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# Ion channel gating: a first passage time analysis of the Kramers type

## Introduction

Voltage-dependent ion channels of biological membranes are formed by pore-like single proteins which poke through the cell membrane. They provide the conducting pathways for the ions of specific sorts . Such potassium $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ and sodium $`\mathrm{Na}^+`$ channels participate in many important processes occurring in living cells. For example, these are crucial for the phenomenon of neural excitability .

Two features are important for the biological function of these naturally occurring nanotubes. First, they either are dwelling in open conformations, allowing for the ion flow to pass through, or are resting in closed, non-conducting conformations. Between these two conformation types the ion channel undergoes spontaneous, temperature driven transitions – the so-called gating dynamics – which can be characterized by the residence time distributions of open, $`f_o(t)`$, and closed, $`f_c(t)`$, states, respectively. The mean open and closed residence times, $`T_{o(c)}:=_0^{\mathrm{}}tf_{o(c)}(t)𝑑t`$ are prominent quantifiers of the gating dynamics. In particular, they determine the mean opening (closing) rates $`k_{o(c)}:=T_{c(o)}^1`$. The second important feature refers to the fact that the gating dynamics is voltage-dependent. This provides a mechanism for a mutual coupling among otherwise independent ion channels. This very mechanism is realized through the common membrane potential. Both ingredients are central for the seminal model of neuronal activity put forward by Hodgkin and Huxley in 1952 .

The dichotomous character of gating transitions yields a bistable dynamics of the Kramers type . Therefore, a priori one expects that both, the opening and the closing gating rates will expose an exponential, Arrhenius-like dependence on voltage and temperature. Indeed, the closing rate of many $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channels follows such a pattern; in clear contrast, however, the opening rate usually does not. To explain the experimental voltage-dependence of the relaxation time of the potassium current for a giant squid axon Hodgkin and Huxley postulated that the gating behavior of a potassium channel is determined by four independent voltage-sensitive gates, each of which undergoes a two-state Markov dynamics with a form

$$k_o(V)=\frac{a_c(VV_c)}{1\mathrm{exp}[b_c(VV_c)]}$$
(1)
for the opening rate, which is commonly used in neurophysiology. In Eq. 1, $`a_c,b_c,V_c`$ are some experimental parameters. Notwithstanding that in their work  this kind of dependence has been used for a single gate, the opening rate of the whole $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channel can also be fitted by Eq. 1, see e.g. in . The same modeling for a whole channel is used also for dendritic $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channels in neocortical pyramidal neurons .

Note that in Eq. 1 the voltage-dependence of the opening rate changes in a knee-like manner from an exponential behavior into a linear one, cf. Fig. 1.

This typical, experimentally observed behavior of delayed rectifier $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channels presently lacks an explanation in physical terms. A qualitative explanation of this gating dynamics has briefly been mentioned in recent work . However, a definite analysis leading to the functional form in Eq. 1 is not available. A first main objective of the present work is to fill this gap, and, moreover, to provide additional insight into the voltage behavior of Eq. 1 within an exactly solvable stochastic Fokker-Planck-Kramers model.

The ion current recordings made on the level of single ion channels  reveal yet another unresolved, interesting aspect of the gating dynamics. Namely, the distribution of closed residence times of many channels is not exponential. In particular, it has been shown by Liebovitch et al.  that the closed residence time distribution $`f_c(t)`$ in a rabbit corneal endothelium channel can be reasonably fitted by a stretched exponential with only two parameters. This result initiated the construction of the so-called fractal model of ion channel gating . Other channels, e.g., $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channels in neuroblastoma x glioma (NG 108-15) cells exhibit a power-law scaling behavior as well, i.e. $`f_c(t)t^\alpha `$ with $`\alpha =3/2`$ . To explain this type of fractal-like behavior Millhauser et al.  proposed a one-dimensional diffusion model. Similar power laws with $`\alpha >3/2`$ have also been reported  and several variations of diffusion theory have been introduced to explain the gating behavior of different channels .

The observed non-exponential behavior can be fitted by a finite sum of exponentials; consequently, it can alternatively be explained with a corresponding discrete Markovian scheme . These discrete Markovian models have proven their usefulness in many cases . Nevertheless, such an approach presents a fitting procedure; as such it is intimately connected with the danger of a proliferation of parameters. In particular, kinetic schemes containing as many as 14 structurally unidentified closed substates have been proposed .

An important lesson to be learned from the detailed studies of a simple protein – myoglobin – by Frauenfelder et al.  is that proteins exist in a huge number of quasi-degenerated, microscopic substates, corresponding to a single macroscopic conformation, cf. Fig. 2. It is thus conceivable that at room temperatures the ion channel dwells in a huge number of almost degenerated (within $`k_BT`$) conformational substates. Both the fractal and diffusion models of the ion channel gating have been inspired by this crucial property of proteins. We conjecture that the ultimate theory of the ion channel gating must take this property into account. This program requires a compromise between Markovian discrete state models and a continuous diffusion model. This can be achieved by a Kramers type theory . The discrete Markov models can then be considered as a limiting case of more general Kramers type approach .

## Theoretical modeling

The complex structure of the multi-dimensional conformational space of proteins implies an intricate kinetics despite an apparently simple bistability that is observed . Two popular theoretical approaches have been developed to cope with this complexity. A first one uses a simple bistable dynamics as a basis. To model the complexity of the observed kinetics this dynamics is amended by using an additional stochastic time-dependence of the energy profile, or kinetic constants. Such an approach is nowadays commonly known under the label of “fluctuating barriers” . Alternatively, one can attempt to model the complexity of the energy profile itself in the simplest possible way. Our strategy is to find such a minimal model of the second kind which does allow for a rigorous analysis and does reproduce some nontrivial features of the gating dynamics.

Let us assume that the conformational stochastic dynamics between the open and closed states can be described in terms of a one-dimensional reaction coordinate dynamics $`x(t)`$ in a conformational potential $`U(x)`$, Figs. 2,3. Since the distribution of open residence time intervals assumes typically a single-exponential , in the following we rather shall focus on the behavior of the closed residence time intervals. In order to evaluate the distribution of closed residence time intervals it suffices to restrict our analysis to the subspace of closed states by putting an absorbing boundary at the interface, $`x=b`$, between the closed and open conformations, see Fig. 3. We next assume that the gating dynamics is governed by two gates: an inactivation gate and an activation gate. The inactivation gate corresponds to the manifold of voltage-independent closed substates. It is associated with the flat part, $`L<x<0`$, of the potential $`U(x)`$ in Fig. 3. In this respect, our modeling resembles that in . The mechanism of inactivation in potassium channels is quite sophisticated and presently not totally established . It is well known that inactivation can occur on quite different time scales . The role of a fast inactivation gate in Shaker $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channels is taken over by the channel’s extended N-terminus which is capable to plug the channel’s pore from the cytosol part while diffusing towards the pore center . The slow inactivation apparently is due to a conformational narrowing of the channel pore in the region of selectivity filter . In both cases, no net gating charge translocation occurs and the inactivation process does not depend on voltage. When the inactivating plug is outside of the pore, or the selectivity filter is open ($`x>0`$ in Fig. 3) the channel can open only if the activation barrier is overcome.

The dynamics of the activation gate occurs on the linear part of the ramp of the potential $`U(x)`$; i.e. on $`0<x<b`$ in Fig. 3, like in . Note that for $`0<x<b`$, the inactivating plug diffuses outside of the channel’s pore and the selectivity filter is open. During the activation step a gating charge $`q`$ moves across the membrane, this feature renders the overall gating dynamics voltage-dependent. The channel opens when the reaction coordinate reaches the location $`x=b`$ in Fig. 3. This fact is accounted for by putting an absorbing boundary condition at $`x=b`$. Moreover, the channel closes immediately when the inactivation gate closes ($`x0`$), or when the activation gate closes. To account for this behavior in extracting the closed residence time distribution we assume that the channel is reset into the state $`x=0`$ after each closure (see below).

The diffusional motion of the inactivated gate is restricted in conformational space. We characterize this fact by the introduction of a conformational diffusion length $`L`$ (Fig. 3) and the diffusion constant $`Dk_BT`$ that are combined into a single parameter – the conformational diffusion time

$`\tau _D=L^2/D.`$ (2)
This quantity constitutes an essential parameter for the theory.

We assume that the activation barrier height $`U_0`$ is linearly proportional to the voltage bias $`V`$ , i.e. in terms of the gating charge $`q`$ we have

$$U_0=q(VV_c).$$
(3)
Moreover, $`U_0`$ is positive for negative voltages, i.e. for $`V<V_c`$, vanishes at $`V=V_c`$, and becomes negative for $`V>V_c`$. Thus, for $`V>V_c`$ the channel “slips” in its open state, rather than overcomes a barrier. In addition, the fraction $`\xi `$ of the voltage-dependent substates in the whole manifold of the closed states should be very small, implying that

$$\xi =b/L1.$$
(4)
Analytical solution. The corresponding Fokker-Planck equation for the probability density of closed states $`P(x,t)`$ reads

$`{\displaystyle \frac{P(x,t)}{t}}=D{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}+\beta {\displaystyle \frac{U(x)}{x}}\right)P(x,t),`$ (5)
where $`\beta =1/(k_BT)`$. In order to find the distribution of closed residence times $`f_c(t)`$, we solve Eq. 5 with the initial condition $`P(x,0)=\delta (x)`$, in combination with a reflecting boundary condition $`\frac{dP(x,t)}{dx}|_{x=L}=0`$, and an absorbing boundary condition, $`P(x,t)|_{x=b}=0`$ . The closed residence time distribution then follows as

$$f_c(t)=\frac{d\mathrm{\Phi }_c(t)}{dt},$$
(6)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }_c(t)=_L^bP(x,t)𝑑x`$ is the survival probability of the closed state.

By use of the standard Laplace transform method we arrive at the following exact solution:

$$\stackrel{~}{f}_c(s)=\frac{A(s)}{B(s)},$$
(7)
where

$`A(s)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta U_0/2)\sqrt{\beta ^2U_0^2+4\xi ^2\tau _Ds}`$ (8)
$`B(s)`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\beta ^2U_0^2+4\xi ^2\tau _Ds}`$
$`\times `$ $`\mathrm{cosh}\left(\sqrt{\beta ^2U_0^2+4\xi ^2\tau _Ds}/2\right)`$
$`+`$ $`\left(2\xi \sqrt{\tau _Ds}\mathrm{tanh}\sqrt{\tau _Ds}\beta U_0\right)`$
$`\times `$ $`\mathrm{sinh}\left(\sqrt{\beta ^2U_0^2+4\xi ^2\tau _Ds}/2\right).`$
The explicit result in 7-Theoretical modeling allows one to find all moments of the closed residence time distribution. In particular, the mean closed residence time $`T_c=lim_{s0}[1\stackrel{~}{f}_c(s)]/s`$ reads

$`T_c=\tau _D\xi {\displaystyle \frac{\beta U_0(e^{\beta U_0}1\xi )+\xi (e^{\beta U_0}1)}{\beta ^2U_0^2}}.`$ (10)
This very same result 10 can be obtained alternatively if we invoke the well-known relation for the mean first-passage time $`T_c=\frac{1}{D}_0^b𝑑xe^{\beta U(x)}_L^x𝑑ye^{\beta U(y)}`$ . This alternative scheme provides a successful validity check for our analytical solution in 7-Theoretical modeling.

Elucidation of the voltage dependence in Eq. 1. Upon observing the condition 4 Eq. 10 by use of 3 reads in leading order of $`\xi `$

$$k_o=\frac{1}{T_c}\frac{\beta q}{\xi \tau _D}\frac{VV_c}{1\mathrm{exp}[\beta q(VV_c)]}.$$
(11)
With the parameter identifications

$$b_c=\frac{q}{k_BT}$$
(12)
and

$$a_c=\frac{q}{\xi \tau _Dk_BT}$$
(13)
the result in 11 precisely coincides with Eq. 1. The fact that our novel approach yields the puzzling voltage dependence in Eq. 1 constitutes a first prime result of this work.

Let us next estimate the model parameters for a Shaker IR $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channel from Ref. . In , the voltage-dependence of $`k_o(V)`$ at $`T=18{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{o}}\mathrm{C}`$ has been parameterized by Eq. 1 with the parameters given in the caption of Fig. 1. Then, from Eq. 12 the gating charge can be estimated as $`q20e`$ ($`e`$ is the positive valued, elementary charge). As to the diffusion time $`\tau _D`$, we speculate that it corresponds to the time scale of inactivation; the latter is in the range of seconds and larger . Therefore, we use $`\tau _D=1\mathrm{sec}`$ as a lower bound for our estimate. The fraction of voltage-dependent states $`\xi `$ is then extracted from Eq. 13 to yield, $`\xi 0.0267`$. This value, indeed, is rather small and thus proves our finding in Eq. 11 to be consistent.

Analysis for the closed residence time distribution. The exact results in Eqs. 7-Theoretical modeling appear rather entangled. To extract the behavior in real time one needs to invert the Laplace transform numerically. With $`\xi <<1`$, however, Eqs. 7-Theoretical modeling are formally reduced to

$`\stackrel{~}{f}_c(s)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+(k_o\tau _D)^1\sqrt{\tau _Ds}\mathrm{tanh}\sqrt{\tau _Ds}}}.`$ (14)
This prominent leading order result can be inverted analytically in terms of an infinite sum of exponentials, yielding:

$`f_c(t)={\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}c_n\lambda _n\mathrm{exp}(\lambda _nt),`$ (15)
where the rate constants $`0<\lambda _1<\lambda _2<\mathrm{}`$ are solutions of the transcendental equation

$`\mathrm{tan}\sqrt{\lambda _n\tau _D}={\displaystyle \frac{k_o\tau _D}{\sqrt{\lambda _n\tau _D}}}`$ (16)
and the expansion coefficients $`c_n`$, respectively, are given by

$`c_n={\displaystyle \frac{2}{1+k_o\tau _D+\lambda _n/k_o}}.`$ (17)
Note from Eq. 6 that the set $`c_n`$ is normalized to unity, i.e. $`_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}c_n=1`$.

The analytical approximation, Eqs. 15-17, is compared in Fig. 4 with the precise numerical inversion of the exact Laplace transform in Eqs. 7-Theoretical modeling. The numerical inversion has been performed with the Stehfest algorithm . As can be deduced from Fig. (4), for $`t>10`$ msec the agreement is very good indeed. A serious discrepancy occurs only in the range $`0.01\mathrm{msec}<t<0.1\mathrm{msec}`$ which lies outside the range of the patch clamp experiments ($`t>0.1\mathrm{msec}`$). Moreover, the agreement is improving with increasing $`\tau _D`$ (not shown).

Origin of the power law distribution. The features displayed by the closed residence time distribution $`f_c(t)`$ depend sensitively on the applied voltage $`V`$. When $`V>V_c`$, e.g. $`V=45\mathrm{mV}`$, as in Fig. 4, the activation barrier towards the channel opening disappears and the opening dynamics becomes diffusion-limited. In this case, the diffusion time $`\tau _D=1\mathrm{sec}`$ largely exceeds the mean closed residence time $`T_c18.4\mathrm{msec}`$. Put differently, $`\tau _DT_c`$ and the closed residence time distribution exhibits an intricate behavior with three distinct regions, see in Fig. 4. Most importantly, for the intermediate time scale

$$T_c^2/\tau _Dt\tau _D$$
(18)
we find from Eq. 14 (by considering the limit $`\tau _D\mathrm{}`$) that the closed residence time distribution obeys a power law; reading

$$f_c(t)\frac{1}{2(\pi \tau _D)^{1/2}k_ot^{3/2}}.$$
(19)
This type of behavior is clearly detectable in Fig. 4 where it covers about two decades of time. As follows from Eq. 18, an increase of $`\tau _D`$ by one order of magnitude (while keeping $`T_c`$ fixed) extends the power law region by two orders of magnitude. This conclusion is fully confirmed by our numerics (not shown). This power law dependence, which extends over four orders of magnitude, has been seen experimentally for a $`\mathrm{K}^+`$ channel in NG 108-15 cells . On the contrary, for channels, where $`\tau _D`$ is smaller, the power law region 18 shrinks and eventually disappears, whereas the mean opening rate defined via Eq. 10 still exhibits a steep dependence on the voltage. Thus, our model is capable to describe for different channels both, the emergence of power law as well as its absence.

On the time scale $`t\tau _D`$ the discussed power law distribution crosses over into the exponential tail; the latter is fully described by the smallest exponent $`\lambda _1`$ in Eq.15, i.e., by

$$f_c(t)c_1\lambda _1\mathrm{exp}[\lambda _1t].$$
(20)
This feature is clearly manifest in Fig. 4. The transition towards the exponential tail in the closed residence time-interval distribution can be used to estimate the diffusion time $`\tau _D`$ on pure experimental grounds!

Finally, let us consider the opposite limit, $`\tau _DT_c`$, for $`VV_c`$. For the considered set of parameters this occurs, e.g., for $`V=55\mathrm{mV}`$ when the channel is predominantly closed. Then, the diffusion step in the opening becomes negligible and in the experimentally relevant range of closed residence times, defined by $`T_c`$, the corresponding distribution can be approximated by a single exponential 20. A perturbation theory in Eq. 16 yields $`\lambda _1k_o(1(k_o\tau _D)/3)`$. For the used parameters we have $`\lambda _10.96k_o`$ and, from Eq. 17, $`c_10.95`$. This result is in a perfect agreement with the precise numerics obtained from Eqs. 7-Theoretical modeling. Thus, the distribution of closed residence times is single-exponential to a very good degree. Consequently, one and the same channel can exhibit both, an exponential and a power-law distribution of closed residence times, as a function of the applied transmembrane voltage. With an increase of $`\tau _D`$ the voltage range of the exponential behavior shifts towards more negative voltages, $`V<V_c`$, and vice versa.

Reduction to a diffusion model. Let us relate our model to that introduced previously by Millhauser et al. . The latter one is depicted with the lower part in Fig. 3. It assumes a discrete number $`N`$ of closed substates with the same energy. The gating particle jumps with the equal forward and backward rates $`k`$ between the adjacent states which are occupied with probabilities $`p_n(t)`$. At the right edge of the chain of closed states the ion channel undergoes transition into the open state with the voltage-dependent rate constant $`\gamma `$. To calculate the closed residence time distribution $`f_c(t)`$ one assumes $`p_0(0)=1`$, $`p_{n0}(0)=0`$ and $`d\mathrm{\Phi }_c(t)/dt=\gamma p_0(t)`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }_c(t)=_{n=0}^{n=N}p_n(t)`$ is the survival probability .

We consider the continuous diffusion variant of this model  in a scaling limit: we put $`\mathrm{\Delta }x0,k\mathrm{},\gamma \mathrm{},N\mathrm{}`$ keeping the diffusion length $`L=N\mathrm{\Delta }x`$, the diffusion constant $`D=k(\mathrm{\Delta }x)^2`$, and the constant $`k_o=\gamma /N`$ all finite. The latter one has the meaning of mean opening rate, see below. Note that in clear contrast with our approach, the rate parameter $`k_o`$ in the diffusion model is of pure phenomenological origin. The problem of finding the closed residence time distribution is reduced to solving the diffusion equation

$`{\displaystyle \frac{P(x,t)}{t}}=D{\displaystyle \frac{^2P(x,t)}{x^2}}`$ (21)
with the initial condition $`P(x,0)=\delta (x0_{})`$, the reflecting boundary condition $`\frac{P(x,t)}{x}|_{x=L}=0`$ and the radiation boundary condition

$`{\displaystyle \frac{P(x,t)}{x}}|_{x=0}={\displaystyle \frac{Lk_o}{D}}P(0,t).`$ (22)
We emphasize that the radiation boundary condition 22 is not postulated, but is rather derived from the original discrete model in the considered scaling limit. Using the Laplace transform method we solved this problem exactly and obtained the result in Eq. 14. In conclusion, our approximate result in Eqs.14-17 provides the exact solution of the diffusion model  in the scaling limit! This exact analytical solution is obtained here for the first time. Note, however, that this so obtained diffusion model is not able to resolve the puzzling voltage dependence in Eq. 1.

## Synopsis and Conclusions

With this work we put forward a unifying generalization of the diffusion theory of ion channel gating by Millhauser et al. . Our novel theory reproduces for the first time the functional form of the puzzling voltage-dependence in Eq. 1. The latter has been postulated almost fifty years ago in the pioneering paper by Hodgkin and Huxley  and is commonly used in the neurophysiology up to now. The proposed model of the Fokker-Planck-Kramers type explains the origin of steep voltage-dependence in Eq. 1 within a clear physical picture which seemingly is consistent with both our current understanding of the physics of proteins and basic experimental facts. Our study furthermore reveals the connection between the voltage dependence of the opening rate and the intricate behavior for the closed residence time distribution in corresponding voltage regimes. A particularly appealing feature of our approach is that our model contains only four voltage-independent physical parameters: the diffusion time $`\tau _D`$, the fraction of voltage -dependent substates $`\xi `$, the gating charge $`q`$ and the threshold voltage $`V_c`$. Several experimental findings could be described consistently while still other ones call for an experimental validation.

In particular, when (i) the activation barrier is very high, i.e., $`VV_c`$, the activation step determines completely the opening rate: the distribution of closed residence times is nearly exponential, as well as the voltage-dependence of the opening rate. The channel is then predominantly closed. We remark that the opening rate should exhibit an exponential dependence on temperature as well. This conclusion follows from Eqs. 11-12 and the fact that in accord with our model the parameter $`a_c`$ in Eq. 1 is temperature independent. Indeed, with the diffusion time $`\tau _D`$ being inversely proportional to the temperature, i.e. $`\tau _D1/D1/(k_BT)`$, yielding $`a_c1/(\tau _Dk_BT)`$, cf. Eq. 13. In contrast, when (ii) the activation barrier vanishes, i.e. the voltage shifts towards the positive direction, the closed residence time distribution becomes non-exponential. On the intermediate time scale given in Eq. 18, this distribution exhibits a power law behavior, $`f_c(t)t^{3/2}`$, which crosses over into an exponential one at $`t>\tau _D`$. The emergence of the exponential tail can be used to determine the conformational diffusion time $`\tau _D`$ experimentally. When (iii) the activation barrier assumes negative values at voltages $`V>V_c`$, our result for the opening rate exhibits a linear dependence on voltage and, consequently, see Eq. 11, it no longer depends on temperature. The weak temperature dependence will emerge however when we renormalize the diffusion coefficient $`D`$ due to the roughness of random energy landscape (cf. Fig. 2). Assuming uncorrelated Gaussian disorder one gets $`Dk_BT\mathrm{exp}(\delta U^2/(k_BT)^2)`$ , where $`\delta U^2`$ is the mean-squared height of the barrier between substates. Then, $`k_o\mathrm{exp}(\delta U^2/(k_BT)^2)`$, and since $`\sqrt{\delta U^2}k_BT`$ this non-Arrhenius dependence is weak at room temperatures. This result has a clear thermodynamic interpretation: when the activation barrier vanishes the closed-to-open transition is entropy dominated and thus the opening rate will only weakly depend on temperature. In accord with our model this type of behavior correlates with a non-exponential kinetics.

The temperature behavior of the opening rate (or, equivalently, the mean closed time) presents a true benchmark result of our theory. The authors are looking forward to seeing this feature being tested experimentally.

Acknowledgement. The authors thank Peter Reimann for fruitful discussions. This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via SFB 486 (Project A10).


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# Exploring New Physics Through Contact Interactions in Lepton Pair Production at a Linear Collider

## I Introduction

All known solutions to the gauge hierarchy problem of the Standard Model (SM) require the appearance of new particles at energy scales around 1 TeV. It is not guaranteed, however, that these new particles can be produced directly at the proposed 500 GeV linear collider (LC). Only for supersymmetric theories are there strong arguments that at least some superpartners should be kinematically accessible at such a collider Abe:2001wn . In the case of composite Higgs models and models with extra dimensions, the situation is far less certain. It is possible that all the new states predicted in these theories are too heavy and cannot appear in the final state at a 500 GeV LC. In fact, for models with large extra dimensions ADD , current experimental constraints most likely rule out the possibility that string Regge excitations could be lighter than 500 GeV. In this case, the only direct effect of extra dimensions would be the enhanced rate of events with missing energy due to graviton emission. These events, however, provide only very limited amount of information about the fundamental theory. Moreover, this signature could be mimicked by gravitino emission processes in certain supersymmetric models, so one would need additional handles to disentangle the underlying physics GPW . In this situation, it is important to look for indirect effects of new physics, that is, the effects of new heavy particles appearing as virtual states. For example, processes such as Bhabha scattering or other lepton pair production,

$$\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{},\mu ^+\mu ^{},\tau ^+\tau ^{}$$
(1)
could receive an additional contribution from the exchange of a heavy state $`X`$. Because such additional contributions come from short-distance physics and do not possess poles in the accessible range of any kinematic variables, they are referred to as contact interactions. By carefully examining the total cross section and angular distribution of these processes, it should be possible to not only find deviations from the Standard Model, but also gain some information about the nature of the state $`X`$, such as its spin and couplings.

In this report, we will assume that the cross section of process (1) was found to deviate from the Standard Model prediction. We will then consider several possible explanations for this deviation, such as models with lepton substructure, models with TeV-scale strings, and models in which gauge fields can propagate in the extra dimensions. Our main goal is to determine how well one can discriminate between these possibilities, given the measurement of the total cross section and angular distributions of the final-state particles.

## II Models with Contact Interactions

The unpolarised cross section formula for Bhabha scattering can be written in the form

$$\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{cos}\theta }=\frac{\pi \alpha ^2}{2s}\left[u^2(|A_{LL}|^2+|A_{RR}|^2)+2t^2|A_{RL,s}|^2+2s^2|A_{RL,t}|^2\right],$$
(2)
where

$`A_{LL}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)^2}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{sM_Z^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{tM_Z^2}}\right)+\mathrm{\Delta }_{LL},`$
$`A_{RR}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{sM_Z^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{tM_Z^2}}\right)+\mathrm{\Delta }_{RR},`$
$`A_{RL,s}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{sM_Z^2}}+\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,s},`$
$`A_{RL,t}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{t}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{tM_Z^2}}+\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,t},`$ (3)
and the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_a`$ functions represent the contact interaction corrections coming from TeV-scale physics. For this study we have considered the following models:

* Eichten:1983hw , where the contact interaction terms are given by

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{LL}=2{\displaystyle \frac{\eta _{LL}}{\alpha \mathrm{\Lambda }^2}},\mathrm{\Delta }_{RR}=2{\displaystyle \frac{\eta _{RR}}{\alpha \mathrm{\Lambda }^2}},\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,s}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,t}={\displaystyle \frac{\eta _{RL}}{\alpha \mathrm{\Lambda }^2}}.`$ (4)
Here $`\eta _a=\{+1,0,1\}`$ parametrise the helicity structure of the contact interactions, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the scale of compositeness. We will study two possibilities:

+ the vector-vector model with $`\eta _{LL}=\eta _{RR}=\eta _{RL}=+1`$,
    + the axial-axial model with $`\eta _{LL}=\eta _{RR}=\eta _{RL}=+1`$.
* have two sources from which contact interactions may arise. The first contribution is from the virtual effect of string Regge excitations of the photon and the $`Z`$ boson. This has been computed in Cullen:2000ef  using a simple string toy model. The corrected Bhabha scattering cross section is given by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{cos}\theta }}(e^+e^{}e^+e^{})={\displaystyle \frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{cos}\theta }}|_{SM}\times \left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{st}{M_s^4}}+\mathrm{}\right),`$ (5)
where $`M_s`$ is the string scale. The second contribution comes from virtual graviton exchange, and was analysed in Giudice:1999sn ; Hewett:1999sn ; Rizzo:1999sn . This effect could be sizable because of the large number of Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of the graviton that contribute. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }_a`$ functions in this case are given by

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{LL}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{RR}={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\pi \alpha M_H^4}}\left[(u+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}s)+(u+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}t)\right],`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,s}={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\pi \alpha M_H^4}}(t+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}s),\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,t}={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\pi \alpha M_H^4}}(s+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}t),`$ (6)
where $`M_H`$ is the quantum gravity scale as defined in Hewett:1999sn . Here we will study two models:

+ The String Regge model, where the contribution of the Regge states is dominant, as is necessarily the case if physics at the TeV scale is described by weakly coupled string theory.
    + The KK graviton model with $`\lambda =+1`$ or $`1`$, where we assume that the Regge contribution is for some reason suppressed, and the virtual graviton exchange dominates.
* may allow the Standard Model gauge bosons to propagate in the additional dimensions. In this case, contact interactions arise from the exchange of virtual KK excitations of the photon and the $`Z`$ boson. Using the formalism of Rizzo:2000br , we obtain

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{LL}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W}}{\displaystyle \frac{V}{M_W^2}},\mathrm{\Delta }_{RR}=2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}}{\displaystyle \frac{V}{M_W^2}},`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,s}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{RL,t}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}}{\displaystyle \frac{V}{M_W^2}},`$ (7)
where in the case of one extra dimension $`V`$ is directly related to the compactification scale $`M_c`$:

$$V=\frac{\pi ^2}{3}\frac{M_W^2}{M_c^2}.$$
(8)
For more than one extra dimension, the relation between $`V`$ and $`M_c`$ depends on the details of the TeV-scale physics, and it is more useful to work in terms of $`V`$ itself. In this study we give all the results in terms of $`M_c`$.

Analogous formulas can be obtained for $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ and $`\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$ final states. Since phenomenology of string models with multiple generations has not been studied in detail, we will not consider the effects of Regge states in these channels.

## III Analysis

The theoretical formulas (2) – (7) have been implemented in PANDORA pandora  to scan the scale parameters of our models (referred to as VV, AA, SR, KK+, KK$``$ and TeV in the following). At each scan point the angular distribution of the produced leptons is studied calculating the expected number of events in 10 bins of $`\mathrm{cos}\theta `$, with a cut of $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta |<`$0.9 imposed on the outgoing electron polar angle in the case of Bhabha scattering. The ratio of the predicted new physics cross-section to the SM cross-section for electron and muon pair production is shown in Figure 1 for all the models considered at a 500 GeV LC.

For each considered model and parameter value 100$``$1000 Monte Carlo (MC) experiments are generated using Poisson statistics. These are in turn compared to all theoretical models (including SM) by calculating the $`\chi ^2`$ of the MC and the predicted theoretical distributions, accounting for a fully correlated systematic error of 2% as well. (We will use the term true model for the model which is assumed to be true, ie. which was used to generate the MC experiments.) We define the confidence level (CL) at which a model with a given parameter can be excluded by the ratio of its $`\chi ^2`$ probability to the highest $`\chi ^2`$ probability for any model with any parameter considered:

$$1CL=𝒫(\chi ^2)/\mathrm{max}(𝒫(\chi ^2))$$
(9)
The expected CL is computed as the median value for all the MC experiments generated with the same model and parameter value.

## IV Results

For each new physics model considered, we have calculated the maximum value of the scale parameter for which the Standard Model hypothesis is expected to be excluded at the 95% CL. We list these limits, for three sample values of the LC energy and luminosity, in Table 1. The corresponding limits for the exclusion of all models but the true one are inevitably somewhat lower, as shown in the Table 2. This effect is more pronounced when only one channel is analysed, as is necessarily the case for the SR model where at present theoretical calculations only exist for Bhabha scattering. In most cases, however, combining all the channels allows one to distinguish between the theoretical models almost up to the SM sensitivity reach of Table 1, with the model selection sensitivity reach of Table 2 being only about 5-15% lower. In Figure 2 we plot $`1CL`$ corresponding to the best fit for each tested model in the electron pair final state as a function of the scale parameter of the true model for the case of a 500 GeV LC with 100 fb<sup>-1</sup> luminosity.

Measurements of electron, muon and tau final states provide complementary information, and combining them significantly improves model selection sensitivity. This is illustrated by Figure 3, which shows the $`1CL`$ values as a function of the model scale parameter with the assumption that model KK$``$ is realized with $`M_H`$=3 TeV. While separately none of the measurements can exclude the other models, together they do so with a high confidence level. Note that the sharp peak in $`1CL`$ for the true model at the true parameter value indicates that not only the model can be recognised, but the value of its scale parameter can be estimated with a reasonable precision. Of course, this measurement becomes less precise for higher values of the scale parameter.

## V Conclusions

Many models of physics beyond the Standard Model predict new particles at the TeV scale. Even if the collider energy is not sufficient to produce these particles directly, their virtual exchanges can still lead to observable effects, such as contact-interaction type corrections to Standard Model processes. If such a correction is observed, studying it carefully can provide important information about the physics at and above the TeV scale. In this study, we have considered a few well-motivated theoretical models which predict contact interaction corrections to lepton pair production processes. We have shown that for a wide range of model parameters, measuring lepton pair production cross-sections and angular distributions at a 500 GeV $``$ 1 TeV linear collider with realistic integrated luminosities will allow to unambiguously determine which of the candidate models is correct. In fact, we find that whenever a significant deviation from the Standard Model is seen, the model selection can be performed with a high degree of certainty. Combining the measurements with electron, muon and tau final states is crucial for model selection.

###### Acknowledgements.

G.P. was partially supported in Snowmass by a DPF Snowmass Fellowship and by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund under the contract numbers OTKA T029264 and T029328. M. P. is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, of the U. S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.


text:
# Stability of antiferromagnetism at high magnetic fields in Mn3Si

\[

## Abstract

We report low temperature measurements of the specific heat, resistivity and magnetisation of the itinerant antiferromagnet Mn3Si. The unprecedented stability of the magnetic state to high magnetic field up to 14 T inferred from the invariance of these bulk properties is incompatible with itinerant magnetism expected of a conventional Fermi liquid.

\]

Weakly magnetic transition metal compounds with small ordered moments and low transition temperatures are usually well described as a Fermi liquid with weakly exchange split Fermi surface, where special topological features of the Fermi surface are ignored . It is in contrast still an open issue if magnetic metals with large ordered moments and small ordering temperature, that are more akin to local moment insulators, may also be described on the basis of Fermi liquid theory. Insight into this question may be sought in the dominant energy scales controling the magnetic ordering temperature $`T_N`$ of an itinerant antiferromagnet. In a Fermi liquid low ordering temperatures result from strong coupling of the magnetisation at ordering wave-vector $`𝐐`$ with heavily damped spin fluctuations . On the other hand, in the isotropic Heisenberg model low ordering temperatures result from weak exchange coupling of localized magnetic moments. The energy scale and nature of the magnetic ordering compared to the mode-mode or local moment coupling, respectively, are hence fundamental to magnetism in solids.

The polarization of a magnetic state in a magnetic field allows to probe the relevant coupling strengths. In fact, a very large number of transition metal compounds are known in which ordering temperatures of order 20 K are related to a high sensitivity to magnetic field of a few T regardless of whether they are better described in terms of Fermi liquid theory or the Heisenberg model . In this paper we report an experimental investigation in which we employ the effect of high magnetic field ($`\mu _BHk_BT_N`$) on the bulk magnetisation $`M`$, specific heat $`C`$ and electrical resistivity $`\rho `$ of a cubic metallic antiferromagnet, Mn3Si, to study the strength of the coupling of the uniform mode ($`𝐪=0`$) with the ordering wave-vector $`𝐐`$. The observed complete absence of a field dependence is surprising, because it either suggests an isotropic Fermi liquid in which the mode-mode coupling is absent or an isotropic Heisenberg magnet in which the moment coupling is exceptionally strong, despite low $`T_N`$. From either point of view the conceptual simplicity of Mn3Si challenges the present day understanding of metallic antiferromagnetism.

Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in the magnetic and metallic properties of Heusler transition metal compounds  to which Mn3Si belongs. Ternary members of this class of materials display a wide variety of different behaviours such as disorder induced non-Fermi liquid , half-metallic magnetic  and semiconducting ground states . High ferromagnetic ordering temperatures of several hundred K are also frequent.

Mn3Si crystalizes as MnIMnII,2Si, DO3 ordered Fe3Al, space group Fm3m . The crystal structure may be described in terms of four fcc sublattices located at (0, 0, 0) for MnI, (1/4, 1/4, 1/4) and (3/4, 3/4, 3/4) for the MnII and (1/2, 1/2, 1/2) for Si. The MnI sites are hence surrounded by 8 MnII nearest neighbours (nn) and have an $`O_h`$ point symmetry. The MnII are on the other hand surrounded by 4 MnI nn and four Si nn, respectively. The structural symmetries encountered in Mn3Si are extremely simple, so that studies of polycrystalline samples already supply key information.

Mn3Si is metallic and develops incommensurate antiferromagnetic order below $`T_N25`$ K along $`𝐐`$ = 0.425 $`𝐚_{}^{}{}_{111}{}^{}`$, where $`𝐚_{}^{}{}_{111}{}^{}`$ denotes the reciprocal lattice vector along $`(111)`$ . The magnetic order is best described as a sequence of ferromagnetic planes MnII \- MnI \- MnII, separated by a Si plane, all equidistant at $`d=3.304`$ Å. The ordered moments $`\mu _I=1.7\mu _B`$ and $`\mu _{II}=0.19\mu _B`$ are oriented in-plane, so that the sequence of planes form a short wavelength double helix. The ordering wavevector $`𝐐`$ is weakly $`T`$ dependent without hint for a further change of magnetic structure . The $`T`$ dependence of the MnI moment follows a Brillouin function ($`S=1/2`$) for $`T<T_N`$, i. e., the transition is second order, the magnetic state essentially isotropic and a sizeable ordered moment forms already closely below $`T_N`$ . The key features of the magnetic structure are that (i) the order is essentially antiferromagnetic, (ii) there is no magnetic site frustration, (iii) there is no appreciable magnetic anisotropy, and (iv) the amplitude of the moments varies strongly by nearly an order of magnitude along $`𝐐`$.

Inelastic neutron scattering in Mn3Si shows excitation spectra that are unusual in a number of ways. For $`T>T_N`$ large amplitude, large coherence-length antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are observed . These fluctuations exhibit a $`𝐪`$-dependence that is nearly three orders of magnitude stronger between $`𝐪=0`$ and $`𝐐`$ than the conventional Lorentzian dependence expected of an isotropic Fermi liquid. For $`T<T_N`$ very slow antiferromagnetic spin waves with velocity $`c_l37`$ meVÅ $`85`$ km/s around $`𝐐`$ below 6 meV contrast fast antiferromagnetic spin waves near the zone boundary above 6 meV, where $`c_hc_l`$ . We note, however, that neither of these excitations qualify properly as propagating spin waves, due to their extreme broadening $`\delta \omega /\omega 1`$ which contrasts the spin wave broadening conventionally observed in itinerant magnets $`\delta \omega /\omega 0.10.001`$ .

For our studies polycrystalline samples were synthesised from stoichiometric amounts of high-purity starting materials (5N Mn; 6N Si) by Ar arc-melting. Samples were melted several times to promote homogeneity and subsequently annealed at 700 C for 7 days. No measurable weight loss was observed. $`\mathrm{\Theta }2\mathrm{\Theta }`$ powder diffraction suggested that the samples were single phase where the lattice constant $`a=5.722`$Å agreed with the published value. Careful scans across polished faces of the polycrystals using microprobe analysis eventually revealed $`<1\%`$ of a second phase of Mn5Si3. This Si-rich phase may be related to a peritectic decomposition of Mn3Si above 850  C. Neither the polycrystalline nature of the samples nor tiny contributions from the second phase of Mn5Si3, for which antiferromagnetic order is very sensitive to magnetic field , alter the key observations and conclusions reported here.

Shown in Fig. 1 is the magnetization $`M`$ as function of magnetic field $`B`$ as measured in a conventional vibrating sample magnetometer. Up to 12 T, the highest field studied, only a tiny portion of the ordered moment of less than $`3\%`$ is recovered. The magnetic response is linear in $`B`$ and characteristic of a simple Pauli paramagnetic state over the entire $`B`$ and $`T`$ range investigated. The associated susceptibility as measured by a low frequency technique is low even in the immediate vicinity of $`T_N`$ (inset of Fig.1). This contrasts the $`T`$ dependence of the ordered MnI moment for $`T<T_N`$ which reaches $``$ 70 $`\%`$ already a few K below $`T_N`$, i. e., a large increase of $`M`$ is anticipated for a field induced change of moment orientation just below $`T_N`$ where the ordering energy is low versus the field energy.

The specific heat $`C(T)`$ is dominated by a pronounced anomaly just below $`T_N`$ (Fig. 2). For $`T0`$ we observe $`C(T)\gamma T+\beta T^3`$, where $`\gamma `$ 69 mJ/mol K2 and $`\beta 1.510^3`$ J/molK4 is consistent with the zero-field behaviour reported before . The rounding of the anomaly in $`C(T)`$ may be due to the polycrystalline nature of the samples studied here. Up to a field of 14 T we do not observe any variation of $`C(T)`$ within the resolution of the experiment, apart from a slight increase above $`T_N`$. Any anisotropy would broaden the $`C(T)`$ considerably since $`T_N`$ would change much less for the hard direction compared with the easy direction. Moreover, neither the specific heat nor the neutron scattering spectra  show evidence of an antiferromagnetic gap over the experimental range, i. e., if there is a gap it is well below 1 K and much smaller than our field range, thus underscoring the isotropic nature of the magnetic state.

The $`T^3`$ dependence of $`C(T)`$ may not be accounted for by lattice contributions, which are negligibly small up to 30 K as estimated from the Debye temperature $`\mathrm{\Theta }_D=454`$ K, where $`\beta _D2.110^5`$ J/molK4 . More surprisingly, an estimated contribution of local-moment antiferromagnetic spin waves to $`C(T)`$ given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }C_{sw}(T)=\beta _{sw}T^3`$ ($`\beta _{sw}1.6510^5`$ J/mol K4) is two orders of magnitude smaller than experiment, where a conservative estimate of an average $`J1.9`$ meV, derived from the experimentally measured low-$`T`$ spin-wave velocity $`c_l`$ , corresponds to a mean field ordering temperature $`T_N30`$ K, in broad quantitative agreement with experiment. This highlights the presence of strong dynamics in the metallic state challenging conventional models.

The total entropy $`S(T)`$ (inset of Fig. 2) of the normal metallic state above $`T_N`$ and the magnetic order are computed from the experimental data of $`C(T)`$. Near $`T_N`$ it reaches $`R`$ ln 2 per Mn3Si formula unit, i e., $`S`$ is at most one third of the entropy expected of three localised spin 1/2, where the lattice contribution is less than 5 $`\%`$. On the other hand, $`S(T)`$ exceeds that of typical weakly ferromagnetic transition metal compounds by at least an order of magnitude . This property fundamentally questions the consistency of the metallic state with the standard spin fluctuation theory in which only paramagnons essentially account for the entropy .

We finally turn to the resistivity $`\rho (T)`$ (Fig. 3), which displays a broad shoulder near 50 K . The maximum in $`d\rho /dT`$ near $`T_N`$ (inset of Fig. 3) corresponding to the shoulder in $`\rho (T)`$ shows that it is of electronic origin and closely related to the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations seen in neutron-scattering well above $`T_N`$. For $`T<10`$ K, $`\rho (T)=\rho _0+AT^2`$ ($`\rho _011\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm, $`A0.115\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm/K2) enters a quadratic dependence, where the residual resistivity $`\rho _0`$ is low, corresponding to a low level of defects. The Kadowaki-Woods ratio $`A/\gamma ^2`$ is empirically consistent with other materials . As for $`C(T)`$ and $`\chi (T)`$, the features of $`\rho (T)`$ are not sensitive to magnetic field up to 12 T, even in the immediate vicinity of $`T_N`$ where the magnetic field energy is very large versus the energy gain of the magnetic order.

Although numerous itinerant electron magnets display large ordered moments, e. g. SrRuO3 , one needs to consider the possibility that Mn3Si has in fact localized moments for the MnI sublattice. However, our estimate of $`J1.9`$ meV predicts a large response of the MnI moments in a magnetic field, contrary to what is observed. These considerations and the specific heat clearly rule out a Heisenberg model as being even remotely suitable to explain the properties observed here.

The strong interplay of the resistivity and the magnetism and the small change of entropy at $`T_N`$ as well as the inelastic neutron scattering spectra  unambiguously show that the magnetic order in Mn3Si is indeed intimately connected with the metallic state. Moreover, electronic structure calculations indicate that the d-electrons form the conduction electron bands . However, the magnetisation of Mn3Si is exceptional because it is linear over the entire field and temperature range studied. This shows that there is no mode-mode coupling between $`𝐪=0`$ and $`𝐐`$ despite the low ordering temperature . The invariance of $`C(T)`$ and $`\rho (T)`$ with $`B`$ supports the latter point. Yet, the absence of mode-mode coupling in an itinerant antiferromagnet drastically contrasts the basic assumptions of a spin polarized Fermi liquid, namely, that the mode-mode coupling is $`𝐪`$-independent .

Measurements of $`\rho (T)`$ as function of pressure show that $`T_N`$ increases as $`dT_N/dp0.4`$ K/kbar, in agreement with the Ehrenfest relation  and many other Heusler compounds . This contrasts the majority of weakly magnetic transition metal, actinide and lanthanide compounds . The $`p`$-dependence suggests a possible link with two further unsettled condensed matter problems: (i) the magnetic and metallic state related to the quantum phase transition on the ”left-hand-side” of the Doniach phase diagram, i.e. for low exchange coupling $`J`$ and nearly localised moments , and (ii) the metallic state on the underdoped side of the superconductivity dome of the cuprates . Our study suggests that these regimes are not compatible with Fermi liquid theory.

For the remainder we consider the possible origin of deviations from Fermi liquid behaviour in Mn3Si. To date special features of the Fermi surface topology have not been considered in a phenomenological, quantitative evaluation of this model . But electronic structure calculations show that the Fermi surface of Mn3Si is exceptional in two ways: (i) it is strongly nested so that the magnetic order may be understood as highly anharmonic spin density wave (SDW) , and (ii) in the spin polarized state the minority density of states of the MnI and the MnII are strongly gapped and nearly gapped, respectively, as for half-metallic magnetism . Consideration of these features suggest fundamental differences of metallic magnetism in Mn3Si with conventional theory.

For a SDW state with a nested, multisheeted Fermi surface an abundance of interband excitations is expected. This would be consistent with many features of the unusual inelastic neutron scattering spectra of Mn3Si as noted before , including a damping mechanism other than the particle-hole continuum and spin wave interactions, e.g. a $`𝐪`$-dependent mechanism in the vicinity of $`𝐐`$ . First principles calculations of excitation spectra in metals support this point in general, as they are extremely sensitive to details of the band structure giving way to interband transitions . Further, it is possible to show that the imaginary part of the experimentally measured dynamical susceptibility of the low energy modes corresponds to an equation of motion that describes retarded, nonlocal diffusion . This behavior is far removed from a propagating spin wave and classical spin wave models are clearly not applicable.

It has long been pointed out, that the antiferromagnetic order and the excitation spectra of Mn3Si share many features with Cr , where a SDW competes with a charge-density wave and lattice instability . The amplitude variation of the ordered moment in Mn3Si by one order of magnitude may be a strong hint at the vicintiy to a charge density wave instability. We therefore speculate if an abundance of charge density fluctuations suppresses $`T_N`$. The metallic state may then be ultimately better described from the point of view of incipient spin-charge separation common to low-dimensional systems , which however in opur case would occur in a 3-dimensional state. In this respect our experiments may also provide an important clue to the long-standing issue of magnetic ordering in Cr, where $`T_N`$ is so large that the complete lack of field dependence does not seem a surprise for the highest field strengths of order 20 T studied to date .

The second important topological feature of the electronic structure of Mn3Si is, that the minority bands in the spin polarized state are gapped at the Fermi level . Thus low energy particle-hole excitations do not involve a spin flip and are hence insensitive to magnetic field. Quasiparticle excitations here carry charge but no spin alongside non-QP excitations . This state is referred to as half-metallic magnetism, for which the absence of a magnetic field dependence, as observed here, is key evidence. Besides the electronic structure calculations for Mn3Si the class of Heusler and semi-Heusler systems such as Fe2MnSi  have long been suspected to supply prime candidates for half-metallic magnetism . However, Mn3Si represents the first experimental candidate of an antiferromagnetic half-metal .

The highly unusual combination of magnetic, structural and metallic properties of Mn3Si allow to conclude, that the microscopic underpinning of the overall spectrum of low lying excitations is radically different from that conventionally assumed in Fermi liquid theory or the Heisenberg model. This calls for alternative theoretical input possibly related to incipient spin-charge separation or half metallic magnetism.

We would like to thank G. G. Lonzarich, M. B. Maple, A. Rosch, A. Schröder, O. Stockert, M. Uhlarz, P. Wölfle and V. Ziebat. J. B. would like to acknowledge financial support by the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst. Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is also achnowledged.


text:
# Some arguments in support of the association of PSR B 1706-44 with the supernova remnant G 343.1-2.3

## 1. Introduction

PSR B 1706$``$44 (Johnston et al. 1992) is superposed on the outer edge of an incomplete arc of radio emission discovered by McAdam, Osborne, & Parkinson (1993). McAdam et al. interpreted the arc as a shell-type supernova remnant (SNR), named G 343.1$``$2.3, and suggested that it is physically associated with PSR B 1706$``$44. This suggestion was questioned by Frail, Goss, & Whiteoak (1994) and Nicastro, Johnston, & Koribalski (1996) on three bases: Gaensler & Johnston’s (1995) statistical study, which suggests that young ($`<\mathrm{25\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ yr) pulsars cannot overrun their parent SNR shells (the spin-down age of PSR B 1706$``$44 is $`\mathrm{17\hspace{0.17em}500}`$ yr); an inconsistency between the implied and measured (scintillation) transverse velocities of the pulsar; and the absence of any apparent interaction between the pulsar and the SNR’s “shell”. In this paper we show how the existing observational data on PSR B 1706$``$44 and G 343.1$``$2.3 can be interpreted in favor of their physical association (cf. Dodson et al. 2001).

## 2. The supernova remnant G 343.1$``$2.3

### 2.1. Observational data

The 843 MHz image of G 343.1$``$2.3 by McAdam et al. (1993) shows a well-defined arc (a half-ellipse) of radio emission of maximum extent about $`40^{^{}}`$. A VLA image of the SNR obtained by Frail et al. (1994) shows the existence of weak, diffuse emission both inside and outside the bright arc. This emission fills a region similar to and about two times more extended than the bright arc (Dodson et al. 2001; see also Duncan et al. 1995 and Fig. 2).

### 2.2. The origin of the pulsar/SNR system

We suggest that the SNR G 343.1$``$2.3 is the result of an off-centered cavity supernova (SN) explosion. Fig. 1 schematically depicts a scenario for its origin. A massive star (the progenitor of the SN) ends its evolution within a mushroom-like cavity formed by the SN progenitor wind breaking out of the parent molecular cloud and expanding into an intercloud medium of much less density. The proper motion of the progenitor star results in a considerable offset of the SN explosion site from the geometrical center of the semi-spherical cavity created inside the cloud; we suggest that the SN exploded outside the cloud. The subsequent interaction of the SN blast wave with the reprocessed ambient medium determines the structure of the resulting SNR (e.g. Franco et al. 1991), which acquires a form reminiscent of the well-known SNR VRO 42.05.01. We speculate that the wind-blown cavity formed inside the cloud was surrounded by a shell of mass less than some critical value (for spherically-symmetric shells this value is about 50 times the mass of the SN ejecta; e.g. Franco et al. 1991), so that the SN blast wave was able to overrun the shell to propagate further into the unperturbed gas of the cloud, leaving behind the reaccelerated and gradually broadening turbulent shell. We suggest that the bright arc of G 343.1$``$2.3 corresponds to the shocked former wind-driven shell and that the diffuse radio emission comes from the “half” of the SN blast wave propagating into the molecular cloud (see Fig. 1). These two components of the SNR form the “stem” of the “mushroom”. We expect that a more extended component of the SNR (the “cap” of the “mushroom”) should exist to the southeast of the bright arc, which corresponds to the “half” of the SN blast wave expanding in the intercloud medium. It is curious that the 2.4 GHz Parkes Survey (Duncan et al. 1995) reveals such a structure (Fig. 2). Although this structure could be a foreground or background object, its location in the “proper” place and its symmetry with respect to the bright arc of G 343.1$``$2.3 suggests that it could be physically related to this SNR.

## 3. Reliability of the pulsar/SNR association

### 3.1. On the statistical argument against the association

Although it is now clear that PSR B 1706$``$44 is located (at least in projection) well within the SNR G 343.1$``$2.3 (Dodson et al. 2001), we note here that Gaensler & Johnston (1995) did not consider two very important effects: modification of the ambient medium by the ionizing emission and stellar wind of massive stars (the progenitors of most SNe), and the proper motion of SN progenitor stars (Gvaramadze 2000, 2002). Taking into account these two effects allows it to be shown that even a young pulsar moving with a moderate velocity ($`200\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) is able to escape the SNR’s shell, provided it was born not far from the edge of the wind-driven bubble. Alternatively, the apparent location of a pulsar on the edge of SNR’s shell could be due simply to the effect of projection in non-spherically-symmetric SNRs (see Fig. 1).

### 3.2. On the pulsar velocity

The implied pulsar transverse velocity, i.e. the velocity inferred from the angular displacement of PSR B 1706$``$44 from the geometrical center of the (bright) arc, is $`V_{\mathrm{imp}}700\theta _{20}D_{2.1}\tau _{17.5}^1\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1,`$ where $`\theta _{20}`$ is the angular displacement in units of $`20^{^{\prime \prime }}`$, $`D_{2.1}`$ is the distance to the pulsar in units of 2.1 kpc, and $`\tau _{17.5}`$ is the spin-down age of the pulsar in units of 17.5 kyr. Nicastro et al. (1996) compared this estimate to one derived from scintillation measurements, finding the latter anomalously low ($`0.05V_{\mathrm{imp}}`$). The inconsistency was used by Nicastro et al. to suggest that the pulsar did not originate from the apparent center of SNR, and that the pulsar and SNR are not associated. We agree with their first suggestion (see §2.2) and therefore believe that the implied velocity can be reduced. On the other hand we have found (Bock & Gvaramadze, in preparation) that if the turbulent material of the reaccelerated former wind-driven shell (the bright arc of SNR) is responsible for nearly all the scattering of PSR B 1706$``$44, then the pulsar moves in the same direction and with nearly the same (transverse) velocity as does the part of the bright arc projected on the pulsar (cf. Gvaramadze 2001). If so, one can use the non-detection of soft X-ray emission from the SNR (Becker, Brazier, & Trümper 1995) to show that the pulsar transverse velocity should indeed be less than $`V_{\mathrm{imp}}`$, though it can be much larger than that calculated by Nicastro et al. (1996). We also expect that the pulsar proper motion is from the northeast to the southwest; this should be tested observationally.

### 3.3. On the absence of interaction between the pulsar and the SNR

The absence of any morphological signature of an interaction between PSR B 1706$``$44 and G 343.1$``$2.3, despite the apparent proximity of the pulsar to the bright arc of the SNR, can easily be explained if the SN indeed exploded within a mushroom-like wind-driven cavity, as discussed above.

#### Acknowledgments.

We are grateful to R. Dodson for providing his manuscript in advance of publication. VVG is grateful to the LOC for financial support.

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text:
# The complementary roles of the LHC and the LC in discovering supersymmetry

## .0.1 Mass measurements at the LHC

The main results for the reconstruction of sparticle decay chains, and the extraction of certain mass differences, were summarized in Ref. frank . We rely on these results when estimating the precision of the determination of mass differences at the LHC.

We envision a scenario in which initially certain mass differences and later the lightest Higgs mass will be measurable at the LHC, providing partial information on the SUSY mass spectrum. In particular, based on the $`SO(10)`$ model, we assume that three mass differences are in the reach of the LHC: $`\delta _1=m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_2^0}m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}`$, $`\delta _2=m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}`$, and $`\delta _3=m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}`$. In the following we assess the potential precision of these measurements.

An inspection of the SUSY production cross sections, plotted in Fig. 1a, shows that at the LHC the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1`$ pair production rate is the highest, with $`\sigma (\stackrel{~}{b}_1\stackrel{~}{b}_1)1.9\times 10^4`$ fb, followed by gluino pair production, with $`\sigma (\stackrel{~}{g}\stackrel{~}{g})3.4\times 10^3`$ fb. In our case study, gluinos decay at $`100\%`$ to $`b\stackrel{~}{b}_1`$. Furthermore, since $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1`$ decays only to $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0b,i=1,2,3`$, and in a proportion 1:1:2 roughly, and $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{2,3}^0\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}`$ branching ratio is a few percent, the opposite sign same flavor $`\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}`$ invariant mass distribution will have two sharp upper edges. Indeed in Fig. 1b (although with a rather poor statistics), one can see two distinct end-points: the first (second) indicates $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{2(3)}^0}m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{}^{0}{}_{1}{}^{}}=`$ 46.1 (71.5) GeV. The solid (dashed) histogram contains 1049 (961) all SUSY (gluino) pair production events with the final state $`n`$ jets $`+\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}+\overline{)}E_T`$, with $`n4`$, $`E_T^{jet}>`$ 30 GeV and $`\overline{)}E_T>`$ 100 GeV.

Although our case study is somehow different from the five points studied in Ref. frank , we assume here that based on the dilepton mass distribution in Fig. 1b similar analysis can be performed and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{}^{0}{}_{2}{}^{}}m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{}^{0}{}_{1}{}^{}}`$ can be expected to be measured with a precision of about 500 MeV. Moreover, we estimate the precision of the measurements $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\delta _2)=\pm 10`$ GeV, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\delta _3)=\pm 20`$ GeV. We also assume that after these mass differences are extracted, the mass of the lightest Higgs boson will also be determined with a precision of 3 GeV.

## .0.2 Global fit of mSUGRA parameters

If the LHC determined the above masses to the outlined precision, then it is possible to perform a global fit to a model to determine the basic parameters of the underlying theory. Since the signatures are mSUGRA-like, it is natural to first fit to that particular model. Using ISAJET 7.58, we begin by generating $`1.6\times 10^5`$ mSUGRA models, uniformly distributed in the parameter space:

$`0<m_0<2000\mathrm{GeV},0<m_{1/2}<1000\mathrm{GeV},2m_0<A_0<2m_0,3<\mathrm{tan}\beta <50,`$ (1)
for both signs of $`\mu `$. Then, for each of the above models we form

$`\chi ^2={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{4}{}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{|\delta _i^{ex}||\delta _i^{th}|}{\mathrm{\Delta }(\delta _i)}}\right)^2,`$ (2)
with $`\delta _i`$, for $`i=1,2,3`$ being the three measured mass differences and $`\delta _4=m_h`$. The superscript “ex” (“th”) stands for the quantities within $`SO(10)`$ case study (fitted mSUGRA models). Finally, we select the mSUGRA model with the lowest $`\chi ^2`$. To simulate a situation in which only partial information is available from the LHC experiments, we perform four different fits (Fit 1, …, Fit 4). It is probable that initially only two of the mass differences will be available, so Fit 1 and 2 are only two parameter fits to $`\{\delta _1,\delta _3\}`$ and $`\{\delta _1,\delta _2\}`$ respectively. Fit 3 fits all three mass differences simultaneously, and Fit 4 fits the mass differences and the lightest Higgs mass.

The results of the four fits are displayed in TABLE 1. We can see that even with only two mass differences measured, the $`\chi ^2`$ is low only in Fit 1, which does not depend on the scalar masses. This is somehow expected since the $`D`$-term present in the $`SO(10)`$ case is responsible for the difference in the scalar sector between this model and mSUGRA. With more information accumulating, it will become obvious that the model is not mSUGRA, but the vital point is that it would be difficult for the LHC to narrow the masses such that the $`SO(10)`$ model can be singled out.

## .0.3 The role of the LC

In our scenario the LHC discovers SUSY, and moreover after years of running can give information on mass differences of supersymmetric particles. Although LHC cannot uniquely determine the nature of supersymmetry breaking, the combinations of some mass differences measured can distinguish our case study $`SO(10)`$ model from an mSUGRA model.

In order to obtain more information on supersymmetric particle masses, a precision machine such as a high energy linear collider (LC) will be required. In Fig. 1c we show the dominant cross sections within our case study at a 500 GeV LC. In particular, the process $`e^+e^{}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^\pm \stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^\pm `$ leading to 2–jet + $`\mathrm{}+\overline{)}E_T`$ can give a very accurate estimates of $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}`$ and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^\pm }`$ through the 2-jet energy distribution jlc , as shown in Fig. 1d. With the use of $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0`$ mass information the LHC data can be re-analyzed and the correct mass values of the second and third lightest neutralinos, gluino and lightest squarks can be obtained. In principle all the neutralino and chargino masses can be measured at a LC, however to measure the complete SUSY mass spectra the complementary role of the two colliders is necessary.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank X. Tata for useful discussions.


text:
# Dipole-proton 𝑆-matrix derived from diffractive meson electroproduction

## 1 A brief introduction to saturation

The HERA physics in the kinematical range considered here is the physics of photon-proton interactions. We will denote $`W`$ the $`\gamma ^{}p`$ center-of-mass energy, $`Q^2`$ the virtuality of the photon and $`xQ^2/W^2`$ the Bjorken variable. In a Bjorken frame in which the proton has a large light-cone momentum $`(p^+,0,\mathrm{𝟎})`$ and the photon the momentum $`(0,q^{},𝐪^{})`$, the photon-proton interaction can be interpreted as the photon probing the partonic content of the proton. This probe is sensitive to collinear fluctuations down to transverse distances of order $`1/q^{}1/Q`$, and resolves fluctuations occuring over times as short as $`1/q^{}p^+/W^2`$. Thus by increasing $`Q^2`$, one reveals more collinear partons. By raising the center of mass energy $`W`$, one becomes sensitive to softer fluctuations.

If one keeps increasing $`W`$ at fixed $`Q`$, the density of partons of size $`1/Q`$ will eventually be so large that their wave functions will overlap, and recombination effects will become sizable. The borderline between these two regimes is usually parametrized by the function $`Q^2=Q_s^2(W^2)`$. $`Q_s`$ is called the “saturation scale”. The question is whether we have already crossed this line at HERA.

Generally speaking, wave diffraction allows to obtain a picture of a microscopic object. A mere Fourier transform then relates the diffractive pattern to the density profile of the object. This can be done at HERA using diffractive processes, as will be discussed in the following.

## 2 Transparency of the proton to dipoles from diffraction

At high energy, one can relate diffractive vector meson electroproduction to dipole-proton elastic scattering. This is the celebrated dipole model, that we briefly recall here.

In the proton rest frame, the scattering proceeds in three steps. The virtual photon first breaks up into a $`q\overline{q}`$ pair of size $`𝐫`$, which then scatters off the proton, before being recombined into a meson. High $`W`$ guarantees that these processes are well separated in time. At HERA, the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair travels over distances of a few $`10^2`$ fermis before entering the interaction region, of size 1 fm. The recombination takes a comparable “time”. This remark leads to the following factorization formula for the amplitude $`𝒜`$ of this process:

$$𝒜(Q^2,W^2,\mathrm{\Delta })=d^2𝐫A(W^2,𝐫,\mathrm{\Delta })𝑑z\psi _Q(z,𝐫)\psi _V^{}(z,𝐫),$$
(1)
where $`A`$ is the dipole-proton elastic amplitude, $`\psi _Q`$ and $`\psi _V`$ are the photon and vector meson wave functions respectively. The latter has to be modelled: we considered several models available in the litterature. $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the 2-momentum transfer: it is conjugated to the impact parameter, and this will be the variable with respect to which we will take the Fourier transform. We define $`t|\mathrm{\Delta }|^2`$.

Thus the proton sees a beem of asymptotic $`q\overline{q}`$ dipoles, distributed according to the overlap of the photon and meson wave functions (second integral in formula (1)). On very general grounds, one can argue that this function is sharply peaked around a value $`r_Q`$ of the dipole size scaling like $`1/\sqrt{Q^2+M_V^2}`$ ($`M_V`$ is the mass of the meson, see ). Hence the amplitude can be approximated by $`𝒜(Q^2,W^2,\mathrm{\Delta })A(W^2,r_Q,\mathrm{\Delta })\times N(Q)`$ where $`N(Q)`$ is the normalization of the dipole distribution. Note that $`N(Q)`$ is a priori model-dependent, but in practice this dependence is very weak.

Once we have extracted the dipole-proton amplitude from the HERA data in this way, we perform a Fourier analysis, by defining the function

$$S(W^2,r_Q,b)=1\frac{1}{2}\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Delta }}{(2\pi )^2}e^{i𝐛\mathrm{\Delta }}A(W^2,r_Q,\mathrm{\Delta }).$$
(2)
One easily checks that $`S(W^2,r,b)`$ is the $`S`$-matrix element for the scattering of a localized dipole of given size $`r`$ at given impact parameter $`b`$. This holds in particular because at high energy such a dipole state can only be absorbed: the $`S`$-matrix is diagonal and its eigenvalues are real between $`0`$ and $`1`$. They can be interpreted as kind of “transparency coefficients”. Furthermore, note that $`1S^2(W^2,r,b)`$ is the probability for such a dipole state to undergo inelastic scattering.

## 3 A picture of the proton at HERA and its interpretation

We have applied the procedure described above to the HERA data. We took the available data for diffractive production of longitudinal $`\rho `$ mesons from the H1 collaboration. $`x`$ was taken small, around $`510^4`$. Three different values of $`Q^2`$ were considered, $`Q^2=7,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3.5}`$, and $`0.45\text{GeV}^2`$, corresponding to dipole sizes of about $`0.16,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.21}`$ and $`0.35\text{fm}`$ respectively. The data was available only for $`t<0.6\text{GeV}^2`$, so we had to extrapolate them to larger values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ before performing the Fourier transform. We made three such assumptions. The results are represented on fig. 1. We get a reliable extraction of $`S(b)`$ down to $`b=0.3\text{fm}`$.

We see that for say $`Q^2<2\text{GeV}^2`$ and $`b<0.4\text{fm}`$, the probability of inelastic interaction is more than 50%. Hence the proton looks already quite black in its central region at present HERA energies. To see whether this “blackening” occurs in the perturbative regime, we estimate the saturation scale. For this purpose, it is necessary to choose a parametrisation for $`S`$. Let us consider the following Glauber-like form:

$$S(W^2,r,b)=e^{Q_s^2(W^2,b)r^2/4},$$
(3)
where the fact that $`Q_s`$ controls the onset of the saturation regime is quite explicit. From this formula we now extract the saturation scale and obtain $`Q_s^211.5\text{GeV}^2`$ for $`b=0.3\text{fm}`$ and $`Q_s^20.2\text{GeV}^2`$ for $`b=1.0\text{fm}`$.

We refer the reader to the paper  for all the details of this analysis and for more results.

## Acknowledgments

The results presented here were obtained in collaboration with Dr A.M. Staśto and Pr A.H. Mueller. I thank Dr J.-Y. Ollitrault for a critical reading of the manuscript. I also wish to acknowledge support from the EU Framework TMR program, contract FMRX-CT98-0194.


text:
# A strange example concerning Property 𝑁_𝑝

## Abstract

We exhibit an example of a line bundle $`M`$ on a smooth complex projective variety $`Y`$ s.t. $`M`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ for some $`p`$, the $`p`$-module of a minimal resolution of the ideal of the embedding of $`Y`$ by $`M`$ is nonzero and $`M^2`$ does not satisfy Property $`N_p`$.

footnotetext:  Address: Elena Rubei, Dipartimento di Matematica “U. Dini”, via Morgagni 67/A 50134 Firenze, Italia E-mail address: rubei@math.unifi.it 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: 14C20, 13D02.

Let $`M`$ be a very ample line bundle on a smooth complex projective variety $`Y`$ and let $`\phi _M:Y𝐏(H^0(Y,M)^{})`$ be the map associated to $`M`$. We recall the definition of Property $`N_p`$ of Green-Lazarsfeld (see \[Gr1\], \[Gr2\] and also \[G-L\], \[Gr3\]):

let $`Y`$ be a smooth complex projective variety and let $`L`$ be a very ample line bundle on $`Y`$ defining an embedding $`\phi _L:Y𝐏=𝐏(H^0(Y,L)^{})`$; set $`S=S(L)=Sym^{}H^0(L)`$, the homogeneous coordinate ring of the projective space $`𝐏`$, and consider the graded $`S`$-module $`G=G(L)=_nH^0(Y,L^n)`$; let $`E_{}`$

$$0E_nE_{n1}\mathrm{}E_0G0$$

be a minimal graded free resolution of $`G`$; let $`E_p=_{q0}B_{p,q}S(q)`$; the line bundle $`L`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ ($`p𝐍`$) if and only if

$`B_{0,0}=𝐂`$

$`B_{0,q}=0`$ for $`q>0`$

$`B_{i,q}=0`$ for $`qi+1`$ and $`1ip`$.

(Thus $`L`$ satisfies Property $`N_0`$ if and only if $`Y𝐏(H^0(L)^{})`$ is projectively normal, i.e. $`L`$ is normally generated; $`L`$ satisfies Property $`N_1`$ if and only if $`L`$ satisfies Property $`N_0`$ and the homogeneous ideal $`I`$ of $`Y𝐏(H^0(L)^{})`$ is generated by quadrics; $`L`$ satisfies Property $`N_2`$ if and only if $`L`$ satisfies Property $`N_1`$ and the module of syzygies among quadratic generators $`Q_iI`$ is spanned by relations of the form $`L_iQ_i=0`$, where $`L_i`$ are linear polynomials; and so on.)

In \[Ru\] we considered the problem to see “how Property $`N_p`$ propagates through powers”: let $`M`$ be a line bundle on a smooth complex projective variety $`Y`$ and suppose $`M`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$; let $`s𝐍`$; we wondered for which $`k`$ the line bundle $`M^s`$ satisfies Property $`N_k`$. We proved: Let $`Y`$ be a smooth complex projective variety and $`M`$ a line bundle on $`Y`$; if $`M`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ then $`M^s`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ if $`sp`$.

Besides, despite there are several theorems suggesting that there is a “propagation property” for Property $`N_p`$, we observed that surprisingly it is not true that if $`M`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ then any power of $`M`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$; the counterexample we exhibited was the following: the line bundle $`M=𝒪_{𝐏^2}(2)`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ for every $`p`$ (see the paper \[O-P\] and the references given there), but, by Ottaviani-Paoletti’s Theorem in \[O-P\], for instance the bundle $`M^2=𝒪_{𝐏^2}(4)`$ doesn’t satisfy Property $`N_{10}`$.

The example can be considered not convincing by someone because the module $`E_{10}`$ of a minimal resolution of $`G(𝒪_{𝐏^2}(2))`$ on $`S(𝒪_{𝐏^2}(2))`$ is $`0`$.

The product of projective spaces furnishes the following more convincing example.

Example. Let $`r𝐍`$ and $`r1`$.

The line bundle $`𝒪_{P^r\times P^1}(1,2)`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ $`p`$ (see \[O-P\], Theorem 3.6).

On the contrary $`𝒪_{P^r\times P^1}(2,4)`$ does not satisfy Property $`N_{10}`$, in fact:

$`𝒪_{P^1\times P^1}(2,4)`$ does not satisfy Property $`N_{10}`$ by the following Gallego-Purnapranja’s Theorem

Theorem (Gallego-Purnapranja \[G-P\]). Let $`a,b2`$. The line bundle $`𝒪_{𝐏^1\times 𝐏^1}(a,b)`$ satisfies Property $`N_p`$ if and only if $`p2a+2b3`$.

and the fact that $`𝒪_{P^1\times P^1}(2,4)`$ does not satisfy Property $`N_{10}`$ implies $`𝒪_{P^r\times P^1}(2,4)`$ does not satisfy Property $`N_{10}`$, by Remark in Section 2 of \[Gr2\] (precisely: write $`𝐏^r=𝐏(V^{})`$ and write the module $`E_p`$ of a minimal resolution of $`G(𝒪_{P^r\times P^1}(2,4))`$ as $`E_p=_{q0}B_{p,q}S(q)`$, as in the definition of Property $`N_p`$; we have that $`B_{p,q}`$ are representations of $`GL(V)`$; thus, if they are nonzero for $`r=n`$ then they are nozero also for $`r>n`$) (analogously to the proof of Prop. 1.8 in \[O-P\]).

If $`r`$ is sufficiently great, we have that the $`10`$-th module of a minimal resolution of $`G(𝒪_{P^r\times P^1}(1,2))`$ is nonzero (in fact, if $`X`$ is a projective variety in $`𝐏^n`$ and $`dimX=m`$ with $`m<n1`$, then the lenght $`l`$ of a minimal resolution of the ideal $`_X`$ of $`X`$ is $`nm`$: let $`t`$ be s.t. $`H^m(𝒪_X(t))0`$; thus $`H^{m+1}(_X(t))0`$; then by breaking the twist by $`t`$ of a minimal resolution of $`_X`$ into short exact sequences, we get $`lmn`$).

Acknowledgements. I thank G. Ottaviani for a helpful discussion.


text:
# I Introduction

## I Introduction

Inflationary potentials in supergravity models typically involve the radial direction of the scalar component of chiral superfields. Here we would like to explore the possibility of having inflation along the angular direction. We show for superpotentials and Kähler potentials of the polynomial type the supergravity potential can be written in a form containing a $`\mathrm{cos}[\varphi ]`$-term where the field $`\varphi `$ defines the angular part of the scalar component of the chiral superfield of the theory. In particular we study a potential of the form $`V=\mathrm{\Delta }^4(1\mathrm{cos}[\varphi ])`$. This expression is reminiscent to pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson (PNGB) models of inflation dubbed as “natural” inflation . These models have also been used to produce curvature perturbations  by a field other than inflaton, thus reviving some of the interesting models of inflation stemming from particle physics which are overrestricted by the number of constraints which may rule out the models from the present observations. One should also keep in mind that in supergravity the only physical scale is the Planck scale. Thus, the similarity to natural inflation is just a formal one.

In this paper we show that potentials of cosine type can be accounted for very naturally within supergravity theories, where the field $`\varphi `$ can play a role of inflaton in some models, or, it could work as a curvaton in others. This leaves the possibility of looking for supersymmetry breaking in the radial direction in the first case, or, constructing models of inflation in the radial direction while the curvature perturbations are generated by the angular part in the second case. In this paper we do not study all possibilities which can occur but simply show how supergravity allows one of the scenarios. We work out a very simple case which could be described as a Polonyi potential  with an angular component. We discuss a very nice feature of the model which containing only one complex scalar field providing, nevertheless, the possibility of supersymmetry breaking with a vanishing vacuum energy in the radial direction while inflating by the angular component. Finally, we provide analytical expressions for inflationary quantities such as the end of inflation, scale of inflation, reheat temperature, number of e-folds and spectral index.

## II The Polonyi Potential with an Angular Component

Let us consider the supergravity potential for one chiral superfield with scalar component $`z`$ and without D-terms

$$V=e^K\left[F^{}(K_{zz^{}})^1F3|W|^2\right],$$
(1)
where

$$F\frac{W}{z}+\left(\frac{K}{z}\right)W,K_{zz^{}}\frac{^2K}{zz^{}}.$$
(2)
The reduced Planck mass $`M2.4\times 10^{18}`$ GeV has been set equal to one. The superpotential and Kähler potential denoted $`W`$ and $`K`$ respectively. Here we are interested in models where $`W`$ and $`K`$ are given by polynomial expressions such as

$$W=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_nz^n,$$
(3)
and

$$K=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}b_n(zz^{})^n,$$
(4)
where $`a_n`$ and $`b_n`$ are real coefficients. In general, as we have shown in the Appendix this structure leads to expressions that contain $`\mathrm{cos}`$-form potentials for the angular field $`\varphi `$ which is a real field defined from $`z`$ in a following way

$$z=\chi e^{i\varphi }.$$
(5)
Here $`\chi `$ represents the radial field, and $`\varphi `$ is measured in units of reduced Planck scale. With the above definitions we claim that it is possible to obtain a bout of inflation. In order to illustrate this, let us consider the case where the superpotential is simply given by

$$W=a_0+a_1z,$$
(6)
with canonical kinetic energy term for which $`K=zz^{}=\chi ^2`$. It is then straightforward to see that the supergravity potential becomes

$$V=e^{\chi ^2}\left(a_0^2(\chi ^23)+a_1^2(1\chi ^2+\chi ^4)+2a_0a_1\chi (\chi ^22)\mathrm{cos}[\varphi ]\right).$$
(7)
Choosing $`a_0=m^2\beta `$ and $`a_1=m^2`$ this is none other than the Polonyi potential with an angular component . For $`\varphi =0`$ this reduces exactly to the Polonyi case where $`\beta =2\sqrt{3}`$ and at the minimum $`\chi `$ takes the value $`\chi _0=\sqrt{3}1`$. In this case setting $`\chi `$ to its minimum the supergravity potential reduces to

$$V=\mathrm{\Delta }^4(1\mathrm{cos}[\varphi ]),$$
(8)
where

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=(8(74\sqrt{3})e^{42\sqrt{3}})^{1/4}mm.$$
(9)
The Polonyi potential breaks supersymmetry with vanishing vacuum energy. It is then natural to ask whether it is possible to break supersymmetry in the $`\chi `$-direction while inflating at the supersymmetry breaking scale along the $`\varphi `$-direction. Note that inflation comes only from the angular component, as long as the radial direction remains fixed at its local minimum. On the contrary, no inflation occurs if the $`\chi `$ field rolls down towards any of the local minima while keeping the angular component fixed. The actual dynamics of the fields including whether inflation occurs or not clearly depends on the initial conditions. We will proceed with our study by analyzing the particular case where only the $`\varphi `$ field rolls down. Thus, hereon we will implicitly assume that for some reason the radial direction has been already fixed.

## III Angular Inflation

Here we obtain closed forms for all the relevant quantities involved in the inflationary era for a potential Eq. (8).

1) The end of inflation. In the model under consideration inflation is generated while $`\varphi `$ rolls down from close to $`\pi `$ towards the minimum at $`\varphi =0`$, see Fig.1, and $`\chi `$ is fixed to its minimum at $`\chi =\sqrt{3}1`$. The end of inflation occurs at $`\varphi =\varphi _e`$ when the slow roll conditions are violated. The slow-roll conditions are upper limits on the normalized slope and curvature of the potential, these are given by

$$ϵ\frac{1}{6}\left(\frac{V^{}}{V}\right)^21,|\eta |\frac{1}{3}\left|\frac{V^{\prime \prime }}{V}\right|1.$$
(10)
The potential determines the Hubble parameter during inflation as $`H_{inf}\dot{a}/a\sqrt{V/3}`$. Inflation ends when $`ϵ`$ and/or $`|\eta |`$ become of $`𝒪(1)`$. In the model under consideration the end of inflation is given by the saturation of the first condition in Eq. (10), we obtain

$$\varphi _e=2\mathrm{ArcTan}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{6}}\right).$$
(11)
2) Number of e-folds. The number of e-folds from $`\varphi _\mathrm{H}`$ to the end of inflation at $`\varphi _e`$ is

$$N_\mathrm{H}_{\varphi _H}^{\varphi _e}\frac{V(\varphi )}{V^{}(\varphi )}𝑑\varphi =2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{\mathrm{cos}[\frac{\varphi _\mathrm{H}}{2}]}{\mathrm{cos}[\frac{\varphi _e}{2}]}\right),$$
(12)
where the subscript $`\mathrm{H}`$ denotes the epoch at which a fluctuation of wavenumber $`k`$ crosses the Hubble radius $`H^1`$ during inflation, i.e. when $`aH=k`$. (We normalize $`a=1`$ at the present epoch, when the Hubble expansion rate is $`H_0100h`$ km s-1Mpc-1, with $`h0.50.8`$). From Eqs. (11) and (12) we get

$$\varphi _\mathrm{H}=2\mathrm{ArcCos}\left[\sqrt{\frac{6}{7}}e^{\frac{N_\mathrm{H}}{2}}\right].$$
(13)
3) Scalar density perturbations. The adiabatic scalar density perturbations are generated through quantum fluctuations of the inflaton field. The amplitude of the perturbations is measured by

$$\delta _\mathrm{H}(k)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{75}\pi }\frac{V_\mathrm{H}^{3/2}}{V_\mathrm{H}^{^{}}}.$$
(14)
Solving Eq. (14) together with Eq. (13) we find

$$A_\mathrm{H}=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{\Delta }^2\left[\sqrt{\frac{7}{6}}e^{\frac{N_\mathrm{H}}{2}}\sqrt{\frac{6}{7}}e^{\frac{N_\mathrm{H}}{2}}\right],$$
(15)
where $`A_\mathrm{H}\sqrt{75}\pi \delta _\mathrm{H}.`$ The COBE observations  of anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background on large angular-scales provide

$$\delta _{COBE}1.9\times 10^5,$$
(16)
on the scale of the observable universe ($`k_{COBE}^1H_0^13000h^1`$ Mpc). In addition the COBE data fixes the spectral index, $`n_\mathrm{H}(k)1+\mathrm{ln}\delta _\mathrm{H}^2(k)/\mathrm{ln}k`$, which is usually written as

$$n_\mathrm{H}(k)=16ϵ_\mathrm{H}+2\eta _\mathrm{H}=\frac{4}{3}\frac{\mathrm{cos}[\varphi _\mathrm{H}]}{1\mathrm{cos}[\varphi _\mathrm{H}]}\frac{2}{3}.$$
(17)
Notice that $`n_\mathrm{H}`$ is independent of the scale of inflation.

4) Reheat temperature. The reheat temperature at the beginning of the radiation-dominated era is given by

$$T_{rh}\left(\frac{90}{\pi ^2g_{}}\right)^{\frac{1}{4}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }},$$
(18)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the decay rate of the $`\varphi `$ field. When $`\varphi `$ decays with gravitational strength interactions only this is given by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\lambda ^2\mathrm{\Delta }^6`$, where $`\lambda `$ is the coupling constant. In the expression for the reheat temperature above $`g_{}`$ is the number of relativistic degrees of freedom which for the minimal supersymmetric standard model gives $`915/4`$.

5) Scale of inflation. We approximate Eq. (15) by throwing away the second term in the bracket which is exponentially suppressed for large values of $`N_H`$. Thus we have

$$A_\mathrm{H}=\sqrt{\frac{7}{3}}\mathrm{\Delta }^2e^{\frac{N_\mathrm{H}}{2}}.$$
(19)
This equation determines $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ once the number of e-folds is specified. The number of $`e`$-folds $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ is given by

$$N_\mathrm{H}67+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{ln}H+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{ln}T_{rh}.$$
(20)
Solving the above equation consistently with Eq. (19), we obtain

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\left(\sqrt{\frac{3}{7}}A_\mathrm{H}e^{\frac{N_\lambda }{2}}\right)^{\frac{6}{17}},$$
(21)
where

$$N_\lambda =67+\frac{1}{6}\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{ln}\left(\lambda \left(\frac{90}{\pi ^2g_{}}\right)^{\frac{1}{4}}\right).$$
(22)
We notice that the scale of inflation $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ only depends on the coupling constant $`\lambda `$. Once this is given, then all relevant inflationary parameters like the scale of inflation, reheat temperature, spectral index and the number of e-folds can be obtained from Eqs. (21), (18), (17), and (20), respectively. Also note that the end of inflation is already fixed by the numerical value determined by Eq. (11). The upper bounds to these parameters for $`\lambda =1`$, are given by $`T_{rh}0.1`$ GeV, $`\mathrm{\Delta }1.1\times 10^{12}`$ GeV, $`n_H0.67`$ and $`N_H42`$. As $`\lambda `$ gets smaller all these quantities decrease but the spectral index remains fixed. The possibility of having supersymmetry breaking at a scale $`10^{10}10^{11}GeV`$ induced by $`\chi `$ vacuum while the $`\varphi `$ field is inflating is not favoured by these values. It could be however that this interesting possibility may be realized in a more elaborated model of this type.

6) Quantum fluctuations. The value $`\varphi _\mathrm{H}`$ at the beginning of inflation should exceed the quantum fluctuations of the inflaton $`\delta \varphi \frac{H}{2\pi }\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^2}{2\pi \sqrt{3}}`$. For $`\varphi _\mathrm{H}\pi `$ we can impose an upper bound on

$$\frac{\delta \varphi }{\varphi _\mathrm{H}}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^2}{2\sqrt{3}\pi ^2}10^8.$$
(23)
Thus we see that $`\delta \varphi `$ is always much less than the value of the inflaton at the beginning of inflation which at most should start at $`\varphi =\pi `$.

## IV Conclusions

We have argued that a supergravity potential involving polynomial expressions for the superpotential and the Kähler potential depending on a single complex scalar field $`z`$ can in general contain $`\mathrm{cos}[\varphi ]`$-terms coming from the angular direction.

We work out in detail the simplest possible model which gives rise to this type of potential: a Polonyi potential with an angular component. This model is interesting because it raises the possibility of having supersymmetry breaking with vanishing vacuum energy in the radial direction while inflating in the angular one. The results obtained in this simple model, however, does not favour the model because the spectral index comes out to be particularly low. We study the angular direction of the potential and obtain closed expressions for all the quantities relevant during inflation such as the end of inflation, scale of inflation, reheat temperature, spectral index and number of e-folds. We also argue that the potential in the $`\varphi `$-direction could be used instead as a model for the curvaton leaving the radial part as an inflationary sector, though we do not discuss more on this here.

## Appendix

Here we obtain an expression for the supergravity potential particularly appropriated for calculations involving polynomial expressions for the superpotential and Kähler potential. Our main goal is to show the appearance of $`\mathrm{cos}`$-type terms on the angular field potential.

By using the superpotential and Kähler potential as given by Eqs. (3) and (4), it is straightforward to show that the supergravity potential can be written in the form

$$V=e^K\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\frac{(n+K_1)(m+K_1)}{K_2}3\right]a_na_mz^nz^m,$$
(24)
where $`K_i`$ denote the sums

$$K_1=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}nb_n(zz^{})^n,$$
(25)
$$K_2=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}n^2b_n(zz^{})^n.$$
(26)
Notice that for superpotentials and Kähler potentials of the form Eq. (3) and Eq. (4), respectively, Eq. (24) is entirely equivalent to the supergravity potential given by Eq. (1). Let us now insert the radial and angular fields by writing $`z`$ in the way expressed by Eq. (5), $`z=\chi e^{i\varphi }`$. The potential is then given by

$$V=e^K\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\frac{(n+K_1)(m+K_1)}{K_2}3\right]a_na_m\chi ^{n+m}\mathrm{cos}[(nm)\varphi ],$$
(27)
which can finally be rewritten as

$$V=e^KS\left[1+\frac{2}{S}\underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{n>m}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\frac{(n+K_1)(m+K_1)}{K_2}3\right]a_na_m\chi ^{n+m}\mathrm{cos}[(nm)\varphi ]\right],$$
(28)
where

$$S=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\frac{(n+K_1)^2}{K_2}3\right]a_n^2\chi ^{2n}.$$
(29)
Notice that indeed $`\mathrm{cos}[\varphi ]`$ pieces appear in this general potential as we have mentioned already before. However, we should mention that whether these terms would give rise to inflation or not is in fact a model dependent issue that has to be settled down case by case.

## Acknowledgements

G.G. was supported by the project PAPIIT IN110200, from the National University of Mexico (UNAM).