text:
# Dynamical Casimir Effect in a Designed Leaky Cavity

## Abstract

The phenomenon of particle creation within a resonantly vibrating lossy cavity is investigated for the example of a massless scalar field at finite temperature. Leakage is provided by insertion of a dispersive mirror into a larger ideal cavity. Via the rotating wave approximation we demonstrate that for the case of parametric resonance the exponential growth of the number of created particles and the strong enhancement at finite temperatures are preserved in the presence of reasonable losses. The relevance for experimental tests of quantum radiation via the dynamical Casimir effect is addressed.

thanks: Corresponding author, electronic address : schaller@theory.phy.tu-dresden.de

PACS: 42.50.Lc, 03.70.+k, 11.10.Ef, 11.10.Wx

One of the most impressive manifestations of the nontrivial vacuum structure in quantum field theory is the Casimir effect. More than fifty years ago Casimir  predicted that two conducting parallel plates placed in the vacuum will experience an attractive force. This effect has been verified experimentally, see e.g. . However, its dynamic counterpart with one or both mirrors moving and thus inducing phenomena like the effect of particle creation out of the vacuum has not yet been observed experimentally. This striking effect has been discussed by many authors (for a review see e.g.  and references therein). It has been shown that under resonance conditions (i.e., when one of the boundaries undergoes harmonic oscillations at twice the frequency of one of the eigenmodes of the cavity) the phenomenon of parametric resonance will occur. In the case of an ideal cavity (i.e., one with perfectly reflecting mirrors) this leads to an exponential growth of the particle occupation numbers of the resonance modes . In this case a resonantly oscillating boundary is known to lead to squeezing of the vacuum state causing the creation of particles inside.
In view of this result an experimental verification of the dynamical Casimir effect in principle appears to be rather simple – provided the cavity is vibrating at the resonance frequency for a sufficiently long time. Of course, this point of view is too naive since ideal cavities do not exist. Therefore it is essential to include effects of losses. Corresponding investigations have been performed for example in  based on the conformal invariance of the scalar field in 1+1 space-time dimensions, see . However, these considerations are a priori restricted to 1+1 dimensions and cannot simply be generalized to higher dimensions. In 3+1 dimensions the character of quantum radiation (in particular the resonance conditions, see e.g. ) differs drastically from the 1+1 dimensional situation since the spectrum of the eigenfrequencies is not equidistant anymore. More realistic cavities with losses were considered in . There effects of losses were taken into account by virtue of a (static) master equation ansatz and were not derived starting from first principles.
In addition it is necessary to examine the effects of a detuned external vibration frequency , since in an experiment this frequency will always deviate from a desired value .
Furthermore most papers did not include temperature effects. The canonical approach has proven to be quite successful and straightforward and it is also capable of including temperature effects. It has been demonstrated in  that these corrections even enhance the effect of particle production in the case of an ideal cavity. However, the canonical approach still lacks a generalization for leaky cavities.
The aim of the current article  is to examine the generic properties of the dynamical Casimir effect in a non-ideal, resonantly vibrating cavity. For that purpose we consider a scalar field inside a dynamical leaky cavity, which serves as a suitable model system. One simple way of constructing a leaky system is to insert a dispersive mirror into an ideal 3 dimensional cavity thus forming two leaky cavities coupled to each other. The left cavity is then bounded by a perfect mirror at $`x=a(t)`$ and a dispersive mirror at $`x=b`$. It will be considered the leaky cavity, whereas the right one (in addition bounded by a perfect mirror at $`x=c`$) is understood as the (larger) reservoir, see also Fig. 1.

Similar – but static – Fabry-Perot systems have been considered frequently in quantum optics, see e.g. .
Note that we are assuming a finite reservoir with a discrete spectrum instead of an infinite one leading to a continuum of modes. Since in any experimental setup the vibrating cavity will be surrounded by walls, etc., this assumption should be justified – cf. the remarks after Eq. (22) – or at least the experiment can be designed in this way.
We consider a massless neutral scalar field coupled to the external potential \[$`\mathrm{}=c=k_\mathrm{B}=1`$ throughout\]

$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }(𝒓;t)\right]\left[^\mu \mathrm{\Phi }(𝒓;t)\right]V(𝒓;t)\mathrm{\Phi }^2(𝒓;t),`$ (1)
where the potential $`V(𝒓;t)`$ simulates the ideal – inducing Dirichlet boundary conditions – and the dispersive mirrors. To keep the calculations simple we use an idealized $`\delta `$-type potential as considered in  for the internal dispersive mirror

$`V(x;t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\gamma \delta (xb)\hfill & \text{if }a(t)<x<c\hfill \\ \mathrm{}\hfill & \text{otherwise}\hfill \end{array}.`$ (4)
Note that when considering photons a dispersive mirror can be realized by a thin dielectric slab with a very large dielectric constant. This slab could be approximated by a space-dependent permittivity $`\epsilon (x)=1+\alpha \delta (xb)`$ leading to a similar eigenmode equation, see e.g. . However, the generalization to real photon creation in dynamic Fabry-Perot cavities is not entirely straightforward (cf. ) and remains subject to further elaborations.
According to  the parameter $`\gamma `$ enters the transmission and reflection amplitudes at frequency $`\omega `$ via $`𝒯=\omega /(\omega +i\gamma )`$ and $`=i\gamma /(\omega +i\gamma )`$. We expand the field operator into a complete and orthonormal set of eigenfunctions $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Phi }}(𝒓,t)=_\mu \widehat{Q}_\mu (t)f_\mu (𝒓;t)`$ satisfying the differential equation $`\{2V(𝒓;t)\mathrm{\Delta }\}f_\mu (𝒓;t)=\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)f_\mu (𝒓;t)`$. A separation of variables leads to an equation accounting for the $`x`$-dependence of the eigenfunctions, which can be solved with the ansatz (see also)

$`f_\mu ^x(x)=\{\begin{array}{cc}L_\mu \mathrm{sin}[\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^x(xa)]:\hfill & a(t)<x<b\text{ (cavity)}\hfill \\ R_\mu \mathrm{sin}[\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^x(cx)]:\hfill & b<x<c\text{ (reservoir)}\hfill \end{array}.`$ (7)
Together with the matching conditions at $`x=b`$ this leads to a transcendental equation for the eigenfrequencies

$`{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma }{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^x}}=\mathrm{cot}\left[\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^x(ba)\right]+\mathrm{cot}\left[\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^x(cb)\right].`$ (9)
For now we will assume the internal mirror to have a large reflectivity, with the parameters $`\eta _\mu =\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^x/\gamma `$ being small. Expanding in powers of $`\eta _\mu `$ one finds two sets of frequencies (with a relative shift of $`𝒪\left(\eta _\mu \right)`$ compared to those of ideal cavities), whose insertion in (7) leads to two separate sets of modes – mainly concentrated in the system and the reservoir, respectively. We will denote the lowest left-dominated frequency obtained from (9) by $`\mathrm{\Omega }_L^x`$ and to avoid confusion we will also introduce the fundamental perturbation parameter $`\eta =\eta _L=\mathrm{\Omega }_L^x/\gamma `$. In the following  we shall refer to the different modes as left-dominated modes \[large in the leaky cavity and small in the reservoir: $`R_\mu ^{(\mathrm{left})}=𝒪\left(\eta \right)`$\] and right-dominated modes \[large in the reservoir and small in the leaky cavity: $`L_\mu ^{(\mathrm{right})}=𝒪\left(\eta \right)`$\]. Note that when considering mirrors with a very high transparency one can always increase the accuracy by including higher orders in $`\eta `$ or even solving the associated equation (9) numerically.
The total Hamiltonian for the scalar field is obtained from (1) using a Legendre transformation. Via insertion of the field operator eigenmode expansion $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$ it can be written as a sum (see e.g. ) of a free Hamiltonian

$`\widehat{H}_0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}\widehat{P}_\mu ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0)^2\widehat{Q}_\mu ^2,`$ (10)
and a perturbation Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_I=\widehat{H}_I^S+\widehat{H}_I^V`$ with

$`\widehat{H}_I^S={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)\widehat{Q}_\mu ^2,\widehat{H}_I^V={\displaystyle \underset{\mu \nu }{}}\widehat{P}_\mu M_{\mu \nu }(t)\widehat{Q}_\nu .`$ (11)
Adopting the nomenclature of  we refer to the two parts of the perturbation Hamiltonian as the squeezing term $`\widehat{H}_I^S`$ and the velocity contribution $`\widehat{H}_I^V`$. The quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)=\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0)^2`$ denotes the deviation of the time-dependent eigenfrequencies $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)`$ from the unperturbed ones $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0)^2`$. The inter-mode coupling matrix $`M_{\mu \nu }(t)=d^3r\dot{f}_\mu (𝒓;t)f_\nu (𝒓;t)`$ is anti-symmetric due to the ortho-normality of the modes and the Dirichlet boundary conditions at the ideal mirrors, see e.g. . Note that both factors vanish for a stationary cavity. For the case of parametric resonance this complicated Hamiltonian can be simplified considerably by applying the rotating wave approximation (RWA), see e.g. . Let us assume the resonance case where during the time interval $`[0,T]`$ the left boundary of the cavity undergoes harmonic oscillations

$`a(t)=a_0+ϵ(ba_0)\mathrm{sin}(\omega t),`$ (12)
with a small amplitude $`0<ϵ1`$ and the external vibration frequency $`\omega `$. With the duration of the vibration being sufficiently long $`\omega T1`$ – i.e., after many oscillations – one can approximate the time evolution operator in the interaction picture

$`\widehat{U}(T,0)=\widehat{𝒯}\mathrm{exp}\left[i{\displaystyle _0^T}\left(\widehat{H}_I^S(t)+\widehat{H}_I^V(t)\right)𝑑t\right]`$ (13)
in the following way:
Each term in the series expansion of (13) can be rewritten as a multiple product of Hamiltonians without time-ordering and terms involving commutators with Heaviside step functions. The latter terms yield strongly oscillating integrands  and their contribution to (13) is therefore comparably small. Performing the time-averaging they will be neglected within the RWA as if one would naively neglect the time ordering completely.
The remaining multi-integrals factorize and can be expanded into powers of $`ϵ1`$ and $`(\omega T)1`$. Within the RWA all terms of $`𝒪\left(ϵ^J(\omega T)^K\right)`$ with $`J>K`$ are neglected. (Note that terms with $`J<K`$ do not occur.) The contributions with $`J=K`$ – i.e., exactly the terms in which the oscillations of the creation and annihilation operators $`\mathrm{exp}(i\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{op}}t)`$ \[interaction picture\] are compensated by the external time dependence \[$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)\mathrm{sin}(\omega t)`$ and $`M_{\mu \nu }(t)\mathrm{cos}(\omega t)`$\] – will be kept. In the resonance case ($`\omega =\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{op}}`$) the relevant time integrations can be approximated by

$`{\displaystyle _0^T}ϵ\omega e^{i\omega t}\left\{\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{sin}(\omega t)\\ \mathrm{cos}(\omega t)\end{array}\right\}𝑑t\stackrel{\mathrm{RWA}}{=}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ\omega T\left\{\begin{array}{c}i\\ 1\end{array}\right\}.`$ (18)
Accordingly, the remaining terms in (13) can be re-summated to yield an effective time-evolution operator $`\widehat{U}_{\mathrm{eff}}(T,0)=\mathrm{exp}(i\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^IT)`$ with the effective interaction Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^IT\stackrel{\mathrm{RWA}}{=}_0^T\widehat{H}_I^S(t)𝑑t+_0^T\widehat{H}_I^V(t)𝑑t`$.
This effective interaction Hamiltonian can be calculated as follows: In terms of annihilation and creation operators the squeezing interaction Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_I^S`$ decomposes into a sum of terms like $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)\widehat{a}_\mu ^{()}(t)\widehat{a}_\mu ^{()}(t)`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)=2ϵ(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^{x0})^2\mathrm{sin}(\omega t)+𝒪\left(ϵ^2\right)`$ in the resonance case. Due to the trivial time dependence of the creation and annihilation operators in the interaction picture $`\widehat{a}_\mu (t)=\widehat{a}_\mu \mathrm{exp}(i\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0t)`$ the time integration of $`\widehat{H}_I^S`$ involves many oscillating terms, whose time average is rather small compared to that of constant contributions. Only the terms where the oscillation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^2(t)`$ compensates the oscillation of the operators, i.e., where the squeezing resonance condition (see also )

$`\omega =2\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0`$ (19)
holds, will be kept within the RWA. The spectrum of the cavity is assumed to be well-separated, i.e., the relative distance of the different energy levels of interest is much larger than $`𝒪\left(ϵ\right)`$. We choose the frequency $`\omega `$ to be exactly twice the unperturbed frequency of the lowest left-dominated mode $`\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0`$ (fundamental resonance).
In the series expansion of (13) this leads with the aid of (18) to a time-averaged effective squeezing Hamiltonian

$`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^S=i\xi \left[(\widehat{a}_L^{})^2(\widehat{a}_L^{})^2\right],`$ (20)
with the squeezing parameter $`\xi =ϵ\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0(\mathrm{\Omega }_L^{x0}/\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0)^2/4`$.
The same procedure can be applied for the velocity interaction Hamiltonian: Here the coupling matrix $`M_{\mu \nu }(t)`$ factorizes into a time-independent geometrical factor $`m_{\mu \nu }=d^3r(f_\mu /a)f_\nu `$ and the velocity of the boundary $`M_{\mu \nu }(t)=m_{\mu \nu }\dot{a}(t)+𝒪\left(ϵ^2\right)`$. However, here the occurrence of inter-mode couplings results in an additional different resonance condition (see also )

$`\omega `$ $`=`$ $`\left|\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0\pm \mathrm{\Omega }_\nu ^0\right|,`$ (21)
where we are mainly interested in $`\mu =L`$ . In general the above resonance condition cannot be fulfilled by a left-dominated mode $`\nu `$ – just as for a perfect cavity . (The situation is completely different in 1+1 dimensions with $`\widehat{H}_I^V`$ always contributing due to the equidistant spectrum, see e.g. .) However, in contrast to an ideal cavity it can still be fulfilled by some right-dominated mode $`\nu =R`$. Accordingly, one similarly finds with (18) a time-averaged effective velocity Hamiltonian

$`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^V`$ $`=`$ $`i\chi \left(\widehat{a}_L^{}\widehat{a}_R^{}\widehat{a}_L^{}\widehat{a}_R^{}\right),`$ (22)
with $`\chi =ϵ\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0\left(\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_R^0/\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0}+\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0/\mathrm{\Omega }_R^0}\right)m_{LR}(ba_0)/4`$ being the velocity parameter of the system. It follows from the characteristics of left- and right-dominated modes that the geometry factor becomes small $`m_{LR}=𝒪\left(\eta \right)`$ in the limit of a nearly perfectly reflecting mirror which implies that $`\chi /\xi =𝒪\left(\eta \right)1`$. The resonance condition (21) can in general be fulfilled by many modes – but the main contribution to the particle creation is induced by the squeezing of the $`L`$-mode which couples only to the right-dominated $`R`$-mode in our considerations.
Assuming an arbitrarily large reservoir one would of course obtain many $`R`$-modes coupling to the fundamental $`L`$-mode of interest. However, for a finite length of the right cavity $`cb`$ and a sufficiently long vibration time $`Tcb`$ the resonance condition will single out a finite number of $`R`$-modes only. Since the effect of losses is additive  to lowest order in $`\eta `$ – i.e., for high-quality cavities – it is sufficient to consider one $`R`$-mode only.
Accordingly, the total effective interaction Hamiltonian reads

$`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^I=i\xi \left[(\widehat{a}_L^{})^2(\widehat{a}_L^{})^2\right]+i\chi \left[\widehat{a}_L^{}\widehat{a}_R^{}\widehat{a}_L^{}\widehat{a}_R^{}\right].`$ (23)
We want to calculate the expectation value of particle number operators that are explicitly time-independent in the interaction picture:

$`N_\mu (T)\stackrel{\mathrm{RWA}}{=}\mathrm{Tr}\left\{\widehat{U}_{\mathrm{eff}}^{}(T,0)\widehat{N}_\mu \widehat{U}_{\mathrm{eff}}(T,0)\widehat{\rho }_0\right\},`$ (24)
where $`\widehat{\rho }_0=\mathrm{exp}(\beta \widehat{H}_0)/Z`$ denotes the initial statistical operator of the canonical ensemble.
Since the $`\widehat{U}_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is unitary one can introduce new perturbation time ($`T`$) dependent ladder operators

$`\widehat{a}_\mu (T)=e^{+i\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^IT}\widehat{a}_\mu e^{i\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}^IT},`$ (25)
and solve for their $`T`$-dependence. This can be done by defining a 4-dimensional column vector (cf. )

$`\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(T)=(\widehat{a}_L^{}(T),\widehat{a}_L^{}(T),\widehat{a}_R^{}(T),\widehat{a}_R^{}(T))^\mathrm{T}.`$ (26)
Via differentiating (25) one can derive an equation for $`\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}}{dT}}=i[\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}},\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(T)]=\underset{¯}{A}\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(T).`$ (27)
Since we restrict ourselves to two coupling modes and a quadratic Hamiltonian, $`\underset{¯}{A}`$ is a $`4\times 4`$ number-valued matrix. More sophisticated couplings will simply increase the dimension of $`\underset{¯}{A}`$. This differential equation is then solved by the formal evolution matrix $`\underset{¯}{U}(T)`$

$`\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(T)=\mathrm{exp}\left(\underset{¯}{A}T\right)\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(0)=\underset{¯}{U}(T)\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(0),`$ (28)
i.e., initial and final ladder operators are related via a Bogoljubov transformation. In the present case the effective interaction Hamiltonian (23) implies a very simple form of $`\underset{¯}{A}`$

$`\underset{¯}{A}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 2\xi & \chi & 0\\ 2\xi & 0& 0& \chi \\ \chi & 0& 0& 0\\ 0& \chi & 0& 0\end{array}\right),`$ (33)
with $`\lambda _i=\pm \xi \pm \sqrt{\xi ^2\chi ^2}`$ being its eigenvalues. The time evolution matrix $`\underset{¯}{U}(T)=\mathrm{exp}(\underset{¯}{A}T)`$ is omitted here for brevity but can certainly be calculated, e.g. using some computer algebra system. Considering the time evolution of the new annihilation and creation operators $`\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(T)=\underset{¯}{U}(T)\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(0)`$ one finds that the expectation values of particle number operators – in particular $`\widehat{N}_L=\widehat{x}_2\widehat{x}_1`$ – can be calculated via inserting $`\underset{¯}{\overset{^}{x}}(T)`$ leading to a bilinear form. The full response function turns out to be a combination of matrix elements of $`\underset{¯}{U}(T)`$

$`N_L(T)`$ $`=`$ $`(U_{12}U_{21}+U_{14}U_{23})`$ (34)
$`+(U_{11}U_{22}+U_{12}U_{21})N_L^0`$
$`+(U_{13}U_{24}+U_{14}U_{23})N_R^0,`$
and similarly for particles created in the reservoir with $`\widehat{N}_R=\widehat{x}_4\widehat{x}_3`$. The temperature dependence is taken into account by assuming a Bose-Einstein distribution for the initial particle occupation numbers

$`N_\mu ^0=N_{R/L}^0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{\Omega }_\mu ^0)1}}`$ (35)
of the resonance modes. Taking the limit of $`\eta 0`$ (ideal cavity) one recovers the results found by other authors . The explicit expression  found for $`N_L(T)`$ does reflect a purely exponential growth of the particle numbers in the resonance modes as long as $`\chi <\xi `$, since the time-dependence of $`\underset{¯}{U}(T)`$ is governed by the eigenvalues of $`\underset{¯}{A}`$ via $`\mathrm{exp}(\lambda _iT)`$. With $`\chi =𝒪\left(ϵ\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0\eta \right)`$ this also leads to an upper bound for the mirror transmittance $`\eta `$ above which (corresponding to a highly transparent mirror) one finds oscillations .
In order to quantify the order of magnitudes let us specify the relevant parameters: A cavity with a typical size of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }1`$ cm would have a fundamental resonance frequency of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0150`$ GHz i.e., the coupling right dominated mode has a frequency of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_R^0=3\mathrm{\Omega }_L^0450`$ GHz. We will assume a dimensionless vibration amplitude of $`ϵ=10^8`$, see also .
Consequently one would have to sustain the vibrations over an interval of several milliseconds in order to create a significant number of particles. But even after only one millisecond – i.e. $`10^8`$ periods – a classical estimate based on a quality factor of $`Q=10^8`$  would indicate drastic energy losses. However, our calculations based on a complete quantum treatment show that the effects of losses do not drastically modify the exponential growth of the created particles’ number as long as $`\eta 1`$. Of course our calculations are based on the assumption that the larger cavity (including both reservoir and the leaky cavity) is perfectly conducting and that the RWA-conditions such as $`Tcb`$ hold. The resulting error, however, is of $`𝒪\left(Q^2\right)`$ and therefore – even classically – certainly negligible for $`Q^210^8`$, e.g. $`Q=10^6`$. Consequently, the experimental verification of the dynamical Casimir effect could be facilitated by a configuration where the vibrating cavity is enclosed by a larger one. A classical estimate of the quality factor $`Q`$ for our cavity yields $`Q=2\pi /\left|𝒯\right|^2=2\pi [1+(\gamma /\omega )^2]=𝒪\left(\eta ^2\right)`$. Accordingly, the assumption of $`Q=10^6`$, i.e. $`\eta =𝒪\left(10^3\right)`$ is completely sufficient to justify our approximations.
Note that a cavity at finite temperatures is even advantageous provided the cavity is still nearly ideal for the characteristic thermal wavelength.
In summary the experimental verification of the dynamical Casimir effect could become feasible with lower cavity quality factors than in  (e.g. $`Q=𝒪\left(10^6\right)`$, which is experimentally achievable) – provided the shift of the resonance frequency by $`\eta /(2b2a)`$ with $`\eta =𝒪\left(10^3\right)`$ is taken into account.

The authors are indebted to A. Calogeracos, V. V. Dodonov, and D. A. R. Dalvit for fruitful discussions. R. S. is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt foundation and NSERC. Financial support by BMBF and GSI is gratefully acknowledged.


format: text

text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The flavour puzzle in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model poses an especially interesting problem. On the one hand, there is a clear need for flavour dependence to explain the fermion mass hierarchy. On the other hand, the absence of Flavour Changing Neutral Currents (FCNC) at an observable rate suggests the need for flavour independent symmetries, which force sfermion mass degeneracy. In addition one must insure that non–trivial phases which may appear in the supersymmetry breaking sector, do not produce Electric Dipole Moments (EDMs) that violate the experimental bounds . Furthermore, as emphasized most recently in ref. , even if the sfermion masses are degenerate and the supersymmetric phases are suppressed, non–universality in the soft trilinear A–terms may result in large EDMs, merely due to the existence of CP violation in the Cabbibo–Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) mixing matrix. In ref.  this was referred to as the “String CP problem”, to emphasize the fact that in string theories one generically expects non–universal trilinear terms and must necessarily provide for non-vanishing phases in the Yukawa matrices .

In the context of supersymmetric field theory models the problem is of course evaded by simply imposing that the relevant parameters have the needed properties to avoid conflict with the experimental data. The riddle however becomes more intricate in the context of superstring theories in which the soft SUSY breaking parameters are, in general, expected to be non–universal . The problem is further exacerbated due to our ignorance of the precise mechanism responsible for supersymmetry breaking. Moreover, the SUSY breaking mechanism is, in general, expected to involve nonperturbative dynamics, on which we have very little calculational handle. Therefore, even if one scenario can offer some remedy to the superstring flavour and CP problems, there is no preference for any particular scenario, nor any reason for such a remedy to survive the nonperturbative dynamics. These arguments suggest that what is needed is to seek structures in string theory, or in particular string compactifications, that are independent of our ignorance of the details of the SUSY breaking scenario and of the nonperturbative dynamics.

In this paper we study the superstring flavour and CP problems in the context of realistic string models with a family universal anomalous $`U(1)`$. Supersymmetry breaking in this class of models was investigated in refs. . The supersymmetry breaking mechanism in these papers utilizes both an anomalous $`U(1)`$ gauge symmetry and an effective mass term $`m1\mathrm{T}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ of some fields in the massless string spectrum. It was shown that non–renormalizable terms which contain hidden sector condensates, generate the required suppression of the relevant mass term $`m`$ compared to the Planck scale. While the non–vanishing $`D`$–term of the family universal $`U(1)_A`$ led to squark degeneracy, those of the family dependent $`U(1)`$s, remarkably enough, were found to vanish for the solutions that were considered, owing to minimization of the potential. This result therefore suggests the possibility that, while the flavor $`U(1)`$ symmetries are responsible for generating the fermion mass hierarchy, they do not necessarily spoil the sfermion mass degeneracy . Analysis of fermion mass textures in the string models that we consider here was done in ref. . It was argued in ref.  that the phenomenological constraints motivate a combined $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking scenario. It was then shown how the superstring FCNC problem, the analogous to the SUSY flavour problem in a superstring derived SUSY model, could be adequately resolved in this combined $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking scenario.

In this work we extend the discussion of ref.  and examine both the superstring flavour and CP problems in the context of realistic string models with combined family universal $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking scenario. Here we show that this combined scenario can naturally evade the string CP problem due to the suppression of the non–universal component of the trilinear soft SUSY breaking parameters. We then discuss the general structure of the string models that produce the family universal anomalous $`U(1)`$. The root cause of the flavour universality of $`U(1)_A`$ is the cyclic permutation symmetry that characterizes the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold compactification with standard embedding , realized in the free fermionic models by the NAHE set . The cyclic permutation symmetry is the remarkable property of the free fermionic models, or more precisely of the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold, which may eventually prove to be instrumental in resolving the string flavour and CP problems in any SUSY breaking scenario. Namely, while in the present paper our focus is on the family universality of the anomalous $`U(1)_A`$, the cyclic permutation symmetry also exhibits itself in the universality of the untwisted moduli, and in other sectors of the models. It may therefore prove to be instrumental to the understanding of the sfermion mass degeneracy in different SUSY breaking scenarios. In this respect the $`U(1)_A`$ SUSY breaking scenario that is analyzed here and in ref. , merely offers a glimpse into the deeper structures that underly this class of superstring compactifications. In section (4) we discuss how the cyclic permutation symmetry may ensure sfermion universality irrespective of the dominant source of supersymmetry breaking. Additionally, we discuss how the spectrum in the realistic free fermionic models may divide in a way which allows fermion mass hierarchy while ensuring that the phenomenological constraints on the sfermion mixing and phases are satisfied.

## 2 Anomalous $`U(1)_A`$ SUSY breaking

In a large class of free fermionic string models with an anomalous $`U(1)_A`$ gauge symmetry, supersymmetry may be softly broken by the anomalous $`D`$-term. At low energies these models yield a MSSM gauge group with three generations and softly broken SUSY . Furthermore, the existence of free fermionic string models that reproduce solely the MSSM states in the low energy, Standard Model charged, spectrum has also been demonstrated . These remarkable properties render these string models as some of the most interesting constructions in string phenomenology. Issues like fermion mass textures and CP violation in these models are discussed in refs. . In this letter we analyze the presence of FCNC and CP violation in these models. For this purpose we study two different realizations of free fermionic string models. We refer to them as model I  and model II .

In model I, all scalar fields charged under $`U(1)_A`$ acquire a soft mass given by,

$$[m_{\stackrel{~}{f}_i}^2]_{D_A}=g^2\left(Q_A^iD_A+Q_\chi ^iD_\chi \right).$$
(1)
where $`U(1)_\chi `$ is a non-anomalous, family universal $`U(1)`$ that gets a nonvanishing D-term in the model. In this case $`D_A=2D_\chi =\sqrt{3/5}m^2/g^2`$, and the charges are all family universal, although they vary for different members of the same family. Using the charges in  we obtain,

$$m_{Q_L}^2=m_{d_R}^2=3m_{u_R}^2=3m_L^2=3m_{e_R}^2=m^2/4,$$
(2)
where $`m`$ leads to SUSY breaking through the superpotential mass term

$$Wm\mathrm{\Phi }\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}+\mathrm{}$$
(3)
In Ref.  this effective mass term in the superpotential corresponds to a $`m\mathrm{\Phi }_{45}\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_{45}`$ term, with $`m𝒪(1\text{ TeV})<<M_{Pl}`$ arising from higher dimensional operators and hidden sector matter condensates. Here all the MSSM fields have family universal charges under $`U(1)_A`$ and $`U(1)_\chi `$, and hence all of them receive an equal mass from the D-term. However, it is clear that the D-terms cannot contribute to gaugino masses and trilinear terms. Hence, in this scenario, these soft terms can only appear through higher dimensional operators. Gaugino masses are generated  from,

$$\lambda _gd^2\theta \frac{\mathrm{\Phi }\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}{M_{Pl}^2}W_aW_a\lambda _g\frac{F_{\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{M_{Pl}^2}=\lambda _gm\frac{\sqrt{15}\xi }{5M_{Pl}^2}\lambda _gϵm/5$$
(4)
with $`\xi `$ the Fayet-Iliopoulos term, that in this model is equal to,

$$\xi =\frac{g^2(\text{Tr}Q_A)}{192\pi ^2}M_{Pl}^2=\frac{15g^2}{16\sqrt{15}\pi ^2}M_{Pl}^2,$$
(5)
and therefore we can estimate $`ϵ=0.095\times g^2`$. As $`g^2`$ is the unified coupling at the string scale and $`\alpha _{GUT}=g^2/4\pi 1/25`$, we have $`ϵ1/20`$. Similarly trilinear couplings come from superpotential terms with their flavour structure determined by a flavour symmetry as discussed in section 4 and therefore sufficiently similar to the Yukawa matrices. Still, we take these flavour structures as free in the following,

$$W=\lambda ^{}QH_uu^c\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}{M_{Pl}^2}\lambda ^{}\frac{F_{\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{M_{Pl}^2}=\lambda ^{}ϵm/5.$$
(6)
Here the couplings $`\lambda _g`$, $`\lambda ^{}`$… respect the string symmetries and may be suppressed and/or arise at 1 loop level. For a scalar mass $`m=1`$TeV, this implies that the gluino mass at the electroweak scale is $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}(M_Z)2.8m_\lambda (M_{\mathrm{GUT}})=30\lambda \mathrm{GeV}`$. Clearly too small for the observed experimental limits. Hence we need an additional contribution to the gaugino masses. To obtain an adequate gaugino mass we can consider a combined anomalous $`U(1)`$-Dilaton scenario. Here, scalar masses would get a dominant contribution from $`U(1)_A`$ while the dilaton would generate the main contribution to gaugino masses. These dilaton contributions give rise also to sfermion masses and trilinear couplings although these contributions are family universal ,

$$m_{1/2}=\pm \sqrt{3}m_{3/2}^S,m^2(\stackrel{~}{f}_i)=(m_{3/2}^S)^2,A_{ijk}=m_{1/2}$$
(7)
in terms of the gravitino mass, $`m_{3/2}^S`$, that arises from the dilaton $`F`$–term. Notice that from here, the dilaton contributions to the trilinear terms and to the gaugino masses have exactly the same phase. Therefore, taking into account that in our scheme, dilaton provides always the great bulk of the gaugino mass, dilaton contribution to trilinear couplings play no role in $`CP`$ violation. Moreover, it is important to remember that flavour universal contributions to the soft breaking terms, even with the two new SUSY phases (the $`\mu `$ and $`A`$ phases), can only contribute sizeably in $`CP`$ violation in EDMs and $`bs\gamma `$, but never in $`CP`$ violation in kaon mixing ($`\epsilon _K`$ and $`\epsilon ^{}/\epsilon `$) or in the $`B^0`$ $`CP`$ asymmetries .

Still, we must take into account that sfermion masses may also receive nonuniversal contributions from the Kähler potential ,

$$(m_{\stackrel{~}{f}}^2)_K\lambda \frac{|F_{\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}|^2}{M_{Pl}^2}\frac{\lambda m^2\sqrt{15}\xi }{5M_{Pl}^2}=\lambda m^2ϵ/5$$
(8)
Nevertheless, due to the $`ϵ`$ suppression, these nonuniversal contributions are always small and, as we will see in the next section, generate reasonably small FCNC and $`CP`$ violation effects.

Similarly in model II the three generation sfermion masses are,

$$[m_{\stackrel{~}{f}_i}^2]_{D_A}=g^2\left(Q_A^iD_A\right)=m^2/4,$$
(9)
where in this case $`Q_A^i`$ is not only family universal, but also intra–family universal, with $`Q_A^i=1/\sqrt{12}`$, and $`D_A=\sqrt{3}/2m^2/g^2`$. Trilinear terms are obtained via higher order terms similar to model I,

$$W=\lambda ^{}QH_uu^c\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}{M_{Pl}^2}\lambda ^{}\frac{F_{\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}\mathrm{\Phi }}{M_{Pl}^2}=\lambda ^{}ϵ^{}m/2,$$
(10)
and in this case $`ϵ^{}=\sqrt{3}\xi /M_{Pl}^2=g^23/(8\pi ^2)1/50`$. Remarkably $`ϵ^{}/2=ϵ/5`$ and the relative suppression of trilinear terms with respect to $`m`$ is exactly the same as in model I. Nonuniversal sfermion masses from the Kähler potential are now,

$$(m_{\stackrel{~}{f}}^2)_K\lambda \frac{|F_{\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}}|^2}{M_{Pl}^2}\frac{\lambda m^2\sqrt{3}\xi }{2M_{Pl}^2}=\lambda m^2ϵ^{}/2,$$
(11)
and again the relative suppression with respect to $`m`$ is equal to model I. This means that, at least in the down quark sector, the analysis of FCNC and $`CP`$ violation will be analogous in both model I and II, as $`ϵ/5=ϵ^{}/2`$.

## 3 $`CP`$ violation and FCNC

As we have seen in the previous section, the free fermionic string models of Refs.  have a clear hierarchy between diagonal and off-diagonal elements,

$$\left[m^2(\stackrel{~}{f}_i)\frac{m^2}{4}+m_S^2\right]>\left[(m_{\stackrel{~}{f}}^2)_{ij}\lambda _{ij}\frac{m^2}{5}ϵ\right]$$
(12)
with $`m_S^2`$ the universal dilaton contribution to scalar masses. This implies that, in general, the SUSY flavour problem as well as some aspects of the SUSY $`CP`$ problem are largely reduced in these scenarios. However, even with this suppression of off-diagonal elements, the FCNC and $`CP`$ violation observables are still extremely sensitive to some entries in the sfermion mass matrices. In the following, we analyze the possible contributions to FCNC and $`CP`$ violation observables in the quark sector.

In first place, we assume that the structure of the sfermion mass matrices at the Planck scale is generically given in Eq. (12). The off–diagonal elements are roughly a factor $`ϵ`$ smaller than the diagonal ones. The next step is to use the MSSM Renormalization Group Equations (RGE) to evolve the soft breaking parameters from the Planck scale to the electroweak scale. In fact, for simplicity, we identify the Planck scale and the GUT scale and use the MSSM RGE up to a scale of $`2\times 10^{16}`$ GeV. In this RGE evolution the main effects are those associated with the strong coupling, the top quark Yukawa coupling, and possibly the bottom quark and tau lepton Yukawa couplings in the large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ regime. We can take the basis where up–quarks Yukawa couplings are diagonal, $`v_2Y_u=M_u`$, and the off-diagonality in the down–quarks mass matrix is simply given by the usual CKM mixing matrix, $`v_1Y_d=K_{CKM}^{}M_d`$. Under these conditions, it is clear that we can neglect small effects associated with Yukawa elements other than $`Y_{tt}`$ and $`Y_{bb}`$. It is easy to see from the general MSSM RGE equations  that this implies that off-diagonal elements in the doublet or singlet sfermion mass matrices are basically unchanged, while the diagonal elements receive a flavour universal contribution except for a small difference in the third generation masses (see for instance Tables I and IV in ),

$$m_{\stackrel{~}{D}_{(L,R)_i}}^2(M_W)6m_{1/2}^2+m_{\stackrel{~}{D}_{(L,R)_i}}^2$$
(13)
From this point of view it is clear that these effects reduce the FCNC an $`CP`$ violation problems in the model. For instance, taking both the gaugino mass and the $`U(1)_A`$ contribution to sfermion masses roughly of the same order at the GUT scale, $`m_{1/2}m/2`$, and replacing in Eq. (13) the different contributions from Eqs. (2) and (7), the average sfermion mass, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$, at $`M_W`$ is given by $`7.3m_{1/2}^27.3m^2/4`$. At the same time, as explained above, off-diagonal terms are not largely modified, $`(m_{\stackrel{~}{f}}^2)_{ij}\lambda _{ij}m^2ϵ/5`$. Hence the low energy FC effects are reduced nearly an order of magnitude by the above RGE factor. Nevertheless, we must keep in mind that in this model the sfermion and gaugino masses are in principle unrelated because they come from different sources. On the other hand, the experimental constraints on sfermion and gaugino masses set for both a common lower limit of roughly $`100`$ GeV at the GUT scale.

The RG evolution of the trilinear couplings is also similarly dominated by gluino contributions and the third generation Yukawa couplings. Therefore, in the basis of diagonal up quark Yukawa couplings, we have again that diagonal elements receive a large gaugino contribution at $`M_W`$, while the $`(t,t)`$ (and possibly $`(b,b)`$) element of the trilinear coupling, $`Y_{ij}^A=A_{ij}Y_{ij}`$, is reduced due to the top (and bottom) Yukawa coupling (see Table V in ). Once again off-diagonal elements in this basis are basically unchanged. In particular, the values of $`A_{bb}`$ depend on the value of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. For instance, for low $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 5`$ we have,

$$A_t(M_W)0.24A_t^02m_{1/2}A_b(M_W)1A_t^03.4m_{1/2},$$
(14)
while for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 30`$,

$$A_t(M_W)0.25A_t^02m_{1/2}A_b(M_W)0.74A_t^02.9m_{1/2},$$
(15)
whereas, the flavour diagonal elements for the first two generations do not change strongly with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$,

$$A_u(M_W)0.6A_u^02.9m_{1/2}A_d(M_W)1A_d^03.6m_{1/2}$$
(16)
The main feature of these RG evolution is the alignment of the trilinear couplings and the gaugino masses. This alignment of the phases has important effects in $`CP`$ violation observables.

To explore FCNC and $`CP`$-violation effects in the absence of a completely defined flavour structure as in this case, it is convenient to use the so-called Mass Insertion (MI) approximation . This approximation is defined in the SCKM basis where fermion and sfermion matrices are rotated in parallel to the basis where fermion masses are diagonal, such that neutral gaugino couplings are flavour diagonal and the flavour change is produced by non-diagonal sfermion propagators. These propagators can be expanded as a series in terms of,

$$(\delta _A)_{ij}=(m_A^2)_{ij}/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2,$$
(17)
with $`A=L,R,LR`$ corresponding to the left–handed sfermion mass matrix, right–handed sfermion mass matrix, or in the left–right mixing sfermion mass matrices, respectively. These $`\delta `$ parameters are the so called Mass Insertions, and low energy observables place constraints on the allowed size of these MI .

First, we analyze the $`L`$ and $`R`$ mass insertions. Here we take the off-diagonal element as $`(m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2)_K`$ in Eq. (12), and this implies,

$$(\delta _{L,R})_{ij}=\frac{\lambda _{ij}m^2ϵ/5}{7.3a(m^2/4)}\frac{6\lambda _{ij}ϵ}{55a}=\frac{\lambda _{ij}}{a}5.5\times 10^3,$$
(18)
for an average squark mass, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2=7.3(m^2/4)a`$. In principle we make no further assumptions and take $`\lambda _{ij}/a1`$. Therefore we can see that in general we expect these off-diagonal contributions to be quite small. In fact, if we compare with the phenomenological bounds in , we can see that the only places where these contributions could generate large effects at low energy is in the kaon sector and possibly in rare leptonic decays as $`\mu e\gamma `$ . On the contrary, in the $`B`$ sector, where a large signal of $`CP`$ violation has been recently measured in the $`B`$ factories , the expected SUSY contributions are small. The experimental limits from the $`B`$ mass difference are ,

$`\sqrt{\left|\text{Re}\left(\delta _L^d\right)_{13}^2\right|},\sqrt{\left|\text{Re}\left(\delta _R^d\right)_{13}^2\right|}9.8\times 10^2`$ (19)
$`\sqrt{\left|\text{Re}\left\{\left(\delta _L^d\right)_{13}\left(\delta _R^d\right)_{13}\right\}\right|}1.8\times 10^2`$
with an average squark mass equal to the gluino mass at the electroweak scale and equal to $`500`$ GeV. Notice that these limits vary with the ratio $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}^2/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$ and scale with $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2/(500\text{ GeV})^2`$. Comparing the expected MI in this model, Eq. (18), and the limits in Eq. (19), we can see that in the case where off-diagonality is only present in the $`L`$ or in the $`R`$ mass matrix the maximum possible contribution in our model can never give a sizeable contribution. In principle, the simultaneous presence of maximum $`\delta _L`$ and a $`\delta _R`$ could still be observable. Moreover, we have to take into account that due to the fact that the $`CP`$ violating phase in $`B`$$`\overline{B}`$ mixing is $`𝒪(1)`$, these limits are also approximately valid for the imaginary part. In the presence of $`L`$ and $`R`$ MI simultaneously, it is still possible that these contributions may be observed in the $`CP`$ asymmetries of the $`B`$ system. Nevertheless, in general, we would expect that not all the off-diagonal entries are of the maximum size in Eq. (18). For instance, SUSY contributions would be smaller if $`\lambda /a<1`$ or the average sfermion masses are somewhat larger. Therefore, it is difficult to envision a sizeable contribution in the $`B`$ system. Another observable in the $`B`$ system is the decay $`bs\gamma `$ but it is only sensitive to $`LR`$ MI and we discuss it below.

More interesting are the contributions in the kaon sector. The kaon mass difference as can be seen from the updated bounds in  can still receive a large contribution in the simultaneous presence of $`L`$ and $`R`$ MI. This is due to the fact that in this case, most of the kaon mass difference is already given in the SM. This fact already constrains the model, although the experimental value of $`\epsilon _K`$ gives rise to a much stronger constraint . As generically we expect both the real and imaginary parts of these MI of the same order we consider only the $`\epsilon _K`$ bound,

$`\sqrt{\left|\text{Im}\left(\delta _L^d\right)_{12}^2\right|},\sqrt{\left|\text{Im}\left(\delta _R^d\right)_{12}^2\right|}6.1\times 10^3`$ (20)
$`\sqrt{\left|\text{Im}\left\{\left(\delta _L^d\right)_{12}\left(\delta _R^d\right)_{12}\right\}\right|}1.3\times 10^4`$
Once again, comparing these bounds with the naive estimate in Eq. (18), we can see here that a single MI in the right– or left–handed sector should be in qualitative agreement with the phenomenological limits. In fact, in a complete theory, we would also expect some relation among the flavour structures in the Yukawa couplings and the soft breaking masses. Then, in the basis of diagonal Yukawa couplings, off–diagonal entries in the sfermion mass matrices would be further suppressed with respect to the diagonal ones. Another necessary ingredient in this case is the presence of a non-vanishing $`CP`$ violating phase. Therefore the constraints on these matrix elements could be easier to satisfy if we assume that phases are $`𝒪(0.1)`$, although there is no special reason for this. However, the simultaneous presence of large right and left MI can still be problematic for kaon phenomenology. The phenomenological limit in Eq (20) would imply a constraint in the off-diagonal terms in the sfermion mass matrix,

$$\frac{\sqrt{\text{Im}\left\{\lambda _{12}^{d_L}\lambda _{12}^{d_R}\right\}}}{a}=\frac{\sqrt{|\lambda _{12}^{d_L}||\lambda _{12}^{d_R}|}\mathrm{sin}\alpha }{a}\frac{1.3\times 10^4}{5.5\times 10^3}0.024$$
(21)
with $`\alpha =(\alpha _L+\alpha _R)/2`$, the $`CP`$ phase of the $`\lambda `$–couplings in Eq. (8), in the SCKM basis. Hence, even in these models with suppressed nonuniversal contributions to the sfermion mass matrices, the phenomenological constraint from $`\epsilon _K`$ has to be taken into account and restricts the allowed flavour structure from the Kähler potential. However, we want to emphasize that here, these constraints do not require a large fine-tuning of the initial parameters and could be satisfied in realistic constructions. In the next section we will discuss these problems in the framework of a realistic string model.

A second source of flavour change comes from the nonuniversality in the trilinear soft terms. These contributions give rise to chirality changing MI, $`(\delta _{LR})_{ij}`$. In this case the off-diagonal entries are more difficult to estimate because the physical trilinear couplings are related to the Yukawa matrices $`Y_{ij}^A=A_{ij}Y_{ij}`$ and this definition is strongly dependent on the Yukawa basis. Indeed, in many flavour models, this relation implies a strong suppression with light quark masses in the phenomenologically interesting transitions. In fact, in some string or supergravity inspired models, although non-universal, it has been argued that these trilinear terms can be written as , $`A_{ij}=A_i+A_j`$, and then the trilinear couplings are factorizable in matrix form,

$$Y_{ij}^A=\text{Diag}(A_1^L,A_2^L,A_3^L)Y+Y\text{Diag}(A_1^R,A_2^R,A_3^R)$$
(22)
If the trilinear couplings possess this structure, and taking into account that off–diagonal elements are not largely affected by RGE evolution, we can estimate the $`LR`$ off–diagonal mass insertions ,

$`(\delta _{LR})_{ij}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2}}m_j((A_2A_1)K_{i2}K_{j2}^{}+(A_3A_1)K_{i3}K_{j3}^{})`$ (23)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{m_j\lambda ^{}mϵ/5}{7.3a(m^2/4)}}K_\mathrm{}2K_j\mathrm{}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_j}{500\text{ GeV}}}6.7\times 10^3,`$
where $`m_j`$ is the mass of the heaviest quark involved in the coupling and $`K_{ij}`$ the matrix that diagonalizes the Yukawa couplings in this basisIt is important to keep in mind that these off-diagonal MI do not depend on $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and are directly proportional to fermion masses. Only the flavour diagonal MI have a contribution proportional to $`m_i\mu \mathrm{tan}\beta `$.. Once more, to obtain the order of magnitude of this coupling we can assume $`\lambda ^{}/a1`$. These chirality changing MI give rise to large flavour changing and $`CP`$ violation effects in several low energy observables. In particular, the most important observables are the $`bs\gamma `$ transition<sup>§</sup><sup>§</sup>§This decay is specially constraining in the large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ regime in any MSSM, even in the absence of new flavour sources in the soft breaking terms . and the direct $`CP`$ violation in the kaon sector, $`\epsilon ^{}/\epsilon `$ .

In the case of the $`bs\gamma `$ transition, the quark mass involved would be $`m_b`$ which implies a further suppression of $`6\times 10^3`$. Hence, we have,

$$(\delta _{LR}^d)_{23}\frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}4\times 10^5$$
(24)
while the phenomenological limit is,

$`\left|\left(\delta _{LR}^d\right)_{23}\right|1.6\times 10^2.`$ (25)
Therefore, it is clear that these $`LR`$ MI do not have observable effects in the $`bs\gamma `$ transition.

The second observable which is sensitive to $`LR`$ MI is $`\epsilon ^{}/\epsilon `$. In this case, if we have a factorizable structure in the trilinear terms, the fermion mass involved is $`m_s`$, and the MI is,

$$(\delta _{LR}^d)_{12}\frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}2\times 10^6$$
(26)
to be compared with the limit,

$`\text{Im}\left(\delta _{LR}^d\right)_{12}2.0\times 10^5`$ (27)
Therefore, in this case, due to the suppression of trilinear terms, no large contributions are possible. More generally, even in the case where the structure of the trilinear terms is not factorizable we always have at least a suppression associated with the highest mass in the down sector, i.e. $`m_b/(500\text{ GeV})`$. In that case, we would have a MI,

$$(\delta _{LR}^d)_{12}\frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}K_{13}^dK_{23}^d4\times 10^5$$
(28)
with $`K_{ij}^d`$ the matrix that diagonalizes the down Yukawa matrix. It is clear that the maximum possible value is $`K_{13}^dK_{23}^d=1/2`$, and in most reasonable models we would expect a much lower mixing, for instance of the order of CKM mixings $`\lambda _C^5=3.2\times 10^4`$. Therefore, it seems highly improbable to have a sizeable contribution to this observable. This has to be compared with the situation in general nonuniversal models where this observable can easily receive a sizeable contribution .

Next, we examine the contributions to electric dipole moments (EDMs). In supersymmetric theories the EDMs get new contributions at 1–loop from the $`\mu `$ and $`A`$ phases. In fact, since the dawn of the SUSY phenomenology era, it is well known that the experimental limits on the neutron EDM constrain $`\varphi _\mu `$ and $`\varphi _A`$ at $`M_W`$ to be roughly $`10^2`$, unless sfermion masses are pushed above $`𝒪(1)`$TeV. However, as we have seen in Eqs.(1416), if we evolve these constraints to the GUT scale, the bounds on the initial phase of the $`A`$ terms are largely reduced and finally are $`\varphi _A10^1`$. On the other hand, at 1–loop, the phase of the $`\mu `$ termAlways in the basis where we take the gaugino masses as real is invariant under the RGEs and only through the $`B`$ phase evolution some scale dependence is introduced at $`M_W`$ in the basis where $`B\mu `$ is real. These effects are small for suppressed A-terms. Unfortunately, the mechanism to generate a $`\mu `$ term of the order of the electroweak scale, as phenomenology requires, is strongly model dependent. In the following, we simply assume that the relative phase between gaugino masses and the $`\mu `$ term is $`\varphi _\mu =0`$. Therefore, we concentrate on the effects of trilinear and Yukawa phases .

Recently, it has been pointed out  that in string models where non-universal trilinear terms are usually expected, even for purely real trilinear terms, you can expect large SUSY contributions to EDMs simply from the phases in the Yukawa matrix. These effects were used to show the tight constraints on non-universality from EDM experiments . Moreover, when additional flavour structures in the soft breaking terms are present, new phases become observable and can give rise to large effects here, as they do in neutral kaon mixing . However, although these contributions must be taken into account in a generic model, they are not necessarily important in any non-universal MSSM. For instance, if the trilinear terms are factorizable, as in Eq. (22), or the Yukawa and trilinear matrices hermitian , this problem is not present. Moreover, in a realistic string model, as the one we are analyzing here, we show that the problem is also softened and in fact absent in most reasonable constructions.

From here on, we consider the effects of an $`𝒪(1)`$ trilinear phase. Clearly this case includes also possible effects of Yukawa phases . As we discussed above the $`A`$-terms in $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking models are suppressed relative to diagonal sfermion masses. First, we analyze the case of a factorizable structure in the trilinear couplings. Here, the contribution to the diagonal $`LR`$ mass insertion is assuming that the $`K`$ matrices that diagonalize the fermion masses have dominant terms $`K_{ii}1`$ in the basis of diagonal soft masses,

$`(\delta _{LR}^q)_{ii}={\displaystyle \frac{A_im_i}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_i\lambda ^{}mϵ/5}{7.3a(m^2/4)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_i}{500\text{ GeV}}}7.4\times 10^3,`$ (29)
$`(\delta _{LR}^l)_{ii}={\displaystyle \frac{A_im_i}{m_{\stackrel{~}{l}}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_i\lambda ^{}mϵ/5}{1.7a(m^2/4)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_i}{100\text{ GeV}}}1.5\times 10^2.`$
Again, if we are interested in the electron or neutron EDMs, the additional suppression from the light quark mass is enough to satisfy the experimental limits  <sup>\**</sup><sup>\**</sup>\**Here we consider only the bounds on the quark electric dipole moments. However the quark chromoelectric dipole moments from Hg atomic experiments can be more restrictive  and give rise to stronger constraints.,

$`\left|\text{Im}\left(\delta _{LR}^d\right)_{11}\right|3.0\times 10^6,\left|\text{Im}\left(\delta _{LR}^u\right)_{11}\right|5.9\times 10^6,`$ (30)
$`\left|\text{Im}\left(\delta _{LR}^l\right)_{11}\right|3.7\times 10^7.`$
Here limits in the squark sector assume an average sfermion mass of $`500`$ GeV, while in the slepton sector an average mass of $`100`$ GeV is assumed. The mass suppression is $`m_u/500\text{ GeV}1\times 10^5`$, $`m_d/500\text{ GeV}2\times 10^5`$ and $`m_e/100\text{ GeV}5\times 10^6`$. Therefore all the EDM bounds are easily satisfied in this case.

A third interesting observable is the muon EDM. Although the current experimental limits, $`d_\mu <1.05\times 10^{18}`$ ecm, cannot provide a constraint on the $`LR`$ MI, a recent proposal has been made at BNL for a dedicated experiment to reach a sensitivity of $`10^{24}`$ ecm . If we take this value as the future experimental limit this implies that the future limit on the MI will be,

$`\left|\text{Im}\left(\delta _{LR}^l\right)_{22}\right|5.3\times 10^5,`$ (31)
and again the mass suppression is $`m_\mu /100\text{ GeV}1\times 10^3`$, which gives a value roughly a factor 5 below the expected future bounds.

Even in the case where this factorizable structure is not present, it is clear that in the leptonic sector, or in the down quark sector, the minimal suppression is given by, $`m_\tau /(100\text{ GeV})=1.7\times 10^2`$, $`m_b/(500\text{ GeV})=6\times 10^3`$. However, there is little suppression for the top quark in the up sector, $`m_t/(500\text{ GeV})=0.35`$. In any case, it is clear that this minimal suppression is not enough even including the suppression of $`ϵ/5`$. In these cases we would need to take also into account the mixings of the third generation with the first and second generations,

$`(\delta _{LR}^q)_{ii}=|K_{i3}|^2{\displaystyle \frac{c_3Am_3}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2}}|K_{i3}|^2{\displaystyle \frac{c_3m_3\lambda ^{}mϵ/5}{7.3a(m^2/4)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{c_3|K_{i3}|^2m_3}{500\text{ GeV}}}7.4\times 10^3`$ (32)
$`(\delta _{LR}^l)_{ii}=|K_{i3}|^2{\displaystyle \frac{c_3Am_3}{m_{\stackrel{~}{l}}^2}}|K_{i3}|^2{\displaystyle \frac{c_3m_3\lambda ^{}mϵ/5}{1.7a(m^2/4)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{c_3|K_{i3}|^2m_3}{100\text{ GeV}}}1.5\times 10^2`$ (33)
with $`c_i`$ a coefficient taking into account the RGE effects on the third generation trilinear couplings, Eqs. (1416). We take $`c_t0.25`$ and $`c_bc_\tau 1`$. Therefore we would have a maximum contribution,

$`(\delta _{LR}^d)_{11}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}|K_{13}^d|^24.4\times 10^5,`$ (34)
$`(\delta _{LR}^u)_{11}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}|K_{13}^u|^26.5\times 10^4,`$ (35)
for squarks of $`500`$ GeV. In the case of sleptons, we have,

$`(\delta _{LR}^e)_{11}(\delta _{LR}^e)_{22}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^{}}{a}}|K_{i3}^l|^22.5\times 10^4`$ (36)
with an average slepton mass of $`100`$ GeV.

Clearly, it is very difficult to make a definite statement without a complete theory of flavour that provides the relative rotation matrices between quarks and squarks, $`K`$. At least a very reasonable assumption  is to take these matrices to be of the same order as the CKM mixing matrix. This was indeed the choice in . In that case, $`K_{13}^uK_{13}^d10^2`$, and obviously the bounds are in this case easily satisfied due to the $`ϵ`$ suppression of the trilinear terms in anomalous $`U(1)`$ models. In the leptonic sector, things are not that straightforward because of our ignorance of the leptonic mixings<sup>††</sup><sup>††</sup>††Notice that neutrino mixings are largely influenced by the Seesaw mechanism, see for instance .. In this case, the limits on the electron EDM (and future limits on the muon EDM) would require a mixing matrix roughly of the same order as the CKM matrix, as found for instance in  even with maximal neutrino mixings.

We conclude that EDM constraints are not violated by nonuniversality of the A-terms in most reasonable scenarios in $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking models.

## 4 String insights

In this section we discuss how the cyclic permutation symmetry may ensure sfermion universality irrespective of the dominant source of supersymmetry breaking. Additionally, we discuss how the spectrum in the realistic free fermionic models may divide in a way which allows fermion mass hierarchy while ensuring that the phenomenological constraints on the sfermion mixings and phases are satisfied. As we have seen in the previous section, even with the suppression of the nonuniversal contributions in anomalous $`U(1)`$ SUSY breaking models, there are some low energy observables, such as the EDMs and $`\epsilon _K`$, that place further constraints on the flavour structure of the nonuniversal soft terms. In first instance, the nonuniversality in the trilinear terms may contribute to EDMs. The important property of family universal $`U(1)_A`$ SUSY breaking is the suppression of the trilinear $`A`$–terms, which have the general form

$$A_{\alpha \beta \gamma }=F^m\left[\widehat{K}_m+_m\mathrm{log}Y_{\alpha \beta \gamma }_m\mathrm{log}(\stackrel{~}{K}_\alpha \stackrel{~}{K}_\beta \stackrel{~}{K}_\gamma )\right].$$
(37)
Here, Latin indices refer to the hidden sector fields, while Greek indices refer to the observable fields; the Kähler potential is expanded in observable fields as $`K=\widehat{K}+\stackrel{~}{K}_\alpha |C^\alpha |^2+\mathrm{}`$, and $`\widehat{K}_m=_m\widehat{K}`$. The sum in $`m`$ runs over all of the SUSY breaking fields. Combined with a non–vanishing dilaton $`F`$–term this SUSY breaking scenario produces viable gaugino and sfermion masses, while maintaining adequate family universality, which is required by the FCNC and CP phenomenological constraints.

While the combined $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking scenario is phenomenologically appealing, the difficulty lies in the fact that we do not have a dynamical reason to prefer this scenario over other SUSY breaking sources. The natural question to ask is what are the underlying string structures that yield the family universal $`U(1)_A`$ and whether this structures may also be preserved in other SUSY breaking scenarios. In this perspective the anomalous $`U(1)_A`$ charges merely provide us with a window to the properties of the underlying string compactification, which resulted in family universality . In turn, we may expect these highlighted characteristics to be preserved in other sectors of the models, as well as in the nonperturbative regimes. Namely, in the class of models that we discuss, the family universality originates in the most robust structure of the underlying string compactification.

The class of models under consideration are the free fermionic heterotic–string models. The construction of these models has been amply discussed in the past as well as numerous phenomenological studies. We refer the interested reader to the original literature for the details . Here we focus on the properties of the models that pertain to sfermion universality and the string CP problem.

The free fermionic models are specified in terms of a set of boundary condition basis vectors. The class of models that we discuss here are spanned by a set eight such basis vectors. The first five basis vectors $`\{\mathrm{𝟏},S,b_1,b_2,b_3\}`$, in the models of interest here, consist of the so called NAHE set , which yields after the generalized GSO projections an $`N=1`$ supersymmetric $`SO(10)\times SO(6)^3\times E_8`$ gauge group, with 48 generations in the 16 representation of $`SO(10)`$. The remaining three boundary conditions basis vectors, typically denoted by $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$, break the $`SO(10)`$ symmetry to one of its subgroups and reduce the number of generations to three. One from each of the sectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ and $`b_3`$. The importance of the NAHE set lies in its correspondence with $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold compactification . The three sectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ and $`b_3`$ correspond to the three twisted sectors of the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold, whereas the basis vectors $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$ correspond to Wilson lines in an orbifold formalism.

The characteristic property of the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold compactification, which is the origin for the emergence of a family universal anomalous $`U(1)`$, is the cyclic permutation symmetry between the three sectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ and $`b_3`$ with respect to their left– and right–moving world–sheet charges. In general, the boundary condition basis vectors $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$ break the permutation symmetry between the three light generations. However, in string models of refs.  and  the permutation symmetry is maintained, which is the reason for the existence of a family universal anomalous $`U(1)`$ in these models. It is important to note that this universality structure of the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold compactification is also reflected in other sectors of the models, in particular for the untwisted moduli. Thus, even if SUSY breaking is dominated by the untwisted moduli sector, squark degeneracy is still expected.

As correctly emphasized in ref.  the difficulty in understanding the flavour and string CP problems lies in the simultaneous requirement to generate fermion mass hierarchy and sfermion mass degeneracy. From Eq. (37) it is seen that in order not to generate non–universal $`A`$–terms the fields that generate the Yukawa matrices should have a vanishing $`F`$–term and hence should not break supersymmetry. To understand how this situation may come about in the string models we recall how the fermion mass hierarchy is generated in these models. The most relevant feature for our purposes is the identification of the sectors and states that contribute to the generation of the fermion mass hierarchy and those that do not. Thus, it is those sectors and states of the second kind, namely those that do not participate in the generation of the fermion mass hierarchy, that may play the role in the SUSY breaking dynamics.

In addition to the three chiral generations arising from the twisted sectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ and $`b_3`$ the untwisted sector of the models produces three pairs of Higgs doublets, $`\{h_i,\overline{h}_i\}`$ $`(i=1,2,3)`$. Typically the free fermionic string models contain one additional sector that produces electroweak Higgs doublets $`\{h_{\alpha \beta },\overline{h}_{\alpha \beta }\}`$. This sector arises from a combination of the $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ basis vector and is denoted as the $`\alpha \beta `$–sector. The sectors $`b_j+2\gamma `$ give rise to states in the $`16_j`$ representation of the hidden $`SO(16)_H`$ gauge group. These are decomposed under the final unbroken $`SO(16)_H`$ subgroup, which typically contains two unbroken non–Abelian gauge groups. Being, for example, $`SU(3)_H`$ and $`SU(5)_H`$ in the models of refs. .

The fermion mass terms arise from $`N^{th}`$–order superpotential terms of the form $`cgf_if_jh\varphi ^{^{N3}}`$ or $`cgf_if_j\overline{h}\varphi ^{^{N3}}`$, where $`c`$ is a calculable coefficient, $`g`$ is the gauge coupling at the unification scale, $`f_i`$, $`f_j`$ are the fermions from the sectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ and $`b_3`$, $`h`$ and $`\overline{h}`$ are the light Higgs doublets, and $`\varphi ^{N3}`$ represent a product of Standard Model singlet fields that get a VEV and produce a suppression factor $`(\varphi /M)^{^{N3}}`$ relative to the cubic level terms. Here $`M10^{18}\mathrm{GeV}`$ is a scale related to the heterotic–string unification scale. At the cubic level only the couplings $`\{u_jQ_j+N_jL_j\}\overline{h}_j`$ and $`\{d_jQ_j+e_jL_j\}h_j`$ are allowed. Note that each generation couples to a different Higgs pair, and that at this level the cyclic permutation symmetry is retained. As the anomalous $`U(1)`$ Fayet–Iliopoulos term breaks supersymmetry near the Planck scale, we must assign VEVs to some Standard Model singlets, along flat $`F`$ and $`D`$ directions. In this process some of the nonrenormalizable terms become effective renormalizable operators. At the same time some of the Higgs doublet representations receive large mass. For specific solutions only two Higgs doublets remain massless down to the electroweak scale. In typical analysis these have consisted of $`\overline{h}_1`$ and $`h_{\alpha \beta }`$. Analysis of the nonrenormalizable terms up to order $`N=8`$ reveals the following structure ,

$$M_U\left(\begin{array}{c}ϵ,a,b\\ \stackrel{~}{a},A,c\\ \stackrel{~}{b},\stackrel{~}{c},\lambda _t\end{array}\right);M_D\left(\begin{array}{c}ϵ,d,e\\ \stackrel{~}{d},B,f\\ \stackrel{~}{e},\stackrel{~}{f},C\end{array}\right);M_E\left(\begin{array}{c}ϵ,g,h\\ \stackrel{~}{g},D,i\\ \stackrel{~}{h},\stackrel{~}{i},E\end{array}\right),$$
(38)
where $`ϵ(\mathrm{\Lambda }_Z^{}/M)^20`$. $`U(1)_Z^{}`$ is the Abelian symmetry in $`SO(10)`$, which is orthogonal to the Standard Model. The diagonal terms in capital letters represent leading terms that are suppressed by singlet VEVs , and $`\lambda _t=O(1)`$. The mixing terms are generated by hidden sector states from the sectors $`b_j+2\gamma `$ and are represented by small letters. They are proportional to $`(TT/M^2)`$, where $`TT`$ represents the VEVs of these hidden sector matter states. The states from the sector $`b_3`$ are identified with the lightest generation .

The important aspect for our purpose here is to identify in the string models the sectors and states that contribute to the products of fields $`\varphi ^n`$ which induce the fermion mass hierarchies. The analysis of the nonrenormalizable terms that contribute to the fermion mass matrices was carried out in detail in ref. . Inspection of the nonrenormalizable terms in  then reveals that fields that contribute to all the leading terms of the mass matrices in Eq. (38) arise from the following sectors

$$\{\mathrm{untwisted}\mathrm{sector},\alpha \beta \mathrm{sector},b_j+2\gamma \}(j=1,2,3)$$
(39)
The mixing terms have the general underlying form $`16_i16_j1016_i16_j.`$ The first two $`16`$s are observable chiral $`SO(10)`$ representations and the last two are hidden $`SO(16)`$ vectorial representations. The $`10`$ are the vectorial $`SO(10)`$ representations that produce the light Higgs multiplets. The hidden $`SO(16)`$ gauge group is typically broken to two non–Abelian group factors. Being, for example, $`SU(5)`$ and $`SU(3)`$ in the models of refs. . The vectorial $`16`$ representation is therefore broken into $`5\overline{5}`$ and $`3\overline{3}`$ of the hidden $`SU(5)`$ and $`SU(3)`$ group factors, respectively. Typically the matter states of one of this group factors are included in the products $`\varphi ^n`$ that generate the fermion mass terms, whereas the matter states under the second group factor form matter condensates that may trigger supersymmetry breaking .

A very robust and model independent solution to the flavour and string CP problems is to require that the states that appear in the products $`\varphi ^n`$ that generate the fermion mass terms do not have a non–vanishing $`F`$–term. In the class of models under study here we note from the discussion above that this simply means that none of the states that arise from the sectors in Eq. (39) has a non–vanishing $`F`$–term. This is a very modest requirement. The fields that trigger supersymmetry breaking should arise from other sectors in the models. They may originate, for example, from the Wilsonian $`SO(10)`$ breaking sectors that contain combinations of the boundary condition basis vectors $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$. As we note here the states from these sectors do not appear in the products $`\varphi ^n`$ that induce the fermion mass hierarchies in (38).

As discussed in section (2), a further source of FCNC and $`CP`$ violation is the nonuniversality in the sfermion masses that arises from the Kähler potential and affects $`\epsilon _K`$. We comment here on the possible role of the cyclic permutation symmetry in suppressing non–universal contributions from the Kähler potential. Correspondingly to Eq. (37) the Kähler potential contribution to the sfermion masses is given by $`m_{ij}^2F^aF_b_a^bK_{ij}`$, where $`_a`$ denotes $`_a/\mathrm{\Phi }^a`$. Therefore, we may in general expect non–universal contributions through the dependence of the Kähler potential on the fields $`\mathrm{\Phi }^a`$ with $`F^a0`$. In the case of the mixed universal $`U(1)_A`$–Dilaton SUSY breaking scenario, as discussed above, these non–universal contributions are suppressed relative to the dominant universal contributions. However, also in the case that $`F`$–term of some field dominates we may expect that the cyclic permutation symmetry might play a role in ensuring sfermion degeneracy. Namely, we may expect that the permutation symmetry is preserved in other sectors of the models, and not merely in the $`U(1)_A`$ charges. Examining the spectrum of the model of ref.  we note that additional sectors in the model obey the permutation symmetry. for example, the sectors $`b_i+b_j+\alpha +\beta \pm \gamma +(I)`$, $`i,j=1,2,3`$ $`ij`$ in table 2 of . This suggests a similar situation to the the family universal anomalous $`U(1)_A`$. Namely, $`U(1)_A`$ is a combination of three generation dependent world–sheet currents. Its universality arises precisely because it is such a combination. Similarly, due to the permutation symmetry, we may envision the SUSY breaking fields to be a combination of the states from the sectors $`b_i+b_j+\alpha +\beta \pm \gamma +(I)`$ that preserves the permutation symmetry hence retain the universal contribution to the sfermion masses<sup>‡‡</sup><sup>‡‡</sup>‡‡Nevertheless, it has been shown in Ref.  that it may be difficult to generate $`CP`$ violation without a contribution from the geometric moduli which generically would have non-vanishing F-terms.

## 5 Conclusions

In this letter, we have analyzed the FCNC and $`CP`$ violation effects in a model with a dominant family universal anomalous $`U(1)`$ source of Supersymmetry breaking. In this theories, new sources of FC are always suppressed with respect to the average sfermion masses. We made a phenomenological analysis of these effects and found that in most of the cases they are in qualitative agreement with the phenomenological limits. The most sensitive low-energy observables to these new FC sources are the $`\epsilon _K`$ parameter, measuring indirect $`CP`$ violation in the neutral kaon mixing and EDMs. These observables set important constraints in the structure of the sfermion mass matrices. Nevertheless, these constraints do not require a large fine-tuning of the initial parameters and can be satisfied in most realistic constructions, with some mild assumptions about the flavour structure of the Kähler potential.

Additionally, we discussed in this paper how the fermion mass hierarchy may arise in the string models without inducing non–universal $`A`$–terms. This is achieved provided that the fields which induce the fermion mass hierarchy do not break supersymmetry and have a vanishing $`F`$–term. From the structure of the free fermionic models we noted that this requirement places a restriction on the sectors from which the SUSY breaking fields may arise.

Finally, the family universality of the anomalous $`U(1)`$ in the free fermionic models originates in the cyclic permutation symmetry of the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold compactification with respect to the twisted sectors. In the three generation models under consideration this cyclic permutation symmetry is retained with respect to the horizontal $`U(1)`$ charges of the chiral generations. The cyclic permutation symmetry between the twisted sectors is the characteristic property of the $`Z_2\times Z_2`$ orbifold. As we discussed here, preservation of the cyclic permutation symmetry is reflected in other sectors of the models and may be instrumental to understand the sfermion mass degeneracy irrespective of the dominant source of supersymmetry breaking. Naturally, a complete solution to the sfermion mass degeneracy problem cannot be attained before a simultaneous detailed analysis of the fermion mass hierarchy is obtained. However, short of this ambitious and still distant goal, we note how the underlying structure of the realistic free fermionic models may be instrumental in allowing fermion mass hierarchy while ensuring sfermion mass degeneracy.

Acknowledgments

The work of A.F. is supported by PPARC. O.V. acknowledges support from the EC under contract HPRN-CT-2000-0148.


text:
# The X-Ray Position and Infrared Counterpart of the Eclipsing X-Ray Pulsar OAO 1657-415

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Nearly a decade ago, observations with the Compton/BATSE all-sky monitor revealed that the 38 s accretion-powered X-ray pulsar OAO 1657$``$415 ($`l=344^{}`$, $`b=`$0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$3) is in a 10.4 d eclipsing binary with an unidentified B supergiant companion (Chakrabarty et al. 1993). The nature of the mass donor was inferred from X-ray timing measurements and the X-ray eclipse duration. Only six other eclipsing X-ray pulsars are known, and all of them yield important constraints on the neutron star mass range (van Kerkwijk, van Paradijs, & Zuiderwijk 1995; Chakrabarty, Psaltis, & Thorsett 2002, in preparation). Although binary radio pulsar data yield more precise neutron star mass measurements (Thorsett & Chakrabarty 1997), the X-ray binaries generally trace a different evolutionary path and therefore may have a systematically different mass range.

OAO 1657$``$415 is also unique among the known high-mass X-ray binaries in that it appears to occupy a transition region between mass transfer via a stellar wind and Roche-lobe overflow, with possible episodic formation of an accretion disk (Chakrabarty et al. 1993; Bildsten et al. 1997; Baykal 1997, 2000). Since the binary is too wide for Roche lobe overflow to occur, this may provide the first clear evidence that the winds in high-mass X-ray binaries possess sufficient angular momentum to form accretion disks. Identification of the supergiant companion and follow-up spectroscopy would permit both a neutron star mass measurement as well as a search for accretion disk signatures.

However, optical identification has been hampered by the source’s poorly known X-ray position. The most precise previous measurement was derived from a 0.5–4.0 keV Einstein/IPC image (Parmar et al. 1980). A reanalysis of these archival data yields R.A. = 17h00m47$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$70 and decl. = $`41^{}`$39′15$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 (equinox J2000.0), with a 90%-confidence error radius of 32″(Harris et al. 1994). The source is very heavily absorbed ($`N_\mathrm{H}10^{23}`$ cm-2; Polidan et al. 1978; Parmar et al. 1980; Kamata et al. 1990), preventing refined localization with ROSAT. Indeed, an 11 ks ROSAT/HRI (0.2–2.4 keV) observation failed to detect the source at all (Chakrabarty 1995, unpublished). Previous optical work has shown that there are no OB supergiants in the Einstein error circle with magnitude $`V<19`$ (Roche 1993; Maxwell, Norton, & Roche 2001), indicating that the luminous optical counterpart is also subject to heavy extinction.

In this Letter, we report a precise position measurement of OAO 1657$``$415 using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the identification of an infrared counterpart, presumably an OB supergiant. We discuss our imaging observations (X-ray, optical, and infrared) in §2, our X-ray spectroscopy in §3, and the implications of our observations in §4.

## 2 X-RAY AND OPTICAL/IR IMAGING

We observed OAO 1657$``$415 with Chandra on 2001 February 10 for 5.1 ks using the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) and the spectroscopy array of the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS-S). The HETGS employs two sets of transmission gratings: the Medium Energy Gratings (MEGs; 0.4–5.0 keV) and the High Energy Gratings (HEGs; 0.8–10.0 keV). The HETGS spectra were imaged by ACIS-S, an array of six CCD detectors. The HETGS/ACIS-S combination provides an undispersed (zeroth-order) image

and dispersed spectra from the gratings. The various orders overlap and are sorted using the intrinsic energy resolution of the ACIS CCDs, which are read out every 3.2 s. Pulsations were detected from OAO 1657$``$415 at a barycentered period of 37.329$`\pm `$0.020 s (epoch MJD 51950.84), verifying that the detected source is the pulsar. Besides the pulsar, no other X-ray sources are detected in the Chandra image.

The zeroth order HETGS image of OAO 1657$``$415 was affected by photon pileup (see, e.g., Davis 2001), but not so severely as to distort the image centroid. We measured the source position with the CIAO tool celldetect.111See http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao. Our best-fit position was R.A. = 17h00m48$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$90 and decl. = $`41^{}`$39′21$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$6 (equinox J2000.0), with an approximate error radius of 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 (Aldcroft et al. 2000222 See also http://cxc.harvard.edu/cal/ASPECT/celmon/.). This position lies within the 32″ Einstein error circle but is 15″ from its center. The Chandra position excludes the candidate optical counterpart suggested by Maxwell, Norton, & Roche (2001; star D in Figure 1), which lies 55″ away.

We obtained deep UBV-band optical images of the OAO 1657$``$415 field on 1999 August 8 using the EMMI camera at the f/11 Nasmyth B focus of the 3.5-m New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at Cerro La Silla, Chile. These observations were made through the NTT service observing program. We derived an astrometric solution for these images by matching 21 field stars to the USNO-A2.0 catalog of astrometric standards (Monet et al. 1998). The rms error in the positions was 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$25. Applying this solution, we found no stars at the Chandra position for OAO 1657$``$415. Limits on the brightness of the optical counterpart are given in Table 1. The flux calibration of these images was done by comparison with observations of photometric standards (Landolt 1992). We show a $`V`$ image of the field in Figure 1

More recently, we obtained JHKs near-infrared images of the

field on 2002 February 25 using the Ohio State Infrared Imager/Spectrometer (OSIRIS) at the f/14 tip-tilt focus of the 4-m Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. We derived an astrometric solution for these images by matching 12 stars in the $`K_s`$ image with the $`V`$ image described above. (The field of view was too small to allow a direct tie to the USNO-A2.0 catalog.) The rms error in the positions was dominated by the optical fit errors. Using this solution, we found a relatively bright star within 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$1 of the Chandra position; within the position uncertainties, these positions are coincident, and we identify this star as the infrared counterpart of OAO 1657$``$415. (This object is called star 10B in the infrared images of Roche 1993.) A $`K_s`$ image of the field is shown in Figure 2. We flux-calibrated our infrared images by comparison with observations of photometric standards at various airmasses (Persson et al. 1998). The measured JHKs magnitudes are given in Table 1, and are similar to those measured by Roche (1993).

## 3 X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY

Our short Chandra/HETGS observation also yielded an X-ray spectrum. The combined $`+/`$ first-order dispersed MEG and HEG spectra were extracted and simultaneously fitted to an absorbed power-law $`+`$ gaussian model. The observed HEG count spectrum is shown in Figure 3. Very few counts were detected below 4 keV due to the large hydrogen column density of $`N_\mathrm{H}4\times 10^{23}`$ cm-2 found by fitting the absorption model to the spectra. The power-law index and normalization are poorly determined due to the limited energy range available for fitting (3.5–9.0 keV). An Fe K$`\alpha `$ emission line is clearly detected at 6.4 keV, with flux $`8\times 10^4`$ photon cm-2 s-1 and equivalent width $``$111 eV (we do not quote formal uncertainties, as the line strength is poorly constrained due to the large uncertainty

in the continuum level). Additionally, we detect the Fe K photoelectric absorption edge near 7.1 keV. Based on the strength of this edge, we estimate an optical depth $`\tau 1.2`$ which implies an even higher hydrogen column density of $`N_\mathrm{H}10^{24}`$ cm-2 for the solar abundance values of Wilms, Allen, & McCray (2000). However, given the limited statistics of our short observation, this discrepancy is not serious. The total observed flux (which is not sensitive to the detailed spectral model) was $`1.9\times 10^{10}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 (2–10 keV). For photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1`$, this corresponds to an unabsorbed flux of $`6.4\times 10^{10}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 (2–10 keV).

## 4 DISCUSSION

We have precisely measured the X-ray position of OAO 1657$`415`$ and have identified its infrared counterpart. Based on the X-ray pulsar’s orbital parameters and the duration of the X-ray eclipse, Chakrabarty et al. (1993) deduced that the mass donor in this binary has a mass of 14–18 $`M_{}`$ and a radius of 25–32 $`R_{}`$, corresponding to a B0–6 supergiant. They additionally estimated that the source distance is $`11`$ kpc using the pulsar’s accretion torque behavior. We can compare these predictions with the observed properties of the counterpart. The intrinsic infrared colors of a B0–6 supergiant are $`JH=0.02\pm 0.04`$ and $`HK=0.04\pm 0.04`$ (Whittet & van Breda 1980). Using the interstellar reddening relation of Rieke & Lebofsky (1985), the observed colors imply a very large reddening of $`A_V=20.4\pm 1.3`$.

We can also estimate the source distance. For the inferred mass and radius range, the companion should have a luminosity of $`\mathrm{log}(L/L_{})=4.8\pm 0.2`$ and a temperature of $`\mathrm{log}T=4.28\pm 0.08`$ (Maeder & Meynet 1989). Applying the appropriate bolometric corrections (e.g., Drilling & Landolt 2000), the expected absolute visual magnitude of the star is $`M_V=6.0\pm 0.2`$. From the intrinsic B supergiant color $`VJ=0.3\pm 0.2`$ (Whittet & van Breda 1980) and our observed $`J`$ magnitude, we thus derive a source distance of $`D=6.4\pm 1.5`$ kpc, somewhat closer than estimated from the X-ray pulsar’s spin-up rate. The $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ magnitudes yield very similar distance values. The observed optical limits are also consistent with our derived reddening and distance.

Thus, we conclude that the photometric properties of the infrared counterpart are consistent with the B supergiant companion predicted by Chakrabarty et al. (1993). We note, however, that the infrared photometry alone cannot reliably provide a spectral classifiction for the companion, since the reddening and spectral type are degenerate on an infrared color-color diagram. However, infrared spectroscopy can provide an accurate spectral classification of the counterpart (Hanson, Conti, & Rieke 1996; Blum et al. 1997; Wallace et al. 2000) and should eventually allow a radial velocity curve to be measured. This

will yield the seventh dynamical measurement of the neutron star mass in an X-ray binary.

Our X-ray spectral measurements indicate that OAO 1657$``$415 is extremely absorbed. However, though the optical extinction is also large, it is an order of magnitude smaller than would be inferred from the usual Galactic ratio of $`N_\mathrm{H}/A_V=1.8\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 mag-1 (Predehl & Schmitt 1995). This probably indicates that most of the X-ray absorption is by gas local to the binary, presumably fed by the companion’s stellar wind, and that this gas has a very low dust content (as expected for a B star wind). The same phenomenon has been observed in the well-known wind-fed X-ray pulsar Vela X-1 (Sako et al. 1999). Indeed, OAO 1657$``$415 and Vela X-1 ($`d=1.9`$ kpc) are very similar in most respects. Both pulsars are in eclipsing high-mass X-ray binaries containing a B supergiant companion, have similar orbital parameters, are accreting from their companion’s stellar wind, and have similar X-ray luminosities (for our derived distance, the 2–10 keV luminosity of OAO 1657$``$415 is $`3\times 10^{36}`$ erg s-1). Thus, we expect that OAO 1657$``$415 should be a good candidate for studying the ionized stellar wind of the B supergiant with X-ray line spectroscopy, as has been done with Vela X-1 (Sako et al. 1999; Schulz et al. 2002).

We thank Nicole van der Bliek, Robert Blum, Angel Guerra, Sergio Pizarro, and the CTIO staff, as well as the ESO/NTT service observing program, for their assistance and support. We also thank Kevin Tibbits for assistance in analyzing the Chandra data. This work was supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It was also supported by Chandra award GO1-2047X issued by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, which is administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under NASA contract NAS8-39073.