format: text

text:
# Exact gate-sequences for universal quantum computation using the XY-interaction alone

## I Introduction

Any quantum computation can be build out of simple operations involving only one or two qubits. These elementary quantum gates can generate any unitary operation over the qubits. One particularly simple set of universal gates consists of single qubit unitaries ($`SU(2)`$) together with an entangling two-qubit operation.

The physical implementation of these sets of gates in various proposed physical systems is often daunting, involving precise manipulations well beyond the current state of technology. Most physical systems, however, possess some intrinsic interactions that are easy to tune and to control. These interactions per se usually do not constitute a universal set of gates, in the sense that they cannot generate any arbitrary unitary transformation on the set of qubits (or qudits \- $`d`$-level systems). Thus, they generally have to be supplemented with additional means of applying the other interactions that are required in order to complete a universal gate set. It is the need to add this capacity that dramatically increases the device complexity and that may significantly diminish the decoherence times of the resulting quantum device, posing the largest challenge on the route to scalable universal quantum computation.

It seems to be nearly a rule of thumb that one of these two kinds of interactions (single qubit/ two-qubit) is generally easy to achieve, whereas the other one is extremely hard to implement. An example of this easy/hard duality are the proposals based on solid state physics using quantum dots , donor-atom nuclear spins  or electron spins . In these approaches, the basic two-qubit quantum gate is generated by a tunable Heisenberg interaction (the Hamiltonian is $`H_{ij}=J(t)\stackrel{}{S}_i\stackrel{}{S}_j`$ between spins $`i`$ and $`j`$), while the one-qubit gates require the control of a local Zeeman field. Compared to the Heisenberg operation, the one-qubit operations are significantly slower and require substantially greater materials and device complexity, which may then also contribute to increasing the decoherence rate. Examples where single qubit gates are relatively easy to achieve whereas two-qubit gates are now hard, are the proposed quantum-optics implementations of quantum computers. Here quantum bits are implemented with two optical modes containing one photon . In this setting, single qubit operations can be achieved with linear optics: beam-splitters and phase-shifters are sufficient to generate every rotation in $`SU(2)`$. Proposals for two-qubit gates, however, either suffer from the requirement for non-linear couplings between the optical modes, or have to exploit feedback from photo-detectors. Such feedback results either in making the scheme non-deterministic (the coupling gate is merely probabilistic) or in requiring non-deterministic generation of entangled photon states. Another recent proposal  uses coherent states to encode an (approximate) qubit, which allows for implementation of an (approximate) controlled phase with just one beam-splitter but now relegates all the difficulty back again into the implementation of single-qubit interactions.

Recently we have shown  how to overcome this problem in several cases of interest. By suitably encoding the quantum states into a higher dimensional quantum system various interactions can be made universal. We have termed this method encoded universality . The Heisenberg interaction, for example, allows for encoded universality  and we have identified the possible encodings to realize this. Our proof relies on Lie-algebraic methods and does not answer the very practical question: What price must be paid in additional gates to implement encoded single qubit and two-qubit operations? In  we have assessed the trade-off for the Heisenberg interaction. For the encoding of “logical” qubits into blocks of three “physical” qubits each, we found that $`4`$ exchange gates in sequence allow to simulate every single-qubit operation on the encoded qubit, whereas a sequence of $`19`$ exchange gates gives the encoded controlled-NOT (up to single qubit operations). This was in serial mode: a parallel mode solution was also found that required only $`3`$ exchange gates for single-qubit operations and $`7`$ exchange gates for the encoded controlled-NOT. These sequences were obtained via numerical minimization of functions based on local invariants due to Makhlin .

Since then new results on encoded universality have been derived. In  we showed that the anisotropic exchange interaction lends itself to encoded universality and identified the required encoding to implement this. Results were obtained for general numbers of qubits $`n`$, with the smallest encoding required to achieve universality without additional interactions being an encoded qutrit (three-level system) constructed from $`n=3`$ physical qubits. In , Lidar and Wu have analysed the universality properties of exchange-like interactions in the presence of additional single qubit $`\sigma _z`$ operations or static $`\sigma _z`$ terms in the Hamiltonian. They found that with the help of these additional $`\sigma _z`$ interactions it was possible to encode into pairs of qubits.

Anisotropic Heisenberg spin couplings arise whenever there is some preferred direction in space along which the coupling is stronger or weaker. This could be due to, e.g., asymmetries induced by donor atoms in solid-state arrays of atoms coupled via their nuclear spins . The XY-interaction arises when there is no coupling in the $`z`$-direction of the spins, while the coupling in $`x`$\- and $`y`$-direction is equally strong:

$`(H_{XY})_{ij}={\displaystyle \frac{J_{ij}}{2}}(\sigma _x^i\sigma _x^j+\sigma _y^i\sigma _y^j)J_{ij}A_{ij}.`$ (1)
This situation is relevant to several proposals for solid-state quantum computation, e.g., using quantum dot spins and cavity QED, and using nuclear spins coupled by a two-dimensional electron gas .

In the following we give an explicit assessment of the trade-offs involved in implementing universal computation with the XY-interaction alone. We give an explicit application to the $`n=3`$ qutrit encoding established by Lie group methods in Ref.  that possesses the smallest spatial overhead for logical encoding. Consideration of possible gate sequences for this encoding shows that we may achieve an additional economy by using only two of the qutrit states to define a truncated qubit, i.e., two encoded logical states from three physical qubits. In this case the effective encoding of the truncated qubit requires only two physical qubits and single qubit operations will require an additional ancillary qubit, which can be reused after the gate-application for subsequent gates. We find that universal computation is possible on this truncated qubit using at most 7 XY exchange gates for encoded single qubit operations, and at most 5 XY exchange gates for an encoded two-qubit gate (the controlled phase-flip $`C_z`$). For the full qutrit, i.e., using all three encoded states derived from the $`n=3`$ physical qubits, we find that single qubit operations may be constructed by slightly modifying the encoded single qubit operations used for the truncated qubit, which results in $`12`$-operations as a basis for single-qutrit operation while encoded two-qubit gates now require $`8`$ XY exchange gates.

Thus the XY-anisotropic exchange interaction can be used to implement universal quantum computation in an economical fashion without requiring supplemental interactions, whether static or dynamic. This result is extremely attractive for experimental investigations, allowing application to encoding over arrays of degenerate quantum bits such as would arise from nanoscale fabrication methods, ı.e., with no requirement of a distinct energy spectrum.

## II The encodings

We will encode a qubit or qudit into parts of the Hilbert space of a system of $`n`$ qubits. As shown in  the XY-interaction preserves the number of zeros and ones of a computational basis state. Within a space spanned by states with a fixed number of zeros and ones the XY-interaction is universal. We can chose a subspace spanned by states with $`i`$ ones and $`ni`$ zeros (such that $`i(ni)`$) to encode $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{i}\right)=d`$ basis states, yielding an encoded qudit. The smallest encoded qudit is a qutrit encoded into $`n=3`$ qubits, according to

$`|0_L=|100|1_L=|010|2_L=|001.`$ (2)
For large $`n`$, the encoding efficiency (number of encoded qubits over number of physical qubits $`=\mathrm{log}_2d/n`$) approaches unity.

Quantum circuits built from encoded states have to respect the tensor product structure of the quantum circuit model. To map the encoded Hilbert space to the quantum circuit model, a cut-off has to be chosen ($`n`$ physical qubits encoding $`d`$ states). Blocks of $`n`$ qubits will represent the encoded qudits. Since the tensor product of two of these blocks is still spanned by basis-states with a constant ratio of zeros and ones (in a space of 2n qubits now), the product state is immersed in a subspace over which the XY-interaction is universal. In particular any two qudit gate can be implemented with XY-interactions. If $`d`$ is not a power of $`2`$ for a given encoding of $`d`$ states into $`n`$ qubits, we can always chose to not use some of the $`d`$ states, so that the remaining $`2^k`$ states form the $`k`$ logical qubits.

The basic units of quantum circuits in the implementation of most algorithms are qubits rather than qudits). This is largely a matter of convenience, but is considerably more common in experimental schemes. We will therefore first show how to implement universal computation on an encoded qubit that is obtained by discarding the level $`|2_L`$ in Eq. (2). Since this encoded qubit is obtained by discarding a state from the original qubit, we shall refer to it as a truncated qubit. We shall then show how the XY implementation works on the full qutrit. In both cases we are constructing encoded single-qudit operations and encoded two-qudit operations that have the capability of entangling the encoded logical states, where the qudits are qubits in one instance and qutrits in the other. Thus we are implicitly working within the model of encoded universality that provides a map onto the standard model of one- and two-qubit operations.

## III The gate-sequences

### A Truncated qubit encoding

We now show how to emulate both single qubit operations and the encoded controlled phase-flip. The controlled phase-flip $`C_z`$, defined by $`|a|b(1)^{ab}|a|b`$, is equivalent to the controlled-NOT (CNOT), up to local unitary operations on the encoded qubits. Note that in the particular encoding we have chosen by discarding $`|2_L`$ (i.e., $`|0_L=|100`$ and $`|1_L=|010`$), the third physical qubit is always in the state $`|0`$. Consequently the third qubit is always $`|0`$ for any state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_L=\alpha |0_L+\beta |1_L`$ of the encoded qubit. It is therefore redundant for this truncated encoding. However, as we show below, it is needed during the application of the gate sequence. We can say that the effective  encoded qubit is placed into a space of only two physical qubits ($`|0_L=|10`$ and $`|1_L=|01`$), with the third qubit playing the role of an ancilla state (we will need it during the application of the gate sequence), which can be reused for several computations. We will denote the Pauli-matrices $`\sigma _{x,y,z}`$ by $`X,Y,Z`$ respectively. For notational simplicity, we shall subsume the amplitude factors of $`J_{ij}`$ into the gate phases $`\varphi `$. Note that the amplitudes $`J_{ij}`$ are in general allowed to be different for different qubit pairs $`i,j`$.

#### a Single-qubit operations

: We will use the Euler-angle decomposition of matrices $`USU(2)`$ as

$`U=e^{i\varphi _1X}e^{i\varphi _2Z}e^{i\varphi _3X}`$ (3)
to show how to implement each of these factors in turn on the encoded qubit. This is very easy for the encoded operations generated by $`X`$:

$`(e^{i\varphi X})_L=e^{i\varphi A_{12}},`$ (4)
where $`A_{ij}`$ is defined in Eq. (1), i.e.,

$`A_{ij}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(X^iX^j+Y^iY^j)`$ (5)
For the encoded $`Z`$ we will adapt a sequence from Lidar and Wu , which acts on three qubits. This sequence, which we will call $`𝒫_3`$, will be used also to implement the controlled phase-flip $`C_z`$ between two encoded qubits. Its layout is shown in Figure 1:

$`𝒫_3(\varphi )=e^{i\frac{\pi }{4}A_{12}}e^{i\frac{\pi }{2}A_{23}}e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}A_{13}}e^{i\frac{\pi }{2}A_{23}}e^{i\frac{\pi }{4}A_{12}}.`$ (6)
Figure 2a shows how to use this 5-gate sequence to implement an encoded $`(e^{i\varphi Z})_L`$ on our qubit. Adding a third ancillary physical qubit in the state $`|0`$ thus allows us to enact $`𝒫_3`$ on the truncated qubit $`|0_L,|1_L`$. In particular, $`𝒫_3(\varphi )`$ transforms $`|100e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}|100`$ and $`|010e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}|010`$. This implements the encoded $`e^{i\varphi Z}`$, up to a global phase ($`e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}`$), and leaves the third qubit unchanged.

Using these two operations, $`e^{i\varphi A_{12}}`$ and $`𝒫_3`$, Eq. (3) shows that we can implement any single qubit gate on the encoded qubit using at most $`7`$ gates generated by the XY-interaction.

#### b Two qubit gate

: To obtain an encoded $`C_z`$ between the encoded qubits $`|0_L`$ and $`|1_L`$ we do not have to work much harder. We will demonstrate that the previous $`5`$-gate sequence $`𝒫_3`$ can be used to obtain$`\sqrt{ZZ}=\mathrm{exp}(i\frac{\pi }{4}ZZ)`$. This gate is equivalent to the controlled phase-flip $`C_z`$ up to single qubit unitaries ($`C_z=[\mathrm{exp}(i\frac{\pi }{4}Z_1)\mathrm{exp}(i\frac{\pi }{4}Z_2)]\sqrt{ZZ}`$). Figure 2b shows two possible layouts of $`𝒫_3`$ that can achieve this, i.e.,

$`(\sqrt{ZZ})_L=𝒫_3({\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})_{123}=𝒫_3({\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})_{124}.`$ (7)
The subscripts refer to the physical qubits to which $`𝒫_3`$ is applied. This means that in order to implement the controlled phase-flip $`C_z`$ exactly (up to single qubit operations), we need only $`5`$ gates.

### B Universal computation on qutrits

Let us now analyze the case of the encoded qutrit, i.e., the three- state system of Eq. (2). To universally compute on a qutrit, we have to show how to implement $`SU(3)`$ operations on the qutrit and also how to make an entangling gate between two encoded qutrits. As noted above, this allows us to use the encoded qutrits to implement quantum circuits constructed to implement computation on qutrits.

For the single qutrit operations, we note that it is sufficient to show how to implement $`SU(2)`$ on each pair of two of the three states. This follows from the enlarging lemma proven in Ref. . Note that both the $`X`$-gate of Eq. (4) and the $`Z`$-gate of Eq. (6) leave the state $`|2_L=|001`$ unchanged. To implement an encoded $`e^{i\varphi X}`$ on the first two states of the qutrit we therefore can just apply the $`X`$-gate of Eq. (4) without modification. To obtain the $`e^{i\varphi Z}`$ gate we need to be slightly more cautious. Direct application of the $`Z`$ gate in Eq. (6) transforms $`|100e^{i\varphi /2}|100`$, $`|010e^{i\varphi /2}|010`$, but leaves the third state unchanged, i.e., $`|001|001`$. This introduces not only the desired relative phase shift between $`|0_L`$ and $`|1_L`$, but also an undesired phase shift between each of these and the third state $`|2_L`$. However, the action of a $`Z`$ gate on a qutrit should introduce only one relative phase, e.g., between $`|0_L`$ and $`|1_L`$, although it can result in an additional global phase. To overcome this problem, we can apply the $`𝒫_3`$ gate twice, in an arrangement shown in Figure 3a. This now does correctly implement the $`Z`$ gate on the first two states of the qutrit, while maintaining a constant phase between states $`|0_L`$ and $`|2_L`$ and causing an acceptable global phase of $`e^{i\varphi /3}`$. We can therefore generate $`SU(2)`$ on $`|0_L,|1_L`$ without changing $`|2_L`$ with at most $`12`$ gates ($`1`$ from each $`X`$ gate and $`10`$ from the pair of $`𝒫_3`$ gates). By switching qubit $`1`$ and $`3`$, these same operations give $`SU(2)`$ on $`|1_L,|2_L`$. By switching $`2`$ and $`3`$, they give $`SU(2)`$ on $`|0_L,|2_L`$. Hence, by the enlarging lemma , we can use these sequences to construct any $`SU(3)`$ operation on the qutrit.

To implement an entangling operation between the two qutrits, we need only to implement an entangling operation (e.g., $`C_z`$) between two of the three levels of each qutrit. Using the gates in Eq. (7), together with the fact that $`𝒫_3`$ does not change states of the form $`|000`$ and $`|001`$, we can implement an encoded $`\sqrt{ZZ}`$ between $`\{|0_L|0_L,|0_L|1_L,|1_L|0_L,|1_L|1_L\}`$. We achieve this by combining the two options in Eq. (7) in serial, to build a circuit having two $`𝒫_3`$ gates in sequence, shown in Figure 3b. We note that the sequence of the two $`𝒫_3`$ gates results in a total of only $`8`$ exchange interactions (rather than $`10`$), because the last interaction in the first $`(𝒫_3)_{123}`$ cancels the first one in the second $`(𝒫_3)_{124}`$. We present a second possibility for the same circuit in the lower part of Figure 3b. Instead of applying the $`𝒫_3`$ gate between qubits $`123`$ and $`124`$ in succession, we limit the application of $`𝒫_3`$ here to just the first three qubits ($`123`$) in both instances. Then we insert an XY-gate between qubit $`3`$ and $`4`$, which is then undone after the second $`𝒫_3`$ gate. This arrangement has two more gates ($`10`$ instead of $`8`$), but makes up for this by presenting advantages for conception of the layout of the physical qubits. The $`𝒫_3`$ gate requires interactions between all three of its qubits, which therefore have to be arranged in a geometry which will allow for this (e.g., triangular). It can therefore be advantageous to limit the number of different $`𝒫_3`$ gates. Yet another alternative to this last circuit is to make the $`𝒫_3`$ gate act both times between qubits 1,2 and 4, and to insert two XY interactions before and after the first $`𝒫_3`$ gate.

Whichever of these three entangling $`\sqrt{ZZ}`$ circuits is used, symmetric permutations of the qubits (within one encoded qutrit) will again allow one to then implement $`C_z`$ between any choice of pairs of two levels of the encoded qutrits.

## IV State preparation and measurement

To implement a full-fledged quantum computation with the XY-interaction alone, we have to show how to prepare fresh input states (in the encoded $`|0_L`$ state) and how to read out the result of the quantum circuit. This task is made easier by the fact that the encoded logical qubit states are all tensor product states of the physical qubits.

A quantum computation in our scheme would begin by settling all the computational qubits to the $`|0_L`$ state. In the encoding with three physical qubits this state is of the form $`|100`$. In the case of a spin-architecture, for instance, single qubits in the $`|1`$ state can be obtained by placing them in a moderately strong magnetic field pointing in one direction, and the $`|0`$ spins can be obtained by imposing a magnetic field in the opposite direction. If it is hard to apply this magnetic field locally (such that it affects the first spin only) one may apply the magnetic field to two groups of spatially separated spins to produce separate groups of $`|1`$ and $`|0`$ spins. We can then bring these groups of spins close together and use XY-interactions between members of the two groups to “shift” the $`|1`$ spins to the appropriate positions within the other group of $`|0`$ spins. Note that in order to “shift” a $`|1`$ from, say, position $`1`$ to position $`2`$ (up to a global phase) we need only to apply the exchange operator $`A_{12}`$ for a time $`\pi /4`$ (see Eq. (4)).

To measure the outcome of a computation we only need to distinguish $`|0_L`$ from $`|1_L`$ (or from $`|2_L`$ if we use all three qutrit states for encoding). This means a measurement has to determine whether the first physical qubit is in the state $`|1`$ or $`|0`$. This can again be done by preparing a (spatially separated) group of spins in the $`|0`$-state and using the XY-interaction to “shift” the qubit state in question into this group. A (destructive) measurement of the total magnetic moment can then determine whether the spin in question was in the state $`|0`$ or $`|1`$.

These elements of state preparation and measurement complete the set of primitives needed for fault-tolerant quantum computation.

## V Layout

The gate operations needed for univeral computation with the XY-interaction only will not necessarily involve just nearest neighbor interactions. In fact, it can be shown that in a linear array, nearest neighbor XY interactions alone are not universal with any encoding (see  and references therein). A layout of the physical qubits has to respect this fact, introducing issues of architecture into consideration. In Figure 4 we present two possible two-dimensional layouts, one for encoded truncated qubits (a) and the other for the full qutrits (b). The triangular arrangement allows for all possible interactions between the three qubits that make up an encoded truncated qubit or an encoded qutrit, using only nearest neighbor interactions. This allows application of the $`𝒫_3`$ gate on the three qubits of the triangle using only nearest neighbor interactions. The arrangement of the triangles is such, that there is always a triangular shape between two qubits of one triangle and one qubit of the next. This way we can always apply a $`𝒫_3`$ gate between two qubits of one encoded qutrit and one qubit of the other, which is sufficient to implement the entangling gates also using only nearest neighbor interactions. Note that in the case of Figure 3a) we might need to apply XY-interactions between the two physical qubits that encode a truncated qubit and the third (ancillary) qubit, set to $`|0`$, before applying the $`𝒫_3`$ gates for the two-qubit operations.

Within this architecture, the fundamental interaction is indeed simply a nearest neighbor interaction. In fact, it is not hard to see that in a linear array, nearest and next-nearest neighbor XY-interactions will suffice for universal computation. Any layout that allows for these two types of interactions will therefore allow for universal computation. The two-dimensional triangular layout proposed here has the advantage of requiring just nearest-neighbor interactions. This can be either symmetric, (i.e., $`J_{ij}J`$ for all $`i,j`$), or inequivalent, without modification of the present gate sequences. Note that in the case of the truncated qubit we only need a third ancillary qubit (set to $`|0`$) whenever a $`Z`$-gate (Eq. (6)) is to be performed. The effective encoding is thus $`|0_L=|10`$ and $`|1_L=|01`$. One can imagine alternative arrangements that supply the ancillary qubit in the state $`|0`$, either permanently or in a temporary fashion whenever a $`Z`$ gate needs to be performed. A three-dimensional architecture, such as that presented in Figure 5, can achieve this with an economy of qubits resulting from a mobile ancilla scheme. Here each truncated qubit is encoded by two physical qubits (all in one plane) and the single ancillary qubit is moved around in a second plane, to be used whenever needed for implementation of a $`Z`$ gate. If such ancilla qubit mobility is not practical, one simply uses a static row of ancillary qubits in the second plane.

The XY exchange interaction underlies several experimental proposals for solid-state qubits, including quantum dot spins coupled by cavity QED  and nuclear spins coupled by a two-dimensional electron gas . These different proposals involve diverse requirements on realizing physical coupling of the qubits. For the quantum dot/cavity QED proposal, a two-dimensional triangular layout such as those in Figure 4 is attractive, while the three-dimensional layout of Figure 5 (with a static array of ancilla qubits in the second plane) appears well suited to the long-range coupling of nuclear spins proposed in Ref. . Clearly, the ultimate layout in physical implementations will be subject also to experimental restrictions on the particular physical system at hand.

## VI Conclusion

We have constructed efficient gate sequences to implement universal quantum computation using the anisotropic exchange (XY) interaction alone. The most compact solution allows definition of qubits as truncated qutrits, and results in quantum logic elements containing at most $`7`$ XY exchange operations for encoded single qubit operations, and a maximum of $`5`$ XY operations for encoded two-qubit gates. These explicit gate sequences offer an attractive route to implementation of quantum information processing using transverse spin-spin interactions. A prototype two-dimensional layout was suggested here that lends itself well to the architecture of quantum dots coupled by cavity QED proposed in Ref. .

Acknowledgments: JK and KBW’s effort is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Air Force Laboratory, Air Force Material Command, USAF, under agreement number F30602-01-2-0524 and FDN00014-01-1-0826.


text:
# Phase separation in a boson-fermion mixture of Lithium atoms

## 1 Introduction

Following the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in alkali gases , a great deal of experimental effort is being devoted to trap and cool gases of fermionic isotopes of alkali atoms. The usual evaporative cooling scheme is ineffective, since the Pauli exclusion principle forbids $`s`$-wave collisions between spin-polarized fermions. This problem has been circumvented by recourse to sympathetic cooling, which relies on $`s`$-wave collisions with atoms belonging to different species, and several groups have thus reached in the Fermi cloud temperatures as low as $`T=0.2T_F`$ , $`T_F`$ being the Fermi temperature. In particular, an experiment in Paris has produced a mixture of a degenerate Fermi gas and a stable Bose-Einstein condensate, made from Lithium isotopes .

The condensate-fermion mixture is an interesting system for the study of the effects of the interactions, since it can show spatial phase separation of the two components on increasing the value of the boson-boson and boson-fermion coupling constants . This is an example of a quantum phase transition . Several configurations for phase-separated clouds have been proposed in . A schematic phase diagram for the trapped boson-fermion mixture at zero temperature has been given in , while the phases and the stability of a homogeneous boson-fermion mixture have been studied in . In the experiments it might be possible to investigate the phase-separated region by exploiting optically or magnetically induced Feschbach resonances to increase the values of the boson-boson and/or the fermion-boson scattering length .

In this letter we have chosen the trap geometry and parameters typical of the Paris experiment and have analyzed the possible phase-separated configurations; we also indicate how various equilibrium observables are affected by phase separation.

The paper is organized as follows: in Sec. 2 we present the model which we have used and discuss its limits of applicability; Sec. 3 gives the conditions for phase separation at zero temperature and illustrates the column-density profiles corresponding to different phase-separated configurations. The results are extended to finite temperature in Sec. 4.

## 2 The model

We adopt a three-fluid model for a mixture of bosons and fermions at finite temperature $`T`$ . The model is used to evaluate the density profile of the condensate ($`n_c`$) within the Thomas-Fermi approximation and those of the fermionic ($`n_f`$) and thermal bosonic component ($`n_{nc}`$) within the Hartree-Fock approximation.

We shall assume that the number of bosons in the trap is large enough that the kinetic energy term in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the wave function $`\psi (𝐫)`$ of the condensate can be neglected . The density profile of the condensed atoms is

$$n_c(𝐫)=\psi ^2(𝐫)=[\mu _bV_b^{ext}(𝐫)2gn_{nc}(𝐫)fn_f(𝐫)]/g$$
(1)
for positive values of the function in the brackets and zero otherwise. Here, $`g=4\pi \mathrm{}^2a_{bb}/m_b`$ and $`f=2\pi \mathrm{}^2a_{bf}/m_r`$ with $`a_{bb}`$ and $`a_{bf}`$ the boson-boson and boson-fermion $`s`$-wave scattering lengths and $`m_r=m_bm_f/(m_b+m_f)`$ with $`m_b`$ and $`m_f`$ the atomic masses; $`\mu _b`$ is the chemical potential of the bosons. The system is confined by external axially symmetric potentials

$$V_{b,f}^{ext}(𝐫)=m_{b,f}\omega _{b,f}^2(r^2+\lambda _{b,f}^2z^2)/2$$
(2)
where $`\omega _{b,f}`$ are the frequencies and $`\lambda _{b,f}`$ the anisotropies of the traps.

As already proposed in early work on the confined Bose fluid , we treat both the thermal bosons and the fermions as ideal gases in effective potentials $`V_{b,f}^{eff}(𝐫)`$ involving the relevant interactions. We write

$$V_b^{eff}(𝐫)=V_b^{ext}(𝐫)+2gn_c(𝐫)+2gn_{nc}(𝐫)+fn_f(𝐫)$$
(3)
and

$$V_f^{eff}(𝐫)=V_f^{ext}(𝐫)+fn_c(𝐫)+fn_{nc}(𝐫).$$
(4)
We are taking the fermionic component as a dilute, spin-polarized Fermi gas: the fermion-fermion interactions are then associated at leading order with $`p`$-wave scattering and are negligible at the temperatures of present interest . Here and in Eq. (1), the factors 2 arise from exchange.

We may then evaluate the thermal averages by means of standard Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions, taking the thermal bosons to be in thermal equilibrium with the condensate at the same chemical potential and the fermions at chemical potential $`\mu _f`$. In this semiclassical approximation the densities of the cold-atom clouds are

$$n_{nc,f}(𝐫)=\frac{d^3p}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^3}\left\{\mathrm{exp}\left[\left(\frac{p^2}{2m_{b,f}}+V_{b,f}^{eff}(𝐫)\mu _{b,f}\right)/k_BT\right]1\right\}^1.$$
(5)
The chemical potentials are determined from the total numbers of bosons and fermions.

The above model is valid for bosons when the diluteness condition $`n_ca_{bb}^31`$ holds. For the Fermi cloud in the mixed regime the condition $`k_fa_{bf}1`$ with $`k_f=(48N_F)^{1/6}/a_{ho}`$ should hold, but this is not a constraint in the regime of phase separation where the boson-fermion interaction energy drops rapidly (see below).

## 3 Conditions for phase separation

Phase separation is complete when the overlap between the bosonic and the fermionic density profiles vanishes. The transition to this regime depends on the confinement and on the numbers, masses and interaction strengths of the trapped fermions and bosons. In the case of equal numbers of bosons and fermions and equal trapping frequencies the condition of phase separation can be written as

$$k_fa_{bb}>\frac{3\pi }{4}\left(\frac{a_{bb}}{a_{bf}}\right)^2$$
(6)
at zero temperature  .

Let us focus on the geometry and on typical values of the numbers of atoms in the Paris experiment  for the 7Li-6Li mixture: $`\omega _b=2\pi \times 4000`$ Hz, $`\omega _f=2\pi \times 3520`$ Hz, $`\lambda _b\lambda _f1/60`$, and $`N_bN_f10000`$. Since the two trap frequencies are of the same order of magnitude, we can use Eq. (6) to estimate at which values of the scattering lengths the phase transition occurs. For the above experimental parameters the condition (6) becomes $`\xi a_{bf}^2/a_{bb}>7000a_0`$. Using the predicted values for the scattering lengths of the 7Li-6Li mixture, that is $`a_{bb}=5.1a_0`$ and $`a_{bf}=38a_0`$ , we have $`\xi 283a_0`$ and the gases are not as yet in the phase-separated regime. However, in a Feschbach-resonance experiment the scattering lengths could be increased. There is therefore the possibility to fulfill Eq. (6) and to enter the phase-separated regime.

Since the positions of the Feschbach resonances for $`a_{bf}`$ and $`a_{bb}`$ would not necessarily coincide, in order to explore the phase diagram for the boson-fermion mixture we have first of all kept $`a_{bb}`$ fixed at its non-resonant value and changed $`a_{bf}`$. In this case, in order to reach phase separation it is sufficient to increase the value of the boson-fermion scattering length by a factor five, namely $`a_{bf}>\stackrel{~}{a}_{bf}200a_0`$.

To check this estimate we have evaluated the boson-fermion interaction energy

$$E_{int}=fd^3r[n_c(𝐫)+n_{nc}(𝐫)]n_f(𝐫),$$
(7)
using the model described in Sec. 2. The behaviour of this quantity at $`T=0`$ as a function of $`a_{bf}/a_{bb}`$, with $`a_{bb}=5.1a_0`$, is shown in Fig. 1 (solid line). Because of finite size effects the transition to the phase-separated regime shows a large crossover region and the interaction energy goes smoothly to zero when separation is complete .

For the value $`a_{bf}=38a_0`$ corresponding to the current experiments (marked by the arrow in Fig. 1), the boson-fermion interaction energy is close to its maximum value. We find that the overlap between the two clouds vanishes if $`a_{bf}>200a_0`$, in accord with the estimate given just above.

To make close contact with experiments we have calculated the column densities of the fermionic and condensate vapours in the phase-separated regime for various values of $`a_{bf}`$. At the threshold value we have found only one possible configuration, with a central hole in the fermionic cloud which is occupied by the condensed bosons (see Fig. 2). For this configuration there is only a quantitative difference in the value of the contrast at the center of the fermionic cloud as compared to the mixed state.

The regime of phase separation is univocally characterized by the presence of other configurations at higher values of $`a_{bf}`$. Starting from different initial conditions, for $`1000a_0<a_{bf}<2000a_0`$ we have found, in addition to a configuration which is similar to that in Fig. 2, another with a different ellipticity of the hole and a third one which is asymmetric in the axial direction (see Fig. 3). For the values of the parameters that we have used the lowest energy configuration is the first (symmetric) one. However, also the other metastable states are close in energy and could perhaps be realized in the laboratory by applying an adiabatic perturbation having the symmetry of the final state. The asymmetric state could easily be identified in the column-density pictures.

Other interesting configurations would be observed in an experiment in which both scattering lengths could be changed. On increasing $`a_{bb}`$ the size of the condensate increases towards that of the fermion cloud and the hole in the latter widens, until a situation is reached in which the fermions are pushed out in the radial direction and make a ring around a cigar of bosons. Another peculiar shape is a “double sandwich” of bosons, in which two slices of condensate are separated by a central slice of fermions and surrounded by a fermionic shell. As a last remark, the energy of all these configurations depends on the values of the scattering lengths: it may thus happen that the most stable state is the asymmetric one or has other exotic shapes .

## 4 Effects of temperature

At low temperature ($`T0.2T_F`$) the density profiles for the various configurations are essentially the same as those found at $`T=0`$, with the addition of a small bosonic thermal cloud. For values of the boson-fermion scattering length around the critical value $`\stackrel{~}{a}_{bf}`$ the phase separation involves only the condensate and the fermionic cloud: the total boson-fermion interaction energy $`E_{int}`$ has a minimum but does not vanish (see the dashed line in Fig. 1), since the fermionic and the bosonic thermal clouds still overlap. However, with a further increase in the scattering length, up to values of order $`10^5a_0`$, the model yields full phase separation between fermions and bosons.

At higher temperature ($`T0.6T_F`$) we do not find phase separation between the fermionic cloud and the condensate (see the dotted-dashed line in Fig. 1). Separation between the total bosonic gas and the fermions is instead found in this model at $`a_{bf}10^5a_0`$. In this case a symmetric configuration is generated, in which the fermions are pushed outside the whole boson gas. The size of the hole in the fermionic cloud is determined by the width of the bosonic thermal cloud, making the finite-temperature transition much more evident in the column-density images than at $`T=0`$ .

Another quantity which can be measured as a function of temperature is the width of the fermionic density profile in a given direction, e.g. in the $`z`$ direction (see Fig. 4). While for the values of the scattering lengths in the Lithium experiment the width is predicted to be almost the same as that of the non-interacting Fermi gas , larger increases in width are found in some phase-separated configurations. This observable is particularly sensitive to the configurations which involve a large displacement of the fermions, such as the “double boson sandwich” .

In conclusion, we have examined the main observable features of spatial phase separation in gaseous mixtures of Li isotopes, with specific focus on the setup of the Paris experiments. A full account of our results will be given elsewhere .

We acknowledge support from MIUR under PRIN2000 and by INFM under PRA2001.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

”Old” questions of relativistic astrophysics, like the internal structure of compact stars, have received a lot of attention recently since they are very important for a solid knowledge of the QCD diagram in the low-$`T`$ , high $`\mu `$ region as discussed along this Workshop. Among the most simple forms of investigating (indirectly) the nature of high-density matter, more precisely of the equation of state connecting the pressure and the energy density; is by obtaining accurate determinations of masses and radii. A comparison of the static models generated by integration of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations with observed data should reveal a great deal of information about the equation of state.

While astronomers and physicists alike have longely dreamed of such determinations we have only recently achieved sufficient accuracy to perform some key tests on selected objects, although it should be acknowledged that three decades of compact star astrophysics had produced quite clever arguments to determine masses and radii, even in the cases in which they proved to be wrong.

A paradigmatic example of the above assertions is the celebrated determination of the binary pulsar mass PSR 1913+16, believed to be accurate to the fourth decimal place . Methods based on combinations of spectroscopic and photometric techniques have been recently perfectioned, and have confirmed that at least one X-ray source is significantly above the ”canonical” 1.44 $`M_{}`$; namely Vela X-1 for which a value of $`1.87_{0.17}^{+0.23}M_{}`$ has been obtained .

It is also possible that at least some compact stars are extremely compact, or in other words, that their radii are $`3040\%`$ less than the cherished $`10km`$ for $`M1M_{}`$. Indeed, this is the claim of the analysis of  of the binary Her X-1 ($`M=0.98\pm 0.12M_{}`$ and $`R=6.7\pm 1.2km`$) and  in the case of the isolated nearby RX J1856-37 ($`M=0.9\pm 0.2M_{}`$ and $`R=6_{+2}^1km`$). In fact, such compactness is extremely difficult (impossible?) to model using underlying equations of state based on hadrons alone, and a ”natural” alternative would be to consider deconfined matter. Naturally, these results will be checked and scrutinized for confirmation.

Could this be related to high-density deconfined matter ? Perhaps, since there is hope to achieve deconfinement densities inside compact stars. Also, there is some evidence that diquarks (e. g. a spin-0, color-antitriplet bound state of two quarks) might occur as a component in the QCD plasma (see  and references therein for a review). Such diquarks would be expected to be favoured by Bose statistics and they are quit helpful to model the low-energy hadronic properties. Of course, at very high densities, characterized by interquark distances less than $`(10GeV^2)^{1/2}`$, diquarks lose their identity and must eventually dissolve into quarks, even if there is no clear consensus about the onset of the asymptotic regime.

According to this picture we may regard a diquark as any system of two quarks considered collectively. Diquark correlations arise in part from spin-dependent interactions between two quarks. Regardless of the exact mechanism for their origin, it is imperative to have some gain of energy (binding) for the stellar models to work (see below). The bound state is a quite strong assumption, and is not easy to prove (or disprove) in the absence of a reliable way of performing sensible calculations. As a working hypothesis (quite analogous to the well known strange matter), we shall assume simply that this bound state actually exists.

## 2 Bag-inspired quark-diquark Model

Some time ago it was the interesting controversy about the compactness of Her X-1 that prompted us  to consider models in which diquarks are considered fundamental digrees of freedom and treated as effective bosons. The results were derived using an effective $`\lambda \varphi ^4`$ model and a derived equation of state given in , shown to be valid in this case. We shall not repeat the analysis here, but just point out that (as expected) a self-bound quark-diquark mixture indeed produced very compact models (see Fig.1, curve A). In those models there are two quantities that had to be treated parametrically: the diquark mass $`m_D`$ and the vacuum energy density $`B`$. There is no relation between the two included and therefore other possibilities than the $`m_D=575MeV`$ $`B=57MeVfm^3`$ could be considered. However, it is desirable to reduce the freedom in the parameters to see whether the compactness can be altered.

## 3 QMDD Model

In a more recent attempt we have modeled the quark - diquark plasma as a relativistic gas of $`u`$ and $`d`$ quarks, and $`(ud)`$ diquarks. We treated non-perturbative effects in the quark mass-density-dependent model of confinement (QMDD model) extended for the diquarks assuming $`m_D=m_{D0}+C/n_B^{1/3}`$, analogously to quarks. Some information on the parameter $`C`$ to describe absolutely stable SQM has been found in the range (155-171)2 $`MeV^2`$  based on known stability arguments. The expression for the thermodynamic potential $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ was derived in the thermodynamic limit for the QMDD model extended for bosons, and the usual thermodynamical quantities derived from $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with some care(see ).

Because $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ depends on the baryon number $`n_B`$ through the masses $`m_i`$; the standard relation $`P=\mathrm{\Omega }`$  is not valid and we have an extra term generated by this density dependence; namely $`P=\frac{(V\mathrm{\Omega })}{V}=_i\left(\mathrm{\Omega }_i+n_B\frac{m_i}{n_B}\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_i}{m_i}\right)`$. As stressed in previous works , the term $`n_B\frac{m_i}{n_B}\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_i}{m_i}`$ allows the pressure to be zero at finite baryon number, playing the role of the Bag Constant B in the MIT Bag Model. Needless to say, this is a property related to the parametrization of the mass only, and does not depend on the particle statistics of the particles. However, in the case of bosons this extra term does not contribute at zero temperature. As in the standard case of massive bosons at $`T=0`$ the energy density reduces to $`E=_in_im_i`$. Diquarks do not contribute to the pressure as they are all in the ground state, but do contribute to the energy density, the equation of state is expected to be quite soft.

These equations have been supplemented with the conditions of equilibrium between $`D`$, $`u`$ and $`d`$. By imposing very general stability and equilibrium conditions we found an absolute lower limit on $`m_{D0}`$ $`m_{D0,lim}=\frac{C}{n_b^{1/3}}=230\left(\frac{n_0}{n_B}\right)^{1/3}MeV`$. Electrical charge neutrality and baryon number conservation were enforced to calculate the equation of state for each $`n_B`$ once the parameters $`(C,m_{D0})`$ were given. The numerical results were scanned for stability of the mixture . Stability (and hence self-binding ) occurs inside a pretty large region in the ($`C^{1/2},M_{D0}`$) plane. This region of absolute stability allows the existence of pure quark-diquark stars.It is curious to remark that the same parametrization used for simulating the confinement produces a behaviour of the diquark mass that mimics the uprising part of a gap curve (i.e. increasing binding) and thus energetically favoured diquarks as the density increases. This is not inconsistent with the idea of dissociation of the diquarks at still higher densities, but in any case it is not expected that a mass density-dependent model can solve the complicated structure of a theory at higher densities (see  for a through discussion of this and other details of the model).

## 4 Discussion

Three examples of the QMDD diquark model are shown in Fig. 1. The resulting equations of state are very soft (models B and C), as expected, but fall short to explain the claimed compactness by at least $`\mathrm{\Delta }R1km`$, even in the most favourable case (model B). When compared with the equation of state for quark-diquark matter presented in  (model A) and the softest models of MIT bag models  (model D) we may assert that the stellar sequences are in between the former and the latter. Diquarks may be relevant for compact star structure because they allow the existence of stable compact stars with masses of $`1M_{}`$ and very small radii. For comparison, the inferred radius and mass of both Her X-1 and RX J1856-37 are shown with their respective error bars. Li et al. models SS1 and SS2 (not shown in the figure) are examples of other self-bound models of the equation of state which do produce very compact stars, in fact also capable of matching the values of Her X-1 claimed in  and of RX J1856-37 . We may state that if evidence for extreme compactness holds, diquarks may be relevant for model building .

G. Lugones acknowledges the IAG-São Paulo for hospitality and the financial support received from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo. J.E. Horvath wishes to acknowledge the CNPq Agency (Brazil) for partial financial support. The Scientific Organizers of the meeting and Mrs. Ana Rey are acknowledged for making JEH stay in Copenhaguen a very pleasant experience and partial financial support to attend the event. I. Bombaci, S. Balberg and S. Fredricksson have shared with him several interesting discussions.

Discussion

Dmitri Diakonov(NORDITA): The spin-$`0`$ diquark mass in vacuum has been measured in lattice computer simulations has been measured by the Bielefeld group (M.Hess et al.) and claimed to be around $`700MeV`$. It seems that it is unbound.

J.E. Horvath: The $`m_D`$ appearing in the effective Lagrangian is not necessarily the vacuum mass to which calculations refer, but if the scalar diquark is indeed unbound the possibility of self-bound stars will be gone. Then diquark models may even be useful, although not for explaining small radii.


text:
# 1 Eguchi-Kawai equivalence

## 1 Eguchi-Kawai equivalence

In quantum field theories and systems in statistical mechanics, the number of internal degrees of freedom often enters as a free parameter, which we denote by $`N`$. In many cases, the dynamics of the system simplifies significantly as $`N`$ becomes large. A general discussion is given for instance in Ref. .

This effect motivated in particular the model suggested by Eguchi and Kawai a long time ago . Their point of departure was standard $`U(N)`$ lattice gauge theory. Based on the factorization of correlation functions at $`N\mathrm{}`$, they suggested that the model should be equivalent to its dimensional reduction to one point. Then all the link variables are replaced by $`U_{x,\mu }U_\mu `$, and the plaquette action reduces to

$$S_{EK}=N\beta \underset{\mu \nu =1}{\overset{d}{}}\mathrm{Tr}(U_\mu U_\nu U_\mu ^{}U_\nu ^{}).$$
(1)
As their argument for the Eguchi-Kawai equivalence to ordinary gauge theory, the authors showed that the Schwinger-Dyson equations remain unaltered, which also implies the invariance of the Wilson loops. However, their derivation implicitly assumed that the $`[U(1)]^d`$ symmetry of the phases is not spontaneously broken. This is correct at strong coupling in dimension $`>2`$ and for all couplings in two dimensions. On the other hand, it turned out that at weak coupling in dimension $`>2`$, spontaneous symmetry breaking does set in. Numerical simulations revealed that the $`N`$ eigenvalues of $`U_\mu `$ tend to be almost equal . Hence this attempt to prove general equivalence to standard lattice gauge theory failed, and therefore the equivalence to the continuum gauge theory is uncertain as well.

In order to avoid this problem, soon afterwards modified versions of the Eguchi-Kawai model were introduced, in particular the “quenched Eguchi-Kawai model”  and the “twisted Eguchi-Kawai model” , where the phase symmetries are not spontaneously broken. Ref.  also contains numerical results on the quenched Eguchi-Kawai model, and Refs.  present a perturbative consideration. For numerical studies and generalizations of the twisted Eguchi-Kawai model, see for instance Ref. .

More recently, Ishibashi, Kawai, Kitazawa and Tsuchiya worked out a large $`N`$ reduced matrix model of 10d super Yang-Mills theory  (for a review, see Ref. ). The authors presented some evidence for its relation to type IIB superstring theory and conjectured that it could provide a constructive (non-perturbative) definition of string theory. In particular, they showed that the matrix model action reduces to the Green-Schwarz-Schild action in a certain semiclassical limit 444A more in depth study of this correspondence has been reported in Refs. .. Moreover, their IIB matrix model is shown to describe D-branes and their interactions correctly, which was further elaborated in Refs. .

Supersymmetry seems to protect the $`[U(1)]^d`$ symmetry , but it turns out to be marginally broken . It is completely broken in the simplified bosonic IIB matrix model, which is obtained by omitting the fermions. Nevertheless, the bosonic model has been recognized as a well-defined model , and it has attracted considerable interest in the literature. Both, the bosonic and the supersymmetric model can be formally obtained from the zero-volume limit of large $`N`$ gauge theories in the continuum, and hence they can be viewed as variants of the original Eguchi-Kawai model. The finiteness of the partition function becomes a non-trivial issue, since the matrices to be integrated are Hermitian. The condition for the finiteness ($`N2`$, $`d=4,6,10`$ for the supersymmetric case, and $`N>\frac{3d4}{2(d2)}`$ for the bosonic case) conjectured in Ref.  has been proved recently . However, the validity of Eguchi-Kawai equivalence is still an open question.

In particular, the 4d case of this Hermitian matrix model is accessible for numerical studies. This is true even for its supersymmetric form, because the fermionic determinant is real positive in $`d=4`$ , as suspected earlier . 555The bosonic model has also been simulated in higher dimensions. In particular, Ref.  presents results up to $`d=20`$, $`N=32`$, which are compared to a $`1/d`$ expansion, and Ref.  arrives at $`d=10`$, $`N=128`$. Also the SUSY model without fermionic phase factor was simulated in $`d=6`$ and $`d=10`$ . Large $`N`$ factorization is known to hold in the 4d IIB matrix model, both, for the bosonic  and for the supersymmetric case . As a stronger criterion for Eguchi-Kawai equivalence to ordinary gauge theory, one may investigate the validity of the area law for the Wilson one-point function. Simulations for $`N`$ up to 48 show a finite range of the scale, where the area law seems to hold . 666A similar behavior was also observed in the 10d bosonic model . For the SUSY case, larger $`N`$ can hardly be simulated on present computers, but in the bosonic case it is possible to go far beyond. 777The computational effort grows like $`N^5`$ in the SUSY case, but only like $`N^3`$ in the bosonic model . The goal of this work is to investigate the fate of the finite area law window as $`N`$ becomes really large. We increase $`N`$ up to 768, and observe that the scaling window does indeed stabilize; this provides strong evidence that it does neither shrink to zero nor extend to a larger regime in the large $`N`$ limit. We also confirm for $`N`$ up to 768 that the correlation functions relevant for QCD and string theory remain finite in the large $`N`$ limit if one keeps the product $`g^2N`$ fixed .

In Section 2 we describe the model we are studying, and the properties which are relevant in this context. In Section 3 we recall the notion of Wilson loops in the framework of matrix models and their scaling behavior. Then we present our results for the area law at $`N=48`$, 128, 256, 512 and 768 for the bosonic 4d IIB matrix model. In Section 4 we discuss the conclusions from these results, which were mentioned before in Refs. .

## 2 The model

In 1997, Ishibashi, Kawai, Kitazawa and Tsuchiya suggested a model of supersymmetric matrices, which is a candidate for a non-perturbative definition of IIB superstring theory . Here we are interested in the bosonic variant of this model, which is obtained if one simply drops the fermions by hand. The resulting bosonic IIB matrix model is given by the partition function

$`Z`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑A\mathrm{exp}(S[A])},`$ (2)
$`S[A]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4g^2}}\mathrm{Tr}\left([A_\mu ,A_\nu ]^2\right),`$
where $`A_\mu `$ are traceless Hermitian $`N\times N`$ matrices, and in the $`d`$ dimensional version of this model, $`\mu `$ runs from 1 to $`d`$. The original model was formulated in $`d=10`$, but here we consider $`d=4`$. The constraint of tracelessness is incorporated in the measure,

$$dA=\underset{\mu =1}{\overset{d}{}}\left[\underset{i>j}{}\{d\mathrm{Re}(A_\mu )_{ij}d\mathrm{Im}(A_\mu )_{ij}\}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}d(A_\mu )_{ii}\delta \left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}(A_\mu )_{ii}\right)\right].$$
(3)
Note that this model is well-defined without any cutoff for $`N>\frac{3d4}{2(d2)}`$ . Hence its only parameter $`g`$ is a pure scaling parameter, rather than a coupling constant. It can simply be absorbed by rescaling the variables as

$$A_\mu =\sqrt{g}X_\mu ,$$
(4)
where the matrices $`X_\mu `$ are dimensionless.

This model is invariant under Euclidean rotations of the $`A_\mu `$, and it has the $`SU(N)`$ symmetry

$$A_\mu VA_\mu V^{},VSU(N).$$
(5)
This 4d bosonic IIB matrix model is closely related to the original Eguchi-Kawai model in the weak coupling limit (for details, see e.g. Ref. ). Due to the $`[U(1)]^d`$ spontaneous symmetry breaking the eigenvalues of the model (1) collapse to a point and we obtain

$$S_{EK}\frac{1}{2}N\beta \underset{\mu \nu =1}{\overset{d}{}}\mathrm{Tr}\left([A_\mu ,A_\nu ]^2\right)+𝒪(A^6),$$
(6)
where $`U_\mu =\text{e}^{iA_\mu }`$. Thus we can identify $`\beta =1/(2g^2N)`$ and the two models agree in the limit $`\beta \mathrm{}`$.

Moreover, the large $`N`$ limit of the bosonic model is expected to be equi-valent to the ’t Hooft limit of the corresponding Yang-Mills theory with a certain ’t Hooft coupling constant $`\lambda _{\mathrm{YM}}`$ and a momentum cutoff $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ . In this correspondence, however, the ’t Hooft coupling constant is related to the momentum cutoff canonically, and therefore one cannot tune $`\lambda _{\mathrm{YM}}`$ appropriately as one sends $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{}`$.

In the next Section we are going to take a new look at the possibility of the Eguchi-Kawai equivalence of the bosonic model to ordinary gauge theory at large $`N`$. After all, the presence of spontaneous symmetry breaking does not rule out that Eguchi-Kawai equivalence could be realized for some range of length scales. As a powerful criterion to test this possibility, we study how far the Wilson loops follow an area law.

## 3 The area law

In analogy to ordinary gauge theory, Polyakov lines and Wilson loops are introduced as

$`P(k)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}\mathrm{Tr}[\mathrm{exp}(ikX_1)],\mathrm{and}`$ (7)
$`W(k)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}\mathrm{Tr}[\mathrm{exp}(ikX_1)\mathrm{exp}(ikX_2)\mathrm{exp}(ikX_1)\mathrm{exp}(ikX_2)],`$ (8)
respectively. For convenience we insert particular components of the dimensionless matrices $`X_\mu `$, but their choice is irrelevant. In the interpretation of large $`N`$ reduced matrix models as string theory, Wilson loops play the rôle of string creation or annihilation operators . The parameter $`k`$ represents the momentum distribution carried by each section of the string. Its physical (dimensionful) counterpart is given by $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}=k/\sqrt{g}`$. Correlation functions of these operators have a direct physical meaning, and hence the existence of a non-trivial large-$`N`$ limit is absolutely crucial. It has been observed to exist if one tunes $`g1/\sqrt{N}`$, in the bosonic and in the supersymmetric case . In what follows, we set $`g=\sqrt{48/N}`$ following the convention in Ref. . In the Eguchi-Kawai equivalence, $`W(k)`$ corresponds to the Wilson loop in the large $`N`$ gauge theory, and the parameter $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}`$ represents the linear extent of the Wilson loop in a physical scale.

In Fig. 1 we illustrate the large $`N`$ scaling further by showing the Polyakov line $`P`$ as a function of $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}`$, with $`N=48`$, 128, 256, 512 and 768. Scaling is confirmed in an impressive way. We also observe that the $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}`$-dependence of the scaling function is in qualitative agreement with an analytical prediction by Oda and Sugino, which is based on a Gaussian approximation (to the second order) in the large $`N`$ limit .

The observation that $`P`$ does not vanish at finite values of $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}`$ confirms that the $`[U(1)]^4`$ symmetry is broken, as we mentioned in Section 1.

Fig. 2 is the corresponding plot for the Wilson loop $`W`$, also as a function of $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}`$. We see that large $`N`$ scaling is confirmed again, hence we can take a rather safe extrapolation to $`N\mathrm{}`$. Again we show the Gaussian approximation (to the first order)  for comparison.

In Fig. 3 we show the Wilson loop logarithmically against $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}^2`$, and we see a window, ranging approximately from $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}^20.5\mathrm{}1`$, which is in agreement with the area law. This area law regime turns out to be manifestly stable as $`N`$ becomes large. Therefore, we do observe a finite range of scale where Eguchi-Kawai equivalence is in business.

In Fig. 4 we extend this plot up to quite large momenta in order to check if perhaps a further area law regime shows up. We observe an oscillating behavior, which also persists at large $`N`$. These oscillations might include additional, small area law regimes, but the relevant interval with this respect is clearly the first one, shown in Fig. 3. We also looked for a regime where the perimeter law holds, but we observed that there is no such interval with a size comparable to the leading area law regime.

## 4 Conclusions

In view of the literature on the Eguchi-Kawai model, it comes as a surprise that the area law does hold in a significant range of scale for the bosonic IIB matrix model. It implies that Eguchi-Kawai equivalence may hold in this regime, even in the absence of twists or other mechanisms to preserve the phase symmetry.

This observation opens up interesting perspectives, with respect to both, the theoretical background and applications. It is now motivated to reconsider the possibility of Eguchi-Kawai equivalence also in the original Eguchi-Kawai model, or further variants thereof, which do not involve a symmetry preserving mechanism. In the matrix model studied here one could still investigate whether the area law regime extends to infinity if we modify the model by the quenching procedure . This question is non-trivial given that the Hermitian matrix model has no direct link to lattice gauge theory, and its Eguchi-Kawai equivalence has been discussed only at the perturbative level . Such a study may also shed light on the string-theoretical meaning of the quenching procedure.

We hope that our results presented here provide new insight towards a string description of large $`N`$ QCD.

## Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank J. Ambjørn, H. Kawai and P. Olesen for stimulating discussions. K.N.A.’s research was partially supported by RTN grants HPRN-CT-2000-00122, HPRN-CT-2000-00131 and HPRN-CT-1999-00161 and the INTAS contract N 99 0590. W.B. was partially supported by the EU-RTN network under contract FMRX-CT97-0122.


text:
# Fake 𝐶𝑃𝑇 Violation in Disappearance Neutrino Oscillations

## Abstract

We make an analysis of the fake $`CPT`$-violating asymmetries between the survival probabilities of neutrinos and antineutrinos, induced by the terrestrial matter effects, in three different scenarios of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments with $`L=730`$ km, $`L=2100`$ km and $`L=3200`$ km. In particular, the dependence of those asymmetries on the Dirac-type $`CP`$-violating phase of the lepton flavor mixing matrix is examined.

It is a real challenge in particle physics to understand the origin of neutrino masses and the mechanism of lepton flavor mixing . Although the present non-accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments have yielded some impressive constraints on the lepton flavor mixing parameters , more precise measurements of those parameters are desirable and rely on a new generation of accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments with long baselines , including the possible neutrino factories . The terrestrial matter effects in such long-baseline neutrino experiments must be taken into account, since they unavoidably modify the genuine behaviors of neutrino oscillations in vacuum. A particular manifestation of the terrestrial matter effects is that they may give rise to fake $`CPT`$-violating asymmetries between the survival probabilities of neutrinos and antineutrinos .

The purpose of this Brief Report is to illustrate the fake $`CPT`$-violating asymmetries between $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ transitions (for $`\alpha =e,\mu ,\tau `$) in three scenarios of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments: $`L=730`$ km, $`L=2100`$ km and $`L=3200`$ km. In particular, the dependence of those asymmetries on the Dirac-type $`CP`$-violating phase of the lepton flavor mixing matrix will be examined.

Let us consider a transition $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha `$ (for $`\alpha =e`$, $`\mu `$ or $`\tau `$) and its $`CPT`$-conjugate process $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ in vacuum. $`CPT`$ invariance implies that the probabilities of $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ transitions amount to each other. Explicitly, we have

$$P(\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha )=\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}4\underset{i<j}{}\left[|V_{\alpha i}|^2|V_{\alpha j}|^2\mathrm{sin}^2\left(1.27\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ji}^2}{E}L\right)\right],$$
(1)
where $`V_{\alpha i}`$ (for $`\alpha =e,\mu ,\tau `$ and $`i=1,2,3`$) denote the elements of the lepton flavor mixing matrix $`V`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ji}^2m_j^2m_i^2`$ with $`m_i`$ being the neutrino masses (in unit of eV), $`L`$ is the distance between the production and interaction points of $`\nu _\alpha `$ (in unit of km), and $`E`$ is the neutrino beam energy (in unit of GeV). As $`T`$ conservation is automatic for the survival probabilities of $`\nu _\alpha `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ neutrinos, $`CP`$ symmetry holds between $`P(\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha )`$ and $`P(\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha )`$ as a direct consequence of $`CPT`$ invariance.

In a realistic long-baseline neutrino experiment, the genuine pattern of $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ transitions is modified due to the presence of terrestrial matter effects. Defining the effective neutrino masses $`\stackrel{~}{m}_i`$ and the effective lepton flavor mixing matrix $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$ in matter, one may write out the effective probability of $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha `$ in the same form as Eq. (1):

$$\stackrel{~}{P}(\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha )=\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}4\underset{i<j}{}\left[|\stackrel{~}{V}_{\alpha i}|^2|\stackrel{~}{V}_{\alpha j}|^2\mathrm{sin}^2\left(1.27\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{~}{m}_{ji}^2}{E}L\right)\right],$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{~}{m}_{ji}^2\stackrel{~}{m}_j^2\stackrel{~}{m}_i^2`$. The analytically exact expressions of $`\stackrel{~}{m}_i^2`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}_{\alpha i}`$, which depend upon $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ji}^2`$, $`V_{\alpha i}`$ and the matter parameter $`A=2\sqrt{2}G_\mathrm{F}N_eE`$ with $`N_e`$ being the background density of electrons and $`E`$ being the neutrino beam energy, have been given in Ref. . Note that the effective probability of $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ can simply be read off from Eq. (2) with the replacements $`V_{\alpha i}V_{\alpha i}^{}`$ and $`AA`$. There must be an asymmetry between $`\stackrel{~}{P}(\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha )`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{P}(\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha )`$, since they are associated respectively with $`(V,+A)`$ and $`(V^{},A)`$. This fake $`CPT`$ asymmetry, denoted as

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha \stackrel{~}{P}(\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha )\stackrel{~}{P}(\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha ),$$
(3)
arises purely from the terrestrial matter effects. A measurement of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha `$ is expected to shed light on both the matter parameter $`A`$ and the neutrino mixing parameters $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ji}^2`$ and $`V_{\alpha i}`$.

To carry out numerical calculations of the asymmetry $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha `$, we adopt the standard parametrization for the lepton flavor mixing matrix $`V`$ :

$$V=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}c_1c_3& s_1c_3& s_3\\ c_1s_2s_3s_1c_2e^{i\delta }& s_1s_2s_3+c_1c_2e^{i\delta }& s_2c_3\\ c_1c_2s_3+s_1s_2e^{i\delta }& s_1c_2s_3c_1s_2e^{i\delta }& c_2c_3\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& e^{i\rho }& 0\\ 0& 0& e^{i\sigma }\end{array}\right)$$
(4)
with $`s_i\mathrm{sin}\theta _i`$ and $`c_i\mathrm{cos}\theta _i`$ (for $`i=1,2,3`$). Since normal neutrino oscillations are completely insensitive to the Majorana-type $`CP`$-violating phases $`\rho `$ and $`\sigma `$, we only need inputs of the other four parameters $`\theta _1,\theta _2,\theta _3`$ and $`\delta `$. Indeed $`(\theta _1,\theta _2,\theta _3)`$ are related respectively to the mixing angles of solar, atmospheric and reactor disappearance neutrino oscillations, at least in the leading-order approximation. As the large-angle Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) solution to the solar neutrino problem  is most favored by the latest Super-Kamiokande and SNO data , we typically take $`\theta _1=35^{}`$ together with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2510^5\mathrm{eV}^2`$. We take $`\theta _2=40^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2310^3\mathrm{eV}^2`$ in view of the present data on atmospheric neutrino oscillations , as well as $`\theta _3=6^{}`$ in view of the upper bound $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _3<0.1`$ set by the CHOOZ and Palo Verde Collaborations . The size of the Dirac-type $`CP`$-violating phase $`\delta `$ remains experimentally unrestricted. We consider two distinct possibilities for illustration: $`\delta =0^{}`$ (with vanishing $`CP`$ violation) and $`\delta =90^{}`$ (with maximal $`CP`$ violation).

If the baseline of neutrino oscillations is about 3000 km or shorter, it is a good approximation to assume the constant matter density of the earth’s crust : $`A2.210^4\mathrm{eV}^2E/[\mathrm{GeV}]`$ with $`E`$ being the neutrino beam energy. Here let us consider three interesting scenarios of long-baseline neutrino experiments: $`L=730`$ km, $`L=2100`$ km and $`L=3200`$ km. The first baseline corresponds essentially to a neutrino source at the Fermilab pointing toward the Soudan mine or that at CERN toward the Gran Sasso underground laboratory; the second baseline is compatible with a possible high-intensity neutrino beam from the High Energy Proton Accelerator in Tokaimura to a detector located in Beijing; and the third baseline could be a favorable choice for the future neutrino factories to measure leptonic $`CP`$\- and $`T`$-violating asymmetries . We are then able to calculate the fake $`CPT`$-violating asymmetries $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\tau `$ with the help of the formulas presented already in Ref.  and the inputs given above. Our numerical results are shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Two comments are in order.

(a) Different from $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\tau `$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e`$ is independent of the value of $`\delta `$. This feature can easily be understood as follows. $`\stackrel{~}{P}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$ relies on $`\stackrel{~}{V}_{e1}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{V}_{e2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}_{e3}`$, which are in turn dependent on $`V_{e1}`$, $`V_{e2}`$ and $`V_{e3}`$ but independent of the other matrix elements of $`V`$ . Since $`V_{e1}`$, $`V_{e2}`$ and $`V_{e3}`$ have nothing to do with $`\delta `$ in the afore-mentioned standard parametrization, $`\stackrel{~}{P}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$ is completely independent of $`\delta `$. A similar argument holds for $`\stackrel{~}{P}(\overline{\nu }_e\overline{\nu }_e)`$. Therefore the asymmetry $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e`$ keeps unchanged for arbitrary values of $`\delta `$.

(b) For the chosen range of $`E`$ (i.e., 1 GeV $`E`$ 20 GeV), the magnitude of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e`$ at the maximal resonance can be as large as $`2.7\%`$ for $`L=730`$ km, $`7.5\%`$ for $`L=2100`$ km, or $`11\%`$ for $`L=3200`$ km. A measurement of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e`$ is therefore possible, at least in principle. The sizes of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\tau `$ are too small to be detectable for $`L=730`$ km; but they can be as large as a few percent at the resonances, if $`L2000`$ km and $`\delta 0^{}`$. Therefore the dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\tau `$ on $`\delta `$ might be detectable.

We find that the behavior of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha `$ is quite stable, even if the matter parameter $`A`$ fluctuates slightly around the originally chosen value. The results obtained above are essentially unchanged if $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2`$ flips its sign, but they are sensitive to the sign flip of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2`$. In particular, the relation $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e(\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2)\mathrm{\Delta }_e(+\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2)`$ is found to hold approximately. Therefore the measurement of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_a`$ may help determine the relative sizes of $`m_2`$ and $`m_3`$, which are important to fix the neutrino mass spectrum. We have also noticed that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha `$ is sensitive to $`\theta _3`$ . If $`\theta _3`$ were too small (e.g., $`\theta _3<1^{}`$), the asymmetries $`\mathrm{\Delta }_e`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\tau `$ would be too small to be practically detected. In a variety of phenomenological models for lepton masses and flavor mixing , $`\theta _3\mathrm{arctan}\sqrt{m_e/m_\mu }4^{}`$ is expected to hold. The measurement of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha `$ may provide a valuable chance to determine or constrain the smallest flavor mixing angle $`\theta _3`$ in the lepton sector.

Finally it is worth mentioning that there might be small genuine $`CPT`$-odd interactions in neutrino oscillations , and they might be entangled with the fake $`CPT`$-odd interactions induced by the terrestrial matter effects. Whether the former can be disentangled from the latter in realistic long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments remains an open question and deserves a systematic study.

The author is grateful to L. Wolfenstein and L.Y. Shan for useful discussions.