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# Partial quantum statistics and its implications for narrow band materials

## Abstract

Based upon the newly proposed partial quantum statistics \[T. Zhou, Solid State Commun. 115, 185 (2000)\], some canonical physical properties of partially localized electron systems have been calculated. The calculated transport and superconducting properties of such systems are very different from those of Landau-Fermi liquids, but display some striking similarities to the properties of high temperature superconductors and some other narrow band materials.

Bloch states are essentially unbound states. A Bloch wave function at any given time is nonzero in the whole crystal lattice except its nodal points. Because of their identical intrinsic properties and delocalized nature Bloch electrons are indistinguishable from each other. Neglecting their mutual interactions, a system consisting of Bloch electrons is thus an ideal Fermi gas system and strictly obeys the Fermi-Dirac (F.D.) statistics at any temperature, though at high temperature the Maxwell-Boltzmann (M.B.) distribution is a good approximation. On the other end of the spectrum, when electrons are localized and completely separated from each other like the electrons of magnetic ions in paramagnetic salts, these electrons are in bound states, and the wave function of one electron (or the many-body wave function of several electrons of the same ion) does not overlap with another spatially. These electrons thus become distinguishable, and the system strictly obeys the M.B. distribution at any temperature wann66 . This is of course in consistent with the Langevin paramagnetic behavior observed in paramagnetic salts down to very low temperature wann66 ; kitt71 , and in contrast to the Pauli paramagnetism expected in Fermi gas systems. Bloch electrons, on the other hand, can be localized in real space by strong electron-electron interaction (large Hubbard U), strong electron-phonon interaction (e.g. small polaron), and/or by disorder (Anderson localization). In fact, paramagnetic salts with ions containing only one 3d or 4f electron (or hole) can be taken as an extreme and simple example where the Hubbard U is infinite and no site can be occupied by two electrons (or two holes) simultaneously. Now the question is, when the electrons are neither completely localized as in the paramagnetic salts, nor completely delocalized as the Bloch electrons, what kind of statistical distribution should they obey? Should the electrons, after their mutual interactions are taken into account by renormalization, always adopt the F.D. statistics as indicated in the Landau Fermi-liquid theorem?

In a gedanken experiment recently proposed by the author zhou00 , it has been shown that in any self-consistent theory for partially localized electrons (PLE), neither the F.D. nor the M.B. distribution can be the right answer, and there has to be a partial Fermi (p.F.) statistics which is different from both the F.D. and M.B. statistics. Furthermore, it has been argued by the author that in order to reach such a p.F. statistics, the Slater-determinant type many-body wave function used to describe the Fermi gas system has to be modified, and the many-body wave function proposed by the author zhou00  violates the anti-symmetry requirement for the wave function of identical fermions. The particle exchange symmetry thus becomes a broken symmetry, and it was argued in Ref. zhou00  that the breaking of such a symmetry in PLE systems does not violate any fundamental quantum mechanics principle, including Pauli’s exclusion principle. The conventional belief that quantum field theory requires the wave function of identical fermions to be anti-symmetric is not applicable here. The reason is that quantum field theory always assumes, explicitly or implicitly, that identical particles are indistinguishable. This assumption is not true here because localized electrons can be distinguished. Based on this new form of wave function a parameter $`\eta `$, which is a real number between 0 and 1, is defined to describe the indistinguishable degree of PLE system zhou00 . When $`\eta =1`$, the electrons are completely delocalized and indistinguishable; when $`\eta =0`$, the electrons are completely localized and distinguishable. The p.F. statistical distribution is subsequently deduced to describe the PLE gas system. Suppose $`f_{pF}(E_l,T)`$ is the probable number of electrons with indistinguishable degree $`\eta `$ occupying any state with an energy level $`E_l`$ at temperature $`T`$, one then has zhou00

$`f_{pF}(E_l,T)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{e^{(E_l\mu )/k_BT}+\eta }},`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\omega _lf_{pF}(E_l,T)=N.`$ (1)
Here $`k_B`$ is the Boltzmann constant, $`\omega _l`$ is the degeneracy degree of the $`l`$th energy level, and the chemical potential $`\mu `$ is still determined by the total electron number $`N`$. It is evident from Eq. (1) that when $`\eta `$ = 1 or 0, the F.D. or M.B. distribution is recovered, respectively zhou00 . We note that the exact mathematical form of Eq. (1) has appeared in Ref. acha94  and poly96 , but there the physical contexts were very different.

It was proposed zhou00  that $`f_{pF}`$ should have significant deviation from the F.D. or M.B distribution in narrow-band materials mott90 , since electrons are neither very delocalized nor very localized in these materials. In this letter, we will demonstrate that systems obeying the p.F. statistics have properties that are very different from those of Landau-Fermi liquids, but are strikingly similar to many properties of high temperature superconductors and some other narrow band materials.

We first examine Eq. (1), in which the summation of all states can be replaced by the integral $`_0^{\mathrm{}}g(E)f_{pF}(E,T)𝑑E=N`$. Here $`g(E)`$ is the total density of states, which includes both the delocalized and localized components. $`g(E)`$ for a p.F. gas system is the same as a Fermi gas system with the same energy spectrum. The effective delocalization density of states $`g^{}(E)`$ in a p.F. system with electron indistinguishable degree $`\eta `$, however, is only

$`g^{}(E)=\eta g(E),`$ (2)
according to the definition of $`\eta `$ zhou00 . Replacing $`g(E)`$ by $`g^{}(E)`$, and rewriting Eq. (1) so that it is easier to compare it with the F.D. distribution, one reaches

$`f_{pF}^{}(E,T)={\displaystyle \frac{\eta ^1}{e^{[E(E_{pF}+k_BT\mathrm{ln}\eta )]/k_BT}+1}},`$
$`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}g^{}(E)f_{pF}^{}(E,T)𝑑E=N.`$ (3)
Here $`f_{pF}^{}(E,T)`$ is the distribution function for the delocalization component of a p.F. gas system. The chemical potential $`\mu `$ is replaced by $`E_{pF}`$, the effective Fermi energy in a p.F. system for the delocalization component, and we call it partial Fermi energy. Assuming that a Fermi gas system with Fermi energy $`E_F`$ has the same $`g(E)`$ as the p.F. gas system in discussion, and $`E_F^0`$ is the Fermi energy at $`T=0`$, solving Eq. (3) one has $`E_{pF}(T=0)=E_F^0`$, and $`f_{pF}^{}(T=0)=\eta ^1`$ or 0 for $`E<`$ or $`>E_F^0`$, respectively. At $`T>0`$ but $`k_BTE_F^0`$, solving Eq. (3) again and we find that to the first order approximation of $`T`$,

$`E_{pF}(T)E_F^0+k_BT\mathrm{ln}\eta ^1.`$ (4)
Here we have assumed that $`g(E)`$ is a smooth function near $`E_F^0`$. Combining Eqs. (3) and (4) one reaches

$`f_{pF}^{}(E,T){\displaystyle \frac{\eta ^1}{e^{(EE_F^0)/k_BT}+1}}\eta ^1f_F(E,T).`$ (5)
Here $`f_F(E,T)`$ is the F.D. distribution function. Approximating to the first order of $`T`$, $`E_F(T)E_F^0`$ in a Fermi gas system kitt71 . We also note that in a p.F. system, if the spin degree of freedom can be ignored, then $`g^{}(E)`$, rather than $`g(E)`$, is the density of states that is mostly relevant to the observable physical properties. The schematic illustration of the p.F. and F.D. distributions at finite temperature is shown in Fig. 1.

Equations (2), (4), and (5) essentially summarize the differences between the Fermi statistics and the p.F. statistics at low temperature. In the following we will use these equations to calculate some canonical thermodynamic, transport and superconducting properties of p.F. systems. To compare these calculations with the physical properties of some real narrow band materials, we take cuprates as the prime examples cmms00 ; mill00 . Undoped cuprates are Mott-Hubbard insulators, which are extremely localized electron systems. The overdoped cuprates with doping concentration $`x>0.3`$, however, are believed to be Fermi-liquid systems, and carriers in these materials are essentially Bloch type and delocalized. Carriers in cuprates with $`0<x<0.3`$ are believed to be between these two extreme cases and partially localized. Cuprates thus provide us a perfect set of real systems, whose physics is closely associated with the delocalization degree of the carriers. The discussion above led us to believe that the delocalization degree of carriers in cuprates can be quantified by $`\eta `$, and $`\eta `$ should increase monotonically with the doping concentration $`x`$.

We first calculate the electronic specific heat, one of the most important thermodynamic properties, of a p.F. gas system. For a Fermi gas system the electronic specific heat $`C_{el}`$ at temperature $`k_BTE_F`$ is proportional to $`T`$ with a linear coefficient $`\gamma =\frac{1}{3}\pi ^2k_B^2g(E_F)`$ kitt71 . For a p.F. gas system, replacing $`g(E)`$ and $`f_F(E,T)`$ by Eqs. (2) and (5), respectively, one finds that at temperature $`k_BTE_{pF}`$, $`C_{el}`$ is the same as the Fermi gas system with the same total density of states $`g(E)`$. The reason is that the total energy of a Fermi or p.F. gas system is decided by $`g(E)f_F(E,T)`$ or $`g^{}(E)f_{pF}^{}(E,T)`$. Since these two products are equal according to Eqs. (2) and (5), $`C_{el}`$, the derivative of the total energy, should also be equal in these two systems. Experiments show that for optimally doped and overdoped cuprates, the normal state $`\gamma `$ is indeed independent of temperature and doping concentration at least up to 300 K lora94 . This is consistent with our calculation above of the p.F. gas system. In the underdoped regime, below a characteristic temperature $`T^{}`$ $`\gamma `$ decreases with decreasing $`T`$, and this is believed to be related to the pseudogap lora94 . Since our discussion above does not take into account any anomaly in $`g^{}(E)`$ such as a pseudogap, our calculation is thus not comparable with the experimental results in the underdoped cuprates. Other thermodynamic properties that are also decided by $`g^{}(E)f_{pF}^{}(E,T)`$ should yield similar results as $`C_{el}`$, and experiments show that the magnetic susceptibility data are indeed consistent with the $`C_{el}`$ results in the optimally doped to overdoped regime lora94 .

We now turn to the calculation of transport properties. For Fermi-liquid metals, the dominant scattering mechanism at low temperature is electron-electron scattering, in which the total energy and momentum should be conserved while the Fermi statistics should also be obeyed. The Fermi statistics acts twice, each time reduces the scattering rate $`\tau _{ee}^1`$ approximately by a factor of $`k_BT/E_F`$, or $`\mathrm{}\omega /E_F`$ in the case of zero temperature low energy excitation with excitation energy $`\mathrm{}\omega `$ kitt71 . Suppose $`\tau _{cee}^1`$ is the classical electron-electron scattering rate after taking into account the Coulomb screening effect but without the consideration of the Fermi statistics. The scattering rate after including the Fermi statistics then becomes $`\tau _{ee}^1(k_BT/E_F)^2\tau _{cee}^1`$ or $`(\mathrm{}\omega /E_F)^2\tau _{cee}^1`$ kitt71 . To calculate $`\tau _{ee}^1`$ in a p.F. system, one should replace the Fermi statistics by the p.F. statistics using Eq. (5). ($`\tau _{ee}^1`$ as a function of $`T`$ or $`\omega `$ is not dependent on the density of states). Equation (5), on the other hand, indicates that the restriction on the electron-electron scattering process imposed by the Fermi statistics is partially lifted in a p.F. system, with the parameter $`\eta ^1`$ linearly interpolating between the Fermi statistics and the purely classical M.B. statistics where there is no statistical restriction at all. Therefore, one can express $`\tau _{ee}^1`$ of a p.F. system as

$`\tau _{ee}^1`$ $``$ $`(k_BT/E_F^0)^{2\eta }\tau _{cee}^1or`$
$`\tau _{ee}^1`$ $``$ $`(\mathrm{}\omega /E_F^0)^{2\eta }\tau _{cee}^1.`$ (6)
Note that $`E_F`$ is replaced by $`E_F^0`$ here due to Eq. (5). For $`\eta `$ = 1 or 0, the Fermi-liquid behavior or the classical behavior is recovered, respectively.

When $`\eta `$ = $`\frac{1}{2}`$, one has $`\tau _{ee}^1Tor\omega `$, which is the well known marginal Fermi-liquid (MFL) phenomenology formulated to describe optimally doped cuprates varm89 ; litt91 . As analyzed by the MFL theory varm89 ; litt91 ; varm97 , this linear $`T`$ or $`\omega `$ dependence explains many transport properties of optimally doped cuprates, including an electronic Raman background which is both $`T`$ and $`\omega `$ independent, an optical conductivity which decreases with $`\omega `$ like $`\omega ^1`$, a dc resistivity $`\rho `$ which has the celebrated linear $`T`$ dependence, etc. With $`x`$ increasing from the optimally doping value, $`\eta `$ is expected to increase from $`\frac{1}{2}`$ to 1, as discussed above. Equation (6) thus also naturally explains the gradual crossover from the MFL behavior to Fermi-liquid behavior with increasing doping, which is best evidenced experimentally by $`\rho `$’s gradual change from $`T`$ to $`T^2`$ dependence with increasing doping in the optimally doped to overdoped regime batl94 ; batl98 . Furthermore, $`\rho `$ of underdoped cuprates in the intermediate $`T`$ range above the temperature of the insulating regime may be fitted by $`T^\alpha `$ (see the data in Ref. batl94 ; batl98 ), with $`\alpha `$ smaller than 1 and decreasing with decreasing $`x`$. This is consistent with Eq. (5), where $`\eta `$ is expected to be smaller than $`\frac{1}{2}`$ and decrease with $`x`$ in the underdoped regime. Since $`k_BTE_F^0`$ for $`T<300K`$, $`\tau _{ee}^1`$ should increase significantly with decreasing $`\eta `$, according to Eq. (6). This means that in the optimally doped to underdoped regime, at room temperature or even above, the electron-electron scattering can still be dominant over other scattering mechanisms, including the electron-phonon scattering. This helps to explain why the linear $`T`$ dependence of $`\rho `$ can be seen up to very high temperature mart90 . In addition, a low temperature $`\rho T^\alpha `$ behavior with $`0<\alpha <2`$ has been observed in other narrow band materials, two of the most recent examples are BaVS3 forr00  and La4Ru6O19 khal01 . In BaVS3 $`\alpha `$ can even be tuned by pressure forr00 . These are all consistent with Eq. (6) predicted by the p.F. statistics.

We finally come to the calculation of the zero temperature superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ and the superconducting critical temperature $`T_c`$ of a p.F. system. A p.F. gas system of course can not superconduct, so we first introduce a BCS-type attractive interaction $`V`$. Similar to the assumption in the BCS theory bard57 , $`V`$ is supposed to be constant between two partially localized electrons with energies immediately below $`E_{pF}`$ within a shell of $`\mathrm{}\omega _D`$ thick, and zero for any other electron pairs. $`\mathrm{}\omega _D`$ is the energy of phonons, or any other types of bosons that mediate the formation of Cooper pairs. Using the same variational method as in the deduction of the BCS theory bard57 , and replacing the Fermi statistics by Eqs. (2), (4), and (5), one reaches

$`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ $``$ $`2\mathrm{}\omega _De^{\eta /g(E_F^0)V},`$
$`k_BT_c`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{}\omega _D[0.783e^{2\eta /g(E_F^0)V}+(\mathrm{ln}\eta )^2]^{1/2}.`$ (7)
When $`\eta =1`$, the BCS expression of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ and $`T_c`$ are recovered. When $`\eta =0`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)=k_BT_c=0`$. For $`g(E_F^0)V=0.2`$, which is a typical weak coupling value, the maximum of $`T_c`$ (denoted as $`T_{cm}`$) is about $`0.38\mathrm{}\omega _D`$ with a corresponding $`\eta 0.135`$, as shown in Fig. 2. This is about 50 times of the BCS $`T_c`$ value with the same $`g(E_F^0)V`$. With increasing $`g(E_F^0)V`$, $`T_{cm}`$ increases, so does the corresponding value of $`\eta `$ (denoted as $`\eta _m`$). With $`g(E_F^0)V=1.3`$, $`\eta _m`$ is about 0.5, the value which we assigned to optimally doped cuprates in the transport properties discussion above. However, Fig. 2 should not be used to compare directly with $`T_c`$ vs. $`x`$ of superconducting cuprates, since cuprates are d-wave superconductors, and the assumption of $`V`$ above cannot be applied. Moreover, even for phonon mediating s-wave superconductors a direct comparison is also not possible, because in order to have an $`\eta `$ significantly deviating from 1, the electron-phonon interaction will be too strong to allow the assumption of a weak-coupling $`V`$. Nevertheless, we believe that no matter what specific form $`V`$ takes, the basic feature of $`T_c`$ vs. $`\eta `$ should remain the same for systems obeying the p.F. statistics. That is, with increasing $`\eta `$, $`T_c`$ should always first increase from 0, reach a maximum, then decrease monotonically until $`\eta =1`$. The reason is that this feature is decided by the p.F. statistics, not by the specific form of $`V`$. In fact, the well known $`T_cvs.n_s/m^{}`$ plot produced by Uemura et al. uemu91  is qualitatively similar to the plots in Fig. 2. Note that $`n_s`$ is the density of superconducting carriers, $`m^{}`$ is the effective mass. Since $`\eta `$ is the delocalization degree of p.F. systems, it is thus reasonable to assume that $`\eta `$ increases monotonically with $`n_s/m^{}`$. We also note that the Uemura plot includes many different systems with different superconducting mechanisms, but all of them are narrow band materials uemu91 ; uemu91b . Recently spectacular results have been achieved on $`C_{60}`$ with injected carriers, and $`T_c`$ has reached 117 K scho00 . In these materials, $`T_c`$ as a function of injected carrier concentration again shows the same basic feature mentioned above scho00 . Because of the narrow band width of $`C_{60}`$ crystals uemu91b , increasing injected carriers may also have increased the delocalization degree of the carriers in $`C_{60}`$, and subsequently caused the change in $`T_c`$.

There are still many open questions for the p.F. systems. For example, if the spin degree of freedom cannot be ignored, as in the case of underdoped cuprates which are very close to the antiferromagnetic phase, what kind of change will it bring to the p.F. systems? If the localized electrons become mobile with increasing temperature, how does the partial Fermi energy respond to such a change, especially at high temperature? If electrons are more localized in one direction than another, $`\eta `$ might become anisotropic, and how is the anisotropy of $`\eta `$ in k-space dependent on the many-body wave function of partially localized electrons? Despite these open questions, this letter nevertheless has demonstrated that materials obeying the p.F. statistics have many properties that are very different from Landau-Fermi liquids, but are consistent with those observed in cuprates and other narrow band materials. We thus believe that the p.F. statistics can not only help to understand why bound electron systems are so different from unbound electron systems ande00 , it may also provide a starting point to tackle the physics of cuprates and other non-Fermi-liquid metals.

###### Acknowledgements.

I am very thankful to Dr. D.T. Neilson for his support.


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# Non-equilibrium transport through a vertical quantum dot in the absence of spin-flip energy relaxation

Electronic address:\]fujisawa@will.brl.ntt.co.jp. Present address:\]National Research Council of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada.

## Abstract

We investigate non-equilibrium transport in the absence of spin-flip energy relaxation in a few-electron quantum dot artificial atom. Novel non-equilibrium tunneling processes involving high-spin states which cannot be excited from the ground state because of spin-blockade, and other processes involving more than two charge states are observed. These processes cannot be explained by orthodox Coulomb blockade theory. The absence of effective spin relaxation induces considerable fluctuation of the spin, charge, and total energy of the quantum dot. Although these features are revealed clearly by pulse excitation measurements, they are also observed in conventional dc current characteristics of quantum dots.

A quantum dot (QD) is a small conducting island in which electrons occupy discrete energy states LPKprogress . Energy relaxation from an excited state (ES) to a ground state (GS) inside a QD is significantly suppressed if a spin flip is required Khaetskii ; Paillard ; FujisawaPRB . Our measurements on QDs in the Coulomb blockade (CB) regime indicate an extremely long spin-flip energy relaxation time, $`\tau _{spin}>`$ 1 $`\mu `$s FujisawaPRB ; FujisawaLV , which is much longer than the interval of tunneling events ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }^1=`$ 1 - 100 ns for a typical tunneling current of 1 - 100 pA, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the tunneling rate) as well as the momentum relaxation time, $`\tau _{mo}`$ 1 ns Bockelmann ; JWeis ; Agam . In the absence of efficient energy relaxation, excess energy remains in the system. This opens up novel non-equilibrium transport channels, which we describe in this Letter.

We start from the orthodox theory which describes CB and single electron tunneling (SET). The total energy, $`U(N)`$, of the system, in which an island containing $`N`$ electrons is affected by a gate voltage, $`V_g`$, via a capacitance, $`C_g`$, is

$$U(N)=\frac{(Ne+C_gV_g+q_0)^2}{2C_\mathrm{\Sigma }}+E_{int}(N)$$
(1)
LPKprogress ; SET . The first term is the electrostatic energy approximated by a constant Coulomb interaction. Inside the parenthesis is the sum of the charge on the dot, the induced charge by the gate, and an offset charge, $`q_0`$. $`C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is the total capacitance of the dot. The second term, $`E_{int}(N)`$, is the sum of the energies of the occupied $`N`$ electron levels, measured relative to the Fermi energy of the leads, accounting for the internal degrees of freedom of the QD. Other corrections to many-body interactions are also included in $`E_{int}`$. In the orthodox theory, originally considered for a continuum density of dot states, the second term is neglected because the QD is assumed to relax quickly to the minimum energy, $`E_{int}^{(\mathrm{min})}`$, which is independent of $`N`$. In this SET scheme, an electron that has entered the island leaves before another electron is allowed to enter when $`U(N_0)=U(N_0+1)`$ as shown in Fig. 1(a). This situation is maintained unless the excitation energy exceeds the charging energy, $`E_ce^2/C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. In this picture spin is neglected and $`N`$-electron GSs are only considered.

For a QD in which energy quantization and many-body interactions are significant, we must consider the discrete energy of the dot, $`E_{int}(N,S,M)`$, which is characterized by total spin, $`S`$, and total angular momentum, $`M`$ LPKprogress . We focus on the regime $`\tau _{spin}\mathrm{\Gamma }^1`$ $`\tau _{mo}`$, where spin-flip energy relaxation is effectively absent. This is the typical condition for a dot weakly coupled to the leads – the coupling to the leads is still strong enough to give a measurable current ($`e\mathrm{\Gamma }>`$ 1 fA), but weak enough to prevent cotunneling current. If the QD is excited to any $`N`$-electron state with a different total spin from that of the $`N`$-electron GS, the ES cannot always relax to the GS before the QD undergoes a tunneling transition to another $`N\pm 1`$ electron state. Successive tunneling transitions force the QD into highly nonequilibrium configurations. Nonetheless, there is always a selection rule for the tunneling transition to be satisfied: each tunneling transition changes $`N`$ by one and $`S`$ by one half. Tunneling transitions which change $`S`$ by more than one half should be blocked (spin blockade) Weinmann ; Ciorga . Figure 1(b) shows a particular $`U(N,S)`$ diagram, which can actually be realized in our QD (see below). Long lived ESs are now included, and the different spin states have different energies because of direct Coulomb and exchange interactionsTaruchaAA ; LPKexcitationAA ; TaruchaPRL2000 . The allowed tunneling transitions indicated by the arrows require an excitation energy smaller than the addition energy, $`E_a`$. All these transitions can cause the dot state ($`N`$, $`S`$, and $`U`$) to fluctuate dramatically.

In order to investigate highly non-equilibrium transport, we employ a pulse excitation technique FujisawaPRB , which generates only transient current associated with long-lived spin states, on two vertical QDs (QD-1 and QD-2) TaruchaAA ; LPKexcitationAA ; TaruchaPRL2000 . Electrons are confined laterally by an approximate two-dimensional harmonic potential (confinement energy $`\mathrm{}\omega _0`$ 4 meV for QD-1 and $``$ 2.5 meV for QD-2). These samples show qualitatively the same behavior. The $`N`$-dependent addition energy, $`E_a`$ = 2 - 5 meV, of QD-1 clearly reveals a shell structure TaruchaAA . $`N`$, $`S`$ and $`M`$ can be identified from the magnetic field, $`B`$, dependence of the SET current spectrum. Zeeman splitting is not resolved so we neglected it. A square pulse of amplitude $`V_p`$, combined with the static gate voltage, $`V_g`$, is applied to the gate electrode (g) shown in Fig. 1 (c) FujisawaPRB . The time dependent gate voltage, $`V_G(t)`$, illustrated in Fig. 1(d), is $`V_G=V_hV_g+\frac{1}{2}V_p`$ during the high phase of the pulse, and $`V_G=V_lV_g\frac{1}{2}V_p`$ during the low phase. A small dc bias voltage $`V_b=`$ 0.15 mV is applied so that electrons are injected from the bottom contact b ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_b^1`$ 10 ns), and escape to the top contact t ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_t^1`$ 100 ns). The averaged dc current, $`I`$, is measured during the $`V_G`$-pulse irradiation.

Figures 2(a) and (b) show pulse excited current spectra of QD-1 for $`N=`$ 0 - 5 at $`B=`$ 3 T. A current peak initially observed in the absence of the $`V_G`$-pulse is always split into two peaks of equal height, when the $`V_G`$-pulse is applied. Weaker additional peaks indicated by the arrows are due to transient current through ESs FujisawaPRB . The pulse length ($`t_h=t_l=`$ 300 ns) is chosen to be much longer than $`\tau _{mo}`$, but much shorter than $`\tau _{spin}`$. In this case, transient current through an $`N`$-electron ES is only observed when the ES has a total spin different from that of any other lower lying $`N`$-electron state FujisawaPRB ; FujisawaLV .

Examples of transient current excited by the $`V_G`$-pulse for $`N=`$ 1, 2, and 3, are depicted in Fig. 3(a) (c) and (e), where $`U(N,S)`$ is plotted against $`V_G`$. The normal GS-GS tunneling current peaks occur at level crossings labeled $``$, whilst transient current appearing at higher energy level crossings are denoted by different symbols. Figure 3(a) shows $`U`$ for $`N=`$ 1 and 2, where a GS-ES tunneling transition labeled $``$ takes place. Consider that a $`V_G`$-pulse is applied as indicated. Suppose the system is in the GS $`(N,S)=(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ during the low-phase of the pulse ($`V_G=V_l`$). When the high-phase of the pulse is applied ($`V_G=V_h`$), the system changes non-adiabatically from $`(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ at $`V_G=V_l`$ to $`(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ at $`V_G=V_h`$ (indicated by arrow i), since the rise time of the $`V_G`$-pulse (1 - 2 ns) is shorter than $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{tot}^1`$ ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{tot}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_t+\mathrm{\Gamma }_b`$). If $`V_h`$ is tuned so that $`U(1,\frac{1}{2})=`$ $`U(2,1)`$, transient current can flow at the crossing marked $``$. Only a few electrons can tunnel through the ES$`(2,1)`$, before the inelastic tunneling transition changes the state from $`(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ to $`(2,0)`$ FujisawaPRB . This transient current appears if the pulse excitation energy, $`\alpha V_p`$, exceeds the level spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2U(2,1)U(2,0)`$ as indicated, where $`\alpha d[U(N)U(N1)]/dV_G`$ is the conversion factor from gate voltage to energy. The condition for the transient current to flow is given by the thick line marked $``$ in the $`\alpha V_p`$ \- $`V_g`$ plane of Fig. 3(b). This current is clearly seen as peak a in Fig. 2(b) higherVp .

Next, we consider striking features for which the conventional SET scheme collapses. Consider the $`U(N,S)`$ for the $`N=`$ 1, 2, and 3 states in Fig. 3(c). Suppose a $`V_G`$-pulse, $`\alpha V_p<`$ $`E_a`$, is applied as shown. If the state is initially $`(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ at $`V_G=V_l`$, $`U(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ is raised to a higher energy at $`V_G=V_h`$ (arrow i), and subsequent inelastic tunneling results in either the $`(2,0)`$ or $`(2,1)`$ state. If it is $`(2,1)`$ (arrow ii), it is now possible for another electron to be transported at the crossing $`U(2,1)=U(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ marked by $``$. In this case transient transport persists until the inelastic tunneling transition from $`(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ to $`(2,0)`$ occurs, because spin-flip energy relaxation from $`(2,1)`$ to $`(2,0)`$ is absent. The QD returns back to the initial state $`(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ when the pulse is switched to $`V_l`$. This new tunneling process involves three charge states, and thus we consider it to be novel double electron tunneling (DET). Conventional DET within the orthodox CB theory appears only for $`\alpha V_pE_a`$ LPKprogress ; SET , while the novel DET takes place even for $`\alpha V_p<E_a`$. This process should appear on the thick line b in the $`\alpha V_p`$ \- $`V_g`$ plane of Fig. 3(d).

The novel DET is clearly seen in the experimental data of Fig. 2(b) as marked by b. Note that this peak cannot be due to regular SET involving higher lying $`N=`$ 2 ESs. The spin singlet ($`N=`$ 2 GS at $`B=`$ 3 T) and the spin triplet \[peak a in Fig. 2(b)\] are the only possible spin configurations. So no other ESs with different total spin can appear in the pulse measurement. Therefore, the pulse measurement successfully allows us to identify the extra peak b as a novel DET feature. Note that we can also confirm that peak b is due to novel DET from the $`B`$-dependence of the peak position Bdependence .

Transient current can also appear during the low phase of the pulse. If a pulse is applied to excite the QD along $`(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ in the direction of decreasing $`V_G`$ \[dashed arrow in Fig. 3(c)\], GS-ES tunneling between $`(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ and $`(2,1)`$ should appear along line b in Fig. 3(d). Similarly, novel DET appears at the crossing $`U(2,1)=U(1,\frac{1}{2})`$ \[corresponding to feature a in Fig. 3(d)\]. Note that the extrapolated lines a and a (b and b) meet at zero excitation energy. These features are clearly seen in Fig. 2(b).

We now discuss spin-blockade and associated non-equilibrium transport. Figure 3(e) is the energy diagram for $`N=`$ 2 and 3 – the first case where spin-blockade appears. The direct transition between the GS $`(2,0)`$ and ES $`(3,\frac{3}{2})`$ is spin-blockaded (marked $``$). However, non-equilibrium tunneling between the ES $`(2,1)`$ and ES $`(3,\frac{3}{2})`$ (marked $``$) is allowed if a pulse is applied as indicated. Even though the QD is initially in the GS $`(2,0)`$ at $`V_G=V_l`$, it first changes to $`(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ at $`V_G=V_h`$ (arrows i and ii), then to either $`(2,1)`$ or $`(2,0)`$ during the next low-phase \[arrows iii and iv for $`(2,1)`$\]. If it is $`(2,1)`$, ES-ES tunneling occurs at $`U(3,\frac{3}{2})=U(2,1)`$ when the high-phase is restored (arrow v). This kind of tunneling mechanism leads to the fluctuation of the total spin from 0 to $`\frac{3}{2}`$. Note again that this non-equilibrium fluctuation is attributed to the absence of effective spin relaxation. This ES-ES tunneling process requires complex excitation. The excitation energy must be greater than the corresponding two level spacings: $`\alpha V_p>\mathrm{\Delta }_2U(2,1)U(2,0)`$ for the excitation indicated by arrow iii, and $`\alpha V_p>\mathrm{\Delta }_3U(3,\frac{3}{2})U(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ for the excitation indicated by arrow v. The condition for ES-ES tunneling is marked by line c ($``$) in Fig. 3(f). This line is terminated by line b ($``$) for GS-ES tunneling at $`V_G=V_l`$, so line c does not reach the line $``$ for GS-GS tunneling. This termination is the signature of an ES-ES tunneling process which does not involve any GS.

We can identify these features in our QD. Peak c in Fig. 2(d) and (e) now measured at $`B=`$ 3.7 T is attributed to ES$`(2,1)`$ \- ES$`(3,\frac{3}{2})`$ tunneling from the $`B`$-field dependence of the peak position. This peak is clearly terminated by peak b, which is similarly assigned to ES$`(2,1)`$ \- GS$`(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ tunneling. However, no measurable current ($`<`$ 10 fA) is seen for spin-blockaded tunneling between $`(2,0)`$ and $`(3,\frac{3}{2})`$ in the region $`V_p=`$ 50 - 100 mV and $`B=`$ 3.5 - 4.1 T (not shown) where spin blockade is expected. These observation are consistent with the above explanation. Note peak c is too weak to see at $`B=`$ 3 T \[Fig. 2(b)\]. Nonetheless, the following are very clear in Fig. 2(b) for $`N=`$ 3 and 4: ES $`(3,\frac{3}{2})`$ \- ES $`(4,1)`$ tunneling line d is terminated by GS $`(3,\frac{1}{2})`$ \- ES $`(4,1)`$ tunneling line e, and the termination is associated with spin-blockaded ES$`(3,\frac{3}{2})`$ \- GS$`(4,0)`$ tunneling (no signal).

Other complicated tunneling processes involving both novel DET and ES-ES tunneling are observed. Peak d (c) in Fig. 2(b), which is terminated by peak b (e), is assigned to ES-ES tunneling, whose excitation process involves three charge states. The observed pairs of tunneling lines (c - c, d - d, etc.) always coincide when extrapolated to $`V_p`$ 0 V. More complicated excitations are expected for many-electron QDs. Four different peaks \[e, f, c and d in Fig. 2(b)\] are observed between the $`N=`$ 3 and 4 CB regions. The corresponding transitions are indicated in the total energy diagram in Fig. 1(b). The fluctuation in the total energy can be significantly greater than $`\alpha V_p`$. Non-equilibrium transport can lead to the accumulation of energy in excess of the excitation energy. As $`N`$ increases, many long-lived ESs with different $`S`$ can contribute to the transport. The complexity of many-body excitations increases with $`\alpha V_p`$ and $`N`$ Altshuler .

Although our findings till now are deduced from pulse measurements, we expect to see related features in conventional dc excitation measurements. For example \[see Fig. 4(b)\], novel DET involving $`N=`$ 1, 2, and 3 is allowed in dc measurements when $`eV_b`$ is greater than $`|U(1,\frac{1}{2})U(2,0)|`$ (energy required for normal SET between $`N=`$ 1 and 2 GSs, arrow i), $`|U(2,1)U(1,\frac{1}{2})|`$ (excitation energy to the $`N=2`$ spin-triplet ES from the $`N=1`$ GS, arrow ii), and $`|U(3,\frac{1}{2})U(2,1)|`$ (extra energy for novel DET, arrow iii). The necessary conditions for the novel DET are satisfied in the red region in the $`eV_b`$-$`V_g`$ plain of Fig. 4(c). Note that this complex excitation can only occur if $`\tau _{spin}\mathrm{\Gamma }^1`$. Figure 4(a) shows the tunneling current spectrum of QD-2 between $`N`$ = 1 and 2 CB regions at $`B`$ = 0 T with no $`V_G`$-pulse. In addition to the expected current step marked by arrow a associated with excitation to the ES$`(2,1)`$, we see an extra current step marked by arrow b associated with the novel DET dcIincdec . Note that the condition in dc measurement for novel DET as well as the other tunneling processes is equivalent to that in pulse measurements, by taking $`\alpha V_p`$ equivalent to $`eV_b`$.

In summary, we have discussed novel DET, which can lead to considerable charge fluctuation, and ES-ES tunneling, which gives rise to significant fluctuation in the total spin. These non-equilibrium transport processes cannot be explained by orthodox Coulomb blockade theory, and arise from the absence of effective spin relaxation inside a quantum dot. With miniaturization of semiconductor devices selection rules for tunneling transitions have to be considered when manipulating spin and charge in a quantum dot.


text:
# Concentration of Charge Carriers and Anomalous Gap Parameter in the Normal State of High-𝑇_𝑐 Superconductors

## I Introduction

Since the reported discovery of high-$`T_c`$ superconductors (HTSC) based on the copper oxide materials, the scientific communities have been swept with revolutionary excitement. This leads to intensified focus on this particular material both in term of theoretical and experimental research throughout the world. The discovered Ba-La-Cu-O system by Bednorz and Muller with a $`T_c`$ of 33 K have had led to subsequent findings of superconductivity in La-Sr-Cu-O at 40 K and later in Y-Ba-Cu-O system at 90 K. Actually the La-Ca,Sr,Ba-Cu system were first synthesized and studied by Raveau et al.. The conduction mechanisms in the normal state of HTSC such as the out-of-plane and in-plane resistivities are intriguing due to the highly anisotropic behavior. Anisotropic normal state electrical properties such as metallic-like conduction in the Cu-O2 planes and semiconducting-like conduction between those planes are believed to be one of the central concerns for applications. This in turn may lead one to extract some clues to understand the mechanism of high-$`T_c`$ superconductivity. Interestingly, Levin et al. using the $`T`$-dependence on anisotropy $`\rho _c/\rho _{ab}`$ showed the conductivity relationship between $`\sigma _c`$ and $`\sigma _{ab}`$ as: $`\sigma _{ab}`$ = $`(a+bT^{2/3})\sigma _c`$. This $`T^{2/3}`$ dependence point towards a 2-dimensional (2D) localization and hopping. Quite recently, Basov et al. have analyzed the interlayer infrared conductivity of HTSC. They found that discrepancy occurred between superfluid density, $`\rho _s`$ and difference between normal state ($`N_n`$) and superconducting state ($`N_s`$) spectral weights i.e. $`\rho _s`$ $`>`$ $`N_n`$ $``$ $`N_s`$. This discrepancy was only revealed for $`c`$-axis electrodynamics but could not find a similar conflict in $`ab`$-plane ($`\rho _s`$ = $`N_n`$ $``$ $`N_s`$), which can be interpreted as a gapless behavior of charge carriers in $`ab`$-planes. PrBa2Cu3O7 compound gives a unique non-superconducting, semiconducting-like normal state electrical property and the nature of this unique property was discussed intensively in terms of hole doping in Cu-O2 planes. As a matter of fact, semiconducting-like behavior of $`\rho (T)`$ corresponds to localization of charge carriers connected with oxygen disorder in Cu-Ox chains and the disorder in Pr3+, Pr4+ distribution. Furthermore, positron annihilation studies showed that PrBa2Cu3O7 compound has the Fermi surface due to Cu-Ox chains’ state. The concept of charge concentration in high-$`T_c`$ cuprates is very ambiguous. However, it is well established that $`T_c`$ of cuprates depends on holes’ concentration within Cu-O2 planes where carrier concentration is determined by counting the valence number. Very recently, concentration of interlayer electrons and its resistivity model for HTSC was derived via Fermi-Dirac statistics with an additional gap constraint, which is the average ionization energy ($`E_I`$). In this letter however, a phenomenological polycrystalline resistivity model is derived based on $`E_I`$ as well and is redefined here to obtain an $`ab`$-plane resistivity model by incorporating gapless nature of charge carriers in Cu-O2 planes. Besides that, estimation for concentration of charge carriers and $`E_I`$ via best fitting in the normal state of HTSC are also illustrated in this work. Apart from that, estimation of resistivity transition such as from metallic to semiconductor or vice versa upon substitution in crystalline 123 phase PrxY1-xBa2Cu3O7 system is also highlighted. Ions’ average ionization energies were calculated from ref..

## II Charge Carriers’ Concentration and Resistivity Models

Tunneling electron’s distribution has been derived via Fermi-Dirac (FD) statistics using average ionization energy ($`E_I`$) as an anomalous constraint, and is given below

$`f_e(E)`$ $`=`$ $`exp[\mu \lambda (E+E_I)].`$ (1)
Similarly, probability function for holes can be derived and is given in Eq. 2 below, where it is obtained by inserting the restrictive condition $`E_{hole}`$ $`=`$ $`E_{initialstate}`$ $``$ $`E_I`$. $`E_{initialstate}`$ is the energy of a particle in a given system at a certain initial state and ranges from 0 to -$`\mathrm{}`$. This can be justified as follows; for a hole to occupy a lower state $`M`$ from initial state $`N`$ is more probable than to occupy state $`L`$ if the condition $`E_I`$($`M`$) $`<`$ $`E_I`$($`L`$) at certain temperature, $`T`$ is satisfied.

$`f_h(E)`$ $`=`$ $`exp[\mu +\lambda (EE_I)].`$ (2)
Note that Eq. 1 and Eq. 2 can be reduced to the standard Fermi-Dirac distributions if $`E_I`$ approaches 0. The importance of average $`E_I`$’s inclusion is that, it can be interpreted as a $`c`$-axis gap, which represents the gap that tied to a neutral atom and could be varied with ionic substitutions. The respective normal state concentration of electrons and holes are given by

$`n`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}f_e(E)N_e(E)𝑑E,`$ (3)
$`p`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}f_h(E)N_h(E)𝑑E.`$ (4)
$`\mu `$ $`=`$ $`E_F/k_BT`$, $`\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`1/k_BT`$ are carefully chosen to confine the total number of particles in a given system equals to $`n`$. $`N_e(E)`$ and $`N_h(E)`$ are 2D density of states (DOS) that can be derived from the Schrodinger equation. $`N_e(E)`$ and $`N_h(E)`$ are derived as $`m_e^{}/\pi \mathrm{}^2`$ and $`m_h^{}/\pi \mathrm{}^2`$ respectively and note that both 2D DOS are independent of $`E`$. Solutions of integral Eq. 3 and Eq. 4 give the concentration of tunneling electrons between Cu-O2 layers, $`n`$ and concentration of holes, $`p`$ in the normal state of HTSC as

$`n`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_e^{}k_BT}{\pi \mathrm{}^2}}exp\left[{\displaystyle \frac{E_FE_I}{k_BT}}\right].`$ (5)
$`p`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_h^{}k_BT}{\pi \mathrm{}^2}}exp\left[{\displaystyle \frac{E_FE_I}{k_BT}}\right].`$ (6)
Eq. 5 and Eq. 6 are expressed in term of ionization energy, where $`k_B`$ is Boltzmann constant, $`m_e^{}`$ and $`m_h^{}`$ are electrons’ and holes’ effective masses respectively, $`\mathrm{}`$ $`=`$ $`h/2\pi `$, $`h`$ is Plank constant and $`E_F`$ is Fermi level. Moreover, from Eq. 5 and Eq. 6, concentration of charge carriers in the normal state of polycrystalline HTSC can be written in the form of geometric mean which is given by

$`\sqrt{np}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k_BT}{\pi \mathrm{}^2}}\sqrt{m_e^{}m_h^{}}exp\left[{\displaystyle \frac{E_I}{k_BT}}\right].`$ (7)
This equation is free from Fermi level, hence concentration of charge carriers in superconducting polycrystals can be calculated by first estimating $`E_I`$, which is described in the following paragraph. Scattering among fermions leads to the conclusion of $`1/\tau `$ $``$ $`T^2`$ and has been confirmed empirically that $`\rho `$ $``$ $`T^2`$ as well. Furthermore, by utilizing metallic resistivity equation of $`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`m/ne^2\tau `$ where $`e`$ and $`\tau `$ are electron’s charge and mean scattering free time respectively then one can derive the normal state phenomenological model for HTSC as given in Eq. 8 below. This were carried out by substituting $`m`$ = $`m_e^{}`$ $`=`$ $`m_h^{}`$, $`n`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{np}`$, and $`1/\tau `$ $`=`$ $`AT^2`$ into metallic resistivity equation.

$`\rho _{poly}(T,E_I)`$ $`=`$ $`A{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \mathrm{}^2}{e^2k_B}}Texp\left[{\displaystyle \frac{E_I}{k_BT}}\right].`$ (8)
$`A`$ is independent of temperature. Eq. 8 above can be used in the normal state resistivity of polycrystalline superconducting samples to evaluate the variations in $`E_I`$. Substituting this $`E_I`$ into Eq. 7 at certain temperature, $`T`$ leads to the estimation of charge carriers’ concentration. Subsequently, an $`ab`$-plane resistivity model can be derived quite naturally by taking anomalous gap = 0 due to gapless behavior of charge carriers in Cu-O2 planes, thus Eq. 8 can be simply rewritten as

$`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ $`=`$ $`A{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \mathrm{}^2}{e^2k_B}}T.`$ (9)
This latter phenomenon could be due to change in the scattering rate that results from a different Fermi surface phase space argument in accordance with the nested Fermi liquid theory.

## III Discussion

Polycrystalline resistivities, $`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ of crystalline YBa2Cu3O7 samples (B and C) were obtained using

$`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\rho _c(T)\rho _{ab}(T)}.`$ (10)
It is assumed that Eq. 10 is valid to convert $`\rho _c(T)`$ and $`\rho _{ab}(T)`$ of single crystals to $`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ in order to analyze the effect or changes of $`A`$ parameter between single crystals and polycrystals. Consequently, one can study the scattering effect solely on $`A`$ parameter. Fitting of experimental $`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ with Eq. 8 gives respective values for anomalous gap and concentration of charge carriers in the order of 4-9 meV and $`10^{16}`$ m-2 as listed in Table I. These fittings are depicted in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 for samples B and C respectively. Furthermore, resistivity curves of polycrystalline Ga1212, Y1-xPrxSrBaCu3O7, YBa2Cu3O7-x and Tl1212 samples are utilized by calculating the slope, $`d\rho (T)`$/$`dT`$ in the normal state of respective samples. This slope would enable one to determine $`E_I`$ via Eq. 8 and followed by determination of concentration of charge carriers in the normal state at 300 K and 150 K, which are also listed in Table 1. The above concentration of charge carriers was estimated by substituting the best fitted $`E_I`$ into Eq. 7. All samples have charge carriers’ concentration in the order of 1016 m-2, however, parameters $`A`$ and $`E_I`$ vary accordingly with samples. Note that $`A`$ is equals to $`A\pi \mathrm{}^2/e^2k_B`$ for simplicity’s sake. It is quite interesting to note that all Y123 samples including the single crystals (sample A and B) have values for $`E_I`$ between 7.69 and 8.25 meV. Contrary to that, $`A`$ parameter is approximately 100 times lower for single crystals (10-8) than polycrystals (10-6) where this could be due to the nature of scattering in crystalline samples. Note also that the magnitude of $`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ estimated from Eq. 10 for single crystals are lower as mentioned previously. Similarly, $`A`$ and $`E_I`$ parameters for 1212 phase compounds, Tl(Sr1.6Sm0.4)CaCu2O7-x, Tl(Sr1.6Dy0.4)CaCu2O7-x and GaSr2(Y0.6Ca0.4)Cu2O7 are in the order of 10-5 and 5-6 meV respectively. Substitution effect in Y1-xPrxSrBaCu3O7 system is found to be not in favor of superconductivity where, Pr substitution increases anomalous gap, $`E_I`$ and $`A`$ parameter. Parallel to this, comparison between polycrystalline samples, YBa2Cu3O7-x (Sample A) and Y(Ba0.85Pb0.15)2Cu3O7-x (Sample B) expose a reduction in $`E_I`$ that suggests Pb substitution into Ba sites is somewhat favorable. Further comparisons between samples prepared by different listed researchers are not discussed here since the exact synthesis method varies from one researcher to another. In another context, $`\rho _c(T)`$ transition that occurs in superconducting Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7 system is in fact due to the differences in average $`E_I`$ of Pr3+,4+ and Y3+. The valence number, $`z+`$ ($`=`$ 3+) and $`q+`$ (= 3+) correspond to ions, Prz+ and Yq+ respectively. Since $`E_I`$ of Y3+ (1260 kJmol-1) $`>`$ $`E_I`$ of Pr3+ (1210 kJmol-1) then substituting Y with Pr will reduce $`E_I`$ $``$ $`E_F`$ which is the $`c`$-axis gap parameter for single crystals thus, reduces $`\rho _c(T)`$. Similar substitutions would also decrease the $`E_I`$ gap parameter and $`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ which is for polycrystals that can be verified from Eq. 8. In contrast, the experimental data obtained by Jiang et al. (single crystals) and Das et al. (polycrystals) expose a contradicting relation where $`\rho _c(T)`$ and $`\rho _{poly}(T)`$ increases with Pr substitutions into Y sites. Thus valency of Pr is expected to be greater than 3+ due to Pr4+ ions’ contribution. Parallel to this, Meng et al. have employed PVL theory to determine valency of Pr in superconducting state. They have found that valency of Pr is vital in producing a superconducting Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7 compound. In their calculations, valency of Pr is $`<`$ 3.15 to get a superconductor compound for all Pr doping but a valency of $`>`$ 3.15 gives a superconducting state for only up to a limited Pr doping. Therefore, using the concept presented in section II, the minimum value of Pr’s valence state, which is obviously above 3+ that contribute to non-metallic behavior, can be calculated from linear algebraic equation given below

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{j}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=z+1}{\overset{z+j}{}}}E_{Ii}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{z}{}}}E_{Ii}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{q}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{q}{}}}E_{Ii}`$ (11)
The first term, $`\frac{\delta }{j}_{i=z+1}^{z+j}E_{Ii}`$ in Eq. 11 above has $`i`$ $`=`$ $`z`$ \+ 1, $`z`$ \+ 2,…, $`z`$ \+ $`j`$ and $`j`$ $`=`$ 1, 2, 3,…. It is solely due to Pr4+ ions contribution or caused by reaction of the form Pr3+ $``$ electron $``$ Pr4+, hence $`j`$ is equals to 1 in this case and $`\delta `$ represents the additional contribution from Pr4+. The second ($`i`$ $`=`$ 1, 2, 3, …, $`z`$) and last ($`i`$ $`=`$ 1, 2, 3, …, $`q`$) terms respectively are due to reaction of the form Pr $``$ 3(electrons) $``$ Pr3+ and Y $``$ 3(electrons) $``$ Y3+. Recall that $`q`$ = $`z`$ = 3+ and $`i`$ = 1, 2, 3,… represent the first, second, third, … ionization energies while $`j`$ = 1, 2, 3, … represent the fourth, fifth, sixth, … ionization energies. Therefore, $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ gives the minimum valence number for Pr which is calculated to be 3.0133 from Eq. 11. This critical value corresponds specifically for $`\rho (T)`$ variations in the normal state behavior where $`\rho (T)`$ decreases with doping if and only if $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ $`<`$ 3.0133 and vice versa if $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ $`>`$ 3.0133. Those changes in $`\rho (T)`$ will eventually affect $`d\rho (T)/dT`$ slope transition in term of metallic-like or semiconducting-like normal state properties as mentioned for pure 1212 phase polycrystals. In order to justify this critical value, $`\rho _c(T)`$ measurements of Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7 single crystals that indicate a transition of $`d\rho _c(T)/dT`$ slope from positive to negative with $`x`$ doping were used. Thus, from the above-presented approximation, $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ or valence state of Pr for $`x`$ = 0.13 to 0.42 samples is $`>`$ 3.0133 since there is an increment of $`\rho _c(T)`$ with Pr doping. In contrast, $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ value should be above 3.15 as mentioned previously in accordance with Meng et al.. Although 3.15 is larger than what have been anticipated (3.0133), but one should note that 3.15 corresponds only to superconducting behavior without considering the normal state behavior. Therefore, by considering only the normal state behavior, decrement of $`\rho _c(T)`$ with increasing Pr doping only occurs if $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ $`<`$ 3.0133. In short, if 3.0133 $`<`$ $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ $`<`$ 3.15, then the materials are superconductors for all $`x`$ doping but $`d\rho _c(T)/dT`$ changes from positive to negative with $`x`$. However, if $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ $`<`$ 3.0133 then the materials are also superconductors for all doping, $`x`$ but $`d\rho _c(T)/dT`$ remains positive and $`\rho _c(T)`$ will decrease with $`x`$. Finally, if $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ $`>`$ 3.15, then the materials are superconductors for only upto a certain $`x`$ doping in which, $`d\rho _c(T)/dT`$ changes from positive to negative and $`\rho _c(T)`$ would increase with $`x`$. Note that the prediction above is only valid for very pure materials without any significant impurity phases. $`\rho _c(T)`$ data at high temperatures surprisingly decreases with further Pr doping from $`x`$ = 0.42 to 0.55 though it remains semiconducting. This phenomenon could be possibly due to variation in the magnitude of $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ where the value for $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ might change from; $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ (at $`x`$ = 0.42) $`>`$ $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ (at $`x`$ = 0.53) $`>`$ $`z`$ \+ $`\delta `$ (at $`x`$ = 0.55). I.e., Prz+δ varies with doping or concentration, $`x`$. Apart from that, as evidenced in experimental data, the phenomenological $`ab`$-plane resistivity model (Eq. 9) indicates a linear relationship between temperature and in-plane resistivity due to gapless nature of charge carriers, thus, pointing towards an anomalous Fermi liquid behavior within Cu-O2 planes.

## IV Conclusions

Two-dimensional Fermion characteristics have been employed to derive charge carriers’ concentration. Anomalous gap parameter ($`E_I`$) and charge carriers concentration that has been estimated via best fitting for all superconducting samples of polycrystalline and crystalline are in the order of 4-9 meV and 1016 m-2 respectively. As a matter of fact, variations that occurred in $`\sqrt{np}`$, $`A`$ and $`E_I`$ are due to variations in sample’s purity, methods of preparation and its compositions. Phenomenological $`ab`$-plane resistivity model (Eq. 9) indicates a linear relationship between temperature and in-plane resistivity due to gapless nature of charge carriers, signifying an anomalous Fermi liquid behavior in accordance with nested Fermi liquid theory. In addition, disorder of valence state in certain elements such as Pr3+, Pr4+ in term of average $`E_I`$ also contributes to the normal state behavior such as from metallic-like to semiconducting-like behaviors. In other words, $`d\rho _c(T)/dT`$’s varies from positive to negative or vice versa with selected doping or substitutions at certain temperature. Simply put, polycrystalline resistivity’s slope is dependent on average ionization energy, where valence state of Pr which is above 3+ could be estimated from $`d\rho _c(T)/dT`$ transition upon substitution of Pr into Y sites as Eq. 11 states.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENT

ADA would like to thank the National University of Singapore and Physics department for the financial assistance. The author is also grateful to A. Innasimuthu, I. Sebastiammal, A. Das Anthony and Cecily Arokiam for their partial financial assitance.


text:
# The role of damped Alfvén waves on magnetospheric accretion models of young stars

## 1 Introduction

The current picture of Classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs), the so called class II objects (Lada, 1987), consists of a central young star, surrounded by a geometrically thin disk. Instead of a classical boundary layer connecting the disk directly to the star, as proposed by Lynden-Bell & Pringle (1974), the disk is disrupted by the star’s magnetic field at a given radius. Accretion flow for smaller radii follows the star’s magnetic field lines until it impacts on the stellar surface (Ghosh & Lamb, 1979a, b; Königl, 1991). This “magnetospheric accretion model” explains observational signatures seen in some CTTSs as, for example, the excess of optical and ultraviolet continuum flux (veiling) and redshift absorption features in the emission line profiles (inverse P Cygni profiles) (Muzerolle, Hartmann, & Calvet, 1998; Hartmann, Hewett, & Calvet, 1994, hereafter HHC). Low rotation rates, inferred from observations for CTTSs, are hard to explain by the classical boundary layer model. However, they can be explained in the magnetospheric accretion model.

Originally suggested by Ghosh & Lamb (1979a, b) for neutron stars, the magnetospheric accretion model was proposed to explain the hot spots observed in DF Tauri by Bertout, Basri & Bouvier (1988). Camenzind (1990) and Königl (1991) applied the original Ghosh-Lamb model to CTTSs. It is assumed, in this model, that the star has a dipole magnetic field. The basic idea behind this mechanism is that a sufficiently strong field can halt disk accretion at a given radius. At this radius, the magnetic pressure needs to be equal to the ram accretion pressure. For protostellar accretion disks, magnetic fields on the order of 1kG at the star’s surface are sufficient to disrupt the disk. Magnetic fields of this magnitude are inferred from observations (Johns-Krull et al., 1999; Guenther et al., 1999). In order to follow the magnetic field lines, the gas needs to be coupled to the magnetic field. For CTTSs disks, this coupling is achieved if the temperatures at the truncation radius ($`R0.1`$ AU) are greater than $`10^3`$ K since collisional ionization of metal atoms is then effective (Umebayashi & Nakano, 1988). The truncation radius, $`R_{trun}`$, must be smaller than the co-rotation radius, $`R_{co}`$, in order for accretion to proceed. Contrary to observational evidences, for the case $`R_{trun}<R_{co}`$, the star should spin up. Wind models that possess open magnetic field lines have been proposed to explain the observed low rotation rates. However, the exact position (or region) of the truncation radius is still under debate (Camenzind, 1990; Shu et al., 1994; Hartmann, 1998). These open field lines carry off mass and angular momentum. Several CTTSs do, in fact, show P Cygni profiles in many lines, as well as in forbidden-line emission, indicating the presence of outflows. Some CTTSs are known to have jets (e.g., DG Tau, see Bacciotti et al., 2000).

HHC and more recently Muzerrole et al. (1998) calculated magnetospheric accretion models, solving radiative transfer equations in the Sobolev approximation, in order to obtain theoretical Balmer line profiles. Profiles which are in reasonable agreement with observations were obtained. The calculated line profiles are slightly asymmetric, with blueshifted centroids, sometimes showing redshifted absorption components. However, Alencar & Basri (2000), analyzing spectra from 30 CTTSs, noted that only 20% of their sample showed inverse P Cygni profiles in the studied lines. They argued that winds, turbulence and rotation of the central star must be taken into account to fully explain the observations. Basri (1990) previously suggested that turbulence may be important in the formation of line profiles. Edwards et al. (1994) suggested that Alfvén waves can be the source of this turbulence. Also, Johns & Basri (1995), when analyzing the spectra of SU Aur, found that a turbulent velocity component at the base of a wind is necessary in order to fit the observed spectra.

The major uncertainty in the radiative magnetospheric model calculations is the temperature profile of the tube. Martin (1996, hereafter MA) calculated the energy balance of the gas. He included heating by adiabatic compression of the magnetic field lines, Balmer photoionization and ambipolar diffusion. However, the temperatures that he obtained are very low and cannot explain the observed line fluxes. Thus, an additional heating mechanism must take place in the tube.

Combining the evidence for turbulence and the necessity of an additional heating mechanism, we suggest that the heating by Alfvén waves is important in the magnetic flux tubes of CTTSs. We first study the possibility that the waves are generated at the star’s surface due to the shock produced by the accreting matter, as suggested by Scheurwater & Kuijpers (1988). A model in which the waves are generated locally is then studied, following the same approximation used in our previous paper (Vasconcelos, Jatenco-Pereira & Opher, 2000, hereafter, Paper I). Independent of the generation mechanism, we calculate the damping length for the waves, investigating four different damping mechanisms: 1) nonlinear; 2) turbulent (Paper I); 3) collisional; and 4) viscous-resistive (Osterbrock, 1961). The associated heating rates and the degree of turbulence are calculated. We use a theoretical temperature profile, varying from $`7500`$ K to $`8300`$ K, which produces the observed line features.

Various damping mechanisms for Alfvén waves have been suggested in the literature, such as Alfvén resonant heating of solar loops; wave damping by phase mixing (also in the solar context); and cyclotron heating, occurring as an Alfvén wave travels down a magnetic field gradient until its frequency matches the decreasing ion cyclotron resonance (magnetic beach). In addition to the more conventional collisional and viscous-resistive Alfvén wave dampings, we concentrate on nonlinear and turbulent damping, which our group has investigated in: the solar wind (Jatenco-Pereira & Opher, 1989a; Jatenco-Pereira, Opher & Yamamoto, 1994); protostellar winds (Jatenco-Pereira & Opher, 1989b); late-type giant stars (Jatenco-Pereira & Opher, 1989c); Wolf-Rayet stars (dos Santos, Jatenco-Pereira & Opher, 1993a, b); quasar clouds (Gonçalves et al., 1993a, a); and extragalactic jets (Gonçalves et al., 1993b).

In §(2), we outline the magnetospheric accretion model investigated. This accretion model is the same as that of HHC. The damping mechanisms used are discussed in §(3), where the heating rates, damping lengths and related time-scales are evaluated for a reasonable set of parameters. We discuss the generation source for the waves and calculate the required degree of turbulence in §(4). Finally, the conclusions of this work are summarized in §(5).

## 2 The magnetospheric accretion model

The equations of the magnetospheric accretion model describe a column of gas following the lines of a dipole magnetic field that connect the disk to the star. In this paper, the equations used are the same as those of HHC. A cylindrical coordinate system is adopted (see Fig. 1)111For more details, see HHC.. The streamlines are described by the equation

$$r=r_m\mathrm{sin}^2\theta ,$$
(1)
where $`\theta `$ is the angle between the z-direction and $`r`$, the radial distance from the center of the star. The constant $`r_m`$ is the value of $`r`$ for $`\theta =\pi /2`$. We can also define a cylindrical radius $`R`$, which is the projection of $`r`$ in the plane $`z=0`$. In this paper, all figures are shown as a function of the radius $`R`$.

The poloidal velocity, parallel to the field lines, is

$$𝐯_𝐩=v_p\left[\frac{3\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\theta \widehat{𝐑}+(23\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )\widehat{𝐳}}{(43\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )^{1/2}}\right],$$
(2)
where $`\widehat{𝐑}`$ and $`\widehat{𝐳}`$ are unit vectors in the $`R`$ and $`z`$ directions and

$$v_p=\left[\frac{2GM_{}}{R_{}}\left(\frac{R_{}}{r}\frac{R_{}}{r_m}\right)\right]^{1/2},$$
(3)
where $`M_{}`$ is the mass of the star and $`R_{}`$ its radius. The density of the fluid is

$$\rho =\frac{\dot{M}}{4\pi \left(\frac{1}{r_{in}}\frac{1}{r_{out}}\right)}\frac{r^{5/2}}{\sqrt{2GM_{}}}\sqrt{\frac{43\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{\mathrm{cos}^2\theta }},$$
(4)
where $`\dot{M}`$ is the accretion rate and $`r_{in}`$ and $`r_{out}`$ the inner and outer field lines, respectively. A dipole magnetic field with intensity

$$B=\frac{m\sqrt{43\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }}{r^3},$$
(5)
where $`m`$ is the magnetic moment, is used.

It is not known what the exact temperature profile of the tube is. MA calculated the thermal structure of the gas funnel, but obtained values for the temperature that were too low to explain the observations. HHC adopted an ad hoc temperature profile that was able to reproduce the observations. In the absence of a reliable temperature estimate for the tube, we assume here a temperature profile similar to that of HHC, shown in Figure 2. The mean temperature is $`8000`$ K. The temperature does not vary greatly inside the tube, dropping near the disk. As we show in the following sections, Alfvenic heating does not have a strong dependence on temperature and, thus, the exact profile is not of any great importance.

In Table 1, we show the magnetospheric model parameters adopted in our calculations, which are the same as those used by HHC.

## 3 Damping mechanisms

### 3.1 The damping lengths

When waves are generated in a non-ideal fluid, they are subject to dissipation mechanisms so that the energy carried by the wave is transferred to the fluid. We study four damping mechanisms in this work: 1) nonlinear; 2) turbulent; 3) collisional; and 4) viscous-resistive. In the nonlinear damping process, waves of large amplitudes interact and generate compressive MHD waves which, in turn, decay into purely sonic modes. The damping rate associated with this mechanism is

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{nl}=\frac{1}{4}\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2}}\xi \varpi \left(\frac{c_s}{v_A}\right)\frac{\rho \delta v^2}{B^2/8\pi },$$
(6)
where $`\xi `$ is a constant that can assume a value between 5-10, $`\varpi `$ is the average angular frequency of the waves, $`c_s`$ is the sound velocity, $`v_A=B/\sqrt{4\pi \rho }`$ is the Alfvén velocity, $`\rho `$ and $`B`$ are the fluid density and magnetic field, respectively, and $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ is the velocity perturbation, which is a measure of the degree of turbulence of the system (Paper I).

The turbulent damping mechanism involves an energy cascade from large to small scales, in which microscopic processes dissipate the energy. The associated damping length is

$$L_T=L_{corr}v_A\delta v^2^{1/2},$$
(7)
where $`L_{corr}(B^{1/2})`$ is the correlation length of the turbulent vortices (Hollweg, 1986).

If the fluid is formed by two components, one ionized and the other neutral, wave damping, driven by collisions between the positive ions and the neutral particles (Osterbrock, 1961) can occur. The e-folding length for the damping is

$$L_{coll}=\frac{v_A}{4\pi ^2\nu ^2}\frac{1+\eta }{\eta \tau _n},$$
(8)
where $`\nu `$ is the average wave frequency, $`\eta =\rho _H/\rho _i`$ is the density contrast between the neutral and ionized particles, and $`\tau _n`$, the mean collision time.

For a hydrogen fluid, the mean collision time (in seconds) is

$$\tau _n10^{12}T^{1/2}n_H^1,$$
(9)
where $`n_H`$ is the neutral hydrogen particle density and $`T`$ is the fluid temperature (Spitzer, 1962). The wave frequency can be written in terms of the ion-cyclotron frequency, $`\omega _i`$,

$$\nu =\frac{\varpi }{2\pi }=\frac{F\omega _i}{2\pi }=\frac{FeB}{2\pi m_ic},$$
(10)
where $`F`$ is a free parameter ($`F<1`$ corresponds to low-frequency waves), $`e`$, $`m_i`$ and $`c`$ are the electron charge, ion (hydrogen) mass and the velocity of light, respectively.

Substituting (9) and (10) in equation (8) we obtain,

$$L_{coll}v_A\left(\frac{m_ic}{FeB}\right)^2\frac{n_H\sqrt{T}}{10^{12}}\frac{1+\eta }{\eta }.$$
(11)
Finally, we discuss the fourth damping mechanism which is related to the viscosity $`\mu `$ and to the finite electric conductivity $`(\sigma )`$ of the gas. In this case, the e-folding length is,

$$L_{\sigma ,\mu }=\frac{v_A^3}{4\pi ^2\nu ^2\left(\frac{c^2}{4\pi \sigma }+\frac{\mu }{\rho }\right)}.$$
(12)
The electric resistivity $`\eta _e`$ for a partially ionized gas is (Spitzer, 1962),

$$\eta _e=\frac{c^2}{4\pi \sigma }7.148\times 10^{10}T^{3/2}.$$
(13)
From Spitzer (1962), the viscosity for a gas composed mainly of hydrogen is

$$\mu 2\times 10^{15}T^{5/2}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^1\mathrm{s}^1.$$
(14)
Substituting equations (13) and (14) in equation (12), we obtain

$`L_{\sigma ,\mu }`$ $``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_Hc}{FeB}}\right)^2`$
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{v_A^3}{\left(7.148\times 10^{10}T^{3/2}+\frac{2\times 10^{15}T^{5/2}}{\rho }\right)}},`$
where the $`F`$ parameter is defined in equation (10).

### 3.2 Heating rates

As outlined in Paper I, heating rates are given by

$$H_A=\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_w}{L_A},$$
(16)
where $`H_A`$ is the heating rate associated with a generic damping mechanism, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_w=\rho \delta v^2v_A`$ is the wave flux and $`L_A`$ is the damping length. We derived the heating rates for both the nonlinear and turbulent damping mechanisms in Paper I. They are, respectively:

$$H_{nl}=\frac{\sqrt{2}}{8}f^4F\frac{e\xi }{m_ic}\left(\frac{\gamma \mathrm{}}{\overline{m}}\right)^{1/2}(\rho T)^{1/2}B^2,$$
(17)
and

$$H_T2.985\times 10^6\frac{f^3B^{7/2}}{\sqrt{\rho }},$$
(18)
where we used the same parametrization as that of Paper I,

$$\delta v^2^{1/2}=fv_A,$$
(19)
and $`f`$ is a free parameter. As noted above, $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ is a measure of the degree of turbulence of the flow. In equation (17), $`\gamma =c_p/c_v`$ is the ratio of the specific heats, $`\mathrm{}`$ is the gas constant, and $`\overline{m}`$, the mean molecular weight.

Using equation (19), the Alfvén wave flux can be written as,

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_w=\rho f^2v_A^3=f^2\frac{B^3}{\sqrt{(4\pi )^3\rho }}.$$
(20)
The collisional heating rate is given by,

$$H_{coll}1\times 10^{12}\left(\frac{fFe}{m_Hc}\right)^2\frac{B^4}{4\pi (n_p+n_H)\sqrt{T}}.$$
(21)
Equation (21) is derived from equations (11) and (16), using the definition of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_w`$. In this equation, $`n_p`$ is the proton number density. Correspondingly, for the case when the damping is due to both viscosity and the resistivity of the fluid, the heating rate is

$`H_{\sigma ,\mu }`$ $``$ $`\rho \left({\displaystyle \frac{fFeB}{m_Hc}}\right)^2`$
$`\times `$ $`\left(7.2\times 10^{10}T^{3/2}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\times 10^{15}T^{5/2}}{\rho }}\right).`$
In order to calculate the heating rates and damping lengths described above, we set values for the variables, using the parameters of Table 1. We use the following values: $`f=0.004`$ (justified in later sections), $`F=0.1`$, $`\xi =5`$, $`m_i=m_H=1.673\times 10^{24}`$ g, $`\gamma =5/3`$ and $`\overline{m}=0.613`$ (Paper I). In order to obtain the ratio of protons to neutral atoms, we solve the Saha equation for the values of the temperature and density given in Figure 2 and in equation (4), respectively. The obtained values are shown in Figure 3. In solving the damping lengths for the profiles described in §2 (equations 1 \- 5 and Fig. 2), we use $`r_m=r_{in}=2.2R_{\mathrm{}}`$ and 0.74 rad $`\theta 1.57`$ rad. The results of the calculations are shown in Figures 4 and 5.

In Figure 4, we plot the heating rates for the adiabatic heating mechanism (MA) (Fig. 4a) and for the wave damping mechanisms (Fig. 4b), described by equations 17, 18, 21 and 3.2. It can be seen that the Alfvenic heating rates are larger than the adiabatic heating rate. Figure 5a shows that the damping lengths are small compared to the stellar radius. Thus, as soon as the waves are generated, they are rapidly damped. We note that the nonlinear damping length is much bigger than the other damping lengths.

In Figure 5b, we show the time-scales associated with each of the damping processes. For comparison, we estimate the time-scale associated with free-fall accretion:

$$t_{ff}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{L}}{v_{ff}}\frac{10^{12}}{3\times 10^7}3.3\times 10^4\mathrm{s}9\mathrm{hr}.$$
(23)
As can be noted, Alfvén waves are dissipated very quickly. Even the slowest damping-time (nonlinear) is $`10^4`$ times shorter than the free-fall time.

## 4 Sources for Alfvén waves in magnetic accretion tubes

### 4.1 Generation of Alfvén waves at the star’s surface

Scheurwater & Kuijpers (1988) proposed that, when the fluid in the accretion column shocks with the stellar surface, the resultant turbulence generates Alfvén waves. Thus, in a first approximation, we consider that the waves are generated only at the surface of the star. However, taking into account the results showed in Figure 5a, we note that the waves are dissipated locally. Therefore, unless thermal conduction is large, Alfvén waves cannot be considered an efficient heating mechanism for the tube, in this scenario. In order to determine whether the damping of Alfvén waves might be responsible for the increase of the temperature in the tube in this model, we estimate the thermal conductivity near the star.

For an incompressible fluid (with $`\rho `$ constant), the change in temperature with time is given by the thermal conduction equation,

$$\frac{T}{t}=𝐯T+\frac{\kappa }{\rho c_v}^2T\frac{1}{c_v}(\rho ,T),$$
(24)
where $`\kappa `$ is the thermal conductivity coefficient, $`c_v`$ is the specific heat at constant volume, and $`(\rho ,T)=\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the energy loss rate. Here, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ represents the energy gains and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the energy losses. In this work, we assume that $``$ is approximately zero. Thus, the energy gains are balanced by energy losses (Shu, 1992).

In order to estimate the relative importance of thermal conduction in magnetic flux tubes, we divide the first term by the second term on the right hand side of equation (24). This gives

$$\frac{|𝐯T|}{\frac{\kappa }{\rho c_v}^2T}\left(\frac{\rho c_v}{\kappa }\right)v\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{L}.$$
(25)
The specific heat at constant volume for a non relativistic, non degenerate, monoatomic ideal gas is

$$\frac{c_v}{}=\frac{3k}{2m},$$
(26)
where $``$ is the molecular weight and $`k`$ is Boltzmann’s constant. ¿From Spitzer (1962), the thermal conductivity coefficient is

$$\kappa 2\times 10^4\frac{T^{5/2}}{Z^4\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }},$$
(27)
where $`Z`$ is the particle charge and $`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the Coulomb logarithm.

Substituting equations (26) and (27) in equation (25), we obtain

$$\frac{|𝐯T|}{\frac{\kappa }{\rho c_v}^2T}\frac{3nk\times 10^4}{4}\frac{v\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{L}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }}{T^{5/2}}.$$
(28)
The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ parameter is given by

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }1.3\times 10^4\frac{T^{3/2}}{n_e^{1/2}},$$
(29)
where $`n_e`$ is the electron density. We assume free-fall velocities on the order of 300 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, densities and electron densities of about $`10^{12}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`5\times 10^{11}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, respectively, and temperatures around 8000 K (Muzerrole et al., 1998). The length of the tube is approximately $`10^{12}`$ cm. Using these values in equation (28), we obtain

$$\frac{|𝐯T|}{\frac{\kappa }{\rho c_v}^2T}5\times 10^{10}.$$
(30)
Therefore, the term related to thermal conductivity, $`(\kappa /\rho c_v)^2T`$, is very small, compared to the term $`|𝐯T|`$. We thus conclude that temperature gradients are maintained in the tube because thermal conduction is not efficient. Estimating the time scale related to this process, we obtain

$$t_{therm}\frac{\rho c_v}{\kappa }(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{L})^25.5\times 10^7\mathrm{years}.$$
(31)
This time scale is very long, compared to the free fall time scale ($`t_{ff}9`$ hr). We conclude, therefore, that thermal conduction is not important for the region near the star and, consequently, Alfvén waves generated near the shock region cannot contribute to an increase in temperature of the whole tube.

### 4.2 Generation of Alfvén waves in the tube

Jafelice et al. (1990, and references therein) proposed that the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability produced in an extragalactic jet by the shear in the plasma flow with respect to the ambient medium can generate MHD waves. They suggested that these waves, once damped, can give rise to currents capable of generating magnetic fields. In the case of the magnetic funnels of T Tauri stars, there is also a shear between the gas falling onto the star and the external medium. This flow, however, is sub-Alfvénic and, therefore, the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz modes is not expected. In fact, Hardee et al. (1992) performed an analytical and numerical analysis of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in magnetized jets and show that the fundamental mode is completely stabilized if the magnetic Mach number \[$`M_{ms}=v_{tube}/\sqrt{c_s^2+v_A^2}`$\] is less than unity.

However, they also find that for some magnetosonic mach numbers the reflection mode is excited. There are two ranges shown in their Figure 1 where this can happen: $`0.4M_{ms}0.45`$ and $`M_{ms}0.9`$. In Figure 6, we plot magnetosonic Mach numbers obtained for the parameters of the tube. We see that two regions can support reflection modes of the K-H instability: one, near the star, extends from $`0.705R_{}`$ to $`0.780R_{}`$. The other region, near the disk, extends from $`1.58R_{}`$ to $`1.90R_{}`$, where $`M_{ms}0.9`$. Thus, we see that Alfvén waves can be generated in two regions in the tube.

We can also generate turbulence if the accretion is variable. In this case, there will be shocks inside the tube, which can perturb the environment. Indications for variable accretion have come from different sources, for example, the internal knots observed in protostellar jets (for a recent review of both theory and observations of Herbig-Haro jets, see Reipurth & Raga, 1999). Sano & Miyama (1999) made numerical simulations of weakly ionized, magnetized accretion disks and found that a magnetorotational instability (for a review, see Balbus & Hawley, 1998) acts beyond 15 AU. The infalling matter accumulates in the region $`15`$ AU and a gravitational instability may be important in transporting the flow to smaller radii. Even if a larger region of the disk may be made susceptible to the action of the magnetorotational instability due to ionization by cosmic rays (Gammie, 1996) or X-rays from the central star (Igea & Glassgold, 1999) or by the damping of Alfvén waves (Paper I), it is likely that there is some region where the magnetorotational instability cannot occur (Gammie, 1996) and a gravitational instability probably occurs allowing accretion to smaller radii.

There is no consensus about the position of the truncation radius, $`R_{trun}`$, (Hartmann, 1998). The interaction of the star’s magnetic field with the accretion disk can be highly dynamic, so that, changes in the position of $`R_{trun}`$ can occur (Safier, 1998). This would give rise to variable accretion. Johns & Basri (1995), analyzing the line profile variability of SU Aurigae, argue that variation of the red absorption feature in H$`\beta `$ is evidence for unsteady accretion.

The possibility of a turbulent component in accretion tubes has been proposed by a number of people. Basri (1990) suggested that wings of Balmer lines are formed in a turbulent region near the star. Edwards et al. (1994) suggested that Alfvén waves could be the source for such a turbulence and Johns & Basri (1995) reproduced some symmetric Balmer lines profiles by adding turbulent velocity components at the base of an expanding wind.

Taking all this evidence into account, we suggest that Alfvén waves are generated in the tube. In this paper we do not address the problem related to the excitation of the Alfvén waves generated in a turbulent medium. Instead, we use results from previous theoretical, solar wind and laboratory findings.

A magnetized, perturbed environment excites MHD modes, in particular, the Alfvenic mode. For example, laboratory plasma experiments (Burke, Maggs, & Morales, 1998) show excitation of Alfvén modes with frequencies around 0.1$`\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$ is the ion-cyclotron frequency. The frequency spectrum is seen to obey a Kolmogorov distribution. A frequency spectrum of Alfvén waves generated by turbulence could be a Kolmogorov one. Moreover, radio-wave scintillation observations of the ionized interstellar medium show a density fluctuation spectrum that approximately obeys a Kolmogorov distribution (Armstrong, Rickett & Spangler, 1995; Lithwick & Goldreich, 2001), i.e. the fluctuations are approximately proportional to $`\lambda ^{1/3}`$, where lambda is the size of the density fluctuation. Recent theories and simulations on MHD turbulence confirm the Kolmogorov spectrum for Alfvén waves (Goldreich & Sridhar, 1995, 1997; Lithwick & Goldreich, 2001; Maron & Goldreich, 2001). Lithwick & Goldreich (2001) extended the work of Goldreich & Sridhar (1995, 1997) which treated incompressible MHD turbulence, to include the effects of compressibility and particle transport. They calculated small-scale density spectra in turbulent interstellar plasmas. They also considered compressible turbulence in plasmas with $`\beta `$ less than unity that match those found in the magnetic tubes of T Tauri stars. They argued that the dynamics of the cascade is roughly independent of $`\beta `$. In the above mentioned papers, it was assumed that MHD wave-packets propagate at the Alfvén speed, in a direction either parallel or antiparallel with respect to the local mean magnetic field and that the nonlinear interactions are restricted to collisions between oppositely directed wave-packets. Maron & Goldreich (2001) made simulations of the interaction between oppositely directed Alfvén waves.

In our previous paper (Paper I), instead of a wave spectrum, we assumed a mean frequency, $`\varpi =Fw_i`$, while in this paper, we treat different frequency values. The wave frequency obtained from laboratory experiments (e.g., Burke et al., 1998), $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{sup}0.1\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$, could be taken as the upper limit for the wave spectrum. On the other hand, Scheurwater & Kuijpers (1988) showed that Alfvén wave frequencies can be greater than $`10^5\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$. We, therefore, study the frequency interval $`10^5\mathrm{\Omega }_i\mathrm{\Omega }0.1\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$. Assuming this frequency spectrum, we calculate the damping lengths and corresponding $`f=\delta v^2^{1/2}/v_A`$ parameter for all the damping mechanisms treated in section 3. Thus, hereafter, $`f`$ is not a free parameter anymore. We assume that the energy released by the damping of the Alfvén waves in a given volume is radiated away. Thus, we have

$$_VH_{nl,T}𝑑V=\tau \sigma T^4A,$$
(32)
where $`T`$ is given by Figure 2, $`\tau `$ is the optical depth, $`\sigma `$ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, and $`A`$, the area. For a given $`\tau `$ and temperature profile, we know the amount of energy that is radiated away. This must be equal to the energy dissipated by the Alfvén waves, which is determined by $`f`$ and the damping mechanism used.

Figure 7 shows the results of our calculations, which were made for three different values of the optical depth $`\tau `$ and for $`10^5F0.1`$. Since the star is not strongly obscured by the tube, it is likely that the mean optical depth is less than 1. Taking into account the values of the adiabatic heating (Martin, 1996) and calculating the associated optical depth, we obtain $`\tau 10^3`$. However, for the sake of completeness, we made the calculations for $`\tau =10^2`$ and $`\tau =1`$ as well. Figure 7 shows the damping lengths divided by the length of the tube, calculated according to equation (32), for the nonlinear and turbulent damping mechanisms mentioned above.

The left column of Figure 7 shows the nonlinear damping lengths. We note that even for $`\tau =10^3`$ with the lowest frequency $`(F=10^5)`$, the damping length is less than the tube length. This implies, as seen in section 4.1, that the nonlinear damped waves cannot heat the whole tube if they are formed only at the surface of the star. The same conclusion applies to turbulent damping (right column of Figure 7). According to equations (6) and (32), the dependency of the nonlinear damping length on the optical depth is $`L_{nl}\tau ^{1/2}`$, the same as for frequency, $`L_{nl}F^{1/2}`$. For the turbulent damping, there is no dependency on frequency, whereas $`L_{tur}\tau ^{1/3}`$ (equations 7 and 32).

Figure 8 shows the damping lengths for the collisional and viscous-resistive damping, divided by the tube length. The collisional damping lengths are plotted in the left column and, in the right column, we plot the results for the viscous-resistive mechanism. As noted for the nonlinear and turbulent cases, damping lengths for the collisional mechanism are smaller than the tube length, for all frequencies considered. Thus, waves formed at the surface of the star undergoing collisional damping cannot heat the whole tube. The only mechanism that might be able to heat the tube entirely is viscous-resistive damping. If the wave frequency is lower than $`10^4\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$, the viscous-resistive damping length is comparable to the tube length, regardless of the optical depth. We note that for collisional damping, the variation of the damping length with frequency is very large, with $`L_{coll}`$ ranging from $`10^{14}`$ for $`F=0.1`$ to $`10^6`$, for $`F=10^5`$, near the star, although variations with optical depth are almost negligible. In this case, a slight variation in frequency causes a large variation in the damping length. However, it is necessary to have frequencies well bellow $`10^5\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$ in order that the damping length be comparable to the length of the tube.

For viscous-resistive mechanism, the damping length also varies greatly with frequency (about 7 orders of magnitude near the star) and again the dependency with optical depth is weak. For waves with frequencies less than $`10^4\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$, the damping length is approximately equal the length of the tube.

Thus, we note a great variation of damping lengths with wave frequency for all mechanisms, except for the case of turbulent damping. In general, the lower the frequency, the larger the damping lengths.

Figure 9 shows the $`f`$ parameter for nonlinear (left column) and turbulent damping (right column) mechanisms. In Figure 10, the calculations are for collisional (left column) and viscous-resistive damping (right column). The same analysis previously made for the damping lengths also applies here. In general, in order to fit the observations, a higher degree of turbulence is necessary if the gas is optically thick, even for the collisional and viscous-resistive mechanisms, although for the nonlinear and turbulent damping the dependency with optical depth is stronger. Again, the value of $`f`$ varies greatly with frequency.

We can also analyze the values of the root mean square velocity, $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ which, according to equation (19) can be given in terms of the parameter $`f`$ and the Alfvén speed. The results are shown in Figures 11 and 12, where the rms velocity is given in kilometers per second.

The left column of Figure 11 shows $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ for the nonlinear case, for three different optical depths. The value of $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ for the turbulent damping is shown in the right column of Figure 11. In Figure 12 we plot the rms velocity for the collisional and viscous-resistive mechanisms in the left and in the right columns, respectively. We find that the greater the optical depth, the greater the rms velocity, which increases with decreasing wave frequency. For the nonlinear and collisional mechanisms, the rms velocity can be as great as 60 km s-1 for an optically thick medium and a very low wave frequency ($`F=10^5`$). The $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ is smallest for the case of the viscous-resistive mechanism.

## 5 Conclusions

In this work, we evaluated the role of damped Alfvén waves in the heating of the tubes in magnetospheric accretion models. We analyzed four damping mechanisms: 1) nonlinear; 2) turbulent; 3) viscous-resistive; and 4) collisional.

Using the values f = 0.004 and F = 0.1, all the damping lengths are found to be small compared with the length of the tube. Since our calculations show that the thermal conductivity of the gas is very small, these high-frequency waves, if generated only at the surface of the star, cannot heat the whole tube.

Extending the frequency range of the Alfvén waves from F = 0.1 to $`10^5`$, we found that the damping lengths varied strongly with frequency, spanning eight orders of magnitude for collisional damping. The parameter $`f`$ was eliminated, imposing the constraint that the Alfvenic heating was converted into radiation in different optical media. The damping lengths were found to be much smaller than the tube length, except when the lowest frequency waves had viscous-resistive damping. In this case, the damping length was greater than the tube. If this were the dominant mechanism, Alfvén waves generated at the surface of the star could heat the whole tube. For the other cases, waves produced locally are required to explain the observations. The degree of turbulence $`\delta v^2^{1/2}`$ necessary to heat the tube was constrained, taking into account the optical depth of the gas. The larger the optical depth, the greater the degree of turbulence required. We found that the turbulent velocity of the Alfvén waves can reach 100 km s-1, for very low frequency waves ($`F=10^5`$) undergoing collisional damping.

The authors thank an anonymous referee for useful suggestions. MJV would like to thank Adriano H. Cerqueira, Silvia H. P. Alencar and Bruno V. Castilho for very useful discussions and suggestions. MJV also thanks the Brazilian agency FAPESP (Proc. No. 96/00677-3) and PROPP/UESC for finantial support. VJP and RO thank the federal Brazilian agency CNPq for partial support. The authors would also like to thank the project PRONEX (41.96.0908.00) for partial support.