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# A survey on the bicanonical map of surfaces with 𝑝_𝑔=0 and 𝐾²≥2

## 1. Introduction

Many examples of complex surfaces of general type with $`p_g=q=0`$ are known, but a detailed classification is still lacking, despite much progress in the theory of algebraic surfaces. Surfaces of general type are often studied using properties of their canonical curves. If a surface has $`p_g=0`$, then there are of course no such curves, and it is natural to look instead at the bicanonical system, which is not empty.

In this survey we describe the present (December 2001) state of knowledge about the bicanonical map for minimal surfaces of general type with $`p_g=0`$ and $`K^22`$.

We do not consider the case $`K_S^2=1`$ (the so called numerical Godeaux surfaces) because, in what concerns the bicanonical map, this case is special (see §2). We just remark that the numerical Godeaux surfaces are somewhat better understood than the other surfaces of general type with $`p_g=0`$ and we refer to the paper \[CP\] and its bibliography.

This survey is organized as follows: in section $`2`$ we discuss the dimension of the bicanonical image and in section $`3`$ the base points of $`|2K_S|`$. In section $`4`$ we present the bounds on the degree of the bicanonical map for $`K_S^22`$. In section $`5`$ we discuss the surfaces that occur as bicanonical images, whilst in section $`6`$ we describe a few relevant examples. Finally in section $`7`$ we present some classification results and in section $`8`$ we present a list of open problems.

For each of the results presented we only give a very rough sketch of the proof, referring to the relevant papers for the missing details.

Acknowledgements. The present collaboration takes place in the framework of the european contract EAGER, no. HPRN-CT-2000-00099. The first author is a member of CMAF and of the Departamento de Matemática da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa and the second author is a member of GNSAGA of CNR and of the italian project PIN 2000 “Geometria delle Varietà Algebriche”.

Notation and conventions. We work over the complex numbers; all varieties are assumed to be compact and algebraic. We do not distinguish between line bundles and divisors on a smooth variety, using the additive and the multiplicative notation interchangeably. Linear equivalence is denoted by $``$. The rest of the notation is standard in algebraic geometry.

## 2. The dimension of the bicanonical image

Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type with $`p_g(S)=0`$. It is well known that:

* $`q(S)=0`$,
* $`1K_S^29`$
* $`P_2(S):=h^0(S,2K_S)=1+K_S^2`$.

We denote by $`\phi :S^{K_S^2}`$ the bicanonical map of $`S`$ and by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ the image of $`\phi `$. The first question one asks about the bicanonical map is what is the dimension of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. For $`K_S^2=1`$, one has $`P_2(S)=2`$ and so $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a curve. For $`K_S^22`$, the answer was given by Xiao Gang in the mid-eighties:

###### Theorem 2.1.

(Xiao Gang, \[X1\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type with $`p_g(S)=0`$. If $`K_S^22`$ then the image of the bicanonical map of $`S`$ is a surface.

### Sketch of proof

We just explain the main ideas and refer the reader to \[X1\] for details.

By contradiction, suppose that $`|2K_S|`$ is composed with a pencil. Then one can show that necessarily $`2K_SaF+Z`$, where $`|F|`$ is a base point free genus $`2`$ pencil and $`a=K_S^2`$. Using the very precise description of Horikawa (\[Ho\]) for the reducible fibres of a genus $`2`$ fibration in terms of $`K_S^2`$ and $`\chi (𝒪_S)`$, one shows that for $`K_S^23`$ the surface $`S`$ does not contain a genus $`2`$ fibration, since otherwise the components of the reducible fibres would give $`b_2(S)`$ or more independent classes in $`H^2(S,)`$. For $`K_S^2=2`$, $`S`$ can have a genus $`2`$ fibration with general fibre $`F`$, but one can use the same type of argument to show that it is impossible to decompose $`2K_S`$ as $`2K_S2F+Z`$, i.e. that $`|2K_S|`$ is not composed with $`|F|`$. ∎

So the surfaces with $`K_S^2=1`$ and $`p_g=0`$, the numerical Godeaux, are in a class of their own. We just mention here that there is intensive work in progress on this subject by F. Catanese and R. Pignatelli and by Y. Lee, using in particular the bicanonical fibration. As already mentioned in the introduction, for more facts on numerical Godeaux one can see the paper \[CP\], which has also a very complete list of references.

## 3. The base points of the bicanonical system

Recall that, while for $`p_g(S)>0`$ the bicanonical map is defined at every point of $`S`$ (\[Bo\], \[Re\], \[F\], \[CC2\], cf. \[Ci\]), for $`p_g(S)=0`$ it is still unknown whether $`\phi `$ is always a morphism. For $`K_S^25`$ we have:

###### Theorem 3.1.

(Reider, \[Re\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal surface of general type with $`p_g=0`$ and let $`\phi :S^{K_S^2}`$ be the bicanonical map.

If $`K_S^25`$, then $`\phi `$ is a morphism.

Remark 1 This is a particular case of Reider’s theorem (\[Re\]) about adjoint systems, which only applies if $`K_S^25`$.

Remark 2 As far as we know, for all the known examples of surfaces of general type with $`2K_S^24`$ and $`p_g=0`$ the bicanonical map is a morphism.

For $`K_S^2=4`$, Lin Weng (\[W\]) has proven that the base locus of the bicanonical system contains no $`2`$curve. This result has later been improved by Langer:

###### Theorem 3.2.

(Langer, \[La\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal surface of general type with $`K_S^2=4`$ and $`p_g(S)=0`$. Then the system $`|2K_S|`$ has no fixed component.

Still in the case $`K_S^2=4`$, F. Catanese and F. Tovena (\[CT\]) and D. Kotschick (\[Ko\]) have related the existence of base points of the bicanonical system to properties of the fundamental group of the surface. Since the statements are quite technical, we just quote here the following consequence of their results:

###### Theorem 3.3.

(Catanese-Tovena, \[CT\], Kotschick, \[Ko\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal surface of general type with $`K_S^2=4`$ and $`p_g(S)=0`$. If $`H^2(\pi _1(S),_2)=0`$, then the bicanonical system $`|2K_S|`$ is base point free.

## 4. The degree

Once one knows that for $`K^22`$ the bicanonical image of a surface $`S`$ of general type with $`p_g=0`$ is a surface, it is natural to look for bounds on the degree $`d`$ of the bicanonical map $`\phi `$.

If $`K_S^2=2`$, the bicanonical image is $`^2`$ and therefore $`d2`$. On the other hand, $`(2K_S)^2=8`$ implies $`\mathrm{deg}\phi 8`$, , with equality holding if and only if $`\phi `$ is a morphism. All the known examples with $`K_S^2=2`$ have $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =8`$.

For higher values of $`K_S^2`$ we have:

###### Theorem 4.1.

(\[M\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type such that $`p_g(S)=0`$, $`K_S^23`$ and let $`\phi :S^{K_S^2}`$ be the bicanonical map of $`S`$. Then the degree of $`\phi `$ is at most $`5`$.

If $`\phi `$ is a morphism (in particular if $`K_S^25`$) then the degree of $`\phi `$ is at most $`4`$.

### Sketch of proof

(See \[M\] for the complete proof). Let $`d`$ be the degree of $`\phi `$ and let $`m`$ be the degree of the bicanonical image $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{K_S^2}`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a non-degenerate surface in $`^{K_S^2}`$, one has $`mK_S^21`$. Write $`|2K_S|=|M|+F`$, where $`M`$ and $`F`$ are the moving part and the fixed part of the system, respectively. Notice that, if $`F0`$, then $`M^2<(2K_S)^2`$, by the 2-connectedness of the bicanonical divisors. So we have $`4K_S^2md`$ and equality holds if and only if $`\phi `$ is a morphism. By an easy calculation we see that to prove the theorem it is enough to exclude the possibilities $`K_S^2=5`$, $`d=5`$, and $`K_S^2=3`$, $`d=6`$.

This is done by using the classification of surfaces of degree $`n1`$ in $`^n`$ (see \[Nag\]) to find the possibilities for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. Then, using the geometry of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, one is able to build irregular double covers of $`S`$, which in turn, by a theorem of De Franchis (\[DF\], see also \[CC1\]), yield special fibrations on $`S`$. Finally, with different “twists” for each case, the existence of such a fibration leads to a contradiction. ∎

Remark As mentioned above, for all known examples of surfaces with $`K_S^2>1`$ the bicanonical map is a morphism, and so the bound $`5`$ of the theorem above may not be effective for $`K_S^2=3,4`$.

On the other hand, the bound $`4`$, if $`\phi `$ is a morphism, is effective, as shown by the Burniat surfaces with $`K_S^2=3,\mathrm{},6`$ (\[Bu\], \[Pe\], see also Example 3 of §6).

For high values of $`K_S^2`$ these bounds can be improved.

###### Theorem 4.2.

(\[MP1\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type such that $`p_g(S)=0`$ and let $`\phi :S^{K_S^2}`$ be the bicanonical map of $`S`$. Then one has the following bounds on $`d:=\mathrm{deg}\phi `$:

* if $`K_S^2=9`$, then $`d=1`$;
* if $`K_S^2=7,8`$, then $`d2`$;

### Sketch of proof

(See \[MP1\] for the proof). For $`K_S^2=9`$, one has $`c_2(S)=3`$ and so $`b_2(S)=1`$. The assertion is proven by combining Reider’s theorem (\[Re\]) and the fact that $`H^2(S,)`$ is generated by the class of an ample divisor $`D`$ with $`D^2=1`$.

For $`K_S^2=7`$, $`\phi `$ is a morphism, and therefore the degree $`d`$ of $`\phi `$ is either $`1`$, $`2`$, or $`4`$. If $`d=4`$, then the bicanonical image $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a linearly normal surface of degree $`7`$ in $`^7`$ with $`p_g=q=0`$, and so it is the anti-canonical image of $`^2`$ blown-up at two points $`P,Q`$. Combining the information obtained from the geometry of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and the fact that the second Betti number of $`S`$ is small ($`b_2(S)=3`$), it is possible to find a contradiction, which shows that $`d=4`$ does not occur.

For $`K_S^2=8`$, the technique of proof is analogous. ∎

Remark The bounds in this theorem are effective, since there are examples of minimal surfaces with $`p_g=0`$ and $`K_S^2=7,8`$ for which the bicanonical map has degree $`2`$ (see Examples $`1`$ and $`2`$ in Section 6).

## 5. The image

Another natural question that arises is finding the possibilities for the image of the bicanonical map $`\phi `$, if $`\phi `$ is not birational. A priori, one only knows that the image of $`\phi `$ is a surface with $`p_g=q=0`$. It turns out that it is possible to be more precise, as we will see in the next theorem.

###### Theorem 5.1.

(Xiao Gang, \[X2\], \[MP3\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type such that $`p_g(S)=0`$ and $`K_S^22`$ and let $`\phi :S\mathrm{\Sigma }^{K_S^2}`$ be the bicanonical map of $`S`$. If $`\phi `$ is not birational, then either

i) $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a rational surface,

or

ii) $`K_S^2=3`$, $`\phi `$ is a morphism of degree 2 and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^3`$ is an Enriques sextic.

### Sketch of proof

(See \[X2\] and \[MP3\] for the proof). If the degree $`d`$ of $`\phi `$ is bigger than $`2`$, then $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a linearly normal surface with $`p_g=q=0`$ and degree lesser than or equal to $`2n2`$ in $`^n`$, and so a rational surface. In \[X2\], Xiao Gang, using double covers techniques, showed that if $`d=2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is not rational, then $`K_S^24`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is birationally equivalent to an Enriques surface with $`K_S^2+4`$ nodes. The Enriques surfaces with 8 nodes are classified in \[MP3\]. Using the knowledge of the linear systems on these surfaces, one is able to determine precisely the surfaces of general type with $`p_g=0`$ and $`K^2=4`$ whose bicanonical map factors through a degree 2 map onto an Enriques surface. Such surfaces had been previously constructed by D. Naie (\[Nai\]) and their bicanonical map is of degree 4 onto a rational surface. Hence the possibility $`K_S^2=4`$ is excluded. ∎

## 6. Some examples

In this section we give a quick description of some of the known examples of surfaces with $`p_g=0`$.

Example 1: Surfaces with $`K_S^2=8`$. All the examples known to us of surfaces $`S`$ with $`p_g=0`$ and $`K_S^2=8`$ are obtained by the following construction, first suggested by Beauville (cf. \[Be\], \[Do\]). One takes curves $`C_1`$, $`C_2`$ of genera $`g_1`$ and $`g_2`$, respectively, such that there exists a group $`G`$ of order $`(g_11)(g_21)`$ that acts faithfully on both $`C_1`$ and $`C_2`$. If the quotient curves $`C_1/G`$ and $`C_2/G`$ are rational and the diagonal action of $`G`$ on $`C_1\times C_2`$ is free, then $`S:=(C_1\times C_2)/G`$ is a minimal surface of general type with $`p_g=0`$ and $`K_S^2=8`$. By \[Pa\], the surfaces with these invariants and bicanonical map of degree 2 are obtained by this construction taking $`C_1`$ hyperelliptic of genus 3, and they belong to four different families. Examples with birational bicanonical map do exist. For instance, if one takes $`C_1=C_2`$ to be the Fermat quintic, then it is possible to let $`G=_5^2`$ act on the two copies of the curve in such a way that the diagonal action is free. The resulting surface has birational bicanonical map.

Example 2: A surface with $`K_S^2=7`$. This example is due to Inoue (\[In\]), who costructs it by taking the quotient of a complete intersection inside the product of four elliptic curves by a group isomorphic to $`_2^5`$ acting freely. Alternatively, this surface can be constructed as a $`_2^2`$cover of a rational surface with 4 nodes (see \[MP1\]). The bicanonical map has degree 2 and the bicanonical involution belongs to the Galois group of the cover. The quotient of this surface by the bicanonical involution is a rational surface with 11 nodes.

Example 3: Burniat surfaces. These surfaces were discovered by Burniat (\[Bu\]) and studied later by Peters (\[Pe\]). They are obtained by taking $`_2^2`$covers of the plane branched on a configuration of lines as shown in Figure 1 in such a way that the images of the divisorial components of the fixed loci of the three nonzero elements of the Galois group of the cover are $`l_{12}+m_1^1+m_2^1`$, $`l_{23}+m_1^2+m_2^2`$ and $`l_{13}+m_1^3+m_2^3`$. For a general choice of the lines $`m_j^i`$, the resulting surface $`Y`$ is singular above the points $`P_1,P_2,P_3`$ and the minimal resolution of $`Y`$ is obtained by taking base change with the blow–up $`\widehat{}^2`$ of the plane at $`P_1,P_2,P_3`$ and then normalizing. In this way one obtains a minimal surface $`S`$ with $`p_g=0`$ and $`K_S^2=6`$. The bicanonical map is the composition of the induced $`_2^2`$cover $`S\widehat{}`$ with the embedding of $`\widehat{}`$ as a Del Pezzo sextic in $`^6`$.

Examples with the same properties and with $`2K_S^25`$ can be obtained by letting one or more subsets of 3 lines $`m_j^i`$ go through the same point.

## 7. The limit cases

Surprisingly, the limit cases of Theorem 4.1 and Theorem 4.2, namely $`K_S^2=7,8`$, $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =2`$, and $`K_S^2=6`$, $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =4`$, can be described precisely, as we will see in the next two theorems.

###### Theorem 7.1.

(\[MP4\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type such that $`p_g(S)=0`$ and $`K_S^2=7,8`$. Let $`\phi :S^{K_S^2}`$ the bicanonical map of $`S`$ and assume that $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =2`$. Then $`K_S`$ is ample and:

* there exists a fibration $`f:S^1`$ such that the general fibre $`F`$ of $`f`$ is a smooth hyperelliptic curve of genus $`3`$ and the bicanonical involution induces the hyperelliptic involution on $`F`$;
* if $`K_S^2=8`$ then $`f`$ is isotrivial and the singular fibres of $`f`$ are $`6`$ double fibres with smooth support, while if $`K_S^2=7`$ then $`S`$ has $`5`$ double fibres and exactly one fibre with reducible support.

Remark 1 For $`K_S^2=8`$, the fact that $`f`$ is an isotrivial fibration whose only singular fibres are double fibres with smooth support implies that $`S`$ is one of the Beauville surfaces (see §6, Example 1). Using this fact it is possible to give a complete classification of these surfaces (see \[Pa\]). They belong to 4 different types, and the surfaces of each type form an irreducible connected component of the moduli space of surfaces of general type. An interesting feature of these surfaces is that they are smooth minimal models of double covers of the plane branched on a curve with certain singularities, a construction that had been suggested by Du Val (\[DV\], see also \[Ci\]). The expected number of parameters of the branch curve of this construction is negative, hence it seems very difficult prove directly its existence, that instead follows “a posteriori” from the classification of \[Pa\]. Remark 2 For $`K_S^2=7`$ the hyperelliptic fibration is not isotrivial and a complete classification seems out of reach. In the Inoue’s surface (see §6), which is the only known example with $`K_S^2=7`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =2`$, the unique fibre with reducible support of the fibration $`f`$ is one of the double fibres. In principle one would expect this to be a special situation, hence it would be interesting to find examples where the reducible fibre is not a double fibre.

### Sketch of proof

(See \[MP4\] for the proof). Consider the quotient $`Y`$ of $`S`$ by the bicanonical involution $`\sigma `$. $`Y`$ is a rational surface whose only singularities are $`\nu =K_S^2+4`$ nodes, which correspond to the isolated fixed points of $`\sigma `$. The minimal resolution of $`Y`$ is a rational surface $`X`$ having $`\nu b_2(X)3`$ disjoint $`2`$curves. Such surfaces are characterized in \[DMP\], where it is shown in particular that there exists a fibration $`g:Y\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ with rational fibres and with $`[\frac{\nu }{2}]`$ double fibres. Now, using some geometrical reasoning, one shows that $`g`$ pulls back to a fibration $`f:S^1`$ such that the general fibre of $`f`$ is hyperelliptic of genus 3.

The fact that $`K_S`$ is ample follows trivially for $`K_S^2=8`$ from Miyaoka’s results (\[Mi\]) on the existence of rational curves on surfaces. For $`K_S^2=7`$, the non-existence of $`2`$curves on $`S`$ is obtained by analyzing the structure of the unique reducible fibre of $`f`$ and using the equality $`b_2(S)=3`$. ∎

###### Theorem 7.2.

(\[MP2\]) Let $`S`$ be a minimal complex surface of general type such that $`p_g(S)=0`$ and $`K_S^2=6`$ and let $`\phi :S^{K_S^2}`$ the bicanonical map of $`S`$. Then:

$`\mathrm{deg}\phi =4`$ if and only if $`S`$ is a Burniat surface.

In particular, $`K_S`$ is ample.

### Sketch of proof

(See \[MP2\] for the proof). The first step in the proof of this theorem consists in showing that the bicanonical image $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ of $`S`$ is the non-singular Del Pezzo surface of degree $`6`$ in $`^6`$. This is shown by a case by case exclusion of all the possible singular such $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$.

The second step consists in showing that the sides of the “hexagon” of $`1`$curves of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ (cf. Fig. 2) are in the branch locus of $`\phi `$. Using the curves in $`S`$ which correspond to these sides, one produces a subgroup $`H`$ of Pic$`(S)`$ such that $`H_2^3`$.

By studying the étale covers of $`S`$ given by the nonzero elements of $`H`$, it is possible to show that the three pencils of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ corresponding to the lines through $`P_1,P_2`$ and $`P_3`$ pull-back in $`S`$ to three genus $`3`$ hyperelliptic pencils, each having two irreducible double fibres beside the two reducible ones given by pairs of sides of the hexagon. The images of these irreducible fibres are the remaining components of the branch locus of $`\phi `$ (see Fig. 2).

Finally, one verifies that the bicanonical map is composed with the three involutions of $`S`$ induced by the hyperelliptic pencils. It follows that the bicanonical map is a $`_2\times _2`$cover and $`S`$ is a Burniat surface. ∎

Using Theorem 7.2, one can obtain very precise information on the geometry of the moduli space of surfaces with $`p_g=0`$, $`K_S^2=6`$ and bicanonical map of degree 4.

###### Theorem 7.3.

(\[MP2\]) Smooth minimal surfaces of general type $`S`$ with $`K_S^2=6`$, $`p_g(S)=0`$ and bicanonical map of degree $`4`$ form an unirational $`4`$dimensional irreducible connected component of the moduli space of surfaces of general type.

### Sketch of proof

(See \[MP2\] for the proof). By the semicontinuity of $`\mathrm{deg}\phi `$ and by Theorem 4.1, the surfaces with $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =4`$ are a closed subset of the moduli space.

Using the theory of natural deformations of abelian covers, one constructs explicitly a smooth family $`𝒳B`$ of $`_2^2`$covers of the plane blown up at three non collinear points with the following properties:

* $`B`$ is smooth and irreducible;
* for every $`bB`$ the fibre $`X_b`$ is a Burniat surface and every Burniat surface occurs as a fibre for some $`bB`$;
* the family $`𝒳`$ is complete at every point $`b`$ of $`B`$.

This shows that the Burniat surfaces are an irreducible open subset of the moduli space. Hence, in view of Theorem 7.2, the surfaces with $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =4`$ are an irreducible open and closed subset of the moduli space. ∎

Remark 3 The limit cases for the degree of the bicanonical map have some common properties. First of all, by Theorem 7.1 and Theorem 7.2, they all have ample canonical class. In addition, all surfaces with $`K_S^2=6`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =4`$, all surfaces with $`K_S^2=8`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =2`$ (see \[Pa\]) and the Inoue surfaces with $`K_S^2=7`$ move in positive dimensional families, while the expected dimension of the moduli at the corresponding points is zero.

## 8. Some questions

Here we point out some questions that arise naturally from the results outlined in the previous sections.

Question 1 (cf. §3) Is the bicanonical map $`\phi `$ of surfaces with $`p_g=0`$ a morphism also for $`2K_S^24`$?

Question 2 (cf. Theorem 4.1) Is there a surface with $`p_g=0`$, $`K_S^2=3`$ or $`K_S^2=4`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =5`$? Notice that for such a surface $`\phi `$ cannot be a morphism.

Question 3 (cf. Theorem 4.1 and Theorem 4.2) Is there is a surface with $`p_g=0`$, $`K_S^2=6`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =3`$?

Question 4 (cf. Theorem 7.2) Is it possible to characterize surfaces with $`K_S^2=5`$, $`p_g=0`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}\phi =4`$?

Question 5 (cf. §7, Remark 2) Are the Inoue surfaces the only surfaces with $`p_g=0`$, $`K_S^2=7`$ and non birational bicanonical map?

| Margarida Mendes Lopes | Rita Pardini |
| --- | --- |
| CMAF | Dipartimento di Matematica |
| Universidade de Lisboa | Università di Pisa |
| Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 2 | Via Buonarroti 2 |
| 1649-003 Lisboa, PORTUGAL | 56127 Pisa, ITALY |
| mmlopes@lmc.fc.ul.pt | pardini@dm.unipi.it |


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# Radiative Transfer Effects in He I Emission Lines

## 1 Introduction

In a previous paper (Benjamin, Skillman, & Smits 1998, Paper I), we presented a calculation of the nebular recombination line spectrum of He I which combined the atomic data and recombination cascade of Smits (1991; 1996) with the collision strengths data of Sawey & Berrington (1993). The resulting Case B line fluxes were tabulated, fitting functions were provided, and estimates of uncertainties in atomic data on the helium abundance estimates were also given.

An additional uncertainty in estimating helium abundances is the effect of radiative transfer. By assuming Case B, we have assumed that most nebulae have a large optical depth in transitions arising from the 1 $`{}_{}{}^{1}S`$ level. However, a significant population of electrons may also build up in the metastable $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level. Absorption and reprocessing of photons from the $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level to upper levels will alter the recombination cascade and resulting helium abundance estimates.

The last full treatment of the recombination cascade combined with optical depth was provided by Robbins (1968), and this work remains the classic reference for most researchers. Additional work on this problem has been done by Almog & Netzer (1989), Proga, Mikolajewska, & Kenyon (1994), and Sasselov & Goldwirth (1995). However, these papers, while they considered the radiative transfer problem, used models of the helium atomic physics with an accuracy less than the 1% level necessary for meaningful cosmological constraints. As a result, while they were useful in demonstrating the relative effect of radiative transfer; the absolute effect has not been addressed since the improvements in the atomic data. We address this problem here.

This work is of particular interest to the derivation of the primordial helium abundance. Accuracy in the atomic physics of better than 1% is required to produce abundance estimates that provide meaningful constraints on models of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Currently, observational studies are claiming accuracies on order of less than 1% (e.g., Yp $`=`$ 0.2452 $`\pm `$ 0.0015, Izotov et al. 1999; Yp $`=`$ 0.2345 $`\pm `$ 0.0026, Peimbert et al. 2000). In Paper I we performed a Monte Carlo exercise to estimate the uncertainty in the theoretical emissivities due to uncertainties in the input atomic data and obtained an estimate of 1.3 to 1.5%. Recently, Olive & Skillman (2001) have demonstrated that minimization routines used to solve for physical conditions and He abundances simultaneously can result in erroneous solutions due to the degeneracies of the dependencies of the helium emission lines on the various physical conditions (i.e., temperature, density, optical depth, and underlying absorption). Obviously, using accurate atomic physics in these calculations reduces the systematic uncertainties in the abundance calculations.

## 2 Calculations

For this work, we consider the radiative transfer of a spherically symmetric nebula with no systematic expansion. We assume that the recombination is in the case B limit, so that the only radiative transfer effects are those that arise from the metastable $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level. The assumption of no systematic expansion is justified by detailed studies of the velocity fields of giant extragalactic HII regions (e.g., Yang et al. 1996, and references therein) which show them to be dominated by turbulent, and not organized, motions. We parameterize our calculations in terms of the line center optical depth of the 3889 Å line, $`\tau _{3889}=n(2{}_{}{}^{3}S)\sigma _{3889}R_s`$, where $`n(2{}_{}{}^{3}S)`$ is the density of atoms in the metastable state.111Note that in the text we refer to emission lines using their wavelength in air. However, the tables use the vacuum wavelengths derived from the energy levels described in Paper I. The cross section at line center is given by

$$\sigma =(6.73\times 10^{31}\mathrm{cm}^2)A\lambda _\AA ^3\left[166\frac{T_4}{m_{He}}+\xi ^2\right]^{1/2},$$
(1)
where $`A(\mathrm{s}^1)`$ is the spontaneous transition probability; $`\lambda _\AA `$ is the wavelength in Angstroms; the gas temperature is $`T_4=T/(10^4\mathrm{K})`$; $`m_{He}=4.0`$, and the “turbulent” velocity, $`\xi `$, is typically $`40\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

For a nebula of Stromgren radius, $`R_s=(30\mathrm{pc})Q_{48}^{1/3}n_H^{2/3}`$, the optical depth is

$$\tau =9.68\times 10^{14}Q_{48}^{1/3}n_H^{1/3}p_7A_6T_4^{1/2}\lambda _\AA ^3,$$
(2)
where $`Q_{48}=Q_H/(10^{48}\mathrm{cm}^3)`$ is the luminosity of hydrogen ionizing photons, $`n_H`$ ($`\mathrm{cm}^3`$) is the hydrogen particle density, $`A_6=A/(10^6\mathrm{s}^1)`$ is the spontaneous transition probability, and $`p_7=(n(2{}_{}{}^{3}S)/n_{He+})/10^7`$ is the population in the metastable $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level. A helium abundance of 10% by number is assumed. Turbulent velocities will lower this optical depth, and can be accounted for by replacing $`T_4`$ with $`T_4+m_{He}\xi ^2/166`$, where $`\xi `$ is in $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. For low densities, the population in the $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level is in the range of $`p_7=`$ 1-4 (See Table 8 in Paper I.) For fixed $`T`$ and $`p`$, the variation of optical depth with ionizing luminosity and particle density is shown in Figure 1.

For a spherically symmetric nebula, the mean probability of escape of a photon with a frequency characterized by $`x=(\nu \nu _o)/\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ is given by (Cox & Mathews 1969)

$$p(\tau _x)=\frac{3}{4\tau _x}\left[1\frac{1}{2\tau _x^2}+\left(\frac{1}{\tau _x}+\frac{1}{2\tau _x^2}\right)e^{2\tau _x}\right]$$
(3)
where $`\nu _o`$ is the line center frequency and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu =(\nu _0/c)\sqrt{2kT/m_{He}+\xi ^2}`$.

Integrating this escape probability over the entire line profile yields a total escape probability of $`ϵ(\tau )=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}p(\tau _x)e^{x^2}𝑑x`$. As noted in Osterbrock (1989), this can be approximated to within 10% with the function $`ϵ(\tau )=1.72/(1.72+\tau )`$. To get a more exact result, we have evaluated this integral numerically, with a precision of better than 0.01%.

The calculation of statistical equilibrium given in equation (4) of Paper I is then simply modified by replacing the spontaneous decay rates $`A`$ with $`ϵ(\tau )A`$, yielding a revised set of level populations and emissivities. In the calculations here, we used a model atom with individual levels up to $`n=20`$; otherwise the calculations are the same as in Paper I. The relative optical depths of lines in the $`n{}_{}{}^{3}P`$-$`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$series are given in Table 1.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Tables, Fitting Formulae and Comparisons

We have calculated the emissivity, $`j=j`$ ($`n,T,\tau _{3889}`$), of recombination lines for the same temperature and density grid as in Paper I, but for optical depths up to $`\tau _{3889}=100`$. The ratio of the line emissivity for optical depth $`\tau _{3889}`$ to the emissivity for zero optical depth is given by optical depth factor $`f_{line}(\tau _{3889})=j(n,T,\tau _{3889})/j(n,T,0)`$. Figure 2 shows how the optical depth factor of several lines varies as a function of optical depth for a case with $`n_e=10^2\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`T=10000`$ K and 20000 K. Although we include the collisional coupling between the triplet and singlet levels, only the triplet lines show noticeable differences. Even for densities as high as $`n_e=10^8\mathrm{cm}^3`$, the effect of optical depth in the $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level on the singlet lines is small, less than 0.4% in the worst case.

Table 2 shows all optical and IR lines that change by more than 5% over the range $`\tau _{3889}=0100`$ for the case with $`n_e=10^2\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`T=10000`$ K. This provides a guide to which lines are most affected by optical depth. From Figure 2, note the strong dependence of the 7065 Å line on both $`\tau _{3889}`$ and temperature. The decrease in $`f_{7065}(\tau _{3889})`$ with increasing temperature (at constant density) arises due to a decreasing population in the $`2{}_{}{}^{3}S`$level caused by the increasing collisional excitations out of that level. We also provide polynomial fit coefficients in Table 3 for these lines that approximate the calculated results to within 10%, and better than 1% for a few selected optical lines at a single temperature and density.

Unfortunately, the optical depth factor is sometimes a complex function of density, temperature, and $`\tau _{3889}`$, so no simple functional form was found that could provide a good (i.e., better than 10%) fit for $`f_{line}(\tau _{3889})`$ over our full three dimensional parameter space. This difficulty is illustrated by Figure 3 which shows $`f_{7065}`$ at $`\tau _{3889}=100`$. As a result, we have written a program which does a linear interpolation on our grid of results to estimate the emissivities. This program may be obtained from the authors.222Program and input data file may be obtained from the website http://wisp.physics.wisc.edu/$``$benjamin.

In Figure 4, we have compared the results of our new calculations with the results of Robbins (1968) for a density of $`n_e=100\mathrm{cm}^3`$. Robbins’ results are shown as filled symbols, ours are shown as open symbols, and a solid line shows the result of the fitting formulae in Table 3. This figure shows differences between the relative line strengths for different temperatures, particularly for $`\lambda `$7065. This demonstrates again that the radiative transfer effects are dependent on other factors beside $`\tau _{3889}`$. As a result, the fitting formulae given in Table 3 should be used with caution, since they are only for a single choice of temperature and density.

Second, although Robbins only reported results on a very coarse grid, it is instructive to note the difference in $`f_{3889}`$ as a function of $`\tau _{3889}`$. Our calculated $`\lambda `$3889 line strengths do not decrease as strongly with increasing $`\tau _{3889}`$. Since $`\lambda `$3889 is essentially a resonance line, most $`\lambda `$3889 absorptions are followed directly by a $`\lambda `$3889 emission, with the result that the line strength falls off relatively slowly with increasing $`\tau _{3889}`$ (less than 50% at $`\tau _{3889}`$ $`=`$ 10). The absolute value of $`f_{3889}`$ as a function of $`\tau _{3889}`$, therefore, depends on the formalism used in the calculation. Robbins (1968) used an “exact redistribution” function from Unno (1952), while here we use complete redistribution. In the complete redistribution case, the absorbed wavelength and re-emitted wavelength are completely unrelated. In addition, Robbins (1968) used a numerical integration of the equations of radiative transfer while our result is (almost) analytical, and therefore has much higher numerical accuracy. Thus, we believe our calculations should be the more accurate.

A significant advantage to using an escape probability formalism as opposed to calculating the “exact” solution as in Robbins (1968) is that it allows one to quickly change the characteristics of the radiative transfer. Since these effects depend upon the exact geometry of the system, which will always be poorly known, our ability to correct line fluxes for modifications due to self-absorption will always be limited. In particular, density inhomogeneities, ionization inhomogeneities, large scale velocity structure, and planar versus spherical geometry can all effect the resulting radiative transfer to differing degrees. Our calculations also do not include the effects of dust absorption or the effects of the hydrogen emission line at 3889.1 Å.

In lieu of calculating a large number of grids of differing geometries and density/velocity structure, we have attempted to estimate the robustness of our results using two alternate forms of the escape probability corresponding to differing geometries and scattering assumptions. For the case with $`T=10^4`$ K and $`n_e=10^2\mathrm{cm}^3`$, we have recalculated the recombination cascades using the simple form $`ϵ=(1\mathrm{exp}(\tau ))/\tau `$ for a plane parallel geometry(Rybicki 1984; Almog & Netzer 1989); the second form comes from integrating the local escape probability given by equation I.2 in Avrett & Hummer (1965). We find that for the restricted range of optical depth of interest for primordial helium abundance studies, the difference in all the bright optical lines is less than 1%. For the extended range to $`\tau _{3889}=100`$, all the triplet lines that are not part of the $`2^3Sn^3P`$ series are modified by 7% at the most. Lines in the $`2^3Sn^3P`$ series are affected much more. Like other lines, they are modified indirectly by the change in the $`2^3S`$ level population (which is a small fractional change in the line flux) , but also directly by the reprocessing of photons in this series.

Another important effect for radiative transfer is the presence or absence of velocity gradients. Our treatment implicitly assumes that the expansion rate of a nebula is significantly less than the intrinsic Doppler width of the line, i.e., $`w=v_{exp}/v_{dopp}<<1`$, where $`v_{dopp}=\sqrt{166T_4/m_{He}+\zeta ^2}`$ as above. For extragalactic HII regions, we are generally justified in assuming that $`w0`$. However, using the results of Robbins (1968), one can estimate the effects of expansion velocity for an uniform density sphere. We find that the effects of expansion can be approximated by replacing $`\tau _{3889}`$ with $`\tau _{3889,eff}\tau _{3889}/(1+0.4w)`$. This approximation is good to within 5% up to $`\tau _{3889}=30`$ and 20% for $`\tau _{3889}=70`$.

### 3.2 Relevance to Primordial Helium Determinations

Part of the motivation of this work was to estimate accurate radiative transfer corrections in determinations of helium abundances in low metallicity extragalactic HII regions. Thus, as in Paper I, we have calculated optical depth correction factors over a limited grid of physical parameters: $`T=12,00020,000`$ K, $`n_e=1300\mathrm{cm}^3`$, and $`\tau _{3889}<`$ 2.0. The upper bound on the optical depth is chosen for two reasons. First, most observations of extragalactic HII regions find optical depths less than 2.0 (e.g., Izotov & Thuan 1998). This is due to the large ($``$ 25 km s-1) velocity dispersion typical of these objects (e.g., Melnick et al. 1988, and references therein). Second, if an object requires a large optical depth correction to derive the helium abundance, it is probably an inherently uncertain abundance calculation, and may not therefore be useful in determining the primordial helium abundance.

The upper bound on density follows from the same principle, i.e., as the correction for collisional excitation becomes large, the uncertainty in that correction must also grow, rendering the abundance determination less certain. While the density range covers the entire range of densities considered for NGC 346 by Peimbert et al. (2000) and almost all of the targets studied by Izotov & Thuan (1998), Peimbert, Peimbert, & Luridiana (2001) have derived much higher densities for several of the targets in the Izotov & Thuan (1998) sample. If it proves necessary to consider a grid with a larger density range, it is possible to produce one with the provided programs.

We find that the optical depth correction factors for the bright optical lines 4471 Å and 5876 Å are less than 1% in this limited range. It is the corrections to 7065 Å and 3889 Å that are of most concern. In Table 4, we give fitting functions that allow one to estimate the helium abundance given an observed line ratio of $`r_{line}=I_{line}/I_{H\beta }`$. The helium abundance by number for a given line is given by

$$y_{line}=r_{line}\frac{F_{line}(n_e,t)}{f_{line}(n_e,t,\tau _{3889})}$$
(4)
The function $`F_{line}(n_e,t)=At^{B_0+B_1n_e}`$ is taken from Paper I, while the optical depth function, $`f_{line}(n_e,t,\tau _{3889})=1+(\tau /2)[a+(b_0+b_1n_e+b_2n_e^2)t]`$ is calculated here for the limited range $`\tau 2.0`$. For the 7065 Å line however, it is necessary to use a different functional form. The $`H\beta `$ emissivity is fit by $`ϵ_{H\beta }(n_e,t)=4\pi j_{H\beta }/n_en_{H^+}=12.450\times 10^{26}t^{0.917}`$ with an maximum error of 0.3% over our limited parameter space. The 7065 emissivity at $`\tau =0`$ is fit by $`ϵ_{7065}(n_e,t)=4\pi j_{7065}/n_en_{He^+}=C+(D_0+D_1n_e+D_2n_e^2)t`$, where $`(C,D_0,D_1,D_2)=(3.4940,0.793,1.50\times 10^3,6.96\times 10^7)\times 10^{26}`$, and the optical depth function $`f_{7065}(n_e,t,\tau _{3889})`$ is the same as above with parameters $`(a,b_0,b_1,b_2)=(0.359,3.46\times 10^2,1.84\times 10^4,3.039\times 10^7)`$. Then the helium abundance by number using the 7065 line is given by

$$y_{7065}=r_{7065}\frac{ϵ_{H\beta }(n_e,t)}{ϵ_{7065}(n_e,t)f_{7065}(n_e,t,\tau _{3889})}$$
(5)
These functions fit $`y_{7065}`$ within 2.2% over our limited range.

Figure 5 shows the same functions as in Figure 4 but only for the low values of $`\tau _{3889}`$ relevant to estimating the primordial helium abundance. We include the fits to the optical depth correction factors contained in Table 4, and refer to them as “BSS limited fit”. A striking feature in Figure 5 is the large deviation of the Izotov & Thuan fitting formula from our newly calculated values for the 7065 Å line. Since the Izotov & Thuan fit is based on the very coarse grid of values given by Robbins, it does not accurately represent the results at low $`\tau _{3889}`$ where it is actually being applied. The parabolic form of the fitting function is not appropriate to the physics, as $`f`$ increases nearly linearly with $`\tau _{3889}`$ for low values of $`\tau _{3889}`$, and turns over only at relatively high values of $`\tau _{3889}`$.

Evidence of this can be seen by considering the predictions of the Izotov & Thuan functions at $`\tau _{3889}=0.5`$. Figure 5 shows that at $`\tau _{3889}=0.5`$ the 3889 Å line has decreased by roughly 3% while the Izotov & Thuan fit for the 7065 Å line has increased by roughly 25%. At 20,000 K, the ratio of the emissivities for the $`\lambda `$3889 and $`\lambda `$7065 lines is 3.85, which, after correcting for energy per photon, means that there are roughly 2.1 $`\lambda `$3889 photons emitted for each $`\lambda `$7065 photon. Since the increase in the 7065 Å line with increasing $`\tau _{3889}`$ comes from the conversion of $`\lambda `$3889 photons, the 7065 Å line should not increase faster than 2.1 $`\times `$ the 3889 Å line decreases. Thus, in the range of interest, the Izotov & Thuan fit has overestimated the radiative transfer effects on the 7065 Å line by roughly a factor of four at $`\tau _{3889}=0.5`$, and higher at lower values of $`\tau _{3889}`$.

This difference has important consequences. Olive & Skillman (2001) explored various possibilities for systematic errors that could result by using minimization routines to solve for physical conditions and He abundances simultaneously. Since the 7065 Å line plays the main role as the density diagnostic in these minimization routines, overestimating the 7065 Å dependence on $`\tau _{3889}`$ leads to errors in the density estimates (which directly affect the helium abundance determinations). The good news is that the 7065 Å line dependence on $`\tau _{3889}`$ is much less than previously thought, so that using the 7065 Å as a density diagnostic will increase in diagnostic power. That is, the degeneracies between the 3889 Å and 7065 Å lines will be decreased. This is important since the 3889 Å line is subject to systematic observational uncertainties, most notably separation from the 3889 HI line.

The error estimation work of Olive & Skillman (2001) will need to be revisited with the newly calculated fitting formulae. We recommend that all future helium abundance calculations from minimization routines take advantage of the new fitting formulae presented in Table 4. The consequence of our results on the determination of the primordial helium abundance is not yet clear. Only about one third of the targets in the sample of Izotov & Thuan (1998) showed evidence for detectable radiative transfer effects. Moreover, since the main effect comes through the densities calculated from the 7065 Å line, the effect is likely to be small in most cases. The total effect will need to be calculated on a case-by-case basis. However, the sense of the correction will be that higher 7065 Å line strengths will be interpreted as being due to higher densities, not higher values of $`\tau _{3889}`$. As can be seen using the helium abundance fitting functions in Table 9 of Paper I, this will result in a lower helium abundance for objects for which radiative transfer corrections have been applied.

We would like to thank John Mathis for comments and encouragement, and Manuel Peimbert and Stuart Pottasch for pointing out errors in Paper I. We would also like to acknowledge the support of NASA Astrophysics Theory Grant NAG5-8417 (RAB) and NASA LTSARP grant NAG5-9221 and the University of Minnesota (EDS).

## Appendix A Corrections to Paper I

Two corrections to the fitting formulae provided in Paper I should be noted. First, the fitting formula for primordial helium abundance in Table 9 for the 6678 line should be given by $`f=2.58t^{0.249n_e2.0\times 10^4}`$. Second, the values of fluxes in Tables 5-7 for Brackett $`\gamma `$ emissivities were in error. The values of the emissivities in units of $`10^{27}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{cm}^3`$ for $`T=(5000,10000,20000\mathrm{K})`$ should be (7.25,3.44,1.54), (7.20,3.41,1.53), and (6.99,3.33,1.51) for $`n_e=10^2,10^4,\mathrm{and}10^6\mathrm{cm}^3`$. The corresponding fitting functions (good to within 8%) are $`3.39\times 10^{27}t^{1.118}`$, $`3.37\times 10^{27}t^{1.116}`$, and $`3.29\times 10^{27}t^{1.104}`$.


text:
# Non-conservation of Density of States in Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy: Coexistence of Pseudogap and Superconducting gap

## Abstract

Abstract: The tunneling spectra obtained within the ab-plane of Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy (Bi2212) for temperatures below and above the critical temperature (Tc) are analyzed. We find that the tunneling conductance spectra for the underdoped compound in the superconducting state do not follow the conservation of states rule. There is a consistent loss of states for the underdoped BI2212 implying an underlying depression in the density of states (DOS) and hence the pseudogap near the Fermi energy (EF). Such an underlying depression can also explain the peak-dip-hump structure observed in the spectra. Furthermore, the conservation of states is recovered and the dip-hump structure disappears after normalizing the low temperature spectra with that of the normal state. We argue that this is a direct evidence for the coexistence of a pseudogap with the superconducting gap.

The existence of a pseudogap in high-Tc cuprate superconductors is a very well established fact. However, there is no agreement among theorists regarding its origin. One popular belief is the pre-formation of pairs well above Tc without any coherence. Such pre-formation should carry some signatures of the existence of pairs above Tc such as a diamagnetic response or Andreev reflection. No such supporting evidence in this direction has come so far, partly because of the experimental difficulties. Independent of such a lack of direct evidence for pre-formed pairs, there is ample evidence in support of a loss of states near EF. This loss of states can also arise because of other possibilities, for instance, a lattice distortion or a magnetic instability as suggested by various authors.

The superconducting energy gap (2$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$) of these high-Tc superconductors is a monotonic function of doping, with the gap decreasing as the carrier concentration increases (while Tc is peaked at a doping called optimum doping). The pseudogap is known to exist in the underdoped and slightly overdoped regime. If the pseudogap is different from the superconducting gap, the former will continue to exist as a depression in the DOS together with the latter as the temperature is reduced below Tc. Recent intrinsic tunneling measurements on mesa structures have shown the existence of a pseudogap together with the superconducting gap below Tc. In these experiments, the superconducting gap is found to vanish above Tc or in high magnetic fields with the pseudogap remaining. Further, a peak-dip-hump structure in the DOS below Tc seems to arise as a result of the two coexisting gaps.

Such a peak-dip-hump structure has also been observed earlier in the c-axis as well as ab-plane tunneling spectra at low temperatures. Furthermore, the normalized quasiparticle peak height at low temperatures is found to be higher for higher doping, without much change in the zero bias conductance. This fact implies that, even in the superconducting state, more states are lost near (EF) with underdoping. Some other measurements, like specific heat and NMR , have also concluded this kind of loss of states and hence the coexistence of the two gaps. A direct consequence of this coexistence is the violation of conservation of states rule. As a result of this, there will be a loss of states as we go from overdoped to underdoped regime. We believe that the reduction in the normalized peak height with underdoping is a consequence of this depression in the DOS and the peak-dip-hump structure is a result of the superposition of the two gaps, one being slightly larger than the other.

The total number of states must be conserved within a band. So a depression at EF means that some of the states are pushed out from near EF to higher or lower energies (above or below EF). For example, when superconductivity sets in at Tc, the states within the gap region, $`\pm \mathrm{\Delta }`$, are pushed out to higher energies; a majority of these states are concentrated at $`\pm \mathrm{\Delta }`$ as singularities. The average DOS in between $`\pm ϵ`$ ($`ϵ>\mathrm{\Delta }`$) stays the same as the background DOS (i.e. DOS at $`|eV|>\mathrm{\Delta }`$). Hence, in the tunneling experiments, if the average tunneling conductance is less than the background conductance, there is an underlying depression in the DOS. Our interpretation of the pseudogap as a depression in the DOS at EF differs from the ARPES results, where the pseudogap is interpreted as a true energy gap from the leading edge analysis of the photoemission spectra. This kind of state-conservation analysis is difficult to carry out for the photoemission measurements, partly, because of a poor understanding of the photoemission line-shape, and also because the data are limited to below EF.

For a conventional BCS superconductor the DOS below Tc is given by, $`N_{sup}(E)=N(E)|E|/\sqrt{(E^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)}`$. If we ignore the thermal smearing related effects, the tunneling DOS below and above Tc for a SIN (Superconductor-Insulator-Normal metal) junction are proportional to $`N_{sup}(E)`$ and N(E), respectively. Here, N(E), the normal state DOS, is assumed to be constant near EF. We believe that for underdoped high-Tc superconductors N(E) has a depression near EF which may also depend on the angle $`\theta `$ in ab-plane. In this case, the DOS below Tc is given by, $`N_{sup}(E,\theta )=N(E,\theta )|E|/\sqrt{(E^2\mathrm{\Delta }(\theta )^2)}`$. Hence $`N(E,\theta )`$ can be normalized away from the tunneling spectra at low temperatures by the tunneling spectra above Tc for ab-plane tunneling at a particular angle $`\theta `$. For the c-axis tunneling, where the tunneling conductances below and above Tc are $`N_{sup}(E,\theta )𝑑\theta `$ and $`N(E,\theta )𝑑\theta `$, respectively, the normal state DOS cannot be normalized away from the low temperature spectra. However, the effect of pseudogap could still be observable in terms of non-conservation of states if there is a depression or hump in N(E).

For an SIS (Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor) tunneling junction the tunneling current is given by (neglecting the thermal smearing effects), I(V) $`\underset{0}{\overset{eV}{}}N_{sup}(E,\theta )N_{sup}(EeV,\theta )𝑑E`$ (for T $`<`$ Tc) and I(V) $`\underset{0}{\overset{eV}{}}N(E,\theta )N(EeV,\theta )𝑑E`$ (for T $`>`$ Tc). For $`|eV|>\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`N_{sup}(E,\theta )N(E,\theta )`$ and hence it turns out that for $`|eV|>2\mathrm{\Delta }`$, I(V) and dI/dV are determined by $`N(E,\theta )`$ at low temperatures. Thus, the noramalization procedure for tunneling conductance is still valid for higher bias voltages ($`|eV|>2\mathrm{\Delta }`$) for ab-plane SIS tunneling junctions. Furthermore, we know that for a BCS type SIS tunneling junction the average conductance matches with the background conductance and so any deviation from this implies some structure in the normal state DOS.

In this paper we analyze the ab-plane spectra of underdoped and slightly overdoped Bi2212 as obtained with SIS and SIN type junctions realized in a low temperature STM. This STM has been used previously for studying the gap anisotropy and more recently to observe the pseudogap in ab-plane of Bi2212. The crystal growth and underdoping have been described earlier. The junction configuration is as shown in Fig.1. For SIS tunneling, a single crystal of Bi2212 is cut in the air and the two pieces are attached to two different metal electrodes. The two electrodes are brought closer, with the two crystals at $`90^{}`$ (see fig.1), until a tunneling current is detected. For SIN tunneling, a sharpened Pt-Ir foil replaces one of the superconductors. This method has an advantage in terms of tunneling in a particular direction of the ab-plane as opposed to c-axis or the break junction configuration. As argued earlier, in the c-axis tunneling the conductance gives an average DOS for all the angles in ab-plane. In a break junction, the conductance is also an average over certain angles in an uncontrolled way. In our junction configuration, electrons tunnel in a narrow angular cone at a particular angle in the ab-plane.

The temperature dependent tunneling spectra for underdoped and slightly overdoped Bi2212 SIN and SIS junctions have been reported elsewhere. In Fig.2a we plot a low temperature (15K) and a higher temperature (85.1K) SIS tunneling spectra for a underdoped Bi2212 (Tc = 65K) superconductor. The energy gap estimated from the peak-to-peak separation is about 34mV with the dip feature occuring at about $`\pm `$ 100mV. We do not know the exact tunneling direction in the ab-plane and it will not affect the argument presented here. However, from such a low zero bias conductance, it is clear that the tunneling angle should be very close to the maximum gap direction. A broad gap-like feature (inside $`\pm `$ 160mV) is also clearly visible at low temperatures, together with the superconducting gap. The gap value and the symmetry of the spectra changes slightly from one junction to another; however, these three features, peak-dip-hump, are clearly visible in all the SIS spectra for either polarity of the bias voltage. We believe that the inverted parabolic background (also seen in interlayer Josephson measurements) is a result of the convolution of a linear background DOS in both the superconductors. It can be shown analytically that a linear background DOS in the two electrodes of a tunneling junction gives rise to an inverted parabolic background in the tunneling conductance. Such a linear background has been observed in SIN junctions previously.

One very important point to notice about the spectra is that the conservation of states rule is violated. To analyze this better, an average DOS is calculated for both the spectra in between the humps ($`\pm `$ 175 mV). By average DOS, we mean the integrated conductance in between the specified bias voltages divided by the bias voltage difference. This average conductance is shown as a continuous (broken) horizontal line in the same figure for 15K (85.1K). It can be seen from the figure that these lines are well below the background. This implies that there is a loss of states at low temperature as well as for T $`>`$ Tc. This can be interpreted in terms of an underlying structure in the DOS other than the qusiparticle type gap. The non-conservation feature is consistently reproducible for different junctions with junction resistance varying between 10k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ to 10M$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. This rules out the possibility of capacitive effects giving rise to a depression near zero bias.

From Fig.2a the average DOS above Tc seems to be lower than that below Tc, which is quite contrary to the belief that the pseudogap gets weaker with increasing temperature. We do not quite understand this fact and it does not change the argument in terms of the non-conservation of states for the same spectrum; however, we want to point out that the two spectra have been normalized so as to match the conductances at 100mV. This affects the relative position of the average DOS of the two different spectra. This normalization procedure to superimpose the two spectra for comparison purposes has been used for all the spectra described in this paper.

Further, we divide the 15K curve by 85.1 K curve to normalize away the background DOS. This is plotted in Fig. 2b. After this normalization, the dip-hump structure disappears and the average DOS matches with the background. As pointed out earlier, this kind of normalization procedure is valid only for the biases outside the gap structure and in terms of demonstrating the loss of states. This normalization procedure was used in the pioneering work of McMilan on strong coupling superconductors for removing the normal state background from the SIS and SIN junctions. This procedure was found to be necessary in terms of removing the normal state background effects to deduce the strong coupling features from the tunneling conductance. DeWilde et. al. modeled the background with a sloped straight line; however, no such normalization was carried out with the experimentally measured tunneling conductance above Tc to remove the normal state background DOS.

Several other groups have clearly seen such non-conservation features with underdoping in the tunneling DOS in c-axis tunneling junction configuration while DOS for the overdoped Bi2212, where there is no pseudogap, follows the conservation of states rule, consistent with our interpretation. Matsuda et. al. considered the pseudogap as a band structure effect, however, no quantitative analysis was done to determine the loss in states. Although they normalized the low temperature spectra with the 100K spectra, the spectra looked very unrealistic after normalization. Since the c-axis spectrum is an anglular averaged ab-plane spectrum as we have discussed previously in this paper, such normalization procedure is not valid for the c-axis tunneling spectra given the highly anisotropic nature of the two gaps.

The tunneling spectra for a SIN junction for underdoped Bi2212 (Tc = 68K) are plotted in Fig.3a for 10.8K and 97.3K. The SIN spectra have less sharp and more asymmetric features as compared to the SIS spectra. The spectra have been normalized so that the conductances at 100mV are the same. The dip structure seen on the positive bias side is actually consistent with the dip seen by other groups on the negative side. The bias voltage in this case is applied to the metal electrode while the sample is at the zero potential. The dashed (continuous) horizontal line shown in the figure is the average DOS for 10.8K (97.3K), which is well below the background conductance for both the temperatures implying the loss of states. One very interesting feature about these and the SIS spectra (Fig.2a) is that the backgrounds below Tc and above Tc match remarkably well and the dip feature seen on the right for T $`<`$ Tc seems to be a result of the product of the background depression in DOS and a BCS like gap DOS. This is a very strong evidence in support of the fact that the same pseudogap exists for both temperatures, above and below Tc.

In Fig.3b, we divide the low temperature curve by the high temperature one. The average tunneling conductance of the normalized spectrum matches well with the background implying that the conservation of states is recovered. Moreover, the normalized tunneling spectrum is symmetric and most of the dip feature on the right is absent. A little depression, which is still present as the dip feature, can be attributed to a slight weakening of the pseudogap with increasing temperature.

To compare with the overdoped case, we plot the tunneling spectra for a SIN junction at 15.2K and 89.7K for slightly overdoped Bi2212 (Tc = 85K). From the 15.2K spectrum the average conductance was calculated and we find that the loss of states is negligible. This means that the pseudogap in this compound is much weaker than the underdoped one. The low temperature spectrum has an asymmetry, smaller than the underdoped SIN spectrum, and a dip feature for the positive bias. This asymmetry is also present in 89.7K spectrum. On normalization of the 15.2 K spectrum with the 89.7K spectrum the asymmetry disappears, however, the dip feature still persists.

Recent c-axis tunneling measurements from two different groups found that the surface of Bi2212 is quite inhomogeneous with some areas having much larger gap compared to the superconducting gap. It could be argued that the non-conservation features we observed could be a result of the contribution from such large gap regions which may not conserve states, given that the junction area in our tunneling configuration is larger than a STM tip. In this case, it should be possible to subtract out the contribution from such regions by subtracting the normal state spectra from the low temperature spectra. We carried out this subtraction and found that the state conservation was almost recovered.This can also be seen from Fig. 2a,3a, and 4a, since the average conductances for the two spectra are almost equal. It should be noted that this procedure is sensitive to the relative normalization factor between the two spectra as mentioned earlier. However, the subtraction procedure does not remove the dip features from the SIS and SIN spectra and also it does not symmetrize the SIN spectra completely. Although we cannot rule out this inhomogeniety scenario completely, it does not affect our argument in terms of non-conservation of states for the underdoped Bi2212 and hence the coexistence of the two gaps.

To summarize, from our ab-plane tunneling studies on Bi2212, we find that the states conservation rule is violated for the underdoped material. By normalizing the low temperature spectra with the T $`>`$ Tc spectra, the conservation of states rule is recovered. Moreover, the dip-hump feature which is observed below Tc disappears on normalization. From this, we conclude that the pseudogap does not evolve into the superconducting gap at Tc; rather, the two gaps coexist below Tc. Furthermore, the dip-hump feature can be interpreted in terms of the coexistence of the two gaps, one being slightly larger than the other. This coexistence of two gaps can rule out the scenario that the superconducting gap and pseudogap arise from the same origin, i.e. pair formation with and without coherence, respectively.

We would like to acknowledge a brief discussion we had with A. J. Millis on non-conservation of states. This work was supported by NSF grant DMR997201.


text:
# Strain dependence of the acoustic properties of amorphous metals below 1K: Evidence for the interaction between tunneling states

## Abstract

We have conducted a thorough study of the acoustic properties between $`10^4`$ and 1 Kelvin for the amorphous metal ZrxCu1-x (x=0.3 and x=0.4), by measuring the relative change of sound velocity $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$ and internal friction $`Q^1`$ as a function of temperature and also of the applied strain, in both superconducting and normal state. We have found that when plotted versus the ratio of strain energy to thermal energy, all measurements display the same behavior: a crossover from a linear regime of “independent” tunneling systems at very low strains and/or high enough temperatures to a nonlinear regime where $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$ and $`Q^1`$ depend on applied strain and the tunneling systems cannot be considered as independent.

The standard tunneling model (STM), independently introduced by Anderson, Halperin and Varma ande72 , and Phillips phil72  in 1972, provides a widely accepted basis for the phenomenological description of thermal, dielectric and acoustic properties of amorphous solids below 1 K phil\_rev ; hunk86 ; esqu98 . The central idea of the model is the universal existence in glasses of a random distribution $`P(\mathrm{\Delta }_0,\mathrm{\Delta })=P_0/\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ of independent two-level states or tunneling systems (TS) with quantum energy splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ and asymmetry $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Although low-temperature thermal properties have often been used to confirm the STM predictions (especially in non-metallic glasses devoid of the free-electron contributions which can overwhelm those of TS), indeed acoustic properties in the kHz range are much more sensitive to details of the TS and their interactions with phonons and/or electrons. At very-low temperatures and not very-high frequencies ($`TT_{\mathrm{co}}`$), the STM predicts phil\_rev ; hunk86 ; esqu98  for dielectric glasses a relative change of sound velocity $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v=C\mathrm{ln}(T/T_0)`$ and an internal friction $`Q^1CT^3/\omega `$. Above the crossover temperature $`T_{\mathrm{co}}`$ ($`TT_{\mathrm{co}}`$), (phonon) relaxational processes add to resonant contributions to the sound velocity and $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v=C/2\mathrm{ln}(T/T_0)`$, whereas the relaxation-dominated internal friction reaches a constant “plateau” value $`Q^1=(\pi /2)C`$. $`C`$ is the fundamental, dimensionless parameter of the STM ($`C=P_0\gamma ^2/\rho v^2`$, where $`\gamma `$ denotes a TS-phonon coupling constant, $`v`$ and $`\rho `$ are sound velocity and density of the material) and $`T_0`$ is an arbitrary reference temperature. In amorphous metals blac81 , conduction electrons provide in addition to phonons an alternative channel for relaxation of the TS, typically dominant below 1 K. In this case, $`T_{\mathrm{co}}`$ 1–10 $`\mu `$K is estimated instead of $`T_{\mathrm{co}}`$ 100 mK as for dielectric glasses, and experiments should therefore show a sound-velocity variation with both resonant and electron relaxational contributions $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v=C/2\mathrm{ln}(T/T_0)`$, and an internal friction with a wide “plateau” $`Q^1=(\pi /2)C`$. The good overall agreement between these predictions and many experiments phil\_rev ; hunk86 ; esqu98 ; rayc84  gave the definitive support to the STM. Nevertheless, significant discrepancies below $`100`$mK have also been reported: internal friction in dielectric glasses decreases for $`T<T_{\mathrm{co}}`$ much more slowly than $`Q^1T^3`$ esqu98 ; esqu92 ; hunk00 , the slopes in $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$ are not always as predicted, and the acoustic properties of both dielectric and metallic glasses exhibit a strong, unexpected strain dependence esqu92 ; esqu98 ; ramos00 .

On the other hand, Yu and Leggett yu  have questioned the general idea of independent, noninteracting TS in glasses and the very STM, arguing that the universality of low-energy excitations may be the result of interactions between some kind of defects. They emphasized that the most important universality of glasses (compatible with, but not explained by the STM) is that at low frequencies $`l150\lambda `$ as found by Freeman and Anderson freeman  ($`l`$ and $`\lambda `$ being phonon mean free path and wavelength, respectively), and hence $`Q_{\mathrm{plateau}}^1P_0\gamma ^2/\rho v^210^3`$, despite a great variation in $`P_0,\gamma ,\rho `$ and $`v`$. On general grounds yu , the effective interaction between two TS separated by a distance $`r`$ is dipolar elastic and the interaction energy reads $`U_0/r^3`$, with $`U_0\gamma ^2/\rho v^2`$. The observed universality of low-temperature glassy properties can therefore be written in terms of the dimensionless interaction strength as $`P_0U_0\mathrm{const}10^3`$ (for a review, see Burin et al. burin ). In practice, $`P_0U_0`$ could be a few times larger than experimental data of $`Q_{\mathrm{plateau}}^1`$, since the former is mainly determined by transverse phonons whereas the latter usually measures the absorption of longitudinal sound waves $`P_0\gamma _l^2/\rho v_l^2`$ justify .

Although several attempts have been made to understand aforementioned deviations from the STM of internal friction and dielectric absorption by interacting-TS induced relaxations burin , no consensus in this matter has been achieved. Our aim here has been to address these open questions, by studying the acoustic properties of amorphous Zr30Cu70 as a function of temperature and of applied strain in the range 0.1 mK $`<T<`$ 1 K, both in the superconducting ($`T_\mathrm{c}=95`$ mK) and in the normal state, therefore being able to tune phonons or electrons as TS relaxational centers. For comparison, we have also measured Zr40Cu60 ($`T_\mathrm{c}=280`$ mK), for which there exist published data above 10 mK rayc84 .

Ribbons of ZrxCu1-x (30 $`\mu `$m thick) were prepared with the melt-spinning technique in an argon-controlled environment. X-ray diffraction showed the samples were fully amorphous. Critical superconducting temperatures and magnetic fields were determined from electric resistance measurements. Young-modulus sound velocity dispersion and absorption were measured at around 1 kHz using the vibrating-reed technique in a nuclear adiabatic demagnetization cryostat.

In Fig. 1, we show $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$ and $`Q^1`$ data for Zr30Cu70 in both superconducting and normal (with a magnetic field $`B=250`$ mT) states, obtained at different excitation voltages of the reed during warm-up periods of the nuclear stage ramos00 . An eddy-current contribution to the internal friction, depending quadratically on magnetic field, was measured and subtracted. Similar data for Zr40Cu60 (with $`B=0`$), shown in the insets of Fig. 1, agree well with published data above 10 mK rayc84 , apart from an almost factor of 2 difference in the absolute value of internal friction, which may be partially due to different contributions from the clamping of the samples. The observed behavior just below $`T_\mathrm{c}`$ is thought to arise from the strong variation in the number of quasiparticles thermally activated in that temperature region esqu98 ; rayc84 . The maximum in $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$ at $`T_{\mathrm{co}}30`$ mK (40 mK) for x=0.3 (x=0.4) should correspond to the abovementioned crossover, occurring when $`\omega \tau 1`$ ($`\omega `$ being the angular frequency of the acoustic wave and $`\tau `$ the relaxation time of the TS). As expected, this peak disappears in the normal metallic state, since this crossover shifts to orders of magnitude lower temperatures due to the much faster relaxation rate of TS by electrons than by phonons.

However, below $`10`$ mK both $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$ and $`Q^1`$ strongly depend on the excitation voltage (hence on strain), a behavior similar to that observed in metallic glass PdSiCu esqu92 ; ramos00 . Since the STM is linear in strain, it cannot account for any strain dependence of acoustic properties, with exception of the observed saturation at high intensities of resonant absorption at ultrasonic frequencies hunk86 ; esqu98 . To study this effect in detail, we have conducted complementary experiments by measuring, at selected constant temperatures, acoustic properties as a function of the applied strain which was obtained from the reed vibration amplitude ramos00 . This is important since constant-voltage curves do not mean constant-strain curves at very low temperature: the applied strain typically increases a factor of 3 with decreasing temperature along our constant-voltage data sets. We show in Fig. 2 these measurements taken for Zr30Cu70 (no magnetic field), plotted for convenience versus square-rooted strain to stretch the lower strain region and facilitate the extrapolation of data to zero limit. Although not shown here, a very similar behavior is observed in the normal state ($`B=250`$ mT) and for Zr40Cu60. As anticipated from Fig. 1, sound velocity increases and internal friction decreases with strain, below at least 12 mK. In addition, at relatively high strains, a minimum value of $`Q^1`$ is observed. This also unexpected feature will not be studied here.

In the same spirit of Ref. ramos00 , low-degree polynomial fits (see Fig. 2) have been used to determine zero-strain extrapolated data, which are shown in Fig. 1. Although the lack of understanding of these strain-dependent effects –and hence of a function with physical meaning– hinders a proper determination of zero-strain values (as already noticed in PdSiCu ramos00 ), some conclusions can be drawn: (i) sound velocity seems to recover the STM behavior in the zero-strain limit, though still exhibiting a small saturation below a few mK, and with a logarithmic slope in the SC state approximately double of that of the N state, as predicted by the STM; (ii) in the N state, $`Q^1`$ also seems to recover the expected plateau (as observed in normal metallic PdSiCu ramos00 ); (iii) nonetheless, this reappareance of the plateau in $`Q^1`$ down to the lowest temperatures occurs in the SC state too (instead of $`T^3`$), an absolutely unexpected result. Therefore, the known observation in SC glasses hunk86 ; esqu98 ; rayc84  of a decrease in the internal friction below the plateau value at lower temperatures is shown here to be due to the applied strain, not because of the expected ”crossover” at $`T_{\mathrm{co}}30`$ mK.

The search for a deeper comprehension of these strain-dependent effects on acoustic properties, as well as the need of a meaningful physical function to follow their behavior at very low strain, led us to find out the striking representation shown in Fig. 3. All sets of constant-temperature $`Q^1`$ data merge into a common curve, resembling tanh($`1/x`$), within experimental error when displayed versus the dimensionless ratio of strain energy to thermal energy along almost 5 orders of magnitude (with the obvious exception of the abovementioned temperature-independent upturn at higher strains, irrelevant for the present discussion). Corresponding curves measured in the normal state (so expected to be dominated by electronic instead of by phononic relaxation) are also shown there. A typical value of $`\gamma =1`$ eV has been used for the coupling constant. As can be observed, all curves show the same $`Q^1`$ “plateau” value at $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^4`$ (strikingly, also in the SC, dielectric case). Moderately increasing the strain, so that $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^4`$, makes $`Q^1`$ to decrease with a roughly logarithmic dependence on $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T`$. When phonons are replaced by electrons as TS relaxation centers in the normal state, the same behavior is observed, though the slope is less steep. The problem encountered in zero-strain extrapolations at the lowest temperatures (say, below 5–10 mK) is also made clearer now: even the very low strains used here are not low enough to completely reach the “plateau” limit. On the other hand, $`\mathrm{\Delta }v/v`$, which is much more governed by resonant processes (especially in the SC state), also exhibit a crossover at $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^4`$ from the strain-independent behavior expected within the STM into a regime of strong increase of the sound velocity with strain, either in N or SC states.

Furthermore, although we have shown and discussed up to now only the case of Zr30Cu70 for sake of clarity, a very similar plot can be obtained for Zr40Cu60 data in the SC state, and also when we use earlier published data ramos00  of the normal metal PdSiCu, pointing once again to a universal behavior of glasses. In Fig. 4, internal friction data for all these cases have been normalized to their corresponding constant value found at the plateau $`Q_{\mathrm{plateau}}^1`$, assuming always $`\gamma =1`$ eV. Indeed, the reason for this normalization of $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T`$ in terms of $`Q_{\mathrm{plateau}}^1`$ is to emphasize that in all cases the crossover from strain-independent behavior to strain-dependent one occurs when $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T`$ 2–5 $`Q_{\mathrm{plateau}}^1P_0U_0`$ (notice justify  as well as the uncertainty in $`\gamma `$). It represents the main result of this work.

We want to show now that the observed general behavior in Fig. 4 is in quantitative agreement with the model of interacting TS yu  and that our strain-energy scans at constant temperatures enable us to assess directly (within the uncertainty in $`\gamma `$) the interaction strength between TS. We note first that the observed behavior cannot be ascribed to the saturation effects proposed by Stockburger et al. stockb , since the saturation regime should be reached when $`\gamma ϵ/k_\mathrm{B}T1`$, i.e. at 4 orders-of-magnitude higher strains. In short, TS pairs can interact through the exchange of virtual phonons. $`P_0\times k_\mathrm{B}T`$ is the number of thermally activated TS per unit volume, and then $`P_0U_0\times k_\mathrm{B}T`$ is the total effective interaction energy between TS at the considered temperature. If the strain energy driven by the sound wave $`\gamma ϵ`$ is less than that interaction energy, one may observe the “true” unperturbed response of the TS, in which only their interaction and the thermal energy determine the temperature dependence of the acoustic properties. However, when $`\gamma ϵ>(P_0U_0\times k_\mathrm{B}T)`$, the system is perturbed and nonlinear effects will affect the acoustic properties, the STM picture of independent TS being no longer valid. The dashed line in Fig. 3 would therefore indicate the border between the independent-TS, linear regime (left) and the nonlinear regime arising from TS interaction at high enough strain/temperature ratios (right). This crossover will occur around $``$ 20–50 mK for typical experiments as already mentioned, but strictly speaking depends on the variable $`ϵ/T`$, since strain and thermal energies play an inextricably combined role in the acoustic properties of glasses at low temperatures due to the mutual interaction of TS. The challenge remains for theoreticians to account in detail for the observed behavior in the nonlinear regime (a logarithmic decrease of sound absorption and a corresponding increase of sound velocity with the strain –in terms of TS thermal energy–), as well as for the specific behavior due to TS relaxational processes (at least when mediated by phonons) even in the linear regime, which has been shown to clearly deviate from the STM predictions too.

In summary, acoustic experiments in metallic glasses, both in SC and N states, with variation of the strain energy used, have enabled us to obtain the interaction strength between TS in amorphous solids which is found to be in quantitative agreement with the model of interacting TS yu . Our results provide a clue to generally account for the overall observed experimental deviations of the acoustic properties in glasses from the predictions of the STM. We have been able to study in detail this behavior by using the vibrating-reed technique which, in contrast to other techniques, allows measuring at very low strains only limited by experimental resolution.

This work was supported by the “TMR-Large Scale Facility Program: contract No. ERB FMGE CT950072” of the EU. Valuable discussions with A. Burin and many other participants of the Workshop on Collective Phenomena in the Low-Temperature Physics of Glasses (Dresden, 2000), organized by S. Hunklinger, C. Enss and R. Kühn, are gratefully acknowledged.


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# Order-Parameter Criticality of the d=3 Random-Field Ising Antiferromagnet Fe_0.85Zn_0.15F₂

## Abstract

The critical exponent $`\beta =0.16\pm 0.02`$ for the random-field Ising model order parameter is determined using extinction-free magnetic x-ray scattering for $`\mathrm{Fe}_{0.85}\mathrm{Zn}_{0.15}\mathrm{F}_2`$ in magnetic fields of $`10`$ and $`11`$ T. The observed value is consistent with other experimental random-field critical exponents, but disagrees sharply with Monte Carlo and exact ground state calculations on finite-sized systems.

The Ising model is perhaps the most important model in statistical physics, with many applications that go well beyond the realm of physics. In 1944, the pure two-dimensional ($`d=2`$) model was solved exactly by Onsager o44 . For the pure $`d=3`$ Ising model, although various calculations and computer simulation techniques have proven extremely useful, no exact results are available. Nevertheless, there is extremely good agreement among theory, simulations, and experiments b00 . Hence, the model can be considered well understood. Through the years, the intellectual value of the Ising model has grown, particularly as a model of disorder. One of the most important of these models of disorder occurs when a random field is imposed which couples directly to the order parameter of the system. The most studied realization of this random-field Ising model (RFIM) is the diluted antiferromagnet in an applied magnetic field. Unlike the pure $`d=3`$ Ising model, there is, so far, poor agreement between theory and simulations on the one hand and experiments on the other b00 . This has motivated us to measure the critical behavior of the staggered magnetization, the antiferromagnetic order parameter

$$M_s=M_0t^\beta $$
(1)
where $`t=(T_c(H)T)/T_c(H)`$, of the dilute Ising antiferromagnet in an applied field, since this is one of the most valuable yet also least characterized aspects of the experimental system. Our result for the order parameter exponent $`\beta `$ provides an important quantitative experimental contribution toward a comprehensive understanding of the RFIM.

The dilute, insulating antiferromagnet $`\mathrm{Fe}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{Zn}_{1\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{F}_2`$ has a large single-ion anisotropy and is an extensively studied b00  $`d=3`$ RFIM realization fa79 ; c84 . Nevertheless, prior attempts to determine the critical behavior of the order parameter have been unsuccessful. This may be surprising since, in principle, one only needs to measure the temperature dependence of the Bragg scattering intensity, $`I_B`$, which is proportional to $`(M_s)^2`$, with a magnetic field $`H`$ applied along the $`c`$-axis, the spin ordering direction. For two reasons, such measurements have proven very difficult in practice. First, neutron scattering on these high-quality crystals suffers greatly from the effects of extinction; the beam, upon transmission through the crystal, is depleted of neutrons satisfying the Bragg condition, resulting in the saturation of the measured value of $`I_B`$. Second, for magnetic concentrations $`x`$ below the vacancy percolation threshold bb00 ; samb02 , $`x_v=0.754`$, domain formation obscures the RFIM critical behavior below the transition at $`T_c(H)`$ in $`\mathrm{Fe}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{Zn}_{1\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{F}_2`$ and its less anisotropic isomorph $`\mathrm{Mn}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{Zn}_{1\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{F}_2`$. Although the domains may be internally well ordered, $`I_B`$ will be greatly diminished if the characteristic length scale for the domain structure is smaller than that of the spectrometer resolution; we will refer to this as micro-domain structure and it has been studied extensively in previous works n93 . Under severe extinction conditions, domain structure may relieve extinction and actually cause $`I_B`$ to increase. Whether domain structure forms or not, the Bragg scattering cross section will be decreased by thermal disorder as the transition is approached. In x-ray scattering, since the magnetic scattering cross section is relatively small, the scattering intensity, obtained in a reflection geometry, does not suffer from extinction, as extensively discussed previously gmshgptb87 ; hfbt93 . The use of extinction-free magnetic x-ray scattering, and of a crystal with $`x>x_v`$ to avoid micro-domains, has allowed us to accurately characterize the order parameter critical behavior in $`\mathrm{Fe}_{0.85}\mathrm{Zn}_{0.15}\mathrm{F}_2`$.

The magnetic x-ray scattering technique was employed for $`\mathrm{MnF}_2`$ for $`H=0`$ by Goldman et al. gmshgptb87 , and was then applied to $`\mathrm{Mn}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{Zn}_{1\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{F}_2`$ with $`H>0`$ by Hill et al. hfbt93 . Whereas the $`H=0`$ study yielded the exponent $`\beta `$ consistent with the $`d=3`$ Ising model, the latter did not reveal the universal RFIM behavior hfbt93 , which would be consistent with $`x<x_v`$; the $`H=0`$ transition temperature bkbj80  and its field dependence rkj88  are consistent with the concentration being very close to or below $`x_v`$. That the transition in Ref. hfbt93  was obscured by micro-domains bb00  is suggested by the zero slope of $`M_{s}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$ versus $`T`$ as $`TT_c(H)`$. The present magnetic x-ray scattering measurements use $`\mathrm{Fe}_{0.85}\mathrm{Zn}_{0.15}\mathrm{F}_2`$, for which $`x`$ is well above $`x_v`$.

The measurements were made at the new high-field magnet facility on beam line 7-2 of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. A monochromatic x-ray beam was obtained from the wiggler spectrum via a Si(111) double-crystal monochromator. X-ray energies between 14 and 13.5 keV were used, which resulted in a penetration depth of about 60 $`\mu `$m. The energy was tuned to minimize energy-sensitive multiple scattering hfbt93 . The sample had a finely polished face, a few mm2 in area, with the $`a`$-axis perpendicular to the polished face and the $`c`$-axis along the vertical field. The temperature of the crystal, mounted in a He atmosphere, was stable to approximately 10 mK. The transition temperature for $`H=0`$ was measured to be $`T_N=66.7`$ K, consistent with birefringence measurements on the same sample yb02  and with a concentration $`x=0.85`$ bkbj80 . It has been shown that the antiferromagnetic transition at this magnetic concentration is stable at fields as high as $`H=18`$ T samb02 . For $`H=10`$ and $`11`$ T, the transitions are at $`T_c=64.2`$ and $`64.0`$ K, respectively. The lattice constants of the sample were determined to be approximately $`a=4.68`$ Å and $`c=3.27`$ Å near the transition temperature. The half-widths-at-half-maximum for the Bragg peaks were $`4\times 10^4`$, $`4\times 10^3`$, and $`4\times 10^3`$ reciprocal lattice units for the transverse, longitudinal and vertical directions, respectively, at the (100) magnetic Bragg point, about which transverse $`H=0`$ and $`H=11`$ T and longitudinal $`H=10`$ T scans were obtained. The sample was remounted between measurements at different fields, and therefore we normalized intensities using scans at $`T=47`$ K. Three conventional thermal-cycling procedures were employed. In ZFC, the sample is cooled in zero field below $`T_c(H)`$, the field is applied, and the sample is warmed through $`T_c(H)`$, waiting at each temperature at least 20 min before taking data to let the temperature and system stabilize. In FC, the sample is cooled through $`T_c(H)`$ in the field, taking data as in ZFC. Field-heated (FH) data were taken by heating in the field after FC. The scans typically consisted of 41 points, about 15 of which covered the Bragg peak. At each point, the intensity was counted for 30 to 45 seconds, depending on the temperature of the scan.

Figure 1 shows the Bragg intensity for $`H=0`$ and $`10`$ T versus temperature, with the $`q`$ and $`T`$ independent backgrounds subtracted, where $`q`$ is the distance in reciprocal space from the (100) antiferromagnetic Bragg point. The background depends on the precise experimental configuration, but not on the thermal cycling used to collect data, and is mostly from sources other than the crystal itself. For comparison of the background to the Bragg signal, typical background counts for the $`H=11`$ T scans were eight counts per second whereas the $`q=0`$ intensity was 160 counts per second at $`T=47`$ K. Above the transition, the scattering intensity results only from the critical scattering and goes to zero well above $`T_c(H)`$, indicating that there are no contributions from multiple scattering to the Bragg intensity. To determine the critical scattering for $`H=0`$, $`10`$ and $`11`$ T, neutron scattering line shapes, obtained with a sample of nearly the same magnetic concentration ymkyfb02  using a previously described procedure sbf99 , were folded with the x-ray resolution, and the overall $`q=0`$ amplitude was adjusted to fit the $`H=10`$ T data above $`T_c(H)`$. Insets a) and b) in Fig. 1 show the critical scattering contributions for $`H=0`$ and $`10`$ T, respectively. As a result of the high momentum resolution of the x-ray technique, the critical scattering contributions, which are nearly Lorentzian for $`H=0`$ sbf99 ; bybf02 , are almost negligible (Fig. 1a)). For $`H>0`$, however, the critical scattering has a much larger $`q`$ dependence sbf99  at small $`q`$. Consequently, a small contribution to the $`q=0`$ scattering is more discernible for the $`H=10`$ T data. These contributions were subtracted from all the data before determining the order parameter exponent.

Although neutron scattering measurements using $`\mathrm{Fe}_{0.85}\mathrm{Zn}_{0.15}\mathrm{F}_2`$ ymkyfb02  and $`\mathrm{Fe}_{0.93}\mathrm{Zn}_{0.07}\mathrm{F}_2`$ sbf99  show no evidence for micro-domain formation in the critical scattering, $`H>0`$ hysteresis in $`I_B`$ is evident, with the FC intensities larger than the ZFC ones, a result of extinction. The x-ray Bragg scattering also shows hysteresis, but in this extinction-free case the ZFC data are higher in intensity. In the random field region, the FC intensity is factor of 4.1 smaller than ZFC intensity. This ratio depends slightly on the cooling rate used in obtaining the FC data. The ZFC data are rate independent. For $`H=11`$ T, the corresponding ratio is approximately $`4.0`$. FH data were intermediate between the ZFC and FC curves. We note that specific heat measurements also show hysteresis very close to $`T_c(H)`$ at this concentration yb02 ; sb98 . Such hysteresis is likely a result of the extremely slow activated RFIM dynamics and possibly represents the fact that FC long-range ordering must take place while traversing the transition, where activated dynamics plays the greatest role. The logarithmically slow relaxation associated with activated dynamics f86 ; kmj86  severely limits the ability of the system to equilibrate extremely close to $`T_c(H)`$. This limits the formation of long-range order upon FC. ZFC data, on the other hand, are obtained without approaching $`T_c(H)`$ except when the order parameter is already very small, and thus do not visibly suffer from the slow dynamics. Moreover, no dependence on the rate of temperature change was observed upon ZFC. Hence, we believe the ZFC data represent the correct order parameter measurement. Various measurements near the transition at this concentration have yielded critical behavior indicative of a second-order phase transition. There is also no measureable latent-heat in specific heat critical behavior measurements yb02 . Therefore, this appears to be a second-order transition, although an extraordinary one.

The normalized Bragg intensity curves in Fig. 1 clearly approach $`T_c(H)`$ vertically. This is characteristic of experiments ymkyfb02 ; sbf99 ; bybf02  and simulations bb00  for $`x>x_v`$ and in stark contrast with experiments b00 ; hfbt93 ; bwshnlrl96  and simulations bb00  for $`x<x_v`$, where $`I_B`$ approaches $`T_c(H)`$ horizontally. The latter behavior is attributable to micro-domain formation, which is energetically favorable when the vacancies percolate through the crystal, as shown in Monte Carlo simulations bb00 .

Figure 2 shows the logarithm of $`I_B`$, with the constant background and critical scattering contributions subtracted, for $`H=0`$, $`10`$, and $`11`$ T, versus the logarithm of $`t`$. The values of $`T_c(H)`$ were determined from fits to the data. For $`0.0007<t<0.03`$ and $`H=0`$, we find $`\beta =0.35\pm 0.02`$ (solid line), which agrees well with several experimental and theoretical determinations for the random-exchange Ising model b00 . For $`H=10`$ and $`11`$ T, a crossover from random-exchange to RFIM critical behavior occurs near $`t=0.03`$, consistent with birefringence measurements yb02 , and the data can be fit to a single power law only in the range $`0.0001<t<0.03`$. The fits over this range yield the exponent $`\beta =0.16\pm 0.02`$ for the combined $`H=10`$ and $`11`$ T data and are indicated by the parallel solid lines in Fig. 2. A less sophisticated data analysis, which did not correct for the critical scattering contribution, resulted in a value for the order parameter exponent that is larger by 0.02, still within the error bars. The correction should, of course, be done in order to obtain the correct value of $`\beta `$. The slope of the data at large $`t`$ changes with $`H`$ since the definition of the reduced temperature involves $`T_c(H)`$ for $`H>0`$ and not the $`H=0`$ transition temperature $`T_N`$.

Through the Rushbrooke scaling relation

$$2\beta +\gamma +\alpha 2,$$
(2)
which is usually satisfied as an equality, $`\beta `$ is related to the universal critical exponents $`\alpha `$ (for the specific heat) and $`\gamma `$ (for the staggered susceptibility) of the $`d=3`$ RFIM. The experimentally determined specific heat peak is nearly logarithmic and very symmetric close to $`T_c(H)`$, consistent with $`\alpha 0`$ yb02 ; sb98 . Neutron scattering analyses ymkyfb02 ; sbf99  yield values in the $`1.45<\gamma <1.65`$ range. Therefore, the experimental value $`\beta 0.16`$ is fairly consistent with Rushbrooke scaling, taking the upper limit of $`\gamma `$ and $`\alpha =0`$.

A very recent NMR study kdlbzp02  of the order parameter in the effective short-range interaction random-field ferroelectric $`\mathrm{Sr}_{0.61\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{Ce}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{Ba}_{0.39}\mathrm{Nb}_2\mathrm{O}_6`$, with $`x=0.0066`$, yielded $`\beta =0.14\pm 0.03`$, consistent with the present result for $`\mathrm{Fe}_{0.85}\mathrm{Zn}_{0.15}\mathrm{F}_2`$. It was obtained, however, in the presence of micro-domain structure. Apparently, the more local NMR probe is less sensitive than the Bragg scattering techniques to the formation of micro-domains. This suggests that domain formation does not preclude a fairly sharp RFIM-like phase transition and a measurement of its order parameter rkjr88 , but only prevents measurements of the order parameter through scattering experiments for $`x<x_v`$.

There does not exist a set of theoretical results that are consistent with all the experiments b00 . Monte Carlo r95  and exact ground state calculations hy01  yield very small values for $`\beta `$ and large, negative values for $`\alpha `$. Other numerical and scaling analyses mf01  yield $`\alpha `$ close to zero, consistent with experiments yb02 ; sb98 , but also yield $`\nu =1.37\pm 0.09`$, much larger than experimental value $`\nu =1.05\pm 0.01`$ sbf99 ; ymkyfb02 . Another recent work dm02  yields $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ close to zero. One Monte Carlo study, on a large lattice and with less assurance of equilibrium than other simulations, yielded $`\beta =0.25\pm 0.03`$ bb00b . Since consistency among numerical and experimental exponents continues to elude us, a comprehensive understanding of the $`d=3`$ RFIM is yet to be achieved. The determination of the order parameter exponent presented here is an important quantitative contribution in this direction.

We thank M. Matsuda, S. Katano, H. Yoshizawa and J. A. Fernandez-Baca for allowing the use of unpublished neutron scattering results in the analysis shown in Fig. 1, and the SSRL staff for their help in building the magnet facility. The x-ray experiments were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, a national user facility operated by Stanford University on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The work at Stanford was also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract Nos. DE-FG03-99ER45773 and DE-AC03-76SF00515, by NSF Grant Nos. DMR-9985067 and DMR-9802737, and by the A.P. Sloan Foundation. The work at UCSC was supported by Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG03-87ER45324. The work at West Virginia University was supported by NSF Grant No. DMR-9734051.