T. Witten for helpful discussions. We acknowledge support from NSF-DMR-0089081 (CSO,SRN) and DMR-0087349 (CSO,AJL) and computing resources from the High Performance Computing Research Facility at Argonne National Lab.


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# Design and Simulation of THz Quantum Cascade Lasers

## Abstract

Strategies and concepts for the design of THz emitters based on the quantum cascade scheme are analyzed and modeled in terms of a fully three-dimensional Monte Carlo approach; this allows for a proper inclusion of both carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scattering mechanisms. Starting from the simulation of previously published far-infrared emitters, where no population inversion is achieved, two innovative designs are proposed. The first one follows the well-established chirped-superlattice scheme whereas the second one employs a double-quantum well superlattice to allow energy relaxation through optical phonon emission. For both cases a significant population inversion is predicted at temperatures up to 80 K.

Since the first demonstration of the Quantum Cascade (QC) laser in 1994QCL , its performance has experienced tremendous improvementIEEE ; Peltier , and the range of emission wavelengths has been continuously extended3micron ; 17micron2 ; 19micron ; 21micron . At present, the longest wavelength QC lasers operate at $`\lambda 21.5\mu \text{m}`$ and $`24\mu \text{m}`$21micron , still above the LO-phonon energy threshold of the host material ($`\mathrm{}\omega _{LO}34\text{meV}`$ in InGaAs, $`\mathrm{}\omega _{LO}36\text{meV}`$ in GaAs). Although lasing at longer wavelength has not been observed yet, electroluminescence in the THz region of the spectrum has already been detected from a variety of QC structures87micron ; MIT1 ; Gornik  as well as from other quantum well devicesHelm ; FIRemis , stimulating a number of theoretical proposalsHarrison . These strong efforts aimed at fabricating a THz semiconductor laser are mainly driven by the lack of compact, convenient solid-state sources operating at THz frequencies, despite the many possible applications in wireless communications, medical imaging, security screening, etc.
As prototypical design for THz emitters, we shall consider the GaAs/AlGaAs QC structure proposed by Rochat *et al.*87micron . This can be regarded as a scaled down version of the conventional mid-infrared QC design, based on a vertical optical transition (see Fig. 1 in Ref. 87micron,  for its band diagram). This implementation is characterized by a narrow injector miniband, chosen to avoid scattering of electrons from the upper state through LO-phonon emission and cross-absorption of the emitted light. Moreover, it features a relatively small electron tunneling between the states in the active region and in the injector. As stressed before, while electroluminescent devices were reported by several groups87micron ; FIRemis , to date no population inversion could be achieved. In fact, several problems inherent to this design undermine the functionality of the structure. First, the width of the miniband forbids the use of LO-phonon emission as the main mechanism to deplete the lower state of the lasing transition. Second, the small miniband dispersion and low tunneling probability also restrict efficient electrical transport to a narrow range of currents and voltages, limited by the onset of negative differential resistance. Third, the small energy separation between the levels in the active region and the quasi-Fermi level of the injector electrons makes the device very sensitive to hot-carrier effects (’backfilling’ of the upstream active region).
In order to gain a better understanding of these limiting factors, we have applied a global simulation scheme, recently proposed in Refs. Rita2, ; Rita3, , to the prototypical structure of Rochat *et al.*87micron . Such a technique consists of a Monte Carlo sampling of a coupled set of fully three dimensional (3D) Boltzmann-like equations. To properly model energy relaxation as well as carrier thermalization, we included both carrier-phonon (c-p) and carrier-carrier (c-c) interaction mechanisms. Thanks to periodic boundary conditions, we are able to get the device current-voltage characteristics as well as its gain spectrum without resorting to phenomenological parameters.
At 80 K, under the design electric field of 2.7 kV/cm and assuming a sheet density of 1.2 $`\times 10^{10}`$ $`\text{cm}^2`$, our simulated experiments give an electron density in the upper laser level 2 of about $`8.5\times 10^8\text{cm}^2`$, compared to the $`3.5\times 10^9\text{cm}^2`$ in the lower state 1. These values are far from the transparency condition of the intersubband transition, as already inferred from experimental data. This is not a consequence of rapid non-radiative depopulation of state 2 but rather of a slow extraction of electrons from level 1 into the downstream injector region. Indeed our simulation shows rather a long lifetime lifetime  of level 2, $`\tau _2=2.2\text{ps}`$, mainly determined by c-p scattering of electrons with high in-plane momentum to subband 1 ($`\tau _{21}=2.7\text{ps}`$). On the other hand for level 1 we compute a significantly longer lifetime $`\tau _1=14.5\text{ps}`$ resulting from almost comparable c-c and c-p contributions. In reality, the electron dynamics is dominated by very fast c-c scattering with a quasi-resonant level (1’ in Ref. 7). However, such a process acts in both directions ($`11^{}`$ and $`1^{}1`$) with nearly equal rates, thus giving only a marginal contribution to the electron depletion of state 1. From the simulation we also obtain the value of the operational current density, $`50\text{A/cm}^2`$, in very good agreement with the measured one at this bias field.
Starting from these considerations we have designed two structures tuned for emission at $`\lambda 69\mu \text{m}`$ that can overcome the limitations associated with the above prototypical design. Both structures are based on a vertical-transition configuration, which is known to lead to larger dipole matrix elements and narrower linewidths. The first scheme employs a conventional chirped-superlattice designHighSL , which allows flat minibands in the active region without requiring large concentrations of dopants. The band diagram under an average applied electric field of 3.5 kV/cm is shown in Fig. 1. Its operating strategy is based on the same concepts successfully implemented for $`\lambda 1724\mu \text{m}`$ QC lasers17micron2 ; 19micron ; 21micron . In order to minimize the density of electrons in the lower laser subband 1 we employ a dense miniband with seven subbands, which provides a large phase space where electrons scattered either from subband 2 or directly from the injector can spread. The miniband dispersion is chosen as large as possible compatibly with the need of avoiding cross-absorption. This suppresses thermal backfilling, and provides a large operating range of currents and voltages. Also in this structure, however, energy relaxation within the first miniband appears to be hindered by the lack of final states with appropriate energy to allow for LO-phonon emission. Nevertheless, carrier-carrier interactions may beneficially operate as an activation mechanism, which can provide sufficient in-plane momentum for the electrons to open a scattering path via optical phonon to the lower subbands. This can be clearly seen from Tab. 1, where we report the simulated steady-state distribution of carriers at 80 K in the various subbands, with and without c-c scattering in the simulation. As expected, in the absence of c-c interaction, the carrier density remains high in the upper states of the injector miniband and particularly in subband 1. On the other hand, in the presence of c-c scattering, electrons efficiently relax into the lower states of the injector (g,A), from where they are readily transferred into the upper laser state of the following period. In the latter case a population inversion of $`\mathrm{\Delta }n=1.1\times 10^9\text{cm}^2`$ results between subbands 2 and 1: compared to the previous case, the number of electrons of subband 1 is decreased by 40% whereas that of state 2 increases by a factor of four. Calculated lifetimes are $`\tau _2=0.8\text{ps}`$, $`\tau _{21}=8.3\text{ps}`$, $`\tau _1=2.2\text{ps}`$Note1  with $`\tau _2`$ and $`\tau _{21}`$ dominated by c-p scattering processes. Note that $`\tau _{21}`$ is much greater than $`\tau _2`$ due to the superlattice nature of the active region. This implies that $`\tau _1<\tau _{21}`$, which is the necessary condition for population inversion. Furthermore, the number of carriers escaping via subband 3 is negligible.
In order to further improve the extraction rate from the lower laser state 1, we designed another structure which allows for a direct use of c-p scattering as the depleting mechanism without compromising the lifetime of the upper state 2. This is achieved by using a double-quantum well superlattice (DQW-SL)Mike , which leads to a split miniband in the injector. By a careful design of the DQW-SL it is possible to separately adjust the sub-minibands dispersion and separation, where the latter can be chosen to match the LO phonon energy. Thereby we avoid cross-absorption and, at the same time, recover the possibility of using the efficient direct scattering by LO-phonons as the main relaxation process. To this end, we have also tried to delocalize the lower laser state 1 over both the active region and the following injector. Although this leads to a slight reduction of the dipole matrix element with the upper laser state, it increases significantly the LO-phonon assisted transitions to the injector subbands, in particular A, B, g. In that way the lifetime of state 1 is kept as short as 0.3 ps, resulting from both c-c and c-p scattering. In order to preserve the long lifetime of the upper laser level 2, the latter is well confined in only two wells and is spatially separated from the injector. This keeps the scattering probability of electrons out of level 2 rather low, leading to a relatively long lifetime of 1.1 ps ($`\tau _{21}=1.9\text{ps}`$), which is dominated by c-p scattering. As reported in Tab. 2, population inversion in this structure is achieved even without taking into account c-c scattering. This confirms the good functionality of the phonon-split sub-minibands. In the presence of c-c scattering, the population of the lower laser level increases due to faster scattering from level 2 to 1. However, this is compensated by a stronger injection from subband g into subband 2, resulting in an increased population of the latter. The population inversion amounts to about 10 percent of the total sheet density per period. Note that, owing to the larger voltage drop per period, thermal ’backfilling’ of carriers is only a minor problem, thereby allowing for a higher doping in this second design.
Considering the dipole matrix elements of 7.8 nm and 4.5 nm computed for the optical transitions in the two structures, respectively, and assuming a linewidth of 2 meV as experimentally detected at similar wavelengths87micron , we estimate, on the basis of the above populations, gain coefficients of about 31 cm-1 and 110 cm-1. These values compare favorably to the optical losses (approximately 50 cm-1) measured in double-surface plasmon waveguides at THz frequencieswaveguide , and indicate that laser action with such active region designs is a realistic goal.
In summary, we have proposed two QC structures designed for THz lasing. Our theoretical analysis of their performance is based on a global simulation scheme which allows for a proper inclusion of the most relevant scattering mechanisms. The proposed designs both exhibit significant population inversion up to 80 K. This, together with the large transition dipoles, is expected to lead to high optical gain. Finally, it should be noted that our simulation predicts current densities of more than 1 kA/cm2 which is roughly one order of magnitude higher than the current density measured in the prototypical design of Ref. 87micron,  before the onset of negative differential resistance. We attribute this effect to the improved carrier relaxation and higher tunneling efficiency of our structures.
This work was supported in part by the European Commission through the FET project WANTED. R. K. acknowledges support by the C.N.R. The authors would like to thank Fabio Beltram for helpful discussions and a careful reading of the manuscript.


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# Dynamics of the Scalar Condensate in thermal 4D self-interacting Scalar Field Theory on the Lattice

## Abstract

We simulate a four dimensional self-interacting scalar field theory on the lattice at finite temperature. By varying temperature, the system undergoes a phase transition from broken phase to symmetric phase. Our data show that the zero-momentum field renormalization increases by approaching critical temperature. On the other hand, finite-momentum wave-function renormalization remains remarkably constant.

Traditionally, the ‘condensation’ of a scalar field, i.e. the transition from a symmetric phase where $`\mathrm{\Phi }=0`$ to the physical vacuum where $`\mathrm{\Phi }0`$, has been described as an essentially classical phenomenon in terms of a classical potential

$$V_{\text{cl}}(\mathrm{\Phi })=\frac{1}{2}r_0\mathrm{\Phi }^2+\frac{\lambda _0}{4!}\mathrm{\Phi }^4$$
(1)
with non-trivial absolute minima at $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\pm v_B0`$ (‘B=Bare’). In this picture, the ‘scalar condensate’ is treated as a classical c-number field which is simply taken into account through a shift of the scalar field, say $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)=v_B+h(x)`$. In this picture, by retaining terms at most quadratic in the shifted field $`h(x)`$, one expects a simple relation

$$M_h^2=V_{\text{cl}}^{\prime \prime }(\mathrm{\Phi }=v_B)$$
(2)
relating the ‘Higgs mass’ $`M_h`$ directly to the quadratic shape of the potential at the minimum. Beyond the tree-approximation, and on the basis of perturbation theory, Eq. (2) is believed to represent a good approximation provided the classical potential is replaced with the full quantum effective potential $`V_{\text{eff}}`$.

However, there is  an alternative non-perturbative description of spontaneous symmetry breaking in which the zero-momentum limit is not smooth in the broken phase, reflecting the discontinuity inherent in a Bose-Einstein condensation phenomenon, where a single mode acquires a macroscopic occupation number. In this picture, $`M_h^2`$ and the curvature of the effective potential at the non-trivial minima are different physical quantities related by an infinite renormalization in the continuum limit of quantum field theory.

To test this prediction objectively one can proceed as follows. Let the zero-momentum two-point function (the inverse susceptibility) be related to the Higgs mass through a re-scaling factor $`Z=Z_\phi `$ defined as

$$\chi ^1=\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(p=0)=\frac{d^2V_{\text{eff}}}{d\phi _B^2}|_{\phi _B=\pm v_B}\frac{M_h^2}{Z_\phi }.$$
(3)
This definition of $`Z=Z_\phi `$ is, a priori, different from the quantity $`Z=Z_{\text{prop}}`$ defined from a single-pole form of the propagator

$$G_{\text{pole}}(p)=\frac{Z_{\text{prop}}}{p^2+m_{\text{prop}}^2}.$$
(4)
Indeed, the two quantities agree only if Eq. (4) remains valid down to $`p_\mu =0`$ (up to small perturbative corrections).

In the continuum limit the alternative description of SSB predicts that $`Z_\phi \mathrm{}`$ but $`Z_{\text{prop}}1`$. In this respect, this picture is very different from renormalized perturbation theory where the zero-momentum limit is smooth and the continuum limit corresponds to

$$Z_\phi |_{\text{pert}}=Z_{\text{ prop}}[1+𝒪(\lambda _R)].$$
(5)
To measure on the lattice $`Z_\phi `$ one has to measure $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(0)`$ and $`M_h`$. While the zero-momentum two-point function is directly obtained from the inverse susceptibility $`\chi ^1`$, determining $`M_h`$ requires to study the lattice propagator. This will be described below. Our numerical simulations were performed (using the Swendsen-Wang cluster algorithm) in the Ising limit of the theory where a one-component $`(\lambda \mathrm{\Phi }^4)_4`$ theory becomes

$$S=\kappa \underset{x,\mu }{}\left[\varphi (x+\widehat{\mu })\varphi (x)+\varphi (x\widehat{\mu })\varphi (x)\right]$$
(6)
with $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)=\sqrt{2\kappa }\varphi (x)`$ and where $`\varphi (x)`$ takes the values $`\pm 1`$. We measured the bare magnetization

$$v_B=|\mathrm{\Phi }|,\mathrm{\Phi }\underset{x}{}\mathrm{\Phi }(x)/L^4,$$
(7)
the zero-momentum susceptibility

$$\chi =L^4\left[|\mathrm{\Phi }|^2|\mathrm{\Phi }|^2\right],$$
(8)
and the shifted-field propagator

$$G(p)=\underset{x}{}\mathrm{exp}(ipx)h(x)h(0),$$
(9)
$`p(p_4,𝐩)`$ with $`𝐩=2\pi 𝐧/L_s`$ and $`p_4=2\pi n_4/L_t`$ $`(n_1,n_2,n_3,n_4)`$ are integer-valued components, not all zero. Zero-temperature simulations correspond to $`L_t=L_s=L`$ and will be discussed first.

To determine the Higgs boson mass one has to compare the lattice propagator with the (lattice version of the) single-pole form Eq. (4) by extracting $`M_h=m_{\text{prop}}`$ from a two-parameter fit to the lattice data:

$$G_{\text{fit}}^{(\beta )}(n,𝐩)=\frac{Z_{\text{prop}}}{\widehat{𝐩}^2+\widehat{p_4}^2+m_{\text{prop}}^2}$$
(10)
where $`m_{\text{prop}}`$ is the mass in lattice units and $`\widehat{p}_\mu =2\mathrm{sin}(p_\mu /2)`$. In the symmetric phase (i.e. for values of the hopping parameter $`\kappa <\kappa _c0.0748`$), Eq. (10) provides a very good description of the lattice data for the propagator in the whole range of Euclidean momenta, namely from $`p=0`$ up to $`p^2\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$ ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{\pi }{a}`$ is the ultraviolet cutoff).

In the broken phase, however, the attempt to fit all data with the same pair of parameters $`(m_{\text{prop}},Z_{\text{prop}})`$ gives unacceptably large values of the normalized chi-squared. Still, one can obtain a good-quality fit with Eq. (10) by suitably restricting the range of momenta. In this case there are two choices: (i) a high-momentum range: $`p_{\text{min}}^2p^2\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$ (with $`p_{\text{min}}^20`$); (ii) a low-momentum range: $`0p^2p_{\text{max}}^2`$ ( with $`p_{\text{max}}^2\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$). If we require agreement of $`Z_{\text{prop}}`$ with $`Z_{\text{pert}}`$ (the normalization of massive single-particle states as computed in perturbation theory) the Higgs mass turns out to be determined from the set (i). Indeed we found  that the choice (i) to compute the Higgs boson mass and the normalization of single-particle states satisfies several consistency checks. As concern $`Z_\phi `$ introduced in Eq. (3), our previous analysis  shows that there is a discrepancy between $`Z_\phi `$ and $`Z_{\text{prop}}`$. Moreover, this discrepancy becomes larger when $`\kappa \kappa _c`$, where the purely perturbative corrections $`𝒪(\lambda _R)`$ in Eq. (5) vanish. For instance, on a $`32^4`$ lattice at $`\kappa =0.07512`$, a fit to the propagator data gives  $`M_h=m_{\text{prop}}=0.206(4)`$ and $`Z_{\text{prop}}=0.9551(21)`$. However, the measured susceptibility is $`\chi =193.1\pm 1.7`$, so that $`Z_\phi =2\kappa \chi m_{\text{prop}}^2=1.234(50)`$, at more than $`5\sigma `$’s from $`Z_{\text{prop}}`$.

The same discrepancy can be presented in a different way. To check that the discrepancy is not due to finite-size effects, we have repeated the measurement of $`\chi `$ for $`\kappa =0.07512`$ on a $`40^4`$ lattice with the result $`\chi =190.9\pm 1.6`$. If we now take the mass value $`m_R=0.20`$ (for $`\kappa =0.0751(1)`$) from Table 3 in  we get $`Z_\phi =2\kappa \chi m_R^2=1.147(10)`$ at about 14$`\sigma `$’s from the perturbative prediction $`Z_{\text{pert}}=0.937(12)`$ in the same Table.

To provide further evidences, we shall now present new lattice results. These suggest that the discrepancy between the zero-momentum $`Z_\phi `$ and its perturbative prediction $`Z_{\text{pert}}Z_{\mathrm{prop}}`$ is due to the presence of a non-vanishing scalar condensate in the broken phase. To this end, we have performed finite-temperature simulations by considering asymmetric lattice, $`L_s^3\times L_t`$, periodic in time direction. As it is well known, this is equivalent to a non-zero temperature $`T=1/L_t`$.

At $`\kappa =0.07512`$ (and for all values of $`L_s`$) there is clear evidence for a phase transition in the region $`6<L_t<8`$ where the system crosses from the broken into the symmetric phase (see Fig. 1).

Our lattice results show that, well above the phase transition temperature, i.e. for very small $`L_t`$, when the system is in the symmetric phase, the data for the propagator are well reproduced by Eq. (10) down to $`p=0`$. Therefore, at high temperature the zero-momentum limit is smooth so that $`Z_\phi `$ and $`Z_{\text{prop}}`$ agree to very good accuracy, as they do in a $`T=0`$ symmetric-phase simulation for $`\kappa <\kappa _c`$. Thus the broken-phase discrepancy between $`Z_\phi `$ and $`Z_{\text{prop}}`$ is a real physical effect that could be ascribed to the presence of a non-vanishing scalar condensate in the broken phase. In Fig. 2 we have summarized our data for $`Z_\phi `$. They show a clear increase when $`TT_c`$ in contrast with the values of $`Z_{\mathrm{prop}}`$ (not shown) that remain remarkably close to the zero-temperature value $`0.9551`$. The trend for $`TT_c`$ is in qualitative agreement with our previous zero-temperature study for $`\kappa \kappa _c`$.

We stress that the conventional interpretation of ‘triviality’, assuming $`Z_\phi =Z_{\mathrm{prop}}1`$, predicts that approaching the phase transition one should find $`m^20`$ and $`\chi \mathrm{}`$ in such a way that $`m^2\chi `$ remains constant. In this sense, the finite-temperature simulations, showing a dramatic increase of $`Z_\phi =2\kappa \chi m_{\text{prop}}^2`$ when approaching the phase transition, confirm and extend the previous zero-temperature results where the continuum limit was approached by letting $`\kappa \kappa _c`$. Both show that $`Z_\phi `$ is very different from the more conventional quantity $`Z_{\text{prop}}1`$ determined perturbatively from the residue of the shifted field propagator. For this reason, the lattice data support once more the alternative picture of Refs.  where an infinitesimal curvature of the effective potential $`V_{\text{eff}}^{\prime \prime }=M_h^2/Z_\phi 0`$ can be reconciled with finite values of $`M_h`$. This non-trivial result may have important consequences for particle physics and cosmology


text:
# Scaling and universality in turbulent convection

## Abstract

Anomalous correlation functions of the temperature field in two-dimensional turbulent convection are shown to be universal with respect to the choice of external sources. Moreover, they are equal to the anomalous correlations of the concentration field of a passive tracer advected by the convective flow itself. The statistics of velocity differences is found to be universal, self-similar and close to Gaussian. These results point to the conclusion that temperature intermittency in two-dimensional turbulent convection may be traced back to the existence of statistically preserved structures, as it is in passive scalar turbulence.

Heat and momentum transport in slightly heated flows are governed by the Boussinesq equations MY71

$$\begin{array}{cc}_tT+𝒗\mathbf{}T=\kappa \mathrm{\Delta }T+f_T& \\ _t𝒗+𝒗\mathbf{}𝒗=\mathbf{}p\beta T𝒈+\nu \mathrm{\Delta }𝒗,& \end{array}$$
(1)
where $`T`$ is the field of the temperature fluctuations, $`𝒗`$ is the velocity field, $`𝒈`$ is the gravitational acceleration, $`\beta `$ is the thermal expansion coefficient and $`\kappa `$, $`\nu `$ are the molecular diffusivity and viscosity. The system is kept in a statistically stationary state by the external source of fluctuations $`f_T`$. We will focus on the statistical properties of temperature excursions at scales larger than the Bolgiano scale $`l_B`$ – where buoyancy forces balance the inertial ones in the velocity dynamics – yet smaller than the forcing correlation length, $`L`$. In that range, temperature fluctuations cascade toward the small scales where they are eventually dissipated by thermal diffusivity.

Dimensional arguments based on this phenomenological picture would lead to the Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling, in the range $`l_BrL`$: $`S_n^T(r)=[T(𝒓,t)T(\mathrm{𝟎},t)]^nr^{n/5}`$, and $`S_n^v(r)=[(𝒗(𝒓,t)𝒗(\mathrm{𝟎},t))\widehat{𝒓}]^nr^{3n/5}`$ (see, e.g., Ref. S94  and references therein). Actually, due to the presence of structures of warm-rising or cold-descending fluid – the thermal plumes (see Fig. 1) – the statistics of temperature increments exhibits a nontrivial scale-dependence. Indeed, as shown in Figure 2, moments of temperature increments display a scaling behavior $`S_n^T(r)r^{\zeta _n^T}`$ characterized by exponents deviating from the dimensional expectations. (Conversely, moments of velocity increments, $`S_n^v(r)r^{\zeta _n^v}`$, do not show measurable deviations from dimensional scaling, i.e. $`\zeta _n^v=3n/5`$.) This anomalous scaling is a feature shared by a large class of turbulent systems: understanding the origin of this phenomenon from first principles is a major challenge of turbulence. With a significant exception. Indeed, for passive turbulent transport this problem has been recently solved. Let us briefly recall the main points, referring to Ref. FGV01,  for a comprehensive review. We consider an idealized experiment of turbulent dispersion of a passive tracer, e.g. dye, in a convective flow. The equation that governs the dynamics of the concentration of tracer is

$$_tC+𝒗\mathbf{}C=\kappa \mathrm{\Delta }C+f_C,$$
(2)
while the velocity field $`𝒗`$ evolves according to Eq. (1). Although seemingly similar, the dynamics of temperature and concentration fields are radically different: temperature is an active scalar, since it affects velocity via the buoyancy forces, whereas concentration is a passive scalar. The concentration fluctuations show an anomalous scaling behavior $`S_n^C(r)=[C(𝒓,t)C(\mathrm{𝟎},t)]^nr^{\zeta _n^C}`$ as well: the exponents $`\zeta _n^C`$ differ from the dimensional expectation. Since $`S_n^C(r)`$ is a linear combination of various $`n`$-point correlation function of the concentration field $`C(𝒙_1,t)\mathrm{}C(𝒙_n,t)`$, the latter has to contain a contribution, denoted as $`Z_n^C(𝒙_1,\mathrm{},𝒙_n)`$, that carries the anomalous scale dependence. In mathematical terms, $`Z_n^C(\lambda 𝒙_1,\mathrm{},\lambda 𝒙_n)=\lambda ^{\zeta _n^C}Z_n^C(𝒙_1,\mathrm{},𝒙_n)`$. The main point is that the function $`Z_n^C`$ is characterized by a special dynamical property that distinguishes it from a generic scaling function. Let us remind the passive scalar equation (2) can be written in the equivalent form $`\frac{d}{dt}C=f_C`$, where $`\frac{d}{dt}`$ stands for the total derivative along the particle trajectories defined by the stochastic differential equations $`d𝑿=𝒗(𝑿,t)dt+\sqrt{2\kappa }d𝑾(t)`$, where $`𝑾(t)`$ is brownian motion. The remarkable result is that $`\frac{d}{dt}Z_n^C_X=0`$, where the total derivative is performed following $`n`$ particles advected by the flow, and the average is taken over the ensemble of all trajectories. In plain words, $`Z_n^C`$ is statistically preserved by the flow BGK98 ; CV01 ; ABCVP01 . In the specific context of a Gaussian, $`\delta `$correlated velocity field – the Kraichnan model – this is equivalent to say that the functions $`Z_n^C`$ are zero-modes of the Fokker-Planck operator for $`n`$-particle diffusion GK95 ; CFKL95 ; SS95 . An important consequence of statistically preserved structures is that the passive scalar scaling exponents are universal with respect to the choice of the injection $`f_C`$, since the latter does not enter the definition of $`Z_n^C`$.
We now turn our attention back to the temperature field. What we have learnt in the passive scalar case suggests to investigate the effect of the external forcing $`f_T`$ on the scaling exponents. In Fig. 3 we show that the scaling exponents of temperature fluctuations are the same for two different choices of injection terms $`f_T`$. Therefore, we conclude that the exponents $`\zeta _n^T`$ are universal properties of two-dimensional Boussinesq convection.

The universality of scaling exponents suggests the possibility that a mechanism similar to that at work in passive scalar turbulence might be present in turbulent convection as well. To further pursue this line of thought, we notice that in the case of passive scalars, it is the whole function $`Z_n^C`$ to be universal with respect to forcing, not only its scaling exponent. It is thus of interest to look at the anomalous part of the temperature correlation function $`T(𝒙_1,t)\mathrm{}T(𝒙_n,t)`$, to check whether it is universal. This measurement is unfortunately quite difficult for two reasons. First, the correlation function depends on $`2n`$ independent coordinates; even if we exploit the statistical symmetries of this function – translational and scaling invariance – and we limit ourselves to the isotropic contribution – by averaging over all configurations differing only by a rigid rotation – there will still be $`2n4`$ degrees of freedom; in the most favorable case, $`n=4`$ (for $`n=2`$

deviations from dimensional scaling are not detectable), the configuration space has four dimensions, which makes it quite untractable. Second, the anomalous part of the correlation function is hidden among several other contributions: it can be extracted only by taking proper linear combinations, as, for example, in the case of $`S_n^T(r)`$. To circumvent, at least partially, those problems, we focus on a particular observable, $`S_{2,2}^T(𝑹,𝒓)=[T(𝑹,t)T(\mathrm{𝟎},t)]^2[T(𝒓,t)T(\mathrm{𝟎},t)]^2`$, which is still anomalous, yet it has a nontrivial geometrical content. Since for $`𝒓=𝑹`$ it reduces to the usual $`S_4(R)`$ we can write its functional dependence as $`S_{2,2}^T(𝑹,𝒓)=S_4^T(R)\sigma _T(r/R,\theta )`$ where $`\theta `$ is the angle between the directions of $`𝒓`$ and $`𝑹`$. Since the scaling exponent of $`S_4^T(R)`$ is universal, the bottom line is whether the “angular” part $`\sigma _T(r/R,\theta )`$ is universal as well. In Fig. 4 we show a plot of the function $`\sigma `$ for the two different injection mechanisms (left and center). The similarity between the two pictures points to the conclusion that the anomalous part of the correlation function is again universal.
This result leads us to conjecture that statistically preserved structures $`Z_n^T(𝒙_1,\mathrm{},𝒙_n)`$ might exist also for temperature: it is natural to define them by the property $`\frac{d}{dt}Z_n^T_X=0`$, as in the passive scalar case. Notice however that, since temperature is an active scalar, this definition does not automatically ensure the universality of $`Z_n^T`$. Indeed, even if the forcing does not appear explicitly in the definition of $`Z_n^T`$, the statistics of the trajectories $`𝑿(t)`$ in principle depends on $`f_T`$, via the action of $`T`$ on $`𝒗`$. Therefore, should we accept the existence of statistically preserved structures, the universality of anomalous temperature correlations requires to postulate that the whole statistics of $`𝒗`$ be universal as well. In Fig. 5 we show that this is indeed the case.

Statistically preserved structures for temperature fluctuations entail another interesting consequence: since $`Z_n^T`$ is defined entirely in terms of the (universal) statistics of particle trajectories, and those are the same both for temperature and for concentration, we expect that $`Z_n^T=Z_n^C`$. In Fig. 6 we show that the scaling exponents of temperature and concentration are equal, as expected. As for the “angular part” of $`Z_n^T`$, it is quite similar to that of $`Z_n^C`$ (see Fig. 4, center and right). This is a further indirect evidence for the existence of statistically preserved structures for temperature statistics.

In conclusion, the global picture of scaling and universality in two-dimensional turbulent convection is as follows. Velocity statistics is strongly universal with respect to the external driving: probability density functions of velocity fluctuations are self-similar, and close to a Gaussian distribution, independently of the choice of $`f_T`$. This is most likely a consequence of the observed universal Gaussian behavior of the inverse energy cascade in two-dimensional Navier-Stokes turbulence PT98 ; BCV00 . Indeed, velocity fluctuations in two-dimensional convection also arise from an inverse energy cascade which is driven now by buoyancy forces. At variance with the usual Navier-Stokes inverse cascade, the energy injection now is not restricted to small scales. Indeed, the energy input rate $`\epsilon (r)=\beta 𝒈𝒗(𝒓,t)T(\mathrm{𝟎},t)`$ grows with the scale as $`\epsilon (r)r^{4/5}`$. This scale-dependent input induces the observed scaling $`S_n^v(r)(\epsilon (r)r)^{n/3}r^{3n/5}`$. Temperature statistics shows anomalous scaling. This stems from the existence of statistically preserved structures, whose existence explains the observed universality of anomalous temperature correlation functions and the equality between temperature and concentration anomalies.
Let us point out that the equivalence of the statistics of an active scalar, as temperature, to that of a passive scalar, as concentration, depends crucially on the universality of the whole velocity statistics found here. That could however be a nongeneric phenomenon in active scalar turbulence, and depend on the specific form of the feedback of the scalar field on the velocity. For example, in three-dimensional turbulent convection the Navier-Stokes equations are characterized by a direct and intermittent energy cascade, the whole velocity statistics might then be nonuniversal, and a new type of universality might emerge.
We acknowledge several useful discussions with R. Benzi, L. Biferale, S. Toh. This work was supported by EU under the contracts HPRN-CT-2000-00162 and FMRX-CT-98-0175. A. M. has been partially supported by the INFM project GEPAIGG01. T. M. acknowledges the Japan Scholarship Foundation. Numerical simulations have been performed at IDRIS (projects 011226 and 011411), at CINECA (INFM Parallel Computing Initiative), and at SX5 of the Yukawa Institute.


text:
# GLOBAL VLBI OBSERVATIONS OF THE HIGH VELOCITY H I ABSORPTION TOWARD NGC 1275

## 1 INTRODUCTION

NGC 1275 is a giant cD elliptical galaxy located near the center of the Perseus cluster, with a systemic velocity of $``$5200 km s-1. The galaxy has an active nucleus whose presence is revealed by the powerful compact radio source 3C 84. Lying in front of NGC 1275 is another velocity system at $``$8200 km s-1. This system is visible in H$`\alpha `$ emission (Caulet et al., 1992) as well as in 21 cm H I absorption (De Young, Roberts, & Saslaw, 1973). The nature of the foreground system is unclear. It may be a late-type Sc or Sd galaxy whose H II regions account for the H$`\alpha `$ emission. However, no nucleus or other systematic morphological structure is apparent (Unger et al., 1990). Also, it is not known if the foreground system is in a chance alignment with NGC 1275 (Rubin et al., 1977, 1978) or if it is strongly interacting with the elliptical galaxy (Unger et al., 1990).

The H I absorption near 8116 km s-1 consists of several relatively narrow components (1.5–5 km s-1), similar in nature to Galactic H I absorption lines. (All velocities in this paper are heliocentric, using the optical convention for redshift.) The presence of such lines offers the opportunity to study spatial structure of the absorbing H I in the high-velocity system. However, radio continuum observations reported by Sijbring (1993) indicate that 76% of the 1395 MHz continuum flux arises in a milliarcsecond-scale core. Therefore, very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) techniques are essential. The first VLBI observations on this feature were performed by Romney (1978), who reported one strong absorption peak at 8114 km s-1 located between two wide absorption shoulders, with some indication of weaker absorption features. Only the strong peak was subject to detailed study, due to the limitations of the three element VLBI array and the equipment then available.

The completion of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) in the early 1990s provided a new opportunity to study this H I absorption system. An early observation of this feature with the ten stations of the VLBA was performed in 1995 as part of a wider project, which also included the Galactic and the low-velocity H I absorption toward 3C 84 (J. E. Conway, J. D. Romney, M. Rupen, & A. J. Beasley, unpublished). Analysis of the high-velocity H I absorption feature by EM and JDR produced interesting preliminary results. The poor quality of the original data, and the limited observing time, led us to propose new observations to study this absorption feature with a more sensitive VLBI array.

In this paper, we report a detailed study of the high-velocity H I absorption feature with a global VLBI array. Our results show the existence of several neutral hydrogen clouds in the intervening object, which is falling toward NGC 1275 at $``$3000 km s-1. We adopt a distance of 104 Mpc for the Perseus cluster, assuming $`H_{}=50`$ km s-1 Mpc-1. At this distance 1 mas corresponds to 0.49 pc.

## 2 OBSERVATIONS AND DATA REDUCTION

The observations were carried out at 1383 MHz on Feb. 19, 2000 using the VLBA111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc., the VLA as a phased array, and four stations of the European VLBI Network, namely Effelsberg, Jodrell Bank (Lovell), Medicina and the Westerbork phased array. Two different baseband channel widths were observed, wide (8 MHz) and narrow (0.5 MHz), both with right and left-hand circular polarizations. Both bands were centered at the frequency of the neutral hydrogen 21 cm line, at a heliocentric velocity of $`V=8114`$ km s-1, and recorded using 2-bit sampling. The total observing time was 25 hours, with the first 11 hours being observed only by the EVN stations. The wide and the narrow-band data were correlated in separate passes at the VLBA correlator in Socorro, NM with 4 seconds correlator integration time, to produce 16 and 256 spectral channels, respectively. Table 1 summarizes the parameters of these observations.

Along with 3C 84, the radio sources J0303+4716 and J0313+4120 were observed at the same frequencies for calibration purposes. Due to the lower flux densities of these two nearby calibrators compared to 3C 84, which is one of the strongest sources in the radio sky, calibration measurements were also obtained by shifting the narrow-band frequency of 3C 84 occasionally, to an offset frequency 500 kHz (one bandwidth) higher, away from the H I absorption line. Both wide and narrow-band data were reduced and processed using the AIPS (Astronomical Image Processing System) package of NRAO.

Initial examination of the data showed the existence of interference in a wide frequency range at the EVN station Medicina at all times. All data from this station had to be abandoned. After many iterations, we found that amplitude self-calibration was essential in achieving high dynamic range images, and thus we also had to abandon the observations while the remaining three EVN stations were observing alone.

Wide-band channels were included in the observations to provide a high dynamic range continuum image for the background source 3C 84. After applying a priori flagging, and manually excising integrations affected by interference, we performed amplitude calibration using the measurements of the antenna gain and the system temperature ($`T_{\mathrm{sys}}`$) of each station. Bandpass calibration was performed, and the spectral channels were averaged, self-calibrated, and imaged. The resulting continuum image has a dynamic range of 17,000.

The 256 spectral channels of the narrow-band data set were used to study the high-velocity H I absorption feature at high spectral resolution, with a channel separation of 0.43 km s-1 (1.95 kHz). This data set was reduced twice. Each reduction implemented a different amplitude calibration method for the purposes of comparison, and to obtain the best possible results from our observations. In the first reduction, as for the wide band, the amplitude calibration was based on the measured antenna gains and $`T_{\mathrm{sys}}`$ values. In the second reduction, the “template” spectrum method was utilized, obtaining amplitude solutions by fitting a long-term averaged total-power spectrum of a specific antenna to short-term (20 min) intervals on the other stations, and applying the solutions to the cross-power spectra. This method was originally developed for the calibration of VLBI spectral line observations using poorly calibrated antennas. The offset-frequency 3C 84 observations were used to correct the bandpass variations of the cross-power spectra in both data reduction methods. The source J0303+4716 was used for bandpass calibration of the total-power template spectrum.

The results reported in this paper are based on the narrow-band data reduction that utilized the measured antenna gains and $`T_{\mathrm{sys}}`$ values for amplitude calibration. Consistent results were obtained for the template spectrum method, but it also introduced spectrally-dependent image artifacts which could not be corrected by the self-calibration process. The template method may provide superior results, however, when applied on stronger absorption or emission-line features.

The phase and amplitude corrections from the self-calibration of the wide band were applied on the narrow-band data sets. H I data cubes were constructed by subtracting the continuum in the UV-plane using the AIPS task ‘UVLSF’. Optical depth cubes were calculated from the continuum image and the inner 140 channels of each line cube as $`\tau (\nu )=\mathrm{ln}[1I_{\mathrm{line}}(\nu )/I_{\mathrm{continuum}}]`$.

## 3 RESULTS

### 3.1 THE CONTINUUM

Figure 1 is our continuum image of 3C 84 at 1383 MHz. The image was reconstructed with a grid weighting intermediate between natural and uniform ($`\mathrm{ROBUST}=0`$ in AIPS task ‘IMAGR’).

The source consists of a compact core and a jet extending to the south. An image of 3C 84 convolved to a larger beam size revealed the northern counterjet, which was first discovered at 8.4 GHz (Walker, Romney, & Benson, 1994) and 22 GHz (Vermeulen, Readhead, & Backer, 1994), simultaneously. This northern feature was not detected at 1.7 GHz in a high dynamic range image by Biretta, Bartel, & Dang (1991); however, Silver, Taylor, & Vermeulen (1998) detected it at 1414 MHz. The extent and the flux density of the northern counterjet in our observations are consistent with the results of Silver, Taylor, & Vermeulen (1998).

The total flux density of 3C 84 in our observations is $``$18 Jy, almost 4 Jy less than the total flux density reported by Taylor & Vermeulen (1996) at 1347 MHz and Silver, Taylor, & Vermeulen (1998) at 1414 MHz. Both these VLBA observations were carried out in 1995. A similar proportional decline in the flux density of this source is reported in the single dish monitoring observations between 1995 and 2000 at higher frequencies (H. D. Aller, M. F. Aller, G. E. Latimer, & P. A. Hughes, in preparation). The decline of the flux density of 3C 84 at the frequencies monitored has been continuous since 1982–1984.

### 3.2 THE H I ABSORPTION

Our study reveals the existence of several H I absorption peaks in the high-velocity system associated with NGC 1275. Figure 2 shows a continuum image of 3C 84 and Hanning smoothed spectra of H I optical depth at various locations against the continuum image. Six main absorption peaks can be distinguished in the spectra of Figure 2, with velocity widths of 1.5–5 km s-1 at half maximum. Weaker H I components are also evident in the velocity range 8128.77–8136.17 km s-1 .

Figure 3 presents optical-depth images covering the velocity range 8127.0–8106.2 km s-1, in every other spectral channel. Because the signal-to-noise ratio in the optical-depth images is poor where the continuum is weak, these images are blanked in areas where the flux density in the background continuum image is below 1.2% of the peak value, i.e., less than 64 mJy beam-1. These images explicitly show the variation of the H I distribution in the small section of the foreground galaxy which is seen against the bright compact background source. The shift in the neutral hydrogen opacity from west to east is apparent in the images that cover the velocity range 8119.2–8113.1 km s-1. This range represents the velocity spanned by the strongest H I peak, which is centered at 8114 km s-1.

Figure 4 shows optical-depth images similar to Figure 3, but with modified gray-scale and contour levels for the weakest H I components seen in the velocity range 8135.7–8128.8 km s-1 of the spectra in Figure 2. These features are mainly seen against the weakest parts of the background continuum, with little optical depth toward the stronger regions.

Our study shows no evidence for absorption against the southern jet or the weaker northern counterjet of 3C 84, where the flux density is less than 40 and 7 mJy beam-1, respectively.

Figures 5a-e show images of $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}/T_\mathrm{s}`$, for the velocity ranges 8128.3–8125.7, 8124.9–8120.1, 8119.2–8113.1, 8112.7–8110.1, and 8108.8–8104.9 km s-1, respectively. These ranges of velocity correspond to the six strongest H I absorption features, which are marked with heavy solid lines in the spectra for regions I, II and VI of Figure 2, although they can also be seen in some of the other regions. The $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}/T_\mathrm{s}`$ images are calculated by integrating over the optical-depth values in each velocity range, as $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}/T_\mathrm{s}=1.823\times 10^{18}\tau (v)𝑑v`$.

The velocity ranges in Figures 5c and 5d are limited so that the effect of the blending between the strongest peaks in regions I and II of Figure 2 is minimized. The velocity range of Figure 5e covers two H I absorption peaks that arise at different locations, one in the east and one in the south (regions II and VI in Figure 2).

Table 2 summarizes the physical characteristics of the six strongest H I absorption features observed against 3C 84. The velocities (Column 1) refer to peaks of these features seen in the optical-depth spectra of Figure 2. The widths of these lines (Column 2) are the approximate full widths at half maximum optical depth. $`N_{\mathrm{HI}}/T_\mathrm{s}`$ of each peak (Column 5) is obtained from the images in Figure 5. The volume densities (Column 7) are deduced assuming spherically symmetric clouds with diameters equal to their observed transverse linear extents, and $`T_\mathrm{s}=50`$ K.

## 4 DISCUSSION

The strong background radio source covers an area of about 7 by 16 pc on the plane of the sky. This area represents a very small section of the high-velocity foreground galaxy, which has an extent of at least 25 kpc (Rubin et al., 1977, 1978; Unger et al., 1990; van den Bergh, 1977). However, even in this very compact region, we were able to identify several H I absorption features.

The nature of the foreground galaxy remains unclear. Rubin et al. (1977, 1978) report an east-west velocity gradient of about 300 km s-1 in the foreground galaxy, suggesting an edge-on rotating spiral with $`V_{\mathrm{max}}=150\mathrm{sin}(i)`$ km s-1, which is not necessarily in collision with NGC 1275. However, the observations of Unger et al. (1990) show a velocity gradient in the north-south direction too, by about 100 km s-1, and no evidence for spiral structure or a single well-defined nucleus. This means that the foreground galaxy is either an irregular galaxy, as was suggested by Oort (1976), or a late-type spiral galaxy, disturbed either by its passage through the intergalactic medium in the core of the cluster, or by its collision with NGC 1275 (Unger et al., 1990). The absence of continuum light from a nucleus or a disk (van den Bergh, 1977) makes it difficult to determine the exact nature of this foreground galaxy.

Considering these possibilities for the structure of the intervening galaxy, we can conduct a comparison of our detected H I lines with the H I absorption in the Galaxy, as a well studied spiral, and with H I absorption in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), as the closest and well known irregular galaxy.

For Galactic H I absorption lines detected against various background sources, we consider observations obtained with the Parkes single dish and Parkes two-element interferometer (Radhakrishnan et al., 1972; Goss et al., 1972), and with the VLA and the Arecibo-Los Caños interferometer (Garwood & Dickey, 1989). The velocity widths of the Galactic H I absorption lines range over 1–17 km s-1, the optical depths from 0.11–5.3 and the derived column densities (0.3–34)$`\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. In all three papers, most velocity widths fall in a narrower range, 1–9 km s-1.

In this comparison, we have excluded the VLBA observations of Galactic H I absorption toward background radio sources (Faison et al., 1998; Faison & Goss, 2001), where the linear extent of the H I clouds, between 3 and 100 AU, is much smaller than the extent of the H I structures in our observations.

The H I absorption lines in the LMC were observed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) (Dickey et al., 1994; Marx-Zimmer et al., 2000). Most of the H I absorption lines have velocity widths less than 1 km s-1, and very few exceed 1.2 km s-1. The optical-depth values range between 0.12 and 2.05.

In both galaxies, the Milky Way and the LMC, multi-component H I absorption features are detected against individual background sources. The optical depths measured in our extragalactic H I lines fall in the lower end of the optical depth ranges for both the Galaxy and LMC. While the velocity widths of the Galactic H I absorption features are close to the values seen in our observations, which range between 1.5 and 5 km s-1, the features in the LMC tend to have narrower H I components, with most having widths less than 1 km s-1.

## 5 CONCLUSIONS

We report the discovery of multiple H I clouds in the high-velocity ($``$8200 km s-1) system associated with NGC 1275 = Perseus A, the dominant member of the Perseus cluster ($`V_{\mathrm{sys}}`$5200 km s-1).

The background galaxy NGC 1275 is an early-type giant cD elliptical. Its compact core, known as 3C 84, has a total flux density of $``$18 Jy, and a linear extent of 16 pc on the plane of the sky at 1.38 GHz. Our observations show a decline of $``$4 Jy in the total flux density of 3C 84 since 1995.

The nature of the foreground object remains uncertain. However, all studies suggest that it is a gas-rich galaxy. The detected H I lines appear to arise in “interstellar” type H I clouds within the foreground galaxy, and lie along our line of sight to the high-brightness source 3C 84.

The superposition of the foreground galaxy, which lacks a strong radio nucleus, with the bright core of NGC 1275, provides an unusual opportunity to probe the properties and physical conditions of extragalactic neutral hydrogen clouds in a late-type galaxy. The results show close similarities between these extragalactic H I clouds, and clouds in both the Galaxy and LMC, detected against various background radio sources.

## 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank A. P. Sarma and C. L. Brogan for their help in the data reduction. We thank A. J. Kemball for helpful discussions on the template spectrum method in data reduction, and G. B. Taylor for guidance on high dynamic range imaging of 3C 84. We also thank many other members of the scientific staff of NRAO at Socorro, NM for the helpful ideas while reducing these global VLBI observations. The European VLBI Network is a joint facility of European and Chinese radio astronomy institutes funded by their national research councils. This research has made use of data from the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory which is supported by funds from the University of Michigan. EM is grateful for support from NRAO through the Pre-doctoral Fellowship Program.


text:
# Temperature dependence of rho- and 𝒂_𝟏-meson masses and mixing of vector and axial-vector correlators

(October 2, 2001)

## Abstract

Within a chiral model which provides a good description of the properties of $`\rho `$ and $`a_1`$ mesons in vacuum, it is shown that, to order $`T^2`$, the $`\rho `$\- and $`a_1`$-meson masses remain constant in the chiral limit, even if at tree level they are proportional to the chiral condensate, $`\sigma _0`$. Numerically, the temperature dependence of the masses turns out to be small also for realistic parameter sets and high temperatures. The weak temperature dependence of the masses is consistent with the Eletsky-Ioffe mixing theorem, and traces of mixing effects can be seen in the spectral function of the vector correlator at finite temperature.

It is commonly believed that the enhancement of the dilepton spectrum in the invariant mass range around $`400`$ MeV observed in heavy-ion experiments CERES  is a consequence of medium modifications of the $`\rho `$-meson spectral function, i.e., more precisely, the spectral function of the vector-isovector current-current correlation function, in hot and dense matter. Most of the more “conventional” calculations find a strongly increasing $`\rho `$ meson width (see Ref. RappWambach  and references therein), but the more speculative hypothesis of a “dropping $`\rho `$ mass” by Brown and Rho BrownRho  is being discussed as a viable alternative BrownRho2 . The aim of the present study is to combine the phenomenology included in the more “conventional” calculations with the constraints imposed by chiral symmetry. As a first step, we have constructed in Ref. UBW  a chiral model which gives a good description of the vector and axial-vector spectral functions in vacuum. The model is based on the linear $`\sigma `$ model, which has been extended to incorporate the $`\rho `$ meson and its chiral partner, the $`a_1(1260)`$, as elementary fields. In this letter we will discuss results from the application of this model to finite temperatures.

Within the model presented in Ref. UBW  the vector meson masses at tree level are given by

$$m_\rho ^2=m_0^2+h_2\sigma _0^2,m_{a_1}^2=m_0^2+(h_1+h_2)\sigma _0^2,$$
(1)
where $`m_0`$ is the vector-meson mass parameter in the Lagrangian, $`h_1`$ and $`h_2`$ are coupling constants, and $`\sigma _0`$ is the expectation value of the scalar field $`\sigma `$ at tree level. As shown in Ref. UBW , the parameter $`m_0`$ can take any value below $`400`$ MeV, in particular, $`m_0=0`$. Thus, if Eq. (1) were valid in general, i.e., not only at tree level, “Brown-Rho scaling” would emerge, i.e., the vector meson masses would go to zero at the chiral phase transition, where $`\sigma `$ vanishes.

A good description of the experimentally measured vector and axial-vector spectral functions in vacuum ALEPH  can be achieved by including the one-loop $`\rho `$ and $`a_1`$ self-energies, which comprise the dominant decay channels $`\rho \pi \pi `$ and $`a_1\pi \rho `$ as well as many other one-loop graphs which are necessary to comply with chiral symmetry UBW . The divergences generated by the loops can be canceled by chirally symmetric counterterms, which are adjusted such that masses at one loop are equal to those at tree level UBW . However, when we calculate the same diagrams at finite temperature $`T`$ (i.e., when we replace the loop integrals over $`k_4`$ by a summation over discrete Matsubara frequencies $`2\pi nT`$), the masses at one loop become temperature dependent, while the masses at tree level remain constant.

Let us start by inspecting the temperature dependence of the condensate $`\sigma `$. In the one-loop approximation it can be written as

$$\sigma =\sigma _0+\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _0,$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _0`$ denotes the sum of all one-loop tadpole graphs, divided by $`im_\sigma ^2`$ UBW . It can be decomposed into vacuum and medium contributions, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _0=\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _{0\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}+\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _{0\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$. The dominant medium contribution is generated by diagram (a) shown in Fig. 1.

In the chiral limit, $`m_\pi 0`$, it is of the order $`T^2`$, while all other one-loop diagrams are either vanishing ($`m_\pi ^2`$) or suppressed by $`e^{m/T}`$, if the particle propagating in the loop has mass $`m`$. The explicit expression corresponding to diagram (a) reads

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _{0\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{\text{(a)}}=\frac{3\sigma _0\lambda ^2Z_\pi }{2\pi ^2m_\sigma ^2}_0^{\mathrm{}}d|𝒌|𝒌^2\frac{n_\pi }{\omega _\pi },$$
(3)
where the abbreviations $`\omega _\pi =\sqrt{𝒌^2+m_\pi ^2}`$ and $`n_\pi =1/(e^{\omega _\pi /T}1)`$ have been used. The symbol $`\lambda `$ denotes the usual coupling constant of the linear $`\sigma `$ model, and $`Z_\pi =Z_{\pi \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}}`$ is the residue of the pion propagator at tree level UBW .

In the numerical calculations, the finite parts of the counterterms are determined such that $`f_\pi `$ in vacuum remains unchanged by the loop corrections. In the chiral limit this has the consequence that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _{0\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}`$ vanishes. Hence, we can replace $`\sigma _0`$ in Eq. (3) by $`\sigma _{T=0}`$. For further simplification we make use of the relations $`m_\sigma ^2=2\lambda ^2\sigma _0^2`$ and $`f_\pi =\sigma _0/\sqrt{Z_\pi }`$, which follow from those given in Ref. UBW  in the limit $`m_\pi =0`$. In this way we finally obtain

$$\sigma _{T0}=\sigma _{T=0}\left(1\frac{T^2}{8f_\pi ^2}+\mathrm{}\right),$$
(4)
as required by chiral symmetry GasserLeutwyler .

Let us now turn to the temperature dependence of the $`\rho `$ self-energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho (q_0,𝒒)`$, where $`q_0`$ and $`𝒒`$ denote the energy and three-momentum of the $`\rho `$ meson relative to the heat bath. In the following we will restrict ourselves to $`𝒒=0`$. In this case the self-energy tensor $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho ^{\mu \nu }`$ has, as in vacuum, only two independent components, namely the four-dimensionally longitudinal and transverse self-energies, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho ^l`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho ^t`$. In what follows we will concentrate on the latter and denote it by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho `$ for simplicity. Similar to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _0`$, the self-energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho `$ can be decomposed into vacuum and medium contributions. The dominant medium contributions are generated by the diagrams (b) to (d). The two-pion loop, which is the dominant graph in vacuum, does not contribute to order $`T^2`$, because the pions couple to the $`\rho `$ meson in $`p`$-wave, resulting in additional powers of the thermal pion momentum. The explicit expressions for the three contributions lead to

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{\text{(b)}}`$ $`=2h_2\sigma _0\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _{0\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$ (5)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{\text{(c)}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{(2h_1+3h_2)Z_\pi }{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}d|𝒌|𝒌^2{\displaystyle \frac{n_\pi }{\omega _\pi }},`$ (6)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{\text{(d)}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{h_1^2\sigma _0^2Z_\pi }{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}d|𝒌|𝒌^2{\displaystyle \frac{n_\pi }{\omega _\pi \omega _{a_1}}}`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{\omega _{a_1}\omega _\pi }{q_0^2(\omega _{a_1}\omega _\pi )^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _{a_1}+\omega _\pi }{q_0^2(\omega _{a_1}+\omega _\pi )^2}}\right).`$ (7)
(To obtain real and imaginary part, $`q_0`$ must be replaced by $`q_0+i\epsilon `$.) The contribution of diagram (d) takes a much simpler form in the chiral limit if, in addition, $`T|q_0m_{a_1}|`$. In this case, to order $`T^2`$, the pion momentum $`𝒌`$ can be neglected in the second line of Eq. (7), i.e., $`\omega _\pi =0`$ and $`\omega _{a_1}=m_{a_1}`$, and the sum of the three contributions reads

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}(q_0,0)=\frac{T^2h_1\sigma _0^2}{6f_\pi ^2}\frac{q_0^2m_\rho ^2}{q_0^2m_{a_1}^2}.$$
(8)
The change of the $`\rho `$ mass is governed by the real part of the self-energy at $`q_0m_\rho `$, but Eq. (8) implies in particular $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}(m_\rho ,0)=0`$. Thus, to order $`T^2`$, the $`\rho `$ mass does not change at all, even if the condensate decreases, because the self-energy contribution $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _{0\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$, diagram (b), is exactly canceled by the other diagrams, (c) and (d).

For the $`a_1`$ meson the situation is analogous. The dominant medium contributions to the $`a_1`$ self-energy are given by the diagrams (e) to (g). In exactly the same way as described above for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho `$, one finds, to order $`T^2`$:

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_{a_1\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}(q_0,0)=\frac{T^2h_1\sigma _0^2}{6f_\pi ^2}\frac{q_0^2m_{a_1}^2}{q_0^2m_\rho ^2}.$$
(9)
This shows that also the $`a_1`$ mass remains constant. The fact that the $`\rho `$ and $`a_1`$ masses do not change to order $`T^2`$ was already found within the so-called gauged linear $`\sigma `$ model some time ago Pisarski . However, within the gauged linear $`\sigma `$ model, this is less surprising, since the $`\rho `$ mass is independent of $`\sigma _0`$ at tree level, and diagram (b) does not exist.

The results presented above are valid only in the chiral limit and at low temperatures. The more general case of $`m_\pi 0`$ and higher temperatures can be analyzed numerically. Then, of course, not only the diagrams shown in Fig. 1, but all one-loop self-energy diagrams have to be included. We will use two different parameter sets: one of those listed in Ref. UBW  (parameter set A), and one with a very small pion mass ($`m_\pi =0.1`$ MeV) appropriate for the chiral limit. In both parameter sets we have chosen $`m_0=0`$, i.e., naively one would have expected ”Brown-Rho scaling”, as explained below Eq. (1).

As in Ref. UBW , we define the one-loop corrected $`\rho `$ mass $`m_\rho ^{(1)}`$ as the position of the maximum of the $`\rho `$ spectral function, rather than as the zero of the real part of the $`\rho `$ propagator. This implies that $`m_\rho ^{(1)}`$ could in principle change, even if $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$ vanishes at $`q_0=m_\rho `$. However, this subtlety does not change our conclusions for the low-temperature behavior of $`m_\rho ^{(1)}`$ significantly, as can be seen in Fig. 2.

In the chiral limit, $`m_\rho ^{(1)}`$ stays almost constant at low $`T`$, whereas the condensate decreases rapidly according to Eq. (4). At very high temperatures ($`T150`$ MeV), of course, the low-temperature expansion is no longer valid, and also the $`\rho `$ mass starts to change. In the case $`m_\pi =140`$ MeV, the main difference to the chiral limit is that all temperature effects are suppressed by $`e^{m_\pi /T}`$, and therefore also the condensate remains almost constant below $`T50`$ MeV. At higher temperatures, the cancellation of the different contributions to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$ is not as perfect as in the chiral limit, resulting in a somewhat stronger temperature dependence of $`m_\rho ^{(1)}`$ than in the case $`m_\pi =0`$.

Our results corrobate earlier arguments RappWambach  that in the chiral limit a change of the $`\rho `$ or $`a_1`$ mass of the order $`T^2`$ would violate the Eletsky-Ioffe mixing theorem and is therefore forbidden by chiral symmetry. This mixing theorem, which relies only on the current algebra of chiral symmetry, states that to order $`T^2`$ the vector and axial-vector current-current correlation functions $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V(q_0,𝒒)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_A(q_0,𝒒)`$, respectively, behave as follows DeyEletsky :

$`\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ $`=(1ϵ)\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}+ϵ\mathrm{\Pi }_{A\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}},`$ (10)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_A`$ $`=(1ϵ)\mathrm{\Pi }_{A\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}+ϵ\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}},`$ (11)
with $`ϵ=T^2/(6f_\pi ^2)`$.

It should be noted that the mixing coefficient $`ϵ`$ is of order $`\mathrm{}`$, since the mixing is generated by thermal pion loops. Hence, if the correlators are calculated in a strict loop expansion, the mixing theorem cannot be fulfilled exactly. E.g., if $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V^{(n)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_A^{(n)}`$ denote the correlators to order $`\mathrm{}^n`$ (i.e., up to $`n`$ loops), the medium contribution to $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V^{(1)}`$ must be given by

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1)}=ϵ(\mathrm{\Pi }_{A\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}^{(0)}\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}^{(0)}).$$
(12)
Since our Lagrangian is chirally symmetric, this relation is certainly fulfilled. At tree level the transverse parts of the correlators read

$`\mathrm{\Pi }_V^{(0)}(q^2)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{(fq^2)^2}{q^2m_\rho ^2}},`$ (13)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_A^{(0)}(q^2)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{(fq^2g\sigma _0^2)^2}{q^2m_{a_1}^2}}\sigma _0^2,`$ (14)
where $`f`$ and $`g`$ denote the $`\gamma \rho `$ and $`\rho \pi \pi `$ coupling constants, respectively UBW . The pion pole does not appear in Eq. (14), because it contributes only to the longitudinal part of the axial-vector correlator. The last term in Eq. (14) can be understood as the contribution of the $`WW\sigma \sigma `$ seagull vertex, if $`\mathrm{\Pi }_A`$ is computed via the $`W`$-boson self-energy. Next we turn to the left-hand side of Eq. (12), i.e., the medium contribution to $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V^{(1)}`$. To order $`T^2`$ it is generated by the diagrams shown in Fig. 3.

(As in Ref. UBW , we draw diagrams for the photon self-energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\gamma =e^2\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ rather than for $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$.) The contribution of the diagrams (h) to (j) can be expressed in terms of the $`\rho `$ self-energy:

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{h–j})}=\frac{(fq_0^2)^2}{(q_0^2m_\rho ^2)^2}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}.$$
(15)
The diagrams (k) to (n), which can be evaluated with the same techniques as described for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$, give

$`\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{k})}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{T^2\sigma _0^2}{6f_\pi ^2}},`$ (16)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{l})}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{T^2g^2\sigma _0^4}{6f_\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{q_0^2m_{a_1}^2}},`$ (17)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{m})}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{T^2g\sigma _0^2fq_0^2}{6f_\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{q_0^2m_\rho ^2}},`$ (18)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{n})}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{T^2g\sigma _0^2fq_0^2}{6f_\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{h_1\sigma _0^2}{(q_0^2m_{a_1}^2)(q_0^2m_\rho ^2)}},`$ (19)
and the sum of all contributions reads

$`\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}`$ $`=\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{h–l})}+2\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑚𝑒𝑑}}^{(1\text{m–n})}`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{T^2}{6f_\pi ^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{(fq_0^2)^2}{q_0^2m_\rho ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{(fq_0^2g\sigma _0^2)^2}{q_0^2m_{a_1}^2}}\sigma _0^2\right),`$ (20)
which is exactly the result expected from Eq. (12).

However, in the model for $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_A`$ we presented in Ref. UBW , the correlators are not calculated in a strict one-loop approximation. Instead, the Dyson series is summed, allowing for a successful description of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ in vacuum, but mixing all orders of $`\mathrm{}`$. Thus the dominant medium contributions to $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ are given by diagrams similar to those shown in Fig. 3, but with all bare $`\rho `$ propagators $`1/(q^2m_\rho ^2)`$ replaced by dressed ones, $`G_{\rho \mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}(q^2)=1/[q^2m_\rho ^2\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\rho \mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}(q^2)]`$, and all point-like $`\gamma \rho `$ vertices $`f`$ replaced by loop-corrected ones, $`F_{\gamma \rho \mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}(q^2)`$.

In this approximation one can see that, to order $`T^2`$, the imaginary part of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ (i.e., the spectral function) decreases in the neighborhood of $`m_\rho `$, but exactly at $`m_\rho `$ it remains constant, i.e., the strength of the $`\rho `$ meson peak is reduced by reducing its width and not its height. In addition, similar to Eq. (20), a peak $`\delta (q_0^2m_{a_1}^2)`$ is generated, but the coefficient is different from that in Eq. (20). For demonstration, we have computed $`\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ at $`T=25`$ MeV and extrapolated the medium contribution to $`T=150`$ MeV as if there were no effects beyond order $`T^2`$. The result can be seen in Fig. 4 together with $`\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }_{V\mathrm{𝑣𝑎𝑐}}`$.

The third curve in Fig. 4 shows $`\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ calculated at $`T=150`$ MeV. Obviously this looks completely different from the extrapolation of the low-temperature behavior. The peak at $`q_0=m_{a_1}`$ is washed out by the thermal motion of the pions, which is so strong that the $`\pi a_1`$ loop \[diagram (d)\] generates an imaginary part not only at $`q_0m_{a_1}`$, but also at $`q_0m_\rho `$. Another important contribution is given by the two-pion loop, although it is of the order $`T^4`$ as discussed before Eq. (5). These two effects are the reasons for the broadening of the $`\rho `$-meson peak visible in Fig. 4.

To conclude this letter, we display in Fig. 5 some results for the vector correlator obtained with the realistic parameter set, i.e., $`m_\pi =140`$ MeV. In this case, of course, the mixing in the form of Eq. (11) cannot occur, since all temperature effects are suppressed by $`e^{m_\pi /T}`$, and the axial correlator mixed into the vector correlator at energy $`q_0`$ must be taken at energies below $`q_0m_\pi `$ or above $`q_0+m_\pi `$. Indeed, with increasing temperature, in addition to the broadening of the $`\rho `$-meson peak, a sharp peak at $`q_0=m_{a_1}m_\pi `$ shows up in $`\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$, which can be interpreted in this sense. Unlike the peak at $`q_0=m_{a_1}`$ in the chiral limit, this peak is not smeared by the thermal motion of the pions, because it results from a kink in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\rho `$ at the threshold $`q_0=m_{a_1}m_\pi `$, which persists to arbitrary temperatures. The existence of this threshold, and therefore of the peak in $`\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$, is of course an artifact of our approximation, in which the $`a_1`$-mesons inside the loops have no width. In a more realistic model this reminiscence of the Eletsky-Ioffe mixing would reduce to a smooth enhancement of $`\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }_V`$ above the $`\rho `$-meson peak. In order to see this, an approximation scheme, in which also the particles inside the loops are dressed self-consistently, is desirable vanHees .

In order to draw quantitative conclusions for observables which are directly accessible by heavy-ion experiments (e.g., dilepton rates), also the effects of finite three-momentum $`𝒒`$, and, more importantly, of finite baryon density, must be included. The former is straightforward, but the inclusion of baryonic effects in a chirally symmetric way is a very difficult task and is postponed to future work.

###### Acknowledgements.

One of us (MU) acknowledges support from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation and would like to thank Prof. G. Chanfray for the hospitality at the IPN Lyon. This work was supported in part by the BMBF.


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# Acknowledgements

## Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the referee for useful suggestions in order to improve the presentation of the results of this paper. This work was supported by USACH-DICYT under Grant N0 04-0031CM(NC) and by CONICYT through Grant N0 2990037(SL).