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# Galactic Structure and Radioactivity Source Distributions

## 1 Introduction

The opening of the gamma ray window presents us with the possibility of tracing star formation (SF) on a Galactic scale via short-lived isotopes produced by supernovae (SN). An example is the isotope 26Al, whose half-life is short (0.75Myr) and is believed to be primarily produced by Type II SN, with progenitors of mass $`>10M_{}`$, and WR stars of mass $`>20M_{}`$. The correlation between the distribution of 26Al and SF activity derives from the brief lifetimes of these massive stars, typically shorter than 20Myr, and the short half-life of 26Al, the latter insuring that the emitting material does not have time to turbulently mix throughout the ISM. Empirical support is found in the observed correlation between 26Al emission and millimeter radiation (Knödlseder et al., 1999b), while 26Al emission has been used to place theoretical constraints on the global SF rate (Knödlseder, 1999a; Timmes, Diehl, & Hartmann, 1997).

To date the only gamma ray all-sky survey available is that from the Compten Gamma-Ray Observatory, which produced a low resolution sky map of MeV radiation showing irregular emission along the Galactic plane. In the future these observations will be supplemented by the INTEGRAL mission. The purpose of this paper is to give a description of the anticipated Galactic emission from short-lived isotopes, as seen from the Sun’s position in the Milky Way, and as inferred from a model of the Galactic distribution of dust and stars.

## 2 Star formation on a Galactic scale

Spiral arms can be regarded as star formation fronts. While SF does not take place exclusively in spiral arms, they can be regarded as the principal sites of SF activity in most disk galaxies. Indeed, it is for this reason that they are visible at optical wavelengths as complexes of HII regions. Our position within the Milky Way impedes a complete mapping of the it’s spiral arms, but observations of Galactic HII regions have allowed a partial tracing of the spiral arms on our side of the Galaxy (Georgelin & Georgelin, 1976; Taylor & Cordes, 1993)

This tracing of the Milky Way’s spiral arms is found to trace well the far-infrared (FIR) emission associated with spiral arms (Drimmel & Spergel, 2001). The Galactic FIR emission was observed by the COBE satellite, and is due to interstellar dust, entrained in the gaseous component of the Galactic disk. The time scales for Galactic dust production and redistribution is considerably longer than the dynamical time scales that produces the concentration of gas and dust into the spiral arms, making the dust a good tracer of the azimuthal variation of the gas as well. It is therefore no surprise that a tracing of the spiral arms based on the location of HII regions can be used to model the FIR emission, since SF preferentially occurs where the gas density is highest.

For our purposes here I adopt the nonaxisymmetric component of the dust density model, used to reproduce the COBE FIR observations, as a tentative model of the probable flux density from a short-lived isotope produced by massive stars, such as 26Al. For details of the model, please refer to Drimmel & Spergel (2001). The nonaxisymmetric component is shown in Figure 1, showing clearly the spiral arms. The reader should also note another feature near the Sun, a small dust lane that corresponds to the Orion “arm”.

I have argued above that the nonaxisymmetric component of the dust distribution is logically associated with SF, so using it to describe 26Al emission is strictly valid only if SF and 26Al production are contemporaneous, as Galactic differential rotation will shear the distribution of newly born stars with respect to the spiral arm pattern. However, as the lifetimes of 26Al producers are much shorter than the period of Galactic rotation, the resulting azimuthal offsets are negligible over most of the Galaxy, as shown in Figure 2.

While we can have some confidence that azimuthal variation of the dust should correspond to that of 26Al emission, we are left with the question of the radial variation. A priori, it is not obvious that the radial variation in the dust and 26Al will be the same, one being the product of past SF and dynamical evolution, while the other is a result of current SF. Nevertheless it is worth mentioning that the adopted model for the radial variation of the dust density in the spiral arms is of the same form as the free electron density associated with the arms (Taylor & Cordes, 1993). As this electron density is a consequence of the ionizing radiation of young OB stars, it should also reflect the radial variation of SF activity.

## 3 Expected sky emission from short-lived isotopes

Having a presumed three-dimensional model of the 26Al at our disposal, it is now possible to produce a sky map of the expected emission from this isotope, the flux density being proportional to the density of the emitting material. Another approximation made is similar to that made for the FIR, that at the wavelengths (energies) in question, the Galaxy is optically thin. Figure 3 shows the resulting sky map. Several features are worth pointing out in this figure. First, within 90 degrees of the Galactic center the spiral arms are seen as emission peaks along the Galactic plane. Particularly visible are the tangents at Galactic longitudes $``$75 and $``$50 degrees, corresponding to the Sagittarius-Carina and Scutum arms respectively. At Galactic longitudes of approximately 90. and $``$100. two more bright spots are notable for their extent in Galactic latitudes; these are due to the local Orion “arm”, a structure important in our sky only because of our proximity to it. Lastly, emission between $`\pm 90`$ degrees is attributed to the Perseus arm, whose scale height is significantly larger than the other spiral arms. Another nonaxisymmetric structure that is less obvious in the sky map is the Galactic warp, which causes the Perseus arm to deviate from the Galactic plane.

To better see the variation in the Galactic plane Figure 4 shows the emission profile at $`b=0`$. The spiral arms are easily seen by the sawtooth pattern they produce in the profile. This characteristic profile was also predicted by Prantzos (1993) with a very similar model, using the same spiral arm geometry. I also point out that the incompleteness of the spiral arm map on the other side of the Galaxy is not important for producing the sky maps, as their small scale height insure that they remain unresolved.

## 4 Summary

Using a model based on FIR observations, a predicted map of the emission from short-lived isotopes has been presented at resolutions comparable to the future INTEGRAL mission though, not being a survey mission, it will not produce such a sky map. This model is parametric, using smooth mathematical functions to describe the distribution of the emitting material, and is thus much simpler than reality. This can be immediately seen by comparing Figure 3 with the COMPTEL sky map at 1.8MeV (Knödlseder et al., 1999c, or see http://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cossc/comptel/). However, the major features in the map at Galactic longitudes $`>30`$ degrees are reproduced on a qualitative level. This includes the location of the spiral arm tangents, the two bright spots attributable to the local Orion “arm”, and the contribution of the Perseus arm to emission toward the Galactic anticenter with its relatively large range in Galactic latitude.

No attempt has been made here to fit the model to actual gamma-ray data; for this the reader is referred to Knödlseder et al. (1996), who uses the same spiral arm geometry, adopting the free-electron density model of Taylor & Cordes (1993) as a template. Perhaps the only significant differences between this model and the one presented here is a reduction factor on the Sagittarius-Carina arm, the Galactic warp and a flair in the spiral arm scale height.

As a worker in the field of Galactic structure, preparing this report underlined for me the value of gamma ray mapping missions, as it provides an avenue for observing and identifying the distribution of SF regions on a large scale. This is important for untangling the contribution from bright young sources which contaminates other wavelengths and frustrates efforts at mapping the mass distribution in the Galactic disk.


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# Proximity effect and strong coupling superconductivity in nanostructures built with an STM

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## Abstract

We present high resolution tunneling spectroscopy data at very low temperatures on superconducting nanostructures of lead built with an STM. By applying magnetic fields, superconductivity is restricted to length scales of the order of the coherence length. We measure the tunneling conductance and analyze the phonon structure and the low energy DOS. We demonstrate the influence of the geometry of the system on the magnetic field dependence of the tunneling density of states, which is gapless in a large range of fields. The behavior of the features in the tunneling conductance associated to phonon modes are explained within current models.

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During the last years there has been an increasing interest on the understanding of the physical properties of the nanoscopic size objects. This has been promoted by the rapid development of new experimental tools that permit a direct access to the realm of the nanoworld. One of the most widely known is the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which permits the creation of metallic nanostructures that can be at the same time imaged and characterized in situ . STM operation at low temperatures has produced new and interesting results, many of them in the field of superconductivity .

Recently, and using a low temperature STM, we have studied transport through nanosized metallic necks. In the case of lead we have shown that it is possible to form a neck of a few hundreds of nanometer length which connects the two bulk electrodes and which can be described as two opposed truncated cones. Application of an external magnetic field H at temperatures below the superconducting critical temperature of the bulk creates a very singular nanostructure when H is higher than bulk critical field, Hc. The bulk electrodes transit to the resistive state, and superconductivity is confined to the neck. The transport properties are governed by the diameter of the smallest cross section, which can be changed in a highly reproducible way from the large point contact to the single atom point contact regimes. A detailed Ginzburg-Landau analysis has been done by the authors of  to examine the order parameter in this system.

Here we present new tunneling conductance measurements in these connecting necks as a function of the magnetic field done by breaking the neck in-situ into two parts, after its preparation (described below). This is a singular system with two superconducting ”hills” ending in a sharp tip of atomic dimensions (fig.1). As the whole procedure is done at low temperatures (about 0.5K), we can neglect atomic diffusion so that the geometry of the system is not significantly modified when breaking. The conductance is in the tunneling limit and is proportional to the convolution of the densities of states (DOS) of both parts of the broken neck. In this way we gain direct experimental access to the DOS of a nanoscopic structure with applied and fundamental interest. Note that it has the same form as two STM tips, one opposed in front of the other (fig.1). With an in-situ positioning x-y table we can in principle transport one part of the neck to another place to use it as a superconducting STM tip that probes a given sample . This is of major interest because it opens the possibility for new applications as local Josephson spectroscopy or spin-polarized tunneling, which needs a magnetic field. Other methods have been successfully used to make superconducting STM tips  but, to our knowledge, no data are available under magnetic fields.

We use a conventional STM set-up in a 3He cryostat. The sample and tip (both of Pb) are cleaned by a mechanical method and mounted on the STM which is cooled down as fast as possible (about five minutes) in order to minimize the formation of oxydes on the surface. The fabrication consists of a series of repeated indentations done in-situ at low temperatures, as described in previous work . The neck is broken to reach the tunneling regime, where the estimated work function is of the order of several eV , indicating that we have a clean vacuum tunnel junction between both parts of the neck. The measurement is done with a tunneling resistance of about $`10M\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Special care is put on the electronic filtering of the set-up in order to have the maximal energy (voltage) resolution and to avoid artificial smearing of the conductance curves. The resolution of the set-up is of 35$`\mu `$V, comparable to the lowest temperature of the sample of 400mK.

Figure 2a.) shows the conductance at zero field and 0.5K. As Pb is a strong coupling superconductor, the features due to phonon modes are clearly observed in the tunneling conductance (fig.2b). According to the well known properties of strong coupling superconductors, a peak in the effective phonon spectrum $`\alpha ^2F(\omega )`$ gives a peak in the voltage derivative of the conductance, located at $`ϵ_{L,T}=2\mathrm{\Delta }_0+\omega _{L,T}`$ and therefore the features shown in fig.2b. No significant difference neither in the value of the superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=1.32mV`$ nor in the phonon modes ($`\omega _T=4.4mV`$ and $`\omega _L=8.6mV`$) with respect to planar junction experiments is found within the experimental resolution ($`5\%`$). The magnetic field for total destruction of the supeconducting correlations depends on the form of the neck. The example shown in the figure corresponds to a neck having a critical field of about twenty times the bulk critical field ($`H_c^{Pb}(0K)=0.08T`$). Experiments done with the field applied parallel or perpendicular to the axis of the neck show the same behavior, i.e., the destruction of the superconducting features in the tunneling conductance at magnetic fields much larger than the bulk critical field, depending on the form of the neck.

To discuss the results, we first try to consider the known example of thin wires of type I superconductors with lateral dimensions smaller than the London penetration depth, which remain superconducting at magnetic fields much higher than the bulk value. For instance, superconductivity in an infinite cylindrical wire can be described by a single pair breaking parameter given by (in units of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=\frac{\xi ^2R^2}{3l_H^4}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is the zero field order parameter, $`R`$ is the radius of the cylinder and $`l_H`$ the magnetic length $`l_H=256\AA /\sqrt{H}`$. The peak in the DOS is rounded and the gap and order parameter are reduced with respect to the zero field value. The gap remains finite in a large range of fields, and it is only very close to the critical field (above about $`0.95H_c`$) where gapless superconductivity sets in. In the inset of fig.3a we compare the measured I-V curve with the values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ which best fit the experiment. Neither the low energy part, nor the magnetic field dependence are reproduced. The experimental curves show a finite current at low voltages, corresponding to low energy states within the gap, even for fields small compared to the critical one. The density of states at zero voltage is finite already at fields between 20 and 30 $`\%`$ the field for complete disappearance of superconductivity, in clear contradiction with the homogeneous pair breaking model.

A better description of the conic, non uniform geometry of the necks leads to a more satisfactory result. In a previous work we proposed, in the framework of Usadel equations, a model in which the field enters as an effective, position dependent, pair breaking rate. The equations are solved self-consistently, allowing us to obtain a complete description of our system in terms of energy and distance to the center of the broken neck. The main difference with respect to models using a homogeneous geometry  is that there is a smooth transition to the resistive state as the radius of the neck increases. The density of states calculated at the center of the structure remains finite at low energies due to the proximity effect of the region which is not superconducting, in agreement with the experiment (fig.3). Using parameters compatible with the geometry of the measured structure we can get a good fit (fig.3) for both parallel and perpendicular fields using the same set of parameters for the whole series of curves measured in a single structure (see inset of fig.3b, note that not all curves are presented for clarity).

Previous work has also shown that the conic geometry of our system needs to be taken into account to understand experiments done in the single atom point contact limit, but in that case, the I-V curves present significant subgap conductance and are less sensitive to details of the density of states. The tunneling conductance data however give a straightforward relation between the I-V curves and the density of states and demonstrate conclusively that, under field, superconductivity is confined to the region near the ”hills” resulting after the formation of the neck (fig.1).

This result demonstrates that it is possible to make STM tips, which are superconducting even at magnetic fields as high as several tesla. The proximity effect of the parts of the tip that transit to the resistive phase at smaller fields needs to be taken into account in the calculations of their density of states.

We now discuss the magnetic field behavior of features in the tunneling conductance associated to the phonon spectrum that appear at voltages above $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (fig.2b). Note that we have the unique possibility to follow these features during the confinement of superconductivity to a system of nanoscopic dimensions. Figure 4 shows the magnetic field behavior of the voltage position of the features in $`dI/dV`$ (fig. 2b). We plot $`(ϵ_{L,T}\omega _{L,T})`$, normalized to $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$, as a function of the squared magnetic field, normalized to the field for complete destruction of superconductivity $`(H/H_c)^2`$, together with the tunneling spectroscopy measurements in thin films published in . The figure shows the variation of the voltage position of the phonon modes as a function of the magnetic field. It does not indicate changes in the phonon spectrum, but the decrease in the position in energy of the phonon modes in the superconducting density of states when the pair breaking effect of the field (and the proximity effect in our case) destroy the superconducting correlations. The calculation of the authors of Ref. fits the experimental result within error (solid lines in Fig.4). It even reproduces the stronger decay in the higher energy longitudinal phonons, introducing pair breaking effects into the Eliashberg equations. To make the same approach using a position dependent pair breaking parameter is a formidable task which would require to solve self-consistently (both in energy and position) the Eliashberg equations. The figure 4 shows, however, that the result is the same as in thin films and is compatible with the more commonly used pair breaking theory. It demonstrates that the features related to strong coupling superconductivity are not sensitive to the precise form of the density of states, and it confirms previous work  about strong coupling superconductivity in the presence of pair breaking. Note that our experiment gives the additional check that the result is the same independent of the direction of the magnetic field or the geometry (data in thin films needed to be done with the magnetic field applied parallel to the surface).

In summary, we have examined superconducting connecting necks under magnetic fields and demonstrated the necessity of taking into account the proximity effect to explain their behavior. We clearly show that in nanofabricated STM tips made of type I materials, superconductivity is restricted to a nanoscopic region and remains at even high magnetic fields. This can considerably extend the application of STM as a probe. We have also demonstrated that in this system, the phonon structure of the density of states is not affected by the size reduction of the superconducting part.

We specially acknowledge discussions with J.T. Devreese, V.M. Fomin and W. Belzig and support from the ESF programme Vortex Matter in Superconductors at Extreme Scales and Conditions (VORTEX). We also acknowledge financial support from the the CICyT (Spain) through grants DGICYT PB97-0068, the Fermi liquid instabilities ESF programme (FERLIN) and the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. One of us (E.B.) also thanks financial support from the NSF-DMR0115947 and the Welch foundation.

Grupo Intercentros de Bajas Temperaturas, Unidad Asociada ICMM-CSIC and LBT-UAM.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In the wake of Horava–Witten heterotic M-theory , Randall and Sundrum (RS) have recently proposed a five dimensional model where the orbifold compactification, supplemented by a geometrical warp factor along the extra–dimension, is used to implement an effective hierarchy between the Planck mass and the electroweak scale . Thanks to the warp factor, on the other hand, it is also possible to obtain consistent configurations with only one brane and an infinite extra–dimension, while preserving the long–range behaviour of the four dimensional Newton’s law . This is possible thanks to the dynamical localization of massless gravitons on the brane and a strong suppression of all massive, higher-dimensional modes.

As a consequence of the non-factorized structure of the metric in this type of scenarios, the decomposition of the metric fluctuations, performed according to the rotational $`O(3)`$ symmetry on the brane, requires a generalized gauge–invariant formalism . The classical and quantum analysis of metric fluctuations is of primary importance for understanding the possible localization of massless modes on the brane, as well as the nature of the possible short-range corrections due to the continuum of massive modes, living in the bulk. Until now, the study of this problem has been mainly focused on the structure of tensor (i.e. transverse-traceless) perturbations of the bulk geometry (see  for a general discussion).

In all string/M-theory models, however, the graviton is accompanied by massless scalar partners (the dilaton, the compactification moduli, etc.). These typically induce long-range interactions of gravitational strength , not (yet) experimentally observed. The conventional way to solve this problem is to assume that the scalar partners get a non-perturbative, SUSY-breaking mass, thus suppressing the range of the associated scalar interactions. However, if scalar fluctuations would not be confined in RS–type brane–worlds, then all corresponding interactions on the brane would be suppressed, and the brane-world scenario could naturally solve a possible discrepancy between String/M-theories and experiments.

Here we present the results of Ref. , where we discuss the localization of scalar fluctuations in a typical brane-world scenario of the RS type, taking into account the possible existence of scalar sources and scalar fields living in the bulk. To this purpose, we shall consider a non-compact, $`_2`$-symmetric, five-dimensional background, generated by a positive tension 3-brane and by a bulk dilaton field coupled to the brane and to the (negative) bulk energy density. We shall restrict ourselves to the gravi-dilaton solutions discussed in , which generalize the AdS5 RS scenario in the presence of a bulk scalar field, and which are already known to guarantee the localization of tensor metric fluctuations.

## 2 Background equations

We consider in particular a five-dimensional scalar-tensor background $`\{g_{AB},\varphi \}`$, possibly arising from the bosonic sector of a dimensionally reduced string/supergravity theory, and non-trivially coupled to a negative cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and to a 3-brane of positive tension $`T_3`$:

$`S=S_{\mathrm{bulk}}+S_{\mathrm{brane}}`$ $`=`$ $`M_5^3{\displaystyle d^5x\sqrt{|g|}\left(R+\frac{1}{2}g^{AB}_A\varphi _B\varphi 2\mathrm{\Lambda }e^{\alpha _1\varphi }\right)}`$ (1)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{T_3}{2}}{\displaystyle d^4\xi \sqrt{|\gamma |}\left[\gamma ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^A_\beta X^Bg_{AB}e^{\alpha _2\varphi }2\right]}.`$
Here $`M_5`$ is the fundamental mass scale of the five-dimensional bulk space-time, and the parameters $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2`$ control the coupling of the bulk dilaton to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and to the brane. We allow in general for non-minimal couplings (a single exponential potential for the dilaton can also be derived from the dimensional reduction of a suitable higher-dimensional model ). The brane action is parameterized by the coordinates $`X^A(\xi )`$ describing the embedding of the brane in the bulk manifold, and by the auxiliary metric tensor $`\gamma _{\alpha \beta }(\xi )`$ defined on the four-dimensional world-volume of the brane, spanned by the coordinates $`\xi ^\alpha `$.

In our conventions, greek indices run from $`0`$ to $`3`$, capital Latin indices from $`0`$ to $`4`$, lower-case Latin indices from $`1`$ to $`3`$. For the bulk coordinates we use the notation $`x^A=(t,x^i,z)`$.

The field equations are obtained by the variation of the action with respect to $`g_{AB}`$, $`\varphi `$, $`X^A`$ and $`\gamma _{\alpha \beta }`$, respectively. These equations can be specialized to the case of a conformally flat background, with warp factor $`a(z)`$ and a dilaton $`\varphi (z)`$. Also, we shall look for $`_2`$–symmetric solutions, describing a flat brane rigidly located at $`z=0`$, and we set

$$g_{AB}=a^2(z)\eta _{AB},\varphi =\varphi (z),X^A=\delta _\mu ^A\xi ^\mu .$$
(2)
where $`\eta _{AB}`$ is the five-dimensional Minkowski metric. The induced metric thus reduces to

$$\gamma _{\alpha \beta }=\delta _\alpha ^A\delta _\beta ^Bg_{AB}e^{\alpha _2\varphi },$$
(3)
while the brane equations are identically satisfied thanks to the $`_2`$ symmetry.

The dynamical equations are obtained from the dilaton equation, which becomes

$$3\frac{a^{}}{a}\varphi ^{}+\varphi ^{\prime \prime }2\alpha _1\mathrm{\Lambda }a^2e^{\alpha _1\varphi }2\alpha _2T_3ae^{2\alpha _2\varphi }\delta (z)=0,$$
(4)
and from the $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$ and $`(4,4)`$ components of the Einstein equations, which give, respectively,

$`3{\displaystyle \frac{a^{\prime \prime }}{a}}={\displaystyle \frac{\varphi ^2}{4}}+\mathrm{\Lambda }a^2e^{\alpha _1\varphi }+{\displaystyle \frac{T_3}{2}}ae^{2\alpha _2\varphi }\delta (z),`$ (5)
$`6{\displaystyle \frac{a^2}{a^2}}={\displaystyle \frac{\varphi ^2}{4}}+\mathrm{\Lambda }a^2e^{\alpha _1\varphi }`$ (6)
(a prime denotes differentiation with respect to $`z`$).

If we fine-tune the parameters by choosing

$$\alpha _1=4\alpha _2,T_3=8\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }/\mathrm{\Delta }},\alpha _1^2=\mathrm{\Delta }+\frac{8}{3},$$
(7)
where the last equation defines $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, we recover a one-parameter family of exact domain wall solutions (hereafter, CLP solutions) . The solution corresponds to a brane of positive tension, $`T_3>0`$, provided $`\mathrm{\Delta }2`$. This range of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ guarantees a positive tension and also avoids the presence of naked singularities . On the other hand, when $`\alpha _1`$ goes to zero, i.e. when $`\mathrm{\Delta }=8/3`$, the dilaton decouples and the background reduces to Randall-Sundrum one . We shall thus assume$`\frac{8}{3}\mathrm{\Delta }2`$.

## 3 Scalar perturbations

We perturb to first order the full set of bulk equations, keeping the position of the brane fixed, $`\delta X^A=0`$. We thus set

$$\delta g_{AB}=h_{AB},\delta g^{AB}=h^{AB},\delta \varphi =\chi ,\delta X^A=0,$$
(8)
where the indices of the perturbed fields are raised and lowered by the unperturbed metric, and the background fluctuations $`h_{AB},\chi `$ are assumed to be inhomogeneous.

We shall expand around the CLP background in the so-called “generalized longitudinal gauge” , which extends the longitudinal gauge of standard cosmology  to the brane-world scenario. As discussed in , in five dimensions there are four independent degrees of freedom for the scalar metric fluctuations: in the generalized longitudinal gauge they are described by the four variables $`\{\phi ,\psi ,\mathrm{\Gamma },W\}`$, defined by

$`h_{00}=2\phi a^2,h_{ij}=2\psi a^2\delta _{ij},`$
$`h_{44}=2\mathrm{\Gamma }a^2,h_{04}=Wa^2.`$ (9)
The perturbation of the backgraound equations leads then to the full set of constraints and dynamical equations governing the linearized evolution of the five scalar variables $`\{\phi ,\psi ,\mathrm{\Gamma },W,\chi \}`$.

In the absence of bulk sources with anisotropic stresses we can eliminate $`\phi `$ from Einstein the eq. ($`ij`$), thus reducing the system to four scalar degrees of freedom by setting:

$$\phi =\psi +\mathrm{\Gamma }.$$
(10)
As a consequence, we find that the variable $`W`$ decouples from the other fluctuations:

$$\mathrm{}_5W=3\left(\frac{a^{\prime \prime }}{a}\frac{a^2}{a^2}\right)W$$
(11)
but, because of the non-trivial self-interactions, $`W`$ does not freely propagate in the background geometry like the graviton, which statisfies the pure five-dimensional D’Alembert equation

$$\mathrm{}_5h_{ij}=0,$$
(12)
where $`\mathrm{}_5=_M^M`$.

In order to discuss the dynamics of the remaining variables $`\psi ,\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`\chi `$, it is now convenient to recombine their differential equations in an explicitly covariant way, to obtain canonical evolution equation. We find :

$$\mathrm{}_5\psi =f_\psi (\mathrm{\Gamma },\chi ),\mathrm{}_5\mathrm{\Gamma }=f_\mathrm{\Gamma }(\mathrm{\Gamma },\chi ),\mathrm{}_5\chi =f_\chi (\mathrm{\Gamma },\chi ),$$
(13)
where the source terms depend only on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`\chi `$. By introducing the fields

$$\omega _1=2\psi +\mathrm{\Gamma },\omega _2=6\alpha _2\mathrm{\Gamma }+\chi ,\omega _3=\mathrm{\Gamma }2\alpha _2\chi ,$$
(14)
the above system of coupled equations can be diagonalized, and the perturbation equations (13) reduce to

$$\mathrm{}_5\omega _1=0,\mathrm{}_5\omega _2=0,\mathrm{}_5\omega _3=f_\omega (\omega _3).$$
(15)
Together with eq. (11), and the constraints between these fields coming from the Einstein equations, such decoupled equations describe the complete evolution of the scalar (metric + dilaton) fluctuations in the CLP brane-world background. Two variables ($`\omega _1,\omega _2`$) are (covariantly) free on the background like the graviton, while the other two variables ($`\omega _3,W`$) have non-trivial self-interactions.

In all cases, it is convenient to introduce the corresponding “canonical variables” $`\widehat{W}`$, $`\widehat{\omega }_i`$ ($`i=1,2,3`$), which have canonically normalized kinetic terms  in the action, simply by absorbing the geometric warp factor as follows:

$$W=\widehat{W}a^{3/2},\omega _i=\widehat{\omega }_ia^{3/2}.$$
(16)
When the general solution is written as a superposition of free, factorized plane-waves modes on the brane,

$$\widehat{W}=\mathrm{\Psi }_w(z)e^{ip_\mu x^\mu },\widehat{\omega }_i=\mathrm{\Psi }_i(z)e^{ip_\mu x^\mu }$$
(17)
they define the inner product of states with measure $`dz`$, as in conventional one-dimensional quantum mechanics. Such a product is required for an appropriate definition of normalizable solutions.

The allowed mass spectrum of $`m^2=\eta ^{\mu \nu }p_\mu p_\nu `$, for the scalar fluctuations on the brane, can then be obtained by solving an eigenvalue problem in the Hilbert space $`L^2(R)`$ for the canonical variables $`\mathrm{\Psi }_w,\mathrm{\Psi }_i`$, satisfying a Schrödinger-like equation in $`z`$, which is obtained from the equations (11), (15) for $`W`$ and $`\omega _i`$, and which can be written in the conventional form as:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_w^{\prime \prime }+\left(m^2\frac{\xi _w^{\prime \prime }}{\xi _w}\right)\mathrm{\Psi }_w=0,\mathrm{\Psi }_i^{\prime \prime }+\left(m^2\frac{\xi _i^{\prime \prime }}{\xi _i}\right)\mathrm{\Psi }_i=0.$$
(18)
Here, by analogy with cosmological perturbation theory , we have introduced four “pump fields” $`\xi _w,\xi _i`$, defined as follows:

$`\xi _w=a^{\beta _w},\xi _i=a^{\beta _i},`$
$`\beta _w={\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}},\beta _1=\beta _2={\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}},\beta _3={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(1+3\alpha _1^2)={\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}(\mathrm{\Delta }+3).`$ (19)
The effective potential generated by the derivatives of the pump fields depends on $`\beta _w,\beta _i`$, and contains in general a smooth part, peaked at $`z=0`$, plus a positive or negative $`\delta `$-function contribution at the origin. We may have, in principle, not only volcano-like potentials, which correspond to the free covariant d’Alembert equation with $`\beta =3/2`$  (and which are known to localize gravity ), but also potentials that are positive everywhere and admit no bound states.

## 4 Localization of the massless modes

The general solutions of the canonical perturbation equations (18) are labelled by the mass eigenvalue $`m`$, by their parity with respect to $`z`$-reflections, and by the parameters $`\beta _w,\beta _i`$, which depend on the type of perturbation. To describe a bound state, we shall restrict such solutions to those with a normalizable canonical variable with respect to the measure $`dz`$, namely to $`\mathrm{\Psi }(z)L^2(R)`$. Among the acceptable solutions, we shall finally select those satisfying all the constraints coming from Einstein equations. The above set of conditions will determine the class of brane-world backgrounds allowing the four-dimensional localization of long-range scalar interactions.

Analyzing Eqs. (18) for $`m=0`$, we find that $`W`$ and $`\omega _3`$ are not normalizable. The even solutions of the free d’Alembert equation are instead normalizable, so we have acceptable solutions for $`\omega _1`$ and $`\omega _2`$. However, because of the constraints, $`\omega _1`$ is forced to vanish when $`W=0`$, unless the fluctuations are static, $`\dot{\omega }_1=0`$. It follows that there are two independent massless modes localized on the brane: one, $`\omega _2`$, is propagating and the other, $`\omega _1`$, is static.

We may thus conclude that all CLP backgrounds with $`8/3\mathrm{\Delta }2`$ localize on the brane not only the massless spin-2 degrees of freedom , but also one propagating massless scalar degree of freedom ($`\omega _2`$), corresponding to a long-range scalar interaction generated by the dilaton field. The second independent massless degree of freedom localized on the brane ($`\omega _1`$) is not propagating ($`\dot{\omega }_1=0`$), but is essential to reproduce the standard long-range gravitational interaction in the static limit, as we shall discuss later. In the limiting case of a pure AdS5 solution ($`\mathrm{\Delta }=8/3`$) the dilaton disappears from the background, and the dilaton fluctuation $`\chi =\omega _2`$ decouples from the others. The only (static) contribution to the scalar sector of metric fluctuations comes from $`\omega _1`$, which generates the long-range Newton potential $`\phi =\psi `$ on the brane.

## 5 The massive mode spectrum

The massive part of the spectrum of the canonical equations (18) is not localized on the brane; it may induce higher-dimensional, short-range corrections to the long-range scalar forces, which represent physical effects from the fifth dimension on our brane.

It is important to note that modes with negative squared mass (tachyons) are not included in the spectrum, as they would not correspond to a normalizable canonical variable ($`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ would blow up in $`z`$). Another consequence of the normalization condition is the mass gap between the localized massless mode and the massive corrections, in the limiting background with $`\mathrm{\Delta }=2`$ (already noticed in  for the case of pure tensor interactions).

Imposing all the constraints from Einstein equations, we find that, in contrast with the massless case, none of the four scalar fluctuations is forced to vanish. However, only two amplitudes are independent. By taking, for instance, $`\omega _2`$ and $`\omega _3`$ as independent variables, we can indeed express $`W`$ and $`\omega _1`$ in terms of the other fields, for all values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

For such backgrounds we thus have four types of higher-dimensional contributions to the scalar interactions on the brane, arising from the massive spectrum of $`\omega _i`$ and $`W`$. The massive $`\omega _2`$ modes can be considered as the KK excitations of the effective dilaton zero–mode localized on the brane. The massive $`\omega _3`$ are still present even if we turn off the dilaton and are therefore a product of the extra–dimension itself. In the limiting RS case, $`\omega _3\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the breathing mode of the fifth dimension, which induces short range corrections to the gravitational force.

## 6 Static limit and leading-order corrections

We can now compute the effective scalar-tensor interaction induced on the brane, in the weak field limit, by a static and point-like source of mass $`M`$ and dilatonic charge $`Q`$.

In our longitudinal gauge (9), in which the decomposition of the metric fluctuations is based on the $`O(3)`$ symmetry of the spatial hypersurfaces of the brane, the energy density of a point-like particle only contributes to the scalar part of the perturbed matter stress tensor (with $`T_{00}`$ as the only non-vanishing component), and provides a $`\delta `$-function source to the $`(0,0)`$ scalar perturbation equation. Similarly, the charge $`Q`$ acts as a point-like source in the dilaton perturbation equation.

As a consequence, we obtain three $`\delta `$-function sources in the equations for the three $`\omega _i`$ fluctuations, $`S_i\delta ^3(xx^{})\delta (z)`$, with three scalar charges $`S_i`$, which are “mixtures” of $`M`$ and $`Q`$, while no source term is obtained in the static limit for the $`W`$ fluctuation.

The exact static solutions of eqs. (15) can be easily obtained using the static limit of the retarded Green function evaluated on the brane ($`z=0`$), i.e.

$$\omega _i(x,x^{})=S_iG_i(\nu ,x,x^{}),$$
(20)
where

$$G_i(\nu ,\stackrel{}{x},\stackrel{}{x}^{},z=z^{}=0)=\frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{p}(\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{x}^{})}\left\{\frac{\left[\psi _0^+(0)\right]^2}{p^2}+_{m_0}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑m\frac{\left[\psi _m^+(0)\right]^2}{p^2+m^2}\right\},$$
(21)
is the static Green function, constructed by the exact massless and massive eigenfunctions $`\psi _0^+(z),\psi _m^+(z)`$ of Eqs. (18) (respectively). The first term in the integrand corresponds to the long-range forces generated by the massless modes, the second term to the “short-range” corrections due to the massive modes, and $`m_0`$ is the lower bound for the massive spectrum ($`m_0=k/2`$ if $`\mathrm{\Delta }=2`$, while $`m_0=0`$ if $`\mathrm{\Delta }2`$).

We should note that in the $`\omega _1,\omega _2`$ case we have to include both the massless and massive contributions, while in the $`\omega _3`$ case only the massive ones survive. Here we report the $`\omega _i`$ solutions in the case $`\mathrm{\Delta }<2`$:

$`\omega _1={\displaystyle \frac{S_1A_{\nu _0}}{r}}\left[1+B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02}\right],`$
$`\omega _2={\displaystyle \frac{S_2A_{\nu _0}}{r}}\left[1+B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02}\right],`$
$`\omega _3={\displaystyle \frac{S_3A_{\nu _0}}{r}}B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02},`$ (22)
where $`\nu _0=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{2(\mathrm{\Delta }+2)}`$ and the constants $`A_{\nu _0}`$ and $`B_{\nu _0}`$ depend, through $`\nu _0`$, on the particular values of the dilaton coupling parameters, and are fixed by the correct normalization of the canonical “wave function” .

Introducing explicitly the four-dimensional gravitational constant $`G`$, and going back through the transformation (14), the scalar and dilaton fluctuations can finally be written in the form

$`\phi ={\displaystyle \frac{GM}{r}}\left[1+{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _2}{1+12\alpha _2^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q}{M}}+2\alpha _2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{4}{3}}B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02}\right],`$
$`\psi ={\displaystyle \frac{GM}{r}}\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _2}{1+12\alpha _2^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q}{M}}+2\alpha _2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02}\right],`$
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }={\displaystyle \frac{GM}{r}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{4\alpha _2}{1+12\alpha _2^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q}{M}}+2\alpha _2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02}\right],`$
$`\chi ={\displaystyle \frac{GQ}{r}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1+12\alpha _2^2}}\left(1+2\alpha _2{\displaystyle \frac{M}{Q}}\right)+2B_{\nu _0}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{kr}}\right)^{2\nu _02}\right],`$ (23)
where $`G`$ is related to the five-dimensional mass scale $`M_5`$ through the appropriate integral over the “warped” volume external to the brane. It should be noted that the short-range corrections induced by the massive scalar modes have the same qualitative behaviour as in the tensor case, discussed in , in spite of the fact that the massive scalar modes have different spectra.

The limiting case $`\mathrm{\Delta }=8/3`$ corresponds to a pure AdS5 background, if there are no scalar charges on the brane. In that case $`\omega _2`$ exactly corresponds to the dilaton fluctuation $`\chi `$ (see eq. (14)), and can be consistently set to zero (toghether with the dilaton background) if we want to match, in particular, the “standard” brane-world configuration originally considered by Randall and Sundrum . In this limit, $`B_2=1/2`$, and we exactly recover previous results for the effective gravitational interaction on the brane , i.e.

$$\phi =\frac{GM}{r}\left(1+\frac{2}{3k^2r^2}\right),\psi =\frac{GM}{r}\left(1+\frac{1}{3k^2r^2}\right).$$
(24)
The massless-mode truncation reproduces in this case the static, weak field limit of linearized general relativity. The massive tower of scalar fluctuations, however, induces deviations from Einstein gravity already in the static limit (as noted in ), and is the source of a short-range force due to the “breathing” of the fifth dimension,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\frac{GM}{3r}\frac{1}{(kr)^2},$$
(25)
even in the absence of bulk scalar fields, and of scalar charges for the matter on the brane.

In a more general gravi-dilaton background ($`\mathrm{\Delta }8/3`$), the static expansion (23) describes an effective scalar-tensor interaction on the brane, which is potentially dangerous for the brane-world scenario, as it contains not only short-range corrections, but also long-range scalar deviations from general relativity (and, possibly, violations of the Einstein equivalence principle), even in the interaction of ordinary masses, i.e. for $`Q=0`$. This seems to offer an interesting window to investigate the effects of the bulk geometry on the four-dimensional physics of the brane.

## 7 Conclusions

We have analyzed the full set of coupled equations governing the evolution of scalar fluctuations in a dilatonic brane-world background, supporting a flat 3-brane rigidly located at the fixed point of $`Z_2`$ symmetry. We have diagonalized the system of dynamical equations, and found four decoupled but self-interacting variables representing, in a five-dimensional bulk, the four independent degrees of freedom of scalar excitations of the gravi-dilaton background.

We have presented the exact solutions of the canonical perturbation equation for all the scalar degrees of freedom, and we have discussed, the effects of their massless and massive spectrum for the scalar interactions on the brane.

For all dilaton couplings, there is one propagating massless mode localized on the brane, associated with a long-range dilatonic interaction in four dimensions. In addition, KK modes in the bulk yield short–range scalar corrections to the Newton’s law. These corrections are present even in the RS limit where the dilaton vanishes, because of the breathing mode of the fifth dimension.

Finally, we note that our results are different from those obtained in the case of thick branes with a confining scalar potential .


text:
# Instantons and radial excitations in attractive Bose-Einstein condensates

## I Introduction

In a series of experiments , a nonuniform Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 7Li atoms was formed and proved metastable for atom numbers $`N<N_c`$ with $`N_c1300`$, in agreement with theoretical predictions . Due to attraction between atoms, such condensate is bound to collapse when $`N>N_c`$, but it may collapse also for $`N<N_c`$ via quantum or thermal tunneling. Within the mean-field appraoch, BEC is described by one wave function. Our aim in this work was to find the exact mean-field description of the quantum tunneling in this simplest conceivable many-body system. Our additional motivation is the recently demonstarted ability to control the interaction of 85Rb atoms in BEC , which opens a new perspective to systematic experimental checks on quantum tunneling.

Up to now, studies of the quantum tunneling of BEC relied on assuming gaussian wave functions , at least in assigning the mass parameter . Strictly speaking, once the mean field equation is specified, there is no place for such an assumption: This equation, taking a form of the nonlinear field equation, by itself determines the dynamics. To find solutions which correspond to quantum decay we use the method of instantons, i.e. fields evolving in imaginary time , carried over to mean-field theories of many-body systems . It gives the decay rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=Ae^S`$, with the exponent $`S`$ being the action for the optimal mean-field instanton, called bounce. We find the exact instantons for spherical BEC by first transforming the original imaginary-time mean-field equation to an equation for the condensate density, and then solving it numerically. Having done that wa can check the gaussian ansatz.

The real-time version of the obtained equation encompasses finite amplitude collective radial oscillations of BEC. Applying quantization rule we find energies of radial eigenmodes. By using imaginary-time dynamics we also find periodic instantons determining decay exponents of these breathing modes. In this way, the collective dynamics of an attractive spherical condensate close to instability is obtained from the mean field equation.

We assume that the dynamics of BEC is governed by the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE)

$$i\mathrm{}_t\psi =\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}^2\psi +(V_{trap}+g\psi ^2)\psi ,$$
(1)
where $`V_{trap}`$ is the static trap potential and $`g=4\pi \mathrm{}^2a/m`$, with $`a`$ the s-wave scattering length and $`m`$ the atomic mass. The wave function is normalized as $`d^3r\psi (𝐫,t)^2=N`$, with $`N`$ the total number of atoms in the condensate.

In the present work we consider a harmonic, spherically symmetric trap $`V_{trap}=\frac{1}{2}m\omega _0^2r^2`$. This suggests choosing $`d_0=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/m\omega _0}`$ as the unit of length, $`1/\omega _0`$ as the unit of time and $`\mathrm{}\omega _0`$ as the unit of energy. We also change the normalization of the wave function to unity, $`4\pi \psi (r,t)^2r^2𝑑r=1`$. To simplify equations we work with the function $`\varphi (r,t)=r\psi (r,t)`$, for which the GPE reads

$$i\frac{\varphi }{t}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{^2\varphi }{r^2}+(\frac{1}{2}r^2+K\frac{\rho }{r^2})\varphi ,$$
(2)
where $`K=4\pi Na/d_0`$, and the generalised density $`\rho (r,t)=r^2\psi (r,t)^2`$. For a stationary state, $`\varphi (r,t)=\varphi (r)exp(iϵt)`$, $`ϵ`$ being the single-particle energy or chemical potential. For each $`N<N_c`$ there are two stationary states, one metastable and another unstable, at the top of the energy barrier  (cf Fig. 1).

## II Quantum tunneling and equations for condensate density

Quantum tunneling of BEC is described by a specific solution to the equation

$$\frac{\varphi }{\tau }\frac{1}{2}\frac{^2\varphi }{r^2}+(\frac{1}{2}r^2+K\frac{\rho }{r^2})\varphi =ϵ\varphi $$
(3)
obtained from (2) by a transition to imaginary time, $`ti\tau `$ . Now, the density $`\rho (r,\tau )=\varphi (r,\tau )^{}\varphi (r,\tau )`$ as $`\varphi (r,t)^{}`$ is replaced by $`\varphi (r,\tau )^{}`$ upon $`ti\tau `$. This makes Eq.(3) nonlocal in time. Bounce has to satisfy the boundary conditions of 1) periodicity, $`\varphi (r,\tau _p/2)=\varphi (r,\tau _p/2)=\varphi _0(r)=r\psi _0(r)`$, with $`\psi _0(r)`$ the amplitude of the metastable state, and 2) barrier penetration, i.e. $`\varphi (r,\tau =0)`$ has to be some state of BEC at the other side of the potential barrier. Eq. (3) preserves both the normalization $`4\pi 𝑑r\rho (r,\tau )=1`$ and the energy

$$=4\pi _0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r\{\frac{1}{2}\frac{\varphi (\tau )^{}}{r}\frac{\varphi (\tau )}{r}+\frac{1}{2}\rho r^2+\frac{K}{2}\frac{\rho ^2}{r^2}\},$$
(4)
with $`E=N`$ the energy of the metastable state. For a bounce starting from the metastable state the period $`\tau _p`$ extends to infinity . The decay exponent reads

$$S=4\pi N_{\tau _p/2}^{\tau _p/2}𝑑\tau 𝑑r\varphi (\tau )^{}\frac{\varphi }{\tau }(\tau ).$$
(5)
Since Eq.(3) is real and the boundary value $`\varphi _0(r)`$ may be taken real, we assume real $`\varphi (r,\tau )`$ in the following.

Now the point is to transform the nonlocal in time instanton equation (3) into an evolution equation for the condensate density. A transformation of the real-time GPE (2) to a fluid-dynamic form provides an analogy, but is conceptually simpler.

The bounce equation (3), with the boundary conditions specified above, splits into two time-local equations for the time-even density $`\rho `$ and the time-odd current $`j(r,\tau )=1/2(\varphi (\tau )_r\varphi (\tau )\varphi (\tau )_r\varphi (\tau ))`$

$$\frac{\rho }{\tau }+\frac{j}{r}=0,$$
(6)
$$\frac{j}{\tau }+\frac{1}{4}\frac{^3\rho }{r^3}\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{r}\rho [r+K\frac{(\frac{\rho }{r^2})}{r}]=0,$$
(7)
where the kinetic energy density $`\mathrm{\Theta }=_r\varphi (\tau )_r\varphi (\tau )=[1/4(_r\rho )^2j^2]/\rho `$. When $`\rho `$ is non-negative (which is very plausible in the present case, but not granted in general as $`\rho (r,\tau )=\varphi (r,\tau )\varphi (r,\tau )`$ not $`\varphi (r,\tau )^2`$), one can define a regular, time-odd function $`\chi =\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{ln}\varphi (\tau )\mathrm{ln}\varphi (\tau ))`$ which allows decomposition $`\varphi =\sqrt{\rho }e^\chi `$. From this, the fluid-dynamic representation of (3) follows, with the velocity field $`\chi /r=j/\rho `$. However, even for arbitrary $`\rho `$, one can eliminate $`j`$ from Eqs.(6,7), which is more convenient. Introducing $`f(r,\tau )=_0^r\rho (r^{},\tau )𝑑r^{}`$, so that $`j=f/\tau `$ and $`\rho =f/r`$, we automatically fulfil (6), and (7) transforms to the equation for the primitive of the bounce density, basic for the imaginary-time dynamics of spherical BEC-s:

$$\frac{^2f}{\tau ^2}\frac{1}{4}\frac{^4f}{r^4}+\frac{}{r}(\frac{\frac{1}{4}(\frac{^2f}{r^2})^2(\frac{f}{\tau })^2}{\frac{f}{r}})+\frac{f}{r}[r+K\frac{}{r}(\frac{\frac{f}{r}}{r^2})]=0.$$
(8)
Notice, that the finite amplitude oscillations of BEC around the metastable minimum are described by the real-time version of Eq.(8), in which $`_\tau ^2f`$ and $`(_\tau f)^2`$ are replaced by $`_t^2f`$ and $`(_tf)^2`$, respectively.

An alternative, global approach to quantum tunneling is to look for a minimum of action (5) under the condition of constant energy (4) and norm. Indeed, for a regular $`\chi `$, i.e. positive $`\rho `$, $`S=4\pi N_{\tau _p/2}^{\tau _p/2}𝑑\tau _0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rj^2/\rho `$. Using Eq.(4) and introducing an observable $`Q`$ uniquely labelling states along the barrier, explicitly $`Q(\tau )=r^2/N=4\pi _0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r\rho r^2`$, we obtain the following functional

$$S[f]=2N_{Q(0)}^{Q(\tau _p/2)}𝑑Q\sqrt{2B(Q)(V(Q))}$$
(9)
which is minimized by the primitive of the bounce density (note, that $`Q(0)<Q(\tau _p/2)`$ for BEC). The potential energy $`V(Q)=V[\rho (Q)]`$,

$$V[\rho ]=4\pi _0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r[\frac{(_r\rho )^2}{8\rho }+\frac{1}{2}\rho r^2+\frac{K\rho ^2}{2r^2}]$$
(10)
and the effective mass parameter $`B(Q)=B[f(Q)]`$

$$B(Q)=4\pi _0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r\frac{(\frac{f}{Q})^2}{\rho }$$
(11)
are both the functionals of $`f`$. Note that Eq.(9) is invariant with respect to a change of the controlling variable, as for any other such variable $`q`$, $`B(q)=B(Q)(dQ/dq)^2`$. The energy conservation (4) implies that for bounce $`\dot{Q}^2=2(V(Q))/B(Q)`$, with $`\dot{Q}=dQ/d\tau `$, and therefore $`\ddot{Q}=\frac{}{Q}[(V(Q))/B(Q)]`$.

## III Results and discussion

We have solved Eq.(8) using the variable $`Q`$ rather than $`\tau `$. An initial sequence of densities $`\rho _s(r,Q_i)`$, with 30-50 $`Q_i`$ points covering the barrier region, was constructed by minimizing $`V[\rho ]`$ (10) under the constraint $`Q=Q_i`$. These constrained stationary densities were then improved upon iteratively. The details of $`\rho ^{1/2}/r`$, the counterpart of $`\psi `$ of Eq. (1), are obtained more precisely when the $`r^2`$ behaviour near $`r=0`$ and the harmonic oscillator asymptotics at infinity are factored out in Eq.(8). In numerical work, we use a function $`\alpha (r,\tau )`$ such that $`\rho (r,\tau )=r^2e^{r^2}e^{2\alpha (r,\tau )}`$, and properly express the term $`_\tau ^2f_r((_\tau f)^2/\rho )`$ \- see Appendix.

We also performed the minimization of the functional (9) treating $`\rho (r_j,Q_i)`$ as independent variables. It turns out that $`\rho (r,\tau )`$ thus obtained do not fulfil Eq.(8) accurately, but the accuracy in $`S`$ is better than 0.1%.

The numerical results have been obtained with physical data on 7Li adopted after the most accurate treatment up to date . These values give $`K=5.74\times 10^3\times N`$, and we obtain the critical value $`K_c`$ between –7.2249 and –7.2255 ( $`N_c`$ between 1258.7 and 1258.8).

The potential energy $`V(Q)`$ from the bounce solutions (Fig.1), nearly identical with $`V[\rho _s(Q)]`$ for constrained stationary $`\rho _s(r,Q_i)`$, is very flat between $`Q(0)`$ and $`Q(\tau _p/2)`$ for $`NN_c`$. For smaller $`N`$, it becomes quite peaked around the summit, and its fall on the side of small $`Q`$ becomes very steep. All the obtained bounce solutions result from the small adjustment of the initial densities. For larger $`N_cN`$ (and increasing $`\dot{Q}^2`$ and $`\ddot{Q}`$ terms, cf Eq.(15)) this adjustment becomes gradually more difficult. We could not obtain the exact solution of Eq.(8) (or even a constrained stationary $`\rho _s(r,Q_i)`$ for small $`Q_i`$) for $`N1200`$.

The mass parameters $`B(Q)`$ from various instanton solutions (Fig.2) are nearly identical which shows that there exists a universal inertia for the radial collective motion of BEC close to instability. This may be understood as a consequence of a nearly static character of solutions $`f(r,Q)`$ in the limited range of $`N(K)`$ values of interest: $`f`$ depends weakly on $`N`$ close to critical $`N_c`$.

For a gaussian density with a variable width $`b(\tau )`$, $`\rho (r,\tau )=\pi ^{3/2}b^3r^2exp(r^2/b^2)`$, the current $`j=\dot{b}(r/b)\rho `$ (Eq.(6)), and the mass parameter $`B(b)=4\pi /b^2_0^{\mathrm{}}r^2\rho 𝑑r=3/2`$ (cf ). Hence, as for the gaussian density $`Q=3b^2/2`$, one has $`4QB(Q)=B(\sqrt{Q})=1`$, as used in Ref.. As seen in Fig.2, this is a fair assumption near the metastable minima, much worse though for smaller $`Q`$ around the barrier’s summit. The error in $`S`$ due to the gaussian value of $`B`$ amounts to 3-4% in the cases studied.

The bounce ”amplitude”, $`\sqrt{\rho }/r`$ (Fig.3), differs from the constrained stationary values $`\sqrt{\rho _s}/r`$ mostly near $`r=0`$ and for small $`Q`$, by up to 1%. Decay exponents calculated with the initial densities $`\rho _s(r,Q_i)`$ are only up to 0.3% larger than the exact ones.

Next we turn to collective radial oscillations of BEC and their decay rates. Quantum tunneling from the excited state with energy $`\mathrm{}\omega _n`$ may be treated by solving Eq.(8) as before, except that now the period $`\tau _p`$ must be finite and $`N`$ replaced by $`N_n=N+\mathrm{}\omega _n`$. One has to fix the boundary values $`\rho (r,\tau _p/2)`$ and the energies $`\mathrm{}\omega _n`$.

The energies $`\mathrm{}\omega _n`$ of the excited quantum states follow from the quantization condition $`S=2n\pi `$ , where $`S=2N_{Q(0)}^{Q(t_p/2)}𝑑Q\sqrt{2B(Q)(_nV(Q))}`$, cf Eq.(9), with the period $`t_p`$ depending on $`\mathrm{}\omega _n`$. Essentially, the imaginary-time boundary value $`\rho (r,\tau _p/2)`$ should match the real-time oscillatory solution $`\rho (r,t_p/2)`$ at the turning point $`Q`$ at which $`V(Q)=_n`$.

We could not solve the real-time version of Eq.(8) as accurately as for instantons. However, since the action $`S`$ is insensitive to the details of solution, the lowest quantized $`\mathrm{}\omega _n`$ are quite accurate. Their comparison to frequencies of the small amplitude oscillations, obtained from the GPE linearized around $`\psi _0`$ (so called Bogolyubov spectrum, see ), is interesting. The first radial excitation, $`\mathrm{}\omega _1`$, is nearly equal, but little smaller than, the lowest Bogolyubov mode corresponding to the small amplitude limit, except that it may not exist for a too shallow $`V(Q)`$, like for $`N=1255`$. The higher modes, $`\mathrm{}\omega _n`$, $`n=2,3,\mathrm{}`$, come out roughly at the multiples of $`\mathrm{}\omega _1`$ (Table 1), and thus represent nearly harmonic spectrum of collective radial oscillations. Its $`n=2,3,4`$ states are lower than the second Bogolyubov mode, lying slightly above $`4\mathrm{}\omega _0`$.

Using the quantized oscillation energies we have found periodic instantons and calculated decay exponents for some low collective radial excitations. Such instanton with a period $`\tau _p`$ is quite similar to the so-called ”thermon” which describes thermal decay from the metastable ground state at the temperature $`kT=\mathrm{}/\tau _p`$ . This similarity is easily understood: Thermal decay goes via thermal excitation of quantum states above the metastable ground state and successive tunneling from them through the smaller barrier. At higher temperatures, details of the excitation spectrum and tunneling become irrelevant and the thermal tunneling rate $`\mathrm{exp}((E_bE)/(\mathrm{}\omega _0))`$, with $`E_b=N_b`$ the barrier energy, replaces a thermal mixture of rates $`\mathrm{exp}(S_n)`$ from a few lowest excited states at small temperature. The critical temperature $`T_c`$ at which this happens is usually determined as the one at which $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{thermal}(T_c)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{thermon}(T_c)`$.

Numerical results are collected in Table 1. Those in columns 2-4 depend only on $`K`$ and relate to all BEC-s with attractive interaction. Decay rates $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ from the metastable 7Li BEC were calculated for $`\omega _0=908.41`$ s-1 , assuming prefactor $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }/\omega _0)e^S=(\omega _1/\omega _0)(15S/2\pi )^{1/2}`$ , with $`\omega _1`$ from the small amplitude limit. The exact prefactor is difficult to calculate, but it must be of the same order as in Table 1. Obtained values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are very close to those of Ref., where the effect of too small $`B`$-s is fortuitously reduced by half by the interpolation overestimating $`V(Q)`$.

The decrease of the decay exponents $`S_n`$ with the mode number $`n`$ and their comparison to exponents $`S`$ for the ground state are seen in Table 1, col. 5. For example, quantum decay of the $`n=2`$ radial mode in BEC with $`N=1245`$ is nearly as quick as for the ground state of the $`N=1255`$ BEC. The crossover temperature $`T_c`$ at which the thermal decay begins to dominate over the quantum tunneling is approximated, neglecting prefactors, as $`kT_c/(\mathrm{}\omega _0)=(E_bE)/S`$, with $`E_b=N_b`$ the barrier energy, $`E=N`$ for the metastable state, and $`E=N_n`$ for the excited state. For the latter, the meaning of critical temperature is extended in analogy with that for the ground state: Suppose the condensate in the oscillation state $`n`$ and ask at which temperature $`T_c(n)`$ the thermal rate exponent equals the instanton action $`S_n`$. These ratios (Table 1, column 3) show that for presently measurable $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`\omega _0=908.41`$ s-1, corresponding to $`T=6.94`$ nK, $`T_c1`$nK, both for ground state and collective radial oscillations. We notice, that for all finite-$`\tau _p`$ instantons describing decay out of the $`n`$th collective radial excitation, $`\mathrm{}/\tau _p<T_c(n)`$ so, at their own thermon ”temperature”, they dominate over the thermal decay.

The quantity $`S/N`$ (Table 1, column 4) shows $`(N_cN)^\xi `$ behaviour close to $`N_c`$, with $`\xi =5/4`$ . For larger $`N_cN`$ the effective exponent slightly decreases to $`\xi 1.2`$. Consider now two different attractive BEC-s with critical particle numbers $`N_c`$ and $`N_c^{}`$. The same decay exponent $`S`$ is obtained for such (not too large) $`N_cN`$ and $`N_c^{}N^{}`$ which satisfy the relation $`N_c^{}N^{}=(N_cN)(N_c^{}/N_c)^{11/\xi }`$, with $`11/\xi 1/5`$. Thus, e.g. we obtain $`S=9.44`$ for $`N_c^{}N^{}12`$ in BEC with $`N_c^{}=6294`$, and for $`N_c^{}N^{}=67`$ in BEC with $`N_c^{}=251.76`$, cf Table 1.

In summary, the equations for the condensate density, describing both the real- and imaginary-time dynamics of spherical BEC, were formulated and the exact instanton solutions were found numerically, also for collective radial excitations. The determined mass parameter (Fig. 2) deviates from the gaussian ansatz, but the calculated decay exponents for the metastable states agree well with Ref.. It follows from Fig.2 that the exact mass parametr may be more relevant to the behind-the-barrier collapse phase, i.e for smaller $`Q`$. The quantized energies of collective finite amplitude radial vibrations form nearly harmonic (slightly compressed) spectrum with $`\omega _nn\omega _1`$, where $`\omega _1`$ is slightly lower than the lowest Bogolyubov mode. The $`n=2,3,4`$ collective oscillation states lie lower than the second Bogolyubov mode. Any excitation (thermal or otherwise, e.g. by modulation of the trapping oscillator frequancy) of these collective vibrations must lead to a faster decay of the condensate, as the Table 1 shows.

If quantum tunneling is not to be overshadowed by thermal decay, the experiments should proceed at low $`T`$ and/or large $`\omega _0`$. Since theoretical results are more certain away from $`N_c`$, where the exponent $`S`$ dominates decay, one should probe a range of moderate $`S`$, giving observable, but not too large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (perhaps, by discarding prompt collapses). The corresponding range of $`N_cN`$ values depends on $`N_c`$ as $`N_c^{1/5}`$.

## Numerical methods

We have $`\rho (s,\tau )=se^se^{2\alpha (s,\tau )}`$ with $`s=r^2`$. The stationary GPE leads to the equation for $`\alpha (s)`$

$$2s(\frac{d^2\alpha }{ds^2}+(\frac{d\alpha }{ds})^2\frac{d\alpha }{ds})+3\frac{d\alpha }{ds}Ke^{2\alpha s}+\beta =0,$$
(12)
with $`\beta =ϵ3/2`$. For large $`s`$, $`\alpha \frac{\beta }{2}\mathrm{ln}s`$ . The normalization of $`\varphi `$ implies the next two terms

$$\alpha (s)=\frac{\beta }{2}\mathrm{ln}s+C\frac{\beta (\beta 1)}{4s}+𝒪(\frac{1}{s^2}).$$
(13)
A solution regular at $`s=0`$ must fulfil

$$\frac{d\alpha }{ds}(0)=\frac{1}{3}(3/2ϵ+Ke^{2\alpha (0)}).$$
(14)
These boundary conditions suggest a method of solution: For a given $`K`$ we assume some $`ϵ`$ and $`C`$ and, starting from the asymptotic values (13) at large $`s`$, integrate Eq.(12) to $`s=0`$. We check Eq.(14) and the normalization and correct $`ϵ`$ and $`C`$ until we fulfil both.

By using a new variable $`\overline{v}=\frac{f}{Q}/(r\rho )`$ and factoring out $`2r\rho `$, we transform Eq.(8) to a form

$$\frac{1}{2}\ddot{Q}\overline{v}+\dot{Q}^2(\frac{1}{2}\frac{\overline{v}}{Q}\frac{\alpha }{Q}\overline{v}+\overline{v}^2[1+s(2\frac{\alpha }{s}1)])=\frac{R}{s},$$
(15)
suitable for both instantons and oscillations if $`\dot{Q}^2=2(V(Q)_n)/B(Q)`$ is understood. $`R[\alpha ]`$ stands for the l.h.s. of Eq.(12). Let us call the l.h.s. of Eq.(15) $`F`$. If $`F=0`$ (no time dependence) we recover stationary solutions of Eq.(12). For instantons, we solve Eq.(15) iteratively. Having a set of $`\alpha (s,Q_i)`$ we calculate $`F_i=F(s,Q_i)`$. For each $`F_i`$ we solve (15) as the ordinary differential equation in $`s`$ to obtain new $`\alpha (s,Q_i)`$. The method, as for the stationary case, is to adjust the asympotic form (13) to the proper regularity condition at $`s=0`$. The new and old $`F_i`$-s are combined to provide initial $`F_i`$-s for the next iteration. With a careful modification of $`F_i`$-s this iteration leads to the self-consistency, i.e. $`F_i(old)=F_i(new)`$. The initial densities $`\rho _s(s,Q_i)`$ are obtained using the constrained imaginary-time step Hartree procedure. We use the Runge-Kutta-Merson procedure for integration of Eqs.(15). Energies are calculated using a mesh of 128 equidistant points, $`r/d_0=04.5`$, and the cubic spline interpolation for derivatives. We have checked that doubling the mesh density does not change results in any appreciable manner.

Table 1 - Energies, crossover temperatures, decay exponents and rates for metastable and radially excited states of the 7Li BEC. Results from bounce solutions ( from the functional minimization).

| $`N`$ | $`\omega _n/\omega _0`$ | $`\frac{kT_c}{\mathrm{}\omega _0}`$ | $`\frac{S}{N}\times 10^3`$ | $`S`$ | $`\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\omega _0}e^S`$ | $`\mathrm{\Gamma }[s^1]`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1255 |  | 0.130 | 2.6744 | 3.356 | 4.305 | 1.36 $`10^2`$ |
| 1250 |  | 0.165 | 7.5520 | 9.440 | 4.756 | 3.43 $`10^1`$ |
| n=1 | 0.967 | 0.188 | 2.5244 | 3.156 |  |  |
| 1245 |  | 0.189 | 13.097 | 16.306 | 6.87 | 5.17 $`10^4`$ |
| n=1 | 1.086 | 0.208 | 7.6934 | 9.578 |  |  |
| n=2 | 2.112 | 0.217 | 3.5636 | 4.437 |  |  |
| 1240 |  | 0.207 | 19.082 | 23.662 | 8.80 | 4.23 $`10^7`$ |
| n=1 | 1.169 | 0.224 | 13.436 | 16.661 |  |  |
| n=2 | 2.292 | 0.234 | 9.0346 | 11.203 |  |  |
| n=3 | 3.373 | 0.241 | 5.1464 | 6.382 |  |  |
| 1230 |  | 0.238 | 31.980 | 39.335 | 12.31 | 9.24 $`10^{14}`$ |
| n=1 | 1.268 | 0.252 | 26.084 | 32.083 |  |  |
| n=2 | 2.518 | 0.260 | 21.347 | 26.257 |  |  |
| n=3 | 3.748 | 0.267 | 17.076 | 21.004 |  |  |
| 1200 |  | 0.305 | 75.40 | 90.490 | 21.12 | 9.63 $`10^{36}`$ |

Figure captions

Fig.1 Potential energy $`E(Q)=NV(Q)`$ of BEC (in $`\mathrm{}\omega _0`$) for various $`N<N_c`$. ($`Q`$ in units $`d_0^2`$)

Fig.2 Mass parameters $`B(\sqrt{Q})=4QB(Q)`$ from various instanton solutions, overlayed in one picture. For gaussians, 4QB(Q)=1.

Fig.3 Bounce penetrates the barrier practically in a finite $`\tau `$ (in units $`\omega _0^1`$). The metastable density $`\rho (r,\pm \mathrm{})`$ is nearly equal to $`\rho (r,\tau =3.43)`$ shown.