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# Confined magnetic guiding orbit states

Recently there has been a growing interest in the study of the influence of inhomogeneous magnetic fields on the electronic properties of quantum structures. The application of magnetic fields to otherwise pure electrical systems opened the door to a whole new area of physics. The confining role of the magnetic fields can indeed alter the transport properties of, e.g., a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) to a measurable extent and therefore possibly result in useful magnetoelectronic devices.

With regard to localized electron states, the confinement was previously realized essentially by application of pure electric potentials or pure inhomogeneous magnetic fields. However, the main problem with the latter method is of practical nature: it is very hard to create an inhomogeneous magnetic field which is strong enough to confine electrons such that the resulting energy quantization is large enough to detect. In contrast to previous approaches, we propose a system which combines these two different ways of confinement, magnetic and electric, and which can be realized experimentally.

We consider the so-called snake-orbit states, which have been studied intensively in the recent past. These states are localized magnetically in one direction by use of large magnetic field gradients; a steplike magnetic field profile, which varies abruptly $`B`$/$`B`$, e.g., along the $`x`$ direction, is a typical example, experimentally realizable. A typical feature of these states is that they propagate perpendicular to the magnetic field discontinuity (along the $`y`$ direction) and exhibit a large mobility. As we show below, reducing this degree of freedom with hard-wall confinement leads to their complete spatial confinement.

To start with, we consider electrons in the $`(x,y)`$ plane subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field $`𝐁=[0,0,B(x)]`$ which changes sign at $`x=0`$ such that $`B(x,y)=B`$sgn($`x`$). Along the $`y`$ direction the electrons are confined into a quantum wire by a hard-wall potential $`V(|y|>W)=\mathrm{}`$, else $`V(y)=0`$, where $`W`$ is the width of the wire. We solve the two-dimensional (2D) stationary Schrödinger equation

$$\{HE\}\mathrm{\Psi }(x,y)=0$$
(1)
with the dimensionless Hamiltonian

$$H=[^2/x^2+(/y+i|x|B)^2]/2+V(y),$$
(2)
where $`|x|B`$ is the $`y`$-component of the vector potential $`𝐀`$. The coordinates are measured in units of $`W`$, energy is in units of $`E_0=\mathrm{}^2/m_eW^2`$, the magnetic field in $`B_0=\mathrm{}/eW^2`$. $`l_B=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/eB}=W\sqrt{B_0/B}`$ is the magnetic field length. For a typical GaAs-heterostructure with $`W=5000`$ Å, we obtain $`E_00.0056`$ meV and $`B_026.4`$ Gauss. The magnetic length reads $`l_B0.045`$ $`W`$ = 224 Å.

This quantum mechanical problem cannot be solved analytically. One way to solve it is by using the mode-matching technique as in Ref. . In the present work we follow a different approach and expand the wavefunction in basis functions of a 2D box in the absence of a magnetic field with boundaries at $`|x|=L/2,`$ $`|y|=W/2,`$ and the length of the wire $`L`$ chosen sufficiently large such that it has no influence on the energy of the bound state. Thus,

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(x,y)=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{m=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}c_{nm}\varphi _{nm}(x,y),$$
(3)
is the general form of the wave function and

$$\varphi _{nm}(x,y)=\frac{2}{\sqrt{WL}}\mathrm{sin}[\frac{n\pi }{L}(x+\frac{L}{2})][\frac{m\pi }{W}(y+\frac{W}{2})]$$
(4)
is the basis function of order $`n,m`$. Inserting Eq. (3) into Eq. (1) we obtain the secular equation

$$|H_{ij}E\delta _{ij}|=0,$$
(5)
where $`H_{ij}=\mathrm{\Psi }_i|H|\mathrm{\Psi }_j`$ is the complex matrix element of the Hamiltonian operator with $`i=(n,m)`$. The energy of the bound state is then determined by solving Eq. (5). In principle an infinite number of basis functions is required to describe the wavefunction and hence to calculate the exact energy; in practice, though, we found that $`n,m50`$ terms are sufficient in order to determine the energy with an accuracy of $`10^4`$.

If $`B`$ is larger than zero, an electron can be bound to the magnetic edge. We look at relatively large magnetic fields since we are interested in snake-orbit states, which are rather fragile structures and show themselves only for weak confining potentials. That is why we consider the case when the width of the wire $`W`$ exceeds the magnetic length $`l_B`$. The discrete energies in the box with dimensions $`(L,W)`$ subjected to a homogeneous magnetic field (dots) together with the steplike magnetic field profile (open dots) with strength $`B/B_0=500`$ are shown in Fig. 1. For the homogeneous magnetic field we clearly distinguish the first Landau level (solid dots). This level is also clearly seen for the $`B`$/$`B`$ profile (open dots) and corresponds to electrons in cyclotron orbits on the left or right of the magnetic edge. But in addition, we now observe states with energy lower than the first Landau level. Inspection of the wavefunctions, plotted in the inset of Fig. 1 for $`N=1`$ and $`N=5`$, shows that the corresponding states are bound close to the magnetic boundary (situated at $`x=0`$).

The energy of the bound states, below the first Landau level, is shown in Fig. 2 as a function of the magnetic field strength $`B/B_0=W^2/l_B^2`$ in units of $`\mathrm{}\omega _c`$, where $`\omega _c=eB/m_e`$ is the cyclotron frequency. We notice that with increasing $`B`$ the ground state decreases in energy and approaches the limiting value $`E/\mathrm{}\omega _c=0.295`$ for $`B\mathrm{}`$. As $`B`$ increases the number of these bound states increases.

Actually these new bound states can be interpreted as an interference between two states propagating along the magnetic edge, i.e., perpendicular to the wire. These states have the same energy, lower than the first Landau level, but are propagating in opposite directions with different momenta, and for some energies they form a standing wave.

This can be better understood if we first look at the situation without confinement along $`y`$ described by $`V(y)=0`$, that was discussed in Ref. . In this case one has to solve Eq. (1) with $`W\mathrm{}`$; now all lengths are expressed in units of $`l_B`$ and the energy in units of $`\mathrm{}\omega _c`$. Writing the wave function as

$$\psi (x,y)=e^{iky}\varphi _{n,k}(x)/\sqrt{2\pi },$$
(6)
where $`k`$ is the wave vector in the $`y`$ direction, the problem reduces to solving the 1D Schrödinger equation

$$(1/2)[d^2/dx^2+(|x|Bk)^2]\varphi _{n,k}(x)=E_{n,k}\varphi _{n,k}(x),$$
(7)
which we do numerically.

The energy spectrum, plotted in Fig. 3 as a function of $`k`$, shows that to every energy $`E\mathrm{}\omega _c/2`$ there correspond two states which propagate along the magnetic boundary with opposite velocities $`v_y`$ ($`v_y=E/k`$). The $`v_y>0`$ states are the classical snake-orbit states while those with $`v_y<0`$ do not have any classical analog.

In order to understand the nature of these different states, we distinguish two different regions, A and B. In region B the electron cyclotron orbit intersects the magnetic boundary and the electron motion can be understood classically. In region A there is no classical analog for the quantum mechanical electron propagation: classically, the orbit does not reach the magnetic boundary and the electron cycles around in closed orbits.

Since the lowest energy is at the border between the classical and non-classical region, only one of the two states with the same energy $`E<\mathrm{}\omega _c`$ can be understood classically, the other cannot. Nevertheless, one could comprehend propagation of this state more or less, by looking at Fig. 4, where a schematic picture is drawn, together with the corresponding wavefunctions and their effective potential. If one adds tunneling to the classical picture, such that an electron can tunnel from a cycling state on the left to a cycling state on the right, and vice versa, one can imagine an electron to propagate parallel to the magnetic edge in the opposite direction of the classical snake-orbit \[Fig. 4(b)\].

Now the question arises how this picture is modified if one includes a hard-wall confinement in the $`y`$-direction $`V(y>W/2)=\mathrm{}`$. As argued below, the situation will change dramatically since the system is no longer translationally invariant along the $`y`$ direction and the wave function vanishes at the wire boundaries. The effect of the weak confinement can be taken into account qualitatively following the ideas used in band theory and assuming that the edge mode behaves like a quasi-particle moving along the magnetic well with effective mass $`m^{}=1.43m_e`$. Namely, expanding the electron energy near the minimum point $`E_0`$ for $`k_0l_B=0.767`$ in the manner

$$E(k)E_0+(kk_0)^2/2m^{},$$
(8)
and presenting the electron wave function as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(x,y)=f(y)\varphi _0(x)$$
(9)
\[where $`\varphi _0(x)`$ is the electron wave function at the minimum point $`k_0`$\] one can get the effective Schrödinger equation for the envelope function $`f(y)`$. The Hamiltonian for this equation is obtained just replacing $`kk_0i/y`$ in energy expression (8) and adding the confinement potential:

$$H_0=E_0(1/2m^{})^2/y^2+V(y).$$
(10)
In the case of hard wall confinement it immediately leads to the quantized energy spectrum

$$E_n=E_0+(n\pi /l_B)^2/2m^{},$$
(11)
which is both qualitatively and quantitatively in good agreement with the exact result shown in Fig. 2, at least for lower energy values ($`|kk_0|`$ small). It is obvious that for higher $`|kk_0|`$ the parabolic approximation (8) is not valid anymore.

The system studied here can be realized experimentally by growing a tilted 2DEG with the left and right parts having different slopes. This results in an out-of-plane kink in the 1D wire. If a (large) homogeneous magnetic field is then applied, electrons will be attracted towards the kink where the magnetic field changes abruptly and form a quasi 1D system, which is confined both electrically and magnetically. Another way to create the steplike magnetic field in the wire is by growing a perpendicularly magnetized magnetic stripe on top of the heterostructure, containing the wire. The magnetic field then has a different sign underneath or away from the stripe.

In summary, we proposed a technique to confine snake-orbit states and localize them spatially near a magnetic-field discontinuity (or edge) by introducing an interference between them. These caged states are bound to the magnetic edge and have an energy lower than that of the first Landau level. Their number increases as the magnetic field becomes stronger or as the width of the wire becomes larger and the confinement decreases. These states can be understood as an interference between two counter-propagating snake-orbit states. We also provided a simple approximation which rendered clear their physical origin. They have a pure quantum mechanical origin and cannot be understood or treated classically.

This work was partially supported by the Inter-university Micro-Electronics Center (IMEC, Leuven), the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl), the Belgian Interuniversity Attraction Poles (IUAP), and the Flemish-Chinese bilateral programme. J.R. was supported by “het Vlaams Instituut voor de bevordering van het Wetenschappelijk & Technologisch Onderzoek in de Industrie” (IWT).


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# Another Complex Bateman Equation

## Another Complex Bateman Equation

D. B. Fairlie111e-mail: david.fairlie@durham.ac.uk
Department of Mathematical Sciences
University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE

## Abstract

A further class of complex covariant field equations is investigated. These equations possess several common features: they may be solved, or partially solved in terms of implicit functional relations, they possess an infinite number of inequivalent Lagrangians which vanish on the space of solutions of the equations of motion, they are invariant under linear transformations of the independent variables, and thus are signature-blind and are consequences of first order equations of hydrodynamic type.

## 1 Introduction

This paper is another in a series devoted to an investigation of simple equations exhibiting covariance of solutions. These equations have arisen in the study of generalisations of the Bateman equation , in the equations arising from continuations of the String and Brane Lagrangians to the situation where the target space has fewer dimensions than the base space  and a complex form of these equations . The simplest example of these is a complexification of the Bateman equation. What we have called the Complex Bateman equation is the following equation for a real function $`\varphi `$ defined over the space of variables $`(x_1,x_2;\overline{x}_1,\overline{x}_2)`$;

$$\varphi _{x_1}\varphi _{\overline{x}_1}\varphi _{x_2\overline{x}_2}+\varphi _{x_2}\varphi _{\overline{x}_2}\varphi _{x_1\overline{x}_1}\varphi _{x_1}\varphi _{\overline{x}_2}\varphi _{\overline{x}_1x_2}\varphi _{x_2}\varphi _{\overline{x}_1}\varphi _{x_1\overline{x}_2}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(1)
(Here subscripts denote differentiation). This equation was shown to be completely integrable , with solution given by solving for $`\varphi `$ the following constraint upon two arbitrary functions of three variables, $`F,G`$;

$$F(\varphi ;x_1,x_2)=G(\varphi ;\overline{x}_1,\overline{x}_2).$$

From the form of the solution, or from the equation itself, it is manifest that if $`\varphi `$ is a solution, any function of $`\varphi `$ will also be a solution and thus that the equation exhibits covariance. It is also invariant under separate diffeomorphisms of the pairs of variables $`(x_1,x_2)`$ and $`(\overline{x}_1,\overline{x}_2)`$. In fact a subclass of solutions is given by the sum of ‘holomorphic’ and ‘antiholomorphic’ functions

$$\varphi =f(x_1,x_2)+g(\overline{x}_1,\overline{x}_2).$$

A general characteristic of such equations is that they possess an infinite number of inequivalent Lagrangians. The equations of motion are partially, or sometimes fully solveable in implicit form, as in the examples cited. The fully integrable eqautions arise from kinematical first order equations of hydrodynamic type.

## 2  Another Complex Bateman Equation

Now there is another possibility for complexification; we could take instead

$$\overline{\varphi }_x\varphi _x\varphi _{tt}\overline{\varphi }_x\varphi _t\varphi _{tx}\overline{\varphi }_t\varphi _x\varphi _{tx}+\overline{\varphi }_t\varphi _t\varphi _{xx}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},$$
(2)
together with its complex conjugate. These equations also exhibit covariance; $`\varphi `$ may be replaced by any function of itself, and the same for $`\overline{\psi }`$ and the equations remain invariant. Where do these equations come from? Take the hydrodynamic equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{u}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`v{\displaystyle \frac{u}{x}},`$ (3)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{v}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`u{\displaystyle \frac{v}{x}},`$ (4)
and set $`u={\displaystyle \frac{\overline{\varphi }_t}{\overline{\varphi }_x}},v={\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _t}{\varphi _x}}`$, and the equation (2), together with its complex conjugate are reproduced. Indeed, all that is necessary is to set in an alternative reduction, $`u=\overline{\varphi }`$ and $`v=\varphi `$ and the same equations arise in consequence. These equations admit an infinite number of conserved quantities ; If $`S_n`$ denotes the symmetric polynomial of degree $`n`$ in $`u,v`$, then

$$\frac{}{t}S_n=\frac{}{x}(uvS_{n1})$$
(5)
is a conservation law. This is easily proved by induction and from the iterative definition: $`S_n=u^n+vS_{n1}`$. These equations can be integrated by the usual hodographic method of interchanging dependent and independent variables, where they become

$`{\displaystyle \frac{x}{v}}`$ $`+`$ $`v{\displaystyle \frac{t}{v}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{x}{u}}`$ $`+`$ $`u{\displaystyle \frac{t}{u}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},`$ (7)
which can be solved in terms of two arbitrary functions $`f,g`$ to give

$$t=f^{}(u)+g^{}(v);x=f(u)uf^{}(u)+g(v)vg^{}(v)$$

with primes denoting differentiation with respect to the argument. If $`u=\overline{\varphi }`$ and $`v=\varphi `$ this parametrisation is a solution to the alternative complexification. Note that the requirements that $`(t,x)`$ be real imposes a further constraint upon the functions $`(f,g)`$. Of course, if $`(\varphi ,\overline{\varphi })`$ are treated as independent real functions, no such restriction exists. Now the second order equations (2) are Poincaré invariant; indeed are covariant under general inhomogeneous linear transformations of the independent variables. This must be true also for the first order equations (6), (7). They are clearly translation invariant; if $`(t,x)`$ transform as

$$t^{}=at+bx,x^{}=ct+dx,$$

then invariance will be maintained if

$$u^{}=\frac{duc}{abu},v^{}=\frac{dvc}{abv}.$$

## 3 2-dimensional Born-Infeld equation

We may remark parenthetically that the same equations(3),(4) also yield the general solution to one form of the so-called Born-Infeld equation in two dimensions in light-cone co-ordinates ;

$$\varphi _x^2\varphi _{tt}+\varphi _x^2\varphi _{tt}(\lambda +2\varphi _x\varphi _t)\varphi _{xt}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$

This is achieved by setting

$$\frac{\varphi }{x}=\frac{\sqrt{\lambda }}{\sqrt{u}\sqrt{v}},\frac{\varphi }{t}=\frac{\sqrt{\lambda uv}}{\sqrt{u}\sqrt{v}}.$$

The integrability constraints upon these equations is just the Born-Infeld equation itself. Thus the primacy of the first order hydrodynamic equations is again manifest. This is a phenomenon which has been noticed before; that the same first order equations yield different second order ones depending upon the assumptions made about the dependency of the unknown functions in the first order equations upon the functions which enter into the second order equations .

## 4 Lagrangian

The construction of a Lagrangian for (2) follows along the lines of . Introduce an auxiliary field $`\psi `$ and consider the singular Lagrangian

$$=\left(\frac{\overline{\varphi }}{t}\frac{\psi }{x}\frac{\psi }{t}\frac{\overline{\varphi }}{x}\right)\frac{\frac{\varphi }{t}}{\frac{\varphi }{x}}.$$
(8)
The equation of motion corresponding to variations in the field $`\psi `$ is simply equation (2). Similarly for the variations with respect to $`\overline{\varphi }`$ we obtain

$$\psi _x\varphi _x\varphi _{tt}\psi _x\varphi _t\varphi _{tx}\psi _t\varphi _x\varphi _{tx}+\psi _t\varphi _t\varphi _{xx}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},$$
(9)
i.e. a similar equation with $`\overline{\varphi }`$ replaced with $`\psi `$. But the third equation, corresponding to variations with respect to $`\varphi `$ is just

$$\frac{}{t}\left[(\overline{\varphi }_t\psi _x\overline{\varphi }_x\psi _t)\left(\frac{1}{\varphi _x}\right)\right]\frac{}{x}\left[(\overline{\varphi }_t\psi _x\overline{\varphi }_x\psi _t)\left(\frac{\varphi _t}{\varphi _x^2}\right)\right]=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(10)
This is satisfied if $`\psi `$ is a function of $`\overline{\varphi }`$; then equation (9) is the same as equation (2). Incidentally, we see here a situation which has been remarked upon before in the context of free field equations , and equations arising from Born-Infeld Lagrangians, namely that the Lagrangian itself is a constant, or else a divergence on the space of solutions of the equations of motion. It is also evident that the factor $`{\displaystyle \frac{\frac{\varphi }{t}}{\frac{\varphi }{x}}}`$ may be replaced by any homogeneous function of $`({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{t}},{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{x}})`$ of weight zero, without affecting the equations of motion.

## 5 Multi-field Lagrangian

The Lagrangian can be constructed along similar lines to that for the single field; one choice is

$$=\frac{(\overline{\varphi }^1,\overline{\varphi }^2,\theta )}{(x_1,x_2,x_3)}\left(\frac{\frac{(\varphi ^1,\varphi ^2)}{(x_1,x_2)}}{\frac{(\varphi ^1,\varphi ^2)}{(x_1,x_3)}}\right),+\mathrm{cc}.$$
(11)
Variation with respect to $`\theta `$ gives a combination of the equations of motion for $`\varphi ^1`$ and $`\varphi ^2`$ and their complex conjugates; variations with respect to the fields $`\overline{\varphi }^1`$ and $`\overline{\varphi }^2`$ yields other linear combinations which together imply the following equations,where $`j`$ takes the values (1, 2);

$$det\left|\begin{array}{ccccc}0& 0& \overline{\varphi }_{x_1}^1& \overline{\varphi }_{x_2}^1& \overline{\varphi }_{x_3}^1\\ 0& 0& \overline{\varphi }_{x_1}^2& \overline{\varphi }_{x_2}^2& \overline{\varphi }_{x_3}^2\\ \varphi _{x_1}^1& \varphi _{x_1}^2& \varphi _{x_1x_1}^j& \varphi _{x_1x_2}^j& \varphi _{x_1x_3}^j\\ \varphi _{x_2}^1& \varphi _{x_2}^2& \varphi _{x_2x_1}^j& \varphi _{x_2x_2}^j& \varphi _{x_2x_3}^j\\ \varphi _{x_3}^1& \varphi _{x_3}^2& \varphi _{x_3x_1}^j& \varphi _{x_3x_2}^j& \varphi _{x_3x_3}^j\end{array}\right|=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(12)
and that $`\theta `$ is a function of $`\overline{\varphi }^1`$ and $`\overline{\varphi }^2`$, in much the same manner as $`\psi `$ is a function of $`\overline{\varphi }`$ in the single field case. As in the case of a single pair of complex fields, these equations follow from a set of hydrodynamic equations.

$`{\displaystyle \frac{u^i}{x_1}}`$ $`+`$ $`v^1{\displaystyle \frac{u^i}{x_3}}+v^2{\displaystyle \frac{u^i}{x_2}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}i=1,2`$ (13)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{v^i}{x_1}}`$ $`+`$ $`u^1{\displaystyle \frac{v^i}{x_3}}+u^2{\displaystyle \frac{v^i}{x_2}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}i=1,2.`$ (14)
Once again, these equations remain the same up to a constant factor under a general linear transformation of co-ordinates; this may be seen most easily if they are written in a homogeneous notation by introducing vectors $`\xi ^\mu ,\eta ^\mu ;\mu =\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},1,2`$ such that $`u^i={\displaystyle \frac{\xi ^i}{\xi ^0}},v^i={\displaystyle \frac{\eta ^i}{\eta ^0}}`$ so that the equations may be written as

$$\underset{0}{\overset{2}{}}\xi ^\mu \frac{v^i}{x_\mu }=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0};\underset{0}{\overset{2}{}}\eta ^\mu \frac{u^i}{x_\mu }=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},$$

making the invariance up to a factor of the hydrodynamic equations under linear transformations of the co-ordinates and the vectors $`\stackrel{}{\xi },\stackrel{}{\eta }`$ manifest.

Set $`u^i=\varphi _i`$ and choose the following set of these equations and their derivatives:

$`\varphi _{x_1}^1+v^1\varphi _{x_2}^1+v^2\varphi _{x_3}^1=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$
$`\varphi _{x_1}^2+v^1\varphi _{x_2}^2+v^2\varphi _{x_3}^2=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$
$`\varphi _{x_1x_1}^1+v^1\varphi _{x_1x_2}^1+v^2\varphi _{x_1x_3}^1+v_{x_1}^1\varphi _{x_2}^1+v_{x_1}^2\varphi _{x_3}^1=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$
$`\varphi _{x_1x_2}^1+v^1\varphi _{x_2x_2}^1+v^2\varphi _{x_2x_3}^1+v_{x_2}^1\varphi _{x_2}^1+v_{x_2}^2\varphi _{x_3}^1=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$
$`\varphi _{x_1x_3}^1+v^1\varphi _{x_2x_3}^1+v^2\varphi _{x_3x_3}^1+v_{x_3}^1\varphi _{x_2}^1+v_{x_3}^2\varphi _{x_3}^1=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.`$
Eliminate the first derivatives ($`\varphi _{x_2}^1,\varphi _{x_3}^1`$) from the final three equations , solve the first pair of equations for $`(v^1,v^2)`$ and subsitute in the undifferentiated terms of the result, setting $`v^1=\overline{\varphi }^1,v^2=\overline{\varphi }^2`$. The ensuing equation is just one member of (12).

## 6 The fundamental hydrodynamic equations

All second order integrable equations of the type discussed here and in earlier work , are consequences of the general first order equations, for which an implicit solution may be constructed following Leznov . Consider a $`2n`$ dimensional Euclidean space with indepenent co-ordinates $`(x_i,\overline{x}_i,i=1\mathrm{}n)`$ and construct the differential operators

$$D=\frac{}{x_n}+\underset{j=1}{\overset{n1}{}}u^j\frac{}{x_j},\overline{D}=\frac{}{\overline{x}_n}+\underset{j=1}{\overset{n1}{}}v^j\frac{}{\overline{x}_j}$$
(15)
Since $`D\overline{x}_i=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\overline{D}x_i=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},`$ $`D`$ may be considered a holomorphic differential operator and $`\overline{D}`$ an antiholomorphic operator.. Now imposing the zero curvature condition, $`[D,\overline{D}]=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ requires that

$$Dv^iv_{x_n}^i+u^jv_{x_j}^i=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\overline{D}u^iu_{\overline{x}_n}^i+v^ju_{\overline{x}_j}^i=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(16)
These are the general first order equations mentioned above. Since $`D,\overline{D}`$ commute, these equations imply that $`\overline{D}v^i`$ is a solution to the same equation as $`v^i`$ satisfies. The integration of the equation $`D\overline{D}v^i=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ requires that $`\overline{D}v^i`$ is a general anti-holomorphic function, hence,

$$\overline{D}v^i=v_{\overline{x}_n}^i+v^jv_{\overline{x}_j}^i=V^i(v^k;\overline{x}_l),Du^i=u_{x_n}^i+u^ju_{\overline{x}_j}^i=U^i(u^k;x_l).$$
(17)
Indeed $`f(\overline{D})v^i`$, for arbitrary differentiable $`f`$ is also a solution to the equation for $`v^i`$. Suppose now we take $`(n1)`$ functions $`\varphi ^i`$ constrained by the $`(n1)`$ relations

$$Q^i(\varphi ^j;x_k)=P^i(\varphi ^j;\overline{x}_k),i=1\mathrm{}n1.$$
(18)
The arbitrary functions $`Q^i,P^i`$ depend upon $`(2n1)`$ co-ordinates. They imply straightforwardly

$$\varphi _{x_k}^j=(P_{\varphi ^j}^iQ_{\varphi ^j}^i)^1Q_{x_k}^i,\varphi _{\overline{x}_k}^j=(P_{\varphi ^j}^iQ_{\varphi ^j}^i)^1P_{\overline{x}_k}^i.$$
(19)
Suppressing the vector indices, suppose $`u`$ is a function $`u(\varphi ,x)`$ and $`v`$ is a function $`u(\varphi ,\overline{x})`$. Then the equations (16) imply that

$$D\varphi ^j=\varphi _{x_n}^j+\underset{1}{\overset{n1}{}}v^k\varphi _{x_k}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\overline{D}\varphi ^j=\varphi _{\overline{x}_n}^j+\underset{1}{\overset{n1}{}}u^k\varphi _{\overline{x}_k}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},$$
(20)
In other words this requires that $`\varphi ^j`$ be both holomorphic and antiholomorphic in this definition of holomorphicity. Subsituting the derivatives from (19) and multiplying on the left by the matrix $`(P_\varphi Q_\varphi )`$ the equations become

$$Q_{x_n}^j+\underset{1}{\overset{n1}{}}v^kQ_{x_k}^j=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},P_{\overline{x}_n}^j+\underset{1}{\overset{n1}{}}u^kP_{\overline{x}_k}^j=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},$$
(21)
which leads to the identifications

$$v=(Q_x)^1Q_{x_n},u=(P_{\overline{x}})^1P_{\overline{x}_n}.$$
(22)
In consequence any function of $`\varphi ,\overline{x}`$ ($`\varphi ,x`$) will be annihilated by $`D(\overline{D}).`$ In particular

$$D\varphi =\overline{D}\varphi =DQ=\overline{D}P=DQ=\overline{D}P=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(23)
The last two results follow a forteriori from the equality $`P=Q`$. The functions $`\varphi ^j`$ satisfy the multi-field complex Bateman equation .

## 7 Partially integrable covariant equations.

It appears likely that in the case where the difference between the number of dimensions of the base space exceeds that of the target space by more than one, the equations of motion are only partially integrable, though this is by no means a definitive conclusion. In the case of one field dependent on three co-ordinates, the equation which results from the Euclidean Lagrangian

$$=\sqrt{\varphi _t^2+\varphi _x^2+\varphi _y^2}$$

is

$$\varphi _{tt}(\varphi _x^2+\varphi _y^2)+\varphi _{xx}(\varphi _y^2+\varphi _t^2)+\varphi _{yy}(\varphi _t^2+\varphi _x^2)=2\varphi _{tx}\varphi _t\varphi _x+2\varphi _{yt}\varphi _y\varphi _t+2\varphi _{xy}\varphi _x\varphi _y.$$

This equation possesses a large class of solutions given implicitly by solving

$$tF(\varphi )+xG(\varphi )+yK(\varphi )=\mathrm{constant}$$

for $`\varphi `$. It comes from the following first order system;

$`uu_x+vv_x`$ $`=`$ $`u_t+v_y+v^2u_tuv(u_y+v_t)+u^2v_y`$
$`uv_xvu_x`$ $`=`$ $`v_tu_y,`$
where $`u={\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _t}{\varphi _x}},v={\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _y}{\varphi _x}}`$. This construction suggests further analysis to try to determine whether the system is fully integrable or not. It is also not known whether there exist other Lagrangian formulations of these equations.

## Acknowledgement

The author is indebted to the Leverhulme Trust for the award of an Emeritus Fellowship and to the Clay Mathematics Institute for employment during the investigations reported here.


text:
# Momentum in stochastic quantum mechanicsLetters in Mathematical Physics 5 (1981) 523–529. Copyright © 1981 D. Reidel Publishing Company.

## 1 Introduction

In stochastic quantum mechanics a particle’s position is a time-dependent random variable which traverses a continuous path in space, its motion being described by a Markov process . The position plays a more fundamental role than the momentum or than any other observable in this theory. This elevated role of position is in sharp contrast to the usual formalism of quantum mechanics where coordinates and momenta are on the same footing, both being represented by operators on a Hilbert space. It is desirable to see if random variables can be associated with momenta as well as coordinates in stochastic quantum mechanics. For the case of the free particle, this problem has been solved by Shucker . We present here a generalization of Shucker’s work to the case of arbitrary potential.

Random variables are defined here whose distributions are the same as those of the corresponding quantum mechanical operators. For the ground state of the oscillator they are explicitly calculated as an example.

It would be interesting to find an algorithm for constructing a random variable whose distribution is the same as that of a general quantum mechanical observable, in general a function of both coordinates and momenta. It is not known whether such a program can be carried out without enlarging the probability space of stochastic quantum mechanics. The differential space theory of Wiener and Siegel  provides random variables for all Hermitian operators, but the probability space in that theory seems to be larger than the space of sample paths in stochastic quantum mechanics. In any event, the correspondence rule between ransom variables and Hermitian operators must be non-linear in order to avoid conflict with Von Neumann’s famous theorem on hidden variables \[6, p. 209\], a point made by Wiener and Siegel \[5, p. 148\] and also by Bell . We do not conflict with Von Neumann’s theorem here since we do not assert that the sum of two non-commuting operators should be represented by the corresponding sum of their random variables.

The random variable for momentum which is presented here is quite complicated except for the case of a free particle. We find that in general it cannot be determined analytically and that it depends upon the state of the quantum mechanical system. Nevertheless, its existence is guaranteed in a wide range of cases, and it may yield some insight into the stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics.

The results presented are derived for the generalized Fényes–Nelson model  where the diffusion parameter is arbitrary. Various other applications of stochastic quantum mechanics are discussed in .

## 2 Momentum as a random variable

Consider Schrödinger’s equation

$$\left[\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }+V(x)\right]\psi =i\frac{}{t}\psi $$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the $`N`$-dimensional Laplacian, $`x`$ is an $`N`$-dimensional coordinate, and $`V`$ a potential function. Units have been chosen to make the coefficient of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ equal to $`\frac{1}{2}`$. Suppose that at time $`t_0`$ the wave function is given by

$$\psi (x,t_0)=\psi _0(x).$$
(2)
Then Schrödinger’s equation may be integrated, provided $`\psi _0`$ is sufficiently regular.

A stochastic model of Schrödinger’s equation is constructed by defining $`R`$ and $`S`$ by

$$\psi =e^{R+iS}$$
(3)
and identifying $`x`$ with the stochastic process defined by the following stochastic differential equation

$$d𝒙=𝒃(x,t)\mathrm{d}t+\mathrm{d}𝑾$$
(4)
where

$$𝒃=2\nu \mathbf{}R+\mathbf{}S$$
(5)
and where the diffusion parameter $`\nu `$ is defined by

$$E\left(\mathrm{d}W_i\mathrm{d}W_j\right)=2\nu \delta _{ij}\mathrm{d}t.$$
(6)
In the most general version of stochastic quantum mechanics , this diffusion parameter is arbitrary. For Nelson’s original theory  $`\nu `$ in (6) must be $`\frac{1}{2}`$.

Now, consider a free particle equation with the same starting conditions (2):

$$\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\psi _F=i\frac{}{t}\psi _F.$$
(7)
Then this free-particle equation also admits a stochastic model defined by the equation

$$\mathrm{d}𝒙_F=𝒃_F\mathrm{d}t+\mathrm{d}W_F$$
(8)
where

$$\psi _F=e^{R_F+iS_F}\text{ and }𝒃_F=2\nu \mathbf{}R_F+\mathbf{}S_F.$$
(9)
Shucker  has proved the following result for the free-particle Schrödinger equation:

$$\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{𝒙_F(t_0+T)}{T}=𝑷$$

exists and has a probability density given by

$$\rho (P)=\frac{\psi ^{}(P)\psi (P)}{(2\pi )^3},\psi (P)=\mathrm{d}^3xe^{iP𝒙}\psi (x,t_0).$$
(10)
Shucker’s results apply equally well to the general version of stochastic quantum mechanics as was shown in .

Note that $`\rho (P)`$ is the same quantum mechanical momentum density as the original problem with a potential at time $`t_0`$ since the free and interacting wave functions are both the same at this time.

Now consider (4) and (8). By fiat, require that the Wiener processes in these two equations be the same. That is, impose the condition

$$𝑾=𝑾_F.$$
(11)
Then $`𝒙_F`$ and $`𝒙`$ are related by

$$\mathrm{d}𝒙𝒃(x,t)\mathrm{d}t=\mathrm{d}𝒙_F𝒃_F(x_F,t)\mathrm{d}t.$$
(12)
By writing (12), as two equations

$`d𝒙_F`$ $`=`$ $`(𝒃(y,t)+𝒃_F(x_F,t))\mathrm{d}t+\mathrm{d}𝒙`$ (13)
$`\mathrm{d}𝒚`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{d}𝒙,𝒚(t_0)=𝒙(t_0)`$ (14)
then we obtain the standard form for a multidimensional stochastic differential equation, and since the sample paths of $`x`$ are the same as those of a simple Wiener process, we may solve for $`𝒙_F`$ in terms of $`𝒙`$ by iteration. This application of the Picard method was pointed out for a similar problem by Klauder  who also presented a perturbation method for finding a solution. Klauder’s interaction picture method may be useful for finding approximations to the momentum in cases of weak potential. The solution to (13) and (14) is obtained by iterating the following equation

$$𝒙_F(t)=x(t)+\underset{t_0}{\overset{t}{}}\left[𝒃_F(x_F,t)𝒃(x,t)\right]dt.$$
(15)
Convergence of this iteration is ensured by the contraction mapping theorem if the following global Lipschitz condition is satisfied

$`\left|\left(𝒃_F(y_1,t)𝒃(𝒙_1,t)\right)\left(𝒃_F(y_2,t)𝒃(x_2,t)\right)\right|`$
$`<k\left[\left|𝒙_1𝒙_2\right|+\left|𝒚_1𝒚_2\right|\right]`$ (16)
for all $`x_1,x_2,y_1`$, and $`y_2`$; and all $`t`$, and where $`k`$ is a constant. See for example \[2, p. 43\].

Note that we have by fiat imposed the condition

$$𝒙_F(t_0)=𝒙(t_0)$$
(17)
which is consistent because both processes have the same probability density at $`t=t_0`$. If we let $`(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Sigma },P)`$ denote the probability space for the process $`𝒙(t)`$, and if $`\omega \mathrm{\Omega }`$, then $`𝒙(\omega ,t)`$ is a sample trajectory. The above analysis provides an iterative algorithm for calculating $`x_F(\omega ,t)`$. Thus the free particle’s sample trajectory is expressed as a random variable on the probability space of the interacting particle.

Now we need only apply Shucker’s theorem. Let $`x_F`$ be calculated by (15) and consider the limit

$$𝑷(t_0)=\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{𝒙_F(\omega ,t_0+T)}{T}.$$
(18)
Then, by Shucker’s theorem , $`𝑷`$ exists and has a probability density given by (10). Thus we have constructed a random variable for momentum whose distribution is the same as the quantum mechanical one for a system with an arbitrary potential. We next present a simple example to illustrate this technique.

## 3 The Oscillator

Consider the ground state of a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator which satisfies the equation

$$\left[\frac{1}{2}\frac{^2}{x^2}+\frac{1}{2}x^2\right]\psi =E\psi .$$
(19)
Up to a normalization constant, the solution to (19) is

$$\mathrm{exp}\left[x^2/2\right]$$
(20)
so that

$$b(x)=2\nu x.$$
(21)
Now consider the free particle solution with initial conditions at $`t=t_0`$ given by (20):

$$\psi _F(x,t)=\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{1}{2}x^2/(1+i(tt_0))\right]$$
(22)
so that from (9) we have

$`R_F`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}x_F^2/(1+(tt_0)^2)`$ (23a)
$`S_F`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}x_F^2(tt_0)/(1+(tt_0)^2)`$ (23b)
$$b_F=x_F\left[\frac{2\nu (tt_0)}{1+(tt_0)}\right].$$
(24)
Then applying (12) yields

$$\mathrm{d}x+2\nu x\mathrm{d}t=\mathrm{d}x_F+x_F\frac{2\nu (tt_0)}{1+(tt_0)^2}\mathrm{d}t$$
(25)
which may be directly integrated to yield

$`x_F(t)`$ $`=`$ $`e^{\gamma (t)}x(t_0)+e^{\gamma (t)}{\displaystyle \underset{x(t_0)}{\overset{x(t)}{}}}e^\gamma dx+`$ (26)
$`+2\nu e^{\gamma (t)}{\displaystyle \underset{t_0}{\overset{t}{}}}e^{\gamma (t^{})}x(t^{})dt^{}`$
where

$`\gamma (t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{t_0}{\overset{t}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{2\nu (t^{}t_0)}{1+(t^{}t_0)^2}}𝑑t^{}`$ (27)
$`=`$ $`2\nu A\mathrm{tan}(tt_0){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{ln}(1+(tt_0)^2).`$
The momentum may be calculated from (26). The result, after some manipulation, is

$$P(t_0)=e^{\nu \pi }\underset{t_0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}x(t)e^{\gamma (t)}\left(2\nu \frac{\gamma }{t}\right)dt.$$
(28)
One can check that this expression for $`P`$ has the appropriate density by noting first that it has a Gaussian distribution and then by calculating its variance. Using (27) together with the fact that

$$E(x(t_1)x(t_2))=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{exp}\left[2\nu |t_1t_2|\right]$$
(29)
one finds that $`E(P^2)=\frac{1}{2}`$ as expected.

## 4 Conclusion

The technique presented here allows one to consider momentum as a random variable on an equal footing with position in the stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is easily generalized to allow for magnetic fields also. The momentum depends not only on the sample path in question, but also on the state of the system. Of course, this momentum variable satisfies the Heisenberg uncertainty principle with the coordinate. It is hoped that these results will facilitate the construction of random variables for still more general operators involving both coordinates and momenta.


text:
# Analysis of On-Orbit ACIS Squeegee Mode Data

## 1. Introduction

The ACIS Operations team, combining elements from the CXC and the ACIS MIT$`/`$IPI team, has been developing and testing the new squeegee modes since the Spring of 2000. In squeegee mode, charge is collected in the top few rows of the CCD and then swept across the imaging array once per readout, thus filling some of the radiation-induced electron traps that cause degraded performance. The development of a novel method of reading out the ACIS CCDs was first developed and tested on ground CCDs that are similar to flight CCDs (see Prigozhin, et al. 2000 for a characterization of the radiation damage of ACIS CCDs). This new mode ameliorates some of the effects caused by the radiation damage suffered early in the mission by the FI CCDs. For a more comprehensive discussion on the design and clocking method of squeegee mode, see Bautz and Kissel (2000). A description of the different squeegee modes is included in an internal MIT$`/`$ACIS Memo by Bautz and Grant (2000). That memo also presents an analysis of the squeegee modes and describes the trade-offs in choosing between the various squeegee modes. In this paper, we present the results of the various squeegee measurements on the I0 CCD.

This analysis utilized the standard level 0 and level 1 data products produced by the CXC Data System. The datasets included in this analysis are listed in Table 1. The control run (OBSID 62895) was a long charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) measurement. There are five “flavors” of Squeegee discussed in this paper: L1 “Vanilla”, L2 “Maximum Spectral Resolution”, L4 “Maximum Angular Resolution”, L7 “Maximum Observing Efficiency”, and L9 “Sub-Array near the aimpoint”. Table 1 summarizes the important parameters which distinguish one squeegee mode from another: static integration time, number of squeegee rows (2 or 16), number of rows in the exclusion window (8 or 24 or 32), on-chip summing (yes or no), parallel transfer time ($`40\mu `$s or $`320\mu `$s), number of frame flushes (always 24 for these squeegees), and number of reverse clocks (1010 or 1026+32). In addition, the table includes the average exposure time for these measurements. With all of these squeegee modes, the exposure time varies from row-to-row. The number listed is the correct exposure time for the middle of the CCD or for the middle of the sub-array for squeegee L9. In the analysis presented in this paper, the row-to-row variation in exposure time has been included by computing the exposure for each of the 32 row elements.

## 2. Methodology

Data from each I0 measurement was separated by node and then further reduced to thirty-one, 32-row region files. Spectra files were generated from the CXC level 1 events files. Events were selected in the ASCA g02346 grade set and were filtered on node and chipy coordinates. The gain was computed using the so-called “local-gain” method, meaning the fitted peak in each 32 row element is used to compute a conversion from ADUs to eV for that element. The prominent lines of the internal calibration source were then fit using Gaussians; the figure of merit employed was the C-statistic.

## 3. Results and Analysis

The results of this analysis are presented in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 shows the fitted values of the FWHM in eV for the I0 CCD at 1.5 keV (Al-K$`\alpha `$) at a focal plane temperature of -110 C, -120 C, and at -120 C using the “Vanilla” squeegee mode. For comparative purposes, the S3 CCD FWHM at -120 C is also overlaid. Figure 2 shows the fitted values of the FWHM in eV for the I0 CCD at 5.9 keV (Mn-K$`\alpha `$) at a focal plane temperature of -110 C, -120 C, and at -120 C using the “Vanilla” squeegee mode. For comparative purposes, the S3 CCD FWHM at -120 C is also overlaid. What is clear from both plots is that squeegee mode improves the spectral resolution of I0 CCD compared to standard clocking.

Figures 3 and 4 displays the quantities ASCA g0234/all grades, ASCA g02346/all grades, ASCA g7/all grades versus row number, where “all grades” means all events which pass the on-board filtering and make it into telemetry, for the Al-K$`\alpha `$ and Mn-K$`\alpha `$ lines. All of these measurements were executed using an upper event amplitude cutoff of 3750 ADUs and a grade filter which rejected flight grades 24, 66, 107, 214, and 255. Figure 5 is a plot of the detection efficiency for each line as a function of row number. We have included a statistical error bar for the count rate plots at the location of the first data element which is representative of the uncertainties in these measurements. In producing Figure 5, we have corrected for the decrease in intensity of the radioactive source as the data span 6 months. See 3.4 for further discussion.

### 3.1. Al results

Figure 3 shows the grade distribution as a function of row number for the squeegee measurements and the control run. The enhanced CTI of the FI CCDs causes events to migrate from ASCA grades g0234 to higher grades. This can be seen in the control run and the squeegee runs. The effect is quite small at Al-K$`\alpha `$, never more than 3% for the grade sets listed here. Squeegees L2 and L4 show a very different behavior with regards to grade migration when the individual ASCA grades are examined. Analysis of the g0 events as a function of row number show that the percentage of grade g0 events is dropping from $`90\%`$ in the first resolution element to $`20\%`$ by the top of the CCD. ASCA grade 2 is the beneficiary of these counts as it increases from its nominal value of 5% to over 80% of the events at the top of the CCD. ASCA grade 2 is composed of flight grades 2 (down splits) and 64 (up splits). A further examination of the data reveals that all of the migrating events are going into flight grade 64. The one characteristic which the squeegees L2 and L4 have in common is the slow parallel transfer. Lastly, L2 and L7 both have much higher g0234$`/`$all grades ratios than the other modes because both L2 and L7 utilize 2x2 summing.

We suggest that this severe grade migration provides a clue to the cause of the lower detection efficiency seen in Figure 5. A common cause of reduced efficiency in a given grade combination is that events are migrating to grades outside of the chosen set. We will defer a full discussion of this until Section 3.4 in which the decay in the intensity of the radioactive source is included.

### 3.2. Mn results

The grade distribution versus number row number data are included in Figure 4. The squeegee runs now show greater variability with respect to each other and a larger difference with respect to the control run. Particularly interesting is the grade migration exhibited by squeegee L4. The fraction of g02346 events shows a linear decrease from row 100 to row 400, at which point it flattens out and is much lower than any other measurement. This behavior is also seen in the migration to g7 events. The same effect is seen in L2 but at a reduced level. This is presumably due to the fact that L2 utilizes on-chip summing, which should retain more of the valid X-ray events in the g02346 grade set. The fraction of g02346 and g7 events in the sub-array squeegee L9 lies between L2 and L4. The shorter frame-time of L9 compared to L4 appears to reduce some of this migration indicating that the effect cannot be attributed solely to the short timescale traps.

The grade migration effect seen at Al-K$`\alpha `$ for squeegees L2 and L4 is more pronounced at Mn-$`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$. Analysis of the individual grade “branching ratios” shows an even stronger migration from grades g0, g3, and g4 to g2 than for Al-$`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$. Squeegee L4 also shows a steep increase in the g7 events from row 100 to row 500. The flight grade analysis shows that the migrating events are going into flight grade 64. It is interesting to note that the percentage of g2 events is larger in L2 than L4. The difference between these two squeegees is that L2 uses on-chip summing while L4 does not. This suggests that a significant amount of charge is trailing the center of the event by 2-3 or perhaps even more pixels. Lastly, L2 and L7 both have much higher g0234$`/`$all grades ratios than the other modes because both L2 and L7 utilize 2x2 summing.

### 3.3. Ti results

The results for the Ti-$`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$ line are not presented in this paper due to space restrictions. However, the Ti-$`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$ data for I0 resemble the Mn-$`\mathrm{K}\alpha `$ data. The grade distribution results for Ti are also similar to the Mn results as one would expect given that the performance characteristics of the CCD vary little from 4.5 keV to 5.9 keV.

### 3.4. Correction for Decay of Radioactive Source

These squeegee tests were run between 3 and 6 months after the control run. The half-life of the $`\mathrm{Fe}^{55}`$ source is 2.7 yr. Therefore, the intensity of the source decays by $`6\%`$ in three months and by $`12\%`$ after six months. In Figure 5 we have corrected for this decrease by simply normalizing the detected count rates of the squeegee measurements to the control run. After applying this correction, squeegees L1 and L7 have the same or higher detection efficiency than the control run across the CCD, with the possible exception of L7 at Al-K$`\alpha `$. The upturn in the detection efficiency for the control run for Al-K$`\alpha `$ is probably an artifact of the fitting process. It is interesting that the squeegee runs show a decrease of the detection efficiency with row number relative to the control run at Al-K$`\alpha `$, but squeegees L1 and L7 match or exceed the control run at Mn-K$`\alpha `$ and Ti-K$`\alpha `$. L2 appears to be still lower than the control run near the frame-store and drops more rapidly with row number than the control run. L4 still shows the largest drop with row number, but may now be consistent with the control run near the frame-store. The most important conclusion to be drawn from these data is that squeegees L1 and L7 have the same detection efficiency as the standard clocking at Mn-K$`\alpha `$ and Ti-K$`\alpha `$.

The question still remains as to the lower detection efficiency of L2 and L4. The detection efficiency of L4 is $`20\%`$ lower than the standard clocking at the top of the CCD. Only about 6% of this difference can be explained by grade migration to ASCA g7. These measurements were executed with the now-standard on-board rejection of flight grades 24, 66, 107, 214, and 255. Of these, flight grade 66 may be the most interesting because it is the closest to flight grade 64 which is exhibiting the tremendous increase. Perhaps there is also a significant migration to grade 66, which would lead to a lower detection efficiency since these events are never telemetered. It is also possible that flight grade 255 is enhanced by this effect.

The variation with row number for L2 and L4 confirm what our analysis of the S0 data indicated (Virani and Plucinsky 2000). The detection efficiency is changing with row number and the percentage decreases are the same for the squeegee runs which utilize the slow parallel transfer. The severe grade migration effect appears to lower the effective detection efficiency around row 200 for Mn-K$`\alpha `$ and row 700 for Ti-K$`\alpha `$. The Al-K$`\alpha `$ data are not effected until about row 900. With the improved statistical precision of the Ti-K$`\alpha `$ data, we can start to see the energy dependence of this effect. Clearly, the Mn-K$`\alpha `$ photons are effected sooner than the Ti-K$`\alpha `$. This is suggestive of a strong dependence on energy in a rather narrow range from 4.5 to 5.9 keV.

One suggested explanation for the lower detection efficiency is that the analysis is confused by the blending of the K$`\alpha `$ and K$`\beta `$ lines as the spectral resolution degrades. We note that this effect should vary in magnitude with row number since the resolution is degrading with row number. However, squeegees L2 and L4 show a discrepancy with respect to the control run in the first 200 rows. Line blending is not an issue in the first 200 rows on I0 since the spectral resolution is still close to pre-launch values and is more than sufficient to resolve the K$`\alpha `$ and K$`\beta `$ lines for Mn and Ti. Line blending may be part of the explanation near the top of the CCD as the discrepancy between the squeegees and the control runs increases with row number. Nevertheless, the lower detection efficiency near the frame-store is a puzzling effect which warrants more investigation.

## 4. Conclusions

We confirm that all of the tested squeegee modes improve the spectral resolution of the I0 CCD compared to the standard clocking. Our analysis of the detection uniformity indicates that squeegees L1 and L7 have the same detection efficiency as the standard clocking after correcting for the decay in the intensity of the radioactive source, while the squeegees L2, L4, and L9 still exhibit a lower detection efficiency. The discrepancy is as large as 20% for squeegee L4 at the top of the CCD. L2 and L4 also produce a highly spatially-dependent grade distribution. We suggest that the slow parallel transfer of both these modes is the likely explanation for this effect. We suggest that this effect should be investigated further with the hope that a squeegee mode can be developed which optimizes the spectral resolution, the detection efficiency, and the uniformity of the detection efficiency.

## 5. Acknowledgments

We thank our ACIS and CXC colleagues, particularly Mark Bautz, Dan Schwartz, and Peter Ford, for many useful ideas over the course of this analysis. SNV and PPP acknowledge support for this research from NASA contract NAS8-39073; CEG and BL acknowledge support for this research from NASA contracts NAS8-37716 and NAS8-38252.

## References

Prigozhin, G., et al., “Characterization of the radiation damage in the Chandra X-ray CCDs”, SPIE Proceedings, vol. 4140, August, 2000, pp. 123-134

Bautz, M. and Kissel, S., “Explanatory Note on Squeegee Mode”, Internal MIT$`/`$ACIS Memo, 23 May 2000

Bautz, M. and Grant, C., “Choosing an ACIS Squeegee Mode”, Internal MIT$`/`$ACIS Memo, 15 August 2000

Virani, S. N. and Plucinsky, P. P., “Analysis of ACIS Squeegee Mode Data on Chip S0”, Internal CXC/ACIS Memo, 29 August 2000


text:
# Density Profile and Flow of Miscible Fluid with Dissimilar Constituent Masses

## 1 Introduction

Understanding the flow of a complex gaseous mixtures, sedimentation, and evolution of density profiles of its constituents in geo-marine systems and near-surface ecological environments is becoming increasingly important . There are a number of examples: ($`i`$) High density brines associated with salt tectonics in large salt provinces (e.g. the Gulf of Mexico) have been breaching the seafloor and forming pools toxic to native flora and fauna . This involves flow of a mixture of fluids with different densities due to different salt content and temperature. ($`ii`$) A mixture of air and radon flux through unsaturated soils within the upper few meters of the land surface. Radon 222, one of the intermediate products of the decay of uranium 238 to lead 206, is an odorless, radioactive gas (with half life 3.8 days), and is common in many soils and rocks. Because radon is about 8 times more dense than air, and is relatively inert , it easily penetrates porous building materials in ground floors and basements, especially when pressure gradients are created by central heating systems . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated in 1986 that 5,000 to 20,000 persons in the United States die of lung cancer each year from inhaling radioactive radon decay products in homes and buildings . ($`iii`$) Evidence of methane hydrate formation below the ocean floor and in sub-ocean bottom in mud-volcano involves the flow and sedimentation of complex gas and fluid mixtures with dissimilar masses . Studies of flow and density distribution of a mixture of miscible gas and fluids through porous media are therefore highly desirable.

Systematic studies based on the field measurements of flow and density profile of gas and fluid constituents in geomarine environment are severely limited  due to uncontrollable changes in geothermal parameters and morphological variations. Thus, computer simulation studies remain one of the most viable tools to probe such difficult issues as flow  and density profile . Incorporating all details (multiple constituents and their characteristics) even with a coarse grained host matrix i.e. open porous media with appropriate concentration gradient and pore distributions  is a challenging issue. Lattice gas and particulate methods in general (Boltzmann, Cellular Automata, Ising (interacting), etc.)  have been used in diverse applications of fluid flow. In study of the density profile and fluid flow of an interacting fluid mixture through porous media, a direct application of traditional hydrodynamics approaches  becomes intractable; apart from a major problem of enormous boundary conditions in such a porous medium (percolating system), it is not clear how to include interaction or reaction between the fluid components in hydrodynamic equations. Interacting lattice gas  may be a simple approach to initiate probing such difficult issues.

Very recently we studied the flow of a fluid described by particles, say of type ”A” through an open porous medium using a computer simulation model . The porous medium is generated by a random distribution of sediment particles of concentration $`p`$ on a simple cubic lattice. The bottom layer of the matrix is connected to a source of mobile fluid particles (”A”). As soon as a bottom site becomes empty, it is immediately filled by a particle ”A” from the source. Particles in the bottom layer are not allowed to move below this plane due to presence of abundant source particles. On the other hand, the particles can escape the system from the top if they attempt to move to the higher layer. In this concentration driven system, the flux density shows a power-law decay with the porosity near percolation threshold. The steady-state density profile of fluid particles depends systematically on the barrier concentration $`p`$.

In this article, we extend our previous studies  to a miscible two-component system consisting of constituents, say ”A” and ”B” with dissimilar masses ($`m_a`$ and $`m_b,m_b=3m_a`$). The model is described in the following section 2. We incorporate the effect of gravitational potential energy in moving the particles and allowing them to escape the system from the bottom layer as well. The injection probability of particles $`A`$ and $`B`$ at the bottom remains equal. The results are presented in section 3 with a conclusion in section 4.

## 2 Model

Each site on a simple-cubic $`L\times L\times L`$ lattice, with $`L`$ up to 250, can be in one of four states: occupied by an A particle, occupied by a B particle, empty (0), or a barrier site. Nearest-neighbor particles interact with energy $`J`$ such that A and B mix well: $`J(A,A)=J(B,B)=J(A,B)=J(B,A)=J(A,0)=J(B,0)=1`$ where negative $`J`$ means attraction and positive $`J`$ means repulsion. The immobile barriers exert no force on the particles except to prevent them from occupying the barrier site. The energy thus is

$$E=\underset{i}{}\underset{k}{}J(I,K)$$

where $`i`$ runs over all particles, $`k`$ over all neighbor sites of $`i`$, and $`I`$ and $`K`$ are the corresponding site variables (A, B, barrier, or 0).

A and B particles can move with a Metropolis probability exp$`(\mathrm{\Delta }E/k_BT)`$ to neighboring sites; here $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is the energy change associated with this move and $`k_BT=5`$ is the thermal energy. If a particle on the lowest plane moves upwards or horizontally, we inject a new particle A or B (with equal probability) onto the vacated site. If a particle on the lowest plane wants to move downward, it drops out. A particle moving upward from the highest plane (relatively a rare event) is lost, without any injection from the top. Periodic boundary conditions are applied in the horizontal directions. In this way, an $`\mathrm{}\times \mathrm{}\times L`$ plate is approximated, with new material injected from the bottom at a nearly constant rate.

Gravity pulls down the particles through an energy $`mk_BT`$ where the lattice constant and the gravitational constant are incorporated into the dimensionless mass $`m=0.1`$ for A and $`m=0.3`$ for B particles. Thus the barometric height law gives an equilibrium density $`\mathrm{exp}(mh)`$ as a function of height $`h,\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}<h<L`$.

One time step is an attempt to move each particle once (on average) through random sequential updating; it does not matter much if instead we enforce exactly one attempt per particle for each time step. For $`L=30`$ we used up to $`t=10^6`$ time steps, without seeing any long-time effects; for larger $`L`$ (50 to 250) typically $`t=10^4`$ to $`10^5`$ gave equilibrium. Initially, the lattice is occupied homogeneously with a low concentration of particles, half A and half B. Our computer program allows many more choices for interactions and boundary effects and is developed to investigate many different systems (details are available from ras.pandey@usm.edu). One diffusion attempt, without barrier sites, took about 0.5 microseconds on one Cray-T3E processor.

## 3 Results

Fig.1 shows for our largest lattices how the initial constant density profiles change with time, starting from the two boundaries, into a roughly exponential decay for intermediate heights. The equilibrium density profiles, Fig.2, at intermediate densities are consistent with the barometric height law shown as straight lines in these semilogarithmic plots, both with and without barrier sites. The nearest-neighbor correlation functions (not shown), i.e. the number of A or B particles surrounding a particle at height $`h`$, decay qualitatively similar to the density profiles.

Fig.3 shows as a function of the barrier concentration $`p`$ the system’s permeability, defined as the net flow (per unit time and unit cross-sectional area) at the top or bottom surfaces divided by the injection rate at the lowest plane. The straight line in this log-log plot suggests a power law similar to that of the electrical conductivity in random resistor networks. Fig.4 shows the density profiles of the B particles for the same simulations. We see there an exponential decay, followed by a plateau whose value strongly increases with increasing $`p`$, suggesting a trapping of particles by the barrier sites. We have also looked at the velocity and instantaneous velocity profiles of the two constituents which are consistent with our expectations, i.e., more mobility toward the top.

## 4 Conclusion

A computer simulation model is used to study the flow rate, sedimentation, and density profile of a mixture of miscible particle systems for a range of porosities above the pore percolation threshold in an open porous medium. In our concentration driven system, the steady-state density profiles for both $`A`$ and $`B`$ fluid are reached. Both density profiles show the well-known exponential decay $`\mathrm{exp}(m_{A(B)}h)`$ with height $`h`$. The effect of mass difference is vividly illustrated in the density profiles: while for our lattice sizes the density of $`A`$ particles continues to decay up to the top plane the density of $`B`$ particles already saturates at some low value. The saturated density of B particles increases on decreasing the porosity $`1p`$ \- we speculate this saturation is due to trapping of particles in the pores.

The flux of particles $`A`$ at the bottom becomes equal to the outward flux from the top in steady state. The flux density of particles $`A`$ decays with porosity with a power-law $`(p_cp)^\mu `$ with $`\mu 2`$.

Acknowledgments:

We acknowledge partial supports from ONR PE# 0602435N and DOE-EPSCoR grant. This work was supported in part by grants of computer time from the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization Program at the Major Shared Resource Center (MSRC), NAVO, Stennis Space Center, and from the Julich supercomputer center.


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# Hydrogen-bonded Silica Gels Dispersed in a Smectic Liquid Crystal: A Random Field XY System

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## Abstract

The effect on the nematic to smectic-A transition in octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) due to dispersions of hydrogen-bonded silica (aerosil) particles is characterized with high-resolution x-ray scattering. The particles form weak gels in 8CB creating a quenched disorder that replaces the transition with the growth of short range smectic correlations. The correlations include thermal critical fluctuations that dominate at high temperatures and a second contribution that quantitatively matches the static fluctuations of a random field system and becomes important at low temperatures.

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Quenched disorder in condensed matter systems can profoundly affect their thermodynamic behavior, creating unique challenges for statistical mechanics. For fluids, confinement within a random porous medium offers a convenient method for introducing such disorder, and studies of superfluid helium  and binary liquids  in aerogels – rigid, highly-porous chemically-bonded silica gels – have led to insights into the implications of disorder on phase transitions. Similarly, the fragile nature of the mesomorphic phases of liquid crystals and their sensitivity to surface interactions make these systems well suited for studies within porous media. In particular, the nematic (N) to smectic-A (SmA) transition, which typically exhibits anisotropic 3D-XY critical behavior, offers an ideal case for understanding the effects of a random environment on continuous symmetry fluctuations. The demonstration through x-ray scattering  and calorimetry  of the destruction of the N-SmA transition by confinement in aerogels has shed light on these effects. Detailed theoretical work has further elucidated the fragility of the smectic phase to arbitrarily weak quenched disorder and has introduced the possibility that for sufficiently weak disorder novel “Bragg glass” phases may become stable .

In an effort to probe liquid crystals with increasingly weak disorder in a controlled way, we have conducted a high-resolution x-ray scattering study of the effect of hydrogen-bonded silica (aerosil) gels on the N-SmA transition in octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB). We find that the constraints imposed by these weakly-connected gels profoundly alter the smectic ordering, leading to behavior quantitatively like that induced by random fields. Random field systems have been fruitful models for exploring theoretically effects of quenched disorder, and random field Ising magnets have provided the primary experimental testing ground for these ideas . 8CB in porous silica thus introduces an opportunity to make experimental contact with random field theories for a transition that breaks a continuous symmetry . Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that the smectic phase is destroyed by the disorder and is replaced by the growth of short-range smectic correlations. The low-temperature correlation length exceeds the typical void size in the gels by approximately a factor of four, consistent with the picture of the aerosil creating a weak to intermediate disorder. The temperature dependence of the correlation function for different densities of gel further indicates that the disorder suppresses nematic fluctuations in the liquid crystal.

The smectic state is distinguished from the nematic by a one-dimensional modulation in density, and a two-component order parameter specifying the amplitude and phase of the modulation characterizes the N-SmA transition. To introduce quenched disorder, we disperse in the 8CB hydrophilic aerosil, 70 Å diameter silica particles coated with hydroxyl groups. At volume fractions above roughly 1%, these particles form a hydrogen-bonded thixotropic gel, and interactions between the surfaces of the gel and liquid crystal molecules (“anchoring”) introduce locally preferred orientations and phases to the smectic ordering that compete with the globally uniform order of the pure smectic. Aerosil gels have strong similarities with aerogels but represent a weaker disorder for the smectic in two essential respects. First, the ability to grow the aerosil gel directly within the liquid crystal permits structures of higher porosity. Also, as discussed below, for a given silica density the hydrogen-bonded aerosils perturb the smectic ordering less severely than rigid aerogels. However, consistent with recent studies  we find that aerosils above 1% volume fraction create a reproducible, density-dependent quenched disorder. In our experiments we have tuned the strength of this disorder by varying the density of silica, $`\rho _s`$, from 0.025 grams of SiO2 per cm3 of 8CB, just above the gelation threshold, to 0.341 grams of SiO2 per cm3 of 8CB. Reference  provides details of the sample preparation and fractal structure of aerosil gels.

To characterize the effect of the aerosil gels on the N-SmA transition, we have measured with x-ray scattering the static structure factor, $`S(q)`$, which provides direct information about the correlation function of the smectic order. The experiments were conducted on the X20 beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source using 8 keV photons. 1 mm thick samples were held between kapton sheets in an oven containing dry nitrogen gas, and the scattering was performed in transmission geometry. Following prolonged exposure to the x-rays, the 8CB with dispersed aerosil displayed evidence of damage, including progressively degraded smectic order. Therefore, we carefully limited the exposures to levels below which any damage was detectable.

Figure 1 shows representative x-ray scattering lineshapes for two values of $`\rho _s`$. In accord with theoretical predictions of Radzihovsky, Toner, et al. , for all densities and for the full experimental temperature range, the diffraction peak corresponding to smectic layering is markedly broader than the resolution-limited peak measured for pure 8CB in the SmA phase, demonstrating the destruction of the smectic long range order by the aerosil. We model this short-ranged order with a structure factor containing two contributions:

$`S(q)={\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _1}{1+(q_{}q_0)^2\xi _{}^2+q_{}^2\xi _{}^2+cq_{}^4\xi _{}^4}}`$ (1)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _2(\xi _{}\xi _{}^2)}{(1+(q_{}q_0)^2\xi _{}^2+q_{}^2\xi _{}^2+cq_{}^4\xi _{}^4)^2}}`$ (2)
where the wave vector $`q_{}`$ is along the smectic layer normal and $`q_{}`$ is perpendicular to it.

The first term in $`S(q)`$, an anisotropic Lorentzian with quartic corrections, is the form for the susceptibility in pure nematic 8CB and describes the critical thermal fluctuations on approaching the N-SmA transition . The second term, which is simply proportional to this susceptibility squared, is designed to account for static fluctuations induced by the quenched disorder. This term is motivated by studies on random field Ising magnets in which such an expression has been shown to describe accurately the short-range correlations induced by the static fluctuations  and has been justified theoretically . In the limit of long range order, the second term evolves into a Bragg-peak, $`\sigma _2\delta (q_{}q_0)\delta (q_{})`$ . The solid lines in Fig. 1 are the results of fits to the powder average of Eq. (1) convolved with the experimental resolution function. The measured scattering profile also includes a temperature-independent, sloping background from the aerosil gel, shown in the figures as dashed lines. As Fig. 1 illustrates, Eq. (1) provides an excellent description of the lineshape over a wide range of temperatures and aerosil densities. In these fits, we have taken $`\xi _{}`$ and $`c`$ as functions of $`\xi _{}`$, with $`\xi _{}(\xi _{})`$ and $`c(\xi _{})`$ set by their relations in pure 8CB, which are known to high precision . Thus, each fit has only four free parameters – $`q_0`$, $`\xi _{}`$, $`\sigma _1`$, and $`\sigma _2`$ – with two parameters, $`\xi _{}`$ and $`\sigma _2/\sigma _1`$, controlling the shape of the peaks.

At temperatures near and above the N-SmA transition temperature for pure 8CB, $`T_{NA}^0=306.98K`$ , the measured lineshapes in the aerosil samples are described very well by the thermal fluctuation term alone (i.e., $`\sigma _2=0`$). Thus, for $`T>T_{NA}^0`$, the smectic correlations in aerosil samples are very similar to the critical fluctuations of the pure liquid crystal. Figure 2(a) displays $`\xi _{}`$ for a series of aerosil densities in this high temperature region. The solid line in the figure, $`\xi _{}`$ for pure 8CB (aligned in the nematic by a magnetic field) , demonstrates the strong similarity between thermal fluctuations in the pure liquid crystal and in the liquid crystal with dispersed aerosil. At these high temperatures, $`\xi _{}`$ is smaller than the average void size, $`l_o`$, in the gels, and the influence of the gel is minimal. (The values of $`l_o`$ range from 200 Å for $`\rho _s=0.341`$ to 2650 Å for $`\rho _s=0.025`$ .) Rather than follow the diverging behavior associated with a thermodynamic transition, however, $`\xi _{}`$ for 8CB with dispersed aerosil deviates from that of pure 8CB as the temperature decreases, and the smectic correlations remain short-ranged. Figure 2(b) shows the behavior of $`\xi _{}`$ for four values of $`\rho _s`$ to low temperatures. The susceptibility, $`\sigma _1`$, for 8CB with dispersed aerosil similarly tracks that of the pure system at high temperatures but fails to diverge.

We stress the importance of including the quartic term ($`c>0`$) in Eq. (1) to account correctly for the temperature dependence of the lineshapes. The values of $`c`$ vary from approximately 0.25 for $`\xi _{}=50`$Å, its value 4 K above $`T_{NA}^0`$, to less than 0.02 for $`\xi _{}>10^4`$Å . At high temperatures, when $`c0.25`$, the thermal fluctuation term is effectively the square of a Lorentzian along $`q_{}`$, leading to a powder-averaged lineshape that strongly resembles a Lorentzian. As $`\xi _{}`$ increases on cooling and $`c`$ decreases, the powder average of the first term in Eq. (1) deviates strongly from a Lorentzian, and the tails of the lineshape become more pronounced. We note that the x-ray lineshapes of 8CB in rigid aerogels resemble this behavior . The analysis by Rappaport et al. of the aerogel results, however, differs significantly from that presented here. In particular, no measurable signal from thermal fluctuations was reported for 8CB in aerogel .

At temperatures below $`T_{NA}^0`$, deviations from the form describing the critical behavior of pure 8CB become apparent in the lineshape of 8CB with dispersed aerosil, particularly for large $`\rho _s`$. These deviations indicate an increasing importance of interactions with the gel, rather than intrinsic thermal fluctuations, in determining the smectic correlations. The second term in Eq. (1) describing random-field induced, short-range order accounts for these changes in the correlations very well. Figure 3 displays $`\sigma _2`$ as a function of temperature for two representative values of $`\rho _s`$. The rapid growth of $`\sigma _2`$ on cooling reflects the dominance of these random-field static fluctuations at low temperatures. In this low temperature region, $`\xi _{}`$ reaches an essentially temperature-independent value, as Fig. 2(b) illustrates. Figure 4 displays the low temperature correlation lengths, $`\xi _{}^{LT}`$ as a function of $`\rho _s`$. The solid line in Fig. 4 is the result of a fit to the nematic correlation lengths of the homolog 6CB with dispersed aerosils measured by Bellini et al.  with static light scattering. These light scattering studies demonstrate that the nematic order in a liquid crystal with dispersed aerosil breaks up into very large, but finite, domains. Since the smectic layering forms within these nematic domains, the nematic domain sizes naturally set upper limits for the range of the smectic correlations. However, $`\xi _{}^{LT}`$ remains well below these limits for all $`\rho _s`$, demonstrating the sensitivity of the smectic phase to quenched disorder. The dashed line in Fig. 4 is the mean aerosil void size, $`l_0`$, as a function of $`\rho _s`$ . For the range of densities studied, the ratio of $`\xi _{}^{LT}`$ to $`l_0`$ is nearly independent of density and is roughly equal to four, consistent with an intermediate strength disordering field. This result contrasts with the smectic ordering in aerogel  for which the measured correlation lengths barely exceed the void sizes, illustrating again the weaker nature of disorder induced by aerosil.

At low temperatures (where $`c`$ approaches a constant value) $`\sigma _2`$ is proportional to the integrated intensity of the static fluctuation term in $`S(q)`$. The growth of this intensity strongly resembles that of an order parameter squared, and the solid lines in Fig. 3 are the results of fits to the form $`\sigma _2(T_2T)^x`$, where both $`x`$ and $`T_2`$ depend on $`\rho _s`$. The inset of Fig. 3 displays the change in $`x`$ with $`\rho _s`$. We emphasize that $`x`$ is an effective exponent since the aerosil destroys the true N-SmA phase transition. However, associating the integrated intensity from the static, short-range correlations with an order parameter squared (so that $`x=2\beta `$), we observe that the effective exponent spans the range from near the tricritical value (like with pure 8CB) at small $`\rho _s`$ to 3D XY-like at large $`\rho _s`$. For pure liquid crystals, the measured critical behavior at the N-SmA transition is affected by couplings between the nematic and smectic order parameters (de Gennes coupling) . The variation of $`x`$ with $`\rho _s`$ suggests that the quenched disorder suppresses the nematic susceptibility that drives the critical behavior of the pure system away from 3D-XY universality. This result agrees nicely with specific heat studies of 8CB with dispersed aerosil which show the effective heat capacity exponent, $`\alpha `$, decreasing toward the 3D-XY value with increasing $`\rho _s`$ .

In conclusion, these x-ray scattering studies have shown that 8CB with dispersed aerosil provides a model random field system for a transition that breaks a continuous symmetry. In particular, the success of Eq. (1) in describing the smectic correlations and the corresponding behaviors of $`\xi _{}`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ form a compelling picture in which the aerosil gel creates a random local-orienting field that destroys the N-SmA transition, consistent with theoretical predictions . In the random field Ising magnet, slow dynamics and non-equilibrium effects strongly influence the behavior . Efforts to observe hysteretic or time dependent behavior indicative of metastability in these scattering measurements or in the calorimetry studies  on 8CB with dispersed aerosil revealed no such effects. These results suggest that the continuous symmetry allows the system to find equilibrium efficiently, even in the presence of random fields, in marked contrast to the behavior in random field Ising systems . However, a better understanding of the dynamics would be beneficial for placing the observed ordering in the context of equilibrium statistical mechanics.

We thank S. Lamarra for technical support and T. Bellini, P. Clegg and L. Radzihovsky for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the NSF under Contract No. DMR-0071256 (MIT) and NSF-CAREER Award No. DMR-0092786 (WPI) and by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Toronto). J.-L. G. acknowledges support from CNRS and NATO (grant 31C96FR).