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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The pionic decay widths of the excited charm mesons ($`D`$ mesons) are interesting observables, since they depend straightforwardly on the coupling of pions to light constituent quarks. The $`D`$ mesons consist of one light ($`u,d`$) quark and a heavy charm ($`c`$) antiquark, of which it is only the light constituent quark that couples to pions. The coupling of light constituent quarks to pions may be described by the chiral model , which includes the pseudovector Lagrangian and, for $`\pi \pi `$ decay, also a Weinberg-Tomozawa term.

In order to predict the decay widths of the excited $`D`$ meson states, a model for the radial wavefunctions is needed. Here the interaction between the quarks is modeled as the sum of a screened one-gluon exchange (OGE) and a scalar linear confining interaction. The wavefunctions are obtained as solutions of the covariant Blankenbecler-Sugar equation . These are then used together with the chiral Lagrangian to obtain predictions for the $`\pi `$  and $`\pi \pi `$  decays of the excited $`D`$ mesons.

## 2 Single pion decay

The chiral Lagrangian describing the coupling between pions and light constituent quarks may be written as

$$=i\frac{g_A^q}{2f_\pi }\overline{\psi }_q\gamma _5\gamma _\mu _\mu \stackrel{}{\varphi }_\pi \stackrel{}{\tau }\psi _q,$$
(1)
where $`g_A^q`$ is the pion-quark axial coupling constant and $`f_\pi `$ is the pion decay constant. The Lagrangian (1) gives rise to both axial current and charge single-quark amplitudes which may be obtained as

$`T_P^{1\mathrm{q}}`$ $`=`$ $`i{\displaystyle \frac{g_A^q}{2f_\pi }}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{(E^{}+m_{\overline{q}})(E+m_{\overline{q}})}{4EE^{}}}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{P^2k^2/4}{3(E^{}+m_{\overline{q}})(E+m_{\overline{q}})}}\right)\stackrel{}{\sigma }^q\stackrel{}{k}\tau _\pi ,`$ (2)
$`T_S^{1\mathrm{q}}`$ $`=`$ $`i{\displaystyle \frac{g_A^q}{2f_\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{2m_{\overline{q}}+E+E^{}}{\sqrt{4EE^{}(E+m_{\overline{q}})(E^{}+m_{\overline{q}})}}}\omega _\pi \stackrel{}{\sigma }^q\left({\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{p}^{}+\stackrel{}{p}}{2}}\right)\tau _\pi .`$ (3)
Here the relativistic momentum-dependent factors arise from the spinors of the light constituent quark. Because of the small mass (450 MeV) of the light constituent quark, these factors should not be dropped, as otherwise large overestimates will result. In the above expression, $`\stackrel{}{k}`$ denotes the momentum of the emitted pion. The quark momentum operator $`\stackrel{}{P}`$ is defined as $`(\stackrel{}{p}^{}+\stackrel{}{p})/2`$. In addition to the above single-quark amplitudes, two-quark amplitudes involving excitation of intermediate negative energy quarks by the quark-antiquark interaction have been considered. Especially for the $`\pi `$ decays of the $`L=1`$ states, they are shown to have a large effect.

Using the standard phase-space expressions and wavefunctions for the initial and final $`D`$ meson states, the $`\pi `$ decay widths of these states may be predicted. The predictions for the decays of the $`D^{}`$ agree well with the recent CLEO measurement  of the width of the $`D^\pm `$, which is reported as $`96\pm 4\pm 22`$ keV.

Predictions for the pion decay widths of the $`L=1`$ $`D`$ meson states have also been made in ref. . In case of $`S`$-wave decay of these states, it is shown that in order to avoid large overestimates it is important to include also two-quark exchange charge amplitudes associated with excitation of intermediate negative energy quarks by the quark-antiquark interaction. Generally, the predicted widths of the spin triplet states fall somewhat below the empirical values, which suggests that $`\pi \pi `$ decay may play a role.

## 3 Two-pion decay

The Lagrangian (1) gives rise to Born terms describing $`\pi \pi `$ decay of excited $`D`$ mesons. The model is completed by adding the Weinberg-Tomozawa Lagrangian

$$_{\mathrm{WT}}=\frac{i}{4f_\pi ^2}\overline{\psi }_q\gamma _\mu \stackrel{}{\tau }\stackrel{}{\varphi }_\pi \times _\mu \stackrel{}{\varphi }_\pi \psi _q.$$
(4)
Together, the Lagrangians (1,4) give rise to amplitudes for $`\pi \pi `$ decay, which are usually expressed in the form $`T=\delta _{ab}T^++\frac{1}{2}[\tau _b,\tau _a]T^{},`$ where $`a,b`$ are isospin indices, and the amplitudes $`T^\pm `$ are given as $`T^\pm =\overline{u}(p^{})\left(A^\pm i\gamma QB^\pm \right)u(p).`$ Here $`Q`$ is defined as the combination $`(k_bk_a)/2`$ of the pion four-momenta. The resulting expressions for the sub-amplitudes $`A,B`$ are obtained as

$`A^+`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_A^q}{2f_\pi }}\right)^24m_q,`$ (5)
$`A^{}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (6)
$`B^+`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_A^q}{2f_\pi }}\right)^24m_q^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{sm_q^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{um_q^2}}\right],`$ (7)
$`B^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_A^q}{2f_\pi }}\right)^2\left(2+4m_q^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{sm_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{um_q^2}}\right]\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2f_\pi ^2}}.`$ (8)
Computation of the two-pion decay widths of the excited $`D`$ mesons using the above amplitudes together with the appropriate phase space expressions is shown in ref.  to lead to a significant increase of the total widths of the $`L=1`$ $`D`$ meson states, which is also expected from comparison with the analogous strange mesons .

In this context it is to be noted that the widths of the $`D_0^{}`$ and the $`D_1^{}`$ are here predicted to be an order of magnitude smaller than previously thought, because of the inclusion of negative energy components into the decay amplitudes; A similar effect has been noted in the calculation of ref. . However, the results are strongly dependent on both the assumed spin-orbit structure of the $`L=1`$ states and the composition and coupling structure of the quark-antiquark interaction, and should therefore be viewed as suggestive rather than as definite quantitative predictions.


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# A description of several coordinate systems for hyperbolic spaces

## 1 Introduction

Although the most recent cosmological observations suggest we live in a flat universe, the possibility that such observations are indicating a non-flat space with almost vanishing curvature can not yet be excluded, since it is not easy to distinguish a truly flat universe, where the curvature is null, from a negatively or positively curved universe inflated until the point of having almost no curvature.

Such indeterminacy, somewhat fundamental, is linked to another one about the compactness or not of the universe, i.e., of its topology, and in any case one can ask if it would be possible, in principle, to achieve a higher degree of certainty.

The line of research confronting such problem can be summarized by the question “can one see the shape of the universe?” , which is related to the problem of “hearing the shape of a drum” . Unfortunately, the answers obtained until now from the cosmological observations are unconclusive or, at most, not much restrictive. More complete studies would, for example, involve as a first step the solution of the eigenvalue problem of the Laplace-Beltrami operator, i.e., the Helmholtz equation, in several spaces of different curvatures, compact and not compact, and this is yet an open field of research .

For flat, Euclidean geometry, it is easy to find in textbooks all the systems of coordinates where the Helmholtz equation is solvableaaa In the case of Euclidean space the interested reader can find a good description of how to obtain all the coordinate systems in which the Helmholtz equation is separable, involving the use of complex variables and linear algebra, in the textbook of Morse and Feshbach ; see also the work of Eisenhart . Here, we simply describe some coordinate systems for hyperbolic spaces.: 4 systems for the 2-dimensional Euclidean space $`E^2`$ and 11 systems for the 3-dimensional Euclidean space $`E^3`$ . In contrast to this, one can see that almost all physically motivated studies of hyperbolic spaces present in literature use only the analogous of the spherical polar coordinates of flat geometry, probably because such coordinate system is obtained as a trivial generalization for hyperbolic geometry, and also probably because this system of coordinates is the one one would expect to use, for instance, in cosmological observations.

However, in the same way as in flat geometry, there are also other groups of coordinates in hyperbolic geometry which can be adequate for several specific problems, or where the Helmholtz equation can be solved. One recent example found in literature is the use of a set of hyperbolic coordinates analogous to the Euclidean cylindrical ones to solve a problem of quantum cosmology .

With no other purpose than serving as one more tool for works involving 2 and 3-dimensional hyperbolic spaces, and with no intention of being complete, this paper simply presents a description of several sets of coordinates for these spaces, showing in the majority of cases the general solutions of Helmholtz equation for the sets presented – 4 sets for the 2-dimensional space $`H^2`$ and 12 for the 3-dimensional space $`H^3`$, numbers which probably do not cover all possibilities for the spaces $`H^2`$ and $`H^3`$.

The paper is organized as follows: section 2 describes two types of projections that can be used for visualizing the hyperbolic space; sections 3 and 4 present, respectively, different coordinate systems for 2 and 3-dimensional hyperbolic spaces; and section 5 is a brief conclusion.

## 2  Projections of the hyperbolic space

The infinite hyperbolic space $`H^n`$ can be described by the $`n`$-dimensional surface described by the constraint

$$x^\mu x_\mu g_{\mu \nu }x^\mu x^\nu =\left(x^1\right)^2+\left(x^2\right)^2+\mathrm{}\left(x^{n+1}\right)^2=1,$$
(1)
where the last equality shows explicitly that $`g_{\mu \nu }=`$diag$`[1,\mathrm{},1,1]`$ is the metric of a Minkovski space of dimension $`n+1`$, also represented by the element of line

$$ds^2=\left(dx^1\right)^2+\mathrm{}+\left(dx^n\right)^2\left(dx^{n+1}\right)^2.$$
(2)
Notice that equation (1) is in perfect analogy with the constraint equation for a spherical surface, $`x^\mu x_\mu =1`$, where the metric used is the Euclidean one.

In order to better visualize the infinite hyperbolic surface one can use several types of geometric projections, in almost the same way one does to visualize the spherical surface of the Earth in one flat sheet of paper. Two kinds of projections, known as Klein and Poincaré projections, are such that the entire $`n`$-dimensional hyperbolic space is ‘confined’ into a circular unitary ‘ball’ of dimension $`n`$. The coordinates for these projections are defined, respectively, as

$$x_K^\mu \frac{x^\mu }{x^{n+1}}$$
(3)
and

$$x_P^\mu \frac{x^\mu }{1+x^{n+1}},$$
(4)
where $`\mu =1,2,\mathrm{},n`$. In the Klein projection the geodesics of the hyperbolic space – which are hyperbolas – appear as straight lines, while in the Poincaré projection they appear as arcs of circles or straight lines.

An artistic example of the use of these projections can be seen in some works of the Dutch painter M.C. Escher, who used them to present fillings of the entire infinite hyperbolic plane $`H^2`$ with repetitive patterns, a procedure analogous to the covering of a wall with regular tilesbbbSimilar examples are some works by Peter Raedschelders which appear in the book ‘Surfing through the hyperspace’, by Clifford A. Pickover ..

In the next section both the Klein and Poincaré projections for a 2-dimensional hyperbolic space will be used to show for each system of coordinates a representation of the curves produced when one of the coordinates is kept constant.

## 3  2-dimensional hyperbolic space

### 3.1 Symmetries and coordinates

As said in the previous section, the 2-dimensional hyperbolic space can be seen as formed by all points that satisfy the constraint

$$\left(x^1\right)^2+\left(x^2\right)^2\left(x^3\right)^2=1.$$
(5)
Notice that the ‘central point’ $`(0,0,1)`$ obeys this constraint. Notice also that any change of coordinates that keeps this equation still valid are allowed, producing then parametric equations which will define a coordinate system.

In fact, any coordinate transformation that keeps equation (5) invariant is a representation of the internal symmetries of hyperbolic space $`H^2`$. One such symmetry is represented by Lorentz boosts in the $`x^1`$ and $`x^2`$ directions, and other is given by rotations in the plane $`x^1x^2`$. This symmetries are represented by the matrices

$$R\left(\phi \right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}\phi & \mathrm{sin}\phi & 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\phi & \mathrm{cos}\phi & 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right)$$
(6)
and

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{\Lambda }(\phi ,a)=R\left(\phi \right)\times \left(\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cosh}a& 0& \mathrm{sinh}a\\ 0& 1& 0\\ \mathrm{sinh}a& 0& \mathrm{cosh}a\end{array}\right)\times R^1\left(\phi \right)& & \end{array},$$
(7)
which represent, respectively, a rotation of angle $`\phi `$ in the plane and a boost of rapidity $`a`$ in the direction given by the angle $`\phi `$.

One way of combining all these informations at once is to apply, in sequence, two different orthogonal boosts and a rotation to the point $`(0,0,1)`$, obtaining then a general point $`P`$,

$`P`$ $`=`$ $`R\left(\phi \right)\times \mathrm{\Lambda }({\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}},a)\times \mathrm{\Lambda }(0,b)\times \left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 0\\ 1\end{array}\right)`$ (11)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\phi \mathrm{sinh}b\mathrm{sin}\phi \mathrm{sinh}a\mathrm{cosh}b\\ \mathrm{sin}\phi \mathrm{sinh}b+\mathrm{cos}\phi \mathrm{sinh}a\mathrm{cosh}b\\ \mathrm{cosh}a\mathrm{cosh}b\end{array}\right).`$ (15)
If $`a=0`$ or $`b=0`$ this equation gives the polar parametrization of the space $`H^2`$,

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{cos}\phi \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{sin}\phi \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\chi \hfill \end{array}.$$
(16)
The element of line obtained for these coordinates iscccHere one can use the substitution $`\mathrm{sinh}\chi =\mathrm{tan}\theta `$, where $`\pi /2<\theta <\pi /2`$ is the angle known as Gudermannian or hyperbolic amplitude , to obtain the element of line $`ds^2=\mathrm{sec}^2\theta \left(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2\right)`$, an equality which shows that these coordinates produce a metric conformal to the one of the sphere.

$$ds^2\left(dx^1\right)^2+\left(dx^2\right)^2\left(dx^3\right)^2=d\chi ^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2\chi d\phi ^2.$$
(17)
Putting $`\phi =0`$ in (15) one obtains another parametrization,

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}\omega \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\omega \hfill \end{array},$$
(18)
with the element of linedddHere the use of the substitution $`\mathrm{sinh}\rho =\mathrm{tan}\theta `$, where $`\pi /2<\theta <\pi /2`$ is again the Gudermannian, gives the element of line $`ds^2=\mathrm{sec}^2\theta \left(d\theta ^2+d\omega ^2\right)`$.

$$ds^2=d\rho ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho d\omega ^2.$$
(19)
Another distinct parametrization of the space $`H^2`$ can be obtained from the central point $`(0,0,1)`$ by the product

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& \mu & \mu \\ \mu & 1\frac{\mu ^2}{2}& \frac{\mu ^2}{2}\\ \mu & \frac{\mu ^2}{2}& 1+\frac{\mu ^2}{2}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& \mathrm{cosh}\sigma & \mathrm{sinh}\sigma \\ 0& \mathrm{sinh}\sigma & \mathrm{cosh}\sigma \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}0\hfill \\ 0\hfill \\ 1\hfill \end{array}\right),$$
(20)
revealing then that the matrix

$$M\left(\mu \right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& \mu & \mu \\ \mu & 1\frac{\mu ^2}{2}& \frac{\mu ^2}{2}\\ \mu & \frac{\mu ^2}{2}& 1+\frac{\mu ^2}{2}\end{array}\right),$$
(21)
with the property $`M\left(\mu \right)M\left(\nu \right)=M\left(\mu +\nu \right)`$, inverse $`M^1\left(\mu \right)=M\left(\mu \right)`$, and with $`det\left[M\right]=1`$, also represents a symmetry of $`H^2`$.

The parametrization thus obtained,

$$\{\begin{array}{c}x^1=e^\sigma \mu \hfill \\ x^2=\mathrm{sinh}\sigma +e^\sigma \frac{\mu ^2}{2}\hfill \\ x^3=\mathrm{cosh}\sigma +e^\sigma \frac{\mu ^2}{2}\hfill \end{array},$$
(22)
gives the element of lineeeeIt is also interesting to use, in this parametrization, the substitution $`z=e^\sigma `$, with $`0<z\mathrm{}`$, what gives $`ds^2=\left(d\mu ^2+dz^2\right)/z^2`$. Such element of line represents the upper half-space model of the space $`H^2`$ .

$$ds^2=d\sigma ^2+e^{2\sigma }d\mu ^2.$$
(23)
Such parametrization appears interestingly related to an aplication in microwave engineering , producing a graph known as ‘Smith chart’.

The three parametrizations shown until now are not symmetric in the coordinates $`x^1`$ and $`x^2`$. A fourth parametrization with complete equivalence between these coordinates is

$$\{\begin{array}{c}x^1=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{cosh}u\mathrm{sinh}v\hfill \\ x^2=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{cosh}v\mathrm{sinh}u\hfill \\ x^3=\sqrt{\mathrm{cosh}2u\mathrm{cosh}2v}\hfill \end{array},$$
(24)
with element of line

$$ds^2=\left(\mathrm{cosh}2u+\mathrm{cosh}2v\right)\left(\frac{du^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2u}+\frac{dv^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2v}\right).$$
(25)
Table I presents a summary of the coordinates shown here for the space $`H^2`$, with arbitrary names given for each system, while Figures 1 to 4 show, in Klein and Poincaré projections, the lines obtained for each set of coordinates, when one of the coordinates is kept constant.

### 3.2 Helmholtz equation

The Helmholtz equation

$$^2\mathrm{\Psi }+k^2\mathrm{\Psi }\frac{1}{\sqrt{g}}_\mu \left[\sqrt{g}g^{\mu \nu }_\nu \right]\mathrm{\Psi }+k^2\mathrm{\Psi }=0,$$
(26)
is separable in all four coordinate systems presented here for the space $`H^2`$.

In polar coordinates $`(\chi ,\phi )`$ one has

$$\frac{1}{\mathrm{sinh}\chi }\left[\frac{}{\chi }\left(\mathrm{sinh}\chi \frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{\chi }\right)+\frac{}{\phi }\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{sinh}\chi }\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{\phi }\right)\right]=k^2\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(27)
with solutions of the type $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\chi ,\phi )=X\left(\chi \right)\mathrm{\Phi }\left(\phi \right)`$, with

$$\mathrm{\Phi }=a_1\mathrm{cos}\lambda \phi +a_2\mathrm{sin}\lambda \phi $$
(28)
and

$$X=b_1P_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}^\lambda \left(\mathrm{cosh}\chi \right)+b_2Q_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}^\lambda \left(\mathrm{cosh}\chi \right),$$
(29)
or

$$X=\left(\mathrm{cosh}\chi \right)^{^{\frac{1}{2}}}\left[b_1^{}P_{\frac{1}{2}+\lambda }^{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}\chi \right)+b_2^{}Q_{\frac{1}{2}+\lambda }^{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}\chi \right)\right],$$
(30)
where $`P_\nu ^\mu \left(z\right)`$ and $`Q_\nu ^\mu \left(z\right)`$ are associated Legendre functions, and where $`\lambda `$ is just a separation constant.

For the hyperbolic coordinates $`(\rho ,\omega )`$ one has

$$\frac{1}{\mathrm{cosh}\rho }\left[\frac{}{\rho }\left(\mathrm{cosh}\rho \frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{\rho }\right)+\frac{}{\omega }\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{cosh}\rho }\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{\omega }\right)\right]=k^2\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(31)
an equation solved by the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\rho ,\omega )=R\left(\rho \right)W\left(\omega \right)`$, with

$$W=a_3\mathrm{cos}\lambda \omega +a_4\mathrm{sin}\lambda \omega $$
(32)
and

$$R=\left(\mathrm{cosh}\rho \right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\left[b_3P_{\frac{1}{2}+i\lambda }^{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}\rho \right)+b_4Q_{\frac{1}{2}+i\lambda }^{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}\rho \right)\right],$$
(33)
or

$$R=b_3^{}P_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}^{i\lambda }\left(i\mathrm{sinh}\rho \right)+b_4^{}Q_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}^{i\lambda }\left(i\mathrm{sinh}\rho \right),$$
(34)
with $`\lambda `$ being again a separation constant. For completeness, it is important to say that one can also find solutions for $`R\left(\rho \right)`$ in terms of Gegenbauer or hypergeometric functions by use of the substitution $`\zeta ^{}\mathrm{tanh}^2\rho `$.

The exponential coordinate system, $`(\sigma ,\mu )`$, gives the equation

$$\frac{^2\mathrm{\Psi }}{\sigma ^2}\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{\sigma }+e^{2\sigma }\frac{^2\mathrm{\Psi }}{\mu ^2}=k^2\mathrm{\Psi }.$$
(35)
In this case the solutions are $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\sigma ,\mu )=\mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sigma \right)\mathrm{\Theta }\left(\mu \right)`$, where

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Theta }\left(\mu \right)=a_+e^{i\lambda \mu }+a_{}e^{i\lambda \mu }\hfill \\ \mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sigma \right)=e^{\sigma /2}\left[bI_{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\lambda e^\sigma \right)+cK_{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\lambda e^\sigma \right)\right]\hfill \end{array},$$
(36)
with $`I_\nu `$ and $`K_\nu `$ being modified Bessel functions (Bessel functions of imaginary argument). $`\lambda `$ is again a separation constant.

Finally, the symmetric set of coordinates $`(u,v)`$ produces the equation

$`\mathrm{cosh}2u{\displaystyle \frac{^2\mathrm{\Psi }}{u^2}}+\mathrm{sinh}2u{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{u}}+\mathrm{cosh}2v{\displaystyle \frac{^2\mathrm{\Psi }}{v^2}}+\mathrm{sinh}2v{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{v}}`$
$`+k^2\left(\mathrm{cosh}2u+\mathrm{cosh}2v\right)\mathrm{\Psi }=0,`$ (37)
which the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(u,v)=U\left(u\right)V\left(v\right)`$ divides into

$$\frac{d^2U}{du^2}+\mathrm{tanh}2u\frac{dU}{du}+\left(k^2\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2u}\right)U=0$$
(38)
and

$$\frac{d^2V}{dv^2}+\mathrm{tanh}2v\frac{dV}{dv}+\left(k^2+\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2v}\right)V=0.$$
(39)
Unfortunately, it is not easy to find simple analytical solutions for these two equations, except for the case $`\lambda =0`$, when the solutions are

$$U\left(u\right)=\left(\mathrm{cosh}2u\right)^{1/4}\left[aP_{\frac{1}{4}}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2u\right)+bQ_{\frac{1}{4}}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2u\right)\right]$$
(40)
and

$$V\left(v\right)=\left(\mathrm{cosh}2v\right)^{1/4}\left[a^{}P_{\frac{1}{4}}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2v\right)+b^{}Q_{\frac{1}{4}}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2v\right)\right].$$
(41)
## 4  3-dimensional hyperbolic space

### 4.1 Coordinate systems

The 3-dimensional hyperbolic space can be seen as formed by the set of points following the 4-dimensional version of the constraint (5),

$$\left(x^1\right)^2+\left(x^2\right)^2+\left(x^3\right)^2\left(x^4\right)^2=1.$$
(42)
As discussed in the introduction, for the flat Euclidean 3-dimensional space $`E^3`$ there are eleven coordinate systems in which the Helmholtz equation is separable . In this section almost the same number of systems is presented for the hyperbolic $`H^3`$ space. The presentation follows a classification based on generalizations of the four basic types of coordinates found for the 2-dimensional hyperbolic space $`H^2`$.

#### 4.1.1 Polar coordinates

The most known coordinate system for the $`H^3`$ space is the hyperbolic equivalent of a sphere,

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{cos}\phi \mathrm{sin}\theta \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{sin}\phi \mathrm{sin}\theta \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{cos}\theta \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\chi \hfill \end{array},$$
(43)
which produces the element of line

$$ds^2=d\chi ^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2\chi \left(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2\right).$$
(44)
Notice that this element of line has a part conformal to the element of line of a spherical surface.

However, a positively curved surface allows also a parametrization distinct from the one of the sphere. Such parametrization, of a semi-sphere, is totally symmetric:

$$x^1=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{sin}\varphi ,x^2=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\varphi ,x^3=\sqrt{\mathrm{cos}2\theta \mathrm{cos}2\varphi },$$
(45)
where $`\pi /4\theta ,\varphi \pi /4`$. So, changing the spherical part of the polar hyperbolic coordinates by this one one has

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \sqrt{2}\mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{sin}\varphi \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \sqrt{2}\mathrm{sinh}\chi \mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\varphi \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\chi \sqrt{\mathrm{cos}2\theta \mathrm{cos}2\varphi }\hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\chi \hfill \end{array},$$
(46)
what produces the element of line

$$ds^2=d\chi ^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2\chi \left(\mathrm{cos}2\theta +\mathrm{cos}2\varphi \right)\left(\frac{d\theta ^2}{\mathrm{cos}2\theta }+\frac{d\varphi ^2}{\mathrm{cos}2\varphi }\right),$$
(47)
where yet $`\pi /4\theta ,\varphi \pi /4`$.

#### 4.1.2 Coordinates related to the hyperbolic parametrization

There are two immediate distinct ways of generalizing the 2-dimensional set of hyperbolic coordinates $`(\rho ,\omega )`$. The first one is

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \mathrm{cos}\phi \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \mathrm{sin}\phi \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}\omega \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\omega \hfill \end{array},$$
(48)
with element of line

$$ds^2=d\rho ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho d\omega ^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2\rho d\phi ^2.$$
(49)
The second one is

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}\gamma \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\gamma \mathrm{sinh}\omega \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\gamma \mathrm{cosh}\omega \hfill \end{array},$$
(50)
with element of line

$$ds^2=d\rho ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho \left(d\gamma ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\gamma d\omega ^2\right).$$
(51)
By noticing that this second element of line has a part conformally equivalent to an hyperbolic 2-dimensional space one can write down other three parametrizations by simply changing this part by any one of the set of coordinates described in the previous section.

So, one can write

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}\varsigma \mathrm{cos}\phi \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}\varsigma \mathrm{sin}\phi \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\varsigma \hfill \end{array},$$
(52)
obtaining then the element of line

$$ds^2=d\rho ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho \left(d\varsigma ^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2\varsigma d\phi ^2\right).$$
(53)
In the same way one can have

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& e^\sigma \mu \mathrm{cosh}\rho \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \left(\mathrm{sinh}\sigma +\frac{1}{2}e^\sigma \mu ^2\right)\mathrm{cosh}\rho \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \left(\mathrm{cosh}\sigma +\frac{1}{2}e^\sigma \mu ^2\right)\mathrm{cosh}\rho \hfill \end{array},$$
(54)
a parametrization with element of line

$$ds^2=d\rho ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho \left(d\sigma ^2+e^{2\sigma }d\mu ^2\right).$$
(55)
Finally, one can write

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \sqrt{2}\mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}u\mathrm{cosh}v\hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \sqrt{2}\mathrm{cosh}\rho \mathrm{sinh}v\mathrm{cosh}u\hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\rho \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\rho \sqrt{\mathrm{cosh}2u\mathrm{cosh}2v}\hfill \end{array},$$
(56)
obtaining then the element of line

$$ds^2=d\rho ^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho \left(\mathrm{cosh}2u+\mathrm{cosh}2v\right)\left(\frac{du^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2u}+\frac{dv^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2v}\right).$$
(57)
#### 4.1.3 Coordinates related to the exponential parametrization

The exponential 2-dimensional coordinates $`(\sigma ,\mu )`$ can be generalized for the space $`H^3`$ by the parametric equations

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& e^\sigma \mu \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& e^\sigma \nu \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\sigma +e^\sigma \left(\mu ^2+\nu ^2\right)/2\hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\sigma +e^\sigma \left(\mu ^2+\nu ^2\right)/2\hfill \end{array},$$
(58)
with the subsequent element of line

$$ds^2=d\sigma ^2+e^{2\sigma }\left(d\mu ^2+d\nu ^2\right).$$
(59)
Since the last part of this element of line is conformal to a flat 2-dimensional spacefffIn the same way of the 2-dimensional space $`H^2`$ here the substitution $`z=e^\sigma `$, with $`0<z\mathrm{}`$, gives $`ds^2=\left(d\mu ^2+d\nu ^2+dz^2\right)/z^2`$, the element of line which represents the upper half-space model of the space $`H^3`$ ., one can change it for any of the parametrizations of the flat space and still obtains a coordinate system where the Helmholtz equation is separable.

The first of these sets of coordinates is

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& e^\sigma \rho \mathrm{cos}\phi \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& e^\sigma \rho \mathrm{sin}\phi \hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\sigma +\frac{1}{2}e^\sigma \rho ^2\hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\sigma +\frac{1}{2}e^\sigma \rho ^2\hfill \end{array},$$
(60)
with the subsequent element of line

$$ds^2=d\sigma ^2+e^{2\sigma }\left(d\rho ^2+\rho ^2d\phi ^2\right).$$
(61)
Another one is

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& ae^\sigma \mathrm{cosh}u\mathrm{cos}v\hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& ae^\sigma \mathrm{sinh}u\mathrm{sin}v\hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\sigma +\frac{1}{2}a^2e^\sigma \left(\mathrm{cosh}^2u\mathrm{sin}^2v\right)\hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\sigma +\frac{1}{2}a^2e^\sigma \left(\mathrm{cosh}^2u\mathrm{sin}^2v\right)\hfill \end{array},$$
(62)
with element of line

$$ds^2=d\sigma ^2+a^2e^{2\sigma }\left(\mathrm{sinh}^2u+\mathrm{sin}^2v\right)\left(du^2+dv^2\right).$$
(63)
A third system of coordinates following this linegggAlso following this line there is an interesting example of a system of coordinates where the Helmholtz equation is not separable:
$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& ae^\sigma \mathrm{sinh}\eta \left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta \mathrm{cos}\xi \right)^1\hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& ae^\sigma \mathrm{sin}\xi \left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta \mathrm{cos}\xi \right)^1\hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\sigma +a^2e^\sigma \left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta +\mathrm{cos}\xi \right)\left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta \mathrm{cos}\xi \right)^1\hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\sigma +a^2e^\sigma \left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta +\mathrm{cos}\xi \right)\left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta \mathrm{cos}\xi \right)^1\hfill \end{array},$$
with element of line
$$ds^2=d\sigma ^2+a^2e^{2\sigma }\left(\mathrm{cosh}\eta \mathrm{cos}\xi \right)^2\left(d\eta ^2+d\xi ^2\right).$$
is

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& e^\sigma \xi \eta \hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \frac{1}{2}e^\sigma \left(\eta ^2\xi ^2\right)\hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \mathrm{sinh}\sigma +\frac{1}{8}e^\sigma \left(\eta ^2+\xi ^2\right)^2\hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \mathrm{cosh}\sigma +\frac{1}{8}e^\sigma \left(\eta ^2+\xi ^2\right)^2\hfill \end{array},$$
(64)
with the subsequent element of line

$$ds^2=d\sigma ^2+e^{2\sigma }\left(\eta ^2+\xi ^2\right)\left(d\eta ^2+d\xi ^2\right).$$
(65)
#### 4.1.4 Coordinates related to the symmetric parametrization

It is not easy to build a symmetric parametrization for the space $`H^3`$. However, it is very simple to find one almost symmetric generalization of the last coordinate system presented in the section 3. This generalization is

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}x^1\hfill & =& \sqrt{2}\mathrm{cosh}u\mathrm{sinh}v\hfill \\ x^2\hfill & =& \sqrt{2}\mathrm{cosh}v\mathrm{sinh}u\hfill \\ x^3\hfill & =& \sqrt{\mathrm{cosh}2u\mathrm{cosh}2v}\mathrm{sinh}\chi \hfill \\ x^4\hfill & =& \sqrt{\mathrm{cosh}2u\mathrm{cosh}2v}\mathrm{cosh}\chi \hfill \end{array},$$
(66)
with element of line

$$ds^2=\mathrm{cosh}2u\mathrm{cosh}2vd\chi ^2+\left(\mathrm{cosh}2u+\mathrm{cosh}2v\right)\left(\frac{du^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2u}+\frac{dv^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2v}\right).$$
(67)
Table II presents a summary of all coordinate systems shown in this section for the space $`H^3`$. The names used there for each system are arbitrary and will be used in the next subsection.

### 4.2 Helmholtz equation

All the twelve coordinate systems presented in the previous subsection allow to separate the Helmholtz equation, still given by the formula in equation (26), in a system of three differential equations, and these equations are shown here. However, not all the differential equations obtained are easy to solve analytically, and, therefore, in this paper some of the solutions are not presented. In fact, one such case, concerning the 2-dimensional symmetric coordinates, already appeared at the end of section 3.

#### 4.2.1 Polar coordinates

The polar coordinates presented in equations (43) and (44) produce the most known solutions of Helmholtz equation for the space $`H^3`$. Such solutions are obtained by use of the tentative function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\chi ,\theta ,\phi )=X\left(\chi \right)Y(\theta ,\phi )`$, yielding then the system of equations

$$\frac{^2Y}{\theta ^2}+\frac{1}{\mathrm{tan}\theta }\frac{Y}{\theta }+\frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }\frac{^2Y}{\phi ^2}=\mathrm{}\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)Y$$
(68)
and

$$\frac{d^2X}{d\chi ^2}+\frac{2}{\mathrm{tanh}\chi }\frac{dX}{d\chi }+\left[k^2\frac{\mathrm{}\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)}{\mathrm{sinh}^2\chi }\right]X=0.$$
(69)
While the first, angular, equation admits as solutions the functions known as spherical harmonics, $`Y_\mathrm{}m(\theta ,\phi )`$, the last equation, radial, also known as hyperspherical Bessel equation , produces

$$X=\left(1\mathrm{cosh}^2\chi \right)^{1/4}\left[a_5P_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{1k^2}}^{\mathrm{}+\frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{cosh}\chi \right)+a_6Q_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{1k^2}}^{\mathrm{}+\frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{cosh}\chi \right)\right],$$
(70)
or

$$X=\left(1\mathrm{coth}^2\chi \right)^{1/2}\left[a_5^{}P_{\mathrm{}}^{\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{coth}\chi \right)+a_6^{}Q_{\mathrm{}}^{\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{coth}\chi \right)\right].$$
(71)
Another possible solution for the radial equation is found for $`\kappa _1=\mathrm{cosh}\chi `$ by use of the ‘Leibniz’s theorem’,

$$\frac{d^m}{dx^m}\left[f\left(x\right)g\left(x\right)\right]=\underset{n=0}{\overset{m}{}}\left(\begin{array}{c}m\\ n\end{array}\right)\frac{d^{mn}}{dx^{mn}}f\left(x\right)\frac{d^n}{dx^n}g\left(x\right)$$
(72)
in the equation

$$\left(\kappa _1^21\right)\frac{d^2Z}{d\kappa _1^2}+\kappa _1\frac{dZ}{d\kappa _1}\left(1k^2\right)Z=0$$
(73)
where

$$Z=\frac{1}{2}\left[\left(\kappa _1+\sqrt{\kappa _1^21}\right)^{1k^2}+\left(\kappa _1\sqrt{\kappa _1^21}\right)^{1k^2}\right].$$
(74)
The coefficients obtained for each term must be compared to the ones in the equation obtained from (69) by the tentative function

$$X=\left(1\kappa _1^2\right)^aY.$$
(75)
Such procedure shows that

$$X=a_{\sqrt{1k^2}}^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{sinh}^{\mathrm{}}\chi \frac{d^{\mathrm{}+1}\mathrm{cosh}\sqrt{\left(1k^2\right)\chi ^2}}{d\left(\mathrm{cosh}\chi \right)^{\mathrm{}+1}}$$
(76)
where $`a_{\sqrt{1k^2}}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is a constant. Just for completeness, it must be cited that a solution of equation (69) in terms of Gegenbauer functions is also possible.

The coordinate system based in the parametrization of a semi-sphere produces three separate differential equations by use of the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\chi ,\theta ,\varphi )=X\left(\chi \right)\mathrm{\Theta }\left(\theta \right)\mathrm{\Phi }\left(\varphi \right)`$. These equations are equation (69), and the pair

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Theta }}{d\theta ^2}\mathrm{tan}2\theta \frac{d\mathrm{\Theta }}{d\theta }+\left[\mathrm{}\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)+\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cos}2\theta }\right]\mathrm{\Theta }=0$$
(77)
and

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Phi }}{d\varphi ^2}\mathrm{tan}2\varphi \frac{d\mathrm{\Phi }}{d\varphi }+\left[\mathrm{}\left(\mathrm{}+1\right)\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cos}2\varphi }\right]\mathrm{\Phi }=0.$$
(78)
Unfortunately, it is not easy to find analytical solutions for these two last equations, except for the case $`\lambda =0`$, when the solutions are

$$\mathrm{\Theta }=\left(\mathrm{cos}\theta \right)^{^{\frac{1}{4}}}\left[aP_{\frac{1}{4}\left(2\mathrm{}1\right)}^{\frac{1}{4}}\left(\mathrm{sin}\theta \right)+bQ_{\frac{1}{4}\left(2\mathrm{}1\right)}^{\frac{1}{4}}\left(\mathrm{sin}\theta \right)\right],$$
(79)
and

$$\mathrm{\Phi }=\left(\mathrm{cos}\varphi \right)^{^{\frac{1}{4}}}\left[a^{}P_{\frac{1}{4}\left(2\mathrm{}1\right)}^{\frac{1}{4}}\left(\mathrm{sin}\varphi \right)+b^{}Q_{\frac{1}{4}\left(2\mathrm{}1\right)}^{\frac{1}{4}}\left(\mathrm{sin}\varphi \right)\right].$$
(80)
#### 4.2.2 Group of the hyperbolic coordinates

Using a solution of the form

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(\rho ,\omega ,\phi )=R\left(\rho \right)\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\omega \right)\mathrm{\Phi }\left(\phi \right)$$
(81)
one obtains, for the first set of coordinates derivated from the 2-dimensional hyperbolic coordinates, the differential equations

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Omega }}{d\omega ^2}=\lambda ^2\mathrm{\Omega },\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Phi }}{d\phi ^2}=\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{\Phi },$$
(82)
two equations whose solutions are given by linear combinations of a sine and a cosine, and

$$\frac{d^2R}{d\rho ^2}+\frac{\mathrm{sinh}^2\rho +\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho }{\mathrm{sinh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\rho }\frac{dR}{d\rho }\left[\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho }+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2\rho }k^2\right]R=0.$$
(83)
This last differential equation can be solved by the transformation of coordinates

$$\tau =\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho \tau ^2d\tau =2\mathrm{sinh}\rho \mathrm{cosh}\rho d\rho $$
(84)
which yields solutions of the kind

$$R=\left(1\tau \right)^p\tau ^qS$$
(85)
with

$$p=\frac{\mathrm{}}{2},q=\frac{1}{2}\left[1+\sqrt{1k^2}\right]$$
(86)
and

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`aF[p+q+i{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}},p+qi{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}};2q;\tau ]`$ (87)
$`+`$ $`b\tau ^{12q}F[p+\left(1q\right)+i{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}},p+\left(1q\right)i{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}};2\left(1q\right);\tau ],`$
where $`F(\alpha ,\beta ;\gamma ;z)`$ is an hypergeometric function. Another equivalent solution, linked to this one by relations between hypergeometric functions, is obtained from the substitution $`\tau ^{}=\mathrm{tanh}^2\rho `$.

For the second set of this group, named bi-hyperbolic, a function of the form

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\gamma \right)R\left(\rho \right)\mathrm{\Omega }\left(\omega \right)$$
(88)
also divides the problem in three differential equations,

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Omega }}{d\omega ^2}=\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{\Omega },$$
(89)
$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Gamma }}{d\gamma ^2}+\mathrm{tanh}\gamma \frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{d\gamma }\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }=\lambda ^2\mathrm{\Gamma }$$
(90)
and

$$\frac{d^2R}{d\rho ^2}+2\mathrm{tanh}\rho \frac{dR}{d\rho }\left[\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\rho }k^2\right]R=0.$$
(91)
The two first equations are equivalent to the equations obtained from (31), and therefore have solutions equivalent to (32) and (33), while the last one produces

$$R=\left(\mathrm{cosh}\rho \right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\left[aP_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{1k^2}}^{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}\lambda ^2}}\left(i\mathrm{sinh}\rho \right)+bQ_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{1k^2}}^{\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}\lambda ^2}}\left(i\mathrm{sinh}\rho \right)\right]$$
(92)
or

$$R=\sqrt{\mathrm{cosh}\rho }\left[a^{}P_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}\lambda ^2}}^{\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}\rho \right)+b^{}Q_{\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{4}\lambda ^2}}^{\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}\rho \right)\right].$$
(93)
For the third set of coordinates, $`(\rho ,\varsigma ,\phi )`$, named polar hyperbolic, one can use a tentative function of the type $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\sigma ,\varsigma ,\phi )=R\left(\rho \right)\mathrm{\Xi }\left(\varsigma \right)\mathrm{\Phi }\left(\phi \right)`$, and thus obtain equations similar to (89) and (91) for the functions $`\mathrm{\Phi }\left(\phi \right)`$ and $`R\left(\rho \right)`$, respectively, and the equation

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Xi }}{d\varsigma ^2}+\mathrm{coth}\varsigma \frac{d\mathrm{\Xi }}{d\varsigma }\left(\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2\varsigma }\lambda ^2\right)\mathrm{\Xi }=0,$$
(94)
whose solution is equivalent to the one given in (29).

The fourth set of coordinates of this group, named exponential hyperbolic, allows the use of the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\sigma ,\mu ,\rho )=\mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sigma \right)M\left(\mu \right)R\left(\rho \right)`$ to produce, beyond eq. (91), the equations

$$\frac{d^2M}{d\mu ^2}+\mathrm{}^2M=0,$$
(95)
equivalent to (89), and

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Sigma }}{d\sigma ^2}\frac{d\mathrm{\Sigma }}{d\sigma }\left(e^{2\sigma }\mathrm{}^2\lambda ^2\right)\mathrm{\Sigma }=0,$$
(96)
whose solution appears in (36).

Finally, the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\rho ,u,v)=R\left(\rho \right)U\left(u\right)V\left(v\right)`$ produces for the symmetric hyperbolic coordinates the equations (91) and the pair

$$\frac{d^2U}{du^2}+\mathrm{tanh}2u\frac{dU}{du}+\left(\lambda ^2\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2u}\right)U=0$$
(97)
and

$$\frac{d^2V}{dv^2}+\mathrm{tanh}2v\frac{dV}{dv}+\left(\lambda ^2+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2v}\right)V=0,$$
(98)
equivalent to (38) e (39).

#### 4.2.3 Group of the exponential coordinates

The metric present in the element of line given by equation (59), of the exponential coordinates, when in combination with the tentative function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\sigma ,\mu ,\nu )=\mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sigma \right)M\left(\mu \right)N\left(\nu \right)`$, produces from the Helmholtz equation three equations,

$$\frac{d^2M}{d\mu ^2}+\mathrm{}^2M=0,\frac{d^2N}{d\nu ^2}+\left(\lambda ^2\mathrm{}^2\right)N=0,$$
(99)
solved in terms of sines and cosines, and

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Sigma }}{d\sigma ^2}2\frac{d\mathrm{\Sigma }}{d\sigma }\left(e^{2\sigma }\lambda ^2k^2\right)\mathrm{\Sigma }=0,$$
(100)
whose solution is

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sigma \right)=e^\sigma \left[bI_{\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\lambda e^\sigma \right)+cK_{\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\lambda e^\sigma \right)\right].$$
(101)
The parametrization with coordinates $`(\sigma ,\rho ,\phi )`$, named here polar exponential, produces the equations

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Phi }}{d\phi ^2}+\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{\Phi }=0,$$
(102)
solved in terms of sines and cosines,

$$\frac{d^2R}{d\rho ^2}+\frac{1}{\rho }\frac{dR}{d\rho }+\left(\lambda ^2\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\rho ^2}\right)R=0,$$
(103)
which is Bessel’s equation for the variable $`\lambda \rho `$, and eq. (100).

With the coordinates present in the third parametrization derivated of the 2-dimensional exponential coordinates, named elliptic exponential, one can built a tentative function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\sigma ,\mu ,\nu )=\mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sigma \right)M\left(\mu \right)N\left(\nu \right)`$, and thus obtain equation (100) and the pair

$$\frac{d^2U}{du^2}\left(a^2\lambda ^2\mathrm{sinh}^2u+\mathrm{}^2\right)U=0$$
(104)
and

$$\frac{d^2V}{dv^2}\left(a^2\lambda ^2\mathrm{sin}^2v\mathrm{}^2\right)V=0.$$
(105)
These two equations are Mathieu’s modified equation and Mathieu’s equation, respectively, whose solutions are given in terms of Mathieu functions .

Finally, one can obtain for the fourth set of coordinates in this group, named parabolic exponential, again equation (100) and the pair

$$\frac{d^2N}{d\eta }\left(\lambda ^2\eta ^2+\mathrm{}^2\right)N=0$$
(106)
and

$$\frac{d^2\mathrm{\Xi }}{d\xi ^2}\left(\lambda ^2\xi ^2\mathrm{}^2\right)\mathrm{\Xi }=0,$$
(107)
solved with the use of parabolic cylinder functions .

#### 4.2.4 Symmetric coordinates

The almost symmetric coordinates $`(\chi ,u,v)`$ produce, by use of the tentative function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\chi ,u,v)=X\left(\chi \right)U\left(u\right)V\left(v\right)`$, the equation

$$\frac{d^2X}{d\chi ^2}+\lambda ^2X=0,$$
(108)
whose general solution is a linear combination of a sine and a cosine, and the pair

$$\frac{d^2U}{du^2}+2\mathrm{tanh}2u\frac{dU}{du}+\left(k^2\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}^22u}\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2u}\right)U=0$$
(109)
and

$$\frac{d^2V}{dv^2}+2\mathrm{tanh}2v\frac{dV}{dv}+\left(k^2\frac{\lambda ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}^22v}+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{\mathrm{cosh}2v}\right)V=0.$$
(110)
These two last equations have simple analytical solutions only when the separation constant $`\mathrm{}`$ is null, a case in which one has

$$U\left(u\right)=\left(\mathrm{cosh}2u\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\left[aP_{\frac{1}{2}\left(1i\lambda \right)}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2u\right)+bQ_{\frac{1}{2}\left(1i\lambda \right)}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2u\right)\right]$$
(111)
and

$$V\left(v\right)=\left(\mathrm{cosh}2v\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\left[a^{^{}}P_{\frac{1}{2}\left(1i\lambda \right)}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2v\right)+b^{^{}}Q_{\frac{1}{2}\left(1i\lambda \right)}^{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1k^2}}\left(\mathrm{tanh}2v\right)\right].$$
(112)
## 5  Conclusion

Specific boundary conditions imposed by a certain problem are, in general, better dealt with by use of one specific general solution of the Helmholtz equation obtained in some particular parametrization. This idea is easily seen when one tries to find the adequate solutions to describe the movements of waves inside a box: of all the 11 coordinate systems suitable for the Euclidean 3-dimensional space only the Cartesian one is perfectly fit for this job.

An interesting problem following this idea consists in finding the modes allowed in a finite flat space known as flat $`2`$-torus, a non-trivial, compact manifold represented by a rectangle with opposite sides identified. Several equal copies of such manifold can be put side by side to fill entirely the Euclidean plane $`E^2`$, in a regular tiling – or tessellation –, and therefore the adequate solutions of the Helmholtz equation in this manifold must be such that they are periodic. It is not hard to see that the adequate solutions are written as plane waves, i.e., linear combinations of sines and cosines of the rectangular Cartesian coordinates $`x`$ and $`y`$.

There are similar problems for the hyperbolic spaces. The representation of the simplest compact 2-dimensional surface of negative curvature, the torus of genus $`2`$, topologically equivalent to a double-doughnut, is built by the identification of pairs of sides of a regular octagon . In the Klein projection the octagon appears with sides formed by segments of straight lines, while in the Poincaré projection it appears as formed by arcs of circles. Another examples of manifolds of this type can be seen in the polyhedra that represent compact 3-dimensional hyperbolic spaces, drawn by the software SnapPea  in the Klein projection.

For the hyperbolic case, however, differently from the Euclidean one, the properties of compact –i.e., finite – spaces are far from being completely known. Several studies with problems involving these spaces need numerical integrations which demand considerable computational time – see as examples refs. . The use of adequate coordinates could facilitate such studies, as exemplified in a recent paper where a problem of quantum cosmology, previously dealt with by use of crude estimates, is reanalyzed with the use of an adequate coordinate system, in a procedure that allowed also to calculate the volume of non-trivial compact 3-dimensional hyperbolic spaces . Following such line of research, this article, therefore, simply presents a table of basic results that could be of some help for those dealing with the study of hyperbolic spaces, in the hope of motivate new developments in this field, particularly in the unveiling of properties of hyperbolic compact spaces, which are of interest in cosmology.

### Acknowledgments

The author thanks the Brazilian agency FAPESP for the financial support (grant 00/13762-6).


text:
# Sympathetic Cooling of Trapped Cd+ Isotopes

## Abstract

We sympathetically cool a trapped 112Cd+ ion by directly Doppler-cooling a 114Cd+ ion in the same trap. This is the first demonstration of optically addressing a single trapped ion being sympathetically cooled by a different species ion. Notably, the experiment uses a single laser source, and does not require strong focusing. This paves the way toward reducing decoherence in an ion trap quantum computer based on Cd+ isotopes.

A collection of cold trapped ions offers one of the most promising avenues towards realizing a quantum computer trappedions ; monroe ; sorensen ; wine1 . Quantum information is stored in the internal states of individual trapped ions, while entangling quantum logic gates are implemented via a collective quantized mode of motion of the ion crystal. The internal qubit states can have extremely long coherence times bollinger , but decoherence of the motion of the ion crystal may limit quantum logic gate fidelity decoherence . Furthermore, when ions are nonadiabatically shuttled between different trapping regions for large-scale quantum computer schemes wine1 ; ccd , their motion must be recooled for subsequent logic operations.

Direct laser cooling of the qubit ions is not generally possible without disturbing coherence of the internal qubit states. Instead, additional “refrigerator” ions in the crystal can be directly laser-cooled, with the qubit ions cooled in sympathy by virtue of their Coulomb-coupled motion larson . The laser cooling of the refrigerator ions can quench unwanted motion of the ion crystal wine1 ; symcool , while not affecting the internal states of the qubit ions. Sympathetic cooling has been observed in large ensembles of ions in Penning traps larson ; imajo , impurities in small collections of ion crystals, and in small ion crystals consisting of a single species, where strong laser focusing was required to access a particular ion without affecting the others rhode . Here, we report the first demonstration of sympathetic cooling in a small ion crystal with two different species where both species are independently optically addressed.

We study sympathetic cooling of Cd+ isotopes in an asymmetric-quadrupole rf trap. One ion isotope (the refrigerator ion) is continuously Doppler-cooled by a laser beam red-detuned from its D2 line (S1/2-P3/2), while the other isotope (the probe ion) is either Doppler-cooled or Doppler-heated by another beam, whose frequency is scanned around its D2 resonance line. The effect of the sympathetic cooling is to enable measuring fluorescence on the blue side of the probe ion’s resonance. Ordinarily, when the probe laser beam is tuned to the blue of the probe ion’s resonance, the ion ceases fluorescing due to Doppler-heating, but the sympathetic cooling from the refrigerator ion keeps the probe ion cold and fluorescing regardless of the probe tuning.

In the experiment, the probe ion is 112Cd+, while the refrigerator ion is 114Cd+ (both isotopes have zero nuclear spin). The respective D2 lines of these two neighboring isotopes are separated by about 680 MHz, with the heavier ion at lower frequency, and each ion’s natural width is $`\gamma /2\pi 47`$ MHz.

The experimental apparatus is schematically shown in Fig. 1. The Cd+ D2 line resonant light near 214.5 nm is generated by quadrupling a Ti:Sapphire laser. The laser is stabilized to a molecular Tellurium feature near 429 nm to better than 1 MHz. The quadrupled UV output is split into two parts; one part is upshifted by $``$420 MHz, while the other downshifted by $``$400 MHz using acusto-optical frequency shifters. The two beams are then directed into the ion trap through separate windows. Both beams uniformly illuminate the ion crystal in the trap. The up-shifted UV beam (the probe beam) is scanned in frequency around the 112Cd+ ion’s D2 line, while the down-shifted UV beam (the refrigerator beam) frequency is always kept to the red of the 114Cd+ ion’s D2 line. The UV fluorescence from the ions is collected by an f/5.6 lens and imaged onto a micro-channel plate detector. The fluorescence counts are integrated for 10 s for each data point in a frequency scan.

We use an asymmetric quarupole RF ion trap jeffers  with the electrode radius of about 200 microns. The trap’s RF frequency is $`\mathrm{\Omega }/2\pi 38.8`$ MHz, the RF potential amplitude is about 200 V, and the trap’s electrodes are kept at the same static potential. The measured secular trap frequency along the ions’ separation axis is $`\omega _x/2\pi 2.8`$ MHz.

To study sympathetic cooling, we load a 112Cd+ ion and a 114Cd+ ion into the trap by ablating and photoionizing the neutral Cd deposited on the trap’s electrodes using one of the UV beams. Due to high abundance of isotopes 112Cd and 114Cd in natural cadmium (24% and 29%, respectively), loading the proper two isotopes is not unlikely. We set the trap’s compensating electrode voltages such that the 112Cd+ (probe) ion is near the rf null of the trap to minimize its micromotion and thus simplify its lineshape micromotion .

In Fig. 2, the fluorescence from the 112Cd+ ion is plotted against the probe beam frequency. In Fig. 2a, both the probe and the refrigerator laser beams are on, while for the data in Fig. 2b the refrigerator beam is turned off. Note the telltale drop in fluorescence as the probe beam is tuned to the blue side of the 112Cd+ resonance line in Fig. 2b caused by Doppler-heating. On the other hand, the fluorescence curve in Fig. 2a is symmetric, which demonstrates that the 112Cd+ ion is sympathetically cooled by the 114Cd+ ion even as the probe beam is tuned to the blue of the resonance.

Images of the two ions at different lighting conditions are shown in Fig. 3; the probe ion (112Cd+) is on the left, while the refrigerator ion (114Cd+) is to the right. Both the probe and the refrigerator beams are turned on for Fig. 3a; in Fig. 3b, only the probe beam is on, while in Fig. 3c only the refrigerator beam is on. Note a very faint images of the 114Cd+ ion in Fig. 3b and the 112Cd+ ion in Fig. 3c from the residual fluorescence from the far-detuned beams.

For the data shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the probe beam intensity is $`I_{probe}=0.35I_{sat}`$, while the refrigerator beam intensity is $`I_{ref}=12I_{sat}`$, where the saturation intensity $`I_{sat}0.6`$ W/cm2. Such high refrigerator beam intensity is necessary because of the large amount of refrigerator ion micromotion. This significantly Doppler-broaden the refrigerator ion lineshape micromotion  and makes cooling less efficient than the comparable cooling/heating of the probe ion, which experiences little micromotion. In a linear ion trap, where micromotion can be suppressed in all ions in a string, the required cooling intensity would not need to be as high.

To demonstrate that the cooling seen in Fig. 2a is not caused by directly Doppler-cooling of the 112Cd+ probe ion by the refrigerator beam (which indeed is red-detuned from the 112Cd+ ion’s D2 line) we load a single 112Cd+ ion into the trap, while shining both the refrigerator and the probe beams onto the ion. The curve in Fig. 4 shows the resulting fluorescence as function of the probe laser frequency. When tuned to the blue of the resonance, the ion’s fluorescence quickly drops to zero, indicating that the ion is heated by the probe beam; the direct Doppler-cooling by the far-detuned refrigerator beam is not sufficient to keep the ion cold.

While the current experiment only investigates Doppler cooling, quantum logic gates with trapped ions generally require cooling to the Lamb-Dicke limit, where the ion’s spatial extent is much smaller than the optical coupling wavelength. A similar setup should enable sympathetic cooling of Cd+ isotopes to the Lamb-Dicke limit using stimulated-Raman sideband cooling raman , polarization-gradient (Sisyphus) cooling sisyphus , or EIT cooling eit .

Ultimately, we plan to sympathetically cool 111Cd+ qubits (nuclear spin-1/2) with 116Cd+ refrigerator ions. The isotope shift between Cd+ isotopes 111 and 116 is $`\mathrm{\Delta }/2\pi 5.2`$ GHz. Below, we estimate the decoherence of a 111Cd+ qubit under the influence of 116Cd+ cooling radiation, assuming a background heating source is quenched by sideband cooling in the Lamb-Dicke limit. The photon scatter rate by the 116Cd+ refrigerator ion $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s\frac{I}{I_{sat}}\gamma /2`$ sets an upper limit on the cooling rate, which itself must be at least as large as the heating rate $`\dot{n}`$ for useful sympathetic cooling. The off-resonant spontaneous emission rate of the 111Cd+ qubit ion is then of order $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{qubit}\dot{n}\frac{\gamma ^2}{4\mathrm{\Delta }^2}0.02`$/sec for a heating rate of $`\dot{n}10^3`$/sec decoherence . Under the same conditions, the AC Stark shift of the 111Cd+ qubit ion is $`\delta _{AC}/2\pi \frac{\dot{n}}{2\pi }\frac{\gamma }{4\mathrm{\Delta }}0.3`$ Hz, and only the fluctuations of this already small shift will cause decoherence. A similar analysis can be given for other methods of cooling. We find that the 5.2 GHz isotope shift appears large enough to comfortably neglect qubit decoherence from spontaneous emission and AC Stark shifts, while it is small enough so that optical modulators can provide the cooling radiation without the need for additional laser sources.

In summary, we have sympathetically cooled a single trapped 112Cd+ ion through Doppler-cooling of a neighboring 114Cd+ ion. This is the first demonstration of optically addressing a single trapped ion being sympathetically cooled by an ion of a different species. The sympathetic cooling of multiple ion species is an important step toward scaling the trapped ion quantum computer, as it can reduce decoherence associated with unwanted motion of trapped ions, while preserving the internal qubit coherence. The Cd+ system is convenient, as the sympathetic cooling can be accomplished without extra lasers and without strong focusing.

We wish to thank J. Zorn, R. Conti for their useful advice, and R. Jennerich for his help with the earlier parts of the experiment. This work is supported by the U.S. National Security Agency, the Advanced Research and Development Activity, the Army Research Office, and the National Science Foundation.


text:
# 1. Introducing the Players

## 1. Introducing the Players

We present a theorem that is at once a $`q`$-analog of a generalization, due to Meshalkin, of Sperner’s famous theorem on antichains of sets and a generalization of Rota and Harper’s $`q`$-analog of both Sperner’s theorem and Erdős’s generalization.

Sperner’s theorem  concerns a subset $`𝒜`$ of $`𝒫(S)`$, the power set of an $`n`$-element set $`S`$, that is an *antichain*: no member of $`𝒜`$ contains another. It is part (b) of the following theorem. Part (a), which easily implies (b) (see, e.g., \[1, Section 1.2\]) was found later by Lubell , Yamamoto , and Meshalkin  (and Bollobás independently proved a generalization ); consequently, it and similar inequalities are called *LYM inequalities*.

###### Theorem 1.

Let $`𝒜`$ be an antichain of subsets of $`S`$. Then:

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{A𝒜}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|A|}}1`$ and
2. $`|𝒜|\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{n/2}\right)`$.
3. Equality occurs in (a) and (b) if $`𝒜`$ consists of all subsets of $`S`$ of size $`n/2`$, or all of size $`n/2`$.

The idea of Meshalkin’s insufficiently well known generalization333We do not find it in books on the subject  but only in . (an idea he attributes to Sevast’yanov) is to consider ordered $`p`$-tuples $`A=(A_1,\mathrm{},A_p)`$ of pairwise disjoint sets whose union is $`S`$. We call these *weak compositions of $`S`$ into $`p`$ parts*.

###### Theorem 2.

Let $``$ be a family of weak compositions of $`S`$ into $`p`$ parts such that each set $`_k=\{A_k:A\}`$ is an antichain.

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{A}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{|A_1|,\mathrm{},|A_p|}\right)}}1`$.
2. $`||\underset{\alpha _1+\mathrm{}+\alpha _p=n}{\mathrm{max}}\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p}}\right)=\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\frac{n}{p},\mathrm{},\frac{n}{p},\frac{n}{p},\mathrm{},\frac{n}{p}}}\right)`$.
3. Equality occurs in (a) and (b) if, for each $`k`$, $`_k`$ consists of all subsets of $`S`$ of size $`\frac{n}{p}`$, or all of size $`\frac{n}{p}`$.

Part (b) is Meshalkin’s theorem ; the corresponding LYM inequality (a) was subsequently found by Hochberg and Hirsch . (In expressions like the multinomial coefficient in (b), since the lower numbers must sum to $`n`$, the number of them that equal $`\frac{n}{p}`$ is the least nonnegative residue of $`n`$ modulo $`p+1`$.)

In  Wang and we generalized Theorem 2 in a way that simultaneously also generalizes Erdős’s theorem on *$`l`$-chain-free families*: subsets of $`𝒫(S)`$ that contain no chain of length $`l`$. (Such families have been called “$`r`$-families” and “$`k`$-families”, where $`r`$ or $`k`$ is the forbidden length. We believe a more suggestive name is needed.)

###### Theorem 3 (\[2, Corollary 4.1\]).

Let $``$ be a family of weak compositions of $`S`$ into $`p`$ parts such that each $`_k`$, for $`k<p`$, is $`l`$-chain-free. Then:

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{A}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{|A_1|,\mathrm{},|A_p|}\right)}}l^{p1}`$, and
2. $`||`$ is no greater than the sum of the $`l^{p1}`$ largest multinomial coefficients of the form $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p}\right)`$.

Erdős’s theorem  is essentially the case $`p=2`$, in which $`A_2=SA_1`$ is redundant. The upper bound is then the sum of the $`l`$ largest binomial coefficients $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{j}\right),0jn`$, and is attained by taking a suitable subclass of $`𝒫(S)`$. In general the bounds in Theorem 3 cannot be attained \[2, Section 5\].

Rota and Harper began the process of $`q`$-analogizing by finding versions of Sperner’s and Erdős’s theorems for finite projective geometries . We think of a projective geometry $`^{n1}=^{n1}(q)`$ of order $`q`$ and rank $`n`$ (i.e., dimension $`n1`$) as a lattice of flats, in which $`\widehat{0}=\mathrm{}`$ and $`\widehat{1}`$ is the whole set of points. The *rank* of a flat $`a`$ is $`r(a)=dima+1`$. The *$`q`$-Gaussian coefficients* (usually the “$`q`$” is omitted) are the quantities

$$\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{k}\right]=\frac{n!_q}{k!_q(nk)!_q}\text{ where }n!_q=(q^n1)(q^{n1}1)\mathrm{}(q1).$$

They are the $`q`$-analogs of the binomial coefficients. Again, a family of projective flats is *$`l`$-chain-free* if it contains no chain of length $`l`$. Let $`_k`$ be the set of all flats of rank $`k`$ in $`^{n1}(q)`$.

###### Theorem 4 (\[11, p. 200\]).

Let $`𝒜`$ be an $`l`$-chain-free family of flats in $`^{n1}(q)`$.

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{a𝒜}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(a)}\right]}}l`$.
2. $`|𝒜|`$ is at most the sum of the $`l`$ largest Gaussian coefficients $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{j}\right]`$ for $`0jn`$.
3. There is equality in (a) and (b) when $`𝒜`$ consists of the $`l`$ largest classes $`_k`$, if $`nl`$ is even, or the $`l1`$ largest classes and one of the two next largest classes, if $`nl`$ is odd.

Our $`q`$-analog theorem concerns the projective analogs of weak compositions of a set. A *Meshalkin sequence of length $`p`$* in $`^{n1}(q)`$ is a sequence $`a=(a_1,\mathrm{},a_p)`$ of flats whose join is $`\widehat{1}`$ and whose ranks sum to $`n`$. The submodular law implies that, if $`a_J:=_{jJ}a_j`$ for an index subset $`J[p]=\{1,2,\mathrm{},p\}`$, then $`a_Ia_J=\widehat{0}`$ for any disjoint $`I,J[p]`$; so the members of a Meshalkin sequence are highly disjoint.

To state the result we need a few more definitions. If $``$ is a set of Meshalkin sequences, then for each $`k[p]`$ we define $`_k:=\{a_k:(a_1,\mathrm{},a_p)\}`$. If $`\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p`$ are nonnegative integers whose sum is $`n`$, we define the *($`q`$-)Gaussian multinomial coefficient* to be

$$\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]=\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p}\right]=\frac{n!_q}{\alpha _1!_q\mathrm{}\alpha _p!_q},$$

where $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p)`$. We write

$$s_2(\alpha )=\underset{i<j}{}\alpha _i\alpha _j$$

for the second elementary symmetric function of $`\alpha `$. If $`a`$ is a Meshalkin sequence, we write

$$r(a)=(r(a_1),\mathrm{},r(a_p))$$

for the sequence of ranks. We define $`^{n1}(q)`$ to be empty if $`n=0`$, a point if $`n=1`$, and a line of $`q+1`$ points if $`n=2`$.

###### Theorem 5.

Let $`n0`$, $`l1`$, $`p2`$, and $`q2`$. Let $``$ be a family of Meshalkin sequences of length $`p`$ in $`^{n1}(q)`$ such that, for each $`k[p1]`$, $`_k`$ contains no chain of length $`l`$. Then

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(a)}\right]q^{s_2(r(a))}}}l^{p1}`$, and
2. $`||`$ is at most equal to the sum of the $`l^{p1}`$ largest amongst the quantities $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$ for $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p)`$ with all $`\alpha _k0`$ and $`\alpha _1+\mathrm{}+\alpha _p=n`$.

The antichain case (where $`l=1`$), the analog of Meshalkin and Hochberg and Hirsch’s theorems, is captured in

###### Corollary 6.

Let $``$ be a family of Meshalkin sequences of length $`p2`$ in $`^{n1}(q)`$ such that each $`_k`$ for $`k<p`$ is an antichain. Then

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(a)}\right]q^{s_2(r(a))}}}1`$, and
2. $`||\underset{\alpha }{\mathrm{max}}\left[{\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }}\right]q^{s_2(r(a))}=\left[{\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\frac{n}{p},\mathrm{},\frac{n}{p},\frac{n}{p},\mathrm{},\frac{n}{p}}}\right]q^{s_2(n/p,\mathrm{},n/p,n/p,\mathrm{},n/p)}`$.
3. Equality holds in (a) and (b) if, for each $`k`$, $`_k`$ consists of all flats of rank $`\frac{n}{p}`$ or all of rank $`\frac{n}{p}`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

We believe—but without proof—that the largest families $``$ described in (c) are the only ones.

Notice that we do not place any condition in either the theorem or its corollary on $`_p`$.

Our theorem is not exactly a generalization of that of Rota and Harper because a flat in a projective geometry has a variable number of complements, depending on its rank. Still, our result does imply this and a generalization, as we shall demonstrate in Section 4.

## 2. Proof of Theorem 5

The proof of Theorem 5 is adapted from the short proof of Theorem 3 in . It is complicated by the multiplicity of complements of a flat, so we require the powerful lemma of Harper, Klain, and Rota (\[8, Lemma 3.1.3\], improving on \[11, Lemma on p. 199\]; for a short proof see \[2, Lemmas 3.1 and 5.2\]) and a count of the number of complements.

###### Lemma 7.

Suppose given real numbers $`m_1m_2\mathrm{}m_N0`$, other real numbers $`q_1,\mathrm{},q_N[0,1]`$, and an integer $`P`$ with $`1PN`$. If $`_{k=1}^Nq_kP`$, then

(1)
$$q_1m_1+\mathrm{}+q_Nm_Nm_1+\mathrm{}+m_P.$$

Let $`m_{P^{}+1}`$ and $`m_{P^{\prime \prime }}`$ be the first and last $`m_k`$’s equal to $`m_P`$. Assuming $`m_P>0`$, there is equality in (1) if and only if

$$q_k=1\text{ for }m_k>m_P,q_k=0\text{ for }m_k<m_P,\text{and}q_{P^{}+1}+\mathrm{}+q_{P^{\prime \prime }}=PP^{}.$$

$`\mathrm{}`$

###### Lemma 8.

A flat of rank $`k`$ in $`^{n1}(q)`$ has $`q^{k(nk)}`$ complements.

###### Proof.

The number of ways to extend a fixed ordered basis $`(P_1,\mathrm{},P_k)`$ of the flat to an ordered basis $`(P_1,\mathrm{},P_n)`$ of $`^{n1}(q)`$ is

$$\frac{q^nq^k}{q1}\frac{q^nq^{k+1}}{q1}\mathrm{}\frac{q^nq^{n1}}{q1}.$$

Then $`P_{k+1}\mathrm{}P_n`$ is a complement and is generated by the last $`nk`$ points in

$$\frac{q^{nk}1}{q1}\frac{q^{nk}q}{q1}\mathrm{}\frac{q^{nk}q^{nk1}}{q1}$$

of the extended ordered bases. Dividing the former by the latter, there are

$$q^{\left(\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{2}\right)\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{k}{2}\right)\right)\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{nk}{2}\right)}=q^{k(nk)}$$

complements. ∎

###### Proof of (a).

We proceed by induction on $`p`$. For a flat $`f`$, define

$$(f):=\{(a_2,\mathrm{},a_p):(f,a_2,\mathrm{},a_p)\}$$

and also, letting $`c`$ be another flat, define

$$^c(f):=\{(a_2,\mathrm{},a_p)(f):a_2\mathrm{}a_p=c\}.$$

For $`a`$, we write $`r_1=r(a_1)`$. Finally, $`𝒞(a_1)`$ is the set of complements of $`a_1`$. If $`p>2`$, then

$`{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(a)}\right]q^{s_2(r(a))}}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{a_1_1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r_1}\right]q^{r_1(nr_1)}}}{\displaystyle \underset{a^{}(a_1)}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{nr_1}{r(a^{})}\right]q^{s_2(r(a^{}))}}}`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{a_1_1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r_1}\right]q^{r_1(nr_1)}}}{\displaystyle \underset{c𝒞(a_1)}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{a^{}^c(a_1)}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{nr_1}{r(a^{})}\right]q^{s_2(r(a^{}))}}}`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{a_1_1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r_1}\right]q^{r_1(nr_1)}}}{\displaystyle \underset{c𝒞(a_1)}{}}l^{p2}`$
by induction, because $`^c(a_1)`$ is a Meshalkin family in $`c^{r(c)1}=^{nr_11}`$ and each $`_k^c(a^{})`$ for $`k<p1`$, being a subset of $`_{k+1}`$, is $`l`$-chain-free,
$`={\displaystyle \underset{a_1_1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r_1}\right]q^{r_1(nr_1)}}}q^{r_1(nr_1)}l^{p2}`$
by Lemma 8,
$`ll^{p2}`$
by the theorem of Rota and Harper.

The initial case, $`p=2`$, is similar except that the innermost sum in the second step equals $`1`$. ∎

###### Lemma 9.

Let $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p)`$ with all $`\alpha _k0`$ and $`\alpha _1+\mathrm{}+\alpha _p=n`$. The number of all Meshalkin sequences $`a`$ in $`^{n1}`$ with $`r(a)=\alpha `$ is $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$.

###### Proof.

If $`p=1`$, then $`a=\widehat{1}`$ so the conclusion is obvious. If $`p>1`$, we get a Meshalkin sequence of length $`p`$ in $`^{n1}`$ with rank sequence $`r(a)=\alpha `$ by choosing $`a_1`$ to have rank $`\alpha _1`$, then a complement $`c`$ of $`a_1`$, and finally a Meshalkin sequence $`a^{}`$ of length $`p1`$ in $`c^{r(c)1}=^{n\alpha _11}`$ whose rank sequence is $`\alpha ^{}=(\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _p)`$. The first choice can be made in $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n\alpha _1}{\alpha ^{}}\right]`$ ways, the second in $`q^{\alpha _1(n\alpha _1)}`$ ways, and the third, by induction, in $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n\alpha _1}{\alpha ^{}}\right]q^{s_2(\alpha ^{})}`$ ways. Multiply. ∎

###### Proof of (b).

Let $`N(\alpha )`$ be the number of $`a`$ for which $`r(a)=\alpha `$. In Lemma 7 take

$$q_\alpha =\frac{N(\alpha )}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )}}\text{ and }m_\alpha =\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )},$$

and number all possible $`\alpha `$ so that $`m_{\alpha ^1}m_{\alpha ^2}\mathrm{}`$ .

Lemma 9 shows that all $`q_\alpha 1`$ so Lemma 7 does apply. The conclusion is that

$$||=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}q_{\alpha ^i}m_{\alpha ^i}\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha ^1}\right]q^{s_2(\alpha ^1)}+\mathrm{}+\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha ^P}\right]q^{s_2(\alpha ^P)},$$

where $`N=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n+p1}{p1}\right)`$, the number of sequences $`\alpha `$, and $`P=\mathrm{min}(l^{p1},N)`$. ∎

## 3. Strangeness of the LYM Inequality

There is something odd about the LYM inequality in Theorem 5(a). A normal LYM inequality would be expected to have denominator $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(a)}\right]`$ without the extra factor $`q^{s_2(r(a))}`$. Such an LYM inequality does exist; it is a corollary of Theorem 5(a); but it is not strong enough to give the upper bound on $`||`$. We prove this weaker inequality here.

###### Proposition 10.

Assume the hypotheses of Theorem 5; that is: $`n0`$, $`l1`$, $`p2`$, and $`q2`$; and $``$ is a family of Meshalkin sequences of length $`p`$ in $`^{n1}(q)`$ such that, for each $`k[p1]`$, $`_k`$ contains no chain of length $`l`$. Then $`_a\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(a)}\right]^1`$ is bounded above by the sum of the $`l^{p1}`$ largest expressions $`q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$ for $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _p)`$ with all $`\alpha _k0`$ and $`\alpha _1+\mathrm{}+\alpha _p=n`$.

###### Proof.

Again we apply Lemma 7, this time with $`q_\alpha =N(\alpha )/\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$ and $`M_\alpha =q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$. ∎

## 4. A “Partial” Corollary

We deduce Theorem 4(a) from the case $`p=2`$ of Theorem 5(a). Our purpose is not to give a new proof of Theorem 4 but to show that we have a generalization of it.

The key to the proof is that $`_2`$ in our theorem is not required to be $`l`$-chain-free. Therefore if we have an $`l`$-chain-free set $`𝒜`$ of flats in $`^{n1}`$, we can define

$$=\{(a,c):a𝒜\text{ and }c𝒞(a)\};$$

and $``$ will satisfy the requirements of Theorem 5. The LYM sum in Theorem 5(a) then equals the LYM sum in Theorem 4(a), and we are done.

The same argument gives a general corollary. A *partial Meshalkin sequence of length $`p`$* is a sequence $`a=(a_1,\mathrm{},a_p)`$ of flats in $`^{n1}(q)`$ such that $`r(a_1\mathrm{}a_p)=r(a_1)+\mathrm{}+r(a_p)`$. We simply do not require the join $`\widehat{a}=a_1\mathrm{}a_p`$ to be $`\widehat{1}`$. The generalized Rota–Harper theorem is:

###### Corollary 11.

Let $`p1`$, $`l1`$, $`q2`$, and $`n0`$. Let $``$ be a family of partial Meshalkin sequences of length $`p`$ in $`^{n1}(q)`$ such that, for each $`k[p]`$, $`_k`$ contains no chain of length $`l`$. Then

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(\widehat{a})}\right]\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{r(\widehat{a})}{r(a)}\right]q^{s_2(r(a))}}}l^p`$ and
2. $`||`$ is at most equal to the sum of the $`l^p`$ largest amongst the quantities $`\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$ for $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _{p+1})`$ with all $`\alpha _k0`$ and $`\alpha _1+\mathrm{}+\alpha _{p+1}=n`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

As a special case we generalize the $`q`$-analog of Sperner’s theorem. (The $`q`$-analog is the case $`p=1`$.)

###### Corollary 12.

Let $``$ be a family of partial Meshalkin sequences of length $`p1`$ in $`^{n1}`$ such that each $`_k`$ is an antichain. Then:

1. $`{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{r(\widehat{a})}\right]\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{r(\widehat{a})}{r(a)}\right]q^{s_2(r(a))}}}1`$.
2. $`||\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{\alpha }\right]q^{s_2(\alpha )}`$, in which $`\alpha =(\frac{n}{p+1},\mathrm{},\frac{n}{p+1},\frac{n}{p+1},\mathrm{},\frac{n}{p+1})`$ where the number of terms equal to $`\frac{n}{p+1}`$ is the least nonnegative residue of $`n`$ modulo $`p+1`$.
3. Equality holds in (a) and (b) if, for each $`k`$, $`_k`$ consists of all flats of rank $`\frac{n}{p+1}`$ or all flats of rank $`\frac{n}{p+1}`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

We conjecture that the largest families $``$ described in (c) are unique.