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# Stability of quantum states of finite macroscopic systems *footnote **footnote * Proceedings of the Japan-Italy Joint Waseda Workshop on Fundamental Problems in Quantum Mechanics, 27-29 September, 2001, Tokyo, Japan. (Edited by S. Tasaki, To be published from World Scientific, 2002)

## 1 Introduction

The stability of quantum states of macroscopic systems, which are subject to noises or perturbations from environments, have been studied in many fields of physics, including studies of ‘macroscopic quantum coherence’  and quantum measurement. However, most previous works assumed that the principal systems were describable by a small number of collective coordinates. Although such models might be applicable to systems which have a non-negligible energy gap to excite ‘internal coordinates’ of the collective coordinates, there are many systems that do not have such an energy gap. As a result of the use of such simple models, the results depended strongly on the choices of the coordinates and the form of the interaction $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}`$ between the principal system and a noise or an environment. For example, a robust state for some $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}`$ can become a fragile state for another $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}`$. However, macroscopic physics and experiences indicate that a more universal result should be drawn for the stability of quantum states of macroscopic systems. Moreover, the stability against measurements were not studied well. Although one might conjecture that effects of measurements would be equivalent to effects of noises or environments, the conjecture is wrong as we will show in section 9 of this paper.

In this paper, we study these stabilities using a general model with a macroscopic number of degrees of freedom $`N`$. In addition to the fact that $`N`$ is huge, we make full use of the locality — ‘additive’ observables must be the sum of local observables over a macroscopic region (Eq. (7) below), the interaction $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}`$ must be local (Eqs. (12) and (14)), and measurement must be local. By noticing these points, which were absent or ambiguous in most previous works, we derive general and universal results. We also propose a new criterion of stability; the stability against local measurements. We present a general and universal result also for this stability.

The present theory has many applications because it is general and universal. We here mention applications to phase transitions in finite systems, and quantum computers with a huge number of qubits.

## 2 Macroscopic quantum systems

We consider “macroscopic quantum systems.” We first describe what this means.

As usual, we are only interested in phenomena in some energy range $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, and describe the system by an effective theory which correctly describes the system only in $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$. For a given $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, let $``$ be the number of many-body quantum states in that energy range. Then,

$$N\mathrm{ln}$$
(1)
is the degrees of freedom of the effective theory. Here, the symbol ‘$``$’ means that corrections of $`o(N)`$, such as $`\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{\Delta }E)=O(\mathrm{ln}N)`$, are neglected. For weakly interacting systems, for example, $`N`$ becomes the number of single-body quantum states which constitutes the $``$ many-body states. Note that $`N`$ sometimes becomes a small number even for a system of many degrees of freedom when, e.g., a non-negligible energy gap exists in $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$. Such systems include some SQUID systems at low temperatures, and a heavy atom at a meV or lower energy range. We here exclude such systems, because they are essentially systems of small degrees of freedom. Namely, we consider systems whose $`N`$ is a macroscopic number. Otherwise, the difference between $`O(N)`$ and $`O(N^2)`$, which plays the central roles in macroscopic physics and in the following discussions, would be irrelevant. Since $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sets a minimum length scale $`\mathrm{}`$, the system extends spatially over a finite volume

$$VN\mathrm{}^d$$
(2)
in $`d`$ dimension. Since $`V`$ is proportional to the macroscopic number $`N`$, we say $`V`$ is also macroscopic, disregarding the magnitude of $`\mathrm{}`$.

In short, we consider macroscopic quantum systems for which $`N`$ and $`V`$ are macroscopic for a given energy range $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$. Note that $`V`$ is essentially equal to $`N`$ because of Eq. (2). We therefore use $`V`$ and $`N`$ (and the words “volume” and “degrees of freedom”) interchangeably in the following discussions.

## 3 Cluster property

As we shall show later, correlations between distant points are important in the study of stability. As a measure of the correlations, we first consider the cluster property. Although we are considering finite systems, we first review the case of infinite systems. A quantum state of an in infinite system is said to have the cluster property if

$$\delta \widehat{a}(x)\delta \widehat{b}(y)0\text{ as }|xy|\mathrm{}$$
(3)
for any local operators $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ and $`\widehat{b}(y)`$ at $`x`$ and $`y`$, respectively, where

$`\delta \widehat{a}(x)`$ $``$ $`\widehat{a}(x)\widehat{a}(x),`$ (4)
$`\delta \widehat{b}(y)`$ $``$ $`\widehat{b}(y)\widehat{b}(y).`$ (5)
Here, by a local operator at $`x`$ we mean a finite-order polynomial of field operators and their finite-order derivatives at position $`x`$. To express and utilize the locality of the theory manifestly, we use a field theory throughout this paper. The cluster property should not be confused with the lack of long-range order: A state with a long-range order can have the cluster property. In fact, symmetry-breaking vacua of infinite systems have both the long-range order and the cluster property. Many theorems have been proved regarding the cluster property.  Among them, the following is most important to the present theory:

Known theorem: In infinite systems, any pure state has the cluster property.

In oder to study finite systems, we generalize the concept of the cluster property to the case of finite systems. For a small positive number $`ϵ`$, let $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ)`$ be the minimum size of the region over which correlations of any local operators become smaller than $`ϵ`$. Namely, $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ)sup_x|\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ,x)|`$, where $`|\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ,x)|`$ denotes the size of the region $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ,x)`$. Here, $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ,x)`$ is defined by its complement $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ,x)^c`$, which is the region of $`y`$ in which

$$\left|\delta \widehat{a}(x)\delta \widehat{b}(y)\right|ϵ\sqrt{\delta \widehat{a}^{}(x)\delta \widehat{a}(x)\delta \widehat{b}^{}(y)\delta \widehat{b}(y)}$$
(6)
for any local operators $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ and $`\widehat{b}(y)`$. Then, we say that a quantum state of a finite macroscopic system has the cluster property if $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ)V`$ for sufficiently large $`V`$. More strictly, we consider a sequence of states for various values of $`V`$ such that they are essentially equivalent to each other except for the values of $`V`$. For example, the ground-state wavefunctions of many particles for the same particle density, for various values of $`V`$.  We say that the states (for large $`V`$) of the sequence have the cluster property if $`\mathrm{\Omega }(ϵ)`$ for any $`ϵ>0`$ becomes independent of $`V`$ for sufficiently large $`V`$. It is clear from the known theorem above that a sequence of pure states of finite $`V`$ that do not have the cluster property approaches a mixed state of an infinite system as $`V\mathrm{}`$.

## 4 Anomalously-fluctuating states

As a second measure of correlations between distant points, we consider fluctuations of additive operators. Here, by an additive operator we mean an operator of the following form:

$$\widehat{A}=\underset{xV}{}\widehat{a}(x),$$
(7)
where $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ denotes a local operator at $`x`$. When we regard the system as a composite system of subsystems 1 and 2, then $`\widehat{A}=\widehat{A}^{(1)}+\widehat{A}^{(2)}`$, hence the name “additive.” In thermodynamics, it is assumed that

$$\delta A^2o(V^2)$$
(8)
for all additive quantities.§§§ Otherwise, it would be meaningless to talk about the average value of $`A`$, which is $`O(V)`$.  In particular, if a state (classical or quantal) satisfies

$$\delta A^2O(V)$$
(9)
for all additive quantities, we call it a normally-fluctuating state (NFS). In quantum theory of finite macroscopic systems, however, there exist pure states for which some of additive operators have anomalously-large fluctuations;

$$\delta \widehat{A}^2=O(V^2).$$
(10)
We call such a pure state an anomalously-fluctuating state (AFS).  It is possible to change an AFS into an NFS by enlarging the system by adding an extra system of volume $`V_{\mathrm{extra}}V^2`$, in which the quantum state is an NFS, because this leads to $`\delta A^2=O(V^2)+O(V_{\mathrm{extra}})=O(V_{\mathrm{extra}})O(V_{\mathrm{extra}}+V)`$. We here exclude such an artificial and uninteresting case.

It is easy to show that an AFS does not have the cluster property. Hence, according to the known theorem of section 3, an AFS cannot be a pure state in infinite systems. Considering also that in thermodynamics any state in a pure phase is an NFS, we see that an AFS can exist only in finite macroscopic quantum systems. Since AFSs are such unusual states, they might be expected to be unstable in some sense. Our purpose is to study this conjecture, by formulating the stability definitely, and thereby present general theorems about the stability.

## 5 Fragility of quantum states of macroscopic systems

We say a quantum state is fragile if its decoherence rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ satisfies

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }KV^{1+\delta },$$
(11)
where $`K`$ is a function of microscopic parameters, and $`\delta `$ is a positive constant.

To understand the meaning of the fragility, consider first the non-fragile case where $`\delta =0`$. In this case, the decoherence rate per unit volume is independent of $`V`$. This is a normal situation in the sense that the total decoherence rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is basically the sum of local decoherence rates, which are determined only by microscopic parameters (i.e., independent of $`V`$). On the other hand, the case $`\delta >0`$ is an anomalous situation in which the decoherence rate per unit volume behaves as $`KV^\delta `$. Note that this can be very large even when $`K`$ is small, because $`V`$ is huge. This means that a fragile quantum state of a macroscopic system decoheres due to a noise or environment at an anomalously great rate, even when the coupling constant between the system and the noise or environment is small.

## 6 Fragility in weak noises

The most important assumption of the present theory is the locality. For the interaction with a noise, the locality requires that the interaction Hamiltonian should be the sum of local interactions;

$$\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}=\underset{xV}{}f(x,t)\widehat{a}(x).$$
(12)
Here, $`f(x,t)`$ is a random noise field with vanishing average $`\overline{f(x,t)}=0`$, and $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ is a local operator at $`x`$. (See section 3 for the meaning of the local operator.) We assume that the statistics of $`f(x,t)`$ is translationally invariant both spatially and temporally, i.e., $`\overline{f(x,t)f(x^{},t^{})}`$ is a function of $`xx^{}`$ and $`tt^{}`$. We also assume that the time correlation of the noise is short.

The total Hamiltonian is

$$\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{total}}=\widehat{H}+\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}.$$
(13)
Here, $`\widehat{H}`$ denotes the Hamiltonian of the principal system, which can be a general Hamiltonian including, e.g., many-body interactions. Using this general local model, we can show the following for the fragility that is defined in section 5:

Theorem 1: Let $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ be a pure state, whose time evolution by $`\widehat{H}`$ is slow,of a macroscopic system. If $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is an AFS, then it is fragile in the presence of some weak noise. If $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is an NFS, then it is not fragile in any weak noise.

It follows from this theorem that an AFS decoheres (hence collapses) at an anomalously great rate if external noises contain such a noise component, whereas a NFS does not decohere at such an anomalously great rate in any weak noise.

## 7 Fragility under weak perturbations from environments

The physical realities of noises are perturbations from environments. We can show a similar theorem for the effects of perturbations from environments. Again, the most important assumption is the locality of the interaction between the principal system and an environment. Namely, the interaction Hamiltonian should be the sum of local interactions;

$$\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}=\underset{xV}{}\widehat{f}(x)\widehat{a}(x).$$
(14)
Here, $`\widehat{f}(x)`$ and $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ are local operators at $`x`$ of an environment and the principal system, respectively. Similarly to the case of noise, we assume that (in the interaction picture) $`\widehat{f}(x,t)_\mathrm{E}=0`$, and that $`f(x,t)f(x^{},t^{})_\mathrm{E}`$ is a function of $`xx^{}`$ and $`tt^{}`$, where $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{E}`$ denotes the expectation value for the state of the environment E. We also assume that the correlation time of $`f(x,t)f(x^{},t^{})_\mathrm{E}`$ is short. The total Hamiltonian is

$$\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{total}}=\widehat{H}+\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{int}}+\widehat{H}_\mathrm{E},$$
(15)
where $`\widehat{H}`$ and $`\widehat{H}_\mathrm{E}`$ denote the Hamiltonians of the principal system and the environment, respectively. Here, $`\widehat{H}`$ can be a general Hamiltonian including, e.g., many-body interactions. Using this general local model, we can show the following for the fragility that is defined in section 5:

Theorem 2: Let $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ be a pure state, whose time evolution by $`\widehat{H}`$ is slow,of a macroscopic system. If $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is an AFS, then it is fragile under some weak perturbation from some environment. If $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is an NFS, then it is not fragile under any weak perturbations from environments.

It follows from this theorem that an AFS decoheres (hence collapses) at an anomalously great rate if perturbations from environments contain such a perturbation term, whereas a NFS does not decohere at such an anomalously great rate under any weak perturbations from environments.

## 8 Do relevant perturbations always exist?

By theorems 1 and 2, we have shown that NFSs are not fragile in any noises or environments, which interact weakly with the principal system via any local interactions. This should be contrasted with the results of most previous works, according to which a state could be either fragile or robust depending on the form of the interaction. We have obtained the general and universal conclusion because we have made full use of the locality as well as the huge degrees of freedom.

Regarding AFSs, on the other hand, theorems 1 and 2 show only that they are fragile in some noise or environment, which interact weakly with the principal system via local interactions. In other words, for any AFS it is always possible to construct a noise (or an environment) and a weak local interaction that make the AFS fragile. These theorems do not guarantee the existence of such a relevant noise (or an environment) and a relevant interaction in real physical systems. We discuss this point in this section.

As described in section 2, we are only interested in phenomena in some energy range $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, and describe the system by an effective theory which correctly describes the system only in $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$. The effective theory can be constructed from an elementary dynamics by an appropriate renormalization process. In this process, in general, many interaction terms would be generated in the effective interaction $`H_{\mathrm{int}}`$. We expect, in accordance with experiences, that by an appropriate renormalization process $`H_{\mathrm{tot}}`$ can be made local in the relevant space-time scale.  Hence, it seems quite rare that a relevant noise or an environment and a relevant interaction are completely absent. Even when the coupling constant to the relevant noise (or environment) is, say, ten times smaller than those to other noises (or environments), the relevant noise (or environment) would dominate the decoherence process of the AFS because the decoherence rate grows anomalously fast with increasing $`V`$, except when the noise (or the perturbation from the environment) is negligibly weak such that its intensity is, e.g., $`O(1/V)`$. Namely, an AFS should be fragile apart from such an exceptional case.

However, for general systems, we cannot exclude the exceptional case where the relevant noise is negligibly weak. Therefore, we cannot draw a definite conclusion on whether AFSs are always fragile in real physical systems. This motivates us to explore another stability, which will be described in the next section.

## 9 Stability against local measurements

We can prove a stronger statement by considering the stability against measurement.

Suppose that one performs an ideal measurement of a local observable $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ at $`t=t_a`$ for a state $`\widehat{\rho }`$ (pure or mixed) of a macroscopic system, and obtains a value $`a`$. Subsequently, one measures another local observable $`\widehat{b}(y)`$ at a later time $`t_b`$, and obtains a value $`b`$. Let $`P(b;a)`$ be the probability distribution of $`b`$, i.e., the probability that $`b`$ is obtained at $`t_b`$ under the condition that $`a`$ was obtained at $`t_a`$. On the other hand, one can measure $`\widehat{b}(y)`$ at $`t=t_b`$ without performing the measurement of $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ at $`t_a`$. Let $`P(b)`$ be the probability distribution of $`b`$ in this case. We say $`\widehat{\rho }`$ is stable against local measurements if for any $`ϵ>0`$

$$\left|P(b;a)P(b)\right|ϵ\text{for sufficiently large }|xy|\text{,}$$
(16)
for any local operators $`\widehat{a}(x)`$ and $`\widehat{b}(y)`$ and their eigenvalues $`a`$ and $`b`$ such that $`P(a)\epsilon `$.

This stability is stronger than the stability against noises and perturbations from environments. In fact, the latter stability is related to $`|_aP(b;a)P(b)|`$. There are many examples of states for which $`|_aP(b;a)P(b)|ϵ`$ is satisfied whereas $`|P(b;a)P(b)|ϵ`$ is not.

For the simple case $`t_bt_a0`$, we can show the following:\**\**\** Results for more general cases will be described elsewhere.

Theorem 3: Let $`\widehat{\rho }`$ be a pure or mixed state of a macroscopic system. If $`\widehat{\rho }`$ is stable against local measurements, then it has the cluster property, and vice versa.

It follows from this theorem that any AFS is unstable against local measurements.

## 10 Mechanism of symmetry breaking in finite systems

AFSs generally appear in, e.g., finite systems which will exhibit symmetry breaking if $`V`$ goes to infinity. In such systems, we can find states (of finite systems) which approach a symmetry-breaking vacuum as $`V\mathrm{}`$. We call such a state a pure-phase vacuum. It has a finite expectation value $`\widehat{M}=O(V)`$ of an additive order parameter $`\widehat{M}`$, and has relatively small fluctuations $`\delta \widehat{A}^2O(V)`$ for any additive operator $`\widehat{A}`$ (including $`\widehat{M}`$) . Hence, the pure-phase vacua are NFSs. In a mean-field approximation, the pure-phase vacua have the lowest energy. However, it is always possible to construct a pure state(s) that does not break the symmetry, $`\widehat{M}=0`$, and has an equal or lower energy than the pure-phase vacua . Although such states cannot be pure in infinite systems, they can be pure in finite systems . When $`[\widehat{H},\widehat{M}]0`$, in particular, the exact lowest-energy state is generally such a symmetric ground state. To lower the energy of a pure-phase vacuum, a SB field is necessary. However, an appropriate SB field would not always exist in laboratories. The symmetric ground state is composed primarily of a superposition of pure-phase vacua with different values of $`\widehat{M}`$, and, consequently, it has an anomalously large fluctuation of $`\widehat{M}`$; $`\delta \widehat{M}^2=O(V^2)`$. Therefore, if one obtains the exact lowest-energy state (e.g., by numerical diagonalization) of a finite system, which will exhibit symmetry breaking if $`V`$ goes to infinity, the state is often an AFS.

The present results suggest a new origin of symmetry breaking in finite systems. Although symmetry breaking is usually described as a property of infinite systems, it is observed in finite systems as well. The results of sections 6 and 7 suggest that although a pure-phase vacuum (which is an NFS) has a higher energy than the symmetric ground state (an AFS), the former would be realized because the latter is fragile in some noises or environments. This mechanism may be called “environment-induced symmetry breaking,” a special case of which was discussed for interacting many-bosons. The result of section 9 suggests more strongly that only a pure-phase vacuum should be realized, because an AFS is changed into another state when one measures only a tiny part of the system, and such drastic changes continue by repeating measurements, until the state becomes an NFS. This mechanism may be called “measurement-induced symmetry breaking.”

We consider that these scenarios explain the symmetry breaking (i.e., realization of an pure-phase vacuum) in finite systems, much more naturally and generally than the idea of the symmetry breaking field: It seems quite artificial to assume that an appropriate static symmetry breaking field would always present in real physical systems,†††††† For example, it is quite unlikely that a SB field for antiferromagnets could exist in laboratories.  although it is true that symmetry breaking fields are a convenient mathematical tool.

## 11 Stability of quantum computers with many qubits

Quantum computers are useful only when the number of qubits $`N`$ is huge. Hence, useful quantum computers are macroscopic quantum systems.

Various states appear in the course of a quantum computation. Some state may be an NFS, for which $`\delta \widehat{A}^2=O(V)`$ for any additive operator $`A`$. This means that correlations between distant qubits are weak. Properties of such states may be possible to emulate by a classical system with local interactions. We therefore conjecture that other states – AFSs – should appear in some stages of the computation for a quantum computer to be much faster than classical computers. In fact, two of the authors confirmed this conjecture in Shor’s algorithm for factoring.

The present results suggest that the decoherence rate of quantum computers can be estimated by fluctuations of additive operators, which depend strongly on the number of qubits $`N`$ and the natures of the states of the qubits. Since AFSs are used in some stages of the fast quantum computation, the state of qubits can become fragile in some noise or environment, for quantum computers with many qubits. Note that the dominant perturbation for the case of huge $`N`$ can be different from that for small $`N`$, because the decoherence rate of an AFS grows anomalously fast with increasing $`N`$. Therefore, the quantum computer should be designed in such a way that it utlizes AFSs for which the intensities of the relevant noises are $`O(1/N)`$ or smaller. Since the error corrections are not almighty, we think that one must consider both such optimization and the error corrections to realize a quantum computer with a large number of qubits.

## 12 Discussions

The present results show that the stabilities of quantum states of finite macroscopic systems are closely related to the cluster property, which describes the strength of spatial correlations of fluctuations of local observables, and to fluctuations of additive operators. Note that the stabilities are defined as dynamical properties of an open system, whereas the cluster property and fluctuations of additive operators are defined as static properties of a closed system. Hence, it is non-trivial — may be surprising — that they are closely related to each other.

We stress that the approximate stability against all local interactions (between the principal system and environments) would be more important than the exact stability against a particular interaction, which was frequently discussed in previous works. As discussed in section 8, many types of interactions would coexist in real physical systems, and the exact stability against one of them could not exclude fragility to another.

In this paper, we did not mention temperature. It is clear that similar conclusions can be drawn for thermal equilibrium states (Kubo-Martin-Schwinger states), because thermal equilibrium states can be represented as vector states by introducing an auxiliary field.

We also point out that the present results may be important to study the foundations of non-equilibrium statistical physics. For example, in the linear response theory of Kubo, he assumed the unitary time evolution of a closed system. However, actually, the system is continuously measured over a time period longer than $`1/\omega `$ when one measures, say, the AC conductivity at frequency $`\omega `$. Therefore, it is necessary for the validity of the linear response theory that the non-equilibrium state under consideration is stable against measurements. Theorem 3 suggests that such states must have the cluster property. This observation may become a foundation not only of non-equilibrium statistical physics but of non-equilibrium field theory, which is not established yet.

## Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. I. Ojima for discussions and suggestions.


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# Statistical interpretation of Bekenstein entropy for systems with a stretched horizon

## I Introduction

Black holes exhibit an intriguing thermodynamics. Gedanken experiments indicate that a black hole has an entropy $`S_{Bek}=\frac{A}{4G}`$, where $`A`$ is the area of the horizon and $`G`$ is the gravitational constant bek . The usual principles of statistical mechanics then suggest that there should be $`e^S`$ microstates of the hole for given macroscopic parameters of the hole. But the metric of the hole appears to be completely determined by its macroscopic parameters (a fact codified in the conjecture ‘black holes have no hair’) which means that the gravitational theory is unable to exhibit the degeneracy required to account for the entropy.

String theory has in recent years made significant progress in black hole physics. For extremal and near extremal black holes we can count the microstates for a system of branes that carries the same energy and charges as the black hole, and then we find an entropy $`S_{micro}`$ that equals the Bekenstein entropy $`S_{Bek}=\frac{A}{4G}`$ of the corresponding hole svcm . The concept of the AdS/CFT correspondence mal  suggests that $`S_{micro}`$ counts the states of the hole in a field theory description dual to the gravitational description.

This still leaves the question: If we insist on using the gravitational description of the system, then are we supposed to find $`e^S`$ different states, and if so, where in the geometry would we find the differences that distinguish these states from each other?

We will look at the extremal two charge system in 4+1 noncompact dimensions. The microscopic entropy $`S_{micro}`$ of the corresponding branes is nonzero. But the horizon area of the (naively constructed) classical metric is zero, so that $`S_{Bek}`$ appears to be zero. In sen  the two-charge system was studied in 3+1 noncompact directions. Again $`S_{micro}`$ was nonzero and the classical horizon area was zero. But the curvature diverged near $`r=0`$, so it was argued that a ‘stretched horizon’ should be placed at a location $`r=r_{stretch}`$ where the curvature becomes string scale. Further, the local temperature of the Hawking radiation becomes of order the Hagedorn temperature at $`r_{stretch}`$. Using the area of the stretched horizon to write $`S_{Bek}=A_{stretch}/4G`$ we find that

$$S_{Bek}S_{micro}$$
(1)
in accord with the idea that $`S_{Bek}`$ is always a measure of the entropy of the system.

In 4+1 noncompact dimensions the 2-charge extremal system has zero temperature, and so the local temperature is zero at all $`r`$. But it was shown in peet  that the curvature again becomes string scale at some $`r_{stretch}`$, and (1) is satisfied by the corresponding stretched horizon.

While the large curvature at $`r<r_{stretch}`$ allows the possibility that the geometry here may be modified by stringy corrections, it does not mean that such corrections must occur. By a set of dualities we can map the system to an extremal D1-D5 system, where the near horizon geometry is locally $`AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4`$. Now the curvature is constant at small $`r`$; further, if the geometry were globally of this form then it would suffer no quantum corrections whatever. In the present case we have a discrete identifications of points in the $`AdS_3`$ so it is not immediately obvious what the corrections will be.

Thus the question arises: Is there a way to define the ‘stretched horizon’ so that we get (1) for all 2-charge systems related by duality? Further, does the construction of a stretched horizon have the interpretation of ‘coarse graining’ over different geometries, with the corresponding $`S_{Bek}`$ reflecting the number of these geometries?

In this letter we argue that the physics of the stretched horizon should not be thought of in terms of quantum corrections to the naive metric. Instead, we note that while the metrics corresponding to different microstates of the matter system all look the same far from $`r=0`$, close to $`r=0`$ they are in fact all different. To coarse grain over such metrics we may therefore truncate the geometry at a radius $`rb`$ where the geometries start differing from each other. Putting the stretched horizon at $`r_{stretch}=b`$ we find that the its area gives $`S_{Bek}S_{micro}`$. Thus we find that the Bekenstein entropy of this system (computed from the area of the stretched horizon) has a direct interpretation in terms of a count of different metrics having the same macroscopic parameters. It is also evident that the result holds for all duality related 2-charge systems.

## II The two-charge system

We consider Type IIB string theory compactified on $`T^4\times S^1`$; thus we will be considering holes in 4+1 noncompact dimensions. The $`T^4`$ has volume $`(2\pi )^4V`$ and the $`S^1`$ has length $`2\pi R`$ (we set $`\alpha ^{}=1`$).

Following sen  we consider a fundamental string wrapped $`n_w`$ times around the $`S^1`$, carrying momentum $`P=\frac{n_p}{R}`$ along the $`S^1`$. These string states are BPS states, so that their mass is known for all values of the string coupling $`g`$. This mass is $`M=Rn_w+\frac{n_p}{R}`$. The entropy obtained from counting string states with this mass and charges is $`S_{micro}2\sqrt{2}\pi \sqrt{n_pn_w}`$.

We will refer to the above string states as the $`FP`$ system, where $`F`$ stands for fundamental string winding and $`P`$ stands for momentum. By a sequence of $`S`$ and $`T`$ dualities we can map this system to one having $`n_1=n_p`$ D1 branes wrapped on the $`S^1`$, and $`n_5=n_w`$ D5 branes wrapped on $`T^4\times S^1`$. We call this latter system the D1-D5 system.

To achieve our desired goal of obtaining entropy by counting geometries we must perform the following steps:

(a) We must construct geometries corresponding to different microstates of the FP or D1-D5 system.

(b) These geometries may have singularities at small $`r`$. In that case we must be satisfied that there is no further degeneracy associated to that singularity, so that the different geometries do indeed count different states of the system.

(c) Finally we must locate the radius $`r=b`$ where the geometries for generic microstates start to differ from each other. We must then compute the area of a stretched horizon placed at this location, and compare the Bekenstein entropy obtained thereby with the count of microstates.

## III Geometries for different microstates

To address (a) consider the FP system. The fundamental string wraps the $`S^1`$ $`n_w`$ times before closing, so there are $`n_w`$ ‘strands’ of the string at any given value of the coordinate $`y`$ parameterizing the $`S^1`$. The momentum excitation gives traveling waves along this string, creating vibrations in the 8 directions transverse to the string. In a generic vibration mode the different strands do not move together – they separate away from each other since the transverse displacement 8-vector $`\stackrel{}{x}`$ satisfies the periodicity $`\stackrel{}{x}(y+2\pi Rn_w)=\stackrel{}{x}(y)`$, rather than $`\stackrel{}{x}(y+2\pi R)=\stackrel{}{x}(y)`$.

The metric for a single string carrying momentum is known dh , and the metric for the ‘multiwound string’ having several strands can be computed by superposing harmonic functions describing the individual strands. In the classical limit of large $`n_w`$ one must then smooth out the strands into a continuous string source. Such metrics for the ‘multiwound string’ were found in lm3  for a special class of vibration profiles, and extended in lm5  to generic vibration profiles. For large $`n_w`$ the vibration profile for a generic mode changes by a very small amount when $`yy+2\pi R`$, so the solutions in the classical limit are found to be $`y`$ independent and a T-duality may be performed along the $`S^1`$. Using this and other dualities the solutions are mapped to geometries for the D1-D5 system lm5 .

The metric for a general D1–D5 bound state in then found to have the form

$`ds_E^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{g_1g_5}}}\left[(dtA_idx^i)^2+(dy+B_idx^i)^2\right]`$ (2)
$`+`$ $`\sqrt{g_1g_5}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{4}{}}}dx_idx_i,`$
where the functions $`g_1`$, $`g_5`$ and $`A_i`$ are given in terms of an arbitrary function $`\stackrel{}{F}(v)`$

$`g_1(\stackrel{}{x})`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q_5}{L}}{\displaystyle _0^L}{\displaystyle \frac{|\dot{\stackrel{}{F}}(v)|^2dv}{|\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{F}(v)|^2}},`$ (3)
$`g_5(\stackrel{}{x})`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q_5}{L}}{\displaystyle _0^L}{\displaystyle \frac{dv}{|\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{F}(v)|^2}},`$ (4)
$`A_i(\stackrel{}{x})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Q_5}{L}}{\displaystyle _0^L}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{F}_i(v)dv}{|\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{F}(v)|^2}}`$ (5)
We will not give a form of the field $`B_i`$ here, since it will not be used. In the dual FP system $`\stackrel{}{F}(v)`$ yields the transverse displacement of the vibrating string as a function of the null coordinate $`v=t+y`$.

If $`|\stackrel{}{F}(v)|<b`$, then for $`rb`$ the metric has the form lm5

$`ds_E^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{g_1g_5}}}\left[dt^2+dy^2\right]+\sqrt{g_1g_5}\left(dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2\right)`$ (6)
$`g_1(r)=1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q_1}{r^2}},g_5(r)=1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q_5}{r^2}},`$
The charges are related by $`Q_1=\frac{Q_5}{L}_0^L|\dot{\stackrel{}{F}}(v)|^2𝑑v`$.

The location $`rb`$ will turn out such that a massless particle falling radially down the throat’ takes a time $`\mathrm{\Delta }tR\sqrt{n_1n_5}`$ to reach $`rb`$. For fixed classical charges $`Q_1,Q_5`$ this time goes to infinity as $`\mathrm{}0`$. Thus if we look upto any ‘classical’ distance down the throat then all the geometries look the same (eqn. (6)), so that we see ‘no hair’.

But around $`rb`$ the different metrics start to differ from each other. Further, they all have an ‘end’, which contains a mild singularity along a certain curve – the shape of this curve depends on the chosen microstate. These different geometries are schematically sketched in Fig 1(b). Each function $`\stackrel{}{F}(v)`$ gives one extremal D1-D5 geometry, which means that for each classical profile of the oscillating string in the FP system there is a classical D1-D5 geometry. We take this to imply that if we quantize the metric of the D1-D5 system we will get one state of the throat for each quantum state of the string in the FP system. This gives us the count of microstates arising from the different possible geometries of the D1-D5 system with given total charges: $`S_{micro}=2\sqrt{2}\pi \sqrt{n_1n_5}`$.

We now address the requirement (b). In lm4  the propagation of a scalar was studied in the geometries corresponding to different states of the D1-D5 system. The CFT dual of these geometries can be described through an ‘effective string’ which carries massless bosonic and fermionic vibration modes as its low energy dynamics. For a class of geometries where the wavepacket traveled without distortion it was found that the travel time for the wavepacket in the ‘throat’ exactly equaled the time in the dual CFT for the vibration modes to travel around the effective string:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t_{CFT}=\mathrm{\Delta }t_{SUGRA}$$
(7)
The wavepacket could not ‘enter’ into the singularity and spend additional time residing at the singularity. It was then argued that for the generic geometry (where the singularity was a curve with more complicated shape) a similar result held: the singularity was mild enough that the wavepacket reflected from the singular curve rather than enter into the singular region. Thus we conclude that the ‘throat’ of the geometry is indeed a dual representation of the D1-D5 CFT with no additional degrees of freedom being associated to the singularity at the end of the throat.

We now perform step (c). We let the geometry be (6) for $`r>b`$ and put a ‘stretched horizon’ at the location $`r=b`$ where the generic geometries start to depart from the form (6) (Fig 1(c)). The parameter $`b`$ will be determined shortly. The area of the stretched horizon (in the 6-D geometry) is then

$$A=_{r=b}r^3\sqrt{g_1g_5}𝑑y𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }_34\pi ^3Rb\sqrt{Q_1Q_5}.$$
(8)
(We have assumed $`bQ_1,Q_5`$ which will be well satisfied in the classical limit.) To determine $`b`$ we start with the FP system, and note that the ‘multiwound string’ has a total length $`L_T=2\pi Rn_w`$ and carries total momentum $`2\pi n_pn_w/L_T`$. A statistical analysis shows that the mean wavelength of vibration is $`\lambda \overline{\gamma }L_T`$ with $`\overline{\gamma }1/\sqrt{n_1n_5}`$. If we take a string carrying vibrations with $`\lambda \overline{\gamma }L_T`$, then we find upon dualizing to D1–D5 lm3 :

$$b\frac{\sqrt{Q_1Q_5}\overline{\gamma }}{R}\frac{g}{\sqrt{V}R}$$
(9)
(In this calculation we need to filter out the low energy tail of the energy distribution; the details of this will be discussed elsewhere) We can now find the entropy of the stretched horizon ($`G^{(6)}=\frac{8\pi ^6g^2}{(2\pi )^4V}`$)

$$S_{Bek}\frac{A^{(6)}}{G^{(6)}}=\frac{A^{(5)}}{G^{(5)}}\sqrt{n_1n_5}$$
(10)
which agrees with $`S_{micro}2\pi \sqrt{2}\sqrt{n_1n_5}`$.

We now extend the above analysis to the case where the 2-charge system also carries angular momentum. Let the angular momentum be $`J\mathrm{}`$ in in the $`x_1x_2`$ plane (these are two of the four noncompact directions). An analysis of the microstate (in the FP language) gives $`S_{micro}=2\pi \sqrt{2}\sqrt{n_1n_5J}`$. We then find the geometries for different FP microstates with angular momentum $`J`$ and dualize these to geometries for the D1-D5 system. The metrics are given by (2)–(5) with

$$\stackrel{}{F}(v)=a\stackrel{}{e}_1\mathrm{cos}\frac{2\pi v}{L}+a\stackrel{}{e}_2\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi v}{L}+\stackrel{}{X}(v)$$
(11)
The singularity now lies close to a circle of radius

$$a=\frac{g}{\sqrt{V}R}\sqrt{J}$$
(12)
in the $`x_1x_2`$ plane. The generic geometries differ from each other only in a tube around this circle (each state is specified by its own fluctuation profile $`\stackrel{}{X}(v)`$: $`|\stackrel{}{X}(v)|<b`$), so the stretched horizon has the shape of a ‘doughnut’ in the noncompact space $`x_1,x_2,x_3,x_4`$ (Fig 2). Again performing a statistical analysis of the vibrations in the FP system, we find $`b\frac{g}{\sqrt{V}R}`$. All geometries described by the profile (11) look similar outside the ‘doughnut’, and the coefficients of the generic metric (2) can be found using (3)–(5):

$`g_1=1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q_1}{f_0}},g_5=1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q_5}{f_0}},`$ (13)
$`A_idx^i=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{J}{n_1n_5}}}{\displaystyle \frac{2\sqrt{Q_1Q_5}a}{f_0(\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{x}+a^2+f_0)}}(x_2dx_1x_1dx_2),`$
$`f_0=\left[(\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{x})^2+2a^2(x_3^2+x_4^2x_1^2x_2^2)+a^4\right]^{1/2}`$ (14)
The area of the stretched horizon (computed at fixed $`t`$) for this metric finally gives

$`S_{Bek}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{A^{(6)}}{4G^{(6)}}}={\displaystyle \frac{VR}{\pi g^2}}{\displaystyle d^3\mathrm{\Sigma }(g_1g_5A_iA_i)^{1/2}}`$ (15)
$``$ $`\sqrt{n_1n_5J}S_{micro}`$
## IV Discussion

Our conventional understanding of entropy is based on coarse graining over a large number of microstates. Black hole entropy has proved puzzling since black holes seem to have ‘no hair’ and the entropy $`S_{Bek}`$ is instead given by the horizon area. We have seen above that at least for the 2-charge system (which has a stretched horizon rather than a classical horizon) we do indeed have a complete set of ‘hair’, that the appearance of the stretched horizon can be regarded as a ‘coarse graining’ since it truncates the geometries where they start to differ from each other, and that the area of such a stretched horizon gives a $`S_{Bek}`$ which is of order the entropy $`S_{micro}`$ found by actually counting the different allowed geometries.

A crucial ingredient in the above result was the fact that the D1-D5 bound states had a nonzero size; this caused the ‘throat’ to end at some point before reaching $`r=0`$, with a metric near the end that reflected the choice of microstate. This nonzero size could itself be traced back, through duality to the FP system, to the fact that a string (F) carrying momentum (P) must spread over a certain transverse region in order to carry the momentum. Thus the nonzero size and the consequent ‘hair’ are a very basic feature of the structure of 2-charge states.

Should we regard the stretched horizon of the 2-charge system as a black hole horizon? We performed a detailed investigation (to be presented elsewhere) of the trajectory of a massless particle that falls into the region $`r<b`$. For a generic microstate the singular curve of the metric (2) is a complicated ‘random curve’ in the transverse coordinates $`x^1\mathrm{}x^4`$. A null geodesic gets deflected through an angle of order unity on passing near any point on this curve, and as a consequence the particle stays trapped in the region $`r<b`$ for times that go to infinity in the classical limit (Fig 3). If we choose to describe the particle by its wavefunction instead then we expect large trapping times due to the presence of approximately localized wavefunctions in the ‘random potential’ arising from the metric at $`r<b`$. Thus it appears that we should regard the stretched horizon as a horizon, with the time delay in emerging from the horizon being due to ‘trapping’ in the hair describing the microstate.

A similar picture may emerge for the D1-D5-momentum hole (which has a classical horizon area). The size of the 3-charge bound state at weak coupling was argued to have the same algebraic expression as the horizon radius mathur . The metrics for all microstates are the same upto a ‘classical distance’ down the throat, but the throats may end further down, with the geometry near the end characterizing the microstate. In view of the fact that the momentum charge generates vibrations within the $`T^4`$ we expect that in this case both the $`S^3`$ and the $`T^4`$ will necessarily be deformed near the end of the throat.

We thank E. Braaten, J. Ho and Ashoke Sen for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by DOE grant DE-FG02-91ER40690.


text:
# ContrastíInterferometryíusingíBose-EinsteiníCondensatesítoíMeasureíℎ/𝑚íandí𝛼

äöüÄÖÜß èëôêøò ííííííííííííííí \[í

í

## Abstract

Theíkineticíenergyíofíaníatomírecoilingídueítoíabsorptioníofía photoníwasímeasuredíasíaífrequencyíusingíaníinterferometric techniqueícalledí“contrastíinterferometry”.íOpticalístanding waveípulsesíwereíusedíasíatom-opticalíelementsítoícreateía symmetricíthree-pathíinterferometerííwithíaíBose-Einsteinícondensate.íThe recoilíphaseíaccumulatedíinídifferentípathsíwasímeasuredíusingía single-shotídetectionítechnique.íTheíschemeíallowsíforíadditional photonírecoilsíwithinítheíinterferometerííandíitsísymmetryísuppressesíseveral randomíandísystematicíerrorsíincludingíthoseífromívibrationsíand acíStarkíshifts.íWeíhaveímeasuredítheíphotonírecoilífrequencyíof sodiumítoí$`7`$ppmíprecision,íusingíaísimpleírealizationíofíthis scheme.íPlausibleíextensionsíshouldíyieldíaísufficientíprecision toíbringíwithiníreachíaíppb-levelídeterminationíofí$`h/m`$íandíthe fineístructureíconstantí$`\alpha `$.

\]

Comparisoníofíaccurateímeasurementsíofítheífineístructureíconstant $`\alpha `$íinídifferentísubfieldsíofíphysicsí-íe.g.íatomicíphysics, QEDíandícondensedímatteríphysicsí-íofferíoneíofítheífewíchecksífor globalíerrorsíacrossítheseídifferentísubfields.íTheí$`(g2)`$ measurementíforítheíelectroníandípositronítogetheríwithíQED calculations,íprovidesíaí$`4`$ppbíímeasurement ofí$`\alpha `$.íThisíhasístoodíasítheíbestímeasurementíofítheífine structureíconstantísinceí1987.íTheísecondímostíaccurateípublished valueíofí$`\alpha `$,íatí$`24`$ppbícomesífromícondensedímatter experimentsí.íThisíisíworseíbyíaífactoríofísix, limitingítheíscientificívalueíofícross-fieldícomparisons.íAínew andímoreírobustírouteíbasedíoníatomicíphysicsímeasurementsíhas emergedíinítheílastídecadeí:

$$\text{íí}\alpha ^2\text{í}=\text{í}\left(\frac{e^2}{\mathrm{}c}\right)^2\text{í}=\text{í}\frac{2R_{\mathrm{}}}{c}\frac{h}{m_e}\text{í}=\text{íí}\frac{2R_{\mathrm{}}}{c}\text{í}\frac{M}{M_e}\text{í}\frac{h}{m}.$$
(1)
TheíRydbergíconstantí$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$íisíknownítoí$`0.008`$ppb íandítheíelectronímassí$`M_e`$ítoí$`0.7`$ppb $`M`$íandí$`m`$íareítheímassíofísomeítestíparticleíin atomicíandíSIíunitsírespectively.íEq. 1íoffersíthe possibilityíofíaíppbílevelímeasurementíofí$`\alpha `$íifí$`M`$íand $`h/m`$ícaníbeídeterminedíaccurately.

$`h/m`$ícaníbeímeasuredíbyícomparingítheídeBroglieíwavelengthíand velocityíofíaíparticle,íasídemonstratedíbyíKrüger,íwhose measurementíusingíneutronsíhasíyieldedíaívalueíforí$`h/m_n`$ accurateíatí$`73`$ppbí.íForíaníatom,í$`h/m`$ícaníbe extractedífromíaímeasurementíofítheíphotonírecoilífrequency

$$\text{íí}\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}\text{í}=\text{í}\frac{1}{\text{í}2}\frac{\mathrm{}}{\text{í}m}k^2,$$
(2)
whereí$`k`$íisítheíwavevectoríofítheíphotoníabsorbedíbyítheíatom. RecentíexperimentsíallowíEqs. 1, 2ítoíbe appliedítoícesium.í$`M_{\text{í}\mathrm{Cs}}`$íisíknowníto $`0.17`$ppbíandí$`k_{\text{í}\mathrm{Cs}}`$íto $`0.12`$ppb$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec},\mathrm{Cs}}`$íhasíbeenímeasured atíStanfordíusingíaníatomíinterferometerííbasedíonílaser-cooledíatoms ítoí$`\text{í}10`$ppbí. Similaríexperimentsíareíalsoípossibleíwithíalkaliíatomsílike sodiumíandírubidiumíwhereí$`M`$íhasíbeenímeasuredííand $`k`$íisíaccuratelyíaccessibleí.

IníthisíLetter,íweídemonstrateíaínewíatomíinterferometerííschemeíwhichíshows promiseíforíaíhighíprecisionímeasurementíofí$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$.íOurísymmetric three-pathíconfigurationíencodesítheíphotonírecoilíphaseíiníthe ícontrastíofítheíinterferenceífringes,íratheríthaníinítheir íphase.íBecauseíitíisíinsensitiveítoítheífringeíphase,íthe methodíisínotísensitiveítoívibrations,íaccelerationsíorírotations. Theísymmetryíalsoísuppressesíerrorsífromímagneticífieldígradients andíouríuseíofíonlyíoneíinternalístateísuppressesíerrorsíarising fromídifferencesíinítheíacíStarkíshiftsíbetweenídifferentíinternal states.íAícrucialíaspectíofíthisínewíinterferometerííisítheíuseíofíatomic samplesíwithísub-recoilímomentumídistribution.íWeíuseía Bose-Einsteinícondensateí(BEC)íasíaíbrightíatomísource.íThis allowsítheícontrastíoscillationsítoípersistíforímanyícycles, permittingípreciseídeterminationíofítheírecoilíphaseíiníaísingle “shot”íandíalsoíallowsíforíextraíphotonírecoilsítoíbeíadded withinítheíinterferometer,íincreasingítheírecoilíphaseíshift quadratically.

TheíStanfordíschemeítoímeasureí$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$íusesídifferentíinternal statesítoíseparatelyíaddressídifferentíinterferometeríípaths,íallowingía linearíincreaseíofímeasurementíprecisioníbyíadditionalíphoton recoils.íHowever,ívibrationsíandíacíStarkíshiftsíhaveíbeeníof greatíconcerníiníthisíschemeí.íAníalternativeíinterferometerííto measureítheíphotonírecoilíusingílaserícooledíatomsíiníaísingle internalístateíwasídemonstratedíusingírubidiumíatoms .íLikeíours,íthisíschemeíalsoíincorporatesía symmetricíarrangementíandíoperatesíbyímeasuringícontrast.íThis interferometerííshouldíalsoísuppressívibrationínoiseíandísystematicsíarising fromíacíStarkíshiftsíbetweenídifferentíinternalístates.íHowever, differentípathsícannotíbeíindividuallyíaddressedíiníthisíscheme, makingíitídifficultítoíextendítoícompetitiveíprecision.íOuríinterferometeríextendsítheseípreviousíschemesíandícombinesítheiríadvantages.íThe precisioníofítheíStanfordíschemeíincreasesílinearlyíwith additionalírecoils.íQuadraticíscalingíschemesíhaveíbeeníproposed íandídemonstratedíiníaímulti-pathíinterferometerííbasedíonídark statesí.íHowever,ítheínumberíofíadditionalírecoilsíin thisíscheme,íisílimitedíbyítheíinternalíatomicístructure.

Ouríschemeíisíbasedíonítheíasymmetricíinterferometerííof Fig. 1(a).íAtítimeí$`t=0`$íaíBECíisísplit coherentlyíintoítwoímomentumícomponents,í$`|2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$ííandí$`|0\mathrm{}k`$,íbyíaífirstíorderíBraggí$`\pi /2`$-pulseí. Theseíareíshowníasípathsí1íandí2íinítheífigure.íAtítimeí$`t=T`$, aísecondíorderíBraggí$`\pi `$-pulseíreversesítheídirectioníofípathí1, whileíleavingípathí2íunaffected.íAroundí$`t=2T`$,íaímoving matteríwaveígrating,íwithíspatialíperiodicityí$`\lambda /2`$ (wavevectorí$`2k=\frac{2\pi }{\lambda /2}`$),íisíformedídueítoíthe overlapíandíinterferenceíofítheítwoípaths.íTheíphaseíofíthis gratingíatí$`2T`$íisídeterminedíbyítheírelativeíphase $`\mathrm{\Phi }_1\mathrm{\Phi }_2=8\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}T`$,íaccumulatedíbetweenípathsí1íandí2ídue toítheídifferenceíinítheiríkineticíenergies.íAímeasurementíofíthis phaseíforídifferentívaluesíofí$`T`$íwillíthenídetermineí$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$.íIf theímomentumíofípathí1íisíincreasedí$`N`$ítimesíbyíadditionalíphoton recoils,ítheícorrespondingígratingíphaseíwillíbe $`\mathrm{\Phi }_1\mathrm{\Phi }_2=N^28\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}T`$,íleadingítoíaní$`N^2`$-foldíimprovement inítheímeasurementíprecision.íTheífringesíofíallíatomsíwillíbeíin phaseíatí$`2T`$,íformingíaíhigh-contrastímatteríwaveígrating.íThis dephasesíiníaítimeí$`\frac{1}{k\mathrm{\Delta }\text{í}v}`$,ítheícoherenceítime, whereí$`\mathrm{\Delta }\text{í}v`$íisítheíatomicívelocityíspread.

Extensioníofíthisíinterferometeríítoíaísymmetricíthree-pathíarrangementíis showníiníFig. 1(b).íThreeímomentumístatesí(paths 1,í2íandí3)íareígeneratedíbyíreplacingítheífirstíBraggípulseíwith aíshortíKapitza-Diracípulseí.íAtí$`t=2T`$,íthere areínowítwoímatteríwaveígratingsíwithíperiodí$`\lambda /2`$,íoneífrom pathsí1íandí2íandíoneífromípathsí2íandí3.íTheseímoveíiníopposite directionsíatíaírelativeíspeedí$`4\mathrm{}\text{í}k/m`$.íIfítheímaximaíofíthe twoígratingsílineíupítoíproduceílargeícontrastíatítimeí$`t`$,íthe maximaíofíoneíwillílineíupíwithítheíminimaíofítheíotheríat $`t+\pi /4\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$,ítoíproduceízeroícontrast.íThisíresultsíinían oscillatoryígrowthíandídecayíofítheícontrastíofítheíoverall patterníwithítime.íTheírecoilíinducedíphaseícaníbeídeterminedífrom thisítemporallyíoscillatingícontrast.

Theítimeíevolutioníofíthisícontrastícaníbeímonitoredíby continuouslyíreflectingíaíweakíprobeíbeamífromítheígratingí(the additionalígratingíformedíbyípathsí1íandí3íhasíperiodí$`\lambda /4`$, whichídoesínotíreflectítheíprobeíbeam).íTheíreflectedísignalícan beíwrittenías

$`S(T,t)`$ $`=`$ $`C(T,t)\mathrm{sin}^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_1(t)+\mathrm{\Phi }_3(t)}{2}}\mathrm{\Phi }_2(t)\right)`$ (3)
$`=`$ $`C(T,t)\mathrm{sin}^2(8\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}\text{í}T\text{í}+\text{í}4\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}\text{í}(t2T)),`$ (4)
whereí$`C(T,t)`$íisíaníenvelopeífunctioníwhoseíwidthíisítheígrating coherenceítime,í$`\frac{1}{k\mathrm{\Delta }\text{í}v}`$.íThisímotivatedíouríuseíofía BECíatomísource.íThisíallowedímanyícontrastíoscillationsíinía singleíshot.íUsingítheíphaseíofítheíreflectioníatí$`t=2T`$, $`\mathrm{\Phi }(T)=8\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}\text{í}T`$$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$ícaníbeídeterminedíbyívaryingí$`T`$. Vibrationalíphaseíshiftsíandítheíeffectíofímagneticíbiasífields gradientsícancelíinítheíevaluationíof $`\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_1(t)+\mathrm{\Phi }_3(t)}{2}\mathrm{\Phi }_2(t)`$,ídueítoítheísymmetryíof ouríscheme.

Iníthisíexperiment,íweírealizeítheíschemeíof Fig. 1(b)íandímeasureí$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec},\mathrm{Na}}`$íto $`7`$ppmíprecision.íWeíalsoídemonstrateítheíinsensitivityíofíthe contrastísignalítoívibrationsíandítheí$`N^2`$íscalingíofítheírecoil phase.

WeíusedísodiumíBEC’sícontainingíaífewímillioníatomsíiníthe $`|F=1,m_F=1`$ístateíasíouríatomísource.íTheílight pulsesíwereíappliedí$`15`$msíafteríreleasingítheíBECífrom aíweakímagneticítrap.íThisíloweredítheípeakídensityítoíabout $`10^{13}`$cm-3,íthusípreventingísuperradianceíeffects íandíreducingífrequencyíshiftsífromímeanífield interactions.íTwoíhorizontalícounterpropagatingí(to $`1`$mrad)ílaseríbeamsíwereíusedíforítheídiffraction gratings.íTheílightíforítheígratingsíwasíred-detunedíbyí$`1.8`$GHz fromítheísodiumí$`D_2`$íline.íRapidíswitchingí($`<100`$ns)íand intensityícontrolíofítheílightípulsesíwasídoneíbyíaníacousto-optic modulatorí(AOM)ícommonítoítheítwoíbeams.íTheíphaseíandífrequency ofíeachíbeamíwereícontrolledíbyítwoíadditionalíAOMs,ídriveníbyítwo phase-lockedífrequencyísynthesizers.

Theíinterferometeríípulseísequenceíwasístartedíwithíaí$`1\mu `$s,ísquare Kapitza-Diracípulse,ícenteredíatí$`t=0`$.íWeíadjustedítheíbeam intensity,ítoíputí$`25\%`$íofítheícondensateíiníeachíof theí$`|\pm 2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$ídiffractedíorders.íThisíchoiceíyielded theíbestífinalícontrastísignal.íTheísecondíorderíBraggípulseíwas centeredíatí$`t=T`$íandíwasícloseítoíGaussianíshapedíwithía widthíofí$`7.6\mu `$s.íTheíintensityíwasíchosenítoíeffectía $`\pi `$-pulseíbetweenítheí$`|\pm 2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$ístates.íTheísmooth pulseíshapeíreducedítheíoff-resonantípopulationíofíundesired momentumístates,íyieldingíaítransferíefficiencyíofí$`>90\%`$.íThe thirdípulse,íusedíforíreadingíoutítheícontrastísignal,íwas centeredíatí$`t=2T`$íandíwasítypicallyí$`50\mu `$sílong.íOneíof theíBraggíbeamsíwasíusedíasítheíreadoutíbeamíwhileítheíotheríwas blocked.

Theílightíreflectedífromítheíatomsíwasíseparatedífromítheíreadout beamípathíusingíaíbeamsplitteríandídirectedíbyíaníimagingílens ontoíaíphotomultiplier.íAítypicalíinterferometeríísignalíisíshowníin Fig. 2.íWeíobservedítheíexpectedícontrast oscillationsíatífrequencyí$`8\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$,ícorrespondingítoíaí$`5\mu `$s periodíforísodium.íWeíobtainedítheírecoilíphaseí$`\mathrm{\Phi }(T)`$ífromíthe contrastísignalíbyífittingítoíaísinusoidalífunctioníasíin Eq. 3.

Theísignalíalsoícontainedíaísmallípedestalíofísimilaríwidthíasíthe envelope.íThisíconsistsíofíaíconstantíoffsetífromíresidual backgroundílightíandíaísmoothlyívaryingícontributionífromíaísmall asymmetryíbetweenítheí$`|\pm 2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$íamplitudesíof $`<5\%`$.íThisíasymmetryícreatesíaínoníoscillatingícomponentíof theí$`2k`$ímatteríwaveígratingíwhichídecaysíwithítheísameícoherence time.íTheíuncertaintyíofítheífittedíphaseíisíaboutí$`10`$mrad, eveníifíweíneglectítheíenvelopeífunction,íandíassumeíaíconstant amplitudeíextendedíoveríaífewícentralífringes.íSimilaríuncertainty wasíobtainedíforílargeítimesí$`T3`$ms.íWeíobserveía shot-to-shotívariationíinítheífittedívalueíofítheíphaseíofíabout $`200`$mrad.íWeíattributeíthisítoípulseíintensityífluctuations whichírandomlyípopulatedíundesiredímomentumístatesíatíthe $`<10\%`$ílevel.íThisíresultedíiníspuriousímatteríwaveígratings whichíshiftedítheíobservedírecoilíphase.

Theírecoilífrequencyíwasídeterminedíbyímeasuringítheírecoilíphase aroundí$`T=0.5`$msíandíaroundí$`T=3`$ms (Fig. 3).íAníupperíboundíoní$`T`$íwasísetíby theíatomsífallingíoutíofítheí$`2`$mmídiameteríbeam.íAístraight lineífitítoítheseídataíproducedíaívalueíforítheísodiumíphoton recoilífrequencyí$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec},\mathrm{Na}}\text{í}=\text{í}2\pi \text{í}\times 24.9973`$kHz$`(1\pm 6.7\times \text{í}10^6)`$.íThisíisí$`2\times \text{í}10^4`$ loweríthanítheísub-ppmívalueícalculatedíusingítheípublished measurementsíofí$`\alpha _{g2}`$$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$$`M_{\text{í}\mathrm{Na}}`$ $`M_e`$,íandí$`\lambda _{\text{í}\mathrm{Na}}\text{í}\text{[20]}`$íin Eqs. 1íandí 2.íTheísystematicímeanífield shiftídueítoílargerípopulationíinítheímiddleípathíthanítheíextreme pathsíprobablyíexplainsíthisídeviation.íEstimatedíerrorsífromíbeam misalignmentíandíwavefrontícurvatureíhaveítheísameísigníasíthe observedídeviationíbutíseveralítimesílowerímagnitude.

Toídemonstrateítheíinsensitivityíofítheímeasurementítoíphaseínoise ofítheílightídueítoímirrorívibrations,íweíintentionallyívariedíthe phaseí$`\theta `$íofítheísecondígratingírelativeítoítheífirstíone .íTheícontrastísignalíisínotívisiblyíaffectedíbyísuch phaseívariationsí(Fig. 4(a)).íWeícompared thisítoíaíphase-sensitiveíreadoutímethod (Fig. 4(b),íinset).íThisíwasírealizedíby replacingítheíreadoutípulseíwithíaíthirdípulsedí$`1\mu `$sílight gratingíinítheíKapitza-Diracíregime,íphase-lockedítoítheífirstítwo pulses.íThisíprojectedítheíphaseíofítheí$`2k`$ípatterníatí$`t=2T`$ ontoítheífractionalípopulationsíofítheístatesí$`|0\mathrm{}k`$$`|2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$,íandí$`|2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$ííwhichíleaveíthis interferometer.íTheípopulationsíwereímeasuredíbyítime-of-flight absorptioníimaging.íTheí$`|0\mathrm{}\text{í}k`$íífractioníisíshowníforítheísame variationíofí$`\theta `$,íiníFig. 4(b).íThe oscillationíídemonstratesítheíphaseísensitivityíofíany position-sensitiveíreadout.

Theseítwoíinterferometersírespondídifferentlyítoímirror vibrations.íForílargeí$`T`$,íweíhaveíobservedítheíeffectíofíthe mirrorívibrationsídirectly.íAtí$`T3`$ms,íthe shot-to-shotífluctuationsíofítheíphase-sensitiveíinterferometerííwasíofíthe orderíofítheíexpectedífringeícontrast.íThisíagreesíwith observationsíwithíaístandardíMach-Zehnderíinterferometerííconstructedíbothíby usíandíiní.íInícomparison,ítheístabilityíofíthe contrastíinterferometeríísignalíisíindependentíofí$`T`$íwithiníour measurements.íThisícaníbeíseenífromítheícomparableístatistical erroríbarsíforíshortíandílongítimesíin Fig. 3(b).íInífact,ítheíresidualsíandíthe correspondingíerroríbarsíareísmalleríatítheílongerítimes.íWe attributeíthisítoítheídecreasedíamplitudeíofísomeíofítheíspurious gratingsíatílongerítimes,ídueítoíreducedíoverlapíofíthe contributingíwavepackets.

Theíquadraticíscalingíofítheíaccumulatedírecoilíphaseíwithíthe numberíofítransferredírecoilsí$`N`$,íwasídemonstratedíbyícomparing $`N=1`$íandí$`N=2`$íinterferometers.íAní$`N=2`$ígeometry, showníiníFig. 5(a),íwasírealizedíusingítwo additionalífirstíorderíBraggí$`\pi `$-pulsesíspacedí$`T_1`$íapartíand affectingíonlyítheíextremeípaths.íTheíaccelerationípulseíat $`t=60\mu `$sídroveítransfersífromí$`|\pm 2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$íto $`|\pm 4\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$.íTheídecelerationípulseíat $`t=T_1+60\mu `$s$`=T60\mu `$sídroveítransfersífrom $`|\pm 4\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$ítoí$`|\pm 2\mathrm{}\text{í}k\text{í}`$.íDuringíthe periodí$`T_1`$,ípathsí1íandí3íaccumulateíphaseí$`2^2=4`$ítimesífaster inítheí$`N=2`$íschemeíthaníinítheí$`N=1`$íscheme.íAdditional timeí$`T_1`$íisírequiredíforítheíthreeípathsítoíoverlapíiníthe $`N=2`$íscheme.íForíthisígeometry,ítheí$`N=2`$írecoilíphase shouldíthereforeíevolveíthreeítimesífasteríasíaífunctioníofí$`T_1`$ thanítheí$`N=1`$írecoilíphase.íTheícorrespondingídataísetsíare showníiníFig. 5(b).íTheílinearífitsígiveía slopeíratioíofí$`3.06\pm 0.1`$.íAtípresent,íweídoínotíhaveísufficient controlíoverítheítimingíandíphaseíofítheíintermediateípulsesíto improveíourí$`N=1`$ímeasurementíprecisioníbyíusingí$`N>1`$.

Iníconclusion,íweíhaveídemonstratedíaícontrastíinterferometerííwhichíhas severalídesirableífeaturesíforíaíhighíprecisionímeasurementíofíthe photonírecoilífrequency.íSuchíaímeasurementíwouldíinvolve convertingítoíaníatomicífountainísetupíwithíverticalíBraggíbeams. Iníthisígeometry,í$`T`$ícaníbeíextendedíbyínearlyítwoíordersíof magnitude.íOuríinsensitivityítoíphaseínoiseífromímirrorívibrations shouldígreatlyíalleviateívibrationíisolationírequirementsíofíthe systemíforílongí$`T`$í.íTheíorderí$`N`$íofítheíinterferometeríímust alsoíbeíincreased,írequiringíimprovedítimingíandíphaseícontrolíof laserípulses.íDirectíscalingíofíourícurrentíprecisioníofí$`0.01`$rads/shot,íresultsíiníaníestimatedíprecisioníof $`<1`$ppb/shotíforí$`T=100`$msíandí$`N=20`$.íAírigorous studyíofísystematicsíwillíhaveítoíbeíundertakenítoíincreaseíthe accuracyíofíourímeasurement.íEstimatesíshowíthatímeanífield effectsícaníbeísuppressedítoítheíppbílevelíbyíreductioníofíatomic densityítoí$`\text{í}10^{11}`$cm-3,ítogetheríwithípulse controlíforí$`<5\%`$íimbalanceíbetweenípopulationsíinítheímiddleíand extremeípaths.íIníaddition,íourímethodsímayíprovideíaíwayítoístudy meanífieldíeffectsíwithíinterferometricíprecision.íWeíhopeíto obtainíaí$`<1`$ppbívalueíforí$`\omega _{\text{í}\mathrm{rec}}`$íiníaísecondígeneration experimentíiníwhichíBECsíareícreatedíelsewhereíandítransported intoítheíinterferometerí.

WeíthankíW.íKetterleíforívaluableídiscussions.íThisíworkíwas supportedíbyítheíNSF,íONR,íARO,íNASAíandítheíDavidíandíLucile PackardíFoundation.


text:
# What can we learn about neutron stars from gravity-wave observations?1footnote 11footnote 1Talk presented at the 25th J. Hopkins Workshop on Current Problems in Particle Theory, 2001: A Relativistic Spacetime Odyssey, Florence, Sep. 3–5, 2001.

## I Introduction

In the course of the next decade, the inception of gravity-wave (GW) astronomy will open an exciting new window on the physics of compact, strongly gravitating objects such as neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs), providing information complementary to that available from electromagnetic and neutrino observations, and plausibly producing important insights into unsolved questions such as the equation of state (EOS) of matter at nuclear densities, and the mechanisms behind gamma-ray bursts. Detailed reviews of GW sources, of the expected event rates, and of the physics that these sources could teach us are available elsewhere,Ferrari ; Hughes ; Kip  but I shall list briefly the most promising astrophysical systems from which we could learn about NSs using Earth-based GW interferometers such as LIGO and VIRGO.

1. *NS–NS and NS–BH binaries in the last few minutes of their inspirals.* For a long time, these inspiraling systems have been the prototype for the category of the short-lived *chirp* signals detectable using Earth-based interferometers. The reason, of course, is that NS–NS binaries have actually been observed in our galaxy,Thorsett  but also that the part of the inspiral accessible to the interferometers (with GW frequencies between 40 and 1000 Hz) sits well before the final merger of the binary, so it is described very accurately by the well-developed post–Newtonian equations for point masses.Blanchet  The successful observation of GWs from these events will teach us about the masses, spins and locations of NSs, but not about their internal structure.

On the contrary, the detection of GW from the endpoint of NS–BH inspirals should produce detailed information about NS structure and EOS. For a wide range of binary parameters, the NS will be torn apart by the tidal field of the BH well before the final plunge into the hole, and the tidal-disruption waves will be well inside the frequency range of good interferometer sensitivity.Vallisneri  NS–BH binaries have also been proposed as engines for gamma-ray burstsJanka  and as suitable environments for the production of heavy nuclei in $`r`$-processes.Lee  I will discuss these systems more extensively in Sec. II of this paper.
2. *Rapidly spinning, deformed NSs.* This class includes the known and unknown radio pulsars (when their gravitational ellipticity is high enough to provide strong GWs), and the systems known as low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), where the NS is accreting matter and angular momentum from a companion, but instead of increasing its rotation, it is locked into spin periods of about 3 ms; it is conjectured that the angular momentum being accreted is lost to the emission of GW.Bildsten

To detect rapidly spinning NSs, it will be necessary to integrate the GW signal for times up to several months, so the Doppler frequency modulation caused by the movement of the Earth around the sun will make it much harder to detect previously unknown sources.Brady  At the same time, the shape of this modulation will make it possible to obtain the position of the source in the sky,Jaranowski  and to match the GW source with one of the objects known from electromagnetic observations.

If any GWs are detected, their features would be very informative, in particular when examined in correlation with electromagnetic signals from the same source. For instance, the ratio of the GW frequency to the NS angular frequency could identify the nature of the inhomogeneities that give rise to the GW emission, and the evolution of the GW amplitude and frequency could provide interesting data about NS physics such as crust structure and dynamics, crust–core interactions, magnetic fields, viscosity, superfluidity, and more.Kip
3. *Proto-neutron stars.* Finally, NSs could be observed as the rapidly spinning, strongly asymmetric remnants of stellar-core collapse, or as the proto–NSs produced by the accretion-induced collapse of white dwarves. Proto–NSs that spin very fast can hang up centrifugally at a stage where their radius is still large compared to that of the final NS. Such a configuration might be unstable to a bar mode, giving rise to an elongated object that would emit very strong GWs.bars  The newborn NSs might also develop a GW-induced instability in their $`r`$-modes.Lindblom ; Kokkotas  I will discuss this possibility more extensively in Sec. III.

For all these systems, GWs would provide information complementary to that made available by neutrino observations, focusing on the density structure and asymmetry of the collapsing core rather than on its thermal structure.

While we wait eagerly for the first detections, numerical simulations of GW sources are beginning to provide precious insight into the effect of NS structure and dynamics on the GW signals. The purpose of this paper is to explore how simulations are helping and directing the theory and practice of GW data analysis. To do so, I will single out two promising GW sources (NS tidal disruption in NS–BH binaries, in Sec. II; NS $`r`$-modes, in Sec. III) that are currently being attacked with numerical simulations, and on which I have first-hand experience.

## II Neutron-star tidal disruption as a probe into the equation of state of dense nuclear matter

With event rates between $`10^7`$ and $`10^4`$ per year in our galaxy, NS–BH mergers are one of the standard GW sources for second-generation interferometers (LIGO-II should be able to detect these systems out to 650 Mpc, yielding 1–1500 observations per yearKip ). The waveforms generated by these events will contain two kinds of information. The early part of the inspiral (during which the NS and BH are still relatively distant, and the dynamics can be described accurately by post–Newtonian equations of motion in the point-mass approximation) will tell us about the masses and the spins of the NS and BH. The late part of the inspiral, depending on the binary parameters, can see the BH tidal field become so strong that it disrupts the NS on a dynamical timescale; physical intuition then suggests that the details of the disruption process, as encoded in GWs, should carry useful information about the internal structure of the NS, and in particular about its EOS.theidea

### II.1 A simple analytical model for NS tidal disruption

The prospects for extracting this information from the GWs that could be measured from a realistic event have been evaluated by the present author,Vallisneri  using a crude model that however accounts for most of the relevant physics. The simplest possible representation of a NS inspiraling into a BH is a quasi-equilibrium sequence of *relativistic Roche–Riemann ellipsoids*. These ellipsoids are equilibrium configurations of a self-gravitating, polytropic, Newtonian fluid, moving on circular, equatorial geodesics in the Kerr spacetime, and subject to the BH relativistic tidal field.Chandra  For these configurations, once the binary parameters $`m`$, $`M`$, $`a`$ and $`r`$ (respectively, the NS and BH masses, the BH spin, and the binary separation) are fixed, there is only one free parameter, corresponding to the NS radius $`R`$. So we will take $`R`$ as a representative of the uncertainty in the NS EOS.

As it inspirals toward the BH, a NS with parameters $`m`$ and $`R`$ would be represented by the appropriate Roche–Riemann ellipsoid at each separation $`r`$, until we reach a *critical* $`r_{\mathrm{cr}}`$, beyond which no more equilibrium configurations exist. We identify this end of the equilibrium sequence with the onset of dynamical tidal disruption, and from $`r_{\mathrm{cr}}`$ we obtain the GW frequency at tidal disruption, $`f_{\mathrm{td}}=f_{\mathrm{td}}(m,R,M,a)`$. This function is shown in Fig. 1, for the standard NS mass $`m=1.4M_{}`$, and for a variety of BH masses. Figure 1 should be read as follows: given a NS–BH signal, choose the curve corresponding to the BH mass (as estimated from the frequency evolution of the early inspiral signal); on the horizontal axis, locate the frequency at which tidal disruption begins (as estimated from the late part of the GW signal); then read off the estimated NS radius on the vertical axis.

Figure 1 suggests that the GW frequency at tidal disruption depends strongly on the NS radius, and that the disruption waveforms lie in the band of good interferometer sensitivity for the advanced interferometers such as LIGO-II. It follows that, in principle, we could use the waveforms from a NS tidal-disruption event to measure both the NS mass and the NS radius. However, we still need to know just how well we could measure them.

### II.2 The matched-filtering paradigm for gravity-wave data analysis

To answer this question, we need to invoke the theory of *matched-filtering parameter estimation*.parest  The general idea is that GWs will be detected by correlating the measured signal $`|s`$ to a bank of theoretical *templates* $`\{|h_i\}`$, which represent our best approximation of the realistic GW signal, as it could happen for a variety of binary parameters. If the *match* $`s|h_i`$ (the correlation between $`|h_i`$ and $`|s`$) is much higher than the match $`h_i|n`$ that the template would give, on the average, with noise alone, then we claim that we have a detection. To know how well we can estimate $`R`$, we ask how probable it is that a particular realization of detector noise would lead us to mistake the template $`|h_R`$ with the nearby template $`|h_{R+\mathrm{\Delta }R}`$: the answer is given in terms of the match $`h_R|h_{R+\mathrm{\Delta }R}`$.

To compute this match we construct a bank of signal templates that differ only222In the realistic case, the templates depend on *all* the binary parameters. The estimation problem then becomes involved, because there can be correlations in the ways that different parameters modify the templates. In our simple model, we assume that all parameters except $`f_{\mathrm{td}}`$ are already known well from of the early part of the inspiral signal, so all that is left to do is to find $`f_{\mathrm{td}}`$. in the GW frequency at the onset of tidal disruption. Because we are not interested in modeling accurately the relativistic dynamics of the binary, but only the effects of tidal disruption, we generate our waveforms from simple quadrupole-governed Newtonian inspirals,mtw  cutting off the signal, more or less abruptly,333Bildsten and CutlerCutler  estimate that complete disruption would take place in $``$ 1–3 orbital periods, while the disrupted NS would spread into a ring in $``$ 1–2 periods, significantly reducing the GW amplitude. when the instantaneous GW frequency reaches $`f_{\mathrm{td}}`$. Computing the match between nearby templates, we estimate the granularity to which $`f_{\mathrm{td}}`$ can be measured for a given signal strength (inversely proportional to distance); we can then use our equation for $`f(R)`$ to propagate the errors to the NS radius. The final result of this exercise is that, employing advanced Earth-based interferometers such as LIGO-IIKip , we should be able to measure the NS radius to 15%, for tidal-disruption events at distances that yield about one event per year.Vallisneri  This estimated error should be compared to the error (about a factor of two) in the measurements of the NS *thermal radius*.

### II.3 Inverting the mass–radius relation

What can we do once we get a few points on the $`m(R)`$ curve? We can try to solve for the EOS of dense nuclear matter in NSs. The relativistic model of nonrotating NSs may be considered as a mapping from the NS EOS, through the Oppenheimer–Volkoff (OV) equations,

$$\frac{dm}{dr}=4\pi r^2\rho ,\frac{d\rho }{dr}=(\rho +p)\frac{m+4\pi r^3p}{r(r2m)},$$
(1)
to macroscopic NS quantities such as mass and radius. Let us work through this mapping in the case of a polytropic EOS, $`p=p(\rho )`$. First, we set the central density $`\rho _c`$; then, we solve the OV equations and compute the NS radius $`R=R(\rho _c)`$ and mass $`m=m(\rho _c)`$; finally, we eliminate $`\rho _c`$ from these two equations, completing our mapping of the EOS $`p(\rho )`$ into the mass–radius relation $`m(R)`$.

Lindblommapping  has shown how to invert the OV mapping using even a few $`m(R)`$ data points. Suppose that $`p(\rho )`$ is known up to a certain density $`\rho _{max}`$ from other observations and experiments. Now start with the least dense NS, and integrate the OV equations backward, from the surface of the star \[where we know $`R`$ and $`m(R)`$\] down to the radius where $`\rho =\rho _{max}`$. We are then left with a stellar core of known mass and radius, and we can use an analytic approximation for the solution of the OV equations to get $`p_c`$ and $`\rho _c`$; we add the point $`p_c(\rho _c)`$ to the EOS, and repeat for the next NS. The result is $`p(\rho )`$ as a piecewise linear law. This analysis can be generalized to include rotationally deformed models, and to account for the statistical uncertainty in the $`m(R)`$ data. Recently, HaradaHarada  has shown how other macroscopic parameters of NSs (such as moments of inertia, baryonic masses, binding energies, gravitational redshifts) can be used in this same framework to recover information about the EOS.

Finally, Saijo and NakamuraSaijo  have suggested that it might be possible to measure the NS radius directly from the spectrum of the GWs emitted in NS–BH coalescences. These authors have used BH perturbation theory to compute the spectrum of GW emitted by a disk of dust inspiraling into a rotating BH. When the radius $`R_{\mathrm{disk}}`$ is larger than the wavelength of the quasi-normal modes of the BH, the spectrum acquires several peaks with separation $`R_{\mathrm{disk}}^1`$, irrespective of $`M`$ and $`a`$. Saijo and Nakamura conjecture that the same structure would be visible in the spectrum of GW signals from NS–BH binaries, providing direct information about the radius. However, several issues are left unaddressed: in particular, the particles of the disk move along geodesics, while the fluid of a NS would be strongly constrained by the gravitation and pressure of the star (except, perhaps, in the regime of severe tidal disruption); furthermore, for coalescence events that happen at realistic distances the signal strength might be too low to let us resolve the form-factor structure in the spectrum.

### II.4 Numerical simulations of neutron-star tidal disruption

Summarizing, the preliminary analysis carried out by the present author suggests that NS tidal-disruption events have much to teach us about the NS EOS. This prediction is confirmed by Newtonian simulationsCentrella  of NS–BH systems, carried out using both smooth particle hydrodynamicsLee ; Lee2  and Eulerian techniquesJanka ; Janka2 , which show that the ultimate fate of the system (complete or incomplete disruption; presence of accretion rings or tidal tails; features of the GW shutoff) depends strongly on the stiffness of the EOS. However, detailed relativistic numerical simulations are still needed to confirm these prospects, and will be essential as a foundation to interpret any tidal-disruption waveforms that might be measured in reality.

## III Gravity waves from the $`r`$-modes of young neutron stars

All rotating stars possess a class of circulation modes ($`r`$-modes) that are driven toward instability by gravitational radiation reaction; in hot, rapidly rotating young NSs, this destabilizing effect might be so strong that it dominates viscous dissipation. Once an $`r`$-mode achieves sufficient amplitude, the star is quickly spun down as angular momentum is lost to gravitational radiation.Lindblom ; Kokkotas  For stars with initial angular velocity $`\mathrm{\Omega }1000`$ Hz, the timescale for $`r`$-mode growth is $`40`$ s. In recent years, $`r`$-modes have attracted considerable interest as a possible explanation for the failure to observe very rapidly spinning pulsars, and as a promising GW source for Earth-based detectors.

However, the astrophysical relevance of $`r`$-modes is still in doubt, pending judgment on two separate issues. First, the instability of $`r`$-modes (discovered by analyzing the linearized Euler equations for perfect fluids) might not be confirmed after all the complicated physics that occurs in NSs is taken into account, including relativistic effects, physical-EOS effects, solid crust effects, magnetic fields, rotation laws, and so on. Second, the amount of angular momentum removed from the star and the strength of the GW radiation emitted depend critically on the maximum amplitude that can be reached by the $`r`$-mode; but the growth of the $`r`$-mode might be limited to a very small *saturation amplitude* by the effects of magnetic fieldsRezzolla , or by the leakage of energy to other (damped) modes by way of nonlinear hydrodynamical couplings.

There have been several attempts to investigate the nonlinear dynamics of the $`r`$-modes, by means of second-order Lagrangian perturbation theory,Teukolsky  and of relativistic numerical simulations in the Cowling approximation.Stergioulas  In addition, Lindblom, Tohline and the present author have carried out Newtonian numerical simulations that include radiation reaction as an effective force. We now briefly review this work, but we invite the reader to refer to the original articlesrmode1 ; rmode2  for further details.

### III.1 Numerical evolutions of nonlinear $`r`$-modes in neutron stars

We solved the Newtonian Euler and Poisson equations on a $`128\times 64\times 128`$ cylindrical grid, using a 2nd-order–accurate finite-difference code developed at LSULSU  to tackle a variety of astrophysical problems. The LSU code was parallelizedMotl  in the domain-decomposition paradigm using the well known MPIMPI  library. We ran it on 16 nodes of the HP V-2500 supercomputers at Caltech’s Center for Advanced Computing Research.CACR

Our initial equilibrium configuration was a simple polytrope (with $`n=1`$, $`M=1.4M_{}`$, $`R=12.5`$ km) obtained by solving selfconsistently the Bernoulli and Poisson equations.Hachisu  We then augmented the rigid-rotation velocity field with a small-amplitude, slow-rotation approximation to an $`l=m=2`$ $`r`$-mode,Lindblom98

$$\delta \stackrel{}{v}=\alpha _0R\mathrm{\Omega }_0\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)^2\stackrel{}{Y}_{22}^Be^{i\omega _0t},$$
(2)
where $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ are the radius and angular velocity of the unperturbed star, $`\alpha _0`$ is the dimensionless $`r`$-mode amplitude, and $`\stackrel{}{Y}_{22}^B`$ is a vector spherical harmonic of the magnetic type. Gravitational radiation reaction was added as an effective Newtonian forceforce  proportional to the derivatives of the current multipole moments of the star.

Our computing budget set tight limits on the length of the simulation: one full rotation period of a rapidly rotating NS took up to ten thousand CPU hours. Consequently, we could not afford to follow the growth of the $`r`$-mode through one or more radiation timescales. Instead, we increased the strength of the effective radiation-reaction force by a factor of about 4500, to bring down the $`r`$-mode growth timescale to values comparable to the rotation period. Even with this trick, we expect that the physical behavior observed in the simulations should still be realistic, because the nonlinear dynamics of the $`r`$-mode (including its couplings to other modes) should happen at the hydrodynamical timescale, which in our simulations is still much shorter than the radiation-reaction timescale.

While computing the evolution of the star, we monitored the $`r`$-mode amplitude $`\alpha `$ by projecting the velocity of the fluid on $`\stackrel{}{Y}_{lm}^B`$,

$$\alpha =\frac{2|J_{22}|}{(\mathrm{\Omega }/R)\rho r^6𝑑r},$$
(3)
where $`J_{22}`$ is the $`l=m=2`$ current multipole moment; similarly, we read off the mode frequency $`\omega `$ as

$$\omega =\frac{1}{|J_{22}|}\left|\frac{dJ_{22}}{dt}\right|.$$
(4)
At the beginning of our evolution, these diagnostics recovered the theoretical values $`\alpha _0`$ and $`\omega _0`$ within the expected error.

Figure 2 shows the evolution of the $`r`$-mode amplitude. For this simulation, the theoretical predictionLindblom98  for the $`r`$-mode growth time was 10 initial rotation periods. The mode grew exponentially (in good accord with theory) until $`\alpha 2`$; then the mode started to be limited by some nonlinear process, the amplitude peaked at $`\alpha =3.35`$, and finally fell down very rapidly. A movie of the crashing $`r`$-mode can be found on the web.vallis

What nonlinear process was responsible for limiting the growth of the $`r`$-mode, and for causing its rapid demise? We discovered a clue when we examined the evolution of the energy and angular momentum in the course of the simulation. Even after the emission of angular momentum into GWs fell to zero, the star continued to lose energy; something other than GWs must be responsible for this loss.

We believe that we have found the culprit. To first order in the amplitude, the $`r`$-mode is only a *velocity* mode; to second order, however, there is an associated density perturbation, proportional to $`Y_{32}`$, which appears as a wave with four crests (two in each hemisphere) on the surface of the star. As the amplitude reaches its maximum, these propagating crests turn into large, breaking waves (see Fig. 3), and the edges of the waves develop strong shocks that dump kinetic energy into thermal energy, killing the $`r`$-mode.

### III.2 Numerical simulations as a laboratory of stellar physics

Our code provided a nice laboratory to perform several more evolutions and tests.

1. We performed basic tests on the robustness of the code and of our diagnostics, evolving stars with different angular velocities, with or without $`r`$-mode perturbations, and at different grid resolutions.
2. We investigated the dependence of the saturation amplitude on the artificial amplification of radiation reaction. Our computing budget made it impossible to increase the radiation-reaction timescale; instead, we reduced it even more, finding that the $`r`$-mode saturates faster, but at essentially the same amplitude.
3. We studied the *unforced* evolution of unit-amplitude $`r`$-modes, finding that they are essentially stable for as long as we could evolve them. These results are compatible with the relativistic evolutions (also unforced) performed by Stergioulas and Font.Stergioulas

### III.3 A new picture for gravity-wave signals from $`r`$-modes

In the traditional scenario for GW emission from $`r`$-modes,Owen98  the unstable $`r`$-mode would grow until it reached a dimensionless amplitude of about one, and then it would saturate and persist at that amplitude (for several months) until it would have lost most of its angular momentum; during that time, the frequency of the $`r`$-mode would decrease in proportion with the NS spin. The prospective picture of $`r`$-mode GW signals that emerges from our evolutions is quite different. Most interesting, the $`r`$-mode spindown episodes are faster (only a few minutes), and the GW frequency remains remarkably constant as the angular velocity of the star decreases. As a result, the search for $`r`$-mode signals changes from a pulsar-like search (which must account for the Doppler shifts generated by the movement of the Earth around the sun) to an easier chirp-like search, with encouraging prospects for detection.Lindblom01d

Although recent studies of the effect of magnetic fields,Rezzolla  and of exotic forms of bulk viscosityLindblom01e  suggest that the astrophysical significance of $`r`$-modes might be limited, the considerable uncertainty about the macroscopic and microscopic structure and dynamics of NSs makes it reasonable to devote some resources to GW searches for $`r`$-mode signals similar to those predicted by the simulations described above.

###### Acknowledgements.

For support, inspiration, and very useful discussions, the author thanks Kip Thorne, Lee Lindblom, Joel Tohline, Massimo Pauri and Luca Lusanna. This research was supported by NSF grants PHY-0099568 and PHY-9796079.