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# Flavor Physics and Fine-Tuning in Theory Space

## 1 Introduction

Recently a new class  of composite Higgs models  has been developed which give rise to naturally light Higgs bosons without supersymmetry. Inspired by discretized versions of higher-dimensional gauge theory , these models are based on the chiral symmetries of “theory space” . The models involve replicated gauge groups and corresponding gauge symmetry breaking patterns. They allow the scale ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) of the underlying strong dynamics giving rise to the composite particles to be as large as 10 TeV, without causing large corrections to the Higgs boson mass(es) of order 100 GeV.

Various possibilities exist for the underlying physics (the “high-energy completion”) which gives rise to the chiral-symmetry breaking pattern required, and produces the “pion” which becomes the composite Higgs. However, regardless of the precise nature of the underlying strongly-interacting physics, there must be flavor dynamics at a scale of order $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ or greater that gives rise to the different Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson to ordinary fermions. As in extended technicolor theories , if this flavor dynamics arises from gauge-interactions it will generically cause flavor-changing neutral currents .

In this note we review and update the lower bound on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ arising from the experimental constraints on extra contributions to the neutral meson mass differences . We find that in composite Higgs models the size of flavor-violating interactions arising from the high-energy theory constrain the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to be greater than of order 75 TeV. We then consider the “theory space” models, argue why this flavor bound applies to such models, and review the upper limit on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ of order 10 TeV necessary to avoid fine-tuning . Raising the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to 75 TeV to be consistent with the flavor bounds mentioned above, then, necessitates fine tuning of order 2%. We compare these bounds to those arising from limits on the amount of CP violation and isospin violation in the composite Higgs theory.

The implication of our findings is that the low-energy structure of the composite Higgs model alone is not sufficient to eliminate potential problems with flavor-changing neutral current or excessive CP violation; solving those problems requires additional information or assumptions about the symmetries of the underlying strong dynamics111See also , which emphasizes that the properties of the underlying strong-dynamics may affect the details of the low-energy phenomenology..

## 2 Flavor and Composite Higgs Bosons222This section reviews and updates material from .

We begin by considering what the observed masses of the ordinary fermions imply about the underlying flavor physics. Providing the different masses of the fermions requires flavor physics (analogous to extended-technicolor interactions (ETC) ) which couples the left-handed quark doublets $`\psi _L`$ and right-handed singlets $`q_R`$ to the strongly-interacting constituents of the composite Higgs doublet. At low energies, these interactions produce the quark Yukawa couplings.

To estimate the sizes of various effects of the underlying physics, we rely on dimensional analysis . As noted by Georgi , a theory with light scalar particles belonging to a single symmetry-group representation depends on two parameters: $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the scale of the underlying physics, and $`f`$ (the analog of $`f_\pi `$ in QCD), which measures the amplitude for producing the scalar particles from the vacuum. Our estimates of the sizes of the low-energy effects of the underlying physics will depend on the ratio $`\kappa \mathrm{\Lambda }/f`$, which determines the sizes of coupling constants in the low-energy theory. Naive dimensional analysis corresponds to $`\kappa =4\pi `$ .

Assuming that these new flavor interactions are gauge interactions with gauge coupling $`g`$ and gauge boson mass $`M`$, dimensional analysis  allows us to estimate that the size of the resulting Yukawa coupling is  of order $`(g^2/M^2)(\mathrm{\Lambda }^2/\kappa )`$, i.e.

$$\frac{g^2}{M^2}\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\kappa }\overline{q}_R\varphi \psi _L.$$
(1)
In order to give rise to a quark mass $`m_q`$, the Yukawa coupling must be equal to

$$\frac{\sqrt{2}m_q}{v}$$
(2)
where $`v246`$ GeV. This implies

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{M}{g}\sqrt{\sqrt{2}\kappa \frac{m_q}{v}}.$$
(3)
Thus, if we set a lower limit on $`M/g`$ from low-energy flavor physics, eqn.(3) will give a lower bound on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

The high-energy flavor physics responsible for the generation of the Yukawa couplings must distinguish between different flavors so as to give rise to the different masses of the corresponding fermions. In addition, the flavor physics will give rise to flavor-specific couplings among ordinary fermions . These will generically give rise to flavor-changing neutral currents (as previously noted in  for the case of ETC theories) that affect Kaon, $`D`$-meson, and $`B`$-meson physics.

Consider the interactions responsible for the $`c`$-quark mass. Through Cabibbo mixing, these interactions must couple to the $`u`$-quark as well. Neglecting mixing with the top-quark, this will generally give rise to the interactions

$`_{eff}`$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{cos}\theta _L^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _L^c)^2{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{M^2}}(\overline{c}_L\gamma ^\mu u_L)(\overline{c}_L\gamma _\mu u_L)`$ (4)
$`(\mathrm{cos}\theta _R^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _R^c)^2{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{M^2}}(\overline{c}_R\gamma ^\mu u_R)(\overline{c}_R\gamma _\mu u_R)`$
$`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\mathrm{cos}\theta _L^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _L^c\mathrm{cos}\theta _R^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _R^c{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{M^2}}(\overline{c}_L\gamma ^\mu u_L)(\overline{c}_R\gamma _\mu u_R),`$
where the coupling $`g`$ and mass $`M`$ are of the same order as those in the interactions which ultimately give rise to the $`c`$-quark Yukawa coupling in eqn. (1), and the angles $`\theta _L^c`$ and $`\theta _R^c`$ represent the relation between the gauge eigenstates and the mass eigenstates. The operators in eqn. (4) will clearly affect neutral D-meson physics. Similarly, the interactions responsible for other quarks’ masses will give rise to operators that contribute to mixing and decays of the corresponding mesons.

The color-singlet products of currents in eqn. (4) will contribute directly to $`D`$-meson mixing. In the vacuum-insertion approximation, the purely left-handed or right-handed current-current operators yield

$$\left(\frac{M}{g}\right)_{\mathrm{LL},\mathrm{RR}}\stackrel{>}{}f_D\left(\frac{2m_DB_D}{3\mathrm{\Delta }m_D}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{L,R}^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _{L,R}^c225\mathrm{TeV},$$
(5)
where we have used the limit on the neutral $`D`$-meson mass difference, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_D\stackrel{<}{}4.6\times 10^{11}`$ MeV , and $`f_D\sqrt{B_D}=0.2`$ GeV , $`\theta _{L,R}^c\theta _C`$. The bound on the scale of the underlying strongly-interacting dynamics follows from eqn. (3):

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}21\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\kappa \left(\frac{m_c}{1.5\mathrm{GeV}}\right)},$$
(6)
so that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}75`$ TeV for $`\kappa 4\pi `$.

The $`\mathrm{\Delta }C=2`$, LR product of color-singlet currents gives a weaker bound than eqn. (6), but the LR product of color-octet currents,

$$_{eff}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\mathrm{cos}\theta _L^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _L^c\mathrm{cos}\theta _R^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _R^c\frac{g^2}{M^2}(\overline{c}_L\gamma ^\mu T^au_L)(\overline{c}_R\gamma _\mu T^au_R),$$
(7)
where $`T^a`$ are the generators of $`SU(3)_C`$, gives a stronger bound:

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{g}}\right)_{\mathrm{LR}}`$ $`\stackrel{>}{}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4f_D}{3(m_c+m_u)}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_D^3B_D^{}}{\mathrm{\Delta }m_D}}\right)^{1/2}(2\mathrm{cos}\theta _L^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _L^c\mathrm{cos}\theta _R^c\mathrm{sin}\theta _R^c)^{1/2}`$ (8)
$``$ $`590\mathrm{TeV}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1.5\mathrm{GeV}}{m_c}}\right),`$ (9)
corresponding to

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}53\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\kappa \left(\frac{1.5\mathrm{GeV}}{m_c}\right)}.$$
(10)
There are also contributions to $`K`$-meson mixing from the color-singlet and color-octet products of currents analogous to those in eqns. (4) and (7). The lower bound on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ derived from the measured value of the $`K_LK_S`$ mass difference

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}6.8\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\kappa \left(\frac{m_s}{200\mathrm{MeV}}\right)}.$$
(11)
is weaker than (6) because the $`s`$-quark is lighter than the $`c`$-quark, while the $`ds`$ and $`uc`$ mixings are expected to be of comparable size . However, in the absence of additional superweak interactions to give rise to CP-violation in $`K`$-mixing ($`\epsilon `$), the flavor interactions responsible for the $`s`$-quark Yukawa couplings must violate CP at some level. In this case the the bounds on the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ are much stronger. Recalling that

$$\mathrm{Re}\epsilon \frac{\mathrm{ImM}_{12}}{2\mathrm{\Delta }M}\stackrel{<}{}1.65\times \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^3,$$
(12)
and assuming that there are phases of order 1 in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=2`$ operators analogous to those shown in eqn. (4), we find the bound

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}120\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\kappa \left(\frac{m_s}{200\mathrm{MeV}}\right)}.$$
(13)
## 3 Composite Higgs Bosons from Theory Space

A set of “theory space” composite Higgs models  is illustrated in Figure 1, using “moose” or “quiver” notation . In this diagram, each site except $`(1,1)`$ represents a gauged $`SU(3)`$ group, while the links represent non-linear sigma fields transforming as $`(3,\overline{3})`$’s under the adjacent groups:

$$U_{ij}W_{ij}U_{ij}W_{ij+1}^{},V_{ij}W_{ij}V_{ij}W_{i+1j}^{}.$$
(14)
The “toroidal” geometry of theory space implies that the indices $`i,j`$ are periodic mod $`N`$. At the site $`(1,1)`$, only the $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ subgroup of an $`SU(3)`$ global symmetry is gauged. The kinetic energy terms in the Lagrangian then read

$$_{kin}=\underset{ij}{}\frac{1}{2g_{ij}^2}\mathrm{Tr}F_{ij}^2+\frac{f^2}{4}\underset{ij}{}\mathrm{Tr}|D^\mu U_{ij}|^2+\frac{f^2}{4}\underset{ij}{}\mathrm{Tr}|D^\mu V_{ij}|^2,$$
(15)
where $`g_{ij}`$ are the gauge couplings and $`f`$ is the “pion-decay constant” of the chiral symmetry breaking dynamics. For simplicity, in what follows we will assume that the gauge couplings $`g_{ij}=g`$ are the same for every site except for $`(1,1)`$. The rules of naive dimensional analysis  then imply that the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ of the underlying high-energy dynamics which gives rise to this theory is bounded by of order $`4\pi f`$.

The $`2N^2`$ Goldstone bosons of the chiral symmetry breaking dynamics are incorporated into the sigma-model fields

$$U_{ij}=\mathrm{exp}2i\pi _{u,ij}/f,V_{ij}=\mathrm{exp}2i\pi _{v,ij}/f.$$
(16)
The gauge symmetry breaking pattern implied is $`SU(3)^{N^21}\times SU(2)\times U(1)SU(2)\times U(1)`$, resulting in $`N^21`$ sets of “eaten” Goldstone bosons. The remaining $`N^2+1`$ sets of Goldstone bosons in the physical spectrum interact via the gauge interactions, which explicitly violate the chiral symmetries. However, because of the “topology” of theory space, the lowest-order interaction in the effective theory which breaks the chiral-symmetries in the same way as the gauge interactions only occurs at high order . Therefore, the leading contribution to the masses of these remaining scalars from the low-energy gauge interactions is finite, and arises at $`𝒪(g^4)`$ from the Coleman-Weinberg potential  .

An important ingredient in these models is a set of nonderivative chiral-symmetry breaking operators of the form of “plaquette” interactions444Because of the reduced symmetry at site $`(1,1)`$, additional operators are present there which play an important role in the detailed phenomenology of the composite scalar particles.

$$_{pl}=\lambda f^4\underset{ij}{}\mathrm{Tr}\left(U_{ij}V_{ij+1}U_{i+1j}^{}V_{ij}^{}\right)+h.c.,$$
(17)
where (again, for simplicity) we have assumed that the dimensionless coupling constants $`\lambda `$ are the same for every plaquette. Expanding these operators in terms of the Goldstone bosons fields, we find

$$_{pl}=4\lambda f^2\underset{ij}{}\mathrm{Tr}(\pi _{u,ij}+\pi _{v,ij+1}\pi _{u,i+1j}\pi _{v,ij})^2+𝒪(\pi ^4)+\mathrm{}$$
(18)
These operators have the extraordinary feature that they give rise to masses to $`N^21`$ of the remaining scalars, but leave massless the two combinations

$$\pi _{u,ij}\frac{U}{N}\pi _{v,ij}\frac{V}{N}$$
(19)
which are uniform in either the “u” or “v” directions. The factors of $`N`$ arise so as to normalize the $`U`$ and $`V`$ fields correctly. Both the $`U`$ and $`V`$ fields contain $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ doublet scalars $`\varphi _u`$ and $`\varphi _v`$ with the quantum numbers of the Higgs boson. The theory gives rise to two light (so far in this discussion, massless) composite Higgs bosons with nonderivative interaction of the form

$$_{pl}\frac{4\lambda }{N^2}\mathrm{Tr}(\varphi _u\varphi _u^{}\varphi _v\varphi _v^{})^2+\frac{4\lambda }{N^2}(\varphi _u^{}\varphi _u\varphi _v^{}\varphi _v)^2.$$
(20)
Additionally, a negative mass-squared for one or both Higgs bosons may be introduced either through a symmetry-breaking plaquette operator at the site $`(1,1)`$  or through the effect of coupling the Higgs bosons to the top-quark . In either case, the resulting mass-squared of the Higgs is of order

$$|m_h|^2\frac{\lambda v^2}{N^2}.$$
(21)
The left- and right-handed quarks and leptons transform under the $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ gauge interactions at the site $`(1,1)`$ . For the light fermions, Yukawa couplings between the fermions and the composite Higgs bosons are introduced. Such interactions violate the chiral symmetries protecting the Higgs bosons masses, but the size of the resulting corrections is small since $`m_qv`$. This choice preserves a $`(U(2))^5`$ flavor symmetry, broken only by the Yukawa couplings to the composite Higgs, suppressing flavor-changing neutral currents from the $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ and $`SU(3)^{N^21}`$ gauge bosons. Because the light quarks obtain mass from Yukawa couplings to the composite scalars, the bounds on the compositeness scale derived in Section 2 apply to this model. As noted above, however, the light Higgs boson is “delocalized” in theory space, eqn. (19), and therefore has only an amplitude of order $`1/N`$ of being at site $`(1,1)`$. Consequently, we would say that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ must satisfy

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}21\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\kappa N\left(\frac{m_c}{1.5\mathrm{GeV}}\right)},$$
(22)
and be at least of order $`\sqrt{N}75`$ TeV for $`\kappa =4\pi `$.

The top-quark presents a more difficult problem. In this case, no direct Yukawa coupling is introduced . Instead, the top-quark is “spread out” in theory space: a family of massive $`SU(3)`$ vector fermions on the sites $`(1,n_v)`$ and $`(n_u,1)`$ is added (here $`1n_{u,v}N`$), along with local interactions between the the vector fermions at adjacent sites and the gauge-eigenstate top-quark (which has $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ gauge interactions at site $`(1,1)`$) . Upon diagonalizing the resulting mass matrix, the expected order-one Yukawa coupling, $`y_t`$, of the Higgs to the top-quark is generated so long as the nearest neighbor couplings are of order one and the lightest vector-fermion mass $`m`$ satisfies $`m/fy_t`$.

One might imagine that the bounds of Section 2 could be evaded in a different class of models in which the light fermions are also spread out in theory space, perhaps with “families” of $`SU(3)`$ vector fermions. Even in this case, however, the crucial flavor-violating couplings are still Yukawa couplings between an ordinary fermion at the site $`(1,1)`$ and the appropriate component of a vector fermion at an adjacent site. The bounds described in Section 2 apply to these couplings and constrain the corresponding models.

## 4 Flavor and Fine-Tuning in Theory Space

In order to understand the implications of the lower bound from flavor physics, we will examine an upper bound imposed by the wish to avoid fine-tuning in the Higgs boson masses. As noted before, the chiral symmetries of theory space imply that the leading contributions to the Higgs boson masses are finite contributions arising from the Coleman-Weinberg potential. The rules of power-counting are easily modified in this case  in order to estimate the size of these finite contributions to parameters in the low-energy theory. In particular, the size of these contribution is the same as that in a standard scalar Higgs model with a cutoff equal to the mass of the lowest appropriate resonance.

For example, gauge boson loop corrections to the Higgs boson masses are of order

$$\delta m_H^2\frac{e^2}{16\pi ^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W}\left(\frac{gf}{N}\right)^2\left(\frac{\alpha }{4\pi \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W}\right)^2\mathrm{\Lambda }^2,$$
(23)
where the mass of the first vector resonance (of order $`gf/N`$) plays the role of the cutoff of the low-energy theory, and we have assumed that $`g=𝒪(Ne/\mathrm{sin}\theta _W)`$ in order to yield the appropriate low-energy weak coupling constant. Here, and in the rest of this paper, we take $`\mathrm{\Lambda }4\pi f`$ which corresponds to $`\kappa =4\pi `$ above. The size of these finite corrections to the Higgs boson mass must be compared to the desired low-energy mass-squared given in eqn. (21). To avoid fine-tuning, we require that

$$\left|\frac{\delta m_H^2}{m_H^2}\right|\stackrel{<}{}1,$$
(24)
which yields

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{<}{}\left(\frac{4\pi \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W}{\alpha }\right)\frac{\sqrt{\lambda }v}{N}\frac{108\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\lambda }}{N}.$$
(25)
If gauge-boson loop corrections were the only issue, the cutoff could be taken to be of order 100 TeV without any fine-tuning.

However, the most important corrections to the Higgs boson masses arise from the interactions added to give rise to the top-quark mass. The fermion loop Coleman-Weinberg contribution to the Higgs mass-squared is of order

$$|\delta m_H^2|\frac{N_cy_t^2m^2}{16\pi ^2}\frac{N_cy_t^4}{(16\pi ^2)^2}\mathrm{\Lambda }^2,$$
(26)
where $`N_c=3`$ accounts for color. In this case, the absence of fine-tuning ($`\delta m_H^2/m_H^2\stackrel{<}{}1`$) implies

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{<}{}\frac{16\pi ^2\sqrt{\lambda }v}{\sqrt{N_c}y_t^2N}\frac{22\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\lambda }}{N}.$$
(27)
Comparing eqns. (27) and (22) we see that for $`N=2`$ fine-tuning on the order of 1% is required if the bound from $`\mathrm{\Delta }C=2`$ mixing is to be satisfied. If the bound from CP violation (13) must also be satisfied, the fine-tuning required is of order .04% .

## 5 Isospin Violation

A crucial issue in all composite Higgs models is the size of weak-isospin violation . Recall that the standard one-doublet Higgs model has an accidental custodial isospin symmetry , which naturally implies that the weak-interaction $`\rho `$-parameter is approximately one. While all $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ invariant operators made of a single scalar-doublet field that have dimension less than or equal to four automatically respect custodial symmetry, terms of higher dimension that arise from the underlying physics at scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in general will not. Furthermore, the interaction given in eqn. (20) does not respect custodial symmetry. However, the effect of these interactions is to introduce custodial violation in the spectrum of Higgs boson masses and therefore only affects the weak interaction $`\rho `$ parameter at one-loop.

The embedding of $`SU(2)\times U(1)`$ in a global $`SU(3)`$ interaction is identical to the symmetry structure of the “Banks model”, which is known to give rise to isospin violation . This violation is most directly understood by expanding the kinetic energy terms in eqn. (15) to fourth-order in the pion fields. Keeping only the terms involving $`\varphi _u`$ and $`\varphi _v`$, we find the isospin violating interactions

$$_{kin}\frac{1}{6Nf^2}\left[(_\mu \varphi _u^{}\varphi _u)^2(_\mu \varphi _u^{}\varphi _u)(\varphi _u^{}^\mu \varphi _u)+(\varphi _u^{}^\mu \varphi _u)^2\right]+uv.$$
(28)
Writing the vevs of the Higgs fields as

$$\varphi _u=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ \frac{v\mathrm{cos}\beta }{\sqrt{2}}\end{array}\right)\varphi _v=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ \frac{v\mathrm{sin}\beta }{\sqrt{2}}\end{array}\right),$$
(29)
we find the contribution

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\rho ^{}=\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }T=\frac{v^2}{4N^2f^2}\left(1\frac{\mathrm{sin}^22\beta }{2}\right).$$
(30)
Current limits derived from precision electroweak observables  require that $`\mathrm{\Delta }T\stackrel{<}{}0.5`$ at 95% confidence level for a Higgs mass less than 500 GeV. The bound in eqn. 30 implies that

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }4\pi f\stackrel{>}{}\frac{25\mathrm{TeV}}{N}\left(1\frac{\mathrm{sin}^22\beta }{2}\right)^{1/2}.$$
(31)
Comparing this with eqn.(27), we see that the underlying strong dynamics cannot be at energies much less than 10 TeV, even if the high-energy theory contains approximate flavor and CP symmetries that nullifies the limits of (6) and (13).

## 6 Discussion

In this paper, we have shown that the size of flavor violating interactions arising generically from underlying flavor dynamics in composite Higgs models constrain the compositeness scale to be at least 75 TeV. This bound applies not only to the original composite higgs models , but also to the recently developed “theory space” models . For theory space models based on an $`N\times N`$ toroidal lattice, the lower limit is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{>}{}75\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{N}`$, so that the bound is 105 TeV for $`N=2`$. On the other hand, if fine-tuning of the higgs mass is to be avoided in such models, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{<}{}22\mathrm{TeV}\sqrt{\lambda }/N`$; preventing flavor-changing neutral currents then leads to fine-tuning at the level of $`10/N^3`$%. We have also seen that the lower limit on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ derived from considering weak isospin violation are somewhat weaker than those from FCNC, while those from CP-violation in the neutral Kaon system are potentially much stronger.

It is also interesting to note how one might construct models that are not constrained by the bounds discussed in this paper. In order to produce the appropriate Yukawa couplings without potentially large effects in neutral-meson mixing, the underlying flavor or strong dynamics must incorporate additional structure. First, it may be possible to construct a theory in which the charm mass-eigenstates are eigenstates of the corresponding flavor gauge-interactions. In this case, no $`\mathrm{\Delta }C=2`$ interactions arise at the scale relevant for producing the charm-quark yukawa couplings. Since Cabibbo mixing exists, however, such interactions will necessarily arise at the scale relevant for strange-quark mass generation, yielding the result of eqn. (11). Second, the underlying strong dynamics could potentially be arranged to have a different scaling behavior, analogous to “walking technicolor” . In this case one might have Yukawa couplings of order $`\mathrm{\Lambda }/M`$ rather than the square of that ratio. Or third, the underlying flavor dynamics could incorporate an approximate GIM symmetry . Similarly, if the underlying dynamical theory incorporated an approximate CP symmetry, then the low-energy theory would not necessarily make the dangerously large contributions to $`\epsilon `$ discussed here.

In summary, we have seen that the low-energy structure of the composite Higgs model alone is not sufficient to eliminate potential problems with flavor-changing neutral current or excessive CP violation; solving those problems requires additional information or assumptions about the symmetries of the underlying strong dynamics.

Note Added: After the completion of this manuscript, two minimal composite Higgs models have recently been proposed . As noted by those authors, the constraints discussed in this note are relevant to the new models as well.

Acknowledgments

We thank Andrew Cohen, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Hong-Jian He, Ken Lane, and Martin Schmaltz for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by the Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-91ER40676 and by the National Science Foundation under grant PHY-0074274.


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# Chirality driven anomalous Hall effect in weak coupling regime

## Abstract

Anomalous Hall effect arising from non-trivial spin configuration (chirality) is studied based on the $`s`$-$`d`$ model. Considering a weak coupling case, the interaction is treated perturbatively. Scattering by normal impurities is included. Chirality is shown to drive locally Hall current and leads to overall Hall effect if there is a finite uniform chirality. This contribution is independent of the conventional spin-orbit contribution and shows distinct low temperature behavior. In mesoscopic spin glasses, chirality-induced anomalous Hall effect is expected below the spin-glass transition temperature. Measurement of Hall coefficient would be useful in experimentally confirming the chirality ordering.

Hall effect in ferromagnetic metals has long been known to have anomalous component which does not vanish at zero external magnetic field. Theories have explained this as due to the spontaneous magnetization and spin-orbit interactionKarplus54 ; Smit55 ; Luttinger58 . It was also shown based on the $`s`$-$`d`$ model that the high temperature (close to the critical temperature) behavior of the anomalous Hall effect is understood in terms of the fluctuation of the magnetization coupled with spin-orbit interactionKondo62 ; Maranzana67 .

Recently some manganites were found to exhibit at high temperatures abnormal behaviorSnyder96 ; Asamitsu98  which is not explainable by previous theories. This behavior was explained by Berry phase effect associated with thermally driven non-trivial background spin configuration (chirality)Ye99 ; Chun00 ; Geller01 . Finite chirality results in a finite Berry phase and leads to Hall effect if chirality is non-vanishing as a net. In contrast to manganites, anomalous Hall coefficient in ferromagnetic pyrochlores was found to remain finite at low temperaturesTaguchi99 ; Katsufuji00 . This behavior was discussed to be due to finite chirality of the ground state, which is originating from geometrical frustrationOhgushi00 ; Taguchi01 ; Shindou01 ; Onoda01 . Behavior which is not explained solely by chirality theories was reported recently in some Mo-based pyrochloresYoshii00 ; Yasui01 ; Kageyama01 . These recent theoriesYe99 ; Chun00 ; Ohgushi00 ; Taguchi01 ; Geller01 ; Shindou01 ; Onoda01  have exclusively dealt with a strong Hund-coupling limit, considering a half-metallic nature of the experimental systems. In this limit, the electron spin aligns perfectly to the local spin and feels the same Berry phase as the local spin carries, and Hall conductivity has a topological meaningThouless82 . The weak coupling region, which would be the case of most common transition-metal magnets, has never been explored from the viewpoint of chirality.

In this paper, we study anomalous Hall effect due to chirality based on the $`s`$-$`d`$ model in the weak coupling case. Using Kubo formula and taking account of the impurity scattering, we will demonstrate that the chirality drives local Hall current in the perturbative regime. To compare with experiments, both the chirality mechanism and the conventional one due to the spin-orbit interaction (corresponding to the result by Karplus and LuttingerKarplus54 ; Luttinger58 ) need to be taken account. We will show that the chirality contribution is independent of the conventional one, and they simply add up at lowest approximation. In order for the chirality contribution to Hall effect to be finite, there needs to be a net uniform component of the chirality. The possible effect of the spin-orbit interaction to induce a uniform component of the chirality in the presence of uniform magnetization, originally claimed to be present in the strong Hund-coupling limitYe99 , is examined in our weak-coupling scheme. It turns out that the spin-orbit interaction induces a vector chirality if there is a uniform magnetization, and that this indeed results in a Hall effect in the bulk. This effect, however, would depend much on the band structure.

Our theory is applicable to a wide class of magnetic systems including canonical spin glasses, in which the conduction electron is only weakly coupled to the local spin. In spin glasses, chirality order develops at low temperature leading to the spin-glass transitionKawamura92 . Meanwhile, the chirality order there is spatially random without a uniform component, making the experimental detection of the chirality-driven anomalous Hall effect rather difficult due to the inherent cancellation effect. Even in this case, however, average of the squared chirality remains finite in small (mesoscopic) samplesWeissman93 ; Neuttiens00 , and enhancement of the anomalous Hall coefficient is expected below the spin-glass transition. Thus, measurement of fluctuation of Hall conductivity in mesoscopic samples may be useful in experimental confirmation of the chirality ordering. Depending on the band structure, the chirality-driven Hall effect might be observable even in bulk spin-glass samples if the sample possesses a uniform magnetization, which is induced by applied fields or is generated spontaneously (as in case of reentrant spin glassesMydosh93 ).

We consider electron on lattice whose Hamiltonian is given by

$$H=\underset{𝐤\sigma }{}ϵ_{𝐤\sigma }c_{𝐤\sigma }^{}c_{𝐤\sigma }+H^{}+H_{\mathrm{imp}},$$
(1)
where $`\sigma =\pm `$ denotes electron spin. Electron energy is $`ϵ_{𝐤\sigma }=𝐤^2/2m\sigma \mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_F`$, where $`m`$ is electron mass, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a uniform polarization of conduction electron due to magnetization or external field, and $`ϵ_F`$ is the Fermi energy. The interaction with localized spin $`𝐒_𝐗`$ (treated as classical) is represented by the exchange interaction $`H^{}`$,

$$H^{}=\frac{J}{N}\underset{\mathrm{𝐤𝐤}^{}}{}𝐒_{𝐤^{}𝐤}(c_𝐤^{}^{}𝝈c_𝐤),$$
(2)
where $`\sigma ^\alpha `$ ($`\alpha =x,y,z`$) are Pauli matrices, and $`N`$ is the total number of lattice sites. The sign of the exchange coupling $`J`$ depends on the system we consider; it is positive if the interaction is the $`s`$-$`d`$ exchange as in case of canonical spin glasses, and is negative if it is the Hund-coupling as in case of manganites. Configuration of $`𝐒_𝐗=(1/N)_𝐪e^{i\mathrm{𝐪𝐗}}𝐒_𝐪`$ is fixed. We note that localized spins $`𝐒_𝐗`$ do not necessarily occupy all $`N`$ sites here: An example is a dilute magnetic alloy such as canonical spin glassMydosh93 . $`H^{}`$ is assumed not to contain uniform component $`𝐌𝐒_{q=0}`$, since it is taken into account in $`\mathrm{\Delta }=JM`$ with $`M=|𝐌|`$. The scattering by normal impurities is represented by $`H_{\mathrm{imp}}=(v_{\mathrm{imp}}/N)_i^{n_{\mathrm{imp}}}e^{i(𝐤𝐤^{})X_i}c_𝐤^{}^{}c_𝐤`$, where $`n_{\mathrm{imp}}`$ is the number of nonmagnetic impurities (at sites $`X_i`$) and $`v_{\mathrm{imp}}`$ is a constant.

The electronic current is given by $`𝐉=\frac{e}{m}_{𝐤\sigma }𝐤c_{𝐤^{}\sigma }^{}c_{𝐤\sigma }`$. Based on Kubo formula, the anomalous Hall conductivity is obtained as $`\sigma _{xy}=lim_{\omega 0}\frac{1}{\omega }\mathrm{Im}\left(Q_{xy}(\omega +i0)Q_{xy}(i0)\right)`$ with $`Q_{xy}(i\omega _{\mathrm{}})\frac{1}{\beta V}<J_x(i\omega _{\mathrm{}})J_y(i\omega _{\mathrm{}})>`$, where the bracket $`<>`$ denotes averaging over electrons and impurities, $`\omega _{\mathrm{}}2\pi \mathrm{}/\beta `$ being the Matsubara frequency. We treat $`H^{}`$ perturbatively.

As is obvious, the first and second order contribution vanish since the spatial asymmetry due to current vertices $`J_x`$ and $`J_y`$ in the correlation function cannot be deleted. The first term which can possibly be finite is the third-order term (Fig. 1);

$`\sigma _{xy}^{(3)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi V}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{e}{m}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{J}{N}}\right)^3{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{𝐤𝐤}^{}𝐤^{\prime \prime }}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha \beta \gamma }{}}k_xk_y^{}S_{𝐤^{\prime \prime }𝐤}^\alpha S_{𝐤^{}𝐤^{\prime \prime }}^\beta S_{𝐤𝐤^{}}^\gamma \mathrm{tr}[G_𝐤^R\sigma ^\alpha G_{𝐤^{\prime \prime }}^R\sigma ^\beta G_𝐤^{}^RG_𝐤^{}^A\sigma ^\gamma G_𝐤^A]`$ (3)
$`+\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{c}.,`$
where $`V`$ is the total volume, trace is over spin indices, and $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma `$ runs over $`x,y,z`$. $`G_{𝐤\sigma }^R([\frac{i}{2\tau }ϵ_{𝐤\sigma }]^1)`$ and $`G_{𝐤\sigma }^A(=(G_{𝐤\sigma }^R)^{})`$ are retarded and advanced Green functions in the $`\omega 0`$ limit, respectively, which include lifetime due to impurities, $`\tau 2\pi \nu n_{\mathrm{imp}}v_{\mathrm{imp}}^2`$, $`\nu `$ being the density of states per site. We consider the case where the polarization of conduction electron is small ($`\mathrm{\Delta }0`$). The summation over spin indices in eq. (3) is then carried out as $`\mathrm{tr}[\sigma ^\alpha \sigma ^\beta \sigma ^\gamma ]=2iϵ^{\alpha \beta \gamma }`$, where $`ϵ^{\alpha \beta \gamma }`$ is the totally antisymmetric tensor. By use of the partial derivative, the Hall conductivity reduces to a compact form;

$$\sigma _{xy}^{(3)}=\frac{N}{\pi V}\left(\frac{e}{m}\right)^2(2\pi \nu J)^3\tau ^2\chi _0=(4\pi )^2\sigma _0J^3\nu ^2\tau \chi _0,$$
(4)
where $`\sigma _0`$ is the Boltzmann conductivity, $`\sigma _0\frac{N}{2V}\left(\frac{e}{m}\right)^2\nu k_F^2\tau `$ ($`k_F`$ is the Fermi wavenumber). We see that $`\sigma _{xy}^{(3)}\tau ^2\rho _0^2`$ ($`\rho _0=\sigma _0^1`$ is the resistivity). The uniform chirality $`\chi _0`$ is given by

$`\chi _0`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐗_i}{}}𝐒_{𝐗_1}(𝐒_{𝐗_2}\times 𝐒_{𝐗_3})`$ (5)
$`\times \left[{\displaystyle \frac{(𝐚\times 𝐛)_z}{ab}}I^{}(a)I^{}(b)I(c)+{\displaystyle \frac{(𝐛\times 𝐜)_z}{bc}}I(a)I^{}(b)I^{}(c)+{\displaystyle \frac{(𝐜\times 𝐚)_z}{ca}}I^{}(a)I(b)I^{}(c)\right],`$
where $`𝐗_i`$ runs over all the positions of local spins, while $`𝐚𝐗_1𝐗_2`$, $`𝐛𝐗_2𝐗_3`$ and $`𝐜𝐗_3𝐗_1`$ are the vectors representing sides of the triangle ($`a|𝐚|`$ e.t.c.). $`I(r)\frac{1}{2\pi N\nu \tau }_𝐤e^{i𝐤𝐫}G_𝐤^RG_𝐤^A`$ and $`I^{}(r)=\frac{dI(r)}{dr}`$. It is seen that Hall current is driven by three spins which form a finite solid angle in spin space (i.e., finite local chirality $`\chi _{123}𝐒_{𝐗_1}(𝐒_{𝐗_2}\times 𝐒_{𝐗_3})`$) spanning a finite area in coordinate space (as seen from $`(𝐚\times 𝐛)_z`$ etc.). Note that the factor in the square bracket in the definition of $`\chi _0`$ specifies the coupling between the spin- and the coordinate-space. In the case three spins ($`1,2`$ and $`3`$) align right-handed in spin space ($`\chi _{123}>0`$), $`\chi _{123}`$ contributes positively to $`\chi _0`$ if these three spins are located anti-clockwise in real space, and is negative if they are located clockwise. In the case three spins align left-handed in spin space ($`\chi _{123}<0`$), this assignment is reversed. Noting $`I(r)=\frac{\mathrm{sin}k_Fr}{k_Fr}e^{r/2\mathrm{}}`$, where $`\mathrm{}`$ is elastic mean free path, contribution from largely separated three spins with the scale of $`r`$ decays rapidly as $`e^{3r/2\mathrm{}}/(k_Fr)^3`$, and the Hall effect is dominantly driven by chiralities of spins on small triangles. Note that the large-$`r`$ behavior of the weight function has resemblance to the RKKY interaction. The expression of the uniform chirality derived in our weak coupling scheme, eq. (5), contains contribution from large triangles, and is a natural extension of the conventional (and naive) definition of the chirality in terms of spins on adjacent sites only. Eqs. (4) and (5) are main results of the present paper, which gives a direct relation between the Hall conductivity and the spin configuration.

Conventional theories of anomalous Hall effect is based on the spin-orbit interaction, $`H_{\mathrm{so}}i\lambda _{\mathrm{𝐤𝐤}^{}}(𝐤^{}\times 𝐤)(c_𝐤^{}^{}𝝈c_𝐤)`$, where $`\lambda `$ is the spin-orbit coupling constantKarplus54 ; Smit55 ; Luttinger58 . Thus we have also analyzed the contribution of $`H_{\mathrm{so}}`$ on the same footing as that of $`H^{}`$ performing a double power series expansion. At the lowest (first) order, the contribution of $`H_{\mathrm{so}}`$ is made up of so-called skew scattering and side-jump onesBerger70 , which are calculated as $`\sigma _{xy}^{\mathrm{so}}=\lambda M(A^{}\tau +B)`$Dugaev01 . Here $`A^{}`$ and $`B`$ are constants independent of $`\tau `$, each term corresponding to skew scattering and side-jump processes, respectively. We note that $`A^{}`$ and $`B`$ are positive in the present single band approximation, but their signs actually depend on the band structure in real materials. At the lowest order, spin-orbit ($`\sigma _{xy}^{\mathrm{so}}`$) and chirality (eq. (4)) contributions are independent, and the total Hall conductivity is simply their sum. These can mix as higher order corrections, but we neglect such small contributions. The total Hall resistivity, $`\rho _{xy}=\sigma _{xy}\rho _0^2`$, then behaves as

$$\rho _{xy}\lambda M(A\rho _0+B\rho _0^2)+CJ^3\chi _0,$$
(6)
where $`A=A^{}\rho _0\tau `$ is independent of $`\tau `$, while $`C=\frac{1}{e^2}\frac{2V}{N}(\frac{m}{k_F})^2>0`$ in our single band approximation. The sign of chirality contribution depends on whether the coupling is of the $`s`$-$`d`$ type ($`J>0`$) or of the Hund type ($`J<0`$). It is seen that the three terms in eq. (6) depend differently on the impurity concentration. The chirality contribution is dominant in the clean regime and at low temperatures. It should be noted that the analysis in the strong Hund-coupling case which does not consider impurities yields $`\rho _{xy}\rho _0^2\chi `$Ohgushi00 . These different dependences on $`\rho _0`$, which indicate different behavior as a function of temperature, would be useful in interpreting the experimental results.

The chirality contribution to Hall coefficient is finite only if there is a net uniform chirality, $`\chi _00`$. Finite net chirality, however, may not be very easy to realize on regular lattices with simple nearest-neighbor exchange interaction, since the chirality on adjacent plaquettes usually tends to cancel each other due to symmetryOhgushi00 ; Shindou02 . One possible mechanism to realize a finite net chirality has been proposed in Ref. Ye99 , where it was argued in the strong coupling case that the spin-orbit interaction induced a net chirality in the presence of magnetization as $`\chi _0^{\mathrm{so}}=\alpha \lambda M`$ ($`\alpha `$ is a positive constant). Inspired by this observation, we have examined whether such a mechanism works in the present weak coupling case. To examine the possible coupling between the uniform chirality and the magnetization $`M`$, we look into the expectation value (effective Hamiltonian) of the spin-orbit interaction, $`<H_{\mathrm{so}}>`$, where $`<>`$ denotes the thermal averaging over electrons, treating $`H^{}`$ as perturbation. We identify two types of terms as possible candidates. One is the term linear in $`M`$ for small $`M`$ and comes from the third-order contribution in $`H^{}`$,

$`H_{\mathrm{so}}^{(3)\chi }`$ $`=`$ $`2\lambda \left({\displaystyle \frac{J}{N}}\right)^3{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{𝐱𝐗}_i}{}}𝐒_{𝐗_1}(𝐒_{𝐗_2}\times 𝐒_{𝐗_3})[(𝐗_1𝐱)\times (𝐗_3𝐱)]_z`$ (7)
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta }}{\displaystyle \underset{\omega _n}{}}g_{\omega _n}^{}(|𝐱𝐗_1|)g_{\omega _n}(a)g_{\omega _n}(b)\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n}^{}(|𝐗_3𝐱|),`$
where $`𝐱`$ denotes the site at which the spin-orbit interaction acts ($`a`$ and $`b`$ are defined after eq. (5)), and the uniform magnetization is assumed to be in $`z`$-direction. The thermal Green functions are defined here as $`g_{\omega _n}(r)\frac{1}{2}(G_{\omega _n+}+G_{\omega _n})`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n}(r)(G_{\omega _n+}G_{\omega _n})`$, where $`G_{\omega _n\sigma }(𝐗)=_𝐤e^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐗}}[i(\omega _n+\frac{\mathrm{sgn}(\omega _n)}{2\tau })ϵ_𝐤+\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma ]^1`$, and $`G^{}(r)\frac{dG}{dr}`$. Note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n}`$ is proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and hence to $`M`$, for $`\mathrm{\Delta }/ϵ_F1`$. It is seen that $`H_{\mathrm{so}}^{(3)\chi }`$ apparently describes the coupling between the uniform magnetization and the local chirality, but without referring to the spatial spin configuration. In fact, since the factor of $`((𝐗_1𝐱)\times (𝐗_3𝐱))_z`$ specifies only the angles between the two spins $`S_{𝐗_1}`$ and $`S_{𝐗_3}`$ when looked from the position $`𝐱`$ irrespective of spatial configuration of $`S_{𝐗_2}`$, $`H_{\mathrm{so}}^{(3)\chi }`$ does not contain the component inducing the uniform chirality $`\chi _0`$.

The other term is quadratic in $`M`$ for small $`M`$ and comes from the second-order contribution in $`H^{}`$, which reads as

$`H_{\mathrm{so}}^{(2)\chi }`$ $`=`$ $`2\lambda \left({\displaystyle \frac{J}{N}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{𝐱𝐗}_i}{}}(𝐒_{𝐗_1}\times 𝐒_{𝐗_2})_z{\displaystyle \frac{[(𝐗_1𝐱)\times (𝐗_2𝐱)]_z}{|𝐗_1𝐱||𝐗_2𝐱|}}`$ (8)
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta }}{\displaystyle \underset{\omega _n}{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n}^{}(|𝐗_1𝐱|)g_{\omega _n}(|𝐗_1𝐗_2|)\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n}^{}(|𝐗_2𝐱|).`$
In the presence of uniform magnetization $`M`$, $`z`$-component of the vector chirality, defined by two spins as $`𝑪_{12}(𝐒_{𝐗_1}\times 𝐒_{𝐗_2})`$, plays essentially the same role as the scalar chirality ($`\chi _{123}M𝑪_{12}^z`$). Then, eq. (8) above describes the coupling between the vector chirality and the magnetization via the spin-orbit interaction. After summation over the thermal frequency, the Fourier transform of the electron part becomes

$$\frac{1}{\beta }\underset{\omega _n}{}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n𝐤}g_{\omega _n𝐤^{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\omega _n𝐤^{\prime \prime }}=\frac{1}{8}\underset{\sigma \sigma ^{}\sigma ^{\prime \prime }}{}\frac{\sigma \sigma ^{\prime \prime }}{ϵ_{𝐤\sigma }ϵ_{𝐤^{}\sigma ^{}}}\left[\frac{f_{𝐤\sigma }f_{𝐤^{\prime \prime }\sigma ^{\prime \prime }}}{ϵ_{𝐤\sigma }ϵ_{𝐤^{\prime \prime }\sigma ^{\prime \prime }}}\frac{f_{𝐤^{}\sigma ^{}}f_{𝐤^{\prime \prime }\sigma ^{\prime \prime }}}{ϵ_{𝐤^{}\sigma ^{}}ϵ_{𝐤^{\prime \prime }\sigma ^{\prime \prime }}}\right],$$
(9)
where $`f_{𝐤\sigma }`$ is the Fermi distribution function. If there is a particle-hole symmetry (invariance under $`ϵϵ`$), which is equivalent to assuming that only excitations close to the Fermi level dominates, eq. (9) after summation over $`𝐤`$’s turns out to vanish. This symmetry, however, is not necessarily observed in real material, for instance due to the existence of the bottom of the band, and then, a finite contribution is expected to remain in general. Thus, this term could serve as a “symmetry-breaking field” ($`H_{\mathrm{so}}^{(2)\chi }M^2_{𝐗_i}𝑪_{12}^zM\chi _0`$) inducing a uniform chirality, which results in a Hall effect in the bulk.

Even in the case the chirality does not contain uniform component, $`\chi _0`$ could still be finite if the system size is sufficiently small. Let us consider the case of spin glasses in zero external field, in which the chirality is randomly ordered. The number of triangles which contribute to $`\sigma _{xy}`$ is given roughly as $`N_\chi Nn_\mathrm{m}^3(\mathrm{}/a_0)^4`$ ($`n_\mathrm{m}`$ is the concentration of localized spins, and $`a_0`$ is lattice constant). Hence, the sum of random chirality is $`\chi _0\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}n_\mathrm{m}^{3/2}(\mathrm{}/a_0)^2`$. Although this quantity decays as $`1/\sqrt{N}`$, we expect that detection of Hall effect may be possible by high-sensitivity-measurements on mesoscopic samples. This chirality-driven Hall effect of random sign in mesoscopic spin glasses would be measurableWeissman93 ; Neuttiens00  by looking at the sample-dependent or thermal-cycle-dependent fluctuations, $`\delta \sigma _{xy}\sigma _{xy}[\sigma _{xy}]_s`$ ($`[]_s`$ denotes average over spin configurations), whose squared average is given as $`\sqrt{[(\delta \sigma _{xy})^2]_s}/\sigma _0=(4\pi )^2J^3\nu ^2\tau \sqrt{[\chi ^2]_s}`$, where $`\sqrt{[\chi ^2]_s}\frac{1}{N}\{_{ijk}(\chi _{ijk}F_{ijk})^2\}^{1/2}\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}n_\mathrm{m}^3(\mathrm{}/a_0)^4`$ ($`F_{ijk}`$ represents the spatial weight given in the square bracket in eq. (5)).

In the 70’s, anomalous Hall effect in spin glasses was experimentally investigatedMydosh93 ; McAlister76 . It was found that the Hall resistivity of canonical spin glasses, i.e., dilute magnetic alloys such as AuFe and AgMn, measured in weak applied fields were negative and exhibited a cusp-like anomaly around the spin-glass transition temperature whose behavior was quite similar to that of the magnetic susceptibility, $`\chi _m`$; i.e., $`\rho _{xy}/H\chi _m`$McAlister76 . Although this behavior can be explained by the standard spin-orbit contribution (the first two terms in eq. (6)), it could also be explainable by the contribution of a uniform chirality induced by $`H_{\mathrm{so}}^{(2)\chi }`$ described above. In order to experimentally resolve the spin-orbit contribution of Karplus-Luttinger type from the spin-orbit induced chirality contribution, one might possibly examine the dependence on $`\rho _0`$ (Eq. (6)), or measure the response to external magnetic fields applied in various directions. In this connection, reentrant spin-glass systemsMydosh93 , which exhibit successive phase transitions, first from para to ferro and then from ferro to spin glass at lower temperature, would be of much interest. In the ferromagnetic regime, only the conventional spin-orbit mechanism is expected to work, while in reentrant spin-glass regime, the chirality contribution sets in due to the spin canting giving rise to distinct contribution at lower temperatures.

To summarize, we have demonstrated based on the $`s`$-$`d`$ model in the weak coupling regime that a topologically nontrivial spin configuration (chirality) induces Hall current. The chirality-driven Hall effect as a bulk appears if uniform component of the chirality is finite. This contribution is independent of the conventional contribution from the spin-orbit coupling exhibiting different dependence on resistivity from the spin-orbit contribution and other predictions based on chirality mechanism. If chirality is ordered randomly, as in spin glasses below the spin-glass transition temperature, sample-to-sample or thermal-cycle-dependent fluctuations of Hall conductivity in mesoscopic samples is expected to show an anomalous enhancement. Without a direct method of magnetic detection of the chirality available so far, measurement of (fluctuation of) Hall conductivity would be powerful tool in experimental confirmation of the chirality ordering.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors are grateful to H. Kohno, R. Shindou, H. Yoshino, S. Yoshii, N. Nagaosa and M. Sato for useful comments and discussion. This work is supported by Priority Areas Grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. G. T. thanks The Mitsubishi Foundation for financial support.


text:
# Stability of the lattice formed in first-order phase transitions to matter containing strangeness in protoneutron stars.

## I Introduction

In the past years, considerable effort has gone into the study of the existence of phases of strange matter in neutron stars heiselberghjorthjensen ; ponsreddy00 ; ponsmiralles01 ; balberg99 ; ghosh95 ; ponssteiner01 . A macroscopic strangeness content is predicted to be energetically favorable at densities well beyond the saturation density of symmetric nuclear matter (hereafter $`\rho _0`$). Conditions with sufficiently high density and low enough electron chemical potential for the formation of a macroscopic content of strange quarks (charge $`=1/3`$) or particles containing such are obtained in the interior of a protoneutronstar (hereafter PNS) after post-bounce times of several seconds. The three possible forms for the macroscopic manifestation of strangeness suggested are a $`K^{}`$ condensate ponsreddy00 ; ponsmiralles01 , the formation of hyperons balberg99  and deconfined quark matter including strange quarks ponssteiner01 ; ghosh95 . The equation of state of matter at densities $`\rho >\rho _0`$ is not well enough known at this point to determine which of these scenarios will actually happen and what the order of the associated phase transition is.

The present study limits itself to a certain class of scenarios which is common to all possible forms of strangeness in high density nuclear matter and which might be subject to experimental verification. I assume the phase transition to be first order and to result in the formation of a lattice in the coexistence region with different energy and charge densities of the strange and non-strange phases, as was recently predicted by various authors glendenning92 ; glendenning99 ; heiselberg93 ; glendenning95 ; glendenning01 ; christiansen97 . Typical results for the parameters of the mixed phase lattice, such as the size and spatial separation and the energy and charge densities are quoted from these authors. Whereas all studies on this lattice to date are limited to cold, deleptonized neutron stars, my focus is on PNS’s in the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling phase, $`1\mathrm{s}30\mathrm{s}`$ post-bounce, for temperatures up to tens of $`\mathrm{MeV}`$. In particular, the present paper presents the mechanical properties of the structured mixed strange/non-strange phase as they are relevant to the further PNS evolution and observational verification.

Many initial studies predicted phenomena caused by strangeness to be confined to a very small central region of the PNS baymchin ; bethebrowncooperstein , which would most likely render their experimental verification impossible. However, Glendenning showed in 1992 glendenning92  that the previous studies were too simplistic in their assumptions about the thermodynamic model of the PNS. In particular, there are two conserved charges in PNS matter, the baryon number and the electric charge and, therefore, two independent chemical potentials, $`\mu _e`$ and $`\mu _B`$. During a phase transition, their equality between the strange (subscript $`s`$) and non-strange (subscript $`n`$) phases, together with similar conditions for temperature and pressure, comprise the Gibbs conditions glendenning92 :

$`\mu _{e,s}=\mu _{e,n};`$ $`\mu _{B,s}=\mu _{B,n};`$
$`T_s=T_n;`$ $`P_s=P_n.`$ (1)
Previously, charge neutrality had been enforced in both phases of a first-order phase transition separately, and a Maxwell construct had been used for the mixed phase: $`\rho _{mixed}=\chi \rho _s+(1\chi )\rho _n`$ ($`\chi `$ being the volume fraction of the strange phase), where the densities of each phase ($`\rho _s,\rho _n`$) were kept constant throughout the phase transition. This additional constraint lead to an overestimate of the required density for a phase transition to deconfined (three flavor) quark matter of up to $`7\times \rho _0`$ as opposed to a predicted range of $`23\times \rho _0`$ glendenning92 ; glendenning99  with the correct treatment of the Gibbs condition. The microscopic stability condition for neutron stars $`\delta P/\delta \rho 0`$ shapiroteukolsky  and the constant densities in both phases also lead to a coexistence region consisting of an infinitely thin spherical shell with a pressure discontinuity, as opposed to a spatially extended mixed phase with continous $`P(r)`$-dependence which follows from the Gibbs conditions glendenning95 .

The driving force for a net exchange of charge between the strange and non-strange phases is the isospin restoring force which leaves the strange phase with a net negative charge. Two phases with opposite charges assume a spatial order which is determined by a minimal sum of the surface, curvature and Coulomb energies heiselberg93 ; glendenning95 . The predicted geometry of the strange phase has been found glendenning95 ; glendenning01  to vary from spheres via rods to platelets immersed in the majority non-strange phase, as density increases. As soon as $`\chi >0.5`$, the two phases reverse roles. The spatial extent of the crystalline phases depends sensitively on the neutron star mass glendenning95  and properties of matter at supernuclear densities which are not well known, but can reach several $`\mathrm{km}`$. Some of these properties have been investigated in recent works, such as the surface energy between the strange and hadronic phases and the effective MIT bag constant in the case of a phase transition to deconfined quark matter christiansen97  and the surface and curvature energies between normal nuclear matter and a phase with a $`K^{}`$-condensate christiansen00 . In both cases, the results were shown to be model-dependent without a definitely reliable result.

The above quoted range of $`23\times \rho _0`$ glendenning92 ; glendenning99  for the transition density is based upon the bulk approximation for both phases, which neglects any screening effects across the interface. More recent studies of surface effects, such as a transition layer with a finite thickness of $`\mathrm{\Delta }R5\mathrm{fm}`$ due to Debye screening effects and the discontinous pressure due to the surface tension between both phases, however, show a net increase in the bulk energy density of the strange phase in the case of a $`K^{}`$ condensate norsen01 , making finite-size droplets for radii smaller than $`R_S10\mathrm{fm}`$ energetically less favorable. Debye screening lengths have been reported for $`K^{}`$ condensed matter ($`\lambda _K^{}5\mathrm{fm}`$ norsen01 ), for deconfined quark matter ($`\lambda _q5\mathrm{fm}`$ heiselberg93 ) and for hadronic neutron star matter ($`\lambda _{D,n/p}10\mathrm{fm}`$ and $`\lambda _e^{}13\mathrm{fm}`$ heiselberg93 ). Properly taking into account screening to find the minimum energy configuration, see norsen01  for $`K^{}`$ condensates and voskresensky  for deconfined quark matter, effectively opens up another degree of freedom, in itself lowering the energies of both phases, which is favorable for the formation of a lattice. However, screening can also increase the electron fraction in the hadronic phase by pushing the electrons away from the negative charge on the strange droplet surface, leading to a higher negative charge concentration outside the screened region which will push the pressure at which global charge neutrality can be attained to higher values norsen01 . The screened charges have also been shown to increase the effective surface tension $`\sigma =\sigma _{strong}+\sigma _C`$ by a Coulomb contribution, making droplets with radii smaller than the Debye screening length energetically less favorable (see voskresensky  for deconfined quark matter), thus increasing the required PNS density for the first-order phase transition. A final answer is not possible unless the exact equation of state for hadronic PNS matter with and without a $`K^{}`$ condensate and deconfined quark matter with strange quarks is known. This includes hyperon formation, following which a similar structured phase has not been studied to date.

Standard PNS models predict central densities in the relevant range of a few times $`\rho _0`$ after neutrinos have carried away the bulk of the lepton number in the PNS. A mixed strange/non-strange phase which might form then was shown to have a significant impact on the neutrino transport properties, resulting in a neutrino opacity up to two orders of magnitude higher for typical neutrino energies $`10\mathrm{MeV}`$ reddy00 . This opens up a window of observation in supernova neutrino detectors through the remaining lepton number which will be carried away by neutrinos. A pure strange phase which might form for high enough central densities would have a lower neutrino opacity compared to non-strange PNS matter steiner01 , effectively creating a transparent strange core surrounded by a relatively opaque coexistence layer.

In the following, I will refer to a structured mixed layer as phase transition lattice, independent upon the specific spatial ordering and solid or liquid state. The temperature behavior of the phase transition lattice, including the coexistence curve between a solid, crystalline phase transition lattice and a liquid phase of the droplets containing strangeness is derived in section II. The mechanical stability of the lattice to shear stresses and its possible breakup is investigated in section III. Section IV concludes the study and gives an outlook on some possible observational signatures of the formation of the phase transition lattice.

## II The Phase Transition Lattice at Finite Temperatures

### II.1 Phase Transition Lattice Melting Curve

Because a solid, crystalline phase might have to be taken into account as a new element in hydrodynamical PNS evolution studies and since its neutrino transport properties might be different from a liquid mixed phase, it is important to know the solid-liquid coexistence curve of the phase transition lattice. At the onset of the first-order phase transition and on the outermost layers of the mixed phase in the cold neutron star, the volume fraction of the strange phase will be small. In that limit, the minority phase at zero temperature can be approximated as a Coulomb lattice of negative point charges immersed in a slightly positively charged background of normal PNS matter. The absolute charge density in the strange phase will be higher because the majority phase can significantly lower its isospin by pushing negative charge into the minority phase christiansen97 , more than compensating for the opposing effect of a higher repulsive Coulomb energy within the latter. The reverse is true for the deepest layers of the mixed phase, where the normal PNS matter is the minority phase and a high positive charge density resides in that phase, whereas the Coulomb interaction is compensated by the condensation energy of hadrons.

The droplet charges given are to be understood as effective values, already taking into account screening effects heiselberg93 ; norsen01 ; heiselberg93b . Given rigid strange droplets with charge densities large compared to the surrounding hadronic PNS matter, the lattice can then be regarded as a one-component plasma (OCP). Its treatment in the harmonic approximation is well-established maradudin71 ; albers81 ; chabrier92 ; chabrier93 . The equation of motion of the $`\alpha `$-component of the displacement $`u`$ on a lattice site l for a Bravais lattice (defined as having one particle per unit cell) can be written as

$$M\ddot{u}_\alpha (l)=\frac{\delta \mathrm{\Phi }}{\delta u_\alpha (l)}=\underset{\beta l^{}}{}\frac{\delta ^2\mathrm{\Phi }}{\delta u_\alpha (l)\delta u_\beta (l^{})}u_\beta (l^{}),$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the electrostatic potential and the displacement amplitude $`u_\alpha `$ is

$$u_\alpha =\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{}}{2NM}}\underset{\stackrel{}{k},j}{}\frac{e_\alpha (\stackrel{}{k}j)}{\sqrt{\omega _j(\stackrel{}{k})}}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{x}(l)}A_{\stackrel{}{k}j},$$
(3)
with $`A_{\stackrel{}{k}j}=a_{\stackrel{}{k}j}^{}+a_{\stackrel{}{k}j}`$ and the usual definitions for creation- and annihilation operators. The three characteristic polarization modes, two transverse and one longitudinal, of the Bravais lattice are denoted by the index $`j`$.

In this formalism, the mean square displacement relative to the distance between nearest neighbors $`d=(3\pi ^2)^{1/6}a`$ for a BCC (body-centered cubic) lattice is

$`{\displaystyle \frac{u^2}{d^2}}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{d^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{2M}}{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{}{k}j}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{coth(\beta \frac{\mathrm{}}{2}\omega _j(\stackrel{}{k}))}{\omega _j(\stackrel{}{k})}}`$ (4)
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{d^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{3\mathrm{}}{2M\alpha \omega _p}}(1+{\displaystyle \frac{4}{\alpha \eta }}D_1(\alpha \eta )),`$
where $`\eta `$ is the degeneracy parameter and the Debye integral is defined as

$$D_n(x)=\frac{n}{x^n}_0^x𝑑t(\frac{t^n}{e^t1}).$$
(5)
The dispersion relation for the transverse modes has the acoustic Debye form chabrier92 ; chabrier93

$$\omega _T(\stackrel{}{k})=\alpha \omega _p\frac{k}{k_D}$$
(6)
with the Debye wavenumber $`k_D=(6\pi ^2N/V)^{1/3}`$, the plasma frequency $`\omega _p=(Ze/ϵ_0\times N/MV)^{1/2}`$ and $`\alpha =0.393`$. For the longitudinal branch, the Einstein model has been suggested with a constant frequency of $`\omega _L\omega _p`$ chabrier92 . However, for a cubic lattice in the harmonic approximation, the symmetry condition $`u^2=3\times u_T^2=3\times u_L^2`$ maradudin71  makes only one branch necessary to calculate the average square displacement amplitude. For typical lattice constants of $`a10\mathrm{fm}`$, we obtain $`k_D0.4\mathrm{fm}^1`$ and $`\mathrm{}\omega _p5.8\mathrm{MeV}`$. Typical values for the strange (minority) phase were used here, a charge density of $`\rho _C=0.4\mathrm{fm}^3`$, a mass density of $`\rho _M=0.4\mathrm{fm}^3`$ and a droplet radius of $`R=3.0\mathrm{fm}`$. The plasma frequency is an important quantity characterizing the lattice, because the degeneracy parameter $`\eta =\mathrm{}\omega _p/k_BT`$ determines the role quantum effects play and, ultimately, the freeze-out of the OCP. In the present case, for “typical” protoneutronstar evolution temperatures, $`T10\mathrm{MeV}`$, we get for the degeneracy parameter $`\eta =(\mathrm{}Ze)/(\sqrt{Mϵ_0}k_BTa^{3/2})0.5`$. The problem at hand can therefore be treated neither in the zero temperature- (quantum-) nor in the classical limit.

The Lindemann parameter $`\gamma ^2`$ is defined as the value of the quantity $`u^2/d^2`$ at the solid-liquid transition. For an OCP, it has been determined using Monte Carlo - simulations in both the classical (high temperature) limit pollock73 ; ogata87 ; stringfellow90  and in the quantum case (zero temperature) ceperley80 , for both fermions and bosons. Energetically, spin pairing effects on the droplets will drive their total spin to zero. I therefore treat them as bosons. For the intermediate degeneracies given here, the interpolation formula for the Lindemann parameter of a bosonic OCP by Chabrier chabrier93  is used:

$$\gamma (\eta )=\gamma _0\frac{0.096+4.31\times 10^3\eta ^2}{1+0.05\eta ^2+2.092\times 10^4\eta ^4},$$
(7)
with $`\gamma _0=0.249`$ being the quantum limit. The melting curves for different charge densities on the strange droplets are plotted in figure 1, where the curves represent charge densities from $`\rho _C=0.1\mathrm{fm}^3`$ to $`\rho _C=0.8\mathrm{fm}^3`$ in steps of $`\rho _C=0.1\mathrm{fm}^3`$ for a mass density of $`\rho _M=0.4\mathrm{fm}^3`$ and droplet radii $`R=3.0\mathrm{fm}`$. If the droplets are treated as fermions, the result only differs significantly for coexistence curves with transition temperatures below $`1\mathrm{MeV}`$. It can be seen that an initially liquid phase transition lattice crystallizes for PNS temperatures of $`T110\mathrm{MeV}`$, which lies well within the range obtained during the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling timescales in the standard PNS paradigm, for a wide range of parameters ($`\chi `$ and $`\rho _C`$). There is, for any given charge density, a lower limit on the droplet radius below which there is no crystallization. For example for $`\rho _C=0.4\mathrm{fm}^3`$, this limit is between $`1.51.75\mathrm{fm}`$, see figure 2. Hence, lattices with larger droplet radii solidify earlier in the PNS evolution, causing the mixed layer to freeze out from its interior outwards.

### II.2 Deformation Modes

The OCP assumes negative, inherently rigid, point charges in a sea of positive background. However, since the surface tension is only $`\sigma 10\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{fm}^2`$, small compared to strong interaction energy scales $`ϵ_{strong}10^3\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{fm}^3`$ for the given droplet dimensions, it is clear that the strange phase droplets cannot necessarily be considered as rigid. It is therefore important to know whether deformation modes have to be taken into consideration in the treatment of lattice vibrations.

Consider a droplet of strange matter which is slightly elongated along the x-direction to $`R+dR`$, yielding an ellipsoid:

$$(a,b,b)(R+dR,R/\sqrt{1+\frac{dR}{R}},R/\sqrt{1+\frac{dR}{R}}).$$
(8)
Its surface area is

$$S=2\pi (b^2+\frac{a^2b}{\sqrt{a^2b^2}}arcsin(\frac{a^2b^2}{a^2})),$$
(9)
which, when expanded to second order in $`dR`$, yields

$$S4\pi R^2+2\pi \frac{9}{8}dR^2=S_0+\mathrm{\Delta }S,$$
(10)
from which the elastic constant $`k_S`$ for the deformation energy can be deduced:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }E_S=\sigma \mathrm{\Delta }S=2\pi \frac{9}{8}\sigma dR^2=\frac{1}{2}k_SdR^2.$$
(11)
The inertial term $`m_S`$ can be found via the kinetic energy

$`{\displaystyle _R^R}𝑑x{\displaystyle _0^{\sqrt{R^2x^2}}}𝑑\rho (2\pi \rho [{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\rho _Mx^2({\displaystyle \frac{\omega _S}{2\pi }})^2])`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{30\pi }}\rho _M\omega _S^2R^5={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}({\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{15}}\rho _MR^3)\dot{R}^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_S\dot{R}^2.`$ (12)
The characteristic vibration energy can therefore be estimated as

$$\omega _S=\sqrt{\frac{k_S}{m_S}}=\sqrt{\frac{9\pi \sigma /2}{M/5}}.$$
(13)
A typical value, for $`\rho _M=0.4\mathrm{fm}^3`$, $`R=2\mathrm{fm}`$ and $`\sigma =10\mathrm{MeVfm}^2`$, is $`\mathrm{}\omega _S10\mathrm{MeV}`$, which is comparable to the plasma frequency. Hence, deformation modes freeze out at about the same temperature as lattice vibrations. The OCP can therefore be considered as a valid description of the melting curve of the phase transition lattice, since no other modes are relevant once it becomes a crystal. At temperatures above the transition between a liquid and a solid strange droplet phase, the lattice- and deformation modes will be in thermal equilibrium.

## III Shear Stresses and the Strange Phase Transition Lattice

Besides thermodynamic criteria for the existence of a crystalline mixed phase, we need to know whether the lattice can withstand typical shear stresses present in convective PNS cores. The shear constant of a cubic Coulomb lattice is fuchs35

$$c_{44}=\frac{d^2W_l}{d\gamma _{xy}^2},$$
(14)
where $`W_l`$ is the lattice energy and $`\gamma _{xy}`$ the angle of distortion. The Coulomb lattice energy can be calculated using Ewald’s method ewald21 ; dove :

$$W_l=\frac{1}{2}\underset{l}{}\frac{e^2}{4\pi ϵ_0r(l)}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{e^2}{4\pi ϵ_0}\left(\underset{l}{}\frac{\text{erfc}(gr(l))}{r(l)}+\underset{l}{}\frac{4\pi }{\mathrm{\Omega }}\frac{exp(G_l^2/4g^2)}{G_l^2}\right),$$
(15)
where the complementary error function $`\text{erfc}(x)\frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi }}_x^{\mathrm{}}exp(y^2)𝑑y`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a unit cell volume and $`g`$ is a parameter to be adjusted for fast numerical convergence of both real (vectors $`\stackrel{}{r}(l)`$) and inverse (vectors $`\stackrel{}{G}(l)`$) lattice sums. The result for a bcc-lattice is fuchs35

$`c_{44}`$ $`=0.7423\times {\displaystyle \frac{\frac{4}{3}\pi R^3\rho _Ce^2}{4\pi ϵ_0a}}`$ (16)
$`=4.477\mathrm{MeV}\times (R^3\rho _C)({\displaystyle \frac{a}{1.0\mathrm{fm}}})^1,`$
$`a`$ being the lattice constant. The critical shear stress is the force per unit area necessary to maintain two planes of the crystal distorted against each other by an angle corresponding to a displacement of $`a/4`$ perpendicular to a lattice plane ashcroft631 , which is in the linear approximation

$`\sigma _{crit}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{NA}}{\displaystyle \frac{dU}{dx}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dx}}(2c_{44}({\displaystyle \frac{x}{a}})^2)`$ (17)
$`={\displaystyle \frac{c_{44}}{a^3}}=4.477\mathrm{MeV}\times (R^3\rho _C)({\displaystyle \frac{a}{1.0\mathrm{fm}}})^4,`$
which, for a set of typical values, a lattice constant $`a=10\mathrm{fm}`$, droplet radius $`R=2.0\mathrm{fm}`$ and charge density $`\rho _C=0.4\mathrm{fm}^3`$, gives $`\sigma _{crit}=1.4\times 10^3\mathrm{MeVfm}^3`$. Stresses in that order of magnitude might be caused by convection or differential rotation of the newly formed PNS. These stresses can either prevent the formation of the solid lattice in the first place or, if they are due to phenomena which are prone to variations, such as convection, break up a solid lattice formed during a transient period of weak convection.

A negative gradient in the lepton concentration has been shown to lead to convection during the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling phase of the PNS epstein79 . More recently, hydrodynamics simulations including convection indicate that the Ledoux criterion for convective instability

$$C_L\left(\frac{\delta \rho }{\delta S}\right)_{P,Y_l}\frac{dS}{dr}+\left(\frac{\delta \rho }{\delta Y_l}\right)_{P,S}\frac{dY_l}{dr}>0$$
(18)
is true in most of the PNS for times of more than $`1\mathrm{s}`$ after bounce keil96 . The pure strange phase in the center of the PNS, if it exists, is not expected to show strong negative lepton or entropy gradients. This is due to the relatively opaque mixed phase enclosing it and the fact that the transport of both heat and lepton number in the PNS interior is dominated by neutrinos. The most violent convection will therefore take place in the matter exterior to the phase transition lattice. Although various authors disagree on the extent and strength of convection in PNS’s, convective velocities of $`v_c10^6\mathrm{ms}^1`$ are reported in many studies keil96 ; burrows87 ; herant94 . This is equivalent to a kinetic energy density of $`E_{conv}/V10^3\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{fm}^3`$, which indicates that convection might indeed be able to either break an existing phase transition lattice or prevent its formation. A strong enough convective cell forming outside the mixed strange/non-strange layer after its crystallization during a transient quiet period might fracture the solid lattice and mix matter from the non-strange envelope into the now liquid phase transition lattice in the region below the convective cell. For the duration of the convective flow, this would result in a localized hole with a substantially lowered neutrino opacity reddy00  compared to the still intact solid lattice in all other directions, hence in anisotropic neutrino transport through the mixed strange/non-strange layer.

The discovery of a number of millisecond pulsars in recent years cordes97  indicates that some of the angular momentum residing in the core collapse supernova might remain in the PNS. The resulting rotation is likely to be differential and has been studied by Goussard et al. goussard97 ; goussard98  who solved the relativistic stellar structure equations for rotating PNS’s with representative equations of state for the different epochs in the PNS evolution. The rotation period $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ as a function of radius $`r`$ assumed in that study is (in the Newtonian limit) goussard98

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\frac{R_0^2\mathrm{\Omega }_C}{R_0^2+r^2sin^2(\theta )},$$
(19)
with $`R_01\mathrm{km}`$ the characteristic scale of variation of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`rsin(\theta )`$ the distance from the rotation axis and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_C`$ the central rotation period. The rotation period a PNS can acquire without additional accretion has been shown to be limited by the increase of the minimum neutron star mass for times up to $`100\mathrm{ms}`$ post-bounce and by the mass shedding limit beyond that, resulting in $`P_{min}1.7\mathrm{ms}`$ goussard98 . This corresponds to velocities of $`v(r/1\mathrm{km})(\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Omega }_C)10^6\mathrm{ms}^1`$, which is comparable in magnitude to convective velocities sufficient to cause critical shear stresses. It is not likely that regions of a fast rotating PNS at several seconds post-bounce go through a transient phase with low rotation period during which the phase transition lattice could crystallize, possibly to be broken up at later times by a larger gradient in the rotation period. Rather, for PNS’s with rotation periods below $`100\mathrm{ms}`$, the timescale for the stratification of differential rotation might be of significant importance for the melting curve of the phase transition lattice, possibly comparable to the cooling timescale. However, unless the transport of angular momentum in core collapse supernovae and in particular within the PNS is finally resolved, the melting curves presented in sec. II.1 only apply to PNS’s with low differential rotation.

## IV Summary and Discussion

The present study shows that if the phase transition from hadronic PNS matter to strange matter is of first order and if it results in a lattice of separate strange and non-strange phases in the coexistence zone, it will crystallize for temperatures predicted during the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling phase of a PNS following a core collapse supernova. The process of crystallization has, however, complex interactions with the hydrodynamical evolution of the PNS. Shear stresses due to strong differential rotation with minimum periods in the range observed for millisecond pulsars and convection induced by lepton gradients might, as long as they persist, prevent the formation of a solid lattice. A final answer can only be given by the full inclusion of a possibly solid mixed strange/non-strange phase in future core collapse supernova simulations.

If the first-order phase transition occurs before the end of the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling phase, the remaining neutrinos to be emitted might serve as a possible window on its formation and crystallization. With the predicted increase in the neutrino opacity for a first order phase transition lattice reddy00 , expected to be especially pronounced for intermediate neutrino energies in the range $`10100\mathrm{MeV}`$, the timescale for the decay of the neutrino emission will increase, which might be observable as a knee in the neutrino luminosity. Once the lattice becomes solid, the evolution might be accompanied by fractures and rearrangements in the mixed strange/non-strange zone, possibly showing irregularities in the neutrino luminosity. If a changing lepton number gradient causes a convective cell to form in a formerly non-convective region located outside a previously crystallized phase transition lattice, sufficiently violent convection might break the solid lattice and locally cause it to return to a liquid state. Non-strange PNS matter transported from regions outside the phase transition lattice might mix with the liquid, resulting in an anisotropic neutrino-opaque layer with a partial hole and therefore anisotropic neutrino transport. This will be more pronounced if the central density of the PNS is high enough to allow for a pure strange core enclosed by the relatively opaque mixed zone which essentially dams up neutrinos behind it. The extent to which the phase transition lattice will affect the neutrino luminosity and emission spectrum will be the topic of a detailed transport study with a special focus on anisotropic neutrino transport in conjunction with a hydrodynamical treatment of the non-strange layers above the coexistence zone zach . This will also include the different neutrino transport properties of a solid versus a liquid lattice.

## V Acknowledgements

J.J. Zach would like to thank George M. Fuller at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) for the hospitality and valuable discussions on the subject during two visits in the spring and fall of 2001. These were supported by NSF grant number PHY 9800980 and its renewal. Further, many thanks to Richard N. Boyd at The Ohio State University (OSU) for fruitful discussions and financial support of this work through NSF grant number PHY 9901241. For valuable inputs, I would also like to thank Neal Dalal and Kevork Abazajian from UCSD, Alexander StJ. Murphy from the University of Edinburgh and Richard Furnstahl from OSU. The recommendations by H.-Thomas Janka from the Max Planck Institute in Garching/Germany concerning possible observational consequences of the present work were outstanding and very helpful.


text:
# NGC 1052 – A study of the pc-scale twin jet

## Introduction:

NGC 1052 is a nearby elliptical galaxy that harbors an active galactic nucleus in its center. Its radio structure ranges from $`20^{\prime \prime }`$ down to the smallest resolvable scales below 1 milliarcsecond. Its bright compact radio core and its small distance of $`D=22.6`$ Mpc makes NGC 1052 a prime target for VLBI studies of the environment of the central engine believed to be a supermassive black hole of about $`10^{8\pm 1}M_{}`$.
On VLBI scales NGC 1052 shows a jet/counter-jet structure oriented at a position angle of about 65. Kinematical studies at 15 GHz  show that the two jets are oriented close to the plane of the sky. The distribution of water maser emission in NGC 1052 on pc-scales was imaged with VLBI by . The maser emission is concentrated in two groups of unresolved maser spots, lying along the western jet. Strong free-free absorption at the corresponding region of the source was found by  (see also ). The presence of atomic gas at the center of NGC 1052 is evident from HI absorption observations  and the X-ray spectrum of the nucleus .

## Imaging and model fitting:

In Fig. 1 we present VLBA images of NGC 1052 in total intensity at 5, 8.4, 22 and 43 GHz obtained from our observations on December 28th 1998 (related parameters in Table 1). The images have been produced following standard procedures. In the images we define four regions, A (eastern jet), B, C and D (western jet). The alignment of the images at the four frequencies was performed through a pairwise identification of Gaussian model fit components between adjacent frequencies. We derived spectra (shown in Fig. 2) of the different regions of jet and counter-jet separately, by adding up the flux densities of the corresponding model components.

Both the eastern and the western jet have a steep spectrum at the highest frequencies. At low to intermediate frequencies the eastern jet remains steep between 22 and 8.4 GHz and becomes flat between 8.4 and 5 GHz whilst the western jet exhibits a turnover of its spectrum below 22 GHz. The innermost part of the western jet (region B) has a highly inverted spectrum. No emission is detectable in this region at 5 GHz, making the spectral index $`\alpha `$ ($`S\nu ^{+\alpha }`$) larger than 3. This value exceeds the theoretical maximal value of 2.5 for synchrotron self-absorption (see e.g. ) marking a possible region of external absorption (in an obscuring torus?) at the base of the western jet.

## Polarimetry:

We carried out a polarimetric imaging analysis following standard procedures (see ). We detected linearly polarized emission above a 3$`\sigma `$ level only at 5 GHz. At this frequency, we found a compact region of linearly polarized emission at the base of the eastern jet, with a flux density of about 3 mJy beam<sup>-1</sup>. This corresponds to a degree of polarization of 1.5 %. The electric field vectors are parallel to the jet axis, i.e. the corresponding emission region is dominated by a magnetic field perpendicular to the jet axis (assuming no Faraday rotation). Our spectral measurements indicate that the emission from this part of the eastern jet is optically thick at 5 GHz. This implies that the polarized flux should increase at higher frequencies, a trend that we do not observe in our data. This can be interpreted as an effect of optical depth: if the jet is linearly polarized only in the outer layers, no linearly polarized emission is expected at high frequencies where the radiation originates in deeper layers of the jet, closer to the geometrical jet axis.

## Core-shift analysis:

The symmetry between the jet and the counter-jet constrains the position of the central engine in NGC 1052. The location where a jet becomes visible at a given frequency is usually referred to as the “core”. The core is located at the distance to the central engine $`r_c`$, where the optical depth $`\tau `$ has fallen to be $`1`$. This distance is given by: $`r_c\nu ^{\frac{1}{k_r}}`$, where $`k_r=((32\alpha )m+2n2)/(52\alpha )`$, with $`m`$ and $`n`$ the power indices of the magnetic field and the particle density: $`Br^m`$, $`Nr^n`$ . Measuring $`r_c`$ at two frequencies allows one to determine $`k_r`$ in the corresponding region of the jet. For a freely expanding jet in equipartition , $`k_r`$=1. The value of $`k_r`$ is larger in regions with steep pressure gradients and may reach 2.5, for reasonable values of $`m,n`$ ($``$4, see ). If external absorption determines the apparent core position, comparable density gradients of the external medium can alter $`k_r`$ to values above 2.5.
The values of $`k_r`$ deduced depend crucially on the absolute values of $`r_c`$ on the two sides and therefore on the assumed position of the central engine. Four scenarios have been tested with different reference points (see Fig. 4). Table 2 gives the derived values of $`k_r`$ for each scenario. The area between the model components A 15 and B 2b is the most likely location of the central engine and the center between both components is a natural choice for its exact position (scenario 1). Shifting the reference point eastwards (scenarios 2 and 3) alters the values of $`k_r`$ into unphysically large regimes (requiring density gradients $`r^{10}`$ and higher). Assuming the true center of activity to be located more westwards (closer to B 2b, scenario 4), the values of $`k_r`$ derived are still acceptable.

We show the core positions of both jets at the different frequencies for the first case (scenario 1) in Fig. 5. The eastern jet has rather high values of $`k_r`$ below 22 GHz, although still in agreement with steep pressure gradients in the jet environment. Above 22 GHz $`k_r`$ is 3.9$`\pm `$0.8, which is a good indicator for free-free absorption affecting the jet opacity. The western jet has values of $`k_r`$ as high as 6.8$`\pm `$2.7 between 22 and 43 GHz, suggesting a large contribution from free–free absorption.
Our results from the core–shift analysis support the picture of a free–free absorbing torus covering mainly the inner part of the western jet and also a smaller fraction of the eastern jet. The true center of activity in NGC 1052 can be determined to lie between the model components A 15 and B 2b, with an uncertainty of only $`0.03`$ pc.

## Acknowledgments.

We want to thank A. Tarchi for his valuable help. The VLBA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.