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# Depinning of a vortex chain in a disordered flow channel

## Abstract

We study depinning of vortex chains in channels formed by static, disordered vortex arrays. Depinning is governed either by the barrier for defect nucleation or for defect motion, depending on whether the chain periodicity is commensurate or incommensurate with the surrounding arrays. We analyze the reduction of the gap between these barriers as function of disorder. At large disorder, commensurability becomes irrelevant and the pinning force is reduced to a small fraction of the ideal shear strength of ordered channels. Implications for experiments on channel devices are discussed.

The depinning and dynamics of periodic elastic media in a random potential have received a great deal of recent attention . It was shown, in particular for vortex lattices (VL’s) in superconductors, that the depinning transition in most cases involves plastic deformations . A system in which plastic depinning can be studied in a controlled way is that of narrow, weak pinning flow channels in a superconducting film . In such a system, strongly pinned vortices in the channel edges (CE’s) provide confinement as well as an effective pinning potential for chains of vortices inside the channel. By changing the magnetic field $`B`$, one can vary the ratio between channel width and lattice spacing and thus induce incommensurability between the vortex spacing inside and outside the channel. This leads to topological defects in the channel which sensitively affect the threshold for plastic flow, as evidenced by oscillations of the critical current density $`J_c`$ versus field .

Simulations of channels with perfect hexagonal vortex arrays in the CE’s, showed sharp peaks in $`J_c`$ for channel widths $`w`$ equal to an integer number $`n`$ of vortex row spacings, i.e. $`w=nb_0`$. At mismatch ($`wb_0`$) defects occurred in the channel and $`J_c`$ vanished due to the small Peierls barrier for defect flow . This however contrasts the smooth oscillations found experimentally. Moreover, in reality the CE arrays may contain quenched positional disorder due to random pinning. This should modify $`J_c`$ and its dependence on commensurability. In this Letter we consider the most simple near-to-commensurability situation $`wb_0`$, and investigate the effect of disorder on depinning of a single vortex chain. We find that commensurate chains, with a periodicity equal to that of the VL in the CE’s, depin at a force $`f_n`$ below the ideal shear strength $`f_c^0`$ by nucleation of defect pairs. At incommensurability, $`f_c`$ is determined by the pinning force $`f_d`$ of existing defects. At weak disorder, a gap is found between $`f_n`$ and $`f_d`$, but for larger disorder commensurability becomes irrelevant and $`f_c`$ saturates at a small fraction of $`f_c^0`$. This has important consequences for the interpretation of the experiments . Generally, our results are relevant to a wealth of 1D problems including models for interface growth , dynamics of Josephson junctions  and charge density waves (CDW’s).

We consider a channel at $`T=0`$ with boundaries (CE’s) formed by two static, disordered arrays with vortex positions $`𝐑_{n,m}=𝐫_{n,m}+𝐝_{n,m}`$, where $`𝐫_{n,m}`$ denote the hexagonal lattice with spacing $`a_0=2b_0/\sqrt{3}`$ (see the inset to Fig. 1), the channel width is defined by the spacing between rows $`m=\pm 1`$ and $`𝐝_{n,m}`$ are random shifts. We restrict ourselves to longitudinal shifts  and choose $`𝐝_{n,m}=d_n\stackrel{}{e}_x`$ such that the strain $`(d_{n+1}d_n)/a_0`$ is uniformly distributed in the interval $`[\mathrm{\Delta },\mathrm{\Delta }]`$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ the disorder parameter. The field $`B`$ sets both the vortex density in the CE’s ($`\rho _e=(a_0b_0)^1=B/\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ with $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ the flux quantum) and the density $`\rho _c=(aw)^1`$ inside the channel. Hence, vortices in the channel have an average spacing $`a=a_0b_0/w`$ which can be commensurate with the CE arrays ($`w=b_0`$, $`a=a_0`$) or incommensurate ($`aa_0`$). The equation of motion for vortex $`i`$ in the channel is:

$$\gamma _t𝐫_i=f\underset{ji}{}V(𝐫_i𝐫_j)\underset{n,m}{}V(𝐫_i𝐑_{n,m}).$$
(1)
$`V(𝐫)`$ is the interaction potential, $`j`$ labels other vortices in the channel, $`\gamma =B\mathrm{\Phi }_0/\rho _f`$ with $`\rho _f`$ the flux flow resistivity and $`f=J\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is the drive along $`x`$ due to a uniform current density $`J`$ applied perpendicular to the channel.

For $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ the vortex chain can be described by a Frenkel-Kontorova model for interacting particles in a periodic potential . The ratio between the chain stiffness and the height of the periodic potential is given by $`g\lambda /a_01`$ with $`\lambda `$ the penetration depth. A commensurate chain depins uniformly at a critical force $`f_c=\mu =2a_0c_{66}/\pi \sqrt{3}`$ ($`c_{66}`$ is the shear modulus) with a velocity $`v=\sqrt{f^2\mu ^2}/\gamma `$. At incommensurability, defects of size $`l_d=2\pi a_0\sqrt{g}a_0`$ are generated. Their pinning barrier and the critical force are essentially vanishing. For $`f<\mu `$ and small defect density, given by $`c_d=|a_0^1a^1|l_d^1`$, the motion of defects leads to a low mobility regime where $`v=c_dv_d^0a_0`$ with $`v_d^0=(\pi ^2\sqrt{g}/2\gamma )f`$ the pure defect velocity .

We start with a numerical study of the behavior in presence of disorder. Eq. (1) was solved using a modified London form for $`V(𝐫)`$ which yields the correct shear modulus . We used cyclic boundary conditions, channels of length $`L1000a_0`$ and we recorded the velocity $`v(f)=\dot{x_i}_{i,t}`$ and vortex positions $`x_i(t)`$.

The data points in Fig. 1 show f-v curves of a commensurate and an incommensurate chain for $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0.025`$. We first focus on the commensurate case. Compared to the result for ordered CE’s (dashed line), $`f_c`$ in presence of disorder is clearly reduced. The origin of this reduction is that the random strains lower the energy barrier for formation of discommensuration pairs in the chain (interstitial/vacancy pairs in the 2D crystal formed by the chain and the CE’s).

We show the depinning process in detail in Fig. 2a by plotting the time evolution of the displacements $`u_i=x_iia_0`$ . At $`t=t_1`$, the force is increased to a value $`f>f_c`$. The motion starts at an unstable site in the chain by nucleation of a vacancy/interstitial pair shown as steps of $`\pm a_0`$ in $`u`$. We denote the force at which this local nucleation occurs by $`f_n`$. The process at this site repeats periodically with rate $`R_n(ff_n)^\beta `$ and a depinning exponent $`\beta =0.46\pm 0.04`$, as previously reported for 1D periodic media . Due to the nucleation center, a domain forms with defect density $`c_d=R_n/v_d`$ and a net velocity $`v=c_dv_da_0=R_na_0`$ with $`v_d`$ the average defect velocity $`v_d^0`$, see below. In a larger system (Fig. 2b), a distribution of unstable sites $`p`$ with local rate $`R_{n,p}`$ initially leads to the growth of several domains. However, when two domains with rates $`R_{n,1}>R_{n,2}`$ meet, their interstitials and vacancies annihilate and domain 1, with the larger nucleation rate, then expands at the cost of domain $`2`$ with a rate $`(R_n^1R_n^2)`$. The stationary state, covering the entire system, is thus governed by the nucleation center with the smallest local threshold $`f_n^{min}`$.

Next, we turn to the f-v curves in Fig. 1 at incommensurability ($`w/b_0=0.98`$, small defect density $`c_d1/2l_d`$). In contrast to the curve for $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ (full line), the data for $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0.025`$ show a significant threshold force due to pinning of the existing defects by random strains in the CE’s. We define the pinning force for a single defect as $`f_d(x)`$ with a distribution $`\{f_d\}`$ along the channel and a maximum value $`f_d^{max}`$. The shape of the distribution is roughly gaussian and has a width $`0.1\mu `$. The threshold force for a single defect will be $`f_c=f_d^{max}`$. If the defect density is low, the defects occupy only the highest values of $`\{f_d\}`$ and $`f_cf_d^{max}`$ which in Fig. 1 is $`f_c0.2\mu `$. Once defects are depinned, their velocity $`v_d`$ fluctuates spatially and $`v_d`$ is smaller than $`v_d^0`$. However, these effects strongly decrease with velocity and for $`f2f_d^{max}`$ one retains a low mobility regime with $`dv/dfc_dv_d^0a_0`$, as seen in Fig. 1. Considering the regime of larger drive, the data exhibits a velocity upturn for $`ff_n^{min}`$. At this driving force new defect pairs start to nucleate at a strong disorder fluctuation with a rate that exceeds the one at which existing defects travel trough the system.

Let us now discuss the disorder dependence of the threshold forces. Shown in Fig. 3 are $`f_c`$ data versus $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for commensurate and incommensurate chains. For $`w=b_0`$ the minimum from many disorder realizations is plotted, i.e. $`f_c=f_n^{min}`$. With growing disorder $`f_n^{min}`$ decreases sharply while for the incommensurate chain with $`w/b_0=0.98`$, $`f_cf_d^{max}`$ grows linearly. This behavior changes at $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Delta }_c`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_c`$ is defined as the disorder strength where for $`w=b_0`$ defects first appear spontaneously. Above $`\mathrm{\Delta }_c`$ both curves (in)decrease more slowly with disorder and eventually merge. This change in behavior is due to the fact that favorable nucleation sites in the commensurate case act as strong pinning site for defects in the incommensurate case. The simulations show that the presence of pinned defects strongly affects the formation of a new nucleus. As a result, $`f_n^{min}`$ decreases more slowly at larger disorder, i.e. at a higher density of pinned defects. The curve for $`w/b_0=0.95`$, for which the density of static, mismatch induced defects is $`c_dl_d^1`$, shows a reduced threshold force and merges with the other curves at a disorder strength $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_{}`$. For $`\mathrm{\Delta }>\mathrm{\Delta }_{}`$, disorder induced defects start to overlap (i.e. their density becomes $`l_d^1`$) and $`f_c`$ decreases further. The large disorder also has a pronounced effect on the shape of the f-v curves. As shown in the insets to Fig. 3, the typical low mobility regime at weak mismatch has vanished and all curves exhibit linear behavior, except in a small regime for $`f`$ just above $`f_c`$.

To uncover the underlying physics of the phenomena described above, we now propose an analytical description of our system. The energy of a vortex in the channel at $`𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎}=(x,0)`$ due to interaction with shifted vortices in the CE’s is:

$`V(𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎})=(2\pi )^2{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐤V(𝐤)\rho _e(𝐤)e^{i𝐤𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎}}}.`$ (2)
$`V(𝐤)=2\pi U_0/(𝐤^2+\lambda ^2)`$ with $`U_0=\mathrm{\Phi }_0^2/2\pi \mu _0\lambda ^2`$, and $`\rho _e(𝐤)`$ are the Fourier transforms of the London potential and the vortex density in the edge, respectively. For weak disorder ($`𝐝1`$), $`\rho _e`$ can be decomposed : $`\rho _e(𝐫_e,𝐝)(B/\mathrm{\Phi }_0)(1𝐝+\delta \rho _e)`$ where $`\delta \rho _e=_i\mathrm{cos}[𝐊_i(𝐫_e𝐝(𝐫_e))]`$ and $`𝐊_i`$ spans the reciprocal lattice. Substitution in Eq. (2) yields two terms: a quasi-periodic potential $`V^p(\mu /k_0)\mathrm{sin}[k_0(xd)]`$, with $`k_0=2\pi /a_0`$  due to $`\delta \rho _e`$ of the vortex rows nearest to the CE’s, and a random, nonlocal contribution coming from the density fluctuations: $`V^r(𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎})=(B/\mathrm{\Phi }_0)𝑑𝐫_eV(𝐫_\mathrm{𝟎}𝐫_e)𝐝(𝐫_e)`$ with correlator:

$`V^r(0)V^r(x)4\mathrm{\Delta }^2U_0^2(\lambda /a_0)^{1+\alpha }e^{(x/\lambda )^2}.`$ (3)
Here $`\alpha `$ depends on the disorder correlations between the rows $`m`$ in the CE’s. We choose $`_xd(x)`$ to be independent of row number, which yields $`\alpha =2`$.

To obtain a continuum description of the chain in terms of the displacement field $`u(x)`$, the vortex density $`\rho _c`$ in the channel is decomposed, as was done for $`\rho _e`$. The resulting interaction of the chain with the CE’s is $`H_p=a_0^1(V^p+V^r)[\delta \rho _c(x,u)_xu]𝑑x`$. For $`\lambda >a_0`$, both $`V^r`$ and $`_xu`$ vary slowly while $`V^p`$ and $`\delta \rho _c`$ oscillate rapidly and only two terms in $`H_p`$ remain . The force $`\delta H_p/\delta u`$ on the chain thus contains a commensurate term and a random compression term $`_xV^r(x)`$, which is independent of $`u`$. We obtain the equation of motion for $`u`$ by adding the intra-chain force $`\kappa _x^2u`$, with stiffness $`\kappa U_0\pi (\lambda /a_0)`$ , resulting in:

$`\gamma _tu=`$ $`f+\kappa _x^2u\mu \mathrm{cos}(k_0u)_xV^r(x).`$ (4)
The reduced stiffness is now $`g=\kappa /(k_0\mu a_0^2)=3\pi (\lambda /a_0)`$. Eq. (4) describes the transverse displacements of an elastic string in a tilted washboard potential with random phase $`\varphi (x)=_{\mathrm{}}^x𝑑x^{}V^r(x^{})/\kappa `$, see Fig. 4. It corresponds to a commensurate CDW with random forward scattering  rather than the usual model for a CDW in which the commensurability potential is ignored either due to strong direct random coupling to $`u`$ or due to large mismatch .

Next, the dependence of $`f_n^{min}`$ and $`f_d^{max}`$ on the strain $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ can be addressed by considering a deformation in the CE’s of wavelength $`l_{dis}`$: $`_xd(𝐫)=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{sin}(2\pi x/l_{dis})`$. When $`l_{dis}\lambda `$, the last term in Eq. (4) simplifies to $`_xV^rg^2\mathrm{\Delta }U_0/(2\sqrt{3}l_{dis})\mathrm{cos}(2\pi x/l_{dis})`$. To describe nucleation (for $`f\mu /2`$), we need the string displacements $`\delta (x)=uu_0`$ relative to the minimum of the tilted washboard potential given by $`u_0=k_0^1[2(1f/\mu )]^{1/2}`$. The restoring force for such displacements is $`\mu k_0^2u_0\delta (x)`$, while the elastic force is $`\kappa _x^2\delta `$. Balancing these with $`_xV^r`$ yields $`\delta (x)=\delta _0\mathrm{cos}(2\pi x/l_{dis})`$. The amplitude of the displacement $`\delta _0l_{dis}/(l_d^2+k_0|u_0|l_{dis}^2)`$ is largest for a wavelength $`l_{dis}=l_d/\sqrt{k_0|u_0|}`$ resulting in $`\delta _0^{max}\sqrt{3}a_0g^{3/2}\mathrm{\Delta }/(8\pi \sqrt{k_0|u_0|})`$. Since the critical displacement at which the string depins is $`|u_0|`$ , the minimum nucleation force follows from $`|u_0|=\delta _0^{max}`$:

$`f_n^{min}/\mu 1\left[4\mathrm{\Delta }g^{3/2}/(5\sqrt{3})\right]^{4/3}.`$ (5)
For an existing defect at zero drive, the pinning energy is $`E_{d,p}(x)=a_0^1𝑑x^{}_xu_d(x^{}x)V^r(x^{})`$ with $`u_d`$ the familiar shape of a sine-Gordon kink  centered at $`x`$ and of size $`l_d`$. Optimal pinning occurs for deformations in the CE’s with $`l_{dis}=l_d`$, similar to the ’optimal’ size of a nucleation center for $`f\mu /2`$. The maximum defect pinning force is then given by:

$`f_d^{max}/\mu \mathrm{\Delta }g^{3/2}/\sqrt{3}.`$ (6)
The results (5) and (6) are plotted in Fig. 3, using $`g=9`$ as in the simulations. Eq. (5) agrees with the numerical data, while Eq. (6) can be considered as upper bound. The curves merge at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_c\sqrt{3}g^{3/2}/2`$, where pinned defects can appear spontaneously in the channel .

The disorder strength $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}`$ where the density of disorder induced defects becomes $`l_d^1`$ can be estimated by equating the typical (rms) pin energy of a defect with its bare energy $`\mu a_0\sqrt{g}`$. The former is estimated using the previous form for $`E_{d,p}`$ and Eq. (3): $`(E_{d,p})^2^{1/2}2U_0(g/3\pi )^{(2+\alpha )/2}g^{1/4}\mathrm{\Delta }`$ leading to

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}(3\pi /4)g^{5/4},`$ (7)
also in reasonable agreement with the data in Fig. 3. These results show that the effect of disorder rapidly grows on increasing the interaction range $`\lambda /a_0`$.

Finally, we shortly discuss how these results carry over to channels with multiple chains near matching ($`w/b_0n`$, with $`n`$ an integer $`2`$). Without disorder $`f_c`$ has sharp peaks at matching of height $`f_c^0=\mu b_0/w=\mu /n`$ . With disorder, the behavior of $`f_c`$ is similar to that in Fig. 3 . In Fig. 4(c) we show the depinning process for $`w/b_0=3`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0.02`$ and $`f=0.7f_c^0`$. As observed, the defects involved with depinning consist of stacks of discommensurations, coupled between the chains. Each stack is terminated by a pair of dislocations with opposite Burgers vector along the CE’s. This quasi-1D behavior at weak disorder can also be described by Eq. 4 by substituting $`\mu /n`$ for $`\mu `$. For larger disorder the threshold near matching reduces to $`30\%`$ of $`f_c^0`$. The merging of the commensurate and weakly incommensurate threshold forces now occurs for $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}^n=\mathrm{\Delta }_{}/n^{1/4}`$. For a realistic value of $`\lambda /a_04`$, we estimate $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{}0.03`$ meaning that rms strains in the CE’s $`2\%`$ already cause strong disorder. At strong disorder and large mismatch the quasi-2D nature of the system causes new phenomena: for $`w/b_0n\pm 1/2`$ transitions from $`nn\pm 1`$ rows occur, involving pinning of dislocations with misaligned Burgers vector . The threshold force then exceeds $`f_c`$ near matching .

In summary, depinning of a vortex chain in a channel formed by disordered vortex arrays with (nearly) the same periodicity, occurs by nucleation of defect pairs or motion of existing defects. The gap between the barriers for these two processes and the sharp peak in $`f_c`$ at commensurability vanish with increasing disorder. For large disorder in the channel edges $`f_c`$ saturates at a small fraction of the ideal lattice strength.

This project is supported by the Nederlandse Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM) and also by U.S.DOE, Office of Science under contract $`\mathrm{\#}`$W-31-109-ENG-38 during R.B. s stay at Argonne. V.M.V. is supported by U.S.DOE, Office of Science under contract $`\mathrm{\#}`$W-31-109-ENG-38.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The in-medium properties of hadrons is a topic of high current interest. The decay of vector mesons into $`e^+e^{}`$ and $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ pairs offers a unique tool to explore the properties of dense and hot matter in nuclear collisions. The lepton pairs provide virtually undistorted information on the current-current correlation function $`j_\mu j_\nu `$ in the medium . At invariant masses in the range $`500800`$ MeV, $`j_\mu j_\nu `$ is sensitive to in-medium modifications of the mass distribution of the light vector mesons $`\rho `$ and $`\omega `$. There is a longstanding and controversial discussion about the vector meson properties in dense nuclear matter . To leading orders in the baryon density, modifications of the mass distribution are determined by the vector-meson nucleon scattering amplitudes. Since these amplitudes are not directly constrained by data, the predictions for the vector-meson spectral densities in nuclear matter are strongly model dependent.

This work is an attempt to overcome this problem by using the constraints from data on pion- and photon-nucleon scattering considering in particular the $`\omega `$\- and $`\rho `$-meson production data in a systematic way. We construct a coupled-channel scheme for meson-baryon scattering, including the $`\pi N`$, $`\rho N`$, $`\omega N`$, $`\pi \mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`\eta N`$, $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ channels. In such a scheme the amplitudes for experimentally non-accessible processes like $`\rho N`$ and $`\omega N`$ scattering are constrained by the data on elastic $`\pi N`$ scattering and inelastic reactions like the pion- and photon-induced production of vector mesons. Our goal is to determine the vector-meson nucleon scattering amplitudes close to threshold. Consequently we concentrate on the energy window 1.4 GeV $`<\sqrt{s}<`$ 1.8 GeV. It is sufficient to consider only s-wave scattering in the $`\rho N`$ and $`\omega N`$ channels. This implies that in the $`\pi N`$ and $`\pi \mathrm{\Delta }`$ channels we need only s- and d-waves. In particular, we consider the $`S_{11},S_{31},D_{13}`$ and $`D_{33}`$ partial waves of $`\pi N`$ scattering. In order to systematically derive the momentum dependence of the vector-meson self energy, vector-meson nucleon scattering also in higher partial waves would have to be considered.

## 2 Relativistic coupled-channel dynamics

Here we only outline our model, the detailed discussion can be found in . We construct an effective Lagrangian with quasi-local four-point meson-baryon contact interactions in order to study the meson-baryon scattering process. Within this framework, the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the coupled-channel system reduces to a matrix equation.

The general four-point interaction Lagrangian for the coupled-channel problem in momentum space can be written in the form

$`(\overline{k},k;w)={\displaystyle \underset{I}{}}R^{(I)}(\overline{q},\overline{p})\gamma _0K^{(I)}(\overline{k},k;w)R^{(I)}(q,p)+\mathrm{},`$ (1)
where $`K_{ab}^{(I)}(\overline{k},k;w)`$ is a channel dependent interaction matrix, which in general is a function of the relative momenta of the initial and final states $`k=\frac{1}{2}(pq)`$ and $`\overline{k}=\frac{1}{2}(\overline{p}\overline{q})`$ as well as the total momentum $`w=p+q=\overline{p}+\overline{q}`$. The state vectors $`R^{(I)}(q,p)`$ involve the positive frequency parts of the fields specifying the various channels.

The coupled-channel Bethe-Salpeter equation projected onto a given isospin then reads

$`T_{ab}^{(I)}(\overline{k},k;w)`$ $`=`$ $`K_{ab}^{(I)}(\overline{k},k;w)+{\displaystyle \underset{c,d}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^4l}{(2\pi )^4}K_{ac}^{(I)}(\overline{k},l;w)G_{cd}^{(I)}(l;w)T_{db}^{(I)}(l,k;w)},`$
$`G_{cd}^{(I)}(l;w)`$ $`=`$ $`iD_{\mathrm{\Phi }(I,c)\mathrm{\Phi }(I,d)}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}wl)S_{B(I,c)B(I,d)}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}w+l),`$ (2)
where $`D_{\mathrm{\Phi }(I,c)\mathrm{\Phi }(I,d)}(q)`$ and $`S_{B(I,c)B(I,d)}(p)`$ denote the meson and baryon Feynman propagators in a given channel of isospin $`I`$. A convenient labelling of the channels is obtained by defining

$`\mathrm{\Phi }(\frac{1}{2},a)=(\pi ,\pi ,\rho _\mu ,\omega _\mu ,\eta ,K,K)_a,B(\frac{1}{2},a)=(N,\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu ,N,N,N,\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma })_a,`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }(\frac{3}{2},a)=(\pi ,\pi ,\rho _\mu ,K)_a,B(\frac{3}{2},a)=(N,\mathrm{\Delta }_\mu ,N,\mathrm{\Sigma })_a.`$ (3)
The general form of the interaction kernel may be obtained from a meson exchange model or more systematically from the chiral Lagrangian. In this paper we construct an effective field theory for meson-nucleon scattering in the resonance region. The philosophy of this approach is to approximate the interaction kernel $`K`$ but to treat rescattering in the s-channel explicitly. In our scheme, we assume that the interaction kernel is slowly varying in energy in the relevant window 1.4 GeV$`<\sqrt{s}<1.8`$ GeV.

We constrain our model parameters by data from photon-induced meson production off the nucleon. According to the original conjecture of Sakurai  the vector-meson converts into a real photon via the interaction terms $`A^\mu \rho _\mu ^{(0)}`$ and $`A^\mu \omega _\mu `$. In our scheme these terms are not allowed. In order to simulate the successful vector-meson dominance assumption it is therefore natural to directly relate the strength of the $`\gamma NX`$ and $`\rho ^{(0)}NX`$, $`\omega NX`$ vertices, where $`X`$ is any hadronic final state.

We specify the generalized form of the vector-meson dominance conjecture as applied for the direct photon-induced production vertices $`K_{\gamma NX}^{(I),\mu }(\overline{q},q;w)`$:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(K_{\gamma pX}^{(\frac{1}{2}),\mu }+K_{\gamma nX}^{(\frac{1}{2}),\mu }\right)(\overline{q},q;w)=eK_{\nu ,\omega NX}^{(\frac{1}{2})}(\overline{q},q;w)\mathrm{\Gamma }_S^{\nu \mu }(q;w),`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(K_{\gamma pX}^{(\frac{1}{2}),\mu }K_{\gamma nX}^{(\frac{1}{2}),\mu }\right)(\overline{q},q;w)={\displaystyle \frac{e}{\sqrt{3}}}K_{\nu ,\rho NX}^{(\frac{1}{2})}(\overline{q},q;w)\mathrm{\Gamma }_V^{\nu \mu }(q;w),`$
$`K_{\gamma pX}^{(\frac{3}{2}),\mu }(\overline{q},q;w)=e\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}K_{\nu ,\rho NX}^{(\frac{3}{2})}(\overline{q},q;w)\mathrm{\Gamma }_V^{\nu \mu }(q;w),`$
$`K_{\gamma nX}^{(\frac{3}{2}),\mu }(\overline{q},q;w)=e\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}K_{\nu ,\rho NX}^{(\frac{3}{2})}(\overline{q},q;w)\mathrm{\Gamma }_V^{\nu \mu }(q;w),`$ (4)
where $`X`$ stands for any hadronic two-body final state with isospin $`I`$. The transverse objects $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{S(V)}^{\mu \nu }(q;w)`$ are the most general transition tensors compatible with gauge invariance. Its form can be found in .

## 3 Results

In accordance with the effective field theory approach only data in an appropriate kinematical window is used in the analysis. The threshold for vector-meson production off a nucleon is at $`\sqrt{s}1.7`$ GeV. Close to the elastic pion-nucleon threshold we do not expect our scheme to be efficient. We therefore fit the data in the energy range $`1.4`$ GeV $`\sqrt{s}1.8`$ GeV, with the energy independent coupling matrices. Our model includes four coupled-channel matrices carrying quantum numbers $`I=\frac{1}{2},\frac{3}{2}`$ and $`J=\frac{1}{2},\frac{3}{2}`$.

The set of parameters is adjusted to describe the partial-wave pion-nucleon phase shifts including their inelasticity parameters. Furthermore the pion- and photon-induced production cross sections of pseudo-scalar meson and vector mesons are considered. Of crucial importance to our fit are the empirical pion- and photon-induced vector-meson production data. Only via the use of those data it is ultimately possible to determine the vector-meson nucleon scattering amplitudes, the prime goal of this work. All together we include $`N=1156`$ data points. We obtained a fair description of the experimental data .

As a result of our fit the s- and d-wave baryon resonances $`N(1535)`$, $`N(1650)`$, $`N(1520)`$, $`N(1700)`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1620)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1700)`$ are generated dynamically in our scheme. In particular we find that the s-wave resonances $`N(1535)`$ and $`N(1650)`$ show a strong $`\omega N`$ component, which are required to simultaneously generate both resonances. This is important because the two resonances mix strongly. On the other hand, only the $`N(1535)`$ but not the $`N(1650)`$ resonance appears to couple significantly to the $`\rho N`$ channel. Similarly striking is our result that the d-wave $`N(1520)`$ resonance couples strongly to the $`\omega N`$ channel but with only much reduced strength to the $`\rho N`$ channel. This result is a consequence of our systematic inclusion of the photon-induced scattering data not done previously.

Fig. 1: Imaginary parts of the $`\rho `$ and $`\omega `$ propagators in nuclear matter

at $`\rho =\rho _0`$ and $`2\rho _0`$, compared to those of the free-space propagators.

We apply the resulting vector-meson scattering amplitudes to the propagation of the $`\rho `$ and $`\omega `$ mesons in nuclear matter. Using the low-density theorem the self energy of a vector meson in nuclear matter is expressed in terms of the s-wave scattering amplitude averaged over spin and isospin .

In Fig. 3 we show the vector-meson propagators at the saturation density of nuclear matter, $`\rho _0=0.17\text{ fm}^3`$ and at $`\rho =2\rho _0`$. For the $`\rho `$ meson we note an enhancement of the width, and a downward shift in energy, due to the mixing with the baryon resonances at $`\sqrt{s}=1.51.6`$ GeV. At $`\rho =\rho _0`$ the center-of-gravity of the spectral function is shifted down in energy by about $`3`$ %. The in-medium propagator of the $`\omega `$ meson exhibits two distinct quasiparticles, an $`\omega `$ like mode, which is shifted up somewhat in energy, and a resonance-hole like mode at low energies. The low-lying modes carry about 15 % on the energy-weighted sum rule. The center-of-gravity is shifted down by about $`4`$ %. However, we stress that the structure of the in-medium $`\omega `$-meson spectral function clearly cannot be characterized by this number alone.

A simple estimate on the accuracy of the leading order result follows by investigating the size of the leading correction term determined by the Pauli blocking effect. Take for example the $`\omega `$ meson for which its leading and subleading mass shift terms require only the s-wave scattering length $`a_{\omega N}^{\frac{1}{2}}=(0.45+i0.31)`$ fm and $`a_{\omega N}^{\frac{3}{2}}=(0.43+i0.15)`$ fm . At nuclear saturation density the correction term of order $`k_F^4`$ implies a further repulsive mass shift of $`1`$ MeV and increase of the decay width of $`2`$ MeV for the $`\omega `$ meson. We expect that the results obtained with only the leading term in the low-density expansion are qualitatively correct at normal nuclear matter density. However, on a quantitative level, the spectral functions may change when higher order terms in the density expansion are included. For instance, we expect that the in-medium properties of the baryon resonances depend sensitively on the meson spectral functions. If this is the case, a self consistent calculation, which corresponds to a partial summation of terms in the density expansion, would have to be performed .

## 4 Summary and conclusion

In this work we predicted the amplitudes which describe the s-wave scattering of the light vector mesons off nucleons. To leading order in a density expansion these amplitudes determine the spectral functions of the $`\rho `$\- and $`\omega `$-meson in nuclear matter. Since there exist no data on vector-meson nucleon scattering we constrained our analysis by all relevant elastic and inelastic $`\gamma N`$ and $`\pi N`$ data. The coupled channel unitarity condition together with the causality property of local quantum field theory then leads to quite robust predictions for the vector-meson nucleon scattering amplitudes. Our amplitudes show rapid energy variations due to the presence of nucleon and isobar resonances. In our novel and covariant coupled channel approach, which considers the $`\gamma N`$, $`\pi N`$, $`\pi \mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`\rho N`$, $`\omega N`$, $`\eta N`$, $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ states, the s- and d-wave nucleon and isobar resonances are generated dynamically by coupled channel effects. In nuclear matter our scattering amplitudes lead to a $`\omega `$-meson spectral functions with considerable support at energies smaller than the free-space mass representing resonance nucleon-hole type excitations. On the other hand, as an immediate consequence of the only moderate coupling of the $`\rho N`$ channel to the $`N(1520)`$ d-wave resonance, the in-medium effects for the $`\rho `$ meson are found to be significantly smaller as compared to previous works.

The results of our work are relevant for the experimental program at GSI. The HADES detector will help to further explore the properties of the light vector mesons in nuclear matter by measuring their dilepton final state with high accuracy. Complementary experimental programs are pursued at MAMI and KEK with photon and nucleon induced reactions off nuclei. To further substantiate the structure of the vector-meson nucleon scattering amplitudes it would be desirable to establish a more microscopic understanding of the effective interaction vertices employed in our work.

This work were partly supported by Hungarian Research Foundation (OTKA) grants: T 26543 and T 30855.


text:
# Globally-Linked Vortex Clusters in Trapped Wave Fields

Permanent address:\]Institute of Atomic Physics, Bucharest, Romania.

## Abstract

We put forward the existence of a rich variety of fully stationary vortex structures, termed H-clusters, made of an increasing number of vortices nested in paraxial wave fields confined by trapping potentials. However, we show that the constituent vortices are globally linked, rather than products of independent vortices. Also, they always feature a monopolar global wave front and exist in nonlinear systems, such as Bose-Einstein condensates. Clusters with multipolar global wave fronts are non-stationary or at best flipping.

Singular wave structures, that contain topological wave front dislocations NyeBer74 , are ubiquitous in many branches of classical and quantum science. Screw dislocations, or vortices, are a common dislocation type. Wave packets with nested vortices find applications in fields as diverse as cosmology, biosciences, or solid state physics Lug95 ; Pis99 ; Ash99 ; GalOrm01 . As striking examples, they are at the heart of schemes to generate engineered quNits in quantum information systems in higher dimensional Hilbert spaces MaiVazWei01 ; MolTorTor02 , are believed to be essential for the onset of superfluidity in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) Don91 ; BEC-exp ; Butts ; Tsubota , or allow tracking the motion of a single atom Hor02 .

A recent study of the motion of vortex lines governed by both linear and nonlinear Scrödinger equations describing the dynamics of atoms in harmonic traps revealed that the topological features of vortex dynamics are to large extent universal polish . The dynamics of the vortices nested on localized wave packets depends on the evolution of the host beam, and on the interferences and interactions between the vortices reviewsOV . Multiple vortices nested on the same host typically follow dynamical evolutions which might include large vortex-drifts that destroy their initial arrangement, and vortex-pair annihilations that destroy the vortices themselves. Vortex evolutions are particularly complex in strongly nonlinear media, such as BEC, where the vortices can interact with each other. Therefore, a fundamental question arises about whether stationary or quasi-stationary vortex clusters or lattices latticesinBEC , made of vortices with equal and with opposite topological charges exist. To isolate the pure vortex features from the dynamics solely induced by the evolution of the host wave packet, it is convenient to study wave fields confined by suitable potentials, as in weakly-interacting trapped BEC.

In this paper we show that vortex clusters with multipolar global wave fronts nested in wave fields confined by trapping potentials are non-stationary, when the number of vortices and their location are not constant during dynamical evolution, or at best flipping, when the vortices periodically flip their topological charges through extremely sharp Berry trajectories Ber98 . In the former case, multiple vortex revivals mediated by Freund stationary point bundles Fre00 , that carry the necessary Poincaré-Hopf indices Fre01 , can occur. In contrast, we find that a rich variety of fully stationary vortex clusters made of an increasing number of vortices do exist. The important point we put forward is that these clusters are globally linked, rather than products of independent vortices. Also, they feature a monopolar global wave front. We also show that the clusters exist and are robust in nonlinear systems such as interacting BEC.

We thus address the slowly-varying evolution of generic wavefunctions governed by the paraxial wave equation

$$iA_z=A+𝒩(A),$$
(1)
where $`A`$ is a complex field, $``$ is a two-dimensional linear differential operator containing a trapping potential and $`𝒩(A)`$ takes care of any nonlinear contribution. We assume the trapping potential to be harmonic thus $`=1/2\left(_x^2+_y^2\right)+\left(n_xx^2+n_yy^2\right).`$ To be specific, when $`𝒩(A)|A|^2A`$, this equation models the propagation of a light beam guided in a Kerr nonlinear graded-index medium and the mean-field evolution of a two-dimensional trapped BEC at zero-temperature (where $`n_{x,y}`$ are proportional to the trap frequencies in appropriate units). Here we will consider only the symmetric case; hence $`n_x=n_y=2`$. For convenience, from now on we will split $`A(x,y;z)=F(x,y;z)V(x,y;z)`$, taking the host packet $`F`$ as given by the fundamental mode of the trapping potential $`F(x,y;z)=\mathrm{exp}(x^2y^2)\mathrm{exp}(2iz)`$. In the linear case, the function $`V(x,y;z)`$ carries all the essential information about the solutions and in particular about vortex dynamics. Here we will consider the evolution of polynomial initial data for $`V`$ corresponding to (multi)vortex solutions of Eq. (1). Such solutions can be expressed as finite series and, as will be clear later, all of them must be periodic or stationary.

Let us first consider the linear ($`𝒩(A)=0`$) evolution of vortex-clusters built as products of $`n`$ independent single-charge vortices: $`V(x,y;z=0)=_{k=1}^n[xx_k+i\sigma _k(yy_k)]`$, where $`(x_k,y_k)`$ are the locations in the vortex cores in the transverse plane, and $`\sigma _k=\pm 1`$. None of the above product-vortex clusters is found to be dynamically stationary. On the contrary, the number of vortices and their location is found to vary during evolution, so that the initial vortex structure is destroyed. These results can be illustrated by examining the evolution of the 4-vortex cluster: $`V(z=0)=(x+a+iy)(xa+iy)(xiyia)(xiy+ia)`$, which contains two vortices with positive topological charge and two vortices with negative charge in a symmetrical geometry. This cluster features a quadrupolar global wave front, as is revealed by calculating the gradient of the wave front $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ far from the cluster core, to obtain $`|\mathrm{\Phi }|1/\rho ^3`$, where $`\rho `$ is the polar coordinate, similar to the corresponding electrostatic multipole multipoles . Substitution into (1) yields

$`V(x,y;z)`$ $`=`$ $`[(x^2+y^2)(x^2+y^2+2e^{4iz}2)]e^{8iz}`$ (2)
$`+4ia^2xye^{4iz}+1/2(1e^{4iz})^2a^4.`$
One finds three different regimes of evolution, as shown in Fig. 1: Vortex drifts, and vortex-pair annihilations and revivals take place, so that depending on the value of the geometrical parameter $`a`$, the total number of vortices, $`n`$, hosted in the wave field during propagation can oscillate between: (i) 4 and 8 \[see Fig. 1(a)\]; (ii) 4, 0 and 8 \[see Fig. 1(b)\]; (iii) 4 and 0 \[see Fig. 1(c)\]. When $`n=0`$, it is understood that all vortices have annihilated each other. Analogous evolutions were found for octupoles and higher-order multipoles. Only dipoles can be made quasi-stationary, but flipping, when the corresponding vortex twins periodically flip their topological charges. Thus, the main conclusion reached is that the interference between the constituent vortices of all the product-clusters produces beatings between the normal modes of the system, rendering the clusters non-stationary.

The key insight we put forward in this paper is that such beatings are not associated to the intrinsic or local properties of the individual vortices, but to the very way the vortices are globally linked in the host wave packet. As an example, let us consider the evolution of

$$V(x,y;z=0)=x^2+y^2a^2+2ixy,$$
(3)
which contains four vortices located at the same positions and having the same charges as those of the vortex-quadrupole considered above \[see Fig. 2\]. However, in this cluster the vortices are intimately linked to each other, rather than individually nested in the host $`F`$. This fact manifests itself in the global wave front of the cluster, which behaves as $`|\mathrm{\Phi }|\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )/\rho `$ \+ $`𝒪(1/\rho ^3)`$, and thus features a monopolar decay almost everywhere. In this case, the vortex evolution is given by

$$V(x,y;z)=(x^2+y^21/2+2ixy)e^{4iz}+1/2a^2,$$
(4)
an evolution that when the cluster is constructed with $`a=1/\sqrt{2}`$ does become fully stationary.

The above 4-vortex cluster is not an isolated case, but rather an example of whole existing families of fully stationary vortex structures made of globally linked vortices. In fact, the solutions of Eq. (1) with $`𝒩(A)=0`$ have the form:

$$A(x,y;z)=\underset{k,l=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}C_{kl}H_k(x\sqrt{2})H_l(y\sqrt{2})e^{x^2y^2}e^{2i(k+l+1)z},$$
(5)
where $`H_j`$ are the Hermite polynomials. Therefore, the evolution of initial data of the form $`V(x,y;z=0)=_{k=0}^nC_kH_k(\xi )H_{nk}(\eta )`$ for any $`C_k`$ and $`\xi =x\sqrt{2},\eta =y\sqrt{2}`$, is given by

$$V(x,y;z)=e^{2inz}\underset{k=0}{\overset{n}{}}C_kH_k(\xi )H_{nk}(\eta ).$$
(6)
On physical grounds, this simple mathematical result shows that all the stationary clusters are made of globally-linked vortices. Equation (6) allows us to build a variety of structures, to be termed Hermite, or H-clusters, whose key features we discuss in what follows.

Perhaps the simplest type of H-clusters are those with a $`n\times n`$ matrix geometry thus containing $`n^2`$ vortices. These clusters can be generated by using as initial data, for example, $`V_{n\times n}(x,y;z=0)=H_n(\xi )+iH_n(\eta )`$. In this function the vortex charges alternate throughout the matrix and the vortex locations are dictated by the zeroes of the particular Hermite polynomials involved. In general these vortex matrices are not regular, the distance between vortices varying along the matrix. However, in the particular cases with $`n=2`$ and $`n=3`$ the matrix is regular. The $`n=3`$ case is shown in Fig. 2(a). Notice that a $`2\times 2`$ matrix cluster can be generated either with $`V(x,y;z=0)=H_2(\xi )+iH_2(\eta )`$, or with $`V(x,y;z=0)=H_2(\xi )+H_2(\eta )+iH_1(\xi )H_1(\eta )`$. Actually, this latter possibility generates the stationary 4-vortex cluster discussed earlier \[see Fig. 2(b)\].

One can also build $`m\times n`$ ($`mn`$) stationary vortex matrices. A possible choice for the vortex function generating such a vortex-matrix is $`V_{m\times n}(x,y;z=0)=H_m(\xi )+iH_{|mn|}(\xi )H_n(\eta )`$. As an example we show the $`4\times 2`$ vortex matrix in Fig. 2(c). In contrast to the $`n\times n`$ matrices, in the general case the topological charges carried by the vortices of the $`m\times n`$ matrices do not alternate sign throughout the matrix. An important subclass of the $`m\times n`$ vortex matrices are the $`m\times 1`$ cases, to be termed vortex arrays. They consist in $`m`$ co-linearly displaced vortices of the same topological charge. Figures 2(d) and 2(e) show illustrative examples. The simplest array is the vortex-twin shown in Fig. 2(d): A pair of identical vortices that, contrary to the vortex dipole which either undergoes periodic annihilations and revivals or charge flip-flops, can be made fully stationary.

The $`n\times n`$ matrices are either chargeless for even $`n`$, or carry a single net charge for odd values of $`n`$, while the $`m\times 1`$ arrays carry a $`m`$ total topological charge. In any case, the wave front of all the H-clusters is found to feature a monopolar decay ($`1/\rho `$) almost everywhere.

More complex H-clusters also exist, and a full classification of all the possibilities falls beyond the scope of this paper. However, an example of one of such exotic H-clusters is displayed in Fig. 2(f), which corresponds to the cluster built with $`V(x,y;z=0)=H_3(\eta )+i(H_3(\xi )+H_1(\eta )H_2(\xi ))`$. The rich variety of possibilities contained in Eq. (6) is clearly apparent.

An interesting issue is the existence and stability of vortex-clusters in the presence of nonlinear cubic interactions such as those appearing in the propagation of beams in Kerr media or in the dynamics of BEC. To ease the comparison with BEC literature we choose now $`n_x=n_y=1/2`$ and $`𝒩(A)=U|A|^2A`$ nota . In this context the evolution variable is denoted by $`t`$ instead of $`z`$. With this choice of parameters the range of $`U`$ values experimentally accesible for the two-dimensional case is $`0<U<10^210^3`$ GRPG .

We have studied several particular examples to verify that these structures indeed exist and are stable in the nonlinear regime. We have taken as initial data several linear configurations such as a single vortex, dipole systems and the 4-vortex cluster given by Eq. (3) and evolved them for $`UN=10`$ ($`N=|A|^2𝑑𝐱`$ is the wave function norm) using an standard split-step integrator. It is found that, although the background performs oscillations and the vortex locations oscillate around their equilibrium positions, the vortex clusters remain stable (see Fig. 3). We have also searched for stationary solutions of Eq. (1), of the form $`A(x,y;t)=e^{i\lambda t}\psi (x,y)`$. To do so we have used a steepest descent method to minimize the functional SIAM :

$$F(\psi )=\frac{\psi ^{}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda +r^2+U|\psi |^2\right)\psi 𝑑𝐱}{|\psi |^2𝑑𝐱},$$
(7)
whose minima (except for $`\psi =0`$) coincide with the stationary solutions of Eq. (1) for a given value of $`\lambda `$. For instance, taking as initial data for the minimization process the linear 4-vortex cluster and setting $`\lambda =8.0`$ and $`U=100`$, we found a stationary 4-vortex cluster solution (see Fig. 4) with norm $`N=|\psi |^2𝑑𝐱1.6005`$ (thus the product $`UN160`$ which lies into the fully nonlinear regime). We have verified that this solution is robust under time evolution when small perturbations are added. These evidences show that the existence of H-clusters in a BEC should be experimentally accessible, at least from the dynamical point of view.

To conclude, we stress that the constituent vortices of the H-cluster are globally linked, rather than products of independent vortices. Following this idea it is possible to generate a variety of additional novel structures with fascinating properties. A nice new example are the circular vortex necklaces generated at the intersection between the circle $`x^2+y^2a^2=0`$, where $`\mathrm{}e(V)=0`$, and the lines $`y\pm \mathrm{tan}(2k\pi /n)x=0`$, $`k`$, where $`\mathrm{}m(V)=0`$. Those are quasi-stationary, purely flipping clusters made of $`n`$ vortices (see Fig. 5), a feature so far only known to occur with vortex-dipoles. Once again, the vortices forming the necklace are intimately linked and do not exhibit a $`n`$-polar wave front. The exploitation of such intrinsic linking might open new opportunities in classical and quantum systems based on topological light and matter waves. The first challenge is the demonstration of the generation of the clusters, by suitable computer-generated holograms masks  in Optics and phase-imprinting techniques in BEC phase-imprinting .

This work was supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya and Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología under grants TIC2000-1010 and BFM2000-0521. L. -C. Crasovan acknowledges NATO support and thanks M. Damian and O. Halmaghi for helpful discussions.

Figure captions

Fig. 1: Evolution of a vortex quadrupole, constructed as the product of four single-charge vortices. Upper row: Number of vortices $`n`$ as a function of $`z`$, for different values of the initial quadrupole size. (a) $`a=0.5`$, (b) $`a=1.1`$ and (c) $`a=1.2`$. Bottom row: Intensity snapshots corresponding to points labeled A, B and C in (c). Black-filled circles: positive vortices; white-filled circles: negative vortices.

Fig. 2: H-cluster zoology. Shown are several examples of stationary vortex matrices and vortex arrays that can be constructed. See text for details. Lines show zero crossings of $`\mathrm{}e(V)`$ (full lines) and $`\mathrm{}m(V)`$ (dashed). Features as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3: Stable evolution of initial data given by Eq. (3) for $`UN=10`$. Upper row: Intensity plots; bottom row: Interference fringes. Spatial region spanned is $`[4,4]\times [4,4]`$.

Fig. 4: Linear 4-vortex cluster \[Eq. (3)\] vs. its nonlinear stationary version for $`U=100,\lambda =8`$. (a) Plots of $`|\psi (x,y=0)|^2`$ for the linear (dashed line) and nonlinear (solid line) cases. (b,c) Surface plots of $`|\psi (x,y)|^2`$ for (b) the linear and (c) nonlinear situations. The vortex locations and topological charges are indicated by plus and minus signs.

Fig. 5: Evolution of a flipping $`n=8`$ circular vortex-necklace. Vortex pattern at (a) $`z=0`$ and (b) $`z=3\pi /16`$.


text:
# Comments on “Dirac theory in spacetime algebra”

## 1 Dirac Equation

Joyce’s formulation is made in the framework of the complex Dirac algebra, that is, Clifford’s geometric algebra of Minkowski spacetime taken over the complex field. A matrix form of this algebra is traditionally used for the Dirac equation. Since the objective is to find a new formulation of the Dirac equation, it is reasonable first to put the traditional formulation directly in algebraic form. For simplicity, we consider only the case of a free electron; the procedure for adding a gauge potential is straightforward and can be undertaken later. The Dirac equation for a free electron in units with $`\mathrm{}=c=1`$ can be written as a matrix equation

$$\mathrm{i}\psi =m\psi $$
(1)
where $`\psi `$ is a four-component complex spinor, and the gradient operator in Minkowski spacetime (sum repeated indices $`\mu =0,1,2,3`$)

$$=\gamma _\mu ^\mu $$
(2)
(which Joyce denotes by $`𝐝`$)111Joyce has introduced new notation for a number of terms and has redefined other symbols already in common use. A change that is particularly liable to cause confusion is his redefinition of the wedge and dot products. This comment employs the more established notation of Hestenes, but I will relate this to the notation of Joyce where appropriate. is an expansion in the $`4\times 4`$ gamma matrices $`\gamma _\mu `$ with operator coefficients $`^\mu =/x_\mu =\eta ^{\mu \nu }/x^\nu =\eta ^{\mu \nu }_\nu .`$ Indices are raised and lowered by the metric tensors $`\left(\eta ^{\mu \nu }\right)`$ and $`\left(\eta _{\mu \nu }\right)`$ of Minkowski spacetime. The algebra of the gamma matrices is that of the vector basis of Clifford’s geometric algebra of spacetime, namely

$$\gamma _\mu \gamma _\nu +\gamma _\nu \gamma _\mu =2\eta _{\mu \nu }.$$
(3)
In the algebra, the orthonormal basis vectors of spacetime are therefore taken to be $`\{\gamma _0,\gamma _1,\gamma _2,\gamma _3\},`$ and the explicit matrices that represent them are not important. Joyce has considered two possible choices for the metric, but to avoid unnecessary complications, I take $`\left(\eta ^{\mu \nu }\right)`$ to be the diagonal matrix

$$\left(\eta ^{\mu \nu }\right)=diag(1,1,1,1)=\left(\eta _{\mu \nu }\right)$$
(4)
corresponding to the choice of Joyce’s parameter $`\eta =1.`$

The geometric algebra generated by associative products of basis vectors $`\gamma _0,\gamma _1,\gamma _2,\gamma _3`$ that satisfy (3) with (4) is denoted $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}.`$ Four spinors $`\psi ,`$ each satisfying the Dirac equation (1), can be used to construct a $`4\times 4`$ solution matrix $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$. Let each column of $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ be a column spinor $`\psi `$ that satisfies (1). Then $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is the matrix representation of an element of the Dirac algebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}`$ over the complex field $`.`$ We construct explicit plane-wave solutions below, but the point made here is that the Dirac equation (1) can be written directly as an *algebraic equation* in $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}`$

$$\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Psi }=m\mathrm{\Psi },\mathrm{\Psi }C\mathrm{}_{1,3}$$
(5)
that gives up to four independent solutions of the traditional column-spinor equation. This equation remains valid under multiplication from right by any constant algebraic element. In particular, one can multiply by a projector $`𝖯`$, that is a hermitian idempotent

$$𝖯^2=𝖯=𝖯^{}.$$
(6)
For example, columns of a $`4\times 4`$ matrix representation of the algebraic spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ can be extracted by the application of projectors $`𝖯\left(\alpha \right),\alpha =0,1,2,3`$ defined with diagonal matrix representations $`𝖯\left(\alpha \right)=\left(\delta _{\mu \alpha }\delta _{\nu \alpha }\right).`$ Thus, the algebraic equation (5) is equivalent to four copies of the usual spinor equation (1).

The projectors $`𝖯\left(\alpha \right)`$ depend on the matrix representation. However, as we see below, useful projectors can also be defined algebraically, independent of the representation.

## 2 Joyce Equation

Joyce has formulated a *different* equation in the complex Dirac algebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}.`$ His Eq.(19) for a free electron is

$$\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}=m\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}\gamma _0\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+$$
(7)
although Joyce uses the notation $`𝐞_\mu `$ in place of $`\gamma _\mu .`$ It differs from the Dirac equation (5) by the extra factor of $`\gamma _0`$ on the right. The equations are the same only if $`m=0.`$ The Joyce equation (7) is invariant under right multiplication of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ by any constant element that commutes with $`\gamma _0.`$ The spinor can be decomposed into pieces $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}=\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+0}+\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_0`$ where the constant elements

$$𝖯_{\pm 0}=\frac{1}{2}\left(1\pm \gamma _0\right)$$
(8)
are projectors. Equation (7) then splits into two parts, one equivalent to the usual Dirac equation (1) in algebraic form, and the other similar but with the sign of the mass changed:

$$\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 0}=\pm m\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 0}$$
(9)
where we noted the property that $`\gamma _0𝖯_{\pm 0}=\pm 𝖯_{\pm 0}.`$ Thus, the part $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+0}`$ is a solution to the Dirac equation (5), but $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_0`$ satisfies an equation with the opposite mass $`m.`$ However as indicated in equation (7), Joyce has imposed an additional condition on his solutions $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$, namely that they be elements of the *even* subalgebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+`$ of the complex Dirac algebra (he refers to $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ as a “generalized bivector”, although it can also contain scalars and 4-volume elements). Thus $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ can be expanded

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}=\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^K\mathrm{\Gamma }_K^+,K=1,2,\mathrm{},8$$
(10)
in the basis $`\left\{\mathrm{\Gamma }_K^+\right\}=\{1,\gamma _\mu \gamma _\nu ,\gamma _0\gamma _1\gamma _2\gamma _3\}`$ of $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+`$ with $`\mu ,\nu =0,1,2,3`$ and $`\mu <\nu ,`$ where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^K`$ are complex scalar functions. However, the part $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+0}`$ of the Joyce spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ that is a solution of the Dirac equation (5) cannot be even since if $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ is even, then $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}\gamma _0`$, which is part of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+0}`$, is odd. Indeed, the even and odd parts of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+0}`$ are of the same size. Consequently, there is *no* solution $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+`$ that is also a solution of the algebraic Dirac equation (5) if $`m>0.`$ Nevertheless, this result does not preclude the possibility that there is some other relation between $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ and $`\psi `$ that would be consistent with both equations (1) and (7). Joyce does not specify an explicit relation between his $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ and the usual Dirac spinor, but we can find one by comparing his equation (7) with that of the Hestenes form.

## 3 Hestenes Equation

Hestenes constructed a form of the Dirac equation in the *real* algebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3},`$ which he calls the spacetime algebra (STA). The Hestenes equation for the free electron in the STA is

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}\gamma _1\gamma _2=m\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}\gamma _0,\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+.$$
(11)
The Joyce and Hestenes equations act in different spaces and are not equivalent. To compare them, we consider both acting in the larger space of the complex Dirac algebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}`$.

The Joyce and Hestenes spinors in $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}`$ are related by the simple projectors

$$𝖯_{\pm 12}=\frac{1}{2}\left(1\pm \mathrm{i}\gamma _1\gamma _2\right)$$
(12)
which can be applied to the Joyce equation (7) to give

$$\mathrm{i}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 12}\right)=\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 12}\right)\gamma _1\gamma _2=m\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 12}\right)\gamma _0$$
(13)
where we noted

$$𝖯_{\pm 12}=\pm \mathrm{i}𝖯_{\pm 12}\gamma _1\gamma _2.$$
(14)
Thus, any spinor solution $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ can be split into parts

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}=\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+12}+\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{12}$$
(15)
one of which ($`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+12}`$) satisfies the Dirac equation in the Hestenes form and the other of which ($`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{12}`$) satisfies the same equation but with the sign of the mass reversed.

As noted above, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ is generally complex whereas the Hestenes $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}`$ is real. Let $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^{}`$ be the complex conjugate of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J},`$ obtained by replacing each scalar coefficient $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^K`$ in the expansion (10) of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ by its complex conjugate. The property (14) can be used to replace the complex even $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ in the products $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ by real even elements $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm `$:

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ $`=\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm 𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ (16)
$`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}+\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^{}\right)\pm {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^{}\right)\gamma _1\gamma _2`$ (17)
thereby giving $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm 𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ as solutions of the Hestenes form of the Dirac equation with the correct or opposite sign on the mass term. Note that $`𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ is even and therefore preserves the even property of the spinor. It is also complex, but since the Hestenes equation (11) is real and linear, the real part of any complex solution is also a solution. The real part of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm 𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ is just $`\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm `$, and consequently the two spinors $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm `$ (17) are real even solutions of the Dirac equation in the Hestenes form (11) with the two signs of the mass term. The products $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^\pm \gamma _1\gamma _2`$ are similar solutions. The sum and difference of such solutions give the real and imaginary parts of the Joyce spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}=\frac{1}{2}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^++\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^{}\right)+\frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^+\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}^{}\right)\gamma _1\gamma _2.$$
(18)
This completes the demonstration relating every solution of the Joyce equation (7) to sums and differences of solutions to the Hestenes form of the Dirac equation with correct and reversed signs on the mass term. The close association of Hestenes and Joyce spinors is reasonable considering that the current density $`𝐉`$ has the same form, namely the vector part of $`\mathrm{\Psi }\gamma _0\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}`$ ($`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}`$ is the reversion of $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$), if $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ belongs to the real algebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}.`$

It is noted in passing that similar arguments, using both pairs of commuting projectors $`𝖯_{\pm 12}`$ and $`𝖯_{\pm 0}`$, can relate a general solution $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ of the Dirac equation (5) to four independent solutions $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+`$ of the Hestenes equation (11) (with the correct mass term):

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{H1}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_++\mathrm{\Psi }_+^{}\right)\gamma _1\gamma _2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\mathrm{i}}}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_{}\mathrm{\Psi }_{}^{}\right)\gamma _0,\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{H2}}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{H1}}\gamma _1\gamma _2`$
$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{H3}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_+\mathrm{\Psi }_+^{}\right)\gamma _1\gamma _2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }_{}+\mathrm{\Psi }_{}^{}\right)\gamma _0,\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{H4}}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{H3}}\gamma _1\gamma _2`$ (19)
where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{}`$ are the even and odd parts of $`\mathrm{\Psi }.`$

## 4 Symmetry of the Hestenes Equation

Part of Joyce’s stated reason for seeking an alternative algebraic form of the Dirac equation was that he viewed the Hestenes form (11) as giving special status to given directions in space. In particular, because equation (11) contains the $`\gamma _1\gamma _2`$ bivector, it was felt that the corresponding plane was singled out. On this basis it might be disappointing that every solution to the Joyce equation (7) is a combination of solutions to two equations of the Hestenes form. However, the asymmetry that Joyce saw in the Hestenes equation is only apparent, as explained below.

The principal advantages of the Hestenes formulation of the Dirac equation are (1) that it acts in the real Dirac algebra $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}`$ rather than in the more traditional complex Dirac algebra used by most authors as well as by Joyce, and (2) it offers unambiguous geometrical interpretations for expressions in the theory. The fact that the spinor of the Hestenes formulation is an even element and that the Hestenes equation preserves its evenness suggests that the Dirac theory can also be formulated in the real Pauli algebra $`C\mathrm{}_3,`$ which is isomorphic to $`C\mathrm{}_{1,3}^+.`$ Indeed there is a very simple covariant formulation using paravectors of $`C\mathrm{}_3,`$ and this is closely related to formulations in biquaternions and $`2\times 2`$ matrices. Further background and references can be found in a couple of recent papers.

In both the $`C\mathrm{}_3`$ formulation and in Hestenes’ analysis, the spinor plays the role of a relativistic transformation amplitude from the reference frame of the fermion to the lab frame. The orientation of the reference frame is not significant since global gauge transformations $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}R`$, where $`R`$ is a fixed spatial rotor, can rotate it arbitrarily. It is therefore of no physical consequence that the particular bivector $`\gamma _1\gamma _2`$ appears in the Hestenes equation (11).

## 5 Plane-Wave Solutions

In Section 10 of his paper, Joyce sought plane-wave solutions of the form $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}=A\mathrm{exp}\left(\mathrm{i}k^\mu x_\mu \right)=A\mathrm{exp}\left(\mathrm{i}\omega t\mathrm{i}kx\right),`$ where $`A`$ is a constant element, to his equation (7). Differentiation gives the condition222Joyce’s related equation (22) differs in the sign of $`k`$, probably stemming from the identification of the component $`k`$ or the definition of $``$ (his $`𝐝`$), equation (2). My explicit identification is $`kk^1`$ and $`xx^1.`$

$$\left(\omega +\gamma _0\gamma _1k\right)A=m\gamma _0A\gamma _0.$$
(20)
Solving for $`A`$, substituting into the left-hand side of (20), and noting $`\left(\gamma _0\gamma _1\right)^2=1,`$ one finds $`\omega ^2=k^2+m^2`$ for nonvanishing $`A.`$ Furthermore, $`A`$ has an expansion analogous to that of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$(10) and is conveniently split into one part that commutes with $`\gamma _0`$ and another that anticommutes with it:

$`A`$ $`=A_++A_{}`$ (21)
$`\gamma _0A_\pm \gamma _0`$ $`=\pm A_\pm `$ (22)
$`A_+`$ $`=a+b\gamma _1\gamma _2+c\gamma _2\gamma _3+d\gamma _3\gamma _1`$ (23)
$`A_{}`$ $`=\gamma _0\gamma _1\left(a^{}+b^{}\gamma _1\gamma _2+c^{}\gamma _2\gamma _3+d^{}\gamma _3\gamma _1\right).`$ (24)
A necessary and sufficient relation for the nontrivial solution of (20) is easily seen to be

$$A_{}=\frac{\omega +m}{k}\gamma _0\gamma _1A_+$$
(25)
and the equivalent relation

$$A_+=\frac{\omega m}{k}\gamma _0\gamma _1A_{}.$$
(26)
Except for the sign of $`k`$, the solution is equivalent to that found by Joyce, and as he points out, there are eight independent solutions for a given eigenvalue of the momentum $`𝐩=k𝐞_1`$ (four for each sign of $`\omega =\pm \sqrt{k^2+m^2}`$), and this is twice as many as for the Dirac equation. The presence of eight such solutions reflects the fact, discussed above, that Joyce’s spinor can be split into parts that solve both the usual Dirac equation and same equation with a reversed mass sign. Explicitly, if $`b=\mathrm{i}a`$ and $`d=\mathrm{i}c,`$ the part $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{12}`$ of the plane-wave solution $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ vanishes and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ satisfies the usual Dirac equation, whereas if $`b=\mathrm{i}a`$ and $`d=\mathrm{i}c,`$ the part $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}𝖯_{+12}`$ vanishes and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ satisfies the Dirac equation with mass $`m.`$ Otherwise, the plane wave $`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{J}`$ is a solution of the Dirac equation only in the limit $`m0.`$

### Acknowledgement

The author is grateful for the hospitality of A Lasenby and the Cavendish Astrophysics Group during a sabbatical leave spent there. He also acknowledges helpful discussions with C Doran and the financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.