text:
# Current Statistics for Quantum Transport through Two-Dimensional Open Chaotic Billiards

## I Introduction

For quantum chaotic closed system it is well known that the statistical properties of the energy levels are described by random matrix theory (RMT). They follow the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) and the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE), depending on whether time-reversal symmetry (TRS) of a system is preserved or not. In the same way the wave function statistics obeys different laws in the two cases. Let the scaled local density be $`\rho (𝐫)=A|\psi (𝐫)|^2`$ where $`\psi (𝐫)`$ is the normalized wave function and $`A`$ is the area (volume) of the system. As prescribed by GOE the probability distribution is the well-known Porter-Thomas (P-T) distribution $`P(\rho )=\left(1/\sqrt{2\pi \rho }\right)\mathrm{exp}(\rho /2)`$ when TRS is present (the Hamiltonian $`H`$ is invariant under time reversal $`\widehat{T}(tt)`$ and $`\psi `$ may be chosen real). On the other hand, the distribution takes the exponential Rayleigh form $`P(\rho )=\mathrm{exp}(\rho )`$ as described by GUE when TRS is broken ($`H`$ is not invariant on $`\widehat{T}`$ and $`\psi `$ must be complex). It is easy to understand qualitatively why the statistics is so different in the two cases, for example, why small values of $`\rho `$ have a much larger weight in GOE than in GUE. In the first case the real wave function vanishes along nodal lines in two-dimensional (2D) systems (surfaces in 3D). On the other hand, $`\psi `$ is complex in the second case and vanishes only at nodal points (lines in 3D) resulting in less probability for small $`\rho `$. Depending on the relative weights of the orthogonal real and imaginary parts of $`\psi `$ one can also define intermediate statistics that applies to the entire crossover region from GOE to GUE.

We now consider what happens when the system is made open, for example by attaching electron leads to some exterior reservoirs and a stationary current through the system is induced by applying suitable voltages to the reservoirs. The additional flexibility gained in this way leads to a number of interesting cases for the wave function statistics. Let us first look at the case when there is no current flow. The statistics will then be the same as for the closed system above, i.e., the kind of statistics simply depends on whether the Hamiltonian is invariant under $`\widehat{T}`$ or not. On the other hand, if there is a stationary current via the leads we have to deal with a scattering wave function. This function, which must be complex, is written in 2D as

$$\psi (x,y)=u(x,y)+iv(x,y).$$
(1)
and satisfies $`(^2+k^2)\psi =0`$. Even if the Hamiltonian itself is invariant under $`\widehat{T}`$, the statistics will not follow GOE since the scattering wave function is complex. Because of the boundary conditions associated with the scattering wave function it is no longer an eigenstate of the usual time reversal operator $`\widehat{C}\widehat{T}`$ where $`\widehat{C}`$ is complex conjugation of $`\psi (𝐫)`$. We will show how the two Gaussian random fields $`u`$ and $`v`$ are identified to recover the intermediate statistics discussed above and how a universal distribution for the probability current density can be found. We will also compare theory with explicit numerical calculations for an open Bunimovich stadium.

## II Theory

In the following derivation of the wave function and probability current statistics we assume that the real and imaginary parts of $`\psi `$ can be viewed as two independent isotropic Gaussian fields. An explict example of such a state is given in ref.  in the form of a Berry-type wave-chaotic function. In general the assumption of independent fields can only make sense if we first extract a common phase factor. This feature will turn out to be most useful. Let us introduce the notations

$$u^2=\sigma _u^2,v^2=\sigma _v^2,uv=\gamma ,$$
(2)
$$\sigma ^2=\sigma _u^2+\sigma _v^2=|\psi |^2,u=0,v=0.$$
(3)
We define the averages as

$$\mathrm{}=\frac{1}{A}_Ad^2𝐫\mathrm{},$$
(4)
where $`A`$ is the area to be sampled. In our case it will be area of the cavity, but in principle it could be any area that one may wish to diagnose. In what follows we assume that wave function $`\psi (𝐫)`$ is normalized as

$$_Ad^2𝐫|\psi (𝐫)|^2=1,$$
(5)
and therefore $`\sigma ^2A=1`$. To bring $`\psi `$ to a ”diagonal” form in which the real and imaginary parts are independent Gaussian fields we introduce the new functions $`p(x,y)`$ and $`q(x,y)`$ by changing the phase as

$$\psi (x,y)e^{i\alpha }\psi (x,y)=p(x,y)+iq(x,y).$$
(6)
The condition $`pq=0`$ now allows us to determine $`\alpha `$. By this step we will also be able to find the analytic expressions for the wave function and probability current statistics. Straightforward algebra gives

$$\mathrm{tan}2\alpha =\frac{2\gamma }{\sigma _u^2\sigma _v^2},$$

$`p^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\sigma ^2+\sqrt{\sigma ^44(\sigma _u^2\sigma _v^2\gamma ^2)}\right],`$ (7)
$`q^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\sigma ^2\sqrt{\sigma ^44(\sigma _u^2\sigma _v^2\gamma ^2)}\right].`$ (8)
Next let us consider the cumulative distribution $`G(\rho )`$ for the scaled density $`\rho (𝐫)=A|\psi (𝐫)|^2`$:

$$G(\rho )=_{C(\rho )}f(p,q)𝑑p𝑑q.$$
(9)
The integration is defined by the circle $`C(\rho )`$ in the $`(p,q)`$-plane centered at the origin and with radius $`\sqrt{\rho (𝐫)}`$, i.e., $`(p^2+q^2)/\sigma ^2\rho (𝐫)`$ in the integral above. The function $`f(p,q)`$ is the joint distribution for the random Gaussian fields $`p`$ and $`q`$:

$$f(p,q)=\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{p^2q^2}}e^{(\frac{p^2}{p^2}+\frac{q^2}{q^2})/2}.$$
(10)
After integration of Eq. (9) we obtain

$$G(\rho )=\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{2\pi }\frac{1\mathrm{exp}[\rho \mu (\mu +\nu \mathrm{cos}\theta )]}{\mu +\nu \mathrm{cos}\theta }𝑑\theta ,$$
(11)
where we introduced the following notations

$$\mu =\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{ϵ}+ϵ\right),\nu =\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{ϵ}ϵ\right),ϵ=\sqrt{\frac{q^2}{p^2}}.$$
(12)
Differentiating (11) with respect to $`\rho `$ we find the final expression for the density distribution

$$P(\rho ,ϵ)=\mu \mathrm{exp}(\mu ^2\rho )I_0(\mu \nu \rho ),$$
(13)
where $`I_0(z)`$ is the modified Bessel function of zeroth order.

The distribution in Eq. (13) coincides with the results obtained from RMT for closed systems  and is therefore not new. For weakly open systems with point contacts Šeba et al.  have related the statistical properties of the scattering matrix elements with the distribution $`P(\rho )`$ and have obtained the expression above. Analogous derivation of ours is also found in Ref. . Our way of deriving Eq. (13), however, explicitly shows how to identify the two independent random fields in a given wave function. For the random wave function in Eq. (6) the limits $`q^20,ϵ0`$ correspond to a closed system and as a consequence one recovers the P-T distribution and GOE statistics. On the other hand, the case $`p^2q^2,ϵ1`$ corresponds in this context to an open system through which there is a current flow. Consequently one finds the exponential Rayleigh distribution that corresponds to the GUE statistics. In the crossover region, the value of $`ϵ`$ is obtained numerically using Eqs. (2), (3), (7), and (12), i.e., $`ϵ`$ is not merely a fitting parameter. We have recently verified this type of crossover in wave function statistics for a Bunimovich stadium using numerical scattering methods.

In view of all previous work on the generic form of wave function statistics in chaotic systems it is surprising that no attention has been paid to the corresponding current distributions except Ref.  where they only relate the average of squared current to $`\rho `$. Since currents may be measured  it is of interest to establish a form also for currents. Below we will show how to find a useful form that is both simple and universal. Let us limit ourselves to the case of a weak net current between narrow input and output leads. Inside the cavity, however, there will be a rich, whirling flow pattern, which is strongly influenced by the vortical motions around the nodal points associated with the complex form of the wave function. Hence the net current through the through the billiard turns out to be only a tiny fraction of the total internal flow, in particular for asymmetric arrangements of leads and wave lengths that are small compared to the dimensions of the cavity. As a result the corresponding distributions may to a good approximation be chosen to be isotropic. Hence the components of the current effectively average to zero. These assumptions are verified by the numerical calculations to be discussed in the next section.

Our complex wave function (1) carries the probability current density ($`\mathrm{}=m=1`$)

$$𝐣=\text{Im}(\psi ^{}\psi )=pqqp.$$
(14)
To find the corresponding distribution it is convenient to begin with a characteristic function for the components of the probability current density

$$\mathrm{\Theta }(𝐚)=e^{i𝐚𝐣}=\mathrm{exp}[i(p𝐚qq𝐚p)].$$
(15)
Since $`pq=qp=0`$ for isotropic fields $`p`$ and $`q`$ are statistically independent of $`p`$ and $`q`$. They have the same distribution as in Eq. (10) with dispersions $`(p)^2=k^2p^2`$ and $`(q)^2=k^2q^2`$ which follows from the Schrödinger equation. Using the relation $`(𝐚p)^2=a^2k^2p^2/2`$ and similarly for $`q`$ we obtain

$$\mathrm{\Theta }(a)=\frac{1}{1+\tau ^2a^2},$$
(16)
where $`a=|𝐚|`$ and

$$\tau ^2=k^2p^2q^2/2.$$
(17)
From Eq. (16) it is now easy to calculate the distribution functions. For the components we have

$$\begin{array}{c}P(j_x)=\delta (j_xp\frac{q}{x}+q\frac{p}{x})=\\ \frac{1}{2\pi }_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Theta }(|a_x|)e^{ia_xj_x}𝑑a_x=\frac{1}{2\tau }\mathrm{exp}(|j_x|/\tau )\end{array}$$
(18)
and the same for $`P(j_y)`$. In order to derive the distribution function for the absolute value of the probability current density let us consider the joint distribution function

$$P(j_x,j_y)=\frac{1}{2\pi }_0^{\mathrm{}}aJ_0(aj)\mathrm{\Theta }(a)𝑑a=\frac{1}{2\pi \tau ^2}K_0\left(\frac{j}{\tau }\right),$$
(19)
where $`j=|𝐣|`$ and $`K_0(z)`$ is the modified Bessel function of the second kind. Since this expression is radially symmetric one can find the probability density function $`P(j)`$ for $`j`$ by just multiplying Eq. (19) with a factor of $`2\pi j`$. This gives us the final expression

$$P(j)=\frac{j}{\tau ^2}K_0(j/\tau ).$$
(20)
## III Numerical results

As a numerical verification of the analytic expressions for the probability current distribution, we consider an open 2D Bunimovich hard-wall stadium (see inset in Fig.1). It is characterized by the radius of a semicircle $`a`$ and the half-length of a straight section $`l`$, and coupled to a pair of leads with a common width $`d`$. Here we choose ($`a=l`$) and ($`d/\sqrt{A}=0.0935`$) for which the billiard is maximally chaotic and weakly open, respectively. To find the scattering wave function for particles entering and leaving the cavity via the leads we solve the time-independent Schrödinger equation for $`\psi `$ under Dirichlet boundary conditions using a plane-wave-expansion method , which gives reflection and transmission amplitudes for a given energy. The wave functions are used to compute the different parameters entering the statistics using the explicit expressions stated above.

Figure 1 shows the transmission probability $`T`$ as a function of Fermi wave number $`k`$ for an incoming wave with transverse mode $`n`$ in the leads. There is a sequence of overlapping resonances which become broader in the high energy region shown in the lower section of Fig. 1.

For the statistical analysis of the scattering wave functions we select two typical cases: (A) A low energy with only one fully open channel ($`n=1`$) for which $`T`$ reaches unity; (B) A high energy with $`n=4`$ and an intermediate value for $`T`$. For the statistics the spatial average is taken over the billiard region corresponding to the closed stadium. For convenience this area is set equal to unity.

Figure 2 shows the numerical results for $`P(j)`$, $`P(j_x)`$ and $`P(j_y)`$ together with the analytical predictions in Eqs. (18) and (20). In the case A there is almost no reflection and hence the system is completely coupled to the open channel. The current statistics shows, however, that $`ϵ=0.32`$, i.e., intermediate between a closed and fully open cases. Nevertheless, the numerical results show good agreement with the theory.

Also in the high energy region B in Fig. 1 the probability current distributions are well described by the theory as shown in Fig. 3. Here $`ϵ=0.86`$ which is close to the exponential Rayleigh (GUE) case $`ϵ=1`$. The transmission is, however, lower than in the previous example. As it appears from these there is no simple relation between $`T`$ and $`ϵ`$.

## IV concluding remarks

We have derived the statistical distributions for wave functions, probability current densities and corresponding components for 2D open quantum systems with classically chaotic dynamics. The expressions for the probability currents are universal in the sense that the shape of the distributions is independent of the mixing parameter $`ϵ`$, i.e., only the width changes with $`ϵ`$. This is in contrast to the wave function statistics that transforms gradually from GOE to GUE type with increasing $`ϵ`$. Obviously these ideas carry over into 3D.

The statistics for mesoscopic transport through a chaotic open billiard was also studied numerically with enough statistical resolution to compare with the analytical predictions. The discussed results give a numerical proof of the predictions for the probability current density developed here. It also appears that experimental verifications are possible. For example, images of the coherent electron flow through a quantum point contact have been observed in recent experiments . There is also the case of thin microwave resonators  and applying the present theory to the Poynting vector.

We acknowledge support from the Swedish Institute, the Swedish Board for Industrial and Technological Development (NUTEK) and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. This work was also supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR Grant 01-02-16077). Helpful discussions with M. Berry, H.-J. Stöckmann, and M. Barth are gratefully acknowledged (K.-F. B.).


format: text

text:
# Strong Relativistic Collisionless Shock

## 1 Strong relativistic shocks

We will discuss strong relativistic shock waves. These shocks should generate magnetic fields and accelerate charged particles in radio supernovas (Chevalier 1982, Fransson & Bjornsson 1998) and gamma-ray bursts (Sari, Piran, Narayan 1997, Gruzinov & Waxman 1998, Gruzinov 2001).

The magnetic field of the unshocked plasma is probably insignificant in radio supernovas, and is certainly negligible in GRB afterglows. For GRB afterglows, for example, magnetic energy in the shocked plasma is of order GeV per particle. Magnetic energy must be less than $`T`$ per particle in the unshocked plasma, where $`T`$ is the temperature of the unshocked plasma. Therefore simple shock compression of the pre-existing field is irrelevant, the magnetic field should be generated by the shock (see Gruzinov 2001 for a detailed discussion). For all practical purposes, the unshocked plasma is cold and unmagnetized.

The shocks are collisionless (Sagdeev 1966 gives a good introduction), meaning that the shock transition is accomplished by electromagnetic fields, rather than particle collisions. These shocks are turbulent, involving fluctuating electromagnetic fields and particle distribution functions. There are only two reliable tools for studying such shocks: numerical simulations and common sense.

A direct numerical simulation in two spatial dimensions (Kazimura et al 1998) has apparently demonstrated: “generation of a small-scale quasi-static magnetic field”. And also that “particles can be accelerated “. We have repeated the simulation, and have reproduced the results. But our run has been longer, and our conclusions are different: (ii) no significant particle acceleration is seen, (iii) the shock does not generate “quasi-static” magnetic fields. Another important finding, which agrees with Kazimura et al (1998) simulation is that (i) collisionless shock exists 111This is not an empty statement. The very concept of self-excited electromagnetic field mediating a shock transition needs to be confirmed for a relativistic shock propagating into unmagnetized plasma..

In §2 we define the problem, in §3 we present our numerical results, in §4 we discuss the conflict between plasma-physical and astronomical understanding of strong relativistic collisionless shocks.

## 2 Plasma Physics and Astrophysics of Strong Relativistic Collisionless Shocks

The following qualitative description of a collisionless relativistic shock propagating into a cold unmagnetized plasma seems probable from a plasma-physical point of few. Neglect, just to simplify the argument, the difference between electron and ion masses, or think of collisionless electron-positron plasma. Also, assume that the shock is mildly relativistic. Than there are only three dimensional parameters in the problem (plasma mass density $`nm`$, plasma charge density $`ne`$, and the speed of light $`c`$), and therefore there are no dimensionless parameters 222In collisionless plasma, described by Vlasov equations, that is Maxwell for electromagnetic field plus Boltzmann for the distribution function, the plasma parameters $`e`$, $`m`$, $`n`$ enter only in combinations $`ne`$ and $`nm`$..

The shock transition region should then be just few $`\delta `$ thick, where $`\delta =c/\omega _p`$ is the only available length scale – collisionless skin depth; $`\omega _p=(4\pi ne^2/m)^{1/2}`$ is the plasma frequency. Within the transition region, anisotropy of the distribution function excites kinetic instabilities (Weibel, two-stream, see Sagdeev 1966). These instabilities generate strong (equipartition, $`B^2nmc^2`$), small-scale ($`\delta `$) electromagnetic fields. The fields mediate the shock transition: they isotropize the distribution function, and bring the plasma up the shock adiabatic. After the transition is accomplished, that is a few $`\delta `$ downstream, the fields decay by Landau damping. Our numerical simulations, §3, fully confirm this simple picture (in 2 dimensions).

Now, assuming that the above description of a strong relativistic collisionless shock is correct, let us see what are the astrophysical consequences. Since the fields exist only in a few-skin-thick layer, high energy particles cannot be confined, and therefore there is no particle acceleration. For the same reason, synchrotron emission from such a shock is insignificant.

The accepted astrophysical scenario is very different: The shock generates near equipartition magnetic fields and accelerates charged particles. This leads to synchrotron emission characterized by a power law at high frequencies. Both radio-supernovas (Fransson & Bjornsson 1998) and gamma-ray bursts (Sari, Piran, Narayan 1997) can be explained under this assumption. The generated magnetic field can survive only if it somehow propagates to large scales (Gruzinov & Waxman 1998, Gruzinov 2001). We do not have a clear picture of how this might happen.

## 3 Numerical simulation using TRISTAN

We performed direct numerical simulations of relativistic collisionless shocks in two spatial dimensions. The geometry of the simulation can be described as follows. The particles move in the $`(x,y)`$ plane. The electric field is $`(E_x(x,y,t),E_y(x,y,t),0)`$, the magnetic field is $`(0,0,B_z(x,y,t))`$.

The simulation was performed using a 2D version of the code TRISTAN (Buneman 1993) (TRISTAN in what follows). This code was also used by Kazimura et al (1998) (K98 in what follows). A large number of simulations was performed, to study numerical accuracy and the dependence on physical parameters. In all simulations, the initial electromagnetic field was zero. The initial plasma velocities were mildly relativistic in all our runs. We simulated both hot and initially cold plasma, and obtained similar results.

The run presented in Figures 1 and 2 (thick lines in Fig. 2) uses approximately the same TRISTAN parameters as K98. We choose to present this particular run to compare the results. The simulation parameters (in K98 notations, see also TRISTAN) are as follows. The system size is $`L_y=60`$, $`L_x=4000`$, the grid size is 1. K98 have $`L_x=1024`$, and correspondingly can only afford a shorter run time. This is the main difference between the two simulations. Periodic boundary conditions on particles and fields are used. Particle number per cell is 16 (1 for thin lines in Fig. 2). Initial plasma velocity is $`v_x=0.56c`$ at $`x<L_x/2`$, and $`v_x=0.56c`$ at $`x>L_x/2`$. The speed of light $`c=0.5`$ (see TRISTAN). Thermal velocity $`v_T=0.1c`$. Plasma frequency $`\omega _p=.052`$, positive and negative particles have equal mass.

Our numerical simulation fully supports the simple plasma-physical picture of §2. Magnetic fields exist only around the shock fronts, Fig. 1. Total magnetic energy saturates. The distribution function does not develop a power-law tail, that is particle acceleration is insignificant (although a small number of particles is found to have Lorentz factors $`10`$).

Also, our simulation results are in agreement with the results (but not the conclusions !) of K98. At small times, about as long as K98 ran their simulation, magnetic energy grows at an approximately constant rate, giving an impression that there is a stationary process of converting kinetic into magnetic energy. Indeed, both bad and good accuracy curves in Fig.2 show a kinetic to magnetic energy conversion of order few percent at time $`\omega _pt<80`$, a similar conversion rate is reported by K98. However, at later time, the saturation is clearly seen in Fig.2. Fig. 1 explains why: magnetic energy exists only in the vicinity of the shock fronts. Plasma is magnetized by the shock passage, but later on it demagnetizes.

It might seem surprising, that such a long numerical run is needed to see the saturation effect. One expects that a few plasma times should be enough. Reality (numerical) is a little more difficult. Since even near the shock fronts magnetic energy is noticeably below equipartition (few percent), the Larmor radius is a few times larger than the skin depth. It takes a few Larmor orbits to damp the field, so the shock front gets inflated to some tens of skin depths. But the important thing is that in the long run the field does decay.

## 4 Discussion

We have seen that a relativistic collisionless shock propagating into an unmagnetized medium does not generate magnetic fields and does not accelerate charged particles. This is in contradiction with the GRB phenomenology , assuming that afterglows are synchrotron (Gruzinov 2001).

This author believes, without any sound reason (other than GRB afterglow phenomenology), that the astrophysical rather than our simple plasma-physical picture is indeed correct: Shocks generate magnetic fields and accelerate charged particles.

If so, what’s missing from our numerical simulation? First, propagation of the fields to large scales is a form of dynamo, and dynamo requires three spatial dimensions. But this might not be enough. Our preliminary 3D simulations show magnetic field evolution very similar to 2D. It might be that external large-scale inhomogeneities (non-uniform shock, non-uniform interstellar medium, etc.) are required. This external inhomogeneity requirement makes the model ugly, but it might be the correct one.

Direct numerical simulations of 3D collisionless relativistic shocks is a doable, and a very interesting problem. If performed, it would yield, for the first time, a real understanding of particle acceleration by relativistic shocks (Monte Carlos with some assumed scatterers is an untrustworthy toy model).


text:
# A Geometric characterization of Arithmetic Varieties

## 1. Introduction

This paper is an attempt to generalise a result of Belyi (see ).

###### Theorem (Belyi).

Let $`C`$ be a smooth projective curve over an algebraic number field and $`T`$ a finite set of closed points in $`C`$. There is a finite morphism $`f:C^1`$ so that the image $`f(T)`$ and the branch locus of $`f`$ are contained in the set of three points $`\{0,1,\mathrm{}\}`$.

We note that this gives a completely geometric characterisation of algebraic curves over number fields, since any deformation of a triple of points in $`^1`$ is in fact trivialised by an automorphism of $`^1`$.

A naive generalisation of this could require a surface over a number field to be expressible as a cover of $`^2`$ that is étale outside four general lines; however, as Kollár pointed out, this fails since the fundamental group of the complement of four general lines in $`^2`$ is abelian, whereas many surfaces have non-abelian fundamental groups. Thus one needs to look at more general divisors in $`^2`$. The problem is that these divisors have non-trivial flat deformations. We need to find an algebraic notion that restricts the possible deformations. Thus, in Section 1 we define the notion of geometrically rigid divisors on a surface.

Let $`C`$ be any collection of 4 or less lines in general position in $`^2`$. From the definitions in section 1 it follows easily that, $`C`$ is geometrically rigid. Moreover, it is equally clear that collections of five or more lines in general position in $`^2`$ are not geometrically rigid. Geometrically rigid divisors in $`^2`$ (and hence their singular loci) are defined over $`\overline{}`$ (see lemma 7):

###### Theorem 1.

Let $`C`$ be any divisor in $`^2`$ defined over $``$ which is geometrically rigid. There is an automorphism $`g`$ of $`^2`$ so that $`g(C)`$ is defined over $`\overline{}`$.

Now, if $`C`$ is a curve of degree 1 or 2 in $`^2`$, then $`C`$ is geometrically rigid but a general curve of degree 3 or more is not. In spite of this we will see that there are many geometrically rigid divisors in $`^2`$. In fact (see the end of Section 3),

###### Theorem 2.

Let $`C`$ be any divisor in $`^2`$ defined over $`\overline{}`$, and $`T`$ be a finite set of points in $`^2`$ defined over $`\overline{}`$. There is a geometrically rigid divisor $`D`$ in $`^2`$ so that $`CD`$ and $`T`$ is contained in the singular locus of $`D`$.

These results give a geometric characterisation of reduced algebraic subschemes of $`^2`$ that are defined over $`\overline{}`$. As an easy corollary we have a generalisation of Belyi’s characterisation to the case of surfaces.

###### Corollary 3.

Let $`S`$ be a smooth projective surface, $`C`$ a divisor in $`S`$ and $`T`$ a finite set of points in $`S`$.

Assume that $`S`$, $`C`$ and $`T`$ are defined over $`\overline{}`$, then there is a geometrically rigid divisor $`D`$ in $`^2`$ and a finite morphism $`f:S^2`$ so that the image of $`C`$ and the branch locus of $`f`$ are contained in $`D`$; moreover, the image of $`T`$ is contained in the singular locus of $`D`$.

Conversely, suppose there is a tuple $`(S,C,T)`$ as above over $``$ and a finite morphism $`f:S^2`$ so that the image of $`C`$ and the branch locus of $`f`$ are sub-divisors of a geometrically rigid divisor $`D`$ and the image of $`T`$ is contained in the singular locus of $`D`$. Then the tuple $`(S,C,T)`$ is isomorphic to (the base-change to $``$ of) a tuple $`(S_0,C_0,T_0)`$ which is defined over $`\overline{}`$.

It is reasonably clear that these results should be extendable mutatis mutandi to higher dimension.

###### Acknowledgments.

These results emerged during a seminar discussion with Gautham Dayal, Madhav Nori and G. V. Ravindra. I thank them for their valuable comments and criticisms. N. Mohan Kumar made some valuable criticisms regarding section 2 which led me to look at the papers of Zariski more closely. N. Fakruddin suggested lemma 4 and the consequent simplification of lemma 7.

## 2. Geometric Rigidity

> Throughout the paper we work with schemes of finite type over a field of characteristic zero.

Let $`A`$ be a smooth family of divisors in a smooth surface $`S`$; in other words let $`𝒞𝒮=A\times S`$ be a divisor with $`A`$ smooth. More generally, we can consider the case of non-constant ambient spaces by assuming only that $`𝒮A`$ is a smooth projective morphism. We are interested in topologically trivial families $`p:(𝒮,𝒞)A`$. Over the field of complex numbers this can be characterised by saying that any point $`aA`$ has an analytic neighbourhood $`U`$ so that the pair $`(U\times S,p^1U)`$ is homeomorphic over $`U`$ to $`U\times (S,p^1(a))`$. The geometric notion of equisingular families results in topologically trivial families.

###### Remark 1.

The notion of equisingularity was first defined and studied by Zariski in a series of papers . Theorem 7.4 in  proves the equivalence of his definition with that studied here. Alternatively, one can directly prove Lemmas 46 and 7 using his definitions. We require a specialised application of Zariski’s results which we develop in this section.

A special case is that of a family of divisors with normal crossings which is characterised by the following properties.

1. The divisor $`𝒞`$ is a divisor with normal crossings in $`𝒮`$.
2. Each component of $`𝒞`$ is smooth over $`A`$.
3. The critical locus of $`𝒞A`$ is étale over $`A`$.

In particular, each component of the critical locus of $`𝒞A`$ meets and is contained in exactly two components of $`𝒞`$.

Now let $`𝒮_n\mathrm{}𝒮_0=𝒮`$ be a sequence of blow-ups with irreducible reduced centres $`A_k𝒮_k`$ such that $`A_kA`$ is finite étale. Moreover, let $`𝒞_k`$ denote the reduced union of the total transform of $`𝒞`$ in $`𝒮_k`$ and the exceptional locus of $`𝒮_k𝒮`$. We further assume that either,

1. $`A_k`$ is contained in the critical locus of $`𝒞_kA`$ or,
2. $`A_k`$ is contained in $`𝒞_k`$ but misses the critical locus of $`𝒞_kA`$ entirely or,
3. $`A_k`$ lies in the complement of $`𝒞_k`$ in $`𝒮_k`$.

While the latter two are irrelevant to the desingularisation it is useful to allow these to simplify the proofs. If $`𝒞_n`$ is family of divisors with normal crossings, then we call such a sequence of blow-ups a simultaneous desingularisation of the family of divisors $`𝒞S`$. If such a sequence of blow-ups exists then we say that the family is simultaneously desingularisable or equisingular. In order to understand how one arrives at this definition we state

###### Lemma 4.

Fix a ground field $`k`$ of characteristic zero. Let $`𝒮A`$ be a smooth family of projective surfaces of a reduced scheme $`A`$. Let $`𝒞𝒮`$ be a reduced divisor. There is an open dense subset $`U`$ of $`A`$ over which $`𝒞`$ is an equisingular family.

###### Proof.

We can replace $`A`$ by its smooth locus and further operate on each component individually; thus we can assume that $`A`$ is smooth and irreducible. Now, consider the reduced critical locus of $`𝒞A`$. This is a closed subscheme $`B`$ of $`𝒞`$ which is generically finite over $`A`$. Thus the locus where $`BA`$ is not étale is a proper closed subscheme of $`A`$. We can replace $`A`$ by the complement of this closed subscheme. Now we can take $`A_1=B`$ and perform a blow-up of $`𝒮`$ along $`A_1`$ to obtain $`𝒮_1`$. Since $`A_1`$ is étale over $`A`$ the resulting family $`𝒮_1A`$ is smooth. Let $`𝒞_1`$ denote the (reduced) union of the strict transform of $`𝒞`$ in $`𝒮_1`$ and the exceptional locus of the blow-up. We can now inductively construct the sequence $`𝒮_n`$ as above. By the embedded desingularisation of curves in characteristic zero, there is an $`n`$ so that the generic fibre of $`𝒞_nA`$ is a divisor with normal crossings; i. e. each irreducible component (not geometrically irreducible component) of this generic fibre is smooth over the function field of $`A`$ and at most two of them meet at any singular point (which is closed over the function field of $`A`$) and this meeting is transversal. Now replace $`A`$ by the open subset where the critical locus of $`𝒞_nA`$ is étale and each component of $`𝒞_nA`$ is smooth. It follows that $`𝒞_nA`$ is a family of divisors with normal crossings in $`𝒮_nA`$. ∎

One point that is important from our perspective is the fact that $`U`$ is defined over $`k`$ since all schemes are of finite type over $`k`$. We also note the following lemma.

###### Lemma 5.

Let $`B_k`$ be the image of the critical locus $`B_n`$ of $`𝒞_nA`$ in $`𝒮_k`$ for each $`k`$. Then $`B_nB_k`$ and $`B_kA`$ are étale. Any component of $`B_k`$ that meets $`A_k`$ is actually $`A_k`$. Let $`𝒟_k`$ be a union of components of $`𝒞_k`$. If $`𝒟_k`$ and a component of $`B_k`$ meet then the latter is contained in the former. Finally, the critical locus of $`𝒟_kA`$ is a union of components of $`B_k`$.

###### Proof.

We prove the statements by downward induction on $`k`$; we start at $`k=n`$ where this is true by the definition of a family of divisors with normal crossings. Now suppose that the result is proved for $`B_{k+1}`$ and for all divisors of the form $`𝒟_{k+1}`$. Let $`E_k`$ be the exceptional locus of $`𝒮_{k+1}𝒮_k`$. Then $`E_k`$ is contained in $`𝒞_{k+1}`$ by the definition of $`𝒞_{k+1}`$. The map $`E_kA`$ factors through $`A_kA`$ which is étale.

Let $`Y`$ be the union of those connected components of $`B_k`$ which meet $`A_k`$; in particular, this includes those components which contain points where $`B_{k+1}B_k`$ is not an isomorphism. Let $`X`$ be the inverse image of $`Y`$ in $`B_{k+1}`$; by the induction hypothesis $`XA`$ is étale. Moreover, each component of $`X`$ meets $`E_k`$. By choosing $`𝒟_{k+1}=E_k`$ we see that $`X`$ is contained in $`E_k`$ by the induction hypothesis. Thus, the morphism $`XA`$ is étale and factors through $`A_kA`$. It follows that $`Y=A_k`$. Thus $`B_k`$ is the disjoint union of $`A_k`$ and components disjoint from $`A_k`$. The remaining components descend isomorphically from components of $`B_{k+1}`$ and $`B_{k+1}A`$ is étale by induction. Hence $`B_kA`$ is étale.

Let $`𝒟_k`$ be a union of irreducible components of $`𝒞_k`$ and suppose that $`𝒟_k`$ meets $`A_k`$. Let $`𝒟_{k+1}`$ be its strict transform in $`𝒮_{k+1}`$. Then $`𝒟_{k+1}`$ must meet $`E_k`$; let $`Z`$ be any component of $`𝒟_{k+1}E_k`$. This is a divisor in $`E_k`$ which is contained in the critical locus of $`𝒟_{k+1}E_kA`$. By the induction hypothesis applied to $`𝒟_{k+1}E_k`$ we see that $`Z`$ is a component of $`B_{k+1}`$. Hence, $`ZA`$ is étale by induction, and the image of $`Z`$ is $`A_k`$ as above. Thus $`𝒟_k`$ contains $`A_k`$.

Finally, any critical point $`p`$ of $`𝒟_kA`$ which is not the image of a critical point of $`𝒟_{k+1}A`$, would have to lie in $`A_k`$. Either (a) there are two points $`q`$ and $`q^{}`$ that lie in $`𝒟_{k+1}E_k`$ over $`p`$, or (b) there is a point $`q`$ in $`𝒟_{k+1}E_k`$ where this interesection is not transvesal. In case (a) let $`Z`$ and $`Z^{}`$ be the components of $`𝒟_{k+1}E_k`$ that contain $`q`$ and $`q^{}`$ respectively ($`Z=Z^{}`$ is a possibility). Then $`ZA_k`$ and $`Z^{}A_k`$ are étale as explained above. In particular, $`𝒟_kA`$ has critical points along $`A_k`$. In case (b), let $`Z`$ be the component of $`𝒟_{k+1}E_k`$ that contains $`q`$. The map $`ZA_k`$ is étale as above, hence $`Z`$ is smooth. Thus the intersection of $`𝒟_{k+1}`$ and $`E_k`$ is non-transversal everywhere along $`Z`$. Thus, in this case $`A_k`$ is contained in the critical locus of $`𝒟_kA`$ again. Any critical point of $`𝒟_kA`$ is is thus either contained in $`A_k`$ which is contained in this critical locus or contained in the image of the critical locus of $`𝒟_{k+1}A`$ which is a union of components of $`B_k`$. Since $`A_k`$ is contained in $`B_k`$ in both cases (a) and (b), it follows that the critical locus of $`𝒟_kA`$ is a union of components of $`B_k`$. ∎

In particular, note that this means that $`A_k`$ is a connected component of the critical locus of $`𝒞_kA`$ if it meets this locus; this strengthens the condition (1) in the definition above. The fundamental lemma that we will use in our constructions is a corollary of the above lemma.

###### Lemma 6.

Let $`(𝒮,𝒞)A`$ be an equisingular family of divisors in a family of smooth projective surfaces over a smooth variety $`A`$. Let $`𝒟𝒞`$ be a union of components of $`𝒞`$, then $`(𝒮,𝒟)A`$ is an equisingular family of divisors.

###### Proof.

Let $`𝒮_n\mathrm{}𝒮_0=𝒮`$ be a simultaneous desingularisation of $`𝒞`$ as above. Let $`𝒟_k`$ be the reduced total transform of $`𝒟`$ in $`𝒮_k`$. Since $`𝒟_n`$ is a union of components of $`𝒞_n`$, it too is a relative divisor with normal crossings over $`A`$. By above lemma we see that whenever $`𝒟_kA`$ has a critical point on $`A_k`$, then $`A_k`$ is contained in this critical locus. Moreover, if $`𝒟_k`$ meets $`A_k`$ then it contains it. Thus the given sequence of blow-ups is a simultaneous desingularisation of $`𝒟_k`$. ∎

Let $`CS`$ be a divisor. Let $`G`$ be an algebraic group of automorphisms of $`S`$. Given a morphism $`AG`$, we can construct an equisingular family containing $`C`$ as follows. Let $`m:A\times SS`$ denote the action of $`A`$ on $`S`$ and let $`𝒞=m^1(C)`$. More generally, we say that a family $`𝒞A\times S`$ is $`G`$ iso-trivial, if it is associated with a $`G`$-torsor on $`S`$. In other words, each point $`aA`$ has an étale neighbourhood $`BA`$ so that $`𝒞_B=𝒞\times _AB`$ is isomorphic over $`B`$ to $`m_B^1(C_a)`$ for some morphism $`m_B:BG`$. Any iso-trivial family is clearly equisingular.

We now define $`C`$ to be a geometrically rigid divisor in $`S`$ if this is the only way to construct equisingular deformations of $`C`$; i. e. for any equisingular family $`𝒞A\times S`$ parametrised by a smooth connected variety $`A`$ so that $`C`$ is the fibre $`p^1(a)`$ for some point $`a`$ in $`A`$, there is an algebraic group $`G`$ of automorphisms of $`S`$ so that the family $`𝒞A`$ is $`G`$ iso-trivial.

The following lemma follows easily from the construction of universal deformations of divisors and the flattening stratification.

###### Lemma 7.

Let $`S`$ be smooth surface over an algebraically closed field $`k`$ and $`C`$ be a geometrically rigid divisor in $`S`$ defined over an algebraically closed extension $`K`$ of $`k`$. Then there is an automorphism $`g`$ of $`S`$ over $`K`$, so that $`g(C)`$ is the base change to $`K`$ of a curve $`C_0`$ in $`S`$ which is defined over $`k`$.

As a consequence, geometric rigidity is a sufficient criterion to reduce the field of definition.

###### Proof.

Let $`H`$ be the Hilbert scheme of divisors in $`S`$ over $`k`$. Let $`A`$ be the closure of the (non-closed) point of $`H`$ which corresponds to $`C`$. Then $`A`$ is a scheme of finite type over $`k`$ to which we can apply lemma 4 above. Thus replacing $`A`$ an an open subscheme $`U`$ defined over $`k`$ we have an equisingular family $`𝒞A`$ in $`S\times A`$ with generic fibre isomorphic to the given $`C`$.

By the geometric rigidity of $`S`$ it follows that this family is isotrivial for some algebraic group $`G`$ of automorphisms of $`S`$. Thus there is a finite étale cover $`A^{}A`$ so that the family is group-theoretically trivial over $`A^{}`$. Since $`k`$ is algebraically closed there is a $`k`$-valued point of $`A^{}`$. The fibre of $`𝒞`$ at this point is then a “model” of $`(S,C)`$ which is defined over $`k`$. ∎

In particular, we note that Theorem 1 follows.

## 3. Constructions

We now give inductive constructions of geometrically rigid divisors to prove Theorem 2.

###### Lemma 8.

Let $`D`$ be a geometrically rigid divisor in $`^2`$ and let $`p`$, $`q`$ be singular points of $`D`$. The divisor $`D\overline{pq}`$ is geometrically rigid, where $`\overline{pq}`$ is the line joining the points $`p`$ and $`q`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`𝒞A`$ be an equisingular deformation of $`D\overline{pq}`$. We wish to construct a group-theoretic trivialisation of this deformation over a finite étale cover of $`A`$.

Let $`A_1A`$ (respectively $`A_2A`$) be a component of the critical locus of $`𝒞A`$ which contains $`p`$ (respectively contains $`q`$). These are étale covers of $`A`$ by lemma 5. Let $`BA`$ be a connected étale cover of $`A`$ that dominates both covers; we have natural morphisms $`P:B^2`$ and $`Q:B^2`$ passing through $`p`$ and $`q`$ respectively. Let $`B`$ be the component of $`𝒞_B=𝒞\times _AB`$, that contains $`\overline{pq}`$. Then, the fibre of $`L`$ over $`bB`$ consists of the line joining $`P(b)`$ and $`Q(b)`$. Let $`𝒟_B`$ be the union of the remaining components of $`𝒞_B`$. By lemma 6, the familiy $`𝒟_BB`$ is an equisingular deformation of $`D`$.

Now, by the geometric rigidity of $`D`$, we see that $`𝒟_BB`$ is iso-trivial. In particular, we take a further étale cover (which we also denote by $`B`$ by abuse of notation) so that the family $`𝒟_B`$ is group-theoretic. Now, $`P(B)`$ and $`Q(B)`$ continue to be part of the critical locus of $`𝒟_BB`$, thus by the connected-ness of $`B`$ the trivialisation of the family must take them to $`B\times \{p\}`$ and $`B\times \{q\}`$ respectively. But then the same trivialisation also takes $`L`$ to the $`B\times \overline{pq}`$. Thus we have a group-theoretic trivialisation of $`𝒞_B`$. ∎

Starting with the geometrically rigid divisor $`Q`$ of 4 lines in general position on $`^2`$, we look at all the divisors obtained by iterated application of the above lemma. The usual constructions of projective geometry that give the field operations for points on a line give the following result.

###### Proposition 9.

Let $`T`$ be any finite set of points in $`^2`$ defined over $``$. There is a geometrically rigid divisor $`D`$ consisting of lines so that $`T`$ is contained in the singular locus of $`D`$.

###### Proof.

Fixing the reference quadrilateral $`Q`$ consisting of four general lines in $`^2`$ also fixes a coordinate system so that the lines are given by $`X=0`$, $`Y=0`$, $`Z=0`$ and $`X+Y+Z=0`$. The singular points of the quarilateral are $`(1:0:0)`$, $`(0:1:0)`$, $`(0:0:1)`$, $`(1:1:0)`$, $`(1:0:1)`$ and $`(0:1:1)`$.

For any $`t^2()`$ and a geometrically rigid divisor $`C_0`$ containing $`Q`$ we will construct a larger geometrically rigid divisor that contains $`t`$. We can then construct $`D`$ by starting with $`Q`$ and succesively adding each point of the finite set $`T`$.

Thus we can assume that $`T`$ consists of just one point. Since at least one coordinate of $`t`$ is non-zero we can assume that it takes the form $`(u:v:1)`$ in these coordinates for some rational numbers $`u`$ and $`v`$.

Now, suppose that we can add to $`C_0`$ and produce a geometrically rigid divisor $`C`$ so that the singular locus of $`C`$ contains $`(u:0:1)`$ and $`(0:v:1)`$. We can then add to $`C`$ the line $`L`$ joining $`(u:0:1)`$ and $`(0:1:0)`$, and the line $`M`$ joining $`(0:v:1)`$ and $`(1:0:0)`$, again producing a geometrically rigid divisor $`CLM`$ by the lemma 8. Now the point $`t`$ is the intersection point of $`L`$ and $`M`$ so it is a singular point of this divisor as required.

Similarly, if we can add to $`C_0`$ to produce a geometrically rigid divisor $`C`$ containing $`(v:0:1)`$ in its singular locus then the divisor $`CL`$ is also geometrically rigid, where $`L`$ is the line joining $`(v:0:1)`$ and $`(1:1:0)`$. The point $`(0:v:1)`$ whcih is the point of intersection of $`L`$ and the line $`X=0`$, is a singular point of this divisor. Thus to prove the result, it is enough to construct for each rational number $`u`$ a divisor $`C_u`$ containing $`C_0`$ so that the point $`(u:0:1)`$ is in the singular locus of $`C_u`$.

We write $`u=p/q`$ where $`q`$ is a positive integer and $`p`$ is some integer. Suppose that we can construct a divisor $`C`$ containing $`C_0`$ so that $`(0:p:1)`$ and $`(0:q:1)`$ are singular points of $`C`$. Let $`L`$ be the line joining $`(1:0:1)`$ and $`(0:q:1)`$; as before $`CL`$ is a geometrically rigid divisor. Moreover, $`(1:q:0)`$ is a singular point of this divisor at it lies on $`L`$ and the line $`Z=0`$. Let $`M`$ be the line joining $`(0:p:1)`$ and $`(1:q:0)`$; as before the divisor $`CLM`$ is geometrically rigid. The point $`(p/q:0:1)`$ is a singular point of this divisor as it lies on $`M`$ and the line $`Y=0`$.

Thus we have finally reduced to the problem of constructing for each integer $`p`$ a geometrically rigid divisor $`C_p`$ containing $`C_0`$ for which $`(0:p:1)`$ is a singular point. We will do this by induction on the absolute value of $`p`$. Let $`L_1`$ be the line joining $`(0:1:0)`$ and $`(1:0:1)`$, let $`L_2`$ be the line joining $`(1:1:0)`$ and $`(0:0:1)`$. By the lemma 8 the divisor $`QL_1L_2`$ is geometrically rigid. The point $`(1:1:1)`$ is the intersection point of $`L_1`$ and $`L_2`$, hence it is a singular point of this divisor. Let $`M`$ be the line joining this point to $`(1:0:0)`$. Then $`QL_1L_2M`$ is geometrically rigid. The point $`(0:1:1)`$ is the intersection point of $`M`$ and the line $`X=0`$. Thus we have produced $`C_p`$ for every $`p`$ less than $`1`$ in absolute value.

Now, suppose that we have constructed a divisor $`C`$ containing $`C_0`$ which has $`(0:p:1)`$ and $`(0:q:1)`$ in its singular locus. Let $`L_1`$ be the line joining $`(0:p:1)`$ with $`(1:0:0)`$ and $`L_2`$ be the line joining $`(1:0:1)`$ with $`(0:1:0)`$. The point $`(1:p:1)`$ is a singular point of the geometrically rigid divisor $`CL_1L_2`$. Let $`M_1`$ be the line joining $`(0:0:1)`$ and $`(1:p:1)`$r; the point $`(1:p:0)`$ is a singular point of the geometrically rigid divisor $`CL_1L_2M_1`$. Let $`M_2`$ be the line joining $`(1:p:0)`$ and $`(0:q:1)`$; then $`(1:p+q:1)`$ is a singular point of the geometrically rigid divisor $`CL_1L_2M_1M_2`$. Finally, we add the line $`M_3`$ joining $`(1:0:0)`$ and $`(1:p+q:1)`$ to obtain a geometrically rigid divisor which has $`(0:p+q:1)`$ as a singular point.

For every $`p>1`$ we apply the latter construction to the divisor $`C_{p1}C_1`$ each of which we have already constructed by the induction hypothesis and has singular points at $`(0:p1:1)`$ and $`(0:1:1)`$. For $`p<1`$ we apply the latter construction to $`C_{p+1}`$ which has $`(0:p+1:1)`$ and $`(0:1:1)`$ as singular points. This provides the required construction and hence the result is proved. ∎

To construct points with coordinates in algebraic number fields we need to have curves of degree greater than one in geometrically rigid divisors.

###### Lemma 10.

Let $`D`$ be a geometrically rigid divisor on a rational surface $`S`$ and let $`T`$ be a finite subset of the singular points of $`D`$. Let $`L`$ be a divisor class on $`S`$ so that the linear system $`LT`$ has a unique element $`E`$. Then the divisor $`DE`$ is geometrically rigid.

Actually, we only need the regularity of $`S`$ (i. e. $`\mathrm{H}^1(S,𝒪_S)=0`$) in the proof given below. Further generalisations even for irregular surfaces are possible.

###### Proof.

Let $`𝒞A`$ be an equisingular deformation of the divisor $`C=DE`$. Let $`B`$ be the connected component of the critical locus of $`𝒞A`$ that contains $`T`$. This is finite étale over $`A`$ by lemma 5. By base change we may assume that $`BA`$ is an isomorphism. Thus, we can write $`𝒞=𝒟`$ where $`𝒟`$ is the union of irreducible components of $`𝒞`$ that meet $`D`$ and $``$ is the union of the irreducible components of $`𝒞`$ that meet $`E`$. By the lemma 6, $`𝒟A`$ is an equisingular deformation of $`D`$. Thus by base change we have a group-theoretic trivialisation of $`𝒟`$. Since $`B`$ is contained in the critical locus of $`𝒟A`$, it is mapped into $`T`$ by the trivialisation. Thus, after applying this trivialisation, $`A`$ becomes a family of divisors containing $`T`$.

Now, the divisor class $`L`$ has no deformation since $`S`$ is rational. Thus, the divisor class of every fibre of $`A`$ is in the class $`L`$. By assumption, $`E`$ is the unique such class containing $`T`$, thus $`A`$ is the trivial family. Hence the trivialisation for $`𝒟A`$ in fact gives a trivialisation of $``$ and $`𝒞`$ as well. ∎

The above lemma allows us to apply the Lagrange interpolation formula to prove the following proposition.

###### Proposition 11.

Let $`T`$ be a finite set of algebraic points on $`^2`$, then there is a geometrically rigid divisor $`D`$ so that $`T`$ is contained in the singular locus of $`D`$.

###### Proof.

As in the proof of proposition 9, given a geometrically rigid divisor $`C_0`$ which contains the reference quadrilateral $`Q`$ and a point $`t^2(\overline{})`$, we construct a larger divisor $`CC_0`$ so that $`t`$ is in the singular locus of $`t`$. Since $`T`$ is a finite set we can inductively add all the points $`tT`$ to obtain the required divisor $`D`$. Thus we can assume that $`T`$ consists of one point $`t`$.

Again, as in the proof of proposition 9 we can further reduce to the case where the point has the form $`(u:0:1)`$ where $`u`$ is an algebraic number. Let $`f(T)`$ be a monic polynomial with rational coefficients for which $`f(u)=0`$; let $`n`$ be the degree of $`f`$. Let $`F`$ be the set of points $`(k:f(k):1)`$ for $`k=0,\mathrm{},n^2`$. The curve $`E`$ defined by $`YZ^{n1}=f(X/Z)Z^n`$ passes through these $`n^2+1`$ points. Thus it is the unique curve of degree $`n`$ that passes through these points. Let $`C`$ be a divisor (containing the quadrilateral $`Q`$) constructed using proposition 9 which contains $`F`$ in its singular locus. The lemma 10 then asserts that $`D=CE`$ is geometrically rigid. The point $`(u:0:1)`$ is a point of intersection of $`E`$ and the line $`Y=0`$ which lies in $`Q`$; hence it is a singular point of $`D`$. ∎

Finally, any curve of degree $`n`$ defined over $`\overline{}`$ is uniquely determined in its divisor class by $`n^2+1`$ distinct $`\overline{}`$-valued points on it.

###### Proof.

(of the Theorem 2). Let $`C`$ be any curve of degree $`n`$ in $`^2`$ which is defined over $`\overline{}`$. Let $`T`$ be a collection of $`n^2+1`$ distinct points on this curve over $`\overline{}`$. Let $`D`$ be a geometrically rigid divisor in $`^2`$ that contains $`T`$ in its singular locus. By lemma 10 the divisor $`DC`$ is geometrically rigid. Applying this argument to each component of a given divisor in $`^2`$ defined over $`\overline{}`$, we have the result. ∎

## 4. Remarks and Open Problems

A similar collection of arguments can be used to obtain geometrically rigid configurations in $`^n`$ for $`n3`$. Projection arguments can be used to define the notion of equisingular deformations of in higher (co-)dimensions. Arguments similar to the ones in the previous section can then probably be used to show:

###### Problem 1.

For each $`k`$ between $`0`$ and $`n1`$, let $`T_k`$ be a closed subscheme of $`^n`$ of pure dimension $`k`$ that is defined over $`\overline{}`$. Then there is a geometrically rigid divisor $`S_{n1}`$ in $`^n`$ so that if $`S_k`$ is defined inductively as the singular locus of $`S_{k+1}`$, then $`S_k`$ has pure dimension $`k`$ and $`T_kS_k`$.

Another possible generalisation of Belyi’s theorem is the following:

###### Problem 2.

If $`C`$ is a projective algebraic curve over a field of transcendence degree $`r`$ is there a morphism $`f:C^1`$ for which the branch locus has cardinality less than or equal to $`3+r`$.

Belyi’s original arguments can be used to show that the branch locus can be assumed to be defined over the field of rational functions in $`r`$ variables. However, there does not seem to be any obvious way to reduce the number of points to $`3+r`$. The converse (that such a cover is defined over a field of transcendence degree at most $`r`$) follows from the the fact that $`s`$-tuples of points in $`^1`$ have a moduli space of dimension $`s3`$.

Finally, it is clear from the above construction that the complexity of the configuration required to obtain rigidity is related to the height of the defining equation of a curve. Can this relation be explicitly used to define a notion of height?


text:
# Sympathetic Cooling with Two Atomic Species in an Optical Trap

## Abstract

We simultaneously trap ultracold lithium and cesium atoms in an optical dipole trap formed by the focus of a CO2 laser and study the exchange of thermal energy between the gases. The cesium gas, which is optically cooled to $`20\mu `$K, efficiently decreases the temperature of the lithium gas through sympathetic cooling. The measured cross section for thermalizing 133Cs-7Li collisions is $`8\times 10^{12}`$ cm2, for both species in their lowest hyperfine ground state. Besides thermalization, we observe evaporation of lithium purely through elastic cesium-lithium collisions (sympathetic evaporation).

Exchange of heat through thermal contact between two ensembles is the most obvious and ubiquitous thermodynamic process. In the context of cold gases, this process can be utilized to sympathetically cool one component in a mixture. It is particularly useful if the other component can be cooled efficiently in a direct way, e.g. by optical methods. Sympathetic cooling has been demonstrated with charged particles which thermalize through the long-range Coulomb interaction Larson et al. (1986). For neutral atoms and molecules one can use helium gas as a cooling agent which can be cooled cryogenically to well below $`1`$deCarvalho et al. (1999). Only recently, sympathetic cooling has been successfully extended to the ultracold regime Myatt et al. (1997); Truscott et al. (2001); Schreck et al. (2001); Bloch et al. (2001); Modugno et al. (2001). Quantum degeneracy of bosons and fermions was obtained by thermalization between atoms of the same species in different internal states Myatt et al. (1997), between two isotopes of the same species Truscott et al. (2001); Schreck et al. (2001) and, as a recent highlight, between atoms of different species Modugno et al. (2001). The degree of quantum degeneracy obtained in those experiments was finally limited by two important loss processes: exoergic collisions between magnetically trapped atoms, and evaporation, which decreases the heat capacity of the cooling agent.

In this Letter, we explore the thermodynamics of sympathetic cooling for a mixture of two different atomic gases at ultralow temperatures. We present an intrinsically loss-free approach which can be generalized to a vast range of atomic species and even molecules. Both the coolant gas and the gas of interest are in their internal energetic ground state, and confined to the same volume by the optical dipole force Grimm et al. (2000). The coolant gas is cooled by pure optical techniques Boiron et al. (1998) which can be applied in an optical dipole trap without significant loss.

Our model system is a mixture of cesium and lithium in an extremely far-detuned optical dipole trap. Cesium is an excellent cooling agent, since it can be optically cooled to very low temperatures, mainly due to its high mass. Lithium, on the other side, is difficult to cool optically. In addition, it is nearly an ideal gas due the very small cross section for elastic Li-Li collisions Schreck et al. (2001). Thermalization thus occurs purely through collisions with the cesium atoms. As a second important thermodynamic process besides thermalization, we study evaporation through Li-Cs collisions (sympathetic evaporation) in traps with finite depth. Both processes allow an independent measurement of the a priori unknown interspecies scattering cross-section.

To trap a mixture of ultracold species, the focus of a CO2 laser beam, at $`\lambda =10.6\mu `$m, constitutes an almost perfect realization of a conservative trapping potential (quasi-electrostatic trap, QUEST) Grimm et al. (2000); Takekoshi and Knize (1996); O’Hara et al. (1999); Engler et al. (2000). Atoms and molecules can be stored in any internal state, especially the energetic ground state. For atoms in the lowest-energy hyperfine state, energy-releasing processes in two-body collisions cannot occur. Due to the large detuning of the laser frequency from any atomic resonances, heating through photon scattering can be completely neglected.

Using a commercial sealed-tube laser, we obtain a power of 108 W in the vacuum chamber, focused to a waist $`w_0=86\mu `$m. For a Gaussian laser beam, with power $`P`$ and waist $`w_0`$ the trap depth is given by $`U_0=\alpha _{\mathrm{stat}}P/(\pi \epsilon _0cw_0^2)`$, which yields $`U_0^{\mathrm{Cs}}/k_B=0.85`$ mK and $`U_0^{\mathrm{Li}}/k_B=0.34`$ mK. By measuring the oscillation frequencies of Cs atoms in the trap, $`\omega _{\mathrm{x},\mathrm{y}}/2\pi =850`$ Hz and $`\omega _z/2\pi =18`$ Hz, we find our trap is slightly deformed axially, probably due to stable multimode operation of the laser Mosk et al. (2001).

Atoms are transferred into the dipole trap from magneto-optical traps (MOT) for lithium and cesium which are superimposed on the focus of the CO2 laser beam. Both MOTs are loaded from Zeeman-slowed atomic beams. The lifetime of the gas is limited only by rest-gas collisions to $`100`$ s. Details of our apparatus and of the procedure for loading atoms into the QUEST are given in Refs. Mosk et al. (2001); Engler et al. (2000).

Transferred separately, we obtain $`5\times 10^5`$ Cs atoms in the QUEST, which we cool by polarization gradient cooling to $`20\mu `$K. We find that the temperature is lower for a shallower trap, while in free space we reach temperatures below $`3\mu `$K. Apparently the Stark shifts caused by the QUEST influence the cooling process in a way which is not yet understood. The Cs is optically pumped into the lowest hyperfine state ($`F=3`$), and since we compensate the magnetic field, the atoms are distributed evenly over the degenerate $`m_F`$ states. The peak density of Cs atoms in the QUEST is $`2\times 10^{11}`$ cm-3. Since the scattering length of the Cs is larger than the typical relative wavevector in collisions, the internal thermalization of the Cs gas is dominated by the unitary maximum $`s`$-wave scattering cross-section Arndt et al. (1997) $`\sigma _{\mathrm{CsCs}}=4\pi /k^2`$, where $`k`$ is the relative wavevector. We use the expression for distinguishable atoms since the majority of the collisions are between atoms in different $`m_F`$ states. The collision rate is approximately 7 per second, and thermalization through Cs-Cs collisions is estimated to take $`2`$ seconds Arndt et al. (1997).

The situation for Li is different: since the temperature reached in the MOT is higher than the trap depth, only approximately $`10^5`$ atoms are transferred. Numerical simulations indicate these atoms occupy a truncated thermal distribution with an internal energy of $`3k_B\times \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}75}\mu `$K, which only very weakly depends on the MOT temperature. The lithium atoms are optically pumped into the $`F=1`$ hyperfine state, and in the absence of a magnetic guiding field distribute themselves over the degenerate $`m_F`$ states. As the scattering length of Li in the $`F=1`$ state is anomalously small Schreck et al. (2001), the distribution does not thermalize on the 100 s timescale of our experiment.

In order to simultaneously trap the two species, a Cs MOT is loaded and the atoms transferred into the QUEST in optical molasses. Subsequently, a Li MOT is loaded at a slightly different position, to minimize light-induced atom loss in a two-species MOT Schlöder et al. (1999). Once it reaches the desired density, the Li MOT is compressed and overlapped with the QUEST for a few ms to optimize transfer of Li atoms. We can simultaneously trap typically $`4\times 10^4`$ Li atoms with up to $`10^5`$ Cs.

After a variable interaction time in the QUEST, usually a few seconds, we analyze the gas sample. The temperature and atom number of Cs are determined by absorption imaging and time-of-flight velocimetry Ketterle et al. (1999). However, the lithium gas in our trap is too dilute to use absorption imaging. We determine the temperature of the lithium gas using a release- recapture method. The dipole trap potential is suddenly turned off for a variable ballistic expansion time of order 1 ms. After this time, the dipole trap is turned on again for $`500`$ ms to recapture the atoms that are still close to the center of the trap, while the others are lost. The number of remaining atoms can then be measured by the fluorescence of a MOT.

Figure 1 shows two such release-recapture measurements: one for a pure Li ensemble and one for a Li ensemble that has been trapped simultaneously with cold Cs. The pure Li gas is seen to be lost from the trap in $`0.4`$ ms, while the ensemble of Li that has been in thermal contact with cold Cs ($`T_{\mathrm{Cs}}=28\mu `$K initially) is seen to contain many more slow atoms, which indicates cooling. To quantitatively understand this cooling process we compare the release-recapture measurements to calculations.

For a gas at low temperature ($`k_BTU_0`$) in an extremely elongated Gaussian trap $`(\omega _{\mathrm{ax}}\omega _{\mathrm{rad}})`$, we derive an analytical approximation of the number of recaptured atoms,

$$N_\mathrm{r}(t)=\frac{N_0}{1e^\eta }\left[1\mathrm{exp}\left(\eta W(\stackrel{~}{t}^2)/\stackrel{~}{t}^2\right)\right].$$
(1)
Here $`w_0`$ is the Gaussian beam waist, $`\eta =U_0/k_BT`$, $`\stackrel{~}{t}^2=mw_0^2t^2/4U_0`$, and $`W(z)`$ is the product logarithm function, satisfying $`W(z)\mathrm{exp}(W(z))=z`$. The analytical approximation of Eq. (1) agrees with numerical simulation for temperatures up to $`k_BT0.15U_0`$. Full numerical calculation of $`N_\mathrm{r}(t)`$ is possible for any $`T`$ and shows that for $`k_BT>0.2U_0`$ ($`75`$ mK for Li) the width of the recapture curve becomes essentially independent of temperature, i.e., release-recapture measurements no longer provide reliable temperature data. Hence Eq. (1) can be used over all of the useful parameter range of this thermometry method. For the temperature range of interest, we estimate the accuracy of this method to be better than $`20\%`$.

The release-recapture curve of the pure Li in Fig. 1 can be reproduced by assuming a thermal distribution at $`T_{\mathrm{Li}}=71\pm 15\mu `$K. The sympathetically cooled Li ensemble is well-described by $`T_{\mathrm{Li}}=30\pm 6\mu `$K, which is equal to the Cs temperature within the uncertainty margins, indicating that the gases have fully thermalized.

We measure the thermalization time by making a series of temperature measurements for both components, as seen in Fig. 2. The Cs and Li temperatures converge to the same value $`\overline{T}=33\mu K`$ to within $`2\%`$. The measured atom numbers show that no significant loss of either Li or Cs occurs during thermalization.

The thermalization time is $`1.6(2)`$ s, indeed much shorter than the rest-gas induced decay time of the trapped gas. In a gas mixture with energy independent cross-section, the average energy transferred per collision is $`k_B\mathrm{\Delta }T\xi `$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ is the temperature difference between the components, and $`\xi =4m_1m_2/(m_1+m_2)^2`$ is the reduction factor due to the mass difference ($`\xi =0.19`$ for a Li-Cs mixture). The heat capacity of a harmonically trapped atomic gas is $`3k_B`$ per atom, leading to an average number of $`3/\xi `$ collisions per Li atom (assuming $`N_{\mathrm{Cs}}N_{\mathrm{Li}}`$) needed for thermalization Mosk et al. (2001); Delannoy et al. (2001); Arndt et al. (1997). The thermalization rate is related to the collision rate per Li atom $`\gamma _{\mathrm{coll}}`$ by

$$\gamma _{\mathrm{therm}}=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }T}\frac{d}{dt}\mathrm{\Delta }T=\frac{\xi }{3}\frac{N_{\mathrm{Cs}}+N_{\mathrm{Li}}}{N_{\mathrm{Cs}}}\gamma _{\mathrm{coll}}$$
(2)
From the measured thermalization rate we calculate $`\gamma _{\mathrm{coll}}=7(1)`$ s-1.

Surprisingly, the Li atoms have as high a collision rate with Cs as the Cs atoms themselves, even though the Cs-Cs collisions have the maximum $`s`$-wave cross-section. The explanation for this lies in the small unitary cross section and the low thermal velocity for Cs, both a result of the high mass. The collision-enhancing effects of the low Li mass compensate the loss of thermalization efficiency that is caused by the mass ratio factor $`\xi `$. The inferred cross-section for Li-Cs collisions is $`\sigma _{\mathrm{LiCs}}=0.8(4)\times 10^{11}`$ cm2, where the main limitation of the accuracy is the determination of the absolute densities. Assuming $`s`$-wave scattering dominates, we find an $`s`$-wave scattering length $`|a_{\mathrm{LiCs}}|=(\sigma _{\mathrm{LiCs}}/4\pi )^{1/2}=180_{50}^{+40}a_0`$. This value is smaller than the inverse of the wavevector $`k`$ at thermal energies, but for superthermal collisions, such as play a role in evaporation, one would have to take into account the energy dependence of the $`s`$-wave cross section Arndt et al. (1997). For thermalizing collisions we estimate only a minor influence in our case. Adequate theory for thermalization and evaporation with energy-dependent cross-sections is still lacking.

In a trap of finite depth, thermalizing collisions lead to evaporation of particles, as atoms are scattered into untrapped states in the high-energy tail of the thermal distribution. This evaporation is practically absent in two cases: if the temperature is much lower than the trap depth (as is the case for pure Cs samples in our trap) or if the collision rate is extremely small (as is the case for pure Li samples in our trap). The thermalizing Li-Cs collisions enable, besides cooling, evaporation of the Li from the trap. The Li evaporates even under conditions where the Cs evaporation is negligible for two reasons: The Li trap depth is smaller and the collision rate for Li atoms exceeds that for Cs atoms. Remarkably, since a Li atom needs energy to evaporate from the trap, this sympathetic evaporation of the Li represents transfer of thermal energy from a cold (Cs) to a hot (Li) ensemble.

The evaporation probability per collision in an ensemble where the Cs and Li are thermalized is, assuming energy-independent cross-sections, $`P_{\mathrm{evap}}\eta \mathrm{exp}(\eta )`$, where $`\eta =U_0^{\mathrm{Li}}/k_BT`$ Mosk et al. (2001). In numerical simulations for the relevant mass ratio and $`\eta `$ we find an atom loss rate

$$\gamma _{\mathrm{evap}}0.5\eta e^\eta \gamma _{\mathrm{coll}}.$$
(3)
In particular, the simulations confirm that $`P_{\mathrm{evap}}`$ is almost independent of the mass ratio as long as $`\eta >2/\xi `$. In Fig. 3 the evolution of the number of trapped Li atoms in thermal contact with Cs is shown for different temperatures. The inset shows $`\gamma _{\mathrm{evap}}`$ as a function of temperature. We fit the model of Eq. (3) to the data, with $`\gamma _{\mathrm{coll}}`$ as the only free parameter, and obtain a fit at $`\gamma _{\mathrm{coll}}50`$ s-1, which results in an effective cross-section for evaporation of about $`5\times 10^{11}`$ cm2, with an estimated uncertainty of about a factor $`3`$. This is of the same order of magnitude as the thermalization cross-section, but contributions due to energy-dependence of the cross-section (e.g., the onset of $`p`$-wave scattering) cannot be excluded.

Sympathetic evaporation poses a limit to thermalization in shallow traps: a considerable fraction of the atoms is lost during the first thermalization time for traps with $`U_0/k_B\overline{T}<W(3/\xi )`$ ($`\overline{T}`$ is the average temperature, $`W`$ is the product logarithm function). For the Li-Cs mass ratio, thermalization without significant loss is possible if $`\eta >4`$. In the initial few collisions, the Li distribution is far from thermal equilibrium with the Cs, and the evaporation loss cannot be estimated analytically. In numerical simulations we see a small loss of Li atoms in the initial few collisions, which is $`<10\%`$ if $`T_{\mathrm{Cs}}/U_0^{\mathrm{Li}}<0.1`$, in qualitative agreement with the experimental data in fig.3.

The usefulness of sympathetic cooling depends strongly on the timescale of thermalization. To reach the quantum degenerate regime in our trap geometry, the temperature of the Li gas must be decreased by two orders of magnitude from the initial temperature after loading, which takes $`5`$ thermalization times, assuming the Cs is optically cooled to be always much below the Li temperature. This means only an average number of $`50`$ Li-Cs collisions are needed for sympathetic cooling, compared with more than 1000 Li-Li collisions for evaporative cooling of Li to BEC.

The heat which the Li transfers to the Cs can be removed by repeated pulsed optical cooling. This is more efficient than continuous cooling since the light-induced inelastic collisions can act only during the short ($`20`$ ms) cooling pulses, while thermalization continues over longer time. In this way, we have been able to reach Li temperatures down to 25 $`\mu `$K. The main limitation for reaching lower temperatures is the base temperature of the Cs polarization-gradient cooling, which appears to be limited by the trapping potential and the high Cs density. Different optical cooling schemes, or operation at lower Cs density, may provide lower Cs temperatures and ultimately an evaporation-free route to quantum degeneracy of both the fermionic and bosonic lithium isotopes.

Another intriguing aspect of the Li-Cs mixture is the formation of cold heteronuclear molecules. By loss-free sympathetic cooling, we reach densities of $`2\times 10^{10}`$ cm-3 and $`2\times 10^{11}`$ cm-3 for lithium and cesium, respectively, which provide good starting conditions for photoassociation experiments Masnou-Seeuws and Pillet (2001). Once the cold molecules are formed they may be stored in the quasi-electrostatic trap together with the atomic gases as a first step towards cold quantum chemistry. In addition, the large electric dipole moment of the LiCs dimer can be used to manipulate and control internal and external degrees of freedom of the molecules.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are indebted to D. Schwalm for generous support in many respects, and we acknowledge stimulating discussions with H. A. Weidenmüller and A. N. Salgueiro. The work of A.M. is supported by a Marie-Curie fellowship from the European Community programme IHP under contract number CT-1999-00316. The project is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (WE 2661/1-1).


text:
# Topology and Low Lying Fermion Modes

## 1 Introduction

Low lying fermionic modes are believed to play an important rôle in QCD. This review covers some of the recent developments in the study of the relationship of low lying fermion modes with topology in QCD. The study of topology in general is not covered here. In particular, fermionic eigenmodes (including zero modes) are important in 3 areas discussed here: (1) low lying modes in particle spectrum, (2) low lying modes in global topology (e.g., chiral fermions), (3) low lying modes in the implementation of chiral fermions. The use of fermionic modes to probe for possible mechanism of chiral symmetry breaking in QCD are possible. The recent advent of the construction of chiral fermions on the lattice are crucial in new studies.

## 2 Spectrum

### 2.1 Eigenmodes in Spectrum

One expects low lying fermionic eigenmodes to be important in quark propagation because they should dominate the spectral sum for small enough quark masses. By computing some number of the lowest lying eigenvectors of the Dirac operator one can expect that most of the physics of the quark propagator can be obtained. To make these statements more precise, an example is given of the computation of the $`\eta ^{}`$ mass. Consider the spectral decomposition of a quark propagator – for simplicity use a hermitian form of the Dirac operator

$$H=\gamma _5D_w,H\psi _i(x)=\lambda _i\psi _i(x)$$
(1)
where $`D_w`$ is the standard Wilson-Dirac operator, $`H`$ is the hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator and the $`\psi _i(x)`$ are the eigenvectors with eigenvalue $`\lambda _i`$. Then the spectral representation of the quark propagator is

$$H^1(x,y)=\underset{i}{}\frac{\psi _i(x)\psi _i^{}(y)}{\lambda _i}.$$
(2)
JLAB-THY-01-33

The correlation function for the $`\eta ^{}`$ involves a disconnected piece which is typically stochastically estimated. A possible improvement is to truncate the spectral sum with the lowest few eigenvectors (which should give the largest contribution) and stochastically estimate the remainder. The idea is to represent $`H=_iH_i+H_{}`$ where $`H_{}`$ are the remaining modes. Then in all relations where $`H^1`$ enters, find all the terms involving only $`_iH_i`$ and the cross terms involving $`H_{}`$. Since the eigenvectors contain the full information (in the subspace) of the propagator (not just emanating from a single point), impose translation symmetry by summing across the lattice for the lowest modes. This sum gives a volume times more statistics for the modes (hopefully) dominating the correlation function. For the remaining terms involving $`H_{}^1`$ use a stochastic estimator. The linear system solutions involved in this latter step are accelerated since the condition number is lowered from projecting out the lowest eigenmodes.

How many eigenmodes are needed? The scale should be set by the chiral condensate, hence the number should grow at least like the volume.

Instead of computing the lowest eigenmodes, deflation can be used to compute the eigenvectors at the time of the linear system solution thus accelerating the stochastic estimation .

One obvious question is whether to use for Wilson-like fermions the hermitian or non-hermitian operator. A comparison of the truncated spectral sum of the pion propagator shows poor convergence in the non-hermitian version when adding more eigenvectors . The hermitian version shows slow but even convergence. For chiral fermions, the choice is irrelevant.

The Wuppertal group has used the truncated spectral version of the hermitian quark propagator for a calculation of the $`\eta ^{}`$ correlation function using $`N_f=2`$ dynamical Wilson fermions . A similar calculation was made for staggered fermions . One goal is to determine the topological charge dependence of the $`\eta ^{}`$ mass. Using a fermionic definition of the charge and binning configurations according to $`Q`$, the effective masses show a $`Q`$ dependence as seen in Fig. 1. They find the truncated spectral sum method competitive with stochastic estimation for their large quark masses. The spectral sum method will not suffer dramatically going to smaller quark masses, however. The truncation of the spectral sum is evident in the not very cosh-like behavior of the $`\eta ^{}`$ correlation function. The calculation could be made exact by including the extra stochastic estimation.

While not using a fermionic method, a calculation by the UKQCD collaboration of the flavor singlet mesons with $`N_f=2`$ dynamical $`𝒪(a)`$ improved Wilson fermions has been made . While statistically noisy, the OZI rule of suppressed singlet – non-singlet mass splittings is seen like in the quenched case .

## 3 Topology

### 3.1 Topological Susceptibility

The topological susceptibility is intimately tied with low lying fermion modes and is an important probe of the QCD vacuum relating to the $`U_A(1)`$ problem. Pure gauge calculations of the topological susceptibility are consistent with the Witten-Veneziano prediction . Another important test is to determine how the susceptibility depends on the quark mass. There are several recent large calculations of the topological susceptibility using $`N_f=2`$ dynamical fermions, from CPPACS (mean-field clover) , UKQCD (non-pertubative clover) , SESAM/T$`\chi `$L (Wilson) , and thin-linked staggered . By continuum arguments, the susceptibility is expected to behave like

$$\chi (m)=\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }m}{N_f}(1+𝒪(m))=\frac{m_\pi ^2F_\pi ^2}{2N_f}(1+𝒪(m)).$$
(3)
Only the UKQCD calculation claims to unambiguously see the expected decrease of $`\chi (m)`$ by lowering $`m`$. A comparison of the various results at finite lattice spacing requires taking into account discretization errors . Naïve linear extrapolations in $`m_\pi ^2`$ (fixing $`F_\pi `$) give poor fits, suggesting that discretization effects are large. Besides large quark masses used there are other sources of systematic errors including the definition of $`\chi (m)`$ which involves contact terms and mixing with the unit operator . For a chiral fermion action with a fermionic definition of $`\chi (m)`$ these counter-terms are absent only in the $`N_f=2`$ chiral limit. They could be avoided by using a finite-volume scaling technique  for small $`m`$ applied to $`\chi (m)`$.

### 3.2 Quenched Pathologies

Another area low lying eigenmodes play an important role are in quenched pathologies. How well is QCD described by an effective chiral theory of interacting particles (e.g., pions in chiral dynamics)? Suppressing the fermion determinant leads to well known pathologies as studied in chiral perturbation theory . The pathologies are manifested in the $`\eta ^{}`$ propagator missing vacuum contributions. A new dimensionful parameter is induced in $`\chi \mathrm{PT}`$. Power counting rules are changed leading to new chiral logs and powers terms. The predicted pathologies for the pion mass were studied with Wilson fermions by CPPACS . There are recent studies with Wilson fermions in the Modified Quenched Approximation  and using the overlap chiral fermion operator .

The pion mass was one of the first observables studied for the effects of quenched chiral logs; however, it is not necessarily the easiest place to look. The additional quenched logs appear in the pion mass from the missing loop contributions in the $`\eta ^{}`$ correlator. In , the unique piece of the $`\eta ^{}`$ correlator – the hairpin – was computed directly and compared to quenched $`\chi \mathrm{PT}`$. Fig. 2 shows the correlator along with the fit holding $`m_\pi `$ fixed to the simple mass insertion formula given by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d^4p}{(2\pi )^4}e^{ipx}\text{Tr}\gamma _5G(x,x)\text{Tr}\gamma _5G(0,0)}=`$ (4)
$`f_P{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p^2+m_\pi ^2}}m_0^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p^2+m_\pi ^2}}f_p`$ (5)
The correlator is well described by this form with the only free parameter the $`\eta ^{}`$ mass insertion $`m_0^2`$. The pseudoscalar decay constant also shows the expected quenched artifact given by

$$f_p^{quenched}=\left(\frac{1}{m_\pi ^2}\right)^\delta \stackrel{~}{f}_P$$
(6)
while the axial vector decay constant does not show such a divergence. After considering various observables, the overall determination of $`\delta =0.065`$(13) compared to $`\delta =0.18`$ in Ref..

In Ref. , the overlap-Dirac operator was computed on a $`20^4`$ lattice at a lattice spacing of $`a=0.13`$fm. Quenched chiral logs were observed in $`m_\pi ^2`$ and $`f_P`$ giving $`\delta 0.15`$ to $`0.4`$.

A dramatic example of quenching is exhibited in the non-singlet scalar particle . For the $`a_0`$, there is an $`a_0\eta \pi `$ intermediate state as seen in Fig. 3. The vacuum contribution (a) is missing in the quenched approximation along with the vacuum bubbles on the hairpin piece (c), but a remaining hairpin piece (b) is present. The remaining hairpin piece has a quadratic divergence coming from the three pion propagators present. This quenched artifact causes a loss of positivity of the propagator as seen in Fig. 4. The fit is to the 1-loop bubble term as computed in quenched $`\chi \mathrm{PT}`$ and is in good agreement with the data . The difficulty in this Wilson fermion (MQA) approach is the mixing of would-be zero modes and non-zero modes and in particular what are the contributions from each part. For example, is the lack of positivity a zero mode effect? It is not expected to be, but more will be discussed on zero modes in the next section.

While the $`a_0`$ quenched artifact can be viewed as the remnants of a decay, a true decay requires full QCD. The MILC collaboration has used an improved staggered fermion action in a $`N_f=2+1`$ calculation of the $`a_0`$ decay . Evidence is found for a level splitting in the $`a_0`$ mass and an $`\eta +\pi `$ state.

### 3.3 Condensate

Several model calculations indicate the quenched chiral condensate diverges at $`T=0`$ (e.g., Ref. ). Damgaard , shows via quenched $`\chi `$PT that the first finite volume correction to the chiral condensate diverges logarithmically in the 4-volume. Some simple relations for susceptibilities of pseudoscalar and scalar fields can be derived in the continuum and on the lattice with a chiral fermion action (see for example Ref.). Define $`\pi `$ and $`a_0`$ fields by

$$\pi ^a(x)=i\overline{\psi }(x)\gamma _5\tau ^a\psi (x),a_0(x)=\overline{\psi }(x)\tau ^a\psi (x).$$
(7)
Then the $`\pi `$ and $`a_0`$ susceptibilities are given by

$`{\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}\pi ^a(x)\pi ^a(0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{m}}\overline{\psi }\psi `$ (8)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}a_0^a(x)a_0^a(0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dm}}\overline{\psi }\psi _A.`$ (9)
Note in the quenched approximation the $`a_0`$ susceptibility is given by the derivative of the chiral condensate. These relations are true including and excluding global topology terms.

The Banks-Casher relation on a finite lattice is

$$\frac{1}{V}\underset{x}{}\overline{\psi }(x)\psi (x)=\frac{|Q|}{mV}+\frac{1}{V}\underset{n}{}f(\lambda _n,m),$$
(10)
where $`f`$ is some unspecified function of the non-zero eigenvalues. One sees the global topology term is irrelevant in the thermodynamic limit. Taking the appropriate limits the usual relation is recovered

$$\underset{m0}{lim}\underset{V\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{V}\underset{x}{}\overline{\psi }(x)\psi (x)=\pi \rho (0^+).$$
(11)
If the chiral condensate diverges without the topology contribution, the $`a_0`$ susceptibility must be negative and diverge. This divergence requires large enough physical volume to be apparent. Difficulties in the past include: (1) mixing of (would-be) zero and non-zero modes with staggered fermions, (2) mixing of topology and non-zero modes and contact terms with Wilson fermions, (3) until recently chiral fermion studies not on large enough lattices, e.g., random matrix model tests, spectrum tests, direct measurement tests. More direct tests of the divergence of the condensate will come from thermodynamics.

### 3.4 Thermodynamics

The deconfined phase of SU(2) quenched gauge theory, $`L^3\times 4`$, $`\beta =2.4`$, above $`N_t=4`$ transition was studied using the overlap-Dirac operator . A study of the build-up of the density of eigenvalues near zero, $`\rho (E)`$ indicates the quenched chiral condensate (without topology) is diverging . Define the density of zero eigenvalues $`\rho (E)`$ from the derivative of the cumulative distribution

$`N(E,V)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\#}(\lambda >0)\mathrm{where}\lambda <E`$ (12)
$`\rho (E)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dE}}\underset{V\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{N(E,V)}{V}}.`$ (13)
As seen in Fig. 5, the cumulative distribution appears to continually rise and track line on a log plot – hence the derivative (the condensate) diverges with increasing lattice size.

A diverging condensate indicates the spectral gap is closed. However, a decrease in the topological susceptibility is seen when crossing to $`T>0`$. Has the quenched approximation distorted the vacuum so much that it has invalidated continuum arguments as to the nature of the $`T>0`$ phase transition or mechanisms of confinement? The claim is no – there is merely a large accumulation of near zero fermion modes. However, models predict changes in the vacuum structure crossing to the deconfined and (supposedly) chirally restored phase and low lying fermion modes can again be used to probe the vacuum.

### 3.5 QCD Vacuum

It is generally accepted that the QCD vacuum is characterized by strongly fluctuating gluon fields with clustered or lumpy distribution of topological charge and action density. Confinement mechanisms are typically ascribed to a dual-Meissner effect – condensation of singular gauge configurations such as monopoles or vortices (see review Ref. ). Disagreements of various models include: (1) instanton models provide chiral symmetry breaking, but not confinement, (2) center vortices provide confinement and chiral symmetry breaking, (3) composite nature of instantons (linked by monopoles - calorons) at $`T>0`$. A different approach relying on properties of gauge field correlators and not specific gauge field types describes a large class of non-perturbative phenomena .

Singular gauge fields are probably intrinsic to SU(3) (e.g., not just Gribov copies associated with gauge fixing). These singularities impose boundary conditions on quark and gluon fluctuations which moderates the QCD action. For example, instantons have locked chromo-electric and magnetic fields $`E^a=\pm B^a`$ that decrease in strength in a certain way.

In a hot configuration one expects huge contributions to the action beyond such special type of field configurations. However, there could possibly be domains of (near) field locking. In recent calculations , these domains have been shown to be sufficient to produce chiral symmetry breaking, and confinement (area law).

### 3.6 Instanton Dominance in QCD?

Witten has argued  that topological charge fluctuations are clearly involved in solving the $`U_A(1)`$ problem. However, the dynamics of the $`\eta ^{}`$ mass generation need not be associated with semiclassical tunneling events. In particular, large vacuum fluctuations from confinement also produce topological fluctuations. Large $`N_c`$ arguments are incompatible with instanton based phenomology - namely instantons produce and $`\eta ^{}`$ mass that vanishes exponentially, but from large $`N_c`$ chiral dynamics suggest that $`m_\eta ^{}^21/N_c`$. Witten speculated that the $`\eta ^{}`$ mass comes from the coupling of $`U_A(1)`$ anomaly to topological charge fluctuations and not instantons.

### 3.7 Local Chirality

A test of Witten’s conjecture was put forward with a local measure of chirality of non-zero modes . The relative orientation of the left and right handed components of low lying eigenmodes is used

$$\mathrm{tan}\left(\frac{\pi }{4}(1+X(x))\right)=\sqrt{\frac{\psi _L^{}(x)\psi _L(x)}{\psi _R^{}(x)\psi _R(x)}}.$$
(14)
Here $`X(x)`$ is a site dependent measure of the local chirality. A completely chiral state (an exact zero mode) have for some sites $`X(x)=\pm 1`$. These regions of local chirality come from (near) locking of the chromo-electic and magnetic ($`E`$ and $`B`$) fields. Wilson fermions were used as a test , and since the chirality appeared random the claim was there is no instanton dominance in the QCD vacuum. A flurry of papers using improved improved actions followed .

The chirality histogram for the overlap-Dirac operator is shown in Fig. 6. Shown is the histogram of $`X(x)`$ for 2.5% of the sites with the largest $`\overline{\psi }\psi `$ at three physical volumes keeping only the lowest two non-zero modes. Keeping more small non-zero modes indicates a finite density of such chiral peaked modes which may survive the continuum limit . The mixing (trough) in the histograms are not related to dislocations. Namely, comparing histograms from different gauge actions and vastly different gauge field dislocation content appear identical indicating mixing comes from large sized eigenmodes. In addition, no significant peaking was found in a study of $`U(1)`$ in the confined phase where instantons are not present .

These results are all consistent with instanton phenomology; however, more generally they are consistent with suitable regions of (nearly) locked E & B fields.

### 3.8 Large $`N_c`$

Why is there a concern of reconciling the large $`N_c`$ limit of QCD with studies of the QCD vacuum? The large $`N_c`$ description of QCD is quite successful phenomenologically. It forms a basis for the valence quark model and OZI rule, and well describes hadron spectra and matrix elements. The Witten-Veneziano prediction for relating the topological susceptibility and meson masses may well be reached at $`N_c=3`$.

How do gauge theories approach the limit? The prediction is that for a smooth limit, one should keep a constant t’Hooft coupling, $`\lambda =g^2N`$ as $`N_c\mathrm{}`$. Is the limit realized quickly? Fig. 7 shows a test for the quenched gluonic topological susceptibility . The large $`N_c`$ limit is apparently realized quickly (seen more definitely in a 2+1 study ) and is consistent with the predicted $`1/N_c^2`$ scaling .

Revisiting the issue of local chirality, it was found that the amount of peaking observed for example in Fig. 6 decreases at a fixed scale set by the string-tension as $`N_c`$ increases from 3 to 4 . This disappearance of local chirality is consistent with large (instanton-like) modes disappearing. In fact, Witten  predicts a strong exponential suppression of instanton number density. Teper  argued that including combinatorial factors for the measure could compensate for the exponential suppression leading to a sharp cutoff of the size distribution for small modes, but non-zero above the cutoff. However, given this limited step in increasing $`N_c`$ the decrease in local chirality is consistent with the large $`N_c`$ predictions. More work is needed to sort out contributions to the size distribution from dislocations. In any case, the large $`N_c`$ limit is an interesting place to gain additional understanding of the QCD vacuum. Chiral fermions have been essential in these studies.

### 3.9 Eigenmode Dominance

How much are hadron correlators dominated by low eigenmodes? In recent work  comparisons were made of the truncated and full spectral decomposition of various correlation functions using the (APE smeared) overlap-Dirac operator. The lowest 20 modes (including zero modes) were computed. These new results with a chiral fermion action draw some of the same conclusions as older works . Namely, for small quark masses the non-singlet pseudoscalar correlator (pion) is well approximated by the truncated spectral sum. The non-singlet vector correlator only saturates at long time distances. These results are consistent with instanton phenomology.

The QCD sum rule approach parameterizes short distance correlators via the operator product expansion and long distance by condensates. There are large non-pertubative physics in non-singlet pseudoscalar and scalar channels. With the overlap-Dirac operator above , the truncated spectral sum for the point-point propagators shows the appropriate attractive channel for the pseudoscalar and repulsive channel for the vector predicted by instanton phenomology and consistent with the Wilson case .

$`R_i(x)=\mathrm{\Pi }_i(x)/\mathrm{\Pi }_i^0(x),\mathrm{\Pi }_i(x)=\text{Tr}J_i^a(x)J_i^a(0),`$ (15)
$`J_i^a(x)=\overline{\psi }(x)\tau ^a\mathrm{\Gamma }(i)\psi (x)`$ (16)
Fig. 8 shows the ratio $`R_i(x)`$ for the full and truncated pseudoscalar case with the free propagator for different quark masses. Saturation requires few modes for the lightest masses. One caveat is the use of APE smearing for the gauge links which could adversely affect the short distance part especially for heavier masses.

### 3.10 Screening Correlators

In the high temperature phase of QCD, one expects restoration of chiral symmetry exhibited in the limit $`m_qa0`$ by the equivalence of (non-singlet) screening correlators

$$C_S(z)=C_{PS}(z),C_V(z)=C_{AV}(z)$$
(17)
summed over the dimensions orthogonal to the $`z`$ direction. A quenched calculation  with the overlap-Dirac operator at the $`N_t=4`$ transition shows good agreement in the vector (V) and axial-vector (AV) channels whereas previous $`N_f=0`$ & 2 calculations did not show agreement in the scalar (S) and pseudoscalar (PS) channels. The zero mode contributions tend to spoil Eq. 17 but are a finite volume artifact. One can subtract them out directly or cancel them by comparing $`(C_S(Z)C_{PS}(z))/2`$ to $`C_{PS}(z)`$ without zeromodes. The agreement without the zero modes tends to support the conclusion that chiral symmetry is restored and parity doubling is seen. However, the lack of a diverging chiral condensate seen in Ref.  probably from a small physical spatial volume indicates that increasing the size could break the parity doubling once again. More work to resolve this issue is needed.

### 3.11 Localization

With chiral fermions, one can test the issue of localization of fermionic eigenmodes and can possibly compare to localization of gluonic quantities. The latter is however strongly affected by dislocations in the gauge fields forcing the need for cooling or smearing. This unfortunately can affect part of what one was hoping to test. However, fermionic studies  provide evidence for localization.

## 4 Chiral Fermions

While low eigenmodes of chiral fermions have been discussed, the implementation of the chiral fermion operators is strongly affected by low lying modes. For recent reviews of the overlap and domain wall (DWF) constructions see Refs. . In particular, the five-dimensional domain wall operator is equivalent to the four-dimensional overlap after taking the extent of the fifth dimensional to infinity. The overlap operator has the form $`D_{overlap}(0)=(1+\gamma _5\epsilon (H(M)))/2`$ where $`H(M)`$ could be the super-critical hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator with mass $`M`$. The numerical implementation of $`\epsilon (H(M))`$ whether by an extra dimension via DWF or some rational approximation is adversely affected by small eigenvalues of $`H(M)`$. The deviation of $`\epsilon (H(M))`$ from $`\pm 1`$ induces chiral symmetry breaking . In both the overlap and DWF case one can project out some number of low lying eigenmodes and correct the $`\epsilon (H(M))`$ to $`\pm 1`$ .

The issue of whether there is a large number or even a finite density of small (zero) eigenvalues of $`H(M)`$ is a technical problem related to Wilson-like gauge actions since it can be shown that given bounds on a plaquette from unity there is also a corresponding bound on $`\lambda _{min}(H(M))`$ . There are classes of configurations not satisfying these bounds that induce exponentially localized zero-modes of $`H(M)`$ which occur with non-zero density in a Wilson-like gauge action, and that have been observed to rapidly decrease with coupling . The particularly troublesome modes are from dislocations of the gauge fields. The density of these modes is greatly affected by changing the gauge action and lowering plaquette fluctuations . In practice, the effects on $`\epsilon (H(M))`$ can be fixed by projection or using a weaker coupling or both making the question of a finite density somewhat moot. However, for a dynamical calculation in the chiral limit the zero level crossings of $`H(M)`$ should be repelled from crossing at $`M`$ of the simulation, hence no ambiguity in the construction of a chiral fermion.

At very strong coupling a new phenomena emerges where the density of the dislocations becomes so large that the single flavor region in $`M`$ merges with the doubler region ($`M>2`$). Strong coupling and mean-field calculations differ over this mixing , and the approach to the continuum limit.

## 5 Conclusions

Low lying fermionic modes provide a powerful probe of the vacuum. There are many studies using fermionic modes in quenched theories. Obviously more studies are needed with dynamical fermions.

This work was supported by DOE contract DE-AC05-84ER40150 under which the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF).